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EDINBURGH NEW

PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL.

THE

EDINBURGH NEW
PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL,

EXHIBITING A VIEW OF THE

PROGRESSIVE DISCOVERIES AND IMPROVEMENTS

. SCIENCES AND THE ARTSE. IN
CONDUCTED BY se ‘

ROBERT. JAMESON, uiSTE

REGIUS PROFESSOR OF NATURAL HISTORY, LECTURER ON MINERALOGY, AND KEEPER OF
THE MUSEUM IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH;

Fellow of the Royal Societies of london and Edinburgh ; Honorary Member of the Royal Ivish Academy ; of the
Royal Society of Sciences of Denmark ; of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Berlin; of the Royal Academy of
Naples ; of the Geological Society of France; Honorary Member of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta; Fellow of
the Royal Linnean, and of the Geological Societies of London ; of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, and
of the Cambridge Philosophical Society ; of the Antiquarian, Wernerian Natural History, Royal Medical, Royal
Physieal, and Horticultural Societies of Edinburgh ; of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland ; of
the Antiquarian and Literary Society of Perth; of the Statistical Society of Glasgow ; of the Royal Dublin
Society; of the York, Bristol, Cambrian, Whitby, Northern, and Cork Institutions ; of the Natural History So-
ciety of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle ; of the Imperial Pharmaceutical Society of Petersburgh ; of
the Natural History Society of Wetterau ; of the Mineralogical Society of Jena ; of the Royal Mineralogical So-
ciety of Dresden; of the Natural History Society of Paris ; of the Philomathie Society of Paris ; of the Natural
History Society of Calvados ; of the Senkenberg Society of Natural History ; of the Society of Natural Sciences
and Medicine of Heidelberg ; Honorary Member of the Literary and Philosophical Society of New York; of
the New York Historical Society ; of the American Antiquarian Society ; of the Academy of Natural Sciences of
Philadelphia ; of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York ; of the Natural History Society of Montreal ; of
the Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania for the Promotion of the Mechanical Arts ; of the Geological
Suciety of Pennsylvania ; of the Boston Society of Natural History of the United States; of the South African

Institution of the Cape of Good Hope ; Honorary Member of the Statistical Society of France ; Member of the
Entomological Society of Stettin, &c. &c. &c.

OCTOBER 1852. .... APRIL 1853.

VOL. LIV.
TO BE CONTINUED QUARTERLY.

EDINBURGH :

ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK.
LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, & LONGMANS, LONDON.

1853.

EDINBURGH:
PRINTED BY NEILL AND COMPANY,OLD FISHMABKET.

CONTENTS.

PAGE
Arr. I. Biography of Berzelius. By Professor H. Ross
of Berlin. (Concluded from vol. liii., p. 221), 1

II. Notes on the Geology of Ceylon.—Laterite For-
mation.—F luviatile Deposit of Nuera Elia.
By E. F. Keraart, M.D., F.L.S., F.G.S8., As-
sistant Surgeon to the Forces. Communicated
by the Author, rts Rit 4s:

III. On the Condition and Prospects of the Aborigines
of Australia. By W. Westeartu, Esq. (Con-
cluded from vol. liii., p. 241),

9. Past and Present’ Methods, and Proposed Plans

for the Welfare of the Aborigines, . 36
10. Prospects of AWoriginal Civilisation, , 4]
1l. General Review, eye ie ; ; ; 42

IV. Synopsis of Meteorological Observations made at
the Observatory, Whitehaven, Cumberland, in
the year 1851. By Jouw FLEtcHER MILLER,
Esq., F.R.S., F.R.A.S., Assoc. Inst. C.H., &.
Communicated by the Author, . 4 a

V. On the Basin-like Form of Africa. By Sir R. I.
Muvrcuison, late President of the Geographical
Society, , ¥ : : ‘ i, oe

VI. Solidification of the Rocks of the Florida Reefs,
and the Sources of Lime in the Growth of
Corals. By Professor Horsrorp, of Harvard, 56

VII. Observations on a remarkable Deposit of Tin-Ore
at the Providence Mines, near St Ives, Corn-
wall. By Witi1am Jory Henwoop, Ksq.,
F.R.S., F.G.8S., Member of the Geological So-

il CONTENTS.

_ PAGE
ciety of France, &c. Communicated by the
_ Author, . ; ; : : : + ee
VIII. Arctic Natural History,
1, Cause of Intense Thirst in Arctic Regions, 72
2. Thickness of the Ice, : ; , : i
8. Warmth of Snow-Burrows, : ; : 74
4. Snow a bad conductor of Sound, : : 74
5. The Breaking up of an Iceberg, : ; 75
6. Refrigerating power of Icebergs, A a 75
7. The Droppings of Hider Ducks, : : 76
8. Arctic Minute Animal and Vegetable Forms and
Colour of the Sea, 76
9. On the Flesh of little Auks or Rotel and ze
Fowl generally, . : : : 78
10. Red Snow, ; 79
11. On the Colouring Matter of Marine Ais ee
Dr DIckIE, . : : 79
12. Nostoc Arcticum (Berk). By Dr Brow 81

i3. Onthe Magnitude of Arctic Glaciers—and their

advance towards and termination in the Sea, 82

14. Ice and Sea-Water Coloured by the Diatomacer, 89
IX. On an Improvement in Sikes’ Self-Registering
Thermometer. By Ricnarp Aoptz, Esq., Li-
verpool. Communicated by the Author, (With

a Plate), ; : ‘ : : > Be

X. Memoir of the late Dr Thomas Thomson, F.R.S.,
M.W.S., &c., Professor of Chemistry in the
College of Glasgow. Communicated by his re-
lative, Dr R. Dunpas Tuomson, ; e.. - OO

XI. On the Reconcentration of the Mechanical Energy
of the Universe. By Wittiam Jonn Mac-
quorn Rankine, C.E., F.R.S.E., pay eae

XII. The Classification of Insects from Embryological
Data, By Professor Acassiz, . Rye |

XIII. Humboldt, one of the first Philosophers who de-
livered Popular Courses of Lectures on Science
to the People, , d , Re 8

XIV. Professor Oken, the originator of the now Popu-
lar Assemblies for the Advancement of Science, 112

CONTENTS.

~

XV. The Earl of Rosse’s Telescopes, and their Reve-
lations in the Sidereal Heavens. By the Rev.
Dr Scoressy, F.R.S.L. & E., Member of the
Wernerian Society, and Corresponding Mem-
ber of the Institute of France, &c. Communi-
cated by the Author,

XVI. Of the Proper Application of Reservoirs to the
Improvement of Rivers. By Cuarues ELLet,
Jun., Civil Engineer, United States of Ame-

rica,

XVII. Notices of various Animal Remains, as Bos lon-
gifrons, &c., found with Roman Pottery, near
Newstead, Roxburghshire: with Notes in re-
ference to the Origin of our Domestic Cattle,
and the Wild White Cattle of this Country.
By Jounw ALEXANDER SmitH, M.D. Commu-
nicated by the Author. (With a Plate),

XVIII. General Results of the Microscopical Examina-
tion of Soundings, made by the U. S. Coast
Survey off the Atlantic Coast of the United
States. By Professor J. W. Baitzy, of the
Military Academy, West Point,

XIX. The Reply of the President and Council of the
Royal Society, to a Letter addressed to them
by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs,
on the subject of the co-operation of different
Nations in Meteorological Observations,

XX. On the Diurnal Variations of the Magnetic Needle,
and on Aurore Boreales. By AUGUSTE DE LA
Rive; being an extract from a Letter to M.
ARAGO, .

XXI. Meteorological Phenomena in connection with the
Climate of Berlin. Translated by Mrs ANNE
RamspEN BENNETT from the German of Pro-
fessor Dove,

iil

PAGE

113

118

122

142

144

148

155

iv CONTENTS.

XXII. Gieseckite and Bergmannite (Spreustein), two
Pseudomorphoses of Transformation from Ne-
pheline. By Professor J. R. Brum, of Hei-
delberg. Communicated by the Author (from
Poggendorff), .

XXIII. On the Colours of a Jet of Steam and of the At-
mosphere, By R. Cxraustus,

XXIV. Description of the Tongue and Habits of the Aard-
vark or Ant-eater of the Cape (Orycteropus
Capensis). By Wiit1am T. Brack, Assistant-
Surgeon to the Forces, South Africa. Com-
municated by the Author,

XXV. On the Negroes of the Indian Archipelago and
Pacific Islands. By W. Joun Crawrurp, KEsq.,
ERs : ; t : . F

XXVI. ScrentiFic INTELLIGENCE :—

METEOROLOGY.
1. Analyses of Snow and Rain Water, by M. Eu-
gene Marchand. 2. Notes on the Climate of
Rangoon, by Dr A. Christison. 3. On the Re-

PAGE

162

166

168

175

cent Earthquake felt at Adderley, . 179-180

MINERALOGY.

4. Pseudomorphous Minerals. 5, Large Deposit
of Graphite. 6. Sulphur Mine in Upper Egypt.
7. Strontiano-calcite. 8. Platinum and Iridos-
mine in California. 9, Identity of Donarium
with Thorium. 10. Native Iron. 11. Crystal-

lisation and Amorphism, . j d T81-183

GEOLOGY.
12, Flora of the Tertiary Formation. 13. On the
Tides, Bed, and Coasts of the North Sea or Ger-

man Ocean, ‘ : ; ’ : 183-186

ZOOLOGY.

14. On the Bones and Eggs of a Gigantic Bird in

Madagascar. 15. Domestication of Fishes, 186-188

MISCELLANEOUS.
16. Freedom of the Arabs from Leprosy. 17. Obi-
tuary, : . . ; :

188

CONTENTS.

PAGE
Art. I, Biographical Account of the late Wint1am Macait1i-

vray, A.M., LL.D., Regius Professor of Natural
History in the Marischal College and University
of Aberdeen. Communicated by ALEXANDER
THomson, Esq. of Banchory, Aberdeen, | » 189

II. Influence of Terrestrial Magnetism on Iron, and the
effect that results from it upon the direction of

the Compasses in Vessels, . o> 206: .

III. Meteorological Phenomena in connection with the
Climate of Berlin. Translated by Mrs ANNE
RAMSDEN Bennett, from the German of Professor
Dove. ss ened from page 162,) Rfrg il fee

IV. On the Glacial Phenomena in Scotland and Parts of
England. By Ropert CHAMBERS, Esq. F.R.S.E.
Communicated by the Author, : .177*229

VI.

i Oe

VIll.

Lx

XI.

XII.

XIII.

CONTENTS.

. Meteorological Observations taken at the Ordnance

Survey Office, 18 Royal Circus, Edinburgh, dur-
ing the Year 1852, 130 feet above the mean
level of the Sea. Communicated by Captain

James, Royal Engineers,

On the Valuation of Indigo. By Dr Freperick
Penny, F.C.8., Professor of Chemistry in the

Andersonian University, Glasgow,

On the Origin of Stratification. By D. A. WELLs,

Esq., of Cambridge, United States, North Ame-

~

rica,

Relation of the Chemical Constitution of Bodies to
Light. By Professor E. N. Horsrorp of Har-

vard, North America,

Notes on the Distribution of Animals available as

Food in the Arctic Regions. By Aucustus Pr-
TERMANN, Esq., F.R.G-S., &.,

. The Effect of Heat on the Perpendicularity of Bunker

Hill Monument. By Professor KE. N. Horsrorp,
of Harvard, North America, .

On the Geological Distribution of Marine Animals. By

Professor Epwarp ForBeEs,

On the Change of Temperature in Europe, and the
Variation of the Magnetic Needle. By MrG. A.
Rowett. Witha Map. Communicated by the
Author,

The Paragenetic Relations of Minerals,

PAGE

282

285

291

294

295

308

311

312

323

CONTENTS.

XIV. Some Remarks on the probable Present Condition of

the Planets Jupiter and Saturn, in reference to

Temperature, &c. By James Nasmytu, Esq.,

XV. Captain H. Dennam, F.R.S., on Deep Sea Soundings

obtained in lat. 36° 49’ S., long. 37° 6’ W.,

XVI. Critical Remarks on Astronomical Observations made

XVII.

XVIII,

TX.

XX.

XXI.

with Airy’s Zenith Sector, from 1842 to 1850,
in the determination of the Latitudes of various
Trigonometrical Stations used in the Ordnance
_ Survey of the British Isles. Published by order
of the Master-General and Board of Ordnance,
under the direction of Lieutenant-Colonel Lewis
A. Hatt, Royal Engineers, Superintendent of

the Ordnance Survey,

Notes on the Scales of the Government Survey of

Scotland,

On a Quartziferous variety of Trachyte, found in
Iceland. By TuHreopor Kyerute, of Christiania.
Communicated for the Edinburgh New Philoso-

phical Journal,

Biography of the celebrated Naturalist, Baron Lxo-
POLD von Bucu. Communicated for the Philo-

sophical Journal,

Register of the Weather and Climate of Rangoon for
September 1852,

On the Reduction in the Height of Waves after pass-
ing into Harbours. In a Letter to Professor
Jameson by THomas Stevenson, Esq., Civil En-

gineer, ; f

ii

PAGE

341

346

350

362

367

373

377

378

iv

CONTENTS.

XXII. Screntiric INTELLIGENCE :—

GEOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY.

1. Extent of Glaciers in the Polar Regions, 2. Sir

Walter C. Trevelyan on the Faroe Islands. Ina
Letter to Professor Jameson, - $79,

ZOOLOGY.

3. Numerical List of Species of the Animal King-

8.

dom. 4. Dr Hamilton on the Guano Birds of
the Lobos Islands. 5. The Cod Fish of the
Whale Fish Islands. 6. Electricity applied to
the Capture of Whales. 7. Preservation of

Eggs, . 5 : : 380,

BOTANY.

The Genus Nostoc. 9. Preservation of Vege-
tables,

PAGE

380

382

383

THE

EDINBURGH NEW

PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL.

. Biography of Berzelius. By Professor H. Ross of Berlin.
(Concluded from vol. liii., page 221.)

BERZELIUS criticised this argument with justice. He de-
clared that it seemed to him the same as if a man who is
stumbling in the dark, should hesitate to make use of a light,
because he would then see more than he required, and be-
cause he hoped to find his way without it.

In order to appreciate fully the great merit of Berzelius,
in putting forward his mineral system, it is only necessary to
call to mind how great was the chaos in mineralogy before
his time, and especially with regard to the classification of
the numerous compounds of silica. Although both Débereiner
and Smithson commenced to regard silica as an acid, at about
the same time as Berzelius, still it was he who first made an
extended application of this view, in the new mineral system

‘which he proposed, by means of which siliceous minerals were
included under the head of saline compounds, and the correct
conception of their composition first rendered possible.

The greater number of natural compounds of silica are
double salts ; and observing the great diversity among them,
Berzelius raised the question, as to whether it was probable
that the individual members of such double salts were
different stages of saturation. As he had previously assumed
only the most simple relations in chemical compounds, he
was at first led to infer upon theoretical grounds, that the

VOL. LIV. NO. CVIL.—JANUARY 1853. A

2 Biography of Berzelius.

existence of dissimilar stages of saturation in the double salts
of silica, was less probable, especially as he had never met
with any similar phenomena in his investigations of the
double salts of other acids. Nevertheless, he subsequently
altered this view, after he had himself first prepared the re-
markable double salt of neutral carbonate of magnesia and
bicarbonate of potash.

The salts of silicic acid, and indeed all true compounds oc-
curring in natural as well as artificially prepared salts, re-
ceived formule which expressed their composition. But as
Berzelius was long doubtful how many atoms of oxygen he
should assume in silica, and even whien he afterwards decided
for three atoms, did not regard this assumption as perfectly
certain, he introduced more simple formulz for siliceous com-
pounds, which he termed mineralogical, and distinguished
from the chemical formule by the printers’ type employed.

The establishment of correct formule, especially for sili-
ceous compounds, involved great difficulties since the composi- |
tion of very few minerals was known with any degree of cer-
tainty. The first quantitative analyses of minerals were made
by Torbern Bergman, but according to such imperfect methods
that they scarcely indicated anything more than the qualita-
tive composition. After these came the analyses of Klaproth,
which compared with those of Bergman were a considerable
and encouraging advance, for he had not only employed
better methods of investigation, but also worked with much
greater accuracy. But even the analyses of Klaproth as well
as those of Vauquelin and others, who worked simultaneously
with him, when put to the test of definite chemical propor-
tions were not found to be unquestionable. It is true that
at first Berzelius could very often only propose a conjectural
formula for the composition of many minerals, and generally
only when he made some slight alterations in the results of
the then known analyses, in doing which, however, he always
proceeded with great caution. Afterwards these incorrect
analyses were replaced by correct ones, and indeed especially
by Berzelius himself and his pupils, who employed in their
analyses the most accurate methods proposed by him.

Berzelius first arranged minerals according to their electro-

Biography of Berzelius. 3

positive constituents. But after Mitscherlich’s discovery of
isomorphism, which has exerted so important an influence
upon the arrangement of the system, he considered it more ad-
vantageous to classify minerals according to their electro-ne-
gative constituents, because the substitution of isomorphous
substances is far more frequent among the bases than among
the acids; and therefore the classification according to the
electro-negative constituents corresponded more with the
requirements of mineralogists. Both methods have their
advantages; they are equally philosophical, and may be em-
ployed with equal justice ; it is therefore a great injustice that
Berzelius should have been charged with inconsistency in
making this alteration.

The mineral system of Berzelius is not even yi completed.
He was far from wishing to affirm that it was incapable of
improvement, on the other hand, during his whole after-life
he continually improved it, and from time to time published
it in a more perfect form. The last edition was superin-
tended by Rammelsberg in 1847 at the request of Berzelius.

The most important modifications still to be made on this
system, are perhaps those which would result from a more
simple application of the doctrine of isomorphism. It is cer-
tainly difficult to harmonize the opinions as to how this ought
to be done.

Berzelius was not quite right in affirming that it is the
constituents of a substance alone which must determine
its place in a system. Even in the last “ Jahresberichte”
published by him, he declares that, in a mineral system, the
sole question for consideration is the elements and their
inorganic combinations, and that it is these which must be
_ systematically arranged. But he himself directs attention

to the difficulties which this view necessarily involves. Is
it, he asks, admissible to make one species of diamond and
graphite, or of rutile, Brookite, and anatase, or of calcareous
spar and arragonite? It is scarcely to be expected that mi-
neralogists will give their consent to such a course.

However, Berzelius decides in the affirmative. Still I am
of opinion that there are even many chemists who will not

unconditionally agree with him in this. For itis not alone
A 2

+ Biography of Berzelius.

from the constituents that all the characteristic properties
of the compound result, but also from the mode and action of
their combination, which is frequently indicated by the form.
Taking all this into consideration, it appears probable that
dolomite is more closely related to calcareous spar than
arragonite, and even that tinstone is nearer to rutile than
anatase and Brookite.

Since the external characters of minerals are determined,
as well by their constituents as by the mode in which these
are combined with each other, it follows that that chemical
system of mineralogy which approaches most closely to the
natural systems, or which even corresponds with them, must
be the most perfect.

Some time after the appearance of the mineral system,
Berzelius published his work “ Ueber die Auwendung des
Léthrohrs in der Chemie und Mineralogie.’ He had, in
Fahlun, under the guidance of his older friend Gahn, a pupil
of Torbern Bergman, acquired an uncommon dexterity in the
use of the blow-pipe, enriched this special part of chemistry
with a number of original investigations, and brought it to a
high degree of perfection. In the above-mentioned work he
makes known everything connected with the subject, as well
what he learned from Gahn as what he had himself dis-
covered.

It is rarely that a work has been welcomed by chemists as
this was ; but it is also seldom possible at once to recognise
the practical value of a work, as in the case of this. It was
immediately translated into most European languages ; and
in some, especially the German, passed through several edi-
tions. Everywhere it met with merited appreciation ; and
Mr Children alone, the editor of the English edition, allowed
himself to add remarks as superfluous as ill-natured.

Besides the behaviour of the most important chemical
compounds, all metallic oxides, acids, and their salts, sul-
phurets, &e., before the blow-pipe, Berzelius described the
behaviour of all minerals which he could obtain, and which
were so much the more readily placed at his disposal, as he
required only very small quantities for these experiments.
He entered upon this investigation with untiring industry,

Biography of Berzelius. a)

and was thus able to furnish even those mineralogists who
but unwillingly admitted the influence of chemistry upon
mineralogy, with an extremely welcome gift, since, by simple
blow-pipe experiments, it was possible to distinguish minerals
with ease and certainty, especially among siliceous com-
pounds, which were with difficulty, or only ambiguously,
recognisable by means of their external characters.

This work bore so manifestly the stamp of perfection, even
on its first appearance, that, with the exception of Plattner,
in Freiberg, no one has contributed any essential additions
or improvements to blow-pipe investigations ; and it is quite
as indispensable to the chemist and mineralogist at the pre-
sent day as it was thirty years ago.

About this time, Berzelius discovered selenium, and
was engaged upon the admirable investigation of this ele-
ment. Never was there an examination so accurate and tho-
roughly exhaustive, of an interesting and hitherto unknown
element, comprising all its characters and remarkable com-
binations, so that, if we except the discovery of selenic acid
by Mitscherlich, which escaped Berzelius, nothing essentially
new was added to our knowledge of this element during the
next thirty years. Our astonishment at this must be raised,
when it is-recollected that all these investigations were car-
ried on with a very small quantity of material, only about
an ounce of selenium, of which quantity a part was lost,
owing to the carelessness of a servant.

This paper upon selenium can only be compared with that
by Gay-Lussac upon iodine, which appeared several years
before, and has yielded, in so many respects, such valuable
results. It must, nevertheless, be remarked, that Gay-
Lussac was not the discoverer of iodine, and did not under-
take the investigation until after the first chemist of that
_time, Davy, had almost established the true nature of io-
dine; and that he had large quantities of material at his
disposal.

Almost at the same time that Berzelius was engaged in
the examination of the compounds of selenium, Arfvedson
occupied himself in his laboratory with the analysis of some
Swedish minerals ; and under the guidance of Berzelius, suc-

6 Biography of Berzelius.

ceeded in discovering lithium, which, as it came so unex-
pectedly, justly created great interest.

The following larger papers of Berzelius form, as it were,
a Series of monographs upon separate and important branches
of chemistry, which were at that time still obscure. It was
natural, that when he commenced the demonstration of the
law of definite proportions by means of a succession of labo-
rious investigations, that he must throw aside much, in order
to sketch the groundwork of his system. The investiga-
tions which he now undertook, were all instituted in accord-
ance with a matured plan, and he had long meditated upon
them before actually entering upon them.

The first of these investigations was upon the ferruginous
cyanogen compounds. Gay-Lussac had, in his very import-
ant paper upon cyanogen, neglected to study these com-
pounds. After him several chemists had occupied themselves
with their examination, but all obtained very different results,
the greater number, however, assuming that the iron in the
so-called ferro-prussic acid salts was an essential constituent
of the acid which was combined in the salts with an oxidized
body.

Berzelius, however, shewed that these salts contained
neither prussic acid nor oxidized bases, but that they con-
sist of cyanide of iron combined with the cyanide of an alka-
line metal, and consequently were double cyanides. He also
extended his investigations to the so-called sulpho-cyanic
acid salts, and shewed that they consist of metal, sulphur,
and cyanogen, the latter two united to form a radical (which
he subsequently called Rhodan); and that in them likewise
there was neither prussic acid nor oxidized bases.

These investigations, which fully confirmed the views of
Gay-Lussac regarding cyanogen, were, however, of still
greater importance to Berzelius in another respect. After
Davy had been induced, by his researches in 1810, to con-
sider that it was simpler and more correct to look upon
chlorine as elementary, and not, as he had formerly done, as
a compound of oxygen with a radical that had not been iso-
lated ; most chemists concurred with him in this view. Gay-
Lussac and Thénard, who, even before Davy, considered a

Biography of Berzelius. 7

similar view possibly correct, although not exactly more pro-
bable than the old one, after the discovery of iodine, openly
declared themselves, with Vauquelin and all the other French
chemists, in favour of the new doctrine; and the famous
paper of Gay-Lussac upon iodine, which appeared in 1818,
is written in this spirit.

Berzelius alone, who from the first had disputed the hypo-
thesis of Davy, continued to defend the old doctrine, even
after the discovery of iodine. He did this especially in a
paper which first appeared in Gilbert’s Annalen for 1815. He
there endeavoured, with a profound sagacity which cannot
but be highly admired by every one, even on reading the paper
after the lapse of so long a time, to prove the truth of the
doctrine of the compound nature of chlorine. He directed
attention to the remarkable phenomenon that the constitu-
ents of chloride of nitrogen, which are united only by a very
feeble affinity, separate with such an energetic evolution of
heat as is never observed except in chemical combinations.
But above all, he pointed out the analogy which existed be-
tween muriates, which, according to the new theory, in the

-anhydrous state contain no oxygen, and the sulphates, phos-
phates, and other salts, which are indisputably compounds of
oxygen acids with oxygen bases, and in which the presence
of oxygen may be readily detected.

The great authority of Berzelius, and the soundness with
which he carried out his refutation of all the evidence brought
forward in favour of the new theory, were the reasons why
many chemists, especially in Germany, did not adopt Davy’s
view of the nature of chlorine.

The immediate cause of Berzelius undertaking the inves-
tigation of the cyanides of iron was evident, viz., he expected
to find in them a more compound radical (united with oxy-
gen forming an acid) associated with an oxygen base, and
similar to that which he assumed to exist in muriates. It
cannot be disputed that to some extent he doubted the ac-
curacy of Gay-Lussac’s experiments on cyanogen. Then,
as the salts of the ferrocyanic radicals resemble so closely in
their characters the ordinary oxygenous salts, and especially
as several metallic cyanides, such as cyanide of mercury

8 Biography of Berzelius.

or silver, correspond so completely with the analogous chlo-
rine compounds, he was of opinion that if he could by this
investigation detect oxygen in theferrocyanic compounds, it
would be a strong proof of its presence in muriates likewise,
and, consequently, evidence in favour of the old theory of the
nature of chlorine.

However, the result of these investigations was the oppo-
site of that which he expected, and thus the main argument
against the new doctrine of the nature of chlorine fell to the
ground. When gradually other reasons for the greater pro-
bability of the new theory were discovered, Berzelius adopted
it with the most amiable candour, and relinquished the old
theory which he had so long and so ably defended.

One, among other, of these reasons was, as I know, the fol-
lowing :—Immediately after Berzelius’ investigations on the
cyanides of iron, Leopold Gmelin obtained the interesting red
double salt of cyanide of potassium and cyanide of iron, which
is anhydrous and contains no oxygen. The red colour of the
peroxide of iron, which is more or less communicated to all
its salts except the neutral ones, was to Berzelius an addi-
tional reason for regarding the red perchloride of iron as an
actual salt with an oxygenous base; and, as in the salt
obtained by Gmelin, notwithstanding its red colour, the iron
was not in the state of oxide, but directly combined with
cyanogen, one double atom of iron with three double atoms
of cyanogen, Berzelius saw that it was probable that the red
colour of iron compounds was not owing alone to the pre-
sence in them of peroxide, but was also common to those in
which one double atom of iron is combined with three double
atoms of chlorine or cyanogen.

Another main inducement to adopt the new theory of the
nature of chlorine, consisted in the results which he derived
in favour of it from his subsequent comprehensive researches
upon alkaline sulphurets. According to Berthollet’s inves-
tigations, these bodies were regarded as combinations of sul-
phur with alkalies until Vauquelin put forward the opinion,
that when a fixed alkali was melted with sulphur, a part of
the alkali was reduced to the metallic state, sulphuric acid
was formed, and a mixture of alkaline sulphate and sulphu-

Biography of Berzelius. 9

retted metal was obtained. This which Vauquelin was only
able to put forward conjecturally, and could not demonstrate
by convincing proofs, was immediately proved most satisfac-
torily by Berzelius through his successful reduction of sul-
phate of potash by means of hydrogen or the vapour of the
sulphuret of carbon. He thus obtained sulphuret of potas-
sium in which there could not be any oxygen. By treating
anhydrous lime with sulphuretted hydrogen at a high tem-
perature, Berzelius likewise obtained water and sulphuret of
calcium. This experiment rendered it obvious that when
liver of sulphur is obtained by melting together sulphur and
carbonate of potash, the solution in water contains sulphuric
acid, which is not, as Berthollet conjectured, first formed by
the decomposition of water, but is a joint product with the
liver of sulphur of the reduction of the alkali. Berzelius
found, moreover, that the alkaline metals combine in several
definite proportions with sulphur forming substances which
are all soluble in water. Thus arose the question: What is
contained in such a solution ‘—a question, the answer to
“which is especially important when regarded in connection
with the solutions of metallic chlorides. Is this liquid a solu-
tion of the unaltered sulphuret in water, or is the alkaline
metal oxidized, and, consequently, a compound of sulphuret-
ted hydrogen with alkali formed, or a compound of sulphu-
retted hydrogen, sulphur, and alkali? Since, in the last
case, it would be necessary to assume as many compounds of
sulphur with hydrogen as there are compounds of sulphur with
the alkaline metals, Berzelius decided in favour of the second
view. Subsequent investigations of the solution of sulphur
compounds of the metals of alkaline earths in water, Have,
in fact, shewn that a decomposition of water really does take
place in this case, and that a compound of metallic sulphuret
with sulphuretted hydrogen and alkaline oxide is formed.

Berzelius regarded these investigations as proving that sul-
phur compounds exist which are very analogous to the mu-
riates, and that there might likewise be bodies which, with-
out containing an acid and an oxygenous base, possess, like
the chlorides, all the peculiar characters of salts; and, con-
sequently, if this were so, all that evidence against the new

10 Biography of Berzelius.

theory of chlorine fell to the ground which he had derived
from the perfect analogy of muriates with salts, which con-
sist of an oxygen acid and an oxygenous base.

With this investigation of alkaline sulphurets was con-
nected the equally important one upon the sulphur salts,
which, however, did not appear until several years afterwards.

In the former paper Berzelius had directed attention
to the fact, that the sulphur compounds of alkaline me-
tals and of earthy metals combine with other metallic sul-
phurets in the same way as the oxides of these metals com-
bine with other oxides. Double sulphurets are thus formed
which admit of being compared with ordinary salts, inasmuch
as one metallic sulphuret constitutes the electro-positive,
that is, the basic part of the compound; the other, on the
contrary, the electro-negative part, representing the acid.
But here only the lowest sulphurets of the alkaline metals,
that is, those corresponding as regards their composition
with the basic oxides of these radicals, will fill the place of
basic sulphurets ; the higher sulphurets behave, as it were,
like peroxides; they may sulphurise other metals, but do
not combine with their sulphur compounds.

The different stages of sulphuration of the electro-negative
metals which Berzelius called sulphides, and whose composi-
tion is analogous to that of the metallic acids, combine with
the electro-positive or basic sulphurets in such proportions,
that if the sulphur were replaced by an equal number of
atoms of oxygen, some one of the salts would be formed
which the same radicals would yield in their oxidized state.

Of the sulphur compounds of the non-metallic elements,
those of carbon and hydrogen alone combine with the basic
sulphurets of the metals ; the latter class of compounds,—
those of sulphuretted hydrogen with alkaline sulphurets,—
were already known under the name of hydrothio-alkalies,
but their true composition was not recognised until now.

Berzelius regarded this extensive series of sulphur com-
pounds quite appropriately as salts, and gave them the suit-
able name of sulphur salts, in order to distinguish them from
the oxygen salts, or those which had been long known, and
the so-called haloid salts, under which name Berzelius com-

Biography of Berzelius. 11

prised the compounds of chlorine, bromine, iodine, fluorine,
and cyanogen, as well as other compound radicals with
metals.

This discovery of sulphur salts is indisputably one of the
most important extensions of chemistry. Berzelius entered
upon their study with great industry, and the number of sul-
phur salts examined by him amounted to about 120, to many
of which he certainly could only give a passing attention,
although he analyzed many quantitatively.

Next to this followed his investigation of hydrofluoric
acid, one of the most important which Berzelius executed,
Since it has thrown such an unexpected light upon several
of the most interesting departments of chemistry.

Thénard and Gay-Lussac had indeed already prepared
hydrofluoric acid in a pure state, and several of its com-
pounds. But as they were at the same time occupied with
a number of other important researches, they did not pur-
sue this subject further, and especially did not study with
Sufficient accuracy the phenomena which presented them-
selves when potassium was heated in fluoride of silicium.

Berzelius, in the first instance, prepared the most impor-
tant metallic fluorides; then he went on to the remarkable
compounds which hydrofluoric acid forms with electro-ne-
gative fluorides, especially fluoride of silicium, and fluoride
of boron, but also with fluoride of titanium and others. It
was through him that we first acquired a correct conception
of the composition of hydrofluosilicic acid and the fluosilicates,
as well as of the action of water upon fluoride of silicium.
But the most productive part of this investigation was when
Berzelius repeated the experiments of Gay-Lussac and
_ Thénard, for the purpose of decomposing fluoride of silicium
by means of potassium. He had just at this time learned
from Wohler how to prepare potassium by means of car-
bonate of potash and carbon according to Brunner’s method,
and thus provided himself with large quantities of this
metal. On decomposing fluoride of silicium by potassium he
obtained the same results as the French chemists, namely, the
brown non-metallic substance which they regarded as a com-
plex compound of fluosilicide of potassium and of fluoride of

12 Biography of Berzelius.

potassium with silica. Berzelius found that it was impure sili-
cium, which, when washed with water, could be obtained free
from all fluorine compounds. It then contained only an ad-
mixture of silica, which could be extracted by concentrated
hydrofluosilicic acid, after having previously been slowly
heated to redness. He moreover shewed that the silicium
could be obtained in different states of density, and with dif-
ferent characters.

This unexpected result induced him to undertake similar
investigations with fluoride of boron. Weare indebted to him
for a correct knowledge of the decomposition of fluoride of
boron by water, and of the composition of the fluoborides, as
well as an easy method of preparing boron, by treating fluo-
boride of potassium with potassium. He likewise disco-
vered at this time the gaseous chloride of boron, and correct-
ed the views of the composition of boracic acid by his own
experiments and those of Arfvedson. He moreover prepared
the compounds of fluoride of titanium with metallic fluorides,
especially fluoride of potassium, from which body he shewed
how metallic titanium was to be obtained by means of potas-
sium. This is the only method by which titanium can be
obtained in a pure state ; for the experiments of Wohler have
proved that the substance found in the slags of iron furnaces,
and formerly called metallic titanium, contains nitrogen and
cyanogen. The compounds of fluoride of tantalum with me-
tallic fluorides were also prepared, and he obtained metallic
tantalum in the same way as titanium. He then reduced zir-
conium from the zirco-fluoride of potassium by means of
potassium, studied the characters of zirconia, and finally
turned his attention to the double compounds of fluoride of
molybdenum and fluoride of wolfram with metallic fluorides,
of which, however, he only prepared the compounds of fluoride
of potassium with molybdate and tungstate of potash.

Berzelius had intended to pursue these very interesting
investigations of fluorine compounds further. But when he
found that a distinguished French chemist had also com-
menced the study of fluorine compounds, and had already
named some newly discovered ones, he gave up his intention.

It must be remarked, that in these investigations Berzelius

Biography of Berzelius. 13

assumed that fluoric acid was an oxygen acid, and that it con-
tained a radical, combined with two atoms of oxygen, as he
had previously done in the case of hydrochloric acid. Butin
the same year that he gave up his study of fluorine compounds,
viz., in 1825, he observed in the first part of the third German
edition of his ‘* Lehrbuch,” that it was more probable that
fluoric acid, like hydrochloric acid, was a hydrogen acid ; and
he described all the fluorine compounds according to this view.

Together with these comprehensive researches, Berzelius
published a number of less extensive ones. They all origi-
nated in his meeting with a number of doubtful statements
while editing his ‘“ Lehrbuch,” in reference to which he im-
mediately instituted experiments in his laboratory, for the
purpose of quickly deciding uponthem. From among these I
will here mention only the research upon chloride of lime,
which was formerly regarded, according to Gay-Lussac, as a
compound of chlorine with lime, and the chlorides of potash
and soda were likewise regarded as similar in composition.
Berzelius, on the contrary, directly after adopting the view of
the elementary nature of chlorine, declared these bleaching
compounds to be mixtures of metallic chlorides with salts,
containing an oxide of chlorine as an acid. He was of opin-
ion, aS he did not closely examine the subject, that the acid
was chlorous acid, until the researches of Balard proved that
it was hypochlorous acid.

Berzelius proved, that all the other explanations of the
composition of the bleaching compounds were incorrect, by
shewing that these contained an oxide of chlorine. He dis-
solved, in a solution of carbonate of potash, as much chloride
of potassium as it would take up, and passed chlorine through
the liquid without saturating it. After a few minutes chlo-
ride of potassium was precipitated, which contained no chlo-
rate of potash, or scarcely any; the liquid had acquired the
power of bleaching. When the liquid was separated from
the precipitated chloride of potassium, and perfectly saturat-
ed with chlorine, chlorate of potash was precipitated, con-
taining scarcely any chloride of potassium. Consequently,
during the first action of the chlorine, chloride of potassium
must have been formed from potash, the oxygen of which

14 Biography of Berzelius.

could only have combined with chlorine, giving rise to the
production of the bleaching compound.

It had long been the wish of Berzelius to investigate the
rare metals accompanying platinum, the knowledge of which
had been left imperfect by the chemists who discovered them.
He was enabled to carry this into execution, when, after the
discovery of the large quantities of platinum in the Ural, he
received, through Herrn von Caucrin, a considerable quan-
tity of native platinum, as well as native Osmium-Iridium.
This circumstance led him into a very important investiga-
tion of the process for decomposing native platinum ores, by
means of which the rare metals accompanying platinum were
first properly made known. He studied the characters, de-
termined the atomic weights of Rhodium, Palladium, Iridium,
and Osmium, and prepared a ‘number of their compounds.
Owing to the great number of the oxides and chlorides of
these metals, and their great similarity to each other, this
investigation was very difficult; and, as regarded osmium
and osmic acid, a very unpleasant one. But although Ber-
zelius himself declared that he had as it were given only the
first sketch of the history of these metals, still this re-
search, like all that came from his hands, was an extreme-
ly accurate, and to a certain extent, perfect one.

The next investigation of Berzelius was in reference to a
new and peculiar earth, Thoria, which he had discovered in
a mineral from Brevig, in Norway. He had previously, on
examining the mineral near Fahlun, found an earthy sub-
stance in very small quantity, which he regarded, although
not with certainty, as a new earth, which he called Thoria ;
subsequently, however, he convinced himself that it was
phosphate of Yttria. Since the newly discovered earth re-
sembled, in some of its peculiar characters, alumina, he called
it likewise Thoria; the mineral in which he had detected it,
Thorite, and the metal which he obtained from its volatile
chlorine compound, Thorium. Thoria belongs to a group
of earths which are very similar in their characters to zir-
conia, and of which Svanberg, Bergemann, and Sjogren have
recently discovered several. At first Berzelius assumed that
thoria contained only one atom of oxygen; the experiments,

Biography of Berzelius. 15

however, which he made for the purpose of determining the
atomic weights of the metal and earth, are probably not quite
decisive, and it is perhaps more likely that the earth is com-
posed of two atoms of metal and three atoms of oxygen.

The next subject to which Berzelius turned his attention
belongs to organic chemistry. It was a comparative investi-
gation of tartaric and racemic acids. He first corrected his
former analysis of tartaric acid, in which he had given an
atom more hydrogen than Prout and Hermann, and adopted
the results of these chemists. But he then found that the crys-
tallised tartaric acid had precisely the same composition as
the effloresced racemic acid, and that both acids had the same
capacity of saturation,—facts which, especially at that time,
were in the highest degree remarkable. This was one of the
first clearly demonstrated examples that bodies of different
characters may have the same composition. Berzelius had,
sometime before, observed a somewhat similar fact in re-
ference to the oxides of tin, and Faraday, a short time after-
wards, in reference to the compounds of carbon and hydro-
gen. Clarke had also discovered the remarkable modifica-
tion of phosphoric acid, which he called pyrophosphorie acid.
On this occasion Berzelius combined together, in an interest-
ing manner, what was known of these bodies, to which he
gave the name Isomeric. This term has been universally
adopted, now that the number of such bodies has been so
greatly increased.

From this time Berzelius frequently occupied himself with
subjects which are certainly of the greatest interest for every
thinking chemist, and indeed for every scientific man, since
they are calculated to unfold to us somewhat more fully the
nature of matter. He made known his views on this subject
repeatedly, both in his “ Jahresberichte,” and in the several
editions of his “ Lehrbuch.” Finally, he assumed two essen-
tially distinct kinds of isomerism, and, in the strictest sense
of the word, called those bodies only isomeric in which the
elementary atoms may be regarded as grouped in different
ways, forming compound bodies. These isomeric bodies may
again be of two different kinds. They consist either of com-
pounds which, with equal atomic weights, present different

16 Biography of Berzelius.

characters, or of compounds in which, though they possess
different characters, the relative proportion of the constitu-
ents is the same, but in which the atomic weights are not
equal, but twice, thrice, etc., times as great as that of each
other. Such bodies Berzelius termed, for the sake of anti-
thesis, Polymeric compounds.

The other kind of isomerism Berzelius called Allotropism.
It refers solely to elementary bodies, which, owing to causes
not yet sufficiently understood, assume a different character
from that which is usual to them, and, as it appears, retain
this difference in many combinations, when it may be the
cause of differences in the character of these compounds.
When isomeric conditions are observed in compound bodies,
which consist of only two elements, combined in very simple
proportions, this isomerism is, according to Berzelius, to be
regarded less as owing to the different arrangement of the
elementary atoms than to the allotropic condition of one or
both of these elements ; nevertheless, instances may occur in
which both causes are simultaneously at work.

It is possible that Berzelius may sometimes have gone too
far in his assumption of allotropic conditions, for there are
some grounds for believing that an apparent allotropism may
result merely from a different state of division. Thus, a few
years before the discovery of the first example of isomerism,
Magnus observed the interesting fact, that when the oxides
of iron, nickel, and cobalt, are reduced by means of hydrogen
to the lowest possible temperature, the metals obtained ignite
spontaneously, and oxidize when exposed to the atmosphere.
This pyrophoric character evidently results from the finer :
subdivision of these metals, and it is destroyed when a higher
temperature is employed in their reduction, which causes the
particles to cohere together. The differences in platinum,
according as it is reduced from its salts by the humid process,
or obtained by igniting the ammonio-chloride: likewise the
unequal combustibility of silicium, and its variable solubility
in hydrofluoric acid, may probably be explained in the same
way. Nevertheless, Berzelius was inclined to ascribe all
these differences to allotropic conditions.

Shortly after the appearance of the paper in which Berze-

Biography of Berzelius. UT

lius treated of bodies which, with the same composition, have
dissimilar characters, Dumas went so far as to put forward
the bold question, Whether many elementary bodies were
not allotropic conditions of one substance, especially such as
have the same, or very nearly the same, atomic weight, as
nickel and cobalt, platinum and iridium, &c.? Berzelius fa-
voured this hypothesis, and regarded it as befitting, that new
ideas should be followed up in all directions, even when it is
not possible at the same time to adhere strictly to that which
is, for the moment, to be regarded as probable ; for truth
sometimes appears inconsistent at the first glance, and in
any case this was a way to arrive more rapidly at the results
which might follow from a new idea. Certainly, upon the
other hand, it cannot be denied that the question respecting
a relation similar to isomerism between elements which have
analogous but still distinctly different chemical characters,
belongs to a domain, where perhaps our conjectures will never
admit of being put to the proof.

The next paper by Berzelius was upon Vanadium. Sefstrém
had found a new metal in the bar-iron of Taberg, which he
called by this name. He had, however, restricted his in-
vestigation to the preparation of the oxide, or rather the
acid of this metal, from the finer slags of the Taberg iron,
and the determination of its distinguishing characters. He
then transferred his stock of Vanadic acid to Berzelius, in
order that he might investigate the characters and history of
the new metal. This investigation is a very extended one,
and through it we have become acquainted with the new
body in all its relations; whilst, as these are manifold and
interesting, and as the acid has but little resemblance to
other acids, it was difficult to assign to it its true position
among them. In this respect the paper of Berzelius on va-
nadium may almost be compared with that upon selenium ; for
both have this peculiarity in common, that by them we have
become so thoroughly acquainted with new and hitherto en-
tirely unknown bodies, although in both instances but very mi-
nute quantities of rare material could be employed, that sub-
sequent investigations have added but little more at all, and
nothing essential. Vanadium was afterwards found at several

VOL. LIV. NO, CVII.—JANUARY 1853. B

18 Biography of Berzelius.

places, although always in very small quantities. Wohler
directed especial attention to the fact, that the acid of the
new metal was contained in the lead ores of Zimapan, in
Mexico, in which, as early as 1801, Del Rio discovered a
new metal, and called it Erythronium; but, misled by the
authority of Collet-Descotils, who declared it to be chromium
(with which Vanadium has certainly some similarity), he
afterwards admitted that his discovery was an error.

His next researches, which were upon Tellurium, were of a
similar nature. Berzelius had already instituted experiments
with very minute quantities of this metal, in so many respects
interesting, but he was compelled to discontinue them for want
of material. When Wohler sent him a considerable quantity
of this rare metal, which he had prepared from the telluric
bismuth of Schemnitz, he again commenced the investigation.
He first shewed how this metal can be prepared in its purest
state. He then prepared all the compounds of tellurous
acid (peroxide), as well of telluric acid, discovered by him,
with bases, and indeed the different isomeric modifications
which these acids form. These researches are likewise so
complete, that they have fully developed the history of this
remarkable metal in all its relations.

The last great investigation by Berzelius, is that upon
meteoric stones. He undertook this with the intention of
studying these bodies, as my brother and Nordenskjold had
already done, as species of rocks, and, by this means, to de-
termine what individual minerals they contained. The im-
mediate inducement was a meteoric stone sent to him by
Reichenbach, which had fallen a year previously in Moravia.
But besides this, he examined three other earthy meteoric
stones, and two masses of metallic iron. Berzelius inferred
from his analyses that meteoric stones consist entirely of such
minerals as are found upon the earth, and that they certainly
do not contain any elementary constituent which is not met
with in terrestrial bodies. It was only in the meteoric stone
of Alais that he found carbon in an unknown state of combi-
nation: this stone, when placed in water, disintegrated and
fell to powder, which had a mixed smell of clay andhay. This
shewed that if, as Berzelius considered, meteoric stones origi-

Biography of Berzelius. 19

nated from other cosmical bodies, in their native state they
could be converted into clayey mixtures, like the rocks on our
own globe. He then raised the question as to whether this
carbonaceous earth from the surface of another cosmical body
contained organic remains, and consequently, whether there
were upon its surface organised bodies, more or less resem-
bling those on our earth ? It is easy to conceive the interest
with which he attempted to solve this question. This solu-
tion was not affirmative, but the results of his experiments
did not justify a negative inference. Water and alkalies did
not extract anything organic from the meteoric mass; on dry
distillation, however, carbonic acid, water, and a blackish-
grey sublimate were obtained, but no empyreumatic oil and no
hydrocarbon ; the carbonaceous matter was, therefore, not of
the same nature as the humus upon the earth’s surface. The
sublimate heated in oxygen, gave no carbonic acid or water,
and changed into a white insoluble substance, whose nature
could not be determined on account of the minute quantity.
But to have pronounced it to be an elementary body, not origi-
nally belonging to our earth, would have been an exaggera-
tion.

This was the last extensive research made by Berzelius.
His health, which, never strong, had already often necessi-
tated the interruption of his labours, became, with increasing
age, more delicate, and no longer admitted of his remaining
continuously in the laboratory. He suffered, as is not unfre-
quent with intellectual men, especially from nervous head-
_ aches, which could not be mitigated by the most moderate
living. He now began to complain of a failing of the senses,

especially his sight, and also of the weakness of his memory.
But his scientific activity did not on this account. cease.
‘He interested himself to the last for every branch of chemis-
try, and took the most active share in all the achievements
of this science. Indeed, now that he was no longer occupied
by important practical labours, he concentrated his activity
more especially upon undertakings of a literary character,
and with a zeal and industry which deserve the greater ac-
knowledgment, since his bodily sufferings increased every

year.
Ba

20 Biography of Berzelius.

Among the products of the literary activity of Berzelius, I
will here only make especial mention of the different editions
of his “ Lehrbuch der Chemie,” and his ‘“ Jahresberichte
ueber die Fortschritte der Physikalischen Wissenschaften.”
His other works, the lectures upon Animal Chemistry, and his
work on the Blowpipe have already been spoken of.

The “ Lehrbuch der Chemie’”’ first appeared in Swedish.
It was translated into German first by Blumhof, then by
Bléde and Palmstedt, and the later editions were translated
by Wohler and Wiggers. It was also translated into other
languages, but did not pass through so many editions in any,
as in the German, for besides the translations of Blumhof
and Blode, five editicns have appeared. The last but one,
the fourth, consisted, on completion, of ten parts. The fifth
and last was commenced by Berzelius in 1842, but was not
completed, only five volumes having appeared, certainly very
Jarge, each one containing nearly sixty sheets. The inor-
ganic chemistry alone is completed. Of the organic part con-
tained in the last two volumes, the most pe isi ani-
mal chemistry—is wanting.

In this work Berzelius has treated very fully of all the
facts appertaining to the science, with a remarkable clearness,
perspicuity, and apt illustration. At the same time, every
Subject is criticised in such an impartia] and just manner
as can be displayed only by one who stands as high in
science aS he did. The arrangement which he selected is
indeed not a strictly systematic one, which, in a science so
imperfect as chemistry, can certainly only be called conve-
nient. But especially in the inorganic part, there is still a

certain well-founded succession, such that it is very easy to °

become familiar with the work. In the organic part the facts
are not arranged according to a strict scientific principle, and
a classification adapted for inorganic compounds could not
possibly be carried out with organic bodies. For although
Berzelius had always declared himself strongly in favour of
the application to organic chemistry of what we know of the
mode of combination of the elements in inorganic nature, as
the clue by which alone we could arrive at a knowledge of
organic bodies, still he was compelled to admit, that we were

Biography of Berzelius. 21

far from having advanced so far as to be able to treat of all
organic bodies as radicals, oxides, chlorides, &c., as in inor-
ganic chemistry. Most of the assumed organic radicals, often
of a complicated nature, are of a hypothetical nature; they
gain a somewhat certain character only when some com-
pounds of the radical with other simple radicals can be pro-
duced, and the oxygen in them replaced by chlorine, sulphur,
&e. In addition to this, chemists are of very different opi-
nions as to how the composition of organic bodies is to be
represented, even when they agree in a fundamental prin-
ciple. Moreover, as is natural, the different arrangements
vary, according as more new facts are discovered. For the
present, therefore, it is at least more advantageous to treat
of organic bodies in an elementary work in such a way as
Berzelius has done, namely, in groups containing those bodies
which have the greatest general similarity in chemical cha-
racters. It has frequently been seen, that works in which
atheoretical principle has been strictly followed throughout,
do not so well fulfil their principal object.

In the organic part of his work, Berzelius has declared
himself against the so-called substitution theory, and the
law of types. He assumes, on the contrary, that conjugate
compounds exist in organic bodies, in which, for instance,
acids are united with compound radicals, or with their oxides,
chlorides, &c¢., in such a way that the acid is not saturated,
but is still capable of combining with bases without separa-
tion of the associated substance,—the conjunct,—which enters
with the acid as a constituent of the salt. When an acid has
entered into such a conjugate combination, it has generally
acquired such altered characters, that neither the acid nor its
_ salts are similar to the free acid and its salts. When hydro-
gen is replaced in an organic substance by chlorine, or an-
other halogen, this generally takes place in the conjunct and
not in the acid, and the former does not on this account cease
to play its former part, of modifying the character of the
salts into which it enters, with its acids, more or less, and
accordingly as its composition is altered by substitution.

{t has been asserted that the replacement of hydrogen by
chlorine, in organic compounds, was not to be explained

22 Biography of Berzelius.

at all in accordance with the electro-chemical views of Ber-
zelius, and that consequently these views were incorrect.
But when such a substitution takes place, it is, as already
mentioned, generally only in the compound radical,—that is,
the conjunct, and a newradical is thus formed, in which chlo-
rine may perhaps occupy the place of hydrogen, but cannot
play the same part as it did. Substitution of elements may
therefore be very satisfactorily explained, according to the
principles of Berzelius ; and if his theory be impartially com-
pared with the others which have been put forward in such
number in organic chemistry, the inference will be, that in
the present state of the science it is in a position to explain
the facts more satisfactorily than any other.

On looking carefully through the various editions of this
work, it is impossible not to regard it with admiration. It
is not only the clear and comprehensive description which
attracts,—the sound, impartial criticism, which compels men
of opposite opinions to appreciate justly,—or the great mi-
nuteness which has not left unnoticed a single fact, however
trifling, if it was of any influence—but it is also the enor-
mous industry which must create astonishment. A scientific
man who had done nothing more than publish this excellent
work, in so many editions, each of which was so completely
revised that but little of the previous edition was retained,
could not be refused by us our grateful acknowledgments of
his great industry: and yet this constitutes but a fraction
of the achievements of Berzelius.

It is touching to call to mind the words with which he
concluded the preface to the last German edition, which he
could not quite complete; it is dated November 1842. He
says, ‘‘ I cannot overlook that, even if the Almighty should
grant me life and power to complete the edition of which the
first part is now published, this will be the last. For this
reason, I considered it necessary to revise it so thoroughly,
that I could express the final views which have appeared to
me as the most probable during the long space of time in
which I was so fortunate as to be able to follow with unin-
terrupted attention the development of the science, from the
first growth of the antiphlogistic chemistry up to the present

Biography of Berzelius. 23

time—fortunate if, among the many views which a future
extended experience will alter or correct, at least some few
may prove to have been rightly conceived. With the pro-
foundest conviction of the uncertainty of our theoretical views
as well as of their indispensability, I have endeavoured, in
presenting them to the reader, not to inspire him with any
more firm conviction of their accuracy than they appear to me
to merit, and I have therefore always directed his attention to
the uncertainty in the selection of modes of explanation. It
is a great obstacle to the progress of science to attempt to
cause conviction of the truth of that which is uncertain.
What is believed is not submitted to any further examina-
tion; and the history of science shews that a deeply-rooted
belief in theoretical conceptions has often withstood the most
palpable proofs of their inaccuracy. Many of the defenders
of Phlogiston required a regular development of the doctrine
of oxidation in order to be convinced of its truth, and many
distinguished men died believing in Phlogiston.”

An undertaking by no means less gigantic than his ‘“ Lehr-
buch’’ was the publication of the “ Jahresberichte,”’ which ap-
peared regularly from the year 1820 until the death of Ber-
zelius. The last completed volume comprises the discoveries
of the year 1846. SBerzelius therefore published twenty-
seven volumes.

After Berzelius had been elected, as successor of the botanist
Olaf Swartz, to the office of perpetual secretary of the Aca-
demy of Sciences, he succeeded, among other important
_ changes which he considered necessary in the statutes of the
Academy, in carrying into effect the arrangement that annual
reports on the progress made in the various physical sciences

should be written by members of the Academy, especially the
different curators of the Natural History collections of the
Academy, and that these reports should be presented at the
annual public meeting held upon the 31st of March, the
anniversary, and extracts read from them, after which they
should appear in print. Members of the Academy undertook
to write such annual reports in the departments of Botany,
Zoology, Astronomy, Mathematics, and Technology. Berze-
lius himself undertook the reports on Physics, Inorganic

24 Biography of Berzelius.

Chemistry, Mineralogy, Vegetable and Animal Chemistry,
and Geology.

It was only a man like him, who as it were surveyed at
one glance the whole range of chemistry, and himself-worked
so much in all its branches, that could have adequately exe-
cuted such an undertaking. These reports will long remain
an example of the way in which such productions ought to
be carried out. They were very comprehensive in those depart-
ments with which Berzelius was most intimately acquainted,
—inorganie chemistry, chemical mineralogy, and vegetable
and animal chemistry ; less so in the other parts, which con-
tained only the most important discoveries in those sciences
with which Berzelius had not especially occupied himself, or
which he had not pursued during the latter half of his scien-
tific career, such as physics and geology. The reports were
generally objectively written. If the views of the author of
the original paper corresponded more or less with those of
Berzelius, he gave an abstract, proportionate in extent to the
importance of the subject, but always most admirable. If,
on the contrary, their views differed from his, he allowed
himself to express his opinion upon them, and observed a
noble and impartial criticism, which rarely became at all
violent. In this respect, it is certainly to be regretted that
precisely his last “‘ Jahrbericht” closes with an energetic
attack upon another celebrated chemist. But Berzelius never
mixed up personalities with his judgments; and if some-
times one could not agree with them, still they were always
of such a nature, that although they occasionally gave pain
to those upon whom they were passed, they could never ex- ,
cite any bitterness.

For the science itself these reports were of the greatest
value. Berzelius, on several occasions, drew from the investi-
gations of others important conclusions, which had entirely
escaped the notice of their authors; and as frequently did he
direct attention to new experiments which should be made in
order to strengthen the results already obtained, or upon which
to found new arguments. In this manner he exercised a very
beneficial influence. He was also led to make experiments
himself by these reports; and he then gave their results,

Biography of Berzelius. 25

when they contradicted, improved, or. extended those of
others, in the reports. |

These reports were especially long when it was necessary
to refute opinions and views which Berzelius considered as
detrimental to the progress of science. Thus, the reports of
the discoveries of the years 1838 and 1839 contain very de-
tailed arguments against the hypothesis that all organic acids
are hydrogen acids, and against the substitution theory.
These arguments have always a rare clearness and simplicity.

The objection has often been made to this report, that it
was sometimes very complete, and in some instances too
extended ; sometimes, on the contrary, especially in the phy-
sical part, scanty and imperfect. ‘This 1s certainly true; but
it was very natural that Berzelius should have a partiality
for the treatment of those subjects in which he especially
interested himself and of which he was most master; but as
he was almost equally at home in all parts of chemistry, this
objection cannot be made to the strictly chemical parts of the
reports. With regard to the physical part of the reports,
Berzelius had only undertaken it because no other member
of the Academy would or could do so. It was only in the
years 1838 and 1839 that the report was written by Von
Wrede. As Berzelius had only occupied himself with those
parts of physics which were intimately connected with che-
mistry, it is almost only these parts which are touched upon
in his reports.

In the same way, there was no other reporter to be
found. for the geological part; but as Berzelius had never
occupied himself specially with geology, and only in so far
as it was connected with chemistry, he treated only of the
_ chemical part of that science in his reports, and otherwise
noticed only the geological researches referring to Sweden.
In the latter volumes reports upon geology are altogether
omitted.

I have thus attempted to furnish a sketch of the compre-
hensive scientific activity of Berzelius. It is probably seldom
that science is so greatly advanced through the labours of
one man, and there is scarcely any chemist who has furnished
such admirable and sound contributions as he.

26 Biography of Berzelius.

This representation of his scientific merits would, how-
ever, give only a feeble idea of the whole greatness of the
man, were we to judge from it alone. It is rare that so
perfect a correspondence of mind and character is found in a
man as in him. That which so irresistibly attached those
who had the happiness to have any long intercourse with
Berzelius, was not merely the lofty genius visible in all
his researches ; it was not merely the clearness, the aston-
ishing copiousness of ideas, the untiring care, and the great
industry—the general impression which he made was that
of the highest perfection. It was—and every one who
knew him intimately will agree with me—it was at the same
time those characters which placed him so high as a man;
it was the consideration for others, the noble friendship which
he evinced towards all whom he considered worthy of it, the
lofty disinterestedness, the extreme conscientiousness, the
perfect and just recognition of the merits of others ; in short,
it was all those traits together which spring from a worthy
and honourable character. These were the sentiments which
inspired all those who for a longer or shorter time came into
contact with him, especially his pupils—of whom our Aca-
demy contains more than all the rest of Germany—with the
most pious respect for his memory.

Berzelius travelled the path of Science together with other
distinguished men, who likewise advanced chemistry with
giant steps. This was a time such as no other science has
yet known, for no other has grown up from its childhood to a
certain maturity in so incredibly short a space of time.

Berzelius was born almost in the same year as H. Davy
and Gay-Lussac. However similar were the labours of these ~
three men in science, they were in other respects very dif-
ferent.

Davy’s brilliant discoveries, especially that of the metallic
nature of the alkalies, gave chemistry an extraordinary
impulse, and caused great enthusiasm in its pursuit. He
achieved great things by his discoveries, the further following
out of which, however, he left to others. He died in the
prime of life, but in a certain degree his intellectual blossom
was already past. Born poor, he had attained to great

Biography of Berzelius. 27

honours and great riches, which were perhaps obstacles to
his being subsequently as active for science as formerly. It
is, moreover, in the highest degree to be regretted that, in
the latter years of his life, his very extraordinary talents were
entirely estranged from that science for which he might have
achieved so much.

Gay-Lussac commenced his scientific career with the dis-
covery of an important law in physics, but he afterwards
applied himself wholly to chemistry, and advanced it as much
by accurate investigations as brilliant discoveries. To him
is owing, among other important facts, the law, so important
for the doctrine of definite proportions, that gases unite in
simple relations of volume,—a discovery of which, however,
he did not at first make many applications of which it was
capable. But the most brilliant researches of Gay-Lussac
are indisputably,—besides those published in common with
Thénard on physico-chemical subjects,—the two sets of re-
Searches upon cyanogen and iodine. Even independently
of the extremely important influence which these researches
exercised upon the whole range of chemistry, they may be
regarded as models of investigation, both as regards the
total results, the strict consistency of the reasoning, and the
admirable description. As often as they are read, even
at the present day, they will be regarded with astonish-
ment.

But when, soon after the appearance of his paper upon
cyanogen, Gay-Lussac undertook, in conjunction with Arago,
the editorship of the “‘ Annales de Chim. et de Physique,” his
Scientific activity became gradually less. The first volumes
of this Journal certainly contain several small papers and
remarks which call to mind the author of those on Iodine and
Cyanogen ; but after a few years he ceased to write almost
altogether; and it is almost more to be sincerely regretted
than in the case of Davy, that Gay-Lussac, who died but a
short time since, and after Berzelius, should already in the
vigour of life have renounced his active scientific career,
which seemed to promise so much.

It was not so with Berzelius. He also, after years of po-
verty, gradually attained, if not to great wealth at least to

23 Dr Kelaart’s Notes on the Geology of Ceylon.

external honours, without having sought them in the least.
But these could not estrange him from science; on the con-
trary, he took advantage of every higher position for its
benefit. Science was always solely the object of his en-
deavours, and he never employed them for a purpose foreign
to it. So completely was his whole life dedicated to science,
that, even under the sufferings resulting from a painful
disease during his latter years, his whole thoughts remained
bent upon it alone.

Such men present in their inspired labours, as it were, the
type of the true man of science; and who does not feel him-
self happy to meet them in life ?

Notes on the Geology of Ceylon.—Laterite Formation.—
Fluviatile Deposit of Nuera Elia. By HE. F. Keiaart,
M.D., F.L.S., F.G.S., Assistant Surgeon to the Forces.
Communicated by the Author. )

Though the geological formations of Ceylon are of a simple
nature, and described as such by writers, that attention has
not been paid to the laterite formation of the island which it
deserves ; some have called it decayed clay ironstone, others
have described it to be granitic rocks weathered in situ. It
has not, however, been so slightly regarded by Indian geolo-
gists ; their more recent researches have discovered new fea-
tures in this peculiar formation, which have thrown great
doubts as to its being the mere result of disintegrated or de-
composed trappean rocks in situ. Captain Newbold of the,
Madras Engineers has even gone so far as to suspect it to be
of tertiary origin. It is with a view of drawing the attention
of observers in this island, for a more complete elucidation
of this subject, that this communication is submitted to the
Ceylon Asiatic Society.

The term laterite (derived from later, a brick) is applied to
those masses of reddish clay, more or less indurated, and
containing pebbles or crystals of quartz. It is called by the
Singalese cabook, and it is used extensively for building
purposes. There are several varieties of laterite, and which

Dr Kelaart’s Notes on the Geology of Ceylon. 29

admit of classification. 1. Laterite, properly so called, of a
hard, compact, almost jaspedeous rock, formed of indurated
clay, tubular or sinuous, in which are impacted quartz cry-
stals of various sizes and colours; generally of a reddish or
brick colour. To this kind, the term Quartzose may be
applied, as it contains a larger proportion of undecomposed
quartz. The cavities and sinuosities are lined or sometimes
filled with a whitish, yellowish or reddish clay. 2. A second
variety of laterite, and that most frequently met with in
Ceylon, is of a softer consistence, and can be cut easily with
a knife, but hardens on exposure to the atmosphere. The
term Lithomargic laterite has been applied to this kind. 3.
There is another form, which my friend Staff-Surgeon Dr
Clark calls Detrital. This is found in nullahs or ravines. It
is evidently formed of pebbles of quartz, loosely imbedded
in clay, both being washed down to these nullahs by the heavy
rains. The detritus of laterite is seen about Colombo form-
ing a breccia with marine shells. <A laterite gravel is also
seen in various parts of the island, covering the laterite hills,
and it is also found at their base. This gravel is nothing
more than the quartz crystals of the lateritic rocks, separated
by the rains from their clayey matrix. Some of the pebbles
are denuded entirely of the clayey covering; others retain
still a thin coating of it. Lithomarge is a sectile clayey sub-
stance of variegated colours. It is chiefly formed of a de-
composed felspar and hornblende ; whitish when the former
prevails, and yellow or reddish when hornblende predomi-
nates in the rock from which it is derived, owing to the
larger proportion of oxide of iron which the latter mineral
contains. There are extensive hills of lithomarge in Ceylon,
and frequently it lies under the hard laterite, and is often in-
terposed between its layers.

With the exception of Voysey, and his few supporters (who
regard the laterite to be of igneous or volcanic origin), geo-
logists consider laterite to be the product of the disintegra-
tion and decomposition of granitic rocks. The difference of
_ opinion rests upon the question, whether the disintegration
or decomposition took place in situ, or whether the disinte-
grated masses were deposited, or brought from a distance,

30 Dr Kelaart’s Notes on the Geology of Ceylon.

and laid over the rocks on which laterite now lies; or, in
other words, is it a formation in itself derived from rocks
which formerly existed ?

To the former view (weathering in situ) there are many
more supporters than to the latter, and among them our late
much lamented Dr Gardner, who, from observations both in
this island and on the continent of India, attributed the for-
mation of laterite to the simple decay of gneiss or granitic
rocks. I cannot but agree with him that in many cuts or
sections of the rock, nature is detected in the act of disinte-
gration, some of the original stratification (often seen running
almost vertically) of the gneiss being preserved. In other
places it is difficult to trace where the gneiss terminates,
and the laterite commences, one as it were running into the
other. But I must observe that I could never trace this con-
tinuity in the hills of the harder variety of laterite. Here,
certainly, the appearances are favourable to the opinion that
laterite is a distinct formation of itself. And yet this hard
laterite rests on gneissic rocks, aS is seen at the bottom of
wells sunk in the lateritic hills at Mutwall, and in the Fort
of Colombo. Laterite may also be seen, says Captain New-
bold, capping hypogene or trap-rocks of great elevations,
while the adjacent hills, composed of an exactly similar rock,
and forming a continuation of the same bed, equally exposed
to the action of the weather, are quite bare of the laterite.
He also observed laterite resting on limestone, without a
trace of lime in the laterite. If my information be correct,
laterite is also seen over some of the limestones of Jaffna, in
the north of the island. General Cullen found on the western
coast of India, fifteen miles south of Quilon, a layer of lignite
in the laterite, imbedded in a stratum of dark shale and clays.
Lignite has also been seen in the laterite of Travancore ;
and graphite has also been observed there. These are the
observations which have made Newbold and others view the
laterite of Southern India as a distinct formation, more recent
than any of the rocks. ‘Till similar features are observed in
some of the laterites of Ceylon, we are obliged to regard them
to be the weathering of rocks in situ.

To comprehend, how a hard compact rock like granite or

Dr Kelaart’s Notes on the Geology of Ceylon. 31

gneiss, could moulder away into laterite and lithomarge, it is
necessary to know the composition of the minerals which
enter into the formation of these rocks.

The following are the mineral constituents of the most
common forms of

Felspar. Mica. Hornblende.

Biliemy th 26iee 2.6 166275 48:00 42°00
TERS aks rises cr ib rae 34°25 12:00
meet LOO rhe 11:00
aa. A200 8°75 a trace.
Mapnesia,. . . . ee hat 2°25
Oxide of Iron,. . . O75 0°50 0:25
Oxide of Manganese, a 0°50 0°25
Rratere; 5. te — 0-75

98°25 96:00 98°25

Quartz consists of nearly pure silica, with a trace how-
ever of alumina, and sometimes of iron.*

It is easily seen, that the chief source of the alumina
necessary for the formation of clay, is derived from the
felspar and mica which enter into the composition of granitic
rocks, and that hornblende supplies the largest quantity of
iron, the hyperoxidation of which, assisted probably by elec-
tric influences, precedes the disintegration of these rocks.
In rocks in which felspar and hornblende predominate, the
clay formed is much variegated, pure felspar forms the porce-
lain clay or kaolin so abundant on the plains of Nuwera Ellia.
Quartz, if deeply impregnated with oxide of iron, will also
moulder away, but not quite so soon as the other mineral
constituents of hypogene rocks.

Before I had observed the immense lithomargic hills of
Ouvah and Nuwera Ellia, it was difficult for me to believe
that large mountain masses of hard rock could disintegrate
so completely into lithomarge. When there are, however,
such unequivocal proofs of rocks, several hundred feet high,
mouldering away into kaolin or white porcelain clay in some
parts, and in others into lithomargic earths and clays of
various colours and consistence, it is not difficult to account
even for the formation of the harder forms of laterite. In
sections made in Nuwera Ellia for the construction of roads,

* From Jameson’s Journal.

32 Dr Kelaart’s Notes on the Geology of Ceylon.

successive layers of sienitic gneiss are seen in various stages
of decomposition, and these layers retain in some parts, where
the decay is not far advanced, the original lines of stratifica-
tion. Some of these layers are of pure kaolin, others of a
reddish or yellowish clay, some mixed of all three, giving a
beautiful variegated surface to these exposed parts of the
hills. In half-decomposed portions of some of the hills on
the plains of Nuwera Ellia may be seen dark reddish spots,
which are formed of decomposed garnets, and in other hills
are seen scaly graphite. Adularia and Ceylonite are some-
times found in the beds of clay. If such, then, be the striking
illustration of the decomposition of one form of gneiss in
which hornblende and felspar prevail, it is easy to conceive
other forms of granitic or gneissic rocks weathering into
laterite in other circumstances and other situations. Laterite
in any shape is not found in Nuwera Hllia. The stones used
here for building are half-decomposed gneiss obtained from
lithomargic hills, and it is yet to be ascertained how long
these will last. I fear that the decomposed stone is too
felspathic to last many years.

The presence of lignite in some of the laterites of Southern
India, and sometimes laterite being found over limestone,
would lead us to suppose that Jaterites are of two periods.
The one, and only one perhaps existing in Ceylon, being of
the weathering of rocks in situ, and therefore still being
formed, and the other a deposit of disintegrated lateritic
matter (over more recent formations) derived from previously
existing lateritic rocks. The subject, however, requires
further investigation: it is involved in greater mystery than

many other geological phenomena. Ceylon affords many’

opportunities for carrying on observations necessary for its
complete solution. The features of the laterite of Southern
India which induced Newbold to suppose laterite to be a
distinct formation, may also exist in Ceylon, therefore mem-
bers of the Asiatic Society will do well to note the nature of
the rocks on which the Ceylon laterite lies, and to examine
whether any of it contains lignite, or is in the slightest
degree fossilliferous. The discovery of fossils alone will not
prove that laterite is not decomposed gneiss in situ, for Sir

Dr Kelaart’s Notes on the Geology of Ceylon. 33

Charles Lyell and others have suggested the possibility of
finding fossils even in gneiss of later origin. Granting that
this is the case, nothing could then be easier than to account
for the presence of fossils in decomposed masses of the same
kind of rocks. This subject is now engaging the attention
of the Geological Society of London, their notice being at-
tracted to it by the so-called “foot prints” on the gneissic
rock at Kornegalle, which I have not yet had an opportunity
of examining.*

Though the geological features of Ceylon resemble those
of Southern India, yet from the paucity of observations
perhaps there appears to be considerable difference in many
respects, especially in the nature of more recent deposits.
Kunker, a limestone gravel, has not been noticed in Ceylon,
nor has clay-slate been seen in this island, though its asso-
ciate rocks are found in great abundance. Both are found
in extensive beds in Southern India. Regur, the black cotton
soil-which covers nearly two-thirds of Southern India, has
not been noticed in Ceylon, and yet it is most probable that
all these three formations exist in some parts of the island:
most likely in the northern districts.

The only alluvial, or rather fluviatile deposit in Ceylon,
resembling in external characters the Regur of India, is the
black soil of Nuwera Ellia and its neighbourhood. With
this difference, however, regur lies over a limestone gravel,
and the blackish loam of Nuwera Ellia over a quartz gravel,
with a substratum of clayey earths formed of the lithomargic
hills and valleys over which the loam and gravel were de-
posited. A deposit of gravel and loam has also been observed
on the Nielgherries 6000 feet above the sea level. These
deposits of loam and gravel on the patnas and plains of
Nuwera Ellia, are considered by casual observers to be the
decayed particles of the rocks in the immediate vicinity
brought down by the rains. If this is their real nature, the
decomposed particles of the gneiss and quartzite which chiefly
compose these existing rocks above the plains, could not by

any means have taken their present position of the loam and

* Since this paper was written, I have examined the rock, and found it to be
alminated granite, and the marks merely the effects of weathering.
VOL. LIV. NO. CVII.—JANUARY 1858. Cc

34 Dr Kelaart’s Notes on the Geology of Ceylon.

gravel. The colour, too, of the decomposed particles would
not be dark brown or black, but whitish or yellowish, The
loam and gravel lie so conformably on the lithomargic sur-
face of the hills and valleys, that it is unreasonable to suppose
that they were deposited from any other source than from a
large sheet of water.* The heavier particles in the form of
gravel sinking first, and then the lighter particles held in
Suspension in the water were deposited over the bed of
gravel, or, as in some places seen, on layers of various sized
pieces of quartzite and gneiss. The loam is not mixed with
gravel, it is composed of fine sand, just such as mud of rivers
or lakes is composed of. In the lower layers this loam is of
a brown colour, but becoming darker as it approaches the
surface, and after being mixed with the decomposed matter
of the grasses which grow on it, the loam becomes nearly of
& peaty nature and of a blackish colour.

In sections along the different roads which traverse the
plains, a continuous layer of gravel, from one inch to two or
three feet in thickness, is seen lying over the lithomargic
hills, and on this gravelly surface the brown or blackish loam
is seen of various thickness, generally from one to three feet ;
in some places even five or six feet of loam is found. Ina
section near the Governor’s cottage an interruption appears
to have taken place after about a foot of mud was deposited,
and then came over the pure mud masses ef gneiss and
pebbles now lying several feet thick mixed with loam of a
brownish colour. Over this mixed deposit is again seen a
thin layer of loam such as is found in other parts of the
plain—the whole forming a curious variegated structure.

The above observations lead me to conclude that the plains -
of Nuwera Ellia, and perhaps those of higher parts, have
once been the channel of a slow winding river or bed of an
extensive lake. And it is probable that the lower hills,
which look like inverted tea cups, were elevated by subse-

"% May not this account for the want of luxuriant vegetation on these patnas,
the water having washed and carried away to the lower parts of the island the
alkalies and phosphates so necessary to plants? The black soil of Nuwera
Ellia, however rich in appearance, requires much manuring; the best potatoes
are the products of well-manured grounds. Guano is as much required here

as anywhere else.

Dr Kelaart’s Notes on the Geology of Ceylon. 35

quent upheavals after the waters had deposited the gravel
and loam. It is, perhaps, in this manner only that the
almost uniform thickness of the gravel and loam in the valleys
and on the tops of the hills can be accounted for. Had the
present elevated surface existed while the waters were de-
positing the heavier particles held in suspension, we should
expect to find thicker layers of gravel on the valleys than on
the sides of hills ; such is not, however, the case: thick beds
of gravel are even found on the tops of the hills several
hundred feet above the present drainage of the plains. .Geo-
logists have decided that the mountains of Southern India
were elevated to their present heights by successive uphea-
vals, and therefore it is not objectionable to consider the
higher lands of Ceylon to have also been elevated by more
than one upheaval. There is abundant evidence, too, besides
the one just alluded to, to conclude that Ceylon has been sub-
jected to successive internal forces, which will explain also
the present configuration of the mountain masses of Nuwera
Ellia and the characters of Nuwera Ellia and Horton Plains.
Hitherto no evidence of deluvial or glacial currents have
been found in Ceylon. The rounded rocks of granite and
gneiss, Seen on various parts of the island, are the effects of
a spontaneous concentric exfoliation, which small and large
masses of these rocks are susceptible of. Major Lushington
has instanced this peculiar exfoliation in a gigantic scale on
the rock of Dambool. Alluvial and fluviatile deposits are
Seen in various parts of the island; but none, perhaps, so
extensive as the fluviatile deposits of Nuwera Ellia, which
appear to extend from Horton Plains passing over Nuwera
Ellia, and progressing towards the valleys of Maturatte on
one side, and to Dimboola on the other. Although these de-
posits are not of a diluvial nature, still there is an importance
attached to them, as they shew that at a former epoch the
interior of Ceylon was traversed by broader and more expan-
sive sheets of water than any of the rivers of the present
day. It is doubtful, however, whether this large lake or river,
which has deposited its mud on the plains of Nuwera Ellia,
is dwindled down into the narrow streams which now exist
on these plains as tributaries to the great Mahavilla ganga.
c 2

36

On the Condition and Prospects of the Aborigines of
Australia. By W. WestGaArRTH, Esq.

(Continued from vol. liii. p. 241.)

9. Past and Present Methods, and Proposed Plans for the
Welfare of the Aborigines.

All plans that have been hitherto adopted for the civilisation of
the Australian Aborigines appear to have proved almost uniformly
unavailing for the accomplishment of any permanent good. Amidst
the difficulties which beset the subject, and the discordant opinions
as to the methods that are best adapted to their condition and cir-
cumstances, it is not to be supposed that the eye of the Government
possessed the faculty of discerning the proper path more clearly than
others. Various apparently feasible plans have been tried, and are
still being followed out by the authorities ; and expense has not been
spared, where there appeared any prospect of benefit.

Missions.—The following table, taken from the appendix to the
Committee’s Report, contains an abstract of Mr Auditor-General
Lithgow’s Return for the Colony of New South Wales, of the ex-
penses of Missions to the Aborigines, from the Ist January 1821
to 30th June 1845. The period of duration of each Mission is.
taken from Mr Dredge’s pamphlet :

Aboriginal Native Institution, 1821 to 1833, £3,364 9 101

Inquiry under Lt, R. Sadlier, 1826 and 1827, 388 4 4
Mission at Lake Macquarie, 1827 to 1841, 2,145 65 10
Mission at Wellington Valley, 1832 to 1843, 5,964 10 2
German Mission at Moreton Bay, 1838 to

1842, ; : .. Lolo ts
W dsleyan Mission at Port Philip 1836 to

1848, ; ; ; . 4,5386°23 79

Total expense of Missions, £17,917 138 13

Protectorate at Port Philip, established 1838, 32,756 15 63
Cost of Blankets, &c., not included sieowhote. 9,746 14 74%

a

Total Expense of the Aborigines, £60,421 3 4* |

* 30th June to 380th December, . , LIAO rae
Making a total (exclusive of Police) of . £61,591 7 6:4
One-half of the expense of Border Police,
(usually considered to be on account of a
the Aborigines) 1839 to 30th June 1845, 44,954 5 6

Total, £105,375 8 10

Condition of the Aborigines of Australia. 37

There is a Roman Catholic Mission at Stadbroke Island in More-
ton Bay, where there are four Missionaries employed. ‘This island
is a band of sand about 20 miles long, and was selected as the site
of a Mission in the hope that the barrenness of the spot might pre-
vent its being settled on by the colonists. Parties have since settled
there, however ; and the Pilot Station is on the island. The Wes-
leyan Mission at Buntingdale, will be noticed hereafter.

The Protectorate.—Missions to the Aborigines having proved
unsuccessful, a generous effort was made by the British Government

in the establishment, about eight years since, of the Port Philip
Protectorate, by which it was intended to protect and provide for the
considerable number of Aborigines scattered throughout the then
newly colonized territory of Australia Felix. The Protectorate was
established in conformity with instructions issued in 1838, under the
Colonial Secretaryship of Lord Glenelg; and owes its existence to
the results of the inquiries of a Committee of the House of Commons,
which sat in 1833-4, to ascertain what measures should be adopted
for the general benefit of Aboriginal races in British Colonies. The
district was accordingly sub-divided, and four sede agi oie stations
were occupied.

According to general opinion in the colony, the Protectorate has
entirely failed in the accomplishment of the objects for which it was
benevolently intended. But some consideration is due to the opposite
testimony of the Protectors themselves. They have been able in
some degree to restrain the Aborigines from robberies and mutual
warfare. Mr Robinson claims that they have demonstrated that
large bodies of Aborigines may be associated together without injury
to themselves or to Europeans. Mr Thomas attributes much of the
harmony of his district to his continually moving about with the
Aborigines, and settling their mutual disputes and the aggressions.
They have doubtless been instrumental, within the sphere of their
influence, in checking the practice on the part of the colonists of
shooting or otherwise ‘destroying the blacks, whom hunger or revenge
had impelled to rob them, and whose lives were frequently sacrificed
on very slight pretexts. The inconvenient scrutiny which the Pro-
tectors have exercised with reference to the commission of any violence
upon the population placed under their care, is not to be ranked in the
list of their non-efficiency. ‘‘ Indeed, the virulent opposition evinced
against the department, I am sure,” says Mr Robinson, “ must
be considered rather as a proof of its efficiency than otherwise.”

In most other respects, however, the Port Philip Protectorate
appears to have been equally unsuccessful with other experiments on
the Aborigines; one of the assistant Protectors himself honestly
acknowledging, that though he cannot charge himself with dereliction
of duty towards the Aborigines, to whom he has endeavoured to
communicate religious truth, yet as far as regards his own exertions,
no visible benefit has resulted.

38 On the Condition and Prospects

Mission at Buntingdale.—This Wesleyan Mission, which had in
vain laboured to effect some change in the habits and religious senti-
ments of the Aborigines, was within the last three years about to be
abandoned as an unsuccessful attempt, when it occurred to the Rev.
Mr Tuckfield, one of the missionaries, to try a new principle of
management with these untractable tribes. This was simply to sepa-
rate the different tribes, and maintain them distinct and isolated,
alike from the white population, and from one another. Buntingdale
is aretired spot about thirty-five miles to the south west of Geelong,
and remote from any principal thoroughfare. Mr Tuckfield appears
to have selected one of the tribes of that locality. There are at
present (1845) about fifty Aborigines attached to that mission.

Its Success——The results of this experiment appear to have ex-
ceeded expectation. The natives have remained on the place. Some
of them have built slab huts for themselves ; others have made their
own shirts and trousers. Some of the young men have become ex-
pert at fencing, ploughing, reaping, &c.; others have shepherded,
washed, and shorn small flocks of sheep—contributions from ‘neigh-
bouring settlers. From these successful beginnings, Mr Dredge is
so sanguine as to anticipate that the mission will ere long even more
than defray its own expenses, and assist in the formation of other
missions.

Plans and Alterations proposed.—Experience of plans, and more
accurate knowledge of the habits and character of the Aborigines,
have combined to give a somewhat definite and mutually accordant
aspect to the methods that have latterly been suggested. The plan of
the Protectorate appears to have been in error chiefly in the attempt
to amalgamate different tribes, without respect to their long-standing
mutual antipathies and prejudices. * It appears, indeed to be quite
as necessary to separate and remove the respective tribes from one
another, as to isolate the whole body from the whites. Mr Robinson
admits, with reference to the Protectorate operations, that it is ques-
tionable how far it may be advisable thus to congregate large num-
bers of Aborigines, unless teachers, as originally intended by Govern-
ment, were appointed to promote among them the knowledge and
practice of Christianity.

Mr Dredge recommends that Missions be established in each of
the most numerous and powerful of the tribes; and that the location
of the respective Missions be as remote as possible from purchased
lands and squatting stations, and also from one another, so as to

* Mr Parker, Assistant Protector of Aborigines, denies that the principle of
the Protectorate differs so essentially from that pursued at Buntingdale, as Mr
Dredge makes it appear. All the difference Mr Parker can find is, that whereas
as Mr Tuckfield’s exertions are limited to fifty individuals ; there are from 250
to 300 immediately connected with his own station, all of whom have been held
together without any sacrifice of life, or even the occurrence of bloodshed.—
Parker, quoted by Robinson, 18.

of the Aborigines of Ausiralia. 39

‘prevent the members of one tribe from mixing with those of another.
Their mutual animosities are deep rooted and incurable. They should,
therefore, be taken in hand tribe by tribe; and not a tribe here and
there, but at one and the same time, as those who are not in charge
will decoy the others.

Missions in the vicinity of squatting stations will not answer, on
account of the many inducements presented to the natives to ramble
from the establishment ; those planted far in the interior would, how-
ever, require the assistance of a police force.

There is undoubtedly more hope of success with the children than
the grown-up blacks; but it appears to be absolutely necessary to
withdraw the former from association with their parents and the
tribe. Little can be otherwise accomplished towards the improve-
ment of their condition. ‘‘ The boys are invariably practising to
throw the spear and bomerang, and look forward with evident pleasure
to the time when they may be permitted to join in a hunt or a fight ;
the charms of both seem to be equal.”” Mr Robinson remarks, that,
when out of their own districts, the Aborigines have been found ex-
ceedingly tractable ; and he thinks that interchange of locality with
those of Port Philip and the middle district would prove beneficial.

Distributing of Clothing and Provisions.—It had been the practice
of Gevernment to distribute considerable numbers of blankets among
the Aborigines; but within the last two or three years this liberality
had been much restricted, under an impression that the privilege
was generally abused or disregarded by the blacks. One of the
queries of the Committee’s circular relates to this subject, and the

evidence afforded by the answers is almost unanimously to the con-
trary effect. The Aborigines have a strong partiality for blankets.
They will patch and mend them to the last. Other descriptions of
dress are passed about from one to another, and soon disappear ;
and they have been known to make fires and burn very good clothes
on leaving town. An oppossum rug has frequently been given in
exchange for a blanket.

In the Broulee district, blankets had been issued regularly since
1837 up to last year (1844) ; and in expectation of the usual supply,
the Aborigines of that district had made no suitable provision for
winter, so that many old people perished in consequence. Mr Dunlop
describes the plaintive but indignant remonstrance of the native chief
at the discontinuance of the miserable dole on the part of the Govern-
ment “to his very few old women and six young ones, all so cold—
no hut, no blanket, no light fire on white fellow’s ground.’?> Women
and children and old men are particularly objects for the distribution
of blankets. In some instances the men are apt to barter them away
for spirits or tobacco. Some of the witnesses considered that none
who were able to work should get a blanket, without giving an equi-
valent in labour.

Captain Fyans, on the other hand, thinks they are sometimes the

*

40 On the Condition and Prospects

occasion of riot and assassination, and had better not be distributed,
or at least not without an equivalent in labour. Mr Wickham says,
that blankets seldom remain long in their possession, and considers
that a long robe or shirt of blue cotton cloth would be more suitable.
This garment would be more decent, and cost but a trifle. Count
Strzelecki suggests the justice and humanity of supplying the wants
of the Aborigines by a weekly simultaneous issue of rations of bread
and meat.

Legislation.—The present state of the criminal law with regard
to the Aborigines is somewhat anomalous and oppressive. In the
first place they are declared subjects of the British Crown,—an honour
conferred without either their knowledge or concurrence, and which
‘it is verily believed they have never yet been able to comprehend.”
Again, they are accountable to British laws for offences not only
against the colonists, but also for those committed among themselves.
Ti hey are at the same time legally disqualified from giving evidence
in acourt of justice ; a circumstance which, in Mr Robinson’s opinion,
has tended to accelerate the destruction of the Aborigines among the
whites. Mr Thomas urges the necessity for some special law adapted
to their case. Mr Powlett considers that native evidence, when
strongly corroborated, might be permitted to go to a jury, to be re-
ceived for what it might be thought worth.

Count Strzelecki reflects upon the anomalous nature of the whole
policy pursued by the government towards the Aborigines, He con-
siders they should have been placed more directly under the public
authorities, have been supplied with food, and have been declared a
conquered race, to render their actual position intelligible to them-
selves.

Mr Parker recommends some stringent enactments to prevent the
prostitution of the native women by the labouring population. He
is convinced, from minute inquiry on the subject, that this is the
most frequent cause of Aboriginal outrages.

At Swan River, an island is appointed exclusively for Rhecpinat
criminals ; and according to the reports of the Rotnest establishment,
the best results have been realised.*

Suitable Agents.—Mr Dredge strongly contends that the Christian
missionary is the only qualified party to civilise the Aborigines.
Suitable agents should be supplied by the church, a term he would
by no means use in a sectarian or exclusive sense.

* In consequence of incessant mutual hostility between the Aborigines and
the colonists of Van Diemen’s Land, the entire body of the former were hunted
out and removed, in the year 1835, to Flinder’s Island, in Bass’s Straits, where
the miserable remnant still resides. They numbered 210 on their first arrival,
but in 1842, when Count Strzelecki visited the island, they were reduced to
54. There had been only 14 children born during eight years.— (Strzelecki,
pp. 352-5,)

ee

ee

of the Aborigines of Australia. 4]

10. Prospects for Aboriginal Civilisation.

_ If the prospects of the Aborigines with reference to civilisation
are to be estimated by what has hitherto been accomplished, they
are miserable indeed. The difference of opinion that prevails on
this subject can scarcely relate to the actual results of the past, which
have been so uniformly unfortunate; it is due rather to theoretical
deductions connected with views and principles of religion.

_ Mr Dredge contends that Christianisation must be the pioneer and
parent of civilisation, and that all attempts to reverse this process
must fail, and always have failed. “ The degradation and moral
verétchedness of the heathen are the sad and direful results of moral
and spiritual causes; and for their removal the only adequate and
appointed instrument is the Gospel, the spirit of Christianity.” He
then exhibits the various steps that will be successively taken by
these heathens, after the Gospel has begun to operate on their minds,
concluding that “it can thus be clearly demonstrated that vital heart-
felt Christianity, truly embraced and spiritually enjoyed, develops
_the only plan for emancipating the heathen from their moral thral-
‘dom,’’*

But judging from past and present experience, these applications
of the abstract truths of religion are probably little adapted to forward
practically the cause of Aboriginal civilisation. In opposition, also,
to the usual views that, the teaching of religion should precede all
other modes of Ron, Count Strzelecki remarks that the
Aborigines’ institutions being as it were sapped by the preaching of
Christianity among them, some civil organisation should have pre-
ceded the new faith. But he conceives very slender hopes as to any
ultimate good that may result to the Aborigines, from these attempts
to initiate them into feelings and habits so widely different from their
own. ‘ From what has been observed of the two races, one may
_ affirm, without fear of contradiction, that 2 will be easier to bring
the whites down to thé level of the blacks, than to raise the latter to
- the ideas and habits of our race.”

The Australian savage has been suited to the circumstances which
surround him, In these he is seen healthful and contented, “ securing
all the worldly happiness and enjoyment of which his condition is
capable.” But this economy has been disturbed by the arrival of
Europeans. He can neither stem the inpouring torrent, nor imbibe
the civilisation that is offered him ; he retreats, and finally disappears.
Amidst the wrecks of schemes, says the traveller with pathetic elo-
quence, there remains yet one to be adopted for the benefit of the
Aborigines—to listen and attend to the last wishes of the departed,

* Mr Parker speaks to the same effect, adding, that he is well assured there
is nothing either in the nature of true religion, or the capacity of the Abori-
ginal intellect to exclude this race from a full participation of its benefits.—
(Hutracts in Robinson’s Replies, 18.)

42 On the Condition and Prospects

and to the voice of the remaining few :—‘ Leave us to our habits

and customs; do not embitter the days which are in store for us,

by constraining us to obey yours; nor reproach us with apathy to
that civilisation which is not destined for us,”

11. General Review.

Regard the Aboriginal Australian, as he now appears, surrounded
by civilised man. Behold him a wandering outcast ; existing, ap-
parently, without motives and without objects ; a burden to himself,
a useless cumberer of the ground! Does he not seem pre-eminently
a special mystery in the designs of Providence, an excrescence, as
it were, upon the smooth face of nature, which is excused and abated
only by the resistless haste with which he disappears from the land
of his forefathers? Barbarous, unreflecting, and superstitious, how
strangely contrasted is an object so obnoxious and so useless, with
the brightness of a southern sky, and the pastoral beauty of an Aus-
tralian landscape.

Such are the reflections that will naturally occupy the mind of
the passing observer, after a cursory glance at the wandering tribes
of Australia, But the arrangements of Providence for the benefit
of the great and varied family of mankind, should not be studied
in accordance with one uniform standard of customs and _ institu-
tions. The instinctive and mental faculties peculiar to each race,
though widely different one from another, may yet exist in perfect
accordance with the circumstances by which each is surrounded.
To the philosophic traveller who beholds the Aboriginal native in
his yet uninvaded haunts, and remarks his health, his cheerfulness,
his content, his freedom from anxieties and cares, few spectacles can
be more gratifying ;* and he readily admits that the broad and beaten
tract of civilisation is by no means the only road which the Creator
has left open to man for the attainment of happiness.

These mutual relations have been destroyed by the approach of
civilised man. In his irresistible progress he has either driven off
the Aboriginal tribes, or subdued their native spirit, and subverted
their social polity. Their peculiar habits and ideas, the result of
physical and psycological laws operating throughout many successive
generations, are permanently engrafted in their constitution, and are

not to be eradicated without the long continued use of counteracting

moral and physical appliances, involving a far greater lapse of time
than is usually considered necessary in the estimate of the philan-
thropist or the missionary.

Deeply feeling the alien occupation of their country, yet their
savage arts are utterly powerless against the arms and authority of

* Strzelecki, pp. 338, 342, 343, where he describes the real enjoyment of
existence among the Aborigines after their own fashon—now moving about,
hunting, fishing, with occasional war, alternated by feasting, and lounging on
the spots best adapted to repose,

—_—_

of the Aborigines of Australia. 43

their opponents. The prostration of spirit, the listless indifference
of the Aboriginal mind, are the natural result of this relative position
to the whites. The Aboriginal native, widely different in his habits
and pursuits, is unable to rise to a comprehension of the actions,
motives, and principles that compose the structure of civilisation.
Simple in his ideas, his griefs are evanescent, and he is in general
cheerful, and even docile and gentle. The vicinity of civilised man
acts, after a time, like a powerful spell upon his conduct; but the
mind remains radically unchanged ; and when he again returns to
the security and undisturbed solitude of his native wilds, this in-
fluence is quickly counteracted and thrown off.

All efforts to civilise and Christianise the Aborigines have hitherto
_ proved singularly abortive. True, indeed, as might be anticipated,
the management of the young children presents fewer difficulties than
that of the adult natives. There is also with Aboriginal tribes, as
with civilised nations, a conspicuous diversity of individual character.
They are not all equally fierce or barbarous, or untractable ; and
the dark phalanx is occasionally relieved by the advance of some
solitary member, whose comparative aptitude and docility have too
readily stimulated the anticipations of sanguine and zealous minds.

But the care and diligence of the missionary, though they cannot
convert the mind of the Australian savage, may yet tame and subdue
his spirit ; and by removing, as far as practicable, every known in-
ducement to his barbarous customs and wandering habits, maintain
him at least in quietness, without injury to himself or the colonists.
Isolation and solitude, the total absence of hostile tribes, the pe-
riodical and regular supply of food at the missions or stations ; all
these circumstances, so different from those in which his habits have
been moulded, must gradually weaken that stimulus which gives a
zest and pleasure to his erratic and turbulent existence. The savage
is deprived of much of the enjoyment congenial to his disposition.
But his primitive manner of life is no longer attainable in the present
circumstances of the colony. His country has been occupied by a
race, whose habits and customs, and daily avocations of life, are to
him alike unenticing, irksome, and monotonous, destitute of visible
motive or of adequate results. He has neither the desire nor the
capacity to associate with the whites; and when he would retreat
from their blighting presence, into territories still uninvaded in the
progress of colonisation, he is repulsed by other tribes of his own
race, who already occupy the locality to which he might retire. His
lot is truly hard and unfortunate. The tranquillity of an Australian
Savage is not that of enjoyment, but rather of quiescence and torpor.
The restraints and deprivations to which, in the attempt to reclaim
his mind and habits, it is sought to subject him, are to be excused
and justified only in the view, that they are the means of avoiding
still greater impending evils.

All projects for the civilisation of the Aborigines should be framed

44 On the Condition and Prospects

in consonance with the view that in other circumstances than the
present, (that is, in the previously undisturbed condition of these
tribes,) these appliances for their behoof would be a positive injury
and injustice. To remove the Australian savage from all intercourse,
whether amicable or otherwise, with other tribes, to anticipate, by
a gratuitous supply of food, the necessity for his accustomed corporeal
and mental exertion, are simply to undermine the chief sources of
the variety, excitement, and happiness of which his existence is sus-
ceptible. In the moral and physical conditioy in which the Aboriginal
Australian has been placed, even the mutual wars of the tribes must
not be overlooked, as incorporated with those various adaptations by
which the energy and activity of the mind and body are duly maintained.
It is indeed only considerations of a different and a higher character
than the mere miseries, great as these may often be, that immediately
result from war, that will eventually banish such scenes from the
catalogue of human. affairs.

In all localities where the Aborigines are peaceably conducted, and
contrive to pick up a subsistence sufficient for their wants, it appears
advisable to leave them to themselves. In places where the sources
of their support are diminished, the women and old men, or, if
necessary, all the individuals of the tribe, should be regularly and
simultaneously supplied with weekly rations of bread and meat.*

All the women and old men, otherwise unprovided for, should be
supplied at stated intervals with blankets: to the children may be
given the long robe or shirt of blue cotton cloth recommended by
Mr Wickham. It cannot, indeed, be considered too great a stretch of
generosity on the part of the Colonial Government to supply blankets,
at stated intervals, to all Aborigines applying for and properly using
them, whose territories have been occupied by the Colonists.

Some degree of success may undoubtedly be anticipated in the train-
ing of the Aboriginal children, particularly where they can be separated
from their parents and tribes. On this principle, the present Ab-
original School is conducted at the Merri Creek, near Melbourne,
under charge of Mr Peacock. It now contains 14 boys and 7 girls.
As its existence dates only from the end of last year, the result of
the experiment cannot as yet be decided on ; but the prospects appear
favourable. ‘The children are noways deficient in ability in learn-
ing to read. 3

The experiment of Mr Tuckfield, at Buntingdale, may also be
regarded as successful; namely, that of isolating a single tribe of
Aborigines upon a reserve of ground, and separating its members

* Tribes which are inclined to be turbulent, are probably best kept in check
by a force of Aboriginal police. In the Port Philip Herald, of the 30th of
June 1846, an estimate is made of the expense of the Native Police (Aborigines),
as compared with that of the Border Police (Colonists), each of the former cost-
ing annually £36, 14s. 4d.; each of the latter £53, 7s. If the native Police,
therefore, continue to give the same satisfaction as heretofore, there is every
inducement to employ the Aborigines in this capacity.

°
EEE = -—_ i

of the Aborigines of Australia. 45

alike from those of other tribes, and from the colonists, and engaging
the various individuals in useful, active, and self-supporting occu-
pations, |

The means of support should be extended by the Government to
each of such descriptions of schools or missions, both by conditional
grants of land, and by the assistance of money or rations. Where
a locality has been thickly settled with squatting stations, it is indeed
highly desirable that the scattered remnants of surviving tribes
should if possible be transferred to the care of the missionary. _ In
such localities, the Aborigines usually wander about, either begging
from or plundering the settlers, and with but little scope or stimulus
for the exercise of their primitive manner of life. At the missionary
reserve, on the other hand, they would be secured from the disease
and dissipation to which their restless habits continually expose them.

The plan of the Protectorate is unsuited to the case of the Ab-
origines, from the circumstance of the mutual distrust and animosity
of the tribes. Another mistake, and of a more evident character,
has also been made in committing to the accidents of a civil appoint-
ment the responsible and laborious duties attending the work of
Christianising and civilising the Aborigines. The, exalted motives,
strength, and perseverance of religious zeal, form, generally speak-
ing, the only efficient agent in such a work.* It appears desirable,
however, except in particular instances, and in the case of the native
children, to leave the Aborigines, as far as circumstances will permit,
to the free enjoyment of their own mode of life. Interference should
be the exception, not the rule, and the apparatus of the Protectorate
appears to be no longer necessary. In other respects this establish-
ment might perhaps have been continued with advantage under a
modified form. The heavy expenses attending it were unavoidable,
under any practical arrangements for the civilisation and maintenance
of large bodies of the Aborigines.

Such of the natives as were not under the special care of mis-
_sionaries, or employed by the colonists, might be nominally under
charge of the Crown Land Commissioners, who should furnish
periodical reports on the numbers and condition of the Aborigines
in their respective districts. The services of a few of the magistrates
residing in different parts of the colony might be made available for the
occasional distribution of such provisions and clothing as the neighbour-
ing tribes might be considered to require.;—(Vide Westgarth on the
Condition and Prospects of the Aborigines of Australia, in Journal
of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia, vol. v. p. 704.)

* From the evidence given by the two present assistant Protectors, Messrs
_ Parker and Thomas, it is very apparent that they have been actuated in their
labours by a missionary spirit, and stimulated by religious zeal. They have in
fact been missionaries, operating on an extensive scale.

{1 These remarks are intended to apply to the Port Philip District only,
which is best known to the writer.

J. F. Miller, Esq., on the

46

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Hygrometers.
: Weight of || Required
r D D :
‘cia Dry Bots. Wet Bus. pot Sey EW Ve ~~ “ aor Sana
SE Ee | ieee Fe tors || > a hae MER lees cur LCi RO Ras:
9AM. | 3 P.M. 9AM. | 3P.M. 9Aa.M. | 3 P.M. Air. of Air,
Grs. Grs.
January 42:02} 44-28 || 40°62 | 42°34 || 38°92] 39-99 2°58 0°98
February 40°78 | 44:55 || 39°27 | 42°10 || 37:50 | 39-37 2°45 1°32
March 43:16| 46:95 || 41°09 | 44°11 || 38°58] 40-91 2°51 1°37
April 45°66 | 50-26 || 42°65 | 46°35 39°29 | 42°40 2°49 2°45
May 52:24! 54°66 || 47°85 | 49°65 || 438°40| 45°76| +2°76 2°46
June 58°10! 61°04 || 53°78 | 55°54 || 50°79! 51°70! . 3-54 2°52
July 59°89 | 62:08 || 55°45 | 56°48 || 52°35! 62:58 3°64 2°63

August 60°34} 64°51 || 57°19 | 59°41 || 55:00| 56°13} 4°25 2°51
September|| 56°55 | 59°63 || 53-48 | 55°12 || 51:37} 51:93] 3:74 2°03
October 51:94| 54°53 || 50°37 | 51°43 || 48°80] 49:02] 3°50 1:44
November || 38°94 | 42°13 || 37°40 | 39°87 || 35-00 | 37:26] 2°30 1:03
December || 41-71} 43-75 || 40-94 | 42°88 || 40°05] 41:88] 3:05 0°44

1851, 49-27 | 52°36 || 46:67 | 48°77 || 44°25] 45:74| 3:07 1:76
1850, 49°27 | 52-35 || 46-62 | 48°46 || 44°19| 45°17

1849, 52-00 48°21 44:91} 361 1:10
1848, 51:93 48°23 44-98
1847, 51°94 44°12

Remarks.

January.—tThe wettest on record at this place. Those months
which approach the nearest to January 1851 in point of wetness
during the last nineteen years, are December 1853, January 1834,
and July 1846, in each of which the fall of rain slightly exceeded
9 inches. At Scathwaite in Borrowdale, the fall was 28°63 inches,
and on the “Stye’’ it amounted to no less than 38-86 inches, by
far the greatest quantity ever measured in the same period in Great
Britain.

The mean temperature is 4°66 above the average of the preced-
ing eighteen years.

February.—Wet till the 19th; fine and clear during the re-
mainder of the month, Mean temperature, 2°09 above the average.
During January and February, the thermometer reached the freez-
ing point on two nights only.

March.—Mild, with an unusual absence of easterly winds.
Temperature 1°:87 above the average.

The temperature of the quarter ending March 31, is 2°-87
above the average.

The deaths in the town and suburb of Preston Quarter, are 155, |
being three above the calculated average of the preceding twelve —
years, allowing for increase in population.

April.—A very fine, but somewhat cold month. Sun shone out
more or less on 29 days. Mean temperature, 0°57 below the

average.

Meteorology of Whitehaven. 49

Swallows were seen at St Bees on the 9th, and in the immediate
neighbourhood of ‘this town on the 20th. On the 28d, the Cuckoo
was heard in various parts of the Lake District.

On the 18th, at 6.30 p.m., a magnificent triple rainbow with
gorgeous colours. On the 27th, about 10.5 p.m., being in the Ob-
servatory, my attention was attracted by a sudden blaze of light
illuminating the sky, and on reaching the open air, I perceived a
very large comet-shaped meteor proceeding from the head of Draco
through Cassiopeia, but I did not see it more than a couple of
seconds. The meteor greatly resembled a rocket ; its body might
be 14 degrees in length, and it was followed by a long and brilliant
train of bluish coloured sparks. JI am told that when first seen, it
resembled an ordixary shooting-star. The light of the meteor ex-
ceeded that of the full moon, and I feel assured, moderate sized
print might have been read by it. It was seen at 10 p.m. in the
neighbourhood of Manchester, Rochdale, and other places. ‘It pro-
ceeded in (query? from) a south-easterly direction, and, to the eye, the
luminous appendage appeared to be twenty yards in length; it was
followed by repeated flashes of lightning.”

Frequent showers of hail and snow during the latter part of the
month; and on the 28th, the Ennerdale mountains were as thickly
covered with snow as at any time during the winter.

May.—A fine and dry, but ungenial month, Temperature,
2°:13 below the average of the previous eighteen years. On the
3d and 4th, the ground was covered with hail. |

June.—Cold and wet till the 26th, which, with one exception,
was the first really warm and summer like day in 1851. On
the 27th, the maximum of the thermometer rose from 65° to 77°;
and on the 28th, 29th, and 30th, it reached 82°, 83°5, and 79°,
respectively; and these were the three hottest days during the
season. ‘Temperature, 1°52 under the average. On the morning
of the 5th, there was frost in Gosforth, and snow on the Enner-
dale mountains. All the mountains visible from Keswick were
likewise covered with snow. On the 5th, at 4 p.m., there was a
smart hail-shower at Whitehaven, which measured ‘04 in the Plu-
_viometer.

During the month, five parhelia and four solar halos were seen.
On the 11th, between 7 and 7.30 p.m., a solar halo and two par-
helia were seen at Whitehaven. The sun was surrounded by a ring
or halo of a reddish tinge, which intersected two bright spots or
discs, one to the right, the other to the left. The parhelion to the
left or west side of the sun was somewhat fainter than its com-
panion, the cloud being more dense in that direction. Altogether,
the phenomenon was visible twenty minutes or upwards.

On the evening of the 13th, about half-past 6 o’clock, two very
beautiful parhelia were seen by Isaac Fletcher, Esq., from the village
of Eaglesfield. The parhelia appeared on each side of the true sun

VOL. LIV. NO. CVII.— JANUARY 1853. D

50 J. F. Miller, Esq., on the

at a distance of about 23°, and the diffused light in their vicinity
was slightly prismatic. A line drawn through the three luminous
dises was not parallel to the horizon, but slightly inclined upwards
towards the north. The northern parhelion had attached to it a
bush of light, 3° or 4° in length, which tended upwards, and evidently
formed a segment of a circle, which, if complete, would have had-
the sun for its centre, whilst the southern parhelion had a similar
luminous appendage of about the same size, stretching downwards,
and which, doubtless, was another segment of the same circle.
Nearly a quarter of an hour elapsed before the phenomenon en-
tirely disappeared. On the evening of the 26th, between 6 and
6.30 p.m., a similar, but much less perfect exhibition of parhelia
was noticed by the writer at Whitehaven.

On the night of the 22d, about 10 p.m., when in the Obser-
vatory, my attention was directed to a singular white serpentine
cloud in the NNW., at an altitude of about 15°. The cloud was
luminous, and white as frosted silver. Between it and the horizon,
separated by blue sky, were two inky black cirrostrati in strong
contrast. The luminous cloud was visible about fifteen minutes.
The sky was generally clear, and, at midnight, it was perfectly
cloudless, but there was no trace of aurora or other visible cause for
the appearance, though it was probably of electric origin.

June 16, A field of hay in cock near Workington; 28th, first
east of bees; 30th, met with glow-worms in Borrowdale.

The temperature of the quarter ending June 30th, is 1°-40 below
the average. The deaths are 39 below the corrected average num-
ber, which is 124.

July.—Temperature 1°-06 under the average.

On the morning of the 4th, ice of the thickness of half-a-crown
was found on the glass of the hotbeds in Holm Rook gardens. The
potatoes in the neighbourhood were completely blackened by the
severity of the frost. Similar accounts have reached us from Ulver-
stone, and various places in this vicinity.

Three solar halos were seen during the month.

August.—Temperature 0°72 above the average of 18 years.

Several bright meteors or falling stars were noticed; one on the
evening of the 8th conveyed the impression of such extreme proximity
as to resemble a spark from a distant chimney. The grain har-
vest commenced in this neighbourhood on the 26th. Several fields
near Egremont, and one at Distington, are already cut.

September.—A beautifully fine month ; very heavy dews at night.
Temperature 0°63 wnder the average. On the dth, the tempera-
ture fell 20°°5 in 10 hours, and between the 24th and 25th at 3 —
p.M., 18° in 24 hours. During the nights of the 28th and 29th, a —
naked thermometer on wool, exposed on a grass-plot, fell 21°5
below the temperature of the air at 4 feet above the ground. The
terrestrial radiation is now at a maximum.

Meteorology of Whitehaven. | 51

~ On the 25th, the Borrowdale mountains were capped with snow.

The temperature of the quarter ending September 30, is 0°:32
below the average. The deaths in the town and suburb are 92,
being 30 below ‘the average number.

October.—Mild and wet. Temperature 2”'77 above the ave-
rage. Aurore on the nights of the lst and 2d; the latter covered
three-fourths of the sky, and it was partisalorly noticed that the
streamers did not generally emanate from the horizon, but at vari-
ous altitudes above it. One very bright streamer appeared to pro-
ceed from Arided, and shot beyond the zenith. A. still more
splendid aurora occurred on the night of the 1st October 1850,
which is described in my report for that year, published in this
Journal.

On the 24th, a very singular iridescent phenomenon was witnessed
on Windermere Lake, but as the.description of it would occupy too
much space in this report, it will probably form the subject of a
separate paper.

November.—The coldest November on record at this place. The
temperature is 4°32 below the average, and a naked thermometer
exposed on a grass-plot, fell below the freezing point on 21 nights.

December.—A mild but exceedingly dull and damp month. The
air Was nearly saturated with moisture, yet the rain-fall did not
exceed 1:67 inches. The solar rays pierced through the thick
stratum of cloud on 11 days only.

The mean temperature of the last quarter. of 1851 is nearly
coincident with the average of the preceding 18 years. The deaths
are 120, or 15 under the average number.

~ Winds.—In 1851 the winds have been distributed as under :—

N., 25 days: NE., 52 days; E., 193 days; Sk., 233 days ;
S., 69 days; SW., 89 days; W., 27 days, and NW., 60 days.

Weather.—In the past year, there have been 19 perfectly clear
days; 195 wet days; 151 cloudy without rain; 276 days on which
the sun shone out more or less; 22 days of frost; 5 snow showers,

and 13 days on which hail fell. There have also been 9 solar and 4
lunar halos; 5 parhelia ; 1 day of thunder and lightning ; 5 days
of thunder without lightning ; 1 day of lightning without thunder ;
and 13 exhibitions of the aurora borealis.

The mean temperature of the year 1851 is about a quarter of a
degree above the average of 18 years, and the fall of rain is 3°83
inches under the mean annual quantity.

The deaths in 1851 are 452, being 82, or 18 per cent. under
the average number ; the births exceed the deaths by 285, and are
72 above the average of the preceding 12 years, from 1839 to 1850
inclusive.

The mortality i in the town and suburb in 1851, with a population
of 19,281, is equivalent to 23-4 deaths per thousand, or 1 death
in every 49:6 inhabitants.

D 2

52 Sir R. I. Murchison on the

The average number of deaths in the 12 years ending with 1850,
is 503, which, with an assumed population of 18,148, gives 27:7
deaths per thousand, or 1 death in every 86 persons.

In 1846, 1847, and 1848 (assumed average population, 18,329),
the mean annual number is 694, being 37°8 deaths per thousand,
or one in every 26-4 inhabitants, in those exceedingly fatal years.

In 1849, the mortality is equivalent to 32:2 deaths per thousand,
or 1 in every 31 persons; and in 1850, to 24:9 deaths per thou-
sand, or 1 in every 40 inhabitants. The improvement in the sani-
tary conditionof Whitehaven during the last two years is very striking,
and is probably to be attributed, in a great measure, to the abun-
dance and cheapness of food, and to the copious supply of pure water
conveyed to the town from Ennerdale Lake. a

OBSERVATORY, WHITEHAVEN,
November 6, 1852.

On the Basin-like Form of Africa. By Sir R. I. MurcHison,
late President of the Geographical Society.

Geographers will be gratified to learn that a map of South
Africa, compiled by our learned associate Mr Cooley, and
extending from the equator to 19° S. latitude, is about to
appear under the execution of Mr Arrowsmith. With such
a valuable document, and with the map of the whole of the
Cape Colony, we shall soon have before us a general sketch
of the physical features of a large portion of this quarter of
the globe. So much, however, has our knowledge increased
by the valuable original map of the Cape Colony made upon
the spot by Mr Hall (of which Mr Arrowsmith is preparing
a reduction), that we are, as I will now endeavour to shew,
almost entitled to speculate on the prevailing structure of
Africa being similar to that of its southernmost extremity.

In support of the general view to which I now call your
attention, I must state that it has been suggested to my
mind by the explanation of the geological phenomena of the
Cape Colony by Mr A. Bain. This modest but resolute —
man, having been for many years a road-surveyor in the —
colony, had, in all his excursions, collected specimens of the
rocks and their organic remains; and, gradually making
himself acquainted with the true principles of geology, he —

Basin-like Form of Africa. 53

has at length traced the different formations, and delineated
them on the above-mentioned map. In this way he has
shewn us that the oldest rocks (whether crystalline gneiss or
clay-slate, here and there penetrated by granite) form a
broken coast fringe around the colony, from the southern to
its western and eastern shores, and are surmounted by sand-
stones which, from the fossils they contain, are the equiva-
lents of the Silurian or oldest fossil-bearing rocks.* These
primeval strata, occupying the higher grounds, of which the
Table Mountain is an example, and dipping inland from all
sides, are overlaid by carboniferous strata, in which, if no
good coal has yet been found, it is clear that its true place
is ascertained ; and as Mr Bain has detected many species
of fossil plants of that age, we may still find the mineral
pabulum for the steamers which frequent these coasts.
Above all these ancient strata, and occupying, therefore,
a great central trough or basin, strata occur which are
remarkable from being charged with terrestrial and fresh-
water remains only; and it is in a portion of this great ac-
cumulation that Mr Bain disinterred fossil bones of most
peculiar quadrupeds. One of the types of these, which Pro-
fessor Owen named Dicynodon from its bidental upper jaw,
is a representative, during a remote secondary period, of the
lacertine associates of the hippopotami of the present lakes
and waters. The contemplation of this map has, therefore,
led me to point out to you how wide is the field of thought
which the labours of one hard-working geologist have given
rise to, and to express, on my part, how truly we ought to
recognise the merits of the pioneer among the rocks, who
enables us, however inadequately, to speculate upon the
entirely new and grand geographical phenomenon, that such
as South Africa is now, such have been her main features
during countless past ages, anterior to the creation of the
human race. For the old rocks which form her outer fringe,
unquestionably circled round an interior marshy or lacustrine
country, in which the Dicynodon flourished at a time, when

_ Mr Bain himself so styles these rocks in the Map deposited in the Library
of the Geological Society.

54 Sir R. I. Murchison on the

not a single animal was similar to any living thing which
now inhabits the surface of our globe. The present central
and meridian zone of waters, whether lakes, rivers, or
marshes, extending from Lake Tchad to Lake Ngami, with
hippopotami on their banks, are, therefore, but the great
modern, residual, geographical phenomena of those of a
mesozoic age. The differences, however, between the geo-
logical past of Africa and her present state are enormous.
Since that primeval time the lands have been much elevated
above the sea-level—eruptive rocks piercing in parts through
them ; deep rents and defiles have been suddenly formed in
the subtending ridges, through which some rivers escape
outwards, whilst others flowing inwards are lost in the in-
terior sands and lakes; and with those great ancient changes
entirely new races have been created.

Travellers will eventually ascertain whether the basin-
shaped structure, which is here announced as having been
the great feature of the most ancient, as it is of the actual
geography of Southern Africa (t. e. from primeval times to —
the present day), does or does not extend into Northern
Africa. Looking at that much broader portion of the con-
tinent, we have some reason to surmise, that the higher
mountains also form, in a general sense, its flanks only.
Thus, wherever the sources of the Nile may ultimately be
fixed and defined, we are now pretty well assured that they
lie in lofty mountains at no great distance from the east
coast. In the absence of adequate data, we are not yet en-
titled to speculate too confidently on the true sources of the
White Nile; but, judging from the observations of the mis-
sionaries Krapf and Rebmann, and the position of the snow-
capped mountains called Kilmanjaro and Kenin (only distant
from the eastern sea about 3800 miles), it may be said that
there is no exploration in Africa, to which greater value
would be attached than an ascent of them from the east
coast, possibly from near Mombas. The adventurous tra-
vellers who shall first lay down the true position of these
equatorial snowy mountains, to which Dr Beke has often
directed public attention, and who shall satisfy us that they
not only throw off the waters of the White Nile to the north,

Basin-like Form of Africa. 5d

but some to the east, and will further answer the query,
whether they may not also shed off other streams to a great
lacustrine and sandy interior of this continent, will be justly
considered among the greatest benefactors of this age to
geographical science !

The great east and west range of the Atlas, which in a
similar general sense forms the northern frontier of Africa,
is, indeed, already known to be composed of primeval strata
and eruptive rocks, like those which encircle the Cape Colony
on the south, and is equally fissured by transverse rents. As
to the hills which fringe the west coast, and through aper-
tures of which the Niger and the Gambia escape, we have
yet to learn if they are representatives of similar ancient
rocks, and thus complete the analogy of Northern with
Southern Africa. But I venture to throw out the general
suggestion of an original basin-like arrangement of all
Africa, through the existence of a grand encircling girdle of
the older rocks, which, though exhibited at certain distances
from her present shores, is still external, as regards her
vast imterior. |

Let me, therefore, impress on all travellers who may visit
any part of Africa, that their researches will always be much
increased in value, if they bring away with them (as I have
just learned that Mr Oswell has done) the smallest speci-
mens of rocks containing fossil organic remains, and will
note the general direction and inclination of the strata.

With no region of the old world have we been till very
lately so ill acquainted as Africa. But now the light is
dawning quickly upon us from all sides ; and in the genera-
tion which follows, I have no doubt that many of the links
in the chain of inductive reasoning, as to the history of the
successively lost races of that part of the globe, will be made
known, from the earliest recognisable zones of animal life,
through the secondary and tertiary periods of geologists.
Passing thence to the creation of mankind and to the subse-
quent accumulations of the great delta of the Nile, we have
recently been put in the way of learning what has been the
amount of wear and tear of the upland or granitic rocks, and
what the additions to the great alluvial plain of Lower

56 Professor Horsford on the

Egypt, since man inhabited that almost holy region, and
erected in it some of his earliest monuments.* But how |}
long will it be before we shall be able to calculate backwards |
by our finite measure of time, to those remote periods, in
which some of the greatest physical features of this con-
tinent were impressed upon it, when the lofty mountains
from which the Nile flows were elevated, and when the
centre of Africa (certainly all its southern portion) was a
great lacustrine jungle, inhabited by the Dicynodon and
other lost races of animals *—( Vide Address at the Anni-
versary Meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, 1852.)

Solidification of the Rocks of the Florida Reefs, and the
Sources of Lime in the Growth of Corals. By Professor
HORSFORD, of Harvard.

I. It is required to ascertain by what processes, chemical
or mechanical, or both chemical and mechanical, the surface
and the submerged coral rocks have become hardened.

By the surface rock is intended that thin brown crust, com- —
posed of numerous layers, which is distinguished by great
compactness, and a peculiar ring, when, in detached condi-
tion, it is struck by a hammer, and which occurs on the ab-
rupt ocean side, and more abundantly on the long slopes on
the land side of the Keys.

By the submerged rock, is intended the rock of oolitie ap-
pearance which has solidified under water, and which is of
inferior hardness to the surface rock.

The surface rock, so called, has, in many places, no longer ,
the outermost position, though it had at the time of its for-
mation. It is, indeed, interstratified with friable light colour-
ed limestone. The epithet indicates the circumstances of its
ipriation, not its presen pain

_——

%* See the account t of the instructive iieaetione of my friend Mr Phong
Horner, to ascertain the amount of the successive deposits in the Lower Valley —
of the Nile, as given in Jameson’s Edinburgh Philosophical Journal of July
1850. Mr Horner informs me that the researches are now going on vigorously
on the site of Memphis, having been already applied to the site of Heliopolis,
our Consul-General in Egypt, the Hon. C. Murray, taking a lively interest in —
their progress.

Rocks of the Florida Reefs. 57

1. We are familiar with the fact that a mixture of quick-
lime, water and sand, spread out upon walls and ceilings ex-
posed to an atmosphere containing more or less of carbonic —
acid, in a few days becomes hard. Analyses have shewn that
two chemical phenomena are concerned in the solidification,
to wit—the absorption of carbonic acid from the air, forming
carbonate of lime (which salt, uniting in equivalent propor-
tions with the hydrate, forms, according to Fuchs, a com-
pound of great stability) ; and the union of the outer portions
of the sand-grains with the lime, forming a silicate. Investi-
gation has shewn that sand fulfils mechanically a more im-
portant office, by increasing the extent of surface to which
the compound of the hydrate and carbonate may attach itself.
The latter office may also be performed, and equally well, by
pulverized limestone.

2. It is well known that calcareous springs deposit carbo-
nate of lime in crystalline forms. The salt had been held in
solution by carbonic acid contained in the water. Upon reach-
ing the surface, under less pressure and the influence of a
high temperature, its carbonic acid is given up, and with it
a precipitate of carbonate of lime takes place. The process
is exclusively chemical.

3. The value of hydraulic cements is now conceived to de-
pend chiefly upon the presence of silica and lime, the oxide of
iron having little or nothing to do with the process of solidi-
fication. The alumina, in the form of a silicate, yields its
silica to the lime, which, for its transportation, requires
water. This explains the necessity of its being retained
under water periods of variable length, according to the pro-
portions of the ingredients. The processes are both chemical
and mechanical.

4. Gypsum, from which the two atoms of water of crystal-
lisation have been expelled by heat, rapidly hardens upon
being mixed with water. This is ascribed to the reunion of
the sulphate of lime with the water.

Do either of the above processes suggest the method by
_which the rocks of the Florida reefs have been hardened ?

The facts presented in the furnished specimens are as
follow :—

58 Professor Horsford on the

The rock formed under water exclusively is composed of
grains of size less than that of a mustard seed, which to the
naked eye appear quite globular, and of uniform diameter.
More carefully examined with a microscope, they are found
to be far from regular in form or uniform in size, but pre-
sent numerous depressions and prominences. Distributed
throughout the intervening spaces is a fine deposit of carbon-
ate of lime, which adheres with considerable tenacity to the
surface upon which it rests.

The surface or crust-rock, though not strictly homogeneous,
is composed of particles so minute as not to be distinguished
from each other. It dissolves in hydrochloric acid, leaving
a flocculent residue. The solution, when evaporated to dry-
ness, and ignited, readily redissolves in hydrochloric acid,
with only an occasional residue. The solution gives no pre-
cipitate with chloride of barium. Nitrate of silver gives, in
a nitric acid solution, a white precipitate, soluble in ammonia.
The aqueous extract gives to alcohol flame the characteristic
soda tint. The powdered rock, dried at 100° C., when heated
in a dry tube, gives off water.

Thus the qualitative analysis of the incrusting rock shewed
it to consist of lime, soda, carbonic acid, hydrochloric acid,
water, and organic matter. There were also variable traces
of peroxide of iron, magnesia, and silica. The former two
were wanting in most of the specimens examined, and the
silica in some. Numerous specimens were examined for
alumina, without in any instance finding a trace of this sub-

stance.*

* T examined, also, all the species of coral at my command, without finding
a trace of alumina in any of them. The hydrochloric acid solution of the coral
was precipitated with ammonia. The washed precipitate was digested for
several hours with potassa (previously tested for, and found to be free from,
alumina), and filtered. The filtrate was then neutralised with hydrochloric
acid, and ammonia added, After standing for several hours, there appeared
filaments which were soluble neither in potassa nor nitric acid, and which, ex-
amined with the microscope, proved to be paper; they had been derived from
the filter. Beside these, there was no precipitate. The quantities employed
were, in several instances, from a quarter to half a pound of material. There
were examined, Millepora alcicornis; Meandrina labyrinthica, two specimens ;
Manicina palmata; Mycedia areolata; Astrea microcosmos, two specimens ;
rock subaerial and rock submarine, numerous specimens,

an i

Rocks of the Florida Reefs. 59

In a quantitative analysis by Homer, and another by Mari-
ner, the following results were obtained :—

The total loss by prolonged ignition, included organic mat-
ter, water as hydrate of lime, and carbonic acid, was as fol-
lows :—

I, 2°7875 er. lost 1:2687 gr. II. 0:5910 er. lost 0°2600 gr.

The water was determined in a chloride of calcium tube,
with the aid of a low red-heat and an aspirator. (A heat of
175° C. in an oil-bath, expelled but a very small proportion
of the water.)

I. 0°7519 or. lost 0°0259 gr. II. 1:2890 or. lost 0:0280 or.

The organic matter was determined by washing on a dried
filter the hydrochloric acid residue.

I, 1:7181 er. gave 0-0028 pr. II. 0°4461 gr. gave 0:0021 gr.

The carbonic acid was determined in an evolution flask
glass. The results with different specimens varied greatly,
and ate far from being satisfactory.

I. 0°8605 gr. lost 0°3347 gr. III. 0:1720 gr. lost 00585 or.
TI. 0:1745 er. lost 0:0600 gr. IV. 1:6116 or. lost 06277 gr.

The lime was precipitated as oxalate and weighed as car-
bonate.

I. 1:3248 gr. gave 1:2581 gr. II. 0-2550 gr. gave 0°2330 or.

The silica was determined in the usual way.

I. 1°3245 gr. gave 0:0002 gr. II. 0°3760 gr. gave 0-0005 or.

The chlorine of the chloride of sodium was determined as
chloride of silver.
I. 0:8933 gr. gave 0:0303 gr. IT. 0°6850 gr. gave 0:0101 gr.
Expressed in per-cents. we have :—

Volatile Matter from . 43:99 w cent. to 45°51 w cent.
Water Set ng vated . d'44
Organic Matter ... . 0:16 APE UG |

: 34:01 .. § 38°89
Carbome Acid ... . { 34-38 ee { 38-94
Lime xt 51:17 ... 03°12

— Chloride of Sodium 0-04 Sad VO O4
Stlica ee 0-01 Aili sig Ug.

It is conceivable that the variability in the carbonic acid

60 Professor Horsford on the

and water is due to the more or less advanced stages of
change which the rock has undergone. In the ultimate form
of limestone all the water existing as hydrate in the earlier
stages will have become carbonate.

These ingredients permit no action like that occurring in
hydraulic cements, in which silica plays an important part ;
or like that presented in the hardening of gypsum, in which |
sulphuric acid is necessary. To one of the two remaining
processes, if to either, must it be ascribed ; and as hydrate
of lime is present, it cannot be exclusively assigned to a place
with calcareous spring deposits. Now, how could hydrate of —
lime be provided from carbonate of lime ?

The completeness of the suite of collections provided for
me by Prof. Agassiz, has enabled me to answer this question
in such a manner as leaves, I think, little room for doubt.
On the main land against the Keys, there are depressions ©
which are filled with water only at long and irregular inter-
vals. This water, like that within and about the Keys,
abounds with animal life. As the water evaporates, these —
animals die, and fall upon and mingle with the coral mud at
the bottom. As the beds become more and more completely
dry, the layer of mud and animal matter hardens till it forms
a mass resembling the surface or crust rock.

Of this soft, growing rock, specimens were collected.
Agitated with water, it yielded a turbid, foetid solution.
Tested with acetate of lead, it betrayed the presence of hy-
drosulphuric acid. After standing some hours, a delicate
white film was deposited upon the containing vessel, at the —
surface of the water, which proved to be carbonate of lime.
Test-paper shewed the liquid to be alkaline. The addition —
of soda solution set ammonia free, and the addition of chloride
of barium and hydrochloric acid shewed the presence of sul-
phuric acid.

Conceiving this soft rock to be in the condition in which —
the solidified crust was at first, the process of hardening
seemed of easy explanation. ;

The animal matter mixed with the carbonate of lime, con-
taining sulphur and nitrogen, besides carbon, hydrogen, and —
oxygen, in the progress of decay, which warmth and a small

Rocks of the Florida Reefs. 61

quantity of water facilitated, gave, as an early product of
decomposition, hydrosulphuric acid; this, by oxidation at
the expense of the oxygen of the atmosphere, became water
and sulphuric acid. The sulphuric acid coming in contact
with carbonate of lime, a salt soluble in 10,600 parts of water,
resolved it into sulphate of lime, a salt soluble in 388 parts
of water. The carbonic acid set free, uniting with an unde-
composed atom of carbonate of lime, rendered it soluble.
The nitrogen going over into the form of ammonia, at a later
period, decomposed the sulphate of lime, forming sulphate of
ammonia and soluble hydrate of lime. This hydrate of lime,
with an atom of carbonate of lime, united to form the com-
pound in ordinary mortar investigated by Fuchs. The car-
bonate of lime in solution from the added carbonic acid, as
the water is withdrawn by evaporation, takes on the crystal-
line form, giving increased strength and solidity to the rock.

That this explanation may serve, in however small measure,
for the crust rock on the land slopes of Key West and all
localities of a similar character, it is necessary that there be
animal exuvie in coral mud, or finely divided carbonate of
lime. Both these occur. The water about the Keys abounds
in animal life.

With the influx of the tide, the slopes became overspread
with the water and what it contains in suspension. The
retreating water, at ebb tide, leaves a thin layer of the
animal matter, mixed always when the water is agitated
with the fine caleareous powder. Before the return of flood
tide, exposure to the atmosphere and warmth have secured
the succession of chemical changes enumerated above, and a
thin layer of rock is formed. A repetition of this process
makes up the numerous excessively thin layers of which this
rock is composed.

On the ocean side the deposit is formed from spray, during
winds which drive the froth of the sea, containing, with coral
mud, the exuviz from the barrier of living corals upon the low
bluffs of the Keys.*

_ * Professor Dana in a note to his last paper on Coral Reefs and Islands in
the July number of this Journal, p. 83, after enumerating briefly the details of
the above process of consolidation, remarks :—

62 Professor Horsford on the

To these chemical changes must be added the simple ad-
mixture of the animal and vegetable matter, which, like

“ Tn the first place, his (Prof. H.’s) paper only alludes to the rock formed
above low-tide level, which I have called the coral sand-rock. Again, the
amount of organic matter in corals, as found by analysis, does not exceed five
per cent. ; and the sulphur present in this organic matter, is not over one-tenth
of one per cent. It hence appears that the amount of sulphur is altogether in.
adequate for such changes.

“ But as the sands of the beach (which have a peculiarly white and clear ap-
pearance) are washed by the breakers, and the animal matter they contain is
either undecomposed within the several grains, or is borne off by the waters,
even the animal matter present cannot contribute to the consolidation. The
waters of the tides along a sand beach on the open ocean have certainly not
been proved to carry in dissolved animal matter for dissemination among the
sands.”

Two or three points in this note demand attention from me,

The first sentence of the first paragraph should be read in connection with
the conclusions I. and II., expressed at the end of my paper.

In reply to the remainder of the paragraph, the criticism would be just, if I
had any where ascribed the solidification, or any part of it, to any action of

the organic matter in corals.
Since the publication of my article in the Proceedings of the pecdeprer:

there have been made quantitative analyses of the more important ingredients
of the soft rock, corresponding, as I conceive, with the rock of sub-aerial soli-
dification in the first stages of its formation. When first supplied to me, it
was of the consistency of well-tempered pottery clay. It is now so hard as to
yield only to a severe blow with a hammer, and is, beside, brittle and coated
with fibrous crystals of common salt.

The following analyses made by Everett and Warren, upon samples differing
but little from each other in appearance, have been conducted with great care.
They vary, it will be seen, considerably from each other :—

Dried at a temperature of 100° C. By prolonged ignition.
I. 1:1450 gr. lost 0°0890 gr. 0°8270 gr. lost 0°4870 gr.
II. 15325 gr. lost 01175 gr. 1:9020 gr. lost 0°8000 gr.
The hydrochloric acid solution left a residue of organic matter.
I. 1:1450 gr. gave 0°2930 gr. IJ. 16424 gr. gave 0°2805 gr.

The mass, digested in diluted hydrochloric acid, yielded from existing sul-

phate upon the addition of chloride of barium to the filtrate, sulphate of baryta.
I. 2°3380 gr. gave 0°1040 gr. II. 1°5325 gr. gave 0:1304 gr.

The organic matter by itself, oxydated in nitro-hydrochloric acid, with addi-
tion of pulverized chlorate of potassa, yielded to chloride of barium a aig
tate of sulphate of baryta.

I. 1:5325 gr. gave 0°1505 gr.

The whole mass oxidated in a mixture of fused nitrate of potassa and car-
bonate of soda, yielded to chloride of barium and hydrochloric acid, a precipss
tate of sulphate of baryta. .

Rocks of the Florida Reefs. 63

mucilage or glue, fills up the interstices, increases the extent
of surface, and’ with it the cohesive attraction ; and still

I. 2°3090 gr. gave 0:2850 gr. II. 1:4322 gr. gave 0°1550 gr.

The hydrochloric acid solution filtered from the organic matter gave a preci-
pitate of oxalate of lime, which was determined as carbonate.
I. 0:8770 gr. gave 0°4100 gr.
Expressed in per cents. the above determinations give of
Water, expelled at 100° C.
I. 7:77 per cent. II. 7:66 per cent. Average, 7°72 per cent.
Total volatile matter,
I. 41°17 per cent. II. 42-06 per cent. Average, 41-58 per cent.
The following per cents. are estimated upon the substance as dried at 100° C,
Sulphur existing as sulphate and soluble in diluted hydrochloric acid.
I. 0°65 percent. II. 0°90 per cent. 1:26 per cent. Average, 0:94 per cent.
Sulphur in organic matter.
Poet, ; ; . ° . . : F 1°45 per cent.
Total sulphur of the above determinations, 2°39 per cent. °
Total sulphur by oxidation of the mass, including the organic and inorganic

parts.
J. 161 percent. II. 1°84 percent. Average, 172 per cent.
Average by the two A ei : . . : 2:05 per cent.
Lime, I. : . ; 30:09 per cent.

Placing side by side the results of the they determinations with the quan-
tities which Prof. Dana justly conceives to be inadequate to the changes
ascribed, we have,

: Per cent. Per cent.
Organic matter, . . . . ; 5° 20:16
Sulphur, F ‘ : i _ 0-1 2°05

The conditions of this soft rock, and of the surface or crust rock at the time
of its formation, I conceive to have been quite identical. The soft rock is the
residue left by spontaneous evaporation of a considerable body of sea-water

thrown, with its mingled coral mud and animal matter, into an inland basin, at
the rare juncture of favourable high wind and tide. A single layer of the
surface rock is the residue left by evaporation of the water mingled with coral
mud and animal matter, thrown up in spray from the dashing of the waves, or
carried up by flood-tide, and left by evaporation in the interval between the
two tides. This will account for its stratification, for its- occurrence on emi-
nences as well as in depressions and along abrupt slopes, for its interstratified
arrangement with the coarse coral sand; indeed, for all the phases and pecu-
liarities of it which are presented in the extensive suite of collections sub-
mitted to me.

In addition to the changes enumerated in the above paper as resulting from
the decay of the animal matter, another may be mentioned. The ammonia

- evolved in the process of decomposition, would provide hydrate of lime from
_ the sulphate present in the sea-water. This ingredient, taking the average of
Bibra’s analysis, is to the chloride of sodium as 1 to 16, and may be conceived

64 Professor Horsford on the

further to the decomposition of the organic matter furnishing
carbonic acid, which gives solubility to the pulverulent car-
bonate of lime.

The exceeding fineness of the coral mud is due in part to
the stone plants which flourish in the waters within the reef,
and which admit of ready reduction to a powder of extreme
fineness. Of these, two species of Millepora, I., II., and one
of Opuntia, III., were analysed by Mr Scoville in my labo-
ratory.

I. ire III.
ENGR Ag LSS

Organic matter, 4°45 4°45 1:26 2°58 4:18 5:72
Carbonic acid, 40°09 39°64 41-08 270 37°68 35°81
Sulphuric acid, 0:0056 0:0056 ae a4 fe. A
Lime, 47°71 47°98 46°35 4680 51:81 51:36
Magnesia, 5a ae 6°23 5°90 ae a
Water, 3°67 = 330 4°52 mY 5°59 5°92

95°92 95°37 99°44 8 99°26 98°81

The discrepancies in the analyses of the different speci-
mens of the same species are due to the circumstance that
different parts of the stone plant contain organic matter in
unlike proportions; and it is very difficult to procure two

to have furnished no inconsiderable amount of hydrate of lime for the process
of consolidation.

Prof. Dana attributes the formation of this crust-rock which has been the
more prominent object of my investigation, to the action of simple rain-water,
dissolving the carbonate of lime and again depositing it upon evaporation.*
This would account for its occurrence in depressions of the rock, but would not
account for its occurrence on eminences or on abrupt slopes; nor would it ac-
count for the presence of water as hydrate of lime.

The first sentence of the second paragraph of the above criticism has been re-
plied to. I have ascribed no solidifying action to the animal matter in corals.

In regard to the second:—It will not be questioned that there is a great
amount of organic matter in various stages of decomposition about coral reefs.
Bibra found organic matter in all the ten specimens of sea-water analysed by
him. I have, in the paper above, repeated the statement made to me by the
parties who collected the specimens, that the waters within the Keys abound in
animal life. That procured for analysis from within the Keys was found ex-
ceedingly offensive from the decomposition of animal matter. It yielded the
odour and reactions of hydrosulphuric acid, and gave a total amount of organic
matter of 2°98 per cent.

Now, it is difficult to see how sea-water should fail to carry the animal matter
it holds in solution, and more or less of that it holds in suspension into the coral
sands, which are saturated at every high water and again drained at low tide.

* Am, Jour. Sci. [2], xiv. 67 and 81.

Rocks of the Florida Reefs. 65

specimens which, when pulverized, will present homogeneous
powders of the same constitution.

II. Source of Lime in the Growth of Corals.

Marcet,* as early as 1823, observed carbonate of lime in
the sea-water near Portsmouth. Jackson} found it in two
Specimens of sea-water furnished by the United States Kx-
ploring Expedition; one from 600 feet, and the other from
2700 feet below the surface. J. Davyt found the sea-water
of Carlisle Bay, Barbadoes, to contain about yz}, 5th part of
carbonate of lime. There was found scarcely a trace near
the voleanic island of Fayal. Whitel| is of the opinion that
it fails only near the surface ; but the elaborate analysis by
Bibra,§ of no less than ten specimens taken generally from
a depth of twelve feet, but in one instance from a depth of
four hundred and twenty feet, in various latitudes.on both
sides of the equator, shews quite conclusively that it is not
a constant ingredient of sea-water. His analyses do not
mention a trace of carbonate of lime. The quantity found
by Davy is very nearly that which is soluble in water and is
obviously due to the calcareous marl which abounds near
the Barbadoes.

The water from within the Keys was carefully analysed
in my laboratory ; it contained lime and sulphuric acid among
its ingredients, but not a trace of carbonic acid.

The total want of carbonic acid in a water in which coral
life is so luxuriant, suggests naturally that the stone plant,
as well as the coral animal, possesses the power of abstract-
ing lime from the sulphate; the change being due to double
decomposition with carbonate of ammonia excreted from the
plant and animal, yielding carbonate of lime, quite insoluble,
and sulphate of ammonia of the highest solubility. The
building up of the calcareous skeleton becomes, upon this
hypothesis, of exceeding simplicity. The surrounding ele-

* Annals of Philosophy, April 1823, p. 261.

tT Am. Jour. Science, [2] vol. v., p. 47.

{ Phil. Magazine, [3] xxxv., p. 232. | Ib., p. 308.
§ Ann. de Chemie et de Pharmacie, Ixxvii., 90.

VOL. LIV. NO. CVII.— JANUARY 1853. E

66 Professor Horsford on the

ment yields at once to the exhaling carbonate of ammonia the
framework of stone.

With this view, there is no difficulty in finding a supply of
carbonate of lime for the vast masses of coral. The sulphate
of lime, decomposed to furnish the carbonate, is perpetually
renewed through rivers from the continents and islands.

The following inferences are legitimately deducible from
this view :—

1st, Corals would soon die in bodies of salt water wholly
eut off from the ocean.

2d, They might flourish to some extent in waters accessible
to the sea only at high tide.

In Dana’s Report on Coral Reefs and Islands,* he states
that ‘‘where there is an open channel, or the tides gain
access over a barrier reef, corals continue to grow, &c. At
Henuake the sea is shut out except at high water, and there
were consequently but few species of corals, &e. At Ahit
there was a small entrance to the lagoon ; and though com-
paratively shallow, corals were growing over a large portion.’ f

These facts seem to me to give some support to the view
expressed above.

It was of interest to ascertain, in the case of corals,
whether the formation of new coral without was attended
with absorption or partial solution in the interior, and a cor-
responding reduction of its specific gravity. Specimens of
coral, from the centre, periphery, and midway between, of a

* Am. Jour. Science, [2] xii., 34 to 41, and Geol. Report Expl. Exp., p. 63.
+ In my article, as published in the Proceedings of the Association, I have
further quoted from Professor Dana’s papers in support of other inferences de-

duced from the foregoing view. I have since learned from the author that I

had misconceived the sense in which the quotations were to be understood, and
have become satisfied, especially after examination of the map of the Feejee
Islands accompanying Professor Dana’s last article, that the inference, that
fresh-water streams, by their supply of sulphate of lime, exerted any consider-
able influence upon coral formations, is not sustained. The sulphate of lime
of sea-water, however, being one-sixteenth of the chloride of sodium, is abundant
for the supply of the carbonate of lime, without the aid to be derived from such ~
a source,

Rocks of the Florida Ree/s. 67

mass of Meandrina, a foot in diameter, were reduced to pow-
der, washed with hot water until the chloride of sodium was
all removed, and their specific gravity ascertained by Storer.
The average of three specimens from the centre, three from
the middle, and two from the periphery, gave the following
specific gravities :—

Centre. Middle. Periphery.

2.695 2,749 2,785
These results so far support the affirmative of the sugges-
tion above, as to make a repetition of the determinations
desirable.

The chief conclusions to which the above research has

conducted are :—

I. That the submerged or oolitic rock has been solidified
by the infiltration of finely powdered (not dissolved) carbonate
of lime, increasing the points of contact; and the introduc-
tion of a small quantity of animal mucilaginous matter,
Serving the same purpose as the carbonate of lime, that of
increasing the cohesive attraction.

IJ. That the surface rock has been solidified by having, in
addition to the above agencies, the aid of a series of chemi-
cal decompositions and recompositions resulting in the for-
mation of a cement.

And I may add that it lends support to the suggestion,

III. That the carbonate of Jime of corals is derived from
the sulphate in sea-water, by double decomposition with the
carbonate of ammonia exhaled from the living animal.—(Si/-

liman’s American Journal, vol. xiv. 2d Series, No. 41,
p- 224.)

68

Observations on a remarkable Deposit of Tin-Ore at the
Providence Mines, near St Ives, Cornwall. By WILLIAM
JorY Henwoop, Esq., F.R.S., F.G.S., Member of the
Geological Society of France, &e. Communicated by the
Author.*

The Providence Mines, in the parish of Lelant, comprise the mines
formerly known as Wheal Speed, Wheal Laity, Wheal Comfort,
and Wheal Providence, long worked on the eastern side of the hill
which slopes from Knill’s monument to the sea.

(a) Observations on the eastern workings in the slate, and on the
western within the granite formation, have already appeared in the
Royal Cornwall Geological Society’s Transactions.| The interme-
diate tract, now to be described, is wholly in granite, of which the
upper beds are composed of a basis of greyish felspar and quartz,
imbedding medium-sized crystals of white felspar, as well as numer-
ous small groups of schorl in radiating crystals: but near the produc-
tive parts of the lodes the rock is mostly rather coarse-grained, its basis
is greenish-grey felspar, black mica, and quartz; and the included
porphyritic crystals of felspar are either of a pale buff, a pink, or a
reddish-brown hue.

(b) These veins are—

The Cross-course or Trawn, which bears about 22° W. of N., and dips H.f

W.

Wheal Comfort lode - 15° W. of N., e
and Wheal Laity lode or lodes bs 178; of Ww. 3 8.

Connected with the Wheal Comfort lode there is a ‘‘ Carbona,’’§
to which further reference will be made presently.

It may be here stated generally, that the Cross-course is from
one foot aud a half to two feet in breadth, and is composed of disin-
tegrated fine-grained granite, divided by numerous joints parallel to
the ‘‘ walls;’’ as well as by many other curved and irregular ones
which intersect each other in every imaginable manner, and are
filled with oxide of iron, and closely but unconformably striated.

The Wheal Comfort lode varies in width, from a few inches to
more than six feet. Ata distance from the Wheal Laity lodes it
is of granite, very thinly impregnated with tin-ore;—the remainder
consists of quartz, schorl-rock (capel), brown iron-ore, and greenish
and brownish felspar, in some places,—near the Wheal Laity lodes,
—abounding in tin-ore.

* For the Paper in full vide vol. vii. of Transactions of the Royal Geological
Society of Cornwall.

t Vol. v., pp. 16-20; Plate ii., fig. 7; Tables 21 and 22.

{t The “ directions” have reference to true north, the “ dips” are from the
horizon.

§ I have already described a similar though a much smaller formation in one
of these mines. Corn, Geol. Trans., v., Table 22. :

Observations on a remarkable Deposit of Tin-Ore. 69

At about 105 fathoms deep this lode is connected with one of
those curious deposits of tin-ore locally called “‘ Carbonas,” * as yet
unknown in any other part of Cornwall. The union takes place
about 14 fathoms south of the contact between the Wheal Comfort
and the Wheal Laity lodes ; and for 10 fathoms above and 20
fathoms below, as well as for the whole distance between the Wheal
Laity lodes and the Carbona, the Wheal Comfort lode, when alone,
is very productive: but immediately as the Wheal Comfort lode
and the “ Carbona’’ separate in descending,—each taking its own
downward course,—the lode becomes unproductive, and so also re-
mains as far southward as it has yet been traced.

At the northern contact of the Wheal Comfort lode and the Car-
bona” there is a rich mass of quartz, felspar, schorl, and tin-ore, at
least 15 feet in width for about 5 fathoms in length: both south-
ward of and below this spot the lode preserves its usual direction
and dip; but the “ Carbona’’ southward bears about 5° east of the
course of the lode, and holds nearly perpendicularly downward.
Descending about 5 fathoms, it abuts on the granite rock, and is
seen no deeper; except that as it is pursued southward the irregular
granitic bed on which it rests declines at an angle of about 8°.
With the exception of a single short string or pipe no trace whatever
of the “* Carbona” has rewarded the numerous researches which
have been made at greater depths. Nothing can, however, be more
irregular than its size and various ramifications, Though the upper
edge of the ‘“* Carbona”’ generally continues to touch the lower side
(foot-wall) of the lode, in some places the contact is only a few
inches, but in others as much as two fathoms and a half wide.
Again, in some cases the continuity of the “ Carbona,” where it
joins the lode, is almost entirely cut off by intervening masses of
‘ granite ; the union with the main body being still preserved, though
merely by “ pipes” or “ pillars’’ of lode-like matter. Many portions
of the “ Carbona” are as much as five or six fathoms high; others
not more than four or five feet ; some parts are two fathoms and a
half wide; whilst others do not exceed six inches. The largest
portions are, however, seldom or never entirely separated from each
other by the containing rock ; for there is always a sufficient connec-
tion to conduct the miner from one large and rich mass to another.

The composition of the Wheal Comfort lode has been already
noticed : but, notwithstanding their intimate connection, that of the
“ Carbona” is widely different, as its tin-ore occurs chiefly in
quartz and schorl, which minerals, either separate or mixed, consti-
tute the far greater portion of this remarkable deposit.

* Some persons pretend to derive this term from the ancient Cornish lan-
guage, whilst others suppose it to have been recently coined by the miners.
Both the word itself and the metalliferous deposit it is meant to designate are, I

believe, confined to the St Ives mining district. Corn. Geo. Trans., v., p. 21,
note.

70 W. J. Henwood, Esq., on a

Everywhere eastward the Wheal Laity lode is but a single vein
of about a foot and a half wide, and composed of quartz, earthy
brown iron-ore, greenish, and in some places brick-red, felspar, a
little tin-ore, together with some vitreous copper-ore, and iron
pyrites. Westward, however, it consists of at least two separate
veins, called, for distinction sake, the Wheal Laity north and south
lodes ; and sometimes there is also a third vein. At one spot the
third vein is simply crystallized felspar, and the axes of the crystals
are parallel to each other, but lie across the vein; in other parts it
is slightly productive of tin-ore. The Wheal Laity north, and
Wheal Laity south, lodes, in general from a foot to a foot and a
half in width, are occasionally much wider. Greenish felspar, quartz,
schorl, and occasionally brown iron-ore, are their chief ingredients :
in some parts both veins are rich in tin-ore ; vitreous copper-ore,
copper and iron pyrites also occur, but are not common constituents.
In the deepest part of the mine (i. e., at 150 fathoms deep), the
Wheal Laity north lode is for some fathoms in length about two feet
in width, and is then composed of chlorite, vitreous copper-ore, and
iron pyrites, and has a vein of rather fine-grained granite on one
side. Ata depth of 120 fathoms, and about 60 fathoms west of
the portions already described, where the same lode consists of gra-
nite, quartz, red iron-ore, and a little tin-ore, there is connected with
its northern side ( foot-wall) an off-shoot or excrescence, about four
fathoms in all directions, but most irregular in figure, and having
many small vein-like branches. This mass, consisting chiefly of
chlorite, quartz, and iron pyrites, is not only far richer in tin ore
than the adjoining portion of ‘the lode, but is remarkably different
in mineral composition. We have thus the same ore richly im-
pregnating, not only the Wheal Comfort lode and the “ Carbona,’’
two parallel but entirely dissimilar deposits, but also the Wheal Latty -
lode, which has a direction nearly at right angles to them.

(c) The intersections of the lodes just mentioned exhibit almost
an epitome of that class of phenomena.

(1) The Wheal Laity and the Wheal Comfort lodes cross each
other : still at some levels there is no evidence to show that either
is cut through; whilst at others the Wheal Comfort lode not only
intersects, but also heaves the Wheal Laity lode. . It is not the least
remarkable circumstance attending this intersection, that the Wheal
Laity lode is a single vein everywhere eastward of the Wheal Comfort
lode, whereas westward of their contact it is divided into two, and in
some places even into three distinct and separate veins.

(2) All these veins are intersected by the Cross-course, and all
are heaved by it: the two larger (the Wheal Laity north and the
Wheal Laity south lodes) in general from 10 to 15 fathoms: the
displacement of the smaller vein is, however, much less considerable,
and does not exceed six fathoms and a half,

Again, notwithstanding the Wheal Comfort lode and the Cross-

Remarkable Deposit of Tin-Ore. 71

course have opposite inclinations, they respectively heave the Wheal
Laity lodes in the same direction.

Ata depth of 110 fathoms, where the Wheal Laity north lode is
for some distance unproductive, whilst the Wheal Laity south lode
is rich in tin ore on both sides of the Cross-course, and for some
fathoms both above and below the gallery (/evel), the Cross-course
consists of a rich vein of tin-ore for the whole interval (five fathoms)
between the eastern portions of the two lodes, as well as of a fine
mass of the same ore at its contact’ with the western part of the
_ Wheal Laity south lode.

(3) At 130 fathoms deep the Wheal Laity south lode is also
heaved, but in an opposite direction, by a vein of granitic clay (the
Flucan), This flucan is not prolonged to either of the other Wheal
Laity veins; nor, indeed, does it reach any other gallery (devel) even
on the same lode.

(4) The Wheal Comfort lode and the Cross- course have the same
direction, but, as already observed, opposite inclinations; and are so
situated that they come into contact on the line of their dips at
about 130 fathoms deep. From the point where they first touch
each other they descend perpendicularly side by side for about three
fathoms, each keeping the same relative position it had previously
when separate (viz., the Cross-course on the west, and the Wheal
Comfort lode on the east). At length, however, the lode cuts
through the Cross-course. After this intersection, though they
have changed sides, and their relative position is reversed, they still
proceed together, but now take the line of the lode’s previous under-
le for several fathoms. When they separate the lode preserves its
dip; but the Cross-course, though it resumes the previous direction
of its inclination, dips eastward far more rapidly than before. It
may, indeed, be generally observed, that a vein which has been dis-
placed by another, whether the intersection be horizontal or vertical,
makes (if I may be permitted the expression) an effort to resume its
original course.

(5) The Wheal Laity lodes are intersected as well by the Wheal
Comfort lode and the Cross-course, during their union, as by each
of them when separate; the union, however, has little or no influence
on the extent of the heave.

Many details of local, and some, indeed, of general interest,
scarcely need be mentioned here, as this paper may be deemed sup-
plementary to my remarks on the Saint Ives District ;* and espe-
cially to a deseription of a similar interesting formation at the St
Ives Consolidated Mines, which has already appeared in the Trans-
actions of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall.t

A small stream issues from the Wheal Laity north lode at 150
fathoms deep, having a temperature of 71°; whilst that of the water

VOL Woy Gabe: + Idem, p. 21.

72 Arctic Natural History.

discharged by the pump at the adit (45 fathoms from the surface) is
only 63° 6’,*
The Orchard, Penzance, Oct. 15, 1851.

Arctic Natural History.

The following interesting statements illustrative of Arctic
Natural History we select for the information of our
readers.

1. Cause of Intense Thirst in Arctic Regions. 2. Thickness of
the Arctic Ice. 3. Warmth of Snow Burrows, 4. Snow a bad
Conductor of Sound. 5. The breaking up of an Aretic Iceberg.
6. Refrigerating Power of Icebergs. 7. The droppings of Eider
Ducks. 8, Arctic Minute Animal and Vegetable Forms, and
Colour of the Sea. 9. On the Flesh of Little Auks and Rotges,
and Sea-Fowl generally. 10. Red Snow. 11. On the Colour-

ing Matter of Marine Alge, by Dr Dickie. 12. Nostoe Arcti-

cum, by Dr Dickie. 138. On the Magnitude of Arctic Glaciers
and their advance towards and their termination in the Sea.
14. Ice and Sea-Water Coloured by the Diatomacee.

1. Cause of Intense Thirst in Arctic Regions.

After saying farewell to Mr Mecham and his party Mr
Stewart returned to the ships in Assistance Bay, where he
arrived in the evening a little fatigued, having suffered as
usual from excruciating thirst. I believe the true cause of

such intense thirst is the extreme dryness of the air when ©

the temperature is low. In this state it abstracts a large
amount of moisture from the human body. The soft and
extensive surface which the lungs expose, twenty-five times

or oftener every minute, to nearly two hundred cubic inches’

of dry air, must yield a quantity of vapour which one can
hardly spare with impunity. The human skin, throughout
its whole extent, even where it is brought to the hardness of
horn, as well as the softest and most delicate parts, is con-
tinually exhaling vapour, and this exhalation creates in due
proportion a demand for water. Let a person but examine

* Observations on the temperature of other parts of the Providence Mines are
recorded in the Society’s Transactions, vol. v., p. 390.

5 . rs , : -
a ae ee ee ee ee ee ee eee

Arctic Natural History. 73

the inside of his boots after a walk in the open air at a low
temperature, and the accumulation of condensed vapour which
he finds there will convince him of the active state of the
skin. I often found my stockings adhering to the soles of
my Kilby’s boots after a walk of afew hours. The hoar frost
and snow which they contained could not have been there by
any other means except exhalation-from the skin.—(Suther-
land’s Journal of Captain Penny’s Voyage to Wellington
Channel, in 1850-51, vol. i., p. 404.)

2. Thickness of the Ice.

The ships were by this time almost completely banked up
with snow, and a gangway of the same material with two
parapet walls sloped gradually from the door in the awning
to the surface of the ice. The dogs were now located on the
ice in a little snow house at the ship’s bow, with a quantity
of straw between them and the cold and soft ice beneath.
The ice in the harbour was upwards of 2 feet thick. Since
the 26th of September, when it was 10 or L1 inches, it in-
creased at the rate of half-an-inch per day. The ice on Kate
Austin Lake presented the same thickness with that in the
harbour, although it was 7 or 8 inches thick when the harbour
was one continuous sheet of water. This may appear rather
strange, seeing that fresh water freezes at a higher tempera-
ture than sea water; but it may be proper to observe that
sea water ice, from the saline matter which it contains, will
probably conduct the heat faster from the water underneath
_ than fresh water ice, and also, that the saline matter, reduced
to a low temperature at the surface, sinks while the water is
congealing, and cools the stratum into which it descends.
The lakes a little beyond the beach, to which allusion has
been made already, were frozen to the bottom, although the
depth of some of them was more than 2 feet. This is pro-
bably owing to the proximity of the ice on the surface with
the bottom, which must conduct the heat away from the water
laterally, in addition to the action of the air at the surface.
It is not improbable that in the centre of Kate Austin Lake
the bottom does not present ice even after the winter has de-
voted itself to the extension of the ice from the sides towards

»

74 Arctic Natural History.

the centre. Here, then, we would find a perforation in the
frozen crust which envelops the earth’s surface in this high
latitude. Were it not so, it is highly improbable that the sal-
mon could exist between two ices.—(Sutherland’s Journal.)

3. Warmth of Snow-Burrows.

Captain Penny suggested the idea of ascertaining what
amount of warmth and comfort could be attained in a close
burrow in the snow. In November, a single individual raised
the temperature of one from 4°, that of the air at the time, to
+ 20° in about twenty minutes; but the heat of the snow
and the ice must have been much greater than it was at this
time. ‘T'wo burrows, each six and a-half feet long, and two
and a-half feet wide, were excavated about six inches above
the level of the blue ice, in a wreath which had accumulated
during an easterly gale. There was a thickness of at least
four feet above each from the surface of the snow down-
wards ; and the entrances into both were made so as to shut
very closely. A thermometer inclosed in one of them for
four hours rose to — 2°, the temperature of the external air
at the time being — 29°. Two persons, the capacities of
whose lungs were represented by 240 and 210, were inclosed
in them for an hour and a quarter, at the end of which time
the temperature had risen from — 28°, that of the air, to
+ 3° and — 3° respectively ; the person with the most ca-
pacious lungs raising it seven degrees higher than the other.
To say the most of the burrows, they were not warm; and
closed up in them, as the two persons were, an idea of being
buried alive was continually uppermost in their minds. How-
ever, there is no doubt, had our circumstances demanded it,
we should have overcome this idea, and have appreciated the

comforts of burrowing in preference to sleeping in the open

air.
4, Snow a bad conductor of Sound.

While inclosed in the burrows, the two persons kept up a
conversation through the partition of dense snow that inter-
vened between them. They had to bawl loudly to one an-
other, although the thickness of the partition did not exceed
a foot; and when they were spoken to through the doorway,

Arctic Natural History. 75

which was securely closed also with firm snow, one had to
call out in quite a stentorian voice before a reply could be
obtained. The thickness of the slab of snow which closed
the doorway was not above nine inches. This is at once a
proof of the bad conductor of sound we have in snow. It is
very probable that the property of conducting sound dimi-
nishes with the density from ice down to the softest snow.—
(Sutherland's Journal.)

5. The Breaking up of an Iceberg.

When an immense iceberg begins to tumble to pieces
and change its position in the water, the sight is really
grand,—perhaps one that can vie with an _ earthquake.
Masses inconceivably great, four times the size of St
Paul’s Cathedral, or Westminster Abbey, are submerged
in the still blue water to appear again at the surface,
rolling and heaving gigantically in the swelling waves.
Volumes of spray rise like clouds of white vapour into the
air all round, and shut out the beholder from a scene
too sacred for eyes not immortal. The sound that is
emitted is not second to terrific peals of thunder, cr the dis-
charge of whole parks of artillery. The sea, smooth and
tranquil, is- aroused, and oscillations travel ten or twelve
_ miles in every direction ; and if ice should cover its surface
in one entire sheet, it becomes broken up into detached
pieces, in the same manner as if the swell of an extensive
sea or ocean had reached it ; and before a quiescent state is
assumed, probably two or three large icebergs occupy its
place, the tops of some of which may be at an elevation of
upwards of two hundred feet, having, in the course of the
revolution, turned up the blue mud from the bottom ata
depth of two to three hundred fathoms.

6. Refrigerating power of Icebergs.

When we lost sight of this iceberg, or, I should rather
say, of its ruins, a state of perfect rest had not been ac-
quired. One half of it had but turned over upon its side,
so that the pinnacled top had become the one side, while
the bottom bad become the other; and the other half ap-

76 Arctic Natural History.

peared to have been reduced to three or four smaller mas-
ses, on the smooth parts of which muddy spots were dis-
tinetly visible.

When such immense quantities of ice are floating about
in and on the sea in Baffin’s Bay, one need not wonder at
the low temperature of the water. We very rarely had it
above 32°, and at that degree it would hardly effect a per-
ceptible change upon the icebergs, although certainly it
might dissolve the floating ice of the sea water. The tower-
ing ice-bergs, over which the water exercises so little control
in this latitude, are the store-houses of cold, carrying it into
the depths of the ocean, and there concealing it from the
searching rays of the sun.—(Sutherland’s Journal.)

7. The Droppings of Hider Ducks,

The droppings of so many large birds accumulating for
thousands of years would soon raise an island to a consider-
able height above its original level. This happened on several
islands on the coasts of Africa and South America; but I do
not believe it has ever been found extending to any great
distance into the temperate zones, especially the zones of con-
stant precipitation of rain, although sea-fowl are sufficiently
abundant in those parts to produce it in very large quantities.
There is little doubt this is owing to its being washed away
by rains or melting snow, or it may be owing to vegetation,
by which it becomes dissipated into the atmosphere, or con-
verted into a thin coating of brown mould on the rock, in
which grasses and other plants take root and flourish luxuri-
antly, affording shelter to myriads of flies and their enemies,
the spiders, even on and beyond the 74° of north latitude. At
the distance we were from the island with the ships the luxu-
riant vegetation could be clearly discerned, and in that re-
spect it was in the most striking contrast with the rugged and
bleak-looking land on both sides of the bay.—(Sutherland’s

Journal.)

8. Arctic Minute Animal and Vegetable Forms and
Colour of the Sea.

Wherever the ice had been very much decayed a dirty

“Saaer Soe

Arctic Natural History. 77

brownish slimy substance was observed floating in loose jloc-
culi amongst it, in the surface of the water. The naked eye
could detect in it no structure whatever ; but on viewing a
drop of it through a microscope which magnified about two
hundred and fifty diameters, it was found teeming with ani-
mal life, and minute vegetable forms of very great beauty.
Now would have been the time to perpetuate them with the
pencil and chalk, but unfortunately I could only consign them
to the bottle, with the expectation that their delicate silicious
shells would retain their forms until our arrival in England.
No one can conceive the vast numbers of these infusorial ani-
malcules in the polar seas. Varying in size from 535 to zo'o5
of an inch, a single cubic inch will contain perhaps four or
five hundred millions of individuals, each furnished with per-
fect instruments of progression. In some of them I could see
the cilia in rapid motion, while, to use the words of Professor
Jones, “they were swimming about with great activity, avoid-
ing éach other as they passed in their rapid dance, and evi-
dently directing their motions with wonderful precision and
accuracy.’* In others no cilia could be detected; but as they
too were seen in motion, although not so often as the others,
there is no doubt that they also possess similar delicately
constituted organs. <A beautiful sieve-like dialoma was very
abundant ; but the shells which are silicious were broken very
readily. They resemble the Coscinodiscus minor of Kutzing.

Colour of the Sea.—I do not think that these infusoria can
be included in the forms of animal life, described by Captain
Scoresby, under the comprehensive genus Medusa, which is
very abundant in the Greenland seas visited by that most dis-
tinguished arctic voyager; nor does there appear to be the
slightest resemblance between them, except that both are of
very minute size. He says that the sea is sometimes of an
olive-green or grass-green colour. This is not at all peculiar
_ to the still bays in Davis Strait, where the infusoria are so
abundant. This phenomenon applies to the sea generally for
many leagues or even degrees, and is not confined to the sur-
face only ; neither is it essential to that condition that there be

* A General Outline of the Animal Kingdom, by T. R. Jones, F.Z.S., 1841.

78 Arctic Natural History.

ice. In Davis Strait the infusoria are generally found most
abundant where there is ice never extending abovea few inches,
at most a foot, beneath the water ; and when the ice disappears
for the season, the brown slimysubstance is rolled into rounded
pellicles by the rippling of the water, retires from the surface,
and ultimately sinks completely out of view, having never
tinged the water in the slightest degree, except when it gave
the decaying ice a dirty appearance. It is a well known fact,
however, that Hntomostraca, Acalephe, and Pteropodous
mollusca, in great abundance and of various sizes, from 3;
to 75 of an inch in diameter up to half a foot or more, cannot
fail to change the colour of the sea in a remarkable manner.
—(Sutherland’s Journal.) 3

9. On the Flesh of little Auks or Rotges and Sea-Fowl
generally.

Immense flocks of rotges were continually seen flying
north or south according to the direction of the wind. They
generally fly against the wind where they are sure to find
open water. Their flight is invariably high over a tract of
ice presenting no lanes or pools of water to receive them. In
consequence of the closeness of the ice around the ships our
sport among them was not very extensive. Captain Stewart,
on one occasion, travelled a few miles to a large angular open-
ing where they were very abundant, and succeeded in shoot-
ing a great number. He brought down twenty to thirty
at every shot. The rotge is excellent eating and is highly
prized by every taste. I have heard the eider duck and the
long-tailed duck, and even the loon, denounced by persons
whose tastes were really fastidious, but I never heard a word
against the little auk. Its flesh, and that of sea-fowl gene-
rally in the Arctic Regions, improves very much by keeping
for a few weeks after being shot ; indeed it is not uncommon
to use them after they have been three months hanging to the
booms around the ship’s quarter.—(Sutherland’s Journal.)

Arctic Natural History. 79

10. Red Snow.

The surface of the glaciers was of a dirty colour, but there
were no moraines. It appeared to be owing to fine dust and
sand blown from the adjacent land, or carried by small rills
of water from the sides of the valley. Where there were
patches of snow on the land a close examination would dis-
cover more than the dirty colour, which was also present, a
tinge of dirty red, which, in suitable localities, applied also
to the glaciers. This is owing to a minute plant which has
excited great interest, and has been most carefully described
by many distinguished botanists, under the popular name of
the red snow (Protococcus nivalis). From what Mr Petersen
told me, after he had visited the famous localities where it is
said to extend to depth of 12 feet, and also from the replies
of the natives to questions upon the same subject, there ap-
pears to be no reason for any other opinion than this, that it
is a foreign body among snow or ice, which it can only find
access to by being carried, either by the water of the pools
in which it grows after they begin to overflow by influx of
water from snow melting at higher elevations, or by the wind
after the water has left it dry upon the rock. There does not
appear to be any objection to the idea that this plant may
grow upon stones and sand on the surface of a glacier, pro-
vided that there be water covering them ; nor to the supposi-
tion that a part of an increasing glacier may become impreg-
nated with it by being carried from some neighbouring lo-
eality by the wind. Although the red snow appears as red as
blood when viewed with a high magnifying power, among the
snow, along with probably abundance of other adventitious
substances, it fails to exhibit its real colour, and rarely does
‘more than impart a dirty appearance. It would prove highly
interesting to examine whether the circumstances under which
it is developed in the Alps and in the Arctic Regions are the
same.*—(Sutherland’s Journal.) .

11. On the Colouring Matter of Marine Alge. By Dr Dicxktn.

It may be worthy of remark here that the colouring matter

_ * Agassiz Etudes, chap. v.; Travels in the Alps, by Prof. Forbes. chap. ii.

80 Arctic Natural History.

of ice in the Arctic Regions sometimes consists of the remains
of alge, either in a state of decomposition or reduced to a
pulp by the abrading action of drifting bergs, &c.; such at
least was the nature of specimens examined by me several
years ago.

In conclusion, it may be observed how few species there
are of the olive-coloured and red alge ; such as are recorded
may be considered as fairly representing these plants in the
parts visited by the Expedition. The number of littoral species
in such regions must be few, or in many places altogether
absent ; the continual abrading influence of bergs and pack
ice would effectually prevent their growth.

In the thinning out of alge in such latitudes, it is a point
of interest to ascertain what genera and species resist longest
the influence of conditions inimical to the development of
vegetable organisms. Only five of the olive-coloured series
are recorded here, four of which are British ; the fifth, viz.,
the Agarum, being exclusively an American form. Of the
red series there are only three ; one of them, the Polysiphonia,
being a common species in Britain, the Dumontia is an
American form, the third, new.

The green Alge are better represented, six being marine,
and fourteen from fresh water or moist places on land, con-
firming the opinions entertained respecting the more general
diffusion of the green than of the olive and red. Of the
twenty enumerated, about a third are British.

Of Desmidiez, only three were detected in Dr Sutherland’s
collection, two of which are British, and the Arthrodesmus
has been found in France and Germany.

The Diatomacezx, as might have been expected, are numer-
ous. Their importance in reference to the existence of ani-
mal life in high latitudes bas been already alluded to; an
importance out of proportion to their size, the generality of
them being so minute that their presence can only be detected
by the microscope ; or rather, it may be remarked, that their
minuteness renders them important, since they are readily —
conveyed to the digestive organs of mollusca by currents pro-
duced by the numerous cilia on the mantle and gills of these
animals. By a wise arrangement their numbers compensate

Arctic Natural History. 81

- for their small size. The climate is so unfavourable that

gigantic alg, such as occur in more favoured regions, can-
not exist; the organisms in question, the representatives of
the individual cells of which the larger species are composed,
supply their place, and the siliceous matter which they have
the power of separating from the medium in which they live,
renders them better fitted to resist the injuries to which they
are exposed.—(Sutherland’s Journal.)

12. Nostoc Arcticum, Berk. By Dr DIckIn.

This species has been recently described by the Rev. M. J.
Berkeley, in a paper read before the Linnean Society. He

refers it to Hormosiphon, expressing a doubt whether the

latter genus is anything but a young or abnormal state of
Nostoe. It appears to grow in great profusion in the loca-
lities where it occurs, and Dr Sutherland communicates the
following notes respecting it :—

“ It grows upon the soft and almost boggy slopes around
Assistance Bay; and when these slopes become frozen, at
the close of the season, the plant lying upon the surface in
irregularly plicated masses becomes loosened, and if it is not
at once covered with snow, which is not always the case, the
wind carries it about in all directions. Sometimes it is blown
out to the sea, where one can pick it up on the surface of

the ice, over a depth of probably one hundred fathoms. It
has been found at a distance of tsvo miles from the land,
where the wind had carried it. Each little particle lay in a
small depression in the snow, upon the ice: this tendency to
sink commenced early in June, owing to the action of the
sun. At this distance from the land it was infested with
Podure ; and I accounted for this fact by presuming that the
insects of the previous year had deposited their ova in the
plant upon the land, where, also, the same species could be
seen in myriads upon the little purling rivulets, at the sides
of which the Nostoc was very abundant.”

Dr Sutherland found this plant to be edible, and superior to
the Tripe de Roche, in connection with which it may be wor-
thy of remark here, that Nostoc edule (Berk. & Mont.) is

VOL. LIV. NO. CVII.—JANUARY 1853. : F

82 Arctic Natural History.

used as food in China.—(Sutherland’s Journal of Captain
Penny's Voyage to Wellington Channel.)

13. On the Magnitude of Arctic Glaciers—and their advance
towards and termination in the Sea.

To the eastward of Cape Hay, we observed a glacier, of
not very large size, entering the sea from a valley, through
which it could be traced until it was lost among the rugged,
sharp-pointed, and bleak-looking, almost inaccessible heights,
on both sides. The main valley appeared to be entered by
smaller ones, which also contained ice ; some of them entered
at right angles, while others seemed to be a sort of division
of the main one into smaller branches. The edge of the
glacier protruded into the sea considerably beyond the coast
line, and it looked as if an iceberg was to be detached very
soon,—the water marked its sides with lines corresponding
with the high and low water marks; and in this respect
there was a striking resemblance with what we had often
observed, on the sides of icebergs, on the eastern shore of
Davis Straits, which had taken a firm lodgment on the bot-
tom during very high tides. The protruding edge was quite
perpendicular, just as it had been left by the last iceberg that
had floated away from it, and it rose to a height of forty to
fifty feet above the water; this would give the part under
water about three hundred and fifty or four hundred feet.
In many parts of its surface the glacier was very dirty, and
masses of rock could be seen resting upon it, but there ap-
peared to be very little order in their arrangement, except
that, about the middle, the larger fragments followed the
direction of the valley; and at the west side, there seemed
to be a collection of a dark colour and muddy consistence,
which also followed the direction of the valley, but gradually
thinned away as it ascended; while the east side was per-
fectly white from the very edge, until it was lost sight of in —

the distance. From the appearance of the mud, [had no ~

other idea than that it had been brought down by water in a
running stream, which must have made its escape into the

Arctic Natural History. 83

sea over the edge of the glacier. To the eastward of this
glacier there is a second, which appeared to be a little higher,
where it entered the water, than the former, and it was also
of greater breadth. The surface was quite white, and did not
appear to have a single fragment of rock upon it; the night,
however, was coming on, and this precluded a sufficiently
correct view to enable one to make out the presence or entire
absence of foreign bodies. These two glaciers, although
extending to the bottom at a depth of sixty to seventy fa-
thoms, appear in very humble. contrast beside the towering
cubes which escape annually, through the deep valleys, from
the immense glacier range of the Greenland continent into
Davis Straits, and which in some cases (Claushaven, lat. 69°)
rise to a height of nearly three hundred feet, and raise mo-
raines at the bottom, at the depth of the sarfle number of
fathoms.—(Sutherland’s Journal of Captain Penny’s Voy-
age to Wellington Channel.)

14, Ice and Sea-Water Coloured by the Diatomacee.

At my request, made previous to the departure of the
expedition, Dr Sutherland paid special attention to the
colouring matters of ice and sea-water; samples of such
from different localities were carefully collected and forwarded
for my inspection. They were found to consist almost solely
of Diatomaceze ; and in some instances fresh water forms
were detected, though rather sparingly, intermixed with
- others exclusively marine. This is not surprising when we
consider the copious discharges of fresh water from the land,
oceasioned by the melting of snow and ice during the brief
summer. .

The contents of the alimentary canal of examples of Leda,
Nucula, and Crenella, dredged in Assistance Bay, consisted
of mud in a fine state of division, including also numerous
Diatomacez identical with those colouring the ice and the
water.

Though not a new fact, it is one of some interest in rela-
tion to the existence of animal life in those high latitudes.

Where Diatomaceze abound, certain Mollusca obtain sure
F2

84 Richard Adie, Esq., on an Improvement in

supplies of food; these in turn are the prey of fishes; these
last contribute to the support of sea mammalia and birds.

After bestowing considerable pains on this family, still I
cannot write with full confidence regarding some of the
Species. Improvements in high powers of the microscope
reveal the necessity of paying greater attention to the minute
markings of the surface in addition to mere external form.
The recent investigations of the Rev. W. Smith, in reference
to such characters of British species, shew the importance of
this, and in some measure detract from the general value of
Professor Kutzing’s useful work, the only one on the subject
to which I have access here.—(Sutherland’s Journal.)

On an Improvement in Sikes’ Self-Registering Thermometer.
By RicHArD ADIE, Esq., Liverpool. Communicated by the
Author. (With a Plate.)

The want of a self-registering thermometer, easily kept
in working order, is still felt among a portion of the pub-
lic. The instrument invented by Dr Rutherford is ex-
cellent so long as it remains in the hands of parties con-
nected with observatories, who from their daily practice be-
come skilful in the use of delicate instruments. A proof of
this is, that Rutherford’s thermometers may be often seen |
at observatories in good order after many years’ constant use ;
but when transferred from thence to the hall, the parsonage,
or the farm offices, several sources of derangement soon be-
come manifest, which those usually in charge of registers in
these places cannot control; hence avery general feeling
of disfavour has of late years been shewn towards this form
of registering thermometers.

The self-registering thermometer invented by Sikes has
been long before the public, enjoying a variable degree of
favour. In works on meteorology it is described without
a notice, however, of a source of error in its readings, to
which it is my wish in the present communication to call
attention, and to suggest a remedy. The instrument, as at

Vol. LIV p.84

* Sdhenceie NEFarlane Ladi Résminuargh

PLATE I.

SEBLS LMPROVED SELE REGISTERING LRERMOMELER.

Tain New Phil. Journ.

Pomaian Aad »
Wit 2 on calqe ay at
: i " ve J Tesi Med ¥ : #e ¥ % F a

WP, Rl wes a an Diol yeu

Sikes’ Self-Registering Thermometer. 85

present made by the London glass-blowers, works without
‘much liability to derangement, after it has been safely sus-
pended in the place intended for its reception. The annexed
diagram is given in order to explain the principle on which
Sikes’ self-registering thermometer is constructed : Briefly it
may be styled a spirit-thermometer, with a prolonged stem
ending in an inverted mercurial syphon, the two surfaces of
the mercury syphon working small indexes which register
the temperature. ~
a a, is the thermometer bulb filled with alcohol.
b b, the thermometer stem.
ccdde, a prolongation of the thermometer stem.
¢ccc, the portion of the prolonged stem filled with mercury.
dd, further prolongation of the stem filled with alcohol.
e, asmall bulb at the top filled with air or vapour of alcohol.
ff, two small indexes worked by the mercurial surfaces.
The error in the indications of the instrument which | have
alluded to, arises in periods of extreme variations of tempera-
ture. It is occasioned by the great difference in the specific
gravities of mercury and of alcohol, and also from the mer-
cury not adhering to the tube as the alcohol does. In frosty
weather the mercury on the side } b stands highest, but in
warm weather the side dd is the higher ; the difference in
level often amounts to a hydrostatic pressure equal to one
pound per superficial inch. The part of the syphon occupied
_ by the mercury is coated with a film of alcohol, which connects
the alcohol of the thermometer a a b b, with the alcohol in the
part dd. Now when there is a difference of pressure in the
arms of the mercurial syphon, alcohol passes slowly by a ca-
pillary process from the one side of the syphon to the other,
to restore the equilibrium of the mercury, and in doing so
destroys the accuracy of the instrument; for it is necessary
that the quantity of alcohol in the thermometric part aab b,
should be constant. This is thefault of Sikes’ registering ther-
mometer; in practise, both sides of the mercury exhibit the
Same reading, yet when a mercurial thermometer is sus-
pended beside it, the indication is found 7 to 10 degrees
wrong. For this great error, there is no direct remedy, but
the following addition is a ready mode of making the instru-

86 Memoir of the late

ment efficient by shewing at all times what the derangement
amounts to. Before sealing the end of the bulb a a, I propose
to insert a delicate mercurial thermometer on an iyory scale
99g similar to the one inserted in the bulb and stem of
Daniel’s hygrometer. The reading of this inside thermome-
ter will be a check on the error arising from the transfer of
alcohol from side to side of the syphon, and when the regis-
ter differs from the inside mercurial thermometer reading the
difference must be used to correct the register. With a
Sikes’ thermometer thus constructed and placed in the open
air, it will soon be seen how variable the differences between
the register and the enclosed thermometer are, in conse-
quence of the alcohol passing from side to side of the syphon
to restore the equilibrium. Indoors, where the range of
temperature is small, the differences will be much less.

In concluding, it may be well to mention another source of
variation between the readings of a mercurial and of a spirit
thermometer, which for registers requires to be guarded.
against. It is the action of light on the opaque mercury and
the transparent alcohol: the light increases the temperature
of the opaque body more than that of the transparent one ;
consequently in a bright day, a mercurial thermometer gives
a higher reading than one of alcohol does, and to obtain from
them corresponding results the light must be excluded. On
the mercury thermometer in the bulb of Sikes’ thermometer
the effect of the light will be nearly prevented by the aleohol
in contact with the mercurial-bulb ; so that in this proposed
construction, in a bright light the mercury and spirit will
read closely together, both standing lower than a detached
mercurial thermometer.

Memoir of the late Dr Thomas Thomson, F.RS., M.W.S.,
¥e., Professor of Chemistry in the College of Glasgow.
Communicated by his relative, Dr R. DUNDAS THOMSON.

[Having laid before our readers Gustav Rose’s complete
biography of Professor Berzelius, it is now our duty to com-

Professor Thomas Thomson. 87

municate, for their information, a Memoir of his celebrated
contemporary and rival, the late Dr Thomas Thomson.* |

THoMAS THOMSON, M.D., F.R.S., Regius Professor of Che-
mistry in the University of Glasgow, was the seventh child
and youngest son of John Thomson and Elizabeth Ewan,
and was born at Crieff on the 12th April 1773. He was first
educated at the parish school of Crieff, and was sent, in 1786,
in his thirteenth year, for two years, by the advice of his
brother and of his uncle, the Rev. John Ewan, minister
of the parish of Whittingham, in East Lothian, a man of
some independent means, to the burgh school of, Stirling,
at that time presided over by Dr Doig, the distinguished
author of the “ Letters on the Savage State.” Here he ac-
quired a thorough classical education, the benefits of which
have been so signally manifested in his numerous improve-
ments of chemical nomenclature now generally adopted in
the science. In consequence of having written a Latin Ho-
ratian poem of considerable merit, his uncle was recom-
mended by Principal M‘Cormack of St Andrews to advise
that he should try for a bursary at that University, which
was open to public competition. He accordingly went, in
1788, to that school of learning, which has produced among
its celebrated scientific students in our own day, a Playfair,
an Ivory, and a Leslie, &c., and, having stood an examina-
tion, carried the scholarship, which entitled him to board and
lodging at the University for three years. In 1790 he came
to Edinburgh, and became tutor in the family of Mr Kerr, of
- Blackshiels, one of his pupils being afterwards well known
in connection with the bank of Leith. At the end of 1791,
being desirous of studying medicine, he came to Edinburgh,
and resided with his elder brother, now the Rev. James
Thomson, D.D., minister of the parish of Eccles, one of the
fathers of the Church of Scotland, the author of many arti-
eles in the “ Encyclopzdia,’’ and of a recent work on the
Gospel by St Luke, who survives, and had succeeded the

_ * The conflicting statements made by Berzelius and Thomson may give rise
to explanations from the friends of the illustrious and distinguished philoso-
phers.—Ed. of Edin, New Phil. Journal.

88 Memoir of the late

late Bishop Walker as colleague to Dr (afterwards Bishop)
Gleig, father of the present eminent Inspector of Army Edu-
cation, in the editorship of the ‘ Encyclopedia Britannica.”
It was in the session of 1795-96 that Dr Thomson attended
the lectures of the celebrated Dr Black, of whom he always
spoke in terms of the utmost veneration and of gratitude for
those invaluable instructions which first awoke the latent
taste for the science of which he was destined to become so
bright an ornament. In this session he wrote the article
“Sea” for the ‘‘ Encyclopedia.” In November 1796, he suc-
ceeded his brother in the editorship of the Supplement to the
third edition of the “ Encyclopedia,’ and remained in this
position till 1800. It was during this period that he drew
up the first outline of his ‘‘ System of Chemistry,’ which
appeared in the Supplement to the “ Encyclopedia,’ under
the articles Chemistry, Mineralogy, Vegetable Substances,
Animal Substances, and Dyeing Substances. These all ap-
peared before the 10th December 1800, when the preface
was published, in which it is stated, by Dr Gleig, of the
author “ of these beautiful articles, a man of like principles
with Dr Robison, it is needless to say anything, since the
public seems to be fully satisfied that they prove their author
eminently qualified to teach the science of chemistry.’ From
this authority we infer that it was during the winter session
of 1800-1 he first gave a chemical course. Hence, he ap-
pears to have been before the public as a lecturer for the
long period of fifty-two years, and, as he used lately to say,
he believed he lived to be the oldest teacher in Europe.

1. It was in the article Mineralogy, written about 1798, that
he first introduced the use of symbols into chemical science,
universally acknowledged to be one of the most valuable im-

provements in modern times. In this article he arranges

minerals into genera, according to their composition. Thus
his first genus is A, or alumina, under which are two species,
topaz and corundum, in accordance with the analyses of the
day. The second genus is A M C, comprising spinell, which,
according to Vanquelin, contained alumina, magnesia, and
chrome iron. The fourth genus is S, including the varieties
of silica or quartz. The eighth genus is 8 A G, or silica,

pw —--

Professor Thomas Thomson. 89

alumina, and glucina, including the emerald or beryl; and
thus he proceeds throughout. In the editions of his “ Sys-
tem,” the first of which (a development of the original article
in the Encyclopedia) was published in 1802, he continued
the same arrangement and symbols, and was thus not only
“the originator of symbolic nomenclature in modern chemistry,
but was the first chemist to bring mineralogy systematically
within the domain of that science. In the third edition of
his “ System,” published in 1807, in illustrating the atomic
theory of Dalton, and in his article on oxalic acid, in the
Philosophical Transactions for 1808, he freely uses symbols.
Berzelius, who appeared some years later on the chemical
stage, being Dr Thomson’s junior by five years, published a
work in 1814, in Swedish, in which he adopted the system
of symbols used by Dr Thomson, with some modifications,
(the introduction of Latin initials in certain cases,) but
he strictly “followed the rules for this purpose given by
Thomson in his ‘System of Chemistry,’” (6ch skall dervid
folga en enledning som Thomson gifvit i sin kemiska hand-
bok.) The work in which this passage occurs, entitled “ For-
sok att genom anvandandet af den elecktrokemiska theorien,
&e., grundligga for mineralogier,” af J. Jacob Berzelius,
Stockholm, 1814, p.18, was sent by Berzelius to Dr Thom-
son, in the same year, with a request, in a letter which is
still extant, that he would endeavour to procure a translator
for it. Dr Thomson applied to Dr Marcet and others with-
out success ; but at last prevailed on his learned friend, John
Black, Esq., who so ably conducted the ‘“‘ Morning Chronicle”
for many years, to undertake the task. Dr Thomson gradu-
ated in 1799. 2. He continued to lecture in Edinburgh till
about 1811, and during that time opened a laboratory for
pupils, the first of the kind it is believed in Great Britain.
Among those who worked in his laboratory were Dr Henry
of Manchester, a chemist for whom he had always the
greatest regard, who had visited Edinburgh for the purpose
of graduation, and who there made many of his experiments
on the analysis of the constituents of coal gas. 3. During
this period, likewise, Dr Thomson made his important inves-
tigations for Government on the malt and distillation ques-

90 Memoir of the late

tions, which laid the basis of the Scottish legislation on
excise, and rendered him in after-life the arbitrator in many
important revenue cases. 4. He likewise invented his sac-
charometer, which is still used by the Scottish excise under
the title of Allan’s saccharometer. 5. In 1807, he first
introduced to the notice of the world, in the third edition of
his “ System,’ Dalton’s views of the atomic theory, which
had been privately communicated to him in 1804. He did
not confine his remarks to mere details, but made many
important new deductions, and by his clear, perspicuous,
and transparent style, rendered the new theory soon univer-
sally known and appreciated. Had Richter possessed such a
friend as Thomson, the atomic theory of Dalton would have
long been previously fully discovered, and attributed to Rich-
ter. In his papers on this theory, which occupied much of
his thoughts, from the mathematical precision which it pro-
mised to impart to the science, we find numerous suggestions
cautiously offered, which have often been subsequently exa-
mined and confirmed, or developed in another direction.
Thus, in August 1813, he states, that, according to the atomic
numbers then determined, “an atom of phosphorus is ten
times as heavy as an atom of hydrogen. None of the other
atoms appear to be multiples of -132 (the atom of hydfogen
at that time adopted by chemists), so that if we pitch upon
hydrogen for our unit, the weight of all the atoms will be
fractional quantities, except that of phosphorus alone.” It
was undoubtedly this observation which caused Dr Prout to
make new inquiries, and to announce, in November 1815, the
view that the relation of phosphorus as a multiple of hydro-
gen, as detected by Thomson, may be general, connecting all
other atomic weights with that unit, a view now generally
adopted, and considered as a nearly demonstrated law.

The existence of such mathematical relations Dr Thomson
was continually in the habit of testing at the conclusion of
his own researches, or in examining the experiments of
others. Any peculiarity of character in a substance hitherto
known, or in a newly-discovered body, he never failed to —
point out in his “ System ;” and innumerable instances have
occurred, and might be mentioned if our space admitted, —

Professor Thomas Thonson. 91

where lucrative patents have resulted from a simple state-
ment or foot-note, often original, on the part of the author.
A fact of this kind in the “ Animal Chemistry” led Mr Robert
Pattison to his ingenious patent invention of lactarin, a pre-
paration of casein from milk, for fixing ultramarine on cotton
cloth; and Dr Thomson’s systematic plan of describing all
the characters of bodies in detail led Henry Rose, of Berlin,
to the discovery of niobium and pelopium, two new metals.
From the fragments of four imperfect crystals of certain
tantalites, as the mineral dealers who sold them to him
termed them, he was enabled to make some analyses, and to
take a series of specific gravities, which he published in a
paper “ On the Minerals containing Columbium,” in his ne-
phew Dr R. D. Thomson’s “ Records of General Science,’’
vol. iv., p. 407, in 1836. He found that these minerals pos-
sessed an analogous constitution, but their specific gravity
differs. He termed them, toreylite, columbite, tantalite, and
ferrotantalite. In making his experiments, he expended all
the material he possessed, and he had passed the great cli-
macteric. Professor Rose, struck with the facts, examined
the minerals upon a greater scale, and, after immense labour,
shewed that not only columbic or tantalic acid was present
in thése minerals, but likewise two new acids, niobic and
pelopic acids. Instances of this kind of contribution made
by Dr Thomson to chemistry might be indefinitely particu-
larised. About 1802 he invented the oxy-hydrogen blowpipe,
in which he introduced the oxygen and hydrogen into one
vessel, but the whole apparatus having blown up and nearly
proved fatal to him, he placed the gases in separate gas-
holders. His apparatus of this description has been annually
exhibited in the Chemistry class of the College of Glasgow, and
has been figured in Dr R. D. Thomson’s “ School Chemistry.”
At that time he made many experiments on its powers of
fusion, but as Dr Hare had invented an apparatus at the
same time, and published his experiments, Dr Thomson did
no more than exhibit the apparatus in his lectures. 7. In
August 1804, in a paper on lead, he first published his new
nomenclature of the oxides and acids, in which Latin and
Greek numerals were made to denote the number of atoms

92 Memoir of the late

of oxygen in an oxide. He thus introduces this important
invention, which has been almost universally adopted in the
science :—‘“ As colour is a very ambiguous criterion for
distinguishing metallic oxides, I have been accustomed for
some time to denote the oxide with a minimum of oxygen,
by prefixing the Greek ordinal number to the term oxide.
Thus, protoxide of lead is lead united to a minimum of oxy-
gen; the oxide, with a maximum of oxygen, I call peroxide.
Thus, brown oxide of lead is the peroxide of lead. I deno-
minate the intermediate degrees of oxidizement by prefixing
the Greek ordinals, 2d, 3d, 4th, &c. Thus, deutoxide is
the second oxide of lead, tritoxide of cobalt the third oxide
of cobalt, and so on.” This paper was translated and pub-
lished in France; the nomenclature was speedily introduced
into that country. But the improvements which he after-
wards adopted, by denoting the exact number of atoms of
oxygen present by the Latin, and those of the base by the
Greek numerals, and used in Great Britain, never super-
seded, in that country, the original suggestion in the above
note. 8. All these inventions were merely particular parts
of a systematic arrangement adopted in his “ System of
Chemistry,” a work which, if carefully examined with a
philosophic eye, will be found to have produced beneficial
results to chemical science similar to those which the systems
of Ray, Linneus, and Jussieu effected for botany. In his
second edition, published in 1804, (the first large edition
having been sold in less than ten months,) he divided the
consideration of chemical bodies into—Book I. Simple sub-
stances: 1. Confinable bodies, including oxygen, simple com-
bustibles, simple incombustibles, metals; 2. Unconfinable
bodies, comprising heat and light. Book II. Compound
bodies: 1. Primary compounds; 2. Secondary compounds,
&e. It is most interesting to observe how his plan was
developed with the progress of the science in the different
editions. It is sufficient to say that it was generally con- ©
sidered as a masterly arrangement, and used to be quoted —

by the Professor of Logic in Edinburgh, as an admirable —

example of his analytic and synthetic methods. Previous to
the publication of his “ System’ British chemists were con-

Professor Thomas Thomson. 93

tented with translations from the French, and hence it was
believed on the Continent that “ Britain possessed scarcely a
scientific chemist.’’ That all his contemporaries viewed his
plans as highly philosophic cannot be affrmed. There are
some men who, having no mental powers of arrangement in
themselves, discover in a systematic treatise only a compila-
tion possessing the generic characters of matter; while
those who can pry below the surface, on the other hand,
know that the art of arranging is one of the most difficult
tasks of the philosopher; that it requires a comprehensive-
ness of mind, a clearness of judgment, and a patience of
labour, which fall to the lot of a small number of the human
race. When we recollect that many of these remarkable
views began to be devised by the self-taught chemist, in a
narrow close in the High Street of Edinburgh, the author
being in the receipt of a salary of £50 a year, from which he
sent £15 to his aged parents; when we contrast such a pic-
ture with the costly education and refined apparatus of the
modern laboratory, it is impossible to avoid the inference
that Britain has just lost a genius of no common order.

One immediate result of the publication of his ‘“‘ System,”
was the appropriation of their due merit to respective dis-
coverers, and especially to British chemists, who had been
overlooked in the Continental treatises. It was the subject
of our memoir who thus first imparted to us the true history
of chemistry, and in doing so often gave offence to disap-
pointed individuals; but the honesty of his nature and his
unswerving love of truth never allowed him for a moment to
sacrifice, even in his own case, the fact to the fallacy.

_ During the first years of this century, he discovered many
new compounds and minerals, as chloride of sulphur, allanite, -
Sodalite, &ec. ; but to give a list of the numerous salts which
he first formed and described during his onward career,
would be difficult, as he scarcely ever treated of them in
Separate papers, but introduced them into the body of his
“System” without any claim to their discovery. His exact
mind was more directed towards accurate knowledge and
principles than to novelties, merely for their own sake, al-
though there is probably no chemist who has added so many

94 Memoir of the late

new bodies to the science. Hence many of his discoveries
have been attributed to others, or rediscovered over and over
again ; aS was the case with many of his chromium com-
pounds—viz., chlorochromic acid, the two potash oxalates of
chromium, bichromate of silver, potash chromate of magnesia,

chromate of chromium, hyposulphurous acid (1817), and hy-

drosulphurous acid (1818), $,0,, &e., &c., all of which were ex-
amined by him nearly a quarter of a century ago. The enume-
ration of these and numerous other discoveries must be left to
amore extended memoir, for which we understand there is a
mass of matter having an important bearing on the science
and literature of the country in the early part of the century.

In 1810, Dr Thomson published his ‘“‘ Elements of Che-
mistry,’ in a single volume, his object being to furnish an
accurate outline of the actual state of the science. In 1812,
he produced his “ History of the Royal Society,’’ a most im- |
portant work, as shewing the influence which that society
produced on the progress of science. In August 1812, he
made a tour in Sweden, and published his observations in
that country in the following year. It is still a valuable
work, and contains a very complete view of the state of
science and society in that country. In 1813, he went to Lon-
don, and started the ‘“ Annals of Philosophy,’’ a periodical
which he continued to conduct till 1822, when the numerous
calls upon his time in the discharge of the duties of his chair
at Glasgow compelled him to resign the editorship in favour
of Mr Richard Phillips, one of his oldest friends, who pre-
deceased him by one year. The journal was, in 1827, pur-
chased by Mr Richard Taylor, and was merged in the “ Phi-
losophical Magazine.” In 1817, he was appointed Lecturer
on Chemistry in the University of Glasgow ; and, in 1818,
at the instance of the late Duke of Montrose, Chancellor of —
that institution, the appointment was made a professorship, —
with a small salary, under the patronage of the Crown. As —
soon after his appointment as he was enabled to obtain a
laboratory, he commenced his researches into the atomic
constitution of chemical bodies, and produced an amount of
unparalleled work in the whole range of the science, in 1825,
by the publication of his “ Attempt to Establish the First —

Professor Thomas Thomson. 95

Principles of Chemistry by Experiment,’ in two volumes.
It contained “‘ the result of many thousand experiments,
conducted with as much care and precision as it was in his
power to employ.” In this work he gives the specific gra-
vities of all the important gases, ascertained by careful ex-
periment. In these researches he had associated with him
Mr Alexander Harvey as his assistant, a gentleman pos-
sessed of high mechanical and intellectual talents, who has
Since risen to eminence as a valuable citizen and magistrate
of his adopted city. The data thus ascertained were often
disputed and attacked in strong but unphilosophical terms,
as they tended to supersede previous experimental deduc-
tions ; but the excellent subsequent determinations of spe-
cifie gravities by Dumas, which were made at the request of
Dr Thomson, after that distinguished chemist had visited
him at Glasgow in 1840, fully substantiated the greater ac-
curacy of Dr Thomson’s numbers over those which preceded
him, and in most cases furnished an identity of result. The
atomic numbers given in his “ First Principles” as the result
of his labours, were the means of a vast number of experi-
ments made by himself and pupils, the data of which still
exist in his series of note-books. They all tended to the re-
sult that the atomic weights of bodies are multiples by a
whole number of the atomic weight of hydrogen, a canon
confirmed to a great extent by the recent experiments of
French and German chemists, and which he himself was the
first to point out in the case of phosphorus. That the author
of our memoir was frequently in error in his experiments is
not attempted to be denied ; for, as the great Liebig has
said, it is only the sluggard in chemistry who commits no
faults ; but all his atomic weights of important bodies have
been confirmed. After the publication of this work, he de-
voted himself to the examination of the inorganic kingdom
of nature, purchasing and collecting every species of mineral
obtainable, until his museum, which he has left behind him,
became not only one of the noblest mineral collections in the
kingdom, but a substantial monument of his taste and of his
devotion to science. The results of his investigation of mi-
nerals were published in 1836, in his “ Outlines of Mine-

96 Memoir of the late

ralogy and Geology,” in two vols., and contained an account
of about fifty new minerals which he had discovered in a
period of little more than ten years. In 1830-31, Dr
Thomson published his “ History of Chemistry,” a master-
piece of learning and research. During these feats of philo-
sophic labour, the eyes of the community were attracted to
Glasgow as the source from which the streams of chemistry
flowed, the class of chemistry and the laboratory being
flocked to as to fountains of inspiration. Could the splendid
results of his teaching be more powerfully demonstrated
than in the enumeration of the faithful students of truth
who have emanated from his school? Among his older
pupils, John Tennant of St Rollox, Walter Crum, Alexander
Harvey, Thomas Graham, Thomas Clark, Andrew Steel,
James F. W. Johnston ; and, of a junior class, Thomas An-
drews, R. D. Thomson, William Blythe of Church, Andrew
P. Halliday of Manchester, Thomas Richardson, John Sten-
house, John Tennent of Bonnington, &c., have all occupied
positions as chemical teachers or manufacturers of the
highest character in the kingdom. |

It would be a great omission not to mention that it was
Dr Thomson who introduced a system of giving annual re-
ports on the progress of science in his “ Annals of Philo-
sophy ;’’ the first of these was published in 1813, and the
last in 1819. These reports were characterised by his usual
perspicuity and love of swum cuique which distinguished his
conduct through life, and were composed with a mildness of
criticism far more conducive to the dignity of the science
than those which, three years after his reports had ceased,
were begun by the distinguished Swedish chemist, Berzelius.
In 1835, when Dr R. D. Thomson started his journal, “ The

Records of General Science,” his uncle contributed to almost

every number, and encouraged him by his sympathy in his
attempts to advance science.

Dr Thomson continued to lecture till the year 1841, dis-
charging all the duties of his chair without assistance ; but
being then in his 69th year, and feeling his bodily powers

becoming more faint, he associated with him at that period
his nephew and son-in-law, Dr R. D. Thomson, who was

| Professor Thomas Thomson. 97

‘then resident in London. He continued, however, to deliver
the inorganic course only till 1846, when the dangerous ill-
ness of his second son, from disease contracted in India,
hurried him for the winter to Nice, when his nephew was
appointed by the University to discharge the duties of the
chair, which he has continued since to perform. Of. the
hardship of being obliged in his old age thus to toil in har-
ness, and to have no retiring allowance, he never murmured
or complained. But there were not wanting suggestions,
that one who had raised himself to eminence from compara-
tive obscurity, and who had benefited his country in no
common measure, might have been relieved in some degree
by the guardians of the state, without popular disaffection,
from fatigues which even a green old age cannot long sustain.
Dr Thomson continued to attend the examinations for degrees
for some years after retiring from the duties of the ehiaiett
but in consequence of the increasing defect in his hearing,
he ultimately gave up this duty, and confined his public
labours to attendance at the fortnightly meetings of the
winter session of the Philosophical Society of Glasgow (of
which he was: president from the year 1834), until the last
two sessions—his last appearance there having been on the
6th November, at the first meeting of the session 1850-51,
when he read a biographical account of his old and affec-
tionate friend, Dr Wollaston, to whom he was ever most
strongly attached. During the early part of the present
year, his frame became visibly weaker, and latterly having
removed to the country, where it was hoped the freshness
of the summer season might brace his languishing powers,
his appetite failed ; but no pain appeared to mar the tranquil
exit of the Bhilosophic spirit. To inquiries after his health,
—“‘ Tam quite well, but weak,” the good old man replied,
within a few hours of his last summons. On the morning of
the 2d of July, he breathed his last in the bosom of his
_affectionate family, on the lovely shores of the Holy Loch.
‘Dr Thomson married, in 1816, Miss Agnes Colquhoun,
daughter of Mr Colquhoun, distiller, near Stirling, with
whom he enjoyed most complete and. uninterrupted hap-
piness. He was left a widower in 1834. He has left a son,
VOL. LIV. NO. CVII.—JANUARY 1853. G

98 Mr Rankine on the Reconcentration of the

Dr Thomas Thomson, of the Bengal army, the author of
“ Travels in Tibet,”’ about to appear,—the result of several
years’ researches into the botany and physical structure of
the Himalaya Mountains; and a daughter, married to her
cousin, Dr R. D. Thomson. On strangers, Dr Thomson
occasionally made unfavourable impressions ; but by all who
knew him intimately, he was universally recognised as the
most friendly and benevolent of men. He contributed to
most of the charitable institutions of the city, and was never
once known to refuse assistance to the poor and friendless.
Dr Thomson was originally destined for the Church of Scot-
land, and continued to the last a faithful adherent. He was
wont to attribute his sound and intellectual views of the
Christian faith to the care of his mother—a woman of great
beauty and sense; and it was perhaps from his affection for
her that his favourite axiom originated—that the talents are
derived from the maternal parent. Who shall prescribe
exact limits to the benefits conferred on her country and her
race by this humble, but pious Christian woman, who taught
in early life religion to her elder son, the author of the article
Scripture, in the “ Encyclopedia Britannica,’ which, in the —
third, and many subsequent editions of that work, has been
read and distributed over the globe for nearly half a century, —
to a greater extent than perhaps any other religious treatise,
and who gave the earliest impressions of his relations to his
Maker to the great chemical philosopher ?*

On the Reconcentration of the Mechanical Energy of the
Universe. By WILLIAM JOHN Macquorn RANKINE, ~
C.E., F.R.S.E., &c.F

The following remarks have been suggested by a paper by —

—_-—_—_—_

* [The very prominent part Dr Thomson took in the important and harmo-
niously-conducted discussions in the Royal Society of Edinburgh on the Wer- —
nerian and Huttonian geologies, and which led to the establishment of the Wer- 4
nerian Society of Edinburgh, and the Geological Society of London, &c., should —
have formed an important feature in his Biography.—d. Edin. New Phil. Jour.} —

+ Read to the British Association for the Advancement of Se Section i
at Belfast, on the 2d September 1852. _

Mechanical Energy of the Universe. 99

Professor William Thomson of. Glasgow, on the tendency
which exists in nature to the dissipation or indefinite diffu-
sion of the mechanical energy originally collected in stores
of power.

The experimental evidence is every day accumulating of a
law which has long been conjectured to exist,—that all the dif-
ferent kinds of physical energy in the universe are mutually
convertible—that the total amountof physical energy, whether
in the form of visible motion and mechanical power, or of
heat, light, magnetism, electricity, or chemical agency, or
in other forms not yet understood, is unchangeably the trans-
formations of its different portions from one of those forms
of power into another, and their transference from one por-
tion of matter to another, constituting the phenomena which
are the objects of experimental physics.

Professor William Thomson has pointed out the fact, that
there exists (at least in the present state of the known world)
a predominating tendency to the conversion of all the other
forms of physical energy into heat, and to the uniform diffu-
sion of all heat throughout all matter. The form in which
we generally find energy originally collected, is that of a store
of chemical power, consisting of uncombined elements. The
combination of these elements produces energy in the form
known by the name of electric currents, part only of which
can be employed in analysing compounds, or in reproducing
electric currents. If the remainder of the heat be employed
in expanding an elastic substance, it may be entirely con-
verted into visible motion, or into a store of visible mechani-
cal power (by raising weights, for example) provided the
elastic substance is enabled to expand until its temperature
falls to the point which corresponds to absolute privation of
heat ; but unless this condition be fulfilled, a certain pro-
portion only of the heat, depending upon the range of tem-
perature through which the elastic body works, can be con-
verted, the rest remaining in the state of heat. On the other
hand, all visible motion is of necessity ultimately converted
entirely into heat by the agency of friction. There is thus, in
the present state of the known world, a tendency towards the

conversion of all physical energy into the sole form of heat.
G 2

100 Mechanical Energy of the Universe.

Heat, moreover, tends to diffuse itself uniformly by con-
duction and radiation, until all matter shall have acquired
the same temperature.

There is, consequently, Professor Thomson concludes, so
far as we understand the present condition of the universe,
a tendency towards a state in which all physical energy will
be in the state of heat, and that heat so diffused, that all
matter will be at the same temperature ; so that there will
be an end of all physical phenomena. Vast as this specula-
tion may seem, it appears to be soundly based on experi-
mental data, and to represent truly the present condition of
the universe, so far as we know it.

My objeet now is to point out how it is conceivable that,
at some indefinitely distant period, an opposite condition of
the world may take place, in which the energy which is now
being diffused may be concentrated into foci, and stores of
chemical power again produced from the inert compounds
which are now being continually formed.

There must exist between the atmospheres of the heavenly
bodies a material medium capable of transmitting light and
heat; and it may be regarded as almost certain, that this
interstellar medium is perfectly transparent and diatherman-
ous ; that is to say, that it is incapable of converting heat, or
light (which is a species of heat), from the radiant into the
fixed or conductible form.

If this be the case, the interstellar medium must be incap-
able of acquiring any temperature whatever ; and all heat
which arrives in the conductible form at the limits of the
atmosphere of a star or planet, will there be totally con-
verted, partly into ordinary motion, by the expansion of the
atmosphere, and partly into the radiant form. The ordinary
motion will again be converted into heat, so that radiant heat
is the ultimate form to which all physical energy tends ; and
in this form it is, in the present condition of the world, dif-
fusing itself from the heavenly bodies through the interstellar
medium.

Let it now be supposed, that, in all directions round the
visible world, the interstellar medium has bounds, beyond
which there is empty space.

Professor Agassiz on the Classification of Insects. 101

If this conjecture be true, then, on reaching these bounds,
the radiant heat of the world will be totally reflected, and
will ultimately be reconcentrated into foci. At each of these
foci, the intensity of heat may be expected to be such, that,
should a star (being at that period an extinct mass of inert
compounds), in the course of its motions, arrive at that part
of space, it will be vaporised and resolved into its elements ;
a store of chemical power being thus reproduced at the ex-
pense of a corresponding amount of radiant heat.

Thus it appears, that, although, from what we can see of
the known world, its condition seems to tend continually
towards the equable diffusion, in the form of radiant heat,
ef all physical energy, the extinction of the stars, and the
cessation of all phenomena, yet the world, as now created,
may possibly be provided within itself with the means of re-
concentrating its physical energies, and renewing its activity
and life.

For aught we know, these opposite processes may go on
together, and some of the luminous objects which we see in
distant regions of space may be not stars, but foci in the
interstellar «ther.

The Classification of Insects from Embryological Data.
By Professor Louis AGASSIZ.

I. General Considerations.

The various classifications of insects which have been
proposed by zoologists rest either on considerations derived
_ from their external characters and form, and in part from
their internal structure, or on the various modes of their de-
velopment from the egg. The earliest writers on classifica-
tion availed themselves principally of the number and struc-
ture of their wings, to divide the numberless insects into
several general divisions, and such an arrangement, as finally
adopted by Linneus, has prevailed to a great extent, some-
times modified by the introduction of some smaller groups,

102 Professor Agassiz on the

which have been more generally admitted by English writers
than by those of the Continent of Europe.

Fabricius introduced an entirely new view of the subject,
dividing the insects according to the structure of the organs
by which they take their food, and the various structures and °
degrees of complication of the jaws became the foundation
of his system, which he not only applied in a general manner,
but worked out in all its details, assigning even to the smaller
divisions characters derived chiefly from the peculiar form of
those parts.

More recently the metamorphosis of insects has been made
the foundation of their classification, and they have been
grouped according to the extent of changes they undergo from
the egg, and according to the condition in which the young
animal remains for a time before it has arrived at its com-
plete perfect growth.

According to these views, those insects that are hatched
from the egg with a form very similar to the full-grown per-
fect animal, and which undergo slight or only partial changes
during their growth, such as the additional development of
wings, or which remain active throughout their metamor-
phosis, have generally been considered as belonging to one
and the same great division, and have been brought together
as insects without metamorphosis, or with imperfect meta-
morphosis. On the other hand, such insects as are hatched
from the egg in the form of a maggot, grub, or caterpillar,
resembling worms ip their earlier period of life more than
they resemble the perfect insects which are to grow out of
them, and from that condition passing into the state of im-
movable mummy-like pupe, or chrysalids, and during this
period taking no food, but afterwards giving rise to a winged,
perfect fly, beetle, or butterfly, have been considered as in-
sects with perfect metamorphoses, and on that account have
been brought together in one great division.

A glance at the classification resting upon such considera-
tions will shew, that each of these fundamental divisions
contains insects, which, in their perfect condition, chew their
food with powerful jaws, and others which are provided with

Classification of Insects. 103

suckers to pump the more liquid nourishment upon which
they live. It has long been a question with me, whether the
nature of the metamorphoses or the structure of the jaws
was to be considered as the prominent character on which
to found the primary divisions. It struck me as possible,
that a classification, in which the chewing insects should be
brought together, and all sucking insects combined in another
group, and both of them subdivided according to their trans-
formations, might lead to as natural an arrangement as a
classification resting in its fundamental divisions upon con-
siderations derived from the metamorphoses alone. In order
to satisfy myself upon the importance of these two sets of
characters, I have examined the metamorphoses themselves,
which various groups of insects undergo, and have been
deeply impressed with the fact, that most of those insects
which undergo the so-called complete metamorphosis, are
provided, in their early stages of growth, with a chewing
apparatus, which is gradually transformed into the various
kinds of suckers with which the perfect insects are pro-
vided. 2 .

This led me to the question, whether the structure of this
peculiar apparatus for chewing food did not indicate, among

insects, a condition of existence lower than that of those

insects which assume, during their metamorphosis, another
type of jaws in the shape of a sucker. And upon that sug-
gestion | attempted an arrangement of the different orders
of insects, which seems to me not only more natural, but to
correspond more fully with the lessons of embryology. I pro-
pose the following classification :—

I. Chewing Insects II. Sucking Insects
(Mandibulata). (Haustellata).
Neuroptera, Hemiptera,

Coleoptera, Diptera,
Orthoptera, Lepidoptera.
Hymenoptera.

The reason why Coleoptera have been so universally con-
sidered as the highest among insects, is plainly shewn by

104 Professor Agassiz on the

the position assigned to Cicindela, which is placed at the
head. That group is the most carnivorous of the order. But
I do not think it right to assign to the carnivorous insects
the highest rank, if there is no other reason to consider them
as such than the fact, that among Mammalia the Carnivora
rank higher than the herbivorous animals. _

Far from inclining to such views, 1 am prepared to shew
that the very fact of the complication of their jaws, and the
multiplication of their parts, the greater resemblance which
those parts have to common legs, the immobility of the pro-
thorax, the hardness of their anterior wings, the frequent
deficiency of the lower wings, the similarity in structure be-
tween the jaws of the larva and those of the perfect insect,
are so many characters which assign to the Coleoptera a
lower rank than that of the Lepidoptera.

Indeed, if we institute a comparison between Coleoptera
and Lepidoptera, we are struck with the greater resemblance
between the former when perfect, and the caterpillar, than
between the beetle and the butterfly. It may be said, that
the beetle preserves the characters of the larve of other in-
sects, and assumes only wings and more developed legs in
addition, without reaching other successive metamorphoses,
—those other changes through which the caterpillar passes
before it is transformed into the perfect image.

This being once granted, it must be acknowledged in ge-
neral, that chewing insects should rank lower than sucking
insects; and we may perhaps find in the complete matamor-
phoses of the higher Haustellata sufficient data to carry out
this view in determining the relative position to be assigned
to all the orders of that class.

Among the mandibulate insects, for instance, we have,
besides Coleoptera, the Orthoptera, Neuroptera, and Hy- .
menoptera. Now, the Neuroptera, though undergoing me-
tamorphoses as complete, in many respects, as the Coleop-
tera, have larvee whose structure seems decidedly lower than
that of the Coleoptera, for they are mostly aquatic worms,
provided not only with powerful jaws and all the complicated
chewing apparatus of mandibulate insects, but also with
aquatic respiratory organs, namely true external gills simi-

Classification of Insects. 105

lar to those of the aquatic worms. And the great and com-
plicated changes which they undergo, both in structure and
form, lead to a development which does not rank higher than
that observed among Coleoptera. Indeed, the soft wings of

Neuroptera indicate, in my opinion, a character of low deve-
lopment; for their peculiar structure resembles more that of
the wings of the young butterfly, before passing into the con-
dition of the pupa, than that of the elytra. The wings of
Coleoptera, again, resemble more closely the condition of the
wings in the pupa of the butterfly, at the period when the
outer wing is hardened and soldered to the body, covering
the lower wings, which remain soft. I would, therefore,
without hesitation, place Neuroptera as the lowest order of
Mandibulata. |

Next might come the Coleoptera, followed by the Orthop-
tera; for Hymenoptera, no doubt, rank highest in this divi-
sion. To satisfy ourselves that this is the case, we need only
consider the structure of their jaws, the upper pair of which
alone preserve the character of chewing insects, while the
lower are transformed into a kind of proboscis very similar
to that of Haustellata. Again, their Jarvee rank higher than
the larve of either Neuroptera or Coleoptera. They are
for the most part larve with aérial respiratory organs, and
in that respect, rank decidedly above those of Neuroptera,
and might be considered as of equal value with those of
Coleoptera. .

Though the fact, that many Hymenoptera have caterpillar-
like larvee, will at once place them one stage higher, that is,
nearer the Haustellata, some facts presently to be mentioned,
respecting the changes which caterpillars undergo before they
pass into the state of complete pupz, will establish more fully
the value of this argument.

There is, however, one order of chewing insects, the posi-
tion of which is somewhat embarrassing ; I mean the Orthop-
tera. If the views expressed above are correct, the very fact
of their having chewing jaws will place them among the
Mandibulata, below the Haustellata. But what is the pro-
per position to assign to them among Mandibulata? They
cannot be placed higher than the Hymenoptera, for their

106 Professor Agassiz on the

jaws are completely masticatory. But their position in re-
lation to Coleoptera and Neuroptera is difficult to determine.
They undergo no change after they have been hatched from
the egg, except that of assuming wings. They are born from
the egg with an aérial respiratory system ; indeed, in a con-
dition which is already higher than that of the larve of Co-
leoptera, and decidedly higher than that of the Neuroptera.
We should, therefore, look to the changes which these ani-
mals undergo within the egg, to determine their true posi-
tion. But upon this point observations are still wanting.
At present I am inclined to place them above Coleoptera, as
we generally find that the degree of perfection which the
young assumes before it is hatched, corresponds, to a re-
markable extent, with the perfection of the animal in its
general structure. And if it were not for the peculiar struc-
ture of the jaws in Hymenoptera, I should not hesitate to
place Orthoptera highest among Mandibulata. Again, the
perfection of the wings of Hymenoptera leads so decidedly
to a parallelism between them and some of the moths, that
I cannot help thinking the best arrangement is the one men-
tioned above; namely, Neuroptera lowest, next Coleoptera,
next Orthoptera, and Hymenoptera highest. The peculiar
piercers, with which so many Orthoptera are provided to lay
their eggs, remind us of similar apparatus in Hymenoptera,
which would go to substantiate the position now assigned to
these two orders of insects in close juxtaposition.

Let us now consider the different orders belonging to the
division of the Haustellata, which contains only three groups,
the Hemiptera, Diptera, and Lepidoptera. The order in
which I have mentioned them above seems to me to be that
in which they should naturally be placed, according to their
structure and metamorphoses. If we can be guided by the
changes which the highest of the animals undergo, it will be
perceived that among Lepidoptera we have the true key for
their natural arrangement. ‘The larve of this last group are
hatched in a condition far superior to that of the larve of any
other insects. Not only are they all provided with aérial
respiratory organs, but the different regions of their body
are already more fully marked out than in the larve of any

Classification of Insects. 107

other insects, by the different structure of their various legs,
and by the decided distinction which is introduced between
the head and body. Moreover, their skin is variously co-
loured, and provided with a most astonishing diversity of
external appendages.

At first, these animals are voracious in their habits. Pro-
vided with powerful jaws, they chew large quantities of food,
mostly derived from the vegetable kingdom. But before they
undergo their metamorphosis into pup, before casting the
last skin of the caterpillar, the young Lepidoptera begin to
form their wings, which grow out of the second and third
ring of the thorax in the shape of short, folded bags, very
similar indeed to the first rudiments of wings in Neuroptera.
These appendages rapidly enlarge, and when the caterpillar
easts its skin, they have already attained a considerable size.
But, instead of remaining free, they are soldered to the body
of the pupa, the outer wings become hard, and form what
have generally been called the wing-covers, resembling then
very much the wings of Coleoptera. But the jaws have un-
dergone greater changes. ‘They are now transformed into
long appendages, similar to the articulated threads which
constitute the sucking apparatus of Hemiptera and some
Diptera. The resemblance of the jaws of Lepidoptera at this
period to those of Hemiptera is so great, that we may truly
say, that the form of this apparatus in the pupa completely
exemplifies the permanent structure of the sucking apparatus
in Hemiptera; and the hardness of the wing-covers reminds us
at the same time of the hardness of the base of the upper
wings in the greater part of Hemiptera; so that Hemiptera,
in their perfect condition, would correspond to the earliest
condition of the pupz of Lepidoptera. So the higher degree

of locomotive power of these parts in Diptera would remind
us of the condition of the jaws in the Lepidoptera, at the
moment that the perfect butterfly leaves its pupa, when the
pieces of the mouth move independently of each other, as
is the case with the piercers of most Diptera, which remain
free, while in Lepidoptera they finally form the articulated
_ proboscis. This type of jaws of the Diptera, intermediate be-
tween those of Hemiptera and the perfect Lepidoptera, would

108 Professor Agassiz on the

therefore assign to them also an intermediate position in the
system.

Again, the peculiar development of the wings, the anterior
of which become perfect and membranous in Diptera, while
the posterior ones remain rudimentary, shews plainly that,
in the character of their wings, as well as in all other re-
spects, Lepidoptera rank highest among Haustellata, and
therefore highest among all insects.

Whatever be now the value of these considerations, it must
be obvious to all those familiar with the subject, that such a
classification differs radically from the classifications founded
upon metamorphosis simply. For here the system is founded,
not merely upon the fact of the insects undergoing changes
to various extent, but upon the nature of the changes them-
Selves. This is a generic classification, based upon embryo-
logical changes, while the classification of the physico-philo-
sophers rests simply upon the circumstance of the insects
undergoing metamorphoses or not, without direct reference
to the particular character of the successive changes. They
bring together Hemiptera and Orthoptera, because both un-
dergo hardly any changes after they have been hatched from
the egg. But here it is shewn that the peculiarities which
characterise Hemiptera correspond, to a certain degree, to
the transformations which Lepidoptera undergo, and that
Hemiptera therefore appear, upon embryological data, to
belong to the same series, to which we must also refer Dip-
tera and Lepidoptera, but from which Orthoptera are ex-
cluded. Again, according to the views of the physico-philo-
sophers, the Coleoptera, Neuroptera, Hymenoptera, Diptera,
and Lepidoptera belong together, because they undergo ex-
tensive changes in their metamorphoses. But I have already
shewn that, however extensive these metamorphoses may be,
they do not rise in any of these orders beyond the develop-
ment which the Lepidoptera attain in their pupa condition ;
as in the pupa of Lepidoptera the jaws are already trans-
formed into a sucker-like proboscis, when wings and legs are
developed; while Coleoptera, Orthoptera, and Hymenoptera
have arrived at their mature condition before the jaws have
reached a higher development of structure than that which

Classification of Insects. 109

is exemplified in the metamorphoses of Lepidoptera before
they fully pass into the condition of their pupa. So that, not-
withstanding their extensive metamorphoses, the mandibulate
insects must be placed altogether below the haustellate, even
below the Hemiptera; and thus the classification proposed
at the outset seems fully justified by embryological evidence ;
and, if I am not mistaken, we shall in future consider Man-
dibulata as forming one great natural division among insects,
to be placed below the Haustellata.

This conclusion furnishes another illustration of the fal-
lacy of our reasoning, when we allow ourselves to be guided
simply by analogy derived from other classes. If among the
higher animals we had not a natural series passing from man,
through monkeys to the carnivorous animals, I doubt very
much whether we should ever have been led to consider the
muscular power and the strength of the jaws as indicating
anywhere a higher degree of organisation. But this impres-
sion, which is correct among Mammalia, can no longer ob-
tain in other classes. We should, on the contrary, be better
advised, by this evidence, and in future derive our views, as
far as possible, solely from the classes to which they are to
be applied.

The same evidence which shews Lepidoptera to rank high-
est among insects, shews also that insects as a class rank
higher than Crustacea. And it will not be out of place to
remember here the happy suggestion 6f Oken, who says, that
** Lepidoptera are born as Worms, then pass into the condi-
tion of Crustacea, and are finally developed into true insects,
exemplifying the natural order of gradation of the three
classes of Articulata.”

The detailed history of the metamorphoses of some Lepi-
doptera will sustain more fully the views introduced in the
preceding observations.

(To be concluded in neat Number.)

110

Humboldt, one of the first Philosophers who delivered Popular
Courses of Lectures on Science to the People.

Humboldt commenced his lectures on Physical Cosmography
on the 3d November 1827. The announcement sufficed to
assemble all the intellect of Berlin and its vicinity to hear
the celebrated naturalist.

As he had before done in Paris, in the French language,
Humboldt now, in his native tongue, gave the rich fruits of
his researches in physical cosmography to the public, in a
course of lectures delivered before a select but numerous
assemblage. He enchanted his hearers by the peculiar force
of his intellectual clearness, and by his eloquence, by the
genuineness and warmth of his feelings, and by the inex-
haustible novelty of his subject: he stood before them as a
convincing inspiring teacher, who, like a talented creative
artist, brought a series of wonderful natural pictures of a
boldly explored world before an attentive public. This course
of sixty-one lectures, commenced on the 3d November, and
concluded on the 26th April 1828, was, as it were, the first
sketch of the “ Kosmos,” published subsequently as the re-
sult of his life and studies, given to the world in one work,
whose contents may be compared to a mine rich in precious
metals, and which such persons can best appreciate who
already have a general knowledge of natural sciences. The
first lectures which Alexander von Humboldt gave in the uni-
versity (Berlin) building, and which no scholar living within a
practicable distance missed, caused such a great sensation, not
only in the town but in all parts of the country, that scholars
and friends of science frequently came from long distances to
be present at least at one of these lectures, of which they could
. read the reports and effects in nearly every newspaper, and
to be able to say that they had seen Humboldt. When some
of the first lectures had been delivered, the press of people
from all ranks was so great that Humboldt was literally
forced to give a repetition of the first course, adapted fora
more general public, nearly contemporary with the others,
in the large hall of the Musical Academy. And these popular
lectures were eagerly visited by the highest and the most

Humboldt's Popular Lectures. EE

learned persons in the town. The King, the Royal Family,
the Court, the highest Aristocracy, attended regularly and
listened with the people, which shewed its pride in the
celebrated man, by its enthusiastic admiration. Here Hum-
boldt stood immediately before his fellow countrymen as an
intellectual giant and inexhaustible spring of mental riches.
Every one, even the lowest and most ignorant, heard his
name ; he was something wonderful, mysterious, and remark-
able, and they thronged to see the man who had discovered
a new world. His brother, William, wrote to a friend in
Vienna, who considered every intellectually uncommon de-
velopment as something demoniacal :—‘“ Alexander is really
a ‘puissance,’ and has gained a new kind of glory by his
lectures. They are unsurpassable ; he is always the same;
and it is still one of the principal features of his character to
have a peculiar timidity and undeniable anxiety in the mode
of his appearance.” These lectures of Humboldt were also
new and remarkable, in respect of the position he took to-
wards the people. For, while other learned men, whose
social position is always higher than that of the people,
nearly all, in their scientific and academic pride, did not
deem it worth their while to disseminate their knowledge
among the people, whom it must ultimately most benefit ;—
while they generally keep their learning as the property and
mystery of a caste, and interchange it among themselves ;—
while they consider it degrading for a man of science to
popularise his knowledge ;—Alexander von Humboldt set
them the noble example, that a baron, a chamberlain, a privy
councillor, and confidential adviser of his king, did not con-
sider it beneath his rank and dignity to appear publicly as
the teacher of his favourite science. He shewed that a true
man of science does not attach himself to an exclusive caste,
and that all considerations of birth, rank, and title, are as
nothing in the high service of science. And thus Humboldt,
in the impulses of his heart and of his mind, fulfilled the
noble duty which the mentally-gifted man owes to his people,
of bestowing on them and instructing them with the rich
treasury of his knowledge and experience, thereby raising
them nearer to himself.—(Lives of the Humboldts.)

112

Professor Oken, the originator of the now Popular Assemblies
for the Advancement of Science.

Humboldt’s devotion to natural science, made the year
1828 important far more than the preparations for his Asiatic
journey. For the purposes of comparative researches, he
caused the temperature to be measured in all the Prussian
mines, and this led Humboldt’s reflective and comparative
mind to new results; and besides this, he was oecupied in
the autumn of this year by the Seventh Annual Meeting of
the German Naturalists and Natural Philosophers (an in-
stitution originated with the celebrated Naturalist, Oken),
which held its sittings in Berlin this time, and elected
Humboldt and Lichtenstein, as presidents for the year.
Here Humboldt’s penetrating mind was again revealed, in
his just conception and comprehension of science and its
duties, which consist, partly in extending and popularising
knowledge, partly in exciting to further inquiries, in gaining
new disciples, and in making itself of practical utility in life,
and of educational service for the people. These annual
assemblies failed to fulfil their purpose, partly because the
different branches of natural science were not properly sepa-
rated from each other, and the constantly-increasing mate-
rial could not be surveyed, and certainly not arranged in the
few days that the Assembly lasted. Humboldt soon recog-
nised this imperfect arrangement, and caused the institution
of sections for the various special departments, in which
every one had the privilege of an interchange of progress,
and only the universal matter of general science was debated
in the general meetings. Humboldt opened this seventh
annual convention with a profound speech on the spirit and |

utility of such annual meetings, and his words had, as ‘always,

such a deep influence over the whole intellectual world, that
soon afterwards, annual convocations were instituted on the
model of Oken’s society of natural historians, in England and
Italy.—(Biography of the Humboldts.)

113

The Earl of Rosse’s Telescopes, and their Revelations in
the Sidereal Heavens. By the Rev. Dr ScoreEssy,
F.R.S.L. & E., Member of the Wernerian Society, and
Corresponding Member of the Institute of France, &e.
Communicated by the Author.

_ In a second lecture on these interesting subjects, recently
delivered at Torquay, much and important consideration was
given to the inquiry,— What has the gigantic telescope done ?

The lecturer having himself had the privilege of observing
on different visits, and for considerable periods, with both the
instruments, was enabled to speak, he hoped, in a satisfactory
manner to this inquiry. His opportunities of observing, he
‘said, notwithstanding interruptions from clouds and dis-
turbed atmosphere, had been somewhat numerous, and, not
unfrequently, highly instructive and delightful. Of these ob-
servations he had made records of nearly 60, on the moon,
planets, double stars, clusters, and nebule. He had been per-
mitted also to have free access to, and examination of, all the
observatory records and drawings, so that he was enabled on
the best grounds, he believed, to say, that there has been no
disappointment in the performance of the instruments; and
that the great instrument, in its peculiar qualities of supe-
riority, possesses a marvellous power in collecting light and
penetrating into regions of previously untouched space. In
what may he called the domestic regions of our planet—the
objects in the solar system—all that other instruments may
reveal is within its grasp or more, though by the prodigious

flood of light from the brighter planets, the eye is dazzled
unless a large portion is shut out.

But in its application to the distant heavens and explora-
tion of the nebulous systems there, its peculiar powers have,
with a steady atmosphere, their highest developments and
noblest triumphs. In this department—that to which the
instrument has been particularly directed—every known ob-
_ ject it touches, when the air is favourable, is, as a general
fact, exhibited under some new aspect. It pierces into the

VOL. LIV. NO. CVIL—JANUARY 1853. H

114 The Earl of Rosse’s Telescopes, and their

indefinite or diffuse nebulous forms shewn by other instru-
ments generally, and either exhibits configurations altogether
unimagined, or resolves perhaps the nebulous patches of
light into clusters of stars. Guided in the general researches
by the works of the talented and laborious Herschels—to
whom astronomy and science owe a deep debt of gratitude—
time has been economised, and the interest of the results:
vastly enhanced. So that many objects in which the fine
instruments of other observers could discern only some vague
indefinite patch of light, have been brought out in striking,
definite, and marvellous configurations.

Among these peculiar revelations is that of the spiral form
—the most striking and appreciable of all—which we may
venture to designate “The Rossean Configuration.” Its
discovery was at once novel and splendid ; and in reference
to the dynamical principles on which these vast aggregations
of remote suns are whirled about within their respective
systems and sustained against interferences, promises to be
of the greatest importance.

One of the most splendid nebule of this class—the great
spiral or whirlpool—has been figured in the Philosophical
Transactions for 1850. It may be considered as the grand type
and example of a class; for near 40 more, with spiral charac-
teristics, have been observed, and about 20 of them carefully
figured. Dr Scoresby had the pleasure of being present at
the discovery of this particular form in a nebula of the
planetary denomination, in which two portions following
spiral forms were detected. Its colour was peculiar,—pale
blue. He had the privilege, too, of being present on another
interesting | occasion, where the examination of the great ne-
bula in Orion was first seen to yield decisive tokens of reso-
lution.
In these departments of research, the examination of the
configurations of nebuls, and the resolution of nebule into
stars, the six-feet speculum has had its grandest triumphs,
and the noble artificer and observer the highest rewards of —
his talents and enterprise. Altogether, the quantity of
work done, during a period of about seven years,—including
a winter when a noble philanthropy for a starving population

Revelations in the Sidereal Heavens. 115

absorbed the keenest interests of science,—has been decidedly
great, and the new knowledge acquired, concerning the
handiwork of the Great Creator, amply satisfying of even
Sanguine anticipations.

Transferred to the ledger records from the journals of the
Observatory (comprising only a selection from the general
observations) about 700 catalogued nebule, Dr 8S. found, Sep-
tember last, had been already examined, and new nebula, or
nebulous knots, discovered merely incidentally, to the amount
of 140 or more. The number of observations, involving sepa-
rate sets of the instrument, recorded in the ledger (exclusive
of very many hundreds, possibly thousands, on the moon and
planets), amount to near 1700, involving several hundreds of
determinations of position and angular measurements with
the micrometer on the far distant stars. The carefully drawn
configurations, eliciting new characteristics, exceed 90, and
the rough or less-finished sketches amount to above 200. Of
the 700 catalogued nebule already examined, it should be
observed, that in fully one-half, or more, something new has
been elicited.

In speaking of the effects of the flood of light accumulated
by the six-feet speculum of the Earl of Rosse, Dr Scoresby
remarked, that this peculiarity of the instrument (connected
as it 18 with due length of focus and admirable definition) en-
abled it to reach distances in space far beyond the powers of
any other instrument. This was its peculiar province ; and
in this, as to existing instruments, there was not, nor, as he
hoped to shew, could there be, any competition. For com-
paring the space-penetrating power of the six-feet speculum
with one of two feet (which has rarely been exceeded) we
find it three to one in favour of the largest, with an accumu-
tion of light in the ratio of 6? to 2?, or 9 to 1. On comparing
the powers of this magnificent instrument with those of a
refractor of two feet aperture, the largest hitherto attempted,
we have a superiority—making a due allowance for the loss
of light by reflection from two mirrors, and assuming an
equal degree of perfectness, figure, and other optical re-
quirements in the refractor, and no allowance for absorp-

_ tion of light—in the ratio of about 4:5 to 1, as to light,
H 2

116 The Earl of Rosse’s Telescopes, and their

and as 2°12 to 1, as to the capability of penetrating
space, or detecting nebulous or sidereal objects at the ex-
treme distance of visibility. Hence, whilst the range of
telescopic vision in a refractor of two feet aperture would
embrace a sphere in space represented by a diameter of 2;
the six-feet speculum (assuming both instruments to be of
equal optical perfection, magnifying equally, and allowing
fifty per cent. for loss of light for two reflections in the
one case, and none (?) in the other) would comprehend a
sphere of about 4:24 diameter,—the outer shell of which,
1:12 in thickness, being the province of the great instrument
alone. But let us reduce these proportions to sections of
equal spaces, that we may judge more accurately of the rela-
tive powers. Now, the. solid contents of different spheres,
we know, are in the ratio of the cubes of their diameters.
Hence the comparative spheres, penetrated by the two in-
struments referred to, should be as 4:24 to 2°; that is, as
95 to 1. Deducting, then, from this vast grasp of space the
inner sphere, capable of being explored by other instruments,
we find that, out of nearly ten sections of space reached by
this telescope, there are nearly nine sections which the six-
feet speculum may embrace as peculiarly its own !

What its revelations yet may prove, then, we can have no
idea. Several thousands of nebule have been catalogued ;
the great reflector might add to these tens of thousands more,
But this, seeing how few nights in a year are favourable for
the highest powers, must be the work of years of perseve-
rance. It would be a worthy undertaking for the Government
of a great country, to afford the means of multiplying such
gigantic instruments. Application is to be made, in this di-
rection, for a six-feet reflector at the Cape of Good Hope,
for the examination of the heavens towards the southern pole.
Lord Rosse, with his usual nobleness of liberality, will yield
up his laboratory, machinery, and men, to the service of Go-
vernment, and is willing, moreover, to give the direction and
guidance of his master-mind. Will the British nation be con-
tent with a refusal ?

The range opened out to us by the great telescope at Birr —
Castle, is best, perhaps, apprehended by the now usual mea- _

Revelations in the Sidereal Heavens. 117

surement—not of distances in miles, or millions of miles, or
diameters of the earth’s orbit, but—of the progress of light
in free space. The determination, within, no doubt, a small
proportion of error, of the parallax of a considerable num-
ber of the fixed stars, yields, according to M. Peters, a space
betwixt us and the fixed stars of the smallest magnitude, the
sixth, ordinarily visible to the naked eye, of 130 years in the
flight of light. This information enables us, on the principles
of sounding the heavens, suggested by Sir W. Herschel,
with the photometrical researches on the stars of Dr Wol-
laston and others, to carry the estimation of distances, and
that by no means on vague assumption, to the limits of space
opened out by the most effective telescopes. And from the
guidance thus afforded us, as to the comparative power of
the six-feet speculum in the penetration of space, as already
elucidated, we might fairly assume the fact, that if any other
telescope now in use could follow the sun if removed to the
remotest visible position, or till its light would require 10,000
years to reach us, the grand instrument at Parsonstown
would follow it so far, that from 20,000 to 25,000 years would
be spent in the transmission of its light to the earth. But in
the case of clusters of stars, and of nebule exhibiting a mere
speck of misty luminosity, from the combined light perhaps
of hundreds of thousands of suns, the penetration into space,
compared with the results of ordinary vision, must be enor-
mous; so that it would not be difficult to shew the pro-
bability that a million of years, in flight of light, would be
| requisite, in regard to the most distant, to trace the enormous
interval.

But after all, what is all this, vast as the attainment may
seem, in the exploration of the extent of the works of the
| Almighty? For in this attempt to look into space, as the
| great reflector enables us, we see but a mere speck—for
SPACE IS INFINITE. Could we take, therefore, not the tardy
wings of the morning, with the speed of the mere spread of
day, nor flee as with the leaden wings of light, which would
| require years to reach the nearest star, but, like unhampered
| thought, could we speed to the farthest visible nebula at a
bound,—there, doubtless, we should have a continuance of

118 Mr Ellet on the Proper Application of

revelations ; and if bound after bound were taken, and new
spheres of space for ten thousand repetitions explored,—
should we not probably find each additional sphere of tele-
scopic vision garnished with suns and nebulous configurations
rich and marvellous as our own? If these views serve to
enlarge our conception of creative wonders, and of the glory
and power of the Great Architect of the heavens, should
they not deeply impress us in respect to the Divine conde-
scension in regarding so graciously this little, inferior world
of ours! Animated with the spirit of the Psalmist, we shall
each one, surely, be disposed appropriately to join in his
emphatic saying,—“ When I consider thy heavens, the work
of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast or-
dained ; what is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the
son of man, that thou visitest him?”

Of the Proper Application of Reservoirs to the Improvement
of Rivers. By CHARLES ELLET Jun., Civil Engineer,
United States of America.

It is not intended to recommend the mode of collecting
the superfluous water into reservoirs for their improvement
to all streams. It is only those rivers, or parts of rivers, on
which the imperfections of the channel are caused essentially
by a deficiency of water in seasons of drought, and not by the
rapidity of their fall, or obstructions in their beds, that are
susceptible of this mode of improvement. Rivers which,
like the Ohio, Alleghany, Cumberland, and Tennessee, are
always navigable when there is sufficient water in their
channels to float the boats freely, but of which the naviga-
tion fails because the supply of water fails, and on which
lakes may be formed at small expense, without injury to
valuable property or to the salubrity of the country, —such
rivers as these can be best, most cheaply, permanently, and

effectually improved, by collecting a portion of the waters —

which are wasted in producing floods, and holding them in
store for the season when the sources of supply fail to render
their customary tribute to the channel.

Reservoirs to the Improvement of Rivers. 119

Such are essentially the characteristics of all the great

rivers of the Mississippi valley.
_ Many of these streams rise in the mountain ridges, and
flow great distances through depressions parallel with the
range in which they originate. Those which descend from
the Alleghany break through the subordinate ranges of
Laurel Hill, Greenbriar, Big Sewell, and other parallel and
analogous formations, where many gorges are presented,
easy to dam up, and where the lakes to be formed will lie
inclosed within a rim of rock, which will insure a purity equal
to that of the waters of Erie or Ontario. Tens, and per-
haps hundreds, of such sites exist in the valleys of the Alle-
ghany, Monongahela, Great Kanawha, and their tributaries ;
and, indeed, along all the rivers that flow from the mountains
on either slope of the great dividing ridge.

It is not to be maintained that the water will become less
salubrious because it is confined. The lakes which it is pro-
posed to form are in all respects analogous to the great
fresh-water lakes of the globe, which are provided with out-
lets to the Ocean, through which the water is slowly dis-
charged, but, nevertheless, so adjusted as to retain the same
water for a long series of years.

The salubrity of the fluid is not impaired by this exposure.
The Falls of Niagara probably do not vent the volume of water
which is contained in Lake Erie more than once in six or eight
years; and it is certain that the contents of all the upper
lakes would not pass over the cataract in half a century.

_ Nature relies for effecting the change which is for ever

taking place in great bodies of fresh water, almost exclu-
sively on the process of evaporation ; and has provided that
the fluid shall be thoroughly exposed to sun, and light, and
air, by the agitation of its surface when in volume, and by its
Suspension in the clouds after its evaporation.

The healthfulness of the country cannot be impaired by
the formation of artificial reservoirs in all respects analo-
gous to those of nature, liable to be drained off, to some ex-
tent, more than once in every year. They need not cover
vegetable matter in sufficient quantity to cause apprehension
from the effect of its decomposition. These reservoirs are

120 Mr Ellet on the Proper Application of

not intended to be wholly exhausted; and need only to be
reduced at the surface, so as to lay bare a portion of their
rocky borders.

But the salubrity of rivers, when no longer subject to be-
come dry, and have their sands and vegetable deposits ex-
posed to the summer’s sun, must necessarily be increased ;
for the same experience which teaches that large masses of
fresh water, existing as lakes, are salubrious, also teaches
that shallow, stagnant pools, such as are found in the place
of an exhausted river, are deleterious to health.

It is difficult to imagine a serious objection to the im-
provement of this great natural system of inland navigation,
by a method which accomplishes so much for an outlay so
small—by a plan which places no incidental impediment in
the way of trade, and the application of which is limited to
no State or section of the Union.

From the base of the Rocky Mountains to the base of the
Alleghany, there is not a great river or navigable tributary
that may not be benefited by this process; while on the
eastern slope of the dividing range there are numerous rivers
flowing into the Atlantic, which have been improved by other
means, and which must ultimately be subjected to this treat-
ment, and relieved of the dams by which they are now ob-
structed.

The North Branch of the Susquehanna may be easily
made navigable, from its mouth into the State of New York,
for a convenient class of steamboats, by this simple expe-
dient ; and there are several rivers in Virginia, which, for
an insignificant cost, may probably be supplied with abun-
dant water for a permanent navigation.

The personal observation of the writer does not extend to
the great rivers of the Southern States. But the elevations
of their surfaces above tide, from point to point, seem to in-
dicate that they are even more susceptible of the application
of this method of improvement than those farther north;
while the Cumberland and Tennessee, and the rivers of
Kentucky, possess all the essential characteristics of the Ohio,
and will always afford a good navigation for steamboats,
whenever they are adequately supplied with water.

Reservoirs to the Improvement of hivers. 121

Further west, the field of valuable improvement is im-
mense. Probably 2000 miles of precarious navigation on
the Missouri alone, may be rendered permanent and safe by
a few dams constructed upon the great tributaries above the
mouth of the Yellow Stone; and, as civilisation is carried
by steam into those distant regions, it is reasonable to sup-
pose that the same incidental advantages to society will be
experienced there, which, it can be shewn, are certain to fol-
low the application of this system on the Ohio.

It is not asserting more than the measurements presented
in this paper will justify, when it is maintained that it is en-

_ tirely in the power of man to control all the waters of the
Mississippi and the Missouri, and compel every river to flow
with an even current from its source in the Alleghany or
Rocky Mountains, to its home in the ocean, for ever free from
the hurtful effects of floods and droughts.

The writer can scarcely hope immediately to remove the
Suspicion and distrust with which the first announcement
of his plan was met by the public; but yet he believes that
the period is past when prejudice or doubt can long resist
the force of demonstration. When, in a former age, it was
proposed in Spain to unite two rivers by a navigable canal,
a commission of the Inquisition decided against the project,
on the broad ground that, if it had been the will of God that
those rivers should be united, they would have been joined
in their creation. The decision was in conformity with the
spirit of the age and the people, and was doubtless dictated

by honest views of piety and right.

But times have changed, and men are learning to look

upon this earth and all it contains as a gift from God to the
beings of his creation, to be used, explored, studied, and im-
proved. .

The waters are not the least of these bounteous gifts. But
it does not follow, because they are supplied in abundance,
they were intended for ever to be wasted. It is more in
unison with what is known of the original design, to conclude

that the apparent excess was intended for many useful pur-

_ poses; to be collected for the benefit of the parched earth;

_ for the power that it affords; for the transportation of the

122 Notices of various Animal Remains

products which it serves to increase and prepare; and not
for ever to burst, periodically, in a wave of destruction upon

man and his works.—(Smithsonian Contributions to Know-

ledge, vol. ii.)

Notices of various Animal Remains, as Bos longifrons, &c.,
found with Roman Pottery, near Newstead, Roxburgh-
shire : with Notes in reference to the Origin of our Domes-
tic Cattle, and the Wild White Cattle of this Country.
By JoHN ALEXANDER SmitH, M.D. Communicated by
the Author.*

In the winter of 1846-7, during the excavation of a cutting
on the Hawick branch of the North British Railway, in the
neighbourhood of Melrose, and a little to the east of the vil-
lage of Newstead, a number of shafts or well-like pits were
come upon. There were about five or six of these of a large
size, two of which were built round the sides with stones,
and were about 20 feet deep, and about 2 feet 6 inches in
diameter ; the others, being simply dug out of the ground,
were about 4 feet in diameter, and varying from 15 to 18 feet
in depth. These pits were all found in a space of about 30
yards square, and among them were discovered some 15 or
16 small pits, about 3 feet deep and 3 feet in diameter,
which were lined throughout with a layer of whitish clay,
some 5 or 6 inches thick. All these pits were filled with a
black peaty-like stuff, apparently damp ashes and earth, and
in them were observed numerous pieces of Roman pottery,
consisting principally of the dark-coloured or smother-kiln
ware, coarser varieties of the gray, and yellowish, and also

some portions of the fine red or Samian ware, both plain

and embossed. Many of these, I have been informed, might
have been preserved entire, or the broken fragments col-
lected together, which, I regret to say, were carelessly
thrown with the earth and rubbish to form the adjoining
mound. I have been able to collect a few specimens of the

* Read before the Royal Physical Society, Edinburgh, April 2, 1851.

» ae
2

oy STL AV EM + OH OT SITUS USINGXOY Pes] SmMaK] IEIT SMe Y URMOY TIM PUNOF STMIg ee

Of

as

LS

Plate If Vol. LIV p.122

/ Johv Alex” Smith, MD. )

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New Phil. Journ.

ia

found near Newstead, Roxburghshire. 123

different kinds of ware (some of which I exhibit), and have
presented them to the museum of the Scottish Antiquaries.
Several silver and brass coins, of the Emperors Vespasian,
Trajan, and Hadrian, were also found, and the bones of vari-
ous animals.

I shall not enter here into the more strictly antiquarian
details of the subject (which I have already, sometime ago,
fully described in another place—Soc. Ant. of Scot., May
1850), farther than to say, that the popular idea of these pits
having been wells, seems rather absurd, if we consider the
number of them clustered together, as well as their near
neighbourhood to the River Tweed. English archeologists
call pits of this kind rubbish-holes, or dirt-pits,—the name
sufficiently pointing out their supposed use ; but it certainly
seems to me very strange, that the Romans should have
taken so much apparently unnecessary trouble for such a
purpose, as the land would surely not be so very valuable in
those ancient days, and the River Tweed runs at no great dis-
tance from them on the north, which would seem to afford
a simple means for carrying off anything of the kind. I am
inclined to the opinion, from considering all the circumstances
of the case, that these had been the burying-places of the

ancient Roman town, which I believe to have existed in the
immediate neighbourhood, and that in these pits were depo-
sited the inurned ashes gathered from the extinguished fu-
neral piles of the dead; the remains of sacrificed animals
being then apparently laid over them as their most appro-
priate covering. However this may be, pits of a correspond-
ing kind have been discovered in various places in England ;
but, as far as I am aware, this is only the second time any-
thing at all resembling them has been noticed, or described,
as occurring in Scotland. A little to the east of these pits —
a bed or stratum, of considerable size, and consisting appa-
rently of burnt earth, mixed with wood charcoal, was observ-
ed, and a little farther to the east, another of smaller size
was also come upon; and in both of these, various pieces of

pottery, and the bones and teeth of animals, were discovered.
I regret my not being able to give a full and satisfactory
~ account of the various animal remains which these beds and

124 Notices of various Animal Remains

pits contained, as most of them were carelessly dug out by
the rough hands of the “ navies,’ and added with the earth
to form an adjoining mound. Those I have been able to
collect and examine are the following :—In the first place,
however, I must notice the discovery of a human skeleton in —
a pit, about three feet in diameter, and ten feet in depth,
a little to the south-west of the large built pits. It was
found standing erect, with a spear beside it; the head of
the spear was of iron, 14 inches long, and 1} inch broad
at its widest part, and traces of the handle still remained,
the rotten wood falling out on the spear being touched.
The skull alone was preserved, and through the kindness
of my friend Dr Brown, Melrose, is now in my posses-
sion (since presented to the Museum of the Scottish Anti-
quaries). It is well formed, of moderate size, of the Cauca-
sian type, with strongly-marked muscular impressions, and
the teeth generally sound, and little worn, being evidently
the skull of an adult male in the prime of life. An examina-
tion of it was carefully made by Dr D. Wilson and myself,
for his interesting paper “ On the Crania of the Tumuli,’’
(read to Brit. Assoc. here), and the following are the details
of its various dimensions, according to the terms used by Dr
Morton in the “ CraniaAmericana:’’—Longitudinal diameter,
7 in. 3 lin.; parietal diameter, 5 in. 4 lin.; frontal diameter,
4 in. 6 lin.; vertical diameter, 5 in. 4 lin. ; intermastoid arch,
14 in. 7} lin.; intermastoid arch, from upper root of zygomatic
process, 12 in.; intermastoid line, 5 in. 33 lin. ; do. from upper
root of zygomatic process, 5 in. 6 lin. ; occipito-frontal arch,
14 in. 4 lin. ; do., from occipital protuberance to root of nasal
bones, 12 in. 9 lin.; horizontal periphery, 20 in. 6 lin. ; rela-
tive capacity (which is here assumed by adding together the —
longitudinal and vertical diameters, and the horizontal peri- _
phery), 33 in. 1 lin. |

If this skeleton, from the place where it was found, be —
considered that of a Roman citizen, it must, in my opinion,

have belonged to the later period of their occupation of this a
district ; as it was not until then that the practice of burning

the dead began to be given up, and the simpler rite of inhu-
mation reintroduced. Or, it is not improbable it may belong ©

+,

found near Newstead, Roxburghshire. 125

to a much later period; but on this difficult subject it is no
easy matter to decide.

Of the various remains of the lower animals which were
collected, the first I shall notice has been well called “ the
noble associate of man,’’—I refer to the Horse, Equus Cabal-
lus, Linn., to which I consider this back part of a mutilated
skull to have belonged, and which seems to have been an in-
dividual of rather a small size. The next is the Common
Hog, Sus scrofa, Linn., of which a lower, jaw was preserved.
It is easily distinguished by its peculiar form, the posterior
grinders being oblong, with tuberculated crowns, and the in-
cisors sloping forwards. The third animal which I have to
notice, is represented merely by a portion of a round antler,
apparently of the Common Stag or Red Deer, Cervus ela-
phus, Linn. It seems to be a part of the first or brow antler ;
and I was informed, that tolerably perfect antlers, said to
be those of the red deer, had also been found; but these I
was unable to get for examination.

The other remains consisted of skulls, and apparently other
bones of short-horned owen, which I shall attempt more parti-
cularly to describe. I need hardly allude to the well known fact,
of the previous existence in Britain of two species of enormous
wild oxen; the one the shaggy Bison, the other the large
horned and mighty Urus (Bos primigenius, Bojan.); an animal,
according to Cesar, almost equalling the elephant in bulk; but,
in addition to these, there were also short-horned cattle of a
very inferior size, which have been proved to have existed in
Britain from the period of the newer pliocene formation, their
- remains being found in drifts and fresh-water deposits, along
with those of the mammoth and the rhinoceros, and in the
caves of the same period, the prey, it may have been, of
tigers, bears, and hyenas; as well as through the depo-
sits of the alluvium ; down to their existence in the bogs,
and among the traces of men in the latest of all the
formations ; being spared apparently, for man’s sake, while
their dread contemporaries of earlier times had passed from
the face of the earth. After this, however, they also seem
to disappear as a distinct species; still existing, it may
be, in some of the many varieties of our present domes-

126 Notices of various Animal Remains

ticated ox. This small short-horned ox, Professor Owen has
designated the Bos longifrons. “It belongs,” the learned
Professor says in his excellent work on ‘ British Fossil Mam-
mals,’ “ like our present cattle, to the sub-genus Bos, as is
shewn by the form of the forehead, and by the origin of the.
horns from the extremities of the occipital ridge; but it
differs from the contemporary Bos primigenius, not only by
its great inferiority of size, being smaller than the ordinary —
breeds of domestic cattle, but also by the horns being pro-
portionally much smaller and shorter, as well as differently
directed, and by the forehead being less concave. The horn
cores of the Bos longifrons describe a single short curve out-
wards and forwards in the plane of the forehead, rarely ris-
ing above that plane, more rarely sinking below it; the cores
have a very rugged exterior, and are usually flat at their
upper part.” Vide Owen’s Brit. Fos. Mammal. Withregard
to the horn cores, Professor Owen seems to allow some little
latitude. both as to their size and curvature. In alluding,
p. 501, to the Urus being distinguished from the Bos taurus
by its great size, and the direction of the horns, he quotes
from Cuvier the following remark: “ The naturalist well
knows that such characters are neither constant nor proper
for the distinction of species ;’ and, accordingly, he admits
that the Urus was subject to some variety in these respects ;
and, in the passage just quoted, he also appears to allow a
certain amount of range in the curvature of the horn cores
of the Bos longifrons ; for he says, a8 already mentioned,
they “ rarely rise above the plane of the forehead, and more
rarely fall below it.” The four skulls in my possession —
(which I now exhibit), seem to correspond very considerably
with these general characters of the Bos longifrons, if we
consider an allowance made for the slightly upward bend of
the horn cores of one at least of them, while they agree with —
the forward curvature, and scarcely rise above the plane of ,
the forehead. Indeed, two of them (Nos. III. and IV.), seem —
very closely to resemble the description given by Professor —
Owen, and the horns of No. IV. especially correspond; the —
other two, Nos. I. and II. (wide Plate), although perhaps —
slightly different, and of rather a larger size, still agree con- —

found near Newstead, Roxburghshire. 127

siderably in most particulars; the largest of these No. 1,
being probably a bull, as well from its larger size, and
more strongly-marked horn cores, as from the proportionally
broader and squarer forehead, which is believed to be cha-
racteristic of the male ; and the others being in all probability
cows. I would be inclined to account for their slight differ-
ences upon the supposition of these skulls being the remains
of cattle which had become domesticated at that early period
in our country’s history, when the Roman soldier was a
dweller in the south of Scotland; and should they be con-
sidered as not absolutely identical with the Bos longifrons,
they seem apparently so closely allied, as to afford a strong
reason for believing it to be, at all events, the native source
from which they had been derived. I have made out a table
of their different dimensions, as compared with those given
by Professor Owen, and it will be seen how very closely they
correspond (vide Table). One of the skulls, No. [V., seems to
have been sawn through the middle, and, from the appearance
of some of the others, you might fancy the animals had been
killed by the heavy blow of an axe, or some such instrument,
striking them obliquely immediately behind the horns. On
examining these skulls, I have been struck by what appears
to me to be the large relative size of their prominent orbits,
as contrasted with those of the Bos primigenius, and even of
our domestic cattle. In the B. primigenius, indeed, the orbit
seems to be small in relation to the immense bulk of the
skull. And I may also notice the peculiar prominence in the
middle of their supra-occipital ridge, especially in the skulls
‘Nos. Ill. and IV. Since writing these notes, I have read a
very interesting paper by Professor Nilsson of Lund, in the
Annals and Magazine of Natural History, vol. ii. of Second
Series, “ On the Extinct and Existing Bovine Animals of
Scandinavia,’’ in which he gives a detailed account of the
characters of the Bos longifrons of Professor Owen, or Dwarf
Ox, a few of which I may enumerate here. He says: “ As
| far as we yet know, it is the smallest of the ox tribe that had
lived wild in our portion of the globe; the whole length,
from the muzzle to the end of the rump bone, he supposes to
have been about 6 ft. 8 inches, and, from the slender make

128 Notices of various Animal Remains

of its bones, it had rather resembled a deer than an ox.
The forehead upwards over the eyes is flattened, with an edge
going along the frontal seam, which is most prominent up-
wards, and ends with a rounded indenting backwards. Be-
tween the eyes, is a more or less considerable depression,
above which there is often a rising, and beneath which lies
the incision for the nasal bones, which go right up to the
line drawn between the lower borders of the orbits. (Thus
the frontal bones are not longer in this species than they are
in the Urus or Taurus.) The horn cores are small, cylin-
drical, short, curved only in one direction forwards; some-
times, though seldom, downwards, in the plane of the fore-
head. ‘The form of the temporal cavity is, behind, transverse- |
obtuse ; before, oblique-pointed ; its hinder part (tothe angle —
above the joint of the under jaw), only one-fourth part
broader than the forepart. The anterior palatine apertures —
lancet-shaped, at the back oblique inward-pointed ; the back |
ones lie between the palate bones; the nape transverse, up-
wards with a vertical indenting ; downwards with a vertical
edge over the circular foramen of the nape. The skull of —
this species varies considerably in size, and even something
in form, according to its age and sex. The species, how- —
ever, is always known by a protuberance upon the upper —
part of the forehead in front, and an indenting backwards.”
(The italics I may observe, are not in the original.) He ©
gives a table, also, of the usual dimensions of young speci- 4
mens, which I have added to mine, to shew their general —
correspondence.

These four skulls then, (before you,) oodles were found —
near the village of Newstead, Roxburghshire, seem to me to
agree so very closely with all these distinctive characters, as —
to prove them to have been very nearly allied indeed, if not —
absolutely identical with, the B. longifrons ; and should you —
agree with me in this opinion, then I may say, J consider :
these as of course proving their existence in the south of —
Scotland at the time of the Roman occupation of the country, —
of which, as far as I am aware, these skulls are the “a
evidence. e4 i

The examination of the skulls of cattle, which had u une

found near Newstead, Roxburghshire. 129

doubtedly existed in our country at a very remote period,
naturally suggests some queries as to the Origin of our
ordinary Domestic Cattle, which is a question of consider-
able interest as well as difficulty, but into which I do not
intend to enter farther than to bring forward a few gleanings
and remarks bearing upon this interesting subject. Profes-
sor Nilsson, in the valuable paper already alluded to, after
describing what he considers to have been an additional
Species of extinct and fossil ox, which, according to him,
had existed in this country as well as in Sweden, which he
calls the Bos frontosus, and to which, in passing, I must
allude. It is distinguished, he says, by the ridge of the occi-
put rising high in the centre, convex ; the horns, which rest
on longer pedicles than among any known species of ox, are
short, and directed outwards and backwards, and then bend
forwards. The size of the skulls denote an animal which,
although much less than the B. primigenius, is yet consider-
ably larger than the B. longifrons. It belongs, he says, to
the country’s oldest post-pliocene period. And with regard
to the question of the origin of our present cattle, the Pro-
fessor considers that a race of our domestic cattle have
probably been derived from each of the three species he de-
scribes of the sub-genus Bos with the flat forehead ; the B.
primigenius, B.frontosus, and B. longifrons ; none of them,
according to the general opinion of naturalists, being derived
from the Bison or Aurochs, which is quite different in its
characters, and never pairs with the domestic cow. Other
naturalists, however, consider the Bos primigenius as the
origin from which our domestic cattle are derived. I entirely
‘concur with the opinion of Professor Owen, in considering it
highly improbable, in fact almost impossible, that the enor-
mous and savage Uri, of which Cesar says, “great is their
strength and great their speed, and they spare neither man
nor beast which they catch sight of ; and that the man who
killed the greatest number of them, even by the pitfall,
brings the horns as an evidence of his prowess, and is highly
applauded by his countrymen ; and so savage is their nature,
that, though taken never so young, they cannot be tamed,’—
(lib. vi. 27, 28.) To suppose beasts like these, not only tamed,
VOL. LIV. NO. CVII—JANUARY 1853. I

130 Notices of various Animal Remains

in opposition to such decided evidence to the contrary, but
also so strangely degenerated into the comparatively small-
sized and placid ox of the present day, seems to me really
past belief.

And with regard to the opinion, that the domesticated
British cattle were originally derived from those of the
Roman colonists, we must recollect that we have evidence
which proves the existence of numerous herds of domesti-
cated cattle in Britain before ever Cesar’s troops set foot in
the country. This Professor Owen seems rather to overlook,
when he says, (p. 500, Brit. Fos. Mam.,) that in all probabi-
lity the “herds of newly conquered regions would be derived |
from the already domesticated cattle of the Roman colonist.”
No doubt to a certain extent this might afterwards be the
ease; but Cesar himself tells us, in his Commentaries, at the
very commencement of his operations in England, that “ the
country was well peopled, and that they possessed ‘ pecoris
magnus numerus,’ ”—(lib. v. 12)—numerous herds of cattle ;
for “ pecus”’ is frequently used when domesticated cattle are
spoken of, although certainly its more correct signification
refers to sheep ; and that in this instance it refers to cattle,
we think is rendered the more likely, by his going on to tell
us that the natives of the interior of the country seldom
troubled themselves with the tillage of the ground, but lived
on milk and flesh meat, and clothed themselves with the
skins—(lib. v., 12,14) ;—all of which facts are proofs of the
reference being at least to domesticated herds ; and also, as
has been well remarked, that the proverbial fondness of the
natives of the southern parts of our island, at the present
day, for the “roast beef of Old England,” is a taste of no —
recent origin, It should also be remembered, that it must —
have taken no little time before the country could be filled
with “numerous herds of cattle,’ especially if we consider
the difficulty of transit from one country to another, in the —
still earlier and ruder times ; and I may remind you of the
fact, of which Cesar also informs us, that the Germans were,
like the British, in possession of numerous herds of cattle
before the Romans invaded them; not being tillers of the —
ground, but resembling the British in their “ milk, cheese, —

found near Newstead, Roxburghshire. — 131

and flesh” diet,—derived of course from their domesticated
eattle. Considerations such as these would make me rather
agree with Professor Owen’s other remarks, when, treating
of the Bos longifrons, he says, “ that if it still be contended
that the natives of Britain, or any part of them, obtained
their cattle by taming a primitive breed, this small-sized, origi-
nal variety of ox, is most likely to have furnished the source.”
Now, I am inclined to think that the several instances where
bones of this animal have been found along with the ancient
works of man, as mentioned by Professor Owen, as well as
in the present case, are, in all probability, proofs of the early
domesticated state of an ox identical with the B. longifrons ;
which, as already mentioned, had existed in this country
from the times of the newer pliocene period.

And in support of the opinion of the Bos longifrons being
the true origin of our domesticated cattle, or at least as shew-
ing its more general resemblance to them, I may extract one
or two statements from the paper of Professor Nilsson already
referred to; for example, when describing the Bos frontosus,
he says, “ It seems to have been about the size of our common
cow, from which, however, in form it totally differs.” And in
the Bos longifrons, as already noticed, “ the form of the tem-
poral cavity is behind transverse-obtuse, before oblique-
pointed ; zts hinder part (to the angle above the joint of the
under jaws) only one-fourth broader than the fore part.
Herein it resembles the tame ox, but differs visibly from the
B. frontosus, in which the back part is twice as broad as
the forepart, and also from the Urus.” And he also states
that in the Urus the nasal bones are five times as long as
_ broad ; in the B. longifrons they are nearly six ; while in the
domestic ox they are six-and-a-half times as long as broad.

It is curious to notice the fact, that the wilder districts of
Britain, as the extremity of Devon and Cornwall for ex-
ample, and the mountainous districts of Wales, as well as
our own rugged land, seem all, according to Mr Youatt,
to have been originally stocked with cattle having even yet
as it were a general family likeness, with moderate sized
horns, and of no great general bulk ; being the very localities,
as Professor Owen well remarks, where the natives would
12

132 Notices of various Animal Remains

drive their domestic cattle before the advance of an invader,
and where of course traces of the original breeds are most
likely to be found. Full allowance must, however, at the
same time, be made for the wonderful changes produced on
cattle by variety of situation, and climate, by pastures, and
attention on the part of their possessors to their breeding,
so as to favour, from what originally might be an accidental
peculiarity, the preservation and gradual spreading over the
herd of some fancied excellence, or beauty, or fashion of the
time. The Galloway cattle may perhaps be cited as an in-
stance of the changes produced in this way; they are now
known as a breed of polled or hornless cattle ; whereas, it is
said, that so late as the middle of the last century, the greater
part of them had horns of a rather small or medium size.
The Ancient White Cattle, still existing in some gentle-
men’s parks, may also, it seems to me, be considered as an
instance of a beautiful and much-esteemed variety of our do-
mesticated cattle, being artificially preserved ; and, as these
are believed by many to be the last remains of our native
wild cattle, I may perhaps be excused entering a little into
detail on this curious subject. We find, among these various
herds of park-kept, so-called Wild White Cattle, at present
or lately in existence in the country, a considerable diversity
in their general appearance ; some with red ears, others with
black, and this latter peculiarity occurring occasionally even
among those of the red-eared variety, as mentioned by Bewick
of the Chillingham cattle; and some having horns, while
others have none, as the breed of wild white cattle at Gis-
burne, in Craven, Yorkshire (Vide Bewick’s Quadrupeds) ;
and, besides other little peculiarities, we have also the occur-
rence from time to time among these breeds, of cattle more
or less marked with brown or black spots, but these indivi-
duals are always killed, to prevent this variety spreading
among the herd :—‘*‘ And when the calves have been taken
young, they have been completely tamed, and become like
the common domestic ox, feeding as rapidly in confinement
as a short-horned steer.”—(Vide Paper “ On the Wild White
Cattle of Chillingham,” by William Hindmarsh, Esq., in the
Annals of Nat. Hist. for 1839, vol. ii.) All these peeuliari-

=

found near Newstead, Roxburghshire. 133

ties seem to me to favour the idea of these cattle being merely
a fancy breed of ancient domesticated cattle, preserved for
their beauty in the parks of the nobility.

It is well known that the colour of many animals is changed
by domestication, and that they frequently become more or
less entirely white; and it is interesting, as shewing appa-
rently where some of the last traces of the original colour
of an animal, which has been changed in this way, may be
expected still to remain; to notice the remark of Professor
Bell of London, in his valuable work on “ British Quadru-
peds,”’ that “ It appears the ears are more liable to retain
colour in animals which become white by domestication than
any other parts. ‘This is the case, as we have seen, with the
guinea pig, and it is no less true of the ox, and some others.”’—
(P. 355.) Ihave heard a similar remark made by Professor
Fleming, that he had never seen an entirely white ox, but
that the ears always remained of a different colour. Now in
these park-kept white cattle, we have this same peculiarity
also existing. And Professor Nilsson alludes in his paper,
to the well-known fact, that no race of wild oxen of
this white colour is known to naturalists. In Mr Hind-
marsh’s paper, already referred to, he quotes passages from
several ancient authors, to justify the hypothesis of their being
the remains of the ancient wild cattle of the country: these
authors are, Hector Boece or Boethius, “ Scotorum Historie
a Prima Gentis Origine,” published at Paris in 1526; and
Bishop John Leslie’s work “ De Origine, Moribus, et Rebus
Gestis Scotorum,” published at Rome in 1578. Now these,
I suspect, must be considered, not as two independent autho-

- rities, but merely as one; for the Bishop, in his book, pub-

lished some fifty-two years after the other, gives manifestly, in
this instance, almost a verbatim copy of the statements of
Boethius. To shew this, I may compare the original passages,

which refer to the existence of these white cattle in the Great

Caledonian Forest, which formerly covered the country from
Stirling to Athol. 1, Bonruius, “ Scotorum Historie a
Prima Gentis Origine,” fol. 6, 1.63; Scotorum Regni De-
seriptio, &e., of edit. Paris 1574:—‘‘ Hic initia olim fuere

_ Caledoniz sylva, manentibus videlicet veteribus adhue nomi-

134 Notices of various Animal Remains

nibus Callendar et Caldar, excurrens per Monteh et Erne-
vallem longo tractu ad Atholiam et Loquhabriam usque.
Gignere solet ea sylva boves candissimos in formam leonis
jubam ferentes, cetera mansuetis simillimos, verum adeo
feros indomitésque atque humanum refugientes consortium,
ut quas herbas, arboresque aut frutices humana contrectatas
manu senserint plurimos deinceps dies fugiant: capti autem
arte quapiam (quod difficilimum est) mox paulo pre mesti-
tia moriantur.”’— Hujus autem animalis carnes esui jucun-
dissime sunt, atque in primis nobilitati grate, verum cartila-
ginosee. Czterum quum tota olim silva nasci ea solerent: in
una tantum nune ejus parte reperiuntur, que Cummirnald
appellatur, aliis gula humana ad, internecionem redactis.”’

2. Bisnop Lusuiz, De Origine, Moribus et Rebus Gestis
Scotorum, Rome, 1578, p. 19, (Scotia Descriptio) :—“ Ab his
regionibus vastissima illa olim Caledonia sylva initium sump-
sit, ut queedam locorum nomina hodie indicant.’”’—* In Cale-
donia olim frequens erat sylvestris quidem bos, nunc vero
rarior, qui colore candissimo, jubain densam, ac demissam
instar leonis gestat, truculentus, ac ferus ab humano genere
abhorrens, ut quecunque homines vel manibus contrectarint,
vel halitu perflaverint, ab iis multos post dies omnino absti-
nuerint.”—‘ jus carnes cartilaginose sed saporis suavissi-
mi. Erat is olim per illam vastissimam Caledonie sylvam
frequens, sed humana ingluvie jam assumptus, tribus tantum
locis est reliquus, Stirivilingi, Cumernaldie, et Kincarnie.”
And as for Boethius himself, we must remember, that though
perhaps a good enough authority as to anything that hap-
pened under his own observation, he is so credulous as to —
believe apparently all that was told him, however extraordi- —
nary; so that his description of these cattle, of the purest —
white, maned like lions, untameably wild, and fleeing the
very neighbourhood, or even the scent of men, and which
apparently he had never seen, must all be taken with a con-—
siderable allowance, and in all probability were nothing more —
than strayed domestic cattle, which, in the course of years,
had lapsed into a semiwild state. As an instance of his cre-_
dulity, I may refer, in the words of Bellenden’s Translation of
1553, to his account of the extraordinary animal described ‘

found near Newstead, Roxburghshire. 135

by Sir Duncan Campbell,—“ That out of Garloll, ane loch of
Argyle, the yeir of God M.DX yeiris, came ane terrible beast,
als meikil as ane grew hound, futit like ane ganar, and straik
down greit trees with the dint of her tail, and slew thre men
quhilks wer at their hountis with thre straikis of her tail ;
and wer not the remanent hunteris clam up in strang aikis,
they had been all slane in the samin maner.”—(Chap. vii.,
Bellenden’s Trans. of Boethius’ History.)

It is curious, however, to trace the description of these
white cattle, maned like lions, &c., published by Boece in
1526; as it seems to have been adopted by naturalists on his
authority, and to have apparently been the only source from
which they derived their descriptions. Aldrovandus, in his
work, “ Quadrupedum Omnium Bisulcorum,” Bonon, 1632,
referring to the older work of Gesner, “Historia Animalium,’’
1551; notices these white cattle, in all probability from their
being described as having maney like lions, &c., under the
name of Bison album Scoticum, sive Calydonicum, using the
very words of Boece already quoted. Then, in the ‘ Historia
Naturalis deQuadrupedibus” of John Jonston, M.D., published
at Amsterdam, 1657, we have this same description of Boece,
again in part repeated; in two different places, however ;
first, in the Chap. ‘‘ De Bove Domestico ;” and again, “ De
Bobus Feris,” with a marginal reference to Aldrovand. His-
tor. Bisul. ‘T’o shew this more fully | may quote the passages,
Art. 1, De Bove DomeEstico. Differentic. p. 34. “In Scotia
boves sunt sylvestres colore candidissimo, juba densa ac de-
missa, truculenti et feri, adeoque ab humano genere abhor-
rentes, ut ab iis que homines vel manibus contrectarint, vel
halitu perflaverint, per multos dies abstineant, dolo capti,
moriantur. Carnes cartilaginose habent.” And again, Art. 2.
De Bosus Ferris, p. 1. De Bisonte. “ Huc pertinet et Bison
Scoticus. Candidissimum esse aiunt, in formam leonis jubam
ferre, cetera mansuetis simillimum, verum adeo ferum et
indomitum, humanique consortii hostem, ut quas herbas aut
frutices humana contrectatas manu senserit, plurimos dein-
ceps fugiat: captum autem arte quadam, mox pre mestitia
mori.” So that we have now two species, apparently made
out of Boece’s description; and accordingly, in the Soorra

136 Notices of various Animal Remains

ILLUSTRATA, sive Prodromus Historie Naturalis of Robert
Sibbald, M.D., published at Edinburgh in 1684, we find this
Scottish naturalist quoting from Jonston’s work, referred to
above, adding, however, the following remarks :—* Quequi-
dem ab Historicis nostris petita sunt, sed confirmatione egent.
In pluribus locis montane partis Scotiz reperiuntur quidem
Boves feri, albi quoque : sed non ita truculenti, neque forma a
domesticis diferunt. An jubati Bisontes nunc extent, nescio.”
De Bisulcis Ruminantibus Cornigeris, p.7. So that Sibbald
seems to doubt the existence of the so-called Bison Scoticus,
though he admits that white cattle, exactly however resem-
bling the domesticated breeds, and by no means so fierce and
savage as they are described, still run wild in some of the
mountainous districts of the country. The original source of
the whole statement being apparently the description given
by Boece, and repeated by Bishop Leslie, which I have already
taken the liberty of criticising, as being, in all probability,
a very exaggerated account. And moreover, if we search
still further back in the records of a much greater antiquity,
we find evidently the same kind of white cattle described in
such a way as seems to me to imply, without a doubt, their
thorough domestication. As in the “ Leges Wallice,” of
“Howell Dda,” the Welsh laws of King Howell the Good,
which date from about A.D. 942-3, or before the middle of
the tenth century,—vide Translation by Gul’. Wottonus,
London, 1730. We there find white cattle with red ears, in
all probability the same breed of cattle as those I have been
referring to, ordered to be paid as a compensation for offences
committed against the Princes of Wales—(vide Lib. 1, chap.
vi., p. 10-11): “De solvenda Multa Regis —Multa pro injuria
Regi Aberfravie illata hoc modo solvenda. Centum vaccas
pro qualibet centuria subditione ejus Reus solvet, et cum
singulis centenis vaccis unum Taurum auribus rujis preditum
cum Virga aurea ejusdem cum Rege longitudinis, magnitu-
dine digiti ejus minimi, et crassitudine unguis aratoris qui
per novem annos araverit. Aurum nemini debitur nisi Regi
Aberfravie.’’— 8. Domini Dinevoree privilegium est acci- —
pere pro compensatione injurie sibi illate vaccas albas
aures rufas habentes, totidem quot ordine sibi succedentes

found near Newstead, Roxburghshire. 137

pertingent ab Argoélia (e) ad Dinevoram, et cum singulis
vicenis vaccis taurum ejusdem coloris. Aurum nemini pen-
ditur nisi Regi Dinevore vel Regi Aberfravie.”—*“ (e) Loci
nomen prope Dinevoram, sibi ubi precise situs sit ignoratur.”
—It seems very evident that such numbers of living wild
cattle could never be exacted as payment of a fine, but that
beyond al] doubt domesticated cattle are here referred to,
and apparently, from the special character of the notice, a
favourite variety, highly prized for their beauty and peculiar
colour. And to shew how highly this breed of cattle had
been valued at a very early period, I may quote several pas-
sages from Mr Youatt's well-known work “ On Cattle.” He
says, (p. 478,) “‘ Howel dha, or Howell the Good, describes
some of the Welsh cattle, in the tenth century, as being
‘white, with red ears,’ resembling the wild cattle of Chil-
lingham Castle. An early record speaks of a hundred white
cows with red ears being demanded as a compensation for
certain offences against the Princes both of North and South
Wales. If the cattle were of a dark or black colour, one
hundred and fifty were to be presented. When the Cambrian
Princes did homage to the King of England, the same number
of cattle, and of the same description, were rendered in ac-
knowledgment of sovereignty. Speed tells us that Maud de
Breos, in order to appease King John, whom her husband
had offended, sent to his Queen a present from Brecknock-
shire of four hundred cows and a bull, all white, and with
red ears. Whether this was the usual colour of the ancient
breed of Welsh and British cattle, or a rare variety, esteemed
on account of its beauty, and chiefly preserved in the parks
_ of the nobles, we are unable to determine. The latter is the
more probable supposition; and the same records that de-
seribe the ‘white cattle with red ears,’ speak also of the
‘ dark or black-coloured breed,’ which now exists, and which
is general throughout the principality.’ It appears to me but
natural to suppose that these were all domesticated, and
surely not wild cattle, to which reference has been made in
these various passages ; and that they were a highly-prized
variety, is shewn by their colour being specially mentioned,
as well as their being valued at a half more than the dark-

138 Notices of various Animal Remains

coloured, which were most probably the more common breed
of the district. And let me call to your recollection a
remark of Hector Boece himself, in the passage already
quoted: that, with the exception of their colour and manes,
the wild white cattle are exceedingly like the ordinary tame
or domesticated breed ; and that their flesh is very pleasant
food, and much approved of by the nobility ;—both of which
observations, in my opinion, tend to shew the truth of the
views now stated.

Youatt says, the old legends of Wales speak of the ancient
domesticated cattle, being of a dark or reddish colour, resem-
bling considerably the Devon cattle; and according to the
same authority, “ the slightest observation will convince us
that the cattle in Devonshire, Sussex, Wales, and Scotland,
are all essentially the same.” He considers that ved had been
their primitive colour, as he traces it through all these varie-
ties, and declares that even where another colour, as black,
now prevails, the memory of the red still remains, and has a
superstitious reverence paid to it in the legends of the people.
In Scotland also there has always existeda popular feeling of
preference for the red cow, it being declared to be “ luckier,”
and to give more milk. Itis, perhaps, worthy of notice, in re-
lation to the question of colour, that the Urus, or Bb. primi-
genius, is believed to have been of adark or black colour ; and
in what I consider to be a very rare specimen of a portion of
the skull of the Bos longifrons, with the horn and part of
the skin and hair still attached, which was kindly shewn me
by Professor Fleming, the colour of the hair, as far as you
can judge from a specimen found in an Irish bog, is also of
a black or dark reddish or brownish tint; it may be, bear-
ing a relation to the very colour to which I have been allud-
ing.

And, in conclusion, I may remark, that the small size of
the domesticated cattle in this country, from the very earliest
times, seems to me an additional and unanswerable objection
to their having descended from the gigantic Urus. Professor
Nilsson, however, in his paper already referred to, considers
“ that we may take it as a given and general rule, that the
tame race is always less than the wild species from which it

i ao) ee OU

1
|

found near Newstead, Roxburghshire. 139

springs.” Now this is a proposition which 1 am very much
inclined to doubt, believing, as I do, that animals are by no
means necessarily degenerated and dwarfed in their dimen-
sions, as the Professor supposes, when taken under the care
and protection of man, but, on the contrary, are rather in-
creased in size, by careful tending and feeding, as well as by
attention to their breeding; and examples in proof of this
view, I am inclined to think, may be found in our domesti-
cated dogs, horses, &c. We know, from such specimens as
these skulls I have described, the small size of at least some
species of cattle in the Roman period; and others, of an ex-
actly corresponding kind and size, have been found, as
already mentioned, belonging to an immensely older geo-
logic period, carrying us back in this way to times alto-
gether prior to the existence of man. Then, in much later
times, as shewn in the Welsh Laws of Howell the Good,
in the tenth century, (vide Wotton’s Trans. Leges Wallice,)
we have apparently given to us the different sizes of the
yokes used for ploughing; and if so, from these we find that the
cattle of that date must have been much smaller than those of
the present day. Thus we find it stated in Lib. III., chap. ix.,
p. 279, De Societate Arationis—‘‘ Jugum breve quattuor
pedibus (longum); Jugum maiale octonis pedibus ; Jugum
axillare duodenis pedibus ; Jugum longum senis denis pedi-
bus.” In other passages of these laws, we have these vari-
ous yokes referred to as measures of the land; being ap-
parently taken from the well-known sizes of the different
yokes themselves. The cattle, Mr Youatt says, were always
yoked abreast, and the short yoke for two oxen was only four
Welsh feet of nine inches each, or three feet English in length,
increasing in the same proportion for four oxen; and for
eight, which was 16 Welsh feet, or 12 feet English long.
Chap. ix., 2 of Lib. ITI. of Leges Wallice.—* Uncia longi-
tudine trium granorum hordeacorum constat—Palma tribus
unciis—Pes tribus palmis ;” shewing in this way of what
these measures consist. Mr Youatt declares that an ox of
the present day would require a somewhat larger space than
18 inches, in order to work or even to stand. (Vide Youatt
“ On Cattle.””) And when we remember the small size of our

140 Notices of various Animal Remains

domesticated cattle in ancient times, it is interesting to no-
tice another remark in page 3 of his valuable work, in re-
gard to the comparative size of the well-tended cattle of the
present day: ‘* There is no doubt that within the last century,
their size has progressively increased in England, and kept
pace with the improvement of agriculture.” How far this
may go on, seems rather a difficult matter to determine, as
well as to what extent a species of animal like the ox, may
be changed from its original type, degenerating, it may be,
in some places, and improving in others, by being long under
the dominion and management of experimenting and calcu-
lating man.

These rough notes I consider as tending to shew the ex-
treme improbability of our domestic cattle being the descend-
ants of the large-sized Bos primigenius ; and shall I say,
the probability of their true progenitor being this small and
equally-ancient Los longifrons, or short-horned ox, which has
been proved to have existed in this country from the later
geologic periods down at least to the bustling times of busy
man.

And in conclusion I have to return to my catalogue of
animal remains, and making a rapid descent in the scale of
animal life, allude to an ancient mollusc, which had been
prized then as now, as a delicacy for the table, and is the
last of these relics I have to notice, which were found with
the traces of the Roman occupation of this district; I refer
to the Common Oyster, Ostrea edulis,* of which this shell
(which I exhibit) and several others were found ; affording a
proof of the large size of this ancient shell-fish, as well as
of the fondness of the Roman epicure, even at this inland
station, for the celebrated oysters of our British seas.

* My best thanks are due to my friend Mr Adam Smith, Darnick ; and to
Mr Francis Burnet, Newstead, for their zeal in procuring for me these various _

specimens.

141

found near Newstead, Roxburghshire.

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142

General Results of the Microscopical Examination of Sound-
ings, made by the U.S. Coast Survey off the Atlantic
Coast of the United States. By Professor J. W. BAILEY,
of the Military Academy, West Point.

1st, The most remarkable fact determined by the exami-
nation of the above-mentioned soundings is, that in all the
deep soundings, from that of 51 fathoms south-east of Mon-
tauk Point, to that of 90 fathoms south-east of Cape Hen-
lopen, there is a truly wonderful development of minute or-
ganic forms, consisting chiefly of Polythalamia, which occur
in an abundance rivalling those vast accumulations of ana-.
logous forms constituting the marls under the city of Charles-
ton, S. C.

2d, While there is a general resemblance between the
species found in all the deep soundings above mentioned, the
same species of Polythalamia occurring with few exceptions
at each locality, yet each place has its predominant species ;
thus in the most southerly sounding (H. No. 1, 90 fathoms),
there occurs a much greater number of Globigerina than in
any of the others; while Textilaria atlantica, although pre-
sent, is by no means so abundant as in G. No. 8, 89 fa-
thoms.

3d, Infusoria, as well as Polythalamia, occur in the deep
soundings ; but the Infusoria are few in number, and consist
of Coscinodisci, Galionella sulcata, and other species, which
probably swim freely in the ocean; while none of the littoral
parasitic species, such as Achnanthes, Isthmia, Biddulphia,
Striatella, and Synedra are found.

4th, It is worthy of notice, that in the deep soundings not
a single specimen was found of Polythalamia belonging to |
the Plicatilia of Ehrenberg (Agathistiques of D’Orbigny’, _

while a number of these forms were found in the shallow —

soundings, and they are well known to occur in vast quanti-
ties around the shores of Florida and the West India Islands. |
This group of Polythalamia appears to have been created —
after the deposition of the chalk formation, in which no trace —
of such forms occur, while they are very abundant in the ©

Results of Microscopical Examination of Soundings. 145

tertiary deposits. Their entire absence in the deep sound-
ings, where vast numbers of other Polythalamia occur, and
their presence in littoral deposits, would seem to indicate
that for their abundant development comparatively shallow
seas are necessary; thus affording additional evidence of
difference in the depths of the seas from which the cretaceous
and tertiary bed were deposited.

5th, The deep soundings were all from localities which are
more or less under the influence of the Gulf Stream, and it
is not improbable that the high temperature of the waters
along the oceanic current may be the cause of immense deve-
lopment of organic life, making its path, as is shewn by the
soundings, a perfect milky way of Polythalamia forms. The
deposits under Charleston may have been produced under
the similar influence of an ancient Gulf Stream.

6th, From the presence of such great numbers of Polytha-
lamia in the deep soundings, there results a very large pro-
portion of calcareous matter, thus presenting a striking dif-
ference between them and the quartzose and felspathic sands
nearer shore.

7th, The littoral sands obtained in shallow soundings at
first view appear to give little promise of affording any In-
fusoria. But notwithstanding their coarse, and, in some
cases, even gravelly nature, they all yield by levigation a
considerable-number of siliceous Infusoria, which, in variety
and abundance, exceed those found in the deep soundings.

8th, None of the soundings present anything resembling
the vast accumulations of Infusoria which occur in the
Miocene infusorial marls of Virginia and Maryland; and
indeed, I have never found, even in estuaries, any recent
deposit at all resembling the fossil ones, in abundance and
variety of Species, with the exception of the mud of a small
ereek opening into the Atlantic near Rockaway, Long Island.

9th, The occurrence of the pebble of limestone with encri-
nal plates in the gravel of F. No. 10, south-east of Little
Ege Harbour, is of some interest, as the nearest beds from
which it could have come are the Silurian formations of
Pennsylvania or northern New Jersey. It indicates a trans-
portation of drift to a considerable distance seaward.

144 Co-operation of diferent Nations

10th, In addition to the quartzose grains in the soundings,
fragments of felspar and hornblende (recognisable under the
microscope by their cleavage planes and colour) are found.
The quartz, however, predominates, its grains being sharp
and angular in the deep soundings, and often rounded or even
polished in the shallower ones.

The Reply of the President and Council of the Royal Society,
to a Letter addressed to them by the Secretary of State
for Foreign Affairs, on the subject of the co-operation of
diferent Nations in Meteorological Observations.

SOMERSET House, l0th May 1852.

Srir,—I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter
of March the 4th, transmitting, by direction of the Earl of Malmes-
bury, several documents received from foreign Governments in reply
to a proposal made to them by Her Majesty’s Government, for their
co-operation in establishing a uniform system of recording meteoro-
logical observations, and requesting the opinion of the President and
Council of the Royal Society in reference to a proposition which has
been made by the Government of the United States, respecting the
manner in which the proposed co-operation should be carried out.

Having submitted your letter, with its enclosures, to the President
and Council of the Royal Society, I am directed to convey to you the
following reply.

With reference to the subject of well-directed and systematically
conducted meteorelogical observations generally, and to the encou-
ragement and support to be given to them by the Governments of
different countries, the President and Council are of opinion that
they are highly deserving of much consideration, not only for their
scientific value, but also on account of the important bearing which
correct climatological knowledge has on the welfare and material
interests of the peop!e of every country.

With reference to the proposal for the establishment of a uniform
plan in respect to instruments and modes of observation, the Presi-~ 4
dent and Council are not of opinion that any practical advantage is
likely to be obtained by pressing such a proposition in the present —
state of meteorological science. Most of the principal Governments —
of the European Continent, as Russia, Prussia, Austria, Bavaria, and
Belgium, have already organised eutdblistivionts for climatological re-—
searches in their respective states, and have placed them under the —

in Meteorological Observations. 145

_ superintendence of men eminently qualified by theoretical and prac-
tical knowledge, and whose previous publications had obtained for
them a general European reputation. Such men are Kupffer, Dove,
Kreil, Lamont and Quételet ; under whose direction the meteorolo-
gical observations in the above-named countries are proceeding ; the
instruments have been constructed under their care, and the instruc-

_ tions drawn up and published by them under the sanction of their
respective governments. The observations as they are made are sent
to them, are reduced and co-ordinated under their superintendence,
and are published at the expense of the governments. Every year

is now producing publications of this nature in the countries referred
to, and by the rapid intercommunication of these, the results of. the
experience of one country, and the modifications and improvements
which experience may suggest, become quickly known to all. To
call on countries already so advanced in systematically-conducted
meteorological observations, to remodel their instructions and instru-
ments, with a view of establishing uniformity in these respects,
would probably, if pressed, elicit from other governments also the
reply which Her Majesty’s Government have received from Prince
Schwarzenberg, conveyed in the Earl of Westmoreland’s letter to
Viscount Palmerston, viz., the transmission of a copy of the instruc-
tions which have been given to the Meteorological Observatories,
forty-five in number, in the Austrian dominions, and a reference to
the results obtained at those observatories, which are stated to be in
regular course of publication.

In an earlier stage, when these establishments were either form-
ing or were only in contemplation, it was considered that advantage
| might arise from a discussion of the objects to be principally kept in
| view, and of the instruments and methods by which these might be
most successfully prosecuted. or this purpose, a conference was
| held at Cambridge, in England, in 1845, which was attended by
|}many of the most distinguished meteorologists in Europe, and
amongst them by all the gentlemen whose names are above stated,
}and who were expressly sent by their respective governments, The
impulse communicated by this assemblage was without doubt highly
| beneficial, and the influence of the discussions which took place may
| perhaps be traced in some of the arrangements under which the re-
| searches in different countries are now proceeding; but in the stage -
'to which they have advanced, it may be doubted whether any mea-
)sures are likely to be more beneficial than those which would increase
the facilities of a cheap and rapid intercommunication of the results

of the researches which are in progress.

| With reference “ to the suggestions made by the scientific men of

ithe United States,” the proposition of Lieutenant Maury, to give a

igreater extension and a more systematic direction to the meteorolo-

gical observations to be made at sea, appears to be deserving of the
most serious attention of the Board of Admiralty. In order to un-

=

VOL. LIV. NO. CVII.M JANUARY 1858. K

146 Co-operation of diferent Nations

derstand the importance of this proposition, it will be proper to refer
to the system of observations which has been adopted of late years
in the navy and merchant service of the United States, and to some
few of the results to which it has already led. Instructions are given
to naval captains and masters of ships, to note in their logs the. points
of the compass from which the wind blows, at least once in every
eight hours; to record the temperature of the air, and of the water
at the surface, and when practicable, at considerable depths of the
sea; to notice all remarkable phenomena which may serve to charac-
terise particular regions of the ocean, more especially the direction,
the velocity, the depths, and limits of the currents: special instruc-
tions also are given to whalers, to note down the regions where
whales are found, and the limits of the range of their different species.
A scheme for taking these observations regularly and systematically,
was submitted by Lieutenant Maury to the Chief of the Bureau of
Ordnance and Hydrography, in 1842, and instantly adopted: de-
tailed instructions were given to every American shipmaster, upon
his clearing from the Custom-House, accompanied by a request that
he would transmit to the proper office, after his return from his
voyage, copies of his logs, as far at least as they related to these ob-
servations, with a view to their being examined, discussed, and em-
bodied in charts of the winds and currents, and in the compilation of
sailing directions to every part of the globe. For some years the
instructions thus furnished received very little attention, and very
few observations were made or communicated; the publication, how-
ever, in 1848, of some charts, founded upon the discussion of the scanty
materials which had come to hand, or which could be collected from
other sources, and which indicated much shorter routes than had
hitherto been followed to Rio and other ports of South America,
was sufficient to satisfy some of the more intelligent shipmasters of
the object and real importance of the scheme, and in less than two
years from that time it had received the cordial co-operation of the
masters of nearly every ship that sailed. At the present time, there
are nearly 1000 masters of ships who are engaged in making these
observations ; they receive freely in return the charts of the winds
and currents, and the sailing directions which are formed upon them,
corrected up to the latest period.

Short as is the time that this system has been in operation, the
results to which it has led have proved of very great importance to
the interests of navigation and commerce. The routes to many of
the most frequented ports in different parts of the globe have been
materially shortened, that to San Francisco in California by nearly
one third: a system of southwardly monsoons in the equatorial
regions of the Atlantic and on the west coast of America has been
discovered ; a vibratory motion of the trade-wind zones, and with
their belts of calms and their limits for every month of the year, has
been determined; the course, bifurcations, limits and other pheno-

in Meteorological Observations. 147

mena of the Great Gulf-stream have been more accurately defined,
and the existence of almost equally remarkable systems of currents
in the Indian Ocean, on the coast of China, and on the North-western
coast of America and elsewhere has been ascertained: there are, in
fact, very few departments of the science of meteorology and hydro-
graphy which have not received very valuable additions; whilst the
more accurate determination of the parts of the Pacific Ocean, where
the sperm-whale is found (which are very limited in extent), as well
as the limits of the range of those of other species, has contributed
very materially to the success of the American whale fishery, one
of the most extensive and productive of all their fields of enterprise
and industry.

The success of this system of co-operative observations has already
led to the establishment of societies at Bombay and Calcutta, for ob-
taining, by similar means, a better knowledge of the winds, currents,
_ and the course of the streams of the Indian seas.

But it is to the government of this country that the demand for
co-operation, and for the interchange of observations, is most earnestly
addressed by the government of the United States; and the Presi-
dent and Council of the Royal Society express their hope that it will
not be addressed in vain. We possess in our ships of war, in our
packet service, and in our vast commercial navy, better means of mak-
ing such observations, and a greater interest in the results to which
they lead, than any other nation. For this purpose, every ship which
is under the control of the Admiralty should be furnished with
instruments properly constructed and compared, and with proper in-
structions for using them: similar instructions for making and record-
ing observations, as far as their means will allow, should be sent to
every ship that sails, with a request that the results of them be trans-
mitted to the Hydrographer’s Office of the Admiralty, where an
adequate staff of officers or others should be provided for their prompt
examination, and the publication of the improved charts and sailing
directions to which they would lead; above all, it seems desirable to
establish a prompt communication with the Hydrographer's Office of
_the United States, so that the united labours of the two greatest

naval and commercial nations of the world may be combined, with
the least practicable delay, in promoting the interests of navigation.

The President and Council refer to the documents which have been
submitted to them, and more especially to the ‘ Explanations and
Sailing Directions to accompany wind and current charts” prepared
by Lieutenant Maury, for a more detailed account of this system of
co-operative observations, and of the grounds upon which they have
ventured to make the preceding recommendations.

S. Hunter Curistiz, Sec. R.S.

H. U. Addington, Esq,

K2

148

On the Diurnal Variations of the Magnetic Needle, and on
Aurore Boreales. By AUGUSTE DE LA RIVE; being an
extract from a Letter to M. ARaGo.*

Allow me to communicate to you, with the request that you will
make it known to the Académie des Sciences, an extract of a memoir
recently read before our Société de Physique et d'Histoire Natu-
relle, on the cause of the diurnal variations of the magnet needle,
and of Aurore Boreales. In assigning successfully these two classes
of phenomena to the same origin, I have but followed the path you
have pointed out; for more than thirty years ago you established,
with indefatigable perseverance, by your numerous observations, the
remarkable agreement which prevails between the appearances of the
aurora borealis and the disturbance of the magnet needle.

The following is my theory,—you will observe that it rests solely
upon well ascertained facts, and on principles of physics positively
established.

IT had already, in 1836, in a notice upon hail,} attempted to shew
that the atmospheric electricity owes its origin to the unequal distri-
bution of temperature in the strata of the atmosphere. It is well
known that, in a body of any nature whatsoever, heated at one of its.
extremities and cooled at the other, the positive electricity proceeds
from the hot part to the cold, and the negative electricity in the con-
trary direction; it thence results that the lower extremity of an —
atmospheric column is constantly negative, and the upper one con-
stantly positive. This difference of opposite electric conditions must
be so much the greater, the more considerable is the difference of —
temperature ; consequently more marked in our latitudes in summer —
than in winter, more striking in general in the equatorial than in
the polar regions. It must be observed that the negative state of
the lower portions of the atmospheric columns must be communi- —
cated to the surface of the earth on which they repose, whilst the
positive state of the upper portions is diffused, more or less, from
above downwards, through nearly the whole of each of the columns,
according to the facilities offered by the greater or less degree of
humidity of the air to the propagation of the electricity. An at-
mospheric column, therefore, resembles a high-pressure battery, on
account of the imperfect conductibility of the elements of which it —
is composed, A battery, the negative pole of which is in constant —
and direct communication with the terrestrial globe, discharges itself —
upon the globe, whilst it becomes itself charged with the electricity —
of its positive pole, which is distributed over it with an intensity de-_

¥
* From the Annales de Chimie et de Physique, for March 1849,
+t Bibliotheque Universelle, vol. iii. p. 217. Nouvelle serie.

Diurnal Variations of the Magnetic Needle. i49

creasing with the distance from this pole; this explains why the
positive electricity increases with the height of the atmosphere.

The causes which determine the accumulation of negative electri-
city at the surface of the earth, and of positive electricity in the
upper regions of the atmosphere, act in a continuous manner:
there should thence result an unlimited tension of the two opposite
electric states, if, having attained a certain degree of energy, they
did not neutralize each other by the aid of different circumstances.
In other words, having reached a certain limit of tension which
varies with the state of the atmosphere and the surface of the earth,
the two electricities cannot go beyond it, and unite or neutralize
each other as regards the excess over that limit. This neutraliza-
tion is effected in two ways, in a normal or constant manner, and in
an irregular and accidental manner.

This second mode is exhibited under a variety of forms; some-
times it is simply the humidity of the air, and better still, the rain
or snow, which re-establish the electrical equilibrium between the
earth and the atmosphere; in some cases waterspouts manifest in an
energetic form the mutual action of the two electricities, which tend
to unite. Sometimes the winds, by mixing the air in contact with the
surface of the earth, and like it negative, with the positive air of
the more elevated regions, give rise to sheet-lightning, or to storms,
when there is at the same time a formation of clouds and condensa-
tion of aqueous vapours, owing to the humidity and different tempera-
ture of the strata of air which become mixed. The attraction of
clouds by mountains, the luminous phenomena exhibited at the ex-
tremity of elevated points, are likewise due to the same cause. But
I will not stop to discuss further all these natural and intelligible
consequences of the theory which I expound. I shall confine my-
self to one single remark, which*is, that we must bear in mind, that
in observations of atmospheric electricity, the intensity of the electric
signs perceived is not always a proof of the intensity of the electri-
city itself; for the humidity of the atmosphere, by favouring the
propagation of the electricity of the upper strata, may give rise, as
is frequently seen in winter, to very powerful electrical manifestations
even when the cause producing them is not very powerful. The
contrary is frequently seen in summer.

I now pass to the regular and normal mode of neutralization of
the two electricities. I had already suspected the existence of this
mode in my notice of 1836; but I did not announce it positively,
because there was then wanting a fact, which science now possesses,
viz., the perfect conductibility of the terrestrial globe, with which
the employment of the electric telegraph has made us acquainted.

To make it understood how I conceive this mode of neutralization,
I divide the atmosphere into annular strata parallel with the equa-
tor; the positive electricity accumulated at the external portion of
this layer cannot exceed a certain degree of tension without traver-

~~

150 Diurnal Variations of the Magnetic Needle.

sing rarefied and more or less humid air until it reaches the polar
regions, where finding an atmosphere saturated with humidity, it
will combine readily with the negative electricity accumulated on the
earth, We have thus the circuit formed; each annular stratum of
the atmosphere gives rise to a current, which proceeds, in the elevated
regions, from the upper portion of the stratum towards the pole, re-
descends to the earth through the atmosphere surrounding the poles,
and returns by the surface of the globe from the pole to the lower
part of the stratum from which it started. These currents will
constantly be the more numerous, and the more concentrated, the
nearer we approach the pole; and as they all proceed in the same
direction, that is to say, from south to north, in the upper portion of
the atmosphere, and from north to south on the surface of the earth,
their effect will become the more perceptible in proportion as we
leave the equator and approach the pole. But as the currents pro-
duced by the equatorial strata are individually stronger than those
proceeding from more northerly strata, the difference, although real,
will notwithstanding be less than would be believed. What passes
in our northern hemisphere must occur in exactly the same manner
in the southern hemisphere ; the currents proceed equally from the
equator to the pole in the upper regions of the air, and from the
pole to the equator on the surface of the earth; consequently, for
an observer travelling from the north pole to the south, the current
would proceed in the same direction from the northern pole to the
equator and in a contrary direction from the equator to the
southern pole: I speak here of the current circulating on the sur-
face of the earth. 1 ought, moreover, to observe that the limit
which separates the regions occupied by each of these two great
currents, is not the equator properly so-called, for it must be vari-
able; it is, according to my theory, the parallel between the tropics
which has the sun at its zenith; it changes consequently each day.

Now, it is‘easy to conceive the cause of the diurnal variations of —
the magnetic needle. In conformity with the laws established by
Limpére, the current which proceeds from the northern pole to the
equator ought to cause the north pole of the needle to deviate to
the west, which is what takes place in our hemisphere; and the
current which proceeds from the southern pole to the equator
should cause the north pole of the needle to deviate to the east, which
is precisely what occurs in the southern hemisphere. The deviation
should be in one and the same place; the more considerable the
greater the difference of temperature, and consequently of the elec-
tric conditions between the lower and the upper stratum of the atmo-
sphere; thus the deviation increases from the morning to 1° 80" —
p.M. It is more considerable in those months during which the
sun is longer above the horizon; it is at its minimum in the winter —
months. Lastly, these diurnal variations increase in magnitude in —
proportion as we recede from the equator and approach the pole ;

Diurnal Variations of the Magnetic Needle. 151

a result which again perfectly agrees with what I have stated re-
specting the increase in number of the currents towards the polar
regions. In these regions themselves, the variations may be very
irregular, and: may be entirely absent if the magnetic needle
happens to be placed in those very localities where the electric cur-
rents traverse the atmosphere to reach the earth ; in fact, a needle
surrounded thus on all sides by currents, is no longer affected by
them, or at least is no longer affected in a regular manner. This
remark may explain certain observations, especially those made at
Port Bowen, which appeared rather exceptional.
On examining carefully all the magnetic observations I was able
to consult, and in particular those of Colonel Sabine, I was espe-
cially struck by the remarkable manner in which they agreed with
my theory. I will cite but one example—the observations recently
made at St Helena, and just published by Colonel Sabine. At St
Helena, the diurnal variation occurs to the west, as long as the sun
is to the south of the island, and to the east, as soon as the sun is
to the north. In fact, in the first case, as I have previously
observed, St Helena must form part of the region in which the
electric currents proceed on the surface of the earth from the north
pole to the equatorial regions; and, in the second case, it forms
part of the region in which these currents pass from the south pole
to the equator. The hour of the maximum of the diurnal variation
is not the same at the island of St Helena as in the continental
countries, which is owing to the temperature of the surface of the
ocean not following the same laws in its diurnal variations as the
temperature of the surface of the earth. Now, the temperature of
the lower stratum of the atmospheric column is always that of the
surface of the ocean, or of the soil on which it rests. This cireum-
stance explains certain apparent anomalies exhibited by the diurnal
variations in some parts of the globe; as for instance, at the Cape
_ of Good Hope, which is surrounded almost on every side by a vast
extent of ocean.

I wish it to be understood that in the preceding I have only taken
notice of the causes disturbing the direction of the magnetic needle,
‘and not of the cause of this direction itself; that is to say, of terres-
trial magnetism—a cause which I do not at all believe to be of the
same nature, but upon which I at present express no opinion. I
am content to consider the terrestrial globe as a large spherical
magnet, and to study the external causes capable of modifying the
direction which it tends to impart, in its quality of magnet, to mag-
netic needles.

Now, what is the aurora borealis, according to the theory which I
have just expounded ? It is the luminous effect of electric currents
avelling in the high regions of the atmosphere towards the north
le, an effect due to the combination of certain conditions which

152 Diurnal Variations of the Magnetic Needle.

are not always exhibited in the same manner, nor at all seasons of
the year.

It is now well proved that the aurora borealis is an atmospheric
phenomenon, as we long ago suspected. The name of magnetic
storm, by which Von Humboldt designates it in his Cosmos, implies
the same idea, which is moreover confirmed by the interesting de-
tails which he gives of this meteor. The observations of Parry,
Franklin, and especially those of MM. Bravais and Lottin, so nu-
merous and carefully made, are likewise quite favourable to this
opinion, which followed equally from the observations of M. Biot
at the Shetland Isles.

Admitting this point, I explain the production of the aurora
borealis in the following manner :—When the sun having passed
into the northern hemisphere, no longer heats so much our hemi-
sphere, the aqueous vapours which have accumulated during the sum-
mer in this part of the atmosphere begin to condense; the kind of
humid cap enveloping the polar regions extends more and more, and
facilitates the passage of the electricity accumulated in the upper por-
tions of the air. But in these elevated regions and especially at this
period of the year, the aqueous vapours must most frequently pass
into the state of minute particles of ice or snow floating in the air,
similar to those which give rise to the halos; they form, as it were,
a kind of semi-transparent mist. Now these half-frozen fogs con-
duct the electricity to the surface of the earth near the pole, and are
at the same time illumined by these currents or electric discharges.
In fact, all observers agree in asserting that the aurora borealis is
constantly preceded by a mist which rises from the pole, and the
margins of which, less dense than the remainder, are coloured the
first ; and indeed it is very frequent near the pole in the winter
months, and especially in those where there is abundance of vapour
in the air. For it to be visible at great distances from the pole, it
is necessary that these clouds, composed of frozen particles, extend
in an almost uninterrupted manner from the polar regions to some-
what southern latitudes, which must be of rare occurrence. These
same clouds, when they are partial, which is frequently the case,
produce the halos.

Now the analogy pointed out by nearly all observers between the
mists which accompany the aurora borealis and those which produce
the halos, is a somewhat remarkable circumstance. It is easy to
verify by direct experiment the identity which exists between the —
light of the aurora borealis, and that obtained by passing a series
of electric discharges into rarified air containing a large quantity of
aqueous vapour, and especially through a very thin layer of snow,
or a slight layer of hoar-frost deposited on the glass. I have ascer- —
tained that highly rarefied, but perfectly dry air, gives but a very
faint light, and that in the experiment of the vacuum tube it is e

Diurnal Variations of the Magnetic Needle. 153

sentially the moisture adhering to the inner sides of the tube, which,
by conducting the electric discharges, gives rise to the luminous
effects. It will be conceived that the electric discharges transmitted
by this kind of network of ice must, on becoming concentrated near
the pole, produce there a far more brilliant light than they develop
when they are distributed over a much greater extent.

But why does the magnetic pole, and not the terrestrial pole,
appear to be the cause of the phenomenon? Here is my answer.
Place the pole of a powerful electro-magnet beneath a large surface
of mercury; let this surface communicate with the negative pole of a
powerful battery ; bring near to it the point of a piece of charcoal
communicating with the positive pole of the battery ; immediately the
voltaic arc is formed, and the mercury is seen to become agitated
above the electro-magnet; and wherever this is placed, luminous
currents are observed to rotate around this pole, and throw out from
time to time some very brilliant rays. There is always, as in the
case of the aurora borealis, a dark portion in the form of a circular
point over the pole of the magnet: this peculiar effect disappears
without the voltaic light being interrupted when the electro-magnet
ceases to be magnetised. With a continuous current of ordinary
electricity arriving at the pole of a powerful electro-magnet in rare-
fied and moist air, luminous effects, still more similar in appearance
to those of the aurora borealis, are obtained.

These phenomena result from the action of magnets on currents :
now the same should apply to the action of the magnetic pole of the
earth ; the neutralisation of the two electricities probably takes place -
over a somewhat large extent of the polar regions; but the action
of the magnetic pole causes the conducting mists to rotate around
it, sending forth those brilliant rays which, by an effect of perspec-
tive, appear to us to form the corona of the aurora. The sulphu-
reous odour, and the noise which is said sometimes to accompany the
appearance of the aurora, would not be inexplicable; for the odour
would be due, like that which accompanies lightning, to that modifi-
eation which the passage of electric discharges produces upon the
oxygen of the air, which M. Schonbein has called ozone; while, as
regards the noise, it would be analogous to that which, as I have
shewn, the voltaic arc produces when it is under the influence of
a very near magnet. If it seldom occurs in the case of the au-
rora, it is owing to its being very rare that the luminous arch is
sufficiently near the earth, and consequently to the pole. However,
the description which has been given of this noise by those who have
heard it, is perfectly identical with that which I have given, without
suspecting the analogy, of the noise which the voltaic arc produces in
the action of the magnetism.

The magnetic disturbances which always accompany the appear-
ance of an aurora borealis are now easily explained. This accidental
union of a greater proportion of the accumulated electricities must

154 Diurnal Variations of the Magnetic Needle.

derange the normal action of the regular current; with respect to -
the directions of the disturbance, it will depend on the portion of the
current acting upon the needle, and consequently upon circumstances
impossible to foresee, since they depend on the extent of the pheno-
menon, and the position of the needle in relation to it. In fact,
according as the horizontal plane in which the declination needle
moves, comprises above or below some of the region in which the
greatest activity of the phenomenon takes place, it will be either the
current circulating on the earth, or that travelling in the air (cur-
rents which proceed in a contrary direction), which will act upon the
needle: even during the same aurora, it may be sometimes one, some-
times the other of these two currents which will act. The variable
directions in which the needle is deflected during an aurora borealis
agree very well with this explanation, at least as far as I have been
able to judge from the different observations published in the An-
nales de Chimie et de Physique, and in several scientific voyages.
The remarkable effect observed by M. Matteucci in the apparatus of
the electric telegraph between Ravenna and Pisa during the magni-
ficent aurora of the 17th of last November, fully proves the exist-
ence of a current circulating on the surface of the earth, and which,
ascending the wire of the telegraph, passed in part through this
better conductor, The sounds which long iron wires, strung in the
direction of north to south, give out under certain meteorological cir-
cumstances, are undoubtedly a proof that they are traversed by a
current which is probably derived from the currents circulating on
the surface of the earth from north to south in our hemisphere.

It would be highly interesting and important to profit by those
telegraphic wires, which are found to have a direction more or less
approaching to that of the declination needle, in order to make with
them, when they are not in use for ordinary purposes, some obser-
vations which would enable us to demonstrate and to measure the
electric currents which probably traverse them ; it would be: easily
accomplished by means of a multiplying galvanometer, by com-
pleting the communication of these wires with the earth at one of
their extremities. The comparison of the results obtained in this
manner with these furnished by the simultaneous observation of the
diurnal variations of the needle, would certainly present considerable
interest, and might lead to meteorological results of a remarkable
nature.

I cannot conclude this abstract without drawing attention to the
circumstance, that M. Arago had already pointed out in 1820,
shortly after Girsted’s discovery, the possibility of acting upon the
voltaic are by this magnet, and the analogy which might result
between this phenomenon and that of the aurora borealis.

155

Meteorological Phenomena in connection with the Climate of
Berlin. Translated by Mrs ANNE RAMSDEN BENNETT
from the German of Professor Dove.

Attention has generally been awakened to atmospherical appear-
ances, where the usual course of nature has been intercepted by
striking meteorological phenomena. The cloudless serenity of a tro-
pical sky, and the regular recurrence of periodical changes, attract
little observation. The interest which meteorology excites is much
more directly associated with uncertainty of weather. It would
scarcely occur to any one here to begin a conversation with the re-
mark, that the sun had really set at its appointed time ; and as little
would it occur to any one in tropical climates to make the weather
a subject of conversation. It is for this reason we possess so few
meteorological observations on more favoured climates. How, in-
deed, could it be expected any one should note down changes which
regularly take place at certain periodical times. . He alone feels
prompted to such a course who finds himself transported out of the
variable conditions of one atmospherical life into the untroubled re-
gularity which distinguishes tropical regions ; and which appears to
him in such striking contrast with the weather to which he has been
accustomed, that he requires the confirmation afforded by meteoro-
logical instruments before he can trust the immediate evidence of
his senses. For this reason we so often acquire a more accurate
knowledge of the peculiarities of a climate from travellers resident
in it for only a short time, than we do from the partial accounts
given us by its inhabitants. The only disadvantage which results
_ from this is, that the lively imagination of strangers makes the con-
trasts appear too striking; thus dwellers in the north see every-
thing in the south through a rose-coloured medium; and in like
manner, we rarely forget, when reading Tacitus’s description of
Germany, that it is an Italian who is speaking of our native land.

The uniformity which distinguishes tropical climates is denied
to our latitudes. Europe has been called the April climate of the
world; but this description applies in general only to those parts of
it which, without being washed by the sea, are still not sufficiently
distant from it to be entirely-free from its influence. Where this is
not the case, the temperature degenerates into sharp contrasts, and a
glowing summer succeeds to an icy winter; but when the influence of
the sea preponderates, both seasons of the year lose their more marked
characteristics. In Italy and the Canary Islands finer grapes are
not to be found than grow in Astrachan, and yet in order to pro-
tect these vines from the frosts during winter, they are sunk deep
into the earth; for even south of Astrachan, at Kitzlar, near the
mouth of the Terek, the temperature in winter sinks as low as 36°
Fahr. The difference between both extremes is so great, that on
the steppes of Orenburg, the camel, the ship of the desert, and the

156 Meteorological Phenomena in

reindeer, the agile inhabitant of the mossy plains of Siberia, mect
together. It is quite otherwise in England, In Ireland, which is
situated in the same latitude as Koningsberg, the myrtle flourishes
equally well as in Portugal; it scarcely freezes in winter, and yet
its climate will not ripen grapes. On the coast of the Lake of Kil-
larney the arbutus grows wild ; in the island of Guernsey hortensias
bloom in the open air; and laurels grow in Cornwall, in the same
latitude as Prague and Dresden. England is indebted to this
equal distribution of a warm, moist temperature, for the soft ver-
dure of her meadows, and the clear complexions of her population.
** Oh ye blooming youthful cheeks,” exclaims Moritz; ‘‘ ye green
meadows and ye clear streams of this happy land, how have ye en-
chanted my heart! Oh Richmond! Richmond! never shall I forget
the evening, when, full of ecstasy, I rambled up and down on the
flowery banks of the Thames. But all these delights shall not
hinder me from returning again to those barren, sand-bestrewed
fields, where my destiny has decreed that the little sphere of my ac-
tive life should be situated.’’ My readers will readily perceive, by
the patriotic feeling which will have found its way into their breasts
whilst listening to the closing words of Moritz, that he spoke of
Berlin. If, however, I confess that the study of meteorology offers
peculiar difficulties here, because, in addition to the constituent parts
of the atmosphere, sand enters so largely as to form an essential in-
gredient, and to stand a chance of becoming a meteor, I still assert,
that it does not appear to me difficult to take delight in the ever-
varying aspect of our skies, when we recal to mind the rigid coun-
tenance of their eastern, and the melancholy severity of their western
neighbours. Our atmosphere is certainly often obscured, but never
to such a degree as in the dense fogs of London, in whose streets
boys went about with flaming torches on the 24th May 18388, in
order, as they said, to honour the Queen’s birth-day with a brilliant
illumination. Certainly it often rains with us, but never in such
a way as is described in the burden of the song in “‘ What you
will.”
* With heigh ho! for the wind and the rain,
For the rain it raineth every day.”

Although Shakespere lays the scene of his play in Illyria, we see
at once by these words, that the fool who sings them is a true Eng-
lish fool, who had received his youthful impressions in a country
where, in reply to the impatient inquiry of the traveller, ** Does it
always rain in Bristol?” the satisfactory answer was given. * No!
it snows between-whiles.”” What a continual succession of sunshine
and rain, on the contrary, with us! What frequent returns of cold
after the warmth seems to have set in! As our poet, says :—

* The sunshine beguiles
With its mild, false smiles,
And even the swallow lies,
For alone he hither flies,”

Connection with the Climate of Berlin. 157

But with this circumstance there is a question connected, which
affects us closely. It is this, Can we hope to discover a stationary
point amidst this eternal change ? Is there, in the closely-associated
chain of causes and effects, any prospect of our being able to dis-
tinguish between the settled and the variable ? Our older meteoro-
logists thought so; for they described the temperature of a place by
giving the highest degree of its observed warmth and cold. They
were of the opinion that nature does not lawlessly deviate from cer-
tain rules, and that she remains conscientiously between the two ex-
tremes which limit her regularity. And they were right; for at a
moderate depth below the surface of the earth we find that invari-
able degree of warmth which we fix upon as the mean tempera-
ture of the place of observation. Thus, at the depth of 30 inches,
there is no difference between day and night; at 30 to 35 feet the
difference between summer and winter disappears. So slowly, in-
deed, does the warmth of the atmosphere penetrate into the soil,
that at the depth of 3 feet the warmest day is the 22d of August ;
at 6 feet, the 30th of August; at 12 feet, the 9th of October; and
at 24 feet, the 15th of December, whilst at that depth the greatest
cold falls here on the 13th of June. Springs which rise from this
depth preserve the same temperature all the year through; thus the
one on the road from Potsdam to Templin stands’ at 50° F. the
same as that of the Lomsenbrunnen at Berlin. How surprised the
skater must be, when he finds the places where the springs rise in
the ponds are not frozen over in winter, though they are the very
spots which he had avoided in summer, whilst bathing, on account
of their cold. So little power has the stratum in which the life of
the earth pulsates in higher latitudes, that the ground which still
bears on its surface woods of pine and fir trees, is, even during the
summer, frozen so hard at a very moderate depth, that in the year
1821 on Menzikoff’s grave being opened at Beresoff, the lines of
sorrow might still be traced on the features of the banished exile,
whose heart had ceased to beat for more than a century.

If we can imagine this variable stratum removed from the earth,
_we should obtain on the new surface the simple representation of a
climate of mean temperature; of that temperature which every place
would shew if its thermometer stood always at the same height.
In this way we should find that in Berlin it would stand every day
at 48°-875 Fahr. that in Hindostan there are places where the mean
temperature would be 81°-5 Fahr.; that Parry, on the contrary,
would fix his winter quarters in a place where the mean temperature
would sink to — 2° Fahr., or 34° below the freezing point. This varia-
tion, however, does not entirely depend on distances from the pole, for
places situated in the same degree of latitude are much warmer on the
western than on eastern coasts. Scotland, Denmark, and Poland,
have climates of equal warmth. Ireland, England, Belgium, and
Hungary, enjoy the mean temperature which would characterise a
Naples lying on the east coast of Asia. In America we find the

158 Meteorological Phenomena in

climate of Naples in the latitude of Morocco. Canada, which lies
south of Paris, has the temperature of Drontheim in Norway. Height
above the level of the sea occasions a diminution in the temperature,
and therefore Germany has in general a very equal temperature ;
the greater height of the land in southern Germany compensating
for the difference of latitude. Munich and Berlin shew a remark-
able harmony in the barren uniformity of the country which surrounds
them, as well as in the mean temperature which, without any detri-
ment to either, might be somewhat higher.

But results such as these are not the final ones which we have to
seek. They may indeed suffice for Troglodytes who live in cellars
and caves, but not for us who breathe the pure fresh air. We must
find some means of getting back from this abstract uniformity to the
animated reality of atmospherical phenomena. We only arrive at
it, however, when we have attained to the consciousness, that in what
is apparently arbitrary, a law is concealed ; that the language in which
nature herself speaks to us though the thunder and the lightning is
a reasonable one; and that even the flaming flash of the lightning
with which she writes in the night-season is capable of interpreta-
tion.

We live on the bed of a sea whose waves roll over our heads with-
out our being able to rise above their surface. This aérial ocean
was named by the Greeks the atmosphere; that is to say, a globe of
moisture. Whilst our perceptions take in all its constitutent ele-
ments, the Greeks thought of that one alone, the deficency of which
destroys all animal and vegetable life, and whose enlivening in-
fluence the Bedouin Arab recognises when he reaches the edge of
the desert, and though still far from the stream, perceives the air
becoming moist, and stretching out his hans towards it exclaims
with joy, ‘‘ I taste the Nile.”

Steam has become of such essential importance to our life, that I
ought to presuppose every one to be acquainted with this miracu-
lous child of dissimilar parents,—this son of water and of fire. But
of those who so often use the word steam-engine how few there are
who really think of the oldest of them all, the atmosphere. All the
water which either falls in soft spring showers, or rushes down in
storms, has been raised by the atmosphere in the form of steam
generated by heat. The mill which is driven by the mountain
stream is also a steam-mill, only that the sun kindly undertakes to
produce the heat which continually guides anew the circulation of the
water. The steam of water is a perfectly transparent elastic fluid ;
clouds, mists, and vapours, are not steam, but condensed moisture,
which has returned from the aérial into the liquid form, If we
observe a locomotive, when conscious of its power it raises the valve,
and contemptuously casts off the superfluity, with which electro-mag-
netism might win its promised prize; at the place where the steam
issues forth it is perfectly transparent, the white cloud only appears
when it has risen to some little height. Air mixed with this transparent

connection with the Climate of Berlin. 159

steam is called a moist air, air mixed with condensed steam is termed
a cloudy atmosphere. Both may be distinguished from each other,
just as our breath in a warm room is distinguished from the clouds
which form before our mouths in winter, but which we do not ex-
hale as clouds. Water mixed with spirits of wine produces a trans-
parent mixture, because both are fluids. Air, however, mixed with
opaque solid or fluid bodies, produces an opaque mixture which becomes
more opaque in proportion as the mixture is more entire. Thus snow
may be formed out of comminuted ice; white sand out of pounded rock-
crystal; foam, mist, vapour, or whatever we like to call it, out of water.
We look upon clouds habitually as on something really existing, as
a kind of magazine in which rain, snow, and hail, are stored up ; bodies
which, when they come into contact with one another, produce thun-
der; which are attracted by mountains and torn asunder by their
rocky teeth, when out of the breach thus formed water streams
forth ; and what is most remarkable of all, we think of these clouds as
floating with all their heavy contents in the air. If, however, we
only get amongst the clouds on the top of a mountain we find that
they consist of nothing but common mist, and that of all the magni-
ficence we had attributed to them not a trace remains. We might
have spared ourselves the trouble of ascending so high to discover
this, for a cloud is nothing more than a mist above, and a@ mist is
nothing more than a cloud below. Any one that has been accus-
tomed to think of a cloud as of something tangible and lasting, of
which he can take a photography ; or, if he has the talent for it, make
out in it resemblances to the forms of men and animals, must be
aware how often he is obliged to change his comparison. It may be
said, however, that we often see a cloud lying all day long on the top of
a mountain. Does not Mount Pilate take his name from the very
circumstance that he alway wears a cap? Is not the Table Moun-
tain at the Cape celebrated for it ? Who, however, that sees the white
foam lying on a clear mountain stream, looked down upon from a hill,
believes it to be anything lying on the ground ? And is the cloud lying
on the top of a mountain, anything more than this? The stream is
the air, the stone on which the foam rests is the mountain, the foam
is the cloud. Does it not move continually if we ascend the moun-
tain in order to see if it really lies quietly upon it, as it seems to do
when we look up at it from below? The appearance of stability is there-
fore nothing but a delusion, the cloud endures only whilst arising,
and in the act of vanishing. Do we find the plains of Lombardy
covered with the clouds which are attracted down from the St
Gothard in quick succession into the valley of Trevola? No! they
have entirely disappeared from the hot plains, and the cloudless
heaven above them forms a strange contrast to the thick covering
which, whenever we look back, conceals the Alps from our view. Do
_ we not often see a storm, which, with the intention of raining in
good earnest, comes down from the Charlotten Berg, entirely dissi-

160° Meteorological Phenomena in -

pated when it arrives over the glowing city. If, on the contrary,
the atmosphere is very moist, already the absorption does not take place
—a long strip of cloud leans down from the top of the mountain, where
its first germ had formed itself, and the rain pours down. If the
air has lost its absorbing power, it will soon become saturated with
water. This is what takes place before a shower, and it is for this
reason they say in the Bernese Oberland,

_“ Does the Riesen his rapier wear ?
Then it shews that rain is near ;
Is his cap upon his head ?
Then that shews the rain has fled.”

But these rules are only applicable to mountains whose points rise
boldly into the higher regions of the air, not to lesser heights on
our own German plains. IPf the moisture be already great enough
for it to take the form of clouds, then it will soon shew itself in the
shape of rain, and therefore they say in Thuringia of the Kyffhauser,

“ Has Frederick cast his crown away,
The weather will be fine to-day ;
If on his head his crown is set,
The weather soon will change to wet.”

“The mountains are heaving, the Bohemian mists are coming; it
will rain,” they say in the Hazy Mountains. ‘ The Zoblen is clear ;
it will continue fine weather,” they say in Silesia: and in England
the proverb is, |

“When the clouds are on the hills,
They will come down by the rills.”

In winter, clouds often conceal the dome of the Gensd’armes Tower ;
in-summer storms pass over the dark Aachorn, the Jungfrau, and
Mont Blanc. But what a difference there is between the fine drops
of winter rain, and the large splashes of a summer shower. If,
however, we ascend a mountain during this splashing rain, we shall
find that the higher we ascend the smaller the drops become ; higher
still we shall find only a mist; at that height it is no more the cloud
which rains, but the whole stratum of air between the cloud and the
ground. ‘This is so true, that upon the roof of the King’s castle in
this place, only 18 inches of rain fall annually, whilst 20 inches
fall on the pavement of the castle-yard ; for a continually renewed
condensation of the mist of water takes place, and meeting with the —
rain drops in their descent, makes them continually increase in size.
This applies equally to snow and hail, which do not therefore pro-
duce the destruction which we should expect from the size of the
grains if they fell down from a considerable height. If a crow, for
example, were to slip down the steep roof of a church at the begin-
ning of a thaw, the descending snowball would become at last a little —
avalanche. But did the crow cast it down; those must believe so
who ascribe the rain to clouds alone.

connection with the Climate of Berlin. 161

But how do clouds of snow and rain originate over our plains,
which are situated far from the cooling summits of the mountains ?

A celebrated amateur gathered together a large assembly in the
council-hall of a northern residence. It was one of those icy star-
bright nights which are so aptly called iron nights in Sweden. In
the saloon, however, there was a fearful crowd, and the heat was so
great that several ladies fainted in consequence. An officer tried to end
this distressing state of things by attempting to open a window. But
it was impossible, so fast it was frozen to the window cill. Like a
second Alexander he cut the Gordian knot by breaking a pane of
glass, and now, what happened? It snowed in the room. Circum-
stances so favourable as these seldom present themselves for obser-
vation here. But I have, even in Berlin, seen a thick mist, form
itself at a private ball, when, on one occasion, the doors opening
upon the balcony were thrown open for a moment. Thus, wherever
warm air becomes mixed with cold-and moist air, a precipitation
takes place. This is the reason why an eternal mist overclouds the
sea of Okotsk, where the warmth so sensibly declines towards the
north, that, on the same neck of land, shapeless sea-horses, the in-
habitants of the polar seas, and elegant certhiadee, the feathered mes-
sengers of the south, meet together. It is the same phenomena on
a smaller scale which one sees at St Petersburg, at the magnificent
festivals given in the winter palace, when a continual condensation
is always taking place in the outer apartments. In order, therefore,
to understand our weather, we must seek out the principles on which
such mixture of unequally warmed air takes place; but to do this
I must somewhat enlarge, whilst choosing for my guides two of the
learned men of the present day, about whom geology, geography,
and meteorology dispute as their heroes, each of the three sciences
wishing to claim the two philosophers for itself.

If we open a door leading from an outer passage into a warm
room, a double draught of air takes place, the cold air streaming in
cay. and the warm air flowing out above. This may easily be
proved by the flame of a candle. Placed on the ground it is wafted
towards the room, held half-way up it stands upright, above it is

wafted towards the outer air. On the earth the polar regions repre-

sent the outer passage, and the torrid zone represents the warm
chamber. ‘There are two cold zones and one torrid, that is to say,
a warm room between two cold passages, the doors between the two
are always open, the room is always heated to a very high tempera-
ture, and there is a constant draught of air, which is called the
“‘trade-winds.” Where both currents of air meet, is a region of
calms, and it is so named. As, however, the apparent course of the
sun varies between the tropics, the region of calms does not always
remain in the same place, but follows the sun, and the whole pheno-
mena of trade-winds follow in its train. Where the trade-winds pre-
vail, the sky is perfectly cloudless, because flowing towards warmer
VOL, LIV. NO. CVII—JANUARY 1858. L

162 Professor Blum on Pseudomorphic Minerals.

regions, the air naturally becomes drier; in the region of calms,
on the contrary, it rains constantly, because the lower warm currents
in the act of rising lose some of their heats and therefore allow the
moisture they contain to be precipitated. Every place between the
tropics has therefore a dry season whilst under the influence of the
trade-winds, and arainy season while the calms prevail,—*‘ a time of
sun and a time of cloud,’’ as the Indians near the Orinoco say. In
the higher regions of the atmosphere, the ascending air flows back
towards the poles. We see it often in the light clouds which are
attracted towards the lower trade-winds; yes, we even reach this
upper opposing current when we ascend high mountains, such as the
Peak of Teneriffe, on Mawnaroa, on the island of Hawaia. More
strongly still is the influence of this returning upper current seen
in yoleanic eruptions.

(To be continued in our next Number.)

Gieseckite and Bergmannite (Spreustein), two Pseudomor-
phoses of Transformation from Nepheline. By Professor
J. R. Buu, of Heidelberg. Communicated by the Author,
from Poggendorff.

At Jyalikko-Fiord, not far from Julianenhaab in Greenland,
there occurs, implanted in drift porphyry, a mineral in the
form of hexagonal prisms, generally known by the name of
Gieseckite. From the similarity of its form, and for the
most part amorphous condition of its mass, it was formerly
regarded as a variety of Pinite, with which its chemical
composition to a considerable extent coincides. It was
afterwards grouped by Tamnau with Eleolite (Nepheline),
with which it has the same crystalline form, and is said to be,
in its fresh condition, as regards hardness, specific gravity,
and lustre, identical. But most of the crystals are found
in an altered condition, and coincide neither with the qua-
lities just mentioned, nor with the chemical composition
of the Eleolite. The cause of this is to be sought in the
alteration which the Eleolite has undergone. A short time
since there came into my possession a crystal of this sort,
which, upon my breaking off a small portion at one end, in
order to observe the nature of its interior, was seen to con-

Professor Blum on Pseudomorphic Minerals. 163

sist entirely of a fine scaly aggregate of very minute mica-
ceous lamelle. Thus Giesecke is neither more nor less than
Elzolite in process of transformation into mica, at one stage
of which a condition resembling Pinite, I believe, occurs very
frequently. The final result of the transformation is here
likewise mica; and with this view both the chemical compo-
sition of the mineral, and the mode in which it is affected by
the blowpipe and by acids, closely coincide. Whilst the
Eleolite fuses before the blowpipe, and under the action of
acids dissolves and forms gelatine, Gieseckite is but slightly
affected by the latter, and is likewise more difficult of fusion.
If we compare the results of analysis,—that of the green
Eleolite of Fredericksviirn by Scheerer (a), with that of
Gieseckite by Stromeyer (b),—the process of alteration be-
comes very apparent. Their constituents are :—

(a) (b)
Silicic acid, 45°31 46:0798
Alumine, 32°63 90°8280
Natron, 15:95 0:0000
Potash, 5°45 6°2007
Oxide of iron, 0:45 Protoxide of iron, 3°3587
Chalk, 0°33 Magnesia, 1:2081
Water, 0-60 4:°8860

100°76 Oxide of manganese, 1:1556

96°7119

According to these analyses, there must have been a loss of
natron and an absorption of protoxide of iron and water, to-
gether with a small quantity of magnesia and oxide of man-
ganese.

Under the name of Bergmannite or Spreustein, there has
long been known a mineral which has been regarded by some
mineralogists as a distinct species, and by others as a variety
of Wernerite. It is not unfrequently found as a secondary
constituent of zircon syenite in Norway, especially in the
environs of Brevig, Laurvig, and Fredericksvarn. Scheerer,
to whom the external appearance of the Spreustein seemed
to indicate that it was not a variety of Wernerite, subjected

_ it to an analysis of which the results are given (Annalen,
L2

164 ~ Professor Blum on Pseudomorphic Minerals.

vol. Ixv., p. 277-8,) and according to which it is a normal
natronite (natron-mesotyp.)

I lately received several pseudomorphoses from Dr Krantz
of Bonn, amongst which was a specimen labelled “ Spreus-
tein nach Beryll und Scapolith von Breveg.” I could recog-
nise no scapolitie form in the prismatic crystals of the
spreustein, whilst, as hexagonal prisms, they appeared iden-
tical with the forms of beryl. But as the occurrence of
beryl in the zircon syenites of Norway is very far from
ascertained; and as Scheerer (op. cit. p. 280) expressly ob-
serves that all which he had met with belonged to the apa-
tite; and as, moreover, the origination of spreustein from
this mineral appeared to me exceedingly doubtful, I carefully
examined the specimens of this substance in my own collec-
tion, in hopes that I might perhaps obtain some solution of
my doubts. It was not long before I observed ina piece of —
ore a small hexagonal prism, which superficially had the ap-
pearance of spreustein ; but at the end, where a portion was —
broken off, was perceived to be Eleolite; and eleolite ac-
cordingly it was, from which the other mineral had borrowed
its form. But in order to attain greater certainty upon this
point, I imparted my views to Dr Krantz, with a request
that he would be good enough again to look through his own
specimens, and acquaint me with the result of his observa- —
tions. The following is an extraet from Dr Krantz’s answer:
—*T have again examined my small collection of pseudo-
morphous Spreusteins, and have come to the precise conclu-
sion you anticipated, namely, that the hexagonal prisms were
formerly not beryl but nepheline (Eleolite). The small prism
which you will herewith receive, and which is adherent to
unaltered felspar (Orthoklas), with which it has nothing in
common, consists, at the unaltered-looking greenish end,
upon trial with the blowpipe, entirely of mesotype; there is,
therefore, nothing more of the original mineral remaining. — }
The other and larger prism still contains at one end pure
white nepheline, but farther in the interior Eleolite. It is

remarkable that the nepheline appears here of such a pure

white colour as it has never been found with anywhere in —
Norway. The specimen establishes, I think, in a very satis-

Professor Blum on Pseudomorphic Minerals. 165

factory manner, that the pseudomorphoses were formerly
Nepheline. Spreustein from Wernerite I have never met
with.” :

The alteration in these two cases commenced at the sur-
face of the crystals, spreading from thence to. the interior ;
and this process may be observed in various individuals,
which are found in its most various stages. Whilst the
above-mentioned small crystal is changed into spreustein
merely at its surface, the large one mentioned by Dr Krantz
(which is about 14 in. long by 1 in. in thickness, and is broken
off at both ends) consists at one end entirely of an aggregate
of red and white spreustein, but at the other still contains a
nucleus of nepheline, surrounded by a crust of whitish-red
spreustein of from one to two lines in thickness; and other
erystals, again, are entirely changed into the latter substance.
Even crystalline particles of Eleolite have undergone this
change. The surrounding felspar (orthoklas) is for most
part perfectly fresh, merely exhibiting here and there, at its
points of contact with the Spreustein, a slight red colour,
arising from oxide of iron, which has interpenetrated its
cleavage surfaces. The process of transmutation itself con-
sists in a loss of potash, in the emission of a small quantity
of natron and alumine, and the absorption of water, whereby
this process occurred in a rock, which—although water was
the agent—presents a perfectly fresh character. Nor will
it ever occur to any one that the natrolite was here an ori-
ginal formation, or that the water was originally present;
_ for the pseudomorphous nature of the spreustein crystals is
too plain to be called in question. They are not genuine
erystals ; for they consist of a mass of which the composition
is confusedly radiated, (whence the name Spreustein given

them by Werner)—of an aggregate, which sometimes even
includes a nucleus of the original mineral. But if it must
be admitted to be a transformation, then it is a transforma-
tion that can have been effected only by means of water
which has penetrated into the mineral, extracted and re-
moved constituents of the Nepheline, partly deposited itself
in their room, and formed mesotype ; for the phenomenon can-

166 Mr R. Clausius on the

not be explained by assuming either intense pressure or the
original presence of water in the mineral. We have here
also a beautiful example of the manner in which water, ope-
rating upon inorganic bodies, calls into existence new crys-
talline forms ; and we may perceive what a misapprehension
it would be of this process, which plays such an important
part in the formation of pseudomorphoses, were we to limit
it to the originating of kaolins, clays, and other “ mineral
mires.”” Moreover, it would seem as if the Elolite itself
were nepheline in process of transformation; at least this
would appear to be indicated by the fluctuating amount of
water which the mineral contains. Scheerer has observed of
the green and brown Eleolites of Fredericksvirn, that when
these are finely pulverised and decomposed with concentrated
muriatic acid, the resulting siliceous earth possesses the same
colour, though in a fainter degree, which the mineral pos-
sessed before, and that it disappears only on its being dis-
solved in nitric acid, or by being brought to a glow; where-
upon he remarks: ‘“ This is quite sufficient to prove that the
colour is of organic origin.” —(Pogg. Ann., v. 49, p. 380.) But
how can this organic colouring matter have found its way
into the mineral unless by means of water? Sure enough it
was not there originally.—(Poggendorf’’s Annalen., bd. 87,
st. 2, 1852, No. 10.)

On the Colours of a Jet of Steam and of the Atmosphere.
By R. CLAUSIUS.

To the Editors of the Philosophical Magazine and Journal.

GENTLEMEN,—In the August Number of the Philosophical
Magazine (p. 128) Mr Reuben Phillips describes a series of
interesting experiments on the colours of a jet of steam,
which connect themselves with the known experiments of |
Professor Forbes upon the same subject. At the end of his
paper Mr Phillips writes—

‘Professor Forbes, after discovering the red colour of ajet
of steam, by transmitted light, connected the red colour of the
clouds with this fact; and the truth of this connection is be-

Colours of a Jet of Steam. — 167

yond dispute. So far, however, as I have been able to go,
the colours of the steam-jet are manifestly only influences of
_ ordinary interference, greatly resembling that produced by
thin transparent plates. Thus in (192) the transmitted light
is red, as in Professor Forbes’s experiments, but the re-
flected light is blue. It is therefore to be inferred, that all
the colours of the clouds originate in interference, caused by
minute drops of water, the size of which determines their
colour; while the blue jet (192) is, I think, strictly analogous
to the blue sky.”

With reference to this passage I permit myself to make
the following remarks:—The blue colour of the firmament
and the morning and evening red were explained by me in
1849* upon the principles of “ ordinary interference ;” and
some time afterwards} I applied the same explanation to the
colours of a jet of steam observed by Professor Forbes.

In one point, however, my view diverges from that of Mr
Reuben Phillips. He names the water-particles which cause
the interference “ drops of water,” while I believe that they
are water-bladders, for which view I have adduced my rea-
sons in a separate paper.{

Besides this, I should like to mention two points, with re-
gard to which I have been unable to obtain from the paper
of Mr Phillips a clear notion of the author’s opinion.

(1.) Among the various colours of the atmosphere there
appears to me to exist only two simple originating ones;
namely, the blue colour in all its shades, from dark blue to
white, due to interference by reflection; and orange-red
_ colour in the corresponding shades, due to interference by
transmission. ‘The other colours exhibited at times in va-
rious portions of the heavens, as, for example, purple or green,
I hold to be due to the mixing of the above ok: colours in
their different shades.

* Poggendorff’s Annalen, vol. lxxvi., p. 188.

{ Die Licht Erscheinungen der Atmosphire, described and explained by R.
Clausius. Leipzig, BH. B. Schwickert, 1850. Also under the title Beitrdge zur
Meteorologische Optik, published by John Aug. Grunert. Part 1, No. 4, p. 395,
_ and in Pogg. Ann., vol. Ixxxiv., p. 449.

t Pogg. Ann., vol. Ixxvi., p. 161,

168 Description of the Tongue and

423 When clouds appéar coloured, I believe that the colour
exhibited 4 is for the most part not formed in the cloud itself,
inasmuch as’ the little bladders generally differ too much in
thickness to cause the production of a single determinate
colour ; but that the light, partly on its way to the cloud, and
partly between the cloud and our eye; assumes its colour ;
even in the apparently clear air there always exist bladders,
which,’how ever, are for the most part so attenuated, that they
favour in a particular manner the formation of the /irst
colours of interference, namely blue and orange-red.—I re-
main, Gentlemen, very respectfully yours,

HO. 4 10 GILO9 Did : R. CLAUsIUS.

BERLIN, Oct. 13, 1852,

\

Description of. the Tongue and Habits of the Aardvark
or Ant-eater of the Cape (Orycteropus Capensis). By
WILLIAM T. BLACK, Assistant-Surgeon to the Forces,
South Africa. Communicated by the Author.

In Professor Jones’ General Outline of the Animal King-
dom, is to be found a description of the elongated tongue of
the Ant-eaters of South America, and the Echidna of New
Holland. The Aardvark (the Earth-hog, Dutch) and these
two animals, belong to the order of Edentata, but the last is
further distinguished by being monotrematous. Whether
Professor Jones’ description is intended to refer to the
tongues of all the animals in that order that possess them as
instruments of prehension does not appear, and it may be
correct ; but from two or three specimens of the organ dis-
sected by me in the Aardvark, I am led to doubt its applica-

bility to this Animal. Professor Jones speaks of two proper —

muscles not found in the tongues of other mammalia, an ex-
ternal annular one, and an internal elongated spiral one,
invested by the former. These I have been unable to detect
in the tongue of the Cape Ant-eater, and I subjoin the fol-
lowing description of my acquaintance with its lingual ana-
tomy :—

— Pee.

I a i, i i i i le) Be id

Habits of the Ant-eater of the Cape. 169

- The tongue is from 10 to 12 inches long, when stretched
out. The mucous membrane of its upper surface is rough
and of a file-like feeling, when the finger is passed backwards
along it. There are three papille near the base, situated in
the form of atriangle. On the outside, at about the posterior
half, are the conjoined palato and stylo-glossus muscles, and
internally to them, the lingualis, running from the base to the
tip of the tongue; and at the posterior fourth in the mesial
line is the lingual attachment of the mylo-hyoglossus muscle.
The lingual sensory nerve is very large, and lies in a groove
between the mylo-hyoglossus and the lingualis, and after
passing the former, the two nerves lie side by side in the
mesial line between the two linguals. The muscular nerves
branch off; the fifth enters the mylo-hyoglossus, gives branches
to it, and then passes forwards alongside the lingual nerve.
The muscle to which I would attribute the protruding action
| of the tongue, or the Hatensor
lingua, consists of perpendicular
fibres passing from the thick
mucous membrane of the upper
surface and sides, to the cellular
tissue investing the linguales
muscles ; this occurs throughout
the whole length of the tongue,

1. The mucous coat.
2. The perpendicular fibres. and engrosses more and more of

BaNanyes and vessels. the comparative thickness of the

4, Linguales and genio-hyoid.

Bee alato-clossus, tongue towards the point from

the base. ‘The best way of de-

monstrating the course of its fibres, which are otherwise
visible enough, is to incise the tongue either transversely or
longitudinally, just through the thickness of the mucous
membrane, and then tear open the incision. The laceration
‘is easy, and goes in the direction of the fibres to their attach-
ment at the upper surface of the lingualis. The contraction
of this muscle, in all its body, will produce a contraction of
the diameter or thickness of the tongue, and at the same time,
from the consequent increase of the diameters of the sepa-

_ rate muscular fasciculi, must the tongue elongate. It may
be otherwise stated, if the mass of the tongue is decreased in

) =

170 Description of the Tongue and

one direction, it must correspondingly increase in another—
like a bladder nearly full of water, which elongates in the
direction lateral to the points of pressure.

Should the mesial fibres of this perpendicular or transverse
muscle be thrown into action, then the upper surface of the
tongue would become flattened or hollowed out. The retrac-
tion of the tongue is of course accomplished by the lingualis,
and the other motions of the organ by the other muscles as
ordinarily shewn. This action of the perpendicular fibres
also renders the tongue, when projected at the same time,
somewhat elastic and firmer, so as to allow of the stronger
action of the others in bending it in different directions ; one
or the other lingualis laterally, or both downwards, when the
lower fibres of this muscle are thrown into action; and when
the upper fibres are in a similar state, the point of the tongue
would be directed upwards. What share the muscles of the
base of the organ particularly have in its motions, I do not
enter upon, merely having considered the actions of the free
part of the tongue.

On section of the upper surface of the mucous membrane
between the muscular fasciculi, appear yellow oblong ovoid
bodies, about a line in length each, probably mucous glands,
or, as I had not means of deciding this point, may be particles
of fat, though not likely, as they only occur among the mus-
cular fasciculi at the upper surface, and not at the lower ex-
tremities of the fasciculi. When the perpendicular or
radiating fibres are in action, the secretions from these glands
would evidently be expressed out upon the surface of the
tongue, thereby supplying the adhesive fluid which is the
means employed by the ant-eater for the capture and reten-
tion of its insect food. The specimen of the animal which
I procured for the above dissection, was a female, had four

teats, and was 6 feet 2 inches in length from the nose to the |

end of the tail.

The next one which I dissected afforded the following
description :—The mylo-hyoid muscle, or flat muscle next the
skin ;—Genio-hyoid of two bands, on each side of the mesial
line between the chin and hyoid-bone ;—Genio-hyoglossus
between the chin hyoid-bone and tongue, the lingual fibres

|
|
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4

Habits of the Ant-eater of the Cape. 171

radiating upwards to the tongue; the latter part is broader
behind where it is attached to the root of the tongue, and
terminates, conically forwards, to about the middle of its
length ;—Palato-glossus, a large flat band on each side of the
former, and, together with the lingualis, forms the lateral and
inferior muscular of the tongue, from the root to the tip ;—
Stylo-glossus, a small band of fibres, descending from the
styloid process, perpendicularly to the root of the tongue,
where it comes again forward on the outside, and parallel to
the former muscle, and is finally lost at about one-third from
the root, in the fibres of the palato-glossus and lingualis.
Lying above this mass of muscle, composed of the palato, and
stylo-glossus, and lingualis, which—after passing the anterior
edge of the genio-hyoglossus, lie side by side, and form also
the inferior half of the muscular mass of the tongue where it
_is free—is the perpendicular muscle already described, part
of which, at the base of the tongue, is attached below to the
lingual termination of the genio-hyoglossus. In the mesial
line between the perpendicular fibres and the longitudinal
ones, lie the nerves and vessels of the tongue. There is also
@ vein, running in the mesial line on the upper surface of the
tongue, just underneath the mucous membrane, having trans-
verse branches falling into it from the muscular substance
and mucous coat. This specimen was also a female, had four
teats, and was 5 feet 4 inches in length from the nose to the
tail.

In support of the views which I have been led to take of
the powers of the perpendicular fibres, I may mention that a
similar muscle exists in all mammiferous tongues which I have
examined, and I believe is the co-efficient of all those peculiar
movements connected with the protrusion of the tongue ; and
that the other longitudinal muscles are connected with this
-aet chiefly to guide the organ in different directions, as the
sole and separate action of these latter muscles would be
that of retracting the organ in one or other directions. Pro-
trusion is, then, the province of the perpendicular muscles ;
retraction that of the longitudinal ones ;—different combina-
_ tions of the two produce the several movements out of the
axis of the tongue, whether the organ is in a state of protru-

172 Description of the Tongue and

sion or retraction. In the Lwmbricus tines, or round intes-
tinal worm, may be noticed fasciculi passing from the walls
of the abdomen to the integument, and apparently firmly
connected to each attachment. ‘These transverse fasciculi
seem to exist nearly the whole length of the animal, and to
encircle the interior digestive tubes: each fibre is of toler-
ably visible size, and pale in colour. As these fasciculi pass
between the peritoneal lining of the abdominal cavity, and
not from the walls of the proper intestinal canal, to the in-
teguments, so each attachment is a fixed point, especially
the interior one. That they are not glands may be inferred
from their disconnection with the intestinal mucous mem-
brane, though this point can only be strictly determined by
the microscope. I have, however, by inspection and ana-
logy, been led to hold that these fasciculi are muscular and
perpendicular to the axis of the body of the animal, and to
have a similar action to the perpendicular fibres in the
tongue of the Cape Ant-eater. On the above supposition, that
their action would be to elongate the animal, without, at the
same time, compressing the contents of the digestive cavity, as
the action of circular fibres would do in producing the same
elongating effect. The digestive process would thus be in-
terrupted by such a mode of progression, and defecation
would otherwise only result, when the alleged circular fibres
were thrown into action. If any effect of the cavity of the
abdomen were produced by the perpendicular fibres, it
would be to cause a tendency to a vacuum, both by the elon-
gation of the animal, and also by the inner peritoneal walls
being made the fixed point of action of these alleged muscu-
lar fibres. Ingestion of food and fluids would be thus aided
most considerably, and independently of any provision for
such a purpose at the mouth. It would, however, require
further research to see whether analogous muscles, having —
actions similar to those attributed to the perpendicular fibres
in the tongue of the Aardvark, or the body of the round in-
testinal worm can be found to bear out the above general
interpretation of their actions ; but I presume that instances
might be obtained to shew such a peculiar modification of
muscular power, and make it a more general physiological

Habits of the Ant-eater of the Cape. 173

property—as in the arms of some of the Cephalopoda, the
tongue of the chameleon, the trunk of the elephant, &c. &c.

Habits of the Aardvark.—This animal, inhabiting the
Fish-River country, lives in immense holes, excavated by
their powerful, hoof-like claws, in the ground, some six or
ten feet below the surface. There are generally a collection
of holes like a warren at these places, all intercommunica- ©
ting, and situated in or about a clump of trees or bushes.
The calibre of these passages is so large in some as to allow
a man to creep into. The animal mostly comes out at night,
but may sometimes be seen during the day. It is planti-
grade on the hind feet, but digitigrade on the fore ones. The
fore-feet have four toes, and the hind-feet five each, armed
with strong hoof-like claws, very similar except in size to the
arrangement of those of the mole, so as to enable the animal
to dig and scrape away the earth sideways from them, and
also crosswise, the inner toes being longer than the outer
ones.

* The ponderous conical tail, 18 or 20 inches long, composed
of bony joints, and a multitude of muscles, covered by an in-
tegument as thick as an ox’s hide, hangs ordinarily down,
like that of the Cape sheep, when the animal is walking.
Its structure is similar to the tail of the Cape iguana or
large water-lizard and its use may be, in one point of view,
Similar, viz., as an instrument of defence from attack, as
with it they strike dogs very forcibly that attack them.
When surprised, they instantly make for their holes; but as
they cannot run fast, they are therefore soon caught by dogs,
and easily shot or assegaied. When seized by dogs by their
very soft ears, or by their velvety nose, they double in their
heads between their forelegs, and strike forwards, or kick
with their hind-feet, so as to make their assailants loose hold
_ and often repent their proceedings.

They are best caught in moonlight nights, when out feed-
ing, either by dogs, or waiting near a suspected warren till
the animal returns before the break of day. They live chiefly
on ants, and, as there are numbers of ant-hills all over the
country, their food is ever at hand. They first dig away
with their fore-feet, partly, as it were, sitting on their hind-_

od

174 Habits of the Ant-eater of the Cape.

legs, supported by the tail, like the Cape Redistes or jerboa,
a large hole at the base of the anthill, and, no doubt, when
made sufficiently large, they lie down and thrust their nose
in, which is protected from stinging by its velvety hair,
when they ascertain the neighbourhood of their game. They
then protrude their long, tapering tongue, well covered with
secretions through their toothless gums, which, when well
covered with ants, is retracted, and the burden disposed of
in the mouth for mastication. The mouth is abundantly
supplied with mucous glands under its covering membrane,
and the sublingual glands are large and open, with many se-
eretory ducts, to pour out an abundant lubricating secretion.
From the want of both incisor and canine teeth, the bite of the
animal is harmless, and besides, the orifice of the mouth is not
much larger than suffices for a tongue-load of ants. By means
of the flat grinders on each side, this minute kind of scaly food
is ground into paste, and made fit for digestion. In exca-
vating its habitation, no doubt, the very great muscular
power of its hinder extremities come into action, and shovel-
ling away, like a spade, the earth loosened by the fore-
feet, the two extremities act the part of a pick and lever.
From its beautiful buck-like ears, one would suppose its
sense of hearing was exquisite, and perhaps of much more
use to the animal than its small, laterally-directed eyes,
especially for its nocturnal and subterranean habits of life.
Its hide is as thick as that of an ox, impenetrable, no doubt,
to all attacks from insects, and has much the appearance of
a pig’s skin, but thicker, and has the same intimate con-
nection with the underlying muscular structure as in the
latter animal, so that the natives, when they slaughter the
Aardvark for food, cut it up into pieces with the skin on, as
we do pork.

Dimensions of the Female killed near Fort Brown, whose —
oval dissection is above given.—Length, 5 feet 4 inches from
the nose to the tail end; nose to the root of the ear, 11 in.;
ear to the wrist or carpus, 145 in.; ankle (tarsus) to the
protuberance of the hip-joint, 15 in.; length of the tail, 184
in.; leg, from the ankle to the spine, over the protuberance
of the trochanter, 21 in. ; arm, from the wrist over the shoul-

On the Negroes of the Indian Archipelago. 175

der to the spine, 18 in.; round the belly, just in front of the
thigh, 3 feet 3 in.; round the thorax, behind the shoulders,
2 feet 6 in.; round the neck, behind the ears, 153 in.

P.S.—I have sent two entire skins to the museum at Fort
Pitt, which were forwarded, with other specimens, after the
breaking out of this war, and which have all since been ac-
knowledged.

W. T. B.

The Negroes of the Indian Archipelago and Pacific Islands.
By W. JOHN CRAWFURD, Esq., F.R.S.

Oriental negroes are found thinly but widely scattered,
from the Andaman islands, in about 80° of E. longitude, to
the New Hebrides in the Pacific, in about 175° E. longitude,
and from the Philippine islands, in 18° N. latitude, to New
Caledonia, in about 21° S. latitude. These eastern negroes
are known to Europeans under various names. The Malays
term the inhabitants of New Guinea, Papua, or more cor-
rectly Pua-pua. Europeans taking this as an authority, call
New Guinea and its inhabitants both Papua.

The word pua-pua is an adjective, and signifies crisp,
frizzled, woolly. To complete the sense for the country or
people, it is necessary to state the nouns-substantive, tanah
=country, and oran=people. Thus oran pua-pua =a woolly
headed man; and tanah oran pua-pua=the land of woolly-
headed men,

European writers have also sometimes termed them Alfores,
which word has been converted by English and French

writers into Arafura and Harafura, and referred to a Malay
source. It is not, however, Malay, because the letter f is
not to be found in any written language of the Indian Archi-
pelago, and seldom does the sound occur in any of the un-
written ones. The word is Portuguese, and means freedman,
in which sense it is adopted by the natives of the country.
It is nearly equivalent to the Indios bravos of the Spaniards,

176 =W.J. Crawfurd, Esq., on the Negroes of the

as they term the free unsubjugated Indians of Spanish
America. :

Spanish writers term the negroes of the Philippine islands,
from their diminutive size, Vegritos, or little negroes. Some
English writers have lately termed them Austral negroes,
which is manifestly improper, since they are found equally in
the northern as in the southern hemisphere ; and this even
in the islands of the Indian Archipelago.

The oriental negro is even found in a state of civilisation
below that of the brown-complexioned and lank-haired race
in their neighbourhood, whether these be Malayan or Poly-
nesian. There is great diversity in their civilisation; some,
with the least possible knowledge of the commonest arts of
life, live precariously on the spontaneous produce of their
forests and waters, both animal and vegetable; while others
practise a rude husbandry, construct boats, and undertake
coasting voyages for the fishing of the tortoise and tripang,
or holothurian. . .

The negro of the Andaman islands is below five feet in
stature, and is of the lowest civilisation. The negro of the
northern portion of the Malay peninsula is also of short sta-
ture. <A full-grown male of average height was found to
measure only four feet nine inches. The negro of the Phi-
lippine islands, found chiefly on the large island of Lucon, is
also diminutive. They dwell in the mountains, generally
maintain their independence, and live in constant warfare
with the Malays.

There are no negroes in Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and Cele- —
bes, nor is there any record or tradition of any. The great
island of New Guinea is almost wholly peopled by negroes,
who differ from each other, and more so from those distant
tribes described as existing in the Andaman islands, in the
northern parts of the Malay peninsula, and in Lucon.

M. Modera, an officer of the Dutch navy, has described
two negro tribes which exist on the west coast of New Guinea.
After describing one of these tribes, he says,—‘“ In the after-
noon of the same day, at the time of high water, three of the
naturalists went in a boat well armed to the same spot, where _
they found the tree full of natives of both sexes, who sprung

Indian Archipelago and Pacific Islands. 177

from branch to branch with their weapons on their backs,
like monkeys, making similar gestures, and screaming and
laughing as in the morning. And no offers of presents could
induce them to descend from the trees to renew the inter-
course.”’*

The most singular physical character of the negro of New
Guinea, consists in the texture of the hair of the head. Itis
neither that of the negro of Africa, nor seemingly that of the
oriental negro, north of the equator. Mr Earl, who has seen
most of the negro tribes of New Guinea, and who best de-
scribes them, gives the following account of it :—‘* The most
striking peculiarity of the oriental negro,” says he, ‘“ consists
in their frizzled or woolly hair. This, however, does not
spread over the surface of the head, as is usual with the
negroes of western Africa, but grows in small tufts, the
hairs which form each tuft keeping separate from the rest,
and twisting round each other, until, if allowed to grow, they
form a spiral ringlet. Many of the tribes, especially those
which occupy the interior parts of the islands, whose coasts
are occupied by more civilised races, from whom cutting in-
struments can be obtained, keep the hair closely cropped.
The tufts then assume the form of little knobs, about the size
of a large pea, giving the head a very singular appearance,
which has not been inaptly compared to the head of an old
worn-out shoe-brush. Others, again, more especially the
natives of the south coast of New Guinea, and the islands of
Torres Straits, troubled with such an obstinate description
of hair, yet admiring the ringlets as a head-dress, cut them
_ off, and twist them into matted skull caps, thus forming very
compact wigs. But it isamong the natives of the north coast
of New Guinea, and of some of the adjacent islands of the
Pacific, that the hair receives the greatest attention. These
open out the ringlets by means of a bamboo comb, shaped
like an eel-spear, with numerous prongs spreading out later-
ally, which operation produces an enormous bushy head of

* Mr Windsor Earl on the Papuan Indians.—(Journal of the Indian Archi-
pelago, vol. iv., p. 1.)
VOL. LIV. NO. CVIIT —JANUARY 1853. M

178 Negroes of the Indian Archipelago.

hair, which has procured them the name of Mop-headed
Indians.”

There are fifteen different varieties of oriental negroes, of
eleven of which we have good descriptions. ‘ Some of them
are feeble dwarfs under five feet, and others are powerful
men. ‘To include the whole under one category, is surely
contrary to truth and nature.

As far as language can be considered a test of race, and
as the present state of our knowledge on the subject will
enable us to judge, it goes to prove that all the tribes or
nations of whose languages we possess examples, are sepa-
rate and distinct from each other. I have compared the
words of nine negro languages. Three of these consist of
the few words of Mallicolo, Tanna, and New Caledonia, given
by Foster in his Observations on Cook’s Second Voyage, and
six of fifty-five words of the Saman of the Malay peninsula,
from my own collection, and those of the Gebe, Waigyu,
New Guinea, and New Ireland, and Vanikoro, the scene of
the wreck of La Perouse, from that of H. Gaimard.

An examination of these comparative vocabularies corrects
an error of very general acceptance, that the negro lan-
guages contain no Malay words ; for each of the nine contains
Malay words. The proportion of Malay words is consider-
able in the languages of those tribes which are nearest to
the Malays, and therefore most amenable to Malayan in-
fluence, and diminishes in proportion to distance or other
difficulty of communication. Excluding the numerals, which
in most cases are Malayan, the proportion in a hundred
words of the Saman is twelve ; in the Gebe about eight; in
the Waigyu above five; in the Doree Harbour of New Guinea,
near four; in the Port Carteret of New Ireland six ; and in
the Vanikoro little more than three. The greater number
of Malayan words in all these negro languages consist of
nouns or names of physical objects, and none of them can be —
said to be essential to the grammatical structure. They are,
in fact, substantially extrinsic.

A comparison of the native words of the negro languages —
themselves shews that they agree in a very small number
of cases, where the tribes speaking them are in the vicinity

Scientific Intelligence—Meteorology. 179

of each other; thus several words are substantially the same
in the Waigyu and in the New Guinea. This is, however,
the exception, and the rule is a total disagreement. Thus,
between the language of the negroes of the peninsula of
New Guinea and of New Ireland, there is not one word alike.
There is no evidence therefore to justify the conclusion that
the oriental negro, wherever found, is of one and the same
race.

SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.

METEOROLOGY.

1. Analyses of Snow and Rain Water, by M. Eugene Mar-
chand.—The snow and rain fell at Fécamp (France) in the months
of March and April 1850. A kilogramme of water contained—

Snow. Rain.
Sulphuric acid, free or combined, ; doubtful sensible proportions.
Chloride of potassium, ; : : doubtful trace
Chloride of sodium, . : : ; 0:0170387 gr. 0:01143 gr.
Chloride of magnesium, : : ° trace trace
Alkaline iodides and bromides, ‘ é trace trace
Bicarbonate of ammonia, : A : 0:001290 000174
Nitrate of ammonia, . : . 0°001447 0:00189
Anhydrous sulphate of soda, ; ‘ 0°015627 0-01007
Sulphate of magnesia, ‘ , 5 trace trace
Sulphate of lime, ; 0°000877 0:00087
Animalised organic matter, containing

some iron and calcium, . : ‘ 0:023846 0:02486
Pure water, : é : 2 . 999°939876 999:94914

1000-000000 1000-00000

The organic matter of the snow, deprived of fuliginous matters,
afforded oxide of calcium, 0:008116 grammes; peroxide of iron,
0:000450; organic matter, 0°015280 = 0:023846.—( American
Journal of Science and Arts, vol. xiv., No. 41, 2d Series, p. 263.)

2. Notes on the Climate of Rangoon, by Dr Alexander Chris-
tison, H.H.I.C.S.—During the last war, the troops stationed at
Rangoon were attacked with an epidemic of rare occurrence, and were
defectively supplied with ill-preserved provisions, which gave rise to
scurvy. From these and other circumstances the climate was re-
ported as very unhealthy ; but it now appears from recent informa-
tion to be much more healthy than it has been represented to be.

_ Fall of Rain.— At Moulmein, the annual average fall of rain re-
ported is 150 inches. But late information from a gentleman who

180 Scientific Intelligence—Meteorology.

resided there several years, informs us that the annual fall never
exceeded 90 inches. Dr Fayrer has ascertained that the total fall
for the present year will scarcely exceed 80 inches, an amount which
does not exceed the mean fall of rain at Arddarroch in Dumbarton-
shire. In May, the fall of rain registered at Rangoon, in pluvio-
meter, 11°79 inches ; June, 16°43 inches; July, 21°35; August,
17:07 inches.

Temperature.—The minimum temperature observed at sunrise in
May, was 73°; June, 74°5; July, 74°; August, 75°. The maxi-
mum at noon in May, was 96°; June, 90; July, 88°; August, 87° ;
and at three p.M., in May, 95°; June, 90°5; July, 89°; August
88°5. At all periods the temperature and sense of heat are miti-
gated after two o’clock, either by a sea-breeze, which springs up
about that time in the dry season, or by thunder and rain, as the
evenings succeed a forenoon of unusual heat. The moisture of the
atmosphere is of course great during these months; and often the
difference of temperature between the dry and wet bulb thermome-
ters is very trifling —(Monthly Journal of Medical Science, Decem-
ber 1852, p. 544.)

3. On the Recent Earthquake felt at Adderley ; in a Letter to
Robert Chambers, Esq., by Richard Corbett, Esqg.—At half-past four
o’clock this morning, (Nov. 7, 1852) railway time, we were visited by
a really smart shock of an earthquake. Our household consists of
twenty-two persons, eighteen of whom were fully alive to it, and all
more or less alarmed. Having myself felt a shock in this house, July
1832, I was instantly aware of what was taking place. A rum-
bling, heavy noise, which seems to have awakened many who were
asleep, shortly preceded the shock—this was my case; the sensation
was that of being rocked in the bed,

From all that I can collect, it is my belief that the shock passed
from west to east, and at present we have reason to suppose it was
confined to a very narrow line. Several of our villagers were much
shaken and alarmed. The noise must have been considerable, as a
very deaf person heard it, and resembled that made by a waggon
going over pavement.

The atmosphere was perfectly dead as described—not the slightest

movement in the air, and very warm. On Friday last, we had a
tremendous thunder-storm, and large pieces of ice. I could rather
imagine that there is some peculiarity in our substrata here, for
since 1775 or 1776 we have had three very complete shocks of earth-
quake in this locality. We stand upon the edge of the lias, and
there has been very near to us a most extensive subsidence, forming
a valley of unknown depth between the face of the lias and that of —
the new red sandstone, which cross out at the distance of a mile and
a-half from each other, The intermediate valley is filled with north-
ern drift, in which I have bored ninety feet, still in the drift. —

Scientijic Intelligence—Mineralogy. 181

MINERALOGY.

4. On Pseudomorphous Minerals. By our friend, Professor
Stillen —(Brown’s Jahrb., 1851, 385.) — The: pseudomorphous
forms described in this paper are—

Pseudomorphs. Forms imitated. Pseudomorphs. Forms imitated.
Native copper, Red copper ore. Scheelite, . . Wolfram.
Silver glance, . Red silver ore. Malachite, . . Copper pyrites,
Malachite, . . Red copper ore. Fahlerz, Calcite.
Azurite, . Sp be ps Electric calamine, Blende, Psilome-
Copper pyrites, Fahlerz. lane, Fluorspar.
Copper glance, . Copper pyrites. . Calamine, ” fe
Horn silver, . Silver. Calcite, . . . Felspar, Pyrope
Brown iron ore, Red iron ore. Garnet.
Wane. | ~«.- . Pyrolusite. Quartz, . . . Fluorspar, Calcite,
Gypsum,. . . Calcspar. Wolfram, Au-
Bitter spar, . Male ins gite, Carbonate
Kaolin, . . . Leucite, Sodalite. of lead, Corun-
ieee. . Wernerite. dum, Stiblite.
Maley... ©. Kyanite. Chlorite,. . . Calcite, Magnetic
Soapstone, . . Tourmaline, Acti- iron, Brown ore.
nolite, Scapolite, | Galena, . . . Calcite.
Kyanite,Stauro- | Specular iron, . Calcite.
tide. Marcasite, . . Stephanite.
Galena, . . . Pyromorphite. Spherosiderite, Calcite.
White lead ore, Galena. Pyrites, . . . Marcasite.
Red and brown Pinite, . . . Hornblende.

iron ore, . . Pyrites, Specular | Antimony blende, Antimonite,
iron, Spherosi- | Magnetic iron, . Actinolite.

; derite. Green earth, . Prehnite.
Brown iron ore, Marcasite, Calcite,| Tale, . . . . Actinolite.
Beryl. .

—(American Journal of Science and Arts, vol. xiv.. No. 41, 2d
Series, p. 264.)

5. Large Deposit of Graphite.—In Glen Strath, Farer, Inver-
ness-shire, there is a great deposit of graphite in gneiss. A similar one
occurs at St John’s, New Brunswick ; near the new suspension bridge
over the St John’s river, a very extensive deposit of graphite has been
opened and explored to a considerable extent. The vein, or bed, as it
might more properly be called, is nearly vertical, and inclosed between
beds of highly metamorphic schists. Itis entered near the water, on
the face of a precipitate cliff about 70 feet high, the walls of the
lode being in the main parallel to the graphite deposit. This bed has
been explored by a gallery or adit level over 100 feet, and by cross
cuts, at right angles to this, some 20 or more feet. All these are in
the graphite mass, and of course the floor and roof of the levels are
of the same mineral. The quartzose walls have occasionally ap-
proached, and, in some cases, masses of quartz or schist have been
included in the graphite. The course of this deposit is about north-
east and south-west, or nearly in the direction of the strike of the
strata of the schist. The graphite is not of a very superior quality as a
mass, though portions of it are quite pure. As yet no solid and per-

182 Scientijie Intelligence—Mineralogy.

fectly homogeneous masses have been taken out. It has a foliated
structure, more or less highly marked. Iron pyrites is too abundantly
diffused in it to admit of its use for crucibles. The chief economical
use made of it has been in facing the sand moulds for iron castings,
for which purpose it is ground to a fine powder. Some of the finer
parts are also used to manufacture pencils. Many hundred tons of
graphite from this deposit have already been taken out since the
mine was opened two years ago, and the supply may be esteemed
inexhaustible. The vein or bed reappears on the opposite side of the
St John’s river, and on the side now opened it has been traced over
amile. The position of the deposit in conformable metamorphic
schists, suggests the conjecture that this deposit of graphite may
represent a former coal-bed.—( American Journal of Science and

Arts, vol. xiv., No. 41, 2d Series, p. 280.)

6. Sulphur Mine in Upper Egypt.—An extensive bed of sul-
phur has been opened in Egypt, between the village of Keneh and
the Red Sea, at the strait called Bahar el Sefinque. It is soon to
be worked.—(Ann. des Mines (4), xviii. 541.)

7. Strontiano-calcite, a New Species.—(Proc. Acad. N. Sct.
Phil., vi. 114, June 1852.)—-Crystallisation and cleavages like cale-
spar: secondary form an acute rhombohedron of 65° 50’. Crystals
minute ; occurs in globular masses, the globules terminating in this
acute rhombohedron, H = 3°5; gr. undetermined. Colourless and
transparent, or white and translucent, the former vitreous, the latter
pearly in lustre. B.B., yields a brilliant light, a slightly crimson
flame, and becomes caustic. The solution in acid gives a white pre-
cipitate with sulphate of lime, but not with sulphate of strontia, and
it therefore contains strontia. After precipitating the strontia in a
portion of the solution, the addition of oxalate of ammonia produced
a precipitate of oxalate of lime. The quantity was too small for a
quantitative analysis; but Dr Genth infers that the lime and strontia
are in about equal proportions.

The specimen was from Girgenti, Sicily, where it is of rare occur-
rence, associated with celestine and sulphur.—(American Journal of
Science and Arts, vol. xiv., 2d series, No. 41, p. 280.)

8. Platinum and Iridosmine in California, by Dr F. A. Genth,
(Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad., vi., 113).—A few steel-coloured

rounded grains of platinum were observed among specimens of gold

from the American Fork, California, 30 miles from Sacramento city.

Iridosmine from the same loeality occurs in lead-coloured scales.
A collection of white grains from California, afforded, after separat-
ing the platinum, six-sided scales of a colour between lead and tin-
white, which, on heating on platinum foil, gave a strong odour of
osmium, and were probably, therefore, the Sisserskite (Ir Os 4);
when thus heated, the scales became irridescent and assumed yellow, ©
orange, and blue colours like steel. Dr Genth, on trying the Ural

Scientific Intelligence—G cology. 183

iridosmine, found that the lead-coloured scales afforded the same
colours; and he suggests that this may be a good test for distinguish-
ing the Sisserskite from the Neujanskite. He adds, that there are
probably in nature only two distinct compounds of iridium and os-
mium, viz., Ir Os 4, and Ir Os; and the compound Ir Os 3, is
probably a mixture of the two.—(American Journal of Science and
Arts, vol. xiv., 2d series, No. 41, p. 277.)

9. Identity of Donarium with Thorium.—Professor Damour
and Professor Berlin of Lund, in Sweden, infer from their analyses
that orangite is identical with thorite, and consequently donarium
with thorium. Bergemann has, however, continued his researches,
and while expressing himself with due caution, is not prepared to
admit the conclusions of the French and Swedish chemists, so that
some doubt may still be entertained upon the subject.—(Pogg. Ann.
Ixxxv. 555.)

10. Native Iron.—M. Bahr has described specimens of carbon-
ised wood, associated with bog-ore from Smaoland, which afforded
grains of malleable iron, having a specific gravity, 6:248, 6-4972,
and 6°6255, after hammering; and he considers it as probably a
result of deposition through some electric process, and not artificial
in origin. He suggests for coal containing iron in this manner, if
hereafter found, the name Sideroferite—(The American Journal of
Science and Arts, vol. xiv., No. 41, 2d Series, p. 275.)

11. On Crystallisation and Amorphism; by Prof. F. M.L.
Frankenheim.—(I. f. pr. Chem., liv. 430.)—Frankenheim reviews
the subject of crystalline structure and amorphism at considerable
length, and arrives at the conclusion, that although the structure of
the intimate particles of so-called amorphous substances is not ac-
tually proved to be crystalline by observation, it is still true that all
the properties of substances so called are perfectly consistent with
such a structure.

GEOLOGY.

12. Flora of the Tertiary Formation.—The flora of the tertiary
formation has been hitherto, comparatively speaking, far less known
than that of the coal formation, which is of a far older date; and
_ even in Silesia, notwithstanding its numerous and important deposits

of brown coal; the entire amount of leaves, blossoms, and fruits be-
longing to this formation, exclusive of stems of trees, did not exceed
forty-three species up to the close of last year.

Since then, however, a discovery has been made, which, in a few
months, has already brought more treasures to light, than Monte
Bolca in Italy, and the celebrated deposit of Oeningen in Germany,
have done in a century. This new deposit was discovered by the
Superior Councillor of Mines, Von Oeynhausen, near the end of

184 Seientijic Intelligence—Geology.

January of this year, in the immediate neighbourhood of Breslau,
at Schossnitz, near Kanth, on the railroad; it is a bed of fossil
plants in tertiary clay, and is unique in richness, variety, and ad-
mirable preservation. From the end of January up to the beginning
~ -. ‘of March, there were alveady discovéred ‘no’ less than 180 species *
‘in about six hundredweight of clay; and every fresh quantity ex-
amined gives additional results. Dr Goppert has read a very in-
teresting paper upon the results of the examination thus far made,
before the Natural History Section of the Breslau Society. The
clay is of a whitish colour; the plants seldom preserve their origi-
nal texture, but usually occur as impressions of a pale brown colour,
in which, however, they are displayed with such precision, that even
the delicate anthers of the catkins of the willow tribe are readily dis-
tinguishable. These anthers, as well as those of the male catkins
of the plane tribe, occasionally exhibit the pollen. With respect to
the families and genera, it may be said that they agree, speaking in
a general way, with those of the other local floras of the brown coal
formation. The species are, however, for the most part different ;
only one species has been hitherto observed, Libocedrites salicor-
nioides, that is met with in Silesia, in amber, and in the brown coal
formation of other parts of Germany. Of the 180 species that have
been found at Schossnitz up to the beginning of March, there are
no less than 118 which are new. As a peculiarity in this tertiary
flora, may be cited the considerable number of oaks, of which al-
ready 25 varieties have been observed, whereas at present only 13
are known to occur in Europe, and for the most part the species
discovered belong to those with incised leaves. There are, more-
over, no less than 17 varieties of elm, some unquestionable planes,
and varieties of maple, perfectly distinct from any hitherto observed,
The genera Daphnogene, Ceonanthus, Dombyayopsis, and Taxodium,
have been also met with, It need hardly be observed, that our ac-
quaintance with the riches of this recently-discovered deposit is as
yet necessarily very imperfect. Palms, which are met with in other
tertiary deposits in the immediate neighbourhood, have not thus far
been found ; indeed, no monocotyledons have been observed, with
the exception of a few leaves of grass. The origin of the deposit
has been explained on the supposition that there existed here for-
merly an inland lake, into which the leaves and blossoms of the trees
that perished on its banks were carried by the wind, and became
subsequently imbedded in the clayey mud. This recently-discovered
deposit bears out the idea, that although the majority of the genera
of the plants occurring in the tertiary formation are similar to those
now met with in Europe, although the species are different, and
agree rather with African forms than ours; yet that this formation,
speaking generally, contains a flora distinct from that of the actual
flora of the districts mentioned, and analogous rather to that of
countries situated several degrees more to the south; the flora of the

Scientific Intelligence—Geo logy. 185

deposit of Schossnitz answering, it will be seen, to that of the vege-
tation of the southern portion of the United States, or to that of the
north of Mexico. Professor Gdppert purposes to lay the results of
the examination of the Schossnitz deposit before the scientific public,
as far as it has at present been made, in a separate work.— (American
Journal of Science and Arts, vol. xiv., No. 41, 2d Series, p. 281.)

13. On the Tides, Bed, and Coasts of the North Sea or German
Ocean, by John Murray, Esq.—The author commenced his
paper by remarking that great similarity of outline prevades the
western shores of Ireland, Scotland, and Norway, and then observed
that the great Atlantic flood-tide wave, having traversed the shores
of the former countries, strikes with great fury the Norwegian coast
between the Lafoden Isles and Stadtland, one portion proceeding to
the north, while the other is deflected to the south, which last has
scooped out along the coast, as far as the Sleeve, at the mouth of the
Baltic, a long channel from 100 to 200 fathoms in depth, almost
close in-shore, and varying from 50 to 100 miles in width. After
describing his method of contouring and colouring the Admiralty
chart of the North Sea, he traces the course of the tide-wave among
the Orkney and Shetland Islands along the eastern shores of Scot-
land and England to the Straits of Dover, and along the western
shores of Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands, to the same
point. He then remarks that the detritus arising from the con-
tinued wasting away of nearly the whole line of the eastern coasts
of Scotland and England, caused by the action of the flood-tide, is
carried by it, and at the present day finds a resting-place in the
North Sea; and that this filling process is increased by the sand,
shingle, and other matter brought through the Straits of Dover by
the other branch of the Atlantic flood-tide. Hence, he remarks, the
gradual shoaling of this sea, and the formation of its numerous sand-
banks ; the silting up the mouth of the Rhine, the Meuse, and the
Scheldt ; the formation of the numerous islands on the coast of
Holland, that country itself, and much of Belgium ; the deposits at
the mouth of the Baltic, the islands in the Cattegat, and indeed the
whole country of Sleswig, Denmark, and Jutland.

The author then takes a view of the tides, and their effects upon
the Baltic and its shores before the course of the tide-wave was
_ checked by these shoals and low lands. He considers that, previous
to these great changes, the flood-tide entering the North Sea between
Norway and Scotland, would make directly towards the German
coast, and necessarily heap up the waters in the Baltic considerably
above their present level, ‘and that a great part of Finland, Russia,
and Prussia, bordering upon that sea, would thus every twelve hours
be under water, in the same way as the waters now rise in the Bay
of Fundy, at Chepstow, and other places, much above their ordinary
level in the open sea; that the current outward, on the receding

VOL. LIV. NO. CVII.— JANUARY 1853. N

186 Scientific Intelligence—Zoology.

of the tide which these accumulated waters would occasion, com-
bined with the rivers which fall into the Baltic, when checked by
the following flood-tide, would cause deposits in the form of a bar
tailing towards Sweden; and that an increase to these deposits
would form shoals, drifts, and islands, and eventually a long sand-
bank in outline, like the country of Denmark. He further considers
that the tide being by these means prevented from entering the
Baltic, may account for the subsidence of the waters of the Gulf of
Bothnia, better than can the upheaval of the northern part of Scan-
dinavia.

The author then remarked that the great shoal of the North Sea is
the Dogger Bank, and that its peculiar form is produced by the
meeting of the cotidale waves, of which he traces the course. - After
bearing testimony to the value of the Admiralty chart of the southern
portion of the North Sea, made under the direction of the late Cap-
tain Hewitt, he reverted to the importance of contouring such maps,
in order to obtain something like a correct notion of the bottom of
the sea; and in conclusion expressed a hope that the Admiralty will
be induced to continue the survey of the North Sea, so well begun
by Captain Hewitt.

ZOOLOGY.

14. On the Bones and Eggs of a Gigantic Bird in Madagascar.
—M. Saint Hilaire has recently communicated a notice to the French
Academy, of the existence, at Madagascar, of a gigantic bird, entirely
new to the scientific world. The discovery [of the evidence] was
made in 1850, by M. Abadie, captain of a merchantman. During
a stay at Madagascar, he one day observed, in the hands of a native,
a gigantic egg, which had been perforated at one of its extremities,
und used for domestic purposes. The account which he received
concerning it soon led to the discovery of a second egg, of nearly
the same size, which was found perfectly entire, in the bed of a tor-
rent, among the debris of a landslip which had taken place a short
time previously. Not long afterwards was discovered in alluvia of
recent formation, a third egg, and some bones, no less gigantic, which
were rightly considered as fossil, or rather, according to an expres-
sion now generally adopted, as sub-fossil. These were all sent to
Paris ; but one of the eggs was unluckily broken. The others ar-
rived in safety, and M. Saint Hilaire has presented them to the
Academy. These eggs differ from each other in form: one has its
two ends very unequal; the other approaches nearly to the form of
an ellipsoid.

The dimensions of the latter are :—Largest diameter 133 inches;
smallest diameter 83 in.; largest circumference, 333 in.; smallest —
circumference, 283 in. The thickness of the shell is about the
eighth of aninch. This great Madagascar egg would contain about
seventeen English pints, and its gross volume is six times that of

Scientific Intelligence—Zoo logy. 187

_an ostrich-egg, and equal to 148 ordinary hen-eggs. To carry out
the comparison still further, one of the eggs of the Madagascar bird
would be equal in bulk to 50,000 eggs of the humming-bird.

The first question to be decided was: Are these the eggs of a
bird or of a reptile? The structure of the shell, which is strictly
analogous to that of the eggs belonging to large birds with rudimen-
tary wings, would have sufficed to determine the question; but it
has been completely set at rest by the nature of the bones which
were sent with them. One of them is the inferior extremity of the
great metatarsal bone of the left side; the three-jointed apophyses
exist, two of them being nearly perfect. Even a person unskilled
in comparative anatomy cannot fail to see that these are the remains —
of a bird.

M. Saint Hilaire assigns to this bird the generic name of py-
ornis, and to the species, Maamus. It cannot be classed with the
Ornithichnites on the one hand, or with the Ostrich and allied
genera on the other, but it is the type of a new genus in the group
of the Rudipens, or Brevipens. Its height, according to the most
careful calculations made by comparative anatomists, must have been
about twelve English feet, or about two feet higher than the largest
of the extinct birds (Dinornis) of New Zealand. According to the
natives of the Sakalamas tribe, of Madagascar, this immense crea-
ture, although extremely rare, still exists. In other parts of the
island, however, no traces of belief in its present being can be found.
But there is a very ancient and universally-received tradition
amongst the natives, relative to a bird of colossal size, which used to
slay a bull, and feed on the flesh. To this bird they assign the
gigantic eggs lately found in their island. That this tradition is
wholly a fable, is evident from the character of the bones found,
which clearly shew that the bird in question had neither talons, nor
wings adapted for flying, but must have fed principally on vegetable
substances.

M. Saint Hilaire considers it very probable that the pyornis
has had an existence within the historic period, and that it has even
‘been referred to by two French travellers at different times, viz., by

M. Flucourt in 1758, and by another at a later period. These ac-
counts have heretofore been regarded as wholly fabulous. It is not,
however, improbable that the Eastern story of the.Roe, in the tale
of Sinbad the Sailor, may have had its origin in a knowledge of the
existence of the bird of Madagascar. It could not, as before ob-
served, have possessed any of the ferocious characters ascribed to this
fabled bird. A beautiful model of this gigantic egg was presented
to the Museum of Natural History in the University of Edinburgh,

_ by the Professors of the Garden of Plants in Paris.

15. Domestication of Fishes.—In a memoir recently presented
_ to the French Academy, M. Coste remarks, that having had his at-

188 Scientific Intelligence—Miscellaneous.

tention directed to the domestication of fishes, he selected the eel to
experiment upon, both because its manner of generating is almost
wholly unknown, and because its flesh is not only agreeable*to the
taste, but constitutes an article of food very favourable to health.
In proof of this latter statement, the anthor mentions the inhabi-
tants of a section of France, who live almost entirely upon eels, and
who are notoriously healthy. In describing the manner of genera-
tion of eels, the author says—‘‘ Every year, in the month of March
or April, there appear at the mouths of the rivers, just at nightfall,
myriads of transparent filiform animalcules from six to seven centi-
metres long, which raise themselves to the surface of the water in
compact masses, and ascend the streams. These animalcules are
nothing but newly hatched eels, leaving their birthplace to disperse
themselves throughout the canals, lakes, and brooks, which com-
municate with the rivers.’ The quantity of these animalcules is
sufficient to fill all the waters on the globe, and if transported to
basins prepared to receive them, they would furnish an inex- -
haustible supply of food.

‘“¢ Pre-occupied with this idea, the author caused a quantity of
those animalcules to be brought alive to the College of France, and
placed in large wooden vats. The young eels were then from six to
seven centimetres long, and one centimetre in circumference around
the largest part of the body. After remaining seven months
in the vat, they were twelve centimetres long, and two centimetres
and two millimetres in circumference; at the age of eighteen
months, twenty-two centimetres long, four centimetres and eight
millimetres in circumference; at the age of twenty-eight, thirty-
three centimetres long, and seven in circumference. Thus, though
placed in very small basins, the eels grew from eight to ten centi-
metres in length, and two and a half in circumference, every nine
months. ;

MISCELLANEOUS.

16. Freedom of the Arabs from Leprosy.—M. Guyon, in a
note to the Academy of Sciences, Paris, attributes the absence of
leprosy among the Arabs to their living under the direct action of
light and air in tents, while the Kalzles, who often suffer from this
disease, live in fixed dwellings, often more or less beneath the level
of the earth’s surface. —(L’ Institut, No. 968.)

17. Obituary.—The Academy of Sciences in Stockholm has lost
the oldest of its members in the person of M. Wilhelm Hisinger, the
mineralogist, who has died at the age of eighty-six.

Owing to new arrangements in the Kdinburgh Patent Office, we are obliged to
delay our List of Patents until our April number of Journal.

THE

EDINBURGH NEW

PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL.

Biographical Account of the late William Macgillivray,
A.M., LL.D., Regius Professor of Natural History in the
Marischal College and University of Aberdeen. Com-
municated by ALEXANDER THOMSON, Esq. of Banchory,
Aberdeen.

THIS distinguished naturalist and most worthy man, died
at Aberdeen on 5th September last, at the early age of 56.

He was a native of Old Aberdeen, and studied and took
the degree of A.M. in King’s College and University.
_ Like many of his countrymen, he had a hard struggle
through life with the res angusta domi; and itis to his friends,
a striking and a remarkable dispensation of Providence, that
he has died just at the time when he had all but overcome
the difficulties with which he had so long contended, and

_ when he had the prospect before him of more usefulness and

greater comfort than he ever had enjoyed before. He was

_ enabled by his steady perseverance as a youth, to procure

for himself a sound education; and the same perseverance
enabled him to build his future fame upon the foundation
thus acquired.

After passing through the usual undergraduate curricu-
lum, he resolved to study medicine as a profession, and at-
tended, with?this view, the usual medical classes in Aber-

deen, studying more especially under the late Dr Barclay,
with whom he served a regular apprenticeship. He after-

i

VOU. LIV. NO. CVILI.—APRIL 1853. Oo

190 | Biographical Account of the

wards attended various classes in Edinburgh, but never took
his degree of M.D. nor entered on the practice of his profes-
Sion; the time, however, thus spent was by no means lost,
for his anatomical and physiological studies proved of the
greatest value to him in after life.

From an early age, he shewed a decided taste for the study
of Natural History in almost all its branches, and his love
for it proved too enthusiastic to allow him to follow the me-
dical profession as a means of support; he availed himself of
the first opportunity which presented itself to obtain a situa-
tion where all his time and energy could be honestly given to
his favourite pursuits.

About the year 1823, he accordingly accepted the appoint-
ment of “ Assistant and Secretary to the Regius Professor
of Natural History, and Regius Keeper of the Museum of
the Edinburgh University,” which he held until 1831, when
he was named ‘ Conservator of the Museum of the Royal
College of Surgeons in Edinburgh,” and in this office he re-
mained for about ten years, when he succeeded the late Dr
Davidson as Professor of Natural History in the Marischal
College and University of Aberdeen.

Neither of the situations in Edinburgh was by any means
lucrative, and he was obliged to add to his scanty emolu-
ments by the occasional delivery of lectures, by furnishing
papers to scientific journals, and by translating and editing ;
but though not lucrative, these situations were highly con-
genial to his tastes; they furnished him with ample mate-
rials for study, and brought him into friendly relationship
with many of the naturalists, both of Scotland and England,
at an early period of his life.

_ He had singular qualifications as the Keeper of a Mu-

seum. Nothing could exceed his care and patience in prepar-
ing an object, except perhaps the delight with which he con-
templated the result. His taste in displaying, and his neat-
ness in arranging, were alike remarkable ; and both the valu-
able Museums sv long under his care were much indebted to _
his assiduous labours.

In 1841, he was appointed by the Crown to the Professor-
ship of Natural History in Marischal College, solely on ac-

late Professor Maegillivray. 191

count of his acknowledged merit, for he had no interest what-
ever; and the zeal, ability, and success, with which he dis-
charged his duties, amply justified the nomination.

To do justice to his memory, he must be regarded as an
author, an observer, and a teacher.

His printed works are very numerous, embracing many
extensive branches of Natural History. It has been remarked
that had he devoted himself more exclusively to some one
branch, he would have raised himself to a higher position
‘in the scientific world than that which he attained. Probably
the remark is true; but had he done so, it is certain he
would have been a less useful member of society. His spe-
cial duty as a Professor was to convey as much solid infor-
mation to others as he could, and that duty he very amply
discharged, for few modern authors have done more by their
writings to extend the knowledge of natural science.

The following list is as correct as can now be furnished
of his’publications ; it is impossible to trace and identify all
his anonymous contributions to the periodicals of the day :—

I. Separate Publications.

1. The Travels and Researches of Alexander Von Humboldt.
One vol., 12mo, 1832. Second Edition, revised, 1834,
Third Edition, revised, 1836.

2. Lives of Eminent Zoologists, from Aristotle to Linnzus, with
Introductory Remarks on the Study of Natural History, and
Occasicnal Observations on the Progress of Zoology. One
vol., 12mo. 1834. ;

3. Description of the Rapacious Birds of Great Britain. One
vol., 12mo. 1836.

4, A History of British Birds, Indigenous and Migratory, includ-
ing their Organisation, Habits, and Relations ; Remarks on
Classification and Nomenclature ; an Account of the Prin-
cipal Organs of Birds, and Observations relative to Practical
Ornithology. Illustrated by Numerous Engravings, De-
dicated, by permission, to the Queen. Five vols., 8vo.
1837-1852.

5. A History of British Quadrupeds, Illustrated by 34 Plates.

. One vol., 12mo. 1838.

_ 6. A Manual of Geology. Qne vol., 12mo, 1840. Second Edi-
tion, 1841, 7
02

192 Biographical Account of the

7. A Manual of Botany, comprising Vegetable Anatomy and Phy-
siology, or the Structure and F unctions of Plants, One vol.,
12mo. 1841.

8. A Manual of British Ornithology ; being a short ‘Leieription
of the Birds of Great Britain and Tréland, including the
essential characters of the Species, Genera, Familie and
Orders. Two vols., 12mo, Part I., 1840. Part IL, 1841.
Second Edition, with Appendix of recently observed species.
1846.

9. A History of the Molluscous Animals of the Counties of Aber-
deen, Kincardine, and Banff, to which is appended an Ac-
count of the Cirripedal Animals of the same district, One vol.
1843, Second Edition, 1844.

10. Elements of Botany and Vegetable Physiology, including the
Characters of the Natural Families of Plants, with Illus-
trative Figures. By A. Richard, M.D. Translated from
the Fourth Edition, 1831.

11, The Flowering Plants and Ferns of Great Britain and Ireland,

- arranged according to the Linnean system, With Instruc-
tions to Beginners, Illustrated with Figures, a Glossary, and
Outline of a Natural Classification, compiled for Popular Use.
One vol., 8vo. Kighth Edition, 1852.

12. An pacebdackivn to Physiology and Systematical Botany. By
Sir James Edward Smith, M.D., F.R.S., &. A New Edi-
tion, with Additions. One vol., 12mo, 1836. —

13. Catalogue of the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of
Edinburgh. Part I., comprehending the Preparations illus-
trative of Pathology, compiled and edited. One vol., -post
8vo. 1836.

14, Demestic Cattle. Portraits of the Principal Breeds reared in
Great Britain and Ireland, with Characteristic Descriptions
of their Peculiarities and Comparative Merits. The Draw-
ings by Mr J. Cassie junior. Eight parts. Published
1845.

Il. Printed in the Transactions of the Wernerian Natural
History Society. é

1. Notice relative to Two Varieties of Nuphar lutea, found in a lake
in Aberdeenshire.

2, Remarks on the Specific Characters of Birds.

3. Descriptions, Characters, and Synonymes of the different Species
of the genus Larus, with Critical and Explanatory Remarks, —

4. Description of a supposed New Species of Ornithorhyncus, .

5. Deseription of a Species of Arvicola, common in Aberdeenshire. |

6, Remarks on the Phenogamic Vegetation of the River Deo: in
Aberdeenshire. Nie .

late Professor Macgillivray. 193

Ill. Printed in the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal.

. List of Birds found in Harris, part of the outer range of the

Hebrides.

. Remarks on the Flora Scotica of Dr Hooker.
. Notice regarding the Island of Grimsey, off the north coast of

Icelarid, and the Isles of St Kilda, on the north-west coast of
Scotland,

. Account of Harris, one of the districts of the Outer Hebrides.
. Description of Pecten Niveus, a New Species of Shell.
. On the Covering of Birds, considered chiefly with reference to

the Description and Distinction of Species, Genera, and
Orders.

. Description of a Species of Salix found in Braemar.
. Description of a Species of Aira, found on Lochnagar, in Aber-

deenshire.

. Remarks on the Serrature of the Middle Claw, and the Irre-

gular Denticulation of the Beak, in certain Birds.

. On the Mammalia of the Counties of Aberdeen, Banff, and

Kincardine.

. On a Species of Teredo found in Cork Floats on the Coast of

Aberdeenshire.

. Remarks on the Cirripedia, with Descriptions of several Species

found adhering to Vessels from Ichaboe, on the West Coast
of Africa.

[Occurrence of the Sea Horse, Walrus or Morse, (Trichecus
rosmarus, Lin.) in the Hebrides.

[Description of Annatina villosiuscula, a new species, and of
Venerupis Nucleus, a species new to the British Fauna. |

IV. Printed in the Edinburgh Quarterly Journal of
_ Agriculture.

. On Natural Pastures.
. On the Uses to which certain Indigenous Plants have from time

immemorial been employed in the Outer Hebrides.

. On the Indigenous Trees of North Britain.
2. Remarks on the Sands of the Outer Hebrides.
. On Geology viewed in relation to Agriculture. Sect, I.—In-

equalities of the Earth’s Surface, and the Causes which are
continually effecting Modifications upon it. Sect. 11—On
the Nature and Relations of the Materials of which the
Exterior of the Globe is composed. Sect. I1J.—General
View of the Vegetation of the Globe, and of the Causes
which Influence its Development.

24. Van Diemen’s Land.
25. New Holland.

194 Biographical Account of the

26. The Cape of Good Hope.
27. The Habits of the White-Tailed Sea Eagle.

V. Printed in the Prize Essays and Transactions of the
Highland Society of Scotland.

28. Notice respecting Arundo arenaria and Drift Sand,

29. Essay on the Nature and Quality of Soils and Subsoils, as
indicated by Plants.

30. Report on the Present State of the Outer Hebrides.

VI. Printed in the Edinburgh Journal of Medical and

Natural Science.

31. Account of the Series of Islands usually denominated The
Outer Hebrides. I.—Introductory Sketch. I1.—Geological
Constitution. IIJ.—Climate. IV.—Soil, V.—Vegetation.
ViI.—Mammifera, VII.—Birds.

32. On the Granite of the Upper Districts of Aberdeenshire.

VII. Additions made by Dr Macgillivray to Various Works.

1. Drawings for Sixteen 4to Plates, Illustrative of ‘‘ The Internal
Structure of Fossil Vegetables found in the Carboniferous
and Oolitic Deposits of Great Britain.”’ By Mr Witham
of Lartington. |

2. Audubon’s Ornithological Biography, 5 vols. royal 8vo. For
this work, Dr Macgillivray wrote the Descriptions of all the
Species, and of the Alimentary and Respiratory Organs of |
several hundred Specimens, besides Correcting and Im-
proving the parts referring to the Distribution of the Spe-
cies.

3, A Synopsis of the Birds of North America. By John Y. Au-
dubon, F.R.SS. L. & E., &c. The whole of this volume, q
excepting the Notices relative to the Distribution of the
Species, was written by Dr Macgillivray.

4, Sketch of the Natatorial Order, for Mr Wilson’s Treatise on
the Natural History of Birds in the Seventh Edition of the
Encyclopedia Britannica. |

Besides the above, Dr Macgillivray translated three works —
on Anatomy and Geology, edited a volume of Travels,
translated about a thousand pages of Natural History from
French and Latin, and wrote many Papers for the Edinburgh
Literary Gazette and the Edinburgh Journal of Natural His-
tory.

late Professor Macgillivray. 195

Dr Macgillivray has left ready for Publication two Works.

1. «A History of the Vertebrated Animals inhabiting the Counties
of Forfar, Kincardine, Aberdeen, Banff, Elgin, and Nairn,
with the adjoining parts of those of Inverness and Perth.”
This, though complete in itself, was intended to form part
of a work in which Dr Macgillivray had made considerable
progress, but which would have taken many years to finish.
It was to have given the complete Natural History of these
six Counties, comprising their Geology, Mineralogy, Botany,
and Zoology in all its branches,—a gigantic undertaking,—
but one whose completion would have been of great national
importance. No such account of any district of Britain has
yet appeared as was contemplated in this work.

2. The Natural History of Balmoral, from Notes made during an
Excursion to Braemar in the Autumn of 1850.

It is to be hoped that both these works will be given to
the public. T’he former is complete in itself so far as it goes,
though only comprising a small portion of the intended pub-
lication. The latter was left ready for the press, and the
district which it describes is not only interesting from its
alpine character, but doubly so from being the chosen sum-
mer residence of our Sovereign and her consort.

It is impossible to read over this list without admiration
of the diligence of the author. Had he been a mere closet
student, an arranger and describer of other men’s labours,
his work would have been great, and beyond the powers
of most to accomplish; but the charm and value of his
books consist in their being so largely the results of his own

~ observations.

His style is singularly clear and distinct; conveying his
ideas in an unmistakeable form, there can never be any
doubt of what he intends to say—a valuable quality in any
writer, but of special importance in books of natural history.
Occasionally his delight in the subject before him leads him
Somewhat beyond the strict limits of scientific technicality,
_ but never beyond those of perfect accuracy.

His descriptions may by some have been criticised as too
particular, but this is not a fault which careful students of
natural history will be much disposed to find; to be truly

196 Biographical Account of the

useful in the identification of species, a description can
scarcely be too minute. |

‘His largest and most important: work, and that on which
a fame must mainly rest, is his History of British Birds,
which was in progress during a great part of his life. The
first volume issued from the press in 1837 ; the fifth and last
’ was published the very week of his death.

As a scientific ornithologist, he first introduced the method
of determining species by anatomical structure, which, al-
though not yet universally adopted, is undeniably the most
correct and certain which has been proposed ; and the com-
parative neglect of it is probably to be attributed to the fact
that many intelligent observers and describers of birds are
not sufficiently expert anatomists to be able to avail them-
selves of it. Tey

His views will be best given in his own words :—

‘** After much consideration, however, and after examining
the digestive organs in a great number of birds belonging to
nearly all the families, I have resolved to adopt the intestinal
canal as a central point of reference. Instead, then, of de-
scribing merely the bill, I attend to the mandibles, the mouth,
the tongue, the throat, the «esophagus, the crop, the proven-
triculus, the stomach, the intestines, and the coecal appen-
dages ; the modifications of which seem to be to throw more
light upon the affinities of the larger groups than those of any
other organ.” —(Introduction to History of British Birds,
p. 6.)

‘Some ingenious writers have attempted to shew Fie a
knowledge of tle internal structure of animals is not essen-
tial to the zoologist, who, it is said, may get on remarkably
well, and form the most natural arrangements, by attending
merely to the exterior. The views of such persons are not
likely to find much favour in the eyes of those who have
studied animals as organised beings, and who do not remain
satisfied with inspecting the surface. Zootomy regards the

entire structure of animals, which must be examined in all |

their parts before the zoologist can arrange them according —
to their affinities. The study of their interior must in fact —
form the basis of all arrangement; and although PANY:

late Professor Macgillivray. 197

natural groups may be formed by attending exclusively to
the exterior of animals, it is only because their internal
organisation is presumed to be similar. The external parts
afford an index to the internal ; and if we find a bird having
a short hooked bill and curved claws, we shall not be wrong
in inferring that it has a wide esophagus and a large mem-
branous stomach. The great divisions of zoology can be
laid out only by a zootomist; but the details of the system
may occasionally, perhaps frequently, but never with abso-
lute certainty, be elaborated by him who regards only the
exterior. No rational system of ornithology has ever ap-
peared for these two reasons :—Because no system-maker
has been equally acquainted with the internal structure, the
external parts, and the habits and actions of birds; and,
more especially, because birds have not yet been subjected
to a sufficiently minute examination. I have been induced to
offer these remarks because I regret that the science has been
degraded by having been left entirely in the hands of those
who appear to despise, because they have no knowledge of
the internal structure of birds ; and I have considered it my
duty to impress upon the student the necessity of dissecting
with all diligence. Were it possible to cast away all.the
knowledge already acquired, and commence anew upon the
plan of considering birds as admirable specimens of divine
workmanship, to be examined in all their details, we should,
I believe, be great gainers in real Pray cin Seti
tion, pp. 85, 86.) And again—

“To acquire a satisfactory knowledge of any bird, one
must, in the first place, obtain a general idea of its external
appearance, so as not only to be able to distinguish it at
sight, but also to know in what respects it resembles others,
or differs from them. Then he ought to examine its inte-
rior, and more especially its digestive organs, which indtcate
the nature of its food, the latter necessarily determining its
haunts. He now seeks it there, and observes its mode of
walking and flying, its favourite places of resort, and its vari-
ous actions, listens to its notes, follows it to its nest, which
he inspects, and takes note of its migrations or local shift-
ings. The food can be detected with accuracy only by open-

198 Biographical Account of the

ing the crop and gizzard; and the changes in the colour of
the plumage can be ascertained only by procuring indivi-
duals at different seasons. In attending to these and other
particulars, one necessarily acquires much enthusiasm, and
consumes much time.’”’—(/ntroduction, pp. 90, 91.)

Throughout the work he gives excellent figures of the di-
gestive organs of the orders described, as also of their os-
seous structure, and occasional very accurate and expressive
drawings of their heads and wings. It is matter of regret
that the expense of engravings prevented the work being
more copiously illustrated by these figures, for they are sin-
gularly correct.

He delighted not only in examining the structure of Birds
both internal and external, but also in watching their habits,
as is shewn in many passages in which they are most graphi-
cally described.

The habits of Ptarmigan are thus set before his readers :—
‘“‘ Near the summit of a projecting mass of rock, in this re-
gion, I sat down among the crumbling blocks of granite to
compare Aira flexuosa, which grew in tufts, with its charac-
ters in Smith’s Compendium ; and when I rose, a large covey
of Ptarmigans sprung from among the stones about a hun-
dred and fifty yards beneath me.

“These beautiful birds while feeding, run and walk among
the weather-beaten and lichen-crusted fragments of rock,
from which it is very difficult to distinguish them when they
remain motionless, as they invariably do should a person be
in sight. Indeed, unless you are directed to a particular
spot by their strange, low, croaking cry, which has been com-
pared to the harsh scream of the Missel-thrush, but which
seems to me much more like the cry of a frog ; you may pass
through a flock of Ptarmigans without observing a single in-
dividual, although some of them may not be ten yards dis- —
tant. When squatted, however, they utter no sound, their
object being to conceal themselves ; and if you discover the
one from which the cry has proceeded, you generally find
him on the top of a stone, ready to spring off the moment —
you shew an indication of hostility. If you throw a stone at
him, he rises, utters his call, and is immediately joined by all

late Professor Macgillivray. 199

the individuals around, which, to your surprise, if it be your
first rencontre, you see spring up one by one from the bare
ground. They generally fly off in a loose body, with a direct
and moderately rapid flight, resembling, but lighter than,
that of the brown Ptarmigan, and settle on a distant part of
the mountain, or betake themselves to one of the neighbour-
ing summits, perhaps more than a mile distant.”—(Vol. i, p.
199.) | : |

Again, let us visit a rookery with him at night: “ Not hay-
ing visited a rookery at night, I was desirous of knowing
how the birds would conduct themselves when disturbed by
an intruder after they had retired to rest, and accordingly
went this evening, the 14th April, to that at Prestonfield, in
my neighbourhood. When about four hundred yards from
it 1 stopped to listen, and was surprised to hear several rooks
uttering a variety of soft, clear, modulated notes, very unlike
their usual cry. In the intervals I could distinguish the
faint shrill voice of the newly-~hatched young, which their
mothers, I felt persuaded, were fondling and coaxing in this
manner. Indeed the sounds were plainly expressive of affec-
tion and a desireto please. Presentlyall became still, and I ad-
vanced until I could perceive the male birds perched on the
twigs in great numbers. They had no doubt observed me, and a
few seemed ready to fly off, but it was not until a loud croak
from a distance, several times repeated, gave warning to the
whole community, that they did so. As I proceeded, all the
males removed, and ultimately, I believe, the females also ;
but with much less clamour than they would have used had
it been day, most of them remaining mute, several uttering
a kind of low grunt, expressive of dissatisfaction, others a
sort of panting noise, indicative of fear, and only a few croak-
ing aloud in anger. I believe the whole colony was on wing,
-and wheeling over the trees, the young remaining perfectly
mute. As I moved along, I heard those whose nests were
behind settling in succession on the twigs, and before I had
retired to the distance of four hundred yards they all seemed
to have returned. Their flight on this occasion was singu-
_ larly wavering, undulatory, and undecided, and the strong
flappings of their wings were distinctly heard, it being a calm

200 Biographical Account of the

evening. After they had all regained their tranquillity, a
few croaks only being heard now and then, I broke a stick to
see what effect the noise might have, when a few that were
on some trees nearer than the rookery flew off in silence. <A
repetition of the noise produced the same effect, but the
sound did not disturb the main body. I then clapped my
hands, when presently all was mute, and so long as this
sound was repeated, no cry was emitted. They seemed to
watch in silence my further proceedings; and, on my ceas-
ing, the rookery resumed its natural state: a young bird
now and then uttered its faint ery, on which an old one
emitted its curious modulated notes, and a gruff old fellow
or two croaked aloud at intervals. The great variety of
notes emitted by the rooks under these circumstances greatly
surprised me; for although I had been aware that their cry
is not always merely a craa, I did not imagine that their voice
was capable of presenting so many modifications.—(Vol. 1. p.
548.)

Or let us take one of his latest descriptions, that of the
Great Black-backed Gull :—* The Great Black-backed Gull
is among the most beautiful of a tribe remarkable for beauty.
The contrast between the dark purple tint of his back and
wings, and the snowy white of the rest of his plumage, with
the bright carmine-patched yellow of his powerful bill, and
the delicate pinkish hue of his feet, render him an object at
all times agreeable to the sight. No sprinkling of dust, no
spot of mud, ever soil his downy clothing ; his bill exhibits
no tinge derived from the subject of his last meal, bloody or
half-putrid though it be; and his feet, laved by the clear
brine, are ever beautifully pure. There he stands on the
sandy point, the guardian, as it were, of that flock of not less
cleanly, and scarcely less lovely, Herring Gulls andSea Mews.
But not giving us more credit for our good intentions than
we deserve, he spreads out his large wings, stretches forth
his strong neck, runs a few paces, and uttering a loud scream-
ing ery, springs into the air. Some gentle flaps of those
Vigorous wings carry him to a safe distance, when he alights
on the smooth water, and is presently joined by his clamor-

ous companions. Buoyantly they float, each with his head —

#
ry

|
;

late Professor Macgillivray. 201

to the wind, like a fleet of merchantmen at anchor, secured
from the attacks of pirates by the presence of their gallant
convoy. If in mere wantonness you discharge your artillery,
sending a bullet skipping among the flock, they hurriedly
rise on the wing, fill the air with their cries, and wheel
around at a safe distance, while the Black-backed Gull, dis-
daining to mingle with the clamorous crowd, after a few
wide circlings flies off seaward, and is soon out of sight.”
*** * * “Vigilant and suspicious, it is not easily ap-
proached at any season, it being of all our gulls that which
forms the most correct estimate of the destructive powers
and propensities of man. Chief of its tribe and tyrant of the
seas, it evinces a haughty superiority which none of our

aquatic species seem inclined to dispute. Little disposed to
associate with its inferiors, it passes its leisure hours or
periods of repose, on unfrequented parts of the sand, or
on shoals or islets, often on the bosom of the sea, just be-
hind the breakers, where it floats lightly on the waves, pre-
senting a beautiful appearance as it rises and falls on the
ever-varying surface. In winter it is scarcely gregarious,
more than a few individuals being seldom seen together ; but
when there are shoals of fish in the bays or creeks, it
mingles with the other gulls, from which it is always easily
distinguished by its superior size and very loud clear cry,
which may be heard in calm weather at the distance of a
mile. Frequently, when flying, it emits also a loud rather
hoarse cackle, having affinity in sound, although not analo-
gous in nature, toa human laugh. All the larger.gulls are
in one sense laughter-loving birds; but if we take note of
the occasions when their cachinnations are edited, we discover
that so far from being the expressions of unusual mirth, they
are employed to express anxiety, alarm, anger, and revenge.
Its flight is strong, ordinarily sedate, less wavering and
buoyant than that of smaller species, but graceful, effective,
and even majestic. There, running a few steps, and flap-
ping its long wings, it springs into the air, wheels to either
side, ascends, and on outspread and beautifully-curved pin-
ions, hies away to some distant place. In advancing against
a strong breeze, it sometimes proceeds straight forward,

202 Biographical Account of the

then shoots away in an oblique direction, now descends in a
long curve so as almost to touch the water, then mounts on
high. When it wheels about, and sweeps down the wind,
its progress is extremely rapid. It walks with ease, using
short steps, runs with considerable speed, and, like the other
gulls, pats the sand or mud on the edge of the water with its
‘feet. It generally rests standing on one foot, with its head
drawn in; but in a dry place it often reposes by laying it-
self down.” —(Vol. v., p. 530.)

These and many other passages bring most vividly before
the mind of even the unscientific reader, the habits of the
bird described. Many of them are indeed models of correct
and tasteful description.

This work contains a full account of every species of bird
known at the time to inhabit or visit any part of Great Bri-
tain or Ireland. Doubtless the discovery of new species
must occasionally reward the researches of future ornitholo-
gists, but at this moment the work contains the only full and
detailed technical description hitherto given in this country.
The habits of the species are treated with equal extension
in every case where he had been enabled to study them ad-
vantageously ; and the internal structure, especially of the
alimentary organs, carefully described wherever it seemed
expedient to do so. In short, this work must long continue
to be the great Ornithological Thesaurus of the British Isles.

His work on the Mollusca of Aberdeenshire gave an im-
pulse to the study of Conchology on the eastern coast of
Scotland. It is the first zoological book which has issued
from his college, and it has already reached the second edi-
tion ; but his edition of ‘* Withering’s British Plants” proved
to be the most popular of his works, having now reached

the eighth edition. He bestowed much pains in correcting |

and improving it; and on receiving a complete copy of the last
edition a few weeks before his death, he remarked ‘ This
book is now as perfect as I can make it.” It is distinguish-
ed by the same minute accuracy and distinctness which
characterises his other works.

A pleasing characteristic in all his writings, is the care
with which he awards to other writers and discoverers, what-

j

late Professor Macgillivray. 203

ever they have discovered or described; he had 80 little de-
sire to acquire renown which did not belong to him, that he
often failed to do justice to himself and his own labours.

As an observer, he was patient and persevering ; and no
one but an enthusiastic lover of nature could have undergone
the pains and privations he endured in following out his fa-
vourite researches. Whatever might be his special pursuit
at the time, his eye and ear were ever ready to seize what-
ever natural object presented itself, and hence the great ac-
cumulation which he eventually made of observations of his
own in Zoology, Botany, and Geology. Whatever he discover-
ed was at once freely communicated to others ; he had noidea -
of hoarding up either facts or specimens for his own peculiar
use. His taste was refined, and he had an intense delight
in contemplating natural beauty, whether it were a bird, a
plant, a shell, an insect, or an extensive landscape, none of
its beauties escaped his notice.

As a lecturer, he was distinct and methodical. He labour-
ed to lay securely the first foundations of each study in the
minds of his pupils, well knowing that unless this were duly
accomplished, their future acquirements would be of little
real value.

He was thoroughly impressed with the importance of the
branches which he taught, and honestly valued them far
above either classical learning or mathematical science, and
it was well for his pupils and himself that he did so, for
though other parties may justly estimate the comparative
value of different branches of human knowledge, and place
his studies below the rank which he contended they ought to
possess, it is sure, aS a general principle, that neither
teacher nor professor can ever be of much use who is not tho-
_ roughly persuaded of the paramount importance of his own
branch of study; unless he be so, he can never stimulate
either himself or his students to work as they ought.

_ As Professor in Marischal College, he suffered under one
disadvantage, which he greatly felt, viz., the almost total
want of a Museum, to teach even the elements of his subjects.
This defect he was obliged himself to supply, and to expend
largely from his own resources in the purchase and collection

204 Biographical Account of the

of specimens for the use of his students. It is to be hoped
that means may be devised to remedy this evil, and that
Marischal College, which has already done so much to rais¥
the standard of education in the north, will make a vigorous
exertion to procure a suitable Museum, so that, in future, the
Professor of Natural History shall not be obliged to spend most
of his income, for the first few years of his holding the office,
in procuring the most common and necessary objects. On
the present occasion, in particular, it is to be hoped that Dr
Macgillivray’s collections will not be allowed to be dispersed,
but purchased for the use of the class.

He was a careful lecturer, explaining every part. of his
subject as minutely as his time would permit. To his stu-
dents he was ever kind and courteous, and he delighted in en-
couraging all who shewed any taste for their studies,—all
his information was ever at their service, as indeed it was to
any one who took an interest in Natural History.

He kept good order and discipline among his pupils,
with little trouble either to them or himself, for they gene-
rally loved him; and if he at times found occasion to re-
prove sharply, it was done as a painful duty which he owed
to those who were deliberately wasting precious time, and
neglecting to improve the talents which he saw that they
possessed.

He was mild and gentle in his manners, and of a retiring
and unobtrusive disposition, never thinking highly of him-
self or his acquirements, but rather disposed to give place
to others. Engrossed by his own pursuits and duties, he
took little interest in the public affairs of the world, or
in the momentous changes both in state and church which
occurred in his day.

By his colleagues in the University he was highly esteem-

ed. In an address of condolence to his family, adopted at.

the first meeting of the Senatus after his death, they thus
express their feelings regarding him :—‘ The Senatus, tak-
ing into consideration the high and acknowledged eminence
of their late colleague, Dr Macgillivray, in natural science,
his zealous and laborious efforts to promote the interests
thereof, both ag a teacher and as an author, and his amiable

A’,

1
aes Se Se Le eee ee eee eee ee

late Professor Macgillwray. 205

and estimable personal character, unanimously resolve to
record the expression of the deep sense of the loss which
this University has sustained by his death, and of their sincere
sympathy with his bereaved family; and they appoint an ex-
tract of this minute to be sent to the family.” |

He was a sincere and simple-hearted believer in the truths
of the Gospel, and they were his comfort and stronghold
during the long months of his gradual decay. As death ap-
proached, his faith became stronger and firmer ; and it was
highly characteristic of his conscientious discharge of duty
that he continued to work almost to the last day of his life,
though perfectly aware that death was surely and rapidly
approaching. The last passages of the British Birds were
written under this impression, and cannot now be read by
his friends without emotion. See preface to vol. v., and con-
clusion of vol. v. | |

To all modern infidel or atheistic theories, so abundant in |
most branches of natural science imported from the Conti-
nent, and reproduced under forms somewhat modified in this
country, and which in fact strike at the root of all religious
belief, whether under the name of Vestiges, or of Palingene-
sis, or Development, he was entirely opposed. They were
alike repugnant to him as a philosopher, and distasteful and
offensive to him as a Christian. Nor did he lose any fitting -
opportunity of exposing their absurdities.

His health began to fail about a year and a half before his
death, and he never appeared to recover from the fatigue and
exposure of a month spent in 1850, in exploring the central
region of the Grampians, the district around Lochnagar. In
November 1851, he was obliged to repair to the south of
England, in the expectation of benefiting by the milder air
of Devonshire, and at first there was some ground to hope,
“but after his arrival at Torquay, he was suddenly deprived
of his wife, to whom he was tenderly attached; and from
this blow, though he received it as a man and a Christian, he
appears never to have rallied ; he gradually became weaker, ;
and though he never ceased to work, it was most distressing
to his family to see his exertions, the mind and will reso-
- VOL. LIV. NO. CVII.—APRIL 1853, P

206 = Influence of Terrestrial Magnetism on Iron.

lutely striving against the weakness of the body. He was
confined to bed for a few days at last; spoke much and affec-
tionately to his children when pain did not prevent him ;
looked forward with calmness and hope to his last struggle ;
expressed in the clearest terms his simple trust in his Savi-
our alone, and at last gently fell asleep to be for ever with the
Lord, whose works he had so ardently admired on earth, and
in whose atoning blood he trusted for acceptance with his
God.

He married early in life and has left a numerous family,
for whom we regret to learn he has not been able to make
any provision. His eldest son has already distinguished
himself as a naturalist. He was employed in that capacity
by the late Earl Derby, on board the expedition sent by him
round the world; and after his return he wrote the account
of the voyage of the “ Rattlesnake”? in a manner which has
justly earned him a high reputation, both as an observer and
a describer. He is now absent as Government Naturalist on
board the “ Herald,” which lately sailed to carry out and
complete the exploration of the Eastern Archipelago and
Southern Pacific, and we trust in due time, by means of this
expedition, to have a large accession to our knowledge from —
the pen of Mr John Macgillivray.

Influence of Terrestrial Magnetism on Iron, and the effect
that results from it upon the direction of the Compasses in
Vessels.

The terrestrial globe may, like a magnet, exercise at a
distance its magnetising powers. If we hold vertically, or,
which is still better, in the direction of the dipping needle, a
bar of soft iron about a yard in length, we find that it ac-
quires two poles, a north pole at its lower, and a south pole —
at its upper extremity. The existence of these two poles is —
manifested by the attractive and repulsive action exercised
by the two extremities of the bar upon the same pole of @ —

Influence of Terrestrial Magnetism on Iron. 207

magnetised needle, delicately suspended and brought near to
them. The terrestrial globe, therefore, acts as a great mag-
net would act whose axis, passing through the centre of the
earth, should be situated in the magnetic meridian, and which

‘should have, at the north, a pole contrary to the pole of the

needle that is directed to the north; and at the south an-
other pole, in like manner contrary to the pole of the needle
that is directed to the south. This hypothesis upon the
cause of terrestrial magnetism would also explain the direc-
tion of the magnetised needle; which would also be the
result of the attractions exercised by the magnetic poles
of the globe upon the contrary poles of the magnetised
needle. It would be sufficient, therefore, in order to know
the position of the magnetic pole of the earth, situated at the
north, to determine carefully the direction of the dipping
needle in several different places; and the intersection of
these lines would be the point where the pole in question |
would be found. It would be necessary to go through the
Same process on the other side of the magnetic equator, in
order to determine the position of the terrestrial magnetic
pole situated on the south. But it is found that the direc-
tions of the dipping needle, when produced, whether in the
boreal or austral hemisphere, do not all intersect exactly
in the same -point ; which would seem to prove that there is
not, therefore, in each hemisphere, a single pole or a single
centre of magnetic action. We shall return, in detail, to this
interesting subject of terrestrial physics, when we shall be
treating upon the numerous observations that have been _col-

lected upon the different phenomena of terrestrial magnetism,

and upon the hypotheses that have been made of its origin

and its nature.

It may not be useless to mention here a denomination still
employed in French works, and which owes its origin to the
terrestrial theory of the magnet. Setting out from the hypo-

thesis that the earth possesses two magnetic poles, and from
the principle established by experiment, that poles of the con-

trary name attract each other, they have called that pole of the

-magnetised needle that is directed towards the north, the aus-

P2

208 Injluence of Terrestrial Magnetism on Iron.

tral pole ; because, say they, it is attracted by the magnetic
pole of the earth situated at the north, and whichis naturally
the boreal pole; for the same reason they have given the
name of boreal pole to that end of the needle that is directed
towards the south ; because, say they, it is attracted by the
austral pole of the globe. With regard to ourselves, as: we
prefer a denomination founded upon fact to that which rests
upon theory more or less contestable, we shall continue to
eall the north pole of the needle that which is directed to-
wards the north, and the south pole that which is directed
towards the south. !

The magnetisation produced by terrestrial magnetism is
facilitated by all actions, whether mechanical or physical,
which derange the molecules of iron from their natural posi-
tion of equilibrium. Thus percussion, torsion, every kind of
vibration, impressed upon a bar of iron determines in it the
presence of the two magnetic poles ; simple? oxidation in the
air produces the same effect. To prove that this magnetisation
is entirely due to the influence of terrestrial magnetism, and
not to these actions themselves, we have merely to examine
the position of the poles in the bars submitted to experiment,
and we find that this position is always that which would re-
sult from the immediate action of the globe; thus, the north
pole is always the one found at the extremity of the bar that
is inclined below the horizon, or at that which is turned to-
wards the side of the north, if the bar is horizontal. We
may even, if the bar is of very soft iron, immediately change —
the poles by suddenly turning it so that the extremity which
was directed towards the north shall be to the south, and
that which was directed towards the south shall be to the —
north. Furthermore, it is easy to prove that, whatever be
the action by which the body is constrained, the magnetism
that it acquires is the more intense as its position approaches
more the direction of the dipping needle ; and that it becomes —
altogether null if the bar is placed in a position perfectly
perpendicular to this direction. We have thus the evident
proof that the effect does not arise in an immediate manner
from the action to which the bar is subjected, but simply —

Influence of Terrestrial Magnetism on Iron. 209

from terrestrial magnetism, the influence of which is favoured
by this action. .

To the influence of this magnetism must be attributed the
magnetisation possessed by all magnetic bodies left for any
length of time in the same place ; thus, the rods of lightning
conductors, the points of steeples,* bars, or other iron ob-
jects, placed in buildings, always present traces of magnet-
ism; it is the same with iron or steel tools, such as those of
a locksmith ; or punches, or cutting instruments that are
liable to undergo vibratory movements by the use to which
they are applied. We can even obtain powerful magnets,
from the magnetism produced by means of the terrestrial
globe, by taking a certain number of iron wires, twelve or
fifteen inches in length, and twisting them strongly while
held in a vertical position, or which is better still, in the di-
rection of the dipping needle. This operation, which renders
them stiffer, facilitates, at the same time, the development
within them of a very powerful magnetism ; and, when once
they have been magnetised, they are united to form a bundle,
care being taken that their similar poles are all at the same
extremity of the bundle.

The magnetising action exercised by terrestrial magnet-
ism upon iron may determine upon the needles of compasses
very serious deviations, when they are placed upon vessels
in motion. In fact, these structures which always contain
in their fabric a very considerable quantity of bars and plates
and rods of iron, are found, from this circumstance, to con-
tain magnets; the poles of which must change with the po-
sition of the vessel, in respect to the magnetic meridian.
There is produced, therefore, upon the magnetic needle, a va-
viable action, the effect of which it is impossible to determine

beforehand ; whilst, if the vessel always remained at the
same place, it would be an easy matter to appreciate the in-
fluence of this cause of deviation, and to take account of it.

_* It is probable that, in respect to elevated iron points, such, in particular,

as those of lightning conductors, atmospheric electricity, or more especially
_ that from lightning, contributes its part to their magnetisation as much, and
more so, than terrestrial magnetism.

210 Influence of Terrestrial Magnetism on Iron.

Navigators also are exposed to making great errors, which
might be attended with serious consequences. Suppose, for
example, that the axis of the vessel, that is to say, the line
going from stem to stern, was at first perpendicular to the
plane of the magnetic meridian, and directed to the west ;
that, in this position, the deviation of the needle was 20° to the
west of the direction that it ought to have ; a change in the
course of the vessel causes the axis to turn 180°, namely, from
west to east; by the effect of this change of direction, the de-
viation has also passed from west to east, and is conse-
quently 20° to the east. It is evident that the observer, who
should not be acquainted with the action of the iron contain-
ed in the vessel, to which these two deviations of 20°, first to
the west and then to the east, are due, would helieve that
the needle has remained parallel to itself, and would judge
that the rotation of the vessel had only been 180°—20°+2,
or 180°— 40°, namely, 140°, whilst it had really been 180°.
He would have been deceived, therefore, to the amount of
40° on the second direction of the vessel, supposing that he
had carefully determined the first direction by the ordinary
processes,

Mr Barlow proposed various means of avoiding the dan-
gerous errors to navigation that we have just pointed out.
One of these means consisted in placing in the neighbour-
hood of the compass a plate of soft iron, which becomes mag-
netised like the other masses of iron in the vessel, by the in-
fiuence of the globes. This plate is put into such a position —
in front of the compass, that its action upon the needle shall
be exactly equal to the total action of all the iron distribut-
ed throughout the vessel; so that, by removing the plate,
one half of the local deviation is removed, whence the amount
of local deviation due to the ship’s iron is readily obtained.

The position that should be given to this plate has been

previously determined by trials.

Another means has also been employed by Mr Barlow,
from numerous experiments made by placing the vessel in
every azimuthal position, and comparing, by means of two
telescopes, the direction of its compass in every position with
that of a magnetised needle remaining on the shore. He suc-

Influence of Terrestrial Magnetism on Iron. 211

ceeded in determining empirically the correction that should
be made in the observed deviation, in order to obtain the
true magnetic declination of the place where the observa-
tion was made. But this process, like the former, requires
a series of distinct operations for each vessel in particular,
those made for one not being able to be used for another.
It is, moreover, not without some practical difficulties.

M. Poisson, impressed with the importance to navigation
of the question upon which we have just been treating, and
convinced that it had been only imperfectly resolved by the
empirical means that we have pointed out, endeavoured to
submit it to analysis, and so to arrive at a general formula
of correction. He proposed to determine directly the true in-
elination and declination in any given place on the globe, from
observations of the compass made on board a vessel, and
under the influence of the iron that it contains. The iron
being magnetised by the magnetic force of the earth, it, is
evident that its action upon the needle will be proportional
to this force. Further, since the components of this action
correspond to three rectangular axes passing constantly
through the same points of the ship, they have, for their ex-
pressions, linear functions bearing relation to the components
of the action of the globe in the direction of these same
axes. The magnetic force of the globe, then, is common to
all the terms of the equation of the equilibrium of the com-
pass, and consequently disappears from it. The formula
contains different terms that must be determined; and, in
particular, the quantities dependent upon the total amount
and the distribution of the iron contained by the vessel. But
for various reasons connected with the distribution of the
masses of iron in vessels, which is, in general, symmetric,
_ and with their position, which is in the most part below the

horizontal plane drawn through the point of suspension of the
compass, M. Poisson succeeded in simplifying the problem.
The two unknown terms to be determined, are the true in-
clination and declination ; and, for this determination, two
data from observation are sufficient: Those required by M.
Poisson’s simplified formula are,—the angles of the principal.
section, or of the axis of the vessel, with the apparent direc-

212 Influence of Terrestrial Magnetism on Tron.

tion of the compass before and after this section or axis
has been made to turn to a known angle. Other formule
enable us even to avoid this operation, and to be content with
merely observing the direction of the compass before and after
the addition of a mass of iron, always placed in the same
manner, and so as easily to be brought near to the compass
to change its direction.

Influence of Temperature on Magnetism.

Among the actions that facilitate magnetisation by terres-
trial magnetism, one of the most efficacious consists in heat-
ing the magnetic body to redness, and allowing it to cool
under the influence of this magnetism. The cooling that fol-
lows a much lower elevation of temperature is even sufficient.
MM. Moser and Riess have proved that, to this kind of ef-
fect, we must refer the phenomena of magnetisation that have
been supposed to be produced by rays of light, and especially
by the violet rays. They have proved that, as these effects
only take place when the needles which experience them
are in a position perpendicular to the magnetic meridian, they
can be attributed to terrestrial magnetism alone, the action
of which is facilitated by the elevation of temperature brought
about by the solar rays, or rather by the cooling that follows
it. Heat, in fact, far from increasing, notably diminishes, on
the contrary, the intensity of the magnetic virtue. A mag-
netised steel bar, when brought to a red-white heat, totally
loses its magnetism ; should it have become magnetic during
cooling, it is due to the action of the earth. <A soft iron bar
is no longer magnetic, that is to say, is no longer attracted
by the magnet, when it is simply brought toa red heat. Nickel
ceases to be magnetic at the temperature of boiling oil. With
regard to cobalt, its magnetic force does not seem gradually
to diminish, as is the case with other substances, in propor-
tion as its temperature increases; but it suddenly ceases at
an extremely high temperature, and it then appears again
just as rapidly when the metal is made to descend from this
high temperature.

The remarkable influence that is exercised upon magnetism

Influence of Temperature on Magnetism. 213

by elevation of temperature had led several philosophers to
believe that the property possessed by certain bodies of being
magnetic, was due to the small distance ete fh vents
the atoms of which they are formed.

In fact, iron, cobalt, and nickel, are among those bodies which,
under the same volume, contain the greatest number of atoms,
and consequently are those whose atoms are the nearest to-
gether. To heat these bodies is to remove their particles from
each other; now, since this increase of distance makes them lose
their magnetic properties when it is carried to a certain point,
it follows that the substances among which the atoms are na-
turally more apart cannot possess these properties. What
must be done, then, to make them acquire these properties ?
We must bring the particles nearer, and, for this purpose,
must cool these bodies. Guided by this ingenious idea, Fara-
day had exposed, to an exceedingly low temperature, the
greater part of the metals, and several of their compounds,
and also carbon; and, notwithstanding he acted upon them
with a very powerful magnet, he was unable to discover any
trace of magnetism ; he had the precaution to take all these
bodies in a state of great purity, and deprived of all traces
of iron. By means of a mixture of ether and carbonic acid
placed in a vacuum, he succeeded in reducing their tempera-
ture to 105° cent. below 0°.. Manganese itself presented no
trace of magnetism. Mr Faraday has shewn that it is to the
presence of a few particles of iron, of which it is a difficult
matter to deprive it, that this metal had hitherto been errone-
ously classed among those which are magnetic. Thus, iron,
nickel, cobalt, and steel, would seem to be the only bodies in
nature that are magnetic, that is to say, that present mag-
netic properties, such as we have just studied and defined
them. Faraday has arrived, by other means, to discovering
_ equally in all bodies evident magnetic properties, but vari-
able, in the form under which they are manifested, with the
nature of the bodies themselves.—(A Treatise on Llectricit, ty,
by A. de la Rive, voli., p. —

214

Meteorological Phenomena in connection with the Climate
of Berlin. Translated by Mrs ANNE RAMSDEN BENNETT
from the German of Professor DOVE.

(Continued from vol. liv. page 162.)

On the nights of the 30th April and 1st May, an explosion was
heard at Barbadoes, so like the discharge of artillery, that the sol-
diers in the garrison of St Anna remained under arms. On the
Ist of May, when day dawned, the eastern edge of the horizon was
clearly visible, but the whole upper portion of the heavens was over-
east by a thick cloud which soon extended itself and concealed the
horizon from view. At last it became so dark that it was impossible
for the people in the houses to distinguish the situation of the win-
dows in their chambers, whilst the branches of the trees were
weighed down and broken under the pressure of a mass of ashes
which fell like rain, Whence came these ashes? According to
the direction of the prevailing trade-winds during April and May,
they would have come from the Peak of the Azores, and yet these
ashes came from the volcano of Morne Carou on the Island of St
Vincent, which lies twenty miles to the west, and is so completely
separated from Barbadoes at this season by the trade-winds, that it
is only possible to sail there by making a very wide circuit. The
volcano had therefore ejected its ashes through the under into the
upper trade-wind. To this hitherto solitary example of the carrying
away of volcanic ashes in the direction of the upper instead of the
under current, modern times has added a more striking example.
On the 20th January 1835, the whole of the Isthmus of Central
America was shaken by an earthquake, accompanied by an eruption
of Coseguina, On the 24th and 25th, the sun was darkened at King-
ston in Jamaica, distant 800 miles, by a shower of fine ashes, and
this was the first indication which the inhabitants received that the
explosion which had already been heard had not been the report of
cannon. These ashes could only have been carried there by the
upper trade-wind, for Jamaica lies to the north-east of Nicaragua.
Besides this, the exception is a striking illustration of how the as-
cending air divides in the region of calms and flows towards both
poles, since some ashes also fell on board the ship Conway as it was
pursuing its course over the Pacific Ocean at a distance of 700 Eng-
lish, miles from Coseguina.

Even on the highest point of the Andes, the upper current of air
has never been reached by travellers. In that neighbourhood, there-
fore, the region of calms must be situated at the height of more than
20,000 feet above the level of the sea. Thus, in order that ashes
out of lower volcanoes, such as those of Morne Carou and Coseguina,

Meteorological Phenomena. 215

should be ejected to such a height, the explosion must be tremendous ;
and so it was in both cases. The roaring of the Coseguina was
heard at Kingston, San Salvador, Baliza, Santa Martha, and Santa
Fé da Bogota, therefore at a distance of 200 German miles. Union,
a seaport on the west coast of Conchagua, was in utter darkness
during the space of forty-three hours. When lights began to glim-
mer again, and render objects visible, it was found that the sea-coast —
had advanced 800 feet, by means of the mass of falling ashes. In
like manner, the volcano of Morne Carou belongs to a chain of mag-
-nificent volcanic influences, the last link of which it forms. In the
midst of earthquakes, and of smoke and flame which lasted from
June till July in the year 1811, the Island of Sabrina was upheaved
out of the sea in the neighbourhood of St Miguel, one of the Azores,
and rose to the height of 300 feet above it, the depth of the sea in
that place being 150 feet, and the circumference of the newly-formed
island about an English mile. Then the Lesser Antilles were shaken
by earthquakes, and rent the valleys of the Mississippi, Arkansas,
and Ohio. But the elastic force found no outlet there ; it sought it
on the north of Columbia. The 26th of March dawned an extra-
ordinarily hot day in Caraccas; the air was serene, and the skies
cloudless. _It was Palm Sunday. A regiment of troops of the line
stood under arms in the Barracks of El] Quartel del San Carlos ready
to take part in the procession, and the people were streaming to-
wards the churches, when suddenly loud subterranean thunder was
lieard, followed by an earthquake so violent, that the Church of
Alta Gracia, which is above 150 German feet high, and is sup-
ported by buttresses fifteen German feet in thickness, became a mass
of ruins six German feet in height. In the evening, the moon,
which was almost at the full, shone with mild splendour in a cloud-
less heaven, and cast its rays on the ruins of the principal town
under which 10,000 of the inhabitants were buried. But neither
here did the volcanic force succeed in obtaining an outlet. At last,
on the 27th of April, it gained the mastery, by forcing open the
erater of Morne Carou, which had been closed for a whole century,
and, as far as Rio Apura, that is to say, at a distance as great as from
Vesuvius to Paris, the thundering hymn of jubilee, entoned by the
liberated prisoner, was heard to resound.

The space between two meridians is an isosceles triangle, which
has its base line resting on the equator and its points on the pole.
The mass of air which ascends from the heated base cannot flow as
far as the points in the ever narrowing space ; it must descend before
reaching them. We find the upper current in the tropical regions,
even in summer, already sunk down at the Peak of Teneriffe; in the
neighbourhood of the Azores, it has already reached the ground.
Europe lies in this upper trade wind.

As, however, the region of calms, and the whole phenomena of
the trade winds follow the course of the sun, so also do the places

216 Meteorological Phenomena in

vary where the upper current descends. Places in the neighbour-
hood of the tropics lie, consequently, for a long time under the in-
fluence of the trade winds; but, on the other hand, they are for a
time entirely free from them. These places have also a dry and a
wet season, but, with this essential difference, that the rain falls
there when the sun is at its lowest declination. These south-west-
erly winds bringing the rain in their train, come slowly down the
mountains from the higher regions of the atmosphere. We see
them clearly in the clouds which begin at the commencement of
October to conceal the point and the Peak of Teneriffe; then they
descend lower and lower, till at last they lay themselves down on the
crest of the mountain, and reveal themselves by fearful storms.
Perhaps a week, sometimes more, passes before they reach the sea-
coast, where they remain raging for months, during which time the
Peak is covered with snow. In Algiers, the commencement of the
rainy season is earlier; and, on account of the place being more out
of the track of the trade-winds, it lasts longer. In the south of
Italy, the rainy season shrinks into the compass of a month; at the
Alps, it entirely disappears; nor do we experience it here, where
it rains the whole year through, and most of allin summer. But
in Italy, also, the commencement of the rainy season, as well as the
end of it, is marked by storms, and the quantity of water which falls
is greatest in spring and autumn. Here, on the contrary, the ex-
tremes of spring and autumn meet in the height of summer. Our
rainy season, therefore, takes place, unfortunately just at the time
when we wish to visit our watering places. St John’s day fixes our
fate ; according to the old saying,

* Tf it rains on the day of St John,
Hope of fine harvest is over and gone.”

And in England,

“If the first of July be stormy weather
*T will rain more or less four weeks together.”
Well! so it is, and we must try and be thankful that in our weather
the laws of nature are strictly observed, but still it is hard to bear.
Yet, heaven be praised, there is no rule without an exception.

A slight consideration, only, of this matter will shew that the de-
scent of the upper currents cannot take place on the whole of the
outer limits of the trade winds at one and the same time, because the
trade wind itself must be compensated for by the air of the tempe-
rate zones. The air which consequently flows down in one place
into the temperate zones must be replaced at another place by an
upward current from thence that the equilibrium may be restored.
Thus the currents which flow over each other in the torrid zones flow

side by side in the temperate zones, and as they sometimes change

their relative position, the characteristic features of our weather de-
pend on this alternate displacement of the polar and equatorial eur-

ae

connection with the Climate of Berlin. 217

rents. The extremes of our weather are regulated by the unequal
prevalence of the one or the other of these currents, which, as long
as they preserve a due equilibrium between each other produce
the changeable weather which is most characteristic of our climate.
The northern current is cold, heavy, and dry ; the southern warm,
moist, and light; with the former the barometer is high and the
thermometer low, with the latter it isthe reverse. I must, however,
remark that when air flows from north to south or vice versa, its
direction is affected by the revolution of the earth on its axis. Air
which, for example, sets out as due north from Breslau to Vienna
arrives there at NNE.; it would be NE. at Vienna if it set out due
north from Konigsberg; ENE, if it set ont from. Riga ; and almost
east if we consider it as setting out due north from St Petersburg.
Therefore, air which has been stationary between Petersburg and
Vienna, and is then set in motion towards the south will cause the
vanes at Vienna to turn by degrees from north through NE. to east.
If, on the contrary, the air has been set in motion towards the north
and has set out from Trieste, it will arrive at Vienna as a SSW.
wind,— if it had set out from Rome, it would have been a SW. 3
WSW. if it had set out from Tunis; and lastly, almost W. if its
cradle had been situated farther towards Africa, Every current of
air, therefore, which flows from the north becomes more easterly the
longer it lasts, every south wind more westerly. North-east is,
therefore, a north wind which sets out from a greater distance, and
south-west is a south wind setting out from a distant place. The
coldest, heaviest, driest wind is therefore north-east, not north ; the
moistest, lightest, warmest wind, not south, but south-west.

The mutual struggle of the two opposing currents necessarily pro-
duces a revolution ; under these circumstances a south wind would be
followed by a west wind, then by a north, then east, and lastly south
again.

Thaw and continued rain accompany the southern currents,—the
most cloudless weather and severest cold come with the east wind,
—pleasant dry weather is the most striking sign of the north cur-
rent in summer. In September and the beginning of October,
when this current predominates, we have, therefore, our most beauti-
ful weather which, when it becomes strikingly warm, we call our
back summer (after summer). But it is not so regular in the time
of its duration as in America, where it is named the Indian summer,
because the Indians then go to their hunting grounds, when, as they
say, the Great Spirit sends them their summer. In November, on
the contrary, on account of the then prevailing south current, we
experience that very interesting form of weather which goes by the
name of Pomeranian mists. The north current flows slowly then in
its ever-widening bed, and therefore in the Petersburg Gazette the
cold is already spoken of as having set in before the NE. wind
has brought it to us. The south current, on the other hand,

218 Meteorological Phenomena in

is stormy, and roars as in an empty street. The Berlin newspapers
have for that reason no influence on the wagers as to when the
Neva will rise, for the thaw-wind outruns the posts. On account of
the impetuosity with which the south wind presses forward into
higher latitudes, it loses, by constantly-renewed precipitation, some
of its moisture, especially on the southern declivities of mountains.
Besides this precipitation there is another of an entirely different kind,
which takes place when two opposing currents meet, Jn Italy the
rule is,—
“Non fu pioggia senza vento,
Non fu vento senz’ aqua.”

And in the south of France they say,—

‘** Quand le soleil est joint au vent
On voit en l’air pleuvoir souvent.”

This precipitation happens in two cases; the one when the warm
current has forced itself through the cold one, and vice versa. The
most frequent storms, drizzling showers, and raging snow-storms,
come with a west wind. But this kind of weather lasts, as they say,
only a span long. It cools the air, and a cloudless succeeds to an
overcast sky ; it is the transition from bad weather to good. The
transition in this case takes place quickly, because the heavier cold
wind forces itself easily into the place occupied by the warm wind.
And on account of the cold wind being heavier than the warm wind
which preceded it, the barometer rises during this kind of weather,
and then we say—the barometer is on the rise,—-it will be fine wea-
ther. Thus, too, if the cold wind forces itself in below, as it does
into a warm room when the doors are open, it blows before it the
clouds which it forms in its progress, and which darken the air as
it advances through the sky. Now, in proportion as this cold
lower current of wind is more or less directly opposed to the warm
current, which until then had prevailed, there takes place between
them in summer, the peculiar stillness which we term oppressive
air. The expression, ‘‘ the storm comes up against the wind,” finds
its explanation in the proverb itself. Just in proportion, then, as
the wind gains in strength, the storm more quickly forms; thence
the sudden obscuration of the sky which takes place without any
previous warning. ‘The rain, on the other hand, which the south
wind occasions, when it drives away the north wind, draws near
with a south-east and south wind. It first falls on the hills, and
then descends below, causing the barometer to fall, because the wind
which follows it is lighter; it is the transition from fine weather to
cloudy. ‘* The barometer is falling, it will be bad weather,’’ we
say,—the north-east wind has gone round to south-east ; it will soon
be south-west, At what point in the scale the barometer stands,
signifies little, the principal thing is, if it be on the rise or the fall.
Snow after severe cold, passing into thaw, storms which come with

a ee ee re

connection with the Climate of Berlin. 219

the east wind, and which, heavy though they be, do not cool the air,
belong to this class. Rain with a west wind consequently becomes
snow in winter, snow with an east wind becomes rain, snow with a
west wind and a barometer on the rise, shews an increase of cold,
snow with an east wind and a falling barometer, shews a diminution
of cold. The proverb ‘fresh snow, more cold,’’ has its origin
hence, for it snows more frequently with a west than with an east
wind. Besides this, there are falls of snow, at least of thick flakes
of snow, when the cold is not very severe; this takes place when the
cold northern current, having gained the predominance, drives away
the southern current, and then no cause for precipitation any longer
exists. The usual course of winter phenomena is as follows :—

The south wind has prevailed for a long time with the barometer
low ; the sky is overcast ; the air warm, with a fine drizzling rain.
Then the wind veers round to the west; dark masses of clouds rise
on the western horizon, and a cold wind immediately begins to
blow from them towards us, accompanied by thick falls of snow.
This phenomenon repeats itself generally pretty frequently, during
which time thin streaks of cloud may be seen through the thick
masses floating much higher in the atmosphere from the south-west
to the north-east. With every fresh blast of wind, the barometer
rises suddenly, the snow freezes under our feet, the underlying strata
of clouds retreat continually, at least they are torn up into strips
and then disappear, when the weather vanes point due north. The
sky becomes cloudless, the fight is at an end ; its results shew them-
selves in bright slides on the ground; the air is wonderfully trans-
parent, and it is only by the smoke which floats upwards from the
chimneys that.the sky is momentarily clouded ; the cold now becomes
intense, every one hastens his steps over the crackling snow ; the
north wind has conquered, perhaps for weeks together the vanes
point unchangingly towards the north-east. But at last comes the
south wind on the scene, and, because of its lightness, it flows above
the north wind, and appears in the clear blue heavens as fine streaks
of cloud, such as we appropriately term Wind baume (wind trees).
The barometer remarks the gentle southlander and falls, although
the weather vanes have not as yet perceived its presence, and steadily
point as before to the north-east. But with still increased perse-
verance does the south wind press down on the east wind ; the strips
of cloud become denser, and appear as a milk-white covering, and
a great halo round the moon shews itself as a sure sign of bad
weather according to the lines :—

“The hollow winds begin to blow,
The clouds look black, the glass is low ;
Last night the sun went pale to bed,
The moon in halos hid her head,
’*T will surely rain.”

It begins next to snow with a south-east wind, the barometer sinks

220 Meteorological Phenomena in

more and more, the wind becomes south, it rains, it is how soutli-
west, and our short winter has passed by in order to be followed by
a like set of phenomena. Farther towards the north, snow does not
become rain with a south wind. There the snow of the whole
winter does not thaw, but forms large masses; the sledge paths, too,
are never broken up by thaw ; every vehicle is changed into a sledge,
and the frozen river becomes a highway. In these countries, there
is a decided jump into winter weather, a jump which distinguishes a
Konigsberg from a Berlin winter. If the south wind presses on
with stormy quickness, then sleet falls, that is to say, drops of rain
which have been frozen in their descent. The summits of the
mountains, in such a case, are seen to thaw, whilst it is still bitterly
cold in the valleys below. ‘‘The Fohn (south wind) drives the cold
into the valley,” the Tyrolese say. If, on the contrary, the warm
and cold currents meet together, then the mixture of warm and cold
air only takes place on the limits of contact of both currents. Thick
mists in this instance are formed with the barometer high, because
the northern current dams itself up as it were against the warm
opposing south current. The two winds drive one another backwards
and forwards. ‘* They are fighting together,” the sailors say, and
thus we often pass from the limits of contact back again into the
cold current, that is to say, the thick mist often disappears suddenly,
and is again as quickly back again.

The most superficial observation shews that the weather is less
variable in winter than in summer. In winter lasting cloudiness
alternates with lasting brightness; whereas in summer entirely
overcast and cloudless days are very rare. The reason of this is a
double one. If I travel in winter, from Berlin to Moscow, I find
a marked difference in the temperature ; in July, on the contrary, it
is almost equally warm in both cities. For the winds which do not
come from any great distance lose their peculiarities, so that from
whatever points of the compass they may blow they bring with
them air of equal warmth. It is not till the winds are at rest that
the influence of the soil first tells on the atmosphere in all its signi-
ficance, an influence which, when it was entirely covered by snow, had
wholly disappeared. The moisture which, rising from cool woods
and meadows, is condensed into a cloud, is entirely dissipated by a
warm surface of land. Hence those manifold masses of clouds
which, in single separate masses, with a level base and dazzling
hemisphere, float over the blue heavens, and impart such ever-
varying beauty to a landscape when contemplated from a height,
How delighted are we when, after having been long deprived of this
beautiful sight, we see once more in spring these glowing cupolas
towering up like mountains from the horizon, for they are a sure sign
that winter is come at last. In summer, the clouds are in general
nothing more than an image of the ground projected on the sky,
and in proportion as the landscape is diversified by meadows, rocks,

connection with the Climate of Berlin. 221

and woods, hills and valleys, so much the more beautiful is the sky.
Hence, on the northern declivity of the Russian Riesen Giberge
and over the fruitful plains of Silesia, the summer heaven is much
more beautiful than over the Markischen Heideland. The prac-
tised eye of the Indian traces in the sky the course of a river
in countries where from the absence of civilisation no artificial means
have been at work to modify the natural diversity of the ground,
and it is clear that as a rank vegetation generates rain which again
in its turn nourishes the soil, so an injudicious destruction of woods
often destroys irrevocably the fertility of the soil. Here the periods
of the day have each their significance. As soon as the sun rises,
the morning clouds ascend like pillars of smoke out of the valleys,
but soon disappear in the increasing temperature. Towards noon,
they again appear in the sky like a thin veil, or sometimes they re-
semble flocks of sheep according to the English saying,

If woolly fleeces strew the heavenly way,
Be sure no rain disturbs the summer day.

In the south of Europe, on the contrary, the clouds which bring
wind to us take the form of sheep, and it is from this circumstance
the following proverb takes its origin,

Brebis qui paraissent és-cicux,
Font temps pluvieux ou venteux.

According to Virgil and Aratus the “ vellera lane’ are a sign of
rain.

But to return to our subject. If the ascending current of air is
protected against lateral currents by high mountain walls, or rises
from a valley in which an alpine lake is situated, then as often as for
fourteen days together a storm takes place at noon, as on the Lago
Maggiore and the Lake of Como, because the cold current seizes on
the warm air at the moment it rises above the mountains, The
like phenomena characterise the rainy season in the region of calms.
Thus, at a stated period of the day, a storm regularly begins in
those climates, so that the Brazilian ladies do not, like those in
Berlin, invite their friends to tea and coffee, but request the plea-
sure of their company ‘ before or after the storm.”’ In the even-
ing, the contrary process takes place, the gradually cooling air loses
its expansive power, the clouds sink down on the mountain, and are
again dissipated in the warm air. This clearing up is not, however,

. . . 5 |
a sign of lasting fine weather, according to the French proverb,

“Temps qui fait beau la nuit—
Dure peu quand le jour luit.”

The spectacle of the dissipation of the clouds at the setting of the
sun, enlivens a walk amidst even the most solitary scenery. The
air becomes transparent—and every form is sharply defined against

the clear sky. And if the moon should chance to shine i in the
_ VOL. LIV. NO. CVII1,—APRIL 1853. Q

222 Meteorological Phenomena im

cloudless heavens, the scene becomes so beautiful that it drives all
thoughts of meteorology out of one’s head.

The difference in the configuration of a country has also a mo-
difying effect on all the phenomena connected with this ascending
current of air. Under this class of phenomena may be chiefly
reckoned the rain precipitation which takes place more regularly
at certain times of the day than at others. ‘Thus, for one thunder
or hail storm which takes place at four o’clock in the morning,
sixty-seven come on at two o'clock in the afternoon. Great and
magnificent as these phenomena appear, they are still only local, and,
therefore, the per-centage of the Hail Insurance Company varies
for different provinces. A hail-storm is seldom more than half a
mile in breadth—a small, desolating strip. Snow falls in winter, sleet
in spring, hail in summer. The warmth of the atmosphere decreases
now, however, from below upwards. This is why snow in the
higher regions takes the form of sleet whilst falling, to which, when it
has descended into the warmer and lower strata, a transparent crust
of ice is added. Whilst pieces of nearly a pound weight are falling,
a lateral whirlwind, which apparently comes in an oblique direction
and continues warm for some time, mingles the moist lower air and
the cold upper air together.

In Berlin, even, we have tolerably severe hail-storms now and then.
Our weather is, however, better in this respect than it has the cha-
racter of being. Why, then, has it gained such an ill name? |

A distinguished foreigner visited Berlin in the year 1767, and was
invited by Frederick the Great to San Souci. “ Of what do they talk
in Berlin?” asked the King. ‘ That your Majesty is arming, and
that there will be war,” was the reply. In order, therefore, to give
a different turn to the conversation of the metropolis, the King com-
manded a report to be drawn up of a severe hail-storm at Potsdam,
which was to be copied into the Berlin newspapers, with directions to
take no refutation, The reporter laid on his colours pretty thick.
Masses of ice of the size of a pumpkin had fallen ; all the windows
had been shattered; a brewer had had his arm broken; and one of two
oxen yoked to a waggon had been killed. On the arrival of the Ber-
hn newspapers at Potsdam—where there had been most beautiful wea-
ther during the whole time—astonishment and vexation laid hold of
every body’s mind; the neighbourhood rose as one man, seized pen
in hand, and protested solemnly to the contrary of what had been
stated. Never had the posts in Berlin received so many letters; each
of them asserting that everything was going on as usual in Potsdam,
that nothing extraordinary had taken place, no windows had been
shattered, no one’s arm broken, no living being killed. But none of
these letters were published ; the news was copied into all the papers,

and the King’s design had perfect success. Everywhere the hail- —

storm, and nothing but the hail-storm, formed the subject of conyer-
sation. As the report was never contradicted, it was transcribed into
all the scientific compendiums of the day; for at that time people

ie

connection with the Clinate of Berlin. 223

were still possessed by the extraordinary idea that everything con-
tained in a newspaper must be true.

- We must not, however, over-estimate the influence of the configu-
ration of the ground and of the soil. They may, indeed, foretell or
decide the course of a storm, but they cannot retard continued rain.
For even in summer the currents of air are the peculiar precursors,
only in very different forms at different seasons of the year; forms
however which are all related to each other. If the south wind in
winter rushes very suddenly, and with great force, towards the north,
it often announces itself by a magnificent storm, as it did in Decal!
ber 1839, when the sky seemed to be rent open by the lightning, and
crackling peals of thunder resounded every moment. Unusual ER
is ushered in with storms like these. Later on, the south wind ap-
pears in the form of the gentle messenger of spring, beneath whose
soft breath nature awakes from her heavy sleep, as out of a long
dream, and wakes us with her. The strife between the two currents
then sosguts animated, for winter disputes every inch of the ground.
The cold days “die gestrengen Herren,” those hard masters who
slew the orangery at St Louis are sent as its last despairing efforts.
In summer, the south wind often blows suddenly as out of a fiery
oven, and roars furiously around. I remember the passionate raging
of this wind during last summer, when it tore off the zinc roof from
the Anhalt Tower, rand by the manner in which the trees were rooted
up in the Thier Gate! it clearly shewed its power—a storm be-
neath whose raging, Germany’s most honoured tree, “ The beech of
Luther,” was torn up and destroyed. I do not know where the
eradle of this storm was situated, but the newspapers told us that
it came over the Alps, so that, at all events, it was not a German
wind which was guilty of such crimes.

_ We can, however, often trace such storms as these to their origin.
They are generally parts of the upper trade winds which, descend-
ing too early, come into contact with the lower currents and occa-
sion those fearful whirlwinds of the Tropics, the influence of which

is felt even in the temperate zones.

In Emmenthal they have an old legend, that a gigantic serpent
lay concealed in the caves of the Hohgant, and that for centuries it
had never left its abode, till at last it burst ‘forth suddenly with fear-
ful rage. We easily recognize in this gigantic serpent the mountain
torrent, which, suddenly swollen by clouds, rushed down into the wind-
ings of the valley, Since then nothing more had been heard of the
monster, until in August 1837 it again broke forth with such fearful
violence that masses of rock of 60 cwt. were hurled before it. The
beautiful tale of the “‘ Wassers noth im Emmenthal,”’ by the author
of the *“* Bauern Spiegels,’’ contains a striking description of this great
physical phenomenon. But what was it that had scared away the
monster from his cave? A storm of wind from the West India
islands. And what a storm! On the 2d of August 1837, the har-

224 Meteorological Phenomena in

bour-master at Porto Rico announced to the captains of ships lying
at anchor, at about four o’clock p.m., that they must prepare for a
storm, as the barometer was falling rapidly. But all precautions were
in vain, Of the 33 ships lying at anchor not one could be saved from
shipwreck, for so great was the violence of the wind that in St Bar-
tholomew alone 250 buildings were thrown down. The destruction
was still more fearful on the Island of St Thomas, where the wrecks
of 36 ships strewed the harbour ; the fort at the entrance of the port
was shattered as if by a battery, 24-pounders were carried away by
the wind ; a large well-built house was torn up from its foundations,
and set down upright in the middle of the street, whilst others were
turned right upside-down. That smiling tropical heaven plays also
tricks of its own.

In so far as the history of the world mirrors itself in the events of
the most insignificant places, so also the history of the weather is
contained in the meteorological phenomena of every single station
of observation. The reports kept at these places form the chronicles
of a general history of the weather; but as we cannot grasp all the
threads of the world’s history by the consideration of any one isolated
event, s0 we cannot arrive at the understanding of all the manifold
and closely connected phenomena of the atmosphere by means of
observations made at any one place alone. Only out of the associa-
tion and comparison of separate reports can be determined what is
settled and what is variable, for the errors made by a single observer
often make a phenomenon appear enigmatical, which by taking the
total of observations respecting it would at once be rendered clear.
If from the consideration of the phenomena of our weather we have
arrived at the conclusion that they represent the continually renewed
strife of two opposing currents, it follows that what is revealed by the
regular succession of phenomena in one place must be revealed in a
clearer and more direct manner if we bring under our consideration
simultaneous and widely diffused observations. The power, the direc-
tion, and the strife of the two currents will in such a case be clearly
represented. If, for example, we desire to settle the usual charac-
teristics of the weather at any particular time, then by proceeding in
the direction of these currents, we shali find either the maximum or
the minimum of the normal temperature. If, on the contrary, we
proceed in a direction more or less at right angles to the currents,
then, somewhere or other where they meet and intersect each other,
we shall pass from the warm air of the Equatorial into the icy air of
the Polar current. If the currents meet one another, then this op-
position in their direction comes into play. Next, we shall perceive
that while the opposing currents flow simultaneously beside each other,
the same peculiarities of weather are scarcely ever common to the

whole hemisphere ; that the extremes in near and in distant coun- —

tries are always compensated for, and the equilibrium maintained ;
and that a mild European winter is made up for by a cold one in

:
:
4
‘
‘

connection with the Climate of Berlin. 225,

America or Asia. Thus the same amount of temperature is always
preserved, and local luxury is elsewhere atoned for by biting poverty.

In this last particular a very great difference exists between the
relative temperature of Europe on the one side and of America and
Asia on the other. The temperature of the winter of 1821-22, and
the January of 1834, was apparently only so strikingly high on ac-
count of America and Asia having then such severe winters. In
December 1829, the greatest proportional cold was felt at Berlin. It
was also very foularkable at Kasan, but at Irkutsk the weather was
mild, and America was favoured mith an extraordinary degree of
war ath. The celebrated winter of 1794-95, which was famed for
the conquest of Holland, was mild in America, as well as that of
1809 ; whilst in Europe, the strikingly mild winters of 1793-94 and
1795- 96 fell much below the mean temperature in America; and
the warm European winter of 1790-91 was compensated for by a
coldonein America. Jigede has remarked the same thing of Green-
land; and the Danes have observed that if the winter has been severe
in Denmark, the Greenland winter has been mild, and vice versa.
These remarks apply to Copenhagen also, in connection with Iceland,
and to such an extent that the exportation of goods from Denmark to
that island is, in some measure, guided by it.

If the limits of the two currents fall towards Europe, then the
usual weather shews itself here, whilst the extremes lie on both sides
of it. Thus, in February 1628, Europe enjoyed a mean tempera-
ture between the extreme cold of Kasan and Irkutsk, and the mild
winter of America. On the other hand, when the opposing cur-
rents become due east and due west, Araericn) Europe, and Asia
belong to the same system of weather, whilsethe oppositions take
place in the direction of north and south. Thus, in December 1802,
the greatest degree of cold was felt in central Europe, but it was also
cold in Asia and America, whilst in Scandinavia the temperature had
risen. On the contrary, during the mild March of 1822, a decrease
of temperature took place in the south, whilst it was raised in the
north of Europe. In the cold autumn of 1820, the warm places lay
on the north-west of Europe; during the severe winter of 1799, in
Greenland ; and during the mild winter of 1824-25, first on the
north and then on the south of Europe. These oppositions charac-
terizing the north and south are also occasioned by a north and south
current meeting each other. In the December of 1808, for example,
cold weather prevailed in Europe from Torneo to Palermo, which de-
creased towards the west, and was not experienced in America. In
the January of 1809, a very mild temperature distinguished the «outh
of Europe, whilst sli cold, tlie diffusion of which was apparently ob-
structed towards the south by south winds, was on that account more
strongly concentrated in the north of Europe! and was increasingly
felt in the direction of Berlin, Dantzic, Stockholm, and Torneo. The
increase of warmth was now felt i in a westerly direction, and became

226 Meteorological Phenomena in

remarkable, first in Scotland, and then in America. In February,
the warmth advanced from the south up to Berlin, and as far as
Dantzic, and the cold was moderate in Sweden. In March it took
ground again towards the south, then Dantzic and Berlin were brought
once more under its dominion, At last it prevailed again in April
over the whole of Southern Europe, but was not proportionably felt in
America. If northerly currents are, however, the principal cause of
the lowering of the temperature in the winter, still the place where
the greatest relative cold prevails, especially in the spring, is not
dependent on that cause alone. The pressure ofa southerly current
through a northern one is, as a rule, associated with a heavy fall of
snow, which takes place in the higher mountains also, during the
prevalence of the southern current. Then the masses of snow which
have been heaped up on the heights during the winter form a centre
of refrigeration when the spring has already commenced in the plains
below, and occasion frequent returns of cold. The cold air then dis-
charges itself in the form of cataracts and waterfalls, which pour down
the sides of the Alps. One may easily trace this cold in Berlin,
where it arrives, for example, with a south wind. Those who dwell
in the place where this cold reaches its maximum, form an exagge-
rated idea of the extremes if they do not take into consideration the
diffusion of warmth in other places. Thus, in the Berlin papers the
winter of 1823-24 was mentioned with great emphasis as a hitherto
unheard-of occurrence. It was certainly severe, but it was felt
only near Berlin, and the weather was much milder in the south of
Germany. The atmosphere took very little note of the ideas enter-
tained by many Berlin writers, that it must have been general. For,
when with its proud waves it flowed over the Alps, was it likely, they
thought, that its progress should be stopped by the walls of our city ?
The winter of 1740 was also very severe, as well as that of 1840,
in which it solemnised its jubilee. Such isolated extremes as these
deceive the judgment for a long time; and it was an instance of
the same kind, occurring in the climate of France during the war,
which gave our troops, who made acquaintance with the country when
it was experiencing an accidental degree of cold, much too unfayour-
able an idea of its climate. They judged of it by the severe winter
of 1813-14. The opposite errors are committed by German travel-
lers, who go into Italy to winter, and needlessly expose themselves
to the bitter cold of Lombardy. No one could wish that every tra-
veller should be transformed into a meteorologist, still every one ought
to know that January is colder in Milan than on the west coast of
Iceland.

If extremes of weather have prevailed for a long time during win-
ter, then as the sun’s power increases with the advancing season, the
spring has already begun in the countries which had a mild winter ;
whilst in places where the severest cold had prevailed, the temperature
has not risen much above the freezing point, and the increased warmth

connection with the Climate of Berlin. 227

is spent in melting away the winter’s ice and snow. The warm air
must, however, before long successfully oppose the pressure of the
cold air, the return of which will only be the more sudden, the more
suddenly the warmth has increased. In such cases as these the
spring is unpleasantly distinguished by frequent transitions from
warm to very severe weather. It is on this circumstance the proverb
is founded which foretells a white Kaster from a green Christmas,
Hence, too, the English couplet-—

“Tf the grass grow in Janevier,
It grows the worse for all the year.”

And the still more decided one—

“Tf Janevier calends be summerly gay,
"Twill be winterly weather till th? calends of May.”

In Italy, too, they say—

* Quando Gennajo mette erba,
Si tu hai grano, e tu lo serba.”

The warmth in the south of Germany 1839, and afterwards in
Northern Germany in December, was so great, that people wrote from
Munich that they had never till then expected to see the description
of an old chronicle realised, that young maidens had come to Church
on Christmas eve with roses in their hair. But how soon was this
dream dissipated. The icy wind, beneath whose deadly breath those
early flowers bloomed, blew from the Salz-steppes, between the Cas-
pian and Oral Seas, from the country which the Kirgisites call the
Valley of Death, and from the coast, of Emba, where the Russian
expedition to China came to a halt in a cold of 40° F. below zero.
The cold then experienced was more severely felt on account of its
having been preceded by an unusual degree of warmth. In any other
year the result of the expedition might have been very different. It
is a remarkable thing, that the same power of nature which had ob-
structed the designs of Russia stopped Napoleon’s proud career. And
it is still the same Gorgon shield which prevents the West from press-
ing forward into the immoveable East. The cold current does not,
however, always lie towards the East. The winter of 1834-35 gives
a striking example of this. ’

_ The greatest observed cold at Berlin in January, February, and
~Mareh, was 18°°5 Fahr.; the medium temperature of these three
months was however 30°:875, 27°-5, and 22°25 Fahr.; and what is
still more striking, not ten days followed each other consecutively dur-
ing this period, the mean temperature of which fell below the freezing
point. That this phenomenon was occasioned by a southern current
is therefore clear, the most significant wind of the north current, the
NE., not having been once observed from the 1st of January to the
18th of March. During this time such a fearful degree of cold pre-
vailed i in America, that at the beginning of January the harbours of

228 Meteorological Phenomena.

Boston, Portland, New Bury, New Haven, Philadelphia, Baltimore,
and Washington, were frozen over; and on the 3d, when the ther-
mometer at Berlin stood all day and night above the freezing point,
carts passed over the frozen Potomac.

The cold Easter of the year 1835 must be still in the remem-
brance of every one. ‘Thick falls of snow gave a very winterly
look to Good Friday, on the Banks of the Rhine, from Bonn to
Mayence, although the peach and cherry trees were covered with
blossom. In Eerlin the wind blew from the SW., but without any
snow, Generally the weather was much more stormy on the banks
of the Rhine than at Berlin. It was still worse in England, where
the cold set in on the Wednesday evening. It snowed as in Decem-
ber, and froze on the open plains during the daytime; the blossom,
too, was much injured, for this severe cold had been preceded by
beautiful spring weather. The waggons which entered London from
the north on Good Friday were covered with snow. An unusual de-
gree of cold was also universally felt in Italy. It was more severe in
westerly countries than in the east, for it came from the west. Such
phenomena as these repeat themselves generally after some time with
diminished strength, then they suddenly cease, and winter is finally
conquered.

If it be supposed that a cold winter always follows a hot summer,
it is as much as to say that the current which flowed over the place
of observation during the summer would flow in the same direction
during the winter. That certainly would be much to gain from a
current that is never arbitrarily confined to one bed.

During the hot summer of 1822, there was no ice to be had in
Berlin, for the preceding winter had been so mild that they had not
been able to collect any. The years 1811-19-22-34, which are

celebrated as good vintage years, were preceded by mild winters cr

springs. On the contrary, the cold which lasted from January to
June 1815, was followed by a period of scarcity of which Western
Europe will long retain the remembrance. It was then that Odessa,
which during that time enjoyed the mild temperature of Eastern
Europe, became celebrated for its commerce; its annual exports of
grain, from 1815 to 1817, increasing from 11 to 38 millions of
roubles, ‘The relative extreme of cold was experienced during that
year in England, and America had also its share in the decrease of
temperature. The west of Europe, therefore, looked to the east as a
gencral source of supply during that period. The repetition of these
relations in connection with England during the years 1837-38,
during which time East Prussia had favourable weather, stands in
direct association with the briskness of the discussion on the Corn-law
question, for the more unshackled the commercial intercourse of na-
tions becomes, so much the more impossible is it that a famine should

take place ; the trading resources of a country where scarcity prevails

being used as the means of obtaining supplies from a country dis-
tinguished for temporary abundance,

:

229

On Glacial Phenomena in Scotland and Parts of ingland.*
By Ropert CHAMBERS, Esq. F.R.S.E. Communicated by
the Author.

The subject of ancient glacial phenomena having been
much before the public a few years ago, I must entreat the
Society to believe that I should not have sought their atten-
tion to it again, if I had not during the last three years seen
reason to believe that it has as yet been but imperfectly pre-
sented, and that English geologists in general have arrived
at conclusions regarding it which cannot be maintained.

It would detain us too long, and be in a great measure la-
bour thrown away, to renew the combat with those who think
that diluvial action in any form is sufficient to account for the
phenomena in question. I can scarcely even pause to argue
with those who hold that floating ice is the only agent re-
quired in the case. If the gentlemen who abide by such
doctrines would examine the action of an existing glacier in
the Alps, they would find that the effect upon the subjacent
rocks is absolutely the same with the appearances of what
are called polished and striated surfaces in these islands,
where glaciers do not now exist. If they were to travel
through Norway and Sweden, they would see such an extent
of surface abraded, and an uniformity of striation observed
over such large areas, that so light, partial, and irregular an
action as that of floating masses of ice would appear totally
inadequate to account for the effects. It need scarcely be
insisted on, that opponeats of theory are as much bound as
theorists themselves to observe the ordinary rules of science,
—namely, to argue on the unknown from the known, to look
more carefully to distinctions than to resemblances, and to
give no presumed agent too much to do. Now, I have seen
what I consider an ice-polished surface crossed by a small
runnel of water carrying minute gravel, and it was clearly
observable that where the water crossed, the surface was
changed,—became rougher and dimmer, something like the
difference between chased and polished goldsmiths’ work. I
have examined the rocky beds of many mountain streams

* Read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Dec, 6 and 20, 1852.

230 R. Chambers, Esq., on Glacial Phenomena

accustomed to bring down all sizes of gravel, but never found
in any instance those flowing outlines of abrasion which we
see in the so-called glacial surfaces. There is a palpable
enough difference, moreover, between the confused masses of
mud and sand, mingled with rounded blocks, which are found
in connection with polished surfaces, and the sorted materials,
eravel, sand, and clay, which are indisputably attributed to
watery action. I cannot entertain any doubt that, had these
specialties in the respective effects of the two agents been
carefully looked to, we should have had much less contro-
versy on this subject, and we should by this time have arrived
at results much more satisfactory.

With minds rightly prepared by observation of what ice
actually does in the countries where it-now works, I could
no more expect to see these differences overlooked, than to
find in ordinary life men attributing saw-dust to the action
of a plane, or chips to the operation of a saw. As for ice-
bergs, they have doubtless played a part, if not in the abra-
sion of rocks, at least in some of the associated phenomena
of the superficial deposits; but to attribute to them the whole
phenomena is utterly unwarrantable. If any man were to
say, that because he can with some difficulty smooth a rough
surface of wood with his thumb-nail, therefore his dining-
tables must have been fashioned and polished by the joiner
with that little instrument alone, I would consider him as
advancing a theory fully as tenable as that which consists
in attributing all the so-called glacial phenomena to ice-
bergs. It is really, however, no want of charity to say that
much of the opposition to glacial theories arises from an in-
adequate acquaintance with the phenomena of smoothed rocks
and the various deposits laid over them, and an over-faithful
attachment to, or misapplication of, certain theories of older
date.

Ancient Moraines connected with Corries or small Valleys.

When proofs of ancient glacial action in Scotland were
first looked for in 1840 by M. Agassiz and Dr Buckland, a
great number of ancient moraines were announced in the
middle and southern districts, as well as in the Highlands.
There cannot, however, be the least doubt that both of these

ea a a oe

in Scotland and Parts of England. 231

observers were misled by the novel features of our superfi-
cial formations, and in many instances mistook for results
of glacial action what were in reality alluvial accumulations,
most of them being those ancient deltas of mountain streams
which are so often found where narrow side glens join the
principal valleys. |

Amongst the contemporary observations of Sir Charles
Lyell, two objects are cited, which answer so entirely to the
character of ancient terminal moraines that I cannot doubt
their being of that character. They occur in the small ele-
vated valleys on the skirts of the Grampians, which contain
the Lochs Whorral and Brandy. “Loch Brandy,” says Sir
Charles, ‘‘is surrounded on three sides by lofty precipices of
gneiss, while on the south it is bounded only by an enormous
accumulation of sand, mud, and fragments of rocks, evidently
derived from the cliffs which overhang the lake on the east,
north, and west.’ We only can account for an accumula-
tion of such a kind in such a position by supposing the action
of a small local glacier. The two lochs are 1500 feet above
the sea. Professor Ramsay has lately discovered lakes in
North Wales formed by dams which he believes to be ancient
moraines ; and Mr Darwin has described similar objects as
occurring in South America.

Professor J. D. Forbes’s Observations on the Cuchullin Hills,
published in 1845, included descriptions of the general glacial
phenomena of that district, which are certainly of a most
striking character, the whole central valley, in which Loch
Coruisk lies, being shaven bare and striated, with a vast
number of blocks scattered over the surface, many of them
in situations where ice alone could have placed them. Yet
it is remarkable that no true moraine exists in this glen;
that is to say, no train or ridge of the rough detrital matter
marking the sides or skirts of an ancient glacier. Professor
Forbes describes one true and unmistakeable moraine as
forming “ an elongated semi-oval’’ round the mouth of a deep
corry on the outside (westward) of the Cuchullin group. He
also adverts, in less confident terms, to something of the
same kind at the mouth of the Corry-na-briech,—a short ab-
- rupt valley, likewise looking outwards to the north-west,—

232 R. Chambers, Esq., on Glacial Phenomena

where, however, I failed to trace any object which realised
to my mind the idea of a true moraine. When our associate
Mr Maclaren, in 1849, gave us his accurate summary of Gla-
cial Phenomena in Scotland, he justly remarked the rarity
of ancient moraines ; but he next year described to the Bri-
tish Association an object which he thought might prove to
be of that kind, which he had found in Glen Messan, a small
valley connected with the Holy Loch, on the Firth of Clyde.

Such may be said to be the present posture of this branch
of our subject. I have now to enumerate a few ancient
moraines which have come under my own attention in Scot-
land.

To the eastward of the Cuchullin group, and divided from
it only by Glen Sligachan, a wild valley full of polished and
striated surfaces, is the lofty mountain called Ben-Blaven.
A short abrupt valley, called Corry-hashtel, cleaves its south
side, terminating at the sea near the farm-house of Camus-
unary. About half way down this corry, on its west side,
commences a long train of blocks, in three separate and dis-
tinct lines, followed farther down by three ridges of blocks
mingled with mud, furming, beyond all question, the lateral
moraines of an ancient glacier which had descended through
Corry-hashtel, the outer line being the chronicle of its great-
est magnitude, the second marking its limit after it had
shrunk, and the third indicating its final condition. Another
and still ruder corry, descending the east side of Ben-Blaven,
with the lower summit of Garravine on the right, presents
at its mouth two or three distinct ridges of blocks mingled
with mud, which have evidently been the terminal moraines
of a glacier once filling that corry, and which had experienced
a similar shrinking. In this corry I found striated rocks.

In the savage alpine district extending along the west
coast of Ross and Sutherlandshire, moraines of this kind are
not uncommon. Indeed, in most of the high valleys of this
desolate tract, we find rude masses of detrital matter which
have evidently come, by means of glacial action, from the
neighbouring hill sides; but I propose to specify only those
which take an unmistakeably moraine form. On the south
portion of the lofty old red sandstone hills of Applecross,

in Scotland and Parts of England. 233

there is a short but deep valley issuing upon the road, about
three miles from Keeshorn. At the mouth of the valley, and
near its rivulet, large spaces of bare rock are polished and
striated, the strie being from N. 30° W., and thus conform-
able, as is customary, to the major axis of the valley. Round
the mouth of this valley are curving ridges forming true
moraines. i

In the valley in which Applecross House is situated, lumps,
lines, and cones of similar detritus, generally bristling with
large blocks, are scattered over a wide surface, and I found
amongst these one decided set of curving ridges, having the
concave of the curve turned in the most significant manner
to a deep lofty recess in the side of the glen. These I con-
sider as true moraines, the product of a glacier formed at
some remote period in Corry Glas, the recess pointed to.

North of Loch Broom, on the west coast of Ross-shire, is
a huge mountain named Ben More Coigach, of a triangular
form, and having very precipitous sides. In a deep dark
valley to the north of this mountain, a scene of extraordinary
sterility and rudeness, I found a striking collection of hum-
mocks and ridges of detrital matter, with some huge blocks
perched on the summits of rocky eminences. At one deep
precipitous corry towards the east, there was a regular curv-
ing ridge of detritus, rough with blocks, having the concave
side of the curve turned towards the corry, from which it is
not more than a quarter of a mile distant. This I also con-
sider as a true moraine.

In Assynt, Sutherlandshire, the eastern slope of the
mountain Canisp extends in a tolerably straight line for
several miles from the east end of the loch. At two places
there are slight hollows in the line of slope, and apropos to
these there are moraines in the valley below, filling its
breadth of a quarter of a mile, but partially demolished by
the rivulet which seeks its way amongst them. In both of
the hollows, the white quartz rock is polished, with strice
pointed straight down hill, clearly the effect of the glaciers
which deposited the moraines. What strikingly affiliates
the moraines or detrital ridges to the recesses in Canisp is
the fact, that the outermost lines lie close under the limestone

234 R. Chambers, Esq., on Glacial Phenomena

cliff on the other side of the valley, but nevertheless contain
only masses of quartz derived from Canisp.

The only other detrital phenomenon of the kind here ad-
verted to which I have to mention, is one in Glen Messan, a
branch of the greater valley, containing the Holy Loch, in
Argyleshire. Not far from the mouth of this glen, close
wbove a place called Coruisk, where another branch glen joins
it, there is a lofty mound of detrital matter, smooth in the
surface, and covered with turf, forming a sort of barrier
across the valley, but leaving an opening at the north ex-
tremity, through which runs the little river Messan, This,
I suppose, is the moraine which Mr Maclaren introduced to
the notice of the British Association in 1850. I do not pre-
sume to decide about the actual history of this remarkable
and singular object, but would merely remark that some
caution will be necessary before deciding that it is the mc-
raine of a glacier which has descended Glen Messan, as, con-
sidering its relative situation, and remembering similar ob-
jects in the valleys of the Alps, it may be the left lateral
moraine of the glacier of the branch glen which issues into
Glen Messan close by. However this may be, there is an
example of the true moraine in Glen Messan, about the
origin of which there can be no mistake. It occurs ata place
called Stronlonaig, about three miles above Coruisk. There
is here a corry on the south side of the glen, a rude savage
recess, enlivened only by a tumbling torrent. In the bottom
of the glen, two short lines of moraine matter curve towards
the mouth of the corry, but at such a distance that no watery
action connected with the corry could aceount for them.
Besides, between the ridges and the mouth of the corry, there
is a talus of gravel, the separate and characteristic result of
such watery action, and evidently of later origin. In short,
there has first been a glacier in this corry, descending into
Glen Messan, and leaving there two terminal moraines in
succession ; afterwards, this has passed away, and been suc-
ceeded by the present system of things, during which the
rivulet has formed a talus of debris circumscribed by the
inner moraine.

in Scotland and Parts of England. 235

Ancient Glaciers in Limited Mountain Districts.

A short excursion in the Lake District of the North of
England in April 1852, satisfied me that that district had
been the seat of local glaciers, each of which moved down
its respective valley, and I have since found that Mr Mac-
laren came to the same conclusion from what he observed
in the same region in 1850. A few stray glacial phenomena
had been PU cust} observed in the district by Dr Buckland,
Professor Phillips, Mr Bryce, and others.

Overlooking Skiddaw and Saddleback, which stand com-
paratively isolated, the mountains of the Lake Country form
two or three centres of peculiar elevation, from which the
valleys containing the lakes take their origin. The principal
centre is at Scafell and Bowfell, from which Borrowdale
descends to the north, the valley of Coniston Lake to the
south, and Wastdale to the west, while to the south-east
descend various minor vales which meet at the head of Gras-
mere, and are continued in the great valley of Windermere.
The vale containing Thirlmere also has its head in this clus-
ter of mountains. Another centre is formed by Kirkstone
Fell, Rydal Head, and Helvellyn, whence descend the valley
containing Ulleswater on the one hand, and the vales of
Rydal and.Kent on the other. Between the vales which
meet at Grasmere, and that containing Thirlmere, there is a
valley of passage, the summit of which at Dunmail Raise is
760 feet above the level of the sea.

In all of these valleys which have been examined by Mr
- Maclaren and myself, namely Borrowdale, the Ulleswater
valley, those of Thirlmere, Grasmere, Windermere, and Kent,
we have found unequivocal memorials of ancient glaciers
descending in them respectively.

The chief of these memorials are prominent masses of rock
by the sides of the valley, presenting rounded and polished
surfaces towards its head, with rough faces downwards, the
polished surfaces being farther grooved and striated in the
direction of the valley, whatever that may be. Rocks so
_ marked are particularly conspicuous near the site of the
famous Bowderstone in Borrowdale. The lofty hummock on

236 R. Chambers, Esq., on Glacial Phenomena

which that large mass has fallen from its parent cliff above,
is itself partially abraded and smoothed by ancient ice.
Various prominent masses at Lodore, at Grange, and on the
west side of Derwentwater Lake, are in the same condition,
none, however, so strikingly so as a platform of flat bare rock
near the bridge at Grange, extending to the length of forty-
two paces, and still retaining its original glassy polish and
striation, notwithstanding its being subject to much wearing,
in consequence of its proximity to a public road and to a
farm-house. About a mile above this point, the extensive
basin, embraced by the arms of Scafell and Bowfell, and
which must have formed the gathering place of the snow
forming the glacier of this valley, contracts into a compara-
tively narrow space, and there the polished surfaces are par-
ticularly conspicuous. Just above the point of contraction,
these polished surfaces are slightly roughened, and bare
masses of partially water-worn materials laid against them.
I was at a loss to account for these facts, as the rivulet runs
through a rocky channel forty or fifty feet below, until I ob-
served that the passage for the river is through a chasm, the
sides of which, angular and rough, are altogether in contrast
to the neighbouring polished surfaces. It clearly appears,
that, before the river had cut out this channel, it had formed
a lake in the open valley above, and that to the action of this
lake we are to attribute the slight roughening of the pre-
viously glacialised surfaces, and the accumulation of water-
worn debris.

The abraded surfaces at Patterdale, in the Ulleswater val-
ley, are scarcely less remarkable. Near the inn at the head
of the lake, there is so much of this sterile surface presented,
that the place reminded me much of certain parts of Sweden.
The two partially-wooded islets near the head of the lake,
rounded, shaven, polished, and only admitting vegetation in
chinks, are exactly like the numberless roches montonnées
which gem the Christiania-fiord, and, indeed, the whole of the
sea-board of Norway. As in the case of Borrowdale, there is an
extensive basin suitable for the collection of snow at the head
of this valley, and hence we might expect a glacier of consider-
able magnitude. My observing glacialised surfaces fully 200

eae

4 r -
ea a

in Scotland and Parts of England. 237

feet above the lake is not, therefore, surprising. Mr Maclaren
speaks of a striated vertical face of rock on the west side of
the deep narrow valley of Troutbeck, 500 feet above the bot-
tom of that valley, indicating a glacier of still greater depth.

In the Thirlmere valley, for several miles down from the
summit at Dunmail Raise, I could find no glacialised sur-
faces; but at length they became conspicuous at a place op-
posite Armboth, near the lower extremity of the lake. Be-
tween this place and Keswick, four miles from that town, I
found a considerable surface, exposed in consequence of
quarrying forroad-metal. The whole was beautifully polish-
ed and striated, the direction of the strie being a little west
of magnetic north, and thus coincident with the major axis
of the valley. In all of these cases, there are unequivocal
appearances of a stoss seite, or exposed side to the south, or
up the valley.

For some miles below Dunmail Raise, in the Grasmere
valley, there are, in like manner, no abraded surfaces ; but
they present themselves on the north side of that lake, with
striation pointing to N. 25° W., being the direction of the
valley at that place ; likewise in a low field south of Rydal,
and in Dr Davy’s garden, near Ambleside, where the direc-
tion, however, of the striae is more easterly, and towards
Rydal glen. - On the high ground over which the bye-road
passes between Grasmere and Skelwith Bridge, there are
mammillated rocks, with strie from N. 25° W., or nearly
magnetic north, a direction from which it would be diff-
cult for any such agent to come to sucha place. At Birth-
waite Railway Station, near the shore of Windermere,
there is a large recently exposed surface, glacially polished,
and bearing striz of the same direction, being that of the
valley of Windermere.

In the valley of the Kent, near Stavely, there are several
examples of abraded surfaces, one of which’has been accu-
rately described by Mr Bryce. Itis situated at a place called
Jacob’s Wood, and having only lately been exposed, it is in
the finest pessible condition. The slate (Lower Ludlow rocks)
is here remarkably hard, insomuch that an attempt at quar-
Trying it has had to be abandoned. A surface, fifty-three
_ VOL. LIV. NO. CVII,—APRIL 1858. R

238 R. Chambers, Esq.,; oi Glacial Phenomena

feet long by fifteen broad, is laid bare by the removal of a
coarse brown detritus containing boulders. It presents four
bosses, side by side, in the direction of the length, and the
whole is beautifully polished, with finely-marked striation
across the planes of stratification, being in the direction of
N. 46° W., [Mr Bryce says N. 34° W.,] thus pointing to-
wards the eminence forming the west side of the upper and
more mountainous portion of the Kent valley.

A detritus of half-worn blocks mixed up with a brown mass
of clay and sand, precisely resembling the moraine matter left
at the sides and extremities of existing glaciers, is deposited
in various parts of the Lake valleys, in immediate contact
with the polished surfaces, and generally in the lee of emi-
nences. Itis generally where such matter has been excavat-
ed for the making and repairing of roads, that we find the
best examples of polished surfaces, the detritus having served
as a complete protection to the vitreous polish left by the
abrading agent. As far as I have observed, the superficial
matters do not anywhere, in the central parts of the Lake
District, present the peculiar forms of either lateral or termi-
nal moraines, except in one instance, in the Thirlmere valley,
near its head at Dunmail Raise. There, in the angle be-
tween a side valley and the principal one, we find a long
ridge of rough detritus with many large blocks, extending —
down the hill-face. An inexperienced observer would be at
a loss to understand the relations in which such an object —
could stand towards any imaginable glacier hereabouts ; but
one who has seen the moraines of the Glacier des Bois and
the Glacier d’Argentiére in the Chamouni valley, would —
quickly perceive that this, in reality, is the right lateral mo-
raine of the glacier which issued at this place into the Thirl-
mere valley, from one of the high glens which ascend into
the mountain chain of Bowfell. Mr Maclaren’s moraine in
Glen Messan has been surmised as an object of precisely ©
similar history.

Not far from the moraine just described, on the summit
called Dunmail Raise, which is a valley of passage between
two ordinary valleys, there is a great mass of detrital matter,
through which the infant rills of the district have made deep.

in Scotland and Parts of England. 239

passages, shewing the hugeness of the deposit. I regret that
I did not examine this mass very carefully; but I am satis-
fied that it is a different kind of detritus from the brown
moraine matter already described, most probably the blue
boulder clay. It is very remarkable to find a different detri-
tus in a situation obviously out of the reach of the glaciers
of the valley system here described.

Dr Buckland, in 1840, announced objects in the vicinity of
the lake country, which he believed to be moraines connected
with its valleys. Thus he traced the spoils of the Patterdale
and Ulleswater valley in “extensive moraines loaded with
enormous blocks of porphyry and slate,’’ in the vicinity of
Penrith. At the vomitories of Long. Sleddale and the Kent-
mere valley, he found “ large and lofty piles of gravel.” The
districts of Furness, Ulverstone, and Dalton, to the south of
the lake region, he described as ‘‘ extensively covered with
deep deposits of glacier origin.” Dr Buckland had not been
able to examine the western outskirts of the districts; but
he believed that many hillocks laid down there in masses
were remains of moraines. Seeing that the learned geolo-
gist, in the novelty of the investigation, mistook some alluvial
accumulations in Scotland for ancient moraines, I cannot
bring forward these observations as conclusive upon the sw-
ject; and I must regret that I have not been able to con-
tribute any of my own. Now, however, that the valleys are
known to have been filled by glaciers, it may be hoped that
some local observers will institute an inquiry to ascertain
whether their detrital spoils remain in definite forms at their
vomitories, or have been carried away and dissipated over
the neighbouring country.

From the whole phenomena, I infer that the lake country
has at one time been the seat of a radiating system of gla-
eiers. I regard it as a complete and well-defined example of
glacial action in a limited mountainous district, where the
direction and slope of the valleys clearly determine the ice-
Streams. It is easy to see how the spacious basins of ele-
vated ground embosomed amongst the heights of Scafell and
Bowfell on the one hand, and Helvellyn, Rydal Head, and

Kirkstonefell on the other, formed the berceaue of the vari-
R 2

240 R. Chambers, Esq., on Glacial Phenomena

ous glaciers of whose course we have described ‘the memo-
rials. And as such basins are necessary for the formation of
glaciers, we can readily understand why no traces of glacia-
tion are to be found in the higher parts of the valleys meet-
ing at Dunmail Raise, as also why a mass of peculiar detri-
tus is left there. That place had been out of the scope of the
glaciers here spoken of, and its mass of detritus may be re-
garded as probably the result of some earlier operations.
From the descriptions which have been given us of the
Snowdonian regions in North Wales by Dr Buckland, Mr
Darwin, Professor Ramsay, and others, and from what I
have seen of it myself, I entertain no doubt that it is another
example of a limited mountain district once occupied by local
glaciers. Seven valleys radiating from a centre of elevation
present, along their sides and bottoms, rock faces which have
been ground, smoothed, and striated by ice, the stric being
in each case parallel to the line of the valley. There are also
in and about these valleys certain detrital masses which have
been set down by several observers as the moraines connected
with their ancient glaciers ; but my own observations lead
me to consider some of these as deficient in the characteristic
form of moraines, and, as a general rule, the Snowdonian
valleys may be said to be remarkably bare of detrital matter.
While this is the case, the outer flanks of this group of moun-
tains, and many high table-lands interspersed amongst them,
are covered deeply with the ‘‘ Northern Drift.” That this,
however, is the product of a different condition of things, and —
of an earlier epoch than that of the valley glaciers, appears —
to me proved by two facts, namely, that the connection of the
sea with the origin of the drift is indicated by the shell de- |
posits found in it, and that, as we learn from a late paper of
Professor Ramsay, “‘ small patches of it alone remain nestled
amid the smaller bottoms of the hills.’’ It hence appears that
the glaciers have removed or swept out this drift from the
valleys, while failing to disturb it on the high grounds and
the outskirts of the mountain district. Mr Ramsay, with his |
usual acumen, has drawn this distinction, the importance of —
which will appear in a stronger light before we have done
with the subject,

in Scotland and Parts of England. 241

In Scotland, the mountain systems are too large to allow
of our seeing any such well-defined examples of what may
be called District Glaciation, as those cited from South
Britain. The memorials of the action of ancient ice are, as
is well known, abundant in our land of mountain and flood ;
and we shall presently endeavour to embrace them in a com-
prehensive sketch ; but I am unable to select any particular
district precisely comparable to the Lake country or the
Snowdonian region, although, as has been seen, there are in
various places proofs of still more narrowly local glaciation.
It is, also, to be remarked that there are in several district
valleys in Scotland, proofs of local glaciation on a larger
scale than those already mentioned ; but these I shall advert
to in the comprehensive sketch which must now be at-
tempted.

Proofs of a more General Glaciation in Scotland.

The examples of smoothed and striated rocks in Scotland,
known up to 1849, were summed in an interesting paper by
Mr Maclaren, read before this Society in April of that year.
They were very numerous. He redescribed the remarkable
example in Gairloch, originally discovered by himself in
1845. Instances were also cited from the neighbouring
valleys of Loch Long, Loch Eck, and Loch Fyne; the direc-
tion of striz being in all instances conformable to the direc-
tion of the valleys, namely, in the first three cases from
NNW., and in the last NNE. Mr Maclaren described
striated rocks in the valleys of Loch Earn and Loch Katrine,
strie directed from the west; along Loch Lubnaig, directed
from the north; along the skirts of Demyat hill, and at Tor-
wood, in the valley of the Forth, pointing from WNW. ;
and at numerous places in the lower parts of the valley of
the Forth, about Edinburgh, and on the Pentland Hills,
pointing generally from WSW. Our learned associate
also adduced examples of the same phenomena, from the
east end of Loch Awe in Argyleshire, from Loch Etive near
Oban, from Loch Leven at Ballachulish, and from Glen
Spean near Fort William, where the exposed sides were
clearly towards the east, and the smoothing agent had of

242 R, Chambers, Esq., on Glacial Phenomena

course a westerly direction. He, therefore, drew the infer-
ence that “‘ the nucleus of this physical force, the common
centre from which their agents moved, was in the group of
mountains extending from Loch Goil northward to Loch
Laggan, dividing the springs of the Spean, the Leven, and the —
Orchay, from those of the Spey, the Tay, the Earn, and the
Forth.” At the same time, Mr Maclaren candidly admitted
that much remained to be done before adequate materials for
a satisfactory theory were collected.

M. Charles Martins, in 1850, supported Mr Maclaren in
his view of glaciers radiating out of the Highlands, and de-
scending on the plains, as sufficient to produce the phenomena
which are to be accounted for.

It seems, nevertheless, that both Mr Maclaren and M.
Martins were aware of some features of the case which
such a theory could not well account for. Mr Maclaren had
himself discovered that the eminence between Loch Long
and the Gairloch, 600 feet high, was as perfectly smoothed
along the top, as was the bottom of either of the two valleys.
Another even more startling fact, was that of a summit of
the Pentlaxds, 1400 feet high, where Professor Fleming had
found strive identical in direction with those in the plains
to the northward. Mr Maclaren had likewise observed in
the valley of Westwater, which runs north and south at the
western extremity of the Pentland range, near Dunsyre, and
which is 800 or 900 feet above the sea, that strie crossed
through it in a direction from west to east, thus persevering —
in the normal direction of the district, in circumstances where,
if anywhere, a divergence was to be expected. That any
group of our Highland mountains, ranging as they do from
3000 to 3500 feet high, should have sent forth from their ’
valleys, ranging far below that elevation, for so it must have
been, a glacier which reached the area of Mid-Lothian,
seventy miles off, in such volume and depth as to envelope a
range of hills to the depth of 1400 feet, and in such unyield-
ing force as there to cross a minor valley, 800 or 900 feet
above the sea, without diverging in the least from its course,
was certainly to be scarce expected by any one who was con-
tent to confine his view to what we see done by such ice-

in Scotland and Parts of England. 243

streams as now exist in the Alps. I, in some measure, inti-
mated this objection to the British Association in 1850,
when, professing to be unprepared for any theory on the sub-
ject, I held that one was wanting which would plausibly ac-
eount for the Pentland phenomena, as also for the uniformity
of striation on the front of the Fife hills, on the opposite
side of the Forth valley, for I had been shewn markings at
Cullelo quarry and near Burntisland, identical in direction
with the various examples in Lothian, proving that the whole
valley from the Lomonds to the Pentlands, and even beyond
these hills, had been under one glacial agent, self-consistent
throughout in its movement and operation.

The observations which I have been able to make since the
Edinburgh meeting of the Association have served much to
confirm me in the belief, that the views entertained up to
that time, for the explanation of the glacial phenomena of
Scotland, were far from being adequate to embrace the facts
of the case.

It appears to me that previous observers have, in the first
place, had too few facts to speculate upon, and have conse-
quently pronounced as if certain local and partial phenomena,
such as might arise in a limited Alpine region, were alone to
be accounted for. They have also, from a similar limitedness
of view, erred in attempting to explain the phenomena as a
product of only one set of conditions existing at one point in
time.

As to the real extent of the phenomena in Scotland, the
difficulty is not so much to say where there are abraded and
striated rocks, more or less covered by glacial detritus, as
where such rocks ave not. I have, since August 1850, found
them along the whole range of the coast north of Argyleshire,
namely, in Inverness-shire, and the counties of Ross, Suther-
land, and Caithness. I have found them in the Isle of Skye,
in situations independent of the Cuchullin Hills : in the island
of Mull; all along Loch Lomond, and Loch Katrine ; even
the picturesque eminences which constitute the Trosachs being
roches montonnées, with abraded faces to the west. I havelike-
wise found them in Perthshire, Fife, and Aberdeenshire. They
are reported from Ayrshire. I have found a large lateral

fia 7
ao

244 R. Chambers, Esq., on Glacial Phenomena

moraine near Maxwellton House, in Kirkcudbright, and seen
fine smoothings with striation on the surface of Corncockle
Muir, in Dumfriesshire. When we add these situations to
those previously ascertained, we see that glacial phenomena
are so widely distributed, that it is making but a small de-
mand on hypothesis to say, that we should find traces of ice
everywhere, except at the utmost on the summits of the loftier
hills, if all our rock-surfaces were exposed, and if all those
actually exposed had been equally capable of retaining the
impressions made byice. In point of fact, we may see in every
valley in the country, forms of the surface which, though
changed by weathering and other agencies, it is easy to con-
nect through a series of similar objects with indubitable
glacial surfaces, so as to satisfy ourselves that these too have
been glacialised. Thus, nothing is more common in the High-
Jand valleys than rounded humps of upturned gneiss or mica-
slate, with the strata shorn sharply through. In many in-
stances, exposure has caused a weathering, the extent of
which we may know to be one, two, or even three inches, by
the prominence of quartz veins to that height. Near these,
we often find, where a recent exposure has taken place, sur-
faces of the same rock, finely smoothed and striated. Other
examples in all intermediate degrees of weathering can be
detected, clearly shewing that the polished condition was ori-
ginally that of all such rounded masses. Hence, even when
there is a single case decided of polishing in a whole glen,
we may see enough to prove that such was the original con-
dition of the whole. So also, if we find sandstone of a cer-
tain considerable degree of hardness always presented pro-
minently above the surface, as at Ravelston and Craigleith,
in Mid Lothian, at Cullelo in Fife, and at Brora in Suther-
landshire, and always in these instances smoothed and
striated even after long exposure, we may not unreasonably
infer that other sandstone surfaces, in no respect of relative
situation different, but comparatively soft, and tending to a
blazy condition of the surface, would have been glacialised
likewise, if of the proper consistence.

As our own neighbourhood is specially rich in the pheno-

in Scotland and Parts of England. 245

mena of polished and striated surfaces, I may dwell a little
longer upon it, mentioning a few examples as yet unre-
corded. : |

There are, as is well known, some vertical faces of the
basaltic clinkstone of Edinburgh Castle rock, which have
evidently been polished by some external application. Near
this, in the foundation of the Corn Exchange in the Grass-
market, Mr David Page found the subjacent rock polished and
striated. It is well remembered that, a few years ago, on
the cutting out of the superficial detritus on the south
shoulder of Arthur’s Seat, above Sampson’s Ribs, a spot 390
feet above the sea, the rock was found to form a kind of
trough, the sides and bottom of which were polished and
striated. In 1850, some cuttings at the St Margaret’s sta-
tion of the North British Railway, near Jock’s Lodge, enabled
me to ascertain that the north base of Arthur’s Seat is
smoothed and marked in precisely the same manner, namely,
with striz and groovings directed from a point south of
west; while numerous rounded and striated boulders are in-
terspersed through the superincumbent compact blue clay,
There has lately been a similar exposure of the surface at the
parting of the Bathgate and Edinburgh and Glasgow Railways
at Ratho, and there likewise we see the rock polished and
furrowed, while the striz observe a similar direction. In
Kast Lothian, I have found at Whitekirk, at Craig, at Fen-
ton ‘Town, and other places, instances of this phenomenon,
additional to those previously detected in that county. Pro-
fessor Fleming likewise detected glacial surfaces on the west
- front of North Berwick Law, near the base. The direction
of the lines is generally very nearly uniform, namely, from
_ one to two points south of west, being the general direction

of the valley.

There is something in the general configuration of our dis-
trict even more remarkable than in these polished surfaces.
_ It is forty years since Sir James Hall observed the peculiar
form of eminence which he called crag-and-tail, and of which
he pointed out instances in the Abbey Craig and Stirling
Castle rocks, in the hill of the Old Town of Edinburgh, and
_ some others. It consisted, as is well known, of an abrupt

2i6 R. Chambers, Esq., on Glacial Phenomena

face or cliff to the westward and a gentle slope to the east-
ward, the face being usually composed of some rock capable
of presenting a powerful resistance to any denuding agent.
Colonel Imrie found in the Campsie Hills and the Grampians
a marked tendency to the same form, with the same arrange-
ment. More than this, but quite in conformity with it, is a
tendency in the surface of Lothian to a ridge-and-trough
form, exemplified most strikingly in such groups of third-rate
hills as those of Dalmahoy and Garleton, where the lines of
both the heights and hollows are throughout very nearly the
same. We see the same form on a subdued scale in the
ground between Corstorphine Hill and Leith, whieh consists
of a series of broad longitudinal swells, with slight hollows
between. All of these ridges and hollows are in the same
direction as the hills of erag-and-tail, and the whole conform
to the direction of the striz upon the rocks.

From such cbjects, it is but a step to extend our observa-
tions to the sides of those larger hills which bound valleys,
as the life Lomonds and the Pentlands, where we very often
find a remarkable form of surface, which may be described
as Mouldings, extending longitudinally, but not always
quite horizontally, along the slope, and clear in their cross
sections of every kind of abruptness or inequality rising above
the sectional outlines. Such mouldings are easily seen on the
Pentlands from about Colinton; on the northern aspects of
Arthur’s Seat; under Dunearn summit in Fife; on Demyat
from the valley below ; on several parts of the Campsie Tells,
particularly above Banton ; on the hills to the south of Loch
Vennachar and Loch Achray, in Perthshire ; and on many
other of the Scottish hills, but generally most clearly when
the sun shines at a low angle along the slope. They are clearly
attributable to the operation of the same agent, of which some
other serrations or irregularities haye fashioned the longi-
tudinal ridges in the valley below ; that is to say, more cor-
rectly, some stronger consistency of rock has in both cases
presented a more than usual resistance to the planing agent.
Now these markings are seen at great elevations among the
hills, and but a small way from their summits; and the flow-
ing sky-lines of the greater portion of our secondary hills are

in Scotland and Parts of England. 247

manifestly connected with them in respect of cause. Thus,
when we eliminate cliffs and other rough parts as only ex-
ceptions, and the effect of subsequent weathering and other
casual forces, a comprehensive eye cast over the mountain
system of Scotland, has no difficulty in seeing the effects of a
general abrading agent which has passed over and more or
less moulded nearly the whole.

I am prepared, however, to shew proofs of a general abra-
sion in Scotland, compared to which the above can only be
considered as adjuvant and subordinate.

Most students of geology will remember the striking de-
scription which Dr M‘Culloch gives of the range of old red
sandstone mountains which extends for fifty miles along the
west coast of Ross and Sutherland. From a platform of
upturned gneiss, undulating in outline, and between 200 or
300 and 1000 feet above the sea, rise these mountains iso-
latedly to the height of from 3000 to 3500 feet above the sea,
with wide spaces between, in some of which lie lakes and
estuaries. The strata being disposed at a low angle, it be-
comes evident that they are the relics of one wide-spread
formation, out of which gaps have been cut by some external
agent; and hitherto the district has been regarded as a strik-
ing example of the process of denudation, and often adverted
to as such in elementary books, the agent usually presumed
being water. Not one of these mountains, as far as I am
aware, advances to the coast or abuts on the sea; but at Rhu
Stor, in Sutherlandshire, a small low patch of the sandstone
borders the coast and passes beneath the waves, which have
cut it into very fantastic forms.

It seems to me entirely inadmissible that the sea has been
the denuding agent in this case, and for the following reasons:
—First, On the gneiss platform between the mountains and
the coast, we do not see the fragments of sandstone which
would be deposited there by such an operation. Second, We
have at Holborn Head, in Caithness, and all along the coasts
of Aberdeen and Forfarshire, cliffs of old red sandstone abut-
ting on the waves, and worn by them into deep chasms and
caves, with isolated columnar masses here and there left out

248 R. Chambers, Esq., on Glacial Phenomena

at sea; but the faces of the mountains in question bear no
trace of such operations.

On these mountains, however, at least such of them as I
have examined in the district of Assynt and at Loch Maree
in Ross-shire, and on the gneissic platform whereon they rest,
there are abundant traces of glacial action. These are apt
at first to appear of a confused and contradictory character ;
but all difficulty vanishes when we arrive at the idea of a
local system of glaciers succeeding a system of things during
which a more general glaciation took place, and substituting
for the effects of that more general movement effects of its
own; the key to much that has been perplexing in the inves-
tigation of this subject.

There is one of these mountains which attracts more ob-
servation than any other, on account of its extraordinary
form, which has given it among sailors the name of Sugar
Loaf, though it is properly called Suilvean (meaning Har
fTill). It extends in a narrow ridgy form for upwards of a
mile, with sides so steep as to be inaccessible in most places
(I measured an angle of 58° on one side, and found the pre-
cipice on the other absolutely vertical) ; the west end being
also very steep, while the east slopes away in a tail. Seen
at the west end, the hill looks like a lofty tower with a dome-
shaped top, something not unlike the Eddystone Lighthouse,
—a resemblance not a little helped by the palpable stratifi-
cation, which has the appearance of a Titanic masonry.
Another perfectly isolated mountain, called Stack, precisely
resembles Suilvean, and these, from their position, may be
considered as a front guard for the series towards the sea.

Behind that range is a series composed of Cuineag, Canisp,
Coul More, and Coul Beg, which, with bold faces to the west,
dip down on the east at an angle of about 9°, their lower
slopes in that direction passing under another range of hills
resting on a broad band of limestone. The backs or eastern
slopes of all these hills are composed of quartz rock—sand-
stone metamorphosed into that character—and the bareness
and whiteness of that peculiar surfacing gives them a very
remarkable appearance. It becomes readily apparent, that

in Scotland and Parts of England. 249:

these quartz carapaces, as they may be called, are what has
protected the hills from the utter demolition and removal
which have befallen the matter once filling the great inter-
vals between them.

Now, in this range of hills, there are phenomena of smooth-
ing, striation, and detrital accumulations, which can only be
accounted for on the supposition of there having been, be-
sides a district glaciation in the valleys, like that of the Lake
Country, an earlier general glaciation which has passed
over the backs, if not the very summits of the hills.

The valley in which Loch Assynt hes, extending up into a
spacious bosom of high ground inclosed by the summits of
Ben Uie and Glasvean, has been the seat of a glacier origin-
ating in that bosom, and which had swept out to sea at Loch
Inver and Rhu Stor. We see all along this course, smoothed
rocks, with striz in the line of the valley. In the higher
parts, are moraines, one of them forming the barrier of a
little lake. In the middle part, about Loch Assynt, are
accumulations of moraine matter: while along the gneissic
platform, towards Rhu Stor, are examples of long ridges,
with the stoss seite to the east, and a lee side to west, at-
tended by gatherings of moraine matter in the lee, containing,
with many masses of the gneiss, some of the red sandstone,
which may be presumed to have been brought from the skirts
of Cuineag. When we go onward to the low patch of sand-
stone on the coast at Stor, we find fragments of the gneiss
carried over it, still confirming a westerly movement at this
place. 3 |

At the back or north side of the elevated ridge formed by
Ben Uie and Glasvean, there is another valley called Glen
Coul, which runs out to the westward, and is partly filled by
_ the estuary of Kyle Skou. This has likewise been the seat
of a local glacier, as appears from similar proofs ; but it has
been on a smaller scale, not having had such a spacious field
for the collection of the proper material.

So much for the glaciation of this district, where there are
bosoms amongst the hills and valleys running out from them,
appropriate seats of local glaciers. But on the summits and
high slopes of the hills, and on the portions of the gneissic

250 R. Chambers, Esq., on Glacial Phenomena

platform not connected with valleys, there are traces of an

independent and, I believe, earlier glaciation. On Cuineag

and Canisp—on the former up to the height of 1700 or 1800—
feet, and on the latter not much less, the quartz surfaces are

marked with black streakings, which are the strie peculiar

to a singularly hard rock, and these run from about N. 60°
W. with certain exceptions. One of these is at the base of
the slope of Cuineag, where the streaks are from the direct
north, apparently by reason of the turn which the agent has

there received from the base of the adjacent hill. Another

exception is at the hollow dividing the mass of the hill from

its loftiest top, where another system of streakings comes

in from the direct west, thus with the other set clipping the

summit of the hill. It may be remarked that the-dip of the

strata on the backs of these hills is usually at a somewhat

greater inclination than the outline of the surface, the resis-

tance having been the stronger the nearer the bottom. There

is a great quantity of quartz slabs strewed along the back of
the hill, being the last fragments which have been torn up

by the denuding agent, and many of the surfaces exposed
have evidently undergone no attrition. This has afforded us
an opportunity of observing the difference between an abra-

ded surface and one which has undergone no abrasion, and it
is very striking. The unabraded surface presents an inequa-

lity of outline, partaking of a tuberculated*character, which

is entirely wanting in one which has been subjected to the

striating agent. —

On a summit running south from Ben More, fully 1500
feet high, and four or five miles to the south-east of Cuineag,
there are streakings on the quartz, observing the normal di-
rection of this general movement, namely, about N. 60° W.
What is most curious and significant, and settles the question
of two systems and epochs of glaciation, is, the fact of there
being upon Canisp, cross strive connected with those local
moraines at the base which were adverted to in the earlier
part of this paper. The strong normal streaks athwart the
hill from the north-west, a direction in which no local or limit-
ed mass of ice could move, are clearly chequered with fainter
streaks produced by this simple down-hill movement, which

in Scotland and Parts of England. 251

happens to be from WSW. It may also be remarked that,
on some other parts of the mountain, of no great elevation,
there are down-hill streakings without any of those from the
north-west. Such is likewise the case on the back of Coul
More.

On the gneissic platform, between Coul More and Suilvean
I found polished surfaces, striated from NW. to W.; and
to the west and north of the latter mountain are markings in
all respects similar. Such is the line of the major axis of
Suilvean itself, and of many ridges and hollows of the gneiss,
as may be partly observed from the Map ; for such is the di-
rection of many lakes which repose in these hollows, and
which are laid down in maps. ‘These are situations where
no local glaciers could exist. They only could be marked by
some glaciation more general than any we now See in opera-
tion.

At a particular stage in the investigation of this district, I
thought that, there being proofs of so extensive a denudation
in Assynt, by an abrading agent coming from the north-west,
we ought to find extensive deposits of the detritus of the dis-
trict in regions situated to the eastward. I therefore made
an extensive detour, in order to pass along the valley con-
taining Loch Shin, and looked carefully there for fragments
of quartz and old red sandstone. Not a fragment was to be
found. The mystery was, however, soon cleared up ; for it
became evident, from both striated surfaces and moraines,
that this valley had been, like that of Loch Assynt and Glen
Coul, the seat of a comparatively late local glacier, which
necessarily had swept out every particle of earlier detritus.

It must now be observed, that the proofs of such a general
extension and so deep a volume of mobile ice, are not con-
_ fined to this district. Streaking, precisely the same as that
of Cuineag and Canisp, exists at an elevation of at least 2000
feet, on the similar quartz mountain named Ben-Hay, south
of Loch Maree, and forty miles from Assynt,—this striation
being from NW., or thereabouts, and totally irrespective of
the form of the hill. On free ground, between Gairloch and
Poolewe, there is similar marking, with a direction from
WNW. So also is there in the great elevated valley of

252 R. Chambers, Esq., on Glacial Phenomena

passage across the island in Ross-shire,—the dreary Dirry
More.

It seems to me that the whole phenomena can only be ac-
counted for, by our supposing that there was, jirst, a general
Sweeping of the surface of this district by a deep flow of mo-
bile ice, one great cause, if not the principal, of that enormous
denudation which has been described, but of which the spoils,
from the universality and power of the agent, were in a great
measure carried away. Second, local, and certainly subzerial
glaciers, occupying certain valleys in the more elevated moun-
tain systems, and producing moraines, composed of brown
clay, sand, and blocks. The small glaciers first pointed to
in this paper were perhaps of a still later date, when the
mean temperature was not much below its present point.

The examples which have been cited do not, after all, refer
to avery extensive district ; but when we take a wider range
of observation, we find phenomena which are for the most
part in perfect harmony with those of the west coast of Assynt.
Passing northward to Rhiconich, we find near that place
strie coming in from the coast, from the north-west, and
passing across a high moor, with no regard whatever to the
inequalities of the ground. A little farther north, at Loch
Laxford, a fine surface is marked with striation from the
north-west, being across the valley in which tt occurs. At
an opening in the bold gneissic coast which looks out upon
the Pentland Firth, there is strong marking in a direction
from NNW. The high desolate tract called Moen, between
Loch Eribol and Tongue Bay, where there is nothing that
could restrain or guide the movement of the ice, exhibits
striation from IV. 28° W. Strie, in nearly the same direc-
tion, namely, N. 25° W., occur four miles to the east of
Tongue Bay. On perfectly free ground, at Armadale, the
markings point almost directly from the north. When we
pass on to Caithness, where the country generally is of that
rounded undulating character which speaks of glacial action,
we find a few traces of striation, still from points between
north and north-west, which 1s directly transverse to a line
pointing to the neighbouring hills. At the Clynelish quarry,
near Brora, in Sutherlandshire, the fine surface of smoothed

in Scotland and Parts of England. 253

sandstone, pointed out by Sir Roderick Murchison, exhibits
striation from a point north of west. This pointing back to
a valley out of which a local glacier may have come, and the
gorge of which shews many moraine-like ridges, is perhaps
not a true case; but if it be, the line of the striation is not
much out of conformity. Striation of north-westerly direction
is found in a valley near Loch Fleet, also at Invershin, and
along the road to Assynt.. So also is it found in the valley
of the Shin, but with what I consider undoubted moraines,
shewing at least a subsequent local glaciation.

I found only one example of remarkable divergence in
Sutherlandshire, beyond the instances of undoubted local
glaciation in Assynt, and this was in the valley in which
Loch Eribol lies. The sides of this valley are composed of
quartz rock, and the whole bears a great resemblance to the
Gairloch. The quartz is everywhere smoothed down to a
condition of the highest polish, excepting where some modern
fracturing has taken place ; and the striz on this fine surface
run between a point east of north, and one west of south,

being. precisely the direction of the valley. The probability
_ is, however, that a glacier has descended this valley from the
bosoms of the great eminences in the Dearrie Forest.

Tar to the south of this district, in the valleys near the
western extremity of the Great Glen, we have seen that
there are markings, which Mr Maclaren has described as
having a direction from the interior of the country towards
the west coast ; in which respect they differ from those now
under our immediate notice. He particularly mentions some
on the south side of Loch Awe, about a mile west from Dal-
mally Inn, where there are two small crag-and-tail hills, with
striz from ENE., and masses of stones and soil tothe WSW.
He also lays much force upon certain smoothings at and
near Monessie, in Glen Spean, where the rough or protected
sides are clearly down the valley, or to the west. Now, in
several places connected with this valley, there are abraded
rocks, with the rough sides in the opposite. direction. Mr
Milne Home has described one group at the opening of Loch
-Treig, and another at the junction of Glen Fintec with Glen
Gluoy. I was with Mr Milne Horne when these examples
_ VOL. LIV. NO. CVIII.—APRIL 1853. 8

254 R. Chambers, Esq., on Glacial Phenomena

were discovered, and can testify to their genuineness. I
also find, among my own memoranda, a note and sketch of
another, which we had discovered at the head of Glen Glas-
ter, with the smoothed side to the north-westward. Thus,
in the very district containing the markings which Mr Mac-
laren, M. Martins, and Sir Roderick Murchison, have de-
pended on as completing their proofs of a radiating arrange-
ment, we see that there is a more widely-spread set of mark-
ings, more elevated in situation, and in conformity with the
normal direction. Mr Maclaren also mentions smoothed rocks
on Loch Etive, with striation, to his surprise, not conformable
to the shore, and coming, as he thought, from ESE., or from
Loch Awe, though hills of from 300 to 500 feet intervene.
I have no doubt that if Mr Maclaren had seen the examples
which exist in the far north, he would have regarded this as
an example of that early general glaciation proceeding from
the north-west, which we have shewn to be independent of
even more considerable inequalities of ground than the hills
of Loch Htive.

It happens that, at a place not many miles from Loch Etive,
namely the Isle of Kerrera, opposite Oban, there are numer-
ous smoothed surfaces dipping into the sea, with striation
from N.60° W., being nearly the same direction as Mr Mac-
laren’s, WNW. Ifthe agent moved on to 8. 60° E., it would ©
strike the shore at Oban; and if it went straight on, it must —
have passed over the high grounds which lie between that
shore and Loch Awe. The question may arise, Did it not
pass in the opposite direction? One circumstance, not easily
reconcileable with that idea, and otherwise highly curious, is, |
that on the high grounds above Tobermory, in Mull, twenty- —
five miles from Oban, there are strize pointing from N. 60° W. °
No glacier proceeding from the hills above Oban could go
straight on to this point, and leave marks on a hill two hun-
dred feet high. But, when we see marks in the far north, as
independent of unequal ground, and equally irrelative to the —
kind of grounds which feed glaciers, we have no room to doubt
that these Mull and Oban markings belong to the same class.

The examples in the valleys of Loch Fine, Loch Eck, Loch —
Long, and Gairloch, which Mr Maclaren has cited, all with

in Scotland and Parts of Kngland. 255

a southerly direction, may easily be interpreted as parts of
this grand early system of glaciation, though perhaps par-
tially affected by local glaciation at a later period. It has
already been stated by Sir Roderick Murchison, that there is
no imaginable centre for the issue of glaciers of the ordinary
kind down the Gairloch. And the objection is one which
apparently cannot be answered. Mr Maclaren has himself ob-
served a fact irreconcileable with such a theory in the smooth-
ing of the hills of 600 feet high, between Gairloch and Loch
Long. I have myself observed, in the adjacent Holy Loch, that
the striation, which is there from north to south, indicates an
agent which has come slanting over the hill, between that
valley and Loch Long,—an eminence of not less height.
Conformable also are the eastward markings of Strathearn,
and the southward markings of Loch Lubnaig. I have lately
observed that the valley of Loch Lomond is glacialised south-
wardly, the line of its length, soches montonnées, with stria-
tion, being conspicuous at Bealmaha, Rowandernnan, Luss,
and Tarbert. Some islets near Luss are of this character, be-
ing precisely like the examples in Ulleswater. Those who are
accustomed to affiliate glaciers exclusively to high mountains,
would be somewhat surprised to see proofs of such a stream
of ice having swept laterally along the base of Ben Lomond.
At the same time, I am not sure that the valley of Loch
Lomond has not been latterly filled with a local glacier de-
scending from some of the elevated basins near its northern
extremity, and which, by one of its moraines, may have
_ formed the dam at its foot. A train of granite blocks traced
by Mr Hopkins along the side of the loch to a northerly
origin is a circumstance pleading strongly for such a theory.
One example of smoothed and striated rocks at Stronach-
lachar, near the head of Loch Katrine, is worthy of parti-
cular notice, as utterly destructive of the idea of exclusively
local glaciers, and only to be explained by that of an agent
wide-spread over the land, plastic, but pressing hard, and not
readily yielding to any local obstruction. There is here
Striation ascending obliquely out of the loch, passing over a
high jutting hill promontory, reappearing under compact
elay, in low ground, at some distance from the loch, and every-
S 2

256 R. Chambers, Esq., on Glacial Phenomena

where maintaining precisely one direction, and that from
NNW. To all appearance, the agent which produced these
impressions came over a lofty range of hills from Balquidder,
and passed on to cross a scarcely lower range, and descend
into the valley of Loch Ard. There has also been, as already
mentioned, an issue of glaciers by the south-east end of the
lake, among the defiles of the Trosachs, part of the rough-
ness of which is caused by a large moraine.

The descent of this great or general glacier into the south
and east of Scotland can be traced at other points. A lofty
and extensive sandstone plateau between Campsie and Glas-
gow, exhibits extensive smoothings, with striation from
WNW. Eminences of trap in the valley of Strathblane
have manifestly abraded faces to the north-west. There are
clear marks of the passage of ice over the conglomerate skirts
of Demyat, directed to ESE.; also, in the same direction
over the sandstone at the Torwood, near Larbert. The line
of the remarkable passages through the trap eminence at
Stirling Castle is precisely conformable. Farther on, the
agent gets a turn to the northward, bringing it into con-
formity with the line of the Forth valley ; it continues to be
from about W. 15° S., all along by Edinburgh and East
Lothian, the only remarkable excess in this twist of movement
being at Silvermine quarry, a lofty position to the south of
Linlithgow, where it is as much as W. 45° S. On the lime
stone here, over beautifully marked surfaces, lies a deep bed
of the compact blue clay with blocks, which, besides being

scattered through the mass, form a zone a good many fect —

down, a striking but not unexampled peculiarity.

From the south of the Pentland Hills and Lammermuir
range, there are no reported examples of abraded or scratched :
surfaces, a fact apparently to be attributed to the splintery —

character of the Silurian hills of the south of Scotland. The

general mammillated character of the outline of these hills —

is, however, very remarkable, from its resemblance to the
configuration of ground on which we trace true ice markings.

It is also to be noted that in Berwickshire, the masses in-

te
i —— tO

in Scotland and Parts of England. 257

The views here advanced for a general glaciation are sup-
ported by facts from Scandinavia, which no theory of exclu-
sively local glaciation, or of abrasion exclusively by floating
ice, can possibly account for. M. Bohtlink, who examined
the glacial phenomena of Scandinavia with great care, found
there, as we have done in Scotland, many examples of stria-
tion in the direction of the valleys. But he also found on the
intermediate heights the normal direction observed, some-
times at an angle of 50° to that of the valleys. This is pre-
cisely what I have found in Sutherlandshire. Ihave myself
seen something of the glacial phenomena of Scandinavia, and
fully believe that local glaciers once filled many of the valleys
of that country. The moraines of the celebrated Gulbrands-
dalen, at Mosshuus and Laurgard, which I have described
elsewhere, are not to be mistaken. There are, moreover, in
Lapland and Finland clear proofs of glaciers having run out
to north-westward and north-eastward. But to rest content
with the idea that the direction of all such action can be
traced back to the great plateaux—which is the case of Eng-
lish geologists at this day—is to stand in a position which I
am certain cannot be maintained. Take the following facts

of my own observation, as only a selection of reasons which
might he adduced for that conclusion.

In the very midst of the Scandinavian plateau, on the sum-
mit of 4000 feet elevation at Jerkind, and in the immediate
neighbourhood of Sneehatte, the southern slope is abraded
and polished almost to the top, with striz between north-east
and south-west—a line totally irrespective of all the great
mountains of the district, such as Sneehatte, which it sweeps
laterally. There is, in fact, no higher ground from which
the required agent could descend to this spot: the effects
have clearly been produced by an agent crossing the chain.

_ There is, indeed, in the neighbouring valley of the Driv, an

abrasion running downwards to the north, with a great
lateral moraine at a considerable elevation along the moun-
tain side; and this is the undoubted memorial of a local or
valley glacier, easily traceable to the hollow grounds around
Sneehatte. It is easy, however, to see that the markings at

258 R. Chambers, Esq., on Glacial Phenomena

Jerkind, being wholly unconnected with either more elevated
ground in which an ordinary glacier could be formed, or with
a valley in which it could be contained and directed, must
have had a totally different history. Again, on the summit
over which the road from Lavanger to Sundsvall passes, and
the great connecting line between Norway and Sweden in
that quarter, the col is a wide saddle-formed space, with only
gentle heights on both sides, but crossed transversely by a
group of low ridges. The whole of this space, composed of
rocks of chlorite schist, is abraded by an agent which has
been able to shear sharply through the upturned edges of
the strata, leaving clear strie to mark its course. Surprising
to say, that course has not been across from west to east,
as the road passes; neither has it been from north to south
in the line of the little ridges ; but it is athwart both of these
lines of hollow, from north-west to north-east, and thus
clearly has been independent of the form of the country. It
is not till we see such demonstrations as these, that we can
fully apprehend the weakness of the position which English
geologists have been contented with for the last ten years,
in believing that every thing may be accounted for by de-
tached masses of floating ice, set in motion by currents.

It is a remarkable feature of the northern peninsula, that
the descent from the great back bone of the country towards
the west, constituting Norway, is by a series of comparatively
short, steep, deep valleys, generally very bare, or only pre-
senting certain alluvia in the lower and wider spaces towards
the sea, while the slope towards the east, constituting Sweden,
is gentle and open, with an enormous abundance of detrital
accumulations spreading over all for many miles, from the
flanks of the hills, where they reach to a great elevation. It
was my fortune to pass across the Plateau from Norway
into Sweden, and I felt myself to have been quite unprepared
for the accumulations which I met with in the lee of the hills,
immediately on descending from the bare striated col above
described. The matter took the form of vast terraces, with
promontories of the superior stretching into the inferior, and
while the surface matter was always water-worn and water- —

in Scotland and Parts of England. 259

laid, the interior, wherever laid open for road material,
shewed of precisely the same character as the stuff constitu-
ing the moraines of the Alps. Now, it would be necessary
for the exclusive advocates of a drift by floating ice radiating
from mountain chains, to shew how there has been such a drift
from one side of that of Scandinavia, while there is so little
in the opposite direction. They would need to prove that this
detrital accumulation in the lee of a mountain chain, is any
thing different from the familiar phenomenon of a tail of debris
in the lee of a second or third rate hill, or of an isolated rock,
and ought not to be set down to the same cause; namely, the
chain having been involved in a flow of ice, in some form, in
some circumstances, which pressed hard upon and swept
bare the hither side, but, passing with comparative lightness
over what lay beyond, left there some of the solid matter with
which it was charged.

It is also to be remarked how little help any such moun-
tain chain as that of Scandinavia is really calculated to give
us in explaining some of the phenomena. On the shores of
the Gulf of Bothnia, and in Finland, where there are vast
Spaces finely polished, with striation from NW.; in the
country near Stockholm ; in the district between Christiania
and Christiansand, and around Gottenburg, where the
polished surfaces are equally extensive, but where the stria-
tion has a bend towards the south-west; we are many hun-
dreds of miles from that presumed centre of action, and the
intervening space presents an infinite number of minor obstruc-

tions, all of which, however, have been swept over by the agent,
_ whatever it was. If glaciers proceeding from the plateau be
presumed, we should require to know how any such agent
descending from hills only half as high as the Swiss Alps
could travel over twenty times the space, in a condition, too,
necessarily attenuated, through the wideness of the country
_ over which they must have spread. If ice-floes dragging
detritus over the surface are presumed, it should be shewn
_ how any such agent could be impelled over the submarine
- heights and hollows of such an extent of country, everywhere
_ pressing as hard upon the sea-bottom as if its full weight
_ were exercised upon it under subaerial circumstances.

260 R. Chambers, Esq., on Glacial Phenomena

The general glaciation of which we see traces in Scotland,
finds a still more unequivocal parallel in the northern part
of the American Continent. It is well known that there are
proofs all over Canada, and toa point far south in the United |
States, as well as around Lakes Huron and Superior, of an _
abrading agent for the most part from the north-west.*
Mountains of 2000 feet in height bear on their sides and ~
tops striation in that direction ; while to the north-westward, _
no mountains of greater elevation to serve as gathering-
places for glaciers can be pointed out. Scandinavia, indeed,
would be in precisely the same circumstances as North —
America in respect of these phenomena, if there were no
such lofty chain as the Dovre-Field to variegate its surface —
—hence that plateau may be presumed to be quite indifferent
in the case, except as a proof of the grandeur of the agent
which could over-ride such elevations.

Speculations on the Causes of the More General Glaciation.

When the phenomena of ancient glacial action in the
region of the Alps were first observed by Messrs Charpen-
tier, Venetz, and Agassiz, it was thought that the abrasion
of Scandinavia, which had been described some years before
and attributed to floods, might be accounted for by an ex-
tension of the polar ice over that region, and its movement
southwards, under the influence of a principle of dilatation,
supposed to reside within the glacier itself, and believed to
be dependent on the infiltration of water into chinks and its
subsequent freezing. This doctrine of dilatation has been,
as is well known, very generally abandoned, in consequence —
of the demonstrations brought by Professor James Forbes in
favour of his proposition, that “a glacier is an imperfect
fluid, or a viscous body, which is urged down slopes of a cer-

* Sir Charles Lyell shews that the ordinary and natural course of icebergs
borne by currents is from the NE. to SW.; and in his attempt to account for
the glacial markings in America by that agent alone, he observes that the
general direction is the same as that of the icebergs. But I find that, in
Bigsby’s map of the glacial phenomena of Northern America,* the direction in —
by far the greater number of the markings is from NW. to Sh, |

* Quarterly Jour. of Geol. Soc, April 1851.

in Scotland and Parts of England. 261

tain inclination, by the mutual pressure of its parts.” In
the eagerness to give up this view of a possible cause, the
very fact of the glacial abrasion of Scandinavia has been also
given up by many, as if the two things had been essentially
connected. At least, we have for some years heard little of
the abrasion either of that region or of America. Most
geologists seem to be content to regard the phenomena, in
the reduced or restricted form in which they contemplate
them, as capable of being produced by floating icebergs
which had grazed the bottom of the sea in their voyage
southward, when the land in that quarter was submerged, or
by these agents joined to ice-floes and masses of detritus
carried along by powerful currents.

I must profess myself unable to see the force of the logic
which demands that certain phenomena should be regarded
as non-existent, or reduced to some fraction of their actual
extent, because one theory of the mode of operation of their
assumed cause has been found untenable. Be the value or
fate of the Dilatation Theory what it may, it can make no
change in the fact, that all over Scandinavia, below a certain
elevated point, the rocky surface, wherever it has been duly
protected and is now exposed, or even in some instances
where it has been exposed for ages, is found to be worn or
shorn down to a flowing outline, is polished, furrowed, and
striated, exactly as we see that the surfaces of elevated valleys
in the Alps are worn, polished, and striated by the glaciers
moving in them at the present day. This fact still remains
to be accounted for; and if one line of speculation on its
cause shall fail, the right course, I apprehend, is to look out
for another.

It is remarkable that Professor Forbes himself has been
far from giving countenance to any such consequence of the
refutation of the Dilatation Theory.

It is, however, far more remarkable that the prevalent
theories of English geologists on this subject are all based
on data for which no tangible proof has ever been, or perhaps
could be, adduced. One speaks of “ large islands and bergs
of floating ice which came from the north, and, as they
grounded on the coast and on shoals, pushed along all’the

262 R. Chambers, Esq., on Glacial Phenomena

loose materials of sand and pebbles, broke off all angular
and projecting points of rock, and when fragments of hard
stone were frozen into their lower surfaces, scooped out
grooves in the subjacent solid strata.’ Now, the floating
and stranding of icebergs are familiar facts; but no one
ever saw a sea-bottom worn or scratched by such an agent, or
could prove that such an operation ever takes place, except at
the utmost in a partial and casual manner. Itis in the main
a conjecture. Another was not long ago satisfied that “‘ waves
of translation,” breaking away from centres where a sudden
upheaval of the land had taken place, were sufficient to ac-
eount for the phenomena, but appears to be now of opinion
that glaciers, floating ice, and currents, have all been con-
cerned in producing the effects, though still without address-
ing himself to, or admitting, the fact of the parallelism of
striation over a large surface, which no such agents could
have produced. Sir Roderick Murchison surmised that “ the
ice-floes and their detritus might be set in motion by the ele-
vation of the Scandinavian continent, and the consequent
breaking-up of the great glaciers on the northern shores of
a sea which then covered all the flat regions of Russia.”
But this is an operation which has never been seen in nature,
and, even though it were to take place, we hold that the ice
and detritus, borne along in a wave of the sea, are still in-
competent to produce the various effects of abrasion, polish-
ing, and striation, which are to be accounted for. Besides,
Sir Roderick would need to shew—what he has not attempted
—that the British islands and Northern America had a simi-
lar northern mountain chain to send forth the ice-floes and
detritus required in their cases. We have always been led
to understand that it was a rule of scientific geology to refer
ancient phenomena to causes which we see producing similar
effects at the present day ; but here the rule seems to be set
aside in favour of a cause which has no known effects what-
ever.

It may be asked, can we seriously attach the least value to
any theory which either ignores the great and palpable facts,
or leaves them totally unaccounted for? Yet this is the cha-
racter of the theories here referred to. I shall proceed to

in Scotland and Parts of England. 263°

state a few only of the facts which are thus overlooked and
slighted.

The first'is the extent and direction of the operation of the
agent in the North of Europe. In the central parts of Swe-
den, and the southern parts of Norway, there is but one sys-
tem of mammillated rocks and of striation—this being from
NNE. and NE. :—it involves hills of several hundred feet
in height, and passes across and athwart valleys, with an ab-
solute indifference to such irregularities. Now, no free sea
could produce a uniformity of movement over so wide a space,
or with such indifference to forms of the surface ; and, even
if the abrupt elevation of the Scandinavian chain demanded
by Sir Roderick Murchison were granted, the ice and detritus
thrown off by that operation could never have so soon turned
off in a different direction—first sweeping to the east and
then returning towards the west.

In the second place, these theories altogether overlook cer-
tain peculiar minute features of the abraded surface, which
are to be accounted for as well as the general fact of an abra-
sion having taken place. I would instance the perfect polish-
ing and striation of the under faces of overhanging rocks, and
of the sides of certain deep narrow channels—six feet deep
sometimes, and little more than one foot wide. I may point
still more particularly to a class of objects which abound in
Sweden,in connection with glacialised surfaces. These are the
celebrated Jettegryder,or Reisentopfes (Giants’ Pots or Tubs).
In the midst of a glacialised surface, perhaps on the side of
a mountain, perhaps on the col or summit of a pass through
a chain of mountains, we see a circular pit of three, six, ten,
or more feet in depth, and three, six, or even eight feet in
diameter, with sides and bottom worn quite as smooth as the
parts of the surface near by. There is an evident connec-

tion between the pit and the neighbouring smoothings in

respect of cause. Generally, we find a sort of channel run-
ning up to and into the pit, forming an indentation in its
lip ; and in one instance at least, I observed that a mould-
ing descended obliquely from this entrance down to the bot-

tom, while striz followed the same line, the whole sides

indeed being marked by curious scoopings, and interme-

264 R. Chambers, Esq., on Glacial Phenomena

diate ridgings and other evident marks of a spirality, as well
as inequality of pressure, in the direction of the excavating
agent. At the bottom, rounded pebbles of the size of a play-
ing bowl are sometimes found, objects that have clearly been
concerned in the hollowing process. When an English geolo-
gist hears generally of circular pits in Scandinavia, he at once
thinks of aqueous action; for limestone cliffs down which
water descends in a cascade, are often found so hollowed.

The presence of the pebbles at the bottom confirms him in
the assimilation. But were he to inspect a real Giant’s Pot,
he would speedily see that it never could have been associat-
ed with a waterfall, and that it has strong characteristic pe-
culiarities altogether apart from such honeycombing of cliffs
as we find at cascades. Even in the character of the skin or
surface of the rock, there is a difference. In short, it is evi-
dent that these pots have been fashioned by some plastic sub-
stance which has wound round the interior, come out again,
and passed on,—a substance, however, so far mixed up or
associated with water, as to allow of the loose stones gener-
ally to keep at or near the bottom, or at least within the pit.
Such a plastic substance, with water continually permeating
its body, is the ice of glaciers. It would be difficult, I ap-
prehend, to shew that any floating or water-impelled ice
could, in its sluggish rigid movement over a sea-bottom, send
down a tongue to lick and scoop out so peculiar a hollow in
the subjacent rock. Still more difficult would it be for those
who regard the whole of the ancient glacial phenomena as
submarine, to shew how cascades took place at the bottom of
asea! If the theory of these gentlemen thus puts on so
burlesque an aspect, I must be permitted to say, the blame
is their own, for all of these peculiar phenomena have been
recognised and described for many years, and yet have been
passed over by them as if they did not exist.

The great defect of the ice-floe theory is, after all, the
weakness of the force which it implies. If we look the phe-
nomena to be accounted for fully in the face, we shall see
that a heavy forcible pressure, by a dense yet plastic sub-
stance, has been exercised—one which could grind and mould
the surface of a large tract of country, variegated by consi-

in Scotland and Parts of England. — 265

dérable hills, by one movement. This could never be done
by ice partially floating, or merely impelled by ordinary cur-
rents. While those who argue for the abrading powers of
icebergs, can scarcely adduce a single example of that
agency in nature, I can adduce negative facts of no small
force against such an agency. At the falls of the copious
river Glommen, in Norway, just above the cascade, the rock
is seen striated under the water, obliquely to the course of
the river. Now, this river must have upbreaks of ice every
spring, filling its channel at this place with a tolerable re-
presentation of the ice-floes in question; yet no striz are
seen in that direction, and thousands of winters have failed
to obliterate the original glacial markings in any perceptible
degree. Many rivers of our own country have driftings of
broken ice impelled down their channels with immense force
at the end of every great frost; yet their rocky channels pre-
sent irregularities which give them a totally different appear-
ance from the abraded and striated surfaces. I was first im-
pressed with this objection to the ice-floe theory on observ-
ing some rugged, or only slightly blunted points of rock

starting up in the bed of the Tweed, near Peebles, where in

my early days I have witnessed magnificent examples of the
rush of river-ice so well described in Thomson’s “ Winter.”
This ice is, as is generally known, often impeded by ground-
ing, and sometimes is carried gratingly over the channel of
the river exactly in the manner of the ice-floes of the ocean ;
and, though the phenomencn is on a comparatively small
seale, some memorials of abrasion might be expected, if ice
earried by water were really capable of leaving any beyond
the most trifling. —

As an example of what may be called inadequate theories
of the polished and striated surfaces, reference may be made
to one lately started in Ireland, where, as is well known, such
phenomena are fully as conspicuous as in Scotland. Mr
Robert Mallet appears to be the real author of this theory,
though Colonel Portlock claims to have suggested something
similar about the same time. The main proposition is, that
a detrital covering of the land, raised along with it at the
time of elevation, slipped down its face into the sea, and even

266 R. Chambers, Esq., on Glacial Phenomena

over surfaces beneath the sea level, thus producing upon the
subjacent rock those phenomena of rounding, furrowing,
and scratching, which have been attributed to the action of
ice. Such a process, Mr Mallet conceives, may be going on
beneath the sea, even at the present day. The only re-
mark I feel called upon to make regarding this theory is,
that, while few would deny that a mud-slide, land-slip, or
other slipping of detrital matter, is competent, when it takes
place, to abrade and scratch the subjacent faces of rock, the
phenomena really to be accounted for—the extensive denu-
dations, the abrasion of mountains and valleys in directions
irrespective of the inclination of the ground, and the deposit
of detrital accumulations over enormous surfaces with no
general slope at all (as the valley between the Friths of Clyde
and Forth)—are wholly beyond the imaginable scope of such
an operation.

While thus sensible of how far any existing theory is from
accounting for the whole phenomena, I am by no means pos-
sessed of any theory of my own, which I think fit to be imme-
diately accepted and maintained, without future change or
modification. I can only say that it seems to me unavoidable,
that we suppose a mass of ice to have spread out, from the
north generally to the south, ice viscous and moveable like
that of subaérial glaciers, and like them sufficiently compact
to possess great abrading force; and water has been con-
cerned in connection with this ice, as evidenced by the cha-
racter of the connected deposit of boulder clay; but as to
the formation and movement of this supposed northern en-
velope, we are not yet in a position to speak positively. All
we can do is to enter upon a few speculations in connection
with these questions.

What will most likely be felt as the great difficulty, is the
difference between the valley containing a modern glacier,
attended as it is by a mean inclination of three, four, or more
degrees, and a wide extent of country without retaining walls,
and with only certain inequalities throughout its surface. We |
see, it will be said, how gravitation will produce a flow in the
one case, but notin the other. The difficulty, after all, will
be found to rest chiefly on this supposed necessity for the foree

in Scotland and Parts of England. 267

of gravitation to pull a glacier along in its bed; for it so
happens that the main effect of Professor Forbes’s investiga-
tion, has been to impress such a notion, while the actual
terms of his proposition are forgotten or overlooked. These
were, that a glacier is ‘‘ urged down a slope of a certain in-
clination, by the mutual pressure of its parts.’ As far as I
can understand the views of our learned associate, there is a
hydrostatical pressure from a column of the same material
acting on a superior level, and thus pushing along what is at
the lower level. Mr Forbes says, “ Pure fluid pressure, or
what is commonly called hydrostatical pressure, depends not
at all for its energy upon the slope of the fluid, but merely
upon the difference of level of the two connected parts or
ends of the mass under consideration.” It appears that the
less fluid the body, the less is this the case, from the resistance
which the viscosity presents; but, at the same time, the greater
the viscosity, the more will the retardation due to friction be
distributed throughout the mass; so that the sliding of the
bottom of the fluid over its bed, will be the more facilitated.
The glacier, of course, being a highly viscous body, will be
comparatively slow to yield to the hydrostatical pressure of the
more elevated parts ; but it will, and does yield in a certain
reduced degree, and its comparative viscosity ensures that
its base shall not be left greatly behind its middle and super-
ficial parts—that it must, in short, slide bodily, and so graze
the bed or surface over which it moves.

_ The question occurs, over how small an inclination will a
mass constituted in the manner of a glacier slide? We see
glaciers in the Alps, moving at the rate of above two hun-
dred yards in a year, over a bed with walls and impeding
projections, which has a mean slope of 5°. Will it move at all
over a very much smaller inclination? We have an answer
on this point from Professor Forbes :—“ Large and deep
rivers,” says he, “ flow along a much smaller inclination than
small and shallow ones. . . . The most certain analogy
leads us to the same conclusion in the case of glaciers. We
cannot, therefore, admit it to be any sufficient argument

against the extension of ancient glaciers to the Jura, for ex-

ample, that they have moved with a superficial slope of one

268 R. Chambers, Esq,, on Glacial Phenomena

degree, or in some parts even of a half or quarter that amount,
whilst in existing glaciers the slope is seldom or never under
3. The declivity requisite to insure a given velocity, bears
a simple reference to the dimensions of a stream. <A stream
of twice the length, breadth, and depth of another, will flow
on a declivity half as great, and one of ten times the dimen-
sion upon one-tenth of the slope.”

If this be the simple principle concerned where there is a
declivity, it is easy to see that a very small declination from
the north to the south of Scandinavia, or of Northern Ame-
rica, would suffice to allow of a movement for the supposed
general glaciers of those regions, seeing that there is toler-
ably clear evidence of these glaciers having been on a scale
of volume immensely exceeding the glaciers of the Alps.
Judging from the abrasions they have left on hills, and the
height to which their detritus extends, they must have been
several thousands of feet in depth. |

But it appears as if it were not necessary that there should
have been any sensible inclination of the general surface over
which these supposed glaciers extended, if it be true, on the
hydrostatical principle announced by Professor Forbes, that
they would move under the influence of sufficient accumula-
tions in any quarter, in the directions in which they found
least resistance. Supposing such accumulations on circum-
polar grounds, there would be a spreading movement to the
south, liable to be affected to some extent by accidental im-
pediments; in short, very much such a movement as the
glacial phenomena of northern countries lead us to expect.
To such an extension of the operations we now see, it is only
further necessary that the meteorological conditions should
have been such as to maintain the plasticity of the material ;
and this is a point on which we have assuredly no data that
would at once and decisively negative the demands of the
present theory.

The nearest approach that we are acquainted with in na-
ture, to the case here supposed, appears to be that afforded
by the phenomena of the land discovered by Sir James Ross
in the 79th degree of south latitude. “ The vessels were
here stopped by a barrier of ice from 100 to 180 feet in

in Scotland and Parts of England. 269

height, and extending 300 miles from east to west. Beyond
these ice-cliffs a chain of lofty mountains was discovered,
rising from ten to twelve thousand feet in height, and covered
with glaciers and ice-fields. From the sea-face of the frozen
barrier reached by the vessels, huge masses were constantly
breaking off, and floating northward, bearing with them frag-
ments of rocks which had been derived from the mountains.”
Such is the description given. It appears that here was a
tract of ice 300 miles in extent, moving outwards from land,
with detritus. It must have been viscous ice, or it would
have had no motion; although, at its extremities, where the
fragments were breaking off, a more solid character may have
been assumed. It seems to realise, on a very considerable
scale, the extensive glacier-sheet demanded by the phenomena
of abrasion in the opposite portion of the globe.

We have, from motives of convenience, withheld till now
all but the most partial consideration of those superficial
deposits which are so palpably connected with the present
subject. It is obviously necessary that these should be ex-
plained in harmony with any theory of the abraded surfaces
which we can expect to be received.

In Sweden, as far as my observations extended, the kind
of matter usually found lying immediately upon the smoothed
rocks, and in the lee of eminences, is a confused mixture of
blocks of all sizes, imbedded in coarse sand and clay, with no
sorting observable in any part. Very generally this mass is
of a straw colour, and so exactly does it resemble the detri-
tus found at the sides and skirts of existing glaciers, that I
have been led to adopt for it the term Moraine Matter. It
seems to be the direct and invariable effect of glaciation
taking place on inclined ground under the atmosphere. This
_ matter is, everywhere in Scandinavia, covered with beds of
sorted gravel, sand, and clay, betokening a subsequent wa-
tery action, as if the masses had been submerged, and a par-
tial change effected on and about them by that means. In
_ many places, this alluvial or aqueous formation is presented
in ridges called dsar, which traverse the country in determi-
nate directions, often extending for many miles. Shells are
found in the aqueous deposit, but never, as far as I have
VOL. LIV. NO. CVIII.— APRIL 1853. T

270 R. Chambers, Esq., on Glacial Phenomena

heard, in the subjacent moraine matter. Besides these for-
mations, there is the still more superficial one of erratic
blocks, which, affiliated to Sweden and Finland, extend south-
ward into Denmark, Germany, and Russia, at least as far as
the 50th parallel. These rocks are less worn than those of
the lowest deposit, and yet are carried much farther. It is
likewise of importance to observe, that they have been car-
ried over the intervening line of the Valdai Hills, which
rise from 800 to 1100 feet above the sea.

The superficial deposits of Northern America bear a gene-
ral resemblance, in their important features, to those of
Northern Europe.

In our island, the superficial deposits constitute a series,
of which no fewer than six, if not seven, members have been
described by some observers, though it is seldom that so
many are present at one place.

One noted deposit very generally found resting on the rocks
in Scotland, is the Boulder Clay (No. 1.) It consists of a
remarkably compact menstruum of clay, blue, black, or of
some lighter colour, totally impervious to water, and only
assailable by the pickaxe ; which breaks with irregular frac-
ture; has no trace of lamination; and through which are in-
terspersed blocks of all sizes, which have travelled from places
within forty or tifty miles, usually rounded, often worn into
a sort of sole on one side, presenting strie or scratches.
This deposit is found, in Mid-Lothian, nearly 1000 feet
above the sea, and, in some places, is stated to be not less
than 160 feet deep; shewing an amount and extent of
operation for the abrading agent in which it took its rise,
perfectly enormous. A railway cutting made in this deposit
on Middleton Muir, in a situation not less than 700 feet above
the sea, was about fifty feet thick.

In the valleys of the Forth and Clyde, where the boulder
clay is very largely developed, the included blocks are all
from the westward, the direction of the agent which has pro-
duced the furrowing and striation of the district. At several
places, strata cropping out westward under the clay, have been _
found bending off back to the east, with the clay insinuated —
in the gap, clearly proving at once an east-going force, and a
partially liquid state of the clay at the time of its deposition. —

pt Sapo ta
Fa

in Scotland and Parts of England. 271

At Linksfield, near Elgin, there is a horizontal chink be-
tween a limestone bed and the superior oolite strata, from
three to four feet deep, and this is filled for several hundred
yards inward from its mouth with boulder clay, which has
found an entrance from the north-west, and scratched the
planes above and below, between which it has been in-
sinuated. :

In a few isolated situations, a bed of sand has been found
between the boulder clay and the subjacent rocks, and Mr
Milne Home mentions an instance in which some of the ma-
terials of this sand could be traced to an easterly situation.

The generally azoic character of the boulder clay is one of
its most remarkable features. Besides a fragment of an ele-
phant’s tusk, represented as having been found in it by some
workmen in 1820 at Cliftonhall, in Mid-Lothian, Mr Milne
Home, who gave great attention to the formation and its his-
tory, had never, in 1838, heard of a single instance of organic
matter found in connection with it. More recently, shells of
the existing epoch have been found by Mr John Cleghorn, libe-
rally scattered through its depths in Caithness ; but they are
all water-worn, and can, therefore, be only classed with the
inorganic materials. Mr Smith of Jordanhill discovered shells
in the like state in the boulder clay; and Mr Carrick Moore
lately announced an entire valve of Astarte compressa, as
being found by him in the same formation in Wigtonshire,—
a solitary exception to the rule.

I have only within the last few days been made acquainted
by Mr Hugh Miller, with a curious and, as yet, unrecorded
feature of this mysterious deposit, as it occurs in our own
neighbourhood. It is well known that between Leith and
Portobello, and between Portobello and Fisherrow, there is

acliff of the boulder clay on which the sea is making per-

petual aggressions. The beach in these places is partly com-

_ posed of a rough though levelled platform of boulder clay,

with some huge blocks resting on it here and there that

have been washed out of the superior mass, now carried away.

At several places the eye can detect a narrow train of blocks

crossing the line of beach, somewhat like a quay or mole, but

not more than a foot above the general level, and not at a
1 2

272 R. Chambers, Esq., on Glacial Phenomena

right angle to the line of the coast. All of these blocks have
flat sides uppermost, and all of these flat sides are striated in
one direction,—namely, in that of the line of blocks. There
are also some appearances of a hollow on the surfaces of these
curious pavements, as Mr Miiler calls them, as if some enor-
mous wheel had run along the surface in that direction, and
left in ita slight track. What is of the highest importance,
‘the line of the blocks, and that of the striation, are from
about WSW., both at Seafield and at Magdalen Bridge,
(examples three miles apart,) this being the direction of the
striation upon the fast rock throughout the whole of our dis-
trict, sothat the presumption for a community of cause be-
comes very strong. There is, in short, a surface of the
boulder clay, deep down in the entire bed, which, to appear-
ance, has been in precisely the same circumstances as the
fast rock-surface below had previously been. It has had in
its turn to sustain the weight and abrading force of the glacial
agent, in whatever form it was applied ; and the additional
deposit of the boulder clay left over this surface, may be pre-
sumed to have been formed by the agent on that occasion.

Professor Fleming, to whose superior experience I am
much beholden in this part of my subject, assures me that
the deposit most generally found in our district over the
boulder clay is a fine laminated clay, or silt, evidently derived
from the preceding formation, in which it sometimes fills up
considerable irregularities. This is the clay generally wrought
for bricks and tiles throughout Scotland, so that we may be
said to be indebted remotely to these glacial phenomena, both
for the houses which shelter us, and the increase of food re-
quired by the exigencies of a large population.

The laminated clay is succeeded by, or perhaps we ought
rather to say, associated with, an abundant formation of fine
sand, disposed in beds, and intercalated with gravel.’ Very
often there are interlacings of the sand and the clay, or curi-
ous nests of sand within the clay, shewing rapid and abrupt
alternations of conditions in the sea, in which the whole had

been formed. In this compound formation, as I venture to call _

it (No. 2), shells are found—Mya truncata, Sawicava sul-
cata, Tellina calcarea, Astarte borealis, Cyprina islandica,

in Scotland and Parts of England. 273

Mytilus umbilicatus, Littorina littorea, Buccinum undatum,
Natica clausa, Balanus sulcatus, suggesting an arctic cha-
racter in the sea of the period. Remains of large quadrupeds
have also been found in this set of deposits. In the deep
beds wrought for bricks at Portobello, large trees are reported
as having been found by_the workmen, and thought by them
to be of oak; as also, bones “as thick as a man’s thigh.”
They are likewise understood to have found hazel nuts lying
on the surface of the deposit.

This evidently aqueous formation of a tranquil era, during
which there had been dry land inhabited by the elephant,
rhinoceros, stag, and other large mammalia, is succeeded by
what Mr Milne Home calls the coarse gravel or stony clay,
but what is more generally recognised in Scotland as the
tall, being the subsoil of many of our fields (No. 3). This
formation may be described as a layer of rough stones, em-
bedded in a light-coloured clay, not so thick as the boulder
clay generally is, while the included blocks are also of smaller
size. It has no lamine, no organic remains, and has all the
appearance of having been the product of violent agencies.
It appears to be often confounded with the boulder clay, and
thus has given rise to some serious mistakes regarding the
arrangement of the superficial deposits. It is often, how-
ever, placed immediately over the surface of the rocks.

Over this again comes a new Series of sand-beds (No. 4),
containing thin layers of gravel, and fragments of coal,—a very
wide-spread formation in our immediate neighbourhood, and

_throughout Scotland generally. Mr Milne Home found it at
Blackshiels, 700 feet above the sea, and it probably exists at
greater elevations. This very careful observer had not heard
of any shells being ever found in it.
The same gentleman has described a raised beach which
_ extends along the Firth of Forth, (No. 5,) rising from fifteen
_ feet in the east, to about thirty in the west, above the level
_ of the sea, in which he found beds of shells of existing
species; and this appears, from his description, to be an in-
terealated formation, though probably represented by some
of the shell-bearing beds found by Mr Smith of Jordanhill,
and Mr John Craig, in the basin of the Clyde. The bed is

274 R. Chambers, Esq., on Glacial Phenomena

one of exceeding value in the present disquisition, as it indi-
cates that at this particular period, the relative level of sea
and land, in our district at least, had been reduced from the
high point denoted in the preceding formation, down to one
not more than thirty feet above the present. It was a period,
in short, of extensive dry land. As might be expected, the
rivers had in this period worn out hollows in the solid struc-
ture of the country ; amongst other such cuttings was that
of the Water of Leith at the Dean, in our own neighbourhood.
So, at least, Mr Milne Home infers, and with good reason,
from finding on the sides of that hollow, a bed of the next
formation.

This was a third boulder bed (No. 6), a drift of coarse
gravel, connected with the well-known erratics, which, how-
ever, are very generally superficial. This formation must
be regarded as, in our district, consequent upon a deep and
abrupt re-immersion, for it spreads up to elevations even
higher than the boulder clay. The long ridges of gravel,
called in Scotland kames, and identical in character with the
dsar of Sweden, and eskers of. Ireland, belong to this forma-
tion; and the various ancient beaches which can be traced
from several hundred feet above the sea, down to its present
level, may be considered as the memorials of stages or pauses
in the subsequent and final emergence of the land. The
vegetable soil completes the entire series, being the product
of historic times. |

In the basin of the Clyde, there are some differences in the
suite of deposits, though the general harmony is sufficiently
clear. Mr John Craig describes the following series as ex-
isting at Glasgow :—

Sand under Trongate.

4 {Eatin clays with recent marine shells; newer

portion containing only fresh-water shells, as physa.

3. Boulder till. (What are below appear at Bell’s Park.)

2. Sand.

1. Lower boulder till.

The boulder till (No. 1), at Bell’s Park, contains an abun-—
dance of worn and striated boulders, and the subjacent sand-
stone exposed in making the Caledonian Railway Station —

in Scotland and Parts of England. 275

presented, within the last two years, a piece of polished and
seratched surface; which, however, has since been quarried.
The blocks are of granite, porphyritic traps, mica-slate,
greywacke, red sandstone conglomerate, and quartzose rock,
all of which are found in the Highlands many miles to the
north-west ; besides some less worn coal, sandstone, and car-
boniferous limestone, from the immediate neighbourhood of
Glasgow.

In another situation, between Greenock and Port-Glas-
gow, Mr Smith of Jordanhill found the following deposits,
which, as in the above case, we venture to assign to their
relative places by numbers :*—

Vegetable soil.

3. Coarse gravel, two feet.

{ Sand, ten feet.
2:

A series of thin beds of sand, gravel, and clay, full of
sea-shells ; (33 species found at two visits).
1. Diluvium.
The same diligent observer has described a deposit of shells
found at Airdrie, in digging a coal shaft, at a spot 524 feet
above the sea :|—
3. Upper till.
2. Stratified clay, in connection with which the shells were
found.
1. Lower till.
It must be admitted that there is some uncertainty in assign-
ing these relations, the imperfection of the description making
certainty for the present impossible.
The superficial formations of England have been de-
_ seribed by various local observers, but with such a want of
concert and relation, that it is extremely difficult to reduce
them to any conformity even amongst themselves, much more
_to bring them into harmony with those of Scotland.
The region of Siluria—the south-east-looking slope of the
hills of North Wales, and adjacent districts of Herefordshire,
_ Worcestershire, and Salop—is described by Sir Roderick
_ Murchison, as presenting a local drift—that is, a drift com-

—
* Memoirs of Wernerian Soc., viii. + Quar. Jour. Geol. Soc., vi. 386,

276 R. Chambers, Esq., on Glacial Phenomena

posed of materials derived either from mountains forming
the north-western limits of the country, or from rocks of the
very district where the materials are found. ‘‘ Not only the
valleys, but various elevated combs and basin-shaped cavi-
ties, as well as the slopes and escarpments of hills, are
strewed sometimes with boulders, coarse gravel, and clay, at
others with finely comminuted materials. . . . In pass-
ing to the south-east, the coarse boulders disappear, and the
gravel becomes more and more finely comminuted, shewing
that the direction of the drift has been from the north-west.”
Connected with this drift are proofs of extensive denudation,
such as the conical hills called the Pyons, lying five miles from
the principal masses with which they were once connected,
the valley of the Severn lying between,—and the lofty peak
Pen-cerrig-calch, an outlier of the South Wales coal-field
divided from its principal by an intervening valley twelve or
fifteen hundred feet deep.

Sir Roderick further describes a central tract of Western
England, composed of large portions of Lancashire, Cheshire,

Shropshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire, and Gloucester-_

shire, where the local drift is overlaid by a drift which has
come from the north, bearing fragments of granite and other
rocks, of which the original position is comparatively distant,
and in which are found deposits of shells of existing species.
He conceives that Siluria had been dry land at the time
when a northern sea-current deposited this higher and later
drift.

The same northern drift lies in large masses on the north
coast of North Wales, and in elevated portions of the Snow-
donian region, where shells have been found in it at 1392
and 2200 feet above the sea; but, as has been remarked, it
seems to have been swept out of the Snowdonian valleys by
comparatively modern glaciers.

Professor Phillips describes the drift in a part of England

more to the northward. Masses of the porphyritie granite

of Shap Fell, and portions of other highly peculiar rocks be- —
longing to the Lake country, have been carried “ northward ~

in the vale of the Eden to Carlisle, southward by the Lune

= S
raat ‘oy
x
/

in Scotland and Parts of England. 277

and the Kent to the barren tract between Bolland Forest
- and the bay of Morecambe, and from the vicinity of Lancas-

ter they are traced at intervals through the comparatively
low country of Preston and Manchester, lying between the
sea and the Yorkshire and Derbyshire hills, to the valley of
the Trent, the plains of Cheshire and Staffordshire, and the
vale of the Severn, where they occur of great magnitude.
It thus appears that the Pennine chain, ranging north and
south, acted as a great natural dam, limiting the eastward
distribution of the blocks; but at Stainmoor, directly east
of Shap Fells, a comparatively low part of the chain (1400
feet above the sea), granite from Shap Fell, which is 1500
feet, as well as sienitic rocks from Barrock Fell, which
is 2200 feet, and red conglomeratic masses from Kirby
Stephen, only 500 feet above the sea, have been drifted over
the ridge. This great boundary passed, the blocks are scat-
tered from Stainmoor, as from a new centre, to Darlington,
Redcar, Stokesley, Osmotherly, Thirsk, and the whole front
of the Hambleton hills; they have gone down the whole
length of the vale of York, and by the base of the chalk
wolds to the Humber.’”? To the south of the point of pas-
sage here described, the boulders of the Lake district lie up
against the Pennine chain “in enormous quantity, and in
the most inextricable confusion, not to be explained by any-

thing like the action of the sea on its coasts, even during

the most violent storms.”
In Norfolk, the series of superficial deposits is thus set
down by Sir Charles Lyell:
3. Erratics.
2. Fresh-water deposits, with beds of lignite and subma-
rine forests.
1. Unstratified clay or till, lying on the Norwich Crag.
Mr Trimmer describes the superficial deposits of the coun- ©
try between Congleton and Macclesfield, as follows :
3. Upper Erratics: sand and gravel; large northern
boulders.
2. Till: “a red clay containing many smal! fragments
_ having a northern origin, and much detritus derived

278 R. Chambers, Esq., on Glacial Phenomena

from the neighbouring chain.” Contains scratched
fragments, but these supposed to be local. Frag-
ments of shells.

1. Sand, a deep bed, with erratic detritus.

At Weymouth, according to Sir Henry de la Beche,* the
rocks, inclusive of the chalk, have been subjected to great
disturbance, producing enormous faults ; but the surface has
subsequently been exposed to “a tremendous inundation,
which has swept away all the rubbish and ruins of the ele-
vated masses, and has excavated valleys of many hundred
feet in depth on the surface of the strata that remain. Out-
lying summits composed of residuary portions of the strata
which are continuous along the escarpments on the north
and east of the valley of Bredy, indicate the original conti-
nuity of these strata over large portions of that district from
which they have been removed.”

In the district of Chatham and Rochester, according to Mr
R. Dadd,t there is the following series of deposits above the
upper chalk :

4, Alluvium.

3. Diluvium: from 6 to 10 feet thick ; water-worn chalk,
with unworn flints. Remains of deer, elephant, rhino-
ceros, We.

2. London clay.

1. Plastic clay. Shells of ostrea, cyclas, and cerithium.

Amidst the obscurities produced by the want of a uniform
nomenclature, it is easy to see that the till, diluvium, and
northern drift are all one formation, identical with the till
or second boulder clay of Scotland. In the Silurian region
there is a lower drift, marked, like the lower or true boulder
clay of Scotland, by the comparatively local character of the
detritus, and which may be presumed to be contemporary
with that formation. Over the till or northern drift, again,
there are other deposits of a tranquil ocean, as in Scotland.
There are also, as in Scotland, about this part of the series,
remains of land vegetation. Subsequently come large un-

* Geol. Proceedings, i., 220. t Ibid.,i., 482.

im Scotland and Parts of England. 279

worn northern erratics, generally occupying a superficial po-
sition. Thus the sequence of events seems the same over
the island, though all are not everywhere éxpressed,—a re-
sult which no geologist will have any difficulty in accounting
for.

It must be evident, when the whole subject of the superficial
deposits is thus analysed, that the vague general view which
is often taken of it by geologists, is one which can only be
entertained in defiance of facts. Itis placed beyond all ques-
tion, that these deposits form the record, not of one epoch,
when our land was under a glacial sea charged with icebergs,
but of a succession of conditions in which the land sunk and
rose, and sunk and rose again, and during which phenomena
of very various character took place. It is not possible, in

_the present state of the investigation, to speak with precision
of this succession of conditions and phenomena; but I may
venture to point out what the facts suggest in the case, so
far as we are yet acquainted with them, leaving to future in-
quirers to make such modifications of my provisional view of
the matter as may appear necessary.

The more general glaciation which has here been described,
with its attendant memorial of a detritus of striated local
blocks and clay, points to a wide extension of the circum-
polar ice, and a southern movement of that envelope, in
the course of which the surface was abraded and the detritus
produced. This icy sheet is shewn, however, not to have been
everywhere in precisely the same condition as a glacier of the
Alps, for there is a difference in the character of its detri-
tus. The boulder clay indicates a comparatively fluid state
of the ice, whether from passing across shallow seas, as it-
may have often done, or simply because the water which it-
self produced rested amongst its particles, instead of being

_ drained away, as it always is, ina valley glacier. There being
in the detritus of this glaciation no far transported blocks,
_ L attribute to the severity of the attrition to which they were
- subjected. With this glaciation, moreover, is connected much
_ of that denudation which has hitherto been attributed exclu-
sively to floods.

After this glacial period, the land had been partly sub-

;
=
y,
‘e

5

280 R. Chambers, Esq., on Glacial Phenomena

merged ; those parts which remained above the waves were
the residence of the large mammalia, while under the waters
there took place deposits of plastic clay, washed off from the
boulder clay, alternating with beds of sand, of which the
materials were obtained from the hills. .

Next succeeded a new cold period, in which the masses of
the land produced glaciers descending with their subaérial
detritus into the sea, as we see at this day in Spitzbergen.
Borne along in determinate directions by currents, the ice-
borne detritus was strewed along the sea-bottom, so as to
form the till of Scotland, the drift of England, and the cor-
responding deposits of Northern Europe and America.

This also passed away, giving place to renewed deposits
of sand and gravel under an ordinary sea.

Then was a period of larger extent of dry land,—larger,
even, than what now exists. Districts now little above the
level of the sea, and some a little below it, were then so far
elevated as to be subjected to a comparatively severe tem-
perature. What are now low grounds in Hampshire, bore
the coniferz and other trees now proper to the Scottish hills.
Snowdonia, the Lake Country, Assynt, the Cuchullin Hills,
and other districts in Scotland, were the seats of glaciers
like those now existing in the Alps, by which the detritus of
an earlier cold period were swept out of the valleys forming
their beds.

Then came another deep submergence, attended still by
great cold. Masses of ice floating away from the insulated
hills, bore off large blocks in the direction of the prevalent
currents, and thus the Criffel granite became strewed in Cum-
berland, and the Shap granite was transported to the plains
of Salop and the vale of York.

The emergence consequent upon this state of things, still
attended by a low temperature and a transportation of erra-
tics, was by stages, to which must be attributed the ancient —
beaches now traceable over the face of the country.

Perhaps the most valuable effect of the facts here adduced —
is in the light which they throw upon the great, but hitherto —
mysterious processes of denudation and the formation of val-
leys. To suppose water capable of cutting out all the wide

in Scotland and Parts of England. 281

and deep spaces which exist between the principal masses of
certain formations and their outliers, has always appeared to
me a violent supposition, and one with which we could not
rest. When, surveying the Old Red Sandstone district of
Sutherland and Ross shires, I found the enormous relics of
that formation, and the vast spaces left between them, marked
with the traces of an agent possessed of much higher mecha-
nical force, I felt how much more satisfactory it would be to re-
gard that as the great denudator, though certainly not to the
exclusion of water, the wearing force of which is everywhere
conspicuous within its own limits. To the south of Lake
Wenern, in Sweden, there is a series of hills, of about 700 feet
high, composed of horizontal transition strata, and the gneiss
surfaces between are all polished.* This is a case perfectly
parallel to that of the Ross-shire mountains, and doubtless

many other instances might be found. Valleys are generally
_ formed in the lines of ancient breaks or faults. Such is the
case with the valleys of the Lake Country. But as Mr Hop-
kins remarks—“ The inspection of a model in which heights
and distances are on the same scale, must make it apparent
that the actual widths of the valleys in question could not
possibly be derived from the fractures in which we may con-
ceive them to have originated.’’+ It is equally evident that
after certain longitudinal and descending hollows had been
formed by fracture, these, becoming the seats of moving ice,
would in time be widened to the extent which we now behold,

* Bohtlink ; Edin. New Phil. Jour., Oct. 1841.
Tt Quar. Jour. Geol. Society, iv., 86.

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Captain James on Meteorological Phenomena.

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282

Captain James on Meteorological Phenomena. 283

Remarks.

1. Barometric Pressure.—
-The Maximum height observed was: on the 7th

NS) A Mii on 5s ais din ase dove ARPES Av =30'612

The Minimum height observed was on the 27th .
MCC MIG E At Oo AM Sv eeld once ovdtedo sre darting ss =27°895
Extreme range during the year,...= 2-717

So great a depression of the barometer has not occurred
since January 1839. On the 13th of that month, Mr Adie
informs me the height corrected for altitude was 27:53,
when, as on the 27th December last, there was a violent
storm, which, from observations made, was no doubt a rota-
tory storm. The depression observed by Mr Adie was the
greatest (as far as I can learn) which has ever been recorded
in Edinburgh.

It will be observed that the mean height of the barometer
at 9 A.M., for each month, is higher than the mean height at
3 P.M., with the exception of the month of December. This
isi result was caused by the sudden rise of the baro-

meter on the 27th between those hours, amounting to -419,
which, on the mean of the month, overpowered the difference
due to the influence of temperature at the hours of observa-
tion, though it very slightly affected the means for the year.

It will also be observed that the mean height was greatest
in March, closely following the lowest mean temperature of

_ the air, and that the mean height was lowest in August,

closely following the highest mean temperature. This fact,
_ coupled with the fact that the barometer is always higher at
9 A.M. than at 3 P.M., whilst the temperature of the air is al-
ways lower in the morning than in the afternoon, seems to
_ prove that the effect of an increase of temperature, by caus-

ing the air to expand and become specifically lighter, pro-
_ duces a corresponding depression in the barometer ; but as
_ the amount of vapour in the air, and the influence of clouds
and currents in the upper strata of the atmosphere constantly
| disturbs the effect of increased or decreased temperature at

284 Captain James on Meteorological Phenomena.

the surface of the earth, we are not able to express numeri-
cally the effect of any increase or decrease in the tempera-
ture of the air upon the barometer ; but it has been shewn
by Colonel Sabine, that when the pressure due to the amount
of vapour in the air is deducted from the height of the baro-
meter, that the influence of temperature upon the dry air is
to produce a daily maximum and minimum, coinciding nearly
with the coldest and the warmest hours.

2. Temperature of the air.—

The maximum temperature registered on the 4th

lly a ore ee BE ok ee BRS

The minimum temperature registered on the 19th
February, :! si ..vis. sis baudiew tt nerd) ae = 26°:0
Extreme range during the year,...... = 55°:5

The approximate mean temperature of the air for the year
= 48°95, which is probably 2° or 3° higher than the mean
temperature of the air in the neighbourhood, in places beyond
the influence of the heat and shelter of the houses.

3. Humidity.—The degree of humidity of the air has so
sensible an effect upon health, particularly on persons with
delicate lungs, or those subject to irritability. of the skin,
that it is much to be wondered at that medical men in gene-
ral have paid so little attention to it, and more especially as _
the instrument for measuring the humidity of the air in any
room is so simple and inexpensive. The gardener knows it
is not sufficient that his greenhouse should be kept at a cer-
tain temperature, but takes care that his plants shall have
also the requisite degree of moisture in the air; without this
the plants droop; and beyond doubt there is a certain degree of ,
moisture which is also necessary to the health of man. Every
sick room therefore should have a dry and wet bulb hygro-
meter ; and if the medical man considers that the tempera-
ture should be preserved at 60°, then the wet bulb thermo-
meter should indicate 55°, which would shew the air to be —
‘75, or three-fourths saturated with moisture.

The amount of moisture might be regulated by exposing a
larger or smaller surface of water to evaporate, for which the

Dr F. Penny on the Valuation of Indigo. 285

numerous vases and other ornamental vessels usually found
in drawing rooms would be found available.

4. Rain.—The greatest quantity of rain which fell in one
day during the year was 1:37 inches, on the 24th August ;
this is one-third-more than fell during the entire months of
March and April.

5. Wind.—It will be seen from the table of the direction of
the wind, that it blows at 9 A.M. 2} times more frequently
from the W. to S. are than from the E. to N. arc; the num-
bers being 199 days from the SW. arc, and 90 days from the
NE. arc, and that the NE. winds are the least prevalent
throughout the year, occurring principally in the spring and
autumn.

On the Valuation of Indigo. By Dr FrepEerick PENNY,
F.C.S., Professor of Chemistry in the Andersonian Uni-
versity, Glasgow.

Several methods have been employed for estimating the

comparative value of commercial indigo.

The colorimetric processes with chlorine, proposed by Ber-

thollet, and first practically applied by Descroizilles, have

_ heen most extensively tried, and have been fully described by
Berzelius,* Chevreul, + Schlumberger, Schubart,§ Persoz, ||
and others. In these processes chlorine-water or bleaching-
powder was used as the source of the chlorine.

Bolley { has proposed chlorate of potash and hydrochloric
acid as the source of chlorine, and has reported very favour-
_ ably of the results obtained by operating upon specimens of
_ various qualities.

_ Some chemists consider that the only method of accurately
4 _ determining the value of this article consists in removing the

* Traité de Chimie. t Legons de Chimie appliquée a4 la Teinture.
_ | Bullet. de la Soc. Industr. xv. 277. § Tech. Chimie.
ll Traité de V’Impression des Tissus. s| Ann. Ch. Pharm. 1850,
VOL. LIV. NO. CVIII.—APRIL 1853. U

286 _ Dr Frederick Penny on the

various impurities by the successive action of diluted acid,
caustic alkali, alcohol and water, and then ascertaining the
quantity of indigo-blue that remains, the ash being deducted
in the usual manner. Others, again, prefer the process of
reducing the indigo-blue by deoxidizing agents, and after-
wards precipitating and collecting it in the pure state. This
method was, about the commencement of the present century,
adopted by Pringle,* who employed the well-known mate-
rials, sulphate of iron and lime, as the reducing and dissolvy-
ing agents, and separated the indigo-blue from the clarified
Solution with hydrochloric acid. The operations involved in
this process are exceedingly tedious, and in consequence of
the peculiar property which reduced indigo has of forming
two distinct combinations with lime, the one soluble, and the
other insoluble (a fact not known to Pringle); the results
afforded by it are not always satisfactory.

Danat has recommended another method, based, dl
on the same principles. It consists in boiling the indigo in
caustic soda, and cautiously adding protochloride of tin until
the indigo-blue is completely reduced and dissolved ; the clear
solution is then precipitated by bichromate of potash, and the
precipitate being well washed with dilute hydrogmnee acid,
is dried and weighed. A

Fritzche {| has suggested cane-sugar, alcohol, and caustic
soda for the reduction and solution of the indigo-blue. His
process, which appears, however, to be better adapted for the
preparation of pure indigo, than for testing its value, has
been repeated and favourably spoken of by Marehand ; and
Berzelius says, that it surpasses all other methods that have
been employed for obtaining indigo-blue in a state of purity.

Chevreul’s method of dyeing cotton until the indigo-solu-
tion is exhausted is obviously very objectionable.

Reinsch,§ after trying various modes, prefers that of dis--
solving a grain and a half of the indigo in concentrated sul-
phuric acid, and then estimating its comparative value by the

a —_————— ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————eNSoesese—esoeo—=—"*"] s

* Annales des Arts et Manufac. vi., 214-239.
t J. pr. Chem. xxvi., 398. t J. pr. Chem, xxviii. 16.
§ Jahrb. prak. Pharm,

Valuation of Indigo. 287

quantity of water required to be added to reduce the colour
of the solution to a certain shade. This process, which is
simple and convenient, is in every respect similar to that
long since applied by Ure,* though Persoz+} ascribes it to
Houton-Labillardiére.

The advantages and disadvantages of these processes have
been So fully discussed by Bolley in his paper, before referred
to, that it is unnecessary, I conceive, to make any further
comment on their respective merits.

The method I have now to propose, is based upon the cir-
cumstance that indigo-blue in presence of hydrochloric acid,
is decolorised by bichromate of potash. This salt has long
been used for discharging indigo-blue and other colours in
the printing of textile fabrics, as well as for bleaching oils,
fats, and several other substances. In employing it for esti-
mating the comparative value of commercial indigo, the
necessary manipulations are extremely simple.

Ten grains of the sample, in very fine powder, are carefully
triturated with two drachms by measure of fuming sulphuric
acid, and the mixture being excluded from the air is allowed
to digest with occasional stirring for twelve or fourteen hours.
A small flat-bottomed flask with a tightly fitting cork, is a
very convenient vessel for this operation. Some pieces of
broken glass should however be thrown in to facilitate the

- contact of the indigo and acid during the agitation, and thus
to prevent the aggregation of the former into small clots,
which the acid by itself cannot penetrate. Ifa small capsule

_ or test-glass be used, it should be covered, during the diges-

_ tion, with an air-tight gas-jar. It will also be found advan-

_ tageous to place the mixture in a warm situation, say be-

_ tween 70° and 80° F., that the action of the acid may be fully

developed; a higher temperature than this must be avoided,
as sulphurous acid is liable to be produced, and the trial in

" consequence completely vitiated. Great care must be taken

to insure the perfect solution of the indigo-blue in the acid.

This result being accomplished, the solution is poured slowly,

with constant stirring, into a pint of water contained in a

7

* J. Roy. Inst., 1830, J Traité des Tissus, i, 434.
~ U2

288 Dr Frederick Penny on the

basin, and 2 of a volume ounce of strong hydrochloric acid
immediately added, the flask or capsule being rinsed clean
with water.

An alkalimeter of 100 equal measures, is now made up in
the usual way with 74 grains of dry and pure bichromate of
potash, and the solution added in small successive portions
to the diluted sulphate of indigo in the basin, until a drop of
the mixture, on being let fall on a white slab or slip of bi-
bulous paper, presents a distinct light brown or ochre shade,
unmixed with any blue or green. The process is then finished;
the number of measures of bichromate used is read off, and
this number shews the comparative value of the indigo sub-
jected to the trial.

In applying the test-drop to the bibulous paper, the best
results are obtained by bringing the end of a glass rod into
contact with the indigo-solution, and then gently pressing it
against the surface of the paper. The stain thus produced
will be circular, and conveniently localised to a small space.
By using bibulous paper, it will also be found much easier to
recognise the last traces of the blue colour than when a slab
is employed, and the results, when dry, may be preserved
unchanged, for reference or comparison.

It is advisable to keep the indigo-solution gently heated
while the chrome-liquor is being added; and it is essentially
necessary that the mixture should be well stirred after each
addition. Several measures of the chrome-solution may at
first be poured in without risk of error, but towards the con-
clusion, the liquor must be added very slowly and with great
care, aS one or two drops will then be found to produce a very
decided effect. The characteristic changes of colour which
the mixture undergoes during the addition of the chrome-so-
lution, will distinetly indicate the approach of the process to- —
wards conclusion. The blue colour of the solution gradually —
diminishes in intensity, becoming perceptibly lighter and
lighter, and after a time it acquires a greenish shade, which
soon changes to greenish-brown, and almost immediately to —
light ochre-brown. |

[ have tried this process very carefully upon pure indigo,
prepared according to Fritzche’s method. The mean of three

Valuation of Indigo. 289
experiments, which gave results almost identically the same,
shewed that 10 grains of pure indigo require very nearly 73
grains of bichromate of potash ; and I have accordingly taken
this quantity of the salt for solution in the alkalimeter.

The following table contains the results of trials upon three
Series of specimens of commercial indigo, and includes like-
wise the price of each sample, and the amount of ash left
after careful incineration, as well as the moisture expelled at
212°. The first series of samples was obtained from an in-
digo broker in London ; the second from Messrs C. Tennant
and Co., Glasgow ; and the third from Messrs R. and I. Hen-
derson, Glasgow.

FIRST SERIES.
Alkalimeter

SPECIMENS. pee measures og t boi
; i SENT per cent. per cent.
Seyis thea
East Indian 6 4 68 4-5 5.0
eee 6 0 66 58 6:0
e - 5 9 64 8-1 8:0
i; a 5 6 54. 11:0 70
»i * 4 9 514 2 Gd
ie ie 4 8 54. 3°6 7:0
i 4 4 45 14:0 8-4.
Spanish 4 3 55 12:3 6:0
sei 3 10 50 13:'0 7:0
id 3. (6 443 19-0 5:5
< 2 10 28 ook 4:5
; SECOND SERIES.
Biadeyscvos AUsetebes yi ivi Water
| ee oa 1851. a a per cent. per cent.
1.
Bengal 5 0 64 5-9 4-0
5 a ae, 47 24- 5:0
_ Benares 4 6 45 20:7 8-4
Guatemala 4 3 50 16:0 65
Madras ets: 41 10°6 6:7
_ Oude 3 8 46 6:3 8°5
_ Carraccas 3.6 52h 162 6-4
_ Madras Bir.g 35 83-3 6:0
5

a

290 Dr F. Penny on the Valuation of Indigo.

THIRD SERIES.

. Alkalimeter
SPECIMENS. —— measures : hse bape’
i consumed. Pp = of BAP CARE
£3

Java 5 6 635 54. 4.8
Bengal . 4 10 594 7.5 5-0
’ 4 0 56 11.0 5:3
» : Lx 24 44:4 4:4
Manilla, 3 4 354 98-0 5:0
Hi yan) 261 50:0 5-4.

The results in these tables clearly shew the uncertainty,
and in several instances the positive inaccuracy, of the com-
mon methods at present employed by commercial men for
estimating the true value of this article. The indications of
quality afforded by colour, fracture, texture, coppery hue
when rubbed, cleanliness, weight, and other characters, should
always, in my opinion, be confirmed by the application of a
simple chemical process, such as I have here described. The
objection, on the score of the time consumed, so strongly
urged against many of the other methods, is certainly not
chargeable against this ; for, by steeping the indigo in the
acid over-night, twenty or thirty samples at least could be
easily tested in a day, and at a trifling expense.

I may mention that there was recently sent me for exami-
nation, a specimen of indigo, offered in Glasgow as refined
indigo, at 10s. per Ib. It gave 9 per cent. of ash, and 23 per
cent. of moisture ; and 10 grains, when dissolved in sulphuric
acid, consumed 82 measures of the bichromate of potash so-
lution. It is in very fine powder, with a deep coppery-blue
colour. Assuming its quality and purity to be uniform, it
would unquestionably be more economical, even at the high
price of 10s. per lb., than much of the indigo at present sold.
Its tinctorial powers could be relied on; and, from the cir-
cumstance of its being finely pulverized, it obviously admits
of being rigorously tested by the bichromate process.

The method here proposed is open, I am well aware, to —
some of the many objections that have been advanced against —
the well-known chlorine process. It is quite obvious, for in- Z
stance, that unless particular care is taken in dissolving the —

Mr D. A. Wells on the Origin of Stratification. 291

indigo in the sulphuric acid, not only is a part of it liable to
escape solution, and proper estimation, but, in the case of
inferior indigo, sulphurous acid may be produced, which would
of course involve a larger consumption of the bichromate of
potash than the indigo-blue itself would require. It may also
be objected that bichromate of potash, in the presence of hy-
drochloric acid, will act upon the other constituents of ordi-
nary indigo; but, so far as I have been able to judge from a
very extensive course of experiments upon a great variety of
specimens, the amount of these influences is extremely slight,
and altogether inappreciable when the process is executed
with proper care. The same opinion has been expressed by
Berzelius and Schlumberger regarding the chlorine process ;
and it is further supported by the fact, that indigo contain-
ing a large proportion of brown and other colouring matters,
consumes avery small quantity only of the bichromate. While,
therefore, this process has no pretensions to supply scientific
men with the means of determining the actual amount of pure
_ indigo-blue in samples of commercial indigo, it is, in my opi-
nion, admirably adapted for ascertaining their relative values,
being in many respects superior to those which have hitherto
been proposed.

The bichromate of potash possesses, in an eminent degree,
all the qualities requisite for a trustworthy agent of valua-
tion, being easy of purification, unchangeable by keeping, and
of uniform composition.

On the Origin of Stratification. By D. A. WELLS, Hsq., of
Cambridge, United States, North America.

The general idea respecting the origin or cause of stratifi-
cation as expressed in geological text-books, or as inferred
from the writings of geologists, seems to be this: that strata,
or the so-called divisions of sedimentary matter, have been

"produced either by an interruption of deposition, or a change
; “in the quality of the material deposited. This idea is well illus-
trated by the deposition of matter by tides or inundations, its
ubsequent consolidation, and a renewed deposition on the

292 Mr D. A. Wells on the

plane of the former deposit. That such is really the cause of
stratification in many cases, I do not dispute ; but that there
are other causes which tend to produce, and have produced,
stratification equally extensive and varied, is, I think, clearly
shewn by the following observations :—

My attention was first drawn to the subject during the past
summer, while engaged in the analysis of soils. By the pro-
cess adopted, the soil was washed upon a filter for a consi-
derable number of days, in sume cases for a period as long
as two weeks, and subsequently dried at a temperature of
250° F. The residue of the soil left upon the filter, consist-
ing chiefly of silica and alumina, was found, after drying, in
every instance, to be more or less stratified, and that too by
divisional planes, in some cases not at all coincident with any
division of the materials, lthough this is apt to take place.
The strata so produced were in some instances exceedingly
perfect and beautiful, not altogether horizontal, but slightly
curved, and in some degree conforming to the shape of the
funnel. The production of laminz was also noticed, espe-
cially by the cleavage of the strata produced, into delicate,
thin, parallel plates, when moistened with water. These
arrangements, it is evident, were not caused by any interrup-
tion and renewal of the matter deposited, or by any change
in the quality of the particles deposited, but from two other
causes entirely distinct, and which I conceive to be these :—-
First, from a tendency in earthy matter, subjected to the
filtering, soaking, and washing of water, for a considerable
period, to arrange itself according to its degree of fineness,
and thus form strata; and secondly, from a tendency in earthy
matter, consolidated both by water and subsequent exsicca-
tion, to divide, independently of the fineness or quality of its
component particles, nto strata and lamine. The tendency
of this earthy matter is generally to divide along the lines
formed by the arrangement of the particles according to their
nature or quality: this is not, however, always the case, as
was proved by the observations noted, and which is also con-
clusively shewn by the examination of almost any stratified
rocks,

In the valley of the Connecticut, where the sandstones re-

Origin of Stratification. 293

main unaltered in any great degree by heat or dislocation, the
stratification produced by the several causes may be clearly
seen and studied. On the western edge of this deposit, we
have rocks composed of strata, which would at once be
referred to the action of tides or inundations by the most in-
experienced observer. The strata here vary from one tenth of
an inch to one inch in thickness; they are also covered with
mud-cracks, and the various markings which are usually found
upon a shore or beach. In other portions of the valley, we
have strata divisions occasioned by the lines which separate
materials differing either in quality or nature, as in the shales
from the sandstone, the coarse conglomerates from the fine
sandstone, or the highly bituminous shales from those less
bituminous. And then upon the extreme eastern edge of this
sandstone deposit, we find strata, the leaves of which mea-
sure from one to two, and in some instances, three feet in
thickness, each embracing in itself matter ranging from a
coarse conglomerate to the finest sand; and yet none of these,
within the limits of the particular strata in which they are
included, exhibit the slightest tendency to break or divide in
any one direction more than another.
The observations here stated, I am happy to find, have been
also noticed to some extent by others conversant with the
subject of stratification. Sawdust, subjected to the filtering
action of water, has been observed by Professor Agassiz to
assume a regular stratified appearance. The same has also
been noticed by Dr Hayes of Boston, in the vats into which
_ clay, used for the manufacture of alum, is washed. I have
also noticed regular stratification in the dried deposit of a
puddle in the streets, where no apparent change in the cha-
racter of the materials deposited could be noticed, and when
there was certainly no interruption of deposition.

If the divisions of stratification which I have thus pointed
out be admitted, it is not improbable that many cases of what
_ are now considered disturbed and tilted strata are none other
than their normal condition.
_ Dr Emmons remarked that he agreed entirely with the
& views brought forward by Mr Wells, and referred to cases
_ of clay beds, in which certain strata were contorted and in-

294 Professor Horsford on the Relation of the

clined, apparently from forces acting laterally, or from below ;
but which forces, from the undisturbed condition of the sur-
rounding beds, could not have acted in such a manner as to
have produced the disturbance referred to: they must there-
fore be accounted for by peculiarities or changes in the method
of deposition, and by subsequent changes.

Professor Hall stated that he had also accumulated con-
siderable evidence in regard to this subject, and regarded it
as highly important in a geological point of view.—(Proceed-
ings of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science.)

Relation of the Chemical Constitution of Bodies to Light.
By Professor EK. N. Horsrorp, of Harvard.

Professor Horsford called attention first to the well-known
facts that the colour of the hair on animals varied, and was
more intense on certain portions of the body. The metals
also had colours which were affected by their composition.
The change of their colour in summer and winter was also a
well-known fact. He enumerated many metals which changed
their tints by the simple process of heating. These were
phenomena which ought to be investigated by means of
chemistry. The change of tint is without change in chemical
composition. The law appears to be that metals pass from
a lighter to a darker tint. The loss of water causes a change
from a lighter to a darker tint. In charring wood, we have
a change from a lighter to a darker tint. He illustrated on
the black board that blackness was the natural colour of all
non-gaseous bodies; and he cited the series of compounds of
gold, silver, nickel, platinum, tin, and other metals. He illus-
trated how the compounds of the several metals, as they
became more divided in their molecular structure, varied.
He exemplified them by the series of compounds of lead with
oxygen, in which, as the oxygen prevailed, the colours be-
came lighter. This was in keeping with discoveries made
by Liebig, and other eminent chemists whom he named. |

Dr Draper had found the tints to vary in the order in which
the metals had certain affinities, as in barium, strontium, and

Chemical Constitution of Bodies to Light. 295

calcium: he thought it was due to the metals which were at
the base.

Blackness is appropriate to extreme dissolution ; Sony in
this connection, it was worthy of remark that many nations
had chosen that colour to express extreme grief.

_ The conclusions of Prof. Horsford were, that the colour of
bodies depends upon the extent of the surface of their smaller
particles, or groups of atoms.. Transparency depends upon
the arrangement of lesser atoms in certain order, constitut-
ing large groups. Whiteness depends upon such extent of
surface of the groups of atoms as shall reflect all light, or
upon such number of these plates produced by pulverizing
transparent bodies as will reflect all the light. Blackness
depends upon the subdivision of groups to such minuteness
that they no longer reflect light, or, by producing interference,
destroy it. Heat, by subdivision, causes darker shades. He
also observed, in a note, that there seem to be successive
scales of colours produced by heat.

Professor Smith, of Louisiana, did not agree with Professor
Horsford in some of his conclusions, and shewed that there
were numerous exceptions in the mineral kingdom. There
has recently been discovered the amorphous or black diamond.
The diamond is generally supposed to be a clear, transparent
substance; yet here was a specimen of a black variety, which
was proved by the investigations of Dufresnoy to contain
98 per cent. of carbon. ‘The colour of this variety of diamond
proceeded entirely from molecular structure.—(Proceedings
of the American Association for the Advancement of

_ Science.)

Notes on the Distribution of Animals available as Food
in the Arctic Regions. By AUGUSTUS PETERMANY, Hsq.,
F.R.G.S., &c.

%

i
>.

The occurrence of animals in the Arctic regions, and its
bearing on the missing expedition under Sir John Franklin,
is a subject which has of late excited a good deal of interest,
and has giving rise to the most conflicting and contradictory

296 Mr Petermnann’s Notes on the Distribution of

opinions: some maintaining the existing of animals in the
Arctic regions in great numbers, affording abundance of food
to man; others as stoutly insisting upon the extreme scar-
city, if not total absence, of them.

On entering, however, into an analysis of all that has been
said and written on.this point, it appears that a too confined
view has been generally taken of the subject. Individual
observations in certain localities have been separately con-
sidered and reasoned upon for the entire region, and these
localities only related to a comparatively small space on the
American side, the whole Asiatic side of the Polar basin not

zing taken into account at all, Again, it has been com-
monly assumed that with ascending latitudes temperature
descended, and animal and vegetable life decreased, attain-
ing their minima at the Pole. Nothing could be more falla-
cious than such an hypothesis in a region where the tempera-
ture corresponds less with latitude than in any other part
of the globe. When, therefore, the shores and waters of
Wellington Channel were found to be “ teeming with animal
life,”’ it was regarded as a wonderful fact that more animals
should be found in that region than in those to the south of
it; whereas this fact would seem to find an explanation
when connected with other physical features. Indeed, the
consideration of isolated facts alone can lead to no correct
result; and it is only when the various natural features are
compared and considered in their relative bearing, that the
laws which govern nature can be traced and discovered. It
is in this manner only that Physical Geography becomes a
really useful and practical science.

In the following outline it is attempted to take a compre- |

hensive, though rapid, glance of the distribution of animals
within the Arctic regions generally, and to inquire into the
causes of certain apparent abnormities.

I will, in the first place, proceed to indicate the regions to

which these remarks refer; those, namely, which comprise —
the Arctic fauna. On this point I have adopted narrower —
limits than other authors, inasmuch as I have taken the
northern limit of woods as the southern boundary of the —
region under consideration. It is true that some Arctic ani- —

:
:
.
:

Animals available as Food in the Arctic Regions. 297

mals, like the reindeer, are found to the south of this line—
still these are not exclusively Arctic in their character, and
they are also, more or less, of migratory habits. The ice-fox, a
beautiful little animal, well known to Arctic voyagers, and
decidediy of Arctic character, does not in general extend to
the south of the line assumed ;* which also coincides with the
extreme northern limit of the reptiles, and corresponds
pretty closely with the line of 50°, mean summer temperature.
The region thus comprises Iceland, Spitzbergen, Nova
Zembla, the extreme northern shores of Europe and Asia,
with the north-eastern extremity of the latter, including also
the sea of Kamtschatka and the Aleutian Islands, but exclud-
ing the peninsula of Kamtschatka, On the American side it
comprises a considerable portion of British North America,
the northern part of Labrador, and the whole of Greenland.

Though several classes of the animal creation—as, for ex-
ample, the reptiles—are entirely wanting in this region,
those of the mammals, birds, and fishes, at least bear com-
parison, both as to number and size, with those of the tropics,}

* The only exception, I believe, where the Arctic fox ranges southward
within the wooded district occurs in North America round Hudson Bay. This
is owing to its habit of keeping as much as possible on the coast in migrating to
the south ; thus, while they extend along the shore of Hudson Bay to about 50° N.
lat., towards the centre of the continent they are very scarce, even in lat. 61°,
and in lat. 65° they are only seen in winter, and then not in numbers.—(See
Richardson, Fauna Boreali Americana, p. 87.) Throughout the whole of the
Asiatic and Kuropean north the range of the ice-fox is nowhere found to be
within the wooded region, as Baer has shewn in his masterly account of the
distribution of this animal.—(See Bullet. Scientif. publiée par ? Acad. Imp.de St
Pétersbourg, tom. ix. p. 89.)

t Though the number of species is decidedly inferior, the immense multi-
tudes of individuals compensate for this deficiency. Some years ago I wrote
with regard to this point—“ If we were to conclude from a large number of

species that there must be a large number of individuals, we should come to
_ erroneous conclusions; for such is frequently not the case. The Arctic and
‘i tropical countries furnish an excellent example, at least in their Mammalian
_ and Ornithological Faunas. We need only refer to the crowds of birds which
a hover over the islands and shores of the north, or to the inconceivable myriads
of penguins met with by Ross on the Antarctic lands, where there was not even
_ the smallest appearance of vegetation; and, among the quadrupeds, to the
_ thousands of fur animals that are annually killed in the Arctic regions.
_ Wrangell gives a fine description of animal life in the Kolyma district of
_ Siberia, one of the coldest regions of the globe: the poverty of vegetation is

kg

298 Mr Petermann’s Notes on the Distribution of

— the lion, the elephant, the hippopotamus, and others,
being not more notable in the latter respect than the polar
bear, the musk ox, the walrus, and, above all, the whale.
Besides these, there are the moose, the reindeer, the wolf,
the polar hare, the seal, and various smaller quadrupeds.
The birds consist chiefly of an immense number of aquatic
species. Of fishes, the salmon, salmon-trout, and herring
are the principal, the latter especially occurring in such
myriads as to surpass everything of the kind met with in
tropical countries. Nearly all these animals furnish whole-
some food for man. They are, with few exceptions, distri-
buted over the entire region. The number in which they —
occur is very different in different parts. Thus,onthe Ame- —
rican side we find the animals increase in number from E. to
W.—on the shores of Davis Strait, Baffin Bay, Lancaster
Sound, Regent Inlet, fewer are met with than in Boothia
Felix and the Parry Group. The abundance of animal life
in Melville Island and Victoria Channel is probably not sur-
passed in any part of the American side. Proceeding west- —
ward to the Russian possessions, we find considerable num-
bers of animals all round and within the sea of Kamtschatka,
as also to the north of Behring Strait. The yearly produce of
the Russian Fur Company m America is immense, and
formerly it was much greater. Pribylow, when discovering
the islands named after him, collected within two years
2000 skins of sea otters, 40,000 sea bears (Ursine seals),
6000 dark ice foxes, and 1000 pood of walrus teeth. Liitke,
in his Voyage round the World, mentions that, in the year

strongly contrasted with the rich abundance of animals; countless herds of
reindeer, elks, black bears, foxes, sables, and grey squirrels, fill the upland
forests ; stone foxes and wolves roam over the low grounds. Enormous flights
of swans, geese, and ducks, arrive in spring, and seek deserts, where they may
moult and build their nests in safety. Hagles, owls, and gulls pursue their
prey along the sea-coast; ptarmigans in troops among the bushes, and little
snipes are busy along the brooks and in the morasses. Baer also relates thata |
walrus hunter on the rocks of Nova Zembla caught in a few hours 30,000 —
lemmings. On the other hand, in Australia, and other regions of the tropical —
and temperate zones, a traveller will frequently journey for weeks together, —
and pass over hundreds of miles of country, without meeting with a single —
quadruped.”—See Atlas of Physical Geography, by Petermann and Milner, |
p. 130.

Animals available as Food in the Arctic Regions. 299

1803, 800,000 skins of the Ursine seal alone were accumu-
lated in Unalaska, one of the depots of the Russian Fur Com-
pany; 700,000 of these skins were thrown into the sea,
partly because they were badly prepared, partly in order to
keep up the prices. In the Polar Sea to the north of Behring
Strait, as is well known, the number of whales found is pro-
digious ; during the last three years American whalers, at
the rate of 150 every year, having been employed in that
small portion of the ocean. But in no other part of the
Arctic zoological region is animal life so abundant as in the
north-eastern portion of Siberia, especially between the
rivers Kolyma and Lena. A description of the Kolyma dis-
trict has already been given in the preceding remarks, to
which the following particulars may now be added. The
first animals that make their appearance after the dreary
winter are large flights of swans, geese, ducks, and snipes:
these are killed by old and young; fish also begin to be
taken in nets and baskets placed under the ive. In June,
however, when the rivers open, the fish pour in in immense
numbers. At the beginning of the present century several
thousand geese were sometimes killed in one day at the
mouth of the Kolyma; about twenty years later, when Ad-
miral Wrangell visited that place, the numbers had some-
what decreased, and it was then called a good season when
1009 geese, 5000 ducks, and 200 swans were killed. Rein-
deer hunting forms the next occupation of the inhabitants.
About the same time the shoals of herrings begin to ascend
the rivers, and the multitudes of these fish are often such,
that in three or four days 40,000 may be taken with a single
net. On the banks of the river Indigirka the number of
swans and geese resorting there in the moulting season is
said to be much greater even than on the Kolyma. West
of the Lena, and along the whole of the Siberian shores as
‘far as Nova Zembla, and including that island, animal life
presents a great contrast to the preceding portion, as it is
nowhere found in such abundance as in the districts already
described, and in many parts it is extremely scarce. Spitz-
bergen, although possessing considerable numbers of animals,

300 Mr Petermann’s Notes on the Distribution of

especially reindeer of the best description, is greatly inferior
to north-eastern Siberia in that respect.

Having now completed this circumpolar view of the dis-
tribution of animals, its causes remain to be considered.

The development of vegetable and animal life in the Arctic
regions chiefly depends on the warmth of two or three, or
even one summer month ; and it may be in general assumed
that where the summer warmth is the highest, there plants
and animals will be found in greater number and bulk than
in other regions where the temperature is lower. This as-
sumption is found to be correct as far as actual observations
have been extended. The distribution of temperature in the
Arctic regions and its causes I have elsewhere* discussed ;
in this place the summer temperature only requires to be
considered. To afford, however, the elements of a complete
view of the distribution of temperature within the frigid zone,
I have collected the observations made at various points, in-
cluding some interesting stations not strictly belonging to
the Arctic regions: these results are given in the Table (pp.
306, 307) and enumerated with respect to latitude.

According to Sir John Richardson, terrestrial animalsare
abundant in the polar regions for two short summer months
only. Birds fly to the north to perform the functions of incu-
bation and rearing their young, which done, old and young,
with the exception of some scattered flocks of dovekies,
desert their breeding-places, and with the frost wing their
way southwards. Reindeer, musk-oxen, and the beasts of
prey which follow in their train, do not quit the continent

to visit the Polar islands until the thaw has made some pro- ’
gress in thinning the snowy covering of the pastures, and —

they return towards the woodlands again as soon as the sea
is fast, or sooner, if the straits which separate their summer

haunts from the main are narrow enough for them to swim —
across. The temperature of the month of July, which cor- —
responds with the summit of the summer, appears to be a —
pretty sure index of the occurrence or abundance of animals —

in those regions. The following table exhibits the places of

* See Petermann’s “ Search for Franklin,” 1852.

=

Animals available as Food in the Arctic Regions. 301

the lowest mean July temperature of the American half of
of the Arctic regions, being all below 40° :—

Winter Islands . . . (latitude 6611) . . 804

Port Bowen. . . . (24 SOW TS Daye Ae 36°6
_ Assistance Harbour . ( ‘“ 74 40)... 37°8
RM laisse! D oreo, 6 2.69 DLP Sip4 1 89-1

Observations made on board of vessels navigating Bafiin
Bay and Hudson Strait give the following additional re-
results :*—

Mean Mean Mean
Latitude. Longitude. Temperature
of July.
Baffin Bay . . 70 «(0 59 0 33°5
Baffin Bay . . 70 0 58 0 34°8
Baffin Bay 3 75, 5 59 4 34:9
‘Hudson Strait ’ 63 0 7 eens : 39°. }

Anelliptical curve drawn round the foregoing points, having
as its axis a line extending from the entrance to Hudson
Strait to Assistance Bay, and including Davis Strait, Baffin
Bay, Lancaster Sound, Barrow Strait, Prince Regent Inlet,
Boothia Gulf, Fox Channel, with the land between, com-
prises the coldest regions on the American side. This
region is precisely that in which the fewest numbers of ani-
mals have been met with. Beyond it, even to the N., where
the July temperature—as in Melville Island—has been
found to increase, there the animals also have been found
in greater numbers. Dr Sutherland, in his valuable work
already quoted, gives some interesting remarks on this
head. He says,t “ That deer are more abundant on the N.
‘side of Cornwallis Island, adjacent to Barrow Strait, no
person need doubt; for Captain Penny’s and MrjGoodsir’s
ppevelling reports contain frequent allusions to the’ numbe s

4 *# As given by Dr Sutherland in his “ Journal of a Voyage to Bafiin Bay
and Barrow Strait.” See Appendix, p. clxxvi.

4 _ t “Journal of a Voyage to Baffin “Bay and Barrow Strait,’ Introduction,
p. xxxii.

_ VOL. LIV. NO. CVHI.—APRIL 1853. x

302 Mr Petermann’s Notes on the Distribution of

of these animals that were seen there; while not one, so far
as I know, was ever seen during the whole year in any of
the frequent excursions made from the ships in Assistance
Bay.” Again: “ It will be rather peculiar if we find that
these animals take towards the N. side of Cornwallis Island
as the winter approaches, that they may share the modifying
effect which the open water in Queen’s Channel must have upon
the atmosphere in its vicinity ; and it will appear at variance
with the generally received opinion that these animals mi-
grate southward on the approach of winter.” It would have
been interesting if a series of observations of the tempera-
ture in the regions referred to by Dr Sutherland could; have
been made, so as to draw a comparison in that respect with
Assistance Bay.

In Wolstenholme Sound, at the head of Baffin Bay, though
having a July temperature of 40° 5’, a comparatively small
number of animals were observed by the expedition of the
“ North Star.” This is a point, however, from which animals
can easily migrate to the 8. or N.; and if the temperature
be higher farther N. during the summer, as is highly pro-
bable, they unquestionably would extend their migration in
that direction. Dr Sutherland has an interesting remark
bearing on the point :— |

“The Esquimaux lad whom Captain Ommanney took on
board H.M.S. ‘ Assistance,’ at Cape York, says that the
Esquimaux who inhabit the coast in the vicinity of Whale ~
Sound, at the top of Baffin Bay, clothe themselves with the
skin of the musk-ox (umingmak). This statement, if —
true, would lead one to the idea that the musk-ox inhabits
still more northern regions than Melville Island—regions ,
whence they cannot return into a more southern latitude
with the close of the season, owing to the open water in —
the top of Baffin Bay throughout the whole winter. And |
moreover, it may lead to the inference that such regions as
can maintain the musk-ox throughout the year in so high a
latitude as 77° and upwards, must present features with re-
spect to temperature which are peculiar only to regions in ~
the vicinity of an extensive sea.” .

On the Asiatic half of the Arctic regions the July tem-
perature stands as follows :—

Animals available as Food in the Arctic Regions. 303

Spitzbergen, NW. extremity . . (latitude 80 00) . . 386-0
Nova Zembla, Karische Pforte . ( “ 70387) . . 363
Ditto, Seichte Bay Mime F4QOy oxo S77
Ditto, Matothkin Shar . 4:07 OO) oh. ba. & 1600
Spitzbergen, Hecla Cove (hon FOGG) no. 402
TL OD, 9 1 48'8
« 670 58). w 586
68 82) 6 BLO

Kovennoy Filipovskoy
Ust Yansk
Nishne Kolymsk

NON ON SON
nn
n

In this region the influence of the temperature is still more
striking, as it has been shewn that north-eastern Siberia,
comprising the warmest stations in the foregoing list, ex-
hibits not only the greatest amount of animal life in northern
Siberia, but throughout the whole of the Arctic regions, al~
though in winter it is the coldest on the face of the globe.
It will be seen, by comparing the two tables of the July
temperature, that Winter Island is the coldest of all stations ;
and this is likewise the case with the mean of the three sum-

mer months. This place is consequently the pole of cold of
the northern hemisphere during the summer ; and Mr Ber-
thold Seemann, the naturalist of H.M.S. Herald, informs me
that it it is likewise the phytological North Pole, namely,
that point which possesses the smallest number of genera
and species.of plants, and whence the number increases in
every direction. While thus in Winter Island the most
scanty vegetation is found, in north-eastern Siberia, in a cor-
responding latitude, noble forests are known to thrive in
- considerable extent. It is curious to remember that already
that distinguished navigator Frobisher, nearly three hundred
_ years ago, in describing the country round the Strait named
; after him, says that under a latitude of 62° it was colder
_ there than in Wardéhuus in Europe, in latitude 703°, the
; former being comprised in the district I have shewn to be
the coldest in summer in the Arctic regions, as far as our
_ present knowledge extends. It is much to be regretted that
_ the efforts of the numerous Arctic expeditions in this cen-
_ tury—in the hope to effect the so-called ‘‘ North-western’”’
_ passage—should have been almost exclusively directed and
- accumulated upon that region,—the most desolate, and, per-

304 Mr Petermann’s Notes on the Distribution of

haps, the most uninteresting, as well as the most difficult
and dangerous portion of the Frigid Zone.

Without going further into detail, I will merely add a few
words as to the bearing of the foregoing observations on sans
John Franklin’s Bepeditidn,

The general opinion is that the missing vessels have
been arrested somewhere between Wellington Channel and
Behring Strait and the Siberian shores. Most probably their
position is nearer to the latter than to the former points.
As these three regions abound in animal life, we may fairly
conclude that the intervening portion partakes of the same —
character, and moreover, that the further Sir John Franklin
may have got away from Wellington Channel, and the nearer
he may have approached the north-eastern portion of Asia,
the more he will have found the animals to increase in num-
ber. The direction of the isothermal lines corroborates this
assumption, as they are indicative of a higher summer tem-
perature in that region than in any other within the Polar
basin. Those countries being probably uninhabited by man,
the animals there would have continued unthinned by the
wholesale massacres by which myriads are destroyed for the
sake only of their skins or teeth.

An interesting fact was mentioned in this Society by
Lieutenant Osborn, namely, that Captain Penny, in Septem-
ber 1850, had seen enormous numbers of whales running
southwards from under the ice in Wellington Channel. We
know this to be also the case in the Spitzbergen Sea every
spring, and that these animals are numerous along the Sibe-
rian coasts. ‘This not only tends to prove the existence of —
one, or perhaps two, Polar Seas, more or less open through-—
out the year, but also that these seas abound in animal life,
as to satisfy enormous numbers of whales a large amount of —
foodis required. And it is well known among the Tchuktehi,
on the north-eastern coasts of Siberia,—where land to the —
N. is said to exist in contiguity and probably connected with
the lands discovered by Captain Kellett,—that herds of rein-_
deer migrate between those lands and the continents.

‘Taking all these facts into consideration, the conclusion —
seems to be a reasonable one, that Franklin, ever since enter-

Animals available as Food in the Arctic Regions. 305

ing Wellington Channel, has found himself in that portion
of the Arctic regions where animals probably exist in greater
plenty than in any other. Under these circumstances alone
his party could exist as well as other inhabitants of the Polar
regions; but we must not forget that, in addition to the na-
tural resources, they would in their vessels possess more
comfortable and substantial houses than any of the native in-
habitants.

So far as food is concerned, reasonable hope therefore may
be entertained that the missing Expedition would not alto-
_ gether suffer by the want of it ;—their fate, however, depends -
upon other circumstances as well, among which, that dire
scourge of mariners, the scurvy, is probably more to be feared
than any other.

My authorities have been the works of the various expe-
ditions undertaken in the Arctic regions by the English,
Russian, Dutch, and other nations; the zoological accounts
of Richardson, Baer, Wrangell, and others ;: also the valu-
able papers on the distribution of mammals by Dr Wagner.
The meteorological data are chiefly derived from Dove’s
tables, and the works of Richardson, Sutherland, Middendorf,
and others.

306 Mr Petermann’s Notes on the Distribution of

THERMOMETRICAL OBSERVATIONS in the ArctT

| = a Elev. Jan. | Feb. | March.) April.| May. | June. | July.

1} Spitzbergen . . . {| 80
2) Hecla Cove ay / 7)
3 Greenland Sea . .| 78
4+ Wolstenholme Sound! 76

Lat. 80° to 75°, ° | © ¢ | Feet.

5 | Mel -1si9 | - 821] 1682| 3621] 49.45

6 | Assistance Bay. «| 7440 | 9416] ... | -29 | -298 | -224 | -32 | IL | 843 | 37:8

7 | Novaia Zemlia 74 0] 58 Of ... | 9°32] 10°°9{ 10°38] 1069! 2430] 34:41] 87°67
(Seichte Bay).

8 | Port Bowen . . «| 73 14] 8856] ... | -28-91 | -27:32 | -28:38 | - 650 | 17:57 | 3612 | 36:55

9 | Novaia Zemlia (Ma-| 73 0 |- 57 20; ... 4:28 | - 7:74 4°46 826 | 1974 | 34:57] 39°97
tothkin Shar),

10 | North Cape, Island | 71 10 |- 26 11! ... 22°08 | 23°16 | 2475 | 80°02] 84:07] 4015] 4660

| of Mageroe.

11 /KovennoiFilipovskoi| 71 5 |-118 0

212) Ustyansk.. .. re

13 | Novaia Zemlia, Ka- | 79 37 |- 57 47]... 9.98
rische Pforte.

| Lat. 70° to 65°.

pee Se Ores i460 69,1 BB Tih, | caeieo
15 | Niabue Kotyvmsk . | 62 2 | 8b 53} .. | -1613
Pee es |” | G8 82 |-160 66.1"... Broker
17| Kotzebue Sound «| ¢g 9 | 163 9 | |. ;
1g | Fort Confidence | 6 54 | 118 49 | 500 | -21°57
dl Be ee ee eS oe wt) Rm

} Lat. 75° to 70°,
Melville Island .j| 74 47 | 11048] .,. | -31:28 | -82-45

20| Eyafiord . « - «| @§ 30! 2030! 2. | 2570! 18:50! 20°66! 2750] 3614! 4352] 4694
j2.) Winter Island . ./ g¢ 11 | 8311] ... | -2317 | -25:99 | -10-72| 6-48] 23-29 | 23:17] 35°86
22 | Sort Franklin 2. | 86 0 | 147 0 | 200% 26:85 | -26-44 | -1116 | 1266 | 41°24 | 53-49 | 65-75
723} Fort Franklin . . | 65 12 | 12313 | 500 | -23°33 | -16-75 | - 5:38} 1235] 85°18} 4802] 5210
Lat. 65° to 60°.

24) Archangel. - - | 6432 |- 4033] ... | 657) 923 21:00] S139) 4168] 5518) 602

25 hac mperpree - | 64 98 | 113 06 | 850 | -15°57 | -25°88 | -13-48 | 5°78] 81°20
t 26 Wat he cebu 2 Eee 10 pean ea 12:38 | 19°56 | 15°60] 22°01} 8216 | 89°09} 41:92
1A errmhut..,- | 64 10 | 52 40)| ... 9:05 | 22:10] 21°65 | 2480 | 32: 40°10 | 4033

20 Rone Reiss i ae Oe a oe Nea 1) | 29°82 | 28:31 | 29°86 | 36°46 | 44°80] 51:58} 5619

2) | yak, tek? * 1 | 62 46 | 109 0 | 650 | -25°00 | -18'84 | - 6-14 8:23 | 36°03

80 | eae Senpson’ . |-62 .1 |-d29 44| ... | 45-47 | 28°86 | - 643 | 16:36) 86-91 | 55:28 | ~ 68-79

BL elle Bapke . . 1 | 61 SL | 121 51 | 400 | -1254 | - 9°06 | 555 | 26-28 | 48:16 | 6364 | 60-07
p32 Ro - R aa Fibs >| 61 30 | 180 0 | 1400 J -21°95 | -14:73 | -— 0°99 | 20°44 2

B35 | Tl othtenau . . , | 64 10 | 118 51 | 500] 0-42 | -2560 | 995) 12°88) 40-14

ees 2 *| 60 35 | 46 ‘a 19°74 | 23: 27°63 | 3243 | 89°27] 43:09 | 45°37

Lat. 60° to 55°. |
95 | Friedrichsthal . . } 60 45 19°62 | 1872] 2210] 27°50 3
| 36| Petersburgh . . .| 59 56 |- 3018] ... 14°74 1868 | 25:50 | 87°18 | 48°52 v|
27 | Fort Churchill . . | 5902 | 9310] 20} ~21-21 | - 7.31 | - 463 | 1629 | 28-42 t
f3s| Fort Chepewyan .| 58 43 | 118 20| 700] - 876 | - 4°01] 3808) 19°80 | 45-40 3
391) Hebron... « « + 58 0 64 0 Bag — §'24 | - 5°31 4°62 16°83 33-01 %
Oy Okakistic. & > = ip }BT 80 086..05) ous 215 1°95 8°25 | 29:0 38:25 3
41| Nain. ; 57 10 | 6150] ... 095 | 3°51 752 | 2997 | 86°98 3
42| Sitka 2... .| 57 3/18518] 4. | 8418 | 3360] 38:01 | 40°64 | 48:18 {§
43| York Factory . . | 57 0 | 9226) 20] - 512) - 660) 477 19:21 | 33°53 8
:
| Lat, 55° to 47°.
44 Oxford House . .| 54 96 28 | 400 | -22-06 0| 857] 2862] 38-01

55
45 Cumberland House | 53 47 | yi
46) Hu'nk ... . .| 53 52 | 166 25 re 34°27 32°
47 | \\upert House . . | 51 21 |
BO 1. St SOND fis. “a > :
| London (for com- | 51 30 |
1 parison).

The longitudes are East when - is prefixed, and West when tlere is no sign,——* Difference of the he
Land’——S., Sutherland, ‘ Journal of a voyage to Baffin Bay and Barrow Straits.’-——M., Middendorf, ' .
tious are from Dove (17th and 18th Reports British Association, 1847 & 48)———{ By interpolation,

Animals available as food in the Arctic Regions. 307

i is m
| Differ. z is
. EH. &C.| Differ | > | Hour ‘zB
* # Months.|S. & Wf 3 of sl
Ly ok + é | Observation. | £
4, | 4
*3 | 2-hourly.
hourly.
f 3 | da extr. }
1 {| 6 times. R.§
1 | 2-hourly.
1 | 3 hourly. S.§
1 | 2-hourly. d
1 | 2-hourly.
1 | 2-hourly. ‘
1

f2 | 8,12, 4,12.
1 | 2hourly,

ie

hourly.
2-hourly.
8, 8.

daily extr.
15 to 17 times. | R.f
8 times.

RO RD bel BOBO

ts}

> 2 bo

=3

°

(=|

len]

—

te
eo 2

6 times,

He 09 9 CO
wie

CNiQi

7,2, 9.
10,10."

d. extr.

15 times.

5 times.
&.

5 times.

3 Oe

—_

»| BODO
a bv

ts]

mn by

we
=
oOo

faery
LS)
at
SS
=)
SE Teen ea eee

weE

Rrwnm mow:

2333) 15°59
25°32
44 0 40-4

months,—-} Difference of Summer and Winter. R,, Richardson, ‘ Boat-Voyage through Rupert’s
erston Norden und Osten Sibiriens.’ T., Transactions Royal Society ——The rest of the Observa-
ons tO the 19th Aug, only,—|| 25--30 Apri] —T 1—26 October,

508 Professor Horsford on the Efect of Heat on the

The Effect of Heat on the Perpendicularity of Bunker Hill
Monument. By Prof. E. N. Horsrorp, of Harvard, North
America.

Soon after the pendulum was placed in Bunker Hill Monu-
ment, it was observed that the ball when at rest was not
always over the same point in the floor. The careful con-
sideration of all the conditions of this fact resulted in ascrib-
ing it to the unequal expansion of the sides of the monument,
in consequence of unequal exposure to the sun.

A brief description of the present condition of the monu-
ment will aid in understanding the mode of observation
pursued.

The obelisk, thirty feet square at the base, rises, gradually
lessening, to a pyramidal summit, two hundred and twenty-
one feet. Within is a circular well, seven feet in diameter —
at the bottom, and five at the top, where it opens into a
chamber or observatory. The chamber is approached by a
winding stairway. In the centre of the roof of the chamber
is an iron staple which was securely fixed at the time of
placing the capstone. It served at first to support machinery
for carrying visitors up and down. From this staple, which
is over the centre of the open space or well, the pendulum is
suspended by means of a screw clamp.

From a point in the floor directly below the index attached
to the ball, circles were described and graduated, and radii
drawn.

On the day following the graduation, the index was found
to be on the one side of the centre of the circle. As the
screw clamp first employed did not admit of adjustment, a
new apparatus, with the necessary modifications, were. sub- —
stituted, and the ball brought precisely over the centre of the
graduated circle.

A few hours later, it was found out of the centre.

Upon observing more carefully, it was found during clear —
days that the motion of the ball in the morning was to the
westward, at noon to the northwest, and at evening to the
east. It was further observed that on days when the sun
was obscured by clouds, that no motion of the ball or its in-
dex point occurred. It was still further observed on one

Perpendicularity of Bunker Hill Monument. 309

occasion, during a sudden shower, accompanied with strong
wind from the southeast, at about three o’clock in the after.
noon, to move in the space of a very few minutes a quarter
of an inch to the eastward. Observations at seven o’clock
in the morning, at twelve o’clock at noon, and at seven

o'clock in the afternoon, were recorded through several

weeks, and no doubt remains that a cause coincident with
the sun in its progress produced the variation of the perden-
dicular in the monument.

A fact already hinted at, further confirmed this conclusion.
The extreme departure of the ball from the centre was to
the west of northwest; not to the north, as might at first
glance be supposed. The explanation is found in the posi-
tion of the monument. Its sides do not face the cardinal
points, but are inclined about 20°. The expansion of a single
side would produce inclination in a direction perpendicular
to the side. ‘The expansion of two adjacent sides would pro-
duce inclination in the direction of the diagonal. In the
morning the shaft is inclined to the westward. At noon it

_ is inclined but a little to the north of west. In the progress

of the afternoon, it sweeps over twice the amount of move-
ment in the morning; describing, in the twelve hours of ob-
servation, an arc of an ellipse.

During the night it sets back to the centre, and before
seven o’clock in the morning, has already moved westward.

The greatest diameter of the irregular ellipse, described
by the index in twenty-four hours, is ordinarily less. than
half an inch, while the least was less than a quarter of an
inch. |
It would not be difficult to find the expansion of the granite
to which this movement of the ball corresponds. In the
simpler case of a rectangular shaft, the departure of the
ball from the centre would be the versed sine of an are (the
side of the shaft), of which the pendulum was the sine. The
difference between the are and sine would be the expansion
of the granite.
- The heat of the sun penetrates to but a moderate depth.
This is evident from the prompt movement of the column
when a shower falls only upon the more highly-heated sides,

310 3 =§ Perpendicularity of Bunker Fill Monument.

and also from the ready change in inclination as the day ad-
vances.

The effects here observed, and which are now recorded
from day to day, taken in connection with the meteorologi-
eal record of Boston, Charlestown, and Cambridge, cannot
fail to be of high interest.

The expansion of granite by heat had before been observed.
Mr Bond, the director of the Cambridge Observatory, noticed
its effect on his transit instrument erected in the temporary
establishment at the corner of Quincy and Harvard streets.
The instrument rested on two granite pillars. In the morn-
ing of a clear day, his meridian mark on a distant hill would
be found east of the meridian line as indicated by his instru-
ment; at noon, or a little past, coincident with it; and at
evening west of it.

Engineers have observed it in long walls of masonry. It
can scarely be doubted that we have memorials of it in the
ruins of Baalbec and Pestum, of Nimrod and Stonehenge; nor
can we question that it has played a large part in the de-
struction of cliffs, or the splitting of mountain masses.

The mode of observation at the monument is this: On
either side, about three-quarters of a inch from the centre,
under the index of the ball, two slender needles have been
driven into the floor, leaving not more than the sixteenth of
an inch above. ‘These are made by pressure to pierce a card
of thin drawing paper, which is kept from warping by slen-
der bars of lead. When fixed the north and south and east
and west lines are transversed in pencil mark from the floor
to the paper. After bringing the ball to rest, in which the
observer is aided by a contrivance enabling him to steady
his hands, a dot is made with a pencil immediately under the
index point, which is about the sixteenth of an inch above
the paper. At the close of the day, the card, previously dated,
is removed, and another takes its place for the observation
of the next day.

It is a grateful duty to state that the expense of the ne-
cessary fixtures at the monument for the pendulum experi-
ment, of which advantage has been taken in the observations
here referred to, has been incurred by the Massachusetts

On the Geological Distribution of Marine Animals. 311

Charitable Mechanics’ Association. The enlightened libe-
rality of the directors of this association is only equalled by
the generous and efficient co-operation of the officers of the
Bunker Hill Monument Association.—(Proceedings of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science.)

rN NE enn

On the Geological Distribution of Marine Animals. By
Professor EDWARD FORBES.

Professor Forbes, in his Map of the Geological Distribution ©
of Marine Life, and on the Homoiozoic Belts, shews the pro-
vinces under which animals and vegetables are assembled,
and these provinces are delineated so as to shew their pecu-
liarities, relations, and contrasts. The character of each is
marked by the entire assemblage of organised beings, consti-
tuting its population, a considerable portion in most cases
being peculiar, and a still larger number of species having
their areas of maximum development within it. The several
provinces vary greatly in extent, some being very small and
some very large. The northern and southern limits of each
province correspond with the boundaries of a latitudinal belt,
to which, on account of similarity of organic features, pre-
sented through its extension, the name of Homoiozoic is pro-
posed to be applied. Nine of these belts are distinguished,
of which one is unique, central, and equatorial, and four in
the northern hemisphere represent as many in the southern.
The boundaries of the belts on land appear to correspond with
the isotherm ofsthe months in which there is the greatest
vivacity of animal and vegetable life. The Homoiozoic belts
are not of equal breadth inall parts; the polar belts include only
a single province in each, the other severally include many
provinces. There are twenty-five provinces. 1. Arctic; 2.
Boreal; 3. Celtic; 4. Lusitanian; 5. Mediterranean ; 6. West
African; 7. South African; 8. Indo Pacific; 9. Australian; 10.
Japonian ; 11. Mantchourian; 12. Ochotyian; 13 Sitchian ;
14. Oregonian; 15. Californian ; 16. Panamian; 17. Peruvian;
18. Araucanian ; 19. Fuegian ; 20. Antarctic; 21. East Pata-
gonian; 22, Urugavian; 23. Caribbean; 24. Carolinian; 25.

312 Mr G. A. Rowell on the

Virginian.—(For an account of Professor Forbes’s regions of
depths, vide vols. 50, 51, and 52, Edin. New Phil. Journal.)

a

On the Change of Temperature in Europe, and the Variation
of the Magnetic Needle. By Mr G. A. Rowrnu.* With
a Map.

From the attention now given to the effects of glaciers in
producing geological phenomena, much interest has been
excited as to the cause which has brought about the change
of temperature in Europe since the glacial period.

This change of temperature is, I believe, intimately con-
nected with the change of declination of the needle, and in
the theory which I first submitted to this Society in 1839,
on the cause of terrestrial magnetism, I attributed the
change of declination in this hemisphere to a decrease of
temperature in the higher latitudes of America, or to an in-
crease of temperature in those of Europe and Asia. In a
recent communication on Scandinavia, allusion has been made
to several geological facts, which are, I believe, connected
with the cause of these changes. I trust, therefore, I have
chosen a proper time to bring the subject under the consi-
deration of this Society, as I hope to shew the causes of this
change of temperature, and also the probability that these
causes have been in operation to a sufficiently recent time,
to account for the variation of the needle.

Before I proceed further, I will describe the accompany-
ing Map, as I shall have to refer to it often.

The lines of equal magnetic intensity are shewn by the
broken lines; these are taken from Col. Sabine’s maps, in
the Sixth Report of the British Association. The point of
greatest intensity is shewn by the spot at 52° 19’ north lati-
tude, 92° west longitude ; the intensity decreasing from this
point as shewn by the lines 1.7 —16—-15—14 The
American magnetic pole, according to Sir James Ross, is in
north latitude 70° 51’, west longitude 96° 46’. The Asiatic
magnetic pole, according to Hansteen’s observations, is in

* Read before the Ashmolean Society, January 31, 1853.

T LIV aaa !
Edin’ New Phil, Journal E

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Variation of the Magnetic Needle. 313

85° north latitude, 116° east longitude. The plain lines
shew the isothermal lines of 5°, 10°, 20°, 30°, and 40° of
temperature ; the dotted line is the line of maximum tem-
perature. This is not an isothermal line, as it varies from
less than 80° to more than 85° of mean temperature. These
lines are all from Johnston’s Physical Atlas.

As few persons are acquainted with the theory I propose
on the cause of terrestrial magnetism, it will be necessary to
explain it; but I shall do so inas brief a manner as possible.

As the trade-winds are caused by the cold and condensed
air from high latitudes pressing onward and raising the
warmer and lighter air in the tropical regions, the air thus
raised must flow back again in an upper current towards the
colder regions, to keep an equilibrium. Thus the air is in
constant circulation from the colder to the warmer regions
along the earth’s surface, and from the warmer to the cclder
above. |
. It is well known that during evaporation electricity is
carried off, and the water from which the vapour has arisen
is left in a negative state; it follows, therefore, that the

- tropical regions must always be in a negative state, owing
to the vapour and its electricity being carried from thence

_ by the rising air; and the vapour and its electricity carried
by the upper current to the polar regions must render those
parts positively electrified, and it is to the rush of electricity
from the positive to the negative parts of the earth that I
attribute the direction of the needle.

The cause of the magnetic poles in this hemisphere I be-
lieve to be the vast quantities of ice blocked up both in
winter and summer above the two continents, thus keeping

_ those parts constantly colder than any other parts in the
same latitudes ; consequently these centres or poles of cold

are the magnetic poles. For as the density of the air in-

creases with the degree of cold, it follows that there must
be more air flow from these coldest parts towards the warmer
_ regions than from any other district ; consequently there
must be a greater flow of the upper currents of air with its
_ vapour and electricity, from the warmer regions to these
¥ coldest parts, than to any other.

‘'

¥

314 Mr G. A. Rowell on the

Now, if the point of greatest cold were at the terrestrial
pole, and the temperature and evaporation increased regu-
larly from thence to the equator, the electricity would pass
off from the pole towards the warmer parts of the earth,
directly in the lines of longitude, and there would be no de-
clination of the needle except that caused by the greater
evaporation, where the sun may be above the horizon. But
as the poles of cold are at a distance from the terrestrial
pole, as there is more electricity received at these parts than
in others in the same latitudes, the electricity cannot all pass
off in the lines of longitude, but must diverge eastward and
westward of them, to gain its equilibrium in passing off to-
wards the more negative parts of the earth, and thus cause
the declination of the needle as the currents of electricity
from the frigid to the tropical regions in every meridian
must, in some degree, be affected by the divergences of the
currents from the magnetic poles. As I consider the poles
of cold and magnetic poles identical, I shall use the terms as
Synonymous.

The lines of equal intensity of magnetism by no means
correspond with the parallels of latitude. If we trace the
line 1.5, it has its highest northern limit, 7, e. 73° north lati-
tude, at about 10° east longitude. To the westward it de-
scends through Iceland, passes west of the Azores, and
reaches its lowest latitude, 23° north, in the Gulf of Mexico ;
it then rises again, and about 20° west of Behring’s Strait
has its second highest latitude 53°; it declines again to 41°
in the meridian of the Asiatic pole, from whence it rises
again to its highest northern limit. The course of this line
shews the great intensity of the American pole as compared
with the Asiatic. ‘The declination of the needle also shews
the different effects of the two poles, as the declination ap-
parently caused by the Asiatic pole does not extend over
more than about 100° of longitude ; whilst the declination of
the needle over the remaining 260° seems to be affected in
some measure by the American pole. This difference in the
intensity of the influence of the poles may arise from the
American pole being the coldest, or from the air forming
the upper current to that pole, being more loaded with va-

Variation of the Magnetic Needle. 315

pour, and consequently electricity, than the current flowing
to the Asiatic pole; or it may be caused by the ice in Ame-
rica being blocked up at much lower latitudes than in Asia,
thus producing in a greater degree those currents of air,
vapour, and electricity, to which I attribute magnetic phe-
nomena.

It may be observed, that the point of greatest intensity is
between Hudson’s Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, and that the
lines shew the great intensity from the American pole in the
direction of the warm equatorial seas between Africa and
America.

The intensity of effect from the Asiatic pole seems to be
influenced by like causes, as it is directed towards the Indian
Ocean, where the line of maximum temperature has its
greatest northern latitude, i. ¢., 12° 30’, and where the tem-
perature of that line is at the highest, viz. 853° of Fahrenheit,
and consequently where the evaporation is greatest. Thus,
in both cases the greatest intensity is from the poles towards

the nearest parts where the evaporation is great.

In the meridian, where the intensity is the least, we find
no such pole of cold, and the tropical region is occupied by
Africa, consequently the rate of evaporation is low; and in
the meridian of Behring’s Straits the Arctic Sea is open,
and the line of maximum temperature is about 7° south of
the equator, so that this line is nearly 20° farther to the
south in that meridian than it is in the Indian Ocean, and
the temperature lower.

The lines of equal temperature follow the same general
direction as the lines of magnetic intensity, shewing that they

are both influenced by the same cause, viz. the two great

centres or poles of cold; and generally in the meridians

_ where the temperature is highest, the intensity of magnetism

is the least, and where the temperature is lowest the inten-
sity is greatest. The lines of equal temperature do not
differ so much from the parallels of latitude as the lines of
magnetic intensity, but yet the difference is great, especially
in high northern latitudes.

Taking the line of mean temperature of 30° of Fahrenheit,
it has its highest limit rather north-west of the North Cape,

316 Mr G. A. Rowell on the

i. e. about 72° of north latitude. Passing westward: it de-
scends to the 54th degree of latitude, and shews a mean tem-
perature of 20° lower in the eastern parts of America, when
compared with the same latitudes in Iceland, England, and
the north-western parts of Europe. ’

This difference of temperature is generally attributed to
the effects of the Gulf Stream; but although there is high
authority for this opinion, I venture to suggest that other
causes operate in a much greater degree in producing this
phenomenon. That the temperature of the Atlantic Ocean
has some effect I do not deny, but the proofs of a continua-
tion of the Gulf Stream, or of there being any stream from
the Atlantic into the Arctic Sea, are very meagre, chiefly, I
believe, depending on the fact, that plants from the Guif of
Mexico and the West Indian Islands are occasionally found
on the shores of England, Iceland, Norway, &c.; but when
we consider the vast quantity of such materials brought by
the Gulf Stream into the midst of the Atlantic, it is reason-
able to suppose that the whole of its shores must occasionally
have some of these things thrown on them by storms, «ce.
I am not aware that the Gulf Stream can be traced farther
north than the 49th degree of latitude, and the fact that a
bottle thrown into the sea by Sir W. KH. Parry, in latitude
53° 13’ north, longitude 46° 55’ west, was picked up on the
shore ot Tenerifle, seems to support this idea, as it must
have crossed the direction of this supposed stream.

It is a very general opinion that the western sides of con-.
tinents are always warmer than the eastern; but this is not
supported by facts, as the temperature of Africa is lowest
on the western side, and the same is the case with the whole
of America, from ‘the 30th degree of north latitude to ae
Horn.

I beg to suggest, that the principal cause of the unequal
distribution of temperature in high northern latitudes is the
blocking up of the ice in the seas above the Asiatic and
American continents, thus making those parts the poles of
cold, whilst the Arctic Sea being open from Norway to
Green!and no such accumulation of ice can take place there,
consequently the temperature is higher there than in any

Variation of the Magnetic Needle. 317

other parts in this hemisphere in the same parallels of lati-
tude.

The opening into the Arctic Sea through Behring’s Strait
produces similar effects in those regions, but in a lesser de-

gree. It is true that the isothermal lines in the North Pa-
cific Ocean have not their highest northern limits in the
meridian of the Strait, but to the east of it; this fact supports
the theory, as the high temperature of the western parts of
North America may fairly be attributed to the great height
of the Rocky Mountains intercepting the cold breezes from
Hudson’s Bay and the frozen seas above it.

With respect to the changes of temperature which have
taken place in Europe, it is evident, from glacial marks and
deposits in Switzerland, Scotland, and in almost the whole
of North-Western Europe, that the temperature of these
regions has been much lower than at the present time. I
will not attempt to give an opinion as to the depression of
temperature which would produce such an extent of glaciers ;
but M. Charles Martins, in an article* “on the Ancient Ex-
tent of the Glaciers of Chamounix,” calculated that a mean
temperature similar to that of the northern part of the State
of New York, by lowering the line of perpetual snow, and
enlarging the area for its accumulation, would be quite suffi-
cient to account for the extent of ancient glaciers in the
district around Mont Blanc. On this authority, therefore, I
conclude that the extent of ancient glaciers in Europe may
be accounted for by a temperature such as now prevails in
similar latitudes in the eastern parts of America.

- _ Ithas been suggested, that a change in the direction of
_ the Gulf Stream may have been the cause of the change of
_ temperature since the glacial period ; this cause alone seems
insufficient to produce such effects, and the supposition of
any change in the course of the Gulf Stream is purely hypo-
thetical.
I submit that this change of temperature may be fairly
attributed to geological changes, of which we have evidence
- at the present time. I believe the low temperature of the

* Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, No. 85.
VOL. LIV. NO. CVIII.—APRIL 1853. ¥

318 Mr G. A. Rowell on the

eastern parts of America, from the 40th to the 65th degree
of latitude, is caused by the vast quantities of ice blocked up
in Hudson’s Bay, as it is a large sea open to receive the
icebergs from more northern regions, and cut off from com-
munication with the warmer waters of the Atlantic Ocean,
the only opening into it being Hudson’s Strait, from whence
the current sets into the Atlantic.

I will endeavour to shew that there are fair nea for .
assuming, that very similar circumstances prevailed in Europe
in recent geological times, and consequently it had a like
depressed temperature. I believe it is now considered
proved, that since the creation of races of animals at present
existing, England and the Continent were connected by dry
land. If, then, we consider the British Channel to have no
existence, the German Ocean would form a sea similar in
latitude to Hudson’s Bay. We have farther the facts given
by Sir R. Murchison, in his paper ‘‘ On the Superficial De-
tritus of Sweden,” which shew, that since the southern part
of Sweden was inhabited by man, the more northern parts
and neighbouring districts were covered by water: that pre-
vious to the elevation of this land, the last geological change
was the distribution, by means of icebergs, of innumerable
distinct angular blocks of stone over these districts. That
these icebergs must have been immense is shewn by the size
of some of the stones which have been so distributed, one
measured by Sir R. Murchison was 40 feet long, 23 feet
wide, and 25 feet high, and another was still larger.

From the nature of these stones, it is evident that they
have all been carried from north to south, shewing that the
current was in that direction ; proving also that these regions
were then open to the Frigid Ocean; and as this current
was from north to south, it is fair to assume that it found its
way into the German Ocean, and thence into the Atlantic.

If I have taken a fair view of these subjects, the condition
of North-Western Europe at that time was very similar to
that which now prevails in the north-eastern parts of Ame-
rica, Great Britain representing Labrador, Norway standing
for Cumberland Island, the German Ocean, with its connec- —
tion with the Baltic and Frigid Seas, forming another Hud- —

Variation of the Magnetic Needle. 319

son’s Bay, the current from the Baltic and the German Ocean
passing into the Atlantic, between Norway and the Shetland
Islands, taking the place of the cold stream from Hudson’s
Strait.

It is to these circumstances I attribute the depression of
temperature during the glacial period, and the subsequent |
rise of temperature to the German Ocean becoming open to
the Atlantic, and the descent of icebergs from the Arctic
regions into the Baltic being a Ass by the elevation of
land in the north of Europe.

I will now endeavour to shew the probability that the
variation in the declination of the needle has been caused by
this change of temperature.

All the earliest observations on the needle shew that
Kurope was at that time within the influence of the European
or Asiatic pole, as the declination was eastward. Columbus
is said to have been the first European who observed a
western declination. When on his voyage of discovery to
America in 1592, he found the eastern declination become
less and less,—near the Azores he crossed the line of no
declination, and then found it become westward. Now, as
there are two magnetic poles in this hemisphere, there must
be a line of no declination where the influences of the two
poles are equal; and it is obvious that it was this line of no
declination which Columbus crossed, as the declination on
each side diverged from it. In 1657 this line had passed
eastward, and there was no declination in London,—at this
time the declination was still eastward at Paris. In 1666,
i.e. nine years later, it was at Paris, and the declination in
London had become eastward,—since that time it has gone
farther and farther eastward, and is now about 43° east
longitude. Nearly all Europe has thus become under the
influence of the American pole, and the declination in Lon-
don has gradually changed from 11° 15’ east in 1580, to 24°
30’ west, in the early part of the present century, since
which time no change of importance has taken place.

During the time these changes of declination occurred in
Hurope, no change of importance was observed in America;
and there is positive proof, that in Jamaica, from 1660 to

2

320 Mr G. A. Rowell on the

1806 the declination did not vary in the slightest degree,
although in London, during those years, it amounted to full
24°. This fact is important, as it shews that the American
pole, during those years, has not shifted its position, and
that the cause of the variation must be connected with the
old continent. |

In accordance with the theory of magnetism, I have ex-
plained, the change of declination may be fairly accounted
for, either by the cold of the Asiatic pole decreasing in in-
tensity, or by an elevation of temperature in Europe driving
the centre or pole of cold farther towards the east; and there
can be no doubt that both these circumstances followed the
geological changes I have alluded to.

It may be difficult to prove that a change of declination,
which has been going on up to the present century, can be
owing to geological phenomena, which occurred so long pre-
vious, but I hope to shew that there are fair grounds for
such an opinion.

Assuming that during the glacial period the condition of
Europe was similar to that of America at the present time,
we may conclude that ice extended from the shores of Nor-
way, Scotland, Iceland, &e., in a similar way to what it now
does from Greenland, Cumberland Island, and Labrador.
(The extent of ice from these shores is given in Johnston’s
Atlas, and is shewn in the Map). The Arctic Sea must,
therefore, at that time, have been blocked up with ice much
more than at present, consequently the Asiatic pole of cold
could not then have been in its present position, but was proba-
bly situate about Nova Zembla ; and if so, it must since that
time have receded more than 40° of longitude towards the east.

This change of position will account for the change of
declination in Western Europe, as the Asiatic pole is now
chiefly affected by the evaporation from the Indian Ocean,
and quite removed from the influence of evaporation from
the warmer parts of the Atlantic. It is impossible to prove
how long was required to produce these results, after the
geological changes to which I have alluded; to arrive at
a fair conclusion on the subject, it may be well to suppose
similar changes to take place in America at this time: the

Variation of the Magnetic Needle. 321

question for consideration would then be ;—If by some geo-
logical phenomenon the southern parts of Hudson’s Bay
became exposed to the Atlantic Ocean by an opening similar
to the British Channel, and from the 66th to the 70th degree
of latitude the land was upheaved so as to cut off all com-
- munication from the Arctic Seas, how long a time, under
these circumstances, would it require for the whole of the
north-eastern parts of America, together with the neighbour-
ing Arctic regions, to arrive at the highest temperature
they would ultimately acquire in consequence of these
changes? For as long as any elevation of temperature was
going on, so long would the pole of cold continue to recede
towards the west; so long, also, would the variation of the
needle go on, and the line of no declination would move from
its present situation, near St Petersburg, towards the west.
England might thus again be brought under the influence of
the Asiatic pole, and the needle throughout Europe again
have an eastern declination.

In considering this subject, it is necessary to bear in mind
how slowly heat is conducted by some earths, and also the
fact, that 140 degrees of heat are absorbed by ice in melting
without any increase of temperature. Many proofs might
be given of the slow transmission of heat through earth, but
I will only refer to one, as stated by Mr Nasmyth, in the
Journal of the Geological Society, vol. iii, p. 233. “The
instance in question” (says that gentleman), “ was that of a
large plate-iron pot, containing 11 tons of white-hot melted
cast-iron—a temperature so high as to be quite beyond all
thermometric certainty, but well known to be the highest
intensity of furnace heat, being quite equal to that of welding
hot iron.

‘This vast mass of white-hot melted cast-iron, stood in

the pot for upwards of 20 minutes, and but for a thin coating
_ of elay and sand, of about half an inch thick, would have soon
melted the bottom and sides of the pot.

* This half-inch thickness of mineral substance, however,
_ was quite sufficient to prevent the conduction of the heat to
_ the exterior; so completely so, that after this mass of hot
iron had remained for upwards of 20 minutes in the pot, you

322 Mr G. A. Rowell on the

could place your hand on the side of the vessel without feel-
ing any inconvenient degree of heat; and so slowly and
imperfectly does this thin lining of half an inch of clay and
sand permit the heat to pass outwards, that the entire mass
might rest there till it became cool ere the outside of the
pot would have reached a temperature high enough to car-
bonize wood in contact with it.”

With such facts as these, I think it fair to assume that,

after the geological change I have supposed, thousands of
years must pass ere the parts of America to which I have
alluded could obtain their highest degree of temperature :
for if half an inch of clay and sand thus intercepts the com-
munication of so high a temperature as that of 11 tons of
white-hot cast-iron, how can we estimate the time it would
require for thousands of square miles of frozen land and sea
to become elevated in temperature even a few degrees.
_ Bringing these reasonings and facts to bear on the question
of the change of temperature in Europe, I submit that there
are fair grounds for attributing the change of declination to
this change of temperature. For although the opening of
the British Channel may date too far back to support this
opinion, there are ample proofs that the connection of the
Baltic with the Frigid Ocean, and the elevation of parts of
Sweden, have been much more recent; and these were the
principal causes of the change of temperature in the north
of Europe.

It has been shewn by Professor Nilsson that the northern
parts of Sweden formed the bottom of a sea after the south-
ern part was inhabited by man. The land since then has
been elevated some hundreds of feet, but the fact that there
are no dislocations of strata, shews that this elevation of
land has been gradual, and even at the present time an
elevation is going on in various parts of Sweden. Dr
Daubeny, in his recent communication on Scandinavia,
alluded to this fact, and, amongst other authors on the sub-
ject, Professor Nilsson states that the elevation of the coast
of Sweden has been going on gradually during the last 300°
years at the rate of two feet in the century.

In proof of the recent connection of the Baltic with the —

Variation of the Magnetic Needle. 323

Arctic Sea, Professor Forchhammer may be cited. He says—
«The Gulf of Bothnia has been connected with the White
Sea, where, in the neighbourhood of Uleburg, 4 considerable
depression towards its shores maybe observed, a complete
water communication existing from the White Sea through
the Gulf of Bothnia and the northern parts of the Ost Sea to
the Cattegat ; and adds in a note, that between the Gulf
of Bothnia and the White Sea, “a communication by water
was kept up in the time of flood, even so lately as at the
eommencement of the last century.”

Some effects may be attributed to the elevation of land
how Soing on, which, together with increased cultivation and
drainagé, must tend to an elevation of temperature even ‘at
the present time.

In submitting these theories to the consideration of this
_ Society, I am aware that I can only support them by proba-
bilities; but as the change of temperature in Hurope, and
- the variation of the needle are subjects on which no theories
have been adopted, I have some hope that the opinions I
have advanced may be thought worthy of farther considera-
tion.

The Paragenetic Relations of Minerals. *

The natural association of mineral species has long
attracted attention, and although since the time of Werner
it has been made the basis upon which distinctions between
rocks are established, still the subject has not been investi-
gated so fully as it would appear to deserve. Minerals

_ which occur together are enumerated in the description of

one or other of them, but no adequate account is given of
the mode of association, and their relations of date are even
still less regarded.

Professor Breithaupt has for several years especially

' * Die Paragenesis der Mineralien. Mineralogisch, geognostisch und chemisch
beleuchtet mit besonderer Riicksicht auf Bergbau. Von A. Breithaupt.
Freiberg, 1849,

324 The Paragenetic Relations of Minerals.

directed his attention to these points, and has arrived at
a number of very interesting results. Of these, and the infer-.
ences he draws from them, his general views, and the argu-
ments by which he supports them, it is the purpose of the
following pages to give some account. By the paragenesis
of minerals he understands the more or less definite mode
of association, by means of which he endeavours to deter-
mine their relative age; and he has conducted his observa-
tions from the point of view expressed in a remark of
Dolomieu’s, that every stone must have some connection
with the general history of our globe, and although individu-
ally it may possess but little interest, still in its relations to |
others it may lead to important discoveries; further, that it
is the study of the most common and most universal mine-
rals, and from which valuable results may chiefly be an-
ticipated. He in the first place brings forward some facts
which are sufficient to shew that the paragenetic relations
of minerals are deserving of being studied not only by the
mineralogist but perhaps still more so by the geologist and
the chemist. .

In some instances the existence of a mineral species
appears to depend upon the co or pre-existence of another
mineral. Thus among epidotes, which are tolerably abundant;
manganesian epidote occurs only in association with heter-
ocline, consisting chiefly of oxide of manganese ;- and among
the titanites, which are still more frequent, greenovite
occurs at St Marcel in Piedmont, only together with the
above two minerals. JBasaltine is the only amphibole, seme-
line the only titanite, melanite the only garnet, and hyacinth
the only zircon which occur in trachytic basalt or phonolite.
Rhodizite has hitherto only been met with upon turmalin.
There are again other minerals, whose existence may safely
be said to depend upon the pre-existence of copper pyrites ;
thus bismuthine, linneite and cobalt glance. Magnetic
pyrites very generally accompanies copper pyrites, which is
in this instance the most recent. It is perhaps still more
remarkable, that all larger masses of variegated copper
pyrites are accompanied by the more recently-formed cop-
per pyrites, and the larger masses of copper pyrites by

The Paragenetic Relations of Minerals. 325

the still.more recent iron pyrites. These facts shew that
there are uniformities in the association of minerals worthy
of being investigated.

_The paragenetic phenomena met with in druses, further
indicate that. the deposition of some more recent minerals
has taken place more readily upon certain of the pre-exist-
ing minerals than upon others, as if there had been an un-
equal attraction. For instance, in the druses in greisen at
the Zinnwald, the tungsten is more frequently implanted
upon the smoke quartz than upon the mica. In the lode
druses of the Friedrich August mine at Freiberg, the cale
spar deposited upon surfaces consisting of iron pyrites and
heavy spar, seems to have been attracted more by the latter
than the former mineral. In the mine Beschert Gliick
pyrargyrite, occurring in druses of galena and polytelite, is
found almost only upon the latter. |

The association of minerals likewise seems to determine
the form in which. one of them appears. The galena occur-
ring in druses near Freiberg is, when accompanied by
diallogite, always in irregular rounded crystals, cale spar
accompanying copper pyrites, probably always presents the
most ordinary scalenohedron as the predominating form, and
the calc spar upon iron pyrites is invariably in flat rhombo-
hedric crystals.

Another striking circumstance is, that the minerals occur-
ring together in a particular district. or formation, possess
a certain marked physiognomy, so easily recognisable that
the localities of hand specimens may be determined by it.
The amphiboles, pyroxenes, epidotes, &c. of Arendal, and
the same minerals from New York and New Jersey, the
older galena and zinc blende formations of Freiberg and

_ those of Cumberland, as well as the minerals occurring in

the lodes of Andreasberg (Harz) are sufficient illustrations
of these peculiarities.

_ Certain associations of minerals belonging to the same
genus, sometimes admit of the establishment of specific dif-
ferences between them. In a trachytic rock at Laach in
Rhenish Prussia, there occur nosean, sodalite, and leucite,
imbedded in a porphyritie manner. These three minerals

326 The Paragenetic Relations of Minerals.

having been formed at the samé time and under the same |

conditions, it may be inferred that they do not belong to one
species. In the same manner antholite, anthophylite, and a
dark green hornblende, with their characteristic peculiari-
ties, occur in immediate contiguity at Kienrud in Norway.

In relation to mining, Professor Breithaupt is of opinion
that the study of the phenomena of paragenesis will be of
great importance by leading to a knowledge of the condi-
tions, under which the ores of the useful metals occur, so as
eventually to do away with the element of chance, or the
reliance upon mere empirical rules, and to substitute in
their place a scientific system of mining operations. Al-
though, as he admits, this result is undoubtedly very remote,
he considers it time that the by no means inconsiderable
number of known facts should be collected, systematised,
and their universality tested, in order to obtain some positive
basis for its future achievement. One of the most import-
ant points in such an undertaking, is the progressive
development of one imorganic mass from another—the
accurate determination of relations of date, both as regards
geological formations and individual minerals. He expresses
his conviction, that as observation extends, it will become
more obvious that the association of minerals has its defi-
nite laws—that there exists, so to speak, a certain economy
of inorganic nature, whose investigation will be no less
attractive than practically useful. It will then be seen
that the same uniformities of association present themselves
under very different circumstances, in mixed rocks, as well
as in isolated deposits, in vesicular cavities, as well as in
lodes.

It is here necessary to call attention to the fact, that mine-
rals present two distinct kinds of structure—the crystalline
and the non-crystalline. Although in many compact amor-
phous minerals, the ultimate molecules may be crystalline

both in structure and form, there are others whose structure |

is unquestionably of a different character, for instance, opal
and obsidian. Again, of the non-crystalline minerals there

are at least two classes, of which the above substances may —

be taken as the types, Obsidian bears all the characters of

—_
wa

EE ——————

ss

ee ae

a a

i]

The Paragenetie Relations of Minerals. 327

a vitreous mass resulting from igneous fusion, and there is
other evidence which strongly favours the opinion that it
originated in this way. The opaline structure is equally
peculiar, and more frequent, in minerals, than the vitreous.
It would appear that those bodies which have an opaline
structure, frequently present indications of having been
originally in a plastic state; indeed, opal itself has actually
been found so.

Without taking into account those minerals which may
have been formed from solutions, there is an abundance of
facts which fairly admit of the inference that the substance

of a very great number of minerals possessed at some period

of their existence a certain degree of internal mobility, being
either liquid, viscous, or plastic, although opinions differ as
to the precise nature of this former state.*

_ Fuchs is of opinion, that entire masses of rock have been
in this state, and that the metamorphism of rocks is essen-
tially connected with such a softening. The curvature in
the axes of crystals, the partial fracture, contortion and
separation of crystalline minerals as it were into slices, as in
the garnets, in some schistose rocks, are favourable to this
view. Some quartzose rocks consist of angular fragments
cemented together by amorphous quartz, and it is not im-
probable that the fragments have been formed by the con-
traction of gelatinous or plastic silica, and that the cement

has been subsequently introduced in a plastic state.

Moreover, crystalline substances may, without losing their
solidity, experience an alteration of structure, as in the con-
version of arragonite into calcite, and there is in many in-
stances a remarkable fact of paragenesis connected with the

" ealcite, which has originated in this way. Crystals of celes-
_ tine are found upon it, which would appear to indicate that
_ sulphuric acid has had some share in the change. Stro-

meyer’s investigations have shewn, that arragonite generally

contains strontia; and as celestine 1s always accompanied by

*Tn a physical point of view, it is probable that the molecular structure of

bodies depends mainly upon the conditions under which solidification takes
“place, and any inferences which may be drawn from the structure of minerals,

would appear to refer rather to those conditions than to the former state of the
masses from which they were formed.

328 The Paragenetic Relations of Minerals.

calcite or limestone, and is always of more recent formation
than these, it has possibly originated in all cases from stron-
tiferous arragonite. The sulphuric acid may have been
derived from the decomposition of iron pyrites.

The association of minerals does not always indicate their
simultaneous formation. The granular rocks appear to
afford the best evidence of this; for while, in some cases,
minerals implanted upon each other differ very little in date,
in others a very long interval may have elapsed between
their respective formations. The simultaneous formation of
different mineral species is indicated by their regular twin
growth, by juxtaposition, as in disthene and staurolite from
St Gothard; dolomite, ripidolite; and a green amphibole,
(Pfitschthal, Tyrol) perhaps also in graphic granite, although
in the druses, of the three constituents pegmatolite appears
to be oldest, mica most recent, and quartz intermediate.

When minerals present mutual impressions, such as Fournet

has observed in the garnet and mica near Lyons, this cireum-
stance is evidence of their simultaneous formation. In most
cases, the date of minerals which present a twin-growth by
Superposition, is not precisely the same; thus the hexago-
nites haplotypicus is rather older than the rutile with which
it is compounded (Tavetschthal, Switzerland). The same is
the case with the regular twin-crystals of iron pyrites, and

spear pyrites (Litmitz, Bohemia); the twin crystals of chlorite

upon and with magnetite (Fahlun, Sweden). It ought like-
wise to be considered as a universal rule of superposition, at
least with regard to varieties of the same species, that the
non-crystalline, or least crystalline variety is followed by the
crystalline ; instances of this are furnished by compact and

fibrous brown iron ore; hornstone and quartz crystals; ‘

allochroite and garnets.

Among the more uniform mixed rocks a certain geognosiie
relation is presented by the minerals constituting those which
possess a granular, schistose, or porphyritic structure. With

regard to the phenomena of paragenesis, these rocks may

be divided into two classes :—

I. Those consisting of silicates, one of which is almoatll .

always a felsite, rar ely replaced by nepheline.

a

The Paragenetic Relations of Minerals. 329

‘II. Those consisting of silicates with quartz.

This distinction is of great importance in the study of
eruptive rocks, and in relation to the association of some
minerals quite essential, indicating likewise the presence or
absence of others. The most frequent of such silicates be-
long to the genera felsite, pyroxene, amphibole, phengite,
astrite, &c. The felsites are especially important both on
account of their greater frequency, and because they include
trisilicates as well as bisilicates almost entirely destitute of
metallic oxides and magnesia, but rich in alumina and
alkalies. ‘Together with these there occur in the first class
of rocks pyroxenes and amphiboles containing much iron,
though scarcely any alumina or alkalies.

It must not be forgotten that some pyroxenes and. amphi-
boles are similar in composition, and in such cases may be
regarded as dimorphous bodies. Indeed, bronzite and antho-
phyllite are identical in composition, corresponding with the
formula Fe O Si O,+ 3 Mg O, 2 Si0,. It is therefore possible
that certain eruptive masses may have yielded either diabase
or diorite, according to the prevailing conditions. Mitscher-
- lich has actually obtained crystals of pyroxene by fusing am-
_ phibole; and G. Rose has shewn that crystals occur, consisting
of a nucleus of pyroxene and an envelope of amphibole. In
connection with this point, it is worthy of remark that some
_ species of pyroxene occur only in rocks of volcanic, or un-
doubtedly igneous origin, such as basalt, lava, &., while
others do not occur; and in the former case, the pyroxenes
are accompanied by astrites, but never by phengites. In such
rocks, pyroxene and amphibole are indeed sometimes met
with together, but the occurrence of amphibole is then limited
‘to one species—basaltic amphibole,—which is essentially
distinct.
e In the rocks consisting of silicates with quartz, for the
_ most part the oldest known rocks, associations of such mine-
_ rals are observed, as, in the present state of science, can
_ Searcely be regarded as of simultaneous formation. When-
_ ever quartz is present as an essential constituent, pyroxenes
_ are not found, with the single exception of spodumene, which
_ although mineralogically belonging to this genus, differs

_

330 The Paragenetic Relations of Minerals.

widely in chemical composition from all the other members,
inasmuch as alumina is an essential constituent.

It is in the study of these more ancient rocks, as in that of
the early history of Man, that the greatest mystery, the great-
est difficulties are encountered, and the progress of observation
would appear to prove not only that the conditions under
which they were formed were widely different from those
which now prevail, but also that these rocks have experienced
many successive alterations. |

With regard to porphyritic rocks, Werner entertained the
opinion that the imbedded crystals were of earlier formation
than the matrix ; however the contrary appears, with very
trifling exceptions, more probable, and for the following rea-
sons :—

1. The occurrence of crystals which contain nuclei of the
mass in which they are imbedded.—This is the case with the
large rhombohedrons of magnesite occurring in the talcose
slate of the Tyrol. Crystals of leucite, from the old Vesu-
vian lavas, not unfrequently contain the same lava in their —
interior. The twin-crystals of pegmatolite from Llbogen, q
Bohemia, contain not only scales of phengite and granules of —
quartz, but nuclei of granite, presenting exactly the same F:
appearance as the surrounding rock. Very finely developed |
crystals of iron pyrites from Osterode, Harz, with smooth sur- 4
faces, contain nuclei of the gypsum in which they lie, and large |
groups of iron pyrites crystals frequently contain intheircentre
some of the clay by which they are surrounded. In the horn-
stones of Schneeberg (Saxony) hexahedrons of tin white cobalt
or smaltine occur with nuclei of the same hornstone. Some
pseudomorphous minerals constitute an exception to this gene-
ral rule; thus when an envelope of red hematite has been —
formed over calcite, assuming its scalenohedron form, and the |
latter mineral has been subsequently removed, and red hema-_ |
tite deposited in its place. But in this instance the pseudo- _
morph was at a certain period hollow. Again, at Rothen- —
berg (Saxony), the fluorspar formerly existing, and of which
not a trace is now found, was first covered with fibrous red
hematite, and then by some means removed, leaving a hol+
low east, which was afterwards filled with quartz. Some-

-
‘
;
3
.
:
é
%
é

The Paragenetic Relations of Minerals. 331

times it is difficult, without collateral evidence, to tell which
part of a pseudomorphous mineral was formed first, as in
the case of rhombohedrons of compact brown iron ore, result-
ing from the alteration of spathic iron, and covered with a
thick crust of malachite. The latter, however, being a deriva-
tive of copper pyrites must be more recent than the brown iron
ore, because in the same lode copper pyrites is found im-
planted upon spathic iron.

2. The occurrence in sedimentary strata of crystals, pre-
senting such sharpness in their edges that they have ob-
viously not been deposited as detritus, but formed upon the
spot.—Near Meissen, sharply-defined crystals of iron pyrites
occur in clay, together with water-worn fragments of quartz,
and generally contain a nucleus of carbon. It is probable
that they have been produced from ferrugineous solutions by |
the reducing agency of carbonaceous matter.

Where large groups or masses of iron pyrites occur im-
bedded in stratified rocks, a curvature of the lines of strati-
fication may frequently be observed immediately around them,
to all appearance resulting from the formation of the pyrites
on the spot. In the brown coal-formation, iron pyrites occurs
chiefly where the coal-seams are in contact with large masses
of clay. As might be expected, a carbonaceous nucleus can-
not always be found in iron pyrites, but a nucleus of hepatic
-pyrites is frequent, and this contains sulphuret of carbon.
Again, other than carbonaceous nuclei occur in iron pyrites.
In the alluvium at Meronitz (Bohemia), the iron pyrites con-
_ tains nuclei of pyrope, and in perfectly developed dodecahe-
rons of pyrites, nuclei of transparent quartz have been
found. .

_ This porphyritic formation of iron pyrites sufficiently proves
_ the segregation of particular substances in rocks. It is not
confined merely to deposits of clay, but may be observed even

in the oldest schistose rocks. In some varieties of clay slate,
_ the imbedded crystals of iron pyrites are covered, especially

% on one side, by a layer of fibrous quartz, which must have
been deposited after the formation of the pyrites; and this

fact furnishes additional evidence that these two minerals
ai have an attraction for each other. The Devonian slates of

332 The Paragenetic Relations of Minerals.

the Eifel present abundant examples of this mode of occur-
rence, and the curvature in the surrounding layers of rock
may be easily recognised. Sometimes the pyrites has been
completely removed, its former existence being indicated only
by hexahedral cavities, and then the fibrous character of the
quartz is more prominent. It is probable that iron pyrites
is very extensively disseminated throughout some schistose
rocks, for the stagnant water in slate quarries ne
contains sulphate of iron.

If, then, it is satisfactorily proved that the porphyritic
formation of iron pyrites has taken place subsequently to the
formation of the strata in which it occurs, there appears to
be no reason why we should not consider other crystalline
minerals present in the same rocks, and sometimes in imme-
diate proximity to the pyrites, to have been formed in a simi-
lar manner. In-some of the most ancient slates octohedrons
of magnetic iron occur together with the pyrites, and even
the granular rocks of eruptive and plutonic origin present
analogous facts. In the granite of Saubersdorf (Voigtland)
the iron pyrites is partially decomposed, and converted into
crystallised specular iron, the granite itself being somewhat
disintegrated. In the syenite of Zschitschewig, titanite is
imbedded together with pyrites. It is, however, inconsistent
with chemical principles to suppose that bisulphuret of iron
existed in a melted eruptive mass;. in melting processes only
mono- and sub-sulphurets are formed, and this renders it still
more probable that the pyrites is of more recent formation
than its matrix, likewise proving either that these rocks
were not formed at any very high temperature, or had cooled
considerably when the formation of pyrites took place. .

Bunsen’s obsvrvations in Iceland would appear to prove —
that the formation of iron pyrites in clay may sometimes be
owing to other causes than those above mentioned. The prin-
cipal gases associated with the exhalations of vapour in that
island, are sulphuretted hydrogen and sulphurous acid, their
mutual decomposition giving rise to the sublimation of im-

mense masses of sulphur. When the sulphuretted hydrogen

is in excess, the oxide of iron is converted, under the in- —

The Paragenetic Relations of Minerals. 333

fluence of alkaline’ sulphurets, into pyrites which remains
imbedded in the clay.

. As the principal object in the present instance is to prove
that the formation of imbedded minerals is subsequent to
that of their matrices, attention has been especially directed
to one mineral alone. There are, however, two others of
especial importance which occur in the same manner—
gypsum and quartz—the former occurs in sharply-defined
crystals in alluvial clays, shale, and even in the schistose and
stratified clay iron ore of Yorkshire, &c. The absence of all
traces of friction upon these very soft crystals does not, for a
moment, admit of the supposition that they were deposited in a
detrital manner, or with the matter of the sedimentary strata.
It is indeed probable that, in some cases, their formation may
have been owing to the presence of iron pyrites, and have
taken place in the manner pointed out by Hausmann.”

- Quartz being the mineral which principally gives the pecu-
liarity of structure to the oldest and most frequent porphy-
ritie rock, some mention of its mode of occurrence in more

_. recent rocks may not be without interest. At Pdsneck

(Thuringia), millions of very small and extremely sharp-
edged diploheders of quartz occur in a marl belonging to a
more recent period than the zechstein group. In a marly and
compact limestone at Pforzheim, in Baden, larger crystals
are found, which singularly enough contain some sulphur.
Quartz crystals likewise occur in the gypsum of Grafintonna
(Thuringia), and of St Jago di Compostella (Spain). Even
some of the particles of sandstones are not invariably water-
worn fragments, but sometimes actual crystals, as in the
quader-sandstone of the Tharander Wald (Saxony).

_ Another singular fact is the occurrence of small druses of
felsite in the clay-stone of Floha (Saxony), together with the
same mineral imbedded in a porphyritic manner. This
would appear to admit of the inference, that imbedded felsite
is, at least in some instances, more recent than its matrix.

_ 3. It often happens that one mineral imbedded in another,

* Bemerkungen iiber anhydrite und Karstenit, 1847, p. 25.
VOL. LIV. NO. CVIII.—APRIL 1853, Z

334 The Paragenetic Relations of Minerals.

which serves as a matrix, occurs implanted upon it in
druses.

In the Zillerthal (Tyrol), pistacite occurs imbedded in
mica (astrite) slate, and in the same locality fine specimens
of green epidote are found upon ripidolite. Chondrodite oc-
curs in many places in saccharoid limestone and calcite ; but
in the druses in the masses ejected from Vesuvius, it is im-
planted upon calcite. Zeilanite likewise occurs imbedded in
calcite, and in the above druses upon it. Yellow titanite oc-
curs imbedded in chlorite at the Zillerthal (Tyrol), and at
St Gothard, implanted upon it. Brown titanite occurs im-
bedded in hornblende slate at the Stubeithal (Tyrol), and in
the well-known druses of common hornblende from Arendal
(Norway), it is implanted upon this mineral.

The porphyritic occurrence of iron pyrites in copper
pyrites is remarkably frequent, especially when the latter is in
large masses. Sometimes the iron pyrites is quite porous, and
only partially occupies the cavity in the copper pyrites. When
these minerals are associated in druses, the copper pyrites
always appears as the oldest of the two, Pseudomorphous
iron pyrites, after copper pyrites, presents an apparent ex-
ception to this rule, but it must be remembered that pseudo-
morphs are in some sort abnormal products. There are,
however, some real exceptions, though few in number.

Copper glance is in many instances followed by erubescite
and iron pyrites, a fact which perhaps admits of explanation
upon chemical’ principles. If, for example, a solution con-

aining oxide of copper and peroxide of iron, is acted upon
by sulphuretted hydrogen, sulphuret of copper is first formed,
while the peroxide of iron must be reduced to protoxide be-
fore a bisulphuret can be formed ; and during this time it is
readily conceivable that compounds of the sulphurets of iron
and copper may be formed.

The most direct illustrations of this third proposition are
furnished by those instances in which minerals occur im-
bedded in a rock, and at the same time implanted upon it in
veins, sometimes even filling the fissures.

Thin plates and lamine of tale occur imbedded separately

in the chlorite slate of the Zillerthal (Tyrol); and this tale

The Paragenetic Relations of Minerals. 335

is found filling veins in the same rock. Astrite occurs both:
in and upon the finely granular calcite of the masses ejected
from Vesuvius. The porphyry of Scharfefstein (Saxony)
contains imbedded pistacite, and is likewise traversed by’
veins of the same mineral. It is also remarkable that the
imbedded crystals are deposited around small nuclei of iron
pyrites, and where epidote and iron pyrites are associated
in druses, as at Arendal, the latter is always underneath.
According to Haidinger, epidotes occurs in other places, as
relatively very recent products. G. Rose states that the
chlorospinel of Slatoust is both imbedded and in veins in the
talcose slate. At Achmatowsk (Siberia), crystals of the same
red garnet are imbedded in and implanted upon ripidolite.
In-the serpentine of Dobschau (Hungary), a garnet of bright
green colour is both imbedded and implanted upon the walls
of the fissures. Tourmaline crystals occur imbedded in tal-
cose and mica slate; and where there are veins in these’
rocks, the tourmaline forms druses upon them. Crystals of»
cassiterite are imbedded in the felsite of the tin lodes at
Marienberg (Saxony), and occur upon crystals of the same
felsite. An arsenical pyrites, containing 0:8 to 0-9 per cent.
of nickel,* occurs in chlorite slate near Sparnberg, in the
same manner as the above-mentioned tale. Imbedded crystals
of metallic copper occur in compact brown iron ore (Siberia) ©
and plates of copper in the fissures.

Similar phenomena present themselves in essentially mixed
rocks,—thus nepheline and apatite occur together imbedded
in the granite of Miask (Siberia), in the syenite of Fredrik-

_ swirn (Norway), and in the veins of graystone at Capo di

_ Bovo, likewise in the small druses of the nepheline rock at
_ Meigen (Darmstadt), in Saxony, and in the volcanic felsite
rock of the lake of Laach.
Cassiterite, beryl, columbite, and the several species of
tantalites occur imbedded in granite, while in the druses and
veins they are implanted upon the constituents of this rock.

| 4 Beryl is found without columbite and tantalite, and these are

* Breithaupt has found nickel in most arsenical pyrites, which are associated
_ with chlorite minerals,
Z 2

336 The Paragenetic Relations of Minerals.

more recent than it; but, as Nordenskjold first pointed
out, they never occur without beryl. It cannot therefore be
doubted that their presence depends upon the pre- “existence
of beryl.

Tron pyrites, arsenical pyrites, galena, and zinc blende—
the most frequent minerals in the Freiberg lodes, impregnate
the adjoining gneiss to a distance of several fathoms. Al-
though the walls of the lode fissures presented an abundant
surface for their deposition, a considerable transfer of these
substances from the lodes into the adjoining rock is some-
times unquestionable, and in this case the rock is generally
disintegrated. Frequently the mispikel occurs imbedded in
the gneiss, at a distance of 15 to 20 feet from the lode, in
such quantity as to be advantageously worked. The gneiss
is then converted into tale, or a very analogous substance.

The occurrence of calcite, both imbedded and in small
veins, in the zechstein of Saalfeld, is a phenomenon vii
should probably be included among the above.

It may not be inappropriate here to make some mention of
the artificial crystals obtained in smelting processes. The
beautiful homogeneous and vitreous slags, from Hockeroda
and Luisenthal, contain tabular, tetragonal-prismatic crys-
tals, of a substance closely resembling idocrase, both imbed-
ded and forming druses, in the larger vesicular cavities.
Hexagonal-prismatic crystals, resembling nepheline, occur in
the same manner in the slag from the Rothenthal at Osterode
(Harz).

4. Some imbedded minerals are undoubtedly products of
the decomposition of the mass in which they are inclosed,
and are therefore more recent than it.

In the brown coal of Artern (Thuringia), mellite and sul-
phur occur in separate crystals and groups. At Luschetz
(Bohemia), mellite and oxalite occur in a similar manner.
Bischof considers that the carbonaceous matter of the coal
has reduced sulphate of lime, and that subsequent contact
of the sulphuret with sulphuric acid, resulting from the oxi-
dation of pyrites has reproduced gypsum, with evolution of
sulphuretted hydrogen, which, with oxygen, yielded water
and sulphur. However, the sulphur in the brown coal of

The Paragenette Relations of Minerals. 337

Langenbogen (Prussia) is very probably a product of sublima-
tion. The spherical masses of hydrated pyrites, covered
with an envelope of gypsum, the crystal points of which are
turned inwards, have decomposed with considerable evolution
of heat. The sulphate of iron has been washed away, and
the masses are now hollow, with the surplus sulphur, result-
ing from the decomposition, upon the points of the gypsum
crystals. The heating of the pyrites has in this case been so
great, that the coalimmediately surrounding the gypsum has
been converted into a species of anthracite.

It is not improbable that analogous changes may have
taken place in other rocks possessing a porphyritic structure,
but the difficulty here is, that we do not know what was the
condition of the matrix previous to the formation of the im-
bedded crystals. Graphite occurs imbedded in the sandstone
of Charlottenbrunn (Siberia), and it is very probably a product
of the alteration of organic remains at some period after the
formation of the rock. When it is remembered that some of
the mixed rocks must be regarded as really metamorphic,
the fourth proposition will appear applicable to a much greater
number of facts, although it may not always be possible to
furnish positive explanations of them.

5. Certain minerals occur imbedded in the older rocks,
only where they are in contact with more recent eruptive
rocks. 3 |

Several geologists state that the occurrence of the very
frequently associated minerals, kyanite and staurolite, is
limited, in the older schistose rocks, to those spots where
they are in contact with granite, or some analogous rock.
Here, then, the porphyritic separation of crystals is obviously
owing to the influence of the more recent upon the older rock.
It canhot be doubted that an essential part of the change
consisted in a chemical readjustment of the atoms. Anda-
lusite, which, according to Bunsen, is specifically identical
with chiastolite, likewise occurs in mica and clay slates, under
precisely similar circumstances. It has been found very fine
in the clay slate of the Whealkind mine, at the surface of
contact with granite, the clay slate at the same time being
remarkably hard. The same phenomenon presents itself

"338 The Paragenetic Relations of Minerals.

near the mica slate and gneiss at Munzig (Saxony), and chias-
tolite occurs in the clay-slate at Gefrees (Bavaria), close to
granite.

At Treuen (Saxony), the so-called “ Frachtochisier?4 occurs,
surrounding a spheroidal mass of granite, and a perfectly
similar-shaped black amphibole, with garnets, occurs. at
Airolo (Switzerland), so that it may be inferred that the in-
distinct and decomposed erystals in the “ Fruchtschiefer”
were formerly amphibole. .The same kind of slate occurs at
Schneeberg, near the granite ; and in the mines at that place
it has been found that the clay-slate is harder and more sili-
ceous near the granite, this contact phenomenon even extend-
ing into the slate to a distance of 800 feet from the granite.
‘This fact is alone sufficient to shew to what a distance the
atoms of relatively recent rock may be transferred. into an
older one with which it comes in contact. The horn-slate,
which forms a kind of mantle round the granite of the
Brocken, affords almost precisely the same evidence. These
altered, and in part essentially hardened slates, do not always
‘present evident porphyritic inclosures, but they probably exist
as microscopic particles, or the slate has been otherwise che-
mically altered.

It is probable that the alterations which rocks have suf-
fered under the influence of more recently-formed rocks rarely
consisted in merely mechanical modifications of the molecu-
lar aggregation ; they appear rather to have been far more
deeply seated, to have been more or less chemical. In this
point of view, the theory put forward by Von Buch, that,
under certain circumstances, dolomite may have originated
from limestone by the action of melaphyr, comes within the
bounds of possibility, and, under one condition, perp much
probability. |

The mica-slate of Scharfenstein (Erzgebirge) is remark-
ably altered in contact with the porphyry which traverses it,
being converted into gneiss for short distances. In this in-
stance felsite has been transferred from the porphyry into the
mica-slate, which might, indeed, be termed porphyritic, were
it not customary to call a schistose mixture of felsite, quartz,
and mica, gneiss.

se Th LS

The Paragenetic Relations of Minerals. 339

The above mentioned transfer of mispikel, from a lode
into gneiss, is an analogous fact, the more recent lode mass

having acted upon a pre-existing rock, in the same way as a

more recent rock mass. A. number of other instances might
be brought forward, but as there are no facts at variance
with this proposition, it is unnecessary. |

6. When the crystalline variety of a mineral is associated

with the compact variety, the former is always the most re-

cent. x

Many porphyries consist of a mixture of compact felsite,
with imbedded crystals of cleavable felsite. There is, there-
fore, no reason to deny that the latter are of more recent

formation than their matrix. In granular or slaty mixed

rocks large crystals, of some one or more constituents, are
sometimes imbedded, communicating to the rock a porphy-
ritic character; and there can be little doubt that such

-erystals are of more recent date, for not only do they contain

nuclei of the rock in which they lie, but in the slaty rocks,
the curvature of the layers surrounding the crystalsis likewise

to be observed, as in the gneiss of Schwartzenberg (Saxony).

Many minerals occur imbedded in the form, not of crystals
but of nodules. In other respects they correspond precisely
with the inclosures in porphyritic rocks, and there is no doubt
that they have often originated in a similar manner. This is
very evident in the case of iron pyrites, which frequently
occurs, both in nodules and crystals, in the same bed of clay.
Nodular iron pyrites occurs in all rocks up to the clay-slate.
It is probable that many other nodular minerals must be re-
garded as of later formation than the masses in which they
lie, although water-worn fragments are also imbedded in this
Shape. Again, agate occurs in the form of nodules, although
it has been formed ina very different manner. Consequently
very great caution must be exercised in forming any inferences
with regard to the origin of imbedded nodules. Nodular mi-
nerals are sometimes associated with imbedded crystals, and
this is then additional evidence in favour of their analogous
origin, thus spherulite occurs in pitchstone, pearlstone, and
obsidian, together with crystals of astrite and felsite. The

nodules of azurite, in the marl and sandstone of Miedezana

340 The Paragenetic Relations of Minerals.

Gora (Poland), are remarkable, inasmuch as they are hollow,
and lined with crystals, like amethyst balls. There can be
no doubt that the formation of these. crystals was attended by
a contraction of volume, and commenced from the periphery
of the nodules.

Nodular masses of.limestone are very common in transition
rocks, especially slate ; at Obernitz (Thuringia), they are so
numerous as apparently to form beds. Marl strata some-
times contain nodules of very hard limestone or dolomite,
traversed by veins of calcite, perhaps accompanied by celes-
tine. Argillaceous spharosiderite would appear to have been
formed by a segregation of carbonate of iron, after the for-
mation of sedimentary rocks. Freiesleben states likewise,
that the crystalline spathic iron of the Mansfeld district has
in some places an oolitic structure. It must, however, be ex-
pressly stated, that both limestone and spharosiderite, when
exposed to the atmospheric influence, assume a nodular struc-
ture, and this remark applies also to some sandstones, grau-
wackes, &e,

Heavy spar occurs in nodules in clay; yellow iron ore in
the brown coal formation of Bohemia. At Miask (Siberia),
the variety of chrysophan, called xanthophillite, occurs in
nodules, generally surrounded by magnetic iron; the crystals
point towards the interior, which is either hollow, or filled
with a light green mineral resembling serpentine. Nodules of
green epidote occur in a gray compact limestone, in the Banat.
Quartz occurs in nodular masses, more rarely crystalline than
uncrystalline. Crystalline nodules of quartz, which cannot
be regarded as detrital, occur in the mica-slate of the Erzge-
birge. The Jura limestone at Hichstadt (Bavaria) contains
balls of hornstone, sometimes of considerable size, presenting
in their interior concentric-coloured streaks, and even con-
centric layers and fissures, the latter containing crystallised
quartz. It is further interesting to observe, that the greater
number of fossils in the chalk consist of flint, and that the
larger nodules of this substance are particularly rich in ani-
mal remains. It is probable that the formerly existing
organic matter had some share in determining the segrega-
tion of the silica, as it appears collected round the fossils.

. Ua

;

;
|

Remarks on the Planets Jupiter and Saturn. 341

Olivine is much more frequently imbedded in basalt in
nodules than in separate crystals. These masses consist of
erystalline granular fragments, sometimes mixed with augite
and bronzite. As in basaltic tuffs; similar nodules of olivine
are found, which, on account of their less coherent granular
structure, may be easily broken down, there is the greater
reason to regard them as subsequent productions, because
no small particles or angular fragments are found near the |
large nodules.

At Charkow, Swoszowice, and other parts of Poland, amor-
phous sulphur occurs in nodules in marl; and where the marl
has been converted into compact limestone, it presents vesi-
cular cavities, containing crystallised sulphur and calcite.

In the case of all these nodular formations, it may be
assumed that there has been a segregation of the particles of
the minerals, for it would be difficult to suppose that they
were accidentally deposited in the manner they now occur ;
and moreover, many such nodules contain small nuclei _
the substance in which they are imbedded.

(To be continued.)

Some remarks on the probable present condition of the Pla-
nets Jupiter and Saturn; nm reference to Temperature, &e.
By JAMES NAsmytH, Esq.*

The remarkable appearances which characterise the aspect
of the planets Jupiter and Saturn, as revealed by the aid of
very powerful and excellent telescopes, have induced some
reflections on the subject of their probable present condition

_ astotemperature. With a view to excite more special and
_ careful observation of the phenomenon in question, and pro-

mote discussion on this interesting subject, I have been
tempted to hazard the following remarks, which may per-
haps prove acceptable to some of the members of the Royal

Astronomical Society.

In a former communication, in reference to the structure

* Read at the Meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society.

342 Remarks on the Planets Jupiter and Saturn,

and condition of the lunar surface, I made some remarks on
the principle, which, as it appears to me, gives the law to
the comparative rate of cooling of the planets, namely, that
while the heat-retaining quality was due to the mass of the
planet, the heat-dispensing property was governed by its
surface ; and as the former increases as the cube of the dia-
meter of the planet, while the latter increases only as the
square of its diameter, we thus find that the length of time
which would be required by such enormous planets as Jupiter
and Saturn to cool down from the original molten and in-
-eandescent condition to such a temperature as would be fitted
to permit their oceanic matter to permanently descend and
rest upon their surface, would be vastly longer than in the
ease of such a comparatively small planet as the earth.

Adopting the results which geological research has so
clearly established as respects the original molten condition
of the earth, as our guide to a knowledge of the condition
of all the other planets, it appears to me that we may in this
way be led to some very remarkable and interesting conclu-
sions in reference to the probable present condition of such
enormous planets as Jupiter and Saturn, tending to explain
certain phenomena in respect to their aspect.

Assuming as established the original molten condition of
the earth, and going very far back into the remote and pri-
mitive periods of the earth’s geological history, we may find
glimpses of the cause of those tremendous deluges, of which
geological phenomena afford such striking evidence,* and by

—

* The deluges here alluded to are quite distinct from those which have so fre-
quently, during various periods of the earth’s geological history, swept over
vast portions of its surface, and of whose tremendous violence we have such
clear evidence, in the denudation of the hardest rocks, the debris of which has
yielded the material of nearly every sedimentary formation, from the period of
the old red sandstone formation upwards, :

These vast and often repeated deluges I consider to have resulted from mighty
incursions of the ocean, over vast continents, till then forming the dry portion of

the earth’s surface, but which (by the retreat of the earth’s substance from be- |
low, resulting from the progressive contraction, consequent on the gradual |
cooling of the sub-surface matter) must have again and again permitted ex-

tensive portions of the solid crust of the earth to suddenly crush down, like an

r

|

“ae

Remarks on the Planets. Jupiter and Saturn. 343

_ whose peculiar dissolving and disintegrating action on the
_ igneous formations which at that early period of the earth’s
history must have formed the only material of its crust, and
‘may in that respect obtain some insight into the source
whence the material which formed the first sedimentary strata
was derived. If we only carry our minds back to that early
-period of the earth’s geological history, where the tempera-
ture of its surface was so high as that no water in its fluid
form could rest upon it, and follow its condition from such
non-oceanic state to that period at which, by reason of the
comparatively cooled-down condition of its surface, it began
to be visited by partial and transient descents of the ocean,
which had till then existed only in the form of a vast vapour
envelope to the earth, we shall find in such considerations,
not only the most sublime subject of reflection, in reference
to the primitive condition of our globe, but also, as it ap-
pears to me, a very legitimate basis on which to rest our
speculations in regard to the probable present condition of
Jupiter and Saturn,—both of which great planets, I strongly
incline 40 consider for the reasons before stated, are yet in

_ over-loaded ill-supported floor, and so permit the ocean to rush in with fearful
F- violence, and occupy the place of the so submerged continent.
Bid udging from the facts which geological phenomena yield us in abundance,
_ these incursions of the ocean must have been sudden, violent, and of frequent
-“oecurrence. | .
The sudden sinking down of a continent to the extent of 1000 feet in depth,
would be but an insignificant adjustment of the crust of the earth, to the re-
_ treating or contracting interior, as compared to the actual diameter of the
' earth (being only about one four-thousandth part of its diameter), but yet such
a subsidence occurring to any portion of a continent near the sea, would occa-
sion a rush of waters over its surface, amply sufficient to perform all the feats
4 ‘of violence and denudation (of the occurrence and action of which we have
: “most palpable evidence), which have taken place during many successive pe-
_ riods of the earth’s geological history, not only in the vast accumulations of
debris, caused by these violent incursions of the ocean, but also in the prodi-
gious dislocations of strata, which have resulted from the crushing down of the
crust of the earth, in its attempts to follow down and fill up the void or hollow
; spaces eaused by the contracting and retreating nucleus, which as before said,
I consider to be the true cause of this class of deluges, the tremendous violence
of which has yielded the old red sandstone, and all other sandstones, conglo-

_ merates, boulders, gravel, sand, and clay.

344 Remarks on the Planets Jupiter and Saturn.

so hot a condition, as not only not to permit of the permanent
descent of their oceanic matter, but to cause such to exist
suspended as a vast vapour envelope, subject to incessant
disturbances by reason of the abortive attempts which such
vapour envelope may make in temporary and partial descents
upon the hissing-hot surface of the planet.

Recurring again to this early period of the earth’s geolo-
gical history, when it was surrounded with a vast envelope
of vapour, consisting of all the water which now forms the
ocean. The exterior portion of this vapour envelope must,
by reason of the radiation of its heat into space, have been
continually descending in the form of deluges of hot water
upon the red-hot surface of the earth. Such an action as
this must have produced atmospheric commotions of the most
fearful character: and towards the latter days of this state
of things, when considerable portions of what was after-
wards to form our ocean came down in torrents of water
upon the then thin solid crust of the earth, the sudden con-
traction which such transient visits of the ocean must have
produced on the crust of the earth would be followed by tre-
mendous contortions of its surface, and belchings forth of
the yet molten matter from beneath, such as yield legitimate

material for the imagination, and the most sublime subject —

for reflection. The extraordinary contortions and confusion

which characterise the more primitive sedimentary strata, —
such as the gneiss, schist, and mica slate, in so very remark-

able a degree, shadow forth the state of things which must

have existed during that period, when the ocean held a very

disputed residence on the surface of the earth.
Could the earth have been viewed at this era of its geolo-

gical history from such a distance as the planet Mars, I doubt
not it would have yielded an aspect in no respect very dissi- —
milar to that which we now observe in the case of Jupiter: —

namely, that while the actual body of the earth would have
been hid by the vast vapour envelope then surrounding it,

ie
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>.

the tremendous convulsions going on within this veil would —
have been indicated by streaks and disruptions on the sur-
face, which would be mottled over with markings such as we —

observe in the case of the entire surface of Jupiter: and by
Sa

by

i

Remarks on the Planets Jupiter and Saturn. 345 ©

_ reason..of the belchings forth of the monstrous volcanoes
which at that period must have been so tremendously active
on the earth, the vapour envelope would be most probably
_ marked here and there with just such dingy and black-and-
_ white patches, as form such remarkable features about the
equatorial region of Jupiter—probably the result of volcanic
matter, such as ashes, &c.—which the volcanoes about his
equator may from time to time vomit forth, and send so far
up into the cloudy atmosphere as to appear on the exterior,
and so cause those remarkable features which so often mani-
fest themselves on the outward surface of his vapour enve-
_ lope; for I doubt if we have ever yet seen the body of Jupi-
_ ter, which will probably remain veiled from mortal eyes for
countless ages to come, or until he be so cooled down as to
‘permit of a permanent residence on his surface, of his ocean,
that is to be. 3

__ In applying these views to Saturn, it occurs to me that we
_ may obtain some glimpses into the nature of those causes
which have induced, and are now apparently inducing, those
changes in respect to the aspect of his rings, which have,
more especially of late, attracted so ok attention. If
_ Saturn also be so hot, that his future ocean is suspended as
a vast vapour envelope around him, it is possible, I conceive,
that some portion of this vapour may migrate, by reason of
_ the peculiar electrical conditions which it is probable his rings
may be in, in respect to the body of the planet; and that
such migration of vapour in an intensely frozen state, as it
must be in such situation, may not only appear from time to
time, as the present phantom ring does, but also encrust the
inner portion of the interior old ring with such vast coatings
_of hoar-frost as to cause the remarkable whiteness which so
peculiarly distinguishes that portion of his rings. In fact,
such are the extraordinary phenomena presented by this
q o _ one is led to hazard a conjecture or two on the

346 lk Deep Sea Soundings.

_ Captain H. Denna, F.R.S., on Deep Sea Soundings
obtained in lat. 36° 49’ S., long. 37.°6 W.

The following extracts from a letter received from Captain
H. M. Denham, dated H.M.S. Herald, 29th of November
1852, Table Bay, Cape of Good Hope, give the results of
some interesting experiments on the depth and temperature
of the sea in the South Atlantic Ocean. The position, it will,
be seen, is in about the parallel of the mouth of the river,
Plata, and about half way between the American continent
and Tristan d’Acunha. We have recorded similar experi-
ments of Captain Sir James Ross, Sir Edward Belcher, and
Captain E. Barnett. This, however, is far beyond any of
theirs.

The following are references to our volumes for accounts
of deep soundings :

1840—pp. 347, 507, Sir James Ross, 2426, 27° 4’ S., 17°
5’ W.; 2677, 33° 3'S., 9° 1’ EB.

1848—>p. 796, Sir E. Belcher, 3065, 0° 4’ N., 10° 6° W.;
1620, 4° 2’ S., 9° 6’ W.

1849—p. 121, Captain Barnett, 41° 2’ N., 44° 3’ W. ; 3700
attempted, broke for want of more by effects of current.

1850—p. 699, American soundings, East of Bermuda.

1851—p. 275, Lieut. Gouldsborough, U.S.N., 3100, 28° 3’
S., 29° 3’ W.; p. 433, Commander J. Adams, from a New
York paper, but unauthenticated by any other document we
have seen, deepest being 5500 fathoms, in 32° I’ N., 44° 8 W.

H.M.S. Herald, as follows (7706 fathoms), obtained in
lat. 36° 49’ S., long. 37° 6’ W., on her exploring voyage to the
South Seas, under the command of Captain H. M. Denham, ~
F.R.S. 30th October 1852.

The following is the extract of the letter referred to :—

** We reached the lat. of 36° 49’ S,, and long. 37° 6’ W., on
the 30th of October, when the fineness of the weather per-
mitted me to employ the 15,000 fathoms of sounding line —
which Commodore M‘Keever, of the United States Navy, had _
very generously presented to me, and we had the gratification _
of obtaining the (I believe) unprecedented sounding of 7706

fathoms, equal to 83 English miles, the particulars of which _

I have tabulated as enclosed.

a ee a ee

Deep Sea Soundings. 347

** Such was the apparent increase of the magnetic variation
as we proceeded eastward, on the parallel of 37° 8., that the
effecting a landing on Tristan d’Acunha to test the actual
amount, free from any local disturbances of the ship, appeared
_ tome an essential step. Availing myself, therefore, of the

tranquil state of the weather, on the day of sighting it (12th
_ November), I effected a landing on the island, with the ne-
_ cessary instruments for settling the longitude, as well as the
variation of the compass, and the shore data at once confirmed
what had been indicated afloat, viz., that the variation has
doubled in amount since 1813, being now in that vicinity 20"
4’ W., instead of 9° 51’ W.

“I took the opportunity of another calm day to ascertain
the temperature of the sea at 900 and at 1000 fathoms. At
both depths it proved the same, viz., 40° of Fahrenheit, whilst
near the surface it was 58°. At the same time I employed
means for tracing the depth to which the sun’s rays pene-
trated, and found it to be 66 feet.”

As we considered the foregoing statement would have been
imperfect unless accompanied by particulars of this interest-
ing proceeding, contained in Captain Denham’s letter to the
_ Hydrographer, Sir Francis Beaufort, it is with much satis-
faction that with his permission we are enabled to add to it
the following extract :—

_ «TJ must not omit, even in this, to allude to the generous
offering to our expedition of 15,000 fathoms of sounding line
_ by Commodore M‘Keever, of the United States Navy, whose
broad pendant was flying on board the Oongress frigate at
Rio. He was not content with presenting me with books,
7 &e., but having observed that he had something in our way,
sent me, the day before he sailed, 10,000 fathoms on one reel,
and 5000 on another, of most admirably adapted line for ex-
_ perimenting in deep deep-sea casts. Without compunction
as to ships’ stores, I determined to hazard the 10,000 fathoms
(beautifully laid up, or grafted into one length) the very first
opportunity ; and we as assuredly did get to the bottom at
_ 7706 fathoms, as not actually bringing up a sample can per-
_ mit me to say, for I and Lieut. Hutchison, in separate boats,
with our own hands, drew the plummet up 50 fathoms several

348 Deep Sea Soundings.

times, and after it had renewed its descent with the same
velocity it had,done during the last hundred fathoms, it landed
on each occasion abruptly to the original mark to a fathom,
and would not take a turn more off the reel. By its parting
at 140 fathoms from the surface, we lost a Six’s thermometer,
which I had bent on at 3000 fathoms. With the remainder
of the line I have obtained some 500’s, when our own lines
could not have been employed to that extent; and on two
occasions between Tristan d’Acunha and this (Cape of Good
Hope), I obtained 900 and 1500 fathoms with thermometers
attached, saving them each time, and shewing that 40° is the
minimum temperature after 200, where it averages 50 and
52, no matter what the surface temperature may be. 1 have
still 5000 fathoms to play upon, before reeling up spunyarn
again, which from our junk I had done to the length of 8
miles before I had the present.”

_ We have no doubt the worthy Commodore will be much

gratified with this disposal of his line. We need scarcely.

assure him that such generous marks of friendly feeling can-

not fail to be appreciated, and particularly so when it is con--
sidered that he was giving away the means by which he him-.

self might have gained the credit of finding the greatest depth
of the ocean yet attained. But noble minds are above such

personalities. The bottom was reached, and that was sufhi-

cient.

_ We shall leave our readers to form their own conclusions’
on the experiment, as to the up and down depth, as a seaman.
would say. But we may add, that although the experiment.

was made in a favourable part of the South Atlantic Ocean,

we cannot suppose it possible that the ship would remain for -
the nine hours during which it lasted in a vertical position —
immediately over the lead, although nothing is said by Cap-. _
tain Denham as to the direction in which the line grows as-

the ship drifts while the operation is going forward, nor

whether the boats and the ship were separated by the effect —
of any current. We by no means impugn the statement that —
bottom was reached when 83 statute miles were out, but —
should like to know whether or not some deduction should be

made for drift, and what that should be, before an up and ~

down depth can be asserted.—Ep. VV. 1.

ee et ee

A Table shewing the Rate at which the 9 lb. Plummet (11:5 by
17 inches) descended witha Line of 1-10th of an inch dia-
meter (and weighing, when dry, 1 1b. per, 100 fathoms),
_through a depth of nearly 9 English miles of Ocean Water:

at which depth it eenrrentis reached the bottom.

a ps BAD ed. \.
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Successive Notation. api cael Succeésive Notation. =, ee Pothoms.
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100 I'ms. 32\15 1/30 4100
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ce... 36/45} | 2195 ZaUuy ..,. LZ
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800 |. 61).5| | 3] 5 zt ea
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moo ,.. 9| 1150 3/50 5100
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a OU? * >; 24/50} | 4/10 WET es
f 1800.°..., 29} 0| | 4\10 5600
#1900 ... 33/15} | 4/15 5900
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23005... | 51| 0 4/30) 6300 .:./ 25
{| 2400 .,,, 55/30 4/30 6400 ... 37/58
£2500 ... |10| 0] 5| | 4/35 a500 '.:, 48] 0
A 2600... 4|45 4'40 6600. ... 57/50}.
} 2700 ... 9145| | 5] 0 6700... 4
2800 ...- 14/50} | 5}. 5] ° 6800 ... 19
20:19 5|20 6900... 30!:
25/50 5/40} 0/48/10)} 7000... 41
30}15) | 4/25 ROG oe J52|1
36/15) | 6).0 (eC eee 5
| {43/10; | 6/55 7300, ons 11)40
| -|50/40) | 7/30 San eas 2, 124/10
| 58/45 | 8) 5 7500 34 20)
11} 6/50) | 8/"5| | - 7600 44/22
14/45, | 7/45} | 7700 55/30!
22/30 7/45 ;
31/10; | 8/40 | : Total Interval, ; 9/24'45) ”

- Total fathoms, 7706 = 15,412 yards = 8? English miles.

TE. —This line could sustain 72 1b. in air, at a suspension of one fathom ;
as the 7706 fathoms weighed 77 Ib. (in addition to the plummet) became
hted one-half more by saturation (equal to 115 lb.), it could not bring up the
met again to exhibit to us the nature of the bottom; it broke, whilst carefully
eling it i aR at 140 fathoms below the water line.
H. M, DENHAM, Captain, R.N.

| 2

| VOL. LIy. NO, OVILI.—APRIL 1853. A

350 Ordnance Survey Astronomical Observations.

Astronomical Observations made with Airy’s Zenith Sector,
from 1842 to 1850, in the determination of the Latitudes
of various Trigonometrical Stations used in the Ordnance
Survey of the British Isles. Edited by Captain Y olland,
R.E., under the direction of Lieutenant-Colonel Lewis A.
Hall, Royal Engineers, Superintendent of the Ordnance
Survey, and published by order of the Master-General
and Board of Ordnance.

This is a ponderous quarto volume containing 52 pages of
letterpress, and 1009 pages of figures and numerical results,
as a contribution towards an exact knowledge of the latitudes
of twenty-six stationson the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain.
It will doubtless be very favourably received by the scien-
tific public, and is an excellent specimen of the searching
manner in, and practical skill with, which this great opera-
tion is now being carried on ; while persons in general will
see, from the voluminous extent to which the observations
ahd calculations in this one department have necessarily
expanded,—how essential it is that the whole should be
conducted by the Imperial Government. ;

As the attention of persons in our neighbourhood has lately
been attracted almost wholly to questions of the best scale
for the maps of the survey, we may as well remind them, that
to make a sensibly perfect map of the whole country on any of
the scales proposed, two descriptions of operations are neces-
sary; one consisting of terrestrial determinations of distances
in feet and inches by means of measured base lines and trian-
gles; the other, of astronomical observations, in terms of lati-
tude and longitude, to fix the part of the globe wherein the
en may be situated ;* and to furnish, by being compared

SS EE ee ee ee eee See ee SE eee

* Tt used to be objected against the old one-inch maps of the Ordnance Sur-
vey, that however accurately the fields and villages might be laid down there-
on, there was nothing to shew in what part of the world the places might be
situated ; i. ¢., there were no markings of latitude and longitude on the sides
of the sheet, as had from the first been introduced in the government maps of
France. With their usual readiness to meet all the rational requirements of

—

Ordndiicé Survey Astroiomiedl Observations. 351
with the linear result, and with similar operations in other
parts of the world, certain coefficients, relativeto the size
and shape of the earth, and necessary to be employed in all
the calculations of the base lines and triangles of the terres-
trial measure.

Of these coefficients, the most important is the quantity ue
compression of the earth, which is derived with the greatest
accuracy by comparing together measured lengths of the meri-
dian indifferent latitudes; and the practical operation consists
in éach country in determining astronomically the differences
of latitude of two stations, and then from their measured
distance astinder in feet, and their bearing the one from
the other, ascertaining the angular space between them on
the meridian, as viewed from near* the centre of the earth,
and so deducing as it is popularly termed, the length of a
degree of the meridian.

Of the two proceedings, the terrestrial admits of being
perfornied with far greater accuracy than the astronomical.

‘Thus the length of 60 miles, for example, a8 calculated from

the carefully measured base lines and angles of the Ord-
nance Survey, may be determined with certainty to consider-
ably under one foot; and this will be equivalent to one-hun-

the public, the omission has been supplied by the English officers in the recent
maps on the six-inch scale; though to insert the points to such exactness that
they may be depended on to the full extent of the terrestrial accuracy of the
paper will be shewn presently to be a far more difficult matter than the ob-
jectors were probably aware of.

* From near to, not at, the centre of the earth, by reason of the spheroidal
character of its figure ; which causes the direction of gravity in various parts
of the surface to point, not to one and the same internal spot, but to the locus
of a curve depending on the amount of compression; and thus it is that as we

_ travel from the equator toward the Poles, the radius of curvature and the length
_ of a degree on the surface increase, while the distance from the centre decreases,

Hence may arise two different modes of reckoning Latitude, one by a practical
astronomical operation on the surface; and the other by a theoretic reference to

_ the centre of the world, and is deduced by calculation from the former, combined
Mf with a ‘ktiowledge of the ellipticity. This theoretic, or as it is called Geocen-
. 4 tric Latitude, is proper to be employed in certain astronomical calculations ;
a but the former is that which i is more generally used, and knownas “Latitude,”
and will be alone considered in the course of this notice.

352 Ordnance Survey Astronomical Observations.

dredth only of a second of a degree of latitude. But the astro-
nomical determination, on the other hand, even with the best
existing instruments and methods yet invented by man, can
hardly be brought within several tenths of a second; so
great are the practical difficulties which beset the subject.

All possible means and appliances should therefore be em-
ployed, and even exhausted, in improving the accuracy of the
astronomical determinations of the latitudes of the terminal
points; and these when once well known, allow of the latitudes
of any and all the other points in the country being computed
from the terrestrial measurement with equal aceuracy, and
of being duly inserted in the margin of the maps. Not
only, therefore, our knowledge of the compression of the
earth depends on these terminal points, but also the latitudes
of every place in the country, and the indications of every
single sheet of the thousands of which the survey consists.
The lines of latitude and longitude extending over a coun-
try are in fact an astronomical network, all the lines of which
are obtained by computation from, and hinge on, the two or
three stations, at which alone it has been possible to get the
long and troublesome series of astronomical observations
well performed. With any errors in the so determined posi-
tions of those spots, every other in the whole length and
breadth of the land are out also; and a greater uncertainty
still is introduced into the results for the size and shape of
the earth ; which again reacts prejudicially on the correctness
of the formula employed in the calculations of all the triangles
of the terrestrial portion of the survey. Hence the devotion
of 1000 pages of closely-printed figures to the observations
for determining the astronomical latitudes of a very limited
number of places in the country.

Were perfect observation possible, two stations would have
been enough in Great Britian, one in the extreme south, and
the other in the extreme north. But as such a comfortable
state of things can exist nowhere under the sun, the whole.
meridian length has been divided into several parts, and there.
are meridian lengths also taken on either side of the king-

dom, so as to have as many separate results as possible; _

te ee ot ee ns ee

Ordnance Survey Astronomical Observations. 353

and moreover, at each intended station, observations have
been made at several spots round about it, so as practically

‘to ascertain whether there be any local attraction in the

neighbourhood that might prejudice the results.

In this way the number of stations observed, has been
increased to 26, extending from Saint Agnes in the Scilly
Islands, in 49° 53’, to Saxavord in North Shetland, in 60° 49’
N. lat.

The first step in this inquiry was, of course, to get a good

‘astronomical instrument, and the zenith sector made by

Ramsden for the Ordnance having been destroyed in the fire
at the Tower in 1840, application was made to the Astrono-
mer Royal, G. B. Airy, Esq., to furnish a design for a new
one, with any improvements he could suggest.

The result of this was the instrument employed, wherein the
following capital improvements were introduced over all other
previous zenith sectors—Ist, the whole being made of metal,

and in large pieces with few adjustments; 2d, A double
- graduated arc, or readings, and with micrometer microscopes,
‘at either end of the telescope, which turned on an axis in the
middle of its length; 8d, Levels were employed for the zero

point in place of the old plumblines ; and 4th, The whole ar-
rangement was such as to admit of the double observations,

face E. and face W., being made at the same transit.

The length ‘of the telescope was 46 inches, the diameter of
the object-glass 3:75 inches ; the magnifying power usually
employed 70; and the weight of the whole instrument, 10 ewt.

This was screened from the weather by a portable wooden
building, covered with canvass, and having an ea ving: slit
in the roof, and weighing 23 cwt.

From 1842 to 1844 the observations were made by com-
missioned officers, Captains Hornby, and Driscoll Gosset, R.E.,
but subsequently, when the modus operandi was well settled,
they were made and computed by non-commissioned officers,
under charge of Captain Yolland, R.E.

On the average, 800 observations of stars were taken at
each station, and each observation is given in the body of the

work, nearly as read off from the instrument itself, with all

the necessary elements for its reduction, and the principal

3864 Ordnance Survey Astronomical Observations,

steps of the reduction performed,-are also given, up to the
complete result for latitude by each observation.

In the subsequent part of the work, these quantities are
collated together, and special corrections applied for certain
instrumental peculiarities explained in the Introduction, and
for errors of assumed declination of the stars observed, which
being 491 in number, and confined between the parallels of 38°
and 68° N. decl., necessarily included many small stars whose
places had not previously been well fixed by any astronomer.

In the concluding part of the Introduction, the final results
are considered, and being compared with the geodetical caleu-
lations, when the stations are but a few miles apart, some
most startling conclusions are arrived at; shewing that the
latitudes of places are affected by many more causes than
most men’s philosophy has hitherto taken account of. For
while the probable error of the astronomical determinations
is hardly so much as "2, their differences from the geodeti-
cal, are often ten to twenty times as great: nay, in one in-
Stance, amount to the immense quantity of 9°48,

The number of discordances is at the same time no less
remarkable than their individual amount; and amongst the
twenty-six stations observed are found all the following in-
stances :—

Lat. Lat. Discordance-

St Agnes, . . 49 53 and be Sees Down, 50 2 —1-60
Southampton, . 50 54 Boniface Down, 50 86 41:28
Hees Sei : i ..» Week Down, . 50 86 +1:46

. Dunnose, ..-. 60. Bfx 4 8-7/1

. Port Valley, . 5089 40:42:

bias ithay ths vee wee ppLaGk Down, -.... 60 40 0 1-10

Hungry Hill, . 5141 .. Feaghmaan, . 51 55 —3-73
Forth Mountain, 52 56 ... Precelly, . . 51 56 +0°60
Tawnymore, . 54 17 ... Lough Foyle,. 55 2 +3-20
Ben Heynish, . 56 27 ... Ben Lomond,. 5611 43°71
Cowhythe, . . 57 41 ... Great Stirling, 57 27 —9-48
North Rona, . 59 7%... Monach, . ., 68 21 ,—0:30
pap 5 Hip 69 °-"T" | © "Ben Hytich, . 08. bo cuaraae et

Balta, . . . 60 44 .., Saxavord, . 60 49 —2:08

The — sign shewing that the ne is less than the
astronomical amplitude.

|
i
|

Ordnance Survey Astronomical Observations.’ 355

.* What great events do flow from little things,” says an
old comic writer, but the few numbers above are a veritable.
Pandora’s box of trouble, likely to make every surveyor and
geodesist throughout the earth to tremble, when considering
the consequences which must certainly follow. That ‘nothing
was given to man without great labour,’ was a proverb in
the time of the Romans, and if true in ordinary matters, how
much more pointed and impressive does it become when push-
ing scientific affairs to the utmost attainable degree of accu-
racy. To determine the latitude of a place to 30” is easy
enough; to 15’, is not difficult; but to 1’, the difficulty is
increased a thousand fold, nay, every property of Nature and
of matter seem to combine to prevent our discovering this
secret of the world. With a proposed accuracy of 1”, still
more if 0’1 or 0’:01 be insisted on, an account must be
taken, and an explanation rendered of the above discord-
ances, preparatory to any hope of their being eliminated
from the determinations for latitude.

_Itis easy to attribute the discrepances to “ local erent
tion, ”’ but that is merely giving the difficulty a name; and
the question still remains as to how a numerical correction
ean be obtained. It is by no means the first time that such
a disturbing cause has been suspected, but previously obser-
vations have been conducted at so few stations, or have heen

liable to such great uncertainties from error of observer

and instrument, that little attention has been paid to the

allegation. Actual mountains have however been generally al-

lowed to possess a sensible influence in this way; and then the

observing places have usually been picked out at the greatest

practicable distance from such questionable neighbours.
Such, we conclude, were the precautions taken with the
ordnance stations ; and certainly they are more numerous,
and better and more uniformly observed, we believe, than
any previous set that can be brought to bear on this ques-
tion. The probable error of observation is here so small as

_ for the time to disappear; and yet there are discordances of
_ @ greater amount than ever before known, and therefore

plainly and surely attributable to local attraction, whatever

that may be. The accusation, in fact, against mother earth

is fully proved, and must be proceeded with.

856 Ordnance Survey Astronomical Observations.

Now this abnormal attraction can be only that of gravitation,
which depends solely on weight ; as, for instance, a pound of
gold, a pound of stone, and a pound of ice, placed at equal
distances from each other, will act each on the other with
precisely similar gravitating forces. If therefore the weight
and distance of a mountain be known, its effect on the plumb-
line can be computed ; and the first question is, whether the
observed deviations can be completely explained by such visible
and tangible excrescences on the surface of the earth, or
whether they be owing to some heterogeneous construction
beneath it? If the former be the case, the elimination is
comparatively easy but laborious, for the mountain can in
time be measured ; there it is; but in the latter case, where
is it, i.e., the attracting body, or bodies ?:

At one of their trigonometrical points in Peru, the savants
of Louis XIV. found an attraction in the mass of the Andes
to the amount of 7”: and more recently Mr Maclear found
the attraction of Table Mountain equal to 3’, and that of
Piket Berg equal to 2”, at the stations employed by a former
measurer of an arc of the meridian in South Africa. In his
own determinations therefore, Mr Maclear left the sheltered
valleys around the foot of a mountain, and preferred all
the inconveniences of placing his instrument on the exposed
summit: for there, having the mountain beneath his feet,
its attraction acted,—in so far as its mass was uniformly
disposed about its culminating point,—in the direction of that
of the earth, and therefore could produce no deviation from
- the vertical.

But in England and Scotland, there are no mountain ranges

like the Andes; nay, in the neighbourhood of the survey ter- ° .

minal stations, there are no masses comparable to TableMoun-
tain or to Piket Berg; and yet the effects of local attraction
at many of the stations are greater than were observed in
‘the actual neighbourhood of those giant ranges. The known
configuration of the surface of the dry land therefore will not
explain completely all the difficulties, nor will any probable
shape that may be given to the land under the neighbouring
seas.

Magnetic and electric affinities, it need hardly be observed,

Ordnance Survey Astronomical Observations. 357

are altogether powerless here ; and so we are driven to the
only remaining hypothesis, viz., vast caverns underneath the
surface of the earth in certain spots ; or, perhaps, immense
masses of rock or metal of much less, and in other places, of
much greater density and specific gravity, than the neigh-
bouring material. But whether holes or masses, or veins or
dikes, they must be something mighty in size, and by no
means very distant, to produce such great, but at the same
time, irregular, effects. :
These discordances too appearing so very generally in the case
before us, and acting of course on the longitude as well as
the latitude, must render uncertain the astronomical elements
of position of all places yet observed, by any instruments, in
other countries as well as this; for in no place has any cor-
rection for local attraction, under as well as above the sur-
face, ever been applied, or indeed obtained, or attempted.
‘The multitudinous measures necessary for the purpose are
still to be made. |
- Hitherto men have fancied, or at least appear by their
conduct, with the slight exception already noticed, to have
‘laid the flattering unction to their souls, that to determine
the true astronomical position of a spot, they had merely to
improve their instruments, and multiply their observations
of the stars. But now it is shewn that there is another cause
at work, which the above proceedings do not touch. In fact,
even if we had a perfect astronomical instrument, and if
angels were to observe with it, still the results would be in
error by the full amount of the “local attraction ;”’ and that
‘may be far too large to be passed quietly by.
~ Our public observatories will not be affected by the anomaly,
so far as their researches in cosmical astronomy are con-
‘cerned; it will only be of importance in geographical as-
tronomy. But it will both greatly affect all existing
‘measures of arcs of the meridian, and greatly trouble the
‘mapmakers. How, for example, shall they draw the parallels
of latitude through Great Stirling and Cowhythe, when there
exists an anomaly there of 9”5, equal to one inch on the
6-inch-to-a-mile maps; and as yet there is nothing to
shew on which side of either place, or whereabouts in the

358 Ordnance Survey Astronomical Observations.

country the seat of disturbance, and its maximum effect,
may be! .

In fact, notwithstanding what the French have been in the
habit of doing with their maps, and what the croakers com-
plained of the Government not doing here, science is not
far advanced enough to be able to insert the astronomical
latitudes and longitudes with sensible accuracy on large
sized maps. If, then, we see parallels of latitude represented
by simple straight lines, we may be certain that they are
wrong, 7. ¢., they do not represent what a perfect astrono-
mical instrument would shew at one place, or a terrestrial
measure give at another, and this, ‘too, by a quantity that
would permit any amateur, with small observing means, to
detect apparently gross errors in the National Survey.

The volume, therefore, published by the Ordnance, opens
a new and most important and difficult question, rather than
it settles the latitudes of the trigonometrical stations.
Further steps must, consequently, be taken in the research ;
and means must be found of reducing, in all cases, what we
may term the apparent, to the true astronomical latitude and
longitude. The present book is an exceedingly good one as far
as it goes, and it is not the fault of the authors that the case to
be investigated has proved more difficult than had been antici-
pated, by reason of the influence of occult natural causes ;
nor is it at all to their discredit, if haply with the rapidly
advancing improvements in astronomical instruments and me-
thods, some more perfect instrument still to that which they
employed, may now be contrived. Their work is a great ad-
vance on all that has previously proceeded out of their office,
and we must particularly admire the honesty with which all
the original observations are given, together with the elements
for their reduction, so that any person may verify the com-
putations ; a method of publication, the example for which
was mainly set by the present Astronomer Royal; and who ap-
pears to have advised all the proceedings in the present case.

The men who have satisfactorily carried on the work thus
far are doubtless the best to continue its prosecution, and we
hope will do so, and have full means afforded them for fol-
lowing it out, through all its ramifications. Meanwhile the

Ordnance Survey Astronomical Observations. 859

perusal of their record of the past, would seem to suggest,—
if we rightly understand the numerous circumstances therein
detailed,—the propriety of a few remarks for the future,
something as follows :—

first,—Of the instrument.

The one in question, though a great advance on all previous
~ zenith sectors, still was a zenith sector, and was affected by
some of their natural errors,—errors which have driven them
out of all astronomical observatories, and have occasioned in
this example, the necessity of applying a very ugly and rather
arbitrary correction to all the results, depending on the ex-
pansion of the arc by being squeezed out under the vertical
pressure of the pivot screw at the top of the instrument; which
screw at each station was turned different quantities to make
more or less squeezing, according to the judgment or memory
of the observer. The horizontal axis of the telescope, more-
over, was very short, and being unbalanced, tended to wear
unequally ; while the levels, being all on one side of the ver-
tical axis, would all be similarly affected by centrifugal mo-
tion in turning the instrument round, and might all, there-
fore, shew too great or too small a reading, by the amount of
the retardation of the bubble by friction.

We should be inclined, indeed, in the present day, to re-
form sectors and levels altogether, by having a transit circle,
and obtaining the zero point with the collimating eyepiece.

A single observation at each meridian transit, would then
give a complete result, and with much greater ease and pro-
bable accuracy, than when two observations have to be taken,
and a large instrument reversed and reset all in afew seconds,
with the stars, too, already beginning to describe downward
paths, by reason of their distance from the meridian.

1, Thre prime-vertical transit instrument, has become a
favourite for these purposes on the Continent; but although
it may give very concordant and apparently accurate results,
_ yet in the shape in which it is there manufactured, it must
be liable to so much flexure, and in a vital direction to the

_ integrity of the observations, that their absolute accuracy
may be always doubted.

‘Tn the form of the ordinary transit, ¢. e., with a double axis,

360 Ordnance Survey Astronomical Observations.

it may do better; though there is even then great doubt if
the level ever can be ascertained as exactly as it should be;
and after all, each observation occupies so very great a length
of time, as to admit of but very few being taken during a
night ; and those may be so seriously interfered with by the
abundant clouds of this climate, that a practical man may
well prefer a graduated circle in the Meridian.

Second,—Of the mode of observing, and reducing the ob-
Servations.

Each observation before us is made to give an independent
latitude, and this is therefore loaded, not only with the in-
strumental errors in measuring the zenith distances, but also
with the tabular errors of the star’s declination, and what is
much more uncertain, its proper motion. The prejudicial
consequence of this appears in the columns on the right hand
pages giving the observed zenith distances and the computed
latitudes, in which latter the discordances are often double
the amount of the former.

Uncertainties of refraction are certainly mixed up in the
latitude results; but as the zenith distance is always small,
there can never be any notable effect from that cause; yet
we should like, in any future work, to see a discussion of the
value of the constant of refraction ; for it would doubtless be
found to vary at the different altitudes above the sea, and in
the contrasting physical circumstances of the several stations.

The greater part, then, of the increase of the discordances
amongst the latitudes over the zenith distances, must rest
with errors in the assumed values of the places and proper
motions of the stars of comparison; and an easy way of

remedying this difficulty is to have two instruments: keeping . —

one always at a standard station, and having the same stars
observed at the same times, with the stationary and with the
travelling instrument: a method much practised by Mr Mac-
lear in his excellent repetition of the South African are.
Thirdly, we may observe, that while we should prefer, at
the beginning of the volume, to see entered the very identical
numbers read off from the instrument, without, as here, being —
reduced from divisions of the micrometer to seconds of space; _
we should also like to see at the close, some investigation

Ordnance Survey Astronomical Observations. 361

into the probable errors of the final results. These numbers
are given to hundredths of a second, but when we examine the
components, and find one star giving a result many whole
seconds from another, and all the southern stars having a per-
verse discordance to all the northern ones, we evidently
cannot depend for certain on the last hundredth. To within
how many hundredths of a second, then, can we depend +?
What is the real breadth of the foundation on which we
can securely build a superstructure of theory and inference,
free from the effects of error of observation ?

This quantity should be obtained with observations for lati-
tude and for longitude also, wherever there may exist so per-
fect a means as the electric telegraph for communicating
time between two stations. The next step will then be to de-
termine in each case the configuration of the neighbouring.
ground, by careful contouring (a superb mode, by the way,
of settling the levels of a country for engineering and other
operations, though discountenanced by the late Committee
of the House of Commons): and with the size of the hillocks
so ascertained, and with the nearest approach that can be
made to a knowledge of their specific gravity, their attrac-
tion may be computed.

Then according to the character of the residual quantity,
obtained by applying the computed to the observed attrac-
tion, deduced by comparison of one with many. stations,—
further astronomical observations should be instituted at
various places, until all the sources of local attraction, and
the means of computing their effects for all distances, shall
have been discovered. |

So far for the elimination of the disturbing effects of the

attraction of the mountainous masses. But that having been

ascertained sufficiently well for practical purposes ; it is hoped
that then the important scientific and physical result of the
weight of the world will occupy the attention of the survey-
ing department. So long a time has occurred since Dr
Maskelyne tried the great experiment on Mount Schehallion,
that much advantage might result from repeating his mea-

_ sures again, both terrestrial and astronomical, with improved
_ means: especially adding observations for longitude as well -

as for latitude ; and so observing on four sides of the moun-

362 Notes on the Scales of the

tain. But inasmuch as the geologic construction of Sche-
hallion is very heterogeneous and uncertain, it might be
better to search out some hill of more uniform constitution ;
and such, according to the experienced testimony of Pro-
fessor Jameson, may be met with amongst the mountains of
Sutherland, some of which are of quartz from top to bottom.
Ces s:

Notes on the Scales of the Government Survey of Scotland.

The seales upon which the Government Survey of Scotland
should be engraved and published, having naturally excited
great interest, and given rise to much diversity of opinion,
we have endeavoured to collect some precise information as
to the progress, up to the present time, which has been made
in this great National work, and the special purposes for
which it is designed.

- The Government, or, as it is called, the Ordnance Survey
of England and Wales, had, up to the year 1824, been pub-
lished on the scale of one inch to the mile; and the whole
country, with the exception of the six northern counties, was
finished upon this scale, and has given great satisfaction to
the country, as we learn, from the evidence of several eminent
civil engineers, and geologists, to whom it has been found of
great value in many important works upon which they have
been engaged. But in the year 1824, the whole surveying
force of the Ordnance was transferred to Ireland, and as the
survey there was designed to form the basis of a general va-
luation of the country, for which the scale of one inch to a
mile was much too small, the Government directed, after a
very mature consideration of the subject, that the scale of the
county maps of Ireland should be on the scale of six inches
to a mile, and that the large towns should be drawn on the
scale of sixty inches to a mile, and that a general map on
the scale of one inch to the mile, like that of England, should
be prepared by reducing the six-inch maps to that scale.
These orders were consequently carried into effect, and the
whole kingdom has been engraved and published on the six-
inch scale, and the one-inch general map is now in progress,

Government Survey of Scotland. 363

On the completion of the survey of Ireland in 1845, that
of England was resumed, and that of Scotland commence-
ed, and in consequence of the very great advantages
which the survey of Ireland had conferred on that country
beyond the special object for which it was designed; the Go-
vernment decided that, in the progress of the survey of Great
Britain, the same series of maps should be published, as
had been in Ireland—and in consequence the counties of
Yorkshire and Lancashire, Wigtownshire, Kirkcudbright-
shire, Edinburghshire, and Haddingtonshire, have been drawn,
and the first four counties completely engraved on the six-
inch scale; whilst the survey is proceeding in Durham and
Fife. We also learn that the primary triangulation of the
whole United Kingdom is now complete, and the measure-
ment of the are of the meridian, from Dunnose in the Isle
of Wight, to Balta in the Shetland Islands, is in course of
publication.

The progress of the survey of Scotland, which was neces-
sarily slow in consequence of the small sums granted for the
Service, having created much dissatisfaction, and many emi-
nent persons having expressed an opinion that a survey on
the seale of six inches to a mile was not required for Scot-
land, a Committee of the House of Commons was appointed
in 1851 to report upon this subject:

The report of this Committee, and the evidence of the nu-
merous witnesses examined, contains much valuable and de-
tailed information, but much diversity of opinion between
the several witnesses ; Sir R. Murchison, Lord Monteagle,
Mr Stephenson, Mr Locke, and Mr Brunel, being of opinion
that the one-inch scale, like that of the southern counties of
England, was all that was required for Scotland ; whilst, on
the other hand, Mr Griffiths, under whom the valuation of
the whole of Ireland was conducted, and Sir John Macneill,
the engineer to the Railway Commissioners of Ireland, and
all the Ordnance officers, were of opinion that the scale should
be six inches to a mile, like that of Ireland.

The following are the recommendations of the Committee:

1. That the six-inch scale be abandoned.
2. That the system of contouring be abandoned.

364 Notes on the Scales of the

3. That.the survey and plotting on the two-inch scale be
proceeded with as rapidly as is consistent with accuracy,
with the view to the publication within ten years of a one-
inch map, shaded and engraved in a manner similar to the
Ordnance one-inch map of England.

Orders in conformity with these recommendations were
given to the Ordnance officers, and in the summer of last
year, the survey for the one-inch scale was proceeded with, but
as soon as this change became known to the public, great dis-
satisfaction was very generally expressed, and numerous in-
fluential meetings were held in several counties, in Edinburgh,
Glasgow, and many of the principal towns, to memorialize
the Government to proceed with the survey of Scotland as
as they had begun it. On the receipt of these memorials,
the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr Disraeli) ordered the
survey for the one-inch scale to be discontinued, and the
counties of Haddington and Fife to be surveyed on the six-inch
scale, and that no other county should be taken up “ till this
important subject shall have received further investigation.”

_ It is greatly to be regretted that so much time and money
should have been lost, but it was obviously better to stop the
work for the small scale at once, than to allow it to proceed,
and produce dissatisfaction in the country, with the prospect
of eventually losing more time and money on a work not cal-
culated to meet the wants of the Government, and the country
at large.

_Most of the memorials have appeared in the journals of
the day, but we select that from the gentlemen of Dumfries-
shire, as expressing what appears. to us to be the general
feeling of the people of Scotland upon this subject.

“To the Honourable the Lords Commissioners of Her
Majesty's Treasury, the humble memorial of the Com-
missioners of Supply of the County of Dumfries,

‘“ Sheweth,—That the memorialists had under considera-
tion at their annual meeting held in April last, which was
numerously attended, the subject of the Ordnance Survey of
Scotland, when they had occasion to express their regret at
the delay which has taken place in the prosecution of it;
and on the motion of Sir William Jardine of Applegarth,. it

~ a

———— le SS hme CCC

i tind
2

eh re ee

Government Survey of Scotland. 365

was unanimously resolved to urge the Board of Ordnance to

proceed with its completion, with as little further delay as

possible, and that upon a scale of sz inches to a mile.

“This resolution was accordingly communicated to the
board; but the memorialists were informed that it rests with
your Lordships alone to set aside or modify the present ar-
rangement for completing what remains of the survey on a
scale of one inch to a mile.

‘« The one-inch scale being considered by the memorialists
so entirely useless for all nenedital purposes, the matter was
again brought forward at their Michaelmas meeting, held on
5th October last, when (in consequence of the above infor-
mation) it was resolved, on the motion of his Grace the Duke
of Buccleuch and Queensberry, to present this memorial to
your Lordships in support of the early completion of the
survey of Scotland on the large scale; at the same time,
calling attention to the peculiar advantages which a survey
of Men county of Dumfries on this scale would confer, as in
comparison with one on the reduced scale. |

“ The: memorialists are humbly of opinion, that six-inch
maps of the counties of Scotland would be much more useful
for all public, local, and private purposes, than plans on the
one-inch scale ; and indeed, that the latter would be even of
less service than plans already existing ; while the difference
of cost, having regard to the superior advantages of the large
plans, would not be so great as to justify a departure from
the system pursued in the survey of the United Kingdom up
to a very recent period. |

“The larger maps, with the levels inserted upon them,
would be highly useful for all purposes connected with engi-
neering; the formation of railways, canals, roads; the con-
veyance of water to towns; sewerage ; the reclamation of
marshes ; and the improvement of waste lands; the collec-
tion of correct agricultural, mineral, and other statistics, in-
cluding a correct census; the procuring of correct geological
and hydrographical surveys; the valuation of property in re-
ference to sales and to public and parish assessments ; the
management of estates; the identification and registration
of different properties, and in various other ways; for most

VOL. LIV. NO. CVIII.—APRIL 1853. 2B

366 Notes on the Seales of the

of which purposes the smaller maps would be of compara-
tively little use, and for the more important would be of no
service whatever.

“The larger map would not merely be valuable for pbeiont
purposes ; as an authentic record of the state of the country,
and the boundaries of properties, parishes, and counties, it
would in after ages be regarded with interest, and be found
of great use in tracing the progress of improvement and the
changes occurring in the course of time.

“ The memorialists have respectfully to submit that there
is no valid reason why Scotland should not have the benefit
of a national survey on the enlarged scale. She contributed
a proportion of the expense of the survey of the sister coun-
tries. There are extensive tracts of as wild countryin Ireland
as in Scotland, and upon the utility of surveying the former
country on the large scale, the argument that large plans of
such waste grounds were unnecessary was never raised. It
appears to the memorialists, therefore, that it would be unjust
to give Scotland inferior maps on the ground of expense.
Besides, it is of manifest importance, in a national point of
view, to have uniform connected maps, applicable to the entire
United Kingdom.”

These memorials would seem to have decided the Govern-
ment to give to Scotland the benefit of a survey not inferior
to that of Ireland; and we see, by a correspondence recently
published between Sir Charles Trevelyan and Major Larcon,
R.E., the present Under-secretary for Ireland, to whose
energy and ability the perfection of the agricultural statistics
of that country is mainly due, that the question of the best
seales for the survey of Scotland is still under consideration.
Major Larcon is asked if the six-inch survey of Ireland has
fulfilled the objects for which it was designed, and whether,
if the survey of that country had to be done over again, he
would propose a larger scale; to this he replies, that the
survey has fulfilled all the objects expected from it, and that
he should recommend the same scale if the work had to be

gone over again, and recommends that it should be extended —

to the whole of Scotland. Mr Griffiths, to whom these replies
were communicated, concurs fully in these views, which are

Government Survey of Scotland. 367

in accordance with the evidence he gave before the Parlia-
mentary Committee of 1851.

We therefore confidently hope that the survey will now
proceed without further interruption and delays. We have
seen with great satisfaction that an additional grant of
£10,000 appears in the Ordnance estimates for this year,
making the grant for this year £35,000 for the survey of
Scotland—a sum which will enable the Ordnance officers
to proceed rapidly in their work, and give employment to a
numerous body of assistants from our population. K.

On & Quariziferous Variety of Trachyte, found in Iceland.
By THEODOR KsHRULF, of Christiania. Communicated for
the Edin. New Phil. Journal.

Amongst the trachytic formations of Iceland, which appear
from the investigations of Bunsen to exhibit, along with the
greatest mineralogical differences, a remarkable chemical
agreement, and which, in a paper inserted in the twenty-third
volume of Poggendorff’s Annalen, he terms “ normal tra-
chytic,” there are some which are characterised by the occur.
- rence of interspersed quartz and rock crystal. These, as well
as the other trachytes of Iceland, belong to Abich’s “ tra-
chytic porphyries,” with which they harmonize, not only in
their chemical compdsition, but also in the circumstance of
their assuming, for most part, a porphyritic appearance by
the interspersion of minute lustrous lamella of felspar. In
the rocks referred to in the following paper, which belong to
these formations, these felspar secretions are absent, although
in them likewise the rock presents a porphyritic appearance,
from being interspersed with quartz. We might give it the
appellation of quartziferous trachytic porphyry. The mass
appears decomposed, almost friable, and in colour varying
from light green to yellowish red. In similar varieties of
trachyte, the mass being the same, but quartz being absent,
there could be distinguished small spicula of iron pyrites,

_ which seemed to indicate a subterraneous formation by the
_ disengagement of sulphureous vapours from fissures (Fumaro-
q lenwirkung). In the present rocks, however, I could not,
2B 2

368 ~ M. Theodor Kjerulf on a

even with the assistance of a lens, detect iron pyrites, with
anything like certainty, although that variety 2 exhibited
traces of sulphuric acid and spicula, resembling hydrous oxide
of iron.

The materials for the investigations of which the results
~ are here communicated, were collected by myself on the spot,
during a journey to Iceland, in the summer of 1850, and the
analyses themselves, were conducted according to the method
followed by Professor Bunsen, and communicated by Dr Streng
(Bietrag zur Theorie der vulkanischen Gesteinsbildung, Bresl.,
1852.) In the environs of the Baula, a mountain from which
so much instruction may be derived in regard to the trachyte
of Iceland, I could not, after the most careful search, discover
any of the quartziferous rocks. These I have observed only,
not under the most favourable circumstances for observation,
at Kalmanstunga in the western, and at Trollakirkja, in the
northern, parts of the island. At Kalmanstunga, at the de-
clivity of the mountain which stretches towards Koita, there
is an alternation of numberless varieties of trachyte, com-
pact, earthy, nodular, breccious; and it is amongst the frag-
ments of the latter, that at the declivity in question, the
quartziferous porphyritic trachyte is found. The contiguous
rock and the junction of the two are, unfortunately, concealed
from observation by heaps of rubbish. As far as could be
recognised, the whole composed a veniform mass (eine stock
=oder gangformige masse), which might probably extend
over Tunga to the trachyte cliffs of the Nordlingafljot. It
should also be mentioned that the trachyte mountain in the
neighbourhood of the above-mentioned locality, has been
broken through by a basaltic mass, which can be recognised
at a considerable distance by its beautiful columns. The
second variety subjected to analysis is from the northern dis-
trict of the island, where the road from Fagranes to the Ska-
gafjordr leads through the narrow valley of Vidadalr towards
Grimstungur. Right across the valley, where it stretches in
a southerly direction, there runs down from the mountain of
Trollakirkja a vein of quartziferous trachytic porphyry, but
here likewise the line of junction with the adjoining rock,
which was a common dark augitic and palagonitic rock dis-

ee ee ae

Quariziferous Variety of Trachyte found in Iceland. 369

posed in beds, was nowhere to be observed; even the thickness
of the vein itself, which seemed to run from 6 to 14 feet, could
scarcely be determined. A dark green vitreous rock of june-
tion (Contactgestein), which is found at the Baula as well as
almost everywhere else in Iceland, where the trachyte sepa-
rates from an augitic or tuff rock, was not observed here, but
may very possibly have been concealed under the loose rubbish,
which the unfavourable state of the weather unfortunately
put it out of my power to subject to a very close examination.

The rock No. 1, is composed of a greenish mass in which
are imbedded small white globular particles, very distinctly
separated from the matrix. These globules are either entirely
filled with a hard white quartzose mass, or else they form a
globular crust, of which the internal cavity is occupied with
beautifully transparent points of rock crystals. The rock
No. 2, appears to be more decomposed than the former; the
mass, which is of a light yellow reddish colour, is almost
friable, and the quartz crystals are found distributed in more
irregular cavities. On comparing the two varieties, they
seem to exhibit different phases of the same process of decom-
position ; the globules disappearing and giving place to cavities,
as the matrix itself becomes more friable. The reddish
powder of No. 2, after being digested for a short time in con-
centrated muriatic acid, totally loses its colour, and becomes
snow-white.

The composition of these two varieties, as appearing on
analysis, calculated on the anhydrous substance, is as fol-
lows :—No. 1 losing 1847 per cent., and No. 2 losing 1°656

per cent., by being brought to a red heat.

No. 1. No. 2.
Silica, . ; : : 78°149 81-364
Alumina, , j : 11°522 10-241
Oxide of iron, ‘ ; 1‘655 1°931
Lime, . . : 3 0°465 0-301
Macnesia, : : , 0:058
Protoxide of manganese, } wea bees 0-076
Potassa, : : ; 2°898 4:878
Soda, . ‘ : ‘ 4°195 2°030

98:951 100:879

570 M. Theodor Kjerulf on @

Or, to afford readier means of comparison with the compo-
sition of normal trachyte, it may be calculated at 100, and
with protoxide of iron, as follows :—

Normal Trachyte, No.1. “No. 2.
Silica, : : . ; 76:67 79°11 80°81
Alumina, . : ; ; 14-93 11-67 10:17
Protoxide of iron, 1°51 1:73
Lime, : : : : 1:44 0:47 0:30
Macenesia, , ; : 0:28 0:07 0:14
Potassa, . ; ; : 3°20 2:98 4:84
Dr ee etka te 4:18 4:24 2-01

100:00 100-00 100-00

Thus we have very nearly the composition of normal tra-
chyte,—the proportion of silica being somewhat larger, espe-
cially in the variety in which decomposition has proceeded
farthest.

In order to check the analysis, I endeavoured, with No. 2,
which presented most facility for the purpose, to ascertain
the per centage of quartz crystals. A certain quantity, after
being weighed, was gently crushed, and water being after-
wards poured over it, the light supernatant particles of the
mass were removed, and the residuum dried and strongly
heated: the quartz crystals, which could then be easily dis-
tinguished, were separated mechanically from the small red-
dish fragments of trachyte, and from a few particles of white
quartz. The result was 29, or 3 per cent. In this experi-
ment, which was very carefully performed, I cannot imagine
that there was room for an error of more than one per cent.
loss at the utmost, so that the proportion of ae cannot
possibly exceed 4 per cent.

The question now arises, whether this excess of silica has
been conveyed into the rock by infiltration, or whether it has
proceeded from a partial elimination of its basic constituents.
The answer to this question is, geognostically, of some in-
terest. If we take as our basis the composition of normal
trachyte,—and from the local relations of the porphyritic
varieties with other trachytic rocks at Kalmanstunga, it
seems exceedingly probable that the former have been formed
from the latter. We are able, either on the one hand, upon

> Po

Quariziferous Variety of Trachyte found in Iceland. 371

the supposition of an infiltration of silica into what was ori-
ginally a mass of normal trachyte; or, on the other hand,
upon the supposition of a partial elimination of the bases, to
arrive by calculation, at compositions nearly identical with
No. 2. For, if to 5 portions of normal trachyte we assume
the infiltration of 1 portion of silica, the composition 3 will
be the result; and we obtain the composition 4, if, of 8 por-
tions of undecomposed trachyte, 2 portions undergo altera-
tion in such a manner as that their contained bases are, by
the action of volcanic vapours (Fumarolenthitigkeit), elimi-
nated in the form of sulphuric salts,—their silica at same
time remaining :—

No. 3. No. 4. No. 5.
Silica, .. : : : 80°56 80:76 80°22
Alumina and protoxide of iron, 11:86 11:98 12:27
Lime, ; - j ; 1:20 #21 0°31
Magnesia, , ; : 0:23 0:24 0:14
Alkalies, . : i g 6:15 5°78 7:06

100°00 100:00 100-00

_ Thus, it might seem as if the question were incapable of
solution. But the alternative is really decided by the obser-
vation, that in No. 2 there is contained not more than 3—4
per cent. of free silica. In the calculated composition 3, in
which 1 portion of quartz becomes added to 5 portions of nor-
mal trachyte, there would be required, not 3 or 4 per cent.,
but no less than 16-66 per cent. of free silicic acid. Where,
again, (in 4) 0-2 of the whole mass is conceived to have been
decomposed in the above manner, there remains just 3 per
eent. of free silicic acid, which might very readily appear in
the form of quartz and rock-crystal. Farther, if No. 2 had
arisen under the influence of a process of infiltration, the re-
sult of its composition must, after subtracting the 3 per cent.
quartz, have been identical with that of normal trachyte.
Such a calculation, however, gives as its result, not the com-
position of normal trachyte, but one containing a larger
amount of silica (5).

If, then, an elimination of bases have actually taken place
in 1 and 2, it may be anticipated that this process will not
have extended in a precisely similar degree to the whole con-

372 Quartziferous Variety of Trachyte found in Iceland.

stituents. Now this inequality will actually appear, if we
calculate the composition of normal trachyte and that of the
varieties 1 and 2, without reference to the silica, for like

quantities of one of the bases, e. g., the alumina :—
Yor Normal

Trachyte. For l. For 2.

Alumina and protoxide of iron, 100:00 100:00 100-00
Lime, : : ; ; 10°11 3°56 2°51
Magnesia, . ‘ : . 1°81 0°53 1:18

- Alkalies, . ; ; : 52°58 54:40 57°56

For these reasons, as well as from the external appear-
ance of the rock, which of itself indicates the operation of
volcanic gases (Fumarolenwirkung), I think we are entitled
to conclude that the quartz, which we so unexpectedly find in
this trachyte, is derived, not from the infiltration, but from
the secretion of silica. Almost everywhere in Iceland, where
trachytes occur, I have observed amongst them compact and
earthy varieties, resembling the fumerolle clay, frequently
along with spicula of iron pyrites,—as near the Baula, at the
Indridastadir, near Skorradalsvatn, at the Illvidrishnukr, in
the northern district of the island, not far from where variety
2 is found. The analysis of the trachyte of Langarfjall,
at the Geisir, which continues to be decomposed by the influ-
ence of fumerolles, exhibits a similar elimination of bases,
especially a striking diminution of the alkalies. It is not im-
probable that, whilst the silica secreted in 2, in the course of
the partial decomposition, remained in the rock ; of the liber-
ated bases, the alkalies, and about half the alumina, were
eliminated in the form of alum, the other half of the alumina,
together with the whole lime and magnesia, being eliminated
in the form of sulphuric salts.*

* Liebig’s Annalen der Chemie, &c., vol, lxxxv., part 3.

373
Biography of the celebrated Naturalist, Baron Leopold von
Buch. Communicated for the Philosophical Journal.

Berlin, March 6.—LEOPOLD VON BUCH is dead. He expired
on the 4th instant, at two o’clock afternoon, after a short
illness. The once so active pedestrian, who even in his old
age used, when on geological excursions, by the extraordinary
amount of fatigue which he underwent, to put many a junior
to the blush, had of late been exhibiting, physically although
not intellectually, distinct signs of advancing age. In him
Germany loses not merely one of the most famous of her
literati, but one of those rare and extraordinary men on whom
the world, with its gifts and external distinctions, has nothing
in its power to bestow. Leopold von Buch was totally ab-.
sorbed in his science—in the most unselfish efforts after the
attainment of truth. One must have seen and known himin |
order to be able to comprehend the strength of his character
—a character which, from that very quality—especially in
_ such an atmosphere as Berlin—-could not fail to be distin-
guished by some oddities.

Buch was born, not, as has been commonly stated, in 1777,
but on the 26th of April 1774, and was a contemporary stu-
dent with Alexander von Humboldt in the Mining Academy
of Freiberg. Of all Werner’s pupils it is he who has contri-
buted the most to the progress of geology, and who can be
most aptly compared with the Comte de Saussure, whom he
not merely equalled in the comprehensiveness of his minera-
logical and physical knowledge, in acuteness, in talent for
observation, and in unwearied zeal, but also resembled in
another respect : already in the possession of a fortune equal
to his wants, he gave himself wholly to science, without the
least reference to personal advantage, or its application to the
practical purposes of life.

In the year 1797 he published a little work under the title
of “ An Attempt at a Mineralogical Description of Landeck in
Silesia’? (Versuch einer mineralogischen Beschreibung von
Landeck), which was a perfect model of clear and simple ex-
position, and of concise and perspicuous description. In the

374 Biography of Baron Leopold von Buch.

same year he quitted the north of Germany, different portions
of which he had already examined, of course under the influ-
ence of those neptunistic views which he had imbibed from
Werner, and directed his footsteps to the Alps, of which he
may,in a scientific point of view, be regarded as the Columbus.

In examining the district of Salzburg, so rich in natural
beauties and in striking geognostic phenomena, he enjoyed
the congenial companionship of Humboldt. Of this profitable
intercourse there remains an imperishable monument in the
description of Salzburg, which may be regarded as a model
of description of great mountain regions.

In the spring of 1798 he instituted the first careful inquiry
into the central alpine chain through the Tyrol; and from
thence, after long impediments, arising from the continuous
wars of the French Republic, he succeeded in February 1799
in reaching Naples. Here he directed his attention to the
. study of Mount Vesuvius, and it was the phenomena of this
volcano that first awakened doubts in his mind with regard
to the soundness of Werner’s doctrines. An old Neapolitan
still boasts with delight of having been the guide of Buch
and Humboldt through the lava ruins.

But it was not until the year 1805 that Buch had an oppor-
tunity, in company of Humboldt and Gay-Lussac, of witness-
ing agreat eruption. He then found himself enabled to cor-
rect a number of erroneous views, hitherto generally enter-
tained, with regard to the activity and products of voleanoes.
His mind had been prepared for the subject by a previous
journey through the south of France. In the year 1802 he
had examined the extinct volcanoes in the district of Auvergne,
and discovered that the volcanoes break out from the granite ;
but, cautious inquirer as he was, he did not consider this as
sufficient to overthrow the Wernerian theory. Recognizing
the extraordinary scientific importance of a remarkable phe-
nomenon, he was too cautious to make it the basis of a
universal Jaw; and it was not until after more extended in-
quiry, and the accumulation of new facts, that he allowed
himself to assign a similar mode of origin to the German
basalts. The fruit of his inquiries appeared in his ‘‘ Geognos-
tical observations during travels through Germany and

Biography of Baron Leopold von Buch. 375

Italy” (Geognostische Beobachtungen auf Reisen durch
Deutschland und Italien), 1802-1809.
_. Two full years—from 1806 to 1808—were passed by him
in Scandinavia, where he found, to his extreme surprise, that
granite, which had hitherto, in conformity with the views of
Werner, been regarded as indubitably a primary rock, was to
be met with betwixt younger formations. He was the first
to ascertain the fact that the whole continental part of Sweden
is undergoing a continuous but very slow upheaval. On his
return home he passed through Lapland (“ Travels through
Norway and Lapland,’’—Reise durch Norwegen, &c., 1810).
In company with the Norwegian botanist Smith, who after-
wards met his death in the unlucky English expedition to
Congo, he made arrangements in England, which he had
embraced this opportunity of visiting, for a voyage of disco-
yery to the Canary Islands. In April 1815 the two naturalists
landed in Madeira, and Buch was not long in recognising an
axiom of the utmost weight for the theory of volcanoes,
namely, that as the whole Canary Islands are collectively the
_ work of a voleanic action on its grandest scale, so the other
islands of the ocean had a similar origin, and the groups of
islands of the South Sea are the remains of a pre-existing
continent. . The voleanoes on the earth’s surface are for the
most part collected in series that frequently stand in certain
relations to each other, and result from immense fissures
through which subterranean forces effected a passage for
themselyes. These fissures follow the direction of promon-
tories. The Lipari Islands, Etna, Iceland, the Azores, the
Canaries, are to be regarded as central voleanoes. The con-
tradistinction of craters of elevation and craters of eruption,
which afforded a peculiar explanation of very interesting vol-
canic phenomena, met with determined opposition, and one
of the strongest opponents was Buch’s own principal scholar
—whose early death was a severe loss to science—the justly
regretted Hofmann, who, in the course of his travels through
Sicily, had the good fortune, when at Sciacca, to be able to
observe the origin of a small volcanic island. The “ Physical
Description of the Canary Islands’’ (Physische Beschreibung
der Canariochen Inseln), has now become exceedingly rare.

376 Biography of Baron Leopold von Buch.

Buch, during his stay in the British Islands, made minute
observations upon the Hebrides, and the Giant’s Causeway
in the county of Antrim; and afterwards, in the Alps, he
directed his attention to the study of porphyries. His ex-
planation of dolomite has lately met with much and partly
well-grounded opposition. How conscientiously he pursued
his labours may be perceived from the circumstance that in.
his old age he made a second journey to Norway, in order to
observe some facts bearing upon the transition of primary
rocks.

The essential aim of Buch’s labours had always been to
invest the science of geology with a universal and organic
character, by comprehending all its elements in one vast
whole—the geognostic and physical relations of the earth’s
surface, temperature, soil, plants: at a later period of his
life he enriched it by a profound study of petrifactions. He
gave a direction to paleontology, by means of which it became
possible to draw from the remains of an extinct animal crea-
tion the most important conclusions with regard to the process
of formation of the earth’s crust. This merit will remain,
even though geology may resume the path of chemical analysis.
But Germany may be especially proud of the very excellent
geological map which she owes to the illustrious deceased ;
and when his miscellaneous writings, and particularly those
minor compositions which are now lying scattered through
the Transactions of academies, become, by being collected—
as no doubt they will be—accessible to the general reader,
the noble language and scientific method by which every line
that Buch wrote was distinguished, will become duly appre-
ciated. In a work on Volcanoes which is now passing through
the press, Alexander von Humboldt has unconsciously erected
a worthy monument to his illustrious friend.

377

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378 On the Reduction in the Height of Waves

On the Reduction in the Height of Waves after Passing into
Harbours. In a Letter to Professor Jameson. By ©
THOMAS STEVENSON, Esq., Civil Engineer.

Kdinburgh, 84 George Street,
16th March 1853.

DEAR Sir,—In your number for October last I gave an
approximate formula for the law of increase in the height of
waves due to their distance from the windward shore; and I
have now to trouble you with another formula relating to the
subject of harbours.

The great object of constructing harbours is, by lowering |
the height of the waves to preserve the tranquillity of the
area of water which is included by the piers, and this pro-
perty is variously possessed by harbours of different forms,
and depends much upon the shape of the entrance and the
relation between the direction of its opening and that of the
line of maximum exposure. It may here be observed, that
when there is an inner harbour, or stilling basin, the ellipti-
cal form seems to me the most promising. If one focus be
supposed to be on the middle line of the entrance, and to
coincide with the point from which the waves radiate, as
from a centre, when they expand into the interior of the
harbour; and if the other focus is situated inland of high-
water mark, the waves will all tend to reassemble at the
landward focus, and on their way will be destroyed by
breaking on the beach. For it is a well-known property of
the ellipse, that, if two radii vectores be drawn from the two
foci to any point in the curve, they will make equal angles
with the tangent at that point, and as the angles of incidence
and reflection of a wave from any obstacle are practically
equal, each wave will obviously be concentrated at the focus
opposite to that from which it emanated.

Irrespective of the considerations mentioned above, the
reductive power of a harbour will be dependent on the rela-.
tion between the breadth and depth of the entrance, and the
form and capacity of the area within. Where the piers are
high enough to screen the inner area from the wind, where

after Passing into Harbours. 379

the depth is uniform and the quay walls are vertical, the
following formula may be tried for cases in which D is not
less than 50 feet :—

H = height in feet of waves in the open sea.

reduced height of waves in feet at place of observation in
the interior of the harbour.

= breadth of entrance to harbour in feet.

breadth of harbour at place of observation in feet.

= distance from mouth of harbour to place of observation

8
ll

SS oo eo.
lI

in feet.

Sire st etn Eat BS deg}

B 50

This formula I have found to give good approximations at
several harbours where the heights of the waves were regis-
tered. When H is assumed as unity, w will represent the
reductive power of the harbour.—I am, yours faithfully,

THOMAS STEVENSON.

Professor JAMESON.

SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.

GEOLOGY AND GHOGRAPHY.

1. Extent of Glaciers in the Polar Regions.—On every side of
the southern pole, on every meridian of the great South Sea, the
seaman meets icebergs. Notso in the north. In the 360° of longi-
tude, which intersects the parallel of 70° north (about which paral-
lel the coasts of America, Europe, and Asia, will be found to lie),
icebergs are only found over an extent of some 50° of longitude, and
this is immediately in and about Greenland and Baffin’s Bay. In
fact, for 1375 miles of longitude we have icebergs, and then for 7635
geographical miles none are met with. ‘This interesting fact is, in
ihy opinion, most cheering, and points strongly to the possibility that
no extensive land exists about our northern pole,—a supposition which
is borne out by the fact, that the vast ice-fields off Spitzbergen shew
no symptoms of ever having been in contact with sand or gravel. Of
course, the more firmly we can bring ourselves to believe in the ex-
istence of an ocean-road leading to Behring’s Straits, the better heart

ral

380 Scientific Intelligence—Zoology.

we shall feel in searching the various tortuous channels, and different
islands with which, doubtless, Franklin’s route has been beset. . It
was not, therefore, without deep interest that I passed the boundary
which nature had set in the west to the existence of icebergs, and
endeavoured to form a correct idea of the cause of such a phenome-
non.—(Osborne’s Arctic Journal, p. 94.)

2. Faroe Islands.—Sir Walter C. Trevelyan to Pr ofessor Jameson,
—25th February 18538. My Dear Sir, As you have sometimes
thought notices from the Faroe Islands oh sufficient interest to insert
in your Journal, I now send you an extract from a letter I lately
received, which you may, perhaps, like to publish in your next
Number.

“RAROE ISLANDS,
24th December 1852..

‘** Turnips have been too little used here, but if the potato disease
continues, and it has been worse this season, I am sure they will be
more cultivated. As the porn failed, the inhabitants would have
been badly off, but abundance ‘ of whales’ (Delphinus Tursio) hav-
ing been caught last season, in some way made up for the loss.
More than 2000 whales were killed in different places. In one har-
bour (Westmanhavn) we take them in a large net, in which more
than 300 have been caught at one time. The net is made of ropes,
200 fathoms long and ten fathoms deep, it is of sufficient strength,
but the whales sometimes escape under it.

* From the year 1819 to 1843, there were killed in Westmanhayn
not more than 280 whales, although many shoals of them visited the
harbour every year, in some years more than 1000. From June I,
18438, when the net was first used, up to this time, we have caught
2200 in Westmanhavn alone. Each whale being valued at an
average to produce thirty gallons of oil, makes the value gained to
be about £4000, besides the flesh, which furnishes abundance of
wholesome food.” |

ZOOLOGY.

3. Numerical List of Species of Animals.—Of the number of dis-
tinct specific forms of animals at present existing upon the earth’s sur-
face, it is scarcely possible to form even an approxiniate estimate : since,
although we may be probably not far wrong in our calculation of the
number of existing species, in certain classes which have been espe-
cially studied (such as those of mammals and birds), and of which by
far the greater part are certainly known to us; it is at least equally
probable that our present acquaintance is limited (fom various
causes) to a very small proportion of other classes, whose total
amount, therefore, we can do little more than guess at. The num-
ber of species of mammals known to naturalists is about 1700; and
it is probable that scarcely 300 more remain to be discovered. Of

Pe

Scientific Intelligence—Zoology. 381

birds, about 8000 species are certainly known ; and to these we may
perhaps add 4000 for those not yet discovered, or not yet clearly dis-
tinguished. Of reptiles, about 1200 species are known; but it is
probable that the proportion not yet discovered is larger, and that
for this we should add at least 800 species. Of fishes about 8000
species are known; and to these, also, numerous additions may be
expected, probably at least 4000 species. Thus of vertebrated ani-
mals alone, nearly 19,000 species are known, and 9000 more are
probably in existence. The number of mollusks has been hitherto
reckoned chiefly by that of the shells contained in collections, no ac-
count being taken of any but the testaceous species. Of these about
15,000 species have been collected ; and probably at least as many
more yet,unknown to the conchologist. But the number of ‘“ naked”
or shell-less mollusks is undoubtedly extremely large ; and of these
it is probable that only a small proportion are yet known.* The
class of insects far outnumbers all the preceding, both as to number
of species already known, and still more as to the number of. whose
existence we have presumptive evidence. | It is certain that at least
150,000 species are at present to be found in collections; and that
these do not by any means include the total number existing even in
the countries whose entomology has been best explored. So little, in
fact, is this the case, that if anything like the same. proportion holds
good elsewhere between flowering plants and insects, as obtains in
our own country (namely at least ten species of insects to every species
of flowering plant), we should have to estimate the total number of
existing species of insects at little less than two millions. In regard
to none of the inferior classes, have we at present adequate means of
forming any estimate whatever.—(Carpenter’s Principles of General
and Comparative Physiology, p. 239.)

4. Dr Hamilton on the Guano Birds of the Lobos I: Jaane
Along the sea-coast of Peru and Bolivia, within the tropic of Capri-
corn, countless numbers of aquatic fowls exist which live on fish,
and lous excretions are exceedingly fertilizing. In some inealinien,
the number of guanas is enormous, so that when alarmed by discharges
of fire-arms, or otherwise, they rise from their resting-places in such
masses as cannot be supposed by those who have never seen these
birds darkening the air likea cloud. Guano producers change their
habitation when continuously disturbed, but they do not permanently
leave a locality which has long been tr equented by them in conse-
quence of a temporary alarm ; for, in such a case, they soon return
to their old haunts, and totally abandon them only when teased by

- * Thus, of the tribe of Nudibranchiate Gasteropods, only about a dozen species
were formerly known as inhabiting the coast of Britain; but in the beautiful
monograph of Messrs Alder and Hancock (in course of publication by the Ray
Society), more than a hundred species will be described.

* VOL. LIV. NO. CVII.—APRIL 1853. 2 oO

382 Scientific Intelligence—Zoology.

lasting annoyances. The ocean on the west coast of South America,
within the tropics, teems with fish, the quantity seeming exhaustless,
and guanas equally abound, so that their egesta is gradually accuniu-
Jating somewhere either on or off that desert land, and now has
become an object sought after, not only by the Peruvian mountaineer,
but by the merchant, shipowner, and statesman.

0. The Cod Fish of the Whale Fish Islands.“ We are pre-
paring,” says Mr Snow, in his Journal in the Arctie Seas, ‘‘ in calling
at Whale Fish Islands, at which place it was hoped we should be on the
following day, if the wind continued the same. :

* Our dinner this day was greatly impoved by some ¢od fish that
had been caught in the morning, before the wind sprung up. It was
excellent eating, and I believe the fish is considered of sufficient
worth and goodness to have a few vessels from Scotland eniployed in
eatching and importing them. ‘There is one particular place on this
coast where they are said to be very numerous, and some small ships
have made it an excellent trade.”—(Mr W. Parker Snow's Journal
in the Arctic Seas, p; 60.)

6. Electricity applied to the capture of Whales.—The most pro-
minent features of this new method are thus described :—Every
whale at the moment of being struck by the harpoon is rendered
powerless, as by a stroke of lightning ; and, therefore, his subsequent
escape or loss, except by sinking, is wholly impracticable, and the
process of lancing and securing him is entirely unattended with dan-
ger. The arduous labour involved in a long chase in the capture of
a whale is superseded, and, consequently, the inconvenience and dan-
ger of the boats losing sight of or becoming separated from the ship is
avoided. One or two boats only would be required to be lowered at
a time, and therefore a less number both of officers and seamen than
heretofore employed would be ample for the purpose of the voyage.
The electricity is conveyed to the body of the whale from an electio-
galvanic battery contained in the boat, by means of a metallic wire
attached to the harpoon, and so arranged as to reconduct the electric
current from the whale through the sea to the machine. The ma-
chine itself is simple and compact in construction, enclosed in a strong
chest weighing about 860 lb., and occupying a space in the boat of
about 84 feet long, by 2 feet in width, and the same in height. It
is capable of throwing into the body of the whale eight tremendous
strokes of electricity in a second, or 950 strokes in a minute, para-
lysing, in an instant, the muscles of the whale, and depriving it of
all power of motion, if not actually of life.—(Year Book of Facts,
p- 141.)

7. Preservation of Eggs.—Eggs immersed while fresh in milk
of lime will keep in it for years, doubtless because the carbonate of
lime formed by the carbonic acid, evolved from the egg, completely
stops up the pores of the shell. On pulling down a sacristy in the

Scientific Intelligence—B otany. 383

neighbourhood of Lago Maggiore, eggs were found quite fresh, after
having been surrounded with mortar and enclosed in a wall for 300
years.—(Hand-Book of Chemistry, vol. vil. of the Cavendish So-
ciety, p. 116.)

BOTANY.

8. The Genus Nostoc——Dr Joseph Hooker has read to the
Linnean Society a paper on the genus Wostoc of botanists, more
especially on a species brought by Dr Sutherland from the North
Pole, during the late expedition in search of Sir John Franklin,
under Captain Penny. The plant was found in great abundance in
the ocean, and resembled the Nostoc commune of botanists. It
was in sufficient quantities to be used as diet; and Dr Sutherland
having eaten some of it, pronounced it more agreeable and nutritious
than the Tripe de Roche. Specimens of this plant had been sent
to Mr Berkeley; and, from certain points in structure, he con-
sidered it a new plant, and referred it provisionally to the genus
Hormosiphon, under the name of H. arcticus. Dr Hooker also
gave an account of a species of Nostoc which he had discovered in
Thibet, and of another in China, which seemed identical with the
one brought from the North Pole. The T'ripe de Roche has lately
been found in West Canada.—( Year Book of Facts, 1853, p. 223.)

9. Preservation of Vegetables—A cask provided with a door
is three-fourths filled with sorrel, lettuce, endive, chicory (even if
rancid), or asparagus; and a piece of rag steeped in sulphur, and
attached to the end of a wire, is sét on fire and introduced through
the door, the contamination of the vegetables, by the falling down of
the burnt matter, being prevented by laying a board upon them ;
the door is then closed, and the cask agitated to accelerate the
absorption of the sulphurous acid. The sulphuring is twice more
performed in the same manner, and the vegetables, together with
the liquid which has oozed from them, are put into stoneware jars,
which are then merely tied round with parchment and put into a
cellar. Vegetables thus treated keep well till the April of the fol-
lowing year. They do not, however, soften so quickly in water as
fresh vegetables, and must therefore, before boiling, be soaked in cold
water for some hours (asparagus in April for twenty-four hours).
During the boiling, which generally does not last longer than with
fresh vegetables, the sulphurous acid is given off. This method is
applicable only to tender vegetables, which easily soften in boiling,
—(Leopold Gmelin’s Hand-Book of Chemistry, vol. iii. of the
Cavendish Society, p. 116.)

384

By the Patent Law Amendment Act of 1852 (15 and 16
Vict., cap. 83), it was provided, that Transcripts of all
Patents should be transmitted to the Office of Director of
Chancery in Scotland to be recorded, where they would be
open to the inspection of the Public ; but that provision has
never been complied with. And it is believed that there is a
Bill now introduced into the House of Lords for the repeal
of such a provision. |

INDEX.

Adie, Richard, Esq., Six’s self-registering thermometer improved
by, 84.

Africa, on the basin-like form of, by Sir R. I. Murchison, 52.

Agassiz, Professor Louis, on the classification of insects from em-
bryological data, 101.

Anteater, Cape, account of, by W. T/ Black, i .» 168.

Arabs, freedom from leprosy, 188.

Arctic Natural History, 72.

Australia, on the condition and prospects of the Aborigines of, by
W. Westgarth, 36.

Bailey, Professor J. W., on the microscopical soundings off the At-
lantic Coast of the United States, 142.

Bennett, Mrs Anne Ramsden, on meteorological phenomena in con-
nection with the climate of Berlin, 155, 214.

Bergmannite, pseudomorphous, an account of, by Professor J, R.
Blum, 162,

Berzelius, Biography of, by Professor H. Rose, 1.

Black, W. T., assistant-surgeon, on the Anteater of the Cape, 168.

Blum, Profossie J.R., on Gieseckite and Bergmannite, te.

Buch, Leopold von, biographical notice of, 373.

Christison, Dr Alexander, on the climate of Rangoon, 179.

Dr Alexander, on a meteorological register kept at Ran-
goon, 377.

Chambers, Robert, Esq., on glacial phenomena in Scotland and parts
of England, 229.

Clausius, R., Esq., on the colours of a jet of steam, and of the at-

_ mosphere, 166.

Climate of Berlin, observations on, 214.

Crawfurd, J. W., Esq., on the Negroes of the Indian Archipelago
and Pacific Islands, 1°75.

VOL. LIV, NO. CVIII.— APRIL 1853. 2D

386 Index.

Corbett, Richard, Esq., on an earthquake felt at Adderley, 180.
Crystallisation and Amorphism, 183.

Denham, Captain H., on deep-sea soundings, 346.

De la Rive, on the diurnal variations of the magnetic needle, 148.
on the influence of terrestrial magnetism on iron, 206.
Dinornis, bones and eggs of, 186.

Donarium identical with Thorium, 188.

Karthquake at Adderley, by Richard Corbett, Esq., 180.

Eggs, preservation of, 382,

Electricity applied to the capture of whales, 382.

Filet, Charles, jun., on the application of reservoirs to the improve-
ment of rivers, 118.

Faroe Islands, noticed, 380.

Fish, cod, of the Whale Fish Islands, 382.

Fishes, domestication of, 187.

Forbes, Professor Edward, on the geological distribution of marine
animals, 311.

Gieseckite, pseudomorphous, described by Professor J. R. Blum, 162,

Glacial phenomena of Scotland, an account of, by R. Chambers,
Esq., 229.

Glaciers, extent of, in the Polar Regions, 879.

Graphite, a large deposit of, in Glen Strath, Farer, Inverness-shire,
and at St Johns, New Brunswick, 181.

Guano birds of the Lobos Islands, 381.

Henwood, John, Esq., on a remarkable deposit of tin ore at the
Providence Mines, near St Ives, Cornwall, 68.
Hisinger, M, Wilhelm, obituary of, 188.
Horsford, Professor, on the solidification of the rocks of the Florida
Reefs, and the sources of lime in the growth of éorals, 56.
Horsford, Professor E. N., on the relation of the chemical constitu-
tion of bodies to light, 294.

on the effect of heat on the perpendicularity of Bunker
Hill monument, 308.

Humboldt, Alexander von, remarks on lectures on science to the
people, by, 110.

Indéx. 387

Insects, on the classification of, by Professor Louis Agassiz, Lai:
Indigo, Dr Penny, on the valuation of, 285
Tron, native, 183.

James, Captain, R.E., meteorological observations by, 282.

Kjerulf, Theodor, on a variety of quartziferous trachyte, 367.

Leprosy, Arabs exempt from, 188.

‘Macgillivray, the late Wijiam, Regius Professor of Natural History,
Aberdeen, biographical account of, 189.

Marchand, M. Eugene, on the analyses of snow and rain water, 179.

Metereological observations, 144.

Miller, John Fletcher, Esq., meteorological observations by, 46.

Minerals, paragenetic relations of, 323.

Murchison, Sir R. I., on the basin-like form of Africa, 52.

Nasmyth, James, Esq., some remarks by, on the probable present
condition of the planets Jupiter and Saturn, in reference to
__ temperature, 341.
Negroes of the Indian Archipelago, noticed by J. W. Crawfurd, 175.
Nostoc, remarks on, 383.

Obituary of Leopold von Buch, 369.

Oken, Professor, on popular assemblies for the advancement of
Science, 112.

Ordnance Survey, astronomical observations on, 350.

Patent law amendment act, 384.

Penny; Dr Frederick, on the valuation of indigo, 285.

Petermann, Augustus, Esq., on the distribution of animals available
as food in the Arctic Regions, 295.

Platinum and Iridosmine in California, 182.

Rangoon, meteorological register of, 377.

Reservoirs, application of, to the improvement of rivers, 118.

Rocks, solidification of, in the Florida Reefs, and the sources of lime
in the growth of corals, 56.

Rose, Professor H., his biography of Berzelius, 1.

Rowell, Mr G. A., on the change of temperature in Europe, and
the variation of the magnetic needle, 312.

a

388 Index.

Scientific intelligence, 179, 379.

Scoresby, the Rev. Dr, on the Earl of Rosse’s telescopes, 118,

Silem, Professor, on pseudomorphous minerals, 181.

Smith, Dr John Alexander, on animal remains found with Roman
pottery, 122.

Soundings, microscopical, off the Atlantic Coast of the United
States, by J. W. Bailey, 142.

Soundings, deep sea, in the Atlantic Ocean, by Captain Denham,346,

Species, numerical list of, of animal kingdom, 380.

Steam, colours of a jet of, by R. Clausius, 166.

Stevenson, Thomas, Esq., on the gradual decrease of waters as they
enter harbours, 378.

Stratification, Wells on the origin of, 291.

Strontiano-calcite, remarks on, 182.

Sulphur Mine in Upper Egypt noticed, 182.

Survey, Government geological, notes on the scales of, 362.

Tertiary formation, flora of, described, 183.

Tides, bed, and coasts of the North Sea or German Ocean, 185,

Tin ore, deposit of, at the Providence Mines, Cornwall, 68.

Thermometer, Six’s self-registering, improved by Richard Adie,
Esq., 84.

Thomson, Alexander, Esq., of Banchory, biographical account of the
late Professor W. Macgillivray by, 189.

the late Dr Thomas, biography of, 86.

Trachyte, a quartziferous variety of, found in Iceland, deseribed, 367.

Trevelyan, Sir Walter C. on the Faroe Islands, 380,

Vegetables, preservation of, noticed, 383.

Waves, Stevenson, T., Esq., on the reduction of the height of, 378.
Wells, D. A., Esq., on the origin of stratification,
Westgarth, w. , Esq., on the conditions and prospects of the wee

rigines of Musiraisd 36.

ERRATA 1 Vou. LN Wy er

Page 84, throughout the article on Self-Registering Thermometter;-fo7 Sikes’ vead Six’s

EDINBURGH:
PRINTED BY NEILL AND COMPANY, OLD FISHMARKET.

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