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THE 


PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE 
AND JOURNAL: — 
COMPREHENDING 
THE VARIOUS BRANCHES OF SCIENCE, 
THE LIBERAL AND FINE ARTS, 
GEOLOGY, 
AGRICULTURE, 


MANUFACTURES AND COMMERCE. 


ET EE ETE 


BY ALEXANDER TILLOCH, 
M.R.LA. MGS. MR.AS, Monicn, F.S.A. Epin, ann Pert, &c. 


« Nec aranearum save textus ideo melior quia ex se fila gignunt, nec soster vilior quia 
ex alienis libamus ut apes.” Just. Lips. Afonit. Petits lib. i, cap. 2, 


VOL. LIl. oa) mS 


For JULY, AUGUST, SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER, NOVEMBER, 
and DECEMBER, 1818. 2 


— “ 


LONDON: 
PRINTED BY RICHARD AND ARTHUR TAYLOR, SHOE LANE: 


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CONTENTS 


OF THE FIFTY-SECOND VOLUME. 


EXPERIMENTS made upon the hard Water at Black Rock 


near Cork, with a view to render the Waters of Limestone 


Districts more appiicable to domestic Uses. «. eh) NS 
Account of a North American Quadruped supposed to belong to 
the Genus Ovis. ae os oa oe et kS 


Account of the Gold and Silver Mines of Hungary. sae WB 


Account of the Process of Amalgamation used at Halsbriuck 
near Freyberg in Saxony, for the Extraction of Gold and 
Silver from other Ores. : a se ~. 26: 


Observations on the various Changes which take place on treat- 
ing Uric with Nitrous Acid, and on anew Acid called “* Ery- 
thric’”’ thence produced. «+  —« o a a OO 


Account of an electrical Increaser for the unerring Manifesta- 
tion of small Portions of the Electric Fluid. .. «+ 47 


On the New Astronomical Circle at Greenwich. .. «+ 52 
On Chemical Philosophy. a tase ie foo" dag rls 
On the Fructification of Seeds. «+ af os poe sf 


Onthe Comparative Powers of Algebra and Vulgar Arithmetic. 
; 88 


An Account of Experiments for determining the Length of the 


Pendulum vibrating Seconds in the Latitude of London. 90, 
173, 416 


Vol, 52. No. 248. Dec. 1818. a Account 


CONTENTS. 


Account of Experiments made by the Assay Master of the King 
of the Netherlands,at the Mint of Utrecht, on the Native Cop- 
per existing in Blocks on the South Side of Lake Superior. 100 

Experiments on the Relation between Muriatic Acid and Chlo- 
TINe. ee oe ee ee oe oe ov - 201 

Experiments on Muriatic Acid Gas, with Observations on its 


Chemical Constitution, and on some other Subjects of Chemi- 
cal Theory. .. = a's es an wn OF 


Observations relating to the Operations undertaken io determine 
the Figure of the Earth. iA bg oe eee (1112) 


On the Means of curing the Dry-Rot. .. ee veel 


On the Question “ Whether Music is necessary to the Orator— 
to what Extent, and how most readily attainable?” 161, 241, 
401 


On the Astronomy of the Orientals.  .. os ase GS 


On the Performance of the Apollonicon constructed by Messrs. 
Fiicut and Rowson. .. ve oe oe ot ATT 


On the very correct Notions concerning the Structure of the 
Earth, entertained by the Rev. Joun MIcHELL, as early as 
the Year\1760. .. sy ag ae Ss ois oe 


Conjectures concerning the Cause, and Observations upon the 
Phenomena, of Earthquakes. .. .. 186, 254, 323 


Experiments on Muriatic Acid Gas, with Observations on its 
Chemical Constitution, &c, .. ais wi «aes 


On the Temperature of the Mines in Cornwall. .. .. 204 


Account of a Voyage to the Coast of Labrador and Quebec, in- 
cluding Remarks on the comparative Temperature of the 
Eastern and Western Hemispheres. .. ee -. 206 

On Arithmetical Complements es or ie ae 


Comparative Trials of the respective Merits of ‘ MassEy’s 
Patent Sounding Machine,” and one known by the Name of 
Goutp and Burt’s Buoy and Knipper. se we. ooh 


On the Modulus of Elasticity fe Air, and the Velocity of 
Sound. . ai habs ve 5. eta aa 


CONTENTS. 


On the Theory of Water-Spouts. Se oe Jo 206 
A Method of determining the eet Heat tof Bodies from their 
Expansion. .. ar ve oo ool 
On the Swallow. .. te a oe ae yh ' 
On the real Difference between the spec if ous of the Hu- 
man Body and Sea-water. .. a 2. 282 


Hungarian Agriculture, and Improvements in the Management 
of Sheep and Cattle. .. oe ee an o- 283° 
New Method for purifying Coal Gas, and at the same time in- 
creasing the Product from a given Quantity of Coals. 292 
Improvement in the Method of forming Electrical Planispheres. 
293 
On the received Theory of Heat. oe os) | 294,.A60 
Theory of the Magnetical Variation. .. ar oe ede 
On the Seasons which are most favourable to the Growth of 
Fungi, &c. with an Account sa some of remarkable Growth 
this present Year. ois ee oe ae) 209 
On measuring the mee hs of Cavities seen on the Surface of the 
Moon. .. ae oe oe Jeol 


Account of certain eM in. Involution and Evolution. 
341 

An alphabetical Arrangement of the Places from whence Fossil 
Shells have been obtained ly Mr.JamMEs SowERByY, and drawn 
and described in Vol. 11. of his * Mineral Conchology,” 348 


Description of a new real for ype Liquids with 


Gases. .. oe oe ee robe 
On purifyi ying Coal-Gas, wie increasing the Quantity cpyen 
from a given Weight of Coais. ih a 371 


Remarks on a Paper by Major-General BrisBanek, on he Me- 
thod of determining the Time, the Error, and Rate of a Chro- 
nometer, by Altitudes taken with a Seatant from an artificial 
Horizon. =f an oe ; ws -- 409 


On the Length of the French Metre i OO in Parts of the 
English Standard. .. . oe oe aod 
On the Preservation of Seeds, the Use of Lime in Agriculture, 
and former State of Cultivation in Scotland. ..  .. 436 


CONTENTS. 


New Experiwents on some of the Combinations of Phosphorus. 
440 © 


Comparison between the Chords of Arcs ripe by Protemy, 
and those now, iu Use. ws oe . -- 454 


On the Structure of the poisonous Fangs of ease os aon 
Notices respecting New Books. 58, 132, 222, 300, 373, 461 
Proceedings of Learned Societies. .. 62, 141, 223, 301, 465 


Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 62, 153, 224, 305, 375, 
466 
Eist of “Patents: S's. "a 76, 155, 235, 316, 395, 469 


Meteorological Tables, 77—80, 156—160, 237—240, 317— 
320, 396—400, 470—473 


THE 


THE 


PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE 
AND JOURNAL. 


I, Experiments made upon the hard Water at Black Rock 
near Cork, with a view to render the Waters of Limestone 
Districts more applicable to domestic Uses. By EDMUND 
Davy, Professor of Chemistry and Secretary to the Cork In- 
stitution. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Tuerr is a striking similarity in the appearance and in the 
composition of the great arrangements of Nature in different 
countries, and it extends to the waters, as well as to the atmo- 
sphere and the solid strata of the earth. The chemical consti- 
tution of water is uniformly the same in every part of the globe, 
and all the variable properties it exhibits in different situations, 
whether evanescent or permanent, are principally owing to a di- 
versity of soil. All natural waters contain a variable quantity of 
foreign ingredients, which they derive from the strata through 
which they flow, or the atmosphere by which they are sur- 
rounded. ‘The purest springs usually rise in beds of gravel, or 
in silicecus or argillaceous rocks, and they contain, for the most 
part, only a minute portion of saline matter, which is principally 
common salt. The waters of limestone or calcareous districts 
generally contain a much larger quantity of solid ingredients. 
The substances they frequently hold in solution are carbonate 
and sulphate of lime, and these earthy salts occasion that pecu- 
liar quality in waters, commonly known by the name of harduess. 
Hard waters, as is well known, do not readily dissolve soap, or 
form a good lather with it; on the contrary, they partially de- 
compose it, and a light flocculent substance is produced, which 
is insoluble in water. Hence such waters, in their common 
state, are unfit for washing, and for other domestic purposes ; 
and they are conceived to be very inferior to soft waters, for 
making vegetable infusions, such as tea, coffee, &c. 

The waters in the limestone strata, in the county of Cork, so 
far as 1 can learn, and especially those situated in such strata on 
the south side of the river Lee near Cork, belong to the class of 

Vol. 52, No.243, July 1818. A2 hard 


yaw Experiments made upon vib 
hard waters ; whilst the waters that occur in the grauwacké, or 
the siliceous and argillaceous rocks, particularly those on the 
north side of the river, are perfectly soft, more pellucid, and 
better tasted. 

An intelligent friend who resides at Black Rock, lately in- 
formed me that the want of soft water was much felt in that 
neighbourhood ; and that a sufficient supply, especially in dry 
seasons, could only be obtained with difficulty and at a consi- 
derable expense. To obviate the inconveniences which in those 
respects were felt by a family of my acquaintance, I recom- 
mended the use of a little potash or soda in the water, from ay 
idea that its hardness arose from the presence of an earthy salt, 
and that the addition of an alkali would separate the earthy 
matter, and render the water soft. This suggestion was imme- 
diately adopted, and potash is still employed, with perfect suc- 
cess, to produce the desired effect. ‘ 

It occurred to me, that a chemical examination of the water 
at Black Rock might probably lead to some simple modes of 
obviating its hardness, and making it more generally applicable 
to domestic uses. With these views I undertook some experi- 
ments upon it; and I am not without hopes that the result of 
my investigation will be of some utility, not only to the inhabi- 
tants of that district, but also to those in other parts of the coun- 
try where limestone prevails, and imparts to the waters that flow 
through it, those peculiarities that distinguish the water at Black 
Rock. 

The Black Rock water I examined, was procured at different 
times from a deep well in the village of Ballintemple, about a 
mile and half from Cork, and two hundred paces from the river. 
The village is situated on secondary limestone. ‘I do not know 
the extent of the limestone district in this part of the county, 
but I understand it reaches in an easterly and westerly direction, 
with little or no interruption, a distance of many leagues, anid 
abounds, in many places at least, with a variety of organic re- 
mains, some of whieh are rather novel and curious. 

Though I have not made an accurate cheivical analysis of the 
water in question, I presume my experiments will be found suf- 
ficiently minute for practical purpeses. 1 purpose briefly to 
notice the effects of different chemical agents upon the water ; 
—to point out the causes of its hardness ;—and to deduce from 
facts and experiments, some simple, and I trust efficient modes 
of rendering it more subservient to the common purposes of life. 

1, As soon as the water was taken from the well, it was put 
into bottles or stone jars, well corked, and usually examined im- 
mediately on its arrival in Cork, The water, on being drunk 
fresh from the pump, is said to be rather brisk and pleasant, 

oth - though 


the hard Water at Black Rock near Cork. 5 


though there are some who do not think its flavour agreeable. 
After it has been exposed to the air a little time, it acquires a 
degree of flatness, and produces in the mouth an unpleasant 
taste, as though it contained putrid matter. The insipid and 
disagreeable flavour of the water after exposure to the atmo- 
sphere, seems to be owing to a loss of air from a diminution of 
atmospheric pressure ; for no sooner is the water raised from the 
well, than small glebules of air are disengaged from it, and this 
effect continues for some time. 

2. The water gradually changes litmus paper, and gives to its 
blue colour partial tints of red: but this change does not take 
place after the water has been boiled. The mineral acids, as 
the muriatic and sulphuric, disengage from the water minute 
globules of gas; indeed the water by simple exposure to the air 
evolves gas; and this effect is promoted by the addition of an 
acid, and destroyed by that of an alkali. Liimewater in small 
quantity occasions an immediate cloudiness in the water, which 
soon disappears, and the water resumes its former transparency 5 
but when added in large proportion, there is a permanent de- 
position of carbonate of lime. Even after the water has boiled, 
limewater occasions a milkiness in it; but this effect is not pro- 
duced after the boiling has been kept up for a quarter of an 
hour. These results prove that the water contains an uncombined 
acid; that this acid is the carbonic, and that continued boiling 
is necessary to expel it. 

3. After the water had been exposed in a large shallow glass 
vessel to a warm atmosphere, upon the top of the Observatory 
of the Institution, (during the greater part of two fine summer 
days in June,) an extremely thin and scarcely perceptible earthy 
crust began to form on its surface. This crust dissolved with 
effervescence in diluted muriatic acid, and its earthy matter was 
precipitated by the fixed alkalies in their caustic and carbonated 
state, but not by ammonia. Hence it was carbonate of lime 
originally held in solution, as would seem from the foregoing 
statements, by carbonic acid gas. The separation of carbonate 
of lime in this case is to be referred to the diminished solvent 
power of the water, arising from the loss of a portion of carbonic 
acid, and of water,by evaporation. The water, after the ex- 
posure mentioned, still rendered limewater milky, and afforded 
with alkaline substances, a precipitate having similar properties 
to the earthy crust already noticed. And these circumstances 
seem to prove that the water still contained carbonic acid. gas 
and carbonate of lime. 

4, The water immediately decomposes an aqueous solution of 
soap, and a white flocculent substance swims upon the surface. 
Hence the water in its common state is unfit for washing. If 

F AG, “- a-sohrtion 


6 Experiments made upon 


a solution of fixed alkali, in its common caustic or carbonated 
state, is added to the water, a cloudiness is produced, and there 
is a gradual deposition of earthy matter, which on examination 
proves to be calcareous. The water in consequence of such 
treatment becomes soft, does not decompose soap, and may be 
used fur washing and other domestic purposes. 

5. If the water is boiled, and the boiling continued for fifteen 
or twenty minutes, a quantity of air is disengaged, which renders 
limewater milky, and there is a deposition of earthy matter, which 
exhibits all the characters of carbonate of lime. After this treat- 
ment the water becomes soft, and may be employed for washing 
and other culinary purposes: limewater is now incapable of im- 
pairng its transparency, and it is scarcely affected by the pure 
or carbonated alkalies. Hence, it seems, the carbonic acid gas 
and carbonate of lime contained in the water may be separated 
by continued boiling. 

6. The water when treated with nitrate of silver becomes 
cloudy, indicating the presence of a portion of common salt. 
Pure ammonia added to the water separates a very minute 
quantity of earthy matter, and indicates a little magnesian salt, 
which is probably the muriate. Nitrate of barytes produces a 
very slight effect, and shows a trace of alkaline or earthy sul- 
phate. Neither prussiate of potash nor solution of oak bark oc- 
.casions any change in the water after several hours ; from whence 
the absence of iron in it may be inferred. 

From the foregoing statements, which are founded upon ex- 
periments carefully made and repeated, I venture to conclude, 
that the Black Rock water contains an excess of carbonic acid 
gas, which holds in solution a portion of carbonate of lime. This 
earthy salt gives to the water its peculiar characters, and espe- 
cially its hardness, which is its distinguishing quality. The wa- 
ter certainly contains other foreign ingredients, such as muriate 
of soda, and a little magnesian salt ; but these substances (com- 
mon to almost every water) are scarcely worthy of notice, be- 
cause they exist in quantities toa small to be sensible to the 
taste, or to produce any medicinal effect. From some compa- 
rative experiments I have recently made upon the pipe-water 
commonly drunk in Cork, and the Black Rock water, there seems 
to bea great similarity, not only in the foreign ingredients com- 
mon to both, but also in the actual quantities they contain; with 
the exception of the carbonic gas and carbonate of lime peculiar 
to the Black Rock water. And if the pipe-water were impreg- 
nated with an excess of carbonic gas and a portion of limewater, 
an artificial water would be formed similar to the natural water 
at Black Rock. - 


The preceding experiments seem to lead to two simple modes 
of 


the hard Water at Black Rock near Cork. | 7 


of improving the Black Rock water, by which it may be rendered 
soft, and more generally applicable to the purposes of life. One 
is, by the use of an alkaline substance ;—the other, by continued 
boiling for at least a quarter of an hour. And it may be pro- 
per to make a few remarks upon each of those methods. 

1. It is well known to chemists, that waters naturally hard, 
from whatever cause their hardness may arise, are rendered soft 
by an alkali; and the fixed alkalies, in their caustic or car- 
bonated state, afford a general remedy, applicable to every par- 
ticular case of the kind, that can occur. Boiling, on the con- 
trary, is only a particular remedy for hardness in waters, in cases 
when it arises, as in the water at Black Rock, from carbonate 
of lime held in solution by carbonic acid gas. The acid being 
volatile, and its combination with the earthy salt retained by a 

feeble affinity, their union is destroyed by continued boiling; the 
earthy salt (the cause of the hardness in the water) being pre- 
cipitated, and the acid expelled. In other cases, where the 
quality of hardness in waters is occasioned by the presence of 
sulphate or muriate of lime, &c. no changes can be produced in 
such waters by boiling, and the agency of an alkali is indispensa- 
bly necessary to render them soft. The addition of any alkaline 
substance to the Black Rock water, such as potash or soda and 
their carbonates; the substances known in commerce by the 
names of kelp, barilla, pearlash, &c, will all neutralize the fixed 
air in the water, precipitate its earthy matter, and render it soft. 
I found about ten grains of pure dry soda sufficient to render a 
gallon of the water perfectly soft; but the use of this substance 
is precluded, from its expense, and the difficulty of procuring it, 
in this part of the country. I conceive about twenty grains of 
the common potash or soda of commerce would answer the same 
purpose, As any of the alkaline substances before enumerated 
may be used with success, a few practical trials would be suffi 
cient to enable any one to decide upon the alkali that is the 
‘most efficient and ceconomical. In cases when the water is to 
be rendered soft by an alkali, for the purpose of washing, no 
danger can be apprehended from a slight excess of alkali; on 
the contrary,it would be an advantage ; for the alkali, as is well 
known, is the efficient cleansing principle in soap. It would, I 
think, be advisable to add the alkali to the water previous to 
its being heated; and to stir it until it is dissolved. A friend of 
mine was informed that limewater might be used for improving 
the water by separating the fixed air it contains. Lime is al- 
most the only common substance possessing alkaliue properties, 
that cannot be employed for such a purpose ; the existence of 
the smallest quantity of it im a water is sufficient to give it a cer- 
tain degree of hardness, It is to the salts of lime, ecamungeed 
A4 the 


a Account of a North American Quadruped, 


the stilphate and carbonate, that the greater number of hard wa- 
ters owe this peculiar quality. 

2. It is to be remembered that simply boiling the Black Rock 
water is not sufficient to render it soft. T'o produce this effect, 
the boiling must be continued for fifteen or twenty minutes. And 
this fact serves to explain a seeming paradox. It is generally 
admitted that hard waters do not draw tea so well as soft waters : 
yet the hard water at Black Rock is said to answer extremely _ 
well for this purpose. But in most cases, it may be observed, the 
water is uninteationally allowed to boil at least fifteen or twenty 
minutes previous to the making of the tea; and thus the hard 
water, without any design, is rendered soft. I have however 
heard occasional complaints of the tea not drawing well, or 
much worse than usual. In such instances, it seems reasonable 
to suppose that the water really was hard, having been merely 
brought to boil, and immediately poured upon the tea. Hence 
the expediency of allowing the Black Rock wat:r to boil for some 
time previous to making tea with it. 

From the experiments I have made upon the Black Rock water, 
{ am of opinion that, after it has been boiled the requisite time 
mentioned, it is well adapted for every domestic and manufac- 
turing purpose. It loses its nauseous flavour, and almost the whole 
of its earthy matter, and becomes perfectly well tasted. Cer- 
tainly, boiled water is rather insipid for drinking, when compared 
with spring water, owing, it is conceived, to the separation of air. 
But this defect might be easily remedied :—If, for example, the 
boiled water, when cold, were made to ooze slowly through a- 
filtering vessel, or passed through a large stone or a piece of 
wood pierced with a number of small holes, or even through a 
very fine sieve, the water by such exposure would absorb pure 
atmospheric air, lose its insipidity, and would afford to water- 
drinkers a pleasant and wholesome beverage. 

- Cork Institution, June 16, 1818. 


Il, Account of a North American Quadruped supposed to be- 
long to the Genus Ovis ; by Gzorcz Orp*. 


Rocky-Meuntain Sheep—Ovis montana. 


In the Journal of Lewis and Clark, there is an account of a 
quadruped which appears to have not excited that attention 
- which it merits, The following extracts are made from the 
above-mentioned works: ‘‘ Saw the skin of a mountain sheep, 


* From Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 
| which 


supposed to belong to the Genus Ovis. ) 


which the Indians say lives among the rocks in the mountains ; 
the skin was covered with white hair, the wool long, thick and 
coarse, with long coarse hair on the top of the neck and the 
back, resembling somewhat the bristles of a goat.” Vol. ii. p. 49. 

*¢ The sheep is found in many places, but mostly in the tim- 
bered parts of the rocky mountains. They live in greater numbers 
on the chain of mountains forming the commencement of the 
woody country on the coast, and passing the Columbia be- 
tween the falls-and rapids.” Vol. ii. p. 169. 

The latter passage was written while our travellers wintered 
at the mouth of the Columbia river. But on their return, at 
Brant Island, an Indian ‘* offered two sheep skins for sale : one, 
which was the skin of a full-grown sheep, was as large as that 
of a common deer; the second was smaller, and the head part, 
with the horns remaining, was made into a cap, and highly 
prized as an ornament by the owner. The Clahelellahs informed 
us that the sheep are very abundant on the heights, and among 
the cliffs, of the adjacent mountains ; and that these two had 
been lately killed out of a herd of thirty-six, at no great di- 
stance from the village.” Vol. ii. p. 233. 

“‘ The Indians assert, that there are great numbers of the 
white buffalo, or mountain sheep, on the snowy heights of the 
mountains west of Clark’s river. They generally inhabit the 
rocky and most inaccessible parts of the mountain, but, as they 
are not fleet, are easily killed by the hunters,” Vol. ii. p. 33). 

In the above passages, we are made acquainted with the im- 
portant fact, that besides the Argali or big-horned sheep, we 
have anotheF species in North America of the genus Ovis. The 
smaller of the two skins, which the Indian offered to sale at 
Brant Island, was purchased by Capt. Lewis, and was presented 
by him to the museum of Philadelphia. It is undoubtedly the 
skin of a young animal: it measures three feet from the inser- 
tion of the tail to the neck, its breadth is twenty-six inches; 
the tail is short, but it was probably not skinned to the end ; 
along the back there runs a ridge of coarse hair, about three 
inches in length, and bristled up in the manner of that of the 
common goat ; this ridge is continued up the neck, forming a 
kind of mane, and is thicker, coarser, and longer there than that 
of the back; the whole of the skin is closely covered with short 
wool, of an extreme fineness, surpassing in this quality that of . 
any breed with which I am acquainted, not excepting the wool 
‘of the Merino lamb—a coat of hair conceals this wool, but on 
dividing the former with the hands, the latter lies so thick that 
‘the hairs are scarcely visible: the ears are narrow, and taper to 
a point, they are nearly four inches long; the whole is white ; 

: the 


10 “Account of a North American Quadruped 


the horns appear to have stood on the top of the head, some- 
what in the manner of those of a goat, or of those on the figure 
of Shaw’s Pigmy Antelope, Gen. Zool. vol. ii. plate 18, and 
vignette on the title-page. But one* horn is now attached to 
the skin, and that measures three inches and three quarters in 
length, on the fore part; it is slightly recurved, cylindrical and 
acuminated, its base is somewhat tumid, and, with its lower 
half, is scabrous, its upper part smooth, obsoletely striated, and 
of a black colour. 

A cut of -this horn, of the size of na- 
ture, accompanies this account, by which 
figure it will be evident to the naturalists, 
that the above described sheep is a di- 
stinct species. It is true that the animal 
was young, and we have no positive evi- 
dence that when full-grown or old the 
horns do not increase in size, so as to re- 
semble those of some well-known species 
or varieties of the genus. One of Lewis 
and Clark’s men informed them that he 
had seen the animal in the Black Hills, 
and that the horns were lunated like 
those of the domestic sheep. The Indians 
asserted that the horns were erect and 
pointed. The latter account is the more 
probable, as it has been remarked by 
travellers, that in describing those natural 
productions with which they are conver- 
sant, our Indians seldom deviate from the 
truth. 

We would incite the attention of our j i) 
citizens to this important discovery ; for \ a \ 
although the Spanish missionaries in 1697 " Ai Nh 
made mention of this sheep, and it is ASS 
again noticed in Venegas’ History of Ca- : 
liforniat, yet these accounts were discredited. It is Captain 
Lewis to whom belongs the honour of having been the first to 
assure his countrymen, by the exhibition of a genuine specimen, 
that the animal does exist. How subservient to the wants and 
pleasures of mankind it may be rendered by domestication, we 
cannot at present declare; but there is room for conjecture, that 
the introduction of this new species of a race of quadrupeds im- 
memorially ranked among the most valuable of the gifts of the 


* The other horn is in Peale’s Museum. 
+ Vol. i. p. 36, English translation, London, 1759. 


ki Mi 
| 


\ Wea 
Ail) TA \ 


Creator, 


supposed to belong to the Genus Ovis. 1k 


Creator, will confer’ a lasting benefit upon the agricultural and 
manufacturing interests of the community. 

Since writing the foregoing, I have seen the three first volumes 
of the Nouveau Dictionnaire d’ Histoire Naturelle, which work 
is now publishing in Paris; and in the article Antelope, | find 
a description of an American quadruped, which is in the collec- 
tion of the Linnean Society of London. This description ap- 
pears to have been extracted from a memoire, read before the 
Philomatique Society of Paris, by M. de Blainville, wherein the 
author proposes a new arrangement of the ruminants with hol- 
low and persistent horns, and a subdivision of the Genus Anti- 
lope; and classes the above animal under the name of Rupica- 
pra americana. — (Bulletin de la Societé Philomatique, 1816, 
p. 80.) As I have not the satisfaction of seeing the Bulletin, I 
must be content with the information conveyed in the article in 
the Nouveau Dictionnaire. The specimen is said to be of the 
bigness of a middling sized goat; the body is entirely covered 
with long pendent hair, silky and totally white, but not curled ; 
the head is elongated, without a muzzle or naked part; the ears 
of a middling size; the forehead not protuberant; the horns 
are short, tolerably thick, black, slightly annulated, they are 
round, almost straight, bent backwards, and terminated in a 
blunt point (pointe mousse); the legs are short, stout, and sup- 
ported on short and thick hoofs; the tail is hardly perceptible, 
perhaps on account of the length of the hair. M. de Blainville 
inclined to the opinion that this animal is the same as the Pudu 
of Molina, Shaw’s Gen. Zool. vol. ii. p. 392. 

It is probable that the specimen belonging to the Linnean 
Society is of the same species as that brought by Captain Lewis; 
and it is further probable that M. de Blainville was not permitted 
to examine his subject as closely as was requisite, otherwise the 
important circumstance of the thick coat of wool, beneath the 
outer covering of straight hair, would not have escaped his at- 
tention. As to the horns being obtuse, this may have arisen 
from an accident, or some other cause. 

{t is much ¢o be wished that some traveller would bring a 
living specimen of this singular quadruped, or at least a dead 
specimen, in such a state as should enable the naturalist to de- 
termine, with precision, its characters. From the information 
derived from Captain Lewis, and from the descriptions above, 
we cannot, with propriety, arrange this animal with the ante- 
lopes; and if it should not prove to be a true Ovis, it will, 
probably, constitute a new genus, and take its station, in the 
systems, between the sheep and the goat. ‘ 


III, e- 


~ 


[ 12 ] 


Ill. Account of the Gold and Silver Mines of Hungary. By 
Ricwarp Bricat, M.D.* 


Tux early history of the Hungarian mines is involved in some 
obscurity, but it is probable that the Saxons or Germans who 
came to Hungary about the twelfth century first explored these 
mineral treasures. The Emperor Charles Robert founded 
Schmélnitz, and brought mining to some perfection. This state 
of prosperity seems to have ceased in some degree at the be- 
ginning of the sixteenth century; but Ferdinand the First, and 
a succesion of kings who followed him, improved it greatly. 
During the period of their greatest prosperity, it is said that the 
mines of Hungary have given occupation to above 30,000 per- 
sons, of whom above 10,000 are reckoned in the districts of 
Schemnitz and Kremnitz. 

Schemnitz.—Iln order to give a general view of the mining 
district of Schemnitz, it must be mentioned that the whole of 
the mountain mass is a species of claystone porphyry, here called 
the saxum metalliferum; the mountain caps being pretty ge- 
nerally of grunstein, a species of basaltic rock. 

The mineral district is of considerable extent. I have no ex- 
act information on this subject, but suppose, from the marks 
which were pointed out to me as showing the limits ef the me- 
tallic country, that the whole might be included in an extent of 
five or six square miles. 

There are five principal mineral veins (or courses) which run 
almost parallel to each other nearly east and west, each from ter 


to twenty fathoms in thickness, at the distance of -from 60 to 


300 or 400 fathoms from each other, and are connected by va- 
rious smal! branches; they have been followed to between 200 
and 300 fathoms in depth. When, however, we speak of the 
great veins being ten or twelve fathoms in thickness, it must not 
be supposed that the vein of ore extends to this width ;—all that 
is meant is, that to this breadth the nature of the rock varies 
from that of the mass of the mountain, and in this part feldspar 
generally prevails over all the other component parts. This mi- 
neral course or vein is throughout intersected by metallic veins 
of various sizes, some from two to four inches thick, of rich ore, 
with quartz, calcareous spar, &c., and thence branching off in 
small collateral veins sometimes hardly larger than a thread, and 
scarcely affording a trace of the ore. Every little appearance is 
however followed by the miner with hope, though his pursuit 
often ends in disappointment. Ti is but seldom that these indi- 
cations lead him beyond | what are called the walls of the great 
vein or gangue. 


* From Travels from Vienna through Lower Hungary. 
In 


Account of the Gold and Silver Mines of Hungary. 18 


In these extensive courses there are twelve royal mines, which 
extend over a space of about 2200 toises by 900, or nearly 1200 
English acres, besides a number belonging to private individuals, 
who are obliged to dispose of all the ores they obtain to the 
royal smelting works at a fixed rate. The whole of these mines 
have a communication with each other at what is called the 
Emperor Francis’s adit or level, at the depth of 180 toises, or 
nearly 200 fathoms, which is the lowest point at which they 
have hitherto been able to give the water a free egress:—to this 
therefore they are obliged to raise all which collects in the deeper 
workings. The whole length of this subterraneous canal from 
the valley into which it opens, is said to be above twelve miles. 
_They have for the last thirty years been at work upon a new 
water-level at a considerably greater depth than this, to be called 
after the Emperor Joseph. It opens into the river Gran, and 
is supposed to be the lowest possible level at which the water 
can be drawn off. Although it is as yet far from being finished, 
some of the mines have already experienced benefit from it. 

Owing to several causes, the returns from these mines are by 
no means so regular as they formerly were. This arises partly 
from the actual exhaustion of the minerals, and in part from 
the financial circumstances of Austria, which are supposed to 
render it unable to carry on the works with the former ardour, 
and more particularly prevent it from paying the private mining 
companies with sufficient liberality to encourage their exertions. 

According to the usual stipulations, these private adventurers 
are to deliver their ores in a state fit for the smelting furnaces, 
and to receive 19 florins and 12 (equal to about 2/, 8s. ster!.) 
for every mark (eight ounces) of pure silver, which is in fact worth 
twenty-four florins of the silver currency of Austria; but under 
the present circumstances (April 1815) when the paper cur- 
rency is depreciated to about one-fourth in value of the silver 
currency, these companies are paid 91& florins in silver, and the 
other moiety in paper, which reduces their reimbursement to 
Jess than twelve florins in silver currency per mark. The conse- 
guence is, that they do no more work than is just sufficient to 
preserve an undisputed right to their mines; for, by the mining 
laws, any person who discovers ore on a part of the mountains 
not yet appropriated as a mine, may work it for his own advan- 
tage; but if he fail to dig a certain small quantity every fourteen 
days he loses his right, and any other person may possess himself 
of it. 

The result actually is, that where before the Turkish and 
French war there were nearly 100,000 marks, that is 50.000 
pounds (of sixteen ounces) weight of silver brought in the course 
of a year into the mint at Kremnitz, the average quantity does 

not 


14 = Account of the Gold and Silver Mines of Hungary. 


not now exceed one-third part of that amount, and the whole 
weight of gold seldom exceeds 100 marks per month. Of this 
silver, the royal mines in the district of Schemnitz yield about 
25,000 marks annually, and about 300 marks of gold; the rest 
is coliected from the royal mines about Kremnitz, and the ad- 
ventures of private companies. 

Mine of Windshacht.—The principal objects of curiosity in 
the mine of Windshacht being the machinery, I was put under 
the care. of the Ober Kemst Meister or chief director of the 
machines ; and being dressed in a miner’s jacket, overalls and 
cap, and a leathern apron, we proceeded to the mouth of the 
shaft, where is erected the Bremse machineas it is here named, 
by which the ore is drawn up, and all materials for constructions 
or repairs let down into the mine. This machine consists of a 
double overshot water-wheel, on which the water falls from a 
reservoir supplied by pipes fom the hill which lies above it; and 
as the water is made to fall upon one side or the other of the 
wheel, it moves either in one direction or the contrary. The 
axle of the water-wheel is connected to a cylindric beam sup- 
ported at each end by masonry, round which is constructed a 
gigantic reel, upon which two cables are coiled in contrary di- 
rections: thus the communication from the surface to the bot- 
tom of the pit is carried on, the one winding and drawing up, 
whilst the other unwiids and lets down. -To regulate the mo- 
tion of this massive engine, a fly-wheel of considerable diameter 
is connected with the axle near to the end at which the water 
acts; and it is by two beams, the one above and the other be- 
neath, which can be brought in a moment to press upor this 
fly, that the motion of the whole machine is checked and brought 
under command. The management of the regulator, as well as 
the care of directing the water upon one side or other of the 
water-wheel, is intrusted to one person, who standing at the 
mouth of the mine directs the whole with ease and certainty. 

My next object was the machinery by which the water is lifted 
from the deeper parts of the mines to the height of the Emperor 
Francis’s level: we therefore descended that part of the Leopold 
schacht which is appropriated to it. The shaft we went down 
was completely perpendicular; and the whole of this descent 
was performed by means of ladders; each ladder about ten steps 
in length. Having descended the first, we came to a platform 
of boards, on the opposite end of which was a trap-door which 
opened upon the second ladder; and having descended ten steps 
more, we arrived at another platform, and so on. In this way 
we went down seventy-two klafters (fathoms), during the whole 
of which we were close to the rsachinery, in a constant noise, and 
amidst the continued dropping of water, which soen found its 

way 


Account of the Gold and Silver Mines of Hungary. 15 


way through all our clothes. I now employed myself in endea- 
vouring to comprehend the parts and the mode of action of this 
great instrument; and then having attended to the manner of 
working of a few parties of miners,we proposed to reascend, which 
we did by another shaft appropriated to the officers of the mine. 

This shaft was perfectly dry, and strongly cased with a frame- 
work of timber from the top to the bottom. The necessary 
supply of timber is a source of prodigious expense in the Hun- 
garian mines. The rock-stone is of a nature so liable to decom- 
pose, that they cannot employ it in walling these perpendicular 
shafts ; and the wood-work, however strong, seldom lasts above 
fifteen or twenty years, and in parts where the current of air is 
uot good, is destroyed in a much shorter time. 

As we approached the surface the cold became very severe, 
and the sides of the pit were covered with ice. It is through 
this shaft that the current of fresh air passes into the mine; and 
I was told that the intensity of the cold was sometimes such as 
scarcely to be borne. 

The miners are usually divided into three parties, each re- 
maining under ground eight hours at one time: those who have 
the care of the machinery remain twelve hours. The whole 
number of persons employed in this mine is about 400. 

‘The machine which I had been viewing, and which was first 
constructed at Schemnitz about the year 1749 hy the chief 
engineer Holl, was before the improvement of the steam-engine 
considered the most valuable for raising water out of mines which 
had ever heen brought into use. 

It is worked by water exerting its force to establish its equili- 
brium in an inverted siphon, and acting upon a moveable piston 
by its hydrostatic pressure. To apply it, it is necessary to have 
the command of water considerably above the engine; and this 
is effected at Schemnitz by forming strong embankments in high 
mountain valleys, and thus creating large reservoirs in which the 
winter rains and melted snows collect. Many of them are seen 
in the approach to the town. From these ponds the water is 
conducted by small canals, and falls through water-tight cast- 
iron pipes erected perpendicularly in the mine shaft. When it 
has fallen a certain depth (in this case about forty-five fathoms) 
it is checked in its progress downwards, and forced, by the weight 
of its whole column in the descending pipe, into the bottom of 
a perpendicular cylinder of considerable diameter, in which it 
raises a water-tight piston. As the piston ascends, it carries with 
it two bars of wood, moving perpendicularly on the outside of 
the cylinder, to which are attached four or more pump-rods, each 
working a pump at a different level ; the first raising the water 
from the bottom to a certain height, whence it is raised one 

Stage 


16 Account of the Gold and Silver Mines of Hungary. 
atage higher by a second, and so on stage by stage, to the re- 
quired elevation on the level of the main adit. At the moment 
when the piston has been forced up toa given point, it acts 
by a simple collateral communication upon the stop-cock (which 
had been turned so as to suffer the water to enter the cylin- 
der), and checks its progress downwards; adjusts it again so 
as to cut off all communication with the descending pipe; 
and opens a passage, through which the water contained in 
the cylinder is at onve discharged. The piston of course de- 
scends, carrying down with it the two wooden bars connected 
with the pump-rods, and in the act of falling, by means of the 
same collateral mechanism, closes the passage through which 
the water was discharged from the cylinder, and, opening the 
communication between the cylinder and the descending column 
of water in the pipe, permits it ‘to enter, and by its pressure again 
raise the piston. In this way the simple piece of machinery 
maintains itself in constant and powerful action. The ease and 
regularity of working is aided by a balance-beam connected by 
a chain with the head of the large piston and pump-rods. 

The machine is set in motion, or stopped, by turning a cock 
fixed in the descending pipe, by which the current of water is 
either permitted to pass into the machine, or iis course entirely 
impeded. ‘The handle of the cack is always within reach of the 
attending engineer. The quantity of water thrown into the cy- 
linder is likewise regulated by it, and consequently the velocity 
with which the pump-rods act. 

The water discharged from this engine is conveyed further 
into the mine, where it again serves to give motion to other ma- 
chinery, until, having reached the level of the Emperor Francis’s 
adit, it there escapes with the water which it had been the means 
of raising from the deepest workings. 

There are now three of these etigines employed to keep the 
nines free from water: they have not however been found at 
all times sufficient, and a fourth is now constructing. The whole 
quantity of water raised by the three in twenty-four hours, is 
49,365 eimers, each eimer containing 60°S11 Paris pints, or 
about sixteen gallons. 

The pipes containing the long column of descending water 
are cast in lengths of six or seven feet. ‘They are not very 
firmly joined together ; the j Joints being secured only by broad 
iron rings, fixed over the junction of each length by wooden 
wedges, which in case of any unusual pressure of the water are 
thrown out, and the pipes themselves prevented from bursting; 
which, if they were fastened together by flanches and screws, 
might sometimes happen. 

Before leaving Windschacht, I was taken to the engineer’s 

office, 


Account of the Gold and Silver Mines of Hungary. 17 


office, where numerous plans and sections of the mining district 
were laid before me. The whole country is intersected, at dif- 
ferent levels, by the galleries of mines, forming one stupendous 
subterranean labyrinth, so well understood, however, that the 
exact limit of each adventurer’s right is known, and the moment 
the ore has been traced to that boundary the workman stops ; 
nor may he proceed until a compact has been made with the 
neighbouring proprietor. Besides generat maps, there were par- 
ticular plans of each mine, with the most accurate surveys of all 
its parts. 

Stephani-schacht.—~We descended into this mine in the same 
manner as we had done into that of Windschacht. When ar- 
rived at a certain depth, we turned into a gallery dark and dis- 
mal, and pursued for several hours its various windings. The 
workmen, with parties of whom we fell in at intervals, are divided 
into companies of eight each, and are paid not only according 
to the quantity but the quality of the ore they collect, so that 
they are themselves interested in the research ; as may indeed 
be easily perceived by the different tone of voice in which they 
speak when they have hit upon a good or a bad vein. When 
they find any pieces particularly rich, of which they are very 
accurate judges, they lay them aside in a bag, that they may not 
be lost in the general mass. The ore, when dug out, is placed 
in a small obloug box or wheelbarrow, in which it is conveyed 
with wonderful rapidity and skill along narrow planks to the 
shaft, and is there laden into the large buckets of the machine, 
by which it is drawn up to the surface. 

The rock here is clay porphyry passing almost into grunstein. 
It is much harder than at Windsehacht; and is often firm enough 
to become a building stone. The timber used in this mine is 
consequently less, and the shafts by which we ascended and de- 
scended were only secured by a kind of strong trellis-work. In 
some parts of the great vein the feldspar was so predominant as 
to render it almost white, interspersed witi distinct crystals of 
hornblende ; but the vein soon passed again so completely into 
the nature of the surrounding rock, that it was difficult to say 
where the one ended or the other began. At the depth of the 
Emperor Franicis’s level, which is here above seventy fathoms, my 
conductor pointed out to me a singular appearance. ‘The mas- 
sive porphyry is interspersed with nodules of the same substance, 
but much more compact than the surrounding rock, and some- 
times presenting, though indistinctly, the appearance of erystal- 
lized facets. The size of these balls, as well as their frequency, 
varies in different parts from two inches to one-tenth of an inch 
in diameter, in the space of a few fathoms to which this singu~ 

Vol. 52. No. 243. July 1818. B larity 


1S Account of the Gold and Silver Mines of Hungary. 


larity is confined. This occurs in a place whcre several threads 
of ore which intersect the gangue unite. 

The direction of the great vein is from E. to W., or, as the 
miners say, ‘* they work it toward the sixthhour,”’ and is ele- 
vated at about an angle of 80°. It is at its oreatest width at 
the depth of seventy fathoms, being there nearly twelve fathoms, 
and continues so as far as it has been worked downward, which 
is about forty fathoms lower. As it ascends towards the day, it 
becomes narrower, a circumstance which I was informed is here 
rather an exception than a general rule. 

This is the richest vein at present worked, and yields almost 
one mark of silver from every centner of ore. During the last 
fortnight the quantity of ore obtained had been 319 centners, 
and this yielded by assay 282 marks of fine silver. The pre- 
ceding fortnight it produced 239 centners of ore, which gave 
262 marks of fine silver. At a former period, this mine in the 
course of twenty-eight years produced half a million of marks of 
pure silver. 

In working such large veins it is found necessary to begin 
from below and go upwards, and to fill up as much as possible 
as the miners ascend; for, were they to begin from above, there. 
would be no place in which to deposit the unproductive matter ; 
a prodigious mass of superincumbent rock would keep the work- 
men in perpetual danger, and by falling down might put a stop 
to all proceedings in the mine. 

Having now observed the mode in which the ore is collected, 
and raised to the:surface, and the means by which they free the 
mine of water, I will follow the ore to the operations which it 
afterwards undergoes. 

When brought from the mine it is carried to a building, where 
men, women and children, sitting at tables, select the rich ore 
from the poor, break it into pieces about the size of hazel nuts, 
and sort it, according to its worth, into different parcels. The 
value of these heaps is then ascertained by an assay, and the 
pay of the workmen regulated by the product. This is estimated 
on the number of half ounces or Joths of silver contained in the 
centner or hundred and ten pounds of ore, and this varies from 
the minutest quantity to one hundred loths or more. If it 
contains above two loths, it goes immediately to the smelting 
works; but if it be poorer, it is previously submitted to the 
pochwerk or stampers, where it is pounded and washed, and the 
most valuable articles concentrated. 

The process at the pochwerk is nearly as follows :—The ores 
are thrown by small quantities into a long trough, through which 
a gentle stream of water is constantly running. A row of stamp- 

ers, | 


et i 


Account of the Gold and Silver Mines of Hungary. 19 


ers, perhaps twenty-four in number, alternately raised by cogs, 
placed spirally round a cylinder which moves behind them, fall 
perpendicularly, and in constant succession, upon the ore so 
placed in the trough. The water passing through the trough car- 
ries with it the particles separated by the operation of the stamp- 
ers on the ore, and, being conducted through a number of small 
winding channels, has time to deposit them before it runs finally 
away; the smallest being suspended till they reach the extremity 
of the canals, whilst the larger are deposited sooner. The whole 
is then easily separated, according to its fineness and weight, and 
is taken to a set of inclined planes, each about ten feet long by 
four broad, having boards set edgeways at their sides. Above 
each is a trough in which the ore is put, and into which a gentle 
stream of water is made to fall, and which passing on carries with 
it the pounded ore, and running softly down the inclined plane, 
over the whole surface of which it is spread, deposits the parti- 
cles equally ; but, being nearly uniform in size, those which are 
left nearest the top are the richest. During the whole time a 
man stands by, and with an instrument of wood, like a rake 
without teeth, gently moves the surface of the last deposited 
matter, that it may thus again be exposed to the action of the 
water, and any of the lighter particles may still make their 
escape. When the quantity collected on these inclined planes 
covers the whole about eight inches deep, it is divided into three 
parts; that which is nearest the top being the richest, that at 
the bottom the poorest. The whole is then removed with 
shovels into three separate heays, and each undergoes the same 
process three times. The different portions are now again sub- 
mitted to the assay: the richest are sometimes found to con- 
tain six or eight loths the centner; and if any is so poor as not 
to contain two, it is carried back to be mixed with the ore un- 
der the stampers, but the richer parcels go to the smelting- 
house. < 
Ores which are sa disguised by clay as to prevent the sorters 
from judging of their value, are previous to their undergoing the 
before-mentioned processes thrown into troughs having grate- 
ings in their bottom of different degrees of fineness. They are 
kept in constant motion by women, who use wooden shovels for 
the purpose, whilst a stream of water running over the ore washe 
the smaller pieces, together with the dirt, through the first 
grating into the next; and so on through ‘several troughs, by 
which the whole become separated according to size, the water 
finally carrying off all the earth and finer particles. But this is 
not suffered to run waste, It is conducted through a long suc- 
cession of canals, where it forms its deposits as in the pochwerk. 
The larger pieces are then returned to the sorters, and classed 
B2 with 


20 Account of the Gold and Silver Mines of Hungary. 


with the other ores. But the smaller pieces are separated by 
putting them in sieves, which are repeatedly plunged into water. 
The water penetrates from below; and as the displaced fragments 
of ore again subside, the heaviest and generally the richest fall 
to the bottom. This being several times repeated, the sorters 
are enabled to make a tolerably accurate division, by removing 
with a shovel the upper half, that which remains being retained 
as valuable. 

The greater part of the ores at Schemnitz contain a large 
proportion of lead, some copper, with sulphur, arsenic, and other 
minerals, and a small proportion only of silver. These are 
smelted in the furnaces, which are erected upon the spot; but 
those which contain a large proportion of silver are taken to the 
silver furnaces at Kremnitz. 

The works which I visited near Schemnitz are denominated 
lead fernaces, although their object is not to obtain the lead, ex- 
cept in combination with the silver and gold, and as a means of 
procuring these precious metals. 

The ores, having: by the operations of the pochwerk been se- 
parated from a large part of their earthy impurities, are roasted, 
in order to drive off the arsenic, sulphur, and other volatile mat- 
ters. This is done either in open furnaces, in which it is piled 
in alternate layers with wood, or in reverberatory furnaces,. in 
which only a moderate degree of heat is kept up. This roasted 
ore is then removed to a blast furnace, the bellows of which are 
worked by water. It is here mixed in layers with charcoal and 
various slags and scoria of former processes, all of which con- 
tain more or less lead, and contribute to the easy and perfect fu- 
sion of the ores. ‘The heat in the furnace having by the con- 
stant working of the beilows been greatly raised; at the end of a 
given period, if the process is found to be perfected, an opening 
is made in the lowest part or eye of the furnace, by piercing a 
stopper made of clay and charcoal powder, with which the aper- 
ture had been closed when the furnace was charged. Through 
this opening, the liquefied metal, which had collected in the bot- 
toin of the furnace, runs into a circular cavity, or bed formed of 
charcoal and clay. This fluid metal consists of the lead, to which 
the silver and the gold, if any, have a strong attraction, and are 
intimately united ; aud of copper and any other metallic sub- 
stance, such as iron, that may have been combined with the ores, 
and have not been oxidated in the furnace. As the lead con- 
taining the silver remains fluid at a much lower temperature 
than copper; the latter separates with the other impurities, and 
quickly forms a porous crust, or slag, upon the surface, which is 
removed by tongs as soon as it acquires the thickness of half an 
inch. This is repeated till these crusts cease to collect, when 


the 


Account of the Gold and Silver Mines of Hungary. 21 


the lead holding the silver and gold remains in the bed nearly 
free from any alloy of copper. What little still remains is after- 
wards separated, by submitting the metallic mass to a heat suffi- 
ecient to melt the lead, but leave the copper. The ingots are 
then removed to the silver furnances, of wliich there are three ; 
one at Schemnitz, one at Schernovitz, and one at Neusohl ; each 
ingot having been previously most acvirately assayed, This is 
likewise done in respect to each parcel of the rich ores which are 
sent raw to either of these silver works. 

The slags which have been removed from the surface of the 
lead in these processes are often very rich in copper, some can- 
taining as much as 100 loths in a centwer. They are all res 
moved to the copper works at Altgebirg near Neusohl, to be re- 
fined. 

These being the whole of the operations which are conducted 
at 3 tea Coal neither pure silver nor gold ever makes its ap- 
pearance there, except in the small quantities produced in the 
laboratory from the assays, 

The footing upon which the mining school or college of 
Schemnitz is conducted is very liberal. It is a Royal founda- 
tion ; and every one who has first obtained permission from the 
Board of Mines at Vienna, which I believe is never refused, may 
have the full benefit of all the lectures, and all the practical 
knowledge which these extensive mines are calculated to afford. 
The complete course of study occupies three years; and those 
who wish to obtain certificates, such as are required to entitle 
them to seek for employment as officers of the mines, must go ° 
through regular and severe examinations. The lectures are 
on chemistry, mineralogy, mathematics 2 mechautes, and other 
branches of natural philosophy—drawing of plans, maps, and 
machinery, &c.; also on botany, and the knowledge connected 
with the cultivation and preservation of forests, and the conver- 
sion and application of timber—a science which the Germans 
eall forstwissenschaft, and which is of great importance in these 
countries, which depend upon their forests for fuel; and more 
especially in mining districts, where so much valuable timber is 
necessarily consumed in the construction of machines and mine- 
shafts, and in the support and preservation of galleries and com- 
munications under ground. ‘The students have, besides, the free 
use of the laboratory, aud constant access to every thing which 
is going on in the mines, and in the various works connected with 
them, and with the preparation and smelting of the ores. They 
have likewise permission to form collections of minerals to any 
extent for their own use; but they are prohibited, under the pain 
of expulsion, from extracting oe and applyi ing the pro- 

B duce 


22. Account of the Gold and Silver Mines of Hungary. 


duce to profit. The students generally form themselves into as- 
sociatious of two or three, for the purpose of carrying on their 
chemical and metallurgic processes in the laboratory with greater 
care and advantage; and I was much pleased w vhen Professor 
D’Horing one day pointed out to me various repositories ap- 
propriated to each, for placing away the apparatus, und every 
article necessary for conducting these experiments and assays, 
the whole of which are provided for them ‘by the public fund. 

The number of students at this college varies a good deal, and 
at present, owing to the general and long continued disorder in 
public affairs, is at alow ebb—it seldom, however, falls short of 
from 200 to 300. Many go regularly through the whole course, 
but others attend only the lectures which are connected with 
their particular pursuits. 

Kremnitz.—Kremnitz is situated, like Schemnitz, in the midst 
of mountains. It consists within the walls of thirty-five houses, 
one of which is the mint. They are arranged round an open 
space where the market is held. There are some streets and 
many detached houses without the walls, and at the distance of 
about a quarter of a mile in the valley are situated the silver. 
furnaces. 

It will be remembered that the silver at Schemnitz was left, 
some in the state of rich ore, and some, after it had undergone 
the process by which it was concentrated in the metal which 
had issued from the lead furnaces. The greater part is sent 
here, but some to Neusohl and Schernovitz, to be resmelted 
with the ores of this neighbourhood, which contain a much 
larger proportion of gold, and the metals are here finally sepa- 
rated and refined. 

Each parcel of ore, and every ingot of metal, before it is deli 
vered to the furnaces, is again assayed by the proper officer in 
the following manner: 

From each parcel of ore a certain number of ounces are taken 
in such a way as will give an average sample of the whole. This 
is heated to drive off ‘all the moisture, and then reduced in an 
iron mortar to a fine powder; a known quantity of this is put 
into a small crucible, and to it is added about twice its weight 
of pure lead in grains of the size of small shot, and known to 
contain no silvers If however it be very refractory, a mixture 
of one part borax and two of glass of le sad, or the vitreous slag 
of former assays, is added to f facilit ite the fusion. The crucibles 
thus charged are so art ranged in the furnace, that no mistake 
can arise respec ting the parce el to which each assay belongs. 
A strong heat is then raised in the furnace, which is continued 
until the fusion is complete. They are then taken out, and when 

cold, 


Account of the Gold and Silver Mines of Hungary. 23 


cold, by a few blows on an anvil the vitreous matter or slag 
which surrounds the whole contents of the crucible is broken 
off, and a button of lead retaining the silver is found. This but- 
ton is placed in a small vessel or cupel made of bone ashes, and 
again submitted under a muffle to a considerable heat, by which 
the whole is melted, and the lead, being considerably oxidated, 
is absorbed by the cupel, a little shining pearl of silver alone re- 
maining, from the weight of which the whole of this precious 
metal contained in the parcel of ore is calculated. By a similar 
process the richness in silver of the ingots is likewise ascer- 
tained. 

The silver in both cases contains gold, the quantity of which 
is still to be determined. This is effected by placing it in small 
flasks or retorts of glass, and pouring upon it twice its weight of 
nitric acid ; which being exposed in a sand-bath toa gentle heat, 
the silver is completely dissolved, and the gold falls down in 
powder. This precipitate is carefully washed, and put into a 
small conical crucible fitted with a cover; a gentle heat is ap- 
plied, and the pure gold remains in a spongy mass at the bottom. 
The solution is then evaporated to collect the silver. This 
mode of assay differs but little from the processes used in re- 
spect to the ores and metal in the gross. 

The first part of the operations used on the ores is similar to 
that at Schemnitz. When the fusion is complete, and the metal 
is let out of the furnace into the circular bed prepared for it in 
the ground, ingots of lead rich in silver are continually added as 
Jong as they will melt and unite, the crusts of slag being re- 
moved as they form on the surface. In this way a mass of metal 
is obtained holding thirty, forty, or even fifty loths of silver in 
the centner, which is then laded into flat moulds to cool. These 
are assayed previously to their being placed in a reverberatory 
furnace, fitted with a large iron cover suspended by chains by 
which it is elevated and lowered at the will of the operator ; and 
a brisk flame being made to play over the metal, the lead is 
quickly oxidated on its surface: this is removed, and a new sur- 
face being exposed to the action of the flame and air, the same 
is repeated until nothing remains on the sand forming the bot- 
tom of the surface, except the silver holding gold, which is taken 
out by ladles and poured into ingot moulds, This precious 
alloy is thence removed to the laboratory adjoining the mint, to 
undergo the operation of parting,” or the separation of the 
gold fronr the silver. 

The ingots are here melted down, and the metal whilst fluid 
poured into water, by which it is granulated, or divided into al- 
most leaf-like pieces which are in appearance exceedingly beau- 
tiful. These being dried are put into large glass retorts ex- 
+ wbaeed B4 tremely 


24 Account of the Gold and Silver Mines of Hungary. 


tremely well luted. Nine marks are placed in each vessel, with 
about twice that weight or somewhat less of nitric acid of the 
specific gravity of 1:20, previously purified of any combined sul- 
phuric or muriatic acid it might contain, by dissolving in it a 
portion of perfectly pure silver. These retorts are placed in a 
sand-bath, with receivers properly fitted to collect any acid fumes 
which may pass over. The silver is in this process taken up by the 
nitric acid, forming a clear solution, which being decanted off, 
leaves as a residuum the gold, in the state of protoxide, having 
the appearance of a brown powder. This, when collected in a 
crucible and exposed to a low heat, assumes its yellow colour, 
but without metallic lustre; the particles adbering but slightly 
together. It being however perfectly pure, nothing further is 
necessary than to fuse and cast it into ingots. 

The transparent solution of silver in the nitric acid is now 
poured into retorts standing in the sand-bath, and, being gently 
heated, is distilled over into receivers in astate fit to be employed 
in fresh solutions, leaving the silver in a sponge-like metallic 
form chiefly at the bottom, but likewise adhering in a thin coat 
to the sides of the retort, without lustre, but beautifully white. 
Fresh quantities of the solution are then poured into the retorts, 
and the distillations repeated until they are nearly half full of 
dry nitrate of silver: a considerably greater heat is then applied, 
in order to decompose the metallic salt. The retorts are then 
broken, and their contents with the adhering pieces of glass and 
a portion of black flux run down in black-lead crucibles, and the 
silver cast into ingots. 

The laboratory is of great extent. Five or six banks of sand, 
for so they may well be called from their size, extend across the 
chamber, beneath which the fire is conducted in flues; and upon 
the whole extent, processes of solution and evaporation are 
constantly going on. Here are also all the furnaces and appa- 
ratus necessary for performing the several operations befere 
mentioned. 

Both gold and silver in their greatest degree of purity are 
found too soft for circulation in coin: before, therefore, they are 
made into money, the standard is reduced by the addition of 
alloy cither of silver or copper, to give the necessary degree of 
hardness and durability. In the inferior silver coins much more 
is added to increase their weight and dimensions, as well as for 
other sufficient and perhaps not less obvious reasons. In the 
Austrian pieces of twenty kreutzers there are only nine loths, 
thirteen grains of silver, to five loths six grains of copper. In 
the gold coins, however, the proportion of alloy is exceedingly 
small. A ducat weighing 53:85 grains contains only 0°56 
grain of copper, with 53°29 of gold; and according to the an- 

cient 


Account of the Gold and Silver Mines of Hungary. 25 


cient standard, even not more than one-third of this small quan- 
tity; and yet this has such a perceptible effect, that it is neces- 
sary to procure for this alloy the purest and most malleable cop- 
per which can be obtained from other mines, the copper of 
Kremnitz not being found suficietitly so for this purpose. Copper, 
as an alloy to gold, makes the coin much harder and less liable 
to wear than silver, which is the alloy used in the ducats of Hol- 
land. 

The silver having been melted in combination with copper, as 
its alloy, is cast, in moulds of iron the sides of which are kept 
together by a clamp and screw, and which are placed erect in 
iron sockets, into bars nearly two feet long, two inches thick, 
and four inches wide. These bars are drawn out between iron 
rollers, after frequent repetitions of heating in a furnace, and roll- 

ing to a given thickness, by which they are greatly extended in 
length, but little increased in width. After each time of passing 
the roller, the silver is plunged into cold water. 

A screw press is then used to stamp out the blanks of the re- 
quired size, which having been previously dipped in a dilute 
acid, to restore their colour, are separately weighed. 

The impress on the edge is next made by a sniall hand in- 
strument placed hor izontally, consisting of a circular plate move- 
able’by a handle on its centre, within an external fixed ring, 
leaving a space between the two equal to the diameter of the 
blank to be milled. On a portion of this extensive circle cor- 
responding in measure to the circumference of the piece, the 
device intended to be impressed is cut or fixed. The blank is 
placed in the intervening space; and by moving the plate, which 
presses tightly upon it, the piece is made to describe a complete 
revolution round its own axis, and, moving in close contact with 
the outer ring, receives the impression on its edge. 

kn order to complete the coin, nothing now remains but to 
stamp these pieces with their proper dies. This is done by 
means of powerful fly serew-presses, such as are generally made 
use of for the purpose; and are so constantly employed in va- 
rious processes of our hardware and plating manufactures at Bir- 
mingham and Sheffield, that they need not be described. 

The method used in the gold coinage is precisely the same. 
The whole both gold and silver coins are again separately 
weighed, packed, and sent to the Treasury at Vienna for circu- 
lation; but certainly not at this time for general use, as none 
were to be-met with in common currency. 

For inspecting and counting the copper coins they have a ready 
expedient. Trays, having their bottoms indented with one or two 
hundred hollows, are filled with money; and being shaken, each 
hollow receiyes a piece. The rest are swept out: the known 

number 


26 Account of the Process of Amalgamation 


number being at one view inspected, the tray is overturned into 
the proper receptacle, and is instantly ready to receive a fresh 
supply. 

With respect to the quantities of gold and silver which have 
been obtained by the Government from the mines of this district, 
and coined at Kremnitz, Delius in his work upon Mining has 
calculated that from the year 1672 to 1680, the single royal 
mine of Piberstollen at Schemnitz gave 427,600 marks of silver, 
and 2,657 marks of gold. In 1690 the gold from Schemnitz 
amounted to a little more than 1872 marks coined into 132,425 
ducats. In 1779, 2429 marks of gold, and 92,267 of silver were 
brought to the mint from the whole district. And by a state- 
nzent published at Vienna in the Vaterléndische Blatter of 1808, 
it appears that the whole produce of the mines of Upper Hungary, 
between the years 1797 and 1806, amounted to 

16,821 marks 4 loth 29 dr. 27 gr. of gold, 
658,519 0 52 19 of silver, 
135,443 centner 83 perfunds of lead. : 

Thewhole value inthe currency of the country being16,728,368 fl, 
22 kr. But I am not quite certain what mines are included in 
this estimate. 


1V. Account of the Process of Amalgamation used at Hals- 
briick near Freyberg in Saxony, for the Extraction of Gold 
and Silver from other Ores. By Ricuarp Bricur, M.D.* 


Tus operation of amalgamation was first used in the mines of _ 
South America, where it was introduced between the years 1560 
and 1570. ‘There, however, the process was at first conducted 
in a very imperfect manner, and was attended with a great loss of 
mercury as well as silver. In that country it underwent succes- 
sive modifications and improvements, and it was there first dis- 
covered, that a very effectual method of conducting it was by 
boiling the mercury and the ore together in water. 

Although proposals had been more than once made to the 
Court of Austria, it was not till 1784 that the method of ex- 
tracting silver by the aid of mercury was adopted in Europe, at 
which time Baron Born was authorized to make extensive trial 
of its efficacy in the mines of Hungary. The process as esta- 
blished by him at Glashutte near Schemnitz, and afterwards in- 
troduced into the other mines of Hungary, Transylvania, and 
3ohemia, was in substance very nearly that which is employed at 
Freyberg, except that for some time the formation of the amal- 
gam took place under the influence of heat, the mixture being 


* From the same work as the preceding article. 
put 


for extracting Gold and Silver from other Ores. 27 


put into copper boilers in the form of an inverted cone, rounded 
at the bottom and opén at the top, in which an instrument was 
made constantly to revolve; thus keeping the whole in agitation, 
while a very moderate heat was applied under the boilers; and 
this process having been continued for from ten to twenty hours 
according to the nature of the ore, the whole of the silver was 
found to be disengaged from the ore and taken up by the mer- 
cury. Baron Born made many attempts to conduct this part of 
the process without the assistance of fire; but it was Gellert 
who first perfectly succeeded, and of his success the very com- 
plete machinery of Freyberg was the result. From many com- 
parative calculations and experiments which have been made, it 
has appeared that the saving in the consumption of wood, and in 
the lead wasted by the common processes of smelting and re- 
fining, is so great, that ores of silver and gold which are of a na- 
ture fitted for this process can be worked at nearly half the ex- 
pense by amalgamation; and it is satisfactory to be assured that 
the mercury, so far from producing the deleterious effects upon 
the health of the workmen which were at first dreaded, is in fact 
by no means so hurtful as the heat and fumes which are to be 
encountered in the usual operations of the smelting furnace. 

The process now used at Harlsbriick is as follows: The ores, 
after having been sorted, stamped, and washed in a manner si- 
milar to that which has been described, are brought in separate 
lots to the mills, where each lot is sampled with much care. 
These samples are divided ;—the one part is assayed by the 
assay-master of the mine from which the ore was brought; the 
other by the officers of the works,—a very necessary check to 
prevent errors, and more particularly in this case, as the amal- 
gam works belong to Government, whilst many of the mines are 
worked by companies of individuals. 

The ores are then appropriated either for the operations of 
the furnace, or of amalgamation, according to their qualities ; 
those being chosen for the latter, which are the most free from 
an intermixture of lead and copper; and preference is likewise 
given to ores which yield froin three to four ounces of silver in 
the centner, it being found by experience that such are best 
fitted for this process, “fhe different pareels, the produce of which 
has been ascertained by assay, are therefore so fixed that the 
whole may average about this proportion. To this ore is added 
one-tenth of its weight of muriate of soda, finely sifted. This 
mixture is then parcelled out, in heaps of three or four hundred 
weight each, upon the floor of a. chamber over the reverberatory 
furnaces in which it is to be roasted. Here it is dried for some 
hours, and is then passed down a pipe which communicates with 


the 


28 Account of the Process of Amalgamation 


the furnace below, over the bottom of which it is spread by 
means of an iron rabble or rake. The fire, which is of wood 
and a mixture of coal and clay, is contained in a division of the 
furnace separate from that which receives the ore, with which 
it is connected only by a large aperture, through which the flame 
and heat pass into the vaulted compartment containing the ore, 
and out at the chimney erected over the other end of the fur- 
nace. By this means a high degree of heat is given to the ore 
without any contact with the fuel, and the sulphur and other 
volatile matters which arise from it are speedily carried off. The 
workman attending the furnace keeps the ore in a constant agi- 
tation with his iron rake, to prevent its adhering together in 
hard lumps, especially when it becomes red hot, and, by changing 
the surface, more regularlyto expose the whole to the operation 
of the flame and heat. This is continued, and the red heat 
maintained, for three or four hours, until there are no longer any 
signs of sulphur remaining inthe ore. The whole is then with- 
drawn from the furnace. During this operation a decomposition 
of the muriate of soda has taken place, the acid forming new 
combinations with the earthy parts, and the oxides of the im- 
perfect metals, and the soda with the sulphur which had not 
been expelled by the heat; whereby the union of the silver is ren- 
dered much less intimate with the substances from which it is 
to be separated. 

The calcined ore, as it is taken from the furnace, is put when 
cooled into boxes, which are raised by a crane w orked by water 
into an upper story, where it is sifted, and all the pieces which 
have caked together are separated from the rest. The cakes 
are broken, and being again mixed with a small portion of salt, 
are once more roasted; but the finer parts which have passed the 
sieve are conveyed down by pipes into the mills, where they are 
ground to an almost impalpable powder. These mills, of which 
there are several, are all turned by water; the mill-stones are of 
granite. 

When thus prepared, the ore is carried in barrows to a cham- 
ber, where twenty chests present themselves arranged in rows of 
five each. These stand immediately over corresponding vessels 
or barrels, in which in the room below the amalgamation is to 
be effected, and which barrels are charged from “the chests by 
means of moveable pipes. 

It is now that the important part of the process takes place. 
The twenty barrels are arranged in four rows, each turning on 
its separate axis by a motion communicated by a water-wheel to 
two long shafts, each shaft passing between two rows of the 
barrels and furnished with cog-wheels, working in others fixed 

on 


Sor extracting Gold and Silver from other Ores. 29 


on the axis of each barrel, but from which either barrel may be 
detached at pleasure, and its motion stopped without impeding 
the rest. 

Each of these barrels is charged with ten hundred weight of 
the pulverized ore, about three hundred weight of water, and a 
small quantity of sheet-iron, which is added for the purpose of 
decomposing any muriate of silver that may have been formed 
during the process of roasting, and to prevent the subsequent 
formation of any muriate of mercury. 

A gentle rotatory motion is communicated to the bartels for 
about an hour, to mix their contents intimately. Five hundred 
weight of quicksilver is then added to each, and the motion of 
the barrels accelerated to the rate of nearly twenty revolutions 
in a minute, and this is continued for sixteen hours. When by 
assay it is found that the separation of the silver is complete, the 
whole having formed an amalgam with the mercury, and none 
being left in union with the earthy parts or metallic oxides, the 
barrels are entirely filled with water, and they are set in motion 
again for about an hour, but with much less velocity, that the 
amalgam may separate completely from the rest of the mass, 
and be allowed to subside. The amalgam is then drawn off 
from the lowest side of the barrels, and conveyed along wooden 
channels to vessels prepared in another chamber to receive it, 
The remaining water is washed from the barrels into reservoirs. 

The amalgam and surplus mercury, which flow away together, 
are put into leathern bags, which being pressed, suffer the un- 
combined sulphur to passthrough the pores, leaving the amal- 
gam, containing about ont-eighth of its weight of silver, in the 
form of a paste composed of silvery globules. 

‘The washings of the barrels, which are collected in four large 
reservoirs, are kept in a continued agitation, during which the 
mercury which remained entangled with the refuse subsides; and 
as this takes place, the upper strata of the water are successively 
removed till the mercury and amalgam, if any, alone remain. 
This generally occupies about eight hours. This mercury and 
amalgam is of course added to the rest, and from the liquor the 
sulphate of soda is afterwards obtained, 

It remains now to collect the silver which is. thus concen- 
trated in the amalgam, by driving off the mercury. For this 
purpose a furnace of mason-work of a peculiar construction is 
employed. A tripod of iron is placed within it, which standing 
in a vessel of water supports an upright bar of about three feet 
in height, at the upper part of which are arranged five iron sau- 
cers holding portions of the amalgam. The whole of this is 
covered by a bell of cast iron which descends into the water. 


An 


30 Observations on the Changes which take place 


An annular iron plate or shelf is then applied round the bell ex- 
ternally at about half its height, and on this shelf a fire of turf 
is kindled. The door of the furnace is then closed, and the 
flame plays round the upper part of the bell, till the whole of 
that portion of it which surrounds the vessels or saucers contain- 
ing the amalgam becomes strongly heated. - The distillation of 
the mercury then takes place; it rises in fumes, which falling 
condense in ‘the lower part of the bell and the vessel of water 
beneath. In about eight hours the whole of the mercury is se- 
parated, the furnace is suffered to cool, and the silver (containing 
however some metallic impurities, particularly copper,) is found 
forming beautiful spongy cakes in the iron saucers. This is af- 
terwards melted and refined in the furnaces adjoining to the 
amalgam works, where much of the richer ores, and the produce 
of that which containing larger proportions of other metals had 
been reduced in the blast- farnaces;, 3 is likewise melted and re- 
fined. : 

The operation of which I have now given a sketch, is un- 
doubtedly the most interesting object which Freyberg and its 
neighbourhood afford. The process of amalgamation, in itself 
so curious, is there more extensively and better performed than 
in any other part of Europe. 


V. Observations on the various Changes which take place on 
treating Uric with Nitrous Acid, and on a new Acid callea 
a ig Mecca thence produced. "By Dr, Gasper Bruena- 
TELLI* 


My father (Professor Lewis B.) being occupied in making ex-. 
periments on the human urinary calculi, for a work which will 
be published in the present year, | wished to employ myself in 
examining some of the substances which are most generally found 
with such calculi. In studying the chemical constitution of uric 
acid, I was particularly led to observe some changes which it ex- 
perienced under certain circumstances. Of those observations 
I now undertake to give a brief account, although not without 
that diffidence .which juvenile inexperience in the chemical art 
should inspire. Uric acid differs from the greater part of the 
other known acids, by having a chemical constitution much more 
complicated, the number of its component principles amounting 
to four, which is not the case in the others. Hence it is natural 

to infer, that in whatever manner it may be decomposed, a great- 


* From Brugnatelli’s Journal, lst and 2d bimestrein 1818, . 
variety 


on treating Uric with Nitrous Acid, ec. 31 


variety of products must be obtained. This inference is parti- 
cularly confirmed, when it is exposed to the action of nitric or 
nitrous acid; and the phenomena which accompany this action 
are so singular, as to excite curiosity respecting the chemical al- 
terations which are its effects. 

Scheele, the celebrated discoverer of uric acid, first observed 
in like manner the violent action of nitrous acid on this sub- 
stance, and the red colour which its solution leaves on the skin, 
or which it acquires in evaporating; but by one drop of nitrous 
acid it is instantly destroyed. He likewise observed that this 
solution had always an acid taste, that it did not alter the me- 
tallic solutions, nor precipitate with muriate of barytes; but, on 
the other hand, it yielded in lime-water a white precipitate 
which was soluble in nitrous and muriatic acids without efferves- 
cence. 

Bergman observed, that when treated with potash in excess it 
did not become turbid, but by digestion acquired a reddish co- 
lour which readily tinged the skin, and the solution thus joined 
to potash precipitated in a particular manner the metallic solu- 
tions*. He also considered as very remarkable the fine red co- 
lour which he obtained by treating urie with nitrous acid, and 
examined the circumstances which accompanied the appearance 
of this colour, and its destruction effected by acids or caustic al- 
kali¢. ‘The same chemist and Scopoli afterwards observed that 
the reciprocal action of these acids produced a considerable 
quantity of oxalic acid { ; a change which my father found to be 
greater and more rapid, if, instead of nitrous acid, chlorine were 
used §. These observations directed Fourcroy to determine 
what were really the changes produced on uric acid by chlorine, 
which there was every reason to believe could not be very dis- 
similar from_those effected by nitric acid. He found that un- 
der water chlorine changed uric acid into ammonia and carbonie, 
oxalic and malic acids. The first acid formed is the malic, 
which with the continued action of the chlorine changes into 
oxalic; and this increasing, both acids are resolved into carbonic 
and water ||. These are the changes which chemists have hi- 
therto observed as taking place in uric acid when treated in this 
manner. To me, however, it appears that many others are pro- 
duced, as will be seen by the subsequent observations. When a 
little uric acid dissolved in nitrous acid is reduced to dryness, 
having a red colour, and exposed to the flame of a lamp ina 


* Scheele, Mem. de Chym. t. i. + Bergman, Opuse. t. iv. Ob- 
ser. de Cal. Urin. t Crell, dun. 178. Sce Brugnatelli’s Memoir 
on the Sediment of Urine, where the history of this discovery is related, 
p- 116. : § Ann. de Chimie, xxx. p. 133. || Fourcroy, Syst. des 

Jon. Chim. t. x. p. 222. 
watch- 


32 Observations on the Changes which take place 


watch-glass, there is often seen in the centre a kind of spume 
formed of a brown or yellow colour. This is more conspicuous 
if the experiment be performed on a larger scale. In such a case, 
having projected the nitrous on the uric acid, without diluting 
it, until the rapid decomposition has ceased, after some repose, 
a copious deposit of minute grains is formed *, On evaporat- 
ing the whole with a moderate heat, many suffocating white va- 
pours are disengaged, which become still more numerous in the 

rocess. After a time, the whole mass acquires a yellowish co- 
lotr and becomes fluid, but coagulates immediately if removed 
from the fire. Continuing therefore the heat, the vapours finally 
cease to be suffocating, and the mass acquires a brown colour, 
while the edges usually become of a rose colour. Urging the 
fire still further, white vapours continue to be disengaged ; mean 
time the mass becomes a bulky charcoal, which with a crack is 
in an instant almost entirely destroved. 

But, stopping here to consider the brown matter above men- 
tioned, it is at first so hard that with difficulty can it be re- 
moved from the vessel, although in a little time it attracts hu- 
midity and softens. Placed in water it dissolves, and communi- 
cates a citrine yellow colour, leaving behind a blackish matter. 
The solution has a slight acid taste, and reddens the blue tinc- 
ture of vegetables. Caustic potash either immediately or after 
a slight concentration produces a flaky precipitate, and at the 
same time ammonia is sensibly disengaged. Subcarbonate of 
potash produces a similar precipitate, which has a colour inclined 
to red. Treated with lime-water, the solution requires to be more 
concentrated to produce the precipitate, which assumes the form 
of very light flakes, which, on being reduced to dryness, become 
yellow shining scales. Similar scales are obtained even by evapo- 
rating the original simple solution. These salts have a sweetish 
taste, and are much more soluble in warm than cold fluids; they 
are deliquescent; but it appears that this property is greatly aug- 
mented by a particular yellowish matter which accompanies them, 
and which greedily attracts the humidity ofthe air, deliquescing 
itself, dissolving them with it, and even rendering them more 
soluble in water. 

The above solution decomposes immediately when brought 
into contact with a solution of lead or silver, and becomes turbid. 
If it be mixed with acetate of lead, the precipitate collected, and 
afterwards very well washed, and dried with a moderate heat, the 
salt of lead may then be decomposed by dilute sulphuric acid. 


* Bergman, operating directly on the calculi of uric acid, observed the 
constant formation of this deposit. It is indeed immaterial to this experi- 
ment, whether pure uric acid is used, or that which is found well farmed in 
human calculi. 

In 


on treating Uric with Nitrous Acid, &e. 33 


In effecting this decomposition, and taking care that in the fluid 
no sulphuric acid remains, an acid of a yellowish colour and sour 
astringent taste is obtained. It reddens the tincture of turnsole, 
and when evaporated does not form crystals, but attracts a little 
humidity. The salt of lead from which this acid is extracted, is 
yery soluble in acetic and dilute nitric acid. From many of the 
above characters which this acid substance possesses, it may 
be concluded to be malie acid. It is not, however, easy to con- 
ceive how the malic acid can exist in the brown mass obtained 
by the long action of nitrous on uric acid, while in it there was 
no longer found any trace of oxalic acid; and as this acid is 
formed at the expense of the malic, which is altered by the ni- 
trous acid, so much greater is the force that can thus entirely 
decompose the malic acid. This reflection made me suspect that 
the acid substance was not malic acid, but one of those acids 
which have much affinity with it, among which the illustrious 
Scheele distinguished the lactic acid*. The characteristic dif~ 
ference which he established between these two acids is the in- 
solubility in alcohol of the calcareous salt of the former, and on 
the contrary the solubility of the calcareous salt of the latter. 
Hence, having observed that aleohol projected on the calcareous 
salt which I obtained became turbid with a drop of oxalic acid, 
I concluded it to be lactic acid, which I endeavoured to ascer- 
tain. As the salts of potash and of lead are soluble in alcohol, 
so also is the salt of potash which is obtained in an irregular 
form by the above method; and when the alcohol is evaporated 
by a gentle heat, it is found elegantly crystallized in long and 
slender needles. The regular form is likewise obtained when the 
pure acid is directly united with potash. 

_ To the opinion that the acid obtained may be the lactic acid 
of Scheele, supported by the solubility of its salts in aleohol, it 
may be opposed, that this is perhaps owing to the presence 
of the patticular yellow matter above mentioned; and in fact, 
experiments prove that it at least augments the effect. But it 
may be answered, that the acid obtained by Scheele should not 
be entirely devoid of this matter. Berzelius found lactic acid 
united to a particular matter in all the animal fluids, and it is the 
opinion of this chemist that the acid obtained by Scheele was 
very farfrom being pure. When the yellow solution is extracted 
fom the original brown mass, there remains, as already noticed, 
a blackish matter. This dissolves rapidly in potash, and the al- 
kali is in a great measure neutralized. ‘The solution has a deep 
ruby colour, if it is concentrated and the potash in excess; other- 
wise the colour is a deep yellow. This solution, provided that it 


: * Crell, Ann. part ii, 1785, p. 303. 
Vol. 52. N@. 243. July 1818. C has 


34 Observations on the Changes which take ‘place 


has not too much alkali, has a sweetish taste, and tinges yellow 
either blue or white paper. Acetic acid produces in it a light 
gelatinous precipitate, analogous in appearance to uric acid when 
obtained by a similar process. The substance precipitated has 
a yellow colour more or less deep; it does not readily crystallize 
like uric acid, but. presents here and there some shining points, 
and in drying it contracts and breaks in many pieces. It scarcely 
alters the blue tincture of vegetables, and destroys the colour 
previous to reddening it. In cold water it is almost insoluble. 
Lime and ammonia dissolve it; but the addition of an acid to the 
solution precipitates it again, although of a less deep colour. 
_ Henee these combinations, like the urats, are always dissolved in 
an excess of base. The combination with potash produces yel- 
low coagulations in the solutions of silver and lead. The above- 
mentioned substance which the acids precipitate burns with al] 
the characters of animal matter. Nitric acid projected on it is 
decomposed, and when the solution is evaporated no red colour 
appears; but, on the contrary, a residuum of a yellowish colour is 
found. Hence therefore results a substance in many characters 
analogous to uric acid, but which in many other essential qua- 
lities is distinct from it. To this substance is also united that 
particular yellow matter which we have seen accompanying the 
supposed lactic acid. In decomposing with acetic acid its com- 
bination with potash, the acetate of potash which passes. the 
filter is coloured yellow. By removing this salt, and evaporating 
the residue, we obtain matter equal to that which was produced 
by washing the original brown mass, if the acid combined with 
the ammonia which it contains be removed. This peculiar yel- 
low matter is soluble in water and in alcohol, but in a much 
greater degree when hot than cold. By evaporating it slowly it 
Maintains its colour, and is reduced to a mass having a gummy 
appearance, which seems disposed to crystallize and readily at- 
tracts humidity. - But if it is evaporated more rapidly, placing it 
in a watch- glass over the flame of a lamp, and removed from 
the heat when it has acquired much consistence, it appears 
chiefly remote from the centre where it attains the colour and 
appearance of wax. If the heat be continued it burns, emitting 
the smell of animal matter; it swells extremely on being con- 
verted into charcoal, and finally, with a slight crack the whole 
is destroyed in an instant. Nitric acid poured on it rapidly de- 
composes, and the solution after some time yields a white gra- 
nular depasit; evaporated, it entirely changes into a white mass 
at first sufficiently hard, but afterwards attracts humidity, when 
it is very difficult to reduce it to charcoal by heat. It would 
be difficult to determine the precise moment when each of the 
above-mentioned atibstances begins to be formed; and we can only 

form 


on treating Uric with Nitrous Acid, &ec. 35 


form conjectures on the different appearances of colour, or the 
different odours, which are developed during the process. It 
would be equally difficult to ascertain, that with the same ele- 
ments of these substances there may not be formed, and after- 
wards destroyed, other peculiar combinations: The animal sub- 
stances are endowed with so much mobility, and suffer such no- 
table alterations in consequence of a small change in their parts, 
although imperceptible to the senses, that we need not be sur- 
prised if in this case some of them should have eseaped our at- 
tention. But without digressing from my subject, I can adduce 
examples in which nature betrays herself, and reveals in the mean 
time that in the course of her operations important changes are 
effected. These facts will not be reluctantly learned while they 
are accompanied by many interesting phenomena. 

It it well known that the solution of uric in dilute nitric acid, 
reduced to dryness and heated, has the property of communi- 
cating to bodies a deep red colour. This dye is therefore very 
soluble in water, and we may obtain from it a beautiful liquor 
of alight ruby colour*. Being provided with an abundant quan- 
tity of this liquor, I evaporated it to obtain the colouring mat- 
ter in a solid state. At a certain period of the process, the fire 
becoming somewhat strong, the rosy colour in an instant disap- 
peared, and was succeeded by a yellowish hue. This change has 
occurred every time I repeated the experiment. It appears 
that in this case even the water had a part, since we-know by 
other means this colouring matter may be obtained unaltered in 
asolid state. In seeking to discover some means of restoring 
the faded colour, I found that potash, ammonia, and lime an- 
swered this purpose, only the colour reproduced was more rosy 
and delicate. The potash in the smallest quantity produced the 
effect better than the others. In like manner it at the same 
time yielded a rosy precipitate, which when left to repose at- 
tracted all the colouring matter, and the solution remained. dis- 
coloured and alkaline. If, when the precipitate is immediately 
formed, it be collected on a filter and dried, it retains a delicate 
rose colour, interspersed with very minute shining points. Those 
points, which have a most agreeable effect in the light of the sun, 
are found even beyond the space where the colour extends. Lime 
yields a deeper colour, and when colJected on the filter has the 
appearance of velvet, and also presents brilliant points. 


* T have almost always used the washings of the red spots left on the 
skin by the above solvtion, and it is often very deep. The red residuum 
which is obtained by the heat of the fire makes the washing’s naturally more 
easy to be changed, or to differ from themselves. It is remarkable that such 
red liquors, when slowly evaporated, yield prismatic crystals, and dissolving 
anew in water, we again obtain a reddish liquor. i 


C2 Desirous 


36 Changes on treating Uric with Nitrous Acid. 


Desirous of assigning some reason for the change of colour im 
the red liquor in consequence of heat, many arguments induced 
me to suspect that it must be owing to the influence of an acid, 
In fact, the acids produce a similar effect; and if at first they are 
unable to do it, the assistance of heat renders them immediately 
capable of effecting it. Besides, the crystallized points which 
we found detached from the colouring matter have all the ap- 
pearance of a salt. It is certain that, if all that remains on the 
filter be burnt, the water which dashes the carbonaceous resi- 
duum has alkaline characters. 1 have also observed that potash 
revives the colour of the first reddish liquor, but scarcely sepa- 
rates any of the coloured flakes: lime produces a similar effect. 
I have likewise seen that the coloured precipitates were insolubie 
in water, but very soluble in very dilute sulphuric acid. It is 
singular that this solution is effected with a species of efferves- 
cence, which appears to me to be increased in proportion as the 
brilliant points are more numerous. Hitherto however I have 
obtained them in too small quantities, and too impure, to subject 
them to that particular examination which they merit. At pre~- 
sent, indeed, it appears to me that the above phenomena may 
receive a satisfactory explanation, supposing that the action of 
heat on the red liquor determines the formation of an acid, or 
puts it in astate to alter the colour in the above-mentioned man- 
ner; and that this acid may be scattered in very minute mole- 
cules, by uniting of which to a base, they may likewise give 
origin to those very small crystals. The solution, indeed, changed 
by heat, has a nauseous sweetish as well as acid taste, and does 
not sensibly redden the blue tincture of vegetables: but this may 
be attributed to the weakness of the supposed acid, in which the 
extraneous residuary matter may be more than sufficient to neu- 
tralize it. In obtaining the red colour by the aetion of fire, it 
was observed that, in finally drying, a yellow acid liquor destroyed 
the red colour previously formed as soon as it touched it. Neither 
are the metallic solutions inactive on this red liquor. Some 
make the colour yellow without affording a. precipitate, as for- 
instance, copper; others yield precipitates of the most beautiful 
colours, and separate all the colouring matter. Thus the solutions 
of silver, mercury and lead, vield sufficiently agreeable violet co- 
lours of different intensity, which fix themselves tenaciously on 
the paper in which they are collected. It is to be hoped that 
painting may derive something from such colours, as they serve 
to make sympathetic ink and other chemical sports. But it 
must be observed that they are changed as much by acids as by 
alkalies. In fact, the substance on “which depends the faculty 
of dissolving uric in nitrous acid, and of becoming red with heat, 
has all the characters of an acid, ’ 

Part 


On the Erythric Acid; &c. 27 


Parr I],—Having intimated the discovery of anew acid in the 
preceding part of this memoir, thanks to the care with which my 
father superintends my studies, 1 am now enabled to describe it 
more completely. This acid, as already observed, originates 
from the action of nitrous on uric acid, and is distinguished by 
the singular property of reddening when exposed to heat; for 
this reason I propose to call it erythric, from 2guégaivew, toredden, 
I now proceed to describe the properties of this new substance, 
but must observe, and regret, my imperfect success, as it is a com- 
pound which often changes and readily becomes of a quite dif- 
ferent nature; and hence my disappointment in sometimes not 
being able to give an exact account of all the phenomena, and 
sometimes being obliged to abandon certain subjects without any 
research, to avoid entering into a too extensive and difficult field, 
Nevertheless, I hope that my observations will he of some utility 
to those who may subsequently examine this complicated subject 
under more favourable circumstances. 


Mode of obtaining the Erythric Acid. 


1. 1 have already related Bergman’s observations on the rapid 
decomposition and deposit obtained by pouring nitrous acid on 
uric acid or urinary calculi. That deposit is the erythric acid, 
which I found disposed in regular figures; and to obtain it pure, 
the following is the easiest process to be adopted. Unite in the 
manner before mentioned the nitrous and uric acids; leave the 
mixture at rest until the numerous floating yellow flakes have 
settled at the bottom of the receiver ; then pour off the liquor, 
collect the solid part on blotting paper, and dry it as much as 
possible ; afterwards dissolve it in water, and evaporate it slowly 
im the airs by this method most beautiful crystals of pure ery- 
thric acid may be obtained. ‘Fhis liquor transmits nitrous va- 
pours, and also contains erythrie acid in solution. 

2. Chlorine, iodine, and oxalic acids with uric acid can give 
origin to this new acid. Put uric acid in a bottle full of chloric 
gas, it will instantly be decomposed, and a substance which 
tinges the skin of a lively red colour will be produced. In like 
manner, a mixture of uric acid with iodine, or with oxalic, acid 
exposed to the action of heat, a decomposition is seen to take 
place, and finally a bright rosy residuum is. produced. This 
appearance of colour indicates the formation of erythric acid, 


Characters of the Erythric Acid. 


3. The crystals of erythric acid have a rhomboidal form, are 
colourless and perfectly transparent ; their taste is at first pun- 
gent, and afterwards becomes sweetish; exposed to the light of 
the sun they redden, and preserved in paper they impart to it 

C3 mally 


38 On the Erythric Acid, Sc. 


many reddish spots ; exposed to heat they decrepitate, and also 
assume a red colour; left in contact with “dry air, they efforesce, 
lose their transparency and become white. When found in this 
state they do not redden on exposure to the solar light; and if 
deprived of their water of crystallization, and exposed to the fire, 
they become yellow, and burn without reddening. Hence'we 
may observe, that the presence of water is necessary in order to 
their becoming red. 

4. The crystals of erythric acid are very soluble in water and 
in aleohol, without either impairing the transparency or changing 
the eoleilr of those fluids. The watery solution has a sweetish 
taste, no smell ; but it appears that it acquires a smell in time, 
which may be the index of its being about to undergo some al- 
teration. It reddens the blue tincture of vegetables, and théir 
colour may be restored by the alkalies. Lime-water becoming 
turbid discovers the presence of the smallest quantity of erythric 
acid. 

5. The solution of erythric acid by spontaneous evaporation 
in the shade, crystallizes again without being altered: but if 
rapidly evaporated it becomes a solid red coloured mass, which 
is revived on dissolving in water, of which it colours a great 
quantity. In like manner the erythric liquid tinges the skin 
and other bodies red, more promptly than usual with the common 
solution of uric in nitrous acid. 

6. To discover if in the act of changing any peculiar substance 
was evolved, the erythric acid was distilled with a strong fire. 
It does not hoil out at a high temperature. Towards the con- 
clusion of the evaporation, it became yellowish, afterwards red ; 
but no product could be found in the simple water which was 
distilled. 

7. In the solution of erythric acid héaaehba at the fire, a small 
portion only of the acid suffered change. In fact, the smallest 
drop renders turbid a great quantity of lime-Wwater and if by 
evaporation the solvent water is diminished, we see the erythric 
acid depositing itself. It is not, however, the same when the 
red solution is obtained by washing the spots left by erythric acid 
en the skin, cloth, &c.; in this vase the erythric acid appears 
almost entirely altered, and lime-water scarcely discovers its 
existence, presenting after some time a thin net on its surface. 

8. The cclouring matter which reddens the erythric acid may 
he dissipated by heat. In fact, if the erythric acid be reddened 
in a watch- -glass over the fame of alamp, “afterwards dissolved in 
water and again exposed to the same heat, beautiful red vapours 
are seen rising, particularly at night, and the fiuid loses its co- 
lour. This fluid is found to be erythric acid, which may be again 
reddened, If the red liquor b e rapidly heated 3 in a retort, it loses 

its 


On the Erythric Acid, &e. 39 


its colour, and furnishes a fluid of a faint rose colour, and of a 
sweetish taste, which does not render Jime-water turbid. 

9. 'The red erythric acid in more or less time loses its colour, 
and in its stead usually yields white flakes. But if in obtaining 
the redness the heat be stronger than necessary, the red erythric 
acid changes colour much more easily and becomes yellow. This 
change, indeed, takes place instantaneously with the prolonged 
action of the fire; a strong smell of bitter almonds is then 
evolved, which is communicated to water in which the residuum 
is dissolved. | This proves that carbon, azote, and hydrogen, as 
was easy to be imagined, enter into the composition of erythric 
acid. t 

10. The circumstances therefore of the formation of erythric 
acid not only induce the belief that it also contains oxygen, but 
that it contains it in an abundant quantity, so much and so rapid 
is the decomposition of nitrous on uric acid required to produce it. 
Moreover, it appears from the circumstances already mentioned, 
that the erythric acid acquires the red colour in consequence of 
a slight change effected in some one of its constituent parts, in 
which likewise water necessarily concurs. These considerations 
led me to try the action of the Galvanic pile on erythric acid, 
hoping by such means to throw some light on the unknown che- 
mical changes that accompany the formation of the red colour. 


Effect of the Galvanic Pile on Erythric Acid. 


11. The pile which I used consisted of sixty pair of metallic 
plates with a superficies of two inches and ahalf square. At the 
negative pole a tumbler filled with a solution of erythric acid was 
placed, and another with distilled water at the positive pole. A 
platina wire communicating with the respective poles was im- 
mersed in the tumblers, between which passed a piece of amianth 
moistened with distilled water. The electric current was scarce! 
put in motion, when a phenomenon appeared which anaieated 
that this experiment should succeed in the highest degree. Many 
bubbles of gas arose from the positive pole where the water was, 
and none, or scarcely one, and that with difficulty, issued from the 
other pole with the erythric acid. After about an hour the acid 
began to become yellow, and with the usual gradation of colour 
observed when the fire acted on it: finally, it acquired a deep red 
colour. After some time the disengagement of gas appeared 
copious even at the negative pole, but never so much as it was 
at the other. Although the erythric acid was become of a deep 
red colour, yet there existed a great quantity unaltered in the 
solution, but which after twenty-four hours was considerably 
‘iminished in volume. A portion also of the erythric acid was 
transported to the positive pole, as was indicated by lime-water. 

, The 


40 On the Erythric Acid, Be. 


platina wire at the positive pole became of a yellow colour, and 
that at the negative was almost covered with a crust of red co- 
louring matter. | 

12. The experiment was afterwards reversed, that is to say, 
a solution of erythric acid, reddened either by the pile or by heat, 
was placed at the positive pole, and pure water at the negative, 
arranged as before. The development of gas appeared from 
both poles. After.a longer time than that which it had employed 
to redden, the liquor began to diminish in colour, and finally 
became, as at first, colourless. It was pleasing to see on the 
amianth a light rosy tint which terminated in a beautiful little 
red ring: it was insensibly moved towards the negative pole, and 
the tumbler of the positive pole was also marked by red rings or 
bands at the part towards the other pole and near the amianth. 
Changing the position of the tumblers, putting to the positive 
water, and to the negative acid without colour, the latter red- 
dened and the colour vanished on the amianth. 

13. These experiments seem to prove that the change in the 
red colouring matter of the erythric acid proceeded from the 
loss of oxygen which the acid sustained. Indeed at the negative 
pole, where it reddens, is the precise point where the developing 
hydrogen can subtract from it this principle ; and from the posi- 
tive pole the colouring matter is carried in the state of alkali to 
the other pole. 

14. I have found another proof which confirt ms the opinion 
that the appearance of the red colour in erythric acid depends 
on the cause here assigned. Immersing red-hot iron nails in 
this acid, the red colour is immediately seen to appear. I also 
hoped to obtain a similar change with phosphorus. I put a small 
piece in erythric acid, and left it at the light of the sun; in the 
fluid no notable colour appeared, and the phosphorus only ac- 
quired a violet hue. Neither was the action of fire fit in this 
case to make the fluid become red. 


Erythrats of Lime and Barytes. 


15. Erythric acid poured into lime-water, as before observed, 
makes it very turbid; with the addition however of fresh erythric 
acid it is dissolved, but not with that of any other acid although 
weak, not even the carbonic acid, which is capable of decom- 
posing the erythrat of lime, This salt is found in the form of 
light, white flakes, which are seen suspended in the fluid, and 
even rise to the surface if any extraneous substance is found 
in it. 

16. This erythrat of lime has scarcely remained any time in 
contact with the air, when it experiences a change. It is found 
(vat at its expense a carbonat is formed, judging from the vivid 

effervescence 


On the Erythric Acid, ec: 4\ 


effervescence which takes place when dilute sulphuric acid is 
poured on it. 

‘17. Dissolving the erythrat of lime in an excess of acid, a trans- 
parent, tasteless fluid is obtained. The oxalic acid discovers 
the lime, but to that carbonic acid must not be added; the al- 
kaline carbonats however immediately render it turbid. Alco- 
hol produces a similar effect, but it appears that it separates the 
nentral erythrat. The acidulous salt slowly evaporated yields 
crystals, in which the acids produce no effervescence whatever. 
The solution of these crystals dees not become turbid with lime- 
water, and it has lost all the characters of the original salt. It 
being necessary to examine the changes which occur in erythric 
acid when united to bases, we must leave for the present the in- 
vestigation of this phenomenon. 

18. A drop of erythric acid produces a copious precipitate in 
barytic water. This erythrat presents phenomena analogous to 
those before observed in erythrats of lime. The erythric acid 
decomposes rapidly the sulphuret of barytes, and yields a violet 
colour. 

Erythrats of Potash and of Soda. 

19. Caustic potash immersed in the erythric liquid produces 
no precipitate, nor any remarkable change of colour; but their 
combination has a very sweet taste. The erythrat of potash 
renders lime-water turbid, and precipitates some metallic solu- 
tions, such as that of lead and silver, in white coagulated matter 5 
on the contrary, with others it forms soluble coloured compounds, 
among which are distinguished the products from the solutions 
of iron by their beautiful blue colours. 

20. The erythrat of potash changes its nature very easily. In 
fact, on examining it some time after it was formed, it was found 
that from being neutral, or even somewhat alkaline, it had be- 
come acidulous, as was indicated by turnsole; nor would it yield 
a blue colour with the salts of iron, unless some drops of potash 
were newly added. 

21. The same and perhaps still more rapid changes take 
place, if the neutral erythrat be exposed to the light of the sun. 
In this state it is generally seen to become yellowish, and after- 
wards to redden. Removed from the solar light, and after a time, 
it loses the colour it had aé¢quired ; but if it remains exposed to 
that light it finally becomes a solid mass, sweet, of a lively red, 
and possessing much tenacity; dissolved iu water, it gives to the 
liquid its beautiful colour. This red liquor does not so easily 
Jose its colour by the action of the fire, as happens when it has 
no potash; but for this effect it is necessary to add much water, 

22. The action of a moderate fire accelerates the above effects, 
the red hue appearing and becoming still deeper. ‘Towards the 

. conclusion 


42 On the Erythric Acid, Sc. 


conclusion of the evaporation, if the fire ceases to act, a very te- 
nacious sweet mass is obtained ; but if the fire be continued, an 
abundant red spume is produced. This spume dissolves rapidly 
in water, disengaging numerous bubbles, and communicating the 
usual red colour: in alcohol it is searcely soluble. 

23. That the erythrat of potash is subject to an almost im- 
mediate change, is confirmed even by another proof. Putting 
potash on the erystals of erythric acid, ‘they are dissolved; neutral 
erythrats are produced in ‘the state of a white powder, whieh if 
left in contact with the air spontaneously reddens. In water, with 
which however it has not much affinity, it furnishes a-solution 
which yields a blue colour with salts of iron; after some time it 
loses this property, and re-acquires it by means of the addition of 
fresh potash. But that which evidently demonstrates the change 
which take place, is the fact that, after ‘the lapse of several hours, 
the deposit which was before in a great measure insoluble in'wa- 
ter, becomes entirely dissolved if a small quanity of water be kept 
over it. This new solution requires the addition of potash to 
produce the blue colour with salts of iron. 

24. The same things are produced, if instead of caustic potash 
carbonat be used. The erythric acid has the power of develop- 
ing carbonic acid, and hence originates an alkaline erythrat, which 
like the others is subject to equal changes. Analogous pheno- 
mena are obtained with carbonat of soda; the erythrat of soda 
differs from that of potash in having a pungent taste, whereas 
the erythrat of potash i is sweet. 

25. From these it may be concluded, that erythric acid in 
contact with potash gives origin toa new acid endowed with a 
greater capacity of saturation, producing at the same time a pe- 
culiar matter which occasionally manifests itself with a red co- 
lour ; circumstances which lead to the suspicion that the new 
acid may be even more oxygenated than the erythric. Let us 
see if the action of alcohol gives greater importance to this con- 
jecture. 

26. The erythrat of potash is so much the less soluble in al- 
cohol the more it is aikaline.. Thus, if in aleohol which contains 
dissolved potash erythric acid be poured, an abundant precipitate 
appears, which is speedily dissolved by the addition of a little 
more erythric acid, and again reappears by adding fresh alcohol. 
This, therefore, does not alter the erythrat of potash in which 
the acid is in excess. The alcohol precipitating the erythrat 
deposits beautiful arborizations, which are formed of uniform 
shining crystals. These rapidly dissolve in water, and give it a 
sweetish taste. The solution is highly alkaline, does not preci- 
pitate lime-water, nor give a blue colour with solutions of iron ; 
jt acquires in no manner a red colour, aid contains, indeed, an 

, ; acid 


On the Erythric Acid, Be. 43 


acid very different from the erythric. Alcohol keeps dissolved a 
peculiar matter which is discovered by evaporation. If the ac- 
tion of the heat be not too strong, it leaves a colourless mass’ 
which is very tough; otherwise it isreduced toavery white spume, 
as we have seen occurring in the erythrat of potash, where the 
alkali was in excess*. This spume dissolves in water, evolving 
many bubbles, and burns with all the phenomena which accom- 
pany the combustion of animal substances. 

27. If, instead, alcohol be poured on erythrat of potash already 
altered, in this case it also becomes turbid, notwithstanding its 
acidity. The crystals which it produces are cubic, and dissolve 
in water. The solution is sweet, neutral, and, like the ‘cthers, 
presents no phenomena which could induce the belief that ery- 
thric acid is present. In such cases, the alcohol with evaporatiou 
at the fire becomes red,and is finally converted into a red spuine. 

28. The erythrat of potash reddened by heat becomes violet 
with the addition of fresh potash}: thus the red erythric acid 
takes the same colour by adding to it an excess of potash. This 
combination left in the air loses its colour and crystallizes, giving 
origin to a salt similar to that which is obtained by means of al- 
cohol. In like manner, if an alkaline solution of an alkalinule 
erythrat of potash be left to evaporate, we obtain crystalline 
groups of the same salt, that are involved in a glutinous matter. 


Erythrat of Ammonia. 


29. We recognise in this erythrat, phenomena analogous to 
those which were observed in the preceding. In adding am- 
monia to erythric acid, the union is accompanied by no sensible 
phenomenon. ‘This salt precipitates ‘with lime, vields a blue 
with solution of iron, but after a time loses this property, which 
fresh ammonia restores: exposed to the sun it reddens. 

30. Ammonia poured on crystals of erythric acid dissolves it, 
and it becomes yellow; afterwards it spontaneously grows turbid, 
deposits yellow flakes, and remains of a rose colour, transmitting 
at the same time a peculiar disagreeable odour. Those yellow 
flakes dissolve in water, and give it a rosy colour; the solution 
possesses slightly the property of colouring salts of iron, and af- 
terwards loses it. 


* It is remarkable that the solid erythrat of potash, which often sponta- 
neously reddens, yields a neutral solution, which does not redden on ex- 
posure to heat, but also produces this very white spume. 

+ The addition of ammonia to red erythrat of potash produced a very sur- 
prising phenomenon; it developed a disagreeable odour, and immediately, 
or after some time, yielded a black powder mixed with a substance which ex- 
posed to the light of the sun presented the beautiful green colour of the 
emerald. This singular change sometimes did not succeed, for which I can 
assign no reason, | 


Erythrat 


44 On the Erythrie Acid, Bc. 


Erythrat of Iron. 


Sl. Erythric acid combined with iron presents so numerous 

and variable phenomena, that te explain them would require 
exclusively a long study. Boiling erythric acid over iron filings, 
the metal dissolves, and the solution varies in colour according to 
the concentration of the acid, and the action more or less strong 
of the fire. Thus sometimes it is yellow, sometimes purple, and 
sometimes of a most beautiful blue colour. The latter however 
it acquires in every case, by means of adding an alkali, which 
does not produce any other precipitate. 
_ 82. Similar combinations are obtained by boiling erythric acid 
over black oxide of iron. It seems, however, that in such a case 
we canuot immediately obtain the blue colour, but always if it 
had the citron yellow. ‘To have that colour, the addition of an 
alkali is also necessary: after some time, indeed, the blue dis- 
appears, and a colour similar to the first returns. pia 

33. Erythrat of iron concentrated by heat leaves green bands 
and deposits yellow grains, which with slow evaporation may 
also be crystallized in close prisms. It is worthy of remark, 
that in this erythrat,what the heat of the fire cannot do, that of 
the sun can ; that is, communicate to it the blue colour. It is 
however fugitive, the yellow colour returns, and is ready to again 
become blue if exposed to alkali or the sun, and in these changes 
only a black powder is seen to be deposited. Erythrat of iron 
long exposed to the action of the sun is entirely in blackish 

natter, from which water is tinged red. 

34. Erythric acid unites even cold with peroxide of iron: this 
solution has a yellow colour : if it be deep, alkali in a small dose 
produces a turbid coagulation, which on the addition of alkali 

_dissolves and becomes blue. This coagulated matter, if left a 
long time quiet, spontaneously dissolves, and a yellowish matter 
reappears. 

35. The erythrats of iron exposed to the electric current at 
the negative pole, cover the platina wire with a blue crust which 
afterwards tinges the whole liquid. This singular fact unites 
these phenomena with those which we have before observed in 
the simple erythric acid, and demonstrates that the various co- 
lourings to which this acid is subject, depend on a common cause 
modified by the bodies with which it is found in contact. 

36. These experiments, although very incomplete, seem to 
me sufficient to show, that the blue colour which often accom- 
panies the erythrats of iron is not a property of these, but most 
likely it belongs to a substance generated in the act in which the 
erythric acid changes into that other acid of which we have be- 
fore spoken. In the passage of one acid to another On gaaS 

i 


On the Erythric Acid, Be. 45 


if I may use the expression, a secretion which in company with 
the erythrats of iron often tinges blue. It is with much reason 
that the alkalies make this colour appear, as they expressly pro- 
mote such a secretion, which in their union with erythric acid is 
accustomed to manifest itself by a rose colour. 

37. It is very probable that the alkalies with erythrats of iron 
may constitute triple salts; this may also happen with other 
metallic erythrats, as will presently appear. The triple prussiat 
of potash and the decoction of galls discover iron, from the ery- 
thric solutions producing the customary colours*. s 


Erythrat of Lead, 


38. I have already observed that the erythrat of potash de- 
composes the solution of lead, and forms a white precipitate. 
A similar precipitate is likewise obtained from the same solution 
decomposed by the erythrat of potash, in which the acid is said 
to be altered. We shall now see if we can directly obtain these 
two different species of erythrat of lead, which will confirm our 
opinion on the mode with which erythric acid acts with bases. 

39. Pouring erythric acid on litharge, it is only necessary te 

agitate them a little in order to produce their combination. 
Thick clouds are seen in the liquid, and the erythrat of lead, 
which is precipitated, is insoluble in acetic acid, and even in an 
excess of erythric acid itself. If this erythrat of lead be decom- 
posed by sulphat of iron, and potash be afterwards added to it, 
the blue colour is cbtained. 
_ 40. But if the turbid fluid obtained by agitating erythric acid 
with litharge be exposed to heat, after a slight ebullition the tur+ 
bidness disappears, and the solution assumes a red colour. Con- 
tinuing to boil it, the turbidness returns, and deposits a white 
powder, which is the erythrat of lead in which the acid is altered. 
‘The red liquor has a considerable quantity of it.in solution, but 
simple water dissolves much less; therefore the red liquor with 
the addition of sulphat of iron and potash gives the blue colour, 
which is not produced by the aqueous solution. 

41. From the second erythrat of lead may be extracted that 
acid which is generated at the expense of the erythric. This salt 
miay be decomposed with dilute sulphuric acid in such a manner 


* Whence is it that muriatic or hydrochloric acid, boiled on the most pure 
ric acid, gives a blue colour with triple prussiat of potash to such a degree 
as to create the belief that urtc acid always contains iron? Can it ever be 
that these two acids should produce the same blue substance which was 
ebserved in the erythrats of iron? [shall only observe that Schevle’s as- 
sertion of muriatic acid boiling on uric acid without any alteration, does not 
seem very correct. If the experiment be made, it wili be found that caustic 
potash will devélop from uric acid a very distinat odeur of ammonia, which 
is a proot of its being In some degree altered. 


that, 


46 “On the Erythric Acid, €'e. 
that no turbidness results from the above solution of lead, nor 
any other of this metal; thus a colourless liquid of a pungent 
acid taste will be obtained. It reddens turnsole, but does not 
render lime-water turbid; united with potash, having acquired a 
sweet taste, it becomes insoluble in alechol, and in a word pos- 
sesses all those characters which belong to erythrat of potash 
spontaneously altered. 

42. Erythric acid also attacks metallic lead, making the for- 
mer boil on the latter’: the acid after some time reddens y and it 
is discovered by sulphuric acid, that it contains lead in solution. 


Other metallic Erythrats. 

43. Erythric acid agitated with red oxide of mercury becomes 
turbid, and much more so by the action of fire. In time no 
colour appears in this, the salt is deposited in the progress of 
evaporation, and the liquid abandons it copiously in cooling ; of 
the mercurial salt a very little remains in solution, and the pre- 
cipitate is then entirely insoluble in distilled water. 

.44, In asimilar manner the evythric acid acts with oxide of sil- 
ver. Boiled also on the flowers of zine,it dissolves the metal. with- 
out changing colour, aud becomes very turbid in cooling. Boiling 
it on the contrary over metallic zinc, it assumes a yellow colour 
on uniting with it. Potash at first produces a precipitate in this 
solution ; but afterwards on adding it, the whole dissolves, and 
takes a beautiful rose colour. 

45. Erythrie acid boiled over copper acquires a yellow colour 
without dissolving any. It unites however in the cold way with 
the brown oxide. The erythrat of copper has a green colour ; 
it crystallizes elegantly in the form of the plumage of feathers, 
gives a blue colour with ammonia, and, what is very singular, 
likewise yields a blue colour even with potash without ‘producing 
any precipitate. Thus, potash forms with the solutions of me- 
tallic erythrats combinations still soluble, which renders it pre- 
- sumable that a triple salt is formed. 

CoNncLUuSION. 

46. No one who considers the effects of nitrous on uric acid 
can see them without surprise at the multitude of products which 
are derived from them. The greater part of these, however, is 
the fruit more naturally peeuliar to other bodies; on the other 
hand, erythric acid is that which exclusively belongs to. the de- 
composition of uric acid; and hence is the more ‘valuable and 
eminent product. Erythric acid is a substance so singular for 
its physical changes, rather than for its chemical properties, that 
the lovers of the natural. sciences will willingly make it the object 
of their study. In these observations I only proposed to myself to 


recognise and account fot the principal phenomena which . 
thric 


, 


Account of an electrical Increaser. 47 


thrie acid presents; many others remain to be noticed which my 
limited time did not permit. I have demonstrated that the red- 
dening of erythric acid depends on a loss of oxygen; that in the 
union of this acid with bases the same modified causes produce 
various colours, and that contemporaneously the erythric acid is 
transformed into another peculiar acid. Though these facts are 
not perhaps in all parts proved with the highest rigour, yet 1 
hope that they have such a degree of probability, that chemists 
will not refuse to admit their truth, until new researches shall 
demonstrate their fallacy. 
APPENDIX. 

In the first part of this memoir | have noticed some pheno- 
mena which occurred in the red washings of the spots made by a 
soluticn of uric in nitrous acid. Now that erythric acid is known, 
it is much easier to account for these. 1 had then observed that 
the washings exposed toa strong fire lost their colour. This, in- 
deed, ought to take place, heat having the power of dissipating 
or destroying the red colouring matter (5:9). I have then found 
that the alkalies and earths renew this colour. This may be easily 
explained, admitting that the very small quantity of erythric acid 
(7) which remains in those solutions is found disposed to be- 
come altered from the bases, and hence to produce new colour- 
ing matter (21). Finally, I have remarked that some metallic 
solutions precipitate the colouring matter, rendering it of a vio- 
let colour, and others make it yellow without producing a preci- 
pitate: for this | cannot adduce any plausible reason, and only 
consider that the solutions of those metals, which with ervthric 
acid produce insoluble salts, are those which precipitate the co- 
louring matter. Of the rest, I must frankly confess that the 
above-mentioned appearance and disappearance of colours are 
not always constant: this, however, in such compound and vo- 
luble substances is not very surprsing. 


VI. Account of an electrical Increaser for the unerring Mani- 
festation of small Portions of the Electric Fluid. Invented 
by Henry Urtneror, Esq. of Blair’s Hill, Cork. Com- 
municated ly Dr. PEARSON. 


Letter from Mr. Upington to Dr. Pearson. 
Blair’s Hill, Cork, Feb. 24, 1817. 

Sir, — Tue electrical increaser for the unerring manifestation 
of exceedingly weak and small portions of the electric fluid, re- 
specting which I took the liberty of addressing you on the 4th 
instant, was constructed by myself in the year 1510, for my pri- 
vate experiments; and at the same time I communicated its 

properties 


48 Account of an electrical Increaser for the unerring 


properties to the late Earl Stanhope, in the course of a correspon- 
dence with which for many years he had honoured me. 

I am very much obliged by your polite offer of presenting Mr. 
Tilloch with certain explanatory extracts from my letters to his 
Lordship upon this subject ; which extracts I now inclose you, to- 
gether with a drawing of the increaser. 

Earl Stanhope, after reading my letters *¢ with attention,’ was 
pleased to consider the instrument of ‘ great utility ;”’ and I shall 
feel much gratification should it be so esteemed by you, sir, as 
well as by every other scientific person for whose perusal this 
paper is intended. ; 
I have the honour to be, sir, 

Your most obedient servant, 
George Pearson, Esq. Hewry UPINGTON, 
M.D. F.R.S., London. 


Extracts from Mr. U.’s Letters to Eari Stanhope. 
«Blair's Hill, Cork, Oct. 12, 18T0. 

“ Your Lordship must no doubt be aware, that although our 
most improved condensers [composed of two parallel perpendi- 
cular metallic plates of six inches diameter each, one insulated, 
the other not ; connected at’ pleasure with two similar plates of 
one inch and a half diameter each, attached to a gold-leaf elec- 
trometer] will discover the existence of exceedingly weak and 
diffused electricity (atmospheric for instance), yet a minute por- 
tion of excited fluid, such as that produced by the contact of 
two small pieces of metal, too weak to affect an electrometer, 
must require the assistance of an increaser to manifest its pre- 
sence. 

“* Your Lordship must also be aware, that every instrument 
of this kind hitherto invented, including even Cavallo’s among 
the number, is so very defective as scarcely to merit our con- 
sideration ; while that species of multiplier called a doubler is 
totally useless, affording, as it does, the most equivocal results. 
The ingenious philosophical instrument-maker Mr. Cuthbertson 
was indeed so sensible of the inefficacy of every known doubler 
and multiplier, that he has not even hinted at either ¢erm in his 
recent publication called “* Practical Electricity.” An instru- 
tent, therefore, to answer this desirable end has much engaged 
my attention; and I have the pleasure to. say that [ have suc- 
eceded to my wish. 

“ To give your Lordship a comprehensive idea of its pro- 
perties, I shall view it in a three-fold capacity, viz. as a source, 
a carrier, and a reservoir; the stationary brass plate A of one 
inch and three quarters diameter, vertically erected on a varnished 
glass pedestal, serving as the source ; a revolving insulated brass 

’ plate 


Manifestation of small Portions of the Electric Fluid. 49 


plate B of same diameter serving as the carrier; and the com- 
bined condensers cC (the former one inch and three quarters, 
the latter six inches in diameter) as the reservoir. 

“In using this instrument, it is obvious that the subject in- 
tended for examination must be breaght in contact with the 
source A, where the fluid thus communicated will undergo, if 
the air be dry and the insulation good, but very little dissipation 
for a minute and upwards. Every time the carrier B_ passes by 
(that is, directly opposite and within a suitable distance of) this 
Source, the projecting pin of B the carrier must touch the little 
lever of the perpendicular uninsulated brass rod D, and part it 
instantaneously: thus, without depriving the source of any por- 
tion of its fluid, there is imparted to the carrier an apparently 
equa} portion of the opposite electricity, which it deposits on the 
combined reservoir cC by lifting the projecting lever of the 
smaller plate c. 

“¢ | have made repeated experiments with this instrument, and 
found that ifthe reservoir C be full six inches diameter and pro- 
perly adjusted, the combined reservoir ¢C will retain, provided 
the communicated electricity be sufficiently weak, about 250 
deposits: but here it should be observed, that if the surface 
of the body presented to the sowrce for examination, be great, 
and its electricity weak, thé carrier should be set directly oppo- 
site the source, while the contact is made ;—the source and car- 
rier forming thus, in conjunction, a small condenser.” 

«December 13, 1810. 

“In reply to your Lordship’s observations, I can assure you 
that I have left nothing undone to bring this instrument to all 
possible perfection. 1 found by repeated trials that about 250 
deposits were the absolute me plus ultra. When more were at- 
tempted, so as to attain the complete maximum of the reservoir, 
the instrument appeared less perfect, the result being sometimes 
equivocal ; for do what we please, the electric substances which 
must necessarily be used to insulate the plates, will on certain 
occasions retain for a considerable time a sufficient residuum to 
affect our electrometer: how, therefore, should the communi- 
cated electricity be distinguished from the zzherent ? Upon no 
occasion, then, should the operator proceed without previously 
ascertaining what number of revolutions may, at that time, be 
commanded, I recollect, one frosty day, to have produced spon- 
taneous electricity (whether from the air, the earth, or pillars, I 
cannot teil,) by 230 deposits, which consequently obliged me to 
Jimit my revolutions to 200, during an experiment which I was 
then performing. 

* From all the foregoing facts it would appear, my Lord, that 
a larger reservoir than that of C would be quite unnecessary, the 

Vol, 52, No,243, July 1818. D com- 


50 Account of an Electrical Increaser for the unerring 


communication of too great a number of deposits having no cther 
tendency than that of marring our operations. The size of my 
present one, as I have already said, is about six inches in diame- 
ter ; and even with ¢his, the pillars must neither be over-heated 
nor rubbed: while, to fit the instrument immediately for a se- 
cond experiment, it will be necessary to touch every plate (all 
the plates are unvarnished brass] for at least a dozen seconds, 
with a similar metallic substance. 

“TI must not close this letter without pointing out to your 
Lordship a striking circumstance which for a long time escaped 
my observation. If the electricity communicated to the source 
be tolerably zzéense, it will be almost if not wholly imperceptible: 
it will overcome the resistance opposed by the plate of air, strike 
the carrier, and pass into the earth. A small piece of well ex- 
cited sealing-wax would, in most instances, overcome a plate of 
air of one inch diameter and perhaps one-sixth of an inch in 
thickness. For the most delicate experiments, | should consider 
the one-fortieth of an inch about the distance best suited. This 
will discover the electricity of a piece of glass when moderately 
heated,—for heat, beyond denial, as this instrument will prove, 
excites to action the electric fluid in bodies of almost every de- 
scription, Cold, as every electrician knows, produces an oppo- 
site effect: Water frozen to 13° below 0 upon Fahrenheit, be- 
comes an electric. 

“© May not these well-ascertained facts be more closely ap- 
plied than usual to the doctrine of thunder ? and should we not 
therefore look to the torrid and frigid zones for the grand solu- 
tion of the phenomenon ?” 


Explanation of the Plate. 


» COLOURS. 
Brass unvarnished—represented by the yellow. 
Glass varnished ove os «. black. 
Mahogany .. — wie -. brown. 


Parts of the Instrument. 

A, The source, a brass plate (one inch and three quarters dia- 
meter) to which the body for examination is applied. 

B. The revolving carrier, a brass plate (one inch and three*quar- 
ters diameter) which drawing the electric fluid from the 
scurce, without impoverishing that scurce, deposits the 
fluid so drawn upon the reservoir. 

cC. The combined reservoir, likewise brass, the smaller plate ¢ 
being one itch and three quarters diameter, the larger C 
six inches. The accumulated fluid must be ultimately 
concentrated upon the’smaller one, by a process similar to 
that observed in using the ordinary combined condensers. 

D, A brass 


Manifestation of small Portions of the Electric Fluid. 51 


D, A brass pillar whose lever is depressed by the carrier B in 
its revolutions. 

E. A multiplying wheel—very useful—to obviate, as much as 
possible, the effects of dissipation. 

FF. The brass plates between which the carrier is mounted. 

G. A countervailing weight, to render the movement of the 
carrier both light and equable. 

H. A glass pillar; by taking hold of whose handle I, the hind 
plate of the smaller reservoir c may, when necessary, be 
turned backward. The elevated position of this pillar is 
most important; the ascending humidity of the hand, so 
fatal to all delicate experiments, and to which our ordinary 
condensing electrometers are subject, being thus avoided. 
On packing up the instrument, this pillar should be un- 
screwed, and taken from off the plate. 

i. The handle of the glass pillar H just described. 

K. A brass rod suspended from the hind plate of the smaller 
reservoir c, to which itis screwed. This rod is connected 
with, and disengaged from, the earth at pleasure, by means 
of the horizontal brass lever L, which turns from right to 
left upon a centre pin. 

L. The horizonatal brass lever just mentioned. 

M. A gold-leaf electrometer, by which the accumulated fluid is 

" _ examined. A rounded pin, which insures its temporary com- 
munication with the larger reservoir C, is concealed from 
the eye. The chain, though bright, by which it was acci- 
dentally connected with the smaller c at the time of draw- 
ing, is much inferior to a polished wire when delicate ex- 
periments are in question. 


At the back of this instrument, iti the base, adjusting screws 
are properly stationed to regulate the necessary distances be- 
tween all the parallel plates; while, for the security of the hind 
plates of C and c, which may be turned backward by means of 
hinges attached to their respective bases, two suitable stops are 
introduced, 

For the examination of atmospheric and every other kind of 
Giffused electricity which yields a sufficient guanéity, the com- 
bined reservoir c C may, when the operator pleases, be employed 
alone in the usual manner, like our ordinary condensers. 


N. A glass pillar supporting a horizontal brass rod, which rod 
is situate at some distance behind all the plates. 

OOO. The last-mentioned horizontal brass rod, occasionally con- 
nected by a chain or spiral brass wire with the back of 
the source A; thus enabling the operator (the electrome- 
ter being always in such case withdrawn from the larger 


D2 reservoir 


On the New Astronomical Circle at Greenwich. 


cy 
Li) 


reservoir C *), to throw back, by contact, the whole con- 
tents of the stnaller ¢ upon the sowrce; converting the in- 
strument, by this process, into a species of doubler. These 
latter parts of the instrument, N and OOO, must how- 
ever be considered as mere objects of curiosity: all 
doubling operations (no matter what number of revolutions 
are employed) being subject to equivocal results. 


* C may be said, in this instance, not to appertain to the instryment. 


—— 


VII. On the New Astronomical Circle at Greenwich. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — On referring to the article “ Transit Circle,” in Dr. 
Rees’s new Cyclopedia, I found the following observations re- 
Jative to the new astronomical circle which was, a few years ago, 
fitted up by Mr. Troughton for the Royal Observatory at Green- 
wich. ‘ Mr. Pond has already published one volume of Obser- 
vations taken with this instrument, and has therein given a plan 
and section of the circle, which is six feet two inches in diame- 
ter. But, as Mr. Troughton intends to give a complete descrip- 
tion thereof, himself, as a paper suitable for the Philosophical 
Transactions, which, to be published therein, must be an ori- 
ginal communication, Mr. Pond was not at liberty to describe 
the drawing which he has given as a frontispiece to his first 
volume.” And the writer goes on to state (what may be readily 
anticipated by any onc), that as Mr. Pond had not thought pro- 
per to describe the circle, he (the writer) of course was pre- 
vented altogether from giving any description of it. 

Why Mr. Pond was not at liberty to give a description of am 
instrument which was in his own possession, and which in fact 
belonged to him, in his official capacity, does not appear; but 
I should conceive it was merely a matter of courtesy between 
him and Mr. Troughton. As several years however have now 
elapsed, and Mr. Troughton has not given the promised descrip- 
tion, it is presumed that the same reserve is not now necessary. 
Indeed, I have been informed that Mr. Pond has recently fur- 
nished the French with @ complete drawing and description of 
this instrument ; and that this circumstance had great weight in 
the distribution of the medals with which the astronomer royal 
has been lately honoured. ‘This, if true, surely requires some 
explanation; and, if not true, ought to be.formally contradicted. 
The instruments at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich are 
furnished at the public expense ; and the Government have, with 
a munificence unequalled in former times, provided that esta- - 

blishment 


On Chemical Philosophy. 53 


blishment with many costly instruments. As the public money 
therefore has paid for these things, the public (I mean the Bri- 
dish public, and not the people in France) have a right to know 
how that money has been expended: and J] am persuaded that 
no scientific person will regret that a portion of the public ex- 
penditure of the country has been appropriated in this way. I 
am sure however that every person will regret that any informa- 
tion upon those subjects, for which he has so dearly paid, should 
be withholden from fis own country and given to another. My. 
Pond must be aware that there are many scientific persons in 
England, who are desirous of seeing a more detailed account of 
the astronomical circle above mentioned, and who cannot gather 
that information from the partial account which he has at pre- 
sent thought fit to publish: and it would have been more satis- 
factory to them to see such a description first published in ¢his 
couvtry, than first to meet with it as an appendage to some of 
the future volumes of the Connaissance des Tems, or as a pro- 
minent article in one of the foreign journals, 
J am, sir, your obedient servant, 
July 14, 1818, ARISTARCHUS, 


VIII. On Chemical Philosophy. By Mr. Martuew ALian, 


Lecturer. 
{Continued from vol. li, p. 432,] 


: Essay VI. 

{ SAID in the last Essay, that it was necessary to be still more 
particular, in order to prove that the differences in phenomena 
arise not from different powers, but from the substances and cir- 
cumstances, and the quantity and intensity of one power acting 
pon or in them ;—that it was necessary to prove, by particular 
detailed explanations, that there is but ‘‘one grand agent in nature, 
which creates or destroys, unites or separates, preserves or diver- 
sifies, the forms of matter.” And what can be more evident } 
Every body, in changing its form of existence, changes also its 
capacity for heat or for this power, or its capability to contain 
or retain a greater or less quantity. The difference of capacity, 
between these different states of existence, is exactly equal to the 
quantity necessary to produce the change, and of course to sup- 
port the change of existence it has itself produced. For instance; 
If one pound of water heated to 172° will only melt one pound 
of ice, and be itself reduced to the same temperature, that of 32°, 
then water at 32° contains 140° more of caloric than ice at the 
sane temperature; and if so, it is evident that 140° of ealoric 
disappear and become latent in the solution and conversion of 

D3 ice 


54 On Chemical Philosophy. 


ice into water ; and that this 140° is the difference in the quan- 
tity required in each of these different relative states of existence ; 
the quantity, in short, which is necessary to produce the liquid 
form of water, as well as to support this change of form which 
it has produced. The same principle is seen in the further so- 
lution and conversion of this element into vapour, steam or gas: 
950° of heat disappear and become latent in every portion of 
water passing into this state; so that though water and steam 
are both at the same temperature 212°, yet the steam contains 
950° more of caloric than the same weight of water at that tem- 
perature: the caloric is hence said to become latent, or the 
energies of this quantity necessary to produce the change are 
occupied or suspended in supporting it in this new state of ex- 
istence it has produced. 

This I conceive is a clearer expression of latent heat, free ea- 
loric, caloric of temperature, eapacily, &e., for it not merely 
expresses the fact, but the explanation of that fact at the same 
time. Indeed, in this respeet, Dr. Black stated the fact, as far 
as it was then known to him, in sucha clear and beautiful man- 
ner, that I wonder how this should ever have been a subject of 
controversy, or that Dr. Irvin and Dr. Cleghorn should imagine 
they gave any better explanation of it, by saying that ‘* heat dis- 
appears and becomes latent, mot in effecting the change, but as 
the effect of that change.” This to me conveys a very imper- 
fect conception of the change ; it is at any rate a very confused, 
partial and imperfect expression of the fact. Heat disappears, 
not merely as a consequence, but as a cause. It is necessary to 
apply heat to effect the change, which heat disappears, and 
again reappears on the steam returning to its former state: what 
then can be so plain, as that the quantity necessary to produce 
the change, disappears or becames latent, because it has. to sup- 
port the change produced ? ; 

It thus appears that one quantity is necessary for the solid, 
another for the liquid, and another for the gaseous states ; and 
this quantity differing in every different species of matter, we find 
substances assuming the liquid and gaseous forms at every pos- 
sible point of temperature. It would carry us too much into de- 
tail, to contemplate the beauty and utility of this law. In these 
Essays we shall therefore merely confine ourselves to the illustra- 
tion afforded by the instance already mentioned, Give to ice 
the quantity necessary for the production of water; the pro- 
perties and active energies of this quantity are then employed in 
supporting this new state of existence ; it cannot therefore act 
upon any thing else, or produce the sensation or effects of free 
caloric; it is said to be latent. Similar also is the case with its 
further conversion intg steam, which, like the gases, is a simple 

ee ane bia oe solution 


On Chemical Philosophy. BB 


solution of a substance in caloric, with this difference, that the 
steam is separable from its solvent caloric at a temperature be- 
low 212°, and, of eourse, at the cammon temperature of our at- 
mosphere. To prove that this is the difference between the 
permanent gases and vapour, I need only mention the fact, 
“* that steam does not scald so much from high pressure as from 
low pressure :” this seems d@ priort contrary to our expectations 5 
but it isa fact, that however high the temperature is raised above 
212°, it will not scald or burn more than common atmospheric 
air heated to the same temperature, because the active energies 
of this power are occupied or suspended by the water held in 
solution. It is in fact air: but the moment it is liberated and 
lets go the water, then its energies are not suspended, but.un- 
occupied ; it instantly becomes free caloric, or caloric of tem- 
perature, and scalds or burns, of passes with all its energies into 
some other substance, producing its changes and effects upon it 
according to its quantity and intensity, and the nature of such 
substance; and as this separation more readily takes place at a 
low than at a high pressure (temperature), the one must scald 
or burn sooner than the other. In making the different gases 
by heat, we find the pipes in the first instance burning hot, and 
afterwards becoming comparatively cool, because the first thing 
which is driven off is steam ; which being abstracted by the tem- 
perature of the surrounding medium, is set at liberty to act on 
the pipes, or any thing else that comes in its way; but when the 
permanent gases come over, which are not so separable, but re- 
quire that we should have recourse to elective attraction to se- 
parate them, this same heat then becomes latent, and the pipes 
cool, and in this latent state carry the heat and flame in any di- 
rection we choose. When, however, as in carburetied hydrogen 
gas, it is made to unite with oxygen, this heat, together with 
“that which holds the oxygen in solution, is liberated, and produces 
heat and flame. Thus, while some have said, heat and flame are 
from oxygen, others have said they are from hydrogen. I say 
they are from both. And how often do we find truth differing 
from and agreeing with all parties ! 

The fact is, the gases are formed by the solution of substances 
in this caloric, exactly on the same principle, only more at- 
tenuated, as ice is melted by heat, and forms water; and conse- 
quently when they change their form of existence, they give up 
this power, and when on some concentrated point, .as is always 
the case when separated by elective attraction, heat and flame 
appear. 

Had it not been for the impressions which the doctrine of 
attraction and repulsion had made on the mind, it would, I am 
persuaded, have been quite natural for the chemists of the time 


D4 of 


56 On Chemical Philosophy. 


of Lavoisier, and the discovery of the gases, to consider aud speak 
of the solution of substances in this power, as that which formed 
the gaseous state of existence. Indeed, in proof of this, we 
find them with great difficulty refraining from doing so, affording 
a remarkable instance how, even in the strongest minds, nature 
and truth will struggle with prejudice and error. ‘* It is pro- 
bable,” says Lavoisier *, * that the separation of the particles of 
bodies, occasioned by caloric, depends, in a similar manner, en 
acertain combination of attractive powers, which, in conformily 
with the imperfection of our knowledge, we endeavour to express 
by saying that caloric communicates a power of repulsion to the 
particles of bodies.” In another place he says: “ It is extremely 
difficult te form an accurate notion of this repulsion acting upon 
very minute particles, placed at great distances from each other.” 
In my opinion, it is utterly impossible. Perhaps the common and 
modern notions of attraction and repulsion, either prevented him 
from seeing as much distinctly, or deterred him from expressing 
it; but he is often obliged to come very near the truth in such 
passages as these: “ In each species of gas, I shall,” says he, 
*€ distinguish between the caloric which in some measure an- 
swers the purpose of a solvent, and the substance which is in 
combination with caloric, and forms the base of the gas.” Why 
say “ im some measure,” and not at once in plain terms 7 is 
the solvent ? Indeed almost all the chemists of that period, not- 
withstanding this attachment to former views, generally speak 
of the solution of bodies in caloric: in fact, so simple and eb- 
vious is the idea, and so evidently must it have obtruded itself on 
their minds, that it is wonderful they could adopt any other 
mode of expression. What other reasons had thev for adopt- 
ing the word caloric ? or how otherwise could the Lavoisierian 
theory of combustion be intelligible? Chaptal and Foureroy 
‘speak of the solution of substances in fire and water as simi- 
lar. Fourcroy says, ‘* Calorie sometimes adheres so forcibly to 
bodies, that it prevents their combining with gthers. Thus 
many are dissolved into gas or other elastic fluids, as steam ; 
some will neither unite with other bodies, nor with one another, 
so jong as they retain this state of invisible solution in caloric 
so that recourse must be had to double elective attractions, to 
effect their combinations.”? And again: ‘* The attractionof ca-- 
loric for some bodies is so great, that it is frequently employed 
with advantage for separating these substances from the com- 
pounds into whieh they enter, and for analysing and decompos- 
ing compound bodies. This is what we do in distillation, and 
in all the decompositions effected by fire alone, or calori¢ aps 


* See page 25, Elements. 


plied 


On Chemical Philosophy. 57 


plied to compound substances.” The different elements of these 
compounds are gradually dissolved in the order of their solu- 
bility ; and when we come to chemical affinity, we shall show how 
this explains the decompositions and combinations of substances. 
It is evident that Fourcroy considered the gases as the solution 
of substances in ealoric ; for he never speaks of the separation of 
the particles to a greater distance, as that which constituted the 
gaseous or liquid forms. Indeed Dr, Thomson has wisely given 
up this in the last edition of his System. It would therefore be 
the less necessary to insist on this, were it not that I conceive it 
is preparing the way for the explanation of some cases where no 
theory has yet been offered at all worthy of the name. I allude 
to galvanism in particular. How separating the particles of 
matter, by the power of repulsion, ean ever produce the gaseous 
or liquid forms, is one of those things ] coyld never understand, 
nor have | yet met with one who could. Men may profess ta 
believe what is the faith of the schools ; but unless the under- 
standing be convinced, it is mere profession. The mere mecha- 
nical separation of the particles ean obviously never change the 
quality of substances; but solution and combination with a 
power which produces every effect must change their properties. 

The argument in favour of the doctrine of repulsion, whick 
says, that but for such a power all bodies must be equally solid, 
is mere assertion without meaning—all bodies are not the same. 
It is said that the particles of matter do not touch each other, 
because some few can be pressed into smaller space; and that 
therefore they are held together in this state by some repulsive 
power: But neither of these inferences at all follows. Caloric 
fills up the insterstices, and caloric is something material; it may 
be beat or squeezed out, as all metals in this way evolve heat. 
It is very probable that the particles of matter themselves may 
not touch at all points ;—-but why talk about such points, when 
we neither know what they are, nor what they are like, as is too 
swell proved by the various controversies respecting them? We 
shall, notwithstanding this, recur to the subject when we come to 
chemical affinjty. Let us be careful, however, lest we waste our 
time and talents on mere speculative points, There is enough 
to do in philosophy without this. 

** Heat,” says Chaptal, “ by combining with bodies, pro- 
duces an effect the very opposite of attraction; and we might 
consider ourselves as authorized to affirm that it is a principle 
of repulsion, if sound chemistry had not proved that it produces 
these effects only by its endeavour to combine with bodies, and 
thereby necessarily diminishing the force of aggregation, as all other 
chemical agents do. Besides which, the extreme levity of caloric 

produces 


58 Notices respecting New Books. 


produces the effect, that when it is combined with any body it 
continually tends to elevate it, and in this way overcome that 
force (gravitation) which retains it, and would precipitate it to- 
wards the earth.” 

Iam, I repeat, the more anxious to establish this view, be- 
cause I am convinced it affords the only satisfactory explanation 
of the operations and phenomena of nature and art, It is ne- 
cessary to prove this, and first by an examination of Galvanism. 


~ Rag York, July 15, 1818. 
[To be continued. ] 


IX. Notices respecting New Books. 


Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Soctety of ait: jor 
the Year 1818. Part f. 


Tar Transactions of the Royal Society since the commencement 
of the present year have been distinguished by several papers of 
great novelty and importance. The original and valuable ex- 
periments of Captain Kater on the pendulum, for which the 
Copleian medal was adjudged to him, are at the present moment 
particularly deserving general attention. We regret that the 
Jate period of the month at which this part of the Society’s 
Transactions has appeared, obliges us to postpone till our next 
number, laying the particulars of these experiments before our 
readers. The following passage will show the general principle 
on which they have proceeded : 

“ Not feeling at all satisfied with the prospect which the use 
of a rod presented, I endeavoured to discover some property of 
the pendulum of which I might avail myself with greater pro- 
‘bability of success; and I was so fortunate as to perceive one, 
‘which promised an unexceptionable result. It is known that 
the centres of suspension and oscillation are reciprocal ; or, in 
other words, that if a body be suspended by its centre of oscilla- 
tion, its former point of suspension becomes the centre of oscil- 
lation, and the ‘vibrations in both positions will be performed in 
equal times. Now, the distance of the centre of oscillation from 
the point of suspension depending on the figure of the body em- 
ployed, if the arrangement of its particles be changed, the place 
of the centre of oscillation will also suffer a change. Suppose 
then a body to be furnished with a point of suspension, and 
another point on which it may vibrate, to be fixed as nearly as 
can be estimated in the centre of oscillation, and in a line with 
the point of suspension and centre of gravity. If the vibrations 
in each position’should not be equal in equal times, they may 

' readily 


Notices respecting New Books. 59 


readily be made so, by shifting a moveable weight, with which 
the body is to be furnished, in a line between the centres of sus- 
pension and oscillation; when the distance between the two 
points about which the vibrations were performed being mea- 
sured, the length of a simple pendulum, and the time of its vi- 
bration, will at once be known, uninfluenced by any irregularity 
of density or figure.” 

The following, including this paper of Capt. Kater’s, are the 
contents of the present part of the Transactions : 

“J, On the great Strength given to Ships of War by the Ap- 
plication of Diagonal Braces. By Robert Seppings, Esq. F.R.S. 
‘II. A Memoir on the Geography of the North-eastern Part of 
Asia, and on the Question whether Asia and America are con- 
tiguous, or are separated by the Sea. By Captain James Bur- 
ney, F.R.S.—III. Additional Facts respecting the fossil Remains 
of an Animal, on the Subject of which two Papers have been 
printed in the Philosophical Transactions, showing that the 
Bones of the Sternum resemble those of the Ornithorhynchus 
paradoxus. By Sir Everard Home, Bart. V.P.R.S.—IV. An 
Account of Experiments for determining the Length of the Pen- 
dulum vibrating Seconds in the Latitude of London. By Capt. 
Henry Kater, F.R.S.—V. On the Length of the French Métre 
estimated in Parts of the English Standard. By Captain Henry 
Kater, F.R.S.—VI. A few Facts relative to the colouring Mat- 
ters of some Vegetables, By James Smithson, Esq. F.R.S.— 
VII. An Account of Experiments made on the Strength of Ma- 
terials. By George Rennie jun. Esq. In a Letter to Thomas 
Young, M.D. For. Sec. R.S.—VII1. On the Office of the Heart 
Wood of Trees. By T. A. Knight, Esq. F.R.S. In a Letter 
addressed to the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. G.C.B. 
P.R.S.—IX. On circulating Functions, and on the Integration 
of a Class of Equations of finite Differences into which they en- 
ter as Coefficients. By John F. W. Herschel, Esq. F.R.S.— 
X. On the Fallacy of the Experiments in which Water is said 
to have been formed by the Decomposition of Chlorine. By 
Sir H. Davy, LL.D.F.R.S.—XI. The Croonian Lecture. On 
the Changes the Blood undergoes in the Act of Coagulation. By 
Sir Everard Home, Bart. V.P.R.S. — XII. Some Additions to 
the Croonian Lecture, on the Changes the Blood undergoes in 
the Act of Coagulation. By Sir Everard Home, Bart. V.P.R.S. 
—XIII. On the Laws of Polarisation and double Refraction in 
regularly crystallized Bodies. By David Brewster, LL.D. F.R.S. 
Lond. and Edin. In a Letter to the Right Hon. Sir Joseph 
Banks, Bart. G.C. B. PRS.” "i 


Transactions 


60 Notices respecting New Books. 


Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Part IT, 
Vol. VIII. 

The Part of this Scciety’s Transactions now published con- 
taius the following interesting articles : 

**On the Effects of Compression and Dilatation in altering 
the polarising Structure of doubly refracting Crystals. By Da- 
vid Brewster, LL.D. F.R.S. London and Edinburgh. —~ Experi- 
ments on Muriatic Acid Gas, with Observations on its chemical 
Constitution, and on some other Subjects of chemical Theory. 
By John Murray, M.D. F.R.S. Edinburgh.— Experiments on 
the Relation between the Muriatic Acid and Chlorine ; to which 
is subjoined, the Description of a new Instrument for the Ana- 
lysis of Gases by Explosion. By Andrew Ure, M.D. Professor 
of the Andersonian Institution and Member of the Geological 
Society.—On the Laws which regulate the Distribution of the 
polarising Force in Plates, Tubes, and Cylinders of Glass that 
have received the polarising Structure. By David Brewster, 
LL.D. F.R.S. London and Edinburgh.—Remarks illustrative of 
the Scope and Influence of the philosophical Writings of Lord 
Bacon. By Maevey Napier, Esg. F.R.S. London and Edin- 
burgh, and F.A.S. Edinburgh.—Sketch of the Geology of the 
Environs of Nice. By Thomas Allan, Esq. F.R.S. Edmburgh. 
—On certain Impressions of, Cold transmitted from the Atino- 
sphere, with the Description of an Instrument adapted to mea- 
sure them. By John Leslie, F.R.S. Edinburgh, and Professor 
of Mathematics in the University of Edinburgh.A Methed of 
determining the Tjme with Accuracy, from: a Series of Altitudes 
of the Sun, taken on the same Side of the Meridian. By Major- 
general Sir Thomas Brisbane, Knight, F.R.S. Edinburgh.—Ob- 
servations on the Junction of the Fresh Water of Rivers with the 
Salt Water of theSea. [Ty the Rev. John Fleming, D,D.F.R.S, 
Edinburgh,—Memoir of the Life and Writings of the Honourable 
Alexander Fraser Tytlar, Lord Woodhouselee. By the Rev, 
Archibald Allison, LL.D. F.R.S. London and Edinburgh.” 
Elements of Chemical Science as applied to the Arts and 

Manufactures and Natural Phenomena, By J. Murnay. 

p. 294. 

‘The work before us aims at no other praise than what we may _ 
safely agcord it, that of exhibiting a lucid and comprehensive view 
of the principles of chemistry. The difficulties which stand in 
the way of any systematic arrangement of chemical phenomena 
are many and formidable ; but Mr. Murray has nevertheless sue- 

ceeded in forming a disposition of materials, which, distinguished 
by a good deal of novelty, conveys a very clear idea of the na- 
ture 


Notices respécting New Books. 61 


ture and properties of the subjects treated. The system of ar- 
rangement the author has adopted is founded .on electrical af- 
fections, and is consequently well calculated to facilitate the 
study of electro-chemical science. The work in this point of 
view is particularly deserving the attention of the chemical stu- 
dent, and is altogether a production which does much credit to 

the well-known ingenuity and research of its indefatigable au- 
thor. 


Memoirs of the Life and /Vritings of BENJAMIN FRANKiIN, 
LL.D. F.R.S. Gc. Written by himself to a late Period, 
and continued to the Time of his Death by his Grandson 
Wiiwiam TemMPLe Frankuin. Vol. III. 4to. pp. 570. 1818. 
The present volume, which is the last of a very valuable and 

important work, comprehends the select political, philosophical 
aud miscellaneous writings of Franklin. Some of the essays 
contained in the philosophical branch have already appeared ; 
but by far the greater portion of it, including several of the latest 
and most ingenious of the Doctor’s writings, are stated to be 
now for the first time printed from his own manuscripts. 

Mr. W. Westall, who accompanied Captain Flinders on his 
voyage round the world, has lately executed a work, consisting 
of a variety of Views of the Caves in the North-west Riding of 
Yorkshire, with some of the most interesting scenes in their 
neighbourhood, particularly Malham Cove and Gordale Scar. - 

They are not only highly picturesque, but appear to be geo- 
logieally correct representations of some of the most extraor- 
dinary scenes in .this country; and it is a strange circumstaace, 
that no work upon the same subject has before appeared, as the 
caves have for some years past attracted a great many visitors. 


An Essay, which Dr. Jos. de Matthe is readin the Archeo- 
logical Society at Rome, on the 29th of Feb. 1818, has now 
been published under the title of Sull’ origine de numeri Romani. 
The author attempts to prove that the Roman numerals, as well 
as the ancient Etruscan, originated in the nails which these na- 
tions, in the earlier periods of their history, caused to have an- 
nually fixed by their magistrates, for other than chronological 
purposes, in the Temple of Jupiter, and in that of Nurtia, their 
Goddess of Fortune, at Vulsinium (Bolsena). 


Just published, A Guide to Botany ; or A familar Illustration 
of the Linnean Classification of Plants; with coloured Plates. 
By James Millar, M.D. Editor of the Encyclopedia Edinensis, 
and of the 4th Edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. 


P [ 42 ad 
X. Proceedings of Learned Societies. 


ROYAL SOCIETY. 


June 4. A papEr by Sir Everard Home was read, containing 
2 description of the Delphinus Gangeticus ; also another paper 
by Dr. Granville, giving an account of the production of sul- 
phuretted Azote in the abdomen by the decomposition of an 
albuminous dropsical fluid ;—and a third paper by John Wil- 
liams, Esq. explaining the influence of Galvanism upon germi- 
nation. 

June 11. A paper was read by Dr. Prout, describing a new. 
acid principle prepared from the lithic or uric acid, which he 
denominates the purpuric acid. 

Another paper by Sir William Herschel was read, On the 
relative distances of clusters of Stars, and the power of Tele- 
‘scopes in discerning celestial objects. 

The President then adjourned the Society for the long vaca- 
tion. 


ROYAL INSTITUTE OF FRANCE. 
ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, 
Prize proposed —To determine the chemical changes which 
fruits undergo during maturation, and afterwards. 

For the solution of this question it will be necessary to exa- 
mine with care the influence of the atmosphere which surrounds 
the fruits, and the alterations which they receive from it. 

The essayist may confine his observations to fruits of different 
species, provided consequences general enough can be drawn 
from them. 

The prize will be a gold medal of the value of 3000 fr. The 
term of competition is limited to the lst January 1819. 


XI. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 


CASE OF THOMAS GASKING. 


- To Mr. Tilloch. 


ly is impossible to ascertain, otherwise than by casual obser- 
vation, with what rapidity the powers of the human mind may 
be unfolded ; and how closely infancy can be taught to pursue 
the footsteps of manhood in the arduous paths of science. 
Master (now Dr.) Crotch formerly astonished the amateurs of 
music, when five years of age, by his practical skill in that pleas- 
ing art; and Zerah Colburn lately attracted universal attention 

by 


Case of Thomas Gasking. 63 


by his uncommon proficiency in mental arithmetic. These in- 
stances of premature genius aré surprising; but they are ex- 
amples of practical knowledge, with which the reasoning faculty 
has little to do. Experience seems to show, that this distin- 
guishing property of the mind requires time to unfold itself; and 
that it is as unreasonable to expect fruit from a tree before it has 
blossomed, as to look for a correct judgement in an infant. The 
maxim is admitted to be general, but it isnot without exception; 
for a child nine years old is at present in Kendal, who has, by 
his progress in mathematics, united reason to practice. ‘Thomas 
Gasking is the son of an industrious and ingenious journeyman 
shoemaker, of Penrith; and I now proceed to notice his literary 
attainments, which he has acquired in the course of two years. 
He has learned to read correctly and gracefully; he writes a good 
hand with surprising expedition ;'‘and he has made some pro- 
gress in the English grammar. The boy went through this part 
of his ‘education in a day-school at Penrith; but he is indebted 
for his mathematical knowledge to the tuition of his father, who, 
though in low circumstances, has laudably dedicated his hours 
of leisure to scientific pursuits, as 1 am informed. Little Gas- 
king seems well acquainted with the leading propositions. in 
Euclid; he reads and works algebra with the greatest facility, 
and has entered upon the study of fluxions. I am aware that 
this report will appear incredible to those who are acquainted 
with the different subjects which have been enumerated ; but 
the following instance of his wonderful proficiency will, in all pro- 
bability, remove any doubts that competent judges may enter- 
tain. A stranger gentleman, who was invited, with myself, to 
examine the boy, requested him to demonstrate the thirteenth 
proposition of the first book of Euclid; which he did immediately. 
The demonstration of the twentieth proposition of the same 
book was next proposed: he drew out the figure ; and though 
he failed in his first attempt, he soon recovered the train of 
reasoning, and went through the demonstration correctly. Being 
‘asked, if he had two sides of a triangle and the angle included 
given, how he would proceed to find the third side? the process 
appeared quite familiar to him, and we found, upon inquiry, he 
was acquainted with logarithms, and was able to use them. In 
spherical trigonometry, he solved two cases of right-angled tri- 
angles by Lord Napier’s rules. His skill, and the rapidity-of his 
‘operations, in algebra, created more surprise than his knowledge 
‘of geometry;—he solved a number of quadratic equations -with 
‘the greatest ease, and extracted the square roots of the numbers 
which resulted from his operations. Several qnestions were put 
‘to him which contained two unknown quantities ; these he also 
answered without difficulty, Being asked if he had been taught 


the 


64 Steam Engines in Cornwall.—New South Wales. 


the application of algebra to geometry, he answered in the affir- 
mative, and immediately solved the following problem :—Given 
one leg of a right-angled triangle, and the excess of the hy- 
pothenuse above the other leg, to construct the triangle. He 
answered two or three problems relating to the maxima of num- 
bers and of geometrical magnitudes with ease, and took the 
fluxions, which were not difficult, correctly. When the age of 
this child is compared with his scientific attainments, we can 
look on him in no other light than as a literary phenomenon, 
who promises to become an ornament to one of the British Uni- 
versities, unless his progress should unfortunately be checked by 
indigence, or the vigour of his mind should he enfeebled by some 
sinister accident. Joun GouGH. 


STEAM ENGINES [N CORNWALL. 
From Messrs. Leans’ Report for June 1815, it appears that 
during that month the following was the work performed by 
the engines reported, with each bushel of coals. 


Pounds of water lifted , Load per square 
1 foot high with each bushel.| inch in cylinder. 


24 common engines averaged 23,836,654 various. 
Woolf’s at Wheal Vor -. 930,336,482 17°3 lib. 
Ditto Wh, Abraham ... 34,352,013 16°8 
Ditto ditto... -- 384,846,939 6-0 
Dalcouth engine... «- 88,149,425 11°53 


Wheal Abraham ditto .. 54,291,585 109 


United Mines engine .. 80,165,260 15°S 
Treskirby ditto .. -» |, 42,098,797 10°S 
Wheal Chance ditto -.  0805/797,348 11:5 


NEW SOUTH WALES. 

A discovery has heen made in New South Wales, which must 
materially affect the future advancement of that colony. “A 
river of the first magnitude” has been found in the interior, 
running through a most beautiful country, rich in soil, lime- 
stone, slate, and gcod timber. A means of communication like 
this, has long been anxiously searched for- without success, and 
many began to entertain an apprehension that the progress of 
colonization in New Holland would be confined to its coasts. 

Mr. Oxley, the surveyor-general, was sent out with a party in 
an expedition to the westward of the Biue Mountains, to trace 
the course of the lately discovered river Lachlan, and to ascer- 
tain the soil, capabilities, and productions, of the country through 
which it was expected to pass in its course tothe sea. Mr.Oxley 
left Bathurst on the 30th April 1817. He proceeded down the 
Lachlaa yntil the 12th May, the country rapidly descending 

until, 


ot 


a 


New South Wa'es. 65 


until the waters of the river rose to a level with it, and, divided 
into numerous branches, lost itself among the marshes. Mr. 
Oxley quitted the river on the 17th May, taking a S.W. course 
towards Cape Northumberland. He continued this course until 
the 9th June, when he was induced to change his course to 
north. On this course he continued til] the 23d June, when he 
again fell in with a stream; which he could with difficulty recog= 
nise as the Lachlan, it being little larger than one of the branches 
of it where it was quitted on the 17th May.. He kept along the 
banks of this stream till the Sth July, when the whole country 
became a marsh altogether uninhabitable. This unlooked-for 
and truly singular termination of a river, filled the party with 
the most painful sensations. ‘They were full 500 miles west of 
Sydney, and nearly in its latitude; and it had taken them ten 
weeks of unremitted exertion to proceed so far. Returning 
down the Lachlan, he recommenced the survey of it from the 
point on which it was made the 23d June. The connexion with 
all the points of the survey previously ascertained, was completed 
between the 19th July and the 3d August. It was estimated that 
the river from the place where first made by Mr. Evans, had run 
@ course, taking all its windings, of upwards of 1200 miles, a 
length of course altogether unprecedented, considering that the 
original is its only supply of water during that distance. 

** Crossing at this point,” says Mr. Oxley in his Report, © it 
was my intention to take a N.E, course to intersect the country, 
and if possible to ascertain what had become of the Macquarrie 
River, which it was clear. had never joined the Lachlan. This 
course led us through a country to the full as bad as any we had 
yet seen, and equally devoid of water, the want of which again 
much distressed us, On the 7th August the scene began to 
change, and the country to assume a very different aspect. We 
were now qnitting the neighbourhood of the Lachlan, and had 
passed to the N.E. of the high range of hills which on this parallel 
bounds. the low country to the north of that river. To the 
N.W. and N. the country was high and open, with good forest . 
land; and on the 10th we had the satisfaction to fall in with 
the first stream, running northerly. This renewed our hopes of 
soon falling in with the Macquarrie, and we continued upon the 
sime course, occasionally incliping to the eastward, until the. 
19th, passing through a fine [yea country well watered, 
‘ctossing in that space of time"yine streams, having a northerly. 
eburse through rich valleys, the country in every direction being 
moderately high and open, and generally as fine as can be ima- 

ined. - 

*< No doubt remained upon our minds that those streams fell 

Vol. 62, No. 243. July 1818. E into 


66 _ Mineralogy. 


into the Macquartie, and to view it before it received such att» ~ 
accession was our first wish. On the 19th we were gratified by 
falling in with a river running through a most beautiful country, 
and which I should have been well contented to have believed 
the river we were in search of. Accident led us down this: 
stream about a mile, when we were surprised by its junction with 
a river coming from the south, of such width and magnitude as 
to dispel all doubts as to this last being the river we had so long 
anxiously looked for. Short as our resources were, we could 
not resist the temptation this beautiful country offered us, to 
remain two days on the junction of the rivers, for the purpose 
of exarnining the vicinity to as great an extent as possible. 

** Our examination increased the satisfaction we had pre- 
viously felt. As far as the eye could reach in every direction, a 
rich and picturesque country extended, abounding in limestone, 
slate, good timber, and every other requisite that could render 
an uncultivated country desirable. The soil cannot be excelled ; 
whilst a noble river of the first magnitude afforded the means 
of conveying its productions from one part to the other. Where 
I quitted it, its course was northerly, and we were then north 
of the parallel of Port Stephens, being in latitude 32° 45’ S, and 
148° 58’ E. longitude.” 

The course and direction of this river is to be the object of an 
early expedition. 


MINERALOGY. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 

S1r,—Permit me to submit to your consideration, and to that 
of your mineralogical readers, the following remarks and sug- 
gestions respecting a mineral allied in some respects both to 
tremolite and to the zeolites; but which, in my opinion, should 
form a distinct species in mineralogical arrangements. © 

I am, sir, yours very respectfully, 
June 29, 1818. _ LITHOPHILUS. 


In the fifth volume of the Edinburgh Transactions is a paper 
by Dr. Kennedy, containing a description, with an analysis, of a 
mineral found inclosed within a mass of prehnite in the basaltic 
rock upon which Edinburgh Castle is built. Dr. K. considers 
it to be a zeolite;—Mr. Allan in his Tables of Analyses deno- 
minates it aslestous tremolite: while in Professor Jameson’s 
System of Mineralogy it is not mentioned under any appellation 
whatever. To repeat its characters would be foreign to my pre- 
sent purpose; but the following is Dr. Kennedy’s statement of 
the results of his analysis; 


Silica 


The late Explosion of the Coal-Mine at Newton-Green. 67 


Silieay ii.) veces FeO 
nie tere os 5. re, SOO 
Alumina .. 1.2.00. 0°50 
Oxide of tin ....... 0°50 
Saeatits,. sib Gs warn! SOR 
Carbonic acid,&c. .. 5° 

98- 

with traces of magnesia and muriatic acid. 

Now, in the first place, this substance cannot. with accuracy 
be considered as a zeolite, for all species of that mineral contain 
at least one-tenth of alumina (vide Analyses by Klaproth, Smith- 
son, Gehlen, Vauquelin, &c.); whereas the mineral in question 
does not contain above 1-200dth of that earth. 

Secondly. Notwithstanding its similarity in specific gravity 
and in phosphorescence, it is impossible that it can be correctly 
classed as a tremolite: for the analytical experiments of Klap- 
roth, Chenevix, Laugier, and other chemists, have demonstrated 
that magnesia is an essential ingredient of that fossil; while in 

_the mineral analysed by Dr. Kennedy the quantity of magnesia 
was unappreciable. 

Thirdly. No other mineral, as far as my knowledge extends, 
i$ at all analogous, in point of composition, with that to which 
these observations relate. 

It would seem, from the above considerations, that this cu- 
rious mineral constitutes a distinct species ; and as it has hitherto 
been found at Edinburgh only, it is suggested that Edinite would *. 
be a suitable appellation for it. 

THE LATE EXPLOSION OF THE COAL-MINE AT NEWTON-GREEN, 
AYR. 

The particulars of this accident were noticed in our last num- 
ber: the following explanation of it has been since given by the 
Ayr Journal: 

“* We are requested to state, that the safety-lamp which oc- 
casioned the explosion by which Mr. Millar lost his life, as men- 
tioned in our last, upon being examined, was found to have a 
small defect at the socket. We are further informed, that a 
candle was used in the lamp, by the melting of which some tal- 
low had fallen on, and adhered to, the wire-gauze. From these 
facts, and from that formerly stated of the lamp being excessively 
heated, it is concluded, that the combustion proceeded either 
from the communication of the gas with the flame through the 
defect in the socket—from the illumination of the grease on the 
gauze by the high temperature of the lamp—from the extraor- 
dinary heat of the lamp itself—or from a combination of these 

circumstances, 


68 Water-Spout—Animal Remains.~New Discovery in Optics. 


circumstances, and not from any deficiency in the original in- 
vention of Sir Humphry Davy. We feel satisfaction in making 
this statement, as it thus appears, that the unfortunate accident 
whieh happened, ought not to lessen the confidence of miners 
in those lamps, when sufficient care is.takem that they be not 
faulty, or imprudently used. We are also assured that, upon one 
occasion, a lamp used at the Ayr Colliery continued safe with the 
inflammable air burning in it for the space of three hours, and 
that at that colliery the greatest confidence has been placed in 
them by the workmen.” one 


DESTRUCTIVE WATER-SPOUT. 


On the 18th June a water-spout of immense diameter inun- 
~ dated great part of the arrondissement of Auxerre. The rain, 
accompanied by large hailstones, fell in torrents for thirty mi- 
nutes. The whole harvest in nineteen communes is destroyed. 
Jn some quarters the water was six feet deep; at Fontenai a 
house was thrown down, and four children killed, and several 
other edifices were much damaged. 


ANIMAL REMAINS.—MAMMOTH—CROCODILE. 


’ There have been recently discovered in the parish of Mottes- 
ton, on the south side of the Isle of Wight, the bones of that 
stupendous animal supposed to be the Mammoth, or Mastodon, 
Several of the vertebra, or joints of the back-bone, measure 
36 inches in circumference: they correspond exactly in form, 
colour, and texture, with the bones found in plenty on the banks 
of the Ohio in North America, ina vale called by the Indians 
Big-bone Swamp.—Also, in the parish of Northwood, on the. 
siorth side of the island, the bones of the Crocodile have recently 
been found by the Rev. Mr. Hughes of Newport. They seem 
to have belonged to an animal of that species, whose body did 
not exceed twelve feet in length.—Their calcareous nature is not 
altered; but the bones of the Mastodon (found on the south 
side of the island) contain iron. ce 


NEW DISCOVERY IN OPTICS. 


_ A very interesting and important discovery has lately been 
made on the increase and projection of light, by Mr. Lester, en- 
gineer. As this discovery will form a new zra in optics, a re- 
cord of its history must prove. interesting to the scientific world, 
and, as such, we shall briefly lay before our readers the following 
account of it by a correspondent. 5 

_ Mr. Lester being engaged at the West India Docks for. the 
purpose of applying his new mechanical power, The Convertor, 

to 


New Discovery in Oplics. 69 


to eranes, by which the labour of winches is performed by row- 
ing, &c.; on taking a view of the immense spirit vaults, he was 
forcibly struck by the inefficient mode adapted to light those very 
extensive and wonderful depéts*, which is by a cast-iron eylinder 
of about two feet in diameter, and two feet deep,placed in lieu of 
a key-stone in the centre of each arch ;—these cylinders are 
elosed at their tops, and each furnished with five plana-convex 
lenses (bull’s eyes) of Messrs. Pellatt and Green’s patent, which 
are admirably adapted to the conveying of light in all situations, 
except down a deep tube or cylinder, where the refraction they 
produce (in consequence of their convex form) betwixt the angles 
of incidence and reflection, prevents the rays from being pro- 
jected into the place intended to be lighted. This refraction 
throws the light upon the concave sides of the cylinder, where 
it is principally absorbed, instead of keeping the angles of inci- 
dence and reflection equal. — 3 

From these observations, Mr. Lester concluded, tiat a Jens 
might be so constructed as to prevent this refraction, and com- 
menced a course of experiments for that purpose. He succeeded 
by obtaining the proper angle of the incidental rays with a mirror, 
and finding the scope of the cylinder sufficiently copious to ad- 
mit the reflected rays into the vault, provided the refraction of 
the lens did not intervene. The same angle produced by the 
mirror he endeavoured to retain upon the sides of the lens, by 
giving ita different form, a peculiar part of which he intended 
to foliate. But having met with insurmountable difficulties in 
this process, he concluded, from the striking appearance of sil- 
very light upon the interior surface of that part he intended to 
silver, that metal would represent the light by retaining that 
form, and, brought down below the edges of the Iens, might 
produce the desired effect. In his attempt to accomplish this 
purpose, by holding the body in a vertical position between the 
eye and a candle, a flash of light was instantly produced, by re- 
presenting the flame of the candle magnified to the size of the 
whole of the inner surface of this piece of metal, and gave an in- 
creased light upon the wall opposite to him. After this disco- 
very, he had several pieces of metal formed, retaining the same 
angle, but of various diameters, and found to his great surprise, 
that, although their area were greatly increased, the representa- 
tion of the flame still filled them without the least diminution in 
the quality of the light, but with an increased light against the 
wall, in proportion to the: inereased area of the surface of the 


* One of which is nearly an acre and an half in area, and is swpported 
by 207 groined arches and 207 stone pillars. 
E 3 metal, 


70 New Discovery in Optics. 


metal *. - How far this power and effect may extend, is not at 
present ascertained ; but it is believed that a zone of light of the 
same quality and effect may be produced ta an inconceivable ex- 
tent. Some idea may be formed of the powerful and important, 
results that may be derived from this discovery, by*reasoning 
philosophically on its principles:—Let a candle or any other 
light be represented in a mirror at a given distance from the 
flame; and the eye of the spectator be placed so as to view its 
reflection nearly in the cathetus of incidence. Let him mark the 
quantity of light represented in the mirror, and such will be its 
true quality when forming a zone of represented flame of double 
the diameter of the distance betwixt the real flame and the 
rairror. 

If a candle be placed before a mirror, its flame will be repre- 
sented; and if a thousand mirrors are placed in a given circle 
round a candle, the candle will be represerted a thousand times, 
and each representation equal in brilliancy, if the mirrors are at 
equal distances from the flame. Suppose that the thousand 
mirrors were united in such a form as to bring all the repre- 
sented flames into one flame, of equal brilliancy with the real 
flame of the candle. For the same law of nature by which the 
flame is represented a thousand times in as many mirrors sa 
united, it would be represented in one flame if the mirror be made 
of a proper form, and placed in a proper position to receive the 
rays of light that emanate from the candle in the direction of 
the angle of this peculiar formed mirror. 

As the light of a small candle is visible at the distance of four 
miles in a dark night, what must the diameter or circumference 
of that zone of flame be that is produced by this discovery from 
one of the gas lights in the streets of London? Thus two lamps 
or stations would be sufficient to light the Iongest street, when 
its position approaches to a right line, as the diameter of the 
zone may be made of the same diameter as the street; and as. 
the rays of light that are increased by this invention diverge 
from the luminous body, all parts of the street would be filled 
with light. Many are the minor advantages that will be de- 
rived from its application to domestic purposes, for writing, 
yeading, and working by candle or lamp light. This, like Dr. 
Brewster’s kaleidoscope, is another instance of the effects to be 
produced by mirrors. 


* This invention is not confined solely to light, but the increase of heat 
keeps pace with the increase of light, and both in the ratio of the area of 
the surface. 

The apparatus is so constructed as to be placed upon a candle, and sinks 
down with the flame, without either flooding or waste. 

It 


Polar Expedition. vi. 


It appears that the great impediment to improvement and 
discovery in this branch of the science of optics has arisen from 
the difficulty of foiling glass to the various forms necessary, in 
lieu of which we have been compelled to use metallic substances. 
These difficulties once removed, a vast field of important dis- 
covery will be opened on the nature and effect of light. -May 
not many of the phenomena that are observed in the air, such 
as halos round the sun, be produced by this principle, the rays 
falling upon a denser medium than air, and thus producing a 
zone of light? &c. 

The further particulars of this important discovery we hope 
to lay before our readers in a future number. 


POLAR EXPEDITION. 

For the following interesting observations on the state of the ice 
in the Arctic Circles, and the probability of our Northern expe- 
dition accomplishing its objects, we are indebted to the intelligent 
captain of one of our Greenland ships recently arrived here: 

“¢ The probability of the ships which have sailed to the North 
attaining one or more of the ends sought, is a subject on which 
much argument has been used, and much difference of opinion 
expressed. On the morning of the Sth June, I was in latitude 
» 79 deg. 40 min. N. about 40 miles distant from the land, reaching 
to the south, along the edge of the ice, and at that time saw both 
ships beating into Magdalen Bay. As early as the 2d May, I 
was in latitude $0 deg. 10 min. N. and had found the country 
remarkably open until 1 approached 78 deg. 40 min. N. Be- 
yond this the ice was more considerable in quantity, and much 
more compact, so as to increase the difficulty of our progress 
further, but not sufficient to preclude our reaching what is called 
the fast ice. Here was presented an obstacle which nothing 
could overcome but a long succession of northerly winds, which 
if occurring, might be expected to separate and force it down. 
In the interval between the 2d May and 4th June, I was chiefly 
in low latitudes, but previous to the 10th was again as far as 79 deg. 
45 min. N. The ice had indeed come down a considerable di- 
stance, but remained equally close and solid, so that 1 am posi- 
tive no rational hope could at that time be entertained of reach- 
ing, or even coming near, the Pole, 

** The other objects of the expedition I have no doubt will be 
fully realized, viz. the ascertaining whether Spitzbergen be an 
island, or joins some other land ; and the investigating the situa- 
tions of the bays, inlets, &c. The ice this season separated very 
early from the land, which circumstance was certainly favour- 
able to the minor, if not particularly so to the major, objects of the 
undertaking. In giving my opinion decidedly against the proba- 

E 4° bility 


72 Pseudo-volcano in Staffordshire. 


bility of the great end to which we anxiously look being’attained, 
it is but right to say, that I have witnessed the state of the coun 
try for more than sixteen years, and, comparing the present with 
some of the former, appearances are far less promising than I 
have before seen. Inthe year 1816 I reached the latitude of 
$2 deg. 15 min. N. and could see no obstacles but what might 
easily have been surmounted, had it been my wish to proceed 
further. This arises, as I eee before observed, from the ice not 
separating, as in the season I have named, in its descent down 
to the south, but continuing close and unaltered.” —(Hull Pa- 


fers.) 


PSEUDO-VOLCANO IN STAFFORDSHIRE. 

Some ‘interesting facts relative to what is called the Pseudo-. 
_voleano, near the Bradley iron-works in Staffordshire, have been 
published. The tract of ground is situated by the road side from 
Birmingham to Wolverhampton, about half way between Wed- 
nesbury and Bilstou. It is mentioned by Plot, in his Natural 
History of Staffordshire, as being on fire in 1686, when he 
wrote: and he says it was not then known how long it had been’ 
on fire. It then occupied a space of eleven acres ; but its ra- 
vages have since extended about one mile and a half in extreme 
length, and one mile in breadth. Whether the fire originated in 
accident, or from the sulphur contained in the coal and pyrites, 
is not kusives 3 but it probably arose from the latter cause ; as, at 
other pits, the small coal has taken fire on being exposed: to the 
air. As the combustible matter is exhausted, the hand of culti- 
vation resumes its labour; and even in parts where the fire still 
exists, by carefully stopping the fissures, and preventing the ac- 
cess of air, different crops can be raised. A neglect of these pre- 
cautions sometimes destroys half the produce, whilst the re- 
mainder continues flourishing. About two years ago it began to’ 
penetrate through the flocrs of some houses; it produced great 
alarm by appearing in the night; and four of the houses were 
taken dowa. It exhibits a red heat in this-situation, and the 
smoke has foreed its way through a bed of cinders forty feet in 
height. On the south i it is arrested by beds of sand, which cover’ 
the coal formation in that part ; and on the north-east it is im=' 
peded by cultivation. At first view a stranger might suppose 
himself in a voleanic region. The exterior view of the strata 
exposed by the falling in 1 of the ground, presents a surface black- 
ened by the action of fire, and presenting most of the porphy- 
ritic and trap colours in high perfection. The cinder dust on 
which vou tread, the sulphureous vapours and smoke which arise 
from the various parts of the surface, and the feeling of insecu- 
rity which attends most of your footsteps, all combine to give a 


high 


Poisoning by Arsenic. « 73 


high degree of interest to the scene. In some places of this re- 
gion coal is found only four feet from the surface. 


TEST OF POISONING BY ARSENIC. 

On the 22d of May, a Coroner’s inquest was held before Thos 
mas Stirling, Esq. at the King’s Arms in Little Woodstock- 
street, on the body of Eliz. Danvers, who, from disappointment 
in love and a consequent state of despondency, had put an end to 
her existence by means of arsenic. Neither the family, nor the 
medical gentleman who was called in, at first suspected the cause 
of her death ; but a coffee-cup, out of which the deceased, it was 
supposed, had drunk something improper, being sent to Mr, 
Hume, chemist, in Long Acre, sufficient evidence was obtained 
to induce a further inquiry. At this gentleman’s request the body 
was opened, and the contents of the stomach, which amounted 
to about twelve ounces, were separated, and nearly a wine-glass 
full of these delivered to him for analysis. From these two sources 
the most satisfactory and convincing testimony was derived, 
that arsenic was the sole cause of her death; for even the cof- 
fee-cup, although in appearance quite empty and clean, yielded a 
sufficiency to substantiate above a thousand separate experiments. 
The contents of the stomach afforded a still more ample sup- 
ply, for they impregnated at least a pint and a half of distilled 
water so completely, that every single drop indicated the pre- 
sence of arsenic when exposed to the proper tests. It was re- 
tharked by Mr. Hume, and should serve as a warning to the ex- 
perimentalist, that the fuid portion of what was abstracted from 
the stomach showed no indications of the poison; it was only 
from the sediment, and more gross and viscid matter, that he 
could form his solution, The medical practitioner, who had been 
called m to the deceased, when labouring under the-agonizing 
symptoms, at first ceclared the case to be that of cholera morbus, 
It is but fair, however, to state, that this professional gentleman 
saw the young woman but a few minutes before she expired ; for 
on witnessing some of the experiments, and attending to Mr, 
Hume’s evidence, he most readily acquiesced in the verdict, that 
Miss Danvers’s death was solely occasioned by a dose of arsenic. 
it cannot be too strenuously impressed upon the public mind, that 
no substance is more readily detected than arsenic, provided the 
proper means be employed : it is therefore highly incumbent on 
medical men in general to inform themselves of the nature and 
practical application of the tests, and most effectual modes of 
Operating, which, we believe, are very simple, and require but a 
moderate share of chemical knowledge. There are many obser- 
vations and comprehensive instructions upon this subject, espe- 

cially 


74 Improvement in the Manufacture of Paper. 


cially by Mr. Hume, which will be found in various eleménfary 
and periodical works of science, particularly in the Philosophical 
Magazine, and the London Medical and Physical Journal. To 
these we earnestly recommend the attention of our readers, par- 
ticularly those of the Faculty of Medicine in all its branches, on 
whom the verdict of an English Jury, and consequent life or 
death of a fellow-creature, often solely depends for its direction, 


x 


IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER. 
[From the New York Evening Post.) 


We have lately visited the paper mills of Thomas Gilpin and 
Co. on the Brandywine, and witnessed the performance of their 
new machine for manufacturing paper on an extensive scale, 
which promises an important addition to the arts and manufac~ 
tures of our country. This process of making paper delivers a 
sheet of greater breadth than any made in America, and of any 
length—in one continued unbroken succession, of fine or 
coarse materials, regulated at pleasure to a greater or lesser 
thickness.—The paper, when made, is collected from the ma- 
chine on reels, in succession as they are filled ; and these are re- 
moved to the further progress of the manufacture. The paper in 
its texture is perfectly smooth and even, and is not excelled by 
any made by hand in the usual manner of workmanship—as it 
possesses all the beauty, regularity and strength of what is called 
well closed and well shut sheets. The mills and engines now 
prepared, are calculated to do the daily work of ten paper vats, 
and will employ a water power equal to about 12 or 15 pair of 
millstones of the usual size. 

The apparatus and the machine are on a principle and con 
struction entirely new, and are patented by the inventors here. 
It has been very expensive, and has been brought to its present 
state of perfection with much labour and perseverance, ; 


NEWLY DISCOVERED MEMBRANE IN THE EYE. 

Doctor Jacob, demonstrator of anatomy in the university of 
Dublin, has discovered, and demonstrated in his lectures on 
the diseases of the eye, a membrane covering the external sur~ 
face of the retina in man and other animals. Its extreme de~ 
licaey accounts for its not having been hitherto noticed. He 
arrived at the discovery by means of anew method of dis- 
playing and examining the minute structure of this and other 
delicate parts. He argues from analogy, the necessity of the 
existence of such a! membrane, as parts so different in structure 
and functions as the retina and choroid coat, must otherwise he 

in 


New Rifle Gun.— Atmospheric Phenomena. 75 


in contact, in contradiction to the provisions of the animal ceco- 
nomy in general. A detailed account of the discovery, with the 
method of displaying and examining the membrane, is in prepa~ 
ration, ——— 

NEW RIFLE GUN. 


[From the New-York Commercial Advertiser.| 


We have seen a new modelled rifle gun, which promises to 
be of some consequence, and is said to be the invention of Capt. 
Artimas Wheeler, of this town. We have not had sufficient 
opportunity to examine it so minutely as to give a description of 
it that would do it justice; we are inclined to think it a new 
and important invention, more particularly in case of an action 
with an enemy. It has one barrel through which the charges 
pass, that is of common length; also seven short ones not much 
longer than sufficient to contain a charge each ;—these have a 
pan attached to them, to contain powder for priming, and are 
kept perfectly tight by a slide that coversthem. These barrels are 
made to move circularly round near the lock, which is also of 
new construction. After firing the first charge, the half cocking 
moves by a spring one of these short barrels round, and confines 
it tight in the breech end of the long barrel, through which the 
charge must pass; the shutting the pan of the lock opens the 
slide which covers the priming, This gun is but little heavier 
than the common one; and when once loaded, which requires 
little more time than to load a common rifle, it can be fired as 
expeditiously as will be convenient to cock the piece and take 
sight, until the seven are discharged. 


ATMOSPHERIC PHENOMENA, 

Dr. Thomas Forster has of late noticed a phenomenon which 
ought further to engage the attention of philosophers; namely, 
that the moon appears on rising, particularly about the time of 
the full, to have the power of dispersing the clouds, and clearing 
the atmosphere. He was first admonished of this circumstance 
by some French sailors while crossitig the channel from Calais ; 
and it had likewise been cursorily noticed to him by Mr. Her- 
schel of St. John’s Cambridge. For some time past, whenever 
circumstances aflurded an opportunity of observing clouds about 
the time of the moon’s rising, they have shortly been much di- 
minished in volume, or wholly evaporated. This fact is best 
observed in the neighbourhood of the sea, and seems to be less ree 
markable in veryinclined situations, The circumstance is slightly 
hinted at by Aristotle, and the early writers on meteorology. It 
shows the power of light on the phenomena of the atmosphere, 


> 


List 


[ 76 J 
LIst OF PATENTS FOR NEW INVENTIONS, 


To John Neilson, of Linlithgow, glue manufacturer, for im- 
provements in the tanning and tawing of hides.and skins, and in 
the dyeing or colouring of leather and other articles. —22d June 
1818.—6 months allowed to enrol specification. 

To Robert Roux, of Yverdon, in the canton of Vaud, in Swit- 
zerlard, Doctor in Divinity, in consequence of a communication 
made to him by a certain foreigner residing abroad, for improve- 
ment or improvements applicable to locks of different descrip- 
tions.—30th June.—2 months. 

To John Baird, manager for the new Shotts Iron Company, 
residing in the parish of Shotts, county of Lanark, Scotland, for 
various improvements in the manufacturing and making of cast- 
iron boilers used for the purpose of evaporating the juice of the 
sugar-cane, or syrup derived from thence, by means of annealing 
them in a furnace or kiln of a peculiar construction.—] 1th July. 
—4 months. 

To William Bailey, of High Holborn in the county of Middle- 
sex, ironmonger, foy improvements in sashes, sky-lights, and 
frames, generally used for the purpose ot receiving, holding, and 
containing glass for the admission of light, and the exclusion of 
rain and snow, and also for making roofs or coverings for houses 
and various other buildings.—1ith July.—6 months. 

To James Milton, late of Paisley, but now of Ashton-under- 
Line in the county of Lancaster, for a new species of loom- 
work, whereby figures or flowers can be produced, in a mode hi- 
therto unknown, upon any fabric of cloth while in the process of 
weaving, whether such fabric be linen, cotton, woollen, silk, or 
any of them intermixed.—1I1th July.—2 months. 

To John Richter, of Holloway, in the county of Middlesex, 
in consequence of a communication made tv him by a certain 
foreigner residing abroad, for certain improvements in the ap- 
paratus or utensils used for distillation, evaporation and condensa- 
tion, and which are new in this country.—1]4th July.—6 mon. 

To Richard Ormrod, of Manchester, in the county palatine 
of Lancaster, ironfounder, for improvements in the manufacturing 
of gopper or other metal cylinders or rollers for calico printing, 
—22d July.—4 months. 

To Urbanus Sartoris, of Winchester-street in the city of Lon- 
don, merchant, for improvements in the method of producing ig- 
nition in fire-arms by the condensation of atmospheric air.— 
22d July.—6 months. 

To Henry Creighton, of Glasgow, civil engineer, fora new me- 
thod of regulating the admission of steam into pipes or other 
vessels used for the heating of buildings or other places.—22d 
7 uly.—2 months, 

Meteoro- 


. Meteorology. 44 


Meteorological Journal kept at. Walthamstow, Essex, from 


June \5 to July 15, 1818. 


[Usually between the Hours of Seven and Nine A. M. and the Thermonieter 
(a second time) between Twelve and Two P.M.] 


Date. Therm: Barom. Wind. ~ |. 
une 
15 16 30:00 SE—SW—W.—Clear morn, but some stratus 
79 NW. and cirvostratus ; fine day; red orange 
sunset; moon ina small corona, and clear, 
and cirrus in rays upwards. 
16. 66 30:00 SW.—Sun, and very hot; windy and hot sun; 
74 cirrostratus, and clear at night. 
17 65 29-81 S—SE.--Clouds and windy; § A.M. a small 
Id shower; clouds and sun; small rain after 
3 P.M.3; still rain, but slight. ‘ 
18 57 29-75 N.—Fine morn; sun and clouds; calm; some 
79 slight rain after 4 P.M.; windy; clear, and 
cir’ rrostratus. Full miootts 
19 53 29-75 S.—Fine morn; wind, clouds, and sun cooler ; 
70 frequent small rain after 3 P.M.; cirro- 
stratus, and windy evening. 
20 55 29:70 W—NW.—Sun and cumuli; slight showers, 
67 and sun till about 6 P.M.; fine evening; clear, 
: cirrostralus, and calm. 
21 56 30-00 SW.—Sun and wind; cumuli, cirrus, and 
ay! cirrostralus ; fine day; some small drops of 
a rain; cloudy and windy. 
22 57 30:00 SW—W.—Showers; cloudy; fine day; agreat 
63 shower about 4 P.M.; star-light at 11 P.M. 
23. 56 29°80 W.—Cumuli,sun and wind; clouds and sun ; 
67 cirrus; cloudy night. 
24-57 30:00 W—NW.—Fine morn; cirrus, cumuli, and 
rahe be cirrostratus ; fine day; windy; clear ; clouds 
and wind. 
23 56 30°10 W.~Gray morn; fine sunny windy day; clear 
71 and cirrostvaius. Moon last quarter. 
26 62 30:00 W—SW—S.—Gray morn; clouds, wind, and 
73° sun ; very clear night. 
27 62 30:00 SE—E.—Hot sun, and cirrocumuli; clouds; 
$4 sun very hot; black cirrus at Si P.M. 
hanging over cirrostr alus like fringe 5 clear 
cirrus and cirrosiralus. 
28 63 29:70 SW—NW.-—Showers, sun and wind; great 
79 shower between 12 and 1 P.M.; showers 
. and sun; distant thunder; fine evening ; 
streaked cirrosiratus NW. 
29 59 30:10 SW—W.—Sun, cwmuli, and wind; fine day; 
76 clear night, 


78 


Date. Therm. Barom. Wind. 


14 


15 


66 
77 


63 
80 


30:20 
30°20 
30°10 
30°20 


30-05 
30°10 
30°10 
30°10 
29-90 
30:10 
50:10 


30°10 
29°85 
29:30 


30°20 


30°30 


Meteorology. 


‘ 


N—SW — NW. — Hot sun; fine hot day; 


calm; clear night; a little wind arisen. 


NW—W.—Fine. hot sun; calm; fine day; at 
8 A.M. small thunder cloud; some drops of’ 
rain ; black nimbus at 91 P.M.; and after- 
wards cirrostratus. 

Sun and wind; very fine day; cooler; clear 
and cirrostratus, and wind. 

E hy S—NW.—Sunshine, and clear at 7 A.M. 
at 9 A.M. hazy; fine day; clear and cirro- 
stratus. New moon. 

NW.—Cirrostratus and wind ; fine day; clear 
star-light and wind. 

NW.—Clear sunshine; fine very hot day; 
windy; clear night. 

N—E—SW.— Fine and hot; fine hot day; 
windy. 

SE—E.—Hot sun; calm; fine day; very hot; 
clear and cirrostratus. 

N—NW.—Sunshine; fine day; stars, moott, 
and cirrostratus. 

W.—Clear and cirrostratus ; fine day; ; cloudy 
at night. 

S—SW—S.—A slight shower before 7 A.M.; 
sun and wind; fine day, and hot; clear 
moon-light. 

NE—N—W—SW—NW.—Sun and clouds ; 
fine day; rain began soon after 9 P. M— 
Moon first quarter. 

SW—NW.—Rainy; rain till about 11 ” M.; 

__ afterwards fine day; very hot ; cirrostratus 
and windy. 

NW.—Clouds and wind, and some drops of 
rain; fine day; great wind one cumuli; 
moon-light. 

W—N—FE.—Fine morn; calm ; fine hot day; 
Thermometer 80 at 34 P.M.; ; black nimbus,. 
and clear at 9 P.M.; at 10 P, M. fine mot- 
tled cirrocumuli, and stars. 

N—SE.—Sun and wind; very hot; clear and 
cumuli; fine day; very hot and windy; 
moon- and star-light (clear). 


During the very dry. weather the’ birds came to be fed near 
the windows, almost as near as in frosty weather in winter. 


METEORO* 


Meteorology, 


72 


METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL KEPT AT BOSTON, 
LINCOLNSHIRE, 


Tie 


[The time of observation, unless otherwise stated, is at 1 P.M.] 


— ’ 
SS ae ee a 
> Age of : f 4 
1818 | the |Thermo-] Baro- |State of the Weather and Modification 


29°89 |Cloudy—rain at night 


of the Clouds. 


Cloudy—rain P.M, 
Ditto—rain A.M. 


Fine—shower A.M. 


a 


Moon| meter. | meter. 
DAYS. 
June 16} 13 | 75° 30°01 |Fine 
17| 14 | 63° 29°79 |Rain 
18} full |} 66: 29°88 |Fine 
19} 16 | 70° 29°86 |Cloudy 
20! 17 56° 29°69 |Rain 
21) 18 63° 30°01 
22) 19 }° 66° 29°77 
£3; 20 | 64°5 | 29°94 [Ditto 
24/ 21 | 65° 30°08 |Ditto 
25) 22} 73° 30'02 
26| 23 | 73° | 30°17 |Cloudy 
27\| 24 78° 29°82 |Fine 
28} 25 | 70: 29°89 |Ditto 
29; 26 | 70: | 30:29 |Cloudy 
30) 27 79°5 | 30°32 |Fine 
July 1} 28 | 65+ | 30°15 |Rain 
2} 29] 65 30°24 |Fine 
3 new] 68: 30°27 |Cloudy 
4! 1 | -68°5 | 30°12 |Ditto 
‘ 2 | -Ji: 30:16 |Ditto 
6} 3 73°5 | 30°20 |Ditto 
7) 4/76 30°03 |Very fine 
8 5 | -65° 29°94 |Cloudy 
9} 6 | 70° | 30-22 |Very fine 
10; 7 | 74° | 30°11 |Ditto—rain P.M. 
It 8 | 74: 30°01 |Ditto 
1a «9 Wes 
13} 10 69° 30°06 |Ditto 
14, 11 | 75° | 30°33 |Very fine 


On the few days marked ain there fell only showers, the effects of which 
were gone in three hours, except on Sunday night, when there was a heavy 


rain of three or four hours continuance. 


METEORO- 


60 Meteorology. 


METEOROLOGICAL TABLE, 


By Mr. Cary, oF THE STRAND, 
For July 1818. 


iy: 
e 


‘Lhermometer. 


aN 2 é Aas 
; ag Bp  .} Height of | = 8 2 
. mo Ee S Ss the Barba ee Weather; 
} Ss Z| oi|} Inches. So Sb 
om ay 3 @ 
ee | | ower 
June 27} 68 | 84 | 68 | 29°75 9g «|Fair 
28; 66 | 74 62 "92 56 |Showery 
29; 66 | 76 | 68 |'30.18 86 |Fair 
30} 65 | 80 | 66 19 105 [Fair 
July 1) 66 | 80 | 65 10 84 Fair 
2 60 | 71 | 57 "03 72 «‘|Fair 
3) 60 | 75 | 60 ‘10 76 |Fair 
4\ 61 | 76 | 60 “04 70. «Fair 
5| 66.1 77 |} 66 ‘Ol 66 |Fair 
6} 66 | 78 | 64 03 70~=«SO&| Fair 
7| 68 | 75 | 64 | 29°90 80. [Fair 
g| 64 | 76) 59 "04 69 |Fair 


10} 67 | 72 | 60 01 66 Cloudy 
11] 67 | 76 | 66 | 29°85 78 |Fair, rain at night. 
12| 60 | 74 | 64 °75 60 |Fair 
13166}; 76 1 G4 4506 56 |Fair 
14| 67 | 78 71 30.17 66 |Fair 
¥5|267''} 70° 4.66. f OFRF 86 |Fair 
16} 68 | 85 | 70 | ° °16 102 {Fair 
17; 68 | 76 | 66: °10 80 _|Fair 
18} 67 | 76 | 64 "04 76 \Fair 
19} 69 | 80 | 64 "| 29°90 85 |Fair 
20) 66 | 76 | 64 “Ol 81 {Fair 
21; 66 | 75 | 66 “91 66 (Cloudy 
22; 67 | 76 | 68 | 30°00 74 {Fair 
23| 68 | 82 | 76 ‘01 91 |Fair 
24; 76 | 87 | 72:1 29°79 95 |Fair* 
25| 70 | 80 | 67 °So 86 |Fair 
26| 67 |} 80 | 68 “80 79 «|Fair 


© , Very1 vivid lightning i in the evening, with distant thunder ; a small fail 
‘ofr rain daring the night. sl 
~~" “NIB, ‘The Barometer’s height is Hp at one o'clock, 


an rs °2 (er 


abies ee 
XI. On the Fiuctification af Sede: By Mrs. Anes 


IBBETSON. 
To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — if SHOWED in my last letter the formation of the hearts 
ofseed in the roots of a plant. I showed also its progress up the 
alburnum vessels, and its entrance into the bag of the seed, the 
contour of the bag being really formed of that line of life which 
ties the hearts of the seeds together as they mount from the root. 
See fig. 1. 

I have before giyen many specimens of the manner in which 
the seeds are half filled by the juices of the atmosphere; then 
completed by a powder flowing upwards from the root ;—there 
I stopped. 1 shall now give the next process, which always fol - 
lows directly ; viz. * the fructification of the seeds ;”” that is, the 
conveying the powder of the pollen when dissolved in the juices 
of the pistil down to the seeds, allowing each vessel to enter.each 
different seed, and bestow its quantum of matter on all by turns. 
This takes place assoon as the seed has.received all that which 
may be called its-nutriment ; and is so different from the fal- 
lowing process, that there is no fear of confounding them to- 
gether. This last operation takes place as soon as the flower is 
full blown, and therefore arrived at its greatest perfection. ‘The 
nectareous juice is then seen by the naked eye to mount the pi- 
stil, and settle in a Jarge drop on the stigma: this it doth each 
sunny day; and even if the flower is turned downwards, (likea 
campanula,) still the drop appears to hang and never to fadd, but 
returns within the style down the pistil, ito the secret nectary, 
where it remains all night, and reappears next morning in the 
same situation on the stigma till the pollen is ripe; when, the 
dust falling on the stigma, the various apertures thus impressed - 
reveive and secure it, and it remains there visibly till it is com- 
pletely dissolved. 

That any one should deny the sexual system, who has regu- 
larly dissected flowers and plants (especially if done progressively) , 
{can never believe. That the pistil is formed to receive and re- 
duce the flower of the pollen, which clings to it, and that it 
then carries the mixt juice down tothe little branch in the heart 

of the seed, vivifying and exciting its growth, —is certainly true ; 
and let the different figures of the flower be ever so various in 
this respect, it will be exactly the same in its result. This con- 
stant progress take place, and the whole progressive move- 
ments succeed cach other in constant routine. Nor can I con- 
ceive how botanists could reeoneile the doubt they made with 
respect to the trough in the style and stigma, and therefore to 
Vol. 52, No. 244, Aug. 1818. BR its 


82 On the Fructification of Seeds. 


its conveying down the joint juices of the pollen and pistil mat- 
ters, when they saw and acknowledged the rising of the juice of 
the pistil to the stigma in that beautiful drop before impregna- 
tion. Would not the same trough serve the purpose for the fall- 
ing liquid, that it did for the rising one? And yet all botanists 
acknowledge the first, but many deny the last, and believe that 
there is room for the pistil juice, and not for the same when the 
pollen powder is dissolved in it, though the style is then infinitely 
increased and inflated. 

The flower, let it be ever so various in appearance, is invariable 
in having the summit and style (if it has any) above the seed- 
vessel (see fig. 2); and in these parts being in one connected 
pillar with the secret nectary; while the open nectary is always 
at the exterior of the pillar, but standing perfectly aloof. If the 
stamens appear united with the pistil, itis only so to appearance ; 
they are never fastened but to a skin which is connected with 
the cylinder below, and carries on the vessels of the stamen to 
the wood part, and only lies against the pistil. Such is the 
stamen of theg Auilegia, (see fig. 3,) and the stamens of the 
Malva and Viola, &c. which I have not room to give. The 
pistil is then unconnected with every other part, but those just 
mentioned. The stamens when ripe throw their pollen by many 
different methods on the stigma. ‘The various forms of the pistil 
proclaim that it was made to receive, secure and dissolve the 
powder so bestowed. The stigma is either covered with innu- 
merable short thick hairs, which to the eye give it the appear- 
ance of velvet, but when greatly magnified, show that each vessel 
has several apertures to take in the powder, while the points se- 
cure the balls of the stamen, till they burst with the moisture of 
the pistil. The dust is then received into these innumerable 
apertures, which empty themselves into the interior in a gutter, 
which runs all down the style to the seeds. 

But if the stigma, instead of resembling the pistil of the Co- 
lumbine, is like the flower of some of the Tetradynamia silicu- 
losa order, then the stigma swells above, so as to overtop the 
style, as in the Iberis Erysimum, (fg. 4.) &c. while the nume- 
rous corresponding apertures take in the powder at ddd, and 
send it when dissolved down to the seeds, (see fig. 4.) In the 
Chelidonium, a gutter is carried! round below the surface, which 
receives all the juice the hairs bring it, as at fig. 5. (aa) in re- 
gular rows; and the whole centre is one deep trench in the mid- 
die, by which, there being no style, the juice is at once carried 
in three regular cuts down to the seeds. In the Cheiranthus, 
the seed-vessel being a sort of flattened triangle (fig. 2); the 
summit at 2 XX has a bending in the middle ; the large orifice 


is therefore in the centre only: while at fig. 2. aa is the summit ; 
bi 


On the Fructification of Seeds. 83 


bb the seed-vessel ; cc the hidden nectary; dd the rising up of 
the hearts of the seeds before they enter the seed-vessel, and 
place themselves at ee in the seed. 

The next sort of pistil is that which opens the stigina into 
various divisions. This most simply declares its office, since the 
pistil never divides till the pollen balls are ready to explode. 
This is seen in the Iris, where the powder or dust is discovered all 
the way down the passage (fig. 5. ee e,) beginning to pass into 
it at dd. No pistil so puzzled the botanist at first as the Tris. 
It was long disputed which was the female: but nothing is so 
easy as fixing on that part, as it is always the middle pillar, (see 
fig. 5.) Lb the seed-vessel; cc the secret nectary; 7° the 
stigma; and g g’the style which conveys the joint juices in three 
rows to the seeds. In many of the stigmas formed in this man- 
ner, there appears no opening till just before the whole is con- 
cluded and that the stigma is covered with balls, as at B Cz 
then, if carefully watched, the stamens will be seen to burst one 
after the other, so as to surround the stigma with a sort of cloud; 
‘and this is almost always at noon. This accounted to me for 
a beautiful sight I never saw but twice, though I have often 
watched for it—the flowing of the pollen in a field of rye-grass. 
A cloud came on, which at first I could not understand, and fell on 
the female Nower and leaves around. I had just come for the pur- 
pose of examining whether the seeds were fructified: I found they 
were not; but two daysafter when taken up,the line of life appeared 
along the heart and seed, and the seed-leaf had begun to grow. 
In many stigmas that divide, the stamens fall so completely into 
the aperture which the separation has made, as to be theniselves 
dissolved and sent down the style to the seeds. Authors have 
said that it is strange that the dust of the pollen is never disco- 
vered in the passage, and that it never tints with its colour the 
interior of the style. But this is certainly a great mistake, for 
I have repeatedly seen it do so. I have just mentioned a proot 
of this; and the Rhododendron is another instance where the 
passage is so open that the balls enter and are soon absorbed, 
and the juice carried down to the seeds. But in general the 
cases of the pollen are taken for the powder itself; the inward 
dust is rarely of any other colour than a very light green or 
very pale yellow, though the cases are often highly painted: and 
this faint tint is so like the appearance of the juices, that it would 
produce no change on them if mixed. But when this proves 
different, the interior of the style gets often coloured, as is seen 
in the tulip; in which though the pollenis a very pale green, 
yet the stamens are almost black, and often mix their colour with 
it, and thus paint the interior of the style. This also happens 
to the yellow Jris, where the coloured stamens impress their tint 

, F2°, within 


&{ On the Fructification of Seeds. 


within the passage of the three leaves, which I have repeatedly 
discovered deeply tinted, though affected principally by means of 
the outward skin of the stamen, which in the rubbing has got 
mixed with the pollen powder. 

The first thing to be assured of, is the mark which proves 
that the seed is really perfected. This sign is most plain, and is 
the same in every seed, never varying. Iti is a line which passes 
through the heart and seed, and then out again, touching that 
little branch which the corculum brought from the root with a 
sort of loop; the vessel then runs to the next seed, and so on, 
(see fig. 6.) gg are the seeds before impregnation, hh after. 
It will be seen that at ¢i7 the heart has not yet risen to the top 
of the seed, where it must get before the line can pass. There 
are often many stigmas and styles to one seed-vessel: the num- 
ber of divisions is proportionate ;—but this I shall leave. till 
I come to show the pericarp, as the cause of this arrangement 
is exquisitely beautiful ; formed and adapted by nature for the 
purpose of diminishing the space required, and secreting and 
confining in as little room as many seeds as possible. The art 
with which this is done (though the seeds change their form 
three or four times) is most wonderful, aud the deal of space 
left to give them free liberty can never be enough admired; some 
requiring tolay a part of their time in liquid, when the seeds are 
left quite in a trough, which they only fill up with solid matter 
when their outward cases grow. The manner in which the mid- 
dle pillar of the flower is left,—at such perfect liberty that it may 
have room for every motion, and for every increase, and also to 
admit the insect to seek the open nectary,—also merits particular 
observation. But the astonishing care ‘that has been taken to 
prevent the possibility of its approaching the secret nectary can- 
not be sufficieritly admired; as that would at once be robbing the 
flower of its future perfect seed, by preventing its impregnation. 
1 have repeatedly placed the pollen on different stigmas, to show 
exactly the time the seeds will be in receiving this appearance, 
shown at fig. 6, hh. Few seeds require more than three days ; 
the stone plants will, indeed, sometimes require a fortnight or 
three weeks, but rarely more: it is a great mistake to suppose 
that so much time is necessary. When the whole is performed, a 
total suspension of action takes place till the seed gets buried 
in the ground. The earth then forms a new stimulus. But seeds 
will rarely pass beyerd a certain point till they fall; and the in- 
terior of the seed always begins to grow two or three days at 
furthest after the line has passed up the seed, because the oxygen 
they directly yield is absolutely necessary to the growth of the 
embryo, which is now increas ing most wonderfully. 


The idea of the sced-leaf yielding food instead of gas was the 
most 


On the Fructification of Seeds. 85 


most strange and contradictory imaginable; since the nowishing 
vessels are visibly made for the latter purpose ; but leaves from 
the first moment yield their oxygen, as may be known by their 
dissection. As to the manner of the impregnation of the seeds, 
I have tried them in almost every class and order, but never dis- 
covered any difference in this respect. But I am now trying in 
different seis of plants whether they vary in any way; such as 
fresh-water plants, sea-weeds, sand-weeds, &c. 

In my next letter I shall give the progressive passage after the 
impregnation of a plant to its growth in the earth, with ail 
the intervening steps, never before shown, and most truly cu- 
rious. 

it is always better, for dissection, to trust to the indigenous or 
fiowers of the country; it is certain that, the spiral not being so 
perfect in exotics, its functions are not performed so well. [ 
have now before me above forty different sorts of pistils, but they 
all proclaim the same law and mode of proceeding.’ The stigma 
of the Pentandria digynia plant is a very curious one, formed 
of bubbles, which visibly show the absorption of the powder and 
its reduction into the juices which tint the interior, through 
the trough of the style (see fig. 9); as is also the pistil of the 
Glecthoma (fig. 9X), which has long hairs, to whieh the balls 
adhere till they explode, yielding their extremely fine dust by a 
sudden apparent electrical effect, when the absorption takes 
place, and it is quick and immediate. 

It is quite a mistake of Gertner to sav, that when barren and 
fertile seeds are mixed together in the same seed-vessel, the 
whole becomes nugatory. There is no seed-vessel that has not 
hoth sorts in the same pericarpium; but they are imperfect from 
different causes, easily perceived : from the heart not reaching 
the seed,— from the seed not being impregnated ; that is, 
the line of life not passing through ihe corculum,— from the 
nourishment dying away before it can reach the seed. Every 
seed-vessel shows at first many seeds, even those that never per- 
fect but one or two. This is admirably seen in the chesnut, 
which almost always has six when the pericarp is under the bud; 
they go oif by degrees, and at last one or two only are completed. 
As to the proof that the mixture of the pollen is the cause of the 
impregnation of the seeds, let the evidence be only fairly ex- 
amined, and no one can disbelieve it, A bed of female plants 
of the dioicous tribe has beenset, and kept from the approach of 
staminiferous flowers, and perfect seeds have notwithstanding 
been got from it. This has been brought forward as a proof of 
the falsehood of the sexual system,—without the female plants 
being examined, to see whether there were not males concealed 

P3 among 


86 On the Fruetification of Seeds. 


among them, which is almost always the case..'This at once 
reuders that trial nugatory. Then it must be recollected that 
niost flowers can be impregnated from pollen of the same species. 
This is another cause of uncertainty. The only true method, 
therefore, is trying those plants that never produce, or will bear 
this mode of management; among whose pistils male plants are 
never found, and that cannot be impregnated from other pollen 
than their own. There are a few of these: Vhe Palms, the 
Pistachio nut, the Fig, and two or three more. These have been 
for years without producing fruit, on the failure of the male 
plant. I had a complete proof of this, which I shall give, as it 
is in vain to repeat Linneus’s excellent trials, which are in every 
botanical book. When I was at Lisbon, in passing to the Caul- 
ders, about half way I came to a viliage, where there were at 
that time many female palm-trees and no male, but in the mid- 
dle of each tree was placed a branch of the male. I inquired 
the-reason. The man told me he had planted many, and chose 
them wrong from ignorance, and for years they had given no 
fruit, as there were then no palms on this side of Lisbon; but 
his children going to Lisbon brought a branch of the male palm, 
and stuck it in the tree, and that tree gave fruit. The next year 
he had therefore performed the same to each, and had always a 
quantity of dates. t 

At Belle Vue I planted a female Juniper ; and it never had 
fruit, though there were many male plants within two miles: but 
it was placed on a remarkably high hill, where the winds blew 
with violence. After many years experiment I wished to try 
a male plant, and placed it near; and I had fruit very soon after, 
within two years I think. As to the Fig, it is the only flower 
that appears to me ¢ruly to be made for the insect to do-the 
office, since both parts are confined in a receptacle which is laid 
open at the proper time. When the insect Cynips enters the 
male Fig, it rolls itself in the pollen, then flies to the female, and 
deposits the powder all round the aperture which nature makes 
at this time in both fruits. * Here at the entrance it inserts its own 
eggs, and leaves the pollen all round the orifice, which is soon 
conveyed to the stigma by means of the juice of the pistils, which 
almost overflow the receptacle with their liquid. 

By what means will the pollen of the Primula veris, thrown 
on the Primula vulgaris, make a Cowslip of it the next year, 
though that flower is so rare in this county of Devon,—and that 
degenerate and return to its original species, if the frial is not 
repeated? Why will the pollen of the Sweet purple Pea, thrown 
on a number of white ones, give seed the next year that will 
bestow a pretty equal number of both colours, and some varie- 

gated? 


On the Fructification of Seeds. 87 


gated? Why is the syngenesian flower capable of receiving the 
juice of the pistil, which runs up and often even covers the seeds 
below, without any effect >but when it descends with the fiower 
of the stamen, and runs into the seeds with the joint juices, 
why are the seeds directly impregnated? If the pollen had no 
effect, how could all this happen > But of all the seeds, none 
will perhaps show the whole process more completely than the 
Fragaria (fig. 10), especially at the seed ig. 11 X: aa is the 
stigma and style; J 0 the heart of the secd, which rises from the 
root of the plant; c¢ the ascent and descent of the juices from 
the corculum; ddd is the juice first ascending to the stigma; 
and ee is the liquid running from the style to the heart of the 
seed, and carrying the mixed juice: therefore in this seed there 
is a separate vessel; and one peculiarly adapted to convey the 
powder and juice through the heart, showing that the pistil juices 
could not do it. Fig. 10 is the seed-vessel, and ddd the part 
which conveys the corculums up to each seed. I have drawn it 
completely as it appears, and as a half-guinea glass ean show it. 
As to the idea that the embryo is formed in the male or sta- 
mina, it is most ridiculous; for it is far smaller than the embryo 
of the seed. Besides, 1 have shown by a progressive picture, that 
the beginning of the seed proceeds directly from the root, aud 
that it must be the right part—the real embryo—since it is 
never lost sight of till, fructified ; this part may therefore be as 
well called an egg till it has joined its seed. 

When I said that I] knew but of one flower that appeared 
really to want the assistance of insects, I only meant that na- 
ture had made them perfect, but the change of climate had al- 
tered them :—many exotics that would go on increasing their fi- 
jaments, are stopped by the alteration. of climate, and the 
weakness of the muscle. It is sometimes the case with our own 
flowers in bad seasons ; and in watching, how continually have f 
seen innumerable flowers bend down their pistils with a jerk to 
procure the powder of the stamen! In many of the Lily tribe, 
} have caught them when bending with a sudden jerk, which had 
much the appearance of an electrical effect or shock,—such as 
the pistil of the Orange Lily, or the Hemerocallis fulva, the 
large white Lily. I have seen the single Cumilla Japonica (the 
pistil of which is sometimes prolonged much beyond the stamen) 
bend down and sweep the pollen of each stigma in its turn, till it 
loaded itself with powder. I have also seen in like manner the 
AmaryllisJacobea bend down and make eachstigma take its share 
of the powder: but this moves gently along after the reception of 
the powder, and not with a jerk. How curiously in the Winter 
Rose will the stamens (though they all lie around) raise them- 
selves, and turn so many at a time in a contrary direction, 

while 


SS On the relative Powers of Algebra 


while in the Geranium, the pistil is made to bend by the fila- 
ments twisting round her! How beautifully does the Spartium 
junceum throw off its keel, that the pistil may have room to 
sweep round, and turn its points to the spreading stamens, which 
pass between each! I have watched this, flower after flower, with 
admiration : for the manner in which it first throws back the 
banner is most curious ; the wings then fly apart, and the inward 
motion of the keel Babuities perceptible ; ; when the sun striking 
full on it, it flies open, and the stamens disperse some of their 
powder. Now at full liberty, the boxes of the stamen open, and 
the pistil turns round, and one after the other presses between 
the two points of the stigma, and thus loads it with powder. 

I must now stop: My letter is already too long. Fig. 7 is 
the ititerior of the flower of the Aquilegia vulgaris, to show how 
the hearts of the seeds pass up the stem to the seed-vessel and 
seeds at eee, and how the juice passes up from the secret nec- 
tary a@ato the stigma /é, and the pollen up the vessels g g 
to the stamen ff. Fig. 8 is asingle pericarpium and stigma at 
top. Fig. 5 is the interior pillar of the Iris, &c. The rest I be- 
lieve I have already explained. 

J am, sir, your obliged servant, 
AGNES IBBETSON. 


Description of Plate 11. No. 8. 


Fig. 9 is the stigma of the Ground Ivy; the pollen powder 
within the balls enters the diminutive holes, when dissolved. 
At aa in 

Fig.4 is one of those stigmas which are so much larger than the 
style, and have a gutter running round at aa a, and descending 
also at Ub to the style. 

Fig. 4 X is the stigma of the Pentandria digynia plant; and 
ccc the hairs at which the mixed juices eter the stigma: it has 
a gutter all round, and one through the middle. 

Figs 3 is the manner in which the stamens loosely surround 
the pistil when it is supposed to be fastened to it. Band C 
two inore stigmas. 

The seeds, fig. 7 X and fig. 2 ¢ ¢ are the shape of the seeds 
at that time, both impregnated. 


NII. On the Comparative Powers of Algebra and Vulgar Arith- 
metic, By WiLL1AM GUTTERIDGE, Esq. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sin,—As you will no doubt acknowledge that in a commercial 
country like ours, the true principles of calculation should be 
thoroughly 


and Vulgar Arithmetic. 89 


thoroughly understood and profoundly taught, I feel persuaded that 
you will permit me, through the medium of your Magazine, to 
express my disapprobation of the present method, which preyails 
in the public seminaries throughout the united kingdom, of 
solving such questions as relate to mixing of merchandises, as 
rums, wines, &c. commonly termed Alligation, which, save the 
medial case, is in all respects very abstruse, frequently, false, 
and generally detrimental to the merchant. Nay more, indeter- 
minate equations (of which questions in Alligation are a species) 
are in works of the greatest celebrity very frequently most erro- 
neously solved, where the great power of algebra in the present 
mode of application is insufficient to demonstrate the truth; 
whilst, if rightly handled, vulgar arithmetic is abundantly sufii- 
cient to obtain all the integral answers to such questions. 

That this is not on my part a mere assertion, but a well- 
grounded fact, I shail adduce, for the satisfaction of the public, 
a most glaring instance, which may be found in that well-known 
work, Dedson’s Mathematieal Repository, where, vol. ii. ques- 
tion XII. page 39, we read as follows : 

“ Let 2x + Sy + 52+ 350u= 100003,” the number of integral 
answers (see fol. 44) are stated to be “ 160,190,378,249.” 

Now, sir, you will give me leave to state, that the actual 
number of integral equivalent answers to that equation are just 
185,090,752,407; therefore the error in Dodson’s computation 
is 24,900,374,158 answers too few. And you will also give me 
leave to state, that such erroneous computation arises not from 
accident, but from the adopted method of solution. 

Authors have uniformly avowed that vulgar arithmetic would 
not obtain all the possible answers to questions of this sort, and 
that algebraic reasoning was indispensable. I am ready to prove 
the contrary, and to show that arithmetic is not only equal, but 
infinitely superior, in all cases of alternation. 

Errors equally glaring are to be found in the algebra of the 
celebrated Bonnycastle, who, so recently as his 7th edition of that 
great art, fails in some of these equations. And, what is more 
extraordinary, the ingenious Mr. Davis’s Key to that celebrated 
work corresponds with the author's errors ;—a proof of the ne- 
cessity of adopting a different system, whereby the truth may be 
discovered. : 

To enter into sufficient detail would engross too many pages 
of your Magazine ; for 1 am well aware, that in instances where 
errors have become habitual, nothing short of an elaborate pro~ 
cess can possibly convince. I shall therefore content myself, 
for the present, with a general disapproval of the inadequacy of 
that system universally prevailing; but should any gentleman 

think 


90 An Account of Experiments for determining the Length of 


think proper to dispute the accuracy of my foregoing computa- 
tion, or the justice of my disapproval, (and that you will be 
pleased to afford me your pages as the medium,) I shall enter 
without hesitation into all the minutie of the question. 
I am, sir, 
Your most obedient servant, 
St. Finbars, Cork, July 15, 1818. WILLIAM GUTTERIDGE. 


XIV. An Account of Experiments for determining the Length 
of the Pendulum vibrating Seconds in the Latitude of London. 
By Capt. Henry Kater, F.R.S.* 


A iM determine the distance between the point of suspension and 
centre of oscillation of a penduluin vibrating seconds in a given 
latitude, has long been a desideratum in science. Many experi- 
ments have been made for this purpose ; but the attention of all 
who have hitherto engaged in thé inquiry (excepting White- 
hurst) appears to have been directed to the discovery of the 
centre of oscillation. The solution of this problem depending, 
however, on the uniform density and known figure of the body 
employed, (requisites difficult if not impossible to be ensured ia 
practice,) it is not surprising that the experiments made by dif- 
ferent persons should have been productive of various results. 
When I had the honour of being appointed one of the com- 
mittee of the Royal Society for the investigation of this interest- 
ing subject, I imagined that the least objectionable mode of pro-~ 
ceeding would be to employ a rod drawn as a wire, in which, 
supposing it to be of equal density and diameter throughout, the 
centre of oscillation, as it is well known, would be very nearly 
at the distance of two-thirds of the length of the rod from the 
point of suspension; and I purposed by inverting the rod, and 
taking a mean of the results in each position, to obviate any 
error which might arise from a want of uniformity in density or 
figure. After numerous trials however, and as frequent disap- 
pointments, I was at length convinced of the impracticability of 
obtaining a rod sufficiently uniform ; and I was besides aware, 
that under certain circumstances errors might arise from this 
cause which it would be impossible by any method to detect. 
Not feeling at all satisfied with the prospect which the use of 
a rod presented, I endeavoured to discover some property of the 
pendulum of which 1 might avail myself with greater probability 
of success; and I was so fortunate as to perceive one, which 


* Fyom the Transactions of the Royal Society for 1818, part i. 
‘ins promised 


the Pendulum vibrating Seconds in the Latitude of London. 94 


promised an unexceptionable result. It is known that the cen- 
tres of suspension and oscillation are reciprocal; or, in other 
words, that if a body he suspended by its centre of oscillation, 
its former point of suspension becomes the centre of oscillation, 
and the vibrations in both positions will be performed in equal 
times. Now the distance of the centre of oscillation from the 
point of suspension, depending on the figure of the body em- 
ployed, if the arrangement of its particles be changed, the place 
of the centre of oscillation will also suffer a change. Suppose 
then a body to be furnished with a point of suspension, and an- 
other point on which it may vibrate, to be fixed as nearly as can 
be estimated in the centre of oscillation, and in a line with the 
point of suspension and centre of gravity. If the vibrations in 
each position should not be equal in equal times, they may readily 
de made so, by shifting a moveable weight, with which the body 
is to be furnished, in a line between the centres of suspension 
and oscillation ; when the distance between the two points about 
which the vibrations were performed being measured, the length 
of a simple pendulum and the time of its vibration will at 
once be known, uninfluenced by any irregularity of density or 
figure *. 

An unexceptionable principle being thus adopted for the con- 


* In the Conmissance des Temps for 1820, is an article by M. de Prony on 
a new method of regulating clocks. At the conciusion of this article is a 
‘short note, in which the author adds, “ J’ai proposé en 1790 & Academie 
des Sciences un moyen de déterminer la longueur du pendule en faisan‘ 
osciller un pendule composé sur deus ou trois axes attachés & ce corps. 
(voyez mes Legons de Mécanique, art. 1107 et suivans.) Il paroit qu’on a 
fait ou quon va faire usage de ce moyen en Angleterre.” On referring to 
the Legons de Mécanique, as directed, I can perceive no hint whatever of 
the possibility of determining the length of the seconds pendulum by means 
of a compound pendulum vibrating on two axes; but it appears that the 
method of M. de Prony consists in employing acompound pendulum having 
three fixed axes of suspension, the distances between which, and the time 
of vibration upon each, being known, the length of three simple equiva- 
lent pendulums may thence be calculated by means of formule given for 
that purpose. M. de Prony indeed proposes employing the theorem of 
Huygens, of which I have availed myself, of the reciprocity of the axis of 
suspension and that of oscillation, as one amongst other means of simplifying, 
his formule, and says, ‘‘ J’ai indiqué les moyens de concilier avec la condition 
a laquelle se rapportent ces formules, celle de rendre l'axe moyen le recipro: 
que de l'un des axes extrémes ; J’emploie pour les ajustemens qu'exigent 
ces diverses conditions wn poids curseur dont j'ai exposé les propriéiés dans 
un mémoire publié avec la Connoissance des Temps de 1817.” Now it ap- 
pears evident from this passage, that M. de Prony viewed the theorem of 
Huygens solely with reference to the simplification of his formulz ; for, had 
he perceived that he might thence have obtained at once the length of the 
pendulum without further calculation, the inevitable conclusion must in- 


stantly have followed, that his third axis and his formule were wholly unne- 
eessary. 


struction 


92 An Account of Experiments for determining the Length of \ 


struction of the pendulum, it became of considerable importance 
to select a mode of suspension equally free from objection. Dia- 
mond points, spheres, and the knife edge, were each considered; 
but as it was found difficult to procure diamond points suffi- 
ciently well executed, the knife edge was preferred, after many 
experiments had been made with spheres, the result of which it 
may not be useless for a moment to dwell upon. 

It is known, that if two curved surfaces be ground together 
in every possible direction, they will become portions of spheres; 
and thus a perfect sphere may be formed by grinding a ball in a 
hemispherical cup. If a pendulum vibrate on such a sphere, 
working in a conical aperture, itis evident that the centre of the 
sphere will be accurately in the axis of vibration, In trying this — 
method, however, it was found that the friction was so consi- 
derable, as to bring the pendulum to a state of rest after a few vi- 
brations ; and when the friction was sufficiently dimimished, by a 
contrivance which it is unnecessary todescribe,the lateral force of 
the pendulum in an arc of two degrees and a half, was sufficiently 
powerful to carry the ball entirely out of the socke 3 and it was 
consequently evident, that though the are of vibration might not 
be large enough to effect this, it must necessarily cause the ball 
in some degree to ascend the inclined piane of the aperture ; 
and this consideration induced me to abandon at once a mode 
of suspension which I should otherwise have esteemed the best 
that could have been employed. 

The principal objections to the use of a knife edge, appeared 
to be, the difficulty of forming it perfectly straight, and the pos- 
sibility that it might suffer a change of figure from wear, during 
the experiments, which might introduce an error not to be de- 
tected. The first of these objections I found to be perfectly 

roundless, as a knife edge can be made so as not to deviate 
sensibly from a right line. The second objection would indeed 
be of weight, were the usual method of determining the time of 
vibration resorted to, by comparing the pendulum with a clock, 
at the distant intervals of 24 hours $ ; but it will hereafter appear, 
that should any alteration in the form of the knife edge take 
place, it must become perceptible every ninth minute ; in addi- 
tion to which, I proposed to measure the distance of the knife. 
edges both before and after the experiments, when any change 
would of course be immediately detected. 


Description of the Pendulum employed. 


The pendulum constructed upon these principles is formed of 

a bar of plate brass, one inch and a half wide, and one eighth 
of an inch thick. Through this bar, two triangular holes are 
made, at the distance of 39:4 inches from each other, ta admit 
the 


the Pendulum vibrating Seconds in the Latitude of London. 98 


the knife edges. Four strong knees of hammered brass of the 
same width as the bar, six inches long and three quarters of an 
inch thick, are firmly screwed by pairs to each end of the bar, 
in such a manner, that when the knife edges are passed through 
the triangular apertures, their backs may bear steadily against 
the perfectly plane surfaces of the brass knees, which are formed 
as nearly as possible at right angles to the bar. The bar is cut 
of such a length, that its ends may be short of the extremities 
of the knee pieces about two inches. 

Two slips of deal 17 inches long, and of the same thickness 
as the bar, are inserted in the spaces thus left between the knee 
pieces, and are firmly secured there by pins and screws. These 
slips of deal are only half the width of the bar; they are stained 
black, and in the extremity of each a small whalebone point is 
inserted, for the purpose of indicating the extent of the are of 
vibration. 

A eylindrical weight of brass, three inches and a half diame- 
ter, one inch and a quarter thick, and weighing about two pounds 
seven ounces, has a rectangular opening in the direction of its 
diameter, to admit the knee pieces of one end of the pendulum. 
This weight being passed on the pendulum, is so thoroughly se- 
cured there hy means of a conical pin fitting an opening made 
through the weight and knee pieces, as to render any change 
of position impossible. A second weight, of about seven ounces 
and a half, is made to slide on the bar near the knife edge at the 
opposite end; and this weight may be fixed at any distance on 
the bar by two screws with which it is furnished. 

A third weight, or rather slider, of only four ounces, is move- 
able along the bar, and is capable of nice adjustment by means of 
a screw fixed to a clamp, which clamp is included in the weight. 
This slider is intended to nove near the centre of the bar. It 
has an opening, through which may be seen divisions, each 
equal to one-tyentieth of an inch, engraved on the bar; anda 
Jine is drawn on the edge of the opening to serve as an index to 
determine the distance of the slider from the middle of the bar. 

We now come to the most important part, the knife edges. 
These are made of that kind of steel which is prepared in India, 
and known by the name of wootz. Their form is triangular, 
and their length one inch and three quarters. Mr. Stodard was 
so obliging as to forge them for me: they were made as hard as 
possible, and tempered by immersing them merely in boiling 
water. 

The knife edges were ground on a plane tool, which neces- 
sarily ensured a perfectly straight edge. This was ascertained 
by bringing the edge of the one in contact with the plane of the 

other, 


$4 An Account of Experiments for determining the Length of 


other, when, if no light was perceptible between them in any 
position, it was inferred that the edge was a right line. They 
were then carefully finished on a plane green hone, giving them 
such an inclination as to make the angle on which the vibrations 
are per!»rmed about 120 degrees. 

Previously to the knife edges being hardened, each was tapped 
half way through, near the extremities, to receive two screws, 
which being passed through the knee pieces, drew the knife 
edges into close contact with them, the surfaces of both having 
been previcusly ground together to guard against any strain 
which might injure their figure. 


The Support, and other Apparatus. 


The support of the pendulum consists of a piece of bell metal 
six inches long, three inches wide, and three-eighths of an inch 
thick. An opening is made longitudinally through half the 
length of the piece, to admit the pendulum, and the bell metal 
is cast with a rectangular elevation on each side of the opening 
extending the whole length of the piece. Two plates of agate* 
were cemented to this elevated part, beds having been made to 

eceive them, in order that their surfaces might be in the same 
plane with that of the bell metal. The whole was then ground 
perfectly flat. A frame of brass is attached by two opposite 
screws, which serve as centres, to the sides of the elevated part 
of the support; and one end of this frame being raised or de- 
pressed by means of a screw, the pendulum when placed with its 
knife edge resting in Ys, at the other end of the frame, could be 
elevated entirely above the surface of the agate, or be gently 
lowered until the knife edge rested wholly upon it; and thus the 
knife edge was sure to bear always precisely on the same part of 
the agate plane, by elevating the Ys above its surface, placing 
the knife edge in them, and then letting down the whole gently 
by means of the screw, till the Ys were completely clear of the 
knife edge. The support was firmly screwed to a plank which 
will hereafter be described, 

To the kindness of Henry Browne, Esq. F.R.S., I am essen- 
tially indebted for the success of the experiments which form the 
subject of this paper. He most obligingly allowed me the use 
of his house, his excellent time-pieces, and transit instrument, 
assisting me with indefatigable zeal by his very accurate daily 
observations, and intermediate comparisons for determining the 
rate of the clock. The house is substantially built, and is situ- 


* Plates of hard steel were first tried, but were found to have suffered 
penetration by the knife edge. 
; ated 


the Pendulum vibrating Seconds in the Latitude of London. 95 


ated in a part of Portland Place not liable to much disturbance 
from the passing of carriages. The room in which the experi- 
* ments were made is the last of two on the ground floor, commu- 
nicating with each other and facing the north. The tempera- 
ture consequently is very steady, and, if necessary, may be raised 
to any given degree by a fire in the frst room. The clock with 
which the pendulum was compared was made by Arnold; and 
in addition to the gridiron compensation for temperature, its 
pendulum is suspended by a spring, the strength of which is so 
adjusted, that the vibrations in different arcs are performed in 
equal times. This clock is firmly screwed to the wall, in a re- 
cess opposite to the window. Near to this, on the wall which 
is at right angles to the recess, is fixed another time-piece by 
Cumming, which was the property of the late General Roy, and 
is considered by Mr. Browne to be the best in his possession. 
Respecting this clock, it will be sufficient to remark, that three- 
tenths of a second was the greatest variation in its daily rate 
from the 22d February, when the observations commenced, to 
the 31st July; and consequently the deviation from its mean 
rate during that period, did not exceed 0°15 of a second per day. 
This clock has been used as the standard of comparison, the 
time having been taken from the transit instrument by a chro- 
nometer.of Arnold’s. With such advantages it will be confessed 
that there can be little chance of error arising from the rate of 
the clock. 

A plank of well seasoned mahogany, two feet wide, and three 
inches thick, was forcibly driven between the walls forming the 
sides of the recess, until it was near the top of the clock case. 
Yo this the support of the pendulum before described was firmly 
screwed, and carefully levelled, in such a position as to allow the 
pendulum to vibrate as near as possible to the clock-case with- 
out touching it; and that, when at rest, it might appear to an 
observer in front of the clock, to pass over the centre of the dial- 
plate, its extremity reaching a little below the centre of the ball 
of the pendulum. Beneath, fixed to the clock-case, was an arc’ 
divided into degrees and tenths, to determine the extent of the 
vibrations. Such a portion of the plank was cut away as wes 
necessary to admit of the pendulum being placed on its support. 
A cireular white disk was pasted on a piece of black paper, which 
was attached to the ball of the pendulum of the clock ; and this 
disk was of such a diameter, as, when both pendulums were a¢ 
rest, to be just hid from an observer at the opposite side of the 
room, by one of the slips of deal which form the extremities of 
the brass pendulum, 

Though there was little reason to imagine that the vibrations 
of the pendulum could communicate any motion to a support so 

firm 


96 An Account of Experiments for determining the Length of 


firm as that which has been described, it became a point of con+ 
siderable importance to verify this by actual experiment. For 
this purpose 1 had recourse to a delicate and simple instrument 
invented by Mr. Hardy, clock-maker, the sensibility of which is 
such, that had the slightest motion taken place in the support, 
jt must have been instantly detected. This little instrument 
consists of a steel wire, the lower part of which inserted in the 
piece of brass which serves as its support, is flattened so as to 
form a delicate spring. On the wire, a small weight slides, by 
means of which it may be made to vibrate in the same time as 
the pendulum to which it is to be applied asa test, When thus 
adjusted, it is placed on the material to which the pendulum is 
attached ; and should this not be perfectly firm, its motion will 
be communicated to the wire, which in a little time wili accom- 
pany the pendulum in its vibrations. This ingenious contrivance 
appeared fully adequate to the purpose for which it was em- 
ployed, and afforded a satisfactory proof of the stability of the 
point of suspension. 

A firm triangular wooden stand, as high as the ball of the pen- 
dulum, was screwed to the floor at the distance of nine feet in 
’ front of the clock. This served as a support, to which was at- 
tached a small teleseope, magnifving about four times, which 
was capable of a horizontal motion en its axis, a vertical motion, 
and a motion at right angles to the line of sight. In the focus 
of the eye-glass was a diaphragm forming a perpendicular 
opening, the sides of which were parallel, and capable of being 
placed nearer, or further asunder. The. edges of this diaphragm 
were adjusted so as to form tangents to the horizontal diaméter 
of the white disk, and consequently to coincide with the edges 
of the slip of deal. When, therefore, both pendulums were at 
rest, nothing was visible through the telescope, excepting the 
divided are for ascertaining the extent of the vibrations, and 
which was seen through a horizontal opening made for that pur- 
pose in the top of the diaphragm. 


Method of determining the Number of Vibrations made by the 
Pendulum in twenty-four Hours. 


If both pendulums be now set in motion, the brass pendulum 

a little preceding that of the clock, the following appearances 
may be remarked. The slip of deal will first pass through the 
field of view of the telescope at each vibration, and will be fol- 
lowed by the white disk. But the distance between the centres 
of suspension and oscillation in the brass pendulum being rather 
the longer, the pendulum of the clock will gain upon it, the white 
disk will gradually approach the slip of deal, and at length, at a 
certain vibration, will be wholly concealed by it, The minute 
and 


the. Pendulum vibrating Seconds in the Latitude of London. 97 


and second at which this total disappearance is observed, must 
be noted. The pendulums will now be seen to separate, and 
after a time will again approach each other, when the same 
phenomenon will take place. The interval between the two 
- coincidences in seconds, will give the number of vibrations made 
by the pendulum of the clock ; and the number of “oscillations 
of the brass pendulum, in the same interval, may be known by 
considering that it must have made two oscillations less than the 
pendulum of the clock. Hence by simple proportion, as the vibra- 
tions made by the pendulum of the clock are to the number of 
vibrations made by the brass pendulum, so are the vibrations 
made by the pendulum of the clock in 24 hours, to those of the 
brass pendulum in the same period*, 4 

Many experiments were made in order to select such a distance 
of the knife edges as might give an interval which would allow 
of the determination of the time of coincidence without an error 
of a single second f, and yet afford a convenient number of in- 
tervals before it should become necessary to renew the motion 
of the pendulum. At the first coincidence, the velocity of the 
brass pendulum, at the lowest part of the are, must not exceed 
that of the pendulum of the clock, otherwise the disk would’ 
disappear for an imperceptible time, and then re-appear; and 
this limits the extent of the are of vibration. 

Again; the observations must not be continued beyond a cer- 
tain diminution of the are of vibration; otherwise the space, which 
the pendulum of the clock has to gain on the brass pendulum 
in one vibration, becomes so small as to render the observation 
of the time of coincidence in some degree uncertain; and, should 
the space be so far diminished as to be less than the error or devia- 
tion from a right line, which would probably take place in the ad- 
justment of the sides of the diaphragm, the end of the pendulum, 
and the disk, the results would be erroneous, as the interval would 
go on increasing till the pendulum came to a state of rest. 

The interval which best fulfilled these conditions was found 
to be about 530 seconds. This admitted five coincidences (af- 
fording four intervals) to be taken before the are became too 
small for the observations to be continued with safety. With 
this interval an error vf one second in the time of coincidence 


* In order to render the calculation more easy, the clock has always been 
supposed to keep mean time, or to make 86,400 vibrations in 24 hours, and 
the variation from this number, or the rate of the clock (being a very small 
quantity) has been afterwards applied as a correction. 

+ The principle on which this method of coincidences is founded, was em- 
ployed by Dr. Wollaston, in May 1808, in some experiments in which he 
was then engaged, the moment of coincidence being determined however 
by sound instead of sight. 


Vol. 52. No, 244. Aug. 1818. G would 


98 An Account of Experiments for determining the Length of 


would occasion an error of only 0°63 in the number of vibrations 
in 24 hours. 

Here it must be evident that no sensible alteration could take 
place in the knife edge during the experiments without its be- 
coming perceptible at every coincidence, since the number of 
vibrations in 24 hours deduced from each interval, must vary 
with any change in the form of the knife edge. 

The following was the method pursued in making the obser- 
vations. The small weight or slider being placed with its index 
at a certain distance (say one inch and a half) from the middle 
of the pendulum towards the great weight, and the second weight 
about five inches from the knife edge, the Ys of the support were 
elevated, the knife edge of the pendulum was placed in them, 
with the great weight alove, and the frame gently lowered till 
the knife edge was left on the surface of the agate. The requi- 
site adjustments of the telescope having been made, the pendu- 
lum was set in motian in an are not exceeding one degree and 
four-tenths, in order that its velocity might not be greater than 
that of the pendulum of the clock. 

The minute and second, at which the disk ceased to be visible, 
was then carefully noted; and the arc of vibration seen through 
the telescope, the height of the barometer, and the temperature 
indicated by a thermometer suspended on the clock-case near 
the middle of the brass pendulum, were also observed and re- 
gistered, Five successive coincidences were thus taken, and the 
number of vibrations in 24 hours was deduced from them in the 
manner before described; but the vibrations thus obtained being 
made in different.ares, it became necessary to apply a correction 
to determine what they would have been in an are infinitely 
small. For this correction I might have used a formula depend- 
ing on the decrease of the ares in geometrical progression, whilst 
the times decrease in arithmetical; but as there is an uncer- 
tainty in observing the arc of vibration amounting to one or two 
hundredths of a degree, this method, though more perfect in 
theory, would have been an unnecessary refinement in practice, 

The error arising from the greater length of the vibration in 
a circular are, being nearly as the square of the are, if the mean 
of the observed arcs at the commencement and end of each in- 
terval be taken, and its square multiplied by 1:635, (the dif- 
ference between the number of vibrations made by the pendulum 
in 24 hours, in a cycloid and in an arc of one degree,) the re- 
quired correction will be obtained, to be added to the number 
of vibrations before computed. 

‘The mean of these last results being taken, and also the mean 
of the observed temperatures at the first and last coincidences, 
the number of vibrations in 24 hours was obtained at a certain 

temperature, 


the Pendulum vibrating Seconds in the Latitude of London. 99 


temperature, and altitude of the barometer, in an infinitely small 
are, the great weight being alove. 

The frame of the support was now elevated, the pendulum was 
inverted, placed in the Ys, with the great weight lelow ; and the 
knife edges being gently let down as before on the agate plane, 
the same process with respect to the observations was followed, 
which has just been described. And if the mean temperature 
differed from that in the former position of the pendulum, the 
mean number of vibrations was corrected for such difference of 
temperature, the expansion of the pendulum being known by 
experiments hereafter to be detailed, and consequently the gain 
or loss in 24 hours by a given change of temperature. 

The mean number of vibrations thus found, differing from that 
given in the former position of the pendulum, the second weight 
was moved, the number of vibrations again determined; and the 
pendulum being inverted, the process was repeated until the 
vibrations in 24 hours, in either position of the pendulum, were 
brought as near to an equality as could readily be effected by 
means of this weight: it was then firmly secured in its place. 

Whatever alteration may be made in the arrangement of the 
weights, the effect cn the vibrations (except in one particular 
instance) will be the same in both positions of the pendulum, 
always increasing or diminishing their number in both cases, 
though in different degrees; and the vibrations will be least 
affected by such change when the great weight is below, and 
will consequently be nearest to the truth in this position. No 
doubt, therefore, can arise, as to the kind of correction required. 
The number of vibrations -after the adjustment by the second 
weight has been completed, must be left 2 defect, for a reason 
which will be immediately apparent. 

There is a point in the pendulum where the effect of the slider 
in increasing the number of vibrations is a maximum; and it 
appears from Dr. Young’s investigations, that this point in one 
position of the pendulum is different from that in the other. 
Very near either of these points, the pendulum being in its cor- 
responding position, the motion of the slider produces scarcely 
any change in the number of vibrations; but the slider being 
then more distant from the point of maximum belonging to the 
other position of the pendulum, the corresponding increase of 
the number of vibrations arising from such motion of the slider, 
will in that position be very perceptible. 

Inthe present instance, the point of maximum, in either posi- 
tion of the pendulum, is about four-tenths of an inch below the 
middle, and consequently the distance of the two points from 
each other is about eight-tenths of an inch. The slider, which 
had remained stationary during the adjustment of the second 

G2 weight 


100 Experiments upon American Copper. 


weight at about one inch and a half from the middle of the pen- 
dulum “towards the great weight, must now be shifted (say one 
inch) towards the middle of the pendulum, in order to increase 
the number of vibrations which it may be recollected were left 
in defect, so that they may be in excess. It is evident that the 
true number of vibrations will be found, when the slider is some- 
where between its first and second position. Let the slider be 
now placed half-way between these two points. If the number 
of vibrations in this third position be still in excess, the truth 
will lie between the first and third positions of the slider. And 
thus, by continually bisecting with the slider, the distance of the 
two last found points, the number of vibrations when the great 
weight is /elow’, will rapidly approach the truth, being alternately 
in defect and in excess; and when the approximation is such as 
that the difference in either position of the pendulum becomes 
inconsiderable, the vibrations, when the great weight is below, 
may be taken for the truth; and thus the number of vibrations 
in 24 hours, of a pendulum equal in length to the distance be- 
tween the knife edges, will be known at a certain temperature, 
and at an observed height of the barometer. 


[To be continued. ] 


XV. Account of Experiments made by the Assay Master of the 
King of the Netherlands, at the Mint of Utrecht, on the Na- 
tive Copper existing in Blocks on the South Side of Lake 
Superior, communicated by a Letter from Mr. Eustis, Mi- 

, nister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary from the 
United States, &c. to Dr. SamuEL L. Mircuitt, dated 
Hague, Oct. 12, 1817. 


Dear Sir, — Perceivine by the public newspapers, that my 
friend Dr. Le Barron had presented you a piece of copper, I in- 
close the analysis of a piece which he gave me at the mint of 
Utrecht, a portion of which, in its crude state, I presented to 
the minister of foreign affairs, to be deposited’ in the university 
of Leyden. My object in procuring an assay in a foreign coun- 
try, was first to add to the diffusion of information respecting 
our country; and secondly, that it might be compared with ex- 
periments made in the United States. I had hoped to return 
this autumn, and to have taken it with me; but the state of our 
commercial relations with this country has necessarily deferred 
that hope until the spring. I am, &c., ; 
The Hon. Samuel L. Mitchill. W, Eustis. 


The 


On the Relation between Muriatic Acid and Chlorine. 101 


The Report from the mint is in these words : . 

From every appearance, the piece of copper seems to have 
been taken from a mass that has undergone fusion. The melting 
was, however, not an operation of art, but anatural effect, caused 
by a voleanic eruption. 

The stream of lava probably carried along, in its course, the 
aforesaid body of copper that had formed into one collection, as 
fast as it was heated enough to run, from all parts of the mine. 
The united mass was probably borne in this manner to the 
place where it now rests in the soil. 

The crystallized form observable every where on the original 
surface of the metal that has been left untouched or undisturbed, 
leads me to presume that the fusion it has sustained was by 
a process of nature ; since this crystallized surface can only be 
- supposed to have been produced by a slow and gradual cooling, 
whereby the copper assumed regular figures as its heat passed 
into other substances, and the metal itself lay exposed to 
the air. 

As to the properties of the copper itself, it may be observed 
that its colour is a clear red; that it is peculiarly qualified for 
rolling and forging; and that its excellence is indicated by its 
resemblance to the copper usually employed by the English for 
plating. 

The dealers in copper call this sort Peruvian copper, to distin- 
guish it from that ef Sweden, which is much less malleable. The 
specimen under consideration is incomparably better than 
Swedish copper, as well on account of its brilliant colour, as 
for the fineness of its pores, and its extreme ductility. 

Notwithstanding, before it is used in manufactures, or for the 
coining of money, it ought to be melted anew, for the purpose 
of purifying it from such earthy particles as it may contain. 

The examination of the North American copper, in the sam- 
ple received from his excellency the minister, by the operations 
of the cupel and the test by fire, has proved that it does not con- 
tain the smallest particle of silver, gold, or ides other metal. 


XVI. Experiments on the Relation between Muriatic Acid and 
Chlorine. By Axpruw Urn, M.D. Professor of the Anden- 
sonian Institution, and Memler of the Geological Society.* 


Tue Chloridie theory, though more limited in its application ” 
to chemical phenomena than the Antiphlogistic, may justly be 


* From the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 


G3 regarded 


102 Experiments on the Relation letween 


regarded as of scarcely inferior importance. If established, it 
leads to the adoption of entirely new views concerning combus- 
tion and many of its products; it removes the muriates, a set of 
apparently well characterized saline bodies, from the class of salts 
altogether ; and it has given birth, by analogy, to two new ge- 
nera of compounds, in which iodine and fluorine, like chlorine, 
act a corresponding part with oxygen, in the system of La- 
voisier. 

This new era in chemical science unquestionably originated 
from the masterly researches of Sir Humphry Davy on oxy- 
muriatic acid gas; a substance which, after resisting the most 
powerful means of decomposition which his sagacity could in- 
vent, or his ingenuity apply, he declared to be, according to the 
true logic of chemistry, an elementary body, and not a com- 
pound of muriatic acid and oxygen, as was previously imagined, 
and as its name seemed to denote. He accordingly assigned to 
it the term Chlorine, descriptive of its colour ; a name now ge- 
nerally used. 

Chlorine when combined with an equal volume of hydrogen 
forms muriatic acid gas, the hydrochloric of Gay-Lussac. This 
muriatic acid gas, hygrometrically dry, unites with its own bulk 
of dry ammoniacal gas, to constitute the dry pulverulent solid 
called sal ammoniae. Hence this saline body is ultimately com- 
posed of chlorine and hydrogen, for its acid; and of azote and 
hydrogen for its base. By comparing the weights of muriatic 
acid and ammoniacal gases, in equal volumes, we obtain the 
proportion of 67:8 muriatic acid gas to 32°2 ammonia, for the 
composition of 1()0 parts by weight of the solid salt. If we sa- 
turate liquid muriatic acid with gaseous ammonia, or with the 
base of the ammoniacal carbonate, and evaporate carefully to 
dryness, we find the resulting salt to have precisely the same 
constitution, namely, in 100 parts, 5] of dry muriatic acid, equi- 
valent to 67°S of the acid gas, and the remainder 32:2 ammonia. 
This concurrence of results, whatever way the salt may be ob- 
tained, is fully demonstrated in my researches on the ammonia- 
eal salts, (Annals of Philosophy for September 1817,) and proves 
it to be a substance of very uniform and determinate composi- 
tion. 

Those chemists who consider chlorine to be oxvmuriatic acid 
must suppose, when a volume of it weighing 44°13 unites with 
an equal volume of hydrogen weighing 1°32, that, in the re- 
sulting hydrochloric or muriatic acid gas =45:45, this hydrogen 
exists combined with 10°00 of oxygen, its saturating quantity, 
forming |1-32 of constituent water. In this view, muriatic acid 
gas, like gaseous, sulphuric, and nitric acids, contains water as 


an essential element. There seems to be no violation of chemi- 
cal 


Muriatic Acid and Chlorine. 103 


eal analogy in this supposition. The quantity will be represented 


by the fraction sews 


A5:45° 

If chlorine, however, be a simple body, which forms with hy- 
drogen muriatic acid gas, then sal ammoniac is rightly named 
Hydrochlorate of Ammonia. And since ammonia itself results 
from three volumes of hydrogen and one of azote, condensed 
into two volumes, that saline body can contain neither water, 
nor its indispensable element oxygen. 

On the other hand, if chlorine be oxymuriatic acid, then the 
fourth part of water existing in the resulting muriatic acid gas 
must necessarily enter into the sal ammoniac as an essential 
constituent ; for the whole ponderable matter of that gas, as 
well as of the ammonia, passes into the salt. This water being 
as indispensable an ingredient of sal ammoniac as it is of oil of 
vitriol; heat alone can no more separate it from the former, 
than it can from the latter compound. 

Moreover, if we decompose sal ammoniae by the agency of 
any body containing oxygen, an evident source of fallacy exists 
relative to the watery product, which may be referred by the 
supporters of the chloridic theory, not to the salt itself, but to 
the hydrogen of the hydrochloric acid, united with the oxygen 
of the decomposing substance. This ambiguous interpretation 
is experimentally illustrated in my paper on the Ammoniacal 
Salts. 

If, however, we shall decompose that equivocal salt, by means 
of a substance which certainly contaius no oxygen; and if we 
still obtain water in nearly the above proportions; then this re- 
sult is no longer equivocal, nor will it admit of two interpreta- 
tions. We must thenceforth be compelled to recognise in mu- 
Tiatic acid gas, as in the other acid vapours, WATER as an ingre- 
dient essential to its constitution; and to acknowledge that 
chlorine consists of a base united to oxygen, or is in fact oxy- 
genated muriatic acid, as Lavoisier and Berthollet taught, and 
as the whole chemical world believed, till their faith was lately 
shaken or subverted by the predominating genius of Sir Hum- 
phry Davy. 

With the view of deciding the above important controversy, 
I performed the following experiments : 

Of sal ammoniac, kept for some time in a platina capsule at 
a subliming heat, to remove every particle of adhering moisture, 
a known quantity was put into a glass tube, and made to slide 
down to the one end, which had been hermetically sealed. Over 
it a given weight of bright metallic laminz, cut into slender seg- 
ments, was slightly pressed. The salt occupied in general about 
one inch of the tube; the laminz four or five inches. Silver, 

G4 copper, 


being nearly one-fourth, 


104 Experiments on the Relation between 


copper, and turnings of iron made with a dry tool, were em- 
ployed in successive experiments. The open extremity of the 
tube was drawn out to a point, and recurved, so as to pass un- 
der a vessel inverted on the mercurial pneumatic trough. Be-. 
tween this and the portion containing the metal, there was a 
length of six or more inches of tube, which was kept cool. In 
one variation of the experiment, a tube of Reaumur’s porcelain 
was used for containing the materials, to which was firmly luted, 

by a collar of caoutchouc, a glass raion with a little globe bike 
in its middle, and its loose end plunged, as usual, into the mer- 
curial trough. 

When tubes of crystal glass were employed, the part contain- 
ing the materials. was lodged in a semicyliudrical case of iron, 
which traversed a small charcoal furnace five or six inches in 
diameter. The metallic laminz being raised to full ignition in 
day-light, the case and tube were slightly moved forward, in 
order to bring a little of the salt within the sphere of the heat. 
Great nicety was required in the advancement of the sealed ex- 
tremity; for the glass tube being perfectly softened in its middle, 
too sudden volatilization of the salt never failed, by inflating and 
bursting it, to spoil the experiment. This necident frequently 
happened. On the other hand, if the central part of the tnbe 
was exposed to merely a dull red, the experiment would not sne= 
ceed with silyer and copper. At this temperature they did not 
decompose the sal ammoniac. When, however, the above-men- 
tioned precautions were observed, dew could be perceived to 
settle speedily on the cool portion of the tube. This dew be- 
came more and more visible as the sublimation advanced, till, 
finally collecting into distinet drops, it trickled down the aides 
in strie, and formed a filament along the bottom. To obtain 
good results of this kind, four or five hours must be devoted to 
one experiment, in which 20 grains of salt, and from 60 to 100 
of metal, are employed. More rapid transmission of the salts 
effects mere sublimation. Bubbles of gas come over, which, with 
silver and copper lamina, are found to be a mixture of ammonia 
and hydrogen. In this case, the liquid condensed is water of 
ammouia. 

The metallic lamine are evidently heavier than before their 
introduction ; but the increase of their weight could not be ex- 
actly ascertained, because a portion of the silver or copper is 
impressed on the i inner surface of the tube, giving it a very beau- 
tifal iridescent and metallic lustre, similar to the colours of the 
diamond beetle viewed in a microscope. The silver lamin 
-have for the most part exchanged their native brilliantwhite, for 
a dull brown or grayish hue; and, instead of being eminently 
tough and ductile, have become more brittle than any substance 

with 


Muriatic Acid and Chlorine. 105 


with which I am acquainted. The slightest touch of the finger 
breaks them across. Digested in pure nitric acid somewhat 
dilute, the segments only partially dissolve, bits of muriate of sil- 
ver, of their own shape, being left in the liquid. 

The ignited copper turnings, after experiencing the action of 
sal ammoniac, are found to have lost also their original lustre, 
and have acquired a dull brown colour. Digested in water, a 
liquid muriate is obtained, which gives the characteristic brown 
precipitate with prussiate of potash. 

The most considerable of my experiments with turnings was 
made with the tube of Reaumur’s porcelain, which, as it con- 
tains no oxide of lead, is not liable to any ambiguity on this score, 
and being capable of sustaining a very high heat without fusion, 
permitted me to obtain very satisfactory results indeed. 

Thirty grains of recently heated sal ammoniac being put down 
to the sealed end, 200 grains of bright turnings of very pure soft 
iron were introduced over it, so as to occupy six inches of the 
tube. The glass tube above described, was attached by the 
elastic gum collar. The part holding the iron being brought to 
bright ignition, the sealed end of the tube was advanced by de- 
grees almost imperceptible. As soon as the salt began to ex- 
hale, moisture began to condense in the glass tube, though none. 
ever appeared prior to heating the sal ammoniac. The evolu- 
~ tion of gas was much more copious than in any of the experi- 
ments with the other metals. When allowed to escape through 
the quicksilver into the air, it exhibited the dense cloud,.and had 
the odour, of muriatic acid. Received into a tube over mercury, 
and then exposed to the action of water, +4, parts of the volume 
were absorbed, which on trial were found to be pure muriatic 
acid. The remainder was a mixture of azote and hydrogen, in 
the proportions very nearly that are known to constitute am- 
monia. I analysed this mixed gas, by explosion with half its 
volume of pure oxygen, in a peculiar apparatus which I shall 
describe in the sequel. On firing 100 measures with the electric 
spark, 76°2 disappeared, two-thirds of which, ==50°8, are hy- 
drogen. Before explosion, the haparert volumes consisted of 
66% ammoniacal gaseous matter, +354 oxygen. Of these 66% 
parts, 50°S are hydrogen, and 195° 86 azote; or, in the 100, 
76:2 + 23°8. But, by Gay-Lussac, one volume. of azote unites 
with three volumes of hydrogen to form ammonia. Hence 23:8 
measures of azote should have been accompanied with only 71*4 
of hydrogen, instead of 76*2 actually obtained. This excess of 
hydrogen is due to the decomposition of a little of the watery 
product, in the formation of the muriate of iron. ‘That muriate 
of ironis formed, is proved by many circumstances. First, the 
disappearance of the acid in the gaseous products, Sal. am- 

moniac 


106 Experiments on Muriatic Acid and Chlorine. 


moniac being decomposed into its ultimate gases, will consist of 
two measures of those constituting the alkali + one measure of 
the muriatic. Hence 100 volumes should contain 33+ of this 
acid gas; but they actually contained only about 5. Therefore 
about 2S measures, which form the difference, were condensed 
with the iron. Secondly, the iron turnings had increased in 
weight; they deliquesced speedily on exposure to the atmo- 
sphere; and, digested in water, they yielded an acerb-tasted so- 
lution of muriate of iron, giving with prussiate of potash a co- 
pious blue precipitate. 

The quantity of muriate produced in the experiment will de- 
pend on the proportion of turnings which have been but mo- 
derately heated ; for the ammonia, in its passage over the strongly 
ignited iron, may be conceived to separate the oxygen, and thus 
prevent the formation of muriate. 

Water impregnated with muriatic acid equal in weight to 
nearly one-sixth of the sal ammoniac decomposed, is uniformly 
obtained by the above process. Scarcely a particle of ammonia 
seems to escape entire decomposition. The evolved muriatic 
acid, amounting to ;%, of the whole gaseous products, must 
carry off with it a portion of its constituent water. Hence we 
ought to find a little less water here condensed, than, by my ex- 
periments on the ammoniacal salts above referred to, sal am- 
moniac, viewed as a muriate, is shown to contain. 

It seems evidently to follow, from this experimental detail, 
that chlorine is oxygenated muriatic acid. Since dry sal am- 
moniac consists of ammonia and muriatic acid gases, both hy- 
grometrically dry; and since water is obtained in its decompo- 
sition by pure metals; this water must have existed in the 
gaseous acid; for all experiments concur in proving ammonia 
itself to contain nothing but azote and hydrogen. And, finally, 
sinee muriatic acid gas is a compound of chlorine and hydro- 
gen, the water derived from the resulting muriatic acid, demon- 
strates the presence of oxygen in the chlorine, or, in other 
words, that it is really oxymuriatic acid *, 

All the experimental phenomena hitherto adduced in the 
chloridic controversy, were susceptible of explanation on both 
the old and new doctrine. Thus, the hydrogen which remains 
after tin is subjected at a high temperature to muriatic acid gas, 
could be regarded, with Davy, as resulting from a metallic ana- 


* If the Chloridic theory be still retained, then the production of water 
in the above circumstances can be ascribed only to the decomposition of 
azote into oxygen and hydrogen, as has been already indicated in my paper 
on the Ammoniacal Salts. It is possible that this alternative may eventually 
be found the true one; yet, in the present state of our knowledge, such an 
inference would be illogical. 


lysis 


Experiments on Muriatie Acid Gas. 107 


lysis of hydrochloric acid ; or it might be derived from the com- 
bined water of muriatic acid, of which the oxygen became fixed 
in the muriate of tin. When chlorine also at high heats was 
made to act on earths or common metallic oxides, the evolved 
oxygen could be referred with equal probability either to the 
solid or to the gas. 

And though we ignite by the strongest Voltaic power, char- 
coal or other combustibles in chlorine, still we shall not be able 
to convert it into muriatic acid gas, for want of the essential 
constituent water; no more than we can, without the same 
water, obtain oil of vitriol. Present water to chlorine, then 
light alone will separate its oxygen, and leave muriatic acid. 
Such, indeed, is the affinity existing between the muriatic acid 
basis and water, that those muriates which of themselves resist 
decomposition at a red heat, when exposed at that temperature 
to the vapour of water, are speedily resolved into gaseous mu- 
riatic acid, and their peculiar bases. 

By restoring the theory of Lavoisier and Gerthollet, we a6 
tid of those mysterious and almost incomprehensible transfor- 
mations which a drop of water has been lately conceived to pro- 
duce on some of the muriates. Dried sea-salt, for example, 
when viewed as a compound of chlorine and ‘sédiumn, is no 
sooner moistened, than a portion of water resolves itself into 
oxygen and hydrogen; whence result soda and hydrochloric acid, 
and a solution of muriate of soda, Expel the drop of water, we 
_have a chloride of sodium once more ; and we may repeat this 
invisible change for an indefinite number of times by the addition 
or subtraction of a little moisture.° Thus we must consider dry 
salt and moist salt to be bodies widely and essentially different, 
the former containing neither alkali nor acid, while the latter 
contains both. This supposition, which the chloridic theory 
compels us to make, must surely be reckoned somewhat vio- 
lent. 


XVII. Experiments on Muriatic Acid Gas, with Observations 
on its Chemical Constitutton, and on some other Subjects of 
Chemical Theory. By Joun Murray, M.D. F.R.S. E. 
Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.* 


Somz years ago I proposed, as decisive of the question which 
has been the subject of controversy on the nature of oxymuriatic 
and muriatic acids, the experiment of procuring water from 
muriate of ammonia, formed by the combination of dry ammo- 


* From the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 
niacal 


108 _ Experiments on Muriatic Acid Gas, 


niacal and muriatic acid gases. Miuriatic acid gas being the 
sole product of the mutual action of oxymuriatie gas and hydro- 
gen, it follows, that if oxymuriatic gas contain oxygen, muriatie 
acid gas must contain combined water ; while, if the former be 
a simple body, the latter must be the real acid, free from water. 
When muriatic acid gas is submitted to the action of substances 
which combine with acids, water is obtained; but though the 
most simple and direct conclusion from this is, that the water is 
deposited irom the muriatic acid gas, the result may be accounted 
for, on the opposite doctrine, by the supposition that it is water 
formed by the combination of the hydrogen of the acid with the 
oxygen of the base. Ammonia, however, containing no oxygen, 
if water is obtained from its combination with muriatiec acid gas, 
we obtain a result which cannot be accounted for on this hypo- 
thesis, but must be regarded as a proof of the presence of water 
in the acid gas. And this, again, affords a proof equally con- 
clusive of the existence of oxygen in oxymuriatic gas. 

The results of the experiment which I had brought forward 
were involved in much controversial discussion: and a brief re- 
capitulation of the objections that were urged to it is necessary, 
as an introduction to the experiments I have now to submit, and 
to the consideration of the present state of the question. 

The original experiment was performed by combining thirty 
cubic inches of muriatic acid gas with the same volume of am- 
moniacal gas carefully dried. The salt formed was exposed in a 
small retort with a receiver adapted to it, to a moderate heat 
gradually raised. Moisture speedily condensed in the neck of 
the retort, which increased and collected into small globules*, 

This result was admitted by those who defended the new doc- 
trine, when the experiment was performed in the manner I have 
described,—water being obtained, it was allowed, ‘‘ in no incon- 
siderable quantity.’ But, to obviate the conclusion, it was as- 
serted, that this is water which has been absorbed by the salt 
from the atmosphere. ‘This was affirmed by Sir Humphry Davy, 
who stated that the salt absorbs water in this manner to a very 
considerable extent ; that it is only from the salt in this state 
that water can be procured; and that when it is formed from the 
combination of the gases in a close vessel, and heated without 
exposure to the air, not the slightest trace of water appears, 
even when the experiment is performed on a large scale. 

The reverse of this I was able to demonstrate by further ex- 
perimental investigations. It was shown, that the salt absorbs 
no moisture from the air in the common state of dryness and 


* Nicholson's Journal, vol. xxxi. p. 126. y: 
temperature 


ee 


with Observations on its Chemical Constitution. 109 


temperature in which the experiment is performed: when weighed 
immediately on its formation, in an exhausted vessel, it gains 
no weight from exposure, but remaius the same after a number 
of hours; and when exposed to the air in the freest manner, it 
remains, after many days, perfectly dry. It was further shown, 
that when the other circumstances of the experiment are the 
same, it yields no larger portion of water when it has been ex- 
posed to the air, than it does without this previous exposure. 
And, lastly, it was proved, that when the salt has been formed, 
and is heated without the air having been admitted, water is ob- 
tained from it. This last result was even at length admitted by 
those who had advanced the opposite assertion, in an experi- 
ment performed witha view to determine the fact. The quan- 
tity of water was indeed less than what is procured in the other 
mode; ; but this was obviously owing to the circumstances of the 
experiment being uniav ourable to its expulsion,—more particu- 
larly to the difficulty of applying a regulated temperature to a 
thin crust of salt, so as to separate the water without volatilizing 
the salt itself,—and to the effect arising from the whole internal 
surface of a large vessel being encrusted with the salt; so that, if 
the heat is locally applied, the aqueous vapour expelled from 
_one part is in a great measure condensed and absorbed at an- 
other; or, if the heat is applied equally, is retained in the elastic 
form, and, as it is cooled, is equally condensed. Accordingly, 
when the experiment was repeated, obviating these sources of 
error as far as possible, the water obtained was in larger quan- 
tity. And as no fallacy belongs to the conducting the experi- 
ment in the more favourable mode in which it was first per- 
formed, (the assertion of the absorption of water from the air 
being altogether unfounded,) the quantity procured in that mode 
is to be regarded as the real result *. 

The argument was maintained, that the water might be de- 
rived from hygrometric vapour in "the gases submitted to experi- 
ment. This it was easy to refute. Dr. Henry had shown that 
aminonia after exposure to potash, and muriatic acid after ex- 
posure to muriate of lime, retain no trace of vapour whatever. 
And these precautions had been very carefully observed. The 
assertion was brought forward, too, only to account far the mi- 
nute quantity of water obtained in that mode of conducting the 
experiment which affords the least favourable result ; and, were 
it even admitted to all the extent to which it can be supposed 
to exist, is inadequate to account for the larger quantity ob- 
tained in the other. 


* Nicholson's Journal, vol. xxaii. p. 186 &e.; vol. xxxiv. p. 271. 


That 


110 Experiments on Muriatic Acid Gas, 


That the entire quantity of water contained in the muriatic 
acid gas is not to be looked for, is evident from the nature of 
the ammoniacal salt, particularly its volatility, whence the due 
degree of heat to effect the separation of the water cannot be 
applied. Ifthe other muriates yield the greater part of their 
water, only when raised nearly to a red heat, (which is the ease,) 
it is not to be supposed that muriate of ammonia shall do so at 
a temperature so much lower, as that which it ean sustain with- 
out volatilization. What is to be expected, is a certain portion 
of water, greater as the arrangements employed are better 
adapted to obviate the peculiar difficulty attending the experi- 
ment. There zs a production of water in every form of it; and 
there exists no just argument whence it can be inferred, that the 
quantity is less than what ought to be obtained. On the oppo- 
site doctrine, none whatever should appear. 

To effect the more perfect separation of the water from the 
muriate of ammonia, I had performed the additional experiment 
of passing the salt formed from the combination of the two gases 
in vapour through ignited charcoal, on the principle that by the 
interposition of the charcoal the transmission of the vapour 
would be impeded, and it would be exposed to a more extensive 
surface, at which a high temperature would operate, while some 
effect might also be obtained from the affinities exerted by the 
carbonaceous matter. To remove any ambiguity from the ef- 
fect of the charcoal, it was previously exposed in an iron tube 
to a very intense heat, until all production of elastic fluid had 
ceased; and removed, while still warm, into a tube of Wedg- 
wood’s porcelain, containing the muriate of ammonia, which 
was then placed across a furnace so as to be raised to a red 
heat. As soon as the vapour of the salt passed through the ig- 
nited charcoal, gas was disengaged, which was conveyed by a 
curved glass tube adapted to the porcelain one, and received in 
a jar over quicksilver. Moisture was at the same time pretty 
copiously deposited, condensing both in the glass tube in glo- 
bules, and being brought in vapour with the gas, which it ren- 
dered opaque, and condensing on the surface of the quicksilver 
within the jars. The elastic fluid consisted of carburetted hy- 
drogen and carbonic acid, products evidently of the decomposi- 
tion by the ignited charcoal of a portion of the liberated water. 
In this experiment, then, the result was still more satisfactory 
than in the other. That no ambiguity arose from any effect of 
the charcoal in affording water, is evident from this,—that the 
water appeared at the moment the salt began to pass in vapour, 
and at a temperature far below that at which the charcoal had 


ceased to afford any gas. In another variation of the experi- 
ment, 


with Observations on-its Chemical Constitution. 111 


ment, muriate of ammonia was passed in vapour through an 
ignited porcelain tube alone. Water was obtained in larger 
quantity than when the salt had been exposed to a heat short of 
its volatilization ; and even the salt which had yielded water by 
that operation, afforded an additional quantity in ‘this mode,— 
a proof of the more perfect separation of the water by the effect 
of a higher temperature*. 

By all these results, then, I consider the existence ofiwater in 
muriate of ammonia, and of course in muriatic acid gas, as de- 
monstrated. 

Dr. Ure has lately laid before the Society the result of another 
mode of conducting the experiment,—that of subliming the mu- 
riate of ammonia over some of the metals at the temperature 
of ignition. Water is thus stated to be obtained in considerable 
quantity, with a production of hydrogen gas. 

No objection appeared to Dr. Ure’s experiment, except, per- 
haps, that the salt operated on was not that formed by the direct 
combination of its constituent gases, but the common sal am- 
motilac, in which water might be supposed to exist, either as an 
essential or an adventitious ingredient, as it is abundantly sup- 
plied to it in the processes by which it is formed. I had found, 
indeed, in some of my former experiments , that sal ammoniac 
yields no water when exposed to a heat sufficient to sublime it, 
but affords it only when exposed to a red heat by transmission 
of its vapour through an ignited tube;—that, therefore, (owing 
no doubt to its previous sublimation,) it contains apparently even 
less water than the salt formed by the combination of the two 
gases. Still, objections entitled to less consideration than this 
one, had been maintained in the course of this controversy, 1 
therefore thought it right to repeat the experiment, with the 
necessary precaution to obviate it, and to observe the actual re- 
sult. 

Thirty grains of muriate of ammonia, formed from the com- 
bination of muriatic acid and ammoniacal gases, were put into 
a glass tube with a slight curvature. Two hundred grains of 
clean and dry iron filings were plaved over it. The tube was 
put in a case of iron with sand, and placed across a small fur- 
nace, so that the middle part, where the iron filings were, was 
at a red heat, the extremity terminating in the mercurial trough. 
The salt, from the heat reaching the closed extremity of the 
tube, soon passed in vapour through the ignited iron. Gas 
issued from the extremity, and moisture appeared in the cold 
part of the tube. A large quantity of gas was collected, which 
had the odour quite strong of muriatic acid, and was in part con- 


* Nicholson's Journal, vol. xxxi. p. 128. + Id. vol. xxxiy. p. 274. 
densed 


112 Experiments on Muriatie Acid Gas. 


densed by water; the residue burned with the flame of hydro- 
en. The tube, for several inches, was studded with globules 
of water, and was bedimmed with vapour further. I did not 
prosecute the experiment, so as to ascertain the weight of water 
reduced, as I had other experiments in view, which I conceived 
might afford more conclusive results. But it proves the point it 
was designed to establish, that water is obtained from the salt 
formed by the combination of the gases, as weil as from the 
common sal ammomiac. , 
My attention having been thus recalled to the subject, I have 
again executed the experiment in its original and simplest form, 
—that of obtaining water from the salt by heat alone; and to 
this Iwas led more particularly, as it had occurred to me, that 
a more perfect abstraction of its water might be effected, by 
conducting the experiment in an apparatus somewhat on the 
principle of the instrument invented by Dr. Wollaston, which he 
named the Cryophorus. In a retort of the capacity of seven 
cubic inches, fitted with a stop-cock, and exhausted, sixty cubic 
inches of ammoniacal gas were combined with the requisite 
quantity of muriatic acid gas, each previously carefully dried,— 
the former by exposure to potash, the latter by exposure to 
muriate of lime. The stop-cock was then detached from the 
retort; the excess of ammoniacal gas was removed by a caout- 
chouc bottle, and replaced by atinospheric air; the salt was 
pushed down from the neck ; and it was eonieeted with another 
similar retort, the joing of the two being secured by cement. 
This last retort was also fitted with a stop-cock adapted to a 
tubulature at its curvature; and heat being applied to it, a little 
of the included air was allowed to escape. It was then placed in 
a mixture of muriate of lime and ice, while the other, contain- 
ing the muriate of ammonia, was placed in warm oil. .The heat 
of this was raised to 420° of Fahrenheit: moisture condensed 
at the upper part of the neck, when the heat had been raised to 
220°, and continued for some time to increase. It then dimi- 
nished, from the continued application of the heat, carrying it 
forward into the cold retort; and at the end of the experiment a’ 
considerable part of the body of this was encrusted with a thin 
film-of ices This result, therefore, coincides entirely with what 
had been before obtained *. 


* The other papers in this controversy by Dr. Ure and Dr. Murray, will 
be given in a subsequent number. 


XVIII. On 


XVIII. On Chemical Philosophy. By Mr.Matruzw ALLAN, 
vie Lecturer. 


[Continued from p. 58.] 


Essay Vil. . 
Tue Garvanic AppaRATUs consists of alternate arrangements 
of copper and zinc plates, the sides of which are placed in con- 
tact with an acid solution; the acid has a stronger attraction for 
the zinc than for the copper; the oxygen too of the water is 
aided in its attraction for the zinc by that contained in the acid ; 
in this way the water and acid are decomposed: the oxygen 
of both is abstracted; part of it combines with the zine, but 
the greater part assumes the gaseous form. In consequence of 
assuming this gaseous form, there must, it is evident, be a pro- 
digious demand for this caloric or ethereal power, to give and 
support this new state of existence which it assumes; and at 
the same time a still larger quantity of hydrogen, the other con- 
stituent of water, is set at liberty, and of course there is here 
demanded a still larger quantity of this power to give it also the 
gaseous form*. It is this demand which explains the effects 
produced by the galvanic arrangement, and the explanation is 
this :—The demand is made through the nearest and best con- 

ductor, which in this arrangement must be the copper ; the cop- 

per is thus robbed of its natural quantity (as is the negative con- 

ductor by the revolutions of the cylinder of the electric machine, 
‘ to be explained presently), and, of course, instantly démands 
“ its due and relative share” from the earth and surrounding 
medium. This supply from the earth and surrounding medium 
is No sooner received, than it is instantly absorbed by the oxygen 
and hydtogen assuming the aériform state; and this current 
during its passage exhibits the correctness of the law already 
briefly hinted at,—that bodies are, relatively to others, positive 
when they are relatively worse conductors. ‘The copper, the 
zinc, and the solution, are relatively to each other in positive and 
hegative states of existence. But though the galvanic action 
might, and does in some measure, accumulate in the solution, on 
the principle of its being the worse conductor; yet this accumu- 
lation is in part prevented, by the current demanded to sup- 
port the changes going on, which stream or current is carried by 
the conducting power of the metals: so that in this way, as I 
have already pointed out, there is produced by chemical means 
a current of this power, as there is by mechanical means in’ 


* It has been frequently repeated, that in every change of existence ca- 
lorie is given out ov absorbed, in the form either of electricity, of galvanism, 
of caloric, or of light. 


Vol. 52, No.244, Aug, 1818. pha electric 


114 On Chemical Philosophy. 


electric contrivances: and it is evident that.on these principles 
the galvanic action will continue as long as these gaseous re- 
sults require and demand this power; and this must continue 
as long as the surface remains susceptible of oxidation, or capa- 
ble by the means described of producing these effects of decom- 
position. The cause, also, why the metal which has the strongest 
attraction for oxygen is always positive, while the other, having 
less, is negative, is explained on the same principles. ‘The 
oxygen after being separated from its combination with hydro- 
gen in the state of water, and when so separated and having 
demanded this power to hold it in solution—is again attracted 
to, and deposited on, the metal, so that this solvent is here again 
set at liberty ; whereas the hydrogen having no such attraction 
for the metal, the energies of this power are here not at liberty, 
Lut are taken up with holding this hydrogen in solution or in 
the gaseous state: and hence at this end the current of gas is 
seen to arise, while on the other no such current is perceived, 
though this is the positive point,—the power 1s THERE ; but be- 
ing unoccupied, it is tn its pure and attenuated state, and of 
course invisible. When wires are employed which are not oxy- 
dizable, then oxygen is given off at one end and hydrogen at the 
other ; or rather they appear to be given off at distinct and se- 
parate ends; for wherever oxygen is separated, there must 
hydrogen also, each portion of water being alike composed of 
both: but oxygen having a greater affinity for all metals than 
hydrogen, and this affinity being greater in some than others, it 
is detained by the point where this decomposition is going on, 
while the hydrogen is carried to the next metal—all which is 
beautifully proved by the arrangement of the cups, and by many 
facts of galvanism, which we must leave to be explained when 
we come to treat of all the facts classed under the head of Gal- 
vanism, and to which all this must still be considered as pre- 
paratory. The oxygen and hydrogen are given off at these 
points, and so far occupy the energies of this power. Here 
consequently it may be said, that as the oxygen is not deposited 
on the metal, it does not give up this power in the way just de- 
scribed, and therefore cannot be positive. It is not so indeed 
in so high a degree;—positive and negative are mere relative 
states of existence. The hydrogen occupying this power more 
than the oxygen, they are séi// relatively to each other positive. 
and negative, only not in so high a degree: the hydrogen requiring. 
about thirteen times more to give it the gaseous form, than the 
same weight of oxygen requires, they still remain to each other 

positive and negative, and the hydrogen of course negative. 
I am aware, as I have already stated in the former Essays, 
that this is not the common statement of the difference ir their 
capacity; 


On Chemical Philosophy. M5 


capacity; but I have also already hinted, that I conceive the 
methods hitherto used to ascertain capacity to be fallacious, 
and of course that the tables in some instances are erroneous 3 
that it is not alone the transference of heat from one body to 
another, or the quantity of ice which bodies will melt in cooling, 
which can determine it; but how far this power is separated in 
its pure and unconfinable form, and of course makes its escape 
without having time to produce any of these effects. —But of this 
more afterwards. 

This explanation of galvanism will beautifully apply to the 
evolution of gas in coal pits. It is confirmed by the fact lately 
ascertained,—that a heated atmosphere increases the power of 
galvanism. It is confirmed too by a review of those circumstances 
which modify the actions of this power in galvanism, and render 
them so different in their effects and appearances to those which 
it produces in the form of electricity. Let us then examine these 
differences. Every fact connected with the discovery of- gal- 
vanism, and the history of its progress, proves the explanation I 
have given to be the true one. They prove that positive and 
negative are mere relative states of existence, produced by that 
arrangement of conductors and of substances which, by the 
changes they induce, calls forth a current or stream of this 
power; which depends on the same principles, though varied by 
circumstances, as that which is produced in the form of elec- 
tricity. 

Gatvanism I shall therefore define “ as that object of science 
which treats of some of the CHEMICAL AND NATURAL means of 
PARTIALLY separating the GRAND AGENT from some of ils come 
binations, and of ascertaining its actions tn this state.” 

Electricity I have considered as the most pure and separate 
form of fire, or of the power which produces the phenomena of 
heat and flame; and consequently more attenuated than any 
other, more rapid in its movements, and less resistible in its 
passage through substances. Galvanism' I consider to be the 
same power, only partially separated from its combinations, and 
differing widely in all these respects. Hence we perceive the 
solution of that most interesting question, stated, but not an- 
swered, in that valuable work the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, 
“ How do Galvanism and Electricity differ from each other?” 
If we attend to the solvent, attractive and energetic properties 
of this power, as already pointed out, and the different methods 
peculiar to its production in electricity and galvanism, it is evi- 
dent that they must differ from each other. In electricity we con~ 
trive by mechanical means to collect the loose and “ uncom- 
bined quantity” from the earth and surrounding medium: and 
this we do in circumstances in which it has nothing to act upon, 

H2 as 


116 . On Chemical Philosophy. 


as free from moisture of any kind as possible; in fact, from every: 
thing readily soluble in beat or in this power. I would there-: 
fore define Electricity to be “ the object of science which treats: 
of the mechanical and natural means ef separating this GRAND 
AGENT from some of iis combinations, and of ascertaining its 
actions in this state.’ In galvanism, on the cther hand, this 
solvent power, this electric fire, is produced in circumstances in’ 
which it has substances to act upon; substances which are most 
readily dissolved in it ; substances, in fact, which seem to form. 
the grand medium of communication between this PowER and 
PASSIVE SUBSTANCES; and which are partially dissolved in it. 
And hence I have defined Galvanism as the electric fire or the 
GRAND AGENT, ‘only partially separated from its combina- 
tions;” by which I refer principally to oxygen and to hydrogen, 
With this in view, we may answer such questions as the 
following, which have often. been stated but never answered: 
“Why does galvanism exist in a lower state of intensity than 
electricity in producing shocks?” Because its active energies 
are less, being in part occupied by holding other bodies in solu- 
tion; from which cause it is also less attenuated, consequently less 
rapid in its movements, or passes through substances with greater 
difficulty. But ‘* Why again is its power in producing chemical 
effects greater than electricity?” First, because its quantity pro- 
duced in a given time is so much greater; but chiefly, because 
it is combined with substances which have a powerful tendency 
to direct and fix its actions, and which are as it were the grand 
medium of communication between this PowER and PASSIVE 
SUBSTANCES; whence has arisen the proverbial fact,—that when 
such substances are employed in the galvanic apparatus as least 
produce this decomposition and solution of oxygen and hydrogen, 
the electrical effects are then greatest, and the chemical effects 
slightest, and not perceptible at all when there is no fluid or 
moisture present. In this way we would explain why De Luc’s 
column, which is excluded from air and moisture, produces no 
chemical effect; and why the electric machine produces so 
much less than that produced by the galvanic means. Hence 
too galvanism burns charcoal with such intense brilliancy ; and 
yet the charcoal is scarcely consumed, because the oxygen and 
hydrogen held in solution produce, in part, this effect: hence 
a wire heated by galvanism continues so longer than when 
heated by electricity; and hence we perceive the explanation of 
a very singular fact,—that the chemical effects of, galvanism are 
increased by increasing the surface or size of the plates to a 
certain extent, beyond which it ceases to have these effects. 
The explanation of this last circumstance I conceive is this : 
By increasing the size of the plates we increase the chemical 
action 


On Chemical Philosophy. 117 


action in each distinct division of the pile; by which the move- 
ment or current is proportionally retarded and broken: but this 
retardation is of course accumulated, and hence its power to 
decompose and dissolve so much more oxygen and hydrogen. 
This quantity of oxygen and hydrogen again, to a certain extent, 
increases its chemical action ; and at the same time, from We 
motion being slower, increases the chemical power of that quan- 
tity. In this manner I conceive the partial solution of oxygen 
and hydrogen assists and modifies the chemical agencies of gal- 
vanism. If, however, this retardation is too much extended, by 
a large galvanic apparatus and by having a considerable volume 
of fluid intervening between the plates, then the galvanic fire 
or fluid becomes saturated, or its solvent and attractive powers 
become occupied and suspended, with this oxygen and hydro- 
gen held in solution. And to prove that this is the correct view, 
the’series may be very much extended, if the volume of inter- 
posed fluid is in any way diminished. Hence also it is that the 
galvanic shock is greatest on a person with a dry and tense, and 
least on a person of a moist and lax, fibre ; and that it is per- 
ceptibly milder where fear does not render appearances de- 
eeitful. 

Thus we perceive that when this GRAND AGENT OF NATURE 
is more perfectly separated from its combinations, it is ELEC- 
TRICITY — when partially separated, GALVANISM. When no 
meauis are used to retain it in either of these states, but when in 
its actions it passes from one substance into another, it is CA- 
LORIC, or fire in its common acceptation. To confirm this view, 
every fact and experiment under their respective heads are seen 
to be mutually convertible into each other. If caloric abounds 
in an uncombined state, artificially or naturally, we easily col- 
lect it by the electric machine in its purest form ;—if chemical 
or natural actions of this power call forth a current faster than 
it can dissolve the substances on whiclvit acts, we obtain it par- 
tially separated, as in galvanism,&c. If the current either acts 
with greater intensity on decomposable and soluble substances, 
as in common combustion; or is accumulated in quantity, but 
more impeded in its progress, as in a galvanic apparatus of im- 
mense size,—we have it with substances disselved jn it, which dis- 
solution is proved by the varied colours which are imparted to 
flame, and by the oxygenating and hydrogenating effects in all 
these, as well as in every other instance where the same causes 
operate, as will appear in our consideration of light. 

Jf then electricity and galvanism depend on the same power, 
which pervades the universe and circulates through matter, we 
perceive that this ig atk theory accords with the sete 

an 


11s On Chemical Philosophy. 


and phenomena of nature. It is there evident that this POWER 
is more or less impeded in its passage through matter, as bodies 
differ in their conducting power and capacity, and according to 
their greater or less degree of solubility in it: and hence it fol- 
lows, that all things dissimilar and in contact become relatively 
to each other in excess or defective—negative or positive; and 
of course exhibit proofs of these disturbed and deranged states. 
From the energetic reactions of this power, arising from these 
disturbances, they further either destroy each other, or assimi- 
late into one, or give rise ‘to new forms and existences. Thus 
iron nails in sheets of copper, and every arrangement of dissi- 
milar substances, either rapidly corrode or produce some decom- 
position. Thus gases are produced by the strata in the earth, 
rocks of dissimilar composition moulder into soil, &c. It is on 
these principles of derangement, and on the effort of nature to 
effect a proper distribution, that I shall attempt in these Essays 
to explain all the movements and changes of the universe,—an 
explanation which I think we shall find confirmed, the more 
closely we attend to the operations and phenomena of nature 
and art. 

The explanation now given (which as far as I know is different 
from every other) is,! conceive, the true one, of the different pheno- 
mena and effects produced by electric and galvanic contrivances, 
The Electric contrivances to be hereafter explained, I propose 
to call MECHANICAL, and the Galvanic cHEMIcaL. In both in- 
statces the same grand, attractive and solvent power is called 
into action. In electricity, this GRAND AGENT of nature is, 
from its attraction for substances, disturbed in its due and rela- 
tive diffusion, by motion and friction; and when these me- 
chanical actions are made in a given direction, a current of this 
power is attracted and carried in the same course; the point 
from which itis abstracted becomes negative, and in its turn de- 
mands a new supply. It is thus that the action of the electric 
machine, and all the facts and experiments connected with electric 
science, on these principles receive a ready explanation. In the 
production of this power by the electric machine, as fast as 
that part of the machine from which the revolutions of the cylin- 
der recede, is robbed of its natural quantity, it demands it from 
the earth and surrounding media; (hence the necessity of a con- 
ducting and communicating chain 3) while, on the other hand, 
that side to which the motion proceeds, receives this current by 
means of metallic points fixed to the prime conductor, where 
by its insulation it is retained and accumulated. This power is 
called into action in galvanism in a different way, but still de- 
pending on the same principles; with this exception, as we have 

already 


Observations relating to the Figure of the Earth. 119 


already seen, that here its soLVENT as well as attractive pro- 
perties are exerted and employed. In galvanism, the excitation 
of this power, I repeat, depends on the alternate arrangement 
of dissimilar metals having a fluid interposed between them, for 
which the one metal has a greater affinity than the other, so that 
chemical changes are the consequence: the fluid is decom- 
posed, and the products assume the gaseous form; a demand is 
made on this grand agent, in order to dissolve and support these 
new forms of existence, which are thus produced*. In this way 
the metal in contact becomes robbed of its natural quantity, 
and demands a fresh supply, which is no sooner received than it 
is imparted to the metal having the stronger affinity for the fluid, 
and where these changes and gaseous results require and de 
mand it. Thus a current is produced alternately positive and 
negative ; but which differs from electricity not only in the retar- 
dation these actions occasion, but in having to traverse a dif- 
ferent medium—an imperfect conducting fluid, by which the 
current has its velocity not only further retarded and broken, 
but its qualities; modified. 

All that has been now laid down will be further confirmed 
by the views we shall develop when we come to Chemical 
Affinity, Light, and Electricity; when I trust I shall satisfy the 
reader that I have not in the commencement held out more 
than I shall be able to establish, as I proceed in executing the 
task. Still, 1 trust every allowance will be made for any imper- 
fections which must necessarily be connected with the novelty of 
the views, on so extensive and so difficult a subject as that of 
not merely marking effects and phenomena, but the mode of 
operation and nature of that power which produces them. 

Colliergate, York, July 15, 1818. 

[To be continued. | 


XIX. Observations relating to the Operations undertaken to 
determine the Figure of the Earth. By M. Biot, of the 
French Academy of Sciences +. 


Wi EN about two centuries ago Galileo, on one of the towers 
of Florence, explained to a few individuals, in language almost 
mysterious, his new discoveries respecting the laws of gravitation, 
the motion of the earth, and the figure of the planets ; how lit- 
tle did he imagine that these truths, at that time so miscon- 


* It has been often explained how this power in different quantities, 
differing in every different kind of matter, produces and sustains bodies in 
all their various forms, states, and stages of existence, 

+ From the French of M. Biot. 


H 4 ceived 


120 Observations relating to the Operations undertaken 


ceived’and so perseeuted, would, after so short an interval, be 
deemed of such importance and so generally admired, as to in- 
duce the governments of Europe to undertake great operations 
and distant voyages for the sole purpose of explaining them, and 
of verifying all their relations ; and that, by the effect of an un- 
expected propagation of knowledge, the results of these labours 
should be presented to the attention of the public in — 
assemblies composed of the most eminent classes of society! 
Yet such is the great change which has been effected in the fate 
of the sciences since that period. 


When Galileo and Bacon appeared, they found the sciences 


only on the brink of being—for it would be inaccurate to give 
the name of science to that mass of useless hypothetical specu- 
lation of which all natural philosophy previously consisted. The 
aim of the ancients was rather to divine than to investigate na- 
tural causes. The art of examining nature in order to con- 
Strain her to reveal her secrets was unknown ;—it remained for 
Galileo and Bacon to make this discovery. They evinced that 
the human mind is too feeble, and too evanescent in its efforts, 
to advance by its own strength through the labyrinth of natural 
facts ; that it is necessary at every new step of ‘its progress to 
rest upon and to classify those phenomena which approximate 
to one another ; and that in the multiphed opportunities which 
hature offers for inquiry, experiments industriously imagined are 
requisite to conduct to a course of new phenomena which shall 
neither entangle nor mislead. Lion 
Such has been the felicity of this mode of investigation, that 
in less than two centuries, discoveries without number, and cer- 
tain and durable, have illustrated every department of seience;— 
the arts have rapidly participated in their beneficial effects; m- 
dustry has been enriched with many wonderful applications, and 
a sum of knowledge has been accumulated a thousand times 
greater than that of which antiquity could ever boast. As the 
Sciences, however, have thus been enlarged, they have grown be- 
yond the reach of any single individual to attain. So large a 
sphere could no longer be embraced but by a numerous literary 
body, which in its aggregate capacity similar to one mind should 
unite all conceptions, views and thoughts; and which, inter- 
rupted neither by human infirmities nor the decline of reason, or 
age, but always young and always vigorous, should incessantly 
scrutinize the peculiar properties of natural objects, discover the 
powers concealed in them, and at last present them to society 
prepared and ready.for appljcation. In a central body such as 
this, where opinions have the freest operation, no authority can 
prevail, if it be not that of reason and of nature. The voice 
even of a Plato himself could no longer gain attention in such 
an 


q 
‘ 


to detérmine the Figure of the Earth. 121 


‘an assembly to the brilliant reveries of his imagination ; and the 
genius of a Descartes would be constrained faithfully to adhere 
to that mode of cbservation and of doubt which he himself had 
promulgated, and not pretend to exhibit truth unmixed with 
error: nor with all their glory could Plato and Descartes be now 
regarded as more than mere elementary branches of this great 
orzan of the sciences :—its force wou!d outlive their genius, and 
carry into futurity the gradual development of their thoughts. 
—Such is now the noble, destiny of learned societies. The simul- 
_taneousness and the durability which their institution gives to 
the efforts of mortals, complete the power of the experimental 
method. They alone can in future give continuity to the pro- 
gress of knowledge; they alone can develop grand theories, and 
produce results which, by their difficulty, by their diversity, by 
the perseverance and the extent of exertion which they require, 
could never be attained by individuals. 

To determine the size and figure of the earth; to measure 
the gravity at the surface, to ascertain its connexion with the 
interior construction, with the disposition of the strata, and the 
jaws of their densities, are of the number of those important ques- 
tions which learned societies alone could resolve. During a 
century and a half they have formed a chief object of the 
Academy of Sciences. The first exact measurement of a degree 
of the terrestrial meridian was made in France by Picard in 1670, 
Newton availed himself of it, in order to establish the law of 
utiversal gravity. Richer, who was sent by the Academy to 
Cayenne, two years after, to make astronomical researches, dis- 
covered that his clock, which at Paris beat the seconds, went 
gradually more slowly as he approached the equator; and that 
it again went quicker, by the same degrees, in returning towards 
thenorth, so as to resume exactly its original motion at the point 
‘of his departure. Again, according to the discoveries of Huy- 
gens, the quickness of the oscillations of a pendulum augments 
or diminishes with the intensity of the gravity which causes its 
motion. - His observation proved that this intensity was different 
in different latitudes, and that it increased in going from the 
equator to the pole. Newton in his Principles of Natural Phi- 
losophy connected all these results with the law of attraction. 
He showed that the variation observed in gravity disclosed a 
flattening of the earth at the poles; a circumstance which is also 
observable in the form of Jupiter, Saturn, and the other planets 
which turn upon an axis. He conceived that this fattened form 
was a.consequence of the even attraction of the portions of every 
‘planet, combined by the centrifugal force of its rotatory motion. 
But in order that the arrangement determined by these two 
kinds of forces should thus have been able to make itself ef- 

fectual, 


122 Observations relating to the Operations undertaken 


fectual, it behoved these great bodies to have been originally 
fluid. He tock them then as in that state, and showed how to 
calculate the flattening of a planct, according to the intensity of 
the gravity at its surface and the quickness of its rotation, sup- 
posing its mass to be homogeneous. This theory, applied to the 
earth, gave a variation of gravity but little different from that 
observed by Richer, though somewhat slighter, indicating that 
the earth is composed of strata of which the density goes on in- 
creasing from the surface to the centre, as Clairault has sinee 
demonstrated. 
For some time the calculations of Newton were the only in- 
ductions for believing the earta to be flattened at the poles. The 
are of the ’meridian measured by Picard was sufficient to give 
the length of the semidiameter of the earth at the place where 
it was observed; but that arc was much too small even for 
showing imperfectly the effect of the flattening. More accurate 
knowledge was expected to be procured from the measurement 
of the complete arc which traverses France from Perpignan to 
Dunkirk, which was intended to serve as the axis of a general 
map of France, with the exeeution of which Colbert had in- 
trusted the Academy. But in the imperfect state of the instru- 
ments and astronomical methods of that period, this are itself 
was too short to make the influence of the flattening distinctly 
perceptible ; and the small variations which thence result in the 
length of the consecutive degrees, might very easily be lost in 
the errors of the observations, as was indeed actually the ease. 
The differences which the degrees presented, were found from 
the effects of these errors, in such a direction as would have led 
to the result of elongation at the poles, in place of flattening. 
The Academy was not intimidated. It perceived that the ques- 
tion could not be accurately decided without measuring two 
ares. of the meridian, the one near the equator and the other 
near the pole. In the year 1735, Bouguer, Godin, and La 
Condainine were sent to America, where they joined the Spanish 
commissioners. Clairault, Maupertuis and Le Monnier de- 
parted for the Noith. The results of these expeditions com- 
pletely ascertained the flattening of the earth, but its absolute 
amount still remained uncertain. The degree of Peru compared 
with that of France, gave a slighter flattening than if the earth 
was homogeneous ; the sphere of Lapland indicated a greater. 
In this uncertainty the lengths of the pendulum which they were 
careful to measure, agreed with the flattening deduced from the 
operation at the equator; but the exactness of these measure~ 
ments, especially in the sphere of Lapland, was not such as 

could enable them to solve the difficulty. 
Matters remained in this state for fifty years, Meanwhile Bou- 
guer, 


-_—" 


to determine the Figure of the Earth. 123 


guer, La Condamine, Clairault, and Maupertuis died; and it was 
only when astronomical instruments became more perfect, that 
the fact of the flattening at the poles could be accurately ascer- 
tained. ‘The Academy gave still more importance to these re- 
searches by proposing to take the measurement of the earth as 
the fundamental element of a system of general and uniform 
measures, of which all the parts would be connected by simple 
relations, and in accordance with our mode of numeration. The 
Academy hopes that such-a system, founded upon natural ele- 
ments, invariable and independent of the prejudices of the peo- 
ple, will ultimately become as common to all, as are now the 
Arabian ciphers, the division of time, and the calendar. This 
wish was long ago expressed by the best and the most enlightened 
of our kings. The proposal for carrying it into effect was one 
of the last sighs of the Academy, and the act which decided its 
execution was one of the last which preceded the fatal epoch of 
our great political convulsions. All the institutions tending to 
maintain civilization and knowledge perished, and the Academy 
perished with them. But men of science prosecute without au- 
thority what they esteem useful. In the midst of the disorders 
of popular anarchy, MM. Delambre and Mechain, furnished 
with the new instruments of Borda, commenced and prosecuted, 

often at the risk of their lives, the most extensive and exact 
measurement of the earth. They concluded it with the same 
perfection, though not with the same ease, as if it had béen in 
times of the most profound tranquillity. Nor was the measure- 
ment of the pendulum neglected. Borda, who had so far ad- 
vanced every other mode of observation, invented for this experi- 
ment a method, the exactness of which surpassed every thing 
previously known, and which has never been surpassed. 

After these operations, it was thought that the are might be 
continued many degrees south across Catalonia, and that it 
might be possible to prolong it to the Balearic isles by means 
of an immense triangle, of which the sides extending over the 
sea should join these islands to the coast of Valentia. Me¢hain 
devoted himself to this operation: but after having surveyed all 
the chain and measured the first triangles, he died of a fever in 
Valentia. M. Arago and myself were intrusted with the completion 
of the work, along with the commissioners of the king of Spain. 
We had the good fortune to succeed; but, as is well known, 
M. Arago did not return to France without encountering great 
danger, and after a distressing captivity. Our results confirmed 
those of the arc of France, and gave them a new proof of accuracy. 
After the method of Borda, we also measured at our remote sta- 
tion the lengthsof the seconds pendulum, M. Matthieu and myself 

repeated 


124 Observations relating to the Operations underlaken 


repeated the same operations upon different points of the are 
comprised between Perpignan and Dunkirk. These experiments 
gave for the flattening of the earth a value almost equal to that 
which M. Delambre had already obtained, by comparing the 
are of France and Spain with the degrees of the equator, but 
calculated with more accuracy, and corrected by the degree of 
Lapland, which Mr, Svanberg, an able Swedish astronomer, had 
certified by new observations; and finally, with an are of many 
degrees which Major Lambton had measured with great accu- 
tacy in the British possessions of India. 

Confirmed by so many combinations, our are of France and 
Spain had a good title to become a fundamental model for mea- 
sures. An occasion occurred of rendering it still more impor~ 
tant. Since the rebellion of 1745, the English government had 
perceived the utility of constructing a detailed map of the three 
kingdoms, which should equally serve to direct the amelioration 
of the country in peace and its defence in war. I may state, in 
passing, that it is the war for twenty years back which has given 
to geodesiacal operations the great extension and the extreme 
perfection which they have acquired in all the states of Europe. 
However this may be, the English triangulation begun by Ge- 
neral Roy, and continued after him by Colonel Mudge, was pro- 
longed from the south of England to the north of Scotland, and 
presented in that extent many degrees of the terrestrial meri- 
dian measured with excellent instruments. It was desirous that 
this are should be joined to that of France. But as from the 
geographical position of England she is placed a little to the 
westward of ours, there was reason to fear, lest, all the terrestrial 
meridians not being exactly alike, the difference of longitude 
would affect the results which might be obtained from that 
junction. Nevertheless, there could be no dread of this, so far 
as concerned the measurements of the pendulum, which are 
much less disturbed than the degrees by the slight: irregula- 
rities of the figure of the earth. The Board of Lougitude was 
desirous that the same apparatus which had served for these 
measurements in France and Spain, should be employed through 
the whole extent of the English arc. The consent of govern- 
ment and the approbation of men of science in England were 
necessary. Neither the one nor the other was wanting. ‘The 
respectable Sir Joseph Banks and his worthy friend Sir Charles 
Blagden assured us of all imaginable facilities. M. Lainé the 
minister of the interior, with whom every thing useful or honour- 
able has only possibility for its limits, was able to furnish means 
for this enterprise, and the Board of Longitude had the good- 
hess to intrust me with its execution, 


1 left 


to determine the Figure of the Earth. 125 


I left Paris in the beginning of May last year, carrying with _ 
“me the apparatus made use of in other points of the meridian: 
a repeating circle by M. Fortin, an astronomical clock and chro- 
nometers by M. Breguet ;—in fine, every thing necessary for the 
observations. ‘Orders from the English government, obtained 
through the vigilant intervention of Sir Joseph Banks, awaited 
our arrival.at Dover. The whole was sent to me quite entire, 
under the seal of the Customs, without fees, without inspection, 
as if | had not passed from one country into another. Every thing 
was protected with the same care in the carriage to London, 
and was at last deposited in the house of Sir Joseph Banks. 
How can I describe what I felt for the first time on seeing the 
venerable companion of Cook, rendered illustrious by his long 
voyages, remarkable for a stretch of mind and an elevation of 
feeling which interest him in the progress of every species of hu- 
man knowledge! Possessing high rank, an independent fortune; 
and universal respect, SirJoseph has rendered all these advantages 
the patrimony of the learned of all nations. So simple, so easy 
in his kindness, it almost seems as if he felt the obligation were 
on his part; and at the same time he is so good that he leaves 
us all the pleasure of gratitude. What a noble example of a 
protection, whose sole authority is founded in esteem, respect, 
free and voluntary confidence; whose titles consist only in an in= 
exhaustible good will, and in the recollection of services rendered; 
and the long and uncontested possession of which necessarily 
supposes rare virtues and an exquisite delicacy, more especially 
when we recollect that all this power is formed, ‘maintained and 
exercised among equals ! ast 
Favoured by these honourable auspices, every thing becam 
easy. Colonel Mudge, who had shown himself most favourably 
disposed towards our enterprise, seconded it by every means in 
his power. We left Edinburgh together, and fixed our first sta= 
tion in the Fort of Leith, where Colonel Elphinston, the com- 
mandant, afforded us all the accommodation in his power. I 
required a situation where the view was open, and also sheltered, 
to erect my circle. I constructed a portable observatory which 
could be taken down at pleasure, so.as to allow me to make obser- 
vations on all the sides of the horizon. It was necessary, 
however, that the apparatus of the pendulum should be fixed 
with-solidity ; and for this purpose stones of the weight of sixty 
quintals were fixed in thick walls with iron chains. Every thing 
that could be useful was lavished upon me, and if my observa- 
tions were incorrect it was my own fault. Unfortunately the 
health of Colonel Mudge did not permit him to accompany me; 
but his place was supplied by one’ of his sons, Captain Richard 
Mudge, with whom I completed my labours. | After they were 


finished 
£ 


126 Observations relating to the Operations underiaken 


finished at the Fort it was necessary to go and repeat them in 
the Orkneys, the uttermost limit of the English arc. But Col. 
Mudge perceived that it was possille to connect the Orkneys 
with the Shetland isles, by triangles whose apices should rest 
upon the isles, or rather upon the intermediate rocks, of Faro 
and Foula. This plan extended the new arc two degrees to the 
north, and this was sufficient to decide the matter. The ar- 
rangement had still another advantage, of very different im- 
portance, which consisted in carrying the English line of opera- 
tion two degrees towards the east, almost upon the meridian of 
Formentera. By this fortunate change the English operation 
became the prolongation of ours, and the two together form an 
are almost equal to the fourth part of the distance from the pole 
to the equator. If one might hope that the different nations of 
Europe would agree to choose the base of a common system of 
measures in nature, is there not here an element. the most’ beau= 
tiful and the most certain that could be adopted? And _ this 
are, which leaving the Balearic isles, traverses Spain, France, 
England, Scotland, and stops at the rocks of the ancient Thule, 
being taken in combination with the flattening of the earth, 
which is deduced from the measurement of the pendulum, or 
from the theory of the moon,—will it not give for fundamental 
unity, a measure the most complete, and I dare say the most 
European that can ever be expected ? 

‘When the possibility of this great project was conceived, it 
absorbed all our thoughts: but the delicate health of Colonel 
Mudge did not permit him to realize these hopes in person, and 
he intrusted the execution to one of his officers. He gave me 
his son, whose assistance had been of such service, and which 
might still be of much more. My apparatus, the portable ob- 
servatory, the large stones and the iron chains were all embarked, 
with the instruments of the English operation, in the Investigator 
brig-of-war, commanded by Captain George Thomas, whose ac- 
tivity and skill do not certainly stand in need of any praise of 
mine, but whose politeness demands all my gratitude. This 
officer was so good as to take me on board his ship to Aberdeen, 
where, during a short stay, I experienced the most distinguished 
hospitality. On the 9th of July we sailed for Shetland. We 
were long at sea, and bitterly regretted the loss of so many fine 
nights for observations. Leaving the Orkney mountains upon 
our left, on the sixth day we discovered the Isle of Faro, which 
saw the vessel of the Invincible Armada broken to pieces upon 
her rocks. The peaks of Shetland appeared, and on the 18th 
of July we landed near the southern point of the isles, where the 
Atlantic billows uniting with those which come from the séa of 
Norway, cause a continual swell and a perpetual tempest. 

. The 
% 


to determine the Figure of the Earth. 127 


The desolate aspect of the island: corresponded with the soil 
and climate. It was no longer. those fortunate isles of Spain, 
those smiling countries, Valentia, that garden where the orange 
and the lemon trees in flower shed their perfumes around: the 
tomb of a Scipio, or over the majestic ruins of the ancient Sa~ 
guntum. Here, on landing upon the rocks fissured by the waves, 
the eye sees nothing but a soil wet, desert, and covered with 
stones and moss, and cragged mountains searred by the incle- 
mency of the heavens; not a tree nor shrub nor bush to soften the 
savage aspect: here and there some scattered huts, whose roofs 
covered with thatch allowed the thick smoke with which they 
are filled to escape into the fog. Reflecting on the sadness of 
this abode, where we were about to remain in exile during 
many months, we took a direction across pathless plains and hills 
towards the small assemblage of small stone houses forming the 
capital called Lerwick. There we felt that the social virtues of 
a country were not to be estimated by the appearance of poverty 
or riches. It is impossible to conceive hospitality more free, 
more cordial, than that with which we were received. People 
who but a little before were ignorant of our names, were eager 
to conduct us every where. Informed of the design of our visit, 
they collected and communicated every sort of useful informa- 
tion. In particular Dr. Edmonston, a well-informed physician, 
who has published a Description of the Shetland Islands, gave us 
a letter to his brother, whi resides in the isle of Unst, which af- 
forded us a station about half a degree north of Lerwick, where 
we resolved to make our experiments. But arrived at Unst, 
we were constrained, from the local situation of the island, to 
transfer ourselves to a small island called Balla, at the entrance 
of the principal bay of Unst, where we disembarked our instru- 
ments. But upon a more close examination of this station, its 
exposure to the winds, the moisture which prevailed in abun- 
dance, the remoteness from every habitation, and the many dif- 
ficulties which presented themselves to an establishment suited 
to the pendulum—made us resolve to return to Unst, and to ask 
a reception in the only house which was in sight, which hap- 
pened very luckily to be that of Dr. Edmonston’s brother. A 
large sheepfold (empty because it was now summer) whose walls 
were capable of resisting every storm, received the apparatus of 
the pendulum. ‘The portable observatory together with the repeat- 
ing circle were placed in the garden. With great labour we 
dragged the stones to the place of their destination. It required 
all the efforts of the brig’s crew, guided and animated by their 
officers. On the 2d of August we commenced our observations, 
and on the 10th made the first experiment with the pendulum. 
On the 17th we had made eight of these experiments, and 270 

observations 
, 


128 Observations relating to the Operations undertaken 


observations of the latitude. I was now certain of success, and 
perseverance was only necessary. It was no small disadvantage 
that Captain Mudge became greatly indisposed;.and a whaler, 
haying touched at the island, I with difficulty prevailed upon him 
to return to a more genial climate. He invested me with all 
the powers of his father, and afforded all necessary assistance. 
When left alone, I found the advantage of residing with Mr, Ed- 
monston. His kindness increased with my difficulties, The 
operation of the repeating circle required two persons, one to 
follow the star and another to mark the indications of the level. 
A young carpenter, who by his fitting up the observatory had 
given proof of his intelligence, (and who, similar to the generality 
of the peasants in Scotland, could read, write, and cipher,) was 
by the advice of Mr. Edmonston employed for the latter part of 
the observation. He acquitted himself better than a more learned 
assistant; for he observed and marked my level with the fidelity 
and the accuracy of a mechanic, and even. to satisfy my impa- 
tience would not admit my results until the bubble of the level 
was in a state of perfect immobility. With this assistant, in two 
months I collected 38 series of the pendulum, each of five or 
six hours, 1400 observations of the latitude in 55 series made 
equally on the south and the north of the zenith, and, to regu- 
Tate my clock, about 1200 observations of the absolute heights 
of the sun and stars. After this I was chiefly employed in ob- 
serving, and only made three or four calculations; but the re- 
mainder sihce my return home I have found accurate. The re- 
sults which are deduced from them, being combined with those 
of Formentera of the are of France, give for the flattening of 
the earth exactly the same value which is deduced from the 
theory of the moon, and the measurement of the degrees com- 
pared at great distances. This perfect agreement between de- 
terminations so different, shows at once the certainty of the re- 
sult, and the sure method which science employs to obtain it. 
Nor was this point of precision reached without great difficulty, 
as is obvious from the fact—that the variation of the length of 
the pendulum by which the flattening is measured, is in all, from 
the equator to the-pole, but four ‘ millimetres,” less than two 
lines, and from Formentera to Unst, one “ millimetre and a 
half,” or less than three-fourths of a line. This small portion; 
however, exhibits and measures even with great accuracy the 
flattening of the whole terrestrial spheroid, and proves that in 
spite of slight accidents of composition.and arrangement, which 
this exterior and slender surface presents, the interior of the masg 
is composed of strata perfectly regular, and subjected to the.laws 
of superposition, density and form, which a. primitive state of 
fluidity had assigned to them. Longe ) 

But © 


a | 


to determine the Figure of the Earth. 129: 


» But however great the pleasure of having completed my ope- 
rations, if I had immediately departed from the rocks of Balta 
to my own country, my sentiments would have been specifically 
different concerning these isles. The dreariness of their situa- 
tion, the poverty of their’soil, and the inclemeney of their sky, 
would have accompanied me, and I should have remained ig- 
norant that they contain sensible, kind, virtuous, and enlight- 
ened inhabitants. Nor should I have been able to discover tie 
charm which these pathless barren regions—the region of rain, of 
tempest, and of sterility—have to reconcile them to such hard- 
ships. 

' Peace and not plenty constitutes this charm. The sound of 
a drum has not been heard in Unst for twenty-five years, while 
Europe was wasting her best blood; and during all that period 
the door of the house where I resided had not been shut day or 
night. Neither conscription nor press-gang had afflicted the 
inhabitants of these peaceful isles. Their rough seas protect 
them from the incursions of privateers, and their poverty is still 
a stronger defence. These people receive the intelligence of the 
transactions of the continent, as they would read the historv of 
other times. Their calm-and contracted situation gives to their 
mode of life a charm unknown in other climes. They live in 
one great family. But the strength of affection produces the 
extreme of grief upon death or separation. When death enters 
the dwellings of those whose affections are so concentrated, it 
comes in all its bitterness. Nor are the grief and sorrow much less 
when a son, or a brother, or a friend takes his journey to another 
country, for seldom does their own little isle contain the children 
with the fathers. A small portion around their huts is all the 
soil that is cultivated; and horses and sheep almost in a wild 
state pasture the remainder. A principal part of their wealth and 
support is procured from the tremendous waves and billows of 
the ocean, which with unexampled boldness they combat in 
quest of fish. When the weather is good the toil becomes a 
pleasure; but when the sea becomes tempestuous, the struggle in 
their uncovered boats is violent. Under their guidance I have 
found myself calm when contemplating those lofty cliffs of primi- 
tive rocks—that ancient structure of the globe, whose strata lie 
inclined towards the sea, and, undermined at their base by the 
fury of the waves, seem threatening to bury under their ruins 
the frail bark which bounds at their feet. 

Carrying with me the most agreeable recollections, I took 
leave of these isles after a residence of two months, An equi- 
noctial gale conveyed us in fifty hours to Edinburgh, Returned 
to Colonel Elphinston, | experienced that hospitality had not 
retired to the Shetland isles. Having finished my particular 

Vol. 52, No, 244, Aug. 1818, I labours, 


130 On the Olservalions to determine the Figure of the Earth. 


labours, an opportunity was afforded to consider the situation of 
the country; the character, the manners, the institutions, and the 
pursuits of the inhabitants. The review was both consoling and 
sorrowful, to one whose days had been spent amid wars and com- 
motions. Here dwelt a people poor, ‘but laborious; free, but 
submissive to the laws ; moral and religious, without sternness or 
indifference. The peasants were seen reading the Essays of 
Addison, Pope, Johnson, Chesterfield, and the most approved of 
the English moralists. Even in the passage-boats cards and 
dice were exhibited. Village farmers were seen in clubs dis- 
cussing the topics of politics and of agriculture; and these formed 
into societies to purchase the most entertaining and instructive 
works, the Encyclopedia Britannica not excepted. I saw, in 
fine, the higher classes adorning in an eminent degree their sta- 
tions, by exciting and directing all the enterprises of public 
utility, mingling with the vulgar, but preserving a noble supe- 
’ rlority, procuring respect without exciting envy, and enjoying as 
the reward of their exertions, peace, union, reciprocal esteem, 
mutual confidence, and a lively affection. 

I next visited the most industrious counties of industrious 
England. I saw there the powers of nature employed in the 
service of man under every supposable shape, and man himself 
reserved for those opcrations which mind alone can direct and 
perform ; but I rather admired that immense display of manufac- 

‘tures, than wished to see them established in my own country. 
After visiting Oxford and Cambridge, those ancient abodes of 
learning, I went to rejoin M. Arago in London, to measure the 
seconds of the pendulum no longer in a desert, but in the mag- 
nificent Observatory at Greenwich, M. Humboldt attended 
him,.assisted in the operation, and meanwhile seemed to forget 
the multitude of his other talents in his labours as an excellent 
astronomer. The Astronomer Royal manifested that generous ar- 
dour which men devoted to the progress of science, alone can feel. 

After such success, and brought under so many pleasing obli- 
gations, I returned to my native country. The pleasure of ob- 
serving the heavens, of studying one of the greatest phenomena 
of nature with fine instruments, by so manv observations, and in 
a place renowned for so many astronomical discoveries, enabled 
me to confer a lasting tribute of gratitude upon the place of my 
birth. In a voyage undertaken for the advancement of science, 
the stranger learns what to honour and what to cherish. With- 
out the circle of political passions, without rank, without am- 
bition, his principal aim is to do good to mankind. He is en~ 
nobled by the numerous services which he has rendered to the 
civilization of the world, by the universal admiration which he 
has excited, and by those intellectual stores with which he has 

enriched 


On the Means of curing the Dry- Rot. 131 


* enriched the arts and sciences. Similar to Minerva, that cour- 
try accompanies him into a foreign land; she speaks for him, 
introduces him, protects him, and claims in his favour an hospi- 
tality which she has often nobly conferred. Having reached the 
end of his labours, and while relating to his countrymen the re- 
ception, the assistance, the kindness, the friendship received 
from a celebrated nation, he experiences in the expression of his 
gratitude a pleasure-so much the more pure, that he feels sensi- 
ble that all these favours were less conferred on himself, than 
through him on his country. 3 


XX. On the Means of curing the Dry-Rot. By A CornRE- 


SPONDENT. 
To Mr. Tilioch. 


’ Sir, — Onsservine in the publie papers and periodical works 
the havoc the dry-rot has made in our shipping and public and 
private buildings, and having, I presume, found out substances 
for the preservation of wood from dry-rot; I take the liberty of 
stating the composition and mode of applying them. 

First. Make a strong caustic solution in water of barilla, kelp, 
or potash, and when boiling hot, wash the parts of the wood af- 
fected with the rot. The effect of this caustic ley will be the 
destruction of the vegetating fibres. of the fungus. 

Secondly. Dissolve oxide of lead or iron in pyrolignous acid ; 
and twelve hours after the first application of the leys soak the 
wood well with this solution. A decomposition of the metallic 
liquor takes place; the acid and alkali:unite, and the oxide of 
the Jead or iron is precipitated in the pores of the wood, and, pre~ 
vents the fungus from spreading. 

Another way of preventing the rot is: first, to wash the wood 
with the pyrolignous solution of lead, and ten or twelve hours after 
to wash it with a strong solution of alum (in the proportion of 
one pound and a half of alum to one gallon of water). Y 

Since writing the above, | have seen in your Philosophical 
Magazine an Essay by Mr. Gavin Inglis, recommending sulphate 
of iron to prevent the dry-rot.. I think you will find the iron li- 
quor in my process preferable, as the alkaline solution precipi- 
tates the oxide of the metal in the pores of the wood. 1 have 
paling now in good preservation, that was put up fourteen years 
ago, with staves of old iron liquor pipes and puncheons, and never 
painted. The wood is hard, and can scarcely be cut with a 
knife ; the liquor has penetrated into the pores of the wood, and 
coutracted or filled them up. 

* ; 12 Mr. 


132 Notices respecting New Books. 


Mr. Inglis recommends that all kind of timber should be cut * 
after the fall of the leaf, &c. This every judicious man will ap- 
prove of ; but the loss of the bark will be a great obstacle to its 
being put in practice. If the trees were peeled at the proper 
season for such work, and cut down in the fall of the year, or 
left standing two years to season, the loss of bark would be pre- 
vented, and the timber well seasoned for ship-building or other 
purposes, 

Chester, July 24, 1818. Tek 


XXI. Notices respecting New Books. 


Mémoires sur la Marine et les Ponts et Chaussées de France et 
d’ Angleterre; contenant deux Relations de Poyages faits par 
2 Auteur dans les Ports d’ Angleterre, d’ Ecosse et d’ Irlande, 
en 1816, 1817 ef 1818; la Description de la Jettée de Ply- 
mouth, et du Canal Calédonien, #tc.— Memoirs on the Ma- 
ritime Works and Civil Engineering of France and England, 
by M. Cu. Durin, Engineer of the French Navy.” 


[For the following interesting notice of this work of M. Dupin, we are in- 
debted tothe pen of another able French engineer, M. Bosquillon de 
Jenlie.] 

URING the fourth part of a century, war, and still more a 
suspicious policy, had kept France in total ignorance respecting 
the internal condition of Great Britain. Thus far, at least, the 
pretended blockade of the United Kingdoms had been realized. 
But in the very time (especially from.1812 to 1814) that it was. 
attempted by documents and accounts, ex officio, to represent 
England as in the last stage of exhaustion, the nation was, in 


truth, rising to an unparalleled state of splendour and wealth. | 


This wonderful effect. was more particularly exemplified in the 
sea-port towns; some of which, as Liverpool, were doubling in a 
few years a population of 50,000 souls. But not only in such 
towns as were eminently aided by their local position, but every 
where in Great Britain immense establishments and magnificent 
constructions displayed the nationai wealth and the improvement 
of the arts. One might there observe stupendous maritime works, 
superior to all the constructions which a government with the 
disposal of all the treasures of Europe had raised on the banks 
of the Seine, achieved in three years on the banks of the Thames 
by a single society of merchants. 

Since peace has reestablished an intercourse between two 
nations worthy of contending in other arts than war, various: 
French travellers have presented their countrymen with pictures 
of the manners of Great Britain, with descriptions more or less 

witty, 


— ae — 


Notices respecting New Books. 133 


_ witty, but often tainted by illiberal reflections, the consequences 


of long feuds. It was quite a new, and by far more interesting 
point of view, to consider all the changes wrought, the wonders 
performed during the course of twenty- ~five years, by the efforts 
of industry, the improvement of the arts, the concurrence and 
activity of a whole nation animated by the same spirit. Such 
is the true aspect under which the author of the book before us. 
has viewed Great Britain in his journeys during the years 1816, 
1817 and 1818. In this extensive display of the results of Eng- 
lish industry, the author was of course obliged to limit his views; 
and he par ticularly confined himself to exhibiting the industry of 
the nation in the applications to three branches of public ser- 
vice ; viz. hydraulic works, and military and naval constructions. 

In the field though thus limited there was still a rich harvest 
to gather; buc the task was not without its difficulties. It re- 
quired a varied knowledge in the arts of construction and other 
public services ; an eagerness and perseverance that should over- 
come all the olistacles which, in a foreign country, incessantly 
impede the traveller; a great talent of observation ; and finally, 
such introductions and connexions as might shield him from the 
consequences of national jealousy. Such were the qualifications 
requisite to bring the undertaking to a successful completion: 
and the book before us shows that in none of them has the au- 
thor been deficient. Bred in a school* out of which no sound 
mind can come without being imbued with valuable information 
respecting the various public services ; a fellow of several learned 
societies, which he has enriched with his memoirs; and favoured 
by a happy combination of circumstances,—the laboratory of the 
artist, the port -folio of the engineer, and the closet of tle learned, 
have all laid open their treasures to his inspection. Such ad- 
vantages lead us to place much confidence upon the results which 
he has offered to the learned world. 

‘The memoirs now published comprehend but a succinct ac- 
count, divested of all scientific and abstracted particulars, of one 
of the three subjects of his journey; that which treats of the 
publie works in England. The one which relates to artillery and 
militaryengineering has been appreciated in a way high!v honour- 
able for the author, in a Report made to the Academy of Sciences, 
by a judge whose opinion in all that regards military science 
must always command respect—the Marshal Duke de Ragusa. 

In the memoirs which are a compendium of both his journeys 
in Great Britain, the author first treats of that city which the. 
national parti: lity has distinguished (as Rome anciently was) by 
the emphatic appellation of the town. He takes a view of Lon- 


* The Polytechnick school. 


13 don 


184° Notices respecting New Books. 


don under three different aspects :—as the largest trading port of 
England; as the chief focus of the industry in the mechanical 
arts; lastly, as the centre of the operations of the navy. After 
having described the extensive bed of the Thames covered with 
innumerable ships, which searcely leave room for sailing; after 
having described those numerous and magnifivent’ basins for 
trade, newly constructed and distinguished by the name of docks,— 
the author enters into some interesting particulars about systems 
of construction which essentially differ from ours, the internal 
sections and external figure of their wharfs, as well as of their 
large sluice-gates, their cast-iron swing bridges ; also respecting 
the use of the iron rail-roads for all sorts of conveyances by means 
of hand or horse-carts. He describes the process of dredging, ’ 
which is advantageously employed in cleansing docks and deepen- 
ing rivers. It consists in boats or vessels equipped with buckets 
put in motion by the machine generally used in Great Britain, 
and become in that country, for the mechanical arts, what the 
plough is for husbandry—the steam-engine. 

Another not less ingenious and remarkable process is that of 
the diving-bell, which enables the workmen to work as on dry: 
land at a great depth under water. This apparatus, in which 
nothing conducive to the safety and accommodation of the work- 
man has been omitted, is used with the utmost success by the 
engineer who superintends the most part 6f the maritime works 
in England, and the building of the finest bridges in London, 
Mr. Rennie, whose name isso often mentioned in these Memoirs. 
From him, as well as Mr. Telford*, the author has particularly 
received much valuable information, and the most kind recep- 
tion. 

After describing a great and curious shed 1300 feet long, en- 
tirely of iron, from the pillars that prop it, to the very roof, and 
built by the same gentleman, the author shows us several en- 
gines not Jess eminent for ingenuity than for their extensive ap-- 
plication. One feels a satisfaction mixed with regret in re- 
marking, in a foreign country, as the inventor of many ingenious 
machines, the name of a Frenchman, M. Brunel. 

As appendages to London, looked upon as the centre of the 
great operations of the navy, one may consider the fine docks 
and establishments of Deptford, Greenwich, Woolwich, which 
the traveller describes, in going down the river to Sheerness ; 
a port created anew, the works of which give occasion to ~ 
some most interesting remarks, One of them deserves a parti- 


* M. Dupin in his Memoirs pays every where with the greatest pleasure 
his debt of gratitude for the benevolence and liberality of these two gentle- 
men, as well as of their friends and brother-engincers MM. Nimmo, Jardine, 
&e. &c. 

cular 


Notices respecting New Books. 135 


cular notice, as offering one of the finest conquests of art over 
nature, 

This military port, founded on a marshy island at the con- 
fluence of the Channel and Medway, was, notwithstanding all 
the advantages of its position, deprived of one of the chief re- 
quisites in a naval establishment,—it had no sweet water, and 
it was necessary to carry it at a great expense from a neighbour- 
ing port. The bold idea was conceived of seeking for some 


_ spring far below the bottom of the channel and sea. They 


were enabled by art to dig and sink to a depth of 350 feet; there 
they found a spring of sweet water, which spouting with impe- 
tuosity filled up the well to within two yards of the top, and then 
sunk again to forty. Ever since it has afforded a plentiful sup- 
ply of good water. 

We cannat follow the author through all the places which he 
has successively visited in both his journeys, and which compre- 
hend nearly all the ports of the United Kingdoms. From the, 
most powerful recommendations he got admittance into both the 
great arsenals of the English navy, Portsmouth and Plymouth. 
He also visited Bristol and Liverpool, the two chief trading ports 
next to London; Birmingham, noted for its beautiful manufac- 
tures; Newcastle, justly famed for extensive and valuable coal- 
pits; Sunderland, distinguished by her magnificent iron bridge, 
under which ships of 4 to 500 tons are daily sailing; Edinburgh, 
become by the culture of the sciences, the Athens of the north ; 
Glasgow, Dublin, &c.—all of which places are by turns the sub- 
ject of the most valuable descriptions and interesting remarks, 
Everywhere in the inland country, as well as in the sea-port 
towns, new constructions and numerous establishments evince 
a recent prosperity, and the greatest improvements in all the arts. 
On observing these, we are naturally led to inquire into the cause 
which has produced all these wonders. It is the same whith in 
1792 gave to France such a superiority in the arts of war—ne- 
cessity. Great Britain, in her turn, attacked by the whole con- 
tinent, could only oppose the efforts of her trade and industry ; 
and in this struggle, which appeared so unequal, the friend of 
the arts forgets all national rivalry, to attend only to operations 
and works which attest the power of the human mind, the bene- 
fit of equitable laws, and the energy of national character. 

To the compendium of both his journeys the author has sub- 
joined two memoirs, intended to describe two magnificent works 
which are now in execution in Great Britain—the Caledonian 
canal, and the jetty of Plymouth. 

The former, which has been planned by Mr. Telford, a very 
skilful engineer, is intended to open, through a very singular 
valley in the Highlands of Scotland, a communication between 

14 the 


136 Notices respecting New Books. 


i 


the North and Atlantic seas by a canal, which from its large 
scale, and the extensive lakes through which it passes, should 
rather be looked upon as an artificial arm of the sea, on which 
ships of 4 and 500 tons and 20 feet draught of water ean sail. 

The other work,—the jetty at Plymouth,—reminds us of the 
grand works at Cherbourg. The bold conception achieved at 
Cherbourg, of founding in the open sea a huge mole, an artifi- 
cial island, intended to secure a space of water, forming a road, 
against the winds and waves, has been likewise applied to Ply- 
mouth. But the English had not, like us, large and expensive 
experiments to try, in order to construct that mole which they 
call by a term denoting its destination, Break-water. Themole, 
erected at three miles from the bottom of the road (the Sound), 
stretches to an extent of 4200 feet in a straight chief line, ter- 
minated by two short ones slightly directed inwards, between 
which and the shore there are two passes, the one westerly, the 
cther easterly. It is built in the way termed by us @ pierres 
perdues, with enormous blocks of stone, of more than 20,000 
pounds weight, which form the nucleus. The hollow and uneven 
parts of this enormous heap are filled up by smaller blocks let 
down according to fixed lines; but confusedly, and as it were 
given up to the water and waves to be enchased and sloped. This 
huge wall rises, or rather sinks, to a depth of 57 feet, and is 300 
feet wide at the basis and 30 at the top, which is raised 3 feet 
only above the level of spring-tides. This stupendous work, 
planned and directed by Mr. Rennie, has been going on these 
five years; it will require as many years more to be finished, and 
an expense of 1,000,000/. sterling. The particular description of 
all the means used for the extracting, conveying, and launching 
of the enormous blocks of stone, is executed by M. Dupin with 
the utmost care, and makes in some degree the reader present 
at thé execution of this great work, which reminds us of the an- 
cient and celebrated monuments known by the appellation of 
Cyclopeen constructions. 

‘It is chiefly in considering (as the author has done in hoth 
these descriptions) a great work as a whole, and then in all its 
details, that we are struck with the perfection which the English 
have been enabled to give to most of their machines, and to the’ 
application of inventions which often produced in French soil, 
could not thrive there. ‘To this the essays of every kind which 
the extension of English industry and their numerous establish-, 
ments allowed them to multiply, must undoubtedly have con- 
tributed. But there is still another cause to be looked for in 
the difference of national characters: An Englishman is satisfied 
if he has added any improvement, how little soever, to a ma~' 
chine, to an invention; without ‘aspiring to make it his own, by 

changes 


ee 


~ 


Notices respecting New Books. 137 


changes which alter it. But French vivacity, or another too 
common disposition needless to be insisted on here, suits better 
with another course. 

To the extracts of his journeys in England M. Dupin has 
joined several memoirs which have a natural connexion—that 
of improvement of the arts in public works. We may chiefly 
remark a description of the machines for the use of the navy, ex~ 
ecuted at Rochefort upon the plannings of Mr. Hubert ; an ac- 
count of the experiments on the strength of timber, made by 
the author, the results of which he had the satisfaction of seeing 
confirmed in England; lastly, some valuable memoirs on the 
application of geometry to the stability of floating bodies, to the 
tracing of roads, the lowering of summits and filling of hollows, 
&c.—which memoirs have been approved by the Royal Institute 
of France. 
~ Such a collection of memoirs, by a skilful engineer and a distin- 
guished writer, intended as the description of the ports and great ° 
hydraulic works in a country where the extension of industry, the 
improvement of the arts, the immensity of capitals, have enabled 
the inhabitants to accomplish the most magnificent undertakings, 
cannot fail to excite, in the highest degree, the attention of every 
class of readers. The interest of the subject will possibly cause 
them to regret sometimes not to find in a rapid narration more 
detailed particulars. It is not the lot of every work to be re- 
proached for its brevity: besides, the reader must remember that 
these Memoirs are only the introduction to the complete relation 
of his journey in England, which the author means for a future 
publication. What he has already imparted to us about it, ought 
to give the most favourable idea of the manner in which he has 
considered and treated such a valuable subject, and make us 
wish that he may soon publish his principal work. ' 

M. Dupin’s Memoirs are dedicated to a learned engineer, ce- 
lebrated for the great and useful applications which he has made 
of theory to the works of his art—the celebrated M. Prony. 

Du Grisoux, et des Moyens de preserver les Mines de Houille de 
_.son Inflammatien. *‘ Of Fire-damp, and the Means of pre- 

serving Coal-mines from its Explosion.” Mons, 1818. 8vo. 
- pp. 26. 

The work before us is a brief compendium of information re- 
specting the safety-lamp, which has been published under the 
direction of the Chamber of Commerce of Mons, for the use of 
the proprietors and workmen of the collieries of the province of 
Hainault, well known as one of the richest coal districts in Eu-: 
rope. It consists of a succinct account of the course of observa~ 
tion which led Sir Humphry Davy to his immortal discovery of 
the safety-lamp, and a series of directions for its practical use; 

illustrated 


138 Notices respecting New Books. 


illustrated by notes from the pen of M. Gossart, the president 
of the Chamber ; under whose superintendence a variety of ex- 
periments were made, for the purpose of verifying the admirable. 
properties of the lamp. ‘The body of the work cannot of course 
be expected to contain any thing ou the subject which can be new 
to the English reader; but we subjoin from the notes of M. Gossart 
some observations which possess a considerable share of interest. 

Alluding to the properties of a metallic tissue in intercepting 
heat and flame, M. Gossart observes: 

*<] have repeated the experiments on this subject with a me- 
tallic tissue, whose apertures were |-40th of an inch in size; and 
the results have unifermily verilied what has been published of 
its surprising effects. I got a mask made for myself of this 


gauze, and put my face close to a well-lighted coal fire, with- 


out feeling any other sensation than that of a slight heat. | 
next held my head over the flame of spirit of wine, and of sul- 
phuric ether, so near that the flame and gauze were in contact— 
without any greater effect than in the first instance; but I ob- 
served that the heat of the flame was felt more sensibly at its 
summit than in the centre*. 

** I afterwards placed the same cloth with some gunpowder, 
some vegetable tinder (pollen de lycopode), and some cot- 
ton moistened with sulphuric ether, above a candle; and the fol- 
lowing were the results: 

“ |. The powder being presented ten or twelve times in suc- 
cession to the centre of the flame, and of a current of carburetted 
hydrogen gas, was kept there each time for seven or eight se- 
conds, and only withdrawn when the metallic wires began to 
exhibit a reddish appearance. It was found necessary, in order to 
inflammation taking place, that the metallic wires should attain a 
redness approaching to incandescence, which at the centre of the 
flame requires about ten seconds, but at the summit only three. 

« 2. The vegetable tinder, exposed to a similar trial, burned 
the shavings of wood when the gauze became red, 


* Three persons who were present with me at this experiment, also re-” 


peated it, with the same effects. A mask made of a metallic gauze with 
apertures of from 1-60th or 1-64th of an inch would ke extremely usefuf 
to glass-blowers, to metal-founders, &c. and especially to such as are en- 
gaged in the extinction of fires. , It would be necessary, in the case of the 
latter, that the metallic gauze should envelop the head at the distance of an 
inch, or aninch and an half, and that it should never be allowed to redden. 
It would be well, besides, that they moistened their clothes with a solution of 
alum ; and alsothat a quantity of this solution should be kept in the troughs 
of all fire-engines, that it might accompany them wherever they went. 
Thus provided, the firemen could more easily snatch the burning br: ands, 
cut off the communication of the fire, and save thoge in danger, by wrapping 
them up in a covering of linen dipped in this solution of alum, &e, &e. ~ 


« The 


SE 


a a 


eB 


A. — Nolices respecting New Books. 139 


_*© The cotton moistened. with sulphuric ether (the most in- 
flammable liquid known), subjected to the like experiment, was 
not ignited: but as the ether oozed a little through the gauze, 
voth in a liquid state and in the state of vapour, it became feebly - 
inflamed at the under part of the cloth: the cotton, however, did 
not tuke fire till the gauze was quite red, which did not take 
place tili after the lapse of some minutes, and often after the 
evaporation of the ether. 

“< | have exposed successively a wire gauze of iron, a gauze 
of brass, a piece of tinned iron pierced with holes of the size of 
poth of an inch, and an iron plate pierced with similar holes, be- 
tween alighted candle and a current of gas issuing from the cock 
of a reservoir (gasometer) full of carburetted hydrogen gas: the 
gas was soon inflamed by the light of the candle, on the other 
side of these diaphragms, without any communication of the 
flame taking place between the cock and the diaphragms of iron 
wire-gauze and pierced iron-plate ; but afteracertain time, the 
gauze of copper and the pierced white-iron could no longer pre- 
yent the communication of the fame between the two sides, and 
that because the heat was become sufficient to burn the zinec*, 
which is united to the red copper in the brass, and the tin which 
covers the iron in the white-iron-plate. ' 

‘* The gauze of iron-wire placed between a current of inflamed 
carburetted hydrogen gas, and a current of the same gas not in- 
flamed, both directed to the same point, has never permitted the 
communication of the inflammation to the cold gas, however 
long the experiment may have been continued. This experiment 
is the same as that which takes place when the safety-lamp is 
set in the midst of an atmosphere of detonating mixture; with 
this slight difference, that in the latter, every current of gas 
presses much stronger upon the gauze than when the gas is at- 
tracted into the interior of the lamp to replace that which has 
been absorbed by the combustion, 

| have only reported these experiments in order to demon- 
strate that it is indispensable that the gauze be of iron-wire ft, and 


; 
d 
, 


* « The zinc at the moment of being inflamed became volatilized to the 
gtate of white oxide. The same thing happened at the sitting of the Chamber 
of Commerce of Mons, on the 28th of January 1818, in presence of a num- 
ber of coal-proprietors. A current of inflammable gas, distilled from coal, 
haying been directed for a long time upon one point of a safety-lamp, the 
gauze of which was of brass wire, it heated that part of the gauze to such 
a degree, that the zirc took fire, and communicated the inflammation to 
the gas between the lamp and the orifice of the cock of the vessel which 
contained the gas—an inconvenience which there is no fear of encountering 
when the gauze is of iron wire. 

+ Pure copper wire will answer equally well, as it is only the presence 
pf zinc in brass wire which renders this improper.—T, ; 

/ ’ Qo 


140 Notices respecting New Books. 


of a close tissue, in order to have the safety-lamp of Davy in its 
full perfection.” ‘ 

<< All my views,” adds M. Gossart in concluding, ** and those 
of the Chamber over which I have the honour to preside, in col- 
lecting and publishing these facts, are to make the proprietors of 
mines which are affected with fire-damp, fully sensible of the 
importance of the discovery of the celebrated Davy, and how 
much humanity owes to his genius. We would earnestly press 
upon them to permit no other means of lighting to be employed 
in the working of their mines, but the safety-lamp. They will 
find the use of it economical. It will enable them to recever, 
and work anew. veins of coal which the abundance of inflam- 
mable gas may have forced them to abandon. It will, above all, 
enable them to preserve their works from those calamities which 
explosion from fire-damp has till now been constantly occasion- 
ing—calamities which have too often been the ruin of many of 
them; and to save from the torments of ‘burning, and all the 
infirmities following in its train, a multitude of workmen on 
whose labours the subsistence of a great number of families de- 
pends. 

“* Happy shall we be, if we can only succeed in making our 
countrymen as strongly impressed as we are ourselves with all 
the advantages of this inestimable discovery !” 


A practical Treatise on the Use and Application of Chemicat 
Tests ; with concise Directions for analysing Metallic Ores, 
Metals, Svils, Manures, and Mineral Waters. Illustrated 
by Experiments. By Freprick AcctM, Operative Chemist, 
Lecturer on Practical Chemistry and on Mineralogy, F.L.S. 
M.R.A.S.R.S. of Berlin, &c. 3d Edition, 8vo. pp. 606. 

We are much gratified to find that the success of this valuable 
little work has been so great, as already to give us an opportu- 
nity of noticing a third edition of it; and to recognise m the 
many elaborate improvements by which it is successively distin- 
guished, a pleasing proof that the author is not insensible of the 
due return which he owes for the high share of favour which his 
labours have received from the public. Mr. Accum has in the 
present edition greatly enlarged the scale of his experiments, 
which are not confined to the illustration of the practical ope- 
rations in the analysis of such metallic ores, metals, mineral 
waters, &c. as are commonly to be met with, but extend to mi- 
nerals which occur but rarely, and the proper mode of analysing 
which, itis only therefore of so much the greater consequence to 
know distinctly. Two new plates have also been added, descrip- 
tive of the instruments most necessary for the analysis of bodies 
by means of re-agents or tests, The work has upon the he 

een 


——-"'. 


SSS 


7 


Se ee ee ee ee eee eS 


Asiatic Society. 141 


been much improved, and it is with confirmed satisfaction that 
we repeat our recommendation of it, as a most useful manual te 
every student of chemistry. 

Mr. Accum has in the press, a third edition of Chemical 
Amusement ; comprehending a Series of instructive arid striking 
Experiments in Chemistry, which are easily performed, and un- 
attended by danger. With plates by Lowry, 


Essays on the Proximate Mechanical Causes of the generat 
Phenomena of the Universe. By Sir RicHarp PuiLuips, 
12mo. pp. 96. 

The present is a republication, in a connected form, of a series 
of essays, which appeared in the course of last year in the Phi- 
losophical Magazine and other periodical works, from the pen of 
Sir Richard Phillips, on his New Theory of the Universe. The 
ingenious author, in a brief preface which he has annexed, com- 
plains, with some acerbity, of the tardiness of the scientific world 
in acknowledging the verity of a system, in which he has himself 
all ‘‘ the confidence of a martyr.’ We would beg to refer him 
for consolation to the excellent maxim of Tacitus—/Veritas visu 
ef mora, falsa festinatione et incertis valescunt. 


Memoirs, Biographical, Literary, and Critical, of the most 
eminent Physicians and Surgeons of the present Time in Great 
Britaim; with a choice Collection of their Prescriptions, and 
Specification of the Diseases for which they were given, forming 
a complete modern extemporaneous Pharmacopeoeia : to which is 


added, an Appendix, containing an Account of all the Medical, 


Institutions of the Metropolis, both scientific and charitable. 


XXII. Proceedings of Learned Societies, 


ASIATIC SOCIETY. 


Caleutta, Feb. 25—A Meeting of the Asiatic Society was 
held on Wednesday, the 11th, at which the Lord Bishop pre- 
sided. 

A letter was read from M, Cuvier, perpetual secretary to the 
Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, introducing, in the name. 
of the Academy, M. Diard to the favourable attention of the 
Asiatic Society. M. Diard is one of the correspondents of the 
Royal Museum of Natural History. M. Cuvier at the same 
time presented several works of his own composition. Mémoires 
pour servir a U Histoire de V Anatomie des Molusques have beem 
received, 


° A let- 


142 Asiatic Society. 


A letter was also read from M. du Trachet, transmitting to 
the Society his Researches on the Membranes of the Foetus and 
on the Rotiferes. 

A communication was received from Dr. N. Wallich, superin- 
tendant of the botanical gardens, submitting to the Society de- 
scriptions and drawings of some interesting Asiatic plants, viz. 
the Daphne involucrata, Daphne cannabina, and Menispermum 
Cocculus, with remarks. Dr. Wallich also favoured the’Society 
with some samples of paper made of the bark of the paper-shrub, 
x species of Daphne, and probably the same that is described by 
Father Louriero in his Flora of Cochin-China. The paper ma- 
nufactured from this ‘substance is extremely cheap and durable. 
It is said to be particularly calculated for cartridges, being strong, 
tough, not liable to crack or break, however much bent or fold- 
ed, proof against being moth-eaten, and not in the least subject 
to dampness from any change in the weather. If kept in water 
forany considerable time, it will not rot, and is invariably used 
all over Kemaoon, and in great request in many parts of the 
plains, for the purpose of writing genealogical records, deeds, &c. 
The method of preparing the paper is extremely simple. The 
external surface of the bark being scraped off, that which re- 
mains is boiled in clean water, with asmall quantity of the ashes 
of the oak, which whitens the material. .It is then washed, beat 
toa pulp, and, after being mixed up with the fairest water, is 
spread on moulds of frames made of common bamboo mats. Be- 
sides these, Dr. Wallich presented to the Museum a specimen of 
the Bhojputtra of the natives, being the outer rind of anew 
species of birch. It is much used in the mountainous countries 
to the north for writing upon, particularly by the religious. On 
one of the pieces was a letter written by the Rawal (head-priest) 
of Kiddernath, a temple on one of the mountains of the: Himu- 
layah, and a great place of Hindoo pilgrimage. For these spe- 
cimens Dr. Wallich was indebted to the liberality and kindness 
of the Hon. E. Gardner, Resident at Katmandoo, who has already 
enriched the botanie garden with many valuable vegetable pro- 
ductions of Nepaul. 

In presenting a Mémoire sur 1’ Elévation des Montagnes des 
Indes, by M. de Humbeldt, Dr. Wallich laid before the Society 
some observations on several passages in that work by Capt. W. 
S. Webb, from which it appears that an incomplete manuscript - 
copy of Capt. Webb’s survey of the Himulayah mountains, or 

artial extracts from it only, had been seen by M. Hamboldt, 
which has led that writer into a mistake respecting the height of 
the highest peak of that range. 


Two Javanese works, one entitled Jaya Alancara, or Annals 
of 


Asiatic Society. 143 


of Victory, and the other Aeshara Sandhi, on Orthography, were 
presented in the name of A. Seton, Esq. by Capt. Lockett. 

The Pentateuch complete, printed with metallic moveable 
characters, 1815-17, was presented by the Rev. Mr. Marshman. 
This is another valuable proof of the useful and meritorious ex- 
ertions of those indefatigable individuals who compose the Baptist 
Mission at Serampore. ‘ 

A letter was read from a new institution, called the Société 
Polytechnique of the Island Bourbon, desiring to establish a 
correspondence with the Asiatic Society. 

A mathematical paper on the Cardioille was received from 
Capt. Grove, of the royal Danish engineers. 

A letter was read from Mr. Thomson, late private secretary to 
the Marguis of, Hastings, dated Calicut, Nov. 3, 1817, trans- 
mitting to the Society drawings of the Colra Manilla, and two 
sorts of sea snake. It is said that the Colra Manilla is known 
on the Malabar coast as the bangle snake, and this same is a 
translation of //ala Caripan, which in the Malabar language 
signifies the deadly bangle, or bracelet; it has two fang teeth, 
exactly like those of the Cobra Capello, and its bite is reckoned 
equally dangerous. ‘The length varies from six to twelve or 
fourteen inches; but the female, although rather larger, has less 
brilliant colours than the male. Mr. Thomson during his resi- 
‘dence in Bengal and the Upper Provinces had tried without suc- 
cess to obtain the snake called Colra Manilla. He observes that 


the late Gen. Gillespie received the bite of this serpent when he 


was plucking a peach, und in two or three minutes afterwards 


lost all sensation. The last thing he recollected was some per- 


sons calling out for eau de luce, which applied very copiously, 
both internally and externally, he believed, saved his life, but he 
added that his constitution was not fully restored in two or three 


_ years. Mr. Thomson during his stay.at Calicut accidentally dis- 


covered a species of silk-worm which feeds on the leaves of the 
wild mango-tree. Among the caterpillars he collected, for the 
purpose of obtaining butterflies, were some about the size of a 
man’s little finger, with heads and tails of the colour of bright 
coral, and bodies covered with silvery hairs rising from a black 
skin. ‘They soon left off feeding and became restless, endeavour- 
ing to crawl up the sides of the glass shade under which they 
were placed. The motion of their heads from side to side was 
constant and regular, and Mr, Thomson at length found that they 
had constructed ladders of most imperceptible threads, and when 
furnished with dry twigs they began to form their pods. The 
quality of the silk is coarser than that of Bengal, which may 
proceed from the nature of their food, as mulberry-trees are not 
! found 


144 Society for the Encouragement of Industry in France. 


found in the neighbourhood of Calicut. Drawings of the male 
and female silk-moth accompanied this communication. 

. M. Cuvier was proposed as an honorary member of the So- 
ciety by the Lord Bishop, and d duly ¢ elected. 


geet’ Ss FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF INDUSTRY IN FRANCE. 


__Pilzes proposed for competition during 1819: 
Mechanic Arts. 

For the application of the steam-engine to printing-presses. 

The Society proposes a prize of two thousand franés to the 
person who shall put in action, by means of the steam-engine, 
one or more typographic presses, constructed either according 
to the old method, or according to any other method. The 
press . thus worked must produce in a given time a greater 
number of impressions than in the ordinary way, and the clear 
advantage gained by it must be much greater than what is 
commonly obtained. The competitors to transmit descriptive 
memoirs accompanied with designs of the presses which they 
have employed, and certificates from the local authorities of their 
having been in active use for three consecutive months. 


For the fabrication of anew species of ceconomical carpet. 

The Society, persuaded that the proper furnishing of houses 
contributes essentially to the comfort and health of individuals, 
proposes a prize of two hundred francs to the person who shall he- 
fore the lst of May 1819 have fabricated and sent to market a 
sort of carpet, the price of which shall be one half cheaper than 
that of the cheapest carpeting at present known in Paris. 


Chemical Arts. 
For the fabrication of an indelible green colour preferable to the 
green of Scheele. 

The Society proposes a prize of two thousand francs to the 
inventor of the best means of preparing one or mauy solid and 
brilliant greens, fit for being employed in dyeing, in oil painting, 
and in paper staining. The green must be superior to the green 
of Scheele, and to those which are now in use. 

For the discovery of the best process of pounding colours in oil 
and water to the degree of consistency required by artists. 

A prize of 500 francs. 


For the fabrication of animal charcoal from thier substances 
than bones, and by a process different from that employed 
for preparing Prussian blue. 

The certainty that other animal matters besides bones, can be 
brought to yield charcoal of a good quality, is deduced from the 
knowledge of a very important fact furnished by the cap 

©! 


Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris. - 145 


of the charcoal left in the fabrication of Prussian blue. This’ 
charcoal, when it has been prepared, possesses qualities infinitely 
superior to those of charcoal produced from bones, and it is known 
that it is furnished by other animal matters than bones, and is 
prepared by potash. 

In the charcoal residue of Prussian blue, the whole, or nearly 
the whole, is charcoal ; while in the charcoal from bones, there 
is scarcely more than a fifth of pure charcoal ; the other four- 
fifths are formed of phosphate and carbonate of lime, matters 
altogether foreign to the action of charcoal, 

From these considerations, the Society proposes a prize of. 
two thousand franes to the person who shall communicate a cer- 
tain and ceconomical process for converting animal matters, other 
than bones, into a charcoal possessing all the qualities of chars 
coal from bones. The price of the charcoal thus obtained must 
not be greater than the present price of charcoal from bones (ten 
centimes the pound). 


For the fabrication of isinglass, 
The Society offers a prize of two thousand franes to the per- 
son who will establish in France a manufacture of isinglass, of a 


quality which may stand competition with the isinglass of the: 
north. To be awarded in July 1819. 
(Economical Arts. 

For the discovery of avegetable substance, either natural or pre= 
pared, which will serve as a complete substitute for the leaves 
of the mulberry in the rearing of silk-worms, 

A prize of two thousand francs. 


ROYAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AT PARIS. 


At a meeting of the Academy on the30th of March last, M. Des= 
fontaines made a report on a memoir by M. Delile, on that 
long sought for tree of ancient times, the Persea. It was fora 
merly, as we learn from the descriptions of Pliny, Theophrastus, 
and Dioscorides, much cultivated in Egypt on account of an ex- 
cellent fruit which it yielded ; but for ages past it has wholly dis- 
appeared from the banks of the Nile. M. Dellile thinks, however, 
that he has now recognised it in the Xymenia Egyptiaca of Lin« 
neeus, one specimen of which he saw in a garden at Cairo, and 
two others in Upper Egypt ; and it appears also from his res’ 
searches, that it abounds in Nubia and Abyssinia, under the 
name of the glig. The tree as described by Theophrastus ¢ req 
sembles the pear-tree; but differs from it in being evergreen, It 
produces fruits in abundance, which ripen about the time of the 
Etesian winds. When the fruit is intended to be kept, it is ga- 

Vol. 52, No, 244, Aug. 1818, K thered 


146 Royal Academy of Sciences of Brussels. 


thered before it is quite ripe. In this state it is of a geeenish eo- 
lour, and in form like an almond or elongated pear; the pulp, 
which is soft, agreeable to the taste, and of easy digestion, in- 
closes a stone like that of a plum, but smaller and harder. - The 
wood of the Persea is dense, and of a fine black colour, and is 
used for making tables and statues.” 

Prize Questions proposed by the Academy for 1820: 

To form by the theory of universal gravitation alene, and with- 
out taking from observstions any thing but arbitrary elements, 
tables of the movement of the moon as exact as the best tables 
in existence. 

- The following theorem of Fermat :—‘ Beyond the second de- 
gree there exists no power which may be divided into two other 
powers of the same degree.” 

The prize for each question is a gold medal of 3000 frances 
value, and the Ist of January 1820 is the latest time allowed 
for the reception of memoirs. 


ROYAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND BELLES LETTRES OF 
BRUSSELS. 

The following questions have been proposed by this Society 
for competition in the Class of Sciences during the year 1819: 

l. If to each of the angles of a plane perfectly square, from 
the centre of which a certain weight P {say of 100 lb.) is sus- 
pended, a cord be attached, which passes vertically on a pulley ; 
and if each of these cords be charged with such a weight, as that 
Jirst, the sum of the four shall be equal to 100 lb.; and second, 
that the weights attached to each of the two angles diagonally op- 
posite, shall be equal to each other; as for example, two of them 
49 lb., and the two others one pound each, and so through an 
infinite series of numbers—it is known by the ordinary rules of 
statics, that this plane will remain horizontally in equilibrio. 
On the other hand, if these four cords, instead of being thus load- 
ed with weights, and passing ora pulley, are fixed to an immove- 
able board, it is obvious, but only on the metaphysical principle, 
that wherever there is a perfect equality of efficient causes, the 
effects are also necessarily equal; that the portions of the weight 
P, borne by each of these four points, will also be exactly equal 
to each other. 

The point then is, to assign a principle truly physical—that 
is to say, founded on the properties of matter alone, from which 
there may result, among the infinite series mentioned above, re- 
lations among the four weights all equally proper to establish the 
equilibrium in the first hypothesis, and the preference which the 
relation of equality bears in the second—that is to say, when 
the distribution of the force to sustain depends actively and 2 

tirely 


Society of Sciences of Haarlem. 147 


tirely on the weight P attached to the centre of the square 
plane. 

In the 18th vol. of the Memoirs of the Academy of Petersburgh, 
Euler has treated this subject in all its generality with admirable 
skill and profoundness (De pressione ponderis in planum cui 
incumbit) ; but in the judgement of d’Alembert (Opusc. Mathem. 
tome viii. p. 40, § 13) the solution is still uncertain and hy- 
pothetical ; and, in fact, the principle upon which it is founded 
seems rather to be a mathematical hypothesis than a physical 
principle. 

It is therefore required, : 

First. That this principle be discussed fundamentally, and 
that it be demonstrated in a positive manner, whether it is or is 
not admissible as a physical principle. ; 

Second. In the event of the demonstration being in the nega- 
tive, that it be examined, whether by presenting this principle 
in any other point of view it cannot be confirmed, and the beau- 
tiful theory which flows from it be thereby preserved. 

Third. \f neither of these trials are satisfactory, that there be 
assigned for the particular case which has been specified above, 
4 principle which shall be free from all objection. 

2. Assuming that there is an identity between the forces which 
produce electrical, and those which produce galvanic phzno- 
mena; whence comes it that we do not finda perfect accordance 
between the first and the last ? | 

3. Many modern authors believe in the identity of chemical 
and galvanic forces :—Can the truth or falsity of this opinion be 
proved ? ; 

The prize offered for each of these questions is a gold medal 
of the weight of twenty-five ducats. The memoirs may be writ- 
ten in Latin, French, Dutch, or Flemish, and transmitted pre- 
vious to the Ist of February 1819 to the Secretary of the Aca- 
demy M. Van Hulthem. 


SOCIETY OF SCIENCES OF HAARLEM. 
‘The following questions in the Physical Sciences have been 
or dee by this Society for competition previous to the Ist of 
anuary 1519: 

1, What is the origin of carbon in plants? Is it produced by 
the vegetation itself either entirely cr in part, as the experiments 
of M. Vou Crell appear to have established, and as many philo- 
sophers suppose? — If it is so, in what manner is this production 
effected? {f not, in what manner does the absorption of carbon by 
plants take place? Is it effected after it is combined with oxygen 
and transformed into carbonic acid, or in what other mode ‘. : 

K 2 . To 


148 Royal Institution.—School of Physic in Ireland. 


2. To what source are we to ascribe the iron which we find 
in the analysis of some plants? Is it to be ascribed in every case 
to particles of iron which the plants have taken up with their 
natural aliment, or can it be evidently proved by observations, 
that it is produced at least in some cases by the vegetation itself? 
And what light do these observations throw upon other branches 


of physics ? 


ROYAL INSTITUTION. 


Mr. Brande will commence an extended and practical Course 
of Lecturesand Demonstrations on Chemistry in the Laboratory of 
this Institution, on the first ‘Tuesday in October, at nine in the 
mofning, to be continued every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sa- 
turday. Two Courses are given during the season, which begins 
in October and terminates in June, and the subjects which they 
comprehend are treated of in the following order : 

I, Of the powers and properties of matter, and the general 
laws of chemical changes. II. Of undecompounded substances, 
and their mutual combinations. III. Vegetable chemistry. IV. Che- 
mistry of the animal kingdom. V. Geology. 


COMPLETE SCHOOL OF PHYSIC IN IRELAND. 


The following particulars respecting this school for the instruc~ 
tion of Students in Medicine, Surgery, and Pharmacy, will prove 
acceptable to many of our readers, 

Foundation. 

In 1704, Sir Patrick Dunn instituted, in his life-time, two 
Professorships in Dublin, viz. * one of Osteology, Bandages, and 
Operations of Surgery, and one of ancient and modern Materia 
Medica, and Pharmacy.” Sir P, Dunn further directed by his 
will in 1711, that, if his funds were sufficient, “‘ there should be 
Lectures publicly read on the Anatomy of the Bodies of Men, or 
the Bodies of Animals—on Chirurgery and Midwifery—on Bo- 
tany and the Dissections of Plants.” He also ordered, that the 
Professorships on these several subjects should be bestowed ac- 
cording to the merits of the candidates, to be ascertained by an 
examination on three several days, two hours each day. A King’s. 
Professor of the Theory and Practice of Physic, with corporate 
powers of holding and letting lands, was instituted by George 
the First. 

An act was passed in the 21st year of George the Second, by. 
which the King’s Professorship of Physic, and the Professorship 
of Surgery and Midwifery, and that of Materia Medica and. 
Pharmacy, instituted by Sir Patrick Dunn, were incorporated - 


and established by law. Before this period also, Lectureships — 
existed 


Complete School of Physic in Ireland. 149 


existed in Trinity College, on Anatomy and Surgery, Chemistry 
and Botany. 

Throughout the 21st of George the Second, and the will of Sir 
Patrick Dunn, recited in it, the different Lectures are always men- 
_ tioned as being intended for the “¢ instruction of Students of Me- 
dicine, Surgery, and Pharmacy ;” and from thence arose the 
title of The Complete School of Physic, adopted in the subsequent 
acts, viz. the 25th, 3lst, and 40th of His present Majesty, in 
which the 2lst George the Second is constantly recognised as 
the foundation of the school, and as-being still in force, except 
6€as relates to the number of Professors, the Electors and the 
mode of election, the tenure and salaries of the said Professors, 
and the times and manner of lecturing.” 


Students. . 

The several Students in Physic are matriculated in the Uni- 
versity, for which they pay five shillings; but such Students, un- 
Jess they shall think proper, are not obliged to attend to the 
academical duties of the University. The several Lecturers, when 
they have delivered on half of their Courses, return to the senior 
Lecturer of Trinity College a list of such pupils as shall have at- 
tended them during such part of their Courses. 

Professors. 

There are six Professorships. Those of Anatomy and Surgery, 
of Chemistry, and of Botany, are on the foundation of ‘Trinity 
College, and are called the University Professorships ; those of 
the Institutes of Medicine, of the Practice of Medicine, and of 
Materia Medica, and Pharmacy, are on Sir Patrick Dunn’s foun- 
dation, and are named King’s Professorships. Provision is also 
made for the addition of a King’s Professor of Midwifery, as soon 
as Sir Patrick Dunn’s funds shall permit. 

“The King’s Professorships are open to persons of all nations 
professing their faith in Christ, and the Professorships of the 
University to Protestants of all nations ;” and for beth, it is re- 
quired either to have taken medical degrees in some University, 
or to have obtained a license to practice from the College of 
Physicians, in consequence of a ¢estimonium under the seal of 
Trinity College. Immediately before the election of any Profes- 
sor, the electors are sworn to vote without “ favour, partiality, or 
prejudice ;” and immediately on being declared elected, the Pro- 
fessor is sworn to perform *¢ his duties to the best of his skill and 
judgement.” The electors of the King’s Professors are the Pro- 
vost and the Professor of Physic of the University, with three 
physicians chosen by ballot from their own hody by the College 
of Physicians. ‘I'he University Professors are elected by the st ome 

K3 anc 


150 Complete School of Physic in Ireland. 


and senior Fellows of Trinity College. Each Professor is chosen 
for seven years, but may be continued, or may be re-elected. 

In addition to the fees derived from the medical Students, the 
King’s Professors receive a salary from Sir P. Dunn’s estate, and 
the University Professors are paid by the Students of Arts in Tri- 
nity College, for the public or collegiate Course of Lectures. 

Lectures and other Means of Instruction. 

The University Professors deliver annually a public Course of 
twelve Lectures on their respective subjects. 

Lectures on the following subjects are delivered from the Ist 
Monday in November until the end of the succeeding April, viz. 
on Anatomy and Surgery, and on Chemistry, in Trinity College. 
On the Institutes of Medicine, on the Practice of Medicine, and 
on Materia Medica, and Pharmacy, in Sir P. Dunn’s Hospital. 
The Lectures on Botany conimence on the Ist Monday in May in 
Trinity College, and continue until the end of July. Terms for 
each of these Courses of Lectures, four guineas, 

Clinical Lectures are given on the cases of the patients in the 
Hospital, at least two days in each week of every session. This 
duty i is taken for three months by the Professors, alternately, or 
in such other order as shall be agreed upon amongst them. Terms 
of each Course, three guineas. 

Lectures on Comparative Anatomy, Physiology, and Patho- 
Jogy, are given by the Professor of Anatomy and Surgery, twice. 
a week during the session, without additional expense to those 
who pay for the Lectures on Anatomy and Surgery. To other 
pupils, the terms for these Lectures are two guineas. 

Anatomica] Demonstrations are given daily, from the begin- 
ning of the session until April, by the Demonstrator of Anatomy 
in Trinity College. The Students are superintended in their dis- 
sections, and subjects are provided for the muscles, blood-ves- 
sels, and nerves. A private room is allotted to the use of prac- 
titioners who may wish to improve their knowledge of anatomy. 
Terws for dissections, subjects, and demonstrations, six guineas ; 
for the demonstrations alone, four guineas. 

Students who wish to be instructed in the performance of sur- 
gical operations on the dead body, may be superintended, and 
have the necessary number of subjects provided thein. ‘l’erms for 
which, five guineas. 

Towards the end of the session, a Course of Lectures is given 
on the diseases of the skin, by the Professor of Anatomy and 
Surgery; aid one on the diseases of the eye, by the Demon- 
strator of Anatomy. Terms for each of these Courses, one 
guinea. 

At the Chemical Hernan. operating pupils are received and 

instructed 


Complete School of Physic in Ireland. 151 


instructed in the details of chemical and pharmaceutical processes. 
Terms for such instruction are six guineas. 

Students in botany, have access to the botanic garden, which 
is in the immediate vicinity of Dublin, and have the opportunity 
of taking frequent excursions with the Professor of Botany and 
his assistant, to the mountains and sea-coast adjacent to the 
city. 

Botanical Demonstrations are daily given by the Professor’s 
assistant in the garden during the season. Terms of which, one 
guinea. 

A Course of Lectures on Mineralogy is delivered by the Pro- 
fessor of Natural History, in Trinity College, to which those 
who have their names on the books of the University are admitted 
gratis. 

The Museum of Trinity College, to which Students have ad- 
mission two days in the week, contains a collection of minerals, 
systematically arranged, with references to a printed catalogue. 

Pupils are taken by the Apothecary of Sir Patrick Dunn’s 
Hospital, and instructed in the Practice of Pharmacy. Terms for 
which, during three months, twe guineas. 

A Medical Society holds weekly meetings in Trinity College, 
for the purpose of discussing subjects connected with Medicine, 
Surgery, or Pharmacy. A medical circulating library belongs to 
the members. Terms of admission to the Society, with the use 
of the library, one pound. 

Medical Officers of the Army and Navy are permitted to attend 
the Lectures on Anatomy and Surgery, in Trinity College, with- 


put fee. 
Hospital, 

This is chiefly supported by the rents of Sir P. Dunn’s estates, 
and partly by private contribution. The Board of Governors con- 
sist of the Visitors of the College of Physicians, the President, 
Vice-president, and Censors of the same, the Provost of Trinity 
College, aud twelve Subscribers ; but ‘no physician or surgeon” 
of the hospital is eligible to be a governor. The house is intend- 
ed to hold one hundred and thirty patients, of whom thirty are 
selected for instruction and lectures, by the Clinical Professor 
for the time: the rest are placed under the care of a physician 
appointed by the Governors. . 

The cases of the clinieal patients in the hospital are recorded. 
Every opportunity is also taken to examine the bodies of patients 
that die; the morbid appearances are explained to the Students, 
and preserved in the pathological collection of the School. 

At present, all pupils are permitted to attend the eutire prac- 
tice of the Hospital during a year, for three guineas. Formerly, 
this privilege was extended to those only who had studied at 
Seine) K 4 least 


152 Complete School oft Physic in Ireland. 


least two years in Arts in the University of Dublin, Oxford, ot 
Cambridge. All other pupils paid twenty guineas. 
Library. 

A large collection of medical books, bequeathed by Sir P, Dunn, 
is appropriated to the use of the Students, and provision is made 
for purchasing books in proportion as the funds increase, A Lis 
brarian is appointed annually, by the College of Physicians, with 
a salary of seventy pounds per annum. He furnishes the neces- 
sary fuel for the library and medical lecture-room, and discharges 
such duties as shall be prescribed to him by the College of Phy- 
sicians. | 

Degrees. 

The Students who do not graduate in Arts are permitted at the 
end of three years, from the date of their matriculation, to un- 
dergo an examination before the six Professors of the School, in 
their respective departments, on producing to the Board of Trir 
nity College, certificates of diligent and regular attendance on 
Anatomy, Surgery, Chemistry, Botany, Institutes of Medicine, 
Practice of Medicine, Materia Medica, and Pharmacy, the Cli+ 
nical Lectures and Practice of Sir Patrick Dunn’s Hospital. They 
likewise write a Thesis in Latin. If found qualified by the exa- 
mination, they publish the Thesis, perform the academical exer= 
cises for the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and receive the follows 
ing testimonium from the Board of Trinity College : 

“ec Omnibus ad quos presentes literze pervenerint salutem. Nos 
' Prepositus et Socii seniores Collegii Sacro-Sancte et individue 
Trinitatis, juxta Dublin, testamur 4. B. quamdiu apud nos ¢ont+ 
moratus est, sedulam operam Medicine navasse, examinationes 
solitas coram sex Medicine Professoribus feliciter sustinuisse, 
ceteraque exercitia necessaria preestitisse, his adducti judicamus 
eum habilem ac idoneum esse, qui exerceat arten: Medicinz qua- 
tenus leges statutaque regmi permittunt; in cnjus rei testimo- 
nium, manus et sigillum quo in his utimur, apposuimus. Anno 
Domini, &c. &c.” 

The Students who go through a collegiate Course, on producing 
certificates of their strict attendance on the Lectures of the Pro- 
fessors in the School of Physic, on the Clinical Lectures and the 
Hospital, are, three years after having graduated as Bachelor of 
Arts, admitted to an examination before the Regius Professor of 
Physic and the Professors of Anatomy and Surgery, Chemistry, 
and Botany, in Trinity College, On being approved, and per- 
forming the usual academical exercises, they take the degree of 
Bachelor of Medicine. Upon sufficient standing, publishing a 
Thesis, passing a second examination before the University Pro- 
fessors, and performing the necessary acts, the full degree of Doce - 
tor in Medicine is conferred. These rank with the degrees of 

Bachelor 


/ 


Improvement and Extension of Iron Rail-ways. 158 


Bachelor and Doctor of Medicine obtained in the Universities of 
Oxford and Cambridge. 

As qualifications previous to examination for the Zestimonium, 
the certificates of the Professors in Edinburgh are admitted for 
any three of the Courses required, with the exception of the Cli- 
nical Lectures, which must have been attended in the School of 
Physic in Ireland. 

Certificates of attendance on the Professors in the School of 
Physic in Ireland are received, as giving standing in other Uni- 
versities, and as qualifications for medical officers in the army, 
navy, and East India service. And certificates of attendance on 
the Anatomical and Surgical Lectures in Trinity College, are 
also admitted in the different Colleges of Surgeons. 


= 


XXIII. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 


IMPROVEMENT AND EXTENSION OF IRON RAIL-WAYS. 


Tus Highland Society of Scotland have recently announced 
the following premium; viz. 

A piece of plate, of fifty guineas value, will be given for the 
best and approved essay on the construction of rail-roads, for 
the conveyanee of ordinary commodities, In this essay it will be 
essential to keep in view, how far rail-roads can be adapted for 
common use in a country j—the means of laden carriages sur- 
mounting the elevations occurring in their course; and whether 
rail-roads, or the wheels of carriages, may be so constructed as 
to be applicable to ordinary roads, as well as to rail-roads, so 
that no inconvenience shall be experienced on leaving either to 
travel on the other: the essay to be accompanied with such mo- 
dels or drwings as shall be sufficient to illustrate the statements 
it contains. 

It is desirable that some account should be given of the prin- 
cipal rail-roads in Britain, together with a brief history of their 
introduction, The premium not to be decided until the 10th 
November 1819. 

And with the same view, the following circular letter has been 
aildresséd.to the various iron-inasters in Scotland and England ; 
viz. 

*¢ Sir,—Althongh the rail-way that is now in contemplation 
in the vicinity of Edinburgh be entirely a matter of local con- 
cern, the peculiar plan of it is certainly to be viewed in a dif- 
ferent light, as an object that well deserves the attention of the 
various classes of the community throughout the kingdom. In- 
stead of insulated patches of rail-way, here and there, for par- 

ticular 


154 Improvement and Extension of Iron Rail-Ways. 


ticular purposes, and for the conveniency of private individuals, 
as is now the case, it is here proposed, through the medium or 
rail-ways, to open extensive communications—to branch them 
out from the metropolis of Scotland in various direetions, and 
to distant points—and thus to facilitate conveyance in general 
by an improved system of roads for heavy corriages. 

« The Highland Society of Scotland have, in a very patriotic 
rnanner, offered a premium of fifty guineas for the best essay on 
the means of attaining so desirable an object as the introduction 
of rail-ways for the purposes of general carriage. 

“ With a view to the establishment of the rail-way in question, 
for the conveyance of commodities to and from Edinburgh, and 
thereby to give a commencement to the system generally, a sub- 
scription for a survey has been opened, and plans by Mr. Steven- 
son, engineer, are in considerable forwardness. 

« Tt seems to be desirable, that rail-ways, for alternate car- 
riage and general uce, should procced on a continued level, or 
upon sirecessive levels: and a simple system of dockage (if it may 
be so called), by which loaded waggons may easily be elevated 
or depressed, from one level to another, would appear to be 
a desirable attainment. The edge rail-way is generally used and. 
preferred in Scotland, as causing less friction, and less expense 
of horse power; and it would tend to facilitate the general use of 
rail-ways, if, bysome simple change, the wheel usually employed 
for the road or street could be made also to suit the rail-way, 
or the rail-way wheel be made to suit the road or street, so that 
the cart or waggon which brings the commodity from the col- 
liery or stone quarry, the farm-yard, or the manufactory, to the 
rail-way, might travel along it to the termination of the rail-way, 
and proceed from thence through the streets of the town to the 
dwelling of the consumer, without unloading, or change of car- 
riage. 

“<The general use of rail-ways by iron-manufacturers, for their 
own peculiar objects, qualifies them in an eminent degree to af- 
ford valuable suggestions on the best means of perfecting the 
rail-way system; and from a desire to collect the general sense 
of enlightened and scientific men, we take the liberty of sub- 
mitting the annexed queries to your consideration, and to re- 
quest, if agreeable to you, that you will be pleased to favour us 
with any suggestions which may occur to you upon the subject. 

*¢ Nothing could give a stronger impulse to the iron-manufac- 
ture than the complete success of this scheme. It seems to 
claim the attention of the iron-manufacturers of Great Britain 
as a body, and to merit their individual and collective support, 

** Edinburgh, March 25, 1818,” , ee 
eastbaaiie ir ,, Queries, 


Leclures.—Patents. 155 


Queries. 


1. What is the best breadth of rail-way, and the best form of 
& waggon or carriage for the conveyance of commodities in ge- 
neral ? 

2. Supposing the trade alternate, it will be desirabie that the 
rail-way should proceed.on a continued level, or upon successive 
levels. What are deemed the best means, with reference to 
eeconomy and dispatch, for clevating or depressing the laden 
carriages tyom one level to another ? 

3. Supposing the edge rail-way, which is generally preferred - 
in Scotland, to be adopted, can a wheel be so constructed as to 
be applicable to streets or ordinary roads, as well as to rail-roads, 
so that no inconvenience shall be experienced on leaving either 
to travel on the other ? 


St. George’s Medical, Chemical, and Chirurgical Lectures. 

These will, as usual, commence the first week of October, in 
the following departments : 

1. On the Practice of Physic, with the Laws of the Animal 
(Economy, and occasional Pathological Demonstrations, at 
No. 9, George- street, Hanover-square, by George Pearson, M.D, 
F.R.S., Senior Physician to St.George’s Hospital, of the College 
of Physicians, &c. 

2. On the Science of Chemistry, in which Medical Jurispru 
dence will form a part of the Course, at the Royal Institution, 
Albemarle-street, by W. T, Brande, F.R.S. Prof. Chem. Royal 
Institution, &c. 

3. OnSurgery,at Mr. Brodie’s Theatre, Great Windmill-street, 
by B.C. Brodie, F.R.S. Assistant Surgeon at St. George’s Hos- 

ital, &c. 
si 4, On Therapeutics, with Materia Mediea, by George Pear- 
son, M.D.F.R.S. &c. 

‘5. Sir Everard Home will continue his Surgical Lectures 
gratuitously to the Pupils at St. George’s Hospital. 


LIST OF PATENTS FOR NEW INVENTIONS. 


To Samuel Clegg, of Westminster, engineer, for an improved 
gasometer or gasholder.— 24th July, 1818.—6 months. 

To Richard Blakemore, of Milingriffith Work, county of Gla- 
morgan, and John James, of Lower Redbrook, iu the county of 
Gloucester, iron-masters and tin-plate manufacturers, for a new 
kind of plate, which they denorinate ‘ amorphous metal plates," 
and likewise a certain improved and more perfect method or 
methods of crystallizing, or rendering crystallizable, the surface 


of 


156 Meteorology. 


of tin-plates, or iron or copper-plates tinned, which plates they 
call ‘amorphous metal plates.’ —24th July. —6 months, 

To Joseph Manton, of Davies-street, Berkeley-square, gun- 
maker, for certain primers for fire-arms, and also certain im- 
provements in the construction of certain of the parts of fire- 
arms.—od August.—6 months. 

To John Malam, of Marsham-street, Westminster, engineer, 
for certain improvements on steam-engines.—dth August.—6 
months. 

To James Hollingrake, of Manchester, mechanic, for his 
improved method of making or manufacturing copper or other 
metal rollers for calico-printing.—7th August.—6 months. 


METEOROLOGY. 
Harvest Moon. 


The present year is the third of a series of ten years in which 
the moon will prove the most beneficial to farmers for reaping 
and gathering in the produce of their fields; viz. from 1816 to 
1825 inclusive. The nine years preceding, namely, from 1507 to 
1815 inclusive, were of the class of those in which, from general 
physical causes, the harvest moon was least beneficial. 


Meteorological Journal kept at Walthamstow, Essex, from 
July 15 to August 15, 1818. 


[Usually between the Hours of Seven and Nine A.M. and the Thermometer 
(a second time) between Twelve and Two P.M. | 


Date. Therm. Barom. Wind. 


July 

15 63 30:30 N—NE.—Clear and some wind; very hot 
80 fine day; clear moon-light. 

16 64 30:25 SW—W—NW—SE.—Hot sun, and hazy; 
82 fine, hot and windy day; clear night. 

17 70 30:20 SE.--Cirrostratus; showers herwenn 8 A.M. 
76 and noon; fine day, very hot; mottled cir- 


rostratus at 7 P.M.; clear, and czrrostratus 
: at night. Full moon. 
18 61 30:05 NE—SE.—Fine and sunny; fine day, and 
79 some wind; very hot; clear, and cirro- 
stratus fottleal: 
19 68 30:00 NE—SE—NW.—Sun and cirrostratus; fine, 


80 very hot day; windy; clear and clouds, 
20 63. 29:95 NW.—Wind, and gleams of sun; very hot 
78 fine day; clear fight. 


July 


Meteorology. 157 


July 
21 63 29-91 W—S—SW—wW.—Some sun and cirro- 
77 stratus; fine day; stars and cumulostratus, 
and wind. 
22 64 30:05 SW.—Sun, wind, and cumuli; fine day; very 
78 hot ; clear and star-light. 
23 66 30:15 SE—E.—Hot sun, and wind; fine day; very 
87 hot clear night, and windy. Barom, 72 at 
10 P.M. 
24 72 29:90 SE—S—SW.—Very hot, clear and calm at 
91 7 A.M,; at 9 A.M. some cirrus ; fine day; 


some rain before 8 P.M. Thunder and 
lightning; very red sunset; mtmbus and 
lightning at night*. ) 
25 71 29°S5 SW.—Clear, cumuli, and sun; fine day, su 
Sl and wind; clear at night, but some cirro- 
stratus NW. Moon last quarter. 
26 74 29:90 SE.—Sun and wind; cirrostratus; and very 
77 hot, fine, clear, and windy; some rain after 
5 P.M.; night clear, clouds, and wind. 
27 70 29°85 SE—W——-NW.—Sun and cirrostratus; clouds 
73 and sun; dark nimlus NW; showers and 
wind after 1 P.M.; night cloudy and windy. 
28 57 30:20 NW—W.—Sun and wind; fine day; windy; 


Pa clear star-light. 

29 64 30:20 NE.—Hazy; sun and clouds; fine day; fine 
74 star-light. 

30 64 30°55 NW.—Windy and gray; sunny day; fine hot 
7 star-light night. 

31 67 30:55 W—NW.—Gleams of sun; fine day; windy; 
74 after 3 P.M. some rain; cloudy evening ; 

August star-light at 11 P.M. 

1 60 30:00 NW.—Gray and windy; the dust searcelv 

66 laid by the rain; cumuli and windy; fine 


* The Thermometer certainly at 1 P.M. the 24th of August was 91 by 
the Thermometer north-east side of the house; but probably it was caused 
by the great heat of the early sun not being gone off; for at the same hour 
another Thermometer which was hung on the north side of a large tree, 
and taken there from shade at 10 A.M., was only 88. 

Errata.—l5th June, read 60 Thermometer for 16, and the whole of 
that day seems wrong in many respects: the wind was SE—SW—S. 

The Thermometer is omitted 12th and 13th July. 

12th July 66°73. 

13th July 63-75. 

The leaves fall like October; the 5th August was the only morning in 
which a strong dew has been observed, 


day; 


138 


Meteorology. 


Date. Therm. Barom. Wind. 


Mig 
2 


3 
4 


ust 
62 
71 
55 
71 
62 
§1 
62 
$8 


67> 


86 


62 
73 


64 
74 


64 
77 


63 
71 
59 
69 
59 
71 
57 
73 
58 


57 


67 


30°20 
30°10 
30°10 
30°10 


30°05 


30-05 
30:10 
30°10 


29:95 
30°50 
30°20 
30°10 
30°10 


30:10 


day; very clear star-light; Milky-way un- 
commonly bright. 

NW—E.—Clear, and windy; very fine day ; 
fine clear night. New moon. 

SE.—Fine morn; fine day; star-light, 


SE.—Clear and fine mottled cirrostratus ; fine 
very hot day; clear night. : 

SE.—Fine sun ; clear; strong dew; very hot 
fine day; perfectly clear sky all day, and 
windy ; at 1 P.M. 88 under a large tree 
north side; clear night. 

SW—W—NW-—N.—Clear and cumuli; fine 
hot day; clouds appeared before 2 P.M.; 
cloudy night till near 11 P.M.; afterwards 
star-light. 

N—NW.—Clear and cirrostratus; hot sun; 
fine day; sun and wind; star-light; fine and 
clear. ha 

W.—Gray at 7 A.M.; at 10, sunny; at 11, 
hazy; at 1 P.M. fine sunny day; star- 
light. 

NE—E.—Gray; some drops of rain before 
11 A.M.; sunshine; fine hot day; moon- 
and star-light. Moon first quarter. 

NW—N—E—NE.—Sun, wind, and cirro- 
stratus; fine day, clear windy night. 

E-——-NE.—Clear and windy ; cumuiz aud clear; 
fine day; clear night. 

E—NE.—Gray fine morn; fine day; sun and 
wind; clear night. 

NE.—Fine sunny morn; very fine day, sun 
and wind; clear night. , 

N—NE.—Gray morn; fine day; some drops 
of rain about 7 P.M.; moon, stars, and light 
cumult. 

N.—Cloudy and windy; distant hills hazy; 
wind and clouds ; and gleams of sun; cloudy 
night, 


METEORG- 


Meteorology. 159 


METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL KEPT AT BOSTON, 


LINCOLNSHIRE. 


—<—<— 


[The time of observation, unless otherwise stated, is at 1 P.M.] 


isis (“Seo brhermo- 
Moon; meter. 
‘IDAYS. 

July 15) 12 | 77°5 
16 13 83° 
17| full | 72° 
18) 15 73°33 
19] 16 | 76° 
20; 67 | 69° 
2); 18 ea 
22 19 | 79° 
£3\ 20 81°5 
24) 2) 91° 

3 P.M. 92°5 
25) 22 85°5 
86) 23 84° 
Q7| 24 71°5 
28) 25 69: 
29! 26 (cata 
30; 27} 76° 
31] 28 76°5 

Aug. 1} 29 | 66° 

new| 69° 

3 1 70° 
4) 2\ 79 
3 84°5 
ya 1 
5 | 69° 
6 | -71°5 
7\ 74:5 
10} 8 | 66° 
11} 9 65° 
12; 10 70°5 
13} IL 68° 
14) 12 59° 
15) 33 63° 


29°90 


—r oa 


Baro- 
meter. 


State of the Weather and Modifieauion 
of the Clouds. 


30°29 |Cloudy—shower A.M, 

30°16 |Very fine—heavy rain with thunder 
in the evening 

Ditto 

Cloudy—rain P. M. 

Ditto 

Very fine 

Ditto 

Ditto 

with the bulk only—shaded and a 
cloud over the sun 101°5 not- 
withstanding a brisk breeze 
Ditto 

Ditto—rain in the evening, with a 
particularly beautiful appearance 
of the rainbow 

Cloudy 

Fine 

Ditto 

Ditto 

Cloudy 

Ditto 

Fine 

Ditto 

Very fine 

Ditto 

Fine—rain A.M. 

Ditto 

Cloudy 

Fine—rain in the evening 


29°89 


29°93 
30°30 
30°25 
30°16 
30°08 
30°07 
30°24 
30°15 
30°20 
30°12 
30°15 
30°14 
30°17 
30°05 
30°12 |Ditto 

30'3) |Ditto 

30°24 |Ditto 

30°28,|Ditto 

30°23 |Cloudy 

30°20 | Ditto METEORO- 


160 


Days of 
Month, 


August | 


leat 
oO O NO & bb OD 


Meteorology. 


METEOROLOGICAL TABLE, 


By Mr. Cary, or THE STRAND, 


For August 1818. 


Thermometer. . oO 
Dg Be ay oa Gas 
ge) 3 | Height of | S$ 2 
Se} 6 | =-</the Barom.| ¥ »9 
O6 2 2 = Inches. v2 
om = oom 

as 

69 | 77 | 60 | 29°80 56 
60 | 74 | 64 | 30°20 58 
64 | 76 | 66 °13 60 

67 | 80 | 68 10 66 
67 | 76 | 60 °42 56 
60 | 72 } 59 "02 60 
60 | 71 | 56 08 58 
64 1 75 |} 59 °06 75 
64 | 82 | 68 02 89 
68 | 85 | 74 02 102 

74 | 83 | 63 | 29°99 83 
64 | 74 | 66 | 30°01 91 
67 | 78 | 68 | 29°97 72 
66 | 74 | 60 °S7 70 
68 | 70 | 55 | 30.13 62 
60 | 69 | 54 “07 60 
60 | 69 | 57 "02 57 
64 | 67 | 59 "06 62 
60 | 64 |} 58 “01 50 
61 | 66 | 59 Ol 55 
58 | 70 | 59 °Ol 60 

58 | 71 | 63 “Ol 61 

63 | 71 | 56 | 29°91 75 

56 | 66 | 55 | 30,02 60 

56 | 63 | 56 04 _ 56 

58 |. 65 }-55 “06 56 

55 | 66 | 54 *)4 57 

53 | 66 | 60 "22 58 
61 | 60 |} 61 ef 56 

61 | 70 | 60 “ll 57 


Weather. 


wee 


Showery 


{Fair 


Fair 
Fair 
Fair 
Fair 
Fair 
Fair 
Fair 
Fair 
Fair 
Fair 
Fair 
Fair 
Fair 
Fair 
Fair 
Fair 
Cloudy 
Fair 
Fair 
Fair 
Fair 
Cloudy 
Cloudy 
Fair 
Fair 
Fair 
Fair 
Fair 
Fair 


N.B, The Barometer’s height is taken at one o'clock. 


arene RneStiaitin cc aneeenneeinRenEREnnnnE 


inal oop eteE sss 


XXIV. On the Question “Whether Music is necessary to the 
Orator,—to what Extent, and how most readily attainal le? #7? 
By Henry Urineton, Esq. 


(Centinued from vol. li, p. 461.] 


To Mr. Tilloch. 
Blair’s Hill, Cork, July 28, 1813. 
Sir, — Your late Magazine for June having ‘contained my 
communication of the 10th of that month, without any further 
introduction I shall proceed with my subject. 


Examination of Tae SPEAKER continued. 


OF CERTAIN MODULATIONS, &c. 


Observation 4.—Aided by my associate (to whose excellent ear 
I acknowledge myself indebted, and without whose concurrence 
I have never once ventured to decide, throughout this interesting 
inquiry), I now investigated, as minutely as possible, the most 
prominent species of sentences and rhetorical figures which pre- 
sented themselves in animated conversation ;—but in vain, They 
varied, it is true; yet the characteristic difference of any one 
species of either was absolutely undefinable ; the alteration of a 
single word, or the slightest change of collocation, producing, in 
the very same Benteniee: a difference in the areuilvaons Even 
the INTERROGATORY itself was equally uncertain—the pitch ex- 
cepted, which towards the, conclusion was generally, not always, 
higher than ¢haé pitch which an answer to such interrogatory 
would have produced. The EXCLAMATION, especially when. 
consisting of several words, was equally if net more variable in 
its character than the Interrogatory ; but, when constituted by 
one or two syllables, and indicating surprise, it uniformly ascended 
the scale. . The PARENTHESIs appeared more regular, in one re- 
spect, than either the Interrogatory or the Exclamation, ifs pitch 
being almost always lower than that of the preceding or succeed- 
ing passage. Lastly, with regard to the pERIob—even chis (I 
speak of the tolerably well executed period) apparently possessed 
but one undeviating distinction; namely, that its ultimate syl- 
lable was at all times lower than the preceding one; the /izal 
cadence (as I shall call it), or falling of the voice at the con- 
clusion, hardly ever extending itself so far backward as the ante- 
penult. , 
‘ Remarks.—Our coincidence with ancient usage is equally eon- 
spicuous in the case of imlerrogatory as in that of the diapente 
which was pemeieity discussed in my paper of the 10th of Jun 
Vl. 52. No. 245, Sept. 1818, L Quintilian 


162 “ Whether Music is necessary to the Orator,— 


Quintilian in a certain passage of his ‘ Institutes” (the book and 
chapter of which I cannot immediately call to my recollection). 
assigns to this figure [interrogatory] the property of acuteness: 
his words I renember—“Interrogantes acuto tenore concludunt.” 
[Interrogations terminate in an acute manner.] This general 
practice among the Romans, so analogous to our own, could not 
however, any more than with ourselves, have affected all the in- 
dividual syliables of which an interrogatory is composed; the 
general term acuteness being applicable to the ordinary genius, 
only, of such interrogatory on approaching its conclusion. 

The true character of this figure does not appear, in my mind, 
to have been justly appreciated by any of our modern gram- 
marians ;—they have spoken at random, and were either incapa- 
ble, or never took the trouble of analysing the question. In what 
then, independently of local usage, does the essence of interro- 
gatory consist? Not, most assuredly, in the elevation or de- 
pression of any individual syllable or word,—nor yet in the eom- 
parative acuteness or gravity of its general tenor, or even of its 
conclusion ; but—in opposition to the genius of the period—a: 
suitable preparation having been made, it must terminate with a 
non-finish. Every musician will understand me: and, to prove 
the practicability, in different ways, of this operation, in speech, 
{ shall set the following sentence (which is intentionally com- 
menced with a verb, and terminated by an emphatical word,) 
both in an ascending and a descending form. , 


Experiment. 

[The requisites for the execution of this passage will be found 
in the Philosophical Magazine for May. The second example, 
in particular, as deviating considerably from our ordinary habits, 
may require some little practice. The judicious management 
of forte, and the avoiding of jerk, especially on the two last syl- 
lables of the word ‘ proportion,” must be attentively regarded. ] 


Sg i gt ae ) 
Se ee Ascending. 


oe 


Are you sa-tis-fied with your own pro-por-tion? 


ee eg ge ge ge ee : 
——————— Descending. 
From the most cursory survey of both these interrogatories, 
which are perhaps equally good; although the latter, notwith- 
standing its intentional termination with a flat fifth, has, when 
wel executed, been more generally preferred—is it not evident 


that our grammarians have been very idly employed in ushering 
‘ their 


to what Extent, and how most readily attainable?” 168 


their local habits or fanciful chimeras* into the oratorical world 
as the models of perfection? In modern Europe, where every 
desirable license compatible with the character of speech is given 
to the speaker, shall he not be permitted to play off his volun- 
éary as he pleases? Good taste and decorum should be his only 
guides, , 

The exclamation and parenthesis require no comment. But 
not so with our PERIODS, or rather that portion of our periods 
which, in this letter, I have already called the “ final cadence ;” 
the discussion of its peculiarity being important. Our music 
possesses, in this instance, an unbounded latitude; and such la- 
titude being very frequent in our ordinary tunes, must it not ap- 
pear that to the habitude of s¢xging which prevails throughout 
society, may be attributed that imperfection so generally com- 
plained of in our public readers, and even indeed in our extem- 
poraneous orators, of falling immeasurably through the scale at 
the conclusion of their periods? 

Our popular songs, our psalms and hymns, have in all pro- 
bability contributed, particularly in this respect, to the injury of 
our elocution +; the ear, too often habituated to four or five suc- 
cessively descending syllables or notes, being intuitively led, in 
all cases of studied composition, to a similar modulation, of 

which the character of speech can never realise the execution f. 
Hence syllable is tumbled upon syllable; non-articulation is the 
result, and the die-away voice of the speaker becomes inaudible 
to all around him. ‘ 

I know not any song whatever, notwithstanding its five falling 


* At the head of this list I shall place the “ Elements of Elocution,” and 
“ RhetoricalGrammar,” bythe late Mr.Walker. Take one of his own figures ; 


What! Eleven syllables, all descending in succession, and slided too— 
without any intermediate elevation, repetition, or even sustentation! Pre- 
posterous idea! Why did he not consult a musician? No human being, in 
any age or nation, not even Mr. Walker himself, could ever have uttered a 
sentence in such a manner. 

+ Almost all the good singers and good musicians whom I ever knew, 
were indifferent speakers: and | am acquainted with one person in particular, 
whose elocution has been materially injured by the cultivation of the violin. 

The successively ascending intervals with which our music abounds are 
almost equally injurious to oratory. Speech, without sing-song, rather 
rarely exhibits two, and is generally confined to one. 

L2 notes 


164“ Whether Music is necessary to the Orator,— 


2 -tF ie 
, notes at the conclusion As-—*-=S =4-, whose cha- 


racter more nearly approaches the character of speech, than our 
national air of “ God save the King:’’ divested of its TIME, it 
may, with the exception of these notes, be almost spoken; a 
quality peculiarly ascribable to certain passages of the reci/atives 
of HaNDEL; but in no degree to those of our fashionable com- 
posers. 

This great original, in fulfilling the design of recitative, (which 
is, or rather should be, no more than highly-coloured reci~ 
tation,) must, in my opinion, have closely attended to the mo- 
dulation of our best speakers, particularly our theatrical perform- 
ers; otherwise, it were impossible that such extraordinary com- 
positions could have issued from his hand. In the oratorio of 
Athalia he has outdone himself; and therefore I shall confine 
myself, in the present observation on periods, to the close of that 
remarkable passage already quoted i your Magazine for May*. 


———< — pp --— —--——--——-- ee 
aS ee peepee 
I shriek’d, I eal ed, and I fell. 


Here is the true art of speaking literally made visible ; and to 
this passage I would direct the particular attention of every ora- 
tor ; for without some reasonable approximaticn to this excellent 
method, I cannot see the possibility, in superior composition, of 
executing a graceful, and at the same time an audible period. 
This method is closely analogous to the ancient practice. The 

“voice was let down some few words before the closet: anew 
level (if level it may be called, while admitting of certain varia- 
tions) was the consequence of their accentual system; and the 
ultimate falling syllables, which never exceeded two, were go- 
yerned by the character of the final word. 

I shall endeavour to illustrate this level and these ultimate 
syllables, as far as they relate te the terminating word of an an- 
cient period, by an appropriate example. Suppose that the 


* In a more Suitable place I shall gratify the reader with a transcript of 
the entire passage, of which the May Magazine contains but an extract. 

+ This letting down the voice may be called the rhetorical cadence, of 
which Quintilian, i in the xith book of his Institutes, chap. 3d, has given us 
an example. Treating of the period which terminates the opening of the 
fEneid, he says in the plainest terms, “ When I come to atque alt@ manic 
Rome, I will lower my voice [deponam] and then form a new beginning.” 
Cicero in his “de Oruiore” says that the last three words [I should sup- 
pose iadependent words, exclusive of particles, |.are sufficient for the govern- 
ance. of a period. 

word 


to what Extent, and how most readily attainable?” 165 


word exemplification is equally Greek and Latin with respect to 
its emphatic syllable ca, and that the only existing difference is 
dependent upon the notes, of which the highest or accent is 
seated in the Grecian language upon the unemphatice syllable fi 3 
and in the Latin upon the emphatic ca: Now, for the conclu- 
sion of a period with this identical word, it would necessarily be 
expressed in the respective languages thus: 


In the Greek, . . . e 


Ia*the Lating /> 617.7 ee {be 


methods more lofty and less monotonous than ours; preserv- 
ing, in the first place, the level or common tone throughout 
every syllable preceding the accent—then rising, ad libitum 
within the diapente, upon the accented syllable ; and lastly, fall- 
ing in like manner progressively * through the scale, on every 
syllable which succeeds it. 

Although the musical reader must thoroughly comprehend 
that falling is by no means necessary to a finish; yet Lord 
Kaimes, in his * Elements of Criticism ;”? and Mr. Sheridan in 
his “ Art of Reading,” having inculcated the contrary doctrine 
to the classical world, it becomes, in a certain degree, necessary 
to refute them. Had these gentlemen been at all acquainted 
with our musical compositions, they must have seen not only the 

practicability but the frequent introduction of the ascending 
nish—of the beauty of which the Greeks were so truly sensible, 
that, even in speech, it constituted a part of their accentual va- 
riety T. 

With what excellent effect has our celebrated BRAHAM intro- 
duced this species of close, in his well-known song “ On this 


cold flinty rock, Fc.” 


(9) i) 


And. kiss from thy lids the sad tear. 


‘Of the tonical Situation of the EMPHATIC SYLLABLE. 
Observation 5.—The predominant, although by no means the 


* Aulus Gellius in his Noctes Attice, book xiii. chap. 24. has shown us 
that the habit of progressively descending, after the accent, prevailed with 
the ancients. His original words are “‘ deinde gradatim descendunt.” 

+ In the Grecian language, when the last syllable was acuted it rose. 
The Roman language being confined (in some degree, like our own,) to the 
descending period, was more monotonous.— Quint. Instit. book ‘xii. cap. LO. 


¥ L3 universal 


166 =“ Whether Music is necessary to the Orator,— 


universal character of this syllable called by us the “ accent,” 
was that of elevation or acuteness. 

Remarks.—Notwithstanding the closest investigation of this 
“ accent,”’ it was found impossible to analyse the causes of its 
deviation from its general character; such deviation depending 
to all appearance rather on the mere circumstance of modula- 
tion, or perhaps of habit, than on the nature of the existing sen- 
timent or sentence. Its predominating genius is, for the present, 
sufficiently delineated in that passage which J have already set 
for the reader’s perusal in your Magazine for May ; and which 
passage shall be repeated in the subsequent part of this article. 
Other examples, in due time, may follow. 

Were it now demanded, whether an accentual language like 
the Greek or Roman, or a non-accentual language like our own*, 
(I speak not of Euphony, in which we are infinitely excelled by 
both,) is better calculated for expression ? I would not hesitate 
to declare in favour of the modern; and for this obvious reason— 
The fewer the shackles, the greater the latitude for the per- 
former. Let it not however be understood that I would yield 
the preference to our own, or indeed to any other modern lan- 
guage as generally spoken by the respective people of this or of 
any other country: on the contrary, with all their accentual 
shackles, I would prefer the ancient Greek, and perhaps the 
Roman too, as certainly possessing much more of grace and 
dignity, with an equal if not superior susceptibility of ex- 
pression, 

To form an adequate estimation of the dignity and expression 
of the ancient languages, which were intentionally destined for 
national characteristics, it would be indispensably necessary to 
recite a certain number of original passages, agreeably to the ac- 
knowledged outlines of accent and quantity; or, in other words, 
of tone and of time ;—and to compare them, so recited, with a 
certain number of our own: but this arduous task, which the 
powers of a Catalani or a Braham, combined with oratorical 
judgement, could with difficulty achieve, not being accomplish- 
able by any ordinary musician, even if all the necessary signs 
were previously invented,—we must content ourselves, on the 
" present occasion, with a comparative exhibition of some certain 
passage in our native tongue; and this rather as an object of 
literary curiosity than a decisive instance of Greek or Roman 
preeminence. 


Let us suppose then, that in exemplification of our English 

* The particles with which our language abounds must render all at- 

tempts at regular accentuation unavailing. Our general modulation is go~ 
verned, in a great degree, by necessity, not choice, 

ee ; . usage, 


fo what Extent, and how most readily attainable?” 167 


usage, thaé passage which I have already given may be quoted 
in its original form ; thus *, . 


== = — be 2 Ss 
: res 8 —*§ ee arin asl Yl BEI Kool Jo aa 


a nt -—-— << + 


May the monarchs of England ever cultivate the happiness of man. 


and that, agreeably to the usage of the Greek and Roman lan- 
guages, the accentual rules of which are known to every gram- 
marianf, this same passage were designated in the following 
manner, as if in those languages, for recital 


“9— 9 _.B__5be_9_2-s-—_ 9 [ is ae an 
S52 a= z 


} “ar ae opp ep 


“May thé ménarchs Of England éver ciltivate tht h4ppiness of man 


—must we not instantly discern in these different forms (though 
all sufficiently good English) the respective genius of each indi- 
vidual country? and that, notwithstanding the theoretical jargon 
of our modern eavillers, the principles of delivery as well as of 
composition were thoronghly understood and cultivated by the 
orators of Greece and Rome? 

Let us not therefore, in the petulance of self-conceit, decry 
those admirable masters whom posterity must everlastingly re- 
vere ; but let us rather, in the consciousness of our own deficiency, 
search out their innumerable beauties, and adopt them as the 
models for our imitation. 


* The reader should recollect all the previously suggested requisites for 
execution, and should beware, too, of the over-extension of the final con- 
sonant 7 in the word “ man.” ‘The upward slide with which I have ter- 
minated this passage in the second example, must need the powers and the 
judgement of a master, ordinary execution being inadmissible; nay, ludi- 
crous. This slide, though marked like a slur, is continuous: two distinct 
intervals must not be struck. 

+ From minutest inquiry and repeated trials, 1 am strongly of opinion 
that the emphatic syllable was at all times in the Roman language the 
* acute.” [I consider the circumflex equivalent.] Not so with the Grecian ; 
its variety, in this respect, was almost infinite. Hence the Roman lan- 
guage was more lofty and strong—the Greck more musical. 

{To be continued. | 


{That alterations, from time to time, had taken place in the accentual 
system both of the Greeks and Romans, is very probable. In the foregoing 
Greek imitation I followed the instructions of Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 
taking it for granted (though perhaps incorrectly) that the last syllable of 

every 


168 On the Astronomy of the Orientals. 


every word of two or more syllables over which the erave accent is set (ag 
in the:present instance the last syllable of England) should be delivered in 
an elevated monotone. 

I have thought it unnecessary to introduce the circumflex. To ths cha- 
racter the slide must always bave been attached; but whether the acute, 
properly so termed, should also have claimed, at all times, this privilege, it 
is impossible to‘decide: with us it is sometimes almost impracticable ; our 
English short syllables very seldom admitting, under any circumstance, such 
graceful execution. 

These general observations on accentual properties, together with the 
examples which I have given, will sufficiently obviate the necessity of ha-~ 
rassing my reader with defail: Volumes would not suffice for the answering 
of every objection with which some modern critics and grammarians have 
perplexed themselves and others. ] 


XXV. On the Astronomy of the Orientals. By A Cor- 
RESPONDENT. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — Ty is much to be wished that we had more accurate in- 
formation respecting the modern astronomy of the Orientals ; 
particularly the Arabians, Persians, and the Hindoos; especially 
when it is considered how this noble science flourished among 
them in former ages, and still continues in practice, as sufficiently 
appears in their compositions on the subject, and from the col- 
lections of manuscripts imported into this and other countries of 
Europe. The superior advantages which the Oriental astronomers 
possess in regard of climate, in their ebservations of the celestial 
luminaries ; the serenity and purity of their atmosphere; the ex- 
tent of their horizon in the plains of the East, added to their own 
diligent practice, conduce, at least, to promise some profitable re- 
sults common to the interest of the science and satisfactory to the 
learned of other countries. The theories which they hold, the 
tables they construct, and the instruments they use, are all ne- 
cessary to be known before we can form a just estimate of their 
merits, and advancement in the knowledge of astronomy. 
When perusing an inquiry of this sort, I accidentally met with 
some astronomical measures of time relating to the sun and 
moon, according to the calculations of the Hindoo astronomers, 
and by which the Bramins, Moguls, and other Mohammedans 
in India chiefly go, in the reckoning of time, as noticed by Mr. 
Fraser in his History of Nadir Shah, p. 2 of his book, which I 
found on examination so justly to conform to the measures in 
our more popular treatises of Astronomy, that I cannot byt 
transmit the remarks, for the consideration of your astronomical 
readers, and here subjoin them: 


The 


On the Astronomy of the Orientals. 169 


The lunar year they reckon 354 days, 22 gurris, | pull. The 
solar year they reckon 365 days, 15 gurris, 30 pulls, 22 peels, 
Indian time ;—60 peels making | pull, 60 pulls 1 gurri, and 60 
gurris 1 day. According to which the following table is con- 
structed, 


Peels. Pulls. Gurris. | English time. 
24 aleve ero ] second 
122 nse ale thd D sec. 
24 side. 6 oo a%s 10 sec. 
372 Hy oan Pl Slgeet 
50 sik. ea 20 sec. | 
75 li £355 eS sae, 
150 21 weay 1 minute 
790 121 pin 5 min. 
1500 25 stele 10 min. 
2250 bs ha Oa a A 15 min. 
3600 50H rage’ P20 min: 
4500 75 12 | 30 min. 
9000 150 22 1 hour 
18600 300 5 2 hours 
27000 450 7% 3 hours 
36900 600 16 4 hours 
45000 | 750 12! » hours 
54000 =: 960 15 6 hours 
81000 = 1350 224 9 hours 
‘| 108006 ~—-:1800 30 }2 hours 
216000 3600 60 1 day 


From this table it appears that the Indian year, of 365 days, 
15 gurris, 30 pulls, and 22} peels, is equal to 365 days, 6 hours. 
12 minutes, and 9 seconds of our time; and accords with our 
sidereal year nearly, which is stated at 365 days, 6 hours, 9 mi- 
nutes, and 14} seconds. The Indian lunar year, reckoned at 
354 days, 22 gurris, 1 pull, measures 354 days, 8 hours, 48 
minutes, 24 seconds, English time; which very nearly corresponds 
with that settled in our tables at 3854 days, S hours, 48 minutes, 
36 seconds.—See Ferguson’s Astronomy, chap. xxi. art.373. 

The lunar cycle, or period of 19 years, as also tha: called the 
Chaldean or ecliptic period, confessedly originated with the 
Eastern astronomers :—and that we maysee the agreement of the 
Oriental astronomers with our European calculators, | here insert 
the measure of 19 sidereal and lunar years after both accounts ; 
thus, 


Indian 


170 On the Astronomy of the Orientals. 


Indian Time reduced. 
Days. Hours. Min. Sec. 


79 x 365 days = 6935 0 0 0 
19 x 6 hours= 4 18 0 0 
19 x 12 min. = 0 3 48 0 
19x 99sec. = 0 0 2 51 


aoe — —— 


Indian time .. 6939 21 50 51 
Ferguson’s Tables, p. 190, 6939 20 50 354 


rd — eae _ 


Difference Sage 2. | oe 155 
Hence the difference between the Indian and European is 54 
min. 15 sec. in 19 sidereal years. 


Indian Lunar Years reduced. 
Days. Hours. Min. Sec. 


19 x 354 days = 6726 0 19) 0 
19 x S8hours= ~ 6 8 0 0 
19 x 48 min. = 0 15 12 0 
19 x 24sec. = OF 0 ve 36 


6732 03 |< GO waG 
177 45) ete 
29 12 44 9 


19 x 12 lenations 
6 lunations 
1 lunation 


oil 


235 lunations = 6939 16 OH 50 

Do, by English tables = 639 16 26 ol 

Difference ae he ose 59 
‘The difference between 235 lunations composing. the lunar 
cycle of 19 years by both reckonings less than one minute! This 
statement I hope is accurate so far as my documents go; and 
considering the supposed ignorance of the Eastern astronomers 
in the elements of true science, their want of necessary and ac- 
curate mathematical instruments, and the skill for the more pro- 
found and elaborate calculations of our European and justly fa- 
mops practitioners, their determination on the exact measures 
of the sidereal and Junar year is truly admirable, and deserving 
our highest commendation. . 
It remains to inquire how such extraordinary agreement in 
calculations so intricate, and by observers so remotely distant, 

and unconnected, should coincide iu the instances above given. 

Hipparchus, who flourished about 140 years before the Chris- 
tian era, first discovered the sidereal year to exceed the solar or 


tropical year; and thence concluded, that the fixed stars had a 
slow 


On the Performance of the Apollonicon. 171 


Slow annual motion of their own; and Thebites, an Arabian, 
about the year of Christ 1200 determined the sidereal year at 
365 days 15 prime scruples, or 6 hours and 23 second scruples, 
or 9 minutes 12 seconds, which agrees nearly with the English 
and French astronomers, or within about 12 seconds.—See La 
Caille’s Elements, translated by Robertson, art. 471, p. 204. 
The Indian astronomers, who compute the same at 365 days 
6 hours 12 min. 9 sec., do therefore exceed the truth by at least 
3 minutes; which difference, although considerable, may possibly 
be reconciled if we were more accurately informed of the process 
of their calculations. I am, sir, 

Yours most respectfully, 
Ti. ve 


XXVI. On the Performance of the Apollonicon, constructed by 
Messrs. Fricut and Ropson. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Str, ae | BEG leave to present to the netice of your readers 
some account of a musical instrument that has for some months 
past been exhibiting in St. Martin’s Lane, the extraordinary 
powers of which reflect the highest credit on the ingenious in- 
ventors, and well deserve the attention of all who have a taste 
for music, or for mechanism, and who are anxious to encourage the 
successful efforts of genius;—TI allude, sir, to the APOLLONICON, 
an instruinent invented by Messrs. Flight and Robson, organ- 
makers. I have at different times attended the performances 
on this instrument; and, in return for the great gratification I 
have received, shall be happy, if, through your permission, my 
humble efforts, in thus calling the attention of amateurs of music 
to it, through the medium of your valuable work, should tend 
in the least to promote the interest of those eminent artists, I 
understand, sir, that two or three instruments, on the same 
principle as the Apollonicon, but on a much smaller scale, were 
previously made by Messrs, F. and R. for different noblemen 
and gentlemen, about six or seven years ago, which they sub- 
mitted to the inspection of their musical friends, from whom 
they met with the highest approbation. I had often heard of 
the extraordinary powers of those instruments, which were built 
for Lord Kirkwall and the Duke of Leinster, but from particular 
circumstances had never an opportunity of hearing them. 

» It was, I understand, from the flattering marks of approbatiov 
that were bestowed on those specimens of their abilities, that the 
inventors were induced to commence the magnificent instrument 
ju question, which should combine the superior delicacy of ex- 
: pression 


172 On the Performance of the Apollonicon. 


pression that those instruments possessed, with the grandeur of 
tone, which from their want of size they were incapable of. 
There is in Dr. Rees’s Cyclopedia, under the article ORGAN, a 
copious description of the first instrament that was built for 
Lord Kirkwall, explaining its principles, construction, and effects, 
to which I should beg to refer your readers for an explanation of 
its mechanical properties. 

I recollect secing a prospectus, about five years ago, stating 
the object of the inventors in setting about to construct the 
Apollonicon, at a value of 10,000/., under the sanction of His 
Royal Highness the Prince Regent, who havi ing heard Lord Kirk- 
wall’s organ, had been pleased to bestow his unequivocal appro- 
bation and patronage to their efforts. The instrument was at 
that time commenced; and accordingly, after a period of five 
years of labour, expense and anxiety, the Apollonicon was opened 
for public exhibition in June 1817 ; since which time it has heen 
heard by many thousands, who by their approbation nave borne 
testimony to its merits. 

This magnificent instrument is on the principle of the organ; 
is twenty-four feet in height, twenty feet wide, and about twelve 
feet deep, and contains in the whole about three thousand pipes; 
the largest of which, of wood, is sixteen feet long, by eighteen 
and tienty-one inches wide. By certain qualities and combi- 
nations of the different pipes, the effect of flutes, oboes, clario- 
nets, bassoons, horns, &c. &c. is produced in a very superior 
style; the whole powers of which, with the variety of changes 
they are capable of, are acted upon -by three immense cylinders 
or barrels of six feet each in circumference, impelled by a me- 
chanical power: on which barrels are set, at present, the cele- 
brated overtures to Anacreon, and Clemenza di Tito. The ex- 
traordinary precision, expression, brilliancy of execution, and 
the rapidity with which the instrument performs the different 
changes, in these two pieces, have astonished and delighted the 
scientific and musical world. 

The Apollonicon possesses. also the capability of being acted 
upon by performers ; it has five sets of keys, on which five pra- 
fessors may play at the same time. The principal set, on which 
one performer may play, commands the power of a very grand 
organ, with a sweetness and expression superior to any thing I 
have ever before heard; combining the expressive quality of the 
violin, the sublimity of the organ, and the extreme delicacy of 
the musical glasses: the other sets of keys command the effects 
of the different wind instruments, as flutes, oboes, bassoons, &c. 
&c. The whole combined bring into play ‘the full powers of the 
instrument. By a judicious arrangement of the different parts 


of a grand piece of music the finest effect may be produced by 
these 


Experiments for determining the Length of the Pendulum. 173 


these five sets of keys, equal in grandeur to an orchestra of one 
hundred and fifty performers. 

During the winter season, Messrs. Flight and Robson have 
given, at stated periods, a series of instrumental evening concerts 
. on the instrument; for the conducting of which they have been 
so fortunate as to engage a professor, before not sufficiently 
known, Mr, Thomas Adams, but whose musical abilities are such 
as to rank him in the highest class of his profession. Under his 
direction, and accompanied by four other eminent professors, 
have been performed some of the finest selections of classic 
music from the compositions of Dr. Boyce, Purcell, Bach, 
Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, &c. &c. The approba- 
tion with which these performances have been honoured by a 
numerous class of visitors evinces that the English, who have 
hitherto been considered not as a musical people, are perfectly 
capable of appreciating and admiring, to the fullest extent, real 
good music, when placed before them. The highest praise is 
due to the proprietors of the Apollonicon, for thus introducing a 
species of performance that by its superiority will tend to culti- 
vate the rising musical taste ; and I trust that the lovers.of music 
will continue to render that encouragemeut and patronage to the 
instrument, in the next season, which its superior merits are so 
deservingly entitled-to. 

I an, sir, 
Your obliged servant, - 
AN AMATEUR. 


XXVIIL. An Account of Experiments for determining the Length 
of the Pendulum vibrating Seconds in the Latitude of London. 
By Capt. Henry Kater, F.R.S. 


[Continued from p. 100.] 


Of the Apparatus and Methods employed for the Measurement 
of the Distance between the Knife Edges, and for the Com- 
parison of the British Standard Measures of the highest Au- 
thority. 

HE microscopes used for this purpose were made by Mr. 
Thomas, Jones, of Cockspur-street. They are both furnished 
with cross threads of spider’s web, as well as with a single thread 
for the purpose of bisecting a dot if required, and are in other 
respects of a similar construction with those described by Sir 
George Shuckburgh Evelyn, in the Philosophical Transactions 
for 1798, but are more powerful, and the micrometer is capable 
of far greater precision. 

The object-glass of the micrometer microscope is. of one inch 

focus, 


174 An Account of Experiments for determining the Length of 


focus, the distance from the object-glass to the spider’s threads 
3:25 inches, the focus of the compound eye-glass rather less than 
one inch, the magnifying power 18 times. In the other micro- 
scope, which I shall call. the fixed microscope, the olject-glass 
is of three-quarters of an inch focus, and the magnifying power 
consequently greater. The micrometer head is divided into one 
hundred parts. 

Each microscope slides in a tube, which is fixed in a plate of 
brass forming part of its support; and this plate moves in a dove- 
tail, by which the microscope may be brought over the object 
to be viewed, when it is firmly clamped by a screw. Aue 

A piece of .well-seasoned mahogany, four inches and three- 
quarters, by three inches, served as a’beam to which the sup- 
ports of the microscopes were screwed, their centres being 39:4 
inches asunder, 68 ¥ 

Two screws with milled Leads supported the extremities of 
the beam in front, and a piece projecting from the middle of the 
beam behind served as a third leg. By means of the screws, 
the focus of either microscope could be nicely adjusted at plea- 
sure, without any risk of altering their distance from each other. 

My first object was to ascertain the degree of precision of 
which vision is capable when assisted by the microscope. For this 
purpose, a very fine line was drawn on a polished piece of brass ; 
and the microscope being carefully adjusted so as to be free from~ 
parallax, by causing the image of the line to bisect the angles 
formed by the spider’s threads, moving the eye to the right and 
left and remarking whether the image changed its situation, and 
if it did, varying the distance of the microscope from the object 
accordingly, until the line appeared stationary, the micrometer 
screw was turned back, and the spider’s threads brought. up 
again till the angle formed. by them appeared to be accurately 
bisected by the line. The division of the micrometer was then 
noted, and this was repeated several times with scarcely a sensi- 
ble difference in the result; and thus I assured myself that no 
error worthy of remark was to be apprehended from imperfection 
of vision. 

The next step was to determine the value of one-division of 
the micrometer head. By the kind interest of Sir Joseph Banks, 
I was favoured with the use of the standard scale which belonged 
to the late Sir George Shuckburgh Evelyn, and which is de- 
scribed in the Philosophical Transactions for 1798. This scale, 
the work of Mr. Troughton, is second to none in the kingdom 
in point of accuracy of division, and is too well known to render 
any further remark necessary. The microscope being carefully 
adjusted for parallax, one inch, from the 39th to the 40th, was 


measured by successive tenths, and the mean taken as the value 
of 


the Pendulum vibrating Seconds in the Latitude of London. 175 


of one-tenth of an inch... The measurement of the same inch 
was repeated ten times at different periods, the microscopes be- 
ing previously adjusted anew each time for parallax. The mean 
results of such measurements are as follows : 


Divisions of the Micrometer to 1-10th of an Inch. 


2335-00 2335°75 
2333°75 2338°30 
2337°595 2335°85 
2337°32 2337°85 
2334°50 


233690 _. | Mean 2336°277 
Hence the value of one division of the micrometer appears to be 
gzrivz Of an inch. 

In the course of these measurements, differences occurred for 
which I was at a loss to account; but at length it appeared that 
they were to be attributed to remaining parallax ; for, whatever, 
care be taken in adjusting the microscope, it is scarcely’ possible 
to bring the image of the object precisely in the same plane with 
the threads, and the image will consequently be of various di- 
mensions, according to its distance from this plane. Unless, 
therefore, the most minute attention be paid to the adjustment 
for parallax, the error arising from this cause will be consider- 
able; and I may here remark, that I believe the difficulty of 
bringing the image into the plane of the threads, to be the source 
of by far the most serious errors to which measurements by 
means of microscopes are liable. 

I had now to examine the quality of the threads of the mi- 
crometer screw. For this purpose, two fine lines were drawn 
near each other on.a piece of brass; and the micrometer being. 
turned back as far as it would go, the distance of the lines was. 
carefully measured; and this was repeated, proceeding through 
the whole length of the screw, always advancing the micrometer 
one revolution previous to each successive measurement. The. 
result of this severe test will best appear by giving the numbers 
themselves. 

Divisions of the Micrometer. 


502-0 502°5 501:0 
5015 | 502 0 502°5 
501-0 502-0 501°0 
502-0 502°5 e 500-0 
5015 501°0 500-0 
502-0 5015 | 500°5 
502-0) 502°0 Mean 501°5 


The mean is 501°5, and the greatest difference from the mean 
ouly one division, amounting to yyzy5 of an inch, a degree of 
accuracy 


176 An Account of Experiments for determining the Length of 


accuracy truly surprising, when it is considered that all errors of 
observation are included in this minute quantity. 


Comparison of the different Standards. 

The microscopes being placed at the distance of 39:4 inches, 
were advanced by single tenths, from zero of the scale through 
the space of two inches; and the mean of twenty measurements 
thus obtained being compared with the distance from zero to 
39:4 inches, this last was found to be in defect 1-2 divisions of 
the micrometer, or ‘00005 of an inch. And as this is the por- 
tion of the scale employed in ascertaining the distance between 
the knife edges, this difference must ultimately be subtracted to 
obtain the distance of the knife edges, in parts ‘of the mean value 
of the scale*, 

From the high. importance which attaches to General Roy’s 
scale, as having formed the basis of the Trigonometrical Survey 
of the kingdom, I was particularly desirous of comparing it with 
that of Sir G. Shuckburgh, in order that 1 might be enab‘ed to 
give the length of the pendulum in parts of that standard which 
constitutes the foundation of one of the most important scien- 

tific operations ever carried on in this country. Fortunately, 
this scale was purchased at the sale of General Roy’s effects by 
Mr. Browne, who readily confided it to my care. From the mean 
of a number of comparisons, I found the distance from zero to 
39°4 of General Roy’s scale, equal to 39°40144 of Sir G. Shuck- 
‘burgh’s standard f. 

The standard yard made by Bird in 1758, for the House of 
Commons, better known by the name of Bird’s Parliamentary 
standard, is little adapted for measurements where great preci- 
sion is necessary. The yard is determined by two large dots 
made on gold pins which are let into a bar of brass. The mean of 

a num- 

* From an examination of this scale by the late Sir G. Shuckburgh, it 
appears that the greatest liability to error is ‘00033 of an inch, or, as cor- 
ag ys «i Mr. Troughton, -000165 of an inch, the chances against which are 
as oO 

+ The very great difference between this result and that stated by Sir Gea. 
Shuckburgh, in the Philosophical Transactions for 1798, renders it necessary 
for me briefly to detail the manner in which the comparisons were made. 
The two scales were placed in contact, and remained thus for twenty-four 
hours ; after which, sixteen comparisons were taken in the course of the 
day; but these were rejected in consequence of the temperature having in- 
creased six degrees during the operation. When the scales had been to- 
gether forty-eight hours, sixteen other comparisons were made during two 
succeecing days, the thermorheter remaining steadily at 70’. The greatest 
difference between any one of these last and the mean result, did not 
zmount to four divisions of the micrometer. The mean of the first set of 
observations exceeded that of the last by ‘00017 of an inch. Imagining 


that the difference between Sir George Shuckburgh’s result and mine, might 
possibly 


the Pendulum vibrating Seconds in the Latitude of Loidun. V77 


a number of bisections of these dots gave their distance equal to 
36° 00016 inches of Sir George Shuckburgh’s scale. 


Meastrement of the Pendulum. 

_ ‘The pendulum was let into a solid piece of mahogany edge- 
wise, to such a depth that the knife edges were about one- 
twenticth of an inch above its surface. To one end of the pen- 
dulum acommou spring steelyard was attached by its hook, and 
a string being passed through the ring, and fastened to an up- 
right piece of wood screwed to the end of the mahogany case, 
the pendulum was extended by a force rather greater than its own 

_ weight (about ten pounds), and consequently, no error (if any 
such were to be apprehended) could arise from a difference in the 
length of the pendulum in its vertical and horizontal positions, 

The knife edges were fixed as nearly as could be done by me- 
chanical means, at right angles to the bar of the pendulum ; but 
the bar being flexible, they would most probably, when the pen- 
dulum was extended for the purpose of measurement, be found 
to be not precisely parallel to each other, and would consequently 
require some adjustment. To effect this, two opposite screws 
were passed through the sides of the mahogany case, so as to 
act in a transverse direction against that extremity of the pen- 
dulum which was nest the steely ard; and the microscopes being 
brought over the extreme points of the knife edges, alternately 
on either side of the bar, the requisite parallelism was readily 
obtained by means of the screws, suflicient room pavies heen 
left in the mahogany case for the very small motion of the ex- 
tremity of the pendulum which might be found necessary. ‘This 
arrangement is represented in’Plate III. fig. 5.* 

To obtain the distance between the knife ec dges, two different 
methods were used. For the first, four rectangular pieces of 
brass were prepared, about half aninch square. Very near to the 
perfectly straight edge of each, a fine line was drawn, to be 
viewed through the microscope, and these lines were each crossed 
at right angles by two others, intended to indicate that part of 


possibly be occasioned by an error in the divisions bounding that part of 
General Roy's seale which I had employed, I compared it with various other 
portions, and found no greater difference than might haye been expected 
trom unavoidable imperfection of division, It is to be presumed then, that 
the error into which Sir George Shuckburgh appears to have fallen, must 
haye arisen from the two scales not having been of the same temperatur e 
at the time they were compared, particularly as Sir George Shuckburgh’s 
is by far the most massive of the two. I may here ‘add, that last winter 
wishing to know whether the expansion of the two scales was equal, 
roughly compared them together once, at the temperature of 33°, when 
appeared that 42 inches on General Roy’s scale, was equal to about 42:00] 
inches of Sir George Shuckburgh’s standard. 

. ® [This Plate will be given with a future Number.) 

Vol. 52, No.245, Sept. 1818. M the 


17S An Account of Experiments for determining the Length of 


the first line from which the measurements were to be taken. 
These pieces were marked A, a, and B, 0. 

The pieces A and a, being placed with their edges in contact, 
in which position they were kept by the pressure of a spring, the 
distance between the fine lines first drawn was carefully measured 
with the micrometer, and from a mean of eight observations, the 
greatest difference between which did not exceed one division, 
was found to be 329-09 divisions. 
~ The same was done with the pieces B and b, and the distance 
of the lines from a mean of sixteen observations appeared to 
be 366°96 divisions. 

The knife edges being adjusted as nearly as possible parallel 
to each other, the pieces A, a, and B, b, were placed in contact 
with those parts of the knife edges on either side of the bar, on 
which the vibrations were to be performed, and were retained in 
their places by the pressure of slight springs attached to the 
mahogany case. 

The microscopes were now breught over the pieces A and a, so 
as for the lines before described to bisect the cross threads, when 
the division of the micrometer was noted. 

The same was done with the pieces B and b; and the division. 
of the micrometer was also registered. 

The pendulum being removed, the standard scale* was placed 
beneath the micrometer ; ; and its zero being made to bisect the 
angles of the fixed microscope, the cross threads of the micro- 
meter microscope were brought to 39:4 of the scale, and the 
revolutions and parts of the micrometer were noted, 

From these data, and the respective distances of the lines on 
A and a, and on B and b, when the pieces were in contact, the 
distance of the knife edges on either side of the 'bar may be 
readily obtained, and dhe mean being taken, will obviously cor- 
rect any error arising from a want of perfeet parallelism in the 
knife edges. 

It is very generally believed that measurements from a knife 
edge, or from a line terminating a surface, are liable to much 
uncertainty from what has been called irradiation, or indistinct- 
ness of the image. But this is by no means the fact ; for, if the 
reflection of light from the knife edge be prevented, and it be 
viewed on a white ground, it may be made to bisect the cross 
threads of the microscope, with nearly the same precision as 
could be attained by the use ofaline. There is, however, a cor- 
rection necessary to be applied in this case, and I shall proceed 
to describe the method employed for ascertaining its amount. 

A slip of writing-paper was pasted on the mahogany case, under 
each knife edge, extending beyond it about the tenth of an inch, 

* The scate constantly referred to is Sir George Shuckburgh’s ae 

an 


the Pendulum vibrating Seconds in the Latitude of London. 179 


and adjoining was a piece of black paper to prevent the reflec- 
tion of light on the knife edge from the surrounding objects. 
The knife edge now appeared through the microscope, as a well 
defined dark object on a white ground. 

Marks were made on the paper close to the knife edges at 
equal distances on each side of the bar. These were intended 
to indicate those parts of the knife edges equally distant from 
the middle, from which the measurements were to be taken. 

The knife edges being adjusted parallel to each other, in the 
manner before described, the microscopes were brought succes- 
sively over such marks on the paper, as were at the same distance 
from the bar; and the mean of each pair of observations being re- 
ferred to the scale, gave a distance of the knife edges free from 
any error which would be occasioned by a want of parallelism. 

The knife edges bisecting the cross threads of the micro- 
scopes, pieces of black paper were slid beneath them, when they 
appeared to start forwards towards each other, the images con- 
tinuing perfectly sharp and well defined. 
~ The distance between the knife edges appeared to be now con- 
siderably less than before; and it remained to determine tue 
difference, in order to apply its half, as a correction to the di- 
stance first obtained. 

For this purpose, the reading of the micrometer was taken 
when the knife edges were viewed as dark objects on a white 
ground, and also when they were seen as light objects cn a black 
ground. ‘The difference of such readings will obviously give 
double the correction required. The results are contained in 
the following table. 


| } 
IDivisions of{ Divisions ii 
ithe Microm.|the Microm. 
|the ground |the ground 
\being white.|being black. 
| 


Difference. 


39-0 | 44-0 | 12-00 | 

19:5 | 300 | 10:50 
17-5 | 280 | 10:50 

5 


16: 27-7, |. 11-20 
12+5 25°0 | 12:50 

12:5 22-0 9-50 

12:0 23-0 | 11-00 

10:0 21-0 | 11-00 

9-7 18-0 8:30 

5-5 19°0 | 13°50 

5°7 165 | 10-80 

5-0 165 | 11:50 

i ~~ Mean} 11.03 


From 


ee er 


180 An Account of Experiments for determining the Length of 


From the above table it seems that 5°51 divisions (or °000236 
of an inch) are to be subtracted from the distance obtained when 
the knife edges are viewed as dark objects on a light ground ; 
and on the contrary, the same quantity to be added when. they 
are seen_as light objects on a dark ground. 

From the few experiments I have made, this quantity appears: 
to be the same, whatever may be the relative illumination of the 
object and its ground, so long as the difference of character is 
preserved. On the cause of this extraordinary fact I can hazard 
no conjecture, and it remains an interesting. subject for future 
investigation. 


Of ihe Expansion of the Pendulum. 

The composition of brass is so various, that probably no two 
specimens possess precisely the same rate of expansion. It be- 
came therefore necessary to determine the expansion of the peu-. 
dulum by direct experiment, instead of adopting the conclusions 
of others, and for this purpose the following method was used, A 
trough of deal was made of a length sufficient to receive the bar 
intended for the pendulum, which was placed edgewise in the. 
middle of the trough, being secured at one end by wedges on. 
both sides. The bar was supported on small pieces of glass , 
tube, serving as rollers to prevent friction, and the trough was of 
the same depth as the width of the bar. 

Two transverse lines were drawn near the extremities of the 
edge of the bar, distant from each other 499 inches, and a third 
line was subsequently drawn one inch beyond. The microscopes, 
were placed over the lines, and left, together witha thermometes;, 
for twenty-four hours previous to the experiment. 

The temperature being then registered, and the microscopes 
having been examined to see that the lines bisected the angles 
formed by the spider’s threads, the trough was filled with hot 
water to the edge of the bar, and two thermometers were placed 
in it, one just beneath the surface of the water, and the other at 
the bottom of the trough. The bar rapidly expanded, and the 
line on it was followed by the micrometer till it became sta- 
tionary. The bisection was then perfected, and the mean of the 
degrees shown by the thermometers registered, together witi. 
the number of revolutions and parts made by the micrometer. 
The whole was now suffered to remain till the temperature had 
become several degrees lower, when the contraction of the bar, 
occasioned by such decrease of temperature, was measured, and 
thus several successive observations were made, which are con- 
tained in the following table, 


Distance 


the Pendulum vibrating Seconds in the Latitude of London. 181 


- Distance between the lines on the bar, 49°5 inches. 


| iene a ee ee ee ee 
Highest | Lowest | Diff. of |Division of the|/xpansion in parts of the 
Temp. | Temp. | Temp. | Micrometer. | length for each degree. 


96 | 43 | 53 620 -000010116 
i 93 43 50 580 -0000 10030 
| 
Distance between the lines on the bar, 50°5 inches. 
91 | 43 1 48 | 600 -000010616 
89 84 5 70 -00001 1890 
Al 5 8 89 ‘000009448 
Wf, 6} 14 149 -000009038 
80 44 36 400 -000009 436 
£0 60 20 215 *000009129 
hy fla 60 USe'\ 152 -000009930 
Mean of the whole, | -000009959. 


ee —————— ee een . 
The mean ‘000009959 may be taken as the expansion of the 
pendulum in parts of its length due to a change of temperature 


of one degree of the thermometer. : 


- Of the Method of deducing the Length of the Pendulum 
z vibrating Seconds. 

The distance between the knife edges was taken when the 
standard: seale and the pendulum were both of the same tempe- 
rature ; and as this temperature did not differ considerably from 
6§2°, the difference in the rate of the expansion (if any) between 
the pendulum and the scale may be neglected as perfectly in- 
sensible, and 62° be considered as the temperature of measure- 
ment. 

The number of vibrations made by the pendulum in 24 hours, 
having been determined at a different temperature, the length’ 
of the pendulum will be greater or less as the temperature of 
o»servation exceeds or falls short of 62°; and by applying the 
expansion due to such difference of temperature, derived from 
the experiments contained in the preceding article, the distance 
of the knife edges, or length of the pendulum, will be known for 
the temperature at which the number of vibrations was deter- 
mined, whence the length of the pendulum vibrating seconds 
may be readily deduced, the lengths of pendulums being to each 
other inversely in the duplicate ratio of the number of their vi- 
brations in 24 hours. 


M3 of 


182. Experiments for determining the Length of the Penduluit.- 


Of the Correction for the Buoyancy of the Atmosphere. 


The Jength of the pendulum thus found, differing from what - 
it would have been had the vibrations den made in vacuo, it is 
necessary to apply to it a correction for the buoyancy of the at- 
mosphere. 

For this correction, the weight of the pendulum, compared 
with that of air, at the time of observation, must be known. 

The pendulum being compased of different kinds of brass, the 
specific gravity of each part was carefully determined, and from 
thence the specific gravity of the whole mass. 


Part of the Pendulum. bad iN! Specific gravity. 
i eeaprermareuban: a Sa aioe Wa MEA: 
3 weights (cast brass)....| 3-14 8-417 
4 knee pieces (cast brass) | 0°13 7°S16 
Bar (plate brass) . ......| 3°30 8-532 


\ 


From the above data, the specific gravity of the pendulum is 
8469 ; or the weight of the pendulum compared with water is 
as 8-469 to i, 

It has been determined by Sir George Shuckburgh (Phil. Trans, 
for 1777) that water is 836 times heavier than air, when the 
thermometer is at 53°, and the barometer at 29°27 inches. But 
the specific gravity of air veries directly as the height of the ba- 
rometer, and inversely as its expansion, which is known to be 
zigth part of its bulk for each degree of Fahrenheit: conse- 
quently, for any other state of the barometer and thermometer, 
the number 836 will may inversely as the height of the baro- 
meter, and directly zt,th part for each degree of the therma-. 
meter above 53’, 

Thus the specific gravity of water, compared with that of air, 
may be known for the temperature and altitude of the barometer 
at the time of observation ; and multiplying this by the specific 
gravity of the pendulum, the ratio of the weight of the pendulum, 
compared with that of air will be obtained. 

This ratio will express the diminution of the farce of gravity 
arising from the bueyanev of the atmosphere ; and in order that 
the number of vibrations may be the same in vacuo as in air, the. 
Jength of the pendylum must be increased in the proportion of 
this ratio to 1, the lengths of pendulums vibrating in the same. 
time, varying directly as the force of gravity, 


[To be continued. ] 


XXVIII, Ox 


XXVIII. On the very correct Notions concerning the Structure 
of the Earth, entertained by the Rev. Joun MICHELL, as 
early as the Year 1769; and the great Neglect which his 
Publication of the same has received from later Writers on 
Geology ; and regarding the Treatment of Mr. Smiva, by 
certain Persons. By Mr. Joun Farry Sen., Mineral Sur- 
veyor. . 

To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — Tx No. LVIII. of the “ Edinburgh Review,” published 
in February last, the Mineralogical Map and other Works of our 
deserving countryman William Smath, which are enumerated in 
p. 180 of your last volume, are reviewed, and in the historical 
sketch introductory to this Critique, the Writer has done an im- 
portant service to the cause of literary justice and to science (for 
which I beg to tender him my thanks) in pointing the attention 
of Geologists, to a paper in the Philosophical Transactions for 
the year 1760, of which the Reviewer thus speaks (in p. 316): 
<< But the most important observations, we think beyond com- 
parison, that have ever yet* appeared on the subject of stratifi- 
cation, are those of the Rev. John Michell, in a paper ‘‘ on the 
Cause and Phenomena of Earthquakes.” 

I take shame to myself, that it was not until very lately, in 
consequence of the above paragraph, and the extracts from Mr. 
Michell’s paper, which follow in the Review, that I procured 
the volume of Philosophical Transactions referred to, and read 
the paper, here so justly characterized ; especially as Mr. Bake- 
well, in the preface to his ‘ Introduction to Geology” published 
in 1813, had said, ‘* Mr. Michell was the first person who appears 
to have had any clear views respecting the structure of the ex- 
ternal parts of the earth.” My long neglect of this paper has 
altogether arisen, from the observations regarding Earthquakes, 
in all the accounts which I remember to have read on that sub- 
ject, being too much involved with the terrific and the marvellous, 
to appear to furnish sufficient facts, for any one to reason safely 
upon, as to their cause: and not from any wish to undervalue, 
much less to conceal what Mr. Michell had done, in what I have 
occasionally written regarding the progress and authors of Geo- 
logical discoveries: as will, I think, be conceded to me, by all 
impartial persons, who will turn to the three places in your work 
(viz. vol. xxxvi. p. 102; vol. xxxvii. p. 175 Note; and vol, XXXIX, 
p. 94 Note), wherein I have mentioned my endeavours, to bring 
to light, and publish and explain, any papers on Geological sub- 


* This historical remark is introduced, between the account of what 
Leiunan published in 1756, and /Vhitchurst in 1778. 
jects, 


184 Of the Structure'of the Earth. 


jects, which Mr. Michell may have left behind him; .but unfor= 
tunately for the science, his Son-in-law Sir Thomas Turton, Bart. 
has stated, that none such can be found :—The Rev. Gentleman 
at Cambridge, who enjoys Dr.Woodward’s salary for promoting 
Geological knowledge, has not (like the worthy Baronet men- 
tioned above) satisfied my inquiry, whether any papers relating 
to the order, thicknesses, &c. of the British Strata, were left by 
Mr. Michell in the Woodwardian Museum, at the time when 
e surrendered the charge of the same to a successor, many 
years ago: but I still hope, and so do many others, that the 
Reverend Gentleman will condescend to do so, : 

My object therefore now is, to request the favour of you, to 
reprint Mr, Michell’s paper in your Magazine, and allow me to 
place at the foot of some of its pages, a few explanatory Notes, 
in the general confirmatory, from my own experience in widely 
aud minutely exploring the British Strata, of the extraor- 
dinary correctness of his views of the leading Geological facts of 
our island, considering the period at which he wrote, when and 
for long after which, scarcely anything which is now found to be 
really valuable, as to the Earth’s structure, was put forth to the 
public. 

Here I cannot refrain from again adverting to the work of a 
late Oxford Professor, whose conduct towards my friend Mr.- 
Smith*, I have already censured, (although but in a small degree, 

come- 


* The Gentleman alluded to in p. 173 of your last volume, as having called 
on Mr. Smith in November last, has since avowed himself to a common friend 
of Mr. Smith and myself, as the Author of the art'cle in the Ediaburgh Review, 
which is mentioned above: he took at the time a few desultory notes, of what 
Mr. Smith could state from memory, as to the dates and exient of h’s labours 
and discoveries, but he positively declined then to tell Mr. S. ¢» whai particular 
purpose, he was making such application io him ; and he evaded the attending of 
a select meeting of Mr. Smith’s friends, when such a Statement as that he had 
requested, was to-be prepared and settled, after due deliberation: and when I 
pressed him at Sir Joseph Banks's meeting, to mention his amended use of the 
particulars which Mr, Smith kad, at his instance, requested of me to assist in 
drawing up, he declined a direct answer, but insinuated, that it was fo defending 
Dr. K-di, his very particular Friend, from aspersions that had been cast on him, 
regarding Mr. Smith! I gavea firm, and I trust suitable answer. which may 
perhaps at some time appear m your pages, and the matter dropped. 

The above particulars may somewhat account, why, throughout the Critique 
i question, Docror Kipp is so ostensibly brought forwards. and as it were 
pitted against o or Mr. Smiru3 why so many of the quotations, and references ta 
Authors, are artfully made to bear (many of them most unfairly, as I shall per- 
haps state, when leisure permits) against Mr. Smith’s claims, to almost any ori- 
Ginality or merit; butthe two last paragraphs explain the whole, and show, al- 
thourh less openly than Dr. K went about it, that the object in view has been 
(as Mr. Smith from the first suspected) to push into notice, those * men of Lite. 
rality and scientific acquirements,” and their Works, who are, as the Reviewer 
tells us, engaged in * correcting the investigations” of “an Englishman, untaught 
aud unassisted,” (see your vol. xlv. p. 296 Note): the Reviewer with grea tcom- 
p'acency concludes, by complimenting the persons of ** jntelligence and dbterality** 


alluded 


Of the Structure of the Earth. 185 


commensurate with its demerits, in your xlvth volume, p. 338) in 
order to point out, that although he professed (but untruly) to 
review, and pass as it were his academical judgement, on ald that 
had previously been written on the structure of the Earth, he 
never quotes or alludes to this paper of Mr. Michell’s; not even 
in his chapter ‘¢ on Voleanos and Earthquakes.” 

So in like manner, Mr. M, has received entire neglect from 
a London Professor, who made the history of Geological labours 
and discoveries, the subject of a Lecture, introductory to.a Course 


- alluded to, on the “ elevated place,” their Names are hereafter to occupy in the 
page of fame! 

What the character of that fame may be I will not inquire, which attaches to 
the having announced (in the name of the “learned Body,” mentioned by the 
Reviewer) at the eritical moment, after Mr, Smith had, through 12 years or 
more, been prevented from putting his Map to press, by no Map-seller seeing 
a prospect, through “ the unfashionabieness of the mode, in which he had taken 
up and treated the subject,” of their being remunerated, for engraving, colour- 
ing, furnishing all the learned Universities, &c. gratis, and advertising his Map; 
and tothe having actually followed up this announcement, by putting into the 
Engraver's hands, the pretended ** corrected Map” of which now the Reviewer 
so complacently speaks (see vol, xlv. p.937 ) months before ihe orrginal Map could 
be got out by Mr. Cary: and through which new mode of proceeding in search 
of fame, or something else, it has occurred, and there is too much reason to 
perceive exu/tation in the Parties at it, that Mr. Smith and Mr. Cary, remain al~ 
most wholly «rewarded for their labours ! 

Speaking of the Ednburgh Review, brings me to mention, that there are now 
two rival Magazines, publishing monthly in that city,the new or opposition one,’ 
of which, is said (as is indeed pretty evident to any one) to have its scientific de- 
partment edited by a certain professor of “ Geognosy :” there is also published 
in London. the Monthly Annals, of another “ Geognost :” to the Editors of these 
two Geognostic Works (many: of whose peculiar Readers, might fairly be sup- 
posed to have scarcely seen the nameof Mr. Smith mentioned) were sent in the 
usual way, the very first manuscript copies of “ Mr. Smith’s Claims” (see vol. li. 
p. 174 to 180 which were any how circulated, with a respectful request from 
me, that they might have insertion, as a liberal act of literary justice to. Mr. Smith. 
A printed Copy was also forwarded, as soon as possible, to the old Edinburgh Ma- 
gazine; but, neither the Editor of the old or of the new tdinburgh Magazines 
has condescended to give it insertion!: and notwithstanding, that the opposi- 
tion Editor had, in a number almost immediately preceding, amongst the lite- 
rary news (and apparently from his own pen) inserted a vaunting kind of chal- 
lenge to Mr Smith and myself Ly name, to make good or renounce, in his Work. 
the claim, which a certain Scotch Geognost had (wnasked) repeatedly put in, in 
our behalfs, as being rival discoverers of * the idea of formations,” with the ido- 
lized Werner! 

The London Geognostic Annalists in the same foreign interest, raised at 
first a cavil, at the * Statement,’ not coming direct from Mr. Smith, (although 
purporting to come from his friends,) objecting am tto to the Notes attached 
to it: and when afterwards, Mr. Smith on his return to Town, attempted 
to satisfy these Qualms, by approving of the “Statement” under his hand, 
and requesting its insertion, pro:tded the Notes were si ffered to accompany i: 
these Editors, however, in pretending to comply, in their “ introductory para- 
graph,” having first (untruly) asserted, that all the Notes, referred merely to the 
Philosophical Magazine, they proceeded, amongst other wanton mutilations, to 
strike out the very material Note (vol. li. p. 179), that showed Mr, Smith's 
name and the object of his labours, had found a comme¢ndatory mention, in the 
"Pransactions of the Royal Soctely / 


at 


186 Conjectures concerning the Cause, and Observations 


at the Royal Institution, and has in the last year published the 
same in an Svo volume. The conduct of the gentleman now 
alluded to, has even been still worse towards my friend Mr. 
Smith, whose Geological Map has been in the Institution Li- 
brary since its publieation, and during the delivery of several of 
the Lectures alluded to, was actually Aung up al the back of the 
Lecturer, and made the diagram of his local descriptions of 
English Mineralogy and Geology; and yet, in two volumes which 
this “ learned Professor ”’ has since put forth, in 1816 and 1817, 
detailing the Geological facts of England, not the least mention 
or allusion is made to Mr. Smith or his labours, through the Jast 
28 years! ! 

If no one else can be found to stand forward, and condemn 
with just severity, such gross léterary injustice, as 1s displayed 
in the instances above alluded to, I am the person who will fear- 
lessly do so, as long as your work remains, as heretofore, the 
impartial vehicle of scientific communication ; and I am, sir, 

Your obedient servant, 
Howiland-street, Aug. 16, 1818, Joun Farry Sen. 


Conjectures concerning the Cause, and Observations upon the 
Phenomena, of Earthquakes; particularly of that great 
Earthguake of the first of November 1755, which proved so 
fatal to the City of Lisbon, and whose Effects were felt as 
far as Africa, and more or less throughout almost all Europe ; 
by the Rev. Joan Micue.t, M.A. Fellow of Queen’s College, 
Cambridge. [From the Philosoph, Transactions *.] 


Introduction. 


Art.1. Ir has been the general opinion of philosophers, that 
earthquakes owe their origin to some sudden explosion in the 
internal parts of the earth. This opinion is very agreeable to the 
phenomena, which seem plainly to point out something of that 
kind. The conjectures, however, concerning the cause of such 
an explosion, have not been yet, I think, sufficiently supported by 
facts; nor have the more particular effects, which will arise from 
it, been traced out; and the connexion of them with the phe- 
nomena explained. ‘To do this, is the intent of the following 
pages; and this we are now the better enabled to do, as the late 
dreadful earthquake of the Ist of November 1755 supplies us 
with more facts}, and those better related, than any other earth- 
quake of which we have an account. 2. That 

* Read Feb. 28; March 6, 13, 20, 27, 1760. Had 

+ Many of these facts are collected together in the xlixth volume of the 
Philosophical Transactions, The same are also to be found, with some ad- 

ditional 


upon the Phenomena, of Earthquakes, 182 


2. That these concussions should owe their origin to some- 
thing ip the air, as it has sometimes been imagined, seems very 
ill to correspond with the phenomena. This, 1 apprehend, will 
sufficiently appear, as those phenomena are hereafter recounted ; 
nor does there appear to be any such certain and regular con- 
nexion between earthquakes and the state of the air, when they 
happen, as is supposed by those who hold this opinion. It is 
said, for instance, that earthquakes always happen in calm still 
weather: but that this js not always so, may be seen in an account 
of the earthquakes in Sicily of 1693*, where, we are told, “ the 
south winds have blown very much, which still have been im- 
petuous in the most sensible earthquakes, and the hike has hap- 
pened at other times.”’ 

3. Other examples to the same purpose we have in an account 
of the earthquakes that happened in New England in 1727 and 
1728; the author of which says, that he could neither observe 
any connexion between the weather and the earthquakes, nor 
any prognostic of them; for that they happened alike in all 
kinds of weather, at all times of the tides, and at all times of the 
moon f. 


ditional ones, in “‘ The History and Philosophy of Earthquakes,” (a work 
well worth the perusal of those who are desirous of being acquainted with 
this subject). The author of it has given us, besides the aforesaid facts, 
a very judicious abridyement of ten of the most considerable writers upon 
the subject. I have taken the greatest part of my authorities either from 
this author, or the Philesophical Transactions, that those-who wou!d wish 
to examine them may have an oppertunity of doing it the more easily: 
-some things only, which were not to be met with in these, and which yet 
were necessary to my purpose, I have been obliged to seek for elsewhere. 

* See Philos. Trans. No. 207; or vol. ii. p. 408.—Lowthorp’s Abridge- 
ment. 

+ See Philos. Trans. No. 409; or vol. vi. part ii. p. 02.—Eames’s Abridve- 
ment.—Tv these authorities we may add the opinion of Mons. Bertrand, 
who expresses himself, upon this occasion, in the following manner: “ Ari- 
stotle, Pliny, and Seneca, tell us, that earthquakes are preceded by a calm 
and serene air. This is, indeed, often the case, but not always. T don’t 
know, upon an examination of the whole, if there are not as many excep- 
tions to this rule, as examples that confirm it. Some authors again have 
thought, that they might look onadark sky, lightnings, and sudden storms, 
as the forerunners of earthquakes.” Then relating some instances of shocks 
that happened in calm and serene weather, he adds, “ On the other hand, 
it appears, from the examples which we have before related, that many 
earthquakes have bappened at the time of great rains, violent winds, and 
with a cloudy sky; so that one cannot find any certain prognostic of thew 
in the state uf the atmosphere.”—See Memoires Historiques et Physiques 
sur les Tremblemens de Terre, par Mons. Bertrand, a la Haye 1757. ‘This 
author, in these sensible memoirs, has oblived the public with a circum: 
stantial account of all the facts he could collect, relating to the earthquakes 
of Switzerland, or those of other places that seemed to be connected with 
them. The whole seems to be done with care and fidelity, aud without the 
Jeast attachment.to avy particular system, 


weet 7 4, If, 


188 © Conjectures concerning the Cause, and Observations 


4. If, however, it should stil! be supposed, notwithstanding 
these instances to the contrary, that there is some general con- 
nexion between earthquakes and the weather, at the time when 
they happen, yet, surely, it is far more probable, that the air 
should be affected by the causes of earthquakes, than that the 
earth should be affected in so extraordinary a manner, and to so 
great a depth; and that this, and all the other circumstances 
attending these motions, should be owing to some cause residing 
in the air. 

5. Let us then, rejecting this hypothesis, suppose that earth- 
quakes have their origin under ground, and we need not go far 
in search of a cause, whose real existence in nature we have cer- 
tain evidence of, and which is capable of producing all the ap- 
pearances of these extraordinary motions. The cause I mean is 
subterraneous fires. These fires, if a large quantity of water 
should be let out upon them suddenly, may produce a vapour, 
whose quantity and elastic force may be fully sufficient for that 


purpose. The oo facts, from which I would prove that : 


these fires are the real cause of earthquakes, are as follow: 
Srcrion I.—6, First, The same places are subject to returns 
of earthquakes, not only at small intervals for some time 
after any considerable one has happened, but also at greater 
intervals cf some ages. 
7. Both these facts sufficiently appear, from the accounts we 


have of earthquakes.; The tremblings and shocks of the earth ° 


at Jamaica in 1692*, at Sicily in 1693*, and at Lisbon in 
1755*, were repeated scmetimes at larger, and sometimes at 
smaller intervals, for several months. The same thing has been 
observed in all other very violent earthquakes. At Limat, from 
the 28th October 1746 to the 24th February 1747 (the time 
when the account of them was sent from thence), there had heen 
numbered no less than 451 shocks, many of them little inferior 
to the first great one which destroyed that city. 

S. The returns of earthquakes also, in the same places, at 
larger distances of time, are confirmed by all history. Con- 
stantinople, and many parts of Asia Minor, have suffered by 
them, in many different ages: Sicily has heen subject to them, 
as far back as the remains even of fabulous history can inform 
us of: Lisbon did not feel the effects of them for the first time 


in 1755: Jamaica has frequently been troubled with them, since ° 


the English first settled there; and the Spaniards, who were 
there before, used to build their houses of wood, and only one 


story high, for fear of them: Lima, Callao, and the parts ad-° 


* See the accounts of these in the Philos. Trans. 

+ See Antonio dUlloa’s Voyage to Peru, part i, book i. che. 

i Sce the place above quoted, 
jacent, 


upon the Phenomena, of Earthquakes.. 189 


jacent, were almost totally destroyed by them twice, within the 
compass of about sixty years, scarce. any building being. left 
standing, and the latter being both times overflowed by the sea: 
ner were these the only instances of the like kind which have 
happened there: for, from the year 1582 to 1746, they have had 
no less than sixteen very violent earthquakes, besides an infinity 
of less considerable ones; und the Spaniards, at their first settling 
there, were told by the old inhabitants, when they saw them 
building high houses, that they were building their own sepul- 
chres*, 

9. Secondly, Those places that are in the neighbourhood of 
burning mountains, are always subject to frequent earth- 
quakes ; and the eruptions of those mountains, when vio- 
lent, are generally attended with them. vei 

10. Asia Minor and Constantinople may be looked upon as its 

the neighbourhood of Santerini. The countries also about Etnat, 

Vesuvius, Mount Hecla, &e. afford us sufficient proofs to the 

same purpose. But, of all the places in the known world, I 

suppose, no countries are so subject to earthquakes, as Peru f, 

Chili, and all the western parts of South America; nor is there 

any country in the known world so full of voleanos: for, through- 

out all that long range of mountains, known by the name of the 

Andes, from 45 degrees south latitude to several degrees north 

of the line, as also throughout all Mexico, being about 5000 

miles in extent, there is a continued chain of them §. 

_ 11. Thirdly, The motion of the earth in earthquakesis partly 
tremulous, and partly propagated by waves, which succeed 
one another sometimes at larger and sometimes at smaller 
distances ; and this latter motion is generally propagated 
wouch further than the former. Na 

12. The former part of this proposition wants no confirmation : 

for the proof of the latter, viz. the wave-like motion of the earth, 

we may appeal to many accounts of earthquakes: it was very 

remarkable in the -two which happened at Jamaica.in 1687-8 4 

and 1692. In an account of the former, it is said, that a gen- 


* * What is here said, is taken from d’Ulloa’s Voyage to Peru, the History 
and Philosophy of Earthquakes, the Philos. Frans. &c., where many more 
examples, to the same purpose, are to be met with. See also Memoires sur 
les Tremblemens de Terre; in which are mentioned above 130 repetitions 
ofearthquakes that have happened within the compass of 960 years in 
Switzerland. 


e t See many instances of this in vol. iiof Lowthorp’s Abr. of the Philos. 
Trans. 


{ Mons. Bouguer says, that scarce a week passes without earthquakes 
in some part of Peru.—See Hist. of Earthq. p. 205% 

§ See the Maps of these countries, Condamine’s Voyage down the Ma— 
ravon, Acosta’s Nat. Hist. of the Indies, &ec. - 


|| See hil. Trans. No, 209 ; or vol, il, Lowthorp’s Abridgement. p. 410. 
tleman 


190 Conjectures concerning the Cause, and Obserbations 


tleman there saw the ground rise like the sea in a wave, as the 
earthquake passed along, and that he could distinguish the ef- 
fects of it, to some miles distance, by the motion of the tops of 
the trees on the hills. Again, in an account of the latter, it is 
said, ‘the ground heaved and swelled, like a rolling swelling sea,” 
insomuch that people could hardly stand upon their legs by rea- 
son of it. 

13. The same has been observed in the earthquakes of New* 
England, where it has been very remarkable. A gentleman giving 
an account of one, that happened there the 18th November 
1755, says, the earth rose in a wave, which made the tops of the 
trees vibrate ten feet, and that he was forced to support himself, 
to avoid falling, whilst it was passing. 

14, The same also was observed at Lisbont, in the earth- 
quake of the Ist November 1755, as may be plainly collected 
from many of the accounts that have been published concerning 
it, some of which affirm it expressly: and this wave-like motion 
was propagated to far greater distances than the other tremulous 
one, being perceived by the motion of waters, and the hanging 
branches in churches, through all Germany, amongst the Alps, 
in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and all over the British isles. ~ 

15. Fourthly, It is observed in places which are subject to 

frequent earthquakes, that they generally come to one and 
the same place, from the same point of the compass. - 1 may 
add also, that the velocity with which they proceed (as far 
as one ean collect it from the accounts of them) is the same; 
but the velocity of the earthquakes of different countries is 
very different. 

16. 'Fhus all the shocks that succeeded the first great one at 
Lisbon in 1755, as well as the first itself, came from the north- 
west{. This is asserted by the person who says he was about 
writing a history of the earthquakes there: all the other accounts 
also confirm the same thing; for what some say, that they came 
from the north, and others, that they came from the west, can- 
not be looked on as any reasonable objection to this, but rather 
the contrary. The velocity also, with which they were all pro- 


* See Philos. Trans. vol. 1. p. 1, &c. 

+ Sec the accounts collected together, in the xlixth volume of the Philos. 
Trans., or in Hist. and Philos. of Earthg. and particularly p. $15, where it 
is said, “ A most dreadful earthquake shook, by short but quick vibrations, 
the foundations of all Lisbon; then, with a scarcely perceptible pause, the 
nature of the motion changed, and every building was tossed like a waggon 
driven violently over rough stones, which laid in ruins almost every house, 
church, &c.” , 6 

For the wave-like motion at Oporto, see Phil. Trans. vol. xlix. p. 418: 
for the same at Gibraltar, see Hist, and Philos, of Earthq. p. 322 

t. Sve Philos. Trans. vol, xlix. p. 410. 

pagated, 


upon the Phenomena, of Earthquakes, 191 


pagated, was the same, being at least equal to that of sound; 
for they all followed immediately after the noise that preceded 
them *, or rather the noise and the earthquake came together: 
and this velocity agrees very well with the intervals between the 
time when the first shock was felt at Lisbon, and the time when 
it was felt at other distant places, from the comparison of which 
it seems to have travelled at the rate of more than twenty miles 
per minute ft. 

17. An historical account of the earthquakes which have hap- 
pened in New England f, says, that, of five considerable ones, 
three are known to have come from the same point of the com- 
pass, viz. the north-west: it is uncertain from what point the 
other two came, but it is supposed that they came from the 
same with the former. The velocity§ of these has been much 
less than that of the Lisbon earthquakes: this appears from the 
interval between the preceding noise, and the shock, as well as 
_ from the wave-like motion before mentioned. 

18. All the greater earthquakes, that have been felt at Ja- 
maica ||, seem, by the accounts given of them, to have come from 
the sea, and, passing by Port-Royal, to have gone northwards. 
The velocity of these also was far short of the velocity of the 
Lisbon earthquakes. 

19. The earthquake of London , on the 8th of March 1750, 
was supposed to move from east to west. I. have been credibly 
informed, that the same thing happened ina slight shock which 
was felt there in the last century, as. the person who told me 
this had an opportunity of observing; for, being, by accident, in 
a scalemaker’s shop at the time when it happened, he found 
that all the scales vibrated from east to west. 

20. All the shocks that have been lately felt at Brigue in 
Valais have likewise come ‘rom the same point of the compass, 
viz. the south **, 

21. Fifthly, The great Lisbon earthquake has been succeeded 

by several local ones since, the extent of which has been 
much less. 


* See Philos. Trans. vol. xlix. p- 414; or Hist. and Philos, of Earthq. 
p. 515. 7 See art. 97. t See Philos. Trans, vol. 1. p- 9. 

§ As in some earthquakes the velocity with which they are propagated 
is much less than in others, it is evident that they can by no means be 
owing to avy cause residing inthe air: for any shock communicated to the 
air must necessarily move with a velocity neither greater nor less than that 
of sounds; that is, at the rate of about thirteen miles per minute, 

|| See the accounts of them in Philos. Trans. No. 209; or vol. ii—Lo-- 
thorp’s Abr. p. 410, &c. 

€ See Hist. and Philos. of Earthq. p. 250; or Philos, Trans. vol, ¥— 
Martyn’s Abr. Meteorology, passim. 

** See Philos. Trans. vol. xlix. p.620. The same has been observed ot 
Smyrna also, sce Philos. Trans, No. 495; or Martyn’s Abr, vol. x. p. 526. 


22, Such 


192 Conjectures concerning the Cause, and Observations 


22, Such were the earthquakes in Switzerland ; those on the 
borders of France and Germany; those in Barbary, &¢.* 

Sxcrion I]. —23. How well soever these facts may agree with 
the supposition before laid down, That. subterraneous fires are 
the. cause of earthquakes, one doubt, however, may perhaps re- 
main; viz. how it is possible that fires should subsist, which have 
no communication with the outward air? In answer to this; I 
might allege the example of green plants, which. take fire by 
fermentation, when laid together in heaps; where the admission 
of the outward air is so far from being necessary, that it will ef+ 
fectually prevent their doing so. . But, to pass by this, we have 
many instances more immediately to the purpose, 

24. It can hardly be supposed, that the fires of the generality 
-of voleanos receive any supply of fresh air (for this must effee- 
tually be prevented by that vapour, which is continually rushing 

out at-all their vents), and yet they subsist, and frequently even 

increase, for many ages. Now, these are fires of the very same 
kitid-with these which I suppose to be the cause of earthquakes. 

Other facts, still more expressly to the purpose, are as follow: 

_ 25. In the earthquake of the Ist of November 1755, we are 

told that both smoke and light flames were seen on the coast 

of Portugal, near Colares; and that, upon oceasion of some of 
the succeeding shocks, a slight smell of sulphur was perceived to 
accompany a “ fog, which came from the sea, from the same 

quarter whence the smoke appeared f.” 

26. In an account of an earthquake in New England, it is 
said, that. at Newbury, forty miles from Boston, the earth opened 
and threw up several cart loads ef sand and ashes; and that the 
sand was also slightly impregnated with sulphur, emitting a blue 
flame when laid on burning coals {. 

_ 27. One of the relaters of the earthquake in Jamaica in 1692 
has these words: ‘¢ In Port-Royal, and in many places all over 

the island, much’ sulphireous combustible matter hath been 
found (supposed to have been thrown out upon the opening of 
the earth), which, upon the first touch of fire, would flame and 

burn. like a candle. ... 0 4.4, 

28. “ St, Christopher’s was heretofore much troubled with 
earthquakes, which, upou the eruption there of a great mountain 
of combustible matter, which still continues, wholly ceased, and 
have never been felt there since §.” 

29. Again, we are told, that, on the 20th November 1720, 


* Sco tlic accounts of these collected together in Philos. Trans. vol. xlix; 
or in the Hist. and Philos, of Earthq. 
+ Sce Philos. Trans. vol. xlix. p. 414, &e. 


¥ See Philos. Traus. No. 409; or vol. vi. part ii. p. 201.—Eames’s Abr. 
§ See Philos. Trans. No. 209; or vol. ii. p, 418,—Lowthorp’s Abr. 
a burning 


\ 


upon the Phenomena of Earthquakes. > 193 


AE _ . 5 . 
2 burning island * was raised out of the sea, near Tercera, one 


of the Azores, at which place several houses were shaken down 
by an earthquake which attended the eruption of it. © Thig 


‘island was about three leagues in diameter, and nearly round ; 


from whence it is manifest, that the quantity of pumice stones 
and melted matter, which must have been requisite to form it, 
Was amazingly great: in all probability it must have far exceeded 
all that has been thrown out of A2tna and Vesuvius together, 
within the last two thousand years. This’ may serve to satisfy 
us, that the fire which occasioned all this must have subsisted 
for many years, not to say ages, and this without any communi- 
cation with the external air. It is worth observing, that several 
instances of this kind have happened amongst the Azoresf. ‘There 
are, besides many marks of subterraneous firés about these islands, 
several places sending, up smoke or flames. ‘These islands are 


‘also subject to violent and frequent earthquakes. 


_ 30. We have more instances to the same purpose, near the 
island of Santerini.in the Archipelago, where there have been 
several little islands raised out of the sea by a submarine volcano. 
The eruption of one of these in the year 1708, with all the cir- 
cumstances that attended it, we have a very good account of in 
the Philosophiéal Pransactionst. It was raised ina place where 
the sea had been formerly 100 fathoms deep, and was attended 
with earthquakes before it showed itself above water, as well as 
after. Jt is reported, that the island of Santerini itse!f was ori- 
ginally raised out of the sea in the same manner; but, be that 
as it will, we have certain accounts of new islands raised therc, 


or additions made to the old ones, from tinte to time, for above 


1900 years backwards, and there have always been earthqual:cs 
at the time of these eruptions. ; 

31. Another example of the same kind happened at Manila §, 
one of the Philippine islands, in the year 1750. This-a!so was 
attended with violent earthquakes, to which that island, as well 
as the rest of the Philippines, is very much subject. 

32. We may add to these, the many instances of vast quan- 
tities of pumice stones || which have been sometimes found 
floating 2 upon the sea, at so great a distance from the shore, as 
well as from any known volcano, that there can be little doubt 
of their being thrown up by fires subsisting under the bottom of 
the ocean. 

* See Philos. Trans. No. 372; or vol. vi. part ii. p. 203.—Eames’s Abr. 

+ See Hist. and Philos, of Kyrthquakes, under the titles Azores, [slands 
raised, &c. 

t See No. $14, 517, and 332; or vol. v. p. ii. p. 196.—Junos’s Abr, ° 

See Philos. Trans. vol. xlix. p.459. 

fs See Philos, Trans. No. 372; or vol. vi, part ii, p. 204, and No. 402; 

or vol, vii. part ii. p. 43. —Eames’s Abr. 


Volt. 52. No. 245, Sept. 1818. N 33. From 


194 Conjectures concerning the Cause, eo. of Earthquakes. 


33. From these instances, we may, with great probability, 
conclude, that the fires of volcanos produce earthquakes : I do 
not, however, suppose, that the earthquakes, which are frequently _ 
felt in the neighbourhood of volcanos, are owing to the fires of 
those volcanos theinselves; for volcanos, giving passage to the ~ 
vapours that are there formed, should rather prevent them, as in 
the instance at St. Ciiristopher’s, before mentioned. 

34, We also meet with frequent instances confirming the same 
thing amongst the Andes. Antonio d’Ulloa (speaking of what 
happens amongst these mountains) says, “‘ Experience shows us, 
that, upon the fresh breaking out of any volcano, it occasions so ~ 
violent a shock to the eafth, that all tie villages which are near 
it are overthrown and destroyed, as it happened in the ease of 
the mountain Carguayraso*. This shock, which we may, without 
the least impropriety, call an earthquake, is seldom feund to acs 
company the eruptions, after an opening is once made; or, if 
some small trembling is perceived, it is very ineonsiderable; so 
that, after the volcano has once found a vent, the shocks cease, 
notwithstanding the matter of it continues to be on fire.” The 
greater earthquakes, therefore, seem rather to be occasioned by 
other fires, that lie deeper in the same tract of country; and the 
eruptions of voleanos, which happen at the same time with earth- 
quakes, may, with more probability, be ascribed to those earth- 
quakes, than the earthquakes to the eruptions—whenever, at _ 
least, the earthquakes are of any considerable extent. If this don’t 
appear sufficiently manifest at present, it will, perhaps, be better 
understood, by applying to the present purpose, what will be said 
‘hereafter concerning local earthquakes. 

Section II].—39. It may be asked, perhaps, why we should 
suppose, that several subterraneous fires exist in the neighbour- 
hood of volcanos? In evidence of this, we have frequent in- 
stances of new volcanos breaking out in the neighbourhood of old 
ones: Carguayraso, just mentioned, may supply us with one ex- 
ample to this purpose ; atid in the night of the 28th of October 


* [t does not appear altogether certain, from the expression made use 
of in the French translation (from whence I have taken this), that Car- 
guayraso might not have been a volcano in former times, which is asserted 
to have been the case by Mous. Coudamine. It is possible also, that the 
satne may be true of those four mentioned in the next article; arid, indeed, 
it is difficuit to know it io be otherwise, in any instance, among the Andes, 
where. the volcanos are generally found at inaccessible heights. But al- 
lowing that all these were only old volcanos, which broke out afresh, yet 
they will serve at least to swell the number of them in the same neighbour- 
hood, as well as to show us, that there may, very probably, be many more, 
wSich lie hid: for these showed no marks of their existence, till, by their 
eruption, they melted a vast quantity of snow, with which they were be- 
fore covered, and which, being reduced to water, did great damage, by 
overflowing the country round about, ; inet 

1746, 


ee ee Se eee 


= 


ee 


~ 


Experiments on Muriatic Acid Gas. 195 


1746, in which Lima and Callao were destroyed, no: less than 


four new ones burst forth in the adjacent mountains*. 

36. To the same purpose, we may allege the instances of many 
volcanos lying together in the same tract of country: as for ex- 
ample, the many places, “not so few as forty,” ‘amongst the 
Azores, whieh either do now or have formerly sent forth smoke 
and flames; the many volcanos also amongst the Andes, already 
inentioned: thus fitna, Strombolo, and Vesuvius: I may add 
Solfatara too, are all in the same neighbourhood: and Mons. Con- 
damine says, he has traced lavas+, exactly like those of Vesuvius, 
all the way from.Florence to Naples. In Iceland t also, we have, 
besides Hzecla, not only several other voleanos, but also a great 
number of places, that send up sulphureous vapours. But the 
examples of this kind are so frequent, that there are few instances 
to be produced of single volcanos, without evident marks, either 
that there have been others formerly in their neighbourhood, or 
that there are, at present, subterraneous fires near them. 

[To be continued. | 


XXIX. Experiments on Muriatic Acid Gas, with Observations 
on its Chemical Constitution, and on some other Subjects of 
Chemical Theory. By Joun Murray, M.D. F.&.S. E. 
Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. 


[Continued from p. 112.] 


Awortner form of experiment occurred to me still more direct and 


simple, that of transmitting muriatic acid in its gaseous forin ever 
ignited metals. If water be obtained in this experiment, it is a 
result which would prove subversive ef the new doctrine; for 
muriatic acid gas is held to be the real acid, free from water, 
and the only change which can happen, is that of the metal de- 
composing the acid attracting its chlorine and liberating its hy- 
drogen. And the experiment is further free from the only re- 


source which remained to the advocates of that doctrine, in the 


ease of water being obtained from muriate of ammonia, that it 
might be derived from the decomposition of the elements of am- 
monia, regarding it as an alkali containing oxygen. If water 
were really obtained from the combination of miuriatic acid and 
ainmoniacal gases, it would rather indicate, it was said, the de- 


* See d'Ulloa’s Voyage to Peru, part ii. book i. chap. 7. 

+ See Phil. Trans. vol. xlix. p.624. | All these lavas, as well as the vol- 
anos just mentioned, lie in a continued line. The same thing holds good 
in the volcanos of the Andes also. This is a fact I must desire the reader 
to attend to, as it serves to confirm a very material doctrine, which [shall 
have occasion to mention hereafter. See art. 44, 45, and 46. 

1 See Horrebow’s Natural History of Iceland. 

N2 composition 


196 Experiments on Muriatic Acid Gas, 


composition of nitrogen than the existence of water as a consti- 
tuent of muriatic acid. No weight, I believe, is due to such an 
assumption; but if any importance were attached to it, it is pre- 
eluded if water is obtained from the action of metals on muriatic 
acid gas. ’ 

I have executed the experiment in several forms; and in all 
with a more or less satisfactory result. 

One hundred grains of iron filings, clean and dry, were strewed 
for a length of five or six inches, in a glass tube which was placed 
in an iron case, across a small furnace, so as to admit of being 
raised toa red heat. This tube, of about two feet in length, 
was connected with a wide tube eight inches long, containing 
dry and warm muriate of lime ; and this was further connected, 
at its other extremity, with a retort affording muriatic acid gas, 
from a mixture of supersulphate cf potash and muriate of soda. 
The open extremity of the long tube, dipped by a slight curva- 
ture in quicksilver. On the iron being raised to ignition, and 
the transmission of the acid gas being conducted slowly, elastic 
fluid escaped from the extremity of the tube, which was found 
to be hydrogen; and though no trace of moisture appeared in the 
anterior part of the tube, it immediately condensed in that part 
which was cold, beyond the izon filings. This accumulated in glo- 
bules, and at length ran into a small portion in the bottom; the 
sidés were bedewed for a length of six inches, and a thin film of 
moisture appeared beyoud, nearly its whole length. 

By the muriatie acid gas being extricated in the preceding 
experiment from nearly dry materials, and by its previous trans- 
mission over an extensive surface of loose muriate of lime, it was 
inferred, that it would be free from hygrometrie vapour; and 
that it held no moisture, was apparent from no trace of it ap- 
pearing in the anterior portion of the tube. To obviate, how- 
ever, entirely, any supposed fallacy from this source, the experi- 
ment was performed in the following manner. One hundred’ 
grains of clean and perfectly dry iron filings were put into a long 
glass tube, which was placed, as before, across a small furnace. 
Muriatic acid gas had been kept in contact with dry muriate of 
lime for three days, in a jar with a stopcock adapted to it. This 
was connected, by a short tube with a caontchouc collar, with 
the tube containing the iron filings and a little of the muriatic 
acid gas being passed through the tube to expel the air, the tem- 
perature was raised to ignition. The slow transmission of the gas 
was continued by the pressure of the mercury in the quicksilver 
trough, and fresh quantities, which had been equally with the 
other exposed to muriate of lime, were added, as was necessary. 
Water almost immediately appeared in the tube beyond the iron 
filings, it collected in spherules, and continued to accumulate : 

: the. 


with Observations on its Chemical Constitution. 197 


the gas continued to be tr ansmitted for a length of about seven 
inches. A portion of the gas which escaped from the extremity 
was clouded, and deposited a film of moisture on the sides oi the 
jar in which it was received over quicksilver. The quantity of 
gas transmitted amounted to about thirty-five cubic inches, 

There are some difficulties in conducting the experiment in 
the manner now described, from the consol’dation of the metal- 
lic matter, and the volatilization of the product. It was also of 
some importance to vary the experiment. I therefore performed 
it in another mode. Metals scarcely act on muriatic acid gas 
at natural temperatures; but from such a degree of heat as could 
be applied by a small lamp, both iron and zine were acted on ; 
the gas suffered diminution of volume, hydrogen was formed, 
and a sensible production of moisture took place. The simplest 
mode of exhibiting this, is to introduce iron or zine filings, pre- 
viously dry, and warm, into a retort fitted with a stopcock ; ex- 
hausting it; then admitting dry muriatic acid gas ; and apply- 
ing heat, by a small lamp, to the filings in the under part of the 
body of ‘the retort. Moisture soon appears at its curvature in 
sinall globules, and increases on successive applications of the 
heat with the admission of the requisite quantities of gas. 

To conduct the experiment, however, on a larger scale, I em- 
ployed a different apparatus. A tubulated retort, of the capacity 
of twenty-five cubie inches, was connected with a jar, containing . 
muriatic acid gas in contact with muriate of lime, on the shelf of 
the mercurial trough, by a tube bent twice at right angles, and 
fitted by its Sumior leg with a collar of caoutchouc to a stop- 
cock at the top of the jar, its longer leg passing into the tubu- 
lature of the retort, so as to terminate within an inch of its bot- 
tom, and the joinings being rendered air-tight. The retort is 
so placed, that heat can be applied by a lamp to the bottom, 
and its neck dips, by a short curved tube, under a jar filled with 
quicksilver, which, by the reverted position of the retort, may be 
placed beside the other, on the shelf of the trough. At the com- 
mencement of the experiment, the metallic filings, previously dry 
and warm, having been put into the retort, the atmospheric air is. 
expelled by a moderate heat, and sinall portions of the muriatic 
acid gas are admitted, until the retort is filled with the pure gas. 
The stopcock is then closed, and heat is applied by a lamp to 
the bottom of the retort, under a considerable pressure of mer- 
cury; any small portion ‘of gas, expelled at the extremity, being 
received in the small jar. The heat can thus be successively, 
cautiously applied, and this, as the experiment proceeds, to a, 
greater extent, in consequence of the diminution of volume that 

takes place. Fresh quantities of muriatic acid gas are admitted 


from time to time from the jar; and the stopcock being closed 
N3 when 


19S Experiments on Muriatic Acid Gas, 


when the heat is applied, the hydrogen gas produced is expelled, 
with any muriatic acid gas not ‘acted on. 

In the principal experiment I employed, zine filings were used 
in preference to iron, from the consideration, that muriate of 
zinc is less volatile than muriate of iron, and therefore would ad- 
mit of a higher heat being applied to expel «ny water. One 
hundred grains of clean and dry zing filings were introduced, 
while warm, into the retort; the air was expelled, and muriatie 
acid gas was admitted liter the jar. Ou applying heat to the 
zinc, the retort, which was before perfectly dry, was bedimmed 
with moisture at its curvature, and small spherules collected at 
the top of the neck. ‘These inereased in size, and extended 
further as the experiment advanced. After a certain time, part 
of this disappeared in the interval of cooling, being absorbed by 
the deliquescent product ; but when the heat was again applied, 
it was renewed, and this in increased quantity, until at length, 
at the end of four days, during which heat had been frequently 
applied, the whole tube ‘ofthe retort, seven inches in length, was 
studded with small globules of fluid. When the heat had been 
raised high, a beautiful arborescent crystallization appeared in a 
thin film on the body of the retort, but no part of this reached 
the neck. ‘The retort was now detached; the gas it contained 
was withdrawn by a caoutchoue bottle; a small receiver was 
adapted ; and a slight heat having been applied, to expel a little 
of the air, the joining was made close by cement. The receiver 
was surrounded with a freezing mixture, and heat was applied 
by a choffer to the retort, as far as could be done without raising 
dense vapours. Globules of liquid, perfectly limpid, collected 
pretty copiously towards the middle and lower part of the neck, 
and the receiver, on being removed from the freezing mixture, 
was covered internally with a film of moisture. “The glo- 
bules in the neck of the retort were absorbed by a slip of bibu- 
lous paper, and the quantity was found to amount to 1-2 gr. 
The receiver being dried carefully, and weighed, lost by the dis- 
sipation of the moisture within, 0-4 grain. Distilled water, in 
whieh the bibulous paper was penecbadly was quite acid; it gave 
no sensible turbidness on the addition of ammonia, or of carbo- 
nate of soda, and held dissolved, therefore, merely pure muria- 
tic acid. The mass in the retort was of a gray colour, with 
mnetallic lustre, in loosely aggregated lamine, somewhat flexible. 
It weighed 114°8 grains, “Adding to this inerease of weight, 
which the zine had gained, the weight of the water and the hy- 
drogen gas expelled, it gives a consumption of muriatic acid gas 
of about 16°S grains, equivalent to about 43 cubic inches. Sup- 
posing the weight of water to be doubled, or nearly so, by sa- 


turation with muriatie acid, this gives che: product “of water in 
the 


: 
& 
> 
3 


with Observations on its Chemical Constiiution. 199 


the experiment, as equal to nearly one grain; or about one- 
fifth of the whole quantity of combined water, which muriati¢ 
acid gas is calculated to contain*. 

In all the preceding experiments, water has eek procured 
from muriatic acid gas. It is obvious, that such a result cannot 
be accounted for on the hypothesis, that it is the real acid free 
from water, a compound merely of chlorine and hydrogen. On 
the opposite doctrine, as muriatic acid in its gaseous form is held 
to contain water, it may be supposed to afford a portion of it, 

It may be maintained, however, in this, as it was in the ex- 


periment of obtaining water from the muriate of ammonia by 


heat, that the water produced is derived from hygrometric va+ 
pour in the gas. To obviate this, it is sufficient to recur to the 
fact established by the experiments of Henry and Gay Lussac, 
that muriatic acid gas contains no hygrometric vapour ; and to 
the obvious result in the experiment, that no quantity that can 
be assumed, would be adequate to account for the quantity ac- 
tually obtained. ‘The circumstances of the experiment, too, are 
such as to preclude any such supposition; and this more pecu- 
liarly so, than in the experiment of obtaining water from the 
muriate of ammonia by heat; for, in the present case, the acid 
is alone employed, while in the other there is an additional equal 
volume of ammoniacal gas, which may be supposed to afford a 
double quantity of hygrometric vapour. In the latter, both the 
gases are condensed into a solid product, aud any hygrometri¢ 
vapour may be supposed to be liberated; but in the present ex- 
periment, there remains the hydrogen gas, capable of containing 


hygrometric vapour, while the muriatic acid gas contains none ; 


* The action of the metals on the muriatic acid gas taking place in the 
above experiments at a heat comparatively moderate, it occurred to me, 
that they might exert a similar action with no higher heat on the acid, in 
muriate of ammonia, and that this might afford an easy mode of exhibiting 
the results. I accordingiy found, that on mixing different metals with sal 

ammoniac i0 powder, previously exposed toa subliming heat, and exposing 
the mixtare to heat by a lamp, so regulated as to be short of volatilization, 
the salt was decomposed, ammon jacal gas was expelled, and moisture con- 
densed in the neck of the retort; covering a space of several inches with 
small globules, and at length running down. ‘Ihe metals I employed were 


‘iron, zine, tin, and lead ; 100, 150, or 200 grains of each metal, dry, and 


warm, being mised with 100 grains of the salt, likewise newly heated. To 
obviate any fallacy from common sal ammonizce being employed, [repeated 
the experiment with the salt formed from the combination of its two con- 
stituent gases, and obtained the same result. But although this affords an 
easy mode of exhibiting the production of water, it is not favourable to 
obtaining a perfect result, the heated ammoniacal gas carrying off a con- 
siderable portion of the water deposited; and accordingly, the quantity, 
instead of increasing as the experiment proceeds, at length diminishes, and 
the ammoniacal gas deposits a portion of water in passing through mer- 
cury, or in being conveyed through a cold tube. 


and 


200 | Experiments on Muriatic Acid Gas, + 


and the ay of- it thus transmitted over the humid surface, 
and expelled from the apparatus, must have earried off more va- 
pour than the other, introduced at a lower temperature, could 
have conveyed. ‘These circumstances, independent of the quan- 
tity of water deposited, precluded the supposition of any deposi- _ 
tion from the condensation of hygrometric vapour. And there 
is no-other external source whence it. can be derived. In this 
respect nothing can be more satisfactory than the experiment 
with the zinc in the apparatus described. ‘The muriatie acid gas 
rises from dry mercury in contact. with muriate of lime, passes 
through a narrow bent tube, thirty inches in length, without 
exhibiting t he slightest film of moisture, is received into the re- 
tort perfectly dry; and when the action of the metal on it is ex- 
cited by heat, humidity immediately becomes apparent in the 
curvature of the retort, and this even while the gas is warm, and 
of course gapable of containing more water dissolved, than it 
could do in its former state; and the quantity increases as the 
experiment proceeds. No arrangement can be supposed better 
adapted to prove, that: any deposition of water must be by sepa- 
ration from its existence in the gas in a combined state. 
But though I consider this conclusion as established, there is 
a considerable difficulty attending the theary of the experiment. 
The result of water being obtained is actually different from what 
is to be looked for, on the doctrine of muriatic acid gas contain- 
ing combined water; and even when the fact is established, the 
theory of it is not easily assigned. On that doctrine, it must be 
held that in the action of metals on muriatic acid gas, the metal 
attracts oxygen fromthe water, the corresponding hydrogen is 
evolved, and the oxide formed combines with the real acid. No 
water, therefore, ought to he deposited, for none is abstracted 
from the acid, but what is spent in the oxidation of the metal. 
This will be apparent, by attending to the proportions in a sine 
gle example, from the scale of chemical equivalents: 100 grains 
of iron combine with 29 of oxygen, and in this state of oxidation 
unite with 99 of real muriatic acid. This quantity of acid exists 
in 131-8 of muriatic acid gas, combined with 32:8 of water; 
and this portion of water contains 29 of oxygen with 3:8 of hy- 
drogen. There is present, therefore, exactly the quantity of 
oxygen which the metal req inires to combine with the acid: and 
no water remains above this, Or it may be illustrated under 
another point of view. Muriatic acid gas is composed. of oxy- 
muriatic gas and hydrogen. — A metal acting on it must attract . 
the oxymuriatic acid, —that i is, the muriatic acid and oxygen,— 
and liberate the hydrogen. No water, therefore, aught to ap- 
pear, more, on this theory, than on the other ; but the real pro- 
ducts in both must be a dry muriate, or chloride, and hydrogen 
gas, 


with Observations on its Chemical Constitution. 261, 


_ gas. -In the action of ignited metals cn muriate of ammonia, it 
is equally evident, on the same principle, that no water ought te 
be obtained. How, then, is the production of water to be ae- 
counted for? - 

Though the water obtained in these experiments cannot be de- 
rived from hygrometric vapour in the gas, there is another view 
under which it may be regarded as present, as an adventitious 
ingredient. The acid having a strong attraction to water, may 
be supposed, in the processes in which it is usually prepared, te 
retain a portion not strictly essential to its constitution as muri- 
atic acid gas, but still chemically combined,-—that is, combined 
with it with such an attraction as to be liberated only when it 
passes into other combinations, and it may be this portion which 
is obtained in the action of metals on the gas; the other portion, 
that essential to the acid, being sufficient to produce the requi- 
site oxidation of the metal. 

The question with regard to the existence of water in this 
state, Gay Lussae and Thenard have already determined. From 
an extensive series of experiments, they found reason to conclude, 
that muriatic acid gas, in whatever mode it is prepared, is uni- 
formly the sdme. From the quantity of hydrogen gas which 
combines with oxymuriatic gas in its formation, it follows, that 
it contains 0:25 of water essential to. its constitution. But the 
gas obtained by the usual processes, afforded, they found, exactly 
0) 25 of water, when transmitted over oxide of lead, or combined 
with oxide of silver; and the same compounds are formed, as 
by the action of oxymuriatic acid on silver and lead in their me- 
tallic state. They prepared muriatic acid gas, by heating fused 
muriate of silver with charcoal moderately calcined. It con- 
tained just the same quantity of water as muriatie acid obtained 
from humid materials, as it afforded the same quantity of hydro- 
gen from the action of potassium. And instead of being eapa- 
ble of receiving the smallest additional portion of water, a single 
drop of water being introduced into three quarts of it, did not 
disappear, nor even diminish, but, on the contrary, increased in 
volume*. These facts eatnisiuls the conclusion, that muriatie 

acid gas can receive no additional portion of water, but that 
which is essential to it, and hence preclude the solution of the 
difficulty under consideration by the opposite assumption. And 
it is to be remarked, that should even such a portion of water 
exist in the gas, it cannot be supposed that the acid should carry 
this with it into its saline combinations, and retain it so, that it 
should not be expelled by heat. It cannot be supposed to exist, 
therefore, in muriate of ammonia thus heated, and of course can+ 


* Recherches Physico-chimiques, L. ii, p. 133. 
nat 


202 — Experiments on Muriatic Acid Gas, 


not account for the water obtained by the action of the metals - 


on this salt, 
When it is proved, that no extrinsic water exists in muriatie 
acid gas, there remain apparently only two modes on which the 


production of water can be explained,—either, that the metal — 
may require Jess oxygen than is supposed in combining with the . 


acid, so that a portion of water will remain undecomposed, to 
be deposited; or, that the oxide attracts more real acid, so as 
to liberate a larger proportion of water. ‘The first of these sup- 
positions is improbable, from the consideration of the law which 
regulates the combination of metallic oxides with acids,—that 
the quantity of acid is proportional to the quantity of oxygen, so 
that if an oxide were formed in these cases, at a lower degree 
of oxidation, it would only combine with a proportionally smaller 
quantity of acid, and the quantity of water detached from the 
combination would be the same. 

No improbability is attached to the second supposition ; and 
it has even some support from the consideration, that many me- 
tallic saline compounds form with an excess of acid, and that 
it is difficult, with regard to a number of them, to procure them 
neutral. Metailic muriates, with excess of acid, seem in parti- 
cular to be established with facility. And although an excess of 
metal be present in the action exerted on muriatic acid gas, this 
may not prevent the formation of a super-muriate, more espe- 
cially as the excess is in the metallic form, and exerts no direct 
action, therefore, on the real acid. 

To ascertain if a super-muriate were formed in these cases, 
the product obtained from the action of the muriatic acid on the 
metal was raised to a heat as high as could be applied without 
volatilization, so that no loosely adhering acid might remain, and 
the air in the retort was repeatedly drawn out by a caoutchoue 
bottle. The solution from the residue both of iron and zine was 
very sensibly acid. Some fallacy however attends this, from the 
circumstance, that the liquid state is necessary to admit of the 
indieations of acidity, and in adding water to produce this, a 
ehange occurs in the state of combination, in.a number of the 
metallic muriates ; a super-muriate being formed, which remains 
in solution, and a sub-muriate being precipitated, so that the 
acidity of the entire compound cannot justly be inferred from 
that of the solution. I found, accordingly, that on adding wa- 
ter to the product from the action of the acid gas on zinc, this 
change occurs; a little of a white precipitate being thrown 
down, while the liquor remained acid. But. the fallacy can be 
obviated, by adding only as much water as produces fluidity, 
without subverting the combination. Portions, therefore, of the 
residue were exposed to a humid atmosphere, until, by deliques- 

cence, 


: 
> 


— > >" 


with Observations on its Chemical Constitution. 202 


eence, liquors were formed transparent, without any precipita- 


tion ; and these were strongly acid, reddening litmus paper when 
‘it was perfectly dry and warm. I further found, that the pro- 
duct of the solution of zine in liquid muriatic “acid, when di- 
gested with an excess of metal, and evaporated to dry ness, af» 
forded by deliquescence a liquor sensibly acid. And in both 
eases, even when the solid product was retained liquid by heat, 
acidity was indicated by litmus paper. Lastly, what is still less 
liable to objectiou, the residue in the experiment of heating the 
muriate of ammonia with the different metals, afforded similar 
indications of acidity. 

These results appear to establish the production of a super- 
muriate in the action of these metals on the acid, and this ac- 
counts for the appearance of a portion of water, since, supposing 


“water to exist in muriatic acid gas, the quantity combined with 


that proportion of acid which would. establish a neutral com- 
pound, is the quantity required to oxidate the metal to form that 
compound ; and if any additional portion of acid enter into union, 
the water of this must be liberated, or be at least capable of bes 
ing expelled. 

It was of importance, in relation to this question, to ascertain 
the quantity of hydrogen obtained from a given quantity of mu- 
riatic acid gas; for, if the whole water essential to the acid is 
decomposed by the action of the metal, half the volume of hy- 
drogen ought to be obtained,—muriatic ‘acid gas being composed 
of equal volumes of oxymuriatic gas and hydrogen gas. I made 
this repeatedly the subject of experiment, by heating zine and 
iron in muriatic acid gas. There are difficulties in determining 
the proportion with perfect precision; but the quantity of hy- 
drogen always appeared to be less than the half;*and on an 
average, about twelve measures were obtained, when thirty mea- 
sures of the other had been consumed, a result conformable to 
the liberation of a portion of the combined water of the gas. 

Whether the production of water in these experiments is sa- 
tisfactorily accounted for, on the cause now assigned, may be 
subject of further investiga'ion. In the sequel, I shall have to 
notice another principle, on which perhaps it may fall to be ex- 
plained. Whether accounted for or not, it is obvious, that the 
fact itself is not invalidated by the thedretical difficulty; and 
also, that in relation to the argument with regard to the nature 
of muriatic and oxymuriatic acids, it remains equally conclusive. 

In the doctrine of the undecomposed nature of chlorine, mu- 
riatic acid gas contains neither water nor oxygen, and the metat 
employed certainly contains none. These are the ouly sub- 
stances brought into action, and it is impossible that water should 
be a product of their operation, On the opposite doctrine, 

water 


204 On the Temperature of the Mines in Cornwall. © 


water is held to exist in muriatic acid gas to the amount of one- 
fourth of its weight ; and it is conceivable, that by some exer- 
tion of affinities, a portion of it may be liberated. If we were | 


unable to explain the modus operandi, this would remain a diffi- 
culty no doubt, but not, as in the opposite system, an impossible 
result. 

It is to be admitted, indeed, that in none of these cases is 
the entire quantity of water which must be supposed to exist in 
muriatic acid gas obtained; and so far the proof is deficient. 
But neither from the nature of the experiment is this to be looked 
for; and I give more weight to the argument, from having al- 
ways found certain portions of water to be procured, while, on 
the opposite doctrine, there should be none. In those cases 
where, supposing water to be present in muriatie acid gas, it 
ought to be obtained in the full quantity, it uniformly is so, 
though the proof from these is rendered ambiguous by the result 
being capable of being explained on a different hypothesis. 

. [To be continued. ] 


ooo. 


XXX. On the Temperature of the Mines in Cornwall. By 
Mr. Tuomas LEan, 


7 To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — I was requested in the year 1815, by a member of the 
Cornwall Geological Society, to make some observations on the 
temperature of the air in the mine of Wheal Abraham, in the 
parish of Crowan, in this county. This mine is opened to the 
depth of 200 fathoms from the surface, and produces a consider- 
able quantity of copper ore ;—the vein in which the copper ore 
(sulphuret of copper) is found, contains (sometimes) a small _ 
quantity of tin ore, zinc ore, lead ore, and iron ore ;—and ge- 
nerally a considerable portion of mundie. ‘The metallic ores are- 
imbedded in quartz and feltspar. The first observations which 
I made was on the 9th of June; and were made in a shaft in 
which a current of air is generally ascending through the mine.: 
The thermometer /Fahrenheit’s) when exposed for some time to 
the sun stood at 74°, and in the shade at 59°; and in the mine 
at different depths from the surface as mentioned below ; viz. 
At 3 fathoms the thermometer stood at 65° 
20 ws ee aie eh 644 
50 via sis a is 67 
80 oe °° °° ee 68 
100 ok as ee ee 654 
120 ar ve ‘* on 69 
140 . x Pa eg 62} 


r ve ‘On the Temperature of the Mines in Cornwall, . 203 


At 160 fathoms the thermometer stood at 70° 
*. 180 
190 

at that period the bottom of the mine. 
__ At the several stations (or levels) where.I placed the thermo- 
meter to settle, a stream of water comes through the vein (lode) 
and is conveyed to the engines; and on.immersing the ther- 


e 


' 


110 
120 
140 
160 
180 
190 


do. 
do. 
do. 
do. 


do. 


do. 
do. 


ee ee ee 73 
6 ae 79; which was 


mometer in it, I found the temperature to be as follows; viz. 
At 100 fathoms GS° in the cistern at the engine shaft, where 


the water from this level is mingled with 
the water from the bottom of the mine. 
64 in the stream issuing through the level. 
65 do. 
68 do. [per ore. 
73} do, issuing through a vein, rich in cop- 
74° do. do, 
74 = do. 
74 = do. 


I next proceeded to ascertain the temperature in those parts 
of the miue where the labourers were at work; and which is at 
a distance of 15 to 30 fathoms from any cur rent of air or of any 


100 
110 
120 
: 130 
: 140 
150 
160 
170 
180 


do. 
do. 
do. 
do. 
do. 
do. 
do. 
do. 
do. 


~ of the working shafts, and obtained the following indications: 
At 90 fathoms 74° the vein dry, but rich in ore. 


70 do. but poor, 

72 do. do. 

734 do. do. 

742 do. do. [not rich. 
7& do. containing ore in the vein, buf 
78 do. but poor, [other ores, 
80 do, the vein rich in copper, and 
784 do. but poor, 


78 a considerable quantity of water dropping 


_ from the roof of the working, and issuing from other parts of 
the vein which is rich in copper ores. 

~ On the 13th of December 1815 I repeated my experiments, 
and the results were as under ; viz. 


At the surface in the open air 50° 
3 fathoms under the surface 52° 


20 


do. Se se 57 


do. Fi 61 

do. Se ae 63 

do. os Ce 63} 

(lo. es ia 64 

do. oe Si 66 ? 
do. 7 ae 68—wwater 64° 

do. ; . 70 yf 


At 


206 4 Poyage to theCoast of Labrador and Cualiee with Remarks i 


At 130 fathoms under the surface 714° 

140 do. es we 72—water 72? 

150 do, oe sore 44 

160" sdax 7 shi ee 70 

170 do. ee oi 71 

180 do. os ee 74 

190 do. oe oe 74 +, 3) 8 
200 do. ‘ 78; which was the 

highest temperature of the water at this: time. 

Should any of your correspondents account for the increase of 
the temperature in the Cornish mines, or communicate any ob- 
servations of their own made in other parts of the kingdom, it 
would give considerable pleasure to many of your readers ; and 
if you consider these worth notice, it is my intention to com- 
municate, occasionally, observations which I may have an oppor- 
tunity of making in other parts of this county. 

I remain, sir, 
Your most obedient. servant, 
Crowan (Cornwall), Sept. 11, 1818. Drow LEAN. 


—— 


XXXI. Account of a Voyage to the Coast of Labrador and 
Quebec, including Remarks on the comparative Temperature 
of the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. By Joun Ha- 
METT, M.D. Communicated in a Letter to Dr. Puarson. 


' H. M.S. Prevayante, Channel, Auy.21, 1817. 
My DEAR sir, —Ow the 27th of March, at 2 P.M. we set sail 
from the Sound, 


fF to distant climes, a dreary scene, 


Where half the convex world intrudes between,’ 
We got down Channel, and far into the sluggish Atlantic with 
light and pleasant breezes. Between the 2d and 14th of April 
the temperature was between 56 and 67, while the wind, which 
was generally from the eastward, just served to fan the blood. 
The t temperature as we now proceeded to the westward became 
daily dimin'shed, until the 22d, when at'8 P.M. in long. 55° 38° 
and lat. 46° 18” the mercury was down to 22. At this hour 
the north wind ejected with the greatest violence the thickest 
hail; indeed no face could possibly. withstand this assault of the 
weather, On Sunday the 20th, atabout 6 P.M. in long. 53° 3S 
and Jat. 45° 34’ we fell in with an enormous mass of ice, about as 
high as one of our top-mast heads; also with an extensive field 
of it, to which were attached five vessels fishing for seals. Early 
in the forenoon of Friday the 25th, we got into a nuinb«r of large 
detached sheets of ity and-alout 2 A.M. of the ensuing dav, it 
blowving a strong gale from the E,.by $.,-the ship was inclosed 
in 


on the Temperature of the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.207 


in an immense broken area, which with a very heavy swell on, 
_ made her sides creak dreadfully. However, we providentially 
_ escaped from this imminent danger with trifling damage to her. 
_ We entered the gulf early in the forenoon of Monday the 28th, 
and at 7" 30™ P.M. of the 29th proceeded into an immense 
expanse of ice, consisting at the entrance of detached spongy 
pieces; but about 9° 30" her motion was altogether impeded ; 
and in the morning we found that she was completely locked up 
' by it, extending to the west and north as far as the eye could 
reach, while the part of Newfoundland in view called up terrific 
ideas of desolation and hunger. About 10° 30" A.M. of Friday 
the 16th May, after a number of zigzag motions, effected 
means of small anchors that had been grappled in the ice for the 
purpose, we got clear, leaving to the south an immense field. 
‘This, as 1 was informed, principally drifts from the river St. 
Laurence, or gets into the gulf, and becomes increased there 
by the remainder of immerse masses from Hudson’s Bay, &e. 
_ which are borne round Newfoundland, and impelled in the re~ 
spective directions of the winds or ‘currents. That in which the 
_Prevoyante was, continued to drift through the Straits of Bell- 
isle. 

This ice business was scarcely over, when we had to encounter 
others of a more alarming nature: for on the 23d of May, about 
7 P.M. the ship grounded on, or literally ploughed the Traverse, 
a zigzag rocky shoal about sixty miles down from Quebec, eight 
or nine miles in length, and extending right across, witb. the ex- 
ception of a very narrow channel of a moderate depth, and which 
is commonly missed in consequence of only a solitary buoy being 
attached to it; while, on the other hand, the great distance of 
land on either side, the consequent deficiency of proper obiects, 

nd the ignorance of the pilots, who are only guided by the lead, 
{a method which, ina river of so great a flow and ebb, is not only 
uncertain, but for the most part fallacious,) naturally preclude 
the infallible or scientific resource of angular positions; or, to'use 
a nautical phrase, cross-bearings. We luckily got clear here 
_ with (as we afterwards learned) the loss only of her false keel. 
More vessels are, I believe, on an average, wrecked, and con- 
_ sequently more souls (in this respect) perish, in these parts than 
in any other quarter of the globe, Of the continual dense fogs 
and mists on the banks which contribute greatly to this, 1 shail 
say a little, after making a few preliminary remar ks. 
‘In summer and in autumn, we commonly find, that in pro- 
portion as a ship in sailing to Halifax, Newfoundland, or Quebee, 
recedes from the shores of England, or proceeds westward to cer- 
tain longitudes, the winds from the southward and southern east- 
ward become less heating, or more refreshing ; a likewise in 
%, Winter 


d 
7 
5 
e 


298 A Voyage to the Coast of Labrador and Queléc, with Remarks. 


winter or in spring, we particularly find, that in proportion as she 
proceeds westward to certain meridians on this side the banks, 
the cold winds from the north, the eastward, northern eastward, 

or northern westward, become ‘less piercing, and the temperature 
accordingly more congenial to the feelings; and that in pro- 
ceeding further westward from these, the temperature gradually 
decreases, and the winds, from whatever point of the compass 
they rea become colder. and colder, until the sensations in- 

duced by the biting blasts indicate the proximity of lands im- 
pregnated with frost or covered with snow, or the contiguity of 
islands or mountains of ice in winter, or ws fields or islands of it 
m spring, that are impelled in the respective directions of the 
winds or currents; these (as I stated before) are the remain- 
ders of immense islands or mountains of. it from Hudson’s Bay, 
&e. driven to the southward, and borne round Newfoundland, 
or those fields that have drifted through the gulf, and become in- 
ereased there out of the river St. Laurence, on the breaking up 
or partial solution of the ice. 

The early or protracted congealment in winter of those vast 
sheets of water the lakes of Canada, and the speedy or late 
solution of the ice in spring, naturally implies great irregu- 
larity of temperature in those parts of America. This irregu- 
larity of congealment, or solution, particularly extends to the 
river St. lodardnce soe Gulf, and has a corresponding influence 
on the temperature of the adjacent coast and Newfoundland, 
‘independent of that arising from those immense masses occa- 
sionally from the northward. Sometimes the river St. Laurence 
is frozen up in Noveniber ; sometimes: not until December or 
January; and sometimes it is but partially and thinly congealed. 
On the other hand, the solution of the ice takes place sometimes 
in March, and oftentimes not until the end of April, or begin- 
ning of May. The river was crossed over on foot at Quebec so 
late as the 4th of May last ; yet the Baltic was open the whole 
of the preceding winter. It is therefore obvious, that an early or 
protracted solution of the ice is not always the consequence of 
an early or protracted congealment of it; it is often vice versd. 
-From the slowness and protraction of the infusion of the matter 
of heat into the icy waters of the river St. Laurence. it is consi- 
dered highly imprudent to bathe in it previous to midsummer, 

The occasional rise of fogs or mists may, I think, be accounted 
for by some.of those principles laid down elsewhere in my obser- 
vations on the chinate of the Mediterranean; but those con= 
tinual dense fogs or heavy mists peculiar to great banks, and in 
-all probability Ealibected with or dependent on other occult phe- 
nomena, cannot be exclusively referred to those. general laws of 
nature alone. Those parts noticed for different. soundings, or 


as 
, : 


bn the Temperature of the Eastern and Western Hemispheres ¢209 


,as abounding with banks of different depths, are remarkable for 
currents, and fegs or mists. Fogs or mists have been remarked 
“in the Channel for a week together, even in summer. © ‘The North 
Sea, the bottom of which is-composed of sand banks, abounds 
-with currents; and the air commonly teems with fogs and mois- 
ture; while, on the other hand, places in-land, in the same pa- 
tallels of latitude, are remarkable -for the peculiar brightness of 
their northern. sky, glittering constellations, and constant .ap- 
pearance of the aurora borealis, or milky-way. The Dogger- 
-bank is remarkable for its frequent fogs and mists; but the banks 
of Newfoundland are notorious for dense fogs and. heavy mists, in 
every season and in every year. The high temperature of the 
Waters in the powerful current of the gulf of Florida, which 
extends as far as Newfoundland, must produce a degree of. va- 
-pour on meeting with strong contrary.currents of a-low tempera- 
ture; and this must be further increased by a ‘certain degree of 
percussion and revulsion oceasioned by the various immense sand 
banks about it, that naturally agitate the contending currents. 
‘In addition to this, if those operations or changes (so widely dif- 
ferent in their nature, and which I already have noticed to take 
plave,) in the respective extensive boundaries of Newfoundland be 
considered, the gulf of Newfoundland itself; and the banks from 
‘their particular position and peculiar properties, (the natural foeus 
of mutually counteracting influence,) the causes of those fogs and 
Mists may not remain altogether inexplicable. \ I think the bank 
‘fogs and mists rather prevail at the change of the seasons: if 
this be true, variation of temperature, or winds of different qua- 
‘ities, also contribute to their production. That these mists or 
. fogs tend in their turn to produce irregularity of temperature-all 
‘round to a certain extent, may be reasonably inferred. 
_ , In winter, in general, so excessive is the cold at night, and so 
‘cloudless the sky by day, that the presence of even ‘an oblique 
Sun, if consequence of the susceptibility of the system thus in= 
_duced, renders the air, though without relative increase of tem- 
perature, almost congenial to the feelings.~-No one would sup- 
“pose that “ tlie bleak coast of savage Labrador’? reflects in 
summer the most intense heat. ee 
From these natural occurrences it will I- imagine be easily in- 
“ferred, as the thermometer also proves, that the temperature. of 
‘this watery and woody world has its maximum extremes, intense 
“heats and excessive colds; and further, that it greatly varies 
du’ mg either of these intervals or seasons. 
* The great mutability of temperature in this part of America, 
as being so generally admitted, no. one, -1 believe, will attempt 
‘to refute; nor, indeed, its baneful influence, whatever our ac- 
‘quaintance with the extent of it may be among the native inha- 
Vol. 52, No, 245. Sept, 1818, O pbitants, 


210 On Arithmetical Complements. 


bitants. At all events, it is, as far as I can learn, sooner or later 
destructive to Europeans in anywise affected with coughs, colds, 
or hemorrhages from the lungs; and speedily so, to such as are 
at all predisposed to or affected with, tubercles or vomice. Va- 
rious are the calamitous instances that could be adduced, both 
in the navy and army, of the rapid progress and fatal termination 
of this, even amid the prevalence of other disorders peculiar to 
the climate. I have had some cases of pneumonia; and have 
at present one of vomice, which originated in a voyage to Green- 
land about eighteen months ago. I have also in my mind at 
this moment the particular case of a captain of foot, who was 
cut off in the flower of his age, at Montreal, in the winter of 
1815, by this disease, aggravated as it strikingly was by the per- 
nicious influence of the climate. Indeed, the peculiar suscepti- 
bility of the body to be acted upon by the relaxation or particu- 


lar action of the exhalants, from a temperature so varying, is 


SS 


XXXII. On Arithmetical Complements. By Mr. PETER 
NICHOLSON. : 

I HAVE been greatly surprised to find that the use of arithmeti- 
cal complements has been entirely confined to logarithms, and 
that they are treated as if they only resulted from the properties 
of those artificial numbers. But whoever has much practice in 
finding the roots of equations by approximation, or in any other 
way, must have felt the confusion of so many changes of signs 
which require the negative and affirmative numbers to be added 
together separately, and then their differences to be taken: 
whereas, if we were to use not arithmetical complements, but. 
numbers found in a similar manner, we need only add the whole 
together in one compact sum. . 

And thus it may be seen that arithmetical complements are a 
branch of common arithmetic, and not at all peculiar to, though 
very useful in, logarithms, nor their uses entirely confined to lo- 

arithms, but are equally useful in arithmetic and algebra. 

Let —31416 be a negative number : subtract each figure from 
10, and carry unity to the next figure ; set the results in a row 
one after the other, proceeding from the right hand to the left, 
and prefix unity with a negative sign before the first figure. 
This simple operation may be done at sight, without putting the - 
one number under the other, thus, 168584, where only the first 
figure is negative. tik 

This number now found is not the arithmetical complement, 
but equivalent to the number itself: for 168584=—100000 
+68584= —31416, sb 

The 


On Arithmetical Complements. 211 

‘The arithmetical complement of any number is what that number 
wants of another number, which has unity for the left hand figure 
followed by as many ciphers as are digits in the proposed number, 
This is equivalent to the usual definition ; but in my opinion it is 
incorrect, and not congenial to any good principle of explaining 
this kind of practice. Authors usually direct to subtract every 
digit from 9, except the last, which must be subtracted from 10. 
But as to this, the reader may put in practice which method he 
thinks proper. 

As my principal object is only to change such numbers as are 
put in opposition to affirmative numbers, and properly indicated 
by the sign —; and in doing this I only find equivalent numbers, 
each composed of a negative and an affirmative part; thisis there- . 


fore not a complement, it will thus be inconsistent to em- 


ploy the term arithmetical complement ; but as some term must. 
be used in order to be understood, I shall therefore call the one 
number the reciprocal equivalent of the number proposed, as by 
the same operation the one may be converted to the other by 
observing the proper change of the signs. 

I shall here present the reader with a few examples on this 
species of arithmetic. 

ADDITION. 
To add numbers which have different signs together. 


Rule. 

Find the reciprocal equivalents of the negative numbers: then 
add these equivalents and the affirmative numbers into one sum, 
and deduct the negative units that. may be in any column from 
the sum of the column. 

Example. 
Add 7854, 31416, —734, 65321, —2965. 
Common Method. 


7854 7854 
31416 734 381416 
65321 2965 1266 
104591 3699 65321 
. : 17035 
ae 104591 prema 
3699 ! 100892 
100892 
SUBTRACTION. 


Add the reciprocal equivalent of the number to be taken away — 
to the number which is required to be reduced, and the suin is 
the remainder. 

Examples are unnecessary. 

MULTI- 


212 On. Arillmetical Complements. ~ 


. 
' MULTIPLICATION. 


. Supposing the multiplier an abstract number, multiply thé 
affirmative part of the proposed number by the multiplier, and 
only set down as many of the right figures as are in the number 
to be multiplied; then deduct the number formed by the re~ 
maining figures on the left from the product of the negative part 
of the wiven number by the multiplier ;_ prefix this difference with 
a negative sign ever it before the affirmative part, and we have 
the product required. 


3 Examples. 


_ (1) 2) “i hy 
15632 2734 589367 
hatred ee uD ALS, 
40688 TIS72. —«..: 2925569 


The reason is obvious, for 9x 15632=9 x —1000049 x5632. 


’ Now here any one of these products may be made to contain 
only a single negative unit in the-first place of figures; by sub- 
tracting each of the negative digits from 10, as im the prepara- 
tory rule. , ge 2 ve 
_ Thus in the first example the product 40688= 160688" for 
160000 =— 100000 + 60060 = —40000. 


Again,-11872= 189872 ;: also 2925569 = 17125569. 


DIVISION, . : 
“ {f the negative part is divisible by the divisor, wyite the quo- 
tient below, and place the negative sign over it: But if not di- 
visible ‘by the divisor, increase it till it becomes divisible; then 
whatever number was added to the negative part, in order to 
make it divisible, we must add an equal number to the affimative 
part and divide hy the divisor, and set down the quotient after 
the negative part. 


Examples. 

PRS C2) pat? (3) 
‘487832 5);8540 767988 
- 21958 27708 12569 


The reason of this operation is obvious, since the number tov 
be divided consists of an affirmative and a negative part; there- 
fore by increasing each equally, viz. the negative by a negative, 
and the affirmative by an affirmative, thé difference is still the 
same. Thus in example.Second, the number to be divided is 
73540=—70000 +8540; then if to the first ofthese last num- 
bers. weadd —30000; and:to the second we add 30000, we shat 


have — 100000 and 38540, which are together equal to 78540. 
reset 3 bia XXXII, Com- 


[ 213] 


XXXII. Comparative Trials of the respective Merits of” 
“ MassEy’s Patent Sounding Machine,” and one known by 


the Name of Goutp and Burt’s Buoy and Knipper. Com- 
municated in a Letter from Mr. Enwarp Massey. ; 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — To lessen the chances of misfortune in any place, is an 
object of consideration with the humane; but to add to the se- 
curity of vessels in their passage through the ocean, is worthy of, 
the attention, not only of the merchant, but of the statesman. 
and the philosopher. It is needless to suggest when ships are 
in a rough and tempestuous sea, and in-a dark night, making. 
perhaps ten knots an hour, and sailing in the company of a fleet, 
how desirable it is to all commanders to obtain soundings which 
may be depended upon as accurate, and which may be resorted. 
to constantly without bringing the ship to, or retarding her way. , 

My sounding machine has been adopted by the navy for ten 
years, and daring that period upwards of seventeen hundred of 
them have been in actual use; and reports of their accuracy, 
from skilful and experienced naval officers » may be referred to as. 
undoubted testimonials of their merit. 

When I find, however, that within the last four years a ma-. 
«chine has been ‘proposed for the adoption of the navy, which is, 
fallacious in its principle, and in its consequences must be de- 
structive to many ships and many crews; where forced recom-, 
mendation may be substituted for the test of experience, and 
where the opinion of interest may delude the accuracy of inven- 
tion; J feel myself summoned by the voice of truth, injustice to 
my own interests, and those of mankind, to stase the result of a 
public trial, respecting the comparative merits of these two ma- 
chines. ( 

The following Notice was sent to the Lords of the *Admicalty, 
the Commissioners of the Navy, the Board of Longitude, the 
Trinity House, and to the Companies i in the metropolis connected 
with shipping and navigation; and it was inserted at the same 
time in the daily newspapers called The Public Ledger; The 
New Times, and The Morning Post. 

“To Navicarors. — Edward Massey, the inventor of the 
Patent Sounding Maehine, which has been adopted many years 
in the Royal Navy, invites naval officers, ship owners, sea-faring 
men, and every person conneeted with navigation, to witness a 
public trial of the comparative merits of his sounding machine 
and one known by the name of ‘Gould and Burt’s Buoy and 
Knipper,’ to be -made in the river Thames at London Bridge, on 
Thursday the sixteenth instant, at half past two. o’clock in the 
03 afternoon, 


7 


214 On the Modulus of Elasticity of Air, 


afternoon, precisely; where those gentlemen who have used the 
buoy and knipper, and reported in its favour, are particularly 
requested to attend, to witness this trial of their comparative 
accuracy.—11th July 1818.” 

Accordingly on Thursday the 16th instant, in pursuance of this 
advertisement, I proceeded at the time, and to the place ap- 
pointed; and in the company of several naval officers and gentle- 
men of high respectability, resorted to experiments which have 
been duly reported to the Lords of the Admiralty, the Commis- 
sioners of the Navy, and the Board of Longitude. In one ex- 
periment made with the buoy and knipper in three fathoms wa- 
ter, it appeared by the knipper to be four fathoms; and on re- 
peating this experiment in three and a half fathoms, it appeared 
to be sever, the buoy running up the line; so that this instru- 
ment will show a depth of water, in a current, or when a ship is 
under way in a driving sea, so much greater than the real depth, 
as to endanger in the most imminent degree both the ship and 
crew, 

In another instance, when the buoy and knipper were carried 
in a second boat, and the lead dropt with thirty fathoms of line 
across the current, the lead hung in the knipper, and would not 
sink; this experiment was repeated with fifteen fathoms of line 
across the currrent, when the same result took place—the lead 
not sinking. 

In repeating these experiments frequently with my machine, 
fhe real depth was given in every instance, without any varia- 
tion, I am, sir, 

Your obedient servant, 
Coventry, July 20, 1818. Epwarp Massry, 


XXXIV. On the Modulus of Elasticity of Air, and the Velocity 
of Sound. By Mr. Tuomas Trepeotp. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — Wren Sir Isaac Newton investigated the propagation 
of sound, he considered the weight of an uniform atmosphere to 
be equal to the mean elastic force of common air*: and this 
mean elastic force has been considered to be the same as the 
modulus of elasticity of later writers. But the modulus of elas- 
ticity is defined to be a column of the same substance, capable 
of producing a pressure on its base, which is to the weight pro- 
ducing a certain compression, as the length is to the diminution 
of the length. Now this differs materially from the mean elastic. 


bd Principles of Natural Philosophy, props. 47, 48, 49, and 50. book ii, 
. force 


and the Velocity of Sound. 215 


force of Newton; and yet it appears to be the only correct mea- 
sure of the elastic force of bodies. 

Let F be the force producing a compression E in a body 
whose magnitude in its natural state is expressed by unity; then 


Bist inoks ne = the weight of the modulus of elasticity. 


Boyle, Marriotte, and some other experimentalists infer, from 
‘their experiments, that air is compressed into half its natural 
space by the addition of a pressure equal to the weight of the 
‘atmosphere. Let the weight of the atmosphere be equal to thirty 


inches of mercury, of the specific gravity 13-500; then iit = 
ae = 29-3lbs. the weight of the modulus of elasticity for a 
‘base of an inch square. And the weight of 100 cubic inches of 
air being 30°5 grains, the height of the modulus of elasticity of 
air will be 56,038 feet. It is shown by writers on dynamics, that 
the velocity of sound is equal to that acquired by a heavy body 
in falling through half the height of the modulus of elasticity of 
the medium ; consequently it will be nearly equal to the square 
‘root of half the height of the modulus of elasticity multiplied by 
8; and taking the value of the modulus stated above, it gives 
1339 feet per second as the velocity of sound. Otherwise the 


height of an uniform etmosphere, according to Professor Leslie*, 
is 27,800 feet; and = anne = 55,600 feet, the height of the 
modulus of elasticity of air; and, accordingly, the velocity of 
sound would be 1333 feet per second. 

In these calculations the elasticity of the air is supposed to be 
perfect, and that the compression is as the force producing it; 
-neither of which are true of atmospheric air: besides, it always. 
_contains a considerable quantity of vapour, sometimes, according 
to Dr. Thomson, as much as a sixtieth part of its bulk, and it is 
well known that the elasticity of damp air is much inferior to 

that of dry. 

But the chief cause of error appears to arise from considering 
atmospheric air a perfectly elastic fluid, and the elastic force to be 
as the compression. The rude experiments of Boyle and Marriotte 
were insufficient to establish the law of compression, More accu- 
rate experiments have, I believe, been made; but I have not an 
opportunity of referring to them at present. 

The imperfect elasticity of air appears to be owing to the heat 
extricated during compression. The temperature being the same, 


-every change in the density of the air must be accompanied bya 
“corresponding change in the quantity of heat it contains, When 


* Supp. Ency. Brit. ae Acoustics, p, 44. ¥ 
air 


216 On the Theory oF Wa aler-Spouts. 


air is compressed, the excess of heat will begin to be diffused 
among the surrounding bodies as soon as it is developed: and 
when the pressure is removed, the air cannot return to its original 
bulk till it be supplied with heat. 

If the heat given out during compression could be retained by 
non-conductors round the compressed air, ready to be imbibed 
whenever the pressure should be removed, then undoubtedly the 
elastic force would be as the density; but in all cases the heat 
is free to move to other bodies; and when air is compressed into 
half the space it occupies in its natural state, according to Mr. 
Dalton, its ten nperature is increased fifty degrees: and as the 
rate of cooling is nearly as the excess of temperature, the clastic 
force will be diminishéd in proportion to the quantity of heat 
given out: consequently, under great compressing forees the 
elastic force must increase much slower than the density, but the 
precise effect will differ acgording to the time in which the cha ge 
is produced, 

To take into consideration the imperfect elasticity of -air, neal 
‘the effect of the vapour it contains, would render the calculation 
of the velocity of sound extremely intricate ; but an approximate’ 
value of the modulus of elasticity might be obtained from experi- 
ment. 

If Newton’s measure of the elastic force of air had been cor- 
rect, the velocity of sound calculated from it should have been 
above the result of experiment and not below it; because he sup- 
poses the air to be perfectly elastic. His hypothetical supposition 
respecting the magnitude of the sclid particles of air is unsup- 
ported by experience or analogy: and though his reasoning re- 
specting the effect of vapour in some measure coincides with the 
ingenious speculations of Mr. Dalton, yet it is not the less di- 
stant from the real laws of the elasticity of a mixture of gaseous 
bodies. 

I am, sir, yours, &c. &e. 
Sopt. 21, 1818. THomas TREDGOLD. 


XXXV. On the Theory of Water-Spouts, By Mr, Gaviy 


INGLIS. 


To Mr. Tilloch, 


DEAR sin,—T HAVE been observing with no small degree of 
interest the various statements regarding the laws and principles 
of that wonderful and often alarming phenomenon, the water= 
spout, a satisfactory theory of which can only be deduced from 
a collection and collation of facts resulting from actual observa- » 
tion, and furnished’ by those who may ‘have had an hie 

Q 


On the Theory of Water-Spouts. 217 


of witnessing these marvellous operations of nature. Several 
papers in your useful Miscellany are so replete with information 
of this class, the occurrences so judiciously observed and go 
minutely detailed, as to render them particularly interesting to 
the student of meteorology. 

My professional avocations have afforded me no opportunity 
of viewing these wonders of the deep; nevertheless, I have had 
the good fortune to see two; the one an ascending, and the 
other a descending water-s spaat. They are twin children of the 
same parent. The two | had the happiness to observe, were 
completely conclusive as to the water rising to the one cloud, 
and falling from the other; upon which I founded a theory to 
satisfy myself, and had preserved drawings of their respective 
appearances: taken at the time, and notes of what I thought ne- 
cessary to keep in remembrance. Independently of these, no- 
thing could be more strongly impressed upon my memory than 
what I am about to detail. 

I was then a very young man, and had only begun to keep a 
eommon-place book, to take drawings of whatever struck my 
fancy, and notes of such occurrences as I conceived worth pre+ 
serving. I had gone pretty early in the morning of the 2d of 
July 1788, to a rising ground at the back of Kirkaldy, opposite 
the “old Fish Ponds of Abbotshall; where some rondales or small 
isles had been formed and planted with large fir trees, which 
produced an admirable and amusing echo. This was from a de- 
sire to ascertain, whether the warm rarified air of a summer 
evening, or the cool dense air of the morning, was most condu- 
ceive to the continued vibration of sound necessary to produce an 
echo. Musing and attentively listening to the responses—the 
sudden overeasting of the sun made me turn round -in expecta> 
tion of immediate rain, when my eye was attracted towards the 
opening of the Firth. Nothing could exceed the awful appear 
ance of the atmosphere, conjoined with the gloom cast upon the 
surface of the sea, by a cloud of uncommon darkness and density 
that spread over the whole opening of the Firth, from Fife Ness 
towards St. Abb’s Head. From the front of the cloud a well- 
defined line, to appearance about the thickness of an ordinary 
cable, descended to the surface of the water. Looking atten- 
tively, it soon assumed the magnitude of a man’s waste, and con- 
tinued to increase as it advanced up the Firth. It was some 
time before I could bring myself to conceive. what this might 
be, when the idea of a water-spout driven by the east wind into 
the Forth from the German Ocean came into my mind. Elated 
with the thoughts of seeing what I had often heard described as 
a tale of wonder, I ran to the shore, in expectation of studying 
we to more advantage, where a great number of people had al- 

ready 


215 On the Theory of Water-Spouts. 


ready collected, amongst whom several old sailors whose testi- 
mony put its identity beyond all doubt. : 

_. It came up the Firth with such rapidity, propelled by its own 
electric velocity, outstripping the light breeze of easterly wind 
then blowing, so that a solitary fisherman seated in the stem of 
his boat, with his face all the while towards the phenomenon, 
had only time, after perceiving its rapid approach, to draw up 
his anchor-stone and pull out of its course. He, after landing, 
‘described the appearance of the surface, all round the proboscis, 
“ just like a boiling caldron.” The hissing noise of the water 
separating itself from the salt, was most distinctly heard by those 
.on shore, which noise made them suppose the water was falling 
from the cloud, and prognosticated a deluge and destruction of * 
the west end of the town. But as it neared the shore and lacked 
water, the proboscis lessened in density and thickness, and at 
last detached itself entirely from the water and ascended in beau- 
tiful spirals into the cloud, and passed over the town with only 
a few heavy drops of rain. 7 his 1 consider: most conclusive of 
the rise of the water from the sea to the cloud in this class of 
-water-spouts. 

While the water was rising from the sea and ascending to the 
cloud, and went off without injury at the negative, all the effects 
of a descending water-spout, from the lengthened course and 
the surcharge of water in the shape of torrential rain, was felt 
within the range of the posiéive end, in such quantity and with 
‘such rapidity and force, as nearly to prove fatal to some Buck- 
hhaven fishermen who had put to sea that morning. To save 
their lives, they had to give up their oars, and with their hats 
bail out the water that fell from above, to keep their boats from 
sinking. The cloud took a direction up the country towards 
Cupar, doing material damage, and created torrents where water 
never ran before, and converted some new-made ditches into 
deep and broad ravines, now the beds of small streams and purl- 
ing rills. Give me leave now to state the theory I had formed 
before narrating the account of the descending water-spout. 

I am perfectly satisfied, that the whole phenomenon of the wa~ 
ter-spout, whether ascending or descending,which as already men- 
tioned are but twin children of the same parent, is entirely depen- 
dent on and governed by the laws of electricity. Whether the cloud 
that becomes the parent of the water-spout, be positively or ne- 
gatively electric, a collection of facts can best determine.. My 
opinion is that it must be negatively so, at its first formation, 
and that in the escape of the equilibriating electricity from the 
ocean, the surface becomes violently agitated, or rises into a co- 
lumn elevated above the general level, which I would account 
for by supposing a perpendicular prodoscés to descend from the 

gathering” 


On the Theory of WVater-Spouts. 219 


gathering cloud. The electricity rushing at right angles in full 
force from every point of direction to one common centre, must 
by the collapsing force of currents raise the water above its level, 
and that elevation may be rendered apparently stationary, du- 
ring the continuation of the same, or perhaps an increased electric 
pressure. Butin cases where the proboscis descends obliquely, 
the stream of electricity at the commencement from the obliquity 
of the attractor will be partial ; and, instead of drawing at once 
from every point to a focus, the fist current flowing in a direct 
line with and towards the descending projectile, and ‘not at right 
angles with the common centre, must give an: oblique direction 
to the accumulating fluid, and instead of collapsing and raising 
the water, produce an eddy, turning a mass in the midstream 
like passing water giving motion to a horizontal wheel. In 
absence of a better hypothesis, electricity is always at hand, like 
phiogiston of old, to fill up the vacuity of every doubtful theory. 
If I am wrong, [ shall be happy to adopt any other more satis- 
factory. I however must candidly confess my ignorance of any 
other element so universally diffused, or so powerful in its agency, 
that could so instantaneously be called into action, aud brought, 
when necessary, from pole to pole, or could produce the chemical 
effect of separating, so rapidly and in such quantity, the fresh 
water from the salt, and carry it upwards from the sea to the 
clouds, Were the waters raised from the sea to the higher 
elevations of the air by mere suction, or raised as waters in a 
pump, the ascending water must of course carry with it all the 
saltness of the ocean, and the rain from such clouds must of ne- 
eessity be salt: were this the case, every isle, and many parts of 
the continents, must be visited by saline showers, and the waters 
of the isles become brackish and unwholesome. If this has ever 
been the case, some of your better informed correspondents may 
be able to instruct, and I should be glad to be guided by such 
information. —I am however inclined to ‘believe that the allwise 
Distributor of every blessing has of his infinite wisdom ordered 
it otherwise, that all the waters drawn up from the sea, that are 
again to descend upon the earth for the support of creation, 
wust go up fresh, and that the hissing and ebullating noise, the 
never-failing attendant of the ascending waterspeut, is occasioned 
by the chemical separation of the water from the salt. 

Such has been my opinion of the cause and origin of the as- 
eending waterspout ; the descending, upon investigation, will be 
found a legitimate of the same family, being only a discharge of 
the water from the positive, that has ascended’ by the electric 
influence atthe negative part of the cloud, and which must, when 
the cloud is overcharged, again fall in rain in all its forms, or in 
a solid column, (hen denominated a waterspout; just as incident, 

. may 


Saad 


220 On ihe Theory of Water-Spouts. 


may occur to give birth to its first arrangements. From this cir- 
cumstance, descending waterspouts can seldom occur at sea, ex- 
cept in the,shape of torrential rains, having few points of attraw 
tion to draw the spark from the cloud. It is certainly on shore, 
and in alpine countries, where they most frequently appear, when 
the elevated peaks and lofty mountain tops present their grave 
attraction, and arrest the clouds in their progress, drawing from 
thence the electric matter with its concomitant destructive and 
deluging floods. 

Let us suppose, for instance, a cloud of any magnitude to col~ 
lect over the main ocean, sufficiently electric to hecome the pa- 
rent of an ascending waterspout ; suppose the connecting pro- 
doscis ample, the corresponding vortex must be of proportionate 
capacity: the ascending vapour will soon extend over a great 
space. Still the concentrating aggregate will be directed by the 
electric impulse towards the positive tendency; and thus, after the 
eloud has received a full charge, the confiuence of the particles 
yuust produce rain from all parts within the positive range, unless 
some attracting body give to the whole volume a drift current 
to 2 concentrated focus, and by consolidating the particles fall 
in one dense mass. Or suppose the cloud to extend, and go ow 
uninterruptedly accumulating, propelled by the wind or its own: 
electric impulse towards, and brought in contact with, St. Hele~ 
na, Teneriffe, or some other island of the ocean; we might then 
as well bring a powerful conductor in union with a full charged 
battery without a shock, as not produce a descending water- 
spout. Draw but one spark from the cloud, and you instantly 
produce a current or a vacuum; however small at the conmmence- 
ment, a collapsation takes place in proportion to its magnitude, 
the concussing globules augmenting in size by the incessant os~ 
cillant motion of the electric fluid become rain, the rain forms 
heavier and heavier, and in falling from the cloud with accumu- 
lating force draws more into its wake, continuing to aggregate 
till the whole volume of the watery matter is drawn into one cen- 
trical vortex, forming a column of dense solidity, and falling with 
deadly destruction on whatever it may chance to descend on. 

Such I believe was the origin and termination of the water- 
spout which did so much mischief at St. Helena. 

Amidst these suppositions, let us take another case, and ima-~ 
gine a cloud whose connexion with the sea had by some accident 
been cut off, after having attained nearly a full charge of elec+ 
tricity and watery vapour, and after the consequent turmoil ad- 
justed its own equilibrium, the cloud would become positive to- 
wards the nearest or greatest point of attraction; viz. if at sea, 
the corresponding convexity of the surface of the globe, or the 
nearest or highest headland or mountain on shore. Should a 

ship 


On the Theory of Water-Spoiuts. 92% 


ship be so unfortunate as to become the attractor of a cloud of 
this description, and the main mast the point of discharge, although 
well provided with all the necessary apparatus to save the ship 
from the influence of the electricity, it is hardly possible that any 
vessel could escape destruction from the descending water, or 
any one remain alive to tell the dreadful tale. It is ‘of no con= 
sequence what is the main attractor, or what becomes the prin- 
cipal point of discharge : once drawn off, the electric spark and 
all. its direful concomitants follow in destructive array with the 
descending waterspout. 
I have now to detail the particulars of that spout alluded to in 
the outset of this paper. 
It fell on Benardy, a hill at a short distance from this, which 
separates Loch Leven from Loch Orr, between two and three 
o'clock in the afternoon of the 18th July 1792. The morning 
was warm and delightful; there was no mdication of rain till to- 
wards mid day, when a heavy cloud began to rise from the west, 
and advanced eastward, casting a particular g gloom over the face 
of nature as it covered the meridian, and | observed the sun dark- 
ening the whole country with a more than ordinary dusk. I had 
scarce sat down to dinner, when one of the servants came iD, 
and begged I would look at the extreme commotion, distinctly vis 
sible in the cloud now resting over Benardy. The appearance 
was highly amusing, the whole cloud seemed convulsed, and fre- 
quent bursts of white vapour, like dense white smoke, issued from 
its dark sides; at last a flash of lightning of uncommon brilliancy 
and size darted from the lower part of the cloud. This was in= 
stantly followed by the spout, in shape of an inverted cone, which 
joined the cloud-and the hill,.deluging the whole country round. 
‘This was soon followed by one of the most awful thunder storms 
Astill fresh in the memory of every one) that ever visited this part 
of the country. The quantity of water that fell from the cloud 
by the spout was quite incredible. Those who lived nearer the 
hill and observed its appearance more closely, described its de- 
scent from the mountain’s brow like the waves of the sea in a 
storm. The descending water carried every thing before it, 
bore down many roods of Galloway dykes, filled quarries ; and 
loch Orr, that had just been drained, was, notwithstanding its 
deepening and increased outlet, soon filled to its ordinary level ; 
Loch Leven was raised to an unusual height, the Carses were 
overflown, and the river Leven below Auchmoor bridge in a very 
short time filled considerably beyond its highest winter flood. 
The rain fell in torrents for miles round; notwithstanding of 
which, the cone on the hill remained distinctly, conspicuous, al- 
though somewhat obscured, till the cloud had discharged its whole 
contents, and the sky became clear. Curiosity prompted. seve- 
- ral 


222 Notices respecting New Books. 


ral people to visit the summit of the hill after the storm was over; 
where they found the strongly matted turf, where the spout 
poured out its waters, completely torn off, the subsoil washed 
away, and a considerable space laid bare to the rock, 

This I think must be considered as conclusive of the descent 
of the water in this- case, as the rise of the water in the other. 

I remain yours ever, 
29th July, 1818. Gavin INGLIS. 


XXXY. Notices respecting New Books. 


A new Variation Chart of the Navigable Globe, from 60 Degrees 
North to 60 Degrees South Latitude. By Tuomas YEATES. 


Tue charts hitherto published being only transcripts of Dr. 
Halley’s original chart, with few corrections for the change of 
variation since his time, and none of them extending heyond the 
Atlantic and Indian oceans; navigators have long regretted the 
want of an accurate variation chart comprehending the whole 
circuit of the navigable ocean and seas of our globe. To sup- 
ply this want, the author of the present chart has. with much- 
labour and care constructed a general chart of the variation of. 
the magnetic needle, for all the known seas within sixty degrees 
of the equator, north and south, from accurate documents ob- 
tained from Spanish surveys in the Pacific Ocean, journals at the 
Hydrographical Office, Admiralty, and the East India House, 
collated with tables of the variation recently formed from the 
observations of different navigators. ; 
The Chart is on the Mercator’s projection, drawn with the 
latest improvements, and the magnetic lines are drawn upon it 
throughout for every degree of change in the variation; with an’ 
eccurate delineation of the magnetic equator and meridians, 
never before introduced in charts of this description, and the 
whole is accompanied with suitable remarks and illustrations. 
The Chart is presumed to form a valuable accompaniment to’ 
all navigation charts in present use, and will be found not only 
jmportant to the navigator, but interesting to the philosopher. 
and the man of science, in exploring the theory and properties » 
of the magnetical instruments used on sea and land. 


— 


Anderson and Chase have just published their Annual Cata-' 
logue of Books in Anatomy, Medicine, Surgery, Midwifery, Che- 
mistry, Botany, &c. &c. new and second hand, including an ex-' 
tensive collection of foreign publications recently imported, a 
complete List of the Lectures delivered in London, with their 

terms, 


Society of Sciences of Haarlem. . 2 


terms, hours of attendance, &c. Also, A Manual of Practical 
Anatomy for the use of students engaged in dissections, by Ed- 
ward Stanley, Assistant Surgeon, and Demonstrator of Anatomy, 
at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, in one volume 12mo. 


XXXVI. Proceedings of Learned Societies. 


SOCIETY OF SCIENCES OF HAARLEM. 


Tae following questions in the Physical Sciences have been 
proposed by this Society for competition previous to the Ist of 
January 1820: 

3. How far it is actually demonstrated that the fumigations 
by oxygenated muriatic gas after the manner of Guyton have 
served to prevent the spread of contagious maladies? What are 
the contagious maladies in which the effect of this gas deserves 
to be tried, and what ought to be principally observed in such 
experiments? Is there any reason to expect a more salutary 
effect, in the prevention of contagion, from any other mean hi- 
therto employed or proposed ? 

4. What are we to regard as distinctly proved in respect of 
the gastric juice of the human body, and its influence in the di- 
gestion of food? Is its existence sufficiently proved by the-ex- 
periments of Spallanzani and Senebier; or has it been rendered 
doubtful by the experiments of Montégre ? What is it that com- 
paratiye anatomy, and principally the opening of the stomach of. 
animals killed, either after fasting, or in a short time after having 
taken food, have rendered probable in this respect? And in the 
case of the existence of the gastric juice in the human body being 
tegarded as a fact perfectly established, what ought we to avoid, 
in order not to impair its effect in the process of digestion? 

5. As the new mode of distillation which some years since . 
was originally practised at Montpellier, and has been sincé 
adopted and improved in the south of France, according to which . 
the substances from which spirituous liquors are extracted are 
not immediately exposed to the action of fire, but heated by 
steam—a process which is not only more ceconomical than the 
ordinary method, but which has this additional advantage, that 
the spirituous liquors produced by it are of a purer and a more. 
agreeable taste—the Society desire to know ‘* What is the 
best apparatus for extracting, according to this method, with the 
greatest profit, the purest spirituous liquors from grain, as wine 
is drawn from the vines of France ?”” Ne 

The prize offered to those who, in the judgement of the So- 
ciety, shall give the best answer to any of these questions, is a 

gold 


234 The Safety-lamp. 


gold medal, or one hundred and_ fifty florins, at the option of 
the author. 

An anonymous individual has offered to the French Royal 
Academy ‘of Sciences a sum of 7000 francs for the foundation of 
a prize of experimental prnsonny: 


nm ee 
XXXVII. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 


THE SAFETY-LAMP. 


Ox this subject we haye received a letter fr om an anonymous 
correspondent, from which we take the following par agraph: 

* Ina letter to Dr. Thomson which appeared in the Annals 
of Philosophy for April 1516, p. 319, the following statements 
eccur respecting the lamp for mines : 

** You have not developed the prineiple upon which. the be- 
nefits of the gauze depend. You talk of a fixedness of the air 
which.cannot be. If an explosion takes place without any con- 
siderable extrication of heat, the contact of the adjacent wires 
cools down the red-hot air, and renders it incapable of kindling 
combustion without,’”’. It is clear, therefore, that Dr. Thomson 
did not before that time possess the principle upon.which the 
non-communication of combustion through wire-gauze or multi- 
plied holes in metal depends; and it is also clear that the prior 
discovery and development of the wire-gauze principle by which 
the inflammation of gases is arrested, belongs to the writer of that 
letter, if at that time no statement of the principle had appeared. 
tn print. If it had, Dr. Thomson. weuld have known of it. If 
it had, let the time be stated. Af it had not, let due credit be 
given to the writer of that letter.” 

The remaining part of our correspondents letter, we. withhold 
as irrelevant.to the question on which he treats.. He has.“ still 
some remaining doubts of the perfect safety of the lamp,” and 
to have these “removed he proposes that ‘the lamp, should be 
plunged into various mixtures of hydrogen and oxygen gases— 
of artificial carburetted hydrogen gas with oxygen. No such 

_ Mixtures ever exist in mines, and they have therefore nothing to 
do with the lamp, as a safe-lamp, for mines. Our correspondent 
next proposes that similar experiments shoul:t be made with in= 
flammable “ yas from the mine by plunging the lamp entirely i into 
various mixtures of it with common air in. vessels i in the Jabora- 
tory, not applying it, to blowers in the mines.”? Such experi- 
ments as he recommends with the gas of. the mine, have been 
often. made-already, and always. with results favourable to. the 


safety of the lamp, - arian 


Northern Expedition. 225 


STEAM ENGINES IN CORNWALL. 

From Messrs. Leans’ Reports for July and August 1818, it 
appears that during these months the following was the work 
performed by the engines reported, with each bushel of coals. 

Pounds of water lifted , Load per square 


For July. 1 foot high with each bushel.| inch in cylinder. 
25 common engines averaged 23,761,463 various. 
Woolf’s at Wheal Vor ve 29,081,048 17°3 lib. 
Ditto Wh. Abraham .. . 34,286,774 16°8 
Ditto — ditto .. -- 27,932,848 6°6 
Dalcouth engine ~.. 4. 38,055,354 | —-11°3 
Wheal Abraham ditto .. 34,561,187 10:9 
United Mines engine _ Sie) Ooa La dand oe 14:4 | 
Treskirby ditto .. ENP Bos 7-5 APS 10-8 
Wheal Chance ditto -. 932,441,682 11°9 

_ For August. 
25 common engines averaged 23,851,384 various. 
Woolf’s at Wheal Vor =... 27,746,727 15 
Ditto. Wh. Abraham .. 45,510,419 16°8 


Ditto ditto 4p ee 25,944,753 6 
Dalcouth engine .. «41,883,745 1] 
Wheal Abraham .. -e 38,032,270 10 
United Mines ditto... © ... 33,289,655 14: 
Treskirby ditto. > .. -- | 38,308,014 10 
Wheal Chance spn -» 931,379,570 11 


NORTHERN EXPEDITION. 

Oficial accounts have arrived from the vessels employed in the 
attempt to discover the North-west passage to the Pacific Océan, 
dated July 28th and August Ist. At the date of the first, de- 
spatches the Isabella and the Alexander were in latitude 75° 30° 
N. longitude 60° 30’ W. very near the head of Baffin’s Bay. The 
Weather was serene and perfectly clear. The variation of the 
* compass, by accurate observations repeatedly made on board 
both ships, was 89° and the dip 84° 30’. It had been perfectly 
calm, and the sea as smooth as glass for three or four days, and’ 
the current drifted them to the south-eastward, which raised their 
hopes of there-being an open passage to the westward, through 
Alderman Jones’s or Sir James Lancaster’s Sound. All the way 
up the middle of Davis’s Straits they skirted an unbroken field 
of ice on the left, but as they proceeded it became thinner, and 
apparently rotten, and they were sanguine that, the moment the - 
breeze sprang up, the ice to the westward would allow them to 
reach the northern shores of America. The utmost harmony 

Vol. 52. No, 245. Sept. 1818. Vy prevailed 


226 Northern Expeditions. 


prevailed among the officers and_ every part of the ship’s com- 
pany, and all were in perfect health. ; oe 

The second dispatches of the Ist of August are the last which 
in all probability will be received this year, as our ships were go- 
ing beyond the track of all the trading and fishing vessels, which, 
till then had accompanied their course. Strange as it may ap- 
pear, the approach of, winter, which begins very early in those, 
high latitudes, seems to have increased, instead of shutting out 
every hope of success. Ina Nas letter from Captain Ross, 
in lat. 75° 48’ N. long. 61° 30’ W. ‘he says, “I have but a few 
moments to tell you, that we have now every prospect of success, 
the ice is clearing away fast, and the wind is at N.E. Our va-. 
riation observed on the ice, 88:13.’ We have killed a whale, 
and laid in a stock of blubber for our winter fuel.”—The letters, 
received from other persons, under his command, are of the same. 
date, and equally promising. They state, that the ice was 
clearing away, and that their prospect of success was improving. 
The most extraordinary phenomenon of the variation of the 
compass had gone on increasing ;—it was 88, 13. on the ice-— 
we say on the ice, for on board ship, owing to some peculiar in-- 
fluence not yet ascertained, it was much more. The former 
letters, of which we have already given extracts, mention, that 
on board ship the variation was at one time 95 degrees, that is, 
the needle pointed, instead of north, to the southward of west. 
This difference between the real variation and an apparent vari- 
ation on board ship was first observed by Captain Flinders, but 
it was supposed to be an accidental peculiarity in his ship: it is 
now clear that it belongs to all ships, and varies in all, and there 
would be little doubt that it should be attributed to the influence 
of the iron about the vessel, except for a curious fact which we. 
understand. has been ascertained; namely, that the compasses 
called insulated compasses, which are placed in boxes of iron, 
and which are uninfluenced by external.iron, when brought near 
to them, are affected by the ship variation in the same degree as. 
- the common compass.—This, which is now called the deviation, 
has been found to be much greater as the experiments go north- 
ward. This is accounted for from the circumstance of the dip. 
of the needle diminishing what is usually called its polarity, and 
allowing it, therefore, to be more easily affected by the local in- 
fluence of the ship. 

Such is the substance of the official accounts as far as we have 
been able to learn. There is an abundance of private letters to 
the friends and relations of those who have embarked in this. 
most important enterprise. The following are. extracts from 
some of the most interesting, ; 

“ His 


Northern Expedition. 227 


“* His Majesty’s Ship Alexander, June 17. 

“ My Dzar S17 —I am now writing in the tent upon the 
north end of Hare or Waygatt Island, with the pendulum clock, 
within one yard of me, and the observatory and all the instru- 
ments within half-a-dozen, We were arrested in our progress 
yesterday by the ice, which forms a complete bar about. three. 
miles to the northward of this island, commencing on the Green- 
land side, from what is called Four Island Point, and extending 
down the straits at a distance not greater than ten miles to the 
westward of this island, and 15 to the westward of Disko. Soon 
after entering the Straits, we found it abselutely impracticable ; 
to go up to the middle, as the ice gradually brought us into the 
land, till a little to the northward of Riskoll (vulgo Reef Koll) 
we were for a day or two totally blockaded. The ice then, by) 
one of those unaccountable changes that so frequently occur 
here, opeued sufficiently to give us a free passage, till yesterday 
we found a second bar in this place. From every account we . 
have received, as well as from what we have already seen, it is 
certain that the last winter has not only been severe, but that 
the frost has lasted much later than has been the case for many | 
years past. You may imagine our surprise when, on coming , 
into this neighbourhood yesterday, we. found upwards of 35 Bri- 
tish ships at anchor upon the ice-bergs, which completely form 
a cluster of innumerable islands from the spot in which I at this.. 
moment view them. They have all been detained here—not. 
days, but weeks, in spite of every exertion to get to the north- 
ward; and the fishery may be considered as hitherto.an unsue- 
ie one, with the exception of a few of the ships in Disko., 

ay. 

** The causes which operate upon the ice producing very sud- 
den changes in it, are so little understood, that it is impossible . 
to judge when any such change may take place as to enable us 
to get to the northward. I have just been to the top of a moun- , 
tain of no inconsiderable height, to determine its altitude by the 
barometer: and I wish I could give you an adequate idea of the 
magnificent sublimity of the scene I have just witnessed. The 
whole horizon to the northward and westward is one complete 
mass of compact field ice ; with the exception of above 500 ices , 
bergs, which, with here and there a small spot of clear blue wa- 
ter, serve to vary the scene, which would otherwise tire the eye 
with the uniformity of its dazzling whiteness, ‘Io the eastward , 
is seen the land of Greeuland, very high, almost entirely covered 
with snow, and frowning, as it were, upon the ocean of ice , 
which environs its shores. To the southward is the island of 
Disko, with its summit (which we have never clearly seen) com- 

P2 pletely 


228 Northern Expedition. 


pletely lost in the clouds. Near this island are all the Green- 
land ships at anchor, giving a finish to the scene, whose gran- 
deur and beauty are far beyond any thing I have seen before. 
The longitudes of the places on this coast were very much in 
want of corrections, We had a great number of excellent lunars 
to the southward, which, with the Isabella’s chronometers, which 
go admirably, will, I think, determine the longitudes so far, to 
the nearest three or four miles. The dip of the needle in lat. 
67. 22. was 82. and the variation 67, 30. 

© Here the dip about the same, and the azimuths we have 
taken this morning we cannot work for want of a latitude, which 
we hope to obtain at midnight. The transit of the sun for the 
pendulum we hope to get to-morrow, and if the ice still remains 
firm, so as to prevent our leaving this place, the next day, we 
trust, will produce something in this way. Delighted as I am 
to take a part in these observations, I confess I should be glad 
to see the tents struck to-night, and the ice open; and you may 
rely upon it, that no object whatever will ever tempt our Com- 
modore to neglect for an instant the main object of the expedi- 
tion. The current that has been spoken of as coming constantly 
down the Straits, if it exists at all, must be to the westward of 
our track up the Straits; and, indeed, all the masters of the 
ships have a great dread of being set to the westward in our 
present latitude, as they insist upon it that if a ship were beset 
here she would probably come out in 65 degrees. 

“ Tuesday, June 28. 

~*¢ The ice having opened a little on the evening of Saturday, 
we endeavoured to get over from Hare Island to the coast of 
Greenland, or, as the masters call it, the East Land. The Isa- 
bella was beset in making this attempt, and was drifted about 
with the ice by the tides till Monday morning. “We were more 
fortunate, having succeeded in getting over to the land, and into 
clear water, on Sunday evening, and there made fast to a berg, 
to wait for the Isabella, There would be no navigating this sea 
but for the bergs; for, after the men have tawed and warped 
the ship for 12 or 14 hours, she would be adrift again, and at 
the mercy of the ice, if you could not anchor in security to one 
ofthese enormous masses, which rests upon the ground, and 
perfectly secures you from every danger, except that (which has 
once or twice occurred to us) of drifting off with a high spring 
tide into deep water.- A ship is almost perfectly secure from 
going on shore, when well anchored to them ; for the smallest 
of them draws so much more water than any ship, that it must 
ground long before the ship, unless the shore immediately within. 
it is very steep indeed. A’ very small ice-berg, to which we 

a . anchored 


Northern Expedition. 229. 


anchored on the 9th of June, was grounded in 52 fathoms, and 
was so firmly moored, that the levels of the dipping needle were 


not in the slightest degree affected. 
“ July 5. 


‘Since I last wrote, we have been incessantly occupied in 
attempting to get through the ice to the northward. The first 

stage we made was into North-east Bay, where we have been 

detained several days, which could only be occupied in settling 

‘the position of the several points of land, &c. and the variation 

of the compass, which, by the by, can never be done on board 

a ship with any tolerable degree of accuracy, a difference of 30 

degrees arising from a change in the ship’s head, on board the 

Isabella. On board the Alexander this difference is very appa- 

rent also, but in a much smaller degree. Ido not, however, - 
consider the experiments we have yet made to be sufficiently nu- 

merous, or sufficiently delicate, to enable us. to draw any satis- 

factory conclusion from them on this very interesting point, till 

further and better opportunities offer. 

“We had rather an interesting visit from two Esquimaux fa- 
milies the other day, .but with the details of which I shall not 
now trouble you. In truth, I have so few moments to spare 
from the immediate duties which now press upon us, that I fear 
you will think my letter but a shabby one. These last two days 
have given us a run to the northward beyond our most sanguine 
expectation, as we are at this moment within seven miles of the 
northernmost of the Womn’s Islands, and passed Sanderson’s 
Hope yesterday evening. 2 lla 

‘Our latitude, by account, to-day at noon, was 73. 10. N.; 
Isabella’s 73. 15. long. 57. 14. W. Some of the Esquimaux 
from these islands were, I understand, on board the Isabella to- 
day, and report, that the place in which we now are has been 
clear of ice during the whole winter (is this possible ?); that no 
whales have been here during the whole season ; and that they 
think there is plenty of clear water to the northward. If this 
be true, it is delightful intelligence for us. As far as we can our- 
selves see, there is no reason to question the accuracy of this 
statement ; for though the number of bergs is here, as at Riskoll, 
and at Waygatt Island, and Black Hook, almost beyond con- 
ception or belief, the field-ice appears to be by no means so close 
as to stop our progress. How long this fair prospect may con- 
tinue, it is impossible to judge; but the voyage begins to ac- 
quire extreme interest, and all are anxiously looking out to the 
north. ) 

“ P.S.—July 6.—I haye just measured the height of an ice 
berg, which is 123 feet and a half, and it is aground in 125 fa- 
thoms! This is literally a small one compared with some hun-. 

P3 . dreds 


230 Mammoth. Cave of Indiana. 


dreds that we have seen. Feet above water, and fathoms under, 
seem to he the general run of their specific gravity.” | 
‘* His Majesty’s ship Isabella, at sea, lat. 75. 25. 

long. 67. 7. variation 83. 48.—July 25. 
“ Dear D+—, This is our last opportunity this year, there- 
fore I could not let it pass without writing, although nothing 
has passed since my last. We are now to the northward of all 
‘the ships that are fishing; we see some a long way a-stern; the 
boat with dispatches is going immediately to one of them ; they 
have followed a great way this year, and have been very kind 
in giving us every assistance when in the ice. I sincerely wish 
them all safe back; they have a long way to go through the ice. 
The coast begins to look more and more miserable ; as we get 
north, it has more the appearance of a chain of ice mountains 
than land; the sea is one solid field of ice as far as the eye can 
reach. When the wind blows from the north, we find narrow 
passages in it, and through them we pass on: sometimes the 
‘whole of our men are on the ice, dragging the ship along the 
edge of the flaws. From the very great variation, we cannot be 
a great way from the magnetic pole; you will see the variation 

by our last observation on the ice at the head of the letter.” 


MAMMOTH CAVE OF INDIANA. 

‘The Kentucky Commentator contains a letter from a Mr. 
Adams, giving an account of a cave which he had explored in 
Indiana. The Editor of: the Commentator, in his introduction 
to the letter, says, this cave ‘‘ has never yet been fully explored, 
though several individuals, whose’ testimony is to be relied on, 
have penetrated from six to nine miles into this subterraneous 
region.” ' 

Mr. Adams states that the cave is situated in the north-west 
quarter of section 27, in Township No, 3 of the second eastern 
range in the district of lands offered for sale at Jeffersonville. 
It was first discovered about eleven years ago, at which time the 
bottom of the cave was covered with salts from six to nine inches 
deep; the sides were also coated in the same manner, and had 
the appearance of snow. : 

The hill in which the cave is situated is 400 feet high, the 
top principally covered with oak and chesnut. The entrance is 
about half way from the base to the summit, and the surface of 
the cave preserves about that elevation. 

The entrance is by an aperture of 12 or 15 feet wide, and 
three or four feet in height: with .an easy descent, you enter a 
room which continues a quarter of a mile, varying in height from 
8 to 30 feet, ard in breadth from 10 to 20; the roof arched in 
some places, resembling an inside view of the roof a house. At 


the 


Preparation of Hydrosulphurate of Iron. 231 


the extremity of this room the cave forks, the right soon termi- 
nates, the left rises by a flight of rocky stairs, nearly ten feet high, 
into another story, and has a S.E. direction. In this room the 
roof has a regular arch from 5 to 8 feet high, and from 7 to 12 
feet wide, which continues to what is called the Creeping Place, 
‘where it becomes necessary to crawl 10 or 12 feet to get into 
the next room, from which to the distance of one mile anda 
quarter, there are many large and small rooms, variously situ- 
‘ated, At the end of this journey, a stately white pillar presents 
itself, which is about 15 feet in diameter, and from 20 to 30 in 
height, regularly reeded from top to bottom. In the vicinity are 
several other smaller pillars of the same description. Mr.Adams 
‘was not certain what were the constituents of their columns, but 
lime appeared to be the base. Major Warren states that they 
are the satin spar. 

The cave abounds in sulphate of magnesia or Epsom salts, 
which is found in a great variety of forms, and different stages 
of formation—sometimes in lumps from 1 to 10 pounds, from 
‘the surface to three feet» below it,—the walls are: covered with 
“the same article. Mr. Adams removed from a spot in the cave 
every vestige of salt, and in four or five weeks the place was co- 
vered with small needle-shaped crystals resembling frost. 

The quality of salts is very superior—the worst earth yielding 
four pounds to the bushel, and the best from 20 to 25 pounds. 

The cave also contains great quantities of nitrate of lime or salt 
‘petre earth; nitrate of alumina, or nitrate of argil, each yielding 
‘an equal quantity of saltpetre. The sulphate of lime is seen va- 
riously formed, ponderous crystallized, soft, or light and spongy; 
there are also vestiges of the sulphate of iron, and small speci- 
‘mens of the carbonate and nitrate of magnesia. The rocks in 
the cave are principally of carbonate of lime or common lime- 
stone. 

Mr. Adams closes his letter by stating, that near the forks of 
~ the cave are two specimens of painting, probably of Indian origin. 
One appears to be a Savage with something like a bow in his 
hand, and furnishes the hint, that it was done when that instru- 
ment of death was in use. The other isso much defaced that it 
is impossible to say what it was intended to represent. 


PREPARATION OF HYDROSULPHURATE OF IRON. BY PRO= 
FESSOR TURTE OF BERLIN*. 


ie Wishing in one of my lessons to demonstrate the decompo- 

sition of water by sulphur and iron, I had in due proportions 

(25 and 15) mixed the filings of very fine wrought iron with 
* Kastner’s Pharmacie, p. 201. 

P4 pulveredzi 


232 ~ ~Preparation of Hydrosulphurate of Iron. 


pulverized sulphur, and by the help of water made a paste of this 
mixture. At the end of: twenty minutes it became so sensibly 
hot, that the vessel containing it could not be held in the hand; 
and twenty minutes later it had formed itself into black sulphu- 
ret of iron, I then set a portion of it apart, and having poured 
muriatic acid upon it, abundance of very pure sulphuretted hy- 
drogen gas was liberated. I put the remainder into a bottle, 
where it remained for many months, at the end of which it had 
not suffered any change, but yielded on the application of acids 
the same quantity of sulphuretted hydrogen gas.” 


Remarks: on the above, communicated by Professor Van Mons. 
M, Turte has had the candour to acknowledge that hydrosul- 

phuret of iron or sulphuret of iron by liquid process was obtained 

before him, by Black. 

The perfect resemblance of. this sulphuret.to the suboxide of 
iron obtained by a similar process, having led me to suspect that 
it might consist in this suboxide mixed with sulphur, and that 
the hydrogen might through the medium of the sulphur proceed 

from the second oxidation of the iron, I mixed well, by the ad- 
dition of a little water, five parts of sulphur with eleven equal 
parts of black suboxide of iron; and on the half of this mixture 
I poured some weakened muriatic acid. Not a single bubble of 
sulphuretted hydrogen gas was disengaged, and the mixture was. 
not in the least degree heated. I added to the remaining half 
eight parts of fine iron filings, and enough of water to reduce it 
into paste. The mass heated, and after-I had cooled it again by 
plunging it into cold water, it yielded copiously sulphuretted hy- 
drogen, but only after the oxide was dissolved. ‘The constituents 
of this compound are 25 of iron, 15 of sulphur, and 8-5 of water, 
or 32:0 of suboxide of iron, and 16 of sulphuretted hydrogen. 

When solutions of submuriate of iron and of oxalate of am- — 
monia are united, and the mixture exposed to the direct action 
of the sun, it forms a first muriate and carbonated muriate of 
ammonia, and emits carbonic gas. The mixture contains pre- 
cisely the elements and the proportions of elements for these 

_ products. One half of the chlorate of corrosive sublimate passes 
to the carbonic oxide of the oxalic acid; whence there result 
mercury and phosgenic acid, which with the ammonia forms the 
carbonated muriate of that alkali; and the second element of 
the oxalic acid, which is carbonic acid, is liberated. It is of con- 
sequence here, as well asin the direct formation, that the phos- 
genic acid be assisted by the direct heat of the sun. 

I have almost forgot to observe, that according to Thenard, 
the azote which is separated from the atmosphere by the aid of 
sulphuret of iron liquefied, is different from that which is extract- 
ed from sulphur. AIR- 


Air-tight Vessel.—Serpents. 233 


AIR-TIGHT VESSEL, 


. To Mr. Tilloch. 

Sir,—Being but just returned from a journey through South 
Wales, I have had no opportunity of seeing the last number of your 
‘Magazine for April, in which my paper on the Extinction of Fires 
‘appears. Speaking of this paper you say: The author also 
suggests that ships might be rendered more buoyant by making 
them air-tight, and forcing in air by means of an air-pump, 
which would elevate them to a higher level in the water, and 
consequently might sometimes save them when they have got 
‘upon a bank.” 

Now by this you appear to have quite misunderstood me, for 
which reason I shall feel obliged if you will have the goodness in 
‘your next to state, that the object of my plan was to keep a ship 
afloat that would otherwise very soon siuk, by confining the air 
she then has within her, or if necessary injecting more; by which 
means the influx of water would be stopped, and the ship, car= 
go, and many valuable lives might be saved. I am, &c. 

Bristol, 25th May. Joun Moore. 

P.S. For burnt lime’read lime, in the last line of page 287. 


SERPENTS. 


The following memoir on the subject of the fascinating power 
of serpents, by Major Alexander Garden, of South Carolina, was 
read at a meeting of the New York Historical Society in Sep- 
tember last. 

“‘ He attributed the outed to an effuvium which the 
serpent voluntarily exhales at those times when it feels the desire 
_of food, and the effluvium is of so deleterious a nature as to cause 
convulsions in the smaller and more sensitive animals, such as 
birds, mice, &c. He mentioned several instances in which men 
had been powerfully affected by this efluvium. He had been 
informed by the late Col. Thompson, of Belleville, that whilst 
riding over his estate, he came to a snake of enormous size, at 
which, the moment he could sufficiently collect himself, he fired. 
He killed the reptile, but was at the same instant assailed by an 
overpowering vapour, which so bewildered him that he could 
scarcely guide his horse home—that.a deadly sickness at the 
stomach ensued, and a puking more violent than he had ever ex- 
perienced from an emetic. He had been told by a lady, that 
the overseer of one of her plantations being missed, was sought 
for by his family, and found in a state of insensibility. On re- 
covering, he stated that he was watching for a deer, when.he 
heard the rattle of a snake, and that before he could remove 
from the threatened danger, he perceived a sickening efluvium, 

which 


234 Cast-iron Bridge.—Lectures. 


which deprived him instantly of sense. From John Lloyd, Esq. 
he had learned another case:=-A negro working in his field was 
seen suddenly to fall, uttering a shriek ; on approaching him, it 
was found that he had struck off the head of a very large rattle- 
snake, the body of which was still writhing. On recovering, he 
said that he had shrieked with horror on discovering the snake, 
and at the same instant had been overpowered by a smell that 
took away all his senses. Mr. Nathaniel Barnwell hada negro, 
who could, from the acuteness of his smell, at all times discover 
the rattle-snake within a distance of 200 feet, when in the exer- 
cise of his fascinating power, and when traced by this sense, some 
object of prey was always found suffering from this influence, To 
these facts Major Garden added some anecdotes collected from 
Vaillant’s: travels and other sources, corroborating his. theory. 
When gorged with food the serpent is supine. It is only when 
under the.stimulus of hunger that he exerts this fascinating fa- 
culty. c— 
CAST-IRON BRIDGE. 

It is proposed to erect a stupendous bridge over the river Forth, 
at Queensferry, the line of which is ‘to begin at high-water 
mark, near Newhall’s Inn, and is to-traverse the island of Garvie, 
at a point, and terminate at the battery rock on the north shore. 
The length of the bridge will be one furlong, and its height 
ninety feet above the stream tide. It is to be of cast iron, upon 
the principle of suspension.. 


LECTURES. ; 


Medical School of St. Thomas’s and Guy’s Hospitals.—The 
usual Lectures at these adjoining Hospitals, which commence the 
2d of October, will be given as follows ; viz. _ 

At St. Thoinas’s.—-Anatomy and the Operations of Surgery, 
by Mr. Astley Cooper and Mr. Henry Cline.— Principles and 
Practice of Surgery, by Mr. Astley Cooper. . 

At Guy’s.— Practice of Medicine, by Dr. Curry and Dr. 
Cholmeley. — Chemistry, by Dr. Marcet and Mr. Allen.— 
Experimental Philosophy, by Mr. Allen—~Theory of Medicine, 
and Materia Medica, by Dr. Curry and Dr, Cholmeley.—Mid- 
wifery, and Diseases of Women and Children, by Dr.Haighton. 
Physiology, or Laws of the Animal @conomy, by Dr. Haighton 
‘and Dr. Blundell.—Structure and Diseases of the Teeth, by Mr. 
Bell.—A Course of Clinical Lectures will be given in the Winter 
by Dr. Marcet:—And a Course of Practical Botany in theSpring, 
by Mr. Salisbury, of the Botanic Garden, Chelsea. 

N. B, These several Lectures, with those on Anatomy, and on 
the Principles and Practice of Surgery, given at the Theatre of 
ae St. 


Lectures.—Patents. 235 


St. Thomas’s Hospital adjoining, are so arranged, as not to in- 
terfere with each other in the hours of attendance, nor with the 
Medical or Surgical Practice of the Hospital: and the whole is 
calculated to form ‘A complete Course of Medical and Chirur- 
gical Instruction.’ Terms and other Particulars my be learnt 
from Mr. Stocker, Apothecary to Guy’s Hospital ; who alone is 
empowered to receive entrance money from Pupils, for any of 
these Lectures delivered at Guy’s Hospital. 


LIST OF PATENTS FOR NEW INVENTIONS. 


To Thomas Machell, of Great Ryder-street, in the parish of 
Saint James. Westminster, in the eounty of Middlesex, surgeon, 
for his:improved method of applying for medicinal purposes, the 
agency of atmospheric air, liquid or gaseous substances to the 
-external surface, and to some of the internal cavities and pas- 
sages of the human body, and for the more convenient and useful 
mode of employing.oil, and spirits on similar principles in lamps 
and other luminous apparatus.—24th August, 1818.—6 months 
allowed to enroll specification. 

To John Bennett, of Manchester, in the county palatine of 
Lancaster, shopkeeper, for his certain improvements in filtering 
vessels, and in the filtering medium thereof.—31st August.—-6 
months. 

To Joseph Bowyer, of Kidderminster, in the county of Wor- 
cester, carpet manufacturer, for his improvement in the machinery 
for making Brussels and cut pile. commonly called Wilton car- 
peting, figured rugs, and imperial rugs.—s1st August.—2 mo. 

To Richard Green, of Lisle-street, Leicester-square, in the 
country of Middlesex, sadlers’ ironmonger, for his improvement 
upon the spring billet for harness, and the application thereof to 
bridles, heads and reins, bits, sword belts, gun-springs and other 
purposes.—31st August.—2 months. 

To William Salisbury, of Brompton, in the county of Middle- 
sex, botanist, for a machine or implement for the purpose of pre- 
paring hemp, flax, and other vegetable fibrous substances, partly 
communicated to him by a foreigner in the service of His Im- 
perial Majesty the Emperor of Russia, and partly of his own in- 
vention.—3 lst August.—6 months. 

To Frederick Dizi, of Crabtree, in the parish of Fulham and 
county of Middlesex, for his discovered improvement in musical 
wind instruments of certain descriptions.—31st August. —6 mo. 

To Henry Stubbs, of Saint James’s-street, in the parish of 
Saint James and county of Middlesex, blind manufacturer, for 
his moveable heel for boots, shoes, and other purposes,—/th 
Sept.—6 mo. 


METEORO- 


[ 236 }j 
METEOROLOGY. | 

Observations at Augsburgh, July 30. By Professor Starx. 

According to the observation of the Rev. Mr. Stark, at thirty- 
nine minutes past 3 P.M. of yesterday, Reaumur’s thermometer 
was in the shade at 25°:,, and one exposed to the sun 35°,4, ; 
at the same time Saussure’s hygrometer indicated the highest 
degree of dryness or zero, and the manometer the greatest poro- 
sity (Lockerheit’ s) of the aiy 10°8, French grains. ‘The heat di- 
minished only one degree till forty-three minutes past four. The 
positive electricity of the air was still increasing and had reached 
to 16°; the negative had remained for several days at zero. 
The evaporation of the water in the atmometer amounted to 

24, Paris lines from a Paris square foot in twenty-four hours 
from the preceding day, when the thermometer was at 33° in 
‘the sun, and at 24° 8. in the shade, -till 4 o’clock P.M. After 
two thunder storms that passed off at a distance, followed by 
rain yesterday evening,—this morning, and at noon, the hygro- 
meter showed at half past two the greatest moisture or 100°, 
after having been only twenty-three hours before at zero, in the 
greatest degree of dryness, 

A Meteor. —Mr. Hall, Professor of Natural Philosophy in 
Middlebury College, United States, has published a scientific ac- 
‘count of a meteor, of uncommon magnitude aid brilliancy, seen - 
in that vicinity on the evening of the 17th of June. To some, 
he informs us, the diameter appeared as large as the full moon 
at rising ; but to others, not more than half as large. While in 
the heavens, it appeared to emit sparks; and some of the be- 
holders of it say, it exploded three times with a noise like heavy 
thunder, or, as some represent it, like three distinct discharges 
of a canuion in quick succession. Tt had the appearance of iron 
in a furnace the instant it-is beginning to fuse. The houses were 
jarred by the explosion, as they are by a slight earthquake. To 
one person it appeared to ‘‘roll over’’ in the agitation or leap, 
‘(the effect of the explosion,) and to grow less after each agita- 
tion, and shortly after the third disappeared. Many saw the 
"light, who did not see the meteor. Its distance, and of course 
magnitude, have not been ascertained; and there was a dif- 
ference in the computation of the time it was visible. One per- 
son thinks it was fifteen minutes after having seen the agitation, 
before he heard the reports ; which, if correct, would have placed* 
the meteor two hundred miles distant. ‘Sound passes about 
thirteen miles in a minute. But meteors have been seen to move 

at the rate of one thousand miles in a minute. 

The Professor is anxious to ascertain if any stones were pro- 
jected from this meteor; and hopes to hear something on: the 
subject from his friends in the eastern part of Vermont, or New 
Hampshire, in which direction it passed, 


Meteorology. 237 


Meteorological Journal kept at Walthamstow, Dien, from 
August 15 to September 15, 1818. 

[Usually between the Hours of Seven and Nine A.M. and the Thermometer 
(a second time) between Twelve and Two P.M. ] 

Date. Therm. Barom. Wind. 


August 
Gay} 
67 
16 58 
Edits 
17 56 
. 946 
18 52 
rer 
19 52 
67 
20 53 
t, won 
21 . 50 
70 
PS, | 
66 
28,402 
67_ 
24 58 
69 
2 - 55 
70 
26 51 
_ 66 
27. -«56 
66 
28 61 
= 79 
29 57 
30. 64 
Te 
31 49 
72 


30°10 
30°10 
30°10 
29-99 
29-95 


39:00 
30:00 


30:00. 


30:20 


30°15 


30°10 
30:00 


“29°80 


29°64 


29:90 
29:90 


30°00 


N.NW.—Cloudy & windy; distant hills hazy; 
wind, clouds, & gleams of sun; cloudy night. 

N _—Wind, cumuli, and clear ; ‘very fine day ; 
stars and some cirrocumuli, Full moon. 

N.—Gray morn ; fine day, veryhot; 6 P.M. 
some drops of rain; clouds, clear, and cumuli. 

NW—W.—Fine sunshine, and some stratus ; 
fine hot day, and some wind; clear night. 

N.NW—W.—Clear and windy; a few cumulz 
NW; cumulz, wind, and some sun ; about 
7 P.M. part of a rainbow, but not any rain ; 
cloudy and windy. 

NW.—Gray and windy; fine day; not much 
sunshine; stars and cumudi, 

NW—N.—Sun and wind, and cirrostratus ; . 
fine day; about 7 P.M. beautiful cirr ocumulis 
night cloudy, and drops of rain. 

NW.— Sun and cirrostratus, and a strong 
dew; very fine day; bright star-light. 

NW—N.—Fine sun, and wind ; very fine days 
dark night. Moon last quarter. 

NW—SW—NW.— Gray and windy; fine day; 
stars and thin cirrostratus. 

NW.—W.—Clear, sun, and cirrostratus ; fine 
day; cumuli, clear and windy; dark night. 

SW—W.—Fine morn; sun and clouds; clouds 
and sun;. fine day; night dark and windy. 

W—S.—Gray, and some wind; at 10 A.M. a 
shower; gleams of sun, and wind; rain from 
about 2 P.M. to7 P.M.; dark and hazy. 

W—NW.—Cloudy and windy; ; sun and wind; 
fine day, and very hot; bright star-light. 


-S—NW.—Sun early; hazy; fine day; very 


hot; cloudy night. 

W—Nw. —Sun, and cirrostratus; set rain 
about 7 A.M.; fine day; sun and wind, and 
very warm 5 fine orange sunset; stars, but 
Not very bright. 

S.—Fine clear morn, but some sfratus near 
the horizon; very fine hot day; clear star- 
light night. New moon, September 


Meteorology. 


S—SW.—Slight rain ; hot, cloudy and windy; 
fine day; 8 P.M. drops of rain; 9 P.M. 
cloudy and windy; 11P.M. bright star-light. 

SW—NW.—Clear high, and a strong dew and 
haze low; very fine day; star-light and windy. 

SW.—Hazy morn ; fine day; hot; dark, windy, 
and hot. ' f 

SW.—Some rain, and windy; sun and clouds; 
very hot day; fine day; some drops of rain; 
dark and windy; rain in the night. 

SW—SE.— Cloudy and hazy; 9$ A.M. a 
shower, and rain continued tillabout 3 P.M.; 
then fine till after dark; rainy evening. 

SE—NW—SW.—Rainy till about 10 A.M.; 
fine day; sunshine; bright star-light, and 
some wind, 

W—NW.—Clear and clouds; fine day, wind 
and sun; clear star-light; aurora Lorealis. 
Moon first quarter. 

W—SW—SE—N—S.—Fine clear’sky, and 
cirrus ; fme day; sun; clouds; slight rain at 
3 P.M.; at5 P.M. dark nimbus and distant, 
thunder, and slight rain; dark night early; 
1] P.M. some stars and aurora borealis. 

N—NW.—Very fine and clear, and cirrus ; fine 
day; some set rain after 3 P.M..; star-light.. 

N—NW.—Clear, ctrrostratus, and wind; sun 
and wind; fine day; cloudy night. 

NW—W.— Perfect clear calm morning;. fine 
day; some wind; clear stars, and some cir- 
rocumult, | 

W—NW.—Clear and windy; fine day; some 
drops of rain; stars, moon, cirrocumuli, and 
wind, 

NW.—Cumuli, clear, and wind;. fine day.; 
moon- and star-light. 

S—SW.—Hazy; some sun; cloudy day, but. 
some sun; windy; cloudy night. Full moon. 


238 

Date. Therm. Barom. Wind. 

September 

1 63 29°60 
73 

2 56 29-80 
70 

3 59 30-00 
71 

4 65 29°95 
74 

5 65 29:95 
67 

6 56 29-70 
67 

7 53 29-80 
66 

8 49 29-90 
64 

9 48 2970 
65 

10 49 29-80 
61 

Il 45 29°82 
61 

12 48 29:95 
64 

13. 52 30°15 
66 

14 49 30:20 
64 . 

15 59 29-90 
68 


SW.—Gray and windy; sun and clouds, rain 
about 2 P.M. till after 5, and then again a 
hard shower ; cloudy night. 


Erra7a in last month's Magazine: 


23d July, for Barometer 72 at 10 P.M. read Thermometer 72 at 10.P.M.,, 
and, for 24th August read 24th July, 


METEORO- 


Meteorology. ; 239 


METEOROLOGICAL. JOURNAL, KEPT AT, BOSTON, 


LINCOLNSHIRE, 
—— 


[The time of observation, unless otherwise, stated, is at 1 P.M.] 


= 


Age of 


Moon | meter. 
DAYS 
Aug. 16) full | 65°5 
15 | 68 
16 | 64°5 
17 | 64 
18 | 62° 
19 | 62° 
20 | 60° 
21 64° 
a2 61° 
23 | 63°5 
94 63° 
25 }: 66° 
°26.| 63°5 
Q7'| 74° 
28 | 66°5 
new| 67°5 
1 75°5 
Q:| Ub 
3 | 70° 
4] 745 
: 5.) 69°5 
6} 69° 
7 62° 
8 | 58° 
:9 4 56: 
10} 55° 
11 | 56° 
12 59°5 
13 |- 63° 
14 | 66° 


the |[hermo-| Baro- |State of the Weather and Modification 


meter. of the Clouds. 


. 30°15 |Cloudy 


30'11 |Cloudy—rain P.M, 
30°05 |Ditto—rain A.M. 


30°10 |Ditto 


30°15 |Ditto 


30°14 |Ditto—rain in the evening 


30°16 |Ditto 

‘30°29 |Fine 

30°21 |Cloudy 

30°14 |Ditto. 

30°01 |Ditto—rain in the evening 
29°79 |Ditto 

29°71 |Ditto 

‘30°02 |Fine - 

(29°88 |Ditto 

30°02 |Ditto 
29°53 |Ditto—showery in the morning 
'29'86 |Ditto 

(30°09 |Ditto—rain, at night 

29°96 |Ditto do. 

30°01 |Cloudy—heavy rain at night 
29°79 |Fine 

29°93 |Cloudy 

29°99 |Ditto 

29°77 |Rain 

29°86 |Fine 

29°90 |Ditto 

30°03 |Cloudy 

30°32 |Ditto—rain in the morning 
30°15 |Ditto do, evening 


METERORO- 


240 


Days of 
Month. 


August 27 
28 


8 o’Clock, 
Morning 


Meteorology. 


METEOROLOGICAL TABLE, 


By Mr. Cary, oF THE STRAND, 
For September 1818. 


Thermometer. 


.| Height of 
the Barom, 


Inches. 


ness by Leslie’s 


DegreesofDry- 
Hygrometer, 


Weather. 


Rain 
Fair 
Fair 
Fair 
Fair 
Fair 
Fair 
Fair ‘be 
Fair 


-|Rain 


Showery 

Fair [the evening 
Fair, thunder in 
Cloudy 

Fair 

Fair 

Fair —* 

Fair 

Fair [night 
Cloudy, rain at 
Showery 

Fair 

Rain © 


 |Small rain 


Stormy 
Stormy 
Cloudy 
Cloudy 
Cloudy 
Cloudy, heavy rain 
Fair, rain at night 


N.B. The Barometer’s height is taken at one o’clock. 


— ee 


[ 21 ] 


XXXIX. On the Question “Whether Music is necessary to the 
Orator,—to what Extent, and how most readily attainable 2” 
By Henry Upineton, Esq. 


[Continued from p. 168.} 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Blair’s Hill, Cork, Sept. 16, 1818. 
Sir, — You will no doubt perceive by the general tenor of my 
papers, but more especially by the tenor of my last, that I have 
aimed at little more than a comprehensive outline of my sub- 
ject; and have therefore left to the good sense and discernment 
of my readers the supplying of several deficiencies which my dis- 
inclination for detail has unavoidably occasioned. Thus for ex- 
ample, in place of chiefly ascribing to the successively descending 
intervals with which our music abounds—the propensity of our 
public readers and_orators to sink inaudibly through the scale at 
the termination of their periods; I might also have adduced the 
wideness of interval, extent of scale, and usually inappropriate 
modulation when applied to speech, with which our songs and 
other musical productions so frequently conclude. In speaking 
too of the rhetorical cadence, 1 might have added that in several 
eases (especially when not preceded by a pause) this cadence is 
less distinctively marked than in others. I might also have qua- 
lified my assertion that ‘ the ultimate falling syllables of an an- 
cient period could never have exceeded two,”’ by stating the pro- 
bable exception in the Roman language, of a terminating mono- 
syllable when preceded by a word of three or more syllables 
whose accent is seated on the antepenult: but, as I] have already 
said, these and:several other matters of detail have been inten- 

tionally left to the good sense and discernment of the reader. 
To proceed then with my inquiry. A taste manifestly vicious 
in the extreme having for some time publicly appeared among 
the propagators of novelty in this kingdom, who in addition to 
the hideous extension of certain syllables, and the inarticulate 
crowding of others—would fain violate all the chasteness of lan- 
guage by the introduction of a periodical thump, the necessary 
consequence of executing any passage by the beat of time, con- 
formably to our present mode of barring *; my attention was, if 
possible, more carefully directed to the analysis of this than of 
any other topic. Not satisfied therefore with the coinciding opi- 
: nion 


* The introducers of this borring system «are the real or pretended ad- 
mirers of “Prosodiu Rationalis,” whose anti-oratorical author, Joshua Steele, 
would extend our ordinary speaking scale to an octave and a half; and 
the duration of our syllables to the monstrous ratio of eight to one—while, 


Vol. 52. No. 246. Oct. 1818. Q even 


242 © Whether Music is necessary to the Orator,— 


nion of my assocraTE, I solicited the conjoint operation and 
opinion of several amateurs and professional musicians; by all of 
whom the following observations were unhesitatingly made. 


Examination of Toe SPEAKER continued. 
OF "TIME. 


Observation \st.—Alterations of the general movement were 
almost perpetual, every perceptible change of emotion producing, 
though even in the same clause, a corresponding acceleration or re- 
tardation of delivery; while even in the most regular clause, no ap- 
preciable Jar whatever, with the exception of an occasional ap- 
proximation to our 2 or 2, could be said in any way to exist. 
Nevertheless, a ériple¢ similar to that in “* God save the King ” 
did now and then attract our attention. 

Observation 2d.—Combinations more or less independent of 
our usual barring arrangement—and whose effect was at times 
peculiarly expressive—were continually perceived. But on these 
combinations we considered ourselves too inexperienced to re- 
port. 

Observation 3d.—Emphatical words, the vowel of whose em- 
phatic syllabie was long by nature [this term is used for perspi- 
cuity], were rather frequently marked by a moderate extension 
of those vowels; while in the case of short vowels, similarly cir- 
cumstanced, scarcely any extension of these, at any time took 
place: nevertheless, in both instances a certain extension of 
prolongable consonants [not mutes] was occasionally obvious. 


Remarks on the preceding Observations. 


The more attentively we consider the present barring system 
in its application to speech, the more numerous are the objections 
to its adoption. Besides that periodical thump which all time- 


even in recitative, Handel is satisfied with four to one, and for the most 
part with ha/f this ratio, Let us take the very first example which oceurs 
in Steele’s book, as a specimen of his taste, and conception of rhythmus. 
[fn executing this passage let the experimenter take care that he not only 
beats the time, but allots the assigned duration to every individual 
.  sytlable.] 


aim 


8 


Oh {happi-ness our being’s | end and 
2 Ms eh iy led ie’ 4 4 | 4 4 6 Q 


Czsar’s remark on the sing-song speaker may be justly applied to Mr. 
Steele: If this be singing, it is singing very badly, Some trifling ballad 
may possibly present one or two accidental lines to which, if expression be 
not required, this time-beating process may somewhat closely be applied ; 
—but who would covet the execution at so grcat a sacrifice ? 


beating 


to what Extent, and how most readily attainable?” 243 


beating by forte must inevitably produce ;—besides tnat horrific 
extension and inarticulate contraction of syllablesso inappropriate 
to oratory, which must consequently follow ;—besides the im- 
possibility, under regular time, of expressing our emotions by the 
immediate transitions from quick to slow and from slow to quick, 
to which we are instinctively prompted by those emotions * ;— 
besides these and many other objections which may be urged 
with regard to speech—is not the musician himself aware, that 
in proportion as he mechanically adheres to the exact execution 
of his musical time, even in song—in that proportion must he 
necessarily fall short of the admirable expression which distin- 
guishes the celebrated solo singer from the grosser performer ? 

In recitative (the design of which is the imitation of speech), 
how much more the latitude! The performer must be heard; 
and whenever superior energy and expression are intended, he 
must conform in a striking degree to the irregular dimensions of 
our syllables, articulating, with requisite length, 4 considerable - 
number, which the composer, for the preservation of imaginary 
time, has represented as very short; and shortening a number 
of those, especially the particles, which the composer may have 
represented too longt. The performer must also, on several 
occasions, extend for the sake of expression certain notes to 
which too limited duration had been assigned ; and he must con- 
sequently shorten others. He must likewise constantly surpass 
his bars by syncopation: he must considerably derange that order 

-of emphasis which the habitual character of our song prescribes: 
he must constantly pause where the sense requires, and disregard 
imaginary rests: in fine—to excel in recitative, he must wnlearn, 
and with no small share of difficulty, all his previously contracted 
time-beating habits, adopting every method which art or nature- 
may. suggest, for the annihilation of his bars, and the attainment 
of more appropriate expression. 

Against all these objections the advocates of barring will plead, 
and apparently with reason, the necessity of some certain basis 
for the establishment of regular proportion, from which the per- 
former may afterwards more or less depart, as fancy regulated by 
general usage shall invite him. Now with these advocates I 
should probably agree as to the utility of barring, [not in their 
way by constantly commencing forte,] were recitative not speech 
the ultimate object: but with regard to speech, whose latitude 


* The ancients, whose taste in every thing that related to oratory was , 
conspicuous, were particularly attentive to these transitions, Quintilian, 
in the 3d chap. of the xith book of his Institutes, points them out to the 
orator as indispensably connected with expression. 

+ Handel himself, in that superior passage which I have so often quoted, 
has marked equally with a semiquaver the words a, the, I, plung’d, blow. 

compared 


244 * Whether Music is necessary to the Orator,— 


compared with recitative is undoubtedly greater than that of re- 
citative compared with song, is there not a more simple and less 
objectionable method of cultivating proportion, by which the 
speaker shall neither misspend his valuable hours in learning the 
mechanical operation of beating our various species of time ; 
nor acquire, in the remotest degree, any habit that shall endan- 
ger his delivery and cost hin much subsequent trouble to re- 
move ? 

T'o this simple method our attention will speedily be directed. 
But although it were ever so necessary, and even practicable, for 
the oratr to improve himself by speaking in barred productions— 
where, as I already observed, is the master capable of composing 
and teaching them? In what species of time, ¢ , 8, or even 3, 
separately or mixed, shall they be written? And although this 
question which appears unanswerable should be solved—shall the 
orator even then sacrifice his own, and in all probability superior 
ideas of beauty, to the ultimate setting of a Joshua Steele? 

The total impracticadility, however, of executing speech, even 
with folerable accuracy, in any species of musical time, is in my 
opinion self-evident. Nothing for the ascertainment of this fact 
has on my part, or on that of my assocraTe and other musical 
assistants, been left undone. Various passages were selected, 
and all equally failed. At length we confined ourselves to that 
passage which Joshua Steele had intentionally chosen in the out- 
set of his work as the foundation of his theory, ‘ Oh happiness, 
&e.” and which I have already given as set by that fanciful gen- 
tleman. This passage was separately taken up by each indivi- 
dual, and set in that form which in his opinion was most ana- 
logous to the delivery of our chastest speakers, and at the same 
time consonant, as much as possible, with musical usage :—all 
these settings were compared ; and after mature discussion, the 
following was preferred : 

— 
6 . r . 
Pole alae ots Popes ompeulen 
Oh happiness [our being’s end and aim. | 
8 owkii dl do 7i2, 2a Ziwith 3 
12 444 4 8 8 4 8 4 12 


Or= 


The exact musical execution of this piece now followed: the 
time was regularly beat, and the relative proportion of every 
note observed as systematically as in concert: but the result was 
intolerable :—it was any thing but speech. 

A reader of the superior order attended our consultation. He 
slowly recited the passage. Some trifling defects were observed, 
especially in the execution of the last word, which by over-ex- 
tension produced too much the effect of an independent line 

without 


to what Extent, and how most readily attainable?” 245 


without reference to the succeeding. These defects were re- 
medied : the passage was practised, and finally delivered, as well 
as the human ear could estimate so irregular a combination, in 
the following proportions, the rhythmical divisions or bars being 
exactly ascertained by viewing an adjusted pendulum which vi- 
brated seventy-two timesina minute. The recital of the six di- 
visions occupied precisely five seconds of time, or six vibrations. 


Oh B apps ss—our | being\’s end—ljand aim— 
2 14 35)6 6| 661 9 3/4 8 


This unavoidable irregularity of proportion in syllables, —espe- 
cially the short ones, which consistently with the character of 
language can neither be contracted nor extended, but in a very 
limited degree—was equally acknowledged by the ancients; 
Dionysius of Halicarnassus having supplied us in this respect with 
an interesting document unknown to the generality of our best 
informed. This intelligent critic, in the xvth section of his ce- 
lebrated work on language, has the following passage; which 
proves to our satisfaction that the Greeks themselves, who pos- 
sessed the most regular language ever formed by man, never en- 
tertained the chimerical notion of reciting even their poeiry in 
any thing like accurate time or quantity. This passage being 
rather long, I shal] give it a summary translation. 

‘¢ It must be confessed,” says Dionysius, ‘‘ that the syllable 
is short which consists of a short vowel, suppose o in 6205. Pre- 
fix to this the semivowel # as £o%0¢, and the syllable remains 
short—not however in the same manner, as it will have a certain 
minute addition of time more than the former. Prefix again the 
mute Tr, as Tgd705: this syllable will then be greater than the for- 
mer syllables, and yet it remains short. Prefix a third letter, as 
otesg¢os: and by these three audible additions it becomes still 
longer. The same with our long syllables : y if increased by the 
addition of four letters, as in owAjv, would certainly be rendered 
greater than when it consisted of the single letter. It is suffi- 
cient to say, that a short syllable differs from a short, and a long 
syllable from a long one; and that every short has mot the same 
power, neither has every Jong, whether in prose or in poetry.” 

Such was the Grecian usage—such the Roman—and such 
must continue the necessary usage of this and of every other 
country. | 

To what purpose then, say our modern disputants, have all 
the regulations of imaginary quantity been established by the 
ancients? and have not these regulations contributed’ to lar- 
barize both languages, particularlythe Roman? These are the 
general questions of uninformed critics, and to these I shall par- 

Q 3 ticularly 


246 Whether Music is necessary to the Orator,— 


ticularly reply (if reply I may call it), by asking them a few 
questions in my turn. 

Ist. Have you ever known an individual who gave himself the 
trouble of reading either language by the outline of quantity? 
If not—how can you decide on the utility or inutility of those 
bulwarks against innovation which Grecian taste and judgement 
so industriously erected ? 

2d. Are you aware that /ong quantity does not consist in the 
enunciation of what is called a long vowel, but in the appropriate 
extension of syllables, which by the agency of vowels and pro- 
longable consonants we are enabled to accomplish ? 

3d. Are you aware that syllables called by our countrymen 
long,—as the last syllable in remove,—can with a little practice 
be uttered as quickly as the last syllable in remit ? 

4th. Can you readily pronounce with considerable extension, 
the second syllable of sébaoth* (emphasis or accent on the 
first)—or the last syllable of your own word dedicate, without 
destroying the chaste English character of these words? If not— 
learn, for I have heard it frequently done. 

5th. Do you perceive, by the tendency of my two last ques- 
tions, that ancient Iambics like décés may and can be read in 
quantity, preserving the emphasis or accent on the first syl- 
lable + ? 

6th. When you reflect on Quintilian’s observation,—that in cer- 
tain cases it required some delicacy of ear to distinguish whether 


* Mr. Walker in his Classical Pronouncing Dictionary has this extraor- 
dinary note on the word sabaoth. ‘ This word should not be confounded - 
in its pronunciation with sabbath. Sabaoth ought to be heard in three syl- 
lables, by keeping the a and 9 separate and distinct, which it must be con- 
fessed is not casy to do.” Not easy ! wretched must be the habits of that 
speaker who finds it difficult. 

+ The character of this lambus, when commanded, is wonderfully mar- 
tial. I have heard the English word cohorts so uttered—first syllable short; 
second very long—without any deviation from the usual vowel sounds: but 
T considered it very extraordinary that when the speaker thought proper, 
he could render the second syllable incomparably louder than the first, 
without altering what an English ear would denominate the stress or accent. 
This phenomenon being closely investigated, the deception was discovered : 
the second syllable was actually weaker than the first at its commencement ; 
but having terminated in a crescendo, thus: 


Co a De 


oie O...rts 


every ear was satisfied with the imaginary execution of the accent. 
By reversing the character, it became incredibly sof¢—as thus : 


Co... ho,.. rts It was more than Italian. 


a long 


to what Extent, and how most readily attainable?” 247 


a long syllable were really so delivered—are you not compelled 
to infer, that, agreeably to ancient practice, the naturally long 
anemphatic vowels were seldom extended equally with the long 
emphatic ones? 

7th. Have you learned from the 14th section of Dionysius of 
Halicarnassus, that the short vowels of the ancients were not, 
like our short ones, incapable of prolongation without consti- 
tuting a novel sound?—but that the narrowness or effeminaey 
[oxatovixov] of those vowels rendered them comparatively in- 
eligible for extension ? 

Sth. Have you ever been informed that a syllable naturally 
short, as the first in Jodkin, may be considered as extended by the 
addition of that trifling interruption which is perceptible between 
the d and &; in the ratio of about 4 to 3: or in other words, 
that this interruption or rest may, in the case of syllables equally 
short with Lod, be accounted equivalent to the one-third of every 
such syllable ?—and do you not imagine that on several occa- 
sions a delicate extension of the vowel itself *, as well as of pro- 
longable consonants, did likewise take place, for the additional 
assistance of the rhythmus ? 

9th. Do you imagine that in reading the Classics, or even in 
speaking vour own language, you ever iterate (in the same word) 
an immediately preceding consonant, as the din goddess? And 
yet that it can be sounded, you must acknowledge by attending 
to your own pronunciation of the two d@’s in bad day, good day, 
&c. You may possibly allege that such mode of pronunciation— 
requiring as it does the distinct delivery of every written charac- 
ter, and which would clearly and strongly articulate even the 
second syllable in imperfection or tolerate—must have rendered 
the Classical languages much slower than our own. I grant it. 
But will you insist that our speaking more slowly and intelligibly 
than we do, could render us more imperfect as orators, or lessen 
our dignity as a nation ? 


* In reading the ancient languages, I do not argue for any unnecessary 
innovation in our present manner of sounding all kinds of vowels, when 
metre is not in question, It is judicious, in my opinion, to conform in every 
possible manner to the usage of our native tongue; but certainly, if an 
ancient Greek had proposed the abolition of his noblest vowel 2aga, and 
the substitution of our narrow ee for his open 47a, L should compare him, 
and deservedly, to a musician who having in his possession five different 
bells, should demolish the noblest, and choke the second for the im- 
provement of his melody. But with respect to our rhythmus; why not 
substitute the /ong vowel sound for that of the short in all position cases 
where the ear shall actually require such substitution? And would not the 
consequent melody which such reading would produce, materially influence 
our national elocution? Thus would the ancient Hexameter be restored to 
its original sublimity, and the metre of Horace, while sufficiently rough, be 
ne longer stigmatized by the illiterate as the jargon of a Hottentot, Oth 

10th. 


248 Whether Music is necessary to the Orator,— 


10th. In reading both the Greek and Latin languages, (but 
especially the latter,) do you regularly attend to the due exten- 
sion; or in your own phraseology, do you give the long sound 
to all those vowels which are ly nature long, regardless of their 
nominal length by position,? And are you certain that the Grecian 
language with respect to its emphatic syllables (especially in its 
poetry, to which almost every license was extended) is regulated 
like the Roman*? ° . 

These are the great outlines of time or quantity (as well as 
forte), without the understanding and observance of which it is 
in my mind an impossibility to form an adequate opinion of the 
prosody of the ancient languages ; and consequently of the ef- 
fects of the various combinations which with most advantage 
may be introduced into our own. The idea of barring in the 
modern way, must however, to all appearance, be set down not 
only as destructive to oratorical delivery; but, in addition, as ne- 
cessarily excluding (even by the confession of Rousseau himself) 
every species of combination, except that isolated onet, which, 
for the facility of keeping time in concert, such limited system 
would impose. Even in their music, the ancient latitude in the 
collocation of long and short was much greater than ours: and 
hence, for want of experience, the almost insuperable difficulty, 
with modern musicians, of executing with precision certain frag- 
ments which accident has preserved; such, for example, as that 
portion of a Pindaric ode with which we have been favoured in 
the Musical Dictionary of the before-mentioned writer. 


some oe ea a 


xXoU—Te— 900 — wire A-roA—Aw—vos &e. 


seal rag omits pa FI aE 


But in the critical way of Dionysius 
of Halicarnassus it would scan thus 


-~v-|--|v-- 


_ * Our present conception of the Romaw stress or accent is in my opinion 
invariably correct: huwever, in neither Greek nor Roman language does 
it appear in general so decisively marked as in our own. 

1 “* Cette maniere d’exprimer le tems ou la mesure des notes changea 
entiérement durant le cours du dernier siécle. Des qu’on eut pris l'habi- 
tude de renfermer chaque mesure entre deux barres, il fallut nécessairement 
proscrire toutes les espéces de notes qui renfermoient plusieurs mesures.” 
See Rousseau’s Musical Dictionary, article Mesure. . 

The opinion of Vossitis too, upon this subject, has been respectfully 
quoted by Rousseau in the following words: ‘* I] dit, qu’un rhythme dé- 
taché comme le notre qui ne représeute aucune image des choses, ne peut 
avoir aucun effet; et que les ancicus nombres poétiques n’avoient été in- 
ventés que pour cette fin que nous névligeons.” 


constituting 


towhat Extent, and how most readily attainable?” 249 


constituting by this judicious method, a Cretic, a Spondee, and 

a Bacchic,—of whose metrical characters a more definite notion 

can be formed than of those of the mixed Trochee or Iambus, 

which immediately lose themselves in combination. 

When the Greek and Latin languages shall be rightly culti- 
vated, and delivered as they ought; then, and not till then, may 
we presume to analyse the genuine character of those measures 
in which every poet and orator of notoriety excelled: and there- 
fore I shall postpone, if not absolutely avoid, the intricate dis- 
cussion, from the conscious difficulty of conveying my ideas in 
perspicuous language even when accompanied by oral exempli- 
fication. This letter on Time or Quantity must conclude then 
by an attempt, (and I hope not altogether a fruitless one,) finally 
to investigate,—on what rhythmical principle, independently of 
- feet, the well-executed recitation of our best poetry deperids. 

Adhering most strictly, in the pursuit of this question, to my 
original design, I rejected as usual all speculative notions, and 
resorted to experiment. The reciter by whom “ Oh happiness” 
was spoken, indulged my curiosity; and two intelligent musicians, 
together with my AssocraTE, lent me the assistance of their eyes 
and ears—their eyes to ascertain the boundaries by the move- 
ment of a pendulum (beating time with the hand being too 
clumsy a criterion) ; and ears for the subsequent measurement, 
in some tolerable manner, of the relative proportions. 

The poet was next sought for, and Mi_ton obtained the ge- 
neral approbation. Half a dozen sufficiently regudar lines of the 
“¢ Paradise Lost ”’ (the more oratorical* ones ‘though excelling 
the others in sublimity having baffled our attempts) were chosen, 
practised and repractised with remarkable distinctness, until every 
ear was pleased. Of these lines an adequate conception may be 
formed by the terminating one of the exordium ; and this for the 
gratification of the reader I shall transcribe exactly as it was 
spoken. 

{In the following experiment I have not particularly designated 
the position syllables, such minute accuracy being tvo per- 
plexing.] 

Experiment. 
aie unat|tempted yet|-—in pro|se—or rhy 


~~ 
fo. 72 10 8. 8G hehe An. 


Vey SSF aed 
24 24 24 24 


* “ And chiefly thou Oh! spirit” down to “ mad’st it pregnant” were 
among this number. 
+A position syllable too quickly uttered cannot be considered long. 
The dic in dictio, or even the trac in tructus, may, if the speaker choose, 
be equalized with the shortest syllables in the Latin language. x 
et 


me 


250 Whether Music is necessary to the Orator 2” 


Let us reduce this passage, as nearly as we can, to some mu- 
sical standard; and the mixed characters of time will be more 
conspicuous. Suppose thus: 


A a eal A a 


Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme. 
Or even thus: 


al bye) | ab [eb [| 


Things unattempted yet im prose or rhyme. 


Does not this experiment throw a considerable light upon our 
subject? Here may be discovered that the rhythm of language 
is governed as it should be, by éime and not by noise: that con- 
siderable deviations from all rhythmical regularity are necessary 
to the sublime: that barring in the ordinary way, by perpetually 
commencing forte, even in song, but especially in recitative, is 
unscientific * in the extreme: that speech, without torturing the 
character of words, has its own proportions, employs its synco- 
pations, and commands its crescendo as well as diminuendo par- 
titiens: that silence, according to ancient conception as well as 
modern experience, must necessarily constitute a portion of the 
rhythmical whole: and finally, that ¢ime of the common, triple, 
and even quintuple character is so frequently and peculiarly 
blended, that no musical annotation can represent it. 

What argument can our speech-barring advocates oppose to 
such undeniable facts? Of these gentlemen, then, | shall-for 
this time take my leave, by obtruding upon their notice an esta- 
blished maxim of my assocraTE, who was literally born a musi- 
cian; that as the most grovelling of all musical performers is 
the country fiddler who employs the agency of force to designate 
his bars—so the most contemptible of all reciters is he who 
marks the boundary of his measures by the instrumentality of 
accent. 

[To be continued. | 

* Slovenly and imperfect too in its result—a certain habitual crowding 
of the several integral parts within the given boundary, and not the rela- 
tive proportions of those integral parts themselves, being the principal re- 
quisite for the preservation of modern time. In proof of this assertion, de- 
prive any ordinary tune which the musician has not previously heard, of 
his perpendicular guides called bars—and so far from playing such tune in 
concert, he will be incapable of playing it at all. Roussrau has given us, 
under the article Barres, a curious anecdote confirmatory of my assertion: 
“‘Auparavant la musique €toit simple: cependant j’ai vu nos meilleurs mu- 
siciens embarrassés 4 bien exécuter l’ancienne musique d’Orlande et de 
Claudin, Ils se perdoient dans Ja mesure, faute des barres, et ne suivoient 
qu’avec peine des parties chantées autrefois couramment par les musiciens 


sde Henri III. et de Charles IX.” 
XL. A Method 


ee) a 


XL. A Method of determining the specific Heat of Bodies from 
their Expansion. By Mr. Tuomas Trepcotp. 


To Mr, Tilloch. 


Sir, — Tus properties of matter are generally divided into two. 
classes, that have been termed Mechanical and Chemical: and 
however important the connexion between these properties may 
be, they have not been compared with that attention which the 
progress of science appears to require. Perhaps the distinction 
of science into Mechanical and Chemical is not favourable to such 
comparisons; and on that account it would be well if it were less 
marked than it is. The distinction has, however, heen gradually 
lessening, and it is to be hoped will soon disappear altogether ; 
for, in as far as they can be considered as sciences, they are founded 
on the same principles. In both departments it must be grati- 
fying to every lover of science to find so many points determined 
by independent experiments, which serve as land-marks to keep 
theoretical inquiry within its proper limits. 

In every inquiry respecting the properties of bodies it is de~ 
sirable to show the dependence of these properties upon one an- 
other; indeed it is evident that the essential distinctions of the 
elementary particles of matter are few, notwithstanding its ap- 
parent diversity of forms and properties; consequently these 
forms and properties must be dependent on one another, 

At present I will attempt to show that the specific heat of 
bodies may be derived from their expansion. But, as I may as- 
sume as axioms some properties of heat that are not fully esta- 
blished, it will be preferable to state them.—I consider heat to 
be a real substance, possessing weight, magnitude, attraction, 
&c. but its specific weight so small that it eannot be determined 
by our instruments. Also, that when heat is added to another 
body, unless it causes a change of state in the body to. which it 
is added, it does not combine, but the compound remains what 
may be termed a mechanical mixture. 

Let m be the magnitude of any body; and S the weight of a. 
cube of the same body whose side is unity. Also, let A be any 
magnitude of heat. Then the magnitude of the body added to 
that of the heat will be =m-+h; and let S’ be the weight of 
a cube of the compound, the side of which is unity. Then, be- 
cause the weight of the heat is. insensible; (m+h) S=mS; 


and the expansion is equal to the bulk of heat added, 
o__c/ 
Hence a ~ =h= the magnitude of the heat when the 


specific weights are known. 
And “°_ — $’= the specific weight of the expanded body. 


meh 
From 


252 A Method of determining the specific Heat 


From this view of the subject we may proceed to find the 
quantities of heat necessary to produce a given change in the 
temperature of bodies, or what is called the specific heat. 

It is obvious that, if the principles I have advanced be correct, 
the quantity of expansion at any temperature will be equal to 
the quantity of heat required to raise the body to that tempera- 
ture. Let the specific heat of the body fixed upon as a standard 
be denoted by unity, or 1; and its expansion for any given 
change of temperature =E: also let e be the expansion of the 
same magnitude of any other body for the same change of tem- 
perature. Then nye 


Rese: sis = = the specific heat of a body of the same bulk. 


Consequently, if the same body be the standard of specific heat 
and specific gravity; and S be the specific gravity of the body of 


which the expansion is e ; 
= = the specific heat of a body of the same weight. 
In the annexed table it will be seen that the specific heats, ac- 
cording to this rule, do not agree very well with those obtained 
by other modes of calculation; for it is to be remembered that it 
is not a case that can be submitted to direct experiment. Inthe 
case of mercury the results are very near. ‘The expansion of the 
different bodies is from the tables in Thomson’s Chemistry, vol. i. 
and specific heats, in the last column, are from the same volume, 
pages 112 and 113. 
Table of the specific Heat of Bodies. 


Spec. heat | Spec. heat | Spec. heat of 


: Expansion of bodies of|uf bodies of bodies of the same 
Substance. in bulk, | the same | the same welght:—from 

bulk weiglit, ona a ieee 

Water.......| 0:0466 | 1-0000 | 1-0000 | 1-0000 

PM Naty ».., 0375 | 8-047 | 6662-8 | 

Alcohol...... O-11 | 2°36 2:883 | 0°76 

Fixed oils... .| O'S 1-716 18 | 0-528 

Mercury .....| 0°02 0-429 =| 00318 | 0-038 

Zinc ........| O'008S | O-1888 | 0-026 0:09438 

i bo eee 0:0024 | 0:0515 | 0-0215°) — 0-187 

Tin.........| 0:00651| 0°1397 | 0-0177.| 0068 

Lead........} 0°00855| 0-1885 | 60161 | 9:050 

Brass .......| 0°00588)| 0°11974| 0-01438 | © 0°11238 

Copper......| 0°00516; 0:1107 | 0:0125 O-111 

Leap} a <Sesaets dm 0-00366| 0:7855 | 0-01 O13 

Cast iron ....| 0°00333| 0-7146 | 0-01 

Hardenedsteel| 0:00323| 0-693 | 0:008S | 


Granting 


of Bodies from their Expansion. 253 


Granting that the principles I have assumed are correct, it 
appears that the expansion expresses the real quantity of heat 
necessary to produce a given change of temperature, and the ratio 
of the specific weights of the ultimate particles of bodies being 
known, the absolute quantity of heat in any body might be as- 

_ certained. 

If the expansion do not express the real quantity of heat, to 
what cause is the increase of bulk to be attributed? On the other 
hand, the experiments that have hitherto been instituted for the 
purpose of determining the specific heat of bodies, must be shown 
to be founded on erroneous principles, before the view of the sub- 
ject, now submitted, can be considered correct. To discuss this 
point, it will be necessary to consider the nature of the changes 
produced in bodies by the action of attraction or affinity. 

Solids and fluids, whenever they are exposed to gaseous bodies, 
always absorb a portion of them, and gaseous bodies absorb one 
another; in the same manner as heat is absorbed by all bodies. 
But the portion of gas absorbed varies, as the temperature; con- 
sequently a specific quantity of gas is essential to fluids and so- 
lids in their natural state. 

Now, unless the attraction between the particles of the body 
be less than its attraction for the particles of the one it absorbs, 
no chemical change will take place in the absorbent; but the ab- 
sorption will continue till the forces are in equilibrio. If the 
heterogeneous attraction exceed the homogeneous, then a new 
combination forms, and the bodies unite in definite proportions 3 
and whatever tends to lessen the homogeneous attraction facili- 
tates this change. _ 

Water is the body that has been generally used to obtain the 
specific heat of bodies: but water holds a considerable portion of 
gas in its pores, and the quantity appears to be inversely as the 
temperature. Hence it is that water has a maximum of density, 
which has been considered an anomaly in the law of expansion 
in consequence of having overlooked this circumstance. The 
absorption of gases by other fluids appears in like manner to be 
the cause of the irregularity of their expansion. 

The mean temperature of any mixture will be influenced by 
the same cause, and therefore the specific heats determined by 
such methods will be incorrect. 

If two portions of water of different temperatures be mixed, the 
temperature of the mixture will be nearly an arithmetical mean 
between those before mixture, because the specific gas is the 
same at all temperatures, in the same manner as the specific heat. 
But when any other body is mixed with water of a different tem- 
perature, the specific gas, as well as the specific heat, has an 

influence 


bo 


54 The Rev. John Michell’s Opinions 


influence on the mean temperature of the mixture; therefore, 
unless the specific gas be known, the specific heat cannot be de- 
termined from the mean temperature. 


XLI. Conjectures concerning the Cause, and Observations upon 
the Phenomena, of Earthquakes; particularly of that great 
Earthquake of the first of November 1755, which proved so 
fatal to the City of Lisbon, and whose Effects were felt as 
far as Africa, and more or less throughout almost all Europe ; 
ly the Rev.Joun Micuext, M.A. Fellow of Queen’s College, 
Cambridge. 

[Continued from p. 195.] 


37. Luss frequency of subterraneous fires, in the neighbour- 
hood of volcanos, will appear still more probable, if we consider 
the internal structure of the Earth; and, as it will be necessary 
also, in order to understand what follows, to know a little more 
of this matter, than what falls under common observation, I shall 
endeavour to give the reader some account of it. 

38. The Earth then (as far as one can judge from the ap- 
pearances) is not composed of ‘heaps of matter casually thrown 
together, but of regular and uniform strata. These strata, 
though they frequently do not exceed a few feet, or perhaps a 
few inches, in thickness, yet often extend in length and breadth 
for many miles, and this without varying their thickness consi- 
derably. The same Stratum also preserves a uniferm character 
throughout (a), though the strata immediately next to each other 
are very often totally different. Thus, for instance, we shall have, 
perhaps, a stratum of potters clay; above that, a stratum of coal ; 
then another stratum of some other kind of clay; next, a sharp 
grit sand-stone; then clay again; next, perhaps, sand-stone 
again; and coal again above that: and it frequently happens, 
that none of these exceed a few yards in thickness. There are, 
however, many instances, in which the same kind of matter is 
extended to the depth of some hundreds of yards; but in all 
these, a very few only excepted, the whole of each is not one 
continued mass, but is again subdivided into a great number of 
thin lamine(l), that seldom are more than one, two, or three feet 
thick, and frequently not so much. ! 

39. Be- 

(a) Itis not clear, that Mr. Michell in this passage, meant to speak strictly, 
or of mineralogical characters only ; see my note on § 47, and the 9th Item 
of Mr. Smith’s Claims, Phil. Mag. vol. li. p. 177.—J. FAREY. 

(b) It does not clearly appear, whether Mr, M. here speaks exclusively of 
thin Strata, or beds parallel or nearly so, to the general stratification; or 

whether 


concerning the Structure of the Earth. 235 


39. Beside the horizontal division of the earth into strata, 
these strata are again divided and shattered by many perpendi- 
cular fissures, which are in some places few and narrow, but 
oftentimes many, and of considerable width. There are also 
many instances, where a particular stratum shall have almost no 
fissures at all, though the strata both above and below it are 
considerably broken: this happens frequently in clay, probably 
on account of the softness of it, which may have made it yield 
to the pressure of the superincumbent matter, and fill up those 
fissures which it originally had(c); for we sometimes meet with 
imstances in mines, where the correspondent fissures in an upper 
and lower stratum are interrupted in an intermediate stratum 
composed of clay, or some such soft matter. 

40. Though these fissures do sometimes. correspond to one 
another in the upper and lower strata, yet this is not generally 
the case, at least not to any great distance: those clefts, how- 
ever, in which the larger veins of the ores of metals are found, 
are an exception to this observation; for they sometimes pass 
through many strata(d), and those of different kinds, to unknown 
depths. | 

4], From 


whether he had noticed, and meant to include herein, the thin lamine, 
highly inclined to the real strata, and called by me stratu/a, which some- 
times occur in the Sandstones of the Coal-measures and are very frequent 
in the coarse Slate districts. (Derby. Report, 1. 155.)—J. F. 

(c) In this 39th section, and the beginning of the 40th, it is to be ob- 
served, that Mr. M. is speaking exclusiy ely ‘of joints or cutters, dividing 
the individual thin strata or beds, into separate blocks, and not of Mineral 
Veins (§ 40), or of Faults (§ 50); although, like as with the latter, he sup- 
poses, that these joints passed at one period through some of the contiguous 
strata or beds, but have since disappeared from the softer ones, by the 
pressure of the incumbent beds, having again closed up the joints in them : 
this latter, however, appears an unnecessary and unwarrantable supposition: 
the face of hardly any deep Quarries or of Cliffs can be contemplated, with- 
out perceiving, that scarcely any two, even of the adjacent beds of Stone, 
have joints correspending with each other, either in the width of open 
fissure, or in their places; evidently, because the individual beds, have, by 
their own peculiar degree of contraction or shrinking, opened these joints, 
in various and independent degrees; aud very frequently, Strata or Beds 
may be found, between others intersected by joints, which have themselves 
suffered no lateral contraction, and are, and ev idently always have been, 
without any joints: thisis very common with strata of Clay between others 
of Limestone, and between Sandstones, with Basaltic Strata interlaying 
Limestones, like those of the Peak-hundreds of Derbyshire, &e.J. F. 

(d) Although Mineral Veins, including Dykes or those solidly filled with 
Basalt or other stony matters, pass in most cases “ through many strata,’ 
their fissures will, ona careful examination appear to have been, not less cer~ 
tainly opened by mere shrinking, thau the joints spoken of in my last Note: 
the Vein Fissures, appear to have preceded the joints, in the order of open- 
ing, and to have resulted from causes or tendencies to shrink, more’ ex- 
tensive and symmetrical, as is evinced by the length, parallelism and width 

of 


256 The Rev. John Michell’s Opinions 


41. From this constitution of the earth, viz. the want of cor- 
respondence in the fissures of the upper and lower strata, as well 
as on account of those strata which are little or not at all shat- 
tered, it will come to pass, that the earth cannot easily be sepa- 
rated in a direction* perpendicular(e) tothe horizon, if we take 
any considerable portion of it together; but in the horizontal 
direction, as there is little or no adhesion between one stratum 


and another, it may be separated without difficulty, 
42. Those 


of many Veins, and less influenced by the peculiar qualities of the shrinking 
mass, than is apparent with the individual Beds, as shown by the number 
and widths of their present joints; and yet, it is perfectly evident, that the 
shrinking which opened Mineral Veins, was in some degree influenced by the 
peculiar degrees of shrinkage of the several Strata, through which they have 
passed: this will be apparent, by consulting the 2d figure in p. 158. and 
p. 69, of Mr. Westgarth Forster’s “‘ Treatise on a Section of Strata;” the 
Durham and Northumberland Veins, being wider, and hade less, where they 
descend through Limestone, than through Shale: the limestone having first 
shrunk, and in greater degree, than the shale, which was perhaps in some 
measure torn, or rent by the retiring limestone, above and beneath it: as 
seems evidently, though in lesser degrees, to have happened, with the Der- 
byshire Toadstones.—Report i. 246.—J. F. ; 


* What I said before of those deep clefts, in which metals are found, 
will not affect this conclusion; for they are considerably different from 
either perpendicular or plane sections of earth; they are frequently inter- 
rupted by strata of clay, or other soft matter; and they are, in most parts, 
either filled up with rubbish, or with ores and spars, that adhere as firmly 
to the rocks on both sides, as if they composed one continued stratum with 
them. —_—- 
(e) Besides having in the above note, laid too mtch stress on the firm. 
adherence of the Spars and Ores in mineral Veins, to their cheeks, Mr. 
Michell seems not to have considered, in this part of his statement and 
argument, that the centre part of most Veins adhere, or connect the Skirts 
together, but slightly, and that often, Tick-boles or empty lenticular cavities 
occur, to locally separate them altogether: Mr, M. seems here to have 
overlooked the influence of Fuu/ts, in almost totally destroying the cohesive 
strength of the Earth, tor resisting a separation in a direction parallel to the 
horizon, by fissures nearly perpendicular thereto; his notice of the grand 
and instructive phenomena of Faults, in § 50, is indeed so slight,(founded 
chiefly) it would seem, on Mr. Strachey’s example in the Phil. Trans. No.360, 
as to excite my surprise, especially, as in § 50, he admits them to be of very 
common occurrence.— J. F. 

Mr. Smith having communicated to me, nothing material regarding Faults 
(P. M. xxxvii. p. 441), I set my mind with energy 11 or 12 years ago, to in- 
vestigate them for myself, and have to my own satisfaction succeeded, and 
to that of many, in late years, of the practical Agents of my Employers, and 
others of the greatest experience, with regard to the complicated operations 
and effects of Faults, on particular mineral Fields, in various situations: my 
investigations show, that the Faults of a district, all connect together like 
a net-work on the surface, and have their sides polished, by the most vio- 
lent friction, many times repeated; indicating, as I conclude (see Phil. Mag. 
xiii. p. 183) that the whole mass of the Earth is broken through, in all 
possible directions, by these mechanical fissures called Faults, and that the, 
innumerable angular fragments, into which the mass is divided thereby, arte 

or 


concerning the Structure of the Earth. 257 


42. Those fissures which are at some depth below the surface 
of the earth, are generally found full of water; but all those that 
are below the level of the sea, must always be so (f), either from 
the oozing of the sea, or rather of the land waters between the 


strata. 

43. The strata of the earth are frequently very much bent, 
being raised in some places, and depressed in others, and this: 
sometimes with a very quick ascent or descent ; but as these as- 
cents and descents, in a great measure, compensate one another, 
if we take a large extent of country together, we may look upon 
the whole set of strata, as lying nearly horizontally. What is 
very remarkable, however, in their situation, is, that from most, 
if not all, large tracts of high and mountainous countries, the 
strata lie in a situation more inclined to the horizon, than the 

country 


for a long period of time been in frequent motion, sliding by the side of 
each other ; apparently for effecting, the constant change of the spheroidal 
figure of equilibrium, which an enormously great tidal action had occasioned 
(the excess of which action probably occasioned these fissures in the first 
instance); and the cessation of which action (at a period antecedent to the 
creation of the first progenitors of each now-living kind of organized Beings) 
has left these polished fragments of the Earth’s mass, scarcely if at all adhe- 
rent toeuch other, otherwise than by their mutual and conjoined attraction. 
This last, being a matter of frequent, and I believe of unvarying observa- 
tion, by Colliers, Miners, Quarriers, Canal-diggers, &c. &c. wherever Faults 
are explored beneath the surface, it seems to me, materially to invalidate, 
all that Mr. M. and Mr. Whitehurst since, and others have written, as-te 
the strength and toughness, of continuous strata of Clay, for confining down 
elastic or fluid matters, within the Earth ; but so near to its surface, a8 te 
be visible thereou, hy waves, or undulatory motions thereof.—J. F. 

(f) Mr. Michell’s assertion here, is much too general, as so acute a rea- 
soner could not have failed of perceiving, if he had attended to the well- 
known fact, in all Coal districts, and I believe in all Mine districts like- 
wise, in Great Britain, viz. that the Fault-stuff is there, invariably Water- 
tight, and, together with the unfissured argillaceous Strata, interlaying the 
porous or fissured Sandstones and Limestones, effect so complete an ex- 
clusion of surfuce Water, thatit seems evident, with more provident manage- 
ment, as to not cutting through the Faults below-ground, and not sinking 
Shafts, or driving stone Levels without water-tight linings or floors, almost 
all deep Coal-pits and many Mines, would be dry in all their deepest parts, 
even far below the surface-level of the Sea, as great numbers of instances 
prove. 

Hundreds of intelligent practical Men, well aware of the facts above 
stated, concur fully I believe with me, in viewing these breakings and dis- 
Jocations of the Strata by Faults, as amongst the most evidently beneficent 
provisions of the Deity, for the use of Man!: and yet, in the present 
year, the Rev. Thomas Gisborne has put forth a Book, intended for the in- 
struction of young Divines, wherein a voluminous mass of extracts is made, 
through 130 of its pages, from various Writers on Geology, from which the 
very contrary of the above position is deduced. The author intimates 
(in p. 94) that but for the use of Sinners, the Iron and the Coals would not 


Vol. 52, No,246, Oct, 1818. R have 


258  , | The Rev. John Michell’s Opinions 


country itself, the mountainous countries * being generally if not 
always, formed out of the lower strata of earth, This situation 
of the strata may be not unaptly represented in the following 
manner. Let a number of leaves of paper, of several different sorts 
4r colours, be pasted.upon one another ; then bending them up 
together into a ridge in the middle, conceive them to be reduced 
again to a level surface, by a plane so passing through them, as 
to cut off all the part that had been raised; let the middle now 
be again raised a little, and this will be a good general repre- 
sentation of most, if not of all, large tracts of mountainous coun- 
tries, together with the parts adjacent, throughout the whole 

world t (g). 
44, From 


have been arranged as at present !,‘ the beds of Coal and the metallic veins 
are (he says) deeply stationed below the surface of the Earth,” and 
through these dislocations, are “in every mode of confusion !” 

Although in the Coal and Mine districts, where minerals useful to Man, 
lie deep beneath the surface, water-tight Faults are numerously supplied by 
the all-wise Creator, for facilitating their extraction; yet in other districts, 
where nosuch use to Man could result from deep excavations, like as in the 
chalk district above which London stands, there the Fuults are not water-tight, 
as is evinced, by the inexhaustible supplies of pure Water which find their 
way through the chalk, from the parts thereof lying high and bare, beyond 
the edges of the London Clay, for such great distances under this water- 
tight covering of the Chalk, and ready, by the sagacity and industry of 
Man, to he let up, in overflowing Wells, in almost any of the vast space 
covered by this Clay, between Newbury on the W. and Canterbury and 
Cromer on the E.: and the same again, near the Sea, in Lincolnshire and 
‘Yorkshire.—J. F. 


3s 
——_—_ 


* It seems very probable, from many appearances, not only that the 
mountainous countries are formed out of the lower strata of the earth, but 
that sometimes the highest hills in them are formed out of strata still lower 
than the rest, which, perhaps, may always be the case, where they have 
volcanos in them. [Seea representation of this in Plate IV. fig. 3.] In 
other instances, however, it often happens, that the hills, te which these 
high lands serve as a base, are not only formed out of the strata next above 
them, but they stand, as it were, in a dish, as if they had depressed the 
ground, on which they rest, by their weight. 

+ Fig. 1. represents a section of a set of strata, lying in the situation just 
described: the section is supposed to be made at right angles to the length 
of the ridge, and perpendicular to the horizon, 


(g) The remarkably correct view of the ridged and troughed structure of 
the crust of the Earth, given by Mr. Michell in this passage, and in fig. 1. 
of his Plate (see the 4th Plate annexed), is not merely applicable to the vi- 
cinity of Mountains, properly so called, sech as range through Wales, but 
it applies to every part of the surface of Great Britain; Mr. Smith, many 
years ago (without knowing, more than myself, what Mr. Michell had writ 
ten) discovered, not that particular class of the Strata Ridges and Pewiehe, 

whic 


concerning the Structure of the Earth. - 259 


44, From this formation of the earth, it will follow, that we 
ought to meet with the same kinds of earths, stones, and mi- 
nerals, appearing at the surface, in long narrow slips, and lying 
parallel to the greatest rise of any long ridges of mountains ; and 
so, in fact, we find them. The Andes in South America, as it 
has been said before, have a chain of volcanos, that extend in 
length above 5000 miles: these volcanos, in all probability, are 
all derived from the same stratum*, Parallel to the Andes, is 
the Sierra, another long ridge of mountains, that run between 
the Andes and the sea; and * these two ridges of mountains run 
within sight of one another, and almost equally, for above a thou- 
sand leagues togetherf,”’ being each, ata medium, about twenty 
leagues wide. The gold and silver mines wrought by the Spa- 
niards, are found in a tract of country parallel to the direction of 
these, and extending through a great part of the length of them. 

45. The same thing is found to obtain in North America also. 
The great lakes, which give rise to the river St. Laurence, are 
kept up by a long ridge of mountains, that run nearly parallel to 
the eastern coast. In descending from these towards the sea‘ 
the same sets of stratat, and in the same order, are generally 
met with throughout the greatest part of their length. 

46. In Great Britain, we have another instance to the same 
purpose, where the direction of the ridge(/) varies about a point 
from due north and south, lying nearly from N. by E. to S. 

by 
which lie parallel to the mountain range, of which alone Mr.M. speaks, but 
others, ranging aimost at right angles to these, in the middle and southern 
and eastern parts of England, Phil. Mag. xxxix. p.271 Note. 

It appears essential; towards the tracing and usefully understanding of 
the subficial structure of any districtof Country, thatall its Strata Ridge and 
Trough Lines, should be surveyed and mapped; I have accomplished a great 
deal of this, with regard to Derbyshire and its environs, to the northern 
parts of Wales (Phil. May. vol. xlv. p. 165), to a considerable portion of 
the south of Scotland, &c., and Mr. Smith alsu has much in store hereon ; 
but while publication remains gratuitous, only to a particular Party, and 


expensive to other labourers in the Geological Field, these labours must 
necessarily be suspended.—J. F. 


* See the notes to art. 36 and 53. See also fig. 3. 
+ See Acosta’s Natural History of the Indies. 
t See Lewis Evans’s Map and Account of North America. 


(h) In adverting so pointedly to a single mountain Ridge, through the 
western side of Great Britain, Mr. Michell is evidently mistaken: the Welch 
mountains of Coarse Slate, &c. present 3 or 4 almost parallel strata Ridges 
and Troughs, of great length, and the same is the case with the middle and 
southern parts of Scotland: the Strata Ridges do not always range through 
the centre of mountain masses—witness the Edinburgh Strata Ridge, which, 
though occasioning the Pentland Hills, docs not pass through them (and 

R2 others 


260 Mr.Michell’s Geological Opinions, and Observations 


by W.* There are)many more instances of this to be met with 
in the world, if we may judge from circumstances, which make 
it highly probable, that it obtains, in a great number of places, 
and in several they seem to put it almost out of doubt. 

47. The reader is not to suppose, however, that, in any in- 
stances, the highest rise of the ridge, and the inclination of the 
strata from thence to the countries on each side, is perfectly uni- 
form; for they have frequently very considerable inequalities, 
and these inequalities are sometimes so great, that the strata are 
bent for some small distance, even the contrary way from the 
general inclination of them. This often makes it difficult to 
trace the appearance I have been relating, which, without a ge- 
neral knowledge of the fossil badies(7) of a large tract of country, 
it is hardly possible to do. 

48. At considerable distances from large ridges of mountains, 
the strata, for the most part, assume a situation nearly level ; and 
as the mountainous countries are generally formed out of the 
lower strata, so the more level countries are generally formed out 
of the upper strata of the earth. 

49. Hence it comes to pass, that, in countries of this kind, 
the same strata are found to extend themselves a great way, as 
well in breadth as in length: we have an instance of this in the 
chalky and flinty countries of England and France, which (ex- 
cepting the interruption of the Channel, and the clays, sands, &c. 
ot a few counties) compose a tract of about three hundred miles 
each way, 

50. Besides the rising of the strata in a ridge, there is another 
very remarkable appearance in the structure of the earth, though 
a very common one; and this is what is usually called by miners, 
the trapping down of the strata; that is, the whole set of strata 
on one side a cleft are sunk down below the level of the corre- 


others of Plutonic and Geognostic celebrity), but up the vale of the Leith,” 
nearly, completely on their north-western side.—J. F. 


* Of this I could give many undoubted proofs, if it would not too far 
exceed the limits of my present design, and which, for that reason, I am 
obliged to omit. we 

(7) Mr. Smith’s detractors would fain make it out, that Mr. Michell 
here meant organized remains: it this were in the least apparent, I would 
not hesitate an instant, in giving him the praise due to so important a sug- 
gestion: plainly however, Mr. M. intimates, that the requisite knowledge 
of the *¢ fossil bodies,” of whatever kind, was not then possessed by him:— 
my highly-injured Friend Mr. Smith, did possess the useful knowledge, and 
was liberal ix communicating it, of the unorganized and organized bodies. 
“¢ of a large tract of country,” years before Geognosts, or any of their hand- 
specimen mineralogical Theory of the whole Earth, was to be heard or read 
of in this country.—J. F. 


sponding 


concerning the Phenomena of Earthquakes. 26% 


sponding strata on the other side. If, in some cases, this dif- 
ference in the level of the strata, on the different sides of the cleft, 
should be very considerable, it may have a great effect in pro- 
ducing some of the singularities of particular earthquakes*. 


Parr II.—51. In the former part of this essay, I have re- 
counted some of the principal appearances of earthquakes, as 
well as those particulars in the structure of the earth, upon which 
I suppose these appearances to depend. From what has been 
already said, I think it is sufficiently manifest, that, in some in- 
stances at least, earthquakes are actually produced by subter— 
raneous fires: it now, therefore, remains to be shown, how alk 
the appearances above-recited, as well as many other minuter 
circumstances attending earthquakes, may be accounted for from 
the same cause. 

SEcTION I.—52. The returns of earthquakes in the same places, 
either at small or large intervals of time, are very consistent 
with the cause assigned: subterraneous fires, from their analogy 
to voleanos, might reasonably be supposed to subsist for many 
ages, though we had not those instances already mentioned +, 
which put the matter out of doubt. And, as it frequently hap- 
pens, that volcanos rage for a time, and then are quiet again for 
a number of years; so we see earthquakes also frequently re- 
peated for some small time, and then ceasing again for a long 
term, excepting, perhaps, now and then some slight shock. 
And this analogy between earthquakes, and the effects of vol- 
canos, is so great, that I think it cannot but appear striking to 
any one, who will read the accounts of both, and compare them 
together. The raging of volcanos is not one continued and uni- 
form effect ; but an effect, that is repeated at unequal intervals, 
and with unequal degrees of force : thus, for instance, we shall 
have, perhaps, two or three blasts discharged from a volcano, 
succeeding one another at the interval of a few seconds only: 
sometimes the intervals are of a quarter of an hour, an hour, a 
day, or perhaps several days. And as these intervals are very un- 
equal, so is the violence of the blasts also: sometimes stones, &c. 
are thrown, by these blasts, to the distance of some miles; at 
other times, perhaps, not to the distance of a hundred yards. 
The same difference is observed in the intervals and violence of 


* Fig. 2. represents a section of the strata trapping down after the man- 
ner just described. The section is supposed to be made perpendicularly to 
the 5 aparcay and at right angles to the direction of the cleft: an instance 
of this kind, amongst the coal mines of Mendip in Somersetshire, is men-~ 
tioned in the Phil. Trans. See the account of it, together with a drawing, 
in No, 360, er Jones's Abr. vol. iy. part ii. p. 260. 


+ See art. 28 to $2 inclusive. : 
R 3 the 


‘ 


262 Conjectures concerning the Cause, and Observations 


the shocks of earthquakes, which are repeated at small intervals 
for some time. 
Section I].—53. The great frequency of earthquakes in the 
neighbourhood of burning mountains, is a strong argument of 
their proceeding from a cause of the same kind: and the ana- 
logy of several volcanos lying together in the same tract of 
country, as well as new ones breaking out in the neighbourhood 
of old ones, tends greatly to confirm this opinion; but what 
makes it still the more probable, is that peculiarity in the struc- 
ture of the earth, already mentioned. I observed before, that 
the same strata are generally very extensive, and that they com- 
monly lie more inclining from the mountainous countries, than 
the countries themselves: these circumstances make it very pro- 
bable, that those strata of combustible materials *, which break 
out in volcanos on the tops of the hills, are to be found at acon- 
siderable depth under ground in the level and low countries near 
them. 


* It has been imagined by some authors, that volcanos are produced by 
the pyrites of veins, and that they do not owe their origin to the matter of 
strata. In order to prove this, it is alleged, that volcanos are generally 
found on the tops of mountains, and that those are the places in which veins 
of pyrites are generally lodged. This argument being taken from observa- 
tions that have their foundation in nature, ought not to go unanswered. 
In the first place, then, the pyrites of veins, or fissures, are not fouud in 
suffitient quantities, or extending to a sufficient breadth, to be supposed 
capable of producing the fires of volcanos: it very rarely happens, that we 
meet with a vein or fissure five or six yards wide; and when we meet with 
such an one, yet, perhaps, not a twentieth part of it at most shall be filled 
with pyrites ; but the fires of volcanos, instead of being long and narrow, as 
if the matter that supplied them was deposited in veins, are generally round, 
and of far greater breadth than veins can be supposed to be. Mens. Bou- 
guer says, that the mouth of the volcano Cotopaxi is, at this time, five or 
six hundred fathoms wide; [see Hist. and Phil. of Earthquakes, p. 195.] 
and ‘the burning islaud that was raised out of the sea near ‘Tercera, as be- 
fore mentioned, was almost three leagues in diameter, and nearly round. 
fSee art. 29. ] 

_ Besides this, it is very difficult to conceive how any matters lodged in 
veins can ever take fire; for, excepting where the veins are extremely nar- 
row, they are almost always drowned ina very great quantity of water,which 
has free access to every part of them (x): neither are the pyrites of veins, by 
any means, so apt to take fire of themselves, as those of strata; and if, in- 
deed, there are any of them that will do so, yet they are but few in com- 
parison of those which will not: all those, which, beside iron and sulphur, 
contain copper, or arsenic, even in a very small proportion, are not at all 
subject to inflame of themselves. On the other hand, most of the pyrites 
of strata, if not all of them, have this property more or less. There are 
also twe sorts of strata, in which pyrites are lodged in the greatest abun- 
dance, that have the same property, and that frequently in as great a de- 
gree as themselves: these are coals and aluminous earths, or shale. There 
are some kinds of both these, that upon being exposed to the external air 
for a few months, will take fire of themselves, and burn, These two sorts 
of 


(k) See Note f in p. 257.—J. F. 


upon the Phenomena, of Earthquakes. 263 


them. If this should be the case, and if the same strata * should 
be on fire in any places under such countries, as well as on the 
tops of the hills, all vapours, of whatsoever kind, raised from 
these fires, must be pent up, unless so far as they can open them- 
selves a passage between the strata; whereas the vapours raised 
from volcanos find a vent, and are discharged in blasts from the 
mouths of them. Now, if, when they find such a vent, they are 
yet capable of shaking the country to the distance of ten or 
twenty miles round, what may we not expect from them, when 
they are confined? We may form some idea of the force and 
quantity of these vapours from their effects : it is no uncommon 
thing to see them throw up, at once, such clouds of sand, ashes, 
and pumice stones, as are capable of darkening the. whole air, 
and covering the neighbouring country with a shower of dust,. 


of strata are also near akin to each other; they are generally found to ac- 
company each other ; they are both of them generally intermixed with, or 
accompanied by strata of iron ore; and they both of them, for the most 
pert, either contain, or are lodged amongst, the remains of vegetable bodies, 
and these remains of vegetable bodies in the aluminons earths, are fre- 
quently either wholly, or in part, converted into pyrites, or coal, or both. 
Numberless instances of this are to be met with in the aluminous shale of 
Whitby and other places. 

It is very probable, that to some stratum of this kind the fires of volcanos 
are owing; and this seems to be confirmed by the similarity of the ma- 
terials, which are thrown up or sublimated by the fires of volcanos, to the 
matter of the aluminous earths. _ Solfatara produces sulphur, alum, and sal 
ammoniac. The two former of these are very easily to be obtained from 
the aluminons earths, and, I suppose, the latter also ; at least it is procur- 
able from the soot of common fossil cuals, and probably, therefore, from 
the soot of that coaly matter which is intermixed with such earths. 

The aluminous earths, moreover, not only have several strata of iron ore 
lying in them, but they also contain a considerable proportion of iron in 
their composition. In currespondence to this, we find the ‘lavas of vol- 
canes, and other matters thrown out from thence, frequently containing a 
great deal of iron, the smali dust of them readily adhering to the magnet. 

As to the pytites of veins, I much doubt whether they ever coatain alum, 
or sal ammoniac ; at least they are very rarely found to contain cither the 
one or the other. ‘ 

* Tt may be asked, perhaps, why a stratum liable to take fire in some 
places, should not take fire throughout the whole extent of it. In answer 
to this, it may be said, that the same stratum may differ a little in the rich- 
ness of its combustible principles in different places; or, perhaps, the fre- 
quency of the fissures, either in the combustible stratum itself, or the stra- 
tum next to it, may let in so much water, as to prevent its taking fire, ex- 
cepting ina few places: but, if this once happens, the fire will not easily 
be put out again, but it will spread itself, notwithstanding the fissures that 
lie in its way, though they are filled with water ; for the matter on fire will 
be, in some degree at least, in a fluid state; and, for this reason, it must 
necessarily expel the water from the fissures, both on account of the ex- 
tension of its own dimensions by the heat, and of the weight of the super- 
incumbent earth, which, pressing it, will make it spread laterally. 

&e. 


264 Conjectures concerning the Cause, and Observations 


&c. to some miles distance: great stones also, of some tons 
weight, are often thrown to the distance of two or three miles by 
these explosions: and Mons. Bouguer tells us, that he met with 
stones in South America, of eight or nine feet diameter, that had 
been thrown from the volcano Cotopaxi, by one of these blasts, 
to the distance of more than three leagues *. 

54. If we suppose that these vapours, when pent up, are the 
cause of earthquakes, we must naturally expect, from what has 
been just said, that the most extensive earthquakes should take 
their rise from the level and low countries ; but more especially 
from the sea, which is nothing else than waters covering such 
countries. Accordingly we find, that the great earthquake of 
the Ist of November 1755, which was felt at places near three 
thousand miles distant from each other, took its rise from under 
the sea; this is manifest, from that wave which accompanied it, 
as shall be shown hereafter. The same thing is to be under- 
stood of the earthquake that destroyed Lima in the year 1746, 
which, it has been said, was felt as far as Jamaica; and, as it 
was more violent than the Lisbon earthquake, so, if this be true, 
it must, in all probability, have been more extensive also. There 
have been many other very extensive earthquakes in South Ame- 
rica: Acosta says, that they have been often known to extend 
themselves one, two, or three hundred, and some even five hun- 
dred leagues, along the coast. These have been generally, if 
not always, attended with waves from the sea; but any minuter 
circumstances accompanying them are not related. Indeed it is 
hardly to be expected that they should be observed, much less 
that they should be related, when they happened in a country 
so thinly inhabited, and where one may reasonably suppose, that, 
in general, only the grosser and more violent effects would be 
taken notice of. 

Section II].—55. I have said before, that I imagined earth- 
quakes were caused by vapours raised from waters suddenly let 
out upon subterraneous fires. It is not easy to find any other 
cause capable of producing such sudden and violent effects, or 
of raising such an amazing quantity of vapour in so small a time. 
That the blasts, discharged from volcanos, are always produced 
from this cause, is highly probable ; that they are often so, can- 
not admit of the least doubt. There can be no doubt, that con- 
siderable quantities of water must be often let out upon the fires 


* See Hist. and Philos. of Earthq. p. 195. Don Antonio d’Ulloa, an au- 
thor of great veracity, speaking of the same thing, says, that “the whole 
plain [near Latacunga| is full of large pieces of rocks, some of them thrown 
trom the volcano Cotopaxi, by one of its eruptions, to the distance of five 
leagues.” See his Voyage to Peru, part i. book vi. chap. 1. : 

+e) 


upon the Phenomena, of Earthquakes. 265 


of these volcanos, and whenever this happens, it will be imme- 
diately raised by the heat of them into a vapour, whose elastic 
force is capable of producing the most violent effects*. 

56. Both the tremulous and wave-like motion observed in 
earthquakes, may be very well accounted for from such a vapour. 
In order to trace a little more particularly the manner in which 
these two motions will be brought about, let us suppose the roof 

over 


* There are many effects produced by the vapour of water, when in- 
tensely heated, which make it probable, that the force of gunpowder is not 
near equal to it. The effects of an exceeding small quantity of water, upon 
which melted metals are accidentally poured, are such, as, I think, could 
in no wise be expected from the like quantity of gunpowder. Founders, 
if they are not careful, often experience these effects to their cost. An 
accident of this kind happened about forty years since, at the casting of 
two brass cannon at Windmill-hill, Moorfields. “ The heat of the metal 
of the first gun drove so much damp into the mould of the second, which was 
near it, that as soon as the metal! was let into it, it blew up with the greatest 
violence, tearing up the ground some feet deep, breaking down the fur- 
nace, untiling the house, killing many spectators on the spot, with the 
streams of melted metal, and scalding many others in-a most miserable 
manner.” [See the note at the end of process 44th of the English transla- 
tion of Cramer’s Art of Assaying Metals. ] 

Other instances of the violence of vapours raised from water, are fre- 
quently to be met with: one of Papin’s digesters being placed between the 
bars of a grate, where there was a fire, was, after some time, burst by the 
violence of the steam, the fire was all blown out of the grate, and a piece 
of the digester was driven against the leaf of a strong oak table, which it 
broke to pieces. [See Phil. Trans. No. 454, or Martyn’s Abr. vol. viii. 
p. 465.] ‘The marquis of Worcester also, in bis Century of Inventions, 
tells us, that he burst a cannon by the same means. 

It has been sometimes imagined, that the vapours, which occasion earth- 
quakes, were of the same kind with those fulminating damps, of which we 
often meet with instances in coal mines. Now, there are several things 
which make it very probable that this is not the case: it is true, the force 
of such vapous is very great, we have bad instances, where large beams of 
timber have been thrown to the distance of an hundred yards by them: 
[see Philos. Trans. No, 156, or vol. ii, p. 381. Lowthorp’s Abr.] but what 
is this to the force of that vapour, which could throw stones of twenty 
or thirty ton weight to the distance of three leagues? Nor, indeed, is 1t 
at all probable, that any vapour, already in the form of a vapour, can, by 
suddenly taking fire, increase its dimensions so much, as to produce that 
immense quantity of motion, which we observe in some earthquakes: but 
this is rather to be expected from some solid body, such as water, which is 
capable of being converted,and that almost instantly, into one of the lightest, 
and perhaps one of the most elastic, vapours in the world. Air, when 
heated to the greatest degree that it is capable of receiving from the hottest 
fires we can make, acquires a degree of elasticity about five times as great 
as that of common air: the vapour of gunpowder, whilst it is inflamed, has 
also about five times the elastic force which it has when cold. [See Robins’s 
excellent tract on Gunnery.] Now, if we suppose a fulminating damp, of 
any kind, to increase its elasticity, when inflamed in the same proportion, 
this will be abundantly sufficient to make it produce any effects, which we 
have ever seen produced by any of the damps of mines, &c. And, ee 

whoever 


266 Conjectures concerning the Cause, and Observations 


over some’subterraneous fire to fallin. If this should be the case, 
the earth, stones, &c. of which it was composed, would imme- 


whvever carefully examines the effects, either of the damps of mines, or of 
those fulminating damps, that are raised froin some metals, when in fusion, 
or when they are dissolving in acids, will rather be inclined to think, that 
the force of inflamed vapours is so far from exceeding the proportion of 
five to one, that it falls considerably short of it. 

But though we should suppose that this proportion holds good, where 
shail we find a place capable of containing a sufficient quantity of such a 
vapour, to produce the great effects of earthquakes? It will be said, per- 
haps, in subterraneous caverns. To this we may answer, that he, who is 
but moderately acquainted with the structure of the earth, and the ma- 
terials of which it is composed, will be little inclined to allow of any great 
or extensive caverns in it(/). But, though this should be admitted, how 
can it come to pass that these caverns should not be filled with water? If 
it is alleged, that the water is expelled, as the vapour is formed, why should 
not the vapour, as it is supposed to be the lighter, be expelled, rather than 
the water, by the same passages by which the water is to be expelled? But 
let us suppose this difficulty also to be got over, and the water to be re- 
moved, aud we shall then have a gage for the density of the vapour; for 
it must be just sufficient to make it capable of sustaining a column of wa- 
ter, whose height is equal to that of the surface of the sea above the bot- 
tom of the cavern, in which the vapour is supposed tv be contained. Now, 
since the mean weight of earth, stones, &c. is not less than two and a half 
times the weight of water, this vapour must be increased to two and a half 
times its original elasticity, before it can, in any wise, raise the earth above 
it; and if we suppose it to be increased to five times its original elasticity, 
it will then be no more thar twice able to do so; in which case, so much 
vapour only can be discharged from the cavern, to produce an earthquake, 
as is equal to the content of the cavern: and what must the size of that 
cavern be, which could contain vapour enough to produce the earthquake 
of the ist of November 1755, in which an extent of earth of near three 
thousand miles diameter was considerably moved? or how can we suppose, 
that the roof of sucha cavern, when so violently shaken, should avoid falling 
in? especially, as itis hardly to be supposed, that any inflamed vapour what- 
soever should be able to move the earth over these caverns, if they lay at 
auy great depth, since the weight of less than three miles depth of earth is 
capable of retaining the inflamed vapour of gunpowder within the original 
dimensions of the gunpowder itself ; and common air, compressed by the 
same weight (supposing the known law of its compression to hold so far), 
would be of greater density than water. $ 

We may ask sull further, whence such vast quantities of vapour should 
be formed, or what sources they must be, which would not be exhausted (if 
they were not again replenished) by a very few repetitions of such im- 
mense discharges. — 

(1) In this passage, we see another instance of Mr. Michell’s happy sa- 
gacity, in rejecting the notion of extensive Caverns within the Earth, long 
before the observations of Maskelyne and calculations of Hutton, (Phil. 
Mag. vol. xxxviii. p. 112) had established a specific gravity for the whole 
Globe, quite inconsistent with such a puerile supposition: the confirmatory 
experiments however of Cavendish, and the sublime deductions of Laplace, 
in further confirmation of the same well-established fact, are yet unable to 
shake the belief of numbers of Plutonists and Geognosts, in the dogma 
common to both their Creeds, viz. that Granite, of their very precise hand- 
specimen kind, occupies all the central parts of the Globe! 


diately 


upon.the Phenomena, of Earthquakes. 267 


diately sink in the melted. matter of the fire below: hence all the 
water contained in the fissures and cavities of the part falling in, 
would come in contact with the fire, and be almost instantly 
raised into vapour. From the first effort of this vapour, a cavity 
would be formed (between the melted matter and superincum- 
bent earth) filled with vapour only, before any motion would be 
perceived at the surface of the earth: this must necessarily hap- 
- pen, on account of the compressibility* of all kinds of earth, stones, 
&c. but as the compression of the materials immediately over 
the cavity, would be more than sufficient to make them bear the 
weight of the superincumbent matter, this compression must be 
propagated on account of the elasticity of the earth, in the same 
manner as a pulse is propagated through the air; and again the 
materials immediately over the cavity, restoring themselves be- 
yond their natural bounds, a dilatation will succeed to the com- 
pression ; and these two following each other alternately, for 
some time, a vibratory motion will be produced at the surface of 
theearth, If these alternate dilatations and compressions should 
succeed one another at very small intervals, they would excite a 
like motion in the air, and thereby occasion a considerable noise. 
The noise that is usually observed to precede or accompany earth- 
quakes, is probably owing partly to this cause, and partly to the 
grating of the parts of the earth together, occasioned by that 
wave-like motion before mentioned. 
57. After the water, that first came in contact with the fire, 
has formed a cavity, all the rest of the water contained in the 
fissures, 
* The compressibility and elasticity of the earth, are qualities which don’t 
show themselves in any great degree in common instances, and therefore 
are not commonly attended to. On this account it is, that few peuple are 
aware of the great extent of them, or the effects that may arise from them, 
where exceeding large quantities of matter are concerned, and where the 
compressive force is immensely great.. The compressib'lity and elasticity 
of the earth may be collected, in some measure, from the vibration of the 
walls of houses, occasioned by the passing of carriages in the streets next 
to them. Another instance to the same purpose, may be taken from the 
vibrations of steeples, occasioned by the ringing of bells, or by gusts of 
wind: not only spires are moved very considerably by this means, but 
even strong towers will, sometimes, be made tg vibrate several inches, with- 
out any disjointing of the mortar, or rubbing of the stones against one an- 
other. Now, itis manifest, that this could not happen, without a consi- 
derable degree of compressibility and elasticity in the materials, of which 
they are composed: and if such small things as the weight of stecples, and 
the motion of bells in them, or a gust of wind, are capable of producing 
such effects, what may we not expect from the weight of great depths of 
earth? There are some circumstances, which seem tv make it not alto- 
gether improbable, that the fourm and internal structure of the earth de- 
pend, in a great measure, upon the compressibility aud elasticity of it. 
‘There are several things that seem to argue a considerably greater density 


in the internal, thag the external part of the carth; and why say not this 
greater 


268 Conjectures concerning the Cause, and Observations 


fissures, immediately communicating with the hollow left by the 
part that fell in, must run out upon the fire, the steam taking 
its place. From hence may be generated a vast quantity of va- 
pour, the effects of which shall be considered presently. This 
steam will continue to be generated, supposing the fire to be 
sufficiently great, till the fissures before mentioned are evacuated, 
or till the water begins to flow very slowly; when the steam al- 
ready formed will be removed by the elasticity of the earth, which 
will again subside, and, pressing upon the surface of the melted 
matter, will force it up a little way into all the clefts, by which 
the water might continue to flow out. By this means, all com- 
munication between the fire and the water will be prevented ex- 
cepting at these clefts, where the water, dripping slowly upon 
the melted matter, will gradually form a crust upon it, that will 
soon stop all further communication in these places likewise ; 
and the fissures, that had been before evacuated, will be again 
gradually replenished by the oozing of the water between the 
Strata. y 

58. As a small quantity of vapour almost instantly generated 
at some considerable depth below the surface of the earth, will 
produce a vibratory motion, so a very large quantity (whether it 
be generated almost instantly, or in any small portion of time) 
will produce a wave-like motion. The manner in which this 
wave-like motion will be propagated, may, in some measure, be 


greater density be owing to the compression of the internal parts arising 
from the weight of the superincumbent matter, since it is probable, that 
the matter, of which the earth is composed, is pretty much of the same kind 
throughout? ‘here is a still stronger argument for the earth's owing its 
form, in some measure, to the same cause; for it is found to be higher [see 
the French accounts of the measures of a degree of the meridian in France, 
Sweden, and America] at the equator, than at the poles, in a greater pro- 
portion than it would be on account of the centrifugal force, if it was of 
uniform density ; but, if we suppose the earth te be of less density in an 
equatorial diameter than in the axis, the whole will then be easily accounted 
for, from the rising of the earth a little by its elasticity, the weight being in 
part taken off by the diurnal rotation: and that the earth is really a little 
denser in the axis, than in the equatorial diameter, seems highly probable, 
from the experiments of pendulums compared with astronomical observa~ 
tions; for the forms of the earth derived from these, cannot be reconciled 
with each other, but upon this supposition, [See Maclaurin’s Fluxions, 
art. 681, &c.] It appears, from some late and accurate observations, that 
the equatorial parts of the planet Jupiter also, as well as those of the earth, 
are a little higher than they weuld be, if their rise was owing to the cen- 
trifugal force, and he was of uniform density; but if we suppose him to be 
of less density in the equatorial, than the polar regions, then the form may 
be such as he would assume from the respective gravitation of the several 
parts; and any fluid like our ocean, would not overflow the polar parts, 
(which, upon any other supposition, it must mecessarily do,) but would fol- 
low his general form, as our ocean does that of the earth. 

represented 


upon the Phenomena, of Earthquakes. 269 


represented bv the following experiment. Suppose a large cloth, 
or carpet, (spread upon a floor) to be raised at one edge, and 
then suddenly brought down again to the floor, the air under it, _ 
being by this means propelled, will pass along, till it escapes at 
the opposite side, raising the cloth in a wave all the way as it 
goes. In like manner, a large quantity of vapour may be con- 
ceived to raise the earth in a wave, as it passes along between 
the strata, which it may easily separate in an horizontal direc- 
tion, there being, as I have said before, little or no cohesion be- 
tween one stratum and another. ‘The part of the earth that is 
first raised, being bent from its natural form, will endeavour to 
restore itself by its elasticity, and the parts next to it beginning 
to have their weight supported by the vapour, which will insi- 
nuate itself under them, will be raised in their turn, till it either 
finds some vent, or is again condensed by the cold into water, 
and by that means prevented from proceeding any further. 

99. If a large quantity of vapour should continue to be gene- 
rated for some time, several waves might be produced by it; and 
this would be, in some measure, the case, if the quantity at first 
generated was exceedingly great, though the whole of it was 
generated in less time, than whilst the motion was propagated 
through the distance between two waves. 

60. These waves must rise the higher, the nearer they are to 
the place from whence they have their source; but, at great di- 
stances from thence, they may rise so little, and so slowly, as not 
to be perceived, but by the motions of waters, hanging branches 
in churches, &c. . 

61. The vibratory motion occasioned by the first impulse of 
the vapour, will be propagated through the solid parts of the 
earth, and therefore, it will much sooner become too weak to be 
perceived, than the wave-like motion; for this latter, being oc- 
casioned by the vapour insinuating itself between the strata, 
may be propagated to very great distances ; and even after it has 
ceased to be perceived by the senses, it may still discover itself 
by the appearances before mentioned. 

' Section IV.—62. All earthquakes derived from the same sub- 
terraneous fire, must come to the same place in the same direc- 
tion; and those only which are derived from different fires, will 
come from different points of the compass; but as, in all pro- 
bability, it seldom happens that earthquakes, caused by different 
fires, affect the same place, we therefore find in general, that 
_ they come from the same quarter: it is not, however, to be sup- 
posed, that this should always be the case, for it will, probably, 
sometimes happen to be otherwise: and this is to be expected 
in such places as are situated in the neighbourhood of several 

subterraneous 


270 Conjectures concerning the Cause of Earthquakes. 


S 

subterraneous fires; or where, being subject to the shocks of 
some local earthquake of small extent, they now and then are 
affected by an earthquake, produced by some more distant, but 
much more considerable cause. Of this last case, we seem to 
have had some instances in the earthquake of the Ist of Novem- 
ber 1755, and those local ones, before mentioned, which suc- 
ceeded it. 

63. As we may reasonably infer from many earthquakes com- 
ing to the same place, from the same point of the compass, that 
they are all derived from the same cause, and that a permanent 
one; so we may reasonably infer the same thing also, from their 
being propagated with the same velocity; but this argument will 
still come with the greater force, if it be considered, that the ve- 
locity of any vapour, which insinuates itself between the strata 
of the earth, depends upon the depth of it below the surface ; 
for the deeper it lies, the greater will be its velocity*. We may 
therefore conclude, from the sameness of the velocity of the 
earthquakes of the same place, that the cause of them lies at the 
same depth ; and from the inequality of the velocity of the earth- 
quakes of different places, that their causes lie at different depths. 
Both these are perfectly consistent with the supposition, that 
earthquakes owe their origin to subterraneous fires, since the 
strata in which these subsist, may be easily conceived to lie at 
different depths in different parts of the world. 

SEcTion V,—64. From the same cause, we may easily account 
for those local earthquakes, which succeed the greater and more 
extensive ones. If there are many subterraneous fires subsisting 
in different parts of the world, the vapour coming from one fire 
may very well be supposed, as it passes, to disturb the roof over 
some other fire, and, by that means, oecasion earthquakes by the 
falling in of some part of it: and this may be the case, in some 
measure, even where the vapour passes at some small distance 
over the fire; but it will be most likely to take place, where the 
vapour either passes at some distance under it, or between the 
stratum, in which the fire lies, and that next above or below it. 

[To be continued. ] 


* The velocity of such a vapour, depending entirely upon the elasticity 
of the earth which is over it, will be, ceteris paribus, (if 1am not mistaken) 
in the ratio of the depth below the surface. This seems to follow from a 
~ known law of all elastic bodies, according to which they tend to return to 
their state of rest, when either dilated or compressed, with forces propor- 
tionable to the quantity by which they differ from their natural bounds. 


XLII. On 


XLII. On the Swallow. 


To Mr. Tilloch. ' 
29th August, 1818. 

DEAR sr,—Lvrenpine to have collated my former observa- 
tions on the Swallow with the various occurrences of the present 
year, I had purposely postponed any communication regarding 
these interesting visitors, till I had either corroborated the facts 
I had observed, or corrected any misconceptions in my former 
notes, to render the subject of your request on the cover of the 
Magazine for May last, as perspicuous and free from doubt 
as my opportunity for observation could possibly admit. I would 
even for that reason have deferred writing you on this subject till , 
their final departure for the season, had not a most singular de- 
viation from all former habits of a particular class of these myste- 
rious and undefined migrants, induced me to forward the present 
notice, leaving you to judge how far an insertion of the case may 
be conducive to obtaining further information from others, so as 
‘to ascertain whether this remarkable event has been local or ge- 
neral, The circumstance I allude to is the final departure of the 
white-tailed swallow, in the first week of the present month, un- 
der circumstances rather extraordinary, leaving the chimney swal- 
low behind. 

The first swallow that made its appearance here this season 
was of the chimney species, and first seen carelessly skimming 
much higher in the atmosphere than usual, on the forenoon of 
the 15th of April. It continued in’ that elevated situation till the 
19th, when it was joined by two others of the same kind. These 
kept close company all that day, but on the 20th the two disap- . 
peared, leaving the solitaire to float about apparently without 
any object in view till the evening of the 28th. During ail this 
time the mornings and evenings had continued frosty ; a complete 
thaw, however, came on in the afternoon of the 2Sth, accompa- 
nied with a warm black shower, and this was followed on the 
morning of the 29th by a general arrival of all the various kinds 
of swallow that frequent this quarter. 

Prior to their arrival, 1 had observed with great pleasure a 
sparrow take possession of a swallow’s nest, which had stood out 
the winter in the east corner of a bed-room window; and was in 
full expectation of seeing the repetition of a tragedy that had 
been acted some years before in this neighbourhood. Similar to 
the above, a sparrow had taken early possession of a swallow’s 
nest, and had laid some eggs previous to the swallow’s appearing 
to claim her castle. ‘The sparrow firmly seated, and thus attached 
to the sheltering shade of its approaching brood, resisted the 
claim of the swallow: a stout battle ensued, in which the swal- 

low 


272 On the Swallow. 


low was joined by its mate, and during the conflict by several of 
their comrades. The sparrow, however, determinedly resisted, and 
successfully defended herself against the joint and repeated ef- 
forts of the assembled swallows to dislodge her. Finding them- 
selves completely foiled in their endeavours to regain possession, 
they, after some consultation, had recourse to an expedient of a 
most extraordinarynature and singularly revengeful, and one which 
showed that it proceeded from a deliberate determination of the 
whole group that nothing short of the death of the intruder 
could satisfy them, or atone for this usurpation of a property un- 
questionably the legitimate right of its original constructor. The 
swallows for a time departed, leaving the sparrow apparently in 
the full enjoyment of her conquest. This prospect of repose, how- 
ever, was only delusive; for the swallows returned with accumu- 
lated numbers, each bearing a beak full of building materials ; 
and without any further attempt to disturb or heat out the spar- 
row, they instantly set to work and built up the entrance into 
the nest, inclosing the sparrow within the clay tenement, and 
leaving her to perish in the garrison she had so bravely defended. 

In my expectations in the present instance, however, I was 
disappointed. The sparrow had but recently taken possession, 
had laid no eggs, and having less to contend for was sooner dis- 
lodged, but not without considerable resistance ; the noise of 
which, with the beating of their wings against the glass, waked 
me in the morning, and gave the first notice of their arrival, on 
which I got out of bed and witnessed the termination of the 
action. } 

The bustle of regaining possession being over, a general ex- 
amination of all the old nests in the different windows took place, 
the partial injuries sustained during the past winter were repaired 5 
the insides cleaned out, each nest new furnished and feathered ; 
and the old pairs were no sooner settled in quiet possession of 
their former abode, than they began assisting the young of the 
former year in choosing secure situations for new habitations for 
themselves, and joined in the labour of building them. The con- 
struction of the swallow’s nest is never executed by the solitary 
labour of the single pair destined to occupy it, but by the joint 
labour of the community, as shall be noticed in the sequel; and 
is moreover a work of extreme nicety and great entertainment to 
an attentive observer, considering with what method and regu- 
larity these little animals conduct the whole process. 

But not to lose sight of the main object of this communica- 
tion—the sudden and early departure of the white-tailed swal- 
lows, whose former migrations were always in unison with the other 
classes of the species. They arrived with the others: it was these 
that were found contending with the sparrow for the nest, which 

they 


On the Swallow. 273 


they no sooner possessed and put in a comfortable state, than 
they, with the others of their kin, began the duties of the sea- 
son; and by the Ist of July their first brood were full fledged and 
flown, and hy the 4th of July the nests were thoroughly cleaned 
out, new furnished and feathered, and their second incubation 
begun, some new nests built, and one of a very particular con- 
struction completed. Notwithstanding all this, by the middle of the 
month they began to assemble in groups upon the roof of the dry- 
ing-house, the ordinary place of general resort for all classes prior 
to the usual departure for the season. I was rather surprised the 
first two or three evenings of their grouping, knowing from their 
former habits that this was indicative of a change. I had all their 
nests examined, and found one, two, and three eggs in each,—none 
without an egg. I could then hardly allow myself to believe it 
possible during so fine a season, and at so early a period of the 
year, that their intentions were migratory. In this, however, I 
Was soon undeceived ; the training exercise, or preparation of 
the young brood for the destined flight, immediately commenced, 
and they finally roosted among a collection of bull-rushes grow- 
ing on a bank in the midst of the Leven; from which they took 
their final departure on the fourth night of their occupation of 
this retreat, and have never since been seen. 

After no doubt could remain of their being off, I conceived this an 
excellent opportunity of putting their fancied submerging among 
the flags and rushes, along the banks of lakes and rivers, to the 
test of actual survey and experiment. ‘Iwo stout men instantly 
volunteered their services, and immediately stripped, went into the 
river, searched all the flags, rushes, banks and braes round and 
near the spot where they were last seen. Not, a hole nor stone 
was left unexamined; and the roots of the rushes and even the mud 
were most carefully handled, and the shelvings under the banks. 
In short, no creature could possibly have escaped the pursuit, nor 
eluded in any way the unwearied anxiety and diligence of the 
searchers ; but not a feather nor a swallow was to be found. 
The theory of their submerging, in my opinion, is all a dream, 
in which this search has gone its length to confirm me; and the 
following anecdote may not be improperly narrated, as it refers 
to the refutation of this same absurd opinion :—On the 11th of 
April 1812, returning from Glasgow with a friend, we stopped 
at Kinross to corn our horses and take a parting dinner. Before 
dinner was ready we took a turn down to the Old Chapel, and re- 
turning by the loch side, we both expressed our astonishment at 
the vast assemblage of swallows, the first we had seen that season, 
hovering over the surface of that corner of the lake which runs up 
towards thetown by the south side of Kinross plantation. “What!” 
said my companion, “ can the creatures have emerged from the 

Vol. 52. No. 246. Oct. 1818, S water ? 


274 On the Swallow. 


water ? Some people assert that they hibernate at the bottom of 
lakes and rivers. It must be so: see, there is one just risen.’ 

To asuperficial observer they certainly had all the appearance 
of just emerging from the bosom of the lake. But looking atten- 
tively, we perceived them regularly descending in a slanting direc- 
tion, and take something from the surface of the water, in which 
exercise they always, in skimming, struck the water with their 
breast, dashing a spray round them, which looked very much 
like to shaking the water from their wings. This I have since 
observed a thousand times, in the swallow skimming the river 
or mill-dam, catching the water-flies ; but which, to persons not 
interesting themselves in the result, and at some little distance 
from the scene of action, is certainly very delusive, and without 
a close inspection and very attentive observation, apt to leave 
that impression of their emerging from the water upon the mind. 
The weather was still cold, and not a fly abroad in the air to sup- 
port them: no doubt remained with us of their thus gathering 
food; an idea in which we were soon strengthened, by stepping 
down to the edge of the lake, aud seeing the surface of the water 
all along the shore, and as far as the eye could reach, swarming 
with innumerable insects in appearance like gross gun-powder, 
and the water itself filled with the maggot of a water-fly, upon 
which there can be no doubt whatever the birds were feeding.— 
Some similar occurrences must have given birth to the delusion 
of submerging; and the gentleman who so confidently asserts 
that he saw them with his own eyes coming up from ‘the lake 
and shake the water from their wings, must have been deceived 
with his eyes open by a corresponding event. 

I am perfectly satisfied, from a variety of circumstances, that 
the same swallows return to the same spot from whence they 
emigrate from year to year: in this I was particularly confirmed 
on the morning of their arrival this season, by a pair of chimney 
swallows that had nestled for years before i in a cellar above the 
coal-shed, to which they had access by an opening in the roof 
that had been closed after their departure to keep out the winter 
drift. ‘The first things I saw upon looking towards the boiling- 
house that morning, were these swallows flying about the cellar, 
searching with great anxiety every tile in the roof for an entry 
to their old dwelling. I no sooner got down than an opening was 
made, through which they immediately passed, while i had not 
retired a yard from the spot, and seemed quite overjoyed to find 
their former incubat entire. When I entered the boiling-house 
all was noise and merriment ; twelve nests they had occupied the 
preceding year were all entire, uninjured, and again in possession 
of the chimney swallows, their former occupants. 

I cannot suppose that stranger swallows could with equal fa- 

cility 


On the Swallow. 275 


cility have found these old nests ; neither would they undisturbed 
go so immediately about their labour, amidst a crowd of people 
- often passing through the group at arms Jength, perching upon 
the wringers and poles within a couple of yards of the servants, 
chanting their little song, and looking at the men and women 
with all the familiarity and confidence of old friends. This was 
as much the case the day of their arrival as it had been at any 
period before their departure the preceding year. These must 
unquestionably be the identical swallows we have had in former: 
years. The rattling of wringers, the thumping of buttles, the 
noise of wheels and pumps, nor the steam of the boilers ever an-. 
noy them, which would not likely be the case with strangers. - 
Although the whole group of mingled men and women may be 
collected inside or outside the door, langhing and making sport, 
the swallow will pass in and out, sometimes fly through the crowd, 
andsometimes over and almost touching their heads, without show- 
ing the least symptom of dread, any more than if the space was 
unoccupied. No violence is allowed to be offered to them, and 
nothing gives them the least uneasiness but the appearance of a 
hawk or a cat. When a swallow observes either of these animals, 
particularly the cat, an alarm is instantly given by a particular 
sharp call, when a number assemble, flying about, darting at 
puss with such celerity and from so many points at once, as to 
distract, tease, and vex her, till the heart-sick tabby is fain to 
seek shelter under the nearest cover. 

What may be termed the domestic habits of the swallow are 
highly amusing, and often afford no small entertainment, parti- 
cularly in such situations as ours, where all their little manoeu- 
vres and gambols are open to view; and the whole colony is in 
" intimate habits of association with the inmates, with whose ap- 
pearance I am fully satisfied they really become perfectly ac- 
quainted, aud do distinguish the approach of strangers. One 
instance may be narrated:—A pair of chimney swallows annually 
build in the evaporating shed, often so low that the man who 
attends the pans can, by raising himself a-tiptoe, look into the 
nest. His inclination is to protect them, and his instructions are 
to allow nothing whatever to molest them: they are so very fa- 
miliar with this individual, and those in the daily habit of look- 
ing over and assisting him, that they build and trim their nests, 
set, and feed their young, without showing the least uneasiness, 
although he, or any with whom they are acquainted, stand and 
look so near as to blow their breath into the nest. Passing the 
shed-door one day, the swallows were heard in the greatest state 
of alarm, their cry indicating the utmost terror. My brother 
called, ‘* Clunie, what is the matter with the swallows? look and 
see that no cat is near them,”’ Not receiving so ready an an- 

52 swer 


276 On the Swallow. 


swer as usual, he mounted the short trap, and after passing through 

the steam, found Andrew with a pair of rider spectacles on his 

nose, carefully and wistfully poring over a copy of Bunyan’s Holy 
War, and keenly debating with a packman about the inputs in 
exchange with a well worn copy of Pilgrim’s Progress, that had 
Seen his constant companion for many years. They were de- 
sire] to go down and settle the balance outside the door, and 
“the pa.s would be attended to till the matter was adjusted. The 
packmait had no sooner walked out, than the swallows gave over 
‘their noise and Suttering. The sire departed in quest of food, 
and the dam returned to the nest as if nothing had happened, 
while we stood so near as by stretching out our arm we might 
have touched the bird on her seat. 

To the swallow I feel very much inclined to attribute a degree 
of knowledge and sagacity rather beyond the bounds of eredi- 
bility ; and would allow them, in point of mental endowment, a 
rank amongst the feathered tribes equal to what the beaver holds 
in the gradations of the mammalia upon earth, That they are go- 
verned by certain laws, that may be termed instinct, cannot be 
refused. But that they also possess a reasoning faculty, with the 
power of conceiving, communicating, and receiving 1deas,—in 
short, that they actually possess in some degree the gift of speech, 
I am equally satisfied. 

They convene meetings for general welfare ; they converse, de- 
liberate, and consult; project plans, and act with method and re- 
gularity and in concert in the execution ; unite in defence, and 
when necessary call in the aid of distant colonies in punishment 
of aggressors. They take a general interest in the individual safety 
of every member and family belonging to their community; re- 
pair the injuries sustained, as one common concern ; protect the 
young, and feed the orphan, when any accident deprives them of 
the fostering protection and care of their natural parents. 

In June 1816, some young gentlemen disappointed in duck- 
shooting from the wetness of the morning, after the weather 
cleared up a little, not knowing the protection afforded here to 
the gentle and inoffensive swallow, these sons of sport and festi- 
vity fired a few rounds for their amusement, and unfortunately 
brought some of the parent swallows to the ground, among the 
rest, both parents of a young brood of five, in a nest placed in 
the corner of one of the windows of my premises, ‘vhile in the 
very act of skimming into the nest with a beakfull of flies. They 
were really sorry for this. Conceiving the young must perish 
from hunger, I intended taking them into the house and try to 
bring them up, under the care of the children, who had under- 
taken to catch flies for them. This, however, was found unne- 
cessary; the news of the calamity had spread over the colony, 

and 


On the Swailow. 277 


and a collection of parent swallows had gathered.—The state of 
the nest and the young was taken under review, and arrange- 
~ ments immediately gone into for the protection and support of 
the helpless orphans: their support was brought them before 
leaving them for the night: and next day the sympathetic and 
benevolent office of feeding them was carried on with so much 
parental care, that they were as regularly fed, and as soon fledged 
and on the wing, as any nest about the field. I mention this lat- 
ter part as a proof that they lacked ncthing in common with the 
young of other nests; as I have for years uniformly found, that 
good or bad weather, about nursing time, will make a difference 
of a week, and sometimes more, in the flight of the young, which 
must be in proportion to the quantum of food delivered into the 
nest, and this must be greater in good weather when the flies are 
more numerous. During bad weather, when few flies are on the 
wing, the swallows must feed very sparingly. Their powers of di- 
gestion during the season of plenty must he very rapid. In some 
warm days when the flies were numerous, I have cleaned the 
stones under different nests to ascertain the number of drops that 
fell from the young, and found four and sometimes five drops from 
each bird in the course of an hour; in bad weather sometimes 
only one, two, or three from each, just in proportion to the quan- 
tity of flies given, and the state of the atmosphere for catching 
them. Only a few days had elapsed, when the joint assistance 
and labour of the whole colony was again put in requisition. A 
nest built in the west corner of a back room window facing the 
north was so much softened by rain beating in that direction, from 
the severity of a violeut storm from the north-east, as to render 
it unfit to support the weight of a superincumbent load of five 
well grown young swallows: during the storm thé nest fell into 
the corner below, leaving the young brood expesed to all the in- 
clemency of. the blast. To save the poor things from untimely 
death, a covering was thrown over them till the severity of the 
storm abated. This had no sooner subsided than the sages as- 
sembled, fluttering round the window and hovering over the tem- 
porary covering of the fallen nest, which was removed as soon as 
this careful anxiety was discovered, and the utmost joy evinced 
by the group on finding the young ones alive and unhurt. After 
feeding them, the members of this assembled community arranged 
themselves into working order; each division, taking its appro- 
priate station, fell to instant labour, and before nightfall had 
jointly completed an arched canopy over the young, and securely 
covered them against a succeeding blast. Calculating the time 
occupied by the assembly to perform this piece of architecture, 
it appeared evident the young must have perished from hunger 


or cold before any single pair could have executed half the job. 
S3 Aware 


278 On the Swallow. 


Aware by this example of the danger of this situation, no attempt 
has ever been made to build in either corner of that window again. 
Nothing so much indicates superior understanding in the whole 
arranged dispositions of the swallow, or deserves so much atten- 
tion, as the order, regularity, and aetlied observed in the construc- 
tion and execution of their nests, their ceconomy and frugality in 
expediting the various operations by the division of labour, and 
taking the advantage of every wind that blows to accomplish the 
grand object ; their sagacity in selecting situations, and placing 
the entrance into the nest to leeward of the storm ; their wisdom 
in the choice and mixture of materials, and the wonderful art 
with which these are adapted to the different positions and change 
of form, regulated by existing circumstances ;—arrangements cer- 
tainly far beyond the power of instinct. 

When a situation has been once fixed upon for a new nest, be- 
fore a particle of building material is laid, every bearing of the 
intended site is minutely” examined by a few of the sages, during 
which a great deal of conversation and reasoning goes on ; plans 
are proposed, and one ultimately fixed upon before proceeding to 
the work. Matters being thus far adjusted, a number-collect— 
sometimes above a dozen—and form themselves into divisions, 
for the distribution of labour, before commencing operations ; the 
number assembled is always in proportion to the extent of work 
and number of nests to be carried on at the same time. I have 
known from two to five nests in a progressive state of forward- 
ness, all carrying forward at the same time by the same asso- 
ciated band of operators. 

When a place for mortar- making has been selected, the whole 
band commence operations by gathering a beakfull of chopped 
straw or hay, generally taken from dry horse droppings either 
about the field or from the high road; “with this they repair to 
the place appointed, and commence mor tar-making by mixing 
this with clayey soil, rendered additionally unctuous by their 
working it with their beaks ; and all, as ready, fly off with their 
load and begin building. When the foundation has attained 


the size of a : small walnut, one experienced builder remains sta- _ 


tionary, a proportionate number at the mortar hole, and a division 
of straw gatherers and carriers carry on the work till the weight 
and softness of the new made materials endanger the falling of 
the whole. Then, this nest is left off, and time in proportion to 
the state of the weather given for it to harden firm and dry, and 
the whole band goes to the next; and after carrying it a similar 
length, leaves it in the same manner, for the same purpose, and 
goes to the third, the fourth, a fifth, and again returns in rota- 
tion to the first, and so going repeatedly over the whole till the 
labour is completely accomplished. During the whole of these ope- 

rations 


. 


On the Swallow. 279 


rations the grand master builder, who is sometimes relieved by 
turns, shows his skill and experience in the art of building, by 
proportioning the radius of the nest, the acuteness or obliquity of 
the angles, in strict proportion to the distance and bearing of the 
abutments, and thickens the wall proportionately to the te- 
nacity of the materials, every morsel of which he carefully exa- 
mines before it is laid on, and if satisfactory, a pleasing chit-chat 
passes between the parties. But if insufficient, in any respect, 
the tone of the grand master is soon changed, and a violent 
altercation takes place. I have seen the imperfect materials 
rejected and thrown down with great apparent wrath and in- 
dignation, and the carrier dispatched with a scold for a fresh 
load. It was during my attention to these little operations that 
I first conceived them possessed of the gift of speech. Would 
any one, who may have time and opportunity, with an ear capa- 
ble of distinguishing the minute variations of sound, attentively 
listen to the different conversations that pass on these occasions ; 
the orders given, and communications received ; the varied ca- 
dence of the articulated notes ; the pleasing mildness with which 
this is conducted in good humour; the fierce volubility and fu- 
rious manner in cases of reproof or scolding; I am satisfied an 
impartial auditor would mark these wonderful migrants as gifted 
with the power of mutual communication by articulate sounds, 
without which how could so much harmony be conceived or works 
of art executed? From the sagacity of the swallow the glass- 
maker has received his best lesson for building his pots, a mat- 
ter not of the least consequence in that art. 
There is just now a new nest, built by the white-tailed swaliow 
a short time before their departure, which displavs more than 
ordinary wisdom and sagacity in the execution.» It is placed in 
the west corner of a window facing the south, and covers more 
than a fourth of the glass of that pane. The operations went on 
much in the usual style, till better than half built; when, instead 
of going forward with the work, and leaving the entrance thereto 
at the top as usual, they made a halt at that side next the glass, 
to which they were conscious their mortar could not have ad- 
hered with sufficient tenacity, and where the great burden of the 
nest must have rested. Thus the safety of the whole would have 
been endangered. The outside of the nest furthest from the glass 
was carried up the full height, closed in, and made good to the up- 
per lintel. Returning to the unfinished part, they carried up a pillar 
by the side of, and leaning to, the glass, upon which they formed 
a capital projecting outwards from the glass. On the opposite 
side, upon that part of the nest carried forward and completed, 
they formed a corresponding butment; between these they con- 
S 4 structed 


280 On the Swallow. 


structed a regular arch, and over this arch carried up a super- 
structure of exquisite workmanship for delicacy and lightness of 
execution, and covered in the whole habitation, leaving the en- 
trance in the weakest part, now rendered secure by the slight- 
ness of the work and lightness of the materials.—Should this 
nest have the good fortune to stand out the storms of winter, I 
hope by the return of summer to have an opportunity of seeing 

and attending to the mode of feeding their young, through the 
uncovered part of the glass; by this ‘L can see all passing within 
the nest from the light transmitted through the opening.—Their 
mode of feeding, from what I have already observed, differs from 
that of other birds, who feed all in rotation, pick about. The 
swallows, so soon As the young are able to move themselves for- 
ward to the entrance of the nest, allow one to take possession of 
the opening and remain there, receiving and swallowing every 
fly that is brought by the dam and sire, till completely gorged. 
He then turns round, lets fall his drop, and retires to rest, when 
another takes his place, acts in the same manner, and retires 
from the same cause, giving place to the rest in rotation. The 
swallows no sooner get the first brood (which in good weather is 
generally about the Ist of July) fairly on wing, than they, as if 
conscious of the value of their time, instantly commence their 
second incubation, and have their second brood abroad by about 
the middle of September, after which no further attempt is made 
to breed. The remaiuing part of their time is occupied in train- 
ing the young for their ultimate flight. This is conducted with 
great regularity and order for ten or twelve days before the final 
departure. After the business of food gathering for the day is 
over, they assemble in multitudes from all quarters and of all kinds 
in one general convention upon the roof of the drying-house, 
chanting their little song or evening hymn. While the assembly 
are all seated on the roof, one (who seems commander-in-chief) 
keeps aloft on wing, flying round and round; at last darting with 
great swiftness from the rest, with a loud, sharp, and repeated 
call, he gives the word of command. That instant all is silent. 
The whole are instantly on the wing, directing their flight in 
perfect order, rising upwards in the most beautiful spiral track, 
and are in. a moment beyond the reach of human eye. 

In a quiet night they may be heard after they are not seen.— 
They remain in the upper regions of the atmosphere for, perhaps, 
a quarter to half an hour, when they all return by scores and do- 
zens to the place from whence they took their flight. This they 
will repeat twice or thrice in an evening when the weather is fair 
and kindly. 

The deviation of the white-tailed swallow this year I consider 

a very 


On the Swallow. 281 


a very unaccountable event, and the only instance of the kind I 
ever remember. ‘They always, in common with the other swal- 
low, produced twice, and used to foster their young to the last. 
I have known both kinds in a bad season, when short of flies, to 
nourish and bring forward their young, abandon whole nests of 
the last sittings to perish, when the ultimate period of departure 
arrived, but never knew them separate and leave the other divi- 
sions behind. ‘There must be some strange unknown cause for 
this extraordinary resolution. At first I dreaded that it prognos- 
ticated some unprecedented change of temperature, or con- 
vulsion of the elements. When entertaining that idea, I could not 
help remarking the appearance of a cock robin, who, two days 
after their departure, came hopping into the boiling house intro- 
ducing one of his sons, looking round, and with his accustomed 
familiarity strutting through the house, viewing every one as he 
passed, without concern or alarm. 

The ultimate hibernation of the swallow I am of opinion will 
for ever remain a mystery, unless aérial navigation come to that 
state of perfection as to make voyages from Pole to Pole. Then 
they may be detected in the utmost regions of the atmosphere far 
beyond the rage of elements and strife of storms.—To whatever 
clime or part of the world they proceed, their flight is at an ele- 
vation far beyond the reach of optics. They depart with the first 
ray of the morning, and so directly upwards as to elude all re- 
search. They return with the first dawn of the day, but from 
whence no man can tell; they drop as from the clouds, and take 
up their abode in the former haunts as if they had just left them 
the hour before. On the Ist of April 1809, I had occasion to 
be at the village of Ceres; the morning was remarkably clear, 
with a cloudless sky of beautiful azure. "Standing a little before 
the door of my friend, remarking the fineness of the morning aud 
clearness of the sky, my friend desired me to look at a small but 
well defined dark spot that had just caught his eye at a very great 
height in the air. I soon perceived the object 5 it remained for 
some time apparently stationary, but increasing in size, from the 
object’s approach being in a direct line to the spot where we 
stood. Continuing to keep an eye on the object for some time, 
we at last discovered it to be a swallow flying with immense ve- 
locity, which like an arrow from a bow darted into an old nest in 
my friend’s window. 

These straggling swallows, “ for one swallow never made sum- 
mer,” I conceive mere espionage directed from the main body, like 
Noah’s dove to spy and report on the appearance of the earth, or 
to find the longitude or latitude of their flight, or to find if near 
the former haunt of a colony. When that is the case, the first re- 

main, 


282 Specific Gravity of the Human Body and Sea Water. 


main, a second and a third are dispatched for intelligence, who 
return and inform their associates; who, finding how the lands 
lie, depart from the body,'taking possession of their domains, and 
wishing those behind good morning. 

GAVIN INGLIs. 


XLIII. On the real Difference between the specific Gravity of 
the Human Body and Sea Water. By Knigur SpENcER, 


Esq: 
To Mr. Tilloch. 


Siz,—Ls September 1815, you did me the favour to insert in 
your Magazine the result of an experiment which I had made 
with a view to ascertain how much the human body is specifi- 
cally lighter than sea-water; and, in answering your question 
respecting the same in the month of November of that year, [ 
promised to repeat the experiment, with this difference, that I 
would make it in my usual dress, instead of being naked, the in- 
tention of which was, to ascertain what greater degree of danger 
(if any) would in consequence be incurred, either in the case of 
falling overboard, or in plunging into the sea without the delay 
of undressing, to prevent afellow-creature from drowning,—and, 
generally speaking, to induce that fair degree of confidence which 
the knowledge of the veal difference between the specific gravity 
of the human body and sea-water ought to inspire. 
Circumstances have, until the present autumn, prevented me 
fulfilling my promise. I have now to state, that in August last 
J took the opportunity of a smooth sea for my experiment ; and, 
in addition to my usual clothing (which weighed five pounds) f 
borrowed from the guide who attends the machines, a pair of 
heavy shoes with much iron about them, weighing three pounds 
and a half; and with flints in each hand weighing together six 
pounds two ounces, being altogether fourteen pounds ten ounces 
avoirdupois, I threw myself upon my back in the water, and 
floated upon the surface without the smallest motion whatever, 
so much at my ease as to converse with my friends on the beach, 
and with the toes of the heavy shoes just visible above the surface. 
If the fact established by this experiment were more generally 
known, I think it could not fail to induce many timid persons to 
become expert swimmers, who are now afraid to venture into the 
sea at all. 
Before I close this letter, permit me, Sir, to state another fact, 
which cannot fail to give confidence to those who are learning to 
swim— 


Hungarian Agriculture, Sc. 283 


swim—and all young men, both for their own safety and the wel- 
fare of society, ought to learn this pleasing and healthy art. 

At the time I was about to make my experiment, I observed 
four boys take a boat, go into deep water, undress, and plunge in 
one after the other, range themselves in a line, and actually play 
a game at leap-frog for at least a quarter of a mile. The last boy, 
swimming to the boy immediately before him, placed his hands 
on his shoulders, popped him under water, and then swam to the 
next; the boy who was popped under water, on rising, swam to 
the boy immediately before him, popped him under in his turn, 
and so on till they reached the shore. 

I assure you, sir, that Captain Shandy, when carrying on the 
siege of Dendermonde, did not feel a stronger desire to have a 
pull at Corporal Trim’s smoking mortars, than [ did to make 


one with the boys at leap frog. I am, sir, 
Surry Institution, Your obedient servant, 
October 8th, 1818. KNIGHT SPENCER. 


P.S. I omitted to state that I swam out into deep water, with- 
out the flints, and found no other inconvenience than a slight im- 
pediment to my progress from the drag of the laps of my coat. 


XLIV. Hungarian Agriculture, and Improvements in ihe Ma- 
nagement of Sheep and Cattle, as practised on the Estate of 
Graf Hunyant, at Urmeny, in Lower Hungary *. 


We: proceeded to visit one of the Graf’s farms, called Keszi. 
A large collection of peasants, with their cattle and ploughs, 
were at work on one part of it. The system here adopted is 
nearly the common agriculture of the country, the usual succes- 
sion of crops being, 
Ist year, wheat and rye, sown in winter. 
2d year, grain of various sorts, sown in spring. 
3d year, fallow. 
4th year, winter grain. 
5th year, spring grain. 
6th year, fallow, with manure and good dunging, and so on, 
a simple fallow every third, and manuring every sixth year. 
Maize is one of the most productive crops. Jt is planted in 
April, and cut in September or October, yielding thirty-fold, 
whilst other crops yield not more than ten-fold at the utmost. 
Turnips have been fairly tried without success, on account of 
the dryness which usually prevails during the summer months. 
The land is ploughed very shallow, seldom above three inches, 


* From Dr. Bright’s Travels, 
with 


284 Hungarian Agriculture, and Improvement in the 


with a plough which has its share almost horizontal. The whole 
of the grain, except the maize, is broad-cast, and rubbed in with 
a brush harrow. As well as I could judge, from the winter crops 
all looking green and well at the time I saw them, the seed is 
sown with great regularity. The maize is put in the ground 
by women who follow after the plough, and with a hoe turn back 
a little mould, drop a few grains, and immediately replace the 
earth. 

At the farm of Keszi the Graf likewise keeps the most exten- 

sive flocks which he possesses in this part of Hungary, consisting 
of about twelve hundred sheep, which have now been ten years 
under improvement. In the care of them he employs one chief 
shepherd and six men. The sheep are divided into flocks of 
from one hundred to two hundred, as circumstances may require ; 
and we arrived just as they were following their shepherds in va- 
rious directions, over a wide extent of sweet pasture resembling 
our English downs. 

Amongst other objects interesting to the agriculturist, was an 
excellent range of cow-stalls, and one of the large bee-houses, 
which are often very valuable in Hungary, but this was some- 
what neglected. 

It was here that we found the finest of all the Hunyadi flocks, 
and that upon which the proprietor chiefly depends for his future 
progress. I shall therefore take this opportunity to speak more 
at large respecting the breed, and the care taken in its improve- 
ment. The original breed of Hungarian sheep is, in fact, the 
real Ovis strepsiceros of authors, covered with very coarse wool, 
and bearing upright spiral horns. Improvement on this stock by 
crosses, with other varieties, is become so general, that a flock 
of the native race is seldom to be met with, excepting upon 
the estates of the clergy. 

The great improvement has been by the introduction of Spa- 
nish blood. Some of the great proprietors have themselves im- 
ported from Spain; others have obtained rams from the flocks 
of the Emperor of Austria, and others from various private sources ; 
so that at present there is scarcely any flock of importance which 
has not derived advantage from the Spanish cross, 

In the year 1773, a royal flock was established at Mereopail, 
to assist in the general improvement. This has, however, been 
latterly somewhat neglected, on account of another since formed 
at Holitsch. The wool is now a great object of commerce. In 

1802, it was ecaleulated that above twelve million and a half 
pfund was exported from Hungary; a large portion of which goes 
into Austria, and is either there ‘fa@nefaarmreds or is carried to 
‘more distant markets; and much of that éhieh 3 is sold in Eng- 
land, under the denomination of Saxon wool, is actually the pro- 

duce 


Management of Sheep and Cattle. 285 


duce of Hungary, exported in spite of the heavy duty it pays on 
leaving the Austrian dominions, 

It is about fourteen years since the first Spanish sheep were 
introduced upon the Hunyadi estates, from Moravia, where Ba- 
ron Geisler had been many years employed in improving the 
breed. Since that time the Graf has exercised unwearied assi- 
duity in crossing and recrossing, and introducing new and more 
perfect Merinos. By keeping the most accurate registers of the 
pedigree of each sheep, he has been enabled to proceed, with a 
degree of mathematical precision, in the regular and progressive 
improvement of his whole stock. Out of the seventeen thousand 
sheep composing his flock, there is not one whose whole family 
he cannot trace by reference to his books; and he regulates his 
yearly sales by these registers. He considers the purity of blood 
the first requisite towards perfection in the fleece ; but he is well 
aware that little ean be done, unless the sheep be kept in health 
and condition. For this purpose, he has adopted a system of 
folding, which, as far as I can judge, is almost perfect ; and the 
whole is conducted with so much accuracy, that I contemplated 
it with pleasure and astonishment. 

At each of the head-quarters (if I may so term them) of his 
sheep, well-built sheds are constructed, having brick pillars at 
certain distances, which leave about half the side open, and thus 
admit a free circulation of air during summer, and afford easy 
means of excluding the cold in winter. The height of the sheds 
ss about seven fect to the springing of the roof; and they are 
divided by little racks, into sueh spaces as are necessary for the 
division amongst the flocks. Racks are also arranged round the 
whole, so that all the sheep can conveniently feed at them. The 
floor is covered with straw, and the upper layer being continually 
renewed, a dry and warm bedding is obtained. 

In these houses the sheep are kept almost constantly during 
winter, that is, from November till April, and are then fed three 
times a-day upon dry food. They are watered twice a-day, 
from a well close at hand. Even during summer, the sheep are 
driven under cover every evening, and they are conducted home 
in the day-time when it rains, or when the heat is oppressive. 
They always lamb in the house; the ewe being placed, upon 
this occasion, in a little pen by herself, where she remains un- 
molested. These pens are about three feet long by two feet 
wide, and are formed by means of hurdles. It is owing to this 
care that they nevey lose a jamb. But, to give a more perfect 
and connected idea of the minute order and extreme care taken 
in this establishment, and to gratify those who are really inter- 
ested in the subject, | am induced to insert, at the end of the 
present chapter, the regulations made by Graf Hunyadi. They 

came 


286 Hungarian Agriculture, and Improvement in the 


came into my hands through a very circuitous medium, and I 
trust a sufficient apology, for publishing private directions of 
this nature, will be found, in a wish to point out to my English 
readers the assiduous exertions of a Hungarian noble, who 
takes the lead in the agriculture of his country, and in my un- 
willingness that they should be deprived of the valuable hints 
which may be thus afforded. Their utility makes them almost 
public property; and I foresee no inconvenience that can arise 
from making them known. 

The first idea on reading these regulations will probably be, 
that, while they look well, in a theoretical point of view, they are 
too nice for practice. Such, however, is not the case. I be- 
lieve, from all which I saw, that they are completely put in exe- 
cution at Urmeny. The Graf has, indeed, one advantage, which 
will not often be found; he has inspired all his officers and ser- 
vants with an interest in the subject. ‘The number of persons 
employed is about one man to every hundred sheep, and each of 
them considers his flock as his family and pride. 

The result of all this care has been a success which could 
searcely have been anticipated. A conception can hardly be 
formed of flocks more uniformly excellent. The sheep are strong 
and healthy; and, for the Spanish cross, large. Their fleeces 
perfect,—not a lock broken or displaced, —and even the tail and 
legs covered with good wool. It is, of course, the wool, and not 
the carcase, which is the great object i in a country so poor, and 
so thinly peopled, as Hungary. 

The pfund (1:23 Ib. avoirdupois) of wool on the spot, yields 
nearly one ahd a half silver gulden, which, as the gulden varies, 
according to the course of exchange, from one-seventh to one- 
ninth of a pound sterling, is between 3s. and 4s. 6d. Three 
pfund (about 331bs.) is estimated as about the average product 
of each sheep. Some, however, particularly the rams, yield six 
or seven. The hale of the wool, without any separation, and 
only washed on the back of the sheep, i is sold at the same price; 
and the consequence is, that, from flocks which, if covered with 
the ordinary wool of the country, might be expected to yield an 
income of 15,000 or 20,000 ‘guldens, not less than 50,000 
guldens are now annually produced. : 

In this sketch of the Hunyadi ceconomy, J must not neglect 
the horned cattle. The native Hungarian breed bears much 
resemblance to the wild white species which was formerly found 
in our own country. They are large, vigorous, and active, of a 
dirty white colour, with horns of a prodigious length, exceeding 
in this respect even the long-horned breed of Lancashire. The 
oxen are most excellently adapted for the plough, uniting to all the 
qualities of the ordinary ox, a very superior degree of activity. 


The 


ee eee eee a ee ee es 


Management of Sheep and Cattle. 287 


The cow is, perhaps, deficient in milk; vet, by care in the 
choice of the best, and attention to regular milking, the quantity 
given by one has been increased to 2000 quarts in a year. In 
general, the dairy of the Graf consists of crosses of the Styrian 
breed, or the still more valued breeds of Switzerland, of which 
one in his possession gave 3400 quarts in the vear. The cows 
are constantly in the house during the whole year, and are 
brushed and cleaned like horses daily; their stalls are kept per- 
fectly neat, and are very well constructed. A raised passage about 
three feet broad, runs along the middle of the building, on each 
side of which the cows are arranged with their heads towards 
each other. ‘This passage is boarded on its sides and floor, and 
enables the servants employed, both to look at and feed the cat- 
tle with the greatest convenience. 

Besides common cattle, the Graf has about a dozen buffaloes, 
singularly uncouth animals; their carcase in proportion to their 
height, which is inferior to that of a cow, very round and broad. 
Their colour is black, their hair coarse, and so scanty that the 
skin is discernible in every part. The tail more nearly resem- 
bles that of the elephant than of the ox; and the head is so 
placed in a horizontal position, with the nose stretched for- 
ward, that their horns usually lie on their shoulders. The noise 
they make has no resemblance to the lowing of a cow, it is rather 
ashrill snort. They are bred in Hungary for the same purposes 
as ordinary cattle. The milk which they give is richer than other 
milk, and considerable in quantity. A single animal yielded 1470 
quarts in the year. As beasts of labour, they are excessively 
strong, but they are slow and unmanageable. 

The dairy establishments are distributed in different places, 
and put under the care of resident servants or peasants, who 
have to account to the proprietor for the produce chiefly in but- 
ter. A steward or trusty person attends each'day to see how 
much milk is obtained. At certain intervals the trial is made to 
discover what quantities of butter should be yielded by a given 
quantity of milk, and thus a good check is placed upon all parties 
employed. A regular register is also kept of the quantity of 
milk given monthly by each cow, for the purpose of ascertaining 
what calves particularly deserve to be reared. I shall here con- 
clude the subject by subjoining a short extract of two or three 
items from such a register. 


Name. 


the 


in 


» Agriculture, and Improvement 


garia 


Hun 


288 


*surOY auy 
i fazIs ajetapow | 
ano 2a, . 
“se jery| F280! 6S |PL1| 981 |resl|zZ0Sl} ol] ze | 26S Sano]0d paxil 
Te “uvIIeSUNPy 
‘oyusd F110 
*SOA]PO F pueu ues t all: RS as Bee me ‘ (‘sstag) 
auy ‘yu poo es Ne yag | 288! 7 | €PG |rSe1|tesal saa |EGbs| 91 /FESI] E61} 98 ming 
‘od : 
(‘Aav8 
‘yyrur pue | Auer ‘Aura | ‘pueu ie f BR ae et 
saajeo SuypPHAL | -aRL ae | -aR 1,38 | -1psog cae | 216P FLT | Esol| bOT |!sez|f61!¥ 182] #191] £661 ]EsG1| Ess aera ere 
“ “pune 
; PEs “193 
mn mur yon ae) xe) 2a é : : me We : 
pb Ge aot a A | apay oe £091 OS | 68 |FIGI/ESLa/EI ga] fses|z891|FosI| Foo 71S DSsoLog 
(uriaiqg pur 
"ypNU pur saajro J ‘daq| —-. ali, pee soe) te | Uelesunzy 
poo8 Ajaarsapoyy | 28931 18 | 123931 18 | zag qioi| 128! 66 [rb IFoo ljetsalfLIt) L461) s9l|F9st| | o"ss019) 
“DSSOLOZS 
Z : ‘Auawt | *paaaa aung} + + Bye le, eoliee ea wee Mtg _. | Copepug) 
od ca “19. 1 | -y8neys yap | CPAP | clb] 2641/4415) ELS | GS | 682 | zbG 68 “S0pNO 
‘aulospueU 
a4B SOATLO Jay] ‘Auom | -Xuaw |, (| day ° b eee | ‘ Sle Coyeyog 
pur yur yonut (| ap, ae | -aq yApy (ae SILT | 2461) 2641 css) 2697 | 2 9 | LS [2901] sssugyng 
said ‘poossiayg ( 
‘ade Jo JUNODIV *po.id} oune ale 5 ‘open, 
nO Pa}i4 JayIOVY eae ag oss | 9 PED |F:91] b3S| 10S] Ess -nsqanhizy 
AIDS | SPRIO | HMBOTONNED| WO) Ee | | SO | So Bl a] ek By Be ise S| S ‘aweN 
‘storRAIasqQ. | — —- ——— amen |Mooj ma} 2 Le] st 7) Rim is |} al el Se} R ps] eB 
uoneunsag oa © : M = 
poonpo.g 


Regulations . 


> 


Management of Sheep and Cattle. 289 


Regulations adopted in the Care of the Flocks of Graf Hunyadi. 


Ist. A dry and airy shed, or cot, of which. the size is propor- 
tioned to the number of the sheep, is above all things necessary 
for these animals. In order to give them proper room, we ought 
to reckon two feet and a half square for each ewe ; as the hay- 
rack, the partition required during lambing, and the lamb itself, 
will occupy this space. 

2dly. The cot should be cleaned out at least every four weeks, 
because the exhalation from the dung produces disease amongst 
the sheep. 

3dly. All wetness and moisture is injurious, not only to the 
health of the sheep, but also to the wool, on which account they 
ought never to be driven out during rainy weather. 

Athly. The dew and hoar-frost in the morning are injurious 
to them, occasioning cqugh, colds, and diseases of the lungs, and 
therefore they should not be taken to the pasture until the dew 
is gone off. 

5thly. Low and marshy meadows, and such as are covered with 
luxuriant grass, should still more carefully be guarded against 5 
as also stubble lands, in which the scattered grain has sprung up 
anew. , 

6thly. In the summer months, when the heat is intense, the 
sheep must, between the hours of ten and eleven, either be driven 
back to the cot, or at least be conducted to some shaded place. 

7thly. It is indispensably necessary that the sheep should be 
twice taken to water every day, both in summer and winter. 

Sthly. A supply of salt is also necessary, of which, in the sumn— 
mer months, four pfund, and in the winter three pfund, should 
be furnished weekly to every hundred head of sheep, so that they. 
may, at least twice every week, have salt. to lick. 

9thly. ‘The rams should not be kept in the same house with 
the ewes, nor the young with the old. 

10thly. For fourteen days before the coupling season, the ram 
should he daily fed with two halbes (equal to three pfund) of 
oats, and this food should be continued, not only during the 
coupling, but for fourteen days after; and one ram will thus be 
sufficient for a flock of eighty ewes, provided great care and at- 
tention be paid to him in every other respect during the whole 
of the season. 

1lthly. During the lambing period, a shepherd must be con- 
stantly day and night in the cot, not with the view of affording 
assistance at the birth, but in order that he may place the lamb 
as soon as it is cleaned, together with the mother, in a separate 
pen, which has been before prepared. The ewes which have 


Vol. 52. No. 246. Oct. 1818. gy lambed 


290 Hungarian Agriculture, and Improvements in the 


lambed should, during a week, be driven neither to water nor 
to pasture, but low troughs of water for this purpose are to be 
introduced into each partition, in order that they may easily, 
and at all times, quench their thirst. It is also very useful to 
put a small quantity of barleymeal into the water, for by this 
means the quantity of the ewe’s milk is much ivcreased. When 
the lambs are so strong that they can eat, they are to be sepa- 
rated by degrees from their mothers, and fed with the best and 
finest hay and a few oats, being suffered at first to go to them 
only three times in each day,—early in the morning, at mid- 
day, and in the evening,—and so to continue till they can travel 
to pasture, and fully satisfy themselves. For a week they should 
then be turned in twice a-day, and for another week once a-day 
only, to the ewes, when they may be entirely weaned. At first 
it is enough if a quarter of a pfund of hay be given every day to 
each lamb, and one halbe of oats be divided amongst six—after- 
wards, and till they are driven out, half pfund of hay, and a 
halbe of oats amengst four, will be sufficient. . 


Regulations for Winter Feeding. 


‘Ist. The winter feeding should begin as soon as the cold and 
the hoar-frost prevent the growth of the grass; and if, as it often 
happens, this should be the case so early as the beginning of Oc- 
tober, it is not necessary that the sheep should, from this time 
forward, be kept constantly in the house, and receive all their 
food there, but they may in dry and clear weather (always ob- 
serving the fourth of the foregoing regulations) be driven out so 
long as the grass is not rendered unwholesome by the frost, and 
the ground is not covered with snow. During all this time, 
however, they must not he sent out empty, but before going to 
pasture must have a third part of their usual daily allowance. 

2dly. A sheep which is healthy and full grown, will require 
daily four pfund of food, which must consist of hay and straw. 
Young sheep should have one pfund less. The daily distribution 
of food is as follows. 

a. From the time when the frost begins, while .vet the sheep 
ean go abroad, each receives, in the morning, one pfund and a 
half of good straw. They are then driven to water, and then to 
the pasture, where they remain until the dew appears. 

b. From the time when the hard frost comes on, and the 
ground is covered with snow, till twénty days before dropping 
their lambs, they receive every morning at 5 o’clock, 1} pf. of 
clean straw; at 8 o’clock 4 pf. of hay; at 9 o’clock they go to 
water; at 3 o’clock again 4 pf. of good hay; at 4 o’clock they 
go again to water; and at 6 o’clock in the evening 14 pf. of 
clean straw is again given. 


Ht |e 


c. From 


Management of Sheep and Cattle. 291 


c. From twenty days before dropping their lambs, till the 
spring pasturage commences, they have every morning at 5 
o’clock 1 pf. of clean straw; at 8 o’clock | pf. of good hay; at 
9 o’clock they go to water; at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, | pf. 
of fine hay; at 4 o’clock they again drink ; and at 6 o’clock in 
the evening they have again a pfund of clean straw. 

3dly. The wethers require the same quantity and order in their 
food, with this difference alone, that in the commencement of 
winter these receive + pf. of hay, and 34 pf. of straw, and when 
the cold weather ceases, 1 pf. of hay and 3 pf. of straw. 

4thly. The young sheep have, from the period of the com- 
plete setting in of winter, till the spring pasture, every morning 
at 5 o’clock 3 pf. of clean straw; at 8 o’clock 3 pfund of good 
hay; at 9 o’clock they go to water; at 3 o’clock they have again 
3 pf. of good hay; at 4 o’clock they again drink; and lastly,. 
at 6 in the evening have 3 pf. of straw. 

5thly. The lambs hawe generally, four weeks after their birth, 
or rather as soon as they can eat, dry food; at 8 o’clock ¢ pf. 
of fine hay each; at 12, every 6 lambs have 4; of a metze of 
oats, and at 3 in the afternoon again ¢ pf. of hay; but when 
they become stronger, they have at each feeding } pf. hay, and 
amongst four, they have one halbe of oats. 

6thly. The lambs are early taught to lick the salt, which is 
placed upon boards in quantities proportionate to their num- 
bers. 

Regulations for Feeding in ihe Summer Months. ~ 


Ist. During this season the sheep are entirely fed in the pas- 
tures. Yet.we must remember, that when the sheep first come 
into the spring pasture, they continue to receive one half of their 
winter food, that is, 1 pf. of hay in the morning before they are 
driven out, and | pf. after they come home, until the grass has 
attained its full perfection. 

2dly. As soon as the grass is grown, so that the sheep can 
find complete nourishment, the winter feeding ceases by little 
and little, and the following regulations are adopted. 

In the mofning they remain in the cot till the dew is dried 
away; they then go to water, and from that are driven to the 
pastures. Between 10 and 11 o’clock they return to the cot, 
and after 3 o’clock are driven to water, and then to the pastures, 
where they remain till the dew falls. : 

3dly. Salt, finely powdered, should be given them in small 
troughs every third day before they are driven from the field. 


T2 KLV. New 


[ 292 ] 
XLV. New Method for purifying Coal Gas, and at the same 


time increasing the Product from a given Quantity of Coals. 
By Mr. 38. Parxer, Liverpool. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — Havine noticed in your number for April last, a sin- 
gular method of purifying coal gas, I take the liberty of com- 
municating to you some additional facts which cannot be wholly 
uninteresting to those who are engaged in the new and wonder- 
ful art of procuring light. Having made the crude coal gas to 
pass through an arrangement of three iron pipes placed hori- 
zontally in a furnace, and kept at a dull red heat, being con- 
nected together with a gun-barrel ; I found to my great astonish- 
ment that the quantity of gas that could be obtained by this 
means from a given quantity of coal greatly exceeded the quan- 
tity obtainable in the usual manner; and further, that the gas 
was perfectly pure, whilst the quantity of tar produced during 
the process was considerably less than what is obtained in the 
ordinary gas-light process. The fluid, which was collected in a 
vessel interposed between the extremity of the ignited iron pipes 
through which the gas passed, and the gasometer which received 
it, contained no vestige of ammionia; but on the contrary, it in- 
stantly reddened litmus paper. It possessed an acid styptic 
taste, and a pungent sulphureous odour. It was of a black colour; 
and when largely diluted, produced an insoluble precipitate with 
muriate of barytes. It was sulphuric acid. It is therefore evi- 
dent that crude coal gas, when made to traverse an ignited iron 
tube, suffers a remarkable change. The sulphuretted hydrogen 
gas, which always accompanies this gaseous fluid as obtained 
from coal, no doubt becomes decomposed during the process, 
and to it the production of the sulphuric acid must be attributed ; 
—but by what means this decomposition is effected, would not 
becoine me to state. It is evident that not only the sulphuretted 
hydrogen, but the ammonia also, is decomposed ; hecause the 
fluid which distils over is not alkaline, but decidedly acid. And 
muriate of barytes and acetate of lead show that it contains 
sulphuric acid strongly loaded with sulphureous acid gas. 

The increase of gas, there can be no doubt, must be attributed 
to the decomposition which the tar suffers during this process ; 
for it is sufficiently evident that this substance may be wholly 
converted into oxycarburetted hydrogen gas. 

The gas thus produced is perfectly free from sulphuretted hy- 
drogen, as well as from carbonic acid ; for it neither disturbs the 
transparency of a solution of super-acetate of lead, nor barytic 
water, when made to pass through it. From these considerations 

there 


On the Improvement in forming Electrical Planispheres. 293 


there is reason to believe that the purification of coal gas, the- 
application of which is daily increasing as a substitute for pro- 
curing light, might be effected in a more ceconomical manner, 
by causing the gas to traverse ignited iron vessels, than by the 
application of quick-lime. The subject is worthy of a strict ex- 
amination, both in a philosophical point of view, as well as with 
regard to practical utility. I have the honour to be, sir, 


Your obedient servant, 
Liverpvol, Sept. 3, 1818. S. PARKER. 


XLVI. Improvement in the Method of forming Electrical 
Planispheres. By Mr. Rowan Hit. ~ 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — Nearty four years ago I had occasion to represent 
some of the constellations and other figures by electricity. Hi- 
therto this had always been done upon glass; but 1 wished to con- 
struct the constellations on a scale which required larger plates 
of glass thau I conld conveniently procure. Paper being a nofi- 
conductor of electricity, ] was induced to make trial of it, and 
found that it answered my purpose exceedingly well. At that 
time I constructed four constellations, viz. the Great Bear, the 
Great Dog, the Ship, and the Scorpion. I made use of that 
kind of paper which is called Bristol board; the tin-foil may be 
stuck upon it in the same manner as it is fastened to glass. I 
also found gold size (a liquid used by the gilders) to be very well 
adapted to that purpose; and the figures may be secured more 
completely by covering the whole with a coat of varnish. Since 
that time I have represented upon paper a considerable portion 
of the southern sky. 1 took several sheets of drawing-paper, 
pasted the edges together, and stretched the whole upon a circu- 
Jar wooden frame four feet in diameter. Upon this apparatus are 
represented all the stars of the four first magnitudes within forty 
degrees of the south pole. 

In order to give to the stars of the different magnitudes their 
proper degrees of relative brightness, I took the following me- 
thod. 

For the stars of the first magnitude, I cut the ends of the tin- 
foil round, and placed them about one- twelfth of an inch asunder, 
For those of the second magnitude, the bits of tin-foil were 
pointed, and the spaces between them made as small as possible. 
To produce a spark of no greater brightness than the stars of 
the third magnitude, I made the spaces in the tin-foil similar to 
the last, and pasted over each a small bit of thin paper, through 

T3 which 


294 On the received Theory of Heat. 


which the electric sparks are dimly seen. The stars of the fourth 
magnitude are made by spaces formed in the same manner, but 
covered with a thicker piece of paper. Thus I was enabled to 
give to each star its proper degree of brightness ; and. by these 
means I conceive a more exact representation of the celestial 
bodies can be given, than by any other method as yet known. 

In this scheme are represented upwards of sixty stars, besides 
the two great nebule which appear in the southern part of the 
heavens. To imitate the latter, I cut two holes in the paper, 
in the form of the nebule.—Here I passed the train of tin-foil 
through the paper, and at the back of the scheme carried it 
round the edges of these holes, leaving a few intervals for sparks. 
At the back of each hole I fixed a piece of Bristol board consi- 
derably larger than the aperture, and bent so that the part op- 
posite the hole should be about half an inch behind the level of 
the scheme. The paper thus fixed served as a screen to receive 
the light of the sparks given at the back round the holes ; and 
being by that means illuminated, while the general face of the 
scheme was in darkness, filled up the aperture as it were with a 
nebulous whiteness, giving as I apprehend a tolerably just image 
of the original. 

In damp weather these figures, like almost all electrical appa- 
ratus, require to be dried before a fire previously to their being 
used. 

The advantages which are derived from the use of paper in- 
stead of glass must be obvious. It is much less expensive. By 
joining together a number of sheets it can be made of any size ; 
and as it will not break, it is much more portable; which last 
circumstance must recommend it strongly to such as have fre- 
quent occasion to remove their apparatus from one place to an- 
other. I am, sir, 

Your obedient servant, 


Hill-top School, Birmingham, Row.anp Hitt. 
Oct. 12, 1818. 


XLVII. On the received Theory of Heat. By A CorreE- 


SPONDENT. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — Perr me to lay before your readers my reasons for 
objecting to the received theory of heat. I am strongly inclined 
to believe there is no such thing—any more than that there is an 

elementary principle of sound. 
Chemists and philosophers agree that. the particles of heat 
are infinitely smaller than any other particles—that insinuating 
themselves 


Theory of the Magnetical Variation. 295 


themselves between those of any other body, is the cause of alk 
expansion—that they decompose some bodies, but never mix 
with any; and are repulsed by all, when containing a eplanity 
unnatural to them. 

Now, sir, my conception is (probably an erroneous one) that heat 
is onlya sensation arising from the sudden decomposition of a body, 
and that when it isdecomposed it cannot communicate the feeling. 
If a coal is burning or decomposing, it can give the disease to an 
adjoining coal; and this disease will pass like lightning between 
the particles of the bottom of an iron steam boiler, and commu- 
nicate the complaint to the water: the first disorganization of 
which is steam. Pursue the disorganization in the steam still 
further, until you get a pressure of 50 or 60 lbs. to the inch, and 
the steam will then be only milk-warm, from the decomposition 
being so nearly complete. If heat were an elementary principle, 
and its particles went through the iron and water without mix- 
ing, they would equally pass on through the top and sides of the 
boiler, more particularly upon the repulsive principle. ‘The ex- 
pansion of metals may arise from a partial decomposition, which 
if discontinued, their particles will fall again into their former or- 
ganization. I believe any sudden disorganization produces light— 
probably the decomposing and regenerating principle, acting ra- 
pidly upon the animal and vegetable organization on the sun’s 
surface, may cause its light, and disorganizes on the earth less 
(and therefore less sensation of heat) in winter than in summer, 
because the sun’s light then falls much more obliquely upon the 
earth, and meets with more atmospheric obstruction. Thesame 
principle acting upon the growing animal and vegetable system 
here, is very likely to stimulate by vacuum, and the stomach and 
capillary system to supply reorganization, and all generative prin— 
ciple. 

I wish to throw out these ideas (very hastily put together) to 
your better informed readers, if you think them worthy a corner 


of your valuable miscellany. Your obedient servant, 
Claughton House, Lancaster, S. 8S. 
17th October, 1818. 


— 


XLVIII. Theory of the Magnetical Variation. By Mr. 
THomas YEATES. 

Taz discovery of the properties of the loadstone having been 
the labour of ages to explore, and an object with the searchers 
of nature from the earliest times; it would be a curious and in- 
teresting inquiry to ascertain the several stages of the knowledge 
of this wonderful stone. To enter upon its history is a difficult 
task, from the want of many notices of which history itself is si- 
lent, and without which thé progression of the discovery must 

T4 necessarily 


296 Theory of the Magnetical Variation. 


necessarily be interrupted and imperfect. Its general history, 
however, enables us to conclude that its attractive power for iron 
was its first known property; that in subsequent times its po- 
larity was discovered, when it was found to possess a line of at- 
traction situate in its own proper axis, and conforming its ener- 
gies agreeably to that direction. In aftertimes its absolute po- 
larity was discovered in the verticity of the needle, when it was 
found to conform with the poles of the world, a discovery of all 
others the most important to navigation and commerce : this was 
the origin of the mariner’s compass. Lastly, the vertical or dip- 
ping needle was discovered, whose use and theory remain for 
the cultivation of the moderns. The variation of the horizontal 
needle, and the variation of that variation, have been discoveries 
of later times. 
If, as some philosophers have asserted, the earth was originally 
a right sphere, having its polar and equatorial diameters equal, 
and its whole surface a perfect globe; it may be argued with 
equal probability, that at that period the magnetic power strictly 
conformed itself with the true poles of the world universally, and 
of consequeuce there could be no variation of the magnetic needle. 
But since extensive surveys have been made by eminent mathe- 
maticians, and it has been determined that the present figure of 
the earth is a spheroid, having its polar axis less than its equa- 
torial; and that it has been gradually increasing from the power 
of gravity acting upon its polar surfaces; it is equally possible 
that the variation of the magnetic poles hath originated from a 
similar cause; and that so long as the earth shall obtain the form 
of a spheroid, and increase in its obliquity, so !ong will the va- 
riation of the magnetic poles continue to. increase in different 
parts of the earth, as now we find it. In the former case, which 
is an hypothesis not altogether improbable, the lines of the mag- 
netic sphere coincided with those of the true sphere; and by 
consequence all the other imaginary lines constituting either 
sphere were common, such as the magnetic meridians, equator, 
and parallels: but in the latter case an absolute difference is found 
in the existing variation, known to all persons experienced in 
Navigation, 
A projection of the lines of the magnetic sphere on a globe is 
not altogether impracticable, as may appear from what has al- 
ready been effected in some maps and charts of the Magnetical 
Variations already published. ‘The lines of quantity being trans- 
ferred from the chart to the globe, the magnetic meridians, 
equator, and parallels, may also be laid down with equal pre- 
cision ; and by the help of these the whole complement may be 
supplied, and thereby the theory of the magnetic sphere will be 
most interestingly displayed and understood. 
I shall 


Theory of the Magnetical Variation. 297 


I shall for the sake of illustration give a figure of the Magnetic 
equator, and meridians, © ~ 
‘ A B 
Let A B represent the 

two hemispheres of a 
“globe: Aad Bb a mag- 
netic meridian: CD a © D 
magnetic parallel, which 

being the greatest of all 

the parallels in the mag- 

netic sphere, is here, for b 
distinction sake, called the magnetic equator. It is evident from 
inspection, that the magnetic lines are all curvilinear, and differ 
from the circles on a globe. ‘That the various inclination of a 
magnetic meridian with the true meridian, produces the varia- 
tion in quantity more or less, according to the parts of the earth 
so affected: and so likewise in any line drawn at right angles 
with a magnetic meridian; as for instance, the magnetic equator, 
which in its traverse round the globe, makes different quantities 
of variation according to its different inclination with the terres- 
trial equator. his variation increases towards the poles, as repre- 
sented in the figure: and the same magnetic meridian which in 
the northern hemisphere produces a west variation, may produce 
an east variation in the southern hemisphere, as in the meridian 
marked A a; and that meridian which in the southern hemi- 
sphere may produce an east variation, may produce a west va- 
riation in the northern hemisphere :—in like manner, and by the 
same rule, the magnetic equator produces the various quantities 
of east and west variation. 

To delineate, either on a chart or on a globe, a series of lines 
representing the magnetic meridians and parallels, is equivalent 
to projecting the north and south and east and west magnetic 
rhumbs. It is owing to the variation of the magnetic rhumb 
from the true rhumb of the course, that the mariner is frequently 
necessitated to make observation of the variation at sea in order 
to correct his course: this is most convincingly taught in the de- 
lineation of any magnetic meridian. 

According to the present state of the variation between the 
tropics, the magnetic equator, traversing the whole compass of the 
glohe, completes its range within 23 degrees of latitude or nearly 
12 degrees north, and 12 ditto south of the equator. Its maximum 
quantity of variation any where known is about 23 degrees on 
the coast of Africa, near the line; and hence the variation in- 
creases gradually until it is lost in the lines of no variation east 
and west. The west variation comprehends about 110 degrees 
of longitude, reckoned from the western coast of South America 

about 


298 Theory of the Magnetical Variation. 


about 10 degrees south, to the Peninsula of India south of Goa, 
where an east variation begins, and proceeding eastward through 
the Manillas, extends from thence over the whole compass of the 
Pacific Ocean, enters the west coast of South America, and, com- 
pleting its course through that continent, terminates at the line © 
of no variation on the west coast: in this manner does the mag- 
netic equator traverse the terraqueous globe: and if it were pos- 
sible for a ship to sail round the globe from any point on this 
magnetic line, it would perform just such a track, or very nearly 
so, provided it kept on the magnetic east or west rhumb. 

The sum of all the degrees of variation on the magnetic equa- 
tor, including the increasing ard decreasing quantities of east 
and west, is computed at 90 degrees; whereas about the latitude 
of 60 degrees north the sum is double that quantity, viz. about 
180 degrees. 

The highest quantities are found in the west variation at this 
time prevailing in the North and South Atlantic Seas, and south 
of the Cape of Good Hope. The highest quantity of east va- 
riation at present known is to the south of Cape Horn, where it 
amounts to about 25 degrees. In general, where the variation is 
found high in quantity, there the increase or decrease is found the 
most rapid; but where the quantity is small the change is alto- 
gether as slow, and several degrees of longitude are contained in 
one degree of variation, as appears from the Charts of the Pa- 
cific and Indian Seas*. 

Having thus far attempted a general description of the cause 
and theory of the magnetic system, and illustrated my argument 
by a few plain and obvious principles, I proceed to remark an 
experiment I some time ago made as follows :—On a globe of a 
convenient diameter I laid down that imaginary line here called 
the magnetic equator, and making this the base described se- 
veral parallels at equal distances towards the arctic circle, when 
that parallel which might be called the magnetic arctic parallel 
produced the figure of a shell not unlike that of the common oy- 
ster. I mention the experiment with submission to the geolo- 
gist; who, by further researches into the cause of magnetism, may 
hereafter afford an almost mechanical solution of that so long 
attributed to an occult principle. It may be also observed, that 
as the equatorial line laid down on the globe in the experiment 
above, was the result of actual experiment in observations of the 
compass made by recent navigators in most of those seas, so a 
system of lines produced on this principle alone, by far excels 
any of those mechanical cases so learnedly described by Dr. Lo- 
rimer, and is found to approximate the nearest of all other known 
methods to the true system actually existing. 


* See my Variation Chart lately published. 
If 


On Seasons favourable to the Growth of Fungi. 299 


If exact observations of the variation were taken at all the prin- 
cipal coasts, headlands, bays, harbours, and ports in Great Bri- 
tain and Jreland, and in all other countries where our navigation 
‘extends, it would be a very great benefit to the shipping interest 
both for lives and property, since it happens that frequently the 
greatest danger is found in making such coasts, harbours, ports, 
&c. for want of soundings, and the variation :—the former indeed 
has been well attended to, but the latter still remains a deside- 
ratum. But that this is a subject of importance in a commercial 
country, that an instrument like the mariner’s compass should 
be pertectly understood in all its usefulness, it is sufficient to in- 
stance, that without this instrument ships would cease to navi- 
gate the otherwise pathless seas, and commerce sink her head 
- into an insignificant nothingness ; nations in distant parts of the 
globe would cease to benefit each other by mutual advantages, 
and all our knowledge of distant climes and nations would 
avail us little. It is by this instrument, when neither sun nor 
moon nor stars appear, that the skilful mariner pursues his 
course in the most turbulent and boisterous seas; and with a 
dependence on this his only guide and directrix, he is guided as 
by an angelic hand towards the haven where he would be. How 
desirable then must the theory of such an excellent instrument 
be, and how worthy the pursuit of the mariner, the geographer, 
the philosopher, and the mathematician ! 


XLIX. On the Seasons which are most favourable to the 
Growth of Fungi, &c. with an Account of some of remarka- 
ble Growth this present Year, By A ConRESPONDENT. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir,—I+r has generally been believed that wet seasons were fa- 
vourable to the growth of mushrooms and of fungi; in general, 
the result of the present year, however, contradicts this notion. 
For after one of the hottest and driest summers which has hap- 
pened within the memory of the oldest man in this village, the 
whole of this tribe of plants have been more abundant than for 
many years past ; and some of them have exhibited an extraor- 
dinary luxuriance of growth. 

The common mushroom, Agaricus campestris, has been every 
where particularly abundant, and of large size: they began to 
appear in this neighbourhood just after the few days of rain early 
in September, and are still very numerous in all the open mea- 
dows and low lands hereabouts. 

That beautiful fungus, the Agaricus integer, is also very abun- 
dant: we have all the three varieties,—the crimson, the fawn- 

coloured, 


300 Notices respecting New Books. 


coloured, and the lead-coloured, of large size, in the moist 
grounds under the oak and beech | woods. I have also noticed a 
plentiful crop of the following species : 

Agaricus Slaccosus, the rough, tawny-yellow agarick, at the 
root of apple-trees in the orchard. 

Agaricus denticulatus, in the long grass. 

Agaricus glutinosus, in the same place, but more sparingly. 

Agaricus stercorarius, numerous and remarkably beautiful 
specimens in the dung of horses in the fields. 

Agaricus fascicular is. This species came up early even during 
the dry weather, and is still abundant, but not particularly large. 

The Boletus bovinus as well as another Boletus (which, whe- 
ther it be a variety of Lovins or not I am uncertain) have grown 
to an enormous bigness. Some have weighed above four pounds, 
and the diameter of their pilei was above fourteen inches. Se- 
veral other Boleti are also abundant and of large growth. But 
unfortunately, owing to the imperfect nomenciature and arrange- 
ment of fungi yet extant, many species of Boletus as well as of 
Agaricus which grow here, cannot be identified. Mr. Sowerby’s 
work constitutes a most interesting and useful sylva fungorum, 
wherein the botanist may study and arrange most of the British 
species, but they have never yet been accurately described. 

The most beautiful species we have here is the Agaricus pli- 
catilis. The genus Pexiza has been rather scarce this year.—I 
am induced to think that the most fruitful sort of season in fungi 
is one where a hot and dry summer is succeeded by a moderately 
wet antumn ; as by looking back in my Journals I find this fre- 
quently to have been the case, while the wholly wet summers and 
autumns have been less productive. 

[ shall prepare for some future number a table of observations 
for about nineteen years past, compared with weather and other 
collateral phenomena. Yours, &c. 

Harttield, 19th Ooctober, 1818. ‘ye | 


L. Notices speaks New Books. 


Dn. SPURZHEIM has just published a new work on the Physi- 
ology of the Brain, entitled Olservations sur la Phraenologie: 
in which he has, in some measure, improved on the arrangement 
of the organs. He admits now the existence of 35 separate or- 
gans in the brain; among them is the convolution called by Dr.. 
Foreter, Organ af superstitiousness or mystery. The work is 
published at Strasburgh, Paris, and London. 

Dr. Gall has likewise published another splendid folio fasci- 
culus of plates of the brain, accompanied by descriptions and 
an elucidation of his doctrine, 

LI. Pro- 


[ 301 ] 
LI. Proceedings of Learned Societies. 
ROYAL GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CORNWALL. 


Tus fifth anniversary of this institution was held in the So- 
ciety’s New Museum in Penzance, on the 6th of October— 
Davies Gilbert, Esq. M.P. F.R.S. President, in the chair. The 
following Annual Report of the Council was presented, aud read: 

“On reviewing the history of the Society since the last anni- 
versary, the Council is happy to be able to announce the. in- 
creased and increasing prosperity of the Institution. 

“‘The extensive and elegant Museum, which is now com- 
pleted, and which is calculated to meet the necessities of an esta- 
blishment of this kind in its state of perfection, cannot fail to 
have a happy influence on the fortunes of the Society. At the 
same time that it affords every convenience for the prosecution of 
the science of mineralogy and geology, it offers a secure, ample, 
and elegant depository for all kinds of valuable specimens, which 
the liberality and public spirit of its members may wish to see 
concentrated and preserved, for tne good of science in general, 
and for the interests of this county in particular. 

‘Much greater additions, as well of simple minerals as of 
geological specimens, have been made to the cabinet, than du- 
ring any former year ; and it is particularly gratifying, as a proof 
of the great and increasing interest of the Institution with the 
public, that this augmentation arises entirely from private dona- 
tions ;—the liberality of some of its members compensating the 
deficiencies which otherwise must have been produced by the pre- 
sent incompetency of the Society’s funds. The principal con- 
tributors are J. H. Vivian, Esy., W. Maclure, Esq., A. Majendie, 
Esq., J. Paynter, Esq., Dr. Forbes, and the Rev. J. Rogers. 

Incommunicating this very gratifying information, the Council 
cannot avoid expressing their regret that so few new specimens 
have been obtained from the County mines; and that, conse- 
quently, the department of the cabinet set apart for the recep- 
tion of indigenous ores, which ought to be particularly rich and 
splendid, continues to be defective, and is eclipsed by many other 
collections, as well public as private ;—a circumstance uniformly 
exciting the surprise of strangers. 

“Considerable accession of information respecting the geolo- 
gical structure of the county*has been obtained, which, although 
not very extensive, is valuable from its accuracy, and as it fur- 
nishes plans which may be successfully extended to other districts. 
The chief contributors in this way are Mr. Joseph Carne, the Rev. 
J. Rogers, and Dr. Forbes. 

“Ihe Council earnestly request the attention of members to 

this— 


302 Royal Geological Society of Cornwall. 


this—the grand object of the institution. It is impossible for a 
few members to undertake the investigation of the whole county. 
It is therefore hoped, that, with the view of enabling the Society 
to complete its long-promised but still very defective Geological 
Map, members will, in their respective districts, endeavour to 
ascertain the nature and relations of the rocks, and transmit their 
observations made, and specimens collected, from time to time, 
to the Secretary, who will be very ready to assist their inquiries 
by any advice or information in his power. Any person, even 
although unacquainted with the principles of geological science, 
can, it is obvious, collect specimens of the various rocks in his 
vicinity: and members are requested to bear this in mind, with 
the assurance that collections of this kind, with the various éo- 
calities of the specimens affixed, will very materially promote the 
important object in view. One grand desideratum, and which 
might be very easily supplied by members resident in the different 
parts of the county,—is, to ascertain the exact limits of the dif- 
Serent granite and killas districts —The farmers and miners, in 
any part of Cornwall, could give this information to any gentle- 
man that would take the trouble to record it, or to trace the 
boundary lines on any of the county maps. 

«¢ Owing to the great expenses necessarily incurred by the esta- 
blishment of a new Museum, &c. the funds of the Society can- 
not be said to be in the most flourishing state :—It is however 
true, that, chiefly through the liberal donations of some distin- 
guished members, they are so far in a state of progressive im- 
provement as to permit the Council to promise that, before the 
next annual meeting, all incumbrances will be cleared, and a 
balance left for promoting the various objects of the Institution. 

‘¢ By order, 
“ Oct. 6, 1818. “¢ JoHN FoRBEs, Secretary.” 


ane following papers were then presented and read : 


. The first paper was by the Secretary, Dr. Forbes, and was 

a a of ** Eloge on Natural History.’ In deseanting on the 
various advantages arising from this study, the author took notice 
of its effects in augmenting our relish for the works of nature, 
by superadding the higher intellectual pleasures to the delights 
afforded by the mere contemplation of beautiful or sublime ob- 
jects; its power in preventing the evils flowing from an excessive 
and vague admiration of the works of nature; its ready and un- 
cumbersome association with other pursuits; its tendency to 
promote health and cheerfulness ; its power in averting and re- 
lieving unhappiness; its beneficial influence in leading to reli- 
gion; its conferring a relish for simple pleasures ; its influence 
in improving the taste and judgement, and in quickening our 
habits 


- 


Royal Geological Society of Cornwall. 303 


habits of observation. In considering the very great advantages 
derived by the ¢raveller from this study, he paid a high yet well- 
metited compliment to Sir Humphry Davy, in nearly the follow- 
ing terms ; —‘ Nor is it only as enabling him more fully to en- 
joy the natural productions of the countries he visits, that a know- 
ledge of natural history is useful to the traveller: it is a sure 
introduction and passport to the most valuable acquaintance. 
Science, like a nobler freemasonry, unites in bonds of friendly 
fellowship all its cultivators, without regard to kindred, tongue, 
or nation; and to bea distinguished chemist, mathematician, or 
naturalist, is to have an irresistible claim on the attention and 
regard of all the noblest minds of all nations. With this intro- 
duction and passport, our truly illustrious townsman, Sir Hum- 
phry Davy, is at this very moment riding in triumph through 
all the most polished nations of Europe. With a consequence 
which rank or riches alone never could confer, he passes from 
city to city, conscious that his name alone will procure him that 
attention which the common traveller must want, or owe to other 
means. To the great and learned of every land he can freely 
express all his wishes, assured of their ready gratification: in 
every University and Society, nay in every palace, He 


“ Claims kindred there, and has his claims allow’d.” 


2. An extremely interesting paper by Mr. Jos. Carne, ** On 
the relative Age of the Veins of Cornwall ;” in which the inge- 
nious and jndustrious author attempts by fair deductions from an 
immense collection of facts to establish six or seven classes of 
veins, differing in the order and period of their formation. This 
paper does not admit of abridgement. It is of considerable 
length, and was characterized by the Secretary, who read it, as 
the most valuable communication that had yet been presented.to 
the Society. 

3. Two very valuable papers from the pen of the Jearned Mr. 
John Hawkins: one ** On the Nomenclature of theCornish Rocks,” 
as fixed by Werner, from specimens presented to that great geo- 
logist by Mr. Hawkins: another * On Floors of Tinstone.” On this 
occasion the Society elected Mr. Hawkins an honorary member. 

4, A paper “ On the Hornblend Formation of the parish of St. 
Cleer, and on the Geology of other parts of Cornwall,”’ by the 
Rev. Mr. John Rogers. In this communication the author de- 
tailed the various relations and localities of this formation, and 
illustrated the whole by a map of the district, and numerous spe- 
cimens of the rocks. Several interesting specimens were also 
presented by Mr. Rogers, from the slate quarries of- Tintagel, il- 
lustrating the nature of those appearances that have hitherto 
been generally considered as exhibiting the impression of shells, 

and, 


304 Royal Geological Society of Cornwall. 


and, consequently, as demonstrating the secondary nature of our 
Cornish slate. -Mr. Rogers is of opinion—and it would seem 
justly—that these supposed organic impressions are mere va- 
rieties of structure of the slaty matter itself. 

5. A paper by Miss Hill, of Barnstaple, ‘ On the Discovery 
of Hydrargyllite.”” From this communication it appears that the 
brother of Miss Hill, late surgeon in Barnstaple, and not Dr. 
Wavell, as is commonly believed, was the original discoverer of 
this mineral. 

6. A paper by Dr. Forbes, “ On the Geology of that part of 
Cornwall lying to the westward of Hayle and Cuddan Point ;’ 
illustrated by numerous specimens, and by an elegant geological 
map, and many drawings by Mr. Moyle, assistant secretary. On 
the present occasion Dr. F. had only time to read that portion of 
his paper which treated of the granite of the Land’s-End district, 
and of the slate for mation, observable on the shores of the pa- 
rishes of Burian Sennen, St. Just, Zennor, Towednack, St. Ives, 
and Lelant. In this paper the author denied the stratification of 
the Cornish granite; stated the slate formation of the district, 
which he described to consist of the following five rocks, horn- 
blend rock, greenstone, felspar rock, slaty felspar, aid clay slate ; 
and expressed his belief of the contemporaneous origin of these 
rocks, and the fundamental granite. As an irresistible argument 
in favour of this opinion, and as of itself subversive of the Hut- 
tonian theory, he adduced the frequent instances observable on 
the Cornish shores, of granite veins originating in the same rock, 
intersecting each other, and exhibiting at the point of intersec- 
tion the appearance called a shift or heave. 

7. Two very interesting papers “On the Tin Trade of the An- 
cients ;”,—one by the Rev. Mr. Greatheed, the other by the trea- 
surer, H. Boase, Esq. ‘The latter gentleman brought forward many 
ingenious arguments in support of a somewhat heterodox opinion 
which he holds, respecting the knowledge of Britain possessed by 
the Ancients. He denies that Cornwall was ever visited by the 
Phoenicians, and maintains, that if any islands denominated Cas- 
siterides really did exist, they certainly formed no part. of the 
present British dominions. 

Besides the papers above mentioned, there were some before 
the Society that were not read. Notices were also delivered in by 
Mr. Joseph Carne, of the quantity of tin and copper raised in 
Cornwall, Ireland, and Wales, during the year ending June 30th, 
1818; and several catalogues of geological and other specimens 
were presented to the Society by different gentlemen. 

In the course of the meeting Lord De Dunstanville took oceasion 
to notice the presentation of a piece of plate, value 150 guineas, 
to Dr. Paris; to whom, also, thanks were voted for superintend- 


ing 


Northern Expeditwn. 305 


ing the publication of the first volume of the Society’s Transac- 
tions. 

A Resolution was proposed by Sir Rose Price, respecting the 
accidents that still too frequently occur in our mines, from the 
premature explosion of gunpowder. The Hon. Baronet, in com- 
menting on these accidents, animadverted severely on the con- 
duct of those mine agents and proprietors, whose apathy or pre- 
judice continues to permit the occurrence of such fatal accidents, 
when simple and efficacious means of prevention exist in the safe- 
ty instruments invented by Captain Chenhalls. 

All the Officers of the Society were re-elected, and the follow- 
ing gentlemen chosen Vice Presidents and Members of the Coun- 
cil for the present year: viz. 

Vice Presidents—Sir C. Hawkins, Bart.; W. Rashleigh, Esq. ; 
F. H. Rodd, Esy.; Rev. John Rogers. 

Members of the Council—Jos. Carne, L. C. Daubuz, R. W. 
Fox jun. ; W. R. Hill, H. Grylls, S. Davey, S. John, H. P, Tre- 
menheere, Esquires; Rev. W. Hockin; and Capt. E. Scobell, R.N. 

From the Report of the Curator, Mr. Edward Giddy, of whose 
correct, lucid, and elegant arrangement of the mineralogical ca~ 
binet much approbation was expressed by the Meeting, it appears 
that upwards of 1600 new specimens have been added to the ca- 
binet since last anniversary; an augmentation which, we under- 
stand, arises entirely from private donations. 


LI. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 
NORTHERN EXPEDITION. 


Tus following curious and interesting letter to the Honourable 
Captain Napier, R.N. from on board the Isabella, one of the 
ships at present employed in the Northern Expedition, is under- 
stood to be from the pen of Captain Sir John Ross. 
“ His Majesty's Ship Isabella, off Sugar Loaf Bay, Davis’s 
Straits, July 12, 1818. lat. 74. 2. N. long. 58. W. 

«< My prgar Sir,— I take the opportunity of a Leith ship to 
let you know what we are about in this icy region; a few ex- 
tracts from the log will give some idea of our proceedings. On 
the 3d May left Shetland, and had a tolerable fair passage acros# 
the Atlantic; on the 22d were in longitude off Cape Farewell ; 
2 deg. south of it found our variation increasing as we went west, 
temperature of air and water nearly the same as at Shetland, 
thermometer at 42 or 43 deg. On the 26th saw the first ice- 
berg, lat. 58. 38. long. 50. 54.: we now had snow and sleet, 
thermometer at freezing, a good deal of loose ice all round. June 
2, in lat. 65. long. 56. were close in with the main west ice, which 
we supposed extended the whole way to the American coast ; on 

Vol. 52, No. 246, Oct, 1818. U the 


306 Northern Expedition. 


the 4th made the Greenland coast, in lat. 65. 42. but did not 
stand close in; the land here appeared something like the north 
coast of Spain, and about the same height, the mountains very 
precipitous, and terminating in ragged peaks. We continued 
our course to the northward, as the winds and ice permitted, 
keeping on the edge of the main west ice, which we found trend- 
ing to N.E. On the Sth, in lat. 68. 20. long. 55. 50. a few 
leagues off the Greenland coast, we were so hemmed in with ice 
on all sides that we could not run through; a fine S. W. gale 
was blowing, and we were obliged to tack about where we could 
find room. On the 9th we made fast to an ice-berg aground in 
38 fathoms, about a mile off shore. The mode of anchoring to 
ice is very easy: the boat goes a-head with the anchors, and 
fixes them before the ship approaches ; when ready, the ship 
stands in and makes fast, bow to the ice: a low berg that the 
bowsprit lies over is preferred, and aground if it can be had. 
On the 10th were obliged to get under way, a small change of 
wind setting a large body of ice upon us; we continued plying 
where we could find open water, and fell in with a whaler, the 
first we had seen, who informed us that none of the whale ships 
had been able to get past 704 deg.; that the ice to the north- 
ward was still fast. On the 14th called at the Whale Islands, 
where there is a Danish factory. The Danish Resident came on 
board; from him we could get little information, except that the 
preceding winter had been very severe. On the 16th we reached 
70.39. N. no clear water to be seen northward: made fast to an 
ice-berg about a mile off the N. W. end of Waygat or Hare Island. 
We found here most of the whale fishers waiting for an opening 
to go north, the fishery to the southward having failed this sea- 
son. Waygat is eight or nine miles long, 1200 or 1500 feet 
high, uninhabited, some of the rocks basaltic. Coal is found near 
the surface on the N. E. part of this island. Some grouse were 
shot, the cock perfectly white, the hen not unlike that of Scot- 
land. I sawone hare pure white. On the 20th the ice opened 
a little to the northward, when we began to warp and tow the 
ship through the slack, the winds light and variable, and fre- 
quent calms. On the 26th were only 20 miles from Waygat, 
where we got into a piece of clear water that carried us to the 
land ice on the north side of Jacob’s Bight, lat. 70.23. We found 
ourselves in 54. 17. W. per lunars, which agreed well with chro- 
nometers. We swung the ship, and took azimuths on board at 
every four points. Corresponding azimuths were taken at the 
same time on the ice. The observations were not taken in so 
correct & manner as might be done to form a just estimate of: 
the deviation of the compass by ship’s attraction. The idea here 
at present is, that the compasses are not attracted in a line with 
the 


Northern Expedition. 307 


the ship, but obliquely. From my own obseryation, I find that 
the bearings of distant objects with the ship’s head north and 
south correspond, which would not be the case if the attraction 
of the ship-was not fore and aft, but athwart. The azimuths 
taken with the ship’s head north or south generally agree. It is 
supposed likewise that the error arising from the ship’s attrac- 
tion has increased with the variation and dip. As there were no 
observations made before leaving England on the, ship’s attrac- 
tion, we must have patience until the variation is again decreased. 
‘< | think that the error has been constant the whole voyage. 
The ship’s head at west gives, according to my own observation, 
an increase of variation 16 deg.; at east a decrease of 16 deg. 
On the 27th we cast off from the ice with the prospect of an 
opening, and ecruized about in a narrow pool till the 2d July, 
when a fine fresh breeze opened a passage for us. On the 3d 
we were in 71. 30.—on the 4th 72. 30. On the 7th, in lat. 74. 
were again obstructed by ice, the bergs and flaws much heavier 

by far than those we have hitherto seen. 
<¢ We are now in the same place that Baffin, two hundred 
years ago, anchored: we find the Three Islands just as he de- 
scribes them ; he makes them in 74.4. We make them 74. 1}. 
Baffin gives an honest account of them. We stretched to 
the westward on the 9th and 10th, but found the sea all fast. 
We are now in daily expectation of the wind shifting to the 
N.E. and blowing strong, which is the only thing that will 
do us good, It is strange that, at the same time of the year, 
almost to a day, Baffin should have been stopped by ice in the 
same place ; he likewise stood west without finding clear sea— 
His account takes him to 78. N. but he does not say he was at 
the top of the Bay, or saw land there. Our voyage hitherto has 
heen very pleasant—Since the middle of June we have had very 
fine weather, the thermometer in sun 76.—sometimes in the 
shade it is at a mean about 35. or 34, sometimes below the 
freezing point. For five or six weeks we have only had occasion 
to take in the first reef once. The water is as smooth as a mill- 
pond all weathers. We have scarcely seen rain—our changes of 
weather are from cloudy to thick fogs, and sometimes light falls 
of snow. Sometimes the sun shines unclouded the whole twenty- 
four hours. We have seen two whales only, and have heard but 
of one being killed since we have been here—they are all north 
of us. Bears are as scarce—one has been seen. A great number 
of the gull tribe have been shot, and we sometimes procure a mess 
of eider ducks; seals are more abundant, but we don’t trouble 
them. The coast of Greenland, where we saw it, to the south- 
ward of 704, is higher than to the northward of that latitude. Here 
the coast consists of many high bold bluff-like head lands, which, 
U2 closer 


308 Northern Expedition. 


closer to, are found to be islands. The main land is one conti- 
nued ridge of smooth snow, which appears like a cloud. I sup- 
pose the ground has not been uncovered since the Flood. The 
islands in general are clear of snow.—There are no inhabitants 
to the north of 72. 30. on this coast. We had some of the na- 
tives on board from 68. 30. 704. and 72i—they are all the same 
people, the women dressed in the same manner as the men, only 
their hair tied on the crown of their head, and a small sort of 
peak on the fore and after part of their jackets. We have been 
so anxious to get on the more interesting part of our voyage, that 
little attention has been paid to the natives here. The most 
astonishing things to be seen here are the ice-bergs—their size 
an dnumber surpass fancy. From the65th deg. to this, the sea is 
literally covered with bergs, and we see no end to them: where 
they are generated is yet unknown to us; it is not in 74. or to 
the southward on this coast. That they are formed on the land 
is certain, from the many stones of great size which are seen : 
some of them are covered with sand and dirt, others have regu- 
lar strata of sand and stones running through them horizontally. 
They are of all forms—generally they have a high cleft on one 
side, and shelve down to the water on the other: some exceed 
200 feet perpendicular all round.—Loose or stream ice consists 
of pieces about the size of an acre and under, about a foot above 
the surface: when it is blown together by strong winds, one piece 
js edged up on the top of another, it is then called packed ice, or 
‘apack. Flaws are large pieces of field ice. The ice generally 
drifts with the wind, though a current must set southward, or 
how would the bergs find their way south? We have not been able 
to detect any current. The flood tide sets here from southward. 
At Waygat we had a rise and fall of seven feet at spring tides. 
Where the ice-bergs drift into shallow water (that is to say 150 
fathoms or under), they ground, and obstruct the passage of the 
smaller ice, and form barriers which it is difficult to pass. In 68. 
there is a reef, in 704. another, in 74. another, generally found 
full of ice by the fishers; we have found it the same. In stand- 
ing a few leagues from land we find 85 fathoms here, closer on 
150, 90, and soon. The water runs in small streams from the 
bergs, so we have no difficulty in procuring it. I am now more 
sanguine of getting a long way north and west than I was at the 
first of the voyage. I am of opinicn that the ice will clear away, 
and that very soon. The small ice has been for some time con- 
suming fast, and will be all dissolved by the end of this month, 
even without wind to break it. 
< July 18.—Yesterday an opening in the ice énabled us to get 
to 74. 43. when we were again stopped—the ice here much hea- 
vier, and in fields. We are at present fast to a field, in thick ri 
whic 


Northern Expedition. 309 


which freezes as it falls, and covers every thing with ice. When 
at the Three Islands we made some further observations on the 
bearings of distant objects by compass, and found a change of 
bearings of three points at east and west. The compasses for 
some time have traversed very sluggishly; this, we suppose, 1s 
owing to the increase of dip. I think it not at all improbable, that, 
as the terrestrial magnetism begins to act more inclined to the 
compass needle, it will act with less force—the iron of the ship 
still acting at the same angle, draws the needle towards the cen- 
tre of the ship, which causes this great deviation of the compass ; 
and should we reach the place where the dip is 90, I think the 
compass will stand always north and south by the magnetism of 
the ship. We did not speak the Leith ship ; this must therefore 
take its chance of any craft. The description of Greenland 
given in Dr. Brewster’s Encyclopedia is so correct, that no one 
need add any thing more on that subject until the face of the 
country is again changed. I had picked up some stones from the 
different parts where we touched, for Dr. Brewster; but having 
since read the article Greenland in his book, I find that he knows 
more than a ship load could tell him*. We have been unfor- 
tunate in killing animals, so that I have got no crystalline lenses 
for him. I bespoke some eyes of whales from the fishers; but the 
chance of their killing fish, or of our falling in with them again, 
is doubtful. —If we fall in with a Leith ship, I will send the stones. 

“© July 22.—Yesterday we got an opening, which brought us 
to the 75th deg. The whales begin to make their appearance, 
several having been killed within these eight days. The main 
land appears one continued smooth ridge of snow, only here and 
there the black peak of a mountain appearing; some large islands 
on the coast less covered with snow; the land ice extends three 
or four leagues off, so there is no prospect of approaching the 
coast hereabouts. We sound occasionally in from 200 to 400 fa- 
thoms soft mud and small stones. Three days we were beset in 
the ice; could not observe any current, by the lead lying at the 
bottom, though the ice on the surface was in motion. 

“ July 25,—Lat. 75. 21. long. 60.30. Got here this morn- 
ing, and now see more clear water than we have seen for some 
time past. We must now be crossing the magnetic Pole fast, as 
the variation increases so much, It is puzzling to find out ex- 
actly how the ship is steering by the compass; what with the 
great variation and error, arising from the ship’s attraction and 
the sluggish traversing of the compasses, we must consider some 
time before a course or wind can be properly named. We are nowthe 


* The article ‘ Greenland’ was written by Sir Charles Giesecke, who 
spent seven year's in that country. 


northernmost 


310 Failure of Captain Buchan’s Branch of the Expedition. 


northernmost ship, and have made fast to the ice, on purpose to 
send away a few letters. The fish are turning so very plenty, 
that all the ships are employed, and probably will proceed no 
further north this season. This afternoon we got jammed be- 
tween two flaws, and seeing a ship taking fish at a short distance 
from us, Captain Ross sends all his dispatches with her, in case 
of not falling in with any other, or ice opening and separating 
us. You will hear from me by every oppportunity. 
“Tam, &c. JR: 

¢ P,S. While writing these last lines, the ice has closed all 
round us, and fast to the northward. You may guess how fickle 
it is. We are now about three miles off a small rocky island, in 
270 fathoms mud; the island four or five Jeagues from the main 
land, and ice connecting it. The temperature of the water to- 
day is 36 deg. higher than it has been for some weeks. We see 
land bearing N.W. by W. true.” 


Failure of Captain Bucuan’s Branch of the Expedition. 


On Oct. 15, Mr. Fisher, an officer of the Dorothea (discovery 
ship), Captain Buchan, arrived at the Admiralty with dispatches, 
announcing the return of that ship and her consort the Trent 
sloop from the North Pole. It appears that the highest latitude 
the ships ever attained was about 80. 30. longitude 12 east. They 
attempted proceeding to the westward; but, as in the case of 
Captain Phipps in the Racehorse in 1773, they found an im- 
penetrable barrier of ice. The ships proceeded nearly over the 
same space as Captain Phipps did, and met with similar impedi- 
ments to those experienced by that officer. 

Although the, object of the discovery ships under Captain 
Buchan has been defeated for the present by the unfortunate ac- 
cident which befel the Dorothea, and in consequence thereof the 
question of a practicable passage over the North Pole remains pre- 
cisely where it did, there is every reason to believe that the North- 
west Expedition, under Captain Ross, will prove successful. 


The following is an extract of a letter from Mr. William Hurst, 
master of the ship Ariel, to his owners, Messrs. Hammond and 
Smith, dated Stromness, Oct. 8: 

«< A heavy gale came on on the 9th of August from the south- 
ward, and we got clase beset amongst heavy flaws of ice, where 
we were detained till the 8d of September, without any possi- 
bility of getting out. ‘The ship was in great danger while we 
were beset, but happily we escaped clear off; and I observed in 
lat. 76. 8. N. and there found an open sea. We stood off to the 
westward for 12 hours, and met with no ice. - The TSP u GRE 

ships 


The Arctic Regions. : 311 


ships got out of sight of us about the middle of August; and, 
from the appearance it had when we left the ice, I doubt not but 
they may find their wished-for passage.” 


The following is an extract of another letter, dated Stromness, 
9th October : 

“¢ The Everthorpe of Hull, Captain Hawkins, is arrived here, 
all well, with fifteen fish, one of them a small one, said to be the 
last ship fom Davis’s Straits this season—says, he is certain the 
discovery ships have got round the land, as he was in lat. 76. 28. 
on the 4th September, and could not see a bit of ice to the N. W. 
or N.E., of him at that time.” 


The Arctic Regions. 


As it is now very probable that the persons employed on the 
northern expeditions will winter in these drear and inhospitable 
regions, it may not be uninteresting to our readers to recall to 
their recollection the features of the revolving year, as observed 
in the Arctic Circle. 

After the continued action of the sun has at last melted away 
the great body of ice, a short and dubious interval of warmth oc- 
curs. In the space of a few weeks, visited only by slanting and 
enfeebled rays, frost again resumes his tremendous sway, It 
begins to snow as early as August, and the whole ground is co- 
vered to the depth of two or three feet before the month of Oc- 
tober. Along the shores and the bays, the fresh water, poured 
from rivulets, or drained from the thawing of former collections 
of snow, becomes quickly converted into solid ice. As the cold 
augments, the air deposits its moisture, in the form of a fog, 
which freezes into a fine gossamer netting, or spicular icicles, 
dispersed through the atmosphere, and extremely minute, that 
might seem to pierce and excoriate the skin. The hoar frost set- 
tles profusely, in fantastic clusters, on every prominence. The 
whole surface of the sea steams like a lime-kiln ; an appearance 
called the frost-smoke, caused, as in other instances of the pro- 
duction of vapour, by the water’s being still relatively warmer 
than the incumbent air. At length the dispersion of the mist, 
and consequent clearness of the atmosphere, announce that the 
upper stratum of the sea itself has become cooled by the same 
standard; a sheet of ice spreads quickly over the smooth ex- 
panse, and often gains the thickness of an inch in a single night. 
The darkness of a prolonged winter now broods impenetrably 
over the frozen continent, unless the moon chance, at times, to 
obtrude her faint rays, which only discover the horrors and wide 
desolation of the scene. The wretched settlers, covered with a 
load of bear-skins, remain crowded and immured in their hut, 
every chink of which they carefully stop up against the piercing 

U4 external 


312 The Arctic Regions. 


external cold; and cowering about the stove er the lamp, they 
seek to doze away the tedious night. Their slender stock of pro- 
visions, though kept in the same apartment, is often frozen so 
hard as to require to he cut with a hatchet. The whole of the 
inside of their hut becomes lined with a thick crust of ice; and, 
if they happen for an instant to open a window, the moisture of 
the confined air is immediately precipitated in the form of a 
shower of snow. As the frost continues to penetrate deeper, the 
rocks are heard at a distance to split with loud explosions. The 
sleep of death seemstowrap up the scene in utter and oblivious ruin. 

At length the sun re-appears above the horizon; but his lan- 
guid beams rather betray the wide waste, than brighten the pro- 
spect. By degrees, however, the further progress of the frost is 
checked. In the month of May, the famished inmates venture 
to leave their hut in quest of fish on the margin of the sea. As 
the sun acquires elevation, his power is greatly increased. The 
snow gradually wastes away; the ice dissolves apace; the vast 
fragments of it, detached from the cliffs, and undermined beneath, 
precipitate themselves on the shores with the noise and crash of 
thunder. The ocean is now unbound, and its icy dome broken 
up with tremendous rupture. The enormous fields of ice, thus 
set afloat, are, by the violence of winds and currents, again dis- 
severed and dispersed. Sometimes impelled in opposite direc- 
tions, they approach and strike with a mutual shock, like the 
crash of worlds; sufficient, if opposed, to reduce to atoms in a 
moment the proudest monuments of human power. It is impos- 
sible to picture a situation more awful than that of the poor crew 
of a whaler, who see their fraii bark thus fatally inclosed, ex- 
pecting immediate and inevitable destruction. 

Before the end of June, the shoals of ice in the arctic seas are 
commonly divided, scattered, and dissipated. But the atmosphere 
is then almost continually damp, and loaded with vapour. At’ 
this season of the year, a dense fog generally covers the surface 
of the sea, of a milder temperature indeed than the frost-smoke, 
yet produced by the inversion of the same cause. The lower 
stratum of air, as it successively touches the colder body of water, 
becomes chilled, and thence disposed to deposit its moisture. 
Such thick fogs, with mere gleams of clear weather, infesting 
the northern seas during the greater part of the summer, render 
their navigation extremely dangerous. In the course of the month 
of July, the superficial water is, at last, brought to an equili- 
brium of temperature with the air, and the sun now shines out 
with a bright and dazzling radiance. For some days before the 
close of the summer, such excessive heat is accumulated in the 
bays and sheltered spots, that the tar and pitch are sometimes 


melted, and run down the ships’ sides. 
The 


Steam-Engines.—Scientific Researches in Brasil. 318 


The ice which obstructs the navigation of the arctic seas con- 
sists of two very different kinds; the one produced by the con- 
gelation of fresh, and the other by that of salt water. In those 
inhospitable tracts, the snow which annually falls on the islands 
or continents, being again dissolved by the progress of the sum- 
mer’s heat, pours forth numerous rills of limpid streams, which 
collect along the indented shores, and in the deep bays inclosed 
by precipitous rocks. ‘There, this clear and gelid water soon 
freezes, and every successive year supplies an additional invest- 
ing crust, till, after the lapse of several centuries, the icy mass 
rises, at least to the size and aspect of a mountain, commensurate 
with the elevation of the adjoining cliffs. The melting of the 
snow, which is afterwards deposited on such enormous blocks, 
likewise contributes to their growth; and by filling up the acci- 
dental holes or crevices, it renders the whole structure compact 
and uniform. Meanwhile, the principle of destruction has al- 
ready begun its operations. The ceaseless agitation of the sea 
gradually wears and undermines the base of the icy mountain, 
till at length, by the action of its own accumulated weight, when 
it has perhaps attained an altitude of a thousand or even two 
thousand feet, it is torn from its frozen chains, and precipitated 
with a tremendous plunge into the abyss below. This mighty 
launch now floats like a lofty island on the ocean, till, driven, 
southward by winds and currents, it insensibly wastes and dis- 
solves away in the wide Atlantic. 


STEAM ENGINES IN CORNWALL. 
From Messrs. Leans’ Report for September 1818, it appears 
that the following was the work performed during that month, 
by the engines reported, with each bushel of coals. 


Pounds of water lifted | Load per square 
1 foot high with each bushel.) inch in cylinder. 


23 common enginesaveraged 23,009,446 various. 
Woolt’s at Wheal Vor a'as) 22090 h45808 17°8 lib. 
Ditto Wh. Abraham .. 47,540,653 | . 16°8 
Ditto Pitts, nee Sense lyase l 6°7 
Wheal Abraham engine .. 36,753,403 10:9 
United Mines ditto -. 39,608,998 18-7 
Treskirby ditto .. .- 37,320,477 10-8 
Wheal Chance ditto peau Gl Zsh72 11-9 


SCIENTIFIC RESEARCHES IN BRASIL. 

Mr. William Swainson, F.L.S. has just returned to this coun- 
try from Brasil. He quitted England in the autumn of 1816, for 
the sole purpose of exploring that distant country, and collecting 
its splendid and extraordinary productions. Mr. S. proceeded 

in 


314 Scientific Researches in Brasil. 


in the first instance to Pernambuco, where he was detained by 
the insurrection which broke out there the following year. On 
tranquillity being again restored, he proceeded (partly by land) 
to Bahia, where he remained till the beginning of this year, 
chiefly occupied in visiting different parts of that province, and 
in a journey towards the interior, in the desert tracts of which, 
besides many other unknown birds, he was fortunate in discover- 
ing the superb Psittacus augustus, the hyacinthine Macaw *, 
At Bahia Mr. 8. fell in with the two Prussian naturalists sent 
out by that government, Mr. Freyeries and Dr. Sellow, the latter 
a young but able botanist ; they had just completed an arduous 
journey along the coast from Rio de Janeiro, and which had 
taken them eighteen months. During part of this time they 
had lived with the Bootocoodi Indians, a tribe possessing customs 
the most singular, and of whom little hitherto is known. While 
Mr. S. staid in this province, these naturalists did not go beyond 
the shores of the bay. Among other unknown animals, Mr. 
Freyeries had discovered a species of bat, perfectly white, with 
an appendage at its tail resembling the two last joints of a small 
rattle-snake. From Bahia Mr.S. proceeded to Rio de Janeiro, 
where he met with an assemblage of scientific men sent out by 
almost every continental sovereign, though by none with such 
munificence as the Emperor of Austria, whose daughter the 
Princess Leopoldina is united to the heir of the Portuguese and 
Brasilian crowns. The scientific mission which accompanied her 
to Brasil consisted of no fewer than seven persons, viz. Professor 
Micken, botanist ; M. Schott, gardener ; Dr. Pohl, mineralogist; 
M. Buckberger, botanical painter; and M. Enter, landscape 
painter; M. Natterer, zoologist, with an assistant. It is la- 
mentable however to add, that with means so liberal and en- 
lightened, little, comparatively, has been done ; for, from various 
causes, not one of the party had been more than forty miles from 
the capital; all had embarked for Europe this spring, with the 
exception of the two latter, who are preparing for a journey into 
the vast province of Matto Grosso, situated in the centre of South 
America, and which, in every sense, may be considered as al- 
most unknown. France has to boast of M. Augr. de St. Hilaire, 
who, as a botanist, has ably explored the province of Minas, and 
the banks of the Rio St. Francesco, and who is meditating an- 
other journey; and Dr. Langsdorff, the Russian Minister, is 
supplying the Imperial Museum with a multitude of objects in 
every branch of natural history. Even the principality of Tus- 
cany has sent out an experienced botanist, Professor Raddi, of 


* The only specimen ever seen of this bird was purchased alive by the 
then Lord Orford, for 200 guineas. See also Shaw’s General Zoology, 
vol. vill. p. 393. 

Florence 5 


Deer destroy Serpents. 315 


Florence; and the Portuguese Court, ashamed of seeing other 
nations employed in collecting and recording the productions of 
their own woods and mountains, have recently established a 
National Museum, and taken measures for active researches. 
Added to all these, the King of Bavaria some time ago sent out 
Messrs. Spix and Martins, the one a zoologist, the other a bo- 
tanist, both known by their works to the scientific world, and 
who are now travelling the provinces between Rio de Janeiro and 
Bahia. By such enlightened policy, and various talent, this 
luxuriant country will soon be better known. But the ignorance 
which until very lately has existed respecting it, added to the 
vast extent of territory it covers, will for years render it a wide 
and almost boundless field for the researches of the philosopher 
and the naturalist. The collections made by Mr. Swainson, in bo- 
tany, ornithology, and entomology, are, we understand, very ex- 
tensive, particularly in the latter department, and a relation of 
his travels may probably be laid before the public. 


DEER DESTROY SERPENTS. 

The following extract from Col. Maurice Keating’s Travels 
presents a curious fact in natural history :—‘‘ Mr. Dowling, who 
passed many years of his life in and about St. Ildefonso, in the 
course of adverting to the progress of his manufactory, had fre- 
quently been eye-witness to a very surprising occurrence here— 
deer swallowing live serpents. He describes the fact as follows: 
The deer, after discovering, examines the serpent for some time 5 
he then places both his fore feet successively on it, standing 
somewhat straddling, so as to keep the reptile distended to its 
utmost length, He has probably in the first instance secured 
the head. The deer then puts his mouth down to the middle of 
the snake, thereby taking it in; and then raising his head and 
neck to a horizontal level with his body, and protruding his chin, 
so as to make his head on aline with his neck, he appears to suck 
the snake down double, moving his jaws for the purpose, but 
not chewing; the head and tail of the reptile, writhing, being 
the last parts of it seen. Of this strange appetite and extraor- 
dinary process Mr. Dowling had seen numerous instances. It 
brings to_mind the ¢ cervi pasti serpente medulla’ (a necro- 
mantic ingredient) of the poet.” 

The foregoing fact brings to our recollection another of the 
same kind. Swine are also devourers of serpents. In some 
parts of America they take advantage of this fact. When_a piece 
of ground infested with these reptiles is to be cleared, having 
first inclosed the piece sufficiently to. prevent the swine from 
wandering beyond their allotted boundary, they drive a number 
of them into the ground; and when these have had sufficient 

time 


316 Prase in Scotland.—Tar Light.—Patenis. 


time to clear it of snakes, the work of clearing away the wood is 
proceeded on. ——- 
PRASE DISCOVERED IN SCOTLAND. 


We understand that Dr. MacCulloch has recently discovered 
prase in Scotland, and that it is found in Loch Hourn forming 
veins in a gneiss which contains actinolite schist. ‘To this sub- 
stance it is known to be indebted for its colour. Our mineralo- 
gical readers will be glad thus to know that they may increase 
their collections of British minerals by a variety of quartz which 
is no where very common. It may probably not be known to 
them that the ‘* prase’”’ mentioned in Jamieson’s Mineralogy is 
a quartz penetrated and coloured by chlorite, a substance very 
common in Argyllshire, but essentially distinct from the mineral 
in question. sate NRL 

TAR LIGHT FOR STREET LAMPS, 

It is stated in an American newspaper that Professor Hare, of 
William and Mary College in Virginia, has invented an appara- 
tus for burning tar instead of oil, in lighting cities and manufac- 
tories.—It is said that tar burned in this apparatus gives a strong 
and clear light; and it is computed, that four or five barrels of 
tar will serve a lamp for one year, and will give eight times the 
light of a common street lamp. The following is given in the 
Union as a description of the apparatus :—It ‘ consists of a foun- 
tain reservoir to hold four or five pounds of tar to supply the lamp 
at a uniform height, and a lantern with a draught pipe attached 
to it.—The lamp presents at one end a cylindrical mouth for re- 
ceiving the pipe of the reservoir; at the other end a cylindrical 
cup, in which the tar is ignited, the flaine being drawn up through 
a central hole in the bottom of the lantern so as to occupy its 
axis in passing to the draught pipe. All the air which supplies 
this is made to meet in the same axis, and thus to excite the 
combustion.” 

LIST OF PATENTS FOR NEW INVENTIONS. 

To Thomas Parker the younger, of Seven Oaks, in the county 
of Kent, bricklayer, for his method or methods of regulating and 
improving the draught of chimneys.—2 months allowed for spe- 
cification, dated 5th Oct. 1S18. 

To William Finch, of Birmingham, gentleman, for certain im- 
provements in bridles for horses, which he intends to denominate 
¢ Philanthropic bridles.” —12th Oct.—2 months. 

To Samuel Hobday, of Birmingham, snuffer-maker, for his 
new and improved method or principle in the making of snuffers 
without any spring or Jever.—12th Oct.—-2 months. 

To Sir William Congreve, of Cecil-street, in the city of West- 
minster, baronet, for his discovered and invented certain new 
methods of constructing steam -engines.—19thOct.—6 months. 

Meteoro- 


Meteorology. 317 


Meteorological Journal kept at Walthamstow, Essex, from 
September 15 to October 15, 1818. 


{Usually between the Hours of Seven and Nine A.M. and the Thermometer 
(a second time) between Twelve and Two P.M.] 


Date. Therm. Barom. Wind. 


Ss 


September 
59 29°90 
68 

16 45 29°65 
61 

i748, 29-91 
38 

18 48 30:10 
59 

19 54. 29°90 
67 

20 59 29°60 
68 

21 59 29°40 
67 

22 52 29°60 
‘ 

23 53 29°60 
67 

24 54 29-60 
67 

25 52 29-60 
68 

26 51 29°40 
63 

27 51 29-60 
64 

28 59 29-60 
70 

29 59 29-60 
67 

30 59 29-40 
64 


SW.—Gray and windy; some clouds; fine day 
till 2 P.M. ther rain till after 5 P.M., and 
then a hard shower ; cloudy night. 

SW.—Cirrus and clear; very fine morn; fine 
day ;cloudsand sun, and very slight showers ; 
showers of rain and wind at night. 

N.~-Very clear and windy; clouds and clear; 
moon-light and cumuli, 

S—SE.—Hazy ; slight rain at 9 A.M. till af- 
ter 2 P.M.; cloudy at 95; stars and cumulz 
at 11 P.M. 

SE.—Clear, and fine cirrocumuli; fine day ; 
and some very slight showers ; a remarkably 
black small cumulus passed over the moon 
about 113 P.M. 

SE.— Fine mom; cirrostratus and clear $ 
some slight showers; fine day; cloudy night. 

SE.—Cloudy; rain from about 9 A.M. to 1 
P.M. ; sun and clonds; a great shower about 
4 P.M.; clear night. 

SE.—Clear and cirrostratus ; very fine day; 
bright star-light. Moon last quarter. 

SE.—Clear morning; fine day; some showers 
after noon; dark and rainy. 

SE.—Rain and hazy; fineday; sun and cu- 
muli; dark night. 

N.—Gray morn; fine day; very rainy since 
o Pai, 

W—SW.—Rain till about 9 A.M.; showers 
aud sun ; fine day; dark and rainy. 

SE.—Fine morn ; sunshine; a slight shower ; 
rain after 3 P.M. ; star-light. 

SE.—Fine sun and cirrostratus; very fine hot 
day; fine red sunset; star-light. 

SE—E.— Clear and cumuli; fine hot day; 
calm ; stars, but not very bright. 

E—SE.~—Rain and wind early; fine hot day ; 
star-light, very hot. | New moon. 

October 


318 Meteorology. 
Date. Therm. Barom. Wind. 


October 
1 56 29.40 SE.—Clear and cirrostratus; a small shower 
67 about 10 A.M.; clouds, wind, and sun; 


showers; clear and star-light. 
2 49 29.55 E—SE.—Sun; clear high; stratus low; white 


64 dew; fine day; very bright star-light, and 
aurora borealis, 

3 57 SE—SW.— Orange red-sun-rise; clouds and 

64 wind ; rain began before 8 A.M. and lasted 

almost incessantly till near 9 P.M.; star-light. 

4 54 SW—NW.—Sunand hazy; very fine morning; 

60 a great shower and thunder and lightning 


about noon; some showers after; star-light 
and windy. 

49 29.45 NW—S.—Clear, cirrostratus, and windy; sun, 

o7 and very slight showers; at 4 P.M. hazy and 

damp ; some rain ; dark night early ; bright 
star-light at midnight. 

6 41 29.29 W—NW.—Clear, & some cirrostratus ; wind; 
very fine day; at3 P.M. Ther. 565; a shower 
after 5 P.M.; bright star-light. 

7 37 29.50 NW—N.—Sun; hazy; strong dew; very 

59 fine day; star and moon-light bright.— 
Moon first quarter. 
S 38 29.70 NW—N.—Foggy morning; very fine day ; 


on 


56 sun and wind ; fine moon and star-light. 
9 38 29.80 SE—W—SW.—Very foggy early; very calm; 
o7 very fine day; dark night. 
10 55 29.65 SW.—Hazy morning; damp hazy day; neither 
66 moon nor stars visible, but not very dark. 
11 58 29.50 SW.—Hazy; slight rain early or in the night ; 
62 gray ; showers and some sun ; rain. 
12 45 29.70 SW.—Fine clear sun-rise ; hazy at 8 A.M.; 
57 very fine hot day; bright moon-light. 
13. 49 29,80 E—S.— Gray morning; fine sunny day ; 
29 bright moon and star-light. 
14 52 29.91 E—SE.—Fine morning; white dew and sun ; 
66 very fine hot day ; bright moon-light. Full 
moon. 
15 54 29.91 SE—Red sun-rise ; fine morning, and some 
66 slight showers after S A.M.; clouds and 
sun; fine day; very warm; slight rain and 
cirrostratus. 


METEORO=- 


Meteorology. 319 


METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL KEPT AT BOSTON, 


LINCOLNSHIRE. 


— 


[The time of observation, unless otherwise stated, is at 1 P.M.] 


Ageo 

1818 the 
’ Moon.} meter. 

DAYS. 
Sept.15| 15 | 54° 
16, 16 | 55° 
CP tz ae 
18} 18 | 61°5 
lo} 19 | 66°5 
20| 20 | 63° 
21; 21 | 61° 
29; 22 | 63° 
©23| 23 | 64° 
24| 24 | 64° 
25| 25 | 60° 
26| 26 | 58° 
27| 27 | 59° 
28) 28 | 69°5 
29| 29 | 65°5 
30) new| 60° 
Oct. 1; 1 | 66° 
Q) 2| 64.5 
co A "a Mao 
a) 4 1. apo 
1 RE 8 ee a 
6| 6 56° 
Cs ae call ge: Ta 
| 8 |. op” 
9, 9 59° 
10| 10} 61°5 
21°11, 1 Bao 
12| 12} 59° 
¥3| 13 | 60° 
14| full| 67> 


oo 


[ : 
Thermo-| Baro- |State of the Weather and Modification 


meter. of the Clouds. 


eee 


99.71 |Rain 

99:67 |\Cloudy—rain in the evening 
30°13 |Ditto 

30°10 |Ditto 

29°87 |Ditto 

29°71 |Ditto 

29.47 Rain 

29°76 |Cloudy 

29°75 \Ditto—heavy rain at night 
29°69 |Fine—do. A. M. 

29°75 |Cloudy—do. at night 
29°65 |Ditto—rain A.M. 

29°71 |Fine 

29°79 |Very fine 

29°81 |Ditto 

29°63 |Cloudy 

29°60 |Fine 

29°73 |Very fine 

29°57 |Rain | 

29°56 |Ditto 

29°40 |Cloudy 

29°39 |Fine 

29°66 |Ditto 

29°90 |Ditto 

29°89 |Cloudy _ 

29°65 |Ditto—rain in the evening 
99°60 |Fine—heavy rain, storm at night 
- 99°82 |Ditto 

22°91 |\Ditto—shower A. M. 
30°07 |Ditto 


METEORO- 


320 


Days of 
Month. 


Sept. 27 
28 


Meteorology. 


METEOROLOGICAL TABLE, 


By Mr. Cary, OF THE STRAND, 


For October 1818. 


‘Thermometer. A : 
reas resee APRESS ase: 
Sal. s Height of | 5\§ = 
2°2|"S the Barom.| 2 = S 
O65 z Inches. | 273 sb 
om oo 
Ce = é 
55 | 64 29°70 27 
60 | 66 °75 36 
61 | 69 63 40 
60 | 66 *50 40 
60 | 68 °53 29 
60 | 66 *63 41 
59 | 64 °47 ra) 
57 | 65 *50 9) 
56 | 60 °50 36 
45 | 56 35 30 
44 | 58 = 55 35 
44 | 55 “69 30 
42 | 60 *82 32 
55 | 62 ‘60 29 
58 | 63 *54 ) 
57 | 64 “90 36 
56 | 65 °86 30 
57 | 68 °O7 39 
60 | 67 °O5 31 
60 ;} 69 30.02 36 
55 | 64 "02 35 
55 | 62 29.93 39 
55 | 63 30°04 40 
54! 61 °16 36 
45 | 56 09 49 
49 | 55 29°97 30 
49 | 50 99 29 
50 | 51 30°03 28 
52 | 59 05 30 
55 | 62 12 36 


Weather, 


Showery 
Fair 

Showery 
Showery 


|Showery 
_|Fair 
{Rain 


Stormy 


_|Showery 


Showery 
Fair 
Fair 
Fair 
Cloudy 
Rain 
Fair 
Cloudy 
Fair 


Cloudy 


-|Fair 


Fair 


|Fair 
|\Fair 
_|Fair 


Fair 
Fair 


|Cloudy 


Cloudy 
Fair 
Fair 


N.B, The Barometer’s height is taken at one o’clock. 


——————— EES 


[ 82hved 


LIL. On Measuring the Depths of Cavities seen on the Sur- 
face of the Moon. By A CoRRESPONDENT. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — Tue attention of astronomers having for years past 
been directed to measuring the altitudes of lunar mountains, I 
have frequently been surprised that no attempts have yet been 
made to ascertain the depths of those cavities which are so con- 
spicuous on the surface of the moon. 

Under a conviction that determining the depths of such ca- 
vities will not be considered unworthy of notice, after the first 
astronomers of Europe have endeavoured to ascertain the heights 
of mountains on the moon’s surface, J beg leave to submit to 
the examination of your readers the inclosed method of mea- 
suring the depths of lunar cavities. 

I remain, sir, yours, &c. 
Islington, Sept. 26, 1818. H. M. 


<‘ Having given the apparent length of a shadow projected by 
the side of a lunar éavity on the bottom of it, and the angle be- 
tween the edge of the cavity and the boundary of vision or moon’s 
limb, to find the depth from the edge to the bottom of the ca- 
vity. 
B 


wv 


EK 


Let bd be the direction of a ray of light touching the edge J 
of the cavity de and falling on the bottom d; then will d re- 
Vol. 52, No, 247. Nov. 1818. xX present 


322 On Measuring the Depths of the Moon’s Cavities. 


present the shadow projected by the side bod. Let biand gh 
represent lines drawn from the observer to the extremities J and d 
of the shadow; and ABDE the circular plane in which are found 
the straight lines gh and the point 4. Let EC be the direction 
of a line joining the centres of the earth and this plane; then 
g and bi may be considered parallel and in the same plane 

that is the plane ABDE. ‘ 

Draw the diameter AD at right angles to EC; AD then is 
the boundary of vision, First let the moon be in quadratures ; Jd 
will then be perpendicular to gf, that is to EC, and EC will be 
the boundary of illumination; therefore bd=hi, that is the 
-apparent = to the true length of the shadow. 

Hence, in the right-angled adde are given, and the 
zbde=(ZACLJ the angle made between the edge of the ca- 
-vity and the @’s limb) to find de, the depth required. 

If the moon be not in quadratures, J d is not perpendicular 
to Zi, and consequently the apparent not equal to the true 
length of the shadow. 

In this case let rt be supposed to be the direction of a ray 
touching’ the edge of the cavity r¢a. 

Let. fall the perpendiculars ¢z and ry, join rC, and draw wf 
pat? jel to DC, and from ¢ Jet fall #0 perpendicular to rq ; 

th en will wt be the apparent length of the shadow, r¢ the true 
length, and ro the depth of the cavity. : 

In the triangle wér are given the side wf and the angle 
w t r=(the elongation if the moon be in her first or last quarters, 
or to its supplement if in the second or third quarters) to find r é. 
Then iv the Av.o.t. the Zr.t.o. = the Zrtz— Zo.t.r. But 

2r.t.% = Llrxe. = £z%.C.B = the ¢’s elongation and the 
(As 0.é.r. and x.¢.q. being similar) 20.é.r. = D.C.7. the angle 
between the edge of the cavity and ¢’s limb ., 27.é.0.= Zriz 
— £o.t.z. and r ¢ are given to find r.o. the depth required. 
If (a) be put = the angle between the edge of the cavity and 
¢’s limb, (2) = the apparent length of the shadow, (e¢) = 
the elongation, and (d) = the depth of the cavity ;—the fol- 
lowing formule are deducible : 
Lx Corsi, @ 


When the moon is in quadratures d = ———- 
« 5 


sine(ccja) x! 

sine ec, 

‘The angle (a) between the edge of the cavity and the moon’s 
limb is taken by placing one wire of a micrometer so as to join 
the cusps, and moving the other from the edge of the cavity till 
it becomes a tangent to the disk: the measure thus taken ; ra- 
dius :: (’s semidiameter : to the versed sine of (4). 

The 


When not in quadratures......d= 


Observations upon the Phenomena of Earthquakes. 323 


The angle under which the shadow appears is taken in the 
same manner; and the moon’s semidiameter ;: this measure : : 
semidiameter in miles : the length of the shadow. 

As the result deduced from the above operation will always be 
the depth of that part of the cavity on which the extremity of the 
shadow falls, the difficulty of ascertaining when the shadow falls 
on the bottom may be objected to it :—this, however, may always 
be obviated by continuing the observations until their result be- 
comes a maximum, which will evidently be the depth of the 
deepest part ; or in those cavities in which prominences or bright 
spots appear, it may be more easily done by observing when one 
of these prominences (which are no doubt situated at the bot- 
toms of their respective cavities) is in the line which forms the 
boundary of the shadow. 

By repeated observations some idea may be formed of the in- 
terior shapes of these cavities. If from afew continued ‘mea- 
surements the same depths are deduced, it may be concluded that 
the bottom is a plane surface: if they are found gradually to in- 
crease and afterwards decrease in the same proportion, that part 
of the interior surface will be shown either to be formed by the 
inclination of two planes meeting at the bottom, or to be a curve : 
to which of these elasses it belongs may be ascertained from the 
nature of this increase. Any considerable irregularities in the 
bottom or sides will be marked by corresponding diminutions in 
the depth of the cavity, or length of theshadow. Whether these 
speculations are carried further than is sanctioned by the present 
state of our best instruments, remains for the determination of 
those who are possessed of them, and are accustomed to use 
them.” 


LIV. Conjectures concerning the Cause, and Observations upon 
the Phenomena, of Earthquakes; particularly of that great 
Earthquake of the first of November 1755, which proved so 
fatal to the City of Lisbon, and whose Effects were felt as 
far as Africa, and more or less throughout almost all Europe ; 
by the Rev. Joun Micuu.r, M.A. Fellow of Queen’s College, 


Cambridge. 
[Concluded from p. 270.] 


Part III.—Sxrcrion I. a 

65. Iw the former part of this tract, I supposed a part of the 
roof.over some subterraneous fire to fall in: this is an event that 
cannot happen merely accidentally; for so long as the roof rests 
on the matter on fire, no part of it can fall in, unless the mat- 
ter below could rise and take its place: now, it is very diffi- 
cult to conceive how this should happen, unless it was to rise by 
, some 


324 Conjectures concerning the Cause, and Observations 


‘some larger passages than the ordinary fissures of the earth, which 
seem much too narrow for that purpose; for, besides that the 
melted matter cannot be supposed to have any very great degree of 
fluidity, it must necessarily have a hard crust formed upon it, at all 
the fissures, by the long continued contact of the water contained 
in them: these impediments seem too great to be evercome by 
the difference of the specific gravities of the part that is to fall 
in, and the melted matter, which is the only cause that can tend 
to make it descend; the manner therefore, in which, I suppose, 
this event may be broupht about, is as follows: 

66. The matter of which any subterr aneous fire is composed, 
must be greatly extended * beyond its original dimensions hy the 
heat. As this will be brought about gradually, whilst the matter 
spreads itself, or grows hotter, the parts over the fire will be gra- 
dually raised ‘and bent; and this bending will, for some time, go 
on without any other consequence ; but, as the fire continues to 
increase, the earth will at last begin to be raised somewhat be- 
yond the limits of it. By this means, an annular space will be 
formed at the edges next to the fire, and surrounding it, a verti- 
cal section of which space, through a diameter of the fire, will 
be two long triangles, the shortest side or base of each lying next 
the fire, and the two longer sides being formed by the upper and 
lower strata, which will be separated for a considerablejextent, 
proportionably to the distance through which they are raised. 

~ from each other}. This space will be gradually filled with wa- 
ter, as it is formed, the melted matter being prevented from fill- 

ing it, by its want of fluidity, as well as on account of the other 
circumstances, under which it is to spread itself; for the lentor 
and sluggishness of this kind of matter is such, that, when some- 

what 


* As all bodies we are acquainted with are liable to be extended by heat, 
there can be no doubt of its being so in this case likewise ; but the matter of 
subterraneous fires is yet much more extended, than those bodies which are 
only capable of being melted into a solid glass, if we may judge of it from 
what we see of volcanos ; for the lavas, sciari, and pumice stones, thrown 
out from thence, even after they are cold, are commonly of much less spe- 
cific gravity, on account of their porous spongy texture, than the generality 
of earth, stones, &c. and they frequently are even lighter than water, which 
is itself lighter than any known fossil bodies, that compose strata in their 
natural state. 

+ In fig. 4. A is supposed to represent a vertical section of the matter 
on fire; BB, parts of the same stratum yet unkindled; CC, the two sec- 
tions of the annular space, (surrounding the fire) which is supposed to 
be filled with water, as far as the strata are separated; D, the several 
sets of earth, stones, &c. lying over the fire, which are raised a little, and 
bent, by the ‘expansiou of the matter at A. As it is not easy to represent 
the things aboye described in their due proportions, it may not be amiss, 
in order to prevent the figure here given from misleading the reader, to give 
some random measures of the several parts, such as may probably approach 

towards 


ba A 


upon the Phenomena, of Earthquakes. 325 


what cooled on the surface by the contact of the air only, it 
will not flow, perhaps, ten feet in a month, though in a very large 
body; instances of which we have in the lavas of Etna, Vesuvius, 
&e. It is not to be expected then, that it should spread far, 
when it comes in contact with water at its edges, as soon as it is 

‘formed, and when it is, perhaps, several months in acquiring a 
thickness of a few inches; but it must, by degrees, form a kind 
of wall between the fire and the opening into the annular space 
before described. This wall will gradually increase in height, till 
it becomes too tall in proportion to its thickness, to bear any 
longer the pressure of the melted matter; which must necessarily 
happen at last, because the thickness of it will not exceed a cer- 
tain limit *. 

67. Besides the giving way of this wall, the fire may under- 
mine the space containing the water, and, by that means, open 
a communication between them. Let us suppose one of these 
come to pass, and the time arrived when the partition begins to 
yield. If then the water had any way to escape readily, the 
breach would be made, and the melted matter would burst forth 
immediately, and flow out in large quantities at once amongst 
it; but as this is not the case, and it can only escape by oozing 
slowly between the strata, and through the fissures, the way that 
it came, the breach will be made gradually, from whence we may 
account for some appearances that have preceded great earth- 
quakes. 


towards those which are sometimes found in nature: we may suppose then 
the stratum B to be, perhaps, from ten or twenty to a hundred yards in 
thickness; the greatest height of the annular space C, next the fire, to be 
from four or five to ten or fifteen feet, and its greatest extent, horizontally, 
from ten or twenty to fifty or sixty feet ; the horizontal extent of the fire at 
A, may be from half a mile to ten or twenty miles ; [see art. 29, and the note 
to art. 53.] and the thickness of the superincumbent matter at D, may be 
from a quarter or half a mile to two or three miles ; the number of the la- 
mine also, into which it is divided, may be many times more than those in 
the figure. As to the perpendicular fissures, they must be so numerous, 
and so small, in proportion to the other parts, that I chose rather to leave 
them, to be supplied by the imagination of the reader, than attempt to ex- 
press them in a manner, that could give no adequate idea of them at all. 

* This limit will depend upon the thickness of the matter necessary to 
prevent so quick a communication of the heat or cold through it, as that the 
water should be able to diminish the heat of the fire considerably. The 
thickness requisite to do this, is very different in different kinds of bodies. 
Metals of all kinds transmit heat and cold extremely readily; but bricks 
and vitrified substances (with which last we may class the matter under our 
present consideration) transmit them very slowly: the walls of the hottest 
of our furnaces, when built of bricks, and eighteen inches thick, will not 
transmit more heat than a living animal can bear without injury, though the 
fires are continued in them for ever so long a tima; probably, therefore, 
if we allow two feet for the thickness of the matter, cooled and rendered 
hard by the contact of the water, we shall not underdo it. 


XO 68. We 


326 Conjectures concerning the Cause, and Observations 


68. We are told, that two or three days before an earthquake * 
in New England, the waters of some wells were rendered muddy, 
and stank intolerably : why might not this be occasioned by the 
waters contained in the spaces before described, which, being 
impregnated with sulphureous steams, were driven up, and mixed 
with the waters of the springs ! ? At least, there can be no doubt, 
by whatsoever means it was brought about, that this phanome- 
non was owing to the same cause, already" beginning to exert 
itself, which afterwards gave rise to the succeeding earthquake, 

69. Something like this happened before the great Lisbon 
earthquake ¢ of 1755. We are told, that at Colares, about 
twenty miles from thence, “ in the afternoon preceding the Ist 
of Nov ember, the water of a fountain was greatly decreased : on 
the morning of the Ist of November, it ran very muddy, and af- 
ter the earthquake, it returned to its usual state, both in quantity 
and clearness.” The same author says, a little lower, ‘ in the 
afternoon of the 24th, I was much apprehensive, that the fol- 
lowing days we should have another great earthquake ; for I 
observed the same prognostics as in the afternoon of the 31st of 
October; thatis,” &c. ‘And I further observed, that the water 
of a fountain began to be disturbed to such a degree, that in the 
night it ran of a yellow clay colour; and from midnight to the 
morning of the 25th, I felt five shocks, one of which seemed to 
me as violent as that of the 11th of December.” 

70. But the most extraordinary appearance of any that pre- 
ceded this earthquake, was that of the agitation of the waters 
of Lochness {, and some others of the lochs in Scotland, about 
halfan hour before any motion was felt at Lisbon, notwithstand- 
ing the cause of all tiese great effects could not lie far from 
thence, and, I think, certainly lay to the south of Oporto. Ner 
is it probable, that there should be any mistake in the time, not 
only because the difference is too great, as»well as the concur- 
rent testimonies too many, to admit of such a solution ; but be- 
cause they mention another greater agitation, that happened 


* See Philos. Trans. No. 437, or Martyn’s Abridgem. vol. viii. p. 689. 

+ See Philos. Trans. vol. xlix. p. 416 and 417; or Hist. and Philos. of 
Earthq. p. 313. 

+ See Philos. Trans. vol. xlix.—or Hist. and Philos. of Harthq. art. Loch- 
ness, Lochlomond, &c. Tne same thing also seems to have taken place in 
Switzerland; for Mons. Bertrand says, that all the agitations of the waters 
in the lakes there, which were observed on the lst of November 1755, hap- 
pened between nine and ten in the morning; and particularly at lake Le- 
man, he says, the agitation happened just before ten; which, allowing for 
the difference of longitude, must have been just before nine at Lisbon; and, 
consequently, if there is no mistake in the times, all these agitations pre- 
ceded the earthquake, at this last place, by near three ao of an hour. 
[See Memoires sur les Tremblemens de Terre, p. 107 & 105.) 


about 


upon the Phenomena, of Earthquakes. 327 


about an hour and half after the former; which latter agrees with 
the times when the agitations of the waters were observed in 
England, if we allow only a proper interval for the motion to be 
propagated so far northward, proportionably to the time it took 
up in travelling from its original source near Lisbon. 

71. These appearances seem to be connected with that men- 
tioned in the preceding article, and they may both, I think, be 
accounted for, by supposing a considerable quantity of vapour to 
be raised, whilst the partition before-mentioned was beginning 
to give way; during which time a partial communication be- 
tween the water and fire would be brought on, and that by de- 
grees only. Hence the vapour, not being produced at once but 
gradually, might creep silently between the strata*, towards that 
quarter where the superincumbent mass cf earth was lightest ; 
and, by this means, some places very near the source of the va- 
pour might be little, or not at all, affected by it, whilst others 
might be greatly affected, though they lay at a great distance 3 
and even those places, which lay immediately over the part where 
the vapour was passing, might not perceive any effect, on ae- 
count of the gentleness of the motion, occasioned by the small 
quantity of it. This might continue to be the case, till it came 
to some country where, the set of strata above being much 
thinner, the vapour would not only be-hurried forward, but col- 
jected also into a much narrower compass ; and therefore, raising 
the earth more, would produce more sensible effects; and this 
we ought chiefly to expect in the most mountainous countries, 
according to the idea before given of them +. 

72. To make this something clearer, let us suppose, in fig. 1. 
the vapour to be passing between the strata in the dotted line C, 
and to go forwards, till it arrives at A: whilst, then, it passes 
under the deeper parts at E, it will raise the earth over it but 
little, as well because it will be spread broader and thinner, as 
because it will be more compressed by the weight of the super- 
incumbent matter ; but as it arrives towards A, not only the lat- 


* Some appearances that have been observed in New England seem to 
confirin this, and make it probable, that a small quantity of vapour is often 
found to creep silently between the strata, before a general communication 
between the water and the fire gives rise to the greater and more sensible 
effects of earthquakes. See Philos. Trans.No. 462 ; or Martyn’s Abr.vol. viii. 
p- 693, where we are told, that, at Newbury, a little before any noise or 
shock was perceived, the bricks of an hearth were observed to rise, and, 
falling down again, to lean another way. In the same account, it is also 
said, that “‘ a few minutes before any shock came, many people could fore- 
tell it by an alteration in their stomachs :” an effect, which seems to be of 
the same kind with sea-sickness, and which always accompanies the wave- 
like motion of earthquakes, when it is so weak, as to be uncertainly distin- 
guishable. ft See art. 43. 


-X 4 ter 


328 Conjectures concerning the Cause, and Observations 


ter part will be driven forwards with greater velocity, but the 
foremost will travel slower, on account of its travelling under a 
thinner set of strata* ; and, besides this, the load being much less, 
it will greatly expand itself. From all these causes taken to- 
gether, the wave at the surface of the earth, occasioned by the 
passing of the vapour under it, will not only be much higher, but 
also much shorter, and, consequently, the sides of it, on both 
these accounts, will be much more inclined to the horizon: and, 
moreover, because the progress of the wave will be slower, it will 
give more time to any waters situated on one side of it, to flow 
one way; and on this account also, the apparent agitation of 
them will be increased. 

Section II.—73. We are told, that, in the Lisbon earth- 
quake of 1755, ‘‘the bar [at the mouth of the Tagus} was seen 
dry from shore to shore; then suddenly the sea, like a mountain, 
came rolling in; and about Bellem castle, the water rose fifty 
feet almost in an instant; and, had it not been for the great bay 
opposite to the city, which received and spread the great flux, 
the low part of it must have been under water +t.” The same 
phenomena were observed to accompany the same earthquake at 
the island of Madeira; where we are told, that, at the city of 
Funchal, ** the sea, which was quite calm, was observed to re- 
tire suddenly some paces; then rising with a great swell, with- 
out the least noise, and as suddenly advancing, it overflowed the 
shore, and entered the city. It rose full fifteen feet perpendi- 
cular above high-water mark, although the tide, which ebbs and 
flows there seven feet, was then at half ebb. In the northern 
part of the island, the inundation was more violent, the sea re- 
tiring there above one hundred paces at first, and suddenly re- 
turning, overflowed the shore, forcing open doors, breaking down 
the walls of several magazines and storehouses, and carrying away 
in its recess, a considerable quantity of grain, and some hundred 
pipes of wine {.” 

74. Both these appearances (which have been observed to at- 
tend several other earthquakes, as well as this) seem to admit of 
an easy solution, supposing the cause of them to lie under the 
bed of the ocean; for, in the further progress of the communi- 
cation between the fire and water, the vapour, that is gradually 
raised at first, will at last begin to raise the roof over the fire, 
which being supported by so light a vapour, there will now be 
no want of fluidity in the matter it rests upon, and the difference 
of specific gravity between the two, instead of being small, will be 


* See art. 63, the note. 
+ See Hist. and Philos. of Earthq. p. 316. 


} See Philos. Trans. vol. xlix. p. 432, &c. or Hist. and Philos. of Earthq. 


p. 329, 
very 


— 


upon the Phenomena, of Earthquakes. 329 


very great: hence, if any part of the roof gives way, it must im- 
mediately fall in, the vapour readily rising, and taking its place; 
and a beginning being once made, a communication will be 
opened with numberless clefts and fissures, that must occasion the 
falling in of vast quantities of matter, which, as soon as the va- 
pour can pass round them, will want their support ; then will fol- 
low the great effects* already described. 

75. Now, whilst the roof is raising, the waters of the ocean, 
lying over it, must retreat, and flow from thence every way ; this 
however, being brought about slowly, they will have time to re- 
treat so gently, as to occasion no great disturbance: but as soon 
as some part of the roof falls in, the cold water contained in the 
fissures of it, mixing with the steam, will immediately produce a va- 
cuum, in the same manner as the water injected into the cylinder of 
a steam-engine,and the earthsubsiding, and leaving a hollow place 
above, the waters will flow every way towards it, and cause a re- 
treat of the sea on all the shores round about: then presently, the 
waters being again converted by the contact of the fire into va- 
pour, together with‘all the additional quantity, which has now 
an open communication with it, the earth will be raised, and the 
waters over it will be made to flow ever y way, and produce a great 
wave immediately succeeding the previous retreat T. 

Section II].—76. That great quantity of water, which we 
have supposed to be let out upon subterraneous fires, and, by that 
means, to produce earthquakes, will supply us with a reason, 
why they observe a sort of periodical return. ‘This water must 
extinguish a great portion of the burning matter, in consequence 
of which, it will be contracted within much narrower bounds ; 
and though the effects before described could not take place at 


* See art. 56 to 60 inclusive. 

+ It may, perhaps, be objected, that these phenomena may as easily be 
occasioned by a vapour generated under the dry land, which, by first raising 
the earth upon the sea-shore, would make the waters retreat; and that the 
return of them again, uponits subsiding into its place, might cause the sub- 
sequent wave. That this may be the case, in some instances, is not im- 
possible, but, I believe, upon examining the particular circumstances, it 
will gener ally be found to be otherwise; and there cannot be any doubt 
about it, in the case of the Lisbon earthquake ; for the retreat was observed 
to precede the wave, not only on the coast of Portugal, but also at the island 
of Madeira, and several other places: now, ifthe retreat had been caused 
by the raising of the earth on the coast of Portugal, the motion of the waters 
occasioned by this means, when propagated to Madeira, must have produced 
a wave there previous to the retreat, contrary to what happened ; nor could 
the motion of the waters at Madeira be caused by the earthquake at that 
place, because it did not happen till above two hours after; whence it is 
manifest, that it must have been owing to the continuation of a motion pro- 
pagated from the place, where the earthquake exerted its first efforts. And 
we may observe, in general, that this must always be the case, whenever the 
retreat does not happen till some considerable time after the earthquake. 


first, 


™. 


330 Conjectures concerning the Cause, and Observations 


first, but by the great exteusion of the heated matter, yet, after 
they have once taken place, they may well continue te do so for 
some time; for the great disturbance in the first instance, by 
the falling in of a great part of the roof, must render the fre- 
quent communication between the fire and water not only very 
easy, but almost unavoidable: and this will continue to be so, 
till the roof is well settled, and the surface of the melted matter 
sufficiently cooled, after which, it may require a long time for 
the fire to heat it again so much, as will be necessary to make it 
produce the former effects. Now, as the matter has been more 
or less cooled, or as the combustible materials are with more or 
less difficulty set on fire again, as well as on account of other 
circumstances, the returns of these effects will be later or earlier; 
but though they will not, for this reason, observe any exact pe- 
riod, yet ‘they will generally fall within some sort of limits, till 
either the matter that occasions them is consumed, (which, pro- 
bably, will seldom happen in less than many ages,) or till the fires 
open themselves a passage, and become volcanos. 

Section IV,—77. I have already intimated, that the most 
extensive earthquakes frequently take their rise from the sea. 
According to the description of the structure * of the earth be- 
fore given, any combustible stratum must lie at greater depths 
in places under the ocean, than elsewhere; hence far more ex~- 
tensive fires may subsist there, than where the quantity of mat- 
ter over them is less; for any vapour raised from such fires, 
having both a stronger roof over it, and being pressed by a 
greater weight, (beside the additional weight of the water) will 
not only be less at liberty to expand itself, and consequently of 
less bulk, but it will also be easily driven away towards the parts 
round about, where the superincumbent matter is less, and there- 
fore lighter. On the other hand, any vapour raised from fires, 
where the superincumbent matter is lighter, fiuding a weaker roof 
over it, and being not so easily driven away under strata, that are 
thicker and heavier, will be very apt to break through, and open 
a mouth to a volcano; and it must necessarily do this long be- 
fore the fires can have spread themselves sufficiently, to be near 
equal to those which may subsist in places that lie. deeper. All 
this seems to be greatly confirmed by the situation of volcanos, 
which are almost always found on the tops of mountains +, and 
those often some of the highest in the world. 


78. If, 

* See art. 45. 

+ Perhaps this may supply us witha hint (if the conjecture is not thought 
extravagant) concerning the manner in which these mountains have been 
raised, and why the strata lie generally more inclining from the mountainous 
countries, than those countries themselves; an appearance not easily to be 
accounted for, but upon the supposition, that the upper parts of the earth 

rest 


upon the Phenomena, of Earthquakes. 331 


78. If, then, the largest fires are to be supposed to subsist 
under the ocean, it is no wonder that the most extensive earth- 
quakes should take their rise from thence: the great earthquake 
of Lisbon has been shown to have done so*; and that the cause 
of it was also at a greater depth, than that of many others, ap- 
pears from the greater velocity with which it was propagated +. 

79. The great earthquake that destroyed Lima and Callao in 
1746, seems also to have come from the sea; for several of the 
ports upon the coast were overwhelmed by a great wave, which 
did not arrive till four or five minutes after the earthquake began, 
and which was preceded by a retreat of the waters{, as well as 
that at Lisbon. Against this, it may, perhaps, be alleged, that 
there were four volcanos broke out suddenly §, in the neighbouring 
mountains, when this earthquake happened, and that the fires 
of these might be the occasion of it. This however, | think, is 
not very probable; for, to omit the argument of the wave, and 
previous retreat of the waters, already mentioned, it is not very 
likely, that more than one fire was concerned: besides, the va- 
pour, opening itself a passage at these places, could not well be 
supposed, if it took its rise from thence, to spread itself far; 
especially towards the sea, where it is manifest, that the strata 
over it were of great thickness, as appears from the great velo- 
city with which the earthquake was propagated there: the shocks 
also continued with equal, or nearly equal violence, for some 
months after the openings were made; whereas, if these fires 
had been the cause of them, tliey must immediately have ceased, 
upon the fires finding a vent, as it has happened in other cases ||. 
It is therefore much more probable, that a very large quantity 
of vapour, taking its rise from some far more extensive fire un- 
der the sea, spread itself from thence ; aud as it passed in places, 
where the roof over it was naturally much thinner, as well as 
greatly weakened by the undermining of these fires, it opened 
itself a passage, and burst forth. 


rest upon matter, in some degree, though not perfectly fluid, and that this 
matter is lighter than the earth that rests upon it. This conjecture, how- 
ever, will probably be thought less strange, if it be considered, that the new 
islands, formed about Santerini and the . ‘Azoxes; have some of them been 
raised from 200 to 300 yards, and upwards; a height which might well 
enough intitle them to the denomination of mountains, if they had been raised 
from lands not lying under the ocean. [See fig. 3.] * See art. 54. 
See also art. 94 to 97 inclusive. + See the note to art. 63. 

} Both the wave and previous retreat have been observed in the other 
great earthquakes, which have bappened at Lima, and in the neighbouring 
country. See d’Ulloa’s Voyage to Peru, part ii. book i. chap. 7. 

§ If these volcanos were not new ones, but only old ones which broke out 
afresh, [see the note to art. 34.] the argument will come with still greater 
' force. || See art. 28. 

80. As 


332 Conjectures concerning the Cause, and Observations 


80. As the most extensive earthquakes generally proceed from 
the lowest countries, but especially from the sea, so those of a’ 
smaller extent are generally found amongst the mountains : hence 
it almost always happens, that earthquakes, which are felt near 
the sea, if at all violent, are felt also in the higher lands; whereas 
there are many amongst the hills, and those very violent ones, 
which never extend themselves to the lower countries. ‘Thus 
we are told, that, at Jamaica, ‘* shakes* often happen in the coun- 
try, not felt at Port- -Royal; and sometimes are felt by those that 
live in and at the foot of the mountains, and by no body else.” 
On the other hand, the earthquake that destroyed Port-Royal 
extended itself all over the island: and the same was observed of 
a smaller earthquake, that happened there in 1687-8; which 
latter undoubtedly came from the oe as appears by Sir Hans 
Sloane’s account of it +. 

81. Earthquakes of small extent are also very common amongst 
the mountains of Peru and Chili. Antonio d’Ulloa says, ** Whilst 
we were preparing for our departure from the mountain Chichi- 
Choco, there was an earthquake which was felt four leagues 
round about: our field tent was tossed to and fro by it, and the 
earth had a motion like that of waves; this earthquake, how- 
ever, was one of the smallest, that commonly happen in that 
country.” The same author tells us, in another place, that, 
“¢ during his stay at the city of Quito, or in the neighbourhood 
of it, there were two earthquakes, violent enough to overturn 
some houses in the country, which buried several persons under 

_ their ruins.” 

Secrion V.—82. It is generally found, that earthquakes in 
hilly countries, are much more violent eh those which happen 
elsewhere; and this is observed to be the case, as well when they 
take their rise from the lower countries, as amongst the hills’ 
themselves. This appearance being so easily to be accounted 
for, from the structure of the earth already described, I shall 
content myself with establishing the certainty of a fact, which 
tends so greatly to confirm it. 

83. The earthquakes that have infested some of the towns in 
the neighbourhood of Quito, have not only been incomparably 
more violent than that which destroyed Lisbon, but they seem to 
have exceeded that also which destroyed Lima and Callao. In 


* This is taken from an account of the earthquake that happened at Ja- 
maica in the year 1692, which, as well as some others before mentioned, 
was _attended with the wave and previous retreat. See Philos. Trans. 
No. 209, or Lowthorp’s Abr. vol. ii. p.417 and 418. 

t+ See Phil. Trans. No. 209, or Lowthorp’s Abr. vol. ii, p. 410. 


Lisbon, 


upon the Phenomena, of Earthquakes. 333 


Lisbon *, many of the houses were left standing, although few of 

_them were less than four or five stories high. At Lima also, it 
_is only said, that ‘all the buildings, great and small, or at least 
the greatest part of them, were destroyed.”’ Callao likewise, as 
it appears from the accounts we have of it, had many houses left 
unhurt by the earthquake, till the wave came, which overwhelmed 
the whole town, and threw down every thing that lay in its way. 
_All these effects seem to be greatly short of those produced by 
an earthquake that happened at Latacunga, in the year 1698, 
_when the whole town, consisting of more than six hundred houses, 
was entirely destroyed in less than three minutes time, a part of 
one only escaping ; notwithstanding that the houses there are 
never built more than one story high, in order, if possible, to 
avoid these dangers. Ambato, a village about the same size as 
Latacunga, together with a great part of Riobamba, another 
town in the same neighbourhood, were also entirely destroyed by 
the same earthquake, and some others were either destroyed, or 
received considerable damage from it. At the same time, a vol- 
cano burst out suddenly in the neighbouring mountain of Car- 
guayraso, as before-mentioned ; and, ‘* near Ambato, the earth 
opened itself in several places, and there yet remains, to the south - 
of that town, a cleft of four or five feet broad, and about a league 
in length, lying north and south; there are also several other 
like clefts on the other side of the river.” The city of Quitot 
was affected at tlie same time, but received no damage, though 
it is no more than forty-two geographical miles from Latacunga, 
not far from whence the greatest violence of the shock seems to 
have exerted itself. These towns are supposed to stand by far 
the highest of any in the world, being as high above the level of 
the sea, as the tops of some of the highest mountains in Europe; 
and the ground upon which Riobamba stands, wants but ninety 
yards { of being three times as high as Snowdon, the highest 
mountain in Wales. 

84, The country upon which these towns stand, serves as a 
base, from whence arise another set of high lands and mountains, 
which are much the highest in the known world. Amongst these 
mountains there are no less than six voleanos, if not more, within 
an extent of 120 miles long, and less than thirty broad, the 


* See Phil. Trans. vol. xlix. p. 403, where it is said, “‘ of the dwelling- 
houses, there might be about one-fourth of them that tumbled.” 

+ The city of Quito stands lower than the level of Riobamba, by about 
500 yards perpendicular. Though it escaped this, it has lately, however, 
been destroyed by another violent earthquake, that happened on the 28th 
April 1756, of which I have not yet seen any other particulars worth notice. 

t This is according to Antonio d’'Ulloa’s account ; but Mons. Condamine 
makes it exactly three times the height of Snowdon, computing it at 1770 
toises, [See his measure of a degree of the meridian. ] : 

lowest 


334 Conjectures concerning the Cause, and Observations 


lowest of which exceeds the height of Riobamba by above two- 
thirds of a mile, and the highest by more than twice that quan- 

tity. Now, as the earthquakes have been more violent at the 
foot of these mountains, than in the lower lands, so they have 
been still more violent towards the tops of them: this is sufficiently 
manifest, from the many rents made in them and the rocks*, 
that have been broken off frem them, upon such occasions: but 
it appears still more manifestly, and beyond all dispute, in the 
‘bursting forth of voleanos, which are almost always at the very 
summit of the mountains +, where they are found. In these in- 
stances, the earth, stones, &c. which lay over the fire, are ge- 
nerally scattered by the violence of the vapour, that breaks its 
way through, to the distance of some miles round about. 

85. The great earthquake of the Ist of November 1755, was 
also more violent amongst the mountains, than at the city of 
Lisbon. We are told, that “ the mountains of Arrabida, Estrella, 
Julio, Marvan, and Cintra, being some of the largest in Portu- 
gal, were impetuously shaken, as it were, from their very foun- 
dations ; and most of them opened at their summits, split and 
rent in a wonderful manner, and huge masses of thein ‘were 
thrown down into the subjacent valleys t.”’ 

86. The same was observed at Jamaica likewise. In the earth- 
quake that destroyed Port-Royal in 1692,we are told, that ** more 
houses were left standing at that town than in all the island be- 
sides. It was so violent in other places, that people were vio- 

_ lently thrown down on the ground, where they lay with their 
legs and arms spread out, to prevent being tumbled about by the 
incredible motion of the earth. It scarce left a planter’s house 
or sugar-work standing all over the island: I think it left not a 
house standing at Passage Fort, and but one in all Liganee, and 
none in St. Iago, exeept a few low houses, built by the wary Spa- _ 
niards. In Clarendon precinct, the earth gaped, and spouted up, 
with a prodigious force, great quantities of water into the air, 
twelve miles from the sea; and all over the island, there were 
abundance of openings of the earth, many thousands. But in 
the mountains, are said to be the most violent shakes of all; and 
it is a generally received opinion, that the nearer to the moun- 
tains, the greater the shake; and that the cause thereof, what- 
ever it is, lies there. Indeed they are strangely torn and rent, 
especially the blue, and other highest mountains, which seem to 
be the greatest sufferers, and which, during the time that the 


* See d’Ulloa’s Voyage to Peru, part i. book vi. chap. 2. 

+ The only exceptions that I know of to this rule, are in those cases, 
where the highest part having an opening already, some fresh mouth opens 
itself in the side of the mountain. 

} See Hist. and Philos. of Earthq. p. 317. 

great 


a? 


upon the Phenomena, of Earthquakes. 335 


great shakes continued, bellowed out prodigious loud noises and 
echoings. 

87. ‘Not far from Yallowes, a mountain, after having made 
several moves, overwhelmed a whole family, and a great part of 
a plantation, lying a mile off; and a large high mountain near 
Portmorant, near a day’s journey over, is said to be quite swal- 
lowed yp. 

58. ** In the blue mountains, from whence came those dread- 
ful roarings, may reasonably be supposed to be many strange al- 
terations of the like nature; but those wild desert places being very 
rarely, or never visited by any body, we are yet ignorant of what 
happened there; but whereas they used to afford a fine green 
prospect, now one half part of them, at least, seem to be wholly 
deprived of their natural verdure*.” 

Section VI.—89. I have supposed, that fires lying at the 
greatest depths generally produce the most extensive earthquakes. 
We must, however, except from this rule those cases where the 
depths are very great: for, as the weight of three miles perpen- 
dicular of common earth is capable of absolutely repressing the 
vapour of inflamed gunpowder, so we may well suppose, that 
there may be a quantity of earth sufficient to repress the vapour 
of water, and keep it within its original limits, though ever so 
much heated. Now, whenever this is the case, it is manifest, 
that it can produce no effect: or, it may happen, that though 
the quantity of earth may not be sufficient absolutely to repress 
the vapour, yet it may be so great, as to suffer it to expand but 
very little: in this case, an earthquake arising from it would he 
but of small extent; the wave-like motion would be little or none; 
the vibratory motion would be felt every where ; and the propa- 
gation of the motion would be very quick. This last circumstance 
being almost the only one, by which these earthquakes can be 
known from those which owe their origin to shallower fires, it 
must be very difficult to distinguish them with certainty, as it is 
almost impossible to distinguish the difference of the time of their 
happening in different places, when the whole, perhaps, is com- 


* See Philos. Trans. No. 209; or Lowthorp’s Abridg. vol. ii. p. 416, &c. 
where there is a great deal more to the same purpose. See also Hist. and 
Philos. of Earthq. p. 286 and 287. 

From the authorities quoted in this section, it appears, how little reason 
there is for the notion, that either large cities, or towns situated near the 
sea-coast, are more subject to violent earthquakes than others: it is not, 
however, much to be wondered at, that such a notion should have prevailed, 
after the great destruction that happened in so large and populous a city as 
Lisbon; since the demolition of a few ruinous houses only, in such a place, 
would have affected the imaginations of men more, and would have been 
more taiked of, than the subversion of whole mountains in some wild and 
desert country, where at most half a dozen unknown shepherds might feel 
the effects of it, or perhaps only see it at a distance. 


prehended 


336 Conjectures concerning the Cause, and Observations 


prehended within the space of two or three minutes; possibly, 
however, some of the earthquakes, which we have had in Eng- 
land, may have been of this class. 

Section VII.—90. If we would inquire into the place of the 

_ origin of any particular earthquake, we have the following grounds 
to go upon, 

91. First, The different directions, in which it arrives at se- 
_veral distant places: if lines be drawn in these directions, the 

.place of their common intersection must be nearly the place 
sought: but this is liable to great difficulties; for there must 
necessarily be great uncertainty in observations, which cannot, at 
best, be made with any great precision, and which are generally 
made by minds too little at ease to be nice observers of what 
passes ; moreover, the directions themselves may be somewhat 

-varied, by the inequalities in the weight of the superineumbent 
matter, under which the vapour passes, as well as by other 
causes. 

92. Secondly, We may form some judgement concerning the 
place of the origin of a particular earthquake, from the time of 
its arrival at different places; but this also is liable to great dif- 

-ficulties, In both these methods, however, we may come to a 
much greater degree of exactness, by taking a medium amongst a 
variety of accounts, as they are related by different observers, But, 

93. Thirdiy, We may come to the greatest degree of exact- 
ness in those cases, where earthquakes have their source from 
under the ocean; for, in these instances, the proportional di- 
stance of different places from that source may be very nearly 
ascertained, by the interval between the earthquake and the suc- 
ceeding wave: and this is the more to be depended on, as_peo- 
ple are much less likely to be mistaken in determining the time 
between two events, which follow one another at a small interval, 
than in observing the precise time of the happening of some 
single event. 

94, Let us now, by way of example, endeavour to inquire into 
the situation of the cause, that gave rise to the earthquake of 
the Ist of November 1755, the place of which seems to have been 
under the ocean, somewhere between the latitudes of Lisbon and 
Oporto, (though probably somewhat nearer to the former) and at 
the distance, perhaps, of ten or fifteen leagues from the coast. For, 

95. First, The direction, in which the earthquake arrived at 
Lisbon, was from the north-west ; at Madeira it came from the 
north-east; and in England it came from the south-west ; all of 
which perfectly agree with the place assumed* . 

96. Se- 


* All these directions together with the times when the earthquake, as 


well as the succeeding wave, arrived at different places, (two or three only 
excepted) 


a) 


upon the Phenomena, of Earthquakes. 337 


96. Secondly, The times in which the earthquake arrived at 
different places, agree perfectly well also with the same point. 
And, : 

97. Thirdly, The interval between these, and the time of the 
arrival of the subsequent wave, concur in confirming it. That 
all this might appear the better, I have subjoined the following 
table, assuming the point, from whence I compute, at the distance 
of about a degree of a great circle from Lisbon, and a degree and 
half from Oporto. In consequence of this supposition, I have 
added three minutes to the interval between the time when the 
shock was felt at Lisbon, and at the several other places. The 
first column in the table contains the names of places; the se- 
cond, the distances from the assumed point, reckoned in half 
degrees; the third, the time that the earthquake took up in tra- 
yelling to each, expressed in minutes; and the fourth contains 
the time in which the wave was propagated, from its source to 
the respective places, expressed in minutes likewise. 


Halfdeg.) Min. | Min. 


TISHONA aleve sos 


2 3 12 
ODOREOF cre stern acel (visi Bad. 
Ayamonte....... 6 53 
RN ig aay casas 9 12 82 
TE rs ie 9 11 
CRDEOMAR £ «pins teal «ih 18 
Madeita. watssescie wat BS 25 152 
Mountsbay ......| 20 267 
Plymouth’ . ass 41410. 2h] 360 
Portsmouth .... 23 29 
Hingsale io.» arae =) of uae 290 
SWANSEA ai sisi= ters aus need 530 
The Hague......|. 30 32 
Wochness,? Face; xalavel uboe 66 
Antigua. v0 ee0s| 98 965 
Barbadoes ....../ 101 485 


98, In 


excepted) are taken from the 49th volume of the Philos. Trans. and the 
Hist. and Philos. of Earthq. ‘To these I must refer the reader for the par- 
ticular authorities, which, as they are very numerous, I was not willing to 
quote at length. 

* It appears, by all the accounts, that the interval between the earth- 
quake and wave, either at Oporto or Lisbon, was not long: I have met with 
no account yet, however, which tells us how long it was at the former, and 
only one which mentions it at the latter, where it is said to have been nine 
minutes. [See Memoires sur les Tremblemens de Terre, p. 245, compared 
with Hist. of Earthquakes, p. 315.) These intervals, if we knew them ex- 

7 


Vol. 52. No. 247. Nov. 1518. actly, 


338 Conjectures concerning the Cause, and Observations 


98, In computing the times in the preceding table, allowance 
was made for the difference of longitude, as it is laid down in the 
common maps, which are not always greatly to be depended 
on. The times themselves also are often so carelessly observed, 
as wel! as vaguely related, that they are many of them subject to 
considerable errors; the concurrent testimonies, however, are so 
many, that there can be no doubt about the main point; and, 
that the errors might be as small as possible, I have not only en- 
deavoured to select those accounts that had the greatest appear- 
ance of accuracy, but, in all cases where it was to be had, | have 
always taken a mean amongst them. In many of the accounts, 
the relaters say only between such hours, or about such an hour : 
of this kind were the accounts of the times of the agitation of 
the waters at the Hague and Lochness, which vary the most from 
a medium of the rest, the former erring about seven minutes in 
defect, and the latter about twenty minutes in excess: with re- 
gard to the latter, however, I must observe, that, from the ac- 
count itself, it is probable the agitation happened sooner than 
eleven o’clock, which is the time mentioned. The accounts also 
of the time of the agitation of the waters in the northern parts 
of England, seem to confirm the same thing*. 

99. It is observable, in the preceding table, that the times, 
which the wave took up in travelling, are not in the same pro- 
portion with the distances of the respective places from the sup- 
posed source of the motion: this, however, is no objection against 
the point assumed, since it is manifest, wherever it was, that it 
could not be far from Lisbon, as well because the wave arrived 
there so very soon after the earthquake, as because it was so 
great, rising, as we are told, at the distance of three miles from 
Lisbon, to the height of fifty or sixty feet. The true reason of 
this disproportion seems to be the difference in the depth of the 
water ; for, in every instance in the above table, the time will be 
found to be proportionably shorter or longer, as the water through 


actly, might have served, perhaps, to ascertain the distance of those two 
places from the original source a little more accurately; but, as the distance 
of neither from thence could be very great, a small difference in them would 
hardly sensibly affect any of the others ; from which, therefore, we may 
draw the same general conclusions, as if thev were exact. 

* As the shortest way that the vapour could pass from near Lisbon to 
Lochness was under the ocean, possibly it might, on that account, be some- 
what retarded ; for the water adding to the weight of the superincumbent 
mass, and not to its elasticity, must } produce this effect in some degree: it 
is probable, however, that this could make no great difference, as the motion 
seems to have been very little retarded in its passage from the original 
source to Madeira, to which place, I suppose, it must have passed under 
deeper seas than would be found in its road to Scotland. 

which 


upon the Phenomena, of Earthquakes. 339 


which the wave passed was deeper or shallower*. Thus the 
motion of the wave to Kingsale or Mountsbay (through waters 
not deeper in general than 200 fathoms) was slower than that to 
Madeira, (where the waters are much deeper,) in the proportion 
of about three to five; and it was slower than that to Barbadoes, 
(where its course lay through the deepest part of the Atlantic 
ocean) nearly in the proportion of one to three: so likewise the 
motion of it from the Scilly islands to Swansea in Wales (where 
the depth gradually diminishes from about sixty or seventy fa- 
thoms to a very small matter) was still slower than that to King- 
sale, in the proportion of less than one to three: the same thing 
is observable with regard to Plymouth also,where the wave arrived 
about ninety minutes later than at Mountsbay, though the dif- 
ference of their distance from the first source could not, upon any 
supposition, be more than forty or fifty miles. 

Secrion VIII.—100. If we would inquire into the depth, at 
which the cause lies, that occasions any particular earthquake, I 
know of no method of determining it, which does not require ob- 
servations not yet to be had; but ifsuch could he procured, and 
they were made with sufficient accuracy, I think some kind of 
guess might be formed concerning it: for, 

101. First, In those instances, where the vapour discharges 
itself at the mouths of volcanos, (as in the ease of the earthquake 
at Lima,) it might, perhaps, be possible for a careful observer to 
trace the thickness of the several stratat from thence to the place 
where the earthquake took its rise, or at least as far as the shore, 
if it took its rise from under the sea. If this could be once done 
in any one instance, and the velocity of such an earthquake 
nicely determined, we might then guess at the depth of-the cause 
in other earthquakes, where we knew their velocity, by taking 
the depths{ proportional to those velocities, which probably 
would answer very nearly. 

102. Secondly, If, in any instance, it should be possible to 
know how much the motion of any earthquake was retarded by 
passing under the ocean, the depth of the ocean being known, 
the depth at which the vapour passed would be known also ; for 
the velocity under the water would be to the velocity, if there 
had been no water, in the subduplicate ratio of the weight in 


* We have an instance to this purpose in the tides, which, in deep waters, 
move with a velocity that would carry them round the whole earth in a sin- 
gle day; but as they get into shallower waters, they are greatly retarded: 
and we are told, that in the river of Amazons, the same tide is found run- 
ning up to the tenth or twelfth day, before it is entirely spent. [See Con- 
damine’s Voyage down the Maranon. ] 

+ This is upon the supposition, that the under strata, in ascending up the 
hills, come to the day in the manner before described. See art. 43, and 
fig. 3. } See the note to art. 63. 


the 


340 Conjectures concerning the Cause of Earthquakes, &c. 


the latter case to the weight in the former: hence aliowing earth 
to be about two and half times the weight of water, the depth 
will be readily found. 

103. Thirdly, Let us conceive the earth to be formed accord- 
ing to the idea before given of it, and that the same strata are at 
a medium of the same thickness for a very great extent, as well 
in those places, where several of the upper ones are wanting, as 
where they are not. Upon this supposition, we may discover the 
depth, at which the vapour passes, by comparing the several ve- 
locities of the same earthquake in places where the thicknesses* 
of the superincumbent mass are different. It must be acknow- 
ledged, indeed, that such observations with regard to time, as 
would enable us to determine these velocities, are in general much 
too nice to be expected: the matter, however, is not altogether 
desperate, as we may collect them, in some measure perhaps, 
from other circumstances; such, for instance, as the degree of 
agitation in different waters}, the proportional suddenness} with 
which the earth is lifted in different places, &c. 

104. As the observations relating to the earthquake of the Ist 
of November 1755 are too gross, it would be in vain to attempt, 
by any of the foregoing methods, to determine with any cer- 
tainty the depth at which the cause of it lay; but, if I might be 
allowed to form a random guess about it, I should suppose, (upon 
a comparison of all circumstances,) that it could not be much less 
than a mile, or a mile and half, and [ think it is probable, it did 
not exceed three miles. 

Conelusion.—105. Thus have I endeavoured to show how the 
principal phenomena of earthquakes may be produced, by a cause 
with which none, that I have seen, appear to me to be incom- 
patible. As I have not knowingly misrepresented any fact, so 
neither have I designedly omitted any that appeared to affect the 
main question; but, that I might not unnecessarily swell what 
had already much exceeded the limits at first intended for it, I 
have omitted, 

106. First, Those minuter appearances, which almost every 
reader would easily account for, from what has been said already, 
and which did not seem to lead to any thing further: such, for 


* In order to know this difference, it will be necessary to trace the thick- 
ness of those strata, which are found in some of the places, but are wanting 
in others. + See art. 71 and 72. 

{ This may be known from the distance to which the mercury subsides in 
the barometer, upon the first raising of the earth by the vapour. I don’t 
find that this phenomenon, which is a common attendant on earthquakes, 
was observed any-where, at the time of the earthquake of the Ist of Novem- 
ber 1755, except at Amsterdam, where the mercury subsided more than an 
inch. See Hist. and Philos. of Earthq. p.309. 

instance, 


Account of certain Improvements in Involution and E volution.34 


instance, are the sudden stopping and gushing out of fountains, 
occasioned by the opering or contracting of fissures ; the dizzi- 
ness and sickness people feel, from the almost imperceptible wave- 
like motion, &c. 

107. Secondéy, Those appearances which seemed to depend 
upon particular circumstances, and of which therefore, unless we 
had a more exact knowledge of the countries where they hap- 
pened, it would have been impossible to give any account, with- 
out having recourse to uncertain conjectures: of this kind was. 
the greater agitation of the waters in the lakes of Switzerland, 
at the time of the earthquake of the Ist of November 1753, than 
during the earthquake of the 9th of December following*, though 
the houses upon the borders of them were more violently shaken» 
by the latter. And, 

108. Lastly, Those appearances, which only seem to have an 
accidental connection with earthquakes, or the causes of them; of 
this kind, are the effects which, in some instances perhaps, they” 
produce on the weather; the distempers which are sometimes 
said to succeed them; the disturbance which, we are told, they 
have sometimes occasioned, during the shocks, in the direction of 
the magnetic needle, &c. none of which are observed to be con- 
stant attendants on earthquakes, nor do they seem materially te 
affect the solution given either one way or other. 


LY. Account of certain Improvements in Involution and Evolu- 
“tion. By Mr. Prrer NicHoLson, 


INVOLUTION. 

I HAVE not observed in any of our treatises on Algebra, any 
general form for the expansion of (a+b+ce+d+e+ &c.)” ,ex- 

cept that which would result from the theorem of Demoivre: 

but as this is capable of a more simple form, which does not in- 

volve the combinations of the quantities, and on which the ex- 

traction of roots in numbers entirely depends, I shall here ex- 

hibit it thus: 

(at+b+c+d+e+4&c,.)" = an 


nu—l in—Il.n—2 
(2), f- ; nar—l [) 4 3 Qn—2 [24 ew + 
n.n.— 1.n—2.n—3 } 
FoumneK f chin tah bs + &e. } 
(3),+ } n(a+b)"—e4 aim (a+ byrPer pM at Lire 
+ &c, ; 


* See Monsieur Bertrand’s Memoires sur les Tremblemens de Terre. 


Y3 (4), 


342 Account of certain Improvements 


(4), a5 } n(a + b+cy—d4 (a+ b+ c)"—2d? 4. ae 


(a+b+c)"—*d3 + &e, } 


n.n—|} 


"Nath tetd) 24 
(a+b+c+d)e+ &e. } 


(5), + §n(a+b4+c+4+d)"—e4 
t 


n.n—\Ln—2 


1.2.3 
(6), + &e. 


Demonstration. 

Calling each series inclosed within each two braces a term, 
a” being the first term :—I observe that the first and second 
terms are equal to the expansion of (a+L)” ; that the third term 
is the expansion of [(a+) +c]” considered as a binomial want- 
ing the first term (a+ 0)” ; that the fourth term is the expansion 
of [(a4+b+c)+d]” wanting the first term (a+b+c)”, and so 
on: therefore the whole expanded series is equal to 


(a+b)” + : (a+b+c)” —(a+1)n} oe ) (a+b+c+d)" — 
(a+b+o)n} = ; (a+b+e+d+e)r—(a+b+ce+4d)"} +&e.= 


(a+b4+ct+td+te+&c.)” 

And thus we have another general rule for raising any number 
to the mth power, besides that of multiplying the number con- 
tinually by itself (7—1) times. 

I shall here present the reader with a numerical example or 
two in involution, in order to explain the nature of evolution : 
for this purpose we have 

(37658)” = (30000 +7000 +600+50-+4 8) 
therefore (37658)" =(30000)” &c. 
- } 2(30000)"— (7000) +" (30000)"—2 (7000)? + &e. i 


1.2 


++ } 2(37000)"—(600) + ““— (87000)"*(600)* + &e. } 
+ {n(87600)"— (50) +“ (37600)"-*(50)*+ &e. } 


++ } n(37650)"— (8) + “= (37650)"-*(8)? + &e.? 


Or universally thus: 
Since any scale of numbers may be generally represented by | 


ax™ + bam—l 4 cym—24 ,.,4+hkx+1 we shall have 
(aam + bam) 4. cym—2 Loi ae ae +tko+tl)n = (axm nr 
+ } m(axm >t (ba) rae (ax)? (ba™—1)2 4. &e. ' 
+ 


in Involution and Evolution. 343 


+ {nf (ax™) +(a"=!) |" (co) +P (an) + 
(La) | ear) 4+ ee i +&c. for the expansion 


of any power of a number, according to any scale of notation. 
But perhaps it will be more useful to descend to some parti- 

cular instances by which the method and principle may be seen 

to advantage. Therefore let a+)+c+d+e+&c. be raised to the 


cube; then will (a+l+c+d+ei=a+ 1 30h +3ab? +L) ' 
-F {3(a+b)%c+3(atb)e+o} “ye }3(a+b4c)d+ 3a4)+0) 
2 2 
+d § 
+ {3(atb+ctd)et+3(ath+c+dje+e. 


Or, because that in any term the members constituting that 
term have a common factor, the same may be exhibited thus: 


(at+b+c+d+ei=ai+h } 8a7+3ab+L? | +¢ )3(a + b)?+ 
3(a+b)c+cr} 
+d {3(atb+c)*43(atb+o)d +d} +e(B(atb+e+d)?+ 


3(a+l+c+d) e+e } 
Let it now he required to find the cube of the number 5436. 
Here a=5000, a+l=5400, a4-b4+c=5430, anda+b+c+d= 
5436; consequently =400, e=30, and d=6. 


Operation by the method here demonstrated. 
a@ = 125000000000 


3a2b= 30000000000 
lat Sal 2400000000 


nel ce 64000000 
3(a+b)*c= 2624400000 

2a) Salem iassoono 

<2 Hse = 27000 : 

3(a+b+c)7d= 530728200 

Bd.) Sache vsncs0 
Piatt Pz 216 
160634321856 


The number of figures in this operation may be considerably 
lessened by considering that the first period would be the same as 
if it consisted only of 54=50+44; and the second period as if it 
consisted of 543=540.+3; and the third period as if it consisted 
of 5436=543046. Therefore the operation in this form is 

Y 4 a= 


344 Account of certain Improvements 
a=125 és 
“3a%b= 30000 
joat= 2400 
me 64 
3(a+b)*c= 2624400 
{xtne= 14580 
ee c= 27 
3(a+b+c)*d= 530728200 
3(a4+b+e)a= 586440 
od Saat ot OP 216 
160634321856 
The foregoing operations now exhibited, require several minor 
operations which are omitted. However, these operations will not 
be necessary in the following form, where it may be considered 
that in the first period a=50 and l=4; in the second period 
(a+b) =540 and c=3; and in the third period (a+)+ ¢) =5430 
and d=6. Here follows the operation : 
3a? =7500 
Ist, jou= 600 
e be= 16 : 
8116=D 
3(a+b)? =874800 
2d,< 3(a+b)c= 4866 
Stain Gr 9 
879669 =f) 
3(a+b+c)? =88454700 
bay) sacra 97740 
‘kkeeepe = 36 


= 2639007... 
6xD”= 531314856 
160634321856 = (5436)? 

It is evident that, 8(a+b+c¢+ &c.)?=3(a+b4&c.)? + 
2:3(a+b+ &c.)c+3c* for the square of a+l+c &c., consists of 
the squares of each quantity, and twice the sum of the products 
of every two; this square being multiplied by 3, will give three 
times the square of each letter, and six times the product of every 
two, Again: the square of a+l+Q&c. with one letter less, con- 
tains the squares of all the letters, except the one omitted; and 
twice their products,except those of the letter omitted : therefore 


when multiplied by 3, will contain the square of each letter three © 
times, 


— 


in Involution and Evolution. ~ 345 


times, except the one omitted, and six times the product of every 
two, except with the one omitted. Again: six times (a+/+&c.)c 
contains six times the sum of the products of each letter, with the 
last letter which was before omitted; and three times the square 
of the last letter makes the second side equal to the first. Thus 
suppose only three letters concerned, then 3(a+)+c)*?=3a*+ 
3b7+3c?+6(ab+ ac+be)=3(a+b)?+2:3(a+b)c4+3c?= 3(a*+ 
2ah+l*) + 6ac+6le4+3c* = 8a?+312+3c*+6(ab + ac+bce) as 
before. 

Now as the first period consists of three times the square of the 
first left-hand figure of the number to be squared with a cipher 
annexed placed in the first row, the product of the left-hand 
figure and annexed cipher, into the second figure of the number 
to be squared placed in the second row, and the square of the se- 
cond figure placed in the third row: 

And in general as the mth period consists of three times the 
square of the first or left-hand m figures to be squared with a 
cipher annexed placed in the first row ; the product of the x 
figures with the cipher annexed, into the (n+1)th figure of the 
number to be squared placed in the second row, and the square 
of the said (7+ 1)th figure placed in the third row : 

Therefore in the (z+ 1)th period, instead of taking three times 
the square of the number consisting of +1 of the first figures 
of the number to be squared with a cipher annexed, for the num- 
ber to be placed in the first row; we shall find this first row of 
the (7+ 1)th period, by adding each figure in the lowest or third 
row of the th period, three times each figure in the second row 
of the mth period twice, and each figure in the first row of the 
nth period once. 

The third or last row is ouly a mental operation; the middle 
row is easily found by multiplying first by the digit 3, and the 
new figure. 

It is not meant that the method now shown for cubing a num- 
ber should supersede the common method ; but the principal use 
is to explain the reverse operation of extracting the cube root in 
numbers. ‘It may also serve as a method of proof to that com- 


_ monly used for raising powers. For it is of some advantage to 


have two different methods of performing every arithmetical ope- 
ration, that the one may furnish a cheek to the other. 


EVOLUTION. 
Problem. 


To find a number of which its cube shall be the nearest less 
number to a proposed number;—Or, as commonly expressed, to 
find the cube root of a proposed number. 


Rule. 


346 Account of certain Improvements 


Rule. 

Divide the proposed number into as many periods as possible, 
consisting of three figures each, proceeding from right to left ; sub- 
tract the highest cube that can be taken out of the remaining 
figure or figures on the left, placing that cube under those figures, 
and the remainder under the cube with a line between them; to 
the remainder annex the next period,which is called the resolvend, 
and place the root of the cube taken in the quotient. 

Then any resolvend and the quotient being given, a new figure 
of the quotient will be obtained by annexing a cipher to the 
quotient figure ; and calling the quotient thus increased, the in- 
creased quotient. Subtract the sum of three times the square 
of the increased quotient into the new figure, three times the in- 
creased quotient into the square of the new figure, and the cube 
of the new figure from the resolvend, and place the new figure 
in the quotient instead of the cipher, and annex the next period 
to the remainder for the new resolvend, 

It is obvious that the new figure must be such that the sum 
to be subtracted must be as nearly equal as possible, but less than 
the given resolvend. 

This rule as generally given in books of arithmetic is far from 
being explicit, as they do not show clearly how it is derived from 
the polynomial. In obtaining a new figure in the root, most 
authors direct the student to multiply the square of the quotient 
by 300, and this again by the new figure: then to multiply the 
quotient by 30, and this product by the square of the new figure ; 
and lastly, to take the cube of the new figure, and add these three 
products together, and subtract as above: but this does not fol- 
low from the principle, though the effect must be the same. 

Example. 

Find a number whose cube shall be the nearest less number to 

160634321856. 
160°634°321°S56(5436 
@=125 


35634, Ist resolvend 
ab= 30000=3(50)* x4 
al?’= 2400=3(50) x4? 

= pee vy noe eae 


32464 


3170321, 2d resol. 


(a+ 


in Involution and Evolution. 347 
(a+b)*e=2624400=3 (540)? x3 
(a+D)e= 14580=3(540) x3? 
o= 27 Hi 33 
2639007 
3131 4856, 3d resol. 
(a+b +c)*d=530728200=3 (5430)? x 6 


(a+b+c)d=  §86440=3(5430) x6? 
dz 216= 26. 6 
531314856 : 

pane 


In this operation, in order to obtain a new figure, the parts 
within the parenthesis always represent a number consisting of 
one place of figures more than the number of letters ; the first 
letter represents the highest place of figures; the second the next 
highest ; and so on, to the right-hand place, where a cipher is 
introduced. 

This number is therefore the number formed by the figures in 
the root obtained by the preceding periods with a cipher annexed 
to the right hand ; so that when the cipher is replaced by the new 
figure, the number formed will be the root of the proposed num- 
ber as far as the number of periods that are used. Thus a+0 
=940 and a+ +c¢c=5430. 

But this operation may be simplified, as in the following, which is 
performed according to the last example in the involution herein. 

The method of pointing off is the same as before directed; the 
only difference in finding a period of the root is expressed in the 
following short 

Rule.—Subtract the product of the new figure into the sum of 
the square of the increased quotient, the product of the increased 
quotient into the new figure, and the square of the new figure 
from the resolvend. 


a*=7500 ' 160°634°321°856 (5436 
ab — 600 a@—125 
as 16 4 ~ 
8116=D , 39634 
(a+1)*=874800_ eS ade gg 
bist) ox shiny , 3170321 
879669=D as wk, 
(a+b+c)? =88454700 1, 331314856 
(a+b+c)d = 97740 6 x D=531314846 
d= _ 36 ———s 
88552476 0 


The 


348 Fossil Shells, are all of Species now extinct. 


The method of finding the triple square in the first row of any 
period independent of an additional operation, wes suggested to 
me by a Mr. Holdred, who is now about to publish a small tract, 
in which he has shown by an original and ingenious method, 
how the roots of equations as well as the roots of numbers may 
be accurately and easily extracted by one method which is not 
an approximation, but as direct as the rule for division or those 
employed in the extraction of roots can be. His principle ap- 
pears to be new, and it is more general than any thing of the 
kind that has yet appeared in this country. 


LVI. An alphabetical Arrangement of the Places from whence 
Fossil Shells have been obtained by Mr. James SowERBY, 
and drawn and described in Vol. \l. of his * Mineral Con- 
chology,” with the geographical and stratigraphical Situa- 
tions of those Places, the Species and Varieties of Fossil Shells, 
Sc. By Mr. Joun Farry Sen., Mineral Surveyor. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — Mg. SoweErsy in June last completed a second volume 
of his excellent work, entitled “ Mineral Conchology,” contain- 
ing 101 coloured Plates, of the Shells of formerly existing Fish, 
which have been found imbedded in the British Strata, with one 
or two exceptions, as to Shells found near the opposite coast of 
France; and in which volume he has given the names and de- 
scriptions, of 184 species of such Fossil Shells, that were widely 
distributed through the British series of Strata; yet all of them 
prove perfectly distinct from any Species of the Shells of ana- 
logous living Fish, in any known part of the World! which 


last, further confirms, if any confirmation were at this day want- - 


ing, what that experienced and enlightened naturalist Sir Joseph 
Banks has, uniformly and for many years past been often heard 
to say, as to every Shell found imbedded in the Strata, which he 
had seen, being of an extinct species ! 

Besides the above number of Fossil Shells described and xamed 
in this volume, Mr. Sowerby has therein described 5 Varieties, 
of as many species of these Shells, and has distinguished them 
by the addition of 8, after their specific names: in like manner, 
I have ventured, ina Stratigraphical Index, which I have sent to 
Mr. 8. (to be printed and accompany his 2nd volume) affixed 
Greek Letters, 6, y, @, &c. to distinguish 33 other Varieties of 
these Shells, which, by the Places mentioned, and other circum- 
stances connected therewith, and mostly also, by what is said and 
shown of the Shells themselves, appear to ine to be different 


Species, and belonging to different Strata, from the Shells and 
Habitats 


‘ 


Mr. Arrowsmith’s general Index to English Maps. 349 


Habitats of the first 184 species, above mentioned; making in all 
222 different Shells, whose places in Mr.Smith’sseries of the Strata, 
and their topographical situations, are ascertained in this volume. 
While this second volume of Mr. Sowerby’s Work has been in 
progress, Mr. Smith has published the first part of his ‘ Strati- 
graphical System,”’ (see P.M. vol. 50. p.271) describing or men- 
tioning 1155 specimens of Fossil Shells, Coralites, &c. found in 
the Strata which over-lie the Lias, at 263 different Places in 
England; and he has also published, three numbers of his 
“ Strata Identified,” containing figures of the most characteristic 
Shells, Coralites, &c. in the upper part of the British Series, 
over-lieing the Cornbrash Limestone: | have lately very carefully 
collated these four numbers of Mr. Smith’s Works, with the first 
37 numbers of * Mineral Conchology,” and thereby 1 have been 
sorry to find, that a good many errors, as to the Strata and the 
varieties of Shells, have crept into the Index of Places (that are 
mentioned in Mr. Sowerby’s Ist volume,) which is inserted in 
P.M. vol. xlvi. p. 211 to 224 ; several new Localities of the Shells 
- described in the Ist volume, have also been recorded in vol. 2d. 
In order to correct and supply these deficiencies, | have con- 
trived, to introduce all the most material of the corrections and 
additions, wanting in the former Index, into the Index of Places*, 
with their Strata and Shells, for which now I solicit insertion 
in your Work: nearly all of the remaining errors in the first 
Index may be corrected, aud the Greek Letters added to distin- 
guish the varieties of the Shells named, by means of, a List of the 


* I was in hopes, by some delay in setting about this Index, since Mr. 
Sowerby finished his 2nd Volme, that my labour in hunting through Maps 
for the situations of a large portion of the Places mentioned in his and Smith’s 
Works, might ere this have been greatly shortened, by a reference to the 
Manuscript Index which my valued Friend, the able and indefatigable Afr. 
Arrowsmith of Soho-square, has for near two years been preparing, and 
which is intended to contain, every Name, of Towns, Villages, Farms and 
Cottages, Mills, Mines, Collieries and Quarries, Rivers, Streams and Water- 
falls, Bays, Headlands, Cliffs and Lighthouses, Mountains, Hills and Valleys, 
Parks, Forests and Woods, &c. &c.; together with the District Names, &c. 
which are to be found, not only in his own large and unparalleled Map of 
England and WVales; but also, in all the largest County Maps, local Maps of 
Canals, Roads, Mining-Districts, &c. &c. which either his own large Col- 
lection contains, or to which he can have access, through the kindness of 
the friends of Science : unfortunately however for me, this great Index toLo- 
calities, although all the names from printed Maps were collected out (and 
ascertained by Bearings and Distances), and it is now rapidly proceeding 
towards its final revision and completion, it has not been in a state for me 
to consult it, as otherwise, the kindness and liberality of Mr. A. would have 
permitted, prior to its publication; which now will soon take place; with 
the addition, of the population, and a blank column, for future corrections 
and additions, and to enable this volume to be made, by Scientific, Curious, 
or Travelling Persons, into an universal Index to Localities in South Britain! 


Shells 


350 Localities of Fossil Shells, 


Shells and Coralites, which under the same Name, either Mr. 
Sowerby or Mr. Smith, have referred to more than one Stratum: 
which List I shall in a few days transmit to you, for insertion in 
your Work, accompanied by some Remarks, on the use and im- 
portance of the knowledge of Fossil Shells, in conducting Geo- 
logical investigations * : it may however be proper here to no- 
tice the other corrections following, viz. p. 215, dele the 3d line, 
beginning with Ditto :—p. 217, p. 20 and 21, for Blue Marl 
above the Lias, read, Green sand: |, 32, before Terebratula ob- 
soleta, insert Ditto, in Clunch Clay lower part:—p. 218, 1. 7 and 
8, after Goat-acre, insert 35 m. NNE of Calne; and dele, under 
the great Bath Oolite:—I. 10 from bottom, after in, insert Oak- 
tree Clay, below. p. 220, under Longleat, imsert Pecten quadri- 
costata, t. 56, f. 1 and 2 (=<1./2aud 3 fom bottom, dele, or Mel- 
burg :—and p. 224, |. 11, for great, read, under. I am, 
Your obedient humble servant, 

Howland-strect, Oct. 10, 1818. ~ Joun Farey Sen. 


An alphabetical List of the Places from whence Fossit SHELLS 
have been obtained by Mr. Jamus SowErRey, and described 
in Vol.11. of Min. Concu: each referred to its proper Stra- 
TUM in Mr. Smitn’s Series and Map. 

Adlington Hills (N of Romney Marsh), 10 m. W of Folkstone, 

Kent, in Portland Rock. 
Gryphea dilatata, var. 6 tal. 149, f. 2. 

Aldborough, see vol. 46, p. 212, 2 species of Shells, in Crag Marl. 

Tellina obliqua, t. 161, m. | Voluta Lamberti, t. 129, f.3. 

Amberley-Heath, +m. SW of Minchin-Hampton, .Glouc. in 

Forest Marble. 
Patella rugosa, t. 139, f. 6. 
Aswarby, near, 34 S of Sleaford, Lincolnshire, in Cornbrash 
Limestone. 
Ammonites Herveyi «, t. 195, u. 
Aynhoe, see vol. 46, p. 212, 4 species, in Fullers’-earth Rock. 
Ostrea acuminata y, t. 135, f. 3. 


* T was not unmindful of the promise made at the end of my first Index, 
(P. M. vol. 46, p. 224,) and repeated p. 285, as to preparing a Paper on 
Fossil Shells, intended for your Work: just as [ had finished the same, Sir 
Richard Phillips undertook, at my request, to give some account in his 
“« Monthly Magazine,” (see vol. xl. p. 379) of my Friend Mr. Smith’s Map 
of the Strata, and Memoir, for which purpose I lent him my Copies of the 
same: and thinking that the Paper I had drawn up, and addressed but not 
sent to you, would somewhat explain to Sir R. the nature and objects of 
those Works on Fossil Shells, which my friend Smith intended publishing, 
I lent this mannscript (retaining no copy) with Smith's Map, and never got 
it back again: it was pr etended to have been sent to me by the Two-penny 


Post. 
Babling- 


recently described by Mr. Sowerby. 


- Babling- Hill, 


a“ 


of Yeovil, Somerset, in Under Oolite. 


Astarte elegans, t. 107, f.3. 
Barry-Island, see vol. 46, p. 213, 1 species, in blue Lias. 
Plagiostoma punctata, t. 119, f. 2. 
Barton Cliff, see vol. 46, p. 213, 25 species, in London Clay, 


upper part. 

Auricula simulata, t.163, f.5 
to 8. 

Cardium semigranulatum, 
t. 144. 

Cerithium geminatum,t.127, 


f. 2. 


— pyramydale, t.127, 
£J. 

Murex carinella, t. 187, f. 3 
and 4. 

fistulosus, t.189, f. 1 

and 2. 

regularis, t. 187, f.2. 


tubifer, t. 189, f.3 | 


Nucula minima, t. 192, f.8 &9. 

similis, t. 192, f. 10. 

trigona. t. 192, f. 5. 

Pleurotoma colon, t. 146, f.7 
and 8. 

——_—__—-- exorta, t. 146 f. 2. 


- rostrata a, t. 146, 


f. 3. 
Voluta ambigua (monst.), 

ts PIS, £55. 
—- luctator, t. 115, f. 1. 
- spinosa a, t. 115, f. 2 
and 4. 


B, t. 115. f. 3. 


to 8. 
Ditto, in London Clay, lower part. 
Cyclas obovata, t. 162, f. 4 to 6. 
Bath, in NE corner of Somersetshire (near), see vol. 46, p. 213, 
Clay on upper Oolite. 
Ostrea acuminata a, t. 135, f. 2. 

Ditto, see ditto, 1 species (Terebratula digona y, t. 96) in upper 
Oolite. % 
Ditto, see ditto, 2 species (Mactra gibbosa «, and Terebratula 

media) in Fullers’ Earth Rock. 
Ditto, see ditto, 1 species (Nautilus lineatus «) in under Oolite. 
Cardita? obtusa a, t. 197, f. 2. é 
producta a, t. 197, f. 1. 
Lima gibbosa a, t. 152. 
Planorbis euomphalus £, t. 140, f. 8 and 9. 
in Marlstone. 
Ammonites Walcotii a, t. 106. 
Ditto, W, see vol. 46, p. 213, | species in Blue Lias. 
Ammonites Bucklandi, t. 150. 
————- Conybeari, t. 131. 
———-- Greenoughi, t. 132. 
Cardita? lirata a, t. 197, f.3. 
Gryphea incurva @, t. 112, f. 1. 
Nautilus truncatus, t. 123. 
Unio crassissimus, t. 153 (in Clay). 
Ditto, see ditto 1 species (Plagiostoma gigantea a, 
t. 77) in White (and Blue ?) Lias. Bawdsey 


Ditto, 


352 Localities of Fossil Shells, 


Bawdsey Cliff, 8m, SE of Woodbridge, Suffolk, in Crag, on Blue 
Clay. 

Cassis bicatenatus, t. 151. | Unio crassicusculus, t. 185. 
Nucula lanceolata, t. 180, | Voluta Lamberti, t. 129. 
fk, 

Bayeux, 11 m. WNW of Caen in Normandy, in under Oolite. 
Ammonites Brongniarti, t. A. f. 2, p. 190. 
—————- Gervillii, t. A f. 3, p. 189. 
et Cmte producta «, t. 197, f. 1. 

Bennington, 4 m. ESE of Stevenage, Herts, in London Clay, 
lower part, 

Gryphea dilatata a, t. 149, f. 1. 

Birdbrook, 9} m. NW of Halstead, Essex, in Crag, perhaps 
alluvial ? 

Gryphza incurva £, t. 112, f. 2, alluvial? 
Nautilus intermedius 6, t. 125. 
Black-down Hills, see vol. 46. p. 214, 10 species, in Green Sand. 
Auricula incrassata, t. 163, f. 1 to 3. 
Cardium proboscideum, t. 156, f. 1. 
———_ umbonatum,, t. 156, f. 2 to 4. 

Black-Rock, near Cork, see vol. 46, p. 214, is species, in Derby- 

shire- peak Limestone. 
Spirifer cuspidatus, t. 120, f. 5. 
Bolingbroke, 3; WSW of Spilsby, Lincolnshire, in Clunch Clay. 
Patella latissima «, t. 139, f. 1. 
Boreham, | m. ESE of Warminster, Wilts, in Green Sand. 
Nautilus simplex, t. 122. 
Bourn, E, 74 W of Spalding, Lincolns. in Clunch Clay. 
Gryphea dilatata y, t. 149, 

Bracklesham Bay, see vol. 46, p. 214, 3 species (Melania sulcata, 
t. 39, and Turritella conoidea, t. 51, f. 1. being omitted, II. 
239) in London Clay, upper part. 

Sanguinolaria Hollowaysii, t. 159. 

Bradford, E 44 WSW of Calne, Wilts, see vol. 46, p. 214, 
1 species, in Clay on upper Oolite. 

Ditto, SW, in under Oolite. 

Arhmnonites Herveyi 8, t. 195, lo. 

Bramberry-Hill, 4m. SE of Clyne Ghiinechy on SE coast of 
Sutherland, Scotland, in Mountain Limestoue ? 

Giyphea dilatata n, t. 149. 

Bramerton-Hill, see vol. 46, p. 214, 5 species, in Crag Marl. 
Astarte plana, t. 179, f. 2, (perhaps alluvial ?) 
Mactra cuneata, t. 160, f. 7. 

Nucula Cobboldiz, t. 180, f. 2. 
Tellina obtusa, t. 179, f. 4. 
ovata, t. 161, f. 2 


Bridport, 


recently described by Mr. Sowerby. 353 


Bridport, near, 185 W of Dorchester, Dorset, in the under 
Oolite ? Marl. 
Ammonites Stokesi, t. 191. 
Brockenhurst, see vol. 46, p. 215, 1 species, in the London Clay, 
upper part. 
Venus incrassata, t. 155, f. 1 and 2, 
Bromham, 3! m. NW of Devizes, Wilts. in the Portland Rock. 
Gryphvea dilatata 6, t. J49, £2 
Bugthorp, 54m. NNW of Pocklington, York ER, in the Blue Lias. 
Trochus Anglicus, t. 142. 
Calne, W, 6 m. N by W of Devizes, Wilts, in the Clunch Clay. 
Gryphza dilatata vy, t. 149. 
Cambridge, Castle-hill, see vol. 46, p. 215, 1 species, in the 
Chalk-marl. 
Ditto, N, in the Oak-tree Clay. 
Ostrea deltoidea «, t. 148. 
Cardiff, Castle-hill, see vol. 46, p. 215, } species, inthe Blue Lias. 
Plagiostoma punctata, t. 113, f. 2. 
Carrington, Oxfordshire, in the under Oolite. 
Pecten equivalvis, t. 136, f. 1. | Pecten fibrosus », t. 136, f.2. 
Castleton, see vol. 46, p. 215, 2 species, in the Derbyshire-peak 
Limestone. 
Spirifer cuspidatus, t. 120. 
Chapel-House, 1 m. NE of Chipping-Norton, Oxfordsh. in the 
under Oolite. 
Cardita? producta a, t. 197, f. 1. 
Charlton, Im. SW of Woolwich, Kent, in the London Clay, lower 
art. 
; Cerithium intermedium, t. 147, f.3 and 4. 
—_———— melanioides a, t. 147, f. 6. 
Cyclas cuneiformis, t. 162, f. 2 and 3. 
- deperdita? t. 162, f.1, (with Chert nodules). 
- obovata, t. 162, f. 4 to 6. 
Chatley,44 m. N by W of Frome, Somerset, see vol. 46, p. 215, 
4 species (see below), in the Cornbrash Limestone. 
Pecten fibrosus a, t. 136, f. 2. 
Ditto, I species (Terebratula ornithocephala, t. 101, 
f. 1 and 2, being omitted) in the Kelloway Stone. 
Gryphea incurvata y, t. 112, f. 2? 
Chicksgrove Quarry (of which the sinking is particularized, vol. 2. 
p. 58) 4! m. SE of Hindon, Wilts, in the Portland Rock. 
Ammonites gigantea a, t. 126. 
p; t. 126. 
Astarte cuneata, t. 137, f. 2. 
Childrey, 2m. WNW of Wantage, Berks, in the Chalk-marl. 
Pecten Beaver, t. 155. 
Vol. 52, No.247. Nov. 1818. Z Chilmark, 


354 Localities of Fossil Shells, 


Chilmark, 32 m. E of Hindon, Wilts, in the Portland Rock. 
Astarte cuneata, t. 137, f. 2. 

Chute Farm, see vol. 46, p. 216, 8 species, in the Green Sand. _ 
Terebratula Lyra, t. 138, f. 2. 
Colebrook-Dale, see vol. 46, p.216, 3 species, in the Derbyshire- 

peak Lime-stone. 
Orthocera annulata, t. 133. 

Ditto, in the Coal-measures. 

Ammonites Walcotii 3, t. 106. 

Colomby (St.), 4m. SSW of Volagne, in the Cotentin, the 
Department of the Channel, or Lower Normandy, France, 
i Limestone, with quartz grains. 

Ammonites constrictus, t. A. f. 1, p. 189. 

Cerithium Cornucopiz £, t. 188, f. 3 and 4. 
Comb-Pyne, 10m. ENE of Sidmouth, Devon, in the lowerChalk, 
Ammonites rusticus, t. 177. 

Coney-Weston, 54m. WNW of Bottesdale, Suffolk, in the Lon- 

don Clay, lower part. 
Gryphea dilatata a, t. 149. 

Cork, see Black Rock. 

Cotentin district, see Colomby. 

Cotswold- Hills, see vol. 46, p.216, 1 species, in the upperOolite. 

Ditto, in the under Oolite. 

Lima gibbosa a, t. 152, 

Cowes, East, (near) at N end of Isle of Wight, Hants, | species, 
(Natica depressa, t. 5, being omitted, 11. 239) in the Cowes 
Rock, of Limestone. 

Lymnea fusiformis, t. 169, | Planorbis euomphalus a, t.140, 
f. 2 and 3. fT? 


minima, t. 169, 


- Lens, t. 140, f. 4. 
ROU, - obtusus, t.140,f. 3. 
Planorbis cylindricus, t. 140, 
ae 
Culford-Hall; 44m. NNW of Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, in 
the Crag Marl? : 
Nautilus intermedius , t. 125. 
Derbyshire, see vol. 46, p. 216, 2 species, in the Coal-measures. 
Ditto, 1 species, in the Derbyshire-peak Limestone. 
Cirrus acutus, t. 141, f. 1. 
Helix? cirriformis, t. 177, f. 2. 
- striatus, t. 171, f. 1. 
Devizes, NE, see vol. 46, p. 216, 1 species, in the upper Chalk, 
Ditto, N, in the Canal, 4 species, in the Green Sand. 
Ammonites auritus, t. 134. | Ostrea gregarea a, t. L11,f. 1. 
Cardita? tuberculata,t, 143, | Pecten orbicularis, t. 186. 
Helix Gentii, t. 145. Pleurotoma rostrata 6, t. 146, 
“¢ iG: Devon- 


recently described by Mr. Sowerby. 355 


Devonshire, — in the Derbyshire-peak Limestone. 
Ammonites Walcotii <, t. 106. 
Donat’s Castle, 24m. ENE of Cowbridge, Glamorganshire, in 
the Blue Lias. 
Gryphea obliquata, t. 112, f. 3. 
Plagiostoma punctata, t. 113, f. 1. 
Dover, SW, under Cliff, 7m. NE of Folkstone, Kent, in the 
Chalk-marl, pyritic. 
Nucula pectinata, t. 192, f.6 and 7. 
Dry-Sandford, 24 m. NW of Abingdon, Berks, in the Portland 
Rock. 
Ammonites excavatus, t.105. 
————-- plicatilis, t. 166. 
Dundry-Hill, 3£m. SSW of Bristol, Somerset, in the under Oolite.. 


Ammonites vertebralis, t.165. 


Ammonites Braikenridgii, Trochus abbreviatus, t.193,f.5. 

t. 184. elongatus, t. 193, f. 2 
Brocchii, t. 202. to 4. 

Cardita ? ubtusa «, t.197,f. 2. | punctatus, t. 193, f. 1. 

Durham County, in the blue-beds of the buff or 


yellow Limestone ? 
Unio Listeri 6, t. 154, f. 1, 3 and 4. 
Dursley, 4m. W of Berkeley, Gloucesters. in the under Oolite. 
Pecten equivalvis, t. 136, f. 1. 

Earl-Stoke, 7 m. NE of Warminster, Wilts, 1 species (Turrilites 

costata a, t.36, being omitted, ii. 45) in the Chalk-marl 
Nautilus Comptoni, t. 121. 

Emsworth, N, Jim. NE of Havant, Hants, 1 species (Pecten 
quinquecostata, t.56, being omitted, ii. 239) in Flint in the 
upper Chalk. 

Ditto, NW, on common, Sand-pit, 1 species (Dentalium 
eylindricum, t. 79, being omitted, ii, 239) in alluvia of the 
Green Sand? 

Farley-Gate, Gloucestershire, in the under Oolite. 

Gryphea dilatata ¢, t. 149, f. 1. 
. Pecten equivalvis, t. 136, f. 1. 

Filliagh, 3 m. WNW of South Moulton, Devon, 1 species (Am- 
monites striatus 6, t. 53, f. 1, being omitted, ii, 69) in the 
Coarse Slate, or Killas. 

Folkstone, NE, see vol. 46, p.27, 11 species, inthe Chalk-marl, 

Ammonites splendens «, t. 103, f. 1 and 2. 
Cirrus plicatus, t. 141, f. 3. 
Nucula pectinata, t. 192, f. 6 and 7. 
Patella levis, t. 139, f. 3. 
Fonthill, see vol. 46, p. 218, 1 species, in the Green Sand. 
Ditto, SE, (Chicksgrove) ? in the Portland Rock. 
Ammonites giganteus «, t. 126. 
Z2 Fox- 


356 Localities of Fossil Shells, 


Fox-hill Quarries, Gloucestershire, in the 
under Oolite. 
Astarte lurida, t. 137, f. 1. 
Framilode, near, 7 m. SW of Gloucester, in the Blue Lias. 
Grypheza incurva a, t. 112, f.1, (Pak. iii. 209). 


Framlingham, 34 m. SE of Norwich, in the Crag-marl. 
Tellina ovata, t. 161, f. 2. 
France, in the under Oolite. 


Terebratula acuta, t. 150, f. 1. 
Frethern (or Freborne) 54m. NNE of Berkeley, Gloucest. in the 
Blue Lias. 
Gryphea incurvata «, t. 112, f. 1. 

Giles’s, St., Gate, of Norwich, 1 species (Terebratula subun- 
data a, t. 15, f.7, being omitted) in the upper Chalk. 
Grignon Quarries, 19m. W of Paris, in “* Coarse Limestone,” 

&c. (P.M. 35, p. 118) answering to the London Clay, 
upper part? (see P.M. 35, p. 132). 
-  Gerithium giganteum, t. 188, f. 2. 
Murex tubifer, t. 189, f. 3 to 8. 
Haldon Hills, see vol. 46, p. 218, 4 species, in the Green Sand. 
Planorbis euomphalus y, t. 140, f. 8. 
radiatus, t. 140, f. 5. 
Hampton-common, 1m. WNW cf Minchin Hampton, Glou- 
cestersh. in the Forest Marble. 
Patella rugosa, t. 139, f. 6. 
-Hamsey, see vol. 46, p. 218, 7 species, in the Chalk-marl. 
Ammonites varians, t. 176. 
Cerithium melanioides 6, t. 147. 
Pecten Beaveri, t. 158, u. 
Harwich, SSE, see vol. 46, p. 218, 2 species, in the Crag-marl. 
Voluta Lamberti, t. 129. 
Headington, 11m. ENE of Oxford, in the Oaktree Clay, pyritic. 
Astarte lineata, t. 179, f. 1. 
Ditto, Common (not Heddington, Wilts !), see Shotover Hill. 
Headon-Hill, SW of West Cowes, see Cowes. 
Highgate, SE, see vol. 46, p.218, 22 species, in the LondonClay, 
upper part. 
Auricula simulata, t.163,f.5 | Murex tubifer, t. 189, f. 6 to S. 
to 8. | Nucula minima, t.192,f.8& 9. 
similis, t.192, f.3 & 4. 
Murex coniferus, t. 187, f.1. | Pleurotoma acuminata, t. 146, 
- curtus, t. 199, f.5. f. 4, 
Hilary, St., 14 m. SE of Cowbridge, Glamorganshire, in the Der- 
byshire-peak Limestone. 
Spirifer cuspidatus, t. 120, f. 1 to 4. 
Hollesley, 5 m. SW of Orford, Suffolk, in the Crag Marl. 
; Venus rustica, t. 196. Holywell, 


turgida, t. 163, f.4. 


recently described by Mr. Sowerby. 357 


Holywell, see vol. 46, p. 219, 14 species, in the Crag Marl, 
Astarte obliquata, t.179,f.3. | Murex striatus 6, t. 109. 
Buccinum granulatum,t.110, | Nucula Cobboldie, t. 180, f. 2. 

f. 4. levigata, t. 192, f. 1 


and 2. ‘ 
Patella equalis, t. 139, f. 2. 
— unguis, t. 139, f.7 & 8. 


reticosum, t. 110), 
f..2. 


— 


— rugesum, t. 110, 


f. 3. Tellina obliqua, t. 161, f. 1 
Mactra arcuata, t. 160, f. 1 and m. 
and 6, Trochus levigatus, t. 1S1, f. 1. 


dubia,t. 160, f.2 to 4. 


similis, t. 18], f. 2. 
Voluta Lamberti, t. 129. 
Hordle-Cliff, see vol. 46, p. 219, 7 species, in the London Clay, 
upper part. 
Cerithium funatum, t. 128, f. 2. 
——— pyramydale, t. 127, f.1. 
Horningsham, see vol. 46, p. 219, 1 species, in the lower Chalk. 
Ditto, 1 species, in the Green Sand. 
Terebratula pectita, t. 138, f. 1. 
Huntcliffe, 6 m. NE of Gisborough, York NR, in the Kelloway 
Stone ?, ii. 239. (see P. M. xlix. p. 251, Note +.) 
: Chama digitata 6, t. 174. 
Hythe, N,4im. WSW of Folkstone, Kent, in the Green Sand, 
marly. Ammonites Nutfieldiensis «, t. 108. 
Ilminster, E, see vol. 46, p. 220, 2 species, in the under Oolite. 
Pecten equivalvis, t. 136, f. 1. 
Terebratula acuta, t. 150, f. 2. 
- resupinata, t. 15, f. 3 and 4. 
Ditto, S, in the Clunch Clay. 
Gryphea dilatata y, t. 149. 
Kelloways-Bridge, see vol. 46, p. 220, 1 species, in the Kelloway 
Stone. Ammonites Calloviensis a, t. 104. 
Cardita? deltoidea 6, t. 197, f. 4. 
Pecten fibrosus y, t. 136,. 
Plagiostoma obscura, t. 114, f. 2. 
Kendal (near), see vol. 46, p. 220, 2 species, in the Derbyshire- 
peak Limestone. 
Planorbis equalis, t. 140, f. 1. 
Keynsham, 4 m. SE of Bristol, Somersetshire, in the Blue Lias. 
Nautilus intermedius a, t. 125. 
- truncatus, t. 123. 
Knowles-Hill, 2m. SSE of Bruton, Somerset, in the under Oolite. 
Ammonites Herveyi 6, t. 195, lo. 
Lechlade, N, 3m. ESE of Fairford, Gloucestersh, in the Corn- 
brash Limestone. 
Cardita? deltoidea «, t. 197, f. 4. 
Z3 Lewes, 


358 Localities of Fossi 1 Shells, 


Lewes, N, see vol. 46, p. 220, 2 species, in the lower Chalk ? 
Ditto, E, 1 species, in the upper Chalk ? 
Terebratula octo-plicata, t. 118, f. 2. 
Little prin see vol. 46, p. 220, 2 species, in the under Oolite. 
Trochus concavus, t. 181, f. 3. 
— dimidiatus, t. 181, f.4, 
duplicatus, t. 18], f. 5. 
Llantrissent, S, 9 m. NW of Cardiff, Glamorganshire, in the 
Derhyshire-peak Limestone. 
Ammonites Walcotii «, t. 106. 
Long-Comb (or Lincomb) Girts, 44 m. N of Sidmouth, Devon, 
in the Kellowav Stone, flinty chert. 
Chama digitata a, t.174. 
Lopham, 3 m. S of East Harling, Moriplks in the London Clay, 
lower part. 


Ostrea deltoidea 6, 4 148. 
Lyme-Regis, see vol. 46, p. 22, 2 species, in the Marlstone. 


Ditto, NE, in the Blue Lias. 
Ammonites Brooki, t. 190. | Ammonites Loscombi, t. 183. 
fimbriatus, t.164. - obtusus, t. 167. 


————- Henleyi, t. 172. | Nautilus striatus, t. 182. 
Lyth, 3 m. NW of Whitby, Yorks. see Whitby. 
Malden, near, 7} m. E of Chelmsford, Essex, in the Crag Marl. 
Murex costellifer, t. 199, f. 3. 
——- echinatus, t. 199, f. 4. 
— rugosus f, t. 199, me 
Marcham, 2! m. W of Abingdon, Berks, i in the Portland Rock. 
Ammonites excavatus, t. 105. 
————- plicatilis, t. 166. 
—————-- vertebralis, t. 165. 
Margate, 4m. NNW of Ramsgate, Kent, in the upper Chalk. 
_  Terebratula plicatilis, t. 118, f. 1. 
Marston-field, 11 m. NE of Oxford, in the Clunch Clay. 
Ostrea palmetta, t. 111, f. 2. 
Mitford (or Midford), see vol. 46, p. 221, 1 species, in the under 
Oolite. 


Ammonites Walcotii y, t. 106. 

Mordiford, 34m. ESE of Hereford, in the Derbyshire- 
peak ? Limestone. 

Terebratula Wilsoni, t. 118, f.3. 

Mundesley, 6 m. SE of Cromer, Norfolk, 1 species, (Terebratula 
carnea, t. 115, f.5 and 6, being omitted, ii. 77) in the up- 
per Chalk. 

Magas pumilus, t. 119. | Ostrea canaliculata, t. 135, f. 1. 

Neots, St., 74m. SW of Huntingdon, in the Clunch Clay. 

Ammonites Duncani, t. 157. 


New- 


7 


recently described by Mr. Sowerby. 359 


New-cross, in Canal, 1{ m. E of Peckham, Surrey, in 
the London Clay, lower part, with chert nodules. 
Cerithium melanioides «, Cyelas cuneiformis, t. 162, f.2 
tb. 14]. kod « and 3. 


: - obovata, t. 162, f.4 to6. 
Newhaven, SW, Castle-hill, 64m. S by E of Lewes, Sussex, in 
the London Clay, upper part. 
Cerithium funatum, t. 128, f. 1. 


Ditto, in the London Clay, lower part. 
Cerithium melaniodes «, t. 147, f. 7. 
New Malton, N, 17m. NE of York, in the Portland 
Rock. 
Unio Listeri a, t. 154, f. 3 and 4. 
Norfolk, County, see vol. 46, p. 221, 1 species, in the 
Crag Marl. 
Tellina obliqua, t. 161, f. 1. 
Northfleet, see vol. 46, p. 221, 1 species, in the 


upper Chalk. 
Terebratula plicatilis, t. 118, f. 1. 
Northleach, 10 m. NNE of Cirencester, Gloucestershire, in the 
upper Oolite. ; 
Pecten fibrosus f, t. 136, f. 2. 
Norton-Bavant, see vol. 46, p. 221, 2 species, (Hamites inter- 
medius, t. 62, in Down Quarry ? being omitted) in the lower 
Chalk. / 
Nautilus elegans, t. 116. 
Norton, under Hamdon, 64m. E by N,of Ilminster, Somerset. 
in the under Oolite. if 
Nautilus obesus, t. 124. 
Nottinghamshire, in the blue beds of Yellow Limestone ?. 
Unio hybridus, t. 154, f. 2. 
Nutfield, see vol. 46, p. 221, 1 species, in the Green Sand, brown. 
Ammonites Nutfieldiensis a, t. 108. 


Oxfordshire (Oxford E?, and ENE ?) 2 species (Trigonia 
clavellata 8, and costata B, t.87 85, being omitted) in the 
Oak-tree Clay. 

Pakefield, see vol. 46, p. 221, 1 species, in an alluvial lump 


of Limestone. 
Gryphea dilatata «, t. 149. | Patella latissima £, t. 139, f. 5. 
Paris, near, in France, see P. M. vol. 39, p. 116 to 124, 1 species 
(Venericardia planicosta, t. 50, being omitted) in the Lon- 
don Clay, upper part?. 
Cerithium pyramydale, t. 127, f. 1. 
Nucula similis, t. 192, f. 3, 4, and 10. 
Voluta Luctator, t. 115, f. 1. 
——- spinosa f, t. 115, f. 3. 
Z4 Paris, 


360 Localities of Fossil Shells, 


Paris, near, in France (see P.M. vol. 35, p.116 to 124) in the 
London Clay, lower part ?. 
Cyclas deperdita ? t. 162, f.1. 
j Ostrea deltoidea f, t. 148. 
Peterborough, 11 m. NE of Oundle, Northamptonshire, in the 
Cornbrash Limestone. 
Cardita? deltoidea a, t. 197, f. 4. 
? producta #, t.197, f. 1. 
Petty France, 4m. NE of Sodbury, Gloucestersh. in the upper 
Oolite. 

Plagiostoma cardiiformis, t. 113, f. 3. 
Pickeridge-Hill, 44 m. SSE of Taunton, Somerset, see vol. 46, 
p. 221, 3 species, in the Blue Lias, and its Clay beds. 
Playiostoma pectinoides, t. 114, f. 4, in Clay. 

————--  punctata, t. 113, f. 1. 
Plumstead, see vol. 46, p. 221, 5 species, in the London 
Clay, lower part, with Cherts, Sand, Loam, &c. 
Cerithium funiculatum, Cyclas obovata, t. 162, f.4to6. 
t. 147, f. l and 2. Murex graduatus, t. 199, f. 6. 


Cyclas cuneiformis, t. 162, — rugosus vy, t. 199, f. 2. 
f. 2 and 3. Planorbis hemistoma, t. 140, 
- deperdita? t. 162, f.1. a eS 


Plumpton, 34 m. NW of Lewes, Sussex, in the Chalk Marl. 
Ammonites varians, t. 176. 
Portland Isle, see vol. 46, p. 221, 3 species, in the Portland Rock. 
Gryphea dilatata B, t. 149, f. 2. 
Purbeck Isle, or Peninsula, S of Corfe-Castle, Dorsetshire, in the 
Portland Rock. 
Ammonites gigantea a, t. 126. 
Radipole, see vol. 46, p. 222, 1 species, in the Portland 
Rock. Ets, 
Gryphea dilatata 6, t. 149, f. 2. 
Regent’s-Park, in Canal, 1 m. N of London, in the London Clay, 
upper part. 
Cardium semigranulatum, t. 144. 
Richmond-Park Well, see vol. 46, p. 222, 3 species, in the Lon- 
don Clay, upper part. 
Voluta Luctator, t. 115, f. 1. 


Ringmer, see vol. 46, p. 222, 2 species, in the Chalk Marl. 
Nautilus elegans, t. 116. 
Roak, 4 m. W of Watlington, Oxfordshire, in the Chalk 
Marl. 


Ammonites rostratus, t. 173. 
Hamites armatus, t. 168. 


Romney-Marsh, bounding Hills, see Adlington. Ed 
oydon- 


recently described by Mr. Sowerby. 361 
Roydon-Green, 13m. NW of Diss, Norfolk, in the Crag Marl, 


perhaps alluvial ?. 
Nucula Cobboldiz, t. 180, f. 2. 
Tellina obtusa, t. 179, f.4. 
Unio Listeri y, t. 154, f. 1. 
Rude-Cliff, 3m. NE of Weymouth, Dorset, in the Portland Rock. 
Gryphea dilatata 6, t. 149, f. 2. 
Sandfoot-Castle, 1m. SSW of Weymouth, Dorset, in the Clunch 


Clay. 
Gryphea dilatata y, t. 149. | Ostrea deltoideay, t. 148. 
Sandgate, 74 m. SE of Dover, Kent, in the Green Sand. 


Ammonites monile, t. 117. 
Seamer, 4m. SW of Scarborough, York NR, in the PortlandRock. 
Unio Listeri «, t. 154, f. 3 and 4. 
Shalcombe, 3! m. SE of Yarmouth, in the Isle of Wight, Hants, 
in the Cowes Rock ? 


Helix globosus, t. 170. Phasianella minuta, t.175,f.3. 
Phasianella angulosa, t.172, | —-———- orbicularis, t. 175, 
£,20 fT; 


Sherborn, E, in Park-Well, 6 m. W by S of Stalbridge, Dorsct, 
see vol. 46, p. 222, 1 species, in the under Oolite. 
Ammonites Banksii, t. 200. | Ammonites Brocchii, t. 202. 
——- Blagdoni, t.201. 
Shotover-Hill, see vol. 46, p. 222, 1 species, in the 
Brick Earth on Portland or Aylesbury, Limestone. 
Ditto, 2 species (omitting Melan. Hed. in the Portland 
Rock. . 
Ammonites excavatus, t. 105. | Plagiostoma rigida, t.114,f.1. 
Ditto, in the Oak-tree Clay. 
Ostrea deltoidea a, t. 148. 
Ditto, see vol. 46, p. 222, 1 species (Melania Heddingtonensis, 
t. 39, r. le, being wrong placed) in the Coral Rag. 


Small-Cossal, of Bath, iv the Fullers’ Earth Rock, 
Plagiostoma ovalis, t. 114, f.3. 
Southfleet, 3m. SW of Gravesend, Kent, in the Lon- 


don Clay, lower part. 
Cerithium melanioides a, t. 147, f. 7. 
Spalden, an error, see Aswarby. 
Stanton-Hill, 4 m. NE of Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, in the 
under Oolite. 
Terebratula acuta, t. 150, f. 2. 
Stubbington Cliff, see vol. 46, p. 223, 11 species (9 of them be- 
ing omitted, see ii. 230, as below*) in the London Clay, 


upper part. Ceri- 
* viz. Cardium Plumsteadiense, Cassis carinatus, t. 6 m. 
t. 14, 7.1. Dentalium entalis, t. 70. 


Fusus 


362 Localities of Fossil Shells, 
Cerithium Cornucopie «, Pleurotoma attenuata, t. 146, 
t. 188, f. 1,3 and 4. ws hs 
dubium, t. 147, . | ——————- comma, t.146,f.5. 
fb. ——_——- sethicolon, t. 146, 
giganteum, t.188, f. 6. 
£2. Voluta spinosa B, t. 115, f£.3: 
ii, 239. 
Suffolk, County, NW, see vol. 46, p. 223, 1 species, in the lower 
Chalk. 
Ditto, in the London Clay, lower part. 
Grypheea dilatata a, t. 149, f. 1. 
Ditto, ’ in the Crag Marl. 


Mactra ovalis, t. 160, f.5. | Unio Listeri y, t. 154, f. 1, 3, 
Tellina obliqua, t.161,f.1 | or 4? 
and in. Venus gibbosa, t. 155, f. 3. 
ovata, t. 161, f. 2. - lentiformis, t. 203. 
Sussex, County, see vol. 46, p. 223, 1 spe. in the Chalk Marl. 
Hamites armatus, t. 165. | Nucula pectinata, t. 192, f.6 & 7. 
Taunton, 9m. NW of Ilminster, Somerset, in the under Oolite. 
Astarte lurida, t. 137, f. 1. | Lima gibbosa a, t. 152. 
Trent River (upper part, NE of Newcastle-under-Line, Staf- 
fordshire?) in the Coal-measures ? * 
Ammonites Walcotii 0, t. 106. 
Under-cliff, in S part of Isle of Wight, Hants, in the Green Sand. 
Ammonites inflatus, t. 175. 
Vincent’s, St., Rock, 1 m.:'W of Bristol, Gloucestershire, in the 
Derbyshire-peak Limestone. 
Spirifer cuspidatus, t. 120, f. 1 to 4. 
Walton le Soken (Nase), see vol. 46, p. 223, 2 species, in the 
Crag Marl 
Buccinum elongatum, t. 110, f. 1. 
Pholas cylindricus, t. 198. 
Venus lentiformis, t. 203 (Essex Cliff). 
Westbrook, 6 m. SE of Melksham, Wilts, in the Coral Rag, and 


Clay. 


Ammonites splendens, t. 103, f. 3. 
Ostrea gregarea f, t. 111, f. 3. 
Weston, 1m. NW of Bath, Somerset, in the Blue Lias. 
Trochus anglicus, t. 142. : 


Fusus ‘longevus, t.63. Scalaria acuta, t. 16. 
Pectunculus costatus, t. 27. Trochus Benetti, t. 98, le. 
Rostellaria? lucida, t. 91. Venericardia planicosta, t. 50. 


* The lower part of the Trent River (although running upon Red Marl) 
in a remarkable manner skirts the foot of the Lias Strata, for 165 miles, in 
Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire: and perhaps, therefore, a reference to Lias 
was intended, instead of Coal-measures?. 


Whitby, 


recently deseribed by Mr. Sowerby. 363 


Whitby, see vol. 46, p. 224, 3 species, in the Alum 
Shale, or lower Clunch Clay. 
Ammonites angulatus, t. 107, f. 1. 
- communis, t. 107, f. 2 and 3. 
- Walcotii , t. 106. 
Patella levis, t. 139, f. 4. 
White-conduit House, 1 m. N of London, in the London Clay, 
upper part. 
Cardium semigranulatum, t. 144. 
White-Lackington, see vol. 46, p. 224, 1 species, in the under 


Oolite. 
Ammonites Walcotii y, t.106. | Pecten equivalvis, t.136, f. 1. 
Ditto, NW, in the Blue Lias. 


Trochus anglicus, t. 142. 
Wight, Isle of, on S coast of Hampshire, in the London Clay, 
lower part, pyritic. 
Cyclas cuneiformis, t. 162, f. 2 and 3. 
Wiltshire, see vol. 46, p. 224, 1 species, in the Clunch Clay, 
lower part. 
Ditto, in the Chalk Marl. 
Ammonites varians, t. 176. 
Windcombe, see Donhead St. Mary. 
Withyham, 6 m. ESE of East-Grinstead, Sussex, in the Brick - 
Earth ? 
Ostrea acuminata 6, t. 135, f. 2. 
Woburn, N, 6 m. SW of Ampthill, Beds, in the Clunch Clay, 
upper part. 
Gryphea dilatata y, t. 149. 
Woodbridge, see vol. 46, p. 224, 2 species, in the Crag Marl. 
Mactra dubia, t. 160, f. 2 ] Nucula levigata, t. 192, f. 1 
to4. and 2, 
Tellina obtusa, t. 179, f. 4. 
Woolwich, SW, 7m. NW of Dartford, Kent, in the London Clay, 
lower part. 
Cyclas deperdita? t. 162, f. 1. 
Yeovil, NE, see vol. 46, p. 224, 2 species, in the Marlstone. 
Ditto, in the under Oolite. 
Ammonites Brongniarti,t. A. | Cirrus nodosus, t. 141, f. 2. 
Be AyD tO. Nautilus sinuatus, t. 194. 
Ditto, N, in the Blue Lias, 
Trochus anglicus, t. }42. 


LVII. An 


[ 364 ] 


LVII. An Account of Experiments for determining the Length 
of the Pendulum vibrating Seconds in the Latitude of London. 
By Capt. HENRY Kater, F.R.S. 


[Continued from p. 182.] 


Detail of the Experiments. 

Iy the first experiments which were made with the pendulum, 
it has been already observed that the knife edges rested on plates 
of hard steel ; but as these at the conclusion were found to have 
suffered penetration in no slight degree, planes of agate were 
substituted for them, and the results having thus been rendered 
doubtful, were deemed inadmissible. It may not however be ir- 
relevant to remark, that the distances of the knife edges obtained 
by the two methods which have been before described, did not 
differ quite one ten-thousandth of an inch; and, that on remea- 
surement after the knife edges had been used a very considerable 
time, their distance was found to be increased, by wear, four di- 
visions only of the micrometer, or not quite two ten-thousandths 
ofaninch, The length of the seconds pendulum deduced from 
these first experiments, differed from the result of the observa- 
tions about to be detailed, only two ten-thousandths of an inch 
in defect. 1 nevertheless think it useless to insert these first ex- 
periments, as the near approximation of the result cannot but be 
deemed to have been in some degree accidental. 

In repairing the knife edges after the termination of the first 
series of experiments, one of them was broken, and when it was 
replaced by another, the distance between them was increased 
about one-hundredth of an inch ; a circumstance which proved 
rather gratifying than otherwise, as it afforded a pendulum dif- 
fering in length from the former one, and which yet gave nearly 
the same result. 

June 9th, 1817, the knife edges being adjusted parallel to each ~ 
other, and the scale and pendulum having remained together for 
several preceding days, the picces A, a, and B, d, were applied 
to the knife edges in the mamner described in the former part of 
this paper, and the following measurements were taken. 


} 
{ 


Distance from A to a, 329-06 divisions. . 
B to b, 366-97. | 
| 


643-0 957-01 | 
642-0 956-01} 
T'abLye continued, 


° Readings of the Micrometer. | Divisions 
ere: | A tobe | Btob. | Scale. | +39-4 in. | 
June | 27-0 620 | 653-0 ) 95651 | 
9th. | 21-0 | 520 | 642-7 | 954-21 | 
13-0 52-0 6425 | 958-01 | 
12-0 | 48-0 638-5 | 95651 | 
18-0 50-0 | 


18-0 | 50-0 


Experiments for determining the Length of the Pendulum. 365 


TABLE contin ued. 


The Pieces changed. 


| 698-0 eS 956-91 
| 


June 65°5 HE2:7. 

10th. | 64-0 112-5 696-0 955'76 
61-0 106-2 | 693-2 957'61 
64:5 | 108-0 693°5 955-26 
65-0 106-2 694-5 956-91 


67-2 GR Ie a FA ANS ck 107-0 | 696-0 
Mean of the whole 


956-91 
————~"Vfean of the whole | 956-47 


Hence the distance between the knife edges is 39:4 inches 
+956:47 divisions of the micrometer. 

June 12th, the knife edges having been adjusted parallel to 
each other, the following measurements were taken, the knife 
edges being viewed as dark objects on a white ground. 


Dark on a White Ground. 


Readings of the Micrometer. 


Date. |Near side of|Further side Divisions 


the bar. | of the bar. Mean. | Scale. | + 39-4 in, 
June 50-0 50-0 50-00 | 10065 | 956-50 
12 50-0 50-0 50-00 =e 956-50 
50-0 50-0 50-00 whe 956-50 
49-0 50-0 49-50 Ls 956°50 
12 465 |. 440 42:25 | 1001-0 | 955-75 
44-5 44-5 45°50 | 1001-0 | 95550 
42-0 43-0 42:50 | 1003-0 | 960-50 
43-0 | 43-0 43:00 | 1003-0 | 960-00 
13 375 | | 38°0 37°75 994-0 | 956-25 
350 | 39-0 37-00 993-5 | 956-50 
38-0 35-0 3650 | 1001-0 | 964-50 
38-0 38-0 38:00 | — 963-00 
"4 |. 25:5. | 275 26:50 | 987-0 | 960-50 
25-0 26:5 25:75 | 987-5 | 961-75 
240 25-2 24-60 = 962-90 
25-0 25-7 25-25 BS 962-25 
14 \ 795 78:0 | 7875 | 10420 | 963-25 
76:0 75-0 “75°50 2s 966-50 
72:0 71:5 71:75 1035°2 963°45 
74-0 73-5 73°75 — | 961-45 
Mean of the whole 960-00 
Correction for irradiation | —5'51 
(see page 179) 954-49 


By the foregoing measurements, the distance hetween the knife 
edges appears to be 39-4 inches +954" 49 divisions. 


The 


366 An Account of Experiments for determining the Length of 


The pendulum was now placed on itssupport, and the following 
experiments made for equalising the number of vibrations. 


Slider 18 divisions, ie 
Clock losing 0's Great weight alove. Barometer 


on mean time. 29°7. 
Time of |Arcof/a [> 5 6/* Slaactcl oS lauwf 
E | coinci- | vibra--|§ ¢} 5 gg/6 e/8 28 é| Be |$eas 
i , Sif S olCOl-= ao un (2.2"n0 
f | dence. | tion. BSSizisbes se Os os.4 
o m. 5s, ° _ 
June |66°8| 99 192 “29 | 
19th. et at pia 18} 518 |516 |\s6066-40| 2°28 |s6068-68 
66°81 46 30 | 9-93 |!"00} 520 | 518|86067-70} 1°63 |86069'33 
Mean |86069-00 
Clock | — 0-33 
2 a i poneich > ath eal; Sal nace lap i. 
66°8 | mean &86068-67 
Great weight below. 
66°6 “25 
12 oe | rag |t19] 513. |51t|se0ss-16| 2-32 sees 48 
66°7} 23 4. | 1-0, [26] 512 | 510|s6062°50} 1-84 |s6064-34 
Mean |86064°91 
Clock | — 0-33 
| Temp. | — 0:()4 
66:7 | Mean 8606454 


Here the vibrations were in excess; the slider was therefore 
placed at 29 divisions, and the second weight moved nearer to 


its knife edge. 

\ 
| ae paints Great weight alove. Bites 
Ock losing OU" "4 . : rsa 
ol siden ee Second weight moved. 29-7, 

tC) m, 5s, ° 2 
une O70] or 42 | 28 11813 506 |504 |se0se-49| 2-08 |s6c60-s7 
Es > | gigg [0°98] 509 | 507 |86060°50} 1°51 |86062-01 


66°9| 14 37 | 0:8S 
Mean |86C61°29 
Clock | — 0:33 


66-9| mean 86060°96 


Great weight Lelow. 


GUL) 24 39) 114 1.o71 S06 [504 }36058 49| 1°87 |86060°86 
51 


38.5} 101 | 
860) 
67-1] 41. 32 | egg 0°97] 507 | 505}86059-16 | 1°51 |86060'67 


Clock | — 0°33 
[Temp | + 0 09 


86066°27 


| 
| : Mean |86060°51 


67°! | mean 


the Pendulum vibrating Seconds in the Latitude of London. 367 


The number of vibrations being still in excess, the second 
weight was moved again, the slider remaining as before. 


Slider 29 divisions, Great wel ht above. 
Clock losing 0-33 Ss 1 a a Barometer 
on mean time, econd weight moved. 29°7, 
5, | Time of [Arcoflq |s. cla als owen oe 
a : : w/o oS x n 
E | coinci- | vibra- 3 Y{¢ ae e ay 58° 5 pcos 5 a 5 
Fj dence, | tion. [A @/ 2.5 S/F S/F 3-8 8 153.8 ¢ 

> aia > s. 

a pie Bs 3s Me I-11} 503 | 501 |86056-47| 2-02 |86058-49 
7 54 | orca [2795] 504 | 502/86057-16| 1-48 [36058 64 
0°80 | 504 | 504/86058°49] 5:05 [86059°54 


0°68} 507 | 505 |86059°16 | 0-75 |86059 91 


67:3} 24 47 | 0-63 


Mean |86059-14 
Clock| — 0-33 
67°3| mean iio aig 
2 Hen ae oe MOR EE 
Great weight lelow. 


1:09} 504 | 502/86057-16| 1°94 /86059-10 


38 32] 1-05 |~ ~ : ayes 
46 56 | 094 0°99] 504 | 502)/86057-16| 1-60 |s6n58-76 
55 92 | 0-94 |089| 506 | 504/86058-49] 1-30 [s6059-79 


0°79} 506 | 504 8605849 | 1°02 |86059-51 


Mean |86059:29 
Clock} — 0-33 
Temp.| + 0:04 


67°4 | mean 6059.00 
| Slider 29 divisions. sss 
: 2 r Barometer 
| Clock doing 0!"-26 Great weight alove. 69 "6. 
| On mean time. ag 
one id ‘ * a 1'13} 503 | 501 |86056:47| 2.08 |86058°55 
26 28 | y-7g 2°80} 505 | 508 |86057°82| 1.05 |86058-37 


687| 34 52 | 0-63 0°68} 504 | 502 |86057-16| 075 |86057-91 


Mean |86058°33 


Clock} — 0:26 
~— =i 
68°7| mean ; 86058:07 


Great weight Lelow. 
684199 an oO 
peetieae: 2 otra) Hina t Som ede egies gel sos) ldgaso-c4 


os = — 1:00] 504 | 502 |86057-16| 1-63 8058-79 
47 16 | 086 |299| 504 |502 |86057-16! 1:38. |s6058-54 


68'5| 55 41 | 0-78 0°82) 505 | 503 |$6057-82} 1-10 |86058:92 


Mean |86058-87 
Clock] — 0:26 
Temp,| — 009 


685) mean 86058 52 


368 An Account of Experiments for determining the Length of 


The number of vibrations being now in both positions suffi- 
ciently near each other, and in defect, the second weight was se- 
cured in its place. 


Slider 23 divisious. j 
Barometer 


Clock losing 0’-30 Great weight above 
on mean time. § oue. 29°76 


‘Timeot Arc of} ¢ Interv | 2 + ¢| Lota 
oo ° Sw so 
= | coinci- |vibra-| 2 &| in se- os = oe! aie elie oe 5 
me | dence. | tion. |& “| conds,/Z "5 Edie! ‘S S".9 
git lint TAK % 
icletn a ta | 8 
| une O87 ee ae | Los [ilS| 504 | 502|86057-16 2-08 [8659-24 
stn 5 1s) 091 [297 506 | 504|/86058-49/ 1°54 [86060 03 
13. 42 | 0-73 |0°82| 507 | 505 /86059.16 | 1°10 |86060-26 
i 0*68| 506 | 504/86058-49| 075 |86059 24 


68°7| 22 OS | 0°64 
' Mean |86059°69, 
Clock | — 0°3)) 


68.7| mean . 86059 $9 
A Great weight Lelow. 


TGaMERE Mirae OC 
68°8) Si 17 | 122 1G) 504 | 502 |s6057-16 


5 2-20 |86059 36 

- . mos 1:04] 505 | 503 |36057°82} 1:76 |86059:58 
56 32 | 090 }2°24} 506 | 504 /86058-49| 1-44 |86059'93 
084} 506 | 504/|86058-49| 1:15 |86059°64 


68:9} 4 58 | 0°79 is 
Mean |86059°63 
Clock | — 0:30 


Yemp.} + 0:09 


Aahheats 86059'42 
Slider 23 divisions. : Barometer 
Clock losing 0/-20 Great weight alove. 29°86" 


on mean time. 


June [ree oF gt | toa (1°8] 208 | 501 |s6056-47) 2-08 |6n5s-55 
2ist. 10 53. | o-89 |0:96| 502 | 500 |86055 78] 1°15 |86056-98 
081} 504 | 502|86057"16| 1:07 [86053 23 


nisl ond, bong [06% 504 | 502!36057-16] 0-75 |s6057-91 


Mean |86057:90 
Clock | — 0:20 


71°3; mean ‘ 8605:70 


B Great weight lelow. 


a 0 59 zl 
M10) 12 92 | 120 11.14) 503 | sor leeose-47/ 2:12 |s6058-59 


Qi 1 8 
4 a eae 1:02] 503 | 501 186056:47! 1°70 |86058°17 
31 1 | 0-88 [2 92} 508 | 501 |86056-47 | 1°88 |86057-85 
: 0°83} 504 | 509 |86057'16! 1°15 |86058-29 


7173} 46 25 | 0°79 


Mean |86058°22 
| Clock | — 0-20 
'Temp.| — 0°09 
71°)| mean 86057-9383 
bb mapa NOE Es a er 


the Pendulum vibrating Seconds in the Latitude of London. 369 


) Slider 23 divisions. Barometer 


Clock losing 0-20 Great weight above. 29.86, 
on mean time. 


&. | lime of |Arc ot 


. |Interv. 


“ nl]. 4 . z 
= = * q 5 oss 2exee Corr. 8 3 S38 
& | coinci- | vibra- g | in se- 38 g6c 3 for arate ap I 
u dence. | tion. | conds. Zi |p 3-5 2 iS 5.8 ¢ 
ae ; ei fo} S. 
June | 71-4) 36 6 | 1-22 1" 19} 502 | s00ls6055-78| 2.05 |s6057-83 
ae. 44 28 | 1-03. 15,95! sos | 501!86056-47| 1-48 |86057°95 
oe 91 | O82 J0-80/ 503 | 501|86056-47| 1.04 |86057-51 
7164 Be bao 0-67| 506 | 504|86058-49 | 0-73 |86059-22 | 
‘ 62 
‘ Mean 8605815 
| Clock | — 0-20 
ri, a maual fo ee hae eae rare 
Great weight ia 
g 
bia bs aa | Lov {I13| 502 | 500-86055-78| 208 |s60s7-86 
37. 9 | o-g4 {100| 503 | 501 86056-47] 1-63 |86058-10 
45 32 | 0-85 0-89] 503 |501 86056-47| 1-29 |86057-76 
71-6 53 55 | 078 |O°81| 503 | 501 86056-47} 1-07 |86057-54 


Mean |86057-81 


Clock | — ()-20 

Temp] + 0-09 

71-6} mean 86057-70 
Slider 25 divisions. Basins 


Ciock gaining 0” 30 Great weight above. 99.95. 
on mean time. 


he (23° i me ee 1-12} 500 | 498 |86054-40| 2-05 |86056-45 
z 25 49 | Org7 | 0°94] 501 | 499 |86055-09) 1-44 |86056-53 
34 10 | org | 0°80} 501 | 499 |86055-09) 1-04 |86056-13 
731/42 31 | 063 | 0°68] 501 [499 |86055-09] 0°75 |86055-55 

. 86055-09 
| Mean |86056-24 
| Clock | + 0-30 
73-\| mean. 86056-54 
pease J fee Ls AGU AP. Be ERR Srl BertObilay oni POU OFS. 

D Great weight Lelow. 


724) 27 38) 1-21 ret 
35° 41 109 [E15 50k 499|86055-09 2:16 |86057-25 


~ | 44 15 | g-99 |!04| 501 | 499 \86055-09| 1-76 |86056-85 
52 36 | ong 0°94] 501 | 499|86055-09] 1-44 |86056-53 
~\ 79.81 “9 58 | o-7g [0°84] 502 | 500|86055-78] 1-15 |86056-93 


Mean |86056:89 
Clock} — 0-30 


Temp.| — 0-22 
72-6| mean me 89056:97 
Le oe & Pee er wen) EAM 


Vol. 52. No. 247. Nov. 1818. Aa The 


370 New Apparatus for impregnating Liquids with Gas. 


The pendulum was now taken down to remeasure the distance 
between the knife edges, in order to ascertain whether or not they 
had suffered from use. 

_ The pieces A, a, B and b, being applied as before, the follow- 
ing measurements were taken. 


Distance from A to a, 329-06 divisions. 
B to b, 366-97. 


' | Readings of the Micrometer. | Divisions 
TG DS YR ia SE ae Sas ee a Se 2 2 
| Atoa. | Btob. | Scale. +39-4 in. 
97..| 39:0 | 630°0 | 953-66 
June EO) 37-3" ~|-630°0 955-86 
25th.| 10:0 | 36:5 | 630-7 955-46 


The pieces made to change places. 


| 26th. | 59-0 87:0 | 680-0 955-01 
| 59-0 84:0 | 680°3 956°81 
51-0 750 | 671-0 955°51 
43:0 | 67:7 | 664°5 «| 957-16 

415 | 680 | 6625 955-76 


Mean of the whole | 955-65 : 
Hence the distance between the knife edges is 39°4 inches 


~ 4955-65 divisions of the micrometer. 
{To be continued. ] 


LVIII. Description of a new Apparatus for impregnating 
Liquids with Gases. By A CorrEsponDENT. 


\ To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — Mosr chemists have to lament the extreme fragility of 
Wolfe’s apparatus ; and setting aside its expense, it appears to 
me to be very defective, as the surface of the gas which is ex- 
posed to the absorbing fluid is very small, on account of its being 
suffered to pass through so small a depth of fluid in large bubbles ; 
when, on the contrary, it ought to be divided, and to pass through 
as great adepth of fluid as possible. To effect this, the ends of 
the retort, a fig. 6, (Plate III.) of the long conducting tube J, 
should be closed, and perforated with a number of very small 
holes *. By this means almost every atom of gas is brought into 
contact with the fluid in ascending the long cylindrical vessel c; 
which might easily be made to turn on its axis with a small de- 
gree of eccentricity, which upon the whole would produce a much 
greater effect than if it had passed through half a dozen of Wolfe’s 


bottles, 
* Or perforated platina caps might be fixed on. 


Might 


On purifying Coal-Gas. 371 


Might not the tedious process of forming the red oxide of mer- 
eury be considerably accelerated, by sending a minutely divided 
stream of air through it in the same manner from a gasometer of 
condensation ? The same holds good with cupellation, and many 
other chemical processes. 

I would recommend to those who are near a gas establishment, 
to provide themselves with what may be called a gas furnace. It 
consists of a thin metallic tube d, open at the top but closed at 
both ends, and bent in the form of a cornu ammonis, with about 
half an inch distance between the whirls to admit a free access of 
air from beneath. By this means a degree of heat may he pro- 
duced, which will combine the power of a table furnace with the 
uniformity and elegance of an Argand lamp, but without the 
incumbrance or the trouble of either. I am 

Your humble servant, 


LIX. On purifying Coal-Gas, and increasing the Quantity 
produced from a gwen Weight of Coals. By Mr. G. Lowe. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — Tue Number for this month of your excellent Maga- 
zine having just arrived, I have read with pleasure Mr. Parker’s 
letter on the subject of purifying coal-gas. At a time like the 
present, when the sources of real light are so highly taxed, and 
the materials of artificial light so dearly bought, we cannot be 
surprised that so many should be turning their attention to this 
excellent and too long neglected medium, in order to render the 
procuring of it so cheap that the humble cottage may not be de- 
barred of its benefits ; and so pure, that even the palace mav 
show forth its excellence. It is under this consideration that I 
feel Jess surprise at finding my own plans of purifying gas an- 
ticipated in the experience of Mr. Parker: with a difference 
only in the method of application ; for although we both agree 
in passing the gas through a high temperature, yet the very dif- 
ferent methods which we have hitupon of‘sopresenting it, will fully 
satisfy us both as to our originality of the same idea. Mr. Parker 
uses three ignited tubes without any other oxidizeable surface. I 
use only one, into which various oxidizeable surfaces are intro- 
duced. The experiments which led me to this method were made 
in March last, in which experiments the hope of so constructing 
a stove as to give off both light and heat, of simplicity of con- 
struction and with purity of gas, was the desirable object which 
stimulated my proceedings ; in the gaining of which, 1am happy 


to say, I fully succeeded, 
Aa2 To 


372 On purifying Coal- Gas. 


To give your readers a perfect idea of my stove, which might 
not unaptly he called a Thermophotogen, would be impossible 
without a plate, for which there is not now time, as I could wish 
this notice of Mr. Parker’s paper to appear in your next number. 
—Sutffice it to say, that the body of the stove is an upright cy- 
linder of east iron, standing four feet high, rather conical, being 
ten inches diameter inside at the top, and twelve inches at the 
bottom. For the sake of portableness, and to ensure against ex- 
pansion, it is divided into three separate pieces. First, an ashpit 
eight inchés deep, having a docr in its side to regulate the 
draught : second, the part one foot eight inches high contain- 
ing the door through which fuel is introduced, and opposite 
to which is an aperture to receive an iron cylinder or gun-barrel : 
and thirdly, the part in which at its sideis placed the flue. The 
parts fit in proper order one upon another, having the joints co- 
vered by a small plinth ; the top is open, through which is placed 
a cylindrical retort of two feet six inches long, and seven inches 
diameter, its flanch forming a top to the stove and covering the 
flue, which_the difference of the diameter of the retort and that 
of the interior of the stove allows. Itis evident, that if the body 
of the stove be now inclosed with a light sheet iron carcase, 
leaving a hot air flue all round except at the doors, the heat 
given off by the stove may be conveyed into apartments ; at the 
same time that its internal heat is liberating the gas in the retort. 
The cap of the retort is on the simplest construction, like that 
of the common culinary digester, only fitted with a plug and 
socket by which the gas is conveyed through a cylinder contain- 
ing iron turnings, &c. after which it passes through lime-water 
or not at pleasure. This method requires very little fuel, serves 
two purposes, and makes very pure gas. The scale upon which 
the foregoing apparatus is constructed may be said to be but 
small, though amply large enough for the majority of families ; 
yet it proves sufficiently that its principle is calculated to obtain 
every advantage reasonably to be hoped for. First, a very great 
increase of gas is obtained from a given quantity of coal, in com- 
parison to the old method, in which the essential oil, the tar, and 
the water of crystallization are all condensed prior to washing : 
but by passing through iron turnings, or any oxidizeable surfaces, 
the two first are nearly all converted into gas, and.come even 
with the hydrogen of the latter, which has been liberated at the 
expense of the iron turnings.—It is evident, the great increase 
arises infinitely more from the decomposition of the water than 
of the tar, which | am afraid Mr. Parker’s tubes alone after a 
short time will fail to do. Secondly, the nuisance creating sul- 
phuretted hydrogen is perfectly decomposed, as well as the car- 
bonic acid and ammoniacal gases. And last, though not least 

in 


Notices respecting New Books. 373 


in consideration, it materially lessens the expense in setting up, as 
well as in wear and tear, for it does not require the retort to be 
heated any thing near so hot. We must all agree with Mr. Par- 
ker, that the subject of these decompositions is worthy a strict 
examination, and which indeed they have had in their uncom- 
bined state by many of the first chemists of the day, but not in 
combination as in coal-gas. That the sulphuretted hydrogen 
may be decomposed by the mere matter of heat, and converted 
into carburetted hydrogen by passing it over ignited charcoal, is 
well known ; and that the carbonic acid is converted into carbo- 
nic oxide by giving a portion of its oxygen to the iron, one may 
suppose ; but how the ammoniacal gas, which, according to The- 
nard, is decomposed without the iron receiving any addition, or 
the volume of the gas being in the least altered, remains to be 
explained. Ina future Number of your Magazine, if you should 
think it worthy a place, I perhaps shall be able to send you an 
account of the same principle of purifving, still further simplified, 
as applicable to horizontal retorts; in which the tube containing 
the iron turnings, scraps of tin, charcoal, &c. is placed within the 
body of the retort. We are now setting one up, but it is not in 
sufficierit progress to describe. Pardon me the length of this hasty 
letter, and believe me Your well wisher, 
Derby, Noy. 14, 1818. G. LowE. 


LX. Notices respecting New Books. — 


Ty spring last Dr. Watt of Glasgow published a Prospectus, ac- 
companied with a specimen, of a work to be entitled “ Biblio- 
theca Britannica: or a General Index to the Literature of 
Great Britain and Ireland, ancient and modern, with such Fo- 
reign Works as have been translated into English, or printed in 
the British Dominions: including also a copious selection from 
the writings of the most celebrated authors of all ages and na- 
tions. In Two Parts. In the first, the authors are arranged al- 
phabetically, and of each, as far as possible, a short biographical 
notice is given; to which is subjoined a correct list of his works, 
their various editions, sizes, prices, &c., and in many instances 
the character of the work. In the second, the subjects are ar- 
ranged alphabetically ; and, under each, the works, and princi- 
pal parts of works, treating of that subject are arranged in chro- 
nological order. ‘This part also includes all the anonymous 
works which have appeared in this country, inserted according 
to their respective subjects and dates.” A first part of this work 
is now in the press, and will be published in February. This, 
consisting of 35 sheets, or 280 pages, is calculated to be about 

Aa 3s one 


374 Notices respecting New Books. 


one-sixth of the whole, which, when completed, will form two 
quarto volumes nearly of the size of Johnson’s Dictionary. 


Mr. Joseph Conolly, Author of the Telegraphic Dictionary, 
and Essay on Universal Telegraphic Communication, for which 
he received the Gold and Silver Medals from the Society of Arts, 
has issued the Prospectus of a new work, to be entitled “ The 
Telegraphist’s Vade Mecum.” 

‘This work is to comprise—the English Language, with sen- 
tences alphabetically arranged under their respective final words, 
thereby obviating the complexity so much complained of by the 
most experienced officers and telegraphists of the present day ; 
as also the Evolutionary Compass and Telegraphic Codes, cal- 
culated for the various symbols used in Europe. Any word or 
sentence, from an arrangement of twenty-six thousand, is given 
by the two-armed Semaphore, as over the Admiralty, in two ex- 
hibitions, without a stop-signal to divide the words. The new 
mode of working two numeral tables at every exhibition is fully 
explained, illustrated with plates of the changes exemplifying the 
different secret keys for deciphering official messages. The num- 
ber of flags is twenty-four, and two pendants, being nine under 
the number used by any ship in the Navy. Any word or sentence, 
from twenty-six thousand, is given in one exhibition, on one 
mast, without a class flag; and no signal ever exceeds three flags 
and a pendant. ‘The spelling power gives a syllable or word at 
one exhibition, A message, or any subject, can be extracted ver- 


batim from this arrangement, in large portions, without the te- 


dious operation of spelling. 

This plan of extracting and deciphering messages will afford 
a pleasing study to the Telegraphist—a study hitherto rendered 
difficult through want of simplicity, scope, and method. 

The new mode of working two numeral tables at every exhi- 
bition of Semaphoric signals, and a new arrangement of words 
and sentences, are to be also prominent features of this work. 


R. Ackermann has in the press ** High Quarrel with the 
Pope.” A correspondence between the court of Rome and Ba- 
ron von Wessenberg, Bishop of Constance, in which the Bishop 
disputes the authority of the Pope in Germany; with an ac- 
count of his endeavours, and every probability of success, to 
effect a general reformation in the German Catholic Chureh. 
Demy 8vo. 

Observations on Ackermann’s Patent Moveable Axles to Four- 
wheeled Carriages, containing an engraved elevation of the car- 
riage, with plans and sections, conveying accurate ideas of this 
superior improvement. 

A com- 


Purifying of Coal-Gas. 375 


A complete History of Lithography, from its Origin down to 
the present Time, by the Inventor, Alois Senefelder ; containing 
clear and explicit instructions in all its branches ; accompanied. 
by illustrative specimens of this art. Demy 4to. hot-pressed. 

The Cabinet of Arts, being a new and universal Drawing-- 
book, forming a complete system of drawing and painting in all 
its branches, etching, engraving, perspective, projection, and 
surveying, with all their various and appendent parts, containing 
the whole theory and practice of the fine arts in general, from the 
first elements to the most finished principles ; displaying in the 
most familiar manner the whole rudiments of imitation, design, 
disposition and invention. Illustrated with upwards of 130 ele- 
gant engravings : to which is added an Appendix, containing se- 
veral curious and useful miscellaneous articles. By T. Hudson 
(Author of the Accomplished Tutor) and J. Dougall. This 
valuable work re-appears as a second edition, with additions, in 
which many new plates will be introduced. It will be comprised 
in 30 monthly numbers, each containing four plates, three plain 
and one in colours, and 12 pages of letter-press. No. I. will be- 
published on the Ist of January next, and be continued monthly 
until completed. The whole will form two handsome quarto 
volumes. Directions for order and arrangement will be given in. 
the last number. 


Preparing for publication,—Observations on Inflammation of 
the mucous Membrane of the Respiration Organs ; illustrative 
of the pathology and treatment of bronchial ifflammation, 
croup, hooping-cough, measles, catarrh, and those affections re- 
sembling pulmonary consumption, &c. exemplified by cases, 
dissections, and coloured engravings of the morbid appearances. 
By Thomas Alcock, Surgeon. 


LXI. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 


PURIFYING OF COAL-GAS, 


Is our Jast we inserted a communication from Mr..S. Parker 
of Liverpool on this subject, and in our presentnumberis one from 
Mr. G, Lowe of Derby in reference to Mr. Parker’s. We now 
subjoin the method of purifying coal-gas, for which Mr. G, H. 
Palmer of Regent-street in the city of Westminster lately ob- 
tained a patent ; and which in principle seems to coincide with 
Mr. Parker’s ; for we conceive the effect in Mr. Parker’s pro- 
cess to be produced by the oxidation of the ignited iron tubes, 

Aad through 


376 Purifying of Coal-Gas.—Electrical Experiments. 


through which he passes the gas. We have, however, no idea 
that the one was copied from the other. 
Extract from Mr. G. Palmer’s Specification. 

“The gas may be made by any of the usual processes, and is 
to be conveyed in pipes toa condenser orrefrigeratory, to deprive 
it of its tar, ammoniacal liquor, and condensible ingredients. 
From thence it is to be conveyed to one of my purifiers, which 
consists of a vessel of any form, and made of cast iron or any 
other material which will stand the action of heat. This purifier 
is to be kept moderately red hot while in action ; to accomplish 
which, it may be set in the same furnace as the retorts, or heated 
by a separate fire (which will be governed by the nature and ex- 
tent.of the concern) so as to be visibly red by day-light. It must 
be understood that I mention this temperature as being sufficient, 
although a higher one will not be detrimental to the process, but 
will destroy the purifying vessel more rapidly. 

“This purifying vessel is to be nearly filled with the fragments 
or refuse clippings of sheet iron, timed iron plates, or any oxide 
of iron at a minimum of oxidation, such as common clay or ar- 
gillaceous iron ore, or finery cinders, or black oxide of iron ; and 
when so filled and heated the gas must pass through it, which 
will effect a partial decomposition of the sulphuretted hydrogen, 
to complete which it must pass into a box or cistern of cold 
water. The pipe which conveys the gas into the box or cistern 
should just dip into the water, and a pipe at the top of the cis- 
tern must communicate with the gasometer, into which the gas 
will flow perfectly pure, and can then be distributed and burnt 
as usual. The operation of this method of purification must be 
obvious to those who are acquainted with chemistry; for it will be 
readily observed, that the sulphuretted hydrogen contained in the 
gas will be decomposed, by the action of heat and the substances 
used, into hydrogen and sulphuric acid, whilst at the same time 
no sulphureous acid gas can escape the agents to which the crude 
gas is exposed.”” 


ELECTRICAL EXPERIMENTS. 

Bronzed tube. Take a glass tube of the height of the con- 
ductor and fix it on and in astand. Coat about three-fourths 
of the upper part of the inside of it with metal (the easiest me- , 
thod is by inserting pewter shavings), and fix a cap and ball on 
the top. Then varnish one half of the outside from the top to 
the bottom, and, when nearly dry, apply, with a pencil, a coat of 
bronze (not the sulphuretted oxide of tin). Place it near the 
conductor, and a beautiful ramified spark will pass the whole 
length of the tube. 

Bronzed plate. On a plate of glass twelve inches in diameter 

paste 


Lizard.—Fossil Tree.—Fossil Plants. one 


paste a circular piece of tin foil about ten inches in diameter. 
On the other side fix a narrow circle of tin foil to correspond with 
the outside of the opposite coating : cover the intermediate space 
with a regular coating of bronze, which is not required to be very 
thickly laid on; place it on a pedestal, and connect the tin foil 
coating with the ground and the insulated ball. Now charge it 
by means of a bent wire fixed on the end of the conductor and 
touching the centre of the bronzed coating: then move the ball 
to the conductor, and the whole surface will be covered with the 
most beautiful ramifications diverging from the centre to the cir- 
cumference. 

Lichtenberg figures may be formed on a paper tea-tray. 
They take quite a different character, but more beautiful. Per— 
haps they might be fixed by warming the japan. PRroreus. 


LIVE LIZARD FOUND IMBEDDED IN A SEAM OF COAL.—FOSSIL 
TREE.—FOSSIL PLANTS. 
Wakefield, Noy. 7, 1818. 

Sir,—The following particulars respecting a live lizard found 
imbedded in a seam of coal at Mr. Fenton’s colliery about two 
miles from this town, may be interesting to yourself and readers. 

This auimal, preserved in spirits, is now in the possession of Mr. 
James Scholes, engineer to that colliery. It is about five inches 
long ; its back of a drawn brown color, and appears rough and 
scaly; its sides of a lighter colour, and spotted with yellow ; 
the belly yellow streaked with bands of the same colour as the 
back. Mr.S.related to me the following circumstances of its being 
found.—In August last they were sinking a new pit or shaft, and 
after passing through measures of stone, grey bind, blue stone, 
and some thin beds of coal, to the depth of 150 yards, they came 
upon that intended to be worked, which is about four feet thick. 
When they had excavated about three inches of it, one of the 
miners (as he supposed) struck his pick or mattock intoa crevice, 
and shattered the coal around into small pieces: he then disco- 
vered the animal in question, and immediately carried it up to 
Mr. S.—It continued very brisk and lively for about ten minutes, 
then drooped and died. Mr. 8S. went down the pit to examine 
the part where it might be supposed to be lodged, but he could 
not collect any fragments to enable him to ascertain its precise 
bed. 

It may be proper to mention, that in sinking these pits they 
find, in particular strata, impressions of what Mr. S. calls ferns 
and other vegetables; and at upwards of 100 yards from the sur- 
face, they meet with a black shale one foot thick, full of muscle- 
shells compressed and flattened by the superincumbent pressure. 

About 


378 Solution of Biquadratic Equations. 


About four inches above the coal in which the animal was found, 
numbers of muscle-shells in a fossil state lie scattered in a loose 
grey earth. 

At a considerably higher level, and in an alluvial soil, near this 
town, a mass of these shells is found at twelve yards from the sur- 
face, imbedded in a stratum of black limestone about twelve 
inches thick, which takes a good polish. This bed or band of 
fossil muscles is found in all the coal mines in this neighbour- 
hood, but generally connected with iron ore. 

Mr. Scholes mentioned auother circumstance worthy of reeord, 
which occurred some years ago under his own eye at the Stanley 
colliery two miles NE of this town. In sinking a pit to the depth 
of 86 yards, they came to a bed of coal 2 feet 6 inches thick, be- 
neath which, in their further progress, they found what they 
supposed to be a petrified tree, or rather plant, having no branches, 
standing upright, but rather inclining to the east. It was six 
inches diameter at the top; but as they sunk down, it increased 
to twelve inches, and at the depth of 42 feet seemed to branch out * 
roots to another bed of coal six feet thick. The body was a 
grey sandstone, coated round with a black carbonized matter 
one-tenth of an inch, supposed to be its bark. 

Before concluding, I will take this opportunity of communi- 
cating to you another remarkable phenomenon in some measure 
connected with this at Stanley colliery, which is on the NW side 
of the river Calder. On the SE side of this river, and nearly 
in a parallel line, there is a hill about 200 feet above the level of 
the river. It consists of an argillaceous sandstone, and a few feet 
from the surface there are strong appearances of its having once 
been on fire. For many years a quarry has been worked there 
for procuring materials for the repair of the roads, for which pur- 
pose this burnt stone is well adapted. In this quarry many gi- 
gantic fossil plants have been found standing upright, as well as 
casts and impressions of vegetables unknown to these climates 
lying horizontally. Many specimens of these fossil reliquiz are 
in the possession of Mr. Parkinson, Hoxton Square ; of Mr. Wat- 
son, of Bakewell, Derbyshire ; and I believe in the collection of 
the Geological Society. I am, Sir, 

Your constant reader, 
To Mr. Tilloch. W.S. 
SOLUTION OF BIQUADRATIC EQUATIONS. 

The following solution of the Biquadratic is founded upon Des 
Cartes’s method of multiplying together two quadratic factors 
with indeterminate coefficients. A modification of his assamp- 
tion presents us with two new and simple formulz of solution, 


and places the true principle of his method in a clear light. 
By 


Arsenic taken without Injury. 379 


By exterminating the second term, every biquadratic may be 
reduced to the form 
x+—qgx*-+rx—S. 
This we assume equal to the product of two quadratic factors 
with indeterminate coefficients, a, 8, y, 
(x? +ax+6—y) x(x?—ar+B+y)- 
This product becomes by actual :multiplication 
_at— (a? —28) 0? + aya + B—y’: 
By equating the terms of this expression with those of the ori- 
ginal equation, we obtain three equations for ascertaining the 
indeterminates, 


a?*—28 = q 
2ay = 7 
(i ONE 


If we find these by means of a, we have Des Cartes’s solution. 
If we find them by means of 8, we have 


B+ 1 e456 + =0 


att—/9+28 x+6-+5=— =0 


Da qe eB 
bach a/q+2zP q—28 r 
Ba org a 5 aa irc 


Here we may observe that the quadratic formula for x, though 
in appearance a quadratic, is in reality and algebraically an equa- 
tion of higher dimensions. ‘This method of exhibiting the two 
quadratic factors under one form with a mere diversity of signs, 
shows the true principle of Des Cartes’s solution, which consists 
in preserving the real dimensions of the biquadratic, while it is 
reduced in form toa quadratic. The value of x expresses all 
the four roots, + being used as usual to denote that either + or 
— may be arbitrarily taken, while + — and — + denote that 
if + be used in the first case, — must be used in the second, 
and conversely. 

If we find the roots by means of y, we have 


OP, ir 1 Be gr, Tae ee) 
ely abl Tia Wil ial = 
r r2—4qy2— + 8y3 
at} — 2p 2. =0 
“Y Sy* 
= DP, 
ty 


which expresses the four roots in a very simple manner. 
ARSENIC TAKEN WITHOUT INJURY. 
The object of this communication is, to diffuse more generally 
the opinion, that charcoal is eminently an antidote to arsenic : 
from 


380 Arsenic taken without Tyury. 


from our knowledge of chemistry we have reason to expect it 
should be, but we ought not to trust to theory without some ex- | 
perience. 

Mr. R—— took last evening, through mistake, a considerable 
quantity of arseniate of potash; he had previously been visited 
with a severe pain in the head, from uncommon exertion during 
the day, and had taken his supper immediately upon the top of 
the dose of arsenic: some suspicions were now excited, and as- 
sistance sent for, which, fortunately, was near. 

Found him with a quick pulse, considerable prostration of 
strength, a sense of heat over the whole body, pricking in the 
limbs, the head-ache gone, a disagreeable dry sensation in the 
throat, and some degree of anxiety, as might be expected. 

Gave twenty-five grains of sulphate of zinc, which produced a 
very little sickness; after waiting fifteen minutes, gave, at short 
intervals, twelve grains more, together with half an ounce of pul- 
verized charcoal, suspended in a teacup of water: no sickness 
produced, but the heat and pricking were no longer felt, and the 
pulse became moderate. 

Ordered half an ounce of charcoal and water as before ; a table 
spoonful of which to be given every fifteen minutes: an ounce of 
ol. ricini, to be repeated at an interval of four hours, should not 
the first quantity operate ; and left him for the night. 

Found, this morning, that he has slept comfortably most of the 
night, has taken two ounces of oil, which has operated profusely 
and frequently; has no thirst or sickness at stomach; pulse slow 
and regular; tongue swoln and pale, but lively at the margin ; 
countenance good, and he will be able to attend to his ordinary 
business shortly. 

Conclusions.—That the-charcoal was the only agent in coun- 
teracting the effects of the poison, and was the cause, together 
with the torpor of the stomach, of his not puking from 37 grains 
of white vitriol. 

That the dose of vitriol retained in the system must have pro- 
duced an uncommon paroxysm of thirst, had it not been for the 
exhibition of carbon; and therefore that all metallic oxides must 
be inert, when given with the medicine. 

That heii a view of inverting the action of the stomach, ve- 
getable emetics, and not mineral, should be resorted to, such as 
oxymel of squills, ipecacuanha, apocynum androsemifolium, ly- 
copodium, selago, and, above all, the distilled water of ranun- 
culus fiammula, the operation of which is said by Dr. Withering 
(a respectable writer) to be immediate. 

Note.—There are two varieties of r. flammula, but both fre- 
quent the same soil, and consequently possess the same proper- 


ties. 'The virtues bf this plant (r. f.) ought to be investigated ; 
the 


é ; 


New Researches on Heat. 381 


the sensible qualities are such as to deserve attention ; and the 
name of Dr. Withering ought to be sufficient to give it a place 
in the materia medica. 


NEW RESEARCHES ON HEAT. 

MM. Dulong and Petit have lately given to the world a Me- 
moir on Heat, which gained the prize medal for 1818, of the Aca- 
demy of Sciences. The title of the paper is, “* On the Measure of 
Temperatures, and on the Laws of the Communication of Heat.” 

Law 1. lf the cooling of a body placed in a vacuum termi- 
nated by a medium absolutely deprived of heat, or of the power 
of radiating, could be observed, the velocity of cooling would de- 
crease in a geometrical progression, whilst the temperature di- 
minished in an arithmetical progression. 

2. For the same temperature of the boundary of the vacuum 
in which a body is placed, the velocity of cooling for the excess 
of temperature, in arithmetical progression, will decrease, as the 
terms of geometrical progression diminished by a constant num- 
ber. The ratio of this geometrical progression is the same for 
all bodies, and equal to 1:0077. 

3. The velocity of cooling in a vacuum for the same excess of 
temperature increases in a “geometrical progression, the tempe- 
rature of the surrounding body increasing in an arithmetical pro- 
gression. The ratio of the progression is also 1-0077 for all 
bodies. 

4. The velocity of ccoling due to the contact of a gas is en- 
tirely independent of the nature of the surface of bodies. 

5. The velocity of cooling due to the contact of a fluid (gas) 
varies in a geometrical progression, the excess of temperature va- 
rying also in a Beamer ical progression. If the ratio of the last 
progression be 2, that of the first is 2°35 ; whatever the nature 
of the gas, or whatever its force of elasticity. ‘This law may also 
be expressed by saying, that the quantity of heat abstracted by a 
gas is in all cases proportional to the excess of the temperature 
the body raised to the power of 1.233. 

6. The cooling power of a fluid (gas) diminishes in a geome- 
trical progression, when its tention or elasticity diminishes also 
in a geometrical progression. If the ratio of this second progres- 
sion be 2, the ratio of the first will be for air 1:366 ; for hydrogen 
1301 ; for carbonic acid 1°341; for olefiant gas 1-415. This 
law may be expressed in the following manner : 

The cooling power of gas is, other things being equal, propor- 
tionate to a certain power of the pressure. The exponent of this 
power, which depends on the uature of the gas, is for air 0-45 ; 
for hydrogen 0-315 ; for carbonic acid 0°517 ; for olefiant gas 
0-501. 

7. The 


382 Platina.—Cow-Tree. 


7. The cooling power of a gas varies with its temperature ; so 
that, if the gas can dilate so as to preserve the sane degree of 
elasticity, the cooling power will be found diminished by the rare- 
faction of the gas, just as much as it is increased by its being 
heated ; so that ultimately it depends upon its tension alone. 

It may be perceived, from the above propositions, that the law 
of cooling, composed of all the preceding laws, must be very com- 
plicated ; it is not therefore given in common language, but may 
be found in a mathematical form in the body of the memoir. 


PLATINA. 

A very singular mass of platinum has lately been found in South 
America, and is now deposited in the Royal Museum at Madrid. 
Dn. Ignacio Hurtado is the proprietor of certain lands in the 
Quebrada de Apoté, in the province of Notiva, in the govern- 
ment of Chocé. In this Quebrada is situated his gold mine, called 
Condoto. One of his Negro slaves, named Justo, found this 
mass of platina in the year 1814 near the goldmine. Dn. Igna- 
cio, most generously, and full of ardour for the sciences, pre- 
sented this unequalled specimen to His Most Catholic Majesty, 
through his excellency S* Dn. Pablo Morillo, commander-in- 
elvef of the Royal Spanish armies in the province of Venezuela, 
who transmitted the same, together with other objects of natural 
history, belonging to the botanical department, under the Spa- 
nish naturalist Dn. José Mutis, to Europe, through General 
Pascual Enrile, who brought it safely to Spain, and forwarded it 
to the hands of the King himself by Captain Antonio Van Halen. 
Being an unique specimen, his majesty gave it to the Museum. 
Its figure is oval, and inclining to convex. The Spaniards term 
it “ Pepita,” which signifies water-worn, and not im situ. 

Its large diameter is two inches four lines and a half, and its 
small diameter two inches. Its height is four inches and four 
lines. Its weight is one pound nine ounces and adrachm, Its 
colour is that of native silver. Its surface is rough, and here and 
there spotted with yellow iron ochre. The Negro who found it 
suspected that it contained gold: he tried to fracture it ; but he 
was only able to make a dent in the metal, which is, however, 
sufficient to show its character. 

To avoid every possible doubt about the mass of platina, it 
should perhaps have been mentioned, that the Spanish Secretary 
of State, his excellency Dn. José Garcia de Leon and Pizarro, 
had taken all the measures to ascertain the fact of its being ge- 
nuine native platina. 


€OW-TREE. 
M. Humboldt and his companions, in the course of their tra- 
vels, heard an account of a tree which grows in the valleys of 
Aragua, 


Method of making Salt. 383 


Aragua, the juice of which is a nourishing milk, and which, from 
that circumstance, has received the name of the cow-tree. ‘he 
tree in its general aspect resembles the chrysophyllum cainito ; 
its leaves are oblong, pointed, leathery, and alternate, marked 
with lateral veins projecting downwards ; they are parallel, and 
are ten inches long. When incisions are made into the trunk, 
it discharges abundantly a glutinous milk, moderately thick, with- 
out any acridness, and exhaling an agreeable balsamic odour. 
The travellers drank considerable quantities of it without ex- 
periencing any injurious effects; its viscidity only rendering it 
rather unpleasant. The superintendant of the plantation assured 
them that the Negroes acquire flesh during the season in which 
the cow-tree yields the greatest quantity of milk. When this fluid 
is exposed to the air, perhaps in consequence of the absorption 
of the oxygen of the atinosphere, its surface becomes covered with 
membranes of a substance that appears to be of a decided animal 
nature, yellowish, thready, and of a cheesy consistence. These 
membranes, when separated from the more aqueous part of the 
fluid, are almost as elastic as caoutchouc ; but at the same time 
they are as much disposed to become putrid as gelatine. The 
natives give the name of cheese to the coagulum, which is sepa- 
rated by the contact of the air ; in the course of five or six days 
it becomes sour. The milk, kept for some time in a corked phial, 
had deposited a little coagulum, and still exhaled its balsamic 
odour. If the recent juice be mixed with cold water, the coagu- 
lum is formed in small quantity only; but the separation of the 
viscid membranes occurs when it is placed in contact with nitric 
acid. ‘This remarkable tree seems to be peculiar to the Cordil- 
liere du Littoral, especially from Barbula to the lake of Maracabo. 
There are likewise some traces of it near the village of San Ma- 
teo ; and, according to the account of M. Bredmeyer, in the val- 
ley of Caucagua, three days journey to the east of the Caraccas. 
This naturalist has likewise described the vegetable milk of the 
cow-tree as possessing an agreeable flavour and an aromatic 
odour; the natives of Caucagua call it the milk-tree. 


METHOD OF MAKING SALT IN THE GREAT LOO-CHOO ISLAND*, 


Near the sea, large level fields are rolled or beat so as to have 
ahard surface. Over this is strewn asort of sandy black earth, 
forming « coat about a quarter of an inch thick. Rakes and 
other implements are used to make it of a uniform thickness, but 
it is not pressed down. During the heat of the day, men are em- 
ployed to bring water in tubs from the sea, which is sprinkled 
over these fields by means of ashortscoop. The heat of the sun 


* Extracted from Captain Hall’s “ Account of a Voyage of Discovery ta 
the West Coast of Corea, and the Great Loo-choo Island.” 


in 


384 Beet-Root.—Discovery of Haine. 


in a short time evaporates the water, and the salt is left in the 
sand, which is scraped up and put into raised reservoirs of ma- 
sonry about six feet by four, and five deep. When the receiver is 
full of the sand, sea water is poured on the top; and this, in its 
way down, carries with it the salt left by the evaporation. When 
it runs out below at a small hole, it is a very strong brine ; this 
is reduced to salt by being boiled in vessels about three feet wide 
and one deep. ‘The cakes resulting from this operation are an 
inch and a half in thickness. 


SUGAR OF THE BEET-ROOT. 

The endeavours that were made in France, during the war, 
to produce sugar from the beet-root in sufficient quantity to sa- 
tisfy the demands of the population, were very successful, and it 
was procured of excellent quality. The peace however, by re- 
opening the ports, and allowing the introduction of the cane- 
sugar, tended to paralyse that branch of agricultural industry, for 
which, however, some strong exertions have since been made 
by the philosophers of France. 

The following is given as the statement of the expense and 
returns of the manufactory of M. Chaptal; and if there are no 
unstated objections to its introduction, it is difficult to account 
for the preference given to cane-sugar. , 
Forty-five French acres were sown with beet-root; the pro- 


duce equalled 700,000Ibs. 


Charges. francs. 

Sowing, pulling, carriage, and expenses of the manu- 
factory for seventy-nine days of actual work ...... 7000 
Wrenn cA ag tees ols ut cnake race ns miaws olte isiai ue ale fyia wine Mie 2075 
BPEL Sich ee ve seie aetna ins Sieh 8s os ae aud alee ail eels 4500 
Avitgial Char COG s c.sisrate ciferaie OE ba el <coibie me 4 0M clorer 1100 


Repairs, interest of capital, Mc. 1... 6... eee ee eees 4000 


Jrancs 18,675 

Produce. lbs. 
Rough sugar of the first crystallization .......+.+++ 29,132 
Sugar obtained by further processes from the molasses 10,960 


Total of rough sugar 40,092 

Besides which, there were 158,000 lbs. of refuse, which was 

excellent food for cattle, and a large quantity of exhausted mo- 
lasses, which might be converted into spirit. 


DISCOVERY OF HAUYNE IN THE ISLAND OF TIREE. 
Hitherto in Scotland the attention of mineralogists has been 
principally directed to the investigation of the structure, relative 
position, and mode of formation of mountain rocks. This branch 
of mineralogy, it must be confessed, is more generally interesting 
than 


American Water-Burner. 389 


than any of the others. The mind delights more in tracing out 
those grander features and relations in the mineral kingdom, ex- 
hibited in the structure and arrangement of mountainous and ai- 
pine country, than in decyphering the minute, although very in- 
teresting, connexions observable among simple minerals. We 
have accurate geognostical descriptions of many extensive tracts 
of country in Great Britain, but the history of the simple mine- 
rals contained in the rocks of these districts is but imperfectly 
known. It is therefore with pleasure that we cominunicate to 
our readers the following notice, by the celebrated Professor Pic- 
tet of Geneva. 


Description of a Mineral nearly resembiing Haiiyne, found in 
primitive Limestone, in the Island of Tiree, one of the He- 
brides. By Professor L. A. NECKER : 

Colour—Pure sky-blue, sometimes slightly greenish. 

Lustre—Shining and vitreous. 

Transparency—Translucent. 

Fracture—Conchoidal. 

Hardness—Seratches glass. 

Form—Massive and in roundish grains. 

Chemical Characters.—Before the blow-pipe it becomes 
white and opake, but does not melt. It dissolves in acids ; but 
we could not, from the smallness of the quantity, determine if it 
formed with them a jelly. 

Geognostic Situwation.—It occurs in very minute grains in 
the contemporaneous masses of felspar, mica, sahlite, and au- 
gite, which are imbedded in a primitive limestone contained in 
gneiss. 

Geographic Situation.—It occurs in the limestone or marble 
rocks at the farm of Balephetrich in Tiree. 

Observations.—If this mineral, as we suppose to be the case, 
should prove to be the true Hatiyne, it will be the first instance 
of its occurring in a primitive district, the varieties hitherto de- 
scribed having been met with in lavas, basaltes, and rocks thrown 
out by volcanoes. ——- . 

AMERICAN WATER-BURNER. 


An apparatus called the American Water Burner has been 
invented by Mr. Morey, of New Hampshire, who, after making 
many experiments, and employing various combustible sub- 
stances, as tar, rosin, oil, &c. to mix with the steam, has 
brought his apparatus to perfection. The construction is very 
simple: Tar is intimately mixed with steam or vapour of water, 
and made to issue, with a force proportional to the pressure of 
the steam, from a small orifice, like that in the jet of a blow- 

Vol. 52. No. 247. Nov. 1818. Bb pipe, 


386 American Water- Burner. 


pipe, and is there fired. The flame, although the combustible 
substances issue from so small an orifice, is as large as that of a 
common smith’s forge, and is accompanied with smoke: when 
this fame is directed against the bricks in the back of a fire- 
place, they soon become heated to redness : if iron or steel filings 
he thrown into the flame, they burn with a sparkling brilliancy, 
similar to iron wire in oxygen gas. 

A few experiments have been made to ascertain the effect of 
steam on burning bodies, and to learn whether it probably suf- 
fered decomposition when issuing, mixed with tar, from the jet 
-of the water-burner. 

If a jet of steam, issuing from a small aperture, be thrown 
upon burning coal, its brightness is increased, if it be held at 
the distance of four or five inches from the pipe through which 
the steam passes; but if it be held nearer, the coal is extin- 
guished, a circular black spot first appearing where the steam is 
thrown upon it. The steam does not appear to be decomposed 
in this experiment: the increased brightness of the coal is pro- 
bably occasioned by a current of atmospheric air produced by the 
steam. 

If the wick of a common oil lamp be raised so as to give off 
large columns of smoke, and a jet of steam be thrown into the 
flame, its brightness is a little increased, and no smoke is 
thrown off 

If spirits of turpentine be made to burn on a wick, the light 
produced is dull and reddish, and a large quantity of thick smoke 
is given off; but, if a jet of steam be thrown into the flame, its 
brightness is much increased; and if the experiment be care- 
fully conducted, the smoke entirely disappears. 

If vapour of spirits of turpentine be made to issue from a 
small orifice, and inflamed, it burns, giving off large quantities of 
smoke; but if a jet of steam be made to unite with the vapour, 
the smoke entirely disappears. The same effect takes place if 
the vapour of spirits of turpentine and of water be made to issue 
together from the same orifice: hence the disappearing of the 
smoke cannot be supposed to depend on a current of atmospheric 
air. : 

If the flame of a spirit-lamp be brought in contact with a jet 
of steam, it disappears, and is extinguished at the points of con- 
tact, precisely as when exposed to strong blasts of air. 

Masses of iron of various sizes, and heated to various degrees 
from redness to bright whiteness, were exposed to a jet of steam : 
no flame appeared, as was expected, but the iron was more ra- 
pidly oxidated where the steam came in contact with it than in 


other parts. It is probable, if the water suffered decomposition 
in 


Polar Expedition. 387 


in this experiment, and if the hydrogen was inflamed, ‘its flame 
might not be observed when contrasted with the heated iron, a 
body so much more Juminous. 

The operation of the water-burner, then, appears to be simply 
this:—Tar, minutely divided, and intimately mixed with steam, 
is inflamed; the heat of the flame, aided by the affinity for oxy- 
gen of that portion of carbon which would otherwise pass off in 
smoke, decomposes the water, and the carbon and oxygen unite; 
the hydrogen of the water, and probably of the tar, expand on 
all sides (and hence the flame is very large) to meet the atmo- 
spheric oxygen; water is recomposed, and passes off in steam; a 
degree of heat is produced, no doubt, greater than that which is 
produced hy the combustion of the tar alone; and this heat is 
equal to that evolved by the combustion of a quantity of carbon 
which would otherwise form smoke. 

The invention is ingenious, and may be found very useful in 
steam-boat navigation, where it has already been applied. Pro- 
bably a saving of heat would be produced by condensing the pro- 
ducts of this combustion, which might be effected to a certain 
degree by an apparatus of simple construction. 


POLAR EXPUDITION. 

We stated in our last the return of one branch of this expe- 
diticn, under Captain Buchan. It has been since followed by 
the return also of the other ships, the Isabella and Alexander, 
under Captain Sir John Ross, after a fruitless attempt to pene- 
trate through Baflin’s Bay into the Northern Pacihe Ocean. 
Captain Ross is said to have completely succeeded in exploring 
every part of Bafiin’s Bay, and, with the exception of errors in 
the latitudes and longitudes, of verifying the statements of that 
old and able navigator whose name it bears, and of ascertaiving 
that no passage exists between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans 
through Davis’s Straits and Baffin’s Bay, the whole being found 
to be surrounded by high land, extending to the north as far as 
lat. 77 deg. 55 min. and loug. 76 deg. W.: and in the 74th 
degree of latitude stretching westward as far as 84 deg. W. lon- 
gitude. They traced the same the whole way down to the Cape 
Walsingham of Davis, which they ascertained to lie in lat. 66 
deg. and long. 69 deg. From hence they steered for Resolution 
Island, and then stood homeward. They have made many cu- 
rious observations and discoveries, of which, perhaps, will not be 
considered as the least interesting, that of a nation being found 
to inhabit the Arctic regions, between the latitudes of 76 and 
78 degrees, who thought that the world to the south was all ice; 
that generation had succeeded generation of a people who had 
never tasted the fruits of the earth, had no idea of a Supreme 

Bb2 Beings 


+ 


388 Polar Expedition. 


Being, who never had an enemy, and whose chiefs had hitherto 
supposed themselves monarchs of the universe. There now only 
reiwnains to be discovered the termination, if it has one, of Mid- 
dleton’s Repulse Bay, and, a few degrees to the northward of 
it, to determine whether Greenland be an island, or joins Ame- 
rica; and this might with the greatest ease be done from the 
northernmost station of the Hudson’s Bay Company in any one 
season. 

The following are some additional particulars, which have ap- 
peared in the public journals, respecting the discoveries made by 
this branch of the expedition : 

The Jane, Capt. Young, of Montrose, sailed in company with 
the Isabella and Alexander from Lerwick, and learnt from Capt. 
Ross the following interesting particulars : ‘* After the last ac- 
counts from the Expedition, up to the 25th of July, when they 
had reached lat. 75 deg. 21 min. and long. 60 deg. 30 min. the 
weather cleared, and the variation of the compass increased so 
fast, that it became difficult to find out exactly how the ship was 
steering. The sea, with the exception of some ice-bergs, being 
completely clear of other ice, they reached lat. 763 deg. when 
they were unexpectedly opposed in their northern progress by 
terra firma. Here they met with a new race of Esquimaux, 
who, by their astonishment, appeared never to have seen a ship 
before. At first they were much afraid, and made signs for the 
vessel to fly away, thinking them huge birds of prey that had 
descended from the moon to destroy them. A few of the na- 
tives, however, were soon enticed on board, when they expressed 
their awe and wonder by hugging the masts, and other extrava- 
gant manifestations of imploration, as if to superior beings; at 
other times, on attentively surveying the ships, they laughed most 
immoderately. They were entirely unintelligible to the Esqui- 
maux whom Capt. Ross took out with him, although they seem 
to be of the same origin, their physiognomy being similar, but of 
rather a darker complexion—in their general appearance, Jan- 
guage, and manners approaching nearer to the natives of Kams- 
chatka, or the north-eastern extremity of Asia. Their mode of 
travelling is on sledges, drawn by dogs, and some of them were 
seen in this way going northward. They were in possession of 
knives, which, it is conjectured, they must have formed from the 
iron in its natural state, and which may, perhaps, at some future 
period, become an object of commerce with the natives of these 
hitherto unknown regions. The weapons they used for killing 
the smaller species of whales were the horns of the sea unicorn. 
' Here then, at the termination of this immense bay, which, till now, 
has been supposed to communicate with the Polar Basin, an en- 
tire new race of human beings has been discovered ; and the idea 

of 


Polar Expedition. 389 


of reaching the Pole, or penetrating into the North Pacific Ocean 
by Behring’s Straits, through this supposed passage, is for ever 
at rest. The Isabella and Alexander traversed the whole bay, 
having sailed up the eastern, and returned by the western, 
shore—thus proving that the whole of that vast and unknown 
country, from Cape Farewell to the Cape Walsingham of Davis, 
is attached to the continent of America. After all, the tradi- 
tionary story, handed down among the southern Esquimaux, that 
there is a rapid and narrow river to the northward, which may 
communicate to the Polar Basin, is perhaps founded on reality. 
Our navigators, in their progress round this dreary bay, saw nu- 
merous whales ; and due advantage will, no doubt, be taken of 
this valuable discovery by the fishers next season.” 
. Extract of a letter from an officer on board the Alexander, 
dated Lerwick, November 3, 1815 :—‘* We got up at the head 
of Baffin’s bay on the 20th of August, and found it nothing but 
a hay, and that we were not further north at that time than 76.45. 
lat. and Ion. 74. W. and found land all round, and quite narrow 
from land to land: and on the 2lst of August we began to come 
to the southward, along the west land, which all the way down 
we found quite clear of ice. We found many large inlets, which 
we were in with the ships, but always found land all round, at 
the head of them. One of these sounds that we entered was in 
74 deg. of N. lat. and were up till our longitude was above 80 W. 

and we found at the head of the bay the variation as high as 110, 

which is about 10 points of the compass.’ 

The following particulars which we subjoin are from a Hull 
paper, but bear evident marks of fabrication about them: for 
instance, a savage, who had arrived at the skill and combination 
necessary to make a sledge, and be drawn about in it by dogs, 
would very easily be able to conceive that aship need not neces- 
sarily be an animal lecause it moves ; for his reason, however li- 
mited, must at least have told him, in the process of contriving 
his sledge-vehicles, that what contains a human being need not, 
as a matter of course, be a stationary machine. 

‘© The subjoined account of the newly-discovered race of 
Esqnimaux has been communicated by Sir John Ross. The 
discovery ships had been lying adjoining the land, between lat. 
76. and 77. fastened to an iceberg, for two or three days, and 
had just shoved off, when to their great surprise they saw some 
persons coming down from the interior, towards the shore, in 
sledges dtawn by dogs. Our countrymen immediately put back ; 
but on landing, the uatives fled towards the interior. In order, 
if possible, to open a communication with them, the Esquimaux 
on] board the expedition set off after them ; and about three miles 
over the ice succeeded in this object, when he found he was able 

Bbs to 


390 Steam- Engines. 


to make himself imperfectly understood by them, and also to com- 
prehend their meaning. On the first introduction taking place, 
the natives inquired whether their visitors came from the Sun or 
the Moon? The Esquimaux told them neither ; but from a large 
country a great distance—from the south. They said this was 
impossible, as there was nothing to the southward but uninha- 
bitable ice. It was with great difficulty that they could be 
convinced of their error, or led to regard our countrymen in any 
other light than as beings from some other planet. On being 
taken on board the vessels, they manifested the utmost surprise 
at every thing theysaw. They could not for some time be per- 
suaded that the ships were not animals, and possessed the power 
of speaking ; and when told that they were of the nature of 
houses, intimated that could not be, since the former went back- 
wards and forwards, while houses were stationary. They re- 
peatedly handled the clothes of the crews, and could not conceive 
what sort of skins they were made of; their own covering being 
wholly of that description. Of bread or grain they knew not 
the use ; and on being induced to put some of the former into 
their mouths, after masticating it for some time, spat it out again 
as tasteless. Their own food, it appears, was chiefly fish and 
blubber. They had never seen any timber, and were quite igno- 
rant of its properties : so that one of them on going aboard, and 
seeing a mast laid on the deck, attempted to take it up in his 
hands, as if he conceived it to be devoid of weight. Another of 
them, on being taken into the cabin and showh his image in a 
mirror, started back with surprise, and could not, until after re- 
peated assurances and experiments, be convinced ‘that there was 
not some person behind the mirror. They appeared to have no 
idea of a God, or of a future state; nor do they seem, from what 
we can learn, to have any enemies, but suppose themselves sole 
monarchs of the universe.” — 
STEAM ENGINES IN CORNWALL. 

From Messrs. Leaus’ Report for October 1818, it appears that 
the following was the work performed during that month, by the 
engines reported, with each bushel of coals. 


Pounds of water lifted | Load per square 
1 foot high with each buskel.| inch in cylinder. 


25 common enginesaveraged = 22,345,707 various. 
Woolt’s at Wheal Vor ee §=1815685,292 17°8 lib. 
Ditto Wh. Abraham .. 40,975,703 16°8 
Ditto ditto .. .» 21,647,880 6°7 
Wheal Abraham engine .. 32,265,906 109 
United Mines ditto o- = 84,283,211 17:9 
Treskirby ditto .. .. 88,059,312 11:3 
Wheal Chance ditto .. 31,369,231 | 12-2 


ROYAL 


Royal Scotch Thistle. 391 


ROYAL SCOTCH THISTLE. 
To Mr. Tilloch. October 6, 1818. 


Dear Sirn,—Visiting Dumbarton Castle in the year 1801, on 
taking leave of Capt. R., he presented me with a ‘few soca of 
the Royal Scotch Thistle, which grows spontaneously in the 
scanty soil that covers or fills the various crevices of that rock. 
This seed had been collected from thistle-tops of the preceding 
year. 

After distributing a portion to some friends, I carefully re- 
served the remainder, folded up in the original covering, labelled 
and dated, till an opportunity of sowing them to advantage might 
occur, In the abundance of my solicitude, however, to preserve 
this small packet, I hud laid it too carefully up, and it never 
again came into my hands till the 4th of June last ; when search 
ing for another object amongst the relics of some other deposits,. 
I was agreeably surprised to find my long-lost Scotch thistle-seed 
make its appearance. I now set an additional value on this re- 
covery, as I conceived it a fair opportunity of ascertaining if 
seeds of this genus of plants might be kept so long without los- 
ing their vegetative principle, and prepared for sowing them in 
an open spot of the field, rendered bare by a small quantity of 
manure having lain till the turf had rotted under it. The seed 
of the Royal Scotch Thistle was accordingly dropt into the earth 
on the evening of the royal birth- day. The spot was soon co- 
vered with new vegetation ; notwithstanding of which, without 
further culture of either weeding or hoeing, one plant of this 
royal thistle, from seed 18 years old, in the short space of four 
months from the time the dry seed was put into the ground, has 
attained a size and luxuriance perhaps altogether unprecedented 
in these latitudes. It presents a foliage resplendently beautiful, 
and so close and rich in the defensive, as most aptly to remind all 
who come near it of the very appropriate motto, ‘* Nemo me im- 
pune lacessit.” lt completely covers aii area in circumference 
exceeding 15 feet, rising in the centre to 30 inches without a 
flower shoot, and then spreading in a regular cirele round the 
bottom, extending its gosky leaves in close order along the 
ground, bearing down every other inferior weed, and protruding 
its thorny poiuts beyond three feet in every direction from, the 
parent stem, Should the weather continue mild, and this plant 
survive the rude fury of the stormy winter’s blast, if we may 
judge from its present vigour and strength of vegetation, the 
deepness of its beautiful green, intermixed with its shining sil- 
very veins, it may be expected, when in flower, to be one of the 
greatest and most exuberant native botanical curiosities ever seen 
in this country. ‘This shows that seeds kept dry, and free from 

Bb4 the 


392 New vegetable Alkali.—Effects of hot Water on Flowers. 


the entrenching tusk and destructive grinders of the mite, will 
long retain their living principle, and propagate their kind. 
Tam, &c. Gavin INGLIs. 

Extract from another. letter from Mr. Inglis, dated 30th Oc- 
tober: ‘* The thistle still continues to thrive, and has attained a 
most incredible size, such as to draw expressions of admiration 
from all (gardeners included) who see it. I certainly never saw 
any thing like it of its kind for size, independent of its nonage. 
I will do all in my power to preserve it during the winter.” 


NEW VEGETABLE ALKALI. - 

MM. Pelletier and Caventou have inserted the following note 
in the Annales de Chimie for July. (The note was read to the 
Academy on the 10th August.) 

Whilst analysing the vomica nut, and the bean of St. Ignace, 
they extracted from these two seeds the substance of which they 
owe their action on the animal economy. 

This substance is white, crystalline, and very bitter. It erystal- 
lizes in the form of quadrangular plates, or in four-sided prisms, 
terminated by an obtuse quadrangular pyramid. It is very slightly 
soluble in water, but verysoluble in alcohol. It is formed, like 
most vegetable substances, of oxygen, hydrogen, and charcoal. 
It is most distinguished by its alkaline properties ; and though 
like morphium, is essentially different from it. It restores a red- 
dened blue colour, and with acids forms neutral salts, soluble in 
water, and crystallizable. With weak nitric acid it forms a ni- 
trate, but the concentrated acid acts on and ‘decomposes it ; and 
forms a solution, at first red, but becoming yellow, and yielding 
oxalic acid. Its acetate is very soluble, the sulphate less so, and 
erystallizable in rhomboidal plates. 

This substance acts on animals in a similar manner to the al- 
coholic infusion of the nux vomica, but more energetically. 

The class of acid vegetable substances is numerous ; on the 
contrary, that of alkaline vegetable substances is confined to mor- 
phium. Nevertheless, M. Vauquelin has noticed the alkaline pro- 
perties of a substance obtained by him whilst analysing the daphne 
alpina. The new body will form another genus in the class, 
which may become numerous, and which has first been observed 
by M. Vauquelin. To recall these facts, and designate the sub- 
stances by a name which will avoid circumlocution, they have 
called it vawqueline. This name is better than one entirely in- 
significant, or that indicates properties which may be found in 
other bodies. -_ 

EFFECTS OF HOT WATER ON FLOWERS. 

The following fact is deserving of record, as an interesting con- 
tribution to what has hitherto been discovered on the subject of 

vegetable 


ee 


“Magnetism as Test for Iron. 393 


vegetable physiology, and as enabling the lovers of flowers to 
prolong, for a day, the enjoyment of their short-lived beauty. 
Most flowers begin to droop and fade, after being kept during 
twenty-four hours in water ; a few may be revived by substituting 
fresh water ; but all (the most fugacious, such as the poppy, and 
perhaps one or two others, excepted) may be completely restored 
by the use of hot water. For this purpose place the flowers in 
scalding water, deep enough to cover about one-third of the 
length of the stem; by the time the water has become cold, the 
flowers will have become erect and fresh ; then cut off the coddled 
end of the stems, and put them into cold water. 


MAGNETISM APPLIED AS A TEST FOR IRON. 

The third Number of the New Series of the Annales des Mines 
contains a paper of M. Haiiy on the means of detecting iron in 
mineral or other substances by magnetism. Its presence is 
ascertained by the attraction of the substance, either immediately 
or after having been heated in the flame of a taper, on the mag- 
netic needle ; but in order to make the effect more sensible and 
evident, M. Haiiy has taken advantage of the combined forces of 
the magnetism of the earth and of a bar magnet acting simulta- 
neously on the needle. 

The needle should be of excellent steel, and highly magnetic, 
its cap should be made of agate or rock crystal, and the point on 
which it moves very fine. If such a needle be left to itself it will 
staud parallel to the magnetic meridian, in consequence of the 
forces exerted on it by the magnetic poles of the earth ; and if 
from any cause the needle is deflected from this line, the force 
exerted upon it to bring it back to its first position will be as the 
sine of the angle which the needle makes with the magnetic me- 
ridian. The power, therefore, which tends to return the needle 
to its first position, increases until it has passed through a quar- 
ter of a circle, and then decreases again ; but the increase is ina 
decreasing ratio, and the decrease is in the increasing ratio; and 
supposing the needle to be moved through 90° by nine succes- 
sive additions of force, it would require the greatest addition to 
move it from 0 to 10°, and the least to move it from 80 to 90° ; 
and then if the power which moved it from 80 to 90° carry it 
over that point, it would be more than sufficient to make it tra- 
verse the next quadrant, because the forces exerted by the earth’s 
magnetism continually decrease. 

In order to take advantage of this circumstance, let the needle 
be influenced only by the earth’s magnetism, it will stand paral- 
lel to the magnetic meridian; then if the south pole of a bar 
magnet be approached towards the similar pole of the needle, 
the bar being in a line with the needle, a repulsion will take 

place, 


394 Earthquake. 


place, and the needle will deviate until the repelling power of 
the bar, and the attractice force of the earth on it, are equal to 
each other. This may have set the needle at an angle of 30° 
with its meridian ; then, by approximating the bar, the effect be- 
longing to it will be increased, and the direction of the needle 
will become more oblique. By adjusting the bar in this way, the 
needle may be placed and retained in a position very nearly at 
right angles with its first direction; and then, as the power of the 
earth on the needle increases but very little from the 80° or 85° 
to 90°, and afterwards diminishes, a.small force will make it pass 
the 90°, ard once beyond that point it will continue to move un- 
til its position is completely reversed, 

The time of applying a mineral or other substance supposed 
to contain iron to the needle, is when it is nearly at right angles 
with the magnetic meridian; because an effect will be produced 
there by a force many times smaller than that necessary to pro- 
duce a similar effect on a needle uninfluenced, except by the 
earth’s magnetism. 

M. Haiiy found that in this way effects were produced on the 
needle by bodies that, in common circumstances, appeared to 
have no action, as hematite, the carbonate, phosphate, chro- 
mate, and arseniate of iron, ferriferous carbonate of lime, garnet, 
peridot, &c.; and he observes that this extension of character, by 
means of double magnetism, may be usefully employed in the de- 
scription of ferriferous minerals. 

EARTHQUAKE, 
Inverness, Nov. 12t- 

A smart shock of an earthquake was felt here, and to a con- 
siderable distance round the town, at about twenty minutes pa 
twelve on Tuesday night. It was felt with peculiar violence along 
the banks of Loch Ness. The noise seems to have been greater 
or less, according to local circumstances: in some places it was 
very loud, in others more gentle, but-every where a tremulous mo- 
tion which was for a few seconds communicated to moveables. 
The night was uncosamonly serene, with clear moonlight; and 
while not a breath of wind was stirring on the surface of the 
ground, in the higher regions of the atmosphere the clouds were 
driving rapidly from south to north, Lighter shocks are said to 
have been felt at nine in the evening of Tuesday, and at four in 
the morning of Wednesday. 

Extract of’ a letter, dated Nov ember 11: “ We were visited 
this morning, at 25 minutes before one, with a dreadful earth- 
quake :, being at the time sitting reading, about twelve o’clock, 
I felt the house shake slightly, with a little noise below, which 
put me in a little confusion, as I was well aware that every per- 
son in the heuse was in bed except myself. On feeling this I 

retired 


List of Patents for new Inventions. 395 


retired immediately to bed, being well convinced of its cause. I 
expected another shock, and my expectations were very soon re- 
alized; for in half an hour after another terrible shock shifted my 
head on the pillow several inches. The noise.resembled thunder, 
or the tumbling of all the furniture in the house ; all our bells 
were set a-ringing. As | was perfectly collected at the time, I 
endeavoured to ascertain its duration. and counted oue, two, 
three deliberately, while 1 felt tlie motion, which I suppose 
would occupy about two or three seconds, during which the at- 
mosphere was overspread with white clouds, all meeting each 
other in a common centre, southward of this place.” 


LIST OF PATENTS FOR NEW INVENTIONS. 

To Charles Watt, of Ratcliff-Highway, Middlesex, surgeon, 
for means of gilding and preparing quills and pens by manual 
labour and chemical operations so as to render them more dura- 
ble and useful.—Two months allowed for specification.—Dated 
31st October 1818. 

To Nicholas Desforges, of Bucklersbury, London, merchant, 
for certain improvements in propelling boats and other vessels. 

To John Bogaerts, of Air-street, Piccadilly, in consequence of 
a communication made to him by Jolin Groetares, now residing 
at Brussels, for a method or methods for raising and lowering 
water, or canal locks. —12th Nov.—6 months. 

To Edward Woolley, of Bilston, Staffordshire, screw manu- 
facturer, for improvements in the machinery for making wood 
screw forgings. —| 2th Nov.—6 months. 

To James Ingledew, of Little College-street, Westminster, 
licensed victualler, for means of effecting a saving in the con- 
sumption of the ordinary articles of fuel by the application of cer- 
tain well known materials hitherto unused for that purpose.— 
12th Nov.—6 months. 

To Moses Poole, of Lincoln’s Inn, in consequence of a com- 
munication made to him by Christopher Dihl, a foreigner residing 
abroad, for an invention of the application of known mastics ot 
cements to various purposes, such as modelling statues, making 
slabs, raising or impressing figures or other ornamental appear- 
ances; also the covering of houses, and in any other manner in 
which mastic or cement may or can be applied.— 12th Nov.— 

6 months. 

To John Grafton, late of London, and now of Edinburgh, en- 
gineer, for an improved process or method of making carburetted 
hydrogen gas for the purpose of illumination,— 12th } Yov.—6 mo. 

To James Hadden j junior of Aberdeen, woollen inanufacturer, 
for improvement in preparing, roving and spinning of wool.— 


12th Nov.—6 months. To 


396 Meteorology. 


To George James Clark, of Bath, working cutler, for an ap- 
paratus for the more easily applying the drag to a carriage wheel. 
—12th Nov.—6 months. 

To William Styles, of Islington, carpenter, for certain im- 
‘provements in machinery, for sifting cinders and discharging the 
cinders so sifted into a convenient receptacle, which machinery 
is applicable to other useful purposes.—12th Nov.—2 months. 

To James Fraser, of Long-Acre, county of Middlesex, copper- 
smith and engineer, for his new and original invention of tunnels 
in a steam-boiler; also new flues in the said steam-boiler, or the 
furnace connected with its erection, the said steam-boiler to be 
for the purposes of lessening the consumption of fuel, the ap- 
pearance of smoke, and the trouble of attendance.—12th Nov.— 
2 months. 

To Richard Wright, of Tokenhouse-yard, London, engineer, 
for certain improvements in the construction of steam-engines, 
and the subsequent use of the steam.—14th Nov.—6 months. 

To Henrv Matthews, of Gretton-place East, Bethnal Green, 
Middlesex, for certain improvements applicable to wheeled car- 
riages or vehicles of different descriptions, calculated tu render 
them more safe and commodious.—19th Nov.—2 months. 

To George Clymer, late of Philadelphia, now of Cornhill, Lon- 
don, mechanic, for certain improvements on ships’ pumps.— 
21st Nov.—6 months. 

To John Chaneellor, of Sackville-street, Dublin, watchmaker, 
for an improvement in turning the leaves of music books in asim- 
ple and effectual manner with or without pedal-work attached. 
—2I\st Nov.—6 months. 

To Elisha Hayden Collier, late of Boston in the State of Mas- 
sachusetts, now of Charter House-square, London, gentleman, 
in consequence of a communication made to him by a certain 
foreigner now residing abroad, together with certain additions of 
his own invention, for an improvement in fire-arms of various de- 
scriptions, which improvements are also applicable to cannon.— 
24th Nov.—6 months. 


Meteorological Journal kept at Walthamstow, Essex, from 
October 15 to November 15, 1818. 


{Usually between the Hours of Seven and Nine A.M. and the Thermometer 
(a second time) between Twelve aud Two P.M. ] 


Date. Therm. Barom. Wind. 

October : 

15 54 29:91 SE.—-Red sunrise; fine morn; some slight 
66 


showers after 8 A.M.; clouds and sun; fine 
day ; 


Ne ee 


x 


Meteorology. 397 


Date. Therm. Barom. Wind. 


16 53 
67 
17 53 
67 
18 56 
60 
19 60 
61 
20 Sl 
60 
21 37 
54 
22 48 
63 
23 42 
54 
24 45 
50 
25 49 
59 
26 49 
62 
27 «46 
62 
28 45 
60 
29 5l 
60 
30 47 
59 
31 52 
56 


29°90 


30:00 


29-90 


29°95 
29°95 
30°12 
30°00 
29-90 
39-00 


30:00 
30:00 
30°10 
30°10 


30°20 
30°25 
30-00 


day; very warm; slight rain early in the 
evening; ctrrosiratus, and very hot. 

SE—E—SE. — Clear, and beautiful cirro- 
stratus; fine day; hot ; at 42 P.M. remark- 
able dark zimbus ; at 9 P.M. moon through 
clouds; moon in a cirrus at 11 P.M. and 
bright star-light. 

NW—SE. — Foggy morn; fine day; hot; 
beautiful cirrus; moon-light, and cirro- 
stratus. 

SE—E—SE.—Fine clear morn; very white 
dew; after 9 A.M. cloudy and dark ; fine 
day; some sunshine ; moon, stars, and cir- 
rocumuli. 

NW—E—SE.—Very hazy morn; fine day; 
dark nimbus and moon beams through it. 
SE.-— Gray morn; very fine day; star-light 

at 7 P.M.; 94 P.M. no stars visible. 

E—SE.—Fine sunshine; white dew ; very fine 
day; very dark night. 

E.—Very fine morn; very fine day; fine bright 
star-light. Moon last quarter. 

SE—NE.—Gray morn; fine gray day; dark 
night. 

NE,--Gray morn, and wind: gray day; and 
a little sun about 4 P.M.; small rain after 
dark; very red sunset. 

NW—SE.—Sun, and cumuli; fine day; star- 
light uight. 

SE.—Gray morn; fine hot day; red sunset ; 
bright star-light night. 

SE.—Fine sunrise, and white dew and cirro- 
stratus; very fine day; star-light. 

SE—S—SW.—Hazy and sun, and strong 
dew; calm ; quite foggy about 10 A.M.; fine 
day, and some wind; star-light. 

NE—SW.—Hazy, and cirrostrutus ; very fine 
day; dark night. New moon. 

NW—SE.—Fine; clear and cirrostratus; fine 
day ; wind and cirrostratus ; dark night. 

S.—Hazy; rain began about 9 A.M., and con- 
tinued till near 2 P.M.; sun through clouds 
at 5 P.M.; dark night. 


November 


Meteorology. 


SW—NW—SW. — Hazy and cirrostratus; 
fine day; sun and clouds; bright star-light 
at 8 P.M.; very dark afterwards. 

S—SW.—Cirrostratus and clear; hazy low; 
fine day; some rain after 4 P.M.; star- 
light. 

SE.— Clear and cirrostraius; very fine day; 
sun and wind ; star-light. 

E—SE, — Fine morning; clear and cirro- 
stratus ; rain from about 1] A.M. to about 
2 P.M.; dark night. 

E—SE.—Fine red sun-rise; 74 A.M. rain; 
fine day; cirrostratus and wind; cloudy — 
night. Moon first quarter. 

E—SE.—Damp morn, and cloudy; fine day ; 
slight rain at 7 P.M. 3; cloudy night. 

S—SW.—Fine morn ; clear and cirrostratus ; 
fine day; windy; fine moon and star-light. 

NW.—Sun and hazy; very fine day; moon 
and hazyy 

NW.—Very hazy mor; fine day; hazy night. 


NW—NE. — Hazy low; clear and cumuli 
high; rain at S A.M. till about 9 P.M.; 
cirrostralus; cirrosiratus and wind. 

E.—Rain and wind; damp, dark day, and 
frequent rain; dight but cloudy. 

E.— Red before sun-rise; cirrocumult and 
wind; very fine day; windy; moon and cir- 
rostratus. Full moon. 

SE.—Very fine; clear and cirrostratus; re- 
markable fine day; bright moon and star- | 
light. 

SE.—Clear and clouds; sun and showers and 
wind; rainy and windy. 

SW—NW.—Clear and clouds; rain began 
after 11 A.M. till about 2 P.M. fine after- 
wards; moonlight and cirrostratus. 


398 
_ Date. Therm. Barom. Wind. 
November 
1 47 29-90 
57 
2 49 29°85 
57 
3 49 29-70 
59 
4 47 29°50 
55 
52 52: .29540 
58 
6 52 29:30 
55 
7 50 29-60 
55 
8 46 29-80 
54 
9 48 29°85 
a2 
10 45 29-90 
51 
LL ays 229-7) 
53 
12. 42 29°62 
48 
13° 47° =©29°50 
56 
14 51 29-60 
58 
‘15 48 29-40 
50 


* * Omitted in last month’s Magazine : 


October 3. Barometer 29° 
ie ee! 


5 
5 


G1 Or 
ene 


METEORO- 


Meteorology. 399 


METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL KEPT AT BOSTON, 


LINCOLNSHIRE. 


——=r 


[The time of observation, unless otherwise stated, is at 1 P.M.] 


1818 


Ag 


Moon 


28. 


e oi] | 
the |Lhermo- 


meter. 


——— 


Baro- {State of the Weather and Modification 
meter. of the Clouds, 


30°00 |Cloudy 
30°05 |Rain 
30°17 |Cloudy 
30°04 |Ditto 
30°05 |Ditto 
30:16 |Fine 
30°26 Ditto 
30°10 |Cloudy 
30°15 |Ditto 
30°17 |Ditto 
30°20 |Ditto—rain A. M. 
30°20 |Fine 
30'25 [Ditto 
30°20 Cloudy 
30°37 |Ditto 
30°30 |Ditto 
30°00 |Rain 
30°04 |Cloudy 
29°87 |\Ditto 
29°76 |Ditto 
29°55 |Ditto 
29°53 \Rain 
29°54 |Ditto 
29°78 Cloudy 
30°00 |Ditto—heavy mist 
30°07 |Fine 
30°04 |Rain 
29°90 |Ditto 
29'75 |Fine 
29°72 |Cloudy 
29°63 |Fine 


METEORO+ 


400 


Days of 
Month. 


Oct. 27 


Nov. 


28 
29 
30 
31 


Meteorology. 


METEOROLOGICAL TABLE, 


By Mr. Cary, oF THE STRAND, 


For November 1818. 


‘Thermometer. ao e 
ESS OMIA Sa SFT Aas 
SZ] : e .,| Height of | ‘5,5 2 
22] 8 | 5S] the Baron. $ ps 
OG 2 OF Inches. | 2% & 
- a) SD es 
© 5 225 
55 | 63 | 52 | 30°14 39 
55:'| 63") 95 al be 36 
55 | 60 |} 50 see) 28 
OL | eS roo phi le Pub 
55.| 55 |> 54 "02 O 
54 | 56 | 55 | 29°98 2) 
53 | 56 | 55 *S2 a7 
Jo O7 oF zy fy Q7 
STS oil fae as °45 Oo 
391/60) 55 wos 16 
Oo 13S 1 OO "40 7 
55 | 62 | 49 ‘68 27 
45 | 55 | 45 “90 25 
44 | 54 | 48 °95 20 
48 | 51 50 °90 16 
49 | 55 | 50 °78 .0) 
45 | 50 | 52 “61 19 
IO 87. ae *56 26 
55 | 55 | 54 °45 O 
Dm ao *40 10) 
SON oy | AT "55 0 
45 | 52 | 45 “88 29 
40 | 50 | 47 | 30°05 26 
45 | 54 | 40 °04 20 
41 | 46 | 39 | 29°85 25 
41 | 45 | 39 “76 20 
38 | 44 | 37 bic 20 
44 1°55 | 50 cou 20 
50 | 54 | 44 Td. O 
39 | 50 | 49 | 30°14 94 
Sees 56 “12 10) 


Weather. 


Fair 

Fair 

Cloudy 
Cloudy 

Rain 

Fair 

Fair 

Fair r 
Rain 

Fair ; 
Cloudy oe 
Fair 
Cloudy 
Cloudy 
Cloudy 
Rain 
Cloudy 
Fair ' 
Rain 
Rain 
Rain 
Fair 
Fair 
Cloudy 
Fair 
Fair 
Fair 
Fair 
Rain 
Fair 


Rain 


N.B. The Barometer’s height is taken at one o’clock. 


—E EEE 


[ 401 ] 


LXII. On the Question “ Whether Music is necessary to the 
Orator,—to what Extent, and how most readily attainable?” 
By Henry Urineron, Esq. 


ontinued from p. 2oU. 
Continued from p. 250 


To Mr. Tilloch. 
Blair's Hill, Cork, Nov. 10, 1818. 
Sir, — My last letter, which treated partially of ¢zme, having 
found insertion in your Magazine for October, the continuation 
of this topic must necessarily follow: 


Examination of Tue SPEAKER continued. 


OF TIME, continued. 

Observation 4th.— The average duration of the far greater 
number of his long-voweled syllables compared with the average 
duration of his well-articulated short-voweled syllables, appeared 
in ratio to each other as about three to two; while the longest 
class when under peculiar emphasis appeared in similar ratio 
[about three to two] compared with the ordinary long ones, and 
consequently in ratio somewhat more than as two to one com- 
pared with the ordinary short ones. The particles a, the, of, to, 
with other equally inarticulate syllables unfit for oratory, such as - 
the first syllable of above, approve, oppose, or the second syllable 
of general, peaceable, &c. were much shorter than all, and may 
he estimated in ratio to the ordinary short ones, considerably less 
than as two to three, and in ratio to the longest syllables pretty 
nearly as two to eight, or about four to one. 

The following rude time-table will exhibit the comparative 
proportions with sufficient accuracy for our purpose. 


Lougest, under peculiar emphasis, as thrones = 12 
Average long-voweled .. .. «. as dame = 8 
Average short-voweled .. .. .. as dam = 5 
Shortest, inarticulate, as the articles a, the, &c. = 3 
egal 
Or, in musical characters less nearly thus ; f ait. 
taking the quaver as the standard for the or- [e 
dinary short syllable .. |. eOPt f «Piaf 2 
Enda 


[An accidental extremely prolonged exclamation does not come 
under our cognisance—nor have | intended in this table to re- 
present the comparative length between the longest syllable in 
slow time and the shortest syllable in quick. 1 mention this cir- 
cumstance for the guidance of the classical reader who may pos- 
sibly be unacquainted with the nature of a time-table.] 

Observation 5th.—The disproportion of syllables called long 
Vol. 52. No.248, Dec. 1818. Ce when 


402“ Whether Music is necessary to the Orator,— 


when compared with each other, as well as the disproportion of 
syllables called short, when similarly compared, was so great, 
that ail our attempts at more minute analysis than that exhibited 
in the foregoing table terminated in disappointment: Neither 
could we pretend to lay down any tolerable set of rules for the 
distinguishment of long syllables from short, every gradation fron 
our inarticulate article a to our longest syllable being constantly 
discoverable in our language. The dowbtful syllables are incre- 
dibly numerous. 

Remarks.—Nothing but the preservation of, our native lan- 
guage from the incroaching barbarism of the day, could have 
warranted the over-minute observations on é2me with which I have 
so long trespassed on the patience of my readers; I must there- 
fore hasten to a conclusion, beginning with the comparative 
lengths of our syllables. 

How widely different in this respect are the taste and judge- 
ment of Handel from those of Joshua Steele, and: the dissemina- 
tors of his new-fangled prosody! Our. immortal composer, for 
such may Handel without exaggeration be called, has for the most 
part limited his numerical relations, even in recitative, to the 
ratio of dwo to one, the crotchet = 4 being the general standard 
of his long syllables, and the quaver the standard of his short. 
The occasional increase and diminution of this ordinary standard 
were, in compliance with modern usage and the character of mo- 
dern language, indispensable, and were introduced accordingly— 
the ratio of four to one being, with very few exceptions, the maxi- 
mum. Let us open his Messiah; and following him throughout 
the whole of that dignified passage ‘* The voice of him that eryeth 
in the wilderness,” we shall find, with the exception of the se- 
cond syllable of ‘ wilderness,” which for musical effect is written 
with a semiguaver, and with the exception of the word ** Lord,” 
which for similar effect (although decidedly unwarrantable in 
speech) is written with a mimim, that the crotchet and quaver 
equivalent to four to two, or two to one, are uniformly preserved. 
Or let us turn to that celebrated passage of his Athalia, in which 
as a highly impassioned and more theatrical subject he has in- 
troduced a more diversified series—and we shall discover, even 
in this instance, a reasonable limitation throughout, four to one 
heing the utmost extent of his proportions. _ 

Messiah. 

Sin, Mega 2) SRA DS, PBC ee i ee 

««The voice of him that cryeth in the wilderness—prepare ye the way 
2.2). = 18 Bi A DP DT 2 2 Di a a | Dae 
of the Lord, make straight in the desert a high way for our God.” 

[I have passed over without observation the dotted quaver =3 
assigned to the first syllable of the word wilderness, this ring 

the 


to what Extent, and how most readily attainable 2” 403 


the necessary preparative for the semiquaver assigned to der, fol- 
lowed by the quaver assigned to zess. Notwithstanding the ge- 
neral slowness of the whole movement, the recitative performer 
is scarcely enabled to articulate audibly the semiquaver der: in 
the quicker movement of speech it would be almost if not quite 
impossible. ] 
Athalia. 
23) 2) 2 2 22272 y2ind 
«But as the young barbarian I caress’d 
| ns | MEQ a HO Dra srg 
He plung’d a dagger deep within my breast; 
De Dy Os AB ea ARS A iil 
No effort could the blow repel, 
2 4 Qe Zi DQ ia Dig 
I shriek’d, I fainted, and I fell.” , 

(By an attentive perusal of these latter lines we shall find them 
much more exceptionable in the relative proportions of the syl- 
labies (when applied to /anguage) than represented by Dr. Bur- 
ney. Why should the unimportant particle ¢he in the first line be 
twice as long as the important word plunged in the second, or- 
as the equally important word L/ow in thethird? These, though: 
the most prominent, are not the only oratorical objections to 
this highly musical passage. ] 

Is it necessary to add another example? Let us take our own 
celebrated national air ‘* God save the King,” and scepticism it- 
self must acknowledge that the ratio of even three to one, much 
less of e7ght to one as suggested by the originator of our speech- 
barring system, is amply sufficient for the production of superior 
melody even in song. 

God save the King. 
mig! tg nrg oge ital eoy diy ay ae am 4 
“God save great George our king, long live our noble king, 
“Mis Moa aie 
God save our king ; 
4 4 462444 4 624 49393 624 
Send him victorious, happy and glorious, long to reign over us 
4 4 4 12 
God bless our king.” 

[The dotted minim =12 assigned to the word “ king’ at the 
close of the first and second part, though consonant with the 
usage of song, cannot (as every person is informed) be tolerated 
in speech ; and may it not therefore with justice be asserted that 
the ratio of three to one, which otherwise prevails throughout this 
beautiful production, is even superabundant for the melody of an 
articulate language? The Greek and Roman languages, which 
acknowledged neither inarticulate particles nor inarticulate syl- 

Cce2 lables, 


404 “Whether Music is necessary to the Orator,— 


lables, did probably sometimes attain this ratio 3 for although ju- 
diciously founded on the general principle of éwo to one. yet the 
shortest syllable when most unemphatically delivered could not, 
to all appearance, have exceeded the one-third of the longest 
syllable when influenced by particular emphasis. | 

There is another, and in my opinion a still more accurate me- 
‘thod of analysing our song, with reference to the subject of quan- 
tity—which is, the taking into account not the variations which 
any individual syllable may undergo (such variations being equi- 
valent to the simple slide or circumflex in language, as thus: 


Ct >. “a 
ey » thus te or thus e(p)» but the actual duration allotted 


in the aggregate to every such syllable. For curiosity’s sake let 
us subject that chaste and admirable song ** Hope thou nurse” 
to this mode of analysis, and it will be seen that the ratio of two 
fo one, and no more, is simply and uninterruptedly observed. 


Hope thou Nurse. 
BH ry i Sai Ake 48484 848 4 8 
“* Hope thou nurse of young desire—fairy promiser of joy | 
8 48 4 8 4 848 4 3 4a: BU i stay 

Painted vapour glow-worm fire—temp rate sweet that ne’er can cloy.”, 

What wonderful simplicity, and yet how beautiful! Scanned 
after the manner of Dionysius, it consists of alternate Cretics and 
Amphibrachs on/y ; and is consequently much less diversified in 
its arrangement than our ancient Hexameter, as will immediately 
appear by the analysis of the latter. Will our speech-barring 
reformers at length be satished ? or must we at their suggestion 
subvert the decorous usages of our country; and in the delivery 
of our language surpass even the composers of our recitative and 
song ? 

Fortunately for the elocution of these countries, our collegiate 
education, which embraces the languages of antiquity, inspires the 
student with deserved veneration for the poetic and oratorical 
productions of Greece and Rome,—and from these sources he can- 
not fail, after a little application, to derive the most signal ad- 
vantage; for by habituating himself to the recitation—first of 
select Hexameter passages, and afterwards of select passages from 
the orations of Demosthenes*, (a certain rude observance of or 
rather altempt at accent, and a more particular observance of. 
quantity being regarded,) he will sensibly and even speedily ac- 

quire 


* Our present method of reading the Latin language would render the 
orations of Cicaro incligible. We uniformily assign to the Latin position 
vowels a short quantity, regardless of their lengths by nature. The same 
objection indeed will hold good in Greek with regard to the 42¢a and oe 

ut 


to what Extent, and how most readily attainable?’ 405 


quire an incredible command of organ, and a justness of taste 
which will amply repay him for his trouble, by enabling him sub- 
sequently to excel in the delivery of his native tongue. 

The necessary process for this attainment, or at least that sim- 
ple process which I successfully adopted in my experiments on 
the SprakeER, will appear in my ensuing letter ; and in the mean 
time it may not be impertinent to present the inquiring reader 
with a statement of those combinations to which the recital— 
first of Hexameter and afterwards of ancient prose, must as it were 
intuitively familiarize his ear. 

To begin then with Yexameter. The reader must not imagine, 
in common with Mr, Sheridan*, and others who have superfi- 
cially viewed the subject, that its combinations are simply and 
solely confined to the Dactyl and Spondee. This order of feet has 
certainly been prescribed ; but, as well may they insist that in 
* God save the King’”’ no other combinations can be acknow- 
ledged than those of the Molossus | f f P| and imperfect Cretic 
oe |; whereas the Trochee eae lambus bale Spondee Plt 
Amphibrach f f°, and Bacchic ff fare equally the characte- 
ristics of this song. For the more perfect elucidation therefore 
of our Hexameter, let us analyse its properties in the following 
series, without any further reference to ‘* Hope thou Nurse”’ or 
even “ God save the King,’ which are more limited than Hex- 
ameter in their combinations. 


HEXAMETER combinations in dissyllable and trisyllable feet. 


[The various combinations of any given series obtrude them- 
selves more constantly and prominently on the ear in speech than 
in song ; every trifling pause which sense or perspicuity requires, 
producing, by the disjunction of the members of the series, a new 
and independent effect on the immediately succeeding syllables. ] 


Series for Analysis. 


Dieaelily sac lblon: sort 
or or or or f rf 
rol hddtsaes b et _ 


but this imperfection appears for the most part too trivial in the delivery of 
Grecian prose (not poetry) to justi’y, in these instances, any matcrial de- 
parture from our habits: By giving such due length as common sense and 
our newly-acquired taste shall authorize, to the jira, autya, diphthongs, and 
circumflexed sy!lables—and sounding every syllable fully, which is certainly 
no violation of our present usage, the orations of Demosthenes will be found, 
with respect to quantity, as perfect as the best-formed ear can reasonably 
desire. 

* Mr. Mason, Mr. Sheridan, and several others who have written on pro- 
sody, entertained a most curious notion of time or quantity. Melody and 
a thump of the Low, were with these gentlemen synonymous. 


Cc3 Con- 


406“ Whether Music is necessary to the Orator,— 
Contents. 


Pyrrhic me 
Trochee: ..°". re Iambus .. 


DIMERS on eiet ie f CE Spondee .. 

Anapest .. .. Cer Amphibrach .. [ f c 

Molossus .. .. r f r Tribrach ( C C never. 

Cretic [ t Po. never Bacchic: os. f re 
Antibacchic ff fi 


to which may be added the following polysyllabical feet :— 
2d Pxon £f ££ ; 3d Peon £££; Choriambus f C Ef; Ionicus 


A majore f [ £ £ 3 lonicus 4 minore F Cf fs lst Epitrite al re; 
4th Epitrite [ fff, and Dispondeus fff f. 


Now, of all the trisyllabical feet, as appears by the foregoing 
table, the Cretic and the Tribrach alone are denied admission ;— 
the latter, besides its ¢r7ple-time character, possessing too much 
lightness * for the sober dignity of an epic poem, and the+for- 
mer, though in itself perhaps sufficiently dignified, being too ir- 
regular, in consequence of its prominently quintuple character, 
for an alliance with the more equable dactyl and the spondee: 
Nevertheless, in the recitation of Hexameter, the unavoidable ir- 
regularity of language must occasionally present the Cretic to our 
ear—not the perfectCretic indeed, whose proportions are as 4, 2, 
4, but the zmperfect Cretic — = — the result of an irregular Mo- 
lossus ; or certain imperfect Cretics in some degree analogous to 
the triple-time movements [*ff  f f f°, and which by proso- 
dial notation may be represented thus — vo — ; » —, the ne- 
cessary consequence of irregular Dactyls and irregular Anapests. 

Having thus rescued the Hexameter from the unfounded ac- 
cusations of uninformed grammarians, J shall now offer to my 
reader a complete musical analysis of the different combinations 
which characterize the prose of antiquity when delivered as it 
ought ; considering myself, as I already observed, too incompetent 
to decide whether and how far these combinations are or may be 
introduced into our native tongue. 


Universal Table of Combinations in the Greek and Roman Lan- 
guages in various species of Poetry as well as in PRosE. 
[The short syllable or guaver in the following table is repre- 


Cf 
x dy 


* In the penultimate bar of ‘‘God save the King” the tribrach or triplet 
ff? which by way of grace has been substituted in our present copies 
for the original crotchet, and assigned to the word “ God,” has much con- 
tributed to the degradation of the piece. The composer was evidently a 
chaster musician than his pretended embellisher.  ~ 

sented, 


a 


to what Extent, and how most readily attainable?” 407 


sented, in conformity with modern usage, by the denominator S. 

For simplicity’s sake, all the characters are reduced to this term, 

4 being considered equivalent to 2,4 to = and #to4. The re- 

lative duration of the notes, as already mentioned, was by no 
means so accurately observed even in poetry as in song.] 


Pyrrhic .. ie Fi 5 An imperfect bar. 
Trochee .. wie 

Iambus.. oF Bars of 2 
Tribrach* .. ” ay 


“ov 8 


Dactyl .. els 
Spondee .. SH 


| 
Anapest .. ae S Bars of 2. 
Amphibrach ot i 
Proceleusmaticus .. P J 
Bacchic  .. i " a 
Antibacchic She 
Cretic . i 
Peon .. first ahs asa) EP. 
second .. | R 
chivd: * <5. | 
fourth .. j 


Dichoreus .. .. 
ees a \ 6 a dt 
ae i. Bars of = resolvable into at 
Antipastus .. | 

Molossus_ .. os > 


Ionicus 4 majore .. Bars of 2 not resolvable. 


c_3 es a er 0 VE BY CoE DB oy ee wv . Ve 3 ere ou ey 3 one 


ma es) ce eer osx Of OL BD 


a minore .. 


* The charecter of the ancient tribrach should not be too hastily con- 
founded with that of our modern friplet EPP. That species of accentua- 


tion (as we style it) which attaches to our usually-executed triplet is rarely 
discoverable in the judicious delivery of the ancient languages, or indeed in 
the judicious delivery of our own serious compositions. The audible and 
independent articulation of every syllable so circumstanced will considerably 
relieve, if not wholly destroy that jigging effect which characterizes the tri- 
plet, and distinguishes that species of modern poetry whimsically called the 
dactylic or anapestic—the very semblance of which movement the dignified 
orator should disdain to introduce. 


Cc4 . Epitrite 


408 Whether Music is necessary to the Orator 2” 


Epitrite first .. errr ) 


second .. f c f f rh of as resolvable into” 
third .. fff pak anes ‘ 
fourth . Pay f f f 5 
Doehaesed 2-4te f r r P r [ar o§ “Th resp haiie into > 
rere 


and 


Dispondeus .. .. Bar of = resolvable into=. 


These are the measures or combinations of ¢ime (altogether 
unconnected with forte, or emphatic syllables,) of which the 
writers of antiquity have so familiarly spoken; and I sincerely 
hope that by our collegiate efforts they may ultimately tend to 
the embellishment of that language which has fallen to our in- 
heritance. 

OF FORTE*, 

This topic has been already so amply treated in my late paper 
on time and rhythmus, that very little more than the ordinary 
doctrine of our lexicographers presents itself for discussion. ‘These 
gentlemen may amuse themselves as they please, by insisting that 
this or that syllable only, shall, in their phraseology, be accented 
or unaccented ; or, in plain common English, be articulated or 
muttered: Mr. Sheridan, too, in his “ Art of Reading,” and Dr. 
Blair in his ‘* Lectures on Rhetoric and the Belles Lettres,” may 
also argue the peculiar propriety of confining the accent (as they 
eall it) to an individual syllable, while every other syllable is de- 
nied even a minor privilege—producing by this wretched maxim 
a sudden and intolerably offensive burst of forte in the midst of 
pianof: but these anti-musical as well as anti-oratorical pre- 
cepts never yet were nor ever will be followed by the cultivated 
speaker. Hence the energetic custom with several good orators 
of laying, in certain cases, a considerable stress on the antepe- 
nult of such words as dictator, representation, &c. analogous to 
the Grecian delivery of aveyaitioes OdAucev, &c. ‘These latter in- 
deed may be so uttered (and with excellent effect) that even the 


* The author of Prosodia Rationalis, for the mere purpose of coining the 
obscure and unmeaning term “ poize,” has introduced a most idle distinction 
between force and loudness. Force may certainly be exerted in whisper 
or suffocated sounds without the production of loudness—but what relation 
has this to the musico-oratorical question of forte? ‘* Pudsation” and ‘ re- 
mission” too, terms equally ridiculous with the word poize, are likewise em- 
ployed by this gentleman as a convenient cloak for musico-physical absur- 
dities. ' 

+ This is the characteristic sign by which our Gothic orators, actors, and 
reciters may be instantly distinguished from their superiors. The second 
sign is the striking of an octave. 


as 


‘On the Chronometer. 409 


xas and «A shall be louder than the 7: and v—in short, that a 

perfect crescendv and diminuendo shall be fully recognised in 
SS 

both; as thus aveyastios xo BicAvoev. The Grecian language ex- 

hibits innumerable words of this noble character—and why should 

not our Colleges follow the example by opening a certain num- 

ber of the antepenultimate syllables of our own? 

To conclude this letter. The latitude of forte and piano, in 
the delivery of our impassioned language even as at present con- 
stituted, is much greater than ordinary observers would imagine ; 
and to this subject the orator should direct his most serious con- 
sideration. The suitable and expressive distribution of forte, 
whether throughout individual or several words; nay, the diver- 
sified beauties of the crescendo and diminuendo are, in cases in- 
numerable, in every man’s pover* ; while cultivated taste go- 
verned by common sense cannot fail to apply them. Ru/es are 
of no utility, nor is there any ratioual standard by which so 
changeable a character as that of forte can be rendered immu- 
table. (To be continued. } 


* Especially when enabled by the writer. I have heard the following 
line delivered with ease and uncommon military effect : 


ere ERE 
Cohorts charge home—the infantry is broke. 

Here, in place of the vulgar alternacy of weak and strong syllables, are 
three consecutive syllables, ° without an intervening pause, all in complete 
crescendo. When poets (if I may be allowed a well-known hackney’d phrase) 
shall sink the country fiddler, and readers shall deliver our language as they 
ought—then may we aspire to classical composition. The for egomg is an 
example of the first epitrite—and so military a foot is not, in my opinion, 
to be met with in any modern language. For amusement, I have tried some 
military gentlemen with the delivery of these words, but their ordinary ha- 
bits did by no means lead them to such martial execution. See Magazine 
of October for the method of expressing the word ‘ cohorts.” 


LXIII. Remarks on a Paper ly Major-General BrisBaNnek, on 
the Method of determining the Time, the Error, and Rate of 
a Chronometer, by Altitudes taken with a Sextant from an 
artificial Horizon. By Mr. Ep. Rippwx. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 
Sirn,— if HAVE just seen, in the last volume of the Edinburgh 
Philosophical Transactions, a paper by Major- general Brisbane 
on the method of determining the time, the error, and rate of a 
chronometer, by altitudes taken with a sextant from an artificial 
horizon. I am agreeably surprised to find that his methods of 
observing and of making his computations scarcely differ in any 
respect, from those which I have practised for several years ; and 


judging 


410 On the Method of determining the Time, Error, 


judging from my own expenienets I have no reason to doubt that 
he has over-rated the degree of exactness which may generally 
be attained by the method which he recommends. 

Some of his altitudes were taken by refiection from quicksilver, 
but he remarks that he has with equal success employed pure 
Iimpid oil for that purpose. I have made many experiments on 
this subject, and I find I can generally make my observations more 
satisfactorily from oil than either from quicksilver or any thing 
else that I have tried. From the slightest motion, the surface of 
quicksilver is so affected with tremors that it is quite impossible 
to use it with advantage. ‘The Trinity-House School is on the 
second floor of a substantially built house, yet I have there ob- 
served the surface of a quicksilver horizon sensibly agitated by 
the tumbling down of an empty ale-barrel in the adjoining vard. 
Indeed I have frequently taken altitudes with perfect satisfaction 
from the surface of oil, when, from slight and sometimes imper- 
ceptible causes, the surface of quicksilver has appeared so tre- 
mulous that no dependence could be placed on a contact ob- 
served in it. Water I have found liable to the same objections 
as quicksilver, though in a less degree. Treacle and other semi- 
fluids are subject to have their reflective power destroyed by dust, 
&c. and when their surface happeus to be disturbed, it requires a 
considerable time to settle. If the reflecting surfaces are unco- 
vered, as mine generally are, and at all exposed to the influence 
of the wind, oil is still more decidedly preferable. When taking 
the moon’s altitude during the day, I fiud it advantageous to pour 
the oil into a black receiver :—sometimes, as a convenient method 
of attaining the same object, I pour a little zvk into a white plate, 
and then pour the oil upen it. But when the altitude of a star 
is wanted, recourse must be had to a quicksilver horizon. 

The uniformity of General B’s results bears creditable testi- 
mony to the care with which he has made his observations ; but 
1 may be permitted to doubt whether he was justified in marking 

the time to tenths of asecond. The increments of time in the 
margin correspond, from his observations, to increments of 10’ of 
Forenoon. Afternoon. double altitude in succession ; and though no 
SECONDS. SECONLS. reasonable doubt can be entertained that the 


44-6 45 mean of the whole will be exact to a small. 
43 44 fraction of a. second, it appears sufficiently 
AA 45°3 obvious that the time of no single observa- 
45 43°6 tion can be depended upon to less than a se- 
44 43°6 cond. I am aware that a part of the trifling 
46 47 discrepances which will be observed among 
45 45°3 these intervals is to be attributed to the slow 
44 44 motion of the sun in altitude at the season 
44 495 in which the observations were made ; as it 
46 45°6 is 


Ee 


and Rate of a Chronometer. 411 


is then a matter of some difficulty to ascertain the time of con- 
tact fo a@ second. 

I have been compelled to pay particular attention to the prac- 
tice of the method of determining the time, from having often 
to depend upon it for the altitudes in lunar observations; as, 
it is seldom that the altitudes of the sun and the moon, or the 
moon and a star, can be got conveniently, at the same time, by 
reflection. 

In taking either altitudes or lunar distances I direct my as- 
sistant (who is generally one of the young men attending the 
school) to mark to the nearest second, the time when I give no- 
tice that the contact is perfect ; and from the nature of the ob- 
servations, I see no reason to believe that it can be of any ad- 
vantage to mark it nearer. 

The formula by which General B. has computed 'the time is 
that which furnishes the rule given in Prob. VI. Requisite Tables. 
There is a typographical mistake in the analytical statement of 
it ;—-sine (co. lat.+ declin.) ought to be sine (co. lat. + declin). 
This formula is not generally esteemed the most convenient one 
for computing the horary angle; but that is of little importance 
in the presence case, as it is correct. 

In taking altitudes for the time I do not always make the in- 
crements of altitude equal; but when the whole time of observa- 
tion is small, and the sun is at a considerable distance from the 
meridian, the increments of altitude are nearly proportional to 
the intervals of observation, so that any irregularity is easily de- 
tected. I then determine the error of the clock; not from the 
mean of the altitudes, but from the mean of the errors deduced 
from each altitude calculated separately, and this is exactly Ge- 
neral B.’s method. After I have finished my observations, 1 
generally make my young men take altitudes for the same pur- 
pose; and a comparison of their results with my own shows me 
at once whether their observations have been made with requisite 
correctness. 

I perfectly agree with General B. in the opinion which he ex- 
presses of the utility of the sextant, as it is now made by Trough- 
ton, Jones, and other respectable workmen. Jt is a portable 
handy instrument; it requires few adjustments, and those are 
easily made. Its state can be ascertained at almost any time ; and 
a little practice renders its use extremely easy. It is, in short, 
in many cases, a valuable substitute for more expensive aud com- 
plicated instruments. 

But with deference to General B., I would here suggest that 
the sextant can scarcely be considered as an instrument, the prin- 
ciples and the use of which are not generally well understood. If 

the 


4 


412 On the Method of determining the Time, Error, 


the results commonly obtained by it, are less correct than those 
obtained by General B., I apprehend the true reason is, that such 
minute accuracy is seldom thought necessary. 

General B.’s observations, however, will show what the instru- 
ment is capable of, and the friends of practical science are obliged 
by their publication. One obvious consequence deducible from 
them is, that the rate of a chronometer may be determined in a 
shorter time by this method than by meridian transits, or any 
other method that is practised. ‘The time deduced from a well 
observed transit of the sun, or a star whose place is well ascer- 
tained, may indeed be depended on as probably nearer the truth 
than that determined from a single altitude, however carefully 
taken; but the error determined from a single transit (of a star 
at any rate) is by no means of equal authority with a mean of the 
errors deduced from 10 or 12 altitudes of the sun. A compari- 
son of General B.’s results with the errors of the astronomical 
clock as determited by transits in the Greenwich observations 
will show this clearly enough. Besides, opportunities for obsery- 
ing the transits of proper stars are few compared with those for 
taking sets of altitudes, and a transit of the sun can be observed 
but once a day. 

In the method of regulating a chronometer by equal altitudes 
it is not necessary that the latitude should be known to any very 
great degree of exactness; but to practise the method of single 
altitudes successfully, it must be known with considerable accu- 
racy; and as a supplement to his paper, General B. promises to 
transmit another on the method of determining the latitude by 
a series of altitudes taken with a sextant near noon. 

As his method of findmg the time is so similar to mine, I think 
it prebable that the method of finding the latitude which he en- 
gages to communicate may also be in principle the same as that 
which I have practised for a considerable time; and my chief 
veason for wishing you to insert this letter in your respectable 
publication is, that our methods may be compared when his pa- 
per appears. 

{ shall expiain my method perhaps as well as I can in any 
other way, by giving you an account of some observations which 
1 made last autumn, for determining the latitude of this place. 
But before I enter on this account, I must inform you that the 
Trinty-House School is situated in the lower part of Newcastle, 
not far from the river; the steep banks of which are covered with 
houses; and that from the direction of the wind, and other cir- 
cumstances, the smoke, though at all times considerable, is some- 
times much more dense than at other times; and that the effect 
of this difference in the density of the smoke upon the refraction 

I am 


and Rate of a Chronometer. 413 


I am unacquainted with any means of appreciating. I frequently 

observe the edge of the sun’s disk in a state of apparent undula- 
tion, at altitudes at which that appearance is never observed in 
high and open situations. 

The observations of which I shall subjoin an abstract were 
made, like General B.’s, with a sextant of Troughton’ s divided 
on platina to 10”; and the telescope applied to it magnified 
eight times. The rate of the clock and its error for apparent 
time at noon were carefully determined, and the times were noted 
and written down with the altitudes, by a young gentleman on 
whom, from experience, I knew | coulil rely. Several altitudes 
of the sun’s upper and lower limbs alternately were taken near 
the meridian, and the several altitudes were reduced to the me- 
ridian by the following theorem. Let P, S, and Z, be the pole, the 


sun’s centre, and the zenith; then, sine sy = vers. P. sine PS. 


~ 
~ 


sine PZ, cosect. ZS. This theorem was published two or three years 
ago by Dr. Evans in a slightly different form, in Leybourn’s Ma- 
thematical Repository ; and as I know not whether the number 
of that work is published which containsthe demonstration, I may 
as well give it here. By spherics, vers. ZS —vers. ZP—PS= 
vers. P. sine PS. sine PZ. Now ZP<PS is the meridian zenith 
distance; and when P is small, it is evidently nearly =ZS. 


Hence ——~~ = sin. => sin. ZS = vers. P, sine PS. sine PZ; 


rs. 2S v4 


or sin. z= vers. P. sine PS, sine PZ. cosect. ZS. 

The declination of the sun was reduced to the Greenwich time 
of each altitude, and the latitude found from each altitude sepa- 
rately. The mean of the latitudes resulting from the altitudes of 
the snn’s lower limb was then taken, and also the mean of those 
resulting from the altitudes of the upper limb, and half the sum 
of these two means was taken as the latitude resulting from the 
observations of that day. By taking nearly au equal number of 
altitudes of the sun’s upper and lower limbs, any error that might 
have arisen from a faulty habit of estimating the contact was ef- 
fectually obviated. 

This method of observing is also useful in sencinlinw the 
time. 

The following will require no further explanation, and will be 
sufficient to exemplify what I have said: 


Trinity 


2222 LLL 


On the Chronometer. 


414 


— anand 


Ie 9¢ FG “TT S,uns sad “ye'T 


————_—_——_ 


STL OT om quaredde toy Mops ¥0q9 ‘LT RT “FS *ydag’ 


og 9¢ FS= G SZ O+F SI I~ 6S STT~ get+G eS FE) fg ¢ 
1Z 89 FS= & SB OtF St I~ 6S SI— Litsz2 && Fe | 82 g 
#Z 8S FS= cz OF SI 1— 69 SI— 9 TOP SS FEL og t126 
13 8S rs= cZ OF SI I- 6¢ GI~ @ +Zr ES FE nue) Hla1= St 
9Z 9¢ PS= GS FG OF ST I— 6S SI 9 +eF 8S re | 1 s¢ 
12 8¢ PE= 6S FS OF SI I~ 6S SI O1+E £8 FE 91 Lo Ul 
om Scs7s TEI s,uns sod ‘4v'T “48 “198qO 
og sg PS= L SZ Ot LI IT 65 ci + Zb+6S 02 F8) ce ¢ 
iz. ao ¥S= 9 SG Ot, Ld b—-65 C[+ §Z+02% 1% aa 0% F 
1g go-rc= ¢ ce Ot LI 17 65 c[ + e1+62% 1% FE @-¢g 
sz g¢ FS= & SZ OF LI I 6S el + F +oh 1% FE — 064 oe I 
Ze 8S Po= cz OF LL Im 69 SI+ 0 TFS 16 FE | 1Z.O 3! 
FZ 9¢ FS= 9S FB OF LI I - 6S Git art+gl 16 rE LZa*S 
ADRS FS HAS HG AF HL A 68 LI tseGtOl 12 FE Lascee At 
‘N 3P'T *g ‘ulpod ‘aud “Ipludag “ye ‘| [Suns ‘Sach: SH 
S89] “oY jopuy = “ye *10sqO *9UIT} ‘ddy 


‘QPISLOMIN “LOOPS asnopy-AquLsy, 


¢ ZF il 


‘qi cn ‘H 
‘yop aod awry, 


Experiments for determining the Length of the Pendulum. 415 


This may serve as a specimen of the method, and I shall only 
extract the final results of the observations of a few days. 
1817. August 20th. 54°58’ 30” 
30th. 54 58.3 
Sept. Ist. 54 58 35 
2d. 54 58 28 
Sth. 54 58 27 
24th. 54 58 26 (see above.) 
Oct. 6th. 54 58 28 
Oth. 54 58 32 


Méan 54 58 29 


This exactly agrees with the mean of the results of 16 single 
meridian altitudes taken with the same instrument, and with the 
results of several hundreds of observations made with an excel- 
lent sextant of Ramsden’s which belongs to the Institution. 

I am, sir, ; 
With due respect, your obedient servant, 
EpwarD RIDDLE, 


Oct. 21, 1818. Master of the Trinity-House School, 
Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 


LXIV. An Account of Experiments for determining the Length 
of the Pendulum vibrating Seconds in the Latitude of London. 
By Capt. Henry Kater, F.R.S. 


{Concluded from p. 370.} 


Havine thus satisfied myself that no injury to the knife-edges 
was to be apprehended from moderate use, the pendulum was 
_ again suspended, but now, to my surprise, I found the number 
of vibrations different from what they were before the remeasure- 
ment. This difference became still greater on the following day ; 
and it at length occurred to me that the moisture of the atmo- 
sphere must have undergone some change, and that an alteration 
had been thus occasioned in the weight of the wooden extremi- 
ties of the pendulum. On referring to the register of the hygro- 
meter kept by Mr. Browne, it was found that a considerable 
change had in fact suddenly taken place from moisture to dry- 
ness; and so great was the derangement of the pendulum from 
this apparently trivial cause, that it became necessary to move 
the second weight. This was accordingly done, and the follow- 
ing experiments made for again bringing the number of vibrations 
to an equality. 


Slider 


416 dn Account of Experiments for determining the Length of 


CEE Ss Mf OPED Te SPE Bk RD er | 
Slider zY divisions. Great weight abou 
Clock gaining 0-18 Sarin a fe Barometer 
Sriahean Hime: econd weight moved. 29°70, 


a. | lime of |Arc of] a |= gale Slt owal oe le ze 
E | coinci- | vibra- golf ¢3/Se|eex gl es £2ag 
= dence. tion, |& =/E.8 Ze S58 s O58 |5's-8.c 
° mM: «5 ° 
July |69:1} 10 si} aan fe |. : 
in 1g 52] 1-0, {UII} 50L |499|86055-09| 2°01 |86057-10 
69:1} 27 14 | 0-83 |° 92} 502 | 500 |86055-78| 1°38 |86057°16 
Mean |86057-13 
Clock | + 0-18 
69°L| mean 86057°31 


BT NSS Se > 23 NG lane IE! 
Great weight lelow. 


68°8{ 47 22 | 1-25 (ee resry) 
sols bog |!'16} 502 | 500 |s6055 78| 2:20 |s6057 98 
69! 4 6 | gug |!4| 502 | 500\86055-78| 1-76 |s6057 54 
Mean |86057°76 
Clock | + 0:18 
Temp. | — 0-09 
68°9) mean 86057 85 


The second weight was now securely fixed. 


Slider 19 divisions, 


Clock gaining 0-18 Great weight above. Barometer 
on mean time. 29°70. 
: Me, ES 2 , A 
Joly Bee log ee 1 on (E10) 505 | 503 /86057-82] 1-98 |s6059-80 
- ° 2 “ 9 Q- 
69:2|.17. 42 | O-s6 |0°93| 505 | 503 |86057:82] 1-42 |36059-24 


Clock | + O18 


69:3 | mean 136059°70 


Great weight lelow. 


| 
| ih 43% ew 
| Mean |86C59°52 


69°3| 22 57 | 1°25 119] 
$1 21] 113 | 9. 
69°3| 839 45 | 1°00 


504 | 502|86057°16 | 2°31 |86059°47 
504 | 502 |86057°16| 1°83 |86058°¢9 


Mean 86059'23 
Clock} + Q°181" 


69°3| mean . '86059 41 


the Pendulum vibrating Seconds in the Latitude of London. 417 


| Slider 21 divisions. 
Barometer 


dee y 
; Clock gaining 0°18 Great weight above. 09-70. 
on mean time. 


Time of {Arc of|¢ ‘| Interv|% 2} er lsat 

o = 4“ a #Hisng uv S2Zn 4 

E | coinci- vibra- | % 2| in se [es \s eS 3 | Cort |B loa. s 
t | dence. | tion. & =) conds.|Z'*5 |5 = “= 5] > oer 6S 

nie, 5 > | 
| July |69-3| 98 9 | 1-98 5 | 

u 3) 2 93 |o p petty: 
Hed SF se: baso| 18S) :203y-] somteanse 47) 2:08" AER? 
44 56 0 89 0 96) 504 | 502 |86057-16 1°51 {36058 67 | 

69°3| 53 21 |. 0-74 ,0 $1) 505 | 503|86057 82 1:07 '86058°89 

Mean |86058°70 

Clock | re O5183 18 
| 69°3\ mean | 8605 86058 88 88 | 
| oe é | 

Great weight Lelow. 
$ 
) 

Bp tae 121 J y.15| 503 | 501 |s60s6 47 | 216 86058 68 

5 53 098 1:03) 504 | 502/86057°1G| 1-73 86058°89 

14-17 | 0-88 0921 504 |502{/86057-16} 1°41 86058°57 

69:8| 22 42| 0-78 088! 505 | 508 !86057-82| 1:13 86058°95 

: Mean 86058 76 

| Clock + 0-18 

69 3) mean ; 86058 94 


- ae: 
Slider 20 divisions. Barometer| 


Clock gaining 0”-18 Great weight above. 29°70 
on mean time. . 


eee eS ee eo ee ee | 

Sea TE 46 | 134 | 1-08] 502 | 500 |86055-78) 247 | 

Fei | a eo Peo eo bron: |86056 47| 1°73 |86058-20 
: 0:86} 505 | 503 |$6057°82| 1°21 {86059 08 


26 56 0-79 lbyecre 3 ‘ se 
693| 35 22 0-68 0-731 506 | 504 |86058°49] 0°87 |S6059°36 


Mean |86058°7 1 
Clock } + 0°18 


| 
2 | 
| 


Gora) mean [36058 89 
bi abel (9c IS USP Sone) Powis Reees. FE SF It Seine 
F | Great weight below. 
| BE 
ea ee 123 |1-17| 503. | 501 |36056:47| 2°23 |86058:70 
48 51 | I) | 104) 603. | 501'\86056-47| 1-77 |86058 24 
5 0 93| 504 | 502 |86057-16! 1°41 |R6058-57 


0°84) 506 | 504 86058'49 | 1°15 |86059°64 
| | 
| | | Mean |86058'79 


| Clock; + 018 
| I ‘Temp | + 0:04 


2 ee ee 


| 69°4| Mean 8605901 


Vol, 52. No. 248. Dec. 1818. | Dd 


A418 An Account of Experiments for determining the Length of 


Slider 20 divisions 5, 


tint sat te nt tip Sl lp i i 


Clock gaining (18 Great weight alove. Barometer 
on mean time, 29°7 
5. | Time of JArcof{s [5 . sle ele aon t : 
a. Se, N sa nwtn samt a 
| & | coinci- vibra) 3/523) 5 5/8 BS elecaciae as 
f | dence, | tion [% SES Sizes S28 gpramis=-s sg 
Bhat el | boat rd 
ces ticle ig (£29) 502. | 500 |s60s5+78| 272 '86058:50 
a 49 54 | o-97 |107| 505 | 508 186057°82 | 1°87 (86059 69 
58 18 | ogo [289 504 | 5U2|/86057-16} 1-29 |86058°45 
65/6 431 0-71 0°76) 505 | 503 8605%82| 0-94 |86058-76 
emery 
| / Mean 86058-85 
| | Clock) + 0-.8 
68°S! mean 86099°0S 
G. Great weight lelow. 
aa #5 Fe bie 1-10! 504 | 502 \s6057-16| 1-98 |g6059°14 
8 101 0-04 (0°94) 506 | 504 |86058-49| 1-44 |86059°93 
16 34 | o-g4 j0 89} 504 | 502 |86057-16) 1-29 |86058-45 
68:01 25 0 | 0-75 (0°79) 506 | 504 \86058-49| 1°62 |86059°51 
f Mean |86059-26 
SF Clock] + 0:18 
§ Temp.| — 0°22 
G0 j mean 86059 22 
TAY 
“Slider 18 divisions. ; 
Ca 3 Barometer 
Clock gaining 0/18 Great weight alove. 69-70, 
om mean time. 
lo Ms. Se | ss r 
. ° 
1a j68"6 e Hea 1:14} 504 |509|36057-16| 2-12 |s6059-28 
2d 95 19 | 0-39 (2°96) 504  |502 /86057-16| 1-50 |86058 66 
43 de | ora [28] 507 [505 pit del ls 107 |86060-23 
. 0] ‘68 8 te J gS K . 
6e-7/ 52 11 | ogg |°°68| 505 |503 |86057 82) 0-75 |86058-57 
Mean |/86059:18 
} Clock| + 0-18 
'|/68°7] mean 86059°36 


bt wal 

6. 4) 110 
14 28) 1:00 
23 52) 0-88 
31 18 | 082 


| 


689 68 9| mean 


1-23 


E 


| iat a oe a ce 


Great weight Lelow. 


1:16] 503 | 501 {86056'47 
1°05) 504 | 502 |86057 16 
094| 504 | 502 |86057°16 
0:85! 506 | 504 |$6058-49 


2:20 |86058 67 
1:80 |86058°96 
1:44 (36058°60 
1:18 {86059 67 


Mean |36058-98 
Clock| + 018 
Temp.|/ +- 009 


86059 25 


—— 


= = 


the Pendulum vibrating Seconds in the Latitude of London. 419 


Slider 15 divisions. Barometer 


Clock gaining 0/18 Great weight above. 29°70, 
on mean time, 


Time of | Arc of 


\ 
\{nterv.| @acs 


B. ee A a = ela Day fot a 
E coinci- | vibra- 3 g im se- le g 58 i e phen rie 5 
& | dence. | tion. |2 ™\conds, |5 75 /> “-2 2 (es-ES 
m. s. 3 | " 
Jury Poa) 17 43 | 124 His] 504 | 502| 86057-16| 2-08 |s6059-24 
. 32 91 | esa (0°95| 504 | 502} 86057-16] 1-47 |86058°63 
to 5) 074 (O°8!| 504 | 502] 86057-16) 1-07 |86058-23 
1 2: ' *16| 0°78 |86059°94 
69-3] 51 22 | Ovsg |0°69| 507 |505 | 86059-16] 078 |8605 
‘ Mean |86059'01 
: | Clock | 4. 018 
69-g{ mean 36059°19 
I Great weight lelow. 
are me AA eee 1:14{ 502 | 500] 86055-78| 2:12 |86057-90 
55 9 | 0.98 |203|.505 | 50 8| 86057-82| 1-73 |86059°55 
3 93 | 0.88 (0°93| 504 | 509} 86057-16 ip pee 
69:3| 11 58 | ogo |O°84| 905 | 503] 86057°82) 1°1 | 
Mean 86058°75 
Clock | + 0°18 
69-3 | mean 8605893 
“Slider 18 divisions. ae 


Clock gaining 0/18 Great weight above. 29°70 
on mean time. . 


|) 
wa Se * pe | i 1:19} 503 | 501 |86056-47 | 2:31 |86058-78 
10 161092 1:00 | 504 | 502 |86057+16] 1-63 |86058-79 
18 49 0-76 0-84] 506 504 |86058:49/| 1°15 (86059-64 

2 lo. Be ing 
69-3} 26 7 | 0°66 0-71 | 505 503 |86057:82| 0:82 86058 64 


Mean 86058:96 
4? Clock | + 0°18 


{69'S | mean 86059°14 


117 | 502 {500) 86055°78 | 2°23 |86058°01 


0 a} don [605] 504 |502/86057-16| 1-80 |86058-96 
Dos | O90 |295| 505 | 503] 86057-82| 1-47 |86059-29 


0°85 | 504 | 502|86057-16} 1:18 |86058'34 


/ | Mean 86058 65 
Clock] + 0°18 
+ emesis ee EY ee 


69'3) mean 86058'83 


420 An Account of Experiments for determining the Length of 


Slider 19 divisions. 
Clock gaining 0-18 
on mean time. 


Great weight above. 


Barometer 


29-90, 


c&. | Vime of JArc of |< , |Interv.|% 2] 5, Fr D : 
§ | coinci- | vibra- |& £/ in se- Be & = a Ble tre é ga Es 
& {| dence. | tion. = conds.|7,!s i535.8 2 WS 's.2 S 

Py Migs Se |" ls es 

+4 ! ‘| °o - . 
Soh i lt 0 pe Fe 1+17) 504 | 502/86057-16| 2-25 |$6059:39 
7 | i 6 | 0.91 | 0°98} 504 | 502/86057-16 | 1-57 |86058-73 
lon 31 |-o.74 |0°82} 505 | 503|86057-82 | 1-10 |86058-92 
ee i -69| 506 | 504 58. 77 |86059-2 
Me 55 517 | 0-64 aot 506 | 504|86058-49 | 0-77 ee 6 
| Mean |86059°08 
1 | Clock | + 0:18 
| 68-1} mean 86059-26 

ai -laaes ~ 

Lal Great weight Jelow. 
. 
7.7| 9c MS | ; 

Aes ab v2 big. 21] 504 | 502 86057-16| 2-39 ' |se059-55 
Aah ag | 1-01 ino7 504 | 502 86057-16] 1-87 |86059-03 
“149 4 | 0.93 [097] 504 | 502 86057-16/ 1-54 |86058-70 
67°81 57 30 | 0-72 |7°82| 506 | 504 86058-49/ 1-10 [S6059-59 


Mean |86059-22 
Clock | + 0:18 
Temp.| — 0-18 

| 67-8) mean 86059 -22 

Bs Se NE ST I ae 


ae ea ea 


Slider 19 divisions. 


Barometer 
Clock gaining 0-18 Great weight above. 39.90. 
on mean time. 
July | 68:3) 45 3 | 123 1-13| 504 | 502|86057-16| 2-08 |s60s9 24 
Sd. oF be j0:95] 504 |502|86057-16] 1-47 |86058-63 
er eeteied 0-80] 505 |503 |s6057-82| 1-04 |s6058-86 
f : : 0592: 
gseal Is 42} 0-63 | 0°58] 506 | 504 |86058-49| 075 [8605924 
Mean |86058-99 | 
bs Clock | + 0-18 
68-4] mean. , 86059°17 
M Great weight Lelow. 
68-4] 24 31 | 1-24 1117] 503 | 501|86056-47| 2-23 186058-70 
32 54) VLT 11.05] 504 | 502|86057-16| 1-80 |86058-96 
aoe | ooo (0:94 | 504 | 502|/86057-16] 1-44 |86058-60 
=a he . 8-49] 12-0 |86059- 
cast se 8 | obs [0°86] 506 | 504 |86058-49 59-69 
Mean |86058:99 
Clock | + 0-18 
Temp.| + 0-04 
168-5} mean 86059-21 


The 


the Pendulum vibrating Seconds in the Latitude of London. 421 


~ The results of such of the preceding experiments as are to be 
used for calculating the length of the seconds pendulum, are 
brought under one view in the following table : 


- my) 
| Place | | No of vibra-) 4 No.of vibra-| Vibs. in} 
| of the Expt. [Temp. Barom,|tions. Great ¢ tions. Great/excess or 
| slider. wt. above. |2 2} wt. below. | defect. 

23 A | 68:7 | 29-76| 86059:39 —_ -03 | 86059-42 _ 
23 | B | 71-3 | 29-86| 86057-70 |-93 | 8605793 | — 
a} CC 71-4 | 29-86| 86057-93 | -23 | 86057-70 28 
93 | D | 73:1 | 99:95) 8605654 |.43 | 8605697 — 


| 


Pendulum remeasured. 


21 E 69°3_ | 29°70 | 8605888 | -06 | 86058-94 
F 69:3 | 29°70 | 86058-89 |-12 | 86059-01 

20 G 68-5 | 29°70} 86059:03  |°19 | 86059-22 
H 68-7 | 29°70 | 86059:36 |-11 | 86059-25 

69-3 | 29.70 | 86059-19 |:16 | 86058-93 
K 69°3 | 29-70 | 86059°14 |°31 | 86058-83 

19 L 68-1 | 29°90 | 86059°26 | °04 | 86059-22 
M | 68-4 | 2990) 86059-17 | -04 | 86059-21 


peseeece! 


ree Wow omen eee ae eee 
— 
[oo Be 2) 
~ 


| Mean} 86055°7! | 86058-72 | 


No other explanation of this table appears to be necessary, 
than that the column entitled “¢ Difference” expresses the dif- 
ference between the number of vibrations in the two positions of 

P ns pendulum, and that the last column indicates by the sign + 
r — whether the number of vibrations exceeds or falls short of 
‘the truth; which inference is drawn from a comparison of the 
number of vibrations when the great weight is above, with the 
number in that position of the pendulum when the great weight 
is below. The mean of the vibrations in‘the column “ Great 
weight above” not differing sensibly from that headed “ Great 
weight below,” is a proof that the number of vibrations in either 
position of the pendulum may be considered as equal, and con- 
sequently that the one knife edge being the point of suspension, 
the other must necessarily be in the centre of oscillation. 


Length of the Pendulum vibrating Seconds, 


The distance between the knife edges was as follows : 
Inches. Divisions. — Inches. 
By the Ist measurement 39°4 +.956°47 =39°44094 
By the 2d, .. ws 39°4-4954-49=39-44086 
By the 3d, ee 39°4+ 955°65 =39°44090 
Corr. for error in division of the scale (see 
Oa pai RR iA — 000005 
3944085 
Dds Hence, 


422 An Account of Experiments for determining the Length of 


Hence, 39°44085 inches may be taken as the distance be- 
tween the knife edges at the temperature of 62 degrees. 

Using the vibrations when the great weight was Lelow, as be- 
ing nearer to the truth than in the other position of the pendu- 
lum, we obtain the following results. 


Length of 


Corr. 


Length of | Diflerence 


= ate 
& |Temp .|Barom. Lie pou the seconds |for the at-|the seconds | from the 
ioe pen. in air. |mosphere |pen.invacuo| mean. 
A | 68-7 | 29-76 | 86059-42 | 39-13313 -00544 | 39-13857 | 4+-00028 
B | 71-3 | 29-86 | 86059:93 | 39-13278 *00544 39-19822 | —-00007 
C | 71-4 |} 29-86 | 86057-70 | 39°18269 00544 1359-15804 | —.00025 
‘D | 73-1 | 29-95 | 86056-97 | 39-13259 “00544 39-13803 | —-00026 
E | 69:3 | 29-70 | 86058-94 |, 39-1329% “00544 39-13837 | +-00008 
F | 69:3 | 29-70 | 86059-01 | 39:13298 *00544 39-13842 | +-00013 
G | 68-5 | 29-70 | 86059-22 | 39-13286 “00545 39-13831 +:00002 
H | 68-7 | 29-70 | 86059 25 | 39-13296 *00544 39:13840 | +-08011 
I | 69-3 | 29°70 | 86058-93_ | 39-13291 “00544 39:13834 |+-00005 
K | 69-3 | 29-70 | 86058-83 |} 39-15282 -00544 | $9-15825 |— (0003! 
L | 681 | 29-90 | 86059-22 | 39-1327] -00548 39-13819 |—-00009 
M | 68-4 | 29-90 | 86059-21 | 39-13281 “(0548 39-13829 }|—-Q0000 
Mean ! 39-13829 


The length of the pendulum thus obtained requires yet an- 
other correction to reduce it to what it would have been at the 
level of the sea. The elevation of the apartments of the Royal 
Society at Somerset House above low-water mark, is known to 
be 81 feet ; and by several careful observations with an excellent ® 
mountain barometer by Ramsden, I found the room in Portland” 
Place, in which the experiments were made, to be two feet below. 
the Royal Society’s apartments: and as the height of the pen- 
dulum above the floor was four feet, we obtain 83 feet for the 
elevation of the pendulum above the level of the sea. Now the 
force of gravity increasing inversely as the square of the distance 
from the earth’s centre, the length of the pendulum must be in- 
creased in the same proportion; and taking the radius of the earth 
for the latitude of Portland Place to be 3954°583 miles, we have 
39-1386 inches for the length of the pendulum vibrating seconds 
at the level of the sea. 

It may be remarked that the greatest difference between the 
mean result and that of any one of the twelve sets of experiments 
contained in the preceding table, is only -00028 of an inch, or 
<aissath of the whole length of the pendulum; and as seven of 
the twelve sets are within one ten-thousandth of an inch of the 
mean result, it may be inferred that the above determination can- 
not be very distant from the trnth. 

The length here given, is that required to perform one vibra- 
tion in —,1,,dth part of a mean solar day, this being the mea- 
sure of time usually employed for the purpose ; but I am at a loss 

to 


ee ee ee ee 


the Pendulum vibrating Seconds in the Latitude of London, 423 


to conjecture why this is preferred to the sidereal day, a measure 
of time which marks a complete revolution of the earth, and is 
- readily obtained, being the interval between the returns of any 
fixed star to the meridian. . 

I shall now proceed to notice the sources of error which may 
be supposed to have affected the results of the preceding experi- 
ments. : 

These may be classed under the following heads : 

1. The measurement of the distance of the knife edges. 

2. The number of vibrations in 24 hours. 

3. The temperature, and 

4. The form of the knife edges. 

On the first, it is searcely necessary to offer any remark. Since 
the mean results of three several sets of measurements are within 
one ten-thousandth of an inch of each other, and the different 
methods employed, preclude, it may be presumed, any accidental 
coincidence, we may with confidence infer that the error in the 
distance of the knife edges cannot amount to one ten-thousandth 
of an inch. 

Among the number of vibrations in 24 hours given in the va- 
rious sets of experiments, there appear to be differences which 
amount in some instances to 16. These differences hewever do 
not influence the truth of the result, beyond a certain minute 
quantity, the extent and origin of which I shall proceed to ex- 
plain. 

In order to determine the vibrations in 24 hours, it is necessary 
to ascertain the number of vibrations and parts of a vibration 
made by the brass pendulum during a certain number of com- 
plete seconds; but the moment of observation being limited to 
that when the brass pendulum is at the lowest part of the are, 
the process is of necessity reversed, and the brass pendulum is 
observed to make a certain number of complete vibrations, during 
a certain number of seconds and parts of a second which consti- 
tute the interval. The disappearance of the disk can however 
be noted only to a single second, and the brass pendulum may 
arrive at the lowest part of the arc either precisely at this se- 
cond, or at any portion of a second preceding it. An error might 
possibly arise from this circumstance amounting to nine-tenths 
of a second, by which the interval deduced from observation would 
be less than the truth; and as an error of one second in the in- 
terval, occasions a difference of 0:63 in the number of vibrations 
in 24 hours, if 0°55 (the proportional part of 0°63) be divided 
by 4 (the number of intervals forming each set of experiments), 
we have 0-14 for the greatest error in defect in the number of 
vibrations in 24 hours which can arise from this cause, 

Dd4 On 


424 An Account of Experiments for determining the Length of 


On the contrary, if the second coincidence or return of the 
brass pendulum to the lowest point of the arc, should have taken 
place nine-tenths of a second before the second at which the 
disappearance of the disk was noted, the error in the number of 
vibrations in 24 hours would amount to the same quantity, and 
would now be in excess. 

If the first and third coincidences take place accurately at the 
time of the observed disappearance of the disk, and the observa- 
tion of the second coincidence should differ nine-tenths of a se- 
cond from the truth, it is obvious that the number of vibrations 
in 24 hours deduced from each interval will be erroneous about 
0°56, the one being in excess, the other in defect. The mean of 
both will be the truth, though the observed difference between 
the two amounts to so considerable a quantity as 12. 

The last coincidence of each set takes place when the are of 
vibration is much reduced. It is therefore not impossible that 
an error of one second may sometimes, though rarely, occur in 
determining the time of this coincidence. This would occasion 
an error of about 0-63 in the number of vibrations in 24 hours, 
which divided by 4 as before, would influence the mean result 
0:15 of a vibration. 

In estimating these errors, | have taken an extreme case, as it 
is probable they would in most instances be compensated by the 
succeeding intervals, Supposing them however to be combined, 
the greatest effect on the mean result of any one set of experi- 
ments might amount to about 0:5 of a vibration in 24 hours, and 
the difference between the number of vibrations in either position 
of the pendulum, might have been double this quantity, and yet, 
when the great weight was below, not have differed from the truth 
more than 0°35 of a vibration. 

It appears then, that if the experiments have been conducted 
with sufficient care, no greater difference should be found be- 
tween the mean, and any one of the resulting lengths of the pen- 
dulum contained in the preceding table, than might have been 
occasioned by a difference of 0-3 of a vibration in 24 hours, and 
this is found to be about 0:0003 of an inch. 

In fact, on referring to the table we perceive that the experi- 
ments A and D, which differ most from the mean, give, the one, 
“00029 of an inch in excess, and the other ‘OU026 in defect. 

In considering the sources of error, it may not be unnecessary 
to remark, that had the bar of the pendulum been made too thick, 
and the Knife edges not been placed accurately at right angles to 
it, an error, though very minute, might have arisen from the ef- 
fect of the obliquity in diminishing the distance of the centre of 
oscillation from the axis. This was sufficiently guarded against 

by 


eS 


a, ee 


the Pendulum vibrating Seconds in the Latitude of London. 425 


by having the bar so thin as to ensure its becoming perpendicular 
by its own weight, had the position of the knife edge been in a 
small degree erroneous ; for though the form the bar would as- 
sume is strictly speaking a curve, it may without sensible error 
be considered as a straight line. 

With regard to temperature, every precaution was taken to 
prevent error. The thermometer used was made by Mr. Trough- 
ton for the late Sir George Shuckburgh. It is divided into half 
degrees, and the height of the mercury may be estimated to one- 
tenth of adegree. It has been already observed in the preceding 
part of this paper, that the thermometer was approached only 
at the first and last coincidences. 

The experiments themselves afford, it is presumed, a sufficient 
proof of the stability of the knife edges. Every care was taken 
to form them in the first instance as perfect as possible ; and after 
four sets of experiments had been made, they were found on 
remeasurement to have suffered no perceptible alteration; and 
it is evident by the near agreement of the results, that they re- 
mained uninjured during the succeeding experiments; it is dif- 
ficult therefore to conceive that any error can have arisen from 
this source. 

I may here remark, that the method I have employed in de- 
termining the length of the pendulum, possesses other advan- 
tages besides that of superseding the errors arising from unequal 
density or figure; and one, not the least eonsiderable; i iS, that after 
a very few vibrations, the true length of the pendulum is bounded 
by certain known Linaits, Thus in the two first sets of experiments, 
after the remeasurement of the distance betwcen the knife edges, 
we may remark that when the slider was at 29 divisions, the num - 
ber of vibrations (the great weight being below) was, 86057°85 
and in defect ; and when the slider was removed to 19 divisions, 
the number of vibrations was 86059-41 and in ewcess. ‘The true 
number of vibrations then is evidently between the two, and the 
utmost extent of error in using either of these numbers must fall 
short of 1+75 their difference when reduced to the same tempera- 
ture. But if the mean be employed in the computation, the 
length of the pendulum will be found to differ only about four 
ten-thousandths of an inch from the mean result given in the 
foregoing table. 

It may not be unnecessary to add, that every experiment made 
has been retained; nor do I consider any one as less entitled to 
credit than the rest, excepting that marked A, in the table; and 
that, only because the rate of the clock was not observed on the 
day of the experiment, but was taken to be the same as the rate 
of the following day. 

The 


426 An Account of Experiments for determining the Length of 


The length then of the pendulum vibrating seconds in vacuo at 
the level of the sea, measured at the temperature of 62° of Fah- 
renheit, appears to be Inches. 

By Sir G. Shuckburgh’s standard ..  39:13860 
By General.Roy’s scale oy icc/sielyienls o BINS. 
By Bird’s Parliamentary standard -. 39°13842 
the latitude of the place of observation being 
51° 31’ 8-4 north*. 

An objection might be urged against the use of the knife edge, 

on the ground that being an elastic substance it may possibly 


suffer temporary compression, and thus perhaps introduce a . 


source of error. In order to meet any doubt that might arise on 
this important part of the subject, it is my intention to com- 
mence &# series of experiments with a pendulum of the same 
construction as that which has been described, but vibrating on 
cylinders instead of knife edges, and I trust soon to have the ho- 
nour of laying the result before the Royal Society. 

London, July, 1817. 


APPENDIX. 


Since the preceding paper was written, a very curious and im- 
portant theorem has been discovered by M. Laplace, of which 
Dr. Young has favoured me with a concise demonstration, to- 
gether with some other investigations, which I shall subjoin in 
his own words. 

‘¢ My dear sir, — I cannot forbear to congratulate you on the 
discovery of the singular property of your pendulum, which has 
lately been demonstrated by M. Laplace, since it appears to re- 
move the only doubt, that could reasonably be entertained, of 
the extreme accuracy of the results of your experiments. The 
correction for the curvature of the rolling surfaces, in the case of 
a simple pendulum, is very easily obtained from the geometrical 
determination of the curve described, although M. Laplace’s train 
of reasoning, from mechanical principles, is somewhat too ela- 
borate to be readily followed through all the symbols in which it 
is enveloped : and the same geometrical considerations appear, at 
first sight, to be equally applicable to the case of compound pen- 
dulums in general, since the motions of all their effective parts 
are concentric with those of a simple one similarly suspended. 


* The latitude was deduced from the data contained in the trigonome- 
trical survey; Mr. Browne’s house bearing from Portland Chapel 74° 38° 50’ 
west from the north, the distance being 283 feet. This differs only 0/"} 
from the latitude determined by Mr. Browne froma great number of obser- 


vations, 
But 


the Pendulum vibrating Seconds in the Latitude of London. 427 


But upon further reflection, it becomes evident that these mo- 
tions, though concentric, are related to each other in proportions 
somewhat different from those of a similar pendulum vibrating 
on a single point, and it is therefore necessary to determine the 
modification of the motion produced by this difference of con- 
nexion. The investigation may however be conducted in a me- 
thod much more simple and intelligible to ordinary capacities, 
than that which has been adopted by the celebrated mathemati- 
cian to whom we are indebted for the theorem ; and I am tempted 
to send you an “ appergu ” of the reasoning by which I have sa- 
tisfied myself respecting it. 

** It follows immediately from the general theorem for finding 
the curvature of trochoids of all kinds, (Lectures on Nat.Phil. II. 
p. 559) that the radius of curvature of the path of any point, in 
the rod of a pendulum supported by a cylindrical axis, will ini- ~ 
tially be a third proportional to the distances of the point from 
the centre of the cylinder, and from the surface on which it rolls: 
so that when the cylinder is small, and the pendulum simple, the 
centre of curvature of its path may be considered as situated at 
the distance of the radius 7 below the point of contact: and this 
is obviously the only correction required for such a pendulum as 
that of Borda. But when the weight is divided, or of consider- 
able magnitude, it becomes necessary to calculate the effect of 
the different curvatures of the paths of its different parts, and to 
compare these paths with that of a pendulum A of any given 
length a. Supposing, for the sake of simplicity, the weight of 
each horizontal section to be concentrated in the vertical line, 
and calling the distance of any particle P below the surface of 
the cylinder x, the radius of curvature of its path will be a third 


proportional to x+,7 and a, that is, mats 3; and the inclination of 


the curve at a given distance from the vertical line being always 
directly as the curvature, or inversely as its radius, the force de- 
rived from the weight of P will be to the force, at an equal di- 
a(x+r) 
rv 


stance in the path of A, as a to at or as to 1. Now 


the point of the rolling pendulum confined to the vertical line is 
not the centre of curvature, but initially the surface of the cylin- 
der: so that this must be considered as the point of intersection 
with the vertical line, and as the fulerum of the lever; conse- 
quently the distance of P from the vertical line will be to that of 
the pendulum A, as x to a, and its immediate force will be 
a(r+r) x x 
tr” a’ P= 


*"P; but this force, acting only at the end 


cv 
of a lever x, will have its effect at A again reduced in the ratio 
of 


428 An Account of Experiments for determining the Length of 


of x to a, and will then become =<"P: : and if we express the 


sum of all the similar forces belonging to the body by the cha- 
racter =, whether found by a fluxional calculation, or otherwise, 


c+r 


we have the whole force at A, = P. The reduced or rota- 


tory inertia of the body, sametiibas very improperly called the 
«* momentum ” of inertia, will also be expressed by == P; being 
a 


reduced in the ratio of the squares of the distances from the ful- 
crum ; consequently the accelerative force will be to that of the 


Sr2P 


pendulum A as oes Fl 
rt+rp az(x+r)P 


to 15 since it isin- 


a 
different whether the integral or the differential be divided by 
the constant quantity a: and in order to express the length of the 
equivalent pendulum, we must suppose a to be as much lengthened 
Y2aP 
=(a@+r)P° 
It is obvious that the denominator of this fraction is the same 
that would express the force of the body with regard to the cen- 
tre of the cylinder asa fixed point; and it might indeed have been 
inferred at once, from the principle of virtual velocities, that the 
force must be the same in either case, however irregular the form 
of the body may be: but it is somewhat more satisfactory to fol- 
low the mechanical steps by which the operation of the law takes 


as the force is weakened, so that we have for this length 


place. If we make r=0, we have 222° =I, for the length of the 


equivalent pendulum when the surface of the cylinder is supposed 
to be the ecntre of suspension; and it follows from the well- 
known properties of the centre of gravity, that =xP, the sum of 
the product of all the particles into their distances, is equal to 
Qd, the product of the whole weight Q into the distance of the 
centre of gravity from the point of suspension; and 2a*P=LaP/ 
=d Ql, so that the equivalent length for the rolling pendulum 


11 1 ll 
aceiee ero oy ies dkO = =U 1—-), r 
Ss Gas) Pi eteaPSrP dQ+,Q 1+" 


being supposed very small; which, for a cae pendulum, when 
d=/, becomes /—r, as it ought to do. We must however find 
the displacement of the centre of suspension which is capable of 
producing an equal alteration in the length of the equivalent 
pendulum; and for this purpose we must have recourse to the 
theorem of Huygens, which may he easily deduced frnm the ex- 

pression 


e 


the Pendulum ice cr Seconds in the Latitude of London. 429 


pression — : for calling «—d, the distance of any particle of 


the body fram its centre of gravity, 7, we have 2?=(d+y)?=d? 

+ 2dy +y?, and 2x?P = =Zad?P + 2dz2 LyP + 2y?P=7Q+04 Ly"P, 
the integral of yP, the product of the distance of each particle 
into its distance from the common centre of gravity always va- 


< Wie SyyP + d2 SyyP 
nishing: consequently 7 = “os tg + d, and l—d 
LyyP 


: . td } ; ¥ > . Y 
=n? which is Huygens’s theorem: the constant quantity 


2yyP being equal to d/—d*. If now we suppose d to be in- 


creased by the small quantity s, the reciprocal, instead of /—d, 
di—dd _ I-d 


— = (1 d)(1—+) =l—d -l- +5, 
Sa ; 
to which bed d eg we have /—/ = + 2s, the increase of the 


will become 


l 
; and making veh equal to — = 7, we have 


—Ir 
S= 577 and pis the pendulum is inverted, substituting /—d 


USO Ret! 
21-2d—1 sey 
the former negative value of the same quantity, must always de- 
stroy it: so that the length of the equivalent pendulum will be 
truly measured by the simple distance of the surfaces of the cy- 
linders, as M. Laplace has demonstrated. 

“¢ There is however another correction, of which it becomes 
necessary to determine the value, when a very sharp edge is used 
for the axis of motion, as in the pendulum which you have em- 
ployed: since it appears very possible, that in this case the tem- 
porary compression of the edge may produce a sensible elongation 
of the pendulum. But it will be found, by calculating the mag- 
nitude of this change, that when the edge is not extremely short, 
and when its bearing is perfectly equable, this correction may be 
safely neglected. 

** Supposing a to be the distance from the edge, in the plane 
bisecting its angle, at which the thickness is such, that the weight 
of the modulus of elasticity corresponding to the section shall 
become equal to the weight of the pendulum, the elasticity at 
any other distance x from the edge will be measured by «x, while 
the weight is represented by a; so that the elementary increment 


for d, the expression becomes , which, added to 


x will be reduced by the pressure of the weight to meet and 


the element of the compression will be —s, and its fluxio™ 
it 


a 


ate 


430 | On the Pendulum. 


——dz, of which the fluent is @HL —, Now the height of 


the modulus of elasticity of steel is ten million feet, (Lect. Nat. 
Phil. IT. p. 509) and the weight of a bar, an inch square, and of 
this height, would be about 30 millions of pounds ; so that if the 
weight be 10 pounds, and the line of bearing an inch long, the 
thickness at the ‘distance a must be one three-millionth ot an 
inch; and supposing the angle a right one, @ must be -.4455353 
and making x=1, we have the whole compression of the edge 
within the depth of an inch zrato0 HL 4244001 ;. and this lo- 
garithm being 15°26, the correction becomes equal to the 360 
thousandth of an inch. If the bearing were one-tenth of an inch 
only, the compression for both the opposite edges would become 
~siss supposing that they retained their elasticity, and under- 
went no permanent alteration of form. In fact, however, the 
edge must be considered as a portion of a minute cylinder, which 
will be still less compressible than an angle contained by planes ; 
and the happy property, demonstrated by M. Laplace, will pre- 
vent any sensible inaccuracy from this cause, however blunt the 
edges may be, supposing that the steel is of uniform hardness in 
both. 


Believe me, my dear sir, very sincerely yours, 
Welbeck-street, Jan. 5, 1818. Tuomas Younac.” 


«°P.S. It is easy to show that the determination of the length 
of the pendulum, by means of a weight stiding on a rod or bar, 
which is the method that I have proposed as the most convenient 
for obtaining a correct standard, is equally independent of the 
magnitude of the cylinder emploved. The reduced inertia 2*P 
here consists of two portions: for the rod we may take the equi- 
valent. expression d/Q, which we may call axy, a being the 
weight of the bar (Q), x the distance (d) of the centre of gravity, 
and y the equivalent length (/): for the ball we must employ 
the formula 2x*P = Zy?P +d’Q, and call Zy?P, wu, and d?Q, bz?, 
b being the weight of the bail, and x the distance of its centre 
of gravity from the point of suspension: and in the same man- 
ner the force =(x+7)P=(d+r)Q must be composed of the two 
portions a(7+r) and )(x+7), so that the equivalent length be- 


24 axry+tu 
ary+u+t bez b : 22+ 
comes —————_-__ = —-__——__-; which we may call —— 
a(e+r)+b(z+r) ax + ar + br Zz 


Matra, 
=t, The experiment being then performed in four different 
positions of the weight, at the distances d’, d”, and d”, so that 
the second value of z may be z—d'=z’, the third ada! 7 
and the fourth s—d’”’=x”, we must observe the times of vibra- 
tion, 


On the Length of the French Metre. 43} 


tion, and deduce from them the comparative lengths of the equi- 
valent pendulum, ¢, 7't, n”’é, and n't: and hence the value of z, 
of v, and of ¢ may be obtained, without determining w, and of 
course without employing the quantity r. 


> Mie 
2" + UV gt+y TEER Mel 3) Myie +) 
Rist, == 4, ath, =" bore i, 
+0 Zz w w 
A+y ee ofl2 zit? + ay 
Il. st+w= ; 3% +uwu= iF 3% +-u= Ty mt t w= mn 
n n © 
/ 7 ? tt WW 
Hil, z—2/=d'; z—2”=d" 3 z—2'"=d". 
IV. a= PY gies Pe Koel ee poled ai See stebe 
nit? t nll t Wig 


ee 22450 ate atthe, feo e-bee i2!8-by 
D ALORAT ig AS aia = Ae ae alll ge 

VI. By comparing the first of these equations successively with 
the second and third, and bringing the terms containing v to the 
same side, we obtain 


2 ain iD) 
v=(7-a7- m) G m Ne eae a = 
( a! n'd co nla, wa p+ te 


** This equation contains hehe the squares of the idan of z 
with known coefficients ; and if we substitute s—d’, x —d’, and 
—d" for x’, %”, aud z’”, respectively, we shall obtain an equa- 
tion in the form ex*-+ fz=g, whence z= + / (g+4f*)—4 
BS Ray Niae’ 


LXV. On the Length of the French Metre estimated in Parts 
of the English Standard. By Captain Henry Karer, 
BR.S.* 


Ose of the objects of the Committee of the Royal Society ap- 
pointed for the purpose of determining the length of the seconds 
pendulum, being the comparison of the French metre with the 
British Standard Measure, two métres were procured from Paris 
for that purpose, the one made in the usual manner, and called 
the métre a bouts, and the other a bar of platina, on which the 
length of the métre is shown by two very fine lines; this is 
named the métre a tra'ts. 

The width of the mére & bouts is one inch, and its thickness 
0:3 of an inch. On one side the word ** METRE” is engraved, 


* From the Transactions of the Royal Society for 1818, Part I. 4 
an 


452 On the Length of the French Metre 


and on the other “ Fortin a Paris.” The terminating planes 
are supposed to be perfectly parallel, and the distance between 
them is the length of the métre. 

The métre a traits is the same width as the mé/re @ bouts, but 
only a quarter of an inch thick. The lines expressing the length 
of the métre are so fine that one of them is scarcely perceptible 
even with the assistance of a microscope, unless the light be very 
favourable. The situation of the lines may however be disco- 
vered by two strong black dots, made with a graver at the ex- 
tremities of each, and a fine line crosses them at right angles, to 
indicate the parts from which the measurements are to be taken. 

This métre, previous to being brought from Paris, was com- 
pared with a standard métre by M. Arago, with all that care and 
ability which he is so well knewn to possess, and which so de- 
licate an operation requires. The result was, that the distance 
between the lines was found to be less than a métre by +2722 of 
a millimétre, or ‘00069 of an inch. 

The same micrometer microscopes were used in the compari- 
sons which J am about to detail, as have been already described 
in my account of experiments on the length of the pendulum in 
the Philosophical Transactions of the present year; and as the 
length of the métre is nearly 39°4 inches, J was enabled to refer 
it to the same divisions of Sir George Shuckburgh’s scale as I 
had employed in the measurement of the pendulum. 

I commenced with the métre a traits. It was placed in con- 
tact with the standard scale, their surfaces being in the same 
plane. An excellent thermometer was laid upon the scale, and 
a piece of thick leather was placed upon its bulb in order to pre- 
vent its being affected by heat from the person of the observer. 

The whole was suffered to remain in this state for two or three 
days; after which the following observations were made at va- 
rious times, the microscopes being brought alternately over the 
métre and the scale. The value of each division of the micro- 
meter is 57355 of an inch*. 


* For the manner in which this value was obtained, see page 175 of the 
preceding paper. H 


Com- 


estimated in Parts of the English Standard. 433 


Comparison of the Metre a traits. 


Distance in inches 


S [deg [22 |=2elea0tel zeal 
2 |aesa Be od s&sl\U 8255 aise between the lines 
E ee Ee < i % £ Qe 3S 22 bina s Be @ BA| designating the 

2 esl slSey | oSa(s 2552) & 2 Ys) méive, the metre 
= ger se S222 2 2 on Rese being at. 32°, and 
& BAe 23 BEE POT ED DES") Geico oon 
60:0 | 83-0 | 644-5] 559-5] 39°37606 | "00664 39 8701 2 
60-7 | 75-5 | €39-0| 563-5} $9°37588} "00589 | 39°S6999 
61-7} 69:2 | 634-0] 564-8] 59-37583| C0568 | 39°37015 
62:0 | 65:0 | 680°5| 565 5] 39°57580 | *00562 59°S7018 
62-4 | 61-0 | 629-0] 568-0} 39°37569 | -00554 39'S37015 
62°53 | 58-7 | 629-5] 570°8 | 39-37557 | *00556 39°57001 
62°2 | 58-0 | 628-0] 570-0! 39°37560| ‘00558 | S9°57002 
62°2 59.0 625-0] 566:0] 39°37577 | *00558 39-57019 


62+] 59°0 625°5| 566-5 | $9:37575 | *G0560 39 37015 
588 | 900 | 638-0] 548-0) G9:37654 | :00629 29-37025 
59-0 83°0 657°0] 554:0} S9°37629 | *00625 59°37 4 
590 82:0 6360) 554:0 | 39°37629 | 00625 | 59°37004 
59*2 5:2 632-)} 548 §| 59°37651] “00621 | 39.57030 | 
59-1 81:0 632.0 | 551°0| $9°37642 00623 39 37019 
Mean SOSTOL2 
The distance between the lines designating the 
métre was found by M. Arago to be too sie} -+000'69 
by a quantity =:00069 of an ineh, which add 
The distance from zero to 39-4 of Sir G. Shuck- 
burgh’s scale is too short compared with the — 00003 
mean of its divisions by ‘00005 of an inch,which 
Serb inacictt: w seu ache vita: felassacie tee © melas 
Hence the length of the métre in inches of Sir G. t 6937076 
Shackburgh’s seale is... 2. --- ee eee oe a! 


The comparison of the metre @ bouts presented considerable 
difficulties, which I conceive it would be of little use to detail, as 
the necessity of comparisons of this kind is of very rare occur- 
rence; I shall therefore proceed to describe the method which 
was at last found successful. 

Four rectangular pieces of brass were prepared precisely si- 
milar to those described in the account of experiments on the 
pendulum in the Philosophical Transactions before referred to. 
These were marked C, c, D and d. ‘The perfectly plane rect- 
angular edges of the pieces C and c, being placed in contact, 
and kept thus by means of a spring, the distance of the fine lines 
drawn on their surfaces, parallel and very near to the rectangular 
edges, was found to be 500°5 divisions of the micrometer ; and the 
pieces D and d being placed in like manner in contact, the di- 
stance of the lines on their surfaces estimated in the same divi- 
sions was 456°7. 

The métre a bouts being placed by the side of the brass scale 
and in contact with it, the pieces D and-d were applied to its 
extremities, the surfaces of the brass pieces being a little below 
the surface of the métre in order to preclude any error which 

* See page 176. ‘ 
Vol, 52, No, 248, Dec. 1818. Ee might 


44 On the Length of the French Meéire 


might have arisen from the edges of the métre projecting beyond 
its terminating planes. Each of the brass pieces was supported 
in this position upon a piece of lead of a sufficient thickness, and 
kept in close contact with the end of the métre by means of a 
slight spring bearing against a pin driven perpendicularly into 
the lead. . 

In order to ensure a perfect contact between each brass piece 
and the terminating plane of the métre, a flat ruler of brass was 
laid upon the surface of the métre so as to project beyond its ex- 
tremity, and the end of the lead was elevated or depressed so 
that the line of light seen between the piece of brass and the 
ruler, the eye being level with the surface of the brass, apppeared 
to be equal in every part; when it was inferred that the surfaces 
of the métre and of the piece of brass were parallel, and conse- 
quently that their rectangular ends were perfectly in contact. 

The distance hetween the lines on D and d was now taken 
by the microscopes, and transferred to the scale in the manner 
before described ; and when a sufficient nuinber of comparisons 
had thus been made, the pieces D and d were exchanged for 
those marked C and c, and the observations repeated with every 
precaution to ensure an accurate result, ‘especially with respect 
to temperature. : 

The under surface of the métre was then placed uppermost, 
and the apparatus being arranged as before, the same process 
was pursued as that which has just been described. The results 
are contained in the following tables. 


Comparison of the Metre d bouts. 


The pieces D andd applied. Distance trom D to d, 
456-7 divisions. The word Metre above. 


3 as, a2 os, 2 e285 |2,5 0 
a laee.jce8.| 2 latesluce |453 slosefes 
= Oe Gg] Ou Re 2) alms ag 2 aie 2 
ai ef S oe 2 on ee o gs] Oo 8 DU we 
a mhog) WE o S ma ose) = sete Paes 
c si9 49 Ferd, 9S as i GDaES 2p eS S| Se e 
See Soe ee al es SP OS) Mes pe SB A) co ee 
FE /e20 |e6a7| & lS ot7| €T (bes | ges ad 
4 er) ons 2 = 5) 

ita gree) a Ca) coca. ae 
597 | 95 915 | 820 | 538-7 |39°37594] -OO6L0 | 59 57083" 
54-8 380 972 59°92} 515°9 |39-37792 ‘OO0T13 | 39°37079 
550 | 39:0 98-0 59°) | 515°7 (39937793) OOTN9 | S9-37084 
551 | 36*2 95°0 §s°8 | 515°5S  159°37794) 00707 | 39:37087 
Sara. 1) 9") 59-0 5147 139°375795]-00705 | 59-37088 


Mean | 5937084 


The pieces C and c applied. Distance from C to c, 
500°5 divisions. The word Meélre above. 


26) Su7T | 479 168 J olT> [3y3B77To6] UW6YO | BY orlUyU 
55:7 | $00 473 17-3 | 517-8 |39°37784]-00694 | 39°37090 
559 | S02 475 173 | 5178 |39-37784]-00690 | 39-37094 
56-2 | 24-5 45-0 1205 | 521-0 139°37770] 00684 | 59°37086 
565 | 290 | 44-7 4.217 | 5222 |39.97765| 00681 | 39-97084 


Mean | 39°37089 


estimated in Parts of the English Standard. 435 


The pieces C and c applied. Distance from C toc, 
500-5 divisions. The word Fortin above. 


Piel 2 23 ae ; Bg Bo 

g jeg '224| = (23: | 2. [dee [fans 

2 [Sees Cts! 2 [2882] Se |peeals saz 

s wee og wh) 8 |2s 2 as @lae Ss) a gaig's 

S [eee 58e| 5 S882) 22° esleso 2 

B jefe (268) 2 SEF) (FF less |PeSeg 

SO Rai 9) eae aden oe CO rt: F< ie 
568} 150 | 37-5 | 225 | 523-0 (39 37762| 00671 | 39-57091 
567 | 15°T | 40-0 | 243 | 524-8 |59°37754| 00673 | 39°37081 
568 | 147 | 40:5 | 25-8 | 5263 [39 SVT47] OOGT1 | 59-37076 
568 | 15:5 | 40-0 | 245 | 525-0 139:57753} 00671 | 59°37082 
568} 15:5 | 400 | 245 | 525-0 [3937753] 00671 | 3937082 
Mean | 39*57032 


The pieces D and d applied. Distance from D to d, 


456°7 divisious. The word Fortin above. 


55-0") S95 G30 | 57°T | S144 139°377T9S}] UUTLS | 59°ST7089 
55:2 | 365 | 95°0 | 58:5 | 515-2 139°37795] 00705 | 39°57090 
55:2 | 35:0 | 93:0 | 570 | 513°7 |39°37801} 00705 | 3957096 
560 | 965 | 890 | 62°5 | 519:2 13937778] 00688 | 39°57090 
5460 | 23:5 | 870 | 63-5 | 520-2 [3937775] 00688 | 59-S7085 


a 


Mean 39°S7090 


5 D and d, 59°37084 
¢ ? , y Oe 
The word ‘* Méire” above .. ; C and ¢, 39°37089 


C and ¢, 39°37082 ag.an 
D and d, ie ha Gnuse 
Mean 39°37086 
Subtract for errror in division of the scale +. *—"0005 
Length of the Métre a bouts in inches of Sir G. Shuck- 39-97 
burgh’s*seaie’ 2. ht. eet sia BP AES 


}s9-97087 


| Summary of the preceding comparisons. 
| “—Porun* of 


The following is the manner in which the correction for tem- 
perature was obtained. The expansion of platina according to 
the experiments of Borda and others, is ‘00000476 parts of its 
length for one degree of Fahrenheit; and as this is the expansion 
used by the French in adjusting the length of their métre, it 
must be employed on the present occasion, The métre being 
taken at 32°, the expansion for the difference between this and 
the temperature of measurement must be subtracted from the 
apparent length of the métre. The English standard tempera- 
ture is 62°: therefore, if the temperature of measurement be un- 
der this, the expansion ofthe scale for such difference of tempe- 
rature must be deducted from the length of tle métre before ob- 
tained. These two corrections are combined in the column en- 
titled ‘* Correction for temperature.” Sir G. Shuckburgh’s stan- 
dard scale is of cast brass; and as I could not conveniently deter- 
mine its actua! expansion with that degree of accuracy that would 
have satisfied me, I have taken for it, the mean result of two ex- 

Ee2 periments 


436 On the Preservation of Seeds, the Use of Lime in 


periments made on plate brass, which gave me an expansion of 
“0000101 parts of its length for one degree of Fahrenheit. The 
mean of most of the experiments made on the expansion of brass 
gives ‘0000104, and had I employed this last number instead of 
my own, the difference in the length of the métre would have been 
utterly incousiderable. 

Supposing then both métres to be of equal authority, we have 
for the length of the métre @ traits 39°57076, and for that of the 
métre a bouts 39°37081 inches; the mean of which, 39°37079, 
may be taken for the length’ of the métre in inches of Sir G. 
Shuckburgh’s standard scale when each is brought to its proper 
temperature *. 


London, November 1817. 


© The length of the métre compared with Bird’s Parliamentary standard 
is 39-37062 inches. 


LXVI. On the Preservation of Seeds, the Use of Lime in Agri- 
culture, and former State of Cultivation in Scotland, By 
Mr. Gavin Iveuis. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — I Do not know what philosophical attention may have 
been bestowed on the self-preservation of seeds, or the appa- 
rent spontaneous evolution of indigenous plants. The subject 
is certainly interesting, and may well claim the attentive regard 
of those whose leisure and abilities may be fit for this branch of 
instructive knowledge. From the little experience and scanty 
opportunity of observation that have fallen to my lot, I can do 
nothing’ towards the elucidation of so important a research ; but 
from the memorandums of what has come within my practice, I 
shall select a few occurrences that struck me as deserving of no- 
tice, and which, although not conclusive in themselves, may still be 
of some use to others better qualified for the task. From what 
I have observed, I am very much inclined to think that seeds, 
particularly those of the oily kinds, when mixed with cold earth, 
and lying at a depth in dry soil beyond the congenial influence 
of the sun’s vivific rays, will never lose their vital atom, or ve- 
getative principle, but will remain for ever dormant, unless b 
design or accident the substratum be raised, and the seed-bed 
brought within the reach of the sun’s influence. These seeds 
must owe their incorruptibility to some self-preserving principle, 
and their dormancy to the debarred approach of the solar 
streams of light. Without admitting some such ratiocination, 
how is it possible to reconcile or account for the spontaneous 
production of the great variety of plants and flowers, apparently 
new 


Agriculture, and former State of Cultivation in Scotland. 487 


new to the spot, that mere culture calls into existence, or which the 
bare melioration of a onze waste surface, without at all disturb- 
ing the dormant subsoil, has been known to produce ? These ve~ 
getables can only have been protected from corruption, by a 
self-protecting principle inherent in previously existing seeds or 
germs, now by the hand of cultivation roused from their lethar- 
gic bed, and brought within the penetrating power of oxygenous 
light, displaying their love of life, ‘in their tenaciously contend- 
ing with, and overcoming, the utmost efforts of the cultivator to 
destroy their priority of right to unfold their beauties on their 
natal soil. 

I have known in swards whose surface to all appearance had 
lain for ages in undisturbed repose, (when broken up and the sub- 
soil turned towards the sun, and the new surface pulverised by 
the rake or the harrow,) an entire new race of vegetables in due 
time rise, take place of those now subsoiled, claim possession 
of the land of their nativity, and flourish in all the exuberant 
pride of new existence.—Lime the field, and a still greater abun- 
dance and variety will be produced. 

A flower border that had heen overrun with poppies was 
trenched down to thicken the soil, and get quit of the incum- 
bents: sixteen years after, when there was not, and had not 
been a poppy in the garden for some time,——for experiment sake: 
I retrenched the same ground, and brought back the buried 
soil to the surface, and a most plenteous blow of the strongest 
poppy and finest flower was produced. The seed of these 
plants must have lain in a quiescent state during the whole of 
that period, secluded from the life-giving rays of light, and 
secured against corruption and decay by the sheltering shield of 
nature, interposed to save her banished offspring from extinc- 
tion. 

A plot of red brocoli had been allowed to shoot, and was in 
full flower; part of the under blossom had recently dropped off, 
and the seed-pod but barely formed, when the whole was hacked 
down with the spade, and buried in digging for a new crop. 
Next season, when this ground was again turned over, the bro- 
coli leaves and stems were found completely consumed, except 
the more ligneous fibres of the roots and under stock. Ina 
short time after, I was very much surprised to observe the new 
made ground, that had received neither seed nor plant for that 
season, completely covered with a seed leaf of one uniform shade 
and appearance. Upon examination I found it was no common 
weed, but could not allow myself to suppose it was brocoli. It 
however turned out to be so, and allowing it to stand, I had the 
most abundant crop of brocoli plants; nor did the whole evolve 
the first year. The blow of brocoli continued for a succession 

Ees of 


438 On the Preservation of Seeds, the Use of Lime in 


of years, upon every subsequent turning over of the surface, 
regularly diminishing in numbers, but did not entirely disappear 
for a series of years. These plants must have been produced 
from seed of the brocoli completely fructified even in embryo, 
and while yet in flower, and in this very early stage of maturi- 
zation, having acquired all the requisite principles to preserve and 
fortify it against corruption. I am of opinion that these germs 
might have remained in a quiescent state of complete preserva- 
tion for myriads of ages, had nothing occurred to disturb their 
repose, ready to burst their fetters at any future period of the 
world, on being turned up to the vivifying light of the sun, and 
pour forth their foliage and flower in gratitude to their original 
creator and all-powerful preserver. 

I remember a cart loaded with lime, hot from the kiln, acci- 
dentally breaking down while passing through Auchmoor. Not 
to impede the road, the lime shells were removed from the cart 
and laid on a spot adjoining, closely covered with moss and short 
bushy heather. Before another cart could be procured to carry 
off the lime, a heavy shower fell, and had considerably slacked 
the shells. Notwithstanding all the care in gathering it up, a 
portion ofthe dusty mineral was unavoidably lost, and remained 
amongst the moss and roots of the heather. Subsequent rains 
washed it completely into the turf. The moss and heath were 
soon destroyed, and finally died away. The frosts of the fol- 
lowing winter opened the surface soil; succeeding thaws and 
rains washed the lime into the softened earth, dissolving and 
sinking deeper and deeper by every returning shower, till the 
lime, completely mixed and neutralized with the soil, having 
laid bare the once moss-grown and heath-covered spot, now 
gave birth to a more congenial race, which was soon seen pour- 
ing forth, and still continues to teem with an overflowing vege- 
tation of all the richest grasses of the climate, intermixed with 
native white clover of the sweetest flavour. The fresh-burnt 
lime could neither contain nor communicate the germs of this 
vegetable race. Their primitive identity must have previously 
lived in this soil, but become dormant by the germs being hid 
under the matted turf, and the all-animating rays of light and 
heat (which I am inclined to consider only separate terms for 
the same vivific substance) completely debarred and excluded 
by the thick covering of moss and heather, now removed by the 
renovating action of the mineral. 

Many of the greatest acquisitions now possessed by man, and 
improved by intelligence and industry, have been of accidental 
discovery ; and some such occurrence as the foregoing must first 
have laid open to human view the meliorating quality and great 
importance of lime to the progressive improvements in agricul- 

ture, 


Agriculture, and former State of Cultivation in Scotland. 439 


ture, which, although comparatively of very recent application 
by the present race, has certainly been of the highest utility, 
and in many districts, under intelligent management, has pro- 
duced most wonderful effects. These beneficial effects, however, 
have been chiefly confined to the earlier districts and infield 
lands. The great and incalculable results to be derived from a 
liberal application of this invaluable mineral, I am of opinion, 
have in a great measure been lost to the outfield and upland di- 
stricts, by its being far too sparingly bestowed, not excepting di- 
visions of the country where it is abundant and cheap. The 
matured improvement of these lands can only be retarded from 
the proprietors or cultivators not being sufficiently conversant 
with the great chemical changes effected by the free use of this 
corrective stimulant. To late, cold, stubborn soils, it is almost 
impossible to estimate its value or appreciate its worth, or to 
overdo such ground with quantity, provided it be duly wrought 
into and intermixed with the soil. Upon the contrary, an abun- 
dant and repeated application, with intelligent and attentive 
workings, will have the effect of creating an artificial climate, 
which never can be otherwise attained, and never will fail in ren- 
dering the spot on which it has been copiously applied, a marked 
degree earlier in all time coming than all the surrounding coun- 
try of the same stratum. Its plentiful and superabundant appli- 
cation has the effect of changing the original colour of the soil, 
from whatever may have been its primitive aspect, through all 
the various gradations of hue to the deep absorbing black, add- 
ing additional climate in every darkening shade, by communi- 
cating an increased capacity to absorb, retain and digest the 
nutrific life-disclosing rays of light, and, in due proportion as 
adding to this attractive and conducive power, deducting from 
the local altitude or latitude of the field. Hence the absurdity 
of starving the land in cold, late countries, whitening the can- 
kered steril surface with the same sparing, niggardly parsimony, 
that an old gutless miser would dust the antiquated curls of his 
great-grandfather’s musty wig, from the scanty portion of flour 
just measured out to prepare a saltless dumpling, or tasteless 
pudding, the fashionless shove-over for a stingy meal. Disap- 
pointed in what the spiriitless parsimony of the occupant con- 
siders or expected as an adequate return for the money and labour 
bestowed in this over-rated exertion, the free use of lime has 
in many instances been neglected, blaming the non-effect instead 
of the non-application of the raineral on certain soils ; whereas 
nothing was wanting but spirit and enterprise to bestow an ever- 
lasting blessing on himself and posterity by a liberal /avishmené 
on the hitherto unproductive fields, to have secured a ten-fold 
compensation in proportion to the amplitude of the donation, by 
Ee4 the 


440 New Experimenis on some of 


the return its fostering influence must have given, and adding 
to the soil a quality it never would have relinquished, and con- 
tinued yearly gratefully to repay. 

In travelling over the country, it has often most forcibly struck 
me, that Scotland must have been, at some very remote period 
of its history, under a far more extensive system of cultivation 
than it is at the present highly improved and enlightened state 
of the nation; and conducted with a knowledge and skill that 
the present incumbents are not very apt to allow their forefathers 
to have possessed. There are fields and pasture walks that bear 
strong and marked impressions of long continued cultivation, of 
which even the unprecedented prices of the late war have never 
tempted the present occupants to resume the ploughing. I am 
also of opinion, that the use of lime as a manure has been known 
to the cultivators of antiquity; not from any remains of it that 
can be traced in the soil, except the comparison of colour be- 
tween the infield and outfield land; but from the extensive ex- 
cavations of various lime rocks, which never could have been 
otherwise consumed. The royal residence, the baronial keep- 
safe, or churches and religious establishments, were the prin- 
cipal, perhaps the only architectural applications of this mineral 
in the early ages, ‘The humble vassal and dependant were lite- 
rally burrowed in the earth. But I am inclined to think that 
much of that excavation of lime must have been long before the 
commencement of ecclesiastical history, (from no monkish re- 
cords being to be found regarding this,) and when the nation 
must have been far more populous than it is at present. No 
farmer could ever be stimulated to plough and raise grain with- 
out an adequate compensation; grain could only be cultivated 
to feed and be consumed. The ploughing and consumption of 
any country must always bear a due proportion ; domestic con- 
sumption alone must have been the object, &c. 

Yours ever, 
Gavin INGLIs. 


LXVII. New Exteriments on some of the Combinations of Phos- 
phorus. By Sir H. Davy, LL.D. F.R.S. Vice Pres. R.I.* 


Ts a paper published in the Transactions of the Royal Society, 
for 1812, I have detailed a number of experiments on phospho- 
rus, from which I deduced the composition of some of its com- 
pounds with oxygen, with hydrogen,.and with chlorine. Since 
the appearance of this paper,various researches have been brought 
forward on the same subject, in which some results, differing very 


* From the Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 1818, Part I. 
much 


the Combinations of Phosphorus. 44} 


much from each other, and from mine, are stated. I ventured 
to conclude that the phosphoric acid contained double the quan- 
tity of oxygen to that in the phosphorous acid; and that phos- 
phoric acid contained about 3-5ths of its weight of oxygen. 

M. Berzelius considers the oxygen in phosphoric acid to be 
128-17, and M. Dulong, 124°5, the phosphorus being 100. M. 
Dulong and M. Berzelius suppose the quantity of oxygen in 
phosphorous acid to be to that in phosphoric acid as 3 to 5. 

The motive which immediately induced me to resume the in- 
quiry respecting the phosphoric combinations, was M. Dulong’s 
paper. This ingenious chemist has not only endeavoured to 
establish new proportions in the known compounds of phospho- 
rus, but has likewise attempted to prove the existence of two 
new acids of phosphorus; and has denied several facts which I 
considered as sufficiently established. 

The details which I have to lay before the Society in the fol- 
lowing pages, will serve to correct and fix, I hope, with tolerable 
accuracy, the proportional number or equivalent of phosphorus, 
and at the same time will show the truth of the general series 
of proportions that I assigned to its compounds. In a case 
where my conclusions differ so materially from those of M. Ber- 
zelius and Dulong, it may be supposed that I have not adopted 
them without considerable caution ; and I have preferred my own 
results to theirs, only because they have been confirmed by mi- 
nute and repeated experiments. 

I was certain from various experiments, made both long ago 
and recently, and the results of which had been confirmed by 
Mr. Brande, that the proportion of oxygen, which M. Dulong 
assigns to phosphoric acid, is considerably smaller than that de- 
noted by the combustion of small quantities of phosphorus in 
oxygen gas. I knew that minute portions of phosphuretted hy- 
drogen were separated from phosphorus by Voltaic electricity ; ; 
and it occurred to meas possible, that water might be formed in 
the combustion of phosphorus, a and separated from the phosphoric 
acid when it entered into saline and metallic combinations. To 
ascertain if this were the case, I passed phosphorus to saturation 
through red-hot lime in a green glass tube connected with a mer- 
curio-pneumatic apparatus: the combination took place with 
vivid ignition ; but no elastic fluid was produced. A portion of 
the phosphuret of lime formed, was introduced into a trav of 
platinum, and heated in a glass retort filled with oxygen gas ; ‘the 
phosphuret of lime burnt brilliantly, and became partly converted 
into phosphate of lime; but on restoring the original tempera- 
ture of the retort, there was no appearance of vapour or of mois- 
ture. 

Having examined the phosphate of lime formed in this opera- 

tion, 


442 New Experiments on some of 


tion, and satisfied myself that it was the same as that formed by 
other methods, it became evident that there were no sources of 
error in the experiments on the combustion of phosphorus in oxy- 
gen gas, arising from the formation or separation of water; and 
the only circumstance which could be urged against the accuracy 
of processes on this combustion, was the small quantity of ma- 
terials * on which they had beeu made. 

The vividness and rapidity of the combustion of phosphorus, 
renders it impossible to burn considerable quantities of phos- 
phorus in the common way in glass vessels. Phosphuret of lime 
burns much more slowly and Jess intensely. I endeavoured to 
ascertain the quantity of oxygen absorbed by a given weight of 
phosphorus converted into phosphuret of lime; but the experi- 
ment did not succeed. Though the phosphuret of lime was in 
fine powder and distributed over a large surface, yet the phos- 
phate of lime which formed and fused on the exterior, defended 
the interior of the phosphuret from the action of the oxygen, and 
prevented its combustion. 

After various unsuccessful trials to convert considerable quan- 
tities of phosphorus into phosphoric acid by combinations con- 
taining oxygen, | at last thought of a verysimple mode of burn- 
ing phosphorus, which answered perfectly. 

Phosphorus requires a considerable heat for its volatilization. 
By inclosing it in a small tube, so constructed that the phos- 
phorus cau burn in vapour only from the aperture of the tube, 
large quantities of it may be burnt by the heat of a spirit-lamp 
in a retort filled with oxygen, and the absorption of oxygen and 
the quantity of phosphoric acid formed may be minutely ascer- 
tained. 

The accompanying sketch (PI. V. fig. 1.) will give an idea of 
the apparatus. The neck of the little curved tube, or small distill- 
ing retort, after the phosphorus is introduced, is drawn out, and 
an aperture left of about1-10th of an inch; it should not be smaller, 
or it becomes choked by the phosphoric acid formed. Regu- 
lating the heat by raising or lowering the spirit-lamp, the com- 
bustion may be carried on slowly, or rapidly, at pleasure. 

Operating in this way, I have often burnt from 5 to 10 grains 
of phosphorus withous any accident, and ascertained exactly the 
quantity of oxygen absorbed : -there is only one source of error 
—a quantity of phosphorus remains in the upper part of the tube, 
which cannot be burnt except by a greater heat than the retort 


* A source of error might be suspected in carbon combined with phos- 
phorus ; but I have been convinced by experiments made on the action of 
chlorine on the phosphorus I employed, that it contained no appreciable 
quantity of carbon. I suspect that what is o'ten taken for carburet of phos- 
phorus, is in reality a red oxide. 

will 


the Combinations of Phosphorus. 443 


will bear; and it is difficult to ascertain the precise weight of this, 
as the tube always unites with some phosphoric acid where it is 
red hot at its mouth ; but this can be only a trifling source of 
error. 

In these experiments, and in all the others detailed in this 
paper, 1 received much useful assistance from Mr. Faraday of the 
Royal Institution ; and much of their value, if they shall be found 
to possess any, will be owing to his accuracy and steadiness of 
manipulation. 

Experiment 1.—Six grains of phosphorus. The small tube 
with the phosphorus weighed before the combustion 56°5 grains ; 
after the combustion 50:9 ; so that it had increased 4-10ths; and 
this increase was in great measure from phosphorus that had 
escaped combustion ; and when this was burnt out by a strong 
red heat, the increase of weight of the tube was under 1-10th: 
so that at least 5‘9 of phosphorus had been converted into acid: 
23°5 cubical inches of oxygen were absorbed: thermometer being 
at 46° Fahrenheit; barometer 29-6 inches. 

Experiment 11.—Ten grains of phosphorus. The glass tube 
containing the phosphorus weighed 103°1 grains; after the ex- 
periment 95°6 ; but much phosphorus remained unconsumed. 
After the tube had been heated to redness, it weighed 94 grains; 
so that at least 8-4 grains of phosphorus were consumed in the 
first process. ‘The absorption of gas was 34 cubical inches. 
Barometer 29°8; thermometer 47°. 

Experiment I11.—Ten grains of phosphorus. By weighing 
the tube after the experiment, and then distilling and burning 
the residual phosphorus, it was found that 9-1 grains of phos- 
phorus had been burnt, which had absorbed 35°25 cubical inches 
of oxygen. Barometer 29-7; thermometer 49° Fahrenheit. 

I give these experiments as the most accurate I have made. 
The pressure aud temperature vary so little, that the corrections 
for them are of no importance. Supposing that 100 cubical 
inches of oxygen (the barometer being between 29°8 and 29°6, 
and the thermometer between 46° and 49° Fahrenheit) weigh 
33:9 grains, phosphoric acid will be composed, according to the 
first result, of 100 phosphorus to 135 oxygen; according to the 
second, of 100 to 137-2; and according to the third, of 100 to 
131-3: the mean will be 100 to 134°5. 

The light of the phosphorus burning in vapour in these expe- 
riments was excessively bright ; yet the top of the retort never 
became softened; and the phosphoric acid, which increased the 
weight of the tube, principally combined with the glass at the 
aperture where it was red hot. I cannot but consider this pro- 
cess of burning phosphorus in the gaseous state in a great ex- 
cess of oxygen, as the most accurate mode that has yet been ~ 

vise 


444 New Experiments on some of 


vised for ascertaining the composition of phosphoric acid. In this 
instance no phosphorous acid, as | ascertained by direct trials, 
is formed form the vapour ; and no substances are concerned ex- 
cept those that actually combine. M. Dulong’s method of as- 
certainining the composition of phosphoric acid, appears to me 
much too complicated to afford any results approaching tu ac- 
curacy. He first combines copper wire with phosphorus, by 
passing phosphorus over it by means of a stream of hydrogen 
gas; he then dissolves his phosphuret of copper in nitric acid, 
and determines the quantity of phosphoric acid formed by pre- 
cipitation : in all of which processes sources of error-may exist. 

M. Berzelius’s methods of ascertaining the composition of 
phosphoric acid, that of reviving gold from its oxide by means of 
phosphorus, and that of determining the quantities of phosphate 
and muriate of silver formed from perphosphorane, or the per- 
chloride of phosphorus, appear to me still more exceptionable ; 
yet his results on the quantity of oxygen approach nearer to mine 
than those of M. Dulong. 

The facts which | endeavoured to establish respecting chlorine, 
in a paper published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1810, 
show that the proportional or equivalent volume in which chlo- 
rine combines, is to that in which oxygen combines, as 2 to 15- 
and it follows, that 10 grains of phosphorus in forming the white 
sublimate, or perchloride, ought to combine with between 76 and 
80 cubical inches of chlorine. 

In experiments that I formerly made on this subject, by ad- 
mitting chlorine to phosphorus in exhausted vessels, and asver- 
taining the absorption by introducing solution of chlorine, I over- 
rated the absorption. I did not at that time know, what I have 
since ascertained, that a solution of chlorine in water, apparently 
saturated with chlorine, by agitation with it in long narrow vessels, 
will still take up more, by exposure to a great surface of chlorine 
in larger vessels. Under all circumstances, it is difficult to gain 
very precise results in experiments on the action of phosphorus 
on chlorine. Mercury acts so rapidly upon chlorine, that it can- 
not be employed in experiments in which the absorption i is to be 
determined. When common water is used, some of the gas is 
absorbed by the water, and, the sublimate being a very volatile 
substance, its vapour always i increases the volume of the residual 
gas. Some aqueous vapour likewise, in experiments over water, 
enters with the gas, which forms a volatile hydrate, the effect of 
which is likewise to diminish the apparent absorption of chlo- 
rine. 

I have always found the absorption greatest, when I have ope- 
rated in small retorts, connected by small stop-cocks with the 
vessel containing the chlorine, over water, Making the proper 

corrections 


the Combinations of Phosphorus. 445 


corrections for the absorption by the water, the apparent absorp- 
tion has been from 35 to 38 cubical inches for every five grains 
of phosphorus. 

M. Dulong’s two methods of ascertaining the quantity of chlo- 
rine in the sublimate, appear to me at least as objectionable as 
his process for determining the composition of phosphoric acid, 
and liable to great errors: the first from the uncertainty of the 
absolute quantity of chlorine admitted; and the second, from the 
loss arising from the vapour of the sublimate, which must be 
carried off by the current of chlorine. How great a deficiency 
may originate from the last circumstance, is shown by the fol- 
lowing experiment. Five grains of phosphorus were converted 
into sublimate by chlorine in great excess, the remaining chlo- 
rine was displaced by passing common air through the vessel for 
some time, till not the slightest smell of chlorine could be per- 
ceived ; the retort was then weighed, and a current of air passed 
through it. Though this current could hardly have replaced the 
air contained in the retort, yet the loss of weight was 1-7 grain, 
and copious vapours were produced in the atmosphere. In a se- 
cond trial of the same kind, there was a greater loss of weight: 
and by barely exhausting the retort, and then again admitting 
air, there was a loss of 7-10ths of a grain. 

When chlorine is made to act upon phosphorus over mercury 
not carefully dried, some muriatic acid gas is always. formed ; 
but when the mercury has been recently boiled, no effect of this 
kind is produced, and the vapour in the gas forms a minute 
quantity of a liquid hydrate of the perchloride, which, by more 
water, is converted into muriatic and phosphoric acids, as | 
proved by some very delicate experiments 5 ; so that there is cer- 
tainly no hydrogen denoted in phosphorus by the action of 
chlorine, and in their mutual action a mere binary compound of 
the two substances is formed. 

After reflecting much upon the methods of combining chlo- 
rine and phosphorus, so as to gain correct results, it occurred to 
me, that in operating over water, and introducing a perfectly 
saturated solution of chlorine to absorb the vapour of the subli- 
mate and of its hydrate formed from the water in the chlorine, 
I should gain a result nearly correct. I made an experiment 
in this way on four grains of phosphorus, ina retort containing 
13 cubical inches. 1 ascertained the absorption, introduced 
into the retort a tube, containing about half a cubical inch of 
saturated solution of chlorine, and suffered the fluid slowly to 
act upon the sublimate, cooling the retort by immersion in 
water; I then ascertained the degree of the second absorption, 
which was nearly a cubical inch and a half. I likewise ascer- 
tained that water had its powers of dissolving chlorine dimi- 

nished, 


446 New Experiments on some of 


nished, and not increased, by uniting with phosphoric and mu- 
riatic acids, so that the apparent absorption must have been less 
than the real one. Adding the second absorption to the first, 
and making the proper corrections, the quantity of chlorine 
uniting to four grains of phosphorus was 31:9 cubical inches ; 
barometer being 30:1 inches, and thermometer 46° Fahrenheit. 

Rather a larger proportion would be given, if the correction 
for the presence of vapour had been made for some of the other 
experiments : and the result agrees exactly with the mean de- 
duced from the absorption of oxygen in the formation of phos- 
phoric acid; for, assuming that 100 cubical inches of chlorine 
weigh 76:5 grains, then the sublimate will consist of one of 
phosphorus to nearly six of chlorine; and taking the composi- 
tion of phosphoric acid from this datum, it would consist of 100 
of phosphorus and 135 of oxygen. 

To ascertain the composition of phosphorous acid, I used a 
new method, that of converting the perchloride of phosphorus, 
or perphosphorane by phosphorus, into the chloride which 
affords phosphorous acid by the action of water. This is easily 
done by heating them together in a close retort ; and it enables 
us to determine with certainty, which opinion is correct, that 
assuming the oxygen in phosphorous acid to be three, or that 
which supposes: it to be 25, the oxygen in phosphoric acid 
being five. 

Five grains of phosphorus were converted into perchloride in 
a small retort of the capacity of six cubical inches: it was neces- 
sary toexhaust this retort twice, to remove the residual common 
air mixed with the chlorine, and some perchloride must have 
been lost during this process. A small quantity of chlorine, 
which could have been little more than sufficient to compensate 
for the loss, remained in the retort. Five grains of phosphorus 
were introduced, and the retort suffered to remain filled, prin- 
cipally with common air; heat was very slowly applied ; all the 
phosphorus, except an atom not so big as the head of a small 
pin, disappeared, and a little of the sublimate still remained, 
when the retort burst from the expansion of the vapour of the 
new chloride formed; but the chloride found on the fragments 
was pure, aud held no phosphorus in solution. 

A second experiment was made in a retort of the capacity of 
11 cubical inches. Five grains of phosphorus were converted 
into perchloride: the retort was twice completely exhausted, by 
which at least a grain and a half or two grains of perchloride 
must have been lost. Five grains of phosphorus were intro- 
duced ; alittle of the sublimate was lost by falling into the stop- 
cock of the retort; yet the conversion of the phosphorus by 
heat into the liquor was almost complete; there remained only 

a minute 


the Combinations of Phosphorus. 447 


a minute fragment. In this experiment, however, the liquor 
held phosphorus in solution. When this phosphorus was pre- 
cipitated by water, and obtained with the fragment by sublima- 
tion in a small glass tube, it did not equal 7-10ths of a grain, 
and was no more than could be expected from the loss of the 
sublimate. 

These two experiments prove distinctly that the oxygen in 
phosphorous acid is half that in phosphoric acid; for if the 
proportion had been that which M. Dulong and M. Berzelius 
indicate, 1-67 grains of phosphorus, at least, ought to have 
remained after the action of the sublimate. 

A coilateral experiment was made. 32:7 grains of the fluid 
chloride, made by passing phosphorus through corrosive subli- 
mate in great excess, were acted on by water, and precipitated 
by nitrate of silver; the precipitate was immediately separated 
fromthe fluid, after it had been greatly diluted with distilled 
water. Distilled water was then repeatedly passed through it, 
and it was dried and fused, when it weighed 98-4 grains ; which, 
allowing 24-5 per cent. of chlorine in horn silver, would give 
the composition of the fluid chloride as 24-108 of chlorine, and 
8:592 of phosphorus. 

The comparative quantity of precipitate in this experiment 
was so much less than I had found in « former experiment, that, 
notwithstanding the care with which the process had been con- 
ducted, I resolved to make some more experiments of the same 
kind. In the first, in which the decomposition by water was 
made in a small bottle, from which no vapour could escape, and 
in which I superintended the weighing and drying of the horn 
silver formed, with the greatest care, 18:4 of the liquid chlo- 
ride afforded only 54:5 of chloride of silver, which agrees as 
nearly as could be expected with the former experiment. In two 
other experiments, made with equal care, and in which the 
liquid was poured into a solution of nitrate of silver, six grains 
gave 17:1 of horn silver, and 29°4 gave 89°9 of fused horn 
silver. 

In examining minutely the circumstances of the action of the 
liquid chloride, or solutions containing phosphorous and muria- 
tic acids, or nitrate of silver, I found no difficulty in explaining 
the cause of the error in the former experiments. Phosphorous 
acid acts upon nitrate of silver, and more rapidly in proportion 
to its concentration, and gradually produces a copious precipi- 
‘tate from it; so that if there be an excess of nitrate of silver, 
and the precipitate be not immediately separated from the solu- 
tion, there is always a considerable increase of weight, M. 
Dulong, and M. Berzelius, whose experiments agree with my 
former ones, may have been misled by a precipitation from the 

nitrate 


448 | New Experiments on some of 


nitrate of silver by phosphorous acid, as I am sure I was. M. 
Berzelius does not state how he prepared his liquid chloride of 
phosphorus ; but M. Dulong, who objects to my process by cor- 
rosive sublimate, and employs, instead of it, the action of 
chlorine on phosphorus in forming his fluid, must have been 
exposed to other sources of error, “He speaks of acting on dry 
phosphorus by dry chlorine ; but it must be always extremely 
difficult to free a gas that cannot be kept over mercury, of all 
its vapour; and as perchloride always forms during the action of 
phosphorus on chlorine, a part of which produces a fluid, and 
easily volatile hydrate with water, and soluble in 11 proportions 
in the liquid chloride, this precess must be very liable to error. 
I have never been able to form the perchloride, even from chlo- 
rine slowly passed through muriate of lime, without producing 
a small quantity of liquid hydrate of perchloride, which, when 
the solid perchloride was converted into liquid by more phospho- 
rus, rose in vapour with it, and which, containing nearly a 
double quantity of chlorine, (for the water forms a very small 
part of it,) occasions the precipitation of a much larger quan- 
tity of horn silver than the pure chloride formed from corrosive 
sublimate. 

These various experiments on the combination of phosphorus 
with oxygen and chlorine, sufficiently agree with each other to 
afford the means of determining the proportion in which phos- 
phorus combines with other bodies, or its equivalent number 
considered as an element. 

If the absorption of oxygen be considered as offering the 
data, and phosphoric acid be supposed to consist of two propor- 
tions of oxygen, and one of phosphorus, the number repre- 
senting the proportion in which phosphorus combines, will be 
22:3. If phosphoric acid be considered as consisting of four 
proportions of oxygen, the proportional number or equivalent 
of phosphorus will be 44°6. 

If the absorption of chlovine in forming phosphorane he made 
the datum, the number will be the same, 222, or the double, 
44:4, If the quantity of horn silver formed from the liquid 
chloride, taking the mean of all the experiments, be assumed as 
the datum, the number would be 23°5, or the double 47: the 
mean of all these proportions is 22°6, or the double 45°25; or 
taking away decimals, 45. 

In referring to the analyses which have been made of the dif- 
ferent combinations of phosphoric acid, for the purpose of ascer- 
taining if they correspond with this number, I found the data 
so uncertain and so discordant, that it was impossible to form 
any conclusions from them. The phosphate of soda, as is well 
known, has alkaline properties; yet, according to M. Berzelius, 

it 


the Combinations of Phosphorus. 449 


it contains but 17°67 of soda to 20°33 of acid; whereas it 
ought to contain, according to the proportion indicated by my 
experiments, (ifneutral,) nearly an equal weight of soda. M. Ber- 
zelius mentions several combinations of baryta and lime with 
phosphoric acid, of which only two approach to a correspond- 
ence with the number | have given for phosphorus; that con- 
taining 45-5 of acid to 48°7 of lime; and that containing 39°1 
of acid to 60-8 of barytes. New researches are required to 
explain the anomalies presented by the phosphates. 

I shall give three experiments on the quantity of hydrate of 
potassa necessary for saturating given quantities of phosphoric 
acid made from given weights of phosphorus. 

Eighteen grains of phosphorus converted into phosphoric acid 
by combustion in oxygen, required for its saturation 47 grains of 
dry hydrate of potassa. 

5-7 grains of phosphorus converted into acid, required 14*7 
of hydrate of potassa. 

Five grains of phosphorus converted into perchloride, de- 
manded, to produce perfect neutralization, 65 grains of hydrate 
_ of potassa. 

These three experiments agree so well with each other, and 
with the proportionate number gained from the absorption of 
chlorine and oxygen by phosphorus, that it is impossible not to 
put confidence in them. 

If 13:1 be considered as the quantity of hydrate of potassa 
required to neutralize the phosphoric acid formed in the last ex- 
periment, and the 54-9 of hydrate remaining, be supposed to 
contain 43 grains of potassa, then the chlorine required to expel 
the oxygen from the potassa would be rather more than 40 cu- 
bical inches. 

We owe to the ingenuity of M. Dulong the discovery of an 
acid, which he names the hypophosphorous acid, and which he 
supposes to contain half the quantity of oxygen in the phospho- 
rous acid. I have satisfied myself as to the correctness of his 
views respecting the existence of this acid, and the properties 
of its compounds; but T cannot regard the method he has 
adopted for its analysis as entitled to confidence. He takesa 
given quantity of hypophosphite of soda, acts upon this by 
chlorine, converts the excess of chlorine into muriatic acid, pre- 
cipitates by nitrate of silver and earthy salts, and from the com- 
parison of all these data, in which some substances of uncertain 
composition may be concerned, draws his conclusions. 

I have found that the neutral hypophosphite of barytes, when 
acted on by heat in close vessels, is converted into acid phos- 
phate of barytes, disengaging an elastic fluid, which is almost 

Vol. 52. No.248, Dec. 1518. Ff entirely 


450 . New Experiments on some of 


entirely the hydrophosphoric gas, or phosphuretted hydrogen 
saturated with phosphorus. I say almost entirely, because in 
the beginning of the process, a little gas spontaneously inflam- 
mahle is produced, and a minute quantity of moisture appears : 
and when the heat is raised to redness, a very little phosphorus 
is produced, probably from the decomposition of a part of the 
phosphoric gas. Now supposing the quantity of phosphoric acid 
in phosphate of baryta known, and the quantity of phosphorus 
in phosphuretted hy drogen known ; it is very.easy, from an ac- 
curate experiment on the decomposition of the hypophosphite of 
baryta, to learn the composition of hypophosphorous acid. 

I made two experiments on this subject ; in one, 50 grains of 
dry hy pophosphite of barytes were used, and the distillation con- 
ducted in a small glass tube. About 23-25 cubical inches of 
gas were produced. The loss of weight of the apparatus could 
not be ascertained, as unluckily a little of the phosphate was 
lost ; asmall portion of phosphorus was deposited in the upper 
part of the tube, from the decomposition of a minute quantity 
of the bi-phosphuretted gas; but this could not have equalled 
the 4-10ths of a grain, as the tube only lost 4-10ths by being 
heated to whiteness. 

In the second experiment, 29 grains of the hypophosphite 
were used, and the Joss of weight only ascertained, which was 
3°5 grains. To be able to form any opinion as to the compo- 
sition of the hypophosphorous acid, it was necessary to ascer- 
tain the composition of the phosphate of baryta produced i in 
these experiments ; which was easily done by precipitating a 
given quantity of the hypophosphite of barytes by sulphate of 
soda in solution. Fifteen grains of hypophosphite of barytes, 
in an experiment very carefully made, afforded 11:3 of sulphate 
of barytes. Now, supposing this sulphate of barytes to contain 
7-4 of baryta, the hypophosphite would consist of 7*4 of ba- 
ryta, and 7°6 of hypophosphorous acid; and 13:1 of the acid 
phosphate of baryta, formed from its decomposition, would 
contain 5-7 phosphoric acid, and 7°4 baryta. And in the expe- 
riment in which 29 grains of hypophosphite of baryta were de- 
composed, supposing the whole loss of weight to be owing to 
perphosphuretted hydrogen given off, and this gas to be com- 
posed of 22:5 of phosphorus to 4 of hydrogen, or of 5°29 hy- 
drogen to 29-76 phosphorus, and the 25:5 of acid phosphate 
remaining composed of 14:47 baryta nearly, and 11°03 phos- 
phoric acid, adding the 29°76 of phospbaray to the 4°72 in the 
phosphoric acid, and subtracting 39, the quantity of oxygen 
required to form water with the 5: 24. of hydrogen, the hypo- 
phosphorous acid may be conceived to be composed of 7°69 

phosphorus, 


the Combinations of Phosphorus. 451 


phosphorus, and 2°54, which denotes rather less than half the 
oxygen in phosphorous acid: i. e. as 7°43 to 1*5, an approxi- 
mation nearer than could have been expected. 

Assuming the composition of the phosphuretted gas to be 
what is Stated in the preceding page, which agrees very nearly 
with an experiment which I formerly made, the first experiment 
on the quantity of gas disengaged would give a proportion of 
oxygen rather less than that which has been Just calculated 
upon ; but it must be remembered, that a certain quantity of 
common phosphuretted hydrogen is produced, which contain- 
ing less hydrogen in a given volume, would sufficiently explain 
the difference of result. 

M. Dulong has advanced an ingenious opinion, that the hy- 
pophosphorous acid may be considered as a triple compound of 
hydrogen, oxygen, and phosphorus. There is another view 
which may be taken of its composition, namely, that it may be 
a compound of phosphoric acid and perphosphuretted hydrogen. 
Phosphuretted hydrogen, as may be deduced from some expe- 
riments of M. Dulong, has the properties of a very weak alkali ; 
and when expelled from the neutral hypophosphites, they be- 
come acid. This view agrees very well with the equivalent, or 
proportional numbers, which represent phosphoric acid and 
phosphuretted hydrogen. If it be adopted, the hypophosphites. 
must be considered as triple compounds, analogous to the salts 
containing fixed alkali and earths, or ammonia and earths com- 
bined with acids. 

M. Dulong imagines that the acid formed by the slow com- 
bustion of phosphorus in the air, and which I have supposed to 
be a mixture of phosphorus and phosphoric acids, is a peculiar 
acid, a chemical compound of phosphorous and phosphoric acids, 
which he names phosphatic acid. I cannot say that his argu- 
ments give much probability to this opinion. This substance 
has no crystalline form, no marked character which distinguishes 
it from a mere mixture of phosphorous and phosphoric acids ; 
and as far as my experiments have gone, it is far from uniform 
in its composition ; and phosphorous and phosphoric acids mixed 
together, produce a substance of exactly the same kind. 

That a mixture of phosphorous and phosphoric acids should 
be produced by the slow combustion of phosphorus, is not sur- 
prising, when it is considered that this phenomenon is connected 
with different chemical processes, viz. the action of the vapour 
of phosphorus upon air, the action of solid phosphorus upon the 
elastic atmosphere, and upon the air dissolved in the moisture 
attracted by the acids formed; and, unless vapour be present in 
the air, the process of the slow conversion.of phosphorus into 
acids soon stops. 

‘ Ff2 1 have 


452 New Experiments on some of 


I have mentioned in the paper to which I have referred, in 
the beginning of this communication, that the hydrophospho- 
rous acid is decomposed by heat; and that phosphoric acid, and 
perphosphuretted hydrogen are the results. In examining the 
nature of the phosphoric acid formed, I find that it contains 
water, so that it is a hydrated phosphoric acid. In carefully 
conducting the experiment, I find likewise, that a small propor- 
tion of water is given off with the perphosphuretted gas. I shall 
give the results of an experiment: 17°5 grains of hydrophos- 
phorous acid were decomposed by heat in a small glass retort 

carefully weighed; 6°5 cubical inches of elastic fluid were gene- 
rated, and the loss of the retort was four grains. ‘Now, if it be 
assumed that the hydrate of phosphoric acid * remaining equalled 
13-5 grains, and that it contained, according to the law of de- 
finite proportions, 1-88 of water, and that the bi-phosphuretted 
gas weighed 1°937, and consisted of 1°6446 phosphorus, and 
2924 hydrogen; then the oxygen in the phosphorous acid will 
be to the phosphorus as 44 to 66, which is as near a result as 
can be expected. 

For 4 proportions of phosphorous 

acid are .. .. «. «. 300 or the double 150 

Bnd LOVE Waren ke lee ya LEU or _ 85 

which together amountto .. 470 or 239 


- which form 3 proportions of phosphoric acid 315 or 157+5 
with 3 of water toformthe hydrate ..  .. 91 or 25°5 
366 183-0 
4 of water decomposed, of which the hydrogen 
is 8, to form with 45 of phosphorus phos- 
phuretted hydrogen .. 0 6. 2.0 0. oe 8 or! 265 
2 of ‘water given OP ero Oe we pe, Gehan MAS 


LATE Sata te ie AR A Neh eh ge i STE ie 

I have no doubt that the acid which I used formerly was drier 
than the acid employed in this experiment, which will account 
for the difference of the result. Supposing a hydrophosphorous 
acid could be procured, containing only the quantity of water 
sufficient to convert it into dry phosphoric acid, it would consist, 
as I have stated in my former paper on phosphorus, of four pro- 
portions of water, and four proportions of phosphorous acid. 

I have adopted throughout the whole of these calculations, 
the supposition that the hydrogen in water is to the oxygen as 
2to 15: and consequently I have taken the number represent- 
ing oxygen as 15, which is extremely convenient, as the mul- 
tiples are simple, 80, 45, 60, &c. Taking the proportion of 

* I proved it to be a hydrate by heating it with magnesia, when abun- 
dance of water was given off from it. 


phosphoric 


the Combinations of Phosphorus. 453 


phosphoric acid in phosphate of potassa, which may be de- 
duced from the experiments, page 449, it appears more conve- 
nient to represent the proportional number, or equivalent of 
phosphorus, by 45, or 45°2, than by 22°, or 22-6, which gives 
facility in adopting either hypothesis of the composition of hy- 
pophosphorous acid. If it be supposed a simple compound of 
oxygen and phosphorus, the series of proportions in the acids of 
phosphorus will be 


Hypophosphorous acid, Phosphorus. 45 Oxygen 15 
Ebesphorous,acid,.:. 0, sia) iae oo Oxygen 30 
TAM PROUIC ACI ro. 504, Fe a), pee te Oxygen 60 


acid 263... Phosphuretted Hydrogen | prop. 53 

I shall conclude this paper by a few incidental observations on 
the compounds of phosphorus. 

M. Dulong states that no phosphorous acid is formed when. 
phosphorus is burnt in excess of oxygen or atmospheric air ; as, . 
he says, [ have asserted. I cannot find that I have any where: 
made such an assertion 5 but notwithstanding what M, ‘Dulong 
pretends, the assertion is true, as the following experiment will 
prove. Half a grain of phosphorus was set fire to in a retort 
containing 16 cubical inches of common air; the acid products 
were washed with distilled water, and passed through a filter, and 
evaporated. When the acid became nearly dry, small globules 
of phosphuretted hydrogen were disengaged from it, indicating 
the presence of phosphorous acid. The experiment was repeated 
two or three times, care being taken to separate the red powder 
which has been considered as an oxide of phosphorus, and al- 
ways with the same result. 

Whenever phosphorus is inflamed, and suffered to become 
extinguished in oxygen gas in excess, unless the produet is 
strongly heated after the spontaneous combustion is over, an 
acid, of which the hydrate produces phosphuretted hydrogen by 
heat, is always found in the products; and this acid is probably 
produced by the action of the solid phosphorus on the phospho- 
ri¢acid in contact with it. This fact, and the circumstance, 
that much phosphorous acid is produced by the combustion of 
phosphorus in rare air, renders it almost certain that the.phos- 
phorous acid is a direct combination of phosphorus and oxygen, 
and destroys an idea which might otherwise be formed from the 
phenomena of the decomposition of its hydrate, namely, that 
it is a compound of three proportions of phosphoric acid, and 
one of phosphuretted hydrogen. 

M. Dulong and M. Berzelius speak of freeing phosphorane, 
or the liquid chloride of phosphorus, from phosphorus, by di- 
stillation. In experiments made in the laboratory of the Royal 

f 3 Institution, 


or hypophosphorous ¢ Phosphoric acid 2 proportions 210) 


454 Comparison between the Chords of Arcs 


Institution, in which it has been twice carefully distilled at a low 
heat, it has still contained minute quantities of phosphorus. 

It has been supposed that dry phosphoric acid is fixed at a 
white heat ; but I find that this is not the case: it rapidly rises 
in vapour at this temperature, and evaporates even at the point 
of fusion of flint glass: and the hydrate of phosphoric acid is 
susceptible of being volatilized at a much lower temperature. 


In converting the solid sublimate composed of phosphorus , 


and chlorine into the liquid compound, When the phosphorus is 
first used in contact with the sublimate, a yellow crystalline mass 
is formed, which, when acted on by a higher degree of heat, 
affords the liquid chloride, which rises from it in vapour, and 
leaves phosphorus behind. It is possible that this yellow solid 


is a compound of phosphorus and chlorine, containing half asmuch. 


chlorine as the liquid. Should this be proved to be the case by 
future exeriments, it will give weight to the idea, that the hypo- 
phosphorous acid is a binary compound of oxygen and phosphorus. 


LXVIII. Comparison between the Chords of Arcs employed by 


ProLemy and ihose now in Use. By G.A.WALKER ARNOTT, 
A.M. Edinburgh. 
To Mr. Tilloch. 

Sir, — Ix a late elegant publication (The Philosophy of Arith- 
metic), it is stated that the ratio of 1 to3-1416, or of the dia- 
meter to the circumference of a circle, must have been almost 
known to Claudius Ptolemy. This celebrated philosopher and 
mathematician, and first of ancient astronomers, left behind 
him, in the third book of his Almagest, a table of the chords 
of the arcs of the circle, calculated in sexagesimals to every 30’ 
or half-degree, and which are found to coincide with those in 
the trigonometrical tables we at present employ, with a much 
more considerable degree of exactness than could reasonably be 
looked for from the small advances made at that time in this sub- 
ject. It is therefore my purpose here to exhibit a table of com- 
parison between these, the insertion of which in your Magazine 
may gratify such of the curious as may not have seen the work 
itself of this distinguished man. 

The first column contains the chords of every two degrees of 
the semicircle, as calculated by Ptolemy in sexagesimals. In 
the second column are the same chords converted into sexagesi- 
mals from our common decimal tables: and here I may add, 
that that number is taken, nearest to which, either above or be- 
low, the true number approaches, when extended to thirds, 
fourths, &c. of the radius.. In the third are Ptolemy’s calcula- 
tions turned into decimals; and in the fowrth we have an ex- 

tract 


employed ly Ptolemy and those now in Use. 455 


tract from the trigonometrical tables now in use.—Before in- 
serting the table, we may borrow the following example for the 
purpose of showing how near Ptolemy approached to our cus- 
tomary ratio of 1:3:1416: the chord of 2° in sexagesimals to 
radius £ or 60° is 6 ¢ wz or 2° 5’ 40", which in decimals is nearly 


-034907 to radius 1, and this multiplied by = = 90 gives 


3-1416 nearly : now as the chord of 2° is almost the measure of 
its are, the above number may be taken as the length of the 
semicircumference. 

Edinburgh, 12th November 1818. 


2° 5' 40" 9° 5! 303" 
4 11 16 4 11 163 
6 16 49 6 106 49 


“0349074 | °0349048 
‘0697903 | °0697990 
-10467 13 -1046720 
"1395139 | ‘1395130 
"1743148 | °1743114 
2090555 | *2090570 
2437361 *2437386 
2783472 | °*2783462 
*3128657 | °3128090 
| *3472963 "3472004 
22 53 49 | 22 53 4yz | °3816157 *3810180 
*41§S261 | °4158234 
4498981 | “4498024 


; 29 1.50). 29 1,50 4838426 | ‘4838438 
3L 3.30| 31 3 30 5176389 | °5176380 

33 435 | 33 4 35 *5512731 | °5512748 

35 5 5\ 35 5 44 | °5847454 | 5847434 

37 455 | 37 455 -6180324 | °6180340 

39 4 5| 39 4 53 | °6511343 “6511364 

41 233] 41 2 33 ‘6840417 | °6840402 

Az OL), 4B (Oy 35 *7167301 | °7167358 


7492130 | *7492132 
“7814630 | *7814622 
8134722 | °8134732 
"8452301 | «8452360 
*8767407 | °8707422 
‘9079815 | °9079810 
9389444 | “9380432 
-9696204 | ,9696192 
1:0000000 | 1 OOOGO00 
10300787 | 1°0300762 
1:0598426 | 1:0598386 
1'0892778 | 1:0892780- 
1'1183889 | 111183853 
171471528 |} 171471528 
11755694 | 1°1755706 


72 ASA IDALS, & 1'2036296 | 1°2030300 
73 52 46| 73 52 46 1°2313¢61 | 1°2313230 
75 31 7| 75 81 6% | 1:2586435 | 1:2586408 


4 F 


6 


On the Chords of Ares. 


1°2855787 
1°3121204 
1°3382639 
1:3640000 
13893194 
1°4142130 
1:4386806 
14627083 
1°4802917 
1°5094213 
1°5320926 
1°5542917 
1'5760231 
1°5972731 
1°6180370 
1'6383056 
1'6580787 
1°6773426 
16960972 
1°71433S80 
17320509 
1°7492407 
1'7658981 
1°7820139 
1 7975920 
18126157 
1°8270926 
1°8410139 
1°8543704 
1°8671620 
1°8793889 
1°8910370 
1°9021157 
19126111 
1°9225278 
1°9318519 
1°9405926 
19487407 
1°9562963 
19632546 
1-9696157 
1:9753790 
9805370 
1°9850926 
1°9890463 
1'9923935 
14951343 
1°9972639 
1:9987870 
19996991 
2°0000000 


1°2855752 
13121180 
1°3382612 
1*3639968 
1°3893 168 
14142136 
1:4386796 
1°4627074 
14862896 
1°5094192 
1°5320888 
1°5542920 
1°5760216 
1°5972710 
1:6180340 
1*638040 

1:6580752 
1:6773412 
1°6960962 
1'7143340 
1:7320508 
1°7492394 
1-7658952 
17820130 
1°7975880 
1°8126156 
18270910 
1°84 10098 
1:8543678 
1:8671608 
1°8793852 
1°8910372 
1:9021130 
1:9126096 
19225234 
1°9318516 
1°9405914 
1:9487402 
1°9562952 
1°9632544 
1 gCg61506 
1:97537606 
1-g805362 
1:9850924 
1°g8g0438 
19023894 
1:9951282 
1°9972590 
1:9987816 
19995954 
20000000 


{ 457 ] 


LXIX. On the Structure of the poisonous Fangs of Serpents. 
By Tuomas Smirn, £sq. F. R.S.* 


Waren the poisonous fangs of serpents are attentively ex- 
amined, a slit or suture may be observed extending along the 
convex side, from the foramen at the base to the aperture near 
the point. (Plate V. A.B. C.D.) This isa consequence of an 
unusual, and hitherto, I believe, entirely unnoticed structure, 
resulting from the mode of formation of the tube through which 
the poison flows. 

My attention was called to this structure, by having lately 
received from my friend Mr. Herbert Ryder, the assay master 
to the mint at Madras, the bones of the’skull of a cobra de ca- 
pello. I had some years since noticed the slit running along 
the convex side of the fang, in making a preparation of the head 
of the common viper of this country, in which it is distinctly 
seen when magnified ; nevertheless, it seems to have been over- 
looked by all the numerous authors who have written upon the 
subject of the venomous fangs of the viper, and who, as far as 
structure is concerned, do not appear to have advanced beyond 
Pliny, to whom, and even anterior to whose time, the circum- 
stance of their being tubular was well known. 

All teeth being formed irom a pulp, which has the shape that 
the tooth itself is destined to retain, it has probably been ima- 
gined that the tube of the‘ poisonous fangs of serpents was pro- 
duced by a perforation. passing through the pulp; this is not, 
however, the case, the tube being completely external, and 
formed by a deep longitudinal depression on the surface of the 
pulp. 

In order to render this more clear, I must here observe that 
a slight longitudinal furrow, or depression, is to he seen on all 
the teeth of the cobra de capello; on those which are nearest 
to the poisonous fangs it is most evident, and occupies the con- 
vex side of their curvature; it however is confined entirely to 
the parietes of the tooth, and does not at all affect the form of 
its cavity. 

But in the poisonous fangs, this depression is sunk deep into 
the substance of the tooth, and occupies a portion of the space, 
which in the others is allotted to the cavity which contains that 
part of the pulp which remains when the tooth is completely 
formed; and the edges of the depression being brought together 
along the greater part of the tooth, form the slit or suture that 
I have before described, but, being kept at a distance at both 
extremities, there results a foramen at the base and at the apex. 


* From the Transactions of the Royal Society for 1818, Part I. 


That 


458 - On the Structure of 


That this is a correct view of the mode in which the poisonous 
tube is formed, receives additional support from what I have 
observed ina species of the genus hydrus of Schneider. In this 
serpent, as in many others nearly allied to it (les hydres of 
M. Cuvier), there are simple teeth on the same bone which sup- 
ports the poisonous fangs. These teeth so much resemble the 
fangs, that it requires a very close investigation to distinguish 
between them; and this arises from the simple tooth having not 
only a longitudinal furrow exactly resembling the edges of the slit 
of the poisonous fang, but also a very visible cavity at the base, 
where the foramen occurs in the others; and I have even found 
a fine tube in a tooth of this sort; it was however confined to 
the parietes, and did not affect the cavity of the tooth. 

To this gradation from a slight superficial furrow to a deep 
depression, may be added the fact, that no traces of either are 
observable in the teeth of those serpents which are not armed 
with venomous fangs: this I found to be the case in a large 
species of boa. 

As a consequence of the structure that I have described, if a 
horizontal section be made of a poisonous fang, in which the 
edges of the longitudinak depression are rounded, we shall have a 
cylindrical cavity (the poison tube) nearly surrounded by a semi- 
lunar one (the cavity which contains tae pulp). This is shown 
in the annexed drawings of the fangs of the cobra de capello.— 
(PLV EP Gye.) 


If, however, the edges of the depression should be angular (as ~ 


in the rattle-snake), the horizontal section shows a figure some- 
what different, the poison tube being more completely surrounded 
by the cavity which contains the pulp. This is shown in the 
drawing by the seetion of a fang of an unknown species of serpent, 
which has exactly the same form as that of the rattle-snake, but 
is twice as large. (PI. V. I. K.) 

In sections taken at different parts of the fang, the proportions 
between the poison tube and the cavity which contains the pulp 
will be different; the latter greatly increasing towards the base 
of the tooth; and near the apex the poison tube only will be 
seen, the fang at that part being solid. In a section also of a 
completely formed fang, the poison tube, at its anterior part, 
will be closely invested by the thickened parietes of the cavity 
which contains the pulp; this cavity however is never obliterated, 
but exists in all the teeth of serpents, even when they have ar- 
rived at their full growth. 

In the fangs, when completely formed, the edges of the slit, 
or suture, are frequently soldered together; when they are an- 
gular, so large a surface comes in contact, that they appear to be 
united by bony matter; in the cobra de capello, where they are 

rounded, 


the poisonous Fangs of Serpents. 459 


rounded, though in very close contact, they do not cohere. In 
the viper, the slit seems filled up by the enamel, which being 
nearly transparent, a bristle in the poison tube may be seen 
through it, and causes an appearance as if the slit was open. 

In the first case, therefore, there is no channel observable on 
the exterior of the tooth; the line of junction, however, of the 
edges of the slit is very distinctly marked: in the cobra de ca- 
pello there is an external furrow from the foramen of the base to 
that of the apex, owing to the edges of the slit being rounded ; 
the same is the case in those species of Aydrus that 1 have ex- 
amined. 

T should observe, that the poison tube is not coated with ena- 
mel; for the membrane or capsule in which the tooth is formed, 
and from the inner surface of which it is well known that the 
enamel is deposited, does not pass between the edges of the slit 
into the poison tube: as, however, it passes over the slit, it will 
cover it with enamel, and in some cases, by that meaus alone, the 
edges become soldered together. : 

As some excuse for the errors which may be found in this pa- 
per, I must observe, that many of my observations have been 
confined to small teeth of a species of hydrus, which I was there- 
fore obliged to dissect under the microscope. 

I have to thank Sir Everard Home fer the great interest that 
he has taken in the object of my inquiry, and for the assistance 
which he has afforded me; on the value of which it would be 
needless to enlarge before the members of this Society. 

The drawings annexed to the paper will sufficiently attest my - 
obligations to Mr. Clift. I owe much to him, in addition, for the 
zeal with which he exhibited to me every thing in the Museum 
of which he has the custody, that was likely to promote my views, 
and for information upon several points, which was required in 
the progress of the investigation. 


Description of Plate V. 

a, b, c,d, ave representations of the poisonous fangs of the 
cobra de capello, in four stages of their growth. 

A, B, C, D, are magnified representations of the same. 

A, is a full-grown fang firmly fixed to the bone. 

B, is not quite perfect, the lower part of the foramen at the 
base not being yet formed. 

C, in this a very small part of the foramen is formed. 

D, the part of the tooth above the foramen alone appears. 

B, F, G, are end-views of B, C, D, showing the poison tube 
nearly surrounded by the cavity which contains the pulp, and the 
proportions between them, at three different parts of the tooth. 

H, a section made by sawing the full-grown fang A, just oun 

the 


460 On the received Theory of Heat. 


the lower foramen, showing the rounded edges of the slit, which 
consequently leave a slight channel along the tooth. 

I, IX, magnified representations of sections of the fangs of an 
unknown species of serpent, which have exactly the same form 
as those of the rattle-snake. 

I, is a section of a young fang taken about the middle: in this 
stage of growth, the cavity which contains the pulp almost en- 
tirely surrounds the poison tube; and the edges of the depres- 
sion which form the suture are seen to be angular, and present 
so large a surface to each other, that the suture is completely 
filled up even in this early stage of growth. 

Kx, is a section of a full-grown fang of the same species of ser- 
pent at the same part as the preceding. Here the cavity of the 
pulp is seen greatly contracted from the more advanced stage of 
growth. 


LXX. On the received Theory of Heat. By A Correspon- 
DENT. 


To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — Ix addition to my hasty remarks (in your October Num- 
ber) I think that heat is only the effect of a decomposing prin- 
ciple circulated from, or sympathetic with, the sun, because of 
its peculiar activity when immediately under it, and its indolence 
when out of its presence, except when collected in the form of 
combustion, electricity, galvanism, or lightning, &c. It then 
shows an appearance corresponding with the matter it is com- 
pounded with, and disorganizes any substance in proportion to 
the purity, quantity and rapidity of its application to it. Com- 
bustion is perhaps maintained by the flowing in of the decom- 
posing principle from the adjoining air, and lightning an acci- 
dental mass bursting to a natural distribution, and violently dis- 
uniting the component parts of the atmosphere, upon whose Junc- 
tion meteoric stones may be formed from the half-melted mate- 
rials. On the equator this influence is the most regular and ef- 
fective—raising befor the sun a prodigious increase of atmosphere 
out of earth, water, &c. forcing by expansion a current of air 
from it, which being resisted (in degree) by a more dense atmo- 
sphere, produces a ‘Teaction upon the surface of the earth, and 
thereby a constant revolution towards the sun. If elementary 
heat. was the cause of this, T think our atmosphere would be 
wholly condensed before it reached the icy regions; its heat would 
be entirely withdrawn, and the matter it is composed of descend 
to the earth in particular latitudes. In the case of insensible 


perspiration in plants and animals, we perceive a decomposition 
of 


Notices respecting New Books. 461 


of water (at least), whose place is supplied by the substance im- 
mediately under it, communicating a continuance and succes- 
sion of motion and sensation called heat throughout the system. > 
When an organ in the human frame is much debilitated, a blister 
or sudden decomposition on the surface is often more efficaciously 
invigorating to what is beneath it, than internal medicine—from 
the latter being only a spur to an already jaded animal, and giv- 
ing dangerous kicks to its neighbouring organs ; while the for- 
mer is a happier imitation of natural stimulus. I conclude there- 
fore with venturing to submit that heat is an effect of disor- 
ganization, and not an elementary principle. 
I am, sir, very respectfully, yours, &c. 
Claughton-House, Lancaster, S.S. 
Nov. 17, 1818. 

P.S. As we recede from the equator or ecliptic, the decom- 
posing principle acts with less energy ; therefore the atmosphere 
contains less earthy matter; so that what is lightning in a dense 
atmosphere may rationally be aurora borealis at the poles. 


LXXI. Notices respecting New Books. 


Tue Transactions of the Royal Society, Part II. for 1818, just 
published, contain: 

XIV. On the Parallax of certain fixed Stars. By the Rev. John 
Brinkley, D.D. F.R.S. and Andrews Professor of Astronomy in 
the University of Dublin—XV. On the Urinary Organs andS Se- 
cretions of some of the Amphibia. By John Davy, M.D.F.R.S 
Communicated by the Society for the Improvement of Animal 
Chemistry —XVI.—On a Mal-conformation of the Uterine Sy- 
stem in Women; and on some physiological Conclusions to be 
derived from it. Tn a Letter to Sir Everard Home, Bart. V.P.R.S 
from A. B. Granville, M.D. F.R.S. F.L.S. Physician in Ordinary 
to H.R. H. the Duke of Clarence ; Member of the Royal Co!- 
lege of Physicians, and Physician- Actoue heur to the Westminster 
General Dispensary.— XVII. New Experiments on some of the 
Combinations of Phosphorus. By Sir H. Davy, LL.D. F.R.S. 
Vice-Pres. R.I.—XVII!. New experimental Researches on some 
of the leading Doctrines of Caloric ; particularly on the Relation 
between the Elasticity, Temperature, and latent Heat of different 
Vapours; and on thermometric Admeasurement and Ca ’pacity. 
By Andrew Ure, M.D. Communicated by W. H. Wollaston, 
M.D. F.R.S.—XIX. Observations on the Heights of Mountains 
in the North of England. By Thomas Greatorex, Esq. F.L.S. 
In a Letter to Thomas Young, M.D. For. Sec. R.S.—XX. On 
the different Methods of constructing a Catalogue of fixed Stars. 
By J. Pond, Esq. F.R.S. Astronomer Royal.—XXI. A Descrip- 


ticn 


462 Notices respecting New Books. 


tion of the Teeth of the Delphinus Gangeticus. By Sir Everard 
Home, Bart. V.P.R.S.—XXII. Description of an Acid Principle 
prepared from the lithic or uricAcid. By William Prout, M.D. 

Communicated by W.H.Wollaston, M.D.F.R.S.—XXIIL. Astro- 
nomical Observations and Experiments, selected for the Purpose 
of ascertaining the relative Distances of Clusters of Stars, and of 
investigating how far the Power of our Telescopes may be ex- 
pected to reach into Space, when directed to ambiguous celestial 
Objects. By Sir William Herschel, Knt. Guelp. LL.D. F.R.S. 
—XXIV. On the Structure of the poisonous Fangs of Serpents. 

By Thomas Smith, Esq. F.R.S.—XXV. On the Parallax of « 
Aguile. By John Pond, F.R.S. Astronomer Royal.—XXVI. On 
the Parallax of the fixed Stars in Right Ascension. By John 
Pond, F.R.S, Astronomer Royal.— XXVII. An Abstract of the 
Results deduced from the Measurement of an Are on the Meri- 
dian, extending from Lat. 8° 9’ 387-4, to Lat. 18° 3’ 23-6, N. 
being an Amplitude of 9° 53' 452. By Lieut. Col. William 
Lambton, F.R.S. 33d Regiment of Foot. 


A Treatise on Marine Surveying. In two Parts. By Murdoch 
Mackenzie senior, late Marine Surveyor in His Majesty’s 
Service. Corrected and republished with a Supplement by 
James Horsburgh, F.R.S. Hydrographer to the Hon. the East 
India Company. Svo, pp. 183. 

The Treatise on Marine Surveying by the late Mr. Murdoch 
Mackenzie, of which we are now presented with an improved and 
enlarged edition, has long maintained the character of the most 
scientific, useful and exemplary work on that branch of nautical 
knowledge ever published in this or perhaps in any other country. 
It has nevertheless not been reprinted since its first appearance 
in 1774, and is now extremely scarce. 

To aa therefore, who are curious to reach the summit of 
nautical science, and to naval officers in general, a republication 
of this work, by an editor so able and well-informed as Mr. 
Horsburgh, cannot fail to be highly acceptable. Although the 
original work has been preserved in the form given it by the au- ' 
thor as nearly as possible, we have met with several important 
alterations which appear to us to have been rendered essen- 
tially necessary by the rapid improvements Navigation has lately 
received from the introduction of chronometers and other means, 
and have been introduced by the ingenious editor with a degree 
of accuracy and skilfulness, to which we beg to bear the humble 
tribute of our most unqualified approbation. 

A Supplement has been also added, containing some interest- 
ing examples, with precepts relative to marine surveying, and 
other information applicable to the advancement of young officers 
in useful knowledge. iy The 


Notices respecting Néw Books. 463 


The work is dedicated in very handsome terms to the vene- 
rable President of the Royal Society, as the “ acknowledged pa- 
tron of science, and of every invention or improvement calculated 
to advance the happiness and to promote the welfare of man- 
kind.” 

Dr. Thomas Forster has just published a small Tract on 
the periodical Affections of the Brain and Nervous System. In 
endeavouring to deduce the periods of diseases from periodical 
changes in the atmosphere, the author alludes to the follewing 
remarkable circumstance,—that the periods of many nervous 
diseases correspond with those well known changes of weather 
which so often happen near the new and full of the moon, as 
to have been ascribed, even by popular opinion, to her svecial 
influence on the weather. He notices also numerous periodical 
plants, which open and shut their flowers at particular hours of 
the day and night, in order to prove an atmospherical cause of 
the periods observed by plants as well as animals. 

The same author ‘will shortly publish Observations on the 
Periods at which the different Organs of the Brain become ac- 
tive, and those at which their Activity ceases. 

A considerable work has long been expected from Dr. Spurz- 
heim, on Education, founded on the knowledge of the Physiology 
of the Brain. a 

Mr. Bicheno of Newbury- has published a book On the Na- 
ture of Benevolence, in which are some curious’ and novel re- 
marks on the Poor Laws. 


The expected Account of the Mission from Cape Coast Castle 
to the Kingdom of Ashantee, in Africa, will, we understand, ap- 
pear in a few days. Jt has for its author Thomas Edward Bow- 
ditch, Esq. Conductor and Chief of the Embassy; and comprises 
the History , Laws, Superstitions, Customs, Ar chitecture, Trade, 
&c. of that part of Africa. ‘To which is added, a Translation 
from the Arabic, of an Account of Mr. Park’s Death, &c. with 
a Map, and several Plates of Architecture, Costumes, Proces- 
sions, &c. In one 4to volume. 


Observations on AcKERMANN’S Patent Moveable Axles for 
Four-wheeled Carriages, containing an engraved Elevation 
of a Carriage, with Plans and Sections conveying accurate 
Ideas of this superior Improvement. Crown Svo. pp. 54. 

The Axles, which are the subject of these observations, are 
the invention of Mr. Lankensperger, of Munich; but the patent 
for them, as is usual in the case of inventions by foreigners, has 
been taken out in the name of Mr, Ackermann, as agent for the 
contriver. - 


464 Notices respecting New Books. 


T. W. C. Edwards, M.A. author of The First Principles of 
Algebra, is publishing a Course of familiar Lectures on the Out- 
lines of Chemistry and Philosophy, including the latest discove- 
ries and improvements. 

These Lectures are to be illustrated by a variety of neat dia- 
grams and experiments. The volume will be portable, and well 
adapted for the use of schools as well as private reading. 


Just published, Elements of Medical Logick; illustrated by 
Practical Proofs and Examples. By Sir Gilbert Blane, M.D. 
Physician to the King, &e. 8vo. 

Practical Illustrations of the Progress of Medical Improvement 
for the last Thirty Years; or, Histories of Cases of Acute Dis- 
eases, as Fevers, Dysentery, Hepatitis, and the Plague, treated 
according to the Principles of the Doctrine of Excitation, by him- 
self and other Practitioners, chiefly in the East and West Indies, 
in the Levant, and at Sea. By Charles Maclean, M.D. &c. 8vo. 


Illustrations, of the Power of Emetic Tartar in the Cure of Fe- 
ver, Inflammation, and Asthma; and in preventing Phthisis and 
Apoplexy. By William Balfour, M.D. Author of ‘ A Treatise 
on Rheumatism, &c.”’ 


In the Press, A Treatise on Midwifery, enforcing new princi- 
ples, which tend materially to lessen the sufferings of the Patient 
and shorten the duration of Labour. By John Power, Accou- 
cheur, Member of the Royal Medical Society of Edinburgh. 


An Account of the Epidemic and Sporadic Disorders which 
prevailed this year, 1518, at Rochester, and near it. By Wal- 
ter Vaughan, M.D. Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians 
of London. Svo. 


Illustrations of the Power of Compression aud Percussion in 
the Cure of Rheumatism, Gout, and Debility of the Extremities ; 
and in promoting general Health and Lengevity. By William 
Balfour, M.D. Author of “ A Treatise on the Sedative and Fe- 
brifuge Powers of Emetic Tartar, &c.” 


Just published, The Theory of Parallel Lines perfected, or The 
Twelfth Axiom of Euclid’s Elements demonstrated. By Tho- 
mas Exley, A.M. —_——— 

An Account of the History and Present State of Galvanism. 
By John Bostock, M.D. F.R.S. pp. 164. 


Practical Hints on Decorative Printing. By WititaM Sa- 
vacE. Part I. The present Part contains, Chap. I. Introduc- 
tory Sketch of the Progress of the Art.—Chap. II. On Printing 

Materials. 


Royal Institute of France. 465 
Materials. —Chap. III. On Press-work.—Chap. IV. On Print- 


ing in Colours. ‘The illustrative decorations which accompany 
these chapters are—Two pages of types, showing the varieties they 
have undergone—Two subjects, female figures, to show the 
effect of different coloured inks, with fine engravings—A Sybil 
writing ;—two blocks—Female figure and child, a street sweeper, 
three blocks; an impression is given of each block, with their 
progressions and combinations—Four head pieces, printed as 
cameos; three blocks each—Ancient tower near Denbigh, to 
imitate a drawing in Indiaink; nine blocks—Cottage and landscape 
to imitate a drawing in India ink; nine blocks—Earl Spencer’s 
arms in their heraldic colours ; six blocks—Butterfly in colours ; 
seven blocks—Parrot in colours; seven blocks—Grecian vase 
from the collection of Sir William Hamilton in the British Mu- 
seum, to imitate the original; six blocks—Cottage and land- 
scape, to imitate a coloured drawing; fourteen blocks—Six 
tables of inks showing eighteen colours. 


LXXII. Proceedings of Learned Societies. 
ROYAL INSTITUTE OF FRANCE. 
Investigation of the Dry Rot in Timler. 


Ac the Sittings of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, on 
the 16th ult., a Report was read on ‘ An Essay-on the Dry 
Rot, by Robert MacWilliam, Architect: and on the 23d the 
Secretary, Mons. Cuvier, addressed and transmitted to the au- 
thor an acknowledgement of the receipt of the work by the Aca- 
demy, and of the proceedings that had in consequence taken 
place; intimating to him, that it was on account of the impor- 
tance of the objects of which he had treated, and of his scientific 
researches, that the Academy had been led to have the analysis 
(compte verbal) made out ; and adding, that though it was con- 
trary to their usage to deliver to authors a copy of their Reports 
on printed works, the Academy had made an exception in his 
favour, and directed their Secretary to present him with a copy 
of this Report, and to thank him for having made them aequaint- 
ed with a work, the interest and instruction of which were such 
as to induce them to give it an honourable place in the library 
of the Tustitute. 


Vol. 52. No, 248. Dec. 1818. _ Gg LXXIII. In- 


[ 466 ]j 
LXXIII. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 


On the Nautical Almanac. 
To Mr. Tilloch. 


Sir, — Oxz of your correspondents has, in a former number 
of your valuable Miscellany (Vol. LI. page 186) suggested some 
improvements in the future Nautical Almanacs, to be published 
under the direction of the New Board of Longitude, which I hope 
will be attended to. There is one circumstance however con- 
nected with this subject, to which he has not drawn the attention 
of the New Board, but which I think would be highly useful ; 
namely, the place of the moon in right ascension and declination 
to seconds of a degree. At present the place of the moon is given 
to the nearest minute only, which is not sufficiently correct for 
many useful purposes. In the Connaissance des Tems the right 
ascension is given to the nearest second; and I hope the editors 
of that valuable work will, in the future volumes, pursue the same 
plan with respect to the declination.—It is well known that the 
moon’s parallax in right ascension and declination may be much 
more readily found, than her parallax in longitude and latitude; 
as in the former case we need not have recourse to finding the 
Jongitude and height of the nonagesimal: and consequently all 
problems relative to her apparent place may be much more easily 
and expeditiously solved.—The late elegant formule of M. Ol- 
bers, for this purpose, have also given an additional interest to 
the subject: and it will readily occur to your astronomical readers, 
that this method of determining the apparent place of the moon 
is the one best adapted for determining the various circumstances 
relative to occultations of the fixed stars, as well as other phe- 
nomena in which the apparent place of the moon is involved. 
I am, sir, your obedient servant, 
Dec. 15, 1818. PTOLEMY. 


P.S. I observe that the publisher of the Nautical Almanac 
has printed and distributed a list of what he calls additional cor- 
rections for the Nautical Almanac for 1819. May I request some 
of your numerous correspondents to inform me where the pri- 
mary, or preceding, corrections are to be found? as I observe 
three very remarkable errors, not at all noticed in these additional 
corrections, viz. the entire omission of two solar eclipses (one on 
March 25, the other on October 18th), and the insertion of an 
occultation of Antares on December 15th as visible at Greenwich, 
which cannot be the case: besides several ofher errors which | 


have never yet seen published. 
ON 


— 


On purifying Coal Gas.—Lumps.—Steam Engines. 467 


ON PURIFYING COAT GAS. 

In our last Number but one, we inserted a letter from Mr. 
S. Parker, of Liverpool, on the above subject ; and in our last 
Number, another from Mr. G. Lowe, of Derby ; also the speci- 
fication of a patent for the same purpose taken out by Mr. G. 
H, Palmer in January last. To the information afforded by 
these articles we now add, that an apparatus extremely similar 
to that specified by Mr. Palmer has. been publicly exhibited at 
the Agricultural Repository in Winslow-street, Oxford-street, 
upwards of two years. It was made by Mr. Manby, Director of 
the Horseley Company’s Iron Works near Dudley in Worcester- 
shire, and who has been for several years past engaged in the 
manufacture of similar apparatus, and in fitting them up in va- 
rious parts of this country. 


LAMPS. 

In lamps it is essential that the oil be kept on a uniform level 
with the wick—the reservoir therefore has necessarily been in an 
obtrusive and inelegant position. A gentleman in Paris has re- 
cently made some beautiful lamps, where the oil is in the base of 
a column, and is pumped up by a spring and pendulum working 
in the oil, the surplus supply returning to the reservoir by a waste 
pipe ; thus enabling the workman to give them any ornamental 
or fanciful shape.—S. 8. 

STEAM ENGINES IN CORNWALL. 

From Messrs. Leans’ Report for November 1818, it appears 
that the following was the work performed during that month, by 
the engines reported, with each bushel of coals. 


Pounds of water lifted | Load per square ' 
1 foot high with each bushel.| inch in cylinder. 


23 common engines averaged 21,356,818 various. 
Woolf’s at Wheal Vor és, .0)s0d4,312 17°8 lib. 
Ditto Wh. Abraham .. 36,441,367 16°8 
Ditto PitOS: wis «- 19,233,473 6°7 
Wheal Abraham engine .. 9 31,508,419 10:9 
Daleoath ditto oo) code bedgone 11:3 
United Mines ditto -- 34,680,485: 18°6 
Treskirby ditto .. .. 984,987,815 11°25 
Wheal Chance ditto -. 31,274,981 | 12:2 


THE UNUSUAL SEASON. 

Among the many phzenomena produced by the unusually warm 
summer and autumn which we have had this year, may be reck- 
oned the appearance already of several of the ordinary produc- 
tions of spring. Three weeks ago the Narcissus was in bloom in 

Gg2 a shel- 


468 Greek Antiquities.—Lectures. 


a sheltered situation in Hampshire; and what is still more extra- 
ordinarv, the young leaves of the lime-trees are aiready fully ex- 
panded on some trees on Wanstead Flats in Essex. Early this 
month (December) a swallow was seen, and the spring snow- 
drop (Galanthus nivalis) was in flower. 

What particular constitution of atmosphere has led to this un- 
usual anticipation of spring appears to be unknown; but it seems | 
to be not merely the warmth, as warm autumns have not hitherto 
been followed by similar phanomena. 

Greek Antiquities in the Crimea.—Extract of a letter from the 
Engineer Von Stier, at the fortress of Fanagoria, in the govern- 
ment of Tauris, formerly the Crimea, Aug. 20, 1818. 

** Among the curiosities of this place are the remains of anti- 
guities of the time of the Greeks, who planted colonies here. In 
the beginning of this month, in digging up a hill, a stone vault 
was discovered, which contained a corpse six feet and a half long, 
in a very good state of preservation. The head was ornamented 
with a golden garland of laurels ; and on the forehead a golden 
medal which represents a man’s head with the inscription Philip. 
On both sides of the corpse stood golden and earthen vessels, as 
was the custom among the Greeks, also ‘several golden chains 
and ear-rings ; and on one of the fingers was a gold ring with a 
valuable stone, on which were represented a male and female 
figure of exquisite workmanship. From all this it may be con- 
cluded that this was the burying-plave of one of Philip’s gene- 
rals,”’ —_—— 


LECTURES. 

Mr. Guthrie on Surgery.—Mr. Guthrie, Deputy Inspector of 
Military Hospitals, will commence his Spring Course of Lectures 
on Surgery, on Monday, January 18, at five minutes past Eight 
in the Evening, in the Waiting Room of the Roval Westminster 
Infirmary for Diseases of the Eye, Mary-le-bone Street, Picca- 
dilly. To be continued on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. 

Two Courses will be delivered during the Season. 

In each Course the Principles of Surgery will be explained, 
and the Practice resulting from them, with reference both to ° 
Domestic and Military Surgery, fully pointed out. 

The Diseases of the Eye, although forming an integral Part 
of the Lectures on Surgery, will, for the convenience of illus- 
tration, be delivered every Thursday evening until completed. 

The Operations referred to in the Lectures will be shown in 
each Course. 

Terms of Attendance.—Perpetual Five Guineas.~Single 
Course Three Guineas. 

“phic Officers of the Navy, the Army, and the Ordnance, 

will 


Lectures.—Patents. 469 


will be adniitted gratis, on obtaining a recommendation from 
the Heads of their respective Departments, which must be pre- 
sented to Mr. Guthrie between the hours of two and half-past 
four, at his house, No. 2, Berkeley-street, Berkeley-square. 


Lectures on the Practice of Physic.—Dr. C. Forbes, Deputy 
Inspector of Military Hospitals; Physician to His Royal High- 
ness the Duke of Kent; Senior Physician to the Surry Dispen- 
sary ; Physician to the Royal Westminster Infirmary for Diseases 
of the Eye, &c. will commence a Course of Lectures on the 
Practice of Physic, on Wednesday, January 21st, at Nine o’clock 
in the Morning, at the Royal Westminster Eye Infirmary, Mary- 
le-bone Street, Golden-square. 

Terms of ‘Attendance. —Single Course Three Guineas. —Per- 
petual Five Guineas. 

Medical Officers of the Navy, the Army, and the Ordnance, 
will be admitted to attend these Lectures, on presenting a re- 
commendation from the Heads of their respective Departments, 
to Dr. Forbes, at his House, No. 25, Argyll-street, before Nine 
o’clock in the Morning. 


Mr. Taunton will commence his next Course of Lectures on 
Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, and Surgery, on Saturday, 
January 23, 1819. 


LIST OF PATENTS FOR NEW INVENTIONS. 

To Jeremiah Spencer, of Great James-street, Bedford-row, in 
the county of Middlésex, for improvements on a certain descrip- 
tion of fire grates, by which improvement the combustion of 
smoke is more easily effected.—5th December, 1518,—2 months 
allowed to enrol specification. 

To Frederick William Seyfert, of St. John’s-street, Clerken- 
well, in the county of Middlesex, for improvements on certain 
descriptions of watches and clocks.—5th December.—2 months. 

To Marc Isambard Brunel, of Chelsea in Middlesex, for his 
sheets of tin foil capable of being crystallized in large varied and 
beautiful crystallization. —5th December.—6 months. 

To John Whiting, of Ipswich, Suffolk, for a window shutter. 
5th December.—2 months. 

To Henry Pershouse, of Birmingham, for his improved me- 
thod of stamping pans for seals. —1]0th December.—2 months. 

To James Barron, of Wells-street, Oxford-street, in Middlesex, 
for his improvement in the making and fixing of knobs, gene- 
rally used on drawers, doors, and cabinet furniture, and known 
by the name of drawer and mortice furniture knobs or handles. 
—10th December.—6 months. 

METEOROG= 


470 Meteorology. 


Meteorological Journal kept at Walthamstow, Essex, from 
November 15 to December 15, 1818. 


[Usually between the Hours of Seven and Nine A.M. and the Thermometer 
(a second time) between Twelve and Two P.M. | 


Date. Therm. Barom. Wind. 


November 
15 48 29:40 SW—NW.— Wind, clear and cumuli; rain 
50 after 11 A.M. till about 2 P.M.; fine after- 


wards ; moon-light and cirrostratus; at 10 
P.M. moon in a large halo, and stars visible 
within the area of the halo, and thin stratus 
over the other part of the sky. 
16 48 29:62 SE.—Very rainy till about noon; a cloudy 
96 and dark day; cloudy and windy evening 5 
moon-light at 11 P.M. 
17. 47 29-61 W.—vVery fine: clear and cirrocumuli; ex- 
50 treme fine day; clear sky; sun and wind; 
fine moon-light. 
18 34 30:00 SW.—Fine morn, but rather hazy; fine day; 


45 moon-light. 

19 44 30:00 SW—SE.—Gray morn; gray day; fine star- 
52 light. 

20 39 29°91 E—SE.—Clear and windy; fine day; sun and 
48 wind ; star-light. 

21 40 29:70 SE—E.—Gray and windy; fine day (cold); 
44 a swallow was seen near Lea Bridge ; dark 


night. Moon last quarter. 
22 35 29:70 E—NE.— Fine morn; very fine day; stars vi- 


44 sible, but rather hazy. 

23 44 29°50 SE—SW.—Rainy morn; sun and cumult; 
55 wind, and very damp; star-light. 

24 50. 29°64 SE—W.—Very damp ‘and rainy at 7 A.M. ; 
52 foggy at 10 A.M.3; fine afternoon; clear 


and cirrostratus; star-light. 
25 35 ©630°00 S by W.—Foggy morn; fine day; sun, rather 


45° hazy; some stars visible. 

26 50 30:10 SE.—Gray and damp early; rain at 8 A.M. ; 
52 very rainy till after dark ; cloudy at 9 P.M. 

27 51 30°30 S—SE.—Cloudy at 7 A.M. and at 8, foggy ; 
oo ne very fine day; very dark night. 

28 49 30:30 SE.— Clear and cirrostratus; fine day; hazy 
57 and some sun; very dark night. New 

moon, 


November 


Meteorology. 471 


Date. Therm. Barom. Wind. 


Novemler. 

BOF (53) 30322 
58 

30 50 30:20 
54 

December 

1 48 30-00 
47 

2 44 29-90 
46 

38 48 29°62 

4 46 29°50 
49 

5 42 .29"55 
50 

6 36 29:55 
49 

7 47 .29:39 
52 

8 47 29-70 
‘i 

9 41 29°95 

aye 

10 36 30°05 
45 

11 33 30°05 
4) 

12 33. 30:10 
40 

13 36 30°10 
40 

14 37 30:10 
40 

15 36 30°10 
40 


W—SW.—Cloudy and damp ; gray day, and 
some wind; set shower at 1 P.M.; very 
dark night. 

SE—SW.—Gray ; hazy and gleams of sun; 
dark night. 


SE.—Gray morn; very dark day; dark night. 


NW.—Cloudy morn; dark day; rain early ; 
clear starlight. 

SE.—Cloudy and windy; very showery and 
windy ; moonlight. 

SE.—Cirrostratus and clear; very red before 
sunrise ; fine day ; cloudy and windy. Moon 
first quarter. 

SE.—Clear and-windy; fine day; moon- 
light. 

SE.—Clear and white dew; fine day; sun, 
and clear; cloudy and windy night; aurora 
borealis. 

S.—Cloudy ; showery and hazy; light, but 
neither moon nor stars visible. 

SE.—Gray morn; a shower of hail at 10 
A.M. ; gleam of sun and very damp ; light, 
but no stars visible. 

NW.—Gray morn; rainy day; rainy night. 


NW.—Clear and clouds; fine day ; sun and 
wind; bright moon and starlight. 

NW. —Clear morn; very fine day; cloudy 
but light. 

N—NW.—Clear moonlight morning ; show- 
ers and sun; showery night. Full Moon. 
W.—Clear ezrly; very red sun-rise; cirro- 

stratus ; very fine day ; cumuli and light, 
but neither mocn nor stars. 
N.—Cirrostratus; cold fine gray day; at 9° 
P.M. cloudy night; moon and star-light 
late. 
NE.—Cumuli and clear; very fine sun and 
cumuli; cold and windy; bright moon- 


light. 


METEORO- 


472 


Meteorology. 


METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL KEPT AT BOSTON, 
LINCOLNSHIRE. 


/ 
—<Fxe 


[The time of observation, unless otherwise stated, isat 1 P.M.] 


———— 


1818 


Nov. 


15 
16 
17 
18 
19 
20 


—=t 

Age of 

the |Chermo-| Baro- |State of the Weather and Modification 
Moon] meter. | meter. of the Clouds. 
DAYS 

15 | 53°5 | 29°58 |Fine—heavy rain P. M. 
16 | 55* | 29°50 \Cloudy 

17.:| . 50° 29°84 |Fine 

18 | 47°5 | 30°10 (Ditto 

19 | 54* | 30°10|Cloudy 

90 | 48° 30° ‘|Fine 

21 | 43° | 29°86 |Cloudy 

92 | 43° | 29°86 |Very fine 

93 | 53° 29°72 |Fine—rain morning and evenSin 
24 | 49° 29°85 |Rain 

25 46°5 | 30°16 |Fine 

26 | 52° 30°15 |Rain 

27 | 54: | 30°42 |Cloudy 

new] 55° 30:40 |Ditto 

29 aes 30°30 |Ditto 

30 54° 30°20 |Fine 


] 51° 30°05 |Ditto 

21 43. 30°05 |Ditto 

3 51°5 | 29°64 |Cloudy 

Ash aie 29°55 \Fine 

5 | 49° 29°56 {Ditto 

6 | 46:5 | 29°67 \Ditto [ing 
7 aie 29°52 \Cloudy—heavy rain in the morn- 
g | 49°5 | 29:82 |Fine 

Q9| 41° 30°14 |Cloudy 

10 | 43° 20°25 |Ditto 

ll | 43° 30°27 |Ditto 
full! 43° 30:22 |Ditto 

13 | 44: 30'27 |Ditto 

14 | 42°5 | 30°33 |Ditto 


METEORO- 


Meteorology. 473 
METEOROLOGICAL TABLE, 


By Mr. Cary, OF THE STRAND, 
For Decemler 1818. 


Thermometer. Sats 
Days of |Z zl = | S| Height of 235 
Math. ae S a the Barom. 2 Ds i pesthen. 
=e 7 cre Inches. ae Sy 
: i |e => 
Nov. 27| 52 | 57 | 55 | 30°40 95 |Fair 
28| 53 | 57 | 55 "38 24 (Fair 
291 55| 57 | 55 |- 34 | 20 [Fair 
- $80} 54 | 55 | 54 20 20 «|Cloudy 
Dec. 1| 47 | 47 | 50 | 29°99 15 |Cloudy 
2|.42 | 47 | 40 | 30°01 16 (Cloudy 
3| 45 | 47 | 46 | 29°65 o |Rain 
4| 47 | 52 | 50 48 26 «(|Fair 
5| 51 | 54 | 46 Aes 96 ~ \Fair 
6| 46 | 50 | 45 "62 30 «*|Fair 
7| 44 | 52 | 52 53 o (Rain 
9) 52 | 53.| 50 “89 o {Rain 
9| 44 | 47 | 44 | 30°05 17 |Cloudy 
10| 40 | 47 | 39 "14 94 |Fair 
11| 36 | 44 | 40 “14 22 «Fair : 
12| 40 | 44 | 40 ‘09 oO {Small rain 
13| 40 | 43 | 40 Wf 15 |Fair 
14| 40 | 42 | 40 "19 13 |Fair 
15) 39 | 43 | 39 is £10) > [Fair 
16} 30 | 35 | 27 "04 8 (Fair 
17) 22 | 30 | 26 ‘Ol 8 Haw 
18| 24 |.40 | 32 | 29°72 oO ‘Rain 
19| 28 | 38 40 | 30°27 5 |Fair 
20| 44 | 49 | 46 "06 5 |Cloudy 
21) 48 | 48 | 37 29 8 (Fair 
22) 28 | 28° | 30 °52 0 |Foggy 
23) 32 | 37 | 28 "35 oO  |Fuggy : 
24| 27 | 30 | 27 "22 7 =|Fair 
25| 27 | 37 | 38 ‘06 0 |Cloudy 
| 35 | 29°90 6 |Cloudy 


N.B, The Barometer’s height is taken at one o’clock. 


—— EE 


INDEX ro VOL. LIL 


Accum (fred.) Treatise on Che- 


mical tests, 140 
Air, On elasticity of, 214 
Algebra and Vuigar arithmetic. On 


comparative powers of, by William 
Gutteridge, 88 


Aikols new vegetable, 892 
Allan (Mr. Matthew). On chemical 
philosophy, 53, 118 


Amalzamation. Process of, for extract- 
ing gold and silver from other ores, 


used at Halsbruck in Saxony, 26 
American (North) quadruped. Ac- 
count of, by George Ord, 8 


Ammonia. 
Apvllontcon. 


Erythrat of, 43 
On the performance of, 
171 

Arcs, comparison between chords of, 
employed by Ptolemy and those 

> now in use, 454 
Arithmetic (Vulgar) and Algebra. On 
comparative powers of, 88 
Arithmetical complements, on, 211 
Arnott (Mr. G. A, Walker). On diffe- 
rence between chords of arcs em- 
ployed by Ptolemy and those now in 
use, 454 
Arsenic, test of poisoning by, 73; re- 
medy against, 379 


Asst cS ciety, proceedings of, 141 
Astronomical cireie at Greenwih, On 

the, 52 
Astronomy of the Orientals, On, 168 
Atmespheric phenoment, 75 
Barytes, erythrat of, % 40 


Bict (M.) On the operations under- 
taken to determine the figure of the 
earth, 119 

Biquadratic equations, Solution of, S78 

Botany, guide to, by Jas. Millar, M.D. 

Gl 

Brazil, scientific researches in, 313 

Bright (Richard, M.D ). On the gold 
and silver mines of Hungary, :2; 
process of amalgamation for extract- 
ing gold and silver from other ores, 
26; Hungarian agriculture, 283 

Bristane (Major-Gen.) remarks on pa- 
per by, onthe chronometer, 409 

Brugnatelli (Dr. Gaspar), on treating 
uric acid with nitrous acid, and new 
acid thence produced, called “ Ery- 
thric, SO 


Brussels. Transactions of Royal Aca- 
demy of, 146 
Cast lron Bridge, 234 


~Chemical philosophy. On, by Mr. Mat- 


thew Allan, 53,113 
Chemical science. Elements of, by J. 
Murray, 60 


Chiorime. On relation between, and 
muriatic acid, by Dr. Ure, i01; by 
Dr. Murray, 195 

Chronometer, remarks on paper by Ma- 
jor-Gen. Brisbane on the, . 409 

Coal-gas, New method of purifying, 

292, 371—375, 467 

Cual-mine, explosion at, 67 

Conotly (Mr. Jos.) Telegraphist’s Vade 


Mecum by, 374 
Cow-tree, 382 
Cimea, Greek Antiquities in, 468 
C:ocodile, remains of, 68 


Davy (Sir Humphry), on some combi- 
nations of phosphorus, 440 
Davy (Professor Ed ), experiments on 
hard water at Black Rock, near 
Cork, 1 
Dry-rct, on the means of curing, 131 
Dupin (Chev,), on the maritime works 
and civil engineering of France and 
England, 132 
Earth. On the operations undertaken 
to determine the figure of, by M. 
Biot, 119 
Earthquake, 39% 
Earthquakes. Observations on the phe- 
nomena of, by the Rev. John Mi- 
chell, 18S, 254, 323 
Edinute. New mineral found at Edin- 
burgh, 66 
Electrical experiments, 376 
Electrica! Increaser, for manifestation 
of small portions of theelectric fluid, - 
account of, by H. Upington, Esq. 47 
Electrical p'anwpheres, improvement on 
the method of forming, 298 
E ythrais of lime and barytes, 40; of 
potash and soda, 41; of ammonia, 
4S; of iron, 44; of lead, 45. 
Erythric acid, on ; 30 
Evolutin. Improvementsin, — 34} 
Eue. New discovered membrane in, 74 
Fue-damp, of, and the means of pre- 
serving coul-mines from its explo- 
sion, 137 


INDE X. 


Fossil remains, Li SR 
Fossil shells. Localities of, described 

by Mr. James Sowerby, 348 
Frankiin (Benj.), Memoirs of the life 


and writings of, 61 
Fruct:fication of seeds. On, 81 
Fungt. On the growth of, 299 
Gasking (Thomas), case of, 62 


Gold and silver. Process of extracting, 
by amalgamation, from other ores, 


: 26 

Greenwich. On the astronomical circle 
at, 52 
Gun, new rifle, 78 


Gutteridge (Wm., Esq.), on compara- 
tive powers of algebra and vulgar 
arithmetic, 88 

Haarlem. Proceedings of Society of 
Sciences at, 293 

Hammet (Dr. John), account of a voy- 
age to Labrador and Quebec by, 206 

Haiiyne, discovery of, in the island of 


Tiree, 384 
Heat. Onthe received theory of, 294, 
460 

Heat. New researches on, 381 


Aili (Mr. Rowland), on improvement 
in the method of forming electrical 
planispheres, 293 

Horslurgh (Mr. James). New edition of 
MacKenzie’s Marine Surveying, 462 


Hot water on fl:wers, effects of, 392 
Hungarian agriculture. On, by Dr. 
Bright, 283 


Hungary. Account of the goldand silver 
mines of, byRichard Bright,M.D., 12 
Ibletson (Mrs.), on fructification of 
seeds, 81 
Inghs (Mr. Gavin). On theory of wa- 
ter-spouts, 216; on the swallow, 
271; on the royal Scotch thistle, 
391; on preservation of seeds, use 
of lime, &c. 436 
Tnvolution. Improvements in, 341 
Jreland. Complete school of physic in, 
148 

Iron, preparation of hydrusulphurate 
of, by Prof. Turte of Berlin, 231 


Tron, erythrat of, 44 
Tron ratiways.. Improvement and ex- 
‘tension of, 153 


Kater (Capt. H.) Account of experi- 
ments for determining the length of 
seconds’ pendulum by, 90, 173, 364, 
415; on the length of the French 


metre, 431 
Kremnitz, description of, 22 
Lamps, improvement in, 467 
Lead, erythrat of, 45 


Lean (Mr, Thos.), on temperature of 
mines in Cornwall, 204 


ATS 


Lester (Mr.) New discovery in optics 
by, 6 
Lime, erythrat of, 4C; on use of, in 

agriculture, 36 
Live hzard found in a seam of coal, 377 
Lvwe (Mr. G.), on purifying coal-gas, 

371 
Magnetical variation, theory of, 295 
Magnetism applied as a test for iron, 


; 393 

Mammoth cave of Indiana, acc, of, 230 
Mammoth, remains of, 68 
Massey's patent sounding machine. On, 
Z18 

Matthews (Dr. Jos. de), on the origin of 
the Roman numerals, 61 
Metallic tissue, properties of, 138 


Meteorological Journal at Walthamstow, 
77, 156, 237, 317, 396, 470 
Meteorological Juurnal at Boston, 79, 
159, 239, 19, 399, 472 
Meteorological Juuinal ly Mr. Cary, 80, 
160, 240, 220, 400, 473 
Meteorology, observations in, 236, 467 
Metre, QOnthe length of the French, 
431 
Michell (Rev. John). On the pheno- 
mena of earthquakes, by, 185, 254, 
323 
Mines in Cornwall. On temperature of, 
204 
Mons (M. Van), on Professor Turte’s 
preparation of hydrosulphurate of 
Iron, 231 
Moon. On measuring the depths of ca- 
vities seen on the surface of, 321 
Muriatic aed, Experiments on the re- 
Jations between, and chlorine, by 
Dr. Ure, 101; by Dr. Murray, 195 
Murroy (Mr. J.) Elements of chemical 


science by, 60 
Murray (Dr. John), on muriatic acid 
as, 195 


Music. Whether necessary to the ora- 
tor, to what extent, and how most 
readily attainable, by Henry Uping- 
ton, Esq,, 161, 241, 401 

Nautical Aimanac. Onerrors in, 466 

New apparatus for impregnating liquids 
with gases, 370 

New Bovks, notices respecting, 58, 132, 

222, 300, 373, 461 

New South Wales, discoveries in, 64 

Nicholson (Mr. Peter), on arithmetical 
complements, 210; on involution 
and evolution, 341 

Nutrous acted, On treating uric acid 
with, so 

Optics, discovery in, by Mr. Lester, 68 

Ord (Geo.) Account of North Ameri- 
can quadruped by, 8 


476 
Ovis. North American quadruped sup- 
posed to belong to the genus, 8 


Palmer (Mr. G.) Extract from his spe- 


cification for purifying coal-gas, 375 - 


Paper, improvement in the manufac- 
ture of, 74 
Parker (Mr. S.) on new method of pu- 
rifying coal-gas, 292 
Paienis for new ventions, 76, 155,235, 
316, 395, 469 
Pendulum. Experiments for determin- 
ing the length of seconds of, b 
Capt. H. Kater, 90, 173, 364, 415 
Philips (Sir Rich.) New theory of uni- 
verse by, 141 
Philosophical Transactions «f the Royal 
Society of London, ~ 58, 62 
Phosphorus. New experiments onsome 
of the combinations of, 440 
Platina, singular mass of, 382 
Pelar expeditwn, accounts of, 71, £23, 


305, $87 
Potash, erythrat of, Al 
Prase discovered in Scotland, 316 


Riddle (Mr. Ed.) remarks by, on paper 
by Major-Gen, Brisbane on the 
chronometer, 409 

Roman numerals. On the origin of, by 
Dr. Jos, de Mattheis, 61 

RoyalAcad.of Brussels, Transac. of, 146 

Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, 
Transactions of, 301 

Royal Insitute of France, proceedings 
of, 62, 145, 465 

Royal Institution, Lectures at, 148 

Royal Scotch Thistle, extraordinary, 391 

Royal Society of London, Transactions 
of, 58, 62 

Royal Society of Edinburgh, Transac- 
tions of, ‘ 60, 451 

Safety-lamp, ou the, 224 

Salt. Method of making, in the Great 
Loo Choo island, 883 

Schemniiz,acc. of Mining college at, 21 


School of Physic m Ireiand, 148 
Seeds. On fructification of, 81 
Seeds, On preservation of, 456 
Serpents. On, 233, 315 


Serpents. On the structure of the poi- 
sonous fangs of, 457 
Silver and gold. Process of extracting 
by amalgamation from other ores, 26 
Smuh (Thos, Esq.), on the structure of 
the poisonous fangs of serpents, 457 


I N-D E &, 


Society for the encouragement of in- 
dustry in France, prizes proposed 
by, 144 

Soctety of Sciences at Haarlem, ‘Trans- 


actions of, 147, 223 
Suda, erythrat of, A 41 
Svund. On velocity of, 214 


Specific gravity of the human body and 
sea-water. On the difference be- 
tween, 282 

Specific heat of bedies from their ex- 
pansion. On, by Mr. Thos, Tred- 
gold, 251 

Spencer Knight, Esq. on difference be- 
tween specific gravity of the human 
body and sea- water, 282 

Spurzheim (Dr.) on phrenology, 300 

Steam-engines in Cornwall, 64, 225, 

313, 390, 467 

Sugar from the beet-root, produce of, 
in Franee, 384 

Swallow. On the, by Mr. Gavin Inglis, 

271 

Tar light for street-lamps, 316 

Tiedgold (Mr, Thos.) on elasticity of 
air and velocity of sound, 214; on 
specific heat of bodies from expan- 
sion, 251 

Universe, New theory of, 141 

Upington, Henry, Esq. on electrical in- 
creaser for manifestation of small 
portions of the electric fluid, 47; on 
the question whether music is neces- 
sary to the orator, 161, 241, 401 

Ure (And., M,D.) on relation between 
muriatic acid and chlorine, 101 

Uric acid. Observations on treating 
with nitrous acid, by Dr. G. Brug- 
natelli, 30 

Fessel, air-tight, , 233 

Volcano, pseuav-, in Staffordshire, 72 

Water-burner, American, 385 

Water, experiments upon, at Black 
Rock, near Cork, by Prof. Davy, 1 

Wuter-spout destructive, 68 ; theory of, 

216 

Watt (Dr.), Bibliotheca Britannica by, 

373 

Westall (Mr.W.), Views of caves in the 
N.W. ridingof Yorkshire, by 61 

Yeates (Thos.), variation chart of the 
navigable globe by, 222; on magne- 
tical variation, 295 


END OF THE FIFTY-SECOND VOLUME, 


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