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CONTENTS 


OF THE FORTY-SEVENTH VOLUMR. 


AN algebraical Expression of the Values of Lives, with a 
Mode of finding the correct Value of any Number of joint 
Lives. a ee ee oe ae os 3 


On the Cosmogony of Moses. 9, 110, 179, 241, 258, 339, 
346, 431 


Geological Queries, regarding the Coal-Strata of Northumber- 
land and Durham, and the Appearances of such in Lincoln- 
Shire. .. Re os we 3p fs tin tne 


On Micrometer Telescopes. be ie we diene 


On the Nature and Combinations of a newly-discovered vegetable 
Acid ; with Observations on the malic Acid, and Suggestions 
on the State in which Acids may have previously existed in 
Vegetables. ae . or rs na are 


Rules for ascertaining the Strength of Materials. eee bet) | 


Further Remarks on Dr. BRaDLEY’s Theorem for computing 
the Astronomic Refraction. ., - a -» 23 


On the Metallic Salts... iN Ar ns 33, 353 


On the dispersive Power of the Atmosphere; and its Effect on 
astronomical Observations. .., aie es ARORA: 


A Geological Sketch of a Part of Cumberland and Westmore- 
land. .. A oe ae bis 2 -- A! 


Specimen of a new Nomenclature Sor Meteorological Science. 45 
On the Influence of the Atmosphere on the Electro-Galvanis Co- 


lumn of M..DrE Luc. an es y te ae 
Description of a Gas Lamp for Coal-Mines, invented ly Mr. 
E. Carrer, of Exeter, ie weigh ree  . 
On Aérial Navigation. ., 4. % 81, 321, 429 


Vol. 47. No, 218, June 1816, a 


CONTENTS. 


An Attempt to draw a Parallel between the Arts of Painting 
and Sculpture. ae Pr oe oe Ss”) ee 
New Outlines of Chemical Philosophy. ite Hey! 


On Water-Wheels applied in propelling Vessels in Navigation. 97 
Answer to the Geological Queries of a Constant Reader. 100 


On the Depression of Mercury in the Tube of a Barometer, de- 
pending on its capillary Action, an oe “2 cee 


On Meteorological Nomenclature. ki ee 2k ae 
On Safe-Lamps for Mines... en ss pees i 
On the Tides. x *. ae i ieee TS 
A new Instrument for comparing Linear Measures. .. 185 


Remarks on the Geological Sketch of a Part of Cumberland and 
Westmoreland. of oe <3 30 


New Doctrines, as to the Nature of Mathematical and other 
Certainly. as ls HATE 6 ae ac oben 


Speedy and easy Method of copying Drawings. ox), pine 
On a Method of making Ship Lanterns with Mica and Wire. 133 


On a correct practical Method for cutting Spherical, Brick 
Niches—On the Spiral Line—and OnSpandrel Groins. 161 


Answer to Remarks on Mr. Donovan’s “ Reflections on the In- 
adequacy of electrical Elypotheses.” ae ce eh DOF 


Some Meteorolopical Observations mude in the Netherlands. 168 
Sequel to the melancholy Catastrophe at Heaton Colliery. 170 


Some Account of certain Agates presenting by an artificial Ar- 
rangement the Aspect of organized Bodies. .. ee 178 


Answer of H. to G.S. on the Metallie Salts. .. ‘> M75 


On Fulminating Gold. a ne ae SRO fe es = 
Observations on the late excessive cold Weather. ae | 
On. Aérostation. He fie is oat hl SGOT 


Report made by Messrs, HeurtiEr, PerciEr, and Durourny, 
to the Class of Fine Arts of the French Institute, of the La- 


Lours of the French Arehitects at Rome during the Years 
1812 and 1813, or) ee - oe ee) 


CONTENTS. 


On a new Method of obtaining pure Silver; with Observations 
on the Defects of former Processes. «. ye os, 204 


Brief Remarks on some indigenous Roses. SAN er 


On Dr. Murray’s Opposition to Professor PRevost’s Theory 
of Radiant Caloric ; on Electrical Phenomena, and on Sir 
H. Davy’s Safe Lamp. aie bey a ee 


Description of the Menagerie at Scheenbrunn in Austria, 249 
Mr. Hume on Emetic Tartar. ne ee waht 2a 


.. 265 


On constructing Electric Columns. .. e 
Report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons on 


the Elgin Marbles, &c. e a ha 
On certain Electrical Phenomena. .. os ahs roe 
On preserving Potatoes for Sea Store or Exportation. 288 


Description of Mr.Puitiirs Lonpon’s Hydrometer; with Re- 
marks on the curing of Mackerel for Exportation or Winter 
Use. ee ee oe ae ee ee ve 329 


On the State of the Manufacture of Sugar in France. 331,416 


Description of an electrical Instrument called “ The Thunder- 
storm Alarum.” ce ee as .. 344 


Account of a Meteoric Stone which fell in the Environs of 
Langres. se ee ee ee ee oe 349 


On the Metallic Salts. hs Nauta gare 


A Letter from Dr, Wititam Ricuarpson to the Countess of 
Gosrorp (occasioned by the Perusal of CuviER’s * Geological 
Essay”), describing the Arrangement of the Strata for sixty 
Miles on the South and as many on the North of Gosford 
Castle, in Armagh County in Ireland, a aie, ape 


On the relative Heights of the Levels of the Black Sea and 
Caspian Sea. ht an ave a's sie nOOA 


On the Quantity of ligneous Matter which exists in some Roots 
and Fruits. ze ve ° oe rap ides 


Dr. Gitny’s Description of Mr. Strert’s Patent Blowing 
Machine. %: = ae + oe .- 372 


On the refractive and dispersive Powers of certain Liquids, 
and of the Vapours which they form. ve ee: 


CONTENTS. 


On the Use of Sulphate of Soda in the making of Glass. 379 
Some Account of the Monuments of Thebes in Egypt. 380,401 
Ona curious Property of vulgar Fractions. .. -- 385 


On the Principles of Security in Sir HuMpury Davy’s Lyamp. 
410 


Some Account of the new Hot and Cold Baths at Ramsgate. 412 
On Indigogene. .. ee eis ee +> omy: 446 


On Meteorology, Sc. in reference to Mr. Forsrer’s “ Re- 
searches about Atmospheric Phaenomena.” .. .. 434 


Essay towards a natural Classification of simple Bodies. 4388 
On the Laws observed in the Distribution of vegetable Forms. 446 
Notices respecting New Books. 50, 135, 208, 292,°386, 453 
Proceedings of Learned Societies. 67, 150, 208, 304, 387, 456 


Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 71, 153, 213, 312,394, 
468 


List of: Patents:\ wisieeaie \.cw Cae #75 189, 238, 3165478 
Meteorological Table. .. .. 80, 160, 240, 320, 400, 473 


THE 


° 


THE 


PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE 
AND JOURNAL. 


I. An algebraical Expression of the Values of Lives, with 
a Mode of finding the correct Value of any Number of joint 
Lives. By A CorrEsPoNxDENT. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, —Tue bills of mortality for the year 1815, published in 
the newspapers of yesterday, have suggested to me the following 
calculations, which perhaps, from their novelty, you may think 
worthy a place in your Magazine. 


I am, sir, 
Your very obedient servant, 
London, Jan. 2, 1816. A.B. C.D. 
ee 


In making calculations from the registers of the duration of 
lives, it has not been usual to attempt to represent the results 
of a whole table by a single formula, although such a simplifi- 
cation would afford great advantages in the solution of a variety 
of problems. As an instance of this mode of treating the sub- 
ject, we may take the bills of mortality for the year now elapsed, 
and by reducing the numbers into the form of a diagram, and 
observing the different flexures of the curve resulting from them, 
we may ascertain the nature of the ‘terms proper to constitute 
the required expression; and calling the age a, the annual 


deaths will appear to be : <= + :000401a —-0000042 x, 
without any very material error: at least with incomparably 
greater accuracy than is obtained by the rough approximation of 


supposing an equal annual mortality in a given number of per- 
Vol. 47. No. 213. Jan, 1816. A2 sons 


ae * algebraical Expression of the Values of Lives. 


sons as long as any of them remains alive; and much more 
nearly than the registers of 2 metropolis agree with those which 
have been kept in the country. It would be very easy to correct 
the expression from the average of the registers of a number of 
years ; and the formula might also be adapted with little diffi- 
culty to the mortality observed in any other situation. 


In order to find the number of persons who have died during, 


any given portion of the period of the longest human life, we 
must combine the expression for the mortality with the fluxion 


z of the age; the fluent, are tang. x + *0002005x7— 


0000014 x3, will indicate the aggregate amount of deaths at the 
given age. It has sometimes been thought sufficiently accurate to 
estimate the value of a life by the period at which half the persons 
who have attained the given age are likely to remain alive: this 
affords a true criterion of the greatest probability of the dura- 
tion of one life, but not ef the correct mean value of a number 
of lives; since tliis value can only be found by dividing the ag- 
gregate duration of all the lives in question by their number: 
now this aggregate duration is represented by the area of the 
curve having the ages and the numbers living, for its ordinates 
and abscisses ; and this area is cbtained from the fluent « — 


1» are tang. © -+ {HL (1+) ~-00006683 x? + 00000035 x4, 


Hence we may calculate the mean value of life in London, as 
shown in the following table. At birth, the most probable du- 
ration is about 27 years; the mean value more than 30, 


AGE. DEATHS, MEAN VALUE. HALLEY. 43-12, 
Registered. Calculated, (BRESLAU.) 

0 000 0000 30°29 43 

1 "1954 36°53 33°5 421 

5 385 3480 40:80 41:2 404 
10 409 “3864 58°21 40-4 38 
20 444 4492 31°80 ~ 34:2 33 
30 517 5269: 26°60 27:9 28 
40 610 “O177 21-46 22°3 23 
50 717 “7140 16:96 17:2 18 
60 813 “8080 12-90 12-4 13 
70 896 “8914 9-09 466 8 
SO 959 "9559 5°17 4'5 3 
90 994 "9935 1-64 
95 9993 

100 999°9 
The 


ieee te 


en 


An algebraical Expression of the Values of Lives. 5 


The advantage of this method of calculation is strongly ex- 
emplified in the determination of the value of the joint continu- 
ance of two or more lives, which may be obtained by means of 

‘the quadrature of a curve having its ordinates in the joint ratio 
of the survivors at the time expressed by the absciss ; the cor- 
rected area being divided by the product of the numbers of sur- 
Vivors at its commencement, which obviously expresses the num- 
ber of all the possible combinations of their lives, as the area 
does the aggregate duration of those combinations. 

For this purpose it will be convenient to represent the num- 
ber of deaths by the formula -38 + -0022*—-00000137.23, which 
will be sufficiently accurate for any age exceeding 10 years; and 
if we make a= 62, } =-0002, and c=-00000137, and call the 
two ages x and «+7, the product will be d + ex + fx*+ gui + 
hat + ix + kx®, where d=a?— abn? + acn}, e= 3acn?—2albn, 

S = b’n* —2ab + 3acn —ben3, g = 2b’n—Abcen* + 2de + c*n3, 
h= l?—Sdben + 3c*n*, i= 3c*n—2bce, and k= c*; and the area 


of the curve will be dz + = en" + = fai + 2 gxt+ 3 has +- 


as ‘ ; 
= ae + = kx, which must be found for the given age, and for 


x + n= 98 or 100, and the difference, divided by the product, 
will show the value of the joint lives. 

But in pursuing the calculation for a greater number of lives, 
it would be necessary to assume a still simpler expression for 


sittey. 1 
the number of deaths, such as ma, m being <—, or from — to 


1 : 4 see 
4p according to circumstances, retaining the more accurate ex- 


pression for the elder lives ; and taking for the age of the younger 
x—p, and for the number of the survivors |-—mx + mp, which 
may be called g—mzx: and the former product might be mul- 
tiplied by this for the case of three lives, and the area found as 
before. Indeed this expression may be employed for the younger 
- of two lives without material indecuracy, the product becoming 
ag —amx — lgx* + (cq + bm) «} — cmx*, and the area aqgx— 


1 i 1 1 
= amx* — = hq#? “3 eg =F bm) «+— = emu’; whence, for 


example, when the ages are 10 and 20, supposing m = ‘012, 
we obtain the mean joint value 22°9: nor would the result in 
this case be materially different if we employed the same simple 
estimate of the mortality with respect to both lives, though it 
would vary more at other ages. We may however safely make 
the value of m ='012 between the ages of 20 and 60 in Lon- 
don, even for the case of three joint lives, the number of sur- 
vivors being called 1—mv, 1 + mp—mx, or g—mwx, and 

A3 1 + 


6 An algebraical Expression of the Values of Lives. 


1+ mr—mx, or s—mx, respectively; p and r being the dif- 
ferences between the eldest and the two younger lives: the pro- 
duct of these will be gs—m(s + 4 + gs)x +m?(1+9+5s)a*— 


mx3, and the area gsv— a m(s + q+ qs)x? + = m* (1 + 


1 A 
gq +5s)x3— —mix+, which must be found for mz = 1, and for 


the given age, and the difference divided by the product. 

When two lives are equal, the mean value of their joint con- 
tinuance, thus approximated, becomes exactly two-thirds of 
that of a single life; of three, two-fourths or a half; of 4, two- 
fifths, of 5 two-sixths, and so forth : whence also we obtain, for 


: 4 ; ’ 
the value of the longest of two lives, > of that of a single life, 


6 i 3‘ 
and for the longest of three aa and we may continue the series 


at pleasure by adding at each step 2 to the numerator and | to 
the denominator. 

According to the usnal method of estimating the value of three 
joint lives from that of two lives, one of which is of equal value 
with two of the three taken together, the result, in the case of 


equal lives, is about = of the value of a single life, instead of 


half; that is, almost 4 percent. too much, an error by no means 
to be neglected in practice. It will be easy to obtain a mere 
correct approximation, from the principles here explained, em- 
ploying any tables of the value of lives that may be preferred. 


Let m be found for the eldest life, by making ~ equal to twice 


its value, increased by the age: and let ¢ and z be found in the 
same manner for the other two lives, so that the numbers of 
survivors may be denoted by 1—ma, a—tr, and s—ux, q being 


t+ én, and s1 + ur: the area will then be (qs — 5 (qsm + 


qu + st)v + 5 (fu + qmu + smt)a*— ——mlux) x, which must 


be taken for the given age of the eldest life and for mv=1, and 
the difference divided by the product of the survivors will give 
the value of the three joint lives, with much greater accuracy 
than it can be determined in the manner directed in the Legacy 
Duty Act. 

This remark is, however, only strictly correct, with regard to 
the precise amount of the error in question, when the age is so 
great, that the different effects of the operation of interest on 
the relative pecuniary values of the lives may be disregarded. 
It is obvious that the preceding calculations are wholly indepen- 
dent of this consideration, giving us only a theoretical mean 

value, 


An algebraical Expression of the Values of Lives. 7 


value, from which it is not possible to deduce immediately a 
practical value, without further reference to the comparative 
numbers of the survivors at different ages, in order to estimate 
the various operation of interest, and particularly of compound 
interest. But the same mode of computation may readily be 
extended, so as to comprehend the effect of interest also, by 
supposing the ordinates, expressing the number of survivors, to 
be reduced in the proportion of the present value of a given 
sum payable at the corresponding time: that is, by multiplying 
the expressions denoting them by v7; v being the present value 
of a unit payable at the end of a year. 

But the, expression containing the circular are becomes in- 
tractable, even when applied to the termination of the present 
valug fof a single life: we may therefore take, instead of the 


> some members of the equivalent 


primary expression 


1+ xx 
ceed 1 1 erg Tt Meena a 
e i Ey cok, an : ae) (ee ee 
series — ee oe and make the fluxion z G suis 
- i 1 1 ghd 
of which the fluent is C— — + ———; and this, if we put 
42 1223 


C = +405, will be sufficiently accurate even in infancy. We 
shall then have, for the number of survivors at the age a, 
595 + — — — — -0002005 «*—-0000014.3 ; which, mul- 
tiplied by v7, will give the fluxion of the area. 

The fluent may be found by means of the following theorems 


of Euler’s Calculus Integralis (§ 228, 225, 224) ya ay 


Bi => 


z°*(HLv)? 3(aLv)3 4 4 
hes apogee et Sk ae 10+ (=X); 
wr i we r fl 
f= = aes b ees ee ey ve; 
[oreua ve (= — eae of aa and fv®six = 
ve ( —~. rs ao aay = ane When » is large, the 


series converges somewhat slowly: but its utility is chiefly con- 
fined to the earlier ages; and the ultimate value, being once 
only computed, for x = 100, will serve for the correction in all 
other cases: but after the age of 10, the formula a~bx? + cx?, 
already mentioned, will be more convenient. The fluent, when 
corrected, by subtracting it from its ultimate value, must be di- 


vided by the number of survivors, and multiplied by , since 
7] 


A4 it 


8 An algebraical Expression of the Values of Lives. 


it would otherwise express the value of the continued payment 
at the time of birth, instead of the actual present value. 

The same solution may be applied to the expressions for the 
value of joint lives, multiplying always the product of the survi- 
vors by v*; the fluents being all comprehended in the general 
n(u—=1)) "eo 


. 1 a 
theorem /utx"@ = v7( — x” — ieee oa 
HLU (sLv)2 (HLv)? 


n{n—1) (rn—2) 

({uLv)? A 
three or more lives, the quantities m, 4, and z, may be determined 
from the theoretical mean values of each, or otherwise, and the 
present value, thus approximated, will differ much less from the 
truth than the theoretical mean values would do, if originally 
found in a similar manner. The usual deduction must be made 
for periodical payments, whether annual or quarterly: and a 
slight correction may sometimes be required, on account of the 
different effects of annual and continual interest ; but both these 
points are very easily arranged: commonly, indeed, the subtrac- 
tion of half a payment from the present value, thus computed, 
will give us the corrected value with considerable accuracy. 


crag he ae ote For the joint present value of 


The great labour required for Mortality of London 1815. 
such calculations, according to SURVSVORS 19560. AGE. 
the usual methods, renders it very Ne SERS ST fd 
difficult to adapt the tables of an-~ i 
nuities to every possible variation sos Sree ee 
of the value of life; the improved : 
habits..of, society,:and ‘probably’ “~ 9 . |._-298 
also the advancement of the me- 
dical sciences, and especially the 
introduction of vaccination, seem 
to have effected by degrees a very 
material change in the mortality 
of this metropolis ; and it appears 
that the magnitude of such a 
change, and its operation, in its 
various modifications, may In many 
cases be much more conveniently 
appreciated by this mode of find- 
ing a continuous law for the de- 
crements of life, than by the in- 
spection of tables, and the num- 
berless combinations of their ele- 
ments, 


[9] 


II. On the Cosmogony of Moses. By A CorresponpDENT. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir,—Like your correspondent Homo*, I have been unable 
to discover, among the merits of Cuvier’s Essay on the Theory’ 
of the Earth, that accordance with the Mosaic cosmogony which 
the preface of Professor Jameson had taught me to anticipate. 
I confess, too, that this accordauce has not been rendered much 
more perceptible to my understanding, either by Homo’s pro- 
posed reading of the beginning of Genesis, or by the subsequent 
observations of Dr. Prichard+, in support of the term day be- 
ing, in the Mosaic account, equivalent to an indefinite period. 

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth: 
and .the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was 
upon the face of the deep.” _ If it be supposed, with Homo, that 
this act of divine energy was an indefinite period. antecedent 
to what is called the six days’ creation, there will, as he ob- 
serves, be no scriptural objection to the adoption of the belief, 
that the earth may have “ thus existed’ the ‘ thousands of 
years that preceded the history of man.” Homo’s reading thus 
affords time for the deposition of the primitive rocks, as well as 
for whatever else may have taken place previous to the gathering 
together of the waters, and the appearance of the dry land on 
the third day; but there its explanatory power expires, leaving 
Cuvier’st “‘ thousands of animals that never .were contempo- 
raneous with man,” together with his various deluges, to be re- 
conciled to the Mosaic account by some other hypothesis. 

As what Homo calls Bishop Horsley’s hypothesis of a slower- 
revolution may by some be deemed sufficient for this purpose, 
I must beg leave to offer a few observations relative to it. In 
the preface already spoken of, Professor Jameson says, that 
“ there are indeed many physical considerations which render it 
probable that the motions cf the earth may have been slower 
during the time of its formation than after it was formed||, and 
consequently that the day, or period between morning and 
evening, may have then been indefinitely longer than it is at 
present.” From this passage there is the reference I have given 
in the margin, to Bishop Horsley’s Sermons, To them I turned, 
naturally expecting to find a development of the aunounced 
hypothesis; but_instead of the “‘ many physical considerations 


* Phil. Mag. No, 209. + Ib. No. 210. 
{ Cavier’s lssay, concluding period. || Vide Bishop Horsley’s Ser- 


mons, 2d vol. pages 245 and following. In the preface the reference is 
to “ p, 445 second edition,” uwing, I suppose, to a mistake, 
which 


10 On the Cosmogony of Moses. 


which render it probable,” I found only a well-reasoned refuta- 
tion of the conjecture that, in the Mosaic history of the creation, 
the word day means an indefinite portior of time. Towards 
the close of the argument, the bishop says, “ By what descrip- 
tion could the word day be more expressly limited to its literal 
and common meaning, as denoting that portion of time which 
is measured and consumed by the earth’s revolution on her 
axis? That this revolution was performed in the same space of 
time in the beginning of the world as now, | would not over 
confidently affirm.” This last is the only sentence in the ser- 
mon, that connects Bishop Horsley’s name with the supposition 
of a slower revolution; which I shall now consider a little on 
the ground of its intrinsic value. The rotation of the planets 
on their axis seems exempt from the accelerations and retarda- 
tions to which all their other motions are subject. No inequa- 
lity has ever been detected in the rotary motion of the earth; and 
the relation betweenits polar and equatorial diameters shows, 
that when it assumed its present figure the centrifugal force of 
its particles, and consequently the rapidity of its diurnal revolu- 
tion, could not be much different from what they are at present. 
But it may be said, that when the rotary impulse was given, thé 
matter of the earth constituted the Shell or crust of a hollow 
sphere ; that afterwards this crust, being broken, fell in towards 
its centre, and formed a spheroid of diminished magnitude ; 
and that, in consequence, the rotary motion of the spheroid must 
(in a certain proportion to its diminution) be more rapid than 
the original diurnal revolution of the hollow sphere. That an 
acceleration of the earth’s rotation must have resulted from such 
a catastrophe is mathematically demonstrable ; but besides that 
the supposition is wholly gratuitous, it would give no effectual 
support to the hypothesis, unless a magnitude were given to 
the original hollow sphere, which the most visionary imagination 
would scarcely dare to assign. Admitting, however, for a mo- 
ment this hypothesis of a slower revolution, 1 would ask, Of what 
duration was the earth’s primitive diurnal rotation ? Was it one 
thousand, or one hundred, of our years? Although the greatest 
of these periods would, perhaps, be too short for the purpose 
assigned it, let us take only half of the least, and inquire what 
would be the state of the vegetable and animal world deprived 
of light and heat during five-and-twenty years? for such, it 
would appear, must have been their condition, at least after the 
fourth day, on the supposition of the diurnal revolution of the 
earth being equal to no more than fifty of our years. 

There remains to be noticed the conjecture often made, that 
in the Mosaic cosmogony the word day signifies an indefinite 
portion of time, This conjecture seems completely disproved 

by 


On the Cosmogony of Moses. il 
by Bishop Horsley: but with relation to Dr. Prichard’s argu- 


ment in its favour, drgwn from the genius of the Hebrew lan- 
guage, I would ask, whether the Hebrews ever understood the 
word day, as used in the first chapter of Genesis, to signify an 
indefinite portion of time? If they did not, is it probable that 
the true sense of this Hebrew word, as there employed, should 
always have remained unknown to them, and after a lapse of 

some thousand years, when they had long ceased to exist as a 

nation, be discovered by the ingenuity of modern criticism ? 

Acquiescing in the correctness of the remark, that the Hebrew 

word which we translate day, was often used by the Hebrews, 

and even by Moses himself, to designate an indefinite length of 
time, the just inference séems to be, that, on account of this 
usage of the term, Moses, when speaking of the Creation, thought 
it necessary to circumscribe the length of each day by its natural 
boundary. Toshow therefore that day used unrestrictedly, was 
sometimes understood by the Hebrews to signify an indefinite 
period, instead of strengthening Dr. Prichard’s conclusion, tends 
directly to its subversion; unless he can further show, that the 
word in Hebrew was ever so understood when the extent of its 
signification was expressly limited to the duration of an evening 
d a@ morning, or to the decay of light and its return, as Bishop 
‘Horsley observes the words of Moses literally import. 

An auxiliary argument of Dr. Prichard’s is, that it would be 
imputing a palpable absurdity to Moses to suppose him speaking 
of days in the literal meaning of the word, before the creation of 
the sun. But may it not be asked, whether the imputation of 
absurdity would be greatly diminished by Dr. Prichard’s al- 
ternative of making him include an indefinite period of great 
length, i an evening and a morning? In this view, there- 
fore, the assumed figurative sense does not seem to have much 
advantage over the literal. With the indulgence, however, of a 

little of the privilege of conjecture, so freely used by others on 
this subject, it will not be difficult to clear the literal sense 
from its apparent iuconsistency. 

Darkness being merely the absence of light, it is impossible 
that they could ever coexist in the same place, so as to be sub- 
ject, like substances in union, to an actual division. When, 
therefore, after the creation of light, Moses says that God di- 
vided the “ light from the darkness,’’ he cannot be literally un- 
derstood: but we may suppose the matter of light at the mo- 
ment of its creation diffused through the immensity of space 
previously occupied by darkness, and that the dividing the light 
from the darkness consisted in collecting it into one great tem- 
porary reservoir. Now after this aggregation of the matter of 
light on the first day, provided its position were not in the ie 
longe 


x 
‘ 
. 


12 Geological Queries regarding the Coal-Strata 


longed axis of the earth, the earth’s rotary revolution would be 
as accurately marked, and the appearances of day and night, of 
the decay and the return of light, would as regularly succeed 
each other as after the creation of the sun. 
I am, sir, 
Your very obedient servant, 
Bath, Dec. 12, 1815. F,: E-~=s. 


Ill. Geolagical Queries, regarding the Coal-Straia of North- 
umierland and Durham, and “the Appearances of such in 
Lincolnshire. By A CoRRESPONDEN’. 


To Mr.Tilloch. 


on Ty is with great pleasure that I recognise in pages 
465 and 6, (though under the signature N. J. W.) a communi- 
eation “ on the localities of coal,” to be from the able pen of 
Nathaniel John Winch, esq., who so very kindly answered for- 
mer queries put by me on the same subject, in pages 198 and 
295 of your xlvth volume; and I am by this circumstance em- 
boldened, to again trouble him as follows; viz. 

Ist. Has it been ascertained, by actually tracing the Rocks 
and strata on the surface (as Afr. Smith has done in his Map), 
or by a sufficiently extensive and careful comparison of the 
successions of beds and organic remains therein imbedded, in 
the distant situations of Alston-Moor, and others W of Bywell, 
and N of the Coquet River, that the individual thin and nearly 
useless seams of Crow Coal* in the former situation, thicken and 
improve in quality, so as to become in the latter and more 
northerly situations, tolerably good seams of workable Coal? 

2d. Do the over-lying or mountain caps of Basalt in the 
northern and western parts of Northumberland, appear to be 
unconformable+ to the Strata beneath them-?, that is, do they 
lie upon the edges of their substrata, and have no place im the 
series of strata to the east of their sites ? Or, are they detached ~ 
parts or hummocks of the great whin sill (Forster fath. 425 to 
437)?: whose continuous basset-edge would in such case be 
traceable, from Dufton-fell and Caldron-snout (p. 41), north- 
eastward to the sea. 

3d. Can it be depended on, that small shells of Muscles 
(whether of sa/t or fresh water origin, I do not ask, because this, 


* Of which Mr, W. Forster enumerates seven distinct beds, in the Lead- 
mining series, from fathom 244 to fattiom 602 of bis Section. 

- Are the re in these districts, any masses of Red Marl or soft red Sand- 
stone, accompanying these Basaltic Caps, or otherwise, in an uncumform- 
able manner? 


perhaps, 


a! me 


of Northumberland and Durham. 13 


perhaps, no one can safely say) “ are met with in every Colliery” 
of this district (p. 466); or even ‘*in most places where iron- 
stone is found in the shales, not only in the Newcastle Coal- 
formation, but also in the metalliferous Limestone district, upon 
which it rests,” (p. 364 vol. xlv.)? 

A particular answer, mentioning as many places (and if prae- 
ticable the strata also, with reference to Forster’s Section) as 
possible, where such shells have been actually found, will infi- 
nitely more oblige the querist, than any general answer whatever 
to this question. 

4th. In the horeing for Coals at Dinsdale on the Tees (p. 466), 
were any real Coal-seams, however thin, actually penetrated? 
or were ever real Coal-measures or metals, proved in this place ?, 

The querist hopes his solicitude on this head may be pardoned 
by Mr. W., when he mentions, that to him, when some years 
ago hastily viewing this district, Dinsdale seemed to be situated 
above the magnesian Lime, on a part of the British Series, 
wherein no Coal-seams have yet to his knowledge been proved. 

oth. Was it near Wainfizet on the Lincolnshire Coast, that 


_ fragments of a black (brown?) Coal resembling that of Bovey 


were washed on shore, together with bituminous Shale containing 
numerous Shells? The querist has been induced, for two rea- 
sons, thus to frame his question ; first, because Mr. W. intimates, 
that the same kind of shale is a swbhsiratum to the Chalk, which 
the strata S of Wainfleet must be; and next, because the foot 
of the hill on the west side of Bolingbroke in the range of these 
strata, produces such gray, bituminous, shelly, shale, and near 
thereto on the NE of Rathby, they were boreing in search of 
Coals, at the time he visited this district, in the clunch Clay ; 
the same part of the series of British strata, in which, at another 
time, he found the thin Coal-formation of the Yorkshire east 
moorlands (p. 466) to be situated. Whereas Louth appeared 
clearly to him to stand, on the top of all the Chalk Strata: if 
therefore any such beds of shale resembling Coal-measures, 
especially seams of Coal, were there found, in or near to the 
London Clay (on which Alford stands), it would prove a fact 
yuite new to the querist; except perhaps, that he once heard, 
without giving credence thereto, that Coals appear above the 
Chalk, somewhere to the east of the Medway near the southern 
shore of the Thames ? 

Not doubting Mr. W’s friendly reception of the above queries 
and hints, or that the answers to be expected thereupon will in- 
terest many, 


a 


I remain, 
_ Jan, 2, 1816. A Constant READER. 


IV. On 


[4 } 


IV. On Micrometer Telescopes. By Ez, Watkzr, Esq. of 
Lynn, Norfolk. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Dear Srr,— qs Dr. Brewster’s ingenious treatise on new phi- 
losophical instruments, there is a note on page 59, respecting 
my micrometer, described in the xxxviiith volume of the Philo- 
sophical Magazine, which is not perfeetly correct. I have, 
therefore, to request the favour of a place in your Magazine, to 
state the subject more explicitly than it seems to have appeared 
to the learned author. 

On page 59, Dr. Brewster gives ‘‘ A Description of an Eye- 
piece Wire Micrometer,” with the following paragraph as a 
note: , 

<< An instrument of nearly the same kind (says Dr. Brewster) 
with that which is the subject of the following chapter, has been 
described by Mr. Ezekiel Walker, in the Philosophical Maga- 
zine for August 1811, vol. xxxviii. p. 127, as a’ new invention 
of his own. I certainly cannot suppose that this ingenious 
writer had an opportunity of seeing any of the instruments of 
this kind which had been constructed under my direction. So 
early as the end of the year 1805, I sent a drawing and a de- 
scription of the eye-piece micrometer to Mr. Cary, optical- 
instrument maker, London. In 1806, one of the instruments 
made for me by Messrs. Miller and Adie, Edinburgh, was ex- 
amined by Professor Playfair; and since that time it has been 
in the possession of a friend in London. The only variation 
in the instrument proposed (constructed) by Mr. Walker, is the 
use of lines on a slip of mother-of-pearl, instead of the silver 
wires.” ' 

Now the Doctor’s micrometer (if I understand it) is founded 
on the following property of the telescope, viz. when the eye- 
tube, containing two glasses, is drawn out, the magnifying power 
of the instrument is increased; and this is the same principle 
on which mine is constructed. This property seems to have 
been discovered by Dr. Brewster himself; but it is not new, for 
an aecount of it was published many years ago. 

In the year 1771, the late Mr. Benjamin Martin published a 
description of a new optical instrument which he calls ‘* Mzcro- 
scopium Polydynamicum: or anew Construction of a Microscope, 
wherein a variety of magnifying powers is communicated to each 
object-lens.”’ 

This microscope with its description I had from Mr. Martin’s 
shop, No. 171, Fleet-street, London. Consequently, I have 


been many years acquainted with this property in optics, which 
affords 


~~ | 


On Micrometer Telescopes. 15 


affords a very pleasing variety in the use of microscopes and 
telescopes.—Of Dr. Brewster’s instrument I knew nothing, till 
1 saw an account of it, a few days ago, in his book. 

In the Doctor’s note it appears, that I use lines on a slip of 
mother-of-pearl, in my instrument: but this is a mistake ; for 
it is expressly mentioned in my paper, that my micrometer con- 
sists of a number of parallel lines drawn upon a piece of plane 
glass. j 

Soon after I had formed the design of this instrument, I ap- 
plied to the late Mr. Coventry of Southwark, for a set of his 
micrometers. Mr. ©. had none at that time, but promised to 
send me a set, which I never received though I waited for them 
upwards of two years. But, not being willing to give up the 
plan of my instrument, without trying how far it might be ren- 
dered useful in practice, 1 undertook to draw lines upon glass 
myself; and after an infinite number of unsuccessful attempts, 
I succeeded so far as to draw parallel lines +;,,th of an inch 
apart, which being intersected at right angles by equal lines 
form minute squares, each one-millionth part of a superficial 
inch. Whence I concluded that lines drawn, by the same me- 
thod, at ,1,th of an inch distant would be sufficiently accurate 
for my purpose. 

I am surprised to find so little use made of Mr. Coventry’s 
glasses ; for, if they were properly applied to optical instruments, 
micrometers might be made that would supersede the use of all 
others. For measuring small objects before the microscope, 
these micrometers are unquestionably the best, both for precision 
and readiness of application; and they may be applied to tele- 
scopes for measuring small angles with equal advantage. To 
illustrate this position, let the second example be taken from 
p. 128, vol. xxxviii. of The Philosophical Magazine. 

“ The magnifying power of the telescope is 45 times. 


“ Micrometer divisions ;1,th of an inch distant. 
*¢ Each division subtends an angle at the eye = 30”. 
“ One inch of the eye-tube is .. tet aa 


But if the divisions of the micrometer were drawn ;25th of 
an inch distant, which may be doue with great exactness: Then, 


Each division would subtend an angle .. = 99 = 15”, 
And one inch of the eye-tube would be .. = 52 = 26” 
Consequently, 
yoth of an inch on the eye-tube’ a6 ee ie? is 

wom bee Peg: rashart rt al eb 
tooth of ditto ., would be Eee ob” tS 3 
gecth of ditto .. would be aot. = OS”) 5 


As the divisions of the eye-tube may be read off to within 
vyoth part of an inch by a vernier scale, consequently the av 
wou 


16 On the Nature and Combinations 


would seldom exceed one-tenth of a second; and the errors 
arising from mechanism in this micrometer cannot be of much 
consequence, since the eye-tube is never drawn out further than 
~f;ths of an inch; for 2:6” x 6 ( = 15-6”) is nearly = one divi- 
sion of the micrometer. 

From the comparative micrometer measures taken at the Ob- 
servatory, Armagh, by the Rev. Dr. J. A. Hamilton, it appears 
that the divided object-glass micrometer and the wire-micrometer 
are each liable to an error of 3” in taking the sun’s diameter*. 

On the divided object-glass micrometer, Dr. Hamilton ob- 
serves, ** its imperfections are; that, to different eyes, and under 
different circumstances of the same eye, the length of the focal 
distance, that suits distinct vision, will vary, and of course the 
quantity of the measures given by the scale is liable to a small 
variation. 

‘¢The principal defects of the wire-micrometer are; the dif- 
ficulty of judging accurately of bisections, or contacts of the 
fine wires, by the limbs to be measured; and the impossibility 
of observing any diameter, except one perpendicular to the 
equator.” 

In the construction of my micrometer, I endeavoured to avoid 
all optical illusions, and all mechanism that might produce any 
sensible error. 

1 remain, dear sir, 
With much regard, 
Your very obedient servant, 

Lynn, Dec. 29, 1815. Ez. WALKER. 


V. Onthe Nature and Combinations of a newly-discovered vege- 
table Acid ; with Observations ou the malic Acid, and Sug- 
gestions on the State in which Acids may have previously 
existed in Vegetables. By M. Donovan, Esq. Communt- 
cated by W. H. Wottasron, M.D. Sec. B.S. 


{Concluded from vol. xlvi. p. 444.] 
Observations on the Malic Acid. 


Ix 1785, during an examination of different fruits and berries, 
Scheele discovered that gooseberries, beside lemon acid, con- 
tained one of a peculiar nature: this he afterwards found to 
exist in apples, without, as he thought, a sensible admixture of 
any other. On this account he gave it the name of apple acid, 
or malic acid. 

He also ascertained, that by the action of nitrous acid on sugar, 


* Irish Transactions, vol, x. 
a substance 


“se Ss 


— S 


OrR er 0 PRe 


of a newly-discovered vegetable Acid. 17 


a substance is produced, which shows no traces of nitric acid, 
yet unites and forms a soluble salt with lime, ‘it therefore is 
not the oxalic acid.” By some other experiments he found that 
an acid is produced “ which does not differ in the least from 
the properties of the apple acid, and is accordingly the same.” 
This acid he detected in a great variety of vegetable juices. 
Since that period, Vauquelin has extended the catalogue ; but 


of all other plants, it is most abundantly contained in the Sem- 


pervivum Tectorum. 

Scheele’s process for obtaining malic acid is as follows. 
“ Saturate the juice of apples, whether ripe or unripe, with car- 
bonate of potash ; add solution of acetate of lead until it cease 
to produce a precipitation. To the edulcorated precipitate, add 
as much dilute vitriolic acid, as is necessary to give the mixture 
a perfectly acid taste, without any sweetness*.” , 

There are several objections to this process, all of which seem 
to have considerable weight. In the preceding pages I have 
shown, that the juice of apples, whether ripe or unripe, always 
contains two acids of very different properties. By the above 
process these acids are not separated; they are in fact found in 
what is supposed to be the resulting pure malic acid, and it is 
impossible, without the most complicated processes, to obtain 
this substance in the insulated form. P 

The precipitation of the lead by means of sulphuric acid ap- 
pears to be objectionable. I have often attempted to adjust 
the proportion of the latter substance, so as to throw down all 
the lead, without leaving any free sulphuric acid but I uniformly 
failed: and it is evident that, if not impossible, it is exceedingly 
dificult and troublesome. 

Scheele also attempted to obtain malic acid from malate of 
lime, by means of sulphuric acid, but found ‘ the mode rather 
dificult, as the acid would not let the calx fall completely.” 
Vauquelin observed the same thing. 

The last process proposed by Scheele, is to distil equal parts 
of weak nitric acid and sugar, until the mixture become brown, 
which is a sign that all the nitrous acid has been abstracted: the 
oxalic acid formed, is to be separated by lime-water, and the 
remaining acid to be saturated with carbonate of lime. The so- 
lution is to be filtered, the filtered liquor to be mixed with alco- 
hol, and the coagulum thus obtained, is to be edulcorated with 
new portions of alcohol.~ The coagulum is then to be dissolved 
in water, and mixed with a solution of acetate of lead: a pre- 
cipitate falls, which is to be treated with sulphuric acid, in the 
manner already directed. 

No one who has not gone through this process, can fully con- 


* Crell’s Chemische Annal, 1785, vol. ii. 295, ; 
Vol. 47. No. 213, Jan. 1816. B ceive 


| On the Nature and Combinations 


ceive the difficulty and expense of it: and I have found that the 
acid obtained is variable in its nature. In one case I obtained 
an acid, which, when mixed with solution of acetate of lead, did 
not at first produce any effect, but at length slowly deposited a 
precipitate. The heating of another portion of the acid with 
carbonate of lime, produced a separation of a black powder, 
which possessed the properties of charcoal. There were also 
many other peculiarities; and the combined effect of all was to 
convince me, that great differences exist between the acid ob- 
tained in this manner, and that obtained by other processes. 

The experiments of Vauquelin satisfied him that the acid which 
is combined with lime in the Senpervivum Tectorum, is the true 
malic: and all my trials convince me, that it does not contain 
even the least quantity of the sorbic. Since then, by the means 
generally employed, we do not obtain malic acid, the only alter- 
native is to adopt the hitherto neglected process of Vauquelin ; 
and it will be found that his process affords the acid with greater 
ease, and in much greater purity, than any other. The method 
of detaching the acid from the malate of lead by sulphuric acid 
is, as we have seen, difficult; and the criterion of the taste is 
liable to this fallacy, that as the sourness increases, the sweet- 
ness decreases. There will, on this account, be a period when 
the latter will disguise the former, and yet the lead will be still 
present. I would therefore suggest the substitution of sulphu- 
retted hydrogen in place of sulphuric acid. 

If it were required to obtain malic acid excéedingly pure, and 
still more divested of vegetable matter, the following process 
may be adopted. 

The juice of Sempervivum Tectorum is to be evaporated to 
two-thirds, and, after standing some hours, it is to be filtered, 
and mixed with an equal quantity of alcohol. ‘The coagulum 
is to he separated by the filter, edulcorated with fresh portions 

-of alcohol, and dried in the air, lest any adhering alcohol should 
impede its subsequent solution. The mass is then to be dis- 
solved in water, mixed with solution of acetate of lead, and 
the precipitate collected on a filter. After being well edulco- 
rated from any superfluous acetate of lead, the precipitate is to 
be boiled for fifteen minutes with a little less of dilute sulphuric 
acid than is sufficient to saturate the oxide of lead: and for this 
part of the process, the criterion of sweetness will very well 
answer the propose. The whole is to be set aside for some days, 
and, during this period, a small quantity of sulphate of lead 
which the malie acid held dissolved, will be deposited. The 
liquor is now to be filtered, and in order to separate the last 
portions of lead, a stream of sulphuretted hydrogen is to be 
transmitted through it: the black precipitate is to be filtered 

off, 


— —— 


of a newly-discovered vegetable Acid. 19 


off, and the liquor should be boiled in a vessel freely exposed, 
until paper moistened with acetate of lead is no longer blackened 
by the discharged vapour. This acid is the purest that can be 
obtained ; it retains a slight odour of the gas, but even this is 
destroyed by exposure to the air for a few days. 

Vauquelin observes, that malic acid thus obtained is near ly co- 
lourless: his was therefore diluted. I have found that it be- 
comes perfectly brown by concentration: and I have decomposed 
and recomposed malate of lead several tines, using each time 
the same specimen of malic acid; yet so obstinately did the co- 
louring matter adhere, that it was always found in the resulting 


acid. Thus, as far as we know, this acid cannot be procured 


free from colour ; and the nearest approximation is that obtained 
by Vauquelin’s process. 


Suggestions concerning the State in which Acids may previously 
have existed in Vegetables. 


I have sometimes indulged in the supposition, that the vege- 
table acids are not primarily formed by the immediate union of 
their elements, but that they may have previously existed in a 
definite combination, called the bitter principle. It is possible 
that this principle may be a compound basis, which by uniting 
to oxygen, or by undergoing more complicated processes, might 
change its nature so far as to become an acid. The whole is a 
mere conjecture, and perhaps deserving of little consideration ; 
the facts, however, which suggested it may be noticed. 

The sweetness of any vegetable juice has been generally at- 
tributed to a sweet principle called sugar. In the same manner 
it has been lately supposed, that bitterness depends on a bitter 
principle, which, although variously disguised, is always identical. 
Dr. Thomson has shown, that w hen water is digested over 
quassia, and afterwards evaporated to dryness, a ‘transparent 
substance is obtained, which differs in its properties from all 
other vegetable principles: this he considers as the bitter prin- 
ciple, and, I believe, with very great justice. I found that the 
liquor obtained by digestion, although slightly coloured, was 
transparent even to the end of the evaporation. The resulting 
mass was nearly transparent, and minute in quantity, considering 
the proportion of quassia employed ; and such was its bitterness, 
that a particle plactd on the tongue, which could not have ex- 
ceeded oth of a grain, diffused an intense bitterness over the 
whole mouth and fauces. 

This matter was heated with nitric acid; it dissolved with 
effervescence, and the bitterness was no longer sensible. The 
remaining substance formed a precipitate in acetate of lead, 
which possessed all. the properties of malate of lead: and it 

B2 appeared 


20 On the Nature, $c. of a newly-discovered vegetable Acid. 


appeared that no other than the malic acid was produced. With 
this experiment the following agrees in a remarkable manner. 

Five ounces of white sugar, and an equal weight of very strong 
nitric acid were mixed in a retort. Without the application of 
external heat the action commenced, and soon became violent. 
When cold, the residual matter was found to be thick and ten: - 
cious; its taste was sour, and extremely bitter. The malic acid 
being abstracted from a portion of this by means of lime, it was 
found that the bitterness, now no longer disguised by acidity, 
had become intense. The other portion, which had not been 
saturated with lime, by being treated with more nitric acid, lost 
all its bitterness, and oxalic acid was formed. In this experi- 
ment it appears, that by some action of nitrous acid on sugar, @ 
bitter substance and malic acid were produced together; that 
by the further action of nitrous acid, the bitter substance dis- 
appeared, and acid appeared in its stead. 

The foregoing conjectures correspond also with the fact, that 
by the action of certain substances on each other, the bitter 
principle is evolved at the same time with those acids which I 
suppose to have been produced from that compound basis: and 
the appearance of both at the same time may be accounted for 
by admitting that the conversion was not complete. Thus, if 
alcohol be distilled with nitrous acid, a liquor is produced which 
has a-sweet taste. If this liquor be re-distilled with another 
portion of acid, a bitter liquor comes over. And if this bitter 
liquor be distilled a third time with a fresh portion of nitrous 
acid, crystals of oxalic acid make their appearance in the re- 
siduum. ‘This series of changes bears a striking resemblance to 
that produced by the action of nitrous acid on sugar. 

Haussman observed, that when nitric acid is digested with 
indigo, a very bitter substance results, to which Welther gave the 
name of Amer: in this process, oxalic acid is also formed. 

The vegetable acids are even formed by the action of nitrous 
acid on animal substances; in the instance of muscle we obtain 
the above-mentioned Amer with oxalic acid. In bile the bitter 
principle is already formed; when aeted on by nitrous acid, 
oxalic acid is produced. 

- On examination we shali not be at a loss to find operations 
analogous to some of the preceding, taking place naturally in 
the vegetable kingdom. The Pyrus Malus or common crab- 
apple, while young, is very bitter, and has little sourness : as the 
fruit advances towards maturity, the taste becomes propor- 
tionately sour, and the bitterness diminishes. The young berries 
of the Sorbus aucuparia also are bitter, contain but one acid, 
and even that in small quantity: when the berry is ripe, it con- 
tains two acids, the combined quantity of both is considerable, 

but 


Rules for ascertaining the Strength of Materials. 21 


but the bitterness has in a great degree given place to a coarse 
astringency. 

It is not improbable, that the bitterness produced in all the 
foregoing cases should be owing to the formation of the same 
bitter principle: and its constant conjunction with a vegetable 
acid, seems to show that there is some very intimate connexion 
between them, at present unknown, 

The preceding observations are offered as mere conjecture ; 
and I am fully sensible of what little consideration should be 
attached to them: they are not however entirely devoid of pro- 
bability. An hypothesis is below the dignity of a system which 
is founded on the indestructible basis of experiment: and even 
though it be supported by the coincidence of admitted facts, by 
direct analogies, and hy the correspondence of received opinions, 
. should nevertheless be the beginning and not the end of know- 
edge. 


a 


VI. Rules for ascertaining the Strength of Materials. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — Tae following rules for ascertaining the strength of 
materials are, I believe, new, and if you think them worthy of a 
place in your Magazine, the insertion of them will oblige 
Yours, &c. 
Tu Dy 


Sa 
Put f = the direct cohesive force of a square inch of the ma- 
terial ; 
b = the breadth; 
d = the depth, or the dimension. in the direction of the 
pressure ; and, 
L = the length. 
Then the lateral or transverse strength of a rectangular pris- 
matic beam or bar, is 
bd? 


“fi Z 
—Gr~ if supported at one end, by 


and — if supported at both ends. 


The lateral strength of a square beam or bar, when its dia- 
gonal is placed vertically, is 


eid if supported at one end, 
B3 and 


22 Rules for ascertaining the Strength of Materials. 


and _ if supported at both ends. 
In this case d is the diagonal. The strength of a square 
beam is the least when the force is in the direction of the dia- 
gonal, The lateral strength of a solid cylinder is 


y 4. 
tik if supported at one end, 


and une if supported at both ends. 
In this case r is the radius, and p = 314159 &c. 
The lateral strength of a tube or hollow cylinder, is 
SF p(RA—r4) 
41 


fp(R4—r) 
d Rl 


if supported at one end. 


an if supported at both ends ; 


Randr being the radii of the exterior and interior circles. 
The section of the tube is supposed to retain its circular form 
at the time of fracture. It has been said that we cannot deter- 
mine from theory the proper thickness of material for the tube, 
so that its form may not be sensibly altered by the pressure ; but 
this is a mistake, for by a very simple investigation the thickness 
can be determined sufficiently near for any practical purpose. 

The lateral strength of a triangular beam or bar is 


05645 fb de . 
. ees supported at one end, 


i 
29572 f 
l 


! ba. 
pry) eS i supported at both ends. 


In this case J is the base of the triangle, and d_ the height 
or the dimension in the direction of the pressure. The strength 
is the same when the edze is uppermost as it is when the op- 
posite side is uppermost. The strength of a solid cylinder, pil- 
lar, or column, to resist a force acting in the direction of its 
axis is 

8 fra 


=p? Where e is the extension of the mate- 


rial at the time of fracture. The diameter of a column may 
be so great in proportion to its length, that a less force than that 
necessary to bend it, would crush it. 
The force necessary to crush a homogeneous solid cylinder is 
8 fpr. 7 
The last rule has not yet been compared with experiment, 
indeed I do not know of any to compare it with. A set of ex- 
periments, on this kind of fracture, would be useful, not only 
to the architect and engineer, but also to the philosopher, “ It 
is 


Lt * “a, 


Further Remarks on Dr. Bradley’s Theorem, &'c. 23 


is wonderful,”’ says Professor Robison, “ that in a matter of such 
unquestionable importance the public has not enabled some 
persons of judgement to make proper trials ;” and we cannot 
without regret remark, that nothing worth notice has been added 
to our experimental knowledge since Robison wrote his excel- 
lent articles on the Strength of Materials. 

If the rule given above is correct, the following table will 
show the weight that would crush cylinders of different kinds of 
materials. 


Weight in pounds 

that will crush a 

cylinder whose 

base is one foot 
in area. 


Direct co- |\Veight in, pound: 

hesion of {that will crush a 
a square |cylinder an inch 
inch. in diameter. 


Material. 


lbs. 
| 50,000 314,160 57,600,000 
3,000 | 18,849 | 3,456,000 


| Cast iron ... 
edd (e000: 


Freestone. ..| 1,000 6,255 1,152,000 
Fine freestone 205 1,288 236,160 
Good brick..| 280 1,759 322,560 


VII. Further Remarks on Dr. Brapiey’s Theorem for com- 
puting the Astronomic Refraction. By T.S. Evans, LL.D. 
F.L.S. 


Tae attention of astronomers has lately been much occupied 
with the astronomic refraction; and perhaps no other subject 
is so worthy their notice at this moment, since it is the greatest 
obstacle of any, to improvements and accuracy in that science. 
Much has ‘lately been done towards an exact determination of 
its quantity at all altitudes above the horizon, by the use of the 
modern circles of Ramsden, Troughton, and other eminent in- 
strument-makers.. The great care with which these have been 
divided, and may be adjusted; the minuteness with which 
they may be read off, by means of micrometers, placed in the 
microscopes; and the certainty with which the object can be 
bisected, in the field of view, by using cobwebs, or perhaps the 
minute platina wires lately made by the ingenious Dr. Wollaston, 
give us great reason to hope, that with the zeal of our present 


best observers much time will not elapse, before the difficulties 


now met with in discovering the quantity of the refraction, will 

in a great measure, if not wholly, be removed. 
Of all the different formule that have hitherto been published, 
Ba4 it 


24 Further Remarks on Dr. Bradley’s Theorem 


it does not appear that any one of them at present will give the 
true refraction nearer than about six or seven seconds at ten 
degrees of altitude, and most of them reach to that extent with 
the same limits of error. It is therefore unnecessary to have 
recourse to the long and laboricus methods that have been of- 
fered, when more simple ones will effect the purpose with equal 
exactness. Our attention should rather be directed to the 
improvement of some one of the number, that is easily com- 
puted so as to extend its application and bring it to correspond 
better in observations made at low altitudes. But if it should be 
found that the law of its progression does not admit of being ex- 
pressed by a formula, we must endeavour to remedy the defect by 
means of a dalle, that wiil give its‘quantity at all necessary intervals. 
According to the theory published by Mr. Thomas Simpson, 
in his Mathematical Dissertations, aud further improved by Dr. 
Bradley, which, with modern determinations of the coefficients, is 
the one now mest commonly used in England, on account of its 
simplicity, the equation for the astronomic refraction is 


px tang.( Z.D—nr ) x ¢ + ) x ( a ) 


which is evidently of the indeterminate kind, since it contains 
no less than four unknown quantities, that require to be disco- 
vered from other sources. These are p, 7,7, and m3 of which 
the first, p, is the refraction at 45° of altitude of the object above 
the horizon, taken at any given standard of temperature and 
density of the atmosphere. The second, 7, is some multiple of 
the third, or mean refraction 7, by which the zenith distance of 
_ the object is to be diminished before its tangent is taken out of 
the tables. 

From a comparison of the theory with some accurate obser- 
vations lately taken, I have had reason to think that 7 is not 
a constant multiplier of 7, as has hitherto been supposed, but 
that it varies, according tosome function of the altitude of the 
object above the horizon. 

The fourth of these unknown coefficients, m, is the expansion 
of a volume of air, for cach degree of ascent of Fahrenheit’s 
thermometer ; and the same comparison abovementioned, in eon- 
junction with the latest and most exact experiments of two justly 
celebrated modern chemists has also furnished some strong rea- 
sons for doubting, whether the expansion for each degree of the 
thermometer is the same for all states of temperature, from the 
freezing to the boiling point. 

This inquiry may, perhaps, by some persons be deemed in- 
teresting, as it points out a subject where the determinations 
of the chemist are corroborated by those of the astronomer. 

These 


for computing the Astronomic Refraction. 25 


These two branches of philosophy are apparently very distinct 
from each other, and separated by boundaries that do not 
at first sight appear even to approximate. It is therefore 
pleasing to discover a case wherein one of them is capable of 
affording assistance to the other; as it shows their mutual de- 
pendence, and consequently the advantages of cultivating and 
improving at the same time all the departments of human know- 
ledge. 

By consulting Dr. Thomson’s valuable Treatise of Chemistry, 
vol. i. p. 494, on the expansion of atmospheric air, we read as 
follows : 

“From the experiments of Dalton and Gay-Lussac it ap- 
pears that all gaseous bodies whatever undergo the same ex- 
pansion by the same addition of heat, supposing them placed 
under similar circumstances. Gay-Lussac found that air by be- 
ing heated from 32° to 212°, expanded from 1000 to 1375 parts 
under a pressure =0°76 of a metre (=29°92152 English inches) . 
Mr. Dalton found that 1000 parts of air, heated from 55° to 
212°, expanded to 1325 parts. He found also, that the ex- 
pansion of air is very nearly equable; or that the same increase 
of bulk takes place, by the same addition of caloric, at all dif- 
ferent temperatures. The expansion from 95° to 1334°, was 
167 parts; and from 1334 to 212 it was 108 parts. He has 
also shown that the expansion of air follows a regular geometric 
progression, if we suppose that mercury expands as the square 
of the temperature from the freezing point: and he has rendered 
it probable, that the expansion of water and mercury is as tle 
square of the temperature of each, reckoning from their respec- 
tive freezing poimts. He finds, if this law be supposed, that 
the expansion »f water and mercury corresponds: hence he in- 
fers, that all liquids follow the same law; or that they expand 
as the square of the temperature, from the freezing point of 
each.” 

If we reduce these experiments to the same standard, and 
then bring their results into one point of view, they will be as 
follows : 

First : M. Gay-Lussac found that air by being heated from 
32° to 212° expanded from 1000 parts to 1375 parts. ‘There- 


fore for 180 degrees it expanded makes of the whole: consequently 


as 180: 7: Js a = 0:002083 the expansion for each 


degree of the thermometer when taken throughout the whole 

extent of the scale from the freezing to the boiling point. 
Secondly: Mr. Dalton found that air when heated from 55° 

to 212° expanded from 1000 to 1325 parts: therefore, as 


157: 


‘ 


26 Further Remarks on Dr. Bradley’s Theorem 


157: ::1:,? = 0-002070064 the expansion for that 


part of the scale reckoning from 55° to 212° 

Thirdly: Mr. Dalton found that when the air was heated from 
50° to 1334 only, it expanded from 1000 to 1167 parts; con- 
sequently as 78-5 : me “ame — = 0:0021273885 the expan- 
sion for each degree of the scale from 55° to 1331°, 

Fourthly: The same ingenious experimentalist found that for 
an accession of heat from 183} to 212° the increase of bulk was: 


a 1000 to 1158 parts; we have therefore as 78°5: ae a 


sons = 0:00201273885, the rate of expansion reaching from 
1333 to 212: and by bringing these together for the purpese 


of more easy comparison, we find that 

From 65° to 133}, the rate of expansion is 0°002127589 

32 to 212 ee oe ee 0:002083333 

55 to 212° aes ae we 0002070064 

1334 to 212... es 0-002012739 
The greatest rate of expansion in n this statement is 0: 0021273589, 
and the temperature corresponding is lower than either of the 
others, viz. from 55 to 1334. The least rate is 0°002012739; 
and its corresponding temperature is from 133} to 212, which 
is the highest of all the four. Of the other two, that from 32 
to 212 includes a lower part of the scale than the one reaching 
from 55 to 212; and we find the rate of expansion is propor- 
tionally greater. It therefore appears, that the rate of expan- 
sion for the low temperatures is greater than that for the high 
ones; and consequently m, the coefficient of 6, in that part of 
the foregoing theorem w hich depends on the heat of the atmo- 


- ought to be variable according to the dif- 


: 1 
sphere, viz. - 
1 


™m 
ferent heights of the mercury in the thermometer. 

Although the above table shows pretty clearly that the rate of 
expansion is greater in the low temperatures than in the high, 
yet there is not asufficient number of them, nor are they made at 
the proper intervals to enable us to compute the exact law of this 
rate, for all degrees, from the freezing to the boiling point, which 
for the subject under consideration is very much to be desired. 

These are the determinations of the chemists. Let us now 
endeavour to discover how far they are corroborated by the ob- 
servations of the astronomer. 

In the last communication which Mr. Groombridge has fur- 
nished us with, on the subject of refraction (Phil. Trans. for 1814), 
if we arrange the values of z, determined by that gentleman, 


according to the different states of the thermometer, omitting 
those 


ie oe 


for computing the Astronomic Refraction. 27 


those that belong to very low altitudes as they are materially 
affected by other considerations they will be as follows: 


Therm. Values of 2. 


———E 


32° 3°74129 


34 3°59582 

36 3°70809 

36 3°65835 

37 3°63439 

39 3°64778 : 
39 3°21379. .\* 
40 362402 

AQ) 3°62441 

40 3°65160 

42 3°64000 

43 363706 


434 | 362255 


53 3°63505 


53 3716032 * 
54 3°35247 
55 3:61333 
57 3°49971 
59 3:54668 
60 3:54576 
61 3:61064 
62 3°55849 
At 32°? the value of mis .. = sis 3-74129 
32 to 40 omitting the last 3 whe 3:66345 


From 32 to 40 including the last 39 we 3°99922 
40 to43}$  «- oe ik ve 3°63327 
53 to 60 omitting the second 53. 3°52945 
53 to 60 including the second 93 3°46793 
60 to62 . .. r {te ee 357163 
A slight examination of the above values of ” will convince 
us that there is an evident change from 32° to 60°. Now if in 
the preceding formula we omit the part 


x(t) 


or consider it as being constant; and take only the remaining 
part of the expression, viz. 


, (ZD=nr) * (57): or, 


28 Further Remarks on Dr. Bradley’s Theorem 
or, t,(ZD—nr) x (l— mé), 

and substitute for 2 and for @ their two extreme values taken from 
the foregoing table of means, we shall have in one instance, 

t, (ZD—3:74r) x (l—m x 32), 
and in the other, 

t, (ZD—3:47r) x (1—m x 56), supposing the 
formula made for temperature zero, 

Now in these two equations, the lower the mercury is in the 
thermometer, the greater is the value of 2 found to be: and 
the higher it is on the contrary, the less is the value of 2: but 
to obtain the two values of 2 equal in the two equations, it is 
evident that the multiplier m must be increased at 32, and di- 
minished at 56; which seems to be a further and interesting 
corroboration, of what was before stated, viz. that the rate of 
expansion for the low temperatures is greater than that for the 
high ones, : 

By carrying this mode of reasoning a little further, and sup- 
posing in the two last equations, that the values of ¢, (Z2D—mr) 
are constant, it would in that case be evident, that the variations 
of m would be inversely as the numbers 32 and 563 or that 
the rate of expansion would be in the inverse proportion of the 
height of the thermometer, provided the refraction and the rest 
of the coefficients remained the same. But as this is not the 
case, and the result thus obtained is far greater than is proved 
by experiments, and also that the ratio of the two values of m, 
in the two equations, is considerably nearer a ratio of equality, 
it follows that the value of n must also vary, and possibly, ac- 
cording to some function of ZD, or the zenith distance of the 
object. 

The difficulty of determining the values of m, under all tem- 
peratures of the atmosphere, and of at all altitudes, above the 
horizon will, from this, become. evident: and it shows that 
they can only be obtained by some such method as that of the 
least squares proposed by M. Lagrange*, and from a long series 
of observations taken at all periods of the year, in order to find 
them for the whole extent of the ranges of the barometer and 
thermometer. 

Were all other circumstances to remain the same, and only 
the value of m to change, we might easily obtain it in the fol- 
lowing manner : 

The mean refraction r is to the apparent refraction @ as I to 


~- poorrzgril +m6:1; and therefore r=e(1 +b), 
consequently m= oe = ae and by taking the different 


* New Method of determining the Orbits of Comets. Paris, 1806. 4to. 
values 


‘for computing the Astronomic Refraction. 29 


values of g and 4, as found from the observations, we may ob- 
tain that of m for all heights of the mercury in the thermo- 
meter. 

With respect to the value of p, Mr. Delambre found it to 
be 60499872” at 45 degrees of apparent altitude, when the 
barometer stood at 29°92152 English inches, and Fahrenheit’s 
thermometer at 32°. Mr. Groombridge found it 58°132967” 
at the same altitude, when the barometer was 29:60 English 
inches, and the thermometer at 45°. 

To compare these two values of p together, it is necessary to 
reduce one of them to the tenor of the other. Thus Mr. De- 
lambre’s determination, when brought to the same state of the 
atmosphere as that of Mr. Groombridge, will be 

j 29-60 1 
69:499872" x = (srascanoeos) = 58.9331”, 
and Mr. Groombridge makes his 58-1382967”; the difference 
0-200143” is small, and confirms the accuracy of the observations 
of both; yet small as it appears, it will very materially affect the 
refractions from 87° downwards to the horizon. 

It is much to be doubted, whether this theorem or any other 
can be brought to agree with the utmost exactness in all cases 
with the refraction observed at very low altitudes, and for the 
following reasons : 

The ray P S in its progress through the atmosphere from the 


star S to the observer P, has probably to encounter layers of air 
of various temperatures and densities, which differ considerably 
from that indicated by the barometer and thermometer fixed 
up for use at P, the station ofthe observer; therefore, to be 
enabled to form any just conjecture of the deviations which the 
ray may have undergone, we ought to know the state of the at- 
mosphere all the way from P to; or at least we ought to be 
acquainted with the heat and density indicated by these two in- 
struments along the surface of the earth, from the station of 
the observer at P to Q, the point immediately beneath the ob- 
ject observed, 


It 


30 Further Remarks on Dr. Bradley’s Theorem 


It is well known that showers of rain often proceed in zones 
along the surface of the earth, in various directions; and should 
this have taken place across any part of the are P Q, a short 
time previous to the observation being made, the evaporation 
that follows, by producing a greater degree of cold, will cause 
a considerable augmentation in the refractive power of the eir- 
cumambient air. 

A large surface of sand, situated any where along the arc P Q 
will, by absorbing a considerable portion of heat from the sun’s 
rays, and afterwards continuing to restore it to the atmosphere, 
longer than the neighbouring soils that have absorbed less, by 
keeping up the rarefaction, bend the ray out of its course, in 
an opposite direction to that of the former cause. 

A large wood or a marsh will also be the cause of deviation ~ 
in the trajectory of the ray: and all these actions on its course 
will be the stronger the nearer it lies to the horizon, or in other 
words the less the altitude of the object. 

Mr. Delambre, in the excellent ‘T'reatise of Astronomy which 
he has lately published, makes the following remarks on the re- 
fraction at low altitudes. 

*¢ It follows from all this that Simpson’s Formula and Brad- 
ley’s Table will not agree with the observations. There is an 
error of about 8” at 821°, and no known table will agree with 
them. That of the Board of Longitude computed from Laplace’s 
formula, and on the value which | found for the constant quan- 
tity «, (the refraction at 45° which is p of our formula) agrees 
better, but the error is still from 2” to 3”, 

“¢ J have already spoken of the uncertainty of observations of 
refraction in the neighbourhood of the horizon. I have re- 
marked, from one day to the next, and in circumstances which 
were the same in appearance, that the refraction would vary from 
15” to 20”, without my being able to assign any cause; but the 
variations are still more sensible in the horizon, as we may judge 
from the following statement : 


Computed Observed ; Therm, 
zenith distance.| zenith distance.} Refraction, | Batom.| of 80. 


90°44’ 5-4’'| 90° 8’36:8”| 357 26°8' |27 6-0} 16-64 
90 33 39:2 | 90 2 43-6 30 55:6 |27 6:0} 16:64 
90.33 --9°:1.} 90. 2 12:7 30 57> 27 7°4| 20-64 
90 33 13°0 | 90 1 53 31 19°6 |27 6:5) 20:32 
90 27 506 | 89 54 36 33 14-6 |27 8-1) 11-84 
90 39 24:5 | 90 4 27 34 57:4 [27 6:3} 19:20 


/ 


«© All these observations were made in June at sunrise. From 
the 


a 4 


at 


for computing the Astronomic Refraction. 31 


the first to the second there was an interval of eight days, and of 
eleven from the second to the third. The barometer has 
searcely varied at all, and the thermometer has varied but little, 
yet the refraction fa varied 4 minutes at these zenith distances. 
According to our last tables the refraction changes from 11” to 
12” for each minute of variation in the zenith distance. ‘That 
of Bradley and of all the other astronomers varies from 10” to 
11”. Supposing 11” of variation and reducing all these re- 
fractions to the astronomic horizon, that is to 90° of apparent 
zenith distance, we shall have for the horizontal refraction, 


R52 


30 33 | 

30 33 . of which the mean is 32” 25”. 
Bios8. 3 
184 005° | 

340.42: 1} 


“ From the first to the second day we have a difference of 
3’ 19”, although the barometer aud the thermometer are the 
same. From the second to the third, the refraction has not 
varied, although the thermometer has got up 4 degrees. The 
two last days the refraction has only altered 3”, although the 
thermometer has got up 7°36 degrees. 

“« We cannot therefore be certain of the mean to 2 minutes, 
which agrees nearly with that of Cassini. It is hardly probable . 
that we shall ever be able to compute such anomalies; and 
what would they have been had I observed in winter ? 

« At 79” I could not make the observations of different days 
agree nearer than about 6” or 7” between the extreme values, 

© At 77° I have had variations of 10” and 11”. 

At 79° they were 15”, 

* At 82° they differed as muchas 36”; that is, the table that 
I had constructed representing the observations of several days 
to 1” or 2” nearly, was found once in error —17”, and another 
time +19”. 

© At 84° I have been more fortunate, the error was one half less. 

* At 86° the difference between the extremes was 30”, 

¢ At 88° the errors, which were nothing for several days, in- 
creased then to + 15” and —20”. 

& At 89° from —15” to +30”.” 

‘The tables of Bradley and Mayer give still greater errors, so 
that it appears to me impossible to make any good table for 
these lower degrees, But from the zenith to 82°, we may have 
a number of tables nearly all equally good. 

**In the fifth book of Specola di Palermo by Piazzi, you may 
find a great number of observed refractions, I have recomputed 
all the calculations, and have found them very accurate. Dif- 
ferences at least equal to mine, may be remarked among them. 


32. Further Remarks on Dr. Bradley’s Theorem, €&c. 


“In the observations of zenith distances of terrestrial ob 
jects, I have repeatedly noticed, that at the setting of the sun 
the refraction increased from 2 minutes to 2! minutes; so 
that objects which were hid during the whole of the day, became 
visible in the evening. (See Base du Syst. Metr. Decimal, t. i. 
pag. 157, 159, and 165). I have never seen that the state of 
the hygrometer had any sensible influence on the terrestrial re- 
fraction; (ibid. page 166). Messrs. Laplace, Gay-Lussac and 
Biot have proved, that it does not produce any change in the 
astronomic refraction.’’—Delambre’s Asir. tom. i. p. 318. 

It is therefore evident, that to complete the solution of this 
problem much yet remains to be done. From the present view 
of the subject, it would appear as if the best mode would be, to 
take successive altitudes of objects with an accurate altitude 
and azimuth instrument, from the times of their rising in the 
eastern part of the horizon, till they set in the western part, 
giving the preference to those that pass the meridian nearest to 
the horizon below the pole: and to repeat the observations at 
various seasons of the year under a great variety of densities and 
temperatures of the atmosphere. Each single observation should 
be recorded, and not the mean of a number, as is usual for other 
purposes in astronomy. ‘They should be taken in as quick suc- 
cession near the horizon as accuracy will admit; but higher up 
a smaller number will be sufficient. The meridional altitude 
should also be taken with great care above the pole when the 
state of the weather is favourable, as that will materially assist in 
the calculation. 

By this means, the latitude of the place being known, together 
with the declination and azimuth of the object, or the time 
when the observation was made, we may, by computation, ob- 
tain its true altitude; and the difference between this and the 
observed altitude will be the refraction at that point. In 
this manner, from a number of observations, we shall obtain 
the refraction at every degree of altitude, from the horizon to 
the zenith ; and taking them under different densities and tem- 
peratures, we may by equations of condition, or the method 
of the least squares, develop the whole, aud assign, with the ut- 
most accuracy, to each unknown quantity in the formula, its 
due magnitude in all its variety of circumstances. 

The method is, it must be acknowledged, very laborious, and 
will require much time, both in making the observations and 
in computing them; but the advantages which astronomy will 
derive from an exact determination of this equation, are pro- 
portionally great. Did the duties of my situation afford suffi- 
cient leisure, and the smoke of London permit the observations 
to be made, I should feel the utmost gratification in performing 
this labour, tedious as it appears to be. 


. 


On the Metallic. Sails, 33 


Thus I have endeavoured to show in what points this theorem 
is defective, not with any view to depreciate its value, but to assist 
in rendering it more perfect. It is the most simple one we have: 
and when the four unknown coefficients beforementioned, can be 
ascertained for all altitudes, densities and temperatures, a great 
obstacle to improvement will be removed, and the future pro- 
gress of astronomy much facilitated. 


Christ's Ilospital, Nov. 15, 1815. 


VILL. On the Meiéallic Salts. 
To Mr. Tilloch, 


Sir, — I BEG leave to obtrude myself again on your notice, to 
offer a few remarks on the metallic salts, in reply to the answer 
of your correspondent H. (p. 246, vol. xlvi,) to my paper (p. 44 
same volume). -This I fee! myself impelled to do, not only from 
the importance of the subject, but from some statements which 
Hi. has adduced as unobjectionable facts in support of the theory 
contained in his former paper. Before I proceed, however, it 
will be necessary to define the import of the words free and 
excess as hereafter used, philosophical discussions requirmg a 
strict adherence to terms. Indeed an omission of this kind has 
produced some degr ee of displeasure in your correspondent, who 
objects to my using the words free and excess indiscriminately, 
which alone should be attributed to the different opinions we 
entertain of the subject. By acid in excess I mean, when the 
superabundance of acid is chemically combined with the base, _ 
and forms a constituent part of the salt. By free acid, when 
inechanically united or only adhering to the salt. 

The inquiry is, if an excess of acid is really essential to the 
éxistence of all metallic salts. ‘The arguments on one side tend 
to show that it is essential, becausé their solutions constantly 
indicate acidity with the test ; on the other side it is maintained, 
that although free acid may, "and in general appears to be ne- 
cessary for solution, yet it is not required for the existence of 
the salt. 

As I endeavoured to prove that solubility was increased by an 
imerease of acid, H. in his answer draws the conclusion that, if 
such was the case, a salt would not be precipitated by acid in 
any proportion, and that the acid must be the solvent. Arid he 
alleges in opposition, that the greater: proportion of free acid, 
rather than render a metalic salt more soluble, will in most in- 
stances precipitate it, and that the water alone was the solvent; 

Vol. 47, No. 213. Jan. 1816. C otherwise, 


34 On the Metallic Salts. 


otherwise one substance would become alternately the solvent 
and precipitant of the salt. 

From the tenor of our papers it cannot be misconceived thas 
water was intended as the medium of solution, particularly as I 
stated the acid as the agent promoting the solubility, not as dis- 
solving the salt; and those least acquainted with chemistry are 
fully satisfied that neither the salts, alkalies, nor even acids them- 
selves are soluble without such medium. 

H. evidently finds a difficulty in the attempt to reconcile 
the incongruity of one body assisting alternately the solution and 
precipitation of a salt. With him I should find some hesitation 
in admitting the fact, unless it could be accounted for on ra- 
tional principles: but we observe ammonia precipitating and 
redissolying the metallic salts; we observe likewise. water sa- 
turated with a salt beginning to crystallize,—the crystallization 
proceeding to a certain point, and the water then redissolving 
the crystals deposited. It is needless here to enter into the 
causes producing such effects, I merely wished to show that che- 
mistry was not without facts of this kind. With respect to the 
case under consideration, acid cannot be added to an unlimited 
extent ; for upon the addition of too considerable a quantity the 
salt may be deprived entirely of the water by superior affinity, 
as Berthollet has clearly demonstrated, 

The slight degree of acid, either in excess or free, which is 
apparent by the test, unless supported by other very powerful 
proofs cannot be depended on as decisive: the test proving no 
more than that +,4,;dth or ,,!,,dth part of the solution was acid, 
which minute portion might possibly adhere to the crystals. 

If a sufficient quantity of acid existed in the salts to require 
the preposition super, an effervescence on the affusion of water 
and the addition of carbonated alkali, would be observed in- 
variably; but which is seldom the case with the neutral salts 
carefully procured. Besides, many crystallized salts, on the ad- 
dition of water, divide into super- and sub-salts; the former solu- 
ble, the latter insoluble or nearly so: and sometimes the at- 
traction of the water for the acid is sufficiently strong in a de- 
gree to overcome the attraction of the acid for the base; either 
of which might be given as a reason for the indication of 
acidity. 

The salts of lead are conspicuous as being generally insoluble, 
owing probably to the great attraction between the acid and 
hase; and it has not been denied them, on that account, to 
class with the neutrals, and they are soluble on the addition of 
free acid. Not only an increase of the acid forming the salt, 
but often the addition of a different acid, as the acetic acid to 

the 


On the Metallic Salts. 35 


the muriat of lead, the nitric acid to the sulphat of silver, &c., 
promotes materially the solubility. 

In support of H.’s assertion, that metallic salts are super-salts 
with excess of oxide, he instances the formation of sulphat of 
iron; and says, that after the action ceases, if sufficient iron had 
been introduced, part of it remains uncombined, and the solu~ 
tion acid; but this arises, I conceive, from the want of contact 
between the free acid and iron, the crystals as they form sur- 
rounding it; and this, perhaps, is one reason why sulphat of iron 
is seldom obtained unmixed with the super-sulphat. 

He states also that acid is indicated on the application of the 
test to a large crystal of sulphat of copper on breaking it. I 
never had the satisfaction of obtaining a large crystal of the 
salt, and am inclined to suspect it more than probable he might 
try the blue vitriol of commerce, which is well known to be a 
super-salt, the neutral sulphat being seldom, if ever, obtained ; 
or, if he really tried a large crystal of the neutral sulphat, it is 
not unlikely that a minute portion of acid might have been re- 
tained in the interstices or between the laminz of the crystal. 

My opinion is, that there can be no solution of a metallic salt 
without acid either free or in excess. Fourcroy, as before ob- 
served, noticed this, as well as Bergman and most other chemical 
writers; and as this superabundance always appeared on the 
solution of the salt, or was required to be added to enable the 
salt to dissolve, it is natural to conclude that it is essential either 
to the existence or to the solution of the salt. I am inclined 
to adopt the latter opinion. 

Were the reasons before stated insufficient, I think the doc- 
trine of Dalton decisive in favour of the existing theory. From 
the mean of the most correct analysis,it appears that the binary 
and ternary salts are composed of an equal number of atoms of 
base and acid, or the one a multiple of the other, whether al- 
kaline, earthy, or metallic; and that, with very few exceptions, the 
neutral salts contain an equal number of atoms of base and acid, 
and in the super- and sub-salts the acid or base is a multiple of 
the other respectively ; a coincidence so strong, and in my judge- 
ment so conclusive, that if a minute quantity of acid can be de- 
tected in a neutral salt, it can only be considered in a free state, 
and by no meas a constituent part of the salt. 

I am, sir, 
Most obediently yours, 
Stoke Newington, Jan. 1, 1616. / G,.S. 


CZ 1X. On 


[ 36 


1X. On the dispersive Power of the Almosphere; and its Effect 
on astronomical Observations. By StEPHEN LE, Clerk and 
Librarian to the Reyal Society. Communicated ly W.H. 
Wot tasron, M.D. Sec. R.S.* 


Norwitnstanprxe the pains which astronomers have taken 
to determine accurately the refraction of mixed light, nothing, 
I believe, has ever been done towards ascertaining the dispersive 
power of common air, or comparative degree of refrangibility 
of the differently coloured rays in their passage through our at- 
mosphere. 

The importance of such an inquiry, however, must be obvious 
to every one who duly considers the effect which the different 
degrees of refrangibility of the variously coloured lights must 
necessarily produce in the apparent situations of differently-co- 
loured objects. Stars of different colours must be differently re- 
fracted, aud the apparent altitude of the sun must vary accord- 
ing to the colour of the dark glass through which he is viewed. 

Perhaps this cause alone is sufficient to explain the disagree- 
ment which is found to exist between the latitude of a place de- 
duced from observations of circumpolar stars, and that deduced 
from observations of the sun during the solstices, which has so 
long occupied the attention of astronomers, and has never yet 
been satisfactorily accounted fort. 

The dispersive power of the atmosphere will also show why 
Aldebaran and the red stars are sometimes seen projected on 
the moon’s disk in occultations by that planet, especially when 
the immersion or emersion happens to be near her upper limb. 
For the light of the moon being white, is more refracted than 
that of the star, and consequently her limb more elevated, which 
would occasion the star to appear within her disk a few seconds 
before or after contact}. 

The great disagreement which is found to exist in the decli- 
nation of several of the fixed stars, as given by different ob- 
servers, may probably be traced to the same cause, stars being 
more or less refracted according to the predominant colour of 
which their light is composed. 

That the fixed stars differ from each other in respect to the 
composition of their light, must be obvious to any one who will 


* From the Philosophical Transactions for 1815, part ii. 

+ Vide Mr. Piazzi’s Memoir on the Obliquity of the Ecliptic, in the Me- 
moirs of the Sucietd Italiana, vol. xi. ‘ 

{ Vide Philosophical Transactions, vol. Ixxxiv. p. 845. Histoire Céleste 
Frangoise, tom. 1. p. 93, 403, 418, 425, 428, 467, and Connoissance des 
Lemps for 1817. 

only 


<_. . - 


On the dispersive Power of the Aimosphere, Sc. 37 


only take the trouble of comparing them on a fine night. They 
present a striking variety of colour even to the nakedeye. But 
this difference becomes still more perceptible when ‘they are 
viewed through a prism properly adapted to the eye-piece of a 
reflecting telescope. 

A star viewed in this manner is converted into a prismatic 
spectrum. Sirius and the lridliant white stars exhibit a large 
brush of beautiful violet, and the most refrangible colours in 


' great abundance. Aldebaran, « Orionis, and the red stars show 


only a small proportion of those colours, whilst the dull white 
stars exhibit a great quantity of intense green light. 

The planets also differ much from each other in. this respect. 
The moon, Venus, and Jupiter, scem to possess every colour ; 
but the green is very pale in all of them. Mercury aud Mars 
appear deficient in the middle and most refrangible rays, whilst 
the light ef Saturn seems to be composed principally of the 
mean rays with a very small proportion of the extreme colours 
of the prism *, 

The different refrangibility of the differently coloured rays is 
very visible in stars near the horizon, If. viewed on a fine night 
with a power of 200 and upwards, they appear expanded into a 
prismatic spectrum. Sirius, when within a few degrees of the 
horizon, presents a most beautiful object. 

Having remarked the very oblong figure which the spectrum 
assumes when near the horizon, and pond from repeated obser- 
vatiens of different stars that the separation of light begins te be 
visible as high as 40° or 50° of altitude, 1 was led to believe that 
the dispersive power of the atmosphere must be sufficient, in 
many cases, to produce considerable effect on astronomical ob- 
servations ; and, consequently, to suppose that it would be de- 
sirable to ascertain, if possible, the exact degree of separation 
of the several rays t. 

With this view, therefore, I began a series of observations ; 
the result of w! hich, and the manner of conducting them, I shall 
now take the liberty of laying before the Society. 


* Query. May not this circumstance explain why oaeures though less 
brilliant, bears magnifying better than Jupiter and Venus} 

+ Dr. Herschel, in a note to his paper on Double Stars, published in 
the seventy-fifth volume of the Philesophical ‘Transactions, says that the 
prismatic power of the atmosphere is very visible in low stars; and very 
justly observes that this power ought not to be everlooked in delicate and 
low observations: he gives the measure of two diameters of ¢ Sagittarii, 
which seem to indicate that the refraction of the extreme Tays 1s about 
gy x the mean refraction. I think it due to that great astronomer to 
menuon the circumstance, though it was totally unknown to me till long 


-after I had completed my observations on Mars, 


C3 The 


38 On the dispersive Power of the Almosphere, &c. 


The first instrument employed for the purpose with any de- 
gree of satisfaction, was the two-feet reflector made by Mr. 
Short, and which belongs to the Royal Society. In the com- 
pound focus of the eye-piece of this telescope, I fixed horizon- 
tally a narrow slip of ivory. With the instrument thus pre- 
pared, I observed Capella, “and other low stars near the meri- 
dian. By carefully noticing the intervals of time between the 
first contact and total immersion, and between the first appear- 
ance and complete emersion of the star from behind the slip of 
ivory, I obtained data from which it was easy to calculate its 
. vertical breadth, which, compared by estimation with its hori- 
zontal breadth, gave the separation of the extreme rays of light. 

It was impossible, however, to remain long satisfied with 
such coarse measures, and not finding it convenient to go to 
much expense on this account, I applied to my friend Mr. 
Rennie for the loan of his seven-feet reflector made by Dr. 
Herschel, to which I adapted a very excellent wire micrometer 
made by Mr. Troughton ; and thus, by the kind assistance of 
my friends, [ obtained instruments capable of measuring small 

angles to the fraction of a second of space. 

With this apparatus I repeatedly measured the diameter of 
Mars during his opposition in 1813, The Society’s apartments 
being well situated for the purpose, 1 observed the planet as 
soon as he became visible over the buildings, until he attained 
his meridian altitude, which never exceeded 15°. 

Witii a power of 170 and upwards, the disk of the planet ap- 
peared much elongated, especially when near the horizon; the 
upper limb was of a fine blue, the lower limb of a deep red. 

By carefully measuring the diameter of Mars and the breadth 
of the coloured edges, I endeavoured to ascertain, as exactly as 
possible, the degree of separation of the differently coloured 
images of the planet. 

But after all it was no easy matter to measure the coloured 
edges exactly, for the light which was necessary to illuminate 
the wires, seadeted the colours so very faint as to make it ex- 
tremely difficult to distinguish their precise boundaries. For 
this reason, and because I wished to apply higher powers than 
could be used with the micrometer, I adopted the following , 
method, which I found far more convenient, and is, I believe, 
quite as accurate. 

I drew on a sheet of paper several figures of two equal circles 
cutting each other, placing the centres of the circles in the first 
figure (Plate I.) +!,th of their radius from each other; in the se- 
cond figure ;8,ths; in the third ;3,ths; and so on. The upper 
crescent of these figures I painted blue, the lower crescent red, 

and 


On the dispersive Power of the Atmosphere, &s'c. 39 


and the part common to both circles of a reddish yellow, soften- 
ing the colours into each other as they appeared in the planet. 
For I considered that, in fact, it was not a single image of Mars 
that was seen, but a number of differently coloured images, 
lying in the same direction, though lifted one above another, as 
represented in the annexed figures. 


= 


Fig os 


me 


Having prepared a number of these drawings, I repeatedly 
compared them with the planet viewed through the telescope 
with different magnifying powers, carefully noting which figure 
he most resembled, and the time of observation. 

This being done, it was easy to calculate the exact altitude 
from the time of observation, and to make a very near estimate 
of the separation of the images from the figure referred to, com~- 
pared with the diameter of the planet found by the micrometer. 

From a great number of observations on Mars, Venus, and 
the fixed stars, taken in all these different ways, I found the de- 
viation of the extreme rays of light to be between gisth and th 

art of the total refraction. 

It has already been observed, that the disagreement which is 
found to exist between the latitude of a place deduced from ob- 
servations of circumpolar stars, and that from observations of 
the sun, may perhaps be traced to the use of dark glasses. But 
this will appear more evidently from a reference to the method 
employed by Dr. Bradley for determining the quantity of re- 
fraction, which method is very clearly. described by Dr. Maske- 
lyne in the seventy-seventh volume of the Philosophical Trans- 
actions. He says, ’ . 

That Dr. Bradley got the height of the pole from observations 
of the circumpolar stars, and the height of the equator from 
observations of the sun at the two equinoxes ; that he found 
these two altitudes together amounted to 89°, 58’, 3”, which 
being subtracted from 90°, leaves 1’, 57”, for the sum of the 
refractions at the pole and equator ; and that of this quantity 
he assigned 454” to the former, and 712” to the latter. 

But Dr. Bradley undoubtedly made use of dark glasses for 
observing the sun, probably smoked glasses, which would ewe 

C4 im 


40 On the dispersive Power of the Amosphere, €c. 


him a pale orange-coloured image, or one of less than mean re- 
frangibility; consequently, the quantity of refraction as found 
by Dr. Bradley must be too small for white light. 

This alone is sufficient to produce a small difference between 
the results of our observations of the sun and of the stars. I 
shall now mention two other circumstances which appear to me 
to have produced a still greater apparent disagreement. 

The publication of the Nautical Almanack in 1767, led to the 
general use of Hadley’s sextant. In the construction of this 
instrument, coloured glasses were indispensibly necessary; and 
the great convenience in the use of them over smoked glasses, 
soon occasioned the application of them to all other instruments. 
These glasses generally give a deep-red image, or one of less re- 
frangibility than smoked glass. The effect of this alteration, 
therefore, should have been, that arising from too great correc- 
tion for refraction in every thing depending on observations of 
the sun. 

The introduction of achromatic cbject-glasses* produced an 
error of a different kind; and one which, in certain cases, tends 
to correct the other. In the single object-glass telescope (and 
there were no others in Bradley’s time) the differently coloured 
images are formed at different focal distances, which, in a man- 
ner, compels the observer to adjust his instrument to the most 
intense light; that is to say, to the orange-coloured + image ; by 
this means the fainter colours, which occupy the greatest space 
in the spectrum ¢, are dissipated, and lost among the more power- 
ful rays. In good achromatic telescopes the case is very dif- 
ferent, for all the rays being collected-by them into one point, 
every colour is seen in its proper place ; so that the observer, in 
bisecting the spectrum, takes the altitude of the mean, or the 
upper extremity of the green image. 

But if the upper extremity of the green image be taken in’ 
observations of cireumpolar stars, a greater correction than Dr. 
Bradiey’s ought to be applied, in order to get the true height of 
the pole. 

It may not be amiss to cbserve here, that the observations of 
Mr. Lalande at Paris, show a greater disagreement than those 
at Greenwich ; and the observations of Mr. Piazzi at Palermo, 
a still greater than those of Mr. Lalande. ‘This, I apprehend, 
must arise partly from the lesser elevation of the pole in those 
places, and partly from the fainter colours in the stellar spectra, 


Greenwich in 1772, and to the north quadrant in 1789, 
t Vide Newton’s Optics, book [. part i. prop. Vil, 
} Ibid. book J, part 11. prop, iii, 


* An achromatic object-glass was first applied to the south quadrant at 


being 


A Geological Sketch of a Part of Cumberland, &c. 41 


being more distinctly visible in the clear atmospheres of France 
and Italy than in England. 

It should seem then, that in order to get a perfect knowledge 
of astronomical refraction, we ought to employ at least three 
different methods of investigation. Ist. By observations of the ~ 
fixed stars during the night, when all the prismatic colours are 
visible. 2dly. By observations of the stars during the day, 
when none but the orange-coloured rays are to be seen. And 
3dly. By observations of the sun with different coloured glasses. 
By these means we might hope to obtain such an accurate know- 
ledge of atmospheric refraction as would enable us to form tables 
adapted to every possible circumstance. 

But I must not take up the time of the Society by any addi- 
tional observations. It isin vain for me to pursue the subject 
any further, in a situation so ill-adapted to astronomical obser- 
vations as Somerset Place: I shall therefore resign the task to 
those who are more favourably placed in this respect, and who 
possess instruments better calculated for an inyestigation which 
requires so much accuracy. 


X. A Geological Sketch of a Part of Cumberland and West- 
moreland. By A CoRRESPONDENT. 


Taz geology of Great Britain has of late years become an ob- 
ject of considerable attention, and much has been done in ac- 
quiring a knowledge of the different rocks, their relative position, 
and the extent they occupy on the surface,—more especially in 
the south of England, where the different formations appear to 
have been described with as much accuracy as the present state 


of our knowledge of the subject will admit. In the northern 


counties, however, little has been done except so far as regards 
the Newcastle coal-formation, and the metalliferous rocks of the 
Cross Fell range of mountains; and although the counties of 
Cumberland and Westmoreland have been frequently visited by 
very eminent mineralogists, and some attempts have been made 
in describing their geology; yet from the multiplicity of forma- 
tions they contain, these formations occurring in such detached 
and insulated patches, and the very great difficulty in investi- 
gating and ascertaining their relative positions, we must consi- 
der our knowledge of the physical structure of these counties as 
still very imperfect. As this knowledge can only be acquired by 
the united efforts of a number of individuals, 1 take the liberty 
of offering to this Society*, the following notices of some rocks 


* The Literary and Philosophical Society, Newcastle, ’ 
which 


42 A Geological Sketch of Part of 


which seem hitherto to have escaped the attention of mineralo- 
gists. The Cross Fell range of mountains is composed of lime- 
stone, sandstone, slate-clay, coal and greenstone ; the dip of the 
strata is towards the south-east, the mountains are very preci- 
pitous towards the west, and generally rest upon the old red 
sandstone; but that this is not always the case, the following 
facts will prove. At the foot of the Cross Fell range towards 
the west, a series of small conical hills make their appearance, 
which I have traced froin beside Helton near Brough in West- 
moreland, to the boundary of the county of Cumberland, a di- 
stance of about twelve miles; but the base of these hills is no 
where more than three quarters of a mile in breadth. From the 
observations of Professor Buckland, of which a short notice was 
published in Thomson’s Annals, it appears that these hills, or at 
least the rocks which compose them, extend considerably further 
north, at least as far as Melmerby in Cumberland ; but this was 
unknown to me at the time 1 examined this neighbourhood. 
These hills or pikes, as they are called in the county, are com- 
posed of greenstone, grau-wacke and grau-wacke slate; and on 
the north side of Dufton pike, which is the central one, granite 
is found. 

These primitive and transition rocks do not form a continued 
line, but are interrupted by the red sandstone which nearly sur- 
rounds the hills or pikes, till it almost comes in contact with the 
limestone rocks: but although I have seen these rocks on the 
surface at the distance of not more than 50 yards from eaeh 
other, I have never been able to find their junction, nor to sa- 
tisfy myself as to their relative positions. At Dufton there is a 
very good section of the junction of the metalliferous rocks with 
the grau-wacke. The limestone, &c. in approaching the older 
rocks, vary from their nearly horizontal position, and rise towards 
the west at an angle of about 45° against the side of Dufton 
pike; and on the other side of the pike we find the red sand- 
stone dipping towards the west. On Dufton pike both the 
granite and grau-wacke have been quarried for the purpose of 
repairing the roads. 

At Warcop the grau-wacke is covered by a very singular 
limestone, some strata of which are so full of fragments of 
quartz, that at first sight I took it for an alternation of grau- 
wacke with limestone. The other strata are, however, compact, 
resembling basalt with small spangles of mica interspersed, and 
there is one of oolite; the dip of this limestone is to the west, 
at an angle of 10° or 12°, and its outgoings are covered by the 
metalliferous rocks, which, as is always the case in this neigh- 
bourhood upon their coming near the older rocks, haye their in- 

clination 


Cumberland and Westmoreland. 43 


elination increased; but the increase here is very great, making 
an angle of not less than 70° with the horizon. This limestone 
is not more than half a mile in breadth, when the red sandstone 
is found in nearly a conformable position, and appears to rest 
upon the limestone; but of this I am not certain, as I could not 
see these rocks incontact. I am inclined to consider this lime- 
stone as belonging to the transition class, although 1 am aware 
that it will be objected to,on account of its having beds of oolite, 
which is always considered as belonging to the newest floetz. 
{ am afraid we fetter ourselves too much by considering certain 
fossils as belonging exclusively to certain classes of rocks, by 
which means many encrusting fossils are overlooked. Mr. Bigg 
found ashestus iu greenstone at Melmerby Scar, and [ have lately 
found the same substance forming veins in transition greenstone 
in the neighbourhood of Keswick :—now this mineral is always 
described as belonging only to serpentine rocks. I found car- 
bonate of strontian in the basalt of the Giant’s Causeway, and 
this substance is said only to belong to primitive mountains. 

It is now about twelve years ago since I first observed granite 
on Skiddaw and Saddleback, since when it has been frequently | 
visited ; but its relation with the other rocks composing these 
mountains not having been ascertained, | was induced to ex- 
amine them this summer. ‘The granite is found in the bed of 
the rivulet which separates these mountains, and extends north- 
ward across the river Calduo to Carrick Fell; it is rather small- 
grained, composed of white felspar, quartz, and grayish mica. 
The summits of Skiddaw and Saddleback are clay-slate and 
hornblende-slate in alternate beds, dipping to the south at an 
angle of about 60°, and resting immediately on the granite; but 
on Carrick Fell this rock is covered by gneiss, the felspar of 
which is of a grayish-white colour; the mica abundant, but in 
minute scales ; so that this rock might be mistaken for a thin 
slaty micaceous sandstone, were it not sufficiently characterized 
by the felspar. The gneiss is again covered by mica-slate, which 
becoming mixed with hornblende, passes ito hornblende-slate, 
thus proving the hornblende-slate, and consequently the clay- 
slate, to be of the same formation as the mica-slate. On the 
other part of Carrick Fell, the mica-slate is covered by sienite, 
which forms nearly the whole of the mountains of Carrick and 
Caldbeck Fells. This sienite varies very much in its appearance : 
the first rock of it we meet with is very small grained, consisting 
of reddish felspar-quartz, and very little green hornblende; after 
that a beautiful large-grained variety is found; the felspar white 
with black hornblende, the crystals of which are frequently 
early an inch in length. As we proceed northward the — 

blende 


44 A Geological Sketch of a Part of Cumberland, &ec. | 


blende increases in quantity, and the sienite passes by almost 
imperceptible gradations into a compact greenish-black green- 
stone; and on the summit of High-pike this greenstone forms 
the basis of an elegant porphyry with crystals of green felspar 
resembling the antique porphyry. Near High-pike a strong 
east and west vein is wrought for lead; but, from the hardness 
of the rock and the difficulty of separating the numerous ores, | 
am afraid not to much advantage. The vein stones in this mine 
are quartz and sulphate of ‘barytes, often so internately mixed 
as to form a very singular stone. The ores are sulphuret of 
lead, carbonate of lead, and phosphate of lead*, blende, copper- 
pyrites, grey copper ore, green and blue copper ore, and ma- 
lachite. The galena is antimonial, and is very rich in silver, 
yielding in the refining furnace about 60 ounces in the ton. I 
traced this vein westward for about three miles to a place called 
Silver Gill, where there is a very fine section of it on the sur- 
face; it is about three fathoms wide and hades to the north at 
an angle of about 65°. There is a tradition in the county, that 
at this place a rich silver mine was wrought in the time of 
queen Elizabeth, and certain it is that there are remains of very 
extensive workings. An attempt has been made last spring to 
recover this mine, for which purpose a trench has been cut across 
the direction of the vein so as to bore the rock ; and although 
this trench is not more than 200 yards from the old works, the 
vein has not been found. The cause of failure is, that the sienite 
is here covered by grau-wacke slate, into which the vein does 
not penetrate: this is different from what has been observed in 
Cornwall, where the veins traverse both the granite and grau- 
wacke slate; and I consider it as an interesting fact, since it so 
decidedly marks the difference between these rocks. The clay- 
slate and hornblende slate on the summits of Skiddaw and Sad- 
dieback, with the granite gneiss and mica-slate, and the sienite 
of Carrick and Caldbeck Fells, must therefore belong to the pri- 
mitive class of rocks; whilst the grau-wacke and grau-wacke 
slate which entirely surrounds these mountains are transition 
rocks. Some other veins have been wrought for copper in the 
sienite, but not to any great extent; nor do they appear to be of 
much value. Near Hatfield Hall is a vein containing the oxides 
of titanium and iron (the titan-eisan of the Germans) ;—By the 
bye, Why is this fossil not described in any mineralogical work ? 


* T found one specimen which I believe to be muriate of lead; it has 
the following characters ;— Crystal, a rectangular prism; colour, grayish- 
white ; lustre, highly resplendent adamantine, much superior to carbenate of 
Jead ; hardness superior to carbonat of lead. Not wishing to injure the 
specimen, I am not able to give any other of its characters. M 

Wit. 


Specimen of a new Nomenclature for Meteorological Science. 45 


Mr. Sheffield discovered molybdina in the same neighbourhood ; 
and I found a very well defined specimen of wolfram on quartz 
‘in the bed of the river Calduo. 

The coal-formation of Whitehaven is covered at St. Bees 
Head by a curious bituminous clay, formed, as it were, of a 
number of hollow cones inserted into each other, till a column is 
formed whose length (about a foot) is equal to the thickness of 
the stratum, and by the lateral aggregation of these columns the 
whole bed is formed: over this is a limestone containing mag- 
nesia and iron, and exactly resembling some of the dark-co- 
loured more compact beds at Whitby. Above this is a red 
sandstone, connected with which is clay, marl, and gypsum. Thus 
a beautiful uniformity exists on the two sides of the island; for 
if we suppose the limestone, &c. of the neighbourhood of Cocker- 
mouth to accord with the metalliferous rocks of Alston Moor, 
the Whitehaven coal-formation with that of Neweastle, the 
magnesian limestone of St. Bees with the Sunderland limestone, 
and the red sandstone with that of the 'Tees,—we have the series 
complete. Notwithstanding the opinion of Professor Kidd, that 
our rocks are ina state of absolute confusion, I think I could 
show that our rocks, though numerous and occurring in small” 
compass, are remarkably regular in their relations: but it would 
be leading me too far from the object of this paper, which is 
merely intended as a notice of some rocks which have lately 
fallen under my observation. 


XI. Specimen of a new Nomenclature for Meteorological — 
Science. By Tuomas Forsrer, Esq. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


r 

Sir, — Dur propensity which the English writers have to bor- 
row from other languages terms used technically in the sciences, 
renders their works so very difficult to be understood by those 
who do not understand the languages from which the words are 
derived. Besides which, their habit of borrowing words has a 
tendency to obliterate the distinctive characters of different 
tongues, and has already made the English a motley and unphi- 
losophical group of exotic words, which one might well suppose 
had sprung from the confusion of Babel. It is my intention to 
construct a scientific nomenclature (entirely out of our own lan- 
guage, or its mother-tongue the Saxon), and to adopt it in 
my journals of meteorology. 1 subjoin at present only a few 
technical names, which I shall henceforward use, and which 1 
_ have already made, partly from the consideration above alluded 
to, and partly from having been repeatedly desired by ane 

aie 


46 Specimen of a new Nomenclature for Meteorological Science. 


and others who have made use of Mr. Howard’s paper on the 
Clouds, and of my last Essay on Atmospheric Phenomena, in 
order to depict more accurately clouds, &c. and to make an 
English nomenclature, as many persons unaccustomed to Latin 
could not retain the distinctions of the Latin nomenclatures in 
their memories. The Latin terms for clouds, originally made by 
L, Howard, are very useful in descriptions in Latin, and in 
those which are to go abroad, or which are for scientific persons 
only; and should, I think, he inserted with the others. But we 
ought to use terms of science constructed out of the language in 
which that science is treated of.—I subjoin the following names 
for clouds, substituted for the former ones, and others substi- 
tuted for those which I constructed from the Latin for halos 
_and other phenomena made by refraction; and shall proceed in 
future to a more extended nomenclature for other terms of me- 
-teorological science. 

Crrrus, or Curtctoup. I propose to call this the curlcloud, 
from its constant tendency te assume the fibrous and flexible 
forms. It is bent and curled in all directions; and curlcloud 
comes nearest to its old name cirrus, of which cirrulus and curl 
are diminutives. 

CirrocuMULUS, or SONDERCLOUD, 7. e. cloud consisting of 
an aggregate of clouds asunder (from A. 8. sond, Old Eng. a- 
sonder and sonder): the distinguishing marks of this cloud 
being that of separate orbs aggregated together, and the change 
to this cloud from others is a separation of continuity into par- 
ticules. 

CirrostRAtus, or WaNEcLoUD. The constantly evanescent 
state of this cloud in all its forms suggests this name. It is al- 
ways subsiding or altering its form, or waning, a verb now not 
so much used as formerly, and which comes from the Anglo- 
Saxon Fynizean, evanescere; whence also our words to faint, 
feint, &c. 

Cumutus, or STACKENCLOUD, 7.¢. stackt cloud, from being 
piled or heaped up ; ¢o stack being a known verb for piling up. 
The participial termination en gives the word a pleasanter sound 
then stackcloud. 

Stratus, or FALLCLouD, being the subsidence or falling of 
the aqueous particles in the evening, I first thought of even- 
cloud, corresponding to the German alendwolke ; but that is 

not definite enough, as many clouds become evening clouds. 
‘  CumMuLosrratus, or TWAINcLouD; being the visible result 
often of the coalescence of two modifications (supposed with 
opposite electricities) and when it forms primarily a similar union 
being conjectured of particules separately electrified as soon as 


formed, 
NiMBUs, 


EE 
’ 


eo 


Influence of the Atmosphere on the Electro-Galvanic Column. 47 


Nimbus, or Ratnctoup, may be subdivided, and described 
shortly, as stormcloud, thundercloud, &e. 

Hatos will be called Moonrrnes, Sunrines, &c. 

Coronas will be called Mooncrowns, &c. But I give this 
merely as an imperfect specimen of the nomenelature I am 
making, and which I shall publish and give in your Magazine in 
a short time: meanwhile I shall adopt these words of Saxon de- 
rivation in my journal, and give an explanation in the notes to 
those not inserted here. 

I am, &c. 
Tuomas Forsrer. 


XI. On the Influence of the Atmosphere on the Electro- Galvanic 
Column of M.De Luc. By Mr. J.Tarum. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — ben vecertibees various accounts of Mr. De Luc’s electrical 
column have appeared in your Magazine, I do not recollect that 
any journal of its action as connected with atmospherical in- 
fluence has yet appeared. Having long observed the very con- 
siderable alteration which every thermometrical change in the 
atmosphere produced on the operation of this instrument, I 
determined on keeping a regular journal, and noticing its cor- 
responding change with those indicated by the barometer, ther- 
mometer, De Luc’s hygrometer, and the direction of the wind, 
The results of my observations as deduced from my daily register 
of those instruments have convinced me that the greatest changes 
in the oscillations of the ball on De Luc’s columns are chiefly, 
if not entirely owing to the increased temperature of the at- 
mosphere, and not to its moisture, as some of my philosophical 
friends had supposed. By the following extract of my journal, 
it appears that when the thermometer was 52° and hygrometer 
81°, the ball of the columns oscillated only 248 times in a mi- 
nute; but when the thermometer was 56° and the hygrometer 
50°, it oscillated 284 times ; a satisfactory proof that the heat 
and not the moisture of the atmosphere increased the action of the 
instrument. In the latter case, | had removed the instrument 
to the gallery of my lecture-room, where the thermometer was 
14° higher, ard the hygrometer 5° drier than at the place from 
whence it was removed. 

It is proper also to add, that from the Ist till the 13th of the 
month the thermometer and hygrometer were not in the same 
apartment with the electrical columns, a circumstance which 
may haye occasioned some difference in the results, Since that 

period 


48 On ihe Influence of the Almosphere on the Electric Coluinms 


period the whole apparatus has been inclosed together in @ 
glass case, where all experience the same atmospheric influence. 

As my columns are constructed similar to those already de- 
scribed in your Magazine, it will be unnecessary to describe them 
any further than to say that the diameter of the balls is 2°65 
inches, their distance from each other 0- 58, and the diameter of 
the gold ball 0:4 inches. I have constructed several other co- 
lumns of different diameters; and from a comparison of one 
which is only 0:53 of an inch in diameter with one whieh is 
0:76 of an inch (and by which this register is kept), | am in- 
clined to believe that the power of the instrument is very little 
increased by the diameter of the plates, but that it regularly in- 
creases with their number. But, as I am engaged in making 
other columns of different construction and diameter, [ shall 
soon be enabled to speak more decisively on this head. 


JOseillations 


Direc-| Vher- 
Date. {sion af haeee. B i Elyero: ina 
Wind. | ter. MIEPES MBSE minute. 
Dec. 1 Ss 55 29:90 380 268 . 
2 S Hye 30°15 81 248 
3 SE 51 30°10 79 240 
4 NW 51 29°85 69 222 
5 SW 44 300 68 210 
6 NW 45 29'5 66 200 
7 NW 43 29°85 71 200 
8| N | 31 |30:05| 60 | - 186 * 
9 N 290 30°10 61 168 
10 N 384 80 40 65 182 
11 N 36 80°40 63 188 
12 N 44 80°35 63 194 
13 | SW |. 43 | 30:30 | 65 194 
14 SW 45 80°35 59 192 
15 SW 47 29°90 61 206 
16 W 50 29°20 |. 60 224 
17 W 45 29:10 55 200 
18 W 42 29°46 55 186 
In the | 
Galleryof} 
Lecture- 
Room. 56 | 29°50.| ‘50 284 
19 W 42 29:60 54 186 
20 45 29°40 56 200 


21 


I am, sir, 


Be Yours, . 
Darset-street, Salisbury-square, J. Tatum. 
Dec. 21, 1815. 


a 


XIII, De- 


‘ . f Abiiny @ 

XIII. Description of a Gas Lamp for Coal- Mines, invented 
’ by Mr. E. Carrer, of Exeter. Communicated in a Letter 

Srom Mr. Carter to Sir H. Davy*. 

Exeter, Dec. 27, 1815. 

Sir, — es many shocking accounts of accidents in coal-mines 
from the explosion of gas, induced me (no doubt with many 
others) to consider some means of preventing such dreadful ac- 
cidents. The contrivance of a lantern that might be kept as it 
were insulated from the atmosphere of the mine, appeared the 
most likely mode of preventing explosion; and I thought mine, 
of which I have subjoined a sketch, would fully answer the pur- 
pose. When I was about sending this to the Editor of The Phi- 
losophical Magazine, your experiments and very learned obser- 
vations on the subject, and very ingenious contrivance of a safety- 
lantern, appeared in that work ; the excellence of which in sim- 
plicity and portability rendered it unnecessary, I thought, for 
me to say any thing respecting mine. However, on reconsider- 
ing the matter, I am induced to think that the coal-mines may 
be lighted with much advantage, in point of expense, with gas, 
as the material for its production rises on the spot. My first 
plan was intended for burning oil, and the addition of the pipe 
for conducting gas is the only alteration made, 

The pipes a and J are main pipes, the one to conduct gas from 
the gasometer, the other to bring a supply of air to maintain 


ra a 


* Communicated by Sir H, Dev) to the Editor, 
Vol. 47, No, 213. Jan, 1816, 2 the 


50 Notices respecting New Books. - 


the combustion: the air-pipe to be kept full by the degree of 
pressure that may be found requisite from bellows kept in mo- 
tion by the steam-engine; the size of the bellows to he pro- 
portioned to the number of lights that are to be fed. The lan- 
tern should be made perfectly air-tight, the crown of which 
should terminate, as represented in the sketch, by a tube im- 
mersed in water contained in the basin c. The air vitiated by 
combustion would run into the tube and be forced through the 
water by the pressure of air from the bellows. On one side of 
the lantern hangs an air-tight glove fastened round a hole suf- 
ficiently large to admit a man’s hand; and on the same side is 
a case of matches and a bottle which may be ignited without 
air escaping from the lantern, or finding its way into the lantern 
from the mine. The aperture for the hand may be further se- 
cured by a door on the outside. d is an enlarged sketch of the 
gas-burner and air-pipe which may be united with the lantern 
by the screw e. 

Should this contrivance be founded on erroneous principles, 
which a very limited knowledge of science makes me doubtful 
of, IT hope that I shall be forgiven this intrusion, and that an 
attempt to be useful will, with Sir Humphry Davy, be sufficient 
apology for any liberty of this nature. 

I am, sir, 
Your most obedient humble servant, 


£. CarTER. 
To Sir H. Davy, Sc. &&c. Se. 


*.* The idea of the “ air-tight glove,’ suggested by Mr. 
Carter, deserves the attention of the mine-owners, as it furnishes 
a mean for relighting the lamp when extinguished, without any 


danger of an explosion.— Note by Sir H. Davy. 


XIV. Notices respecting New Books. 


On the Fire-damp of Coal-mines, from the Philosophical 
Transactions of the Royal Society. With an Advertisement 
containing an Account of an Invention for lighting the 
Mines and consuming the Fire-damp without Danger to the 
Miner. By Si Humpury Davy, LL.D. F.R.S, P.R.L 


Svo. 


Sin H, Davy has published in an octavo form, the paper read 
before the Royal Society, inserted in our last number. The 
publication is prefaced with the following advertisement, which 
deserves to be very generally made known, as it describes a dis- 

; covery 


. Notices respecting New Books. 5h 


covery made by Sir Humphry, since the reading of his paper, 
which may be considered as an invention even more important 
than that forming the subject of the paper itself. 

This publication has the following dedication : 

*¢ To the Lord Bishop of Durham, who has taken that warm 
interest in the subject of these pages which might have been 
expected from his exalted benevolence. 

** They are dedicated as a testimony of the respect and at- 
tachment of the author. 


6 ADVERTISEMENT, 


“It is impossible to converse with, persons in the neighbour- 
hood of the collieries where explosions have happened from the 
fire-damp, and not to be strongly affected by the accounts they 
give of the destruction of human life and the variety of human 
misery produced by these dreadful accidents. By a single ex- 
plosion in the Felling colliery* 94 persons were destroyed, and 
nearly as many families plunged into deep distress; and the 
frequency of the occurrence of these catastrophes, notwith- 
standing the improvements in the ventilation of the mines, and 
the continued activity of the persons concerned in the care of 
the works, had almost produced a feeling of despair in the 
minds of many benevolent persons, as to the possibility of finding 
a remedy sufficiently simple and oeconomica! to be used in the 
mines ; and when | first turned my attention to the inquiry, it 
was rather with a faint hope than a strong expectation of dis- 
covering in the resources of chemistry means of securing the 
miner from the effects of the fire-damp. 

“ On considering the subject before I was acquainted with the 
nature of the gas, the simple method of burning a lamp ina pueu- 
matic apparatus supplied with air through water occurred to me, as 
it probably has to every one versed in chemistry; but I found, on 
inquiry, that this idea had been long ago put into execution by 
Dr. Clanny, and published, whilst I was absent from England, 
in the Philosophical Transactions. Dr, Clanay showed me his 
lamp at Bishop Wearmouth, after I had made some inquiries as 
to the state of the mines. I[t. appeared to me ingeniously ex- 
ecuted; hut when I proposed the trial of it to some enlightened 
and liberal inspectors of miyes, they stated that its size, weight, 


* A very interesting account of this event has been published by the 
Rev. John todgson, { have named this gentleman amongst many others 
who obligingly gave me assistance in my inquiries, and I cannot mention 
him again suithernts again making my acknowledgements for-the variety of 
information he afforded me during the visits that we made together to the 
collieries, and for the general interest he has taken in my experiments of 


the subject. 
D2 and 


§2 Notices respecting New Books. 


and the manual labour or machinery required to work it, ren- 
dered it inapplicable for the common uses of the collieries. 

«©] had a very portable lamp made on the principle of entire 
insulation from the atmosphere, into which the air was thrown, 
not through water, but by a small piston secured by valves ; and 
in this I found I could detonate any gaseous mixtures made ex- 
plosive by atmospherical air, without communication of the ex- 
plosion to the external atmosphere: but finding during an in- 
vestigation of the chemical properties of the fire-damp new and 
unexpected principles of security, I gave up all experiments upon 
the piston-lamp, as well as upon another contrivance of an en- 
tirely different kind described in the Appendix. 

“‘ The principles of security furnished to me by a philosophical 
inquiry into the properties of the gas are all derived from the 
general fact, that the fire-damp requires a much higher tempera- 
ture for its combustion than other inflammable gases. Hence 
small additions of azote or carbonic acid destroy the explosive 
powers of mixtures of fire-damp and air; hence explosions of 
mixtures will not take place when their quantities are small 
compared to the cooling surfaces to which they are exposed ; 
and hence one part of an explosive atmosphere of fire-damp 
may be burnt in free communication with another by certain 
cooling apertures or surfaces without any danger of explosion. 

“* As soon as I had fully developed the principles of security, 
which was towards the end of October, I hada lamp constructed, 
which I found was uniformly extinguished when introduced into y 
explosive mixtures of the fire-damp, and I communicated my 
views on the subject in two papers read before the Royal Society, 
November 9 and November 16. 

‘““ The President of the Royal Society, with his accustomed zeal 
for the promotion of every useful public object, suggested to the 
Council of that Body the propriety of giving speedy circulation 
to these inquiries, and the Council liberally sanctioned their 
immediate publication. 

“I consequently condensed the two papers into one; added 
some improvements in the construction of the lamps, and gave 
to the investigations the form in which they appear in the fol- 
lowing pages. 

«Since the paper and the Appendix have been printed, the 
consideration of the principle has led me to a discovery which 
appears the most important in the whole progress of these re- 
searches. 

** When I found that explosive mixtures admitted through 
narrow metallic canals brought in contact with flame, burnt only 
at the surface where they issued, I had hopes of keeping up a 

constant 


a” 


Notices respecting New Books. 53 


constant flame from explosive mixtures issuing from tubes or 
canals ; but on trying this, even in atmospherical air, it failed. 

<< Conceiving that the failure was owing to the great cooling 
powers of the metallic sides of the canal, it occurred to me to 
try the metallic wire-jlame sieves, and with these I had perfect 
success. 

“{ inclosed a very small lamp in a cylinder made of wire- 
gauze having 6400 apertures in the square inch. I closed all 
apertures except those of the gauze, and introduced the lamp 
burning brightly within the cylinder into a large jar containing 
several quarts of the most explosive mixture of gas from the di- 
stillation of coal and air; the flame of the wick immediately dis- 
appeared, or rather was lost, for the whole of the interior of the 
eylinder became filled with a feeble but steady flame, of a green 
colour, which burnt for! some minutes, till it had entirely de- 
stroyed the explosive power of the atmosphere. 

‘© This result, so satisfactory, immediately led to a number of 
experiments which gave results, if possible, still more satisfac- 
tory. 

“ T introduced the lamp inclosed in the cylinder, at different 
times, into large quantities of various explosive mixtures, some 
containing only one volume of coal-gas to four of air, and others 
containing one of coal gas to 13 of air. In all cases the flame 
was confined to the cylinder, and in all of them it continued till 
the mixture ceased to be explosive. 

‘In mixtures of 13, 12, and 11 parts of air to.one of coal- 
gas, the flame of the taper did not disappear; it became paler, 
however, and blended with the flame of the explosive mixture 
filling the cylinder. As the quantity of the inflammable air di- 
minished, the fame became limited to the wick, and was gra- 
dually extinguished. . When there was as much as one of coal- 
gas to 7 or 8 of air, the flame of the taper was lost at first in 
the flame of the explosive mixture, which was very bright; but 
it appeared as the mixture became less explosive. 

“‘ When the coal-gas was 1 .to 4 or 5, the flame of the wick 
never appeared in any part of the experiment; and the light of the 
flame from the mixture was weaker than in the other experiments. 

‘In taking the wire-cylinder and its lamp out of the explo- 
sive mixture, the flame of the lamp continued to burn in the at- 
mosphere. 

‘In all the experiments the flame of the explosive mixture 
in the cylinder had more or less of a greenish cast, which is pro- 
bably to be attributed to the effect of the brass wire. 

“In one instance, in which a very large wick was burnt in a 
very smal] cylinder, the wire-gauze became red hot opposite to 
the wick at the first moment of the introduction of the cyclinder 

D3 into 


54 Notices respecting New Books. 


into an atmosphere consisting of about 1 of coal-gas and 11 of 
air; but it soon lost this temperature; and in other experiments 
made with smaller wicks in a dark room, I have seldom seen the 
wire dull red: bnt as no explosion ever took place in an atmo- 
sphere made explosive by coal-gas, the circumstance, for reasons 
that will be fully stated in the communication made to the Royal 
Society *, wiil hold good with much more certainty of the fire- 
damp. ' 

**T own | expected an explosion in the instance when I saw 
the wire-gauze red hot ; but the mass of heated matter was pro- 
bably too small to heat considerably the portion of gas in con- 
tact with it, and the cool air must have entered principally at 
this part of the wire- gauze cylinder, and must speedily have re- 
duced the temperature ; and I have since found that a red-hot 
wire of less than the )th of an inch does not explode mixtures 
of coal-gas and air. 

“ When I took the wire-gauze lamp out of the most explosive 
mixture before it had consumed much of the inflammable gas, 
the mixture usually was explosive by the flame of the taper; but 
the explosive power of a mixture of 12 or 13 parts of air to one 
of gas was very soon destroyed by the combustion in the cylinder 
lamp; and even when it was withdrawn almost immediately, 
the taper burnt in the mixture merely with an enlarged flame. 

“‘It is needless to dwell upon the practical applications of 
these facts ; many of them will be immediately perceived. Wire- 
gauze may be substituted for horn or glass in the safe-lanterns 
or safe-lamps to be used in the collieries, and no air feeders be- 
low the flame will be necessary. The wire-gauze admits a free 
circulation of air, and it emits considerably more light than 
common horn. I have had small cylindrical caps of wire- 
gauze made to fit small lamps by a screw, which are almost as 
portable as a common candle without a candlestick ; and which 
are trimmed and supplied with oil through safe apertur es with- 
out the necessity of taking off the cap. <A similar cap may be 
used with the common candles of the colliers introduced ig an 
aperture made tight with moist pipe-clay. 

“* Brass-wire gauze of the proper degree of fineness is manu- 
factured for the use of mills and for sieves. I found gauze 
which contained 3600 apertures in a square inch sufficiently fine 
to prevent explosion used as a cylinder; but it did not bear the 
proof of a concenired explosion from a close glass vessel. 
Gauze of 5000 apertures to the square inch stood, however, this 
severe test. I have generally used gauze of 6400 apertures 5 
and I have seen plated wire-gauze, which, I am told, is sold at 


* Sce Phil. Mag. vol. xlvi p. 444—58. 
Edinburgh, 


Notices respecting New Books. 55 


Edinburgh, so fine that the square inch contains 13,200 aper- 
tures. 

‘<I haye tried cylinders of the size necessary for the colliers, 
in explosive atmospheres contained in large glass vessels ; the 
light given by a cylinder of seven inches high and two inches in 
diameter in the fire-damp mixed with 12 of air, is nearly as 
bright as that of the lamp in common air, and eyen the least 
brilliant flame would enable the miner to find his way, and, I 
think, would be sufficient for him to work by when he was very 
near it. The light is much increased by hanging within, from 
the top of the cylinder, a small cage of platiua or iron wire; this 
becomes ignited by the flame, and gives a steady red light im the 
midst of it ; and 1 have never had an explosion in employing it. 

“*6 The cheapness of the wire-gauze safe-lamps or guards for 
candles, will be an additional reason for bringing them into com- 
mon use; for the dearest of them can hardly cost more than 
one shilling. 

“They have the advantage of guarding the light from loose 
materials falling from the roof of the mine; there is no danger 
of their being broken; and td prevent them from being bent, 
they may be covered with a frame without, constructed of a few 
pieces of thick wire. The gauze should be made into the form 
of cylinders by double joinings sewn together through the double 
part by a wire of small diameter ; any aperture larger than that 
of the gauze-wire should be most carefully guarded against, and 
the cylinders should be tried in a vessel filled with an explosive 
mixture before they are used in the mine. A coating of oxide 
is soon formed upon the brass; but in my limited experience 
this has appeared to defend the interior from the action of air, 
and to render the wire durable: if, however, it should be found 
that this does not hold good in the mines, thicker or plated 
wire may be adopted, or double cylinders, or, at all events, as the 
top of the cylinder is principally exposed to heat, this may be 
double. 

“ With the wire safe-lamp or guarded candle the miner may 
explore all parts of the mine where explosive mixtures exist, and 
the state of the flame will show him the degree of contamination 
of the air. As the fire-damp mixes with the air the flame will 
enlarge. When the fire-damp has reached its explosive point 
his cylinder will be filled with flame; but the flame of his wick 
will appear within the flame of the fire-damp. As the inflam~ 
mable gas increases in quantity the fame of the lamp will disap- 
pear, and the flame in his cylinder will become paler ; and this 
ought to be a signal to him to leave that part of the workings. 
For when the flame of the fire-damp is extinguished, though the 

D4 air 


56 Notices respecting New Books. 


air may be sufficiently respirable to enable him to make good his 
way, yet it cannot be breathed safely for any time. . 

*€] found that sparks from steel and flint fell red, and with- 
out scintillation, in a mixture of coal gas in which a cylinder 
lamp had burnt out; and they appeared equally dull and red in 
a mixture of three parts of air and one part of coal gas; so that 
the light of a steel mill would not be sufficient to work by in an 
atmosphere in which the cylinder lamp was extinguished, and it 
could only be employed to guide the miner out of an atmosphere 
which it would be fatal to breathe for a continuance. 

“« To conclude: there appears every reason to expect that the 
safe light, in this state of improvement, with proper attention, 
will enable the miner to work with perfect security in parts of 
the mines most liable to fire-damp, and that it will not only pre- 
serve him from, but enable him to combat and subdue, his most 
dangerous enemy. Confined in the wire-gauze safe-lamp, the 
flame of the fire-damp will be divested of all its terrors, and 
made to expend energies formerly so destructive, in producing 
an useful light. . 


London, Dec. 31, 1815. 


Nort, - 


* “A considerable degree of heat is always produced by the combustion of 
the explosive fire-damp in the wire-gauze cylinders; therefore a candle 
soon melts away in the lantern, when the fire-damp is burning in it; and if 
candles are used with the wire-gauze safe-guard, the flame of the fire-damp 
should be extinguished by putting a woollen or linen extinguisher over the 
cylinder, to prevent the candle from dropping out, or the candle should be 
secured in the bottom of the lantern, by a safety screw: where the fire- 
damp is known to exist, it will, however, always be better to work with 
small lamps, which may be fed with tallow; and where the object is to de- 
stroy the fire-damp speedily, a large cylinder lamp with double wire-gauze 
may be used. 

“The joinings in the lamps should be made rather with hard than soft 
solder, and there should always be a handle at the bottom, or a ring at the 
top, to prevent the hand from being burnt. j 

“ The flame of the fire-damp in the cylinders may be easily extinguished 
by a cover nade of coarse paper, or by a woollen cap. If any part of the 
wire is found to become strongly red hot, water may be thrown upon it, or 
the communication may be interrupted by plates of metal. 

“« Many devices. may be contrived for giving light by the fire-damp; 
lamps may be made partly of glass and partly of wire-gauze: and by ma- 
king a chimney partly of metal, the fire-damp may be burnt ouly at certain 
surfaces. 

“When the cylinder lamp is first introduced into an explosive atmo- 
sphere, a musical sound is produced, like that produced by hydrogen burn- 
ing in narrow tubes. 

“ T have since found that the size of the apertures may be carried to 900 
in a square inch, and that the wire may be 1-70th of an inch in thickness, 
and these probably are not the limits. The larger the apertures of the 

“Ns wire- 


> 


Notices respecting New Books. 57 


‘wire-gauze the greater the heat produced, and the more brilliant the flame, 
so that with very coarse wire-gauze it will be proper to interrupt too free 
a circulation of air by using a tin-plate cylinder which will act as an ex 
tinguisher, either for a part or the whole of the flame ; and for security, it 
may be proper to adopt double wire cylinders; perhaps iron wire will be 
better than brass. It will be easy by various means to keep the tin-plate 
cylinder below the red heat, though probably the temperature will never 
approach this. 


— 


Elements of Electricity and Electro-Chemistry. By GEor¢® 
Joun SincEr. 1 vol. 8vo. with Plates by Lowry, 507 pp. 
Longman and Co. Price \6s. 


The rapid progress of electrical discovery since the invention 
of the battery of Volta, and the present importance of electri- 
city as an essential branch of chemical philosophy, are circum- 
stances which render an elementary work on this subject adapted 
to the existing state of knowledge, an acquisition of real value: 
and as the brilliant series of discoveries which have so eminently 
distinguished the commencement of the 19th century have not 
before appeared in any regular treatise on electricity, we no- 
tice with pleasure the successful endeavours of Mr. Singer to 
lessen the difficulties and promote the cultivation of an interest- 
ing department of science by a clear and comprehensive state- 
ment of its most essential facts. 

The author has paid very considerable attention to the ar- 
rangement of his subject, and by this means has effectually 
promoted his object of rendering it more familiar. We extract 
the following remark on this subject from the preface to the 
work. ‘ By a proper attention to arrangement I have been 
enabled to communicate a more extensive collection of facts in 
a single volume, than is to be found in any existing treatise with 
which I am acquainted; and that attention may be expected to 
render even more concise statements amply intelligible; for ma- 
terials thus disposed are like the combination of stones in an 
arch; they mutually support each other, and form a connected 
series in which every part is essential to the existence of the 
whole.” 4 

The details in this work are certainly more intelligible and 
less prolix than in the majority of those on the same subject 
which have come under our observation ; and yet they involve a 
more extensive series of phenomena. This advantage is most 
probably derived partly from the extensive practice of the author 
as a lecturer, and partly from the assiduous attention which he 
has paid to the science from a very early age. The subject is 
introduced by « historical sketch of the principal epochs of dis- 
covery, which is calculated to prepare the reader for the aclege 

tific 


58 Notices respecting New Bovks. 


tific exposition of the science. The work itself is divided inte 
four parts, which are again subdivided into chapters. The first 
part describes “ electrical phenomena and the circumstances 
.essential to their production.” This part is divided into five 
chapters, arranged as follows : ‘ 

Chap. I. Nature of electrical action and sources of electrical 
excitation ; positive and negative electricity. 

Chap. II. Of conductors and non-eonductors of electricity, 
and of the electrical apparatus. 

Chap. III. Experiments with the electrical machine.—Theory 
of its action.—Phznomena of attraction and recession. 

Chap. IV. On the phenomena of electric light. 

Chap. V. On the Leyden jar and the nature of electrical 
influence. 

This part of the work is chiefly remarkable for the distinct 
arrangement which it presents, and for a carcful selection of 
experiments which are explained very clearly by a judicious mo- 
dification of Dr. Franklin’s theory, ‘The distinguishing charac- 
ters of electrical action are described as consisting in the at- 
traction of light substances and the emission of light, the re- 
pulsion or separation observed between electrified substances 
being ascribed by the author to the attraction of the surrounding 
air or other medium, and not to any repulsive power, the existence 
of which, he asserts, is purely hypothetical. In this opinion he 
is supported by the authority of Kinnersley, Morgan, Volta, and 
De Lue, and by the experiments of Lord Stanhope, and it cer- 
tainly renders the explanation of many phenomena much more 
simple and satisfactory. ; 

The chief sources of electrical phenomena are; Ist, Friction. 
2d, Change of form. 3d, Change of temperature. 4th, Con- 
tact of dissimilar bodies. It is the last which our author con- 
siders as in all cases the primary cause of electrical excitation 5 
for it occurs in all the others ; and in the most simple case of 
electrical action, that of De Luc’s electrical column, the contact 
of dissimilar bodies is the only known cause of the effects pro- 
duced. ‘ 

In the table of the effects of excitation, some corrections of 
the results given by Cavallo are made; but the author has not 
rendered it either so complete or perfect as we were led to ex- 
pect from our knowledge of the extent of his experience. 

A variety of experiments are adduced to prove that positive 
and negative electricity are always produced together, and the 
phenomena resulting from the action of a Nairn’s machine are 
minutely described as affording the following indications : 

1. That the cause of electricity is corporeal; for sensation 
is affected by it, and a mechanical impulse is experienced. 


2. That 


Notices respecting New Books. 59 


®. That there is a mutual action between the electricities ex- 
cited in the opposite conductors, since their-effects are more 
powerful when directed at the same time to our conducting 
body. 

3. That the same relation which is observed between the 
opposite conductors exists also between either of them and 
the ground, but in a different degree. From these phenomena 
the following propositions are deduced : 

1. The cause of electrical phenomena is material, and’ pos- 
sesses the properties of an elastic fluid. 

2. The electric fluid attracts and is attracted by all other 
matter, and in consequence of such attraction exists in all known 
substances. 

3. The attraction of different bodies for the electric fluid is 
various; and so is that of the same body under different cireum- 
stances: consequently the quantity of electricity naturally exist- 
ing in different substances may be unequal; and the same body 
may attract more or less than if alone when combined with other 
matter: but its original attraction will be restored by destroying 
the artificial combination. 

4. From some peculiarity in the nature of the electric fluid,. 
its attraction by and for common matter is more influenced by 
figure than by mass; and is consequently stronger in extensive 
than in limited surfaces. 

5. From the same peculiarity, the electric fluid moves with 
great facility over the surface or through the substance of some 
bodies, and is arrested in its progress by others. 

6. When the attraction ef any substance for electricity is equal 
to the electric fluid it contains, that substance will evince no elec- 
trical signs; but these are immediately produced when there is 
either more or less electric fluid than is adequate to the satura- 
tion of the existing attraction: if there be more, the electrical 
signs will be positive; if less, they will be negative. 

This leads to the following theory of excitation. ‘The 
hodies employed have each a certain quantity of the electric 
fluid proportioned to their natural attraction for it. This they 
retain, and appear unelectrified so long as they remain in their 
natural state. Now if two such bodies are brought into con- 
tact, their natural attractions are altered, one of them attracts 
more than in its separate state, and the other less; the electric 
fluid diffuses itself amongst them in quantities proportioned to 
their relative attractions, and they consequently appear unelec- 
trified. But if they are suddenly separated, the new distribu- 
tion of the electric fluid remains, whilst the original attractions 
are restored ; and as these are not equal to each other, the bodies 

will 


60 Notices respecting New Books. 


will appear electrical ; that whose natural attraction was in- 
creased by contact, having” received an addition to its quantity 
of electric fluid, will be positively electrified ; and that whose 
attraction was lessened, having lost a portion, will be negative.”” 

The action of the electrical machine is explained very satis- 
factorily by this theory. Its effect is to bring successively in 
contact with the rubber different parts of the surface of the glass, 
which are as suddenly separated from that contact, and carry 
with them the electricity they have acquired by the change of 
capacity it produces. 

The same theory is applied very naturally to all the usual ef- 
fects of electric motion and the action of different conductors in 
transmitting electricity: the explanation of points appears to 
us novel and appropriate. It is stated to consist in promoting 
the* recession of the particles of electrified air, by protruding a 
part of the electrical atmosphere of the conductor into a situation 
more exposed to the action of the ambient unelectrified medium, 
and thereby producing a current of air from the electrified point 
to the nearest uninsulated body. 

The phenomena of electric light are treated at some length, 
and explained in a very simple manner; the Leyden jar, the 
condenser, and the electrophorus, are referred to the action of 
one principle, that of electrical influence, which has been so well 
illustrated by Volta in his excellent paper in the Ixxiid volume 
of the Philosophical Transactions. The explanations differ 
essentially from those of most preceding writers. The author 
uniformly avoids the use of repulsion as a principle of electri- 
eal action, but he does not adopt to any extent the opinions 
of those who have preceded him in this idea. 

The second part of the work treats of the mechanical and 
cliemical agencies of electricity, and contains three chapters. 

Chap. 1. describes the instruments required for the applica- 
tion of the electric power to the purpose of experiment. 

Chap. 2. the mechanical agencies of electricity. 

Chap. 3. chemical effects of electricity. 

The description of instruments is concise ; it ineludes only 
those which are really necessary; it contains much useful infor- 
mation, and concludes with the following very just remark: 
* Tubes of glass, wires of different metals, corks, and a few 
other materials, are adequate to the construction of an endless 
variety of electrical machinery, and the proper direction of such 
resources is constantly followed by useful discovery. Mechanical 
dexterity is therefore essential to the character of an electrician, 
since his progress will be in proportion to the facility with which 
he can adapt the objects around him to new inquiries. He 

cannot 


Notices respecting New Books. 61 


eannot deviate from the beaten track of his predecessors without 
the aid of new combinations; and when the supply of these is 
derived from his own industry and ingenuity, the ardour of his 
pursuit will be unimpeded by the delays or mistakes of others ; 
and the projection of any required improvement may conse- 
quently be followed by its immediate consummation.” 

In describing the mechanical effects of electricity, Mr. Singer 
has particularly enlarged on the expansive effects it invariably 
produces when passing from one conductor to another, and has 
very successfully applied the observation of this effect to explain 
the results obtained by Mr. Symmer, when a charge is passed 
through several sheets of tin-foil placed between the leaves of 
a paper book, which were considered as an indication of the 
course of the electric fluid. As Mr. Singer has published a 
separate paper on this subject in The Philosophical Magazine, 
it is unnecessary for us to enter more fully on the subject. The 
following experiments will probably be new to many of our 
readers. ‘* Colour both sides of a card with vermilion, and place 
it upon the table of the universal discharger; one of the wires 
should be beneath the card, and the other in contact with its 
upper side; the distance of the points of the wires being one 
inch. Ifa charge be now passed through the wires, the fluid 
will pass from the positive wire across the surface of the card to 
the part over the negative wire, and it will perforate the card 
in its passage to the negative wire. The course of the fluid is 
permanently indicated by a neat black line on the card, reaching 
from the point of the positive wire to the hole; and by a dif- 
fused black mark on the opposite side of the card around the 
perforation, and next the negative wire. These effects are very 
constant, the black line always appearing on the side of the 
card which is in contact with the positive wire, and the perfora- 
tion being near the negative wire.” 

Mr. Singer has also found that a light float-wheel, made of 
eard paper, and placed between two oppositely electrified points, 
will move from the positive to the negative; and that a piece of 
card paper supported vertically by a narrow cork base in a si- 
milar situation, is thrown down also from the positive towards 
the negative. ' 

The experiments appear to us amongst the most satisfactory 
that have been offered in evidence of a current of electricity 
from the positive to the negative surface, but we do not regard 
them as absolutely decisive. 

. The chemical agencies of electricity include ouly the effects 
of common electricity, the action of the Voltaic apparatus being 
reserved for the concluding part of the work. ‘The action of 
the electric charge on metals is treated at some length, and the 

description 


62 Notices respecting New Books. 


description invelves considerable practical information on the 
means of conducting such experiments, The following is a 
simple means of reviving metals from their oxides : 

‘¢ Introduce some oxide of tin into a glass tube, so that when 
the tube is laid horizontally the oxide may cover about half an 
inch of its lower internal surface. Place the tube on the table 
of the universal discharger, and introduce the pointed wires in- 
to its opposite ends, that the portion of oxide niay lie between 
them. Pass several strong charges in succession through the 
tube, replacing the oxide in its situation, should it be dispersed. 
If the charges are sufficiently powerful, a part of the tube will 
soon be stained with metallic tin, which has been revived by the 
action of the transmitted electricity. 

The decomposition of water and the action of electricity on 
different gases are also fully described, and are accompanied by 
a table of the results of electrifying mixed gases ; and another on 
the action of electricity on compound gases. On the causes of 
these phenomena, which the author does not attempt to ex- 
plain, he has the following observations : 

*¢ These various effects produced by the same ageney do not 
appear susceptible of any other explanation than that which as- 
sumes the action of electricity to be mechanical; and even on 
this assumption they are not strictly intelligible. ‘The momen- 
tary agitation into which the various mediums are thrown by 
the action of the spark, might be considered as likely to pro- 
mote a new arrangement of parts; but, admitting this, why is 
the change instantaneous in some instances, and gradual in 
others? And by what inversion of principle is the same impulse 
that unites the particles of bodies, enabled subsequently to se- 
parate them? These are questions it would be interesting to 
resolve ; but there appears no clue by which such intricate pro- 
cesses can be at present analysed. The chemist must therefore 
be content to avail himself of the practical advantages they af- 
ford to his art, and await the progress of discovery for the de- 
velopment of their theoretical relations.” 

An enumeration of the bodies which are rendered phospho- 
rescent by electricity, with remarks on that singular phenomenon, 
and a sketch of the magnetic effects of electricity, close this part 
of the work, which the chemical student will find a very in- 


teresting and instructive exercise. _ 
[To be continued. ] 


Mr. William Phillips has in the press, An Elementary Intro- 
duction to the Knowledge of Mineralogy and of Minerals; in- 
eluding some account of the places at which, and of the circum- 


stances under which, minerals are found; and explanations of 
the 


Notices respecting New Books. 65 


the terms commonly used in mineralogical description. - It is 
designed fur the use of the student, and will be comprised in a 
small volume in dudecimo, which it is expected will be published 
in the course of the month. 


Dr. Granville has in the press, and nearly ready for publica- 
tion, A Translation of that Part of Orfila’s general Toxicology, 
which more particularly relates to poisons from the vegetable 
and animal kingdoms. The subject having formed a very im- 
mediate branch of Doctor Granville’s scientific pursuits, he has 
been enabled to accompany his translation with copious notes 
and additions. 

The original has only been before the public a few days, and 
is not yet in general circulation. 


Origin of Nations.—In February. 1816 will be published, 
A Map of Scriptural and Classival Geography ; accompanied by 
an Historical and Descriptive Volume, in demy octavo; wherein 
the Origin of Nations is particularly examined and discussed ; 
with reference to the numerous Authorities: amongst which 
Herodotus, Hesiod, Strabo, Pliny, Diodorus Siculus, Cluverius, 
Ptolomy, Mela, Bochart, &c. have been expressly consulted. 
The whole is intended to facilitate a knowledge of the progres« 
sive Colonization of the Earth; and to establish, more clearly, 
the Foundation of Universal and Chorographical History: and 
also to combine a requisite appendage to every volume of the 
Ancient Classics, with an indispensable Auxiliary to the Sacred 
Memoirs of the Holy Scriptures. By T. Hemme, ef Magdalene 
Hall, Oxford. 

The size of the Map will be three feet two inches, by two feet 
one inch; including, in longitude, from the Meridian of London 
to the Eastern Boundary of Persia; and in latitude, from the 
Northern Coast of Africa to the Southern Shores of the Baltie and 
Middle Regions of Russia, which contains all that is essentially 
necessary to illustrate a Course of History from the first colonial 
migrations of mankind, to the overthrow of the Roman Empire, 
on a scale of three quarters of an inch to a degree. 

The projection of the Map is the globular, which best pre- 
serves the proportion of the different countries ; and it was care- 
fully divided into half degrees throughout, in order to lay down 
the coasts, rivers, mountains, &c. the more accurately, and to 
have the basis of the work correspond to the best eorrected to- 
pography of the present time. 

The Map will be published by W, Phillips, George-Yard, 
Lombard-Street.—Price, including the Historical and Descrip- 
tive Volume, One Guinea, to be paid on delivery, 


Mr. 


64 Notices respecting New Books. 


. Mr. C. Taylor has commenced the publication of ‘* Ee¥pr,” 
consisting of “a series of 100 engravings exhibiting the anti- 
qguities, architecture, inhabitants, costume, hyeroglyphics, ani- 
mals, scenery, &c. of that country, with accompanying descrip- 
tions and explanations in French and English. Selected from 
the celebrated work detailing the expedition of the French, by 
Baron Vivant Denon.” | 

The engravings are executed by Middiman, Cardon, Cooke, 

Roffe, &c. The work is to be comprised in twenty numbers, 
large folio, at five shillings each. Three numbers of this splendid 
and highly curious work have already appeared, and. their con- 
tents and execution cannot fail to obtain public approbation. 
To astronomers the curious planisphere in the Temple of Tentyris 
must he peculiarly interesting, as it proves ‘‘ that the Egyptians 
had a planetary system, and that their knowledge of the heavens 
was reduced to principles.” Egyptian locks, which fastened 
the gate of a town, the door of a house, or the smallest box or 
drawer, furnish specimens of these ancient people’s skill in me- 
chanics; while the portraits of the different. distinguished cha- 
racters which Denon had so good an opportunity of taking in 
Egypt, will amuse all persons of taste and inquiry respecting 
human character and physiognomy. 


A Chemical Chart or Table, exhibiting an elementary View 
- of Chemistry, intended for the Use of Students and young Prac- 

titioners in Physic; also to revive the Memory of more expe- 
rienced Persons ; adapted for hanging up in public and private 

Libraries. Dedicated, by Permission, to George Pearson, Esq. 
M.D. F.R.S. &c. &c. By Robert Crowe, Surgeon R.N. Price 
5s. 6d. Highley and Son. 1816. . 

Several attempts have been made to reduce a knowledge of 
the science of chemistry into a tabular form, but many disco- 
veries have been made, and the whole system considerably mo- 
dified, since their publication. Mr. Crowe, therefore, in availing 
himself of preceding works, arranging the subjects somewhat 
more simply, and including all the recent discoveries, has con- 
tributed to facilitate the acquisition and recollection of this most 
interesting science. He divides his Chart into three sections : 
the first describes the earths and metals; the second treats of 
simple or undecompounded substances; and the third, of com- 
pound combustibles, In a distinct compartment the author has 
arranged a very distinct view of the minerals, vegetable and 
animal acids, which will be found very convenient for common 
reference. , 


Se 


A Pro- 


Notices respecting New Books. 65 


A Prospectus has just appeared, announcing for publication 
upon the 31st of March the first number of a Quarterly Journal of 
Science and the Arts, and that it will be regularly continued upon 
the last days of March, June, September, and December. This 
Journal will contain a series of original communications upon 
subjects connected with science and the arts, and with philoso- 
phical literature in general. Notices of scientific discoveries 
and inventions, and of experiments and researches carried on in 
the Institution. Reviews and notices of scientific works. Abs- 
tracts from the Transactions of learned societies, and from do- 
mestic¢ and foreign publications ; and accounts of the proceedings 
of the members of the Royal Institution, and of the public and 
other courses of lectures. 

The name of Mr. Brande, of the Royal Institution, to whom 
comimimications are requested to be addressed, is a pledge that 
this work will be conducted on liberal and enlightened princi- 
ples; and we hope it will meet with due encouragement. 


Dr. Henning, of the Hot-Wells, Bristol, author of an Inquiry 

into the Pathology of Scrofula, is preparing for the press a work 

on Pulmonary Consumption, which will be ready for publication 

early in the spring. WS Preis ae 

Extract of a French Work entitled “ L’Optique des Cou- 
leurs,” (the Optics of Colours). By Father CastE., a Je- 
suit. 

I know a painter whose taste and talent in portrait-painting I 
esteein very much, and who, in showing ine his painting-room, 
which was very poor in colours, made me expressly observe, that 
there was neither carmine, nor lake, nor vermilion for the reds, 
nor any lively yellow; but simply Prussian blue for the blues 
and greens, a brown red for all sorts of reds and violets, and a 
very indifferent yellow, the name of which I have forgotten. 

His portraits were very fine. His flesh colours were more 
especially very natural, very lively, and very bright even, when it 
was required. 

I reasoned with him, and objected to him that other celebrated 
painters did not fail to employ the most lively reds and the 
brightest yellows. He agreed with me that paintings thus co- 
loured, more particularly with red, were much in fashion. He 
brought me back, however, to truth and to immortality. ‘Those 
colours, he observed to me, are false: nature is lively by con- 
trast alone, and by the judgement she displays. All her colours 
are but indifferent in the detail of each trait; but it is the op- 
position which brings out her productions, and gives them lite, 
fire, and the greatest éclat. He added that lake, carmine, ver- 

Vol. 47, No. 213, Jan. 1816. E milion, 


66 Nolices respecting New Books. 


milion, and other sharp colours, had not any body, and did not 
hold for a long time, observing that those who employed them 
did not work for immortality. 

These lively colours are in reality too pure: to give them body 
and consistence, and at the same time to imitate nature—beau- 
tiful nature—they should be soiled, 

From all these observations I am of opinion, that to paint and 
dye with effect, or, in a word, to colour scientifically and on re- 
gular principles, such as I think are here developed or sketched. 
by me, all the reds, such as lake, carmine, and vermilion, the 
red brown, minium even, should be taken in the mass, and by 
their admixture an universal red produced. 

The just proportions of this mixture would be found by de- 
grees, and indeed very soon.- It would certainly form a very 
fine red—an intermediate red, tempered, primitive, full, em- 
bodied, harmonious, certain, ard durable. I, am led to think 
that the brown red should predominate, and constitute its body 
and principal basis. 

The same may be tried on the blues and yellows: there would 
thus be three good colours, from which all descriptions of pure 
and dingy tints of colouring would be produced, by blending 
them two by two, or all the three. 

A dark colour bordering on black might even be procured by 
this mixture; and who knows but that a white, or whitish gray, 
may not be formed by blending certain colours naturally clear, 
such as are to be found among the yellows, and even in a certain 
degree among the reds? 

From art let us proceed to nature. I have observed that the 
greater part of the colours employed by her wisely sparing 
hand are also dingy colours, into the composition. of which 
many kinds of colours enter. It is very rare to find in flowers, 
in shells, and more particularly in animals, true simple colours, 
or which do not result from the mixture of more than two sim- 
ple cclours, : 

This fact being once ascertained, it was not difficult for me to 
enter into the reasons ofnature. In the first place, the physical 
and practical reason is the same as I have before-assigned, that 
every thing on the earth, and within the earth, is much blended; 
and that all bodies, plants, minerals, and animals, are in reality 
mixed. 

But the causes of design, the final causes of nature, or of her 
all-wise Author, merit at least as much or still greater attention. 
The pure colours are yery limited in their number, the dingy 
colours are much more extensive, and form a much greater va- 
*iety—the only source of our delight. 

It is in this way that the verdure of the plains, which may be 

thought 


Royal Society. 67 


thought. so monotonous and uniform, is not at all so. If it were 
throughout a fine green, a true green, it would in reality be a 
very insipid monotony. Nothing, however, is more diversified, 
by the different touches of red, violet, and orange, which are 
manifestly blended with this green, as if to soil it, and which 
render it rich, and infinitely charming,—on this account alone, 
that it is diversified. 

One of the reasons why nature is lavish of her dingy colours, 
is to give a brilliancy to the true colours, either by their rarity, 
or by the contrast. If we examine closely, we shall seldom, see 
a fine colour which is not contrasted, in natural objects, by ob- 
secure colours: these become, however, precious, by the contrast 
even which they oppose to the colours that are precious: in 
themselves, and with which they are assorted. 

. The green of the leaves of orange, lemon, and pomegranate 
trees is considered as a fine green, and is every thing but that 
if we view it attentively. The fact is, that we constantly repre- 
sent it to ourselves in the point of iow of these golden fruits, 
or of these pomegranate flowers, which, while it is relieved by 
them, gives a fresh éc/at to their beaiaty. 

I have known a person who, in a picture of contrast, boasted 
of the shades, as if they had been the finest gilones in’ the 
painting, saying expressly that he had never seen such fine ¢o- 
jours as these shades. He confounded the brightness which 
they cast on the coloured parts, with the shades themselves. 
Whatever contributes to the heauty of any thing, partakes ina 
certain degree of this beauty. This is because every thing is 
relative, aud because a fine conformity renders the, beauty reci- 
procal to each ef the terms of the comparison, although one of 
them may be a negative beauty, oftentimes founded on a_posi- 
tive uricomeliness. 


XV. Proceedings of Learned Societies. 
ROYAL SOCIETY. 


Jans 1. Sra fH. Davy communicated a short paper detail - 
ing some further Experiments on Fire-damp. Sir H. has ad- 
vanced from discovery to discovery in the most effectual mode’ of 
preserving the lives of miners at the least possible expense, It 
appears from these experiments, that no new lamp or other ap- 
paratus is necessary to prevent explosions; that the lamps now 
in use, when covered with a wire-gauze screen, are not only per- 
fectly sufficient to preserve the miners from all danger, but even 
may be used to consume the fire- damp by burning it to show 

them 


a8 Royal Society. 


them light. By surrounding the lamp with a fine wire-gaure 
screen, saturating the sereen with fire-damp and inflaming the 
whole ; the wire if fine, and the apertures not exceeding =;th of 
an inch, may be made red hot without exploding the circum= 
ambient fire-damp. With a small povtion of fire-damp in the 
screen the flame of the lamp is visible ; but when a considerable 
portion is thrown into it, the whole becomes one entire flame. 
In this manner the earburetted hydrogen gas may be burned 
under the screen without the least danger of exploding the gae 
around it. 

The conclusion of Dr. Brewster’s curious paper On the Ra- 
diation of Heat in Glass Plates was read ; but from the multi- 
plicity of the experiments, and the necessity of diagrams to il- 
instrate them, it is impossible to convey any adeguate and intel- 
ligible idea of the new and important results. It appears that 
this, ingenious and indefatigable philosopher has succeeded in 
eontriving and arranging glass plates so as to form a new kind 
of thermometer, by making a series of plates (amounting to 20) 
of dimensions varying in a regular gradation. The apparatus is 
simple, and may be adapted to the performance of many pleasing 
experiments, as Well as developing some singular phanemena in 
optics. 

Jan. 25. Another paper by Sir H. Davy was read, contain- 
ing an account of some more successful experiments in the 
eause of humanity and the interests of Coa} Miners. It appears 
that Sir H’s invention has already been adopted in two coal- 
mines with the most complete success ; thus at once falsifying 
all the ignorant and invidious predictions of mluman speculaters 
about its inutiity, and demonstrating, what every reasoning man 
of science before believed, that the invention would be equally 
effectual and practicable. There is now every reason to believe 
that Sir H’s plan will be universally. adopted without the least. 
delay. No man or society of men, indeed, would now risk the 
responsibility consequent, on an explosion, when the means 
of avoiding it are hoth, known and so easily adopted. The pre- 
sent paper contains a_yariety of experiments to ascertain. the 
smallest number of apertures in a square inch which can be used. 
without danger of exploding. Wire-gauze having apertures: 
ysth-of an inch, when the wire became red hot, exploded; buf’ 
gauze with apertures only of ~;th were perfeetly secure even 
with the greatest heat. In some of his experiments, Sir Hums 
phry used gauze having 6000 apertures in a square inch, which 
was found as_pertectly secure as a brick wall could have been 
against explosion.—See pages 54 & 56. 

Part of a long paper, by Dr. Wilson Phillip, was read; de- 
tailing the result of numerzous experiments on the Nerves of 

Rabbits 


Royal Institution, 69 


Rabbits exposed to the Action of the Galvanic Fluid. In some 
experiments the rabbits were first pithed, aud then galvanism 
applied to ascertain how long and in what degree the vital fune- 
tions could be revived. It was, however, candidly admitted that 
no legitimate conclusions could be drawn from experiments made 
on animals under the circumstances of pain, disease and de- 
rangement occasioned by the previous wounds, ; 
LPs a Bel 


ROYAL INSTITUTION. 


The following is the Plan of an extended and practical Course 
of Lectures and Demonstrations on Chemistry, to be delivered 
in the Laboratory of the Royal Institution by William Thomas 
Brande, esq. 

These Lectures will commence on Tuesday the 6th of Fe- 
bruary at Nine in the morning, and will be continued every 
Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. 5, 

The subjects comprehended in the Course are treated of in 
the following order : : 
Division 1, Of the Powers and Properties of Matter, and the 

general Laws of Cheinical Changes. 


§ 1. Attraction —Crystallization —Chemical Affinity — Laws 
of Combination and Decomposition.—§ 2. Light and Heat— 
Their Influence as Chemical Agents in Art and Nature. 
§ 3. Electricity—Its Laws and Connexion with Chemical Phe- 
nomena. 


Division 1. Of undecompounded Substances and their mutual 
Combinations, 4 


§ }. Substances that support Combustion, Oxygen, Chlorine, 
Todine. —§ 2. Inflammable and acidifiable Substances—Hy- 
drogen—N itrogen—Sulphur—Phosphorus—Carbon— Boron.— 
§ 3. Metals—and_ their Combinations with the various Sub- 
stances described in the earlier part of the Course. 

Division U1. Vegetable Chemistry. 

§ 1. Chemical Physiology of Vegetables.—§ 2, Modes of 
Avalysis—UJtimate and proximate Elements.—§ 3, Processes 
of Fermentation, and their Products. 

Division 1V. Chemistry of the Animal Kingdom. 

§ 1. General views connected with this department of the 
Science.—§ 2. Composition and Properties of the Solids and 
Fluids of Animals—Products of Diseasex—§ 3, Animal Func- 
tions. 

Division V. Geology. 


§ 1. Primitive and secondary Rocks—Structure and situation 
E3 of 


70 Royal Institution. —Russell Institution. 


of Veins.—§ 2. Decay, of Rocks—Production of Soils—Their 
analysis and principles of Agricultural improvement.—§ 3. Mi- 
neral Waters—Methods of ascertaining their contents by Tests 
and by Analysis. —§ 4. Voleanie Rocks—Phenomena and Pro- 
ducts of Volcanic Eruptions. 
. An. the first. divison of each course, the principles and objects 
of chemical science, and the gencral laws of chemical changes 
are explained, and the phenomena of attraction, and of light, 
heat, -and electricity developed, and illustrated by numerous ex- 
periments. 

In the second division, the undecompounded bodies are ex- 
amined, and the modes of procuring them in a pure form, and 
of ascertaining their chemical characters, exhibited upon an ex- 
tended scale.-—The lectures on the metals include a succinct 
account of mineralogy, and of the methods of analysing and as- 
Saying ores, 

Phis part of the courses will also contain a full examination 
of pharmaceutical chemistry; the chemical processes of the 
Pharmacopeeie will be particularly described, and compared with 
those adopted by the manufacturer. 

The third and fourth divisions relate to organic substances.— 
The chemical changes induced by vegetation are here inquired 
into; the principles of vegetables, the theory of fermentation, 
and the characters of its products are then examined. 

The chemical history of animals is the next object of inquiry 
— it is illustrated by an examination of their component parts, 
in health and in disease; by an inquiry into the chemistry of 
the animal functions, and into the application of chemical prin- 
ciples to the treatinent of diseases, 

The courses conciude with an account of the structure of the 
earth, of the changes which it is undergoing, of the objects and 
uses of geology, aud of the principles of agricultural chemistry. 

The applications of chemistry to the arts and manufactures, 
and to ceconomical purposes, are discussed at some length in 
various parts of the courses; and the most important of them 
are experimentally exhibited. 

The Admission Fee to each Course is Four Guineas; or by 
paying Eight Guineas, gentlemen are entitled to attend for an 
unlimited time. 

Further particulars may be obtained by applying to Mr. Brande 
or to Mr. Fincher at the Royal Institution, 21, Albemarle-Street. 


RUSSELL INSTITUTION. 


A Course of Lectures on Electrical Philosophy, with its appli- 
¢ation to the improvement of Chemical Science, and the expla- 


tiation of Natural Phenomena, will be commenced at this Iu- 
stitution 


Helvetic Society.—Chemistry.—Steam-Boat. 71 


stitution by Mr. Singer, on Monday the 5th of February, punc- 
tually at Eight o’clock in the Evening. 

These Lectures will be continued on the succeeding Mondays 
at the same hour:—they will embrace the most important fea- 
tures of this interesting branch of Natural Philosophy, with oc- 
casional observations on the Sciences with which it is most 
immediately connected. 

Tickets and a Prospectus may be had of the Secretary at the 
Institution, Great Coram Strect, Russell Square. 


XVI, Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 


‘Dae Natural History Society ef Geneva has invited the na- 
turalists of the whole of Switzerland to attend a public meeting 
at Geneva, in order to lay the foundation of a general society un- 
der the name of ‘‘ The Helvetie Society fer the Natural Sciences.” 


M. Badeigts Laborde, a seafaring gentleman of the depart- 
ment of the Landes in France, has ascertained by repeated ex- 
periments, that the resinous trees of France are capable of 
yielding rosin and tar not inferior in quality to those which are 
brought from the north of Europe at a great expense. M. Lae 
borde has also ascertained that the French products contain the 
same constituent parts with those of Sweden; and that their 
inferiority is entirely owing to the imperfection of the furnaces 
in which they are prepared, their defective preparation, and their 
mixture with a certain quantity of water and heterogeneous 
matters, and particularly from the want of essential oil, which is 
burnt in the French operation for extracting rosin and tar. 
Finally, it is easy to purify the French articles so as to render 
them equally perfect, and at the same time far cheaper than 
those of Sweden. 


Oe eee 


The public will be gratified to learn, that the British Ministers 
are prepared to avail themselves of the opportunity afforded by 
the restoration of peace, to attend to the interest of science, 
and add to the stock of general knowledge. A small expedition 
is now about to proceed to explore the course of the Congo, in 
the south of Afriea. A transport, accompanied by a steam- 
boat, will proceed to the mouth of the river, where it will re- 
main while the last-mentioned vessel is dispatched to follow the 
course of the Congo, to ascertain how far it is navigable, and 
the character of the inhabitants of its shores; as also that of the 

Y animals 


72 Steam-Engines tn Cornwall.— Reunion of separated Parts. 


animals and the various articles of commerce which that part of 
the world may produce. Every precaution has been taken to 
guard against the object of the expedition being disappointed. 
_** The Congo” (the vessel which is to proceed up the river is so 
named) does not draw more than four feet of water. When it 
shall be found impracticable to proceed further in her, the un- 
dertaking will be confided to two smail cutters which are joined 
together, the masts and sails being stacked between them so as 
to leave the nayigators the full range of each, and these will not 
draw more than eighteen inches of water. Such arrangements 
give fair promises of ultimate success; but that which gives us 
most hope is the care taken to man this little expedition in the 
best possible manner, The hands to be employed, in number 
about 50, are all yolunteers. None but those who are proved 
most efficient are accepted. Their exertions are stimulated by 
double pay. The officers are selected for their merit alone, and 
promotion is promised to those who may return. A trial of the 
vessels above mentioned, which are intended to be employed for 
the purposes above described, will shortly take place on the 
Thames. They will leave England early in the present month 
under the command of Captain Tuckey. It is expected it. will 
take from eighteen months to two years to accomplish the ob- 
jects of the voyage. Some natives of that part of Africa have 
volunteered their services, and, it is highly probable, will prove 
of great advantage. One represents himself as born more than 
300 miles up the Congo, at a village on the banks of that river; 
and another as still further up. They speak the native language 
with fluency, as also English, and, it is said, have given some 
valuable information of the several kingdoms through which they 
qwnust pass, 


STEAM-ENGINES IN CORNWALL. 


According to Messrs. Leans’ Report for December, the average 
work of thirty-three engines was 19,335,126 pounds of water 
lifted one foot high with each bushel of coals consumed. Durin 
the same month the work done by Woolf’s engine at Wheal Vor 
was 46,907,795, and that at Wheal Abraham, 47,622,040 
pounds of water lifted to the sanie height with each bushel of 
coals. 


——— 


REUNION OF SEPARATED PARTS, 


Our readers, particularly those of the medical profession, will 
probably recollect that Dr. Balfour of Edinburgh published in 
1514, in the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, two re- 
markable cases of adhesion of amputated fingers, A similar 

successful 


Reunion of separated Parts, 73 


successful operation was performed lately in Scotland, as appears 
by the following interesting communication to Dr. Balfour by 
‘Thomas Hunter, Esq, Surgeon, Port Glasgow. 

January 6, 1815,—John Galbreath, aged 45, by trade a 
house-carpenter, in the act of hewing wood with an axe (which 
he held in his left hand) struck off his thumb close to the arti- 
culation of the first. phalanx with the metacarpal bone. Being 
confused by the accident, he covered the stump with his other 
hand, and, accompanied hy the foreman of the work, arrived 
about eight minutes after at my house. Upon examining the 
parts, I found the portion of thumb he had supposed cut off, 
lying in the hollow of his hand, buried in coagulated blood, and 
still attached by a portion of skin not exceeding one-eighth of 
an inch in breadth. 

** Had I not been acquainted, through the medium of the 
Edinburgh Medical Journal, of your success in re-uniting sepa- 
rated parts, I certainly without the least hesitation would have 
cast this part from me, and proceeded to dress the stump; but 
I resolved on saving it if possible. ‘2 

* Having carefully cleaned the parts, and removed a smal] _ 
splinter of bone, T ‘replaced them, securing them with three 
stitches. After covering the thumb with dressing-lint, T placed 
a splint of wood above all, extending from the wrist to a little 
beyond the point of the thumb, and secured the whole, as neatly 
as possible, with a narrow ribbon, Finally, wetting the whole 
with tinctur. benzoin. comp. I ordered him to call frequently, 
that I might have the opportunity of ascertaining whether ad- 
hesion would take place, 

“7 examined the parts daily. He felt no pain—no discharge 
took place; no smell was perceivable. In this way he passed 
the time without ever having the first dressing touched, till the 
twentieth day from the accident, when I became so anxious te 
see the parts, that I undressed the hand, and, to my great satis< 
faction, found all skinned, one place, where there was a stiteh, 
excepted. This. was dressed daily, and soon healed, The splint 
of wood was continued for some time alter, to give support to 
the bone The man has been working for some months past, 
enjoying all the advantages of his thumb, only the motion of 
the joint is impaired. | 

** The above is a just statement of the case, and the patient 
signs it with the hand that suffered the injury. 

(Signed)  “ John Galbreath, Patient, 
Wm. Cubrie, Foreman tothe Work. - 
** Thomas Hunter, Surgeon,” 


THE 


74 The Bazaar. 


THE BAZAAR. 


The origin and commencement of such an establishment in 
London deserves to be recorded. The greater part of our read- 
ers must have seen some account of it in the daily newspapers: 
our notice shall therefore be brief at present, When more com- 
pletely matured, and the whole put in motion, we may again re- 
turn to it. 

The British Bazaar owes its origin exclusively to the active 
benevolence and philanthropy of John Trotter, Esq. of Soho- 
Square, a gentleman well known in the higher circles, and to 
whom the nation owes many arrangements which have so 
much improved the circumstances of the British ar my when on 
active service in the field. Mr. Trotter has not merely the 
merit of contriving and arranging the establishment—but of 
providing the entire means for carrying it into full operation. The 
name adopted is, as our readers know, applied in the East to 
large markets, many of them covered, in which the merchants 
expose their gocds to sale*; different portions being occupied 
by different traders. Mr. Trotter has devoted his extensive 
premises in Soho-Square to the accommodation of an extensive, 
industrious, but distressed class of the community, whose narrow 
cireumstances keep them in obscurity, and preclude the possi- 
bility of their exhibiting for sale, in shops of their own, the va- 
rious products of their industry. He has fitted them up in the 
most commodious and elegant manner, with counters, drawers, 
&c. With the lighting, warming, ventilating, and watching 
the premises the temporary occupiers will have no concern ; but 
are to pay by the length of counter they may respectively oc- 
eupy, at the low rate of one-fourth part of a shilling per ‘foot, 
for each day they may require the accommodation. When their 
little stock is sold off their expenses terminate—the family pre- 
pare a new supply—they know where they may be again ac- 
commodated} and where no recommendation is wanted but that 
of an irreproachable character. 

So far as regards general accommodation, collecting the va- 
rious productions of art and ingenuity into one focus, and the 
civility and beneficial rivalry excited by such an assemblage, the 


* The Bazaar of Tauris is of such.an extent that it has more than once 
afforded cover for $0,000 men ranged in order of battle! It is very pro- 
bable that some of those extensive ruins still left at Palmyra, and other 
ancieut cities now desolate, which have been hitherto considered as tem- 
ples, or the palaces of royalty, are the remains of covered Bazaars. The 
term Bazaar is neither more nor less than the Hebrew word “t2, which 
means to scatter, to disperse—applied in Arabic to the merchant, the dis- 
perser, and hence to the place for the dispersion of his commodities, 

new 


Antiquities.—Jerusalem.— Engine Pipes. 75 


new establishment will resemble those of the East; but here 
they cease to have any thing in common. In every other point 
of view the British Bazaar, like the British System of Education, 
the British and Foreign Bible Society, and the British Saving- 
Banks, will be found adapted to lay the foundation of a new 
system, which, we doubt not, will in a few years extend itself 
not only to every large town in the British dominions, but 
throughout Europe. 


ANTIQUITIES. 


Rome, Oct. 28.—There has just been found upon the Ap- 
penine Way an ancient sun-dial, drawn upon marble, with the 
names of the winds in Greek. It is exactly calculated for the 
latitude of Rome. According to local circumstances, it is cou- 
cluded to be the discus belonging to Herodius Atticus, and de- 
scribed by Vitruvius. . 


JERUSALEM, 


We understand that an artist of acknowledged respectability 
and talent is now occupied with an undertaking eminently cal- 
culated to assist the antiquary in his researches upon the subject 
of biblical antiquities; namely, a picture of the site of Ancient 
Jerusalem and the surrounding country, as now seen from the 
Mount of Olives. The picture is to be submitted to public view 
for a short time preparatory to the publication of a series of 
plates, accompanied by appropriate descriptions. 


The painting exceeds 100 feet in length, and its elevation is 
18 feet. 


The pipes of the engines used in France for extinguishing fire 
are made of flax, and are found to answer the purpose much 
better than those made of leather. They are woven in the same 
manner as the wicks of patent lamps, and can be made of any 
length without a seam or joining. When the water runs a short 
time through the pipes the flax swells and no water escapes, 
though the pressure be very great.. They are more portable, not 
so liable to be out of repair, and do not cost by one half so much 
as the leather ones used in this country. ‘This article is now 
manufactured in Glasgow. 


s 


To Mr, Tilloch. 

Sir,—Allow me to call the attention of your readers to the 
consideration of the following singular property which | have 
lately discovered is possessed by that useful substance sulphur. 

If a stick of sulphur is grasped in the hand, numerous snap- 

pings 


76 Electricity. — Queries. 


pings are heard, exactly like (though not so loud as) the dis- 
charge of the Leyden jar; this continues frequently as long as it 
is heid in the hand; sometimes indeed after a short interval it 
ceases, but the crackling may be again produced by warming it. 

Now, as we know this substance is one of the most perfect 
negative electrics, are we to infer that the bare holding it in the 
hand is sufficient to excite it, and to produce the same effects 
as are obtained from a glass tube, or other electric, by friction ? 
It is clear that the noise is occasioned by the comuiunication of 
a certain portion of its electricity to the hand, as it is never 
heard: when approached by ancther electric body ;—a piece of 
metal warmed, which is an equally good conductor with the hand, 
also produces the saine sound. T have no doubt but that in 
the dark this noise would be accompanied by a scintillation si- 
milar to that produced by the approach of a non-electric body 
to-an excited glass tube. As it is generally believed that hold- 
ing a picce of ‘sulphur i in the hand is a cure for the cramp (2 and 
{ am viven to understand by a friend who has tried it, that it 
has that property) ; are we to attribute its efficacy in this in- 
stance, to the power it possesses of imparting a certain quantity 
of electricity to the hand, which, by immediately acting on the 
complaint, at once alleviates anc removes it ? 

Any information on this curious subject will be gladly re- 
ceived by 

Your constant reader, 
Jan, 22, 1816. Jer: 


QUERIES. 
To Mr. Tilloch. s 


Sir,—I shall consider it a favour, if you will publish in your 
valuable Magazine the following queries and observations: they: 
may lead to some information, which will be as acceptable to 
many of your readers, as to your constant student, 

Vert INVESTIGATOR. 

The principle of bevelled wheels was, | believe, first published 
by De La Hire in the ixth volume of Mémoires de l’ Académ. 
Paris, 1666 to 1699. But I would gladly be informed where 
and when they were first put in action ?. 

What is the date, and by whom were governors or lift-tenters: 
first applied to coru-mills driven by wind? and where was the 
first governor applied to the steam-engine ? 

The Swedes contend with us for the priority of invention of _ 
the thrashing-machine. Can you inform me, whether they 
have any just ground for such a claim? If they have not, I 
imagine that Mr. Sterling of Perthshire was the inventor about 
1758. Has 


Lectures.—List of Patents for new Inventions. Vi 


Has there ever been published any separate treatise upon the 
steam-engine? I suspect that much may have occasionally 
appeared in some provincial towns, near which those valuable 
machines are manufactured, or used to a great extent, without 
eyer reaching the metropolis. 


Medical School of St. Thomas’s and Guy's Hospitals.—The 
Spring Courses of Lectures at these adjoining Hospitals: will 
commence the beginning of February, as follows ; viz. 

At St. Thomas’s.—Anatomy and Operations of Surgery, by 
Mr. Astley Cooper and Mr. H. Cline.—Principles and Practice 
of Surgery, by Mr. Astley Cooper. 

At Guy’s.— Practice of Medicine, by Dr. Babington and Dr. 
Curry.—Chemistry, by Dr. Babington, Dr. Marcet and Mr. Allen. 
—Experimental Philosophy, by Mr. Allen.—Theory of Medi- 
cine, and Materia Medica, by Dr. Curry and Dr. Cholmeley.— 
Midwifery, and Diseases of Women and Children, by Dr. Haigh- 
ton.—Physiology, or Laws of the Animal C&conomy, by Dr. 
Haighton.—Structure and Diseases of the Teeth, by Mr. Fox. 

N. B. These several Lectures are so arranged, that no two of 
them interfere in the hours of attendance; and the whole is cal- 
culated to form a Complete Course of Medical and Chirurgical 
Instruction. ‘Terms and other particulars may be learnt from 
Mr. Stocker, Apothecary to Guy’s Hespital. 


LIST OF PATENTS FOR NEW INVENTIONS. 


To George Morton, of Covent Garden, in the county of Middle- 
sex, for his mode of attaching horses towaggons and all other four- 
wheeled carriages. —To enrol 14th November 1815.—6 months. 

~ ToJoseph Baader, Doctorof Medicine, Knight of the kingdom 
of Bavaria, for his improved plan of constructing rail-roads, and 
earriages to be used on such improved rail-roads, for the more 
easy, convenient, and expeditious conveyance of all sorts of 
goods, wares, merchandize, persons, and all other articles — 
usually, or at any time, removed in carriages of any construction ° 
whatever.—14th November.—6 months. 

To George Austin, of Wottonunderedge, in the county of Glou- 
eester, and John Dutton the younger, of Hillsley, in the parish 
_ of Hawksbury, in the said county, clothier, for certain improve- 
ments in the operation of fulling woollen cloth, and for im- 


_ provements in fulling-mills.—23d November.—2 months. 


To Allan ‘Taylor, in the parish of Barking, in the county of 
Essex, Daniel Gallafent senior, and Daniel Gallafent junior, in 
the parish of Braintree, in the county of Essex, for their engine’ 

for 


78 List of Patents for new Inventions. 


for raising cold and hot water,—25th November 1815.2 
months. ang 
To George Young, of Thames-street, London, for his improved 
method of making a peculiar species of canvass, which may be | 
used more advantageously for military and other purposes thau 
the eanvass now in use.—5th December 1815.—2 months. _ 

To Jean Frederick, Marquis de Chabanus, of Russell-place, in 
the county of Middlesex, for a method or methods for conducting 
the air and regulating the temperature in houses and other 
buildings, and warming and cooling either air or liquids in a 
more expeditious and less expeusive manner than hath hitherto 
been done within this kingdom, 5th December.—2 months. | 

ToJames Lee, of Old Ford, in the county of Middlesex, for certain 
improvements in the methods before invented by him of preparing 
hemp and flax for their various uses, and by which also other 
vegetable substances may be rendered applicable to many of the 
purposes for which hemp and flax are used.—5th December.— 
15 months. 

To Christopher Dihl, of Frith-street, Soho, Middlesex (in con= 
sequence of acommunication made to him by a certain foreigner 
residing abroad), for certain improvements in the method. or 
apparatus for distillation.— oth December.—6 months. 

ToJohn Mazel, of Poland-street, in the county of Middlesex, for 
_ his instrument or instruments, machine or machines, for the im- 
provement of all musical performances, which he denominates a 
metronome or musical time-keeper.—5th Dec.—6 months. _ 

- To Samuel Clegg, of the Gas-works, Peter-Street, West- 
minister, in the county of Middlesex, engineer, for his improved 
gas apparatus. —9th Dec.—6 months. 

To Robert Kinder, of Liverpool, Lancaster, for his improved, 
method or means of propelling ships’ boats and other vessels. 
19th Dec.—2 months. ye, 

To Robert Dickinson, of Great Queen-Street, Lincoln’s Inn 
Fields, in the county of Middlesex, for his improvement-or im- 
provements in the hoops or hooping of barrels.—19th Dec.— 
2 months. 

To William Plenty, of Newbury, Berks, iron-founder, for his 
plough or agricultural implement made on a new or improved 
principle and answering a two-fold purpose, so that land or 
ground may be thereby both pared and ploughed.—22d Dec. 
—2 months. 

To William Adamson, of the parish of St. George, Hanover- 
Square, London, for his discovered principle by which an hori- 
zontal wheel may be so moved about its axis by water, as to give 
it a power considerably greater than can be obtained by the ap- 

plication 


~ 


Meteorology. 79 


plication of water to a wheel in any other position.—22d Dee. 
—2 months. 

To Joseph Reynolds, of Kitley, in the county of Salop, for 
certain improvements in the construction of wheel-carriages, and 
of ploughs, and other implements used in husbandry, to be 
moved by steam, heated air, or vapour.—9th January 1816.— 
2 months. 

To Edward Cooper, of the parish of St. Mary, Newington 
Butts, for a method of painting paper for paper hanging.—10th 
Jan.—6 months. 

To Thomas Deakin, of Ludgate Hill, London, and John Ri- 
chard Haynes, of St. John’s Street, for an improved stove-grate 
or fire-place.—15th Jan.—6 months, 

To James Barron, of Wells-Street, Oxford-Street, for an im- 
provement or improvements on castors,—23d J an.—2 months. 


METEOROLOGY. 


The following Register of the Rain-gauge kept in Edinburgh 
by Mr. Adie, optician, shows the quantity of rain that fel: du- 
ring more than eleven years, in inches and decimals of an inch; 


and it appears that there was more than an average quan- 
tity fell in 1810. 


a Sh reper ae : ee Pee eee 

a © ad o a ro) ~ fo) oO ae pwOLl S toe 
BYELSI SLE ee] ey erst aya yssel aja 
Ss el -“_ _ Son wr Sl ie of fol = 
Jan. | 2-73! 3-28! 1-52] 1-80} -89] 2-98] 1-75} TIP -SU} 3-72) 1-598] 2-280} -89 
Feb. 2-84] 1-40) -67) +55} 1°57) AG] 1-447 1-871 1-56] -57) 1.999} -984]3-30 
Mar. } 1-37) +43) 1-20) 1-52] +47) 1-94 -8e} 65°} TA} 2-541 1-106) 284311.97 
April | 2-11} 1-09) 1-47) 1-56} 2-154 2-05] -6(} 75] 1-16] 2-04} 1-496] .1-58411-72 
May | 1-20) 1-43) 1-96) 1-62] 2-27] 2-50] 1-9¢} «8Ef 1-19] 1-Se] 1-734] 1-495/3-69 
June } 3-92} 1-03} 2-18] 2-53] -87{ +52) -Q¢] 2-218 1-35] 1-31 1-614] 1-47919-68 
July | 2-52) 27) 5-19) 2-10} 2+6( “407 5-25] 4.19) -S6} 1°86] Q-774} Ss154lo 77 
Aust. | 3-62) *45) 4-50} 2-99] 5-A6} 1626] +84} 2-1: ] 2-00) 3-91) 2-740} 3-100 


Sept. |, 1:12) 2-21] 2-99| 2-28] 4-02] 2-53] 2-66] 25%} 1-82] 54} 2-254] +457 
Oct. | 4:87} 1-19) $-24) 2-15] 1-99] 5-33} 1.5%] 2-431 1-00] 2-37] 2-416} 1-570 
Nov. | 4-58] 1-31! 1-20) 2-07] 1-79] -9S} 1-O€] 2-09} 2-26] 1-95}. 1-926] 4-430 
Dec. | 3-81} 1-06) 1-26} 1-41] 1-25] 2-91} 2.17] 1-02] 1-13] 1696} 1-796] 2-540 


a | ne | ee ee | | 


Votal |55-72|17-65}27-18]22-58)26-5 1/21 -30}20-4 121-20} 1 5°86 1|24+37/25-270 125-636 


Telford’s Report on the Means of supplying Edinburgh with 
- Water, page 5. 


METEORO- 


$0 Meteorology. 
METEOROLOGICAL TABLE, 


By Mr. Cary, oF THE STRAND, 
For January 1816. 


Thermometer. care : 
er om AS 2 | 
3 . 1%.) Heightof} +s 8% 3 
Dare of oe: g aie the arom ee Weather. 
noe dhe | Pee 
~“ we 4 5 = 
Dec. 27; 42 | 35 | 42 | 29°20 O |Rain and Snow 
28] 32 | 35 | 29 ‘79 o |Rain and Snow 
20) 45 | 46 | 46 82 7 | Fair 
30] 43-| 40 | 28 | 30°50 10. | Fair 
31} 298 | 30 | 27 "50 7 |Fair 
Jan. 1} 28 | 33 | 26 51 6 |Fair 
G 97 | 34 | 27 16 7. |Fair 
3) 37 | 40 | 35 "25 10. |Fair 
4| 9 42 | 35 23 12 | Fair 
5) 36 | 43 | 40 10 6 |Fair 
6 45 |-48 | 35 | 29°76 6 Cloudy 
7;| 40 | 40 | 36 “85 8 |Fair 
8 40 | 49 | 45 50 0. |Rain 
9| 45 | 47.| 46 “52 10. | Fair 
10 49 | 51 | 48 18 14. | Fajr 
11/52 | 50 | 44 ol 10 |Fair 
et 38 | 45 | 39 10 0 | Rain 
13) 39 | 44 | 38. | 28°97 5 | Cloudy 
14; 39 | 43 | 40 | 29°91 y eae pee ee 
15| 38 | 45 | 33 20 0 | Bain -.. 
16|.37 | 42; 40 67 14 \Fair 
17) 40 | 42 | 36 ‘68 9 Fair 
18| 34 | 42 | 34 "69 9. {Fair 
19} 33 | 42 | 39 "68 4 }Cloudy 
20) 3 49 | 39 *50 5° |Fair 
21| 38 | 40 | 39 “2 O |Rain 
22) 36 | 39 | 39 “29 6 |Fair 
23) 38 | 42 | 38 “12 O |Rain 
241 39 | 40} 39} "10 o {Cloudy 
25; 38 | 40 | 36. v1 0 | Foggy 
26; 34 | 40 | 35 32 7 {Cloudy 


N.B. The Barometer’s height is taken at oneo’clock. ~ 


(<A + To SEER 


Bho J . 


XVII. On Aérial Navigation. By Sir Groner Cayiry, Bart. 


ae 


Toa Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — I AM glad to find that the public attention is ¢alled to 
aérial navigation by Mr. Evans, in your Magazine for November 

% last. This subject is of great importance to mankind, ‘and is 
worthy of more attention than is bestowed upon it. An unin- 
terrupted navigable ocean, that comes to the threshold of every 
man’s door, ought not to be neglected as a source of human 

; gratification and advantage. Mr. Evans proposes the action of 
i a large inclined plane suspended below a common balloon, as 
’ the means of making it take an oblique course in its ascent, and 
; -by means of the same plane to make the weight of the appa- 
. ratus cause an oblique descent towards the same point of steer- 

age. This principle is unquestionably capable of performing 
what that gentleman proposes, although the construction he has 
given is only adapted to effect the purpose in ascending, as the 
want of weight in the plane would prevent it from operating, 
excepting in a very limited degree, in the descent. In the small 
balloons used by Mr. Evans, the plane was, in fact, the whole 
burthen supported; and hence, under the small velocity gene- 
rated, the descent was as oblique as the ascent. But in the 
balloon 80 feet in diameter described by that gentleman, the 
plane in ascending would receive, according to his estimate, 
above 2000 pounds of resistance from the an’, and thus become 
efficient ; whereas in descending it could only sustain a resist- 
ance equal to its weight, which of course will be as little as pos- 
sible, and hence it will be nearly inefficient. The general prin- 
ciple, however, is perfectly true; and when applied advantageously, 
although it is an indirect way of gaining the proposed horizontak 
point, yet it will be as effectual as the process of tacking in or- 
dinary navigation. Mr. Evans estimates that a Montgolfier 
balloon of 80 feet in diameter, with a plane suspended under it 
in an angle of 70° with a perpendicular line, the dimensions of 
which are as 1:4 to 1, compared with the great circle of the 
balloon, will be carried through the air by a power of ascent 
equal to 2792 pounds with a velocity of 28 feet per second, and 
hence that the travelling horizontal speed will be about 19 miles 
per hour.—If the resistance of air be taken at one pound per 
square foot at a velocity of 23 feet per second, which is two feet 
more than the common engineering estimate, the resistance of 
a globe to its great circle, according to Mr. Robins’s experi-, 
ments, as 1 to 2°27, and the resistance of the plane as the square 
Vol, 47, No, 214. Feb. 1816. F of 


82 On Aerial Navigation. 


of the sine of the angle of incidence,—it will require about 
12450 pounds to produce this rate of conveyance in Mr. Evans’s 
balloon; and hence the power he allows is not one-fourth part 
of what is required. This apparatus would, however, according 
to my calculation, travel with the speed of about 8} miles per 
hour*, which is quite sufficient to show the utility of the princi- 
ple, whether the mistake be in Mr. Evans’s figures or my own. 
A few years ago I made many experiments upon the power 
of iticlined planes, some of which exceeded 300 square feet in 
area: an account of these may be seen in Mr. Nicholson’s Jour- 
nal for November 1809, and February and March 1810.” It 
may be affirmed with confidence from these experiments, that in 
obliquely descending the efficacy and steerage of the inclined 


plane have been completely ascertained. My object was to leave - 


out the unwieldy bulk of balloons altogether, and to make use 
of the intlined plane propelled by a light first mover. Although 
my attention has hitherto been diverted from making further 
experiments, I am fully convinced that this mode of aerial na- 
vigation is practicable, and will, ere long, be accomplished. In 
the mean time I shall be glad to promote any promising ex- 
periments upon the steerage of balloons, and therefore offer the 
following observations through the medium of your Magazine. 

In considering the means for obviating the relative resistance 
of balloons in passing swiftly through the air, the leading ge- 
neral principle is evidently to increase their dimensions far be- 
yond the limits hitherte adopted. The weight of their super- 
ficial materials, and the resistance they meet with, being as the 
squares of their diameters; whereas their power of support be- 
ing as the cubes of these diameters, it follows that their power 
may be made to bear any required proportion to their resistance. 
Thus a balloon of one yard in diameter meets with ten times 
more resistance, in proportion to its power, than a balloon of ten 
vards in diameter. 

The next consideration is, that a globe is by no means the best 
shape for obviating resistance; a greater extension in the line 
of its path, with a corresponding diminution in the section per- 
pendicular to it, may be adopted with great advantage. Keeping 
in view these two leading principles, the former of which places 
the proper scale of experiments beyond the expense that indivi- 
duals choose to appropriate to such purposes, I propose that 
the following plan be adopted by those desirous of promoting 
this noble art :—First, that a subscription be entered into for 


* An error in the paper of Mr, Evans was corrected in our number for 
December, making the velocity 10} miles per hour. 
obtaining 


eo Uw 


ee a 


On Aérial Navigation. 83 


obtaining a proper fund;—and secondly, that a committee be 
appointed by the subscribers for the purpose of carrying such 
experiments as may appear eligible into effect.. To such a com- 
mittee I should be glad to submit the propriety of making the 
following experiment, which would be capable of trying all the 
expedients hitherto proposed for steering balloons. The prin- 
ciple proposed by Mr. Evans is only applicable, at present, to 
fire-balloons ; and as these are the cheapest, and upon a large 
seale with proper precautions may be made safe with respett to 
fire, I propose that the experiments be made upon the Mont- 
golfier balloon. The scale I prepose to adopt, though as small 
as is compatible with the object in view, will appear to any one 
who has not calculated the proportions required for the success 
of the experiment, of stupendous magnitude.—Amazement would 
have been the consequence of presenting to the imagination of 
an ancient Briton the idea of a British hundred-gun ship, when 
only contemplating the principles of navigation exhibited in his 
humble coracle covered with a skin. From the truck of the 
flag-staff to the extreme of the bowsprit, a vessel of this sort 
will measure about 90 yards; and it is a wonderful effort of hu- 
man ingenuity arising from the gradually accumulating know- 
ledge of ages:—but the long boat of aérial navigation com- 
mences about the bulk where the man-of-war of common navi- 
gation has reached its full growth; and what may be the vessels, 
I hopie not men of war, of this sort which a thousand years of 
human invention may bring to light, I am at a loss to contem- 
plate. 


= S3 SS 


SGI OE 
Se ae g 
ws. 


3% 
ais ee xy 


Let ABC represent the plan, side and end elevation of a 
balloon or aérial vessel, made of woollen cloth, and kept to its 
F2 shape 


84 On Atrial Navigation. 


shape by light poles attached to it, and internal cross bracings 
of wire or cord, opposing the tendency to become circular from 
the internal pressure of the heated air: this vessel to be 15 
yards in elevation, 380 in width, and 100 in length, About 
27 yards below this vessel must be suspended a convenient boat- 
shaped car, by six ropes collecting the eordage of the netting. 
This boat must be furnished witha light fire-grate; and an 
oval chimney of thin metal must descend from the balloon and 
cover the fire. This chimney to be furnished with three fine 

wire nets to prevent sparks from passing up it. A sail or rud= — 
der D must be attached to the boat from behind, which can be 
turned to either side by bracing the boom to which it is fixed. 
The cloth made use of being woollen will not be subject to take 
fire; but it is requisite that it should be made air-tight, and like- 
wise impervious to rain, by some coats of paint or varnish on 
the outside. The machine being thus completed so far as it is 
mecessary to try the principle of the znclined plane, as soon as 
the balloon is inflated, let the front ropes be lengthened and the 
hinder ones shortened, till it stands in an angle of about 30° with 
the horizon, when it will be found to rise in an angle of about 45°, 
and the horizontal velocity towards its destined harbour will be 
about 20 miles per hour*.—The power of the heated air would 
be about 17600 pounds: of this about 6800 pounds would be re- 
quired to generate the velocity specified, and the remainder will 
be consumed in the weight of materials, fuel, passengers, &c. 

It may seem at the first view extraordinary that I should 
propose to make use of so long a chimney; and this requires 
some explanation. ‘The exterior resistance of the air to the an- 
terior portion of the balloon, will amount on some parts of it to 
about 26 pounds per square yard at the proposed speed; and 
hence an internal pressure at least equal to this must be created, 
for the purpose of preserving the form of the balloon. This is 
most readily effected by force of the long column of heated air 
passing up such a chimney as I have described; for, were the 
air within it no hotter than the general temperature of the bal- 
loon, the 27 yards of chimney added to half the height of the 
balloon would create a pressure rather exceeding what is re~ 
quired ; and I conceive it will, from its greater rarefaction, cre- 


* This calculation is grounded upon the following data:—That in Mont- 
golfier balloous one cubic yard of space has been found to give 11 ounces 
of power—that the form of the vessel will prevent it from receiving more 
than a third part of the resistance that its greatest cross section would re-= 
ceive at the same velocity ; and that a velocity of twenty-three feet per 
second in air, creates a resistance of one pound per square foot, according 
to some careful experiments of iy own upon a very large scale, 

ate 


On Aerial Navigation. 85 


ate as much pressure as will permit the prow of the balloon to 
be depressed to an angle of 30? with the horizon, and still en- 
able it to resist the impression of the air in descending. — It is 
scarcely necessary to observe that the balloon must be, as usual, 
furnished with a large valve at the top, and likewise with one at 
the bottom, to permit the escape of the hottest or coldest air as 
reyuired. If the specific heat of air be to that of water as 1°79 
to I, it will require about 880 pounds of fuel to inflate this bal- 
loon, exclusive of what will be consumed to supply the waste of 
heat during the operation; and when a second rise is required, 
by having suffered the escape of air equal to the power of 6800 
pounds, it will require the rapid combustion of 840 pounds of 
shavings, chopped straw, &c. to create a renewed ascent. Hence, 
including waste, probably about 100 pounds of fuel will be ex- 
pended for every mile of conveyance, exclusive of the first in- 
flation. 

When this experiment has been made, it will be easy to try 
whether the balloon can be driven directly forward hy sails wafted 
by the steam-engine at a less expense of fuel. In the former 
case the balloon had to proceed along two sides of a right-an- 
gled triangle only to gain the length of the hypothenuse : hence, 
as the resistance varies as the square of the velocity, the same 
horizontal speed of conveyance will be obtained with rather less 
than half the resistance in the one case than the other, The 
consumption of a steam horse power is about 30 pounds of wa- 
ter and six or seven pounds of fuel per hour. I have made se- 
veral calculations relative to this subject, but it will occupy too 
much space for any one number of your valuable Magazine to 
detail them ; I shall therefore close this paper, already perhaps 
too long, by stating, that if the dread of fire should deter any 
one from wishing to promote this experiment, notwithstanding 
the adoption of woollen cloth to prevent it, a perfect security 
from this accident may be obtained by using steam in lieu of 
heated air for inflating the balleon, or at least a great mixture 
of it with the heated air. The power of steam is greater than 
air at the usual temperature in Montgolfier balloons in the ratio 
of 18 to 11, although the first inflation will cost more fuel in 
the ratio of 2:6 tol. The resistance to a steam-balloon will be 
only as | to 1-38, when compared with one of the same power 
inflated by heated air; and hence a considerable saving of power 
would be the result of adopting it. But several inconveniences 
arise upon the introduction of steam into balloons, the chief of 
__ which are the necessity of doubling the structure, so as to sus-, 
pend the steam balloon within one of heated air or gas, and of 
the materials being incapable of absorbing water. However, T 
think 


» 


86 An Attempt to draw . 


think it very possible that the following lines of Dr. Darwin 
may eventually be realized: 


“ Soon shall thy arm, unconquer'd steam! afar 
Drag the slow barge or drive the rapid car ; 
Or on wide waving wings expanded bear 
The flying chariot through the fields of air. 
Fair crews triumphant, leaning from above, 
Shall wave their fluttering kerchiefs as they move ; 
Or warrior bands alarm the gaping crowd, 
And armies shrink beneath the shadowy cloud.” 


I remain, sir, your obedient servant, 
Brompton, near Malton, Yorkshire, GroncE CAYLEY. 
Dec. 24, 1815. 


_ XVII. An Attempt to draw a Parallel between the Arts of 
Painting and Sculpture *. 


Tue appellation of Sister Arts is generally given to Painting and 
Sculpture: this mode of expression taken in a general sense is 
correct ; but the relations and resemblances which they respec- 
tively present to the eyes of a common observer are very remote, 
when they are considered attentively and with the eyes of an 
artist. 

Several eminent artists and amateurs, whom I have the ho- 
“nour to rank among my friends, having expressed their sur- 


prise that very little had been written upon sculpture, while: 


the most petty scribbler thinks himself qualified to decide dog- 
matically on the merit of painters, and to dwell pedantically 
on all the parts of a picture; it occurred to me that the rea- 
sons for such a seeming neglect of the former art, and such an 
excess of criticism on the latter, were to be sought for in the 
essence of the two arts. In these few pages I shall therefore 
endeavour to give a general idea of both. 

Painting strikes the senses most forcibly, and the aid of co- 
lours gives it the advantage of closely resembling nature. Not 
only do the abundance and éclat of its productions diffuse it 
more widely and facilitate its reception in the world; but the 
means of its execution are so familiar and so well ino wats that 
all men regard it as a common property. But it is not in this 
point of view, nor in this spirit, that it is made for all the world. 

Sculpture, more confined to the workshop, less in view and of 


more difficult removal, slower in its operations and less extensive — 


* Translated from an unpublished manuscript of Count Caylus, i in the 
possession of M, Fayolle, member of the French Institutee—Magasin En- 
cyclopéedique, 

in 


a Parallel between Painting and Sculpture. 87 


jn its field of composition, not only curtails, and as it were shuts 
up, but obscures the career which is always open with respect 
to painting, against narrow minds and professed boasters. 

The facility of speaking and the silence above alluded to are, 
therefore, wholly dependent on the nature of each of these arts. 
Iam the more anxious to communicate these ideas on painting 
and sculpture, because those who practise them evince no desire 
to know that the labour and execution, the methods of which 
as transmitted from master to scholar are adopted in the school, 
to say the truth, are a kind of routine which may have advan- 
_ tages for men of middling talents, whose habitudes induce idle- 
ness. But this routine and this beaten track are not only ene- 
mies to greatness, but lead artists to despise theory, and reject 
the reflections which men of letters may. chance to communicate. 
This prejudice, the source of the greatest misfortunes to the arts, 
is absolutely false in its principle. 

The slightest reflection teaches us that the theory of an art 
always serves to the perfection of its practice ; and artists them- 
selves prove every day: that these parts are inseparable : in fact, 
those of superior talents would not retain the pre-eminence 
which they enjoy, without the application of the essential parts 
of theory to the beauty of the touch of the chisel, the perfection 
of the tracings, and general grandeur of idea. I shall admit that 
it may not be requisite that they should reason methodically on 
their art, or write upon it with order: all this may not be re- 
quired of them; but they ought to be able to speak of it cor- 
rectly, and with decent warmth : in short, they ought to be lu- 
minous. Could they have these advantages, if this theory which 
they despise were not indelibly but unconsciously rooted in their 
minds ?. It does exist there certainly, but mixed and confounded 
with what they cali their practice. We may be the more assured 
that the theory is uething but the rationale of the art, because 
artists continually use it without having the least doubt of its 
potency: in fact, they both oppose it incessantly to the critiques 
which are made on their productions, and use it in those which 
they make themselves on the works of ancient or modern artists. 

In order that sculpture may be brought within the compre- 
hension of persons in general, who have no idea of the resources 
of intellect and dexterity of workmanship requisite for its opera- 
tions, 1 think it best to compare all its parts with those of 
painting; to point out the portions which are common to both, 
and which establish their sisterhood ; and, finally, to notice the 
facilities or difficulties which both kinds of artists have to en- 
counter. ‘This arrangement appears to me to be the simplest, 
and the most capable of making known the real difference of the 
two arts. 

F4 Their 


&8 An Attempt to draw 


Their common parent is Genius, that portion of the divinity 
impossible to be misunderstood and more impossible to define, 
which strikes, produces, illuminates, creates, and cannot be con- 
founded with any part of the human mind, which is always little 
in its presence. This universal agent hovers equally over the 
two professions, and diffuses, more or less, sparks of fire from 
his luminous centre :—happy are those artists who are sufficiently 
prompt to receive them, and sufficiently skilful to make the pro- 
per application, 

The imitation of nature is constantly the essence, the basis, 
the property, and finally the common mother of the two arts: 
but imitation alone produces mere pieces of ice; it is but a 
slave, if genius refuses to accompany it: it is genius which fur- 
nishes the grand means which lead to expression—to genius we 
owe that penetration into the object, and that just and accurate 
transport with which the soul is affected, and which flows from 
the representation of action itself. 

Painting and sculpture equally require the influence of a 
father and a mother, to whom they owe the existence. or rather 
the reproduction, of every instant of their being. Nevertheless, 
far from sharing their gifts to their favourite daughters by the 
same ways, genius and imitation subject them not only to their 
particular object, but to the means which may exalt the magni- 
ficence of their sources, and beget an admiration which ought to 
be ascribed to its principle. Another object still more worthy of 
these divine essences, is that of transmitting to posterity great 
examples of heroism and virtue. Men who are truly wise and 
truly heroic have, perhaps, no desire to be encouraged by the 
honourable recompenses which the arts distribute; but those 
who succeed them may be guided and warmed by this reward 
of good actions. Thus we may assert, that the monuments of 
antiquity have often been the source of the greatest. virtues ; 
for it is evident that living or too receut examples do not make 
the same impression as the works of sculpture dedicated by an- 
tiquity. to virtue and glory:—the latter present an isolated ex- 
ample purified from every defect which could obscure it; the 
former,?. e. the models of living or too recent characters, lose all 
their éclat; while their value is diminished by the self-love of 
men who do not like to be ‘surpassed ‘by their contemporaries, 
and who receive those personal impressions, those national ideas, 
and finally imbibe all those prejudices, which the mind shuts 
out with the utmost difficulty as a consequence of these truths. 
The arts ought to draw from antiquity the examples necessary 
for humanity. 

I trust that this digression will be forgiven, as I am here in- 
quiring info the merits of an art which men in all ages have 

charged 


a Parallel between Painting and Sculpture. 89 


charged to transmit to posterity just ideas of the grandeur of 
the virtues and the strength of empires.—I now return to the 
details which I have undertaken. 

Painting possesses ample means of making itself undertood : 
the aid of local and aérial perspective, the multiplicity of plans, 
_ aptness of site, facility of accessories, the instant of every move- 

ment, all real and imaginary positions, and finally the colour 
of the objects represented. What are the limits of all these ad- 
vantages when they are guided by the hand of genius? This 
inquiry does not belong to this place. The above enmeration 
is merely given, that all the privations under which sculpture la- 
bours may be amply perceived. 

Sculpture can only represent figures holding firmly by the 
ground, from being obliged to have recourse almost always to 
supports capable of sustaining the limbs and enabling them to 
resist the weight of the body. What I say on this occasion re- 
gards single figures only, and which are most usually treated by 

sculpture. It is true that groups are sometimes exhibited, but 
in general the number of figures of which they are composed 
is small; for it is rare to find them more extensive than that of 
 Direé, that which we call the Furnese Bull, or the Baths of 
Apollo at Versailles. Bas-reliefs furnish sculpture with several 
of the parts which painting uses at pleasure: they afford the 
means of representing surrounding scenery, landscape, multi- 
plications of plans, and consequently of perspective. The bas- 
relief has besides the advantage of giving au idea of the kind 
of light and the point of view for which the sculptor has com- 
_ posed his piece. I shall add that, like the painter, he has only 
- asurface to adorn, that he may express actions varied at plea- 
sure, and that he may arrange at will all the positions of nature 
and fiction. Notwithstanding this increase of succours, each art 
_ being retained within the limits which its essence prescribes to 
it, these kinds of work are in several respects always inferior to 
_ painting, and bas-reliefs often leave something to desire, even 
without comparing them to pictures; for it is certain that they 
are attended with great difficulties, and we have not always oe- 
casion to remark, on viewing them, that the subject is well un- 
derstood from the bas-relief. Their execution demands, there- 
_ fore, a peculiar sort of talent, 
__ After having overcome the difficulty of supporting the figure, 
_ t.e. having found a method of doing so without making the ae-~ 
tion appear constrained or unnatural, sculpture is obliged to dis- 
_ cover a position which shall be happy in every respect: and 
_ whoever has not reflected upon this difficulty, cannot conceive the 
ins necessary to be taken to find an accurate and agreeable 
adjustment of all the parts and for every point of view. We 
ought 


90 An Attempt to draw 


ought not to forget that painting works under a single point of 
view, 4 

The parts which are most isolated, and particularly the arms, 
do not less embarrass the sculptos: he ought to have support 
and solidity constantly in his mind; they are of suc ‘he necessity 
in execution, that in order to attain them, he is frequently com- 
pelled to renounce the most expressive attitudes. How great is, 
the constraint therefore in composition! What are the curtail- 
ments to which genius must net submit ! 

The accessories concur to the action, and serve to make it 
known ; their assistance is a very great resource to the arts: 
eloquence even makes use of them, for an epithet appears to 
me to be an accessory, or if we please an attribute: the painter’s 
only fear is lest he should abuse them; whereas the sculptor, 
restrained within very narrow bounds, can employ only attributes 
often of very general application ; since they sometimes accord 
with several figures, and since he can only place them on the 
clothing, on the head, on the hands, and sometimes on the sulp- 
port which has been mentioned. 

I do not speak of the convenience of positions, with respect toage 
and character, nor of the correctness of the tracing, of the details 
of putting the limbs and other organs inthe right place, for these 
parts are as necessary to sculpture as to painting: but the latter, 
having only one front or one point of view to represent, is exe- 
cuted with the more facility, because, if the painter perceives 
some error, or some degree of perfection which he can add, he 
is master of the art of instantly effacing and retouching; the 
sculptor, on the contrary, is deprived of this adv antage; he can- 
not retrace his steps from the moment he has chipped: off a 
piece of marble. [ shall pass over in silence the constraints 
which the dimensions of the block frequently occasion in pro- 
ducing the given figure. But these constraints are not all which 
the art undergoes. ‘The painter chooses the light which he wishes 
to fall on a surface: the sculptor has no choice; he has all 
kinds of light at once, and this very abundance isto bim a 
source of embarrassment; for he is obliged to consider and to 
reflect on all the parts of his figure, and to work them accord- 
ingly: it is himself in fact who, as it were, gives the lights-to his. 
subject. A sculptor must also make several sketches. until he 
finds the proper attitude: in this respect the mind of the seulp- 
tor is more creative than that of the painter, _ But this vanity is 
not satisfied but at the expense of much reflection and fatigue; 
whereas the painter has all the oppositions of colour, accidents 
and effects of every kind at his command, to produce correspon- 
dence and harmony in parts which concur most to general harmy. 
mony, 7, @. to the charms of sight. The sculptor has no;such 

advantages. 


4 
| 


a Parallel-between Painting and Seulpture. 91 


/ 
advantages. He has no guide but experience, and, if we may 
so express ourselves, the fountain of his chisel,as the painter has 
that of his pencil. The imitation of the human skin is the ob- 
ject and principle of the imitative arts: the flesh merits the 
particular attention of both arts,since there is no part more pro- 
minent and with which the spectator is more struck: it ought to 
he perceived chiefly over the muscles which it covers, without 
diminishing their play or size, and without altering their strength 
or position. But how great are the differences in the method 
of expressing this skin! Sculptors must search for examples in 
the chefs-d’ceuvre of the Greeks; they alone have given the 
model of profound knowledge and sublime executicn: they must 
place all their confidence in the correctness and beauty of their 
works, and must not seek to surprise into admiration by a contrast 
in thé positions. It would have been desirable if ancient au- 
thors had made any mention of their method of studying. It is 
evident, however, that it must have been different from that of 
the present day; for even those among the moderns who have 
most copied and who have been most penetrated with admira- 
tion of the Greek sculptors, have never caught their style nor 
method of working. We merely know from the accounts of 
Pliny, that, far from neglecting the theory, they reflected deeply 
on their art. The great number of artists whom he mentions 
as haying written profoundly on this subject, does not admit of 
our refusing to believe this complinient. 

[ return to the-means which the painter possesses of giving 
expression to the skin. It is easy for him to colour his work; 
and, without speaking of half-tints, to support it by large shades. 
He may easily enliven it by forcible touches which produce an 
agreeable opposition aud a happy contrast with this same skin; 
whereas the sculptor cannot produce the same effect without the 
greatest pains, and he does so without the aid of any of those 
chance-touches of the painter which resemble the sallies of the 
imagination in a lon mot which reflection never could have fore- 
seen. When the studies of the painter are at an end, he may 
sit by his fire and survey all the parts of his pictnre: he covers, 
extinguishes, revives, and harmonizes: the sculptor with a sharp 
chisel, which acts only when itis struck with a mallet*, and 
without having it in his power to restore the substance which it 
has removed, cannot give harmony to his figure without the 
most laborious attention and the most accurate judgement, sub- 
ject to the idea of a perfect whole, which he ought to have con- 

___ stantly present in his mind, without having it in his power to 


* All the fine works of seulpture are finished with the point of the 
chisel: the rasp is. a most pernicious instrument. 


abandon 


92 An Attempt to draw 


abandon it for a moment. From the hair of the head to the sole 
of the foot, how many touches of the chisel does it not require 
to render a piece of sculpture sublime! 

The two arts cannot pay too much attention to the subject 
of draperies. We might make a long dissertation on the abuses 
in this department : but sc ulpture requires in this respect still 
greater pains than painting. Bernini, whose talents are un- 
questionable, has given much amplitude and flow to his draperies. 
This novelty has been productive of bad consequences. In or- 
der to avoid the difhculties of forming the naked figure, an ex- 
cess of drapery has been resorted to by the followers of Bernini: 
they have forgotten that the clothing ought always to recall the 
idea of the form of the parts under it; latterly, in Italy as 
well as in France, statues have been cov ered with a multiplicity 
of large folds, and have exhibited motions which nature never 
dictated. Thus stepping from abuse to abuse, the draperies have 
been composed separately with great nicety, andfrequently di- 
rectly against the natural effect a the weight and movement of 
the figure which they are intended to clothe. This is not asto- 
nishing, since they are intended to be fixed upon a lay-figure, 
and adjusted at pleasure. ‘The ancients are still our masters in 
this respect: it was not through ignorance or idleness that they 
made choice of light draperies, which have been erroneously de- 
nominated moulded draperies ; but the dresses which they re- 
presented being composed of gauze or muslin, preserved the 
naked shape, and.conveyed the idea of all the movements of the 
body in a manner so agreeable, that the eye was always satisfied, 
and nature gained in some respects from voluptuousness. 

It is scarcely necessary to say that this proposition cannot be 
general ; and that decency requiring a great degree of modesty, 
the figures which belong to religion in particular cannot admit of 


much nakedness. But would it be impossible to dress them in- 


thinner clothes, less ample, and less loaded with great folds? As to 
those which we borrow from fable, we have too many reasons for 
following the examples which the ancients have given us. 

It cannot be said in favour of the sculptor that he has the ad- 
vantage of moulding the parts. Without entering into a detail by 
which painting may equally profit, it would result from this 
operation that all statues would be excellent, because there is 
no part of the human body which cannot be moulded and copied 
by the compass ;' nevertheless the contrary is too well demon- 
strated: in fact, not only does nature sometimes present imper- 


fections, but all the parts selected and moulded do not agree. 


with each other. The joinings at least must be supplied: be- 
sides, the character of a moulded part is generally frigid, and does 
not accord with the subject intended to be represented: and 

lastly, 


— 


a Parallel between Painting and Sculpture. 93 


lastly, the proportions are different. It must be admitted, how- 
ever, that this facility of moulding has frequently been used by 
ignorant sculptors ; but it will always be easy to distinguish the 
use which they have made of it: nature breaks out, and the eye 
is struck with it the moment it is perceived. Thus we may say 
in general, that by supposing an equal degree of mediocrity, the 
sculptor with the aid of the mould will appear superior to the 
painter, when both of them work without genius. 

It has been generally thought that real colours applied to a 
work of sculpture ought to produce the most perfect imitation. 
This practice, adopted in the barbarous times of antiquity, was 
preserved throughout Europe until the revival of the arts. We 
find even at this moment in country towns statues of saints 
plastered over with various colours. The grosser senses of the 
peasantry are struck with this alliance of sculpture and painting ; 
but it is the only beauty they have: for I can safely assert, that 
if Apelles and Lysippus could have joined their talents upon one 
and the same statue, they would not have produced any thing 
agreeable or satisfactory: the two arts which these great men 
have illustrated, lose equally their advantages by uniting their 
efforts; and nothing so forcibly proves their real difference, as 
the productions which arise from their copartnership. 

Colours when placed on a statue present no shading: the 
details of the figure become fixed and immoveable; and although, 


_ physically speaking, they cannot be otherwise, the pencil and the 


chisel produce illusions, giving rise to ideas of the motion which 
suits the parts, and present several details of the passions which 
they have seized and taken, as it were, on the wing. 

The examination of a drapery will serve as a term of com- 
parison, and may give an idea of the way in which this opera- 
tion of colouring destroys the fine and delicate expression of the 
passions. 

I shall suppose this drapery to be loose and flowing, The 
painter will give to his picture either its lightness, the strength 
of the wind, or that of the action. The drapery of the same 
kind will be represented by sculpture much less extended, but 
it will be sufficient if it seems to float inthe air. From the mo- 
ment that it is coated with paint it will become heavy; its 
folds, which are very fine in mere sculpture, will appear loaded. 
The contour, deprived of the effect of opposition, such as the 
painter gives it at pleasure in a picture, will become heavier, as 
well as all the details of the mass: the salient parts treated by 
sculpture can produce only harsh and crude effects; for colouring 
cannot suit all the aspects of a lay-figure, and the work will 
necessarily he deprived of every kind of harmony: thenceforward, 

in 


94 New Outlines of Chemical Philosophy. 


in short, it can only be regarded as an assemblage of masses, 
without any general or particular connexion, 

Thus, eacly of these arts, residing within bounds prescribed 
by nature, ought to keep to its adv antages, and surmount its de- 
fects by touches mutually borrowed. Painting, notwithstanding 
the grandeur and abundance of its means, always endeavours to 
produce the effect of reliefs, and thus to imitate sculpture. The 
latter, confined to solid matter, cannot be susceptible of har- 
mony and opposition, except from the variety of the workman- 
ship of the chisel, and by the more or less ‘of decision in the 
shading: it cannot draw this harmony from any thing but from 
itself, or, what is absolutely the same, from the mere colour of 
the matter upou which it works: in order to please, it seeks the 
harmony of painting :—both arts, therefore, mutually lend each 
other assistance. In this case they are sisters; but they are dif- 
ferent in their methods of attaining the same end, and they can- 
not reside under the same roof. 

It results from these reflections, founded on the essence and 
the detail of the two arts, that the sculptor, having less assist- 
ance, seems to have more merit when he arrests and astonishes 
the spectator, to make him feel all the grandeur of a great ac- 
tion : but at the same time the spectator requires a great variety 
of lights to judge by; and consequently painting, being more 
adapted to the capacity of all men, and flattering their idleness 
more, must necessarily have more friends and a ereater number 
of partisans. 


XIX. New Outlines of Chemical Philosophy. 
By Ez. Waker, Esq.of Lynn, Norfolk. 


{Continued from vol. xlvi. p. 433.] 
“ Of the Decomposition of Water*.” 


" Tue antiphiogistic theory has received its greatest support,” 
says Dr. Priestley, **from the supposed discovery that water is 
resolvable into two principles; one that of oxygen, the base of 
dephlogisticated air; and the other, because it has no other origin 
than water, hydrogen, or that which with the addition of ca- 
lorique, or the element of heat, constitutes inflammable air. 
‘One of the parts of the modern doctrine the most solidly esta- 
blished,’ say M. Berthollet and the other authors of the Re- 


* From Priestley’s Essay on Phlogiston, p. 41. 1a tek 
port 


New Outlines of Chemical Philosophy. 95 


port on this subject (Examination of Kirwan, p. 17), ‘is the 
formation, the decomposition, and recomposition of water. And 
how can we doubt of it, when we see that, in burning together 
fifteen grains of inflammable air, and eighty-five of vital air, we 
obtain exactly an hundred grains of water, in which, by decom- 
position, we find again the same principles, and in the same 
proportions? If we ‘doubt of a trath established uy experiments 
so simple and palpable, there would be nothing certain in na- 
tural philosophy.’ 

“* Notwithstanding the confidence thus strongly expressed by 
these able and experienced chemists,” says Dr.Priestley, “I must 

_ take thie liberty to say, that the experiments to which they al- 

lude appear to me very liable to exce ption, and the doctrine of 
phlogiston easily accounts for all that they have observed. 

“Their proof that water is decomposed, and resolved into two 
kinds of air, is, that when steam is made to pass over red-hot 
iron inflammable air is produced, and the iron acquires an ad- 
dition of weight, becoming what is called Jinery cinder, but 
what they call oxid of iron ; supposing that there is lodged in it 
the oxygen which was one of the constituent parts of the water ex- 
pended in the process, while the other part, or the hydrogen, with 
the addition of heat, assumed the form of inflammable air. 

‘*But-in order to prove that this addition of weight to the iron 
is really oxygen, they ought to be able to exhibit it in the form 
of dephlogisticated air, or of some other substance into which 
oxygen is allowed to enter; but this they have not done,” &c. 
—Dr. Priestley on Phlogiston, p. 42. 


“© An argument against the decomposition of water from the 
different proportions of the elements of which it is supposed - 
to consist, according to different experiments. 

a According to the new theory, water consists of two princi- 
ples, oxygen and hydrogen; and they are separated by iron, or 
charcoal, in a red heat, uniting with one of them, and” suffering 
the other to escape; and therefore if in any case a quantity of 
water be wholly expended in forming air, and only one of the 
kinds be found, it will be that this water does not consist of two 
elements. Now, according to one of my experiments, water 
would appear to consist of only one of the kinds of air, and 
according to another of the other. 

** 1 have shown that by a slow supply of water in sending 
_ steam over red-hot charcoal, the whole of the produce is inflam- 
mable air, without any mixture of fixed air, or the production 
of any thing, aérial, fluid, or solid, into which oxygen can be 

supposed to enter, 

“4 © From 


96 New Outlines of Chemical Philosophy. 


¢ From this experiment, therefore, conducted in this manner, 
it might be concluded that water consists of hydrogen only, with- 
out any oxygen, 

<¢ But according to my experiment with ferra ponderosa aérata, 
it may be proved to consist of oxygen only. For when steam 
is sent over this substance in a red heat, nothing but the purest 
fixed air is produced; and yet the whole of any quantity of wa- 
ter may be expended in that production. As water is not said 
to contain any carbon, this must be supplied by the ferra pon- 
derosa, and all the oxygen by the water. For ‘according to the 
theory fixed air consists of 28 parts of carbon, and 72 of oxygen. 

« These experiments favour my hypothesis, that water is the 
basis of all kinds of air, and therefore, that without it no kind of 
air can be produced.’’—Dr. Priestley on Phlogiston, page 51.— 
Northumberland, Feb. 1, 1800. 

“In my opinion,’ ’ saysDr. Priestley, ‘and that of long standing, 
that black calx of iron called finery cinder contains uo oxygen, 
but only water. 

«© Now what I maintain is, that when finery cinder is revived 
(which, however, is not done without the introduction of phlo- 
giston*,) nothing but water is separated from it. 

sos Northumberland; America, Noy. 5, 1802.”—Philosophical 
Journal, vol. iv. p. 66. 

Experiments which tend to confirm the truth of Dr. Priest- 
ley’s have lately been published by Sir Humphry Davy f. 

<<] have mentioned, page 172,” says Sir H. Davy, “that in the 
électrization of a globule of mercury in water, oxygen appears 
to be combined with the metal, and yet no hydrogen evolved. 
I have made a number of experiments on this subject, and have 
ascertained that, in the process described, oxide is formed, 
without any apparent compensation, in the production of inflam- 
mable matter; nor was I able to detect any combinaticn into 
which the hydrogen could have entered ; so that these experi- 
ments as they now stand, would induce the belief that water is 
the ponderable basis of both oxygen and hydrogen, and that 
these two forms of matter owe their peculiar properties either to 
the agency of imponderable substances, or to peculiar arrange- 
ments of the particles of thesame matter. But such a formidable 
conclusion as this must not be hastily adopted; for in all other 
cases oxygen and hydrogen appear as perfectly inconvertible 


* Scheele says that “ phlogiston is a true e/ement and a simple princi- 
ple.”—Scheele on Air and Fire, p. 103. 
For a more particular account of phlogiston, see Philosophical Magazine, 
tol. xlvi. p. 430. 
t From Davy’s Elements of Chem. Phil. p. 485. 
substances, 


On Water-W heels. . 97 


Substances, and in no other instance can one be procured front 
‘water without the correspondent quantity of the other, or w:th= 
out some product in which the other may be supposed to enter.” 

The French chemists have introduced innumerable errors into 
science, by drawing false conclusions from their experiments. 
When they saw that, in burning together id grains of in- 
flammable air, and 85 of vital air, they obtained exactly 100 
grains of water, they concluded that water is a compound of 
those two gases. But light and heat were produced in their ex- 
periment, as well as water: but thesé phenomena escaped their 
notice ; and this oversight might lead them to form an erroneous 
hypothesis. Since nothing that is inflammable ean be procured 
from pure water by any means yet discovered, it follows of 
course that the elements of combustion must first be put into 
water before those two gases can be obtained, which are sup- 
posed to be its component parts. ; 

Now, when a Leyden phial is discharged through the air, 
light and heat are produced ; but when it is discharged through 
water, two gases are formed by taking up a portion of it, which, 
by a certain modification, constitutes their ponderable basis. 
And an electric spark being passed through a mixture of these 
gases, combustion is produced ; for, the elements contained in 
them and in a charged Leyden phial being the same, the effects 
in both eases are produced by the same cause. 

From these incontestable facts it appears, that the authors of 
the new theory mistook the formation and decomposition of the 
two gases, for the decomposition and recomposition of water. 
And as this false hypothesis has gained so much ground in Eng- 
land as to be received as a chemical axiom, every correct ex- 
periment ought therefore to be brought forward, that tends to 
refute an erroneous opinion which retards the progress of true 
science, ! 

Lynn, Jan, 26, 1816. EzEKIEL WALKER. 

[To be continued.] 


XX. On Water-Wheels applied in propelling Vessels in Navi 


gation. 
To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — a practice of navigation by the rotary movement 

of wheels having excited the attention of public authorities, as 

well as of private individuals, perhaps you will allow the fol- 

lowing suggestions to he made known to the readets of your 
agazine, 


Vol. 47. No. 214, Feb. 1816. G Let 


98 On Water-iV heels 


Let it be supposed that the axle of a wheel is furnished with 
six equidistant planes projecting from the axis, at right angles 
to the line of its direction, in the form of a common water-wheel. 
If the axle be made to rest upon the surface of stagnant water, 
and the wheel be made to revolve quickly through the fluid ; the 
water, which is displaced by the lower planes, will be replaced 
by the contiguous particles of water from the front, from below, 
and from either side. Three of the planes will pass through 
the fluid at the same time, and the motion of the wheel will be 
much more resisted than if each of the planes could be made to 
pass singly through the fluid at separate times. But, of the 
three planes passing through the fluid at the same time, the one 
which has just entered the water, and the other which is just 
going to emerge from the water, have both together very little 
tendency to impel the axle along the surface’; their waste of 
power more than counterbalances “their efficient power. 

Let a wheel have its axis in the diameter of a hollow cylinder, 
and be made to revolve through water at the depth of the axle ; 
the water, extruded by the planes, can only be replaced through 
the front passage: there can be no lateral currents; the water 
in front will be lowered by being drawn into the cylinder by the 
moving planes, and the water behind will be raised by the quan- 
tities forced out in that direction; both of which effects will 
tend to cause a movement of the machine along the surface of 
the sustaining water. In this state of a wheel, any number of 
planes will scarcely augment the resistance to motion, for the 
water will be driven through the cylinder by the advanced plane 
with the velocity of that plane; and the current which follows, 
will be caused by the lateral pressure cf the fluid only: therefore 
the retired planes will find the requisite velocity < already com= 
municated to the water with which they first come in contact, 
and will move in concert with the stream, unresisted in any 
perceptible degree, till they, successively being brought in ad- 
vance, will exercise alternately a similar function, of : acting by 
a separate impulse against the resisting fluid. Under these cir 
cumstances, the resistance to motion will be the pressure of 
water upon the area of asingle plane. The horizontal per- 
cussion of a descending plane against the surface of the fluid 
will be imperceptible, and exempt from all those inconveniences 
which would result from the same act of a wheel moving in free 
water. 

Again, let three parts of a case be strongly connected to- 
gether, namely, a flat bottom and two sides, and let the axle 
of a wheel be supported in the sides so as to revolve clear of 
the hottom. Let the top of the case be a curved plate drawn 
over the sides, air-tight, and made to deseend both ways, 

' round 


applied in propelling Vessels in Navigation. 99 


round the perimeter of the wheel, about twenty-five degrees be- 
low the axle: two parallel openings will then remain at the 
lower part of the case, equal in depth to one-third the diameter 
of the wheel. Let each plane he one-third the diameter in 
depth, which size will leave the central part of the wheel to re- 
tain a considerable open space, according to the present general 
structure of steam-boat wheels. Let the machinery, thus formed, 
be lowered into water till the wheel becomes wholly covered with 
the fluid; and in that state, through a tube which has been pre- 
pared for the occasion, let air be forced into the machine till 
the water becomes depressed twenty-five degrees below the axle, 
when it will just meet the top of the lowest plane*. If the wheel 
be then made to revolve, the water will be drawn and extruded 
through the parallel openings at the bottom of the case, and 
the machine will be moved from its position by the resistance of 
the fluid to the acting planes. The condensed air by its speci- 
fic levity will always occupy the upper sections of the case, 
and by its elastie pressure will keep down the inclosed water 
very nearly to one determined horizontal level. Passing through 
the open space round the axle, the air by its fluent and springy 
properties will continue to arrange itself in the upper sections, 
conformably to any motion of the wheel, and im such a manner 
that its elastic pressure shall act almost equally on either surface 
of the upper planes, without producing a sensible obstruction to 
their movement. 

The machinery can easily be applied to any part of a boat or 
vessel; but it is calculated to ascertain if a central station can 
be practically occupied by a wheel. 

To prevent the escape of the condensed air through the groove 
in which the working end of the axle revolves, one method shall 
be described. Let a box, two feet long and two inches deep, 
by means of circular holes in the sides, be forced upon the end 
of the axle at the exterior of the machine, to which it must’ be 
closely attached. Let the box be nearly filled with water or oil, 
and let the condensed air, from the interior of the machine, be 
admitted through a fixed communicating tube, into the box 
above the fluid. The air, which endeavours to escape round the 
axle by its own elastic power, will then be resisted by the same 
power acting upon the fluid in the external box, and by the ad- 
ditional weight of the fluid also: therefore the air can never 
escape in that direction, unless the more dense fluid be first ex- 


* Our correspondent is probably not aware that the idea of inclosing 
the wheel in an air-tight case, and depressing the surface of the water 
hy means of injected air, was some years ago embraced in a poe ob- 
tained by Mr. Treyethick alone, or in conjunction with Mr. Dickinson. 


pelled 


100 Answer to the Geological Queries of a Constant Reader. 


pelled from the circumference of the axle which is surrounded 
by it in the box. Any requisite supplies of water or of oil can 
be furnished to the box by a variety of simple means ; and thus 
the axle may be allowed to revolve in circles, whose concave 
perimeters will not even embrace it water-tight, and yet pre- 
serve the air securely from escaping. 

The centre of a vessel is that part which is least affected by 
any agitation of the elements ; and it may, perhaps, be practica- 
bie to assign a central position to the wheel; and if that assign- 
ment of place be practicable, the wheel may be made to act effi- 
ciently when the whole circumference revolves at any depth be- 
low the external surface of the water through which the vessel 
moyes. An inclosed wheel may be comparatively small in dia- 
meter, because the descending planes strike the water horizon- 
tally without any obstruction to their progress; a waste of 
power will be saved, because the resistance to motion will be the 
pressure of water upon the area only of a single plane; and 
the exterior case will be an important protection to the wheels. 

As an act of amusement, a strong hox had its top and both 
ends removed, and was fastened by iron bars to the stern of a 
heavy row-boat at sea; a wheel was placed upon the sides of 
the box with its axle touching the water, and then made to re- 
Volve by pressing with the right and left hand alternately upon 
the perimeter. The boat was impelled half a mile through the 
waves ; but the power was badly placed, and likewise too small 
to give any velocity to the wheel. The stern is the very worst 
position for a wheel; the water at the stern of the boat is 
lowered by the moving planes, and much efficient pressure is 
destroyed by the act. 

E. 


XXI. Answer to the Geological Queries of a Constant Reader®. 
To Mr. Tilloch. 


Siz, — Lo the questions put to me by a correspondent, at 
p- 12 of your last Magazine, on the subject of the different ré- 
positories of coal in the NE part of England, I shall reply with 
as much brevity as the subject will admit, and hope my answers 
may be found satisfactory. 

To query 1.—Mines of coal and quarries of encrinal limestone 
are worked at short intervals from the sea-coast of Northumber- 
land N of the Coquet in a direct line to Alston Moor; but the 


* See our last number, p. 12, 
valuahle 


oa) a eee 


ey rr * 


ee. 


Answer to the Geological Queries of a Constant Reader. 101 


valuable seams found in the low country have basseted out be- 
fore the mountainous district is reached. The thin beds of crow 
“coal are subordinate seams in the same formation. 

_ 2.—The overlying masses and beds of basalt situated in the 
NE of Northumberland resemble those of the King’s Park at 
Edinburgh, in miniature; whereas the great whin sill of the 
Jead-mine country appears to be a wedge-shaped bed of basalt 
thickening towards the SW, and separating the more regular 
strata in the same manner as the toadstone of Derbyshire. 

_ 3.—Clay, ironstone and shale comprising muscle shells are 
met with from the shore at Holy Island to the banks of North 
and South Tyne, and in the Newcastle coal-field from the rocks 
at the mouth of Shields Harbour to Wylam Colliery—See the 
Map of Northumberland. 

4.—The calcareous red and white sandstones, shales and gyp- 
sum, over which the Tees flows from the vicinity of Croft to 
the sea, and which I conjecture is the red marl formation of some 
south country geologists, was proved to comprise thin seams of 
bad coal on the Dinsdale estate, by borings made in 1789; and 
for the fact I beg leave to refer to the sections in the port folio 
of the Geological Society—This set of strata certainly rests 
upon the magnesian limestone, and is coyered by the alum shale 
rock. 

5.—The specimens of coal which were presented me by a 
gentleman who collected them on the Lincolnshire coast are 
black as jet, though resembling brown coal in structure. I am 
aware that the bituminous shale situated immediately below the 
hard chalk, and out of which clunch these fragments of coal are 
conjectured to have been washed, does not occur on the surface 
at Louth ;—yet I cannot think the coal worked at Easingwold 
should be referred to the same repository; but, from the am- 
monites and other marine exuvie there detected, should rathe1 
refer it to the thin coal-formation which lies upon the alum- 
rock, and is covered by the oolite limestone in the neighbourhood 
of York, &c. particularly the dip of the Whitby formation being 
towards the South West. ‘ 

Should this supposition be erroneous, I hope your correspon- 
dent wil] take the trouble to set me right, 


I am, sir, 
Your most obedient servant, 
Neweastle-upon-Tyne, Feb. 10, 1816. N. 


P.S. Brown ligneous coal is met with among the basaltic 
rocks of the Giant’s Causeway, Antrim, 


G3 XXII, On 


f 102 j 


XXII, On the Depression of Mercury in the Tule of a Ba- 
rometer, depending on its capillary Action. By M. La-~ 
PLACE*. 


Ii is necessary to determine the magnitude of this depression 
in order to render barometers comparable with each other. For 
this purpose we find, in the Philosophical Transactions for 1776, 
a table of corrections formed from experiment by Lord Charles 
Cavendish. At this period the theory of capillary action was 
unknown [?]: but this theory having been since discovered, 

and reduced to the fundamental principle of chemical affinities, 
that of a mutual action of the molecules of matter, decreasing 
with extreme rapidity, so as to become insensible at the smallest 
perceptible distances, it becomes proper to derive from this 
principle the table of the depression of mercury, and to borrow 
from observation only the necessary elements, as is usual in 
astronomy. In this manner we have the advantage of obtaining 
those elements with all possible precision, by comparing the 
whole of the phenomena depending on them with the results of 
theory; and we avoid the small irregularities which the errors 
of observations introduce into a table formed from: experiment 
only. In this case, the elements required are the angle which 
the surface of the mercury makes with the side of the tube with 
which it is in contact, and the depression of the mercury below 
the general level, in a very narrow tube of glass. The more or 
less perfect dryness of the tubes may affect these elements. We 
know that their interior surface is lined with a stratum of water 
which it is very difficult to remove. It is within this stratum 
that the mercury of the barometer rises and falls: its thickness 
is sufficient to render the action of the glass on the mercury in- 
sensible ; and the depression of this liquid in the barometer is 
determined by the reciprocal action of water and mercury. The 
boiling of the mercury in the tube diminishes more and more 
the thickness of the aqueous covering ; but it appears that in 
the best barometers it still remains sufficient to render the action 
of the glass insensible. We find in the excellent siphon baro- 
meter of the observatory, that the convexity of the drop which 
terminates the two columns of the liquid, is not sensibly different 
in the two branches; and I have concluded from the experi-. 
ments of M. Gay-Lussac, that this convexity is the same that 
takes place in a tube of glass completely moistened, provided 
that the water do not cover any part of the surface of the drop ; 
“ for if the whole surface is covered, I have shown that this sur- 


* From the Connoissance des Tems, 1812, p, 315. 
faee 


On the Depression of Mercury in the Tube of a Barometer. 103 


face then becomes that of a hemisphere.” If, however, we boil 
the mercury for a very long time in a barometer tube, we at last 
so far diminish the thickness of the stratum of water, as to ren- 
der sensible the action of the glass on the mercury. It has 
been shown by the excellent experiments of Casbois the Bene- 
dictine, that by means of a long-continued ebullition, the sur- 
face of the drop becomes less and less convex, then plane, and 
at last concave; and in this case the capillary phenomena 
_ change their nature, and the depression is converted into an 
elevation. But in making barometers, the boiling is never car- 
ried so far; and the action of the glass on the mercury not 
being sensible, whatever differences there may be in the materials 
of the glass, they have no influence of the capillary effects of 
the tubes. We will suppose then, agreeably to experiment, that 
the angle of contact of the surface of the mercury with the sides 
of the tube is the same asin the open air. This angle, and the 
depression of the mercury in very narrow tubes, are very difficult 
to determine by experiment; they may be collected from dif- 
ferent phenomena, such as the thickness of a broad drop of 
mercury on a horizontal plane of glass; the difference of the 
level of the general surface of a quantity of mercury, and of the 
contact of this surface with the vertical side of a vessel of glass; 
the depression of mercury in very narrow tubes; and this same 
depression when the mercury is introduced into a tube of glass, 
so moist, that its surface is covered by a small column of water. 
I have inferred from the whole of these phenomena, observed 
with very accurate iustruments by M. Gay-Lussac, that the an- 
gle of contact of the surface of the mercury with the glass is 
*48 of a right angle [, or 43° 12']; and that the mercury, in a 
tube of glass of the diaméter of one ten-thousandth of a 
millimetre, would be depressed 94766 millimetres below the 
level, [or in a tube of a ten-thousandth of an inch, 146-9 inches]. 

The following table is deduced from these elements, according 
to which the action of mercury on itself is, for equal volumes, 
very nearly six times and one-third as great as that of mercury 
ou water. 

In order to form this table, it was necessary to integrate by 
approximation the differential equation of the second order be- 
longing to the surface of mercury contained ina cylindrical tube 
of glass.- This equation, which I have given in my Theory of 
eapillary action, furnishes a very simple expression of the radius 
of curvature of the generating curve of the surface, . Consider- 

‘ing this curye, therefore, as a series of small circular ares, de- 
scribed with these different radii, and joining each other at their 
extremities, we shall have the corresponding ordinates of the 
eurve, so much the more precisely as we employ a greater num- 

d ber 


104 On the Depression of Mercury in the Tube of 


ber of divisions. The extent of the curve, beginning from the 
vertex, is the angle which its termination makes with the hori- 
zon, amounting in this case to 52 decimal degrees: this has 
been divided into twelve equal parts, and the depression of the 
mercury supposed successively equal to 4°5, 4, 3°5, 2, 1-5, and 
1 millimetre: then for each tenth down to °1 and “05. milli- 
metre. The depression being always inversely proportional to 
the radius of curvature at the vertex of the curve, the first radius 
was immediately known. This radius gave the values of the 
absciss and ordinate corresponding to vie first division, consi- 
dering it as the are of a circle, the absciss being always taken 
upon the axis of the curve, beginning from its summit. These 
first values, being substituted in the expression for the radius of 


curvature, gave the second radius, and by means ef this the in- - 


crements of the absciss and ordinate in the second division were 
determined, considering the curve again in this part as a circular 
are described with the second radius of curvature. In this man- 
ner the second values of the absciss and ordinate were obtained, 
by means of which a third radius of curvature was determined. 
Proceeding in the same manner to the last division, the last value 
of the ordinate becomes equal to the semidiameter of the tube 
corresponding to the supposed depression. But for a depression 
below eight-tenths of a millimetre, the radii of curvature near 
the vertex are so large,. that it was necessary to divide the ex- 
tent of the are into smaller portions; the calculation has there~ 
fore been made for every two decimal degrees, as far as 12; and 
for the first six degrees, by the assistance of converging series, 
which I have derived from the differential equation of the sur- 
face of a liquid, when the greatest inclination is inconsiderable, 
The formule and the series which have been employed for 
the first six decimal degrees are these. Let V“ be the inelina= 
tion of the end of the curve at the lower extremity of the rth 
division; let x? and w™ be the absciss and ordinate corre- 
sponding to the same extremity; let b@ also be the radius of 
curvature at the same point, and J at the vertex of the curve ; 


] 
the differential equation of the curve will give —~ = 4 + 
p 


2ax oy os 


1 pe Rtg, b : 
> +Sin V3 @ being a constant coefficient equal to 
uw 


ah sane ; 4 
Ee? when the millimetre is made unity. We shall then have 
rq 1 
aor yO + 2b sin mee T) any Vor) . COS 5 (VOsp + 
yo); zrtyD— PAP aL 21 sin. s (Vor 1) —Vm) sing Vert 1) + 


¥™); and for the first division uw = b,sin VO, nid 2) se 


2b 


a Barometer, depending on its capillary Action. 105 
2. sin? = Ve, The depression of the mercury in the baro- 


meter is =. (Suppl. Th. del’ Act. Cap. p.59...) The for- 


mule for z, and for & (p. 60) give the following series, which 
haye been employed for depressions less than *S millimetre : 


& = — (2'8960566.u? 4 3-1700532.u* + 5°1018673.0° + 


$-7838040.« + 10-2719206.u'.,.), and tangV = — 


(1-1870866.z + 3,7721132 .u? + 5.8S00186.u5 4- 7.6868940.w7 


+ 9°'2719206.u? + ...): the coefficients of the powers of u 
being here represented by their logarithms, for the assistance of 
the calculation; and the figures distinguished by a horizontal 
stroke being negative indices. In this manner, by assigning to 
z such a value that V should be between four and six decimal 
degrees, the corresponding ordinates have been very accurately 
determined for this inclination of the end of the curve: hence, 
by means of the preceding formule, these ordinates have been 
ealculated for V = 6°, and this angle has been successively in- 
creased by two degrees at each step still it became 12°, and 
then by four degrees as far as V = 52°. , 

In order to arrange the results obtained by this method in a 
table calculated for equal increments of the diameter of the tube, 
I have observed that the differences of the logarithins of the de- 
pressions form in this case a series which varies but very slowly. 
By means of this property, | have obtained without difficulty 
the following table, the principal calculations having been 
obligingly furnished me by Mr. Bouvard: and the same property 
will also serve for the interpolation of the table. 

We find in Nicholson’s Journal for October 1809, a similar 
table, formed by the expansion of the expressions for z and 
sin V into a series, and founded on elements differing but little 
from those which we have employed. ‘These two tables agree 
very nearly with each other, and with that which Lord Charles 
Cavendish had deduced from experiments. But the method 
which we have just explained appears to me to be more 
accurate {??], and more convenient for calculation [??]5 it has 
besides the advantage {??] of showing the influence of the varia- 
tion of the angle of contact of the surface of the mereury with 
the tube on the capillary action. Jt is well known that by the 
friction of the mercury against the sides of the tube, and per- 
haps also by a peculiar viscosity of the liquid, the angle is liable 

to 


106 On the Depression of Mercury in the Tube of a Barometer. 


to considerable variations: it diminishes sensibly when the ba- 
rometer rises, and increases when it descends, the surface of 
the drop becoming more convex in the former case, and less 
convex in the latter. In order to restore the surface to its na- 
tural state, it is usual to strike the tube gently and repeatedly; 
but it is difficult to remove the irregularity altogether. For- 
tunately when the tube is very large, the variations of the angle 
of contact have but little effect on the depression of the sum- 
mit, though they sensibly alter the height of the convex part, 
The method above explained affords us the means of appreciat- 
ing this alteration. For, the depression remaining the same, it 
enables us to ascertain the addition 1made to the corresponding 
ordinates of the section of the surface in the last division of its 
length: and then, the angle of contact being supposed constant, 
it gives us the variations of the extreme corresponding ordinates, 
with reference to a given variation in the depression. It is easy 
to infer from these determinations, by the methods of the dif- 
ferential calculus, the variations of the depression of the sum- 
mit of the drop, and of its height, depending on a given varia- 
tion of the angle of contact ; and consequently the variation of 
the depression corresponding to an observed variation of the 
height of the drop. I find in this manner, that in a tube 11-4 
millimetres in diameter, a diminution of one-tenth of a milli- 
metre, in the height of the convex portion, produces in the de- 
pression depending on capillary action a diminution of 015; 
that is, about one-seventh as much as the diminution of the 
height. 


Table of the Depressions of the Mercury in the Barometer de- 
sived from its capillary Action, expressed in Millimetres. 


Diam. Depr. Diam. Depr. Diam, Depr. 
2 45599 9 5354 15 +1245 
3 = 2°9023 10 = *4201 16 +0970 
4 20388 BL) 3506"? 170754 
5 =-1°5055 [-3306] 18 -0586 
6~ 1°1482 12 2602 19 £430” 
7>* +8813) 13° +2047 [0450] 


§ "685 1 14 "1597 20 = -0352 


[Table calculated and interpolated from the preceding for Eng- 
lish inches, according to the method employed by the author, 
and compared with the Table published in NicHotson’s 
Journal, and there considered as generally accurate to the 
last place of decimals: the ultimate product of the depression 


and the bore being assumed +015, and the angular catent of 
the 


Rt ees sm 


' On Meteorological Nomenclature. 107 


the arc 47° 20’, while M. Lapiace’s Elements are ‘01469 
and 46° 48’, 


Diam. Depression. Diam. Depression. 
NICH. LAPL. L1?/C.C. NICH.  LAPL. L?.C.t. 
13809. 1810. 1776. 1809. 1610. 1776. 
*§ -00118 -00128 ‘3. 02906-02965 -036 
“7 :00224 00244 *25 04067. 04117 -050 


6 00416 -00462 -005 | +2  -05802 -05798 -067 
5 00805-00868 -007 | +15 -08621 -08538 092 
“45 01106 “01174 ‘1 +14027 --01394 +140 
<4 01522 -01591 -015 | -05 -29497 
"35 02098 -02165 +025 

A.B. C.D] 


XXIII. On Meteorological Nomenclature. By P. J. Brown, 
; Esq. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — Wane of leisure has prevented my perusing, till this 
evening, Mr. Forster’s paper on the nomenclature of clouds 
_ published in your last number, and I regret being compelled to 

differ in opinion from a person for whose talents I have so much 

‘respect. In every department of polite literature, with the ex- 

ception of scientific nomenclature, I feel decidedly hostile to the 
_ late fashionable introduction of exotic words*: the writings of 
_ Swift, whose language must be admired by every lover of pure 
English, have fully proved the adequacy of our mother tongue, 
for every purpose of general composition: but it should be re- 
collected, in adopting scientific terms, that science is not a na- 
tive of any particular country; but a citizen of the world who 
will always be protected and fostered in every state alive to its 
‘own interest and glory: it is consequently evident that the lan- 
uage of science should be, to as great an extent as can be ac- 
omplished, intelligible to all. 

Consider the state of chemical knowledge when the illustrious 
Lavoisier composed his excellent nomenclature: can it be sup- 
posed that the acquisition of that most pleasing and useful 
science would have become so general, if, instead of adopting 


_® Addison’s excellent and humourous paper in the Spectator, No. 165, 

s as applicable to the present day, as it could possibly have been to the 

time of the battle of Blenheim: how many: dispatches during the late war 
ould have left half London ignorant of the fate of a battle, had not the 

guns told them in more intelligible terms that our brave countrymen had 

gained the victory ! 

terms 


108 On Meteorological Nomenclature. | : 


terms easy to be comprehended by all persons of moderate edu- 
cation, he had rummaged the old neglected Norman-French for 
a set of uncouth epithets which would have posed an antiquary ? 
Suppose that the still more illustrious Linnzus, instead of his most 
admirable, comprehensive, and comprehensiti/e terms, had pub- 
lished his Systema Nature, his Genera and Species Plantarum, 
with a scientific nomenelature extracted from the barbarous ra- 
dicals of the Swedish language, can it be for a moment thought 
that the study of nature, and consequent expansion of the hu- 
man mind, would have been so universal as it happily has been? 

In illustration, let us consider the languages of botany and 
mineralogy: a person possessing no more knowledge of the 
learned languages than is uecessary for the proper comprehending 
of our own, without being able to translate a single line of Virgil 
or Horace, may (from the universal adoption of the Linnean 
phraseology) in a very short time be able to take up the Flora 
of almost any country, and stroll with its author through paths 
of flowers ; now investigating the scanty herbage of the northern 
regions, and then revelling in the magnificent productions of 
New Holland or the Cape. Mincralogy on the contrary, whose 
connexion with chemistry, whose durable productions abounding 
with beauty, brilliancy, and the most correct geometry, would, 
under more favourable circumstances, have been studied with 
delight, is comparatively. neglected ; and may not the neglect 
be in a great measure attributed to the jargon with which it is 
incumbered? a jargon unintelligible to any but the Germans, 
from whom it sprung, and the few who have degraded themselves 
by their conversion into Germanised Englishmen! Had the state 
of chemical and mineralogical knowledge been the same in the 
time of Linnzeus as it is at present, he would most probably have 
occasioned the extensive cultivation of the latter, by bestowing 
on it a language brilliant and exact as its own native crystals ; 
whereas the student is now enveloped in a fog, dark and im- 
penetrable as the recesses from whence those erystals are de- 
rived, 

If Mr. Forster’s meteorological observations were intended 
for the information of his countrymen only, and were made known 
to them through a medium the circulation of which was con- 
fined to the limits of our own isle, there could be no objection 
to his conveying instruction in the terms he proposes ; but when 
it is recollected that your valuable Magazine most deservedly 
attracts the attention of those citizens of the scientific common- 
wealth who reside abroad*; I should hope that, on reconsidering 

, the 

* Mr. F. admits the propriety of Mr. Howard’s nomenclature in descrip- 
tions in Latin, or which are to go abroad; the latter is actually the ~ 
wit 


a 


On Meteorological Nomenclature. 109 


the circumstance, it will appear to him as unadvisable to force 
a set of Saxon terms upon our fellow-labourers on the continent, 
as it would be in ourselves to injure our masticating apparatus, 
by ineffectually endeavouring to become masters of the German 
mineralogical dissonance t. 

I by no means wish this to be considered as the commence- 
“ment of a controversy, but as containing a statement of the 
opinion of one whose want of knowledge is, perhaps, only 
equalled by his regret that his knowledge is not more extended. 


I have the honour to he, sir, 
Your most obedient humble servant, 


- Old Brompton, Feb. 12, 1816. i P. J. Brown. 


P. S.—The snapping of sulphur when held in the warm hand, 
as noticed by your correspondent J. F., is a property which has 
Jong been known: it is mentioned by several authors to whese 
works I have not the opportunity of immediate reference; but 
I can venture from memory to refer to the lesson on Sul- 
phur in Lagrange’s Manual of Chemistay: for J. F’s ingenious 
observations on the subject he has full credit. 


” 


with those inserted in your Magazine: and with respect to the difficulty of 
impressing on the minds of mere English readers, names derived from the 
Latin, it is presumed that the term cumulus will as readily convey the idea . 
of a heaping up, or accumulation (ad cumulus) of clouds, as the proposed 
- one of stackencloud : indeed, if new terms must be acquired, the trifling 
additional difficulty (should any erist) will be no impediment to those sti- 
mulated by a desire to learn. 
*+ As many of your young readers who are pleased with the study of 
_ mineralogy may not haye entered into its investigations five years ago, I 
sball consider no apology necessary for recommending to their perusal 
Mr. Chenevix’s “ Reflections on some Mineralogical Systems,” published 
in your xxxvith and following volumes. In volume xxxvith, and last paras 
graph of page 379, I would suggest a manuscript reference to be made to 
vol, xlii, page 25, where Professor Stromeyer’s Observations on the Com- 
‘position of Arragonite will add force to Mr. C,’s arguments; by removing 
_ the only objection of any weight which remained opposed to the system 
of M. Maiiy. Newton incurred the ridicule of the pseudo-philosophers of 
his day, by arguing from thecry, that diamond ought to be infammable, 
and that water itself should also contain much inflammable matter. Those 
whose ridicule he experienced had long rested in their graves, when the 
brilliant discoveries of modern chemistry proved the correctness of his 
assertion. Can M. Haiiy’s principles need a more honourable comparison ? 
They pointed out to him that arragonite ought to differ from carbonate of 
lime; the most celebrated chemists of the early part of the 19th century 
were lony unable to detect the difference; it is at length discovered, to the 
‘immortal honour of the French philosopher, and I trust to the sad discam- 
- fiture of the partisans of external characters and mineralogical instinct, 


At) XXIV. On 


[ 10 4 


XXIV. On the Cosmogon y of Moses; in Answer to the Stric- 
iures of F. E s*, By J. C. Pricuarp, Esq. 


To Mr, Tillach. 


Sir, — I FEEL it incumbent upon me to reply to some stric- 
tures contributed by a correspondent to the last number of your 
Magazine, on a paper of mine which you did me the honour of 
inserting in the Philosophical Magazine for October, and which 
contained an attempt to illustrate the wonderful and striking 
conformity that exists between the series of events recorded in 
the beginning of Genesis, and the result of geological researches 
into the crust of our globe. 

The question turns upon the sense we ought to affix to the 
words interpreted the ‘‘ days’ of the creation. I have en- 
deavoured to show that, if we receive the expression as desig~ 
nating indefinite periods of time, the whole account bears the 
most important relations to the epochs of nature. I will add 
that, if we pay no regard to the genius of Hebrew literature, but 
are determined to interpret the writings of Moses according to 
the strictest rules which the idioms of our western languages 
impose, we shall distort the sense of many sublime passages ; and 
in this particular instance, in the place of a true detail of events, 
which we know tq have really happened, shall substitute a rela- 
tion improbable in itself, and wholly irreconcilable with the cer- 
tain results of sensible evidence. 

But to proceed to the argument, Your correspondent seems 
willing to allow that the word “day” might properly bear the 
sense I have affixed to it, did it not occur in conjunction with 
the terms which designate the natural commencement and ter- 
mination of a day, viz. morning and evening. Now, this cir- 
cumstance appears to me to occasion no difficulty whatever. 
Nothing is more common than this mode of expression, even in 
Janguages of so stiff and unbending a texture as the modern 
European dialects. If we use the word day to signify a portion 
of time, and have oecasion to allude to the beginning or end of ~ 
the period designated, we always carry on the metaphor, and 
adopt the corr esponding terms. We continually hear such phrases 
in rhetorical or poetical language as ‘* the evening of our days,” 


3 


the “ morning,” “ noontide,” and ‘‘ evening” of human life. 


The poet Gray uses the very terms in dispute, when alluding in ~ 


one of his poems to the beginning and termination of Richard 
the Second’s reign. He says “* Fair laughs the morn,” &c.— 


* See our last number, p. 9 
& the 


ee ee as es 


——- 
. 


a eer 


On the Cosmogony of Moses. Vi 


the gilded vessel goes,”"—** regardless of the sweeping whirl- 
wind’s sway,”—** that hush’d in grim repose expects his evening 
prey.”’ It will be said that this is the peculiar style of poetry: 
but is it possible to doubt that the former part of Genesis is a 
poetical composition? Have not the first chapters all the man- 
ner and decoration of the sacred poetry of the East,—not indeed 
of tle poetry of fiction, but of the poetry of elevated feeling, and 
of that style which sets forth great moral truths by means of 
striking images in a manner fitted to produce their full impres- 
sion? However, a parallel passage may easily be found in plain 
English prose. The following is from Sir Walter Raleigh: 
«© The Devil is now more laborious than ever, the long day of 
mankind drawing towards an evening.” I doubt not that I 
could find a hundred such examples if I had leisure to look for 
them, ‘“ ° 

Perhaps it may be thought more important in the present 
case to remark, that in the most ancient books of the Oriental 
nations which remain to our times, excepting only the writings 
of Moses, the metaphorical use of the word day is very com- 
mon; and, what is more to our purpose, the words which desig- 
nate the natural terminations and divisions of a day, as night or 
evening, and twilight or morning, are accurately specified, the 
metaphorical sense being still carried on. But before I proceed 
to adduce examples of this kind, I must obviate an objection 
that will immediately be made to any reference to such sources 
in the present question. It will be asked, What relation can 
the books of other Eastern nations have to the Hebrew Scrip- 
tures, which are the productions of inspired writers? ‘To this 
I answer, that the Oriental nations have exhibited from very re- 
mote times a general resemblance, a common character in their 
modes of thinking and acting; that the same conformity may be 
expected, and really exists, in their manner of expressing their 
thoughts, and in the style of their compositions ; and therefore 
that the writings preserved by one of these nations from distant 
ages may afford illustration with respect to the use of language 
among the others, But further, I am persuaded that some of 
the compositions I refer to, have a much nearer connexion with 
the early writings of the Hebrews than is universally appre- 
hended. 

Many biblical scholars have held the opinion that the early 
part of Genesis consists of records preserved from periods of 
yery remote antiquity, and adopted by Moses as furnishing an 
authentic sketch of the principal events which had happened in 
the world down to the time of Abraham, when the particular 
history of the Hebrews begins, and immediately assumes the 

character 


1i2 On the Cosmogony of Moses. 


character of a contemporary and circumstantial narratives | 
confess that this opinion seems to me to be supported by several 
strong arguments: but in maintaining it I do not place the au- 
thor of the Pentateuch in the rank of common compilers of 
historical fragments possessed merely of natural intelligence; nor 
do I apprehend that the authority of the records themselves can 
be diminished by assigning them to an age as near as possible 
to the events recorded: neither do I regard them in their origin 
as common historical testimonies. The cosmogony cannot be 
a piece of common history resting on human testimony. It 
must certainly be either a fragment of the imagination, or a 
production which owed its origin to some supernatural intelli- 
gence; and that it is not a mere figment, I am convinced by the 
accuracy with which it details the succession of the epochs of 
nature. ‘ : 

The only argument which I shall notice in proof of the opinion 
above mentioned, is the great diversity of style which has been 
traced in various portions of the ante-Hebraic history, and the 
solution which this hypothesis affords of a phenomenon which 
is wholly inexplicable on any other; viz. the remarkable con~ 
nexion discovered between the primitive histories of the most 
remote nations on the earth, and these documents embodied in 
the Genesis. The facts I allude to are to be found in many 
authors, and I need not detail them here; though, as it will pre- 
sently appear, they bear a near relation to the subject of this pa-~ 
per. Itisin vain to attempt to account for this coincidence, 
in the manner which some of the Fathers and Hyde and Prideaux 
have pursued, as by converting Abraham into Brahma; or by 
making Zoroaster a renegado Jew; since not only the Asiatic 
nations, but the Runic sealds of Iceland and Scandinavia, and the 
ancient priests of Mexico, were equally in possession of the pri- 
mitive traditions; and the latter certainly never obtained them 
from Jerusalem. ° 

These phenomena can only be solved by going back to the 
first periods of human society. There are many circumstances 
which indicate that certain records were preserved from ante- 
diluvian times. That alphabetic characters were known before 
the deluge, is not very probable; but that hieroglyphic or per- 
haps picture writing was practised, does not seem inadmissible, 
when we consider that these arts are found among nations in a 
very rude state of society, as the Canadians and South American 
Indians. It may reasonably be supposed that the true interpre- 
tation of such memorials was preserved among some nations, 
aud lost or diversified among others; nor is it to be doubted 


that the Hebrews retained the genuine sense, as they also pre- 
served 


. 
q 
| 


- 
- 


On the Cosmogony of Moses. 113 


served in purity the primitive religion. We may thus account 
for the different. representations which we often find of the same 
historical facts or moral truths. 

We have, moreover, direct historical testimony of the existence 
of antedilnvian -records.. Many ancient authors, particularly 
St. Jude and Josephus, allude to writings which were attributed 
to the patriarch Enoch: and though I am not disposed to ad- 
vocate the authenticity of any such productions, yet the frequent 
mention of them proves that the Hebrews were persuaded that 
some writings had survived the flood. But Berosus, whose 
Chaldean history of the ten antediluvian generations differs but 
little from that of Moses, expressly affirms that Xisuthrus or 
Noah, after the intimation given him of the catastrophe that 
was approaching, diligently compiled records of the former his- 
tory of the world, from which all existing acedunts are said to 
have been derived. 

We are thus enabled to account for the fact that scarcely any 
thing is contained in the antediluvian history of Moses, which 
may not also be found, though more or less embellished, in the 
records of other nations, particularly in those of the Hindoos, 
Thus in the Institutes of Menu, as translated by Sir W. Jones, 
there are some passages relating to the epochs of the creation; 
and it is chiefly for the sake of quoting these that I have made 
so long a digression. 

That Menu or Satyavreta was Noah, is certain from the ac- 
count of his escape from an universal deluge, which agrees in 
general with that of Moses, containing also some of the fabulous 
circumstances mentioned by Berosus. For the Hindoo story I 
refer your readers to the extracts given in several parts of Sir 
W, Jones’s works ; and need only quote the following words, in 
which Vishnu is said to have foretold the approaching cata- 
strophe. ‘In seven days all creatures which have offended me 
shall be destroyed by a deluge; but thou shalt be secured in a 
capacious vessel miraculously formed: take, therefore, all kinds 
of medicinal herbs and esculent grain for food; and together 
with the seven holy men, your wives, and pairs of all animals, 
enter the ark without fear*,” &c. 

The Institutes of Menu begin with an account of the creation, 
which bears a strong resemblance to that of Moses, though em- 
bellished or deformed by many wild conceits. The spirit of God 
moving on the face of the waters is expressed in the same terms. 
Menu afterwards proceeds to define the periods which are termed 
days and nights. He says, * Learn now the duration of a day 
and night of Brahma and of the several ages,” &c.—‘‘ Sages 


* Translated from the first Purana, 


Vol, 47. No. 214. Feb. 1816. H have 


114 On the Cosmogony of Moses. 


have given the name of Crita to an age containing 4000 years 
of the gods; the twilight preceding it consists » of as many 
hundreds, and the éw ilight following | it of the same number,” 
&c,—* And by reckoning a thousand such divine ages, a day of 
Brahma may be known: his night has also an equal duration.” 
— At the close of his night, having long reposed, he awakes, 
and awaking exerts intellect.’’—* Intellect, called into action by 
his will to ereate worlds, performs again the work of creation.” 
(Institut. Menu, by Sir W. Jones, chap. 1.) 

The relation of this account to the Mosaic cosmogony, and 
to the particular object for which 1 have been induced to cite it, 
appears to me so obvious, that I cannot help thinking it will be 
considered by every unprejudiced person as affording a strong 
confirmation to the interpretation I have endeavoured to main- 
tain, especially if it be allowed that Moses founded his narrative 
on an antediluvian record, and that another similar relic fur- 
nished the basis of the Hindoo legend; for it cannot be imagined 
that the story, as it now stands, was the work of Menu or Noah. 
The application of the words twilight and night is to be parti- 
cularly remarked. 

T shall not attempt to trace the record of the cosmogony 
among the different nations who preserved vestiges of it, but 
shall content myself with adducing one more example: it is found 
in the scanty relics of the literature of the Etruscans, a peo- 
ple whose early history is lost in the dark night of antiquity. 
Suidas* informs us that there was a very ancient Etruscan his- 
torian of great authority, in whose works was found an account 
of the creation of the world, which he said was divided by the 
Creator into six departments, each occupying the space of a 
thousand years. In the course of the first chiliad or millennium 
he created the heaven and earth; in the second, the visible 
firmament; in the third, the waters of the ocean and those con- 
tained in the earth ; in the fourth, the great luminaries of heaven ; 
in the fifth, vegetables, and all kinds of animals; and in the 
sixth and last, man. The same remark which I made above 
on the Hindoo legend may be applied still more forcibly to this 
account preserved by the Etruscans. 

From these considerations I think we may conclude it to be 
highly probable, that the words of the first chapter of Genesis 
are to be interpreted in a tropical sense. But, even if it should 
be made to appear that the words and phrases will not bear this 
construction, according to the natural forms of language, still I 
should by no means ‘concede that we are to understand the 
cosmogony according to the vulgar acceptation; and I should 
support this opinion on the following grounds, 

* Suidas in voce Tuggnua 


There 


On the Cosmogony of Moses. 115 


. There are many parts of the ancient Hebrew Scriptures 
which it is obviously necessary to understand, and which are 
to be understood according to the judgement of the most learned 
and orthodox critics, in a metaphorical manner; not by mere 
changes in the force of particular words, but by ‘figurative ap- 

plications of the sense cf whole p: issages, the real meaning be- 

: ing contained in some allusion, and expressed by a type, which 

under a sensible and striking image conveys a more abstract 

truth. It is well known that a similar method of illustration 
prevailed extensively among the philosophers of the East, from 
whom the Greeks learnt to divide their doctrines into esoteric 

and exoteric, a practice which was introduced by Pythagoras 
and Plato, and followed by Aristotle and others. We are well 
assured that the learned among the Jews viewed many parts of ~ 
their ancient Scriptures in this light; and, after the captivity of 
their nation at Babylon, in which calamity a considerable portion 

; of their literature was lost, and the explanations of many things 

apparently forgotten, which had been preserved among the 
priests, set themselves to make up the deficiency. The extent 
of the Talmud, and the great authority which this compilation 
acquired, notwithstanding its numerous absurdities, proves how 
firmly they were persuaded of the esoteric sense contained in 
e many parts of the biblical writings. At the Christian era there 
* was only one sect, viz. the Sadducees, who wholly followed the 
literal meaning, and they were held in no great estimation: and 
we learn from St. Paul, that the Pharisees, who allowed the 
figurative sense, had the truest interpretation of the Jewish dis- 
cipline. It was in this path that Hillel acquired so much fame, 
as well as his descendant and follower Gamaliel. Philo* the 


" learned Jew, and Josephus, assure us that many passages must 
be explained in this tropical or figurative way; and, what is 
iS very remarkable and strongly in favour of my argument, they 
both make an express observation to this effect, with reference 
, to the six days’ work of the creation. It cannot be denied that 
r this mode of interpreting has led to many abuses, and that 
¥ Origen and others, by explaining away the historical facts of the 
. Old Testament into types and metaphors, converted history into 
a mass of mystica] absurdity. But this is no argument against 
Hi the limited ‘and judicious application of a method which is 

a sanctioned, as We have seen, by the highest authorities among 


the Jews themselv es and which has been acknowledged by all 
Christian writers to be necessary for the explanation of many 
passages. Thus, for example, what sense, except. the most 
_. wrifling one, can be made of the following passage, if we are 


* Philo Judaus in Cosmopaia item in Allegoriis. 


H 2 obliged 


116 On the Cosmogony of Moses. } 


obliged to adhere to the obvious meaning of the words? “ I 
will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between her 
seed and thy seed ; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise 
his heel.” 

It being certain that we are to look for an esoteric sense in 
some passages, there is none which more evidently requires such 
an interpretation than the cosmogony. Had Moses read a 
lecture on geology to the shepherds of Goshen, and told them 
what space of time each oceanic deposit occupied, and by what 
organic remains it is to be recognised, he would have spent his 
time to little purpose. His object, doubtless, was to declare that 
the universe was the work of the Almighty Creator, and to set 
this truth in a point of view the most striking and impressive. 
At the same ‘time, by mentioning a series of events which really 
took place, in the exact order in which we are now assured that 
they actually happened, he has left us a proof that he was not 
uttering a rhapsody the mere offspring of his imagination. 

But if we are determined to adhere to the vulgar acceptation, 
we shall, as I said before, estallish a total and irreconcilable 
schism between the Mosaic relation and the evidence of indu- 
bitable facts. 

No man who has witnessed the proofs to which geology re- 
fers, and who is capable of putting two propositions together, 
can refuse to admit this conclusion. In traversing a mountainous 
district no idea forces itself more irresistibly on the mind, than 
the vast periods of time which must have elapsed during the 
gradual deposition and consolidation of the immense series of 
beds which constitute all the highest regions of the globe. These 
phenomena attest indisputably an era of inealculable extent be- 
fore the first efforts of living nature. The second epoch, viz. 
that of zoophytes and vegetables, must have comprehended a 
vast concourse of ages. Pallas mentions a succession of lime- 
stone beds containing encrinites and other zoophytes, which lie 
one upon another to the extent of 60 miles. The whole of 
Wales belongs to this era; for I have seen impressions of zoo- 
phytes and testacea on the summit of Snowdon, which is the 
oldest part of the district, and the newest part is occupied by 
the coal-formation. What a lapse of time must the successive 
deposition of all the rocky beds which form this district have 
occupied! Again, if we proceed from the centre of South 
Britain, in a direct line towards Paris, we tread at every step 
from older to newer beds. We begin with the oldest beds, which 
belong to the third epoch, and contain the remains of fishes; 
and we reach the Paris basifi before we discover the oldest ves- 
tiges of quadrupeds ; and there we only find the bones of Pal@- 
otheria and other Pachydermes, which seem to have lived their 

day, 


, 


On Safe-Lamps for Mines, 117 


day, and to have become extinct long before the surface of the 
earth became fitted for the reception of man, or even of the 
quadrupeds which are subservient to his use, and which would 
seem to have immediately preceded his appearance, since we 
find their relics only in alluvial grounds. 

With respect to the successive extinction of these races of ani- 
mals, it is a fact easily explained. As the water of the ocean 
became prepared for more perfect creatures, it may be supposed 
that it was unfit for sustaining those to which its tormer~quali- 
ties had given birth. 1 have elsewhere endeavoured to show 
that all land animals had eriginally a local and determinate seat 
on the globe. Confined by natural barriers within the limits of 
their native regions, many of them seem to have awaited the 
hour of their destruction by means of inundations and ether ca- 
tastrophes. 

On the hypothesis proposed by your correspondent, I shall 
only remark that, although purely conjectural, it is liable to an 
objection drawn from physical considerations. A number of 
curious coincidences render it highly probable that the orbital 
motions of the planets and their motions of rotation were pro- 
duced by the same physical cause, and were therefore simulta- 
neous in their commencement. The circumstances I allude to 
are set forth in a most luminous and striking manner by Laplace 
in his Systéme de la Nature. But it is futile to enter into a 
discussion of what may have happened before the creation of the 
sun. 

Having thus fully stated the grounds of the opinion I formerly 
ventured to offer, I shall decline all further controversy on this 
subject, 

I have the honour to be, sir, 
Your obedient servant, 
Bristol, Feb. 12, 1816. J.C. PricHarp, 


XXV. On Safe-Lamps for Mines. 
To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — . the month of November last I had the pleasure to 
communicate to you the result of several successful experiments, 

made in the presence of the Literary and Philosophical Society 
here, with the safe-lamp invented by Mr. Stephenson, which, I] am 
happy to add, has been since used in the most dangerous parts of 
some coal-mines without any accident having occurred. On Tues~ 
day the 6th instant Sir H. Davy’s recently improved lamp, the 
flame of which is encompassed by wire-gauze, was also exhibited 


by 


118 On the Tides. 


by a professional gentleman who had previously tried it in Walls 
End and Hebburn collieries; and its merits appear to be still 


greater than those of Mr. Stephenson’s. The lamp being sus-— 


pended in a vessel of glass open at the top, and the carburetted 
hydrogen admitted from below, the bright flaine of the wick 
nearly disappeared, but the cylinder of wire-gauze was filled 
with a feeble but steady greenish light. On a greater volume 
of inflammable air being thrown in, the flame gradually died out. 
Results more satisfactory could not be expected nor wished for, 
particularly when we were assured that these accorded with 
numerous trials made in the most hazardous drifts of our coal- 
mines, 

Notwithstanding all that has been lately said in some of the 
periodical publications, respecting the obstinacy of the viewers 
employed here, and the stupidity of their under agents and pit- 
men, you may depend upon it that these safe-lamps are hailed 
by this class of people as a most fortunate discovery, which will 
soon be adopted by them in every mine infected with fire-damp. 
And could a mode be struck out, of preventing inflammation tak- 
ing place by means of the furnace placed at the bottom of the up- 
cast shaft to accelerate the circulation of air through the work- 
ings, little would be wanting to render the occupation of the 
collier as safe at least as that of the persons employed in lead 
and copper mines. 

Your most obedient servant, 

Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Feb. 16, 1816. N. 


XXVI. On the Tides. By M. Laprace*. 
[Read to the first Class of the Institute the 10th of July 182574) 


Tus phenomenon particularly merits the attention of ob- 
servers, both because it is the nearest and most perceptible 
effect of the action of the heavenly bodies, and because the nu- 
merous varieties it presents are well calculated to verify the law 
of universal gravitation. At the request of the Academy of 
Sciences a course of observations were made at the beginning of 
the last century in the port of Brest, which were continued du- 
ring six successive years, and of which the greater part have 
been published by Lalande in the fourth volume of his As¢ronomie. 
The situation of the port is very favourable for observations of 
this kind. It communicates with the sea by meaiis ys a caual, 


* From the Connoissance des Tems for 1818. 


+ For this translation we are indebted to T. S. Evans, jun. of the Col- 
lege schoul, Gloucester. 


terminating 


On the Tides. 119 


terminating in a very large road, at the extremity of which the 
port has been built. Thus the irregularities of the motion of 
the sea are considerably weakened before they reach the port, 
very nearly in the same manner as the oscillations produced in 
the barometer by the irregular motion of a vessel, are diminished 
by a contraction in the tube of this instrument. In other re- 
spects the tides being considerable at Brest, the casual varia- 
tions occasioned by winds form only a small part of them. It 
may also be remarked in the observations made of these tides, 
however few there may be of them, that a great regularity pre- 
vails which is not altered by the ‘little river, which loses itself 
in the immense road of this port. Struck with this regularity, 
I solicited government to order a new course of observations to 
be made at Brest, during an entire period of the motion of the 
nodes of the lunar orbit. They had long been wished for. ‘These 
new observations are dated from the Ist of June 1806, and since 
that period they have been continued uniuiterruptedly to this 
day. There is still, however, much wanting. ‘They relate 
neither to the same part of the port, nor to the same scale. The 
observations of the first five years have been made at the place 
called La Mature, the others were taken near the bason. I 
observe that this change has produced only slight differences ; 
but it would have been better, undoubtedly, if all the observations 
had been made at the same place and upon the same scale. It 
is time, indeed, that phenomena of this nature should be ob- 
served with the same care as those of astronomy. 

In these new observations | have considered those of the year 
1807 and of the seven subsequent years. In each equinox and 
in each solstice I have chosen the three syzygies and the three 
quadratures nearest to this equinox and this solstice. In the 
syzygies I have taken the excess of the high water of the evening 
above the low water of the morning of the day which precedes 
the syzygy, of the day of the syzygy, and of the four following 
days, because the highest tide happens about the middle of this 
interval. I have made a sun of these excesses corresponding 
to each day, by doubling the excesses which relate to the inter- 
mediate syzygy, or that nearest to the equinox or the solstice. 
By this means the effects produced by the variation of the di- 
stances of the sun and of the moon from the earth are destroyed: 
for if the moon were, for example, towards its perigeum in the 
intermediate syzvgy, it would be near its apogeéum in the two 
extreme syzygies. The sums of the excesses thus obtained are, 
therefore, very nearly independent of the variations of the mo- 
tion and of the distances of the heavenly bodies. There are 
still inequalities of the tides, different from that inequality, 
whose period is about half a day, and which in our ports is 

H 4 much 


120 On the Tides. 


nuch greater than the others. For by considering at the same | 
time the observations at the’two cquinoxes and at the two 
solstices, the effect of the small inequality, whose period is 
nearly a day, is mutually destroyed. The sums in question 
are consequently entirely owing to the great inequality. The 
winds can have little influence on them; for, if they raise the high 
water, they must equally depress the low water. I have deter- 
mined the law of these sums for each year, by observing, that 
their variation is very nearly proportional to the square of their 
distance in time from the maximum which has given tne this 
maximum ; its distance at the mean of the times of the syzygy 
tides, and the coefficient of the square of the times in the law 
of the variation, With regard to this coefficient, the little dif- 
ference which the observations of each year present, proves the 
regularity of these observations: and according to the laws 
which I have elsewhere established, on the probability of results 
deduced from a great number of obsenatitis: some judgement 
may be formed of the accuracy of results determined from the 
whole of the observations of eight years. 

In the same manner I have considered the quadrature tides, 
by taking the excess of the high water in the morning above the 
low water of the evening of the day of the quadrature, and of 
the three following days. The increase of the tides, beginning 
from the minimum, being much more rapid than their decrease, 
beginning from the maximum, | have thought it necessary to 
confine the law of the variation proportional to the square of the 
time within a much shorter interval. 

In all these results the influence which the declinations of the 
heavenly bodies have on the tides, and upon the law of their va- 
riation in the syzygies and in the quadratures, is evidently 
shown. In considering, by the same method, eighteen equinoc~ 
tial syzygy tides towards both the perigeum aid the apogeum of 
the moon, the influence which the changes of the lunar distance 
have upon the height and upon the law of variation of the tides, 
is manifested with the same degree of evidence. It is thus that 
by combining observations in such a way as to biing out every 
element, which we are desirous of knowing, we are able to se- 
parate the laws of the phenomena when mixed and confounded 
together in the collections of observations. 

After having obtained the results I have just mentioned, I 
compared them with the theory of the tides delivered in the 
fourth book of the Mecanique Céleste. This theory is founded 
on a principle of dynamics, which renders it very simple, and 
independent of the jocal cireumstances of the port, which cir- 
cumstances are too complicated for the possibility of submitting 
them to calculation, By means of this principle, they enter 

into 


On the Tides. 121 


into the results of the analysis as arbitrary quantities, which ought 
thus to represent the observations, if the universal gravitation is 
in fact the true cause of) the tides. The principle is this: The 
state of a system of bodies in which the primitive conditions of 
motion have disappeared by the resistance it meets with, is pe- 
riodical, as well as the forces which-animate tt. By reuniting 
this principle to that of the coexistence of very small uscillations, 
_ Ihave obtained an expression for the height of the tides, of 
which the arbitrary quantities comprise the effect of the local 
circumstances of the port. To deduce this, I have reduced the 
_ generating expression of lunar and solar forces acting upon the 
ocean into a series containing the sines and cosines of angles in- 
_ ereasing proportionally to the time. Each term of the series 
may be considered as representing the action of another object, 
which moves uniformly at a constant distance, in the plane of 
the equator. Thence arise several kinds of partial tides, the 
periods of which are about half a Innar day, a day, a month, a 
half-year, a year; and lastly, eighteen years and a half, which is 
the duration of the periodical motion of the uodes of ‘the lunar 
orbit. 
Ip the book which I have quoted of the Mécanique Céleste, 
I have compared this theory with the observations made at 
Brest at the commencement of the last century 5 and | have 
determined the constant arbitrary quantities relative to this 
port. I was curious to see whether these circumstances were 
found to be the same by the ebservations made a century after- 
wards, or whether, they ‘have experienced any alteration by the 
changes which the operations of nature and art have produced, 
d Sither at the bottom of the sea or in the port, and on the ad- 
jacent coasts. The result of this inquiry is, that the actual 
heights of the tides, in the port of Brest, surpass the heights 
_ determined by the old observations by about j4th. One part 
_ of this difference may arise from the distance of the points where 
these observations were made; another part may be attributed 
to the errors of the observations: but these two causes do not 
seem to me suflicient to produce the whole difference which in- 
_ dicate with great probability a secular change in the action of 
the sun and moon on the tides of Brest, if we could be well 
assured of the exactness of the graduations of the old scale, and 
taking into account its inclination to the horizon. But the un- 
certainty we are in with respect to this point, does not permit 
s to pronounce upon this change, which ought in future to 
x the attention of observers. In other respects the agreement 
$ surprising between the old and the modern observations, as’ 
‘Well as the theory; with regard to the variations of the heights 
the tides depending on the declinations and distances of the 
heavenly 


122 On the Tules. 


heavenly bodies from the earth, and the laws of their increase 
and decrease in proportion as they recede from thejr maxi- 
mum and from their minimum. In the Mécanique Céleste 1 
had not considered those laws relatively to the variations of the 
distances of the moon from the earth. Here 1 take them into 
consideration, and I find the same agreement between the obser- 
vation and fine theory. 


The retardation of the greatest and least tides which follow 


the times of syzygies and quadratures, was observed by the an- 
cients themselves, as we read in Pliny the naturalist. Daniel 
Bernouilli, in his paper on the Tides, that gained the prize 
proposed in 1740 by the Academy of Sciences, attributes 
this retardation to the inertia of the water; and perhaps also, 
adds he, to the time taken by the action of the moon to trans- 
mit itself to the earth. But 1 have proved in the fourth book 
of the Mécanique Céleste, that by allowing for the inertia of 
the water, the highest tides would BERET with the syzygies, 
if the sea covered “uniformly the whole surface of the earth. As 
to the time of the transmission of the action of the moon, I have 
discovered by a comparative view of the whole of the celestial 
phzxnomena, that the attraction of matter is transmitted with a 
velocity incomparably greater than even the velocity of light 
itself. “We must therefore seek some other cause for the retar- 
dation in question. I have proved in the book quoted above, 
that this eause is the rapidity of the motion of the celestial body 
in its orbit, combined with the local circumstances of the port. 
I have remarked, moreover, that the same cause may increase 
the ratio of the action of the moon on the sea to that of the 
sun; and I have given a method of determining this increase by 
means of the observations, the idea of which is this: Let us 
suppose the motion of the sun to be uniform :—if we consider 
only the great inequality of the tides whose period is about half 
a day, the solar tide is decomposed very nearly into two others, 
which are exactly those that would be produced by two eelestial 
bodies moving uniformly, but with different velocities, in the 
plane of the equator, at the mean distauce of the sun from the 
earth. The mass of the first body is that of the sun, multiplied 
by the cosine of the inclination of the ecliptic to the equator: 
its motion is that of the sun in its orbit. - The second body con- 
stantly corresponds with the spring equinox, and its mass is that 
of the sun multiplied by the half of the square of the sine of 
the obliquity of the ecliptic. At the equinox these bodies are 
either in conjunction or in opposition, and the tide is the sum 
of the tides produced by each of them :—at the solstice the bodies 
are in quadrature, aud the tide is the difference of these partial 
tides. The observations of the solar tide in these two points 
show, 


ai? On the Tides. 123 


show, therefore, the relation of the partial tides, and consequently 
__ the ratio of the actions of the heavenly bodies on the ocean; and 
__ by comparing it to the ratio of their masses, the increase pro- 
duced on it by the difference of their motion will be determined. 

This increase is almost insensible for the sun, on account of 
the slowness of its motion; but it is very evident for the moon, 
whose motion is thirteen times more rapid, and whose action 
on the sea is nearly three times greater. 

By comparing in the fourth book of the Mécanique Céleste, 
the observations of equinoctial and solstitial tides in the syzygies 
and the quadratures, I was led by this method to an increase of 
at least a tenth in the ratio of the action of the moon to that of 

the sun; but I remarked that an element so delicate ought to 
be determined by a greater number of observations. T ie col- 
lection of modern observations has procured me this advantage. 
These observations, employed in double number, confirm the in- 
crease indicated by the ancient observations, and they make it 
more than one-eighth. Another method founded on the com- 
parison of the tides towards the apogeum and perigeum of the 
moon, and applied to the ancient as well as modern observations, 
leads us also to a similar result.—'Thus the incr as of the action 
: of the heavenly bodies on the tides in the port of Brest ought 
5 not to leave any doubt. 

The results of observations being always susceptible of errors, 
it is necessary to know the probability that those errors are con- 
tained within given limits. It is conceived, and with truth, that 
the probability remaining the same, those limits are the more 
diminished as the observations are more numerous, and agree 
better with each other. But this general view of the subject 
is not sufficient to warrant the exactness of the results of obser- 
vations and the existence of regular causes which they seem to 
point out. Sometimes, indeed, it has induced us to seek for the 
cause of phenomena which were only the accidents of chance. 
The caleulation of probabilities can alone enable us to appre- 
ciate these objects, which renders its use of the highest import- 
ance in physical and moral sciences. The preceding researches 
atforded me an opportunity too favourable to be neglected, of 
wpplying the new formule which I have obtained in my Théorie 
analylique des Probabilités, to one of the grandest phenomena 
of nature. I there explain at full length the application I have 
_ made of it to the laws of the tides. My object has been, not 
_ only to confirm the truth of those laws, but to trace the wa 
which must be pursued in applications of this kind. Among 
these laws, the most delicate are those of the increase and de- 
crease of the tides towards their maximum and their minimum, 
and the influence which the declinations of the heavenly bodies 


é and 


— 


124 On the Tides. 


and the variation of their distances from the earth, exercise in 
this respect. It is evident that these laws are determined by 
the observations with extreme precision and probability, which 
explains the remarkable agreement between the results of mo- 
dem observations with those which the old observations had 
given'me, and with the theory of gravitation. According to this 
theory, the action of the moon on the sea follows the inverse 
ratio of the cube of its distance from the centre of the earth; and 
this law represents the observations of the tides with such exact- 
ness, that by these observations alone the law of attraction being 
reciprocally as the square of the distances might be determined. 

My principal desire was to apply my formule of probability: 
to the increase of the action of the moon on the tides, depend- 
ing on local circumstances. To determine this, the preceding 
observations have furnished me with sixteen equations of con- 
dition, and from them I have determined this increase to be 
equal to the 133.5. part of the action of the moon on the ocean. 
By applying my formulz to this result, I find that there are 
21,400 chances to one, that the local circumstances of the port 
of Brest increase the ratio of the action of the moon on the 
tides to that of the sun: this increase may therefore be consi- 
dered as certain; but there are only fourteen chances to one that 
the preceding value is not in error one half. We must there- 
fore wait for new observations to obtain it with great probabi- 
lity of being mistaken by only very small quantities. 

‘The ratio of the actions of the moon and of the sun on the 
sea, corrected for the effect of local circumstances, is very im- 
portant to be known, because it determines the coefficients ; 
Ist, of the terrestrial nutation; 2dly, of the inequality of the 
precession of the equinoxes ; and 3dly, of the lunar equation of 
the sun’s motion. Newton and Daniel Bernouilli had deduced 
this ratio from the phenomena of the tides, but without having 
regard to the correction I have just spoken of, which they did 
not suspect. The ratio which I have determined, and corrected 
by the whole of the preceding observations, gives the mass of 
the moon equal to 5375; that of the earth being unity. It 
therefore gives in sexagesimal seconds, 9°65” for. the coeffi- 
cient of the nutation; which surpasses the coefficient deter- 
mined by the observations of Maskelyne only by +35 of a se- 
cond. My formule of probability show that there are 21,400 
chances to one, that the nutation is not below 9°31”, and there 
are the same sioner, of chances to one, that it is not above 
9:94”. According to this same ratio the coefficient of the in- 
equality of the precession is 18-04, and that of the lunar equa- 
tien of the solar tables is 7: 56, which differs from the co- 


efficient that M. Delambre found directly from the examination 
of | 


q 


A new Instrument for comparing Linear Measures. 125 


of a great number of solar observations only by +$ of a se- 
cond. In this calculation, I have supposed the mean parallax 
of the sun equal to 8-59”, corresponding with that which I have 
deduced from my theory of the moon, compared with the in- 
equality of the lunar motion, known by the name of parallactic 
inequality, and which M. Burckhardt has determined by means 
of a very great number of observations. M. Ferére, a learned 
Spanish astronomer, has lately confirmed this parallax by a new 
‘investigation of the transit of Venus in 1769; in which, by his 
own observations, he has corrected the latitude and longitude of 
places where this transit has been observed in America. ‘The 
agreement between all these computations determined by phe- 
_ “nomena so vague, is an additional confirmation of the principle 
__ of universal gravitation. 


XXVIL. A new Instrument for comparing Linear Measures. 
. By M. pe Prony“. 


Tar comparison of linear measures, when great accuracy is 
necessary, requires careful and delicate operations, as well as the 
use of machinery not generally employed in commercial -ton- 
cerns, and difficult to be procured. 1 have already, published 
the description of an instrument of this kind, invented and made 
by M. Lenoir, member of the Board of Longitude, which is 
as perfect as can be wished; but its expense and size put it 
out of the power cf common observers to procure, and render 
it useless to travellers, who wish to know the proportion between 
some given standard, and the linear measures of any country 
through which they may pass. 

I have had made for my own use, a comparer, which joins 
the two advantages of economy and portability: all the pieces 
of which it is composed may be fitted into a box of the size of a 
‘quarto book. The dearest part is a microscope; but even this 
requires nothing different from those with which observers are 
commonly furnished. In general it is only necessary to be at 
the expense of making three additional pieces, which I shal] de- 
scribe presently. 

The properties and use of my comparer are founded on the 
progress which the art of dividing a right line has made within 
the last half century. This instrument has therefore, indepen- 
dently of the above advantages, that of requiring no vernier nor 
micrometer screw, &c. 

It is well known that M. Richer, one of the first artists of 
_ Paris for the construction of mathematical instruments, has. 
* Communicated by Dr. Evans. 
long 


126 A new Instrument for comparing Linear Measures. 


long heen in the habit of making divisions on glass that are very 
clear and minute at the distances of 100ths of a millimeter, and 
even less*. A glass having two or three millimeters with the 
division. of one of them into 100 parts costs at his house, ten 
or twelve francs. 

Some fcreign artists have also succeeded in this kind of 
work. I procured in my travels in Italy, two small discs of glass 
on each of which are two millimeters, the one divided into ten 
and the other into a hundred equal parts. I had them of 
M. Capello of Turin, an artist who is equally celebrated for his 
inventive mind and his ability to execute what he has con- 
ceived, 


} know also at Paris an amateur, M. Le Baillif, who applies » 


all the leisure moments which his situation under government 
affords, to the cultivation of the sciences; and who among his 
other talents possesses that of dividing a right line on glass in a 
rare and remarkable manner. He has had the kindness to trace 
for me on a small dise of glass 21 tenths of a millimeter; ten 
of which are subdivided into L00dths and 200dths. These divi- 
sions of 200dths. are very neat, and perfectly visible with a mi- 
eroscope magnifying 100 times. 

Those persons who wish to possess a comparer like mine, 
ought first to procure one of these glasses on which a right line 
is divided into as many millimeters as they please, and one of 
these millimeters subdivided into 100dths. The first 10, 20, 30, 
&c. strokes of this subdivision into 100, are prolonged, and the 
5, 15, 25th, &c. should be also prolonged, but less than the 
former, in order that the tenths and half-tenths of a millimeter 
may be distinguished at the first glance of the eve. 

The piece of which I have just spoken must he fixed at one 
of the extremities of a brass rule, the lengths of the strokes of 
the divisions being perpendicular to the length of the rule which 
carries at its extremity a steel stud, intended to be put in con- 
tact with the ends of the linear measures which we may have to 
compare. : 


Another fixed stud must be screwed and held very solidly on 
a board or a table which holds the measures and all the ap- 


paratus. 
When we wish to compare any two linear measures, one of 
them must first be placed in such a way that one of its extremities 


* T have a micromcter screw made by this able artist, two decimeters 
in length. He engaged to cut these divisions at intervals of a balf milli- 
meter, and he succeeded so well that the most rigid proofs could not dis- 
cover the least inequality that was sensible throughout the whole 200 di- 
visions. This is one of the most difficult tasks that can be undertaken of 
this kind. 
may 


ee ae ee, A eS a 


* 


‘ 
A new Instrument for comparing Linear Measures. 127 


may rest against the fixed stud, and its other end in contact with 
the moveable one; the whole being so disposed, that the axes of 
the rules, the axis of the linear measures, and the middle points 
of the divisions on the glass are exactly in right lines. The mi- 
croscope held by the same board, or the same table on which 
the other pwts of the apparatus and the linear measures are 
laid, must be so pointed to one of the divisions on the glass, 
that after some preliminary trials, or first: approximative data, 
on the ratios of'the linear measures, we may be certain that the 


_ second measure to be compared, when we have made the same 


dispositions respecting it, will bring the 100dths or 200dths of a 
millimeter under a stroke, which is afterwards to be determined 
when placed in the focus of the microscope; which microscope, 
when the collimation has been established, with respect to the 
beginning of the divisions, must be kept immoveable during the 
comparison of the two linear measures. 

The apparatus is to be disposed in such a way, that the glass 
carrying the divisions may be placed between the reflecting mir- 
ror of the microscope and the object lens ; and if we wish to 


adjust the focus-line to the line at the beginning of the divisions, 


we make the supports of the microscope to abut against the point 
of a fixed horizontal screw and nut ; this support being made to 
slide along a rule parallel to the linear measures. The parallelism 
between the focus-line and the strokes of the division is easily 
obtained by the hand, by causing the microscope to turn round 
in the circular horizontal ring in which it is inclosed. 

The collimation of the focus-line with one of the strokes on 
the divisions on the glass being thus well established, we remove 
the first linear measure, and replace it with the second, by rest- 
ing the moveable stud against one of its ends, and making its 
other end to abut against the fixed stud. The point of collimation 
will change, if the measures are not equal; and their difference 
of length will be given by the quantity that the second measure 
shall have removed the first stroke of the divisions from the divi- 
sion on which the collimation was established for the first ; which 
guantity of removal is measured by the number of millimeters, 
and 1 00dths of a millimeter, contained between the two successive 
points of collimation. 

I return to the line placed in the focus of the microscope. It 
is easy to conceive the extreme fineness that this line must have, 
since it ought to appear on the space contained between two 
consecutive divisions on the glass; which spaces are 10Qdths of 
millimeters, and so as to permit their evaluation by estimation 
to 1000dths of a millimeter. I believe it would be in vain to at- 
tempt to pérform this by placing a wire in the foeus; and that 
the finest of those that are commonly adapted to telescopes, 

either 


- 


1238 A new Instrument for comparing Linear Measures. 


; ‘ . * 
either for the purposes of surveying, or for those of astronomy, 
cover spaces much too great to allow of a similar estimation, 
although they only undergo the magnifying power of the eye- 


glass. I received from M. Breguet, member of the Board of. 


Longitude, a platina wire made in England by an ingenious pro- 
cess. This wire had been passed through a hole whgn enveloped 
in a covering of silver; and when the compound of the two metals 
had been reduced to its greatest fineness, the silver was dissolved, 
and the platina wire left uncovered, The maker had written on 
the piece which contained the wire of which I speak the number 
GO00, to indicate that its diameter is =,',>dth of a fraction of 
an English foot, which M. Breguet thinks is a dine. If he has 
been rightly informed in this respect, there is an enormous mis- 
calculation in the evaluation of the maker; for his wire, when 
stretched and put in contact with the division of 100dths of a mil- 
limeter, covered the interval between two strokes, and the strokes 
themselves. Its magnitude is therefore more than 0-01 millimeter, 
whilst the English evaluation only makes it 0-00035 millimeter : 
and if, as I am inclined to believe, it is not 6000dths of a dine, 
but only 6,000dths of an inch, that he intended to indicate by the 
number 6000 written on the side of the wire, there is still an er- 
ror of 3-5ths; for the -,4,,dth part of an English inch=0-0042 
millimeter. 

This wire, which has probably the greatest degree of fineness 
that can be attained in the present state of the arts, does not 
therefore give us the most delicate line that can be rendered 
perceptible to the eye ; and my divisions of 1Odths of millimeters 
on glass serve as a proof of this. The thickness of each line of 
this division is only about the third of the length of the interval 
contained between two immediately adjoining strokes; so that 
this thickness is, according to what | have said above, less than 
the third of the diameter of the English platina wire. For these 
reasons I have determined not to put the wire in the focus of the 
microscope, but to put a piece of plain glass there, on which 
M. Richer has traced for me two lines at right angles, of such 
a degree of fineness and neatness, that when one of these lines 
projects itself between two strokes of the divisions on glass, the 
proportion between its distances from each adjoining stroke may 
easily be estimated. This expedient affords-also the advantage 
of great solidity, and that of rendering the application of a ver- 
nier to the apparatus quite easy by having on the glass in the 
focus ten parallel strokes, which should cover 9 or 11 of the di- 
visions of 10Qdths of a millimeter, 

It is unnecessary to trouble ourselves about the loss of light 
occasioned by this glass in the focus ; for notwithstanding its 
mterposition betweeu the eye and the object, an intensity of light 

that 


aoe 


|r 


: 
: 


“A new Instrument for comiparing Linear Measures. 129 


that the eye still supports very well, causes the strokes marked 
on the glass, bearing the divisions into 100dths of a millimeter, to 
disappear. It has sometimes happened, that I have intercepted 
apart of this light by placing my hand before the reflectitig 
mirror: and I have remarked, that in seeking by the vertical 
motion of this hand the proper position for the degree of light 
that I wanted, I made the point of collimation to vary within 
the limits of about -},dth of a millimeter, According to this 
observation it is necessary, whilst we are comparing the linear 
measures, to keep the quantity of light thrown on the divided 
glass in the interior of the microscope always in the same state. 

~ The accuracy and convenience of my new comparer has al- 
ready been submitted to frequent trials. The ratios of some of 
the linear measures on which it has been tried had been deter- 
mined with the great comparer of M. Lenoir, and the agreement 
between the results furnished by both instruments has been very 
satisfactory. Among the operations from which these results 
are derived there is one that I made with my colleagues Messrs. 
Bouvard and Arrago. One of the objects of comparison was 
the standard platina metre of the observatory. 


Seer ee 
To Mr. Tilloch. 


Dear Sir,— Ix consequence of the observations made in the 
preceding paper, on the size of the very fine platina wire so in- 
geniously contrived and made by Dr. Wollaston, I deemed it pro- 
per to inform him that I intended to present you with a transla- 
tion of M. de Prony’s Memoir for publication in your valuable 
Magazine. I have accordingly been favoured by that gentleman 
with the subjoined information on the subject, which not only 
explains the difficulty, but informs us of the manner in which 
the wire is produced, and the mode adopted for estimating its 
size. The portions of an inch called dines, which the French 
scientific gentlemen use very commonly, are rarely employed in 
this country; it was therefore very natural to conclude, that 
M. Breguet must have made some mistake, in the statement of 
its dimensions which he carried back with him to France, and 
communicated to M. de Prony, 
I remain, dear sir, 

Yours, &c. &c. 
Christ’s Hospital, Feb. 20, 1816. T. S. Evans. 

—— 

“‘ When Mr. Breguet was in London, he received from Dr. 
Wollaston a specimen of platina wire wooodth of an inch in dia- 
meter. 

Vol. 47. No. 214, Fel. 1816, I “ The 


. 


. 


180 Remarks on the Geological Sketch of Cumberland, &c. 


«© The data from which Dr. W. infers the dimensions of so 
small a wire may serve as a means of estimating the accuracy 
of M. Prony’s method when applied fo the measure of such ob- 
jects. 

<¢ A wire of pure platina is drawn till ten grains of it mea- 
sure 24 inches, so that its diameter is thus known to be +1,dth 
of an inch. 

<¢ A portion of this wire is then coated with silver cast round 
it in a cylindrical mould, (about 3,ths of an inch in diameter). 

«¢ The cylinder is then drawn till each inch is elongated to 
400 inches, in which state the diameter of the platina is known 
to be reduced in the proportion of the square root of 400 or 
twenty-fold: so that its diameter is then ~34,,dth of an inch. 

“< If any portion of the silver wire be then further drawn till 
one inch measures nine inches, the platina wire within it is then 
reduced to 4d part of its Jast diameter, and is consequently 
eoeodth of an inch in thickness. 

“¢ If the silver wire be then dissolved by nitric acid, the dia- 
meter of the platina which remains undissolved (although kept 
perfectly clean) could not with confidence be pronounced inac- 
curate by a mensuration in which its dimensions were at first 
presumed to be yi5,dths of an inch. 


Feb. 20, 1816. «© W.H. Woxtaston.”’ 


XXVIII. Remarks on the Geological Sketch of a Part of Cum- 
berland and Westmoreland. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sm, — Ix your Magazine for lust month, (p.41,) in an article 
entitled “‘A Geological Sketch of a Part of Cumberland and West- 
moreland,’’ your correspondent notices as a fact, that carbonate 
of strontites has been found in the basalt of the Giant’s Cause- 
way. This is a circumstance that has frequently been noticed 
to me, and specimens have been shown me, as carbonate of 
strontites, which [ have uniformly found to be carbonate of lime. 
It is nothing uncommon to mistake the one substance for the 
other, the carbonate of strontites from Braunsdorf in Saxony 
having long been considered as the hard carbonate of lime among 
the German mineralogists.—I should therefore be glad to know 
from your correspondent, through the medium of your Magazine, 
whether the specimen he refers to has been submitted to ana- 
lysis. 
Your correspondent likewise notices that the clay-slate and 
horublend slate of Skiddaw rest immediately on granite; which 
would 


—— 


4 
4 


New Doctrines on Mathematical and other Certainty. 13i 


would lead one to believe that granite occurred on Skiddaw it- 
self. This is not the case: the nearest occurrence of granite to 
Skiddaw is at a considerable distance on the east of the moun- 
tain, beyond where granite again occurs, on the road between - 
Kendal and Chale. There is a third station in that district of 
country where granite is also found; on the sea coast, near 
Muncaster; besides which in Wartdale, as well as at Buttermere, 
@ species of rock occurs, which bears a strong resemblance to 
some varieties of granite. I found the relations of these two 
jast-mentioned rocks so very obscurely marked, that I cannot 
pretend to give any opinion about them. I notice the localities, 
with a view to direct the: attention of other geologists. My 
visits to this beautiful country have been pretty much like those 
of other tourists ; 1 have therefore had little time to follow up 
any observations.—I have seldom found any country so very 
puzzling to make out, or to describe geologically in any thing 
like a satisfactory manner. To this, therefore, I attribute the 
neglect it appears to have experienced. It remains a fertile 
source of geological disquisition, and theorists will find it as dif- 
ficult to accommoiate to their respective opinions as any district 
between this and Kamschatka. 
Yours, 
Edinburgh, Feb. 15, 1816. S.N. 


¢ 


XXIX. New Doctrines, as to the Nature of Mathematical and 
other Certainty. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — Hoavrenme a few evenings ago to be in a company 
of persons supposed to be distinguished by their learning and 
acquirements, the subject of conversation accidentally turned on 
the nature of the evidences of different truths or certainties; when 
the Editor of one of our Monthly Journals being present, he 
with great earnestness maintained, that there is no kind of su- 
periority in mathematical certainty over that arising from testi- 
mony; ‘ and mathematicians (said he) have deceived themselves 
into a contrary belief, from not heing aware that every {wo 
things, said by them to be demonstrated to be equa/, are in 
reality the same thing !. When for instance (continued he) they 
say, the three angles of a triangle are equal to two right ones, 
their reasoning only amounts to showing that they are the same!” 

and so on. 
One of the company happening now to remark, that this was 
but to over-look the distinction between and to confound ie 
12 ity 


132 Speedy and easy Method of copying Drawings. 


lity and identity ; and looking round and perceiving a sup~ 
pressed smile in the countenances of some of his auditors, the 
first speaker resumed, by saying , that he considered the evidence 
of various historical facts, ‘such for instances, that there was 
such a man-as Julius Cesar, and that there is such a place as 
Rome, &e. as not less complete and perfect, with any mathema- 
tical truth whatever!. * Nay (continued he), [ have even been as- 
sured by single persons of some things, I as firmly believe as I 
do any truths whatsoever !.” 


Perceiving now a more general and stronger tendency to: 


smiling, in the attentive circle around -him, the speaker (who is 
a North Briton) rather hastily concluded, by saying, “1 know 
that in this country such opinions are only laughed at, and that 
every English mathematician holds a different opinion ; but that 
shall not induce me to change mine :’—and I think I heard him 


add, while the group which had stood around him was in the 


act of separating, that he intended shortly to enlarge on these 
topies in his Journal. : 

Relying confidently, as I do, on the issue of any investigation 
into the paramount pretensions of mathematical, over almost 
all, if not every other kind of certainty (which latter are in- 
deed but probalilities, sometimes of a very high amount it is 
admitted*), I sincerely hope that the learned Editor will not 
fail of either supporting or retracting his rather singular opinions, 
as above mentioned. Whether this may or may not happen 
to be the case, I judge it proper to request the favour of your 
insertion of this notice of these epinions ; and to request of 
some more able hand, who heard them advanced, or others, to 
enter without delay on thgir refutation in your Magazine, which 
will oblige, 

Yours, &c. 
MatTHEMATICUs. 


— —— ad 


XXX. Speedy and easy Method of copying Drawings. 
By M,. Dz Lasruyvrief. 2 


M. DE LastEyRiE first followed the method of rendering the 
paper transparent by rubbing it with oil of petroleum or asphal- 


* The speaker insisted much, on the absolute certainty that the sun will 
tise tomorrow; and was very free 3 in his censures, of what the celebrated 
Laplace has advanced on this as a probable event. Speaking of the laws 
of nature, he said, none ought to be admitted as such which every man, 
does not know and fully admit without demonstration; that is, intuitively f 


was added, either by the speaker or some one of his hearers, without any 
xine therefrom on his part. 


¢ From the archives des Decouvertes, 
tum, 


ae 


b= 


eo 


_ Method of making Ship Lanterns with Mica and iVire. 133 


tum. This method completely answered the purpose; but hav- 
ing observed that this oil gave out a strong and disagreeable 
smell, and that it evaporated too quickly, he conceived that the 
different essences extracted from vegetables, without being at- 
tended with the same inconveniences, might give to paper a 
sufiicient degree of transparency to allow a drawing upon which 
it might be laid to be distinctly seen through it. 

For this purpose he employed essence of lavender, or oil-of 
spike, and essence of citron, which are preferable to oil of petro- 
Jeum; because instead of having a bad smell they yield a very 
agreeable perfume : and as they evaporate more slowly, the 
paper retains its transparency for a greater length of time, by 
which means the operation of copying is facilitated. 

The essences used for this process ought to be as limpid as 
the purest water. If they were coloured, they would leave marks 
and stains upon the paper. They are rarely to be met with im 
commerce in a state of sufficient purity; but they may be easily 
freed front their colouring particles by a second distillation. 

Take a sheet of common drawing paper, and smear it on one 
side only with a brush dipped into the essence. The space thus: 
rendered transparent should be about seven or eight decimetres 
square ; for, if it be much larger, the essence may evaporate be- 
fore the drawing is finished, and the paper lose its transpa- 
rency. 

This done, lay the paper upon the drawing, and trace with 
the pencil the strokes that are seen underneath. Having copied 
the drawing upon that part of the paper which has been smeared 
with the essence, rub it upon the other parts, and thus proceed 
till the whole is finished. Then hold the paper before the fire, ° 
shaking it gently to accelelate the evaporation ; taking care that: 
it be at such a distance that the hand can bear the heat without 
inconvenience. When the evaporation is completed, the paper 
again becomes opaque, and retains all its eriginal whiteness. You 
may then draw upon it with a pen, wash or paint with colours. 

The process is as easy in practice as it is advantageous, on ac- 
count of the time which it saves, and the precision and accuracy 
with which you obtain fac-similes of prints and drawings that 
you wish to copy. « 


XXXI. On a Method of making Ship Lanterns with Mica 
and Wire. By M. Rocnon *. 


Tue great fragility of glass does not allow of its being employed 
in every sort of lantern, lamp, &c. In the navy it is necessary 


* From the Annales des Arts ct Manufactures. ; 
13 that 


134 Method of making Ship Lanterns with Mica and Wire. 


that the watch-lights, those of the powder-room, &c. should 
transmit the light through horn, or other substance capable of 
resisting great shocks. This material is at present sufficiently 
plentiful, and is very well manufactured, in France: but as it 
fell short in the magazines at the beginning of the revolution, 
M. Rochon supplied its place for the ship-lanterns by a net- 

work of wire, of a large mesh, covered with a light coat of 
transparent isinglass. This “artificial horn was at that time of 
great service in “the navy. 

The arrival of an American vessel havin g on board several 
pieces of foliated mica perfectly transparent, | sugvested to 
M. Rochon the idea of employing it in the place of glass or horn, 
in Sua to isinglass and copal varnish, This mineral is 
found in abundance in the quarries of granite in the environs of 
Newport i in North America. Hitherto it has been only known 
in the district of Witten, in Siberia, which furnishes it in large 
flakes. The preparation of this mineral, to render it of use as 
a medium for transmitting light, consists in separating it in plates, 
more or less thick, with a double-edged knife. The Siberians, 
says the traveller Gmelin, use these transparent plates as much 
for their windows as for their lanterns. The Russian navy con- 
sumes a great deal of it; all the window-lights of the vessels are 
of this substance, which, independent of its great transparency, 
resists the strong shock of artillery. The surfaces of the flakes 
or plates of this incombustible mineral are about two ells square. 
M. Vauguelin has found in it ten parts of silex, seven of alumine 5 
and the limits of its specific weight are, according to the calcu 
lations of M. Brissot, between 265 and 293. 

We are assured that the Americans use foliated mica for the 
same purposes as the Russians. They employ also demispherical 
masses of glass to reflect the rays of light in such parts of the 
vessels where the blowing of the wind will not allow of lanterns, 

Although we might be able to procure squares of mica suffi- 
ciently transparent, and thick enough to resist the most violent 
blows, the necessity of ceconomizing a substance so rare, and to 
give it the utmost degree of transparency, determined M. Rochon 
to inclose it between two pieces of tinned iron net-work of a large’ 
mesh, The wires of these meshes, which are manufactured in 
a weayer’s Joom, do not intercept a hundredth part of the light. 
By these means he is enabled to make the squares of an unli- 
tnited size with plates that are of unequal sizes. Gum arabic 
serves to conuect them together; and with some very fine cop- 
per wire, well-tempered, a few stitches made with a fine needle 
will fit it firmly in the frame that incloses it. 

One of the light-houses on the coast of Bretagne, at the 
entranee of the Channel, having had its windows broken by an 

accident, 


Notices respecting New Books. 135 


accident, which extinguished all the fires during the night, and 
the magazines of the navy being at that time unprovided witn 
paues of sufficient dimensions, M. Rechon promptly supplied the 
deficiency, by putting up panes made of the mica of Newport. 
We see, therefore, that this substance may be rendered useful 
for such purposes, although it does not appear that the navy have 
yet adopted it. Its dearness is probably the reason. The sare 
‘reason too will, doubtless, for a long time, prevent it from being 
brought into domestic use; and our ordinary lanterns happily 
at present require no alteration. 


XXXII. Notices respecting New Books. 


Elements of Electricity and Electro-Chemistry. By Grorck 
JOHN Sincer, Esq. 


[Continued from p. 62.] 


* 
T HE third part of Mr. Singer’s work treats of the “natural 
agencies of electricity,” and includes four chapters, arranged as 
follows : 

Chap. I. On the identity of electricity and the cause of 
lightning. 

Chap. II. On the phenomena of thunder-storms, and on the 
probable sources of atmosphereical electricity. 

Chap. III. On some luminous phenomena of the atmo- 
sphere, the observations of atmospherical electricity, and the ar- 
rangement of a new system of insulation. 

Chap. IV. Connexion of electricity with medicine and with 
natural history. 

The utility of this part of the treatise renders it highly in- 
teresting ; and we observe with pleasure, that Mr. Singer has 
bestowed particular attention on the most useful applications of 
electrical science, and that he has given very extensive practical 
information on this part of his subject. We cannot attempt to 
convey more than a general idea of the ample details this por- 
tion of the work contains. The following is extracted from the 
description of a lightning conductor, p. 224. “ The conduct- 
ing rod or rods (for if the buiiding is large there should be se- 
veral) should be formed of copper or iron, three quarters of an 
inch thick. Its upper extremity should be acutely pointed, 
and rise three or four feet above the highest part of the building. 
The parts of which the rod is formed should be joined closely; the 
ends that are applied to each other being screwed together. All 
the metallic parts of the roof should be connected with the rod, 

14 and 


136 Notices respecting New Books. 


aud it should pass down in as direct a line as possible, and pe- 
netrate several feet below the foundation, from which it should 
be inclined outward, The underground part of the conductor 
is better formed of copper, to prevent its decay; it should be 
connected, if it possibly can, with a moist stratum of earth or 
with alarge body of water. The penetration of the conductor 
to some depth below the level of the foundation, will in many 
instances procure this advantage for it. The conductor is some- 
times made wholly of copper, it may then be thinner than if 
made of iron: for a stationary conductor, I should conceive that 
a copper rod of half an inch thick would answer every required 
purpose ; and there is little doubt that a less quantity of metal 
made into a hollow tube so as to increase its superficies would 
be equally or even more effectual. Conductors for ships have 
been made of chains (which are highly improper) and of cop- 
per wires which are easily attached : ‘but they are with equal 
ease detached ; and I have been informed by several captains, 
that in many ships furnished with such conductors, they are kept 
in an inactive state packed up below during long and hazardous 
voyages. For this reason it would be better that fixed con- 
ductors should be employed; they might I should conceive be 
attached to the mast, and where motion is required an inter- 
ruption should be made in the inflexible conductor, and its parts 
be connected together by a length of spiral wire, which would 
be at once perfectly continuous, and sufficiently flexible to yield 
to every necessary movenient.” 


Conductors for ships will be much more effectual if they are - 


connected with a strip of metal surrounding the deck, and con- 
tinued to the copper-bottom. Carriages which are usually fil- 
leted round with metal for ornament, may be rendered very se- 
cure if these strips are connected with each other, and continued 


over every edge, so as to surround the prominences of the carriage ~ 


completely, a metallic communication being continued from them 
to the ground. Inthe open air Mr, Singer advises that shelter be 
not patil heneath a high tree, or building, but considers a di- 
stance of twenty or thirty feet from them as rather an eligible 
situation. He particularly insists on, the necessity of avoiding 
every approach to large masses of water, and even to the stream- 
lets which may have resulted from a recent shower ; for they are 
all excellent conductors, and lil kely to determine the direction of 
the explosion. Ina house, the partial conductors which usually 
determine the course of the discharge are for the most part the. 
appendages of the walls and partitions; the most secure situa- 
ton, therefore, is the middle of the room; and this may be ren- 
dered more so, by standing on a glass-legged stool, a mattress, 
pr even a thick woollen hearth-rug. The middle story is the 

most 


Notices respecting New Books. | 137 


most secure: for explosions sometimes occur from the earth to 
the clouds ; and many instances are on record in which the lowest 
story of a building has been the only part which has sustained 
injury; hence it is absurd to take refuge in a cellar, or cave, &c. 
Chimneys are excellent, conductors, from the soot ‘or charcoal 
with which they are lined: consequently it is essential to avoid 
any approach to the fire-place : and the same caution is neces- 
sary with respect to gilt furniture, bell wires, and extensive sur- 

_ faces cf metal of every description. In a carriage, the precaution 
of keeping at some distance from its back and sides is also. ad- 

¢ visable. The several varieties of the thunder-storm are shown 
to be closely imitated by a proper use of the electrical apparatus; 

r and the source of the vast accumulations of electricity by whieh 
. these phenomena are produced, is traced to the circulation of wa- 


Px 


ter in the atmosphere: hence thunder occurs most frequently in 

summer, and storms are most tremendous in all situations where 
» the sun’s influence operates to the greatest extent. The exact 
nature of these natural processes cf excitation is at present far 
from being clearly understood ; but the- analogy between them 
and many of our artificial methods is clearly described in the 
following observation of our author :-—* The diferent electrical 
state of different parts of the atmosphere, obtains principally im 
the masses of vapour or clouds that float in it; and the origin 
of this electricity, as well as the cause of its various changes, is 
probably to be traced to the mutability of these masses ; for it 
has been seen, that change of form, heating and cooling, fric- 
tion, and the contact of dissimilar bodies, are the ar tificial sources 
of electrical excitation, and the clouds experience in succession 
the operation of all these causes.” The opinions of Volta, 
» Saussure, De Luc, &c. are given with great impartiality, and 
as fully as is consistent with the nature of the work. 

. The phenomena of the northern lights, and other luminous ap- 
pearances of the atmosphere, are also treated at some length ;: 
and this section deserves notice for the clearness with which the 
various facts are stated. The author shows a marked distinction 
between the larger and smaller meteors. “He considers the lat- 
teras very analogous to the appearances of electricity ; but the 
Jarger meteors he regards as incapable of explanation in the pre- 
sent state of our knowledge. 

In describing the means of observing atmospherical electricity, 
an account is given of a very remarkable apparatus for that pur- 
pose, which has been recently constructed by our corr espondent 
Mr. Crosse of Broomfield. It is described as ¢ consisting of 
copper wire, one-sixteenth of an inch thick, stretched and insu- 
lated between stout upright masts of from 100 to 110 feet in 
ight, The most unwearied exertion has been employed to 


give 


; 
L: 
\ 


138 Notices respecting New Books. 


give unexampled extent and perfection to this apparatus: the 
insulated wire has been extended to the extraordinary length of 
one mile and a quarter ; and a variety of ingenious contrivances 
have been applied to preserve the insulation. But the length of 
the wire rendered it so liable to injury, and subject to depreda- 
tion, that it has been found expedient to shorten it to 1800 
feet, aud until the present time no means have been devised 
that sufficiently preserve the insulation during a dense fog, or 
driving snow.”’ 

The apparatus has been preserved in constant activity during 
eighteen months; and a series of observations have been made 
with it, which afford some very interesting information on the 
subject of atmospherical electricity. The details which Mr. 
Singer has given are, however, too extensive for the limits of 
this notice ; and we must refer the reader to the work itself for 
the information they contain. 

In pursuing these inquiries, Mr. Singer has been led to a dis- 
covery of the first importance to the practical electrician. It is 
well known that one of the most perplexing cares attendant on 
electrical experiments, is the preservation of the insulating parts 
of the apparatus in a perfectly dry state; and in moist weather 
this is so far from practicable, that many experiments are from 
necessity avoided in consequence. Mr. Singer has contrived 
an arrangement which prevents the free contact of the air 
with the surface of the msulator, and consequently precludes 
the deposition of moisture upon it, and preserves it In a proper 
state for use under nearly every variation of weather. The — 
gold-leaf electrometer constructed on this principle becomes 
a truly valuable instrument: it retains its electricity for a con- 
siderable period ; and as it scarcely ever requires to be warmed © 
or wiped, is much more useful, and less liable to be deranged, ~ 
than in the old construction. The deseription which is given of ~ 
this method of insulation is nearly confined to the development 
of its general principle, and is by no means so extensive as we 
could have wished; for we deem it one of the most useful dis- 
coveries in practical electricity which has come under our notice 
for some time. 

The experiments of Nollet and others on the action of elec- 
tricity on organized bodies are mentioned as introductory to the 
practice of medical electricity, which is developed with much 
skill within very moderate limits : an account of the torpedo and 
gymnotus, which comprises the most interesting facts that are 
at present known concerning those animals, precedes a detail of 
the experiments of Galvani, Volta, and others, to the period at 
which the latter produced his extraordinary invention of the 
Voltaic battery. This part of the subject is not extensive, but it 

appears 


Notices respecting New Books. 139 


“appears explielé and impartial. Mr. Singer has given it under 
the general title of Galvanism, because it originated entirely 
_ with the experiments of the learned professor of Bologna. Under 
the arrangement which is here given to it, Galvanism certainly 
forms a Mery. jie gs introduction to the fourth and last part of 
Mr. Singer’ s work, which has for its subject ‘ Voltaic electricity.” 
This subject, the most novel, and to many the most interestiag 
before us, is discussed in four chaptars under the following titles: 
Chap. }. Structure of the Voltaic apparatus, and nature of its 
electrical phenomena. 

Chap. 2. On the chemical effects of the Voltaic apparatus. 
Chap.3. Extensive agency of the Voltaic apparatus as an in- 
strument of chemical analysis. Its influence in the evolution of 
light, and the production of heat, 

Chap. 4. Sketch of the state of theoretical knowledge in Vol- 
taic electricity. Structure and properties of the electric column, 
~The construction of the various parts of the Voltaic apparatus 
is described in clear terms, and a particularly full account of the 
process of cementing the trough is given. 

The author prefers the original trough of Cruickshank to that 
 iirined on the principle of the cowronne de tasses, which is at 
present so much in use. In the former, all the plates being aeted 
on at one surface only, each produces its full proportion of effect, 
‘and continues for some time active: in the latter, one surface 
of the zinc is wasted to very little purpose; the acid is sooner 
saturated, and its action is consequently more transient. To de- 
monstrate the electrical effects of the Voltaic battery, Mr. Singer 
employs river water only, as the medium of connexion between 
his plates, and finds it preferable for this purpose to any acid 
mixture. ‘ With a series of 50 groups a delicate gold-leaf elec- 
trometer will be affected without the aid of the condenser. With 
100 pairs the divergence of the gold-leaves is sufficiently distinct ; 
and with a series of 1000 groups even pith balls are made to di- 
verge. In these experiments, a wire proceeding from one extre- 
mity of the battery is to be connected with the foot of the electro- 
meter, whilst a wire proceeding from the opposite end is brought 
to touch its cap. The electricity of the zine side is always po- 
sitive ; that of the copper side always negative.” By employing 
ater in his Voltaic apparatus Mr: Singer has discovered that 
the powers of that apparatus may be accumulated in an electrical 
battery, which, when connected with it, will always be charged 
highly than the apparatus itself, producing loud sparks, 
burning metallic leaves, when the Voltaic series employed 
© communicate the charge to it has no such power alone. 
his method of employing the Voltaic apperatus is a very ex- 

cellent 


cellent one; for it maintains its action without any renewed at- 

‘tention for months, and probably for years: and as the effect in- - 
ereases with the number of plates employed, Mr. Singer suggests 

that, by employing 50 or 100,000 plates, a considerable charge 

might be constautly kept up in an electrical battery, and that at. 

no expense but the first cost of the apparatus ; w hich would be 

sufficient if formed of plates two inches syuare. 

In noticing the chemical action of the Voltaic apparatus it is 
remarked, that its operations are very different to those of com- 
mon electricity, which are usually attended by mechanical action, 
and rarely by any unequivocal production of heat ; whilst in the 
Voltaic apparatus when no light is evolved an elevation of tem- 
perature may be usually observed: and when by its intense ae- 
tion there is a copious evolution of light, heat is produced in a 
superior degree to that which results from any other process of 
art. When metals are revived from their solutions by Voltaie 
electricity, it is noticed as a singular fact, that none but lead, 
tin, and silver, appear as brilliant metallic vegetations. The 
Various experiments of decomposition and transfer, with the in- 
teresting discoveries of Sir H. Davy, are detailed with great ac- 
euracy and perspicuity, accompanied by occasional observations — 
of the author which tend considerably to the elucidation of the — 
subject. So much information is indeed included in this parf. | 
of the work, that we have no wish to lessen the interest it is cal- 
culated to excite, by giving a series of abridged extracts from 
that which should be read in its complete state. Considerable _ 
attention is given to the experiments and observations of Dr. 
Wollaston, Sir H. Davy, and others who have made useful re- | 
searches‘on the subject. The facts throughout appear to be — 
stated with great impartiality, and the remarks and experiments. — 
of the author evince a very perfect acquaintance with his sub-.— 
ject, and habits of research and inquiry which cannot fail to — 
render an essential service to the cause in which they are em- — 
ployed. We are pleased to observe that no attempt is made to, 
add to the various hypotheses that have been advanced to ac- | 
eount for the phenomena of. Voltaic electricity: the experiments 
and observations of the author appear rather to support the 
opinions of Volta; yet no hypothesis is insisted on, but the 
deficiences of the principal ones that have heen proposed are. | 
noticed very freely, and with a spirit highly characteristic of the 
independent feelings of the writer. 

The ingenious analysis of the Voltaic apparatus by our valu- 
able correspondent, M. De Luc, is noticed with considerable ap- | 
probation by Mr. Singer, who has extended the experiments of — 
that venerable Paalasaphier, and confirmed the accuracy of his | 

results, p 


140 Notices respecting- New Books. is : 


Me tie 
. . 


Notices respecting New Books. l4i 


“ yesults. He considers them 6f the greatest importance, as de- 
fining most accurately the really efficient parts of the Voltaic 
_ apparatus, and providing a source of perpetual electrical action, 
which may hereafter prove very highly useful. 
Supplement to the Fourth and Fifth Editions of the Encyclo- 
pedia Britannica, Volume I. Part I. with a Preliminary Dis- 
sertation, ‘‘ exhibiting a general View of the Progress of meta- 
physical, ethical, and political Philosophy since the Revival 
» of Letters in Europe. By Dugald Stewart, Esq. F.R.SS. 
~ Lond. & Edin., &c. &c.” Edinburgh : Constable and Co. 
_ We notice the above most valuable publication, chiefly with a 
View to call the attention of our readers to the very learned and 
‘copious dissertation on the progress of human knowledge, which 
Professor Dugald Stewart has prefixed. : 
- To follow this elegant writer and profound scholar seriatim, 
through his enumeration of those who have contributed to the 
‘advancement of science and philosophy since the revival of let- 
ters would far exceed the limits which we have prescribed to 
ourselves in this department of our work ; but we have been so 
smitten with the eloquent and comprehensive review which Mr. 
Stewart has given of the philosophical life and writings of the 
great Bacon, that we presume to think that our readers will 
consider some extracts from that part of the preliminary disser- 
tation as affording an intellectual treat of rare occurrence. 
«The state of science,” the author philosophically observes, 
_ towards the close of the sixteenth century presented-a field 
_ of observation singularly calculated to attract the curiosity and 
_ to awaken the genius of Bacon ; nor was it the least of Lis per- 
sonal advantages, that, as the son of one of Queen Elizabeth’s 
ministers, he had a ready access, wherever he went, to the most 
enlightened society in Europe. While yet only in the seven- 
teenth year of his age, he ‘was removed by his father from Cam- 
ridge to Paris, where it is not to be doubted that the novelty 
of the literary scene must have largely contributed to cherish 
the natural liberality and independence of his mind. Sir Joshua 
Reynolds has remarked, in one of his academical discourses, that 
“every seminary of learning is surrounded with an atmosphere 
of floating knowledge, where every mind may imbibe somewhat 
congenial to its own original conceptions.’ He might have 
dided, with still greater truth, that it is an atmosphere, of which 
it is more peculiarly salutary for those who have been elsewhere 
reared to breathe the air, The remark is applicable to higher 
pursuits than were in the contemplation of this philosophical 
artist ; and it suggests a hint of no inconsiderable value for the 
education of youth, . 


4. The 


142 ' Notices respecting, New Books. d 


«‘The merits of Bacon, as the father of experimental pht-— 
losophy, are so universally acknowledged, that it would be su- 
perfluous to touch upon them here. The lights which he has 
struck out in various branches of the philosophy of mind, have 
been much less attended to; although the whole scope and te- 
nor of his speculations show, that to ¢his study his genius was 
far more strongly and happily turned, than to that of the ma- 
terial world. It was not, 4s some seem to have imagined, by 
sagacious anticipations of particular discoveries afterwards to be 
made in physics, that his writings have had so powerful an in-, | 
fIuence in accelerating the advancemeut of that science. In the * 
extent and accuracy of his physical knowledge, he was far in- 
ferior to many of his predecessors; but he surpassed them all 
in his knowledge of the laws, the resources, and the limits of 
the human understanding. The sanguine expectations with — 
which he looked forward to the future, were founded solely on 
his confidence in the untried capacities of the mind; and on a — 
conviction of the possibility of invigorating and guiding, by means _ 
of logical rules, those faculties which, in all our reséarches after 
truth, are the organs or instruments tobe employed. ‘Such — 
rules,’ as he himself has observed, ‘do in some sort equal — 
men’s wits, and leave no great advantage or pre-eminence to the 
perfect and excellent motions of the spirit. To draw a straight 
fine, or to describe a circle, by aim of hand only, there must be 
a great difference between an unsteady and unpraetised hand, ~ 
and a steady and practised; but to do it by rule or compass it 
is much alike.’ 

¢ Nor is it merely as a logician that Bacon is entitled to no- 
tice on the present oceasion. It would be difficult to name an- 
other writer prior to Locke, whose works are enriched with so 
many just observations on the intellectual phenomena. Among — 
these, the most valuable relate to the laws of memory, and of | 
imagination ; the latter‘ of which subjects he seems to have ~ 
studied with peculiar care. In one short but beantifal paragraph 
concerning poetry (under which title may be comprehended all 
the various creations of this faculty) he has exhausted every 
thing that philosophy and good sense have yet had to offer, on 
what has been since called the Beau Ideal; a topic, which has 
fiirnished occasion to so many over-refinements among the French 
critics, and to so much extravagance and mysticism in the clau@-_ 
capt metaphysics of the new German school, In considering 
imagination as connected with the nervous system, more parti- 
cularly as connected with that species of sympathy to which me-— 
dical writers have given the name of imitation, he has suggested - 
some very important hints, which none of his successors have 
hitherto prosecuted ; and has, at the same time, left an example 


of 


4 


~ 


: 3 Netices respecting New Books. 143 


of cautious inquiry, worthy to be studied by all who may attempt 
" to investigate the laws regulating the union between mind and 
bedy. His illustration of the different classes of prejudices 
ineident to human nature, is, in point of practical utility. at least 
equal to any thing on that head to be found in Locke; of whom 
it is impossible to forbear remarking, as a circumstance not 
easily explicable, that he should have resumed this important 
_ discussion, without once mentioning the naine of his great pre- 
- decessor. The chief improvement made by Locke, in the 
further prosecution of the argument, is the application of Hobbes’s 
theory of association, to explain in what manner these prejudices 
are originally generated. 
“In Bacon’s scattered hints on topics connected with the 
~ philosophy of the mind, strictly so called, nothing is ‘more re- 
markable than the precise and just ideas they display of the pro- 
per aim of this science. He had manifestly reflected much and 
successfully on the operations of his own understanding, and had 
- studied with uncommon sagacity the intellectual characters of 
¢ others. Of his reflections and observations on both subjects, he 
___~ has recorded many important results; and has in general stated 
them without the slightest reference to any physiological theory 
concerning their causes, or to any analogical explanations founded 
on the caprices of metaphorical language. If, on some occasions; 
he assumes the existence of animal spirits, as the mediun of 
communication between soul and body, it must be remembered, 
that this was then the universal belief of the learned; and that 
it was at a much later period not less confidently avowed by 
Locke. Nor onght it to be overlooked (1 mention it to the cre-- 
dit of both authors), that in such instances the fact is commonly 
so stated, as to render it easy for the reader to detach it from 
the theory. As to the scholastic questions concerning the na- 
ture and essence of mind,—whether it be extended or unex- 
_ tended? whether it have any relation to space or to time? or 
whether (as was contended by others) it exist in every ul2, but 
“in 20 place ?—Bacon has uniformly passed them over with silent 
contempt; and has probably contributed not less effectually to 
_ bring them into general discredit, by this indirect intimation of 
his own opinion, than if he had descended to the ungrateful 
task of exposing their absurdity. 
“ While Bacon, however, so cautiously avoids these unpro- 
- fitable discussions about the nature of mind, he decidedly states 
his conviction, that the faculties of man differ not merely in de- 
Bree, but in kind, from the instincts of the brutes. ‘I do not, 
therefore,’ he observes on one occasion, ‘ approve of that con- 
fused and promiscuous method in which philosophers are accus- 
‘tomed to treat of pneumatology; as if the human soul salen 
above 


= 


144 Notices respecting New Books. 


above those of brutes, merely like the sun above the stars, or 
like gold above other metals.’ 

‘¢ Among the various topics started by Bacon for the consi- 
.deration of future logicians, he did not overlook (what may be 
justly regarded, in a practical view, as the most interesting of 
all logical problems) the question concerning the mutual influ- 
ence of thought and of language on each other. ‘ Men believe, 
says he, ‘ that their reason governs their words ; but it often 
happens that words have power enough to re-act upon reason.” 


This aphorism may be considered as the text of by far the most 


valuable part of Locke’s Essay,—¢hat which relates to the 
imperfections and abuse of words ; but it was not till. within the 
last twenty years that its depth and importance were perceived 
m all their extent. I need scarcely say, that I allude to the 
excellent Memoirs of M. Prevost and of M. Degerando, “On 
Signs considered in their Connexion with the Intellectual Ope- 
rations.’ The anticipations formed by Bacon, of that branch of 
modern logic which relates to wnzversal grammar, do no less 
honour to his sagacity. ‘Grammar,’ he observes, ‘ is of two 
kinds, the one literary, the other philosophical. The former has 
for its object to trace the analogies running through the structure 
of a particular tongue, so as to facilitate its acquisition to a 
foreigner, or to enable him to speak it with correctness and 
purity. The latter directs the attention, not to the analogies 
which words bear to words, but to the analogies which words 
bear to things ;’ or, as he afterwards explains himself more 
clearly, ‘ to langua ge consider ed as the sensible portraiture or 
image of the mental: processes,’ In further illustration of these 
hints, he takes notice of the lights which the different genius of 
different languages refiects on the characters and habits of these 
by whom they were respectively spoken. ‘Thus,’ says he, ° it 
is easy to perceive that the Greeks were addicted to the culture 
of the arts, the Romans engrossed with the conduct of affairs ; 
inasmuch as the technical ‘distinctions introduced in the pro- 
gress of refinement require the aid of compounded words; while 
the real business of life stands in no need of so artificial a phraseo- 
logy.’ Ideas of this sort have, in the course of a very few 
years, already become common, and almost tritical; but how 
different was the case two centuries ago! ! 

“‘ With these sound and enlarged views concerning the philo- 
sophy of the mind, it will not appear surprising to those who 
have attended to the slow and irregular advances of human rea- 
son, that Baeon should occasionally blend incidental remarks, 
savouring of the habits of thinking prevalent in his time. A 
curious example of this occurs in the same chapter whieh con- 


tains his excellent definition or description of universal grammar. 
-* © This 


, 


Notices respecting New Books. 145 


© This too,’ he observes, ‘ is worthy of notice, that the ancient 


‘languages were full of declensions, of cases, of conjugations, of 


tenses, and of other similar inflections; while the modern, al- 
most entirely destitute of these, indolently accomplish the same 
purpose by the help of prepositions, and of auxiliary verbs. 
€ Whence,’ he continues, ‘ may be inferred (however we may 
flatter ourselves with the idea of our own superiority), that the 
human intellect was much more acute and-subtile in ancient 
than it now is in modern times.’ How very unlike is this last 
reflection to the usual strain of Bacon’s writings! It seems, in- 
deed, much more congenial to the philosophy of Mr. Harris and 
of Lord Monboddo; and it has accordingly been sanctioned 
with the approbation of both these learned authors. If my 
memory does not deceive me, it is the only passage in Bacon’s 
works, which Lord Monboddo has anywhere condescended to 
quote. 

_ © These observations afford me a convenient opportunity for 
remarking the progress and diffusion of the philosophical spirit, 
since the beginning of the seventeenth century. In the short 
passagt just cited from Bacon; there are involved no less than 
two capital errors, which are now almost universally ranked, by 
men of education, among the grossest prejudices of the multi- 
tude. The one, that the declensions and conjugations of the 
ancient languages, and the modern substitution in their place 
of prepositious and auxiliary verbs, are, both of them, the deli- 
berate and systematical contrivances of speculative grammarians ; 
the other (still less analogous to Bacon’s general style of rea- 
soning), that the faculties of man have declined as the world 
has grown older. Both of these errors may he now said to have 
disappeared entirely. The latter, more particularly, must, to 
the rising generation, seem so absurd, that it almost requires an 
apology to have mentioned it. That the capacities of the hu- 
man mind have been in all ages the same 5 and that the diversity 
of phenomena exhibited by our species is the result merely of 
the different circumstances in-which men are. placed, has been 
long received as an incontrovertible logical maxim; or rather, 
such is the influence of early instruction, that we are apt to re- 


_ gard it as one of the most obvious suggestions of common sense. 


And yet, till about the time of Montesquieu, it was by no means 


_so generally recognised by the learned, as to have a sensible in- 


fluence on the fashionable tone of thinking over Europe. The 
application of this fundamental and leading idea to the natural 
or theoretical history of society in all its various aspects ;—to 
the history of languages, of the arts, of the sciences, of laws, of 
government, of manners, and of religion,—is the peculiar glory 
ef the latter half of the eighteenth century; and forms a cha- 

Vol, 47. No. 214, Fel. 1816. i racteristical 


146 Notices respecting New Books. 


racteristical feature in its philosophy, which even the imagia- 
tion of Bacon was unable to foresce. 

* It would be endless to particularize the origina} suggestions 
thrown out by Bacon on topics connected with the science of 
mind. The few passages of this sort already quoted, are pro- 
duced merely as a specimen of the rest. They are by no means 
selected as the most important in his writings; but, as they 
happened to be those which had left the strongest impression on 
my memory, L thought them as likely as any other, to invite 
the curiosity of my readers to a careful examination of the rich 
mine from which they are extracted. 

“ The ethical disquisitions of Bacon are almost entirely of 2 
practical nature. Of the two theoretical questions so much 
agitated, in both parts of this island, during the eighteenth cen- 
tury, concerning the principle and the olject of moral approba- 
tion, he has said nothing; but he has opened some new and in- 
teresting views with respect to the influence of custom and the for- 
mation of falits;—a most important article of moral philoso- 
phy, om which he has enlarged more ably and more usefully than 
any writer since Aristotle. Under the same head of Ethics may 
be mentioned the small volume to which ke has given the title 
ef Essays; the best kuown and the most popular of all his works. 
It is also one of those where the superiority of his genius appears 
to the greatest advantage ; the novelty and depth of his re- 
flections often receiving a strong relief from the triteness of his 
subject. It may be read from beginning to end in a few hours, 
—and yet, after the twentieth perusal, one seldom fails to re- 
mark in it something overlocked before. This, indeed, is a 


characteristic of all Bacon’s writings, and is only to be accounted. 


for by the inexhaustible aliment they furnish to our own thoughts, 
and the sympathetic activity they impart to our torpid faculties. 


“The suggestions of Bacon for the improvement of political 


philosophy, exhibit as strong a contrast to the narrow systems 


of contemporary statesmen, as the induetive logic to that of the. 


schools. How profound and comprehensive are ‘the views opened 
in the following passages, when compared with the scope of the 


celebrated treatise De Jure Belli ef Pacis! a work whieh was- 


first published about a year before Bacon’s death, and which 
continued, for a hundred and fifty years afterwards, to be regarded 
in all the protestant universities of Europe as an inexhaustible 
treasure of moral and jurisprudential wisdom ! 

‘© «The ultimate object which legislators ought to have in 
view, and to which all their enactments and sanctions ought to 
be subservient, is, that the ctiizens may live happily. For this 
purpose, it is necessary that they should receive a religious and 
pious education; that they should be trained to good morals; 

that 


ee 


ona sab 


ies 


“§ 
; 
"] ’ 


Notices respecting New Books. 147 


that they should be secured from foreign enernies by proper mi- 
litary arrangements ; that they should te guarded by an effectual 
police against seditions and private Injuries 5 that they should be 
loyal to government, and obedient to magistrates ; and finally, 
that they should elipvaiia in wealth, and in oihidr national re-. 
sources.’—* The science of such matters certainly belongs more 
particularly to the province of men who, by habits of public 
business, have been led to take a comprehensive survey of the 
social or dens ; of the interests of the community at large; of the 
rules of sled equity; of the manners of nations; of the dif- 
ferent forms of government ; and who are thus prepared to rea- 
son conceruing the wisdom ok laws, both from considerations of 
justice and of policy. The great desideratum, accordingly, is, 
by investigating the principles of malural justice, and those of 
political expediency, to exhibit a theoretical model of legisla- _ 
tion, which, while it serves as a standard for estimating the 
comparative excellence of municipal codes, may suggest hints 
for their correction and improvement, to such as have at heart 
the welfare of mankind.’ 

* How precise the notion was that Bacon had foied of a 
philosophical system of jurisprudence (with which as a standard 
the municipal laws of different nations might be compared), ap- 
pears from a remarkable expression, in which he mentions it-as 
the proper business of those who might attempt to carry his 
plan into execution, to investigate those ‘ /eges legum, ex qui- 
bus informatio peti possit, quid in singulis legibus bene aut per- 
peram positum aut constitutum sit.” 1 do not know if, in Ba- 
con’s prophetic anticipations of the future progress of physics, 
there be anything more characteristical, both of the grandeur 
and of the justness of his conceptions, than this short definition ; 
more particularly, when we consider how widely Grotius, in a 
work professedly devoted to this very inquiry, was soon after to 

_ wander from the right path, in consequence of his vague and 
wavering idea of the: aim of his researches. 

*¢ The sagacity, however, displayed in these, and various other 
passages of a similar import, can by no means’be duly appre- 
ciated, without attending, at the same time, to the cautious and 
temperate maxims so frequently inculcated by the author on the 
subject of political innovation. ‘ A stubborn retention of cus- 
toms is a turbulent thing, not less than the introduction of new.’ 

—‘ Time is the greatest innovator; shall we then not imitate 
time, which innovates so silently as to mock the sense ?’ Nearly 

_connected with these aphorisms, are the profound reflections in 
the first book De Augmentis Scientiarum, on the necessity of 
accommodating every new institution to the character and cir- 
cuinstances of the people for whom it is intended; and on the 
K 2 peculiar 


148 Notices respecting New Books. 


peculiar danger which literary men run of overlooking this ¢on- 
Sideration, from the familiar acquaintance they acquire, in the 
eourse of their early studies, with the ideas aud sentiments of 
the ancient classics. : 

«* The remark of Bacon on the systematical policy of Henry 
Vil. was manifestly suggested by the same train of thinking. 

© His laws (whoso marks them well) were deep and not vulgar 3 
not made on the spur of a particular occasion for the present, 
but out of providence for the future ; 3 to make the estate of his 
people still more and more happy, after the manner of the legis- 
lators in ancient and heroic times.’ How far this noble eulogy 
was merited, either by the legislators of antiquity, or by the 
modern prince on whom Bacon has bestowed it, is a question of 
little moment. I quote it merely on account of the important 
philosophical distinction which it indirectly marks, between 
€ deep and vulgar laws ;’ the former invariably aiming to accom 
plish their end, not by giving any sudden shock to the fdbaoe 
and interests of the existing generation, but by allowing to na- 
tural causes time and opportunity to operate; and by removing 
thase artificial obstacles which:eheck the progressive tendencies 
of society. It is probable that, on this occasion, Bacon had an 
eye more particularly to the memorable s/atute of alienation ; 
to the effects of which (whatever were the motives of its author) 
the above description certainly applies in an eminent degree, 

_. §* After all, however, it must be acknowledged, that it is rather 
“in his general views and maxims, than in the details of his po-. 
litical theories, that Bacon’s sagacity appears to advantage. His 
notions with respect to commercial policy seem to have been 
more peculiarly erroneous; originating in an overweening opi- 
nion of the efficacy of law, in matters where natural causes ought 
to be allowed a free operation. It is observed by Mr. Hume, 
that: the statutes of Henry VII. relating to the police of his 
kingdom, are generally contrived with more judgement than his 
commercial regulations. The same writer adds, that ‘the more 
simple ideas of order and equity are sufficient to guide a legis- 
lator in everything that regards the internal administration of 
justice; but that the principles of commerce are much mure 
complicated, and require long experience and deep reflection to 
be well understood in any state. The real consequence is there 
often contrary to first appearances. No wonder that during 
the reign of Henry VII. these matters were frequently mistaken ; 
and it may safely be affirmed, that even in the age of Lord Ba- 
con very imperfect and erroneous ideas were formed on that 
subject.’ 

«© The instances mentioned by Hume in confirmation of these 
general remarks, are peculiarly gratifying to those who have a 
pleasure 


a 


ae 


Notices respecting New Books. 149 


pleasure in tracing the slow but certain progress of reason ard 
liberality. ‘ During the reign,’ says he, ‘ of Heary VIL. it was 
prohibited to export horses, as if that exportation did not en- 
eourage the breed, and make them more plentiful in the king- 
dom. Prices were also affixed to woollen cloths, to caps and 
hats, and the wages of labourers were regulated by law. It is 
evident that these matters ought always to be left free, and be 
intrusted to the common course of lusimess and ecommerce.’ — 
‘ For a like reason,’ the historian continues, ‘the law enacted 
against inclosures, and for the keeping up of farm-houses, 
scarcely deserves the praises bestowed on it by Lord Bacon. If 
husbandmen understand agriculture, and have a ready vent for 
their commodities, we need not dread a diminution of the people 
employed in the country. During a century and a hall after 
this period, there was a frequent renewal of laws and edicts 
against depopulation; whence we may infer, that none of them 
were ever execuied. The natural course of improvement at last 
provided a remedy. 

«« These acute and decisive strictures on the impolicy of some 
laws highly applauded by Bacon, while they strongly illustrate 
the narrow and mistaken views in political economy entertained 
by the wisest statesmen and philosophers two centuries ago, afford 
at the same time a proof of the general diffusion which has since 
taken place among the people of Great Britain, of juster and 
more enlightened opinions on this important branch of legisla- 
tion. Wherever such doctrines find their way into the page of. 
history, it may be safely inferred that the public mind is not ine 
disposed to give them a welcome reception. 

«The ideas of Bacon converning the education of youth, 
were such as might be expected fromi a philosophical statesman, 
On the conduct of education in general, with a view to the de- 
velopment and improvement of the intellectual character, he has. 
suggested various usetul hints in different parts of his works ; but 
what I wish chiefly to remark at present is, the paramount im- 
portance which he has attached to the education of the people, 
—comparing (as he has repeatedly done) the effects of early cul- 
ture on the understanding and the heart, to the abundant har- 
vest which rewards the diligent husbandman for the toils of the 
spring. ‘To this analogy he seems to have been particularly 
anxious to attract the attention of his readers, by bestowing on 
education the title of the Georgics of the mind ; identifying, by 
a happy and impressive metaphor, the two proudest functions 
intrusted to the legislator,—the encouragement of agricultural 
industry, and the care of national instruction. In both instances, 
the legislator exerts a power which is literally productive or 
a@eative; compelling, in the one case, the unprofitable desert 

K3 to 


150 _ Royal Soeiety. 


to pour fourth its latent riches; and in the other, vivifying the 
dormant seeds of genius and virtue, aud redeeming from the 
neglected wastes of human intellect, a new and unexpected ac- 
cession to the common inheritance of mankind, 

*¢ When from such speculations as these we descend to the 
treatise De Jure Belli ef Pacis, the coutrast is mortifying in- 
deed. And yet, so much: better suited were the talents and ac- 
complishments of Grotius to the taste not only of his contem- 
poraries but of their remote descendants, that, while the merits 
of Bacon failed, for a ceritury and a half, to command the ge- 
neral admiration of Europe, Grotius continued, even in our Bri- 
tish universities, the acknowledged oracle of jurisprudence and of 
ethics, till long after the death of Montesquieu. Nor was Bacon 
himself unapprized of the slow growth of his posthumous fame. 
No writer seems ever to have felt more deeply, that he properly 
belonged to a later and more enl.ghtened age ;—a sentiment 
which he has pathetically expressed in that clause of his testa- 
ment, where he ‘‘ bequeaths his name to posterity, after some 
generations shall be past.” 

Mr. Accum has in the press a third edition of his Practical 
Treatise on Gas Light. Exhibiting a summary description of 
the apparatus and machinery best calculated for illuminating 
streets, houses, and manufacteries, with coal-gas, With re- 
marks on the utility, safety, and general nature of this new 
branch of civil economy, The work will be published the Ist 
of March, Lhd Wane 

In the press, A new Work entitled “ The Elements and 
Genius of the French Language, being a natural and rational 
method of teaching a language with sciences deduced from the 
analysis of the human mind,” 

‘© Memoirs of the Ionian Isles, and of their Relations with 
Furopean Turkey; translated from the original Manuscript of 
M. de Vaudoncourt, late General in the Italian service: with a 
very accurate and comprehensive Map.” ‘ 


XXXII], Proceedings of Learned Societies. 
ROYAL SOCIETY. 


Feb. 1. and 8. Ox these evenings the conclusion of Dr. Wilson 
Phillip’s experiments to ascertain the relation between the san~ 
guiferous and nervous systems, and the ganglia, was read. This 


paper, 


Royal Society. a’ Tot 


paper, which is the third and concluding one on this curious sub- 
ject, entered into a very wide field of physiological research, and 
embraced many siugular. conclusions and general inferences, 
which cannot be adequately detailed in this abstract. The author 
states, that the sanguiferous system can exist independent of the 
nerves; but the latter can stimulate the former, or retard and 
even totally obstruct it. He next tock an extensive view of se- 
cretion, as connected with these systems, the ganglia and spinal 
marrow. Animal heat he considers a secretion. When the fluids 
secreted by the giands are accumulated, secretion is not there- 
fore suspended ; on the contrary, its continuance is necessary to 
the healthy state of the glands and the other vital functions. 
Secretion and galvanism he thinks produce similar effects. - In 
conclusion the author observed, that m all his experiments he- 
had, wherever it was practicable without injury to the result, de- 
stroyed the sensibility of the animal previous to the commence 
ment of his operations, and had also avoided all unecessary Te- 
petition of cruel experiments, or ally useless waste of animal life. 
He proceeded to lay down some general and very judicious rules 
to avoid cruelty in making such experiments, and reflected on 
the conduct of some French physiologists in this respect. The 
object, he observed, of such operations is the ultimate advantage 
of society : if that be obtainable, it was weakness, and not ha- 
amanity, to reject or decline them; if not, it would be wanton 
cruelty. 

A letter from Dr. Brewster to the right lionourable President 
was read, relating some new experiments on the double refractive 
powers of fluate of lime and muriate of soda. Haity had justly 
observed, that all crystals have regular cubes, or tetrahedrons ; 
for their integral molecules are devoid of the property of double re- 
fracting crystals. Malus and Biot confirmed this observation ; but 
Dr. B. has discovered, that under peculiar cireurnstauces fluate of 
jime and muriate of soda have a double refractive power, and 
polarize light. He found that a mass of fluate of lime, having 
2 cube in the centre, but surrounded with different facets, pola- 
rized light ; but that the light passed through the cubie crystal 
without any change. Muriate of soda, some erystals of which 
rneasured three inches, gave very fine colours ; blue with comple- 
went of red, red with complement of yellow, &c. This discovery 
not only contributes to confirm the accuracy of crystallography, 
but will also facilitate its progress, as it must tempt many person’ 
to direct their attention to a branch of science so fertile, and so 
curious in its phenomena, ' 

Feb. 15. Two mathematical papers were laid before the So- 
ciety by professor Robertson, F.R.S. but they were of a nature 
not proper for general reading. 

, K Mr, 


132. Royal Society.—Kirwanian Society of Dublin. 


Mr. Todd, a surgeon in the Royal Navy, presented an account 
of his observations made on the torpedo at the Cape of Good 
Hope. The peculiar organs of this animal have been described 
by the late Mr. Hunter. Mr, T. found that when the electric 
organs are often excited they lose their power, and the animal 
dies much sooner. Its first strokes are always the most violent, 
and grow gradually more and more feeble until quite exhausted, 
and then the animal dies. The author cut open the little tubes 
or electric organs in-the breast ; and by this process the animal 
lost its electric powers, but continued to live longer than those 
whose electricity was entirely exhansted. The torpedos subjected 
to these experiments were smaller than those found in the north- 
ern seas, being only from five to eight inches long, and frem 
three to five broad. They were caught by the sailors when 
fishing in the usual manner while the Lion lay at anchor off the 
Cape. Some of the torpedos manifested a kind of reluctance 
to give shocks; others parted with them very freely : hence the 
author is inclined to believe that it requires a considerable effort 
in the animal to give shecks, and one which shortens its life. 
The torpedes were kept in casks of salt-water, in which they 
lived from two to five days. 

Feb, 21. A short paper by Sir Everard Home was read, con- 
taining some observations on the structure of the feet of some 
lacerte, particularly the gecko. Sir Joseph Banks, who suffered 
nothing to escape his observation, noticed, while in Batavia, 
that the gecko is a very familiar inmate of the houses ; and that 
it could run along their smooth cielings, having its back down- 
wards, with the greatest case, contrary to the laws. of gravity. 
He mentioned this circumstance to Sir Everard, and also sup- 
plied him with a large one weighing three ounces, in order that 
he might examine the structure of its feet. The result of lis 
inquiry is, that the feet of the gecko have some resemblance to 
the actinza of those fish which adhere to the sides of ships; that 
they, at every step, form a partial vaccuum below them, which 
thus enables them to run with their back downwards. 

This evening their imperial highnesses the archdukes John 
and Lewis of Austria, brothers of the emperor of Austria, having 
heen elected at a previous meeting, were regularly introduced as 
fellows of the Royal Society of London for improving natural 
knowledge. 


KIRWANIAN SOCIETY OF DUBLIN. 


Dee. 15.1815. A paper “On some liquid Combinations of 
oxymuriatic Acid, and their Application to the discharging of 
Turkey Red in Calico Printing,” was read by D. Wilson, esq. 

Feb. 


a 


Planisphere of Dendera. 153 


Feb. 7, 1816. A paper “ On a new Process for obtaining pure 
Silver, with Observations on the Defects of the Processes hitherto 
employed,” was read by M. Donovan, Esq. Secretary. 

We forbear giving any further account of this paper for the 
present, as we shall probably be enabled to give it in full in the 
next month. 

Feb. 21. A ballot having taken place, the following gentle- 
men were elected officers for the current year : 

President, 
Right Hon. George Knox, M.R.J. A. 
Vice Presidents. 
J. Ogilby, M.D. | R. Blake, M.D. M.R.1.A. 
Secretary and Treasurer. 


M. Donovan, Esq. 


Council. 
&. Witter, Esq. A.Carmichael, Esq. M.R.I.A, 
D. Wilson, Esa. J. Tardy, Esq. 


J. Patten, Esq. 


XXXIV. Intelligence and Miscelianeous Articles. 
THE PLANISPHERE OF DENDERA. 


Ix our xivth volume we inserted a copy of the zodiac found in the 
portico of this temple, accompanied with a dissertation thereen 
by the now deceased Dr. Henley. The object of the author was, 
in opposition to the French sceptics, who affected to draw from 
the structure of this curious astronomical monument an inference 
that it was at least 17000 years old, to show from evidence fur- 
_nished by the zodiac itself, that it was not constructed earlier 
than the reign of Augustus. It would appear that the reasoning: 
of Dr. Henley has been considered as conclusive by the learned, 
for we have seen no attempt made to controvert it. a 
Our astronomical readers will be gratified by receiving in the 
present number a plate representing a planisphere found in one 
of the apartments of the same temple, most exquisitely engraved 
by Cardon *, 
Our readers will naturally turn to our xivth volume to examine 
whether 
* For the use of this valuable engraving we are indebted to a circum- 
_ Stance which ought not to be concealed. Examining one day at Mr. 'Vay- 
lor’s the numbers already published of the work entitled “ Eayrr,” (noticed 
in-our last,) the sight of this planisphere brought on some conversation re- 
_ lative to the progress which the Eyyptians must have made in astronomy, 
The 


154 Van Mons. 


whether any or what coincidence there may be between this pla- 
nisphere and the zodiac referred to. We shall be happy to re- 
ceive from any of our correspondents whatever rational conjec- 
tures may occur to them respecting the planisphere. To us it 
appears that it has reference to a period at which Taurus, Leo, 
Scorpio, and Aquarius, were the cardinal! signs; for these signs 
are made to coincide respectively with tue four corners of the 
apartment: but this settles nothing as to the time at which it 
was setup. We shall only throw out the suggestion (which 
may yet be very foolish), whether something relative to the pre- 
cession of the equinoxes is not indicated by the overlapping, as 
it were, of some of the signs? We are aware that the duplicates 
ef Taurus and of Leo have been considered as extra-zcdiacal 
asterisms ; but may they not be intended to mark a difference 
between the moveable and fixed zodiacs?>—between the ideal 
zodiac, which astronomers. always make to commence with the 
veruai equinox, still calling the first 30° ries, and the stellar 
constellation originally so called? If so, Taurus seems to be 
inarked as the vernal] equinox at a period much more ancient 
than the date of the erection of the temple of Dendera; and if 
so, by the motion of Taurus in the moveable zodiac, when the 
equinox had changed a whole sign the moveable Gemini would 
come to the place of the stationary Taurus, aud so of the other 
signs, making Aries to become the vernal sign: and by a second 
change of a whole sign the moveable Taurus would reach the 
stationary Pisces, bringing the moveable Liéra to the stationary 
Leo. Is this indicated i in the eee before us? If so, the 
vernal equinox at the time when this planisphere was put up 
appears to have been in the steliar Pisces, which it is now quitting. 
The precession of the equinoxes, as it is called, is at the rate of 
about 214 centuries for one sign. 
Letter from M. Van Mons, dated Brussels, Fel. 10. 

‘It is said that Berzelius has made some decisive experi- 
ments on chlorine, and on the quantity of oxygen which it con- 
tains. I think that after mine his proof was not necessary : 
and what in fact could we wish for stronger than sweet mercury, 
which in 100 of oxidule which it contains, gives four of oxygen 
and corrosive sublimate; which on the same quantity of oxide 


The zodiac of the portico, and the dissertation of Dr. Henley, of course 
were mentioned; and Mr. Taylor, remarking: that the plate of the plani- 
‘sphere was 20 well engraved, that it could bear printing off a sufficient 
wnmber for the Philosophical Magazine, as well as for the expensive work 
which he is now publishing, added that he should be pleased to see it in the 
work in which Dr. Tenley’s Dissertation had appeared, as it might then 
aicet the eyes of some who have already paid attention to the subject. 
gives 


Van Mons. - 155 


gives eight of oxygen; and which leave as their residues, the 
former a black powder composed of 14 of dry muriatic acid 
and of 82 of reduced mercury; and the latter a red powder 
composed of 20 of dry muriatic acid and 72 of reduced mer- 
eury ; and all powders of astonishing lightness, of dull instead 
of bright colours, which the oxygen regenerates into their primi- 
tive salts, and from which water takes up the dry acids, the mer- 
eury remaining reduced ? 

** Berzelius is of my way of thinking, as to the existence of 
oxygen in azote. I have subjoined a note on this subject. 1 was 
the frst to class azote among the combustibles, and the first also 
to class it among the onidated bodies. Wherefore all this noise 
about a new theory ?—is it not merely putting in a new form 
what others have invented ? 

‘© Prussie acid has been found in opium inGermany ; and from 
this discovery it has been concluded that the narcotic virtue of 
opium depends on thatacid. You will agree with me, that there 
is only astep between them. 

‘* | have found that we may extract the soluble parts of most 
organized substances, by treating their powder precisely like 
coffee. But if too much boiling water is poured in, nothing 
more of the substance is communicated to it. I made my first 
experiment of this kind on gall-nuts in powder, for making ink, 
and [ made it with perfect ease. The ink obtained was a true 
black, did not become thick, and did not deposit any of its ingre- 
dients; but we must use the sulphate oxidated, and not that 
which is oxidulated, and put in the gum and sugar-candy last of 
all. 

“ It is said that Gay-Lussac has published a work on the prussi¢ 
acid, and that he as found, like me, that this acid is azoto- 
carbonated hydrogen. I have said, in my translation of Bu- 
cholz and of Davy, that this acid is similar to the hydrothionic 
acid, or sulphureited hydrogen. The hydrogens proper to the 
two combustibles, and those which constitute them, azote 
in the state of ammonia, and sulphur in the state of hydro- 
genated sulphur, are taken up by the third hydrogen, and the 
dry acids are exposed. The hydrogens may by heat be taken 
from the double radical of the prussie acid, without the elements 
of this radical being separated; and I am ‘ted to think that they 
are united in the same manner as carbon is with sulphur in the 
alcohol of ampadius ; i.e. the combustible which is found in the 
highest ratio is substituted for the oxygen of the dry acid of the 
other combustible, this oxygen being proportioned to the water. 
In the combination the carbon or the azote is in a reduced state, 
and they are also subsaturated with the quantity of hydrogen 
which serves to compose their oxygen into water. This ex- 
re plains 


. 


156 Van Mons. 


plains the reason why the oxygen alone does not decompose the 
alcohol of Lampadius into acids of its two combustibles 5 and 
also shows why the water resolves them into sulphur, and into 
regenerated carbon. It ought to be the same with the radical 
ef the prussie acid. : 

<¢ It seems to result from some first experiments of Vauquelin 
en the hyperoxygenated muriatic acid, that the dry muriatic acid 
may be saturated with oxygen at least in three ratios. 

** The venerable Von Creil, loaded with scientific honours, and 
full of years, has still had courage and strength of mind enough 
to translate Thenard’s Chemistry. 

“ It isa remarkable peculiarity, that the father of modern che- 
mists should translate into his own language the work of the 
youngest. He has enriched his translation with a great nuinber 
of notes. 

‘“¢ My journal cannot yet make its appearance. This country 
suffers so much, we are ail so miserable and so poor, that I can- 
not depend on many subscribers ; and the misery, the state of 
disquietude, and want of encouragement, are as general in France. 

<< Tam, &c. 3. B. Van Mons.” 


Note alluded to as subjoined to the above Letter by 
M. Van Mons. 


‘¢ M. Berzelius no longer considers azote as the radical ele- 


mentary combustible of the nitric acid. He thinks that this 
acid is composed of 88,29 parts of oxygen, and 11,72 parts of 
ap unknown radical, which he calls wzéria. 

“ As in 100 parts of nitric acid we find 26,425 of azote only, 
and 73,579 of oxygen, and as there ought to be 58,29 parts, the 
24,715 parts of oxygen wanting must be contained in the 26,425 
parts ef azote; and this azote ought consequently to be com- 
posed of 24,715 of oxygen, and 11,72 of the unknown radical 
which the author calls ni/ric. 

“* According to this, 100 parts of azote consist of 44,32 of ni- 
tria, and 55,68 of oxygen. The hydrogen acted in these experi- 
nients as an elementary body, or at least as a combustible exempt 
from oxygen. 

‘* lf we are to consider hydrogen as an elementary substance, 
and azote, on the contrary, as an oxide, then ammonia must 
necessarily have for its principles, nitria, hydrogen, and oxygen. 
We may always regard it as the oxide of a compound radical. 
We may figure to ourselves that it consists, according to given 
volumes, of one proportion of nitria and six proportions of hy- 
drogen :—ammonia, on the contrary, consists of one proportion 
of nitric, one proportion of oxygen, and six proportions of hy- 
drogen. 


oe Ber- : 


, 


Chemistry .— Antiquilies. 157 
* Rerzelius also thinks that the amalgam obtained from the 
reduction of ammonia contains a peculiar metal. This metal, 


che observes, cannot be a simple bedy, since the radical of the 


ammonia is cempound.” 


» M. Freysmuth has discovered columbium in Bohemia. He 
extracted it from a mineral which had been hitherto regarded as 
a native sulphuret of zinc, and also for nigrin, which it resem- 
bies. The author thinks that tantalium and columbium are 
very different metals, notwithstanding the resemblances which 
Wollaston found between them. M. Jacquin has in his posses- 
sion a piece of columbium extracted from this ore. 


M. Michellotti Has dissolved silyer in the simple muriatie acid 
at a boiling heat, and obtained a crystallizable salt soluble in 
water and in alcohol, and which is sublimated after the mayner 
of the muriates called the butyraceous muriates. This gentle- 
man thinks that it is a hydrochloride-oxide, the muriate less 
precipitated being an oxidule. The water is divided more or 
into a portion with excess of acid, and into a portion with ex- 
cess of oxide. 


MANUSCRIPTS OF HERCULANEUM, AND THE ANTIQUITIES OF 
POMPEIA. 

We copy from a German journal the following note, which 
contains some facts not perfectly known hitherto, though not of 
very recent date. 

_ ©QOn the 26th of November, 1513, a letter was read in the 
Royal Society of Copenhagen from Mr, Schubart, containing se- 


 veral literary notices from Italy. He relates among other things 


that about 300 of the Hereulanean manuscripts have been un- 
rolled. Among them are the following important works :— 
1. Philomedes (should this be Philodemus?) on the Influetce . 
of Music on the human Constitution. 
2. Epicurus upon Nature, two volumes. 
- Philomedes on Rhetoric, two parts. 
. Philomedeson the Affinity between the Virtues and the'V Viees.., 
. Philomedes on the Vices. 
. Philomedes on the Poets. 
. Philomedes’ Philosophical Fragments. 
- Democritus Geometricus’s Fragments. 
9. Philostratus on unreasonable Contempt. 
10, Carneseus upon Friendship. 
11, Cotothes upon Plato’s Dialogue of Isis. 
12. Philomedes on Religion. 
13, Chrysippus on Providence. 


Qa irey. 


_ The 


158 Printing - Machine.— Geology.— Intense Cold. 


** The excavations at Pompeia are prosecuted after a certain 
plan, so as to go round the whole town, which, when cleared 
from the ashes that cover it, will probably become one on the 
most remarkable monument of antiquity.’ 


An improved Printing-machine just completed by Mr. Kenig, 
the inventor of that which has been employed upwards of a 
twelvemonth in printing the Times and Evening Mail news- 
papers, was tried for the first time on Wednesday, Feb. 28th, at 
‘the manufactory, in the presence a on Imperial Highnesses 
the Archdukes JoHn and Lewis. r. Keenig has now made 
some very material improvements in: Wis invention, by which its 
advantages are greatly increased. 

To Mr. Tulloch. 

Sir,—By giving place in your next Magazine to the following, 
you will oblige many of your scientific frends, as well as a von- 
stant reader of your Magazine. 

© Lately died at Bristol Mr. Joseph Herbert, an honorary 
member of the Geological Society, whose assiduity and know- 
ledge in that science were univ ersally acknowledged. by those who 
have witnessed his efforts, and seen his beautiful cabinet of mi- 
nerals, fossils, shells, &c. the collection of twenty years, and 
which is to be disposed ef by application to Mr. Richard Vigor, 
No. 2, James’s Place, Kingsdown, near Bristol. 

** T remain, sir, your obedient servant, 
Bristol, Feb. 14. 1816. ““ RicHarRD Vicor.”’ 
To Mr. Tilloch. 

Ser,—The following particulars relative to the late intense 
cold may be worth recording in your Magazine. On the morn- 
ing of the 7th of Februar y the cold very much increased, and in 
the night was very severe; the thermometer being about fen 
degrees of Fahrenheit. On the 8th it scareely rose above that 
degree all day, and at midnight was 6°; at three o’clock im the 
morning of the 9th, 5°; and at sunrise, 4°. In other parts of 
the parish of Hackney it is said to have been two degrees lower, 
At Walthamstow, about three the same morning, it was 12°, 
The same night it was about 24° at Clapton. On the 10th it 
rose several degrees, and the ordinary cold of winter returned. 
Nothing remarkable either in the height or variation of the ba- 

rometer, or of any other meterevlogical instrument, occurred ; 
the sky was, during the cold, almost entirely free from clouds. 
an observations of oth correspondents will oblige Yours, &e. 
THOMAS FORSTER, 


LECTURE, 


: 


Lectures.—List of Patents for new Inventions. 159 


, LECTURE. 

Mr. Clarke will commence his next Course of Lectures on 
Midwifery and the Diseases‘of Women and Children, on Monday, 
March 18th. The Lectures are read every Morning from a 
Quarter past Ten to a Quarter past Eleven, for the convenience 
of Students attending the Hospitals. 

For Particulars apply to Mr. Clarke, at the Lecture-Room, 
10, Saville Row, Burlington Gardens. 


LIST OF PATENTS FOR NEW INVENTIONS. 

To Davis Redmund, of Johnson’s-Court, Fleet-Street, Lon- 
don, for his improved machine for the manufacture of ick and 
bungs.—9th Dec. 1815.—6 months, 

To John George Drake, of Chapman-Street, Pentonville, 
chemist, for a certain method of expelling the molasses of syrup 
out of refined sugars in a shorter period than is at present prac- 
tised with pipe-clay.— 3d Feb. 1816.—6 months. 

To John Millington, of Duke-Street, Manchester-Square, 
engineer, for certain machinery to be moved by wind, steam, 
manual lahour, or any of the processes now employed for moving 
machinery hy means of which boats, barges, and other floating 
vessels may be propelled or moved in the water.—lst Feb.—6 
months. 

To John Budgeon, of Dartford, in the county of Kent, paper- 
maker, for a process for reducing rags or articles composed of 
silk or cotton after they have been used, and bringing them into 
their original state, and rendering the material of which they 
are composed, fit to be manufactured, and again applied to he- 
neficial and useful purposes.—3d Feb.-2 months. 

‘ To John Thomas Dawes, of West Bromwich, in the county 
» of Stafford, ironmaster, for certain improvements in steam- 
"engines, somé of which improvements are applicable to other pur- 

_ poses.—6th Feb.—2 months. 

: To Joseph Barker, of Cottage Green, Camberwell, artist, for 
"certain means of continuing the motion of machinery. “6th Feb. 
—6 months. 

To William Milton, of Heckfield, Hants, clerk, for certain 
improvements upon the wheels and perches of carriages.—10th 
Feb.—6 months. 

To Henry De Sarul, of Lcicester-Strect, Leicester-Square, 
artificial florist, in consequence of a communication made to 
him by a certain foreigner residing abroad, for his improved cy- 
indrical gold and silver sweep and washing machine.—- 20th 
Feb.—6 months. % 

To William Baynham, of London Road, Surrey, chemist, for 
his composition of making leather and other articles water- 
_ proof,— 20th Feb.—6 mouths, MPTEORO- 


160 Meteorology. 
METEOROLOGICAL TABLE, 


By Mr. Cary, OF THE STRAND, 
For February 1816. 


Thermometer. Pasa 
= Ass 
wz Do igs Height of |= 25 
44h se s isa ibetHarom. re Weather. 
xz te T, + a qe 
Jan. 27] 39-| 42 | 33 | 29°65 6 |Cloudy 
28} 30 | 35 | 32 | 30°18 g |Fair 
29} 28 | /34 | 28 “36 0 |Foggy 
30} 26 |. 32 | 25 "40 10. «(| Fair 
31} 23 | 35.} 26 +20 12 |Fair 
Teb. 11 96 |. 30 | 27 | 29°80 10 | Fair 
2} 97 | 38 | 42 58 7 |Cloudy 
3! 42 | 47 | 43 *50 0 |Cloudy 
' 41 42 | 44 | 40 "48 oO {Rain ‘ai 
5} 42 | 42 | 40 °38 0 |Cloudy. 7 
6 40 | 40°} 32 | 28-95 0 \Rain 
7; 32 | 30 | 26 "09 Oo {Snow 
¢| go | 28 | t8 } 29°50 6 |Fair 
61 13 '}.25 | 18 58 oO. {Fair 
10) 12 | 29} 24 "62 QO |Fair : 
tl 26 | 36 }.926 ‘85 0 {Cloudy 
12] 94 | 32 | 95 | 30°30 10 ‘| Fair 
33} 24 | 36 | 29 "32 Q (Fair 
14} 29 | 37 | 32 *30 7 {Cloudy 
15} 36 | 42 | 40 “15 10 (| Fair 
16} 39 | 45 | 38 | 29°62 5 | Cloudy 
17| 34 | 39 | 34 86 6 |Far 
18| 27 | 34 | 40 | 30°09 0 {Cloudy 
19} 40 | 45 | 40 | 29°99 O |Cloudy 
90|40|47 | 40} -95 | 10 {Fair 
21| 40 | 46 | 40 | 30.03 15 {Fair 
9; 40 | 46 | 40 18 | 22 {Fair 
23) 45 2} 39 "25 04 «(|Fair 
94} 38 | 54 | 49 +10 2 Fair 
95| 46 | 55 | 45 -05 O |Showery 


N.B. The Barometer’s height is taken at one o’clocks 


re 


f. AGbaas 


XXXV. On a correct practical Method for cutting Spherical 
Brick Niches—On the Spiral Line—and On Spandrel Groins. 
By Mr. Ricuarpd Brown, of JVells-Street, Oxford-Road. 


I. On Spherical Brick Niches. 


F ROM my never having seen in any publication hitherto, a 
correct practical method for cutting spherical brick niches (a 
thing so essential) I was induced to send for insertion in your use- 
ful Magazine the accompanying plate. It contains an accurate 
drawing of the moulds and templets as used for gauging the 
bricks in the head of the niches recently executed in the north 
flank of Drury Lane Theatre: therefore these lines may safely be 
depended on when applied to all such future works. 
I am, sir, 
Yours respectfully, 
February 1816. RicHaRD Brown. 
— a 


On Spherical Niches, Plate lf. fig. A. 


First describe the curvature of the plan with the radii sé, suv, 
then mark the bricks on it, beginning at the front with a header 
as ¢,and then with astretcher as J, and so on alternately. The plan 

eing now laid down, next project the orthographical elevation gg 
from the plan, and from thence proceed with the divisions of the 
bricks round the head of the niche, observing that the joints must 
always be so arranged as to have a brick fall directly over the 
centre of the niche, as k: this is called the key of the arch. 
The bricks are next radiated to the centre of the niche,and the 
heading joints described concentric to each other, which com- 
pletes the construction of the niche. Next for the moulds :— 
First form the centring, as shown by the orthographical elevation 
ghg (which is sufficiently explicit without detail); then from 
qq bring down the lines to 47, and on-r with the radius rm again 
describe the plan of the niche on which are shown the ichnogra- 
phical appearance of the centring and some of the radiating lines 
of the brick-work. These lines, which are to be the guide in 
laying the bricks on the centring, are projected ichnographically 
on the centring, in the following manner: First, describe the 
arch m5, &c. equal to the rise of the niche head ; and for plainer 
inspection, suppose the arch to contain but five bricks round 
the head, which arch is here divided into five equal parts, as 
shown by the numerical figures: next divide half the plan into 
four equal parts or more (at discretion): these four divisions are 
then to be drawn parallel to rz, and from 1 234, lines are to 


Vol, 47. No. 215. March 1816, L be 


162 Practical Method for cutting Spherical Brick Niches. 


be drawn up to the line 5 m, and from thence described round 
to the radial lines 4, 3. If these lines are now brought dowi 
to intersect the par: Hel tines on the ichnography, the intersec- 
tions will then give the poiats th rough which the curves must 
pass, as seen described on the centring. These lines being now 
shown ichnographicaliy on the centring, it is next required to 
make a mould for drawing them mechanically on the centring, 
and for gauging the edge of the templet c,c,c,z: this is done 
most expeditiously (and sufficiently accurate for the workman) 
in the following manner: Take the four numerical divisions 
from the plan and set them on the line 1254 at fig. B; 
these lines then draw parallel to gg, and bring up from the 
plan of the centring the cerresponding lines ee, &c. and where 
ee intersect the parallel lines 1234 will be the extreme 
edge of the mould. The other edge of the mould is found 
by merely transierring the distances on the opposite side of 
the centre line. The rule f shows a mechanical method, as 
used by some workinen far striking the joints on the centring 5 
but as it is liable to variation, I shall merely explain it: A rule 
is first fixed at the centre 7, and in the direction of any joint 
divided round the arch; a string is then fixed at the back of 
the centring opposite 7, and the other end of the string brought 
to the upper edge of the rule, and from tiat slided “gradually 
down on the centring in the direction of the rule. The joint is 
then marked by the line with a pencil. 

I now proceed with the moulds and templets for gan- 
ging and rubbing the bricks by; dddd represents the ground 
(glued up like a piece of dade) towhich the inclined wedge-like 
mould cee is fixed. This mould requires to be very accurately 
made, as it becomes the regulating mould of all the bricks 
throughout the niche, and to which the bricks are fitted; aa 
shows the section of the hither end of the mould, which ends 
imperceptibly in a thin edge at 7, likewise inclining to p, where 
it will also fall to a point: the edge ccc also curving round 
agreeably to the mould wx shown above, and swelled by the 
mould, fig. B, being bent ronnd it. ‘The mould aa, observe, 
must be the exact thickness of one of the bricks taken from the 
elevation, as g, 0, for instance; but here the mould is shown as 
if the bricks were six times as large, This is to make it more 
evident. 

The mould*being now made and screwed on the grounds, 
next mark the divisions of the bricks round the edge of the 
mould ccc, likewise on the grounds, which divisions draw to- 
wards p by means of arule. This will now give the mould for 
the thickness, inclination and joint, of every required brick, and 


Lilli, 


On the Spiral Line. 163 


diili, taken from g,o0, 7,0, &c. every templet throughout the 
niche, the core excepted —The moulds z2x, fig. C, give the 
bevel, curvature, and convexity of the bricks in the core of the 
niche, which core is generally composed of about two bricks, 
(but sometimes of stone) and is always introduced on account 
of the bricks becoming so very thin at the back. Thus is the 
whole sufficiently and practically expiained. 


I]. On the Spiral Line. 


The construction of the screw round the cylinder (which is 
performed by a wedge bent round it), aad the evolution of the 
spiral line from the ccne, not being generally understoed among 
mechanics, I have been induced to lay before your readers the 
following simple illustrative diagrams. 

Fig, H represents an orthographical cylinder, and the semi- 
circle 1254 half its plan or circumference: this cylinder we will 
suppose is required to be cut into a screw. Todo this, the num- 
ber of revolutions or threads to be cut must first be determined: 
if there be four, five, or more worms, it will then require less 
power to turn the screw than if it were less vermiculated: here the 
screw has only two revolutions. ‘Io construct them, first draw the 
line a 8, at right angles to the cylinder, on which line set twice 
the circumference as shown by the figures 123 4,81234,&c. 
next erect the line 8, 9, perpendicular to the base line 8, “and 


_ place the height of the eylincer thereon: then from p produce a 


line to a; this will now represent the surface of the wedge, which 
wedge is ‘to be represented as furled round the cylinder in the 
following manner. First, draw the lines 1234, &c. perpen- 
dicularly up the surface of the cylinder, and on the wedge; next 
produce parallel lines fram the inclined points hh, and perpen- 
dicular to Sp, until they eross the evlinder: the points of in- 
tersection on’ the surface will then be the points through which 
the curve or thread must pass: this is the construction and a 
development of the screw. For, the spiral line, first form a cone, 
as at fig. L, of the same height and diameter at the base as the 
cylinder; then sct one leg of the compasses at the apex of the 
cone /, extending the other leg to r, and with the radius 2,7, 
describe the curve. 78; on this-curve set sixteen divisions, 
four heing eyual to the circumferehce of the base of the cone, 
and the sixteen equal to two revolutions round its base: next 
converge these lines towards ¢: this being done, take from the 
wedge of the cylinder the length of the lines 44, 4 A, &c. and set 
them on the lines 40, 41, &c. of the conic evolution: next 
L 2 set 


164 On Spandrel Groins. 


set the compasses on 7, and revolve the lines-bb, &c. to come 
in contact with the cone: these lines then draw parallel to the 
base of the cone; and where they intersect the inclined lines on 
the conic surface will be the undulating or serpentine line; the 
spiral one will now be seen to a demonstration by the diagram 
fig. OQ above, which diagram is formed by the revolutions 
round the respective points brought up from the cone below 
Figs. DEFG show the conic sections by a very simple method, 
which is new*, 72,7, for example, shows the cone. Now sup- 
pose the line ¢¢ to he the section-line for the hyperbola, (a 
section perpendicular to the base of the cone,) take the distance 
fu at the base, and set it to h,, on each side of the line A; 
next set the compasses on the cone at O, and revolve round the 
dotted lines ec; then take the measures ¢7 7, and set them on 
each side the line 2: these lines draw perpendicular to 64, and 
produce the parailel lines ¢p, &c. then at the intersections of 
these perpendicular lines with the horizontal ones will be points 
through which to describe the hyperbola. For the parabola 
(a section cut parallel to the side of the cone) take the distances 
123 at fig. D, and set them up the line 123 fig. F; these 
lines draw parallel to dd; then from the cone D take the 
measures ec,eéc, and set them on each side the line & at fig. F, 
which lines draw perpendicular to dd, and the intersections with 
the parallel lines will give the points through which to describe 
the parabola. 

For the ellipsis (a section cut obliquely through the cone), find 
the ceutre of the section-line marked 1,2, at fig. D, and from 
the apex of the cone draw a dotted lineto the base through 1; 
then with the centre 2 revolve round the dotted line tox. The 
dotted line a is also produced at right angles to the dotted line 
2, #2, proceeding from the apex of the cone; next draw the line 
1,2 at right angles to the section line 1, 2, and revolve the dotted 
line ia@ round to m; then will the line 1,2 be the minor, and 
the line 7,2 the major diameters of the ellipsis; to describe 
which, take the two diameters and place them at fig. G, then 
form the figure as there shown; this is plain to inspection. 


III. On Spandrel Groins. 


I have also sent for insertion in your next number, a draw- 
ing of the new and more effectual method of building groined 


* The sections of the Scalene Cunel have shown in my Treatise on the 
Practical Principles of Perspective, 
arches 


On Spandrel Groins. 165 


arches in brick-work, than the common one generally adopted 
(termed spandrel groins), with the centring and moulds laid 
down as used for executing the same. These kinds of groined 
arches are better adapted for subterraneous structures, and better 
answer the purpose for large warehouses where immense weights 
or burthens are required above them, than the common method 
of vaulting, they being less liable to fracture at the groined angles 
by any extraordinary impulse operating on the crown of the 
arch. This system of vaulting, I believe, has not yet heen pub- 
lished in any work. As far as I can learn, they were first executed 
by Mr. Alexander, architect, at the London Docks ; and recently 
by Mr. Laing, architect, at the new Custom-House. 

BB represents the ichnography of the caps of the piers with 
the abutments of the arches, as shown at RR. Fig. P. repre- 
sents the scenographie view of the groined vault as executed; 
xxx the elevation of one of the centres made of two-inch 
deal board rising circularly six feet, which is one-third the 
span; the whole opening being 18 feet. rt, rt, &c. represent 
the angle rib of the same thickness traced from A6, 45, &c.; 
mm shows the plan of the ribs, which are two feet apart; nna 
square centring box ; and wea the ichnography of the boarding 
on the centring. These boards are each 14 inch thick: at 
the London Docks 14 inch boards were used, the arches there 
being one brick and half thick. Fig. R shows the mould by 
which to cut or form the ends of the boards to the centring. 
This mould is made in the following manner: Take the hither- 
most divisions 123456, at x, and set them on the line 
123456, at fig. R; these lines draw parallel and at right 
angles to the line 1,6; next take the divisions at the plan hn, 
fn, &c. and transfer them to 6 p, 5 p, &c. and the intersections 
will give the mould sought for. To find the mould fig. T, for 
the spandrel of the groin, first draw the lines aa, &e. at right 
angles to the centre line aa; then take the height A6, h5, &c. 
and set them on the lines ac,ac, &c.; by this means you will 
form the angle curvature or middle rib: next take the separate 
distances cc, &c. and set them on the line ee, &c. at fig. T. 
These lines draw parallel and at right angles to the line ee; 
lastly, take the distances am, an, &c. and set them from e to o 
(the corresponding divisions) seen at fig. T; this will now give 
the length and bevel of each board round the spandrel, which is 
all the moulds required in constructing the centring in this way: 
observe the line 00, &c. at fig. T is a straight line: one side of 
the bricks in the arch (but not visible in this drawing) has a 
concavity on their surface for a key to the mortar; this is formed 
by the mould when made, 

: L3 The 


166 On Spandrel Groins. 


Thebrick-work for leveling above the groinsis grouted: in some 
eases groined vaults contain but a single arch ; flooring joists are 
laid over their tops and filled up between with dry rubbish. It 
is necessary to say, the piers of the former groins are built with 
Aberdeen and the caps with Dundee granite, it being found the 
hardest and best calculated for this purpose : observe, the joints 
of the stones must be left open round the piers until the groined 
arches are well settled, otherwise the stones at the joints will 
flush or chip off. This has been found to be the case in practice. 

The drawing in outline marked fig. S shows a better and 
more advisable method of centring these groius, where consider- 
alle labour and wood may be suved. For example, PP, &e. are 
piers of the groins, LLL ledgers of deal quartering running hori- 
zontally along each bay, and supported on shores; cec, &e. 
plans of the centres, as ranged and fixed on the ledgers: each 
bay or passage being centred in this manner; next board them 
over, forming them into a semicylinder, as a common vault or 
area. This being done, next get out a mould for marking the 
common intersections of the cross arches: to do this, take 
the divisions 012384, and set them on the line 01234 at 
fig. M; these lines draw parallel to each other and at right an- 
gles to the perpendicular line 04. Next take the distances ad, 
ab, &c. and transfer them to 47, 37, &e. this will then give 
the curvature of the mould, and which mould is seen further 
applied on the ichnography of the centring. Jack ribs, as rr, 
&c. are next to be regularly fixed on the cylinder, and boarded 
over, making the whole of the centring by this means appear 
as the centring of a common equal pitch cylindric groin. To 
form the spandrels of the groins, first take the divisions ¢f, &c. 
and transfer them to the line Ah, &c. at fig. N53 next take the 
measures ed, ed, &e. and transfer them to A i, hi, &e. at fig. N: 
this will then give the mould whereby to mark out the spandrels 
on the centring, and which mould is seen applied thereon. Lastly, 
bridging pieces, as shown at gg, &c. are to be fixed across the 
angles and boarded, which form the spandrels and complete the 
centring for receiving the brick-work. Thus is the whole suf- 
ficiently and practically explamed, 


XXXVI. An- 


{ 167] 


XXXVI. Answer to Remarks on Mr. Donovan’s “ Reflections 
on the Inadequacy of electrical Hypotheses.” 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — Wire regard to the remarks contained in your Maga- 
gine for December last, upon my “ Reflections on the Inadequacy 
of electrical Hypotheses,” I beg leave to offer a few observa- 
tions. 

Amongst a variety of statements rather unusual in philesophi- 
eal controversy, it is there.meutioned that J observed but half 
of the necessary phenomena, that it was the wrong half, &c. 5 
that I passed my errors through the Kirwanian Society, and the 
Royal Irish Academy, and in the latter case so successtuily as to 
obtain the prize from that learned body. It was principally on 
these accounts that the author of the remarks undertook to de- 
tect my errors, which, as he chooses to assert, had thus received 
the assent of two literary institutions. Half at least of this task 
was unnecessary: the paper in question never was read in the 
Academy, and never obtained the prize. The essay which 
really did obtain the prize I sent in Deeember 1813, and was 
on a very different subject; the essay on electricity was read in 
the Kirwanian Society nearly two years before*. -The inaecu- 
racy of the ubove-mentioned statement is therefore surprising 5 
and the more so, when it is considered with what caution and 
deference a learned body of men (including many fellows of the 
university, and most of the literary characters of the country,) 
should be treated by an urkuewn individual. This much I feit it 
my duty to say with regard to the Academy; and but for this, I 
should have been disinclined to occupy the pages of your Maga- 
zine, or obtrude myself on the notice of its readers, concerning 


a trifling question at issue merely as to facts. 


Extensive reading would have shown that the electrical states 
attributed in my * Reflections” to the Leyden phial had not 
been noticed by me alone. Experimenters of great reputation had 
observed analogous facts, and of this a perusal of the works of 
Wilson, Eeles, of the Encyclopedia Britannica (art. Electricily), 
and of various other authorities that I now forget, will afford am- 
ple testimony; so that the correctness of my experiments stands 
supported by the concurrence of persons of high reputation. The 
question does not relate merely to the states of the phial, but 
comprises the whole doctrine of plus and minus: they are inse- 


* This is distinctly noted in the abstracts of the Kirwanian Society.— 
Phil, May. 
L 4 parably 


168 Some Meteorological Observations 


parably connected ; and as the hypothesis stands, one part can- 
not be maintained without contradicting the other. Why, there- 
fore, should so limited a survey of those objections be taken, 
which are all in harmony; and why need one part of the hypo- 
thesis be sustained when it is opposed by the other ? 

In my * Reflections, &c.”’ I gave a caution concerning the 
experiments there detailed. They are of a delicate kind, and 
I stated that they only succeed in certain states of the weather. 
The period w hen I made them was dry sunny weather, and I 
haye never found them to succeed easily but in the middle of 
summer. This is a source of fallacy, which from the season could 
not have been guarded against in the counter-experiments. 

There are various other sources of error. Thus it is very dif- 
ficult to determine what body is positive-or what negative ; for 
positive hodies will, under certain circumstances, attract positive 
bodies ; and negative bodies will attract negative. Of this also 
no notice has been taken. 

The electrometer of Bennet is an instrument not to be de- 
pended on without acquaintance with a principle of electricity 
which I have deyeloped, and which in a work soon to appear 
will be shown to have misled many able investigators Any 
electrometer on the same principle, whether pith-balls or gold- 
leaf, is liable to the same objection. In the counter-experiments 
this error has not been guarded against. 

To the sarcasm and wit affected in the paper alluded to, | an- 
swer but with silence. I conceive them below the dignity of 
philosophy, and have seldom seen them employed but in the ab- 
sence of sounder arguments. The attempt evident throughout 
‘ the whole, of making my humble labours appear nugatory, and 
myself little better than an idiot, produces no other effect than 
to compel me to decline further controversy, and to recommend 
more temperate and cautious investigation’ of the opinions of 
others. 

TI have the honour to be, &c. 
Dublin, Feb. 23, 1816. M. Donoyan, | 


XXXVII. Some Meleorological Observations made in the Ne- 
therlands. By M. Van Mons, of Brussels*, 


W E have this last year remarked a singular opposition be- 
tween the usual meteorological indications and the weather, 


* Communicated by the Author. 


The 


made in the Netherlands. 169 


The air scarcely ever became dry without the barometer de- 
scending instead of rising with the storm, and the lowering instead 
of the rising of the thermometer most frequently preceded the 
rain. ‘The rapid risings and fallings of the barometer were fol- 
lowed by weather more or less fine, and it rained at an elevatior 
above the “ very Jine weather,” while it was dry with a lowering 
below the stormy point ; and the hygrometer, like the manome- 
ter, harmonized with the reversed indications of the other instru- 
ments 

Winter opened with a frost of i1° of Reaumur the first day: 
this extraordinary cold will break the elasticity of the air, and 
a long thaw with continual rains will be the consequence of it: 
this thaw is besides indicated by all the habitudes of animals and 
plants: all the larve are found at the surface of the ground, and 
the roots of plants have risen: no retreat of any insect is deep, 
and they are rather put out of the reach of the rain than of the 
frost. Astronomical appearances indicate the same thing, and 
augur a humid and warm season from beginning to end. Acute 
rheumatisms (but as yet there is no intermittent fever) prognos- 
ticate the approaching humidity of the season. There have been 
searcely any but north winds during the whole year, and these 
have lasted whole weeks at a time. The wild or mountain 
plants have uniformly overtopped those sown, and the harvests 
have thereby suffered much. The fruits of autumn are still 
(February) prcens, and the fruits of winter, and even of spring, 
are eatable. 

The extraordinary temperatures of the season, Eifick of heat 
or cold, have not as usual been followed by extraordinary op- 
posite temperatures. The barometer rising with the stationary 
thermometer has not once indicated fine ‘weather, and in ge- 
neral the motions of the thermometer do not seem to have been: 
influenced by the inverse movements of the barometer. Never- 
theless the fine and prolonged rains, which I call the rebounding 
rains (p/uies de retente) have most frequently been the precursors 
of dry weather. The decrements of the moons have almost re- 
stored calmness to the air. I saw during the serene weather of 
September the thermometer ascend and the barometer descend 
at 11 o’clock at night; and when I rose, both instruments had 
returned to their station by day. At 3 o’clock no movement 
was remarked, and during the whole month the barometer was 
very changeable, although the manometer was stationary, and 
during the whole year the needle of this instrument, at other 
times so true, marked falsely. This proves that the air presses 
more by its elasticity than by its weight; and the winds, contrary 
to custom, seemed to be the cause instead of the effect of the 
changes ;—-I say seemed to le, because it is never so in _ 

he 


170 Sequel to the metancholy Catastrophe 


The briskness of the fires has rarely indicated that the oxygen in 
the air was owing rather to vapour than to an azotic compound. 
The influence which propagates frost acts from south to north 
this alone accounts for its short duration. It is at the points of 
passage of a line which from the ruling star stretches to the 
centre- of the earth, that remarkable changes are successively 
manifested : a similar re-action, at least a regular one, has not 
been observed this year. The revolutions in the body of the 
sun, the eruption of several volcanoes in this body, the short 
duration of its revolution on its axis, &e. which have been per- 
ceived at the Milan observatory ;—= would all these have in- 
fluenced the variations detailed ?—Time will show. 


B. Van Mons. 


XXXVILI. Sequel to the melancholy Catastrophe at Heaton 
Colliery. 
FE 

6 Gloomy and calm, attendant on the close 
OF all var pangs T sate. 

At length by fate compell’d, 

On the cold pavement one by one expi’d. 

Grovelimg amoug the dead 

—— Tsurviv'd, 

And tardy fate with sapplication tir’d.” 
Borv’s Lranslution of Dawts’s Inferno, canto xxviii. stanzas 14, 15. 
ea Sr 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — if your number for last June, you did me the favour 
to print the narrative I transmitted of the inundation at Heaton 
Colliery, by which accident thirty-three men and forty-two boys 
were either drowned or irrecoverably inclosed in the higher re- 
cesses of the mine. The steam-engiues having at length drawu 
out the water, Iam enabled te communicate the sequel to this 
tragedy. Ou the 6th of January the first body was found : it was 
that of an old man employed on the waggon-way 5 and a fact 
worthy of notice is, that the waste water in which he had been 
immersed had destroyed the woollen clothes and corroded the 
iron parts of a knife the deceased had in his pocket; yet his 
linen and the bone haft of the knife remained entire. Shortly 
after Mr. Miller, the under viewer, the wasteman, and a few 
others were discovered: they had ‘met a similar ‘fate, having 
heen overtaken by the water about a hundred yards from the 
shaft to which they had been hastening to save themselves. But 
the lot of these eight persons may be ‘considered fortunate ; for 
their sufferings were transient when compared with those which 

waited the unhappy beings left at work towards the rise of the 
mine, - 


at Heaton Colliery. 171 


mine, and as yet unconscious of their dreadful situation. About 
the 16th of February the higher part of the workings was ex- 
plored,—and now a scene truly horrible was presented to view; 
for here Jay the corpses of fifty-six human beings, whom the 
water had never reached, being situated thirty-five fathoms above 
its level. Thev had collected together near the crane,and were 
found within a space of thirty ya ards of each other. Theit posi- 
tions and attitudes were various ;—several appeared to have 
fallen forwards from off an inequality, or rather step in the coal 
on which they had been sitting—others, from their hands being 
clasped together, seemed to have ex; ited. while addressing then 
selves to the protection of the Deity—two, who were recoguised 
as brothers, had died in the act of taking a last farewell, by 
grasping each other’s hand,—and one poor litile boy ecpoeed 
in his father’s arms. Two slight egbins had been hastily con- 
structed by nailing up deal boards, and in one of these melan- 
choly habitations three of the stoutest miners had breathed their 
last: and what seems singular, one of them had either been 
stripped of his clothes by his surviving companions, or had 
thrown -off all covering from mental derangement. A large 
lump of horse flesh wrapped np‘in a jacket, nearly two pounds 
of candies, and three others which had died out when half- 
burned, were found in this apartment, if it can he so called. 
One man, well known to have possessed a remarkably pacific 
disposition, had retired to a distance to end his days alone and 
in quiet; and that this would be the case was predicted by 
many of his fellow-workmen who were acquainted with his mild 
temper. Another had been placed to watch the rise and fall 
of the water, to ascertain which sticks had been placed, and was 
found dead at his post. 
There were two horses in the part of the mine to which the 
ople had retired. One had been slaughtered, its entrails taken 
out, and hind quarters cut up for use ; the other was fastened to 
a stake, which it had almost gnawed to pieces, as well as a cort 
or coal basket that had been left within its reach. 
~An important question must now occur to every friend of 
humanity. For how long a time did these ill-fated people exist 
in their horrible abode? Unfortunately, to this inquiry no pre- 
cise answer can be given; but that they perished for want of 
respirable air, and not from hunger and thirst, is certain ; for 
most of the flesh cut from the horse, together with a consider- 
able quantity of horse beans, was unconsumed, aud a spring of 
good water issued into this part of the colliery: besides, the un- 
burned remains of candles afford evidence of a still stronger 
nature :—and by these data the coroner's jury was enabled to 
pronounce 


72 Sequel to the melancholy Catastrophe at Heaton Colliery. 


pronounce a verdict accordingly. The overman had left the 
ehalk-board on which it is usual to take down an account of 
the work done, together with his pocket book, in an empty corf. 
On these some memoranda might have been expected to be 
noted ; but no writing subsequent to the catastrophe appeared 
on either. Two of the men’s watches had stopped at four 
eclock ;—this period of time might be somewhat more than 

 twenty- four hours after descending into the mine: but it is also 
probable they may have wound up their watches after the acci- 
dent had taken place ; and notwithstanding various reports, 1 do 
aot believe that any document was discovered to throw light on 
this lamentable part of the subject. 

On referring to my former letter, it may be seen that the owners 
ef Heaton mine opened the shaft of an ancient colliery situated 
about 300 yards from the place where the pitmen were known 
to be at work; but, owing to innumerable falls from the roof, and 
the prevalence of earbonic acid gas and carburetted hydrogen 
gas, were prevented from penetrating further than 80 yards into 
the waste. On a Wednesday morning the accident happened, 
and by the following Saturday the scaffold which closed the old 
pit was reached and removed. By these means it is thought by 
some professional men that the pure air, already much reduced 
by respiration and combustion, would be let out through the 
broken coal, and that this would be the utmost possible period 
of these miserable sufferers’ existence. Though it must fre- 
quently have fallen to the lot of miners to have been entombed 
alive in the prosecution of their hazardous avocations, yet I know 
of but two of these occurrences upon record. The first was 
published by Dr. Percival in the Memoirs of the Philosophical 
Society at Manchester for 1785. A pitman, whose name was 
‘Fravas, had the misfortune to be shut up in a mine at Ashby- 
under- Line, owing to a quantity of earth bursting into the shaft, 
which was 90 yards deep. Here he remained inclosed ina ca- 
vity three yards in length by two in breadth—in a seam only 
two feet thick, without either water or food, and where the can- 
it of the w orkmen who dug him out would not burn—for the 

ace of seven days and nights,—and though perfectly sensible 
whe found, he died in a few hours after. 

The other occurrence took place at Beaujoc, im the vieinity of 
Liege, in 1812, and was detailed in a pamphlet by Baron De 
Micond. It nearly resembled the Heaton inundation, except 
that the water rushed from an upper seam of coal, and not from 
a waste situated tothe rise. This colliery is 186 yards in depth, 
and its seam 354 inches thick: —here seventy men and boys were 


shut up without food or wholesome water, and where their can- 
. dles 


Some Account of certain Agates. 173 


dies could not be kept burning, for the duration of five days and 
nights ; but were at length fortunately extricated by a drift be- 
ing driven from an adjoining mine. In this case | am led to 
think the quantity of deleterious gas had been less considerable 
than at Heaton. 

I have now only to remark, that the bodies of those men which 
had laid in wet places were much decayed; but where the floor 
was dry, though their flesh had become shrivelled, they were all 
easily recognised by their features being entire. 

p Yours, 
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, March 4, 1816. N. 

P.S.—Eleven more corpses remain undiscovered in the re- 

cesses of the mine. 


XXXIX. Some Account of certain Agates presenting by an arti- 
ficial Arrangement the Aspect of organized Bodies. By 
M.Gitrer DE Laument, Engineer to the Mines of France*. 


M. Moreau DE St. Mery, having brought from Italy some 
agates found in the bed of the Trebia, which discharges itself 
into the Po near Plaisance, sent a polished one to M. de Mont- 
egre, who showed it to me at the Institute on the 9th of Oct. 
1815. 

I immediately observed that the appearance of the organized 
body which this agate presented seemed to have been given it by 
art. We showed it afterwards to several naturalists, who at the first 
glance thought they saw in it the marks of the wood of the palm- 
tree; while others thought they saw the traces of a marine body. 
In fact, this agate presents in the middle some round conical 
bodies penetrating into the stone, the summits of which are 
at the surface, aud the united bases of which form an appear- 
ance of a network with hexahedral meshes: in other parts of 
the stone we find only small insulated cones with circular bases. 

Having for a long time remarked the fractures which the 
blows of a hammer produced on hard and homogeneous stones, 
1 had ascertained that under the place where the blow was 
given cones were formed, the summ:t of which was at the point 
of contact, and of which the base was sunk more or less re- 
gularly into the stone; and I had thus formed with fine free- 
stone the lustrous freestong of Haiiy. According to this ob- 
servation, | think I may venture to say, that the appearances of 
organized bodies in the agate in question had been formed by 


‘blows adroitly given and struck in succession beside each other. 


* Communicated by the Author. : 
I even 


174 Account of an Aérolite which fell in Moravia. 


Teven made the attempt myself, and I thus obtained agates 
furnished with cones presenting the aspect of organized bodies. 

The agate from Italy seems to have been polished after the 
blow, which has removed the summits of several cones from the 
middle of the stone, and has given them a strauge appearance. 
In this agate and in mine, small circles are seen with the mi- 
eroscope at the places where the blows have been given; on 
wetting, both the cones partly disappear on accouut of the liguid 
penetrating the fissures, but on drying alt these cones re-appear. 
The Marquis de Dree has in his fine collection an agate set i 
a ring, whicli he showed me lately, and which has cones that 
must have had the same origin. 

The object of this observation is to inform amateurs that 
foreign dealers know how to produce in certain agates very 
pretty effects, by an artificial arrangement, which they frequently 
give out to be natural, having effected it so as completely to 
deceive the eye. 


Account of an Acrolite which fell in Moravia, and a Mass of 
Native Iron which fell in Bohemia. By the same. 


Chevalier de Schreibers, superintendant of the Imperial col- 
Iection in natural history at Vienna, has communicated an ac- 
count of an aérolite exhibiting striking anomalies from all those 
hitherto known. I presented to the Geological Society of Paris 
two pieces of this variety: the smallest was given me at Milan, 
by Father Pini in 18138, as having fallen in Moravia: but not be- 
ing affected by the magnetic needle, and containing no ironin a 
native state, like all the other stones which have fallen from the 
atinosphere, I doubted its reality as an aéyolite: several persons 
even regarded it es a piece of acrucible. The largest piece was 
yivenine by M. Schreibers: itis still covered with its crust almost 
all over; itis not affected by the magnet, contains bo iron ina me- 
tallic state and no nickel, and is lighter than the common a€érolites 
of the same volume. [t presents a black shining and as if sha- 
green surface, which distinguishes it frem other aérolites at the 
tirst glance. MM. Schreibers personally ascertained that this 
stone really fell in Moravia, at Slavnera near iglaw, on the 22d 
of May 1303. 

The same gentleman gare me another very interesting piece: 
it is entirely native iron, and detached from a mass weighing 
upwards of 190 pounds, which fell at Ellenbogen in Bohemia. 
This piece has since been cut into the shape of a coin. It has 
the peculiar property when placed in weak nitric acid of being 
attacked unequally, and of then exhibiting blackish particles, 
and also some whitish in relief, which have a curious, arrange- 

ment 


On the Metallic Salts. 175 


ment with respect to each other, and which seem to flow from 
a law of crystallization which one would think led to the octa- 
hedral form. I think that the blackish parts are iron surcharged 
with carbon (steel), and the white parts iron. It seems pro- 
bable that the blackish portions being first consolidated have 
&s it were crystallized into the mass of iron when still liquid or 


-soft. M. Schreihers regards this arrangement as peculiar to all 


the native iron which has fallen from the atmosphere. 

I attempted to treat in a similar way a piece of native iron 
Which fell in Siberia, and described by Pallas; and in fact, small 
black and white specks became very visible; but in this speci- 
men the iron having been subjected to a high temperature which 
rendered it cellular, the black and white marks have followed 
the contours of the cavities, and are very remarkable. 


XL. Answer of H. to G.S. on the Metallie Salts. 
To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — In your Magazine of January last appeared another 
paper from your correspondent G. S., who, though he apologizes 


for a small mistake committed in his first, has now strayed so 


far from propriety, that it will, perhaps, cost him more trouble 
to extricate himself, than it has to attain that state into which. 
his last has hurried him. 

You will observe a passage (page 35) with which he begins: 
** In support of H.’s assertion, that metallic salts are super-salts 
with excess of oxide—” This assertion he presses on me: but 
the evidence of some of your former numbers, in which my papers 
are inserted, cannot fail to convince your readers, that-if this is 
also a misconstruction of your correspondent’s, it must equally 
display his ignorance of the science of chemistry, and of the sub - 
stance of my former papers; or should it not be as I have re- 
presented, finding that his arguments were in some measure 
weakened by my last, he wishes to introduce this new assertion 
on my part, so that it may accord more ayreeably with his 
wishes, and enable him to bear down with redoubled violence 
ou my tortured opinion ; thus making a poor endeavour to take 
hy this stratayem that which he could not force by truth. 

Now do I consequently lay open for him to commence an at- 
tack on that opinion which J set forth, against which he may 
probably have as much to say, as against that which he has al- 


‘ready framed for me. . 


With this [ conclude, that as it is impossible for the most able 
elemist to cope with one who is regardless of that on which he 
ig : pretends 


176 On Fulminating Gold. 


pretends to argue, I feel myself completely justified in. relin- 
quishing the present controversy: it would indeed be litigious 
in the extreme for me to continue to oppose one who writes 
not against me, but against the new system (that metallic salts 
are super-salts with excess of oxide) of which your correspon- 
dent G. 5. is the author. 
Yours obediently, 
London, March 6, 1216. H. 


XELI. On Fulminating Gold. By J.B. Vax Mons, of 
Brussels*. 


Tare is a preparation of gold which presents much interest, 
and on which the nephew of the illustrious Driessen has published 
a very good essay:—I mean fulminating gold. This compound 
may be procured by all the methods of putting ammonia in re- 
action on dissolved gold; by aqua regia, with which we precipi- 
tate gold by the help of a soluble oxide, and by the muriate of 
gold which we decompose by means of ammonia; by the oxide, 
of gold which we treat with ammonia, either gaseous or liquid 
or with any ammoniacal salt; and finally, by this same oxide, 
which we must keep some time in a dark and damp place 
where the air is stagnant. 1 prepare it with most advantage by 
precipitating by potash a diluted solution of muriate of gold 
and muriate of ammonia. The precipitate is at first muriate of 
ammonia and gold; but the instant the ammonia becomes free, 
it is aurate of ammonia, called ammonium of gold, or fulminating 
gold, which is produced. 

Fulminating gold is not decomposed by any acid, and it is not 
by the alkalies: nevertheless the first of these bodies disunite 
it by the adjunction of a hyperoxygenated muriate and liquid 
chlorine; without this adjunction, but with the assistance of 
heat, double muriate being produced. This happens from the 
combustibles having more energy than its metal. This com- 
pound is a salt in which the oxide of gold performs the functions 
of acid, and the ammonia the function of an oxide: it is there- 
fore, as I have already said, an aurate of ammonia, which exists 
by an engagement the more intimate as the oxygen of the gold, 
with which the oxygen of the ammonia is proportioned, presents 
more caloric to displace. The acids, inorder to decompose this 
salt, ought either to take the ammonia from it or dissolve at 
once its two elements; but for the first effect it is necessary 
that the oxide of gold should be insulated from the oxygen 
wanting caloric, and for the second effect it would be necessary 


* Communicated by the Antior, 
that 


On Fulminating Gold. 477 


that the acids should be able to dissolve oxide of this same qua- 
lity, both which are absolutely impossibilities: and if such ef- 
fects could be obtained, they would multiply ad infinitum the 
number of oxides, salts, and all other bodies having oxygen in 
combination. 

Nevertheless fire and time, by adding calorie to the oxygen 
of the gold, determine the disengagement of the principles of 
the fulminating gold and their being taken in solution: energetic 
combustibles take from the gold the oxygen, with its defect of 
caloric, reduce its metal, and set the ammonia at liberty: which 
explains how, in a globe of fire strongly heated, the fulminating 
gold is decomposed without fulminating ; which certainly would 
not happen if the ball were platina, gold, or silver. 

Ammonia has too little affinity with water to enable that 
liquid aided by heat to take it from the gold: nevertheless 
the heat in this case brings together the active principles of the 
compound ; and this happens when we wash it with very hot 
water: the caloric displaces in the first place the ammonia from 
the oxide, the hydrogen from the azote, and the oxygen from 
the gold, and pressure disunites them by forming water. Ful- 
minating gold does not detonate under water, for want of power 
to take the temperature requisite for this effect; and at a heat 
a little higher it resolves into its nearest principles, with the 
single exception of the case in which it has been washed too 
hot. 

Carbon organized and hydrogenated in the oils with ether and 
alcohol, as well as azote hydrogenated in ammonia, take up the 


oxide of gold from its solvents; which proves that this body acts 


more willingly by capacity than by intensity; and the oils may 
even decompose the fulminating gold by taking up on one hand 
its oxide and on the other hand its ammonia. The oxide of 
gold which is separated from its solutions by the contact of the 
air—will it be qurate of organized azote, or oxide rendered inso- 
luble by hyperoxidation? In this last case, as these solutions 
are always with an excess of acid, the heating in those of the 
muriatic acid must determine the resumption in solution of the 
oxide under the formation of oxygenated muriatie acid. 

The sulpburic acid highly concentrated decomposes fulminating 
gold by provoking the union between the principles of the water 
in order to appropriate to itself this water... The detonating com- 
pounds, which the same acid decomposes with an explosion, set 
the oxygen at liberty. 

The fulminating gold is formed spontaneously in the same 


circumstances and by the same causes as the native nitrate of 


lime: it is the organized azote of the air hydrogenating itself 
into an oxidule which produces the first body, and the same 
Vol. 47, No, 215, March 1816. M azote 


178 On Fulminating Silver. 


azote sub-hydrogenating itself into an acid which produces the 
second ; and it may be presumed that the two actions take place 
simultaneously, or depend upon each other. 

Gold in very minute division is dissolved in chlorine by the 
help of heat, and also when nitro-muriate of gold is partly de- 
composed by heat, then treated with muriatic acid, and evapo- 
rated to dryness. It is a brown substance, very deliquescent, 
which easily decomposes the water of the atmosphere, forming 
muriate of gold. I have not as yet examined it with precision.. 


On Silver. [By the same.] 


Ir will not easily be believed, as Brugnatelli observes, that 
silver, which is a metal reducible per se, may be oxidized in the 
air, and at a heat which its oxide scarcely requires in or- 
der to be reduced. There must, therefore, be some other 
cause than oxidation which renders silver vitrifiable ; and this 
cause will deserve examination. A very intense heat, or the 
electric fluid,—do they organize a portion of the oxygen of the 
primitive matter which forms the basis of the silver, in such a 
way as to originate an oxide different from the ordinary oxide 
of that metal? This is a difficult question, Such an effect, by 
displacing hydrogen with the oxygen of the primitive matter, 
will compose a metal more hydrogenated, and which will be 
izreducible in the fire; and the oxidation will take place not by 
the oxygen of the air, ‘but by that which is proper to the primi- 
tive matter, 

We must inquire if the oxide of silver obtained by fire pos~ 
sesses other qualities than the oxide of the same metal obtained 
by the acids; aud in the contrary case, we must ascertain if the 
reagents.employed in this examination do not separate the super- 
combined hydrogen, proportioning at the same time the oxygen 
of the caloric to the degree of the new hydrogenation; or if, by 
oxidating the hydrogen of the oxide at the ordinary degree, 
they do not separate some of it from the water—two circum- 
stances which will bring silver back to its first constitution. 

We know already that the metals are oxidated by the electric 
fluid, as well in vacuo as in contact with the air. The ex- 
periments relative to the oxidation of silver by calorie alone 
~must be undertaken on a very large scale in close vessels, on ac- 
eount of the volatility of the metal, and in vacuo: we must 
particularly ascertain if the metal, in returning to its ee 
“state, undergoes a loss of weight. 

If the fact of the mineral organization of the primitive matter 
of a metal by the electric fluid, or by a red heat, is confirmed ; 
we may explain how in aérolites the metals may be ar tificially 

composed, 


On the Cosmogony of Moses. 179 


composed, and the nature as well as the mode of organization of 
the primitive matter of the globe will thereby be elucidated; and 
we shall extract oxygen from a substance in which its presence 
is least expected. This fact will, besides, denote that the metals 
the oxides of which are reducible by fire, owe this quality to a 
smaller dose of oxygen, which is at the same time the cause of 
their greater weight. 

Juncker had already ascertained that at a very intense heat 
silver is converted into a fused oxide ; and Richter mentions the 
fact of a considerable quantity of silver which a modern alchemist 
had kept in the fire several years, being thereby transformed 
into a mass of fused oxide. "M, Richter having obtained this 
mass, tried to reduce it, first by heat and afterwards by the usual 
reducers, but he was able to extract only a very small portion of 
etal, 

Silver, on being organized, may also become an acidifiable 
combustible; for between an oxide and such a body the distance 
is not great: and if azote is hydrogenated into ammonia, and 
if tellurium and arsenic, by an inverse action, from metals become 
acidifiable combustibles, silver may very well, on receiving ca- 
lorie, without losing hydrogen, become a double super-combina- 
tion of this principle, and constitute either an acidifiable com- 
bustible or the oxide of a different metal, more energetic, because 
it has more hydrogen, and because with precautions we may ob- 
tain it reduced. This will be the second artificial metal, and 
others will soon follow, which, like ammonia, will be deeom< 
posable, because it will exist by composition, and in which 
caloric, favoured by a disposing affinity, may be substituted for 
the hydrogen of the new metallization, and allow the oxide of 
silver to be reduced, per se, into its metal: but hydrogen at ‘a 
lesser heat might also be substituted for the water of the new 
metal, and thus present it to us reduced. How can we see 
oxide of silver resist reduction in the fire, without making such 
2 phenomenon the subject of the most serious meditation ? 


: ———SSS 
XLII. On the Cosmogony of Moses, in Answer to Dr. 
PritcuarD. By F, E——s, 


To Mr, Tilloch. 


Sir, — I FEEL no inclination to involve Doctor Prichard im 

eontroversy ; but as he has had the advantage of fully stating the 

grounds of his opinions, given in your Magazine, relative to 

the Mosaic cosmogony, it will, I presume, be allowed me briefly 

to examine whether he has succeeded in removing the objections 

against them indicated in my former letter, 
M2 


In 


1386 On the Cosmogony of Moses. 


In the paper* which oceasioned my observations, Doctor 
Prichard, after having, as he imagined, exhibited a complete co-’ 
incidence between the series of facts detailed in the first chap- 
ter of Genesis and those inferred from geological phenomena, 
remarks, that “if this coincidence is surprising in itself, it ap- 
pears the more so when we compare the cosmogony of the He- 
brews with the notions on this subject that prevailed among 
other nations of antiquity. We find invariably that all other 
cians, on this subject are founded on some fanciful ana- 
fogy with natural processes that are daily observed.” In his - 
recent communication +, however, our attention is particularly 
directed to, and our surprise excited by, ‘¢ the remarkable con~ 
nexion discovered between the primitive histories of the most 
remote nations on the earth and these documents embodied in 
Genesis.” It is added that, not only the Asiatic nations, but the 
Runic scalds of Iceland and Seandinavia, and the ancient priests of 
Mexico were equally in possession of the primitive traditions ;” 
and the latter certainly never obtained them from Jerusalem {. 
Other similar facts are adduced in support of the opinion that 
the early parts of Genesis are a compilation: but in maintaining 
it, Doctor Prichard does not place the author of the Penta- 
teuch in the rank of common compilers of historical fragments 
possessed merely of natural intelligence ;” nor does he regard 
the supposed materials of the compilation, ‘‘in their origin as 
common historical testimonies.”” On this hypothesis I shalt 
merely obseve, that if in relating events which no uninspired 
person could ever with certainty know, the author of the Pen- 
tateuch had recourse to records and traditions of whatever cha- 
racter or antiquity, it could only be to supply the want of im- 
mediate inspiration. It seems, therefore, that to preserve con- 
sistency, either the hypothesis or the inspiration of Moses must 
be abandoned. 

I now proceed to the points in discussion. In my former ob- 
servations the word day is admitted to have been figuratively 
employed in Hebrew, as it has, I believe, in every language, to 
signify an indefinite portion of time; but I contended that in 
the six days creation it cannot be so understood; because, for 
no other discoverable purpose than to guard the term against a 
metaphorical interpretation, its meaning is there expressly con- 
fined to the duration of an evening and a morning, to the decay 
and the return of light, the limits of a natural day. This limita- 
tion, reiterated six times in terms as explicit as language can 
supply, causes no difficulty whatever to Doctor Prichard; ‘ for,” 
he remarks, “if we use the word doy to signify a portion of 


* Phil, Mag. No, 210, p. 285, ¢ Ibid. No, 214. } p..112. 
time, 


On the Cosmogony of Moses. 181 


time, and have occasion to allude to the beginning or end of the 
period designated, we always carry on the metaphor and adopt 
the corresponding terms.”” The truth of this position is ob- 
vious ; but its application, instead. of supporting the tropical 
sense contended for, affords an additional objection against it. 
In the day and night of Brama, the duration of the respective 
portions, the preceding and following twilight, the day, and the 
night, are all chronological periods; and a distinct notion is 
eonveyed in properly sustained figurative language of the re- 
lative time of the exertion of Brama, when it is said, “ At the 
close of his night, haviag long reposed, he wakes, and awaking 
exerts intellect’? Had the morning and the evening been 
thus used in Genesis, to mark precedence or subsequence of dif- 
ferent acts of creation in the same day; had it been said, The 
sun was made in the morning, the moon in the evening of the 
fourth day, the language would with equal propriety have borne 
a literal or figurative interpretation. But it is remarkable, thas 
neither the morning nor the evening is once alluded to for any 
such purpose: the acts of each day are enumerated, and the 
day itself is said to consist of an evening and a morning. This 
being so, if day be understood figuratively, there does not ap- 
pear to have been the slightest “ occasion to allude to the be- 
ginning or end of the period designated’’ by it; since no other 
information would be conveyed by the supposed allusions, than 
that an indefinite period was composed of a metaphorical evening 
and morning; or, in other words, that one indefinite period con- 
sisted of two indefinite periods, I do not, however, pretend to 
appreciate the value of this information, estimated ‘* aceording 
to the genius of Hebrew literature.” 

The other, and more weighty objection,—that it does not ap- 
pear that the Hebrew people ever understood the six days of the 
creation as equivalent to so many indefinite periods,—seems im- 
plicitly admitted by the remark, that had Moses read a lecture 
on geology to “‘ the shepherds of Goshen, and told them what 
space of time each oceanic deposit occupied, and by what or- 
ganic remains it is to be recognised, he would have spent his 
time to little purpose.” Moses, however, told “ the shepherds 
of Goshen” many things quite as difficult to comprehend as that 
each epoch of the creation had occupied an extensive period: 
nor does it seem at all easier to conceive creation the work of 
six days than of as many thousand years. With respect to suc- 
cessive oceanic deposits, each characterized by peculiar organic 
remains, no trace of such a series of events is discoverable in the 
Mosaic account. On the contrary, in that narrative, the waters 
retire previous to the existence of animated beings, and never 
again cover the earth until the days of Noah; and the work 

M3 of 


182 Observations on the late excessive cold Weather. 


of creation is represented as simply progressive, which is little 
consonant with a series of creations and extinctions of whole 
races antecedent to the formation of man, Could these ap- 
parently irreconcilable discordancies be overlooked, still Doctor 
Prichard’s parallel between the facts detailed in Genesis and 
those inferred from geological observation would fail. According 
‘to the sense in which the twentieth and two followmg verses of 
the first chapter of Genesis have hitherto been generally under- 
stood,-all the inhabitants of the waters were called into existence 
on the fifth day; while geological inference places the orders of 
testacea and zoophytes in the third; that is, in a period when, 
according to Moses, nothing animate was created. It is true, 
Doctor Prichard thinks their deficiency in loco-motion sufficient 
to exclude them from the fifth day’s creation. But besides that 
this criticism may be suspected of over-refinement, it is to be 
observed that, if they be excluded from that day, it is absolutely 
certain that Moses has assigned them no other. When, there- 
fore, zoophytes for their analogy to vegetables, and testacea 
without participating in that analogy, are removed from the 
fifth to the third day, and we are afterwards called upon to 
admire the coincidence of the series of the facts detailed in 
Genesis with those inferred from geologicai phenomena, Doctor 
Prichard seems to forget that the coincidence is effected by his 
placing two orders of animated beings where Moses never placed 
them. 
I am, sir, 
Your very obedient servant, 

Bath, March 10, 1816. F.E 

P,S.—The conjecture thrown out at the close of my former 
letter has no higher pretension than a simple possibility. In 
making it, I was perfectly aware of the objection which Doctor 
P., observes may be drawn from physieal considerations set forth 
(not in the ‘ Systéme de la Nature,” but) in Laplace’s Expo- 
sition du Systéme du Monde. 


aaaaaoaaoaoaoaoooaooaoaoaoaoaoaoaoaoaooooIoOEoIoaoaoaoooooommQ_Qaaaa eS 


XLIII, Observations on the late excessive cold Weather. By 
Wo. Sxrimsuire, Esq. of Wisbech. ce 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


s. 


Sir, — Ix consequence of the public solicitation of your valua- 
ble correspondent Mr. ‘I’. Forster, as well as for the information 
of the other readers of your useful Magazine, I am induced to 
send the following obsetvations respecting the late intense cold 
as experienced in this part of the kingdom, 3 
roy 


Olservations-on the late excessive cold Weather, 188 


My thermometer is graduated according to Fahrenheit’s seale, 
and L have no reason to doubt its accuracy. It is placed out 
of doors facing the NE, with a projecting edge of brick-work 
to defend it from the rays of the rising sun. 

My barometer is a wheel instrument, therefore 1 do not rely 
on it for extreme accuracy, but as affording sufficient informa~ 
tion of the vicissitudes in the pressure of .the atmosphere. In 
my observations with this instrument, the letters 7. f. s. denote 
that the mercury is either rising, falling, or stationary, at the 
time of noting the observation. 

I generally register my observations in a morning only, but 
on particular occasions they are repeated oftener, especially be- 
tween nine and ten at night. The journal is not kept, perhaps, 
with that accuracy and regularity which are necessary to meet 
the public eye, but merely for my own amusement, and as con- 
nected with observations ou the culture of certain plants which 
at present occupies my attention. 

February 1816. 

Tuesday 6th.—Eight o’clock A.M. ; 

Wind NE. brisk.—-Barometer 28-95 f. Thermometer 36°. 

Sky dull, with small rain and sleet. 

Nine o’clock P.M. The sleet this morning was soon suc- 
ceeded by snow, of which we had three or four showers during 
the day; but this evening it fell faster, and now continues on’ 
the ground. Barometer fallen to 28°80 s. 

Wednesday 7th.—Nine o’clock A.M. 

Wind NE. Barometer 28:80 s. Thermometer 30°. 

Much snow has fallen during the night; and still continues 
to fall. It lies on the ground about three or four inches deep, 
on a level. 

Ten o’clock P.M.—It cleared up soon after the morning ob- 
servation was registered; but we had several slight showers of 
snow during the day. 

The barometer began to rise this evening. The sky is now 
clear, and it is a very sharp frost, the thermometer 20°. 

Thursday Sth.—Half past eight o’clock A.M. 

Wind N:—Barometer 29:07 r. ‘Thermometer 26°. 

Alternate snow and sunshine. It has heen a severe frost in 
the night, and still continues. My well-water pump is frozen 
for the first time this year. This pump is situated in a warm 
Rumford kitchen, which is in use daily from eight o’clock in the 
morning till nine at night. I make this remark because it satis~ 
factorily proves to my mind, that the thermometer had been se- 
veral degrees below 20° during the night. 

' Ten o'clock P.M.—The atmosphere was dull this afternoon 5 
but clearing up ip the evening, a bright moon-light night sue- 
M4 ceeded, 


184 Observations on the late excessive cold Weather. 


we be with an intense frost; the thermometer being now at 
ive : 

Friday 9th.—Half past eight o’clock A.M. 

Wind S..--Barometer 29:30. Thermometer at zero ! 

The sun bright. A brilliant sky. Not a cloud to be seen in 
the hemisphere. The air feeling intensely cold. 

Ten o’clock P.M.—The frost has continued very severe the 
whole day. 

The thermometer rose to 10° at noon, and is now at the same 
degree. 

Saturday 10th.—Nine o’clock A.M. 

Wind SE. Barometer 29°34 r, Thermometer 10°. Atmo- 
sphere rather dull. 

Ten o’clock P.M.—A little snow fell this evening. The 
thermometer rose to 22° during the day, and is-now at 26°, 

The weather continued with the common cold of winter till 
Thursday the 15th of the same month, when it began to thaw, 
and the barometer, which had been stationary at 29-91 for three 
days, began to fall in the evening. The next day was very hazy, 
and the thaw continued with a falling barometer, and the ther- 
mometer at 42°. 

f leave it for others who have more leisure and abilities than 
myself, to settle the apparent discrepancy in the accounts that 
have been published respecting the intense cold with which this 
kingdom has lately been visited. But I must confess that one 
of the motives which has induced me to give this public testi- 
mony of the facts that I noticed, was an observation in the Me- 
teorological Report, published in the Monthly Magazine for 
February, where the reporter boldly asserts, that he is ‘‘ quite 
sure that those who talk of the thermometer being ut 6° or 26° 
below the freczing point are under a mistake.” 

Now, sir, I do not pretend to be either wiser or more accurate 
than others who have paid attention to this subject, but am 
“© quite sure’ that 1 was wide awake when | examined my 
thermometer ;—aye, and at the time too when | noted in my 
journal the facts above related. And having been in the habit 
of making meteorological observations for nearly 30 years, it is 
very probable that [ may have acquired some portion of exact- 
ness, if not of facility in reading off figures from the graduated 
seale of a philosophical instrument, at least within half a dozen 
degrees! And I do aver, that at half past eight o’clock on the 
morning of Friday the 9th ult., Fahrenheit’s thermometer stood 
at zero! and as the sun rose with splendour at a quarter past 
seven o’clock on that morning, I have but little hesitation in be- 
lieving that at two hours before sun-rise the thermometer was 
some degrees below zero ! 

Recollecting 


On Aérostation. 185 


Recollecting the degrees of cold which are destructive to dif- 
ferent vegetables growing in this kingdom, that even turneps on 
the ground in winter are injured by 24° and totally destroyed 
by 30° below the freezing point; we may naturally conclude 
that great devastation must have been committed by the late 
severe weather : but the destruction would have been unparalleled 
in this kingdom, had not the ground been previously covered by 
snow, especially as the sun rose with splendour on the morning 
of the 9th ult., thus greatly augmenting the danger to the living 
principle. Therefore, when we reflect upon these circumstances, 
what a powerful source of gratitude they ought to prove in 
our minds, to that great and beneficent Being, who has spread 
such a protecting mantle over the fertile fields of this highly cul- 
tivated country! 

I remain, sir, 
Yours, &c. 


- Wisbech, March 8, 1816. Wo. SKRIMSHIRE, 


XLIV, On Aérostation. By Richarp Lovu.. Eperwonrrs, 
Esq. F.R.S. Sc. Ge. Se, 


To Mr, Tilloch. 


Sir, — Turre is something apparently selfish and ungracious 
in claiming inventions that are published by others. But in 
philosophy, as well as in law, a fatal error is often committed by 
daches,—or, in plain English, by leaving unclaimed, for a length 


of time, a right that belongs to us. 


The ingenious Sir George Cayley has frequently proposed to 
impel flying bodies, by letting them descend obliquely through 
the air, and forcing them in a contrary obliquity against the air 
by impelling them upwards. He refers to Mr. Evans’s Paper in 
your Magazine for November last. . Now, sir, I did actually ap- 
ply this invention to a small fire-balloon at my own house in 
the year 1786, which confirmed me in the opinion of the prac- 
ticability of this invention. But as there were a great number 
of thatched houses in my neighbourhood, I desisted from making 
further trials. 

In 1802 I became acquainted with M. Montgolfier at Paris, 
when two of my friends who were with me, asked M. Montgolfier 
whether any practicable means of directing balloons had ever 
been communicated to him. He replied, “ Never, but in a let- 


ter from a gentleman in Ireland.” One of my friends imme- 


diately inquired, whether that letter had been communicated to 


- him in the year 1782, by the Marquis de la Povpe, of Bourg en 


Bresse. 


186 On Aérostation. 


Bresse. He said that it was. *'Then,” said my friend, that 
letter was written by Mr. Edgeworth, for [ saw it when it was 
dispatched.” 

Montgolfier was extremely pleased; took the trouble of ex- 
plaining to me many of his ingenious contrivances, particularly 
his Lelier hydr aulique. 

I cannot omit to mention an instance of M. Montgolfier’s 
candour and generosity. After having taken considerable pains 
to obviate objections which had been made to his parachute, 
I communicated to him the means of rendering the descent of 
the parachute perfectly safe and equable. 

When we were going away, we passed through the magnifi- 
eent staircase of the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, Rue 
St. Martin. ‘ There,” said he, pointing to the dome, ‘is 
an instance of national gratitude; you see the remains of my 
original balloon suspended from the roof, arid my parachute 
annexed toit. I will have my parachute taken down, and yours 
substituted in its place.”’ 

These, however, are relations resting merely on assertion,— 
but in the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. vi. 
page 101, there is in an Essay of mine the following . note: 

eh! balloon may be carried forward with certainty and celerity 
in any direction where there is no perceptible wind, if it is al- 
ternately lowered and elevated by altering from time to time its 
specific gravity, which may be done by various means, without 
losing much hydrogen gas; and if it be furnished with fins or 
small sails, and be set to a proper angle, with its line of ascent 
and descent, their vertical pressure against the air will impel the 
balloon forward.” 

*¢ Swift manoeuvres his Laputa in this manner : 

re | tried this invention on a small balloon in the house of the 
late ingenious Dr. Usher, (Professor of Astronomy in the Univer- 
sity of DufNin), the friend of science, and of those who wished 
to improve it.” 

I do not mean to insinuate in the most remote manner, that 
Sir George Cayley or Mr. Evans knew any thing of my inven- 
tion; probably they never heard my name; and far from wishing 
to derogate from their merit, | shall with pleasure contribute to 
a subscription for carrying on any practicable plan for the ad- 
vancement of aérostation. Earnestly hoping that it may be ap- 
plied to better purposes than those to whieh it has been hitherto 
unworthily confined, 

I am, sir, 
Your obedient servant, 
Edgeworthstown, Ireland, Ricup LovELL EpGEwonrrnH. 
March 6, 1816. 
¢} S.—One 


Report of the Labours of the French Architects at Rome. 187 


P. S.—One of the most powerful means of retarding the pro- 
gress of aérostation has been ridicule. In the Essay to whioh 
I have alluded there is the following passage : 

«< The disposition to ridicule every scientific project as absurd, 
until it has been absolutely brought to perfection, has been the 
common topic of complaint amongst men of inventive genius ; 
and it is curious to observe, that poets, who suffer so much them- 
selves by the taunts of men of the world, and by the apathy of 
the vulgar, should in their turn revenge themselves upon men of 
science, and treat their speculations with disdain. Ben Jonson 
has attempted this, in one of his masques, with a degree of hu- 
mour which is not always the portion of those who throw ri- 
dicule on science. Merefool, the clown of the piece, consults 
an adept, who promises to instruct him in all occult secrets, and 
to show him apparitions of all the learned men of the ancients; 
but every man who is called for happens to be busy, from Py- 
thagoras, ‘who has rashly run himself upon an employment of 
keeping asses from a field of beans,’ to Archimedes, who is 
meditating the invention of ; 


‘ A rare mouse-trap with owls’ wings, 
And a cat’s foot to catch the mice alone.’ 


“ Not only the same taste for ridicule, but the same ideas, 
we find repeated, with a slight alteration, at different eras. 
Aristophanes and Lucian amongst the ancients; and Butler, 
Swift, and Voltaire, the three modern masters of ridicule, have 
- in various shapes the same ideas, and are alike disposed to con- 
found the ingenious and the extravagant. The best way of 
parrying the stroke of ridicule is to receive it with good hu- 
mour; Laugh with those who laugh, and persevere with those 
who labour, should be the motto of men who possess the powers 
of invention. 

“‘ The late Dr. Johnson, who in his Rasselas ridiculed the 
idea of the art of flying, lived long enough to see the ascent of 
the first air-balloon.” | 


XLV. Report made by Messrs. Hzurtier, Percizr, and Du- 
FoURNY, to the Class of Fine Arts of the French Institute, of 
the Labours of the French Architects at Rome during the 
Years 1812 and 1813*, 


~Goxremnn,—You will recollect that the labours prescribed 
_ by your regulations to the pupils who are architectural pensioners 


* Megasin Encyciopédigue, Nov. 1815. 
of 


188 Report of the Latours of 


of the French government at the Academy of Rome are divided 
into two classes. 

The one comprehends studies of the details wha during the 
first three years of their residence they ought to furnish, in or- 
det to show how they had been employing their time, and the 
progress which they are making in the study of the art; works 
the property of which remains with the author. 

The other description of labours consists in the restoration of 
ancient monuments, which the pupils ought to undertake during 
their residence, and present in a finished state at the expiration 
of their term. These restorations, which we may regard as the 
completion of their education, appertain to government. 

Your commission has followed the order of this division, in the 
examination which you have direeted them to make of the works 
sent from Rome this year. Their report will embrace, first; the 
analysis of the studies of annual details; and secondly, that of 
the restoration of antique monuments, 

M. Suys, one of your pupils, has extended his researches over 
the three orders of architecture. 

In order to study the Dorie and Ionic orders, he has judi- 
ciously chosen those of the theatre of Marcellus, as the most 
correct of the edifices of ancient Rome, and even of Italy. Of 
-the three drawings which he has made, one traces the whole 
of the two orders raised ou each other, with the arcades made 
in the. intercolumniations: the two other drawings, the details 
of each of these orders; 7. e. its base, capital, and entablature. 

As to the Corinthian erder—among the excellent models con- 
tained in ancient Rome, M. Suys gives. the preference to that 
of the temple of Mars the Avenger, which, better than any other 
perhaps, demonstrates how, by adding boldness to grace, the — 
genius of the ancients knew how to impress character on front | 
elevations the most elegant and rich. 

Of the four drawings which he has given of this monument, 
the first gives the plan and general elevation, taken from ‘the — 
work of Labacco, and which he has borrowed. The other three 
drawings present the elevation of two of the three intercolumni- 
ations which are still standing, and the working details of the 
base, capital, architrave, and rich ceiling which cevers the por- 
tico. 

M. Suys deserves no less praise for the care whieh he has 
taken to point out throughout the nature of the materials, and 
their fine execution, than for the skill with which he has given 
the character of the precious ornaments with which this order is 
tanichedt By following this course M. Suys may expect suCr 

ess at every step of his career. 

it is certainly surprising that Desgodetz, so careful in general 

in 


. 


the French aha at Rome: 189 


in collecting the monuments of ancient Rome, should have to- 
tally neglected the Trajan Pillar, one of the most perfect in 
Rome. Perhaps he regarded it as a monument of sculpture rather 
than of architecture; perhaps also, ignorant as he was of drawing, 
he despaired of being able to give its beauties. 

However this may be, M. Chatillon has given a proof of his 
taste in selecting this splendid monument of antiquity for one of 
the subjects of his studies. 

He has executed five drawings ; which present, Ist, The plan 
and elevation of the whole column, and surmounted, as it was 
when entire, by the statue of the emperor Trajan: 2dly, The 
facade of the pedestal at the entrance side, with the base and 
capital of the column: finally, two fragments of another face of 
a pedestal, which exhibit the trophies, eagles, and other orna- 
ments. ‘These studies or figures are exceedingly well drawn, 
and are calculated to give a favourable idea of those which M. 
Chatillon has since made on the portico of Octavius, and ‘the 
transmission of which is announced. 

M. Provost has directed his attention to the remains of the 
Temple of Jupiter Tonans. 

We know that, buried almost entirely under the ruins of the 
edifice of the Mons Capitolinus, on the slope of which it was 
constructed, this temple has long exhibited no other remains 
than three isolated columns, forming the right angle of the pe- 
ristyle of its anterior facade: they were besides buried in such 
a way as to show only the upper part of their shafts, the capitals, 


‘and part of the entablature: so that none of the architects 


who since the revival of the art haye published collections of 
antiquities, had either seen or given the toute ensemble. 

» M. Provost, profiting by the excavations made around the feet 
of those columns under the auspices of the French government, 
during his stay at Rome, not only surveyed them entire, -but 
exeeuted four drawings of their details. 

The first contains the total elevation of the intercolumniation 
which forms the angle of the interior facade, from the level of 
the ancient soil to the summit of the entablature, with all the 
various plans, sections.and profiles, necessary to its development. 

The three other drawings are consecrated tothe details; such 
as the base and the capital, the entablature of the sofite of the 
architrave, and the frieze of sacrificial instruments which runs 
along the flank of the temple. 

» Thus (thanks to M, Provost) we now enjoy for the first time 
a complete view of the Temple of Jupiter Tonans, one of the 
most magnificent of ancient Rome; and that without contradie- 
tion which unites in the highest degree the luxury of ornament 
with delicacy and neatnesa of execution. 

The 


190 Report of the Labours of 


‘The most essential particulars in this new Corinthian model 
are: 

J]. The difference of breadth which exists between the two im- 
tercolumniations of the angle; that of the anterior face having 
three modules, whereas that of the flank has only two and a 
half. This kind of irregularity has been occasioned, according 
to all appearance, by the great proximity of the ancient edifice 
ealled Tabularium, which, not admitting of giving the flank of 
the temple the accustomed depth, constrained the architect to 
reduce the breadth of the intercolumniations. 

2. The height of the column, which, being carried to ten 
diameters and a fourth, presents one of the most slender and 
elegant Corinthian proportions with which we are acquainted. 

3. The nature of the stylobate, which consists of a simple 
marble die, without base or cornice, and one diameter high, 
placed under each column. 

4, Finally, the steps which, practised in the intervals between 
the dies, served for the ascent from the ancient way to that of 
the peristyle of the temple. This practice of placing the steps 
in the thick part of the pedestals of the eolumns had not been 
before remarked, except in the ancient Temple of Minerva at 
Assise. The present is a new instance, which deserves to be 
imitated on all occasions, when it is not permitted to bring in 
front of the peristyle the steps by which we are to ascend it. 

M. Gauthier has presented various interesting studies for the 
years 1812 and 1813. They consist in a drawing of the con- 
sole of the arch of Titus; in the restoration of the Temple of 
Jupiter Stator; und in that of the Temple of Peace: the whole 
forming fifteen large drawings. ; 

The console placed at the key-stone of the arch of Titus, oné 
of the finest which we see in ancient monuments, is very beauti- 
ful: besides the foliage and other ornaments with which it is 
enriched, it presents in its anterior front a figure standing, very - 
much decayed, which, according to the attributes still percepti- 
ble, seems to have represented the City of Rome, with the hel- 
met on her head, supported on a lance, and holding a crown 
of laurel.. M. Gauthier has drawn this console both in front 
and in profile, in a broad and soft manner, and in the propor- 
tion of half of the real size; a task which has not hitherto been 
attempted. . 

In three other drawings he gives the plan and elevation as re- 
stored, of the Temple of Jupiter Stator. For a long time, as 
is well known, the remains of this temple were reduced to three 
isolated columns, and of which a portion of the shaft, the base, 
and the stylobate were buried so deep, that hitherto those parts 
had not hitherto been observed. M, Gauthier, profiting by an 

excavation 


the French Architects at Rome. 191 


excavation in 1813, by the orders of the French government, 
around those columns, and carried to the level of the first course 
of their foundations, ascertained that they had, not steps, (as in- 
dicated by Palladio,) but one continued stylobate formed of large 
blocks of stone covered with marble slabs; and consequently 
these columns must have formed part of the lateral peristyle ef 
the temple. 

These observations, and the precise measurements which he 
has taken to all those parts, have afforded him the means of 
fixing with certainty the general proportions of the whole, left 
incomplete to the present time; and consequently to restore in 
a suitable manner the plan of the temple and the entire eleva- 
tion of its facade. The capital and the entablature are given 
with great truth, and in such a way as to give a just idea of the 
magnificence of this monument; one of the purest models which 
students can possess for beauty of general proportion, graceful- 
ness of profile, and the exquisite taste of the ornaments with 
which they are enriched without profusion. 

The Temple of Peace, which M. Gauthier made the object of 
his studies in 1813, did not present in his opinion the same kind 
of merit. Certainly the same purity is visible both in the ge- 
neral character of this monument, and in the distribution, taste, 
and execution of its ornaments: we cannot even refuse to ad- 
mit that the ensemble of its character resembles strongly that 
: of the Thermz and other edifices built in the time of Dioclesian, 
: the first era of the decline of the art: but the magnificent ar- 
rangement of the plan, the colossal dimensions of the masses, 
and the means of construction employed to ensure the necessary 
stability, furnish a new source of investigation. 

For these reasons the Temple of Peace has from the earliest 
times fixed the attention of studious architects. From the first 
era of the restoration of the art, Serlio and Palladio published 
the drawings of it; an example which was followed by many 
others, particularly by Desgodetz, who, more exact, .corrected 
the mistakes of his predecessors, but cannot give as yet any thing 
but an incomplete work ; because, in his time as at present, the 
remains of this edifice were buried under enormous ruins, which 
rendered every inquiry fruitless. 

What artists have long desired, the French government has 
undertaken. By excavations executed by their orders in 1812 
and 1813, the entire surface of the ground-floor of the building 
was cleared, and which in some places was covered with more 
than twenty-five feet of earth. 

M. Gauthier followed step by step these excavations, and mea- 
sured and drew not only all the vestiges of the plan of the edifices, 
‘but even the smallest fragments of ornaments which appeared to 


Ie 


192 Report of the Lalours of 


be adapted to throw light on its decoration: and the result of these 
inquiries has been given to the world by him in twelve drawings; 
three of which exhibit the plan and elevation of the edifice ix 
its present state of ruin, with the indication of the parts unco- 
vered in the excavations: and in the other drawings, the monu+ 
ment is restored entirely, with all the details of the orders which 
decorate it both externally and internally. “ 

The most remarkable parts of this restoration, because they 
are absolutely new, are: 

1. The plan, section, and external elevation of the portico 
which ranged along the whole eastern part of the edifice, and 
preceded its entrance on the side of the Colyseum: the com- 
partments of the pavement in cipoline and yellow antique marbie, 
and those of the groined arches adorned with caissons. 

2. The plan, more exact and complete than hitherto drawn, 
of the three naves camposing the body of the temple. with all 
the compartments of its magnificent pavement formed of the 
most valuable marbles, such as violet breche, the yellow antique, 
the green granite, porphyry, and serpentine. 

3. The entire decoration of the grand circular niche which 
occupies the middle of the north flank, restored according to 
the fragments of bases, columns, capitals, and entablatures dis- 
covered inthis part. The bad style of these fragments and their 
coarse execution, added to the vestiges of a Christian altar found 
also in this place, lead the author to conjecture that the deco- 
ration of this niche has undergone changes at the time of the 
edifice being converted into a church. 

4, The lateral entrance made in the flank of the temple op- 
posite to this niche, and which ought to have looked into the Via 
Sacra. 

5. The measurements in detail of the grand column now raised 
on the plan of St. Mary Major, and which, as we already know, 
was taken from the Temple of Peace. It results from these 
measurements, given for the first time with precision, that this 
column presents the singularity of being thickened about one- 
third up the shaft, and-diminishing very little at its upper part : 
without doubt, in order to present more strength to the arch, 
and more resistance to the burthen which it had to support. 

6. Finally, the most valuable of these restorations, because it 
was the most unexpected, is that of the decoration of the arch 
which covered the central nave of the edifice. It has been 
drawn from the numerous fragments discovered in the excava- 
tions, collected and combined by M. Gauthier, so as to repro~ 
duce not only the arrangement of the various square caissons, 
lozenges, ovals and triangulars, of which it is composed, but the 
minutest ornament in stucco with which it was enriched Hed 

that: 


the French Architects at Rome. 193 


that there remains nothing more to desire upor this most im- 
portant part of the decoration of the edifice. 

It appears that the excavations hitherto executed have not 
presented any indication which proved that this edifice had been 
connected with any other; whence it has been hastily concluded 
that it has never formed part of a palace or a suite of baths, as 


generally thought. Nevertheless, before giving up this idea, it 


would be necessary to try an excavation which has hitherto been 
neglected. This is of the ground comprehended between the 
Temple of Peace and the two halls adjoining, vulgarly called the 
Temples of the Sun and Moon. This excavation, well directed, 
would perhaps discover the ancient communications which have 
been suspected to exist between these edifices with the mere 
foundation, as the Temples of the Sun and Moon exhibit a 
striking analogy to the Temple of Peace, both in their construc- 
tion and in the compartments in stucco with which their arches 
are adorned. 

Such a discovery would remove every doubt: for the more 
attentively we consider the edifice in question, in whole or in 
parts,—the style of its architecture being evidently inferior to that 
which prevailed in the time of Claudius and Vespasian, to whom 
the erection has been ascribed, and particularly the arrange- 
ment of its plan, which, similar to that of the halls of the baths 
or palaces, has nothing in common with the well-known ar- 
rangements of the temples cf the ancients,—the more we are per- 
suaded that tradition is defective respecting the true destination 
of this edifice. 

As to its date, it is sufficient to cast our eyes on the drawings 
of M. Gauthier, who has with the most praiseworthy fidelity given 
the true character of the details, in order to he convinced that 
ornaments of a style and executien semi-barbarous cannot be 


_ the work of the Augustan age of architecture. 


M. Gauthier has added to his drawings an explanatory notice, 
in which he gives not only the description of the various parts 
of the edifice, but also all the details of its construction, which he 
has studied with the greatest care, besides every information rela- 
tive to the excavations, in which have heen found the materials 
which served as his authority for establishing with certainty the 
restoration of the received parts of this vast monument. 

In a word, the restoration of the Temple of Peace, which was 
not obligatory on M. Gauthier, does honour in every respect to 
his zeal and talents, and caunot but augur well for that of the 
Temple of Mars the Avenger, which he has just finished for the 
government. His work is the more precious, as, several frag- 
ments which served as his authority being already destroyed, it 
is not possible now to make ove more complete. This last con- 

Vol. 47. No. 215. March 1816. N sideration 


194 Report of the Labours of 


sideration ought to induce the class to ask M. Gauthier, to whom 
we are indebted for this restoration of the Temple of Peace, to 
present the same to government, in order tu be added to those 
which it already possesses, and among which it will hold a most 
distinguished place. 

The bare review of the works presented by Messrs. Suys, 
Chatillon, Provost, and Gauthier, for their annual tribute of 
1812 and 1513,demonstrates that, so far from having neglected 
to fulfil the obligations imposed by the regulations, they have 
even outstepped them. Their zeal in this respect does not merit 
less eulogy than their eagerness to profit by the excavations, 
ordered with so much munificence by the French government, of 
most of the monuments of Roman magnificence. 

While on this subject, it may be necessary to remind our readers 
that from the year 1809 to the end of 1813 the French au- 
thorities at Rome have incessantly excavated and laid bare, for 
the sake of the advancement of erudition and the instruction of 
architects, the remains of the chief edifices of ancient Rome: 
it is thus that we have successively seen exposed to view the 
temples of Antoninus and Faustina, of Vesta, of Fortuna Virilis, . 
of Concord, of Jupiter Tonans, of Peace, of the Sun, the Moon, 
and Jupiter Stator; the arches of Janus, and of the Goldsmiths, 
the column of Phocas, Trajan’s Forum, the baths of Titus; and 
lastly, the Colyseum. 

The restorations of ancient monuments, made for the govern- 
ment by Messrs. Leclere and Huyot, and of which the com- © 
mittee is about to give an account, will not be less interesting. 

Among the ancient edifices which time has respected, none is 
more imposing, better preserved, or rather less damaged, than 
the Pantheon: none is better caiculated to give an elevated idea 
of the genius of the ancients for architecture; for even at the 
time it was erected (which was the most flourishing era of the 
art) it was regarded as one of the most beautiful chefs-@ ceuvre. 
It is in this way that Pliny, Dion Cassius, Suetonius, Ammianus 
Marcellinus, Spartianus, &c. speak of it. 

The moderns have paid the same adoration to it: from the 
happy epoch of the revival of the art, learned, men and artists 
have unceasingly made it the subject of their meditations and 
studies. The most celebrated architects, Serlio, Palladio, Pietro 
Ligorio, Fontana, Desgodetz, Piranesi, have published the mea- 
surements ; and the two latter in particular with such precision | 
that their works appear to leave nothing to be desired. 

This subject had not therefore the advantage of novelty: nay, 
it was even to all appearance exhausted. M. Leclerc, however, 
las chosen it as the subject of one of his restorations, and he has 
no reason to complain of want of success. 


In 


the French Architects at Rome. 195 


In a series of twenty-one drawings executed with the most 
rare intelligence and on a very large scale, M. Leclere has not 
only revived as it were, his subject by the immense developments 
which he has given both to the tout ensemble and to the de- 

tails, and by the art with which he has developed them ; but he 
has succeeded in giving a more complete work than any one has 
done hitherto, and new even in many respects in consequence of 
the numerous discoveries with which he has enriched it. 

In the state of impossibility in which the committee find them- 
selves of indicating all of them, they will content themselves with 
describing the most important, beginning with those which are 
relative to the external parts of the temple. 

1. Hitherto we have not had an exact drawing of the flight 
of steps by which, from the place in front of the Pantheon, its 
portico was attained. This external part of the edifice having 
been long covered by the successions of rubbish thrown on the 
adjacent ground, each had drawn it according to his own ideas, 
his taste, or fancy. M. Leclerc, according to the observations 
made and the vestiges discovered at the time of the excavations 
of 1801, in front as well as upon the flanks of the portico and 
of the body of the temple, has restored this interesting part in 
its true form. 

He shows that the ground of the surrounding square was 
paved with large irregular flags of Travertine marble, and that 
the temple was ascended by means of four steps of white mar- 
ble; at the top of which was a broad pavement or foot-path 
which extended not only over the whole of the facade, but even 
over the outskirts of the circumference of the temple, where it 
was sustained by a continued stylobatum. 

2. Vitruvius in the second chapter of his third book, treating of 
the various thicknesses to be given to columns according to the 
different breadths of the intercolumniations, prescribes the thick - 
ening of afiftieth part of the diameter of the columns placed in the 
angle of the porticos: ‘‘ because,”’ he says, “ the great light which 
strikes them more than the others making them appear more 
slender, it is necessary to remedy this false appearance, which 
would otherwise deceive the eye.” 

M. Leclere has verified that the column of the angle of the 
portico towards the right of the spectator is in fact stronger 

than the others by a fiftieth nearly of its diameter; the column 
of the opposite angle does not exhibit the same conformity with 
the precept of Vitruvius, but we know that it was plac ed there 
at the time of a very modern restoration, 

3. The two great niches which occupy the bottom of the 
aisles of the portico, stripped for a long time of every indication 
of covering, have been hitherto drawn smooth and without any 

N 2 kind 


196 Report of the Labours of 


kind of ornament by Serlio, Palladioand Desgodetz, a barentiess 
which agrees badly with the richness of the general appearance. 
Piranesi is the only person who of late years has suspected that 
those niches were formerly covered with marble. -M. Leclerc, 
pushing his observations further, has ascertained by the arrange- 
ment of the holes of the rivetings perceptible in the bricks, that 
not only were they covered with marble throughout their whole 
circumference, but also that they had an impost, which received 
a fillet or archivolt of marble also which stretched around the 
ceinture of the niche. 

4. He is also the first who remarked, above the interior cor- 
nices of the portico, the chases cut for receiving the bronze 
arches which cover the three nayes of the portico: an observa- 
tion which, added to the authority of Serlio, Pietro Ligorio and 
Palladio, has afforded him the means of restoring in its primitive 
form that part of the portico the magnificence of which exceeded 
all idea. 

5. The three cornices, which begird at different heights the 
external circumference of the temple, had mot been drawn exactly 
either by Desgodetz or Piranesi. M. Leclere has ascertained 
the true profile, as well as the stucco ornaments of which he has 
discovered the remains: so that we may regard as_new the de- 
tails which he gives of those three cornices. 

6. He has also examined with care the upper part of the 
creeping cornice of the front, in order to ascertain if there had 
been at the extremities pedestals for supporting statues, as 
Serlio, Palladio, Desgodetz and Piranesi have drawn them ; and 
he has ascertained that there were pedestals on the pediment 
only, and not at the angles. 

7. This inquiry, for which he was compelled to remove the 
tiles which cover this part, led him to perceive a range of holes 
extending above the whole of the creeping cornice of the front: 
a certain proof that the front was surmounted by a frieze of 
ornaments cut in marble or bronze, and which he has conse- 
quently thought himself entitled to give in his drawing. 

8. Not content with having developed, in a particular elevation: 
and section, the ornaments and all the details of construction of 
this frontispiece, from the first course of the foundations to the 
summit of the pediment, M. Leclerc formed the happy idea of 
bringing together, on the same paper and on the same scale, the. 
details of the construction of other antique frontispieces which 
time has respected. Such are the Doric frontispieees of the 
small Temple of Pestum and that of Hercules at Cori, the Ionic 
frontispiece of the Temples of Fortuna Virilis and of Concord 
at Rome, and the Corinthian frontispiece of the portico of Oc- 
tavius at Rome. In short, this is a drawing as novel as it is in- 

structive, 


the French Architects at Rome. 197 


structive, which, exhibiting under one and the same point of 
view the parallel of the construction of the best preserved an- 
cient frontispieces, facilitates the comparison of the materials em- 
ployed, as well as that of their section, their ornaments, and other 
means of execution. ; 

9. Doubts had been always entec:tained respecting the simul- 
taneous construction of the two frontispieces which we re- 
marked at the fagade of the Pantheon. Those of good taste, 
and even the most enlightened artists, shocked at this vicious 
double employment of the frontispiece, which being only a mere 
representation of the roof ought to be essentially unique in a 
building, did not hesitate to pronounce that these two fronts 
could not have existed together in the primitive state of the 
Pantheon, and that doubtless the posterior frontispiece formed 
the summit of a first facade, ou which had been placed afterwards 
the portico and its frontispiece. 

However plausible this opinion may be, it must give way to 
the evidence of the result obtained by M. Leclerc: according to 
a series of observations tov long to detail, but directed with the 
greatest sagacity, he has concluded, and demonstrated by his 
drawings, not only that the horizontal cornice of the posterior 
frontispiece has not been cut with a view to introduce therein 
the frontispiece of the portico, but that it has been always thus 
from the origin of the edifice, and that the intimate connexion 
of the construction of these two frontispieces with that of the 
body of the edifice does not admit of a doubt that they had 
been constructed at the same time. 

10. One of the most important points to elucidate, because 
it serves to decide what has always been the true destination of 
the monument, was to examine if, as a number of writers have 
asserted, the Pantheon originally formed part of the baths of 
Agrippa, of which it must have formed one of the principal 
apartments, By an attentive examination of the posterior part 
of the edifice, to which are still attached considerable remains 
of those baths, M. Leclerc has ascertained that in fact they were 
immediately contiguous to the Pantheon, that the masonry of 
the two edifices was intimately connected to a certain height, 
that even the second exterior cornice of the Pantheon went round 
aud seemed to have prevailed on the body of the edifice for the 
haths; but that there was no aperture and no orifice to warrant 
the idea that there had ever existed between them any interior 
and direct communication : hence he concluded that from its 
origin the Pantheon had always been a temple. 

If from the exterior of the Pantheon we pass with M. Leclere 
into the interior, we shall find that his studies and inquiries have 
not been less fruitful, 

Ng 1]. Some 


198 Report of the Labours of 


11. Some writers have asserted that the small buildings or 
tabernacles, which to the number of eight are distributed around 
its circumference, were added at the time of the consecration 
of the temple to the worship of the Christian religion: this 
mistake is entirely cleared up by the developments which 
M. Leclere gives of their construction. These demonstrate that 
it is and always has been connected with that of the body of the 
edifice ; and that those altars or tabernacles have existed from 
the origin, and have undergone no other alterations than those 
occasioned by successive reparations and the change of religion. 

12. The friezes of running palm-leaves, which M. Leclere 
has drawn on the frontispieces of these altars, as well as on the 
cornice of the interior order, are fully warranted by the holes 
which he found in these parts, indications which had not pre- 
viously been observed. 

13. Finally, various sections taken on the great semicircular 
and square niches distributed around the interior circumference, 
show that the construction of the Corinthian order which deco- 
rates them, is so connected with that of the body of the temple 
that it becomes impossible to suppose, as has generally been 
done, that this order was added afterwards. 

Such are the observations and researches which led M. Leclere 
to conclude: 

1. That the building of the Pantheon, from its original con- 

struction, has been destined to serve as a temple; and never 
formed part of the baths of Agrippa, with which it has net any 
direct communication. 
" 2. That the Corinthian order which decorates the interior, 
and that of the entrance portico, date from the epoch of the 
primitive construction of the edifice, and are not additions made 
to the circular part of the temple subsequent to the time of 
Agrippa. 

If we refer to those who have written on the subject, we find 
all of them to be of a contrary opinion. According to Michael 
Angelo, quoted by Vasari (Life of Sansovino), the Pantheon was 
the work of three architects, the first of whom built the interior 
order to its entablature, the second the attic, and the third the 
external portico. 

In order to set aside an opinion so generally adopted, other 
methods than simple reasonings are wanted. M. Leclere was 
aware of this; and freeing himself from all spirit of system, guided 
merely by the light of actual observation, he has had the merit 
of being the first to throw true light on those important ques- 
tions, by means of almost ocular demonstration. 

The results which he thus obtained deserve the more confi- 
dence, that they have not been admitted by him until after having 

. bee 


the French Architects at Rome. 199 


been discussed with the most enlightened antiquaries and artists 
of Rome, to whom he communicated them on the very ground 
as soon as the discoveries were made, and who were obliged to 
sacrifice their opinions to the evidence of their senses. 

These results are besides perfectly in unison both with the 
inscription which the frontispiece bears, and with Pliny, the only 
one of the ancient writers who saw this monument entire; for 
by using the words Pantheum ab Agrippa facium, he has evi- 
dently testified that the erection of this building as well as its 
completion was owing to the munificence of the same man: the 


‘conception and execution were consequently the fruits of one 


and the same genius. 

To this rapid sketch of the principal chservations of M. Le- 
clerc the committee ought to add: Ist, That he has particularly 
endeavoured to give their true character to the ornaments, and 
to represent with the most scrupulous exactitude the nature, 
the arrangement, even the colour of the materials ; in short, all 
the details of construction, unnoticed for the mest part or badly 
indicated hitherto. 2dly, That he has added to his drawings 
very satisfactory explanatory notes, containing the description of 
the monument, the indication cf the sources where he got it, 
and the authorities to which he refers for restoring the lost parts. 
3rdly, ‘That the numerous drawings which M. Leclere has de- 
dicated to this fine restoration are executed in every respect 
with a perfection to entitle them to serve as models of their 
kind; and that henceforth we cannot expect to see the Pantheon, 
that chef-d’veuvre of ancient grandeur, grace, and harinony, 
represented in all its details with more intelligence, purity, and 
precision. 

M. Huyot has presented the restorations of the celebrated 
Temple of Fortune, as well as the Forum of the ancient city of 
Preneste. 

We know that this city (now Palestrina) is situated in Latium, 
twenty-three miles from Rome, towards the east, and rises into 
an amphitheatre on the slope of a mountain forming the ex- 
tremity of one of the branches of the Apennines. 

Its origin is of the highest antiquity. Cicero says that he 
cannot assign the epoch of it: what appears certain is, that long 
before the founding of Rome this city had its gods and temples, 
the most considerable of which was that of Fortune, who was 
afterwards worshipped throughout all Italy. 

When Sylia assumed the dictatorship (B. C. $2) Praeneste 
contained buildings of great importance. Cicero speaks of its 
walls‘as being of an opus incertum, or irregular polygous, which 
he says was a construction in use among the Dorians; he speaks 

N4 also 


~ 


200 Report of the Labours of 


also of a large space exposed to the sun, which he calls So- 
larium. 

According to Suetonius, the Forum occupied the space con- 
tained between the public road and the foot of the temple: it 
had two ground plans, the one inferior and the other superior, 
and its porticos were adorned with statues. There were also 
to be scen there, according to Varro, two Basilica, one called 
Emilia, the other Fulvia, and a Gnomon, 

Livy speaks of a statue of Jupiter Imperator, who was held 
in great veneration, and who doubtless had a temple in the 
Forum. Authors also mention temples of Juno, Mars, the god- 
dess Opis, and particularly the famous temple of Fortune, which 
situated at the top of the city commanded it, and filled it al- 
most entirely with its appendages which extended to the Forum. 

After having had kings and various kinds of governments, 
Preneste subjugated by the Romans under the conduct of Cin- 
cinnatus, destroyed then restored by Sylla, who sent a colony 
there, flourished during the emperors, and preserved its splendour 
to the fall of the empire. 

From this peried Preneste declined, and in the various devas 
tations which it suffered its monuments were destroyed; on the 
ruins of which the modern Palestrina has gradually been raised. 

The latter increasing from time to time now presents the 
singular spectacle of houses, churches, and high palaces, sus-~ 
pended as it were on the vast terraces which supported the an- 
cient edifices. 

It has been through those modern buildings that M. Huyot 
has set about seeking out and measuring the remains of the monu- 
ments which formed the splendour of the ancient Praneste. 

The enterprise was the more difficult, as he embarked upon 
it almost without guides: those only whom he could consult 
were Pietro Ligorio, among whose manuscript drawings a ge- 
neral plan and perspective view of this temple with its atrium 
and appendages were found; Pietro da Cortona, from whose 
drawings a plan and general elevation were engraved on a large 
scale ; and Suares, who in his Preneste Antiqua, and Volpi in 
the Vetus Latium, have inserted perspective views. 

Inexact and incomplete as these works are, and the fruits of the 
imagination rather than of the observations of their authors, 
they could offer but very feeble assistance. 

Piranesi, that indefatigable investigator of ancient monuments, 
has published nothing on the latter: there was therefore a new 
mine to explore, and M. Huyot acquitted himself with the 
greatest success. i 

He has given six drawings of the results of his extensive in- 

quiries. 


the French Architects at Rome. 201 


quiries, The first three give the plan, elevation, and general 
section of the ancient Praneste, in their present state, and 
stripped of the modern constructions which cover them; the 
three other drawings present the plan, elevation, and general 
sections of the ancient city, with its chief edifices, restored in 
the state in which they must have existed at the time of Sylla, 
an epoch selected by the author to make the restoration. 

We there ascertain the ancient Prenestine way, which leads 
from Rome to the principal entrance of the city; its walls and 
various gates ; the easy flight of steps which lead to a first plat- 
ferm, on which was established the Forum of the city; which in 
its lower part comprehended the Basilice of milia and Fulvia, 
the Temples of Juno and Esculapius, and the pools of water for 
the use of those who came to visit the Temple of Fortune; and 
in its upper part the Temple of Jupiter Imperator with its por- 
ticos. 

Aboye the Forum are several terraces and flights of steps of 
easy ascent, constructed of irregular polygons, whicli led to a 
second platform containing the atrium and the dependences of 
the Temple of Fortune. Lastly, this temple itself erected ona 
piece of ground still more elevated and crowning the whole. 

In order to appreciate correctly the merit of such a work, we 
must consider the obstacles of every kind which it was necessary 
to surmount. 

The immense extent of these edifices, and their situation on 
the abrupt slope of a rugged mountain, were already sufficient 
to render very difficult the operations necessary for drawing the 
plans of their ruins: and how much must the difficulties have 
been increased, by the complete superposition as it were of a 
modern city, the streets, squares and public buildings of which 
intersect in every direction and disturb the arrangement of the 
ancient city! 

If we reflect that it was in spite of these obstacles, that it was 
necessary first to draw and establish in an accurate manner the 
respective directions and levels of this multitude of terraces made 
at different altitudes on the brow of the mountain; afterwards 
to ascertain the remains of the ancient monuments scattered 
over the platforms which separate these terraces; to discriminate 
between them and the modern construction with which they are 
often confoynded by the identity of the materials; finally, to 
unite and arrange all these fragments, and to form a whole out 
of them, which should agree at once with the notices left by au- 
thors, the vestiges still existing, and the rules of art; we may 
easily suppose that, to succeed in such an enterprise, it would be 
necessary to joja to a consummate practice in the study of an- 


tiquities a perseverance and sagacity of the rarest description. 
ie ‘ To 


262 Report of the Labours of 


To leave nothing unaccomplished, M. Huyot has added to his 
drawings a very copious memoir, and which he hopes to have the 
honour to read to the class, in which collecting all the notices 
seattered through writers, he gives a sketch of the history of 
Preeneste, and treats of the ancient names of that city, its origin, 
of the various spots of ground which it occupied, and of its suc- 
cessive extensions; of the monuments with which it is embel- 
lished, and of the date of their construction: lastly, he describes 
the modern city of Palestrina, and the remains of the Temple of 
Fortune, the special object of his study. 

This last part is the most interesting for the art, because it 
contains the proper notions for determining the style and cha- 
racter of the architecture of the monuments of ancient Preneste. 
Although the most ancient, perhaps, of those which we know in 
Italy, they are those only in which we remark the simultaneous 
employment of the three orders of arehitecture. 

In short, according to the fragments found in the lower part 
of the city, we find that the Doric order was employed in the 
lower part of the Forum: its fluted column with sharp ridges and 
without base, and the profile of its capital, resemble closely those 
of the Temple of Hercules at Cori, and the portico which is 
known by the name of Pabulariuwm, the remains of which are 
seen on the Capitol. A stylobatum still preserved in its place, 
in the upper part of the Forum, exhibits also the Doric character, 
the frieze of its entablature being adorned with triglyphs and 
wreaths, executed precisely in the style of those which we see on 
a sarcophagus of the Scipios. 

The Ionic order entered into the decoration of the edifices 
dependent on the Temple of Fortune: its capitals, if we are to 
judge from-those which have been found, were very badly seulp- 
tured, and nearly of the same kind with those of the ancient 
portico which is still seen at Perousis.. 

As to the Corinthian order, it is that which we meet with most 
frequently in the buildings at Praneste: although repeated ten 
times, it is remarkable that its proportion and ornaments are 
always the same: its chapter is decorated with acanthus leaves 
turned up; and friezed like those of the capital of the Temple of 
the Sybils at Tivoli, and its height is a single diameter only, con- 
formably to the doctrine of Vitruvius. The cornices of this or- 
der are profiled in a very simple manner, and exhibit no kind of 
ornament, 

With respect to the construction, all the walls, either of the 
terraces or of the body of the buildings, are executed in the 
opus incertum, composed sometimes of immense blocks of stone 
cut in irregular polygons, and placed on each other without ce- 
ment; sometimes of thin stones mixed and blocked up with lime: 

Mm 


the French Architects at Rome. 203 


in several parts of these edifices we see arcades with full cein- 
tures, the arches of which exhibit sections regularly furnished. 

These various observations, when compared, lead the author 
to conclude that, the monuments of Preneste having both hy the 
manner of their construction and the style of their architecture 
an evident analogy with the Temples of Hercules at Cori, and 
of the Sybils at Tivoli, with the tabudarium of the Capitol and 
some other remains of antiquity scattered through Etruria, 
their erection dates from an epoch at least contemporary, 2. e. 
far anterior to the foundation of the empire, and that conse- 
quently the style of their architecture may give an idea of that 
which was brought by the Greek colonies who came to Italy. 

This hasty sketch of a work which has cost the author three 
years labour, during which he made ten voyages to Palestrina 
and a stay of six consecutive months, will be sufficient to de- 
monstrate its importance. 

In extricating from its ruins the ancient Preneste, M. Huyot 
has not only made us acquainted with one of the most celebrated 
monuments of antiquity, of which but a very imperfect idea had 
been entertained, and one of the vastest and most magnificent 
architectural conceptions of the genius of the ancients; but also 
a style of architecture little known hitherto, and which for the 
sake of the art ought to be more noticed. 

In all these respects the work of M, Huyot is worthy of the 
approbation of the class, and he has to thank the government for 
permitting him to continue a year longer at Rome. 

Such is the result of the examination which your committee 
has made of the works sent lately by the French architects 
studying at Rome: this anaylsis, succinet as it is, will be suffi- 
cient to give a high idea of their importance: and if, looking 
back ten years, you recollect the various restorations already 
made, and the architectural works published or engraved since 
their return to France, you must acknowledge that “the progress 
of French architecture has been increasing. Among the works 
published during these ten years by the pupils of the School of 
Architecture, we may distinguish the Ruins of Pastum, by 
M. Lagardette ; a Collection of Town and Country Houses, by 
M. Dubut; Tuscan Architecture, by Messrs. Grandjean and 
Famin; a ae of the finest Tombs of Italy, by M. Grand-. 
jean ; the Ruins of Pompeii, by M. Mazois: the complete Works 
of Vignole, by Messrs. Le Bas and Debret. 

There now remain to be engraved the restorations of the 
Temple of Patrician Chastity, by M. Dubut: the Temple of 
Vesta at Rome, by M. Coussin; the Mausoleum of Cecilia 
Metella, by M, Grandjean ; the Temple of Antoninus and Fau- 

stina, 


204 On a new Method of obtaining pure Silver. 


stina, by M. Menager; the Arch of Titus, by M. Guenepin 3 
the Temple of Fortune at Preneste, by M. Huyot; and of the 
Pantheon, by M. Leclerc; to which we may also add the re- 
storations of the Portico of Octavius, by M. Chatillon, and the 
Temple of Mars the Avenger, by M. Gauthier. 

It only remains, therefore, for us to solicit the minister of the 
interior to supply the funds for engraving these splendid re- 
mains of ancient architecture, to enable us to outstrip the career 
of other nations, 


XLVI. Ona new Method of obtaining pure Silver ; with Oblser- 
vations on the Defects of former Processes. By M. Do- 
NoVAN, Esq.* 


Tuere have been four principal methods proposed for obtain- 
ing pure silver. The first is by cuppellation; the second, by 
the reduction of /una cornea; the third, by precipitating silver 
from its nitrous solution by sulphate of iron; the fourth, by 
means of that symmetrical precipitation called arbor Diane. 

These different modes labour under defects. They are either 
inconvenient, incertain, tedious, unceconomical, or inadequate. 

In the process of cuppellation, it is true that all the base me- 
tals are carried down by the lead ; but it is not thus possible to 
separate the gold: this is accordingly found in the resulting 
silver. 

The reduction of luna cornea by atkali affords when the pro- 
cess succeeds a very pure silver: but the success is doubtful, and 
for the most part fails in the hands of the inexperienced. It is 
well known that when the crucible is taken from the fire, instead 
of containing pure silver, it is often found entirely empty, so great 
is the tendency of the fused matter to pass through the pores, 
unless prevented by due skill in the operator. Another source 
of uncertainty is the degree of heat : if it he teo high, the muriate 
volatilizes: if too low, the reduction is not completed; and 
without singular good fortune, the expected quantity will in no 
ease be obtained. Beside these difficulties, the process is ex- 
ceedingly complex and troublesome. 

In the next method, a solution of nitrate of silver is mixed 
with very dilute solution of sulphate of iron: the iron acquires a 
new dose of oxygen derived from the silver; the latter is there- 
fore precipitated. Unless the sulphate of iron he recently pre- 
pared, it will not have the strong attraction to oxygen necessary 5 
and either little silver will be obtained, or none. 


* Read in the Kirwanian Society, February 7, 1816. 


But 


On a new Method of obtaining pure Silver. 205 


But admitting that there is a newly prepared sulphate at hand, 
when its solution is mixed with the nitrate of silver, an addi- 


‘tional dose of oxygen is at once presented to the iron. When 


the precipitated silver is collected on the filter, there will be found 
in it a quantity ef sub-oxysulphate of iron, which, if care be 
taken, can be made by its specific levity to oceupy the stratum 
above the silver. 

Another defect in this process is, that the silver is not entirely 
recovered. If the solution of oxysulphate of iron, from which the 
silver has heen filtered, be mixed with solution of salt, there will 
be a copicus precipitation of muriate of silver. This happens even 
when a large quantity of sulphate of iron has heen employed: 
and in these cases, an additional quantity seems to have no ef- 
fect, with such force do the last portions of silver retain their 
oxygen. Thus the defects of this process are, that it presup- 
poses the recent preparation of sulphate of iron; that the silver 
is not entirely recovered ; and that what is recovered is not quite 
pure. 

The formation of the arbor Diane is obviously under the ob- 
jection of tediousness and trouble. 

The defects of these processes compelled me to try several 
methods for obtaining pure silver. The following appears to an- 
swer expectation : 

240 grains of standard silver are to be dissolved in as much 
pure nitric acid of s.G. about 1-2, as will be barely necessary 
for the solution. This is to be filtered, and distilled water al- 
Jowed to run through the filter until the fluids amount to two 
ounces measure. A bright plate of copper weighing more than 
64 grains is to bé immersed, and frequently agitated in it. When 
the silver has entirely precipitated, which will very soon happen, 
the clear supernatant liquor is to be poured off, and the preci- 
pitate is to be well washed. The silver is then to be boiled for 
a few minutes in liquid ammonia: it is to be again well washed, 
and dried on a filter. 

A few remarks to show the adequacy of this process may be 
necessary. 

The silver of commerce is composed of 37 of fine silver to 3 of 
eopper. The fine silver is obtained by cuppellation, and there- 
fore contains gold. When this silver is dissolved, the gold is 
found in the form of a powder. I have sometimes observed it 
black and sometimes purple: that is, it is either peroxide or 
protoxide. In the nitrous solution we have therefore only silver 
and copper, unless we regard the very small quantity of gold 


_ which nitrous acid can dissolve. 


When into the solution of standard silver we immerse a plate 
of copper, the latter dissolves in place of the silver, which is 
therefore 


206 On a new Method of obtaining pure Silver. 


therefore precipitated. But the copper of commerce always 
contains other metals ; hence we must examine if any of them 
inquinate the product. Lead, antimony and arsenic have been 
found in copper. The first and last dissolve in the nitrous acid. 
Antimony scarcely dissolves in dilute nitric acid, but { find that 
when alloyed with alarge portion of copper it dissolves with 
sufficient facility. Hence none of the above metals will be found 
in the reduced silver. When copper is dissolved in strong nitric 
acid, the solution when saturated lets fall a brown powder 
which Fourcroy considered oxide of copper. I collected a small 
quantity of this powder, heated it to a bright red, and found it 
magnetic. Its saturated solution also struck a black with tinc- 
ture of galls. This powder is therefore iron, and probably a 
sub-oxynitrate. But when copper is precipitating the silver from 
its nitrous solution, the iron, as I have found, will remain dis- 
solved, provided that no heat be used, and that the acid used in 
forming the nitrate did not exceed s. G, 1:2. 

The only metal, therefore, which adulterates the precipitated 
silver is copper, proceeding no doubt, as Vauquelin observes, 
from the galvanic action between the precipitant and precipitated 
metals. It might be doubted that ammonia will dissolve the 
copper, as it is commonly supposed that this metal in its me- 
tallic state is very little, or not at all, acted on by that alkali. The 
observation, however, does not apply to copper minutely divided. 
I boiled ammonia on copper powder precipitated from its solu- 
tion by iron, and well cleansed by washing with dilute muriatic 
avid: the ammonia in a minute or two assumed a deep blue 
colour. The silver resulting from the above described process 
does not afford the least trace of copper to the strictest scrutiny. 
if the solution of 240 grains of silver be made to amount to two 
ounces measure, the silver precipitates speedily when the copper 
is immersed; and the particles are large enough to subside, and 
to permit the pouring off of the washings without loss, 

The quantity of copper necessary to precipitate 100 grains of 
pure silver is 28-7 grains, according to a great number of trials 
which all agreed. Bergman makes it 31: but in this case the 
difference is of no consequence. 

The solution from which the silver has been separated af- 
fords no precipitate with muriate of soda: hence the separation 
is complete: and I find that, with a little care, the loss of silver 
by filtration and decantation need not exceed 3 per cent. 

The boiling with ammonia merely takes up the copper: when 
ammonia is boiled on silver, even in powder, and afterwards 
saturated with muriatic acid, the transparency of the fluid is 
scarcely impaired. 

I have been thus minute in my account of so simple a process, 

because 


20 | 
On Aérostation. ET 


because I conceived that new methods are entitled to no consi- 
deration unless they are shown to be adequate to their end, and 
necessary, on account of some imperfections in the means pre- 
viously employed. The advantages to be derived from the pro- 
cess now proposed are the recovery of the whole of the silver, 
the purity of it, and the little time and trouble required for the 
operation. 


XLVI. On Aérostation. By A CorresPONDENT. 
To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — aes enthusiasm excited by the first invention of bal- 
loons, has like all the other movements of enthusiasm produced 
a reaction, which has hitherto involved in a kind of ridicule 
every attempt to apply them to any useful purpose, and which 
has been fatal to any progress in their improvement. The steady 
march of the human mind, however, ultimately triumphs over 
these alternate fits of extravagance and torpor ; and the day is 
probably not very distant, when the theories of ingenious men 
controlled by the sober experiments of science will lead to more 
happy results. 

The weight of the machinery necessary to give a mechanical 
impulse to balloons, appears to be an insurmountable obstacle 
to that mode of couducting them ; and the inclined plane lately 
recommended by your ingenious correspondents is liable to the 
same objection, and perhaps in a still greater degree. 

Methods must therefore be devised of rendering the atmo- 
sphere subservient to their motion and guidance as well as to 
their support. The contrary currents of air that generally take 
place at different elevations are well known; and it is presumed 
that if the balloon were retained near the upper confine of one 
Stratum, and if a smal] auxiliary balloon were attached by a rope 
and permitted to ascend into another stratum, the velocity of 
the former would be sufficiently retarded to admit of its being 
steered in a course inclined by several degrees to the direction 
of that current in which it floated: much in the same manner 
that the skilful seaman drops his vessel down a strong tideway, 
by giving her a slight velocity in the opposite direction, which 
enables him to’sheer and sicer her at pleasure. 

Or, on the contrary, the auxiliary might be made to descend 
in search of a proper resisting current of air. 

If the stratum should be too extensive to push the auxiliary 
beyond its limits, even then the diminished rapidity of the wiad 
at a great elevation would probably produce a sufficient we, 

a 


208 Notices respecting New Books.—Royal Society. 


In crossing the sea, perhaps, a small weight might be allowed 
to drag through the water, which would effectually answer the 
purpose of steering the balloon obliquely across the wind, by Sir 
George Cayley’s sail-rudder. 

I have the honour to be, sir, 
Your most obedient servant and wellwisher, 
London, March 17, 1816. Te He 


aS 


XLVI. Notices respecting New Books. 


Ma. Donovan has in the press An Essay on the Origin, Pro- 
gress, and present State of Galvanism, with a Statement of a 
new Theory. It is divided into three parts. The first contains 
a sketch of the history of Galvanism divided into four periods. 
The second contains investigations speculative and experimental 
of the principal hypotheses 5 viz. of those of Volta, Fabroni, and 
of the British philosophers : of the hypothesis of electro-che- 
mical affinity as maintained by Davy and Berzelius; and of the 
identity of the agent in Galvanic and electric phenomena. The 
third part comprises a statement of a new theory of Galvanism, 
and is divided into two chapters. ‘The first includes the general 
principles of what has been called the excitement of Galvanism. 
The second chapter is devoted to the application of these prin- 
ciples in explaining Galvanic phenomena, and is subdivided into 
five sections. The first section treats of Galvanic decompositions 
in general. The second presents a new theory of metallic arbori- 
zations. The third explains the source of the light and heat 
manifested in certain experiments. The fourth explains the 
source of the electrical appearances: and the fifth shows the 
cause of the muscular contractions and shock. 

In’this theory the agency of an electric or Galvanic fluid is 
not admitted; the phenomena are conceived to be explicable 
by the mere operation of chemical affinity. 


Dr. C. H. Parry, of Bath, has just published An Inquiry into 
the Nature, Cause, and Varieties of the Arterial Pulse; and © 
Dr. G. E. Male, of Birmingham, has given to the world An Epi- 
tome of Juridical and Forensic Medicine. 


XLVIII. Proceedings of Learned Societies. 


ROYAL SOCIETY. 


Feb. 29. A. paper on Capillary Attraction, by J. Ivory, Esq. 
F.R.S., was read. This able mathematician observed that, not- 
withstanding 


Royal Society. 209 


Withstandiig the immense number of dissertations on this phee- 
nomenon which had been published, still much is wanting to- 
wards a full and satisfactory solution of the question, In no- 
ticing the various methods proposed for explaining capillary at- 
traction, he remarked that Clairaut was the only philosopher 
who supposed that the attraction of tubes extended to any visi- 
ble distance ; on the contrary, Newton and all other mathema- 
ticians considered the sphere of attraction to be confined to the 
particles immediately in contact with the tube, and that it did 
not extend to any sensible distance. ‘This has been the generally 
received doctrine, and the author thinks it confirmed by the re- 
flection of light, as observed in glass. But the true theory of 
this phenomenon was not known till Professor Leslie, in the 
Philosophical Magazine for 1802, first stated, in a pepular man- 
her, that the attraction is in proportion to the deusity of the 
fluid, and that temperature considerably modifies capillary at- 
traction, This discovery Mr. Ivory considers as furnishing the 
means of giving a complete theoretical and experimental ex- 
planation of this long debated phenomenon. Having observed 
that most philosophers had dwelt on the theory, and that very 
few direct experiments were ever made to ascertain the mode or 
nature and extent of capillary attraction, he commenced a series 
of actual experiments.on the subject. He measured the cuives 
formed by glass when immersed. in a fluid, calculated the mole- 
cular attraction of the fluid, &c. and in this manner performed 
a great variety of experiments; but many more, he observed, 
may still be made without exhausting the subject. His theo- 
retical method differed from that of Laplace, in being susceptible 
of application to physical experiment; whereas that of the French 
mathematician was founded on the calculus. The remainder of 
this ingenious paper was of a nature not fit for public reading. 

March 7. A> letter from Dr. Brewster to the President was 
read, On the Nature of double refracting Crystals, and the Me- 
thod of communicating this Power to Glass, &c. The new and 
curious researches of this philosopher having led him to investi- 
gate particularly the nature of doubly refracting erystals, he has 
at length discovered that if two plates of glass 0:30 of an inch 
thick be bent together, they yield the series of seven colours 
mentioned by Newton. He found in every case that pressure 
and thickness imparted to glass the power: of polarizing light ; 
pressure also on plates of glass gives them the power of double 
refraction. By mechanical pressure he could thus communicate 
to plates of glass, crystals of muriate of soda, &c. the property 
of doubly refracting crystals. 

March 14. In the conclusion of Dr. Brewster’s experiments, 
which were illustrated by figures of the various appearances, &e. 
_ Vol. 47. No. 215. March 1816. O this 


216 Geological Society of London. 


this most successful investigator of © physical opties” observed 
that the subject of double refraction is still extremely intricate 
and difficult; and that this phenomenon, like electricity and 
magnetism, presents numerous facts, which in the present state 
of our knowledge are yet inexplicable. Crystallization, he thinks, 
is probably owing to a peculiar fluid of which we have yet no 
adequate knowledge: but however this may be, the facts and 
experiments which he has adduced tend to favour the undulatory 
theory of light, &c. 

A paper On the Calculus of Function, by Mr. Babbage, was 
laid before the Society ; but it was of a nature not fit for public 
reading. 

March 21. Sir E. Home, in a short paper, related some ex- 
periments tending to prove the effects of medicines on the blood, 
whether taken into the stomach or injected into the veins. He 
injected fluids into the jugular vein of dogs, and made some ex- 
periments on himself with the eau médicinale, and instanced the 
effect it had on his pulse, which is usually 80 ina minute. He 
compared the effects with those of mercury taken into the sto- 
inach; and the general result appears to be,that poisons injected 
directly into the blood kill somewhat sooner (although in a si- 
milar mode) than if taken into the stomach. 

Part of a paper by Dr. T. Thomson was read On Phosphoric 
Acid, in which the atomic theory is mtrodueed and extended, 
and some of Dr. Berzelius’s opinions controverted. 


GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 


Report of the Council to the General Annual Meeting, 
February 2, 1816. 

In presenting their Report for the vear 1815, the Council have 
pleasure in announcing that the Society has increased in number, 
that its finances have improved, and that the presents and me- 
moirs transmitted to it since the last anniversary have been both 
numerous and important. 

The following is a statement of the numbers of the Society 
at the last and present anniversaries. 


transterred | | 
with- [since to the |remain 'clected/ Total. 


Feb. 

1815. } drawn |dead |foreign class 1815. 
Ordinary Members| 220* 4 8 2 206 | 34 | 240 
Iionorary Members| 92 5 87 
Foreign Members 7 7 14 
Pata mewrrers As [S12 341 


* Printed in the Report of 1815 as 222, but two of the number declined 
their election. 


Geological Society of London. 21) 


Of the 240 ordinary members, 14 have compounded for the 
annual contribution, 166 are subject to the annual contribu- 
tion, and 60 are exempt from it, as not residing within 20 miles 


of the metropolis. 


The following papers have been read before the Society since 


the last anniversary. 

A Memoir on the Native Oxyd of 
Uranium 

vies Sky Ne 

ee eecee Quartz Rock 

-..... the Fossils in Cambridge- 
shire .. sie ‘tle 

+++... the Basalt of Christiania 


by William Phillips, Esq. 
by J. MacCulloch, M.D. 
by the same. 


by the Woodwardian Prof. 
hy Samuel Solly, Esq. 


+e... the Limestone of Plymouth by the Rev. R. Hannah, jun. 


.... the Mine of Huel Peever, 
in Cornwall .. 


western part of Somer~ 
setshire 3 
«++.» a Bone found in the Lake 
of Geneva .. bis 
} 2.0 Dasale +2 Pe 
ides s . some Specimen from the 
Isle of Tino, in the 
Archipelago .. “e 
GOH 2 . 2a Geode found at Oak- 
hampton ar . 
«+... the Rocks in the vicinity 
of Duftan .. 1. 
..4» some Specimens found 
chiefly in Flanders .. 
-+.-+.an Analysis of Swedish 
Felspar é% oe 
PORN a Plant in Chalcedony .. 
MO eIg Native Tellurium from 
Norway is i. 
Le ee the Angles of the primitiy 
Crystals of Quartz and 
Sulphate of Barytes .. 
WS the Salt Mines of Cardona 
in Catalonia .. ; 
.»+» the Iserine found near Li- 
verpool oa ve 
«+++» Organic Remains from 
Weston super mare... 


02 


.« by John Williams, Esq. 
++... the Mineralogy of the South- 


.. by Leonard Horner, Esq. 


by F. Berger, M.D. 

by Thomas Hare, Esq. 
by Leonard Horner, Esq. 
by the Woodwardian Prof. 
by the Rev. W. Buckland, 
by Knight Spencer, Esq. 


by J. S. W. Herschel, Esq. 
by J. MacCulloch, M.D. 


by Professor Esmark, 


by William Phillips, Esq. 
by T. Ss. Traill, M.D. 
by the same. 


by G, Cumberland, Esq. 
A Me- 


212 Geological Society of London. 


A Memoir on the Geology of a part 
of Lincolnshire .. by Edward Bogg, Esq. 
«+e... the Carnelians of the East 


Indies se =a DY Copland, Esq. 
bs Re oak oad? 2, by John Taylor, Esq. 
ee... the Physical Geography of 

Donegal i by F. Berger, M.D. 


eeevee the Plastic Clay and the 
Beds which accom- 
pany it - by the Rev. W. Buckland. 
e+. the Rocks in the Neigh- 
bourhood of the Island 
of Salette, and Bombay by 
_ seeee. a Catalogue of Minerals 
found at St. Helena, 
now at the East India 
House oe .. by Samuel Davis, Esq. 

A list of the presents continued from the 2d volume of the 
Society’s Transactions will be published in the 3d volume. 

The Council are happy to announce that, according tothe 
arrangements they have made, the 3d volume of the Geological 
Transactions will appear in the course of the present session. It 
will contribute, they hope, to direct the attention of the public 
to the rational and useful researches that form the subject of its 
pages, and to support the reputation which the Society has ac- 
quired by the publication of its former volumes. The papers sub- 
mitted to the public in this volume will show that the authors 
have continued to act upon the principle of avoiding the dis- 
cussion of theories which are too systematic and extensive, and 
of treating geology principally as a science of observation. 

The exertions of Mr. Greenough to complete the Geological 
Map of England have been incessant, and a great part of the 
work is now engraved, 

The Council report with the utmost regret that the President 
has expressed his wish of not continuing in the chair beyond the 
period for which he originally undértook that office, and which 
terminates upon the present anniversary. The assurances of the 
deep sense of the honour conferred upon him, with which he has 
accompanied the expression of his wish, will be thought super- 
fluous by those who haye witnessed his conduct during the time 
he has filled the situation, and his unremitting endeavours to 
promote the interests of the Socicty. 

The junior secretary, finding the time occupied by his official 
duties incompatible with the claims of other engagements of 
considerable importance to himself, begs leave to withdraw him- 


self 


Babington, Esq. 


— - —_ en es 


French Society for the Encouragement of Aris. 213 


self for the present from a trust which the members at large 
would no doubt be very desirous again to commit to his tried 
activity and abilities. The arrangement of the most interesting 
department of the Society’s cabinet, namely, that which illustrates 
the natural order of succession of the English strata, is entirely 
due to his care and knowledge. The vacancy occasioned by his 
retirement, under a less prosperous state of the Society, it would 
not have been easy in an adequate manner to supply. 

It was reported at the last Annual Meeting, that the apart- 
ments then in the occupation of the Society were altogether in- 
sufficient for the arrangement of the collection; and the Council, 
not unmindful of this evil, has laboured during the whole of the 
year to obtain a residence that would meet the growing wants 
ef the Society. The necessity of a removal has since become 
the more urgent. Notice has been given that the Society intends 
to quit its present apartments, and it is now a tenant only by 
sufferance. 

A regard to the limited revenues of the Society, and a disin- 
clination on the part of the Council to call upon the members 
for sacrifices, which though intended to be voluntary might by 
some be regarded as compulsory, have been the real obstacles to 
the attainment of this great object. On resigning its trust for the 
year 1815, as the last act of its power, the Council strongly and 
earnestly recommends the case to the consideration of the mem- 
bers. 

At the Annual General Meeting, held 2d February 1816, the 
Report of the Council was read and approved ; 

The thanks of the Society. were voted to William Blake, Esq. 
retiring from the office of President; to George Bellas Green- 
ough, Esq. retiring by rotation from the office of Vice President ; 
to Henry Warburton, Esq. retiring from the office of Secretary ; 
to Samuel Solly, Esq. retiring from the office of Foreign Secre- 
tary; to William Hasledine Pepys, Esq, retiring from the office 
of ‘Treasurer. 


FRENCH SOCIETY FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF ARTS, 


Among the novelties exhibited by French artists during the 
year1$15,we find the following enumerated as the most striking : 

1. Some beautiful specimens of painting on velvet, by M. 
Vauchelet; among these was a highly-finished portrait of the 
emperor Alexander. 

2. Several utensils of platina, among which are dish covers, 
watch chains, &c. by M. Janets, who has entirely suppressed the 
use of arsenic in his process for rendering platina malleable, 

3. Celestial and terrestrial globes of glass for lamps, most ac- 
curately engraved and coloured. 

O83 Among 


214 State of Chemical Science on the Continent. 


Among the printed papers sent in to the Society were : 

A paper by M. Lasteyrie, on making flour and bread from 
potatoes; by which it appears that this vegetable may be kept 
for many years in the state of powder. 

A paper by Baron de Werneck, showing the quantity of po- 
tash contained in the various trees, shrubs, and plants, which 
yield this substance. 


XLIX. Intelligence and Miscelianeous Articles. 


STATE OF CHEMICAL SCIENCE ON THE CONTINENT. 


Extract of a Letter from M. DopErEtner io M.Van Mons*. 


Jena, 23d February. 
Ix a note to p. 59 of my Elements of Pharmaceutical Che- 
mistry, I expressed a suspicion that phosphorus might be com- 
posed of a peculiar substance and of hydrogen. This idea, which 
was founded upon a particular experiment, has since been ccn- 
firmed. . 

If we introduce into a retort three parts of iodine and one of 
phosphorus, both as dry as possible, and heat them by the flame 
of a spirit lamp, the two bodies will penetrate with an extrica- 
tion of light and vaporisation of hydro-iodic acid, and there will 
remain in the retort a brilliant substance of a brownish-red co- 
lour, which, when washed and dried, keeps in the air without 
being altered at the habitual temperature of that fluid: by a 
strong heat, however, it inflames and burns in the air, dries, 
and forms vapour of phosphoric acid. As the hydro-iodic acid 
is the product of the combination of hydrogen with iodine, and 
as the latter no more than phosphorus contains water, we ought 
to admit that the hydrogen has taken its origin from the phos- 
phorus, and that the reddish-brown residue, after being washed 
and dried, is de-hydrogenated phosphorus. This conclusion is 
also confirmed by the circumstance, that the new iodine, heated 
with the residue, gives no Jonger hydro-iodic acid. According to 
this result, phosphorus is, like sulphur, a hydrine and not a simple 
body. 

The charcoal of wood is a proto-hydrine. When the sub- 
stance in very fine powder, and mixed with two parts of iron re- 
duced, and one part of oxide of manganese, is made red hot for 
several hours, the latter of these bedies de-hydrogenates it, and 
the former condenses it. The produce of this operation is iron 
alloyed with manganese, and a lamellated friable matter, which 


* Communicated by M. Van Mons, 
is 


State of Chemical Science on the Continent. 215 


is of a blackish-gray colour, and has the metallic lustre. This 
is carbonion united with a little iron and manganese, from which 
we may separate it by a long-continued digestion with aqua regia 
and muriatic acid. The sulphur does not take the latter metals 
from the fire ; which proves that they are chemically combined 
with the carbonion. 

In the course of my lecture yesterday I tried to produce bo- 
rium by treating borax with charcoal, aud the experiment com- 
pletely succeeded. I mixed 220 grains of calcined borax with 
18 grains of very fine charcoal, and I kept this mixture for two 
hours at a red heat in a gun-barrel. There was produced a black 
fused mass ; which after having been washed with water, and 
afterwards dried, left a deep olive-coloured powder, which had 
all the characters and all the propertiés ascribed by Davy to bo- 
rium. 

I discovered nearly two months since a new sparkling pyro- 
phorus, which preserves its property of shining for a long time, 
and which may serve as a portable match. We obtain it by cal- 
cining during an hour at a gentle red heat, and in a gun barrel, 
a mixture of one part of calcined alum, and two parts of subcar- 
honate of potash, and from one-half to a whole part of Jamp- 
black. This pyrophorus seems to be composed of potassion and 
sulphuret of carbonion. I also met the sulphuret of carbonion 
in the liver-formed ore of mercury of Idria, as may be seen in 
Schweiger’s Journal. 

I have also recently discovered that the muriate of lead of 
Derbyshire is composed of phosphoric acid and of lead, and that 
the ceta camit of Peru consists of chloric acid and copper. 

M. Dulong, continuing the researches of Thomson, has found 
that the oxalic acid in uniting warm with the oxides of zine or 
lead, allows 0-20 to escape of its weight in water: the oxalates 
resulting from it do not afterwards yield in their decomposition 
in the dry way any thing but gaseous oxide of carbon, carbonic 
acid, and the oxide of the metal. M. Dulong asks if these salts 
are carbonites or carbonates of reduced metal? He thinks they 
are the latter. ‘The oxalates of other metals do not give out 
any water except at a very strong heat; afterwards they yield 
carbonic acid ; no oxide of carbon, but, in lieu of it, the metal 
reduced ; and the oxalates of soluble earth give out, under the 
action of heat, empyreumatic oil, water, oxide of carbon, car- 
honated hydrogen, carbonic acid, carbon, and sub-carbonate. 
We see that these differences depend on the retentive forces or 
on the energy of the oxides which form the bases of the salts. 

It is long since I asserted that the vegetable acids were hy- 
dvates, sub-hydrates, or super-hydrates of carbonons acid. This 
acid exists no more in the uncombined state than the oxide of 

O04 sulphur, 


216 State of Chemical Science on the Continent. 


sulphur, and it resolves, on being isolated, into complete acid 
and oxide ; as the oxide of sulphur resolves itself into sulphur 
and sulphurons acid; and we may rigorously suppose that the 
one is a combination of carbonic acid with the oxide of carbon, 
and the other a combination of sulphurous acid with sulphur, 
formed both into salts. The weak oxides merely retain the 
carbonous acid long enough to strip it of its water, and after- 
wards they give up their oxygen to it, which is saturated into 
carbonic acid. The strongest oxides separate it instantly from 
its water; and as they do not give their oxygen to it, the car- 
bonous acid ‘on quitting them is resolved into oxide of carbon 
and cafbonic acid; and the oxides which retain it strongly, as 
well as its water, allow its oxygen to concentrate into a portion 
of its substance, and in such a manner that carbon is set free, 
and hydrogen is displaced from it, by the water: and this prin- 
ciple may form carbonated hydrogen and empyreumatic oil. 
M. Dulong was thinking of my metallofluores and metallochlores 
when he supposed it possible that reduced metals could be united 
to carbonic acid; but the case is very different; for the carbonie 
acid retains its own water, and deposits only the water of its or- 
ganization ; whereas the fluoric and muriatic acids deposit the 
first water, and unite dry with the reduced metals. The results 
of Dulong show that the oxides in the carbonates are propor- 
tioned to the quantity of oxygen belonging to the dry carbonic 
acid, which converts the carbonous acid into common carbonic 
acid. 

Count Real, who lately spent a few days with me, has in- 
vented an instrument for the extraction in the cold way of sub- 
stances of the organic kingdoms, which is very ingenious, 
simple, and convenient. The dissolving liquid, which sometimes 
becomes a displacing liquid, produces its own action. The in- 
strument is a cylinder of any given size; but it ought to have 
the power of considerable resistance. ft may be made of glass, 
wood, tin or copper, according to the use for which it is in- 
tended. Two diaphragms, or wire sieves, are fitted in at each ex- 
tremity, and are intended to contain the substance, which ought 
to be as minutely pounded as possible, and a little pressed down, 
that the liquid when entering it may be retained. Over this cy- 
linder a tube may be fixed, from two up to eight feet in height, 
destined to receive the menstruum, and to “produce a strong 
pressure, which may be rendered sudden or gradual at pleasure. 
If we fill the tube with mercury, the matter in-the cylinder being 
penetrated with spirits of wine, oil, or water, the pressure be- 
comes immense. This tube may be as narrow as you please, 
since a liquid, whatever be the base of its column, acts in pro- 
portion to the height of the latter, and not in proportion to the 

diameter 


State of Chemical Science on ihe Continent. 217 


diameter of its prolongation. The first portions of liquid which 
pass through the lower sieve are so charged with the soluble 
matter, that they are as thick as syrup, and the remaining por- 
tions have neither taste nor colour. Quassia, for instance, is 
obtained at first in its consistence of extract, and what comes 
afterwards has no taste. The colouring matters with their ap- 
propriate solvents are also taken up at once. The extractive 
matter of tea, coffee, aud hops fall off in such a state of concen- 
tration, that they may be kept for years without spoiling. They 
are of course to be diluted with water for use. With a bottle of 
this extract in one’s pocket, it is only necessary to have boiling 
water, milk and sugar, to make good tea or coffee, which have 
all their colouring virtues, and have not jost a particle of aroma. 
If an extract is wanted by means of any other menstruum than 
water, for instance by alcohol, by alkaline liquor, acid, or oil, 
the organie substance must be impregnated with them, and 
water poured in above. These liquids saturated with the soluble 
substance pass through without the smaliest portion of water 
being mixed with them. Pounded almonds are obtained in 
thin oil ; and, when the water passes, it is of a red colour. For 
the oils which freeze, the temperature must not be too low. In 
short, every substance which ought not to be elaborated by heat, 
or what we may call boiled, is obtained speedily and commo- 
diously by this apparatus, which may be called a dissolving press. 
Its application is universal, and its results will be curious; it will 
furnish every substance free from alteration by heat, with sub- 
composition, supercomposition, or decomposition: the analysis 
of organic substances will be perfected and facilitated by it, and 
their elements will be soon better known. 


Note by M. Van Mons on the above letter. 


I have observed to M. Dobereiner, in my reply, that in all 
probability his iodine was iodous acid, and the water cf washing, 
after having taken off the iodic acid dry, must have left enough 
of oxygen with the phosphorus to convert it into hydrophospho- 
rous acid. [ call iodous acid, iodine half saturated with hydro- 
gen; as we call sulphurous acid, sulphur half saturated with oxy- 
gen. We obtain this acid cither by demi-saturation with hydro- 
gen, or by the disengagement of the half of the oxygen of the 
iodine by means of water; or, finally, by the mixture of iodine 
with ‘iodic acid: and on the supposition that the residue must 
have been de-hydrogenated phosphorus, this new bedy, on being 
burnt in dry air, could not give out vapours of phosphorous acid, 
and above all hydrophosphorous acid. The oxygen of the iodine 
remaining with the phosphorus must have been incompletely 

combined, 


218 New South Wales. 


combined, and the heating by completing the combination must 
have caused the flame which was developed. Jodine is rarely 
found without an admixture of idious acid. The iodous acid is 
perhaps iodate or idionate of iodic acid, and the sulphurous 
acid, perhaps sulphate of sulphur. 


NEW SOUTH WALES. 


We have been favoured with the following official account of 
the most recent topographical surveys of the above important 
British colony. 

“© Government and General Orders. 
“ Governinent-LHouse, Syduey, June 10, 1815. 
“CIVIL DEPARTMENT. 

“¢ The Governor desires to communicate, for the information 
of the public, the result of his late tour over the Western or Blue 
Mountains, undertaken for the purpose of being enabled per- 
-sonally to appreciate the importance of the tract of country ly- 
ing westward of them; which had been explored in the latter 
end of the year 1813 and beginning of 1814 by Mr. George 
William Evans, deputy surveyor of lands. 

<< To those who know how very limited a tract of country has 
been hitherto occupied by the colonists of New South Wales, 
extending along the eastern coast to the north and south of 
Port Jackson only $0 miles, and westward about 40 miles to the 
foot of that chain of mountains in the interior which forms its 
-western boundary, it must be a subject of astonishment and re- 
gret, that amongst so large a population no one appeared within 
the first 25 years of the establishment of this settlement possessed 
of sufficient energy of mind to induce him fully to explore a pas- 
sage over these mountains :—but, when it is considered that for 
the greater part of that time even this circumscribed portion of 
country afforded sufficient produce for the wants of the people, 
whilst on the other hand the whole surface of the country be- 
yond those limits was a thick and in many places nearly an im- 
penetrable forest, the surprise at the want of effort to surmount 
such difficulties must abate very considerably. 

‘‘ The records of the colony only afford two instances of any 
bold attempt having been made to discover the country to the 
westward of the Blue Mountains.—The first was by Mr. Bass, 
and the other by Mr. Caley, and both ended in disappointment— 
a circumstance which will not be much wondered at by those 
who have lately crossed those mountains. 

<* To Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth, esquires, and 
Lieutenant Lawson, of the Royal Veteran Company, the merit 

is 


New South Wales. 219 


is due of having, with extraordinary patience and much fatigue, 
effected the first passage over the most rugged and difficult part 
of the Blue Mountains. 

«© The governor, being strongly impressed with the importance 
of the object, had, early after his arrival in this colony, formed 
the resolution of encouraging the attempt to find a passage to 
the western country, and willingly availed himself of the facilities 
which the discoveries of these three gentlemen afforded him. 
Accordingly, on the 20th of November 1813 he intrusted the 
accomplishment of this object to Mr. George William Evans, 
deputy surveyor of lands, the result of whose journey was laid 
before the public, through the medium of the Sydney Gazette, 
on the 12th of February 1814. 

< The favourable account given by Mr. Evans of the country 
he had explored, induced the governor to cause a road to be 
constructed for the passage and conveyance of cattle and pro- 
visions to the interior ; and men of good character, from amongst 
a number of convicts who had volunteered their services, were 
selected to perform this arduous work, on condition of being 
fed and clothed during the continuance of their labour, aud 
being granted emancipations as their final reward on the com- 
pletion of the work. 

“ The direction and superintendence of this great work was 
jntrusted to William Cox, esy. the chief magistrate at Windsor; 
and to the astonishment of every one who knows what was to be 
encountered, and sces what has been done, he effected its com- 
pletion in six months from the time of its commencement, hap- 
pily without the loss of a man, or any serious accident. The 
governor is at a loss to appreciate fully the services rendered by 
Mr. Cox to this colony, in the execution of this arduous work, 
which promises to be of the greatest public utility, by opeuing 
a new source of wealth to the industrious and enterprising. 
When it is considered that Mr. Cox voluntarily relinquished the 
comforts of his own house, and the society of his numerous fa- 
mily, and exposed himself to much personal fatigue, with only 
such temporary covering as a bark hut could afford from the in- 
clemency of the season, it is difficult to express the sentiments 
of approbation to which such privations and services are en- 
titled. 

Mr. Cox having reported the road as completed on the 21st 
of January, the governor, accompanied by Mrs. Macquarie and 
that gentleman, commenced his tour on the 25th of April last, 
over the Blue Mountains, and was joined by Sir John Jamieson 
at the Nepean, who accompanied him during the entire tour.— 
The following gentlemen composed the governor’s suite: Mr. 
Campbell, sectretary; Capt, Antill, major of brigade ; rae 

atts, 


3206 New South Wales. 


Watts, aid-de-camp; Mr. Redfern, assistant surgeon; Mr. 
Oxley, surveyor general; Mr. Meehan, deputy surveyor general ; 
Mr. Lewin, painter and naturalist; and Mr. G. W. Evans, de- 
puty surveyor of lands, who had been sent forward for the pur- 
pose of making further discoveries, and rejoined the party on the 
day of arrival at Bathurst Plains. 

“© The commencement of the ascent from Emu Plains to the 
first depét, and thence to a resting place, now called Spring 
Wood, distant 12 miles from Emu Ford, was through a very 
- handsome open forest of lofty trees, and much more practicable 
and easy than was expected. The facility of the ascent for this 
distance excited surprise, and is certainly not well calculated to 
give the traveller a just idea of the difficulties he has afterwards 
to encounter.—At a further distance of four miles a sudden 
change is perceived in the appearance of the timber and the 
quality of the soil—the former becoming stunted, and the latter 
barren and rocky. At this place the fatigues of the journey may 
be said to commence. Here the country became altogether 
mountainous, and extremely rugged.—Near to the 18th mile 
mark (it is to be observed that the measure commences from Emu 
Ford) a pile of stones attracted attention: it is close to the line 
of road, on the top of a rugged and abrupt-ascent, and is sup- 
posed to have been placed there by Mr. Caley, as the extreme 
limit of his tour:—hence the governor gave that part of the 
mountain the name of Caley’s Repulse.- To have penetrated 
even so far, was at that time an effort of no small difficulty. — 
From hence, forward to the 26th mile, is a succession of steep 
and rugged hills, some of which are almost so abrupt as to deny 
a passage altogether; but at this place a considerably extensive 
plain is arrived at, which constitutes the summit of the Western 
Mountains; and from thence a most extensive and beautiful 
prospect presents itself on all sides to the eye. The town of 
Windsor, the river Hawkesbury, Prospect Hill, and other objects 
within that part of the colony now inhabited, of equal interest, 
are distinctly seen from hence.—The majestic grandeur of the 
situation, combined with the various objects to be seen from this 
place, induced the governor to give it the appellation of The 
King’s Table Land.—On the SW. side of the King’s ‘lable Land 
the mountain terminates in abrupt precipices of immense depth, 
at the bottom of which is seen a glen, as romantically beautiful 
as can be imagined, bounded on the further side by mountains 
of great magnitude, terminating equally abruptly as the others ; 
and the whole thickly covered with timber. The length of this 
picturesque and remarkable tract of country isabout 24 miles, 
to which the governor gave the name of The Prince Regent’s 
Glen,—Proceeding hence to the 33d mile on the top of a hill, 


an 


New South Wales. 223 


an opening presents itself on the SW, side of the Prince Regent’s 
Glen, from whence a view is obtained particularly beautiful and 
grand—mountains rising beyond mountains, with stupendous 
masses of rock in the fore-ground, here strike the eye with ad- 
miration and astonishment. The circular form in which the 
whole is so wonderfully disposed, induced the governor to give 
the name of Pitt’s Amphitheatre (in honour of the late right 
honourable William Pitt) to this offset or branch from the Prince 
Regent’s Glen. The road continues from-hence, for the space 
of 17 miles, on the ridge of the mountain which forms one side 
of the Prince Regent’s Glen, and there it suddenly terminates ia 
nearly a perpendicular precipice of 676 feet high, as ascertained 
by measurement. The road constructed by Mr, Cox down this 
rugged and tremendous descent, through all its windings, is no 
less than three-fourths of a mile in length, and has been exe- 
cuted with such skill and stability as reflects much credit on him. 
The labour here undergone, and the difficulties surmounted, can 
only be appreciated by those who view this scene. In order to 
perpetuate the memory of Mr. Cox’s services, the governor 
deemed it a tribute justly due to him, to give his name to this 
grand and extraordinary pass; and he accordingly called it 
Cox’s Pass. Having descended into the valley at the bottom 
of this pass, the retrospective view of the overhanging mountain 
is magnificently grand. Although the present pass is the only 
practicable point yet discovered for descending by, yet the moun- 
tain is much higher than those on either side of it, from whence 
it is distinguished at a considerable.distance, when approaching 
it from the interior, and in this point of view it has the appear- 
ance of a very high distinct hill, although it is in fact only the 
abrupt termination of a ridge. The governor gave the name of 
Mount York to this termination of the ridge, in honour of his 
royal highness the duke of York. 

* On descending Cox’s Pass, the governor was much gratified 
hy the appearance of good pasture land and soil fit for cultiva- 
tion, which was the first he had met with since the commence- 
ment of his tour. ~The valley at the base of Mount York he 
called The Vale of Clwyd, in consequence of the strong re- 
semblance it bore to the vale of that name in North Wales. The 
grass in this vale is of a good quality and very abundant, and 
a riyulet of fine water runs along it from the eastward, which 
unites itsélf at the western extremity of the vale with another 
rivulet containing still more water.—The junction of these two 
ams forms a very handsome river, now called by the governor 
’s River ; which takes its course, as has been since ascer- 

d, through the Prince Regent’s Glen, and empties itself into 
ae Nepean; and it is conjectured, from the nature of the 


tn, country 


t 


992 New South Wales. 


country through which it passes, that it must be one of the prin- 
cipal causes of the floods which have been occasionally felt on the 
low banks of the river Hawkesbury, into which the Nepean dis- 
charges itself. The vale of Clwyd, from the base of Mount York, 
extends six miles in a westerly direction, and has its termination 
at Cox’s River. Westward of this river the country again be- 
comes hilly, but is generally open forest land, and very good 
pasturage. 

«¢ Three miles to the westward of the Vale of Clwyd, Messrs. 
Blaxland, Wentworth, and Lawson had formerly terminated their 
excursion ; and when the various difficulties are considered which 
they had to contend with, especially until they had effected the 
descent from Mount York, to which place they were obliged to 
pass through a thick brush-wood, where they were under the 
necessity of cutting a passage for their baggage-horses, the se- 
verity of which labour had seriously affected their healths, their 
patient endurance of such fatigue cannot fail to excite much 
surprise and admiration.—In commemoration of their merits, 
three beautiful high hills joining each other at the end of their 
tour at this place, have received their names in the following 
order; viz. — Mount Blaxland, . Wentworth’s Sugar Loaf, 
and Lawson’s Sugar Loaf. A range of very lofty hills and 
narrow valleys alternately form the tract of country from Cox’s 
River, for a distance of 16 miles, until the Fish River is arrived 
at; and the stage between these rivers is consequently very se- 
vere and oppressive on the cattle. To this range the governor 
gave the name of Clarence-Hilly Range. 

** Proceeding from the Fish River, and at a short distance 
from it, a very singular and beautiful mountain attracts the at- 
tention, its summit being crowned with a large and very extra- 
ordinary-looking rock, nearly circular in form, which gives to © 
the whole very much the appearance of a hill fort, such as are 
frequent in India.—To this lofty hill Mr. Evans, who was the first _ 
European discoverer, gave the name of Mount Evans. Passing 
on from hence the country continues hilly, but affords good 
pasturage, gradually improving to Sidmouth Valley, which is 
distant from the pass of the Fish River eight miles. The land 
here is level, and the first met with unencumbered with timber: 
it is not of very considerable extent, but abounds with a great 
variety of herbs and plants, such as would probably highly in- 
terest and gratify the scientific botanist.—This beautiful little 
valley runs north-west and south-east, between hills of easy 
ascent, thinly covered with timber.—Leaving Sidmouth Valley, 
the country becomes again hilly, and in other respects resembles _ 
very much the country to the eastward of the valley for some 
miles. Having reached Campbell River, distant 13 miles from — 

Sidmouth 


New South Wales. 223 


Sidmouth Valley, the governor was highly gratified by the ap- 
pearance of the country, which there began to exhibit an open 
an extensive view of gently rising grounds and fertile plains.— 
Judging from the height of the banks, and its general width, the 
“Campbell River must be on some occasions of very considerable 
magnitude ; but the extraordinary drought which has apparently 
prevailed on the western side of the mountains, equally as through- 
out this colony for the last three years, has reduced this river so 
much that it may be more properly called a chain of pools than 
arunning streamat the present time. In the reaches or pools of 
the Campbell River, the very curious animal called the paradox, or 
water-mole, is seen in great numbers, The soil on both banks 
is uncommonly rich, and the grass is consequently luxuriant. — 
Two miles to the southward of the line of road which crosses 
the Campbell River, there is a very fine rich tract of low lands, 
which has been named Mitchell Plains. Flax was found here 
gtowing in considerable quantities—The Fish River, which 
forms a junction with the Campbell River a few miles to the 
northward of the road and bridge over the latter, has also two 
very fertile plains on its banks, the one called O’Connell Plains, 
and the other Macquarie Plains, both of considerable extent, 
and very capable of yielding all the necessaries of life. 

** At the distance of seven miles from the bridge over the 
Campbell River, Bathurst Plains open to the view, presenting a 
rich tract of champaign country of !1 miles in length, bounded 
on both sides by gently rising and very beautiful hills, thinly- 
wooded, The Macquarie River, which is constituted by the junc- 
tion of the Fish and Campbell River, takes a winding course 
through the plains, which can be easily traced from the high 
lands adjoining, by the particular verdure of the trees on its 
banks, which are likewise the only trees throughout the extent 
of the plains.—The level and clean surface of these plains gives 
them at first view very much-the appearance of lands in a state 
of cultivation. 

“ It is impossible to behold this grand scene without a feeling 
of admiration and surprise, whilst the silence and solitude which 
reign in a space of such extent and beauty as seems designed by 
Nature for the occupancy and comfort of man, create a degree 
of melancholy in the mind which may be more easily imagined 
than described. 

“ The governor and suite arrived at these plains on Thursday 
the 4th of May, and encamped on the southern or left bank of 
the Macquarie Riyer—the situation being selected in consequence 
of its commanding a beautiful and extensive prospect for many 
miles in every direction around it.—At this place the governor 
remained for a week, which time he occupied in raaking exeur- 


se sidus 


224 New South Wales. 


sions in different directions through the ‘adjoining country, o7 
both sides of the river. P 

“On Sunday, the 7th of May, the governor fixed on a site 
suitable for the erection of a town at some future period, to which 
he gave the name of Bathurst, in honour of the present. secre- 
tary of state for the colonies.—The situation of Bathurst is 
elevated sufficiently beyond the reach of any floods which may 
occur, and is at the same time so near to the river on its south 
bank as to derive all the advantages of its clear and beautiful 
stream. The mechanics and settlers of whatever description who 
may be hereafter permitted to form permanent residences to 
themselves at this place, will have the highly important advan- 
tages of a rich and fertile soil, with a beautiful river flowing 
through it, for all the uses of man. . The governor must how- 
ever add, that the hopes which were ence so satiguinely enter- 

tained, of this river becoming navigable to the Wester n Sea, have 
SE in disappointment. 

<* During the week that the governor remained at Bathurst, 
he made daily excursions in various directions : one of these ex- 
tended 22 miles in a south-west direction, and on that occasion, 
as well as on all the others, he found the country composed 
chiefly of valleys and plains, separated occasionally by ranges of 
tow hills ;—the soil throughout being generally fertile, and well 
circumstanced for the purpose of agriculture or grazing. 

“¢ The governor here feels much pleasure in being enabled ta 
communicate to the public, that the favourable reports which he 
had received of the country to the west of the Blue Mountains 
have not been by any means exaggerated,—the difficulties which 
present themselves in the journey from hence are certainly great 
and inevitable ; but those persons whe may be inclined to be- 
come permanent settlers there, will probably content themselves 
with visiting this part of the colony but rarely, and of course will 
have them seldom to encounter.—Plenty of water and a sufii- 
ciency of grass are to be found in the mountains for the support 
of such cattle as may be sent over them; and the tracts of fer- 
tile soil and: rich pasturage which the new country affords, are 
fully extensive enough for any increase of population and stock 
which can possibly take place for many years. 

< Within a distance of ten miles from the site of Bathurst, 
there is not less than fifty thousand acres of land clear of simber, 
and fully one half of that may be considered excellent soil, well ’ 
ealculated for cultivation. It is a matter of regret, that in pro- 
portion as the soil improves the timber degenerates; and it is 
to be remarked, that every where to the westward of the moun- 
tains if is much inferior both ia size and quality to that within 
the present colony: there is, however, a sufficiency of timber of 

‘tolerable 


New South Wales. 995 


tolerable quality within the district around Bathurst,. for the 
purposes of house-building and husbandry. 

‘* The governor has here to lament, that neither coals nor lime- 
stone have been yet discovered in the western country; articles 
in themselves of so much importance, that the want of them 
must be severely felt whenever that country shall be settled. 

*¢ Having enumerated the principal and most important fea- 
tures of this uew country, the governor has now to notice some 
of its live productions. All around Bathurst abounds in a va- 
riety of game; and the two principal rivers coutain a great 
quantity of fish, but all of ene denomination, resembling the 
perch in appearance, and of a delicate and fine flavour, not un- 
like that of a rock cod: this fish grows to a large size, and is 
very voracious, Several.of them were caught during the gover- 
nor’s stay at Bathurst, and at the halting-place on the Fish Ri- 
ver. One of those caught weighed 17 lbs. and the people sta- 
tioned at Bathurst reported that they had caught some weighing 
25 lbs. 

“ The field game are the kangaroos, emus, black swans, wild 
geese, wild turkeys, bustards, ducks of various kinds, quail, 
bronze, and other pigeons, &c.&c. The water-mole, or paradox, 
also abounds in all the rivers and ponds. 

“« The site designed for the town of Bathurst, by observation 
taken at the flag-staff, which was erected on the day of Bathurst 
receiving that name, is situated in latitude 33° 24’ 30” south, 
and in longitude 149? 37’ 45” east of Greenwich, being also 
274 miles north of Government-house in Sydney, and 944 west 
of it, bearing west 20°30’ north, 83 geographic miles, or 954 
statute miles; the measured road distance from Sydney to 
Bathurst being 140 English miles. 

*¢ The road constructed by Mr. Cox and the party under him 
commences at Emu Ford, on the left bank of the river Nepean, 
and is thence carried 101+ miles to the flag-staff at Bathurst: this 
road has heen carefully measured, and each mile regularly marked 
on the trees growing on the left side of the road proceeding to- 
wards Bathurst. 

** The governor. in his tour made the following stages, in 
which he was principally regulated by the consideration of having 
good pasturage for the cattle, and plenty of water : 
ist stage:—Spring Wood, distant from Emu Ford — 12 miles 
2d ditto—Jamieson’s Valley, or 2d depdt, distant 


from ditto - ge ye os -- 28 miles 
3d ditto—Blackheath, distant from ditto .. Al miles 
4th ditto—Cox’s River, distant from ditto .» 06 miles 


Sth ditto—The Fish River, distant from ditto .. 72 miles 
6th ditto—Sidmouth Valley, distant from ditto ., 80 miles 
Vol. 47. No, 215. March 1816, P 7th 


226 New South Wales. 
7th stage —Campbell River, distant from EmuFord 91 miles 
8th ditto—Bathurst, distant from ditto .. -. 1012 miles, 


«* At all of which places the traveller may assure himself of 
good grass, and water in abundance. 

“ On Thursday the 11th of May the governor and suite set 
out from Bathurst on their return, and arrived at Sydney on 
Friday the /9th ultimo. 

** The governor deems it expedient here to notify to the public, 
that he does not mean to make any grants of land to the west- 
ward of the Blue Mountains until he shall receive the commands 
of His Majesty’s ministers on that subject, and in reply to the 
report he is now about to make them upon it. 

** In the mean time, such gentlemen or other respectable free 
persons as may wish to visit this new country, will be permitted 
to do so on making a written application to the governor to that 
effect ; who will order them to be furnished with written passes. 
It is at the same time strictly ordered and directed, that no per- 
son, whether civil or military, shall attempt to travel over the 
Blue Mountains without having previously applied for and ob- 
tained permission, in the above prescribed form. The military 
guard stationed at the first depot on the mountains will receive 
full instructions to prevent the progress of any persons who shall 
not have obtained regular passes. The necessity for the ests- 
blishing and strictly enforcing this regulation is too obvious to 
every one who will reflect on it, to require any explanation here. 

** The governor cannot conclude this account of his tour, 
without offering his best acknowledgements to William Cox, esq. 
for the important service he has rendered to the colony in so 
short a period of time, by opening a passage to the new-dis- 
covered country, and at the same time assuring him, that he 
shall have great pleasure in recommending his meritorious ser- 
vices on this oceasion to the favourable consideration of His 
Majesty’s Ministers. 

«* By command of his excellency the Governor, 
‘¢ Joun THomMas CAMPBELL, Secretary.” 


M, Orfila has continued his interesting researches upon poi- 
sons. According to the second part of his work now published, 
he does not consider opium as a narcotic or a stimulant, but as 
exercising an action completely sw: generis. With respect to 
the Solanum nigrum, M.Orfila does not think it is poisonous 
at all; and adds, that the Bel/adonna must have been the dele- 
terious plant mistaken for it by authors. : 

With respect to the effects of poison from narcoties, as they 
have been called, M. Orfila observes that authors have pre- 
scribed the vegetable acids, coffee, camphor, water, chlorine, 

and 


i A ee ee 


Researches on Poisons.— Spinning. 227 


and bleeding. M. Orfila has proved, however, 1. That the 
vegetable acids constantly hasten death, when they exist in the 
stomach along with the nareotic, which is owing ‘to the acids 
forming the solution of the poison, and consequently its absorp- 
tion. (There are ten experiments to verify this fact.) 2. That 
acidulated water was very useful for combating the effects of 
narcotics, when they had been previously rejected by vomiting : 
thus animals which would have died infallibly at the end of an 
hour, were saved by administering to them night and day, for 
twenty-four or thirty-six hours, several doses of water soured by 
a little vinegar: those which were nearly revived by the end of 
the day, and which had been neglected during the night, died 
for want of assistance. 3. That a strong infusion of coffee js 
an antidote to the effects of poison by means of nareotics, and 
the animals to which it was administered night and day reco- 
vered. 4. That the decoction of coffee is much less energetic 
than the infusion. 5. That camphor is not the counterpoison 
to narcotics, but that it may be administered in small doses to 
diminish their effects. 6. That water and mucilaginous pre- 
parations, so far from being useful, hasten the approach of death, 
because they favour the absorption of the poison. 7, That 
bleeding was never injurious, and that it was frequently sufficient 
to operate the revival of plethoric animals, which would never- 
theless have died two or three days afterwards, if they had not 
been attended to: and lastly, that it is best always to open the 
jugular vein. 8. That chlorine acts nearly like the vegetable 
acids, 

M. Orfila has announced his intention to compare the effects 
of the poisonous plants of Africa and the South of Europe, with 
those which he has obtained in France. He is also collecting 
materials for a work, in which he means to show in what cases 
the fluids of living animals are deranged, become venomous, and 
the diseases which they produce, 


Mr. Robertson Buchanan, of Glasgow, has published a work 
On the best Method of constructing and navigating Steam Boats, 
illustrated with fourteen engravings. 

———— 

Madame Candida Lena Perpenti, of Como in Italy, has re- 
vived the art of spinning and weaving the amianthus.  M. Mos- 
cati, of Turin, has sent some good specimens of the cloth made 
from it, with a paper descriptive of the process, to the French 
Society of Arts, 


The cloth manufactory at Mouzon in the Ardennes, in France, 
has been lighted since 1813 with gas made from coal, 


P2 M. Vogel 


228 Chemical Analyses. 


M. Vogel has analysed the brick-dust sediment of the human 
urine, known by the appellation of the rosacic acid. This substance 
has not been found in the urine of a healthy person by M. Vogel, 
although M. Proust was of a contrary opinion. The former 
observes :— | never found that this red substance was formed 
previous to or during the state of fever ; it always began to make 
its appearance at the period when the crisis was completely past. 
Recently I had an opportunity of procuring a considerable quan- 
tity of this substance. A friend who is subject to gouty attacks 
voided this kind of urine during fifteen days, and collected the 
red powder for me by filtration. Cold water has no effect on 
it, but boiling water dissolves it completely. The solution is 
brownish ; aud as it cools, a white powder is deposited. The 
liquid has a smell like that of urine, and reddens turnsole tine- 
ture. 

‘* Boiling alcohol of the specific gravity of 40° in Baumé’s are- 
ometer, dissolves it sensibly, but not so completely as boiling 
water. By decanting off the alcohol, and boiling the residue se- 
veral times with a new quantity of alcohol, this liquid finishes 
by being perfectly colourless, and there remains a mueh paler 
powder, and upon which alcohol seems no longer to act. After 
being dried, this powder is almost white. It forms a strong 
froth with cold nitric acid ; and when the mixture is evaporated 
to dryness, red soft scales remain, as is the case when uric acid 
is heated by nitric acid. The alcohol saturated with this red 
matter was evaporated to dryness, and a red powder remained 
unalterable in the air, which I consider as pure rosacic acid, 
and from which the uric acid has been separated by the aleohc!. 
On the rosacie acid thus purified I made the following experi- 
ments :—It was completely dissolved in water: the aqueous 
solution reddens turnsole tincture, without however disturb- 
ing lime-water ; which proves that no phosphoric acid is pre- 
sent. 

“* The rosacic acid dissolves without effervescence in concei- 
trated sulphuric acid. A red liquor is produced, which gradu- 
ally becomes darker. This liquid loses its colour on the addi- 
tion of a little water, and a white powder is precipitated. The 
same white sediment is produced by alcohol. The white powder 
is almost insoluble in water, when it is washed until all the sul- 
phuric acid is taken from it. It presents all the characteristics 
of uric acid. When we sprinkle the rosacic acid with a few 
drops of sulphuric acid, the powder acquires a fine red colour ; 
but it soon becomes white, and in this state it resembles the 
uric acid, 

‘€ The liquid sulphurous acid in which we shake the pulveru- 
lent acid acquires a very lively rcd; a shade which it preserves 

2 Jong 


etn op a 


Chemical Analyses. 229 


a long time even in sulphurous acid, and without the latter losing 
its peculiar smell. When the rosacic acid is dried, which has 
been in contact with the sulphurous acid, it yields a very fine 
earmine colour. When nitric acid at 32° is poured on the ro- 
sacic acid, there is immediately a considerable swelling up, and 
a brisk effervescence of nitrous gas; the red powder disappears, 
and a yellowish white substance is formed. On boiling the li- 
quor, the whole is dissolved, and there remain, by a slow evapo- 
ration, red scales periectly similar to those which are obtained 
by treating the uric acid with nitric acid. According to M. 
Proust, by pouring nitric acid on this acid a considerable quan- 
tity of carbonic acid gas is liberated. Since the nitric acid only 
ean produce such an effervescence, the extrication of the car- 
bonie acid and of the nitrous gas cau only be ascribed to a reci- 
procal decomposition which the rosacice acid and the nitric acid 
exercise on each other. The simple muriatic acid does uot ap- 
‘pear to have a sensible action on the rosacic acid; the powder 
remains in it diluted, without losing its intensity of colour, and 
it is only after a few ‘days that it becomes fawn-coloured. ‘The 
oxy-muriatic acid discolours the red colour very speedily, and 
makes it yellow. 

“¢ Water charged with sulphurated hydrogen has no kind of 
action on the rosacic acid. These two substances may remain 
together for fifteen days without undergoing any change. Never- 
theless, after a longer time the red powder disappears entirely, 
and the liquor acquires a putrid ammoniacal smell. 

** When we sprinkle the rosacic acid with a concentrated so- 
lution of caustic potash, the powder immediately acquires a 
brownish colour, and abundance of ammonia is liberated. This 
combination of rosacic acid and of potash is very soluble in 
water. 

“The acids precipitate from it a powder ofa yellow colour; and 
it would seem as if the rosacic acid by its union with potash had 
already undergone a kind of decomposition ; at least I have not 
been able to reproduce it by means of an acid with its primitive 
red colour. Liquid ammonia left in contact during some hours 
with the rosacic acid converts it into a fme yellow powder. The 
ammonia is combined in this yellow powder in the state of salt 
with the rosacie acid, and this salt is more soluble in water than 
the rosacic acid itself. The rosacie acid is precipitated in a yel- 
‘tow powder from the aqueous solution of this salt with a base of 
ammonia. On sprinkling the rosaci¢ acid with a concentrated 
solution of nitrate of silver, the powder loses its colour in a few 
hours and becomes bottle green. The pure nitric acid diluted 
in a solution of nitrate of silver also assumes after some time a 
brownish aspect. The nitrate of mercury and muriate of tin 

P3 produce 


230 Phosphate of Alumine. 


produce nothing similar on the rosacic acid. Upon tie whole, 
M. Vogel concludes, with the exception of the circumstance of 
colour, and of the action of the sulphurous and sulphuric acids, 
that the rosacic: acid does not differ essentially from the uric 
acid; and nature, in changing the one into the other, makes no 
great effort.” 


PHOSPHATE OF ALUMINE. 


M. Vauquelin has published in the Annales de Chimie the 
following brief note on the phosphate of alumine:—‘* The 
method hitherto regarded as the best for separating the phos- 
phorie acid from iron, with which it is frequently mixed in the 
ores, consists in fusing the latter with potash, &c.; but if there 
is at the same time alumine in these ores, it is also dissolved in 
the alkali, and is found united to the phosphoric acid when we 
precipitate the latter, and increases the quantity of it. This 
alumine might make us believe in the presence of the phos- 
phoric acid, even when it does not exist, if we do not examine 
the precipitate with attention. 

‘* If the alumine exists with the phosphoric acid in an ore of 
iron, it is evident that these two bodies will be dissolved in the 
potash, will be precipitated from it when we saturate the alkali 
precisely by an acid, and will be redissolved together by an ex~ 
cess of acid. If we add lime water in order to precipitate the 
phosphoric acid, the alumine will be also precipitated; but if we 
treat the precipitate when still moist by a solution of potash, it 
will not be completely dissolved; and this will be the proof of the 
existence of the phosphoric acid : otherwise the solution would 
take place completely. 

‘*¢ This method appears to me the most certain, not only for 
ascertaining the presence of the phosphoric acid in iron ores, 
but also for estimating the quantity of it. In fact, we cannot 
analyse the phosphate of alumine either by the alkalies or the car- 
bonates: the former dissolve the entire combination, the others 
dissolve it in part; in such a way, however, that there is a greater 
quantity of phosphoric acid in the part dissolved than in that 
which is not, | ascertained this in the following way: I boiled 
a certain quantity of phosphate of alumine with a solution of 
carbonate of potash. I filtered the liquor in order to separate it 
from the undissolved portion, and | saturated with acetic acid 
the excess of the carbonate of potash : there was formed a pre- 
cipitate, which was phosphate of alumine. I afterwards put an 
excess of acid in the liquor, and [ assured myself that in this 
state it was not precipitated by ammonia; a proof that it did 
not contain any more phosphate of alumine: but it had been 
precipitated by lime water ; which proves that the alkali had di- 

vided 


Analysis of the Bark of the Malambo. 23 


vided the phosphate of alumine into super-sulphate which ithad 
dissolved, and into sub-sulphate which it left. We may besides 
distinguish pure alumine from the phosphate with this base : 
the alumine is transparent, and as it were gelatinous ; the phos- 
phate on the contrary is opaque white: “but this quality does 
not always announce “the presence of the phosphoric acid in 
alumine, for silex and lime give it this opaque aspect. 

ied Although ammonia does not perceptibly dissolve pure alu- 
mine, it dissolves a great quantity of phosphate of alumine, which 
it shares, like the carbonates, both into super- and sub-sulphate.”’ 


M. Vanquelin has analysed the bark of the South American 
plant called the malamlo, brought to Europe by Messrs. Hum- 
boldt and Bonpland. It had been strongly recommended as a 
febrifuge, and of service as a substitute for the Peruvian bark 
now in use. M. Vauquelin finds the malambo bark to contain : 
i. a volatile aromatic oil; 2. a very bitter resin; 3. an extract 
soluble in water. The resin is of a reddish brown, dry, and 
shining iu its fracture: when put into the mouth it seems to be 
at first tasteless, but some time afterwards its bitterness is de- 
veloped i in a very striking maumner: it is very soluble, Sele abigensll ly 
in warm alcohol, and its solution is abundantly precipitated by 
water; it is not soluble in the alkalies. When placed upon a 
warm body, it is dispersed almost entirely in smoke which has 
the smell of incense. When subjected to the operation of heat 
in close vessels, it furnished an acid water and a thick oil the 
smell of which was not agreeable, and some charcoal. 

The extract is of a yellowish brown colour: its fracture is 
shiuing when dry, but it becomes soft in the air; it is not bitter 
if it is well washed in alcohol: it is viscous and gluey when hu- 
mid. When subjected to heat in close vessels this extract fur- 
nishes a brown oil, a watery mixture which reddens turnsole, and 
from which potash nevertheless liberates ammonia m a very 
sensible manner. The chareoal remaining in the retort, when 
bornt in a platina crucible left some very alkaline sea and 
which furnished by lixiviation a considerable quantity of sub- 
carbonate of potash of a green colour, similar to that of certain 
potashes of commerce. This colour is owing to manganese, for 
by saturating this alkali by the muriatie aeid the combination 
assumed a very fine red colour. This alkali certainly comes 
from some salts insoluble in alcohol, such as the tartrate, citrate, 
or oxalate of potash. 

The volatile oil is slightly citrine, lighter than water, of a 
smell which seems at onee to resemble pepper and thyme : it is 
slightly soluble in w ater, to which it communicates its sme}! and 
its pungent taste ; it is very soluble in alcohol, 


P4 The 


232 Earthquake. —Sicam Engines in Cornwall. 

The bark of the malambo when incinerated furnished yellowish 
white ashes, which were entirely dissolved with effervescence in 
‘the muriatie acid: the ammonia precipitated from its solution 
a little phosphate of lime mixed with iron ; the sulphuric acid 
afterwards poured into this solution, and the latter evaporated to 
dryness and calcined, gave abundance of sulphate of lime, a little 
silphate of magnesia, and there was also a little silex. This 
hark therefore contains the same principles as the vegetables of 
Europe, and shows that the soil is nearly the same over the 
globe, or at least that vegetables uniformly extract from it the 
same substances. 

The most abundant principle in the malambo hark is the re- 
sin, since it forms one-fifth part of it. In this resin the bitter 
taste resides, and also the chief virtue of the bark. The volatile 
and aromatic oil which accompanies the bitter principle affords 
room to hope that it may be employed as a tonic. But the re- 
sin being very abundant and nauseously bitter, and the volatile 
coil very acrid, the hark must be given at first in small doses and 
with caution. The form most advantageous for administering 
it is that of tincture, mixed with syrup or water and sugar. 


EARTHQUAKE AT THE ISLAND OF MADEIRA. 


By letters from Madeira, dated on the Sth of February last, it 
appears that there was a severe shock of an earthquake felt 
there on the 2d of February. The shock was very violent, and 
lasted four or five minutes, according to different persons. It 
threw down the cross of one of the parish churches, of which 
the walls were also shaken. Other churches and houses were 
damaged in various parts of the island. What appears more sin- 
gular is, that on the 5th of February an American vessel arrived, 
the captain of which related. that on the 2d, about one o'clock 
in the morning, being then about 300 miles from the Azores, and 
700 miles from Madeira, his vessel sustained a shock as severe as 
if it had struck on a rock. The crew were greatly alarmed, and 
the captain sounded immediately, but found no bottom. He was 
perfectly at a loss how te account for this extraordinary circum- 
stance, until after his arrival at Madeira. 


STEAM ENGINES IN CORNWALL. 


By Messrs. Leans’ Report for January, the average work of 
33 engines was 20,694,620 pounds of water lifted one foot high 
with each bushel of coals consumed. _Woolf’s engine at Wheal 
Vor during the same month lifted 47,900,333 pounds, and his 
engine at Wheal Abraham 47,622,049 pounds, one foot high 
with cach bushel of coals. 

By the Report for February the average work of 34 engines 

Was. 


List of Patents for new Inventions. 33 


was 20,667,398 pounds lifted one foot with each bushel of eoals. 
Woolf’s engine at Wheal Vor lifted 45,493,303 5 and the one at 
Wheal Abraham 45,896,352 pounds one fvot high with each 
bushel. 


—— 


LIST OF PATENTS. FOR NEW INVENTIONS. 


To Joseph Mauton, of Davies-street, Berkeley-square, gun- 
maker, for his improvements in the construction and use 
of certain of the parts of fire-arms, and also of the shoeing of 
horses. February 29, 1816.—6 months. 

To Francis Terril, of Longacre, coachmaker, for his new 
wheel-guard —2d March.—6 months. 

To John Wood the Younger, of Bradford, worsted spinner, 
and Joshua Wordsworth, in the parish of Leeds, machine makez, 
for certain improvements in machines applicable to every de- 
scription of spinning.—2d March.—2 months. 

To Bryan Donkin, of Grange-road, Bermondsey, engineer, 
for a method of effecting certain purposes or processes, in which 
a temperature above that of boiling water is requisite or dekinabte: 
by applying the temperature requisite or desirable in the said 
certain process for effecting the said certain purposes, in a man- 
ner not hitherto employed therein.—2d March.—2 months. 

To George Frederick Muntz, of Birmingham, in the county of 
Warwick, roller of metals, for a method of abating, or nearly 
destroying, smoke, and of obtaining a valuable product there- 
from.— 2d March.—2 months. 

To John Leigh Bradbury, of the city of Gloucester, gentle- 
man, for certain improvements in the machinery for spinning 
of cotton, flax, wool, tow, worsted, or any other fibrous sub- 
stance.—9th March. t's months, 

To Pierre Francois Montgolfer, of Leicester-square, engineer, 
for his improvements on the machine denominated lelzer hy- 
draulique, oy hydraulic ram.—14th March.—6 months, 

To John Stead, of Wicker, in the township of Brightside 
Bierlow, in the parish of Shettield, coachinaker, for a stage- 
coach, or other coach or carriage, a the carrying of passengers 
on lighter and more commodious principles than usual, that is te 
say, for the carrying of four or more inside passengers ; six, eight, 
ten, or more outside passengers, with greater safety than those now 
in use carrying the same number of passengers,—1 4th } March,— 

2 months. 

To Mare Isambard Brunel, of Lindsay-row, Chelsea, who in con- 
sequence of a communication made to him by a certain foreigner 
residing abroad, is become possessed of the invention of the “ tri- 
colteur,”” or knitting machine. —14th March. —6 mouths. 

To William West and Daniel West, both of Bombay in the 

East 


234 List of Patents for new Inventions. 


East Indies, for a certain method of producing and applying 
wer and motion to presses and other mechanical apparatus.— 
14th March.—20 months. 

To Pierre Francois Montgolfier, of Leicester-square, engineer, 
and Henry Daniel Dayme of the same place, gentleman, for cer- 
tain improvements in a machine which acts by the expansion or 
contraction of air heated by fire, and which machine is applicable 
to the raising of water, or giving motion to mills or other ma- 
chines. —14th March.—6 months. 

To James Dowson, of No. 63, Strand, Esq. for certain new or 
improved means of producing or communicating motien in or 
unto bodies, either wholly or in part surrounded by water, or 
any or either of them, by the reaction of suitable apparatus upon 
the said water or air, or upon both of them.—14th March.— 
* 6 months. © 

To John Filkin, of No. 60, Old-street Road, in the parish of 
Shoreditch, truss-maker, William Filkin of the same place, 
truss-maker, and Joseph Barton, of No. 20, Lombard-street, 
in the city of London, gentleman, for a new truss.—14th March. 
—6 months. 

To Samuel Jéan Pauley, of No.5, Knightsbridge, opposite 
the Cannon brewhouse, engineer, ay an article or substance for 
making, without seams, coats, great-coats, waistcoats, habits, 
cloaks, pantaloons, mantles, stockings, socks, and any other 
kind of clothing, covers for umbrellas and for hats. Mattresses, 
seats, and cushions filled with atmospheric air.—23th March.— 
2 months. 

To Emo Tonkin, of the City Road, in the parish of St. Leo- 
nard, Shoreditch, for a globe reflecting stove for light and heat. 
—20th March.—2 months. 

To Pierre Pelleton, of Manchester, in the county of Lancaster, 
chemist, for a new method of making sulphurie acid, com- 
monly called oil of vitriol. —16th March.—6 months. 

To Emerson Dawson, of Welbeck-street, ironmonger, and 
John Isaac Hawkins, of Tichfield-street, for an improvement or 
addition to grates and stoves, and an instrument, machine, or 
apparatus, for supplying grates and stoves with fuel. —23d March. 

—2 months. 

To Robert Cameron, jun. of the city of Edinburgh, paper- 
maker, for a machine for manufacturing paper on a principle 
entirely new.—23 March.—6 months. 

To Joseph Bowles, of Bennett’s Street, Blackfriars Road, 
mill-wright, for certain improvements in or on oil mills.— 
23d March.—6 months. 

To Samuel Brown, of Westgate, in the county of Norfolk, 
iron-founder, for certain improvements upon the swing and 

wheeled 


Meteorological Observations made at Edinburgh. 235 


wheeled plough-carriages and plough-shares.—23d March.— 
6 months. 

To Henry Osborne, of Bordesley, in the parish of Aston in the 
county of Warwick, for a method or principle of producing cy- 
linders of various descriptions. —23d March.—6 months. 

To John Merryweather, of the castle of Lincoln, in the county 
of Lincoln, gentleman, for certain means of propelling boats and 
yessels through the water.—23d March.—6 months. 

To Abraham Rogers, of Sheft, in the parish of Halifax, in the 
ounty of York, coal merchant, for a method of effecting a saving 
in the consumption of coal, or fuel, by an improvement in the 
mode of setting or heating boilers and steam-engines, and other 
bodies of different descriptions ; and also for heating and warm- 
ing stoves, drying houses, manufactories, and other buildings, 
and for burning different descriptions of gasses.—23d March. 
—2 months. 

To Leberecht Stanhauser, of Old Bond-street, merchant, for 


-@ new or improved castor or roller for tables, sofas, bedsteads, 


and other articles. —23d March.—2 months. 

To James Younie, of Theobald’s Road, Red-lion-square, 
ironmonger, for his discovery for the prevention or cure of smoky 
chimneys.—23d March.—4 months. 


—— 


Meteorological Observations made principally at Edinburgh in 


March 1816. 
Sirn,—We have had the great changeability of the weather 


during the greatest part of the year in the south of England, so 


frequently alluded to by meteorologists, that it may be worth 
while to notice, previous to the regular journal of the weather 
which I subjoin, that the inhabitants of this city say they do not 
remember to have had so changeable a season for many years. 


Since my arrival here on the 2éd of February, the atmosphere 
has been constantly changing; clear frost, snow, rain, and the 
heat of 50° of Fahrenheit, all in the space of twenty-four hours. 


I regret that the multiplicity of other employments has prevented 


_ me from keeping a register of the weather, till the 12th instant. 


_ March 12.—Rapidly succeeding but gentle showers with clear 
jutervals, and gale from the westward, with temperate atmo- 
sphere of about 50° at the maximum. 

March \3.—Very clear morning, followed about noon by 
snow showers, and wind in gales. Fine clear moon-light night, 
and gentle stratus near the ground. 

March 14.—A frost, which came on in the night; all the 
ground hard; the sky was obscure with haze, and at the same 
time gentle wind. Showers of snow and rain in the afternoon 
end night, Stackencloud and wanecloud, 


March 


236 Meteorologizal Observations ai Edinburgh. 


March 15.—Obseure morning and colder; some tight snow 
showers and a clear windy night. 
March \16.—Fine clear morning, but showers of snow and 
rain came in the afternoon. 
March \17.—Clear morning. Wanecloud and other modifi- | 
cations were followed about noon by showers of snow and rail 
from the northward. ‘Travelling on to Stirling, ] found the at= 
mosphere become much warmer. The sun came out, and the 
evening was mild and calm. The snow lay on the mountains 
while the lower lands were warm. I noticed stackenclouds or 
cumuli rising from behind the higher hills; others seemed to” 
sit upon them, and to preserve the cumulativeness of structure 
just as when they float upon the diurnal vapour plane. i 
There seems to be the same almost-constant tendency to pro-_ 
duce rainclouds in these hilly regions hereabout, as I have be= 
fore noticed in those of Wales. I have noticed also some other 
circumstances common to the atmospheric phenomena of both 
countries, and which probably belong to mountainous districts” 
in general. The rain does not generally fall in such large and 
deluging streams as often happens in the flat countries of Eng= 
land. The interchange of sunny clearness.and of showers is 
more rapid, and the sondercloud* and wanecloud™ have not 
usually such a well defined character. This latter circumstance 
1 cannot easily account for, except it be that the moister air of | 
these regions conducts off more readily the electric fluid from 
the modifications, and thus weakens the specific cause of their 
particular characters. Jt can hardly be owing to the elevated | 
peaks of the mountains approaching nearer to the clouds, as the 
wanecloud sometimes preserves its form when lodging, or at 
least in close apposition to the top of a mountain, in the same 
manner as it does to a mountainous stackencloud, as noticed by 
Aratus : ; 
“HI veGzdy Soems muynceracs ev xogudyaiy, &e. j 

The constant windy state of Edinburgh have I often noticed on 
the mountainous shores of England and Wales; and ina number 
of small balloons which were flying about over Edinburgh, I did] 
not notice any to get a second current, as was generally the 
case in my experiments with balloons in England, T shall pro= 
ceed, with your permission, to communicate further observations 
on the nepheology of this country in your next. 

I remain, sir, &c. 
Stirling, March 17, 1616. Tnomas ForsTER. 


* j, e, cirrocumulus and cirrostratus. 


Meteorology. . 237 


METEOROLOGICAL TABLE 

xtracted from the Register kept at Kinfauns Castle, N. Bri- 
: tain, the reisdence of Lord Gray, 

Supposed Lat. 56° 23/,—Above the Sea 129 feet. 


a tn mcm 
Morning 8 o’clock: |Evening, 10 o’clock.| Depth N° of Days. | 
Mean height of || Meanheight of | of Rain.ja | ey. i 
«ceded Vaitidielel - Aa ra 8 6] 3 
aj «1815. Barom. | Ther. | Barom.| Ther. |jInch. 100;4 A S | 
5 i H ———— { } 
fanuary. | 29-74 | 32:58 || 29-75 31°87 1-00 | 9 a2 | 
‘VRebruary. | 29:47 | 40:00, | 29-49 40:07 1-50 se 
_\March. 99-36 | 39-96 || 29:38 | 39-61 150 | 18 | 13 | 
“April. 99-77 | 43:40 | 29-79 | 43-13 1-04 5 | 25 | 
_|May. 29-68 | 51-54 || 29-70 | 49-64 9-22 15 | 16 | 
June. 99:68 | 55-13 || 2968 | 58-43 0-71 8 | 22 
July. 29-85 | 57-61 99-85 | 55°61 1-80 11. .| 20 
Yaugust. | 29-62 | 5683 || 29-61 | 55-51 1-52 | 8 | 23 
September.| 29-70 | 52:60 || 29:69 | 53-00 169 | 13 | 174 
October. 99-62 | 47-41, || 29:59 | 47-90 2-42 15 | 16} 
November.| 29:79 | 36:60 |} 29:82 | 37-23 1.25 G. | 24 
9 | 22 


December. | 29:55 | 33-00 | 29:56 | 35:00 1:35 


Average Of | 09.6595} 45-555 | 29-6575| 45-00 18:00 | 132 253 | 
. , | 


the year. : 


ANNUAL RESULTS. 


MORNING. 
Burometer. Thermometer. 
Observations. Wind. Wind. 
Highest, 26th Nov. SE. 30°55 13th July, SE. 2. - «65° 
— Lowest, 13th Mar. W. 23°55 47th’ Dees Vs) ef. wy + (FeP 


‘ : EVENING. 
Highest, 25th Nov. NW. 3055 12th July, SW. +. 63° 
~ Lowest, asth Dec. NW. 28°60 19th Dec. NW. .. . 14° 


Weather. Days. Wind. Times, 
RS VS ed WNeand NEie.;. G2 . ei 9 
' RainorSnow . .. . 182 BvankSh2 eats ae 162) 402 
Scand SWeie .}'. 0 (abe 85 
| W.eandNW.. . + ~ + 169 
; 


Extreme Cold and Heat, by Six’s Thermometer. 
Coldest, 23d December . . - Wind South. . . 42° 
llottest, 29th June. ». +» « + + SWeOk fe hes" 
Mean of theyear 1815. - - + + + s+ + + 3 + 46°465 


ResuLt oF THREE Rain Gages. In. 400 
No. 1. on 2. conical detached hill above the level of the 4570 
Sea-B00 feet, Silt. 5 js 2 he os fe a 
— 9. Centre of Garden, 20 fect. . . + - + + + 2420 
— 3, Kinfauns Castle, 129 feet . . - «6 + > . 18°00 


Mean of theSGages. . - - . + + + + 29°00 
METEORO- 


238 


METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL KEPT AT BOSTON; 


‘ 


‘(The time of observation, unless otherwise, stated, is at 1 P.M.j 


1816. 
January 1 


_ 
oe ons oes 638 


Meteorology. 


LINCOLNSHIRE. 


ie 


—= ae 
Age of 
_ the +Thermo-| Baro- |State of the 
Moon{ meter. |meter.| Weather. 
2 430 30°5 fair 
iS do 
4 do 
5 34°5 80°52} very fine 
6 440 30°30 |cloudy and 
7 46°0 | 29°20 [hazy 
8 425 30°02 windy 
9 48°5 29 61 fair 
2 47°5 29 65 do 
1 430 29°60 do 
12 | 460 | 29:03]  squally 
45 41°U 29 55 tair 
14 38°0 29:05 do 
15 rainy 
16 410 29 37 do 
17 415 2979 fair 
18 37:0 29°54 do 
19 
20 
21 37'0 29°63 fair 
1 22 ; rain 
23 43:0 29°75 fair 
Q4 41:0 29°55 do 
25 38°5 29°44 do 
26 rainy 
27 42:0 29°40 do 
28 38°5 29 85|do. & snow 
29 fair 
new | 32:0 30°50} very fine 
1 80°5 30°55 do 
2] 30:0 30°45 do 
3 28 0 30:09 do 
4 -| 290 29°75 fair 
5 40°5 29°55] very fine 
6 fair 
7 380 | 29°50] very fine 


Modification of thie 
Clouds. 


cirro-cumulus 
do 
do 

clear sky 


cirro-cumulus, stratus 
cirrus [nimbus- 
cloudy, cumulus 
cumulus 

stratus and cirrus 
cumulus widely spread. | 
cumulo-stratus : 
clear sky 


cumulus 
cirrus 


cirro-cumulus in the’ 
[horizon 
cumulus 
do 
do 


cirrus 
do 


do 


March 


10 


Age of 
the 


Moon 


12 


Rfeteorology. 239 


TABLE continued. 


I : 
Thermo-} Baro- {State of th Modification of the 
meter. |meter. | Weather. Clouds. 


365 29°35 Irain & snow 
310 29-20 snow 
22-5 29 55 de 
80 29 80] very fine 
10 A.M. 
180 


Noon 
15:0 
5 P.M. 
13:0 

fair 


fp.7 ditto 
170 29 80 


270 | 3040 do do 
33.5 30°40} cloudy 

Soro 5045] very fine 

38:0 30°45| cloudy 


48:0 29:95 do a remarkable high tide 
350 | 30°0 fair fat8 P.M. 
33°5 30:0 cloudy 

42:0 30°05 do 


49:0 30°05 do ; 
450 3020) very fine 4} carrus 


490 30°20 cloudy 
46:0 30°35 do ; 
430 30°25{| very fine | _ ra : 
cloudy little raia in the evening 
! 


329 380°0 very fine’ cirrus 


410 30°25] very fine 
41°0 29 75 |rain & snow 
36:5 29 95 fair 
Sanp 300 | very fine 
35°0 30:0 do 
410 29°60} cloudy 
do 
38:0 29 30 jrain & snow 
410 29°30} very fine 
430 29.20 rain 
420 29°30] very fine 
420 29°20] cloudy 
39-0 29°55 ‘ do 
cloudy 
500 29°85 do 
54:0 29 60 rain 
45°0 29°85 do 
46°0 29°90 do 


cirrus 


METEORO- 


240 


Days of 
Month. 


Meteorology. 
METEOROLOGICAL TABLE, 


By Mr. Cary, oF THE STRAND, 
For March 1816. 


Thermometer. ae g 
af $ .,| Height of S3e| 
Se 3 5 =,|the Barom. 3 BE | Weather 
> = % \ oe Inches. S 3 5a 
oe = ost 
37 | 42 | 36 | 30°01 7" Cloudy 
36 | 49 | 40 | 29°60 o {Rain 
36 | 40 | 28 "80° 27 =| Fair 
27 | 37: | 28 ‘90 90 «| Fair 
28 | 42 | 40 -90 26 «| Fair 
36 | 43 | 40 *30 o |Rain 
38 | 41 | 38 He) 10 | Cloudy 
37 | 47 | 32 "18 O |Showerswithsnow 
32 | 46 | 40 ‘20 14 |Fair 
38'| 44 | 40 | 28°98 Oo |Rain 
40 | 45 | 39 *99 o |Rain 
39 | 42 | 36 | 29°00 Oo. |Rain 
36 | 40 | 33 "45 0 |Snow 
33 | 41 | 32 73 12 | Fair 
40 | 47 | 47 ‘80 oO | Rain 
47 | 51 | 50 "72 Oo |Rain 
46 | 54 | 47 ‘70 14 |Showery 
41 | 56 | 45 *50 15 |Stormy 
47 | 54 | 30 °40 15  |Stormy 
37 | 46 | 44 ‘80 22 «(| Fair 
37 | 44 | 40 "50 oO» |Rain 
42 | 50 | 41 "48 10 |Showery 
43 | 45 | 40 "78 26 |Fair “ 
40 | 46 | 38 "90 29 |Fair 
42147 | 39 | 30°06 97 +|Fair 
43 | 48 | 40 “10 25 |Fair 
41 | 46 | 38 *80 27 «| Fair 
38 | 38 | 37 22 16 | Cloudy 
38 | 42 | 40 02 15 | Cloudy 
40 | 42 | 38 "12 | 17 |Cloudy 


N.3B. The Barometer’s height is takemat ene o’¢lock, 


Ee 


[ 24) J 
LI. Gn the Cosmogony of Moses. By Mr. ANDREW Horn. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — Tue researches of geology have at length obtained for 
the cosmogony of Moses that attention which its intrinsic merit 
always denianded. The pages of the Philosophical Magazine have 
for several months past been occupied by various disquisitions 
upon the subject, particularly respecting the meaning of the 
term duy. ut in none of them, I conceive, has the true sense 
been elicited, as designating each of the six successive periods of 
the Genesis. Dr. Prichard has indeed peinted out the tropical 
sense in the term period; but its particular application in the 
cosmogony presents a difficulty which the figurative construction 
cannot by any means remove. Your correspondent F. E——s 
has taken advantage of this, and stated his objections in lan- 
guage sufiiciently explicit to show his estimate of the Genesis and 
its author, 

After being long engaged i in a work illustrative of the Mosaic 
Cosmogony, which is nearly finished, allow me to say, that the 
results | have obtained from my investigations differ materially 
from those of all your correspondents upon this subject. How- 
ever, as I agree with Dr. Prichard in his estimation of the Ge- 
nesis, before I offer any opinion upon the import of the term 
day, as there used, I would observe, that although ‘ he does 
not’ ** place the author of the Petateuch in the rank of com- 
mon compilers of historical fragments, possessed merely of na- 
tural intelligence,’ he can have little diffculty in escaping from 
the dilemma, to which F.E s imagines he has reduced 
him, in page 180 of your last number. If certain events re- 
eorded in the Genesis are found to agree with what may be 
ealled universal tradition, and some of those events riever could 
liave been conceived in any human, mind without supernatural 
intelligence, this universal coincidence must, therefore, be re- 
ferred to some common source. But we are not to suppose 
Moses the first person to whom the communication was made, 
Obvious reasons might be urged, why this favour should have 
been granted to the great progenitor of mankind. The notion 
ofa beginning —that the universe once had no existence, most 
assuredly, is neither a dictate of reason nor a physical disco- 
very. Now there never was.a fact, left to tradition, but what 
has been corrupted. Was it possible, then, that the traditionary 
account of the origin of the world should during a progress of 
3000 years have escaped corruption? When the facts, there- 
fore, came to be recorded, they must have been so corrupted, 
© Vol, 47. No. 216. April 1816. Q that 


242 On the Cosmogony of Moses. 


that nothing less than inspiration could have enabled Moses or 
any other man to separate truth from error, to supply what was. 
lost, and duly arrange the whole. 

I presume that it is scarcely possible to obtain a just- con- 
eeption of any detached part or term in the Genesis, without _ 
previously knowing the author’s s principles. And this cannot 
well be attained without some acquaintance with the original 
language. Those in general who have possessed this requisite, 
have either twisted his expressions to countenance some precon- 
ceived hypothesis, or, taking a superficial view of the cosmogony,: 
pronounced the whole unphilosophical and vulgar. After ma- 
Ture investigation, I do not hesitate to say shins the two grand 
principles of the cosmogony are afums and a fluid. . Before we 
ean, therefore, ascertain the sense of the word Dy (day), we: 
ought first to establish the meaning of the preceding term 1s, 
commonly translated ight. From a collation of passages where 
this word and its cognate terms occur, the ruling idea is, evi- 
dently, that of fluidity. The divine fiat for the existence of 
the Aur ought, therefore, to be rendered “ Let a fluid be ;” light 
being only one of its properties. Hence the term ether, so 
famous in the cosmogonies, and so ill defined in the systematic 
philosophy of the Greeks, i is to be traced to the TNH AN (Ath- 
eaur) of the Mosaic cosmogony. 

t is a vulgar error to suppose the sun was not created until 
the fourth day. Moses does not sav that God created, but. that 
he made, formed, or conypleted the sun in this peried. Accor ding 
to the order of the narrative, the atomic masses of the earth and 
celestial bodies were brought into existence before the ether. 

Having premised these things, we are now prepared to explaii 
a part of the Genesis which has not a httle perplexed exposi- 
tors, and will lead us to the true explanation of the term day, 
as there used. Our common version reads, ver. 6: ‘* God di- 
vided the light from the darkness.” But darkness is no reat. 
being; and it is an absurdity into which Moses never could have 
fallen, to represent the Creator dividing things necessarily di- 
stinct. Now the difficulty is at once removed, by only supplying 
the word earth, the antecedent with which the passage evi- 
dently stands connected; thus literally, “* And God divided (the 
earth) between the light and defween the darkuess.” Hence the 
spheroidity of the earth is not only here intimated; but, as a globe 
cannot possibly have one hemisphere enlightened 2 and the other 
dark but by light proceeding from an opposite focus, we have 
also a direct proof that the sun existed at this period, and 
operated upon the earth by transmitting its fluid or light feebly 
indeed at first, for it did not produce its full effect till the 

fourth day, when the Creator pronounced it “good,” or fit 
6 to 


© as. * . - = . 
‘Brief Remarks on some indigenous Roses. 243 


“to regulate times and seasons:*’ so that from thenceforward 
they might be exactly calculated by its regular influence upon 
the motions of the earth. 

Time is measured by the motion of bodies ; and their velocity 
is quicker or slower according to the diameter of the rotatory 
body, and the quantity of force acting upon it. The planet 
Jupiter takes only about ten hours to perform one revolution 
upon its axis, which comprises a morning and an evening, and 
astronomers call this a day. The moon, again, employs about 
1600 hours in making one rotation upon her axis, comprising 
also a morning and an evening, and this period is denomi- 
nated a day, Hence also, in the phraseology of Moses, the term 
day, in each of the successive periods ef the Genesis, properly 
denotes one rotation of the earth upon its axis, without any re- 
gard to the length or duration of the time ; ie as the motions 
of our earth have been from the first moment dependent upon 
the sui, its influence upon the earth was at first extremely weak, 
Hence the diurnal rotation of the earth and progress in its orbit 
were then inconceivably slow ; but the velocity of both motions 
She increased till the end of the fonrth day, when the sun 

vas perfected. The space of time, therefore, in each of the four 
first days ot revolutions of the earth was of indefinite length, and 
each had *‘ an evening and a morning.” Hence these revolutions 
were true solar days: but every period or day differed from another ; 
because the rotatory velocity of the earth was continually ac- 
celerated from the first moment till the end of the fourth day. 
The quantity of time therefore, or duration of any one preced- 
ing minute, or hour, was greater than any that succeeded ; so 
that the first minute of the first day may have been equal, in 
duration or length of time, to a month or a year, compared with 
the last minute of the fourth day, the rotatory velocity in this 
minute being so much quicker. Thus it is evident that the 
four first days or rotations of the earth were periods that dif- 
fered in their length, and their duration is indefinite. 

I am, sir, 

. Your very obedient servant, 

Wycombe, April 9, 1816. Anprew Horn, 


7 


Lil. Brief Remarks on some indigenous Roses. By 
M. J. Wixen, Esq. of Newcastle. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sin, — Txoven of late years the study of betany appears to 
have given way in a great measure to the more novel pursuits of 
2 mineralogy 


244 Brief Remarks on some indigenous Roses. 


mineralogy and geology; yet I trust that a few short observa- 
tions on several Roses, natives of the north of England, may still 
be acceptable to a few of your readers, particularly as numerous 
doubts and difficulties are entertained by the most skilful bo- 
tanists of the age respecting many species or varieties of this 
elegant and interesting but intricate genus. 
Sir, 
Your obedient servant, 
Newcastle, March 24, 1816. M. J. WINCH. 


—< 


No. 1. Rosa spinosissima. Willd. Sp. P]. 2. 1067. Fl. Brit. 2. 
537. Eng. Bot. 187. 

R. pimpinellifolia. Syst. Nat. ed. 10. 1062. 

Flower-stalks smooth, fruit black. 

On the sands of the sea-shore and in the alpine valleys 
of Teesdale. 

The Burnet-leaved rose is a shrub of very humble growth, 
but rises to a tall bush in hedges and woods near this 
place.—The figure in English Botany is well delineated ; 
but the fruit should have been almost black, to distin- 
guish it more clearly from the next species, 

No.2. Rosa rubella. Eng. Bot. 2521. : 

R. spinosissima, var. 3. With. vol.2. p. 465.—var. 8. 
Martyn’s Miller’s Gardener’s Dictionary. 

R. pimpinellifolia. Hort. Cantab. ed. 7. p. 154.? 

Flower-stalks bristly, fruit scarlet. 

This pretty rose, which is certainly very distinct from 
the preceding, occurs sparingly mixed with it on the 
sea-beach near Shields Law in the county of Durham. 
It appears to have been first noticed by a Mr. Atkin- 
son, and transmitted to the late Dr. Withering froin 
Landscall Haws in Lancashire, where several acres of 
land are covered by this highly ornamental shrub. Is 
not this called R. pzmpinellifolia in some botanic 
gardens, and by the nursery-men in the vicinity of 
London ? 

No.3. Rosa involuta. FI. Brit. 3. 1398. Eng. Bot. 2068. 

Fruit and flower-stalks very prickly. 

Resembles R. spinosissima in its manner of growth; and 
in the shade rises to a tall shrub.—In Heaton Dean 
below Benton Bridge, Northumberland. Rare. 

No. 4. Rosa arvensis. Willd. Sp. Pl. 2. 1066, Fl. Brit. 2.538. 
Eng. Bot. 188. 

In hedges and woods east of Newcastle frequent, generally 

bearing its flowers single (see var, 2, Hudson and 
Withering), 


- ee 


Brief Remarks on some indigenous Roses. 245 


Withering), not clustered as represented in English 
Botany. 

No.5. Rosa villosa. Willd. Sp. Pl. 2.1069. FI. Brit. 2. 535. 
Eng. Bot. 583. 

Sowerby’s drawing is a good representation of the flower 
of this rose, as it may be observed in the rich country 
about Darlington. Near Newcastle the shrub becomes 
less luxuriant, and the petals are of a deeper hue. 

No.6. Rosa mollis. Eng. Bot. 2459. 

R. villosa, B. mollissima. Willd. Sp. Pl. 2. 1070. Fi. 
Brit, 2. 538. 

Rosa sylvestris folio molliter hirsuto, fructu rotundo 
glabro, calyce et pediculo hispidis. Dall in Dill. Raii 
Syn. 478. 

When R. villosa grows on sterile soil or in a bleak si- 
tuation, it assumes the stunted habit and full red flower 
of the specimen figured by Sowerby, aud mentioned 
by Dillenius. This | consider as nothing but a variety 
of the preceding species. Near Newcastle it is ex- 
tremely common, its fruit varying from perfect smooth- 
ness to a considerable degree of roughness, and the 
bush altering in mode of growth according to soil and 
exposure, 

No. 7. Rosa tomentosa. Fl. Brit. 2.539. Eng. Bot. 999. 

This rose, which is by no means rare in the north, and 
forms one of the chief ornaments of the woods and 
hedges south-west from Newcastle, appears to be ill- 
understood by the Swedish botanists. The figure in 
English Botany represents the plant as flourishing in 
the south of England, and even about Darlington; but 
surely the prickles are too much hooked.—With us the 
shrub is less robust, its fruit smaller, and petals of a 
darker red. 

No. 8. Rosa rubiginosa, Willd. Sp. Pl. 2. 1073. Fl. Brit. 2. 
340. Eng. Bot. 991. 

Though the sweet-briar may occasionally be met with on 
our ballast hills or in hedges, I suspect it is not indige- 
nous in these places, but has been imported from the 
south of England in one instance, and carried from 
gardens by birds in the other,—the chalk-hills of Sur- 
rey, Kent, &c, appearing to be the original habitat of 
the Eglantine. : 

No.9. Rosa scabriuscula. Eng. Bot. 1396. 
Rosa sp. nov. Winch. Guide, vol. 1. 48. vol. 2. pref. 5, 
Calyx permanent; fruit globose, bristly. 
Var. 8. Fruit smooth. 
Q3 In 


246 Brief Remarks on some indigenous Roses. 


In woods and hedges about Newcastle frequent. The 
buds of this species are peculiarly handsome wher 
sufficiently expanded to show the bright-red tints with 
which the outer edge of the white petals is mar ked. 

No. 10. Rosa canina. Willd. Sp. Pl. 2. 1077. Fl. Brit. 2. 540, 
Eng. Bot. 992. 
In hedges common. A 
No. 11. Rosa glaucophylla. Species Nova. 

Calyx permanent ; fruit ovate, smooth. Leaflets ovate 
pointed, doubly serrated, glaucous ; prickles hooked. 

This is a much slenderer, though less trailing briar than 
the foregoing ; its flowers are pale pink, generally in 
pairs or single, and its fruit large. From R. caninu 
it further differs in habit by not having young shoots 
sprouting beyond the blossoms, so as to give them the 
appearance of being axillary. To a rose named 
R. sentricosa by Acharius in the Stockholm Trans-= 
actions it seems more nearly allied than even to R. ca- 
nina; but differs in the fruit being ovate, not globu- 
lar, and the segments of its calyx less divided, This 
was sent me by Dr. Swartz, with the following re- 
mark: “R. canina proxima, sed fructus subrotun- 
dus et aculei rectiores.” 1 make no doubt the former 
has been often overlooked as a variety of the Dog 
Rose; it also resembles R. cesia of English Botany, 
t. 2367, but differs in many points, besides having 
smooth, not downy leaves. By Mr. Woods, a gentle- 
man who has paid particular attention to this genus, 

: I am likewise assured they are distinct. ~ 
No. 12. Rosa dumetorum. Eng. Bot. 2579. 

Tp a hedge on Friars-goose Quay helow Gateshead, pro- 
bably brought there with ballast from the south of 
England. This rose is accurately delineated in Eng- 
lish Botany, but the calyx is long permanent on the 
fruit. No doubt can exist of its bemg different from 
every other British species. Like R. canina it fre- 
quently throws out long leading shoots which soon 
overtop the bunches of flowers. 

No. 13. Rosa alba. Willd. Sp. Pl. 2. 1030. 

Naturalized ina wood by the Tyne, above Hebburn Quay, 

Durham, 


LIII, On 


{ 247 J 


LU}. On Dr. Murray’s Opposition to Professor PREVOST’S 
Theory of Radiant Caloric ; on Electrical Phenomena, and 
on Sir H. Davy’s Safe Lamp. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir,— Leis Murray has opposed the theory of Prevost on 
Radiant Heat. He (Dr. M.) says that the polished metallic 
surface of the canister containing a freezing mixture, when 
placed in the focus of a mirror, opposing another holding a ther- 
inometer, should depress the temperature more thanthe Ldackened 
eide of the canister, if this theory be truc ; but that the contrary 
is the fact. 

It is accepted that a blackened surface radiates heat more 
copiously than when the metallic surface is unimpaired ; and it 
js inferred by the Doctor fram this circumstance, that heat ra- 
diating in greater quantity from the canister by means of the 
black surface, should compensate more largelythan the uncovered 
surface for the loss of temperature sustained by the thermometer 
in the opposing reflector. Experiment, however, teaches that 
the thermometer is less depressed by the clean metallic than the 
painted surface, 7. e. there is a greater decrement of temperature 
by the dark surface than by that which has an unclouded lustre. 

it must however be admitted, that the various colours absorb 
heat differently; black surfaces exceeding them in this respect. 
Hence white unpolished surfaces absorb heat slower than those 
that are blackened. The decrement of temperature may be ac- 
counted for by presuming that the facilities of absorption are 
in a more exalted ratio than the powers of radiation. 


Mr. WALKER on Electrical Phenomena. 


Your indefatigable correspondent Mr. W., amon his quota- 
¢ r 5] 


tions, refers to some experiments which do not tend to support the 
views of which he is the advocate. When aqueous vapour, it is 
stated, passes through an ignited porcelain tube (lined with char- 
coal), hydrogen is formed. This is not the case—A mixture of car= 
bonic acid and hydrogen, as might be naturally expected, passes 
over into the recipient, forming hydro-carlbonate. It is dificult 
to believe that pure carbonic acid gas can be obtained by passing 
steam through a tube lined with carbonate barytes. But grant 
it true, 1 can conceive that the quantum of heat employed may 
serve todetach carbonic acid gas from the carbonate barytes, and 
that this aériform fluid may be found in the inverted vessel on 
the pneumatic cistern — no danbt im company with aqueous 
vapour—That carbonic acid gas is formed in undimited quantity 
from a limited portion of carbonate barytes is incredible. Mr. 
Walker might as well adduce the experiment as a proof that 

Q4 water 


248 On Sir H. Davy’s Safe-lamp. 


water was partly if not wholly carbonic acid gas. _ The fixed air 
being displaced from the barytes, the water will unite with the 
earth and form a hydrate. In introducing the experiment of 
Sir H. Davy, your correspondent seems not aware of that of 
Dobereiner of Jena. The former distinguished chemist in elec- 
trifying too great a portion of mercury did not succed in amal- 
gamating it: but it is of a piece with that of Dobereiner. The 
latter, by using a minute portion of mercury in contact with 
water, and submitting it to the action of Voltaic electricity, found 
oxygen developed at the positive wire, while 0 hydrogen ‘evolved 
at the negative extremity: but the fluidity of the mercury was 
arrested, and a solid amalgam,formed; aud this amalgam when 
submitted to heat gave off hydr ogen, while the mercury resumed 
its fluid form. This would look as if hydrogen was a metal 
dissolved in caloric, and illustrates the electrization of ammonia 
associated with mereury—which phenomenon admits of an easy 
solution, if we admit nitrogen to be a compound of oxygen and 
hydrogen, of which I see no cause to doubt. Iam not pre- 
pared to say that amalgamation with mercury is conclusive on 
the question of metallization—the experiments of Crosse would 
lead us to doubt it. 


Sir Wumpury Davy’s Safe-lamp. 

Tam happy in adding my complete conviction of the perfect 
safety of this invaluable discovery. It cannot be over-rated. 
The triumphs of humanity in this instance are complete, and 
will laud in grateful reminiscence the name of Davy. 

On Thursday (28th ultimo) I descended the * William” Pit 
here, in company with that enlightened practical miner Mr. 
Peele, when Sir H. Davy’s safe-lamp was put to the severest 
proof, in a recess of the most dangerous workings of the mine, 
and where a candle would have proyed certain destruction, We 
only wanted the presence of Sir Humphry to have shared in our 
admiration of the imposing spectacle. The flame of the lamp 
was first capt with a blueish flame, a lambent light was then 
seen playing in the cylinder, and the flame of the fire- damp af- 
terwards enlarging filled the whole wire-gauze. For some time 
the flame of the wick could be discerned within the lucid at- 
mosphere of fire-damp, and then the whole was calmly extin- 
guished. More brilliant results the friends of humanity could 
scarcely have dared to hope for. Sophistry is put to the’ blush. 
Independent of experiments which ] had myself made with the 
safe-lamp, I placed implicit reliance on the manipulations of 
this illustrious chemist;—my confidence has not been shaken, 
nor have my expectations been deceived; and my conyietion is 

now absolute. 
As 


Description of the Menagerie at Scheenbrunn in Austria, 249 


As Sir H. Davy had recommended that the wire cylinder 
should he oiled when not in use, to preserve from oxidation, it 
was of importance to ascertain whether, should the flame of the 
fire-damp from its intensity set fire to the oil on the internal 
surface, it might not, by possibility, communicate with that 
on the exterior. For this purpose I obscured with naphtha on 
both sides a central portion of wire-gauze containing 3,600 
meshes to the square inch, and having ignited this on one side, 
Tfound it did not communicate with that of the other, nor to 
alcohol, ether, or sulphuret of carbon applied by means of a 
camel. hair pencil. I find T can even burn alcohol on each side, 
separated only by the fine open curtain of wire-gauze, without 
the flames “‘ mingling into one,” and this is beautifully illus- 
trated from different colours being imparted to flaming alcohol 
by nitrates, copper, and strontites. My isan with in- 
flammable gases led to similar results. 

I could not, by means of the blowpipe, force flame through 
this plexus, even when red hot, to fire ether applied by a pencil 
to the opposite side. I need not insist on the varied experiments 
I instituted. The application of wire-gauze to cut off the com- 
munication of flame is as extensive as the necessities and con- 
veniences of life. Enveloped in a mantle of wire-gauze lined 
with woollen, we may run the gauntlet of flame, and defy its 
power. 

Imprisoned in the cylinder of wire-gauze the, captive fire- 
damp possesses no cause for alarm, exhibiting to the astonished 
eye an impressive and beautiful phenomenon. 

I am respectfully, sir, 
Very obediently yours, 
Whitehaven, April 2, 1816. J. Murray. 


LIV. Description of the Menagerie at Scheenbrunn in Austria. 
Ly M. Marce. DE SERREsS*. 


Tie menagerie of Schcenbrunn is the most extensive in Europe. 
All the animals which it contains are separated from each other, 
and have a commodious asylum against the severity of the 
weather, and abundance of space for exercise. It is in the valleys 
of the fine park of Schoenbrunn that the dens or cages are to be 
seen for the various animals. The extremity of these rows of 
¢ages is merely closed with an iron gate, and the public have 
therefore a full view of all the animals in the menagerie. All of 
mem haye every thing they want beside them. Thus they have 


* Annales des Arts et Munufactures, tome ly. p. 248. 
water 


250 Description of the Menagerie 


water in which to bathe, a thick shade to screen them from 
the sun, as well as an open field in which they may enjoy its 
rays. 

Several very rare animals have lived in the menagerie of 
Scheenbrunn: but we shall only instance at present the wild ox of 
Transylvania, known to naturalists by the name of aurochs ( Bos 
wrus), a species remarkable for the crest or mane it presents on 
its back. The aurochs is new an almost extinct breed, and it is 
only in Lithuania that it is to be met with: it should seem as 
if this species had been very abundant inthe forests of that part 
of Europe, as well asin those of Hungary. Thus, as ave have had 
occasion to observe in the living state the animal designated 
by Aristotle as the bonasos, and which the moderns had parti> 
eularly distinguished by the name of aurochs and bos wus 3 we 
thought that the description of an animal so rare might be 
interesting to naturalists. We have therefore been induced to 
publish the following observations, which we had collected re- 
specting an animal that natyralists have so seldom seen. This 
description might also have a high degree of interest, since the 
bones of the same individual which we have seen living, are de- 
posited in the Natural History Mnseum at Paris. 

The aurochs, or wild ox of the north of Europe, is a species 
known since the time of Aristotle, who alone of all the Greeks 
has left us a detailed description, in designating them under the 
name of lonasos. While thus designating the azrochs, the 
Pzonians called it monapos, and it seems that it was still 
known under the name of monops, of monelos, and ef monapos. 
As, subsequently, various Latin authors haye erroneously distin- 

euished two kinds of wild oxen, some moderns, thinking they 
discovered the second species in the bison, have thought that the 
Greek expression bonasos was a translation of “the Celto- 
Scythian word won'nas, formed of the article as and the 
Sclavonic word wonny, which signifies perfume. Thus, as 
Aristotle observed that the Lenasos was ealled by the Ponians 
monapos; this latter word has heeri derived from monapuax, signi- 
fying having a thick mane. It is evident that all these etymo- | 
logies may be weil founded, since the aurochs exhales a very | 
pereeptible smell of musk, and presents a thick mane; but they 
are far from proviig the opinion which is sought to be drawn. 

The description given ‘by Aristotle of the aurechs is too -de- 
tailed to permit us to quote it entirely; but we shall give the = 
principal heads of it: ‘* The size of the aurochs is that of a bull, 
but shorter and thicker than the ox. Its skin is so large that 
it may serve as a hed for seven persons. Its mane is covered 
with softer and longer hairs than that of the horse. The breast 
of the bonasos is fawn-coloured, and its mane is of a reddish 


at Schenbrunn ia Austria. 251 


gray, and falls over the eyes and shoulders. The hair of the lower 
part or belly is darker, and like wool.” Its feet are cloven, and 
the teeth as well as the interior parts are similar to those of the 
ox. The arrangement which Aristotle gives to the horns of the 
aurochs—of being folded and bent over each other in such a way 
that they cannot strike—is a peculiarity of the individual which 
Aristotle had before him; and which must have been correct, for 
he repeats the description twice. We know however that this 
character can sca: rcely be regarded as constant, since it varies in 
the same individual. Lastly, Le assigns to each horn the size 
of a palm or upwards. 

With the exception of the fable which Aristotle relates on the 
subject of the excremeuts of the awrochs, and which Pliny and 
Elian have carefully preserved, the description of this great na- 
turalist is distinct and clear. Finally, he assigns Peonia as the 
country of the lonasos, and says that it inbabits Mount Mena- 
pius, which separates Peonia from Media. Pliny, in afterwards 
copying the description of Aristotle, does not endeavour to as- 
certain what animal could be the Lonasos of the Greek naturalist ; 
he merely contents himself with saying: “‘ Tradunt in Pzonia 


- feram, que bonasus vocatur, equina juba, cetera tauro similem, 


cornibus ita in se flexis ut non sint utilia pugne ; quapropter 
fuga sibi auxiliari reddentem in e& fimum interdnm et trium 
jugerum longitudine : : cujus contactus sequentes ut ignis aliquis 
amburat.” Hitherto Pliny only speaks of one species of wild 
ox, as well as Aristotle ; but in other places he designates two, 
since he says: “ Jubatos disontes excellentique vi et t velocitate 
uros quibus imperitum vulgus bubalorum nomen imponit.” He 
also returns to those two species of oxen; and observes that the 
Greeks had not experienced the medical properties of the wild 
oxen or bisons, with which the forests of India are filled. Plin: 
Hist. Nat. c. 28. 

- Solinus in copying the Latin naturalist also distinguishes two 
kinds of wild oxen; and he asserts that in the forests of Hyr- 
cania the Lisons are very common as well as the wrus, and that 
these are the oxen distinguished by the vulgar under the name of 
bubalus. Oppian speaks of the bonasos in a manner as inexact 
as. Pausanias, who, in deseribing the bulls exhibited in the spec- 
tacles at Rome, does not give the name of éonasos, but rather 
bison, making it come from Peonia, the country of the former, 
as Aristotle had observed, 

Cesar, always accurate in his details, has decribed the /onasus 
of Aristotle by the name of wrus. But he has described only 
one species of wild bull which he had observed in the forests of 
Hyrcania, This animal, he says, is very large, having 4 cO- 

our, 


252 Description of the Menagerie 


lour, stature, and carriage of a bull; their strength and agility 
are also, as he says, extreme *. 

Virgil in his Georpics, like Julius Cesar in his Commentaries, 
makes mention of only” one species of wild ox, which he also 
calls wrus. 

In the second book of his Georgics we find the following pas- 
sage: 

“ Texende sepes etiam, et pecus omne tenendum est, 
Przcipvé dum frons tenera imprudensque laborum 5 
Cui, super indiznas hyemes, solemque potentem, 
Sylv estres url assidue, capreeque sequaces 
Tiludunt.” 
Geor. lib. il. v. 374. 


In his third book he returns to the subject : 


“ Tempore non atio dicunt regiunibus illis 
Quesitas ad sacra boves Junonis, et uris 
Imparibus ductos alta ad donaria currus.’ 
sts lib. ii. ver. 531. 
Seneca and Martial distinguished, like Pliny, two species of 
wild oxen: 
“ Tibi dant variz pectora tigres, 
Tibi villosi terga bisontes, 
Latisque feri cornibus uri.” 
SENEC. Hyppol. 


‘¢ Tlli cessit atrox bubalus atque bison.” 
MARTIAT. 
As Pliny had already designated the Lonasos of Aristotle by 
the name of lubalus, it is evident that Martial had Pliny in his 
eye. 


Thus the ancients, with the exception of Cesar and Aristotle, _ 


distinguished two kinds of wild oxen, which the moderns have 
endeavoured to trace: but the inquiry has led most of our mo- 
dern naturalists to think that the oxen with humps on the 
shoulders were of the same race with the aurochs, and that all 
oxen with or without humps came from the wild ox of Lithuania. 
Gessner was the first modern naturalist who distinguished the 
bison of the ancients from the wrus; and his opinion in addition 
to Bufion’s has rendered the difficulties on the subject more in- 
tricate. It is important, in short, to know if the isons of the 
ancients were the same species with the lonasos of Aristotle, 
and if the oxen of the new continent, called improperly disons, 
belong also to the same race. Lastly, if the domestic oxen came 


* Lib. vi. 26. The edition of Julius Cesar, by Clarke, printed at 
London in 1712, gives a very large figure to the aurochs, but it is very in- 
accurate. The neck and fore legs are by far too short, and the anterior 
part is by far too broad, 


from | 


at Scheenbrunn in Austria. 253 


from the wild oxen of Pzonia and Lithuania, or rather from 
another primitive stock. ‘The most illustrious naturalist of our 
days (Buffon) endeavours to throw light on these delicate ques- 
tions, without doing so, however, in the most satisfactory man- 
ner. Messrs. Cuvier, Lacépéde, and Geoffroy have together 
nearly set the matter at rest. It results from their observations: 

1. That it appears very clear that the bonasos of Aristotle is 
the same animal with the uwrus of Julius Cesar, and that the 
bison of the Romans is this very lonasos, to which the appella- 
tion of bubalus has also been given. 

2. That the ox with the hunch of the new continent, named 
improperly bison, is a species of ox which has nothing in com- 

on with the lonasos of Aristotle, who does not seem to have 
esi the ox with the hunch. Besides, if Aristotle had known 
an ox with a hunch, he would not have asserted in the same place 
where he speaks of the lonasos, that the camel was the only 
guadruped which had a hunch on the back. 

3. That we ought to acknowledge the zebra as the source 
of our race of domestic oxen, rather than the aurochs, which 
differs from the former by characters which it is not usual for 
nature to vary. 

4. That the name of wrus, applied by Julius Cesar to the ani- 
mal just described, might be a name originally German, as Al- 
droyandus and Gessner have already imagined ; and this opinion 
appears to us much more probable than that of Macrobius, 
who regarded the name of urus as a French word. _ In fact, the 

Germans still designate the wras by the name of auer-ochs, wald- 
*echs, and wr-ochs, which signifies properly wild ox, or ox of the 
forests. Those who are familiar with the German language 
know how easy it is to imagine that the varieties in pronuncia- 
. }tion adopted in Germany might have changed the word wrus 

into aurochs: the fact is, the former is merely a softer pronun- 
\eiation of the word. Servius explains the word wrus in a man- 
| mer much more learned; and he derives it from the Greek word 
6g05, which signifies mountain. 


Description of the Aurochs or Bos Urus. 


» | The size of the aurochs does not much surpass that of our 
i¢ largest-sized domestic oxen: but its form is much thicker and 
¢, squatter. This thickness is the more remarkable when we 


pare it with the anterior part of the body of the urus, which 
much broader, This greater breadth is particularly remark- 
in the legs, But their larger size seems to depend merely 
ithe muscles; for in the skeletons of the various species we 
hot remark any very marked differences. 

The 


254 Description of the Menagerie 


The shape or contours are rugged, and not soft or round likd 
those of the domestic ox, and all its limbs strongly indicate im 
some measure its savage nature and great strength. The thick 
and woolly mane which covers all the anterior part of the bedy 
of the aurochs, and the thick beard which hangs below its chin, 
give it a wild air, which the intenseness of its stare and its 
sombre and grave countenance render still more striking. 

The head of the azurochs is very broad, nay, even almost 
square. In its greatest breadth it measures eleven inches five 
lines, while its greatest length is 18 inches. If we-compare the 
breadth of the head of our domestic oxen with that of the 
aurochs, we find that they are nearly as 3 to 4. The forehead 
ef the aurochs if also broader than it is high, and it is full and 
swoln, but less so than that of the luffalo. 

This last character is even particular enough to enable us 
easily to distinguish this species from that of cur domestic oxen, 
which have their forehead flat and a little concave. This dis- 
position of the forehead with that of the horns separates those 
‘two species: thus the horns of the avrochs are net placed on 
the same level with the upper line of the forehead, but rather 
below, so that they form with the line of the for ehead an acuté 
angle. The horns of the common ox are on the contrary more 
elevated than the line of the forehead, so that they form with 
it an-almost obtuse angle. As to the plan of the occiput, it is 
qvedrangular in the domestic ox, while it is semicircular in 
the awrochs. 

The salient angle of the interorbitary arcade forms in the au- 
mochs a marked prominence of two inches, which is very con- 
siderable. The anterior of the head of the wrus, the part where 
the nostrils are placed, is singularly flat and square in this 
species. This flatness is not found in any other species, and’ 
seems to be a character peculiarly inherent to the latter. The 
nostrils of the aurochs have this particularity, that they form? 
almost a perfect circle ; whereas those of the buffalo and do-' 
mestic ox are decidedly oval. As to the black skin of the nostrils,’ 
it is thick and solid, and forms a thick flap. 

The head of the awrochs is very hairy, and it is particularly 
under the chin that it presents a thick ‘and oceasionally a long 
beard. The ears of this species of ox are short, hairy, and 
placed behind above the horns. As to the horns, as their di-* 
rection is subject to vary, and as the same individual presents» 
them sometimes in opposite directions, we shall not stop to de= 
seribe them. We shall content ourselves with observing here 
that this direction is never from front to back,.as in the buffalo 


or instance ; besides, in this species they are thick and broad, 
but 


et 


at Scheenbrunn in Austria. 255 


but short: this is not the case always if the races of our do- 
mestic oxen; for instance, in the varieties of the oxen of Hun- 
gary, and even of Romania, which have very long horns. 

The urus has a broad but short neck, and we do not sce that 
the skin ever forms numerous and pendeiit folds, as observed in 
the domestic ox, and in the greater number of the species of 
this genus. It is generally very hairy and covered with a thick 
mane, which always becomes thicker towands the lower part. 
It is this mane which has made this species be confounded by 
several naturalists with the bison of the new continent, which 
seems to have a mane still more abundant. 

The form of the body of the aurochs is generally thicker than 
that of the domestic oxen, and its body is also much more hairy, 
particularly in the fore parts and on the back. The hairs are 
generally very long and very thick. Finally, the aurochs has 
sourteen pair of ribs, while we observe but thirteen in all the 
other species of oxen, 

The legs of the wrus are short and thick, particularly the fore 
legs : ; they are also covered with long and numerous hairs; the 
feet are cloven and hairy, the hoofs are short, but strong and 
thick: as to the fetlocks, they are long and placed above the 
hoofs. From the direction of these fetlocks they almost touch the 
gromid: those of the fore feet are shorter and more square than 
those of the hind feet, which are longer, but also not so broad. 

The tail of the aurochs searcely reaches half down the thigh; 
but the hair which covers it touches the ground: it is tufted, and 
the hair is long and thick. 

The breast of the aurochs which we saw, was of a reddish 
brown, or of a dull fawn colour, and almost of one tint: the 
hair of the body, as well as the mane which covered the whole 
of the neck and part of the shoulders, had not that grayish 
tinge which Aristotle makes one of the characters of the lozasos. 
The hair of the wrus is not short and frizzled, but, on the con- 
trary, long and straight, and in the individual Just mentioned 
it is of a generally uniform colour. 

The aurachs presents, therefore, as its chief characters: 2 face 
very flat, the forehead slightly swoln, the horns placed below 
the line of the occiput, and the interorbitary arcade very salient : 
Lastly, a thick mane and fourteen pair of ribs. The characters 
presented by the occiput, of being arranged in a semicircle, and 
of forming an obtuse angle with the forehead, are also equally 
important, and may very clearly serve for the distinction of this 
species. 

The dimensions of the aurochs are as follow: 

Length following the curvature of the back, nine feet three 
inches. Length 


» 


256 Description of the Menagerie 


Length from the orbit to the anus, seven feet seven inches. © 

Height taken at the highest point of the back, five feet nine 
inches. 

Length of the head, one foot ten inches. 

Breadth, one foot four inches. 

Length from the extremity of the nostrils to the extremity of 
the eye, one foot. 

From the extremity of the eye to the root of the horns, five 
inches. 

Breadth of the horns taken at their base, four inches. 

Length of the neck to the shoulder-blade taken obliquely, one 
foot five-inches. 

Height from the hoof of the fore foot with the different cur- 
vatures to the most elevated part of the back, five feet nine 
inches. 

Space between the train behind and the train before, two feet 
eight inches. 

Height from the fore foot to the chest, two feet five inches. 

Height from the fore feet to the line of the body, two feet two 
inches. “4 ; 

Height from the hind feet measured to the line of the body, 
two feet seven inches. 

Length of the neck, one foot eight inches. 

Length of the tail, four feet. 

We may refer to the aurechs the descriptions and figures un- 
der mentioned. 

1. The species which Aristotle has described by the name of 
Lonasos. 

2. The species of oxen described by the Greeks by the names 
of monapos, monepus, and monops. 

3. The oxen described by Pliny, under the names of bonasus, 
bubalus, and Lison, as well as all those which the ancient Latin 
authors called by these names. We must not confound with 
the aurochs the species which some moderns have described by 
the name of dubalus, which is nothing but the buffalo. 

4, The urus of Julius Cesar and Virgil. 

5. The figures of Aldrovandus are so inaccurate that we can 
scarcely refer to the aurochs that which he gives of the wrus. 
As to Johnston, as he has adopted the opinion of certain Latin 
authors in distinguishing the two species of wild oxen, he has 
also given drawings of them. In plate xix. he has given the 
lonasos ; and in plate xx. the wrus. If these two figures were 
accurate, they would certainly indicate two very different ani- 
mals; but when we consider the little credit which Johnston de- 
serves, we Cannot refer to them with propriety. 


6. The 


at Scheenbrunn in Austria. 257 


6. The ox figured in the Commentaries of Sigismond D’Her- 
berstein. 

7. The ox represented by Anthony Wied in the Map of Mus- 
covy. 

8. The ox represented in the large edition of Julius Czsar 
published at London by Clarke. In this figure the feet are re- 
presented by far too small to support the mass of the bedy. 

9. The zimbre or wild ox of Moldavia, or the zuber, zubr, tur 
or turon of Poland, is certainly the awrochs. 

10. The white lison of Forster aud Pennant is only a variety 
of the aurochs. 

11. The figure of the female urus, given by Gilibert in his 
History of Quadrupeds.  ~ 

12. The figure of the aurochs of Bertuch, plate xiv. fig. 1, 
which is to be found in the Tafeln des Aligemeinen Naturge- 
schichte. The figures given by Bertuch are so small, and in 
general so bad, that we can place but little confidence in then. 

13. The descriptions which Pallas has given of the urus are 
exact, and he also cites another description of the anatomist 
Wilde, which has the same advantage. 

The aurocks which we saw was a male, which had lived thirty 
years in the menagerie. It came from Transylvania. In a fire 
which broke out in the place where it was kept, it owed its 
preservation to its great strength ; for it broke the chains by 
which it was fastened, dug up the door of its den, and over- 
throwing every obstacle escaped from the flames. This~great 
strength of the awrechs would make it very valuable if it could 
be trained for domestic purposes; but all the attempts made to 
tame this one at Schcenbrunn were fruitless. When I saw it, it 
was not quite so ferocious, for age had diminished its strength, 
The branches of trees which had been given it for food, and 
of which it was very fond, had so worn down its teeth that it 
could no longer digest but with pain, not being able to masti- 
cate. It died soon afterwards of consumption. 

The aurochs is a species almost lost in the present day: some 
few individuals only are found thinly scattered in the forests of 
Lithuania and ‘Transylvania. We are assured that there are 
some in the Krapac Mountains also. It appears that it was for- 
merly very common in some temperate regions of Europe. The 
descriptions of ancient Latin authors give us every reason to be- 
lieve so. 

The individual which we saw at Schoenbrunn emitted a hoarse 
but very strong sound, and which had something in it sad and 
mournful: it roared, but never bellowed like an ox. When it 
was frightened or crossed in any way, it roared so loud that its 
keepers were frequently terrified for the consequences, 

Vol. 47, No, 216. April 1816. R LY. On 


[ 258 j 


LV. Onthe Cosmogony of Moses. By Dr. PRricHarD; in 
Reply toF. E Ss. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — LR the last number of the Philosophical Magazine I ob- 
serve a second attack upon my paper on the Mosaic Cosmogony. 
I had declined entering into any further controversy on this 
subject ; but on mature consideration it appears to me a matter 
of so mueh importance to prove that the exordium of the He- 
brew Scriptures is capable of a rational ars! philosophical inter- 
pretation, instead of one which gives it very much the air of a 
piece of mythology, that I have resolved to reply to the stric- 
tures of your correspondent. 

He has detected me in one error, to which I must ppere 
plead guilty; viz. that of citing Laplace’s Syst@me du Monde 
by a designation not quite accurate. I wrote in great haste, 
and had not leisure for correcting my composition; and I could 
even point out to my keen-sighted adversary some other verbal 
imaccuracies equally important, which I discovered in looking 
over my paper since I received the number of the Philosophical 
Magazine which contains it; but as these matters have little 
relation to the argument before us, I shall proceed to consider 
on what grounds I am accused by Mr, F. E s of contradict- 
ing my own statements. 

I observed in my first paper, that the speculations of heathen 
philosophers on the Cosmogony were founded on some fanciful 
analogy with natural processes that are daily observed ; and in 
my last communication I have said that the historical docu- 
ments contained in the early part of Genesis may be traced 
among many remote nations ; and that not only the Asiatics but 
the Scandinavians and Mexicans * were equally in possession of 
the primitive traditions.” But I beg to have it observed, that 
in this latter instance [ made no allusion to the Cosmogony. 
Neither the Scandinavians nor the Mexicans had, as far as I 
remember, any ngtions on this subject which bore the slightest 
analogy to the account which we have in the Pentateuch. The 
former on thé contrary held that the earth was in the beginning 
the dead hody of a huge giant, while the latter imputed the 
origin of the human species to the fall of an aérolite. Yet in 
the mythological fables of both these nations there are many 
circumstances referriug to the history of mankind, which were 
evidently derived from the same source with some relations con- 
tained in the early Scriptures of the Hebrews; and it was only 
for the sake of proving this connexion, and the consequence 
which I deduced from it, that they were alluded to, I may-add 

that 


ia) 


On the Cosmogony of Moses. 259 


that those nations who preserved the tradition of the Cosmogony, 
the Hindoos for example, added so many fictitious cireum- 
stances to it, that in the character which it assumes in their 
hands it may well be contrasted with that simple narrative of 
events which we find in the beginning of Genesis. 

Neither is the hypothesis, that the early parts of this book are 
a compilation—incompatible with the opinion that Moses was 
an inspired writer ; unless it be proved that all inspired persons 
have possessed the attribute of omniscience, which I am not 
disposed to concede asa self-evident truth, If, as Mr. F, E——s 
maintains, the supposition that Moses had recourse to previously 
existing documents implies the want of inspiration, | would beg 
to ask whether St. Matthew and St. Luke were in want of in- 
spiration when they had recourse to previously existing docu- 
ments in compiling their genealogies? Or, if they wrote from 
immediate revelation, how happened it that one of them fol- 
lowed the Hebrew text, and the other theSeptuagint translation ? 
It is absurd to hold any argument on the extent of endowments 
concerning the nature and limitations of which we are wholly 
ignorant; but the example above cited is sufficient to prove that 
it is not beneath the dignity of an inspired writer to avail him- 
self of historical documents where any such exist. Michaelis 
has fully proved that Moses framed his code of laws by combi- 
ning the ancient usages of the nomadic Hebrews with the insti- 
tutions of the agricultural Egyptians. Surely then we may ven- 
ture to conjecture that he adupted into his annals the most au- 
thentic documents that existed concerning the history of the 
world. But the account of the Cosmogony must have heen at_ 
first derived from a particular revelation, and therefore it is just 
as easy to suppose that it was revealed to Moses as to Enoch 
or Noah. I allow the force of this argument, and should ac- 
quiesce in the conclusion drawn from it, if there were not facts 
which appear to prove that the document in question is really’ 
more ancient than the age of Moses. 

Notwithstanding Mr. F. E s’s objections, it is still manifest 
that the Cosmogony of Menu bears a remarkable analogy to that 
of Moses. In the former it is said that at the close or termi- 
nation of each night a-reiterated act of creation took place. 
How does this differ essentially from the force of the phrases 
“<The evening had come and the morning had come-—one day— 
when God said, Let there be a firmament,” &c.? This is nota 
day included by its natural limits, otherwise it would have been 


_ said the morning and evening. he expressions are equivalent 


to these: After the close of one day, and when the dawning of 
another had appeared, the act of creation was renewed. Twi- 
light is the word that occurs in the translation of Menu. We 

R 2 are 


260 On the Cosmogony of Moses; 


are presently told by Menu that each day comprehended a long 
succession of ages. In the Etruscan Cosmogony, which bears a 
still more striking analogy to the Hebrew, and on which your 
correspondent has forgotten to make any remark, the duration 
of each period is expressly mentioned to have been a chiliad, or 
a thousand years. Ifthe Hindoos and Etruscans derived these 
records from the same source whence Moses obtained his account, 
which I think almost certain, the conclusion | have drawn seems 
to be scarcely avoidable. 

I now proceed to “ the other and more weighty oljection— 
that it does not appear that the Hebrew people ever understood 
the six days of the creation” in any other sense than the literal 
one. And here I would beg leave to ask Mr. F. E——s how 
we are to interpret the passage in which it is said that God 
created man after his own image. Are we to understand by a 
metaphor, that man was created an intellectual and moral being; 
or must we receive the expressions literally, as we have reason 
to believe the Hebrew people did, who are supposed on good 
grounds to have been anthropomorphites? Ifso, I presume we 
must also give a literal interpretation to such phrases as ‘ Jt 
repented God,” “ God rested on the seventh day,” &c. &e. 
And if we succeed in establishing all, these points, we shall at 
length bring the theology of Moses much more nearly on a leyel 
with that of Hesiod than it has been supposed to be. If, how- 
eyer, as I suppose it will be conceded, these expressions demand 
a figurative explanation, though the Hebrew people, at least the 
vulgar, understcod them literally; I am at liberty to assume the 
same latitude with respect to the days of the creation. While 
adverting to the prevalent notions of the Hebrews on this sub- 
ject, it is somewhat surprising that Mr. F. E s did not think 
it worth while to take notice of the opinions of the two most 
learned antiquaries of that nation, viz. Josephus and Philo, 
whom I cited in my last paper, and who expressly affirm that 
the account of the six days’ work is metaphorical. Philo parti-, 
cularly says, * It is a piece of rustic simplicity to understand it 
literally.” 

Lastly; Mr. F. E s says that I have effected the coinci- 
dences which I call upon him to admire between the Cosmogony 
and the Epochs of Nature, by transferring the creation of zodphytes 
and testacea from the fifth ‘day to the third; whereas, according 
to the sense in which the twentieth and two following verses in - 
the first chapter of Genesis ‘have hitherto been generally under- 
stood, all the inhabitants of the waters were called into ex- 
istence on the fifth day.” It is of little importance in what 
sense these passages have been generally understood by careless 
readers, if the expressions they contain will not bear the con- 

struction 


in Reply to F, E——s. 261 


struction imputed to them. The LXX certainly did not under- 
stand the words which describe the fifth day’s creation as in- 
cluding corals and bivalves, otherwise : they surely would not have 
rendered them t2 xyry T2 weyara, xal mary durghy Choy & EQmeT diy. 
The Hebrew word which the LXX have rendered égzera Ene 
the idea of progressive motion ; and it occurs in a similar sens 
in many other places, but particularly in Psalm civ. 20, Sie 
it is applied’ to the roving of wild beasts in the night. It is 
therefore very certain, as your correspondent has hinted, that 
Moses has assigned no place for zodphytes and testacea ; neither 
has he mentioned forest-trees, or shrubs, or lichens, for he did 
not write the Cosmogony with the Systema Nature before him. 
The Hebrew language being very poor in terms of classification, 
a few leading objects in each class are mentioned; and we are 
left to understand that the analogous kinds were conjoined with 
those which are named. - Thus in the third day’s creation we are 
told that ‘‘ grass and seed-bearing herbs and fruit-learing trees” 
began to exist; and we are left to supply all the remainder of 
the vegetable world, including marine plants to which no allu- 
sion is made. It is not going much further out of the way to 
add corals and madrepores, and even testacea, considering that 
no other place is allotted to them, and that on the next day 
whales and progressive aquatic animals only are mentioned. At 
any rate, it is evident that Moses had it not in contemplation 
to make a complete census of the whole number of created 
beings: and when we find zodphytes and testacea associated in 
the earth with the earliest remains of vegetable productions, and 
evidently belonging to the same epoch in the creation, the pre- 
sence of the former constitutes no exception to the coincidence 
which would otherwise be complete. 

Mr. F. E s seems to have given up his hypothesis for ex- 
plaining the revolution of night and day before the creation of 
the sun, and even avows that he was aware of the physical cir- 
cumstances which render it untenable, before he advanced it, 
There is one interpretation, however, of the fourteenth and fol- 
lowing verses which will assist him out of this difficulty, and 
will even remove one great objection to the sense he attaches to 
the six days. The explanation I allude to, is that which was 
proposed by Dr. Geddes, a learned but bold commentator, whose 
method of criticism merit#in many instances the severest repre- 
hension. In this particular passage I believe he has discovered 
the true sense; and I shall therefore cite his translation of it, 
though it deprives me of one argument in favour of my own hy- 
pothesis which has not been answered,’ Dr. G. considers the 
words Let there be, lights in the firmament of heaven to il- 
luminate the earth,” as ‘equival: ent to Let lights appear,” &c, 

Rs and 


262 On the Cosmogony of Moses; 


and he proves that the words here used do not necessarily imply 
a new creation of the sun, and cites the authority of Origen 
who was of the same opinion. Accordingly the sun may have 
existed before this period, though it only now became visible on 
the earth in consequence of the changes which had taken place 
in the terrestrial atmosphere. On this hypothesis all the mo- 
tions of the solar system may be supposed to have subsisted 
for ages before the epoch to which the Mosaic Cosmogony (ex- 
cept perhaps the first verse of it) refers, 

If this interpretation be allowed, the whole Cosmogony will 
present a scheme perfectly rational and consisteut with itself, as 
well as coinciding admirably with the information which natural 
philosophers have gained concerning the system of the world, 
It. is well known that certain stars have at various times disap- 
peared from the heaveus or have ceased to be luminous, while, 
others have been observed which were not before visible; as the 
star observed by Hipparchus, which induced that celebrated 
astronomer. to make a catalogue of the heavenly bodies, and that 
which shone for ‘a time with so much splendor in Cassiopeia. 
Others have been for a time either partially or wholly obscured, 
and have again become luminous. Hence it is probable that 
those which have been observed for the first time, really existed 
in the heavens before they were seen, and remained for many 
ages in a dark unilluminated state. Such may have been the 
condition of our sun and solar system before the period when 
light is said by Moses to have appeared in the world; and 
during the preceding ages the state of the earth revolving round 
a dark sun is well described by the expressions ‘* The earth 
was desolate and void, and darkness upon the face of the deep.” 
if these speculations are allowed, in which no cause is assumed 
that is not known really to exist, I would venture to propose 
the following paraphrase of the Cosmogony : 

Ver. 1. At some very remote epoch God created the ma- 
terial universe. 

[Through the remainder of the chapter Moses confines his 
attention to the changes that were effected in this terraqueous 
globe, and only ‘* mentions such other parts of the universe as 
became eventually correlative to it.” 

Ver. 2. The world remained long desolate and void, and a 
dark mist * environed the surface of our globe. 

At length the Divine Energy (the Spirit of God) began to 
exert itself, and to set in action that train of physical changes 
which was destined to develop the organized creation. 


* This is the sense of the Hebrew word wn. —See Parkhurst’s and 
Buxtorf's Lexicons. 


Ver, 


‘in Reply to F, R——s. 263 


Ver.8—4. The solar system became illuminated by the 
sun, which had hitherto been a dark body. ‘* The hght here 
mentioned,”’ says Dr. Geddes, may even from the context it- 
self be readily supposed to be but an imperfect and partial light, 
such as we often see in a foggy day; which light would gradually 
increase in proportion as the air was expanced and rarefied, until 
on the fourth day it received the utmost degree of brightness 
from the unclouded appearance of the sun.’ ‘Thisindeed seems 
to be the only sense in which it is possible to understand the 
existence of light before the appearance of the sun. The com- 
mon interpretation of the “ days” of the creation is thus ren- 
dered more tenable than it can otherwise hecome. 

Ver. 5, Termination of the first period. 

Ver. 6—7. The atmosphere becoming less dense, is called 
an expanse, in which the aérial waters or clouds now float in 
separate masses. 

Ver, §. Termination of the second period. 

Ver.9. The higher regions of the earth emerge from the 
universal ocean, never again to be covered by it until the era 
of the deluge. 

Ver. L1—12. “ Grass and seed-bearing herbs and fruit- 
bearing trees created.” Moses only alludes here to the vegeta- 
ble creation on dry land, He makes no mention of marine 
plants, corals, madrepores, &e. or testacea, 

Ver. 13. Termination of the third period. 

Ver. 14, &c. The heavenly bodies now first shine clearly on 
the surface of the earth. 

Ver. 19. ‘Termination of the fourth period. 

Ver. 20—21. Whales and fishes produced in the sea, and 
birds on the land. 

Ver. 23. Termination of the fifth period. 

Ver. 24,&c. Creation of land quadrupeds, 

Ver. 25, &c. Creation of man, 

Your correspondent will of course treat this interpretation 
with contempt, unless he showld happen to think it favourable 
to his own hypothesis: but I have little doubt of its appearing 
to unprejudiced persons the most probable mode of explaining 
the cosmogony. 

I have the honour to be, 
Sir, 
} Your obedient servant, 
Bristol, April 11, 1816. J, C. PricHarD. 


R4 LVI. Mr. 


{[ 264 ] 
LVI. Mr. Hume on Emetic Tartar. 
To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — ly addition to what I have already communicated * to 
you, in regard to my methods of preparing emetic tartar, I beg 
to submit to your readers a copy of a letter which I sent, above 
two years ago, to the President of the Royal College af Physi- 
cians, London. 

T his I hope will serve as a protection against the officious 
and, I may say, illiberal, intrusion.of one, who seems still de- 
termined to injure my professicnal reputation and, consequently, 
the welfare of my family. 

I have said methods, because, by more ways than one, I have 
effected the decomposition, and have proved that an oxide of 
antimony, fit for the purpose, can be obtained directly from the 
common black sulphuret either by means of wiérie acid alone, 
properly diluted with water, or the ingredients themselves by 
which this acid is prepared, together with the necessary quantity 
of water. 

The process which I sent to you, and which you have already 
admitted into the Philosophical Magazine, has been supported 
by the most ample and favourable testimonies, both by manu- 
facturers and others who. are competent to judge of its merits; 
I have therefore no inducement at present to recommend any 
change in that prescription. 

I take this occasion to declare that, excepting the preparation 
of the medicine in question, the tartarized antimony, I had less 
to do with the changes that have been made either in the for- 
mer volume or in the editio nova of the Pharmacopceia than 
may be supposed; I had no direct communication with the 
committee; nor do I know, even at this moment, how and of 
whom this committee was composed, whether it was open to all 
the members of the College, or secret and select; consequently 
I had no opportunity of preventing the material error (tum cola) 
which had unfortunately slipped into the. fouls for antimonium 
tartarizatum, 

The letter, of which I shall subjoin a copy, was never meant 
to be kept as a secret, further than to be presented /irsé to the 
consideration of the committee, which, as I understood, had been 
appointed to reform the Pharmacopceia of the London College. 
This letter, if admitted into your pages, will serve as a registry, 
notwithstanding all that has been asserted by one who has writ- 
ten so much and done so little, that the process which the Col- 
lege has now abandoned might have been profitably modified ; 


et Plnlosophical Magazine, vol. xlv. p. 301. 


that 


On constructing Electric Columns. 265 


that the nitric acid was not in such great. excess had a sufficient 
quantity of water been employed, and that the muriatic acid is 
not of so much consequence in the formation of protoxide of 
antimony, since the whole of the eleven fluid ounces there pre- 
scribed might have been omitted. 

I remain, sir, 

Your obedient servant, 
Loug Acre, April 17, 1816. Jos. Hume. 
=< 


“To Dr. Latham, &c. Sc. Be, 


‘* Sir,—A very simple and, I believe, effectual method of pre- 
paring tartarized antimony ‘oniaered to me yesterday, which I 
am anxious to present to you lest I should be anticipated un- 
fairly by any other experimentalist. 

*©T shall not at present take up more of your time thar to 
state the following sketch of the process. 

“The common black sulphuret of antimony is boiled with 
nitrous acid /arge/y diluted with water. This produces an oxide 
of antimony which, after being properly washed, is to be boiled 
with supertartrate of potass and distilled water. The operation 
is then to be finished in the usual manner by evaporation and 
crystallization. 

‘< T have the honour to be, Sir, &c. 
Long-Acre, Jan. 21, 1814. “ Jos. HuME.”’ 


LVII. On constructing Electric Colunms. By B. M. Forsrer, 
Esq. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — i HAVE lately formed an electric column, hy a process 
somewhat different from any hitherto adopted, I believe ; and 
imagining that it may prove a very convenient one, I wish by 
means of your publication to make it known, hoping that those 
persons who are interested about this curious instrument will 
make experiments to determine the comparative power of a 
column formed by this method, and one made according to Mr, 
De Lue’s original plan. 

Not being able easily to procure manganese in a finely-pow- 
dered state, which I understand has been made use of instead 
of platcs of zinc, 1 was desirous of trying the effect of z7c very 
finely powdered; and having obtained some of this substance 
pulverized, in order to get the very fine particles I sifted it 
through muslin, then mixed it with a solution of common glue 


and some moist sugar, ‘This mixture 1 laid on the back of 
Dutch~ 


266 On constructing Electric Columns. 


Dutch-gilt embossed paper with a brush, by which method a 
triple disc was obtained, consisting of Dutch metal (copper), 
paper and xinc. Perhaps some one may be able to describe the 
exact method of making the Dutch-gilt paper; if so, I shall 
esteem it a favour to be informed of it. I understand that the 
metal is formed of copper principally, but of what other sub- 
stance is unknown to me. It appears to me that a considerable 
advantage may be gained by the above-mentioned process, both 
in time and labour, as these plates or discs are much more easily 
punched out than plates of zinc, and the placing them in a co- 
lumn is also much more easily doue on account of there being 
only one kind of disc, therefore less chance of a mistake is 
likely to occur in the disposition of them. If paper with silver- 
leaf \aid on it, as described in Philosophical Magazine, vol. xxxv. 
p- 205 (March 1810), were used instead of Dutch-gilt paper, 
the effect would probably be stronger, and still more so if dises 
of silvered paper and discs of paper with powdered zinc were 
used, as the paper would then be more capable of imbibing 
moisture from the atmosphere than when both sides are coated 
with metal. As the gold-leaf electrometer, commonly used for 
experiments with the electric column, is rather an expensive 
one, and troublesome on account of the delicacy of the gold- 
leaves, it may not be unacceptable to many of your readers to 
be informed, that a metal-leaved electrometer of great sensibility 
may at a very reasonable cost be made, with a small lamp-glass 
fitted up with a mahogany top and base; the leaves are to be 
made of Dutch metal fastened to a thick piece of brass wire or 
slip of wood fixed into a piece of cork (which is to be glued on 
to the wooden cap) ; slips of tin-foil or Dutch-metal are to be 
pasted on two opposite -parts of the glass cylinder as usual. 

Electrometers made with Duéch-metal as above mentioned, 
are strongly affected by a person’s finger being placed on them, 
if he suddenly rise from a chair (with a horse-hair seat) and stand 
upon a dry fire-hearth, the electric effects being produced by 
his woollen clothing rubbing against the horse-hair chair. 

A dry fire-hearth being found to be @ very good insulator, 
I frequently make use of it instead of a stool with glass legs. 
Should it be found that zinc dust laid on, as in the foregoing 
account, does answer the purpose desired; this method may 
be worthy of the attention of the philosophical-instrument-ma- 
kers, as they might probably find a sale for this (as it may be 
called) electrical paper. If zinc could be procured in as thin 
leaves as silver or Dufch-metal, it probably would be better for 
electric columns than zinc dust. 

April 47, 1816. B, M. Forster. 


LVIII. Re- 


i 1264-9 


LVIII. Report of the Select Committee of the House of Com- 
mons, appointed to inguire, whether it be expedient that the 
Collection mentioned in the Earl of Evetn’s Petition, pre- 
sented to the House on the 15th Day of February last, should 
be purchased on behalf of the Public; and if so, whai Price it 
may be reasonable to allow for the same. 


ry. 
i] HE Select Committee consider the subject referred to them, 
as divided into four principal heads ; 

The first of which relates to the authority by which this col- 
lection was acquired :—The second to the circumstances under 
which that authority was granted:—The third to the merit of 
the marbles as works of sculpture, aud the importance of making 
them public property, for the purpose of promoting the study of 
the fine arts in Great Britain ;—and The fourth to their value as 
objects of sale; which includes the consideration of the expense 
which has attended the removing, transporting, and bringing 
them to England. To these will be added some general obser- 
vations upon what is to be found, in various authors, relating to 
these marbles. 

I. When the Earl of Elgin quitted England upon his mission 
to the Ottoman Porte, it was his original intention to make that 
appointment beneticial to the progress of the fine arts in Great 
Britain, by procuring accurate drawings and casts of the valu- 
able remains of sculpture and architecture scattered throughout 
Greece, and particularly concentrated at Athens. 

With this view he engaged Signor Lusieri, a painter of repu- 
tation, who was then in the service of the King of the TwoSicilies, 
together with two arehitects, two modellers, and a figure-painter, 
whom Mr, Hamilton (now under-secretary of state) engaged at 
Rome and dispatched with Lusieri, in the summer of 1800, from 
Constantinople to Athens. 

They were employed there about nine months, from August 
1800 to May 1801, without having any sort of facility or accom- 
modation afforded to them: nor was the Acropolis accessible to 
them, even for the purpose of taking drawings, except by the 
payment of a large fee, which was exacted daily. 

The other five artists were withdrawn from Athens in January 
1803; but Lusieri has continued there ever since, excepting du- 
rjng the short period of our hostilities with the Ottoman Porte. 

During the year 1800, Egypt was in the power of the French: 
and that sort of contempt and dislike which has always charac- 
terized the Turkish government and people in their behaviour 
towards every denomination of Christians, prevailed in full force. 

The success of the British arms in Egypt, and the expeeted 

, yestitution 


268 Report of the Select Committee on 


restitution of that province to the Porte, wrought a wonderful 
and mstantaneous change in the disposition of all ranks and de- 
scriptions of people towards our nation, Universal benevolence 
and good-will appeared to take place of suspicion and aversion. 
Nothing was refused which was asked; and Lord Elgin, avail- 
ing himself of this favourable and unexpected alteration, ob- 
tained, in the summer of 1801, access to the Acropolis for ge- 
neral purposes, with permission to draw, model, and remove ; 
to which was added, a special license to excavate in a particular 
place. Lord Elgin mentions in his evidence, that he was obliged 
to send from Athens to Constantinople for leave to remove a 
house ; at the same time remarking that, in point of fact, all 
permissions issuing from the Porte to any distant provinces, are 
little better than authorities to make the best bar gain that can 
be made with the local magistracies. The applications upon 
this subject passed in verbal conversations; but the warrants 
or fermauns were granted in writing, addressed to the chief au- 
thorities resident at Athens, to whom-they were delivered, and 
in whose hands they remained: so that your committee had no 
opportunity of learning from Lord Elgin himself their exact tenor, 
ov of ascertaining in what terms they noticed, or allowed, the 
displacing or carrying away of these marbles. But Dr. Hunt, 
who accompanied Lord Elgin as chaplain to the embassy, has pre- 
served, and has now in his possession, a translation of the second 
fermaun, which extended the powers of the first ; but as he had 
it not with him in London, to produce before your committee, 
he stated the substance, according to his recollection, which was 
<¢That, in order to show their particular respect to the ambassa- 
dor of Great Britain, the august ally of the Porte, with whom 
they were now and had long been in the strictest alliance, they 
gave to his excellency and to his secretary, and the artists em- 
ployed by him, the most extensive permission to view, draw and 
model the ancient temples of the idols, and the sculptures upon 
them, and to make excavations, and to take away avy stones 
that might appear interesting to them.” He stated further, 
that no remonstratice was at any time made, nor any displeasure 
shown by the Turkish government, either at Constantinople or 

at Athens, against the extensive interpretation which was put 
upon this fermaun; and although the work of taking down and 
remoying was going on for months, and even years, and was 
conducted in the most public manner, numbers of native la- 
bourers, to the amount of some hundreds, being frequently em- 
ployed, not the least obstruction was ever interposed, nor the 
smallest uneasiness shown after the granting of this second fer- 
maun. Among the Greek population and inhabitants of Athens 
jt occasioned no sort of dissatisfaction; but, as Mr, Hamilton, 
an 


the Earl of Elgin’s Collection of Marbles, tc. 269 


an eye-witness, expresses it, so far from exciting any unpleasant 
sensation, the people seemed to feel it as the means of bringing 
foreigners into their country, and of having money spent among 
them. The Turks showed a total indifference and apathy as te 
the preservation of these remains, except when in a fit of wan- 
ton destruction they sometimes carried their disregard so far as 
to do mischief by firing at them. The numerous travellers and 
admirers of the arts committed greater waste, from a very dif- 
ferent motive; for many of those who visited the Acropolis 
tempted the soldiers and other people about the fortress to bring 
them down heads, legs, or arms, or whatever other pieces they 
could carry off. 

A translation of the fermaun itself tee since been forwarded 
by Dr. Hunt, which is printed in the Appendix. 

If. Upon the second division, it must be premised, that an- 
tecedently to Lord Elgin’s departure for Constantinople, he com- 
municated bis intentions of bringing home casts and drawings 
from Athens, for the benefit and advancement of the fine arts in 
this country, to Mr. Pitt, Lord Grenville, and Mr, Dundas, sug- 
gesting to them the propriety of considering itasa national ob- 
ject, fit to be undertaken and carried into effect at the public 
expense; but that this recommendatiun was in no degree en- 
couraged, either at that time or afterwards, 

It is evident, from a letter of Lord Eigin to the secretary of 
state, 13 January, 1803, that he edusidened himself as having 
no sort of claim for his disbursements: in the prosecution of these 
pursuits, though he stated, in the same dispatch, the heavy ex- 
penses in whieh they had iiyplved him, so as to make it ex- 
tremely inconvenient for him to forgo auy of the usual allow- 
ances to which ambassadors at other courts were entitled, It 
cannot, therefore, be doubted, that |e looked upon himself in 
this respect as acting in a character entire ely distinct from his 
official situation. But whether the government from whom he 
obtained permission did, or could so consider him, is a question 
which can be solved only by conjecture and reasoning, in the 
absence and deficiency of all positive testimony. The Turkish 
ministers of that day are, in fact, the only persons in the world 
capable (if they are still alive) of deciding the doubt; and it is 
probable that even they, if it were possible to consult them, might 
be unable to form any very distinct discrimination as to the cha- 
racter in consideration of which they acceded to Lord Elgin’s 
request. The occasion made them, beyond all precedent, pro- 
pitious to whatever was desired in behalf of the English nation ; 
they readily, therefore, complied with all that was asked by Lord 
Elgin. He was an Englishman of high rank ; he was also am- 

-bassador from our court: they granted the same permission to 
no 


270 Report of the Select Commitice on 


no other individual: but then, as Lord Elgin observes, no other 
individual applied for it to the same extent, nor had indeed the 
same unlimited means for carrying such an ‘undertaking into ex- 
ecution. The expression of one of the most intelligent and di- 
stinguished of the British travellers, who visited Athens about’ 
the same period, appears to your committee to convey as cor- 
rect a judgement as can be formed upon this question, which is 
incapable of being satisfactorily separated, and must be taken in 
the aggregate. 

The Earl of Aberdeen, in answer to an inquiry, whether the 
authority and influence of a public situation was in his opinion 
necessary for accomplishing the removal of these marbles, an- 
swered, that he did not think a private individual could have ac- 
complished the removal of the remains which Lord Elgin ob- 
tained: and Dr. Hunt, who had better opportunities of informa- 
tion upon this point than any other person who has been ex-~ 
amined, gave it as his decided opinion, that *¢ a British subject 
not in the situation of ambassador, could not have been able to 
obtain from the Turkish government a fermaun of such extensive 
powers.” 

It may not be unworthy of remark, that the only other piece 
of sculpture which was ever removed from its place for the pur- 
pose of export was taken by M. Choiseul Gouffier, when he 
was ambassador from France to the Porte ; but whether he did 
it by express permission, or in sone less ostensible way, no means _ 
of ascertaining are within the reach of your committee. It was 
undoubtedly at various times an object with the French govern- 
ment to obtait possession of some of these valuable remains, and 
it is probable, according to the testimony of Lord Aberdeen, and 
others, that at no great distance of time they might have been 
removed by that government from their original site, if they had 
not been taken away and secured for this country by Lord Elgin. 

Il{. The third part is involved in much less intricacy: and 
although in ail matters of taste there is room for great variety 
and latitude of opinion, there will be found upon this branch of 
the subject much more uniformity and agreement than could 
have been expected, The testimony of several of the most 
eminent artists in this kingdom, who have been examined, rates 
these marbles in the very first class of ancient art, some placing 
them a little above, and others but very little below the Apollo 
Belvidere, the Laocoon, and the Torso of the Belvidere. They 
speak of them with admiration and enthusiasm ; and notwith- 
standing the manifold injuries of time and weather, and those 
mutilations which they have sustained from the fortuitous or 
designed injuries of neglect, or mischief, they consider them as 
among the finest models, and the most ‘exquisite monuments of 

antiquity. 


the Earl of Elgin’s Collection of Marbles, &c. 271 


antiquity. The general current of this portion of the evidence 
makes no doubt of referring the date of these works to the ori- 
ginal building of the Parthenon, and to the designs of Phidias, 
the dawn of every thing which adorned and ennobled Greece. 
With this estimation of the excellence of these works it is na- 
tural to conclude that they are recommended by the same au= 
thorities as highly fit, and admirably adapted to form a school 
for study, to improve our national taste for the fine arts, and to 
diffuse a more perfect knowledge of them throughout this king- 
dom. 

Much indeed may be reasonably hoped and expected, from 
the general observation, and admiration of such distinguished 
examples. The end of the fifteenth and beginning of the six- 
teenth centuries, enlightened by the discovery ef several of the 
noblest remains of antiquity, produced in Italy an abundant har- 
vest of the most eminent men, who made gigantic advances in 
the path of art, as painters, sculptors, and architects. Caught 
by the novelty, attracted by the beauty, and enamoured of the 
perfection of those newly disclosed treasures, they imbibed the 
genuine spirit of ancient excellence, and transfused it into their 
own compositions, 

It is surprising to observe in the best of these marbles in how 
great a degree the close imitation of nature is combined with 
grandeur of style, while the exact details of the former in no 
degree detract from the effect and predominance of the latter. 

The two finest single figures of this collection differ materially 
in this respect from the Apollo Belvidere, which may be selected 
as the highest and most sublime representation of ideal form 
- and beauty, which sculpture has ever embodied, and turned into 
Shape. 

The evidence upon this part of the inquiry will be read with 
satisfaction and interest, both where it is immediately connected 
with these marbles, and where it branches out inte extraneous 
observations, but all of them relating to the study of the antique. 
A reference is made by one of the witnesses to a sculptor *, 
eminent throughout Europe for his works, who lately left this 
metropolis highly gratified by the view of these treasures of that 
branch of art which he has cultivated with so much success. 
His own letter to the Earl of Elgin upon this subject is inserted 
in the Appendix. 

In the judgement of Mr. Payne Knight, whose valuation will 
be referred to iu a subsequent page, the first class is not assigned 
to the two principal statues of this collection ; but he rates the 
metopes in the first class of works in high relief, and knows of 


* Canova. 


nothing 


272 Report of the Select Committee on 


nothing so fine in'that kind. He places also the frize in the first 
class of low relief; and considering a general museum of art to 
be very desirable, he looks upon such an addition to our national 
collection as likely to contribute to the improvement of the arts, 
and to become a very valuable acquisition ; for the importation 
of which Lord Elgin is entitled to the gratitude of his country. 

IV. The directions of the Nouse in the order of reference 
impose upon your committee the task of forming and sub- 
mitting an opinion upon the fourth head, which otherwise the 
seantiness of materials for fixing a pecuniary value, and the un- 
willingness, or inability, in those who are practically most con- 
versant in statuary to afford any lights upon this part of the 
subject, would have rather induced them to decline. 

The produce of this collection, if it should be brought to sale 
in separate lots, in the present depreeiated state of almost every 
article, and more particularly of such as are of precarious and 
fanciful value, would probably be much inferior to what may be 
denominated its intrinsic value. 

The mutilated state of all the larger figures, the want either 
of heads or features, of limbs orsurface, in most of the metopes, 
and in a great proportion of the compartments even of the larger 
frize, render this collection, if divided, but little adapted to serve 
for the decoration of private houses. It should therefore be 
considered as forming a whole, and should unquestionably be 
kept entire as a school of art, aud a study for the formation of 
artists. The vompetitors in the market, ‘if it should be offered 
for sale without separation, could not be numerous, Some. of 
the sovereigns of Europe, added to such of the great galleries or 
national institutions in various parts of the continent, as may 
possess funds at the disposal of their directors sufficient for such 
a purpose, would in all probability be the only purchasers. 

It is not however reasonable nor becoming the liberality of 
parliament to withhold upon this account, whatever, under all 
the circumstances, may be deemed a just ‘and adequate price ; 
and more particularly j in a case where parliament is left to fix its 
own valuation, and no specific sum is demanded, or even sug- 
gested, by the party who offers the collection to the public. 

It is obvious that the money expended in the acquisition of 
any commodity is not necessarily the measure of its real value. 
The sum laid out in gaining possession of two articles of the 
same intrinsic worth, may, and oftem does, vary considerably. 
In making two excavations, for instance, of equal magnitude and 
Jabour, a broken bust or some few fragments may be discovered 
in the one, and a perfect statue in the other. The first cost of 
the broken bust and of the entire statue would in that case be 
the same; but it cannot be said that the value is therefore 

equal. 


the Earl of Elgin’s Collection of Marbles, Sc. 273 


equal. In the same manner, by the loss or detention of a ship, 
a great charge may have been incurred, and the original out- 
going excessively enhanced; but the value to the buyer will in 
no degree be affected by these extraneous accidents. Supposing 
again, artists to have been engaged at considerable salaries du- 
ring a large period in which they could do little or nothing, the 
first cost would be burdensome in this case also to the employer ; 
but those who bought would look only at the value of the article 
in the market where it might be exposed to sale, without caring, 
or inquiring how, or at what expense it was brought thither. 

Supposing, on the other hand, that the thirteen other metopes 
had been bought at the Custom-house sale at the same price 
which that of M. Choiseul Gouffier® fetched, it could never be 
said that the value of them was no more than twenty-four or 
twenty-five pounds a-piece. 

It is perfectly just and reasonable that the seller should en- 
deavour fully to reimburse himself for all expenses, and to ac- 
quire a profit also; but it will be impossible for him to do so, 
whenever the disbursements have exceeded the fair money price 
of that which he has to dispose of. ; 

Your committee refer to Lord Elgin’s evidence for the large 
and heavy charges which have attended the formation of this 
collection, and the placing of it in its present situation; which 
amount, from 1799 to January 1803, to 62,440/. including 
23,240/. for the interest of money; and according to a sup- 
plemental account, continued from 1803 to 1816, to no less a 
sum than 74,000/. including the same sum for interest. 

All the papers which are in his possession upon this subject, 

,including a journal of above 90 pages, of the daily expenses of 
his principal artist Lusieri (frem 1803 to the close of 1814), who 
still remains in his employment at Athens, together with the 
account current of Messrs. Hayes of Malta (from April 1807 to 
May 1811), have been freely submitted to your committee; and 
there can be no doubt, from the inspection of those accounts, 
confirmed also by other testimony, that the disbursements were 
very considerable ; but supposing them to reach the full sum at 
which they are calculated, your committee do not hesitate to 
express their opinion, that they afford no just criterion of the 
value of the collection, and therefore must not be taken as a just 
basis for estimating it. 


* M. Choiseul, the French minister at the Porte, had obtained permis- 
sion to remove sculptures from Athens. The frigate which was conveying 
them to France was captured by Lord Nelson. ‘The marbles were after- 
wards sold at a rummage sale at the Custom-house, and bought by Lord 
Elgin, who then thought them a part of his own collection, the packages 
having no directions. —Epir. 


Vol. 47. No, 216. April 1816. S Two 


( 


274 Report of the Select Committee on 


Two valuations, and only two in detail, have been laid before 
your committee, which are printed ; differing most widely in the 
particulars, and in the total; that of Mr. Payne Knight amount- 
ing to 25,000/. and that of "Mr. Hamilton to 60, 800d. 

The only other sum mentioned as a money price, is in the 
evidence of the Earl of Aberdeen, who named 35,000J. as a soit 
of conjectural estimate of the whole, without entering into par- 
ticulars. 

In addition to the instances of prices quoted in Mr. Payne 
Knight’s evidence, the sums paid for other celebrated marbles 
deserve to be brought under the notice of the house. 

The Townley collection, which was purchased for the British 
Museum in June 1805 for 20,000/., is frequently referred to in 
the examinations of the witnesses, with some variety of opinion 
as to its intrinsic value; but it is to be observed of all the prin- 
cipal sculptures in that collection, that they were in excellent 
condition with the surface perfect; and where injured, they 
were generally well restored, and perfectly adapted for the de- 
coration and almost for the ornamental furniture of a private 
house, as they were indeed disposed by Mr. Townley in his life- 
time. 

In what proportion the state of mutilation in which the Elgin 
marbles are left, and above all the corrosion of much of the sur- 
face by weather reduce their, value, it is difficult precisely to as- 
certain; but it may unquestionably be affirmed in the words of 
ene of the sculptors* examined (who rates these works in the 
highest class of art) that ** the Townleyan marbles being entire, 
are, ina commercial point of view, the more valuable of the two: 
but that the Elgin marbles, as possessing that matter which 
artists most require, claim a higher consideration.” 

The AEgina marbles, which are also referred to, and were. well 
known to one of the members of your committee +, who was in 
treaty to purchase them for the British Museum, sold for 6,000/. 
to the Prince Royal of Bavaria, which was less than the British 
government had directed to be offered, after a prior negotiation 
for obtaining them had failed; their real value however was 
supposed not to exceed 4()00/. at which Lusieri estimated them. 
They are described as valuable in peit of remote antiquity, and 
curious in that respect, but of no distinguished merit as speci- 
mets of sculpture, their style being what is usually called Etrus- 
can, and older than the age of Phidias. 

The marbles at Phigalia, i in Arcadia, have lately been pur- 
chased for the Museum at the expense of 15,000/. increased by 
a very unfavourable exchange to 19,000/. a sum which your 


* TR. Westmacott, esq. R.A. t J.N, Fanakerley, esq. 
eomtnittee, 


the Earl of Elgin’s Collection of Marbles, &8c. 275 


committee, after inspecting them, venture to consider as more 
than equal to their value. 

It is true that an English gentleman*, concerned in disco- 
vering them, was ready to give the same sum; and therefore no 
Sort of censure can attach on those who purchased them abroad, 
for our national gallery, without any possible opportunity of 
viewing and examining the sculpture, but knowing them only 
from the sketches which were sent over, and the place where 
they were dug up, to be undoubted and authentic remains of 
Greek artists of the best time. 

When the first offer was made by the Earl of Elgin to Mr. 
Perceval, of putting the public in possession of this collection, 
Mr. Long, a member of your committee, was authorized by Mr. 
Perceval to acquaint Lord Elgin, that he was willing to propose 
to parliament to purchase it for 30,0002. provided Lord Elgin 
should make out, to the satisfaction of a committee of the house 
of commons, that he had expended so much in acquiring and 
transporting it. 

Lord Elgin declined this proposal, for the reasons stated by 
him in his evidence: and until the month of June 1815 no 
further step was taken on either side; but at that time a peti- 
tion was presented, on the part of Lord Elgin, to the house, 
which, owing to the late period of the session, was not pro- 
ceeded upon. Lighty additional cases have been received since 
1811, the contents of which, enumerated in Mr. Hamilton’s 
evidence, now form a part of the collection. The medals also, 
of which the value is more easily defined, were not included in 
the proposal made to Mr. Perceval. 

Against these augmentations must he set the rise in the value 
of money, which is unquestionably not inconsiderable, between 
the present time and the year 1811; a cause or consequence of 
which is the depreciation of every commodity, either of necessity 
or fancy, which is brought to sale. 

Your committee, therefore, do not think that they should be 
justified, in behalf of the public, if they were to recommend to 
the house any extension of Mr. Perceval’s offer to a greater 
amount than 5000/.:; and, under all the circumstances that they 
have endeavoured to bring under the view of the house, they 
judge thirty-five thousand pounds to be a reasonable and sufii- 
cient price for this collection. 

Your committee observing, that by the act 45° Geo. III. 
c. 127, for vesting the Townleyan collection in the trustees of the 
British Museum, § 4, the proprietor of that collection, Mr. 
Townley Standish, was added to the trustees.of the British Mu- 


* Mr. Lee, of Warwickshire, 


ao 
OD a 


zeum, 


276 Report of the Select Committee on 


seum, consider the Earl of Elgin (and his heirs being Earls of 
Elgin) as equally entitled to the same distinction, and recom- 
mend that a clause should be inserted to that effect, if it should 
be necessary that an act should pass for transferring his collection 
to the public. 


It may not be deemed foreign to this subject, if your com- 
mittee venture to extend their observations somewhat beyond 
the strict limit of their immediate inquiry, and lay before the 
house what occurs to them as not unimportant with regard to 
the age and authenticity of these sculptures. The great works 
with which Pericles adorned and strengthened Athens, were all 
carried on under the direction and superintendance of Phidias: 
for this, there is the authority of various ancient writers, and 
particularly of Plutarch; but he distinctly asserts in the same 
passage, that Callicrates and Ictinus executed the work of the 
Parthenon; which is confirmed also by Pausanias, so far as re- 
lates to Ictinus, who likewise ornamented or constructed the 
temple of Apollo at Phigalia*; from whence, by a singular 
coincidence, the sculptures in high relief lately purchased for 
the British Museum, and frequently referred to in the evidence, 
were transported. 

The style of this work, in the opinion of the artists, indicates 
that it belongs to the same period, though the execution is 
rated as inferior to that of the Elgin marbles. In the fabulous 
stories which are represented upon both, there is a very striking 
similarity ; and it may be remarked in passing, that the sub- 
jects of the metopes, and of the smaller frize, which is sculp- 
tured with the battle of the Amazons, correspond with two out 
of the four subjects mentioned by Pliny, as adorning the shield 
and dress of the Minerva; so that there was a general unifor- 
mity of design in the stories which were selected for the internal 
and external decoration of the Parthenon. The taste of the 
same artist, Ictinus, probably led him to repeat the same ideas, 
which abound in graceful forms, and variety of composition, 
when he was employed upon the temple of another divinity at 
a distance from Athens. 

The statue of Minerva, within the temple, was the work of 
Phidias himself, and, with the exception of the Jupiter which 
he made at Elis, the most celebrated of his productions. It 
was composed of ivory and gold; with regard to which, some 
very curious anecdotes relating to the political history of that 
time are to be found in the same writers: the earliest of which, 


* The penultimate syllable should be pronounced long; Phigaila closes 
two hexameter verses, one of which is quoted by Pausanias, and the other 
by Stephanus Byzantinus, from Rhianus a poet of Crete. 

from 


the Earl of Elgin’s Collection of Marbles, ce, 277 


from a passage in a cotemporary poet, Aristophanes, proves 
that the value of these materials involved both Pericles and the 
director of his works in great trouble and jeopardy; upon which 
account the latter is said to have withdrawn to Elis, and to have 
ended his days there, leaving it doubtful whether his death was 
natural, or in consequence of a judicial sentence: but Plutarch 
places his death at Athens, and in prison, either by disease or 
by poison. 

It has been doubted whether Phidias himself ever wrought in | 
marble ; but although, when he did net use ivory, his chief 
material was unquestionably bronze; there are authorities suf- 
ficient to establish, beyond all controversy, that he sometimes 
applied his hand to marble. Pliny, for instance, asserts that he 
did so, and mentions a Venus ascribed to him, existing in his 
own time in the collection (or in the portico) of Octavia. Phi- 
dias is cailed by Aristotle a skilful worker in stone; and Pau- 
sanias enumerates a celestial Venus of Parian marble, undoubt- 
edly of his hand; and the Rhamnusian Nemesis, also of the same 
material. Some of his statues in bronze were brought to Rome 
by Paulus Aimilius, and by Catulus. 

His great reputation, however, was founded upon his repre- 
sentations of the gods, in which he was supposed more excellent 
than in human forms, and especially upon his works in ivory, in 
which he stood unrivalled *. 

Elidas the Argive is mentioned as the master of Phidias; which 
henour is also shared by Hippias. His two most celebrated, 
scholars were Aleamenes an Athenian of noble birth, and Ago- 
racritus of Paros; the latter of whom was his favourite; and it 
was reported, that out of affection to him, Phidias put his 
scholar’s name upon several of his own works: among which the 
statue called Rhamnusian Nemesis is particularized by Pliny and 
Suidas. 

In another passage of Pliny, Alcamenes is classed with Critias, 
Nestocles, and Hegias, who are called the rivals of Phidias. The 
name of Colotes is preserved as another of his scholars. 

The other great sculptors who were living at the same time 
with Phidias, and flourished very soon after him, were Agelades, 
Callon, Polycletus, Phragmon, Gorgias, Lacon, Myron, Pytha- 
goras, Scopas, and Perelius. 

The passage in which Pausanias mentions the sculptures on 
the pediments is extremely short, and to this effect: ‘* As you 
enter the temple which they call Parthenon, all that is contained 
in what is termed the (eagles) pediments, relates in every par- 
ticular to the birth of Minerva; but on the opposite or back 


+ Quintilian xii. ce. 10. 


8:3 . front 


278 Report of the Select Committee on 


front is the contest of Minerva and Neptune for the land ;—but 
the statue itself is formed of ivory and gold.’”’ The state of di- 
Japidation into which this temple was fallen when Stuart visited 
it in 1751, and made most correct drawings for his valuable. 
work, left little opportunity of examining aud comparing what 
remained upon that part of the temple with the passage referred 
to: but an account is preserved by travellers, who about eighty 
years earlier found one of these pediments in tolerable preserva- 
tion, before the war between the Turks and Venetians, in 1687, 
had done so much damage to this admirable structure. The 
observations of one of these (Dr. Spon a French physician) may 
be literally translated thus : 

* The highest part of the front which the Greeks called ‘ the 
Eagle,’ and our architects ‘the Fronton,’ is enriched with a 
group of beautiful figures in marble, which appear from below 
as large as life. They are of entire relief, and wonderfully well 
worked. Pausanias says nothing more, than that this sculpture 
related to the birth of Minerva. The general design is this: 

“ Jupiter, who is under the highest angle of the pediment 
(fronton) has the right arm broken, in which, probably, he held 
his thunderbolt ; his legs are thrown wide from each other, with- 
out doubt to make room for his eagle. Although these two 
characteristics are wanting, one cannot avoid recognising him 
by his beard, and by the majesty with which the sculptor has 
invested him. He is naked, as they usually represented him, 
aud particularly the Greeks, who for the most part made their 
figures naked; on his right is a statue which has its head and 
arms mutilated, draped to about half the leg, which one may 
judge to be a Victory, which precedes the car of Minerva, whose 
horses she leads. They are the work of some hand as bold 
as it was delicate, which would not perhaps have yielded ,to 
Phidias, or Praxiteles, so renowned for (representing) horses. 
Minerva is sitting upon the ear, rather in the habit of goddess 
of the sciences, than of war; for she is not dressed as a warrior, 
having neither helmet, nor shield, nor head of Medusa upon 
her breast: she has the air of youth, and her head-dress is not 
different from that of Venus. Another female figure without a 
head is sitting behind her with a child, which she holds upon 
her knees. } cannot say who she is; but I had no trouble in 
making out or recognising the two next, which are the last on 
that side; it is the emperor Hadrian sitting, and half naked, 
and, next to him, his wife Sabina. It seems that they are both 
looking on with pleasure at the triumph of the goddess. I do 
not believe that before me any person observed this particularity, 
which deserves to be remarked: ‘On the left of Jupiter are five 
or six figures, of which some have lost the heads ; it is probably 

the 


‘ 


the Earl of Elgin’s Collection of Marbles, €s’c. 279 


the circle of the gods, where Jupiter is about to introduce Mi- 
nerva, and to make her be acknowledged for his daughter.’ The 
pediment behind represented, according to the same author, the 
dispute’which Minerva and Neptune had for naming the city; but 
all the figures are fallen from them, except one head of a sea- 
horse, which was the usual accompaniment of this god: these 
figures of the two pediments were not so ancient as the body of 
the temple built by Pericles, for which there wants no other ar- 
gument than that of the statue of Hadrian, which is to be scen 
there, and the marble which is whiter than the rest. All the 
rest has not been touched. The Marquis de Nointel had de- 
signs made of the whole, when he went to Athens; his painter’ 
worked there for two months, and almost lost his eyes, because 
he was obliged to draw every thing from below, without a scaf- 
fold.”’"—( Voyage par Jacob Spon: Lyons, 1678 ; 2 tom. p. 144.) 

Wheler, who travelled with Spon, and published his Work at 
London (fuur years later) in 1682, says, ‘‘ But my companion 
made me observe the next two figures sitting in the cerner to be 
of the emperor Hadrian and his empress Sabina, whom I easily 
knew to be so, by the many medals and statues I have seen of 
them.”” And again, “* But the emperor Hadrian most probably 
repaired it, and adorned it with those figures at each front. For 
the whiteness of the marble, and his own statue joined with 
them, apparently show them to be of a later age than the first, 
and done by that emperor’s command. Within the portico on 
high, and on the outside of the cella of the temple itself, is an- 
other border of basso relievo round about it, or at least on the 
north and south sides, which, without doubt, is as ancient as the 
temple, and of admirable work, but not so high a relievo as the 
other. Thereon are represented sacrifices, processions, and other 
cereinonies of the heathens’ worship ; most of them were designed 
by the Marquis de Nointel, who employed a painter to do it two 
months together, and showed them to us when we waited on him 
at Constantinople.” 

Another French author, who published, three years earlier 
than Spon, a work called “ Athénes Ancienne et Nouvelle, par 
le S' de la Guilletiere & Paris,” 1675,—-says, “Pericles em- 
ployed upon the Parthenon the celebrated architects Callicrates 
and Ictinus, The last, who had more reputation than the 
former, wrote a description of itin a book*, which he com- 
posed on purpose, and which has been Jost; and we should 
probably not now have the opportunity of admiring the building 
itself, if the emperor Hadrian had not preserved it to us, by the 


* Ictinus and Carpion were jointly concerned in this work, for which 
we have the authority of Vitruvius, lil). 7. prefat. 
54 repair 


280 - Report of the Select Committee on 


repairs which he caused to be done. It is to his care that we 
owe the few remains of antiquity which are still entire at 
Athens.” * 

In the Antiquities of Athens, by Stuart, vol. ii. p. 4, it is said, 
**Pausanias gives but a transient account of this temple, nor 
does he say whether Hadrian repaired it, though his statue 
and that of his empress Sabina in the western pediment have 
occasioned a doubt whether the sculptures, in both, were not 
put up by him. Wheler and Spon were of this opinion, and 
say they were whiter than the rest of the building. The statue 
of Antinous, now remaining at Rome, may be thought a proof 
that there were artists in his time capable of executing them ; 
but this whiteness is no proof that they were more modern than 
the temple,. for they might be made of a whiter marble; and 
the heads of Hadrian and Sabina might be put on two of the 
ancient figures, which was no uncommon practice among the 
Romans}; and if we may give credit to Plutarch, the buildings 
of Pericles were not in the least impaired by age in his time; 
therefore, this temple could not want any material repairs in 
the reign of Hadrian.” 

With regard to the works of Hadrian at Athens, Spartian 
says *‘ that he did much for the Athenians*;” and a little 
after, on his second visit to Athens, “ going to the east he made 
his journey through Athens, and dedicated the works which he 
had begun there; and particularly a temple to Olympian Ju- 
piter, and an altar to himself.” 

The account given by Dion. Cassius is nearly to the same 
effect, adding, that he placed his own statue within the temple 
of Olympian Jupiter, which he erected f. 

He called some other cities after his own name, and directed a 
part of Athens to be styled Hadrianopolis t: but no mention 
is made by any ancient author, of his touching or repairing the 
Parthenon. Pausanias, who wrote in his reign, says that “ the 
temples which Hadrian either erected from the foundation, or 
adorned with dedicated gifts and decorations, or whatever do- 
nations he made to the cities of the Greeks, and of the Bar- 
barians also, who made application to him, were all recorded 
at Athens in the temple common to all the gods §.” 

it is not unlikely, that a confused recollection of the statue 
which Hadrian actually placed at Athens, may have led one of 
the earliest travellers into a mistake, which has been repeated 
and countenanced by subsequent writers: but Mr. Fauvel, who 
will be quoted presently, speaks as from his own examination 


* 
* Folio edit. Paris 1620, p. 6. + b Ixix.c. 16. 
} Spartian, p. 10. § Paus. Att. p. 5. Ed. Xyl. 
and 


the Earl of Elgin’s Collection of Marbles, &c. 281 


and observation, when he mentions the two statues in question; 
which, it is to be observed, still remain (without their heads) 
upon the pediment of the entrance, and have not been removed 
by Lord Elgin. 

An exact copy of these drawings, by the Marquis de Nointel’s 
painter, is given in M. Barry’s works; which are rendered more 
valuable on account of the destruction of a cousiderable part of 
the temple in the Turkish war by the falling of a Venetian bomb, 
within a short time after the year in which they were made; 
which, however, must have been prior to the date of 1683, 
affixed to the plate in Barry’s Works (2d vol. p. 163. London, 
1809.) 

Some notes of Mr. Fauvel, a painter and antiquarian, who 
moulded and took casts from the greatest part of the sculptures. 
and remained fifteen years at Athens, are given with the tracings 
of these drawings ; in which it is said, with regard to these pedi- 
ments, “ these figures were adorned with bronze, at least if we . 
may judge by the head of Sabina, which is one of the two that 
remain ; and which, having fallen, and being much mutilated, 
was brought to Mr. Fauvel. The traces are visible of the little 
cramps which probably fixed the crown to the head. The head 
of the emperior Hadrian still exists. Probably this group has 
been inserted to do honour to that emperor, for it is of a work- 
manship different from the rest of this sculpture.” 


Your committee cannot dismiss this interesting subject, with- 
out subinitting to the attentive reflection of the house, how 
highly the cultivation of the fine arts has contributed to the re- 
putation, character, and dignity of every government by which 
they have been encouraged, and how intimately they are con- 
nected with the advancement of every thing valuable in science, 
literature, aud philosophy. In contemplating the imgortance 
and splendor to which so small a republic as Athens rose, by the 
genius and energy of her citizens, exerted in the path of such 
studies, it is impossible to overlook how transient the memory 
and fame of extended empires and of mighty conquerors are, 
in comparison of those who have rendered inconsiderable states 
eminent, and immortalized their own names by these pursuits. 
But if it be true, as we learn from history and experience, that 
free governments afford a soil most suitable to the production of 
native talent, to the maturing of the powers of the human mind, 
and to the growth of every species of excellence, by opening to 
merit the prospect of reward and distinction, no country can be 
better adapted than our own to afford an honourable asylum to 
these monuments of the school of Phidias, and of the admini- 
stration of Pericles; where, secure from further injury and de- 

‘ gradation, 


282 Report of the Select Committee on 


gradation, they may receive that admiration and homage to 
which they are entitled, and serve in return as nodels and ex- 
amples to those, who by knowing how to revere and appreciate’ 
them, may learn first to imitate, and ultimately to rival them. 


March 25, 1816. 


* * The witnesses examined were: the Earl of Elgin; the 
Right Hon. Charles Long; William Hamilton, Esq. ; Joseph 
Nollekens, Esq. R.A.; John Flaxman, Esq. R.A.; Richard 
Westmacott, Esq.; Francis Chauntry, Esq.; Charles Rossi, 
Esq. R.A.; Sir Thomas Lawrence, Knut. R.A.; Richard Payne 
Knight, Esq. ; William Wilkins, Esq. ; Taylor Combe, Esq. ; the 
Earl of Aberdeen ; John Bacon, Esq. ; J.B. Sawrey Morritt, Esq. ; 
Jehn Nicholas Fazakerley, Esq.; Alex. Day, Esq.; Rev. Dr. 
Philip Hunt, LL.D. Questions in writing were also sent to the 
President of the Royal Academy, who, owing to indisposition, 
eould not wait upon the committee; and these with his answers 
thereto are also inserted in the Appendix. 

All the artists examined spoke in the most enthusiastic terms 
ef these noble specimens of art: most of them preferred the 
Theseus and the Neptune even to the Belvidere Apollo, and the 
Laocoon; and all of them agreed that the collection was finer 
than any thing they had ever seen. 


The Phygalian Marbles. 


The following particulars relative to the Phygalian and gina 
marbles are extracted from Mr. Hamilton’s evidence before the 
committee on the Elgin marbles. 

‘* Are you acquainted with the transaction relating to the pur- 
chase of the Phygalian marbles ?—Yes, Iam; the best infor- 
mation I can give to the committee, on the subject of the pur- 
chase of the Phygulian marbles, is contained in a memorandum, 
the copy of which I put into Mr. Long’s hands about ten days 
ago: This is the paper. [It was read as follows. ] 

<¢ Memorandum on the purchase of the Phygalian Marbles 

on account of the British Government. 

*¢ When the first intelligence of the discovery of the Phygalian 
marbles, by a party of English and German travellers, in the 
month of 1812, was received in England, I heard, 
owing to my intimacy with the family of Mr. Cockerell, father 
of one of the fortunate discoverers, frequent and detailed ac- 
counts of the beauty of these remains of antiquity, and the ex- 
traordinary state of preservation in which they had been found, 
notwithstanding the lapse of more than twenty centuries since 
they had heen sculptured. In that and the subsequent year, 
drawings of the bas-reliefs were received in England by various 

hands, 


the Earl of Elgin’s Collection of Marbles, @&c. 283 


hands, particularly some very correct ones by Mr.C. R. Cockerelt, 
brought by Mr. Frederick North, all attesting the beauty of the 
composition, and eminently satisfactory with regard to the age 
im which they had been made. These drawings I saw frequently 
exhibited to persons the most competent to form a judgement of 
the merit of the originals; and they met with universal admira- 
tion, both in general society, and particularly at the meetings of 
the Dilettanti Society. It was on all hands hoped that they 
might be purchased by the British government, and that they 
would not be deterred by the bad success of the negotiation tor 
the Aigina marbles, from becoming competitors also for these : 
these feelings were also expressed by several of the trustees of the 
British Museum, but in such general terms, that 1 was not very 
sanguine of what seemed to be the wish of all being brought 
about by the efficient co-operation of a few; though I was aware 
that this offered the only chance of success. Perhaps the failure 
of the two successive attempts, which had been made tor the 
purchase of the gina marbles, damped, in some measure, the 
disposition of those who, from their public situation, and correct 
judgement in all matters of taste, were qualified and entitled to 
interfere. However it was, the time for the public sale en- 
nounced for the lst May 1814 was fast approaching, and no 
steps were taken for the attainment of the object, of which I was 
aware, beyond a few visits, which I received about that time 
from General Turner, to express the hopes of the Prince Regent, 
to whom the drawings, brought home by Mr. North, had been 
submitted by Mr. Cockerell, the father, that the marbles in 
question would be purchased; and from Mr. Planta, to express 
the same hopes on the part of the British Museum, though un- 
authorized officially by the trustees. 

‘© With regard to the supposed value of these marbles, as none 
had been seen in England, and scarcely any traveller of taste or 
judgement who had seen them at Corfu, except Mr. North, had 
given his opinion in this country as to their relative or compa- 
rative merit; the only criterions that any one could go by were, 
first, a comparison between the drawings of them and the ori- 
ginal works of Phidias in the Elgin collection; and secondly, 
the price put upon them by the proprietors, below which it was 
formally declared that they would not be parted with; anda 
sum equal to which I was assured that one of the proprietors 
had offered to give, if the public sale could be dispensed with, or 
if no larger sum were offered. His price was 15,000/. or 60,000 
Spanish dollars; the collection might in fact be worth that sum, 
or more or less; it was not possible to anticipate. However, I 
felt confident, from the degree of merit which it was evident 

they 


234 Report of the Select Committee on the Elgin Marbles. 


they must possess, at the sight of drawings sent home by Mr. ' 
R. Cockerell, a gentleman incapable of disguise, as well as from 

the interest which must necessarily be felt in every work of 
Grecian art executed in the age of Pericles, or at least in that 

immediately subsequent ; considering likewise the general dis- 

appointment and regret which would be felt if the moment were 

lost, and they should irrecoverably get into the hands of one of 

the, continental sovereigns; I was convinced that it would be 

desirable for the cause of the arts in England, that the purchase 

should, if possible, be effected. 

“Lord Castlereagh being at this time absent on the conti- 
nent, I applied forthwith to the first Lord of the Treasury, the 
Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Colonial Secretary of 
State; and on laying before them the above considerations, J 
received from them severally their consent, that the governor of 
Zante should be authorised to effect the purchase at a public 
sale to the amount mentioned. A messenger was immediately 
sent off, who arrived a few days previous to the sale, and the 
bargain was concluded for 60,000 dollars. 

“Was the purchase effected at 15,000/.?—The price was 
60,000 dollars ; by the course of exchange it came to 19,000J.- 

“ 'To what circumstance was it owing, a public sale could not 
be dispensed with ?—Because the property belonged half to Ger- 
mans and half to Englishmen, and they would not allow any one, 
even of the discoverers, to make the purchase without a public 
sale. Mr. Lee, one of the Englishmen, a gentleman of large 
fortune in Warwickshire, I was assured, offered the money if he 
was allowed to take them without a public sale, and I have that 
in Mr. Cockerell’s hand-writing. 

“* Do youknow what the expense of bringing them to England 
was ?—No, I do not; they came over ina ship of war or a trans- 
port, therefore I should think the expense would be very little. 

“¢ You mentioned that the public were disappointed respecting 
the ZEgina marbles; in what way was that >—They were dis- 
covered about two years before, bytwo English travellers and two 
German travellers. Mr. Cockerell was one of the English dis- 
coverers, and he wrote a detailed account of it home to his 
father, and mentioned, that the value they set upon them at 
Athens at that timewas 6000/. This being communicated, and 
being the subject of conversation at the Dilettanti Society, Lord 
Hardwicke, who is a member of that Society and a trustee of 
the British Museum, undertook to recommend to the trustees 
of the British Mueseum, to request the authority of Government 
to make an offer of 60002. The offer was made in the first in- 


stance through Mr. Cockerell, but on these conditions, that we 
should 


On certain Electrical Phenomena. 285 


should be allowed to bring home the marbles to England, and 
if they were found worth 6,000/. that we should have the re- 
fusal of them; if not, they should be allowed to be exported, 
free of duty, for any other purchaser. This offer having ar- 
rived at Athens, was not accepted; for they said it was a kind 
of blind bargain; that they did not know what might become of 
them. Afterwards the British Museum sent out Mr. Combe, 
the superintendant of antiquities, to Malta, to bid 8,009. at a 
sale of them expected to take place on the first of November. 
He arrived a few days before that date; he waited the month 
of November, but no sale took place, and he left his commis- 
sion with the governor of the island; but in the mean time a 
private sale had taken place at Zante to the Prince Royal of 
Bavaria; but notwithstanding they were sold to the Prince 
Royal of Bavaria, they were conveyed for a few months to 
Malta, for greater security: and there was a considerable diffe- 
rence of opinion whether we ought not to have insisted upon a 
second sale, having been disappointed in the first sale not 
having taken place at Malta as it was publicly announced; but 
it was ultimately determined to give up the matter. 

“‘ Can you state what sum the Prince Royal of Bavaria gave. 
for those marbles ?—I understood 6,000. 

** Do you know of what those AZgina marbles consisted ?— 
I think there were seventeen figures with sixteen heads, which 
were found under the two pediments of the temple of Jupiter 
at Aggina. 

‘© Of what proportions were the figures ?—I should say be- 
tween three and four feet.’ 


LIX. On certain Electrical Phenomena. By Txuos. Howxpy, 
Esq. in Reply to Mr. Donovan. 


Sin, —~ Mix. Donovan has pointed out in the number of your 
Magazine for March, an inaccuracy of mine concerning his 
** Reflections on the Inadequacy of Electrical Hypotheses.” In 
the conclusion of my examination of some experiments of that 
gentleman, inserted iu your number for December, I inadver- 
tently stated that the “‘ Reflections,” had obtained a prize from 
the Royal Irish Academy. 1 find on consulting the page and 
volume of your Magazine to which I referred in a note accom- 
panying my statement, that it was his “ Essay on the Origin, 
&c. of Galvanism,” and not the “ Reflections,” that was ho- 
noured with the prize. Should this unintentional mis-statement 
have been in the smallest degree offensive to the Royal Lrish 
Academy or to Mr, Donovan, I beg leave, sir, to express my 


regret 


286 On certain Electrical Phenomena. 


regret at its occurrence. I must at the same time observe, that 
Mr. Donovan has also been guilty of an inadvertency, having 
most strangely, but 1 cannot believe wilfully, misrepresented 
the meaning conveyed in the first part of the sentence with 
which my paper concludes, as will evidently appear by com- 
pating it with the first two sentences in the second paragraph 
of his answer: 

I now procéed to reply to the observations by which he at- 
tempts to support the correctness of his experiments, and to 
invalidate the results of those which I have opposed to them. 
** Extensive reading would have shown that the electrical states 
attributed in my ‘ Reflections’ to the Leyden phial had not 
been noticed by me alone. 

«¢ Experimenters of great reputation had observed analogous 
facts, and of this a perusal of the works of Wilson, Eeles, of 
the Encyclopedia Britannica (art. Electricity), and ‘of various 
other authorities that I now forget, will afford ample testimony, 
&c.”” Here it would have been well, if, instead of making this 
vague reference to authority, Mr. Donovan had specified some 
of the facts which “* experimenters of great reputation had ob- 
served,” and had shown in what manner and to what extent 
they support /its experiments. That he should have referred to 
Eeles is singular; for, in the first place, he has in his © Reflec- 
tions” combated that writer’s hypothesis; and secondly, as he 
must be aware, his own experiments (supposing them correct) 
are as irreconcilable to that hypothesis, as they are to Franklin’s 
theory. It does not appear therefore that Eeles can render any 
assistance to Mr. Donovan on this occasion; and if he could 
have derived any from the other sources he has mentioned, it is 
pity he has not availed himself of it. ‘* The question does 
not relate merely to the states of the phial, but comprises the 
whole doctrine of plus and minus.” Mr. Donovan’s memory 
appears here to have failed him; for the objections he has urged 
in his “ Reflections” against the doctrine of accumulation and 
deficiency, are derived principally from -his examination of the 
electrical states of the phial; and accordingly it was those ob- 
jections alone that I] undertook to refute. Hence there is 
little propriety in the following questions which he puts in his 
answer. ‘f Why should so limited a survey of those objections 
be taken, which are all in harmony; and why need one part of 
the hypothesis be sustained when it is opposed by the other ?”’ 
He includes here in the term “ objections” not only those he 
had made in his ‘* Reflections,” but also those “ analogous facts” 
which, he says, ‘‘ experimenters of great reputation had ob- 
served ;’’ but which he did not there specify and propose as 
suck; although in his answer he lumps theirs and his own to- 

gether, 


On certain Electrical Pheenomena. 287 


gether, and then complains that in my “ limited survey’’ I did 
not. notice the objections of both; when he knows that in his 
“ Reflections” he stated only his own objections but none of 
theirs, and consequently J had only the former to notice, ‘ The 
experiments are of a delicate kind, and [ stated that they only 
‘succeed in certain states of the weather. The period when 
I made them was dry sunny weather, and I] have never found 
them to succeed easily but in the middle of summer.” Mr. Do- 
novan in the above sentences has endeavoured to define the 
state of the weather in which his delicate experiments will 
succeed; but unfortunately he has not accomplished his inten- 
tion. ‘The period when he made them, he says, was div and 
sunny.’ Now we may have dry and sunny weather in spring, 
summer, autumn, and winter; and consequently it might have 
been inferred that in such a case the experiments might be 
made in either of these seasons: but this inference seems to be 
doubtful; for he immediately adds, ‘‘ I have never found therm 
to sueceed easily but in the middle of summer.” Here, though 
the time or season of the year is determined, the state of the 
weather is left undetermined; for the middle of summer is not 
always dry and sunny, but is sometimes dry and cloudy, and 
sometimes wet and cloudy. This uncertainty with respect to 
the weather seems to have prevented Mr. Donovan from re- 
‘peating his experiments; but when he receives the intelligence 
that they may with a litile care be successfully performed in 
every stale of the weather, on any day in the year, and at any 
hour. of the day, he will doubtless be much gratified to find 
that he needs not wait till midsummer to ascertain the fallacy of 
his own, or the correctness of mine. “ It is very difficult to 
determine what body is positive or what negative; for positive 
bodies will, under certain circumstances, attract positive bodies, 
and negative bodies will attract negative.” 1 deny that it is 
very difficult to determine what body is positive or what negative, 
for in most cases it is extremely easy to determiite it; and if 
Mr. Donovan has really experienced any difficulty in such cases, 
he has experienced it where no other electrician has experienced 
any. If He alludes particularly to the experiments in dispute, 
[ still deny the fact ; for there are several methods by which the 
electrical states of the phial may be ascertained with ease and 
certainty. The reason that he assigns for the above difficulty is, 
that ‘* positive bodies will, under certain circumstances, attract 
positive bodies; and negative bodies will attract negative.” Let 
this be granted, and I ask, will positive bodies repel negative 
Lodies, or negative bodies repe! positive bodies, under any cir- 
cumstances whatever? Tor, if they will not, this difficulty of 
Mr. Donovan’s must vanish in a moment. The electrometer 

of 


288 On preserving Potatoes for Sea Store or Exportation. 


of Bennet is an instrument not to be depended on without ac- 
guaintance svith a principle of electricity which I have developed, 
and which in a work soon to appear will be shown to have 
misled mauy able investigators. Any electrometer on the same 
principle, whether pith- ‘balls or gold-leaf, is lable to the same 
objection. In the counter-experiments this error has not been 
guarded against.” Mr. Donovan, not satisfied with the defence 
he has made for his experiments, here turns short round upon 
the innocent electrometers, and tells us they cannot be depended 
on; and yet, I believe that any of them may be more safely de- 
pended on than the sulphur on which he has been pleased to 
place his whole reliance. However, if he continues obstinate, 
and is determined to reject their testimony, [ have no objection 
to his so doing; for, on re-perusing my paper, he will find that 
the excited glass tube by always steadily repelling the balls con- 
nected with the overcharged surface of the jar, and that the ex- 
cited wax by always steadily repelling those connected with the 
undercharged surface, afford ample evidence in my favour in- 
dependently of the testimony of the reprobated electrometers. 
Equally steady in its testimony was the small Leyden phial 
I employed, and the electrometers were only used to ascertain 
the electric changes which took place in the excited electrics: 
hence Mr. Donovan’s attack upon the electrometers avails him 
nothing, and there is little truth in the remark that ‘¢ in the 
counter-experiments this error has not been guarded against ;”’ 
for, had the electrometers been as treacherous as he would wish 
us to believe, and had I been as much deceived by employing 
them in my experiments as he was by not employing them in 
his, my errors would still have had no relation to the electrical 
states of the phial; because they were ascertained by the faithful 
and unimpeached testimony of the other instruments. 
I am, sir, 
Your obligetl servant, 
Ilereford, April 15, 1816. Tsomas How.py. 


LX. On preserving Potatoes for Sea Store or Exportation, 
by Mr. Caries WuirLow, of Canada; and on preserving 
Carrots, ly H. B. Way, Esq. of Bridport Harbour*. 

rn New York Coffee-Flouse, Feb. 12, 1815. 

Sir, — i] HE usual mode at present practised for endeavouring 

to preserve potatoes, is to leave them after digging exposed to 

the sun and air until they are dry: this exposure generally 


* From Transactions of ihe Sociely for the Encouragement of Arts, Manu- 
Suctures and Commerce, vol. xxxiil. for 1815.—The silver medal of the So- 

ciety was voted for this communication. 
causes 


On preserving Potatoes for Sea Store or Exportation. 289 


causes them to have a bitter taste, and it may be remarked, 
that potatoes are never so sweet to the palate as when cooked 
immediately after digging. I find that when potatoes are left 
in large heaps or pits in the ground, that a fermentation takes 
‘place which destroys the sweet flavour of the potatoes. In order 
to prevent that fermentation, and to preserve them from losing 
the original fine and pleasant flavour, my plan is (and which ex- 
perience proves to me to have the desired effect) to have them 
packed in casks as they are digging from the ground, and to 
have the casks, when the potatoes are piled in them, filled up 
with sand or earth, taking care that is done as speedily as pos- 
sible, and that all vacant spaces in the cask are filled up by the 
earth or sand: the cask thus packed holds as many potatoes as 
it would was the earth or sand used in the packing ; and as the 
vacant spaces of the cask of potatoes so packed are filled, the 
air is totally excluded, and cannot act on the potatoes, and 
consequently no fermentation can take place. 

I sailed from New York to St. Bartholomew’s, and brought 
with me two hundred barrels of potatoes packed in the above 
manner: on my arrival at the island I found, as I expected, 
that the potatoes had preserved all their original sweetness of 
flavour, in fact, as good as when first dug, having undergone 
no fermentation, nor in the slightest degree affected by the 
bilge or close air of the ship. Some barrels of the potatoes I sold 
there, and at the neighbouring islands, for four dollars per 
bushel: at the same time potatoes taken out in bulk without 
packing, and others that were brought there packed in casks 
which had not been filled up with earth, sold ouly for one dollar 
per bushel, they being injured in the passage by the bilged air 
aud fermentation, being bitter and bad, whilst mine were as 
perfectly sweet and dry as when dug: what remained I shipped 
from St. Bartholomew’s to Jamaica, where they arrived in equal 
good condition, and sold at a higher price than they had brought 
at the former island: some of these casks of potatoes were put 
in a cool cellar by the purchaser at Jamaica ; and on examining 
them when I was leaving the island two months after, I found 
that they had, in a very small degree, sprouted, but that all 
their original flavour was preserved. Reflecting seriously on 
this discovery, suggested to my mind the idea of proposing to 
the British nation a mode of supplying their West India colonies 
with a good and wholesome food for the negroes, and also for 
the white people, and which would find an additional market 
for the farmer at home, a valuable freight for the merchant, and 
a more extended market for the lumber of the North American 
colonies, viz. of Canada, Nova Scotia, &c. 

It is well known that our ships in the West India trade in 
Vol.. 47. No. 216. April 1816. 1 general 


290 On preserving Potatoes for Sea Store or Exportation. 


general go out in ballast, or not more than one-third freighted, 

carrying out some sinall quantity of European commodities; but 
the bulk of their freight consisting of empty casks, and materials 
for making casks. It is also well known how valuable a food 
potatoes are in the West India islands, and how mich they are 
prized there: no one acquainted with the West Indies and its 
commerce, but must be aware how much labour of the unfortu- 
nate negro is at present employed in making casks, puncheons, 
&c. for bringing home the produce, and of what immense value 
casks are there. Let timber imported from our North American 
colonies be made into casks, hogsheads, rum puncheons, cof- 
fee barrels, &c. &c. let these be filled in my mode, as described, 
with potatoes, I contend, that the value of the casks which 
brings out potatoes will more than compensate for their freight, 
and the earth will keep the cask perfectly sweet, and ready, 
without any labour, to bring home any produce. 

The potatoes must come cheap to market, the ship owner 
can afford cheap freight, having now none, or next to none, 
for his outward-bound vessels, 

The farmers on the sea-coast can easily supply more than two 
hundred thousand tons of potatoes, and the population of the 
West India islands would consume more than that quantity. 

Any overplus required may be readily supplied in like manner 
in Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, Canada, &c. The food of the 
negro is at present Indian corn and meal, which, with a smail 
quantity of potatoes now used in the islands, was formerly prin- 
cipally supplied by the United States, who receive in return, in 
cash and produce, nearly ten millions of dollars. Potatoes and 
fish, together with the produce of the islands, will give a much 
more wholesome food, in a greater abundance, and at a more 
reasonable rate. 

The policy of our legislature surely should be to encourage 
the parent state and the colonies, supplying each other in every 
possible manner, and to discourage aliens from reaping advan ~= 
tages from British capital, industry, and exertion, more par- 
ticularly so when by judicious arrangement both the colonies 
and the mother country can have their wants supplied better 
from their superabundant productions than from foreign states. 
Proper encouragement for the fisheries of Newfoundland, with 
settleinents for those employed in that part of the service on the 
coast of our settlements in North America, is indispensably ne- 
cessary—markets there are in abundance for the employment of 
more ships and seamen than we have now in that trade. 

By my plan of preserving potatoes, a wholesome food will be 
provided for the West India islands, much better and cheaper 
than they possess at present; a valuable freight for our ne 

ward- 


On preserving Carrots. 291 


ward-bound shipping, which they now want; that by doing so 
will in some measure enable the merchant to have his return 
freight cheaper, and thus we do away with the idea of haying 
our islands dependent on the American States for food. We 
save an immense sum of money annually given to foreigners ; 
and to the man of humane feeling it must be a source of grati- 
fication, to see that by this mode the severe labour of the poor 
black is much lightened, his condition ameliorated ; and by.’ 
having less occasion for his labour, aiding to abolish that horrid 
traffic of the slave trade. We find a market never before disco- 
vered for our agricultural exertions, giving healthful and bene- 
ficial employment to many families at home and abroad, and a 
saving to the nation of at least five hundred thousand pounds 
annually. Cuar_es WHITLOW. 


To C. Taylor, M.D. Sec. 


A communication from H. B. Way, Esq. (printed in the same 
volume, and for which the Society voted the Ceres silver medal,) 
on the preservation of carrots during winter, corroborates the above 
plan for preserving roots. The following is the substance of Mr, 
Way’s communication :— 

His carrots were sown broadcast in the usual way, in his garden, 
March 23d, 1814, and thinned out as wanted for family use ; 
and on the 20th of August following they were all dug up, the 
greens and tops of the roots cut off and cleared from the earth 
that adhered to them, and were immediately put in a dry cask, 
first laying a layer of earth on the bottom of the cask, and then 
a layer of carrots and earth alternately, till the whole were put in. 
The cask being covered was then placed in a dry cellar, and re- 
mained there till sent to the Society in March 1815, Carrots 
preserved in this way are vastly superior to carrots that remain 
in the groundtill the latter end of September or October, and then 
taken up and preserved ; but they require nearly double the time 
in boiling that carrots do when immediately taken out of the 
ground, 

It appeared to the committee, on minute examination, that the 
means adopted by Mr. Way for preserving carrots, is fully adequate 
to the purpose; and that where an opportunity offers of procur- 
ing proper casks, carrots may be preserved for many months in 
this mode, either for exportation or home use, in a perfectly sound 
state. 


ee LXI, Notices 


f 292 ] 


LXI. Notices respecting New Books. 


Chemical Essays, principally relating to the Arts and Manufac- 
tures of the British Dominions. By Samuet Parkés, F.L.S., 
Member of the Geological Society, &c. in Five Vols., with 
Twenty-three Copper-plate Engravings. Price 2/. 2s. 


Tx our last volume, p. 48, we gave an article on the Citric Acid, 
extracted from this work, and:in a note promised to lay before 
our readers some further account of this very interesting and en- 
tertaining production. We hoped toe have done so before this 
time; but have been prevented by a pressure of temporary subjects 
which would have lost much of their utility by a delay; and 
besides, Mr. Parkes’s work contains so large a mass of curious and 
original matter, that it required some time to make such a selec- 
tion as might render justice to so useful, judicious, and laborious 
a writer. 

The work consists of Fifteen distinct Essays on the following 
subjects : 

I. On the Utility of Chemistry to the Arts and Manufactures 
of Great Britain.—-Il. On Temperature.—III. On the various 
methods of ascertaining the Specific Gravity of Bodies. —IV. On 
Calico Printing —V. On Barytic Earth.—VI. On Carbon.— 
VII. On the Manufacture of Sulphuric Acid.— VIII. On the Pre- 
paration and Uses of Citric Acid.—IX. On the fixed Alkalies.— 
X. On the Manufacture of Earthen Ware and Porcelain.— XI. On 
the Manufacture of the different kinds of Glass —XII. On the Art 
and Practice of Bleaching —XIII. On Water, and the various 
Methods of its Purification—XIV. On the Manufacture of Sal 
Ammoniac.—XV. On Edge Tools, and the methods of tempering 
them. 

The last volume of this interesting publication contains 250 
additional notes, which are written in a perspicuous manner, and 
contain so much important information as to form a very valuable 
appendix to the work. A most copious and useful index, an ap- 
pendage too often omitted in modern works, closes the volume. 

It will not be expected that we should make extracts from 
every essay; but we shall endeavour to give some of the most in- 
teresting and useful parts of the work, for the information and in- 
struction of our readers. - 

In the first essay, which is on the utility of a knowledge of 
chemistry to the arts, we are told that ‘ formerly the professors 
of medicine were so ignorant of the nature of the salts, that no 
longer ago than the year 1765 there was a public dispute between 
the celebrated Margraff and Mons. de Machy, respecting the base 
of the super tartrite of potash, whether or no it was an alkali.” 

In 


Notices respecting New Books, 293 


Tn one of the notes to the same essay we are told that * Boer- 
haave, who had a botanical garden of eight acres, and who was 
so intent upon stocking it with every exotic that he could pro- 
cure, as once to have styled a present of a few American seeds 
‘munera auro cariora,’ gifts more precious than gold, was, not- 
withstanding, so captivated with chemistry, that he sometimes 
spent whole days and nights successively in the study and pro- 
cesses of the art.” 

The essay on TEMPERATURE Is divided into two branches, viz. 
natural and artificial. The variety of climate in the different 
regions of the earth, the effects of caloric on animal and vegeta- 
ble life, and the nature of its agency on combustible substances, 
are arranged under the first division of the subject ; while that on 
artificial temperature contains a detail of a variety of expedients 
for procuring fire; for modifying the effects of heat aud cold ; for 
economizing fuel; and for improving many operations which have 
a considerable influence on the success of many of the manufac- 
tures of the country. 

In speaking of the means which have been employed by dif- 
ferent nations, and in different periods of the world, for producing 
fire, Mr. Parkes says, “ In ancient times fire was always employed 
in the rites of religion; it consumed the burnt offerings of the 
Patriarchs ; was kept continually burning in the Jewish taber- 
nacle; was looked upon as the origin of life *, the soul of the 
world, the symbol of Deity; and considering it as the visible sign 
of an invisible Being, it has from time immemorial been actually 
worshipped by the Persians, and by some other Asiatic nationst+. 

** According to Pliny, fire was for a long time unknown to some 
of the ancient Egyptians; and when Eudoxus the astronomer 
showed it them, they were absolutely in raptures. The produc- 
tion of fire by collision, and the use of flint and steel t, were 
however known long before the time of Pliny.” 

In that part of the essay which relates to the subject of pro- 
ducing artificial cold, several chemical processes are related which 
can be conducted to better advantage at a temperature below 
freezing than at any other; and having remarked that “ it might 
be worth while to inquire whether an ice-house might not be em- 


~ * Fire was so generally considered as the image of life, that lighted torches 
were usually placed in the hands of the newly married; and at their deaths 
extinguished torches were placed upon their tombs. Essai sur le Feu sacré, 
&e. 8vo. 1768. 

+ The sacred fire of the Vestal virgins, among the Romans, was beheld by 
them with little Jess than adoration. Numa built a temple to Vesta,’ the 
goddess of fire, which in after aves was rebuilt with great magnificence, 

t The Laplanders begin their contracts of marriage with the fire and flint; 
for fire with them is the author of life; and the flint, say they, is eternal, for 
the treasure of fire within it never fails. 


T3 ployed 


294 Notices respeciing New Books. 


ployed with advantage during the summer months in preserving 
meat,” it is added that ‘ from the salmon fisheries in Scotland 
and the north of England, the fish are sent to the metropolis, 
during the greater part of the season, packed with ice, in boxes 
about four feet long and eighteen inches deep. When packed, 
the ice, which is previously broken as small as bay-salt, is put 
over them and beaten down as hard as can be without bruising 
the salmon. In this manner they are kept perfectly fresh for two 
or three weeks.” ’ 

In treating of the advantages which may be derived from arti- 
ficial cold, Mr. Parkes recommends the use of frigorific mixtures 
to freeze occasionally the brain and the eyes of those animals 
which are to undergo dissection by anatomical pupils, those parts 
not being easily dissected in any other way, and informs us that 
this method was first practised by the great Mr. Boyle. In the 
directions which are given for the use of saline mixtures to pro- 
duce artificial cold, Mr. Parkes has very properly remarked that 
<< it is of consequence to have the salts fresh crystallized, thorough-- 
ly dried, and then finely pulverized ; that the mixtures be made 
rapidly, and in vessels as thin as can be procured.” 

An expedient related by Mr. Parkes, and which is adopted by 
people in northern regions for procuring water in winter, 1s 
curious. ‘* During the winter at Hudson’s Bay, the surface of 
the lakes and rivers is covered with ice of such great thickness, 
that no water can be procured without cutting through the ice 
with axes and wedges, which is a very laborious and_ tedious 
operation. As soon, therefore, as the surface of the water which 
has been laid open has acquired a thin plate of ice, the labourer 
heaps over it a quantity of snow, which, by being a bad conduc- 
tor of heat, prevents the caloric of the water from passing upwards 
according to its natural tendency. Then, during the remainder 
of the winter, the inhabitants have only to remove a little of the 
snow, when occasion may require it, and they have water im- 
mediately.” 

A hint which Mr. Parkes gives in vol. i. p. 284, respecting the 
fuel proper for steam engine and other large iron boilers, deserves 
to be noted. In such cases “ sulphurous coals should be avoided, 
as the sulphur which rises during combustion is apt to occasion 
a rapid decay of that part of the beiler which is exposed to the 
action of the fire. It produces a sulphuret of iron, which wastes 
away as fast as it is formed.” 

The last 100 pages of this essay are chiefly occupied in giving 
directions for building stills, furnaces, chimneys, &c. aud in advice 
respecting the choice and management of fuel, all arising from 
the author’s experience in his own manufactory ; but we must con~ 
fine our notice to a short extract relating to the management of 

reverberatory 


Notices respecting New Books. 295 


reverberatory furnaces, at page 302 of this volume :—“ In rever- 
beratory furnaces for the decomposition of neutral salts and the 
manufacture of alkalies, ash-pit-doors are of no use, as it is never 
necessary to check the fire suddenly, as in other operations. On 
the contrary, [ have found it advantageous to have the ash-pits 
as deep, and the chimneys as high, as possible, in order to occa- 
sion a strong and uninterrupted draught. I cannot suffer this 
opportunity to pass without remarking, that the proprietors of 
reverberatory furnaces should contrive to continue their processes 
night and day; or, if that be impracticable, they should rake up 
the fire and stop the passage to the chimney so as to prevent the 
furnace from cooling during the night. Furnaces thus worked 
will last six or seven times as long as those do which frequently 
stand idle. The contraction of the materials during the time of 
cooling, and the subsequent expansion, wear them out rapidly.” 
But in our estimation the most important part of this essay is 
that where the author urges the necessity of attending to fempe- 
vature in the conduct of manufacturing processes. A great num- 
ber of cases in corroboration of this advice are adduced, which 
are well deserving of the perusal of all practical men: see page 
341—382. The detail of the facts above alluded to is concluded 
in the following manner :—* I trust enough has now been offered 
to induce every manufacturer who may peruse these loose hints, 
to apply them to his own business, and to consider whether some 
of his own peculiar processes might not be very materially im- 
proved by a variation of the temperature at which they have 
usually been conducted. This is the chief object I had in view 
in composing this essay; and as all the principal observations are 
founded upon experience and the best information | could procure, 
I entertain some confidence that it will be acceptable, and prove 
highly useful—especially to the British manufacturer.” 

“© The superior knowledge of our manufacturers has been the 
great source of our excellence as a commercial nation ; but there 
is a danger, amid the growing intelligence of the age, of our losing 
this proud pre-eminence, unless some spirited individuals, in every 
elass of society, aim at informing the public mind, and exciting 
that emulation among our respective artists, which is sure to 
stimulate their exertions and lead them on to perfection.”’ ‘These 
remarks are closed by some spirited national observations, which 
will be read with considerable interest. 

The third essay in these volumes is entitled SpeciFic GRAVITY; 
aud as we do not recollect ever to have seen any treatise express- 
ly on this subject, we deem it as important as any which the work 
contains. It is well calculated to instruct young people in all the 
different modes of ascertaining the specific gravity of gasses, fluids 
and solids. It contains some original tables for the calculation of 

T 4 specifie 


——————— ee —t—“‘“COé‘CSCSC;C~™” 


296 Notices respecting New Books. 


specific gravities, and is accompanied with drawings of the dif- 
ferent instruments which are usually employed for that purpose. 

Essay IV. is on Catico-Printiné. This essay commences with 
an historical account of the various modes of staining and orna- 
menting linen garments from the earliest ages; describes some 
of the processes of calico-printing in India; and then the different 
methods which are pursued by the calico-printers of Great Britain 
and Ireland in the present day. The managements are however 
so various, and the processes so diversified, that an attempt to 
detail them here would be incompatible with our circumscribed 
limits. A few extracts must therefore suffice from this essay. 

What Mr. Parkes observes respecting the use of the dung of the 
cow may be interesting to our readers, as it is new and curious. 
*¢ When the pieces of calico have been properly stoved, they are 
passed,” he says, “ through water at various temperatures, with 
a little cow-dung mixed in it. The intention of the dung is to 
absorb and remove that portion of the mordant which is not ae- 
tually combined with the cloth, and which otherwise might stain 
the white or unprinted parts. 

“* | suspect,’’ continues he, “ the dung of the cow is servicea- 
ble in another way besides that of cleansing *, though the printer 
may not be aware of the nature of its operation, It is ac- 
knowledged that madder, cochineal, and some other dyes, pro- 
duce much better colours on woollen than on cotton cloths, 
owing to the former being of animal, and the latter of vegetable 
origin. I presume, therefore, that the dung imparts an animal 
matter f¢ to the fibres of the cotton, and that this animal matter 
acts as an additional mordant, and thus more powerfully attracts 
the colouring particles of the dye, than the mordants alone would 
be capable of doing. If a piece of calico, prepared with acetate 
of alumine, be divided into two parts, and the superfluous mor- 
dant removed from one of them by cow-dung and water, and 
from the other by water only, though both fluids were at the same 
temperature, it will be found, on passing the two portions through 

a decoction of weld or quercitron bark, that the yellow will be 
mitt more intense and bright in that which had been submitted 
to the action of the cow- dung.” 

The account of the advantages of cylinder printing is thus given 
by Mr. Parkes :—** These machines,” says he, ‘* have not only 
the excellence of printing more correctly than can possibly be 
done by means of the block, but the saving of time and labour 
which they afford is great indeed. A piece of calico which would 


* © To clean calicoes by immersion ina dung-vessel, may appear to be a 


strange phrase; but as this is the technical language or the trade, no uther 


could” be employed with propriety. 


+ Berthollet, who analysed the dung of the cow, found in it a substance 


partaking of the nature of bile. 
take 


Notices respecting New Books. 297 


take a man and a boy three hours to print with one colour, or 
six hours to finish with two colours, may by this means be done 
in three minutes, or three minutes and a half, and then much 
more completely than could even have been imagined before the 
introduction of this invention.’ There are many new and im- 
portant hints thrown out in different parts of this essay, but we 
must refer our readers to the work itself for the particulars. Some 
copper-plate engravings of the new apparatus accompany this 
essay. 

The work before us, besides numerous known facts judiciously 
selected, contains so much new, curious, and useful information, 
detailed in a pleasing and popular manner, that we would will- 
ingly enlarge our extracts if we could find room: but our limite 
forbid this at present. 


A Praetical Treatise on propelling Vessels by Steam, &s'c. By 
RosBERTSON BucHANAN, Civil Engineer; illustrated with 
sixteen engravings. Svo. 204 pages. ‘ 
The subject to which this volume is principally devoted, has 

for some time occupied much of the public attention, After a 

short introduction, Mr. Buchanan states the peculiarities of the 

Clyde navigation, that being the river on which the first at- 

tempt, deserving of notice, to navigate by steam was made in 

this country in the year 1812: this forms the First Part; and 
here the author has introduced a popular account and descrip- 
tion of that inestimable invention, the Steam Engine —Part IT. 
contains descriptions of various modes which have been proposed 
or tried for propelling vessels. Parts II]. and VIII. an account 
of steam navigation on other rivers in Great Britain and Ireland.— 

An account of the steam boats in America occupies Part 1V.— 

Part V. is devoted to vessels in America propelled by means of 

machinery driven by from eight to thirteen horses or mules, 

working a gin on the deck.—Part V1. is dedicated to subjects 
relating to the theory and practice of Naval Architecture, as 
being intimately connected with steam navigation, and em- 
braces § 1. The resistance of fluids: § 2. Experiments illustra- 
tive of the motions of resisted fluids: § 3. Experiments made 
under the direction of the Society for the Improvement of Naval 

Architecture: § 4. Of the forms best adapted for stability: 

§ 5. Of the forms best adapted to prevent rolling and pitching : 

§ 6. Of steering: § 7. Improvements in ship-building—Mr. Sep- 

pings’s and Mr, Walters’s described: § 8, § 9. are occupied 

with hints respecting timber, and the removal of imperfections 
in the common construction. Part VII. Miscellaneous obser- 

vations.—An Appendix. 
This work deserves commendation, The subject of steam- 
navigation 


298 Notices respecting New Books. 


navigation has been treated in a popular manner, while the in- 
formation communicated by the author is lucid and satisfactory. 
The plates are remarkably well drawn, and engraved in the 
first style. 


Mr. Taylor, of the Architectural Library, Holborn, has just 
published the Fourth Volume of the Antiquities of Athens, &¢. 
measured and delineated by James Stuart, F.R.S. and F.S.A., 
and Nicholas Revett, Painters and Architects; edited by Joseph 
Woods, Architect. 

This volume contains 88 plates, besides 15 vignettes, en- 
graved by the best artists, uniformly with the preceding volumes; 
together with historical and descriptive accounts of the several 
subjects ; also a portrait of Mr. Revett, from a picture painted 
by himself, and engraved in the line manner by Isaac Taylor, 
and memoirs of the lives of the authors. 

Messrs. Stuart and Revett being detained at Venice, in their 
way to Athens, made an excursion to Pola, where they passed 
six months in measuring the subjects, and in making the draw- 
ings, which are now submitted to the public; and which formed 
a part of their original scheme of publication. 

The admiration with which these remains of antiquity have 
always been mentioned, no less than their intrinsic merits, ren- 
der it desirable that they should be offered in complete detail to 
the public, which has by no means been the case in any of the 
works in which they have hitherto been noticed. ‘The subjects 
are an amphitheatre, the temple of Rome and Augustus, and 
the arch of the Sergii. 

The sketch-books of Messrs. Stuart and Revett have furnished 
several plates of curious fragments of ancient architecture and 
sculpture found in the Greek Islands, with views of Mount Par- 
nassus and the Rock of Delphi. 

The exquisite sculptures which adorned the temple of Minerva 
at Athens have ever been objects of the highest admiration, 
and are now become particularly interesting, from the circum- 
stance of a large portion of them having arrived in this country. 
Of these beautiful specimens of ancient art there are 34 plates, 
from drawings by Mr. Pars, representing the entire west frieze 
of the cell, with some parts of the north and south sides, and- 
several of the metopes of the exterior frieze. These, with those 
already published in the second volume of this work, exhibit all 
the sculpture which remained of the temple at the time (1751) 
Stuart and Revett were at Athens. Amongst these are five 
plates, showing the state of the sculpture in the pediments in 
the year 1683, when visited by the Marquis de Nointel, from 
copies of the original drawings in the King’s library at Paris. 

ese 


Notices respecting New Books. 299 


These valuable documents show the entire composition of the 
sculpture in the west front. 


Dr. Adams is preparing for the press, Memoirs of the Life, 
Doctrines, and Opinions of the late John Hunter; founder of 
the Hunterian Museum at the College of Surgeons in London. 
These memoirs are carefully collected. from authentic documents 
and aneedotes, and also from the writings, lectures, and con~ 
versations of the deceased. 


A Journal of Science and the Arts, No.1. Edited at the Royal 
Institution of Great Britain. Published Quarterly. 


In a former number we announced the expected appearance of 
this publication, edited by Mr. Brande. The first number was 
published at the beginning of April, and contains—}. A paper by 
Sir H. Davy on his safe-lamp, of which we have already laid a 
description before our readers.—2. Demonstrations of some of 
Dr. M. Stewart’s General Theorems; and an account of some new 
properties of the Circle: by C. Babbage, Esq. F_ R.S.—3. Onsome 
phenomena attending the process of Solution, and on their appli- 
cation to the laws of Crystallization: by J. F. Daniell, Esq. F.R.S. 
and M.R.I.A. This is a very interesting paper, and the ex- 
periments of the author tend to support the ingenious theory of 
Dr. Wollaston respecting crystalline arrangement. 

“If a mass of any moderately soluble salt be suspended ina 
vessel of water, we may shortly observe that it is not equally 
acted upon by the fluid. We shall perceive that it has been more 
dissolved toward the upper than the lower part, and the whole 
piece will assume, more or less, the form of a cone, with the apex 
at the surface of the liquid. The particles of water which are in 
immediate contact with the salt combine with a portion of it, and 
thus becoming specifically heavier than the remainder, sink to 
the bottom of the vessel; others succeed, and follow the same 
course. A layer of saturated solution is thus deposited, which 
increases in bulk as the process proceeds, protecting in its rise 
that part of the mass which is covered with it, from further action. 
The power of the solvent is therefore longer exercised upon the 
upper than the lower surfaces, producing, by its gradual decrease, 
the above-mentioned peculiarity of shape. This modification of 
solution by gravity is entirésy counteracted by agitation; but if the 
process be carried on in a glass vessel, with some care, the cur- 
rent of descending liquid may be rendered perceptible to the eye, 

‘* But there isa much more important circumstance attending 
this process, which it is the particular object of the present paper 
to illustrate and consider, Independent of the modification of 

forny 


200 Notices respecting New Books. 


form produced by the cause above descr’bed, the surface of a 
body is never equally acted upon by a solvent. Stria or ridges 
may he detected in various places, and, indeed, generally cover 
the whole of its snperficies, which prove, not only that the me- 
chanical attraction of the solid has resisted chemical action, but 
that it has resisted it more in some directions than in others. 
The flowing expe.iments, which only require time and moderate 
attention, while they give determinate results, are explanatory, at 
once, of the cause and progress of the phenomena. 

‘¢ If we immerse an amorphous mass of alum in water, and 
set it by in a place where it may remain undisturbed for a period 
of three or four weeks, at the expiration of that time we shall 
find that it has assumed the pyramidal form before described. 
Upon a further examination, we shall observe that the lower end 
of the mass presents the form of octohedrons and sections of oc- 
tohedrons, as it were, carved or stamped upon its surface. These 
figures will be high in relief, and of various dimensions.—They 
will be most distinct at the lower extremity, becoming less so as 
they ascend, till at length they are totally obliterated. 

** A continuation of the process, however, would evidently re- 
solve the whole into similar figures, their cessation arising solely 
from that superior power of solution which subsists in the upper 
stratum of the liquid. 

“¢ These crystalline forms are produced when the water is pare 
tially saturated with the salt, and acting with diminished energy 
is nearly counterbalanced by its mechanical structure; and we 
are thus put in possession of the important fact, that this latter 
power does not merely act, as has been hitherto supposed, in the 
grosser forms of aggregation, but in the more complicated and 
delicate arrangements of crystalline polarity. 

‘¢ This regular structure is developed both when we employ an 
amorphous mass and a regular crystal, proving that the ultimate 
arrangement of particles is the same in both; and that the like 
disposition exists, both when the slowness of approximation has 
bounded the solid with symmetric planes, and when the sudden- 
ness of the condensation has forced the aggregated molecules into 
a more contracted space. 

‘* This new process of dissection admits of more extensive ap- 
plication than might at first be imagined, and we are thus fur- 
nished with a method of analysing crystalline arrangements, which 
promises to lead to important results. The geometrical figures 
produced by these means, are not less determinate when the 
process has been carefully conducted, than those which result 
from the common methods of crystallization; and they are the 
more instructive, inasmuch as we are presented in the same group 
with an extensive series of modifications, and decrements of the 

primitive 


Notices respecting New Books. 301 


primitive form, which shcw by their relative position, and mu- 
tual connexion, the gradual steps by which one form passes into 
another.” 

Borax, crystals of sulphate of copper, sulphate of magnesia, 
submitted to cautious solution, also yielded distinct crystalline 
forms. Crystals of carbonate of lime, carbonate of barytes, a 
erystal of quartz, and a polished carnelian, submitted cautiously 
to the action of their proper solvents, gave similar indications, 
but rendered less perfect, in some instances, by extricated gas 
making paths for its escape along the surface of the crystal, and 
there preventing the regular action of the acid. Bismuth, nickel, 
antimony, and some other metals gave evidence also of regular 
erystallization.—The author, after detailing these experiments, 
proceeds to inquire ‘* whether this new method of analysis may 
not be calculated to throw some light upon crystalline arrange- 
ments in general?” He then describes particularly the crystalline 
forms brought to view on the surface of the piece of alum, with 
& view to a proper theory which may agree with all the results. 

*¢ It is evident,”’ he remarks, “ that no general theory of crys- 
tallization can be applied tothe cases under contemplation, which 
is not founded upon such a disposition of constituent particles as 
may furnish all the modifications of form before described, by the 
mere abstraction of certain individuals from a congeries, without 
altering the original relative position of those which remain. 
That is to say, supposing we adopt the hypothesis of the spheri- 
eal form’of the molecules, it will not be sufficient that a cube 
may be constructed by the superposition of four balls upon the 
top of four other balls *, and an octohedron by placing four 
spheres in a square, with two others in the interstices between 
them (in which two combinations it is evident that the position 
of no three particles is alike); but the disposition of the cube 
must include that of the octohedron, and this latter must be 

obtainable by the equal abstraction of certain members of the 
former, without interfering with the quiescent state of the re- 
mainder.” 
- He then assumes, for inquiry, the sphere as the form of the 
primitive particles, and proceeds to construct figures to illustrate 
their relative position, and to prove whether by the abstraction 
of certain rows or quantities of spheres from the mass, without 
disturbing those that are left, the mass or any portion of it can 
be made to exhibit the required forms. He makes a base of 36 
halls, on these other balls to the number of 25 are placed in a 
| plane occupying the interstices formed on the surface of the 36. 


_* See the construction of the cube as proposed by W, II. Wollaston, 
M.D. Sec, R.S. Phil. Trans. 1812. 
On 


302 Notices respecting New Books. 


On these alternate layers of 36 and 25 are placed till the height 
equals the base, that is, a cube is formed—the atoms represented 
by the balls being kept in their place by attraction. He then 
shows by appropriate figures that all the crystals exhibited on the 
face of the alum “ may be satisfactorily derived from a series of 
spheres maintaining that relative position which they must as-" 
sume if endued with the power of mutual attraction.” ‘* The 
surfaces and lines of the solids produced, are in no instance inter- | 
rupted, or broken, by a space equal to the diameter of one par- 
ticle. Will any other geometrical solid furnish as simple and” 
satisfactory a solution?’ The cube assumed as the integrant 
particle is demonstrated to be defective. 
“ But there are many substances in nature resolvable, both by 
mechanical division and chemical solution, into regular solids, 
which, it is evident, cannot in any way be constructed of spheri- 
eal particles. The rhomboids, for instance, of carbenate of lime, 
and the flattened octohedron produced by the action of water 
upon a four-sided prism of sulphate of magnesia. Is the theory 
calculated only to resolve the peculiarities of the former class ; 
or may it be extended by similar observations so as to include 
crystalline arrangements of every description ? g 
“<¢ The latter of the two substances just instanced, would seem. 
at once to point to a flattening of the elementary sphere, as af= 
fording a solution of the problem, with respect to its i aoe 
properties ; but how far may this idea be generalized? And ar 
there any peculiarities in this class of bodies, which may direct 
us to this explanation of their nature ?”’ 4 
Mr. Daniell then shows that spheroids may be so arranged as 
to yield all the forms and modifications which are the subject of 
inquiry, and concludes his ingenious paper as follows : 4 
«* A singular confirmation of the spheroidical form of the ultil 
mate particles of crystallized bodies, offers itself in the contem= 
plation of a local arrangement which is common to crystals of 
every substance. If we suppose two nuclei to be formed in am 
solution, in such a manner that the axis of one shall run in @/ 
contrary direction to the axis of the other, each will of course at= 
tract aparticular system of particles from the surrounding medium, 
Should the two, therefore, come in contact, a greater number 
will be collected at the point of junction than at any other, and 
they will therefore arrange themselves in the least possible spacey 
Accordingly we find, that whenever a crystal is attached to an= 
other, in such a manner that their axes run in contrary direc= 
tions, if we pull the two asunder, we shall invariably be presented 
with a regular hexagonal arrangement at the point of junction, 
whatever be the form of the crystal, the nature of the substance 
or the direction in which at any other part it would be disposed 


Notices respecting New Books. 303 


to separate by mechanical force. This observation has been re- 
peatedly verified upon carbonate of lime, selenite, fluor-spar, 
quartz, topaz, and other mineral bodies. 

“ The foregoing experitnents and observations are offered. in 
support of the ingenious theory of Dr. Wollaston, whose simple 
and satisfactory elucidation of the principles of crystalline ar- 
rangement has solved the difficulties, and remedied the incon- 
sistencies of all previous explanaticns of the phenomena. Former 
hypotheses, however laborious in their construction, were defec- 
tive, and unsatisfactory in the fundamental data of their arrange- 
ment, and were incompetent even to explain the solitary fact from 
which they originally emanated. 

** This, however, is found:to stand the test of experiment, as 
far as it is applicable from the nature of the subject ; and another 
analogy is thus opened to the admirers of the simplicity and 
beautiful connexion of the order of the universe, who will recog- 
nise, in the invisible and scarcely imaginable atoms of a crystal, 
the same forms which in incomprehensible magnitude roll their 
majestic courses in the planetary system.” : 

The other articles in the number before us are :—4. Ona sin- 
gular malformation of the human Heart; by N. L. Young, Esq. 
—®}. Some account of the external changes which take place in 
the Surinam Frog (Runa paradoxa Linn.) from its earliest stages 
till it becomes a perfect animal ; by W. M. Ireland, Esq.—6. An 
account of the physical properties of the Malambo Bark.—7. A 
new blow pipe.—This contrivance consists in employing a vessel 
containing compressed air, and furnished with a syringe to renew 
the supply. 

8. On Aqua regia, or Nitro-muriatic Acid: By Sir H. Davy. 
—Strong nitrous acid, saturated with nitrous gas, and mixed 
with a saturated solution of muriatic acid gas, produces no other 
effect than might be expected from the action of nitrous acid of 
the same strength on an equal quantity of water: the acid so 
formed has no action on gold or platina. Equal volumes of mu- 
riatic acid gas and nitrous gas being mixed over mercury, and 
half a volume of oxygen being added, the condensation will only 
- be what might be expected from the formation of nitrous acid 
gas; and when decomposed or absorbed by the mercury, the mu- 
riatic acid gas, unaltered, is found mixed with a portion of nitrous 
gas. ‘It appears then, that niérous acid and muriatic acid gas 
have no action on each other.”” The mixture of colourless nitrie 
acid and muriatic acid of eommerce is yellow, and dissolves gold 
and platinum. If gently heated, it gives off pure chlorine, and 
becomes deeper coloured; if the heat be continued, chlorine still 
rises, but mixed with nitrous acid gas, which may be separated 
from it by a small quantity of water, If heated till no more 

chlorine 


304 Royal Society. 


chlorine can be procul from it, it can no longer act on gold or 
platinum, and nothing rises from it but a mixture of nitrous acid 
and muriatic acid. ‘* It appears then that nitro muriatic acid 
ewes its peculiar properties to a mutial decomposition ef the 
nitric and muriatic acid; and that water, chioriie, and nitrous 
acid gas are the results; and the attractions which produce these 
results appear to be the attraction of oxygen for hydrogen to 
form water, and that of nitrous acid gas for water.” Aqua regia 
€ does not oxidate gold and platina, but merely causes their com- 
bination wich chlorme; and when it produces neutral salis, they 
are mixtures, and uot cheinical combinations of nitrates and 
compounds of chiorine.” 

9. Gn the freezing of Wine, and the Specific Gravity of Sul- 
phuric Acid; by S. Parkes. —10, Observations on the applica- 
tion of Coal Gas to the purposes of Illumination; by Mr. Brande. 
—l1. Au anomalous case of Chemical Affinity, by R. Phillips, 
Esq.—12. Effects of a paralytic Stroke upon the powers of ad- 
justment of the Eyes to near Distances, by Sir E, Home, Bart.— 
13. Review of Beudant’s “ Essai d’un Cours élémentaire et 
général des Sciences physiques.”—14. Life and Writings of 
Hedwig. &c. &c. &c. 


LXII. Proceedings of Learned Societies. 


ROYAL SOCIETY. 


March 28 and April 4. | HE reading of Dr. Thos. Thomson’s 
paper on Phosphoric Acid was continued. In the series of ex- 
periments which the author had undertaken to ascertain with 
precision the weight of an atom of phosphorus, he noticed se- 
veral combinations of acids which had not hitherto attracted the 
attention of chemists, aid to which he gave new names. But as 
he did not pursue his analysis to the extreme in every case, he -re- 
served his detailed observations on some of them for a future 
paper, his chief object being to detect the combinations of phos- 
phorus. Many of his conclusions are the result of calculation 
on the previously-known combinations of atoms of oxygen with 
different bodies, rather than of direct experiment. In some 
cases his experiments did not correspond with his pre-conceived 
theory of atomical combination, and then he readily abandoned 
the accuracy of the former to the supposed infallibility of the 
latter. Nevertheless he found, beyond doubt, that phosphorus 
combines with lime in six different proportions; and that, as 
three of these combinations could not be multiples, they were in 


direct opposition to the atomic theory so pompously announced 
by 


Geological Society. 305 


by Berzelius. Hence he concluded that the Swedish Professor 
has established his canons rather too hastily, and from data 
which, however they may correspond with the chemical phee- 
nomena of six or eight salts, are incompatible with the facts 
relative to nearly a hundred others. Dr. T. operated chiefly on 
bones, aud the phosphat of lime which they contain: in opera- 
ting he followed the process proposed by Eckberg in 1795, arid 
preferred the deflagrating of phosphorus in oxygen, to every 
other mode of ascertaining their relative combinations. But his 
apparatus bemg small, his experiments were often made on the 
combustion of a single grain of phosphorus in oxygen gas. 

April 25. A very short paper by Sir Everard Home was read, 
as an appendix to his remarks on the effects of certain medicines 
on the circulation of the blood, and in proof of his opinion that 
their efficacy is entirely owing to their action on the circulation 
diminishing the pulse, &c. To confirm this position, it was 
suggested to him to try the effects of his gout medicine thrown 
directly into the blood without the intermedium of the stomach, 
With this view 160 grains were injected into the veins of a dog, 
when the animal in a few minutes became convulsed, his pulse 
lowered, respiration difficult, had evacuations, and in five hours 
died. On opening the stomach it was found inflamed, and the 
whole appearances were exactly the same as if the poison had 
been taken into the stomach. Sir E. considers this a demon- 
stration, as far as it is possible in such a case, of the truth 
of his ‘theory. 


GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 


A Report by Dr. Granville, on a Memoir of M. Methuon, on 
the Mode in which earthy and metallic Crystals, not of a saline 
Nature, are formed, was read on the 16th Feb, 

“ Crystals, according to Mons. Methuon, are not the imme- 
diate consequence of undisturbed solution or fusion; but the 
produce of a peculiar decomposition of amorphous crystallizable 
masses, the particles of which arrange themselves, during de- 
composition, according to certain laws of attraction 3; the process 
being carried on in the dry way, and in the air.” 

About twelve years ago, while engaged in some mineral pur- 
suits in Elba, his attention was directed to a block of argil- 
laceous schistus with pyrites, which appeared to have been re- 
cently detached from a stratum of that substance, forming the 
basis of a large mass of sandstone projecting from one of the 
sides of the mountain. On examining it he found that several 
eapillary crystals of alum from ¢ to 3 of an inch in length co- 
vered its superior surface. This as well as the lateral sides of 
the stone were in an evident state of decomposition more or less 

Vol. 47, No, 216, April 1816, U advanced, 


308 Geological Society. 


advanced, to the depth of IZ inch. There was some dust lying in 
the intervals between the crystals, which he blew off; and he ob- 
served that the wind had previously scattered some of it around 
the stone as it lay on the earth. Struck with this singular ap- 
pearance, and almost instantaneously seizing the hint from na- 
fure, Mons, Methuon raised with sticks an appropriate shelter, 
under which he placed the mineral, and frequently paid a visit 
to the apparatus. The elongation of the crystals and the ac- 
eompanying decomposition of the stone, became every Gay more 
visible, until, at the end of two months, the former were nearly 
double in size, and the /utter had increased in proportion. 

_ This discovery of the alum,” exclaims M. Methuon, ‘‘ being 
formed in the air, and not in water, made a strong impression 
apon me, and I confess I could not forbear thinking there existed 
some analogy between this formation, and that of the earthy and 
metallic erystals not of a saline nature. It was evident, indeed, 
that the alum, in this case, did not exist in the rock, but was 
the immediate effect of its decomposition ; that a portion of the 
sulphur from the pyriles passed into the acid state by means of 
its contact with the atmospheric air; and that this acid, com- 
bining with the argil, formed the crystals of alum.” . 

He repeated his observations, multiplied his experiments, and 
instituted more particular inquiries in the island, which led, he 
says, to a discovery of recent erystals formed from a decomposi- 
tion of the amorphous masses in which they were implanted. 
*< Nay, at one time, he seems to have caught nature in the very 
act of forming crystals of quartz on a mass of silico-calcareous 
earth, from the surface of which M. Methuon had carefully re- 
moved all signs of pre-existing crystallization. The author 
marked the spot well, and left it. After a few weeks, some small 
points of rock-crystal made their appearance; by degrees the 
pyramidal summits were formed ; and these were gradually fol- 
lowed by the prism; its mass diminishing in size, as the crystal 
became more and more diaphanous. At the end of three-and- 
twenty months, the period at which M. Methuon quitted the 
island, there were six beautiful crystals of quartz, from % to Z 
of an inch in length, and + of an inch in diameter ; the silico- 
calcareous stone around them being excavated in the same pro- 
portion. But a fluid seemed, in this instance, to have had a 
part in the formation of these crystals; for, although the locality 
of the fossil producing them is described to have been beyond: 
the reach of the waves, yet it is admitted that their spray, par- 
ticularly in tempestuous weather, often bedewed its exposed sur- 
face, | 

“In a similar manner did M. M. obtain crystals of -yenite, 
some specimens of which he has preserved to.this moment.” 

Afterwards 


Geological Society. 307 


Afterwards in Piedmont, “on removing some indistinct crystals 
of alalite and garnet, which he had discovered on breaking an 
amorphous mass of those substances, and on taking the proper 
precautions, consisting in throwing some loose earth and stones 
against the surface from which the crystals had been removed ; 
after the lapse of six years, M. M. had the satisfaction of gather- 
a second and a third crop of new beautiful crystals, formed du- 
ring that period, some of which were sent to the public institu- 
tions at Paris. 

Having transported some of the shapeless mass of alalile, 
garnet, green idocrase, pyroxene, and amorphous pyrites; and 
formed with them an artificial mountain, which was placed on 
the chimney-piece in his room; after many days and weeks of 
anxiety, he had at last the pleasure of seeing crystals of all these 
substances emerge from this heterogeneous mixture.  “ The 
first,”’ says the author, “ which I had the satisfaction of seeing 
on my artificial mountain, were small prisms of pyroxene; next 
came the summits of crystals of alalite, then planes of garnet, 
after which those of zdocrase and peridot followed in succes- 
sion.” 

To produce new crops of crystal from cabinet specimens, was 
the next attempt. In July 1814 three specimens of idocrase, 
properly examined and described, were delivered to him from 
the School of Mines, and in November were submitted to the 
crystallizing process. In April 1815 new crystals were found 
on the surface of each of the specimens. 

From a number of similar facts M. Methuon conceives that 
the natural process of crystallization originally begins im a par- 
tial decomposition of the surface of a crystallizable fossil; that 
from certain spots of this surface, where it has first begun, the 
decomposition proceeds in straight and narrow lines to other 
similar spots which in their turn send forth similar lines, some- 
times parallel to the former, at other times crossing each other ; 
thus dividing, or, more commonly speaking, carving or engraving 
the surface of the fossil into several compartments, which be- 
come, by a continuance of the process of decomposition, as many 
distinct pieces, constituting the body of the crystal in its rough 
state; and lastly, that during this process the substances of a 
different nature, contained in the mineral, separate, and arrange 
themselves, in one or more parts of the same compartment, the 
fossil mass continuing to be solid and hard, but fragile and easy to 
be broken;’’ the author having often broken, between his fingers, 
some which had before withstood the strongest percussions. 

M. Methuon maintains that he has proved ; ‘¢ 1st, That cry- 
stals begin to form at their summit, edges, and solid angles. 

U2 2dly, 


808 Royal Soctety of Edinburgh. 


2dly, That nature produces, by a direct process, all simple and 
compound crystals, without first forming a nucleus in the latter. 
3dly, That the matter, serving to form the crystals, is in the 
state of a solid mass before, and continues in that same state 
during the whole process of crystallization. It may be called 
crystallizalle matter. 4thly, That crystallizalle matter is that 
which has filled, by infiltration, the chasms and clefts of moun- 
tains, and the cavities of rocks; which composes the veins, the 
stalactites, and the stalagmites; and, in general, all that which 
constitutes accidental formations found in blocks, nodules, &c. 
within large masses.” 

He recommends for his crystallogenous process, ‘‘ a bed one 
inch thick, composed of loose earth, obtained from the decom- 
position of the stone in which the erystallizable matter is found, 
having an elevated brim of the same material round it, one-third 
of an inch in height. Some balls made of the same earth are 
disposed here and there on this bed, on which are placed various 
pieces of solid crystallizable matter, formerly known under the 
name of crystalline matrix. On these pieces other balls are 
properly disposed, serving to support some more speeimens of 
crystallizable matter, so arranged as not to touch each other. 
The whole of it is then made as solid as possible, by the addition 
of other large and small balls, introduced wherever any space 
exists ; and lastly, the apparatus is surrounded by a wall of bricks 
laid singly on each other, without any mortar, and in a way to 
admit a free circulation of air. 

«¢ Every two or three days the whole apparatus is watered, 40 
as to keep it in a state of constant humidity, and no more. A 
degree of temperature is maintained equal to the internal tem- 
perature of the earth ; and the apparatus is examined every fort~ 
night or three weeks; when, if necessary, the pieces may be care- 
fully washed and replaced, taking care to arrange them so, that 
the balls which before were under, may now be placed above, | 
After a certain lapse of time, the crystallizable matter is found 
to present distinct and beautiful crystal of the substances ém- 
ployed.” 


ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 


Papers on the following subjects have been read at this S0- 
eiety since the commencement of the present session : 

On the Optical Properties of Fluate of Lime and Muriate of 
Soda; by Dr. Brewster. The author has ascertained that this 
elass of crystals possesses the property of double refraction. 
Large masses of muriate of soda, fluate of lime, alum, and dia- 
mond not only possess this property, but doso in a manner dif- 

ferent 


Royal Society of Edinlurgh. 309 


ferent from all the other crystals of the mineral kingdom; com- 
bining in the same specimen the structure of both the classes of 
doubly refracting crystals. In one part of their mass they have 
the same structure as calcareous spar, and crystals of that class ; 
in another the structure of sulphate of lime, and crystals of that 
elass ; and in some parts they do not exhibit double refraction. 

Experiments made at Woburn Abbey for determining the Pro- 
portion between the Load and Draught of Horses in Waggons. 
The instrument employed was contrived by Mr. Salmon of 
Woburn. One general result was, that in a four-wheeled wag- 
gon of the ordinary construction, on a good road and on a hori- 
zontal plane, the draught is between a 25th and a 30th of the 
Joad. With a load of one ton the draught is between 75 and 
80 pounds. Several other results were deduced. 

Account of a Chromatic Thermometer, by Dr. Brewster. This 
instrument is founded on a newly discovered action of heat upon 
glass. Glass is thrown into a éransient. state of crystallization 
during the propagation of heat through its mass. When in this 
state it acts on polarized light like crystallized bodies, and pros 
dices various orders of colours in different parts of the glass- 
plate. The number of fringes increases, or the tints rise in 
Newton’s scale, as the temperature of the source of heat is in- 
creased ; so that the difference between the temperature of the. 
glass and that of the source of heat, is measured by the num- 
ber of the fringes, or the nature of the tints which are developed, 
As every tint in the scale of colours has an accurate numerical 
value, differences of temperature may be measured with the ut- 
most correctness, from the lowest temperature up to those at 
which glass begins to lose its solidity. 

The heat of the hand applied toa single plate of glass three- 
tenths of an inch thick, produces a perceptible effect in crystal- 
lizing the plate ; so that, if ten plates were employed, a difference 
of temperature, equal to one-tenth of that which was applied to 
the single plate, will be distinctly appreciable. 

Extracts from an unpublished Memoir of Laplace on the Ap- 
plication of the Calculation of Probabilities to Physics. The 
extracts referred particularly to the figure of the earth as de- 
duced from the vibrations of pendulums. ‘ He finds from thirty- 
seven of the best experiments on the length of the seconds pen- 
dulum in different latitudes, that the increase of gravity from the 
equator to the poles, follows the law which theory points out as 
the most simple; and concludes that the density of the earth 
must augment regularly from the surface to the centre; and 
hence he infers the original fluidity of the whole—a state, he 
adds, which nothing but excessive heat could produce, [This 
fiuidity may be allowed without admitting the cause he has as- 

U3 signed 


310 Wernerian Natural History Sociely of Edinburgh. 


signed for it.] From his formula. Mr. Playfair finds the length 
of the seconds’ pendulum for London to be 39:13009 English 
inches. The bill now before parliament for equalizing weights 
and measures states the length to be 39°138047. 

An Account of the Sleeping Woman of Dunninald, near Mon- 
trose; by the Rev. James Brewster. Her first sleeping fit lasted 
from the 27th to the 30th of June 1815. Next morning she 
again fell into a sleep which lasted seven days— without motion, 
food, or evacuation. At the end of this time, by moving her 
hand and pointing to her mouth, it was understood she wanted 
food, which was given to her ; but she remained in her lethargic 
state still the 8th of August,—six weeks in all, without appear- 
ing to be awake, except on the 50th of June. Her pulse for the 
first two weeks was about 50; the third week 60; and pre- 
vious to recovery it was at 70 to 72. Though extremely reduced, 
she gained strength so rapidly that before the end of August she 
worked regularly at the harvest. This case is well authenticated. 

In a paper on Barometers, by Mr. Playfair, iron tubes are 
recommended for barometrical observations in mountainous or 
remote countries. The tubes being truly bored, and of the pro- 
per length, the mercury is to be poured into them at the place 
of observation. A finger being then placed on the orifice, the 
tube inverted in a cup of mercury, and being again stopped with 
the finger (after all oscillation has ceased) and withdrawing the 
cup, the quantity in the tube will give the result. The quantity 
may be measured by means of a graduated float, 

Papers on the following subjects have also been read. On 
an Aérolite which fell near Bombay on the 5th of November 
1814. On Means for Lighting Coal Mines. On the Education 
of Mitchell, the blind and deaf Lad. On Analyses of Sea-water, 
An Account of an Animal found in Horses’ Eyes in India. Ex- 
periments on Light; also a Paper on the probable Existence of 
a new Species of Rays in the Solar Spectrum, apparently pro- 
duced by the Collision of the Particles of Light when emitted 
from the Sun’s Surface; by Dr. Brewster. And an Account of 
some Veins of Greenstone which traverse the Granite of Sable 
Mountain, 


wae WERNERIAN NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 


On Saturday, the 13th of April, Mr. Thomas Forster read a 
paper to the Wernerian Society of Natural History of Edinburgh, 
on the generic varieties in the forms of the brain and crania of 
animals, and the possibility of distinguishing the genus and sex of 
animals by the figure of the skull. Mr. F. illustrated his paper by 
about fifteen drawings of crania of different animals made from 
nature, under his direction, by Mr, Lizars of Edinburgh. 

f ROYAL 


Royal Institute of France. 311 


ROYAL INSTITUTE OF FRANCE. 


Analysis of the Lalbours of the Class of Mathematical and 
Physical Sciences for the Year 1815. By M, Cuvier. 
CHEMISTRY. 

We have during the last two years spoken of those acids with- 
out oxygen, or, as they are now called, hydracids, which have 
made such a considerable breach in the imposing edifice of the 
chemical theory of Lavoisier, ‘The labours of M. Gay-Lussae 
have this year proved that there is one more to add to this class: 
that which M. De Morveau had called prussic acid, because it 
enters into the composition of Prussian blue, and because, its ra- 
dical not being known, it was not possible then to derive from 
that source its denomination. 

The experiments of Margraaf, Bergman, and Scheele, did not 
admit of a doubt that in Prussian blue the iron was united with 
a substance which performed the part of an acid. M. Berthol- 
let had suspected however for a long time that oxygen did not 
enter into its composition, but merely carbon, azote and hydro- 
gen; and this suspicion has been changed into a certainty by 
Gay-Lussae. 

On decomposing, with the precautions which he points out, 
the prussiate of mercury by the hydrochloric (otherwise muriatic) 
acid, he obtained pure prussic acid ; and we have already 
spoken in one of our preceding reports of the singular properties 
which he found in it in this state, and chiefly of its extreme vo- 
latility. On afterwards burning the vapour of this acid by 
oxygen and the electric spark, he obtained determinate quan- 
tities of water, carbonic acid and azote. The oxygen consumed 
in the production of the two first of these substances is wanting ; 
and it follows from this conclusion, that oue volume of vapour 
of prussie acid results from the combination aud concentration 
of one volume of vapour of carbon, half a volume of azote, and 
half a volume of hydrogen; or, by expressing these volumes by 
weights, according to the density of each of these vapours, 100 
parts of acid contain 44°39 carbon 

51:71 azote 
3°99 hydrogen. 

Thus the prussie acid contains more azote and less hydrogen 
than the other animal substances, from which it is particularly - 
distinguished by ¢he total absence of oxygen. per 

This is the first hydracid known, the radical of which is dey 
eomposable; and this radical M. Gay-Lussac also succeeded in 
obtaining freed from its hydrogen. Not being able to preserve 
this epithet of prussic, which belongs only to an accident, he has 
given it the appellation of eyanogene (that is to say, producing’ 
blue), The prussic acid will therefore take in future the deno- 

U4 mination 


312 Communicalions respecting 


mination of hydrocyanic; its combinations with the bases, that 
of hydrocyanates; and the coinbinations of its radical, that of 
eyanures. 

We would fain give an account of the numerous and delieate 
experiments by which M. Gay-Lussac referred to the oue or 
the other of these classes the various products resulting from 
the action of the prussic acid on bodies, and all the properties 
which he has brought to light; but our limits do not admit of 
it. Suffice it to say, that Prussian blue in particular seems to 
him to be rather a cyanure of iron which has retained water, 
than a hydrocyunat, or, as it was formerly called, a prussiate. 

This ey anogene, considered by itself, presented some remarka- 
ble properties: it is a permanent elastic fluid, the density of which 
to that of the air is as |. 8U64 to J, of a peculiar pinigent smell, 
giving a sharp taste to water, and burning with a purpie flame, 
Water absorbs four times its vohime, aud ‘alebhil 23: its direct 
analysis gave the same result with that of the hydrocyanic acid, 


Z. es one volume of vapour of carbon for half a volume of azote. 
[lo be continued. | 


LXIII. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 
QOMMUNICATIONS RESPECTING SIR H. DAVY’S SAFE-LAMP. 


Havine learnt by the Newcastle newspapers that a deputation 
from the coal-owners of the rivers Tyne and Wear, &c. had 
waited on Sir Humphry Davy, on his return from Scotland 
through Newcastle, in the end of March, to express to him 
their opinion of the merits of his invention for guarding the 
lives of miners against the effects of fire-damp explosions, and 
to thank him for the benefits thus conferred on humanity ; we 
were anxious to be enabled to give all the publicity in our power 
to such an unquestionable testimony, as being the most satis- 
factory reply to the animadversions which appeared in another 
periodical work on the observations which we have before made 
on this most important discovery. We could not for obvious 
reasons request Sir Humphry to furnish us with the documents 
wanted. We applied to the chairman of the meeting alluded to, 
d our reqnest met with that prompt attention which we an- 
Picipates. The facts are briefly these: A deputation from the 
coal-owners addressed the following note 


* To Sir H, Davy, Se. Be. Se. 

** Messrs. Lamb, Brown, Potts, Watson, Cronden, Waldie, 
Jas. Lamb, and Buddle, forming a deputation from the coal- 
owners of the rivers Tyne and Wear, and the ports of ate 

: an 


Sir Humphry Davy’s Safe-Lamp. 313 


and Blyth, request the honour of paying their respects te Sir 
H. Davy, and of presenting to him a letter containing ais egy 
pression of the thanks of the coal-owners,” 

The following is the letter which the said deputation deliver- 
ed into the hand of Sir Humphry : 


** To Sir Humphry Davy, LL.D. ec. 
“* Newcastle, March 25, 1816. 

“¢ Sir,—As chairman of the general meeting of proprietors of 
coal-mines upon the rivers Tyne and Wear, held at the Assem- 
bly Rooms at Newcastle on the 18th inst., I was requested to 
express to you their united thanks and approbation for the 
great and important discovery of your safety-lamp for exploring 
mines charged with inflammable gas, which they think ad- 
mirably calculated to obviate those dreadful calamities, and the 
lamentable destruction of human lives, which of late have so fre= 
quently occurred in the mines of this country. 

** They are most powerfully impressed with admiration and _ 
gratitude toward the splendid talents and brilliant acquirements 
that have achieved so momentous and important a discovery, 
unparalleled in the history of mining, and not surpassed by any 
discovery of the present day; and they hope that whilst the 
tribute of applause and glory is showered down upon those whe 
invent the weapons of destruction, this great and unrivaled 
discovery for preserving the lives of our fellow-creatures will he 
rewarded by some mark of national distinction and honour. 

fe famy sit; . 
*€ Your most obedient humble servant, 
** GzorGE Wa.pir, Chairman.” 


As, on a question of the kind before us, no testimouy can be 
of equal weight with that of the people most directly interesteel 
in the prosperity and safety of the mines,—in addition to the 
foregoing, and to what we have given in another page of ous 
present number respecting the coal-mines at Whitehaven, we 
subjoin an 


Extract of a Letier from John Peile, Esq. on the Use of the 
Wire Gauze Safe-Lamp. 
* Colliery-Ottice, Wiitehaven, Feb. 2h 1816. 

“It gives us great pleasure to add our confirmation on the 
safety of Sir H, Davy’s safe-lamp, end to express our confidence 
in the security of this simple yet curious-invented instrument. 
We this day put its efficacy to the test in the aos: danyerous 
places we have in William pit, and in each experiiuent the ree 
sult corresponded with the description published. Our first ex- 
perimen: was in Russia stem-drift, with some strong blowers of 
fire- 


314 Companications respecting Sir H. Davy’s Safe-Lump. 


fire-damp from a stratum of stone. In approaching the con- 
fines of the foul air, the flame of the wick increased in bulk, 
and by progressively advancing, the wire cylinder first became 
filled with flame from the explosive mixture, and at last the 
whole extinguished without producing the least flame on the 
exterior of the wire. These experiments were frequently re- 
peated with the same effect. We then proceeded to the Triak 
Inbanks, where we have for many months been working with 
steel-mills, not daring to introduce a candle on account of the 
quantity of fire-damp generated. In these places the same 
safety and effects were found as in Russia drift, to the great as~ 
tonishment of the workmen employed. 

«© The simplicity of the lamp is beyond description, and, ex- 
cept from the repeated proof of its security, to look at, it ap- 
pears incredible. 

‘* In all places where danger is the least suspected, there can 


be no doubt the lamp will be absolute security if properly ap- 


plied, and in a little time it will become in general use. The 
light produced from the lamp (trimmed with spermaceti oil) was 
quite sufficient for the ordinary purposes of working, The thanks 
of miners must ever be given to Sir Humphry Davy for this 
momentous discovery. I have the honour tobe, &c. 
“* Joun PEILE.” 

We have great pleasure in stating that the coal-trade has libe- 
rally presented 100 guineas to Mr. Stevenson, of Killingworth 
Colliery, for his ingenious lamp described in a preceding number 
of the Philosophical Magazine, which, though superseded by Sir 
Humphry Davy’s more perfect invention, not only evinced great 
ingenuity, but promised much comparative safety to the miners, 


The public have been amused within the last few weeks, by a 
boy with extraordinary calculating powers, who is exhibited by 
his friends in the Great Room at Spring Gardens: Perhaps the 
following short account of the calculating phenomenon of Eng- 
land, as he is called, will be a satisfaction to our readers. 

' George Bidder was born in a cottage at Morton Hampstead, 
twelve miles from Exeter, Devonshire, on the 14th of June 1806. 
His father William Bidder, a hard-working mason, principally 
occupied in making the stone fences with which that country 
abounds, has seven children, four boys and three girls: the boys 
assist the father, girls at service ; George, the youngest but two, 
whose time was employed as country children’s are, went toa 
three-halfpence a-week school till seven years old, when the first 
proof he gave of his extraordinary abilities was in reckoning the 
nails in a horse’s four shoes, and by degrees doubling them from 
a farthing 32 times; this brought on other questions, when je 

ready 


Mental Calculation. 315 


veady replies induced his father to make a tour to the principal 
towns: Bristol, Liverpool, Birmingham, Bath, Cambridge, &c. 
&c. where he gave universal satisfaction. In London he ap- 
peared before the Jukes of Kent and‘ Sussex, Lord Stanhope, 
Sir Joseph Banks, and the principal nobility and gentry. Her 
Majesty having signified her commands, he appeared before her 
and the three Princesses at Windsor, and answered the questions 
proposed.to him by the Bishop of Salisbury, without the least 
agitation or hesitation, so quickly and correctly, as highly to 
please Her Majesty, who made him a handsome present. He 
continues to improve in his calculations, and solves very difficult 
questions in a manner to astonish and delight the company. 
He is just now learning to write; figures he cannot make, nor is 
it intended he should be taught yet—Lord Stanhope, who has 
rauch noticed him, advising his friends against it, as fearing it 
may in some measure interfere with that intuitive faculty he at 
present possesses; and certainly the knowledge of figures could 
not make him more ready than he now is. 

The following, among many others, are questions he has cor- 
rectly answered : 

1. Suppose a cistern capable of containing 170 gallons, to 
receive from one cock 54 gallons, and at the same time to lose 
by leakage 30 gallons in one minute; In what time will the said 
cistern be full? 

2. How many drops are there in a pipe of wine, supposing 
each cubic inch to contain 4685 drops, each gallon 231 inches, 
and 126 gallons in a pipe ? 

- 3. How many times will a wheel of 8 feet 3 inches in cir- 
cumference revolve in going 999 miles ? 

4. Suppose the national debt to be 802,032,000/.; If I pay 
147,000/. a day, how long shall I be in paying it off? 

5. What is the square root of 88,115,769 ? 

6. Ifa person is 14 years old, and walks 14 miles each day, 
reckoning 365 days to the year; How many inches has he 
walked ? 

7. If I purchase nine marbles for one halfpenny ; How many 
ean I purchase at the same rate for 10751. 10s. 21d. ? 

8. How many groats are there in 498,265,316 farthings ? 

9. Suppose St. Paul’s was 20 years building, and 500 people 
daily employed, and each consumed 3b. of meat per day; How 
much was consumed in the 20 years? 

10. Suppose a circular reservoir to contain 10,669 hogsheads 
at 6 feet in depth; What will it contain if made 10+ inches 
deeper, and in what time would the whole be full from a spring 
producing | hogshead per minute ? t 

' . if 


216 Steam Engines.—Lectures.—Patenis. 


11. If a man was to fall from the sun 80,000,000 miles, at a 
mile per minute ; How long would he be falling ? 
12. In the cube of 36; How many times 15228 ?. 


STEAM ENGINES IN CORNWALL. 

{t appears by Messrs, Lean’s Report for March 1816, that the 
average work of thirty-five engines was 19,720,466 pounds of 
water lifted one foot high with each bushel of coals consumed ; 
that Woolf’s engine at Wheal Var, during that month, lifted 
48,432,702 pounds, and his engine at Wheal Abraham 
49,966,698 pounds one foot high with each bushel of coals. 


We understand that the fine Collection of Minerals, which 
belonged to the late Rev. Mr. Hennah, of St. Austell in Corn- 
wall, will be sold by Mr. King early in June next. 


Theatre of Anatomy, Medicine, €?c. Blenheim Street, 
Great Marilorough Sireet.—The Summer Course of Lectures 
at this School will begin on Monday, June 3, 1816. 

Anatomy, Physiology, and Surgery, by Mr. Brookes daily at 
Seven in the Morning. Dissections as usual. 

Chemistry and Materia Medica, daily at Eight in the Morning. 

Theory and Practice of Physic at Nine, with Examinations by 
Dr. Ager, Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, &c. 

Three Courses are given every year, each occupying nearly 
four months. Further particulars may be known from Mr. 
Brookes, at the Theatre; or from Dr. Ager, 69 Margaret Street, 
Cavendish Square. 

Dr. Clutterbuck will begin his Summer Course of Lectures on 
the Theory and Practice of Physic, Materia Medica, and Che- 
mistry, early in June. 


LIST OF PATENTS FOR NEW INVENTIONS. 


To John Sorby the younger, of Sheffield, in the county of 
York, edge-tool maker, for a method of making an auger for 
the use of shipwrights, millwrights, carpenters, and other arti~ 
ficers, upon anew and improved construction.—23d March 1816. 
—2 months. 

To William Macnamara, of East Smithfield, plate-glass | 
manufacturer, in consequence of a communication made to him - 
by a certain foreigner residing abroad, for his method or methods. 
of manufacturing glass.—23d March.—6 months. 

To Uriah Haddock, of the parish of Holloway, chemist, for 
a new species of paint-colour and cement for painting and co- 

louring 


Patents.— Metevrology. 3iy 
7 


louring and preserving the interior and exterior of houses, ships, 
and other things. —23d March.—6 months. 

To William Lewis, of Brimscomb, Gloucestershire, dyer, for 
his new machine for fulling woollen or other cloths that require 
such process.—5th April.—6 months. 

To Joseph Turner, of Layton, in the county of York, for his 
improved retary engine, and application thereof, with or without 
other machinery, to useful purposes.—Sth April.—2 months. . 

To John Woodhouse, of Bromsgrove in the county of Wor- 
cester, for his method of forming the ground for roads and pave- 
ments, and also for paving and repairing old pavements and 
roads.—9th April.—6 months. 

To William Atkinson, of Bentinck-street in the parish of St. 
Mary-le-bone, for his new cr improved method or methods of 
forming blocks with bricks and cement in the form of Ashlar-stone 
for building, so as to have the appearance of stone.—Oth Aprii, 
—6 months. 

To William Stenson, of Coleford, Gloucestershire, for his im- 
proved engine to be worked by steam or any other power.—9th 
April.—6 months. 

To William Lapalle, of the city of Bristol, for his methed or 
eontrivance for an improvement in the construction of a gig, and of 
eards, so called, in the clothing and other manufactories, or aber 
machines or instruments used and employed in such manufac- 
tories for the same or similar purposes.—23d April.—2 months. 


——— 


Meteorological Observations made in Scotland, principally at 
Edinburgh, from March \8th to April 13th 1816. 


March \8.—(At Sterling) Showers with wind from the north- 
ward. 

March 19.—Sky chiefly obscure with less wind, fair calm 
evening. Wind again at night. Dark night. 

March 20.—Fair day with cumzli, &e, and little wind. Dark 
night. 

March 2\.—Showery weather returned, with fair intervals ; 
temperature moderate. 

March 22.—Obscure and windy, 

March 23.—Fair day, and sky chiefly clear with cumulus, &e. 

March 24.—Obscure and calm, followed by whistling wind 
swecping dust along. 

March 25—29 *,—Obscure in general, but dry 4nd with wind 


in gales. 
; March 


_* On the evening of the 27th being on the hills above Edinburgh about 
4} o'clock, I noticed a great clearness in the windward, i. ¢, east; while 
the town to the westward and southward was involved in thick mist. This 

must 


318 Meteorology. 


March 30, 31.—Fair with gales blowing along clouds of dust; 
wanecloud and stackencloud, &c. but no distinct appearances of 
rain. 

April \.—Obscure but fair day; with gentle gales. 

April 2.—Fair gray day, cloudy with gales at night from the 
southward. The dust became troublesome, and there was a 
whistling noise in the wind which often forebodes rain; with a 
ring or corona about the moon. 

April 3, 4, 5.—Cloudy and in general obscure, with fine in- 
tervals and light gales of wind. | did not pay particular attention 
to the weather these three days, being otherwise engaged. 

April 6.—Towards evening gentle showers of rain. ‘The at- 
mosphere cold and winterlike. The crocus vernalis in flower in 
an inclosed piece of ground in the middle of Edinburgh Old 
Town. 

April 7.—Rainy morning. It cleared toward noon, but showers 
returned again from the northward at 2 p.m. 

Aprié 8.—Showery weather, with snow and sleet and cold. I 
was very sensible of the difference between the weather here and 
that in England, particularly in the southern parts at this time 
of the year. ; 

April 9.—Fine spring-like day, stackenclouds or cumuli, with 
wanecloud in the afternoon. The distances were clear to wind- 
ward ; but the crows about the seashore near Leith and Portobello 
flew about, alighting frequently near the water’s edge, and uttering 
a hoarseand frequent ery—an indication of rain noticed by Aratus ; 
and which was verified on the morrow. 

April 10.—Obscure and rainy day; it held up for a very short 
time now and then. Air cold, and windy from N.W. 

April \1.,—Clouds and a great deal of small rain. Fine at 
night. 

April 12.—Warmer in the morning, and the clouds lofty with 
breaks, through which the sun came out, Cold wind again at 
night. ; 

April 13.—Clear morning, showers of snow succeeded, but it 
did not lie on the ground. Towards evening a strong N.W. 
wind blew, and it became clear and very cold, with a frosty night. 


10, College-Street, Edinburgh, 

“April, 14th, 1816. THOMAS FoRSTER. 
must have arisen partly from the smoke from the chimneys of the houses, 4 
but not entirely, as I noticed that Leith was partially involved in mistiness, — 
and partially clear; and that the misty places changed, so that the fallcloud — 


causing the misty appearance appeared to travel along with the wind. [ 


have observed that Edinburgh is more misty in proportion to, the wind — 
blowing than any other place I have yet scen. ; 


¥ 


METEO RO- 


. 
wg 


5 


S Meteorology, 319 


METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL KEPT aT BOSTON, 
LINCOLNSHIRE, 


— 


{The time of observation, 


unless otherwise stated, isat1 P.M.) 


| 


State of the 


Modification of the 
Weather. 


Clouds. 


eee, 


strong gale from the 
[westward 


fair 


severe frosts at night 


stormy, with 
hail, rain, 
and snow 
fair 


showery « 
29°80 most violent rain all this day and the 
29°90 much snow following night. suc- 


and hail | ceeded by intense frost 
29°72 |snow storms 


29°75 \slight showers of snow and sleet 


MUETEOROG- 


320 


Days of 
Month, 


March 27 


28 


Meteorology. 


METEOROLOGICAL TABLE, 


By Mr. Cary, or THE STRAND, 


For April 1616. 


§ 


Thermometer. rane iy 
Ss. 2 
2 oh a Heignt of |= 8 3 
3 =| ¢ 125 the Been. cas 3 
DSi oe {os Inches. | EG & 
=} = = A Serial 
2 = Aat 
38 | 40 | 37 | 30°20 16 
35 | 40 | 35 "13 22 
36 | 42 | 37 15 27 
37 | 44 | 38 20 15 
38. | 46 | 36 20 29 
37 | 49 | 37 04 32 
37 | 47 | 38 | 29°80 30 
36 | 44 } 35 *82 36 
35 | 52 | 35 “gl 37 
382 | 55 | 41 87 30 
40 | 55 | 41 61 29 
40 | 40 | 40 10 £0 
40 | 47 | 38 "15 24 
38 | 43 | 40 *20 20 
40 | 51 | 42 *28 16 
42 | 47 | 42 +50 (¢) 
41 | 47 | 40 *70 18 
37 | 37 | 30 “77 16 
30 | 35 | 30 °51 t) 
36} 46 | 40 *64 15 
40 | 47 | 41 *50 14 
40 | 52} 41 47 16 
45 | 50 | 42 52 Q4 
45 | 55 | 40 "80 36 
43 | 55 | 42 "99 38 
44 | 49 | 44 75 oO 
46 | 55 | 46 -69 oO 
55 | 66 | 51 76 27 
50 | 66 | 52° °80 46 
55 | 66 | 48 | 30°03 47 
47 } 65 | 49 "05 56 


Weather. 


Cloud 

Fair 7 

Fair 

Cloudy 

Fair 

Fair 

Fair 

Fair 

Fair 

Fair 

Fair 

Storms of hail 
Cloudy 

Sleet showers 


N.B. The Barometer’s height is taken atone e’clock, | 


EEE 


Pe. on 


[ 3a) 4 


LXIV. On Aérial Navigation. By Sir GrorceCay.ey, Bart. 
F.R.S., &e. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — i aM glad tosee the subject of aérial navigation noticed 
by Mr. Lovel Edgeworth, and likewise by a gentleman under the 
signature of T. H. in your Magazine for March last. Mr. 
William Bland has likewise written an ingenious paper upon this 
subject in the Monthly Magazine for March. I wish to bring 
all those who interest themselves in this invention, to act in 
concert towards its completion, rather than to be jealous of each 
other respecting their own share of credit as inventors : indeed, 
unless we ean realize our object, very little credit will be due to 
these speculations. Mr. Edgeworth, who upon good grounds 
puts in so early a claim to a knowledge of the principle of 
steering balloons by the inclined plane, has quite misconceived 
the nature of the principle upon which my former papers upon 
the subject of aérial navigation were founded, when he says that 
*¢ Sir George Cayley has frequently proposed to impel flying 
bodies by letting them descend obliquely through the air, and 
forcing them in a contrary obliquity against the air by zmpelling 
them upwards.” My plan rested upon the following fact: that 
if a plane of any given magnitude, say 100 square feet, were 
placed so as to make any small angle with an horizontal line, 
suppose an inclination of one to ten; then, if it were propelled 
forward in the horizontal path, like a bird in the act of skim- 
ming, by a force of ten pounds, till the horizontal resistance of the 
air equalied this pressure, the plane would have power to sustain 
one hundred pounds weight during its progress. I proposed to 
create this slight horizontal pressure by the power of a light 
first mover, several of which were there alluded to, particularly 
one where the combustion of oil of tar was made use of as the 
moving power. This engine had been exhibited in a working state 
to Mr. Rennie, Mr. Cartwright, and other gentlemen capable of 
appreciating its powers; and it appeared from the minutes of 
Mr. Chapman, civil engineer of Newcastle, that eighty drops 
raised eight hundred weight the height of twenty-two inches ; 
hence a horse power may consume from ten to twelve pounds 
per hour. The expense of power, however, with this engine 
being much greater than with the steam-engine, the patentee 
never proceeded further than the original experiments. From this 
statement it is plain that the tacking operation alluded to by 
Mr. Edgeworth, —by “impelling them upwards,” and then 
letting gravity operate in the descent,—was not any part of my 
plan, although, being acquainted with the principle of oblique 

Vol. 47, No. 217, May 1816. X forces, 


322 On Aérial Navigation. 


forces, and not having a proper first mover, I was obliged to 
try the experiments as to steadiness and steerage by merely al- 
lowing the vessel to sail from the top of a hill; and it was to 
this circumstance that I alluded in my observations upon Mr. 
Evans’s paper, the descending half of the movement that gentle- 
man proposed being perfectly similar to, and therefore corrobo- 
rated by my experiments. . 

Ihave related this matter more minutely, because Mr. Edge- 
worth’s statement rather gave me a claim to the principle of 
steering balloons by means of the inclined plane, which | do not 
possess. Indeed I ‘hold it perfectly in my recollection, (although 
I cannot state either the name of the party or the publication 
in which | read the account,) that an ingenious young man se- 
veral years ago had tried some successful experiments on the 
steerage of balloons by the inclined plane, but had died before 
he completed his invention. 

Should this subject gain importance by experimental success, 
this, and no doubt many other claims of various kinds, will be 
attempted to be placed over the heads of those gentlemen, who 
now will, I hope, have the more substantial credit of realizing 
and perfecting the invention for the uses of mankind. For my 
own part, I shall sue for no share in the scramble respecting 
Montgolfier balloons, but that of braving the risible muscles 
of my y friends in substituting acres for yards of ctoth in their 
structure, unless indeed it be for the addition of. a chimney, a 
most common, natural, and in this case particularly useful ap- 
pendage to a fire. I shall however be extremely gratified in 
being able to claim the credit of standing on the same list with 


Mr. Edgeworth as a subscriber towards at this noble ‘ 


art ;—with this view I request Mr. Tilloch to be kind enough 
to permit a list of subscriptions to remain at his house till a few 
names be collected and a committee appointed* ;—no one to be 
called upon for bis subscription money till such a sum be sub- 
scribed for as will be sufficient to try the first experiment pro- 
posed by the committee. 

In my last paper it was stated that I had made some calcu- 
lations relative to the quantity of fuel that would be consumed 
in propelling the Montgolfier balloon there described, at a ve- 
locity of twenty miles per hour, by the steam- -engine. According 
to the returns made of the Cornwall engines, Mr. Woolf’s 
engine raises about fifty millions of pounds, one foot high, with 
a bushel or eighty-four pounds of coal. Hence | estimate that 
twenty pounds of coal per mile would be consumed in this ope- 


* T can have no objection to keep a list of the names of such gentlemen as 
may wish to contribute to an experiment of the kiad recommended.—A. T. 


ration, 


PE 


On Aérial Navigation. 323 


ration, and therefore the expense would not be considerable.— 
But as no more than 6800 pounds, the unconsumed power of 
this balloon, can be allowed for the weight of the engine, its wa- 
ter and fuel, besides that of an extensive surface for wafting, it 
appears upon estimating the weight of these things*, that 
this balloon, extensive as it is, is, as L-before said, only the long- 
boat of its species, and not quite large enough to take advantage 
of the saving power of the steam-engine at so great a velocity 
as twenty miles per hour: though it will answer the purpose of 
a first experiment at fifteen miles per hour with a proportionate 
saving of fuel. 

Upon larger constructions, however, it will appear that aérial 
navigation will be performed much cheaper in a_ horizontal 
path by the steam-engine, than upon the ascending and de- 
scending plan with the inclined plane. Several years ago I made 
many estimates of the application of first movers to these long 
balloons ; but 1 always found that the enormous size required to 
‘be successfully driven by them, placed the proper scale of ex- 
periments quite out of the reach of any individual, and unfor- 
tunately of such magnitude as to render the public of that day, 
if appealed to, more ‘neredulous than ever upon the subject. My 
own experiments were therefore confined to the inclined plane, 
which offers a good result upon a smaller construction. The 
introduction of the steam-boat, together with “the steady march 
of the human mind” during so many years of unexampled 
scientific discovery, attended by practicable results im the rapid 
‘improvement of almost every art, will now enable me to state 
my ideas upon this subject, without stepping beyond the limits 
of many an inguiring mind. My former paper showed that the 
Montgolfier balloon there described was only the long-boat of 
this class of vessels; yet I felt obliged to pave the way for the 
introduction of so huge an infant obtruded upon the civilized” 
world, by leading the unprepared mind from the contemplation 
of a hundred-gun ship of ninety yards in length, to -a balloon 
of a hundred; and although in the course of this paper I shall 
be obliged to point out objects in reserve upon a larger scale, 
yet as a matter of experiment, I have nothing to add to the bulk 
of the balloon already described, It would be a great advantage 
to that vessel if the greater portion of its long chimney, from 
about twenty feet above the fire, were made of flexible materials 
well coated with the mixture of brick-dust, &e. with which the 
firework-makers protect their materials :—this would allow of 


* Coals for one hour -—— = 360 pounds 
Waterfordo.- - - 3540 
Weight of the wing or waftage 1000 
Leayingonly - - 7~ _1900 for the weight of the engine, 
6800 


Ke proper 


824 _ On Aerial Navigation. 


proper movement when the machine was at anchor to the earth 
from some point under the prow. It ought likewise to be ob- 
served, that, owing to the internal pressure there will be exerted 
a power of about 460 pounds per lineal yard, endeavouring to teat 
the cloth asunder. This power is easily provided against by a 
wide netting, although most cloths would sustain it without such 
additional strength. Another circumstance to be adverted to, 
is the advantage that would arise from regulating the shape of 
ithe prow in the best manner for obviating the resistance of the 
air. Theory unfortunately is of little use upon this occasion, for 
Nature, always true to itself, makes the prow of the bird con- 
eave, and that of the fish convex to their axes; whereas theory 
would appoint both alike. In the absence of all good theory, 
I shall, as proposed in one of my former papers, give the form 
of the woodcock from actual measurement, that bird having 
frequently to cross at least 500 miles of sea at one flight, and 
Nature seeming to have united every contrivance to blend strength 
with lightness in its structure ;—hence it is more than probable, 
that as the resistance of the air was the obstacle which all this 
contrivance was calculated to overcome, the external form is 
nearly the best possible, being that which would more than all 
the rest tend to the ease of the performance. 

Fig. 1, Plate [V. shows a section of this bird through its axis. 
Fig. 2, is a tranverse section with the apparatus suspended. The 
ordinates are given in hundredth parts of an inch at the distance 
of one inch from each other. The weight of the individual bird 
corresponding with these measures was 124 ounces, and the ve- 
locity of its leisure flight in calm air will have been about 28 miles 
per hour. It may possibly require a different form of prow for 
obviating resistance best at different velocities, and what may be 
the best form for a small object may not be so, even at the same 
velocity, for a large one; but notwithstanding this, I know no 
better guide, and shall therefore recommend the experiment to. 
be made in the form of the prow delineated, as far as it can be 
made to agree with the flattened structure necessary in this in- 
stance for the trial of the inclined plane. That the practica- 
bility of constructing this balloon may be better judged of, I here 
subjoin the following estimates respecting it. 

The quantity of cloth and the general appearance seem 
enormous ; yet it must be recollected that it is only an inflated 
bag, and that the 5750 square yards it consists of would all 
pack up in a cubical bore 84 yards each way, allowing 1-5th of 
an inch for the thickness of each fold, which must be amply 
sufficient. The cloth 1 made use of in my experiments generally 
weighed half a pound per square yard ;_ but probably, including 
the netting, the estimate for the present purpose should be taken 

at 


ee 


On Aérial Navigation. 325 


at a pound per yard; hence the weight would be 5750 pounds, 
Let the car, chimney, &c. be taken at 2000, and there would be 
the power of 3050 left unoccupied, inaddition to the power of 6,800 
pounds for effecting its progressive motion : however, it would 
be necessary for one hour’s travelling to carry about 2000 pounds 
weight of fuel, which would only leave power to convey a crew 
of seyen men: hence it would be more suitable to carry about 
20 men, and to reduce the ascending velocity to 15 miles per 
hour, allowing the descent to remain at the full speed, which 
would reduce the general speed to 174 miles per hour. 

This statement plainly shows that the Montgolfier balloon | 
have described is the least that would be efficient, which | trust 
will shield me from the imputation of holding extravagant opi- 
nions upon this subject in proposing it. Indeed the unwieldy 
bulk of these bodies is unwillingly thrust upon me by the result 
of calculations grounded upon the facts of the case. 

The danger attending the hydrogen gas balloon, where any 
first mover is used that acts by fire, is a great obstacle to their 
introduction ; otherwise a balloon of this kind equal in power 
to the one described, would not exceed 70 yards in length, and 
would meet with rather less than half the resistance, and. of 
course not consume more than half the power to drive it at the 
proposed velocity—there are other inconveniencies attending 
these balloons, and their cost in filling is not one of the least. 
The great resistance upon the prow must be balanced either by 
a firm wanded texture, or by internal condensation ; the former 
is heavy and incapable of being folded up, and the latter waste- 
ful, as it is impracticable to have it air-tight enough not to al- 
low a vast escapage. This would oblige a double structure, one 
of thin oiled silk containing the gas, and one of a coarser texture 
surrounding it, which could receive the condensation necessary 
from common air driven in occasionally by a pump; or perhaps, 
with some little contrivance an aperture at the point of the 
prow, receiving the full direct resistance of the external air, 
commensurate with the velocity of the balloon, would answer this 
purpose. The danger from fire might be greatly reduced by 
having the balloon at a considerable distance above the car, say 
20 yards, and the surface for waftage might be so arranged as 
to permit of a safe descent evén in the event of the balloon 
taking fire, and being obliged to be cut away. 

It was my intention to have ascertained what proportion of 
azote with hydrogen gas would render it incomlmstible on its 
access to common air; but owing to an acciddent in the experi- 
ment immediately previous to my leaving home, this must be 
reserved to a future opportunity ;—perhaps the adulteration re- 
quired may be so great as to render the specific gravity of the 

X3 mixture 


326 On Aérial Navigation. 


mixture too nearly the same as atmospheric air to be of any use 
in this instance; but if azote in the ratio of one half, or even 
two to one, be ascertained to be sufficient, it will be an excellewe 
step gained towards realizing this invention. 

It is evident that if aérial navigation ever be brought home 
to the usés of man (and who, noting the progressive stages of 
society, can set a limit to the powers “which the benevolent Au- 
thor of his being designed him by proper gradations to become 
possessed of?), it can only be done upon a scale of which the 
balloon described is the first ,unit ; and althoughsin the present 
day this unit is abundantly large enough in a practical point of 
view to occupy all the attention that can be afforded to the sub- 
ject; yet I shall nevertheless obtrude a little in prospect upon 
the duties of our posterity respecting this art, as in a doing the 
capabilities that remain in store for our race will operate as an 
encouragement towards our availing ourselves of the first step. 
It has already been observed, that as balloons increase in size, the 
diminution of their relative resistance, when compared with their 
power, keeps pace with that increase. Upon this principle it is 
easy to show that a balloon of the form delineated, inflated with 
hydrogen gas, when extended to the length of 144 yards, will 
meet with no more resistance when compared with the weight 
it will sustain, including its materials, than the resistance of the 
bird compared with its weight. Surely we cannot wish for a 
better basis for swift aérial navigation, than that of a vessel ca- 
pable of suspending in the air as many multiples of the weight 
of the bird, as its resistance contains multiples of the resistance 
of the bird at the same velocity. This balloon would require 
11880 square yards of cloth, which would fold within a cubic 
chest rather exceeding four yards each way, if of single struc- 
ture; but I have taken it as a double structure, which would of 
course require two such spaces, and the weight at two pounds 
per yard will be 24000 pounds. I allow 17000 pounds for the 
other materials, including a surface of the necessary extent for 
waftage; when, deducting these weights, the supporting power, 
which is 163,000 pounds, will be reduced to 122,000 pounds, or 
50 tons. This power remains to be divided in a proper ratia 
between the weight of the first mover and that of the cargo or 
crew intended to be conveyed. Although two-thirds of the 
weight of most birds is devoted to the muscles of its wings, and 
arguing from the rapid consumption of ‘their food, that their 
muscles may be more energetic than those of quadrupeds, weight 
for weight 5 yet it is improbable that this excess is in any great 
proportion. The famous race-horse Eclipse is said to have gone 
for one mile at the rate of 60 miles per hou, which is a far 
greater velocity than any bird whose flight I have measured ; a 

AC 


On Aérial Navigation. 327 


he had the disadvantage of carrying the weight of a man upon 
his back. If therefore the energies of birds be taken at double 
those of quadrupeds in this statement, more than an ample al- 
lowance is made in their favour. This power in birds is chiefly 
employed in the waftage necessary for their support, and a smaller 
portion of it is applied to overcome the direct resistance of their 
body: but in the case of the balloon the supporting power is al- 
ready obtained, and the whole energies of the first mover will 
be directed towards overcoming the resistance of the prow ouly, 
which is in no greater proportion to the weight of the whole 
apparatus than that of the bird to its weight. 

Upon estimating the probable weight even of steam-engines 
upon a large scale, it appears that 160 pounds per horse power 
is an ample allowance with its load of coal and water for one 
hour *; and as the water is a considerable part of the whole, and 
can be recovered again for the use of the engine by permitting 
the steam to pass within the double coats of the balloon, and to 
be thus exposed to so extensive a cooling surface, it is probable 
that 200 pounds per horse power will be more than sufficient 
for working twelve hours without any further supply of water or 
fuel—with a velocity of 20 miles per hour in calm air, this 
length of time would imply a stage of 240 miles. The steam- 
horse power raising 550 pounds one foot high per second, is 
considered by engineers as exceeding the average power of the 
largest dray-horses one-fourth. Upon weighing one of these 
animals of about the middle size, I found it to be fourteen hundred 
weight or 1568 pounds; and I am informed Some of the largest 
of these horses have weighed a ton.—But if we take the smaller 
weight as approaching the average, we must increase it one- 
fourth part to make an animal equal in power to the steam- 
horse: hence the weight of the steam-horse will be as 200 
pounds to 1950 pounds when compared to that of the living 
animal. And to follow the argument I have been using, if the 


* Estimate of the Weight of an Expansive Steam-engine of 100 Horses Power. 


Weight of a cylinder 2 ft. 4 inch. diameter by 4 ft. 7 inch. in length ) sie 
one inch thick ~— = - - mw de - - - ah ae 
400 feet surface of tubulated boiler at ten pounds per foot - 4000 
Connecting parts, piston, &c. say - - ~ - - 2000 
Water for an hour at 30 pounds per horse’s power - = 8000 
Coal for ditto at five pounds per ditto, being more than sufli-) 500 
cient in Mr. Woolf's engines - ~ - - . 
Weight of fuel constantly occupying the fire-place, say - - 1500 
Weight of water occupying the boiler - - - 3000 

15210 


The pressure is estimated at 20 pounds per square inch, and the stroke 
4 ft. 7 inch, each second, 


i. X 4 weight. 


328 On Aérial Navigation. 


weight of the steam-horse be deducted, there will remain 1750 
pounds, which will, according to these estimates, be the weight 
of inert cargo in terms of horse powers which would he conveyed 
by this means. This is not a correct mode of estimating the 
matter in question; but J wish to show, by entering into this com- 
parison of animal and engine power, how very much the latter 
exceeds the former in energy, weight for weight; and that even 
if the estimates should be so false as to be five-fold wrong, yet 
there would be sufficient power for the purpose. I shall deduct 
three times the weight of the engine estimated in the note from 
the 50 tons of power unoccupied in the balloon, when there will 
remain rather more than 34 tons of power for any purpose re- 
quired. ‘This would convey 500 men during one hour, 410 men 
during 12 hours, 290 men for 24 hours, and 50 men for 48 
hours, without fresh supplies of fuel or water. The extent of 
the voyage in calm air would in the latter case be 960 miles. 

I do not offer this statement with any expectation of its being 
realized in our age; but I do affirm that balloon navigation does 
hold out the capabilities I have so daringly ventured to investi- 
gate; and I trust that others will join Mr. Edgeworth and my- 
self in promoting experiments upon a subject that promises 
eventually such advantage to mankind; the progress of civili- 
zation being evidently commensurate with the facility of com- 
munication. The expense of constructing the Montgolfier 
balloon described in my former paper, if.taken at three shillings 
per yard including the machinery, would be 870 pounds, and 
probably 1000 or 1500 pounds would defray the expenses of the 
experiment. The double cloth of the hydrogen gas balloon at 
six shillings would cost 3600 pounds, and the engines, &c. say 
from 6 to 7000 pounds ; so that this immense fabric, when com- 
pared to the large ships it seems to outvie, is not a tenth part 
of their cost. Their expense, however, when compared with 
their freight, will be about 300/. per ton. The, formation of 
hydrogen gas by the usual process is slow and expensive ; but by 
keeping fresh supplies of iron borings red hot within an exten- 
sive cavity properly constructed, and passing steam through the 
hydrogen gas, may be supplied at a very cheap rate, and with 
considerable rapidity. 

The vast strides which science of every kind has made within 
the last twenty years renders every advancing step more easy; 
and it appears to me that England may soon have the honour 
of perfecting the construction of balloons, although the inven- 
tion of them was not altogether her own. The heavy expense, 
however, of such extensive experiments renders it necessary that 
it should become a national object ; and as the means of di- 
recting balloons are within the scope of information of almost 

every 


Description of a Hydrometer. 329 


every engineer in this mechanical country; the only real credit 
that can be acquired in this pursuit, will be given to those who 
do actually realize the invention, and this will be due to each in- 
dividual in proportion to the liberality with which he supports 
the undertaking. 

Large individual subscriptions however are not necessary to 
obtain 15002. and in fact subscriptions of one guinea are often 
more productive than those of a hundred. But whatever gentle- 
men may think proper to subscribe, whilst the subject is before 
them, I would request them to give notice of immediately, as by 
that means, and that alone, can any further step be taken be- 
fore the subject will be forgotten. 

I remain, sir, 
Your obedient servant, 
Brompton, April 5, 1816. Gro. Cayley. 


P. S.—The sketch represents an end view of a hydrogen gas 
balloon with three tiers of wing to be worked by the steam- 
engine, or any other first mover; each wing to be divided into 
many stripes or portions, which are so constructed as to heel up 
and down by the alternate pressure of the air above and below 
them at each stroke of the engine, and thus by their oblique 
waft to propel the balloon. 


LXV. Description of Mr. Pxititips Lonpon’s Hydrometer; with 
Remarks on the curing of Mackerel for Exportation or Win- 
ter Use*. 


Sir, — I HEREWITH send you a half barrel of mackerel, part 
of twenty-five thousand mackerel cured on my plan; also Mr. 
Cutler’s certificate, that so many were cured at Ramsgate du- 
ring the last season, most of which were shipped for Russia. 
They were all cured by immersion in brine of British solid salt, 
agreeably to the method I had the honour of communicating to 
the Society, and which is printed in the thirty-second volume of 
the Society’s Transactions, p.204. The whole were extremely 
fine, and full as beautiful as the specimen sent, which | hope will 
“meet the approbation of the Society, 
I am, sir, 
Your obedient servant, 


No. 57, Cannon-street, London, Puiiiies Lonpon. 
Feb. 14, 1815. 


To.C. Taylor, M.D. Sec. 


* From Transactions of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manu- 
Suetures and Commerce, vol. xxxili. for 1815.—The Society’s silver medal 
set mm gold was voted to Mr, London fur this coinmunication. 

‘ From 


830 Description of a Hydrometer. 


From Mr. London’s statement at a meeting of the committee, 
it appears that the brine ought always to contain a redundancy 
of salt; in such case there is not the least danger of the fish 
putrefying or growing rancid, as the extra lumps of solid salt in 
the brine immediately act upon any watery or other liquors 
which proceed from the fish when inclosed in the cask. That 
the same process will also answer perfectly well for preserving 
beef or any animal food for sea store. 


Certificate. 


Mr. London cured by his new process under my immediate in- 
spection upwards of 25,000 mackerel at Ramsgate, in Kent, 
during the last season. 

Joun Cutter, Licensed Fish Curer, 

Sept. 28, 18149 at Ramsgate, Kent. 


ee 


Reference to the Engraving of Mr. Lonpon’s Hydrometer, 
Plate IV. fig. 3. | 


This instrument consists of a glass bottle, with a ground-glass 
stopper, to be filled with brine made from a solution of solid salt 
in water; within it are three glass bubbles, a,l,c, of different 
specific gravities, so graduated that, supposing, the temperature 
of the air to be at sixty degrees of Fahrenheit’s thermometer, 
and only one bubble-floats on the surface, as shown in the en- 
graving at a, it indicates the specific gravity of the brine to be 
1,155, containing about 20 parts salt, and 80 of water, which is | 
insufficient to cure animal matters with certainty by immersion 
in it. 
When the second bubble, c, floats, it indicates the specific 
gravity of the brine to be 1,180, or about 24 parts salt, and 76 
parts water, which may be used for the purpose of immersion. 

But when the three bubbles, a, 2, c, float, they indicate the 
specific gravity to be 1,106, or about 28 salt, and 72 water. 

This brine will fully answer the purpose in the hottest weather 
in most climates, provided the rules be attended to which I had — 
the honour to send to the Society last year, and the meat or 
fish always completely covered with the brine. “J 

Puiturs LONDON. — 


LXVI. On the State of the Manufacture of Sugar in France. 
By M. le Comte Cuaprat*. 


n gt last five-and-twenty years will form a memorable epocha 
in the annals of French industry. Most of the extraordinary 
events that have succeeded each other have concurred to fa- 
vour its progress. France, deprived of her colonies, blockaded 
at all her frontiers, found herself reduced to rely on her own in- 
ternal strength ; and by raising a contribution of the knowledge 
of her inhabitants, and of the productions of her soil, she has 
been enabled to satisfy all her wants, to create arts which be- 
fore had no existence, to improve those that were known, and 
to render herself independent of foreign countries for the greatest 
part of the articles of her consumption. Thus we have succes- 
sively seen improved the arts of refining saltpetre, the manufac- 
ture of arms and of powder, of tanning leather, of spimning cot- 
ton, wool, and flax, of weaving generally, and the execution of 
several other arts to which we were strangers; such as the de- 
composition of sea-salt for the extraction of soda; the forma- 
tion of alum and copperas ; the fixing upon woven goods several 
colours which had been previously cousidered as fugitive; the 
substitution of the sugar of beet-root for that of the sugar eane ; 
of woad in the place of the indigo plant, and of madder for the 
searlet of cochineal. We might say, indeed, that the learned 
had diverted their attention from dwelling on public calamity, 
by fixing it on the means of consoling the people and lightening 
the burthen of their misfortunes. 

Although these discoveries and manv others are now become 
regular manufactures, it is to be feared that some of them will 
fall again into oblivion, either in consequence of the facility with 
which we can resort to the former sources, or from the habit 
and prejudice which recommends in the eyes of the consumer 
those commodities that have been a long time in use, or even 
by erroneous measures of administration; I therefore think it 

an important object that all these processes be carefully de- 
seribed, in order that they may be transmitted to posterity. It 
will at least prove to them what science is capable of acco:n- 
plishing for the prosperity of a nation at a critical period, and 
they may extract from it this consolatory truth, that France has 
the means within herself of satisfying almost all her wants. 

I shall confine myself now to show how France has been en- 
abled to supply the place of the sugar of the new world by the 
products of her own soil; and if the Institute approve this wor k, 
{ shall have the honour of submitting to it successively all the 


* Annales de Chimie ct Physique. 
new 


332 On the State of the Manufacture 


new processes of manufacture that can be interesting to industry, 
to commerce, and the nation. 

We recollect with terror those difficult times when the French, 
driven from the seas, had no communication either with their 
own colonies or those of other nations. France found herself all 
at once deprived of all the products of Asia and America, of 
which the greatest part had become articles of the first necessity. 
She called upon the industry of her own people ; the government 
encouraged their efforts, and in a little time we obtained substi- 
tutes for some by indigenous products, and we found in the pro- 
ductions of our soil, substances absolutely of the same nature as 
those for which we had hitherto been dependent on the new 
world. ‘The cottons of Spain, of Rome, and Naples, especially 
those of Castellamare, are employed in the place of those of 
America and India; madder takes the place of cochineal by the 
process of Messrs. Gouin; woad, as it is treated in the establish- 
ments of Messrs. Puymaurin, Rouqués, and Giobert, furnishes 
excellent indigo; and the numerous manufactories formed for 
the extraction of sugar from beet-root, show to Europe that we 
have shaken off the yoke of the new world. 

Hardly were these establishments formed, scarcely were the 
still imperfect processes established, than another order of things 
took place: peace has again opened the communication, our old 
habits have resumed their empire, and in a little time probably 
we shall have banished to the rank of chimeras, the possibility 
‘of manufacturing sugar and indigo among ourselves, However, 
some persons have continued, and still continue, to extract 
sugar from beet-root; and it is easy to prove that this manu- 
facture may be supported in competition with that cf the colo- 
nies, which I believe I shall demonstrate in this memoir. 

When France began to experience the;want of sugar, we at 
first sought for the means of supplying it in the syrups of certain 
fruits, especially the grape, and this manufacture has been sin- 
gularly improved. Large establishments were formed in several 
parts of the kingdom for the extraction of syrup, and they have 
been productive of two important results, equally advantageous ; 
first, of causing the consumption of a great quantity of syrup in 
the place of sugar for several domestic purposes, and exclusively 
in the hospitals; secondly, of giving a value to our grapes which 
at that period had scarcely any. A little time afterwards a me- 
thod was found of extracting a farinaceous and solid sugar from 
the grape, and this product was more similar to the cane sugar 
than the syrup; it was like the cane sugar in having no smell, 
and could be employed instead of it in every way, by using two 
or three times its weight to produce the same effect. This 
sugar is not susceptible of erystallization, Nearly at the same 

~~ time, 


of Sugar in France. 333 


time, chemistry furnished the means of decolorating honey and 
depriving it of smell, so that it could be employed in the infu- 
sions of tea and coffee as well as the best syrup of sugar. 

All these processes were become domestic operations, and 
yery little privation was suffered from the scarcity of cane sugar; 
but it was reserved for chemistry to produce in our climate the 
actual sugar of the colonies, and this was not long in coming to 
pass. Already the analyses of Margraaf and the important la- 
bours of Achard had put us in the way; all now to be done was 
to improve the processes, and form a suilicient number of esta- 
blishments to supply the demand. To effect this, the encourage- 
ment was prodigious, and in a single year we saw more than a 
hundred and fifty manufactories arise, some of which have pro- 
ceeded with great success, and have poured into the market se+ 
yeral millions of excellent sugar. The failure of a great number 
ef these establishments may doubtless be traced to causes that 
must necessarily accrue on the introduction of any new species 
of industry, either to an error in the choice of situation, or to 
the great expense incurred in setting up the apparatus, or in 
short to the deficiency of proper information on the subject. 

In the midst of a vast wreck of establishments, some are 
found which have continued to work prosperously for four years. 

| In these we may reasonably expect to find lessons of practical 
knowledge and ceconomical management, as well as the best 
methods of cultivating the beet-root, and of extracting sugar 
from it ; and as my own establishment is of this number, I shall 
limit myself to the testimony of my own experience. 


On the Culture and Preservation of the Beet-root. 


It should be sown towards the end of March or in April, when 
there is no longer any fear of frost. 

It is of different colours, white, red, yellow, or mottled, 
and sometimes the pellicle is red and the inside white. It is 
now known by all agriculturists, and especially by those of Ger- 
many, that the same colour is not always reproduced; as for 
example, in a field that has been sown with seed proceeding 
rom the yellow beet, the produce has proved more or less white 
red, aud this I have had occasion to remark myself. 

In Germany they prefer the white beet-root, in France the 
ellow; but in consequence of many comparative experiments J 
of opinion that they give too much importance to the co- 
jour. I have not observed that the different colours produce 
ny perceptible variation in the results, when the root proceeds 
rom the same soil and the same culture. 

The most proper soil for the cultivation of the beet-root is 
hat which is both light and rich, and of a good depth. Poor, 


dry, 
7. 


— => 


334 On the Stale of the Manufacture 


dry, and sandy soils are not at all suitable, for the beet comes 
up in such ground quite small and dry: the juice it affords marks 
eleven degrees by the areometer of Baumé, but is by no means 
plentiful. It has happened to me not to be able to extract from _ 
it more than 32 per cent. The juice is very much charged with 
sugar ; but the proportion does not indemnify the manufacturer. 

Neither is stiff argillaceous soil proper for it. The seed comes 
up badly, especially if soon after it is sown a heavy rain happen 
to fall, which heaps up the earth and prevents the access of air: 
in which case the seed rots without germinating. I lost in 1813 — 
ten hectares (equal to twenty French acres) of beet-root by this i 
accident. It is even seldom that in stiff soil the beet acquires 
much size; it is thrust above the surface only because there is ~ 
no longer room for it below. Meadows newly ploughed and t 
alluvial earths manured, and for a long time used, are very pro- — 
per for the culture of this root. A good ground will furnish a H 
hundred thousand of beet per hectare; 1 have even gathered as — 
many as a hundred and twenty from a meadow newly ploughed; 
but the mean product is from forty to fifty thousand. 

The ground intended to receive beet should be prepared by 
two or three very deep ploughings. Three years ago I sowed 
some in ground that was intended to receive corn in the antumn; ; 

‘I prepared it by two good ploughings and a suitable manuring 5 
T sowed towards the end of March, and gathered in the be-— 
ginning of October. I left the leaves upon the ground, sowed 
the corn, and covered it in the ordinary way; in this manner my } 
harvest of beet-root was an intermediate harvest, which did not — 
deprive the estate of a grain of corn. 4 

Three years experience has convinced me that the crop of — 
corn was equally good upon this ground, as upon that which had 
lain fallow during summer; and further, that the thinning, 
weeding, and gathering of the beet-root had cleared the soil of | 
all weeds, and that these corn-fields were less infested with the i 
than any other. It was for some time believed that ground 
newly manured produced beet-root less rich in sugar; and it 
has even been added, that when put into ground manured by 
sheep the root produces only saltpetre. I can safely affirm that: 
these assertions are erroneous, and that the production of salt- 
petre is owing to another cause, which I shall demonstrate in 
the sequel. ¢ 

Four different methods have been successively adopted for 
sowing the seed of the beet; but I prefer that by broad-cast, lik 
corn, and covering it over afterwards by the harrow. This me- 
thod, which is the most simple of any, is the most advantageousy: 
although it requires a much greater quantity of seed than thi 
others: it takes about three kilogrammes per acre, instead of 


Ae 


Pe er 


ote 


> & “=< 2 ee... 


4 


of Sugar in France. 535 


one and a half; but this difference is hardly to be considered, 
since the price of the seed is reduced to a reasonable rate. Be- 
sides, the advantages of this method are considerable: Ist, by 
employing this quantity of seed we are assured that all the soil 
will be covered; 2dly, as soon as the plant is well up, it is 
weeded and thinned of all the useless roots, and only those re- 
tained that are vigorous, so that a good harvest is always cer- 
tain, whatever weather it may have endured. 


On the Care that Beet-root requires during its Vegetation, 


Perhaps there is no plant that suffers more from the vicinity 
of others than the beet-root ; it remains small and without vi- 
gour, if the ground be not carefully cleared of all the plants that 
spring up beside it. 

The weeding should be renewed as often as the ground as 
comes covered with weeds: hut in general two operations are 
sufficient. It is an expense and trouble well bestowed, for the | 
produce of an acre well weeded is at least double what it would 
be if neglected. 

In general the beet is gathered in the beginning of October, 
and the operation is terminated towards the fifteenth. The time 
of gathering is not a matter of indifference; but every one knows 
that in the course of vegetation there is formed a succession of 
different products which replace each other; so that the cry- 
stallizable sugar is contained in the beet-root only at a certain 
period of its vegetation, and that this period is the time that 
must be chosen to gather it. 

In support of this opinion I can state a fact established by 
M. Daracq, whose talents and good sense are well known, and 
who formed about three years ago, in concert with the prefect 
of the department des Landes, M. le Comte D’Angos, the pro- 
ject of establishing sugar-works from beet-root. 

From the month of July until towards the end of August he 
made a trial of the beet every cight days, and he constantly ex- 
tracted three and a half per cent. of fine sugar: from these spe- 
cimens he believed himself certain of success, and from that 
time bestowed all his care on the formation of his establish- 
ment, and discontinued his weekly trials; but he was greatly 
surprised, when towards the end of October he resumed his ope- 
rations on the beet, to find it no longer possible to extract an 


atom of crystallized sugar from it. It appears, ‘that when the 


beet has terminated its saccharine vegetation, if I may so ex- 


_ press myself, it forms nitrate of potash, at the expense of the 


constituent principles of the sugar: and this formation takes 


place in the ground, when it is assisted by the heat, just the 
fame as it does in the store-houses, 
In 


336 On the State of ihe Manufacture 


In March 1813 I wished to use some beet which I had stored 
in a cellar, and obtained from it only nitrate of potash, al- 
though it was neither decayed nor had germinated; this beet 
yielded less juice by one-third, than that which had been kept 
in the open air, or in magazines well aired. 

It is not uncommon for puffs of nitrous gas to come out of 
the abundant skim which forms when the juice of the beet is 
poured into a boiler; the production of this gas discovers the 
commencement of a change in the beet, although in this state 
sugar may still be extracted from it: I have several times ob- 
served this phenomenon, and always in the circumstances above 
mentioned. -By the progress of the alteration this nitrous gas 
passes to the state of nitric acid, this acid unites with the pet- 
ash and forms nitrates, and then the decomposition of the cry- 
stallizable sugar is completed. i 

We must not be surprised then if in the whole of the south, 
from Bordeaux to Lyons, it is found that beet which has re~ 
mained in the ground until the end of October, will afford only 
nitrate of potash, and not an atom of crystallizable sugar. As 
the beet-roots are pulled up, the leaves should be stripped off 
and left on the ground for manure, when there is not enqueh of 
them for the consumption of cattle. 

Beet is as soon injured by frost as by heat: it is frezen at a 
temperature of one degree below zero of Reaumur; and begins 
to germinate and change at a temperature of eight or nine de- 
grees above it. 

In order to keep beet in a proper state it should be stored in 
a dry place, of a temperature a few degrees above zero of the 
thermometer. A barn or granary are very proper places for a 
magazine of this nature; but it is seldom that the whole quan- 
tity can be lodged in one building ; for want of a covered place 
sufficiently spacious it must often be left in the open air, and 
when this is the case a dry piece of ground must be selected, 
which is not subject to be overflowed; on this ground a bed of 
stones should be laid, and on the stones a layer of straw; in 
the middle should be raised a stake, and bunches of straw placed 
round it that reach to the top; round this the beet should be 
heaped, till it forms a square of seven or eight feet by five or six 
in height. The stake is afterwards to be taken away, so that the 


space which it occupied may form a sort of chimney to give 


egress to the vapours that escape from the beet. The sides and 
the top must then be covered with a bed of straw, the top being 


made to incline, that the rain may not fall in or remain upon it 5 _ 


and the whole should be confined by bands that the wind may 


not have power to disturb the straw. Some cultivators, espe- — 


cially in the north, preserve their beet by heaping it in the fields, 
covering 


of Sugar in France. 387 


’ covering it with earth and enveloping the whole by a bed of heath 
or broom, so that water cannot penetrate. 

But whatever method may be adopted in storing beet, there 
are some general precautions to be attended to which are indis- 
pensable in all cases. In the first place, it must not be stored 
up when wet; and if the weather will permit, it is very desirable ~ 
that it should be left for a few days in the fields todry. Se- 
condly, it must not be covered up until frost is expected, and 
must be uncovered, and left so as long as the temperature is a 
few degrees above freezing, provided it does not rain. Thirdly, 
it should be often examined; and if it appears to become heated, 
or decayed, or germinates, the heap must be opened, the in- 
jured roots separated from it, and then it must be made up 
again, 


On the Extraction of Sugar from Beet-root. 


The extraction of sugar from this plant has given rise to a 
course of operations which I shall successively describe. During 
four years that it has been praetised in France, many different 
processes have been employed, and great modifications have 
been adopted in each of the operations. I have examined and 
compared them all, but shall confine inyself to the description 
of that which has constantly afforded the best results. 

The beet in the state in which it is taken out of the fields is 
more or less clogged with earth, and the surface is more or less 
covered with radicles; before it is operated upon it must be 
freed from these incumbrances and the top cut off, which does. 
not sensibly contain any sugar, 

{n some establishments the dirt is taken off by washing, and 
the top and radicles by a knife; but washing is tedious and ex- 
pensive; it requires a great quantity of water, and the operation 
is difficult to perform in the severe cold of winter. The most 
ceconomical mode of washing is to put from 100 to 140lbs. into 
a cylinder composed of thick iron wire, half the cylinder being 
immersed in water contained in a trough under it; the cylinder 
is kept constantly turning round. Ina little time the beet is 
freed from the dirt, the cylinder is then raised ahove the trough, 
a door which it contains is opened, and the beet slides down an’ 
inclined plane, which carries it beyond the trough. / 

1 have no washing in my establishment; but I have the top 
and radicles cut off, and the surface of the roots cleaned, all 
with a knife. This operation is executed with facility by wo- 
men, and costs twelve sous or sixty centimes per thousand. 

The sugar is extracted by two successive operations. Ist, 
The beet is reduced to a pulp by means of graters; the best of 

Vol. 47. No, 217. May 1816, Y these 


388 On the Stale of the Manufacture of Sugar in France. 


these graters consist of cylinders furnished on the surface with 
indented plates; these cylinders may be moved so rapidly, by 
means of wheels, that they will make 400 revolutions in a mi- 
nute, and will tear and reduce the beet to a pulp in an instant. 
Two of these graters, put in motion by the same machinery, and 
attended by three women and two children, are sufficient to 
grate daily 10,000 weight of beet, by working only four hours 
a-day, two hours at atime; it is very rare that half an hour 
more is necessary. 

Immediately as the operation of grating is terminated, the 
persons employed begin to cleanse the graters, to wash them, 
and then to place round them the 5000 weight of beet that are to 
be grated at the second operation. 

Tn order that the pulp may be of a good quality, it must have 
the appearance of a soft paste, without any lumps; for the press, 
however powerful, can extract but a very small proportion of 
juice from fragments of beet that have not been torn. When it 
is only crushed between mill-stones, in the manner that is prac- 
tised for making cider and perry, the juice obtained from the 
press is not more than 39 or 40 per cent., whereas when it is 
torn by the graters, from 65 to 75 per cent. is extracted. 2dly, 
As fast as the pulp is formed it is submitted to pressure, in or- 
der to extract the juice. I begin by putting it into small lever 
presses at first, and afterwards removing it to others more power- 
’ tul, so as to extract from 65 to 75 per cent. of juice. The 
operation is perfect when the marc or dregs are so dry that on 
squeezing it hard with the hands it does not wet them. ‘To di- 
minish the expense of manual labour, I place the graters and 
“presses on a Stage, in such a manner that the juice falls of itself, 
through leaden canals, into the boilers, which are placed on the 
ground. It is necessary that the pulp should be expressed as 
fast as it forms, or else it blackens, and a degree of fermentation 
commences, which renders the extraction of the sugar more dif- 
ficult. The juice marks from five to eleven degrees, and com- 
monly from seven to eight by Baumé’s areometer. 

Four men are sufficient to work the presses, in operating upon 
ten thousand weight of beet per day. 

I have before mentioned, that the juices run immediately out 
of the preascs into a boiler, which I call a depurator, in relation 
to its use. Supposing two operations to be effected in a day, 
and that 5000 weight of beet-root is operated upon each time, 
this boiler, which is round, should be five feet and a half wide, 
and three feet eight inches deep; of these dimensions it will 

contain the whole product of one operation. As soon as the 
boiler is one-third or half full, the fire is lighted. By the time. 
that. 


oh 


On ihe Cosmogony of Moses. 339 


that the juice has ceased running from the presses it will already 
have acquired from forty to fifty degrees of heat, which is suf- 
fered to increase to sixty-five or sixty-six degrees, and the mo- 
ment it has attained this heat the fire is smothered by covering 
it with wet eoals. Lime, slaked with warm water, is then thrown 
into the boiler, in the proportion of two grammes and a half 
(about forty-eight grains) to a litre of juice, being careful to 
vary the ‘proportion according to the consistence of the juice. 
The liquid mass must be well stirred, in all directions, for some 
minutes, and then the fire is revived, in order to raise the heat 
to eighty degrees ; that is, to the degree nearest approaching to 
ebullition. The fire is then taken out of the fire-place, and as 
the liquor cools a coat forms on its surface, which in half an hour 
has acquired a degfee of consistence, which at the end of three 
quarters of an hour is carefully taken off with the scum. As 
soon as it is skimmed, a cock is turned, which is fixed about a 
foot from the bottom of the boiler, and the liquor runs out into 
a square boiler; afterwards a second cock is opened, which is 
quite at the bottom of the boiler, in order to empty it entirely, 
and the liquor is made to fall upon a filter, through which it also 
runs into the square boiler. 
[To be centinued. | 


— 


LXVII. Onthe Cosmogony of Moses. By Mr. ANpREw Horn. 
To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — Havine in my former communication shown that the 
term day, as used in designating the six periods of the Genesis, 
properly denotes one revolution, whether slow or rapid, of the 
earth upon its axis, which produced a morning and an evening 
successively upon every meridian on the globe, my object in the 
present paper is to rectify some misconceptions of your corre- 
spondents, respecting certain parts of the Cosmogony connected 
with those periods. 

The statement of facts enumerated by Dr. Prichard, p. 287 
of your last volume, is 1 conceive just, with the exception of the 
three articles where he says *‘ the water had subsided before the 
creation of organized beings.” But this perhaps is one of those 
verbal inaccuracies which he hints at in your last number. Your 
correspondent F, E-——s has committed the same mistake at 
p- 181 of the present volume, in which he remarks, that “ the 
waters retire previous to the existence of animated beings, and 
never again cover the earth until the days of Noah.” On this 
error he founds a plausible objection against the Cosmogony, and 

Y2 endeavours 


340 On the Cosmogony of Moses. 


endeavours to support it by a reference to geological phanomena. 
The only passage in the Genesis, from which any such inference 
could be drawn, is the following, ver. 9, * Let the waters be ga- 
thered together to one place, and let the dry land appear.” This 
construction s¢ems somewhat to favour the error. The Hebrew, 
however, is in the future tense, and literally, ‘ the waters shall 
tend to one place, and the dry land shall appear: and it was 
so.’’ Moses uses the same original word, Gen, chap. viii. ver. 55 
to describe the first appearance of the mountains at the deluge: 
“* The waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in 
the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops 
of the mountains seen.” But the waters of the deluge ‘ were not 
abated from off the earth’ for some months afterwards. Now it 
is no more possible that the earth could have been instantaneously 
laid dry, when the mountains emerged out of the primitive ocean, 
than when they showed themselves above the waters of the 
deluge. The formation therefore of the dry-land at the creation 
was gradual, and the subsidence of the waters in proportion to 
the means employed to drain them off. The manner in which 
this was effected does not at present concern us. It is evident, 
then, that the waters only Jegan to subside, when the dry-land 
appeared. How long it was before they sunk to a fixed level 
never can be ascertained. Ages might have elapsed, even after 
the land animals were created, before the waters had completely 
subsided. Hence, to say nothing of the probable rapidity of the 
depositions, since the period between the elevation of the land 
to the complete subsidence of the waters is indefinite, I feel con- 
fident in the assertion, that it was sufficient for the formation of 
all the strata at lower and lower levels, from the clay-slate down 
to the chalk rocks, which are supposed to be among the last de- 
posits of the primitive ocean ; and, as the retreat of the waters 
was from the equatorial parts towards the polar regions, these 
calcareous rocks are accordingly found only in the higher lati- 
tudes. 

It has been generally, but erroneously supposed that each ope- 
ration was completed within the period in which it is first men- 
tioned ; and that the day was solely occupied by that particular 
object ; whereas the subject is sometimes noticed, because it 
then began to be formed; at other times it is specified, because 
it then proved actually fit for the purpose for which it was de- 
signed. Thus the other is pronounced ‘ good’ on the first day, 
because, as soon as it reached the earth the globe was put in 
motion by it. The expanse or atmosphere began to be formed, 
but was not completed on the second day; nothing but the 
other is declared ‘ good’ or fit until the third day, in which the 
dry-land appeared and vegetables began to be produced ; “gs 

the 


On the Cosmogony of Moses, 34] 


the sun itself pronounced fit for its office until the end of the 
fourth day. 

In order to correct certain mistakes, and obviate some ob- 
jections to the Cosmogony, I shall, for the sake of brevity, enu- 
merate, as Dr. Prichard has done, the facts in the Genesis, and, 
without drawing ‘a parallel between them and the geological 
phenomena, shall only insert such observations as may be ne- 
cessary for my purpose. 

1. All the substances of which the earth is composed were 
once in a state of atomic division. The waters of the ocean 
universally covered for along period the whole mass, and by 
chemical action formed what are called primitive rocks. But it 
_ is impossible from any present process of erystallization, to judge 
of the rapidity with which the original atoms were crystallized, 
and strata formed by their aggregation. 

2. No organic beings existed in the primitive ocean till after 
the mountains were elevated. 

3. The mountains emerged out of the ocean at the commence- 
ment of the third period. ‘The waters then legan to subside, 
but still continued to form strata,.and in proportion as they left 
the Jand dry, vegetables were produced. 

The production of zodphytes and testacea is justly referred 
by Dr. Prichard to this epoch; because they are destitute of 
locomotive powers, which Moses positively assigns to ali the 
productions of the fifth period. The objections which F. E——s 
has raised to this statement, when his collateral matter is re- 
moved, amounts to this—‘* Moses, it is true, expressly says that 
all the aquatic locomotive animals were produced in the fifth 
period, but he does not specifically determine in what period 
zodphytes and testacea were produced; therefore the parallel 
fails between the facts detailed in the Genesis and those inferred 
from geological phenomena.’’ But surely this is such a test as 
‘no author can endure; at most, it can injustice only be applied 
to those professedly systematic. Has Moses, in relating the pe- 
riods of creation and order of things in the formation of this 
earth and its inhabitants, indeed given a false representation of 
nature, because he has omitted to mention one or. two particular 
species of animated beings? Does he not at the conclusion of 
the narrative say, “€ Thus were the heavens and the earth finished, 
and all the host of them.’”’’ This mode of expression is equiva- 
lent to that in the fourth commandment, ‘‘ In six days the Lord 
made heaven and earth, the sea and al that is in them.” Now 
it is highly unreasonable, to say the best of it, when an author 
gives the limits of his premises, to deny that he means to in- 
clude all the intermediate terms. What should we think of the 

. ¥3 persoy 


342 On the Cosmogony of Moses. 


person that could question, whether another had travelled every 
inch of the road from London to Edinburgh, through York and 
Neweastle, merely because he had not named every other inter- 
venient stage? Must the Cosmogony then be exploded, because 
the author has not marked every link in the chain of organiza- 
tion ?—because he has neither pointed out. the precise limit be- 
tween animal and vegetative life, nor distinguished the formation 
of aquatic plants from those belonging to the Iand, nor named 
the species which conjoins the locomotive animals ‘of the Sith 
with those of the szxth day? Should we, it seems according to 
the reasoning of your correspondent F, E s, assign the Lat 
species to the fifth day, ‘¢ we place an order of locomotive beings 
where Moses has not placed them.’’ But though “it is abso- 
Jutely certain that Moses assigns them” to neither of these pe- 
riods, he, as certainly, never designed to exclude from the Cos- 
mogony either the bat species, which connects the locomotive 
animals of the fifth with those of the sixth day, or zodphytes 
and testacea, which link the organized productions of the ff Sifth 
with those of the third day. Having described the order 
which the grand classes of organized beings were produced, ' 
leaves us to systematize, and make our own physiological di- 
stinctions. So imperceptible is the gradation of species among 
organized beings, that it is only within tiiese few years natu- 
ralists have thought proper to transfer corals, &c. from the rank 
of vegetables, among which they were classified as fungite, and 
arrange them as animals under the technical name of xoophytes. 
Even fesfacea do not lose all analogy to vegetables, though they 
rank higher in the scale of existence than zodphytes, and, agree- 
ably to the tenor of the narrative, were probably created some- 
what later. Testacea approach very near to vegetative life; 
their stationary disposition, and their receiving nutriment by 
suction, most likely from the same substances with aquatic plants, 
give them no small resemblance to vegetables. In short, they 
seem a kind of animated fungi, compared with the locomotive 
animals that subsist around them. ‘ 

Whatever coincidence may be discovered between the above 
reasoning and that of Dr. Prichard, in his answer to F. E——s, 
is entirely accidental; for the whole paragraph was written be- 
fore I received your last number. But I ought rather to have 
said that our agreement zecessari/y arises from an impartial 
view of the question, 

4, The waters continuing to decrease, the vegetable kingdom 
became more and more extended, till the conclusion of the fourth 
day, when the sun by its regular operation produced a corre- 
sponding regularity in the motions of the earth, which was now 

rendered 


ae, 


- 


On the Cosmogony of Moses. 348 


rendered fit for the reception of beings of a more, perfect cha- 
racter than vegetables, or those motionless concretions of ani- 
mated matter, zodphytes and testacea. 

5. In the fifth period aquatic locomotive animals were pro- 
duced, the waters being now sufficiently purified for their re- 
ception. Dr. Prichard has well observed, that locomotion is the 
precise meaning of the Hebrew word used to distinguish this 
class of organized beings. It is not a little remarkable that to 
this period Moses assigns the production of birds. “Though they 
are by internal organization constituted for living in air, their 
locomotive powers certainly haye a nearer relation to those of 
fishes than to the powers of locomotion in land animals. Au- 
other reason, besides the perishable nature of their bones, may 
be assigned for their remains being so rarely found; viz. they 
are better provided with the means of escape from sudden inun- 
dations than land animals, or even fishes, in certain situations. 

Moses notices a class of aquatic animals, in the productions of 
this period, which our translators have rendered ‘ great whales ;’ 
but literally the phrase ought to be ‘ great monsters ;’ which will 
include not only existing crocodiles, hippopotami, &c. but also 
those large marine animals found in different parts of this country 
as well as upon the continent, embedded in the lyas or argil- 
laceous limestone, and, until very lately, erroneously supposed 
to be crocodiles. . 

6. The various species of land reptiles and quadrupeds were 
produced early on the sixth day. 

7. Every thing being thus prepared for their reception, the 
rational species is lastly formed; and the whole ceconomy of 
nature being pronounced ‘ very good,’ man is invested by the 
Creator with dominion over all the inferior creatures. 

It is with reluctance that I remark upon what Dr. Prichard 
has advanced, p. 259 of your last number. In defending Moses 
as an inspired writer, he says that the Egyptians were possessed 
of “the most authentic documents that existed concerning the 
history of the world.’’ An opinion which he assumes on the 
authority of Michaelis, who embraces the hypothesis of Mar- 
sham in his Rule of Times, —** that Moses framed his code of laws 
by combining the ancient usages of the nomadic Hebrews with 
the institutions of the agricultural Egyptians.””? Now, however 
well calculated the hypothesis may be for displaying the learning 
of the German professor, his erudition is of no weight, when 
put in the scale against the plain and positive language of Scrip- 
ture; Lev. chap. xviii. ver. 3-4, {After the doings of the 
land of Egypt wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: neither shall ye 
walk in their ordinances, Ye shall do my judgements, and keep 
mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am Jehovah your God,’ 

Y4 Whatever 


344 Description of the Thunder-storm Alarum. 


Whatever use Moses might make of the Egyptian documents in 
composing his Cosmogony, he certainly had a purer source from 
whence to draw his information.» The Hebrews and their an- 
cestors were worshippers of the true God; therefore the history 
of the origin of the world is more likely to have been preserved 
pure by them than among the idolatrous Egyptians. Supersti- 
tion never was favourable to truth. Traditional facts are also 
more safe with a nomadic than.a civic people. They have fewer 
subjects to burthen the memory, and less temptation to corrupt 
them. 

The perseverance of Dr. Prichard in his original intention of 
proving the Mosaic Cosmogony “ capable of a rational and phi- 
losophical interpretation” is laudable ; and the near approaches 
he has made to this, particularly in p. 262, 263 of your last num- 
ber, are important results from the repeated attacks of his op- 
ponent. But having assumed an untenable position respecting 
the term day, he is forced, p. 260, to advance some unwarrantable 
opinions in order to support it. The supposition that the He- 
brews were anthropomorphites must rest upon evidence from 
their writings. Now if we are to determine the national belief 
from their religious institutes and theology of their other scrip- 
tures, they were, as a nation, the furthest of all others from an- 
thropomorphism. All other nations were idolaters, and, in ge- 
neral, conceived the most perfect image of the Deity must he 
the likeness of man. The Hebrew writers are unequalled in 
speaking of the spirituality of God; and where they speak of the 
eyes, arms, &c. of Jehovah, these expressions, in the connexion 
in which they stand, no more favour anthropomorphism than 
the term father itself, as applied to the Author of life. With 
respect to the expression ‘* God rested ;” it would be more 
agreeable to the spirit of the original, to render it ceased;— 
“God ceased from all his work, which he created, mwy> to 
operate,” as ver. 3, chap. ii. of the Genesis, ought to be ren- 
dered. 

I am, sir, 
; Your very obedient servant, 
Wycombe, May 8, 1816. ANDREW Horn. 


’ 


LXVIII. Description of an electrical Instrument called “ The 
Thunder-storm Alarum.” By B. M. Forsrer, Esq. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Siz, — ] HEREWITH hand you a description and figure of an 


*clectrical instrument, which may I] think with propriety be sip 
e 


Description of the Thunder-storm Alarum. 345 


The Thunder-storm Alarum ; as it serves toshow the effect which 
is produced by the passage of a charged cloud over an almosphe- 
rical electrometer. 

This instrument consists of a mahogany box about 6} inches 
in height, and about 3 inches in width, also 3 inches.in depth. 
The front (when not in use) is closed with a sliding piece of 
mahogany, like a sliding box lid. A glass tube A (Plate III. 
fig. 2,) is fixed at the top of the box, projecting some way into 
it; and through this a brass wire B passes, on the upper part 
of which is a brass ball C; and at the lower, a piece of brass D 
is screwed. A fine piece of flexible wire E (suchas is wound 
round cat-gut musical strings) is inserted into the ball C; a 
small bell F, on a brass pillar C, is fixed at the bottom of the 
apparatus. A brass ball G for a clapper, is suspended by a silken 
string from a wire H. The inside as well as the outside of the 
glass tube should be coated with melted sealing-wax or other 
insulating substance. 

There is no necessity for using an electrical machine, in order 
to make this instrument act: a piece of paper when dried by the 
fire is to be rubbed with India rubber (caoutchouc) which makes 
it highly electrical; the paper is then to be brought over the 
upper end of the flexible wire, in order to electrify the wire 
which passes through the glass tube; the clapper, which is sus- 
pended by the silken string, will then vibrate and strike the 
bell for some time, whilst the paper remains near the upper wire 
of the apparatus. The excited paper aptly represents an arti- 
ficial charged thunder cloud. 

A piece of woollen stuff (such as is made use of for gowns), 
when rubbed in the same way as paper, I think acts stronger. 
The above-mentioned wire being flexible, may be bent, if occa- 
sion should require it, so as to come near an electrified con- 
ductor, if a machine is used, or near a charged jar; but the prin- 
cipal use of its being flexible is, that there is not the chance of 
accidents occurring, which might happen from a stiff very sharp 
projecting wire. 

It is obvious that, if an atmospherical conducting rod were 
connected with this instrument, it might be used as a real 
thunder-storm alarum. ‘The ball C is perforated horizontally, 
through which a wire may be passed to suspend a pith-dall 
electrometer, or for other purposes. 

I am, sir, &c, 
Jan, 22, 1816, B. M. Forster. 


LXIX. On 


[ 346 ..] 


LXIX. On the Cosmogony of Moses; in answer to Dr. 
Pricuarp. By F. E——s. 


To Mr. Tilloch. * 


Sir, — Ix your last number Dr. Prichard candidly acknow- 
ledges an immiaterial inadvertence, attempts to reconcile his 
contradictory statements, and makes some show of maintaining 
his former positions; but finally, under pretence of generously 
extricating his opponent from an imaginary difficulty, retreats 
by the dubious light of Geddes’s* critical torch, to a new cha-- 
teau en Espagne. As he intimates that this castle will be re- 
spected by ‘‘ unprejudiced persons,” 1 of course do not mean 
to ** attack” it. Onthe other parts of his communication I shall 
presume to offer a few obvious remarks. 

It is incidentally shown in my last paper, that his statements 
at different times do not: always accord with each other. To 
this something in the way of reply has been said: not however 
perceiving how it invalidates my stricture, I shall leave it un- 
touched, and content myself with pointing out more distinctly 
than before the contradictory passages. After noticing in his first 
letter the alleged extraordinary coincidence between the series 
of facts announced in the six days creation, and those inferred 
from geological phenomena, he remarks, that ‘¢ if this coinci- 
dence is surprising in itself, it appears the more so when we 
compare the Cosmogony of the Hebrews with the notions on 
this subject that prevailed among other nations of antiquity.” 
“* We find,” says he, ‘¢ invariably that all other speculations on 
this subject are founded on some fanciful analogy with natural 
processes that are daily observedy.” Could the most deter- 
mined adversary urge any thing more in direct contradiction to 
this than what is contained jn his succeeding letter? It is there 
either affirmed or shown that “ scarcely any thing is contained 
in the antediluvian history of Moses which may not also be found, 
though more or less embellished, i the records of other nations, 
particularly in those of the Hindoos”— that the Institutes of 
Menu begin with an account of the creation which bears a strong 
resemblance to that of Moses, though embellished or deformed 
with many wild conceits }”—and that, according to the informa- 
tion preserved in Suidas, the Etruscan Cosmogony bore a yet 
more striking analogy with that of the Hebrews §. 

This notice of the Etruscan Cosmogony will, I hope, atone 


* Whiston as a guide would have served equally well. 
t+ Phil. Mag, No. 210, p. 289. } Ibid. No, 214, p. 118. 
§ Ibid. No. 214, p. 114. 
for 


On the Cosmogony of Moses. 347 


for what Dr. Prichard seems to consider a former neglect of it. 
He speaks, too, of my objections against the remarkable analogy 
that the Cosmogony of Menu bears to that of Moses*.” I am 
unconscious of having given any opinion respecting this ana- 
logy, though I indicated the legitimate consequence of sup- 
posing the Mosaic account not an immediate revelation to Moses, 
but a tradition adopted by hin. Dr. Prichard does not deem 
it expedient directly to attack the position from which that con- 
sequence flowed, but asks ‘‘ whether St. Matthew and St, Luke 
were in want of inspiration when they had recourse to pre- 
viously existing documents in compiling their genealogies ?”” 
It might have occurred to him, that inspiration would in that 
ease be superfluous. The knowledge of the genealogies was 
within the reach of uninspired persons, their. materials being 
recorded in sacred writ, while the successive events of the crea- 
tion could with certainty be known to no human being unless 
by immediate mspiration. The ingenious imagination of a sort 
of circuitous inspiration enabling its possessor to discriminate 
what had been already revealed, will scarcely bear a philosophic 
scrutiny: but were it even admissible, it would at least be ne- 
cessary to prove the previous existence of the supposed original 
revelation, somewhat less vaguely than by conjectures insufficient 
to ascertain the person favoured with it, or even to determine 
the period in which it was made. 

Dr. Prichard does not combat my application of his critical 
canon to the assumed metaphorical sense of day; but with re- 
ference to the disputed meaning of that.word asks, whether se- 
-veral expressions relating to God, such as ** God rested on the 
seventh day,” are to be understood literally or figuratively. It 
is obvious that such expressions may without incongruity of lan~ 
guage bear either a figurative or literal sense; and in fact the 

| one or the other has been given them, according to the more or 
less just notions entertained of the divinity. The case of the 
word day as employed in the six days creation is conspicuously 
different: if understood literally, the evening and morning con- 
nected with it have an assignable meaning ; if figuratively, they 
become, at least to me, unintelligible. It therefore does not 
follow, though the Hebrew people may be suspected of having 
understood some expressions literally which we are accustomed 
to understand figuratively, that Dr. Prichard is at liberty to run 
counter to their acceptation of all Hebrew expressions, in viola- 
tion of sense and congruity of language. As he expresses some 
surprise at my having left Philo and Josephus unnoticed, I shall 


* Phil. Mag. No. 216, p. 259. 
endeavour 


348 On the Cosmogony of Moses. 


endeavour to atone for the omission by remarking, that if he 
rest the metaphorical sense of the word day on their authority, 
he must also on the same authority admit a figurative sense of 
the whole first chapter of Genesis; for he says that Josephus and 
Philo “expressly affirm that the account of the six days work 
is metaphorical.” Now, that the simple relation of the ereation 
given by Moses, or what Dr. Prichard terms the “ Exordium of 
the Hebrew Scriptures,” would be rendered more “ capable of a 
rational and philosophical interpretation,” by being converted 
into an allegory, may perhaps not be quite obvious to ordinary 
understandings. | 

I shall occupy but little more of your time. Dr. Prichard 
informs us that Moses did not write the ** Cosmogony with the 
Systema Nature before him,’”—that ‘the Hebrew language 
being very poor in terms of classification, a few leading objects 
in each class are mentioned; and we are left to understand that 
the analogous kinds were conjoined with those named.” On 
this account he very properly retains forest trees, shrubs, and li- 
chens in the third day’s creation, although in strictness none of 
them come under the description of * grass, seed-beuring herbs, 
or fruit-bearing trees.”” On the same principle, were there no 
particular end to answer’by the exclusion, it may be thought 
that zodphytes might be permitted to remain in the fifth day’s 
creation, being moving creatures that have life, although their 
motion does not precisely accord with the idea which, in opposi- 
tion to the received translation, Dr. Prichard thinks the Sep- 
tuagint and the original convey. Be this as it may, that the 
coincidences which he called upon us to admire were perfected 
by his placing orders of leings where Moses never placed them, 
remains incontrovertible. This liberty he seems to consider 
trifling: he has however gone still further. Even his own ver- 
sion of the 20th verse of the first chapter of Genesis does not 
exclude testacea from the fifth day’s creation; a considerable 
portion of the order being indisputably e1dued with the power 
of loco-motion. It follows, that what he calls the coincidences 
* between the Cosmogony and the epochs of nature” were ef- 
fected not simply by placing orders of animated beings where 
Moses had not placed them, but by Ais placing, at least, one or+ 
der in direct contradiction to the express authority of Moses. 
I am, sir, 

Your very obedient servant, 

Bath, May 9, 1816. F. E——s. 


LXX. Account 


[ 349 ] 


LXX. Account of a Meteoric Stone which fell in the Environs 
of Langres. Communicated to M. Viney by M. Pistor.xr, 
Physician at Langres*. 


Your love for the natural sciences, and the success with which 
you cultivate them, induce me to communicate to you a meteoro- 
ogical phenomenon which has just taken place in the commune 
of Chassigny, a village situated to the south-east of Langres, 
and about four leagues distant. 

On the 3d of October 1815, at half past eight in the morning, 
the sky being clear and serene, and a gentle east wind prevailing, 
a rumbling noise was heard like the discharge of musketry and 
artillery. This noise, which seemed to come from the north-east, 
and from a cloud which hung over the horizon of an indeter- 
minate form and a gray colour, had lasted a few minutes, when 
aman at work in a vineyard at some distance from the village, 
and who had his eyes fixed on this cloud, hearing a whistling 
like that of a cannon ball, saw an opaque body fall a few paces 
from him, and which emitted a dense smoke. Having run to 
the spot, he saw a deep hole in the ground, and around it were 
fragments of stoue of a peculiar kind. Having picked up one 
of the pieces, he found it as hot as if it had been long exposed 
to a strong sun; he brought it into the village, and several in- 
habitants went out in consequence and collected pieces. Next 
day I visited the village; and having obtained one of the fragments, 
I found it resembled closely an aérolite which had been sent me 
from Germany. Having proceeded to the spot in person, I col- 
lected about sixty small pieces, some of which were soft and wet, 
and easily crumbled in the hand. 

The ball of fire which generally accompanies aérolites, was not 
perceived in this instance. Having weighed all the pieees which 
were collected, the whole weight was four kilogrammes. I have 
no doubt that all these fragments belonged to the same stone ; 
and I am even inclined to think that what I saw was only a piece 
of a larger stone which had exploded in the air. I am in pos- 
session of a piece weighing nearly one kilogramme, which is the 
half of a corner piece only, and which leads me to suppose that 
the whole stone must have weighed eight kilogrammes, _ Its very 
considerable specific gravity, as is remarked in all those stones, is 
not the same however in every fragment, some of which seem to 
_ present more density. Differences are also remarked in the co- 
lour of the erust which covers these various pieces:, in some it 
is a very deep black, and in others of a chesnut-brown only; and 
in general the less black the colour is, the more shining and 


* Annulcs de Chimie et de Physique, tome i. Jan, 1816, p. 45. 
compact 


350 Account of a Meteoric Stone 


compact is the crust, and vice versé. On the blackest crusts, 
elevations or swellings are observed, which have the appearance 
of being the produce af an ebullition suddenly interrupted. 

I had almost forgot to say that some persons in the village of 
Chassigny and parts adjacent, who happened to be sitting om 
the ground, thought they felt the shock of an earthquake during 
the detonation ; but the peasant who saw the stone fall expe- 
rienced no such sensation. I ought to inform you also, that at 
the bottom of the hole made by the fall of the stone there was 
a piece of the lava of the country, which might induce one to 
believe that the aérolite was broken only in consequence of 
meeting with a hard body; but what appears to contradict this 
is, that none of the aérolite remained in this hole; that, on the 
contrary, all the fragments were dispersed in such minute pieces 
that it seemed rather as if they were the consequence of an ex- 
plosion than of a fracture occasioned by the fall:—finally, se- 
veral small pieces were inbedded deeply in the earth around the 


hole. Besides all this, the smoke perceived at the moment of 


the fall denotes something else than a simple fracture: yet it is 
astonishing that an explosion did not scatter the fragments 
further ; for one piece which was found a few days afterwards, 
could not have been sent there since the fall, and as a conse- 
quence of the explosion, but seems rather to ‘have fallen at the 
same time with that which was separated into so many parts, 


Analysis of the above Aérolite, by M. Vavavetn. 


Physical Characters. 


1. Colour: brown externally, pearl gray internally. 

2. Contexture; gtainy, and broken in every direction. 

3. Solidity: very slight, crumbling with the greatest facility. 

4. Aspect: shining, and as if varnished. 

5. Sound: none. Although it appears to have been roasted, 
it has not the dryness nor the hardness of glass when it is 
broken: it seems on the contrary to be soft under the pestle, 
which soon pounds it. 

6. It has no action on the magnetic needle, and yet the crust 
with which it is covered has aslight effect: this announces that 
it contains iron in the state of oxide. 

7. Itforms a jelly with the acids. Hence it must be concluded 
that the silex is therein combined with some principle. 


Analysis. 

Without entering into large details on the means employed to 
analyse this aérolite, I am nevertheless of opinion that it will 
not be useless rapidly to explain the course which I pursued. 

I subjected 


which fell in the Environs of Langres. 351 


I subjected ten grammes of the aérolite reduced into fine 
powder to the action of the sulphuric acid diluted with water. 
The decomposition took place without effervescence:—the only 
phenomena observed were a development of heat and a diminu- 
tion of volume in the substance submitted to experiment. 

Nevertheless the whole mass did not disappear: there re- 
mained a grayish substance, which the sulphuric acid even aided 
by heat cannot dissolve: it forms nearly the tenth part of the 
aérolite. 

The sulphuric acid does not acquire any colour in this opera- 
tion: in the state of dilution in which it was employed, it was 
almost as white as water. , 

There are remarkable differences between this aérolite and 
all that have been hitherto examined. 

All the latter, on being dissolved in the sulphuric or weak 
muriatic acid, gave out hydrogen gas partly sulphuretted, and 
generally furnished a solution of a green colour deeper than that 
of iron: the present aérolite exhibited nothing similar. This 
proves that this aérolite contains no iron in the metallic state 
which the magnet had already announced, and that there is no 
nickel in it, which, as we know, makes its solutions green, and is 
itself acted upon by the magnet. 

The solution being effected, the liquor was decanted and 
washed, and the residue evaporated to dryness. At the end of 
the operation a transparent jelly was formed, produced by the 
separation of the silex, which being washed and dried, weighed 
three grammes and one centieme. 

The liquor, which ought to contain magnesia and iron, was 
again evaporated to dryness, and the residue calcined for at least 
half an hour. The matter, which had assumed a red colour, was 
put into water, in order to dissolve the sulphate of magnesia: it 
was filtered in order to collect the red oxide of iron. 

The sulphate of magnesia must be evaporated and calcined 
three times, in order to separate entirely the sulphate of iron. 

The different quantities of oxide of iron obtained in these 
operations having been collected and dried, weighed three 


ramimes and ten centiemes. ‘This oxide was of a very lively 
, « 


red colour. 


The sulphate of magnesia when purified and calcined weighed 
eight grammes seven-tenths, in which there is about three 
grammes two-tenths of magnesia. This salt was then tolerably 
white, very soluble in water, and had the bitter taste which 
belongs to the natural sulphate of magnesia: lastly, it appeared 
tobe pure. Nevertheless, in order to ascertain if it did not con- 
tain nickel or some other metal, I put hydro-sulphuret of pot- 

ash 


352 Account of « Meteoric Stone 


ash into it, which produced but a slight change of colour, which 
I ascribe to some traces of manganese rather than to nickel; 
and yet there was so small a quantity that it would not have 
been perceptible in the scales. 

The sulphuric acid, therefore, in acting on this aérolite, had 
only dissolved the magnesia, the silex, and the iron. 


Examination of the Residue, which was insoluble in the 
Sulphuric Acid. 


It was interesting to examine the nature of the portion of the 
meteoric stone which refused to be dissolved in the sulphuric 
acid: it must necessarily have been of a nature different from 
that which had been dissolved. 

This residue when examined with the glass seemed to be com- 
posed of two different substances; one in white and brilliant 
particles; the other black, and giving to the mixture of both a 

slate-gray colour. 

The acids not having any action on this residue, I treated it 
with twice its weight of potash at ared heat. The matter when 
fused and cold had a greenish-yellow colour ; when diluted in 
water it communicated to it a beautiful yellow colour, which 
left no doubt as to the presence of chrome. After having washed . 
this matter until it no longer gave colour to the water I satu- 
rated the liquor with the nitric acid, and evaporated to dryness. 
On treating this residue again with water, the nitrate of potash 
and chromic acid were dissolved, and there remained silex, which 
I set aside, in order to add it to that which we had previously 
obtained and to that of which we are going to speak. 

The nitrate of mercury put into the above yellow liquor, in 
fact produced a precipitate of a fine orange red. 

The portion of the residue treated by ‘potash, and which was 
not dissolved in the water, was treated with the nitric acid, which 
dissolved the greatest quantity of it: that which it left was of a 
very deep gray colour: the nitric solution evaporated to dryness 
with care, and the residue taken up with water sharpened by ni-. 
tric acid, left a white powder which was still silex. 

The miktie ‘solution examined with care, did not exhibit any 
iron, and not an atom of nickel. 

The portion of the residue which had resisted the acid and 
the alkali, and which had a deep gray colour, appeared to be 
pure metallic chrome, and perhaps with an alloy of iron: never- 
theless it was not affected by the magnet. What is certain is, 
that when melted with borax it communicated a fine green co- 
lour to it, similar to that of common chrome. 

It results from the above experiments, that the meteoric stone 

‘ which 


On the Metallic Salls. 353 


which fell in the environs of Langres is formed in the proportion 
of ten grammes, as follows: 
Silex th ~. 9-39 pr, 
~  Oxidated iron gui. int LO 
Magnesia .. -- 3°20 
Metallic chrome .. 20 


9-89 
Or of 100 parts: 
Silex MA os 30° DO) BT 
Oxidated iron eae LOD 


; Magnesia .. 2. o2°00 
Chrome .. ny 2-00 
98:90 

Remarks. 


We remark here: Ist, that the Langres stone contains neither 
sulphur nor nickel, and that the iron in it is entirely oxidated ; 
whereas all the other aérolites contain those two substances, and 
the iron has always been in the metallic state, at least for the 
most part. 2dly, That a part of the silex contained in the stone 
is only in the state of mixture in the sandy form, and that an- 
other more abundant portion than the first is entirely combined 
with the magnesia, and probably with the iron, since it is dis- 
solved at the same time with those two bodies in the sulphuric 
acid. 3dly, That there is in the present stone twice as much 
magnesia as in those which have been hitherto analysed: per- 
haps its softness was owing to this cause. 4thly, Lastly, the 
chrome is found in it in the metallic state, which announces that 
it must have resisted the oxidating action which burnt the iron. 
The quantity of this metal is also more considerable than usual. 

It is probable, that if the sulphur has existed primitively in 
this stone, it must have been dissipated at the moment when the 
iron was fused. 

The absence of nickel from. this stone found at Langres is 
the more remarkable, as it has been constantly found in all other 
aérolites, 


nay" So: AES aA ID 
LXXI. On the Metallic Salts, By G. 8, 
To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — In my last I stated, that Mr. H. asserted the metallic 
salts to be super-salts with excess of oxide; 1 made the same 
statement in a former paper, and combated it without any charge 


Vol. 47. No. 217. May 1816, Z of 


854 Mr. Farey’s Introductory Remarks, to 


of perversion: but having since been charged by Mr. H. with a 
niisrepresentation to favour my own views, I beg you to make 
room for a few quotations from his paper (vol. xlv. p. 463), which 
I conceive to warrant my statement. 

After submitting sulphat of iron to a heat sufficient to drive 
off a portion of the acid, he says, ‘“¢ Water being added, the super 
silphat was in solution, and some oxide precipitated.” Again, 
he says, that the sulphat and sub-sulphat of mercury “ ave not 
perfect salts, but peculiar mixtures of the super sulphat with the 
oxide.” And, tastly, that as the sulphat of mercury is acid when 
water is added, ‘ it must in the dry state le an acid salt with an 
excess of oxide mixed with iu.” 

It is time to quit this subject, which must have become tedious 
to your readers, without affording them any real information» 
my design was, in the first place, to discover truth; to ascertain 
whether H.’s conjectures were founded on reason; and lastly, to 
exculpate myself from a charge of misrepresentation. 

I am, sir, 
Most obediently yours, 
Burton Crescent, May 15, 1816. G. S. 


LXXII. 4A Letter from Dr. Wi11am Ricuarpson to the 
Countess of GosForD (occasioned by the Perusal of CuvrER’s 
‘© Geological Essay’’), describing the Arrangement of the 
Srrata for 60 Miles an the South and as many on the North 
of Gosford Castle; in Armagh County in Ireland. _Com- 
municated by Mr.Joun Farxy, Sen.; with some preliminary 
Remarks and illustrative Notes by him. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — Taz printed Letter sent herewith, having been put inte 
my hands by a Friend, I am anxious to see the same permanently 
preserved in your Magazine, with a few explanatory Notes, which 
I have taken the liberty of subjoining thereto, partly for the pur- 
pose of explaining, more clearly than was perhaps necessary 
for Dr. R. to do, to his noble Correspondent, or even to most 
of his Irish readers, the situations of the places mentioned, 
partly for referring to former Papers inserted in your Work, on 
this same subject, for asking some questions, &c. 

Dr. Richardson, as many of your Readers know, is the author 
of a highly valuable and curious paper on the Basaltic Strata, 
and Hummocks of the Counties of Antrim and Derry, pages 102 
and 194 of your thirty-third volume ; of another equally valuable 

paper 


lit ee ae 


— 


Dr. Richardson’s Account of Stratain Ireland. 353 


paper on the Whynn Dykes of the same district, page 364 of 
your xxxvth volume; and of others. 

The very able, anid; with him I believe, original manner, in 
which Dr. Richar dson went about and completed the investiga- 
tion* of the stupendous Strata and Dykes of Basalt in Antrim, 

under 


* The manner or mode of investization here alluded to, received some years ago 
from me the name of Mineral Surveying, a British Art (originating with Mr. Wim, 
Smith) differing most essentially from the microscopic poreings over the indivi- 
dual stones or substances met with while examining the surface of the Earth, to 
which mere Mineralogists, or mere Naturalists, however eminent or expert, .are 
too prone, to attend: to much else; and d.ffering most essentially also, from the 
wild theoretical deductions from insufficient examination, to which Wernerian, 
Huttonian, and other partisans of the nw fashionable Schools, are addicted, and 
whose dogmas, respectively, they tou of.en-support, with much of injustice, acri- 
mony, and personality. 

Mineral Surveying is so mach more of a Mathematical, Mechanica!, Graphical 
or Surveying art, than a Mineralogical one, (if such be unders'ood as nicely dis- 
eriminating a!l mineral Species,) that the term ‘‘ Mineral” was pretixed to that of 
“« Surveying,” more for the purpose of marking its distinction from Land Sur- 
veying, Maritime Surveying, House Surveying. &e, than of claim ng rank for its 
professors, amongst those technical Mineralogists, Crystalligraphers, Concho- 
lugists, Chemists. &c. who laudably devute their time and the energies of their 
minds, to the investigations and the analysis, of the Cabinet-room and the Labo- 
ratory: all which are arts and pursutts, | beg to repeat, which I hold in g eat esti~ 
mation and respect (aithough time and cireumstances will sot admit of my parti- 
éular application to them); and L have oly similar fee/imgs towards their Pro= 
Fessors, individually, wherever their own personal conduct w tl admit. of such feelings 
towards them, be ng entertained. { have said thus much here, as the only reply 
I an descend to make to the Geoznostic Journalist, who at the commencement 
of the year, taking_example and courage from another in p. 563, &c. of your 
Jast volume, nnprovokedly and uutruly has aspersed iny writings, knowledge and 
conduct, on and relating t» the hardly acquired Profession, by which honestly 
support my Family, and benefit my Employers, as I have the satisfaction of 
often being told, afterwards, and particularly so, where I bave happened to go 
ever any groands v¢ which confident Geogrosts have preceded me 

A very ‘competent knowledge of Kural affairs, and of the Commerce and Me- 
chanic Arts and Manufactures any way connected with raw mineral substances, joined 
with correct knowledge and expertness in Mapping, and in the Geometrical in- 
vestigations of the internal structures of solid laminated Bodies, from observations 
made on their surfaces and in local perforations;—these I will venture to say, 
are of vastly greater consequence, as preliminary qualifications, for making Mi- 
neral Surveying usefid to Land and Mineral Owners, or in useful investigations of 
the stroctare of the crust of the Earth, than all the knowledge, now or likely to 
be possessed by, mere technical Mineralogi-ts, &e, great, improv red and improviug, 
and useful also in their proper places, as 1 fully admit their acqutrements to Le. 

And { will maintain, that such a knowledge of the external characters, struc- 
tures, and chemical compositions of the most common, and the most common!y 
useful Minerals, as is now very easily and soon to be attained, by any one, 
Rurally and Commercially or practically acquainted, as above mentioned, is all of 
their technical knowledge, that a Mineral Surveyor will ever find occasion for in 
the field, ov while expensively exployed out from home: his business hen being, 
to search for and explore every considerable or well defiaed Mass, whatever, on 
afler examination, may turn out to be its technical name, composition, or ses, its 
novelty, alleged Geognostic importance or what not, to map and describe on 
the spot (sometimes by Section, as well as Map) the positions, thicknesses, contor- 
tions, dislocations, denudations, &c, of ev ery such Mass ; noteing the local name 

‘Z2 or 


356 Mr. Farey’s Introductory Remarks, to 


under the very puzzling and deceptive appearances they assume, 
was such, as to lay impartial Geological inquirers under the 
greatest obligations: and few such have in consequence been able 
to refrain from lamenting, that now for several years past, the 


attention of so very able a Geologicai investigator should have 


been, as far as they have known, entirely diverted from this, 
perhaps, his proper pursuit, in which he might have rendered 
them and science such important services, and done himself such 
extensive and lasting credit, in order, perseveringly to attempt the 
conversion of English Farmers, unfortunately a vain attempt, as 
to the almost miraculous properties and produce of Frorin Grass 


or names, uses, and appearances of every kind, which experience in such exami- 
nations and details will suggest; and in no instance neglecting to collect, wrap- 
up, mark, describe tbe exact locality, bring away and preserve, sufficient Speci- 
mens of each and every sul'stance seen, which shall appear different from each other, 
of the imbedded oud extraneous Fossils, &c. &c, 

When returned home, and before sitting down to digest a Report, either to an 
Employer or tothe Public in print, the Spectmens abovementioned will be all de- 
liberately examined, named, described, and analysed in some cases, either by the 
Minera! Surveyor himself, if his knowledge and Time admit (which most probably 
they will not) or by some more experienced and practical Mineralogist and Che- 
mist: in neither of which respectable and useful Professions is it now very diflfi- 
cult, to obtain ab/e assistance in the way of descriptions and analyses, on defined 
pecuniary terms. And thus may every useful information and result of Mineral 
Surveys be furnished, to private Employers or to the Public, with advantages, 
no other way attainable. 

I must not conclude this long Note without mentioning, that the above-de- 
scribed process and proceeding on a Mineral Survey and Report, refers to a case, 
wherein xo limits had been prescriled or wished by the Employer, as to time or ex- 
pense, for collecting and detailing, the most perfect and ample information, re- 
garding a particular Estate or Mineral tract: but that more commonly in his 
practice, only particular objects of inquiry and elucidation, are previously pointed 
out for the Mineral Surveyor, and who then goes no further into general investi- 
gation, than will materially conduce to explain the objects and extent of ground, 
so referred to his examination. 

So also, if a Parish or larger District be ordered to be Minerally surveyed, with 
no more expense than is unavoidable, for obtaining information as to its structure, 
leading features and contents, the process above will be much abridged; and still 
more so, in conducting a County or larger Survey: but in no instance, will the 
careful and industrious Minerval Surveyor omit, taking and bringing home and 
preserving, numerous Specimens, from different points of every different and to- 
lerably defined mass or stratum, and of their imbedded Fossils, &c. which he may 
examine. Some years previous to commencing Mineral Surveyor as a Profession, 
I began, and have ever since followed up this practice, until several thousand 
Specimens, I think, have accumulated on my hands, all accurately marked as to 
locality and reference to my memorandums, written on the spots: and I mean te 
persevere therein, with equal or more zeal than ever; although it be too much 
to be feared, that my time or the expense may not be spareable, for their descrip- 
tion and arrangement, soas to be useful to others besides myself and my Sons. ' 

L will embrace this opportunity of requesting my Friends to notice, my, Re- 
moval from Upper Crown Street, to Howland Street, and that my Son, the En- 
gineer (and Draughtsman and writer on Mechanical Subjects) has removed hither 
with me. 


(1/3 


Dr. Richardson’s Account of Strata in Ireland. 80/7 


tn Ireland; and which, yet, I cannot doubt, but the Doctor has 
faithfully related. 

These circumstances, occasioned me to be much pleased at 
observing, from the commencement of the Letter sent herewith, 
that Dr. Richardson had again resumed Geological subjects, and 
had attentively read, and in manuscript commented on, M. Cu- 
vier’s Essay. Althongh I will not say with Dr. R., that ‘ I take 
much pleasure in exposing the vain follies of world-making gen- 
try,” | must confess, that on reading the Essay alluded to, 1 saw 
therein, so much of hasty and unphilosophical assumption and 
generalization, at variance with most or all of the facts which I 
have-yet seen for myself, on the Earth’s surface or beneath it, 
that J beg thus to intreat Dr. R. to give publicity through your 
Magazine, to his Notes on M. Cuvier’s Essay, in which, case I 
promise to follow him with my Notes thereon, 

For obviating the difficulty to which the Doctor alludes, at the 
conclusion of his fifth paragraph, (p. 338) I would beg to recom- 
mend to his notice, the plan which I followed in your xliid and 
xliiid volumes, in giving Noées on the first Edition of Mr. Bake- 
well’s Geology; as being a plan, calculated, as ought in fairness 
to be the case, 0 promote the sale, instead of j injuring it, of an- 
other’s Work, from some of whose positions we may happen to 
dissent: and as giving, with the least possible of useless repeti- 
tion, or fear of injustice, from mistaken or too scanty quotations, 
ainple scope for free remark and criticism. 

I presume to hope likewise, now that Dr. R. has returned to 
my favourite pursuit, he will give an attentive reading and con- 
sideration to my paper on the Strata of Antrim, compiled from 
his own writings and those of other Irish observers, in your 
xxxixth volume, and which he will find several times referred to, 
in my Notes sent herewith: and that he will, ere long, furnish 
you, at some length, with his candid and free remarks on what 
I have done and suggested in that paper, as to the proper classi- 
fication of the Strata considered on the great scale, on their real 
super-positions, and their forms, as constituting troughs and 
ridges ; the latter of which when sudden, may present “the ap- 
pearance of rearing or almost vertical strata, on their sides ; and 
to which original cause, all of such very highly inclined stratq, 
which I have. anywhere examined, can evidently he referred, and 
rarely, if ever, to faults, as I have mentioned in the Note on 
p. 343 of your xlvth volume. 


I am, sir, 
Your obedient humble servant, 
No. 87, Wowland-Street, near Joun Farry, Sen. 
Fitzroy-Square, London. Mineral Surveyor, 


Z3 Letter 


f $58 ] 


Letter to the Countess of Gosford, ec. 


‘© WHEN your ladyship was so good as to lend me the pamphlet, 
I return with thanks, and to encourage me to make marginal 
observations, [ expected to have found (what 1 have been lang 
looking for) materials for a controversy with the Neplwmans, or 
as they are now sometimes called. the Wernerians: for Mr. Cu- 
vier is avowedly of that school, and Dr. Jameson was anxious 
to become a missionary, and to come over from Scotland, to 
disseminate in this country the Neptunian heresy. 

*¢ | know he has for some years been speculating on the con- 
version of Ireland, being rather worsted in Scotland, by the su- 
perior energy of his antagonists, supporting theories equally 
weak with his own, and I announced to Dr. Jameson, through a 
friend and pupil of his, that so soon as he published here, any of 
his Neptunian doctrines, I should instantly encounter him. 

*¢ In truth, I take much pleasure in exposing the vain follies of 
world- making gentry, and having sharply -discussed the theories 
of the Huttonian Plutonists, and also of the Volcanists, without 
being able to extort a reply ; I hoped for an opportunity of 
showing, that the quan were just as little entitled to cre- 
dit or belief. 

¢¢ When an Essay on the Theory of the Earth, was published 
by Mr. Cuvier, and edited in Edinburgh by Dr. Jameson, with 
mineralogical notes of his own annexed, I was sure [ had got 
what I wanted, and that [ should find Neptwnian doctrines and 
positions abundantly sufficient for the encounter. 

“¢] was disappointed ; Mr. Cuvier’s Essay, well stuffed-with 
curious and popular topics*, was nothing like a Theory of the 
Earih; but merely intended to give notice of the approach of 
his mighty work on the Fossil bones, found in the calcareous 
quarries near Paris ; and as to Dr. Jameson’s preface, and what 
he calls mineralogical notes; 1 have commented on them in the 
margin, with your ladyship’s permission: for the public these 
notes would be useless without the essay, which I am not at li- 
berty to print. 

“© No general statement in either, of the opinions supported 
by the Neplunians; no history of the formation of the earth, 


* “Tshouid be sorry to say any thing disrespectful of Mr. Cavier. E 
am aware of the infinite labour he has expended, and the ingenuity he has 
exerted upon tlie fossil bones, found in so many calcareous strata; but as 
a geologist or cosmogonist, I am not yet acqdainted with bin, and I hope 
when he shall sustain positions relative to original formation and arrange- 
ment, he will sustainthem from more general and diversified data than 
merely the animal exuviz he has studied so much. 

and 


Letier to the Countess of Gosford, Be. 359 


aud arrangement of its materials, as sustained by their school ; 
no general positions or propositions are laid down, so as to ad- 
’ mit being controverted. 

*© A numerous mass of assertions of geological facts, is arbi- 
trarily produced, without any reference to the places where they 
are to be found; besides these arrangements and facts, so deci- 
dedly pronounced, are generally false—mere inventions to coun- 
tenance the Neptunian theory, in whose support they are de- 
vised, 

** No other theory sets out so plausibly as the Neptunian; for 
its advocates show, they were once in possession of the greater 
part of the world, by the marine exuviz so generally dispersed : 
but when we enter into detail, and examine the arrangements of 
our strata, and the circumstances attending them, the incom- 
patibiiity of these facts, with Neptunian opinions, becomes jn- 
stantly apparent; hence no doubt, they so involve themselves in 
loose assertions, that they are not to be caught hold of. 

“ As to the diversity of opinions on the formation and arrange- 
ments of the materials of our world, Mr. Cuvier gives us nine 
or ten pages, -ommencing with the 40th, containing a list of 
world-makers, who seem to have thought that Nature had 
whispered her secret in their ear, and that they are able to de- 
tail her proceedings, and develope all her operations; six of 
these are great men; tie opinions of six or seven more, he states 
without their names, and then he tells us, he could add twenty 
to the list. 

‘* Now I venture to say, every one of these philosophers has 
fallen into the same error, and from the same cause; they have 
every one looked inwards, and consulted their own imaginations, 
how things might be done—while not one of them looked out- 
wards, and took a cool view of the face of Nature, to make 
themselves acquainted with what had actually been done. 

*¢ They had in their hands a mighty subject, THE WoRLD, 
which they asswmed to be a vast whole, formed and arranged by 
great and general causes, acting uniformly; and of course in- 
ferred that the corresponding effects must be general and uni- 
form. 

‘It never occurred to these philosophers, to examine if the 
world before them corresponded with these ideas; nor to in- 
quire if the effects were general, as they had assumed the causes 
to be. Wad they examined, they would have found the state of 
things very different—no trace of a general operation—eftects 
local, partial, diminutive, and unconnected. 

** If the world is to be considered as a whole, it wil! be found 
composed of most heterogeneous parts, an infinite number of 

4 little 


360 Lelter to the Countess of Gosford, 8c. 


little distinet systems* or basins, (as Mr. Cuvier calls them) 
forming adiversified patchwork, or piece of Mosaic, where every 
separate component stone is most accurately defined, distinct, 
and different from the piece in contact with it, the lines of de- 
marcation clean and delicate. 

“* Such is the description of a Mosaic slab}; and such will be 
found the character of our surface, when carefully examined by 
an unprejudiced eye, looking for the actual state of things, and 
not for arguments to support favoutte theories. 

“‘ These distinct little systems pass into each other, as much 
per saltum, as the component stones of the Mosaic; not a trace 
of gradation on their approach, nor any rule by which it can be 
conjectured, what will be the material of the next system it is to 
come in contact with: hy material I mean, the variety of slone, 
our only solid substance, the Ossaiura of the world, as it has 
been called by naturalists. ; 

<* When we examine this aggregate of systems forming the 
superficial part of thé world; we shall find the contiguous ones, 
though strongly discriminated from each other, yet often carrying 
with them some common properties: of Antrim and Derry the 
material, when not white limestone, is always basalt—the ineli= 
nation of the strata generally the same, (a slight ascent to the 
exterior of the area,) but the arrangement and order of the 
strata, differ in each of the systems. ” 

** As for instance, in the great facade of Cave-Hillf{ there is a 


* “TJ must state the sense in which I use the word sysfem. J mean a 
Well defined area, in which the materials and their arrangement are uni- 
form through its whole extent.” 

+ Dr. R. must bot here be understood, by the term ‘ Mosaic slab,” to be 
speaking figuratively, of a slice off the surface of the Eurth which Moses 
first described, but literaliy, of a work of art, a tessellated pavement. On 
some future occasion of more leisure, { will take an opportunity. of stating 
iny reasons of dissent from Dr. R’s position, that new “ systems” often 
(without intervening Fau/ts) succeed each other without “any rale, by 
which it can be conjectured, what will be the material of the next system 
it is to come in contact with:” and in the mean time request the Doctor 
to revise bis notes or observations, and consider attentively, what is the 
form and nature, of the bottoms of the several “systems” of which he speaks: 
of which local tracts, I conjecture, that he has yet duly considered only 
the tops or surfaces, and occasionally, parts of their end sections in cliffs 
or precipices *:—surely, on completely crossing a‘ Basin,” of Cuvier or 
other writers, we expect to see /he sume stratum or Rock emerve or rise 
again at the end of our journey, as we bad seen dip and disappear on en- 
tering on such basin?: in other words, are not ‘ Mineral Basins” mostly, 
if not all, formed in hollows or depressed parts of some individual Rock 
or stratum?; in “ Trouglis” rather, 1 should say, because I never yet saw @ 
‘round one, or near to it— J, F. 

' { Cave-Hill tagade, is situated across the Valley from Carmoney, on the 
WN of Belfast, see Phil, Mag. xxxix. p. 270,—J. F, 


Junction 


Letter to the Countess of Gosford, &c. 361 


junction of two systems: in the one to the northward, and at 
the Cave, the number of basaltic’ strata is five or six, differing 
considerably from each other, as appears by their colour and 
tendencies to decomposition. 

** To the southward, at the park wall, the strata are thinner, 
more uniform, and more numerous now, in nearly the same 
et of facade, 12 or 13. 

* The peninsula of Portrush, is an accumulation of little sy- 
stems perpetually changing their materials and the order in which 
they are arranged. 

** Such a variety of diminutive arrangements must baffle all 
speculation upon general causes and grand operations. 
~ © Tam so far guilty of the same fault I censure in Mr. Cuvier, 
stating arrangements, without pointing to places where they are 
to be verified. 

“* Let us look to Spain. Mr. Townsend, a modern traveller, 
who seems quite free from system, in his tour through that 
country, always states the change of material as it occurred in 
his passage through natural districts, from schistus to limestone, 
to basalt, to granite, to sandstone, to gypsum; and so on. 

« What has your ladyship to do with Spain? I should not 
have mentioned this diversified arrangement, had I not been 
able to establish it in my own country, and with hopes of having 
your ladyship for my witness. 

“© You yourself are fixed on a most interesting spot*, at the 
southern extremity of the great basaltic area, while the Giant’s 
Causeway itself, and our magnificent columnar facades, form its 
northern boundary: close to Gosford castle we find the last f re- 
mains of this curious work of nature, equally admirable whether 
we look to the stupendous magnificence of the grand whole, or 
the exquisite neatness of the execution. 

* Your ladyship’ s sharet of the Giant’s Causeway is small and 
imperfect, as if in an evanescent state, the original features all 
distinguishable, but faintly marked, and not failing from decay but 
from defect in original execution; it being a singular feature in 
this curious columnar and prismatic construction, that the neat- 
ness of the work, is perpetually varying from nearly and com- 
pletely amorphous, to the exquisite finishing of the Giaut’s 
Causeway itself, searcely to be equalled by the chisel of man. 

“« From this spot, on which I hope.your ladyship is perma- 
nently resident, proceed in any direction, and we shall try if you 


* Gosford Castle,which is N of Markethill and SE: of Armagh, Phil, Mag, 
xxxix. p. 281.—J. F. 
Tt Most “ southern extremity of the great Basaltic area,”—J. F. 
} Near to Gosford Castle, of similar strata to those, &c.—J, F. MT 
Wi 


362 Leiter to the Countess of Gosford, Se. 


will encounter such an assemblage of little systems, as | have 
stated to compose the_surface of our world. 

“ Go due south, and at the quarry of Markethill, you leave 
the basaltic area, and euter a schistose district, which continues 
for some ten miles, when you enter the gray granite district, ex- 
tending from the summit ‘of the Mourne mountain®, by Newry, 
and Slieve Gullian, crossing the Forkil road, but not reaching so 
far west, as the Newtownhamilton road. . 

“Near Dundalk you enter a new district of argillaceous 
schistus, having crossed an interesting spot well worth examining, 
as a little to the north-west of Dundalk three extensive cal- 
eareous districts converge towards each other: one from Car- 
lingford to the eastward : another from Ball’s Mill to the north- 
west; the third from Ardee to the south-west; whether all 
secondary limestone, whether they actually meet at the point 
they converge towards, or how near they approach, remains to 
be inquired into. 

“© The Ball’s Mill and Ardee districts are separated from each 
other by a schistose district. 

* At Dundalk t, a new and extensive district of argillaceous 
sehistus commences; in the hills above Dunleer, they are often 
crossed by veins of quartz; near Drogheda we enter a calcareous 
district, very important to that country. 

** On the south side of Drogheda we first meet the stone called 
ealp, described by the Hun, Geo. Knox, in the Transactions of 
the Royal Irish Academy; ; its strata seem to me to deviate more 
from rectilinear planes, and to vary more suddenly in their ins 
élination, than any other stone I am acquainted with. 

“ At Cloughran church we find a calcareous district, or rib, 
stretching § from the foot of the hill of Howth, by Raheny and 
Cloughran, into the country of Meath; the boundaries of this 
valuable district, I am unacquainted with, but observe its comn- 
ponent strata more inclined to the horizon than any other lime- 
stone I have met with. 

‘‘ Immediately south of Dublin|| the calp is resumed, and in 
three miles we enter the granite district, stretching 4 from the 
sea up to the mountains. ‘The quarry stone used for building in 
Dublin is calp, and the cut stone gray granite. 

~« As we enter Wicklow county, we find a new hard stone 
strongly blended with quartz; of this Bray Head and the Sugar- 
Loaf Hills are formed. I could not find whether it was stratified 


~* Situated E of Newry, toward the coast. J. F. + Orrather SSW. J. F. 
t In proceeding again still south. J.P. § To the westward. J. FP. 
|| See Dr. Fitton’s Map, plate viiein Ph. M. xxxix. and its description, 
p.305. J.P. q| To the south-westward, according to Dr. Fitton. J.F. 


OF 


Letler to the Countess of Gosford, Se. 363 


sr not; but neither in Ireland nor Scotland did I ever find gra- 
nite stratified; a point much contested by naturalists, as the 
stratification of granite is necessary to some of their theories, 
adverse to others. 

‘** Proceeding due west*, we again change our material in 
Powerscourt Park, which now becomes micaceous schistus, and 
it is over a mighty stratified facade of this stone, the Powers- 
court waterfall is precipitated. 

“* T believe the Wicklow material is mostly schistus, and on 
Croghan mountain, near the termination of the Military Road, 
i saw a beautiful junction of schistus and granite+, distinct and 
rectilinear, the granite and schistus passing into each other as 
much fer saltum as the pieces of a Mosaic. 

“© Though your ladyship may be tired of this long tour to the 
southward, I must make you acquainted with the arrangements 
in your own immediate neighbourhood. 

“Travel northward t by Richhill road; at the end of your 
own wall, you enter an extensive scliistose distrist, spreading to 
thé we-tward beyond the Newtownhamilton road; but on the 
eastward for several miles, you have the basaltic area withia 
200 or 300 yards of you, not indeed more thamtwo miles broad, 
and bounded on the eastward by a great schistose stratum, 
spreading into the county of Down. 

*¢ At Kilmore § you come direct on a great calcareous district, 
stretching from the westward of Portadown, by Loughgall and 
Armagh, far to the westward ||; and to the northwest by Gores- 
town, Clonfecle and Benburb 4], where the Blackwater, passing 
through a deep ravine, shows the limestone stratum, or accumu- 
‘lation of strata, to be above 200 feet thick. 

“‘ Had you gone** direct to Armagh, near the town you 
would have crossed a new arrangement of stone, resembling ba- 
salt in colour and in its subdivisions: Mr. Weaver tells me it is 
argillite strongly impregnated with quartz. 

** Had your ladyship stuck to the boundary of the basaltic 
area, it would have brought you very near both Richhill and 
Portadown, leaving them to the west; thence direct to Lough- 
neagh, and across the lake to the confines of Tyrone and Derry, 
thence to the west side of the summit of the ridge of mountaiw 
leading due north to the ocean, where our magnificent facades 


* From the Sugar-Loaf Hills. J. F. 
t+ Quere, is this the juuction mentioned by Dr. Fitton, at bottom of 
p. 305? or, is it on another Mountain of the same name, 6 or 7 Miles to 


the N of it?) J. F. ¢ From Gosford Castle. J.T. 
§ NE of Armagh, and NW of Ricbhill. J. F. || Of Kilmore. J. F. 


€ Is this the same with Benbervin Mill?, Ph. M. xxxix. p. 353. J. F. 
** [vom Gosford Castle, or Markethill, westward. J. F. 
commence ; 


364 On the reialive Heights of the Levels 


commence ; stretching for many miles to the eastward, where 
your ladyship admired some of them so much. 

“© On the southern part of this boundary*, westward of Lough 
Neagh, granite seems to preponderate, and I have found red 
granite in abundance in the parish of Kildress; but when we 
enter Derry, the area for a great way to the westward is schistus, 
mixed with numerous quarries of stratified sandstone,’ and pri- 
mitive limestone, blue, crystallized and wvnstratified. 

“© Had your ladyship+ kept by the eastern boundary of the ba- 
saltie area, it would have led you, as the area inc reased in width, 
to Magheralint, where you w ‘ould have encountered a new va- 
riety of limestone, quite different from all I have mentioned, and 
particularly that near it at Kilmore 5 the latter a brownish red, 
free from flints, while the Magheralin and Moira limestone, and 
all the strata northward, are pure white and full of flints. 

‘“‘ The country or stripe to the eastward of the basaltic and 
limestone line, seems mostly indurated clay§, with quarries of 
stratified sandstone through it; and some gypsum quarries, as far 
as Cansielitexgus, and all crossed by many whin dykes. 

‘ This detail must be very tedious to your ladyship, but J 
wish to give you every opportunity of verifying my statement, 
whenever you may happen to approach, or pass through any of 
the separate systems I mention; it is upon their numbers and 
distinctness from each other, that I deny the trace of any great 
s paenenal operation on the surface of our globe so as te disturb 

; but the observations which these facts give rise to, and the 
ioe to be drawn from them,’ must be reserved for another 
letter. 

“ T remain, with great respect, 
* Your ladyship’s very humble servant, 
<* W. Ricnarpson, D.D.” 
LXXIII. On the relative Fish of the Levels of the Black 

Sea and Caspian Sea. By Messrs. MaurtcE ENGELHARDT 

and Francis Parror ||. 


Ore of the chief objects of the travels of Messrs. Engelhardt 
and Parrot to Caucasus and to the Crimea, was to determine 


* This sentence I cannot clearly coniprehend: Does it mean, that in 
Tyrone County, near to Lough Neagh, Granite abounds?. My Map does 
not show Kildress; Where is it?. J. F. 

+ On leaving Gosford Castle. J. F. ¢ Isthis Maherlin, in Down 
County? Ph. M. xxxix. p. 277 :and where is it situated?. J. F. 

§ Query Red Marl? Ph. M. xxxix. p. 272.—J. F. 

{| Extracted from a Voyage to the Crimea and Mount Gaucasus.— 
( Reise in die Krym und den Kaukasus.) Berlin 1815. 2 vols.—dAnnales dé 
Chimie et de Physique, tome i. Jan. 1816, p. 55. 

by 


of the Black Sea and Caspian Sea. 365 


by a barometrical survey the relative height of the Black Sea 
and the Caspian Sea, and to measure the height of the most re- 
markable points of the chain of the Caucasus. The work in 
which they have published the fruits of their researches appeared 
at Berlin in 1815. 

The relative height of the two seas was ascertained twice ; viz. 
Ist, in going from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea; and 2dly, 
in returning from the Caspian Sea to the point of departure. Our 
travellers alpempted to make corresponding observations at the 
level of the two seas; but this mode of verification succeeded 
yery imperfectly. 

The distance levelled from the mouth of the Kuban in the 
Black Sea, to the mouth of the Terek on the shores of the Cas- 
pian Sea, pursuing the sinuosities of the post road which the 
two travellers traversed, is 990 wersts*. If a straight line, this 
distance would be merely 813 wersts, corresponding to about 
91° of difference of longitude: the two extreme points are almost: 
under the same parallel. 

All the details of this vast operation are given at full length, 
and seem to deserve great confidence. Cistern barometers were 
used; but the correction of the level was made by calculation, 
which is very easy, the imterior diameter of the tube being 
known. 

A thermometer fixed into the mounting of the instrument gave 
the temperature of the mercury: another thermometer at liberty 
made known the temperature of the air at the moment of the 
observation; the scales had been rectified according to the mea- 
surement known by astronomers under the name of fathom of 
Peru; a stand made for the purpose with a leaden wire ad- 
mitted of the tubes being placed in a vertical position; an 
. anemometer gave the direction and strength of the wind, and 
consequently the measurement of the degree of confidence which 
every partial levelling seemed to deserve. The indications of 
the barometer are always expressed in 100dth parts of a line, 
and great care was taken to compare the instruments, before, 
after, and during the operation: in order to avoid all errors 
which might arise from derangements of this kind, the observers 
met every two days. They remained long enough at every sta- 
tion to take four distinct barometrical heights, and at intervals 
of 15’ at least: the epochs of these observations always corre- 
sponded perfectly. Every hour of the day is not equally favour- 
able in this kind of measurement; but it did not depend on the 
travellers to select the hour of twelve at noon, which is generally 
tliat which answers best. Their observations, however, were 


® 404°3 wersts make 1° of the meridian, 
always 


366 On the relative Heights of the Levels 


always made between six in the morning and eight in thé 
evening. 

It may be easily supposed from all these precautions that M. 
Parrot must have calculated his operation with great care: thus 
he made use of the formula of M. Laplace aud of the coefficient 
18393 metres which M. Ramond had found in the Pyrenees, 
almost under the very same parallel with the Caucasus, having 
in view at the same time the capillary depression of the mercury. 
"Phe only correction of which he could not keep an account was 
that of the diminution of gravity. 

The number of stations comprehended between the mouth of 
the Kuban and that of the Terek is 51; they w ere,'therefore, 
distant from each other about 18 wersts or 13 miles. The first 
measurement commenced on the 13th of July, beginning with 
the island of Taman*, and proceeding eastward, ascending the 
Kuban to Batal-Paschiisk near Constantinogorks, where the 
29th station was. Our travellers set out from this point to 


* The isle of Laman is remarkable by its springs of asphaltus, and its 
foaming volcanoes, which have been partly described sby Pallas in his 
Travels of 1793 and 1794. >Messrs. Parrot and Engelbardt visited the 
small volcanoes situated between the city of Taman and the lake Sucur. 
On the slope of a hill they discovered two basins of 16 metres aperture 
and two metres and a half deep, and which were filled with a frothy mass 
formed of argil and water. From time to time they saw rise to the sur- 
face of cach crater a bubble of air about a foot in diameter: the instant 
it burst a great number of similar small balls took its place. This pheno- 
menon was repeated every $0 or 40 seconds. The temperature of the 
water differed little from that of the air: the water at 29°49 of the centi- 
grade thermometer, the thermometer in the sun marked 2°999, and in the 
shade 26°9°. The travellers wanted proper instruments for examining the 
nature of the air extricated by the crater; they merely ascertained “that 
a was not inflammable, and that it did not keep up combustion. ‘She water, 
which was yellowish, had a saltish taste: in the bottom were found frag- 
ments cf bituminous limestone, selenite, and quartzous freestone. It seems 
that these small basins underwent some considerable changes at the time 
of the great eruption which took place in 1794 in the northern part of the 
bay of Taman. In 1807 near Kurgan the Cossacks heard a subterraneous 
noise similar to a discharge of artillery. The mountain was enveloped 
with a thick smoke; but speedily they saw issue s/owly from the bowels of 
the yawning earth a new hill, as large as a house. Large masses of cal- 
careous stone were thrown about here and there, but no flame was per- 
ceived. In the vicinity near Bugos, fountains of asphaltus or liquid mi-+ 
neral tar were found, which issue from secondary layers of freestone aud 
schistous limestone. 

These phenomena of frothy volcanoes put us in mind of that of Cuma- 
eatar, on the coast of Paria; the argillaceous and impregnated plains of 
Chapapote (asphaltus and petroleum) of the Island of Trinity; the foaming 
volcanoes of Girgenti in Sicily, celebrated by the ancients; and particularly 
the volcanoes of Turbace, near Carthagena in New Spain, and which 
according to M. Humboldt send forth azotic gas much purer thau is 
generally obtained in the laboratories of the chemists. 

make 


of the Black Sea and Caspian Sea. 367 


take excursions in the Caucasus, which lasted from the 17th of 
August to the 3d of October, and during which they measured 
the Kasbeck, a peak as high as Mount Blane. They resumed 
their labours on the 4th of October, and continued them follow- 
ing the 'Terek to the delta which it forms in throwing itself into 
the Caspian Sea. The highest point in this operation was 
only 594 metres above the Taman Island. In the vicinity of 
Mosdock, one of the stations, and 250 wersts from the Caspian 
Sea, the plain was on the level of the Black Sea. 

This first measurement was made under very favourable cir- 
cumstances, and gave for the difference of level 105 metres by 
which the Caspian Sea is lower than the Black Sea. 

Struck with the singularity of this result, Messrs. Parrot and 
Engelhardt recommenced the operation of the 10th of October, 
but proceeding on this occasion from east to west and following 
the same stations, withoit turning towards the Caucasus. On 
the 14th of October they had already gained the mouth of the 
Kubar. The weather during this second measurement was 
much less favourable, the barometer and thermometer were in- 
constant, the changes more sudden, the winds more variable 
and of more unequal strength. . Snow also fell at various times ¢ 
the sky was generally stormy, cold, and rainy, circumstances 
which usually render the altitudes too small. Now it is remark- 
able that it is in fact in this respect that the second determina- 
tion is erroneous, for it gives 92 metres for the elevation of the 
level of the Black Sea over that of the Caspian Sea. i 

After having thus twice traversed the great Steppe, M. Par- 
rot had the patience to make a third Journey. He set out from 
Taman on the 24th of November, and ought to have arrived at 
the mouth of the Terek on the 10th of December. The want 
of post horses produced so many delays, however, that he did 
_ not reach the banks of the Caspian Sea until the 20th of De- 
cember at 15 minutes past 11 A.M. M. Engelhardt had finished 
his observation on the Black Sea the night before: thus this’ 
operation presents no corresponding observations, and may mere- 
ly serve as a verification. On combining the observation of 
Taman of the 19th at 15 minutes past 11 with the ebservation 
made next day at the same hour in the Caspian Sea, we find 99 
metres for the difference of level. Another observation made 
at Taman in the afternoon of the 19th of December gave 102 
metres. On comparing the observation of M. Parrot of the 20th 
with the mean of all the observations of the 19th on the Black 
Sea, we shall obtain almost the sanie difference. There isin 
short no barometrical observation from that of 15 minutes past 
11 made at Taman from the 11th to the 19th of December, 
which combined with the single observation of M. Parrot of 

the 


368 On the relative Heights of the Levels 


the 20th of December indicates a sensible difference of level 
between the two seas: the least of these determinations will not 
be less than 41 metres. 

After having ascertained this grand difference of level, eur 
travellers thought they should inquire if it had always existed. 
Now Pallas thought he recognised by the form of the strata and 
the shells of the Caspian Sea scattered throughout the Steppe 
the ancient shores of that sea. ‘The operations of Messrs. 
Parrot and Engelhardt place these shores, which have an im- 
mense development, and in which we find gnifs and bays very 
cleaily defined, at 234 metres above the present Jevel; 1t must 
therefore be admitted that a mass of water has been lost of about 
30,000 square sea leagues in surface and 100 metres in depth. 
M. Parrot does not think that this was by evaporation; for, ac- 
cording to Gmelin, the waters of the Caspian Sea are so little 
salt that they do not contain one fourth of the muriate of soda 
which is found in those of the Atlantic Ocean: he rather thinks 
that this water must have run off by rents which have been suc- 
cessively opened and closed, the bottom of the sea being agi- 
tated by the volcanic action, the effects of which are still seen 
in the Island of Taman on the Bosphorus, and at Baka on the 
Caspian Sea. ‘The enormous differences between the soundings 
observed since 1556 and the time of Peter the Great to the pre- 
sent time give some probability to this opinion *. 

Let us now refer these results to the operations of the same 
kind which have been made at different epochs in order to com- 
pare the Red Sea with the Mediterranean, the Mediterranean 
with the Atlantic Ocean, and this Ocean with the South Sea. 

During the French expedition in Egypt, a commission of 
engineers of roads and bridges was charged under the direction 
of M. Je Pere to execute the levelling of the Isthmus of Suez : 
thereby they resolved the celebrated question agitated from the 
most remote antiquity, of the elevation of the Red Sea above 
the Mediterranean and the soil of Lower Egypt. It results, in 
fact, from the labours of the commission, that the level of the 


* On taking the mean between the results of the two measurements we 
shall find 9&4 millimetres (near 200 feet) for the quantity by which the 
Jevel of the Black Sea is more elevated than that of the Caspian Sea. 
tence it results that Astracan, the adjacent plains, and a very great num- 
ber of other inhabited places as well in Persia as in Russia, are-much in- 
ferior to the level of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean :—the singularity 
of this result will justify the details into which we have entered. ‘To cove 
clude: Before the voyage of Messrs. Parrot and Engelhardt, it had been 
suspected that the two seas had always one and the same level. M. Par- 
yot’s measurement corresponds perfectly with that given by Dr. Thos. 
Young in bis Natural Philosophy. The barometrical heights of Kamyehjn 
give for the Wolga 50° 4’ of latitude, and 54} millimetres below the level 

of &t. Petersburgh, 
Mediterra- 


a7 


_of the Black Sea and Caspian Sea. 369 


Mediterranean Sea is lower by eight millimetres at low water 
and nine millimetres at the high water of the Red Sea. One 
part of the basin of the bitter lakes is remarkable for its being 
eight metres lower than the level of the Mediterranean, which 
consequently places it 16 metres lower than the Red Sea: other 
points of the soil and even of the inhabited places are lowerthan 
the levels of both seas, The water of the Red Sea, for instance, 
might cover the whole of the surface of the Delta, and the ter- 
rors of submersion were, as has been seen, natural enough at 
distant periods, when this part of Egypt was less elevated than 
it is at present. 

For want of observations exactly correspondent for estimating 
the difference of elevations of two very distant stations, experi- 
mentalists have sometimes used the comparison of the harometri- 
cal mean pressure: this process is capable of much precision, 
as M. Ramond has demonstrated, if we stop at the mean pres-~ 
sures of the same hours, in order to avoid the effects of the pe- 
riodical variations. In order to determine the relative altitudes 
of the levels of the South Sea and of the Atlantic Ocean, it 
ought therefore to be sufficient to compare the mean heights of 
the barometer over the two opposite coasts of America, M. 
Humboldt’s Journal furnishes us with the necessary data for this 
purpose. 

- In fact, we there find in the first place that at Carthagena and 
Cumana in the Gulf of Mexico, the mean pressure of the ba- 
rometer = 0-7620 millimetre by a temperature of 25° centi- 
grade. At the harbour of Vera Cruz, the thermometer being 
at 20° the height = 0-7613 millimetre, but corrected from the 
dilatation of the mercury, it becomes as at Cumana 0-7620 
millimetre. At the temperature of zero and at the level of the 
Atlantic Ocean, between the tropics, the mean height of the ba- 
rometer is consequently = 0:7585 millimetre. 

On the shores of the South Sea, at Callao, a port of Lima, 
M. de Humboldt found the barometer = 0:7606 millimetre, 
the thermometer 20°; and at Acapulco, still on the Pacific Ocean, 
the barometer =0-7617 millimetre, the thermometer 27°. 
These heights brought to the temperature of zero, yield for 
the mean pressure of the air at the level of the South Sea 0°7578 
millimetre. If the slight difference which we remark between 
this number and that which represents the mean pressure at the 
level of the Atlantic Ocean could not be attributed to the errors 
inevitable in such delicate observations, it will result that the 
South Sea must be higher than the Ocean by about seven metres. 
Other observations of M. Humboldt which have not yet been 
published, will give a difference a little greater and in the same 
proportion; but this celebrated, traveller who only used his ba~ 

Vol. 47. No. 217, May 1816, Aa rometers 


7 


370 Relative Heights of the Levels of the Black and Caspian Seas. 


rometers for a geological level, thinks that in order completely 
to do away the doubts which the question may still present re- 
specting the relative height of the two oceans, we must have 
recourse to instruments mere precise, and exposed to shorter 
journeys by land; while we keep an account at the same time 


of the unequal heights of the tides, of the different hours of the 


observations in the harbours on the opposite shores of America, 
and of the horary variations of the barometer, which, although 
very regular as to the hours at which they happen, are not as 
completely so as has been supposed as to the quantities which 
measure them. However this may be, the observations which 
we have given already prove, that if there does exist a difference 
of level between the Ocean and the Great Pacific, it must be 
very small. 

The little velocity and constancy which mariners have re- 
marked in the currents of the Straits of Gibraltar, show that in 
these places the Mediterranean and the Ocean have nearly the 
same level. It may nevertheless appear curious to compare un- 
der this point of view two very distant points, since, contrary 
to all idea, the levelling of the isthmus of Suez, the results of 
which have been given above, has proved that two seas which 
communicate with each other may, nevertheless, have very dif- 
ferent levels. Now the measurement of the meridian of France 
presents an uninterrupted chain of triangles, which extend from 
Dunkirk to Barcelona; the relative elevations of the various 
summits may be deduced from the reciprocal observations of 
distances from the zenith; the absolute height of one single 
station will therefore serve to find the absolute height of all the 
rest; and this will be the case, whether we set out from the 
Mediterranean to approach the Ocean, or follow a contrary di- 
rection. 

It is according to this method that M. Delambre has calcu- 
lated the elevation of Rhodes over the Mediterranean and the 
Ocean, setting out in the first place from Mont Juy to Barce- 
lona, of which Stephani had directly found the height; and 
secondly, by the help of a signal at Dunkirk which was only 
66 metres from the level of. low water: those two determinations 
agreeing within a fraction of a metre, we may conclude, if not 
that the level of the Ocean at Dunkirk is exactly the same with 
the level of the Mediterranean at Barcelona, at least that the 
inequality of height, if it exists, ought to be insensible, 


LXXIV. On 


p Se7b*. j 


LXXIV. On the’ Quantity of ligneous Matter which exists in 
some Roots and Fruits. Read to the Philomathic Society by 
M., CLement*. 


I AM about to communicate to the Society an observation which 
will not perhaps be without interest, because it adds something 
to our knowledge of the wonderful organization of living beings, 
and because it may not be without utility to some of the arts. 

It has been generally supposed that the ligneous matter of 
some roots and some fruits which serve for our nourishment, such 
as potatoes, carrots, beet-root, apples and pears, form a consi- 
derable part of their mass,—a fourth or a fifth, for instance. 

The husks remaining after all the cyder has been expressed 
from the apples, and (as a celebrated chemist (M. Chaptal) has 
recently informed us) the husks of beet-root, are quite well 
adapted to the nourishment of animals. Nevertheless it is suf- 
ficient to regard the husks of beet-roots with the slightest at- 
tention, to see that they are merely formed of small pieces of 
beet-root perfectly similar to those obtained by cutting and 
chipping the beet-root when whole with a very sharp instru- 
ment, and without allowing a single drop of liquid to escape, 
Jt is impossible not to ascertain in an instant this perfect re- 
semblance, which strikes the eye, and which is besides confirmed 
by experience. 

I cut a piece of beet-root into thin slices, and the latter were 
divided and hacked nearly to the same degree with the husks 
remaining after the manufacture of sugar, and which yielded 
66 per cent. of juice. Nevertheless the beet-root thus cut did 
not furnish any liquid on being pressed; and after being dried in 
the sun it was found to have lost 88 per cent. of its weight, 7. e. 
precisely as much as the husks dried in the same way. 

Thus it is a great and mischievous error to imagine that the 
mask of beet-roots thrown away in the fabrication of sugar is a 
substance almost dry: it contains as much water as the entire 
beet-root (as comparative desiccation proves), and as much 
sugar.as the first juice extracts; a greater mechanical division 
throws the whole into the liquid state. We might therefore, 
in the ease in which the manufacture of beet-root sugar is con- 
venient, seek with a certainty of success for the means of em- 
ploying in the production of sugar that considerable portion of 
the root which forms about one-third of it, and which has been 
supposed so erroneously to be almost entirely composed of dry 
substances, 


* Annales de Chimie et de Physique, tome i. p, 173. Feb. 1816. F 
_ + By ligneous matter, f mean that substance analogous to wood, which 
forms the solid network of plants or fruits. 


Aa2 What 


372 Description of a Patent Blowing Machine. 


What has just been said is applicable to all the fruits em- 
ployed in making cider: what has been regarded as husks, as re- 
fuse and waste, is as nearly as possible the same substance with 
the cider itself. 

But according to this, the ligneous part which serves for an 
envelope or support to the liquid part of the fruits or roots which 
I have mentioned, will be in an excessively small quantity, since 
mechanical division will be sufficient to make it disappear, by 
causing it to float in the liquid. . 

In fact, this is what I have confirmed by experiments. I took 
off the skin from potatoes and rasped them: I washed the pulp 
in a sieve in order to remove the fecula; I took the husks which I 
put in hot water, and I addded -3,dth of sulphuric acid, in order 
to liquefy the starch that resulted from the boiling of the fecula 
which remained in the husks. I filtered, after boiling some 
hours ; and | found on the filtering paper, of dry ligneous mat- 
ter, only three-fourths of a hundredth part of the weight of the 
potatoes. I had besides ascertained that the fecula when first 
separated from the husks, did not contain an atom of ligneous 
matter; it had formed with the acidulated boiling water a so- 
lution perfectly limpid. 

I ascertained by other experiments, that the skin of common 
sized potatoes in one hundred parts formed only half a part of 
their weight. 

Thus the potatoe presents the singular phenomenon of a 
very hard and very compact solid body, and which contains only 
one part and a fourth in one hundred parts of ligneous matter, 
having when insulated by itself the solid appearance; whereas 
all the rest is formed merely of starch in powder, without any 
adhesion, and more than 5&8,dths of liquid. - 

Apples, pears, beet-root, carrots, and many other roots or 
fruits exhibit also results the more astonishing, since we do not 

even find in them +1,,dth of ligneous matter employed in forming 
the membranes and vessels of those organic beings, and of which 
{,dths are in the liquid state. 


LXXV. Dr. Gitsy’s Description of Mr. Strent’s Patent 
Blowing Machine. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — Hawise lately seen one of the patent blowing ma~- 
chines invented by John Street, Esq. of Clifton, I have been so 
much struck by the great simplicity and ingenuity of the con- 
trivance, as well as by its astonishing power, that I cannot re- 

frain 


‘ 


Description of a Patent Blowing Machine. 373 


-frain from sending you a short account of it, with a request that 
you will allow it, if possible, a place in your Magazine. 
I am, sir, most respectfully yours, 
Clifton, May 1, 1816. W. H. Gitpy, M.D. 


————— 


The engine itself is made of wood or metal ; and to have an 
accurate conception of its form, we have only to imagine a drum 
turned sideways, and in this situation to be supported a few 
inches from the ground by being connected at each end witha 
supporter, through the means of a pivot proceeding from the 
centre of the parchment ends, so as to fit into a corresponding 
hole in the supporter. In this situation by the help of a single 
lever it is made to turn to and fro in the segment of a circle. 
From the top of the vessel placed in this lateral position there 
descends about two-thirds the depth of the machine a partition 
board, cc, which being firmly attached to each of the ends as. 
well as to the top, and in this way made air-tight, serves to di- 
vide the interior into two compartments. At each end near the 
top there are two valves, one on each side of the partition board. 
At one end they open outwards, and at the other inwards, con- 
sequently the use of each set of valves is different. The lower 
part of the vessel is occupied by water, which is made to rise a 
little ubove the bottom of the partition board. 

Having given this explanation of the construction of the vessel, 
we have now to enter into the description of its operation.— 
Having said that the machine, when in action, moves to and fro 
in the segment of a circle, it is quite evident, whichever way it 
turns, that the water will always remain at whatever part comes 
to bethe bottom. The vessel in fact will move round the water. 
Such being the case, to whichever side the vessel moves, or in 
other words, whichever of the two compartments comes to be 
lowest ; it is manifest, that the air included in that compart- 
ment will be powerfully compressed by the partition hoard de- 
scending towards the fixed body of water, and will be’forced with 
a blast proportionate to the weight of water through the valve 
_ into a pipe. Upon the re-ascent of this compartment the same 
operation will take place in the other, while at the same time 
the air will again rush into the former by the valve opening in- 
wards, In this way, by the rotation of the engine to and fro, 
the air will be alternately discharged from each compartment, 
and a vigorous and almost constant blast will be maintained. 
I say almost constant, for while the vessel is in the act of turning 
after the expulsion of the air from the compartment, it is ob- 
vious that there will be a momentary suspension of the blast. 
This inconvenience is obviated, and at the same time a great 
accession of blast is obtained, by using two engines, which by 

Aas machinery 


874 Description of a Patent Blowing Machine. 


machinery are so contrived to work, that at the moment when 
the one is at the poise, or in the act of recovering itself after the 
expulsion of the air, the other shall be in the full energy of its 
operation. It is thus by the double blowing machine that a 
powerful and invessant blast is maintained. 

The advantages of this machine in point of power, the saving 
of fuel and labour, and in the more complete and speedy re- 
duction of the ore, are such, that it is found incomparably su- 
perior to the usual method of exciting an intense heat, and it is 
now coming into general use. Indeed its adoption is a matter 
of course; for it appears from the report of those who have tried 
it, that the manufacturer is enabled to work 40 per cent. cheaper 
than he can without it. The prodigious strength of the blast, 
and the rapidity with which the metal is reduced, are perfectly 
astonishing to the founder in his first experiment with it. L 
have seen several letters which Mr. Street has received from 
different manufacturers who have used it,~and from the lowest 
statement it appears that the power of one man will melt at a 
eupola 5 cwt. per hour; and several have said that 8 ewt. may 
he fused in the same period of time. One founder computes 
that he can with one horse melt more metal in eight hours, than: 
he could do before with three horses in twelve hours. In fact, no= 
thing can be stronger and more decisive as to its advantages, than 
the testimonials which have been received from all quarters; and 
ean it may not be too much to sav, that a discovery more 

eneficial tothe manufacturer has not taken place since the inven- 
tion of the steam-engine, the master-piece of human ingenuity. 

The annexed figure represents the front end of the engine 
and its connexion with the supporter ; and if we suppose the end 
to be made of glass, we should have a view of the interior, such 
as I have represented. 


Fig. 1. Working Handle. 


—— 


\ 
This trunk is SWaterSjZ= 
made of copper, 


and is fixed over SSS 


the valves aa, 
: Tiga 


fig. 1. Its point 
= ID 
and conveys the air to the blow-pipe. 


cc show the di- 
rection of the par- 
tition plank; DD 
the supporters. 


B corresponds pr = 
with the centre of the machine, 


[ 375 J 
LXXVI. On the refractive and dispersive Powers of certain 
Liquids, and of the Vapours which they form. By Messrs. 
Araco and PETIT. 


Read before the Royal Institute of France \ith of December 
1815. 


Tus theory of refraction, when considered under the most 
general point of view, is one of the most important branches 
of optics, not only on acevunt of its numerous applications, 
but also from the consequences which may be deduced from it 
relative to the nature of light and to the true causes of its pro- 
perties. Thus the experimentalists who have developed or 
supported the various systems contrived for the explanation of 
the phznomena of optics, are always particularly anxious to - 
model the law of refraction according to the hypothesis which 
they adinit. 

Newton, in attributing refraction to an attraction of bodies for 
light, has given of this phenomenon, and of the law to which it 
is subjected, an explanation so clear and natural, that it has been 
always regarded as one of the principal arguments in favour of - 
the system of emission. Nevertheless, if we remark that of all 
the general consequences deduced from the hypothesis of New= 
ton, the only one which to this day has been verified is reduced 
to the law of the constant ratio of the sine of incidence and of 
refraction ; if we observe besides that this law may be demon- 
strated without its being necessary to have recourse to the idea of 
an attraction, we shall easily perceive that before determining 
to adopt the hypothesis of Newton to the exclusion of all others, 
it is indispensable to examine to what extent the various con- 
elasions which flow from it are confirmed by experience :—such 
is the object of our present researches, In order to know their 
object correctly, it will be necessary to retrace in few words 
the principal points of the theory of refraction, such as Newton 
has inferred from the supposition of an attraction exercised by 
bodies upon light. 

On this hypothesis, we may easily conceive that when the 
molecules of which a ray is composed approach the refracting 
body, the attraction which it exercises on them changes both 
their velocity and the direction of their motion, and that this mo- 
tion becomes once more uniform and rectilinear, when the mo- 
lecules have penetrated into the body to the depth where the at- 
traction ceases to be sensible. The principle of active forces: 
applicable in this case, proves that the velocity which the light 
has acquired by the effect of refraction, is independent of 
the initial direction of the ray, and that the ratio of this ve- 

Aa4 lovity 


376 On the refractive and dispersive Powers of 


locity to that of the incident light is equal to the ratio from the 
sine of incidence to the sine of refraction. 

The same principle of active forces gives as the measurement 
of the total action of the body upon light, the increment of the 
square of the velocity of the ray; an increment which for this 
reason has been designated by the name of refractive power. 
This quantity ought evidently to depend on the nature of the 
body; but in one and the same substance it should remain in 
@ proportion to the density, for it is natural to suppose that an 
attraction is always exercised in proportion to the mass, what- 
ever in other respects may be the function of the distance ac- 
cording to which it varies. On this supposition, the refringent 
power, i. e. the ratio of the refractive power with the density, 
ought no longer to depend on any thing but the chemical con- 
stitution of the body, and remain constant when the density 
alone changes. 

This consequence of the theory of attraction has never been 
verified except in the gases. But if we reflect that their re- 
fractive power is extremely weak, and that consequently the in- 
crement of velocity which they impress on the light is very small, 
we shall be convinced, by the help of a very simple calculation, 
that the expression which the Newtonian theory gives for the re- 
fractive power is not the only one which, in the gases, remains 
in proportion to the density ; but that there exists an infinity of 
expressions different from the latter, all of which will satisfy the 
same condition. It results therefore, that, so far from the gases 
appearing to have a refracting power independent of their den-. 
sity, we have no right to conclude that solid and liquid bodies 
possess the same property. 

We are of opinion that the best method of deciding com- 
pletely this question, will be to compare the refractive power of 
different liquids, with that of the vapours which these liquids 
form. In this case the change of density is very considerable, 
and otie of the bodies at least preserves a very strong action on 
the light. We have therefore made choice of liquids, which at 
the ordinary temperatures of the air furnish the most abundant 
vapours. We have measured the refractive power of each of 
these liquids and that of the vapours which come from them: by 
comparing those refractive powers with the known densities of 
the liquids and of the vapours, it was easy to see if in each of 


these bodies the refracting power, 7. e. the analytical expression 
2 


is was independent of the density. 


The result of our experiments proves rigorously the con- 
trary. hey all agree in giving for the vapours a refracting 
power 


certain Liquids, and of the Vapours which they form. 377 


power sensibly less than that of the liquids which have formed 
them. Thus, in order to cite but a single example, the refracting 
power of the liquid carburetted sulphur, with reference to that 
of the air, is a little more than three, whereas that of the same 
substance in the state of vapour, with the same reference, does 
not exceed two. 

If we nowcompare thisresult with thetheory, weshall be obliged, 
by admitting the Newtonian theory of refraction, to suppose, which 
is at least a singular conclusion, that the attraction of one and 
the same body for the light is not exerted in proportion to the 
density. Unfortunately, the number of the substances on which 
we may operate with precision in the state of vapour, is too 
small to entitle us to hope to deduce from the results of our ex- 
periments, any law relative to the variation which the change of 
density occasions to the affinity of bodies for light. The liquids 
which we tried were carburetted sulphur, sulphuric ether, and 
muriatic ether. 

In the absence of this direct method, it appeared to us that 
this law might be deduced from the comparison of the refracting 
power of the gases, and of that of the solid or liquid bodies 
which they form on being united. In fact, if in the combina- 
tions of gas which retain the gaseous state, the refracting power 
of the compound was, as has been hitherto supposed, equal to 
the sum of the refracting powers of its elements, it will thence 
result that the act of combination will not in any way modify the 
action of bodies on light. Hence we may conclude with proba- 
bility, that the refracting power of a solid or liquid compound 
differs from the sum of the refracting powers of its gaseous 
principles, only in the ratio of the augmentation which these 
last undergo by the effect of condensation. : 

Nevertheless, as the law relative to the refracting power of the 
compound gases had been founded but upon a small number of 
experiments, it was indispensable in the first place to ascertain 
its exactitude : now by the measurements which we have made of 
the refraction of a great number of gases, we have proved that 
this law has not always agreed with the results of observation. 

We see therefore that the refracting power of any body, far 
from being constant, as the Newtonian theory seemed to prove, 
on the most natural hypothesis which can be formed of attrac- 
tion, undergoes on the contrary variations, either by the effect 
of the change of density, or by the state of combination in which 
the body is found. In order to determine the influence of each ° 
of those causes in particular, it is necessary to measure with ex- 
actitude the refracting powers of a great number of substances, 
and those of the combinations to which they give rise. Although 
the labour which we have undertaken on this head already em- 

braces 


: 
: 


378 On the refractive and dispersite Powers of certain Liquids: — 


braces a considerable number of bodies, we have felt the ne- 
eessity of extending our experiments still further, in order to en- | 
deavour to connect by some general law the various results which 
we obtained. 

The facts which we have presented appeared to us to be of 
such importance relative to the theory of light, that we have 

whought it would be useful to follow the consequences of it into 
the various phenomena which by their nature have a more or 
less direct union with that of refraction. 

The variously coloured rays of which white light is composed - 
are, as we know, unequally separated from each other by their re- 
refraction into bodies of a different nature, and in this consists the 
difference of dispersive power of bodies. What is most natural 
to take for the measurement of the dispersive power, is the dif- 
ference of the refracting powers relative to the extreme colours 
of the spectrum ; and in the Newtonian theory this difference — 
eught to be constant for one and the same body, as well as the — 
refracting power of the mean rays. ; 

Experience having shown that this last power diminished with — 
the density, it was easy to foresee that the dispersive power — 
would also diminish ; but it was important to examine if these _ 
variations followed the same law. In order to attain this object, 
it was necessary to determine the dispersive power of the liquids 
and vapours of which we had previously measured the refrac- 
ting power. The dispersive power of the liquids may be easily 
obtained, but it is not the same with that of the vapours. The 
refraction which they oceasion in a prism being very weak, the 
dispersion, which is only a very small part of this refraction; ag 
scarcely sensible. Thus, in spite of the importance of a similat 
determination either in the gases or in the vapours, experi- — 
mentalists seem to have given up the idea of deducing it from — 
ebservation. But as the object which we proposed to ourselves | 
required a direct measurement, we were constrained to attain — 
this object by the aid of a process of which we shall give a de- © 
tailed description. We shall find besides, from the results which _ 
we shall give, that the experiments made on one and the same _ 
yapour under different circumstances, agree well enough with | 
each other to entitle us to regard our determinations as ; closely d 
approaching the truth. 

On comparing the dispersive powers of the vapours thus mea-_ 
sured, with those of the liquid from which these vapours have pro- — 
ceeded, we were convinced that the dispersive power was effectu- _ 
ally diminished with the density ; but what observation has taught 
us, in a manner not less certain, is, that the dispersive power di- — 
minishes in a greater ratio than the refracting power; or in other 
words, by calling 7 the ratio of the sine of incidence to the 7 . 

ot 


S 
: 
4 
4 
; 


On the Use of Sulphate of Soda in the making of Glass. 379 
ef refraction, and d the density of the body, the refracting 


~ 


power _*—1 js not only variable for one and the same class of 
d 


rays, but also the law according to which this change is effected 
is different for the variously coloured rays. 

In the carburetted sulphur which we have already chosen for 
example, the ratio of the dispersive power to the refracting power 
is 0-14 in the liquid state, whereas it is reduced to 0°88 in the 
state of vapour. ; 

Thus, while the variation of the refracting power may be also 
accounted for, by admitting that the attraction of one and the . 
same body for light varies according to a law different from that 
of the direct ratio of the densities, we see that in order to give 
an account of the variation observed in the dispersive power, we 
must suppose besides that the action of a body on the various 
oloured rays follows in the changes of density a different law 
for each of those rays. These various suppositions diminish, 
without doubt, both the simplicity and the probability of the 
Newtonian theory ; but before deciding any thing in this respect, 
t is necessary, we repeat, to examine with great care the changes 
which the refracting powers of bodies undergo, either by 
ariations of density or by the effect of combination. It is in- 
ispensable also to join to these determinations such as are re- 
lative to the dispersive powers, to which experimentalists have 

ot hitherto paid any attention, and which, as we have already 
ounced, may by means of numerous precautions be deduced 
from direct experiments. 

Although the work which we purpose to publish on this sub- 
ject be very far advanced, we have thought it right to communi- 
sate beforehand the results furnished to us by our experiments on 

ids and vapours. , 


LXXVIL. On the Use of Sulphate of Soda in the making of 
Glass. Ly the late M. Genten*. 


. GruLEN, of whose valuable services chemistry has lately 
a deprived by a premature death, was much occupied with 
he manufacture of glass, and employed the sulphate of soda as 
flux. It is not the salt which is vitrified with the silex ; but 
her the soda, which abandons the sulphuric acid at a high 
temperature, on account of the chemical action which. soda and 
ilex exercise upon each other, After a great number of ex- 


* Translated from the Journal de Schweiger, vol. x¥. p. 89. 
periments, 


380 Some Account of the Monuments 


periments, M. Gehlen found that the following proportions were 
the best : } 

100 sand, 50 dry sulphate of soda, from 17 to 29 of quick-- 
lime in dry powder, and 4 of charcoal. | 

This composition always gives, without the addition of any” 
other flux, a very fine glass for drinking-glasses ; and we remark 
neither any sulphurous smell, which was sometimes so strong as - 
to overpower the workmen, nor the extraordinary crackling” 
which is manifested in the melting-pots when other proportions 
are employed. . 

After numerous observations M. Gehlen announces the follow-_ 
ing results : 

i. The sulphate of soda may be employed in the manu- 
facture of glass, without the addition of any other saline flux. 
The glass, which results is equally beautiful with that made with _ 
the usual materials, and it possesses all the properties of that” 
made with soda. » 

2. The sulphate of soda alone, is but very imperfectly vitrified” 
with the silex, even when heat is long continued. By the 
intermedium of lime, the vitrification succeeds better, but not 
in the proportion of the lime and the combustibles which must | 
be employed. 

3. The vitrification takes place, on the contrary, in a short 
time and in a perfect manner, by means of any substance which 
decomposes the sulphuric acid of the sulphate of soda, and thus 
destroys the powerful affinity which hindered the soda from 
acting on the silex. It is charcoal which best attains this ob= 
ject: nevertheless in the preparation of flint glass its place may 
be supplied by metallic lead. ¥ 

4, This decomposition of the sulphate of soda may be effected 
during the vitrification itself, or previous. Local circumstances | 
may determine, in the choice of one orother of those processes 5 
but the employment of the latter presents no difficulty what- 
eyer. ¥ 


LXXVIII. Some Account of the Monuments of Thebes in 
Egypt*. 


Orr knowledge of the monuments of Thebes was, until lately, 
so limited and imperfect, that but very little could be said on the 
subject with any certainty. Among the numerous travellers 
who have visited Egypt, some have merely penetrated into 

* Translated from the Appendix to the work published by M, Hee n, 
of the University of Gottingen, entitled Ideen iiber die Politik, den Verkehs 
und den Handel der Vornehmsten Voelker der Alien Welt. Sd Editio 
Gottingea. 1815. : 


of Thebes in Egypt. 381 


the upper part, where they have but very rarely had opportuni- 
ties of making extensive researches, and more rarely still leisure 
and talents for transmitting to us by faithful drawings what they 
had seen. Of all those travellers, Pocock and Norden are al- 
‘most the only ones who deserve to be mentioned. But in the 
present day the slightest examination is sufficient to show how 
inadequate they are to give an accurate idea of the monuments 
of this country :—thus their reports furnish not the slightest idea 
of those wonders of antiquity with which we have been since 
made acquainted. It was the French expedition to Egypt 
which revealed to us the secrets of that country. M. Denon, by 
his Voyage and the engravings which accompanied it, was the 
first who gave a more precise idea of the monuments of Upper 
Egypt, and partly of those of Thebes*. This work fixed the at- 
tention of Europe on the country, and gave hopes of making 
further discoveries. The reports of M. Denon, however, only 
excited without satisfying our curiosity. 
- Among so great a number of monuments, it was necessary to 
select and to publish only a few; and the finances of an indivi- 
dual, although seconded by government, prescribed certain limits 
to his researches. | 

The French government has already commenced the publica- 
tion of a superb work upon Egypt ancient as well as modern, 
its monuments, productions, inhabitants, &c. The first num- 
ber appeared in 1811. It comprehends Upper Egypt, from the 
southern frontier to Thebes, and is divided (like the numbers 
which succeeded it) into three parts: viz. Antiquities, Natural 
History, and Modern Statistics: The antiquities, which alone 
engross our attention at present, are the monuments. of Philo, 
Elephantinus, Assuan, Esne, Edfu, Eleuthiyas, and some others less 

markable. ‘The second number of the work is far more mag- 
nificent than the first:—here engraving seems to have made ef- 
forts to surpass herself; and 161 folios, part of them of such a size 
as never issued from any press before, now present us with the 
faithful image of that ancient Thebes where the most ancient kings 
of the earth resided: and ifthe moderns must confess that they . 
«ould not now build such monuments, the arcl.itects of those 
Aistant ages, if they were to revisit the earth, could not contem- 

te without admiration those superb engravings of their works. 
‘The price of this work (the second number costs 1600 franes in 
Paris, or 80/. in London) precludes it from having an extensive 
circulation, and if it were reduced in size it would lose its splen- 
did character. 

_At the moment when the great French work reached the 
 * See the work now publishing by Mr. Taylor, of Hatton Garden, re- 
ferred to in our last volume.—Enit. 
¢ Gottingen 


1. 
582 Some Account of the Monuments 


Gottingen library, we received that of Sir William Hamilton © 
also, whom I had the honour to reckon among my auditors 4 
during a course of lectures which I gave on the antiquities of — 
Egypt. The English traveller has dedicated the first part of © 
his work to the monuments of this country, and particularly to | 
those of Upper Egypt and of Thebes. It is true that we find | 
here a sketch of several of the drawings of the great French | 
work, and every person must be aware of the advantage which | 
results from the comparison of the descriptions and criticisms, , 
and even of the drawings of observers of two different nations, — 
who furnish us with means of comparison so useful and im- — 
portant. 

It is from those two sources, but chiefly the former, that _ 
I have drawn my materials. I shall endeavour, in the first place, — 
to give a general idea of the monuments of Thebes, and to de- — 
scribe them afterwards in detail. 

The French have measured the ground of ancient Thebes, ; 
and have given it in the Plan General with an exactitude which — 
leaves almost nothing to be desired. The valley of the Nile did — 
not present in all Upper Egypt any place more convenient for the | 
establishment of a great capital. ‘The chains of mouhtains of 
the two shores of the river, those of Libya on the west and _ 
the Arabic on the east, are far enough distant to leave on the” » 
two banks a spacious plain from. three leagues to three and a_ 
half broad from west to east, and nearly of the same length. To 
the north this plain is very contr acted, by.the closeness of the 
mountains whieh skirt the banks ; 3 but towards the south, where 
the western chain leaves the river, it is open on one side. | 
Nature had therefore put bounds to the space which Thebes oc= | 
eupied, but stil ll there was space enough to make it one of the 
first cities of the earth. Did the ancient Thebes cover the whole 
of this plain? This is a question which it is dificult to decide, | 
after all the private residences have disappeared; but as on the 
western side the external monuments extend to the foot of the | 
mountains of Libya (where the Hypogea or subterranean monu-— H 
ments commence), the circumstance does not appear doubtful in | 
this part: as to the western side, where the great monuments” 
are immediately close to the river, it cannot be determined to 
what extent this yast plain was covered with habitations. His- 
tory teaches us to think that it was entirely so, from the extent 
of its population. 

Thebes extended therefore over both banks of the Nile; but, | 
so far as we know, the two parts of the city were never joinec 7 
by a bridge. A nation which was not acquainted with the art 
of making arches, could scarcely throw a bridge over a rive 
which is from 7 to 800 fathoms in breadth. oa PY 

1e 


of Thebes in Egypt. 383 


The sketch which we are now about to give of the monuments 
still existing, will be more intelligible if. we distinguish them by 
the two sides of the river. ‘The principal of those fine ruins 
bear the names of villages with which the plain is covered: on 

the west bank are those of Medynat-Abou and Kurnu; Luxor 

and Carnoc are on the opposite shore; and we must add Med- 
Amuth, situated at the north-east extremity of the valley, and 
presenting the most distant ruins. As to the size of those monu- 
ments, they resemble each other so much on both banks, that 
opinions are divided as to the preference which ought to be given 
to either. 


I. Monuments which exist in the western Part of the Plain of 
Thebes. 


The monuments of this part of the plain are of different 
Kinds. They form an uninterrupted series from south to north 
near the Libyan chain: there remains thereftre between the 
monuments and the river aspacious plain, which must have been 
covered formerly with private residences, In contemplating 
them we shall go from south to north. 


1, The Circus or Hippodrome *. 


The first objects which here present themselves are the remains 
ef a grand Stadium with a small temple at the southern extremity ; 
but the grand portico which we see on one side of this temple 
inclines us to think that there existed there in ancient times an 
edifice proportioned to those dimensions. The Circus is more 
than 6000 French feet long by 3000 broad. . By the report of 
the French, the area which it presents is equal to that of the 
Champ de Mars at Paris taken seven times, or 624,380 square 

_toises or fathoms: it presented therefore a space sufficient for 
‘the evolutions of animmense army. The whole had an inclosure 
_ which to this day presents a series of hillocks, through which doors 
and passages were made: 39 of these are still reckoned, and 
there must have been formerly nearly 5J. The principal en- 
trance, indicated by a Jarger aperture, was on the east side; 


* Sir W. Hamilton, p. 151, denies the existence of this Circus. He sees 
jn it merely the bed of an ancient canal, also marked by the French. This 
ace, which he values at 2000 yards in length by 40 in breadth, cannot, 
ie says, liave served for a stadium. | Nevertheless the accurate researches 
and the measurements of the I’rench leave né doubt as to the data of their 
text; and J can only account for the errors of the English author, by sup- 
“posing that the inundations, which still continued, prevented him from vi- 
titing the spot completely; or, rather, Has Sir W, Hamilton taken the dou- 
ble inclosure of the eastern side, which leaves a space of 40 yards, for the 
or inclosure of the Circus? This error would be the more easily fallen 
$nto, as the inclosure of the eastern side now exists only in ruins, 
vs the 


384 Some Account of the Monuments 


the whole inclosure shows evidently that it was formerly adorned 
with superb architecture, which contained triumphal monuments. 
It is probable that this grand circus was not within the inclosure 
of the city, although quite close to Thebes : there was a similar 
Cireus, but smaller, on the eastern side, almost opposite the first. 
If we allow that both were outside of the city, we may also de- 
termine with great probability the southern front of Thebes. — 
It is not credible that those two establishments were destined to — 
the gymnastic exercises solely and to chariot-racing ; they were 
used apparently also for public meetings, and for the exercise of 
those armies which under the Sesostris, the Osymandyas and 
other conquerors, set out from thence for their conquests, and 
brought home there the triumphal marks of their victories. 

II. On going further northward, we meet, on the edge of this — 
sandy belt which extends along the Libyan chain, the antiquities — 
of Medynat-Abou. I comprise under this name, proceeding — 
from south to nerth ; 

a. A palace and a temple almost at the northern extremity of © 
the Circus. 

b. The Colossus of Memnon, with the other Colossi quite 
near, and the remains of a building which seems to be the Mem- 
nonium of Strabo. t a 

c. The palace and tomb of Osymandyas, frequently called 
Memnonium by travellers. 

All these monuments are almost at the foot of the Libyan | 

_ehain, and 1500 toises from the hill. 

We shall in the first instance take up the subject of the palace, — 
the pavilion which communicates with it, and the temple. Itis — 
a matter of great historical importance to meet with these — 
edifices, the interior arrangement of which proves in an incon- — 
testable manner that they were not temples properly so called, 4 
but buildings destined to be inhabited, and probably by kings. | 
The pavilion is a building of two stories; it has several halls | 
and chambers, and a great number of windows. Its position is” 
so well adapted, that from this point we perceive not only the — 
monuments of Medynat-Abou, but also those of the other side — 
of the Nile and the whole plain of Thebes. Every thing there 
seems to indicate the ordinary residences of kings: the orna- 
ments of the sides in particular confirm this hypothesis. These — 
representations differ essentially from those which are found in | 
the temples; they exhibit in part family scenes. Unfortunately | 
this edifice is very much damaged, and the upper story only is — 
preserved. a 

It is 250 feet north-west from this pavilion that the grand _ 
palace of Medynat-Abou is to be found. Its entrance is formed 
by those masses of architecture, foreign to the European style it 

1S 


i 
a 
a 


| 


On a curious Property of vulgar Fractions. 335 


is true, but known in France by the name of Pylones, and which 
the Greeks also called Propylee. There are here also two 
truncated pyramids 66 feet high, which contain between them the 
principal gate and grand entrance. ‘This gate leads into a spa- 
cious court surrounded by galleries, formed on one side by eight 
columns, on the other by pilasters, on which are affixed as 
caryatides, but without bearing any thing, some colossal statues 
of Osiris. The aspect of the whole inspires, accor ding to the 
report of eye-witnesses, a sentiment of ineffable veneration. 
Opposite to the principal entrance rises a second pylone of a 
smaller size. It leads into a second peristyle, also formed of 
caryatides, pilasters, and columns. 
[ fo be continued. | 


ae 


LXXIX. Ona curious Property of vulgar Fractions. By 
Mr. J. Farry, Sen. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sin, — a3 examining lately, some very curious and ePita 
Tables of “ Complete decimal Quotients,” calculated hy Henry 
Goodwyn, Esq. of Blackheath, of which he has printed a copious 
specimen, for private circulation among curious and practical 
calculators, preparatory to the printing of the whole of these 
useful Tables, if sufficient encouragement, either public or indi- 
vidual, should appear to warrant such a step: | was fortunate 
while so doing, to deduce from them the following general pro- 
perty 5 viz. 

If all the possible vulgar fractions of different values, whose 
greatest denominator (when in their lowest terms) does not exceed 
any given number, be arranged in the order of their values, or 
quotients; then if both the numerator and the denominator of any 
fraction therein, be added to the numerator andthe denominator, 
respectively, of the fraction next but one to it (on either side), 
the sums will give the fraction next to it; although, perhaps, 
not in its lowest terms. 

For example, if 5 be the greatest denominator given; then are all 
the possible Be pe: when arranged, = 33 - = = os 


as the given fraction, we have 


4 baw 
> =» and 3 taking = 


4 1 
the next smaller fraction then ss 


=> the next larger fraction to + Again, if 99 be 


€ 


ol. 47. ". 217. May 1816.' Bb the 


586, Notices respecting New Books. 
the largest denominator, then, in a part of the arranged Table, 


15 2 13 2 QW ; é 
rophea sheet he &c.; and if the third 


: 7% 15 +13 28 
of these fractions be given, we have —-' —- = —— the second: 
es tae? 52 4.45 a7 * 


we should have 


18411 

“45 + 38 
cases, 

I am not acquainted, whether this curious property of vulgar 
fractions has been before pointed out?; or whether it may ad- 
mit of any easy or general demonstration ; which are points on 
which I should be glad to learn the sentiments of some of your 
mathematical readers; and am 


Sir, 


24 : 
= 43 the fourth of them, and so in all the other 


Your obedient humble servant, 
Howland-street. J. FAREY. 


LXXX. Notices respecting New Books. 


Ordnance Maps of British Counties. 


pe circumstances which were thought to render expedient 
the suspension of the publication of the ordnance maps being 
now removed, the publication of them is resumed, and they may 
be obtained, as formerly, at the Drawing-Room in the Tower, or 
of Mr. Faden, Charing-Cross. As the suspension was only in- 
tended to be temporary, not merely the operations of the Tri- 
gonometrical Survey, but those of the mapping and engraving, 
have been regularly carried on during that period, under the 
superintendance of Colonel Mudge ; so that several county maps 
will be ready for delivery almost immediately. The maps of 
Cornwall, Devonshire, Dorsetshire, Hampshire, (including the 
Isle of Wight,) Sussex, and that part of the county of Kent 
which squares-in on the Sussex side with the general work, will be 
published in a very few weeks: and a separate map of the Isle 
of Wight is now onsale. The maps of all the contiguous counties 
north of these are in the hands of the engravers; and that of 
the whole county of Kent is re-engraving, and in a state of for- 
wardness. When the several plots and portions now planning 
by the surveyors are finished, at least three-fifths of England 
and Wales will be ready to be placed successively in the hands 
of the engravers ; and the work will be carried on with all possi- 
ble expedition consistent with accuracy. These maps are on a 
scale of an inch to a mile, a scale that admits of an attention to 
minutize which must of necessity he disregarded in maps of smaller 
size. 


Royal Society. i 4  g Joey 


size. Hence, it may not only be expected that the general out- 
line and the prominent physical circumstances shall be correctly 
delineated, but that the minuter points and peculiarities which 
are interesting to the topographer and the antiquarian shall be 
permanently marked and readily traced in these maps. 


LXXXI. Proceedings of Learned Socteties. 


ROYAL SOCIETY. 


May 2. Dr. Nixon communicated an account by Dr. Serres 
of a singular case of complete euphony cured by electricity. 
The subject was a young French officer, who at the battle of 
Dresden was in the act of giving the word of command, when a 
ball passed him, the effect of which on the air knocked him 
down, at the same time rendering him speechless, and for a day 
almost insensible. Two men near him were killed by the ball, 
which did not touch him. In the hospital at Dresden he par- 
tially recovered the use of his left side and hearing, which were 
impaired ; but all efforts to recover his voice were in vain, and 
he was discharged as an invalid. His hearing was still very 
confused, but his smell was preternaturally acute, and the 
smell of coffee was altogetlier intolerable to him. His tongue 
had contracted into a sinall protuberance in his mouth about 
the compass of an inch, and his left side continued benumbed, 
till he was prevailed on to’ be electrified by Mr. Tinman of 
Brussels. He had not been electrified above seven or eight times 
when his hearing was improved, and his tongue began to ex- 
pand. Mr. T. then passed shocks through his mouth and down to 
his stomach, when he hastily got up, and in a low voice returned 
thanks to the operator, and ran off to Amsterdam like a person 
deranged. He returned, however, in a few days perfectly cured 
in his voice, which is now better than it was before the accident ; 
but he still feels some pain in his left leg, and occasionally in 
foggy weather an oppression on the chest. But after eight 
months and twenty-five days he recovered his voice completely. 

Dr. Wollaston read a paper, containing his remarks on the 
glazier’s diamond, and an account of his experiments with that 
instrument. He discovered that the diamonds for cutting glass 
are all in a natural state, and not cut by the lapidaries; that the . 
natural angles of the stones are probably harder than the artifi- 
cial; that the surface of all cutting diamonds is curvilinear ; that 
the groove which they make (for it is not a scratch as com- 
monly supposed) on the surface of the glass is a tangent to the 
face of the diamond ; and that flint and other hard stones me 

Bb2 e 


389 Royal Society, 


be formed so as to cut glass the same as a-diamond, But that 
their durability is shorter m proportion as they are softer. 

May 9. . A letter to the President by Chapman, Esq, 
M.R.1.A. was read, detailing some observations and conjectures 
.on the geological formation of coals. The author had reason te 
suppose that coals were formed from peat; and to illustrate this 
opinion he has observed the depth of peat bogs in Ireland, and 
in the north of England, aud compared the results with the 
coal-mines at Newcastle, wherice he writes. “fhe deepest peat- 
bogs are from 30 to 40 feet; and he finds by calenlation that if 
this mass was compressed, it would be about equal to the strata 
of coal at Newcastle, although it is far from equalling those in 
Staffordshire. He also traced the analogy between the timber 
or trees found in peat-bogs and on the sea-shores of Northum- 
berland, and the gritstone found in the Canton mine at New- 
castle. This stone, specimens of which have been sent to the 
British Museum, has the perfect form and appearance of trees ; 
and even its apparent fibres are such as to leave no doubt of the 
kind of wood which had preceded the present sand or grit. It 
appears that this ligniform stone fell from the roof of the pit, 
and. had been in an erect position, the same as trees are often 
found in peat-bogs in the natural mode of growth. — In falling, 
these stones leave behind them the model of their bark, which 
the author thinks has been converted into canal coal. He also 
took the specific gravity of peat, which he found to be.in general 
1200, and noticed the peculiar oval form into which trees are 
compressed in the earth. The combustion which assisted the 
change of peat into coal, he considers, may have been effected 
by means of the martial pyrites. 

May 16. A letter from Mr. Mornley to Dr, Wollaston was 
tead, describing an immense block of meteoric iron found in 
Brazil, about 50 leagues from Bahia. This extraordinary mass 
was discovered near the bed of a river, in a sterile country, where 
the granite rocks occasionally surmount, and are never more than 
twelve feet below the surface of the soil; there are few trees, and 
those stunted; and hedges are formed of a species of euphorbia, 
the juice of which emits a phosphorescent light, and is highly 
deleterious to the skins of animals. The block of meteoric 
iron measured about 6 feet by 4, and the author calculated that 
it contained 28 cubic feet, and weighed 14,000lbs. An unsue- 
eessful attempt was made about thirty years ago to transport it to 
Bahia, and for this purpose forty pair of oxen were employed ; 
but the apparatus failed, and the attempt was abandoned. It 
was removed only some yards, and now lies in lat. 10° 33’ south. 
There are thermal springs in that country, the temperature of 


which was from 81 to 10], the atmosphere being 77 and i 
. the 


“Royal Society. —* 389 


the water contains iron, is bitter, and clear, Common salt. 
abounds, and is collected by the inhabitants; but it is bitter, | 
and purgative to those unaccustomed to its use. Dr. Wollaston 
analysed the specimen which the author succeeded in chiseling 
from the block, which he found to be magnetic. In Dr. W’s 
analysis he found it to contain about 4 per cent. of nickel; the 
mineral is crystallized ; he dissolved it in nitric acid, added am- 
monia, and precipitated it with a triple prussiat. The specimen 
given to Dr. W. he found to be susceptible of magnetism, like all 

native iron ore ; he therefore confirms the author’s observations 
on the magnetism of the entire block, which does nat at present 
lie in the direction of its poles. 

May 23. A letter to the President from T. A. Knight, Esq. 
F.R.S. was read, containing his observations on ice found in the 
bottom of running water. Last February Mr. K. observed near 
his residence, that ice was attached to stones at the bottom of a 
river, while the surface was only covered with iniumerable spi- 
cula, but not converted into solid ice. He likewise found ice 
below water near a mill, where the water had been precipitated 
over stones : from the circumstance of the water having spicule 
running on its surface, and its temperature being quite as low 
as the freezing point, he is inclined to think that these spicula 
have been carried to the bottom by eddies and water-falls, and 
that coming in contact with certain stones somewhat cooler than 
the water, in this manner solid ice was formed at the bottom of 
rivers. If, however, ice has been found at the bottom of stag- 
nant water, he admitted that this theory would be inadequate to 
explain the phenomenon, Of the latter circumstance, indeed, 
he appeared to have no perfect knowledge. 

Sir Everard Home, Bart. furnished a curious paper on the for~ 
mation and use of fat in the tadpole. In his researches he was 
assisted by Mr. Hatchet, who analysed the eggs or ova of frogs, 
and discovered that they have no yolk. The tadpole of the Rang 
paradoxa is so large that its internal structure can easily be ex- 
amined, and it is sold in the market of Surinam for fish. Sir E. 
having obtained specimens of those tadpoles examined their 
anatomical characters, described the fins or fringes which serye 
as gills, noting the different appearances in their metamorphoses, 
the formation of the head of a perfect frog; and finally, the ex- 
tinction of the tail. The common tadpole, 1 it appears, lives on 
the gelatinous matter with which it is surrounded ; and to this 
end it is provided with a comparatively very long gut, which 
enables it to take up food; and that this gut is lined with fat, 
which in the animal’s progress from the tadpole to the frog gra- 
dually disappears; in 20 days it loses those fringes which served 
it forgills, and acquires a head and lungs; in seven more its tail 

Bb3 falls 


390 Royal Institute of France. 


falis off, and the fat of its intestine is then entirely consuined. 
The length of the gut and ifs fat, Sir E. thinks, supply the want, 
of yolk intheova. Mr, Hatchet’s experiments on ova presented 
some curious facts; he found the yolk to consist of oil and a 
peculiar animal matter.’ In some cases the animal matter was 
of a yellow colour indestructible by alkalies, and might be used 
for marking linen; the gelatinous mass is of a nature between 
albumen and gelatin. 


SOCIETY OF ARTS. 


Ventilation of Mines—Ou Wednesday the 23d instant the 
Society of Arts voted their gold medal and a reward of 100/. to 
Mr. Ry:.n, for his improved system for ventilating mines. This 
is the highest honour and pecuniary reward which the Society 
can bestow upon an individual, and strongly marks the high 
sense they entertain of the benefits likely to result from the ge- 
neral introduction of this system into all the coal-mines. Pre- 
judice, ignorance, and mistaken interest, must fall before the light 
of science and the calls of humanity. The original object of 
Mr. Ryan was the prevention of explosions in coal-mines, and 

_the preservation of the health of miners. The safe-lamp of Sir 
H. Davy has effectually accomplished the first—the system of 
Mr. Ryan accomplishes the second; -with this additional ad- 
vantage to coal owners, that they may now work out the entire 
bed of coal, and not leave behind them about one half as pillars 
to support the roof: and this will yield another benefit—the 
roof and floor being allowed to close, the cavity will be so much 
diminished as not to form a reservoir for water, threatening the 
drowning of neighbouring mines, with the death of all the work- 
men, as was the case some months ago in the Heaton Colliery. 


ROYAL INSTITUTE OF FRANCE. 
Analysis of the Labours of the Class of Mathematical and 
Physical Sciences for the Year 1815. By M, Cuvisr. 
CHEMISTRY. 
[Continued from p. 312.] 


M. Gay Lussac has also presented to the class some papers on 
the cold which results from evaporation, and on evaporation in 
the air at different degrees of temperature and pressure, in which 
he expresses, by a formula, the results of his experiments. He 
followed up his last paper with one on hydrometers, which con- 
tains the immediate consequences of the foregoing memoirs; but 
these works not having, as he thinks, as yet acquired that preci- 
sion and order which he has been accustomed to give to all that 
he publishes, he has deferred their publication. 

M. Dulong 


Royal Institute of France. 391 


M. Dulong of Alfort has detailed some experiments on the 
oxalic acid, which, although they do not form a complete series, 
nevertheless hold out some interesting prospects in science. On 
saturating this acid with barytes, strontian, or lime, salts are ob- 
tained which always represent the acid employed, even after they 
have been exposed to a heat superior to that of boiling water ; but 
with oxide of lead or zine we always lose twenty per cent. of the 
acid by desiccation. On burning these dried metallic oxalates' af- 
terwards, no water is obtained ; but we obtain carbonie acid, gase- 
ous oxide of carbon, and there remain the oxides of the metals 
employed, among which that of lead presents peculiar properties. 
The oxalates of copper, silver, and mercury, always give, on 
the contrary, water on decomposition, however much dned, at 
the same time with carbonic acid, and the residue is in the metal- 
lic state. A detonation is produced by the oxalate of silver, 
and we know besides that it detonates on being compressed, as 
well as the oxulates of mercury. 

As to the oxalates of barytes, strontian, and lime, they give 
on being decomposed by heat, empyreumatic oil, water, oxide of 
carbon, carbonated hydrogen, and carbonic acid, and there re- 
mains a mixture of subcarbonate and charcoal. * 

These phenomena may be accounted for in two ways: 

Either the oxalic acid must be composed solely of carbon and _ 
oxygen, in proportions intermediate between those of the carbo- 
nie acid and the oxide of carbon; but it contains water, which 
certain oxalates, like those of lead and zinc, give off when dried, 
while the rest retain it; or rather it must be composed of car- 
bonie acid and hydrogen. This last with the oxygen of the 
oxide will form water, which the first oxalates allow to escape, and 
there will only remain the carbonic acid and the metal, a new com- 
bination in chemistry; for it has been generally understood that 
the metals cannot be united with the acids until they are oxi- 
dated. M. Dulong, who inclines towards this last explanation, 
therefore, thinks that these oxalates of lead and of zine, when 
dried, are not true oxalates; and he proposes to give them, as 
well as to any combinations of the same kind which may he dis- 
covered, the name of carbonides. As to the oxalates which do 
not give off water in drying, they will contain the oxalic acid 
entire; and as after its composition it will in future be called 
hydrocarbonic, the salts themselves will be called hydrocar- 
Lonates, 

M. Dulong has been led by analogy to very general conclu- 
sions, by which he brings under the same laws not only the com- 
mon acids, but also the hydracids; but we shall give a more 
detailed report when he has sent us the full accounts which he 


has promised, 
Bb4 The 


$92 Royal Institute of France. 


The chemical action of the solar rays on bodies is worthy of 
every attention on the part of the learned, by its influence on 
most of the phenomena of animated nature, and yet it has been 
hitherto but little attended to.» M. Vogel has just added some 
experiments to those which we possessed on this head. Am- 
monia and phosphorus, which do notact upon each other in the 
dark, emit in the light phosphorated hydrogen gas, aud deposit 
a black power composed of phosphorus, and ammonia intimately 
combined, Jt is nearly the same case with phosphorus and pot- 
ash. The action of the various rays is not always similar; the 
red rays do not produce any effect on a solution of corrosive sub- 
limate in ether; whereas the blue rays and a full light effect a 
mutual decomposition. The highly oxidated metallic muriates 
are brought in the same way to the minimum of oxidation. 

We said a few words the two last years on the researches of 
M. Chevreul Aide, naturalist to the Museum of Natura! His- 
tory, on soap and ‘saponification. This accurate experimenter 
has ascertained that the action of potash produces between the 
elements of grease new modes of combination, from which re- 
sult substances which did not exist completely formed before, 
and two of which, viz. margarine and a kind of oil or fluid 
grease, acquire all the properties of the acids. The author pur- 
suing his labours, ascertained that the same effects are produced 
by soda, the alkaline and various metallic oxides, and that the 
Substances resulting are in the same proportion whatever agent 
is made use of. Magnesia and alumine, on the contrary, con- 
fine themselves to contracting with fat a certain union, but 
without separating the elements into various compeunds, The 
quantity of alkali necessary for converting into soap a given 
quantity of fat is precisely that which can saturate the marga- 
rine, and the oil which this fat produces. Our laborious che- 
mist has terminated his memoirs on this subject, by assigning 
the capacity of saturation of the margarine and the greasy fluid, 
and by making known the properties of various new saponaceous 
combinations, which he produced by the play of double affinities, 
by mixing a hot solution of the fatty fluid and potash with va- 
rious earthy or metallic salts. He thus succeeded in making 
the soaps, the study of which had been hitherto neglected, al- 
most as well known as the salts, with which the chemists have 
been most of all occupied. 

The late M. Fourcroy had made known under the name of 
adipocire, a substance which is separated by means of the acids 
from the fatty substance into which the bodies of animals buried 
in the earth are converted, and he regarded it as the same with 
that which is extracted in the crystalline state from the biliary 
calculi of men, and with spermaceti. 

M. Chevreul, 


Royal Institute of France, * ae 393 


M. Chevreul, led by the course of his resear¢éhes on fatty sub- 
stances to examine these subjects, found that the adipocire of 
the biliary calculi gives no soap; whereas spermaceti supplies it 
equally with fat : but it is then a little deteriorated, and in other 
proportions, and with other properties. The fat of dead bodies 
is much more compounded than Fourcroy thought, and there 
have been found in it various fatty substances combined with 
ammonia, potash and lime. It is a fatty substance which has 
already undergone the action of the alkalies. 

Every one must have observed a resinous excretion of an 

_orange yellow colour which oozes from its fissures in the bark 
of the beech-tree when exposed to humidity, in the form of 
threads curled like vermicelli. M. Bidault de Villiers has made 
some chemical experiments on this substance. He dissolved one 
portion in water, another in alcohol, and the residue had several 
of the properties of gluten. The nitric acid converts it into 
oxalic acid, into a very abundant yellowish matter, and into a 
greasy substance ; but it produces in it no mucous acid. It 
yields in the fire much carbonate of ammonia and a fetid oil : 
in short, it must be regarded as resembling, very closely, animai 
substances in its nature. It will be interesting to make some 
inquiries into the causes of its production. 

One of the eras at which chemistry seemed to shine most 
brilliantly, and to be most useful, was that, without contradiction, 
when France, separated for twenty years from those countries the 
productions of which had become so long to us true wants, was 
obliged to supply their place by the productions of her own 
soil. The arts which were known have been perfected; new 
arts have been created. We have seen in succession soda ex- 
tracted from sea salt; alum and copperas formed ; colours ren- 
dered fixed, which were before supposed to be false tints ; indigo 

supplied,and madder taking place of cochineal : while beet-root 
sugar was supplanting that obtained from the cane, 

This last article, the most important of all, has not yet lost 
all its interest. It is true that many manufactories have ceased 
to exist, but those which have been conducted with intelligence 
and skili still snbsist and prosper : and according to Count Chap- 
tal, their products may always rival colonial sugars. This ex- 
perienced chemist gives an irrefragable proof of his assertion, 
since he continues the manufacture with profit: it is true that 
in all the details of the cultivation, the harvesting and the pre- 
paration, as well as in the employment of the various kinds of 
refuse, he has taken advantage of the progress of science and 
experience, so far as not to reject any thing which can be o 
service, and to apply to other purposes whatever he has been 
obliged to reject. He has described his processes in a manner 

. 80 


394 _ Letter from Sir George Cayley, Bart. 


so clear, that they may be followed by all manufacturers, and ve 
ought to hope that. his work will assist in preserving to France a 
valuable branch of industry, and which a thousand events might 


render one of absolute necessity. 
[To be continued. ] 


_. , LXXXII. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 


Letter from Sir Grtorce Cay.ey, Bart. 
Green Hill, May 16, 1816 


Siz, — Since I forwarded my second paper to you on the sub- 
ject of Aérial Navigation, I find from a paragraph in the 
Monthly Magazine that Messrs. 8. 1. Pauly civil engineer and 
Mr. D. Egg of No. 32, Strand, are preparing an experiment on 
the steerage of a balloon capable of carrying three or four per- . 
sons. The great bulk inseparable from aérial vessels that are 
capable of carrying any considerable burthen with such speed as 
will render the invention valuable to mankind, is not to be ex- 
pected from individual efforts; but I am glad to find professional 
engineers turning their attention to this subject ; and should any 
efficient subscription take place, I hope the committee ap- 
pointed to regulate it will encourage these exertions ; and that 
by the aid of these gentlemen, in conjunction with the advice of 
the first civil engineers the country affords, experiments upon 
the most efficient scale may soon lead to the establishment of 
the art. 
I remain, sir, 
Your obliged and obedient servant, 
Gro. Cayiy. 

M. de la Roche, in a memoir on. the propagation of sound 
printed in a late number of the Annales de Chimie et de Phy- 
sigue, draws the following conclusions : 

1. That the wind exercises almost no sensible influence on 
sounds heard at short distances, for instance six metres. 2, When 
the distance is greater, the sound is heard far less in the direc- 
tion contrary to that of the wind, than in that of the wind itself, 
The difference seems to be the greater, in proportion as the di- 
stance itself is greater. 

From the approximation of those two propositions, M. de la 
Roche thinks it results, 1. That the law of deerement of sound 
is not the same in the direction of the wind as in that which is 
opposite to it. 2. That the influence of the wind on sound is 
not more exercised on the spot where it has been produced, than 
on every particle of ground which it passes over. 3. That sound 


is heard a little better in a direction perpendicular to that of 
the 


~ 


Mungo Park. : * 4 395 


the wind, than in the direction of the wind. “4: That causes 
foreign to the wind, and depending on modifications of the atmo- 
sphere, have a very great influence on the facility with which - 
sound is propagated to a distance. 


Muneo Park. 


Every circumstance that can elucidate the fate of the ex- 
plorer of Africa is interesting, although, from the length of 
time that has elapsed since he was la:t heard of, the probability 
of his being in existence is so chimerical as scarcely to afford 
the most distant ray of its being realised. The following is, 
however, a singular coincidence, and there can be no doubt but 
the white men therein mentioned might be Mr. Park, and pro- 
bably his fellow traveller Lieutenant Martyn; particularly as it 
is known they embarked on the Niger with only three of their 
companions, and also that no persons, as is there described, 
could possibly be in the interior of that country, and similarly 
situated, but them. The manner in which this information has 
been obtained is rather singular, but thereseemsnoreason todoubt 
of its correctness. It appears that some time since a gentleman 
accidentally observed in London a seaman whom he had seen at 
Cadiz, where he was well known from his having been in Africa, 
and at Tombuctoo, a city which no white person before hzs 
been able to reach, although it is the great object of European 
research. This seaman, whose name is Robert Adams, belonged 
to the American ship Charles (and is a native of America, born 
on Hudson’s river), and was wrecked October 11, 1810, near a 
small place called El Gazie, on the African coast, to the north- 
ward of Cape Blanco; and, with the rest of the crew, made 
prisoner by the Moors. After some time the whole were con- 
yeyed by the barbarians across the Great Desert to Sondenny, 
and thence to Tombuctoo, experiencing the greatest fatigue and 
hardships. After a slavery at various places for four years, and 
undergoing every cruel treatment, he was so fortunate as to 
have his ransom effected by Mr. Dupuis, the Consul at Moga- 
dore, from whence he went to Fez, obtained a passage to Ca- 
diz, where he remained until peace with the United States was 
concluded, and ultimately arrived in London. He states, that 
among the negro-slaves at Wed-noon—(where, from his being a 
white man, he attracted great notice)—was a woman who said 
she came from a place called Kanno, a long way across the De- 
sert, and that she had seen in her own country white men as 
white as “ bather’’ (meaning the white wall), and in a large 
boat with two high sticks in it, with cloth upon them ; and that 
they rowed this boat in a manner different from the custom of 

the 


396 . Mungo Park. 


the negroes, who use paddles. In stating this, she made the 
motion. 2 ae rowing with oars, so as to leave no doubt that she 
had seen a vessel in the European fashion, and manned by white 
. people.—Adams arrived at this place August 23, 1812, and re- 
mained theve till September 1813. 

Many of the slaves purchased at Tombuctoo and other places, 
aud brought by the. Moors and Arabs across the Great Desert, 
come from countries very far to the eastward; it is therefore 
not improbable to suppose that the place from whence this 
woman came inight be the kingdom of Ghana, or Cano, on the 
Niger, lying between the 10th and 15th degrees of east longi- 
tude. Supposing this correct, the curious relation of this per- . 
son will atford reasonable ground for conjecturing that Mr, Park 
had made further progress on the Niger than where the guide 
states he parted with him; andas Mr. Park’s death was by 
drowning, together with his companions, and only occurred the 
day after the alte gave up his charge, he could not have made 
any great progress in his voyage. The time that intervened be- 
tween the departure of Mr. Park from Sansanding, where he em- 
barked on the Niger the 17th of November 1805, and his re- 
ported death at Siila, either in March or early in April 1806, 
would greatly admit of his having reached a territory more di- 
stant than Kanno. That this enterprising traveller has met his 
death is almost certain; but the time, place, or circumstances 
wnder which it occurred, are enveloped in mystery, and rest 
alone on the bare assertion of his guide, who, it must be recol- 
lected, was not an eye-witness of the event, but obtained the 
information from others. 

At Wed-noon, the only white person whom Adams found 
there was a Frenchman, who had been shipwrecked and taken 
into slavery. The temptation which had been held out to this 
man, as is invariably done by the followers of Mahomet to all 
Christians who unfortunately fall into their power, was too strong 
for him to resist. He had therefore turned Mahometan, and 
was in consequence circumcised ; by which means he was im- 
mediately removed from slavery, ‘allowed to marry, and was the 
father of several children. At this place he had resided twelve 
years, and obtained a livelihood by making gunpowder, which 
was purchased with great avidity by the Moors and Ar abs, all of 
whom were entirely ignorant of the process used in its manu- 
facture. ‘This secret ‘the Frenchman studiously kept from them, 
and always made the gunpowder alone in a room of his house, 
to which no one else had access. It is reported that he is since 
dead. 


S1EAM 


Steam Engines.—Fulminating Platina.—Leciures. 397 


= 


STEAM ENGINES IN CORNWALL. 


The average work of thirty-one steam-engines in the month 
of April, according to Messrs. Leans’ Report, was 20,998,138 
pounds lifted one foot high with each bushel of coals. Woolf’s 
engine at Wheal Var lifted 43,998,178 pounds, and his engine 
at Wheal Abraham 50,908,433 pounds with each bushel. _ 


FULMINATING PLATINA. 


Mr. Davy, professor of chemistry to the Cork Institution,’ has 
lately discovered a new combination of platina, which belongs. 
to the class of fulminating metallic compounds, and has some 
curious properties. It explodes by a moderate degree of heat ; 
the explosion is accompanied by a flash of light; and the pro- 
ducts are gases and metallic platina. Inu ammoniacal gas, at 
the common temperature of the atmosphere, this substance be- 
comes ignited ; and in liquid ammonia, gas is copiously evolved 
from it. When it is touched with alcohol, a slight crackling 
noise is produced, and it burns with ared flame Mr. Davy is 
engaged in the examination of this compound, and will shortiy 
make known the results of his investigation. 


LECTURE. 


_ Theatre of Anatomy.—Mr. Taunton, F.A.8. Member of the 
Royal College of Surgeons of London, Surgeon to the City and , 
Finsbury Dispensaries, City of London Truss Society, &c., com- 
menced his Lectures on Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, and 
Surgery, on Saturday May 18, to be continued every Tuesday, 
hursday, and Saturday, at Eight o’Clock in the Evening pre~ 
cisely. 
_ Particulars may be had on applying to Mr. ‘Taunton, 87, Hata 
ton Garden. 


—<gh 


Meteorological Observations made in Scotland, principally at 
Edinburgh, from the \4th to the 25th of April 1816. 


_ April 14.—Fine cold day, with occasional showers of small 

snow and sleet. Windfrom NW. The sea-gulls flew low about 

ocks below West Leith. Night bright and clear. 

_ April 15.—Clouded, and not so cold as yesterday, with more 
vain. Dark night. 

April 16,—Clouded early; fair day, with wanecloud, par- 

a) taking 


+ 


398 Meteorology. 


taking of the cirrocumulative and flimsy form in transient beds, 

P.M. The wind became high at night*. 

_ April\7.—Being early this morning on the high point of 
- ground called King Arthur’s Seat, I noticed the formation of 

stackenclouds around me, while waneclouds in detachments ap- 

peared above, with some curleloud. During the day large twain- 
. cloud was formed with cirrous crowns ending in raincloud pouring 
light hail and sleet. There is as yet scarcely any appearance of 
spring here; except the flower of the Crocus vernalis. 


April 18.—Obscure and cold, with snow all the afternoon, — 


* The inhabitants of the city of Edinburgh complain of an unusually 
protracted winter. 


April 19.—Clear morning ; fragments of loose stackencloud — 
fiving along in the wind. | The lighter modifications in a higher 


atmosphere, but of confused and indefinite character. 
April 20.—Windy unpleasant day. A fine afternoon. 


April 21.—Fair warm day and calm, an evident change in — 


the atmosphere, abundance of curlcloud of varicd forms, wane- 


cloud, sondercloud of indefinite character, and stackencloud in 
small quantity. Obscure horizon. Dark blue coloured sea, off — 
Leith coast. Fine spring evening, with yellow polestreamers, — 
or northern lights. No leaves on the trees here yet. Wane- — 


clouds by night. 


April 22,—Fine warm morning; various clouds; small rain 


"April 23.—Chiefly clouded over, and cooler, with a breeze. — 


Dark night. 


April 24.—This morning being out early, I noticed that the | 


tops of the hills were covered with fog, while their bases and the 


town below were clear. This cloud did not appear to be fall-— 
cloud, but wanecloud. The latter is often a ground cloud like 

the former, and it constitutes the wet as distinguished from the — 
dry mists. Cloudy-day with small rain, such as is called a Scotch” 


mist. 
April 25,—The same sort of mist and rain as yesterday. 


6, College-Street, Edinburgh, Tomas FoRSTER. 
April, 26th, 1816. 

* The season has certainly been unusually backward both in Scotland 
and England, and the weather particularly changeable. As popular cla= 
mour deduces an unusual mortality, particularly of sudden deaths, I am - 
induced to request the communication of facts on this subject from your | 
medical correspoudents in differeut parts of the country, and also wish to 
know whether, in districts where it has most prevailed, any accurate obser= 
vations have been made on any peculiarities of the weather. 


_ 


Meteorology. 399 


a 


METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL KEPT AT BOSTON, 
LINCOLNSHIRE. > ~ 


/-* 


—— 


{The time gf observation, ualess otherwise stated, isat 1 P.M.]} 


en 
Age of 
the | Chermo-| Baro- |State of the} Moditication ef. the, 
Moon} meter. |meter | Weather. Clouds. 
1S16 
April 1€) 19 500 2961! cloudy teavy rain the previous 
17{ 20 48 0 29.59! , fair fuight 
oe came’ | 52:0 29°62| very fine 
19) 22 500 29 90 do 
QI 23 550 30°20 do * ; 
21, 4 500 29 90 do 
A egal 35 56°0 ’ | 29°9uU raip 
Qs; 26 580 2995 fair 
24) 27 54.0 30 05! very fine 
25} 28 | 580 | 3015; do 
26] 29 580 30 25 do 
2:1] new] 56:0 30°10 do 
261° 1 550 29 90 do 
29 2 620 29°70 fair 
30 3 59.0 29:72 rain 
Bay 1 4 580 29 8U fair 
\ “9 5 630 29°89 |violent thuuder-storm with very 
[beary had aud raia 
4 s| 6 550 | 30-0 rain 
4 7 550 30°75 fair 
4 8 53 9 99 95 rain 
6 9 54:0 300 do 
7} 10 550 29 94 do 
ame I | 560 29°63 do 
g} 12 50°0 29 60 do 
1b} 13 43°0 29 45 do 
1 ful 42°5 29 50 do 
12)°°45 41.0 29°35 |violent hail- 
storm 
15} 16 470 2970 slight 
showers 
14} 17 56:0 2997] very fine 
. 
‘ 
LF 


METEORO- 


400 Meteorology. 
METEOROLOGICAL TABLE, 


By Mr. Cary, or THE STRAND, 
For May 1816. 


Thermometer. Pare 
Days of 2 = Z 3 pe Height of a2 ra 7 
Month. |2°=| & | > -s,|the Barom.| g =. & Weather. 
P sls mies Inches. | 27> &, : 
a = 2S 
foo) al Q em 
April 27| 47 | 66 | 50 | 30°02 62 | Fair 
28) 50 | 67 | 52 | 29°84 60 | Fair 
29| 57 | 61} 55 *55 41 |Cloudy 
30} 54 | 60 | 51 56 49 |Fair 
‘May }| 47 | 55 | 46 62 63 | Fair 
252) 55 | 47 ‘80 60 | Fair 
3] 52 | 55.| 50 *98 oO | Rain 
4 50 | 52 |} 50 } 30°08 oO | Rain 
5} 50 | 51 | 49 } 29°80 oO /|Rain 
6 49 | 55 | 48 95 36 | Cloudy 
7| 50 | 54 | 50 *70 49 Showery 
S$} 50 | 52 | 48 "50 Oo |Rain 
9} 47 | 52 | 46 "47 oO. |Rain 
10! 47 | 47 | 45 +20 o |Rain 
11} 43 | 47 | 40 *38 37 | Clondy 
12} 40 | 45 | 37 +39 30 |Sleet showers 
13| 44 | 47 | 43 ‘67 27 | Showery 
14| 47 | 60:| 45 “82 34. !Fair 
15} 52 | 55 |] 55 *82 0 ‘Rain 
16] 52 | 67 | 55 “83 29 | Fair 
17| 57 | 66°| 47 79 -| 44 |Fair 
181 46 | 54 | 47] |*81 40 | Cloudy 
19} 47 | 50 | 47 85 35 | Cloudy 
20! 48 | 57 | 48 *90 47 |Fair 
21) 48 | 61 46 85 45 | Pair 
22} 49 | 66 | 49 *S4 -50- | Fair 
23' 50 | 66 | 49 *84 39 | Fair 
24}.51 | 55 | 51 "83 34 Foggy 
25} 55 | 57 | 48 | + .82 29 | Cloudy 


26 50 | 63 | 50 | 30°12 61 Fair 


| 


N.B. The Barometer’s height is taken at one o’¢lock, 


rr 


[ 401 


LXXXIII. Some Account of the Monuments of Thebes in Egypt. 
[Continued from p. $85.] 


O; all the portions of the edifices of Medynat-Abou, the peri- 
style in the midst of which we are is indisputably that which 
strikes most, by its imposing mass and character of grandeur: 
We are convinced that its founders wished to render it indestruc- 
tible, and that the Egyptian architects charged with its con- 
struction have’strained every nerve to make this monument pass 
down to the most distant posterity. The elegance of its co- 
lumns cannot, it is true, be boasted of, but they are colossal; they 
-are nearly seven feet and a half in diameter, and do not appear 
to be too bulky to carry the enormous stones which form the 
architraves and the roofs. When we wish to give an account 
of the sentiment of admiration which we experience at the sight 
of this edifice, we find that we are particularly led away by the 
grandeur of those lines which throughout a long space present 
wo interruption, and the perfect execution of which answers to 
the magnificent manner in which they have been conceived. If 
our architects had not already returned to sound principles, they 
would find here a proof that irregular or tormented lines and pro- 
jecting bodies can never be in architecture the source of anyspecies 
of grandeur and beauty. But what adds much to the effect 
produced by the peristyle are the caryatid pilasters which de- 
-corate it. * How, in fact, can we refrain from being seized with 
a religious and profound respect at the sight of that council of 
gods united, in some measure, to dictate the laws of wisdom and 
philanthropy which we see every where written on the walls of 
the palace! The Egyptian artists, in throwing these statues 
of the gods against pillars which support rich roofs decorated 
with stars of a golden yellow colour scattered over a blue ground, 
seem to have wished to represent to us the supreme Being under 
the azure vault which he fills with his immensity! How pro- 
found must have been the impression produced by the sight of 
this place on the ancient Egyptians, with whom every thing had 
a mystical and religious meaning, if we who are strangers to 
their manners, customs and worship, cannot penetrate without 
emotion into the midst of these galleries, every supporter of 
which is a god! How nobly monumental is the simplicity of 
the attitudes and the form of the statues, and how greatly does 
the rigid immoyeability add to the imposing aspect of the whole 
edifice! What a superficial examination mightinduce us to re- 
gard as the infancy of the art, seems on the contrary to be the 
result of a foreseen and ealculated perfection.” 
Vol. 47, No, 218. June 1816, Ce I have 


402 Some Account of the Monuments 


I have given the above passage from the Description de 


‘L Egypte entire, and I shall give others still, because the mere 


expression of the effects of these monuments on the observer 
may suggest in the imagination of the reader ideas which the 
simple indication of these dead masses could not possibly give. 
The northern part of the palace is:almost wholly in ruins; mever- 
theless we can distinguish several chambers which appear to 
have been inhabited. 

What is most remarkable in those ruins is the sculpture with 
which the external and internal surfaces of this palace are covered. 
Those outside are historical; they are generally battles or sea- 
fights. In the land battles there are several in which the vic- 
tory is on the side of the Egyptians. The chief or king always 
appears in a car; he is of a colossal size, and armed with a lanee 
and bow and arrows. The wheels of his chariot break the enemy’s 
ranks, The Egyptians are partly in the midst of the fight: 
other columns also come up in succession. This same figure 
of the king reappears several times: sometimes he marches 
slowly and stops, and sometimes he pushes his coursers into the 
midst of his enemies. In other parts there is a lion hunt de- 
scribed. ‘The king in his car pursues into the thickest part of 
the wood two lions, one of which is just expiring; the other, 


-which still flies, is struck by four arrows. The most remarkable 


of these representations, however, is the naval combat. It re- 
presents an invasion repelled, in which the victory has already 
declared for the Egyptians. The king is placed on the shore; 
under his feet are enemies biting the dust ; there are others be- 
fore him ;—he looks sternly at the enemy. Quite close to the 
shore is the battle of the two fleets. The Egyptian vessels, en- 
tirely different from those of the Nile (they may well be called 
long vessels,) have their prows shaped like lions’ heads, those of 
the enemy are of similar construction, ‘The combat is evidently 
not terminated, but victory will decide for the Egyptians. Some 
of the enemy’s ships are entangled, others are taken, some are 
sidking. We see in these representations the rudiments of naval 


tactics. ‘The enerny’s squadron is surrounded by that of the 
| Egyptians’, and apparently there is no chance of its escaping. 


Inaill these hostile pictures the different nations are carefully 


“distinguished from each other by their dress and armour. In 


“the land combats the enemy have always the beard and the 


tunic long. In the naval combat they wear short and light 


‘babits: part of them wear a bonnet, like the-caps of modern 


soldiers, and surmounted with feathers; others have leathern 

helmets. Tabet 
By these traits we recognise a southern uation: and the 
French artists have taken them for Indians. This variety of 
costume 


of Thebes in Egypt: 403 


_fostume is also religiously observed in the pictures which form 
the rest of the series. But the greater part of the building being 
in ruins, these representations are in bad preservation ; besides, 
there have been no drawings of them yet taken. 

The sculptures of the interior of the palace are of a different 
kind, but they are still analegous. They consist of triumphal 
marches intimately connected with religious ceremonies: not 
only are the processions directed towards the gods, but the gods 
themselves take part in them. The most curious of these bas- 
reliefs are to be seen on the fine peristyle which we have men- 
Goned. One of the walls of this part of the palace represents 
the victorious king stopping in his chariot ; we recognise. his 
royalty by the serpent cn his head. ‘The horses adorned by rich 
coverings are caressed by grooms: the king in a majestic atti- 
tude seems to turn round and desire the prisoners to be brought 
to him, The latter arrive by threes and fours at a time, led by 
an Egyptian. This march is represented by the artists in four 
rows raised above each other, The prisoners are enveloped in 
cloaks of a blue and green colour, under which they have still 
another covering, The Egyptians have white vestments with 
red streaks: the colours have preserved all their brilliancy. 
The prisoners are without arms—the hands are in different atti- 
tudes, partly tied over the head. In front of the car of the con- 
gueror are the hands and parts of generation of those who have 
perished: the prisoners brought in are not mutilated. 

On the northern wall of this peristyle is represented a trium- 
pal march. The king seated-ow his throne is carried by eight 
warriors in a rich palanquin: these warriors are decorated with 
feathers, the emblems of victory. The throne is covered with 
a superb carpet; the feet of the conqueror rest on a cushion: 
he bears in his hand the cross and the keys, the attributes of 
Givinity; two genii placed behind him coyer him with their 
wings. The lion, the stag, the serpent, and the sphinx, the sym- 
bols of his grandeur, are by his side. The procession is com- 
posed of warriors decorated with palms and feathers, and of 
priests who offer up incense. A priest with a scroll in his hand 
seems to proclaim the exploits of the congueror, The eavaleade 
proceeds towards the temple of Osiris, whose statue is to be seen. 
Your priests go before the hero to conduct him into the temple, 
where he is to offer his sacrifices. Soon the march is continued : 
the god himself, quitting his sacred residence, aceompanies the 
king, aud twenty-four priests bear the god under a maguificent 
canopy. ‘The conqueror, who has changed his clothes and head- 
dress, opens the march. Above him flies the stag, and the sacred 
Lull accompanies the procession. In dront of it march seven- 
teen pricsis bearing the attributes ,of the divinity, In gomeral 

Cc2 this 


404 Some Account of the Monuments 


this march has become a religious procession: the priests, and no 
longer the warriors, are now the principal personages. Soon 
again the scene changes entirely, and the king performs the 
functions of sacrificing high-priest. It is remarkable that this 


scene seems to relate to agriculture. A priest presents to the 


king a handful of stalks which he cuts with a hook: after- 
wards he offers his gifts to the divinity. We ought to separate 
this scene entirely from the preceding one, and represent the 
king protecting the arts of peace, as the former shows him in 
his military glory. This enigma would not be one to us with- 
out doubt if the whole of the sculptures had been preserved. 

One of the lateral halls also contains some curious sculptures: 
they seem to represent the initiation of the king into the my- 
steries. . 

The royal candidate is purified in the first place by some 
priests. Others take him by the hand to introduce him into the 
sanctuary. Here every thing is mysterious, The priests are 
almost all covered with masks of animals. , 

In all these representations the French authors see the ex- 
ploits_of Sesostris, to whom, in fact, we may ascribe this palace. 

At some distance from the palace, to the north-west, is the 
Temple of Medynat-Abou, which fronts the Nile. This temple 
has buttresses which are not finished, and which seem to be of 
an origin posterior to that of the principal templey It is almost 
entirely in ruins ; the distribution of its parts is in conformity 
with that of the other temples. 

To the north-west of this temple a plain extends which is 
extremely curious: it is partly covered with a forest of Mimosa, 
and bears the name of the field of the Colossi. Not less than 
seventeen colossal figures are counted in it: some are in an erect 
posture, others are only half erect, and some are completely 
thrown drown. Among them is the famous colossus of Mem- 

‘non, which at sun-rise emitted certain sounds. 

In the first place, strangers remark two colossi joined toge- 
ther, now called the one on the north Thama, and the other Chama 
on the south; both of them front the Nile. They are both of 
free-stone, are forty-eight feet high without the pedestal,—in 

all sixty. The weight of each when whole is estimated at 
2,612,000 lbs. The Chama is in one piece; the upper part of 
the other is composed of five pieces. As all the colossi of the 
Egyptians were monolites, it cannot be doubted that the 
Thama was so originally. It is this same statue which, from 
the interpretation of the inscriptions which it received in the 
two first centuries of the Christian era, was regarded as that of 
Memnon ; for the inscrtptions say that he who engraved them 
had heard the sound of the colossus, Doubts, however, ee 
een 


of Thebes in Egypt. 405 


been started of this fact, founded partly on the quality and co- 
lours of the stone*, partly on a passage of Strabo, in which it 
is said that in his time the stone was broken in the middle, 
which is confirmed by the description of Pausanias. It is added 
also, that it is unknown at what period the colossus must have 
been repaired. All these doubts, however, cannot have much 
weight. * The stone is in fact, according to the representation 
of the French authors, a free-stone blackened by the influence 
of the air: and because we are ignorant who repaired the statue, 
we cannot reject the evidence that it has been so repaired. If 
we might hazard an hypothesis, might we not suppose that the 
reign of Septimus Severus, who made so many reparations of 
monuments in\Egypt, was the era? 

Some distance from thence, to the N.W., we are struck with 
two immense moles of stones loaded with hieroglyphics ; they 
have probably served as pedestals for two other colossi. More 
to the northward, beside a triple row of columns we find a con- 
siderable fragment of a colossus in the attitude of walking, 
thirty feet high ;—a little further on there is the trunk of a 
statue seated, of black granite. To the north are the remains 
of a column of yellow marble, marching ;—further on are the 
ruins of two others of red granite, seated ;—two others succeed, 
forty feet high each, marching. In general, if it is now proved 
that since the commencement of our era the soil has been raised 
from 15 to 20 feet on this point, how many broken or over- 
thrown statues may be still concealed under ground ! 

How came this quantity of colossi to be heaped up in this 
apparent disorder? This is the first question which occurs. 
The appearance of the place, the ruins of the columns scattered 
here and there, give reason to suppose that there was an im- 
mense building formerly there, the whole length of which, with 
the pylones, the courts, the galleries and apartments, could not 
be less than 1500 feet. It is apparently before the pylones and 
before the entrances of the courts and porticos that these colossi 
were placed: we see this at least in the Palace of Osymandyas, 
and others. In general it was not customary in Egypt to place 


* Pococke and Norden differ in opinion respecting the statue of Mem- 
non. Pococke, yol. ii. p. 101, considers it to be-the colossus which we 
have described. Norden, t. ii. p. 128, (edition of M. Langles) seeks for 
it in a colossus which is to be found in front of the Temple of Osymandyas, 
and which is broken in the middle. Count Veltheim has defended the 
opinion of Norden in his Antiquarische Aufsaetze, t. ii. p. 69; but his rea- 
sons are not very plausible. ‘Lhe inscriptions on the colossus of Pococke 
‘seth prove that at the period when they were made this colossus was 
regarded as that of Memnon. Is it probable that without some reason 
the tradition has been transferred from one statue to another? ‘The opi- 
nion of Nordén is supported also by that of M. Langles. 

Cc3 colossi 


406 Some Account of the Monuments 


colossi anywhere else than within or in frevt of the buildings. 
As to the ‘sphinxes which formed alley Sy it was certainly Yak 
wise. But what confirms our opinion is, that Strabo and Pliny 
place the colossus of Memnon in an edifice which the former 
calls the Memnonium, and which the other calls the Serapeum, 
Nevertheless, it the enormous dimensions which a building must 
have had adorned by such colossi, excite astonishment, it ap- 
pears no less extraordinary that such slight remains of it are to 
be found. This new doubt will vanish of itself, if we syppose 
that the building was of limestone; and nothing contradicts this 
opinion, for in fact the materiais of those buildings have since 
been used for lime.» Their number must have been consider- 
able; the immense excavations in the calcareous rocks prove 
this. There likewise remains near this colossus the remains of 
an ancient building constructed of this stone. 
It is also more to the northward that the building is to be 
found which modern ay ellers, and particularly Norden, a 
nerally call Memnoninm™*, but which must be designated the 
Palace and Tomb of Osymandyas. The ruins of this building 
are among the most picturesque of those of ancient Thebes. 
This palace was built of tree-stone. The pylones, many of the 
columns and caryatid pillars of this building, are still standing, 
while the ruins of so many others are heaped up around in hil- 
locks. Here also we enter by a superb gateway into a square 
court, which is upwards of 140 feet long by 161 broad. It is 
in ruins, with the exception of two columns soll standing, 
_and so encumbered with biocks of granite as to resemble a quarry 
more than a court, By and by we discover the ruins of a 
formidable colossus. destroyed with violence, but of which the 
head with a foot and a hand still remain. The fore finger is 
nearly four feet long, the distance from one shoulder to the 
other in a straight line is twenty-one feet. The peight of the 
whole could not have been less thau forty-five feet. The pedestal, 
eighteen feet high, is still standing opposite the ston gateway. 
The pedestal, like the colossus itself, is of the finest red granite. 
It is near this city also that we still find the spet from which 
this mass of two millions of pounds has been detached, in erder 
to be conveyed to the place which it afterwards occupied, forty- 


* Tn order to ayoid all confusion in the topoxraphy of Thebes, it must 
te observed that Norden and other travellers call Memnoviuin or Palace 
of Memnon, that which with more reason ought to be ca'led the Palace of 
Osymandyas. Pococke falls into another error, in taking for the Mem- 
nonium the Palace of Medynat-Abou. Sir W. Hamilton is also of his 
opinion. Nevertheless i it is between these two buildings that the building 
in ruins is to be found, to which the statue of Memnon belonged, and to 
which Strabo has given the name of Memnoniwn. 

five 


of Thebes in Egypt. 407 


five leagues off. The researches made on the spot have shown 
that this building contained four similar colossi, one of which of 
granite seems to have been placed beside that just mentioned. 

By a second buttress, less elevated than the former, we enter 
into a peristyle which is also 140 feet long by 160 broad. This 
peristyle was surrounded by galleries formed to the north and 
the south by a double row of columns; on the east by a single 
row of caryatid pillars, and on the west by columns and caryatid 
pillars. The southern part is demolished; but the northern 
part is in sufficient preservation to enable us to judge of the 
whole with some certainty. This peristyle also contains two 
colossi, each about twenty-three feet high. One is entirely of 
black granite; the other has also a black body, buat the head 
is of red granite. This head is preserved. It has a calmness 
full of grace, and that happy physiognomy which more than 
beauty itself has the art of pleasing; the corners of the mouth, 
a little raised towards the eye, express a smile. We cannot 
represent a divinity under traits which can make it more venc- 
rated. ; 

From the peristyle we enter by three doors into a vast apart- 
ment, the roof of which is supported by sixty columns in ten 
rows, each containing six columns; four of those columns are 
still standing, but dispersed. This hall was divided into three 
compartments. We may conceive an idea of the majesty of 
the whole, when we recollect that the columns of the middle 
eompartment, greater than the rest, are thirty-five feet high, 
and more than six feet in diameter. Adjoining this hall is a 
second and a third, and in each are eight columns still standing, 
and of the same size. 

Such are the remains of a building which, great as it now 
appears, must have been formerly still more extensive. If_it 
excite admiration as a monument of architecture, it is not less re- 
markable on account of the sculptures which cover its walls. The 
latter are still partly covered with sacred hieroglyphics, and partiy 
historical bas-reliets. ‘The former represent, as usual, divinities, 
and the offerings which are made to them; but the bas-reliefs 
deserve a particular examination. Unfortunately it is the same 
with them as with the whole building—a small part only re- 
mains. 

The first of these bas-reliefs is on the interior surface of the 
first of the two grand buttresses. It is a representation of a 
battle—The infantry advance in close column: at the head is 
the chief, of a colossal height, in a chariot. * Further off is seen 
the tumult of the battle. The chiefs in their ehariots precipitate 
themselves on the enemy. Dead, wounded, and dying-—men 
and horses flying—all is confusion, In the middle of the field 

Ced of 


408 Some Account of the Monuments 


of battle a river is seen, into which the fugitives throw them- 
selves, while their countrymen are ready to receive them on the 
oppositive bank. On the left side of the buttress a hero is seen 
of colossal stature seated on a throne elegantly adorned. His 
feet rest on a footstool on which captives are represented. The 
cushions of the seat and of the footstool seem to be precious 
stuffs studded with stars. A procession of twenty-one persons 
in long vestments approach him in a respectful and suppliant 
posture. Hard by we see chariots and warriors with immense 
bucklers. ‘The army to which they seem to belong has a rear- 
guard of infantry and chariots, each carrying a warrior. The 
baggage is assailed by the enemy, but vigorously defended. The 
walls of the peristyle exhibit representations not Jess interesting. 
There is a combat there also. It is a hostile invasion repulsed. 
A river traverses the field of battle, forming numerous sinuosities. 
In several places we see the remains of the blue colour with 
which the river was painted. It waters a fort, the object of the 
movements on both banks. The inhabitants of the fort, how- 
ever, have passed the river. They have beards and long tunics: 
three are in each chariot. 

_ TheEgyptians, on foot or mounted in chariots, are commanded 
by their king and divided into detachments, each having its head 
or chief of ahigher stature than the rest. They overwhelm every 
thing which they meet on their passage, and trample under foot 
the dead and dying. Numbers of the enemy are drowned in 
trying to pass the river. They are pursued by the victors. 

On the walls of the great hall is represented an assault, and 
at the same time the taking of a fort, perhaps the continuation 
of the foregoing battle. At the foot of the wall we see a kind 
of tortoise formed by large bucklers. Behind, and partly under 
this machine, are the warriors, whose feet only are uncovered. 
A ladder is applied: soldiers ascend it. Already is the first of 
the four approaches to the fort gained; the battle continues: 
the besieged throw down stones and burning substances. But 
the issue of the combat is no longer doubtful; and the flag which 
is seen, is perhaps, although pierced with arrows, the signal 
that they wish to surrender. It is to be presumed that the parts 
of the palace which are destroyed, represented the triumph of 
the conqueror: and if this palace be in fact that of Osymandyas, 
described by Diodorus, we should have found a still more inter- 
esting scene,—the supreme tribunal of Egypt, and the grand 
judge having the symbol of truth on his breast. 

The western district between those grand buildings and the 
Libyan chain is not without its monuments. We there sce a 
Temple of Isis, smaller but curious.and well preserved. it is 
here particularly that we remark in all its lustre the pleyiof co- 

ouring 


Pare Oe en ee Pe 


PL, ites 


- 


Rts pcx 


of Thebes in Egypt. 409 


louring with which the bas-reliefs are adorned. The dimensions 
of this building admit of our taking in the whole at a single 
glance, and of judging with more certainty of the effect pro- 
duced by those ornaments. M. Denon takes this occasion to 
remark, that “ in this case the union of sculpture and painting, 
which might appear strange, presents nothing disgusting at first 
sight. The eye is rather pleased with the sensations which it 
excites.’” 

The bas-reliefs refer to religious subjects: the most curious of 
the whole is a judgement of the dead, as it is painted on several 
monuments*. It is very probable that this temple served at 
the same time for a burial-place. 

On proceeding from this monument of the palace of Osy- 
mandyas northward, we find ourselves in the midst of an alley of 
pedestals which is only interrupted to begin once more. Ri- 
gorous inquiries have proved that this was an alley of sphinxes 
to the number of two hundred, all of colossal size, if we may 
judge by the pedestals, which are six feet broad by twelve long. 
The breadth of the alley was forty feet, the distance of the 
statues seven. What must have been the size of the edifice to 
which this alley led! We find enormous ruins of buttresses, 
walls, and stair-cases; but nothing entire. What is also re- 
markable is a building which presents the form of a vault, with- 
out there being one actually, as the most scrutinous inquiries 
have demonstrated ; a new proof that arches were entirely un- 
known to the Egyptians. 

There still remains on this side of the Nile the building north- 
west of Thebes, near the village of Kurnu, the name of which 
it also bears. The Palace of Kurnu, (El Gurnu according to 
Sir W. Hamilton,) although not among the number of the mag- 
nificent monuments of this ancient residence, is nevertheless too 
large to entitle us to suppose that it was the residence of an in- 
dividual. This monument is the more remarkable (not being a 
temple), as it seems to offer a medium between the vast palaces 
of the kings and the houses of individuals. We find here neither 
sphinxes, nor obelisks, nor those enormous buttresses, nor a co- 


* In the Idées sur lu Politique des Peuples de l’ Afrique, t.ii. p. 655, we 
find this passage: ‘* We see in this picture the god Osiris seated, judging 
the dead. He is known by his ordinary attributes. Before him is the 
flower of the lotus, the symbol of life eternal, and a lion apparently as if 
guarding the infernal regions. A small figure is placed in a large balance 
hy two genii with the heads of animals; the one has the head of a dog, the 
symbol of gross sensuality; the other has the head of a stag, the common 
symbol of purity, religious and moral. The two genii raise their hands to 
the balance, and seem to make representations to Osiris, Before this god 
is Hermes with a bead of Ibis, with tablets in bis hand to mark the virtues 
and vices of the defunct.” 


Jonnade: 


> 


410 On the Principles of Security in 


lonnade : all seems destined for a residence. If the whole is uot 
colossal, it is nevertheless very large. A portico 150 feet long, 
supported by ten columns, forms the entrance: this is preserved 
almost entire. ‘T'wo door- ways lead from the porticos into the 
interior of the building. By the middle door-way, which is the 
largest, we enter a vestibule supported by six columns; beyond 
this several doors open from the halls and apartments. ‘The 
door-way of the portico on the left also leads iuto a hall, beside 
which are several other halls, and further on some snialler apart- 
ments. The right side seems to have been arranged in the same 
way, but the whole of it is in ruins. The whole building was 
therefore composed of three parts, independent of each other, 
but united by the grand entrance portico. This palace differs 
from the rest also in so far as it is without those historical or 
religious representations which cover their walls. We must 
conclude, however, that if it has not been the residence of 
kings, it must be at least admitted that it was inhabited by some 


grandee of the empire *. 
[To be continued. ] 


LXXXIV. On the Principles of Security in Sir Humpary 
Davy’s Lamp. By J. Murray, Esq. 


To. Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — Ix page 319 of the Annals of Philosophy, an anonymous 
correspondent attacks the security of Sir H. Davy’ s safe-lamp : 
1. Because the Philosophical Magazine approves; and, 2. Be- 
cause the principle on which its safety rests has not been de- 
veloped. You will, sir, no doubt, allow this writer whatever be- 
nefit his objections may claim from the first. I shal] endeavour 
ta relieve the second ground of his scruples, premising that it 
appears to me unwise and unbecoming to indulge in scepticism 
because the principles of the phenomenon are ‘veiled from ken. 
In the needle, the polarity is palpable to sense—the cause un- 
known. In the case of this curious instrument, has it not un- 
dergone “ the torture of the fre?” | lament to see the remarks 
of Dr, Reid Clanny, and the mode he has adopted in intro- 
ducing himself to public notice—whatever analogy may obtain 
in the lamp constructed by Stephenson and the first projection 
of Davy, there is no semblance whatever between the lamp of 
Dr. Reid Clanny and the latter. 


* For the beautiful engraving of this building which accompanies the 
present number, we are indebted to the kindness of Mr. C. Taylor, of 
Hatten Garden. It is one of the many elegant plates which embellish the 
work entitled Eeyrr, now publishing by Mr. Taylar. 

; When 


ne 


Sir Humphry Davy’s Safe-Lamp. All 


When a bar of metal, &c. is plunged into flame, there is a chasm 
around the cylinder of about one-sixteenth of an inch width, 
and it is important to remark that this distance is maintained, 
however unequal the diameter of the rod may be—a mass se- 
veral inches thick, and wire of the most delicate dimensions, 
equally repel the surface of flame. Hence the plexus of wire 
has no reference to the magnitude of the metal employed in its 
fabrication. There will, therefore, be no danger, in wire of a 
proper thickness, of the meshes being dissolved by the action of 
flame: besides, the lamp will only be subject to the continued 
attack of the flame of fire-damp for @ few seconds occasionally. 
Jn an atmosphere which has reached the maximum, the lamp is 
extinguished ; and where the carbonated hydrogen mixes only 
im minute proportion, the flame of the lamp is magnified to an 
extent which is insufficient to fill up the cylinder, or approach 
nearly to the interior surface of the sides of the wire-gauze. 
Parallel bars, I found, prevented the communication of flame 
with equal facility as wire-gauze. The interval must not exceed 
one-eighth of an inch. Here, therefore, is a limit pointed out te 
us :—If the meshes are one-sixteenth of an inch apart, no danger 
would occur should an accident break down the a/ternate one. 
When the bars are crossed by others at right angles, it consti- 
tutes a double security. The phznomena described are sup- 
ported when the wire is red hot. The phenomenon is not mag- 
netic, for copper, zinc, and silver, ward off the flame as well as 
iron and nickel; nor is it connected with electrics and non- 
electrics, for bars of glass, &c. serve the purpose as well as rods 
of metal. A concave surface of silver attracts flame, but still 
maintains the “ appointed”? distance. Is this interval filled up 
with caloric, distinct from the combustion? We may thrust a 
match into a cone of flame, and it is only burnt exterior to the . 
surface, where its temperature appears to be exalted to ignition. 
Were it simply an envelope of emanating heated agate and 
carbonic acid gas, combustion would be prevented. Flame will 
not kindle gunpowder ; and, on the contrary, inflammable gases 
are not acted upon by the spark, unless exalted into at least 
incipient flame, This remarkable fact merits investigation. 

J] made sieves of hair, whale-bone, &c. and found ‘them secure 
as metallic wire. 

The lamp of Sir H. Davy is indeed “a present from phile- 
sophy to the arts,” and its distinguished author “ well merite 
the civic crown.” Science never shines with a sublimer lustre 
than when regarding the interests of humanity. 

1 am respectfully, sir, 
Your very humble servant, 
Liverpool, June 5, 1816, J. MurraY. 
LXXXV, Some 


LXXXV. Some Account of the new Hot and Cold Baths at 
Ramsgate. By A ConnEsponDeENtT. 


IL has been remarked by intelligent travellers, that of all the 
situations on the coast of Great Britain, frequented for the pur- 
pose of sea-bathing, no where are the two great requisites 
of salubrity of climate and picturesqueness of scenery more 
strikingly united than in the isle of Thanet. The beautiful 
district of rising ground known by that name, is the most eastern 
point of land in England, and consists of a solid mass of chalk 
shelving into the German Ocean, above the level of which it is 
considerably raised, forming a romantic peninsula, having four- 
fifths of its boundary washed by the sea. 

In consequence of the immense beds of calcareous matter 
which compose this peninsula, the air is remarkably pure and 
free from moisture; as an effect of the rapid absorption of hu- 
midity by the soil, no stagnant water is to be met with, and the 
rain which falls disappears so rapidly, that the most delicate in- 
valid may walk out with perfect safety immediately after the 
ynost copious shower. 

The town of Ramsgate, which stands on the southern side of 
the island, enjoys all these advantages in a very eminent degree. 
From being built in a valley formed by an indentation in the 
cliff, somewhat in the manner of an amphitheatre, open to- 
wards the sea, it is completely screened from the cold winds to 
which the towns on the opposite side are exposed. Its sheltered 
situation promotes that luxuriant vegetation in the town and its 
immediate neighbourhood, which forms a striking contrast to the 
bleak and monotonous scenery of other bathing places. 

Notwithstanding the great number of persons, however, who 
annually visit Ramsgate for bathing and recreation, in conse- 
quence of its excellent beach and various other attractions, no 
establishment on a scale adequate to the rising importance of 
the place, has been hitherto formed for hot sea-water bathing. A 
building, from the designs of Mr. Meikleham, has therefore been 
lately erected at Ramsgate for warm sea-water bathing, which, 
from the scientific nature of its construction and arrangement, 
promises to be one of the greatest acquisitions to the public, 
since the introduction of the warm baths into England, 

» The new baths are situated on the west cliff at Ramsgate, 
and at an elevation of one hundred and ten feet above the level 
of the sea: they range with the other buildings of the Paragon, 
having the space between the front and the cliff laid out as a 
promenade. (Plate III.) 

A horizontal tunnel has been excavated in the rock, running 


: y at & 


ae ee 


—— ee te 


eee 


Account of the new Hot and Cold Baths at Ramsgate. 413 


at the level of low water under the building, to a distance of one 
hundred and eighty feet, until it joins with a vertical tunnel from 
the top. The tide ebbs and flows in this horizontal tunnel; and 
the pumps in the vertical one, are so placed as always to get 
their supply at high water. In order to have the supply as free 
from vegetable impurities as possible, a wooden trunk has been 
carried from the entrance of the tunnel to a distance of one hun- 
dred and five feet into the sea; having gratings at small di- 
stances to intercept the weed, which might be driven into the 
pumps by the violence of the tide. This tunnel has a sluice at 
its upper extremity for the purpose of clearing out the sand 
which may subside at the bottom by means of a back current. 
The pumps are worked by horses; and the water after being 
raised 110 feet, flows into a large reservoir, from which it is 
conveyed through pipes into the boilers and other parts of the 
building. 
The building which contains the baths is 120 feet long and 
34 feet deep, fronting the sea. This building is divided into 
three parts, viz. a circular centre, with the baths and dressing- 
rooms in each wing; the’ front is finished with handsome stone 
ornaments. Two flights of steps conduct into the saloon fi- 
nished with pilasters at equal distances on its circumference, and 
is furnished with the daily papers, reviews, and other periodical 
publications for the accommodation of those who use the baths, 
and the floor is five feet above the level of the promenade for the 
advantage of a more extended prospect, and surmounted with 
an elegant ornamented dome-ceiling. The semicircumference 
of this room is open towards the sea; and a person seated in 
the centre of it commands one of the most extensive and varied 
prospects in the world. The country from Pegwell to Canter- 
bury;—the bay itself in its whole sweep; point of Dover; the 
shipping in the Downs; the coast of France from Dunkirk toe 
‘Boulogne; and in the afternoon when the cliffs are illuminated 
‘by the setting sun, every indentation of the coast is clearly dis- 
cernible to the naked eye, appearing but a few miles distant ; 
immediately under the windows, the shipping in Ramsgate har- 
bour, and its celebrated pier stretching into the bay. In the 
evening the glimmering of the several light-houses in the distance, 
the lamps of the vessels passing through the channel, the bright 
light on the pier-head illuminating the foreground, form altogether 
one of the most enchanting scenes we have ever witnessed. 
The baths, which are formed of white marble, are each placed 
‘in a room, lighted and ventilated from the ceiling, and commu- 
nicating with their separate dressing-rooms. They are in length, 
width and depth, of the dimensions of the eclebrated warm baths 
at Naples, which are so large as to allow invalids using the fric- 
tion 


414 Account of the new Hot and Cold Baths at Ramsgate. 


tion brush, to do so conveniently, without exposing ‘any part of 
the body above the surface of the water. Pipes from the reser- 
voirs and boilers, conduct hot and cold water into each, and 
another communicating with the drains allows it to run off after 
being used in a bath. The unsightly apparatus of pipes and 
cocks are here kept entirely out. of view, and the whole apart- 
ment has quite the air of an ancient Roman bath. The dressing- 
rooms attached to each bath are of a very ample size, having a 
sea prospect, and they are fitted up with every thing that can 
administer to the comfort and pleasure of the bather. 

The shower baths are constructed to have a supply either of 
cold or hot water, and the dressing-rooms which are attached to 
them, are furnished in the same manner as the others. 

Vapour baths are also included in these establishments, and 
we understand modelled after those recommended and invented 
by the honourable Mr. Cochrane. From the several contri- 
vances for increasing or decreasng the temperature of the va- 
pour, it can be apphed generally to the whole body, oer topically 
ty any particular part of it, with the greatest certainty and pre- 
cision. Medicated vapour can he generated and applied with 
the same apparatus, and heated air can be introduced into this 
apartment to act as a Russian sweating bath, with the oppor- 
tunity of using at the same time the cold or the hot shower- 
Waths. 

This establishment, however, lias another claim towards being 
unique in kind. S/eam has been applied to heating buildings 
fer the purposes of manufactures, but this is the first successful 
attempt at employing it in a manner combining» the greatest 
elegance with the greatest convenience and certainty. The 
steam is generated in a boiler on the outside of the building, from 
which it is conducted under the floors. by pipes into an elegant 
vase placed in each dressing-room, standing in a niche made in 
the situation commonly occupied by the fire-place... In some 
of the coldest days in February, the temperature of the whole 
building was as high as 69°, and had all the delightful warmth 
of aday in summer. Frem the various contrivances for admitting 
the steam, or stopping it off from any particular part of the 
building, and directing it to any other particular apartment or 
series of apartments, the temperature can be raised at pleasure. 
In an establishment of this kind this mode of heating is a great 
improvement; the time required to trim the fires, and in keeping 
the apartments free from dust, if that is possible in an open fire- 
place, is saved to the attendants: and the invalids experience 
none of that unpleasant feeling occasioned by the opening and 
shutting of doors when dressing or undréssing; and what has 
been so loudly complained of, the unequal temperature of the 

. apartment 


On Indigogene. _ 415 


apartment and the currents of cold air from the chimney acting 
on the surface of the body, and in the cases of rheumatism, more 
particularly, defeating the object for which the warm-bath was 
_ prescribed, 

When walking over the building, we had an opportunity of 
examining a model of a chemical apparatus for producing chaly- 
beate water, by Galvanic action; but as we were informed, con- 
siderable improvements were making on the larger apparatus, 
we will take an early opportunity of laying-a description of it 
before our readers. 

The last and not the least improvement in this establishment 
is the very moderate sum which is intended to be charged for each 
bath. Those who have been accustomed to frequent Brighton 
for cheapness, will now here be agreeably surprised at finding 
infinitely superior accommodation for the same money. 


LXXXVI. On Indigogenc. By J. Murray, Esq. 
To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir,— I BEG to submit some remarks on the substance called 
by Brugnatelli indigegene. 

It is obtained from indigo, a substance one of the products of 
the Indigofera and Isatis, and the varied species of which are 
natives of the East Indies, Cape of Good Hope, and New Hol- 
land. The extract from the letter of M. Van Mons of Brussels, 
in the Philosophical Magazine, first called my attention towards 
this curious body. 

If indigo in the form of powder be projected on a red hot 
iron, a vapour of a blueish colour arises, and a red shade passes 
over the surface of the iron. This vapour exhales a peculiar 
odour somewhat resembling burnt malt; and when condensed, 
the indigogene is evolved under the form of fine needlelike cry- 
stals of a copper colour and histre: viewed through a lens, some- 
times arborescent groups appear. The mode which I adopt for 
procuring the indiyogene is as follows: 

A small glass capsule (a watch glass will suit) containing the 
powdered indigo is set in one of the sliding rings of the stand 
usually accompanying an Argand’s lamp. A flat piece of glass is 
placed on the capsule, and it is then submitted to the action of 
heat. Water is first given off, then succeeds a reddish vapour, 
which attaches to the flat piece of glass (from which it is diffi- 
_eultly removed by spirits of turpentine); and ultimately, after the 
heat has been considerably inereased, the substance in question 
mt is 


* 


416 On the State of the Manufaelure 


is seen to pervade the surface of the indigo (which becomes a 
erust). It may be detached by means of a delicate spatula. The 
odour at first is unpleasant, but it becomes more mild and some- 
what like that of sweet wort; or it may be obtained by heating 
indigo on a metallic plate. I have seen similar crystals on 
the sides of the indigo vat, from whence it seemed to have su- 
blimed. 

I find that indigogene is readily soluble in sulphuric acid and 
also in nitric acid, communicating to each a green colour. It is 
not soluble in muriatic acid, nor in a solution of boiling caustic 
potassa, nor in ammonia. 

It is soluble in olive oil, even when cold, and in naphtha and 
¢ajeput oil with the assistance of heat. Ammonia added to the 
solution in oil of olives does not materially evolve the substance, 
but from naphtha and cajeput oil it is disengaged unaltered. 

Indigogene is soluble in hot alcohol and sulphuric ether, It 
is instantly dissolved by an alcoholic solution of camphor being 
increased by heat, but is not so soluble in soap dissolved by spi- 
rit, communicating to these a blue tinge. 

Indigogene when projected on melted nitrate of potassa de- 
tonates, and slightly explodes when mixed with oxymuriate 
putassa on the contact of sulphuric acid. 

Indigogene does not combine with mercury by simple triture, 
but forms an amalgam aided by heat. Before the blowpipe 
when in a platina spoon it scintillates and inflames, a violet va- 
pour evolves, and a blue shade crowns the surface of platina.— 
By percussion with oxymuriate potassa it fulminates with flame. 
The effects of various reagents may form the subyect of a future 


paper. 
I am, &e. 4 
Liverpool, June 8, 1816. J. Murray. 


LXXXVII. On the State of the Manufacture of Sugar in France. 
By M. le Comte Cuaprat, 


[Concluded from p. 339.] 


Tux boiler into which the cleared juice falls should be about 
eight feet long, five and a half wide, and twenty-two inches deep. 
As soon as the bottom of this boiler is covered with the liquid, 
the fire is lighted, and the heat raised to ebullition as quick as 

sible. The instant the liquor begins to boil, sulphuric acid, 
diluted with twenty parts of water, is poured into it, in the pro- | 
portion of a tenth part of the lime employed; the whole _ " 

e . 


: 


of Sugar in France. 417 


be well stirred, that it may be completely mixed. In order to 
ascertain that there is no excess of lime or of acid in the liquor, 
it may be tried upon paper coloured with turnsole or curcuma. 
It is best to suffer the excess of lime to remain, and to employ 
no more of the acid, the moment that it gives to the curcuma 
paper a tint of a pale brick or deep white wine colour. After 
this operation, three per cent. of animal charcoal, well pounded 
to an impalpable powder, is mixed with the liquor, and imme- 
diately afterwards is added half of the charcoal that was used the 
evening before. ; 

It has been observed that chareoal which comes from the pre- 
paration of prussian blue produces a better effect than that which 
proceeds from the distillation of animal matters in the manu- 
factories of sal-ammoniac, which seems to retain the state of ex- 
treme division that is effected by the calcination; for it is ascer- 
tained that animal charcoal produces a greater effect in propor- 
tion as it is more attenuated and divided by pounding. M. Fi- 
guier of Montpellier was the first who discovered the superiority 
of animal charcoal to that of wood for decolorating liquids; and 
M. Derosne’s application of it to the syrup of beet-root is so 
much the happier, as this charcoal, besides its property of de- 
colorating, destroys the bad effects of the lime, and gives greater 
facility to the boiling. 

After the last addition of charcoal the liquid is evaporated 
till it has acquired the consistence of from 15 to 20 degrees ; it 
is then made to run into a smaller and deeper boiler, and is left 
at rest till the next day, when the boiling of the syrup is ef- 
fected. 


The Boiling and Refining. 


The operation of boiling the syrup is the most delicate of 
any; but it has been rendered extremely easy by the improve- 
ments that have taken place in the preparatory operations, es- 
pecially since the use of animal charcoal has been introduced. 
Many manufacturers have failed in boiling the syrup ; and that 
which should be attributed to a bad manipulation, has generally 
been supposed to be owing sometimes to the non-existence of 
sugar in the beet, and sometimes to the almost insurmountable 
difficulty of extracting it. Now, this operation is become so 
easy that scum rises ; it never burns during the boiling, and re- 
quires very little more care on the part of the workman who 
conducts it, 

Previous to the boiling, the concentrated juice made the even- 
ing before, and which still retains some degree of heat, is fil- 
tered through a coarse piece of woollen cloth; it is then poured 
into a round boiler, two feet in diameter and eighteen inches 

Vol. 47. No, 218, June 1816, Dd deep, 


418 On the State of the Manufacture 


deep, till it is one-third full, and is then heated to ebuilition, 
which is kept up to the end of the operation. If it chance to 
burn, it is perceived by puffs of white simoke, which come from 
the bottom of the boiler, and burst through the surface of the 
liqnid, spreading a pungent smell; the fire must be slackened, 
the liquor stirred, aud the operation more carefully attended to. 
This accident was common three years ago, but by following the 
aforesaid process it is now become very rare. If the boiling 
mass swells, rises, and froths, it may be moderated by putting 
into it a small piece of butter, or by slackening the fire. The 
means of judging that the operation is going on well are, first, 
when it boils dry and with noise; secoudly, when the syrup de- 
taches itself from the skimmer without drawing into threads, and 
without adhesion ; thirdly, when on striking the boiling mass with 
the back of the skimmer, the blow sounds dry, as ifit struck upon 
silk ; fourthly, when it produces very little skim; fifthly, when 
on taking up some of the froth or the bubbles out of the boil 
with the skimmer, the bubbles disappear directly and resolve into 
liquid: this latter character distinguishes the bubbles of the boil 
from those of the scum; lastly, we may be satisfied that the 
operation has proceeded well, if no traces of black can be per- 
ceived at the bottom of the boiler, and the surface appears 
clean. 

The time proper to terminate the boiling of the syrup may be 
known by the following indications: first, by dipping the skim- 
mer into the syrup, and on taking it out again pass the thumb 
rapidly over the edge, in order to take up a little of the syrup; 
work this drop of syrup between the fore finger and thumb, 
till it has acquired the temperature of the skin; then separate 
the finger and thumb rapidly: when it does not draw into a 
‘thread between the fingers the operation is far from being con- 
cluded ; when it begins to form a thread the operation is far 
advanced, and then the experiment must be frequently repeated. 
The boiling must be discontinued the moment that the thread 
breaks dry; in this case the upper part of the broken thread 
shrinks towards the fore finger, ferming a screw, and is never 
entirely lost in the mass that adheres to the finger. As soon 
‘as it is ascertained by this fes¢ that the operation of boiling the 
syrup is completed, the fire is smothered, and a few minutes af- 
terwards it is poured into the cooler, taking care to pour it high, 
that it may be mixed with air, for it is observed that this facili- 
tates the crystallization. 

Into the vessel called the cooler is poured the whole of the 
successive products obtained by the different boilings completed 
in one day. 

In the evening, when the whole is thus collected in the cooler, 

the 


of Sugar in France. 419 


the forms which are denominated Lastardes are filled; the cry- 
stailization of the sugar immediately begis, and is almost always 
complete the next day; so that in 24 or 48 hours after it is put 
into the forms, these forms may, without inconvenience, be 
placed upon the pots for the melasses to run out. 

A good crystallization is obtained when the surface is dry, the 
paste well grained and not syrupy, and when the surface of the 
base of the loaf of sugar cracks and is depressed towards the 
middle, which is known under the technical name of fountain. 

I pass over several minor particulars of the process, which 
would be superfluous, as they are well known to all persons who 
ave at all acquainted with the subject ; observing, that in order 
that none of the juice may be lost, the scum, the residuum on 
the filters, and the settlings of the boilers, are all put into a 
lever press, to squeeze out what remains in them. It is very 
important that the juice be operated upon as soon as possible 
after it is extracted; for, if suffered to remain several hours, 
especially when unconcentrated, it undergoes alterations which 
injure the sugar, render its extraction more difficult, and consi- 
derably diminish the quantity. 

I shall not dwell long on the process of refining, which is well 
known and understood; I shall only relate the improvements 
made in it by those who have been employed in extracting sugar 
from beet. _M. de Rosne was the first who proposed to refine 
with alcohol, which is a very expeditious method, and the better 
adapted for the beet-root sugars, as it renders unnecessary a 
number of utensils which are requisite in the old method. To 
refine with alcohol, the operation must be commenced imme- 
diately as the melasses begins to run; for if any time is allowed 
for the sugar to dry, the melasses which moistens the crystals 
thickens, and forms a very hard coat upon the surface of the 
sugar, which the alcohol detaches with great difficulty: accord- 
ingly, the moment that the melasses begins to run, the surface 
of the sugar-loaf contained in the form is to be scraped, and a 
litre of alcohol at 36 degrees of commerce poured by degrees 
over the whole surface, the little orifice of the form being stopped ; 
the base of the form is then carefully covered to prevent the 
evaporation of the alcohol. In two hours the orifice of the form 
is opened, and the alcohol runs into the pot, charged with a 
great proportion of the colouring principle; the operation may 
be repeated with half the quantity of fresh alcohol, and the su- 
gar is then equal in whiteness to the clayed or fine powder sugar. 
The sugar is then melted.and put into the boiler with bullock’s 
blood. ‘The operatiou is terminated by either claying or alcoho- 
lising it again; but it has been observed, that the last-mentioned 
process gives the sugar a more heavy look than the other, and 


Dd2 render 


420 On the State of the Manufacture 


renders it a little more friable ; for this reason I use alcohol for 
the first operation, and claying for the second. The alcoholised 
loaves retain the smell of it for some time, which, however, goes 
off by placing them for a short time in a stove, or even on sim- 
ple exposure to the open air. It is necessary to employ alcohol 
concentrated to 36 degrees; when it is weaker it dissolves a 
portion of sugar. It is not entirely lost, for by distillation it 
may be freed from the melasses, and employ ed again as before. 
Another method of refining has been proposed, which does not 
appear to me to possess the advantages of the new one just de- 
scribed, or even of the old one: it consists in dissolving 100 
parts of raw sugar, and treating it with ten per cent. of charcoal 
and ten whites of eggs. When the loaf is in the form, they 
cause one and a half per cent. of white syrup to run through. 


Account of the Expenses and Product of a Manufactory of 
Sugar from Beet. 


The process I have described appears to me to be the most 
eertain, ceconomical, and simple of any that have come within 
my knowledge: and if the price of the sugar produced from it 
is greater than the sugar of commerce brought from the new 
world, it is still a new fact in science, and an object of curiosity 
to society. We shall now give an exact statement of expenses 
and receipts, in order that every one may be able to judge of the 
importance of this new branch of industry. 

The expenses are comprised in the price of the beet, the ma- 
nual labour for the extraction of the sugar, the interest of the 
sums spent in forming the establishment, the maintenance of the 
machines, the purchase of fuel, animal charcoal, and other less 
considerable articles. Beet-root is usually sold at ten franes 
per thousand weight ; at this price the cultivator has hitherto 
-met with a reasonable profit, especially when it is raised in suit- 
able soil. By supposing it to be raised in land of a middling 
quality, but yet good enough to produce corn, we may calculate 
that an acre of ground will produce a crop of beet at the fol- 


lowing expense : 
Francs, 


. Rent Grantaerer a Tio Se Aa TcO 
. Two deep ploughings .. .. .. 24 
. Two weedings are te Fat 20 
« Purehase offseedi' coms Sl eo 8 
Weeding and harrowing .. .. 22 
. Gathering and carriage... .. .. 40 
Saame ss en os oe) 50 
Femmes Ot ee fee 


Total .. 184 We 


Ont oabkb Www 


of Sugar in France. 421 


We have in this statement charged the whole expense to the 
beet-root, although we have before said that the land appro- 
priated to it was sown with corn towards the 15th of October, 
after the beet was gathered; and we may therefore charge to 
the corn the expense of the two ploughings, of the rent, of the 
taxes, and the manure; it is consequently evident that the 
amount may be reduced one-third. 

We generally estimate the mean product of an aere of beet at 
20 thousand weight, which fixes the price for the cultivator at 
9 fr. 20 ¢.; but as the cleansing diminishes the beet as much as 
one-tenth, the 20 thousand weight are reduced to 18, when they 
eome to be operated upon: we shall therefore reckon the price 
at 10 fr. per thousand to the manufacturer, always supposing 
that he grows his own beet. 

To ascertain the other expenses, we will suppose that 10 thou- 
sand weight of beet-roots are operated upon every day. 

Francs. 

1. Ten thousand weight of beet-roots 100 
2. Two-horses andaman.. .. .. 9 
3. Five women tothe graters .. .. 3 
4. Four men tothe presses .. .- 6 
5. Twomen tothe boilers .. .. 3 
6. Animal charcoal .. .. .. «- 10 
7. Acid, lime, and bullock’s blood .. 2 
8. Loss of alcohol used in the refining 4 
Wied: aksla’ day Mee Adee s\n ieee 

otal 33 (ae vas eae ne 

As we suppose the manufactory to be at work only four months 
in the year, it is proper to assess upon these four months ex- 
penses of another nature, such as the interest of the money, the 
repair of the utensils, the salary of the superintending refiner, 
&c. Thus supposing the establishment to cost 30,000 fr. which 
is the maximum for a consumption of 10 thousand weight of 
beet per day: 


Francs. 
The interest of the money for 120 days amounts to 16 
The repair of the utensils and building asehas LO 
Salary to the refiner and his man... we we 20 
Petty expenses .. ee ee ee eee 
Charges as above ., «. «+ 149 
Potaly: golhay Lh ope 200 
The expense of each day, therefore, employed in the con- 
sumption of 10 thousand weight of beet-root is 200 francs. 
The produce of this 10 thousand is composed of three distinct 
Dds parts— 


422 On the State of the Manufacture 


parts—the sugar, the residuum or marc of the beet, and the 
melasses. In general the beet furnishes from three to four per 
cent. of raw sugar, and sometimes even from four to five. The 
quantity varies according to the state of the weather and the 
expertness of those who work in the establishment. Supposing 
only three per cent. is extracted, the 10 thousand weight of 
beet will then produce 300 Ibs, of raw sugar, which, reckoning 
the daily expense of 200 franes, brings the price of the raw sugar 
to about 13 sous, or 65 centimes per pound. Besides the pro- 
duce of the sugar, there is another which deserves consideration 5 
this is the cuttings and the residuum of the beet after the juice 
is expressed from it. The cuttings, as we have before observed, 
compose nearly a tenth part of the weight of the beet; they 
consist of the tops, the radicles, and the earth that adheres to 
them. On a thousand weight of cuttings, off 10 thousand of 
beet, there is at least a good half which is excellent food for 
pigs, who are very fond of it. The residuum or marc is a still 
more important article: supposing 70 per cent. of juice to be 
extracted, the 10 thousand weight daily cousumed furnishes 
1500 kilogrammes, or about 30 quintals, of marc, which is a very 
valuable food for horned cattle. This food, which is nearly dry, 
has none of the inconveniences of herbs or aqueous rocts, or of 
dry fodder; it produces no putrefaction like the first, and does 
not heat them, or occasion obstructions, like the latter; it con- 
tains almost all the nutritive principles of the beet, being de- 
prived of only about 60 per cent. of water, three of sugar, and 
a little extract and gelatine; oxen, cows, and poultry are very 
fond of it, and it fattens them better than anv other food; sheep 
and milch cows that are fed with it give much more milk, and of 
-an excellent quality. Thus an establishment of the magnitude 
of the one I am speaking of, may fatten annually from 50 to 60 
oxen, or from four to five huudred sheep, with the residuum 

only. 
The melasses is a third product not to be overlooked ; a thou- 
sand weight of bect will produce nearly 240. pounds, which may 
be sold at the rate of ten or fifteen frances the quintal, or the 
fifty kilogrammes; or it may be retained to be fermented and. di- 
stilled in order to extract the alcohol. When the melasses is kept 
for distillation, it is diluted with water till the liquor marks from 
seven to nine degrees; it is then carefully mixed with yeast, or 
the leaven of barley paste, tempered with warm water, in the 
proportion of two pounds of the first-mentioned to ten quintals 
of liquid, and six pounds of the last-mentioned, The vessels 
that contain the fermenting liquor should be placed in a stove, 
where the heat is constantly from sixteen to eighteen degrees of 
the centigrade thermometer; the fermentation soon appears, 
and 


of Sugar in France. 423 


and is terminated in a few days. The distillation should be 
effected in the improved alembic of Adam and Bernard, then 
the alcohol has no had taste, and it can be obtained to any de- 
sired degree by a single distillation. This alcohol has the pe- 
culiarity of being infinitely more pungent than any other at the 
same degree of concentration. One hundred litres of melasses 
give nearly 33 litres of alcohol at 22 degrees. Before the re- 
siduum is given to the cattle it may be fermented by diluting it 
with a sufficient quantity of water, and distilling it afterwards ; 
by this means about four per cent. of alcohol may be extracted 
from it; but this operation requires a degree of manipulation 
that induced me to abandon it; nevertheless, it gave rise to an 
observation that may be useful to be known to persons engaged 
in the same object. 1 had conceived the idea of passing water 
over the residuum, and using it afterwards to temper the me- 
lasses ; this lixiviated water marked from two to four degrees; I 
proceeded afterwards to the fermentation in the usual manner ; 
the fermentation proceeded with facility; when it had terminated 
I submitted the liquor to distillation, and was surprised to find 
that it yielded less alcohol, and that towards tl.e end of the ope- 
ration the liquor expanded or swelled, and passed from the boiler 
into the worm. Iwas soon convinced that the melasses had 
not participated in the fermentation, that it had remained un- 
disturbed, and that only the lixivium of the residuum had fer- 
mented. This experiment, several times repeated, afforded al- 
ways the same results: it appears that the melasses mixes with- 
out combining with the water of the lixivium, which ferments first, 
and stops the motion of the melasses. The ashes of the marc 
or dregs will furnish nearly one per cent. of potash, 


General Remarks. 


We see by the above details, that France is able to manufac- 
ture, at a low price, as much sugar as is necessary for home 
consumption, But there are still two or three questions neces- 
sary to be examined, in order that nothing may be left undone 
in a matter of so much importance. 

Ist. Whether the sugar made from beet-root is of the same 
nature with that of the cane? 

2d. What advantages may be derived to agriculture from 
establishments for the extraction of sugar from beet-root ? 

3d. Whether it is the interest of France to manufacture this 
sugar ? 

4th, From what reason have most of the establishments 
erected for this purpose been given up? 

In regard to the first question; whether the sugar made from 
beet is of the same nature with that of the cane, I shal] observe, 

Dd4 that 


424 On the State of the Manufacture 


that we are at this time acquainted with three distinct kinds of 
sugar, all susceptible of vielding alcohol by fermentation, but 
each differing in particular properties: one is uniformly in a li- 
quid state, another is alwa vyS a powder incapable of crystalliza- 
tion, and the third is composed of very regular crystals. The 
first kind, or liquid sugar, exists mostly in vegetables and fruit ; 
it oneLieites the syrup wher the juice is properly concentrated 
by evaporation. 

The second sort is firm and dry, but without being susceptible 
of crystallization: the sugar of the grape is of this species, as 
well as that of honey, and that which is produced from the adul- 
teration of starch by sulphuric acid. 

The third kind is susceptible of crystallization ; and the ery- 
stals take the form of a tetraedral prism, terminated by a diedral 
summit. This species is found in the sugar-cane, the beet-root, 
in the sugar-maple, the chesnut, &c. This sort is the most 
esteemed and the most sought for, because it has the plea- 
santest taste, is sweetest in proportion to the weight, is the 
most easily used, and is the most agreeable to the sight. 

There is now not the least doubt among enlightened men as 
to the perfect identity of the different sugars that constitute the 
third sort ; and when the sugars are brought, by the process of 
refining, to the same degree of whiteness and purity, the most 
experienced can detect no difference in them. 

Undoubtedly, when in the first attempts of the manufacture 
the sugar produced from beet-root was frequently sent into the 
market burnt, ill prepared, and badly refined, the consumer had 
reason to reject it, and found it very different from the sugar of 
Hamburgh or Orleans; but even then the well-informed ranked 
it in the same species, and attributed the difference to the im- 
perfections of an infant process, rather than to the nature of the 
principles. Long since our celebrated colleague, M. Haiiy, 
had proved that the form of the crystals was the same; se- 
veral establishments had exhibited results analogous to those of 
the colonies; and it was natural to conclude that the same per- 
fection would be gradually attained by all. We know that at 
all times woollen cloths have been manufactured of the same 
materials, and that yet the cloths of the tenth century were by 
no means comparable with those of the eighteenth :—we know 
that every art has its period of infancy, but that in the present 
age this infancy is of shorter duration, by reason of the progress 
of knowledge. 

That which was predicted has taken place; and in less than 
two years the manufacture is wonderfully improved ; it is sim- 
plified to that degree that it is now confided to the workmen, 
and there are few operations that afford more certain and uni- 

form 


of Sugar in France. 425 


uniform results: thus the product of the beet-root establishments 
is circulated in commerce without opposition, and the consumer 
gives the same price for it as for that of the cane of the same 
quality. It has been said that this sugar is lighter than the 
cane sugar, and “consequently that the same quantity in bulk 
does not sweeten so much; trifling as this accusation is, I can- 
not admit it; I employ the same forms as those used at Or- 
jeans, and each furnishes a loaf exactly of the same weight as in 
the refineries of Orleans. 

For three years 1 have used at my own table no other sugar 
than that of my own manufactory; and my friends, who had no 
suspicion of it, have seldom failed to compliment me on the 
beauty and good quality of this sugar. 

I have already observed, that the sugar refined by alcohol ex- 
hales, for some time, a disagreeable smell; so that if it is sent 
to market immediately the consumer will reasonably complain of 
it; but this is no defect in the sugar, it is the fault of the pro- 
prietor, who should not offer it for sale before the smell of the 
alcohol is gone off. ‘Thus I have shown that the sugar of beet- 
root and that of the cane are strictly of the same nature, and 
that no difference can be found in them. 

As to the second question, whelher agriculture can derive any 
advantage from the establishments for extracting sugar from 
beet, 1 reply, that agriculture must unavoidably derive great ad- 
vantage from them, for whatever tends to vary the crops, and 
augment their number, is beneficial to it: in this view therefore 
the culture of the beet-root is advantageous; for besides affording 
an intermediate crop, it doubles the product of the funds, and 
does not cause the loss of a single grain of corn. The cultiva- 
tion of the beet-root also renders the soil more light, and clears 
it of weeds. The manufacture of the sugar is not less useful 
than the cultivation of the plant. First, the residuum or mare 
of the beet affords food for the horned cattle and pigs of a large 
farm for four winter months, November, December, January and 
February. Supposing France contains two hundred manufac- 
tories, each working upon ten thousand weight of beet-root daily, 
the marc or residue from them will fatten from ten to twelve thou- 
sand oxen, and from two to three thousand pigs. Secondly, these 
manufactories have the advantage of employing the horses and 
men of a farm during the dead season, and of giving work to 
others, who during these four months would otherwise be con- 
demned to idleness. Independent of the men employed in the 
cultivation of the plant, the cutting and the extraction of the 
sugar may employ from five to six thousand persons during the 
winter, supposing two hundred establishments to be at work. 

To 


7 


426 On the State of the Manufaciure 


To the third question, whether it is the interest of France ta 
multip:y these manufactories, | may answer, that France can 
have no other interest than that of her inhabitants; conse- 
quently, whatever augments the mass of labour, or multiplies the 
productions of the earth and of industry, and enriches the agri- 
culturist, must merit protection on the part of the government. 
In this place, the great consideration of the colonies presents 
itself, and I do not pretend to resolve a question of such high 
importance ; I shall confine myself on this subject to the state- 
ment of a few remarks, which I submit to the wisdom of govern- 
ment, and to men more competent to decide than myself. I 
shall not say, with some writers, that the colonial system does 
not interest the nation, under the pretext that the colonies 
bring nothing into the public treasury, that they require the sup- 
port of a very expensive marine, &c. I know that the colonies 
open a market for the products of our industry and of our soil, 
that they supply our manufactories with raw materials, and that 
they give great activity to commerce. Under all these relations, 
the colonies have hitherto been one of the principal sources of 
public prosperity; but if all these advantages can be obtained 
in the bosom of France itself, if the indigenous fabrication of 
sugar and indigo can replace the sugar and indigo of the new 
world, at the same price and of the same quality; if this new 
branch of industry augments the mass of labour among ourselves, 
and enriches our agriculture, without depriving us of any of its 
products; it is evident that there remain against the colonies, 
without compensation for any superior interests, the annual ex- 
peuse which they occasion, and the numberless chances of war, 
which all at once sacrifice our fortunes, and force us to priva- 
tions, when a formidable marine is unable to obtain dominion, 
or at least equality, upon the seas. These reasons might be 
strengthened by looking at the actual state of the colonies : but 
God forbid that I should pretend to turn the attention of go- 
vernment from an interest equally great to the metropolis, and — 
from its paternal solicitude for the unhappy colonists who have 
been despoiled of their property! I only desire, that at the pre- 
sent moment the establishments of indigenous sugar may be en- — 
couraged, so that, their products being upon an equal footing © 
with those of the colonies, we may share with foreigners the 
commercial relations which are limited to the exchange of our 
colonial commodities, especially sugar, against the productions 
of their soil. This becomes the more important, as our prin- 
cipal trade with Hamburgh and the northern countries consists — 
of colonial commodities, for which we receive wood for building, 
metal, potash, hemp, flax, and tallow; and that when these 

great 


of Sugar in France. 427 


great means of exchange happen to fail, England has the ad- 
vantage of this immense commerce. 

The fourth and last question is, from what cause have the 
greatest part of the establishments failed that were formed for 
this purpose ? 

Persons who form a superficial judgement of the arts, are per- 
suaded that the minufactories of sugar from beet cannot support 
a competition with those of the cane, and they are now con- 
firmed in their opinion by the failure of so many of the esta- 
blishments that were formed before the peace. To this we 
might reply, that it is sufhcient that some of them still remain, 
notwithstanding the importation of foreign sugar, to prove that 
our manufactories are capable of rivalling them; but I prefer in 
this place to point out the causes of the failure, and to establish 
certain principles which may serve to guide those persons who 
may in future undertake to form fresh establishments. 

When the extraction of sugar from beet-root was at first de- 
sired, the government excited the zeal of all France by the en- 
couragement it offered: every where the heet was sown, and 
numerous establishments were formed, without any previous 
consideration on the uature of the soil, the expense of the culti- 
vation, or the saccharine quality of ‘the root. Vast buildings 
were erected at a great expense, graters and presses were bought, 
the effects of which were not understood; and frequently the 
whole made ready to set to work, without the least mistrust of 
the process intended to he followed; and sometimes even un- 

rovided with a man capable of conducting the operations. 

The rational progress of a new branch of industry was not at- 
tended to, great losses were suffered, and they might have been 
expected. In some places the beet was found to contain no 
sugar when it was operated upon ; this was the cause of the fall 
of all the establishments in the south ; in others, defective pro- 
cesses were employed, and only syrup could be extracted; and 
the cultivation or purchase of the beet has cost so much, that 
the product has not balanced the expense. This inconsiderate 
mode of proceeding was necessarily the ruin of most of the un- 
dertakings ; and as every one is apt to reason from his own ex- 
perience, whether gocd or bad, a general prejudice soon prevailed 

ainst the success of this manufacture. On the other hand, 
the bad quality of the sugar which some manufacturers sent to 
market, lias contributed, in no small degree, to disgust the con- 
sumer. 

It would doubtless have been better to have sought out the 


- auses of failure, and to have studied the methods of the pro- 


sperous establishments : but public opinion is not always so just, 
it often adopts a novelty without examination, and atill oftener 
proscribes 


428 On the Stale of the Manufacture of Sugar in France. 


proscribes it without reason, Neverthelesss the repeated ate 
tempts in every part of France have afforded results by which 
some have profited, and have at length furnished us with a po- 
sitive knowledge of the culture of the beet-root, of its product, 
and with a certain, easy, and ceconomical method of extracting 
the sugar from it. Experience has also taught us, that the ma- 
nofactories of sugar from beet-root ean only prosper in the hands 
of proprietors who cultivate the plant themselves, and consume 
the residue upon their own demesne: indeed, it is only necessary 
to take a view of the advantages which this manufacture affords, 
when connected with a large farm, to be convineed of the great 
difference in the two cases. 

First. The proprietor who cultivates the beet, obtains it at 
2 lower price than he who buys it: this difference is immense ; 
especially if we consider, that as it is an intermediate crop, the 
expense of ploughing and manuring may be laid upon the crop 
of corn that succeeds it. 

Secondly. The residue of the beet will feed nearly all the 
horned cattle of a large demesne, during the four severest months 
of the year ; whereas if sold it does not produce half the benefit. 

Thirdly. The carriage, and most of the operations, may be 
executed by the horses and men belonging to the farm; while, 
in the other case, all these must be paid for this purpose solely, 
and for a limited time, which increases the disadvantage. 

Fourthly. Manual labour is dearer in towns than in the country, 

Fifthly. Fuel is always dearer in towns than in the country, 
especially wood, which may be employed in some of the opera- 
tions. 

This new branch of industry, therefore, must he established 
on extensive property, for on such only it can succeed. Inde- 
pendent of the advantages of situation, we may add, that the 
erections necessarily depending on a large farm will mostly suf- 
fice, without any further expense, for the purposes of the new 
manufacture. I could mention two establishments of this nature, 
which required no more additional buildings than amounted tothe 
expense of 300 francs. These establishments are in a prosperous 
state at this moment, and are about to commence their fifth 
year. 

The large proprietor, accustomed hitherto to easy harvests, 
will probably feel unwilling to undertake this new system, be- 
cause he may imagine himself not sufficiently acquainted with 
it: but if he considers that all the expense of experiments has 
been incurred by others; that the processes we have described” 
are easy and certain; that the calculations, being deduced from 
experience, are accurate ; that the distilleries of grain and po- 
tatoes, which are formed in almost all the northern farms, re~ 

: quire 


‘ 


On Aérial Navigation. 429 


quire information equally extensive, without affording so much 
advantage ; since, besides the food for cattle, and the product 
of the alcohol, which is more abundant from beet-root than from 
grain, we have also the production of the sugar; he will see, that 
he may at the same time improve his land, and assist to enrich 
the country with a product which has become one of the first 
necessity. 


LXXXVIII. On dérial Navigation. By Joun Evans, Esq. 
To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — I AM much gratified at finding that my paper inserted 
in your Magazine for November last has given rise to some able 
communications in your subsequent numbers. My engagements 
at the College of Edinburgh during the past winter will, I trust, 
prove a sufficient apology for my apparent neglect in not noticing 
them at an earlier period. 

The claim of priority of invention urged by Mr. Edgeworth 
I am perfectly willing to admit, but must at the same time en- 
tirely disclaim all knowledge of any experiments in which the 
inclined plane was proposed as the means of directing balloons. 
Sir George Cayley’s papers in Nicholson’s Journal were equally 
unknown to me. c 

Sir George’s paper in your number for February commences 

with mentioning a difficulty attending the method by which I 
had proposed to apply the action of the inclined plane. The 
plane being merely suspended below the balloon, would during 
the descent be urged by its own weight only, and consequently 
would not receive an adequate resistance from the air. ‘This. 
difficulty, however, may be easily obviated by fixing the plane 
close beneath the gallery (taking due precautions as to safety 
from fire), and thus making the weights of the balloon and plane 
act in conjunction, The sole reason of my placing the plane so 
far below the balloon was to allow the air to reoccupy the par- 
tial vacuum which might be formed beneath the latter whilst 
sascending, and tend to render the effect of the inclined plane 
less complete. But if the plane be firmly attached to the in- 
ferior part of the balloon as now proposed, a very slight clonga- 
tion of the diagonal yards will allow the expansion of an arldi- 
tional quantity of canyass sufficient to compensate the loss of re- 
sistance occasioned by the proximity of the balloon. 

Sir G. afterwards gives another mode of applying the same prin- 
ciple, which, it is rather remarkable, is almost the same as I tried 
last summer, and to which I alluded in the last paragraph of 

my 


430 On Acriat Navigation. 


my former paper. I do not mention this circumstance with the 
view of questioning the originality of Sir George’s idea, but 
merely because it may be usefal, in the prosecution of further 
experiments, to know what constructions have been already ex- 
amined, and what difficulties have impeded their execution. 

It appears a very obvious improvement to make the balloon 
itself furnish the required oblique surface as well as the moving 
power. In proceeding to submit this to experiment, the first ques- 
tion that offered itself was, what should be the shape of the bal- 
Iqon in order to obtain the. oblique surface most conveniently? 
From previous experiments, I was well acquainted with the dif- 
ficulty of distending the balloon by framework however lightly 
made. I therefore so ught some shape which should not require 
such assistance, but be such that the balloon coukl not assume 
any other figure without diminishing its capacity. The shape 
of the first balloon. censtructed with this view, was that of two 
flattened hexagonal pyramids united by their ‘bases: The bal- 
loon when inflated did not perfectly retain the above figure, but 
became rounded at all the ¢orners and bounding lines. The 


aperture for the fire was not at the apex of the inferior pyramid, 


but on one side of it, and a weight was attached which might be 
adjusted so as to keep the balloon at the requisite obliquity. 
The balloon was elevated in the room where I made the experi- 
ments detailed in my former paper, but no sensible effect was 
observed. Being afterwards launched in the open_air with a 
small side sail attached, it assumed the same rotatory motion as 
a balloon furnished with an inclined plane. 

In this experiment much inconvenience arose from the constant 
tendency of the hot air to ascend to the higher extremity of the 
balloon, which was consequently always endeavouring to attain 
a perpendicular sositionn It is much to be feared that this cir- 
eumstance would be a material obstacle to the success of bal- 
loons constructed after this plan on a large scale; which con- 
sideration inclined me to prefer the original method of suspend- 
ing the plane at some distance below a spherical balloon. The 
experiments on the comparative advantages of the two construc- 
tions are however at present too few and imperfect to warrant a 
decision as to the superiority of either of them. 

Sir George in his last paper gives a description of a hydrogen 

gas balloon furnished with wings or oars, which are to be moved 
alternately up and down byasteam-engine. It appears to me that 
by a force being communicated to these wings in one direction, 
which force is alinost immediately destroyed in order to give an 
impulse in the contrary direction, a considerable loss of power 
must_be occasioned. I would therefore beg leave to suggest 
that a large wheel with oblique vanes (like the fly of a wae 
jac i) 


On the Cosmogony of Moses. 431 


jack) be substituted, which by revolving continually in one di- 
rection would attain the desired object, with no more waste of 
power than what would arise from the additional machinery ne- 
cessary to obtain a rotatory motion from the steam-engine. 

Weil knowing that the further advancement of this interest- 
ing subject must depend on the wnited exertions of the friends 
to science, I shall with pleasure enroll my name in the list of 
subscribers for the completion of so desirable an object. 

I am, sir, 
Yours respectfully, 


Pullin’s Row, Islington, Joun Evans Jun. 
June 11, 1816. 


LXXXIX. On the Cosmogony of Moses. ae Dr. PRICHARD; 
in Reply to F. E 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sm, — I AM sorry to find myself under the necessity-of tres- 
passing upon your patience, by once more directing your atten- 
tion to the Cosmogony of Moses. 

I shall make but a few remarks on the last letter of your cor- 
respondent F. E s. It contains nothing new except a tirade 
about torches and a chateau en Espagne, from which I can un- 
derstand nothing except that the writer intends to be facetious. 
I wish that his method of treating the points in controversy were 
‘equally novel and ingenious, and that he had not contented him- 

‘self with repeating the same objections to which I have before, 

as I trust, sufficiently replied. He is still determined to find 
-contradictions between propositions which have no relation to 
each other, and quarrels even with the words in which they are 

expressed. I shall not stay to notice mere cavils, but shall con- 
tent myself with a specimen of the mode of reasoning a:lopted 
by this pertinacious critic. 

In my last paper I hinted at the instance of St. Matthew and 
St. Luke, in order to prove that inspired writers have chosen to 
avail themselves of historical documents when such sources of 
‘information were to be found. Mr. F. E. seems to allow the 
force of this example, but denies that it leads to any inference 
with respect to Moses; and the exception he takes against it is 
to the following purport. St. Matthew and St. Luke found pre- 

‘existing documents, which it only required in them human sa- 
gacity to adopt; but Moses, it seems, had nothing but the light 
-of revelation to guide him: consequently he made no use of re- 
cords, Now there is one grand objection to thts conclusion ; 
viz. 


432 On the Cosmogony of Moses. 


viz. that it takes for granted the chief thing intended’ to’ be 
proved. 

I here beg to disclaim the merit kindly ascribed to me by 
F.E s, of having formed an ‘‘ ingenious imagination’ re-~ 
specting sors of inspiration, and to enter a protest at the same 
time against the pretensions of those who, like that writer, talk 
largely of ‘ circuitous inspirations’ and ‘‘ immediate inspira- 
tions.” Such knowing persons indeed would be very great 
prizes in these iron times, if we could be sure that their in- 
formation is genuine; but until they point out the sources whence 
it was derived, we must be excused from paying deference to 
their superior attainments. I am such a tyro in these matters, 
that I cannot even see any force or shadow of meaning in the 
‘objection advanced by F. E s against my former positions, 
and founded by him on the supposed sort of inspiration which 
is to be ascribed to Moses. Far be it from me to pronounce 
the particular time, place, and manner in which the most an- 
cient revelations were made, or ‘* to ascertain the person fa- 
voured wilh them;” nothing less than which, it seems, will sa- 
tisfy my unrelenting inguisitor. I have no one opinion er ‘hy- 
pothesis on the subject, but leave all such sublime matters to 
F.E s and the winged folk of Aristophanes : 


oe > 4 
Shideinte bor acs Bsa.» TONG, COWUEDIOIC, 
Tos aynpwc, Tos APIiTa pydouzvoioiy, 


while I take up my humble place among the aarijves e¢nugeros, 
the unfledged mortals who are dcomed to grope upon the sur- 


face of the earth, and see but a short space before them. My 


season for believing that Moses was not the original author of 
the Cosmogony, is not any speculative opinion concerning sub- 
jects beyond my comprehension, but the fact that the same re- 
cord is found among distant nations, whose history has been to- 
tally unconnected, from a period long antecedent to the age of 
Moses; and I presume that one fair inference from historical 
facts will weigh down a hundred hypotheses concerning sorts 
of inspiration. 

But although I do not pretend to be so sagacious as F, E— 
in occult matters, I am far from intending to depreciate the cha- 
racter of Moses. His writings display a mind so free from those 
prejudices which enslaved the greatest philosophers in the most 
enlightened ages of antiquity, that the extent of his wisdom ap- 
pears quite out of the course of nature. His freedom»from 
superstition is the more astonishing, if it be true, as the Egyptian 
historians assert, that Moses was originally a priest of Heliopolis. 

I have not, as Mr. F. Fi s would insinuate, rested my in- 
terpretation of the word day on the authority of Josephus and 

Philo. 


| 


ae a ee ee eT 


ay. 


On the Cosmogony of Moses. 433 


Philo. Yet as it has been my endeavour to show that every 
part of the first chapter of Genesis is more or less metaphorical, 
I do not perceive how the figurative sense imputed to the whole 
of it by those writers can be represented as wholly foreign to 
my purpose. At any rate it is quite “ obvious to ordinary un- 
derstandings,” that the opinions of two such writers as Josephus 
and Philo should be taken into the account by a critic who pre- 
tends to estimate the notions entertained by the Hebrew people, 
and to rest on them the chief stress of his argument. 

I shall not enter further into the inquiry what place corals 
and bivalves hold in the scale of creation, whether they are, as 
FE s declares, locomotive animals, or approach to the cha- 
racter of vegetables. The question has been decided in my fa- 
vour by a third person unprejudiced in behalf of either party, 
who has shown himself to be perfectly well informed respecting 
the points in controversy. In fact, it is impossible that any 
thing can be said more clear and satisfactory than the remarks 
of Mr. Horn in the 341st page of your last number. 

I must now advert to the strictures of Mr. Horn upon some 
parts of my last paper; and I shall be brief, as I do not feel 
myself particularly interested in the question which they involve, 
Before Mr. Horn passes a peremptory sentence upon the opi- 
nions of Michaelis, I wish he would take the trouble to consider 
and refute the arguments of that profoundly learned writer, and 
to furnish some other explanation of the facts from which his 
conclusions seem to follow as fair inferences. I confess that I 
have been accustomed to consider the opinions of Michaelis as 
indisputable ; but if Mr. Horn can enable me to think otherwise, 
I shall become a willing convert to his doctrine. When Mr. H. 
has vanquished the German professor, he may find some amuse- 
ment in disposing of our obstinate countryman Dr. Middleton, 
who has displayed profound erudition and a most vigorous in- 
tellect in defence of similar opinions. For the present, I hope 
to be excused if I understand the texts which Mr. H. has cited, 
in a more limited sense than that which he has affixed to them. 
I beg however to assure him, that I have no design to insinuate 
that Moses borrowed his account of the creation from the Egyp- 
tians. [doubtnot that the primitive traditions were preserved 
in greater purity by the Hebrews than by any other nation of 
antiquity ;—neither do I intend to impute to the whole Hebrew 
nation so superstitious a notion as anthropomorpbism. The 
vulgar were anthropomorphites, as probably are many ignorant 

ersons in every country: but it cannot be doubted that well- 
informed and philosophical men interpreted the passages pointed 
out by Mr. Horn in a figurative manner; and it was for the sake 
of drawing this distinction, and availing myself of the example 
» Vol. 47. No. 218. June 1816. Ee afforded 


434 On Meteorolooy. 


afforded by it, that I first hinted at the antlropomorphist of 
the Hebrews. 

I shall conclude as briefly as possible. I have shown that if 
we receive the days of the Hebrew Genesis in an extended sense, 
a most important series of coincidences is developed between 
the epochs of nature and the events recorded by Moses. | have 
proved that the word is capable of the sense I affix to it without 
violating the common forms of speech. It is indeed allowed 
by FLE s that such a figurative sense is applied to it in a 
variety of languages. If we only grant Moses the same indul- 
gence which any common writer would have a right to expect 
at our hands, we are bound by every rule of candid criticism to 
adopt the méaning most favourable to his accuracy. The ques- 
tion might therefore be decided on highly probable grounds, if 
no further information could be obtained, and the Mosaic Cos- 
mogony might be considered as a philosophical and rational nar- 
rative of events, rather than a mythological rhapsody. But 
further, I have shown that two very ancient nations, viz. the 
Hindoos and the Etruscans, have preserved this same document of 
the Cosmogony with same variations, but with this remarkable 
difference, that where Moses mentions “ days,” they expressly 
define long periods of time or ages. This is precisely that very 
confirmation that was wanting, in order to convert a highly pro- 
bable conclusion into a legitimate inference. 

If your correspondent has any new observations to offer on 
this subject, I shall feel it incumbent on me to reply to them: 
but if he still confines himself to the “ cramle repetita,” 1 shall 
not exhaust the patience of your readers by agitating a frivolous 
dispute, but shall be contented with applying to myself the remark 
of a celebrated French writer, that ‘* a man may have the right 
side of an argument, though he should not have the last word in 
the controversy.” 


I remain, sir, 
Your very obedient servant, 
Bristol, June 14, 1816. J. C. PricHarD. 


XC. On Meteorology, Sc. in reference to Mr. ForstEr’s 
* Researches about Atmospheric Phenomena.” By the Rev. 
T. DrumMon»n, of Norwich. 


To Mr. Triloch. 


Sir, — Tae proposition to publish a Meteorological Journal 

induces me io offer a few remarks on the subject. 
As no precise outline of the plan has been brought forward, it 
may be inferred that the new work is intended to collect tésti- 
monies 


On Meteorology. 435 
Monies from a variety of places in this empire, and in foreign 
countries, relative to the barometer, thermometer, wind, and 
weather, at particular periods. If it be also in contemplation 
to specify agreeably to the excellent classification of Luke Ho= 
ward, Esq. the various clouds, preceding or coincident with the 
-changes of the weather, I shall not dispute the utility of such. re- 
cords ; but since the effeets produced in our glasses, the fluctua 
tions of the wind, the varying figures of the clouds, and the 
changes.of the weather, are subsequent to some prior causes in 
the operations of Nature, meteerological records so dimited will 
serve only to register what has occurred; without affording any. 
presage of what may occur. 

If the philosophers will enlarge the table, and note at the same 
time the sitnations of the planets, they will probably find in side- 
real operations on the atmosphere aot only causes prior to the 
above effects, but from the revolutions in the planetary system 
they may by calculation anticipate the probable variations in the 
atmosphere at subsequent periods. 

Pliny speaks of those who could predict ehiuetd ebsstondas toa 
day. li we are not competent to speak with the same positive= 

hess, it must be ascribed to the fashionable neglect of the sub- 
ject. If philosophers wiil cease to disregard a branch of scienee 
almost exploded, they. may in time acquire the Boeneany of 
judgement to which Pliny alludes. 

I consider it unquestionable, that at certain positions of the 
planets snow or rain never fails to occur. 

From the want of a greater number of modern testimonies 
founded on observation, ‘the incertitude at the period of other 
positions is great. There is, perhaps, less reason for confidence 
in an island than on a continent, and the variety of weather may 
be greater near the sea coast than-in an inland county: but if 
the gentlemen think proper to prosecute their plan with such 
additional remarks, they may be expected to relumine the lamp 
of the ancients, and probably cbtain for us some new light on 
the subject. 

A respectable philosopher of the present day has given an 
opinion on this subject, and 1 beg leave to question that opinion, 
and to note an apparent inconsistency combined with it. 

‘I presume the gentleman as a philosopher has no object buf 
the development of truth. He will not find in me a disrespectful 
opponent ; but, as the work to which [ allude may be supposed 
by sone readers to. militate against the hypothesis I am at- 
tempting to maintain, he will excuse my quoting a passage in 
his publication ‘* Researches about Atmospheric Phenomena.” 

* The old notions of astrologers about the conjunctions of the 
ganas involve too many ha meine alsurdities to allow is; te 

collect 


436 Report of the National Vacciné Establishment. 


collect any useful information from their writings. But it is 
certain the place of the moon has some influence on the 
weather. That changes of weather oftener take place about the 
full and new moon,and alout the quadratures, than at other 
times, ts really a fact founded on long observation.” 

I apprehend that the moon in conjunction with, or in opposi- 
tion to, the sun, are two data whence the old notions of the astro+ 
logers were formed; and if the quadratures may be considered 
productive of any variations in the atmosphere, the moon’s posi- 
tien with respect to the sun appears to be the only rational 
mode of accounting for them. 

If Mr. Forster should be induced to consider the operations of 
Saturn, Jupiter, &c. possible, he will most probably be con- 
vinced that the variations in the atmosphere are not dependent 
solely on the moon. 

I remain 
Yours respectfully, 


Gray Friars Priory, Norwich, T. DRUMMOND. 
June 14, 1816. 


XCI. Report of the National Vaccine Establishment, for the 
Year 1815; dated 3\st May 1816. 


To the Right Honourable Lord Viscount Sipmouts, Principal 
Seeretary of State for the Home Department, @c. 8c. @ec. 


National Vaccine Establishment, Leicester-Square, 
May 31, 1816. 

My Lorp,— Worn the last year the surgeons of our dif- 
ferent stations in London have vaccinated 6,581 persons, and 
have distributed to the public 32,821 charges of vaccine lymph. 
We cannot state precisely what the sixty-eight honorary and 
corresponding vaccinators may have effected in the country, as 
returns are not always sent: however, we have ascertained that 
those practitioners whom we have supplied with lymph have 
varcinated 42,667 in the course of the year. 

We have the satisfaction of informing your lordship, that we 
have furnished the means of disseminating this blessing in the 
island of St. Domingo; and that the director has received the 
annexed letter from the government of Hayti on that subject. 

It is equally gratifying to us to state, that by the ingenuity of 
Mr. Giraud of Faversham, means have been devised of preserving 
the lymph in a fluid state ; by which we have just reason to hope 
that it may be found efficient in any elimate, and for any space 
of time. 

Your lordship has probably been informed, that in consequence 

of 


+ 
Report of the National Vaccine Establishment. 437 


of the decisive measures adopted in Russia, Sweden, Germany, 
France and Italy, the small-pex has become a very rare disease 
in those countries; and that, by like means, it is no longer 
known in Ceylon and at the Cape of Good Hope. It is a source 
of sincere regret to us, that it should not be equally so in this 
kingdom; and still more so, as this is not attributable to the 
casual occurrence of that disease ; but, we believe, entirely to the — 
practice of inoculation, which seems to be adhered to on in- 
terested or mistaken motives. 

In Edinburgh, Glasgow and Norwich, Inoculation is disused; 
and, in consequence, the small-pox is scarcely known. In the 
country about Aberystwith in Wales, and Bawtry in Yorkshire, it 
has entirely disappeared. The reverse is found unhappily to be 
the case in Portsmouth, Bristol and London. _ In the metropolis 
alone, the mortality by small-pox may be estimated at a thou- 
sand annually: perhaps throughout the United Kingdom it is 
not less than ten times that number. 

We beg to conclude by stating, that it appears to us, this 
waste of human life can be prevented only by such legislative 
enactments as will entirely put a stop to inoculation for the 
small-pox, 

The Board is happy in stating, that it has no occasion to ask 
Parliament this year for any sum of money beyond that usually 
granted, - 

(Signed) J. Latuam, 

(President of the Royal College of Physicians) 
President. 

Henry Cline, Master of the Royal College of 
Surgeons, 

Henry Halford, M.D. 

William ayst Maina centers Sethe 

Joseph Agar, M.D. Fave) SOneee 

feces M.D. of Physicians. 

William Norris, \ Governors of the Royal 

James Earle, College of Surgeons. 


By order of the Board, 
James Hervey, M.D. Registrar. 


— 
Palace of Sans Souci, Feb. 5, 1816, 
43th Year of our Independence. 
The King of Hayti to Mr. James Moore, Director of the British 
National Vaccine Establishment, &ec, &c. 
Sir,—Mr. Prince Sanders has presented me with the work 
which you sent me on the small-pox: I have accepted this 


work with pleasure, and thank you infinitely for your honourable 
Ee3s and 


#. 


488 Essay towards a natural 


and obliging attention, and the interest which you evince for 
the Haytians. 

The precious discovery of vaccination is too important to hu- 
man life, and does too much honour to humanity, not to induce 
‘me to adopt it in my kingdom. On the arrival of Mr, Prince 
Sanders, I put vaccination in use with a view to make it generally 
followed by the Haytian. practitioners ;—we have an innume- 
rable quantity of children to vaccinate. 

It is my intention to give every possible latitude to the happy 
results of this immortal discovery, which I had not hitherto 
been able to put in practice in consequence of the disappoint= 
ament which 1 met with in the applications I made at Jamaica, 
St. Thomas, and in the United States of America, relative to this 
object, the salutary. effects of which I am well acquainted with. 
This benefit will still add to the gratitude of the Haytians for 
the great and magnanimous British nation. 

I have charged Mr. Prince Sanders to testify to you personally 
my sincere thanks, 
<t (Signed) HEwR. 


XCII. Essay towards a natural Classification of simple Bodies. 
By M, AMvEne*, 


Wauer the arbitrary hypotheses which had long led chemists 
astray were banished from science, and it was ascertained that 
we were to consider as simple, all the bodies which had not yet 
been decomposed, the number of these bodies was not two- 
thirds of what they are now: this number successively increased 
as the processes of chemical analysis were applied to compounds 
which had not yet been analysed, or which had been so but im- 
perfectly. Every time that a new simple body was discovered, 
a further term of comparison was obtained, and new relations 
were observed: it became necessary sometimes to restrain, and 
sometimes to generalize, the first views of the fathers of medern 
chemistry ; and the want of arranging simple bodies in an order 
which renders more sensible their. mutual relations, and facilitates 
the study of their properties, beeame more and more felt. ~ This 
order may be purely artificial, like the systematic classifications 
which were at first resorted to in the other branches of the na- 
tural sciences: it may also be deduced from the ensemble of the 
characters of the bodies which we propose to classify ; and by 
constantly uniting those presented by the most numerous and 
essential. analogies, they will be i, SA ATY, what the natural 
methods are to botany and zoolog 


* Annales de Chimie et de Physique, tome i. p. 295. March 1816. 
Hitherto 


Classification of simple Bodies. 439 


Hitherto chemists have confined themselves to ranging simple 
bodies according to the degree of their affinity for oxygen, and 
the natifre of the combinations which they form with it. They 
ought naturally to have adopted this kind of classification, when 
they thought that the properties which characterized the oxygen 
belonged to it in a manner so exclusive that no other body could 
be associated with it. But nowadays that new facts, and a 
more accurate interpretation of the facts already known, have 
rectified whatever was too absolute in the theory established by 
the celebrated Lavoisier; and now that other substances have 
presented similar properties ; it appears to me that we must of 
necessity banish from chemistry the artificial classifications, and 
begin by assigning to each simple body the place which it ought 
to occupy in the natural order, by comparing it successively with 
all the rest, and uniting it with those which resemble it by a 
greater number of common characters, and particularly by the 
importance of those characters. The first advantage whieh will 
result from the employment of such a method, will be to give us 
4 more exact and more complete knowledge of all the properties 
of simple bodies; and frequently to refer to general laws a mul- 
titude of isolated facts. Another advantage will arise from this, 
namely, that after having ascertained among those which we 
shall have thus united, analogies so multiplied that we cannot 
refuse to regard them as connected very closely in the natural or- 
der, we shall be led to try upon some, experiments similar to those 
which have been attempted with success on others. A classifi- 
eation, which should have induced every person from the very 
origin of modern chemistry to consider all the salifiable bases as 
belonging to one and the same class of bodies, would have taught 
chemists to place potash and soda in contuct with iron at a high 
temperature, and potash and soda would have been discovered 
twenty years sooner. When it was ascertained that chlore was 
a simple body, it was at first compared to oxygen ; and it was 
only when M. Gay-Lussac remarked its analogies with sulphur, 
that he was led to a discovery, the consequences of which upon 
the ulterior progress of chemistry can only as yet be guessed at, 
viz. that of the chlorie and iodic acids, and of the perfect ana~ 
logy of the chlorates and iodates with the nitrates, A second 
approximation followed almost instantly by another diseovery 
to which it naturally led, that of cyanogene, and of the true na- 
ture of the hydrocyanic acid. Finally, these very analogies 
doubtless guided M. Dulong in the work which he communi- 
eated to the Institute on the 7th of November 1815, in which 
we see that the oxalic acid is composed of carbonic acid gas and 
hydrogen gas combined in the bog of two to one in volume ; that 

e4 this 


440 _ Essay towards a natural 


this acid, which he calls in consequence hydro-carbonic acid, con- 
formably to the established nomenclature, is united with the 
oxides in such a proportion, that the volume of hydrogen which, 
it contains is double that of the oxygen of the oxide, so that 
when the latter is not very difficult to decompose, water is 
formed, and the carbonic acid gas remains alone combined with 
the metal, as happens with cyanogene, sulphur, chlore and iode, in 
the formation of the cyanures, sulphurets, chlorures and iodures. 

A third advantage equally important is, to prepare by the na- 
tural classification of simple bodies, that of compound substances, 
—a work of much more labour, and to which I purpose to devote 
another paper. I know that the compound bodies have been 
already classed in a manner much more conformable to their true 
analogies than their elements have been. Many things have 
doubtless been done in this respect ; but more perhaps remains 
to be done; and the discovery of the new substances with which 
the domains of chemistry have been enriched within these few’ 
years, cannot fail to lead to a modification and generalization of 
the principles according to which we now class compound sub- 
stances, and to determine in a more precise manner the signifi- 
cation of the names which serve to designate the various kinds 
of combinations, and particularly that of the words acid, alkali, 
salt, &e. 

I shall confine myself in this paper to the simple bodies, and 
shall divide them into three heads. JI shall offer in the first, 
some general considerations on the order according to which 
it is proper to arrange bodies, so that this order may be as con- 
formable as possible to their natural analogies; and on the 
means of avoiding the junction which has been hitherto made of 
the metals with bodies very different in almest all their other 
characters, and which have only been brought together because. 
the energy of their affinity for oxygen is nearly the same,—a cir-. 
cumstance certainly remarkable, but to which perhaps too much 
importance has been attached,—and which certain considerations 
on the natural order of simple bodies, the principal results of 
which I shall soon detail, ought to induce us to regard as se- 
condary, when it does not concur with other analogies which 
embrace the whole of the properties of the body. 

Under the second head, I shall unite under natural genera the 
bodies which present characters of resemblance so multiplied 
and important that it is impossible to separate them in every. 
classification which shall not be purely artificial; and | shall set- 
tle at the same time what places ought to be occupied in the 
natural order by the simple bodies which seem to form the pas- 
sage from one genus to another, presenting analogies very suing 

wit 


: 
: 


Classification of simple Boilies. 44\ 


with substances belonging to two different genera. In this case, 
they indicate between these two genera an analogy which it will 
perhaps be difficult to ascertain without their assistance, but 
which is not the less real, and according to which we ought to 
place them in succession after each other, so that the body which 
establishes the link of the chain is at the end of the first, or the 
beginning of the second, in order to be always between two 
bodies which they resemble by common characters. Nothing 
then remains but to determine with which of the two genera it 
ought to be definitively united, by comparing the properties which 
it shares with the one, and those which are common to it with 
the other, in order to decide according to the number and im- 
portance of the analogies which result from these properties. 
The analogies to which these researches wil] lead us, will fix in 
an invariable manner the natural order of the simple bodies, con- 
formably to the general idea which I am about to give of them. 
The last head of this paper will have for its object to examine 
once more the various genera into which all these bodies shall 
have been distributed according to the data laid down in the 
preceding head, in order to assign to each of them a distinctive 
eharacter formed by the union of some remarkable properties, 
chosen in such a way that they cannot be found at once but in 
a body appertaining to the genus which it is wanted to charac- 
terize, and to see at the same time according to what principles 
of nomenclature we could, if necessary, establish for each genus 
a denomination common to all the bodies which form part of it. 


§ I. On the impossibility of reconciling the manner in which 
chemists have hitherto ranged simple bodies, and the distine- 
tions which have been established between them; with a 
classification deduced from the whole of their properties ; 
and on the order which it is proper to adopt, to unite as 
much as possible those which present the most characters in 
common. 


The first source of the artificial classifications hitherto used, 
seems to me to have arisen from the old distinction of the metals 
and non-metallic bodies. I must confess, however, that this di- 
vision leads us to separate but a very small number of bodies 
which we ought to unite in the natural order; and that it is in 
general tolerably conformable to the classification which results 
from the comparison of all the properties of bodies; and that it 
will even be sufficient, in order that it may embrace none of the 
genera which I regard as natural, to separate from the metals 
three substances which are generally united with them, arsenic, 
tellurium, and silicium: but then it becomes very difficult to as- 
sign a character which distinguishes in every case the male 

rom 


442 Essay towards a natural 


from the non-metallic bodies. Those which originally had served 
as the basis for this distinction can no longer be used as such, 
since most of the metals hitherto re egarded as of that class are 
brittle ; and because some liave been discovered even lighter than 
water; and iode, and even carbon, when its particles are very 
close, as in animal charcoal, present the metallic lustre and a 
perfect opacity; and because chemists have discovered in carbon 
the property of being a conductor of the electric fluid, &e. A 
more important character, viz. that of producing s: alifiable bases 
on being united with oxygen, cannot be considered as sufficient 
for characterizing exclusively the metals; because some metals 
do not form any, because the boric and the nitrous acids are com~ 
bined with the sulphuric acid, and because the products of those 
conibinations have a!l the characters of the acid salts, which 
they resemble even more by their easy crystallization than se- 
veral metallic solutions the oxide of which is precipitated in pro- 
portion as they are evaporated; solutions which are only consi- 
dered as salts, precisely because they are compounded of an acid 
and of the oxide of a body which we have been accustomed to 
regard as a metal. ‘This character, which is admitted besides 
as exclusive, will remove tellurium from arsenic, and particularly 
from iode; whereas the far more important property which it 
possesses of forming with hydrogen a permanent acid gas places 
it necessarily between those two bodies. The first object to 
which I shall turn my attention in the following article, will be 
to examine to what extent we might preserve the distinction of 
the metals, and of the non-metallic bodies, by subjecting the 
character which we shall choose for defining it in a precise man- 
ner, to the modification required by the necessity of rendering it 
conform to the natural order’ of simple bodies. I shall confine 
myself to remarking, that in the way in which it has been ad- 
mitted, it has retarded the progress of the true theory of che- 
mistry, by inducing a neglect of the observation of the properties 
by which certain metals are connected with the other simple 
bodies, and to which we cannot pay too much attention, when it 
is required to ascertain the truly natural order which exists be- 
tween both the one and the other. The character drawn from 
the various degrees of affinity has still more contributed to esta- 
blish between bodies, and particularly between the metals, ap- 
proximations disavowed by nature. I shall confine myself to 


quoting in this respect, an example which appears to me very. 


striking. Silver and gold form equally with oxygen combina~ 
tions which an clevated temperature easily decomposes: from 
that instance those two metals have been regarded as being en- 
titled to be placed very near each other in every methodical ar- 
rangement of siinple bodies, Nevertheless the degree of ne 

or 


— Sw 


5) 


Classification of simple Bodies. 448 


for chlore ought not, in the eyes of the chemist who has precise 
ideas as to the action, equally energetic at least with that of oxy- 
gen, which it exercises on the metals, to be regarded as a cha- 
racter less important than the degree of affinity for oxygen; and 
‘the chlorure of gold is decomposable by heat; whereas that of 
silver, kept free from the contact of water and hydrogen, is ab- 
solutely unalterable at the highest temperature. 

Here therefore we have two motives nearly equal, one for. 
uniting and the other for separating these bodies. In order to 
resolve this difficulty, it is indispensable to have recourse to other 
properties; those of their oxides and their salts which they form 
with the acids, are then exhibited naturally, and decide the 
question, by showing us that the supposed analogy hetween those 
two metals is not confirmed by the resemblance of their principal 
characters. In fact, the oxide of silver is very alkaline, a little 
soluble in water, and completely saturates the acids: the oxide 
of gold presents nothing similar: and this difference, added to 
some other properties, less important, it is true, which silver 
presents in the metallic state, places this body with lead near 
potassium and sodium, and consequently very far from gold. 

Since precise notions have been acquired as to the nature of 
chlore, several chemists have ceased to give to the properties 
which depend on the affinity of simple bodies for oxygen, an ex- 
clusive preponderance ; but then one too great -has been given 
to the assimilation which has been made of oxygen and of chlore, 
It has been attempted to arrange all the simple bodies in two 
classes, independent of each other, under the names of comlusti- 
ble bodies, and supporters of combustion.’ ‘This division has had 
the same inconvenience with that of the metals and the non- 
metallic bodies, by making us mistake the analogies of bodies 
which it places in different classes. This inconvenience has 
even been the more injurious to the theory of chemistry, in as 
much as it has taught us to neglect analogies much more com- 
plete and more striking than those which the separation of the 
metals and other simple bod:es had caused to be neglected. Such 
are the analogies of the chloric and iodie acids with the sulphuric 
and nitric acids, of the chlorates and the iodates with the ni- 
trates, and particularly that of chlore and iode with sulphur, 
greater still than the analogy of the same bodies with oxygen. 
The combination of those four substances with the metals to 
which they strongly adhere, takes place by occasioning a greater 
or less extrication of heat, and frequently of light: the com- 
pounds which result present a crowd of common properties: 80 
far there is no occasion to approximate more particularly chlore 
and iode to oxygen than to sulphur; but this last forms like 

iode 


444 Essay towards a natural 


iode and chlore a permanent acid gas with hydrogen : the hydro~ 
sulphates present the greatest analogy with the hydro-iodates 
and hydro-chlorates: they are reduced into sulphurets, as the — 
latter are into iodures and chlorures, when they are insoluble, or 
after havitig evaporated their solutions, and dried their residues— 
properties which still more closely approximate iode and chlore 
to sulphur than to oxygen. It is impossible to separate iode 
from chlore, from which it differs only because the same cha- 
racters are manifested at a less degree of energy; and _never- 
theless, why should iode be a supporter of combustion rather 
than sulphur, which is united to most of the metals with a greater 
extrication of light and heat? Shall we say that the sulphur is 
combined with the oxygen of the atmospheric air when we ex- 
pose it to a sufficient temperature, and that this is not the case 
with iode also? But is the latter not also combined with oxy- 
gen when we place it in contact with the gaseous oxide of chlore, 
discovered by the celebrated cheinist who was the first to de- 
compose the alkalis, and demonstrate that chlore is a simple 
body, conformably to the opinion already given by the French 
chemists as an admissible hypothesis? It is of no use to insist 
longer on considerations of this kind: what precedes is sufficient 
to show how easy it is to be led into error, and to give too much 
importance to certain analogies, when we commence by esta- 
blishing between the bodies which we purpose to classify, genera] 
divisions founded on a single character only. We should then 
deceive ourselves still more, if we thought to be able to arrange 
the simple bodies in an order conformable to their natural ana- 
logies, by forming of them a series dependent on their various 
degrees of affinity for one of them, for oxygen for instance. On 
comparing all the properties which those substances present, we 
find that they form asystem in which every body belongs, on one 
side or the other, to bodies adjoining them, by analogies so ‘ 
strong that we are not able to establish in any way the complete 
separation which will be required by the reduction of the system 
into a single series; so that we must represent it to ourselves as 
a sort of circle, in which two bodies placed at the two extremities 
of the chain formed by all the rest, approach and unite mutually 
by common characters. I have long endeavoured to establish a 
natural order among simple bodies, by arranging them in a sin- 
gle series, which should commence with those whose properties 
presented the most complete opposition to those of the bodies 
which I attempted to place at the end of the series: these at- 
tempts have not been attended with any success; and it is by 
them that I have been led to adopt an order quite different, of 
which I shall in the first place attempt to give a general idea, 
‘ which 


Classification of simple Bodies. 445 


which shall be developed and defined in the two following arti- 
cles. The bodies which have been hitherto considered as non- 
metallic, all possess the property of forming acids with some 
among them, the distinctive character of which is to make acid 
all combinations into which they enter in sufficient quantity. 
Several metals, and even some of those best entitled to this 
name, also present this property, and produce acids on being 
combined with the same acidifying substances. Those metals 
form two groupes, distinguished besides from each other by nu- 
merous differences. Some are eminently fixed and infusible; and 
it seems to be the same case with their combinations with chlore, 
at least if we may judge by the chlorure of chrome which presented 
this property to M. Dulong. It is with oxygen that they produce 
the acids from which the chemists have drawn the character which 
distinguishes them. The others are very fusible ; the combina- 
tions which they form with oxygen present but feeble acid cha- 
racters; fur we ought not to reckon among them arsenic, which, 
as I have already said, ought to be united to the bodies which are 
considered as not metallic. And but for the labours of Messrs, 
_ Chevreul and Berzelius, the acidity of the peroxides of tin and 
antimony would have been still unknown; but these metals pro- 
duce with chlore compounds liquid, or of a butyraceous consist- 
ency and volatile, and which possess the most essential properties 
of the acids. It is easy to see that the non-metallic simple 
bodies are united on the one hand with the infusible metals 
acidifiable by carbon and borium, and on the other with tin 
and antimony by phosphorus and arsenic, the combinations of 
which with chlore have the greatest analogy with the chloro- 
stannic acid (spiritus Libavii). All the other metals ought 
therefore to be placed between tin and antimony on the one 
hand, and the infusible acidifiable metals on the other. Those 
which add to the greatest affinity for oxygen, the property of 
forming with it alkaline combinations, occupy in some measure 
the middle part of this interval, and are connected on the one 
hand with tin and antimony, and on the other with tungsten, 
columbium, chrome, and molybdenum, by two series of metals, 
which present in the one and the other series all the degrees of 
affinity for oxygen, and the oxides of which also pass gradually 
through the various degrees of alkalinity and acidity which cha- 
racterize that kind of compounds; but the bodies of which the 
two series are composed, present besides sufficient differences-to 

enable us always easily to determine that to which they belong. 
Such is theorder by which I have been led, not. by systematic 
views, which I disavow; but after having made a great number 
of attempts, in order to see if we could not adopt another with- 
' out 


446 On the Laivs observed in the Distvibulion 


out wandering from natural analogies, and after hawing com 
pared simple bodies under every point of view which can be 
presented by the properties which they possess. 

I shall return to the subject in another paper. 


XCIII. On the Laws observed in the Distribution of vegetable 
Forms. By ALexanper Count HuMbOLDT*. 


Boia ny, long confined to the simple desctiption of the external 
forms of plants and their artificial classification, now presents 
several branches of study, which place it more on a footing with 
the other sciences. Such are the distribution of vegetables ac- 
cording to a natural method founded upon the whole part of 
their structure ; physiology, which displays their internal organi- 
zation ; botanical geography, which assigns to each tribe of plants 
their height, limits, and climate. ‘The terms aépine plants, 
piants of kot countries, plants of the sea-shore, are to be found 
in all languages, even in those of the most savage nations on the 
banks of the Oronoko. They prove that the attention of men 
has been constantly fixed on the distribution of vegetables, and 
on their connexion with the temperature of the air, the elevation 
of the soil, and the nature of the ground which they inhabit. 
It does not require much sagacity to observe, that on thé slope 
of the high mountains of Armenia, vegetables of a different lati- 
tude follow each in succession, like the climates, superposed as it 
were upon each other. This idea of Tournefort, developed by 
Linneus in two interesting dissertations, (Stationes et Colonie 
Plantarum,) nevertheless contains the first seeds of botanical 
geography. Meuzel, the author of an unpublished Flora of Ja- 
pan, strongly recommends to travellers researches as to the dis- 
tribution of species in the different regions of the globe. He 
had even pointed out the result before by the name of the Geo- 
graphy of Plants. This appellation was again employed, and 
almost at the same time, about the year 1783, by the Abbé 
Giraud Soulavie, and by the celebrated author of the Studies of 
Nature ; a work which, amid a great variety of very inaccurate 
ideas as to the physique of the globe, contains some profound 
and ingenious views as to the forms, relations, and habitudes of 
vegetables. Abbé Giraud Soulavie was occupied in preference 
with the plants already cultivated: he has distinguished the cli- 
mates of the olive trees, the vines, and the chesnuts. He gives 
a vertical section of Mount Mezin, to which he has added the 


* Extracted from a paper read to the French Institute, Feb, 5, 1816. 
barometrical 


6f vegelalle Forms. 447 


barometrica! heights, ‘* because,”’ as he says, ** he has a great 
contempt for every result taken from barometrical measurement.” 
His Geography of the Plants in the South of France was followed 
by the Jentamen Historie geographice Vegetabilium of the 
learned Professer Strohmayer, published in 1800 at Gottingen 
in the form of a dissertation ; but thisTentamen exhibits rather 
the plan of a future work, and the catalogue of authors to be 
consulted, than information respecting the altitudes which spon- 
taneous plants reach in different climates. The case is the same 
with the very philosophical views announced by M. Treviranus 
in his Essai de Kiologie; we therein find general considerations, 
but no measurements of heights, and no thermometrical indica-~ 
tions, which are the solid bases of the geography of plants. This 
study has not risen to the rank of a scjence, until men of science 
have perfected both the measures of heights by baroimetrical 
observations, and the determination of mean temperatures ; or, 
what is more important fer the development of vegetation, the 
determination of the differences between the temperature of 
summer and winter and between that of day and night. Few 
branches of study have in our day made more rapid progress ; and 
a long time has not intervened between the first efforts and the 
present period, when by the united observations of a great num- 
ber of travellers, we have sueceeded in fixing the limits of ve- 
getables in Lapland, the Pyrenees, tlie Alps, Caucasus, and the 
Cordilleras of America. 

The vegetables which cover the vast surface of the globe pre- 
sent, when we study by natural classes or families, striking dif- 
ferences in the distribution of their forms: it is to the laws of this 
distribution that I have recently turned my attention. On li- 
miting them to the countries in which the number of the species 
is exactly known*, and by dividing this number by that of the 
Glumacece +, the leguminous plants, the labiated, and the com- 
pound, we find numerical relations which form very regular 
series. We see certain forms become more common from the 
¢quator towards the pole, like the ferns, the glumacez, the eri- 
cinee, and the rhododendrons. Other forms on the contrary in- 
erease from the poles towards the equator, and may be consi- 
dered in our hemisphere as southern forms: such are the ru- 
biacee, the malvacew, the euphorbia, the leguminous and the 
composite plants. Finally, others attain their maximum even 
ia the temperate zone, and diminish also towards the equator 


'* Lapland, France, England, &c. according to Messrs. Wahlenberg, 
Buch, Ramond, Decandolle, and Smith. 

+ The Glumacer contuiu the three families of Graminca, Cyperacee, and 
Juncacee. 


and 


448 On the Laws observed in the Distribution 


aud the poles. Such are the labiated plants, the amentacesx, 
the cruciferse, and the umbelliferee. Part of these data Jong since 
struck botanical travellers, and all those who have looked into 
herbals. It was known that the crucifere and umbellifere dis- 
appeared almost entirely in the plains of the torrid zone, and 
that none of the malvaceew were found beyond the polar circle. 
it is the same with the geography of the plants as with meteoro- 
logy. The results of those sciences are so simple that in all ages 
general ideas have been formed of them: but it is only after la- 
berious researches, and after having collected a great number of 
accurate observations, that numerical results were attained, and 
an acquaintance with the partial modifications undergone by the 
law of the distribution of forms. A table which we have drawn 
up exhibits this law with respect to sixteen families of plants 
distributed over the equatorial, temperate, and glacial zones. We 
there see with satisfaction mixed with surprise, how in organic 
nature, the forms present constant relations under the same zso- 
thermal parallels, 7. e. on curves traced by points of the globe 
which receive an equal quantity of heat. The grasses form in 
England 1-]2th, in France 1-13th, in North America 1-10th, 
of all the phanerogamous plants. The glumacee form in Ger- 
many 1-/th; in France 1-8th; in North America 1-8th; in 
New Holland, accor ding to the pecsanehes of Mr. Brown, 1- Sth ; 

of the known " phanerogamous plants. The composite plants in- 
crease a little in the northern part of the new continent ; for, 
according to the new Flora of Pursch, there is between the pa- 
rallels of Georgia and Boston 1-6th; whereas in Germany we 
find 1-Sth; and in France 1-7th, of the total number of the species 
with visible fructification. In the whole temperate zone, the 
glumacee and the composite plants form together, nearly one- 
fourth of the phanerogamous plants ; the glumacee, the com- 
posite, the crucifere and the leguminose, together nearly one- 
third. It results from these researches that the forms of or- 
ganized beings are in a mutual dependence, and that the unity 
of nature is such that the forms are limited, the one after the 
other, according to constant laws easy of determination. When 
we know upon any point of the globe the number of species pre- 
sented by one of the great families of the glumacee, the com- 
posite, the cruciferous, or the leguminous plants, we may estimate 
with considerable probability both the total number of the pha- 
nerogamous plants, and the number of species which compose 
the other vegetable families. It is thus that, by knowing under 
the temperate zone the number of the cyperacee or composite 
plants, we may guess at that of the gramineous or leguminous 


lants. 
: The 


a a ee ee 


aan 2 6 pe ied ded eer ed ee ee ie > he. 


of vegetable Forms. 449 


The number of vegetable species described by botanists, or ex- 
isting in European herbals, extends to 44000, of which 6000 
are agamous. In this number we had already included 3000 
new phanerogamous species enumerated by M. Bonpland and 
myself. France, according to M. Decandolle, possesses 3645 
phanerogamous plants, of which 460 are glumacee, 490 com- 
posite, and 230 leguminous, &c. In Lapland there are only 
497 phanerogamous plants; among which are 124 glumacee, 
58 composite, 14 leguminous, 23 amentaceous, &c. See my 
Essay on the Geography of Plants published in 1806, and of 
which [ am preparing a new edition. 

In order to account for the differences which exist sometimes. 
between the relations exhibited by Germany, North America, 
and France, we must take into consideration the more or Jess 
temperate climates of those regions. France extends from 42}° 
to 51° of latitude. On this extent the mean annual heat is 16° 7” 
to li’: the mean heats of the summer months are 24° to 19°, 
Germany, comprised between 46° and 54° of latitude, pre- 
sents at its extremities mean annual temperatures of 12° 5’ and 
8° 5’. The mean heats of the summer months there are 21° 
and 18°. North America, in its immense extent, presents the 
most varied climates. Mr. Pursch has made us acquainted with 
2000 phancrogamous plants which grow between the parallels 
of 35° and 44°; consequently under mean annual temperatures 
of 16° and 7°. The Flora of North America is a mixture of 
several Floras. The southern regions give it an abundance of 
malvacee and composite plants; the northern regions, colder than 
Europe under the same parallel, furnish to this Flora abundance 
of rhododendrons, amentacez, and conifere. The caryophyllee, 
the umbelliferse, and the erncifere are in general more rare in 
North America than in the temperate zone of the old conti- 
nent*, 

These constant relations observed on the surface of the globe, 
in the plains from the equator to the pole, are again traced in 
the midst of perpetual snows on the summits of mountains. We 
may admit, in general, that on the cordilleras of the torrid zone 
the boreal forms become more frequent. It is thus that we see 
prevail at Quito on the summit of the Andes, the ericinex, the 


* For the sake of those who are not much conversant in descriptive bo- 
tany, we shall here enumerate the plants which serve as a type to the forms 
or principal families: Glumacee, rushes, tares; orchidea, orchis, satyrion, 
vanilla; labiate, save ; ericinez, broom; composit@, coltsfoot, tussilago; ru- 
biacea, madder, quinquina; wnbellifere, fennel; crucifere, radish, cab- 
bage; malvucee, cotton; leguminose, furze, truffles, sensitive plant; 
euphorbiacea, milky thistle; amentacea, willow, oak; conifere, pine, yew, 
juniper. 

Vol, 47. No. 218. June 1816, Ff rhodo- 


459 Laws observed in the Distribution 


rhododendrons, and the gramineous plants. On the contrary, 
the labiate, the rubiacew, the malvacee, and the euphorbiacese 
then become as rare as they are in Lapland. But this analogy 
is not supported in the ferns and the composite plants. The 
latter abound on the Andes, whereas the former gradually dis- 
appear when they rise above 1890 fathoms in height. Thus the 
climate of the Andes resembles that of northern Europe only 
with respect to the mean temperature of the year. The repar~- 
tition of heat into the different seasons is entirely different, and 
powerfully influences the phenomena: of vegetation. In general, 
the forms which prevail among the Alpine plants are, according 
to my researches, UNDER THE TORRID ZONE, the graminee 
(e2gopogon, podosemum, deyeuxia, avena) ; the composite 
(culvitium, espeletia, aster, baccharis); and the caryophyllee 
(arenaria, stellaria). UNDER THE TEMPERATE ZONE, the com- 
posite (senecio, leontodon, aster) ; the caryophyllee (ceras- 
tium, cherleria, silene); and the crucifere (draba, lepidium). 
UNDER THE FROZEN ZONE, the caryophyllee (stellaria, alsine) ; 
the ericinee@ (andromeda) and the ranunculacee. 

These researches into the law of the distribution of forms, na- 
turally lead to the question whether there exist plants common 
to both continents? a question which inspires the more interest, 
as it belongs to one of the most important problems in Zoonomia. 
It has been long known, and it is one of the most interesting 
results from the geography of animals, that no quadruped, no 
terrestrial bird, and, as appears from the researches of M. La- 
treille, almost no insect, is common to the equatorial regions of 
the two worlds. M. Cuvier is convinced by precise inquiries 
that this rule applies even to reptiles. He has ascertained that 
the true boa constrictor is peculiar to America, and that the 
boas of the old continent were pytons. As to the regions beyond 
the tropics, Buffon has multiplied beyond measure the number 
of the animals common to America, to Europe, and the north of 
Asia. We are assured that the bison, tHe stag, and the goat of 
America, the rabbit and the musk rat, the bear, &c. &c. are 
species entirely different from those of Europe, although Buffon 
had affirmed the contrary. There remain only the glutton, the 
wolf, the white bear, the red fox, perhaps also the elau, which 
have not characters sufficient to entitle them to be specific. 
Among the plants, we must distinguish between the agame and 
the cotyledonez ; and by considering the latter between the mo- 
nocotylodens and the dicotyledons. There remains no doubt 
that many of the mosses and lichens are to be found at once in 
equinoctial America and in Europe: our herbals show this. But 
the case is not the same with the vascular agame as with the 
agamee of acellular texture. The ferns and the lycopodiacex 

do 


of vegetable Forms. 451 


do not follow the same laws with the mosses and the lichens; 
The former, in particular, exhibit very few species universally to 
be found; and the examples cited are frequently doubtful. As 
to the phanerogamous plants (with the exception o/ the rhizo- 
phora, the avicennia, and some other littoral plants), the law of 
Buffon seems to he exact with respect to the species furnished 
with two cotyledons. It is absolutely false, although it has been 
often affirmed, that the ridges of the cordilleras of Peru, the 
climate 6f which has some analogy with the climate of France 
or Sweden, produce similar plants. The oaks, the pines, the 
yews, the ranunculi, the rose-trees, the alchemilla, the valerians, 
the stellaria, the draba of the Peruvian and Mexican Andes, have 
nearly the same physiognomy with the species of the same ge- 
nera of North America, Siberia, or Europe. But all these al 
pine plants of the Cordilleras, without excepting one among 
three or four thousand which we have examined, differ specifi- 
cally from the analegous species of the temperate zone of the old 
continent. In general, in that part of America situated between 
the tropics, the monocotyledontal plants alone, and among the 
latter almost solely the cyperacee and the graminez, are com- 
ion to the two worlds. These two families form an exception 
to the general law which we are here examining,—a law which is 
so important for the history of the catastrophes of our planet, 
and according to which the organized beings of the equinoctial 
regions differ essentially in the two continents. I have given in 
nity Prolegomena a precise catalogue of those monocotyledontal 
plants common to the shores of the Oronoko, Germany, and the 
East Indies. Their number does not exceed 20 or 24 species, 
among which it is sufficient to cite the cyperus mucronatus, 
c. hydra, hypzlyptum argenteum, poa eragrostis, andropogon, 
allioni, &c. 

In North America placed beyond the tropics, we find nearly 
one-seventh of monocotyledontal and dicotyledontal plants com- 
mon to the two continents. Of 2900 phanerogamous species 
collected in the New Flora of Pursch, 390 are European. It is 
true that we may hazard some doubts, as well with respect to 
the number of the plants which have accompanied Europeans 
from one hemisphere to the other, as upon those which, when 
better examined, will be recognised subsequently as new species: 
but it is impossible that this. state of uncertainty should extend 
to all; and it is to be presumed that, even after a careful exami- 
nation, the number of the species common to the temperate 
zones of the two worlds will still remain very considerably ana- 
logous. Mr. Brown recently undertook some researches on the 
plants of New Holland. A twenty-eighth part of all the mono- 
cotyledons hitherto found in the austral continent are common 

Ff 2 to 


452 Laws observed in the Distribution of vegetable Forms. 


to it with England, France, and Germany. Among the dicoty- 
ledons the ratio is only 1 in 200; which proves once more how, 
in the two hemispheres, the grasses and the cyperaceze are the 
most diffused, on account of the extreme flexibility of their or- 
ganization. It would be desirous that learned zoologists should 
endeavour to examine the analogous numerical ratios presented 
by the distribution of the different families of animals on the 
globe. 

In the austral hemisphere the vegetable forms of the torrid 
zone advance more towards the pole than in the boreal hemi- 
sphere. The fern-trees in Asia and America are rarely to be 
found beyond the tropic of Cancer; whereas in the austral part 
of our globe the Dicksonia antarctica, the trunk of which is six 
metres in height, pushes its migrations as far as Van Diemen’s 
Land under the latitude of 42°: it has even been found in New 
Zealand, in Dusky Gulph, under the parallel of Lyons. 

Other forms net less majestic, and which were thought to be- 
long exclusively to the equinoctial Flora, the parasite orchides 
(epidendra, dendrobia) are found mixed with the arborescent 
ferns far beyond the tropic of Capricorn, in the centre of the 
austral temperate zone. These phenomena of the geography of 
plants prove how vague is what has been generally said of the 
great diminution of temperature in the southern hemisphere, 
without distinguishing between the parallels more or less near 
the pole, and without any regard to the division of heat among 
the different seasons of the year. Those regions towards which 
the equinoctial forms extend, possess, on account of the i immen- 
sity of the seas which surround them, a true island climate. 
From the tropic of Capricorn to the parallel of 34°, and per-= 
haps still further, the mean heats of the year (2..e. the quantity 
of heat received by any given point of the globe) do not differ’ 
considerably in the two hemispheres. On casting our eyes over 
the three continents, New Holland, Africa, and America, we find 
that the mean annual temperature of Port Jackson (lat. 33° 51’) 
is 19° 3’ of the centigrade thermometer: that of the Cape of 
Good Hope (lat. 33° 55’) 19° 4’; that of the town of Buenos 
Ayres (lat. 34° 36’) 19° 7’. We may be surprised at this great 
equality in the distribution of heat by the 34° of austral latitude. 
Meteorological observations, still more precise, prove that in the 
boreal hemisphere, under this very parallel of 34°, we find a mean 
temperature of 19° 8’. On advancing towards the antare ic pole, 
perhaps even to the parallel of 57°, the temperatures of the twe 
hemispheres differ less in winter than summer. The Malouine 
Islands, situated in 51° and a half of south latitude, have less in- 
tense cold in winter than is experienced at London. The mean 
temperature of Van Diemen’s Land seems to be 10°; it freezes 

during 


Notices respecting New Books, 453 


during winter, but not so much as to destroy the fern-trees and 
the parasite orchidew. In the adjoining seas Capt. Cook, in 
42° of austral latitude, did not see the thermometer fall below 
+6°, 6 in the midst of winter (July). To these very mild win- 
ters, summers succeed remarkable for an extraordinary coolness. 
At the southern extremity of New Holland (lat. 42° 41’) the 
temperature of the air rarely rises in the midst of summer at 
noon-day higher than 12> or 14°; and in Patagonia, as in the 
adjoining ocean (lat. 48°— 58>), the mean heat of the warmest 
month is enly 7°— 8°; whereas in the boreal hemisphere at Pe- 
tersburg and Umeo (lat. 59° 56’ and 63° 50’) this heat exceeds 
17—19. It is this mild temperature of the islands, which 
the southern countries enjoy between 30° and 40° of latitude, 
which permits the vegetable forms to pass beyond the tropic of 
Capricorn. They embellish a great part of the temperate zone ; 
and the genera which the inhabitant of the northern hemisphere 
regards as exclusively belonging to the tropical climates, present 
sumerous species between the parallels of 35° and 36° of south 
latitude. 


tina ee ee as 


XCIV. Notices respecting New Books. 


fections. By Joun Rrip, M.D. Member of the Royal Col- 
bury Dispensary. pp. 272. 8vo. Longman and Co. 


Our readers will find in the above work a rational and philoso- 
phical view of the most distressing of all the afflictions to which 
human nature is subject. The treatment recommended by Dr. 
Reid is that of gentleness and kindaess on all occasions, and co- 
incides in all its bearings with the views which have been taken 
of this distressing subject, by those enlightened legislators and 
other friends of humanity who have of late directed the public 
attention to the condition of those afflicted with mental derange- 
ment, 

Dr. Reid’s ideas of modern lunatic asylums are precisely those 
which now generally prevail, and by the adoption of which much 
human misery will in all probability be in future spared ; and to 
his credit be it remembered, that the hints which we are about 
to subjoin were thrown out in another form several years ago by 
the enlightened author, and so far he may claim the merit of 
originality. We now present our readers with the doctor’s de- 
scription of those charnel houses of the human intellect called 
Lunatic Asylums, as a speciinen not only of his philosophical 

Fr3 and 


454 Notices respecting New Books. 


and expanded views, but as a pleasing example how forcibly such 
a heart-rending subject can be made to press on the human mind, 
and even how attractive it can be rendered, by those charms of 
eloquence, accompanied by a poetical yet chaste imagination, 
for which all Dr, Reid’s writings are distinguished. 


LUNATIC ASYLUMS. 


* Tam not mad! TI have been imprisoned for mad—scourged for mad— 
banished for mad—but mad | am not.” 
Guy Mannering- 

“The mind of a man may be bruised or broken as well as any 
limb of his body, and the injury, when it occurs, is not so easy 
of reparation. A morbidly tumid fancy cannot, like many other 
swellings, be made speedily to subside; an intellect out of joint 
will not allow of being set with the same facility as a dislocated 
bone; nor can the deep and often hidden ulcerations which arise 
from mental distemper or disorganization, be healed with the 
same readiness or certainty as those more palpable sores which 
take place on the surface of the body. On this account it is, 
that so close and vigilant an observation is required in watching 
the incessantly varying movements, and in inspecting the too 
exquisitely delicate texture of a disordered and highly wrought 
imagination. 

“ One thing at least is certain, that in the management of 
such maladies, tenderness is better than torture, kindress more 
effectual than constraint. Blows, and the strait-waistceat, 
are often, it is to be feared, too hastily employed. It takes less 
trouble to fetter by means of cords, than by the assiduities of 
sympathy or affection. Nothing has a more favourable and 
controuling influence over one who is disposed to or actually af- 
fected with melancholy or mania, than an exhibition of -friend- 
ship or philanthropy; excepting indeed in such cases, and in 
that state of the disease, in which the mind has been hardened 
and almost brutalized, by having already been the subject of 
coarse and humiliating treatment. Where a constitutional in- 
clination towards insanity exists, there is in general to be ob- 
served a more than ordinary susceptibility to resentment at any 
act that offers itself in the shape of an injury or an insult. | 

‘¢ Hence it will not appear surprising, that as soon as an unfor- 
tunate victim has been inclosed within the awful barriers of either 
the public or the minor and more clandestine Bethlems, the destiny 
of his reason should, in a large proportion of cases, be irretrie- 
vably fixed. The idea that he is supposed to be insane, is al- 
most of itself sufficient to make him so; and when such a mode 
of management is used with men, as ought not to be, although 
it too generally is, applied even to brutes, can we pica if . 

shoul 


— 


Notices respecting New Books. 455 


should often, in a person of more than ordinary irritability, pro- 
duce, or at any rate accelerate the last and incurable form of 
that disease, to which at first perhaps there was only a delusive 
semblance or merely an incipient approximation ? 

<¢ Tasso, the celebrated poet, was once instigated by the vio- 
lence of an amorous impulse to embrace a beautiful woman in 
the presence of her brother, who happening to be a man of rank 
and power, punished this poetic license by locking up the offen- 
der in a receptacle for lunatics. It is said ‘that by this confine- 
ment he was made mad, who was before only too impetuous or 
indiscreet. 

“ That a wretched being, who has been for some time con- 
. fined in a receptacle for lunatics, is actually insane, can no more 
prove that he was so when he first entered it, than a person’s 
being affected with fever in the black hole of Caleutta, is an 
evidence of his having previously laboured under febrile infection. 

“© Bakewell, the late celebrated agriculturist, was accustomed 
to conquer the insubordination or any vicious irregularity of his 
horses, not by the ordinary routine of whipping and spurring, but 
by the milder and more effectual method of kindness and caresses ; 
and it is worthy of being remembered and practically applied, 
that, although the human has higher faculties than other ani- 
mals, they have still many sympathies in common; there are 
certain laws and feelings which regulate and govern alike every 
class and order of animated existence. 

<¢ In order to obtain a salutary influence over the wanderings 
of a maniac, we must first secure his confidence. This cannot 
be done, without behaving towards him with a delicacy due to 
his unfortunate state, which for the most part ought to be re- 
garded not as an abolition, but as a suspension merely of the 
rational faculties. Lord Chesterfield speaks, in one of his hu- 
morous essays, of a lady whose reputation was not lost, but was. 
only mislaid, In like manner, instead of saying of a man that 
he has lost his senses, we shonld in many instances more correctly 
perhaps say that they were mislaid. Derangement is not to be 
confounded with destruction ; we must not mistake a cloud for 
night, or fancy, because the sun of reason is obscured, that it 
. will never again enliven or illuminate with its beams. There is 
ground to apprehend that fugitive folly.is too often converted 
juto a fixed and settled phrensy; a transient guest into an irre- 
movable tenant of the mind; an oceasional and accidental aber- 
ration of intellect, into a confirmed and inveterate habit of de- 
reliction; by a premature and too precipitate adoption of mea- 
sures and methods of management, which sometimes, indeed, 
are necessary, but which are so ouly in cases of extreme and ul- 
timate desperation, 

Ff4 ** A heavy 


456 Royal Society. 


«A heavy responsibility presses upon those who preside or of- 
ficiate in the asylums of lunacy. Little is it known how much 
injustice is committed, and how much useless and wantonly im- 
flicted misery is endured, in those infirmaries for disordered, or 
rather cemeteries for deceased intellect. Instead of trampling 
upon we ought to cherish, and by the most delicate and anxious 
care strive to nurse into a clearer and a brighter flame the still 
glimmering embers of a nearly extinguished mind. 

“ It is by no means the object of these remarks to depreciate 
the value of institutions which, under a judicious and merciful 
superintendance, might be made essentially conducive to the pro- 
tection of lunatics themselves, as well as to that of others, who 
would else be continually exposed to their violence and caprice. 
But it is to be feared that many have been condemned to a state 
of insulation from all rational and sympathizing intercourse Be- 
fore the necessity has occurred for so severe a lot. Diseased 
members have been amputated from the trunk of society before 
they have become so incurable or unsound as absolutely to re- 
quire separation. Many of the depots for the captivity of intel- 
lectual invalids may be regarded only as nurseries for and manu- 
factories of madness; magazines or reservoirs of lunacy, from 
which is issued, from time to time, a sufficient supply for perpe- 
tuating and extending this formidable disease,—a disease which 
is not to be remedied by stripes or strait-waistcoats, by impri- 
sonment or impoverishment, but by an unwearied tenderness, 
and by an unceasing and anxious superintendance. : 

«¢ The grand council of the country ought to be aroused to a 
critical and inquisitorial scrutiny into the areana of our medical 
prisons, into our slaughter-houses for the destruction and muti- 
lation of the human mind.” 

Mr. Sowerby announces the continuation of his “ British Mi- 
neralogy.” He intends to complete it in three or four more 
numbers, and to give copious indexes to the whole work. He 
begs leave to express a hope that his friends will assist him in 
making it as complete as possible. 


XCV. Proceedings of Learned Societies. 


ROYAL SOCIETY. 


June i3—T. A. Knieur, Esq. F.R.S. in a letter to the 
President, communicated the results of some further experiments 
which he has made on the leaves of plants, tending to prove that 
the matter of timber is formed in them, and that the true sap, 
descending from the leaves to the roots, forms alburnum. He 

made 


Royal Society. 457 


made a transverse and longitudinal section of the leaf stalk of a 
vine, and raising up the bark an inch below the leaf, inserted it 
in the section of the leaf stalk ; and thus preserving a communi- 
cation between the bark and leaf, the intermediate part being 
‘ rolled tight with paper, he found that the bark acquired thick- 
ness, and a woody character. He next took the leaf of a potatoe 
and planted it; but although it did not, as he expetted, produce 
tuberous roots, it formed, like cuttings of shrubs previous to their 
striking root, a large round lump, which lived through the win- 
ter, and he is now trying whether it will grow into a perfect 
potatoe. He took a shoot of a vine detached from the stock, 
and immersing a part of its largest leaf in water during a month, 
the smaller leaf not only lived but grew, and acquired thickness: 
this he considers a clear proof that the smaller leaf was nourished 
and augmented only by the food it received from the large one, 
which was partly in water. In addition to these experiments 
Mr. Knight observes, that if trees be deprived of their leaves their 
fruit never ripens ; that evergreens bear fruit at all seasons of the 
year, in winter as well as summer; and that deciduous plants 
only produce their fruit previous to shedding their leaves. The 
common holly is seen with its berries in the midst of winter. 
The quality and quantity of fruit, he seems to think, almost en- 
tirely depend on the nature and quality of the leaves; and hence 
the necessity of gardeners being more cautious in stripping off 
the leaves of fruit trees where they tend to keep the sun off the 
fruit. 

Dr. Holland, F.R.S. communicated an account of a manufae- 
tory of sulphat of magnesia in Monte della Guardia, about five 
miles from Genoa. This mountain, which is at the extremity of 
the Appenines, is about 2000 feet above the level. of the sea, 
and abounds in veins of copper and iron pyrites, and magnesian 
limestone. The original manufactory was confined to sulphat 
of iron and copper; but it was discovered that magnesia was 
very abundant, and that it also could be procured by the same 
process. The process is very simple ; the ore is roasted eight or 
ten days with a wood fire, it is then dissolved in water, and the 
sulphats of iron and copper crystallized; about one per cent. of 
the magnesian lime is added, and sulphat of magnesia is formed, 
which is sold in Italy wider the denomination of sal inglesa. 
The peculiarity in this process is the quantity of magnesian lime 
added ; if it were greater, sulphat of lime would be produced ; if 
less, no sulphat of magnesia would be formed. This manufactory 
is but small, and is situated on the side of the hill, about 1600 
feet above the level of the sea, The ore is dug out of the moun- 
tain in a manner to form a kind of tunnel, but the magnesian 
limestone is very abundant. 


June 


45S Linnean Society. 


June 20.—Dr. Brewster, in a letter to the President, gave an 
account of his experiments on the eyes of fishes, by which it 
eppears that the crystalline lens of fishes, according to its den- 
sity, is capable of receiving the property of double refracting ery- 
stals, the same as glass, by compression. Dr. B. related a num- 
ber of experiments which he made on the eyes of fishes, and their 
effects on cofours ; from which he concludes that one part of a 
fish’s eye experiences mechanical dilatation, and another mecha- 
nical contraction. He thinks that the chief cause why so little 
progress has been made in auginenting our knowledge of the eye 
and of vision, is owing to an excessive confidence in a supposed 
analogy between optic glasses and the crystalline lens. 

Sir Everard Home, Bart. furnished a supplement to a former 
paper on the skeleton of a peculiar kind of fish in Mr. Bullock’s 
Museum. | Two geutlemen having procured parts of this singu- 
lar animal in different places of the country, were so kind as to 
submit them to Sir E.’s inspection ; in consequence of which he 
can now state with confidence, what he before only conjectured, 
that the animal must have been a fish, as the bones which are 
wanting to complete Mr, Bullock’s specimen have been partly 
discovered in Dorsetshire, and part elsewhere. He has now 
made drawings of the perfect skeleton, to illustrate this and his 
preceding paper on the subject. He noticed particulariy the cha- 
racteristic differences between the ribs of land and sea animals ; 
the former being joined to the vertebree, in order to rise and fall 
in breathing; the latter being fixed, and adapted to support the 
sides against the lateral pressure of, and suit the fish’s motion 
through, the water. 

LINNEAN SOCIETY. 

Friday, May 24.—On this day the Anniversary Meeting of 
the Linnean Society of London was held at the Society’s house 
in Gerrard-street, Soho, for the Election of a Council and Of- 
ficers for the present year, when the following Members were 
declared to be of the Council, viz. 

Sir James Edward Smith, Kut. | William Horton Lloyd, Esq, 


M.D. William George Maton, M.D, 
Samuel, Lord Bishop of Car- | Daniel Moore, Esq, 
lisle. Rev. Thomas Rackett. 


Edward Forster, Esq. Joseph Sabine, Esq. 
George Bellas Greenough, Esq. John, Lord Bishop of Salisbury, 
William Kent, Esq. Edward, Lord Stanley. 
Aylmer Bourke Lambert, Esq. | Thomas Thomson, Esq. 

And the following were declared to be the Officers for the 


present year, viz. 


Sir James Edward Smith, Knt. M.D. President. 


~ 


Samuel, 


——ee Oe se _ 
—- — 


ee a ee ee ee 


“area —_ 


Royal Tustitute of France. 459 


Samuel, Lord Bishop of Carlise, 
Aylmer "Bourke Lambert, Esq. 


- Edward, Lord Stanley, Vice-Fresidents. 
William George Maton, M.D. 
Edward Forster, Esq. Treasurer, 
Alexander MacLeay, Esq, en 
eeretaries. ~ 


Mr. Richard Taylor, 

The Members of the Society afterwards dined together at the 
Freemasons’ Tavern, Great Queen-street, aceording to annual 
eustom, 

June 4.—A. B, Lambert, Esq. Vice- Pyecadent; in the chair. 
Read part of a Monograph of the British Roses, by Joseph 
Woods, Esq. F.L.S. 

June ]18.—W. G. Maion, M.D. Vice-President, in the chair. 
Read a part of “ Observations on the Linnean Junci growing 
in Great Britain,’ by J. E. Bicheno, Esq. F.L.S. 

Adjourned to the 5th of November. 


ROYAL INSTITUTE OF FRANCE, 


Analysis of the Labours of the Class of Mathematical and 
Physical Sciences for the Year 1815. By M. Cuvizr. 
{Continued from p. 394.] 


CHEMISTRY. 


The third volume of the Elementary Chemistry of M. Thenard 
has appeared. ‘This learned professor therein treats at full 
length, and according to the most iodern discoveries, (among 
which there are a great many for which science is indebted to 
him,) of the immediate principles of organized bodies, of the 
various productions, of their decomposition, and of their employ- 
ment in the arts. The fourth volume, which will conclude the 
work, is in the press, 

MINERALOGY AND GEOLOGY. 


Among the questions which the learned who are occupied 
with the theory of the earth generally agitate, there are few 
more difficult, or which have occasioned louger and more ob- 
stinate disputes, than that of the origin of basalts, a kind of rock 
which some consider as the production of ancient volcanoes, 
while others regard them as deposited in the general liquid in 
which the common rocks are formed, and as analogous to the 
trapps of the primitive earths. 

_ M. Cordier, inspector of mines, and correspondent. of the 
Class, having also directed his attention to this grand problem, 
has imagined, in order to resolve it, means entirely new. 

His first reflections made him perceive that the greatest dif- 
ficulty, in order to compare the matter of a contested nature 

with 


460 Royal Institute of France. 


with those of which the origin, either volcanic or non-volcanic, 
is incontestable, is to be ascribed to the circumstance of both 
being often composed of particles so mixed, and reduced into a 
paste of an appearance so homogeneous, that it is impossible to 
discern them with the eye, Chemistry cannot here come to 
the assistance of the senses, because it confounds all those par- 
ticles in its analysis, and only gives as a result the sum total of 
their primitive elements, in place of distinguishing those which 
belong to each of their species. 

M. Cordier, therefore, contrived a new mode of mechanical 
analysis, which consists in reducing in the first place into small 
bits, the mineral specimens the existence of which we may sus- 
pect in rocks which we wish to examine; 2dly, determining 
clearly the physical characters of those parcels, and their man- 
ner of acting when exposed to the blowpipe; 3dly, pulverizing 
the rocks submitted to examination ; and lastly, in washing and 
sifting the various particles detached by this pulverization, and 
submitting them to the same tests to which parcels of substances 
well known are subjected. 

This is, as may be seen, a kind of microscopical mineralogy, 
from which M. Cordier has derived great advantage. The 
pastes, known by the name of lavas, and historically stated as 
such, were easily detected by this new analysis: their particles 
were easily separated: they exhibited but a small number of 
combinations, in which sometimes feldspar prevailed, sometimes 
pyroxene, and in which they were alloyed in various proportions 
with the ore of iron denominated ¢itaniwm—with those three 
elements are mixed, but in a manner less general, amphibole, 
amphigene, mica, peridot, and oligistous iron. 

The basaltic pastes of an origin more or less contested were 
as easily divided into their constituent parts, and those parts 
were not found different. All those ancient or modern pastes, 
whether recognised as lava or not, are therefore, according to 
the author, microscopical granites, in which the uniformity of the 
intermixed texture is interrupted only by very small vacancies 
a little less rare in some lavas than in others, and which ap- 
peared to the naked eye to be homogeneous masses, in which 
are prevalent either the characters of the pyroxene or those of 
feldspar, and which cannot then be distinguished but by two 
sorts. 

A part of the scori@ whicheaccompany the stony lavas, and 
which are the first products of the coagulation of matters in 
fusion, are also composed of various grains, but finer, less re- 
gularly interwoven, and nevertheless of the same species with the 
masses which they cover; another part more changed by the 
action of fire approaches more the vitrified state: others, 

finally, 


Royal Institute of France. 461 


finally, are completely in this state: but there always remain so 
many traces of their origin that we cannot mistake them. They 
are always referred to one of the two principal orders of combi- 
nations recognised among the stony lavas. 

M. Cordier endeavours to explain, by the difference in the 
state of the scoriz, the phenomenon which has astonished so 
many travellers; namely, that certain currents of lava remain 
constantly sterile, while others are soon covered with the most 
luxuriant vegetation. It arises from the circumstance of the 
former being more vitrified than the latter, and therefore being 
less easily decomposed. 

The author also examines the obsidians, or volcanic glass; 
and by comparing together all the shades of their greater or 
lesser vitrification, he always finds some traces of that pyroxene 
or feldspar, the predominant principles of the two orders of lava 3, 
and the obsidians which melt into black glass have shown per- 
fect’ transitions even the length of the thickest basalt; in a 
word, the obsidians, the seoriz, the lava, the basalts do not 
differ in composition, but only by the accidents in their texture. 
Even the volcanic sands and ashes yield upon being washed the 
same materials the aggregation of which forms the adjacent 
lavas. M. Cordier has pursued those materials into various 
substances, and after they had been altered by time, and extri- 
cated them from the new substances which enveloped them, or 
which had been as if filtered into the interstices. In a word, he 
has not neglected the examination of any of the modifications 
of the true or contested volcanic productions, and has no 
where found his general rules defective; but when he passed af- 
terwards to those trapps, and petro-silex, in short, to those an-. 
cient rocks to which basalts are sometimes referred, he has no 
longer recognised any of those characters so marked, which are 
said to establish between the lavas and the basalts incontestable 
relations. 

The mass of those ancient rocks has no apparent vacuities, 
and they do not differ from each other in point of colour. This 
cannot be insulated, nor can a mechanical analysis be made of 
them: consequently, if a part ofthose rocks are composed of 
heterogeneous materials, it is not possible to determine the mi- 
neralogical species to which those materials belong. 

Their chemical analysis also gives other results, particularly. 
because it yields no titanium. 

Thus the pretended analogy between the trapps and the ba- 
salts will not support a rigorous examination. 

As to the origin of the lavas and the causes of their fusion, 
M. Cordier risks no conjecture ; “but, considering their mass as 
coagulated by an instantaneous crystallization, he easily resolves 

the 


462 Royal Institute of Frazce. : 


the peculiar problem long debated upon: If the crystals in thé 
lavas have been taken up completely formed from the bowels of 
the earth, and enveloped by them, or if they are formed after- 
wards in t! 1eir vacant spaces or cells; or, finally, if they have 
crystallized at the same moment when the rest of their mass 
was hardened: and he gives us to understand that it is the latter 
opinion which he adopts. 

He terminates his curious investigation by a methodical enu- 
meration of basalts and other products of volcanoes arranged 
according to their materials of aggregation, and under the ban- 
ners of the two substances which therein predominate, feldspar 
and pyroxene. 

This mysterious nature of velcanoes,these immense foci of heat; 
far removed from all the conditions which keep up heat atthe _ 
surface of the earth, will be still a long time one of the great 
objects of the curiosity of natural philosophers, and will excite 
their efforts so long as any hopes of success remain, A young 
mineralogist as zealous as he is learned, M. Mesnard de la | 
Groye, having had occasion in 1812 and 1813 te observe se= 
veral of the phenomena of Vesuvius, drew up a journal of them 
with great accuracy, intermixed witly many original suppositions 
and ideas 

Since the enormous diminution which the cone of the voleano 
underwent in 1794, when it sunk more than 400 feet, all the 
eruptions have taken place from its summit ; which seems to have 
prevented them from being so abundant and so destructive as 
those which issued from its sides. The bottem of the crater. 
rose, and it is not unlikely that it will be filled. 

_ The rivers of lava are the less abundant if a great quantity of 
scoriz and small stones are thrown out during the eruption. 
The whole cone is covered with those small stones, which are 
soon changed by the acid vapours, and assume those lively and) | 
variegated colours which make them look like bunches of flowers 
at a distance, and which have inclined naturalists to suppose 
that the crater is filled with sulphur; which is so far from being 
true, that it is even very rare that sulphurous vapours are per- 
ceived in it: on the contrary, there rise strong and continual ex- 
halations of muriatic acid, and sea salt is every where concreted 
throughout. 

M. Mesnard de la Groye thence takes occasion to divide vol- 
eanoes into two classes; those in which sulphur performs an 
essential part, and those in which the muriatic acid prevails. It 
is among the latter that he classes Vesuvius. 

He also notices the continual smoke which rises from the 
rivers of lava, and which annoutice great humidity. This smoke 


is in fact purely aqueous. No flaines are-seen, but sands and 
burnt 


eae fe seeciniiaiieaianelil 


Royal Institute of France. 463 


burnt stones ; and the reverberation of the internal furnaces on 
the vapours which issue, causes this illusion. The lava flows 
very slowly: its edges when cooled form an embankment for it, 
and keep it above the level of the soil, which is covered with 
scoriz ; it is very difficult to get a sight of its fluid parts. We 
know besides, that its heat has nothing in it similar to that of 
glass in fusion; for when it envelops trunks of trees, it does not 
ehar them to the centre. M.de la Groye is also of opinion that 
the lava owes its fluidity to some principle which is consumed 
by the very act of fusion, and to this cireumstance is owing the 
difficulty of fusing again that which has once cooled. The full 
mass, the part not swelled up into scoriz, has a stony aspect : 
this is what the Germans call grausteim. The author compares 
the periods of the fusion of the lavas with those through which 
the salts pass, which fuse after being swelled up. He relates 
some curious facts with respect to the prodigiously long duration 
of their heat, and thence concludes that they bear within them- 
selves the principle of their own heat, and that they do not 
possess a heat simply communicated. To all these remarks 
M. de la Groye adds a very detailed account of the grand erup- 
tion of 1813, which produced an infinity of ashes and small 
stones, but the lava of which did not reach the length of the 
cultivated grounds. 

After having studied with so much care the burning volcanoes, 
M. de la Groye wished also to give an account of the motives 
upon which the opinion is founded, that various mountains 
may be classed among burnt-cut volcanoes; and he visited one 
of them which De Saussure and other great geologists had al- 
ready placed in this class, but with respect to which the obstinate 
Neptunists will still find abundance of pretexts for confirming 
their doubts. 

This mountain was that of Beaulieu, about three leagues from 
Aix in Provence. The inequalities of the soil which surrounds 
it, represent currents similar to those of lava: its extent is 
1200 fathoms by 6 or 700 in breadth: its mean elevation above 
the sea is 200; the surrounding soil is caleareous to an infinite 
distance: towards the east are the basaltic rocks which seem to 
form the nucleus of the whole system, but in the basaltic part 
itself there are also sea-shclls and abundance of limestone. The 
amygdaloids and the basalts are covered with them in several 
places; in others their fragments are incrusted with them, and 
compose with this limestone a sort of brecke. He has often pe- 
netrated into the cells of the amygdaloids. 

Nevertheless the principal rock is the secondary grunstein of 
the Germans composed of feldspar and pyroxene, sometimes in 
such large grains that it resembles granite. It forms a long 

current, 


464 Royal Institute of France. 


eurrent, and we pass from this rock by intermediate ones, com- 
parable to trapps properly so called, to the common basalt, con- 
taining frequently peridot, and some parts of which De Saussure 
saw divided into prisms. There is also some vacque or wack 
which serves as the basis of the amygdaloid, and which when 
its cellules are empty completely resembles a porous: lava; but 
in which they are most frequently filled with limestone, as in 
the mandelstein of the Germans. Lastly, we find a basaltic tufa 
filled with smal] calcareous buttons, and containing pyroxeneés, 
peridots, micas, and these other mineral species so common in 
the Javas. M. Mesnard saw at Beaulieu a hollow which ap- 
peared to him Jike the remains of a crater. He concludes there- 
fore, after some general reasoning against the objections of the 
Neptunists, that this mountain was the production of a sub- 
marine eruption, and that the sea in which it was made con- 
tinued for a long time afterwards to deposit limestone. De 
Saussure had already appeared to be favourable to this opinion, 
M. Faujas St. Fond regarded it as incontestable, and M. Mes- 
nard thought he saw in ita method of conciliating all opinions 
on the pretended secondary trapps, which have been so long a 
subject of dispute, 

Among those numerous fragments of unknown organization 
which fill the strata of the earth, there are found impressions of 
an animal of a singular form composed of a sort of corslet, and 
an abdomen formed of several segments, each of which is di- 
vided into three lobes. Naturalists have given them the names 
of entomolites and trilobites; but they have not sufficiently di- 
stinguished them from each other, and have not determined to 
what order of stratification each species belonged. 

M. Brongniart, the manager of the manufactory of Sevres, has 
presented a work on this subject, in which, after an exact com- 
parison of the specimens which he procured, as well as of the 
deseriptions and figures left by preceding authors, he shows 
that there are at least seven species of these trilobites, that their 
ptincipal forms are sufficiently distinct to divide them into four 
genera, which ought to be all ranged in the class of crustacez, 
and in the order of those whose gills or lungs are exposed to view. 


The most of those trilobites belong to the deepest, 7. e. the most 


ancient of the stratifications of the soils which contain animal 
remains; they must therefore have been among the first ani- 

mated beings; and in fact, as we approach the surface, we find 
crustacee hore similar to those now contained in the sea; but 
the trilobites have disappeared entirely. 

M. Cordier has published a memoir on the coal-mines of 
Franee, and on the progress which has been made in their 
working for the last twenty-five years. He proves that in this 

interval 


Royal Institute of France. 465 


interval the produce has been more than quadrupled. This work, 
which is 'very important, is accompanied by an interesting map 
which points out the extent of our coal districts, the principal 
pits, and the direction of their various workings. 

M. Vauquelin has again turned his attention to meteoric stones, 
It appears to him that a part of their silex is in combination with 
magnesia: there is also sulphur united to their iron, for it gives 
sulphuretted hydrogen gas on-being dissolved in the acids. As 
to chrome, it seems to be isolated, and it shows itself sometimes 
in molecules so large as to remove every idea of combination, 


Extracts from the Minutes of the Sittings of the Institute of 
March 4, 1816. 


M. Arago made a verbal Report on the Voyage to the South 
Seas, drawn up by M. Louis Freycinet. 

The work is divided into four books: the first bears the title 
of the Itinerary, and makes known the successive order of the 
Operations ; the second comprehends the nautical and geogra-~ 
phical descriptions ; the third is destined to the analysis of charts; 
and the fourth contains the general results of the observations, 
the measurements of inclination and declination of the magnetic 
needle, the remarks of various kinds made during the yoyage, 
and the daily meteorological observations. The whole of the 
voyage is illustrated by thirty-two very fine charts. .M. Frey- 
cinet himself engraved them on copper, and by a process peculiar 
to himself. The chapter in which he describes his method, as 
well as that which relates to the division of the scales, wel] 
merits the attention of engineers, 

M. Biot read a Memoir drawn up by M. Pouillet and himself 
jointly, On the experimental determination of the diffraction 
undergone by simple or compound light when it passes be- 
tween two parallel glass-bottle stoppers. The authors refer to 
measurements of fringes taken at different distances of the bottle 
stoppers on a piece of ground glass ; and by constructing them 
they deduce the mode of separation of the rays, and the definitive 
division which the diffraction impresses upon them, According 
to these measurements, the ribbons which have the least deviated 
have their origin in the points of the interval the nearest to every 
stopper, and the most deviated have their origin nearest the cen- 
tral axis, both being deviated towards the stopper from which 
they were originally the most distant. 

For every given separation of the stoppers, the incidence re- 
maiuing always perpendicular to their interval, the deviations of 
the luminous particles of various natures are proportional to the 
length of their fits in the medium in which the light moves; and 

Vol. 47, No. 218. June 1816. Gg when 


466 Royal Institute of France. 


when the medium changes, all the other circumstances remaining 
the same, the absolute size of the deviations, and consequently 
the intervals of the fringes, vary also in proportion to the fits. 
The nature of the bodies which limit the medium do not change 
this law, whatever be the difference of their refrangent force. 
Stoppers of crown-glass opposed to each other form fringes in 
oil of turpentine, as metal stoppers would do if put in their place. 
Water at a heat of 37° of the centigrade thermometer forms 
fringes in water at 11°*, ; 


Sittings of Monday, March 11, 1816. 

In the name of a committee, M. Arago made a Report on 
the parallel mirrors which had been presented by Messrs. Richer. 

These glasses, which are of very delicate workmanship, are 
employed, as is well known, in the construction of reflecting in- 
struments, in that of tinned artificial horizons, which advan- 
tageously supply the place of the horizon of the sea in observa- 
tions which are made at land, and in the formation of the guards 
which serve to keep the liquids, by the help of which we also 
sometimes procure the reflected images of the stars free from 
those agitations which the least breath of wind makes them un- 
dergo. For a long period the English artists have been in the 
habit of supplying the French sextant-makers with parallel mir- 
rors. Messrs. Richer have succeeded in freeing us from this 
tribute. The glasses submitted to the examination of the Class 
were not less than four inches in diameter ; rarely have they ap- 
peared to occasion angular deviations of three seconds :—a si- 
Toilar glass, which a well known artist had recently purchased in 
London, under the same circumstances, afforded greater devia- 
tions. The plain mirrors of Messrs. Richer, like these which 
come out of the workshops of that excellent optician M. Re- 
bours, may therefore fairly be put on a level with all that has 
been done by foreigners of the same kind. 

M. Ivart gave a verbal account of several works upon agricul- 
ture, presented to the class by Sir John Sinclair. 

In the name of a committee, M. Giraud read a Report on a 
memoir of M. Dupin relative to the laying down of roads. 


* Messrs. Biot and Pouillet had undertalren these experiments at the 
end of the summer of 1815. On the 9th of October of the same year they 
announced to the Inssitnte that they had discovered laws, according to 
which the phenomenon of diffraction was found to have the most intin:ate 
connexion with that of the coloured rings, and might be deduced from 
them numerically. They had added that these laws indicated also the spe~ 
cies of modification extremely singular, according to which the light was 
diffracted. These indications are merely referred to the diflraction be- 
tween two stoppers, the only ones which the guthors had considered in 
their experiments, 

This 


Royal Institute of France. 467 


This memoir is an application of descriptive geometry to some 
very important questions. We conceive that we may arrive at 
one point from another by an infinity of different roads ; but these 
roads are not all equally favourable ; the inclination, for instance, 
ought not to exceed in any point the limits given by experience, 
and after which the moving powers no longer act with advan- 
tage: the limit of slope varies according to the method of effect- 
ing the transport of articles, whether on the backs of men or by 
wheeled carriages. The mathematical theory of M. Dupin en:- 
braces all the elements of this question considered in the most 
general manner. 

M. Brochaut read a paper on Gypsum, Messrs. Ramond and 
Brongniart are to examine it. 

Monday, March 18.—A letter was read from Sir C. Blagdon. 
He announces that they are at this moment constructing in 
Cornwall steam-engines destined to work under a pressure of 
seven atmospheres. The trials already made seem to indicate 
that they will be productive of immense advantages. In order 
to determine under what circumstances steam-engines ought to 
produce the maximum of effect, keeping in view the quantity of 
coal used, it is necessary to know the relation which may exist 
at different temperatures between the elastic force of the steam 
and the quantity of caloric necessary for its production. Already 
had some French manufacturers ascertained that the increase of 
the elastic force is superior to that of the caloric employed ; for 
they found an advantage in working their machines under pres- 
sures superior to that of the atmosphere; but the form of their 
boilers did not admit of their much exceeding this term. In En- 
gland they have gone much further, by means of an invention of 
Mr. Woolf’s, and which is combined in such a way as to employ 
the steam at very high pressures. It seems also that the steam- 
engines of this able engineer contain another useful modification, 
and which consists in the heated steam never being in immediate 
contact with the piston of the large cylinder, as it is in the com- 
mon machines; in the latter case, as is well known, the piston 
soon loses its accurate adjustment, because the steam dissolves 
the greasy substances which lubricate it. In Mr. Woolf’s ap- 
paratus the steam enters into a first cylinder, and there it presses 
on the surface of a column of oil, which it forces to enter into an 
interior cylinder, in which is the piston: it thus raises the piston 
without touching it, and lets it fall as soon as it is condensed. It 
is clear that this mechanism may be also applied on both sides of 
the piston, so as to produce a double effect. 


Gg2 XCVI, In. 


r 468 J : 


XCVI. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 
VENTILATION OF COAL-MINES- 


We have already alluded to Mr. Ryan’s improvements 0D this 
important subject, and we are happy to state that they have 
heen rewarded by the Society of Arts, by a vote of one hundred 
guineas, and the gold medal, the highest premium ever yoted by 
the Society. 

Our readers already know that the most dreadful accidents 
which happe® in coal-mines, and those of most frequent occur~ 
rence, arise from explosions occasioned by the accumulation © 
hydrogen 25> and the defective means hitherto adopted of cat- 
rying off that deleterious and highly inflammable substance. 

Mr. Ryan’s method of ventilation obviates all these dangers, 
and carries off every particle of the hydrogen 885 the instant it 
3s liberated from the coal. His first operation “s to insulate the 
whole mine, OF field, as “+ js technically called, by cutting roun 
st a course oF passage This is what he calls his gas course 5 
and it is always made of a size sufficient to carry off all the gas 
which would otherwise accumulate in the mine. Within the 
body of the mine itself, holes are cut of different diameters, €n- 
tering into this gas course from the higher parts or roof of the 
mine. Between this gas course and the lower part of the up- 
cast shaft of the mine, 4 communication ‘5 made, and the gas 
by its levity naturally ascends. Heat, however, is occasionally 
applied at the lower part of this shaft to accelerate the exit of 
the gas. Our philosophical readers must be aware that no mine 
whatever can produce the quantity of hydrogen which a gas 
course on this principle is capable of discharging- In fact, on 
the old system of ventilating by the labyrinth process the at- 
mospheric air remains at least twenty hours in a mine of com 
mon dimensions, during which it traverses a space of forty miles, 
and becomes every second more and more impregnated with hy- 
drogen gas, and consequently increasing the danger throughout 
its whole passage through the workings of the mine. On Mr. 
Ryan’s system, the inflammable gas, as fast as it flows from the 
workings, takes the nearest course to the upper gallery or reser= 
voir for gas, whence it finds its Way by the shortest course to 
the upeast shaft, through which it passes ‘nto the open ait 

Mr. Ryan has introduced his valuable discoveTy with the hap- 
piest results into some of thé most destructive and fiery coal- 
ines of Staffordshire and Worcestershire, aud has obtained cer= 
tificates of the most. flattering description from numerous Ter 
spectable and humane mine-owne!ls- In some mines in Wor- 
cestershire, for instance, where daily explosions take place, and 
where none but the most desperate characters could be obtained 

' as 


Death of Mr, Henry of Manchester. 469 


as Workimen, all alarm has subsided. Since the introduction of 
his system, the price of labour has fallen, and hundreds of valu- 
able lives have been saved to the community. 

- We cannot, in short, pronounce a better eulogiutn on the 
author of this valuable discovery, than by presenting our readers 
with the short but eloquent address of the royal and illustrious 
President of the Society of Arts, when delivering the premiums 
awarded by the Society to this meritorious individual: ‘¢ Mr. 
Ryan,” said the Duke of Sussex, ‘in rising to present you with 
the rewards so justly voted you by the Society, they wish it to 
be understood, that they do not intend these rewards as any re- 
muneration for your valuable discovery: for such remuneration 
you are to look to yourself—I inean, to the feelings of your own 
mind. But to mark their sense of your merits, the Society have 
voted you the highest premium ever given by them; and when 
I reflect on the personal risks and dangers you have run in bring- 
ing this invention to its present state—an invention which has 
already saved more than are now here present, and which pro- 
mises to render the most lasting services not only to this, but to 
every country that may adopt it, I feel an increased source of 
satisfaction in being the organ of the Society on the occasion.” 

It may perhaps redound still further to Mr. Ryan’s credit, to 
state, that no fewer than ten meetings of the Committee of the 
Society thoroughly investigated his plans and models previously 
to the final vote of the Society, so that every opportunity was af- 
forded for that ample and free discussion of his merits which they 
received. ee 

DEATH OF MR. THOMAS HENRY. 

We are sorry to announce the death of the celebrated Mr. 
Henry, of Manchester. The distressing event is thus announced 
to the public in Wheeler’s Manchester Chronicle of June 22 :— 
“Died, on Tuesday the 18th instant, in the 82d year of his age, 
Mr. Thomas Henry, President of the Literary and Philosophical 
Society of Manchester, Fellow of the Royal Society of London, 
and member of several other learned societies both in this coun- 
try and abroad. As a practical and philosophical chemist he 
had obtained a high and merited reputation. His contributions 
to that science, besides a small volume of Essays, and his trans- 
lations of the early writings of Lavoisier, which he first intro 
duced to the notice of the English reader, consist chiefly of Me- 
moirs dispersed through the Transactions of the various socie- 
ties to which he belonged, and relating both to those parts of 
chemistry that are purely scientific, and to those which have a 
connexion with the useful arts. On a subject intimately connected 
with the success of the cotton manufacture (the employment of 
mordants or bases in dyeing) £ Mr. Henry was the first,’ to use 

Gg 3 * the 


470 Russian Voyage of Discovery. 


the words applied to him by a subsequent author, ¢ who thought 
and wrote philosophically.’ In the introduction, too, of the new 
mode of bleaching, which has worked an entire revolution in 
that art, and occasioned an incomparably quicker circulation of 
capital, he was one of the earliest and most successful - agents. 
In addition to the acquirements connected with his profession, 
he had cultivated to no inconsiderable degree a taste for the pro- 
ductions of the Fine Arts; he had obtained a knowledge of his- 
tofical events remarkable for its extent and accuracy; and he 
had derived, from reading and reflection, opinions to which he 
was steadily attached, on those topics of political, moral, and 
religious inquiry, which are most important to the welfare of 
mankind. For several years past he had retired from the prac- 
tice of medicine, in which he had been extensively engaged, 
with credit and success, for more than half a, century; and 
from delicate health he had long ceased to take an active share 
in the practical cultivation of science. But possessing, almost 
unimpaired, his faculties of memory and judgement, he con- 
tinued to feel a lively interest in the advancement of literature 
and philosophy. Retaining also in their full vigour those kind 
affections of the heart that gave birth to the most estimable 
moral qualities, and secured the faithful attachment of his friends, 
he passed through a long and serene old age, experiencing little 
but its comforts and its honours, and habitually thankful for the 
blessings with which Providence had indulged him.” 


RUSSIAN VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY. 

he ship Suwarrow, Captain Lazaroff, belonging to the Rus- 
sian Kast India Company, arrived at Spithead on Tuesday, 
June 18, whence she sailed on the 10th of March 1814, on a 
voyage of discoveries in the North Pacific Ocean, but more with 
a view to form two military aud commercial establishments on 
the west coast of North America, namely, at the island of Ro- 
diak, in lat. 55° N. long.160° W. which is the nearest part of the 
American continent to the Russian establishment at Kamschatka, 
and upon a neck of land called California. From these they 
will be enabled to carry on their fur-trade with China with 
greater advantages; and their homeward-bound voyage, with 
the produce of China, will be likewise greatly facilitated. The 
Suwarrow has been so far as lat. 58? 50’ N. long. 190° 50’ E. 
She touched at Kamschatka, On the 10th of October 1814 
she discovered an island in lat. 13° 10’ 8S. long. 163° 29’ W. It 
is about eight miles and a half long, and seven miles wide. Co- 
coa-nut trees and sea-fowl were found upon it. The rocks around 
it appear formed of solid coral. It not being laid down in any 
chart, Captain Lazaroff named it after his ship, Suwarrow 
Island.’ 


List of Patents for new Inventions. ° 471 


and.” It appears from the great Vancouver’s track, upon his 
ublished chart, that he must have passed this island in the night 
time. The Suwarrow has a valuable cargo of furs, which she 
ook on beard in Norfolk Sound, with many articles the pro- 
duce of the coast of Peru. She lay two ser cares at Lima. a 


‘and so prosperous has been the whole of dik voyage, that dhe 
as not sustained the loss of even a rope or spar of any descrip- 
tion since she sailed from ppehead. She has about fourteen rare 
mimals on board—species of the Lama, Vigonia, and Alpaca. 
hey are intended as a present to the Emperor of Russias She 
as since sailed for St. Petersburgh, 
enti 
LIST OF PATENTS FOR NEW INVENTIONS. 

To George Bodley, of the city of Exeter, iron-founder, for an 
improved metallic engine to work either by steam or water, which 
he denominates “ Bodley’s improved metallic engine.’’—27th 
i te 1816.—6 months. a 

o John Collier, of Windsor Terrace, in the county of Mid- 
dlesex, engineer, for a machine for shearing woollen aarhs,—lst 


To John Rangley, of Oakwell Hall, near Leeds, gent., for 
further improvements on his hydropheumatic engine, being a 
new or improved method of vonstructing and working engines 
or machines for lifting or raising of weights, turning machinery 
of all descriptions, drawing carriages on railways, and capable of 
being applied to all purposes where mechanical power is re- 
| quired.—4th May.—6 months. 

To Richard Banks, of Hadley, in the parish of Wellington 
nd county of Salop, engineer, for certain improvements on 
wheeled carriages.—4th May.—6 months. 
To William Threadgold, of Farm Street, Berkley Square, 
| surveyor and builder, for his machine or apparatus to prevent 
Beepetions to the passage of smoke in and through chimneys. 
—dth May.—6 months, 
To Robert Copland, of Liverpool, in the county of Lancaster, 
“merchant, for his certain’ means of effecting a saving inthe con- 
sumption of fuel—4th May.—6 months. 
To Benjamin Rotch, late of Castle Hall, Milford Haven, in 
the county of Pembroke, but now of the city of Bath, gent., being 
pne of the people called Quakers, for a flexible elastic horse- 
shoe for the purpose of allowing the foot of the horse its natural 
motion when shod.—1lth May.—2 months. 

To Jean Samuel Pauly, of Knightsbridge, for certain improve- 
Ments in the construction and use of fire-arms.—14th May.— 
6 months. 
on. METEORO- 


472 


METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL KEPT AT BOSTON, 
LINCOLNSHIRE. 


[The time of observation, unless otherwise stated, is at 1 P.M.] 


18 58 0 
19 65:0 
20 640 
21 50°0 
22 54°5 
23 63:0 
24 58°0 
25 555 
26 58°5 
27 50°0 
28 57'0 
29 54°0 
new} 540 
1 64°5 
2 65:0 
3 64:0 
4 58 0 
5 63°5 
6 
fh 60°0 
8 55'0 
9 49°0 
10 450 
11 59:0 
12 510 
13 53:0 
eclipsed 
10} full 52:0 
15 54°5 
16 61:0 
17 69:0 


14) 18 570 


Meteorology. 


the |Thermo-} Baro- |State of the} Modification of the 
Moon.} meter. 


meter.| Weather. Clouds. 
30:05 rain 
29 97 fair 
29°90} very fine 
29°95 air 
30°02 do 
30°06 fine 
80°10} very fine 
30:10 fine 
80°15| very fine 
30°0 rain 
29°91 do 
380 20 fair 
30°24 rain 
30°25 fair 
30°10 do 
30°12 do 
30°0 do 


a S 


tir — 


30:15] very fine 
fair _|gale from the west. 


30°15 do 

30:0 do 

ok ve } a strong N.W. wind, | 
‘= 

29:78 do 

29°54 do 


29°40 |violent storm of hail and rain. 


2981) showery 

30:10 fine 

30°23} very fine oH 

$0'15 |very cold in the morning; cam 
sultry at noon, and in the ev 
rain, 

30°13 rain 


Meteorology 473 


METEOROLO GICAL TABLE, 


By Mr. Cary, OF THE STRAND, 
For June 1816. 


Thermometer. 45 
Se ea mR. gt 
. a fe ao 
mes . 
Days of |S 2 Bias Height of | S4¢ 
Month. | 2° ae the Barom.| 3 >& Weather. 
—) as e 
Os iS Inches. oes 
os oA bon 2 
io=) “ DS rae 
Q = 


oS 


May 27 30°10 Small rain 
28 “11 Fair 
g 29°97 Fair 
30 *85 Fair 
31 "82 Fair 
June 1 30°02 Fair 
54 | 29°99 Rain 
54 | 30°08 Fair 
55 | 29°97 Fair 
45 °69 Showery 
50 *85 Cloudy 
54 65 Rain 
52 7 Rain 
47 "25 Stormy 
50 *85 Showery 
52 “95 Fair 


Fair 
Fair 
Rain 
Cloudy 
Cloudy 
Fair 
Fair 
Fair 
Fair 
Fair 
Fair 
Showery 
Cloudy 
Fair 
Rain 


N.B. The Barometer’s height is taken at one o'clock. 


ere 


INDEX tro VOL. XLVIL 


Aoi. Newly discovered uegetatle, 
16; malic, 17; prussic exists in opium, 
155; nitric, on constituents of, 156; 
todous, What? 217; rosacic, exper. 
on, 228; phosphoric, Thomson on, 
$04; prussic, analysis of, 311, now 
called hydrocyanic, 312; oxalic, on, 


S91 

Arial navigation, 81, 183, 220, 321, 
429 

Aérolile which fell in Moravia, 174; at 
Langres, a 349 
4frica, Expedition to, 714 
Agates, Tricks to deceive with, 173 


digebraic expression of the value of 
lives, 3 


Alumine. Phosphate of, 230 
Amianthus cloth, 227 
Ammonia. Composition of, 156 


Ampere, M. on classification of simple 
bodies, 438 
Analysis cf Malambo bark, 231; of 
prussic acid, 311; of meteoric stones, 


353 
Aqua regia. Sir H, Davy on, 303 
Arago on refraction of liquids, 375 


Architecture, practical, 161; Roman, 

187 
Astronomic refraction. On, 23, 36 
Astronomy, Planisphere of Dendera, 

133 
Aimosphere. Dispersive power of, 36 
4urochs (bos urus.) Description of, 250 
Azole, a compound, 156 
Bacon's life and writings, 141 
Balioons, aerial. On, 81, 183, 220, 321, 

429 
Barometer with iron tube, 


Bazaar. The Soho, 74 
Beet-reot. Culture of, 333, 416 
Bevelled wheels. Queries respecting, 
76 

Bidder the calculating boy, 314 
Bilter principle, 19 
Black sea, and Caspian sea, On level 
of, 364 
Blowing machine, 372 
Bradley's theorem. On, 23 


Brewster on radiation of heat, 68; on 
double refraction, 151, 209; chro- 
matic themometer of, S09 


Brown on meteorologicalnomenclature 

$ 107 
Brown on practical architecture, 
Buchannan on steam- boats, - 
Butter of silver, 


Capillary action of tube of barometer 7) 


on the mercury, 102 ¥} 
Capiilary altraction. Ivory on, 209 | 
Carbonate of strontian in Giant’s Cause- 

way, 43, 130 
Cary’s Meteorological Tables, 46, 160, 


240, 320, 400, 473 © 


Carrots. On preserving, 288 7 
Carter's safe-lamp for mines, : 49% 
Caspian sea and Black sea. On levels 
of, S64 
Castel’s theory of colours, 65 


Cayley, Sir G,, on aérial navigation, 
81, 321, 394 
Caylus on painting and sculpture, 86 
Chaptal on beet-root sugar, 
Chemical philosophy. Walker’s, 94 
Chemical science. State of, 
Clement on ligneous matter, 
Coal-mines. Ventilation of, ' 
Colouring. Theory of, 65 
Columbium found in Bohemia, 157 
Cosmogony of Moses, 9,110, 179, 241, 
: 258, 339, 346, 431 


Crystallizalion. Curious memoir on, 


305; Daniel on, 299 
Cumberland. Geology of, 41, 131 
Cyanogene. What? 3:2 
Davy’s fulminating platina, 397 


Davy’s safe-lamp, 51, 67, 68, 117, 248, 


312- 
Davy (Sir H.) on aqua regia, 303 
Dendera planisphere, 133 


De Serres on menagerie at Schoenbrunn, 


249 
Dispersive power of liquids, 575 
Dobereiner on chemical science, 214 


Donovan on a new acid, 163; answer of 
to ‘ Remarks,” 167; his process for 
purifying silver, 204 ; Howldy’s re- 


ply to, 285 
Drawings to copy, 132 
Drummond, 'The Rev, 'T. on meteoro- 

logy, 434 
Earthquake at Madeira, 232 
Edgeworth on aérial navigation, 183 


INDEX. 


Edinburgh Royal Society, 308 
Electricity, 283, 387 
Electricity. Singer’s work on, 57, 135 


Electric columns. On, 265 
Electrical alarum, $45 

~ Elgin marbles, Parliamentary report 
on, 267 
Euphony cured by electricity, 387 


Zvans (Dr.) on Wollaston’s fine platina 

wire, 120 
Evans (John), on aérial navigation,429 
£—=s on cosmogony of Moses, 9, 


179, 346 
Expedition to Africa, 71 
Extracts. On aqueous, 155 


Farey on basaltic strata, 355; on vulgar 
fractions, 885 


Fat. On, : 393 
Forsteh on electric column, 265 
forster’s thunder alarum, 345 


Forster’s meteorological nomenclature, 


45, 107 
French Society of Arts, 213, 227 
Fulminating gold, 176 
Fulminating platina, 897 
Geiilen on glass-making, 879 


Geological queries, 12; answer to, 100 


Geological Society, 210, 305 
Geology, 41,131 
Giants Causeway, Strontian found in, 

43, 130 
Glass. On making, $79 


Glaxier’s diamond. Wollaston on, 387 
Groined arches. On, 164 
Heaton colliery. Sequel to catastrophe 


at, 170 
Helvetic Society, 71 
Henry, Mr., of Manchester, Death of, 

469 
Herculanean MSS. 157 


Home on _lacertz, 152; on the effects 

of medicines, 304; on tadpoles, $89 
Horn on cosmogony, 241, 339 
Hose for fire-engines. New, 75 
Howldy on electrical phenomena, 283 
Hume on emetic tartar, 264 
Humboldt, Count, on the laws of vege- 


table forms, 446 
Hydrometer. London’s, 329 
Jce found below water, 389 
Indigogene. On, 413 
Ink, writing. On, 155 
Insanity, Essays on, 453 


Institute, Royal,tof France, proceedings 
of, 45 Gm 45 
Jvory on capillary attraction, 


209 
Kirwanian Society, 152 
Lacerte, Home on, 152 


Laplace on barometer, 102; on tides, 
118; on figure of the earth, 309 


475 


Laument onagates,173; on aérolites, 174 
Learned Societies, 67, 150, 208, 304, 387, 


456 
Lectures, 77, 159, 316, 397 
Lee on refraction, 36 


Ligneous matter in roots and fruits, $71 


Linnean Society, 458 
Linear measures. Instrument for com- 
paring, 125 


Lives. On valuing, with tables, 3 


London’s hydrometer, $29 
Mackerel., On curing, 329 
Matambo bark, Analysis of, 981 
Mathematical certainty. On, 131 
Meusures, linear. Instrument for com- 

Paring, 125 
Menagerie at Scheenbrunn, 249 


Mercury of barometer tube, capillary ac- 


tion on, 102 
Metallic salts. On, 33,175, 853 
Meteoric iron, 174, 388 
Meteoric stones, 174, 349 


Meteorology, 45, 46,158, 160, 168, 182, 
235, 317, 397, 434 
Methuon on crystallization, 505 


Mica fit for ship lanterns, 133 
Micrometer telescopes. On, 14 
Mineralogy, 109 
Moses, On cosmogony of, 9, 110, 179, 


241, 258, 339, 346 

Mungo Park, 395 
Murray (J.) on radiant heat; Walker’s 
theory, and Davy’s lamp, 247, 4109 
on indigogene, 413 
Narcotics, On poison of, 226 
New Books, 50, 135, 208, 292, 386, 453 
New South Wales. Topography of, 218 
Nomenclature. Meteorological, 45, 107; 
mineralogical, 109 
Opium exercises an actions uigeneris, 226 


Ordnance maps, 586 
Ocfila on opium and narcotics, 226 
Painting aud sculpture. Parallel be- 

tween, 86 
Parkes’s Chemical Essays, 292 


Parliamentary Report on the Elgin mar- 


bles, 267 
Patents, 77, 159, 233, 316, 471 
Peile on Davy’s safe lamp, 313 
Pendulum, seconds, length of, $10 


Petit ondispersive powers of liquids, 37 
Phillip (Dr.) on sanguiferous and ner- 


vous systems, 150 
Phosphate uf alumine. On, 230 
Phygalian martles. On the, 262 
Pil-coal. On formation of, 288 
Poison of narcotics. On, 226 
Potatoes. On preserving, 288 


Prevost’s theory of radiant heat defended, 
247 


476 


Prichard on cosmogeny of Moses, 110 


258; answer to, 346,481 
Prony on measuring lines, 125 
Pyrophorus, Anew, 215 
Kamsgaie baths, 412 
Real’s dissolving press, 216 
Reid, Dr. on insanity, 458 
Refraction. Evans on, 28; Lee on, 36; 

Brewster on, 151 
Refractive powers of liquids, 875 


Repori of the National Vaccine Establish- 
ment, 436 
Richardson on the stratainArmagh, 358 


Rome, Labours of French architects 

at, 137 
Roses, indigenous. On, 243 
Rosin and tar. On, 71 
Royal Institution, 69 


Royal Institute of France, 811 
Royal Sociely, 67,150, 208,304, 387,456 
Russian voyage of discovery, 470 
Russell Institution, 70 
Ryan’s process for ventilation of coal- 
mines, 468 
Safe-lamps for mines. Carter’s, 49; 
Davy’s, 51,117, 248, 312, 410 
Salts, metallic. On, $3,.175, 353 
Sculpture and painting. Parallel be- 
tween, 86 
Ship lanterns of mica, 133 
Silver. Butyraceous muriate of, 157; 
Remarks‘on, 178; to purify, 204 
Singer’s Elements of Electricity and 
Electro-chemistry, 57, 135 
Skrimshire on the cold of Feb.1816, 183 
Sleeping woman. Account of, 310 
Solar rays. Chemical action of, 392 
Solution. Phxnomenaattending, 299 
Sound. On propagation of, 394 
Steam-engines, Comparative work of, 
72, 232, 316, 397 

Steam navigation. On, 297 
Stewart’s progress of philosophy, 141 
Sireet’s blowing machine, 872 
Strength of materials. To ascertain, 21 


IND EX 


Stroniian found in Giant’s Causeway, 


43, 130 
Sugar, Leet-root,. 331, 393,416 
Sulphur. Remarks on 76, 109 
Sun-dial, An ancient, 96 
Surgery; 73 
Tadpoles. On the fat of, 289 
Tar and rosin. On, j Py | 
Telescopes, micrometer.. On, 14 


Thebes in Egypt. Account of, 381,401 


Thomson on phosphorie acid, 304 
Tides, Laplace on the, 118 
Todd on the torpedo, 152 


Torpedo of the Cape of Good Hope,152 
Urine, red sediment of, 228 
Vaccination. State of,in Hayti, +437 
Van Mons’s correspondence, 154; me- 
teorological remarks, 168; 0n ful- 
minating gold, 176; om silver, 1785 
on iodine and iodous acid, 217 
Vapours, refractive and dispersive 
powers of, 375 
Faxquelin on phosphate of alumine, 


280; on bark of Malambo, 231 
Vegetalle forms, on the laws of, 446 
Ventilation of mines, 390 
Fentilaiton of coal-mines, 468 
Vogel on rosacic acid, 228 
Voltaic electricity, 139 
Vulgar fractions. Farey on, 385 


JValker (E.) on micrometer telescopes, 
14; chemical philosophy, 94; ob- 


jection against his theory, 247 
Water, Decomposition of, 95 
Way on preserving carrots, 29] 
Wernerian Society, Edinburgh, $10 
Westmorland. Geology of, 41,131 
Wheels, Queries respecting, 76; on 

water-, 97 
Whitlow on preserving roots, 288 
Winch on indigenous roses, 243 
/Vollaston on fine platina wire, 120 


Wolluston’s theory of crystallization 
confirmed, 299 


END OF THE FORTY-SEVENTH VOLUME. 


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hs Vol, XL. A Plate containing Professor aestin’s Atmoreter, and” 


 Bigures to illustrate Dr. Wottaston’s Pap © the elementary Particles 
of certain Crystals—A Sketch of that Pat of the Island of Java which 


contains the natural Lake of. Sulphuric 4cid.—Interior of Veleano in sie 
Island of Java, and Figures ‘to illustrate Mr. Watkes’s Paper on the Elee- 


tric Fluid:—A Plate. to illustrate M Linx’s Memoiron the Anstomy of 
_ Plants, and Dr. Wotrasrton’s Cryophorus.—A third Plate to ilastrate 


| M. Linx’s Memoir on the Anatomy of Plants—Mr. T. Jonrs's Secto- 
-graph,—a new Instrument for dividing right Lines into equal Parts, measur- 
- Vol. XLII. * A Plate to illustrate a New Transit Instrument invented 
by Sir H.C. Encusrieip; Bart —4 Plate to illustrate the Use of Air- 
- Yessels in Plants. By Mre2288ts0n.—A Plate to illustrate M. Sz- 


MENTNVs new Apparatus for producing Oxygen Gas-to restore sug- 


- pended Animatiou—Mr. Reane’s Paper on the Refraction of the Solar. 
ane Mr. Harcreaves’s Observations on Colonrs—A Plate to ~ 


illustrate Mr. J. Wuirrorp’s mechanical Substitute for Leeches; and Mr. 
4. Titrey’s Hydro-presmatic Blow-pipe. —A Plaie to describe Mr, 


—~ 


' Sofa Bed. 


“" Vel. TT. A Piate to illustrate ‘Mr: Hums’s Gazometer and Blow- 
‘ ‘pipe; a Proposal for an Improvement of the Galvanic Trough; and,a 


_ yew Apparatus for preparing pure Mariatic-Acid.—A practical Diagram 


~ 


for obtaining the Lunar Distances observed by a Sextant.—Electrical 
Apparatus to illustrate Mr, Beaxpz’s Paper on some new Electrical 


, Phznomena.---A Quarto Plate to illustrate Mrs. Inzerson’s Papér on the 


Cuticle of Leaves.—Bruxton’s Patent Chain Cable—Figures relative to” 


, Dr. Brewsrzr’s’Paper on the Affections of Light transmitted through 
_ etystallized Bodies—»A-Plate to illustrate Dr. Brrwsrer’s Paper given 


- iwour last Number, + 9 


Vol. XLV. A Plate to illustrate the Nourishment produced to the 


Plant by its Leaves... By Mrs. Inserson.—A “Plate to illustrate Mr, 


_ Baxetwetvr’s Sketch of the Arrangement of the Rocks and Strata in the 


- Northern Counties of: Ergland.:—Plates to’ illustrate Mr. Roszrtson 


 Buctianan’s Descriptiya of sha Stoom Rats an the Clyde; and Mrs. 
_Inzerson’s Paper proving that the Embryos of the Secds'aie foied im, 
“the Root alone.—A Plate to illustrate’ Mr.Joun Watrers’s\improve- 


~ ments in Naval Architecturé.—A Quarto Plate on the Roots of Plants. — 
Ain Octavo Plate of Mr. Sinczr’s Electric Columus; Mr, Warxer’s 
- Electrometer; Rocuon’s Apparatus for ascertaining the Heat of coloured 


Rea J 


a, eee ys. j ; : ro ae he i i 
_ Vol. XLVI. Mr. T. Jonzs’s New Reflecting Compass.—Mr. Woo.r’s 


Patent Boiler for Steam Engines and other Purposes.-APlate to illus. 


y 


a 


 thods of lighting the Mines so as.to prevent ‘its Explosion; and'the Age. 


trate Mr. Woorr’s Improyement én the Steam-Engine, by which the 


. possibility of Steam escaping past tle side of the Piston is.effectually pres 


* 


 yented.——A Plate to illustrate some Electrical Experiments by M. DeNexrs 


of Maliness with an Extension of them by Mf. Singer and Mr. Crosse, 


=A Plate to illustrate the’ Electrical, Experiments of M, De Nexis of | 


- Malines.-—W ooxr’s improved Stéam-Engine.—A Plate to illustrate Mr. 


.Eyvans’s -Paper on guiding Balloons through rhe Atmosphere.—-A Plate | 
filustra ive of Dr. Baewsrer’s Paper on Light.—A 4to Plate to illus,’ 


‘trate Sir H, Dayy’s Paper on the Fire-damp/‘of Coal-Mines, and.on Me, 
gount of I + Srrrney son’s Saf-Lamp for Cogl-Mines, 


: 
f ’ ‘ 4 


>R.Hucues’s Gudgeon for-the Shaft. of a Water-wheel; and Mr, Pap-, 
~ pury's Guard fora Carriage-wheel.—A Plate to des¢ribe Captain Peat’s . 
_ Bemperary Ship’s Rudder.—-A Quarto Plate of. Mr. Samuen Jones’s . 


EN: 
al Ex 


ndi 


ies, resardi 
ate gan 


en Acid, 
§ May have BYOs oy 
OvAN, Esq" es 


inarks'on Dr. Brapiey? 

a com “Astronomical Refraction: 

5 Ae BED; F.L.S, “te nt a ~~ P, . : 
VoL On the Metallic 

¢ IX, 


of the Atmospheres and ity { AR 
muical Observations, By Srepurw Lez, ~ AN 


= -- 


d Librarian to the 2. yal Society, Communicated a - 


WoLussrox, M.D. Sec, RiSeo he 


=. 388 
XX. A Geological Sketch of a Part of Cumberland and 
estincreland. By 4 Courssroxpinry ie 


-, XT. Specimen of a. new Nomenclature for Meteorola. 
y gical Science. By Thomas Forsrzx, esqy Sis Mins 


XII. On the Influence of the Atmosphere on the Eleetro-) 
Galvanic Column of M.Dy Luc. By Mr. J.Tarow. | 47 
XIII. Deseri tion of | (Zan Ineop for Coal-Mines, ing, yet: 

Br hg ToStod by Mav LiCakrer, of Exarse,> ommMpnicated in 
Be a Letter from Mr, Caarsr to, Sir He; the St a Kec ee 
ie XIV. Notices respecting New denna oa : 
(ees &YV. Procéedings of Leamed Societies: . | pity 
SN ence t~~ Hele. 
YH ve “Engines 


pes. — Electricity. 
Omplog yi NER 


this Work, addressed to the Editor, 
will mest with every ‘atiention, — 


nt 


“a. RUN ey ENGRAVINGS, 
Vol. XLIT. A Plate containing Professor Lastis’s Atmometer, ard 
_ Figures to illustrate Dr. Wottaston’s Paper on the elementary Particles 
of certain Crystals—-A Sketch of that Part of the Island of Java which 
_ contains the natugal Lake of Sulphuric Acid.—Intetior of Volcano in the 
Island of Java, and Figures to illustrate Mr. WaLker’s Paper on the Elbc- 
-~ tric Fluid.—A Plate to illustrate M. Linx’s Memoit on the Anatomy of 
Plants, and Dr. Wottasron’s Cryophorus.—A third Plate to illustrate 
~ MM. Linx’s Memoir on the Anatomy of Piants.-Mr. T. Jonss’s Secto- 
| graph,—a new Instrument for dividing right Lines into equal Parts, measur- 
ang Angles, and inscribing Polygons in the Circle, &c, 
Vol. XLIII. A Plate to illustrate a New ‘Transit Instrument invented 
by Sir H.C. Encreriexn, Bart,—A: Plate to illustrate the Use of Ain’ 
Vessels in Plants. By Mrs. Insetson.—A Plate to illustrate M. Sz-. 
| senTini’s new Apparatus for producing Oxygen Gas to restore suse — 
-. pended Animation—Mr. Reape’s Paper on the Refraction of the Solar 
_ Rays—and Mr. Harersaves’s Observations on Colours—-A Plate to © 
_ illustrate Mr. J. Wuirrorn’s mechanical Substitute for Leeches; and Mr. _ 
J. Titvey's Hydro-pneumatic Blow-pipe.—A Plare to describe Mr. 
R. Huguss’s Gudgeon for the Shaft of a Water-wheel; and Mr. Pap- 
_sury’s Guard fora Carriage-wheel.—A Plate to describe Captain Paar’s 
. “Temporary Ship’s Rudder.—-A Quarto Plate of Mr. Samver Jonss’s 
~~ Sofa Bed. te Bate it 
Vol. XLIV. A Plate to illustrate Mr, Hume's Gazometer and Blow- * 
"pipe; a Proposal for an Improvement of the Galvanic Troughs and a 
new Apparatus for preparing pure Mariati¢ Acid =A practical Diagram. 
2, fi obtaining the Lunar Distances observed by a Sextant.—Llectrical 
/ Apparatus to illustrate Mr. Branpi’s Paper on some new Electrical 
- Phenomena.+—A Quarto Plate to illustrate Mrs, Insetson’s Paper onthe . 
Cuticle of Leaves. —Baruwron’s Patent Chain Cable.—-Figures relative to 
|. Dr. Beewstge’s Paper on the Affections of Light transmitted through 
My, erystallized Bodies.—-A Plate to illustrate Dr, Brewstrr’s Paper given 
-» < our last Number, a ; ite 
~~ Vol. XLY. A Plate to lustrate the Nourishment produced to the 
' Plant by its Leaves, By Mra Insersox.--A Plate to illustrate Mr, 
_ Baxewerr’s Sketch of the Arrangement of the Rocks and Strata in the 
_. Nerthern Counties of England.—Plates to illustrate Mr. Ronrarson 
_ Bucwanan’s Description of the Steam-Boats on the Clyde; and Mrs. 
_ Iszerson’s Paper'proving that the Embryos of the Seeds are formed 
the Root alone.--A Plate to illustrate Mr. Jon» Watrers’s improve. 
_ ments in Naval Architectare.—A Quarto Plate on the Roots of Plants:— 
An Octavo Plate of Mr. Sincan’s Electric Columns; Mr. Watren”s 
_ Electrometer; Rocuon’s Apparatus for ascertaining the Heat of coloured 


Rays. : Ny 
Vol. XLVI. Mr. T. Jonzs’s New Reflecting Compass.—Mr. Woott’s' 
_ Patent Boiler for Steam Engines and other Perposes.-A Plate to illus 
trate Mr. Wooxrr’s Improvement on the Steam-Engine, by which the 
_ possibility of Steam escaping past the side of the Piston is effectually pre» 
_ vented.—A Plate to illustrate some Electrical Experiments by M. Ds Nuxs 
_ ©f Malines, with an Extension of them by Mr, Singer and Mr. Crosss. 
_ =A Plate to illustrate the Electrical Experiments of M. De Nexis of 
_ Malines.—W oot?’s improved Steam-Engine.—A Plate to illustrate’ Mr. 

_ Evans’s Paper on guiding Balloons through the Atmosphere.—A, Plate | 
- illustrative of Dr. Baswsrer’s Paper on Light.—A 4to Piate to illus. 
~ tate Sir H. Davy’s Paper on the Fire-damp of Coal-Mines, and oa Me- 

_ thods of lighting the Mines so as to prevent its Explosions and the Ac- 
_, count of Mr. Stzrusnson’s Safe-Lamp for Coat Mines. ' 


‘of I Pain and cyl Fe ol 
| XTX, New Outlines of Chemical Prisophy, 
ips, Wareen, Esq. ‘of Lynn, Norfolk ~ 
gc XX. On Wari tee: applied in propa Ves 
ie B. Navigation, + * 
SX XKIL Answer, to the Geological soeties of a a Constant 
ce Reader. es 


Y XXIL On the Pepectiins of Mescocy in se Tebe of 
2 Barometer; pepention oni its x CAST np rdemie’ te M. be é 


« XXII. On Moteorelogicl Noineneiire, By Pi: 
Ei Brown, Esq. re Ct eae 
ha | MET. On the Cosmogony of. Moses ; in Answer tothe 
i ‘a Strictures of F, E—~—s, . By JC. "Paichaan, vaids : 
‘4 XXV..On Safe-Lamps for Mines. = s) 
- XXXVI. On the Tides. By M.. Lapiace. 
j} XXVIL. A new Instrument for bia Linear wi 
, sures. By M. De Proxy. A 
9 XXVITLRO Remarks-on the Geological Sketch of a Part 
of Cumberland, and. Westmoreland. - é 
} XXIX. New Doctrines, as to Me Nature of. Mathematica) 
q and other Certainty, - el 
XXX, Se and easy Method of copying Drawings. be 
: A 


ASTEYRIG, Ta 


, XX. On a Method of nee prot Lanterns with h Mion ae 
aa Wire, By M. Rocton. | Li “ay 


XXXII. Notices respecting New Books hs uF ¢ 
XENI. . Proceedings ¢ of Learned Societies — 150, 
REX Iv, ee and Wars au Aric antl we 


on Cantidbsteations ey this et sddvaamed Sithe: cs 
rghit han ‘Temple Bats will meet with every attention. eo 


Bee ax 3 SST HE - ENGRAVINGS, | “ 
“Vol. XLUL. A Plate De icy Professor -Izsz e's Atmometer, and 
Figures to illustrate Dr. Wottaston’s Paper on the elementary Particles 
- _of certain Crystals—A Sketch of that Part of the Island of Java which 
\. -eontains the natural Lake of ‘Sulphuric Acid.—Interior of Volcano in the 
Island of Java, and Figures to illustrate Mr. Watxer’s Paper on the Elece 
tric Floid—A Place to illustrate M. Link’s Memoir on the Anatomy of. 
Plants, and Dr. Woxvistyn’s Cryophorus.—A third Plate to. illustrate 
- M. Linx’s Mesoir on the Anatomy of Plants——Mr. T. Jonus’s Secto- 
ae raph,—a new TIistrument for dividing right, Lines into equal Parts, measur- 
ing Angies, and inscribing Polygons in the Circle, &. ¥ 
Voi. XLITi, A Plate to illustrate ‘a New ‘i'ransit Instrument invented 
by Sir H.C. Exoreriern, Bart.—A Plate to illustrate the’Use of Aire 
Wessels in Plants. By Mrs. [pserson.—A Plate to illustrate M. Sz- 
_  MENTINI’s new Apparatus for producing Oxygen Gas to restere sus 
fet Animatioi—Mr. Reave’s Paper on the Refraction of the Solar’ 
Rays—and Mr. Harerzaves’s Observations’ on Colours.—A Plate to 
~~ dlustrate Mr. J. Wuttrroen’s mechanical Substitute for Leeches; and Mr. 
 JoTrecer's Hydro-pneumatic Blow-pipe.— A Plate to describe Mr, 
» R. Hueues’s Gudzgeon for the Shaft ot a Water-wheel; and Mr. Pap- 
_. Buy's Guard fora Carriage-wheel,—A Plate to describe Captain Prat’s 
“Temporary Ship’s Rudder.—A Quarto Plate of ‘Mr. Samury Jonzs’s 
{ ola Bed. ; , ; Neil ; “: 
* Vol. XLIV. A Plate to illustrate Mr. Elume’s Gazometer and Blow- 
pipe; a Proposal for.an Improvement of the Galvanic Trough ; and a- 
mew Apparatus for preparing pure Muriatic Acid.—A practical Diagram 
_ for obtaining the Linar Distances ohserved by a’ Sextant.—Electrical 
_ Apparatus to illustrate Mr. Braxpe’s Paper on some new Llectrical* 
_ Pheznemena.-.-A Quarto Plate to illustrate Mrs. Iszurson’s Paper on the 
* Cuticle of Leaves.—Brunvon’s Patent Chain Cable.—Figures relative to 
_ Dr. Batwsrer’s Paper on the Affections of Light transmitted through 
*. erystallized Bodies—A Plate to illustrate Dr. Baswsrer’s Paper given ~ 
| Amourtast Number, _ aA ve : 
ye VO XLY. A Plate to illustrate the Nourishment produced to the 
Plant by its Leaves. By Mrs. Tspetsos.—A Plate to illustrate: Mr, 
~ Baxewruv’s Sketch of the Arrangement of the Rocks and Strata in the 
» Northern_ Counties of England.—Plates.to illustrate Mr. Rogsrtson 
‘Bucnanan’s Description of the Steam-Boats on the Clyde; and Mrs, 
Taperson’s Paper proving that the Embryos .of the Seeds are formed ip 
the Root aione.—A Plate ‘to illustrate ‘Mr. Joun Warrers’s Improve- 
- ments in Naval Architecture.—A Quarto Plate on the Roots of ‘Plants,— 
~ An Octavo-Plate of Mr, Sincsr’s Electric Columns; Mr. Warker’s 
 Electrometer; Rocuon’s Apparatus for ascertaining the Heat of coloured . 


oa Vol. XLVI. Mr. T. Jones's New Reflecting Compass.—Mr. Woorr’s. 
_ Patent Boiler, for Steam Engines and other Purposes. —A.- Plate to illus. © 


+ trate Mr. Wootr’s Improvement on the Steam-Engine, by which the __ 
possibility of Steam escaping past the side of the Piston is effectually pre- 
vented: —~A Plare to illustrate some Electrical Experiments by M. DeNeurs 
of Malines; with an Extension of them by Mr. Srncex and Mr. Crossz, ° 
_ =A Plate to illustrate the Electtical Experiments of M. De Nexis of 
 Malines,—\¥/oor’s improved Steam-Engine.—A Plate to iflustrate Mr. 
_ Eyans’s Paper on guiding Balloons through the Atmosphere.—A Plate 
" ilustrative o Dr. Brewsrer’s Paper on ight.—A 4to Plate to ‘lus. 
_ trate Sir H. Davy’s Paper on the F ire-damp of Coal-Mines, and on Me- 
~thods of lighting the Mines so as to prevent its Explosion; and the Ac» 
- count of Mr. Sterusnson’s Safe-Lamp for Coal-Mines. 
7 ol. XLVIL. Illustrated with a Quarto Plate describing the Puante 


- prwexe of Dennena, 


t / 


> 


‘Contents or -Nuuper 215. 


| Page. ® 
_XXRV. On 2 correct seueat Method for cutting ‘Sphe- ae 


at vical Brick Niches—On the 8 Spiral Linc, and-on Spandrdl 
ie “Groins: By Mr. sacha Brown, of ‘Wellsestreet, Ox- 2: eS 
WS forderoad.: 161 j 
XXXVI. pens to Remarks on Mr. Dowovan’? s Rew Be nt 9 
S3 flections on the Inadequacy of electrical Hypotheses.” Beanie (7 dp 
uy =XXXVII. Some Meteorological Ot-ervations made. i in ~ § 
2 the Netherlands.. By M. Van Mow s, of Brussels. > 
eo XXXVIII. Sequel to the melanche! ¥ Catastrophe. at 
Heaton Colliery. ims 4 
“ XXXITX. Some rit a aticoraia hese pée-venting ag ; 
an artificial Arrangement the Aspect of organized Bodies. 
By M. Girrsr ve EONS Haeginest to the Mines of | 
WE France, 2 - - sat 
* ax. Answer ‘of H;-to C 6:08 the. Metallic Salts; r 


* KLE On Faleayenk Gold.” By d. - Van Moxs, of —§ RRS 
Brussels, Soe TBA 


XLII.'On the Cosmagony, of. Moses in Answer to Dr. 
Peronhen: By F.E-—s. + wi aie ee 
SS XLII. Observations on the late excessive cold ‘Wankel ay 
34 By Witttam Seeimsmire, Esq. of Wisbech, Pods vat 
Bean ew XLIV. On Aérostation, By Ricwarp Lovett Evers 
% WORTH, Heath F.R.S: &e.. &e. ee. * a “a 18 
a . XLV. Report made by Messrs, Hevariex, Prerciern, 
XN aud Durourny, to the Class of Fine Arts of the French. S&S 
Institute, of the Labours of the French Architects at Rome RY 
during the Years 1812 and 1813..  ° + vee sy agi te 
IXLVL ‘Ona new Method of ob taining pure Silver ; with © 
Suib3 Observations on the Defects of former ‘Processes. By M, a 
Si Doxovan, Esq. 2) = - - eo ie BOF 
4 XLVIL On Aérostation. By'A Col Hagar Ui 
XLVIIL. Notices respecting New Beoks +. 5” 
“MLIX. Proceedings of Learned Societies aor ye 


ee De Intelligence ; and Miscellaneous eel reState 
S of Chemical Science on the Continent.—New Soath, Wales, - 
It—Researches on Poisons. — Spinning. — Chemical Anas: 
eu lyses.--Phosphate of Alumine.—Analysis of the Bark of. 
i i the Malambo.—Earthquake at e nbpeacbi | in. 
an) Cornwall.—-Patents.-Meteorology. ae The =. 2) 5-240} 


a 


# 4 # Communications for’ this Work, Widsecded te ne ditor, 2 
Pickett-Place, agen Bar, v will meet with ey at 


ait ENGRAVINGS. 4 


~ Vol. XLII. A Plate containing Professor Lestie’s Atmometer, and _ 
Figures to illustrate Dr. Woxtaston’s Paper on thelelementary Particles 
ef certain Crystals —A Sketch of that Part of the Island of Java which 
contains the natural Lake cf Sulphuric Acid.—Interior of Volcano in the 
Island of Java, and Figures to itustrate Mr. Watxer’s Paper on the Elec-. ° 
tric Fluid.—A Plate to illustrate Mf. Link’s Memoir on the Anatomy of 
Plants, and Dr. Wotxasron’s. Crysphorus.—A third Plate to- illustrate 
“M. Link’s Memoir on the Anatomy of Plants.—Mr. T. Joxes’s Secto-' 
- graph,—a new Instrument for dividing right Lines into equal Parts, measure 
~ mg Angles, and inscribing Polygons i the Circle, &c. , 
Vol. XLIII. A Plate to illustrate a New Transit Instrument invented. 
by Sir H. C. Exeveriecp, Bart.—A Plate: to illustrate the Use of Air=. . 
Wessels in Plants: By Mrs, [asgrson.—A Pilate to illustrate M. Se- . 
~ mentini’s new Apparatus for producing Oxygen Gas to/restore sus- 
ended Animation—Mr. Reaps’s Paper on the Refraction of the, Solar 
Bei and Mr. Harcreaves’s Observations on Colours.—~A Plate to 
illustrate Mr. J. Wairrogn’s mechanical Substitute for Leeches; and Mr. 
J. Titrey’s Hydro-pneumatic Blow-pipe.—A Plate to\describe Mr. 
R. Hucues’s Gudgeon forthe Shaft of a Water-wheel; and Mr, Pap- 
— Buay’s Guard for a Carriage-wheel.—A Plate to describ# Captain Prat’s 
4 Temporary Ship’s Rudder.—A Quarto Plate of Mr, Samurt Jones’s 
“Sofa Bed. eran Becta htt CLV p ae 
~~ Vol. XLIV. A Plate to iliustrate Mr. Hume’s Gazometer and Blow- 
pipe; a Proposal for an Improvement of the Galvanic Trough ; anda 
-new Apparatus for preparing pure Muriatic Acid.—A practical Diagram 
$ for obtaining the Lunar Distances observed by a Sextant.—Electrical 
~ Apparatus to illustrate Mr. Baanpe’s Paper on some new Electrical - 
Phenomena.---A Quarto Plate toillustrate Mrs. Insevrson’s Paper on the 
_ Cuticle of Leaves.—Brunton’s Patent Whaiu Cable.—Figures relative to 
« Dr. Brewster’s Paper on the Afféctions of Light transmitted through | 
trystallized Bodics.—A Plate to illustrate Dr. BrewsTeR’s Paper given 
in our jast Nurmber. ey Ghar eH 
- Vol. XLY. A Plate to illustrate the Nourishment produced to the 
Plant by its Leaves. By Mrs.Tusetrson.—A Plate to illustrate Mr,. 
Baxeweu’s Sketch of the Arrangement of the Rocks and Strata in the 
_Worthern Counties of England.—Plates to illustrate Mr. Roserrson: 
— Becwanan’s Desctiption of the Steam-Boats op the Clyde; and Mrs. 
} Inperson’s Paper proving that the Embryos of the Seeds aré formed m 
the Root alone.—A Plate, to illustrate Mr. Joux Watrers’s lmprove-. 
ments in Naval Architecture. —A Quarto Plate on the Roots of Plants. — 
An Octavo Plate of Mr. Sincer’s Electric Columns; Mr. Watker’s 
| Electrometer; Rocuon’s Apparatus for ascertaining the Heat of coloured 


chaya.:  : * ie 

hi Vou XLVI. Mr.T. Jones's New Reflectine Compass.—Mr. Woo r’s 
Patent Boiler for Steam Engines and other Purposes.—A Plate to illus- ° 
rate Mr. Wooxr’s Intprovement on the Steam-Engine, by which the ° 
‘possibility of Steam escaping past the side of the Piston is effectually pre- 
‘vented.—A Plate to iJlustrate some Electrical Experiments by M. DeNevis, 
of Malines; with an Extension of thenabyMr. Sincer and Mr. Crossn. 
—A Pilate to illustrate the Blectri¢al Eeperitnedts of M. De Netts of 
Malines,—W oo1F’s improved Steam-Engine.—A Plate to illustrate Mr. 
Evans’s Paper on guiding Balloons through the Atmosphere.—A Plate 
lustrative.of Dr. Barwsrer’s Paper on Light.—A 4to Plate to illus. - 
trate Sir H. Davy’s Paper on the Fire-damp of Coal-Mines, aud on Me- 
thods of lighting the Mines so as to prevent its Explosion; and the Ac- | 
count of Mr. Strruxenson’s Safe-Lamp for Coal-Mines. 

‘Vol. XLVIL Illustrated with a Quarto Plate describing the Piant- 


pure of Denver, ——_— 


oe 


“Vor. a 


\ ; Aiom 


Conners or  NUMAER O16. 


Li. On the - Cosmogony of Moses By Xt. aoe 
Horn. .- ; : ee 


EM. Byer ‘Remiatke on, some’ Walbwchogs Roses, ‘By. 
1. J. Wines, 12 Esq. ‘of. Newcastle ma ee 


é ‘LUT, On Dr. Murray's ‘Opeceiion to Professor Pas! : me 


vosr’s Theory of Radiant Galerie; on Electrical Phenomena;. we 
FS and on. Sir H. Davy’s Safe-La amip sy 


LV. Desetiption of the Menagerie at Scheeribruna in 
Soy ‘Austria. By M. Marcen ox Surges) 6S 


j 


LV. On-the Cosmogony of Mover. By Dr, Paicu AX 
in Reply toF. E-——-s_ ss 


“Ny ‘Mr, Hu ME On smb Pacer - 


7 -LYII. On ebuerec’ El ectric. Polirana “By B, Me. 
3 Forster, Esq. ie GV Sig 
-LVIII. Report’ Pr the Select Chininieess of the Honseg of ¥ 
‘Commons, appointed toin quire, whether it be expedient that - 
iN} the Collection’ mentioned in the Earl of Exoin’s Petition, 
a presented to the House on the 15th Day of February last, 
*% should be purchased on behalf of the Publi¢; and if so, 
= what Price 1 it may be reasonable to allow for the 2 same Psy 


- 


CPT On certain HBiecericat Phenomena. ‘By es Hos, Tee 

) Howpy, Esq. in Reply to Mr. Donovan Se) Dane tea 
LX. On preserving Potatoes for Sea Binns or Exportation. ES 

— Wee By Mr. Cuarres, Wuirrow, of Canada; andoh preserving 
~ Carrots.” ‘By H. bo Wax, » Esq. of BDO Harbour <j tty 288 


SUX. ‘Notices respecting New Books Les 
LXII. Proceedings of Learned Societies Res: : 


LXIIl. Intelli gence anak Miscellaneous ‘Revictes eon, * 
munications respecting Sir H. Davy’s Safe-Lamp.~Mental : 
% Caiculation. -—Steam Engines in Cornwall. — Minerals — ese 
vt Lectures.--Patents. —~Meteoralogy. 5 bao Bate 


oe, ye Communications for this Work, addressed to” 
Pi eis ft Vigce, ‘Temple. sae will meet with every att 


| hors 


ENGRAVINGS, 


ae _ Vel. XLIL. A Plate containing Professor Lesuir’s ‘Atmometer, and 


_ Of certain Crystals.—A Sketch of that Part of the Island of Java which 
_ Contains the natural Lake of Sulphuric Acid.—Interior of ‘Volcano in. the 


Gsland of Java, and Figures to illustrate Mr, Watrxer’s Paper on the Elec. - 


‘tric Fluid—aA Plate to illustrate M. Linx?s Memoir on the Anatomy of. 


_ Plants, and Dr. Wottasron’s Cryophorus.—A third Plate, to Hlustrate 


_M. Linx’s Memoir on the Anatomy of Plants.—Mr. T: Jonts’s Secto- 
| gtaph,—a new Thstrument for dividing right Lines into equal Parts, measure 


_ Ing Angles, and inscribing Polygons in the Circle, &c, ay 

Meg VOl. XVIII, +A: Plate to illustrate a New Transit Tnstrument invented 
by Sir H.C. Ene LeErterp, Bart—A Plate to illustrate the Use of Airs 
Vessels in Plants. By Mrs. Isserson.—A Plate to illustrate M. Sz- 


1 


_ MENTINI’s new Apparatus for producing Oxygen Gas to restore sug- 


ays—and Mr. Harcreaves?s Observations ‘on Colours. A Plate to 


 Gllustrate Mr, J. Wuitrorp’s mech: aical Substitute for Leeches; and Mr, 
—S. Titvey’s Hydro-pneumatic Blow-pipe.— A Plate to describe Mr, . 


R. Hucues'’s Gudgeon for the Shaft of a Water-wheel ; and Mr, Pap. 


 Bury's Guard for a Carriage-wheel,—A Plate to describe Captain Peag’s - 


‘Temporary Ship’s Rudder.—A Quarto Plate of Mr, Sam UZL Jones's 


“Sofa Bed.” 


\ Vol. XLIV. A Plate to illustrate Mr. Hume’s Gazometer and Blow- 
“Pipes a Proposal for an Improvement of the Galvanic Trough ; and a 


2nomena,---A. Quarto Plate to illustrate Mrs. I BRETSON’s Paper on the 


y - + RS PSD 
_Vol, XLV. A: Plate to illustrate the Nourishment produced to the 


f£lant by its Leaves. By Mrs. Taperson,—A Plate to illustrate: Mr, 


AKEWELL’s Sketch of the Arrangement of the ‘Rocks and Strata in the 


] ern Counties of England:—Plates’ ts illustrate Mr, Rozertson ~ 


CHAwAN’s Description of “the Steam-Boats on the Clyde; and Mrs, 
Taserson’s Paper proving that the Embryos of the Seeds are formed in 
he Root alone..-A Plate to illustrate Mr. Joun Warrers’s Improve. 
Ments in Naval Architecture.—A ‘Quarto Plate on the Roots of Plants, 
Ictavo Plate of Mr. Singir’s Electric Columns; Mr. Warkvr’s 
lectrometer; Roc HON’s Apparatus for ascertaining the Heat of ccloured 


Vol. XLVI. Mr.T. Jonzs’s New Reflecting Compass,—Mr, Woour's 
Patent Boiler for Steam Engines and other Purposes,-A Plate to.illue- 
e Mr. Wooxr’s Improvement on the Steam-Engine, by which the 
ibility of Steam escaping past the side of the Piston is effectually pres 

—-A Plate to illustrate some Electrical Experiments by M.DeNe xis 
“ith an Extension of them by Mr. Sincrr and Mr. Crosser, 
Plate to illustrate the Electrical Experiments of M. De Nexis of 
S.-W ooLr’s improved Stcam-Engine.—A Plate to illustrate Mr, 
J ‘Pa cr on guiding Bailoons throu h:the Atmosphere,—A Plate 
trative of Dr, Brewster's Paper oa ligit a. 4to Plate to illus. 
vy’s Paper on the Fire-damp of Coal-Mines, and on Me. 
htng. the Mines so as to prevent its. Explosion; and the Ac. 
FEFMENSON's Safe-Lamp for Coal-Mines, 


[.  Ilustrated with a Quarto Plate describing the P 


inde Animation—Mr. Reana’s Paper on the Refraction of the Solar: 


ew Apparatus for preparing pure Muriatic Acid. A Practical Diagram » 
ining the Lunar Distances observed by a ‘Sextant,—Electrical 
Apparatus to illustrate Mr, Branpe’s Paper ‘on some new Electrical . 


— 


' ; 
‘ A ‘ ‘ aN 
> 


gts st. _hilsopic Magazine. 


Contents OF NuMBER BNE 


LXIV. On Aerial Navigation... By Sit Georce Car. 
LEY, Bart. BRSy &e. oo : 

LXV. Description of Mr. BAPE Loon s iyaros 
Nd meters with Remarks on the curing, of Mackerel for Beha: 7 
8 tation or Winter Use. , 
\. LXV. On the State of, the Manufacture of Sugar i ‘2 
(i) France. By M. le Comte CuarTat. Pa 
LXVIL. On the Costar nys of Moses. By Mr. Axprew st 
Hoan h, 339° 
5 LXVIL Teseriptton of an lant Instriiment called® 
#6 The Thunder-storm Alarum,” By B.M, Forster, & 5 
} LIX. On the Cosmezony of Meee gr itt ‘onswer to” 
} PRicisanD. By F. E—s ig 
4. LXX. Account of a ‘Meteoric Stone which fell in the ine 
& virons of Lungres. .. Communicated to. M. Virey by M. 
PISTOLLET, Physician at Lan Tes. ms Rey teis 
MAN LX. On ut Metallic Salts. ByG.S. = 
4 he “LXXIL. A Letter from Dr. “Winctam RecHarpson to 
xt the Countess of Gosrorp (eccasioned | by the Perusal of. 
% Cuvier’s “ Geological Bssay’’),, describing: the Hild i 
ment of the Greara for 60 Miles on the Sourand as many 
cn the North of Gostord Castié, iv Armagh County in Tre-" 4 
jand. Communicaied by Mr. Joun PargY, Sen. $ with © 
§ some preliminary b Remarks and- illustrative Notes by him -_ 35 
® XXII, Qn the relative Heights of the Levels of the. 
} Black Sea and Caspian Sea. By Messts. Maurice EWGRis 
warpt and Francis Parrot. ~ - Bs 
\ EXXEV, On the Quantity of Toes ‘Matter. which ex 
Mists in some Roots and Fruits. Re: ad to the Philomathic So= 
¢ ciety by M, Cuement. Zi 
f  UKXV. Dr. Great’ § Description ‘of Mr. STRE 
ty Patent Blowing Machine. wind Sit GSR cee 

LXXVI.. On the refractive i aiapemive powers oF om 
tain Liquids, and of the led ss which, ai pony 
Messrs. Cee and Perit. 

= LX XVII. On the Use of Sulphate * Sodai in he es 
iS of Glass. By the late M. Gew eesti 
ASS LXXVIT. Some Accounto 2€1 
eS LUX XIX. On a curious: Property ny 
i 3 By Mr. J.Farvy, Sens” | Bag gered ‘i 
; . LXXX. Notices respecting New Baek’ By eS NOT AN 
LXXAXI: Proceedings of Learned Societies + 
_IXXxm. Amelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. os 


*ye “Communications: for th Work, gddresied to the Edit m3 7 


Pickett-Place, cn aa Bar, will meet with . Sven attentio 


- = 


i) 


RICHARD AND ARTHUR FAXLOS) PRINTESS, SHOB-LANE, LONDOR. 


4 f> > . 2 : 
re A { Oe 


fr ENGRAVINGS, 


Vol. XEIT. A Plate containing’ Professor Lrsure’s. Atmometer, and 
) . Figures to illustrate Dr, Wot.asron’s Paper on the elementary Particles 
of certain Crystals—A Sketch of that Part of the Island of Java, which 
contains the natural Lake of Sulphuric Acid.——Interior of Volcano in the . 

—Teland of Java, and Figures to illustrate Mr. WaLxnr’s Paper on the Elec- 
. tric Fluid —A Plate to illustrate M. Liwx’s Memoir on the Anatomy of | 
Plants, and Dr. WeLtaston’s Cryopharas.——A third Plate to illustrate 
-M. Linx’s Memoir on the Anatomy of Plants.—Mr. T. J Ones’s Secto. » 
_ graph,—a new Instruntent for dividing right Lines into equal Parts, measur- 
- ing Angles, and inscribing Polygons in the Circle, &c. ; 
Pea Vol SLIT: A. Plate to illustrate a-New Transit Instrument invented 

by SinH. C..Excreriery, Bart.—A Plaze to iustrate the Use of Air- 

Vessels in Plants. by Mrs, ipperson,—-A- Plate to illustrate M. SE- 


« 


\MENTINI’S nei Apparatus ‘for producing Oxygen Gas to restore SUS- 
pended Animation—Mr: Reape’s Paper on the Refraction of the Solar 
Rays—and Mr. Harcreaves’s Observations on Colours.—-A Plate to 

illustrate Mr, J. Wuitrorp’s mechanical Substitute for Leeches; and Mr. 

» J, Tinuey’s Hydro-pneumatic: Blow-pipe.— A Plate to describe Mr, 

R. Hucues’s Gudgeon for the Shaft of 4 Water-wheel; and Mr,’ Pan. 

- BuRY’s Guard fora Carriage-wheel.—A Plate to describe Captain Prag’s 

Temporary Ship’s Rudder.—A Quarto Plate of Mr, Samuet Jongs’s - 
‘Sofa Bed. ; i Mie fone ey My 
- Vol. XLIV, A Plate to illustrate Mr. Huwer’s Gazometer and Blow- 
‘pipe ;°a Proposal for an Toprovement of ‘the Galvanic Trough ; and a 

-, new Apparatus for prepariny pure Muriatic Acid. 4A practical Diasram 
for ‘obtainint: the Lunar Detances observed ‘by a Sextant.—Electrical’ 

- Apparatus to illustrate Mr. Beanpr’s ‘Paper on some new Electrical 

~ Phenomena.---A Quarto Plate to ‘llustrace Mrs. Ipperson’s Paper on thé ° 

Caticle cf Leaves~—Baunron’: Patent Chain Cable — Figures relative to 

~ Dr. Brewsrer’s- Paper on the Affecticns of Light transmitted through | 

erystallized Bodies—A Plate ‘toUnstrate Dr. Brewsrer’s Paper given 
~ in.our last Number, Desai R03 at ey 

Vol. XLV. A. Plate to illustrate the Nourishment produced to the 

Plant by its Leaves. By Mrs. TnBbson,—A Plate to illustrate Mr, 

Baxewevv’s Sketch of the Arrangemeh of the Rocks and Strata in'the 
Northern Counties of England.—Plates, illustrate Mr. Rosparson 

| Bucuanan’s Description of the Steam-Dar on the Clyde; and Mrs. 

. Isperson’s Paper proving that the Embryc. of the Seeds are formed in 

the Root alone.—A Piste to illustraze Mr. bHN Sat ree dQ improve- 

ments in Naval Architecture. —A O uarto Piatiyn the Roots of Plants,.~ 

An Octavo Plate of Mr, Singer’s Electric tumms: Mz. Watxer’s 
ois aa Rocuon’s Apparatas for ascertaitty,, the Heat of colouted 

Rays. i ty : TAY, = hee 

bas os XLVI. Mr. T, Jones's New Reflecting Co, ass.—-Mr, Woonr’s 

- Patert Boiler for Steam Engines and other Purpost A. Phite to as. 

trate Mr. Woo rr’s fmprovement on the: Steam-Ehine, by ‘which the 

possibility of Steam escaping past the side of the Pisto\;, eftectually pres 

' eee A Plate to ill ustrate some Electrical Experi mers by M, DeNexis 

of Malines; with an Extension of theni by Mr, Sincere if Mr, Crosse. 

=A Plate to illustrate the Electrical Experiments of » De Nexis of 

-Malines.—W oor r’s improved Steam-Engine.—-A Plate tOllustrate Mr. 

Evan#’s Paper on guiding. ®alloons through the Atmosphve, Plate ’ 

‘illustrative of Dr. Brewsrer’s Paper on Light.~A 4to Pyxte-to illuse 

‘trate Sir H. Davy’s Paper on the Vire-damp of Coal-Mines, ind-on Me- 

thods of Ii hting the Mines so as to prevent its spprsion 3 td the Ace 

bunt of Mr. Srepurnson’s Safe-Lamp for Ccal- ines, . ; 

Vol. XLVII. Illustrated with a Quarto Plate describing th) Pranre 


Brown's Paper 


nant 


Vou: an. 


“ GonrEnts or Nompen, a8. 


; cs Abo ‘ BY Ee te 4 
\ ae XX ant, hime Ac count fe the « Beguinents oe Thebes» 
i i a ak Hy Se > i Puy ae ipo. ya 


Te fe Dey pie se La ey 
wy Pt ee nT AS a 5 ‘ { 
EX XR. Onr the: Principles of § Sect ity in. Bie Hu= “RSG 
Ny pHey Daves ‘Lamp. By d ov] Mungay; se ae Ps ee ay 
eres yy sot 4 
ae Tees LXXXV. ‘Some Account of. the New Hot Be Cale P 
ie 4s Baths at Ramsgate. By A CorgesronDent. cy roe fs 


aS ie 
I LEXXVE: On Indig ogene. ; “By L Munghy, Eig 
GBI woe 
a =) LXXXVIL On-the State of the Manafacvute BE Suge 2 a 
ad bl “e Frances : By? M.. le. Monte: sed an rae ES 16 Sell 
fie uy is . Ayer 


urs ‘LXXXVAL- Ox Merial Navigatioiy “By Fons es 6: 
AS ica Pisa no : : oa. 


Ween ‘Rip wee ay f 
ee “LEXX ix On the Costogony of how 3 By be Per i 
ail 3 _CHARD 5 in: ‘Reply to Fi. ae . 7 eet Me 


ein. “refaen ce to My. Foas-, hi, 


. ‘ Re, On. Metcarelo ais 
San ‘Researches about eee 2 penomena.”? oh se a 
Flat Nabi. So dos Bia 
es 


'. Dau MMonD; of Noryehe Sibel 


Natior as Vaccine. peeting © for - t 
PAB SSRs “436; 


KET. Report of the, 
ag the Year’ 18155 ‘3 dated 31st M 


S}° XCIL Escay car ast Classica 
? y Bodies Bp WE Are Ce aon - 


: Pate tg a ; ihe ‘ 
et Wes: Se On the, Lan i st ore ae ves 
ees getable Forins. ” "By oe fac: EPT. = 446] 
XCLY. NY ices pectng} New Books BL es 
g3 of Learned Societies ° 


3 ae vi I pabence waa Siieceliheods: in pticles. 
Ss " s.—Death of Mr. Henry of. Man 


aS iat on of eS eae 
bia Voyuge of PCO: ~ Meech, 
aay U—Incex, eS No 


xCV. Proceed! ae 


i 


Stan a 
ay 


ri yh o mseasians 2 Fa thi 
f vito pace, enels @ Bar will mieet eth every raneoton ; 


pans ARTHUR TAYLOR; FRENTE) SHOE 2 LANE,L.ON 


ee iw 


a neko 2 


fon. Ce 


oe 


nw, Se 
eas