sian; iT i POLI OTN 1 uM names eet A tac er | ih TE eM ee ee ee ee eae ee Te AMERICAN we Ye ® gouRNAL OF SCIENCE, WORE ESPECIALLY OF vay OTHER BRANCHES OF NATURAL HISTORY ; IroLupINe ALSO AGRACULTUBE ayo em TAL AS WELL AS USEFUL ARTS. Mg +N IG ——- — <% 4 ~ tf If CONDUCTED BY . a pers pet BENJAMIN SILLIMAN, PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY, MINERALOGY, ETC. IN YALE COLLEGE, AUTHOR OF TRAVELS IN ENGLAND, SCOTLAND AND HOLLAND, &TC. NEW-YORK ; PUBLISHED BY J. EASTBURN AND CO. LITERARY ROOMS, BROAD- WAY, AND BY HOWE AND SPALDING, NEW-HAVEN. Et T.G, WOODWARD, PRINTER. ceases Shan ss mes rete ADVERTISEMENT. 8 @e«-- In the following plan of this Work, we trust it will be understood, that the Editor does not pledge himself that all the subjects mentioned shall be touched upon in every number. ‘This is plainly impossible, unless every article should be very short and im- perfect. All that the public are entitled to expect, is, that in the progress of the Jour- nal, the various subjects mentioned may oc- cupy such an extent as our communica- tions and resources shall permit. We have been honoured by such a list of names of gentlemen who are willing to be considered as contributors to this Journal, iv ADVERTISEMENT: that the publication of it would afford us no ordinary gratification, did we not feel that it is more decorous to allow their names to appear with their communications, without laying them under a previous pledge to the public, which it might not be convenient, in every instance, to redeem. PLAN OF THE WORK. BBE Tuts Journal is intended to embrace the circle of tHe Puysican Sciences, with their application to rHe Arts, and to every useful purpose. It is designed as a deposit for orxginal American communications ; but will contain also occasional selections from Foreign Journals, and notices of the progress of science in other countries. Within its plan are embraced © Natorat Hisrory, in its three great depart- ments of Mineratoey, Borany, and Zoo.oey ; Cuemistry and Natrurat Pxivosopny, in their various branches: and Maruemarics, pure and mixed. - It will be a leading object to illustrate Amert- can Narurat History, and especially our Minr- RALOGY and GroLoey. The Appr.iications of these sciences are obvi- ously as numerous as physical arts, and physical wants; for no one of these arts or wants can be named which is not connected with them. While Science will be cherished for is own sake, and with a due respect for its own inherent dignity ; it will also be employed as the hand- maid to the Arts. Its numerous applications to Acricutture, the earliest and most important of them; to our Manuracrures, both mechanical vi PLAN OF THE WORK, and chemical; and to our Domestic Economy, will be éarefall ly sought out, and faithfully made. It is also. within the design of this Journal to -receive communications on Music, ScutptureE, Eneravine, Painting, and generally on the Bee and liberal, as well as ‘ese arts ; ON Military and Civil Eneuibedan, and the art of Navigation. Notices, Reviews, and Analyses of new sci- entific works, and of new Inventions, and Spe- cifications of Patents ; Biographical and Obituary Notices of scientific men ; essays on Comparative Anatomy and Puy- sioLoey, and generally on such other branches of medicine as depend on scientific principles ; Meteorological Registers, and reports of Agri- cultural ‘experiments : and we would leave room also for interesting miscellaneous things, not per- haps exactly included under either of the above heads. Communications are respectfully solicited from men of science, and from men versed in the practi- cal Arts. Learned Societies are invited to make this Journal, occasionally, the vehicle of their com- munications to the Public. The editor will not hold himself responsible for the sentiments and opinions advanced by his correspondents ; but he will consider it as an allowed liberty to make slight verbal alterations, where errors may be presumed to have arisen from inadvertency. a ee ee ee nl Oe FR ee ED eee Pr ae SR aS Fes Pea te a eg a SIE? a CONTENTS. Ivrropuctory Remarks Art. I. Essay on Musical Temperament, by wicteaase Alex. M. Fisher . . es MINERALOGY AND GEOLOGY. Art. II. Review of Cleaveland’s Mineralogy . . Art. II. New Locality of Fiuor Spar, &c. . . : Art. [V. Carbonat of auras &c. discovered by J. . Pierce, Esq. 3 ‘. Art. V. Native Copper. near New: Haven ee Art. VI. Petrified Wood from Antigua .. .. . Art. VII. American Porcelain Clays,&c. . . . . Art. VIII. Native Sulphur from Java . . . . . . Art. IX. Productions of Wier’s Cave, in Virginia Art. X. Mineralogy and Geology of part of Virginia it Tennessee, by Mr. J. H. Kain . Art. XI. Notice of ges: Mitchill’s edition of Ca- vier’s Geo . ° Art. XII. Notice of Katon’s lide’ to the Geclogy of the Northern States, &c. : Art. XIII. Notice of M, Brongnart on Organized Re- emains . . . ; . BOTANY. Art. XIV. Observations on a species of limosella, by Pro- wen a SVE a a ie Art. XV. Notice of Professor Bigelow’s Memoir on the Floral Calendar of the United States, &c. . - Art. XVI. Journal of the Progress of vee &ec. f C.8. Rafinesque, Esq. ee eS Vill CONTENTS. ZOOLOGY. Art. XVII. Description of a new species of Marten, by C. S. Rafinesque, Esq. . Art. XVIII. Natural ee. of the Copper: ‘Head Snake, , by thesame . ~~. . PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY. Art. XIX. On a Method of augmenting the Force of 7 rs Gunpowder, by Col. G. Gibbs "Art. XX. On the Connexion between ocean id Light, by the same . . Art. XXI. On a new means of Producing Heat acid Light, by J. L. Sullivan, Esq. . Art. XXII. On the. Effects of the Earthiquaies of 811, 1812, on the Wells in Columbia, South Caroli- : na, by Professor Edward D. Smith . . . . Art. XXIII. On ‘the Respiration of ee Gas in an Affection of the Thorax . . MISCELLANEOUS. Art. XXIV. On the Priority of Discovery of the Com- pound Blowpipe, and its effects Art. XXV. On the Northwest ae the North Pole, and the Greenland Ice . . 101 THE ANTRIRICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, §c. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS, Ti age in which we live is not less distinguished by a vigorous and successful cultivation of physical science, than by its numerous and impertant applications to the practical arts, and to the commen purposes of life. In every enlightened country, men illustrious for talent, worth, and knowledge, are ardently engaged in enlarging the boundaries of natural science; and the history of their labours and discoveries is communicated to the world, chiefly through the medium of Scientific Journals. The utility of such Journals has thus become generally evident: they are the heralds of science; they proclaim its toils and its achievements; they demonstrate its intimate connexion as well with the comfort, as with the intellectual and moral improvement of our species; and they often procure for it enviable honors and substantial™~ rewards. In England, the interests of science have been, for a series of years, greatly promoted by the excellent Journals of Til- loch and Nicholson; and for the loss of the latter, the scientific world has been = ee by Dr. Thomson’s Annals Vou. L...No. 3 Introductory Remarks. of Philosophy, and by the Journal of Science and the Arts, both published in London. In France, the Annales de Chimie et de Physique, the Jour- nal des Mines, the Journal de Physique, &c. have long enjoyed a high and deserved reputation. Indeed, there are few coun- tries in Europe which do not produce some similar publica- tion ; not to mention the transactions of learned societies and numerous medical journals. From these sources our country reaps, and will long con- tinue to reap, an abundant harvest of information: and if the light of science, as well as of day, spring from the east, we will welcome the rays of both ; nor should national pride induce us to reject so rich an offering. But can we do nothing in return? In a general diffusion of useful information through the various classes of society, in activity of intellect, and fertility of resource and invention, producing a highly intelligent population, we have no reason to shrink from a comparison with any country. But the de- voted cultivators of science, in the United States, are compar- atively few; they are, however, rapidly increasing in number. Among them are persons distinguished for their capacity and attainments, and, notwithstanding the local feelings nourished by our state sovereignties, and the rival claims of several of our larger cities, there is evidently a predisposition towards a — concentration of effort, from which we may hope for the hap- piest results, with regard to the advancement of both the sci- ence and reputation of our country. Is it not, therefore, desirable to furnish some rallying point, — some object sufficiently interesting to be nurtured by common — efforts, and thus to become the basis of an enduring, common — interest? To produce these efforts, and to excite this interest, nothing, perhaps, bids fairer, than a Screnriric JourNAL+ Hitherto nearly all our exertions of this kind, have been made — by medical gentlemen, and directed primarily to medical ob- jects. We are neither ignorant nor forgetful of the merits of | our various Mrepicar Journats, nor of the zeal with which, a3 far as consistent with their main object, they have fostered the — physical sciences. We are aware, also, that Journals have sliledl tiled
ic eg Brace on the Minerals of Litchfield. 353 mica slate ridge, and undoubtedly had been formerly imbedded in the slate. Beautiful white talc, and small crystals of sul- phuret of iron, are disseminated in the mass. Specimens of this mass are in almost all the cabinets in America. Smaller masses have been found associated with feldspar. Small crys- tals of this mineral are very common in mica slate, with stau- rotide and garnet. ‘Two of these crystals are often arranged at right angles with each other. In Cornwall it is found in small crystals in the gneiss containing graphite. 7 iy Staurotide is very common and very beautiful. _ It is found principally in mica slate, and often exhibits the cross. It most generally is crystallized in four-sided prisms. Quartz, of course, is common, Cornwall particularly is dis- tinguished for the smoky variety.» Ferruginous quartz is found in rolled masses in the whole of this range. = - Petro-Silex, in rolled masses. with ferruginous quartz, con- taining veins of chalcedony and hornstone, aud geodes of quartz crystals, are common in Litchfield and Goshen. Sometimes these masses in the interior assume the appearance of Burr- Stone. Common opal has been found in Litchfield, though rarely, It was a part of a mass of ferruginous quartz, with indelible dendritic impressions. It is very hard, and its fracture,is, con- choidal. hid ie 3 cee gibszs Mica is very common. It is found green, white, and per- fectly black. It generally oceurs in blocks of granite. - Schorl,; in rounded crystals, is found in all the granite in this range ; -in radiating crystals on quartz; and in a acicular crys- tals on mica slate. The large crystals are so brittle, that few of them. can be obtained perfect. 1 once found it in Litch- field, near Plymouth, in prismatic crystals on earthy eraphite. Feldspar is very common and beautiful in all the towns, It is usually found in rhomboidal fragments, and has a fine lustre. It is blue, white, and red. Some of the granite of Torring- ford is very beautiful, being composed of white and. smoky quartz, red feldspar, and green mica, In the porphyritic gneiss, feldspar is in six-sided prism. One small crystal of aria, well defined, has been found by E. Wilkins, Esq. 354 Brace on the Minerals of Litchfield. l, both crystallized and massive, is often found in Litchfield in granites. Its colors are green, greenish yel- low, pale yellow, and brown. Its crystals are often very per- Garnets are common in all the towns of this range. _ Epidote. Very beautiful crystals of this mineral have been found in Washington, associated with feldspar. They are so rounded as to render it very difficult to discover their form. They have a very fine lustre, and are of an olive green; in Litchfield, in crystals with hornblende, and graphic granite, and in veins of sienite. ~ Perhaps no region can be found containing more beautiful tremolite. All its varieties occur; the fibrous of Litchfield and Bethlem is very much distinguished. In Canaan, it is found con- taining crystals of sulphuret of iron. 1 do not speak here of the tremolite found in the limestone range. ~ Common asbestus exists in Washington and New Milford. he white augite is a mineral found in this range; in Litchfield, in six sided prisms very much flattened, on quartz, and carbonate of lime with tremolite. The crystals sometimes occur several inches long. The lamellar and slaty varieties of common hornblende are very common. Radiated actynolite of beautiful bluish green in Litchfield; in Canton of a brownish green. Steatite is common, and js quarried in Litchfield. The va- rieties of tale are very common, connected with steatite, cya- nite, and chlorite. Chlorite in Litchfield, is found on quartz, with talc. Porcelain clay in Litchfield in small quantities, and in Wash- ington. Graphite is found in Cornwall in great quantities. Its gangue is gneiss and sienite. It is lamellar, and has a metallic lustre ; is easily obtained and might be made useful. Epidote and cy- anite are found with it. Ores are not common. Oxides of iron, and sulphuret of iron are scattered over the whole range. Near Mount Prospect in Litchfield, sulphuret of iron in mass is in great quantities; Baldwin on Rottbéllia. 355 and sulphate of iron on the surface of the ground near it. A stone containing a few grains of native copper was found in Litchfield. The red oxide of titanium occurs in Litchfield sparingly. A very handsome specimen of the reticulated oxide of titanium, was picked up. It was on mica, and the. mica mee an evident tendency towards the same form. BOTANY. 9 BOB 1 T. VI. An account of two North. American Species of Rott- béllia, discovered on the Sea-Coast in the e of Georgia, by Dr. Wi11am Barpwiy, of Philadelphia. Flowers in pairs, or two from each joint of the rachis, one neutral. The neutral, or imperfect flowers, pedicillate. Rottbéllia corrugata. f Coutmo erecto, compresso, sulcato, glabro, ramoso; foliis longis angustisque: spicis sub-compressis, nudis super uno latere, solitariis et terminalibus, supremis approximatis; caly- cis bivalvis, valva exteriori transversé corrugata et longitu- dinaliter rugosa : corolla trivalvis. Culm erect, compressed, sulcate, smooth, ramose: leaves long and narrow: spikes slightly compressed, naked on one side, solitary and terminal, approximating towards the summit: calyx 2-yalyed, the exterior valve transversely corrugate, and - longitudinally wrinkled; corolla 3-valved. Vid Nuttall’s North merican Genera, v. I. p. 84.* * * Mr. Nuttall will excuse me for retaining my own specific name. His knowledge of this plant was derived from my Herbarium, where he found it under the name of tripsacum cylindricum, Mich? Although it can hardly ‘2B. “ : 356 Baldwin on Rottbéllia. Culm two to three feet high, with a very solid exterior, but spongy within D, compressed, and deeply grooved on its inner angle the whole length between the joints. Leaves “a sod row, and acute, scabrous on the margin and midrib. S$ ye compressed, corresponding with the culm, shorter than t internodes, open, with membraneous margins. Peduncles short, clothed with a thin membraneous acute pointed sheath, which generally encloses also the base of the spike. _ Spikes two a three inches long. The flowers are arranged in alternate or- der, but occupy only one side of the rachis, as in the R. dimi- diata. The neutral florets, or clavate pedicels, are joined late- rally to the perfect flowers. Articulations of the rachis c# markably tumid, attenuated beneath, flat on the interior oo exteriorly convex, scabrous, and longitudinally striate.” e exterior valve of the calyx, in the perfect flowers, is ovate, ytuse, very thick, cartilaginous, the inner margin inflected, and deeply marked on its outer surface with from three to five corrugations, with longitudinal ridges between them; -the in- terior valve is smaller, of equal length, acute, ruled, coriace- ous, smooth, and with the inner margin also inflected. The valves of the corolla are membraneous, ovate, acute, white, shorter than the calyx, the exterjor one the longest. The neutral florets are somtimes male, but most commonly consist of nothing more than a 2-valved calyx, the valves equal, gaping, scabrous, and much smaller than those. of the perfect flower. Stamens 3, very short. Anthers twin, yellow. Styles 2, rather longer than the stamens. Stigmas small, plumose, dark purple. Discovered between St. Mary’s and Jefferson, in Camden county, Georgia, on the 13th of July, 1813. Inhabits flat, moist pine barren. I have not seen it “on the sea-coast © — ; 2 OBSERVATIONS. fers It will be perceived that my description of this plant di Ss materially from that of Mr. Nuttall. This has unavoidably be the plant of oo, bs was so considered by the late Dr. Muhlenberg; wren edtohim. Itremains under this name . in his herbarium, but is not included in his work on the grasses. He i for me to describe along with other new and doubtful plants from the south, /> : Baldwin on Rotibéllia. 357 arisen from my having attended to it in its living. state, and from his not availing himself of the information which it would have afforded me pleasure to have communicated, had he done me the favor to have requested it, or informed me of his wish to publish an account of plants thus obtained. He has called: the culm solid, leaves rather short, spikes cylindric, axillary, jihe flowers and rachis entirely smooth, pedicel of the neutral flower emarginate, outer valve of the hermaphrodite calyx acute, the valves of the corolla obtuse, and the styles very short. 1 have not been able to confirm the above characters, nor do I find them even in the dried specimens. Besides, he has omitted to inform us that the rachis is naked on one side. This is a most important and prominent specific character, the omission of which would necessarily lead to much doubt in identifying the species. What he means by stating that the “outer valve of the hermaphrodite flower is 3-valved,” I cannot imagine, nor do I comprehend what is intended by an “exterior auxiliary yalye, or neutral rudiment; nearly the length of the calyx.” Ihave. noticed ina single instance connected laterally with the corolla of the perfect flower, two very delicate, narrow, acute pointed bodies, the length of the outer valve, and of the same quality and appearance, but these I have considered as acci- dental, and cannot perceive any thing about them like neutral rudiments. Nor can-I consider the articulations of the rachis as “deeply excavated.” ‘They are, as already stated, flat on the inner side, and constitute from their flexuous form, position, and connexion with the pedicels of the neutral florets, an arch in which the perfect flowers are situated. Rottbéllia ciliata.* Culmo erecto, tereti, glabro, ramoso: foliis angustissimis, brevibus: spicis cylindricis super pedunculis teretibus longis, solitariis terminalibusque : calycis bivalvis, margine valva exteriori ciliata: corolla bivalvis. * "This is the specific name found in my Herbarium by Mr. Nuttall, under which it had been previously transmitted to Mr. Elliott. Vid. Muttall’s North merican. Genera, v. I. p. Vol. 1.... No. 4. 358 ° eg Baldwin on Rottbéllia. Culm erect, terete, smooth, ramose: leaves very narrow, short: spikes cylindrical upon long terete peduncles, solitary and terminal, calyx 2-valved, the margin of the exterior valve ciliate: corolla 2-valved. _ Root perennial. Culm two to four feet high, generally ra- mose, solid, and terete, except that between the joints where the branches originate, it is grooved on the inner side, and of- ten ciliate on its angles near the joints. The branches origi- nate towards the extremity, commonly from two to three in number each supporting a single terminal spike. Leaves very narrow, acute, sippitniticly short, those beneath much the wards the apex. Sheaths rather shorter than the internodes, open to the base, but closely embracing the culm. Spikes 3 to 5 inches long, the peduncles clothed with a very delicate acute pointed sheath, which embraces it so closely as almost to elude observation, varying much in length, but seldom extending to the base of the spike. Peduncles scabrous near the spike. Flowers alternate, the male or neutral florets situated on one side of the rachis. Rachis compressed, slender, flexuous, hairy on its exterior surface. Pedicel of the neutral florets also compressed, and haity on its exterior surface. Valves of the calyx nearly equal, lanceolate, acute, coriaceous, polished, the inner margin of each inflected. The exterior margin 0 the outer valve finely ciliate towards the apex. Valves of the corolla lanceolate, acute, membraneous, nearly the length of the calyx. The male or neutral, are rather smaller than the hermaphrodite flowers. Stainens 3, very short. Anthers twin, purple. Styles 2, exsert, plumose, dark brown. Discovered in flat pine barren on the north side of Satilla river, in Georgia, on the 21st of October, 1815. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. These plants are unquestionably allied to Andropogon in their mode of flowering, but have nevertheless sufficient essen- tial characters to distinguish them. In habit, they appear but slightly similar. They differ principally from their congeners Dr. Williams’s Floral, Zoological, Ge. 359 in the pedicellate character of their neutral florets. 7) 3 are not axillary in either of them. The branches are axillary of which several sometimes originate from the same axil in the R. corrugata. Each spike, when fully evolved, is not only pedicellate, but the pedicel, or peduncle, is connected with a culm containing one, two, or more joints.* The culm is not compressed, nor the leaves long in the R. ciliata, as stated by r. Nuttall, who appears to have confounded the two species in these, and some other instances. The joints of the rachis in both are fragile, the joints of the culm in neither. Another species noticed by Michaux, and included in all our books as the R. dimidiata, L. has long been familiar to the south- ern botanists. Whether this be the dimidiata found also on the sandy shores of India, or the compressa of the same country as suggested by Mr. Elliott, or a species distinct from either, I am not prepared to determine. ButI have collected this plant in the Bermudian Isles, at Rio de Janeiro, and Bahia, on the Brazilian coast, and lastly on the island of Flores, near one hundred miles from the mouth of the Rio de la Plata, as well as on the main in the Banda Oriental. > Art. VII, Floral Calendar kept at Deerfield, Massachusetts, with Miscellaneous Remarks, by Dr. ——— W. Wituiams, of Pe Professor Silliman. Sir, Any thing which has a tendency to elicit facts with regard to the climate of a country must be interesting. I believe that observations upon the the time of the germination, foliation, florification, and fructification of plants, afford.a much more correct criterion respecting climate than thermometrical, or other meteorological journals. They should be made at the Mr, Nuttall was probably deceived from having examined the sptkes before they were fully evolved. 360 Dr. Williams’s Floral, Zoological, and same time in various parts of the country, and for several years in succession. I send you a Calendarium Flore, with miscellaneous remarks, made in Deerfield, Massachusetts, du- ring apart of the years 1811, 1812, and 1818, which, if you please, you may insert in your valuable Journal. Latitude of Deerfield, 42° 32’ 32”, longitude 72° 41’. 1811. March 1. Blackbirds arrived. 15. Black ducks arrived. Bees out of the hire. 20. Early garden pease, lettuce, and peppergrass sown. 28. The woods were swarming with pigeons. Wild geese passed over. The greater part of the month of March was warm and pleasant. The sugar-maple yielded its sap profusely for a days, but the nights were so warm that much less than the usual quantity of sugar was made this year. “pril 1. Frogs begin to be heard. Peas and oats sown- 8. Buds of the lilac, (Syringa vulgaris) the small red rose the elm, (Ulmus americana) the apple, and the peas ~ considerably swoln. 14. Dandelion (Leontodon taraxteum) in fall flower. 20. Indian corn planted; a few garden seeds sown. Martins and bank swallows arrived. Leaves of the currant and goosebery expanded. Weather for a few days past sultry and smoky. 21, Blue violet (Viola cucullata) in full flower. Shad-bush (Aronia Botryapium) in blossom. Flower-buds of the : lilac swoln; likewise the flower-buds of the cherry, pear, and apple. 23. Blood root (Sanguinaria canadensis) in full flower. 25. Asparagus fit for the table. 26. Chili strawberries in flower; this plant begins to blossom early, and continues to flower late in the season. English cherry, black heart (Prunus cerasus) in full owe: er. 27. Garden violet (V. tricolor) in full flower. Miscellaneous Calendar, +361 April 29. Flower buds of the peach expanded. Large white plum (Prunus domestica) in full flower. Winter pear (Pyrus communis) in flower. May 1. Red and white currants in flower. 2. Leaves of the Lombardy poplar (Populus dilatnte) ex- panded. English and field sitawberrieh in blossom. Butternut (Juglans cinerea) in blossom. ouse flies arrived. Apple-trees in full flower. Lilac in full flower. Red-headed woodpecker arrived. . Rye (Secale cereale) beginning to head. Pleasant es a“ cold nights. Hard frosts for a few nights past. _ - Honeysuckle (Azalea nudiflora) in full flower. Small red rose in flower. Choke cherry (Prunus serotina) in full flower. . Common red clover (Trifolium pratense) in full flower. Garden peas in full flower. Hummingbird arrived. . Night-hawks arrived. . Sugar-maple in flower. all wl tlt eS Sg — ek {2 90 SNES June 2. Locust-tree (Robinia pseudoacacia) in flower. 3. Field strawberries beginning to ripen. Piony in flower. 4. High blackberry (Rubus villosus) in full flower, Broad- leafed laurel (Kalmia latifolia) beginning to blossom. 7. Snow-ball, guelder-rose (Viburnum opulus) in full flower. Radishes fit for the table. 12. Our farmers begin to mow their first crop of grass in low land. Large white rose (Rosa alba) in full flower. 21. Red currants beginning to ripen in plenty. Blackberried elder (Sambucus canadensis) beginning to blossom. 27. Indian corn tasseling. Black raspberries beginning to ripen. Nodding lily (Lilium canadense) in flower, 29. Potato (Solanum tuberosum) in full flower. July 1. Red raspberry (Rubus strigosus) beginning to ripen. Poppy (Papaver somniferum) in flower. 362 Dr. Williams’s Floral, Zoological, and July 5. Chestnut-tree (Castanea americana) flowering 6. Large red cherry fully ripe. String beans fit for the able. : Perhaps we never experienced a greater degree of heat in this part of the country than has been felt for three days past. A number of hives of honey have melted during the heat. 4. Cucumbers fit for the table. 15. Rye fit for the sickle. 16. Black whortleberries (Vaccinium resinosum) ripening. 19. Early Potatoes fit for the table. Indian corn (Green) fit for the table. ' 20. Jenneting apples ripe. 21. Choke cherries (Prun. serotina) ripe. 26. Gooseberries ripening. - August 1. Martins departed. 5. Barn and bank swallows collecting in millions, upon our islands in the river, to depart. 12. Blackberries ripe. 20. Thorn apple (Datura stramonium) in full flower. Elderber- _ Ties fully ripe. September 1. Common pear fully ripe. Rare-ripe peaches fully ripe. 6. Bergamot pears fully ripe. oe 17. Great grapes (Vitis estivalis) fully ripe. Frost grapes (Vitis cordifolia) ripenin ng. | 21. Butternuts beginning to fall from the tree. 24. Our farmers busily engaged in harvesting their corn. ee Butternut defoliating. 28. 28. Elm beginning to defoliate. October 2. Chestout burrs opening. Tree defoliating. Sugar-maple and sycamore defoliating. = Blackbirds arrived again. Squirrels in plenty in our woods, though chesnuts and walnuts are scarce. Butternuts plen- ty. Cider and apples in great abundance. November 20, Wild seese returning to the southern regions. Miscellaneous Calendar: | 363 + #1812, March 21. Blackbirds, woodpeckers, and robins arrived. Wild geese passed over. 23, Bees out of the hive. April 3. Black ducks arrived. Large flocks of pigeons passed over. 9. Flower-buds of the elm considerably swoln. 11. Skylarks arrived. | 12. Frogs begin to be heard. 13. Leaf-buds of the soft maple (Acer rubrum) much swoln. 14, Leaf-buds of the oes ge © much swoln. 16. Early garden peas sown. 13. Dandelion (Leon. tarax.) in full flower. Blae or meadow violet (V. cucullata) in flower. Leaves of the lilac beginning to expand. Our farmers busily engaged in ploughing for sowing. - 23, Peas and oats sown, and Indian corn planted. 25. Swallows arrived and whippoorwills begin to sing. 27, Leaves of the gooseberry, and willow (Salix Muhlenbergii) beginning to expand. May 5. Martins arrived. 10. Asparagus fit for the table. Blood-root (Sing Canaden- sis) in full flower. 11. Chili garden strawberries beginning to blossom. Flower- buds of the lilac swoln. 2. Elm in full flower. Leaves of the meadow violet begin- ning to expand 13, Garden violet (V. tricolor) in flower. 14, Field strawberries in full flower. Shad-bush (Aronia bo- tryapium) in blossom. 15, English cherry beginuing to flower. 19. Winter pear beginning to blossom. 22. Hummingbirds arrived. Large white plum of ePvinil domes- tica) in fall flower. Butternut beginning to flower. 23. Flower buds‘of the peach (Amygdalus persica) beginning to expand. Gooseberry in flower. — 364 Dr. Williams’s Floral, Zoological, and _ May 27. Apple trees beginning to blossom. 99, Early garden lettuce (Lactuca sativa) fit for the table. 30. Apple-trees in full flower. 31. Night-hawks arrived. Vegetation has put forth apparently more in three days past than in all the spring before. Nature seems to revive from a state of torpidity, from the warm and invigorating rays of the sun. The month of May has been more backward than the month of April, 1811. The observation of elderly people, that the month of April, old style, was never known to termi- nate without producing apple-blossoms, has by no means been verified this year, they being now (June Ist.) in full flower. The snow upon the mountains, thirty or forty miles back, is at agreat depth; so deep, that on the warm day of the 29th ourriyver rose afoot from its melting. Diseases of the chro- nic kind have been peculiarly severe for three months past. ‘The gladsome return of the cheering warmth will probably renovate the enfeebled constitutions of many of. our aged ople. June 1. House flies arrived. 5. Choke cherry (Prun. serotin.) in full flower. | Honey- suckle apple (Azalea nudiflora) in full flower. 8. Piony in full flower. Snowball (Viburnum opulus) in full & flower. Flower-de-luce (Iris Versicolor) in blossom. 11. Early peas in blossom. Carraway (Carum carui) in ower. 15. ae (Robin. pseudoacac.) in fall flower. Field _ Strawberries beginning to ripen. 18. Common red clover in full flower. Cranesbill (Geranium maculatum) in blossom. Red raspberry in full flower. 23. Chili strawberries beginning to ripen. Garden sage Sais via officinalis) in full flower, 29. Our farmers busily engaged in haying. 30. Large red rose, large white rose, and damask rose (Rosa damascena) in flower. - Miscellaneous Calendar. 365 July 1. White pond lily (Nymphea odorata) in flower. 4. Black elder (Sambucus canadensis) in full flower. a. sand peas fit for the table. Red and white currants ripen- ing: 8. Nodding lily (Lilium canadense) in flower. ti, Garden beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) in fall seniet Chestnut in flower. Black raspberries ripening. 20. Early corn tasseled (Zea mays. Variety precoz.) Red rasp- berries fully ripe. zs 22. Whortleberries ripe (Vaccin. resinos.) 24. Cucumbers fit for the table 28. Early potatoes fit for the table. 29. Rye fit for the sickle. Early garden squashes (Cnc Melo-pepo) fit for the table. Biel eae - a August 2. Jenneting apples ripening. 5. Early corn fit for the table. 8. Wheat (Triticum hybernum) fit for the sickle. 28. Summer peas ripening. September 4. Watermelons and pene ripe: - Swallows departed. . Elderberries fully ripe. 11. Choke. cherries and wild cherries (Prunus virginiana) or Or ipo HApe. . 12. Yellow plum (Prunus chicasa) fully ripe. 15. Buiternut beginning to fall from the tree. # 16. Our farmers making their first cider. 22. Great grapes ripe. Chestnut October 2. Butternut and elm beginning to defoliate. urrs beginning to open. 5 9. Our farmers beginning to harvest their Indian corn. 1818. ae as Btachirds abrived” , robins, and blackbirds arrived. Bees out of ; ike hive. Vou 1.... No. 4. 7 * 366 Dr. Williams’s Floral, Zoological, and March 14. Broad leaved panic grass (Panicum. latifolium) be- ginning to sprout ona southern exposure, while there is sleighing in the street. A solitary spathe of skunk- cabbage (Pothos fwtida) beginning to show itself on the.same exposure. Leaves of the curled dock (Rumex crispa) appeared in the same place. Maple-trees tapped for sugar. 16. Pothos fetida in full flower. 25, Black ducks arrived. Catkins of the poplar-tree (Popu- lus tremuloides) expanded. Catkins of the speckled wil- low (Salix Muhlenbergiana) expanded. 30. Wild geese arrived. Phebe arrived. It began to rain hard on the first of March, and continued raining two days anda half, which nearly carried off an im- mense body of snow which enveloped the ground, Our which were more firmly locked with ice than they had been before known for many years to be, rose aboye their usual bounds, and swept the ice with such rapidity down their annels as to destroy most of the bridges on Connecticut _ Yiver, besides doing immense damage in other respects. Our meadows were nearly all under ice and water; and at that time a great explosion was heard in the north meadows, two miles from the street, similar to the noise of a cannon. It was occasioned by the throwing up of an immense quantity of frozen ground, which is a great curiosity. ‘The cause is not yet satisfactorily explained. The weather was very warm and pleasant from the 4th to the 22d. What snow the rain did not carry off was melted by the sun during the pleasant weniher. Vegetation had begun to put forth rapidly, and our birds of passare had arrived. A storm, which commenced on the 22d, as rapidly retarded the progress of vegetation as it was beriie accelerated, and the remainder © the month was gloomy and egiortable. Mud mid-leg deep in the streets. April 7. Flower-buds of the elm (Ulmus americana) beginning to swell. Miscellaneous Calendar. 367 April 8. na buds of the lilac (Syring. vulg-) bépttibing to & 10. habit of the soft or meadow maple (Acer rubrum) be- ginning to swell. Black alder (Alnus serrulata) in flower. American hazle (Corylus americana) in flower, and its catkins appearing. . Fair and pleasant, after along storm. It has rained six- teen days in succession. Frogs begin to be heard. Leaf- buds of the English cherry (Prunus ae a heart beginning to swell. Garden peas sow 12. Flies in myriads arrived in our streets. Catkiia of the butternut (Juglans cinerea) beginning to swell. Saxi- frage (Saxifraga virginiensis) in flower. : 13. Skylarks arrived. 14. Sweet fern (Comptonia asplenifolia) in flower. White birch (Betula populifolia) in flower. 16. Our farmers beginning to plough for spring wheat. 18. Bank swallows arrived. 19. Leaf-buds of the currant, the gooseberry, and the apple, considerably swoln. 20. Dandelion (Leon. tarar.) beginning to flower. Viola cu- cullata beginning to blossom. 22. Our farmers ploughing for peas and oats. The snow upon the hills 20 miles north and west from Deerfield is two feet and a half deep, and the winds from those quarters are so chilly as to retard the progress of vegetation. Icicles scarcely melted upon the south side of buildings in Halifax, Vermont; and it is too cold for making sugar. . Blood-root (Sanguinaria canadensis) in flower on a warm south side hill. Leaves of the English gooseberry be- ginning to expand. Venus’s pride (Houstonia coerulea) in flower. Early life-everlasting, (Gnaphalium planta- ginewm) crowfoot, (Ranunculus fascicularis) tooth-root, bm _ [32) ot (Dentaria laciniata) and meadow-rue ( Thalictrum ee tum) in full flower. . Trailing arbutus (Epigaea repens) in full flower. Leaves of the barberry (Berberis vulgaris) beginning to ex- tS] for) 368 Dr. Williams’s Floral, Zoological, and pand. Five-finger, (Potentilla pumilla) adder’s tongue. (Erythronium dens-canis) liver-leaf, grees triloba) and wind-flower, (Anemone nemorosa) in flow fed af. tere potatoes and early corn planted. " Ele in full flow. 29. Water veraivieet (Ranunculus aabicsuieek and American cowslip (Caltha palustris) in full flower. 30. Daffodil (WVarcissus pseudo-narcissus) and rue-anemone (Anemone thalictroides) in flower. May 1. Soft maple (Acer rem in flower. 2. Martins arrived. 3. Leaves of the gooseberry beginning to expand. 4. Leaves of the currant and lilac beginning to expand. Pigeons arrived. 5. Wood. bulrush (Juncus sylvaticus) in flower. A great freshet in our meadows, from the melting of the snow upon the mountains, and from the great rain which has continued nearly a month. Beth. nodding trillion (Trillium rhomboideum) in flower i Flowers of the garden violet (V. tricolor) beginning to expand. 8. The young heads of asparagus breaking the ground. 9. Our farmers busily engaged in planting their Indian corm, though the weather is excessively cold. Sowed onions, arsnips, &c. 10. Bobylincolns (Bob of lincolns) arrived. Flower-buds of the lilac appearing. 11. Field strawberries (Fragaria virginiana) in full flower. Colt’s-foot ( Tussilaga JSarfara) in flower. 12. Whip-poor-wills begin to sing, : 13. Spice-bush (Laurus benzoin) in full flower. A freshet in the meadows. 2 14. Goldthread (Coptis trifolia) in full flower 15. Rattlesnake violet (Viola primulifolia) in full flower. 16. Chimney swallows arrived. 17. Leaves of the apple-tree expanding. Sugar maple co saccharinum) in full flower. Garden daisy (Bellis pe rennis) in full flower. Miscellaneous Calendar. 369 May 18. Asparagus fit for the table. ; 19. Smooth gooseberry (Ribes wva-crispa) in flower. 20; Shad-bush (Aron. Botryap.) in flower. 21. House wrens arrived. Moose-wood (Dirca palustris) in flower. 22. Garden currant (Ribes rubrum) beginning to flower. 24. Wake-robin (Trillium cernuum) and peas (Pyrus communis in flower. _. prt 25. Our mountain scenery diversified. Weather very warm. Garden potatoes and garden corn, planted on the 27th April, breaking the ground. Garden beans, cucumbers, squashes, watermelons, &c. planted. . Damson plum (Prunus domestica) and yellow or wild plum (Prunus chicasa) in flower. Elder (Sambucus canadensis) in flower. Carolina chatterer arrived. . Garden gooseberry (Ribes grossularia) and ave rivale) in blossom. Weather intensely warm. Ther- mometer at 86° at 2 o'clock, P. M. yesterday. . Apple-trees in full flower. Night-hawks arrived. 30. Choke cherries (Prun. Serotin.) in flower. 1, Lilac in full flower. © oO ns (Geum to ~I vo ive) i) The weather till the last week in May w rainy. Perhaps we have never. known more § than that of the first twenty days of the month. The last week in the month of May was unusually warm and fine. Veg- etation has put forth more within this week than it has in all the season before. ‘The blossoms on apple-trees are scanty, and there is but little prospect of fruit. Peach-trees in the Vicinity of this place were all killed by the extreme cold Winter, June 1, Hummingbirds arrived. 2. Honeysuckle apple (Azalea nudiflora) in fall flower. 3. Blue-eyed grass, (Sisyrinchium anceps) Krigia virgunica, and thorn-bush (Crategus coccinea) in flower. Garden seeds, planted on the 25th ult. have vegetated 3 or 4 in- ches high. Garden rhubarb (Rheum tataricum) in flower. * 370 Dr. Williams’s Floral, Zoological, aud June 4. Garden rocket (Hesperis pinnatifida) in flower. _ 6. Yellow water lily (Nuphar advena) in full flower. Folwer- de-luce (Iris virginica) in flower. Garden peas in full ~ flower. . The weather for twelve days past has been unusually warm and’ sultry. ‘The thermometer, much of the time in the mid- dle of the day, has stood at 84°, and vegetation has put forth with astonishing rapidity. = 8. House-flies arrived. 9. Horse-radish (Cochlearea armoracea) and peony in full eal ower. 10. Chives (Allium schenoprasum) in full flower. 11. Smooth stem lichnide (Phlox maculata) in full flower. ~ Our farmers busily engaged in hoeing their corn. 12. Fumitory (Fumaria officinalis) in full flower. _ 13. Field strawberries beginning to ripen. : 14. Locust-tree (Robinia pseudacacia) in full flower. 15. Locusts appearing in the south part of the town. The last time of their appearance here was in the year 1801. "Their periodical returns are once in seventeen years. Their appearance in the years 1733, 1759, 1767, 1784, and 1801, is recorded on the town book. They first attack the leaves of the black oak (Quercus nigra.) 16, Small red rose in flower. 17. Rosa caroliniensis in full flower. 18. Garden sage (Salvia officinalis) in flower. 19. Mock syringa (Phailadelphus coronarius) in flower. ; 20. Tulip-tree, commonly called cyprus or white-wood (Lirio- dendron tulipifera) in blossom. 21. Carnation pink (Dianthus caryophylus) in flower. 22. Our farmers commenced haying. An immense crop of grass on the ground. 23. Side-saddle flower (Saracenia purpurea) in flower. 24. Common St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum) in full Pe Cheat Miscellaneous Calendar. — 371 June 26. Garden radishes fit for the table. 27. Early garden peas fit for the table. Weather intensely warm. 28. American lime or linden-tree (Tilia Americana) in flower. 30. Flax (Linum perce in = flower. Thermometer in the shade at 2 F. Vegetation has put forth and increased with more asto- nishing rapidity this month than has ever been known. Not- withstanding the spring was very backward, the season now is forward. Our farmers commenced their first haying about a week earlier than they did last year. July 1. White water lily (Nymphea odorata) in flower. e 3. Red and white currants ripening. Yellow day li iF (Ue: ; merocallis flava) and Lilium canadense in full flower. 4, Cucumbers and watermelons in flower. Early summer corn. (Zea mays, variety precox) beginning to tassel, Garden rue (Ruta graveoleus) mustard (Sinapis nigra) motherwort, (Leonorus cardiaca)| and mullin (Verbas- cum thapsus) in full flower, Blue whortleberries (Vac- cinnium frondosum) beginning to ripen. Dewberry (Ru- bus trivialis) ripening. ; 5. Poppy (Papaver somniferum) in flower. - 6. Gardensquashes (Cucurbita Melo-pepo) in flower. 7. Red raspberry fully ripe, 10. Black raspberry fully ripe. 11. String beans fit for the table. 12. Unicorn plant (Martinia proboscidea) in full flower. 13. Thorn apple (Datura stramoniwm) and marygold (Tagetes erecta) in full flower. 15. Great water plantain (lisma plantago) and field clover : (Trifolium. arvense) in flower. 17. Mad dog weed (Scutellaria lateriflora) and. purple _yervain (Verbena hastata) in blossom. The weather for three weeks past has been excessively warm. The thermometer, for several days, has stood above 372 Dr. Williams’s Floral, Zoological, and 95°, part of the time at 98°. Our lands are now parching with drought. Our grass fields are completely embrowned. Our farmers beginning to reap their rye. July 19. Cucumbers fit for the table. Early corn (green) fit for the table. _ 21. Mother of thyme (Thymus vulgaris) in full flower. 22. Fig-wort (Scropularia marylandica) and loosestrife (Ly- stmachia stricta) in flower. 24, paring att (Convoloulus sepiums) and Orchis ciliaris in Il flower. 26. Wiksetlahecrtee (Vaccinium resinosum) ripe. Single-seeded cucumber (Sicyos angulata) in flower. 28. Garden lettuce and hop (Humulus lupulus) in full flower. 30, Our farmers reaping their wheat—a_ tolerable crop. _ Buckwheat (Polygonum fagopyrum) in flower. _ We had a great rain about the 20th, which restored the parched vegetation. The latter part of the month Was, how- ever warm, and ae August 1. Geatahoppers begin to sing. Crickets arrived. 2: Larkspur (Delphinium consolida) in flower. 3. Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) and pigweed Ceara album) in flower. 6. Broom-corn (Sorghum saccharatum) and lavender (Laven- dula spica) in flower. 7. Early jenneting apples ripe. Ambrosia trifida and Amer- icana senna (Cassia marylandica) in flower 11. Muskmelon ripe. Garden squashes and nile beans fit ~~ for the table 13. Seed-box Lsebeigia alternifolia) in flower. Garden goose- berries fully ripe. i4, Our farmers gathering their peas and oats—an indifferent crop. Weather warm and dry. 16. Martins departing. Bush clover (Lespedeza capitata) in flower. 18. Our farmers begin to mow their second crop of hay- Jerusalem oak (Chenopodium botrys) in flower. Ce om pe ye, i Rafinesque on the Genus Floerkea. 373. 20. Houseleek (Sempervivum tectorwm) in flower. 21. Herb clarry (Salvia sclaria) in blossom. 22. Swallows collecting in thousands to depart. Toothed coral (Cymibidium odontorizom) in flower. Saw bats for the first time this year. 24. Lopseed (Phryma leptostachia) and ladies’ tresses (Neottia pubescens) in flower. ; 27. Gay mallows (Lavatera thuringiaca) and Solanum nigrum 30. Burnet saxifrage (Sanguisorba canadensis) and water hore- hound (Lacopus europeus) in full flower. STEPHEN W. WILLIAMS. Deerfield, (Mass.) Jan. 25, 1818. Art. VIII. Description and Natural Classification of the Genus Floerkea, by C. S. Rarinesque. Tis genus was discovered in Pennsylvania, near Lancaster, by the Rey. Dr. Mulenberg, who communicated the same to Wildenow of Berlin. This celebrated botanist ascertained that it was a new genus, to which he gave the name of a German botanist, (Floerke) and published it in the third volume of the transactions. of the society des Curieux de la Nature of Berlin, for 1801, under the name of Floerkea proserpinacoides, which: long and uncouth specific name has been changed by every Subsequent author. Michaux has omitted it altogether, (with Many more American species) in his Flora Boreali Americana, published in 1803. Persoon calls it Floerkea lacustris, in Syn. plant. 1. p. 393. Muhlenberg Floerkea uliginosa, in Cat. pl. Amer. Sept. p. 36. and Pursh, in Flora Amer. Sept. 1. p. 299. unites it with the genus .Vectris, and calls it ectris pinnata, put- ting it therefore in the Hexandria digynia of Linnzus, while. all. the preceding authors had classed it in the Hexandria mono- gynia. I will show presently which among them appear to be Vol. 1....No. 4. 8 oa 374 Rafinesque on the Genus Floerkea. wrong; but I mnst notice before, that no botanist had I be- lieve endeavored to class it naturally, until Mr. Correa de Serra, who in his reduction of American genera to the natural families of Jussieu, attempted without having had an opportu- nity to see the plant, to place it in the family of Juncz, taking it therefore to be a monocotyle plant; being led into this er- ror by a mistaken idea, that all hexandrous plants must be monocotyle! But in the spring of 1816, 1 found this plant in the neighborhood of Philadelphia, near the falls of the Schuylkill) where it had escaped the attention of all the bo- tanists of that city, and in particular of Dr. William Barton, who has therefore omitted it in his Prodr. fl. Philad. and hay- ing communicated it to Mr. Correa, he acknowledged that it was dicotyle, of which fact I was aware, even before seeing the plant and dissecting its seed, by attending to its habit. The following exact description of this genus will enable the reader to ascertain how far I am correct in my presump- tions towards its natural arrangement. Floerkea. Perigone double persistent, sixpartite; the exte- rior calicinal 3 partile, sepals acute; the interior shorter, central and bifid style, two capitated stigmas. Fruit a bilobed atricule, tuberculated and bilocular dispermous, sometimes round, unilocular and monospermous by abortion of one lobe and cell. Seeds attached to the centre near the bottom, nearly lenticular, smooth albuminous, easily divided in two lobes. Habit. Small, delicate, annual, and glabrous plant, ‘with alter- nate polytome pinnated leaves, flowers axillar, solitary, P& dunculated. Floerkea uliginosa. Caule tenello flaccido erecto simplex, foliis 4 petiolatis imis ternatis, summis pinnato, quinatis, pinnu- lis lineari oblongis obtusis, integris floribus axillaris, solitaris pedunculis longis apice incrastatis. Stem delicate, soft, UP- right, and simple, leaves petiolated, the inferior ternated, the superior pinnated, quinate, pinnules linear-oblong obtuse, ~ Rafinesque on the Genus Floerkea. 375 | flowers axillar, solitary, and on long peduncles, swelled dnder the flower. Among the several specific names given to this plant I pre- fer Muhlenberg’s, as it expresses exactly the kind of situations where it grows, say in moist grounds, occasionally swampish or overflowed; those I found near Philadelphia, grew by thou- sands on the banks of a small brook in a wood below the et side of the falls of Schuylkill. Persoon’s name of lacustris, being wrong, as it would seem to imply that it grows in lakes only; and Wildenow’s name being too long and illusive, its similarity of habit with the genus Proserpinaca not being very striking. However, even the name of uliginosa is liable to some slight objection ; and did I think myself permitted to coin a new name, while so many have been proposed a ready, I should have called it either F. tenella, or F. flaccida, or F. oli- toria, being a very delicate and tender. plant, and very good to eat in salad, as I have tried it myself, its taste is sweet and pleasant, the whole plant may be eaten, (even the root) being all juicy and tender : it grows in such an abundance in some spots, that it might occasionally afford a most precious and de- lightful salad, and if cultivated for that purpose, it might be ound an agreeable addition to our culinary herbs. In addition to my above definition, it will be proper to state that the stem of this plant rises from 4 to 8 inches, it is cylin- drical, smooth, and yellowish, the middle leaves are the largest, the lower peduncles are longer than the leaves, and the upper ones shorter, the petals or interior sepals, and the stamens are yellow. It blossoms in May, and is annual, it even lasts only three months. It will be perceived that I do not agree with Mr. Pursh, in uniting this plant with the genus Nectris : he owns himself that it deviates a little from the generic character of Nectris, but these deviations appear to me very material ; they exist in the Pistils and fruits, the most essential parts of the flowers, since they agree in the perigone and stamens. The genus Nectris (or Calomba of Aublet) has two ovaries, two styles, and two po- lyspermous capsules, or achens! and belongs therefore to the second order Perimesia, (class Eltrogynia) eighth family Achen- ‘ ae sem 376 _ Rafinesque on the Genus vadeie 1 next to the genus Myriophylium : while the genus Flo- erkea which has a bilobed ovary, one central style, two stigmas, and one bilocular dispermous achen, must belong to the eleventh order of the same class; Isostimia, which is characterized by ;haying more than one stigma, the stamens in regular number. - «* not central ; it will form a connecting link between his der and the foregoing Polymesia, by its affinity with many ige- nera of the Euphorbia’s tribe, such as Callitriche, Tragia, Mer- eurialis, &¢. from which it differs merely by haying herma- phrodite flowers, and perispheric regular stamens. [ft will at Present stand nearly isolated in this order, where it may form sthe small family Galenidia, along with the genus Galenia, &c. and which shall have much affinity with the family Phytolucia; ibut this differs by haying a multilocular berry, while the Gale- -nia merely differs by having a 4 sided perigone, 8 stamens, and 2 styles. _ J admit, however, that there is a strong affinity between the Sark Floerkea and. Nectris, but stronger affinities often. exist ‘in plants of different classes. If, however, it should happen that Aublet* might have been mistaken in describing the ova- ‘and capsules of the Wectris as double, if they should prove ies to be simple but bilobed, then the Nectris would belong to the same family as the Floerkea; but yet standa peculiar genus no ig by having 2 styles, and the achens not monos- permou It was insinuated to me by Mr. Correa, that the Floerkea might have some affinity with the tribe of Ranunculacea, but I cannot discover any, since that tribe is widely different, by having many ovaries, stamens, and fruits, each ovary with 1 style or stigma, a deciduous perigone, the anthers adnate, &c. The analogy inthe structure of the seed and habit, is too slight to be taken in consideration. *Mr. Stephen Elliot has confirmed the description of Aublet, in his botany of Southern States. (Received January, 1818. Ea or.) : * = - aw Rafinesque on Cylactis, Nemopanthus, and Polanisia. 377 -- Arr. IX. Descriptions of Three New Genera of plants, fi hee State of New York. Cylactis, Nemopanthis, and Polanisia,— by C. S. Rarinesave. ’ 1. N. G. Cylactis. * Curyx campanulated 6 ‘to 10 fidus, sepals a little ‘unequal. * Petals 4 to 6 equal. Many perigynous stamens. Pistils 8 to 12, ovaries sessile ovate, styles elongated, stiginadcapitatad Berries few, distinct, one seeded. ‘This new genus belongs in the analytical and natural me- thod, (see Analysis of Nature) to the first natural class Eltro- gynia, first natural order Rhodanthia, second natural Sa: Senticosia, next to the genera Rubus, Oligacis, &c. It w range itself into the artificial class Icosandria of the EGbcen sexual system; but not properly into any of its orders, since the number of pistils is variable, and never above 12. Only one species belongs to it, which I have discovered in company with Mr. Knevels, on the Catskill mountains. The etymology of the name derives from two Greek words meaning radiated ‘culyx. It differs essentially from Rubus by the unequal many cleft calyx, variable petals, and few pistils. Cyluctis montana. Mountain cylactis—Stem herbaceous up- right, unarmed, pubescent ; leaves quinate, nearly s upper ones sessile, stipules oblong, folioles ovate acuminate, incised, serrated, ciliated, base acute, entire, the middle one petiofated : flowers few corymbose, peduncles erect elongated bracteolated ; calyx pubescent, sepals lanceolate acute, nerved, reflexed; petals cuneate-obovate, longer than the calyx. It is a small perennial plant, rising about half a foot; flowers white, blossoming in June. On the Catskill mountains near the great falls, &c. : eg Ps. eee eee 5 i wt od 2. WN. G. Nemopanthus. Dioical. M. flowers calyx 5 phylle, equal, deciduous. No corolla. Stamina 5 hypogynous, alternating with the calyx. ? -* € a 378. Rafinesque on Cylactis, Nemopanthus, and Polansia. Fem. fl. calyx deciduous 5 phylle? Ovary ovate, stigma sessile 4 lobed. Berry 4 celled 4 seeded. The name means flower with a filiform peduncle. A shrub forms this genus, which had perhaps been united with alex by Michaux, &c.; but it differs altogether from it by the want of corolla, hypogynous stamens, sessile style, &c. it does not ae even belong to the same family, but to the natural family * Rhamnidia, natural order Plynontia, and natural class Eltrogy- nia, next to the genus Frangula. In the sexual system it would belong to Dioecia pentandria, very far apart from Frangula. Nemopanthus fascicularis. Fascicled nemopanthus. Shrub- by leaves fasciculated, petiolate, oblong, mucronate, entire, rather undulate » membranaceous, smooth ; flowers axillary fasciculated, peduncles filiform, shorter than the leaves. It forms a small shrub from 5 to 8 feet high, covered with gray bark, and with slender upright branches ; the flowers are greenish, very small, the female flowers have shorter and thicker peduncles; they blossom in June. It grows on the Catskill mountains near the two lakes. It is, perhaps, the Ilex canadensis ? of Michaux and Pursh. And it has some ana- logy with the Frangula alnifolia. 3. N. G. Polanisia. Calyx 4 phylle, phylles coloured unequal, the upper one unguiculated spatulated. Corolla with 4 unequal petals, the two upper ones larger and unguiculated. A nectarium up- - wards glandular, broad, and truncated. Stamina 9 to 14, une- qual, erect, hypogynous. Ovary oblong on a short pedicel, one style, one truncated stigma. Fruit a follicular capsule, one celled, two valved, many seeded, seeds inserted on each side of each suture, nearly snail-shaped. The type of this genus is the Cleome dodecandra of Linneus, under which denomination many species were blended, which have no similitude with the real genus cleome, differing in the calyx, corolla, nectarium, stamina, and fruit. I shall describe here that of North America, where 2 or 3 species exist, besides those of the West Indies, Africa, and Asia, which are totally vat ey As pod x of rigs : BP Be gt i * Notice on Myosurus Shortii. 379 different. The etymology of the name which I have given to it, derives from many irregularities. It belongs in the analytical ‘method of botany, to the first natural class Eltrogymia, ninth nat- ural order Monostimia, natural family Capparidia. It can find ‘no place in the sexual system since .the number of tome va- rises from 9 to 14,unless it be forced into Dodecandria. Polanisia graveolens. Clammy polanisia—hairy and _ glutin- ous all over, stem upright, leaves alternate, petiolate, ternated, folioles sessile, the intermediate longest, oblong, obtuse, entire, hairy on the margin and nerves: flowers racemose erect, bracteas petiolate, ovate, obtuse, calyx hairy, petals emargin- ate, crenate, capsules divaricate glutinous. It is the Cleome dodecandra of Michaux and Pursh. It grows on the banks of rivers and lakes, on the Hudson near New- burgh, on the Susquehannah near Harrisburg, on Lake Erie, on the Ohio, and Mississippi, &c. It blossoms in July, and Au- gust, the stem rises about 1 foot, the petals are white, or slightly red. The whole plant has a strong graveolent smell, Similar to that of Erigeron graveolens. (Received January 1818. Editor.) Arr. X. Notice onthe Myosurus Shortit. I HAVE the pleasure to announce to the botanists, that the ~ genus Myosurus, hitherto thought an European genus, and composed of a single species, has been detected in the United States by Dr. Short of Kentucky, who has discovered it in the neighborhood of Hopkinsville, in Christian county, West Kentucky, and has communicated me specimens of it; by which, on comparing them with the European Myosurus, figured in Flora Danica, Lamarck’s Illustrations, &c. I have been enabled to ascertain, that the American plant must form a second species of that genus, which I have accordingly dedi-| cated it to the discoverer, by making it Myosurus Shortii. This adds another genus and another new species to our Flora. I add the comparative definitions of the two species, exhibiting their different characters and diagnosis. - 380 Myoswrus minimus. Lin. &e. Leaves linear-cuneate, broad- er near the top, and acute. Scapes as long as the leaves, thickened towards the upper part. Calyx 5 leaved, spurs consimilar: petals 5. Stamens 5 to 8. Carpophore as long as the scapes. : Philadelphia May 1, 1819. Ives on Gnaphalium. Myosurus Shortt. Rafi Leaves linear obtuse, hard- ly attenuated below. Scapes shorter than the leaves, and filiform. Calyx 3 to 5 leaved, spurs membraneou etals 3 C. S. RAFINESQUE. Ant. XI. Description of oF a Sa 9 Si a New Species of Gnaphalium, by Pro- fessor E. Ives, To B. Silliman, M. D., &c. Tur following description of a new species of Gnaphalium, accompanied. two years. If correct error, or solve doubts with a drawing, has been in my possession for the subsequent observations will be of use to which may have existed con- cerning some species of gnaphalium, they are at your sevice. This plant was first observed by me, in’ co €. Whitlow, in July, 1817, by the margin of t rods north of Mr. E. Whitney’s gun manufactory, Haven. It is also found on the margin of the H about thirty miles from Long Island sound, where it w served by Dr. Alfred Monson, of this plant were sent to Z. Collins, Esq. of Philadel E. IVES. mpany with Mr. he brook, a few near New ousatonick, as ob- Specimens the last summer. phia, for the purpose of comparing it with'the species of gnaphalium in Muhlenberg’s herbarium, more particularly wit h the /uteo- album and Pennsylvanicum, which I had not seen. to 5. Stamens 10 to 12. Car-_ pophore shorter than the scapes, — ral = ‘Ty id MOL (LECCPEDS . x A Qual: +2 = Say on Shells, §-c. 381 " 1 all'indebted to the politeness of Mr. Collins, for the facts on this subject relative to Muhlenberg’s herbarium. « He ob- serves, “your Gnaphalium is certainly not the luteo-album of Mahlenberg, which may not stricly be a native, but intro- duced. Y most appoaches G. polycephalum, Mx. Still, from | ent leaves and other differential marks, it : to be a new species. Muhlenberg’s collectiom As theeluteo-album is said to grow in New England, yet so far as my observation has extended it has not been found by any of the botanists, I am induced to believe that this opinion -has arisen from some erroneous description of the plant which is the subject of this paper. _ : As the decurrent leaves of this Gnaphalium distinguish it so obviously from all the other American species of Gnaphalium, I propose to give it the specific name of decurrens. yom Specific description of Gnaphalium Decurrens (large life everlasting.) Leaves lanceolate, broad at base, acute, decurrent, some- what scabrous above, tomentose beneath; stem leafy, branched, spreading about three feet high.—See the plate which repre- sents a section of the upper part of the plant. eee ee Tanna FOSSIL ZOOLOGY, &c. 4 ~~» 8 OE< a ; = : Art. XII. Observations on some Species of Zoophytes, Shells, &c. principally Fossil, by Tromas Say. : I; the following descriptions and notices of some of the animal productions of our country, chiefly fossil, and of which some are but little known, should be found of sufficient in- terest to occupy a place in the Journal of Science, they are very much at your service for that work. ; Vol. 1.... No. 4. 9 4 acs - + 382 Say on Shells, &. * The greater portion of them are extracted, with somélimodi- fication from an essay which I read about three years, ago, to the Academy of Natural Sciences, without any intention at the time of giving publicity to them. But the rapid diffusion of a _ taste for geological research, scems to require correspondi mains, inasmuch as geology, in order to be -emimet nished with every advantage that may tend to the ment of many important results, must be in part founded on a knowledge of the different genera and species of reliquie, which the various accessible strata of the earth present. The accessory value of this species of knowledge, is now duly esti- mated in Europe, as affording the most obvious»means of esti- mating, with the greatest approximation to truth the compara- tive antiquity of formations, and of strata, as well as of identi- fying those with each other which are in their nature similar. Certainly very little is yet known about the fossils of North America, and very little can be known accurately, until we shall have it in our power to compare them with approved _ detailed descriptions, plates or specimens of those of Europe ; which have been made known to the world by the indefatiga- ble ‘industry, and scientific research of Lamarck and other naturalists. America is rich in fossils. In many districts of the United States, vast beds of fossil shells, zoophytes, &c. are deposited, which for the most part, are concealed from the inquiring ey, offering superficially a mere confused mass of mutilated frag- ments, ‘These rich repositories must finally be exposed to view, by the onward pace of improvement, and the more inte- rior strata will be unveiled by some fortunate profound exca- vations, the result of enterprise in the pursuit of gain. The very surface of the country in many regions, is almost over- spread with the abundance of casts, or redintigrate fossils, many of which are apparently specifically anomalous, and some ge&- nerically so. ‘The correct, and only useful mode in which the investigation of our fossils can be conducted, is attended with some difficulty and labor. he oy* * Say on Shells, &c. 383 The task presumes the knowledge, not only of fossils in all their different states, from the apparently unchanged specimen, . to the fragment or section of a cast uninsulably imbedded in its rocky matrix, but it also requires an adequate acquaintance with recent specimens, or those of which the inhabitants are not yet struck from the list of animated beings, in other words those of the present, as well as those of the former world. Due advantage being taken of the many opportunities which are from time to time offered to us, of obtaining knowledge in this department, will probably be the means of producing a list of American animal reliquiz, coextensive with that of Europe at the present day. Inthe present state of the science, how- ever, the correct naturalist will fell ita duty which he owes to his collaborators to proceed with the utmost caution, that he may not add unnecessarily to the already numerous species. Genus Alveolites, Lam. Coral lapideous, covering extraneous bodies, or in asimple mass formed of concentric strata; strata composed each of a union of numerous alveoles, which are very short, contiguous, reticulate, and generally parallel. we Species. A. glomeratus., alveoles vertical, subequal, oval, or obsoletely hexagonal, much shorter than the diameter, parallel; paries simple; strata numerous, forming a rounded mass. (Cabinet of the Academy of Natural Sciences.) Found often on the coast of North America, cast up by the waves, the animals sometimes still living. Forms masses of various sizes and figures, generally more or less rounded or lobed, and composed of a great number of concentric layers. The number of these strata seems to be regulated in some de- gree by the quantity of surface they have to cover. Thus if the nucleus happens to be a small shell, such as the Natice Nasse, &c. of our coast, or even the oyster, (O- Virginica,) clam, (V. mercenaria,) &c. the strata are often very numerous ; * 384 Say on Shelis, dpe. but on the thoracic plate of Limulus polyphemus, having a con- - siderable. space over which to extend themselves, the strata are but few, not more than 2 or 3. I have seen the thoracic plate of this animal so entirely covered by the Alveolite, as to have the eyes and stemmata concealed so as to be perfectly blind. When composed of a single layer only, it much resem- bles a Flustra, or a Cellapore of which the convex surfaces have been removed by attrition. The animal I have not yet exa- mined. The alyeoles or cells of a layer, are arranged in lines of different degrees of curvature, obscurely radiating from dif~ ferent centres; these lines are placed side by side, the alve- oles alternating with each other throughout the layer in a quincunx manner; the thickness of the paries is somewhat equal to one half of the conjugate diameter of the alveole, the length of which, or thickness of the layer, is scarcely more considerable ; but these proportions vary. The species to which it seems allied are madreporacea and incrustans. The former is fossil, and differs in being subra- mose; the latter forms but a single expansion. 7 Genus Favosites, Lam. Coral lapideous, simple, of a variable form, composed of parallel prismatic and fasciculated tubes; tubes contiguous, pen- tagonal, or hexagonal, more or less angular, rarely articu- lated, Species. G. striata, more or less turbinate ; paries of the alveoles longitudinally. striated within, and fenestrate with minute 0- euli; alveoles with very numerous septe. (Cabinet Acad. Nat. Sciences ; and Peale’s Musewm—common.) Found fossil in various parts of the United States, at the falls.of the Ohio; Gennesee, New-York ; Pittsburgh and Wilks- barre, Pennsylvania; Missouri, &¢. &c. but not yet in the alluvial deposit of N ew-Jersey, : The tubes are generally, partially, or entirely filled with silicious. matter, sometimes so completely, as to resemble — Say on Shells, &. 385 in a basaltic columns; when the alveoles are free on the surface, these fossils are known by the name of pe wasp-nests, from the resemblance they bear to the nests = those insects. The silex is usually only infiltrated into the cavities, . . leaving the substance of the coral’ in its original calcareous state, but the specimens which are found amongst the roHed pebbles of the Delaware River, near Philadelphia, are com- pletely silicified. The size varies from one fourth of an ounce, to swo hun- dred pounds or more, and the tubes occur of every interme- diate diameter, from the fortieth to one fourth of an inch.’ It is not common to find any two specimens of like form, they are, however, ordinarily more or soi tarbinate, oe are some- times depressed or compressed, _ tubes excurved, and of various lengths. ‘The dilated summit is not -So much the effect of a gradual enlargement of the tubes, as of the frequent and adventitious interposition of young ones, which of course renders the openings of the tubes unequal. The tubes or alveoles, vary in the same coral, being 5 or 6, rarely seven sided, but the hexagonal form is most common ; the interior of a tube is divided into a great number of apart- ments or cells, by approximate transverse septe, each of the cells appears to be connected with the corresponding cells of the surrounding tubes, by lateral orifices in the dividing paries ; these orifices are minute, inequidistant, orbicular, their margins slightly promfaent; and forming from one to three longitudinal series on each side of the tube; each row is separated from the adjoining one by an impressed line. By means of these osculi it seems probable that all the animals inhabiting a com- mon coral, were connected together, or had free communica- tion with each other, but whether by means of a common or- gan as. in Pyrosoma, Stephanomia, &c. or simply by contact as in the aggregating Salpa, &c. we have no means of determining. The striata differs from Madrepora truncata, Esper. (F. al- yeolata, Lam.) in not being ‘extus transyersé sulcata.” It seems to be allied to Coralliwn Gothlandicum, Ameen, Acad. ¥.1. p. 106, and it is possible it may prove synonymous, or very similar to it, when that species hecomes better known ; 386 Say on Shells, &c. the latter has been taken for Basalt, and M. Lamarck when describing it, inquires “Est-ce un polypier?” | Madrepora fascicularis, of Volck. and Parkin. in common with F. striata and F. Gothlandicum, is distinguished by the transverse septa, a Character which induced me to refer the species here de- scribed to Favosite ; they seem therefore to be congeneric, as ‘analogy indicates a participation in the character of osculated paries. Amongst the great variety exhibited by this species, we have to remark more particularly the following, viz. : Ist. Alveoles perfectly free, that is, destitute of aciculi or lamella, the septa wanting, and sometimes the osculi ob- solete. 2d. Alveoles filled almost to the summit with the septa, and resembling those combs of the bee-hive which are filled with honey and covered over. 3d. Paries beset with very numerous, interrupted, alter- nating, transverse lamelle, which are denticulated at their tips, and project towards the centre with various degrees of prominence and irregularity. The first variety corresponds with the generic character, and the third approaches the genus Porites; yet so unequivo- cally identical are they, that I have seen them all united in € same mass and perforated throughout by the osculi. The identity is further obvious by the perfect gradation which renders them inseparable. With respect to the transverse septa, I think their presence may be accounted for by supposing that as the animal elongates its tube in consequence of an increase of growth, or in order to maintain an equal elevation with the adjacent tubes, (ren- dered necessary by the origin of young tubes in the interstices) it gradually vacates the basal portions of its tube, and sustains itself at the different elevations, by successively uniting the parietal lamelle so as to exclude the vacuity. ‘That this is pro- bable, we may infer from a similar procedure on the part of several species of testaceous mollusca. ‘Thus some Lin- nzan Serpula become camerated, and a familiar instance pre- sents itself in the Triton tritonis, the animal of which adds suc- Say on Shells, g:c. 387 cessive partitions to the interior of the spire, as that part be- comes too strait for the increasing volume of its body. If the above supposition proves correct, the organs of communication which pass through the osculi, can hardly be in common, but must rather connect the animals by simple contact only, other- wise these parts would be broken when the animal changes its place by vacating the inferior part of the tube. The third variety is then the state of that portion of the tube which is inhabited by the body of the animal, and not yet interrupted by the septe. From the above observations, it is evident that this species, and probably the entire genus Favosite under which I have placed it, will not arrange properly with the Tubipores, Mille- pores, &c. but must be transferred to the Polypiers Lamelliféres of Lamarck. And if the Madrepora reiepora of Solander and Ellis is a true Porites, as M. Lamarck supposes it to be from the appearance of its tubes, I should conclude this genus to be very proximately allied to Favosites, by that species and the F. Striata having in common the remarkable character of fenestrated paries. “But to this character I should conceive a generic importance ought to be attached, as indicating a differ- ential organization of the artificers. I have no doubt that on close inspection of a perfect specimen, the same character will be found to exist in F. Gothlandicum, and possibly also in F. truncata, if not in the latter only, it may be proper to se- parate the genus and to withdraw from Porites the foremen- tioned species, retaining to striata as specifically essential, the second member of the differential description. (To be continued.) 388 Beck on Salt Storms, &c. PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY, &c. LF Any, XIU. Observations on Salt Storms, and the Influence of Salt and Saline Air upon Animal and Vi egetable Lafe. Read before the Lyceum of Natural History of New York, March 1, 1819, by Jomn B. Beck, M. D. (Communicated for this Journal.) Mlerrorotocy is a science of so much general concern, that it seems to be incumbent upon every member of society to aid in augmenting the stock of facts, which the labors of ingenious and scientific men have already accumulated on that subject. Under this impression 1 propose to devote the fol- lowing paper to some’ observations on salt winds or storms, as they have occurred in. this country and in Europe—@ subject, which although presenting many phenomena of a more than temporary interest, has as yet excited But little attention. Indeed, the opportunities for observation have occurred so rarely as readily to account for its having in a great measure escaped the philosophical.acumen of the present age. — It must haye been early observed that the atmosphere in the vicinity of the sea frequently becomes impregnated with saline materials; but the first. and only. account of a salt storm that I have met with, is to be found in the Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. The 8th volume of that work gives an interesting narration of the effects of a storm of this description, which occurred in England in January, 1803. was occasioned by an east wind, which blew for some days, and which in its passage over the ocean, had imbibed large quantities of salt water, which were afterward deposited upoP the land. In most cases these depositions proved fatal to the plants and vegetables which received them. S0 extensive - Beck on Salt Storms, 4-c. 389 were the effects of this singular storm, that they were felt in the vicinity of London, at a distance of about seventy miles from the ocean, and in all the intermediate country. In most instances, the leaves of the plants, which suffered from it, appeared as if they had been scorched, and in some places even the tops of the branches mortified. A storm of the same kind took place in England, in February, 1804: and the me- moir states, that Sir Joseph Banks had noticed another some years before in Lincolnshire.* A storm attended with similar effects occurred in this coun- try in 1815, and- vented its fury upon the eastern states. It commenced on the 23d of September, between eight and nine o’clock, A. M. with the wind from the east. In about two hours the wind shifted to southeast, and blew a perfect hur- ricane. The extended devastation which ensued, is still in the recollection of every person. The tides rose from nine to twelve feet higher than ordinary, and in many of the prin- cipal cities and towns along the coast of New England, churches, houses, bridges, wharves, and in some instances valuable citizens, were buried in one common ruin. In less than three hours the gale abated, and before sunset there was a perfect calm. Such were the more striking features of this tremendous gale—but other effects were observed more pecu- liarly interesting to the philosopher. At New-London, eM; and other places, both on the coast, and several miles in the interior, the air was found to be loaded with salt; and the leaves of many trees appeared, a few hours after the storm, as if they had been scorched. Besides this effect upon vegetables, there were additional evidences of the saline quality of the wind. At Salem and some other places an incrustation of salt was perceived on the windows, and the fruit in several gardens had a perceptible taste of salt on the surface. At New-London it was remarked that the air in the eddies was extremely hot and suffocating. % *L refer th i if jer for further par ticulars to * An.account of astorm of Salt, which fell in January, 1803. By Richard Salisbury, F.R.S, L.S.” in the Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. Vol. VIII. p. 207—-10. 701 1:.:. No. 4 10 a Beck on Salt Storms, &c. Other facts of a similar nature might be collected, but these it is presumed are sufficient to characterize the state of the atmosphere during that storm. - Several interesting inquiries arise from the consideration of the foregoing facts. - 4. In what way does the salt -exist in the atmosphere in these storms? On this point there are two different opinions. The most prevalent is, that it is merely the spray of the sea driven onward by the force of the wind. ‘This opinion has received the sanction of Sir Joseph Banks,* and also of Sir Humphry Davy, if we may judge from an incidental expres- sion in his Agricultural Chemistry-1 Another opinion is, that muriate of soda is continually rising into the atmosphere from the surface of the ocean, and thatthe air, in all maritime situations, is thus constantly more or less impregnated with salt. The most striking fact in support of this doctrine, (so opposite to the commonly received views on the subject of the evapo ration of sea water) is the actual existence of muriate of soda in the rain and snow which fall in the vicinity of the ocean.§ The experiments of Vogel and Bouillon Lagrange, on the distillation of sea water, are also in favor of the position, that salt may be carried into the air in the ordinary process of evaporation. On distilling salt water they found a considera- ble quantity of muriate of soda in the received 1257 2 Linnean Transactions. Vol. VIII. p. 280. 1 P. 839. Lond, ed. t Maintained by Dr. Mitchill. § My friend, Dr. John Torrey, has favored me with the following results of some experiments, which he made at my request upon the last snow whieh fell. “A pint and a balf of snow water was reduced by evaporation toa few drops: Gn testing this with vegetable blue infusions no alteration of color took place- ‘ te 7 a a a 1} - f +. of a solidre- pure pain water ipitate. Nitrate thick with oA ral o 5 Bi _ = or 7 2 pape! pad . 4 . siduum was obtained. This was redissolved in as lig ity aa: ¢ tact bp FBS Bey | ay - . . p 9 or any prec G piu } e of silver p hite précipitat p that the solution was it. 2 lect of soda produced no effect. The transparency of a soluti mufiate of barytes was not disturbed by it. These experiments prove, that a free acid does not existin snow water, but that the muriatic exists in it eomb in- ed with an alkali, which is most probably soda.” Free muria- || Mr. J. Murray, of London, considers this to be @ mistake. ; t.— Ele tie acid, and not muriate of soda, he says will be found in the recipien mints of Chemistry. Part I. p. 212. “Lond. ed. 1818. Beck on Salt Storms, ¢. | 391 Admitting the correctness of these experimenis, still it is not easy to conceive, how they will account satisfactorily for the large quantities of salt found in the air during the storms under consideration. Whichever of these solutions may be adopted, it is unques- tionably a fact that salt does, in some way Or other, exist in the atmosphere in the neighborhood of the sea. 2. The next object of inquiry is, the influence which this saline air has upon vegetable life. Independently of the facts already stated, there are many others which prove its dele- fruit trees do not thrive well, except ata distance of thirty miles from the sea, and even the sturdy oak does not extend its branches towards the ocean.* If I am correctly informed, it was with great difficulty, that the trees on our Battery were made to accommodate themselves to a situation so near the salt water. It is also well known, that when plants are taken to sea, they speedily perish, if exposed but a short time to a wind, which is sufficiently strong to turn over the tops of the waves into white caps, as they are called by the sailors. In order to ascertain positively, whether these effects were to be attributed to the operation of salt, I made a solution of muriate of soda in common rain water ; with this 1 watered for a couple of days the leaves of different plants. In a short time they began to dry up, and in a few days were completely dead. It appears from Volney, that the Egyptian air is strongly charged with salts. The evidences of it are to be found even at Cairo.t It is this property of the air, which this philoso- phical traveller considers, as one of the causes of the rapid vegetation in that country. He mentions, however, that exotic plants will not thrive there. It is found necessary to renew the seeds of them every year. May not this be occasioned t Volney’s Travels in Syria and Egypt. Vol. I. p.48. Perth ed. om 392 Beck on Salt Storms, &c. by the saline quality of the air? The native plants are doubtless accustomed to its action, and do not so sensibly feel its injurious effects. And if the Egyptian air is so very pene- trating from this very cause, as to produce ophthalmia, may we not rationally conclude, that its influence must be equally injurious to plants not accustomed to it. Another illustration of the influence of salt on vegetation is to be found in the Dead Sea or Lake Asphaltites. ‘In Lake Asphaltites,” says Volney, “there is neither animal nor vegetable life. o verdure is to be seen on its banks, nor fish. to be found. within its waters: but it is not true, that its exhalations are pestiferous, so as to destroy birds flying over it. It is not uncommon to see swallows skimming its surface, and dipping for the water necessary to build their nests. The trwe cause which deprives it of vegetables and animals is the extreme saltness of the water, which is vastly stronger than that of the sea, The soil around it, equally impregnated with this salt, produces no plants, and the air itself, which becomes loaded with it from evaporation, and which receives also the suiphureous and bituminous vapors, cannot be favorable to pgs spoon: hence the ey aspect which reigns around this lake. 3. In what way die the salt operate in producing its deleterious effects on the leaves of vegetables? It is by no means easy to answer this question. It cannot be by shutting up the pores of the leaf, and thus obstructing its perspiration. It is well known that when the surfaces of leaves are covered with oil, they will soon die.t But salt water is certainly not sufficiently viscid to actin a similar w way. ‘Nor can it be satisfactorily attributed to the difference of structure between maritime and land plants. There is some difference indeed between many of these, maritime plants being generally covered by a pubescence, of which most land plants are destitute. It is idle however to suppose that the object of this covering is to protect maritime plants * Volney’s Travels in Syria and pe Vol. 1, p. 217. + Darwin’s Botanie Garden, p. 256 . Beck on Salt Storms, &c. 393 from the action of the salt air, as there are many of them which do not possess it. Besides is it not rational to con- clude, from the large quantities of soda which are always found in sea ‘plants, that this saline-atmosphere is rather pro- pitious than otherwise to their growth, and that it proves inju- rious only to plants accustomed to the pada) wired air of the Jand. Again, I do not think that it can be explained by supposing, that the salt is absorbed into the plant, and thus acts as a poi- sonous substance. We know, that in land plants which are cultivated in the neighborhood of the sea, salt is absorbed through their roots.* It must of course circulate with the juices through the whole plant; and is in these cases the leaves are not destroyed by it. The most plausible method of cplabahige it sppéats to be this: that the salt, by its irritating or corrosive power, destroys the small vessels in the leaf which are neconents for the cit culation going on in it during health. Dr. Darwin has ingeniously shown the satooy between the functions of the leaves of plants andthe lungs of animals. If this be admitted, it will not be difficult to account for the action of salt upon leaves. This substance, when taken into the stomach, proves not merely innocuous, but wholesome ; but when accidentally introduced into the lungs, irritation, inflammation, and. death are thé consequences. So with plants—when admitted into them in combination with their juices, it may be harmless; but when applied to the lungs or leaves, death ensues, * To prove that salt is absorbed into land plants antes near the sea, the following facts, for which I am indebted to my friend, Dr. D. V. Knevels, are coriclusive, The fruit of those cocoa-nut trees which grow near the seashore in the West-Indies is generally found to have a saltish taste ; and even the milk in the nut is perceptibly impregnated with it. Those trees, on the contrary, ow in the ey beyond the influence of salt water, have their fruit sagt fresh and sw aunties ditt me, that in a plantation of his father’s, in a West- a casi’ on the seashore, a whole crop of the cane was Te unfit for the purpose of making sugar, in consequence of the great ty of salt which it had imbibed. 394 Beck on Salt Storms, &c. 4, [shall devote the remainder of this paper to a few con- cise observations on the effects of salt, and a saline atmos- phere, upon animal life. Upon the more imperfect animals, such as slugs, worms, toads, &c. it is well known that salt proves speedily destruc- tive of life. It is not my intention to attempt an explanation of this singular fact. But it is remarkable that it should not have been turned to better account in the treatment of those worms, which infest the human body. Although used for that purpose by the common people in Ireland as well as in this country, I believe it has not, until very lately, claimed the aitention of the profession, as an anthelmintic. A late English journal* contains a notice of some cases which satisfactorily prove its efficacy, when administered with this intention. This fact, in addition to numerous others, strikingly illus- trates the advantages which the healing art might derive from a careful observation of the phenomena daily developed by the collateral sciences. n cases of hemoptysis or hematemesis, common salt has been used with decided success, The public is indebted to Dr. Rush, for the introduction of this remedy into general practice. Dr. Hosack informs me, that he has found sea air extreme- ly salutary in remittent fever, cholera infantum, and dyspepsia. Among the deleterious effects caused by a saline atmosphere, may be mentioned the ophthalmia of Egypt. This disease is so common there; “that out of a handred persons,” says Volney, ‘I have met while walking the streets of Cairo, twenty have been quite blind, ten wanting an eye, and twenty others have had their eyes red, purulent, or blemished.”{+ Throughout the Delta, and at Cairo, this complaint is more prevalent than in any other part of Egypt. In Syria it is also common, al- though less so than in Egypt, but it is met with only on the sea-coast. ‘The reasoning of Volney on this subject, is decisive of the position, that the prevalence of this complaint, in these * Journal of Science and the Arts, No. X. t Volney’s Travels in Syria and in Egypt, Vol. I. p. 167. Beck on Salt Storms, &c. 395 regions, is owing to their proximity to the ocean. In confir- mation, he states that he has himself experienced the irritating effects of the air of the Delta upon the organ of vision.* In those cases of scurvy which occur in long voyages, the saline nature of the atmosphere co-operates very powerfully with salt provisions and bad water, in producing that general vitiation of the system which characterizes this disorder. all diseases, however, those of the lungs appear to be most affected by a saline air. I have ‘known a lady of this city who had been. afflicted for many years with asthma, to be essentially benefited by a voyage across the Atlantic. Another case has fallen under my observation, of a lady troubled with asthma, being much relieved by removing from the inte- rior to this city. What proves beyond a doubt that her relief is owing to the air she breathes, is, that whenever she takes a jaunt into the country, she is sure to suffer a paroxysm of her old complaint. 3 Pulmonary consumption certainly prevails more on the sea- coast, than in the interior. In all our sea-port towns, it is this disorder which so frightfully augments the catalogue of our bills of mortality. According to Dr. Rush, “in Salem, in the state of Massachusetts, which is situated near the sea, and ex- posed during many months of the year, to a moist east wind, there died in year 1799, 160 persons; fifty-three of whom died of the consumption.”t In Philadelphia, which is more remote from the sea, the deaths from consumption are much less numerous than in New York, or the other cities immedi- ately on the coast. In Great Britain which is exposed to the sea on all sides, it is calculated that about 55,000 die annually from this disease. * On the subject of the Egyptian ophthalmia, it may be asked ‘* why it does not appear in innumerable other situations, equally exposed to salt air, as Cape Cod, and the West India Islands?” To this it may be replied, that in _ pro- duction of any disease whatever, a predisposing state of the system is as ne- ; céssary as an exciting cause. This predisposition appears to one ina great degree among the Egyptians and depends upon the nature of their climate, rad habits, and mode of living, all of which have a tendency anf ping debility 0 the eyes, and thus render them more susceptible of the impression of causes which excite inflammation. t Rush’s Medical Observations and Inquiries, Vol. Il. p. 182. =. —— 396 Beck on Salt Storms, ¢:-c. Such are some of the facts on this subject; but the conclu- sion does not appear to be warranted, that these pulmonary affections arise from the irritating quality of the air. In Hol- land, the West Indies, as well as in other countries and islands, exposed to the sea air, consumption is of rare occurrence. - In Syria, Volney even states that the air of the coast is particu- larly favorable to those laboring under this malady. _Ac- cordingly they are in the habit of sending such patients from Aleppo to Latakia, or Saide, where they may enjoy the benefit of sea air.* Again, we know that many persons suffering from this affec- tion have been completely cured by a voyage, after all the resources of medicine had been exhausted upon them in vain. {tis evident then, that a pure sea air is not detrimental in cases of consumption. Dr. Rush, with his usual ingenuity, ex- plains the prevalence of this complaint in our sea ports, by at- tributing it to the mixture of land and sea air ; and in confir- mation observes, that “ those situations which are in the neigh- borhood of bays and rivers, where the fresh and salt waters mix their streams together, are more unfavorable to consump- . tive patients than the seashore, and therefore should be more carefully avoided by them in exchanging city for country air.”’| Independently, however. of these causes, I think the fre- quent and sudden vicissitudes of temperature, which we suffer on the coast, are alone sufficient to account for the prevalence of catarrhal and pneumonic affections, which most commonly are the precursors of consumption. — T trust the foregoing observations have not been considered too medical to comport with the objects of this Society. Na- tural history is useful only in its practical applications; and if it can be shown to throw any light upon an art, which contri- butes so much to the comfort and happiness of man, we have established one of the strongest considerations, which can Te- commend it to general patronage and investigation. Physicians ought in an especial manner to set a high value upon the "researches of naturalists. The aid they have already given * Volney’s Travels, Vol. I. p. 226 t Rush’s Observations and Inquiries, Vol, Li. py 133. * = Rafinesque on Atmospheric Dust. 397 ws is sufficient to entitle them to the lasting gratitude of our pro- fession. It was one of the merits of that illustrious physician of our own time and country, Dr. Rush, that he seized with avidity every fact, from whatever quarter it might be drawn, to elucidate his favorite science. If ever medicine shall attain to the elevation of a truly Philosophical science, it must be ac- complished, in part at least, by imitating his example, and by developing the infinite and diversified associations which exis between it and the other sciences. ss Art. XIV. Thoughts on Atmospheric Dust. By C. 8S. Ra- FINESQUE, Esq. “: lL. 3 W en we find the ruins of ancient cities buried under ground; when the plough uncovers the front of pa- laces and the summit of old temples, we are astonished: but we seldom reflect why they are hidden in the earth. A sort ef imperceptible dust falls at all times from the atmosphere, and it has covered them during ages.” 2. These are the words of the worthy and eloquent philo- sopher Viney, in his article Nature, Vol. XV. p. 373, of the French Dictionary of Natural History. Even before reading them I had observed the same phenomena, and I have since studied their effects in various places. I could quote a thousand instances of the extensive and multifarious operations of this meteoric dust: but I mean to give the results merely of those that falldaily under notice, and are yet totally neg- lected; wishing to draw on them the attention of chemists, philosophers, and geologists. 3. Whenever the sun shines in a dark room, its beams dis- play a crowd of lucid dusty molecules of various shapes, which were before invisible as the air in which they swim, but did exist nevertheless. These form the atmospheric dust existing every where in the lower strata of our atmos- phere. I have observed it on the top of the highest moun- Vol. 1...,.No. 4 , 398 - Rafinesque on Atmospheric Dust. tains, on Mount Etna, in Sicily, on the Alps, on the Alleghany and Cattskill mountains in America, &c. and on the ocean. 5. It deserves to be considered under many views: which are its invisibility, its shape and size, its formation and origin, its motion, its deposition and accumulation, its composition, its uses, and its properties. 5. This dust is invisible, owing to the tenuity of its parti- cles, but they become visible in the following instances ; when the sun shines on them, since they reflect the light when their size is increased, and when they are accumulated any where. 6. The size of the particles is very unequal, and their shape dissimilar; the greatest portion are exceedingly small, similar to a whitish or grayish spark, without any determina- ble or perceptible shape; the larger particles are commonly lamellar or flattened, but with an irregular margin, and the largest appear to be lengthened or filiform; the gray color prevails. Other shapes are now and then perceptible with the microscope. ; 7. Among the properties of atmospheric dust are those of ing soft, as light as atmospheric air, of reflecting the rays received directly from the sun, of possessing a kind of pecu- liar electricity, which gives it a tendency to accumulate on some bodies more readily than on some others, and of forming an earthy sediment, which does not become effervescent with acids. 8. This dust is either constantly or periodically formed, but chemically in the atmosphere like snow, hail, meteoric stones, honey-dew, earthy rains, &c. by the combination of gaseous and elementary particles dissolved in the air. lis analysis has never been attempted by chemists; but the earthy sedi- ment which is the result of its accumulated deposition, prove that it is a compound of earthy particles in a peculiar state of ation, and in which alumine appears to perponderate, rather than calcareous or siliceous earths or oxides. 9. Its motion in calm weather, or in a quiet room, is very slow ; the particles appear to float in the air in all directions, some rising, some falling, and many swimming horizontally, oF = Rafinesque on Atmospheric Dust. . $99 forming a variety of curved lines; what is most singular, is — that no two particles appear to have exactly the same direc- tion; yet after a while the greatest proportion fall down ob- calm day. When a current of air is created naturally or artificially in the open air or in a room, you perceive at once an increased velocity in their motion; they move with rapidity in all directions; but when a strong current or wind prevails, they are carried with it in a stream, preserving how- ever, as yet, their irregular up and down motion. 10. Its formation is sometimes very rapid, and its accumu- lation very thick in the lower strata of our atmosphere, but the intensity is variable. Whenever rain or snow falls, this dust is precipitated on the ground by it, whence arises the purity of the air after rain and snow; but asmall share is still left, or soon after formed. In common weather it deposits itself on the ground by slow degrees, and the same in closed rooms. It forms then the dust of our floors, the mould of our roofs, and ultimately the surface of our soil, unless driven by winds from one place to another. 11. I have measured its accumulation in a quiet room, and have found it variable from one fourth of an inch to one inch in the course of one year; but it was then in a pulverulent, fleecy state, and might be reduced by compression to one- third of its height, making the average of yearly deposit about one sixth of an inch. In the open air this quantity must be still more variable, owing to the quantities carried by the winds and waters to the plains, valleys, rivers, the sea, &c. or accumulated in closed places or against walls, houses, &e. I calculate, however, that upon an average, from six to twelve inches are accumulated over the ground in one hun- dred years, where it mixes with the soil and organic exuvie, to form the common mould. 12. The uses of this chronic meteor are many and obvious. It serves to create mould over rocks, to increase their de- composition, to add to our cultivable soil, to amalgamate we alluvial and organic deposits, to fertilize sandy and unfruitful tracts in the course of time, to administer to vegetable life, &c. 400 Rafinesque on Atmospheric Dust. - It does not appear that it has any bad influence on men and - animals breathing it along with air, unless it should be accu- mulated in avery intense degree. 13. At Segesta, in Sicily, are to be seen the ruins of an ancient temple; the steps, which surround it on all sides be- low the pillars, are built on a rock, on the top of a hill detached from any other higher ground. Yet now all the steps and the base of the pillars are under the ground, which has accumulated from this dust and the decay of plants (not trees) to which it has afforded food. There are from five to eight feet from the rock to the surface of this new soil, which has chemically combined in a variety of degrees of hardness. This soil has arisen there in about 2000 years, notwithstanding the washings of rain. I quote this as a remarkable instance of the increase of soil by aerial deposits, among many which have fallen under my personal examination. 14, It is commonly believed that the dust of our rooms is produced by the fragments of decomposed vestments, bed- ding, furniture, &c.; this cause increases it, and produces a different dust, which mixes with the atmospheric dust; but it is very far from producing it. 15. The dust of the open air is ascribed to that raised from roads and fields, by the pulverization of their surface; but this secondary and visible dust is only a consequence of the rst. From whence could arise the dust observed by the means of the sunbeams in a dark corner, in winter, when the ground is frozen, or when it is wet and muddy, or at sea, OF on the top of rocky mountains? 16. It is therefore a matter of fact, worth taking into con- sideration by geologists, that the air stil] deposits a quantity of dust, which must have been much greater in. former pe- riods; just as the sea deposits still a quantity of earthy and saline particles dissolved in it, and. which were. formed on its bottom. Water being more compact, deposits rocks. Ait, which is less dense, deposits a pulverulent matter! Dana on Flame. : 401 od Art. XV. On the Effect of Vapour on Flame. By J. F. Dana, Chemical Assistant in Harvard University, and Lec- turer on Chemistry and Pharmacy in Dartmouth College. ~ i *# Cambridge, Mass. February 5, 1819. To Professor Silliman. DEAR SIR, Apour a year since | made some experiments onthe effect of steam on ignited bodies, with a view to learn the theory of the action of the “ American water-burner.” ‘These experi- ments were published in an anonymous paper in the North American Review, and have been published in London, with- out an acknowledgment of their source. The effect of them concerning bodies is peculiar, and it probably admits of more extensive application to the arts than-— in the above named instrument alone. When a jet of steam, issuing from a small aperture, is thrown on burning charcoal, the brightness is increased, if the coal be held at the distance of four or five inches from the pipe through which the steam passes; but if the coal be held nearer it is extinguished, a circular black spot first appears where the steam is thrownon it. The steam in this case does not appear to be decomposed, and the increased brightness of the coal depends probably on a current of atmospheric air, occasioned by the steam. But when a jet of steam, instead of being thrown on a single coal, is made to pass into a charcoal fire, the vividness of the combustion is increased, and the low attenuated flame of coal is enlarged. When the wick of a common oil lamp is raised, so as to give off large columns of smoke, and a jet of steam is thrown into it, the brightness of the flame is increased, and no smoke is thrown off. When: oil of turpentine is made to burn on a wick, the light produced is dull and reddish, and a large quantity of thick smoke is given off; but when a jet of steam is thrown into 402 Dana on Flame. this flame, its brightness is much increased; and when the experiment is carefully performed, the smoke entirely dis- appears. When the vapour of spirits of turpentine is made to issue from a small orifice, and inflamed, it burns, and throws off large quantities of smoke; but when a jet of steam is made to unite with the vapour, the smoke entirely disappears. When- vapour of spirits of turpentine and of water are made to issue together from the same orifice, and inflamed, no smoke ap- pears. Hence its disappearing, in the above experiment, cannot be supposed to depend on a current of atmospheric air. When a jet of steam is thrown into the flame of a spirit of wine lamp, or into flames which evolve no smoke or carbona- ceous matter, the same effect is produced as by a current of S It appears, from these experiments, that in all flames which evolve smoke, steam produces an increased brightness, and a more perfect combustion. Now with a very simple apparatus, steam might be in-.- troduced into the flames of street lamps, and that kind of lamp which is used in butcher’s shops in London, and in all flames which evolve much smoke. The advantage of such an ar- rangement would be a more perfect combustion, and a greater quantity of light from the same materials. The flame of the lamps, to which steamis applied, might be made to keep the water boiling which supplies the steam. I hope the above may not be altogether uninteresting and useless to the readers of your Journal. Very repectfully, your obedient servant, J. F. DANA. Smith on the Harrodsburg Salts. 403 — Art. XVI. Analysis of the Harrodsburg Salis, by Enwarp D. Smita, M. D. Professor of Chemistry and Mineralogy in the South-Carolina College. More than a year since I received a quantity of a white earthy substance, which was said to be obtained by the evapo- ration of certain mineral waters at Harrodsburg, Kentucky, and to be there vended at a considerable price, under the name of Epsom salts. The respectable person who presented this powder to me, requested that I would make an analysis of it; but I had not sufficient leisure until lately, to pay the requisite attention to this subject. The results of my examinations are now submitted to the public eye. The external qualities of this substance are as follows: small white lumps, hard to the touch, but dry and easily yielding to pressure, somewhat gritty to the teeth, and imparting an earthy and saline taste to the tongue. 1. 120 grains of the powder were put into about a half ounce of alcohol, digested for six hours, then washed with more al- cohol, filtered and carefully dried. 2. On weighing the dry powder, the loss appeared to be but one grain, so that it contains very little of any substance which is soluble in alcohol. 3. 115 grains (four grains having been lost in the transfer from the filter) were collected and put into rather more than eight times their weight of cold distilled water, and digested for two hours. 4. This watery solution was then filtered, and on weighing, the residue appeared to be 48 grains, so that 67 grains must have been dissolved. , 5. 10 grains of the insoluble residue (4) ‘wers put into a flask, with 10 ounces of distilled water, and boiled for 1 nour. 6. A small portion of this solution, on being tested with ai trate of barytes, gave a copious white precipitate ; with oxalie acid, a white cloud; with ammonia, a slight white cloud i with muriatic acid, a slight bluish tinge. From these tests it was 404 Smith on the Harrodsburg Salts. inferred that sulphate of lime was present, with perhaps a slight trace of muriate of lime. 7. The remainder of this solution was filtered, and on weighing the dried residuum, the loss appeared to be 2 grains, so that sulphate of lime probably constitutes nearly of the crus residue (48 grains. 4.) . The watery solution, (4) which was supposed to contain a grains, was evaporated, and left a residue that weighed. but 34 grains, so that 33 grains must have disappeared in the process. 8. Some of this residue dissolved in distilled water, was tested with carbonate of soda, forming an immediate white cloud; with nitrate of barytes, the same; with ammonia, the same; but with oxalate of ammonia, it did not form any cloud until it had stood some time, and then it was slight. From these tests it was inferred that sulphate of magnesia was present. 10. A portion of the dried residuum (7) was treated with diluted muriatic acid, which dissolyed nearly the whole of it, with considerable effervescence. The new compound, on examination, proved to be muriate of lime; so that it may be concluded the residuum (7) was principally carbonate of lime. n considering the results of the preceding experiments, it will appear ‘that more than one half of the substances submit- ted to analysis, was easily soluble in water, and from the chemical tests used, that it was composed principally of sulphate of magnesia, (Epsom salt) with perhaps a small portion of mu- riate of lime or magnesia, that of the remainder, about } was sulphate of lime, and difficultly soluble in water; and that the: rest was perfectly insoluble in water, and consisted principally of carbonate of lime, : There can be no doubt then, that the Harrodsburg salt, in its present state, is very improperly prepared containing in its composition a large proportion of matter, that is not only inert, but which may produce considerable inconvenience and injury in the stomach and bowels, from its ponderous nature and ten- dency to form mechanical obstructions. Perhaps the occur- rence of such injury may not be frequent, from the circum- stance of a large portion of the salt being so insoluble; but, s «* 7 ‘ Tungsten and Tellurium. 405 admitting this to be the fact, there is a manifest impropriety in offering to the public, as a medicine, an article which cannot be used as such. Probably the proprietors of this manufactory are not aware of the real nature of the case, and of the facility with which, by a little additional trouble, they could separate the useful and valuable material, from that which is at least useless, and which might also be pernicious. : South Carolina College, March, 1819. Arr. XVII. Additional Notice of the Tungsten and Tellurium, mentioned in our last Number. Part. I. Description of the ore. Coror, dark brown, almost black; brittle; powder a lighter shade of brown than the mineral; hard, scratches glass, scintillates with steel, with a red spark; a degree of polish produced, where the steel strikes, and where it is impressed upon it. Structure compact, in some places slightly porous; lustre, generally dull, sometimes glimmering, and almost resinous. Crystals octahedral. Specific gravity of three massive pieces, 5.7,6. and 6.44; mean, 6.05 nearly; probably that of the crystals would be higher. Infusible by the blow-pipe even with borax, and does not by strong ignition impart any color to it or to potash; not magnetic, even in fine powder, nor after being heated red hot on charcoal, and in contact with burning grease. Many sz “ies decrepitate violently under the blow-pipe. When heated on coals in pieces of considerable size, they often explode with a smart report, and are thrown in fragments sometimes several yards from the fire. Gangue quartz; accompanying minerals in the same vein native bismuth, native silver, galena, iron and copper pyrites, much magnetic pyrites, blende, &c. WOE Ns; WO. 4, 12 406 Tungsten and Tellurium. "Geological relations. 'The country is primitive, and the im- mediate rock which forms the walls of the vein is said to be gneiss; (we have not seen it.) Locality, town of Monroe, county of Fairfield, 17 miles west from New Haven, Connecticut. Remark.—Native bismuth in small re has been for several years obtained from this mine, but the shaft has been sunk only about ten feet. ParntIl. A variety of the ore, ‘General characters as aboye, but on some parts, there is seen a whitish, or yellowish, or sometimes darkish metallic substance ; it is in thin plates, like the leaf metal, and some- times reticulated, and graphic in its disposition; it is soft and easily cut with the knife. In the specimens examined, it wa so much blended with the other ore, and so trifling in quantity, that it was not possible to separate it mechanically, so as to examine it separately. ant pl —aA. Ceoncal Trials. Muriatic se hot! Fee ead: produces no effect; hot nitro- muriatic dissolves the ore with energy, red fumes are evolved, and generally a red solution obtained, from which ammonia precipitates red oxyd of iron abundantly. 2. A heavy lemon-yellow powder remains, insoluble of course in acids, but easily and completely soluble in warm ammonia. 3. A dark powder, in diminished anttey again Ea poe more acid dissolves it in part, and again Yereale yellow powder, which ammonia again dissolves, and so on, till nothing Ceres but some portion of the gangue. . The ammoniacal solution, which contains the oxyd of ene is decomposed by acids, and by heat, and instantly deposits a white heavy powder, becoming yellowish by standing, and full yellow by heat. Tungsten and Tellurium. 407 5. This powder is infusible by the blow-pipe, but ignited with borax in a platinum crucible, it became of a superb blue, like smalt, or between that and Prussian blue. 6. The quantity obtained was too small to make it conve- nient to attempt its reduction to the metallic state; no doubt remained, however, that it was oxyd of tungsten, or as it is sometimes called, tungstic acid. 7. There were traces of manganese, and all the facts per- haps justify the conclusion, that the ore is very similar to the silt tungsten or wolfram. . The calcareous tungsten occurs in octahedral crystals, «4 we have not before heard of this form in the ferruginous species, which generally affects the Brinpatics! forms. B. REMARK. We had been for some time inclined to believe, that the above ore was’ferruginous tungsten, but although fortified by the opinion of Col. Gibbs, we were witheld from RE it, because the form of the crystals, the specific gravity, th color, and perhaps some other characters, were not viecteetty accordant with European descriptions, and with the specimens in our possession, which are from Saxony and Cornwall. During the necessary chemical trials (which have, we trust, established the correctness of the above opinion,) we very unexpectedly discovered in some of the ores of tungsten, proofs of the existence of tellurium. The conclusion was induced by the phenomena, for nothing was farther from our expecta- tions. Two fragments were pulverized by an assistant, and we therefore cannot say whether they had any external characters different from those of the other pieces; they came, however, from the same part of the vein, and their powder resembled that of the other pieces. 1. Digested in nitro-muriatic acid, a straw-yellow solution, slightly inclining to green, was. obtained, and a black paméer was left behind. 2. More acid digested on this powder, gave a deep red solu- tion of iron, and left the yellow oxyd of tungsten, which being + 408 Tungsten and Tellurium. dissolved in ammonia, the black powder again appeared, and ~ “so on, as under 3, Part. II. 3. The solution 1, diluted largely with water, deposited an abundant white precipitate, which was very heavy and rapidly subsided. 4. Alcohol and ammonia, respectively, produced the same effect, only more decidedly. 5. This precipitate, evidently an oxyd of a metal, being col- lected on a filter and dried, exhibited the following properties. 6. Heated by the blow-pipe on charcoal, it was instantly vo- latilized in part, and in part decomposed, with an almost ex- plosive effervescence; numerous ignited globules of metal appeared on the charcoal, and burned with an abundant flame of a delicate blue color, edged ionally with green. 7. In many trials, these results always occurred, and some- times a Aiea odor was perceived, at first thought to be owing to , but it was anegmpareuly feebler, and some- what aa that of radishes inc, iron, and tin, siunged into separate portions of the nitro-muriatic solution, precipitated abundantly a black floc- culent substance. : charcoal before the blow-pipe, this substance was very combustible, with a blue flame, and was completely dis- sipated in the form of white oxyd, with the above smell. - 10. Some of it was obtained on the charcoal in metallic globules; it was a brittle metal, white witha tinge of red, and foliated, but not so distinctly as bismuth and antimony. 11. The filters on which the white oxyd had been deposited, burned almost with explosion, nearly as rapidly as if they had been soaked with nitrate of potash, or of ammonia, and the characteristic blue flame appeared while the burning lasted. aT ihis ,} j ion, where, under the idea that possibly chrome might e cnet in the ores, they had Beets intensely heated in a forge along with pearl ashes. The mass, when lixiviated, gave only a green- ish solution, becoming colorless by nitric acid, and singe greenish by an alkali ; this was supposed to be owing to iron and manganese. No metal was obtained, except a few minute globules of attractable iron, at the laboratory was filled with white fumes, having the peculiar odor alluded Tungsten and Tellurium. 409 12. Other experiments were made upon the metal, (not the oxyd.) It gave to strong sulphuric acid, (simply by standing in it in the cold) an amethystine color, which disappeared as the acid grew weaker, by attracting water from the air. 13. With nitric acid it formed a colorless solution, not de- composed by water. 14. It did not dissolve in muriatic acid, till a few drops of nitric acid were added. 15. The white oxyd heated with charcoal in a small coated recurved glass tube, afforded brilliant metallic globules, which rose by distillation, collected in the bend of the tube, and re- sembled drops of quicksilver, except that they were solid. C. REMARK. The above facts having induced the conclusion that the metal, thus unexpectedly discovered in the ores of tungsten, was tellurium,* we were led to search for external characters by which to judge what specimens contained it. from Transylvania, (the only telluric ores with which we are acquainted,) bearing no analogy in appearance or composition to those before us, we were led to inquire whether the tellu- rium inthese latter ores was in combination with tungsten, or merely in mixture. The external characters detailed in part Il, tend perhaps to fortify the latter opinion. If we mistake not, we there founda proper ore of tellurium mixed with a proper ore of tungsten, but we have also by chemical means, found tellurium where similar external characters were not apparent. Before the appearance of our next Number, we hope to obtain purer and better specimens. In the mean time we add the following facts. 1. A crystal, and a massive piece of the kind described under part I, and specimens of two varieties of those described under part Il, were digested in nitro-muriatic acid. * Several of the facts, we are aware, accord with the properties of bismuth, between which and tellurium there are several strong points of resemblance, buta number of other facts appear irreconcileable with the properties of that metal, andof every other except tellurium. 410, Hare’s Substitute for 1, Both oxyd of tungsten, and oxyd of telluriam were ob- tained from all of them. 3. Many specimens have been examined which have afforded tungsten only, and no tellurium. At a convenient time, it is hoped that a more scant exa- mination of this subject may be presented to the public. In the mean time, we may submit to mineralogists and che- mists, whether if this is not a new mineral, itis not at least a new association of two minerals before known. It has not been forgotten that. gold and silver are frequently combined with tellurium: neither of them has, however, been disce- vered, (although sought after by proper tests) during the above trials. Yale College, March, 1819. S “Arr. KVILU. = Substitute for Woulfe’s or Nooth’s Apparatus, by Roserr Hare, M. D. Professsor of Chemistry in the Med- = ical Department of | ae: wovelahey. y of Pennsylvania, and Mem- Ber of | eee Societies. Witha Plate. igs agaras: F EW subjects have more Pipe ‘the attention of nsenhioks, than the means of impregnating fluids with gaseous substances. The contrivances of Woulfe and Nooth, especially the former, have been almost universally used; and have gained for the inventors merited celebrity. Various improvements in Woulfe’s bottles have been devised. Still believe an appara- tus replete with similar advantages, but less unwieldy, less liable to fracture: and having fewer junctures to make at each operation, has been agreat desideratum with every practical _ chemist. It has, however, ceased to be so with me, since I contrived the apparatus which I am about to describe. Fig. 1. represents 3 jars placed concentrically within each other, and so proportioned and situated, as to admit 2 open- necked concentric bell glasses alternately between them. The Woulfe’s or Nobth’s Apparatus. au neck of the exterior bell glass is introduced into the tubulure of the receiver above, and receives the neck of the interior bell glass. Into this is inserted a trumpet-shaped tube. The two interior jars are furnished with feet F,f. In order to put this apparatus into operation, remove (without taking them apart) the bell glasses, receiver, and tube from the jars. Pour into the latter the fiuid to be impregnated, till it reaches the height marked by the dots. The fannel mouth, m, of the re- ceiver being provided with’ a suitable cork soaked in wax, fas- ten into it firmly the beak of the retort, containing the gene- rating materials. The bell glasses are then to be replaced in the jars, and arranged asin the figure. It must be self-evident that the gas proceeding from the retort, (if the juncture at m be air tight) must press on the fluid in the innermost jar, * i. through the trumpet-shaped tube. If not imbibed with ade- . quate speed, it must soon press on the fluid at a, causing it to subside to the narrow part of the foot f, and thus to expose a much larger surface. If the absorption be still inadequate, a further subsidence must ensue, and the gas escaping round the brim of the interior bell glass will act on the fluid at 4, and en- large its surface by depressing it to the narrow part of the foot F. Should the increased pressure and more extended contact thus obtained, be still incompetent to effect a complete absorption, the excess of the gas may escape round the brim of the external. bell glass into the atmosphere. But'so effectually is this process in promoting impregnation, that I have obtained strong muriatic acid in the central jar, without producing any sensible acidity in the outside one. Absorption into the retort or receiver, is prevented by not al- lowing as much fluid to be above the mouth of the trumpet- shaped tube, as would be competent to fill the cavity between it, and ‘the termination of the open neck of the exterior bell glass at ¢. As this neck rises about 2 or 3 inches into the re- ceiver, it prevents any foul matter which may. condense or boil over, from getting into the jars. If practicable, it would be: better that. the bell glasses; and tube, and receiver, should be united together while hot, at the glass-house. If all could not be‘joined in’ this way, it would be still advantageous to unite. ~~ = 412, _ Hare's sulfite, gc. thus the receiver, and the exterior bell glass. The interior bell and tube might then be fastened together, by grinding or luting. As yet I have only used lutings of waxed cloth, or cork. It may be proper to point out, that 3 or more concen- tric bell glasses, and 4 or more jars, might be used. The union of the bell, receiver, and tube once effected, it is hardly more troublesome to use 3 than 2. When the fluid in the central jar is saturated, this may be emptied and replenished from the middle jar, the latter from the external one. ‘Then supplying the external jar anew, the process may be continued. The other figures are to explain an apparatus on the same principle, constructed of hollow, oblong paralellopipeds, dif- fering in length more than in breadth; so as_ to allow a ser- pentine tube to wind into the interior, and deliver gas under a vessel shaped like a T. * Fig. 2. represents a vertical section of the whole as when situated for use.* "Fig. 3. a vertical section of the lower vessels only. Fig. 4. a vertical section of the covers alone. Fig. 5. a horizontal section, or ground plan of the lower vessels. The upper vessels are so proportioned as to divide the distance between the lower ones equally. It may be well to mention, that this apparatus, from the fa- cility with which it may be cleaned and inspected internally, admits of being made of porcelain or stone ware.t I have had a cylindrical one constructed of the latter material, in which the covers are in one piece, with a tube in the centre for in- troducing gas. The apparatus may be made more efficacious} by drilling a series of small holes round the brims of the bell glasses or covers, so as to cause the gas, instead of passing round the brims.in large bubbles, to divide itself into very small ones. By this means it will be more thoroughly inter- mingled with fluid. * Excepting, that the covers ought to be so depressed, that their brims may be lower than the bottoms of the interior vessels over which they are pla- ced respectively. This is necessary to prevent the gas from escaping, ere it have access to the surface of the fluid beneath those bottoms. + The apparatus may also be made of glass bottles, duly proportioned, and cut (truncated) alternately near the shoulder and near the bottom. : Te ee, ee « : ; Hare’s Diorimotor: e Arr. XIX. A New Theory of Gulvanism, supported by some Ex- periments and Observations made by meansof the Calorimotor, anew Galvanic Instrument. Read before the Academy of Nat- ural Sciences, Philadelphia,* by Rosert Hane, M.D. Professor of Chemistry in the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, and Member of several Learned Societies. (With an Engraving.) | HAVE for some time been of opinion that the principle extricated by the Voltaic pile is a compound of caloric and electricity, both being original and collateral products of Galvanic action. The grounds of this conviction and some recent experiments confirming it, are stated in the following paper. It is well known that the heat is liberated by the Voltaic appa- ratus, in a manner and degree which has not been imitated by means of mechanical electricity ; and that the latter, while it strikes at a greater distance, and pervades conductors with much greater speed, can with difficulty be made to effect the slightest decompositions. Wollaston, it is true, decomposed water by means of it; but the experiment was performed of necessity on a scale too minute to permit of his ascertaining, whether there were any divellent polar attractions exercised towards the atoms, as in the case of the pile. The result was probably caused by mechanical concussion, or that process by which the particles of matter are dispersed when a battery is discharged through them. The opinion of Dr. omson, that the fluid of the pile is in quantity greater, in intensity less than that evolved by the machine, is very inconsistent with the experiments of the chemist above mentioned, who, before he could effect the separation of the elements of water by mechanical electricity, was obliged to confine its emission * In whose Journal it was ordered to be printed, but, to prevent delay, it was published, by the Author, in a separate paper, and forwarded by him to the Editor of this Journal. Vou. I....No. 4. 13 . feet “414 Hare’s Mir incor? to a point imperceptible to the naked eye. If already so highly intense, wherefore the necessity of a further concen- tration? Besides, were the distinction made by Dr. Thomson correct, the more concentrated fluid generated by a galvanic apparatus of a great many small pairs, ought most to resemble that of the ordinary electricity; but the opposite is the case. The ignition produced by a few large Galvanic plates, where the intensity is of course low, is a result most analogous to the chemical effects of a common electrical battery. According to my view, caloric and electricity may be distinguished by the following characteristics. The former permeates all matter more or less, though with very different degrees of facility. It radiates through air, with immeasurable celerity, and distributing itself in the interior of bodies, communicates a reciprocally repellent power to atoms, but not to masses. Electricity does not radiate in or through any matter; and while it pervades some bodies, as metals, with almost infinite velocity ; by others, it is so far from being conducted, that it can only pass through them by a fracture or perforation. Distributing itself over the surfaces only, it causes repulsion be- tween masses, but not between the particles of the same mass. ‘The ‘disposition of the last-mentioned principle to get off by neighboring conductors, and of the other to combine with the adjoining matter, or’ to escape by radiation, would prevent them from being collected at the positive pole, if not in combination with each other. Were it not for a modifica- tion of their properties, consequent to some such union, they could not, in piles of thousands of pairs, be carried forward through the open air and moisture ; ; the one so well calculated to conduct away electricity, the other so favorable to the radia- tion of caloric. ; Pure electricity does not expand the. slips of gold-leaf, be- tween which it causes repnision, nor does caloric cause any repulsion in the ignited mases which it expands. But as the compound fluid extricated by Galvanic action, which I shall call electro caloric, distributes itself through the interior of bodies and is evidently productive of corpuscular repulsion it isin this respect more allied to caloric than to electricity.” * ss Hare's idoriseatee: 415 : & It is true, that when common electricity causes the deflagra- tion of metals, as by the discharge of a Leyden jar, it must be supposed to insinuate itself within them, and cause a reaction between their particles. But in this case, agreeably to my hypothesis, the electric fluid combines with the latent caloric previously existing there, and, adding to its repulsive agency, causes it to overpower cohesion.* ; Sir Humphry Davy wasso much at a loss to account for the continued ignition of wire at the poles of a Voltaic apparatus, that he considers it an objection to the materiality of heat; since the wire could not be imagined to contain sufficient caloric to keep up the emission of this principle for an un- limited time. But if we conceive an accumulation of heat to accompany that of electricity throughout the series, and to be propagated from one end to the other, the explanation of the phenomenon in question is attended by no difficulty. The effect of the Galvanic fluid on charcoal is very consist- ent with my views, since, next to metals, it is one of the best conductors of electricity, and the worst of heat, and would therefore arrest the last, and allow the other to pass oD. Though peculiarly liable to intense ignition, when exposed betwen the poles of the Voltaic apparatus, it seems to me it does not display this characteristic with common electricity. According to Sir Humphry Davy, when in connexion with the positive pole, and communicating by a platina wire with the negative pole, the latter is less heated than when, with re- spect to the poles, the situation of the wire and charcoal is The rationale is obvious: charcoal, being a bad prevents the greater part of when placed between it reversed. conductor, anda good radiator, the heat from reaching the platina, and the source whence the heat flows. Lhad observed that as the number of p had been extended, and their size and the energy of the inter- airs in Volta’s pile d causes decompositions when emitted from an im- * Possibly the electric flui i ollaston) because its repulsive agen- palpable point (as in the experiments of W cy is concentred between integral atoms, ferred to; a filament of water in the one case, the medium of discharge. 416, Hare’s Calorimoter. ‘posed agents lessened, the ratio of the electrical effects to ‘those of heat had increased ; till in De Luc’s column they had become completely predominant; and, on the other hand, when the pairs were made larger and fewer (as in Children’s apparatus) the calorific influence had gained the ascendancy. d was led to go farther in this way, and to examine whether one pair of plates of enormous size, or what might be equiv- ‘alent thereto, would not exhibit heat more purely, and demon- strate it, equally with the electric fluid, a primary product of ‘Galvanic combinations. The elementary battery “of Wollas- ‘ton, though productive of an evanescent ignition, was too mi- Mute to allow him to make the observations which I had in view. Twenty copper and twenty zinc plates, about nineteen inches square, were supported vertically in a frame, the dif- ferent metals alternating at one half inch distance from each — “other. 1 the plates of the same kind of metal were soldered to a common slip, so that each set of homogeneous plates _ formed one continuous metallic superficies. When the cop- per and zinc surfaces, thus formed, are united by an inter- ‘vening wire, and the whole immerged in an acid, or aceto- saline solution, in a vessel devoid of partitions, the wire be- comes intensely ignited; and when hydrogen is liberated it usually takes fire, producing a very beautiful undulating, or corruscating flame. I'am confident, that if Volta and the other investigators of Galvanism, instead of multiplying the pairs of Galvanic plates, had sought to increase the effect by enlarging one pair as i have done, (for I consider the copper and zine surfaces as ‘reduced to two by the connexion) the apparatus would have been considered as presentihg a new mode of evolving heat, as a primary effect independently of electrical influence. There ‘is no other indication of electricity when wires from the two surfaces touch the tongue, than a slight taste, such as is ex- cited by small pieces of zinc and silver laid on it and under it, and brought into contact with each other. It was with a view of examining the effects of the proximity and alternation in the heterogeneous plates that I had them * Hare’s Calorimotor. 417 cut into separate squares. By having them thus divided, I have been enabled to ascertain that when all of one kind of metal are ranged on one side of the frame, and all of the other kind on the other side of it, the effect is no greater than might be expected from one pair of plates. Volta, considering the changes consequent to his contriv- ance as the effect of a movement in the electric fluid, called the process electro-motion, and the plates producing it electro- motors. But the phenomena show that the plates, as I have arranged them, are calori-motors, or heat movers, and the effect calori-motion. That this is a new view of the subject, may be inferred from the following passage in Davy’s Elements. That great chemist observes,} “ When very small conducting surfaces are used for conveying very large quantities of electricity, they become ignited; and of the different conductors that have been compared, charcoal is most easily heated by electrical discharges,” next iron, platina, gold, then copper, and lastly, zinc. The phenomena of elec- trical ignition, whether taking place in gaseous, fluid, or solid bodies, always seem to be the result of a violent exertion of the electrical attractive and repellent powers, which may be connected with motions of the particles of the substances affected. That no subtile fluid, such as the matter of heat — has been imagined to be, can be discharged from these sub- stances, in consequence of the effect of the electricity, seems probable from the circumstance, that a wire of platina may be preserved in state of intense ignition in vacuo, by means of the Voltaic apparatus, for an unlimited time; and such a wire cannot be supposed to contain an inexbaustible quantity Po of subtile matter.” But I demand where are the repellent and attractive powers to which the ignition produced by the Calorimotor can be at- tributed? Besides, I would beg leave respectfully to inquire of this illustrious author, whence the necessity of considering the heat evolved under the circumstances alluded to as the effect of the electrical fluid; or why we may not as well sup- pose the latter to be excited by the heat? It is evident, as he * Th lusi drawn from t le by the electricity of the a Voltaic apparatus. + 418 Hare’s Calorimotor. observes, that a wire cannot be supposed to contain an inex- haustible supply of matter however subtile; but wherefore may not one kind of subtile matter be supplied to it from the apparatus as well as another ; especially, when to suppose such a supply is quite as inconsistent with the characteristics of pure electricity, as with those of pure caloric ? It is evident from Mr. Children’s paper in the Annals of Philosophy, on the subject of his large apparatus, that the ignition produced by it was ascribed to electrical excitement. For the purpose of ascertaining the necessity of the alter- nation and proximity of the copper and zinc plates, it has been mentioned that distinct square sheets were employed. The experiments have since been repeated and found to suc- ceed by Dr. Patterson and Mr. Lukens, by means of two con- tinuous sheets, one of zinc, the other of copper, wound into _ two concentric coils or spirals. This, though the circum- stance was not known to them, was the form I had myself proposed to adopt, and had suggested as convenient for a Gal- vanic apparatus to several friends at the beginning of the win- ter;* though the consideration above stated induced me to prefer for a first experiment a more manageable arrange- ment. , etic a Since writing the above, I find that when, in the apparatus of twenty copper and twenty zinc plates, ten copper plates on one side are connected with ten zinc on the other, and a communication made between the remaining twenty by @ piece of iron wire, about the eighth of an inch in diameter, the wire enters into a vivid state of combustion on the immersion of the plates. Platina wire equal to No. 18 (the largest I had at hand) is rapidly fused if substituted for the iron. This arrangement is equivalent to a battery of two large Galvanic pairs; excepting that there is no insulation, all the plates being plunged into one vessel. I have usually separated the pairs by a board, extending across the frame merely. Indeed, when the forty plates were successively associated in pairs, of copper and zinc, though suspended in a fluid he * Especially to Dr. T. P. Jones, and Mr. Rubens Peale, who remember the suggestions. Hare’s Calorimotor. * 419 ina common recipient without partitions; there was consider- able intensity of Galvanic action. This shows that, independ- ently of any power of conducting electricity, there is some movement in the solvent fluid avhich tends to carry forward the Galvanic principle from the copper to the zinc end of the series. I infer that electro-caloric is communicated in this case by circulation, and that in non-elastic fluids the same diffi- culty exists as to its retrocession from the positive to the ne- gative end of the series, as is found in the downward passage of caloric through them. It ought to be mentioned, that the connecting wire should be placed between the heterogeneous surfaces before their im- mersion, as the most intense ignition takes place immediately afterward. If the connexion be made after the plates are immersed, the effect is much less powerful; and sometimes after two or three immersions the apparatus loses its power, though the action of the solvent should become in the interim much more violent. Without any change in the latter, after the plates have been for some time suspended in the air, they regain their efficacy. I had observed ina Galvanic pile of three hundred pairs of two inches square, a like consequence resulting from a simultaneous immersion of the whole.* e bars holding the plates were balanced by weights, as window- sashes are,so that all the plates could be very quickly dipped. A platina wire, No. 18, was fused into a globule, while the evolution of potassium was demonstrated by a rose-colored flame arising from some potash which had been placed be- tween the poles. The heat however diminished in a few seconds, though the greater extrication of hydrogen from the plates indicated a more intense chemical action. Agreeably to an observation of Dr. Patterson, electrical ex- citement may be detected in the apparatus by the condensing electroscope ; but this is no more than what Volta observed to be the consequence of the contact of heterogeneous metals. The thinnest piece of charcoal intercepts the calorific agent, whatever it may be. In order to ascertain this, the inside of “Sec Plate: Fig. 3. ce : , Reta t 420 : ® Hare's Culorimotor. a hollow brass cylinder, having the internal diameter two inches, and the outside of another smaller cylinder of the same substance, were made conical and correspondent, so that the greater would contain the less, and leave an interstice about one-sixteenth of an inch between them. ‘This interstice was filled with wood, by plugging the larger cylinder with this ma- terial, and excavating the plug till it would permit the smaller brass cylinder to be driven in. The excavation and the fitting of the cylinders was performed accurately by means of a turn- ing lathe. ‘The wood in the interstice was then charred by ex- posing the whole covered by sand in a crucible to a red heat. ~The charcoal notwithstanding the shrinkage consequent to the fire, was brought into complete contact with the enclosing me- tallic surfaces by pressing the interior cylinder further into the exterior one. : -‘'Lbus prepared, the interior cylinder being made to touch one of the Galvanic surfaces, a wire brought from the other Gaivanic surface into contact with the outside cylinder, was not affected in the least, though the slightest touch of the interior one caused ignition. ‘The contact of the charcoal with the. containing metals probably took place throughout a superfi- cies of four square inches, and the wire was not much more than the hundredth part of an inch thick, so that unless it were to conduct electricity about forty thousand times better than the charcoal, it ought to have been heated; if the calorific influence of this apparatus result from electrical excitement. [am led finally to suppose, that the contact of dissimilar metals, when subjected to the action of solvents, causes @ movement in caloric as well as in the electric fluid, and that the phenomena of Galvanism, the unlimited evolution of beat by friction, the extrication of gaseous matter without the pro- duction of cold, might all be explained by supposing a combi- nation between the fluids of heat and electricity. We find scarcely any two kinds of ponderable maiter which do not ex- ercise more or less affinity towards each other. Moreover, imponderable particles are supposed highly attractive of pon- derable ones. Why then should we not infer the existence of similar affinities between imponderable particles reciprocally ? Hare’s Calorimotor. © ~ 421 That a peculiar combination between heat and light exists in the solar beams, is evident from their not imparting warmth to a lens through which they may pass, as do those of our culinary fires. ‘ : Under this view of the case, the action of the poles in Gal- vanic decomposition is one of complex affinity. The particles of compounds are attracted to the different wires agreeably to their susceptibilities to the positive and negative attraction, and the caloric leaving the electric fluid with which it had been combined, unites with them at the moment that their electric | state is neutralized. . As an exciting fluid, I have usually employed a solution of one part sulphuric acid, and two parts muriate of soda with seventy of water? but, to my surprise, I have produced nearly a white heat by an alkaline solution barely sensible to the taste. For the display of the heat effects, the addition of manganese, red lead, or the nitrates, is advantageous. The rationale is obvious. The oxygen of these substances prevents the liberation of the gaseous hydrogen, which would carry off the caloric. Adding to diluted muriatic acid, while acting on zinc, enough red lead to prevent effervescence, the temperature rose from 70° to 110° Fahrenheit. The power of the calorimotor is much increased by having the communication between the different sheets formed by very large strips or masses of metal. Observing this, I ren- dered the sheets of copper shorter by half an inch, for a distance of four inches of their edges, where the communica- tion was to be made between the zinc sheets; and, vice versa, the zinc was made in the same way shorter than the copper sheets where these were to communicate with each other. The edges of the shortened sheets being defended by strips of wood, tin was cast on the intermediate protruding edges of the longer ones, so as to embrace a portion of each equal to ore one quarter of an inch by four inches. On one side, the tin was made to run completely across, connecting at = same time ten copper and ten zinc sheets. On the other side there was an interstice of above a quarter of an inch left between the stratum of tin embracing the copper, and that embracing Vol. I.....No. 4, 14 422 » Hare’s Calorimotor. the zinc plates. On each of the approaching terminations of the connecting tin strata was soldered a kind of forceps, formed of a bent piece of sheet brass, furnished with a screw for pressing the jaws together. The distance between the different forceps was about two inches. The advantage of a yery close contact was made very evident by the action of screws; the relaxation or increase of pressure on the con- necting wire by turning them being productive of a corres- pondent change in the intensity of ignition. t now remains to state, that by means of iron ignited in "this apparatus, a fixed alkali may be decomposed extempo- raneously.* If aconnecting iron wire, while in combustion, ‘be touched by the hydrate of potash, the evolution of potas- sium is demonstrated by a rose-colored flame. he alkali may be applied to the wire in small pieces ina flat hook of sheet iron. But the best mode of application is by meaus of a tray made by doubling a slip of sheet iron at the ends, and leaving a receptacle in the centre, in which the potash may be placed covered with filings. ‘This tray being substituted for the connecting wire, as soon as the immersion of the apparatus causes the metal to burn, the rose-colored flame appears, and if the residuum left in the sheet iron be after- ward thrown into water, an effervescence sometimes ensues. I have ascertained that an iron heated to combustion, by @ blacksmith’s forged fire, will cause the decomposition of the hydrate of potash. ‘The dimensions of the Calorimotor may be much reduced without proportionally diminishing the effect. I have one of sixty plates within a cubic foot, which burns off No. 16, iron wire. A good workmen could get 120 plates of a foot square within a hollow cube of a size no larger. But the inflamma- tion of the hydrogen which give so much splendor to the bo el can only be exhibited advantageously on a large scale. * This evidently differs from the common mode of decomposing the fixed al- espe by galvanism: there the effect depends on electrical attractions and re- Pp here on the chemical agency of ignited iron produced extemporane- . ously in the galvanic cireuit: this mode of operating appears ie be new.—Ed. Hare’s Calorimotor. 423 — EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE. : F A a, Fig. 1st, two cubical vessels, 20 inches square, inside. bbb baframe of wood containing 20 sheets of copper, and 20 sheets of zinc, alternating with each other, and about half an inch apart. T Tt ¢ masses of tin cast over the protruding edges of the sheets which are to communicate with each other. Fig. 2, represents the mode in which the junction between the various sheets and tin masses is effected. Between the letters z z, the zinc only isin contact with the tin masses. Between cc, the copper alone touches. It may be observed, that, at the back of the frame, ten sheets of copper between cc, and ten sheets of zinc between zz, are made to commu- nicate, by a common mass of tin extending the whole length of the frame, between TT: but in front, asin fig. 1, there is an interstice between the mass of tin connecting the ten copper sheets, and that connecting the ten zinc sheets. The screw forceps, appertaining to each of the tin masses, may be seen on either side of the interstice; and likewise a wire for ignition held between them. The application of the rope, pulley, and weights is obvious. The swivel at S permits the frame to be swung round and lowered into water in the vessel a, to wash off the acid, which, after immersion in the other vessel, might continue to act on the sheets, encrusting them > with oxide. Between pp there is a wooden partition which is not necessary, though it may be beneficial. Fig. 3, represents an apparatus alluded to, page 419. It consists of a couronne des tasses, reduced to a form no less compact than that of the trough. Hollow parallelopipeds of glass are substituted for tumblers or cells. The plates are suspended to bars counterpoised like window-sashes. f The advantages are as follows. The material is one of the best non-conductors, is easily cleansed, and is the most imper- vious to solvents. The fracture of one of the cups is easily remedied by a supernumerary. They may be procured (as in the United States) where porcelain cannot be had. The shock from 300 pairs is such as few will take a second time. Some of the effects have already been stated.* At Fig. 4, one of the hollow glass parallelopipeds on an enlarged scale is represented. * The glasses may be had by applying to Edw. A. Pearson, No. 71 Cornhill, Boston. i Strong’s Problems. MATHEMATICS. « : — S208 Arr. XX. ; An improved Method of obtaining the Formule for the Sines and Cosines of the Sum and difference of two Arcs, by Proressor Srrone, of Hamilton College. Iv the circle ABCD let AB and BC denote any two ares contiguous to eachother. Draw B their limiting diameters Aa, U4 Cc; their sines Br, By; and join z,y. Then will xy=sine of (AB+BC): for if upon OB as a diameter we describe a circle, it will manifestly pass = through the points 2 and y, (since the angles OxB, OyB are right, see Euc. 31. 3.) there-_ rBy is a quadrilateral inscribed in a circle described on OB as a diameter, and the angle yOx at the circumference — stands upon an arc whose chord is xy. Again, if from a we draw ad perpendicular to Ce, it will be the sine of the are ac (=AB+BC.) If now we describe a circle on aO as diameter, it will pass through d,(see Euc. 31. 3.) therefore ad is the chord of anarc on which the angle aOc stands in the circle described onaQ. But in equal circles the chords of ares on which equal angles at the centres or circumferences stand are equal; (see Euc. 26. and 29. 3.) hence zy=ad=sin(AB+BC.) Now since OxBy is a quadrilateral inscribed in the circle described on OB as diameter, we shall have (Euc. D. 6.) OB-xy=Be- Oy+By-Ox=sinAB: cosCB+sinCB: cosAB. If OB be de- noted by r, we shall have xy, or sin (AB+BC)= sinAB- cosCB+sinCB- cosAB. r If AB=A, BC=B, and the radius r=1, sin(A-+B)=sin i A EN ee a ee Strong’s Problems. | 425 — 3 A: cosB+sinB. cosA ; which is the Siddin formula for ie “pd sine of the sum of two arcs, to the radius 1. -S Again, ifthrough O we draw the diameter DE perpendiet : lar to Aa, then will DC be the complement of (AB+BC.) Draw Cp, the sine of DC=cos (AB+ BC.) Through B draw diameter Bb; from 6, draw th@sines bz, br, of the arcs bc, bE respectively, and join z,r. Then by describing two cir- — cles, one on 4O as diameter, the other on OC, it may be prov- ed as before that the circle described on 6O passes through the points z and r, and that the circle described on CO pas- ses through p: and hence, by the same reasoning as before, zr=Cp=cos(AB+BC.) Now Obzr being a quadrilateral inscribed in the circle described on bO, we have (by the prop. before cited) bO- zr+-Or- bz=br. Oz; and hence 60: zr= br: Oz—Or- bz. But br= sine arc bE=sine arc BD; and since BD is the complement of AB, br=cosAB. In like manner Oz=cosBC, Or=sinAB, and 6z=sinBC; hence by substitution, bO- zr=cosAB: cosBC —sinAB: sinBC. By using the same notation as before, we have cos(A+B) _cosA. = sinB =(if r=1) cosA. cosB.—sinA. sin B, which is ikg known formula for the cosine of the sum of two ares. The same construction will answer for the two remaining cases: forif we suppose that bE and bc are two arcs, then will cE be their difference, and zr the sine of cE, as proved above; : br. Oz —Or. bz ; hence zr (=sin(OE —be))= b0 ~ But br=sin bE, and Or=its cosine; and bz=sine bc, and Oz=its cos. hence if bE be denoted by a, be by 6, and Ob as before, then sina. cosb—sinb, cosa r sinb: cosa. —... Again, AB++-BC is the complement of DC or cE; hence by the first part of the above investigation, xy=sin (AB+BC)=coscE: but zy or sin(A+B)=cos = = we A | ae abe + So ; and as sinA or AB will sin(a—b)= = (ifr=1) sina’ cosb — 426 : Strong’s Problems. BD=cosbE, Ox=cosA or AB=sinBD=sinbE, By. =sinbc, and Oy=Oz=cosbc, we shall have, by sub- See ~_.... Cosa. cosb--sina. sind stitution, cos(a—b= = a _ ==cos , =(if r=1)cosa. cosb-+ sina. sinb. . From what has been said itappears, that if A and B be any - two arcs, of which A is the greatest, then sinA‘cosBtsinB. cosA r Sin(AtB) = cosA‘cosBzsinA: sinB Cos(AtB)= i When the radius r is supposed=1, the denominators in these formulz disappear. In the latter, A and B are used for _ @and 6, for the sake of homogeneity. The propriety of this ~~ is manifest; for as. a and 6 denote two indefinite arcs, the same reasoning will apply to A and B, as to a and 8, the first be- ing supposed in each case the greatest. (cB The following Diophantine Problem was proposed for solu- tion some months ago in @ Periodical Journal, which has since been discontinued. ‘To those who are interested in speculations of this nature, we presume that the following solution, forwarded by Professor Srrone, of Hamilton College, will not be unacceptable. Prosiem. To find three positive rational Numbers, x, y, and z, such that x* —y, x* —z, y2 — x, and y? —z may all. be squares. Assume x —ay forthe root of thesquare x? —y: thena? -y a*?y+l =(x—ay)?, whence r= 4 = In like manner, by assum- : “— Qba—1 ing x —bz for the root of square #? —z, we find z=—yz—* a*y+1 2a a? 1 : But y? -2=y*— oe (since z= ) and as this 1s Strong’s Problems. 427 1 pee? ye aa i ) for its ro = to be made a square, assume y —-(S Z 2a-+c? es ag whence, by proceeding as before, we find y=7-7—Gaza- But a*y+1 ree: 06. So 2=——3 = (by substituting for y its value) 4ca—c?a*" : 2bz —1 Again z=- >; = (by substituting for x its value) a?+2c M(icr= eat) ~! : i A ; hence j re (= 2a+c? este) anc a0h (st a? +2c y+ b? Aca—c?a? 4ea—c?a? (by substituting for y and z their values 3) and as this also is to be made a square, assume for its root S Then we 2 2 shall have (=) = xb2—2b (a) +1=(be-1)? 5 from which, by reduction, e(4ca—c?a?)? —(a* +-9c)(4ca — c?a?) b=2X-—“i(icg- tap ate ys Hence the values of the required numbers are as follows : 2bx— 20 (in which the value of b is to be found from the +2 2a+c* last equation,) T=777 aq?’ and y=7-5 oa?" The numbers a, c, and e, are to be so assumed that 2, y, and z, may come out positive. Ifa=1, c=2, and c=2, then will z=, y=2, andz='; , which numbers. will be found upon trial to satisfy the tian. It may also be observed. that c and a being positive, ca must not exceed 4; but the form of the above expressions for x, ¥, 5 will be sufficient to direct us how a, ¢, and e, are to be assumed. 428 Kain on Caves. MISCELLANEOUS. —eae Art. XXI. An Account of several Ancient Mounds, and of two Caves in East Tennessee, by Mr. Jonn Henry Kain, of Knoz- ville. (Communicated for the American Journal of Science, &c.) Mounds. On the plantation of Mr. John Kain of Knox county, near the north bank of the Holston River, 5 miles above its junc- tion with the French Broad, is a curious collection of mounds of earth, evidently the work of art, but of an almost antedilu- vian antiquity, if we may form any conjecture of their age, _ from that of the forest which grows around and upon them. They are about half a dozen in number, and arise on about half an acre of level ground without any seeming regularity. They are pyramidal in their shape, or rather sections of pyra- mids, whose bases are from 10 to 30 paces in diameter. The largest one in this group rises about 10 feet above the level ground, and is remarkably regular in its figure. A perpendi- cular section of this mound was made about a year since, but no important discovery was made. It was found to consist of the surface thrown up, and contained a good deal of ashes and ' charcoal. This group of mounds is surrounded by a ditch, which can be distinctly traced on three sides, and enclosing besides the mounds, several acres of ground. It is like the mounds co- vered with trees, which grow in it and about it. At every angle of this ditch, it sweeps ont into a semicircle, and it ap- pears in many respects well calculated for defence. There are many other mounds of the same form in Tennes- see. At the junction of the French Broad with the Holston, there is one in which human bones are said to have been found. Kain on Caves. 409 Farther up French Broad, near Newport, isa very large mound. — It reposes on a very level and extensive plain, and is itself the largest I ever saw. It is thirty feet high, and its base covers half an acre of ground. As it ascends from its base, there is a slight inclination from a perpendicular on all sides, and the upper surface is as level as the rest is regular. From the great size of this mound, its commanding situation, and the mystery which veils its history, it is a most interesting spot of ground. There are many other mounds of this description in the State of Tennessee, but I have not visited them. Though not immediately connected with this subject, I take markable projection of the rock divides the back part into two stories. This grotto, whose walls are hung with ivy, and the bluff crowned with cedars, and surrounded by an ‘aged forest, on which’ the vine clambers most luxuriantly, viewed from the ds slowly around it, and reflects its image, is more than beautiful: it is even venerable. But what renders it most interesting to many visiters, is a number of rude paint- as tradition reports, left on it by the Che- rokee Indians. These Indians are known to have made this ‘cave a resting-place, as they passed up and down the River jntings are still distinct, though they have They consist of of birds, river which win representations of the fishes, &c. They are a respect, the paintings on Paint gs Much has been said of the objects of curiosity in the country north of us; and I took the liberty to describe some of them rt Vou. L...No. 4. 15 te & ‘ i = 430 Kain on Caves. in my preceding communication. Indeed we may say, without danger of exaggeration, that the range of Alleghany Mountains presents a variety of the most curious features, and many ob- jects of beauty and sublimity. I have noticed a few of the most Set but “the half is not told.” ~~ BOE«-- Extract of a Letter, &c. Knoxville, Nov. 24, 1818. _ 1 WAS on a visit to a frienda few days since, about 30 miles to the north of this, and was invited by him to visit an inter- esting curiosity in the neighborhood. We crossed the Clynch River where it is much confined by mountains, and banks as high as mountains, Our guide conducted us to the foot of a steep declivity, where we left our horses, and with some. difh- culty ascended about 70 yards. Here we came to the mouth of a_cave which had been stopped up by a stone wall. The wall was made of limestone and mortar, which is now harder than the stone itself. It is without a doubt, artificial, for be- sides the evidence afforded by. its. Structure, it contains bones and animal remains, What was this wall built for? There was a tradition among the inhabitants that it contained money, and they were much disappointed on opening it, not to find any. Like other caves, it contains a variety of calcareous concretions, and I obtained some fine specimens of brown spar, which I will take the first opportunity to send you. I remain your Friend, JOHN H. KAIN. N. B. This wall is 10 feet thick. Dwight’s Cases of Delirium. 431 For the American Journal of Science, &c. Bengamin Sriuiman, Esq. : ae Dear Sir, SHOULD you think the facts detailed in the following state- ment worthy of publication, you are at liberty to publish them. The knowledge of the first, I derived in the year 1802, from a gentleman and a lady, both inhabitants of the town where the person whose case is detailed, lived: and of the third in 1802, from the same lady; and of the second in 1802, from a lady, a near relative of Mrs.S. When the facts were communi- cated to me, I immediately committed them to writing, and to avoid mistakes, read what I had written to the persons commu- nicating them. 2 I am very respectfully, Your Friend, and obedient Servant. BENJAMIN W. DWIGHT... Arr. XXII. Facts illustrative of the Powers and Operations of the Human Mind in a Diseased State. i. Some years ago a farmer of fair character, who resided in an interior town in New England, sold his farm, with an in- tention of purchasing another in a different town. TFlis mind was naturally of a melancholy cast. — Shortly after the sale of his farm, he was induced to believe that he had sold it for less than its value. This persuasion brought on dissatisfaction, and eventually a considerable degree of melancholy. In this situa- tion, one of his neighbors engaged him to enclose a lot of land, with a post and rail fence, which he was to commence making the next day, At the time appointed he went into the field, and began with a beetle and wedges to split the timber, out of which the posts and rails were to be prepared. On finishing his day’s work, he put his beetle and wedges into a hollow tree, and went home. Two of his sons had been at work through the day ina distant part of the same field. On 432 Dwight’s Cases of Delirium. his return, he directed them to get up early the next morning, to assist him in making the fence. In the course of the evening are became delirious, and continued in this situation several years; when his mental powers were suddenly restored. The first question which he asked after the return of his reason, was, whether his sons had brought in the beetle and wedges. ‘He appeared to be wholly unconscious of the time that had elapsed from the commencement of his delirium. His sons, apprehensive that any explanations might induce a return of his disease, simply replied that they had been unable to find them. He immediately arose from his bed, went into the field where he had been at work a number of years before, and found the wedges, and the rings of the beetle, where he had left them, the beetle itself having mouldered away. During his delirium, his mind had not been occupied with those sub- jects with which it was conversant in health. 2. Mrs. S., an intelligent lady, belonging to a respectable family in the state of New York, some years ago undertook a piece of fine needlework. She devoted her time to it almost constantly for a number of days. Before she had completed it, she became suddenly delirious. In this state, without ex- periencing any material abatement of her disease, she continu- ed for about seven years; . when=her. eason was suddenly re- stored. One of the first questions which she asked after her reason returned, related to her needlework. It isa remark- able fact, that during the long continuance of her delirium she said nothing, so far as was recollected, about her needlework, nor concerning any such subjects as usually occupied her at- tention when in health. 3. A lady in New England, of a respectable family, was for a considerable period subject to paroxysms of delirium. These paroxysms Came on instantaneously, and after continuing an in- definite time, went off as suddenly ; leaving her mind perfectly rational. It often happened that when she was engaged in ra- tional and interesting conversation, she would stop short in the midst of it, become in a moment entirely delirious, and com- ‘ mence a conversation on some other subject, not having the remotest connexion with the previous one, nor would she ad- Scientific Intelligence. 433 vert to that during her delirium. When she became rational again, she would pursue the same conversation in which she had been engaged during the lucid interval, beginning where she had left off. To such a degree was this carried, that shell would complete an unfinished story or sentence, or even an : unfinished word. When her next delirious paroxysm came on, she would continue the conversation which she had been pur- suing in her preceding paroxysm; So that she appeared as a person might be supposed to do, who had two souls, each occa- sionally dormant, and occasionally active, and,utterly ignorant of what the other was doing. : . INTELLIGENCE. : -Se—- American Cinnabar and Native Ant. XXIII. 1. Discovery of Le ad. Extract of a letter from Dr. Comstock of Hariford, to the Editor. SiR, | answer to your inquiry concerning the discovery of sul- phuret-of-mércury and native lead in this country, I send you the following summary of a letter received from B. F. Stick- ney, Esq. Indian agent, dated Fort Wayne, Dec. 1, 1818. Mr. Stickney states, that the situation of Fort Wayne, and the country surrounding, is a high level, probably about 800 feet above the sea. From this place the water-courses divide and take different directions, on the one hand falling into the ay of St. Lawrence. Gulf of Mexico, and on the other into the B The whole country is of secondary formation, chiefly calca- reous and aluminous. ee Bitumen and sulphur are every where ‘to be usual, accompanied by the metals. aie In speaking of the cinnabar, his words are, “I have found a black and garnet-colored sand; in great abundance on the found, and as a 434 3 Scientific Intelligence. shores of the Lakes Erie and Michigan, this is a sulphuret of mercury, and yields about sixty per cent. It isso easy to be obtained, and in so convenient a form for diattiatins that it must become an important article of commerce.’ _ The native lead was found on the Anglaize River, ata con- siderable distance from the fort. Of this he says, “metallic lead is so interspersed with ga lena, as to prove incontestably the existence of native lead.” Respectfully, Your obedient Servant, J. L. COMSTOCK. see: Hartford, Conn, Feb. 17, 1819. Benjamin Silliman, M. D., &c 2. Theoretical views of Professor Hare of Philadelphia. We are authorized to mention, that Dr. Robert Hare has taught in his lectures during the last eighteen months, that acid properties never appearing in the absence of water, this fluid or its elements are most entitled to be considered as the acidi- fying principle : but that probably it does not exist in acids as water, but is decom mp when _added to them, the particles of hydrogen and oxygen by their different. polarities taking opposite sides of those composing the base. The extrication of hydrogen by the action of diluted sulphuric acid on iron or zinc, being the consequence of a previous, not simultaneous decomposition of water. Hence when sulphuric or nitric acids are so concentrated as to char. or ignite, they are not acide reall 3. New Work on Chemistry. Dr. John Gorham of Boston, Professor of Chemistry in Harvard University, &c. has published the first volume of his Elements of Chemical Science, The work will be comprised in two volumes, and its completion will be anticipated with in- - terest by the scientific public, Scientific Intelligence. 435 4. Botanical. Dr. Romer of Zurich, has begun, since 1815, to publish a new edition of the Systema Vegetabilium of Linneus; he proceeds in its publication; it will form several volumes. Robert Brown of London, is endeavoring to group the nat- ural orders of plants into natural classes, or rather into larger natural orders, with determinate characters: he has communi- cated some parts of his labor to the botanists of Paris. He has been the first to employ as a new character in the distine- tion of natural orders, the estivation of flowers, or the manner in which they are folded in the buds. C. S. Rafinesque, in his Analysis of Nature, has adopted a new practice, that of giving single substantive Latin names to the natural orders and families of plants. oa Mirbel has proposed a new nomenclature of fruits in his Elements of Botany. Decandolle, after publishing the principles of the science in his Theory of Botany, has begun to undertake a general spe- cies plantarum, according to the natural classification. : Three splended Floras of the south of Europe have been undertaken... 1 Flora Greca, by Sibthorp and Smith in England. 2.-Flora Lusitanica, by Link and Hoffmansegg in Germany. 3. Flora.Nepolitana, by Tenore in Naples. They are very €Xpensive works, and are not yet terminated. Received in January, 1819. 5. Staurotide. Extact of a letter to the Editor, from John Torrey, M. D., of New York. “Mr. Pierce and myself lately found staurotide on the ‘sland of New York. It occurs in considerable quantity in a rock of mica slute, on the banks of the Hudson, about three and a half miles from the city. The crystals very seldom form the perfect cross, though many were found, intersecting each other imperfectly at angles of 60°. Several single crystals were obtained exceedingly perfect. They were short 4-sided prisms, with the acute lateral edges truncated at each ex- 436 Scientific Intelligence. tremity on the two solid angles of the most obtuse lateral edges, forming diedral terminations at each ex- _.tremity of the prism. The faces of these termina- Prous were inclined to each other at an angle of 67° and a few minutes. The annexed figure shows the form of the crystal. 6. Supplement to the“ Remarks on the Geology and Mineralogy “of a Section of Massachusetts, on Connecticut River, &c. con- ‘tained in No. 2, Art. I, of this Journal, by E. Hrrcucocg, A. M. The following minerals, found in the region above named, were either omitted in the former list, or have been noticed since that was made out. Bog-iron Ore. In Greenfield and Warwick. Hornstone. Rare ; in Deerfield and Conway. Silicious Slate. In rolled pieces, on the banks of Deerfield riv- » ->° er; not abundant. - Barut, or Lydian Stone. Same locality. seis In an aggregate of greenstone, quariz, and calcareous > “Spar, in the greenstone range, Deerfield. Color black, “aii and th e crystals usually imperfect, or broken. Staurotide In mica slate; Northfield, | one mile east of the vil- lage, on the turnpike to Boston. The crystals observed were six-sided prisms. The same rock contains reddish garnets. THE LEVERETT RANGE OF GRANITE. This name is given to a granite range that emerges from the puddingstone near the centre of Amherst, and extends northerly, with some interruption, nearly thirty miles, through Leverett and Montague to Northfield. And, indeed, there is some reason to suppose that it again appears to the north of Northfield. The range is widest in Leverett, where its breadth is more than a mile, It is noticed in the “ Remarks,” No. 2, Art. I, of this Journal, and may be seen on the section ~ Scientific Intelhgence. 437 accompanying that communication. But on further examina- tion it has been found to be more extensive than was su posed. The texiure of the rock is coarse. Plates of mica, 3 or 4 inches across, are common in it; and one specimen of a beautiful blue feldspar, the fragment only of a crystal, mea- sured in one direction 8 inches. Two circumstances in this range give it an interest in the eye of a geologist. The one is its proximity to sandstone and puddingstone; and the other, its small elevation in compari- son with the surrounding rocks of later formations. In some places no other rock could be found lying between the granite and puddingstone; though the soil prevented my observing whether there is an actual contact. But,in general there is a stratum of mica slate a few rods wide between these rocks, and not unfrequently gneiss lies between the mica slate and and puddingstone, five or six hundred feet higher than the granite. On the east, a mile or two distant, a mountain of sienite gradually rises to a still greater height than the pud- dingstone ; and on the southwest, at nearly the same distance, you can see an alluvial formation. . In.general this granite does not rise so,high-as-the adjacent rocks, whether secondary or primitive. os ag VEINS OF ORE IN THIS GRANITE. 1. Of Galena in Leverett. This ore forms a narrow vein in the southwest part of the on land of Moses Smith, two miles from the Congre- The direction of the vein is nearly only a foot wide. The tewn, gational meeting-house. north and south, and where I saw it, gangue is sulphate of barytes. 9. Of Galena, Copper Pyrites, and Blende. This vein is a little more than @ mile north of the one above described, and it may be @ continuation of the same Vol. I.....No. 4. 16 438 Scientific Intelligence. a vein, The gangue is nearly an equal admixture ok sulphate of barytes and quartz; and galena and sulphuret of copper are disseminated through it in about the same, that is equal proportions. ‘The blende, which is of a yellowish aspect when the fractured crystal is beld in a certain position, ap- pears only occasionally. This vein is several feet wide, has been wrought to a small extent in two places, and its direc- tion is nearly north andsouth. It is on land of Mr. Field. Radiated quartz. In the above vein. A considerable ten- dency to crystallization appears at ihis place, not only in the quartz, but in the foliated structure ofthe barytes. Brownspar. Io the same place. But little of this mineral ‘Was noticed. It exfoliated before the blowpipe, turned black, and became magnetic. 3. Of Specular Oxide of Iron in Montague. _ Thisis found in a partially detached eminence, 100 feet high, near the north line of Montague, on land of Mr. Taft, a little southwest from the confluence of Miller’s river with the Connecticut. The whole hill, not less than 100 rods in cir- cumference at its base, is traversed by numerous veins of this ore; and scarcely a foot of the rock is to be seen that does not contain these, varying iwidthdrom a mere line to several inches. The principal vein appears on thé top “of the hill; and is as nearly as | could determine, not less than ten feet wide lying in a north and south direction. The ore seems tobe abundant, and generally pure. Masses that have been separated by blasting, and weighing from 100 to 200 pounds, lie on the surface. A small portion of sulphuret of iron was observed in some specimens. ‘The gangue is quartz, and the walls and hill granite. No opinion is here intended to be offered concerning the probable value of these ores, if worked. If they be useless to the present generation, they may not be so to some future one, when labour shall be cheaper; and therefore it was thought to be of some consequence to point out their localities. In the remarks, to which this paper is a supplement, blue quartz was inadvertently put down among the minerals found Scientific Intelligence. 439 in Deerfield. I presume it does not exist there. It is also probable that the variety of garnets found in Conway, is not -as formerly stated, the melanite, 7. New Process for Tanning. A process for effecting the tanning of leather ina neat, ex- peditious, and thorough manner, has been discovered, by a Mr. Steel, of Connecticut: some account of it may be given hereafter. ; , 8. Connexion between Chemistry and Medicine. This subject has been discussed in an able and interesting manner by Professor Cooper, of Philadelphia, in a public dis- course, which has now been some months before the public. 9. Brucite. A new Species in Mineralogy, discovered by the late Dr. Bruce. We hope to publish in the next Number a descrip- tion and analysis of it. 10. Lithography. We are promised for our next Number, a full account of this art, of which we have received a beautiful specimen, a Minerva, executed by Mr. Bates Otis, an ingenious and en- terprising artist of Philadelphia, who under the patronage of Dr. Samuel Brown, is preparing to disseminate the produc- tions of his skill, and to make this important art (executed with American materials,) extensively useful in this country. N. B. As this number has already much exceeded its proper size, we are obliged to suppress many articles of do- mestic, and all those of foreign intelligence. 440 CONCLUSION. In the prospectus of this work, the expectation was expressed that each Number would contain from 64 to 80 pages; that as many as four Numbers might be issued within the year, and engravings were promised for such subjects as might require them. The Numbers published, have actually contained from 104 to 132 pages, the four have been issued within a period of ten months, and twelve copper-plate engravings and several wood- cuts, illustrate the present volume. Of the subjects proposed in the plan of the work, our pages contain notices, more or less extensive, of Geology, Mineralogy, Botany, Zoology, Chemistry, Natural Philosophy, Mathematics, Useful Arts, Fine Arts, Inventions, Reviews, Biography, an Intelligence. How far then we have redeemed our pledge, we leave it for our readers to decide. In the commencement of an enterprise, for the first time attempted in this country, an enterprise arduous in its nature and uncertain in its issue, it will not be doubted that — able solicitude was eee ce furnishing a Journal to record thelr ceedings, will, in our view, not only have a direct influence in promoting the honor and prosperity of the nation as connected with its physical in- terests, but will also tend in no small degree to nourisa an enlarged patriotism, by winning the public mind from the odi- ous asperities of party. That entire success will attend our efforts, it would perhaps be presumptuous to expect, but we trust that the interesting previous question, whether such a work can be adequately sustained, by appropriate materials, may be considered as now decided. The support which we have received, and for which we are deeply grateful, has been far beyond our most sanguine hopes, and has caused us to dis- pense with no small portion of those less important efforts of our own, with which we were prepared to succor our infant undertaking. Conclusion. i 441 if we may be allowed to express a wish relative to the nature of future communications, it would be, that those of a scientific nature should not be diminished, while those relating to the arts, to agriculture, and to domestic economy, should be in- creased; we particularly solicit the communications of practi- cal men versed in the useful and ornamental arts, and they will be acceptable should they not even be clothed in a scientific dress. Arrangements have been made for the reception of an in- creased number of the best European Journals, both from the continent and from Britain; they have already begun to arrive, and we hope to give in future numbers, more full details of foreign scientific intelligence, although it is true that this spe- cies of information has hitherto been stinted, not from poverty of materials, but from the pressure of original American com- munications. —a— In justice to the publishers of this work, we add, that this publication is an expensive one; very heavy advances have been already made by them, while only a trivial. amount has been received in return. It is hoped, therefore, that subscribers will promptly remit, free from postage, the small stipulated sum, and also make the required advance for the succeeding volume. This last is not due till the first oumber of that volume has been issued, but it would save postage to remit both sums at once, and thus also it will be known what subscriptions are continued. In a subscription so widely dispersed over a large portion of the United States, an inattention to punctual payment, must soon put in hazard the existence of a work, having other- wise the fairest prospects of continuance, and we hope of use- fulness. Should this appeal be promptly answered, the first number of thenext volume (already in considerable forwardness,) will be published in the course of the summer; and should men of ability continue to furnish communications, and the public be 442 “ Postscript. willing to pay for the work, itis our wish to publish future num- bers with greater frequency, and to complete our volumes whenever we are prepared, without confining ourselves to par- ticular periods of time. New-Haven, Conn. May 17, 1819. —-@o- POSTSCRIPT. AMERICAN GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. We have the pleasure to announce, that an American Geo- logical Society has been recently organized by an association of gentlemen, residing in various parts of the United States. An Act of Incorporation, conferring the necessary powers, has been granted by the Legislature of Connecticut, and farther accounts of the plan and progress of the Society may be ex- pected in future numbers of this work. INDEX. oe Accidents from oer aay 168. Acid, (sulphuric) lake ne rive Address to the people of. Se Wesiain country, 203. gates, 49, 134, 236 Alkali, , 309, 310. Alleghany mountains, 60. “alluvial formation, 324, Alveolites, se Alumine, p American Geslogieal Society, 442. Amia — Analei at Deerfiel Ant gua, pdlickons patitaeiiis of, 56—geology of, 141. Apatite, 236. Ap; arts, improvement on Woulfe’s, &c. 410. Asbestos, 237, 243. Asclepias lanceolata, 252. ae. (Caleb, Esq.) a oe 116—on Ohio, 207—on Belmont county. —on winds of the w Augite, 244, 310, ro) es 3 B. Baldwin, (Dr. William) on emai 355. ogy Bas Battery, (electra of Dr. ae 292. Beck, (Dr. John B.) on salt stor Belmont cou sl reine its sacle’: &e. 227. Bigelow, (Prof.) on climate » 76. Blende, 50 Blo Ht ge i es priority of discovery and use of, 97. Bouts, salle, ae mr 7; 8. Bones, extraction of Sdn ek. 170. Botany, American, 5. Brace, (Mr. John P.) on cut-worm, 154—on minerals of Litchfield county, iS; Breccia of the Sans seh — rest, orapemn Bridge, rival, "66, 3 Bro Sncalare on organized remains, 71—his address in Paris, 74. ite ‘ap Samuel) 147, 439. Dr.) 3, ba 255, 299, 439. Bufo cornuta, uria ground dof the oe 108. Burrstone of Indiana, ©. Cabinet = Col. Gibbs, 6—of B. D. Perkins and Dr. Bruce, alendar, floral, of United States, 76—near Philadelphia, nil a Plainfield, 255——of Deeriie ld, 359. 444 | Idex. Calorimotor of Prof. Hare, 413. Calton hill, its structure, 23 Carbonates, ha rd, of lime, 63—of magnesia, pulverulent, at Hoboken, 54— crystalized, . Cav ed e, Wier’s, 59, 64, 317—in Mount Toby, 111—at Corydon, with Epsom s salt, 133. Caves, in Tennessee, ia Chabasie, at Deerfield, 49, 134. Chalcedony i in con wood, 57, at Deerfield and East Haven, 134, Characters uf min — 45. Cinnabar n Michi ius n, 433, Clays, po Srcelaiie 57, 58, 242. pai (Prof.) Review of his mineralogy, 35—notice of, 308 ‘al mines of Vi — 125—of Tennessee, 63—of Ohio, 239— of Connecti- pata and eulters, (tet ai) of pins 311. Coluber trivittata, &c. 260—262. 433. Susie é (Dr Cooper (Prof. Thomas as) 439. Copal, gee plee. ee Saat 307. en a opper Cornelius, (Rev. Elias) 59, 214, 317. Crotal Suaabistani —— 221—223. Cut-worm, Cuvier’s ge are 68. Cylactis, &c., 377. Dz _— SS J. F.) on electrical battery, 292—on Myrica cerifera, 293—on ame, Deerfield, Floral Calendar of, 359. Delirium, intermisstOWe of; OE ey Dewey, (Prof. Chester) his sketch, &c., Diplocea barbata, 252. ret Disruption of the ground = Deerfield, 286. Distillation of ot Doolittle, (Mrv.T saa c) on eas, 170. ~ Drake, (Dr. Daniel) =? thers, 206. Dust, atmospherical, 3! Dwight, ia B. W. ) on tiadivlones 431. E. Earthquakes of 1811 and 1812, 93 1 Eaton, (3 (Mr. Amos) on New England geology, 69—on Southampton leve!, Elliott, (Stephen, get Engine, (Steam) its importa ee Mcgiicewn, (a freshwater fish). 155. Falls i tos river, 111. Favosi Fish, impression Fisher, (Prof.) his ae tei 9, 176. Flame, how affected by steam, &e., 401. Flint, 225. Floral calendar of the United States, 76—Plainfield, 254—Deerfield, 359. Index. 3 4A5 Floerkea, poe 373. Fluor Spar, 49, 52. we Galvanism, Dr. gn’ s discovery in Gambold, (Mrs.) on the Cherokee ae 245. Guadaloupe, minerals from Gelatin e, how obtai ned from bones in Paris, 170. Geology and Mineralogy of Vir irgini a, &e. 60, 317—New England, index of, 69—Deerfield and vicinity, 107—-Indiana, " Gin—aisigaes &e. 140—intro- duction to the study o ed cc oe Geor 8°) on gunpowder, 87—on light and magnetism, 89, -207—on ourmalines, Gill, (Mr. Thom as) go hew lamp, 207. Gnaphalium, new species uf, 380. Gneiss bomen. (Prof. John) elements of chemistry, 434. i Granite, 237, ammer, er, (Mr. John) on coal mines of Virginia, 125. Grindstone ae * 63. Hare, oe Rober) bi his Loe cif Stel ae Woulfe’s Te, 410—his Calo- } 408 w minerals, 244, 306. ae ooue g, 91. Herp Feds ea ng: Ed.) 0 a Daosseli &c. {05 —disruption, | 286—supplement, Ho $5kon, carbonate ¢ magnesia at, 54. Hematite, brown, ornstones, 62, 225. ; Ice, Greenland, Indiana, geolo 7 of, 1381. m Insect, destructive, 328. 5 . Tron ores, 2, 438. i Ives, (Prof. Eli) on limosella, 74—asclepias, 252—the potato, 297—gnaphali-- Ji ‘ Java, river and lake of sulphuric acid = 58, 59. Jameson, (Prof.) his additions to Cuvier, 68. er ae seh scientific, 1—3—of vegetation, 76, 71, 254, 359. Kain, (Mr. John H1.) on geology, &e. 60—mounds and caves, 428, 430. I ion (Ep hraim hee mine, 316. , without e, 207. Vie: oe 1. 17 * 446 Index. Lead ore, 53, 63—native, in Michigan, 434. Fight, connexion between, and magnetism, 89, 207—and heat, new mode of oducing, 91. gs me, augments the force of gunpowder, 8 imestone, with she lis, Set ee of, ae 131, 237, 241, 307, 341. Lit Lithography, ar Lockie, tienen = minerals, 49. I Maclure, (William Esq.) his geological survey, 37—map, 61—on geology, Magnesia, ce se oe — 49, 54, 236—of hydrates, 55. Magnetic te, tron min Ma ctism and light, aur connexion, 89. Me ite, compact, 236. Man, anes, 50. si Mart W species of, § “Matches kindling withing thre Mercury, oe casting oe 168. . sheet new, 3 e0rs, eee ot a, plumose 50 of Porto Rico, 237—of slate, 339. Mat stones, 62, 132 alogy, élem eandeiy works on, ; Minerals o' eo ae &e. Tit et ls Indiana, &c. 132—of Southampton level, 136—sili 4—locali lities, by Rev. Mr. Schaeffer, 237—American col- srs of, 310; Mind, hum Se stag od tions in a diseased state, 431. Mitchill, (Dr. 8. L) 8 37, 55.—his edition of Cuvier, 68. Morty, Garett nRe orey, (Samue s = Mounds, ancient, 392, 495) Peete Ol—steam engine, i Mountains, Alleghany, 60. tenia i Mustela vulpina, 82 osurus Shortii, 379. Myrica cerifera, analysis of, 294. N. ive copper near New H — — pdt oe 2% aven, 55—sulphur of Java, 58—237. Necronite — England, its geol ogy, 69. lime ~ of potash, 65. ure of mineral Sener De) on peetsany ier +» 56, 141. Ohio, notes on, ee medical Salles e, 31}. Opal, semi, 22 . aurus sala Organized remain siren, niart on, 71. Oxygen gas, shepication of 95. P; Paint, rock, 77. Paris, porcelain of, 56. Pane ay eA te ¢ » Paris, (Dr. John ent on sandstone, 234. Zz Fr ¥ in ie * ry we Index. 447 Perit, (Mr. Pelatiah) 85. Perkins, (Dr. Benjamin) 37. ———— 49. a ain tator, 154. Picture of Independence, 20 Pierce, (James, Esq.) 0 n magnesia, 54, 142—on Staten Island, 148, Aageet of Cherokee country, 2 Plumbago, 239. Pole, north, attempts to discover the, 101. omeroy, 1, ) his certificate, 87. Porcelain and porcelain clays, 57. orter, (Dr. J.) on a = ga at ‘Plainfield, 254, Potato, Prof. Ives on, 2 Po ett fulminating, 16 Prairies and barrens of rie west, 116, 331. Prehnite, 50, 135. Pyrites, magnetical, 49. Pyroxene, red, 244. ‘ Q. Quartz, 53, 237, 238, 241, 340, 345. R. y (solar) connexion with magnet Ratanague (C. 8., Esq.) on Tereeenens | mustela vulpina, 88—on per-head, 84—on sponges, 149—on Xanthium maculatum, 151—Exogos sum, 155—on Diplocea barbata, 253—on discoveries in the West, 311—o genus Floerkea, 373—on oct, &e., 377—on Myosurus shortii, $19_—ut- Rain, red, tat Refraction, (polar) effects on magnetism;-90-—~ Respira ation of oxyg' 5 95. R os Mineralogy, 35. Reynolds (Dr » on m a 266. ae (Blue) is geo ogy, 2 % ae n Java, i a cave, 320. Rock pai Roc ? prone Ek of East Tennessee, 61—Of Indiana, 131—Secondary, 215. Poatbillia, 355. we s. a old red, 212—of the Capitol, Washington, 215,—of Cornwall, En Fiat Soe effect 3 on a 389—391—on animals, 394. Salts of Sacoaber pub Mr. Tho — on Herpe etology, 256—on meg &e., 381. Schaeffer, (Rev. F. C.) = a 139—localities, 236, eldon (Wm.) on tanning, &c., Silver, mints ee fom 169. Sines and Cosines, formu [24. Slate, ar, gillaceous, 62, 67, 7 Smith (Professor E. D. ) on aheviel &c., 93. é ‘4 ’ ** % Mi F ad “i % cere = eee 448 Index. Soapston +e pee Sensei Geological) 442. Southampton pete i 137. ~ Seis Sponges, on oan Toland, 149. ings, ” saline, 49—miner. al, 66 Steam decomposed, 92—engine, '93—rotatory of S. Morey, 162. oe 134. . Stilson Abe phe B.) on Indiana. torms poets 55 (Pn ot) oe mathematical papers, 4 an, (John S. Esq.) on heat and tight an steam engines, 157. Sulphur’ dastive) '237—springs i in Indiana, 1 B, Tabular view, 46, 1 rous and sabes ing, by me ans of oak snut wood, 812—notice of . new mode of, 439. used to afford light, 92—to work steam engines, I Tenabiece, fas oe eolory, &e. * ‘.. Te ment ( ical) essay on, 9, Thorax, (ffetion of) of ) “perth Bis sees gas, 95. Torrey, (Dr. a on Staurotide, &c. Tourmaline, 237. 3 Te ines of Goshen, &e., Col. Gibbs on, 346. —— ie ie Vapor, effects of, on — Se al Vauquelin, a new alkali, 3 — Vegetables, effects of their ‘Gomnbuntion, 334, egetation de urnals of, 76, 77, 256, 359. View, ta Virginia, ‘gecbay and mineralogy of, &e. , 60. Wacké, of aqueous origin, 233—analysis of, 296. , 66. Warm springs Wat aerlamine: ¢ (Dr. Benjamin) 37 Webster (Dr. 1. W.) on Calton Hill, 230—letter from, 243—on wacke, 296— is lectures, 304—cabinet Wells =, 80. W.) on prairies, &e., 331—of Columbia, affected by earth- Mus Williams, (Dr. ‘Stephen W W. yhis calendar, &c., 359. Williamstown, its geology &c., 337. Ww d, petrifactions of, 5¢ 50—56—chesnut applied to tanning, 313, oulfee $ apparatus, substitute for, 410, Works (elementary) on mineralogy, 38. Xanthium maculatum, 151. Zoology, American, 5—fossil, 381. Zoophytes, &e, 381.