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THE

EDINBURGH NEW :
Mf

PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL,

EXHIBITING A VIEW OF THE

PROGRESSIVE DISCOVERIES AND IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE

SCIENCES AND THE ARTS.

EDITORS.
THOMAS ANDERSON, M.D., F.B.S.E.; &c.,

REGIUS PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW ;
Sm WILLIAM JARDINE, Barr., F.RS.E., &.,

AND

JOHN HUTTON BALFOUR, M.D., F.RS.E., &.,

_ PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE AND BOTANY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH.

JULY ..... OCTOBER 1855.

VOL. II. NEW SERIES.

EDINBURGH :

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

MDCCCLY.

nbs

{9.10.85

‘
,

hy cade
: EDINBURGH?
PRINTED BY NEILL AND COMPANY,

a - CONTENTS.

PAGE

i. Remarks on the Climate and Physical Characters of the
Lake District of Westmoreland, &c. By Jonn Davy,
M.D., F.R.S. Lond. and Edin., Inspector-General of
Army Hospitals, ; , ; ; 1

we Le

2. On the Post-tertiary and Quaternary Formations of
Switzerland. By A. Mortor. (Plate I.), : 14

. Evidences of Downward Movements east of the Malvern
Range. By W.S. Symonos, F.G.S.,_ . ‘ 30

. Notice of an Accurate and Easily Applied Method of
Ascertaining the Direction of the Wind, by Observing
the Reflected Image of the Clouds. By Tuomas
Stevenson, F.R.S.E., Civil Engineer, . : 33

. Remarks on the Natural History of Electric Fishes, with
a Description of a New Species of Malapterurus
from the Old Calabar River, West Africa. By An-
prew Murray. (Plate II.), . : : 35

. On a Deposit containing Sub-fossil Diatomacee, in Dum-
friesshire. By Rosert Harxyzss, Professor of Geo-
logy, Queen’s College, Cork, . ; . 54

il

10,

ty;

12.

CONTENTS.
PAGE

. The Dyeing Properties of Lichens. By W. Lauper

Linpsay, M.D., Perth, ; : : 56

. Observations on the Trap Dykes in the Sea Shore be-

tween the Bays of Brodick and Lamlash, in Arran.
By James Napier, F.C.S, (Plate III.), ; 81

. On the Influence of the Lower Vegetable Organisms in

production of Epidemic Diseases. By Cuartzs Dav-
BENY, M.D., F.R.S., Professor of Botany and Che-
mistry in the University of Oxford, : . 88

Contributions to Ornithology. By Sir Wiii1am Jarpinz,
Bart., : : : : : 113.

Outlines of the Science of Energetics. By Winiiam
Joun Macauorn Rankine, Civil Engineer, F.R.SS.
Lond, & Edin., &., : : : 120

On the Chemical Composition of Mineral Charcoal. By
Tos. H. Rownzy, Ph.D., F.C.S., Assistant in the
College Laboratory, Glasgow, . ; - 141

REVIEWS :—

. Life of Thomas Young, M.D., F.R.S., &. By George

Peacock, D.D., Dean of Ely, . ; : 148

Miscellaneous Works of the late Thomas Young, M.D.,
&c. Edited by Gzorcz Pzacock, D.D., and Jonny
Leircu, ; Pet sogee P : 148

. Insecta Maderensia. By T. Vernon Wo tastToy, . 162

. Experimental Researches in Electricity. By Micnarn

Farapay, D.C.L., F.R.S., &c. Vol. IIL, ; 176

. The Natural History Review: A Quarterly Journal, in-

cluding the Transactions of the Belfast Natural His-

>

‘CONTENTS. ill

PAGE

tory and Philosophical Society, Cork Cuvierian So-
ciety, Dublin Natural History Society, Dublin Uni-
versity Zoological Association, and the Literary and
Scientific Institution of Kilkenny, as authorized by
the Councils of these Societies, ‘for Sessions 1853-
Se ‘ ; se ‘ ‘ 179

5. Prodromus Faune Zeylanica ; being Contributions to the
Zoology of Ceylon. By E. F. Kezaart, M.D., Edin.,
F.LS., &. 1854, . ; : : 179

6. Remarks on some Fossil Impressions in the Sandstone
Rocks of Connecticut River. By Joun C. Warren,
M.D. 1854, . a ae

PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES :—

Royal Society of Edinburgh, . : : : 181
Royal Physical Society, : ‘ ; : 192
Botanical Society of Edinburgh. ; re P 198

SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE :—

ZOOLOGY.

1. Académie des Sciences de Paris. 2. Development of the

Nematoidea. 3. Production of the Cysticerus fascio-
laris from the Eggs of the Tenia crassicollis. 4. Gosse
on the Systematic position of the Rotifera. 5. Organ
of Hearing in Nautilus umbilicatus, , 207-209

GEOLOGY,

6. Tunnel through the Malvern Hills. 7. Age of the Ben-
gal Coal-fields, . ‘ ‘ : 209-210

iv : CONTENTS,
PAGE
CHEMISTRY.
8. Researches on Nascent Oxygen. 9. Preparation of the

more Oxidisable Metals by Electrolysis, . 211-212

BOTANY.

10. Contributions to a Knowledge of the Vegetation above
the Snow Line. 11. On Beech Oil, F 213-216

MINERALOGY.

12. Composition of Uclase. 18. Svanbergite, a new Swe-
dish Mineral. 14. Statistics of the Production of
Metals during 1854, 15, Statistics of the Produc-
tion of the Metals in Russia during 1852, . 217-219

METEOROLOGY,
16. Abstract of Meteorological Register kept at Arbroath
for 1854, : ; ; ; 219
MISCELLANEOUS.

17. Great Earthquakes in Turkey. 18. Professor Rein-
wardt’s Library. 19. George Louis Duvernoy, 221-223

PuBLicaTIONS RECEIVED, ‘ , : 224

THE

EDINBURGH NEW

PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL.

Remarks on the Climate and Physical Characters of the
Lake District of Westmoreland, Sc. By Joun Davy,
M.D., F.R.S. Lond. and Edin., Inspector-General of Army
Hospitals.

Iv has been well said, that the staple of the Lake District
is its beauty,—beauty depending on a happy combination of
the various natural elements by which the feeling is produced
in the mind, and which are so well detailed, and vividly
brought to the mind’s eye, by the Great Poet of the district,
the honoured and lamented Wordsworth :—

“ Clouds, mists, streams, watery rocks and emerald turf,
Bare hills and valleys full of caverns, rocks,
And audible seclusions, dashing lakes,
Echoes and water-falls and pointed crags,
That into music touch the passing wind.”

Beautiful as this region is now, if we look back—tracing as
well as we can its history, as engraven on its rocks, and hardly
less distinctly displayed in its beds of gravel and drift, lodged
in its valleys and on the sides of its hills—we may fairly infer
that it has not been always so; on the contrary, that there
was a time when it was the scene of violence and deformity
every way horrid. I allude to an early period, to that period
when the mountains were formed by an uplifting force acting °
beneath ; when, it may be well imagined, there were neither
lakes, nor rivers, nor woods, nor even verdant meadows; in
brief, a region of bare rock, varied only by breaks in its sur-

NEW SERIES.— VOL. II. NO. I,-——JULY 1855. A

2 Dr John Davy on the

face; immense chasms, then constituting its valleys, and im-
mense projections, constituting its hills.

That such must have been the condition of the district in a
remote geological period, cannot be doubted, if we reflect that
all the rocks which come under the name of secondary, be-
cause formed of the material of former rocks disintegrated,
and of which this district chiefly consists, must once have been
in a horizontal position, and from which they could only have
been raised by the force imagined, one acting from beneath,
and analogous to that still acting as witnessed in the volcano.

How long the district remained in this its primary state, as
raised probably from the depths of the ocean, I am not aware
that we have any data for calculating. As the rocks bear
marks in their consolidation of the action of fire, or of an in-
durating temperature, the period probably was of considerable
duration. A long lapse of time too, probably was requisite to
cool down the surface, so as to render it fit for the support of
plants, or even to admit of the condensation of aqueous vapour,
and the production of rain.

The condition which followed this of high temperature was, |
there is strong presumptive evidence, an opposite one, one of
great cold, and which may be called its glacial period ; when, in
place of fiery, it had its frozen Alps, and when every valley
was filled with ice; when, in brief, it was a glacier district,
and hardly less horrid a desert than in its earlier stage. In-
dications of this condition we have throughout the country,
and in three different ways, all according and corroborating :
viz., 1st, in the parallel or nearly parallel markings, such as
scratches and grooves on the rocks. These are best seen in
situations in which the rocks have recently been laid bare, and
in the valleys, and on the lower declivities of the hills. Ex-
cellent examples of the kind may be seen at the Windermere
railway station, close to the buildings, and also in the inclo-
sure belonging to the adjoining new chapel: 2dly, in the form
of the rocks and hillocks rising out of the valleys, and of the
terraces extending in many instances through the narrower
valleys—the rocks and hillocks rounded, more or less dome-
like, and the terraces without abrupt angles or breaks; seg-
ments of cylinders, as it were, as much as the former are seg-

Lake District of Westmoreland, Sc. 3

ments of cones. Good examples of these are extremely
common ; in Langdale there are instructive instances of the
bosom-like rocks and knolls, and in Troutbeck, of the extend-
ed, gently-rounded, or sweeping terrace formations: 3dly, in
the composition of these knolls and terraces, formed as they
are of gravel and worn stones, the worn materials, the detritus
of the mountain masses, so arranged, not in a stratified man-
ner, but irregularly, as is witnessed in the moraines of the
Alpine valleys, where glaciers are at the present time in actual
existence, and by a mighty force wearing down the rocky
beds, on which I cannot say they rest, for rest they have none,
but move, and that constantly. Examples showing this their
composition may be seen almost anywhere, where there has
been a recent cutting or excavation in the side of a hill. The
depth of the accumulated, ground, comminuted material, is
often twenty or thirty feet, or more, conveying to the mind
the impression, not only of a mighty force exercised, but also
of its having been in operation for a lengthened period; and
further, how by its agency the mountains have been lowered,
the valleys contracted, and their levels raised.

. Of its exact period—either its beginning or termination—
more than of the former, I apprehend we have no data for es-
timating. That it was before the district was inhabited, may
be inferred from the circumstance that no relics of man have,
that I am aware, been found in these accumulations. It is
probable even, that during the glacial period this district was
- completely a desert, as much so as a frozen region could be;
if any conclusion may be drawn from the fact, for so I believe
it to be, that no remains either of animals or vegetables have
hitherto been met with in any cutting or excavation, of the
many which have been made.

How marvellous are these former conditions, compared with
the present state and aspect of the district! What the cause
or causes of the change have been is matter for conjecture, and
this both as regards the agents of change and the time in
which it has been effected—whether gradually, from a lower-
ing of the mountains, from the wearing-down glacier action,
and alteration of climate in consequence ; or rapidly, I may

say suddenly, from the breaking down of barriers, the en-
A2

4 Dr John Davy on the

gulfing a portion of continent, the opening of new channels
to the ocean, and the admission of the waters of a tropical sea,
of the warm Gulf-stream toshores before frozen—the same waters
which wash our shores now, as well as the shores of the whole
of the north of Europe, and to which they unquestionably in a
great measure owe the peculiar mildness of their winter climate.
All the circumstances considered, the conclusion most probable
seems to be the latter, viz., that the change was sudden, con-
comitant with a great continental disruption, and the insula-
tion of that fragment of the broken continent which now con-
stitutes our happy island,—or as our Shakspeare has it,—

“ This other Eden, demi-paradise ;
This fortress, built by nature for herself,
Against infection, and the hand of war ;
This precious stone set in the silver sea, -
Which serves it in the office of a wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands ;
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm of England.”

Whichever hypothesis be adopted, whatever question there
may be as to the causes concerned, the effects are of the
clearest kind ; and, reasoning from them, there cannot be a
doubt that there has been, as stated, an icy period and one of
glacier action ; and changes of surface, such as thus described,
of a remarkable kind, the results of this action.

Let us pause for a moment and consider the part which
this glacier action has performed in altering the surface, and
in imparting a certain grace and beauty to the scenery, as
exhibited in the rounded forms of its lower rocks and hillocks,
and in the pleasing undulations of the skirting mountain decli-
vities, so well contrasted with the rugged summits, and often
jagged outlines of the higher mountain barriers ; the one, the
former, as if softened down and made lovely for the abode
of man; the other, the latter, left in untamed asperities, as
if sacred to solitude and designed for contemplative medi-
tation.

The curved, the undulating line, has been fixed on by a
great artist as the line of beauty. Hogarth, though born
and educated in London, belonged to a Westmoreland fa-
mily; and if he ever visited these regions, especially the

Lake District of Westmoreland, fe. 5

valley of Troutbeck, where a branch of his family resided,
he might here and there have acquired the first idea of his
hypothesis.

Another remark I would offer as to glacier-action: whilst
it has polished our valleys, civilized them as one might say,
(reflecting on their original wildness and ruggedness), it has
also prepared a soil, a gravelly, porous one, with intermixture
of a finer material, a fertile mould—the former collected
chiefly in the valleys, the latter on the higher declivities ;
both of them well adapted for pasture; in brief, constituting
this a pastoral region, which it essentially is. And when we
reflect on the situation of the two kinds of soil—the poorer,
lowest, needing manure to be rendered fertile ; the better soil
on the hills, less needing manure to be productive—the ar-
rangement seems providential; another of the harmonies and
adaptations of such common occurrence in nature. And the
more so, if we keep in mind the facility there is in applying
manure to the one—the lowland meadows, and the difficulty
of conveying it to the other—the upland pastures ; and how
the two are used, and help out each other, the meadows sup-
plying winter forage, and early spring grass, when there is
scarcity of food on the fells, which are then often covered with
snow ; the fells yielding a tolerably abundant and delicate
pasture in the advanced spring, and during the summer and
autumn and early winter.

I shall pass on now to the principal feature of the district,
that which gives it a name and a distinction, namely, its
lakes. These beautiful mirrors of nature—for such they are
in perfection, when their surface is unruffled on a calm day,
_ though, to those living by their sides or in their immediate
neighbourhood, so common as to excite but little reflection,
and still more rarely wonder or admiration—are not less ad-
mirable in the economy of nature than what I have already
commented on, and especially in connection with the climate
of the district.

A large proportion of rain falls in the Lake District, more
than in any other part of England; and the quantity increases
in approaching the mountains; thus, whilst at Kendal, on
the outskirts of the district, the average annual fall is little

6 Dr John Davy on the

more than 50 inches, at Bowness it is over 60 inches, at
Ambleside over 70, at Grasmere over 80, and in the heart of
the mountains, as at Saithwaite in Borrowdale, it is over 100
inches. ;
In relation to the lakes, this great proportion of rain is a
happy circumstance, essential indeed to them ; without it, how
different would be their character! Many of them would
unquestionably be unwholesome marshes; or unprofitable if
not unwholesome; and some of them could hardly be other
than collections of salt water, dead seas in miniature. The
shallower ones would belong to the first description, the deeper
to the second. It is only necessary to consider the circum-
stances which constitute a marsh, and a salt lake or dead
sea, to come to this conclusion. I need not dwell on the essen-
tials of a marsh, a naturally undrained space, neither lake nor
dry land, tending to both; after heavy rains becoming the
former, after a period of drought the latter, and then, in a hot
climate, or in a hot summer in our climate, the source of exha-
lations. The essentials of the salt lake are, you will antici-
pate me, a supply of water, an inrunning stream without an
outlet, an outflowing stream. The Dead Sea in the Holy
Land, and the Great Salt Lake on the American Continent,
almost on the shores of which that remarkable sect the Mor-
mons are now making their settlement, are striking examples
of the kind. Now as all the outlets of these lakes are at a com-
paratively high level, were it not for the abundant fall of rain,
the influx by feeding streams would exceed the efflux. Saline
matter, which exists in all river water, as much so as in the
Jordan, the feeder of the Dead Sea, would gradually ac-
cumulate, and by accumulation render the imprisoned water
dead, that is, unfit for animal life. How changed would
the scene or the scenery be were the circumstances of cli-
mate different from what they are in relation to rain!
Salt lakes, in place of those which we at present possess of
pure water, so fitted for all the beneficent purposes of the
pure element, would be, perhaps, the least deformity and dis-
advantage ; a greater would lie in the aridity and sterility
consequent on a small supply of rain. Of this we may form
an imperfect idea from our experience of what happens when

Lake District of Westmoreland, fe. 7

we have a drought, as occasionally occurs in spring, of a month’s
or six weeks’ duration, when vegetation is arrested,—the springs
fail,—the rivers and lochs are almost dried up,—the flocks are
_ pinched for food,—often suffering fatally in consequence,—and
even the beauty of the face of nature is lost or impaired in its
changed complexion from the cheerful healthy green, to the
sickly and sad brown. Further, the large amount of rain
with which this district is blessed (and I say blessed on account
of the benefits resulting from it) is not limited to the mere
feeding of the lakes or streams, and the making them living
waters, and the charm and glory of the district ; it extends to
the climate, and forms an important part of it. Let it be re-
membered that every drop of rain, in the act of becoming a
drop,—that is, in the act of passing from the state of aqueous
vapour to the liquid state as in the rain drop,—emits heat, and
some notion may be formed of the effects of our rains in ren-
dering our atmosphere mild. Besides which mitigating in-
fluence of rain, there are others,—not less important. One
tending to purify the air,—to wash it of its impurities; the
other to fertilize the earth,—by carrying down from the atmo-
sphere those very impurities ;—unwholesome to animal life,—
beneficial to vegetable life. Of the former, we have proof,
even to demonstration, in the pellicles, or filmy coverings of
soot which are often to be seen on the surface of the mountain
tarns and of the larger lakes after gentle rain, following a
misty state of atmosphere. I call the matter soot, because I
have found, on careful examination, that it has all the proper-
ties of ordinary soot ; and, I have no doubt, has been wafted
from the manufacturing districts of the adjoining counties,
where the air for miles is often obscured by smoke. Of the
fertilizing effects of rains, there cannot be doubt. Such an
effect the soot brought down by them will have; and the
same effect is produced by the ingredients of rain water,
those which a refined chemistry has detected,—especially car-
bonie acid and carbonate of ammonia,—two of the most
powerful of the aeriform fertilizers—by which mainly indeed,
with the inorganic elements derived from the soil, all the
mountain pastures are fed (I say fed, vegetables requiring
food as well as animals), and all our woods are supported and

8 Dr John Davy on the

maintained in their growth. Not only has rain a mitigating
effect on the climate in the act of forming and falling, but also
when collected in lakes and flowing in streams, and rising
in springs. Equally in summer and winter their tendency—
the tendency of springs, streams and lakes, is to equalize
the atmospheric temperature,—to prevent undue heat or ex-
cessive cold, in the same manner as the ocean itself; in the
summer season absorbing heat,—taking it from the atmo-
sphere; in the winter, emitting warmth,—imparting it to the
atmosphere. On the approach of winter, a striking proof of
the latter is afforded in the steam or condensed vapour, which
is so often seen rising from the lakes and rivers, from their com-
paratively warm water, into the colder incumbent air,—an ap- ~
pearance by which the course of the rivers may often be tracked. »
For this equalizing office, as to temperature, water above all

fluids is best adapted, inasmuch as its capacity for heat ex-

ceeds that of any other fluid; no fluid absorbing so much heat,

whether in passing from ice into water, or from water into

steam, and no fluid losing its: heat and cooling so slowly.

Even in the act of freezing, its equalizing or mitigating

tendency is exercised,—every particle of water in the act of
congelation is, in the passing from the liquid to the solid state,

acquiring a diminished capacity for heat, and consequently dis-

engaging heat.

Wonderful are the adjustments and compensations of Nature ;
and in no instance is it more beautifully exemplified than in
the properties of water and the part it performs in the wide
economy of Nature. Two of its properties, in addition to those
already noticed, are especially worthy of attention, as concerned
in this economy ; on its being densest, or of greatest specific
gravity at the temperature of 40°, so that whether its tempera-
ture rises or falls, it becomes lighter, and consequently remains
at or ascends to the surface ; the other, a further increase of
lightness, or diminution of specific gravity, on its consolidating
or freezing. Owing to the first property, lakes are secure
from freezing till the whole mass of their waters is reduced to
the temperature of 40°. Owing to the second property, con-
gelation, when it occurs, always takes place at their surface,
and the floating ice serves to the water beneath, like the glass

Lake District of Westmoreland, Se. 9

of the windows to our rooms, to check any reduction of tem-
perature, and to retain warmth. In consequence of this
beneficial provision, even in the severest winters, the lakes
of moderate depth have only a small portion of their water
converted into ice,—the greater part of it remaining fluid
of the temperature 40°, or but little below that, and fit to
sustain in health fish and their other inhabitants. In the in-
stances of the deeper lakes, such as Windermere and Coniston ©
Water, owing to these properties, the effects are more strongly
marked ; ice is rarely seen on their surface, and never except-
ing in winters of unusual severity, and then only partially and
where they are shallowest, and thus fitting them, I may re-
~ mark, to be the winter refuge of water-fowl, especially of the
migratory kind—by which they are so much frequented.

Moreover, the streams flowing out of the lakes, even when
the latter are frozen, being of the temperature above mention-
ed, little below 40°, are equally fitted for sustaining life as the
deep water of the lakes, and especially for becoming the
_ spawning places and nurseries of some of our most valuable
fish.

Next to the lakes, if not equal to them, the most distinctive
feature of the Lake District is its mountains, constituting the
Highlands of England. On their picturesque effect, whether in
their aerial distances for beauty, or on near approach for
grandeur and sublimity, with all the accidents connected with
them, of light and shade, of mist and cloud, and others of
Nature’s elements, whether in motion or repose, I need not
dwell.

Passing by, then, what is picturesque and poetical in these
mountains, I shall venture briefly to advert to their physi-
cal influences, as affecting the character of the country and
its climate.

First, they may be considered as the main cause of the
ample supply of water, in the form of rain, which conduces to
make this a Lake District, they acting as refrigeratories, con-
densing the moisture wafted by the winds, and chiefly from
the sea ; and next, in their elevation, regarding their original
uplifting, thereby occasioning depressions—hollows for the
reception of the abundant rain,—in other words, the lake

10 _ Dr John Davy on the

basins ; so that these mountains and lakes are joined in fel-
lowship most intimate and essential, in origin as well as in
function and use. Moreover, whilst by their higher eleva-
tions the mountains act as the producers of rain, by their lower
declivities they promote warmth by radiation from their sur-
face, and by affording shelter to the valleys. It is these de-
clivities, at a moderate height, which have the preference, and
I believe justly, as sites for dwellings by persons best ac-
quainted with the district and its climate. In such situations
there is more of sunshine than in the valleys; there is less of
mist and fog,—less hoar frost; less heavy dews; a drier, and
even a warmer air, and a more wholesome atmosphere.

Of the climate of the district as compared with that of -
England generally, I think favourably. Were I to give a -
character of the climate generally, I would say that it is
marked by moderate mildness and equability of temperature,
and moderate dryness of atmosphere, and more than ordi-
nary salubrity, partly owing to the physical peculiarities
which I have noticed, and partly to proximity to the sea, .
and to the valleys and inhabited parts of the country gene-
rally being but little raised above the level of the sea; thus,
Windermere is only 140 feet above that level, and Amble-
side, in its lowest parts, only a few feet more, and in its
highest only 100 more.

It might be supposed that, where so much rain falls,
the number of rainy days would be great, that the quan-
tity of snow would be excessive, and that the air commonly
would be loaded with moisture. But happily neither is the
case. It would appear from accurately-recorded observations
that the number of rainy days—that is, days in which during
the twenty-four hours some rain has fallen, as determined by
the rain-gauge, is actually less than in places in England
where the amount of rain is inferior in quantity. I shall
quote in proof a statement made by a gentleman of Kendal,
of well-known accuracy as an observer. In his summary
of meteorological observations made in Kendal in 1853, spe-
cially adverting to this point, he remarks,—* Notwithstand-
ing the large amount of rain in the town, the number of
rainy days in several parts of the kingdom where the quantity

-

Lake District of Westmoreland, &§e. 11

of rain was very much less greatly exceeds that of ours. For
instance, whilst we had 150 wet days in 1853, at Doncaster they
had 223, a greater number than ours by 73, or nearly half as
many more, their quantity of rain being 31:21 inches. At
Falmouth they had 203 rainy days, or 53 more than we had,
though the quantity of rain was the same as ours within half
an inch. At York they had 174 wet days, their quantity of
rain last year being only 22:33. At Low Bridge House, Sel-
side, six and a half miles north of Kendal, whilst their quan-
tity of rain greatly exceeds that of Kendal, being 57-984, or
nearly 183 inches more than ours, they had but 125 wet days.”
Thus far I have quoted from Mr Marshall. I may add, in con-
tinuation and corroboration, that at Ambleside, where, for the
past year, the quantity of rain has exceeded that at Kendal
by 26°81 inches, the amount having been 66°27 inches, the
number of rainy days has been less, viz., as 146 to 150, four
less.

The important fact that there is no necessary relation be-
tween the total fall of rain in any given time, as the yearly
period, and the number of showers, or of rainy days, may
seem paradoxical at first, but not so if duly reflected on, and
taking into account that commonly where most rain falls the
rain-drops are largest—the showers are heaviest.

In London, and in the midland counties, a fall of 1 inch of
rain in the twenty-four hours is unusual, whilst here, I speak
more particularly of Ambleside, a fall of 2 inches in that time
is not unfrequent, and even more; this last year, a drier year
than usual, as much as 4:45 inches fell in the time specified ;
this was in November.

_ Heavy showers, whilst they wash, also clear the atmo-
sphere, and have the like effect on our roads and on all naked
surfaces. During heavy rains how turbid are the swollen
streams, and how soon after the cessation of rain do they
subside and acquire their ordinary clearness and purity.
Clay, which is a compound, or, rather admixture, of the finer
particles of disintegrated rocks, of such as are carried off by
floods, and which render them turbid, is almost unknown
in the district ; i.e. a clay soil, a clay accumulated : and hence
in part the drier roads, drying rapidly after heavy rains, and

12 Dr John Davy on the

hence also in part the drier atmosphere. By a happy provi-
sion of nature, clay, which is retentive of moisture, and well
adapted for cereal crops, is conveyed fromthe mountain dis-
tricts where there is most rain, and where in consequence the
climate is better fitted for pasture, to the lowlands and plains
where the supply of rain is less, its retention in the soil more
needed, and the soil as well as the climate is best adapted for
the crops least suitable to the mountain regions. The adap-
tation is not confined to plants ; surely it extends to animals,
and even to man, though in the latter it may be materially
modified and altered by habits, education, and occupations of
life. Boeotian and Attic were terms of old distinction of
country and men. Like distinctions might be made in
modern times, but these I shall not insist on. Our great
poet, the poet of nature, loved to be in the open air; there,
was his study; I have heard him say, that he chose this
country for his permanent home, not so much for its romantic
scenery, as for the cleanness and dryness of its roads.

The proportionally small quantity of snow that falls is
remarkable; it israre thatit amounts to an obstruction. Since
the mail-coach has passed through the district, now for a
period of many years, I have been assured by an aged per-
son of accuracy, that it has been stopped by accumulated snow
only twice. Seldom are the valleys under snow more than
twenty-four hours at a time, and rarely is the depth of snow
more than a few inches. However this may be explained,
and the explanation does not appear to me obvious or easy,
rather a problem for solution, it is a happy circumstance for
the district. Had we snow in the same proportion as we have
rain,—an inch of rain being equivalent to about four inches of
snow,—direful, I cannot but think, would be the consequences ;
the valleys, almost every winter, at least in their gorges,
could hardly escape, from the drifting of snow, from being
blocked up and rendered impassable; even the climate might
be affected, the winter protracted into spring, and an almost
glacial period renewed.

In what I have stated respecting the Lake District, I may
be charged perhaps with having pronounced its eulogy. It
may be so, and I believe it deserving of eulogy. That the

Lake District of Westmoreland, §c. 13

climate is not perfect, or the district all that could be
wished, I need not say. Were either so, they would be an ex-
ception to all the climates, and all the regions of our
globe ; perfection in nowise belonging to anything earthly.
Were I asked which are the greatest defects and draw-
backs of the climate, I should say, but with some hesita-
tion, the strong winds, not unfrequently almost hurricanes, to
which it is subject, and the vicissitudes of its day and night
temperature—the thermometer exposed at night, laid on the
grass, with a clear and calm atmosphere, often even in summer
falling to or below the freezing point, from the effect of radia-
tion. I notice these qualities of climate, I say, with hesita-
tion, as defects or drawbacks, because they are not without
advantages ; the atmospheric storms purifying the air, or the
reduction of temperature by radiation insuring cool nights in
summer—a blessing which only those who have lived in a
tropical climate, or who have passed a summer in the south of
Europe, can, I believe, duly appreciate. The high winds,
moreover—the gales—whilst they promote the salubrity of the
climate, are not without effect on our woods; they are great
clearers of excess of wood and levellers of decayed trees; a
circumstance, with our shallow gravelly soil, whilst unfavour-
able to timber of maximum growth, such as the deeper soils of
tame districts can boast of (their chief ornament), is at least
favourable to the growth of young trees, and that in most pic-
turesque situations, amongst rocks and on rocks, and through
them, with the cultivation of coppice periodically felled, to that
youthful cheerful aspect of scenery which is one of the dis-
tinctive features of the district.

Knowledge, it has been said, is power—is it not also taste ?
This, I think, we are sure of, that the more we know—the
more the mind is expanded—the more we have to admire;
and the more numerous are the sources of pure and in-
nocent pleasure that are opened to us; and as regards common
things, the more uncommon they appear, that is, the more
we see in them to excite our wonder and to administer to
our gratification. The remark applies to the Lake District.
He who would derive from it most delight; must come pre-
pared and educated, as it were, if he would escape disap-

14 M. Morlot on the Post-tertiary and

pointment. An ancient orator has said, “ How many things.
does the painter observe, which we do not see!’ the same
may be said of the student of nature generally. How much
does he see which the ignorant never witness: the more
exact his knowledge, the more he observes,—the varieties of
rocks, even their forms—the varieties of plants, their several
localities—are all matters of interest to him. Even the pass-
ing clouds, the falling waters, in their course and effects, to
him are not without interest. He enters on such a scene as
this our district, as on a Great Exhibition of Nature’s works,
not to gaze in apathy like the ignorant clown, but to observe
intelligently, and observing, to learn and be delighted; wit-
nessing, in all he sees, records of the past and of progress, the
fine adaptation of means to ends, a perfect harmony of parts, ©
and how every part is indicative equally of design, of wisdom,
and of goodness.

On the Post-tertiary and Quaternary Formations of
Switzerland. By A. Mortor. (With a Plate.)

The rivers and lakes of Switzerland show distinct traces of
having once stood at a higher level. Terraces of regularly
stratified and well-rounded shingle, identical with that which
they now drift, follow them wherever circumstances have been
favourable for their formation and preservation. The Lake of
Geneva, for example, is encircled by a zone of three such ter-
races, at the heights of about 50, 100, and 150 feet above the —
present level of the water, which stands 1230 feet above the
sea.* They do not exist along the shore, where the action of
the waves, far from depositing any sediment, only eats and
cuts away; but they appear at the mouths of all the water-
courses, which carry sufficient shingle with them. In the
neighbourhood of Aarau, three such levels, at the same heights
of about 50, 100, and 150 feet, have been noted by Dr
Tschogge. The formation is not limited to the low country

* The measures are all given in English feet.

ali han,

er re

Quaternary Formations of Switzerland. 15

between the Jura and the Alps, but it follows the principal
water-courses far into the interior of the mountains,—the
Rhine, for example, being bordered by such terraces as far
as Camischollas above Disentis, 4400 feet above the level of
the sea. The same appearances have been observed every-
where in and around the Eastern Alps. Here the formation
has been traced from the vicinity of the sea at Gorz, all along
the principal rivers, and to a certain distance along their tri-
butaries, far inland, into the very heart of the Alps, to a
height of from 3000 to 4000 feet above the level of the sea;

_ the upper limit of the terraces, where they disappear in the

side valleys, rising gradually with the bed of the principal
valley. On the outskirts of the Alps—at Gratz, for example—
where the Mur flows at 1140 feet above the level of the sea,
that limit is found in the side valleys at about 2000 feet;
while sixty miles further up the course of the Mur, in the
neighbourhood of Leoben, in Upper Styria, where the rive
stands about 500 feet higher than at Gratz, the extreme limit
of the terraces attains about 2500 feet in the more remote
side valleys, converging there with the actual level of the
water-courses. In those side valleys, the last distinct diluvial
terraces measure only from 10 to 20 feet above the present
leyel of the running water, whilst in the main valley the ter-
races attain 200 feet in certain places,—the circumstances
particularly favourable for their mightiest expansion being
the confluence of two principal water-courses. On the con-
trary, where the valley is uniformly embanked by mountain
ridges, unbroken by side ravines, the terraces very usually
disappear entirely, to reappear with the next affluent. _
Fossils are naturally of rare occurrence in such deposits of
coarse shingle, but still they are not altogether wanting. At
Morges, on the Lake of Geneva, for example, a fine molar of
the mammoth has been found imbedded in the middle terrace
of 100 feet; and in strata of finer sediment intervening with
the gravel of the lower terrace of 50 feet fresh-water shells of
species still living in the neighbourhood have been discovered.
What has been said is enough to render it thoroughly evident,
that the diluvial formation, or diluvial drift (alluvion ancienne
of the French authors), in question, has been formed by the

16 M. Morlot on the Post-tertiary and

actual system of rivers, when their bed was at a higher level, in
consequence of the continent standing lower by several hundred
feet. If the continent were to be uniformly upheaved once
more, the rivers would scoop out a deeper channel in their
modern deposits, which would then project in the shape of
terraces, just as is the case with diluvial drift. It is also
evident that the formation of such perfectly regular deposits
absolutely excludes the presence of any glacier on the same
spot and at the same time; so that it is hereby proved that,
during the diluvial period, the Alpine domain was generally
free from ice, up to a height of at least from 3000 to 4000, and
even to 4400 feet, above the present level of the sea. That it
must have been free of ice much further up appears most pro-

bable, when we consider that the water-courses could not have

acquired the same torrential character which they have at
present, as proved by the identity of their deposits, imme-
diately upon issuing from the glaciers. Now, it has been set
down by the geologists of Switzerland, that the formation of
the diluvial drift in question was anterior to the glacial period,
for the superposition of erratic deposits upon the diluvium had
been distinctly recognised. At Geneva, for example, the er-
ratic is seen lying near 50 feet thick on the diluvium of
the middle terrace of 100 feet above the level of the lake.
But besides this being in contradiction of what had been
made out in the north of Europe, where the glacial grooves
and furrows are covered by the diluvial drift, there pre-
sented itself a difficulty of a more direct bearing,—the shingle
of the diluvial terraces of such localities as Morges, Yver-
‘don, Soleure, and even so far into the valleys of the Jura
as the erratic boulders penetrate, was found to be chiefly
Alpine, and derived in particular from the Valais,—that
is, from the upper course of the Rhone. But how could it
have got over the depression of the Lake of Geneva, still
measuring a depth of 900 feet? Any current, any diluvial
action, the grandest of all the grandes débdcles, or the
mightiest wave of translation, would infallibly have filled up
the lake before casting up on its opposite shore, and spreading
over the hills as far as Soleure, and into the very heart of the
Jura, such quantities of Alpine shingle. The only way of ex-

ae
Tal
oie

Quaternary Formations of Switzerland. 17

plaining the transport of those materials was by the agency of
the glaciers. But then the glacial period must have been
posterior to the formation of the diluvium! On the other
hand, it had been shown by Mr Blanchet that the large gla-
cier of the Rhone, after having covered a large track of
western Switzerland, but before subsiding into its present li-
mits, had remained stationary during a period of some length,
filling up the basin of the Lake of Geneva, but not extending
much beyond it, or reaching considerably farther than Geneva.
At the same time, but by a different method, Mr Guyot was
led to establish the same two stages of glaciation, as he has
shown in a most able paper on the distribution of the species

_of rocks in the erratic basin of the Rhone.

Such was the state of the question when Robert Chambers
made out the existence of two glacial periods in Scotland, dis-
tinguishing a first, of general, mighty glaciation, and a second
of more limited, local glaciation,—a result confirmed by Mr
Ramsay’s observations in Wales.* It was not difficult to point
out the corresponding phenomena in Switzerland; but still the
second period—that of local glaciation—might have been con-
sidered, in Switzerland at least, as being merely a prolonged

* The author here barely does justice to the merits of Professor Ramsay.
The facts we believe to be as follows:—Mr R. Chambers was impressed with
the idea of a general glaciation in Scotland during his tour through Sweden
and Norway in 1849; and at the Edinburgh meeting of the British Association
in 1850 (see Ed. Phil. Jowr., Oct. 1850, p. 330), he presented an array of facts
which he held to be unaccountable on any other supposition. Professor Ram-
say, in March 1851, read a paper before the Geological Society, explaining
phenomena of the superficial accumulations and surface markings of North
Wales, which gave a similar view as applicable to that country, and, looking
to other facts, led to the conclusion that there was a second glacier period
ona smaller scale.” The laborious paper of Mr Chambers, read to the Royal
Society of Edinburgh in December 1852, and printed soon after in this Journal,
illustrated the author’s original view, and confirmed Mr Ramsay’s theory of a
second period, of which, in the interval, Mr Chambers had found many proofs
in Scotland and in the Lake District of the north of England. It may be re-
marked, that, while Mr Ramsay considers the first set of glacial phenomena as
arguing a deep immersion, Mr Chambers theorizes on a possible sub-aerial gla~
cier, and his views on this point have since received a remarkable support in
the account given by Professor Rink of continental glaciers in Greenland,

NEW SERIES.—VOL. II. NO. I.—suLy 1855. B

18 M. Morlot on the Post-tertiary and

intermediate stage between the era of general glaciation and
the present order of things.

It was then that the writer of this paper discovered in the
beautiful neighbourhood of Clarens, celebrated by the greatest
of modern poets, a singularly distinct example of the superpo-
sition of well-defined diluvial drift upon a pure glacial deposit.
The spot, which is easily found, lies 400 paces below the stone
bridge of Tavel, on the torrent of Clarens, two miles east of
Vevey. The superincumbent diluvium, identical with the
present drift of the torrent, is from 7 to 9 feet thick, and
forms part of the terrace of 100 feet above the lake, upon
which, on the opposite side.of the water, stands the lovely
little burying-ground of Clarens, where many a poor foreign
invalid has found his last resting-place. The glacial deposit —
beneath those 7 feet of diluvium is to be seen full 40 feet
thick, and resting upon the miocene molasse. It is composed
of a compact blue clay, containing worn and scratched
Alpine boulders, and without trace of stratification constitut-
ing genuine Jill. The same superposition of diluvial drift
upon an older glacial deposit has since been observed by
M. Ischer in the neighbourhood of. Berne. Here then we
have plain and positive proofs of a glacier having swept over
the country before the diluvial period. During the diluvial
period the glacier had entirely disappeared, as has been
shown, whilst after the diluvial period the glaciers returned,
leaving on the diluvial terraces abundant deposits.

It follows, from what has been said of the presence of erra-
tic materials in the diluvial drift, that the first glacial period
was that of the greatest spread of the glaciers. It was then
that the glacier issuing from the Valais covered with its
immense delta of ice the whole country from Soleure far
to the south of Geneva, pushing deep into such valleys of
the Jura as open to the east, and well-nigh topping over the
chain into France; for on the flanks of the Chasseron near
Guerdon, right opposite the opening of the lower Valais, it
reached the prodigious height of 4730 feet above the level of
the sea. This, however, was its point of culmination, whence
its limit is to be seen sinking both ways, reaching the plain
beyond Soleure, but still standing 2870 feet above the sea at

a a ee . e ‘
. . ia Sb dae a
ot ta

Quaternary Formations of Switzerland. 19

Fort de l’Ecluse beyond Geneva, where it was swollen by its
powerful tributary of the Arve, descending from Mont Blanc.

The other principal hydrographic basins of Switzerland,
such as those of the Aar, Reuss, Limmat, and Rhine, were
occupied each by glaciers of dimensions proportionate to
their respective domains of alimentation ; the glacier of the

Rhine, for instance, reaching even into the very basin of the

Danube. The smaller valleys of the Alps, such as those of the
Sarine, Simmen, Thur, had also their streams of ice ; but they
can only be considered as inconsiderable affluents. The Jura,
which is now free from everlasting snow, except in some
caverns and clefts in the rocks, had also its own glaciers.
That the southern valleys of the Doire, Tore, Tessin, and
Adda, discharged mighty glaciers into the plain of Lombardy,
is satisfactorily established by observation, but these regions
haye not yet been so thoroughly investigated as the northern.

Tn fact, during the first glacial period, the greater part of
Switzerland was overwhelmed by ice, the highest ridges and
peaks only protruding above it, enough however to furnish the
materials for the numerous angularalpine boulders spread along
the Jura, and over the low country. The absence of angular
erratics of that period, remarked by R. Chambers in Scot-
land, shows that there terra jirma was almost entirely masked
by the ice. A similar remark has been made by M. Collomb
with respect to the Vosges, which present nothing like the
precipitous heights of the Alps.

A curious island in the Alpine sea of ice was formed in the
domain of the molasse by the hilly region of the Napf, 4620
feet above the sea, which stood too far out of the reach of the
frozen streams, issuing from the great Alpine valleys, being
separated from the central chain by a mighty and continuous

_ wall of limestone. A cut across the country from Zurich to

Berne, brings to view the singular contrast between the erratic
domain of the Reuss and the Aar, so richly strewn with Al-
pine detritus, and hence so fertile; and the region of the
Napf, where the bare, nakedmolasse sandstone peeps out every-
where from under its thin covering of bad soil.

That first period of general glaciation does not appear to
have been of very long duration, for its boulders, although

28

20 M. Morlot on the Post-tertiary and

extensively scattered over the country, have not been observed
heaped up in large masses, so as to form real moraines. This
is particularly striking along the Jura, where the limit of the
erratic domain of the Rhone is accurately defined, and yet
where there is by no means a great accumulation of detritus,
forming anything like a moraine. The moraines of Switzer-
land appear to belong to the second glacial period, as is indeed
proved in many cases by their superposition to the diluvial
drift.

The second glacial period, on the contrary, must have lasted
very long, for its moraines are numerous, well-defined, and
very often stupendous, but they do not reach as far as the
traces of the first glaciation, indicating a lesser expansion of
the ice. At this second period the glacier of the Rhone, for
example, merely filled up the basin of the Jake Leman, with-
out reaching over the molassic heights inclosing it along its
northern shore, and without extending much beyond Geneva.
In the neighbourhood of Vevey, the first glacier must have
swept over the mountain of Folly (5771 feet), which is
strikingly well rounded, whilst the second glacier only reached
to Lalliaz d’Avant (3212 feet), that is, 2559 feet lower, as is
- distinctly marked by its own particular deposit, of which we
shall speak when treating of the glacial diluvium.

Not only must the second glacier have remained for a very
long time within limits, but it must also have taken a great
length of time to disappear, and have retreated by stages, for
it has left a series of moraines in the intervening distance, be-
tween its extreme limit and the present glaciers, marking as
many intermediate stations, where it must have halted each
time for a considerable number of years, if not of centuries.
These intermediate moraines are particularly well marked in
the erratic domain of the Linth, where they have been studied
by Mr A. Escher. They may be traced up to the very margin
of the present glaciers, showing that the change of climate from
that of the second glacial period to that enjoyed by Switzer-
land at the present moment, has been slow and gradual.

The researches of R. Chambers have shown, that in
Scotland the first period of general glaciation has produced
a deposit of compact blue clay, unstratified, and mixed with

Quaternary Formations of Switzerland. 21

rounded and scratched boulders; whilst to the second period,
that of local glaciation, is to be ascribed the formation of a
light brown loamy deposit, with rounded and angular erratic
blocks. The same law holds good in Switzerland, but with
exceptions which furnish the key to its explanation. In the
neighbourhood of Vevey and Lausanne, for example, where
the ice of the first glacier lay several thousand feet thick, the
erratic clay of that first period is all blue and compact, while
the deposit of the second glacial period is light brown, more
loose, and much more friable. But in the neighbourhood of
Soleure, where no glacier of the second period reached, the
erratic clay and loam, although belonging to the first glacier,
is exclusively light brown, blue clay having nowhere been
observed. But then we stand there on the extreme boundary
of the first glacier, where the ice was not above 200 or 300
feet thick, and where the circumstances were analogous to
those under which the brown deposits of the second glacier
were formed, that is, access of the outward air. For the
mineral composition of the brown and the blue clay is the same,
the mass being in both cases the produce of the trituration
of the same rocks, only the protoxide of iron has been converted
into hydrate of peroxide in the brown clay by the oxidizing»
influence of the atmosphere.

A peculiar formation of some magnitude and of a singular
character has to be pointed out here, as belonging to the
second glacial period. The second glacier of the Rhone, to
take the best known, occupying for a great length of time the
depression at the bottom of which lies now the lake of Geneva,
dammed up the side valleys opening upon it, and which, being
at their origin below the domain of eternal snow, had no
glaciers of their own. The water courses flowing in these
valleys thus formed pools and lakes along the glacier, just as
happens at the present day. In such places deposits are
formed under the combined action of ice and water, and the
result is irregularly stratified masses of shingle, mixed with
erratic detritus and with boulders large and small, angular,
and rounded and scratched. On the very edge of the glacier,
the deposit is most irregular, scarcely showing traces of
stratification, but the further from the glacier, the more does

22 _ M. Morlot on the Post-tertiary and

the action of water become evident in a regular stratifi-
cation. This peculiar sort of formation has been called by
M. de Charpentier, glacial alluvium, when belonging to the
modern glaciers, and glacial diluviwm, when referable to the
glacial period. .

After what has been said of the second glacier of the Rhone,
we cannot be surprised at finding the basin of the Lake of
Geneva encircled by a zone of such glacial diluvium, forming
one more or less regular line of terraces, hardly less distinet
than the diluvial terraces, although not quite so regular, stand-
ing high above the bottom of the valley, and inclining in a
marked manner toward Geneva,—a line particularly interest-
ing, as tracing out, in the plainest possible manner, the limits _
of the second glacier of the Rhone. A terrace belonging
to that line can be distinctly perceived near Bex; the
little village of Arveyes stands upon it, 2664 feet above the
Rhone, or 4002 feet above the level of the sea. The valley
of Ormont, opening at Aigle, shows no such deposit, having
necessarily had no glacier of its own, as its origin is even now
commanded by the glacier of the Diablerets; but between
Vevey and Villeneuve a terrace is distinctly seen, both at
Avant, above Montreux, and on the way to the baths of
Lalliaz, above Clarens, at a level about 800 feet lower than at
Bex, although still at about 2000 feet above the lake.

Part of the town of Lausanne stands upon a considerable
deposit of this class, presenting a wild confusion of erratic
detritus, with huge angular boulders, and rounded shingle,
irregularly stratified,—light-brown sandy loam being abun-
dant. This spot may be considered as one of the finest
examples of a simultaneous glacial and aqueous deposit,—a
real lateral moraine, and yet partially stratified.

But nowhere does this glacial diluvium acquire such a vast
range as above Rolle, forming there a table-land at its greatest
width of about three miles, cut off by the Jura, where the vil-
lage of Biere lies. Its outer angle or border, fronting the
lake, is marked by the Signal de Bougy, famous for its pano-
ramic view. The height of that table-land may be estimated
at an average of 1100 feet above the lake ; and the thickness
of the deposit, although not actually measured, must be 200

Quaternary Formations of Switzerland. 23

or 300 feet at least, to judge from the deep ravines by which
it is intersected.

It forcibly strikes the mind that this glacial diluvium must
have taken an immense time for its gradual accumulation,
confirming what we have already said about the long duration
of the second glacial period. The glacial diluvium, not to be
mistaken for the diluvial drift (al/uvion ancienne), from which
it differs virtually both in composition and structure as well
as in its level, has been compared by Mr Martins to the
Oesars of Sweden, of which he distinctly says that they were
produced by the conjoined action of the glacier and of water,
whilst M. Desor has as distinctly established the superposition
of these Swedish Oesars upon the diluvial drift, resting, in its
turn, on polished and grooved rocks of the first glacial period.
Human remains, said to have been found under certain Oesars,
would unquestionably show that they belong to the modern
period; but according to the observations of M. Durocher and
M. Martins, there are in Sweden two sorts of deposits, of es-
sentially different nature, which are comprised under the com-
mon denomination of Oesar,—the one composed of coarser
and more regularly stratified detritus, and containing scratched
boulders and sometimes shells of Arctic species, and the other
more sandy, following the coast-like lunes, and containing
Baltic species. The former corresponds very well with our
glacial diluvium; whilst the latter—to which, according to M.
Desor, belongs the well-known case of the antique cabin found
in cutting the Soedertelje canal, near Stockholm—would be
modern. On the other hand, it must not be forgotten that the
present companions of man, and in particular all his now do-
mesticated species, existed already at the diluvial period, and
that there are facts, although they are certainly not very
numerous, tending to ascribe a much higher antiquity to the
human race than is generally admitted. Of this, illustrations
are to be found,—in the human remains discovered in the
south of France, in strata covered by the produce of a yol-
canic eruption, which, on the other side of the mountain,
has covered the same sort of strata containing bones of the
mammoth ; in the flint arrow-head found in a grave in Sweden
by M. Nilsson, and appearing to have been sharpened, after

24 M. Morlot on the Post-tertiary and

having acquired a white crust, like that of the natural chalk
flints; and in the association of human remains with those of
extinct species in the caverns of Belgium and of Brazil.

It is worthy of remark, that no real and well-defined glacial
diluvium, in the shape of terraces, has yet been observed as
referable to the first glacier, and its absence may be consi-
dered as a confirmation of what has been said regarding the
comparatively short duration of the first glacial period.

Summing up what has been said, we come to establish
the following subdivisions of the post-tertiary, or the quater-
nary age, in Switzerland, observing, that an intermediate de-
posit between the till of the first glacial period and the tertiary
series, such as is found on the coast of Norfolk, has not yet
been observed in Switzerland :-— ;

1. First glacial period.—The greater part of the country
covered by ice; the glacier of the Rhone, for example, oc-
cupying the immense extent represented by the map given
by M. de Charpentier in his famous Essai sur les Glaciers
(1841). Scotland seems to have been entirely overwhelmed
by ice at that time. The same was the case with the Vosges in
France, where M. Collomb has found, on the very summits of
the chain, erratic boulders, but rounded, and haying a very
peculiar look of antiquity, easily understood now. But the
mightiest, a real giant of its kind, was the great Scandinavian
glacier, which stretched over the vast lowlands of northern
Europe, as it was reserved to the genius of M. de Charpentier
to unfold. Formation of the Till, or compact blue clay, with-
out stratification, and with rounded and scratched boulders,
when far enough from the extremity of the glacier, and under
a sufficient pressure of ice. The period does not seem to have
been very long, so as to have given rise to the formation of
terminal moraines of any importance. No fossils. Height of —
the continent at that time unknown, speaking only with refe-
rence to Switzerland.

- 2. Diluvial period—The glaciers have disappeared, even
in all the principal valleys of the Alps to a height of at least
from 3000 to 4000 feet above the present level of the sea.
The rivers flow at a higher level than at present, because the
whole continent stands somewhat lower, at least as far as it

Quaternary Formations of Switzerland. 25.

concerns the hydrographic basins of the Rhine, Danube, Po,
and Rhone. Period of long duration, as is shown by the cor-
responding deposits, at least as long as the modern period,
consequently of more than 60,000 years, according to Lyell.
The mammoth (Elephas primigenus) inhabits Switzerland,
land and freshwater shells of recent species live in the same
sites as at present. Rare deposits of bituminous wood of
existing species. Drift terraces and raised sea-beaches in
Scotland, in the north and south of Europe, and indeed over
almost all the world. In the valley of the Mississippi, for
example, the authors of the splendid Smithsonian volume on
its antiquities, point out the regular occurrence of three dilu-
vial terraces, together with a fourth lowest, of modern or al-
luvial formation, exactly as in Switzerland.

3. Second glacial period.—The glaciers fill the principal
valleys of the Alps, and issuing forth into theopen country, take
possession of the depressions lying before them, and so well
marked by the presence of lakes, such as that of Geneva,
encircling them with girdles of stupendous moraines. The
glacier of the Rhone, for instance, did not reach above the
heights bordering the lake Leman, standing at Vevey full
2500 feet lower than the first glacier, and at Rolle 900 feet
lower than at Vevey, so that it could not extend much beyond
Geneva. In the appropriate localities formation of consider-
able glacial dilwvium by the co-operation of the glacier, and
of the water-courses it dammed up, producing a curious mix-
ture of erratic detritus with aqueous drift. Front moraine
of the Aar glacier, in the shape of a splendid and mighty
semicircular rampart at Berne. Formation of vast deposits
of light brown loam, and of the Loess of the valley of the
Rhone, Rhine, and Danube, distinctly resting on the well-
defined diluvial drift of those valleys, and being only the finer
sediment, which is found of the same nature, but coarser and
mixed with boulders, nearer the Alps, for example at Lausanne,
Geneva, Oéningen near Schaffhausen, and Vienna. Fossils,
particularly in the Loess; the mammoth, cavern-bear, rein-
deer, and in general the vertebrata still living in the country,
including our now domesticated species, as appears from M.
Pictet’s investigation of the fossils found in the glacial deposit.

ree M. Morlot on the Post-tertiary and

at Mattegnin near Geneva. Mbollusks not rare, almost exclu-
sively land-shells of existing species, but showing that they
met at Bale (863 feet above the sea) with a climate such as
is now congenial for them in the Alpine zone of from 4000 to
6000 feet above the present level of the sea. Height of the
continent unknown. If the Loess is a river deposit, the con-
tinent could hardly be higher than it is now. O¢csars of the
north. Period of long duration. If in Scotland, according
to R. Chambers, the moraines of the second glaciers are in-
considerable, may it not be owing to the scarcity in that
country of such precipitous heights commanding the glaciers,
as occur abundantly in the Alps?

4. Modern Period.—The glaciers having retreated slowly,
and by stages, to their present limits, and the continent haying -
been somewhat raised above its level at the diluvial period,
the water-courses scoop out a deeper channel, leaving the
remnant of their diluvial drift as projecting terraces, rising
very often like steps one above the other. These steps are
generally three in number in Switzerland, as well as in the
eastern Alps, but where circumstances were particularly fa-
vourable for their preservation, smaller intermediate terraces
are to be seen between the lowest and the middle of the three
principal. The presence of those terraces shows, that the
upheaving action has not been uniform, but has experienced
periods of interruption and repose, during which the conti-
nent remained stationary as long as was necessary for the
formation of each step, three such principal stations being
marked out. It must be pointed out, however, that both the
two superior of the three principal terraces or steps must have
been shaped out before the second glacial period, as deposits
of the latter are to be seen resting uponthem. Howit stands
with the lowest terrace cannot yet be exactly said, satisfactory
observations of this sort requiring exceptionally favourable
local circumstances, which are naturally of rare occurrence.

Such are the inductions from facts lying before us, plain,
well-defined, and intelligible. But the mind cannot rest satis-
fied ; it would fain know, not only that such events have taken
place, but also why, and in particular, how such an enormous
growth of the glaciers was brought about.

Quaternary Formations of Switzerland. 27

Much has been said on the subject, and explanations have
even been sought for in the nature of the sun’s atmosphere,
and in different temperatures of the celestial spaces travelled
through by our solar system ; nay, a French geologist has even
seen in the glacial period the influence of a formerly warmer
climate. But let us frankly confess, that science is as yet
by no means prepared to answer the question, and to furnish
anything like a satisfactory solution of the great problem.
So much, however, is already gained, as to show that the cli-
mate was not necessarily widely different from what it is now.
Prof. James Forbes has pointed out how the glacier de la Brenva
(Mont Blanc) swelled, its lower extremity rising full 300 feet,
during five years that the mean yearly temperature observed
at Geneva was less than }° I’. lower than usual, and Mr Mar-
tins has shown that a diminution of the mean temperature
of 5°7° F. (4° C.) and very likely of only 2°8° F. (2° C.) would
be sufficient to bring back the glaciers of Mont Blanc down
to Geneva. It is also well known, that in the southern
hemisphere there is to be seen actually a state of things bear-
ing much analogy to what excites our wonder as having taken
place in the same latitude north during the glacial period, and
which, according to Mr Hopkins, is to be considered as more
normal than the present climate of Europe. Then also does
the circumstance pointed out both in Sweden by M. Durocher,
and in Switzerland by M. Agassiz, of the upper erratic limit
converging with the present upper limit of the glaciers, where
they pass into the névé, prove, that during the glacial period,
at least during the second, the snow-line, or the level of the
origin of glacier ice, was about the same as it is now-a-days.
Consequently, the climate could not be extremely different
from what it is at present, nor the elevation of the country
above the sea much greater than it is now, unless, indeed,
we suppose, what appears at least very conjectural, a compen-
sating influence of both causes acting simultaneously, but in
opposite ways.

The impression produced by such considerations leads us to
seek in less extraordinary circumstances a mode of accounting
for the glacial climate. Mr Hopkins, for instance, has dwelt on
the influence of different configurations of land and sea on the

i

28 M. Morlot on the Post-tertiary and ©

climatal state of particular portions of the earth’s surface.
With reference to Switzerland, Mr A. Escher has called at-
tention to the great effect which the warm south wind of the
Sahara, the Foehn of the Swiss, has in melting the snow on
the Alps. This is so prominent, that if Central Africa were
to be submerged, as may very well have been the case during
the glacial period, it is by no means impossible that the
glaciers might again overwhelm our country. Then, again,
looking to the north, we see that a subsidence of a few hun-
dred feet would suffice to submerge the extensive lowlands of
the north of Europe and Asia, so that the north wind, which
now brings us cold, but clear and sunny weather, would in
that event spread damp and chilly mists over the whole

country, and produce just the sort of weather suitable for a

powerful increase of the glaciers.

Even without going either north or south, we find within
our own country a startling indication of the possible cause
of glacial phenomena. Our learned meteorologist, M. Denzler,
in studying the question of the snow-line, with respect to the
level at which the snow begins to be permanent during each
season, has found, that if we take the lowest mean height ob-
served for each of the twelve months during a period of
twenty-nine years, and set those monthly means together in
their proper order, we form an artificial yearly snow-line,
such as is usual in Lapland. But the real occurrence at dis-
tant intervals, of such an artificial year, as well as that of a
more frequent series of less cold years, is a matter which can
be calculated by the theory of probabilities.

On the other hand, it must be kept in view, that, plausible
as the above speculations may appear, they in no way tend to
explain the repetition of the glacial phenomena im North
America; and indeed, when we consider this and the ancient
marks of ice in Patagonia, as well as the traces of a former
greater extension of the glaciers in the Himalaya, we are for-
cibly restrained from asking for an explanation in exclusively
local circumstances. Wild as it may have appeared when
first started, the idea of general and periodical eras of refri-
geration for our planet, connected perhaps with some cosmic
agency, may eventually prove correct. At any rate, the glacial.

pare ©

Pe a ee ee

Quaternary Formations of Switzerland. 29

event is now proved to have taken place twice, and it may
therefore be regarded as a periodical phenomenon of nature.*

Explanation of Plate I.
Diluvial Drift wpon Glacial Till at Clarens.

T. The diluvial terrace, perfectly regular and well-defined, but
very narrow, abutting against the hills of molasse, which rise
behind it, and running parallel with the modern bed of the tor-
rent. Although only 50 feet higher than the torrent, its lower
extremity keeps fully 100 feet above the lake. The torrent ex-
tends its delta and raises its bed at the same time, tending thus
to bury by degrees its diluvial strata, of which the terrace in
question forms part.

D. The diluvial drift of the terrace, from 7 to 9 feet thick, formed
of coarse, well-formed shingle, identical with the modern deposit
L, and unstratified. The power of a water-course is marked by
the inclination of its bed and the coarseness of its drift. These
two factors being here identical for the diluvium and the present
torrent, it follows that the diluvial torrent was of the same nature
and power as the modern torrent.

G. Glacial till, compact blue clay, unstratified, containing rounded
fragments of limestone, distinctly scratched, together with a few
crystalline rocks from the Valais. Lying 40 feet thick upon the
molasse in situ at M.

B. Huge block of molasse, smoothed, and showing distinct glacial
strie at S.

L. Small terrace, 4 or 5 feet high; modern deposit of the torrent,
which has somewhat deepened its channel, because it has been
dammed and narrowed.

R. Present bed of the torrent when swollen.

* The present paper has been transmitted by the author in its English dress.
As it is a matter of general interest, a copy of the manuscript has been sent
to M, Guyot at Cambridge (U. States). That the same subdivision of the post-
tertiary or quaternary formation holds good for America, and that there are to
be found in that continent the same traces of two glacial periods, and of an
intervening non-glacial diluvial or drift-period, follows from the researches of
M. Rogers. These, however, the author is acquainted with only by very brief
extracts, so that he could not refer to them more extensively, as would have
been desirable.

30 W.S. Symonds on Downward Movements

Evidences of Downward Movements east of the Malvern
Range. By W.8. Symonps, F.G.S. 3

That the Malvern ridge was once a molten mass, deep down
in the interior of the planet, and that, previous to its upheaval,
it became hardened into syenite, is well known to most geolo-
gists. There is also no doubt, from the discovery by Miss
Phillips of the conglomerate that bears her name, that the
waves of a period as distant as the Upper Caradoc, dashed
against the Plutonic rock, and rolled and intermingled toge-
ther pebbles and chips of syenite with the animal remains of
mollusca and corals that lived and flourished in the seas of
that remote history of the planet’s surface.

Professor Phillips some years since pointed out that the.
principal upheaval, which caused the elevation of the Malvern
ridge, and with it the whole of the great Silurian and Devo-
nian region of Herefordshire, Wales and the south of Ireland,
occurred between the carboniferous and triassic systems. The
discovery by his sister, just alluded to, also established the
fact that in times long antecedent to the post-carboniferous
elevation, a mass of syenite had been protruded through the
surface on the line of the Malvern ridge, which was acted
upon and denuded by the waves, and that, in short, the syenite
of the Malverns occupied, to a certain degree, its present posi-
tion, during the epoch of the Upper Caradoc.

The object of this communication is to describe phenomena

exhibited by the edges of the stratified deposits east of the
Malverns, near their contact with the Plutonic range.
_ Ina paper published by the late Mr Hugh Strickland in
the Philosophical Magazine for November 1851, he says, “ If
we could strip off the thick mantle of New red sandstone which
conceals the eastern side of this axis, we should probably find
the strata from the Caradoc sandstone up to the coal-measures
more or less upturned at their edges.” The correctness of this
supposition is established by the discovery of vertical beds of
the Caradoc transition group, containing trilobites and shells,
resting against the syenite, at the base of the Gullet Pass.

The Permian system intervenes between the carboniferous
group of rocks and the triassic; and it was during this epoch

East of the Malvern Range. 31

that the principal elevation of the Plutonic mass in question
is generally supposed to have occurred.

The rock known as “ Haffield conglomerate,” in the Mal-
vern district, was formerly ranked as the lowest member of the
New red series; it is now believed by Professors Phillips and
Ramsay, and Mr Jukes, to belong to the Permian epoch. Pro-
fessor Ramsay believes it to be the representative of a glacial
period ; a most interesting question, as bearing on that remark-
able fact in geologic history, viz., the extinction of paleozoic
forms of life during this period. There is one question, how-
ever, we should like to have answered, and that is, how Pro-
fessor Ramsay reconciles his Permian glacial theory with the
tropical forms of the Permian flora ?

The Haffield conglomerate dips to the south-east at angles
varying from 13° to 28°.

The beds that succeed the Haffield conglomerate are a thick,
red, sandy group, known asthe “ Newent” sandstone of Professor
Phillips. The Professor mentions, that “ ata point near North
Hill, in the great quarry of syenite, the red sandstone was cut
through,” “ dipping 45° to the northward.” During the exca-
vations for the foundation of the Messrs Burrow’s new house,
near the Bellevue Hotel at Great Malvern, this red sandstone
was exposed in a splendid section, showing distinctly the angle
of slope. The dip is 41° to the south-east.

We quite agree with Professor Phillips that this sandstone
which rests at an angle of 41° against the syenite of the Mal-
vern ridge, is the equivalent of the ‘‘ Newent”’ sandstone, dip-
ping under the Keuper group. The question is, what is this
“ Newent” sandstone? is it a Permian rock, or a representative
of the Bunter beds of Cheshire and of Annandale? In the May
Hill district, it rests immediately on the Carboniferous deposits !

We call especial attention to the fact, that if the «« Newent”
sandstone be a TRIASSIC rock ,and acquired its present highly
inclined position solely by the wpward movement of the syeni-
tic axis, the elevation of the Plutonic ridge must have conti-
nued to a great extent after the commencement of the triassic
epoch! A dip of 41° is an evidence of no insignificant eleva-
tion, if due to that alone.

In sinking the shaft and driving the tunnel on the Worces-

32 On Downward Movements east of the Malvern Range.

ter, Malvern and Hereford railroad, the Keuper shales and
sandstones have been well exhibited, as also their position as
regards the syenite. The tunnel is about 400 yards to the
north of the “Admiral Benbow” at Malvern Wells. The
Keuper slabs are in some instances ripple-marked, and con-
tain the characteristic shell “ Posidonomya minuta.”’ They
dip from the syenite at an angle of 54°.

That elevating movements took place along the line of the
Malvern dislocation after the period of the lias and even of the
oolitic system, is certain ; but these upward movements do not
altogether account to us satisfactorily for the phenomena ex-
hibited by the EDGEs of the stratified deposits east of the
syenite.

The amount of dip displayed by the beds of the «« Newent” .
sandstone and the Keuper marls in contact with the syenite,
is greater than can be attributed solely to elevatory forces,
when you compare that high inclination with their loss of dip
at a very short distance from the Plutonic rock. Within half
a mile of the range the Keuper sandstones show a dip of but
10°, the Newent sandstone of 15°.

We suspect, then, that in working out the geology of lines of
dislocation, we are apt to forget that there may be a downcast
as well as an upcast side, and that depression went on contem-
poraneously with elevation along these ancient lines of fault.

We believe it was Professor Harkness who first formed the
idea that the Bunter beds of Annandale show signs of depres-
sion, and that he attributes the high dip of some of those beds
to the sinking of the vale.

He assimilates this depression to that which would occur on
drawing off the water of a frozen lake or pond, and the conse-
quent sinking of the ice. To us this theory accounts more
satisfactorily than any other for the high angle of dip dis-
played by the edges of the mesozoic strata east of the Mal-
verns, and their loss of dip at a short distance from the syen-
itic axis. If elevation was the sole cause of their displace-
ment, the dip would be more regular; while the downward
movement, acting with the upward, has effected those faults,
contortions, and breaks, everywhere so puzzling in the Malvern
district,

On ascertaining the Direction of the Wind. 33

Notice of an Accurate and Easily applied Method of Ascer-
taining the Direction of the Wind, by Observing the Re-
flected Image of the Clouds. By THOMAS STEVENSON,
F.R.S.E., Civil Engineer.

In making some experiments, in which it was necessary to
know accurately the direction of the wind, I was much an-
noyed by the insufficiency of vanes and all ordinary methods
employed for that purpose. The under currents of air are so
numerous and conflicting, more especially in towns, where the
houses are lofty, that I have seen it proclaimed to be due east
at one end of a street, while at the other it seemed with equal
certainty to be coming in a westerly direction.

In this dilemma it occurred to me that a more accurate con-
clusion might be arrived at, by observing the direction of the
drifting clouds when reflected in a mirror.. It is now nearly
three years since I adopted this plan, and as I have found it
convenient and useful, and am not aware that it has been em-
ployed by others, I take this opportunity of introducing it to
the notice of those who may have experienced similar difficul-
ties with myself.

At first I used a common mirror, placed horizontally so as
to have the sky reflected in it, and having fixed upon a cloud,
I watched its progress in the mirror, taking care to keep the
eye steadily in one position, and carefully marking the track
of the cloud upon the glass with a pencil of soap. When this
was done it was easy, by placing a compass on the mirror, to
ascertain the direction of the wind from that of the cloud’s
path traced on the glass. A more convenient and portable
instrument has since been constructed for me, consisting of
an ordinary compass having a silvered dise in the centre of
its covering glass of such a size as to allow the points of the
needle and the graduated circle of the compass to be seen be-
yond it. The glass has cross lines cut upon it, passing through
the centre, and drawn so as to correspond with the cardinal
points marked on the divided circle. The whole compass can
be made to revolve in the horizontal plane, upon a point pro-

NEW SERIES.—VOL. II. NO. 1—JULY 1855. c

34 Thomas Stevenson.on the Direction of the Wind.

jecting from the bottom of the outer case. When the cloud
which is to be observed has been selected, as near the zenith of
the observer as possible, the compass should be gradually
turned round until one of the lines upon the glass remains ~
coincident with one well-defined edge of the cloud as it passes
across the field of view. The angle indicated by the magnetic
needle being then read off, the azimuthal bearing of the cloud’s
track from the magnetic north is at once ascertained.

The convenience of this instrument might be increased
by having an eye-piece attached to it, capable of being
fixed in such a manner as to point to the intersection of
the cross lines in the centre of the circle, so that the eye may
be kept steadily in the same direction. By means of an ap- —
paratus on the principle of a camera obscura, the direction of
the wind could be easily ascertained by observing the compass
bearing of the cloud’s track. And in the absence of better in--
struments, the reflection by a mirror ought certainly in all
cases to be preferred to the indications of vanes whose action
must always be vitiated more or less by friction, and perhaps
by other causes, besides being liable to be acted upon by cur-
rents which have been distorted from their true direction by
obstructions due to houses, trees, and the configuration of the
earth’s surface. The changes of wind and weather so cha-
racteristic of our climate, might, perhaps, be more certainly
or more speedily predicted by comparing the motions of the
clouds in the higher regions of the atmosphere, with those
nearer the earth’s surface, than from information derived from
other sources. I lately observed a change of wind apparent
in the direction of the high clouds for two days before the
currents near the earth’s surface were affected, although they
ultimately assumed the same direction. -

EDINBURGH, April 11, 1855.

Natural History of Electric Fishes. 35

Remarks on the Natural History of Electric Fishes, with the

description of a new species of Malapterurus from the old
Calabar River, West Africa. By ANDREW Murray.
_ (Plate II.)

The electrical properties possessed by certain fishes have
been at all times an interesting topic of inquiry; and as of
late years the subject has been pursued, in connection with its
relations to Physiology, with so much success as to have en-
gaged general attention, our readers will perhaps not be indis-
posed to see a resumé of what is now known on the sub-.
ject.. ,
No land animals have hitherto been ascertained to possess
the power of giving electrical shocks,* but amongst fishes several
species are known to possess this property. Those possessing it
are not limited in their habitat to any particular medium—
sea water, fresh water, and brackish water, all contribute their
species. Nor is the property confined to any particular tribe
or family of fishes. The only absolute requisite in their out-
ward form seems to be that they shall be free from scales.
Eyery electric fish yet discovered has a smooth body. They
also appear to be all jmud or ground fishes, living in or close
to the mud or sand at the bottom of the water.

The species which has been longest and best known is the
Raia torpedo, or electric ray. It has much the appearance of a
skate, but has been properly constituted a separate genus, first
under the name of J'orpedo, and latterly under that of Narcine,
taken from the word vagxy, which was the name given to it by
Aristotle.

The electric organs are placed on each side of the head and
gills, reaching to the semicircular cartilage of each great fin,
and extending to the transverse cartilage which divides the

- * Some insects and mollusca have been said to communicate sensible shocks,
but this has not been confirmed, and appears very questionable as far as regards
insects,

c2

36 Andrew Murray on the

thorax from the abdomen, and within these limits they occupy
the whole space between the skin of the upper and the under
surface. These organs are composed of hexagonal or penta-
gonal columns, arranged vertically between the upper and
under side like the cells of a honey-comb. They are supplied
with a profuse ramification of large nerves proceeding from
the eighth and fifth pair, but principally from the former.

The electric properties of the Torpedo were first fully inves-
tigated in 1773 by Mr Walsh, a scientific gentleman of emi-
nence and of some position, being a member of Parliament.
His interest in the matter having been aroused, he took up his
abode for some time at La Rochelle, for the purpose of being
able to make his experiments upon freshly-caught fish, the
_ Torpedo being common on that part of the shores of France,
while it is rare on the shores of Britain. He made many
careful experiments, which were published at the time in the
Philosophical Transactions, along with admirable figures and
anatomical details, by the celebrated John Hunter; and he
satisfactorily proved that the electricity evolved by the fish
was in all respects similar to electricity obtained in the usual
manner from electrical apparatus. He discovered that the upper
and under surfaces of the animal were in different states of elec-
tricity, and this circumstance enabled him to direct the shocks
of the fish through a circuit of several persons, all feeling
them, one touching his lower surface and the other his upper.
When the Torpedo was isolated, it gave several isolated per-
sons forty or fifty successive shocks in the space of a minute
and a half. He did not succeed in obtaining a spark, and we
are not aware that any one has yet done so from the Torpedo,
although it has since been obtained by an ingenious pro-
cess from the Gymnotus. Mr Walsh found the effect produced
by the Torpedo to be about four times as strong when the
fish was out of the water as when touched in the water, and
Pennant mentions that the Torpedo buries itself superficially
in the sand by flinging it up by quick flapping of all the ex-
tremities; and adds, it is in this situation that the Torpedo
gives his most “forcible shock, which throws down the asto-
nished passenger who inadvertently treads upon him.”

Natural History of Electric Fishes. 37

The Torpedo grows to considerable size, and is often above
80 Ibs. inweight. A fish 18 inches long and 12 inches across
may be considered a large specimen. Its benumbing properties
are undoubtedly given to it as a weapon of offence and defence,
although Mr Walsh says, that “notwithstanding the familiarity
in which I may be said to have lived with them for nearly a
month, I never detected them in the immediate exercise of
their electric faculties against other fish confined with them in
the same water, either in the circumstance of attacking their
prey or defending themselves from annoyance ; and yet that
they possessed such a power, and exercised it in a state of
liberty, could not be doubted.” Dr Davy kept some young
Torpedos alive for five months, and during all that period they
ate nothing, although supplied with small fishes both dead and
alive, and yet they increased in strength and electric energy.
The observations which have been since made upon other
electric fishes, however, sufficiently prove the accuracy of Mr
Walsh’s assumption.

___ Several other species of NVarcine are known, and all of them

possess the electric property. There is a species described by
Bertholet in his work on Fishes, under the name of Torpedo
galvanii, which seems to be the same as one figured by Wil-
loughby in his Ichthyographia, and probably the same as 7.
trepidans, described by Valenciennes in Webb and Bertholet’s
splendid work on the Canary Islands. The Rev. Mr Lowe
of Madeira described a species found at Madeira under the
name of Torpedo hebetans ; and another, found both there
and in the Canary Isles, was described by Valenciennes as 7’.
marmorata. Henlé has described four other species in his
_work, “ Ueber Narcine,” viz., N. brasiliensis from Brazil, N.
indicus from East Indies, WV. timlei and N. capensis from the
Cape of Good Hope. And Miller and Henlé have established a
new genus, Astrape, for the reception of VV. capensis and dip-
terygia, which have only one back fin. Sir John Richardson
also has described a species from Van Diemen’s Land, under
the name of NV. tasmaniensis.

The rays and skates proper have themselves been of late
years the subject of consideration with reference to electrical

38 Andrew Murray on the

organs. In 1844, Dr Stark of Edinburgh first made known
the existence of an organ in the tail of the common skate,
which he considered to be of an electrical nature. Professor
Goodsir followed up Dr Stark’s discoveries, and gave an addi-
tional and minute account of the organ in question. The
papers by Dr Stark and Professor Goodsir were read to the
Royal Society of Edinburgh; but although the discoveries
were new, and the subject of importance and interest in a phy-
siological point of view, that body did not publish them in
its Transactions, but contented itself with inserting a short
summary of the contents of the papers in the record of their —
Proceedings published bythem annually. In 1847 (nearly three
years after), M. Robin of Paris published in the “ Annales des

Sciences’’ a full account of the singular structure referred to, —

but without making any allusion to Dr Stark and Professor
Goodsir’s discoveries, so that we have no means of knowing
whether M. Robin had himself rediscovered the organ in
question, or merely worked out the subject from the hint re-
ceived from the Royal Society’s notice of Dr Stark and Pro-
fessor Goodsir’s papers. The organ is composed of a series of
cells of a polygonal and irregular form; and, so far as the
structure can be judged of from its appearance, both as seen
by the naked eye and under the microscope, is of the same
nature as the electric organ in other fishes. It lies buried
among the muscles in the tail of the common skate and rays,
commencing in the midst of the muscles on each side of
the tail, at about a third of its length from the root, and
running down to the tip, gradually occupying more of the
space of the tail, till at the tip it has usurped the place of the
muscles, and almost entirely dispossessed them. Its form is
that of a cylindrical tube, surrounded by a nervous covering,
and it is supplied by nerves from the spinalcolumn. Strange
to say, it still remains to be satisfactorily ascertained, by direct
experiment on the living animal, whether this ‘organ is pos-
sessed of electrical power or not; and, stranger still, if it really
has such a power, that the fishermen have never observed nor
spoken of it. Not that experiments have not been made by
different observers on the living or half-living animal, but that

Natural History of Electric Fishes. 39

such experiments have not yet satisfactorily settled the ques-
tion. On the one hand, Dr Stark considered he had detected
electrical effects on grasping the tail at the proper part; on
the other, Professor Miiller, of Berlin, states that he had tried
the experiment with the galvanometer, and that it gave not
the slightest indication of electricity. But as has been sug-
gested to me by Professor Goodsir, it is quite possible that
at one period of the year (the spawning season, for instance,
when the vital energy is at its highest state of develop-
_ ment), the electric power may be stronger than at another ;
and a careful observation of living specimens, kept in an
aquarium, prepared on the principles which are now en-
abling naturalists to make observations on sea animals which
were heretofore impracticable, will doubtless not only enable
us to ascertain whether the organ is electrical or not, but
also what part it plays in the economy of the fish. In our
present state of doubt upon a point which can be so easily
practically settled, it would of course be absurd to enter into
an argument in favour of, or against the organ being endowed
with electric powers ; but the various stories which books on
Natural History contain regarding the venomous properties of
the spike of the sting ray, may possibly turn out to have some
relevancy to this subject—and another circumstance not to be
lost sight of is this, that while Dr Stark found the organ always
present (though of varying sizes), in the tail of every species of
true ray which he examined, both Professor Goodsir and M.
Robin ascertained it to be wanting in the tail of the Tor-
pedo, which they carefully examined for the express pur-
pose of ascertaining whether, like the organ in the ray, it
had not been overlooked in previous dissections; a result
which might @ priori be looked for, supposing the organ to be
electrical.

The next fish bearing an electrical reputation is a species
of Rhinobatis from Brazil. This genus was formerly included
among the rays, but has properly been separated from them.
It forms the intermediate link between the sharks and the rays,
and might almost be taken for a hybrid between the rays and
the angel shark, having the body of the one and the tail of the

ES eye
CR, wae

40 Andrew Murray on the

other. This fish, although stated to be electrical, has, how-
ever, not yet been proved to be so.

We now turn to the Gymnotus electricus or electrical eel, a
species little inferior in celebrity to the Torpedo. The obser-
vations of Walsh, Cavendish, Galvani, and others upon the Tor-
pedo in 1773, having given an impulse to investigation on the
subject, the announcement shortly afterwards made of a new
electric fish being found in the rivers of Guiana was speedily
followed by specimens being broughtto this country; and experi-
ments as complete and careful as those of Mr Walsh were made
and published by Mr Williamson and Mr Garden, and in like
manner most excellent figures and dissections were published
by Hunter. Humboldt, Fahlberg, and Guisan have further
elucidated the subject, and the two latter philosophers sueceeded
in obtaining the electrical spark from the fish, which previous
observers had failed to do. Since that time more recent ob-
servations on the subject have been made by Faraday, and
published by him in 1844, in his “ Experimental researches
in Electricity.”

The Gymnotus is common to all the small rivers which flow
into the Oronoco in English, French, or Dutch Guiana, and is
usually procured from Surinam. The reader doubtless recalls
to his recollection the graphic account given by Humboldt of
the mode in which it is used by the Indians in that country to
capture wild horses. It reaches the length of five or six feet or
even more, but the half of this size is the more common dimen-
sion. Although it appears in form to be a long fish, yet so far as
the vital organs of the fish are concerned, it is properly speak-
ing a very short one, the whole of its viscera being packed close
to the head, and its anus placed only a couple of inches behind
the mouth. The whole of the rest of the body may be said to
be devoted to the electrical apparatus. The upper part of the
rest of the body is occupied with the muscles, back-bone,
swimming-bladder, &c.; below these, occupying two-thirds of
the diameter of the body, lies the electrical apparatus, which is
composed of four parts, two on each side of the body, one above
the other.

More experiments have been made upon the Gymnotus than

Natural History of Electric Fishes. 41

on any other electric fish, it being better able to bear confine-
ment, and giving, from that or other causes, more powerful elec-
tric phenomena. A Gymnotus has been kept for several months
in captivity, whereas Dr Davy was not able to keep a Torpedo
alive more than 12 or 15 days. We must refer our readers
to Faraday’s experimental researches for a detail of the ex-
periments made by him on a Gymnotus, which had been
bought by the proprietors of the gallery in Adelaide Street,
London, and liberally lent by them to the Doctor for the pur-
pose of experimenting on. From it he obtained every proof of
the identity of its power with common electricity. The
galvanometer was deflected, a magnet was made, a spark was
obtained, and perhaps a wire heated, (though the experiment
requires confirmation), besides the more common phenomena
of the shock and the circuit. Faraday concluded that a
single medium discharge of the fish is equal to the electricity
of a Leyden battery of 15 jars, containing 3500 square inches
of glass coated on both sides, charged to its highest degree.
Faraday observed the Gymnotus exercise its electrical
powers for the purpose of preying upon other fish. He says,
“a live fish about 5 inches in length, caught not half a
minute before, was dropt into the tub. The Gymnotus in-
stantly turned round in such a manner as to form a coil inclos-
ing the fish—the latter representing a diameter across it; a
shock was passed, and there in an instant was the fish struck
motionless as if by lightning in the midst of the waters. Its
side floated to the light. The Gymnotus made a turn or two
to look for his prey, which, having found, he bolted, and then
went searching about for more. The coiling of the Gymnotus
round its prey had in this case every appearance of being in-
tentional on its part to increase the force of the shock, and
the action is evidently exceedingly well suited for that pur-
pose, being in full accordance with the well-known law in
discharge of currents in masses in conducting matter; and
though the fish may not always put this artifice in practice,
it is very probable he is aware of its advantage, and may re-
sort to it in cases of need.” It is said, however, that the

42 Andrew Murray on the ~-

Gymnotus eats very few of the fishes which it kills by its dis-
charge. Faraday’s experiments also settled another point,
namely, that it is not necessary to touch the fish to receive a
shock. For instance, several individuals put their hands in
the water in the tub at different distances from the fish, and
another individual stirred it up with a glass rod. The fish
gave a shock, and all the experimenters felt it—those whose
hands were nearest to the fish most strongly, and those farthest
from it most feebly. This experiment shows, in a striking
point of view, the beauty of the relation between the power in
question, and the element in which the fish lives. If the
power were to be exercised in the air, it could only be made
use of on actual contact, but the conducting powers of water
render this unnecessary, and the shock travelling through
the water all around, extends its effects in more than propor-
tion to the size of the fish attacked; for though the Gymnotus
may exert only an equal power, a large fish has passing
through its body those currents of electricity which, in the
case of a smaller one, would have been conveyed harmlessly
past by the water at its side. Faraday suggests that it is
not impossible that the fish may have the power of throwing
each of its electric organs separately into action, and so to a
certain degree direct the shock, that is, it may be able to cause
the electric current to emanate from one side, and at the same
time bring the other side of its body into such a condition that
it shall be a non-conductor in that direction; but, he adds,
that he thinks the appearances and results are such as to for-
bid the supposition that the fish has any control over the
direction of the currents after they have entered the fluid
which circulates around it.

There is another species of Gymnotus, G. fasciatus, found
in Guiana, but it is not electrical, and although in the posi-
tion of its fins, and somewhat of its outward form, it corre-
sponds with the G. electricus, and has therefore been placed
alongside of it, there is little doubt that when it is examined,
its structure will be found to differ from the true Gymnotus,
and that it must be placed in another genus. The possession

en ee

Natural History of Electric Fishes. 43

of an apparatus which makes such an alteration in the whole
nature and position of the interior organs, ought surely to be
sufficient to constitute a genus of itself.

Another electric fish, with somewhat of an eel-like form, said
to come from India, was for some time classified with the
Gymnotus—under the name of G. indicus, but has been re-
moved from it, as having no affinity with that genus, but more

nearly approaching to the Trichiuri, and is now known as Tri-

chiurus electricus. There would appear, however, to be great
doubt whether any such fish doesreally exist ; for Valenciennes,
in his great work, mentions that on going back to the sources
from which each author has taken his information, he dis-
covered that the characters and properties attributed to this
fish only repose upon a bad figure by Nieuhof, and upon a
transposition of some part of his text. The description which
is given by no means corresponds with the figure, and its
electrical properties depend upon the following sentence :—
* It lives in the deepest rocky caverns where it gets tolerably
fat, and is wholesome food. Those who take it are affected
with a tremour and sometimes a sleep, either from the afflatus
or contagion, which however soon go off.’ Supposing these
last words indicate a true electric virtue, the rest of the de-
scription applies better to the Silurus (Malapterurus) elec-
tricus than to the Trichiurus, and as no specimens since that
described by Nieuhof have been found, it must only stand
among electric fishes, or among fishes at all, with a point of
doubt.

Another electric fish, which also stands upon solitary autho-
rity, is the Tetrodon electricus. Shortly after Mr Walsh and
Mr Williamson’s researches upon the Torpedo and Gymnotus
had drawn the attention of the public generally to the sub-
ject, a young officer in the 98th Regiment, Lieutenant W.
Paterson, sent an account of an electric fish which he met with
at the Island of Johanna, one of the Comoro Islands, to Sir
Joseph Banks, who communicated it along with a very imperfect
drawing to the Royal Society of London. It was of the genus

_ Tetrodon, and about 7 inches long, and ornamented with

bright and gaudy colours. Lieutenant Paterson found several

44 Andrew Murray on the

of these electrical fishes in hollows in the coral rocks. He
says, ‘I caught two of them. In attempting to take one of them
in my hand, it gave me so severe an electric shock that I was
obliged to quit my hold. I however secured them both, and
carried them to the camp which was about two miles distant.
Upon my arrival there, one of them was found to be dead, and
the other in a very weak state, which made me anxious to
prove by the evidence of others that it possessed the powers of
electricity, while it was yet alive. I had it put into a tub of
water, and desired the surgeon of the regiment to lay hold uf
it with his hands—upon doing which he received an evident
electrical shock. Afterwards the adjutant touched it with his
finger upon the back, and felt a very slight shock, but suffi- _
ciently strong to ascertain the fact.” Mr Paterson concludes
by stating that he gives this mention of the fish, only as a
direction to others who may afterwards visit that island to
look for and examine more fully that fish and its electric
organs. We believe that no one has since acted upon this
suggestion, or if they have, that they have not found the fish.
No specimen exists in the British Museum, and the authors
who have included this species in their works have merely re-
produced the meagre description furnished by Mr Paterson,
without giving any other authority for it, or notice of its cap-
ture by any one else.

Another Tetrodon—Tetrodon lineatus, has the property
of imparting a pungent pain like the sting of nettles, which
is said to be occasioned by the minute spines on its abdomen.
It is also considered poisonous if used as food ; and Osbee, in
speaking of individuals of this species found at Japan, says,
the venom which it contains is so powerful that the animal
occasions death in two hours to those who feed upon it. Ac-
cordingly, he adds, “ The soldiers of that eastern country, and
all those of the inhabitants over whom they can exercise an
exact surveillance, have received a rigorous prohibition against
eating it”—a prohibition which, in the circumstances, one
would scarcely have thought necessary.

We next come to the electrical fishes of the genus Malap-
terurus. The family of fishes to which it belongs (the Silu-

Natural History of Electric Fishes. 45

rid) is not without interest, and as there is a general family
resemblance in their forms and habits, we may mention one
or two circumstances relating to the best-known species, the
Silurus glanis, which is the only one of the family found in
Europe. They are smooth-skinned fishes, with a number of
long thin barbules or filaments around the mouth. The Silu-
rus glanis is the largest fresh-water fish found in the rivers
of Europe, with the exception of the sturgeon, and reaches not
rarely to the size of 5 or 6 feet in length. Itis not found in Eng-
land nor in the eastern rivers of Europe,—is found very rarely
in one or two of the lakes of Switzerland,—but is common in
Hungary, Russia, and some parts of Asia,—and is found in
the brackish water at the mouths of rivers, as well as in the
fresh water of the rivers, and of the lakes from which they
issue. It is reckoned good food, and is sold in the different
markets of Europe and Asia. As a great rarity and peculiar
dainty, a specimen 3 feet long, got in one of the lakes of Swit-
zerland, was served up to King Charles X. at Strasburg, when
he passed through that city in 1828. It is very impatient of
thunder and storms, rushing out of the mud to the surface of
the water, and agitating itself violently during their conti-
nuance. It is only during storms that it is caught in the
nets of fishermen, the nets at other times passing over it while
it lies buried in the mud. It is recorded by Baldner that he
got one of the length of a foot in 1569, and kept it in a fish-
pond till 1620, when a storm killed it. It has therefore re-
lations to electricity, but of an opposite nature to those of
the Malapterurus; but it is at least curious to find the old
proverb equally applicable to fish as to men, that what is one
man’s food (or means of getting food), is another man’s poison.
There seems, moreover, room for some philosophic inquiry into
the nervous structure of the Silurus glanis, which may possibly
throw light on more than the mere sensitiveness of this fish
to electrical commotions in the atmosphere. Baldner’s fish,
in the fifty-one years he kept it, had increased to the size of
5 feet, but much larger examples have been taken, and it is
reported that they have been found in the Pregel 16 feet in
length. Being a mud fish, it thrives best in such slow flowing

46 Andrew Murray on the

rivers as the Danube, Elbe, Pregel, &c. It lies at the bottom
of the water, buried in the mud, and the barbules which sur-
round its mouth floating about, enable it to recognise the ap-
proach of, and seize upon, any prey that passesit. It is very
voracious. The Bohemians have a proverb, “ Every fish has
another for prey; the Wels (Silurus) has them all.” It de-
stroys many aquatic birds, and we are assured that it does not
spare the human species. On the 3d of July 1700, a peasant
took one near Thorn, that had an infant entire in its stomach.
They talk in Hungary of children and young girls devoured
on going to draw water; and they even relate that on the
frontiers of Turkey, a poor fisherman one day took one that
had in its stomach the body of a woman, her purse full of gold,
andaring. This must have been one of the 16-feet ones, of
whose existence we doubt, as all men may; we would place
such exaggerations along with Gesner’s well-known story of
the pike 19 feet long, and 267 years old.

But these are digressions. The Silwrus of which we have
to speak, is the Silurus of the Nile (Malapterurus electricus),
called Raasch, or thunder-fish by the Arabs. It is found in
the Nile in considerable abundance. It has barbules like the
rest of the Siluri, and has its smooth, scaleless skin diversified
with irregularly-shaped spots, and its usual length is from 8
to 14 inches. It was first well figured and described by Geoffroy
St Hilaire in the great work on Egypt, published under the
sanction of Napoleon. It has subsequently been more care-
fully dissected and described by Rudolphi, and more recently
by Pacini, who has gone microscopically to work, and has
given figures of sections of the electrical organs enlarged, so
as to show their primary structure. Different from the other
electrical fishes of which we have spoken, this organ assumes
the shape of a thick aponeurotic skin surrounding the whole
body almost to the tail. The course followed by its elec-
tricity differs from that of the Gymnotus as well as the Tor-
pedo. As already mentioned, the current in the Torpedo
flows from the upper side of the body to the under. In the
Gymnotus it flows from the head to the tail; but in the Ma-
lapterurus it flows equally from the organ in every direction.

Natural History of Electric Fishes. 47

The consequence of this would appear to be that unless nature
made some provision to meet it, the animal would give itself a
shock every time it puts its electric force into operation, and
Pacini thinks he has discovered in the necessity of some
counteracting influence to such a result the reason of a layer
or skin of fatty matter being placed between the electric or-
gans and the body. Rudolphi thought this under-layer or
skin was one of the parts of the electric organ, his idea being
that it was composed of two plates in different electrical
states, as in the plates of a galvanic battery; but Pacini’s
idea that this under-skin is an isolating medium placed to
protect the animal from the force of its own thunder, is
attractive from its ingenuity, whether it ultimately proves
correct or not.

This species is said to be found in the Senegal and Gambia
as well as in the Nile, and also probably in the river Sofala.
It is first recorded by Purchas as having been taken in the
Gambia by Richard Jobson. He relates that “ in the Gambia,
they draw in the net, among other fishes one which had the
body broad like a bream, but of greater thickness—that one
of the sailors having wanted to take it, he cried out that he
had lost the use of his hands and arms—another sailor who
touched it with his foot felt a numbness in his leg.” There is
no doubt that there are electric fishes found in these rivers,
but we should much question their being the same with the
Malapterurus of the Nile. The animals of Egypt and those
of the west of Africa are, for the most part, all different; and
Valenciennes states that the electric Silurus of Senegal has
its spots more marked and often less cloudy than those of the
individuals caught in the Nile. The identity of the Sofala
species is also spoken of with doubt ; and a species which has
lately been received from Old Calabar, and is described at the
end of this paper under the name of M. Beninsis, is also dis-
tinct from the Nile species. Taking all these things together,
we see that there are at least two species of electric Malap-
terurus peculiar to Africa, and it is not improbable that there
may be more.

_ This closes the list of known species of these wonderfully en-

48 Andrew Murray on the

dowed animals. We do, as the reader sees, know something of
their habits and powers, of their outward appearance and in-
ternal anatomy ; but when we try to penetrate farther, and to
trace backwards to its source the cause of the effect which we
see, we are obliged to confess that it is “‘ knowledge too wonder-
ful for us, and to which we cannot attain.” True it is, that
conjectures have been made, and it would not be like human ~
nature if we had not a theory for it. ‘The theory, so far as it
goes, which physiologists have now generally on the subject,
is this. It is known that an electric current passes through
the frame of all plants and animals, not always in the same
direction, being apt to be diverted by the particular arrange-
ment of the muscles and tendons, but always existing. In the
frog, for instance, it passes constantly from its extremities to
its head. In most animals it continually proceeds from the
interior to the surface of each muscle (and is hence known’as
the “ muscular current,)” this current being particularly in-
tense in the muscles and nerves. Now, the nerves receive
from the brain or its continuations (how we cannot tell) an
influence which sets the electric fluid in themselves and the
muscles in action, and it in turn stimulates them to contrac-
tion and motion. Some have supposed that this nervous in-
fluence and electricity are identical. This, however, is not so.
Prof. Matteucci’s experiments all go to prove that the two
forces are not identical, but are correlated, each being able to
generate the other; so that while by the influence of the ner-
vous system on one class of organs, sensible contraction is pro-
duced, in like manner by its influence on another class of or-
gans, electricity is generated. The generation of electricity in
the electric organs of fishes would appear to be developed in
the same way asin other muscular tissue. Although these
organs differ in their structure and form from ordinary muscu-
lar tissue, still there appears little doubt that a similar tissue
enters into their composition. But the difference of the struc-
ture seems to be such, that instead of constantly flowing off
as in ordinary muscular tissue, the electricity is accumulated
and retained as in a galvanic pile (its prisms and diaphragms
and cells acting as the elements of the pile), and given off in the

s

Malapterurus Beninensis. 49

same way. But all such theories only go a certain length, and
after we have gone back and back, we are stopped at last, and
are obliged to confess that we are unable to explain farther ;

and if we could go farther, and explain the process which

stopped us, we should only get a little way, and again be stopped,
and obliged humbly to sum up with the acknowledgement that
these things are so, because the Creator has so fashioned them.

-

The new species of Malapterurus above referred to, was
found near Creek Town, in the muddy, brackish water of the
river Old Calabar. Creek Town lies about 30 miles up that
river, which empties itself into the Bight of Benin within a
short distance from the Delta of the Niger, in lat. 5}° north,
and long. 8° west. It is to the industry and scientific exer-
tions of the Rev. Hope M. Waddell, that we owe the know-
ledge of this interesting species. The United Presbyterian
Church of Scotland has a mission established on this spot,
and Mr Waddell and the other missionaries, have in an
enlightened spirit, been combining the prosecution of their
proper christianising and educating duties, with an attentive

examination of the Natural History of the country in all

its departments.* These gentlemen have repeatedly favoured
me by forming, and transmitting considerable collections of
insects and other objects of Natural History ; and in the last
consignment which I received from Mr Waddell, there were

four small electric fishes, which I was gratified to find were

* If the United Presbyterian Church continues to be as fortunate as it has
been, in securing able and intelligent missionaries at their stations on this
coast, we have the prospect ere long of knowing something of the Natural

_History of the interior of this most interesting and wholly unknown country.

The way in which they propose to extend their missions is as follows :—After
a station has secured a firm footing they mean to push forward another, thirty
miles into the interior, from which in its turn, after it has secured its footing,
another outpost will be advanced thirty miles further, and so on. We shall
then look withintense interest for the memorials of the Natural History collected
at these outposts. As it is, the amount of new species received from Old Cala-
bar is perfectly surprising ; many of them possessing an interest of very strik-

ing character, particularly in connection with the subject of geographical dis-

tribution.
NEW SERIES.—VOL. II. NO. 1.—suLy 1855, D

50 Andrew Murray on

undescribed species of Malapterurus. None of them exceeded
four inches in length, although Mr Waddell mentions that
they grow to be as large as a herring. They seem to have
been powerfully endowed with the electric faculty ; in this re-
spect differing from the Nile species, which has its electrical
power weak in comparison with that of the Gymnotus; while
this new species would appear to surpass it in force (parti-
cularly when size is taken into consideration), a small speci-
men about two inches in length having given Mr Waddell a
shock which reached to his shoulder. They seem to bear cap-
tivity well, for Mr Waddell kept one of them for six weeks in
a tumbler of water, and it gave severe shocks daily.

The following is the description of this species—

The fish is short and rounded, and looked at from above tapers
from the head to the tail. The head is depressed, and the tail com-
pressed. The height of the body at the ventrals is a seventh of the
whole body (caudal fin included), and it is very little higher behind
the pectorals. Its breadth at the ventrals is one and three quarters
of the height. Its breadth behind the pectorals is very little short of
its height there. The whole fish is enveloped in a soft, loose, flaccid
skin, which under a lens is seen to be covered with minute papille,
particularly on the head, while towards the tail they pass into a kind
of reticulation, giving the appearance of a tomentose substance wetted,
with the hairs flattened down by the wet. The head, measured to the
posterior end of the operculum, is about a sixth part of the length of the
whole fish. It is nearly as broad as it is long, and is nearly twice
as broad as it is high. Both its upper and under surface are nearly
flat, the upper sloping slightly down tothe mouth. Seen from above,
the form of the head approaches in form to a very obtuse semi-
circle. The mouth scarcely extends down the sides. The eye is
small, and situated a little nearer the front of the operculum than
the mouth. Its diameter is about a seventh or eighth of thé length
of the head, and there is about five and a half diameters between
the eyes. The lips are fleshy, and the lower is a little more ad-
vanced than the upper. The four orifices of the nostrils have mem-
branous and tubular edges which close the orifices, so that they are
not easily seen.* The anterior pair is closer together than the pos-
terior, There are a number of small pores upon the head, surrounded
by pale edges, which are more perceptible than the nostrils. These

* In life these organs are probably more easily seen, and will assume (par-
ticularly the anterior pair) the form of small nipples, of which their flaccid
state, when preserved in spirits, has deprived those in my possession.

Malapterurus Beninensis. 51

are doubtless for supplying the surface with mucilaginous slime.
There is one immediately behind each eye, one a little further back,
another somewhat below the eye, and another more to the front of the
eye, but not so low down ; one at the inner anterior corner of each
anterior nostril, two immediately behind each of these nostrils, and
one at a short distance on the outer side of it; one at the outer
side of each posterior nostril, and a smaller one at its inner corner ;
two are placed transversely close together on the middle of the head,
and there are two more distant from each other, placed farther back ;
there is one behind each maxillary barbule, two close together in the
centre of the under lip, one on the outer side of each inferior bar-
bule, and one further back on the under jaw. Those around the
nostrils and mouth, and under the eyes, are most observable, parti-
cularly the former. The base of the maxillary barbule is exterior and
anterior to the back nostrils. The barbules are long and fine, and
before their termination become as fine or finer than any hair. When
laid backwards, the maxillary barbule reaches beyond the posterior
end of the operculum. The external mandibular barbule about
equals it in length, but the internal is shorter. The teeth form a
broad velvety band in each jaw, broadest in the middle of the front.
The teeth are all curved backwards, and are packed very close toge-
ther in crowded masses. There are no teeth on the palate, but some
very small hard looking tubercules can be seen by the aid of a lens.
The gill openings are small and oblique, and about half the size of
the mouth. The pectoral fin is small and elongate, and attached
about the middle of the gill opening. In length it is about an eleventh
of the whole fish. It has eight rays, of which the first is frail and
without branches, and does not extend up half of the fin. The second
and third rays are longest and nearly equal, the second being a
very little longer. The ventrals are a fifth shorter than the pec-
torals, originate a little behind the middle of the fish, are placed
near each other, and have six rays, the first without branches, and
the second longest. ‘The anal fin commences nearly at the last third
of the fish, and occupies about a tenth parth of the whole fish. It
has eight rays.* ‘The first of these is very small, and not readily
recognisable. The fin is as deep as it is long; and the fourth and
fifth rays are the longest. Between the anal and caudal fin is a
space of half the length of the former. The adipose fin begins nearly
opposite the middle of the anal fin, and leaves a very small space
between its termination and the caudal fin, The latter is some-
what rounded—has seventeen rays, of which the outer ones are not

* There is, perhaps, a ninth ray. There is an abortive appearance at the
commencement of the fin which pay be a ray, but I have been unable to see
any trace of joints in it, and not being willing to sacrifice the specimen to as-
certain whether it continues under the skin, I cannot speak positively.

pd2

52 Andrew Murray on

branched, and not half the length of the rest. The formula of the
rays of the fins is as follows ; |

D0 P8 V6 A8 C17

The lateral line is narrow and delicate, a very little raised, and
runs from the upper end of the gill opening to the tail.

The colour is dark-gray above, and pale whitish beneath. A
very few small black spots* are scattered irregularly along its sides.
Towards the anal fin, the dark colour extends down the sides, so as
to leave scarcely any pale under side at that fin, but a broadish white —
stripe extends through this dark colouring quite round the fish from
the latter part of the anal to nearly the caudal fin, The part of
the tail between this white stripe and the caudal fin, and also the
commencement of that fin, are very dark; a similar broad white
band then runs across the middle of the caudal fin, and it terminates
in a gray colour, somewhat lighter than the base of the fin, so that
there appear two white transverse bands surrounding the fish at
its latter part, one a little before the caudal fin, the other across the
middle of that fin.

Dimensions of one of the largest specimens received.
Inch, Lines.
Length from intermaxillary symphysis to extremity of
caudal fin ghee aw - Oe fe Sa
to end of adipose fin
to beginning
to end of anal fin
to beginning ..
to anus
to anterior edge of gill-opening
to posterior
to anterior margin of or bit

/

Diameter of orbit .
testes of pectorals
ventrals
anal .
space between anal and caudal .
caudal rays
longest rays of anal
Height of body at ventrals
Circumference of body at ventrals

MPOCoOoOCooCooCcocooCoONNNNWW
_

From the above it will be seen that the principal differences
between the Malapterurus electricus and this species are the
following: The former is a larger fish, reaching 14 and even

* None, in the specimens I have, exceed the size of the eye.

Malapterurus Beninensis. 58

21 inches in length, while the ordinary dimensions of this
would appear to be about four inches, although it may some-
times reach six or eight. The formula of the number of rays
in the fins of the two fishes also differ. The number in the
ventrals and caudal are the same, but the Nile fish has nine
in the pectoral and twelve in the anal, while in this fish there
are respectively only eight and eight. In the M. electricus
the upper jaw slightly projects over the under. In this species
the reverse is the case, the lower jaw projecting decidedly
{though not very far) in advance of the upper. The barbule
on the upper jaw of M. electricus is a third shorter than the
head; Beninensis has it longer than the head. In the former
the gill-opening terminates at the lower edge of the pectoral
fin, in the latter the pectoral fin is attached at the middle of
the gill-opening, and its lower edge does not nearly reach the
base of the gill-opening. It will also have been seen that
there are some differences in the relative proportion of the dif-
ferent parts of the two fishes, and there are also some other
differences in the form of some parts of the fishes, (such as the
operculum), which are not so readily embodied in words, but
the differences which will most easily enable them to be
distinguished at a glance are the markings, if these shall be
found to be constant. The spots on M. electricus are much
larger and more numerous than on this species, and it entirely
wants the white bands across the tail, and across the caudal
fin, which have been above described. Ido not know whe-
ther these markings are constant in the older fishes, but as in
all the four specimens I received, they were uniform and de-
cided, I assume in the meantime that they are so.

I have not felt myself competent to make an examination
of the anatomy of this fish, but Mr Goodsir, Professor of
Anatomy in the University of Edinburgh, has kindly under-
taken to do so, and his report will give every information on
that head, as well as supply any deficiencies in the observations
I have above made.

54 Professor Harkness on

On a Deposit containing Sub-fossil Diatomacee, in Dum-
friesshire. By Ropert HARKNESS, Professor of Geology,
Queen’s College, Cork.

While examining the boulder deposits which occur on the
northern shore of the Solway Frith, last summer, my atten-
tion was directed to a locality about a mile west of the mouth
of the river Annan, where there is an interesting association
of indurated gravel beds, silt deposits, and peat-bog, overlaid
by the vegetable soil of the district. The boulder gravel,
which here is the lowest deposit exposed, consists of the ordi-
nary Silurian sandstone, mixed with the carboniferous grits,
and a few fragments of the Bunter sandstone of the neigh-
bourhood. It had a hardened nature, and in this respect bore
considerable affinity to many conglomerates. The larger
blocks entering into its composition presented none of the
strie which manifest themselves on the boulders occurring in
the clays, in which substance they may be seen occupying the
more level country which lies on the east side of the river
Annan.

Above this bed of indurated boulder gravel there is seen
the silty deposit, already alluded to, which consists of beds of
fine drab-coloured sandy clay, having vegetable remains
scattered through the mass. These vegetable remains, when
in such a condition that they can be recognised, are, for the
most part, fragments of Equiseta.

The contents of this silty deposit are, however, not confined
to such organisms as ordinary swampy vegetation. On sub-
mitting portions of the silt to microscopic examination this
substance is found to afford many species of Diatomacee, as-
sociated together in an interesting manner.

Professor Gregory, who was kind enough to examine for me
the contents of this deposit, states, that the following forms
of Diatoms occur therein :—Epithemia Hyndmanni, Cymbella
Scotica, O.maculata, Coscinodiscus radiatus, Cyclotella oper-
culata, C. Kiitzingiana, Campylodiscus cribrosus ?, Trybli-
onella acuminata, T. punctata, T. marginata, Surirella mi-
nuta, S. nobilis (or, biseriata ?), Navicula didyma, N, ovalis,

OE —————— =

Sub-fossil Diatomacee. 55

N. rhomboides y (Gregory), N. varians (Gregory), Pinnularia
major, P. viridis, P. acuta, P. tenuis (Gregory), Gomphonema
tenellum, Doryphora amphiceros (fine), Synedra radians,

_ Nitzschia sp. ?, Grammatophora marina, Melosira sulcata,

M. distans, Fragilaria virescens, Odontidium mesodon, Meri-
dion circulare, Achnanthidium lanceolatum. This association
of marine and fresh-water forms indicates the occurrence of
conditions of an estuary nature, and leads to the inference that
the circumstance under which the silt was deposited approached
to that which now prevails at the mouths of rivers. This silty
deposit is not confined to the spot where it was first noticed.
The subsoil, which extends through almost the whole of the
estate of Newbie, has the same character, and may also be
seen in spots on the opposite side of the river Annan, showing
that the character of the coast has undergone considerable
changes since the pleistocene period, as we have deposits of an
estuary nature considerably above the present level of the
highest tides.

In cases where we have a change in the relative level of the
land and sea, if only to a slight extent, such as is shown by
the occurrence of the silt of Newbie, with marine and fresh-
water forms of Diatomacez, there is, in many instances, no
reason for concluding that elevating forces have acted in the
production of this relative change.

The formation of sandbanks across the mouths of estuaries ;
and inland seas, having forms such as those in the Solway
Frith, would produce effects altering and modifying the relation
between the height of land and water. These sandbanks, act-
ing as barriers to the free flow of the tide, would cause many
districts, having a swampy character, to become dry land ;

and by such change produce results, having to some extent

characters, such as usually originate from the operation of
elevating forces. The production of the extensive sandbank
Robin Rigg, which forms a barrier to the entrance into the
Solway Frith, would effect considerable changes on the relative
level of the coast; and the modifications which this bank is
subject to would also have their influence in preventing or fa-
cilitating the free flow of the tide, and consequently altering
the relative level of the tidal mark. Effects of this nature

56 Dr W. Lauder Lindsay on the

are sufficient to account for the occurrence of the silty
deposit in the neighbourhood of Annan, without haying refer-
ence to the operation of elevating causes.

The oceurrence of marine forms of Diatoms in silt, puts
us in possession of another element, by means of which
we are enabled to ascertain the changes which have taken
place in the physical geography of theearth. It furnishes us
with a means applicable in many instances where other and
more perfect organisms have disappeared, the siliceous skele-
tons of these minute bodies being capable of resisting that
agent by means of which the solid coverings of molluses are
dissolved. Many of the raised sea-beaches, now affording no
shells, will probably be found to contain Diatoms, which will
tell of the conditions under which these raised sea-beaches
were originally deposited, and provide us with information
concerning the circumstances which operated in the production
of strata of this nature.

The Dyeing Properties of Lichens. By W.LavupDER LINDSAY,
M.D., Perth.

In the fifty-seventh volume of this Journal (October 1854),
I published the results of a series of experiments on the —
evolution of red, purple, and other colouring matters from
British and foreign lichens, with a view to direct publie atten-
tion specially to the two following facts, viz., First—that, in
our own country, many native lichens, which grow more or less
abundantly, might, with advantage and economy, be substi-
tuted for the somewhat expensive and scarce foreign Roceellas
and other dye-lichens usually employed in the manufaeture of
orchil, cudbear and litmus; and, secondly—that, in our colonies,
and foreign countries to which we have access, species valuable
as dye-lichens probably grow in abundance,—might be col-
lected and transported—easily and cheaply—and thus become
important and lucrative articles of commerce. My present pur-
pose is to explain more fully the grounds for this opinion, and to
indicate somewhat in detail the facility and economy with which
such lichens may be collected, preserved and rendered subser-
vient to our arts and manufactures. The information which I

Dyeing Properties of Lichens. 57

have to offer is, however, more suggestive than positive : my ob-
ject shall have been answered by fairly bringing the subject
under the notice of the following classes of persons or scientific
bodies, to whom I must leave its practical or economical appli-
cation, viz., Firstly, — chemists, orchil, cudbear and litmus
manufacturers, importers and exporters of orchella weeds and
other dye-lichens, dyers, &c : secondly, scientific societies, such
as the Royal, Geographical and Botanical, and the Society of
Arts ;—public boards, such as the East India, Army and Ad-
miralty Boards; industrial exhibitions, such as the Sydenham
Crystal Palace and Paris Exhibition: scientific and exploring
expeditions, &c.: and, thirdly, colonists, emigrants, travellers,
officers of our commercial and royal navy, and of the army, and
East India Company ; residents abroad, and in our own High-
lands and Islands, &c. This is pre-eminently an age of dis-
covery and enterprise in scientific matters; the strongest
tendency everywhere exhibits itself to multiply the natural re-
sources of our native country and its colonies,—to turn to prac-
tical account, for the improvement of our arts and manufac-
tures, their hitherto valueless vegetable products. The efforts
at present being made to introduce the fibre of the common
nettle, thistle, and other native weeds, in the manufacture of
textile fabrics and paper, as substitutes for flax, is only one
limited example of this utilitarian tendency. Believing that
this desire requires only to be led into suitable channels, my
object is to submit to scientific and commercial enterprise, the
importance of this particular field of inquiry, and the richness
of the fruits it promises. The fact that manufacturers or im-
porters might find it economical or remunerative to be supplied
with substitutes for the Roccellas, which are fast becoming
scarce, and consequently expensive, is the most limited view
we can take of the advantages of such an investigation. In-
directly a multiplied trade in dye-lichens might scatter the
seeds of civilization, and place the means of a comfortable sub-
sistence at the command of the miserable inhabitants of many
a barren island or coast, at present far removed from the great
centres of social advancement; for the dye-lichens will pro-
bably be found luxuriant where no other vegetation can thrive,
frequently attaining their highest degree of perfection on the

58 Dr W. Lauder Lindsay on the

most bleak rocky coasts, or on elevated mountain ranges. It
is probable that many rocky isles in the broad Pacifie and
Atlantic.—many hundred miles of desolate sea-coast and vast
extents of mountain districts in Africa, America, Asia, and
Australasia, which at present yield no products to commerce,
and are too barren to support higher vegetation, might furnish
an unlimited supply of lichens useful in dyeing. The vast
continent of India and neighbouring countries and islands, for
instance, already promise valuable results in this respect. In
the Indian collection of raw vegetable products exhibited in the
London Crystal Palace of 1851, several specimens of * Orchella
weeds” from India, Ceylon, Socotra, &c., were shown ; and an
explanatory note appended to some from the vicinity of Aden
in Arabia, stated most suggestively “ Abundant, but unknown
as an article of commerce.” Specimens of Roccella fuciformis
were there exhibited from Ceylon, estimated as worth £380 per
ton, and Parmelia perlata at £190 to £225; other dye-lichens
exhibited in the same collection, are referred to in Table II.
But the whole world may be said to be an open field ; in every
clime, in every soil, at almost every elevation, and in all sea-
sons, tinctorial species grow, and even luxuriate. In Northern
Europe, in Scandinavia, and even in our own Highlands and
Islands, many such species are abundant, and might surely be
collected at a rate so cheap as to render it remunerative for the
manufacturer to employ our destitute Highlanders in gather-
ing them. Moreover, in connection with the development of
the economical applications of lichens, it is not unimportant to
bear in mind that many species contain such an amount of
starchy matter as to become, or to furnish excellent articles of
food ; many are used as fodder for cattle, some are eaten in
Iceland and arctic countries, and one, at least, is frequently
used in the making of jellies in this country. I need only
here allude, in confirmation of this statement, to the Cetraria
islandica, or “ Iceland moss” of our shops; the Gyrophora or
‘* tripe de roche” of the arctic regions, whereby the lives of
many intrepid travellers have been preserved ; the Lecanora
esculenta, a kind of manna, peculiar to the steppes of Tartary,
and the Cladonia rangiferina, or familiar “ Reindeer moss” of
Lapland. On the mountains of Scotland, Ireland, and Wales,

Dyeing Properties of Lichens. 59

species of Lecanora, Gyrophora, Umbilicaria,and Isidium, capa-
ble of yielding fine qualities of orchil, cudbear, and litmus,
are more or less abundant. While the cudbear manufacture
flourished in Leith and Glasgow, the Lecanora tartarea, from
_ which it was prepared, was collected to a great extent in our
' Western Highlands and Islands, but with the transference of
this manufacture into the hands of English orchil makers, this
source of remunerative employment to our poor Highlanders
suddenly ceased, and this lichen is now chiefly or wholly im-
ported from Norway and Sweden for the London market.
The value of this lichen in Scotland is said to have averaged
£10 per ton. Hooker states that, at Fort Augustus in 1807,
a person could gain 14s. per week by collecting it, estimating
its market price at 3s. 4d. per stone of 22 lbs. Pennant re-
cords it as an article of commerce about Taymouth in Perth-
shire. Miss Roberts mentions its having been collected in
North Wales at 13d. per lb. for the London market; and it
appears also to have been largely gathered in Derbyshire, the
price there given to the collector, who could gather twenty to
thirty lbs. per day, being 1d. per lb. The re-introduction of
this trade or means of employment might be a great boon to
the Highlanders, who have, within the last few years, been de-
prived of another source of remunerative labour and comfort-
able sustenance,—the collection of “kelp” or “ sea-wrack” on
our rocky and stormy western coasts,—and whom dire necessity
now compels to transfer their energies to foreign lands.

With the first class of persons above alluded to rests the
determination of the utility or value of the various proposed
substitutes for the Roccellas, and of the fixity or permanence of
the dyes prepared therefrom, Itis for the chemist, manufacturer,
and dyer, to discover means of preventing decolorization or
change by the sun or atmospheric oxygen—of increasing
brillianey—of modifying colour—of imparting bloom or per-
manence—of ascertaining the particular fabrics for which the
various dyes have the greatest affinity, &c.; for it must be
borne in mind that the lichen dyes are essentially fugitive,
and very susceptible of chemical changes under the influence
of light, heat, &c. I freely admit the numerous sources of
- fallacy in experiments on the small scale ; they have no claim

60 Dr W. Lauder Lindsay on the

to conclusiveness or perfection, and can only yield approxi-
mative results. On the large scale alone can the practical
utility or applicability of the dye lichens, or their products, be
tested; the manufacturer can do this at a considerable ex-
pense of time and trouble ; the chemist can easily ascertain by
analysis the kind and amount of colorific principles capable of
metamorphosis, by the process of manufacture, into the desired
coloured substances. It is an interesting field of inquiry for the
chemist to discover to what extent the same or similar colorifi¢
principles exist in the genera Roccella, Lecanora, Umbilicaria,
Gyrophora, Isidium, Parmelia, Variolaria, Evernia, Ramalina,
and others, some of whose species are used, or proposed to be
used, as dye lichens; his results may sometimes differ from those
of the experimenter either on the large or small scale, though
theoretically they ought to agree with those of both. For in-
stance, Umbilicaria pustulata, which yielded me a dye equal in
beauty to that of the Roccellas or Lecanoras, is said by chemists
to contain only ,';th of the colorific materials of Roccella
Montagnei. Again, Stenhouse* mentions that several years
ago a large variety of Roccella tinctoria was imported from the
Cape, but was found almost valueless by the London orchil
manufacturers. Analysis discovered it to contain compara-
tively little of the crystalline principle, which, by yielding a
red reaction with ammonia, is the basis of the purple colour
of orchil, and to possess, instead, another crystalline sub-
stance, whereon ammonia had no action. Here chemical ana-
lysis and the practical experience of the manufacturer ac-
curately coincided.

Scientific societies and public bodies have much in their
power by urging upon their members or officers in foreign
countries the importance of directing attention to subjects
apparently so insignificant. The example of the Royal So-
ciety’s code of Instructions and Suggestions to the Officers of
the last Antarctic Expedition, wherein rough experiments on
lichens, by means of maceration in dilute aqua ammonie,
were recommended, is one worthy of being followed by similar
societies, whose objects, in any form, embrace the develop-
ment of the natural resources of the vegetable kingdom. In

* Philosoph. Trans, 1848.

Dyeing Properties of Lichens. 61

endeayouring to open up to British commerce new fields of
enterprise—in multiplying the natural resources of our coun-
try—in applying discoveries in science to the improvement of
our arts and manufactures, much real good has doubtless been
effected by the Industrial Exhibitions or Museums recently in-
stituted in this and other countries :—they are to be accepted
as the exponents of the public mind and its tendencies. They
are valuable not so much directly by the variety and value of
the products of nature and art which they exhibit or illustrate,
as indirectly by the stimulus or impetus which they give to
science, art, and commerce throughout the world; they are
beneficial, perhaps more by exposing our deficiencies, than by
displaying our excellencies or superiorities. The tables hereto
appended were in no small degree based on information ob-
tained at the London exposition of 1851,

The opportunities enjoyed by our colonists and emigrants,
by travellers and all whose avocations or tastes lead them to
visit foreign shores, or the more remote coasts and districts of
our own country, of contributing materially to this branch of
economic botany, are very apparent.* At a comparatively
trifling expenditure of time or money, and without any bota-
nical or chemical skill, by the steps immediately to be de-
tailed, lichens may either be experimented on in their place
of growth, or they may be collected and transported for exa-
mination to this country. These steps may be shortly re-
viewed under the following heads:—I. Mode of Collection ;
II. Mode of transport; and, III. Mode of testing the colorific
value, or of evolving the colouring matters.

I. No plants are more easy of collection; they may be

_ gathered at all seasons, and require simply to be dried before

being packed for transport. Most of the dye-lichens grow on
rocks from which they may be scraped by any suitable in-
strument. Should time and opportunity permit, it is advis-
able to wash the lichens so as to cleanse from earthy and other
impurities previous to being dried ; but this can equally well

* For an enumeration of some of the chief desiderata, vide the Transactions
of the Phytological Club of the Pharmaceutical Society, in the Pharmaceutical
Journal, July 1853,

62 Dr W. Lauder Lindsay on the

be done in this country.* The following points are worthy
of special attention by the collector :—

Firstly, That crustaceous, dwarf, pale-coloured species,
growing on rocks, and especially on sea-coasts, are most likely”
to yield red and purple dyes; while, on the other hand, the
largest, most handsome, foliaceous or herbaceous species are
least likely. The species which yield, or which are likely to
yield, dyes similar to orchil, cudbear, or litmus, are enumerated
in the following Tables, and in those published in former num-
bers of this Journal.

Secondly, That the colour of the thallus is no indication
of colorific power, inasmuch as the colouring matter on which
it depends, exists ready formed in the cells of the cortical
layer ; while the red or purple colouring matters in question
(in reference to which throughout this paper, I must be under-
stood as writing, omitting practically all mention of the brown,
yellow, or green dyes, which many species furnish), are the
result of chemical action on crystalline colorific principles
which were previously quite devoid of colour. Short of actual
experiment, therefore, it may be held impossible to predicate
the colorific value of any new or unknown species.

Thirdly, That alterations in physical characters, chemical
composition, and consequently dyeing properties, are very liable
to be produced by modifications in the following external cir-
cumstances :—

. Degree of moisture.
‘ heat.
PS exposure to light and air.

. Climate.

. Elevation above the sea,

Proximity to or remoteness from sea.

. Habitat: nature of basis of support.

. Age.

Seasons and atmospheric vicissitudes, &c.

7 Pe MS as ora

Hence it not unfrequently follows, that species possessing the
same general or special characters may vary greatly in the

* The various steps of the processes of collection, transport, manufacture
and dyeing with their rationale, are more fully detailed in a series of papers read
to the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, and published in the Phytologist for
April and July 1853, and other cotemporary journals.

Dyeing Properties of Lichens. 63

kind or amount of colorific materials which they yield. This
fact has already been illustrated by the example of the variety
of Roccella tinctoria, which was found worthless by the Lon-
don orchil manufacturers as formerly mentioned.

Il. For facility of transport, lichens may be simply dried
and packed, or they may first be reduced to powder, whereby
they occupy much less bulk, and cost much less for freight.
But, as Stenhouse very truly points out, in a most instructive
paper already alluded to, the cost of transport may form a con-
siderable deduction from the commercial value ; hence he re-
commends, where the collector has the necessary opportunity -
or convenience, that the lichens should be pulverized or cut
into small pieces—macerated with a little quicklime in water,
and the resulting solution of the colorific principles precipitated
by excess of hydrochloric or acetic acid—the gelatinous preci-
pitate being collected and dried for export. ‘“ Almost the
whole colouring matter in a lichen could thus be easily ex-
tracted at a comparatively small expense, and the value of the
dried extract, amounting to more than £1000 a ton, would
abundantly defray the expense from even the most distant
inland localities, such as the Andes or Himalayas.”

Ill. After due consideration and experience of the various
modes which have been described or suggested for the purpose
of developing the lichen dyes, the only plan which I can re-
commend as of easy and universal applicability, and as uni-
formly trustworthy in its results, is to macerate the powdered
lichen in a somewhat weak ammoniacal solution for periods
varying from several days to several weeks,—the metamor-
phosis being facilitated by the application of a moderate heat,

and the free exposure of the whole mass to the air. The pro-
- cess can be carried on conveniently in phials, boxes, or jars of
any kind; and, if no other form of ammoniacal liquor be at
hand, putrid urine, or the washings of the dung of animals,
can always be easily obtained. The above is the basis of the
manufacture of orchil, cudbear, and litmus, and of the domes-
tic dyes prepared by the peasantry of various countries from
lichens,—however much it may be otherwise modified. The form
of ammoniacal liquor used by the peasantry of Scotland and
other countries, and also by manufacturers, till within the

64 Dr W. Lauder Lindsay on the

last few years, was putrid urine. Not many years ago, the “ lit- —
pig” (or vessel in which putrid urine was kept) was a familiar —
article—especially in certain districts, e.g., in Aberdeenshire,
in the cottages of all our peasantry—who dyed their stockings,
night-caps, and other home-made garments, with pigments pre-
pared from the “crotals”’ or ‘‘crottles” (a generic name applied
in Scotland to the whole race of dye-lichens). Manufacturers
recognised different qualities of urine as more or less useful in
eliminating these colouring matters ; its value seemed to bear
a close relation to the amount of urea it contained, and con-
sequently of carbonate of ammonia it was capable of generat-
ing; hence I have been informed that some English manufac-
turers, who continue to use this form of ammoniacal solution,
have learned by experience to avoid urine from beer-drinkers,
which is excessive in quantity but frequently deficient in urea
and solids, while it is superabundant in water. The process of
metamorphosis by means of the ammonia contained in stale
urine is, apart from its essentially disgusting nature, a some-
what tedious one; hence various more elegant forms of ammo-
niacal solution have recently been introduced into our manu-
factories, especially the waste liquor of gas-works. But some
orchil makers, believing that urine is efficient, not merely on
account of the ammonia it contains, or, finding by experience
that it is superior to any other form of ammoniacal liquor
hitherto introduced, continue to use it exclusively. The most
convenient form on the small scale is the dilute aqua ammo-
nie of our druggists’ shops. The red or purple tint is some-
times more rapidly evolved by boiling a small portion of the
powdered lichen in a test tube in a little water or alcohol, and
adding a few drops of ammonia when cool. Should no ammo-
niacal liquor be at hand, maceration in lime-water or the milk
of lime is the next best substitute. Treated in this way, Roc-
cella tinctoria yielded a distinct red colour to the liquid in ten
minutes, and other dye-lichens in a proportionally longer time.
I cannot here enter farther on the subject of the tests of colo-
rific power, nor on the methods of developing the lichen dyes
on the large or small scale; neither can I at all trench upon the
chemistry of the lichen-colouring matters. For information on
these points I beg to refer to a series of papers laid before the ~

Dyeing Properties of Lichens. 65

Botanical Society of Edinburgh in 1852 and 1853,* and to
_ the works, a list of which I have appended to the present
article.

As intimately bearing on this subject, I have endeavoured
to exhibit concisely in the following tables the lichens which
are, or have been, chiefly used,—on the one hand, by the ma-
nufacturer, in the preparation of orchil, cudbear, and litmus,—
and, on the other hand, by the peasantry of various countries,
especially of the Scottish Highlands and Islands, Norway, and
Sweden, in the preparation of their home-made simple dyes.
It may not be inadvisable, moreover, to make a few additional
remarks on the pigments respectively called orchil, cudbear,
and litmus, which we may accept as the type of the red or
purple colouring matters of lichens.

The synonymy or nomenclature of these dyes has not only
given rise to great confusion as to their nature, origin, and
uses, but leads to the idea that they are three distinct sub-
stances, having a separate composition, source, and economical
application. For all ordinary or practical purposes we may-
look upon these as essentially the same colouring matter, dif-
fering slightly in tint, consistence, or applicability to certain
fabrics according to modifications in the process of manufac-
ture. We may practically regard orchil as the English, cud-
bear as the Scotch, and litmus as the Dutch name for one and
the same substance; the first being usually manufactured in
the form of a liquid of a beautiful reddish or purple colour, the
second chiefly in that of a powder of a lake or red colour, and
the third in that of small parallelopipeds or cakes of a blue
colour. The latter form differs in the greatest degree from the
others in colour and consistence. Its colour depends essentially
on the addition of some alkali, such as the carbonates of potash,
soda, or lime, and sometimes—as an adulteration—of indigo ;
and its consistence on the presence of thickening agents, such
as gypsum, starch, chalk, or various siliceous and argillaceous
matters. It would undoubtedly be much more convenient to
classify these dyes, and, indeed, all the various red and purple
colouring matters of the lichens, under one general term ; and

* Especially those read 10th February and 12th May 1853, and published in
the Society’s monthly report in the Phytologist, Annals of Nat. Iistory, &c
NEW SERIES.—VOL. Ul: NC. 1—suLY 1855. E

66 Dr W. Lauder Lindsay on the

until chemistry furnish us with a suitable scientific name,
founded on community of chemical character or composition,
the old and familiar term orchil is probably the most compre-
hensive and appropriate we can find. The chief grounds on
which I base this proposed nomenclative amalgamation,—this
opinion of the essential unity of the dyes in question,—are,
inter alia, the following :—
I. In relation to the chemistry of these colouring matters,
and of the*colorific principles by whose metamorphoses
they are produced, Kane states, as the result of his
investigations several years ago :—‘“ There exist in the
lichens which yield purple colours at least two groups
[of colorific substances], characterized by different
active principles, but ultimately generating, by their
decomposition, the same coloured substances; the ore%il
from these various lichens being, for the purposes of
the arts, identical, and containing in reality the same
substance—orceine.’ The chemical character, how-
ever, of this purple colouring matter is not persistent;
its chemical constituents are in a constant state of
change; hence they differ in composition at various
stages of the manufacture of the dye, corresponding to
variations in colour. Thered or purple tint, as usually
exhibited in our common orchil, appears to be the
ultimate or most permanent stage. The blue colour is
exhibited at an intermediate stage, and, while it is very
beautiful, it is also very delicate and fugacious, passing
rapidly and readily into red on exposure to the air, and
on contact with the weakest acids, &c. For instance,
blue orchils, on being spread on paper or otherwise ex-
posed to the air, almost immediately lose their beautiful
blue colour and bloom, assuming instead a distinetly red
tint. This blue tint can only be preserved bythe addition
of such alkalies as I have mentioned above in speaking
of litmus. In most.of the dye-lichens, the chemical
changes involved in the conversion of the colourless
colorific principles into coloured compounds, are of a
somewhat complex character; but, in general terms,
they appear to consist essentially in their oxidation,

ILI.

Dyeing Properties of Lichens. 67

either directly or by intermediate steps, into a substance
called orceine [or some substance chemically analogous]
which is probably the basis of the beautiful purple or red
colour. Some [of the older chemical] authors describe
the same dye, prepared from the same plant, under
different names, according to the colour and stage of
manufacture, designating it orchil when the red tint
predominates, and litmus when the blue.

- Il. Orchil, cudbear, and litmus, are now manufactured in

England by the same manufacturer, either from the

a. Same species of dye lichen, or from

b. A considerable variety of species, by varying the
process of manufacture ; or, in other words, manufac-
turers can prepare either

a. The same dye, which may be red, purple, or blue,
and in the form of a fluid, paste, powder or cake, from
different species ; or,

b. Different dyes, having distinctive or peculiar cha-
racters, from the same or from different species, accord-
ing to very slight variations in the mode of treatment.
—[Vide Appendix to Table II.]

Moreover, the physical characters of the dyes pre-
pared from the roccellas, lecanoras, and other dye
lichens usually employed in the manufacture of these
three colouring matters, on the small scale, are iden-
tical or indistinguishable.

In regard to litmus :—Gélis, many years ago, made a
series of experiments with a view to determine whether
any or all of the dye-lichens used in the manufacture
of orchil and cudbear were not equally serviceable for
the preparation of litmus, with an affirmative result ;
and Pereira mentions that it may be variously made
from Roccella tinctoria, R. fuciformis, Lecanora parella,
Isidium corallinum, Variolaria oreina, or from any
lichens capable of yielding orchil or cudbear. The
latter distinguished authority was also informed by an
orchil-maker that he was in the habit of manufactur-
ing litmus from pipe-clay, starch, soda, and common

orchil liquor. I have frequently convinced myself
E 2

68

Dr W. Lauder Lindsay on the

that the most delicate test papers can be equally well
made from common orchil to which an alkali has been
added. Different species appear to be used in different
countries in the preparation of litmus. In Holland
Lecanora tartarea is chiefly used; in Sweden, Scot-
land, and other countries, the peasantry use this lichen
abundantly to furnish a red or crimson dye. In France,
Lecanora parella, Variolaria orcina, dealbata, and as-
pergilla, Urceolaria scruposa, and other species are those
principally employed.—{ Vide Appendix to Table II.]

In conclusion, or by way of resumé, I shall briefly sum up
the chief grounds on which I beg to direct public and scientific
attention to the claims or importance of this limited but in-
teresting branch of economic botany—

I. Experiment on the small scale shows that many native

and foreign lichens,—which are at present unknown in
commerce, and are unapplied to our arts and manufac-
tures,—furnish the same for similar] dyes, as those
species which are usually employed in the manufacture
of orchil, cudbear, and litmus.

II. Many of these species grow abundantly, or reach their

acmé of perfection, in cold climates; several are plenti-
ful on the mountains of Scotland, Ireland, and Wales,
where they could be collected cheaply and easily; all
can be gathered and transported with little or no skill
or labour.

ILI. Whereas in the manufacture of orchil, Roccella tinetoria,

KY.

—and in that of cudbear and litmus, Lecanora tartarea
were the species formerly chiefly used in this or other
countries, now British manufacturers have introduced
many other dye-lichens, either as substitutes or adul-
terations.

Some of these were formerly collected to a considerable
extent in different districts of this country for the
Glasgow and London markets, e.g. Lecanora tartarea,
the so-called “ cudbear” lichen.

V. Many species are, or have been, used to furnish dyes by

the natives or peasantry in almost all parts of the
world. In evidence whereof I need only refer to the

VI.

Dyeing Properties of Lichens. 69

“ crotals” of Scotland, the “ stane-raws” or “ stone-
rags’’ of England, Ireland, and Wales, the “ korkalett”’
and ‘scrottyie” of Shetland, the “ beettelet,” the
“ sten-mossa,” “ alaforel—laf,” “ bjork-laf’ &c., of
Sweden and Norway, the “ Perelle d’Auvergne” of
France, the “ chulcheleera” of India, the “caranja and
Jaffna mass” of Ceylon, and the Usnea barbata in South
America ; and, for general information thereanent, to
Table I. There is a probability that dye-lichens con-
tinue to be used in some parts of our Highlands and Is-
lands, where they were formerly employed to a great
extent, from the fact that in a collection of the vege-
table products of Scotland, at the Exhibition of 1851,
yarns dyed by the following “ crotals” were exhibited :

Isidium corallinum, [white crottle or crotal].

Lecanora parella, [light mA }.
Sticta pulmonacea, [ crottle }.
Parmelia physodes, [dark a }.
» omphalodes, [black aS }.
Besides » parietina, &c.

The dye-lichens thus used by manufacturers or by the
peasantry are the very species which are proved [as a
general rule], by experiments on the small scale, to be
richest in colouring matters :—hence, by analogy, the
probability that other species, which experiment has
also determined to be more or less rich in colouring mat-
ters, may be found a useful addition to the present list
of dye-lichens used in British manufacture.

VII. In support of the opinion that many new dye-lichens

might thus be rendered subservient to our arts and
manufactures, we have the testimony of orchil makeis
and dyers themselves, as given in the Great Exhibition
of 1851.—[ Vide Appendix to Table IT.]

VIII. Chemical analysis has shown that colorific principles,

similar to, or identical with, those, the product of whose
metamorphosis is the basis of the beautiful colours of
orchil, cudbear, and litmus, pervade species belonging
to several different genera, which are both widely distri-
buted over the world, and more or less plentiful in this

. country.

70 Dr W. Lauder Lindsay on the

ik Lichens are the most extensively distributed members
of the vegetable kingdom; several species are cosmo-
politan, The geographical diffusion of the dye-lichens,
—even the most valued varieties,—is very extensive.
For instance, Roccella fuciformis and tinctoria occur
equally in Europe,—on the shores of Corsica and Sar-
dinia, and on various parts of the Mediterranean coast,
—in Africa, on the Mogadore coast on the north, on
various members of the Azores group of islands on the
west, Angola and the Cape on the south, and in Mozam-
bique, Madagascar, and the Mauritius on the east; in
Asia, on the coasts of Ceylon, India, and Arabia; in
America, on the coasts of Chili, Peru and Brazil, as
well as in Australia, New Zealand, the Falkland
Islands, and other comparatively unexplored continents
and islands of the southern hemisphere. Botanical tra-
vellers have found that there is comparatively little dif-
ference between European species of lichens, and those
of North and South America, India, and New Holland.
Brown remarked the strong similarity in regard to New
Holland species ; Humboldt in regard to South Ameri-
can; and of Royle’s collection of Himalayan lichens, Don
pronounced almost every one identical with European
species. Hence the strong probability, in addition to
the other facts above mentioned, that our colonies and
other foreign countries to which we haye access, may
become extensive and valuable fields for the produce
and export of dye-lichens.

As the literature of this department of economic botany is
somewhat meagre, scattered, and difficult of access, I beg to
subjoin, for the information of those who may find interest or
profit in following out this subject, a list of works and papers,
especially on the chemistry of the lichen-colouring matters,
which is in a most unsatisfactory condition at present, stand-
ing much in need of immediate reform.* Few or none of our

* Stenhouse (of London) on the Colorific Principles of Orchil, &e,
Philosoph. Transac. London, 1848,
Lond., Edinb., and Dub. Philos. Mag., 1848.
Proceed, of Philos, Soc. of Glasgow, 1848-9.
L’ Institut, 1849,

Dyeing Properties of Lichens. ae

public museums or industrial exhibitions contain collections of
dy-lichens, the dyes therefrom prepared, or the fabrics dyed
with the latter. The nucleus of such a collection, which is one

Chemical Gazette, 1849.
Annal. de Chimie et de Pharm. lxx., 218.
Kane. Contributions to the Chemical History of Orchil and Litmus.
Philos. Transact. Lond., 1840.
Schunck. On the Colorific Principles of Orchil, &c.
Journ. de Pharm. et de Chimie, 1845 and 1847.
Lond., Edin., and Dub. Phil. Mag., 1844-1848.
Philos. Transact.
Laurent. Journ. de Pharm. et de Chimie, 1848.
Laur. et Gerhardt. On the Colorific Principles of Orchil, &c.
Journ, de Chimie et de Physique, 3d series, v. 24.
Lond., Edin.,and Dub. Philos. Mag., 1848.
Comptes rendus, Aug. 1848.
_ Westring (of Copenhagen). Experiments on the Dyeing Properties of Scan-
dinavian Lichens.
Annales de Chimie, vols. xii., xv., xvi., and xvii.
Crell’s Annals, 1796-7-9.
Trans. of the Acad. of Stockholm, 1791, 2, 9.
_ Edin. Encyclopedia, art. Lichens.
Memoirs of Acad. of Sciences of Lyons, 1786, containing excellent reports
on the economic applications of the lichens, viz. by
Amoreux. “ Recherches et experiences sur les divers lichens dont
on peut faire usage en médicine et dans les arts.”
Hoffmann. Enumeratio Lichenum, &c.
Willemet. Lichénographie économique.
Pereira. Materia Medica, vol. ii.
Ure’s Dictionary of Arts, &c., article Archil, &c.
Parnell’s Applied Chemistry, art. Dyeing.
Encyclopedia, Edinburgh, art. Lichens and Dyeing.
Penny, art. Lichens, &c.
Britannica, do.
Mulder’s Vegetable and Animal Chemistry.
Thomson’s Organic Chemistry— Vegetables.
Gregory’s Organic Chemistry.
Lightfoot’s Flora Scotica.
Withering’s British Botany, vol. iv.
Annals of Nat. Hist. Sept. 1839. Instructions of Royal Society to the last
Antarctic Expedition.
Liebig and Kopp’s Annalen, 1847-8-9 (on Colorific Principles),
Sowerby’s English Botany.
Ameenitates academice of Linneus.
Plante tinctorie by Jérnlin, vol. v., &c.
Transact, of Botan, Society of Edin., vol. i., part ii.
Edmonstone on the Native Dyes of the Shetland Islands,

72 Dr W. Lauder Lindsay on the

eminently deserving the attention of the directors of such na-
tional institutions or museums as the new Industrial Museum
for Scotland, the Sydenham Crystal Palace, the Paris Expo-
sition, &c., is to be found in the Museum of Economic Botany,
Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh.

Francheville. Roy. Acad. of Sciences, Berlin, 1767.
On Ancient and Modern Dyes,

Hellot. L’Art de la Teinture des Laines.

Bancroft. Philosophy of Permanent Colours, 2d edition, 1813.

Leuch. Traité complet des Matieres tinctoriales.

Martin. History of Western Islands.

Berthollet on Dyeing.

Nicholson’s Journ. of Nat. Philos., Chemistry and the Arts, 1799 (Litmus).

Schlossberger. Pharm. Journ., vol. viii., 1848.

Abbé Nollet. Mém. de l’Acad. des Sciences, 1742. (Litmus).

Watt. Philos. Transact., Lond. 1784. (Litmus).

Rochleder, Heldt, Herberger, Dumas, Schnedermann, Heeren, Robiquet
(among recent chemists), and Fourcroy, Vauquelin, Chevreul, Berzelius,
Desfosses, &c. (among the older), have also written on the chemistry of the
lichen colouring matters, especially of litmus and orchil.

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“eqelnoIqos0s “§

76 Dr W. Lauder Lindsay on the

Explanation of TaBueE I.

1. The colouring matters of most of the lichens which yield red or purple
dyes are produced by the joint action of atmospheric oxygen, water, and
ammonia on colourless colorific principles, —probably identical with, or
similar in chemical composition to, orcine. This metamorphosis is effected,
as a general rule, by the maceration of the powdered lichen in putrid
urine, or some other form of ammoniacal liquor, the mixture being freely
exposed to the air for periods varying from several days to several months,

2. The colouring matter of most of those species which yield brown, yellow, or
green dyes, exists ready formed in the cells of the cortical layer of, and
gives the predominant tint to, the thallus. This is uniformly separate
from, and independent of, the colouring matter of the cells of the subja-
cent or gonidic layer of the lichen-thallus, which depends on the familiar
substance chlorophyll.

3.*Denotes those species in which experiment has corroborated their utility, or
which are used by manufacturers in this or other countries in the prepa-
ration of orchil, cudbear, or litmus,

4, Though formerly used to a great extent in the highlands and islands, in
Shetland, and in many parts of the lowlands of Scotland—in Wales, and
in many of the English counties, and especially the more northerly, moun-
tainous, and remote from the great centres of commerce or manufacture—
few, if any, of these lichens are now probably used in this country, unless
in the more inaccessible districts, which preserve, to a great extent, un-
changed by the progress of civilization, their primitive customs. This
change in the customs of our peasantry is probably due to the facts that,
on the one hand, recent improvements in travelling and transit, conse-
quent on the invention of the steam-engine, bring all our great markets
within easy access, or enable all corners of our country to be readily sup-
plied with their produce; and, on the other hand, that the application of
recent discoveries in science to-our textile manufactures, enables the mer-
chant to offer printed woollen, cotton, and linen goods, at such a price as
to obviate the necessity of weaving or dyeing home-made fabrics. In
Sweden and Norway, however, and in other countries, where the peasantry,
from a deficiency in such facilities or advantages, maintain, in great
measure, their primitive customs, they are still probably much used.
Some species are, or have been, used to a great extent, e.g., Lecanora tar-
tarea, Parmelia saxatilis, P. omphalodes, and Sticta pulmonacea : others only
to avery limited degree, e. g., Lepraria chlorina, Lecidea geographica, Leca-
nora atra, and Alectoria jubata.

5. The term “ Crotal,” or “ Crottle,” so frequently used above, is a generic
term among the Scotch peasantry, for the dye-lichens in general: The
equivalent term or synonyme, but used in a much more limited sense, in
the Scotch lowlands, appears to be “ Raw” (e.g., Hazel-raw, Aik-raw) ;
and in England, “ Rags” (e.g, Hazel-rags, Oak-rags). The terms Areill,
Argal, Orchal, Corker, Corcar, dc., have been applied, by different au-
thors, to different native dye-lichens, and not unfrequently to the same
lichens, e.g., Parmelia omphalodes, Sticta pulmonacea, and Sticta scrobicu-
lata ; hence great confusion as to the nomenclature, both of the dye-
lichens and the pigments prepared therefrom.

6. The chief Mordants used in the fixation of these dyes appear to be alum,
common salt, nitre, and carbonate of potash (salt of tartar).

i

Dyeing Properties of Lichens.

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Dr W. Lauder Lindsay on ihe

78

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Dyeing Properties of Lichens. 79
14

Explanation of TABLE IT,

1. In addition to the above, the following lichens were stated, in some collec-
' tions of dye-lichens and lichen-dyes, shown by British manufacturers at the
Great Exhibition, to be used, viz. :—

Parmelia physodes.
— omphalodes—(stated by Turner to be used in the manufacture
: of cudbear ?)
Sticta pulmonacea.
Usnea hirta.
— plicata.
Cladonia rangiferina : and Guibourt states, that
Lecidea geographica, and

— sulphurea } were used in the manufacture of litmus [?].

These statements have probably been founded in error, and there-
fore have not been incorporated in the table. I have even doubts as
to the applicability or usefulness of several of the species last named
therein.

2. The table shows the gradual increase in the number of substitutes for the
Roccelle. A few years ago Roccella tinctoria was almost solely used in the
manufacture of orchil, and Lecanora tartarea in that of cudbear and litmus:
now, from the majority of the above species, any or all of these dyes can
be prepared by varying the mode of manufacture. Several of these were
for the first time published as efficient substitutes for the Roccelle at the
Exhibition of 1851.

8. The above list comprises the chief, though probably not the whole, dye-
lichens used by British manufacturers in the preparation of the red or
purple dye, called variously orchil, cudbear, and litmus. Other species
of the same genera have yielded equally fine dyes on the small scale, and
men advantageously to the manufacturer or importer, be added to the
ist.

4. Some manufacturers prepare all three dyes from the same species—by
slightly varying the process, especially in regard to the period of macera-
tion, degree of exposure to atmospheric oxygen, and the subsequent addi-
tion of alkalis to convert the red into a blue colour, and of substances to
impart consistence. For instance, an English orchil maker exhibited at
the Exhibition of 1851 eight qualities or kinds of orchil liquor, and two
qualities of cudbear, all prepared from Roccella Montagnei,—the dyes so
prepared being capable of imparting the finest shades of crimson, violet,
blue, and chocolate colour to woollen, silk, cotton, and mixed fabrics,
leather, &c., and also of yielding stone blue and lake pigments.

5, Other English manufacturers, again, use a variety of species in the prepara-
tion of the same dye, orchil;—or indiscriminately in the preparation of
orchil, cudbear, and litmus, The two latter dyes are now, to a great ex-
tent, prepared by the English orchil maker ; the cudbear manufacture
has disappeared from Scotland, where it formerly chiefly flourished. From
these three dyes dakes are now manufactured to a considerable extent.

One exhibitor at the Exhibition of 1851 used the following species :—
Roccella tinctoria. | Ramalina farinacea, Lecanora tartarea,
— fuciformis. Parmelia perlata. Umbilicaria pustulata,
Gyrophora murina.
Another used ;—
Roccella tinctoria. Lecanora tartarea,
-~ corallina [Isidium corallinum ¢] Variolaria lactea.
_ dealbata,

80

Dr W. L. Lindsay on Dyeing Properties of Lichens.
A third used :—

' Roccella Montagnei. Parmelia perlata. ’
— tinctoria. Umbilicaria pustulata.
— fuciformis.

And the same exhibitor (a London manufacturer) states his belief, that
species of the following genera might also be employed with advantage to
the orchil maker,

1. Lecanora. 5. Parmelia. 9. Sticta. 12. Solorina.
2. Gyrophora. 6, Evernia, 10. Usnea. 13. Cenomyce,
3. Isidium, 7. Variolaria. 11. Alectoria. 14. Lepraria.
4. Urceolaria. 8. Ramalina. 3

These genera are likely to furnish valuable dye-species in the order in
which I have arranged them. Experiment has demonstrated the value of
the first eight on the list ; with regard to the utility of the last six I am
doubtful. Sticta and Solorina yielded me good brown and reddish-brown
dyes; but from none did I obtain the same red or purple colouring matters
which the other genera on the list are capable of yielding.

6. The general mode of treatment for the development from the dye-lichens of

orchil, cudbear, or litmus, consists of the following steps:—(I am here
guided by the valuable evidence of English manufacturers, as given along
with their collections of specimens of these lichens and dyes, in the Exhi-

bition of 1851.) -
1. Careful washing, drying, and cleansing, to separate earthy and other
impurities. :

2. Pulverization into a coarse or fine pulp with water.

3. Regulated addition of ammoniacal liquor of a certain strength, and
derived from various sources (¢. g., putrid urine, gas liquor, &c.)

4, Frequent stirring of the fermenting mass, so as to ensure full expo-
sure of every part thereof to the action of atmospheric Oxygen.

5. Addition of alkalis in some cases (e. g., potash or soda), to heighten or
modify colour; and of chalk, gypsum, and other substances, to im-
part consistence. 7

These are the essentials of the process; but various accessories are
sometimes employed, e¢.g., the application of continued, moderate, and
carefully regulated heat during the process of fermentation.

One manufacturer states the process tersely as follows:—The lichens
are steeped in an ammoniacal solution, so that the orcine they contain
may, by combination with atmospheric oxygen, water, and ammonia,
develope colouring matters. How far this statement is scientifically
correct, I leave it for chemists to decide.

7. The commercial or “trade” designation of the dye-lichens depends upon

the thallus being erect or pendulous, cylindrical or shrubby, on the one
hand ; and flat, crustaceous, or foliaceous, and closely adhering by its whole
surface to the basis of support, on the other; species having a thallus of
the former character being termed “ weeds,” (e.g., the Roccelle); and of
the latter “ mosses” (e.g., Lecanoraand Parmelia). The “ weeds ” chiefl
used in the preparation of orchil (the Roccelle), are popularly called “ Or-
chella weeds,” and are somewhat specifically arranged in commerce, ac-
cording to their geographical sources (e. g., “ Angola,” “ Lima,” “ Cape,”
or “ Canary orchella weeds).” The “ mosses” are more irregularly de-
signated,—the specific name in some being due to their geographical source
(e. g., “Canary Rock Moss”): in others to their physical characters (e, g.,
“ 'Tartareous moss,” ‘“ Pustulatous moss).”

8. The species which have no trade or commercial name, have been recently

introduced as dye-lichens, and are not imported in such quantity as to haye
acquired a familiar designation,

James Napier on Trap Dykes of Brodick and Lamlash. 81

Observations on the Trap Dykes in the sea shore between the
Bays of Brodick and Lamlash, in Arran. By JaMus
Napter, F.C.S.* (Plate III.)

During last summer I spent a few weeks at Strathwellan in
Arran; and occasionally wandering along the sea shore, be-
tween that place and Invercloy, I was struck by the large
number of trap dykes cutting through the sandstone in a
direction at right angles to the sea-line. On consideration of-
this phenomenon, it occurred to me that if such dykes continued
round the coast to Lamlash Bay, and still at right angles to
the sea line, they must in all probability have proceeded from
a common centre, lying somewhere between the two bays. In
order to put this idea to the test of observation, I started from
Invercloy, and walked along the shore to Lamlash, measuring
- and marking down the position of every dyke I passed, and the
result completely confirmed my anticipation that they proceed-
ed from one, or possibly from several centres. ‘The ground ex-
amined was the narrow strip of sandstone rock lying between
the sea shore and the soil. The dykes passing through it are
easily distinguished, but I was unable to trace them to any
great distance as they are soon lost under the soil. Some
parts of the beach are strewn with trap boulders, concealing
the sandstone, but whether they cover transverse dykes could
not be ascertained. Between Clachland Point and Lamlash
the ground is so completely covered with gravel and boulders
that only those dykes which rise above the surface can be
seen, and these only are represented in the map which ac-
companies this paper. It is to be observed also that as I
started from Invercloy at low water, and spent four hours
in reaching Clachland Point, the tide had risen nearly to the
full before my arrival, and as the greater part of the sandstone
is covered at high water, the number of dykes counted in the
latter part of the walk may not exactly correspond with that
which would have been observed at ebb tide, as some of them
split into two or more branches, and according to the extent

* Read before the Natural History Society of Glasgow.
NEW SERJES,—VUL. IL. NO. L—JULY 1855, ¥

82 James Napier on the Trap Dykes between the

to which they are covered by water, the branches may be
counted as separate dykes or as part of one.

The number of dykes I counted between Invercloy ak
Clachland Point was fifty-four, exclusive of those which run
parallel with the coast, and connect together those which
radiate from the centre. They vary in breadth from one to a
hundred feet, making a total breadth of about 727 feet.

The general phenomena along the shore indicate that the
whole surface and rock round the central trap hills between
the two bays has been completely shattered ; and were it not
covered by the soil, I believe the dykes would be seen to form
a net work, resembling a spider’s web, or the fractures in a
pane of glass, radiating from a centre, being close to each
other, and numerous near the centre, and with a few stretching
out for a greater distance, so that from a large trap centre,
some of these cracks or dykes may run out for many miles.

The accompanying map of the district with the dykes mark-
ed along the sea shore, may serve to give some idea of the
appearance, and the reader may conceive their continuation,
either to or from the centre.

In connection with the general feature of these dykes,
and before examining the matter in detail, 1 may refer to
a phenomenon I have often observed, and which may serve
to throw some light on the mode in which they are produced.
In copper smelting works, the slag or scoriz, which has a
composition and structure closely allied to that of some sort
of trap, is drawn or skimmed from the furnace into large sand
beds forming a mass of melted matter of several hundred-
weight; and as it cools a crust is formed on the surface,
under which the mass often remains fluid from ten to twenty
‘minutes, according to its fusibility and the degree of heat
to which it has been subjected. It often happens that after
the crust is formed, an additional quantity of slag skimmed from
the furnace finds its way under that already partially solidified,
in which case the crust is either raised up as a whole, or
breaks and allows the fused matter to flow up through the main
rupture. Cracks are formed in different directions, through
which the fused matter also flows; and if it be very fluid it
simply covers the surface, but if less fluid it rises up through
the main fracture like a cauliflower, forming a miniature trap

Bays of Brodick and Lamlash, in Arran. 83

hill with its radiating dykes. When a second and third addi-
tion is made to the liquid scoriz, the crust may be seen break-
ing up in different places and different directions, but the pre-
vious fractures being weakest yield first ; and when the scoriz
are of different qualities, the lightest and least fusible remain
on the surface, and form the highest portion of the pressed-up
matter.

These phenomena are suggestive of the general characters
and probable cause of the trap hills and dykes of the district
under review, which I will now describe in detail.

The most casual observer of these dykes is immediately
struck with the great difference in the extent to which they
have been abraded by the action of the sea. Some are worn
a great way under the level of the sandstone beach; others
are on a leyel with it; while others, again, form high and
jagged ridges, projecting a considerable height above the sur-
rounding rock. From some experiments made several years
ago on the decay of trap boulders, I found that certain varie-
ties of that rock are rapidly changed by the action of water,
lime and magnesia being dissolved out, the iron converted
into a peroxide, and a crust formed on their surface, which is
brittle and easily abraded. This at first sight appeared to
afford a sufficient explanation of the rapid wear and decay of
some of these dykes within the water-mark, for some of those
most deeply hollowed at the beach form quite a ridge along the
fields where they are not exposed to the action of the sea; but
after a more close examination, I found there were other causes
effecting the destruction of the dyke, which may be rendered
intelligible by reference to another common metallurgic phe-
nomenon. When iron or any other substance is cast in metal
moulds, so that the heat is rapidly conducted from the casting
(chilled), the iron sets to a considerable depth in a crystalline
or columnar form, the crystals or columns lying parallel to the
direction of the radiating heat, one end being directed towards
the mould, the other to the centre of the casting, making the
iron hard upon the surface, but very brittle from the tendency
of the crystals to separate. In casting slag in iron moulds
the same thing takes place, and the mass when struck will
break into columnar pieces.

F 2

84 James Napier on the Trap Dykes between the

In most of the small trap dykes I observed a similar appear-
ance, indicating that the rocks forming the side walls of the
dyke had rapidly cooled the fused matter ; hence the trap
lying in horizontal columns, the water easily gets between
them, and the chemical action I have described takes place,
loosening and separating each column or piece, which the sea
washes away from its bed, and thus the dyke is rapidly disin-
tegrated.

Not less remarkable is the great variety in the mineralo-
gical characters of the trap forming these dykes, all appa-
rently proceeding from a common centre. Greenstone, basal-
tic, and felspathic traps, may be seen within a few yards of
each other, and some running in directions in which they must
either intersect or coalesce. This extreme difference naturally
suggests the question, whether these different dykes really
proceed from one central upheaval or several, and whether
these took place simultaneously or at distant intervals of
time.

To give a satisfactory answer to these questions would re-
quire a more full investigation than I had time and opportu-
nity of making, but the felspathic trap being so distinct from the
others, I sought for a special centre near to the place where
the two large and prominent felspathic dykes, Nos. 38 and
48 on the map, would intersect each other. And near that
point I found an open quarry being wrought for road metal,
and composed of the same kind of felspar as the dykes.
Whether the part of the hill on which this quarry was
situated, be the central upheaval from which these dykes pro-
ceeded, or merely a continuation of the two, after joining
each other, I will not venture to decide, although I incline
to the former opinion. The other varieties of trap I did not
attempt to trace to special centres, because the difference in
their chemical properties is not so great as to prevent their
existing in the same series of dykes, or even in the same
dyke at different distances from the centre. The whole of
the hills between the bays of Brodick and Lamlash are com-
posed of trap, but it appears to me that they have not been
elevated simultaneously, although the differences in time
between one upheaval and another may not have been great ;

Bays of Brodick and Lamlash, in Arran. 85

and I found this opinion upon the differences in composition,
and rates of fusibility of the trap of which they are composed.
It is not my intention to enter upon a detailed chemical in-
vestigation of this point, but I may mention one or two
general] principles which bear upon these phenomena.

Quartz or silica, and alumina, are infusible alone by any
known degree of heat, but if any of these substances, when
submitted to a high heat, be brought into contact with lime,
magnesia, oxide of iron, potash, soda, or almost any other
metallic oxide, they combine and form a fusible compound,
but the quantities of these oxides required to combine and
form fusible compounds, are definite with a definite degree of
heat. If, for example, we take 100 parts silica or alumina,
or mixtures of these, and 16 parts of some other oxide, say lime,
the mixture would require a most intense heat for its fusion: if
there were 32 parts of lime or other oxides, a much less heat
would suffice, but still equal to the highest heat of a blast fur-
nace; but if there were 64 parts of lime or other oxides to 100
silica or alumina, a still much lower degree of heat would ef-
fect complete fusion. It will therefore be evident that if these
separate mixtures were subjected to the same degree of heat,
they would be differently affected, for when the first of these
mixtures was in a state of partial fusion, the last would be as
fluid as oil in summer. These supposed proportions are near
the reality of some of the different dykes 1 have been refer-
ring to, and the subjoined comparison of the ratio subsisting
between the silica and alumina, and the other oxides will serve
to show, that in order to study the origin and history of trap
rocks or dykes, they should be studied more in reference to
these qualities than has hitherto been customary.

Pitch Stone. Felspar. Basaltic. Green Stone, &c.

Silica and alumina, 100 100 100 100
Other oxides, 21 23 45 70
Specific gravity, 2°3 2°5 3° 2°9

From the principles above stated, and the fact that these dif-
ferent varieties of traps are distinct in their positions in situ,
it will be evident that these different fusibilities have a great
deal to do both with position and structure. Again, the time

/

86 James Napier on the Trap Dykes between the

necessary for each sort of trap to become solid is important,
and gives it a peculiar physical structure. Thus, when bodies
solidify slowly they generally take a crystalline form eyen in
mass, and hence the basalts and other easily fused traps
have evidently set more slowly, and are, therefore, generally
crystalline.

So far as I have observed in the locality under considera-
tion, the most difficultly fusible rock holds the highest posi-
tion in the upheaval, and where they form dykes they are least
worn. Although I am of opinion that in this locality these
trap dykes are the result of several upheavals, still their dif-
ferent degrees of fusibility is not a decided proof in fayour of
this view, for were all these traps fused together, the pitch
stone and felspar, owing to their low specific gravity, would
float upon the surface, so that when the solid crust gaye way
by internal pressure, the light and easily solidified rocks would
be carried up first while the heavier and more liquid would
have the greatest tendency to flow through the fissures orcracks
proceeding from the main fracture ; and thus we may have, as
a general law, a trap of a different composition on the high
levels from that of the low levels of the same series, and as
the latter contain a larger quantity of oxides, they are more
easily decomposed, and may be entirely worn-away from the
rocks over which they may have flowed, leaving nothing but
the fissures or dykes visible.

In addition to the facts already stated, it appears to me that
the existence of distinct crystalline minerals within these
rocks, has not yet secured a satisfactory explanation. A good
deal has been said, from time to time, about the formation of
different crystalline forms under pressure, such as Augite and
Hornblende, &c., but it must be remembered that these mine-
rals are of the same composition as the mass or rock in which
they are formed. I refer more particularly to crystallized
minerals distinct from the rock itself, but containing one or
more of its constituents, such as quartz, felspar, &c., in basalt.
To say that these were formed in consequence of the mass
solidifying under pressure, is to pay no attention to the cir-
cumstances under which they are formed. We frequently
find the highest parts of trap hills where the liquid has over-

Bays of Brodick and Lamlash, in Arran. 87

flown, full of these crystals, although it is obvious that the
pressure on them when solidifying would be very trifling, and
the cooling very rapid. I consider it more likely that these
crystals have been formed in the trap before being upheaved,
not as the result of pressure but from the gradual withdrawal of
heat. The crystals are always composed of one or more consti-
tuents of the mass, and so far as I have seen, always of a less
fusible character than the rock in which it is imbedded, and from
which it has been formed, as well as of lower specific gravity.
To illustrate this, I may take a specimen from the top of Dun-
dubh, from which some of the dykes I have referred to come,
which is full of quartz crystals. When these are ground with
the mass or rock, the silica and alumina are found to stand to
the other oxides in the ratio of 100 to 12, while the rock itself,
free from the crystals, contains 100 silica and alumina, to 27
of other oxides. It is known that silicates when fused, have
the property of dissolving more silica in quantity correspond-
ing to the heat, and many other bodies in the state of fusion
haye the same property of acting as solvents to others. Now,
in the case of the rock referred to, the intense heat may have
caused the true silicate to dissolve more silica, and the gradual
withdrawal of the heat, before the fluid burst up, lessening
the solvent property of the silicate, the quartz would crystallize
from the fluid in the same way that salts crystallize from
water, and the specific gravity of the crystals being rather
less than the fluid, they would not precipitate, but either float
or become diffused through the mass.

During this gradual cooling of a fused mass, formed of such
a variety of elements, and subjected to different rates of
affinity from a gradual decrease of heat, we have but to
establish the fact, that crystals of different compounds are
formed under such circumstances, to make it probable that not
only quartz but felspar and most other crystals found im-
bedded in trap and other fused rocks have been formed in a
state of fusion by the decrease of temperature ; and this opinion
derives support from the fact, that the crystals in the rocks
so formed are, as far as I have observed, less fusible and
lighter than the fluid in which they are formed. I cannot,
_ however, at the present moment enter upon the consideration

88 Dr Daubeny on the influence of Vegetable Organisms

of this point for which further investigation is requisite. I
may observe, however, that the same views may apply to
granite, and that its quartz crystals as well as the other con-
stituents may have separated during cooling from a very high
temperature and previous to its upheaval, and these consti-
tuents of granite would retain for a long time a sufficient
amount of plasticity to admit of its being raised to great ele-
vations.

On the Influence of the Lower Vegetable Organisms in the
production of Epidemic Diseases. By CHARLES DAUBENY,
M.D., F.R.S., Professor of Botany and Chemistry in the
University of Oxford.*

The recurrence of Asiatic cholera at such short intervals
apart, in countries the most remote from that to which it has
been satisfactorily traced as its birthplace, naturally invites
the attention of speculators to an inquiry into the hidden
cause of this mysterious malady, and that of epidemics in
general. Unlike that class of disorders, which are primarily
attributable to a decay or derangement of some one of the
organs of the living system, or to malformations consequent
upon them, epidemics appear to spring from the introduction
of an extraneous principle into constitutions which may have ~
been previously exempt from disease ; and although to enable
the poison to take effect, it would seem requisite, that its inten-
sity should bear some proportion to the strength or vigour of
the recipient, still it is probable that there is no frame so
robust, no organization so nicely adjusted, as to be proof
against the influence of these morbific agents in their highest
state of malignity.

Whilst, however, we are compelled to admit, in the case
of all prevailing epidemics, the existence of a specific princi-
ple capable of diffusion through various channels, either by
the touch, by the breath, by the water of the infected locali-
ties, or, lastly, by the atmosphere itself, we must also assume
that every living being exposed to its influence possesses, in-
herent in itself, a certain power of resistance ; so that it is quite

* Read at the Ashmolean Society of Oxford, 13th November 1854,

in the production of Epidemic Diseases. 89
conceivable that a weaker degree of the poison may circulate
innocuously throughout a whole community, and that even one
of somewhat greater intensity may attack only those whose
system is already in a state of greater or less disorder, being
received with impunity by persons in a perfectly sound con-
dition of health.

These postulates are required to enable us to explain the
fact, that scarlet fever, measles, typhus, and other epidemics,
seem never to be entirely absent from any large and thickly
peopled community, although their ravages are restricted to
particular seasons and places; and on the other hand, that a
poison as malignant as that of the plague, which, on its first in-
vasion scarcely spares any that it attacks, fails, nevertheless,
to sweep away the entire population of the infected district,
and has not, indeed, before the present time, exterminated the
whole human race.

Simple and obvious as such considerations must appear,
they are nevertheless often overlooked by the eager parti-
sans of some one of those theories of cholera which divide
the public mind; as must be inferred from its being alleged,
as an argument against the notion of infection, that certain
individuals have been found to enjoy an exemption from
attacks of the disease, notwithstanding their apparent ex-
posure to as powerful a dose of the poison as that by which
others had been overpowered. As if it were not evident
that Nature must have made some provision to prevent that
highest degree of malignity from being commonly attained by
any epidemic disorder, which should be capable of overpower-
ing the resistance of the most healthy, and the least suscep-
tible of the individuals exposed to it.

It is this, indeed, which constitutes one mark of distinction
between epidemic and endemic diseases ; between plague and
malaria, for instance; or between the yellow fever and the
cholera. The virus of the former, admitting that it may
be always present in certain countries and climates, as certain
considerations would lead us to infer, varies at least in in-
tensity in every conceivable degree, according to circum-
stances, some of which are at present obscure, although
others, as we shall see, are sufficiently obvious; the disease,

90 Dr Daubeny on the influence of Vegetable Organisms

therefore, is at one time nearly extinct, at others generally
prevalent. Italso attacks under common circumstances only
those who are either infected by previous illness, or predis-
posed by some temporary derangement brought about. by
imprudence ; nor does it ever prevail throughout a district
in so concentrated a form as to indicate its presence, except
either in places where the bodies of persons already in-
fected by the disease, their excretions, or their clothes, are
present in the neighbourhood ; or else where animal and vege-
table exuviz, in a suitable state of decomposition, attract to
themselves a larger amount of the noxious matter floating
about in the atmosphere, or encourage its reproduction by
affording it a suitable nidus.

It would no doubt be quite possible, at a time when cholera
was raging at Worcester or at Gloucester, to propagate the
disease at Malvern, by bringing there a sufficient number of
patients labouring under the disease, and by crowding them
together in ill-ventilated apartments; or it might be done, even
through the creation of a hotbed of infection by means of a
due accumulation of animal and vegetable filth.

Without these or other like adjuncts, however, it would
hardly seem within the range of probability, that the morbifie
influence developed amongst the population of the adjacent
towns would ever reach such a degree of intensity, as to im-
part to the atmosphere, up to such an elevation, and to such a
distance from the foc? of contagion, any very injurious quality.

Endemic diseases, on the contrary, under similar cireum-
stances of temperature and humidity, not only exist at all
times in particular spots, but exert their influence over every
constitution ; although, of course, with greater degrees of
rapidity or of violence, in proportion to the health and vigour
of the recipient. They pervade the whole district indiscri-—
minately ; and although they may be aggravated by previous
want of attention to cleanliness in the individuals exposed,
inasmuch as filth acts as a predisposing cause to all diseases,
by lowering the energies of the system, they are themselves —
entirely independent of any such cause ; and even seem to be
counteracted, as in the Jews’ quarter at Rome, by the concen-
tration of animal effluvia.

in the production of Epidemic Diseases. 91

_ These principles, however, even if admitted as just, leave
us as much in the dark as ever with respect to the true action
of the poison itself.

Does it, for instance, consist in a deterioration of the

atmosphere we breathe, or in the addition of some noxious
principle to its ordinary constituents ?
_ Does this noxious principle partake of the nature of a
mineral or of an organic poison? does it, like arsenic, like
strychnine, or like prussic acid, act chemically upon the vital
organs, and thus destroy them, or render them unfit to fulfil
their functions? does it operate in the manner of a ferment,
setting up changes in the fluids of the body which are incom-
patible with life? or is it one, which, like certain vegetables
or animals, contain within themselves a principle of so noxious
a character, that they are capable, when introduced, of setting
up a train of morbid actions in the system ?

Some of these conjectures, although gravely entertained,
may .be rejected without examination. No change in the
constitution of the atmosphere has ever been detected by the
minutest examination during the most severe epidemics; nor
can the presence in it at these times, of any foreign ingredient,
be discovered.

It seems plain, therefore, that no chemical poison can be the
cause of the noxious influence; for such a quantity at least as
_ could materially affect the constitution ought to be appreciable
by chemical reagents.

It may also be remarked, that a poison of a chemical nature
could hardly be present in the atmosphere without pervading
it, or pervade it without being of the nature of a gas. If s0,
_ it should operate simultaneously and equally over all parts of
- thie district in which it is present, instead of being confined,
as it is found to be, to certain spots.

It is at least certain, therefore, that the poison of cholera
must be in a solid condition, and not in that of a liquid or of
a gas.

As for the theory of Ferments, which Liebig has pronounced
capable of accounting forthe spread of epidemics, it must strike
us as ingenious and beautiful; but even if it were admitted
to be established on firm principles, we should still be ata

92 Dr Daubeny on the influence of Vegetable Organisms

loss to explain the fact which is pleaded most strongly in its
favour—namely, the non-recurrence of most epidemies in the
same individual ; without adopting the violent and gratuitous
hypothesis, that there is a specific fermentable substance for
each of them present in the system, which is destroyed or
eliminated during the progress of the disease.

Granting even that the epidemic poison acts after the
manner of a ferment, the question still recurs, what is the
nature of the ferment itself? and thus we are brought back
again to the original subject of inquiry.

Let us then consider, whether it be more probable that the
morbific influence be of an inorganic or of an organie nature ;
and if the latter hypothesis deserve the preference, whether it
be of an animal or vegetable origin.

Now, there are many circumstances in the progress of an
epidemic disease, which seem inconsistent with = action of an
inorganic poison.

In the first place, its operation is capricious and uncertain
—lying dormant for a considerable period, and then suddenly
starting into activity. Secondly, instead of being destroyed
in the process of development, it seems to have the power of
indefinite reproduction, or multiplies itself in direct proportion
to its previous activity. Lastly, its virulence is dependent
upon a number of extraneous conditions, such as climate, soil,
humidity, by which no animal poison would seem to be in the
slightest degree affected.

We are driven then, by a process of logical exhaustion, to
conclude, that the poison which gives rise to these dreaded con-
sequences is of an organic nature. It does not, however,
directly follow, that being organized these agents should be
living ; and indeed the theory of their acting as ferments is
quite compatible with the notion of their existing in that
intermediate condition, when, life being removed, the consti-
tuents that had been held together through its instrumentality
are in the act of resolving themselves into simpler combinations,
and passing back into the state of brute matter.

But although the products of animal and vegetable decor-
position are unwholesome, and in certain of their stages even
pernici us, it would be absurd to suppose that they could in

in the production of Epidemic Diseases. 93

themselves engender an epidemic. Putrid matter, in one par-
ticular, and that not an advanced state of decomposition, or I
should perhaps rather say, morbific matter generated in certain
parts of the body, as in the peritoneum, during the course of
disease, if absorbed by the system, produces the greatest de-
_ rangement of the functions, and even death, but it does not
engender cholera or typhus.

We must look farther, then, for the real cause of these dis-
eases, and seem, indeed, scarcely to have any alternative
remaining, except that of referring them to the deleterious
influence exerted by certain tribes either of animalcules or of
vegetables. Both these hypotheses have had their advocates ;
the former being supported by Kircher, Linneeus, and in later
times by Sir Henry Holland, in a very ingenious and elegant
essay; the latter, amongst the rest by Dr Mitchell of Phila-
delphia.

Both hypotheses have the advantage of explaining equally
well the migratory character of epidemic diseases—the period
of incubation which belongs to them all, definite in almost
every case of the same disorder, and yet varying in length
according to the nature of the particular malady,—the power of
indefinite multiplication which they all possess, by which they
are transmitted from one individual to another, with such ra-
pidity,—their limitation to particular districts, positions, streets,
houses, or even to one side of the same apartment—their rapid
invasion, and equally sudden disappearance.

But it seems contrary to all analogy to imagine any tribe of
animaleules to multiply itself with almost equal facility in
such opposite climates, as those in which many epidemics,
such, for instance, as cholera, have prevailed. Most of these
tribes are limited by certain conditions of temperature, soil,
and humidity ; and if capable of being transferred from one
continent to another, thrive at least only in proportion as like
meteoric conditions prevail in both.

The same general objections apply, for the most part, equally
to plants as to animals. All the higher tribes, at least of the
latter, have a local habitat, and can only be made to migrate
where similar conditions of climate exist. Nor do they for

9£ Dr Daubeny on the influence of Vegetable Organisms *

the most part fasten themselves upon living animals, or ‘by
their presence disorder their system.

It is a mistake indeed to suppose, that water, because it con-_
tains animalcules, or conferve, is necessarily unwholesome.
However repugnant to our feelings it may be to use water con-
taining these foreign bodies, it is only when they are dead
and putrid that danger arises from their presence.

A recent traveller in Ceylon, Mr Sullivan, relates, that whilst
the vicinity of the rivers is dreaded from the noxious exhala-
tions caused by their overflowing, and their water is considered
unwholesome ; that of tanks, in which conferve grow, and —
animalcules of all kinds swarm, is regarded as innocuous.
Now the only tribe of plants, the members of which seem cap-
able of maintaining themselves independently of those obvious
differences in temperature and humidity, which so remarkably
affect the development of plants in general; the only tribe,
moreover, which grows, after the manner of parasites, upon ani-
mals whilst alive, is that of the fungi, and to these, therefore,
our attention is naturally directed, as promising to supply us
with some more plausible explanation of the nature of these
morbific influences, than we can seek elsewhere. Let us con-
sider, then, how far the known nature of fungi corresponds with
the conditions of our theory.

In the first place, then, many fungi, especially the minuter
kinds, and those of the simplest organization, are believed to
be ubiquitous; and like man, would seem to live inevery climate,
from Sierra Leone to St Petersburg, from Asia to America.

Secondly, not only are the poisonous properties of very many
of them notorious, but like certain epidemic disorders, are in
some cases modified by climate, so that a fungus which is only
narcotic in a cold climate, may be a deadly poison in a hot
one.

Thirdly, the period of their greatest: development is the
autumn, the season in which epidemic diseases more generally
prevail ; although the decomposition of animal and vegetable
matter takes place with greater rapidity during the heats of
summer.

Yet when, as in Egypt, the period of vegetation coincides

in the production of Epidemic Diseases. $5

with the winter solstice, these epidemic diseases become most
frequent in the spring.

Fourthly, the invasion of epidemic diseases is often ushered
in by an extraordinary prevalence of certain moulds, not only
of the common kinds, but also of others which had not been
previously noticed.

Thus, during the first great plague of Rome; in the reign of
Romulus, we read in Plutarch that it seemed to rain blood, a
portent which, in ages of barbarism, has not been unfre-
quently recorded. Now the red fungus which presents this
appearance has been found to be the concomitant of epi-
demics in more modern times also, as during the continental
sweating sickness at Cremona in 1529. Other kinds of mould
appeared on garments, on the roofs of houses, on wooden fur-
niture, &c., during the plagues at Naples, Malta, Brussels, and
_ New York.

Hecker, in his History of Epidemics (Sydenham Society),
has cited various other instances of the same phenomenon co-
existing with some great epidemic, and remarks that blood-spots,
as they were called, went for that reason by the name of
signacula. They were observed in the plague of the sixth
century; and during those of 789 and 959, were called Lepra
vestium. In that of 1500 and 1503, this phenomenon caused
great alarm, more especially because it was found that the
sign of the cross could be recognised in these blood-spots.
One of the first persons who considered the thing at all scien-
tifically was George Agricola, and he, in his History of the
Plague that occurred in his day, viz., in the sixteenth cen-
tury, pronounced the spots to be caused by a lichen. With
_ its occurrence was connected a great failure of the crops
which is often consequent upon the abundance of fungi.

From this and other facts, Hecker draws a conclusion,
which, though cautious in its expression, corroborates, so far
as it goes, that to which I have arrived—namely, in pro-
nouncing it a probable conjecture, that “the sweating sick-
ness which visited England in 1806 was not without connec-
tion with the morbid condition of human and animal life in
the south and middle of Europe, and may be perhaps regarded

96 Dr Daubeny on the influence of Vegetable Organisms

as having been the last manifestation of mysterious agencies
in the domain of organized beings.”

Now fungi of that description, which, in general characters
at least, correspond with those which are observed during the
prevalence of epidemics, are not unfrequently invested with
properties of a highly noxious character.

Thus, bread, cheese, and meat, when affected with mouldi-
ness,—potatoes diseased through the same cause,—the ergot of
rye,—and other parsitical fungi which infest living or dead
plants, are known to produce most serious disorders.

Perhaps, however, the most striking confirmation of the
fungiferous origin of epidemics is afforded by diseases di-
rectly traceable to the growth of fungi that occur in the lower
tribes of animals, as well as in plants.

Of this kind is the formidable disease called the muscar-
dine, which attacks the silkworm. Not only is the particular
fungus, called ‘‘ Botrytis bassiana,” always found upon the
caterpillar when affected with the above malady; but if the
same minute body, generated upon decaying moss, be placed
near a healthy silkworm, its spores are seen to attach them-
selves to the surface of the insect, and gaining in some way
or other access to its subcutaneous adipose tissue, convert it
to its own use, so that the fatty tissue of the worm becomes meta-
morphosed into the rootlets of the cryptogamic plant. By de-
grees the plants penetrate from within to the surface, where they
fructify, and whiten it over with their sporules. Thus created,
the germs attach themselves to other worms, and a contagious
disease of a vegetable origin devastates the whole establishment.

The malady is here distinctly traceable to the introduction of
a fungus, which first grew upon a moss, and was thence trans-
ferred to an animal; in the potato and the grape diseases,
which might be cited as analogous cases, although the morbid
condition of the plant is constantly associated with the presence
of a particular fungus, it is perhaps more a matter of dispute,
whether the latter be the cause or only the effect of its invasion.

I confess myself inclined, from analogy, to adopt the former
view, as the more probable ; although quite prepared to admit,
that different plants are capable of offering a degree of re-

Wes. <Wn:the production of Epidemic Diseases. 97

‘sistance, in direct proportion to their respective hardihood
and vigour.

But at any rate the argument in favour of the fungiferous
theory of epidemics only requires us to show, that these dis-
eases in plants start up suddenly in spots where they do not
appear to have been known before ; that they are propagated
from place to place without much reference to climate or to
latitude ; and that they then disappear as suddenly as they
first manifested themselves.

Like the locusts described by the Prophet Joel, they may be
called the large army which God has sent amongst us, and
which, when it has effected its purpose, He as rapidly removes.

“We see,” says Sir Charles Lyell, “that a scanty number
of minute individuals, only to be detected by careful research,
and often not detectable at all, are ready, in a few days or
weeks, to give birth to myriads; and that when the function,
whether it be that of removing impurities, or of executing
those other mysterious purposes for which they were designed,
is completed, they sink again into nonentity.”

In almost every season, especially in autumn, there are some
species which in this manner put forth their strength, and
then, like Milton’s spirits, which thronged before the spacious
hall, “ reduce to smallest forms their shapes immense.”

So thick the airy crowd

Swarmed and were straitened ; till the signal gave,
Behold a wonder ; they, but now who seemed

In bigness to surpass earth’s giant sons,

Now less than smallest dwarfs, in narrow room
Throng numberless. Paradise Lost, i. 775.

It is obvious that these remarks apply equally to the rise
and decay of epidemics, and that the same simile would be
applicable to those, as well as to the appearance and dis-
appearance of fungi; so that we are naturally tempted to in-
quire whether these latter may not also originate in the same
cause.

Fungi also agree with epidemic disorders, in the length of
time during which their spores would seem to remain dormant,
without losing their vitality. This is evinced in the sudden
appearance of certain fungi, where they had not been observed

NEW SERIES. VOL. Il. NO. L.——JULY 1855. G

+ ee a
a Sa
f de he

98 Dr Daubeny on the influence of Vegetable Organisms

within the memory of man; as in the case of the red mould
which infected the food, garments, and houses of the Vene-
tians, in the early part of the present century.*

They are also distinguished for the high temperature, as
well as severe cold, they can support. Indeed it would appear,
that little short of a heat capable of destroying their organic
structure can be relied on to extinguish their vitality.

The same tenacity or power of resisting decomposition is
also manifested by the matter, whatever it may be, which
imparts to certain fungi the power of affecting the functions
of life. The filthy custom reported by Longsdorfft as exist-
ing amongst the Kamtschatkans, is founded upon the power
which the intoxicating fungus Amanita muscaria, of which

* In the year 1819 the inhabitants of Laguaro, a village in the vicinity of
Padua, were alarmed at a very ominous appearance, like that of drops of blood,
which suddenly manifested itself on the surface of various articles of food.
The first feeling of the people was to attribute it to magic, and the priest was
accordingly sent for to exorcise the evil spirit, supposed to be the author of so
peculiar a phenomenon,

On examination, however, the spots were found to arise from a species of
byssus, which attached itself here and there to these substances. It spread like
a leprosy over the provisions in the houses adjoining, and even extended to the
neighbouring villages. It came on only in particular states of the atmosphere,
and vanished when these conditions changed. Warmth and dampness favoured
it ; and a tendency to putridity, without actual putrescence, in the substances in
which it appeared, seemed necessary for its production.

It occurred more or less for several successive years, between 1819 and 1824,
when the account was published from which the preceding particulars have
been extracted. The substances upon which the red spots appeared were the
flesh of warm as well as cold-blooded animals, flour, bread, biscuit, slices of
ripe pears, rice, &c, This parasitical substance seemed from its effects on ani-
mals to be poisonous. Sette, Mem. Stor. Nat. Venezia, 1824.

Dr Fresesius, in his Beitrage zur Mycologie, Frankfort, 1852, alludes to
these red spots, which Ehrenberg attributes to an animalcule (Monas prodigiosa) ;
Montagne to alge of the genus Palmella, and a late writer in the Gardener’s
Chronicle, to a fungus allied to that found in yeast (Torula cerevisiz),

t See Greville, in vol. iv. of Wern. Soc. Trans. “It is not uncommon for
confirmed drunkards to preserve their urine, as a precious liquor, against a
scarcity of the fungus. This intoxicating property of the urine is capable of
being propagated; for every one who partakes of it has his urine similarly
affected. Thus with a very few Amanite a party of drunkards may keep up
their debauch for a week. Dr Langsdorff mentions, that by means of the
second person taking the urine of the first, the third that of the second, and so
on, the intoxication may be propagated through five individuals.”

in the production of Epidemic Diseases. 99

they partake, possesses, of passing through the system, and
being eliminated by the kidneys unimpaired:

Had it been an inorganic principle, we should be less in-
clined to wonder at its thus escaping decomposition ; but for
an organic product to pass unchanged through the organism
of four or five individuals, and to appear unchanged in the
urine of each, could hardly have been anticipated, from the
comparatively feeble affinities by which organic products are
in general held together. Perhaps, however, the fact of the
excretions of insects containing the virtues of the plants on
which they feed, as is the case with the honey of bees, pre-
sents a certain analogy.

There is also such a difference in the habitudes, localities,
and properties of fungi, that we might the more readily con-
ceive epidemics, as distinct from each other in character as
cholera, typhus, scarlatina, hooping-cough, and plague, all to
spring from one or other of their various tribes.

Every kind of vegetable, indeed, has its distinct fungus,
some, as the ergot of rye, possessed of properties which ren-
der them noxious to the animals that feed upon them. Thus
the mould which fastens upon flour, and infects our bread, is
different from that which forms upon our dried conserves,
or which communicates a peculiar colour and flavour to our
cheese.

Hence, if fungi be the cause of epidemics, we may readily
understand why, for the most part, an infectious disease is
confined to one species of animal; why, for instance, the
murrain of cattle does not attack the human race, or the cho-
lera spread to inferior animals, although, as the same consti-
tution of the atmosphere may be supposed to favour the pro-
pagation of one species of fungus as well as of another, it hap-
pens, that epizootics often precede the breaking out of epi-
demics in man; as, indeed, old Homer himself has recorded—

“ ovenus Mev Mewroy EMWKETO, Kas KUVOS ceeryous.”

Even in the diseased parts of animals, peculiar fungi are apt

to spring up; and one species, if not the cause, is at least the
constant accompaniment of scald-head, Porrigo capitis.

It is curious, too, that the fungus belonging to one disease

: G 9

=

100 Dr Daubeny on the influence of Vegetable Organisms

is not the same as that which characterises another. The
fungus of Porrigo (scald-head) is stated to be distinet from
that of Pityriasis, or Dandriff; and Sarcina,* which is now so
commonly found ejected from the stomach in water-brash,
and existing in the lungs during 4, state of disease, is likewise
a fungus of a peculiar kind. .

Even in the intestines and stomachs of certain insects, the
microscope has lately detected certain peculiar fungi.

The diseases engendered by this class of plants are very
various, sometimes acting upon the stomach and intestines, and
producing symptoms analogous to cholera;} sometimes upon
the cerebral organs, causing mania, narcotism, or delirium;§
sometimes on the extremities, giving rise to mortification and
gangrene. |

In short, the effects produced by those fungi which are
known to us vary in such a degree, that we might be prepared
from analogy to expect corresponding differences in those re-
sulting from the more minuter ones to which we ascribe epi-
demics. !

There seems also to be a remarkable difference between
the poison of fungi and that of other noxious vegetables, which,
if it should be substantiated by further investigations, might
serve to reconcile the fungus theory of epidemics here pro-
posed, with that of ferments, which Liebig has advocated.

In almost every other case, it may be observed, the poison-
ous properties of plants are traceable to some peculiar princi-
ple, generally speaking of an alkaline nature. Morphine,
strychnine, narcotine, and brucine, present us with familiar ex-
amples of this fact.

But none such are recognised in fungi; for although a
Frenchman, M. Letellier, some years ago announced, that
there is a volatile acrid principle in certain poisonous fungi,
and likewise a brown crystallizable solid, called amanitin, to

* See Dr Bence Jones, Transactions of the Pathological Society ; Dr Bennett,
Lectures on Clinical Medicine ; and Queckett’s Lectures on Histology, &e., p. 21.

t See Microscopic Society’s Journal, “On a Flora and Fauna within Living
Animals ;” extracted from Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge,

} See Christison on Poisons. § Namely, Amanita muscaria,

|| Namely, the ergot of rye.

in the production of Epidemic Diseases. 101

‘which he also ascribed noxious qualities, no chemist of autho-
rity appears to have isolated those products, or to have veri-
fied the experiments from which his conclusions were deduced.
Judging, therefore, from the present state of our knowledge,
it would rather seem, as if poisonous fungi may act as fer-
ments when introduced into the system, and thus set up a
series of changes in the vital fluids which are incompatible
with life.

' This will explain the circumstance, otherwise incompre-
hensible, why the same fungus which operates as a poison
upon one person does not affect another; and why certain na-
tions, as the Russians, either from national want of suscepti-
bility or from habit, use as articles of food several kinds of
mushrooms which are rejected by us as poisonous. The
analogy of this to the case of epidemics is obvious enough.

They also are equally capricious in their operation, and pro-
duce effects entirely incommensurate to the minuteness of the
quantity of them imbibed. It is not, indeed, necessary to ac-
count for this by supposing them to act as ferments, for the
property of reproduction, which we must in any case ascribe
to the poisonous principles which give rise to these effects,
might account for the malignity of the result proceeding from
a cause originally so insignificant; but at any rate, the fact
is quite in harmony with the process which takes place during
fermentation, where the minutest quantity introduced into a
fluid susceptible of change is sufficient to operate upon the
entire mass.

Dr Prout, at the time of the first visitation of cholera, had
made an observation, which, although not yet confirmed by
other independent authority, deserves some attention, from the
known caution and accuracy which distinguished the investi-
gations of thateminent philosopher. He found, it appears, the
lower strata of the atmosphere of greater specific gravity than
usual, over the spots where cholera prevailed.

The fact is not easily reconciled with any hypothesis, but it
agrees at least as well with the fungus theory as with the rest,
since the extraneous principle, which must be supposed to
have thus added to the weight of the air, may just as proba-
bly be supposed to consist of the spores of innumerable fungi,

102 Dr Daubeny on the influence of Vegetable Organisms

as of any other subtle matter which might have produced the
disease.

The peculiar odour also which some persons are sensible of
on entering a locality infected with cholera, may possibly be
connected with the presence of some principle in the atmo-
sphere by which its specific gravity becomes augmented.

.Such, then, are some of the circumstances which seem
to lend probability to the fungus theory of epidemics. In
adopting it, we are not obliged to suppose the fungi in ques-
tion to be such as could be detected by actual observation.
From their introducing themselves into the most subtle tex-
tures of the body, incorporating themselves in the blood, and
being taken up by the capillaries, it is probable that their
minuteness transcends the utmost power of our instruments,
and it is not impossible that they may, on this account, ever
escape detection.

The spores indeed of a Lycoperdon of large size, the Reticu-
laria maxima, are so numerous, that Fries calculated more
than 10,000,000 to be present in a single individual, so that
their minuteness and levity may be readily imagined.

Bauer indeed estimated that 7,840,000, not of the sporules, but
of the individual plants themselves, belonging to the common
smut, the Uredo segetum, would be required to cover a square
inch, so that no difficulty need be entertained in imagining their
ready introduction into the vessels of animals. Fries has even
compared their relative magnitude to that of the globules of
chyle and of the blood in the human subject, and declares that
he has seen sporules, which were two-thirds of the size of the
former, and one-third that of the latter. But Dr Mitchell
contends that they are still smaller than this; for he remarks,
that when blood globules, and the spores of various minute
fungi, mixed together, were placed under the field of the mi-
croscope, the latter appeared at least ten times smaller.

Thus, from their extreme lightness, they may be wafted by
atmospheric currents in every conceivable direction, and eva-
poration, electricity, and other meteorological changes may be
concerned in their distribution. If, therefore any of these
spores, or of the fungi themselves, possessing such extreme

“at in the production of Epidemic Diseases. ~ 103

minuteness, were gifted with poisonous properties, or were ca-
pable, in the manner of a ferment, of exciting morbid actions in
the system, their circulation, through the atmosphere of infect-
ed places, or their transmission unperceived from individual
to individual, might account for the prevalence of an epide-
mic at a particular time and place. Hence the discredit which
has been thrown upon the observations of Messrs Swayne and
Britton of Bristol, who, during the former visitation of cholera
in 1849, believed that they had discovered certain specific
kinds of fungi in the excretions of cholera patients, and in in-
fected places, no wise affects the conclusions, to which we may
on theoretical grounds be led, with regard to the fact of fungi
of such minuteness as to find admittance into the blood and
the capillaries, giving risc to the symptoms of cholera.

The question as regards the latter still remains as before ;
for it is evident, that the bodies observed by the Bristol sur-
geons, had they really been peculiar to choleroid patients, could
not have been the same with those which our theory suggests.

These researches, as well as the corresponding ones of Dr
Budd at Bristol, tend at least to point out the abundance of
the lower tribes of organisms in infected localities ; nor ought
I to pass over the ingenious method they adopted of arresting
these minute bodies, when present in the atmosphere, by means
of a funnel closed at bottom, and filled with a freezing mixture
—a much better contrivance than that more recently put in
practice by an anonymous correspondent of the Times, who,
under the name of Investigator, professes to have done the
same thing during the late visitation of cholera.

With respect to endemic diseases, to which Dr Mitchell, the
most able supporter of the above hypothesis, would extend the
same explanation, the difficulties in the way of its application
are rather greater, since it is evident, that the germs of disease
in this case do not possess the same power of reproduction
and of transference from place to place, which must be predi-
cated of those belonging to the class of epidemics.

Whether this difficulty might be got over, by supposing that
some fungi are confined to particular localities, and others ca-
pable of almost universal distribution,it might occupy too much
time at present to discuss. I will only just allude to one cir-

104 Dr Daubeny on the influence of Vegetable Organisms

cumstance in favour of the application of the fungus theory to”
the case of endemic diseases, namely, that the apparently capri-
cious manner in which fungi are distributed, or rather, I should
say, the apparent preference of certain species for particular’
places, and their absence from others, may explain the healthi-
ness of countries, where the same conditions of heat, humidity,
and decomposing organic matter exist, which are supposed to
engender intermittent and remittent fevers in other localities.

Singapore, for instance, is healthy, in spite of the marshes
and jungles which surround it. Ra

In the Brazils, where a humid climate coexists with a tro-
pical heat, where the vegetation is most luxuriant, the people
uncleanly, and the drainage neglected, endemic diseases are
rare, and the principal ravages of this kind experienced are
due to fevers lately imported from abroad.

The Cape of Good Hope may owe its exemption to its dry
atmosphere, yet the driest parts of Spain during the Peninsu-
lar war affected our soldiers with intermittent fever.

Australia is in general noted for its salubrity, and yet it is
by no means free from swamps or other — characteris-
tics of a malarious climate.

The fungus theory may relieve us in some measure from
the difficulty of explaining these cases of anomaly; but it
must be confessed, that it would be established on @ firmer
foundation, if it could be shown, that the more salubrious
countries alluded to were actually less propitious to the growth
of fungi, than the unhealthy ones.

Dismissing therefore the question concerning endemic dis-
eases, let us confine ourselves to the particular case of the
cholera, and see how far its more remarkable phenomena are
referable to the development of a particular tribe of minute
but noxious fungi.

That cholera is a disease of Asiatic origin; that it was
unknown in Europe till about the year 1830 ;* that its

* The distinct manner in which the cholera has been traced from the East,
is a significant fact in the history of epidemics. It removes every doubt which
might have been previously entertained as to these diseases having a local origin,
of being propagated in some way or other from the source which first gave

birth to them.
There can be no doubt, that the same is the case with other epidemics, al-

~ in the production of Epidemic Diseases. 105

progress thither might be traced from step to step along
the great lines of traffic, and nowhere else ; that so far from
being wafted by the atmosphere, it often travelled exactly —
in the teeth of the prevailing winds ; that when it passed from
a continent to an island, it always first lighted upon the coasts,
and appeared at sea-ports which were in communication with
infected localities abroad, are truths which, I believe, cannot
well be disputed.

On the other hand, it seems equally well ascertained,
firstly, that whatever may be the amount of danger in-
curred by the attendants on those smitten with cholera, that
danger is not sensibly increased by contact with the sick;
secondly, that provided the apartment be well ventilated, and
scrupulous care employed in removing all the excretions of
the patient, and every other kind of impurity, the atmosphere
in that locality will not be more highly charged with the
noxious principle than the rest of the adjoining neighbour-
hood ; and, thirdly, as might be inferred from the previous
facts, that one or more cholera patients removed to a pure and
previously uninfected locality, if due provision be made, by
ventilation and cleanliness, against any accumulation of
noxious emanations taking place from their bodies, need not
infect the atmosphere around them in a degree which can be
dangerous to the attendants or to the neighbourhood in general.

Amongst the modes by which the cholera poison is dissemi-
nated, one of the most frequent perhaps is the water used for
drinking. Pure water, so far as we know, is not capable of re-

ceiving or generating the infectious principle of cholera, but im-
pure water seems to be one of the readiest means of conveying
it into the system. ‘There is a curious illustration of this fact
in the comparative exemption from cholera which was en-
joyed by the parts of London supplied with pure water, during
the epidemic of 1849. It appeared, that whilst in the dis-

though they have existed amongst us so long that their origin is veiled in ob-
security ; and hence the notion of these diseases starting up spontaneously in-
consequence of a peculiar state, electrical or otherwise, of the atmosphere, must
be abandoned, The latter, no doubt in common with other circumstances
peculiar to the infected locality, supply the conditions which are necessary for
the development f the malady, but we must in every case suppose the poison
itself to be something distinct and independent of them.

106 Dr Daubeny on the influence of Vegetable Organisms

trict supplied with water by the Lambeth, Chelsea, and South-
wark Companies, the mortality was 123 in 10,000, that in the
districts supplied by the New River, East London, and Kent
Companies, was 48 ; and in those supplied by the Grand June-
tion and Middlesex, only 15. Now the Lambeth, Chelsea, and
Southwark Companies obtained their water from the Thames,
between Battersea and Waterloo Bridge; the New River,
East London, and Kent Companies from the Lea and the
Ravensbourne; the Grand Junction and the West Middlesex
both from the Thames, but the former as high up as Kew, the
latter at Barnes.

Now mark the proportion of deaths during the late epidemic,
in the six weeks prior to October 7th of the present year.
It is stated from official returns in the Medical Times,*
that in the population supplied by the Southwark Company,
the mortality was 85 to 10,000 inhabitants ; in those which ob-
tained their water from the Kent Company, only 19; whilst
in the case of those furnished by the Lambeth Company, where
the mortality in 1849 was no less than 123, it now was only 17.
But this comparative exemption is accounted for by the cir-
cumstance, that, whereas in 1849 this company was supplied
from the river at Lambeth itself, it now draws its consumption
from the Thames at Thames Ditton. No facts would seem more
conclusive than these with respect to the unwholesomeness of
water obtained from a river polluted with animal impurities. |

It is true that Mr Hassell, in his microscopic examination of
the water supplied to London, condemns all the water com-
panies alike, exhibiting in his plates a formidable display of
animalcules, derived from every one of them.

But I have already remarked, that the presence of animal-
cules does not necessarily render water unwholesome ; and with
respect to the amount of sewage, or of dead animal matter,
there can be no doubt that there must be a great difference
between water brought from the Thames near London itself,
and from spots several miles higher up.

It may be remarked as a curious fact, that in one of the in-
fected parts of France, which I visited in autumn 1854, the
peasants had taken up the idea that the disease was caused by

* October 21.

=

in the production of Epidemic Diseases. 107

poison introduced into the wells of the country, just as was
supposed, during the great plague of the fifteenth century, de-
scribed by Hecker, under the name of the Black Death, when
_ so many Jews, and even Christians, were put to cruel deaths,
on suspicion of having been guilty of this crime.

On one occasion, I even found that suspicion had fallen up-
on myself, as having come into the country with this diabolical
intention, though, as I was not personally molested, it may be
supposed to be confined only to a few of the most ignorant of
the peasants.

Every popular delusion, however, has some basis of truth ;
and it is quite possible, that persons flying from the infected
districts of the south may have brought the seeds of cholera
into the mountains in which they took refuge, and that the
infecting principle may have thus found its way into the wells
of the country, and through their medium have disseminated
the poison.

It was probably owing to the little watering place of Vals in
the Vivarais having been the resort of families from Nismes
and Avignon, where cholera was raging, that the same disease
broke out last August in that remote village ; where it raged
with such fury, that in a few days it carried off more than
forty persons out of that small population, including the Curé
and one of the medical attendants.

These facts, if they militate against the doctrine of contagion
in the strict and technical sense of the term, indicate at least,
that the disease is propagated through the medium of in-
dividuals, and not in some mysterious manner, through the
atmosphere, irrespective of human interference.

Those, however, who, in their zeal to dispel the exaggerated
fears often entertained of contracting the malady, maintain
the non-contagious nature of cholera, have often jumped to
the conclusion, that the disease, because, as they think, it can-
not be called strictly contagious, is therefore not transmissible,
except through the atmosphere.

A dictum like this, which is sure to be contradicted by
experience, can only damage the authority on which it rests ;
and it is far better, not only for the interests of truth, but
also for the purpose of moderating the excessive fears which

108 Dr Daubeny on the influence of Vegetable Organisms

an epidemic is liable to occasion, that the real amount of risk
arising from the presence of the sick should be fairly defined.
Equally illogical is the reasoning often employed, that because
the propagation of cholera does not follow the same laws as
those which the phenomena of some long-known epidemic, such
as smallpox or plague, have rendered us familiar with, and
taught us to regard as the type of epidemics in general, there-
fore the disease itself is to be placed under a totally distinct
category, and not to be regarded as being, like these, trans-
missible by the sick.

It is quite conceivable, that fungi of one kind may be less
diffusible, and therefore chiefly transmitted by contact; those
of another most dangerous or most abundant when derived from
animal filth, or from an infected atmosphere; but no one
ought on that account to doubt that the primary source of the
poison is to be traced to the human frame, from whence it
may be transmitted to the atmosphere, and being absorbed
by fomites, may thus undergo a rapid multiplication. Now,
if this be the case, although it is reasonable to expect that
the most frequent causes of infection should be traceable to
the two latter causes ; there can be no ground for disputing the
possibility of its being occasionally transmitted by human
contact, or for refusing credence to the positive testimony that
may be offered that such has been the case.

In enabling us, then, to estimate, with somewhat greater
precision, the degree of danger which the prevalence of cholera
entails upon the neighbourhood, and the real sources from
whence the danger proceeds, our fungus theory may, I con-
ceive, be regarded, even by those who refuse to adopt it as a
guide, useful, in affording a ready illustration at least of the
mode in which the disease is liable to become formidable.

I have already called attention to the fact of the extraordi-
nary rapidity with which certain fungi, when they find the
conditions favourable to their development, go on multiplying
their cells.

The Bovista giganteum in a single night has been known
to spring up from a few merely perceptible cells to the size of
a large gourd, estimated to contain 4,700,000,000 cells. The
spores from a few such plants would overspread the globe,

~

in the production of Epidemic Diseases. 109

were they not limited by the want of those conditions which
are necessary for their growth.
- That the pabulum which fungi require is soon exhausted,
and cannot be quickly renewed, is evidenced by the pheno-
mena of fairy rings, caused by fungi, which, like the infec-

tious principle in cholera, exhaust the ground where they had
grown, and consequently only extend outwards from the point
where they had first established themselves.

As all fungi contain azote, their proper pabulum is animal
matter in a decomposing condition : hence, although the spores
of indigenous fungi must be floating about perpetually in the
atmosphere of the places where they abound, they only fasten
themselves upon spots where azotized matter exists, and can
be prevented from getting a footing wherever the latter is
carefully removed. Does not the same hold good with re-
spect to our prevailing epidemics, and especially cholera; and
ought not this consideration to disarm it of much of its ter-
rors, by showing that its propagation is in a great measure
under our own control, and may be prevented by a scrupulous
care in removing from the neighbourhood of the infected loca-
lity all those animal exuvie which act as a fomes of infection,
by attracting to themselves the spores of the fungi floating
about, and by favouring their multiplication.

The fungus theory may also serve to obviate the force of
the objections which are sometimes alleged, and still more
frequently, it may be feared, entertained, against the use of
sanitary regulations, from the circumstance that the greatest
degree of filth may often be allowed to accumulate without
producing an epidemic.

If our theory be correct, animal impurities, although they
cannot but be more or less injurious to health at all times
during the process of their decay, are not themselves the cause
of epidemics, but only afford a suitable nidus to the spores of
these fungi, which are conveyed from place to place by human
agency, whenever an epidemic disorder happens to be raging.
Even then, it does not necessarily follow, that the epidemic
will break out exactly in the places most charged with filth ;
for the habits of ordinary fungi convince us, that there is
something apparently capricious in their distribution, or to

110 Dr Daubeny on the influence of Vegetable Organisms

speak more philosophically, that some only of the conditions
upon which their multiplication depends are at present known,
so that their appearance or disappearance can never be with
confidence predicted. Hence we may be prepared by analogy
to expect, that the disease might declare itself in one part of
a city, or even on one side of a building, without any assign-
able reason, whilst it avoided others which seemed equally
obnoxious ; and likewise why it should fasten itself upon a
particular individual, leaving others, under apparently similar
conditions, untouched. Circumstances of this kind might be
seized upon by a captious disputant, whose only object was to
demolish his opponent’s argument, but they can hardly be
permitted to influence our decision on a great practical ques-
tion, which must be determined by a general review of all the
phenomena, and proceed upon something less than demonstra-
tive evidence.

It seems sufficient for this purpose to know, that
whatever local exemptions may here and there exist, and
however unprepared we may be, in the present state of our
knowledge, to explain their causes upon the principles laid
down, still, that whilst on the one hand, epidemic cholera
never breaks out except in spots where human beings are
closely congregated, its propagation on the other hand may
in general be rendered more or less difficult, in proportion to
the care bestowed in removing every kind of decomposing
organic matter—all bodies capable of absorbing animal efflu-
via, such as rags, clothes, dust, &c.—everything, in short, of
an azotized nature which can serve as a nidus of infection ;
just as moulds and other fungous growths may be prevented
from springing up, by removing all those conditions which
experience has shewn to be favourable to their growth. Nor
must we forget the remarkable experiment of Faraday, which
shows with what facility organic matter will cling to any
earthy pulverulent substance with which it comes into contact.
Faraday found, that sea-sand carefully washed and heated to
redness, if it afterwards was merely touched by the finger,
emitted, in consequence, ammonia. Now, azotized organic
matter, as we have seen, is the proper nidus of those noxious
miasmata which are the cause of epidemics. Can we wonder,

in the production of Epidemic Diseases. 111

therefore, that the infection of scarlatina should, in some cases
be known to adhere for years to the walls of an apartment
which has contained the sick; or that hospital gangrene, as in
_ the Oxford Infirmary some years ago, should be present in a
particular ward of an hospital for many months, so as to
attack every patient afflicted with sores or wounds that hap-
pened to be placed in it.

And here too an analogy with the growth of fungi presents
itself. How often is it found, that moulds once engendered
in a building will adhere so tenaciously to it, that they can
only with the greatest difficulty be eradicated. In bake-
houses the flour has been known to become, from this cause,
so constantly ropy, that it has been necessary, in some cases,
to remove the establishment to a fresh locality.

It has been suggested, with some plausibility, that the leprosy
on walls and garments alluded to in Leviticus was a fungous
growth, which infected these bodies, and which was found
capable of spreading to man and other animals, so as to pro-
duce in them contagious disorders.

With these facts before us, whilst both theory and expe-
rience point in the same direction to the proper modes of
preventing the spread of cholera, is it not surprising that the
people of England, after having suffered from two visitations
of this epidemic, should not have anticipated the invasion of
a third, by adopting universally such sanitary measures, as
would remove from their doors, if not the only, at least the
most productive causes of infection of which we are cognisant ?
Would it not have been supposed, for example, that the inha-
bitants of Oxford, when their attention had been called, as
was the case some years ago, to the fact, that a portion of the
filth of their city was directed into a part of the river which
lay immediately under their most public thoroughfare, and
which, during the droughts of summer, was often nearly desti-
tute of water, should have turned the sewage in a different
direction, instead of resolving, as was the case, that the accu-
mulated filth of nearly half the town should in future be poured
out through the same channel, and be discharged into the
same general repository, to offend the sight and smell of every
passer-by ?

2 eee

112 Dr Daubeny on the influence of Vegetable Organisms

Who can wonder that the result of this procedure has been
to render the atmosphere round about Magdalen Bridge tainted -
and unwholesome during the late summer, to deter visitors from
approaching that side of the Botanic Garden which borders
upon the river, and to empty the adjacent college of most od
its inmates for the greater part of the vacation ?

No¥ are our parochial clergy, I conceive, altogether iene ‘a
from censure on similar grounds. I have been told at least
_ of cases of burials even in the most crowded grave-yards |
of the city, which have taken place within a recent period;
a concession to the prejudices of individuals, which, if there
be any truth in the principles I have laid down, can only be
admitted at some risk to the general interests of society.

Even granting, + “however, that these interments were con-
fined to corpses inclosed in lead, and deposited in vaults, the
practice, so far as regards the security of the living, seems to
me little less objectionable than where the commoner mode
of burial is resorted to. ;

The gaseous products which are exhaled during the ordi-
nary course of putrefaction cannot be confined by any leaden
covering ; and, indeed, this fact is so notorious, that in order
to prevent the bursting of the shell, some undertakers are in
the habit of boring holes in it, to allow of the disengagement
of the volatile products. Now, as these latter are the sole
vehicles of the poison, it would seem better to allow them to
be absorbed, as they are disengaged, by the soil of the church-
yard, rather than that they should first accumulate in the
vault, and then escape by fits through cracks into the open air. .

If, therefore, there be any truth in the opinion entertained
as to the noxious properties of the gases exhaled during the.
process of animal putrefaction, if the effluvia which emanate
from them are capable of becoming the vehicles of any infec-
tious principle, whether proceeding from fungi or otherwise,
which may have been carried to the grave, the practice of
burying within towns, or indeed anywhere within a church,
ought, I would submit, altogether to be abandoned.

_ Should the wholesome fear engendered by the awful malady
with which we have recently been visited prove the means of
putting a stop at once and for ever to a practice which is not

in the production of Epidemic Diseases. 113

only pernicious, but which, if we were not habituated to it by
long usage, would be regarded here, as it is in other countries,
_ disgusting and repulsive; should it enforce a more thorough
system of drainage, and a more complete removal of noxious
impurities ; should it induce a greater attention to the com-
forts of the poor, and to the healthy condition of their dwell-
ing houses—then, indeed, the designs of Providence in inflict-
ing upon us such a scourge will no longer be involved in mys-
tery, since it will be seen, that permanent good, both moral
and physical, has resulted from a local and temporary evil ;
inasmuch as: the exertions made to ward off the invasion of a
foreign pestilence have not only succeeded in disarming at the
same time of their malignity those domestic foes which are
always hovering about us, in the shape of typhus and scarla-
tina ; but have likewise promoted in an eminent degree the
general well-being of society, by affording to our poorer
brethren the means of breathing in their dwellings a purer
and a healthier atmosphere, and of cultivating amongst them-
selves habits of greater cleanliness and propriety.

Contributions to Ornithology by Sir William Jardine, Bart.
I. Professor W. Jameson’s Collections from the Eastern
Cordillera of Ecuador.

William Jameson has been many years resident in Quito ;
indeed it is his adopted residence, and he holds the professor-
ship of Natural History in the university of that city, as well
as an official appointment in the administration of the mint.
_ He has allowed few opportunities to escape of attending to
the natural productions of the country around Quito and the
elevated ranges of the Andes. Botany was his favourite pur-
suit, and to him the early numbers of Sir William Hooker's
Icones Plantarum were indebted for many of the new and
remarkable species described. Some years since we requested
him to give his attention to the ornithology of those regions,
and various collections have been at different times received,
collected chiefly in the proximity of the snow line. These
contained several new and interesting species, most of which

NEW SERIES.— VOL, II. NO. 1.—suLY 1855. H

114 Sir William Jardine’s Contributions to Ornithology.

have been described and figured in the Contributions to Or-
nithology. The small collection last received was. from a
lower station, in a direction not so frequently visited, and con-
tains some species yet very rare in the collections of this
country, with one or two which are apparently entirely new;
and the letters that accompany them contain some short but
interesting notes on their habits.

Professor W. Jameson was in the custom of making ex-
cursions to Pichincha, and to the lower forest regions; and
during the past year he made one or two expeditions of some
duration to the latter, chiefly with the view of making up sets
of the plants which he had engaged to do for some parties in
France, and for the Parisian museum.

One set of these plants has been procured for the Herbarium
of the University of Edinburgh,and the following extracts from
his correspondence give some account of the expedition on which
they were collected. These letters were not written with any
view to publication, but they are interesting in connection with
the plants, and with the ornithological collections which were
made at the same time. The wooded region of ‘the eastern
Cordillera is exceedingly rich in some groups of birds, but
these, at the same time, are very local, as much so as the
plants; and indeed, they are dependent upon the latter, cer-
tain species of birds living among and feeding on the flowers,
seeds and fruits of certain species of trees or shrubs, and ap-
pearing only when the flowers are open or the fruit ripe. This
is particularly the case with some species of humming-birds,
which flock in crowds to certain trees or plants when in flower.
Thalurania verticeps is one example; Oretrochilus Jame-
soni frequents the Chuquiraga insignis; and the beauti-
ful Trochilus Stanleyi is only seen on the elevated Andes
when the brilliant blossoms of the Sida pichinchensis are ex-
panded. The extracts from the letters alluded to in regard
to the expeditions are as follow :—

Qurro, 19th April 1854.
“ My intention was to have descended the
western slope of Pichincha, through the forest as far as
Mindo (3926 feet), but having traversed more than half the

Sir William Jardine’s Contributions to Ornithology. 115

distance on foot, through a narrow path, more like a water-
course than anything else, I was all at once brought to a stand
_by a deep pool, which, had I attempted to cross, would have
effectually ruined my collection of plants by wetting the paper
in which I intended to place them; and as the evening was
approaching when I encountered this obstacle, I had no alter-
native but to construct a temporary shed, covering the roof
with the largest leaves I could find. By the time this was
finished it was almost dark, and as everything was completely
deluged by the rain that had fallen in torrents during the
afternoon, I experienced a vast deal of difficulty in lighting a
fire. Having passed the night rather uncomfortably, I thought
it advisable to return from this point; more particularly as I
had previously secured some interesting plants which I had
not seen on any former occasion.

“The vegetation, en route, is exceedingly interesting. The
descent commences at Pichau (12,986 feet). Here the forest
trees are principally Melastomacew, Osteomeles ferruginea,
Escallonia myrtilloides, two species of Buddlea and Sola-
num, Of shrubs, Fuchsia triphylla, Valeriana, and many
others; of herbaceous plants, Gentiana Jamesoni (its only
known habitat); a large stinging Loasa; a gigantic Draba ;
several Calceolarie ; Ranunculus, two species. There are no
epiphytal Orchidee, and the only plant of that family observed
was the curious Aliensteinia paleacea. A little farther down
we have Columellia sericea, Eupatorium glutinosum ; Lor-
anthus, two species ; Polylepis, and several arborescent Com-
posite. ‘Two very handsome climbers are occasionally found,
the one a Tacsonia, and the other Eecremocarpus longiflorus ;
of the former I found a beautiful nondescript species, with a
remarkably large flower ; and no less than five species of
Fuchsia.”

QuITo, 23d August 1854.
ns Next to the gratification derived from books,
nothing delights me so much as an expedition into these vast
forests, and I do most positively assure you that no danger
whatever attends these explorations. All is achieved at the
expense of a little personal fatigue, from which one recovers
u 2

116 Sir William Jardine’s Contributions to Ornithology.

after a good night’s rest on the bare ground under a temporary
shed covered with a few large leaves. There are no human
inhabitants in those places, and I therefore take with me three
or four Indians loaded with the necessary articles of provi-
sions. We all travel on foot, cutting our way through the
forest, and when we find a suitable place, we in less than an
hour construct a hut or shed, under which we pass the night.
A few of the fronds of the tree-fern placed one above another
make a tolerable bed.”
Quito, 22d November 1854.

“Your very kind letter of the 3lst August arrived in this
city during my absence on a long but very agreeable journey,
in which I was accompanied by several young friends. Our
object was to make an exploration of the forest on the eastern
slope of the Cordillera. "We advanced as far north as a vyil-
lage named Guaca, where the eastern chain is comparatively
low. Four days are required to reach this point, travelling
on good horses, and crossing two remarkably deep valleys, at
the bottom of which are extensive plantations of sugar-cane.
A little beyond the village just named, we turned to the right
and ascended the eastern Cordillera, whose elevation might
be about 14,000 feet. On the top we found abundance of
Espeletia, a remarkable plant of the order Composite; it does
not grow on any of the snowy mountains near Quito, but its
place is supplied by another alpine plant no less singular, the
Culcitium rufescens. Both are thickly clothed with wool, and
make a good bed to one who happens to be benighted in these
elevated regions. Here we had to send back our horses and
proceed on foot, for the descent on the opposite side became all
at once so remarkably steep as to seem nearly impracticable,
but for a forest of stunted trees (chiefly Hscallonias), which
made it by no means a difficult task. Our progress downward
was necessarily slow, but the delay afforded me sufficient time
to collect many curious epiphytal Orchidee. It took us about
three hours to reach the bottom, probably about as many
thousand feet below the point from which we started. I am
inclined to think so by meeting with a plantation of Carica
with ripe fruit, a tree which will scarcely grow above the level
of Quito. We slept in a hovel inhabited by a family of Indians
and guinea pigs. The latter are used as an article of food.

Sir William Jardine’s Contributions to Ornithology. 117

_ * This being the last inhabited spot, we had recourse to the
compass to direct us, cutting notches in the trees, for the be-
nefit of those of our party who should fall behind. We were
in all seventeen. Each day’s journey usually terminated
about two or ‘three in the afternoon, thus leaving us suffi-
cient time to construct for the night a sort of open shed,
covered with the leaves of a species of Arum, to exclude the
rain. We spent nine days wandering in the forest, and I do
assure you, never felt more happy, or enjoyed better health. It
is much more agreeable than my actual position at this mo-
ment superintending the assaying operations of the mint, and
I cannot even finish my narrative without being subjected to
interruptions. Altogether I made a good collection of plants,
and there are probably some new species.”

The ornithological collection received from the last expedition
was not extensive ; at the same time several of the specimens
are interesting from their locality upon the Eastern Cordil-
lera, where the greatest part were obtained.

Buteo erythronotus, King. “The elevated table-lands of
the eastern Cordillera.” A very beautiful species, remark-
able for its seasonal changes. In consequence, it has
been subject to a long synonymy, and has been confounded
with the Buteo pterocles (Temm.), from which, however,
it is very easily distinguished by its much shorter wings.
The adult bird is entirely gray above, with the under
parts white. Previous to assuming that plumage, it has
the back and scapulars of a brownish-sienna, in which
state it is the B. tricolor, D’Orbigny, and the Haliaétus
erythronotus, King; while the first or young plumage is
entirely dull black, in which state it is the B. unicolor,
D’Orbigny. This species has a very extensive American
range. Specimens are recorded from the Straits of Ma-
gellan, Chiloe, Falkland Islands, Bolivia, Chili, Brazil,
Mexico, Ecuador, and now from the table-lands of the
eastern Cordillera.

Trogon personatus, Gould. “ Inhabits the temperate re-
gions between 7000 and 9000 feet above the sea-level.

It prefers dark, shady woods, well watered, and subsists

118 Sir William Jardine’s Contributions to Ornithology.

on various fruits which abound in such localities. The
specimens are prepared at the cost of a great deal of
trouble, from the circumstance of the skin being as deli-
cate as moistened paper; and the feathers are so easily
detached, that when the bird is fired at with the finest
shot, they fly out in all directions. The only way to
procure good specimens is by killing them with the blow-
pipe.”

Trogon pavoninus, Spix. ‘“ Inhabits the forests on the
western slope of the Andes, 6000 feet above the Pacific.”

Rupicola peruviana. ‘ Cuchi-pischo of the Indians, mean-
ing ‘ Hog-bird,’ from its note resembling somewhat the
grunting of a pig, by which its proximity is easily ascer-
tained. All that I could observe respecting their habits
is, that they go in pairs, and when disturbed they are
almost incessantly in motion, flying from one tree to ano-
ther, and not remaining on the same tree for more than
two or three seconds. They inhabit the dense forests to-
wards the base of the Andes, both on the eastern and
western slopes. On the western side, or that fronting the
Pacific, they do not ascend above 4000 feet.”

It is in these forests also, that we have several species of
Euphonia and the beautiful genus Calliste, which have
of late years been described as new, and which are still
of considerable rarity, Calliste phenicotis, lunulata, ru-
jicervix, &c. were sent.

Euphonia nigricollis was obtained in the valley of Chillo,
1500 feet below the level of Quito. Its food consists of
the seeds of various species of Solanum, Physalis, &e.

Upon the eastern Cordillera, visited in the last excursions,
several species of true Tanagra, that beautiful group
of which 7. episcopalis and its allies are typical, and
which will include 7’. dubusia, flavinucha, &c., were col-
lected. 7’. lunulata, D’Orbig., is not uncommon here. A
single specimen of a species still very rare in collections,
the locality of which is given widely, as “ Peru,” was
also received, 7. sumptuosa (Tachyphonus sumptuosus,
Lafresn.), and there is a skin of another fine species allied
to those, having the colouring and markings of the last,
which appears entirely new.

Sir William Jardine’s Contributions to Ornithology. 119

Tanagara notabilis, Jard. N.S.

Above, yellowish-green; head, cheeks, sides of the neck and
chin, black ; on the occiput a triangular spot of orange-
yellow; remiges, greater wing-covers and tail, black ;
great wing-covers broadly edged with blue. Below,
rich orange-yellow. Length 7-4. Wing 3-7.

Hab. Eastern Cordillera Ecuador, W. Jameson.

Another Tanagrine bird of a different form, which appears
equally new, was also received from the same locality. It
is of considerable interest as combining the form of Sal-
tator with the colouring and markings of Arremon, and
clearly indicates that the former genus should form part
of the Tanagers. The bill exhibits a slight undulation
on the edges of the mandible, representing the Tooth in
Lanio. By some, these combinations would be sufficient
on which to found a new generic name ; we prefer, how-
ever, retaining it as a Saltator.

Saltator arremonops, Jard. N.S.

Above, brownish-sienna; head, cheeks and neck, black;
along the centre of the crown and over each eye, a broad
streak of gray, extending to the nape; wings and tail
brownish-black. Below, chin black, throat and breast
sienna, shading to brown on flanks and under tail-covers ;
middle of the belly and the vent gray. Bill and legs
black. Length 7. Wing 3.

Hab. Eastern Cordillera Ecuador, W. Jameson.

Grallaria rujicapilla, Lafresn.

Triothorus unibrunnea (Linnornis unibrunnea), Lafresn.
easily distinguished from the Bogota bird. “ Inhabits
the temperate regions, and has a note equal to that of the
nightingale.”

Anabates flamulatus, Eyton, previously known from Bo-
gota,and Caprimulgus bifasciatus, also extend their range
to these localities.

)
:

120 William John Macquorn Rankine

Outlines of the Science of Energetics. By WiLLIAM JOHN
Macquorn Rankine, Civil Engineer, F.R.SS. London
and Edinburgh, &c.*

1. What constitutes a Physical Theory.

An essential distinction exists between two stages in the
process of advancing our knowledge of the laws of physical
phenomena ; the first stage consists in observing the relations
of phenomena, whether of such as occur in the ordinary course
of nature, or of such as are artificially produced in experi-
mental investigations, and in expressing the relations so ob-
served by propositions called formal laws. The second stage
consists in reducing the formal laws of an entire class of phe-
nomena to the form of a science ; that is to say, in discoyer-
ing the most simple system of principles, from which all the
formal laws of the class of phenomena can be deduced as con-
sequences.

Such a system of principles, with its consequences methodi-
cally deduced, constitutes the PHYSICAL THEORY of a class of
phenomena.

A physical theory, like an abstract science, consists of defi-
nitions and axioms as first principles, and of propositions,
their consequences ; but with these differences :—first, That in
an abstract science, a definition assigns a name to a class of no-
tions derived originally from observation, but not necessarily
corresponding to any existing objects or real phenomena, and
an axiom states a mutual relation amongst such notions, or
the names denoting them; while in a physical science, a defi-
nition states properties common to a class of existing objects,
or real phenomena, and a physical axiom states a general law
as to the relations of phenomena ; and, secondly,—That in an
abstract science, the propositions first discovered are the most
simple; whilst in a physical theory, the propositions first dis-
covered are in general numerous and complex, being formal
laws, the immediate results of observation and experiment,
from which the definitions and axioms are subsequently arrived
at by a process of reasoning differing from that whereby one

* Read to the Philosophical Society of Glasgow, 2d May 1855.

on the Science of Energetics. 121

proposition is deduced from another in an abstract science,
partly in being more complex and difficult, and partly in being
to a certain extent tentative, that is to say, involving the trial
of conjectural principles, and their acceptance or rejection ac-
cording as their consequences are found to agree or disagree
with the formal laws deduced immediately from observation
and experiment.

2. The Abstractive Method of forming a Physical Theory, dis-
tinguished from the Hypothetical Method.

- Two methods of framing a physical theory may be distin-
guished, characterized chiefly by the manner in which classes
of phenomena are defined. They may be termed respectively
the ABSTRACTIVE and the HYPOTHETICAL methods.

- According to the ABSTRACTIVE method, a class of objects or
phenomena is defined by describing, or otherwise making to
be understood, and assigning a name or symbol to, that assem-
blage of properties which is common to all the objects or phe-
nomena composing the class, as perceived by the senses, with-
out introducing anything hypothetical.

According to the HYPOTHETICAL method, a class of objects
or phenomena is defined according to a conjectural conception
of their nature, as being constituted in a manner not apparent
to the senses, by a modification of some other class of objects
or phenomena whose laws are already known. Should the
consequences of such a hypothetical definition be found to be
in accordance with the results of observation and experiment,
it serves as the means of deducing the laws of one class of ob-
jects or phenomena from those of another.

The conjectural conceptions involved in the hypothetical
method may be distinguished into two classes, according as
they are adopted as a probable representation of a state things
which may really exist, though imperceptible to the senses, or
merely as a convenient means of expressing the laws of pheno-
mena; two kinds of hypotheses, of which the former may be
called objective, and the latter subjective. As examples of ob-
jective hypotheses may be taken, that of vibrations or oscilla-
tions in the theory of light, and that of atoms in chemistry ; as
an example of a subjective hypothesis, that of magnetic fluids.

122 William John Macquorn Rankine

3. The Science of Mechanics considered as an illustration of the
Abstractive Method.

The principles of the science of mechanics, the only example
yet existing of a complete physical theory, are altogether
formed from the data of experience by the abstractive method.
The class of objects to which the science of mechanics relates,
—viz.,—material bodies,—are defined by means of those
sensible properties which they all possess, viz., the property
of occupying space, and that of resisting change of motion.
The two classes of phenomena to which the science of me-
chanics relates are distinguished by two words, motion and
force; motion being a word denoting that which is common
to the fall of heavy bodies, the flow of streams, the tides, the
winds, the vibrations of sonorous bodies, the revolutions of the
stars, and generally to all phenomena involving change of
the portions of space occupied by bodies; and force, a word
denoting that which is common to the mutual attractions and
repulsions of bodies, distant or near, and of the parts of bodies,
the mutual pressure or stress of bodies in contact, and of the
parts of bodies, the muscular exertions of animals, and, gene-
rally, to all phenomena tending to produce or to prevent
motion.

The laws of the composition and resolution of motions, and
of the composition and resolution of forces, are expressed by
propositions which are the consequences of the definitions of
motion and force respectively. The laws of the relations be-
tween motion and force are the consequences of certain axioms,
being the most simple and general expressions for all that has
been ascertained by experience respecting those relations.

4, Mechanical Hypotheses in various Branches of Physics.

The fact that the theory of motions and motive forces is the —
only complete physical theory, has naturally led to the adop-
tion of mechanical hypotheses in the theories of other branches
of physics; that is to say, hypothetical definitions, in which
classes of phenomena are defined conjecturally as being con-
stituted by some kind of motion or motive force not obvious
to the senses (called molecular motion or force) as when light

on the Science of Energetics. 123

and radiant heat as defined as consisting in molecular vibra-
tions, thermometric heat, in molecular vortices, and the rigi-
dity of solids, in molecular attractions and repulsions.

The hypothetical motions and forces are sometimes ascribed
to hypothetical bodies, such as the luminiferous aether ; some-
times to hypothetical paris, whereof tangible bodies are con-
jecturally defined to consist, such as atoms, atomic nuclei with
elastic atmospheres, and the like.

A mechanical hypothesis is held to have fulfilled its ob-
ject, when, by applying the known axioms of mechanics
to the hypothetical motions and forces, results are obtained
agreeing with the observed laws of the classes of pheno-
mena under consideration, and when, by the aid of such
- a hypothesis, phenomena previously unobserved are predicted,
and laws anticipated, it attains a high degree of proba-
bility.

A mechanical hypothesis is the better, the more extensive
the range of phenomena whose laws it serves to deduce from
the axioms of mechanics; and the perfection of such a hypo-
thesis would he, if it could, by means of one connected system
of suppositions, be made to form a basis for all branches of
molecular physics.

5. Advantages and Disadvantages of Hypothetical Theories.

It is well known that certain hypothetical theories, such as
the wave theory of light, have proved extremely useful, by re-
ducing the laws of a various and complicated class of phe-
nomena to a few simple principles, and by anticipating laws
afterwards verified by observation.

Such are the results to be expected from well-framed hypo-
theses in every branch of physics, when used with judgment,
and especially with that caution which arises from the con-
sideration, that even those hypotheses whose consequences are
most fully confirmed by experiment, never can by any amount
of evidence attain that degree of certainty which belongs to
observed facts. :

Of mechanical hypotheses in particular, it is to be observed,
that their tendency is to combine all branches of physics into
one system, by making the axioms of mechanics the first prin-

124 William John Macquorn Rankine

ciples of the laws of all phenomena; an object for the attain-
ment of which an earnest wish was expressed by Newton.*

In the mechanical theories of elasticity, light, heat, and
electricity, considerable progress has been made towards that
end.

The neglect of the caution already referred to, however, has
caused some hypotheses to assume, in the minds of the public
generally, as well as in those of many scientific men, that
authority which belongs to facts alone, and a tendency has
consequently often evinced itself to explain away, or set
aside, facts inconsistent with these hypotheses, which facts,
rightly appreciated, would have formed the basis of true
theories ; thus the fact of the production of heat by friction,
the basis of the true theory of heat, was long neglected, be-
cause inconsistent with the hypothesis of caloric; and the fact
of the production of cold by electric currents, at certain me-
tallic junctions, the key (as Professor William Thomson re-
cently showed) to the true theory of the phenomena of thermo-
electricity, was, from inconsistency with prevalent assumptions
respecting the so-called “ electric fluid,” by some regarded as
a thing to be explained away, and by others as a delusion.

Such are the evils which arise from the misuse of hypo-

thesis.

6. Advantages of an Extension of the Abstractive Method of
framing Theories.

Besides the perfecting of Mechanical Hypotheses, another
and an entirely distinct method presents itself for combining the
physical sciences into one system; and that is by an ewtension
of the ABSTRACTIVE Process in framing Theories.

The abstractive method has already been partially applied,
and with success, to special branches of molecular physics,
such as heat, electricity, and magnetism. We are now tocon-
sider in what manner it is to be applied to physics generally,

considered as one science.
Instead of supposing the various classes of physical phe-
nomena to be constituted in an occult way of modifications of

* Utinam cetera nature phenomena ex principiis mechanicis eodem argu-
mentandi genere derivare liceret.— (Phil. Nat. Prin, Math. ; Pree.)

on the Science of Energetics. 125

motion and force, let us distinguish the properties which those
classes possess in common with each other, and so define more
extensive classes denoted by suitable terms. For axioms, to
express’ the laws of those more extensive classes of phe-
nomena, let us frame propositions comprehending as particular
cases, the laws of the particular classes of phenomena com-
prehended under the more extensive classes. So shall we
arrive at a body of principles, applicable to physical pheno-
mena in general, and which being framed by induction from
facts alone, will be free from the uncertainty which must al-
ways attach even to those mechanical hypotheses whose con-
sequences are most fully confirmed by experiment.

This extension of the abstractive process is not proposed in
order to supersede the hypothetical method of theorizing; for
in almost every branch of molecular physics it may be held,
that a hypothetical theory is necessary as a preliminary step
to reduce the expression of the phenomena to simplicity and
order, before it is possible to make any progress in framing an
abstractive theory.

7. Nature of the Science of Energetics.

ENERGY, or the capacity to effect changes, is the common
_ characteristic of the various states of matter to which the
several branches of physics relate ; if, then, there be general
laws respecting energy, such laws must be applicable, mutatis
mutandis, to every branch of physics, and must express a body
of principles as to physical phenomena in general.

In a paper read to the Philosophical Society of Glasgow on
the 5th of January 1853, a first attempt was made to investi-
gate such principles, by defining actual energy and potential
energy, and by demonstrating a general law of the mutual
transformations of those kinds of energy, of which one parti-
cular case is a previously known law of the mechanical action
of heat in elastic bodies, and another, a subsequently demon-
strated law which forms the basis of Professor William Thom-
son’s theory of thermo-electricity.

The object of the present paper is, to present in a more sys-
tematic form, both these and some other principles, forming
part of a science whose subjects are, material bodies and phy-

126 William John Macquorn Rankine

sical phenomena in general, and which it is proposed to acy
the ScIENCE OF ENERGETICS.

8. Definitions of certain Terms.

The peculiar terms which will be used in treating of the
Science of Energetics are purely abstract ; that is to say, they
are not the names of any particular object, nor of any particu-
lar phenomena, nor of any particular notions of the mind, but
are names of very comprehensive classes of objects and phe-
nomena. About such classes it is impossible to think or to
reason, except by the aid of examples or of symbols. Gene-
ral terms are symbols employed for this purpose.

SUBSTANCE.

The term “substance” will be applied to all bodies, parts
of bodies, and systems of bodies. The parts of a substance
may be spoken of as distinct substances, and a system of sub-
stances related to each other may be spoken of as one com-
plex substance. Strictly speaking, the term should be “ ma-
terial substance,” but it is easily borne in mind, that in this
essay none but material substances are referred to.

PROPERTY.

The term “property” will be restricted to invariable pro-
perties ; whether such as always belong to all material sub-
stances, or such as constitute the invariable distinctions be-
tween one kind of substance and another.

MASS.

Mass means “ quantity of substance.” Masses of one kind

of substance may be compared together by ascertaining the ~

numbers of equal parts which they contain ; masses of sub-

stances of different kinds are compared by means to be after-
wards referred to.

ACCIDENT.
The term “accident” will be applied to every variable state
of substances, whether consisting in a co dition of each part
of a substance, how small soever, (which may be called an

on the Science of Energetics. 127

absolute accident), or in a physical relation between parts of
substances, (which may be called a relative accident). Ac-
cidents, to be the subject of scientific inquiry, must be capable
_ of being measured and expressed by means of quantities.
The quantity, even of an absolute accident, can only be ex-
pressed by means of a mentally-conceived relation.

The whole condition or state of a substance, so far as it is
variable, is a complex accident; the independent quantities
which are at once necessary and sufficient to express completely
this complex accident, are independent accidents. To express
the same complex accident, different systems of independent
accidents may be employed ; but the number of independent
accidents in each system will be the same.

Examples.—The variable thermic condition of an elastic
fluid is a complex accident, capable of being completely ex-
pressed by two independent accidents, which may be any two
out of these three quantities—the temperature, the density,
the pressure—or any two independent functions of these quan-
tities.

The condition of strain at a point in an elastic solid, is a
complex accident, capable of being completely expressed by
sia independent accidents, which may be the three elongations
of the dimensions, and the three distortions of the faces of a
molecule originally cubical, or the lengths and directions of
the axes of the ellipsoidal figure assumed by a molecule origi-
nally spherical ; or any six independent functions of either of
those systems of quantities. |

The distinction of accidents into absolute and relative is to
a certain extent arbitrary; thus, the figure and dimensions of
_a molecule may be regarded as absolute accidents, when it is
considered as a whole, or as relative accidents, when it is con-
sidered as made up of parts. Most kinds of accidents are ne-
cessarily relative, but some kinds can only be considered as
relative accidents when some hypothesis is adopted as to the
occult condition of the substances which they affect, as when
heat is ascribed hypothetically to molecular motions ; and such
suppositions are excluded from the present inquiry.

Accidents may be said to be homogeneous when the quanti-
ties expressing them are capable of being put together, so that

128 William John Macquorn Rankine

the result of the combination of the different accidents shall
be expressed by one quantity. The number of heterogeneous
kinds of accidents is evidently indefinite.

EFFORT, OR ACTIVE ACCIDENT.

The term “efort” will be applied to every cause which
varies, or tends to vary, an accident. This term, therefore,
comprehends not merely forces or pressures, to which it is
usually applied, but all causes of variation in the condition of
substances.

Efforts may be homogeneous or heterogeneous.

Homogeneous efforts are compared by balancing them
against each other.

An effort, being a condition of the parts of a substance, or
a relation between substances, is itself an accident, and may
be distinguished as an “ active accident.”

With reference to a given limited substance, internal
efforts are those which consist in actions amongst its parts ;
external efforts those which .consist in actions between the
given substance and other substances.

PASSIVE ACCIDENT.
The condition which an effort tends to vary may be called
a “passive accident,” and when the word “accident” is not
otherwise qualified, “ passive accident”? may be understood.

RADICAL ACCIDENT.

If there be a quantity such that it expresses at once the
magnitude of the passive accident caused by a given effort,
and the magnitude of the active accident or effort itself, let
the condition denoted by that quantity be called a “ radical
aceident.”

[The velocity of a given mass is an example of a radical
accident, for it is itself a passive accident, and also the mea-
sure of the kind of effort called accelerative force, which act-
ing for unity of time, is capable of producing that passive
accident. |

[The strength of an electric current is also a radical acci-
dent. |

on the Science of Energetics. 129

. EFFORT AS A MEASURE OF MASS.
_ Masses, whether homogeneous or heterogeneous, may be
- compared by means of the efforts required to produce in them
variations of some particular accident. The accident conven-
tionally employed for this purpose is velocity.

WORK.

“‘ Work” is the variation of an accident by an effort, and is
a term comprehending all phenomena in which physical
change takes place. Quantity of work is measured by the
product of the variation of the passive accident by the magni-
tude of the effort, when this is constant; or by the integral
of the effort with respect to the passive accident, when the
effort is variable.

Let 2 denote a passive accident,

X an effort tending to vary it.

W the work performed in increasing # from a, to x,, then,

“
’ w=/[' 1 Xda, and
¢! 2 X

W =X (w,—7,) if X is constant.
Work is represented geometrically by the area of a curve,
whereof the abscissa represents the passive accident, and the
ordinate, the effort.

ENERGY, ACTUAL AND POTENTIAL.

The term “ energy” comprehends every state of a substance
which constitutes a capacity for performing work. Quantities
of energy are measured by the quantities of work which they

constitute the means of performing.
* Actual energy” comprehends those kinds of capacity for
performing work which consist in particular states of each
part of a substance, how small soever; that is, in an absolute
accident, such as heat, light, electric current, vis-viva. Actual
energy is essentially positive.

“ Potential energy” comprehends those kinds of capacity
for performing work which consist in relations between sub-
stances, or parts of substances; that is, in relative accidents.
To constitute potential energy there must be a passive acei-
dent capable of variation, and an efort tending to produce

NEW SERIES.—YVOL. I. NO, I.—JULY 1855, I

130 ~ William John Macquorn Rankine

such variation ; the integral of this effort, with respect to the
possible variation of the passive accident, is potential energy,
which differs in work from this—that in work the change has
been effected, which, in potential energy, is capable of being
effected.

Let w denote an accident, a, its actual value; X, an effort
tending to vary it; a,, the value to which the effort tends to
bring the accident; then

i “0 Xdx=U, denotes potential energy.
1 ,

Examples of potential energy are, the chemical affinity of
uncombined elements; the energy of gravitation, of mag-
netism, of electrical attraction and repulsion, of electromotive
force, of that part of elasticity which arises from actions be-
tween the parts of a body, and generally, of all mutual actions
of bodies, and parts of bodies.

Potential energy may be positive or negative, according as
the effort in question is of the same sign with the variation of
the passive accident, or of the opposite sign; that is, accord-
ing as X is of the same sign with dz, or of the opposite sign.

It is to be observed, that the states of substances compre-
hended under the term actual energy, may possess the cha-
racteristics of potential energy also; that is to say, may be
accompanied by a tendency or effort to vary relative acci-
dents; as heat, in an elastic fluid, is accompanied by a ten-
dency to expand; that is, an effort to increase the yolume of
the receptacle containing the fluid.

The states to which the term, potential energy, is specially
applied, are those which are solely due to mutual actions.

To put a substance into a state of energy, or to increase its
energy, is obviously a kind of work.

9, First Axiom.
ALL KINDS OF WORK AND ENERGY ARE HOMOGENEOUS,

This axiom means, that any kind of energy may be made
the means of performing any kind of work. It is a fact ar-

= rived at by induction from experiment and observation, and

on the Science of Energetics. 131

its establishment is more especially due to the experiments of
Mr Joule.

This axiom leads, in many respects, to the same conse-
quences with the hypothesis that all those kinds of energy
which are not sensibly the results of motion and motive force
are the results of occult modifications of motion and motive
force.

But the axiom differs from the hypothesis in this, that the
axiom is simply the generalized allegation of the facts proved
by experience, while the hypothesis involves conjectures as to
objects and phenomena which never can be subjected to ob-
servation.

It is the truth of this axiom which renders a science of

energetics possible.
- The efforts and passive accidents to which the branches of
physics relate are varied and heterogeneous ; but they are all
connected with energy, a uniform species of quantity, which
pervades every branch of physics.

This axiom is also equivalent to saying, that energy is
transformable and transferable (an allegation which, in the
previous paper referred to, was included in the definition of
energy); for, to transform energy, means to employ energy
depending on accidents of one kind, in putting a substance
into a state of energy depending on accidents of another kind ;
and to transfer energy, means to employ the energy of one
substance in putting another substance into a state of energy,
both of which are kinds of work, and may, according to the
axiom, be performed by means of any kind of energy.

19. Second Axiom.
THE TOTAL ENERGY OF A SUBSTANCE CANNOT BE ALTERED
BY THE MUTUAL ACTIONS OF ITS PARTS.

Of the truth of this axiom there can be no doubt; but some
difference of opinion may exist as to the evidence on which it
rests. There is ample experimental evidence from which it
might be proved; but independently of such evidence, there
is the argument, that the law expressed by this axiom is es-
sential to the stability of the universe, such as it exists.

The special application of this law to mechanics is expressed

. 12

132 William John Macquorn Rankine

in two ways, which are virtually equivalent to each other; the
principle of vis-viva, and that of the equality of action and
reaction. The latter principle is demonstrated. by Newton,
from considerations connected with the stability of the uni-
verse (Principia, Scholium to the Laws of Motion); for he
shows, that but for the equality of action and reaction, the
earth, with a continually accelerated velocity, would fly away
through infinite space.

It follows, from the Second Axiom, that all work consists
in the transfer and transformation of energy alone; for
otherwise the total amount of energy would be altered. Also,
that the energy of a substance can be varied by eaternal
efforts alone.

11. External Potential Equilibrium.

The entire condition of a substance, so far as it is variable,
as explained in article 8th, under the head of accident, is a
complex accident, which may be expressed in various ways by
means of different systems of quantities denoting independent
accidents; but the number of independent accidents in each
system must be the same.

The quantity of work required to produce any change in
the condition of the substance, that is to say, the potential
energy received by it from without, during that change, may
in like manner be expressed in different ways by the sums of
different systems of integrals of external efforts, each integrated
with respect to the independent accident which it tends to
augment; but the number of integrals in each system, and
the number of efforts, like the number of independent acci-
dents, must be the same; and so also must the sums of the
integrals, each sum representing the same quantity of work
in a different way. .

The different systems of efforts which correspond to differ-
ent systems of independent accidents, each expressing the
same complex accident, may be called equivalent systems of
efforts ; and the finding of a system of efforts equivalent to
another may be called conversion of efforts.*

* The conversion of efforts in Physics, is connected with the theory of lin~
ear transformations in Algebra.

on the Science of Energetics. 133

- When the law of variation of potential energy, by a change
of condition of a substance, is known, the system of external
efforts corresponding to any system of independent accidents
is found by means of this principle:

Lach effort is equal to the rate of variation of the poten-
tial energy with respect to the independent accident which
that effort tends to vary ; or symbolically,

dU

(2.) X=5-

EXTERNAL PoTEeNTIAL EQUILIBRIUM of a substance takes
place, when the external effort to vary each of the independ-
ent accidents is null; that is to say, when the rate of varia-
tion of the potential energy of the substance with the. varia-
tion of each independent accident is null.

_ For a given substance; there are as many conditions of
equilibrium, of the form

dU

_(8.) we 0,
as there are independent accidents in the expression of its
condition.

The special application of this law to motion and motive
force constitutes the principle of virtual velocities, from which
the whole science of statics is deducible.

12. Internal Potential Equilibrium.

The internal potential equilibrium of a substance consists
in the equilibrium of each of its parts, considered separately ;
that is to say, in the nullity of the rate of variation of the
potential energy of each part with respect to each of the in-
dependent accidents on which the condition of such part de-
pends.

Examples of particular cases of this principle are, the laws
of the equilibrium of elastic solids, and of the distribution of
statical electricity.

13. Third Axiom.

THE EFFORT TO PERFORM WORK OF A GIVEN KIND, CAUSED
BY A GIVEN QUANTITY OF ACTUAL ENERGY, IS THE SUM OF
THE EFFORTS CAUSED BY THE PARTS OF THAT QUANTITY,

A law equivalent to this axiom, under the name of the

134 William John Macquorn Rankine

“GENERAL LAW OF THE TRANSFORMATION OF ENERGY,”
formed the principal subject of the previous paper already re-
ferred to.

This axiom appears to be a consequence of the definition
of actual energy, as a capacity for performing work possessed
by each part of a substance independently of its relations to
other parts, rather than an independent proposition.

Its applicability to natural phenomena arises from the fact,
that there are states of substances corresponding to the defi-
nition of actual energy.

The mode of applying this third axiom is as follows :—

Let a homogeneous substance possess a quantity Q, of a par-
ticular kind of actual energy, uniformly distributed, and let
it be required to determine the amount of the effort arising
from the actual energy, which tends to perform a particular
kind of work W, by the variation of a particular passive acci-
dent x.

The total effort to perform this kind of work is represented
by the rate of its increase relatively to the passive accident,
Viz.,—

aw

dx
Divide the quantity of actual energy Q into an indefinite num-
ber of indefinitely small parts 6Q; the portion of the effort X
due to each of those parts will be

0

and adding these partial efforts together, the effort caused by
the whole quantity of actual energy will be |

dX a7 W
(4. 055 = 9 aoa

If this be equal to the effective efort X, then that effort is
simply proportional to, and wholly caused by, the actual energy
Q. This is the case of the pressure of a perfect gas, and the
centrifugal force of a moving body.

If the effort caused by the actual energy differs from the
effective effort, their difference represents, when the former is
the less, an additional effort

on the Science of Energetics. 135

d
(1 - @7q) %
(5.) {and when the former is the greater, a counter-effort
Q-1)%
(%i

dei to some other cause or causes.

14. Rate of Transformation ; Metamorphic Function.

The effort to augment a given accident x, caused by actual
energy of a given kind Q, may also be called the “ Rate of
Transformation” of the given kind of actual energy with in-
crease of the given accident; for the limit of the amount of
actual energy which disappears in performing work by an in-
definitely small augmentation dx, of the accident, is

(6.) oe pee :

The last form of the above edicauab is 5 it appli-
cable when the work W is the result of the variation of any
number of independent accidents, each by the corresponding
effort. For example, let v, y, z, &c., be any number of in-
dependent accidents, and X, Y, Z, &c., the efforts to augment
them ; so that

aW = Xdx + Ydy + Zdz + &e.

Then

@) d= ef Gt + GoM +

= Qd vg as before.

dz + &e. }

The function of actual energy, efforts, and passive accidents
denoted by
dW sd
(8.) qq =/-@
whose variation, multiplied by the actual energy, gives the
amount of actual energy transformed in performing the work
dW, may be called the “ Mreramorruic Function” of the
kind of actual energy Q relatively to the kind of work W.
When this metamorphic function is known for a given ho-

= ft,

136 William John Macquorn Rankine

mogeneous substance, the quantity H of actual energy of
the kind Q transformed to the kind of work W, during a given
operation, is found by taking the integral

(9.) H= /qar.

The transformation of actual energy into work by the varia-
tion of passive accidents is a reversible operation ; that is to
say, if the passive accidents be made to vary to an equal ex-
tent in an opposite direction, potential energy will be exerted
upon the substance, and transformed into actual energy: a
case represented by the expression (9.) becoming ne gative.

_ The metamorphic function of heat relatively to expansive
power, was first employed in a paper on the Economy of Heat
in Expansive Machines, read to the Royal Society of Edinburgh
in April 1851 (Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. xxi.)

The metamorphic function of heat relatively to electricity
was employed by Professor William Thomson, in a paper on
Thermo-Electricity, read to the Royal Society of Edinburgh in
May 1854 (Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. xxi.), and was the
means of anticipating some most remarkable laws, afterwards
confirmed by experiment.

15. Equilibrium of Actual Energy ; Metabatic Function.

It is known by experiment, that a state of actual energy is
directly transferable; that is to say, the actual energy of a
particular kind (such as heat), in one substance, may be
diminished, the sole work performed being an equal augmenta-
tion of the same kind of actual energy in another substance.

Equilibrium of actual energy of a particular kind Q be-
tween substances A and B, takes place, when the tendency of
A to transfer this kind of energy to B is equal to the tendency
of B to transfer the same kind of energy to A. |

Laws respecting the equilibrium of particular kinds of
actual energy have been ascertained by experiment, and in
some cases anticipated by means of mechanical hypotheses,
according to which, all actual energy consists in the vis-viva
of motion.

The following law will now be proved, respecting the equili-
brium of actual energy of all possible kinds.

: on the Science of Energetics. 137

_ Theorem.—IF EQUILIBRIUM OF ACTUAL ENERGY OF A
GIVEN KIND TAKE PLACE BETWEEN A GIVEN PAIR OF SUB-
STANCES, POSSESSING RESPECTIVELY QUANTITIES OF ACTUAL
ENERGY OF THAT KIND IN A GIVEN RATIO, THEN THAT EQUILI-
BRIUM WILL SUBSIST FOR EVERY PAIR OF QUANTITIES OF
ACTUAL ENERGY BEARING TO EACH OTHER THE SAME RATIO.
_ Demonstration —The tendency of one substance to transfer
actual energy of the kind Q to another, must depend on some
sort of effort, whose nature and laws may be known or un-
known. Let Y, be this effort for the substance A, Y,, the
corresponding effort for the substance B. Then a condition
of equilibrium of actual energy is

(10.) bP

The effort Y may or may not be proportionate to the actual
energy Q, multiplied by a quantity independent of Q.

Case first.—If it is so proportional, let

u
Y=;

K being independent of Q; then the condition of equilibrium
becomes —

a ratio independent of the absolute amounts of actual energy.
Case Second.—If the effort Y is not simply proportional to
the actual energy Q, the portion of it caused by that actual
energy, according to the principle of article 13, deduced from
the third axiom, is, for each substance,
dY
Pag
and a second condition of equilibrium of actual energy is fur-
nished by the equation

f ME iey Xu
(11.) Q5G. = & GG

In order that this condition may be fulfilled simultaneously
with the condition (10.) it is necessary that

dQ. 1} AQ:
QR ° @&

138 William John Macquorn Rankine

that is to say, that the ratio of the quantities of actual energy
in the two substances should be independent of those quanti-
ties themselves ; a condition sage: as before by

“(ly ee
Q. E. D.

This ratio is a quantity to be ascertained by experiment,
and may be called the ratio of the SPECIFIC ACTUAL ENERGIES
of the substances A and B, for the kind of energy under con-
sideration. |

The function

Q. _ Qs _

(12.) ees eg 6
whose identity for the two substances expresses the condition
of equilibrium of the actual energy Q between them, may be
called the “‘ METABATIC FUNCTION” for that kind of energy.

In the science of thermo-dynamics, the metabatic function
is absolute temperature; and the factor K is real specific
heat. The theorem stated above, when applied to heat,
amounts to this: that the real specific heat of a substance is
independent of its temperature.

16. Use of the Metabatic Function :—Transformation of Energy in
an aggregate,

From the mutual proportionality of the actual energy Q,
and the metabatic function 4, it follows that the operations
a f) a
dQ’ dé
are equivalent ; and that the latter may be substituted for the
former in all the equations expressing the laws of the trans-
formation of energy. Mebs have therefore
nhs vw
ee) Q% 37 = a déda
for the effort to transform ree energy of the kind Q into
work of the kind W, when expressed in terms of the metabatic
function; and
(14.) dH=éd chal
for the limit of the indefinitely small transformation produced

on the Science of Energetics. 139

by an indefinitely small variation of the accidents on which
the kind of work W depends.
There is also a form of metamorphic function.

dW fal
(15.). p= c= f=

suited for employment along with the metabatic function, in
order to find, by the integration

(16) H= [ods

the quantity of actual energy of a given kind Q transformed
to the kind of work W during any finite variation of accidents.

The advantage of the above expressions is, that they are
applicable, not merely to a homogeneous substance, but to
any heterogeneous substance or aggregate, which is internally
in a state of equilibrium of actual and potential energy ; for
throughout all the parts of an aggregate in that condition,
the metabatic function 4 is the same, and each of the efforts
X, &e., is the same, and consequently the metamorphic func-
tion g is the same.

“ Carnot’s function” in thermo-dynamics is proportional to
the reciprocal of the metabatic function of heat.

17. Efficiency of Engines.

An engine is a contrivance fortransforming energy by means
of the periodical repetition of a cycle of variations of the ac-
cidents of a substance.

The eficiency of an engine is the proportion which the
energy permanently transformed to a useful form by it bears
to the whole energy communicated to the working substance,

In a perfect engine the cycle of variations is this :—

I. The metabatic function is increased, say from 4, to 4,.

Il. The metamorphic function is increased by the amount
A pp.
Mil. The metabatic function is diminished from 4, back
to 4).

IV. The metamorphic function is diminished by the amount
A pp.

During the second operation, the energy received by the
working substance, and transformed from the actual to the

140 William John Macquorn Rankine

potential form is ¢, Ad. During the fourth operation energy
is transformed back, to the amount 4, A @. So that the energy
permanently transformed during ach cycle is (6,—4,) Ag; and

the efficiency of the engine“
1

18. Diffusion of Actual Energy; Irreversible or Frictional
Operations.

There is a tendency in every substance or system of sub-
stances, to the equable diffusion of actual energy; that is to
say, to its transfer between the parts of the substance or sys-
tem, until the value of the metabatic function becomes uni-
form.

This process is not directly reversible ; that is to say, there
is no such operation as a direct concentration of actual energy
through a tendency of the metabatic function to become un-
equal in different parts of a substance or system.

Hence arises the impossibility of using the energy re-con-
verted to the actual form at the lower limit of the metabatic
function in an engine.

There is an analogy in respect of this property of irreversi-
bility, between the diffusion of one kind of actual energy, and
certain irreversible transformations of one kind of actual
energy to another, called by Professor William Thomson,
“ Frictional phenomena,” viz., the production of heat by
rubbing and agitation, and by electric currents in a homo-
geneous substance at a uniform temperature.

In fact, a conjecture may be hazarded, that immediate dif-
fusion of the actual energy produced in frictional phenomena,
is the circumstance which renders them irreversible ; for,
suppose a small part of a substance to have its actual energy
increased by the exertion of some kind of work upon it; then,
if the increase of actual energy so produced be immediately
diffused amongst other parts, so as to restore the uniformity
of the metabatic function, the whole process will be irreversible.
This speculation, however, is, for the present, partly hypothe-
tical ; and, therefore does not, strictly speaking, form part of
the science of energetics.

on the Science of Energetics. 141

19. Measurement of Time.

The general relations between energy and time must form
an important branch of the science of energetics ; but for the
present, all that I am prepared to state on this subject is the
following DEFINITION OF EQUAL TIMES :—
Equal times are the times in which equal quantities of the
same kind of work are performed by equal and similar sub-
stances, under wholly similar circumstances.

20. Concluding Remarks.

It is to be observed, that the preceding articles are not the
results of a new and hitherto untried speculation, but are the
generalized expression of a method of reasoning which has
already been applied with success to special branches of
physics.

In this brief essay, it has not been attempted to do more
than to give an outline of some of the more obvious principles
of the science of energetics, or the abstract theory of physical
phenomena in general; a science to which the maxim, true of
all science, is specially applicable—that its subjects are bound-
less, and that they never can, by human labours, be exhausted,
nor the science brought to perfection.

On the Chemical Composition of Mineral Charcoal. By
Tuos. H. Rowney, Ph.D., F.C.S., Assistant in the College
Laboratory, Glasgow.

Although coal and its allied minerals have formed the sub-
ject of much careful investigation, but little attention has been
paid to the soft fibrous matter which occurs in it in thin layers,
and has been commonly described under the name of mineral
charcoal. Indeed, with the exception of a few cursory notices
of the existence of such a substance, little was known regard-
ing it until the publication of Professor Harkness’s paper in
the January number of this Journal. The absence of all in-
formation as to its chemical constitution induced me to under-
take a few analyses of such specimens as were easily obtained,

142 Thomas H. Rowney on the

and those I have hitherto examined have been from the Seotch
coal-fields ; but it is my intention when opportunity offers to
extend the inquiry to that obtained from other districts. Be-
fore entering upon the details of my own experiments, I may
mention in a few words the principal facts I have been able to
find in the works of previous observers.

Professor Bischoff in his Chemical and Physical Geology de-
scribes it under the name of fibrous anthracite, and states
that “it accompanies all the true coal of the older formations
in beds of from } to } an inch in thickness; it shows under
the microscope the well preserved structure of the araucarias.
Besides these, calamites occur in the state of fibrous anthra-
cite, but the other stems very rarely.” Mr Queckett, in his
paper on the Torbanehill Mineral, read before the Microscopical
Society, and published in their Transactions, also mentions this
substance in the following terms :—* Many blocks of coal have
a fine dull black powder on two of their outer surfaces, which
will make the fingers very black; this I call the charcoal
layer, and in it will be found fragments of woody tissue of cells
and even of vessels. My investigations lead me to believe that
this layer is derived from plants which existed at the same
time as the coal-wood, but were not capable of being converted
into true coal, but having been subjected to a great heat, their
remains are left as a species of charcoal.”

Professor Harkness states that he has observed mineral
charcoal in the coals of the tertiary and oolitic formations, and
also in the true coal measures, and that in the latter there
exists both a fibrous and granular variety. Both these yarie-
ties I have distinctly recognised in all the coals I have examin-
ed, and the latter especially is found sometimes as a light
powder, at others in the form of a cindery substance, that
peels off the coal in flakes which are readily reduced to pow-
der. From his microscopical examination of mineral charcoal,
Professor Harkness is of opinion that the two varieties are de-
rived from different plants; the granular, which consists of cellu-
lar tissue, he refers to the sigillarias; whilst the fibrous char-
coal, from the markings upon the walls of the cells, he considers
to be derived from the calamites or allied plants.

I shall not attempt at present to enter upon the nature and

Chemical Composition of Mineral Charcoal. 1438

origin of this substance, my object in this communication being
to show that its chemical constitution is entirely different from
the coal in which it occurs, and that it is scarcely entitled to
_ the name of mineral charcoal. Mineral charcoal is found
abundantly in most coals, sometimes in the form of layers of
considerable extent, and sometimes only in small patches.
It is also found in cannel coal, but not in very great quantity.
When ignited in a platinum crucible it burns pretty readily,
but it contains very little volatile matter. The ash left after
ignition varies considerably even in the same specimen, some
portions of it being highly ferruginous, and others consisting
principally of carbonate and sulphate of lime.

I found it very difficult to obtain accurate results by the
usual method of combustion with chromate of lead, and there-
ford adopted that of burning it in a stream of oxygen from a
gas holder, which enabled me also to determine the amount of
ash in each quantity experimented upon. In obtaining the
charcoal for analysis care was taken to prevent any coal from
being mixed with it, and only those portions were taken which
came away freely from the coal. Before being submitted to
analysis it was finely powdered and dried at 100° C.

The charcoal from the undermentioned coals was analysed,
and the following results obtained,—

Fibrous Charcoal from the common household coals of the
Glasgow coal-fields, as used in the Laboratory.

1385 grammes of substance gave

I +4215 bile carbonic acid,
* ) 0415 4% water, and
‘0085 4S. ash,
‘1218 grammes of substance gave
I *3705 — carbonic acid,
* ) -0370 th water, and
‘0073 aes ash,

III. +4185 grammes of substance gave ‘0032 grammes
of nitrogen.

IV. ‘6830 grammes of substance lost by gentle ignition
0800 grammes.

144 Thomas H. Rowney on the
I. II.

Carbon, . . 82:99 82:96
Hydrogen, . 8-82 3°37
Nitrogen, . : 75 “75
Oxygen, . oC ee 6:93
Ash, 6:18 5-99

100-00 100-00

The volatile matter, driven off at a low red heat, was 11°71, per

cent.

sible the ash the carbon was equal to 88°68

hydrogen... 3°57

Granular Charcoal from the Stonelaws coals.

‘1600 grammes of substance gave

I 4275 ae carbonic acid
* ) -0330 ea water, and
0305 oe ash.
‘1570 grammes of substance gave
II *4180 eee carbonic acid,
: *0340 ‘ie water, and
-0300 ahs ash.
I. Il.
Carbon, 72°87 72°61
Hydrogen, 2°29 2°40
Nitrogen, ; :
Masti } 5°78 5°89
19-06 19°10
100-00 100-00

Deducting the ash, the Carbon is equal to 89°89

Hydrogen ... 2:89

‘4410 grammes of substance gently heated lost ‘0310 grammes, —
equal to 7:03 percent. of volatile matter.

Fibrous Charcoal from Ayrshire coal.

II,

‘1162 grammes of substance gave
*3140 se3 carbonic acid,
0310 aX water, and
‘0180 oni ash.

‘1385 grammes of substance gave
“38715 iss carbonic acid,
‘0365 Fi water, and
‘0212 Sy ash.

Chemical Composition of Mineral Charcoal. 145

I. Il.
Carbon, 73°69 73°15
Hydrogen, 2°96 2:92
Nitrogen, | 3 ;
Diyeon; J 7:87 8°63
Ash, 15°48 15°30
100-00 100-00
Dedticting the ash the Carbon is equal to 86°78
Hydrogen 3°48

‘5315 grammes of substance gently heated lost -0775 grammes,
equal to 14-58 per cent. of volatile matter.

An analysis of the coal from which this charcoal was ob-
tained yielded the following resultsgs—

Carbon, 76:08
Hydrogen, 5°31
Nitrogen, 2:09
Sulphur, 1°23
Oxygen, 13°33
Ash, 1-96

100:00
Coke, 69°77
Volatile matter, 30°23

100-00

Fibrous Charcoal from the Elgin splint coal, Fifeshire.
‘1910 grammes of substance gave

I +5225 carbonic acid,
"| :0475 water, and
"0280 ash,
‘1990 grammes of substance gave
II 6460 carbonic acid,
* | -0490 water, and
‘0300 ash,
I. II.
Carbon, 74:60 74:83
Hydrogen, 2°76 2°73
Nitrogen, , f
“ttl } 7:98 7:37
Ash, 14°66 15:07
100-00 100-00
Deducting the ash the Carbon is equal to 87:30
Hydrogen 3:23

NEW SERIES.—VOL. UU, NO. I—JULY 1855. K

146 Thomas H. Rowney on the
Fibrous Charcoal from the 5-feet seam Elgin coal, Fifeshire. —

‘1815 grammes of substance gave
I, < -5410 ns earbonic acid and
{ 3a ee water,
‘1837 grammes of substance gave
II. ¢ 5460 tes carbonie acid and
"0650 ey water.
1. II,
Carbon, 81:29 81-06
Hydrogen, 3°76 3°93
Nitrogen,
Oxygen, 14°95 15:01
Ash,
—

100-00 100:00

The coals from which these two charcoals were obtained
had the following composition :—

Splint Coal. 5-feet Seam.

Carbon, 80°63 80°93
Hydrogen, 5°16 §°21
Sulphur, 84 63
Nitrogen, 1:33 1:57
Oxgen, 10°61 10-91
Ash, 1:43 ‘75

100-00 100-00

I was unable to determine the ash in the last specimen of
mineral charcoal in consequence of the great scintillation
which took place during the combustion, whereby portions of
the ash were carried out of the platinum boat and lost. Ana-
lyses to ascertain the amount of nitrogen were made in four of |
the charcoals, but in one only was any appreciable quantity
found; in the others merely a trace of this element existed. I
did not determine the amount of sulphur contained in the mine-
ral charcoal, as the large quantity of sulphate of lime present
in the ash would have deprived the determination of all value.

At first sight there is apparently a considerable difference
‘in the composition of these charcoals, but on more minute ex-
amination it appears that the variable quantity of inorganic
matter in the several specimens, is the cause of the difference;
so that when it is deducted from the analysis there is nearer ap-

Chemical Composition of Mineral Charcoal. 147

proach to a similarity in composition. Between mineral char-
coal, however, and coal, the difference is very great, especi-
ally when we compare it with the coals in which it is found,
- of which I have given a few analyses ; the inorganic matter in
the one being under 2, whilst in the other it varies from 6 to
nearly 20 per cent. The carbon in most cases is rather less than
that found in coal, whilst the hydrogen is little more than
half as much ; the nitrogen also, except in one case, has nearly
disappeared. The principal difference between the mineral
charcoal and anthracite is in the inorganic matter, as will be
seen from the following analyses of some anthracites :—

Pennsylvania Welsh Calton Hill, Lamure, Isére
H ‘ Edinburgh. Department.
Carbon, 90°45 90°58 91:23 89°77
Hydrogen, 2°43 3-60 2-91 1-67
Nitrogen, *59 36
Sulphur, 2-45 4°10 2:96 wide
Oxygen, 1°26
Ash, 4:76 1-72 1.05 4:57

100-00 100-00 100-00 100-00

Deducting the ash, the carbon and the hydrogen in the
above analyses are equal to

Pennsylvania. Welsh. Calton Hill. Lamure.
Carbon, 94°88 92°16 92-19 94:07
Hydrogen, 2°52 3°66 2°94 1:75

From the little difference in composition and properties of
these two substances, the name Fibrous Anthracite, given to the
latter by Professor Bischoff, appears more appropriate than that
of Mineral Charcoal. Professor Harkness is of opinion that the

two varieties of the charcoal are derived from different plants;

but the analyses just given do not show any very conspicuous
difference in their composition, and on examining the ash of
both varieties by the microscope, I have come to the conclu-
sion that both have been derived from the same plant.

The ash requires to be digested with nitro-hydrochloric
acid, to free it from iron and other impurities ; and after wash-
ing it thoroughly, and placing it under the microscope, its
structure may be seen distinctly. The fibrous charcoal con-
tains three distinct kinds of tissue; 1st, Rounded cells; 2d,

K 2

148 Reviews and Notices of Books.

Oval cells; and 3d, Long tubes, pointed or rounded at ‘i
ends ; sometimes two or more of these tubes may be found
adhering together. All these kinds of tissue are marked with
dots. The granular charcoal shows similar tubes, but very
much broken-up ; portions, however, may be found which show
the same structure as that found in the fibrous variety.

This examination was made in the laboratory of Dr Ander-
son, whom I have to thank for the use of his laboratory and
apparatus.

REVIEWS AND NOTICES OF BOOKS.

Life of Thomas Young, M.D., F.R.S., §c. By GEORGE PEA-
cook, D.D., Dean of Ely. London: 1855.

Miscellaneous Works of the late Thomas Young, M.D., §e.
Edited by GzorGE Pracock, D.D., and Joun Leitcn.
3 vols. London: 1855.

The most effectual tribute to the memory of a scientific man is,
in these days, a republication of his scattered writings. It is the
lot of few to compose massive works which themselves constitute
a claim to immortality. The discoveries of Natural Philosophy,
and of the Inductive Sciences generally, are often conveyed in a few
pages of printed matter, consigned for facility and earliness of pub-
lication to the pages of a periodical or to the Transactions of learned
societies. The grand discovery by Oersted of Electro-Magnetism
was announced in a loose tract of a few pages; the work which
has given to Mr Brown his chief title to the character of the first
botanist of his age was published as an appendix to the Narrative of
an Exploring Expedition ; and Mr Adams’ Theory of Uranus and -
Neptune first appeared in a volume of the Nautical Almanac.

No author more urgently required an editor for the conserva-
tion and due appreciation of his posthumous fame than Dr Tho-
mas Young. Accustomed to pursue his profoundly original re-
searches in Physics, Languages, and Archeology, in the order in
which circumstances brought them under his notice, or gave a
handle to their prosecution, he was not scrupulous as to the me-
dium of their promulgation. A popular lecture, a syllabus, a
medical treatise, or the pages of a magazine or review, were all in
turn enriched with the spoils of his overmastering intellect ; and
finally, when the late editor of the Encyclopedia Britannica, Mr
Macvey Napier, with sagacious foresight, invited him to contribute

Reviews and Notices of Books. 149

to that work, Young found in its ample pages a fitting storehouse
for arranging the treasures of his truly encyclopedical mind, and
an opportunity of allaying that thirst for labour which haunted
him throughout life as a passion.

To collect into one body the most important of these widely
scattered materials was therefore, in the case of Dr Young, a pecu-
liarly needful preliminary to a due appreciation of his vast talents,
and was rendered still more necessary by a circumstance to which
we have not yet adverted, namely, that a vast majority of his
writings were anonymously published; and though the incognito
was never solicitously preserved, it is easy to understand that this
peculiarity, combined with the real difficulty of most of his inves-
tigations, prevented him from gaining a wide notoriety, and even
rendered it difficult for his admirers to refer to his writings, or
even occasionally to be aware of the existence of some of them.

Dean Peacock, moved by the commendable solicitations of Mrs
Young, has at length executed his task in a manner which appears
to us to be both conscientious and satisfactory. The selection of
Young’s Miscellaneous Writings extends to three closely-printed oc-
tavo volumes, containing no less than 1848 pages, and they embrace
almost everything which requires preservation ; whilst the “ Life,”
in one volume, is a plain and perspicuous history of his wonderful
career, including a just and discriminating estimate of the eminent
position which he is entitled to hold at once in the scientific and
literary world. This rare combination of talent in two depart-
ments usually rigorously separated, with the singular felicity of
being not only a zealous cultivator of, but a prominent discoverer
in each, places Young in a position apart from all his contempo-
varies. When to this we add that he united the dazzling preco-
city of boyhood to the maturity of success as a man ;—that his
industry throughout his entire life, and his learned appreciation
of the works of others, must have rendered him a public benefac-
tor, wholly independent of the diviner gift of consummate genius ;
—and that his private life was marked by the wise moderation of
his wishes, by the harmonious appreciation of the claims of family
and kindred, and by the unostentatious sincerity of a Christian
profession,—we have said enough to show that Thomas Young
was indeed one of the rarest characters which the annals of Bio-
graphy offer to our admiration.

Ile was born at Milverton in Somersetshire, 13th June 1773.
As we have already hinted, he was nothing short of a prodigy in
boyhood. That indomitably active spirit must at once show the
energies which were to be unceasingly exercised throughout the
entire course of a life long enough for his fame, though too short
for the wishes of his friends. His education, first and last, was
somewhat irregular and desultory. The country schools where he
obtained the elements of learning ee to have offered but ordi-

150 Reviews and Notices of Books.

nary advantages, At two years of age he read with fluency; between
five and six his powers of memory had already become conspicuous
by the facility with which he recited poetry; between his tenth
and fourteenth year he had not only mastered the usual topics of
school study, but acquired some knowledge of Mathematics from
the works of Walkinghame and Ewing; of Optics and Natural
Philosophy from Benjamin Martin ; and of Chemistry from Priest-
ley. But more singular than this, he had learnt some smattering of
Italian and French, and betook himself with seriousness to Orien-
tal literature, having in 1786 purchased Montanus’s Hebrew Bible
for five shillings. He had thus already read through Buxtorf’s
Compendium and Taylor’s Tract at the end of his Concordance ;
and before he left Compton school he had succeeded in getting
through six chapters of the Hebrew Bible. An ingenious saddler
at Minehead first put a quadrant into the hands of the future phi-
losopher, who, with no farther assistance than Martin’s books,
proceeded to construct a microscope.

Young’s uncle, Dr Brocklesby, a London physician, in good
practice and well connected, was his most efficient patron and ad-
viser ; and one cannot read without much interest the sensible let-
ters addressed by him to “dear Tommy,” containing a salutary
admixture of advice and encouragement. Through him, no doubt,
the medical profession was suggested to the mind of Young, and
was finally embraced after a somewhat desultory course of study
in London, at Edinburgh, at Gottingen, and at Cambridge. The
interval between his leaving school and commencing attendance
upon medical lectures in London at the age of nineteen, was de-
voted to a rigorous course of private study, in which the Greek
language held probably the most conspicuous place. He aequired,
almost alone, a facility in the use of that language, and a degree
of accurate scholarship, such as very few solitary students can
boast of. Insomuch, that in 1791, when he was nineteen years
of age, he records in his journal, ‘‘ several conversations on sub-
jects of Greek criticism with Porson, Baker, Burney, and Law-
rence, which show that he was already prepared to enter the lists
with those distinguished scholars, and to contend with them on
not very unequal terms.’”? He also formed an intimate acquain-
tance with Burke and Wyndham, who were friends of Dr
Brocklesby, and the former of whom especially took a warm in-
terest in the future career of Young.

The winters of 1792-3 and 1793-4 he spent in London, attend-
ing the lectures of Baillie and John Hunter, and of the teachers
at St Bartholemew’s Hospital; and now his first really original
contribution to science was made, A disquisition on the Adapta-
tion of the Eye to distinct Vision at different distances was presented
to the Royal Society in May 1793, of which body he was elected
a Fellow on the 19th June 1794, six days after he attained his

. Reviews and Notices of Books. 15]

majority. This subject, intimately connected at once with his pro-
_ fession and with Optics (already one of his favourite studies) was
peculiarly adapted to his taste and genius, and he afterwards re-
turned to it repeatedly. His theory—that the spontaneous adjust-
ment of focus is produced by the muscularity of the lens modify-
ing its form—after being first claimed by John Hunter as his own,
was abandoned for a time, even by its author, on the faith of some
experiments by Sir E. Home; but Young resumed it in 1800, and
we have no reason to believe that he again altered his opinion.
Dr Young spent the following winter (1794-5) at the Univer-
sity of Edinburgh. Of his residence there a tolerably full account
is given by Dr Peacock in the third chapter of his work; from which,
on account of its interest to the readers of this Journal, we will
make some extracts.

“ He arrived at Edinburgh on the 20th October, and established him-
self in lodgings in St James’s Square. His reputation, which had pre-
ceded him, and the various letters of introduction with which he was
furnished, opened to him the best society of the place. Amongst the
students were many with whom he had been previously acquainted in
London, when attending the medical lectures: Bostock, afterwards a
physician in London, and a physiologist of some eminence, with whom
he long maintained a very animated correspondence; Bancroft, a man of
considerable attainments, with whom he lived in habits of great intimacy :
he was the son of the author (amongst other works) of a treatise entitled
“Experimental Researches on the Philosophy of Permanent Colours,”
which Young made the subject of a favourable critique in the Quarterly ;
Turner, who was afterwards a distinguished physician at Liverpool;
Gibbes of Bath, and many others... . .

“ The Edinburgh school of medicine enjoyed at that time a very
high character. Gregory, who held the first rank in it, was one of a
family singularly distinguished in the history of the sciences, which
has given, during the last two centuries, nearly twenty professors to
our universities. He was a superior classical scholar, and his well-
known treatise, entitled Conspectus Medicine Theorctice, is remark-
able for the purity and ease of its Latinity. His opinions on medical
questions were entitled to consideration, as much from his great
practical experience as from the arguments with which they were sup-
ported. Dr Duncan, the Professor of the Institutes of Medicine, is very
favourably noticed by Young. Dr Black, one of the most illustrious of
the founders of the science, was Professor of Chemistry ; and though he
had at one time been celebrated for his skill in addressing a class and
conducting his experiments, he was now old and infirm, and before the
end of the session his duties were discharged by a deputy— Dr Rotheram.
Monro, the son of the founder of the Anatomical School in the University,
the author of a celebrated work on the Bones and the Nerves, was Pro-
fessor of Anatomy, an office which he filled for forty years, at first con-
jointly with his father, but latterly with his son, who still survives him,
though he has for some years retired from the University. He was gene-
rally considered as the greatest of the Monros, and the last of the great
physicians who united, like the late Dr Baillie, a profound knowledge of

152 Reviews and Notices of Books. us Bis

anatomy with that of medicine. He was engaged in many controversies .:
on anatomical subjects, frequently involving claims to priority of dis--
covery. The Clinical Lectures were given by Dr Home. The names of
other occasional lecturers are mentioned by Dr Young, particularly that
of John Bell, the eminent surgeon, whose demonstrations in Anatomy ap-
peared to him to be of first-rate excellence. In writing to his uncle, he
says,— ’

“*<T believe North and Baker are prejudiced against Edinburgh ; with
respect to the study of Physic, it appears to me beyond comparison pre-
ferable to Oxford or Cambridge, and in other respects little inferior.
For Anatomy, I am very glad that I am done with it, for I should never
learn it of Monro, I think him far inferior as a lecturer to Baillie. I
expect much from Gregory’s Practice, and something from Black and
the Clinical Lectures: these are given by Home, who has some merit,
with something ridiculous in his manner,’

“On another oceasion, much later in the session, he says,—

“**T have not time for many scientific pursuits, besides the lectures which
I closely attend. Some little information on Chemistry I derive from
Black’s copious course—hardly anything from Monro—something eon-
siderable in the Medical line from Gregory and Duncan.’

“ It is probable that Dr Young, though generally very candid in his
judgments, was somewhat prejudiced against Monro, whom he accuses of
a disposition to appropriate the discoveries of other authors as his own.”
—(Life, p. 50-53.)

It was not to be supposed that in a single session Young could
have found time to attend other lectures than those most nearly
connected with his profession ; but his character for Greek scholar-
ship had preceded him, and in Professor Dalzell and Dr Gregory
he found men able and desirous to appreciate a pre-eminence so un-
common in Scotland. From Dalzell he received, says our biogra-
pher, the most; flattering attentions during the whole time of his
residence, which Young returned by material aid in the editorial
work of the second volume of the Analecta Hellenica, with which
the Professor was then engaged. This assistance was gratefully
and gracefully acknowledged, and Dalzell pronounced a Greek
epigram by Young, which he printed in that work, to be conceived
in a true classical spirit. Dr Robison (Professor of Natural Phi-
losophy) is not mentioned as amongst his acquaintances ; but it is
hardly to be doubted (notwithstanding Robison’s ill health) that
he was more or less known to him. Many of Young’s writings
bear strongly the impress of Robison’s sagacious manner of re-
garding matters of practical science. In Edinburgh he also
studied Spanish and German, practised on the flute, and was not
an unfrequent attender at the theatre. We have not yet men-
tioned that Young was by parentage and education a Quaker. It
seems to have been at Edinburgh that he first began to detach
himself from the usages of that society, and incurred thereby some
admonitions from his friend Mr Cruickshanks. But though he
entered into some amusements common to persons of his age, and

Reviews and Notices of Books. 153

into general society, we are expressly assured by his biographer
that his morals incurred thereby not the slightest blemish ;—what-
ever he thought to be right, he resolutely practised. This, first and
last, was his undeviating principle of action.

‘We cannot enter upon his residences at Gottingen and Cam-
bridge, which occupied the next four years of his life. His abode
in Germany appears to have been devoted more to general accom-
plishments, to society, and to the acquisition of familiarity with
the language and customs of the country, than to profound
or methodical study. During a journey through the Hartz he
appears to have made the acquaintance of Mr (afterwards Sir John)
Leslie, who was then travelling with Mr Wedgewood. His resi-
dence at Cambridge (commenced at twenty-three years of age) was
undertaken solely as a passport to the advantages of London
medical practice; and his residence there appears to have been
almost confined to the stated periods rigorously required for that
purpose. He arrived far too late, and with too extensive and ma-
tured a knowledge of science and classical literature, to submit to
the drudgery of an undergraduate course, and was looked on ac-
cordingly with something of the jealousy which his introduction
by the master to the tutors of his college (Emmanuel) was calcu-
lated to inspire ;—“ I have brought you,” he said, “ a pupil quali-
fied to read lectures to his tutors.” Accordingly, the information
which Dean Peacock has been able to glean on a subject naturally
so interesting to him as Young’s residence at Cambridge is not so
full or so satisfactory as might have been wished. Yet those
tranquil and most important years of his life (1796-99), divided
between London and Cambridge, were doubtless spent in close ap-

plication, probably to the more difficult, parts of Mathematics and

Natural Philosophy, and in them he unquestionably laid the foun-
dations of that wonderful store of scientific erudition which he
afterwards displayed, whilst, at the same time, the first ideas of his
great Optical Theory were at that time probably also developing
themselves in his mind,

Young left Cambridge in 1800, Dr Brockleshy having already

been some years dead, and having by his will placed him in a
position in some measure independent, London became henceforth
his permanent residence, and the career of a physician his stated
employment. Dean Peacock has devoted Chapter VIII. of his work
to Dr Young’s character as a physician and medical author. We
gather that his practice was never large, and at length rather dimi-
nished than increased. Yet few persons have brought greater
talents to the exercise of a profession, or have sacrificed more to
its conventional requirements. For a great many years he pub-
lished his important literary labours anonymously, with a view to
meet the popular prejudice against a medical man who devotes any
large share of his attention to non-professional pursuits. His

154. Reviews and Notices of Books.

practice is stated by his biographer to have been straightforward
and judicious, and to have been attended in his hospital cases with
more than average success. It is difficult indeed to believe that,
if medicine be a science capable of inductive treatment, it should
not have yielded some of its practical secrets to one so successful
in other, and the most various of human studies, and who united
to sagacious talent such an amazing amount of patient research,
His treatise on Consumption, and his Introduction to Medical
Literature, are his principal professional writings.

Within a year after Dr Young had settled in London, and be-
fore he had adopted the rule of professional self-denial just referred
to, he was appointed Professor of Natural Philosophy in the Royal
Institution, then newly founded. He held the situation for but
two sessions. ‘By his own confession,” says his biographer,
“ he was not adapted for a popular lecturer. His style was too
compressed and laconic, and he had not sufficient knowledge of
the intellectual habits of other men to address himself prominently
to those points of a subject where their difficulties were likely to
occur. If indeed these Lectures were delivered nearly in the form
in which they are printed, they must have been generally unintel-
ligible even to well prepared persons, notwithstanding all the
assistance which models, drawings, and diagrams could afford.”
These Lectures were in fact only of use,—in any proportion to the
labour and skill exhausted in their preparation,—when they were
published together with a supplementary volume of important and
original matter, including a Catalogue of References to works and
memoirs in every department of Physics and the Arts, arranged
with a degree of method and accuracy which has never been
equalled. The Lectures only have been reprinted in the neat oc-
tavo edition which appeared some years ago under the superinten-
dence of Professor Kelland. Their form being the same with that
of the edition of the Miscellaneous Works which now accompanies
the Life, the whole forms a valuable compendium of Dr Young’s
writings. Most of the original papers which formed part of the
second volume of the Lectures, as originally published (some of
which had appeared in the Philosophical Transactions), are now
reprinted by Dr Peacock, but the Catalogue of References remains
in the state it was left by the author. “Its republication,” says
the Dean, “ with the addition of the works and memoirs which
have appeared during the last half century, would confer an in-
valuable boon upon scientific students.”

We must now briefly refer to the two great monuments of Dr
Young’s career, his Optical and Hieroglyphical discoveries. _The
germs of the former are to be found in three papers connected with
the Theory of Light and Colours, communicated to the Royal So-
ciety of London in 1801, 1802, and 1803. These papers, which are

ie
it

Reviews and Notices of Books. 155

to be found in the volumes which we are analyzing, have commonly

‘been regarded as difficult and obscure, and indeed must probably

have appeared so to a student of science of those days. But with

the familiarity which we have now acquired with the notion of un-

dulations, they seem scarcely liable to that charge. The phraseo-
logy used by Dr Young was in this, as in most other cases
where he describes physical phenomena, and physical (not mathe-

matical) reasoning connected with them, unmistakably correct and

definite. The very earliest notice of the doctrine of the inter-
ference of light regarded as the explanation of certain phenomena
in Optics, was given in Nicholson’s Journal for 1801. A passage
from Dr Young’s reply to the severe and unjustifiable attack on
his theory by the Edinburgh reviewers gives the exact date :-—

Tt was in May 1801 that I discovered, by reflecting on the beautiful
experiments of Newton, a law which appears to me to account for a greater
variety of interesting phenomena than any other optical principle that
has yet been made known. I shall endeavour to explain this law by a
comparison : Suppose a number of equal waves of water to move upon
the surface of a stagnant lake with a certain constant velocity, and to
enter a narrow channel leading out of the lake; suppose, then, another
similar cause to have excited another equal series of waves, which arrive
at the same channel with the same velocity, and at the same time, with
the first. Neither series of waves will destroy the other, but their effects
will be combined ; if they enter the channel in such a manner that the
elevations of one series coincide with those of the other, they must to-
gether produce a series of greater joint elevations ; but if the elevations
of one series are so situated as to correspond to the depressions of the other,
they must exactly fill up those depressions, and the surface of the water

' must remain smooth ; at least I can discover no alternative, either from

theory or from experiment. Now, I maintain that similar effects take
place whenever two portions of light are thus mixed ; and this I call the
general law of the interference of light.”—(Life, p. 142-3.)

The Theory of Undulations had been not only broached by
Huygens, but applied with skill and success to the solution of
many optical problems. Dr Young’s first applications of it were
to the explanation of the phenomena of diffraction, as observed by
Grimaldi and Newton, and in other cases devised by himself. Even
here Dr Hooke had made an advance in the same direction, and
his explanation of Newton’s rings by an hypothesis of waves,
though long overlooked, is now well known. Young’s researches
were laid before the world publicly, and in his own name, in
three papers, mentioned above, which are reprinted in the first
volume of the Miscellaneous Works.

“One of the first and most satisfactory applications,” says Dr Pea-
cock, “ which Young made of his Theory, was to the Colours of Striated
Surfaces ; a class of phenomena which Newton had left altogether un-
noticed, and which were not explicable by any recognised theory of
light which had previously heen proposed. When two or more scratches

156 Reviews and Notices of Books.

forming concave-cylindrical or other polished surfaces capable of re- —
flecting light in all directions* are drawn extremely near each other,
the light issuing in all directions from a luminous source may be re-
flected from points in those surfaces in directions so nearly coincident
as to meet and interfere at the eye, after describing paths which differ
in length by one half or by a whole of the undulation which is appro-
priate to the coloured light, if homogeneous, or to some one of its con-
stituents if white light be employed. The appropriate colour in one
case will be destroyed by interference, and corroborated in the other;
and if we take into account a series of such points on each surface in
lines very near to each other, the combined effect of such interferences
will become sensible to the eye, and lead to the production of colour, or
to a flash of darkness or light.”

It is quite impossible in this brief analysis to give any idea of
the masterly and comprehensive manner in which Dr Young ap-
plied, in these early memoirs, the fertile principles of his admirable
theory. The results are there stated by him in lucid and precise
language. Yet the reception of them was not flattering. With
the exception of a violent attack in the Edinburgh Review, written,
as is well known, by Lord Brougham, they excited scarcely the
smallest notice, and if they made a single convert (in this country),
they did not at least raise up an advocate. The greatest theory
of the day fell to the ground without one echo. The resumé of
the subject in Young’s “ Lectures” did not excite more notice,
which is hardly surprising, as the nature of that work scarcely
admitted of the needful explanatory detail. Some important
things could be found only hinted at in the Plates to that work,
or in the Explanation of those Plates. Yet Young never for a
moment swerved from his own conviction, or let slip an oppor-
tunity of supporting his views by the results of new experiments ;
although it may be admitted that he was more remarkable for
the ability with which he interpreted the experiments of others,
than for devising new ones of his own ; a peculiarity which some-
times arises from intenseness of conviction in a highly logical
mind superseding the desire for multiplicity of evidence.

The first extraneous impulse which his theory received was from
the hand of a foreigner. Fresnel, a young French engineer, at least
a dozen years after Young had first published them, fell indepen-
dently on some of his experiments and conclusions, along with
others of his own. It is perfectly certain that Fresnel knew nothing
of what Young had done, a circumstance in the relations of science
of the two countries hardly uncommon now, certainly not surprising

* We have been in the habit of rather considering the action of the scratches
as negative, or as being interruptions in the continuity of a smooth and re-
flective surface, while the untouched interstitial portions of the plate act as
centres of undulation of the luminiferous impressions which interfere in the
manner stated by Dr Peacock. The furrows in steel or a mother-of-pearl

plate in fact perform the same part for reflected light as the opaque wires
or threads of 'raunhofer’s gratings do when the light is transmitted.

Reviews and Notices of Books. 157

then, when the two nations were engaged in a hot and prolonged
war, and when the English language and literature was very little
known or appreciated in France. Fortunately for Fresnel he had
_ for a friend and counsellor perhaps the only man in Paris who
could have set him right in this matter. Arago was well ac-
quainted with Young’s work and his Theory, and had apparently
espoused the latter warmly. The two friends had the opportunity
soon after (in 1816) of visiting Young in England, and that
meeting had no doubt an important influence in stimulating the
progress of the Undulatory Theory, which was destined still for
many years to be left exclusively in the hands of those friendly
rivals. The wonderful phenomena of the Double Refraction and
Polarization of Light, which had already for years occupied Young,
with reference to their possible explanation upon his theory, now
almost absorbed the attention of philosophical opticians. Young
had previously advanced one step beyond Huygens in represent-
ing the former, and had moreover deduced in some important cases
the colours produced by crystals in polarized light from the gene-
ral principle of interference. But the key to all these complica-
tions had not yet been thought of. How light could be a motion
in a medium, and yet two motions or rays could be propagated at
once in the very same molecules, but with different velocities, was
the question. The idea of transverse vibration, or waves like
those on the surface of a lake, or tremors like those of a vibrat-
ing cord, whose rapidity might vary with the plane in which the
cord was set to vibrate, was the idea which separately struck
Young and Fresnel. In the first volume of the Miscellaneous
Works before us, are several important and hitherto unpublished
letters, illustrating this interesting crisis of discovery, particularly
that from Young to Arago, dated 12th January 1817, which con-
tains the following most interesting passage :—

“T have been reflecting upon the possibility of giving an imperfect
explanation of the affection of light which constitutes polarization, with-
out departing from the genuine doctrine of undulation. It is a principle
in this theory that all undulations are simply propagated through homo-
geneous mediums in concentric spherical surfaces like the undulations of
sound, consisting simply in the direct and retrograde motions of the
particles in the direction of the radius, with their concomitant conden-
sation and rarefactions. And yet it is possible to explain in this theory
a transverse vibration propagated also in the direction of radius, and
with equal velocity, the motions of the particles being in a certain con-
stant direction with respect to that radius, and this is a polarization,”
—(Miscell. Works, i., 383.)

In the same year, 1817, Young wrote his very original, but
often obscure article Chromatics, for the Encyclopedia Britannica,
in which he enlarges his explanation of this and other points in
Optics. Fresnel, in the mean time, encouraged in his researches

158 Reviews and Notices of Books.

by the support of Arago, and the friendly confidence of Young,
appears to have arrived independently at a nearly similar conelu-
sion as to the nature of polarized light; though, withheld by the
difficulty of clearly imagining and expressing the mechanical
conditions of a transverse vibration, he wanted confidence to pub-
lish it. His own account of it is as follows :—“ Mr Young, more
bold in his conjectures, and less confiding in the views of geome-
ters, published it before me, though, perhaps, he thought it after
me.” From this time Young and Fresnel lived in the most
friendly relations to one another, and in their correspondence, a
great part of which is preserved in these volumes, freely canvassed
their respective views, and the claims of each to the establishment
of this great physical theory. In Fresnel’s letters we observe
some signs of irritability, arising from his fatal disease. In
Young’s, some inevitable shadows of regret, that a theory which
he had for so many of the best years of his life maintained against
all the world, and which had been consigned to such undeserved
neglect, especially by his own countrymen, should at length rise
into notice mainly through the ability of his disciple and succes-
sor. Fresnel’s Memoirs received one of the highest distinctions
which the Royal Society of London can confer—the Rumford
medal—in 1827; whilst Young, who had communicated, almost
30 years before, to the same Society the discoveries which formed
the basis of future progress, never received any considerable testi-
mony of the intelligent approval of his countrymen. Like Fresnel,
however, better understood abroad than by his associates, he was
elected one of the eight foreign members of the Institute, the
highest distinction to which a scientific man can aspire. But all
these distinctions and friendly rivalries were soon to have an end.
Fresnel died almost as soon as he had received the testimonials
of British sympathy ; and Young, though at that time apparently
in good health, survived him only two years.

One reason why to Fresnel was in some degree left the un-
divided credit of pursuing into their farther consequences the
beautiful mechanical principles imagined by Young was, that the
latter had his attention diverted about that time to another and
very different, but not less laborious investigation. This was the
interpretation of Egyptian hieroglyphics.

We have seen, that in early life Young cultivated with minute
labour the study of Greek, and had acquired a command of that
difficult language excessively rare even amongst those who have
enjoyed opportunities which in his case were wholly wanting ;—
that he had a decided turn for Oriental literature ;—and that the
exhaustive and analytic turn of his mind secured his attention to
the general theory of language. His exquisite penmanship, and
appreciation of form, also contributed to enable him to compare with

Reviews and Notices of Books. 159

facility written characters, and to hit upon cases of essential identity
amongst them. ‘The principal charge of editing Young’s hierogly-
phical writings has been given to Mr John Leitch ; and in the third
volume of the Miscellaneous Works we find republished his prin-
cipal detached writings (mostly anonymous) on philological sub-
jects ; together with a large correspondence with some of the most
distinguished scholars of the day, tending to establish Young’s
priority as to the most essential steps in the process of hierogly-
phical interpretation. This was the more necessary from the
anxiety with which the claims of our countryman to this notable
discovery have been contested by Bunsen and Arago, in favour of
Champollion, whose conduct throughout seems so clearly proved
by the evidence here adduced to have been disingenuous, that a
distinct vindication of Dr Young was peculiarly necessary. Young
himself was more alive to his own pretensions, and the injustice
and partiality with which they had been received, than in the case
of any other of his discoveries. His anxiety on this subject at
last induced him to abandon the anonymous method of publica-
tion, which he had so long and so uniformly adopted out of regard
to the supposed requirements of his profession; and he grounded
this change of conduet as much on the claims of the British na-
tion to the glory of the discovery as on his own just rights. As
witness the following passage from the preface to his “‘ Discoveries
in Hieroglyphical Literature,” (1823).

“ Tf, indeed, I have not hitherto wholly withheld from the public the
results of my inquiries, it has not been from the love of authorship only,
nor from an impatience of being the sole possessor of a secret treasure ;
but because I was desirous of securing, at least for my country, what is
justly considered as a desirable acquisition to every country, the reputa-
tion of having enlarged the boundaries of human knowledge, and of
having contributed to extend the dominion of the mind of man over time,
and space, and neglect, and obscurity. Corona in sAckIs CERTAMINIBUS
non victori datur, sed ratria ab co coronari pronuntiatur. And what-
ever vanity or enthusiasm there might be in this sentiment, it was at
least sincere and unaffected. In the mean time, my Egyptian investi-
gations had been as laborious as they had been persevering; and like
many other pursuits in which I have been engaged, they had been so
little enlivened by any fortunate coincidences, or unexpected facilities,
that having to adopt a motto for the signatures of some anonymous com-
munications, I had chosen the words, rorTuNAM EX ALIIS as appropriate
to my own history.”

Tn fact, his numerous articles in the Encyclopedia Britannica
had for signatures two letters from the preceding motto, constantly
varied.

The reader who has acquired a just perception of the noble in-
tegrity and sense or sustice by which Young was constantly
animated, will need little proof beyond his own distinct averments
(repeated in his articles, and especially in his private correspon-

160 Reviews and Notices of Books.

dence), that the priority on all great and fundamental points of
interpretation rested with himself, and not with Champollion.
The fairness with which he constantly treated that clever rival
and disingenuous ally, is evident from the testimony he always
bears to the value of his researches, and to his own feeling of gra-
tification, that he himself (Young) should leave the subject of his
predilection in the hands of a younger man so capable of carrying
it to perfection. And these expressions are not mere complimen-
tary phrases put forth in his publications, but are interwoven with
the familiar letters in which he at the same time stoutly maintains
his own literary rights.

The defence of Dr Young’s claims has been taken up, not only
by Mr Leitch, but by Dean Peacock, who has devoted a very in-
teresting chapter of the “Life” to a condensed account of this
memorable discovery, and the controversy which ensued upon it.

Dr Young’s memorable attempt to decipher the inscription of
the celebrated Rosetta Stone, dates from November 1814, That
inscription, as is well known, consists of three co-ordinate parts,
or translations : one in proper Hieroglyphics, one in Ancient
tian, or enchorial characters (equally undeciphered), and the last
in Greek. The first and last are incomplete. A most interesting
account of his process of comparison of these documents was given
by Young himself (Miscell. Works, iii. 129, &c.). Though far
from exact or complete, it was the foundation of all his subse-
quent discoveries, which were steadily pursued with a degree of
labour and method which could only be guessed at, until Dr Pea-
cock had given us an account (Life, pp. 279, 280) of the manu-
scripts, which still remain in proof of them, In 1816, Dr Young
printed some letters on the progress of his system of interpretation,
and in 1818, wrote the very remarkable dissertation, “ Egypt,”
which appeared in the Supplement to the Encyclopedia Britannica
in the following year. It was only in 1821 that the younger
Champollion published at Grenoble a work on Egyptian literature,
which, having been carefully suppressed, is now little known, and
which is equally remarkable for the suppression of what he had
borrowed from his predecessors, and for the proofs it contains of
his ignorance or want of appreciation of Dr Young’s principles of
interpretation, which he (Champollion) afterwards claimed as ex-
clusively his own.

Dr Peacock very correctly refers to this suppression of his me-
moir as an unjustifiable act, when it tended to compromise the
rights of priority of others. "He afterwards narrates, as follows,
Champollion’s further proceedings :—

** We have already seen, that, in 1821, Champollion denied altogether
the existence of an alphabetic element amongst the hieroglyphics. But
in the following year, we find him adopting the whole of Young’s
principles, and applying them with one modification only. Like him,

Reviews and Notices of Books. 161

he refers to the expedient resorted to in the Chinese language for the
phonetic expression of foreign appellations; like him, he regards the
rings as marks of the phonetic use of the characters which they include,
whether of royal or private personages, whether domestic or foreign ;
like him, he supposes the phonetic power of the symbol to be derived
from the initial letter or syllable of the name of the object which it ex-
presses in the Egyptian language; but he differs from him in considering
that such phonetic character could express more than a simple letter, or
the syllable formed by it when followed by a short vowel; and he only.
notiees, for purposes of criticism, those applications which Young had
made of this principle, where the phonetic power of such a symbol
was extended to a syllable, like the Coptic name of the Basket, Sig,
in phoneticising the hieroglyphical name of Berenice, It would be dif-
ficult te point out, in the history of literature, a more flagrant example
of disingenuous suppression of the real facts bearing upon an important
discovery, where principles, too peculiar in their character to have occur-
red independently to two different minds, are adopted without the least
acknowledgment, though circumstances proved incontestably that they
were neither known nor thought of at a time immediately antecedent to
the perusal of the very work in which they were announced and exem-
plified ; where the conclusions in one work were passed over without no-
tice, when they were precisely the same as those which were adopted in
the other, but invidiously criticised, where an erroneous or somewhat
too extended application of them afforded a handle to lay hold of for the
purpose of establishing a claim for entire originality. It was in a very
different spirit that his illustrious countryman, Fresnel, with much higher
pretensions to independent research and discovery, at once abandoned the
elaims of priority, when he found that he had been anticipated by Dr
Young.” —(Léfe, p. 299.)

“Tt has been too much the custom,” adds the Dean, in another place
(p. 288), “with writers on hieroglyphical diseoveries, to estimate their
value, less by a reference to the state of knowledge at the time they were
made, than by a much more advanced state of its progress; to compare,
in fact, the views of Champollion in 1824 and 1830, or of Lespius and
Birch at a much later period, with those of Young in 1819, instead of
duly considering the influence which the investigations and speculations
of an earlier, thus unfairly weighed against those of a later age, have had
upon the establishment of more correct, because more natural conclusions.
It is this spirit of injustice which can hardly fail to be observed, when-
ever Champollion, or Bunsen, who has usually followed in his footsteps,
have had occasion to notice or eriticise the labours of Dr Young.”

Of the historical injustice of which Arago and Chevalier Bunsen
have been guilty towards Dr Young, both the editors of the vo-
lumes before us have spoken with manly frankness, Few persons
wholly disinterested have ever put much faith in the decisions of
Arago on questions of priority, particularly if national or personal
claims were concerned Dr Peacock deals gently with him in the
following passage :—

‘Tt was not the only instance in which the passion of this powerful
and eloquent writer, for signalising what he considered the great epochs
NEW SERIES.—VOUL. TI. NO. I.—JULY 1855, 7

162 Reviews and Notices of Books.

in discoveries in various departments of science, has led him to erroneous
and unjust decisions, when their progress has been more indebted to eon-
tinuous and patient labour, guided by just principles of reasoning and
philosophy, than to any sudden outbreak of genius, which has superseded
the rules which ordinary men must be compelled to submit to.”— (Life,
p. 344.)

The adverse testimony of Bunsen will go farther with English
and German readers. That he “learned from Champollion the
first rudiments of hieroglyphic lore at the foot of the obelisks of
Rome,” will not be accepted as the justification of a partial deci-
sion. The scattered and anonymous mode of publication adopted
by Young is a better excuse. By the present collection of his
works, this excuse has ceased; and Chevalier Bunsen will, we
think, feel himself compelled, by the evidence they contain, to re-
consider his judgment.

We regret that our limits prevent us from entering at all into
the vast amount and variety of original scientific research con-
tained in these memorials of Dr Young. They are equally wor-
thy of consideration by the student and the historian of science,
We conscientiously believe that no writer on science, except New-
ton, has ever left so large a mass of well-compacted results of
hard thinking and acute induction as to natural laws, with so
very inconsiderable an admixture of error, as Thomas Young.

Insecta Maderensia. By T. VERNON WOLLASTON. London:
J. Van Voorst, 1854. 4to.

Nature never repeats herself. A fossil species appears scantily
for the first time in some particular stratum,—it becomes more
plentiful in the strata immediately above it,—would there appear
to reach the maximum development of its numbers, and as we
ascend in our examination of the strata we see it becoming
searcer and scarcer, and thinning out till it gradually disappears,
never to revive. And this is quite in accordance with what we
see around us. Even in the continuation of species Nature seems
to abhor repetition. Of all the myriads of the human race which
have been born since the world began, we do not suppose there
have been two individuals exactly and in all respects identical in
form; and although the difference in the lower animals is less
obvious to us, it is not less true that it exists. If this is the case
even in the individual units of a species, how much more certainly
may we rest assured that no repetition will take place in the
creation of a species or a genus.

It is as a corollary to this position, that the doctrine of specific
centres—that is, the existence of certain geographical points from

Reviews and Notices of Books. 163

which the individuals of each species have been diffused—may be
taken, indeed necessarily follows.

_ Professor Edward Forbes, in his admirable Memoir ‘on the
Geological Relations of the existing Fauna and Flora of the British
Isles,” published in 1846 in the Memoirs of the Geological Sur-
vey of Great Britain, advanced a step farther. Taking the doctrine
of specific centres for granted, he deduced the following position
from it, viz., ‘‘ The specific identity, to any extent, of the flora and
fauna of one area with another, depends on both areas forming or
having formed part of the same specific centre, or on their having
derived their animal and vegetable population by transmission
through migration over continuous or closely contiguous land,
aided, in cases of alpine floras, by transportation on floating
masses of ice.” In other words, that whenever in any country we
find a species of plant or animal which is identical with the species
of another country, these two countries must at some time have
been continuous, unless we can account for the presence of the
species by migration or introduction. This position has all the
qualities of a truly philosophic theory. Its application is simple,
broad, and universal,—the presence of one species (however
minute) unaccounted for, is as good as the presence of a thousand ;
and the theory has found favour with the scientific world from the
first. Not that it has not had its opponents, and that many startling
and not yet accounted for instances have been brought forward in
opposition to it; but the more it has been examined, and the more
that facts have been looked at with reference to its truth (illumi-
nated by its own light, as it were), the more it has been found to
be consistent with truth.

This proposition was brought forward by Professor Forbes in
illustration and support of his speculation, that the groups of At-
lantic Isles were at one time connected with the Mediterranean
district of Europe and Africa, and also with the west of Ireland.
The speculation not being directly connected with the subject he was
discussing, the Professor has not gone minutely into the evidence
in support of it, contenting himself with briefly summing up (in a
note) the results drawn from the flora of these countries. Mr
Wollaston’s work gives us additional reliable information, and we
shall look at the inquiry a little more in detail.

To begin with the Botany, the evidence adduced by Professor
Forbes for the connection of the west of Ireland with Spain
and Portugal, was the existence in it of species peculiar to it and
these countries, particularly Asturia, such as Arabis ciliata and
Pinguicula grandiflora, and other forms, whose occurrence there
could neither be accounted for by any existing distribution of
marine currents, nor by dissemination through the air, the plants
in question not having seeds adapted for such a mode of transmis-

nu?

164 Reviews and Notices of Books.
sion, while if they had, they would not have been confined to the

spot in question.

With regard to the Atlantic groups of Islands (Azores, Madera,
Canary Isles, and Cape de Verde Isles), with which we have more
particularly to do, their floras are all closely related to those of
the nearest mainland, and are also to some extent mutually re-
lated, through endemic plants, to each other.

The Rey. R. T. Lowe, in his “* Memoirs on the Ferns, Flowering
Plants, and Land Shells of Madera and Porto Santo,” thus speaks
of the flora of Madera, ‘The general character of the vegetation
of Madera is in correspondence with the equivocal geographical
position of the island. It is that of a type intermediate between
the forms of the south of Europe, bordering on the Mediterranean
basin (more particularly on the African or southern side), and
those of the Canary Islands. Comparing it with the vegetation
of more Northern Europe, the most striking features are the pre-
sence by naturalization, in the lower or maritime regions, of tropi-
cal forms, such as the banana, prickly pear, date palm, rose apple,
&e,, and the almost utter absence in the higher parts of the island
of the alpine. Comparing it again with the vegetation of more
tropical Africa, we have, higher up the country, forests of laurels,
heath, and whortle berry ( Vaccinium padifoliwm Sm), in the place of
Adansoniz and palms; grassy mountains instead of those sandy
plains, whose only plants are a few wretched Zygophylla or Me-
sembryanthema ; brooms and myrtles feathering the hills, or the
precipitous sides of the ravines, in exchange for the lonely bushes
of the tamarisk, Capparis, Acacia, or Mimosa, which sprinkle the
arid wastes and rocky defiles of the Mauritanian or Arabian de-
serts; whilst a few shrubby Euphorbie, Semperviva, and Seda,
but scantily represent those vast succulent tribes of Kuphorbiacea,
Crassulacee, and Asclepiadacee, of more Southern Afriea.”’

The connection between the Azores and Madera seems much
greater than between Madera and the Canary Isles. ‘“ Out of
596 species of flowering plants inhabiting Madera and Porto Santo
108 are endemic ; out of the 108, 28 are common to Madera and
the Azores. In the Flora Azorica of Seubert 400 (flowering and
flowerless) plants are enumerated, of which 50 are stated to be en-
demic and peculiar to the Azores, 34 extra European, including 23
common to the Azores and Madera, or the Canaries, and 316 Euro-
pean.” “Speaking in round numbers, we may say that four-fifths
of all the species now wild in the Azores, are wild also in Europe;
of the remaining one-fifth, nearly the whole numbers are peculiar
to the Azores or the Archipelago of the Atlantic Islands, which in-
cludes also Madera and the Canaries. Some have migrated (2)
to the Azores from the continents of Africa and America,.”* But

* Professor Forbes’s Memoir.

Reviews and Notices of Books. 165

of the Canaries, Mr Lowe says, ‘“‘ If Madera has imparted some
of her peculiar plants to the Canaries, she has received scarcely one
from them. In other words, to some indigenous Maderan plants
oceurring in the Canary Islands, there is added a multitude of
characteristic and peculiar species not found in Madera.” We
shall presently see this still more strongly exhibited in the insects
of these Isles.

Before leaving their Botany, however, we must notice an interest-
ing circumstance mentioned by Mr Lowe, regarding the Island of
Porto Santo, one of the Maderan group, which lies to the north-
east of Madera, and nearer to the Mediterranean districts. He
says the neighbouring isle of Porto Santo approaches still more in
the character of its vegetation to the southern borders of the
Mediterranean basin than to Madera itself. But its present con-
dition in this respect is one of much deterioration, and it is pro-
bable, both from the traces that actually remain, as well as from
the obscure and apocryphal annals on such points of Portuguese
physico-topographic literature, that its former original state of
vegetation assimilated still more closely, as to truly indigenous
plants, than it now at first sight seems to do with the present con-
dition of Madera.

- Next to plants, insects are the creatures most likely to furnish
us with evidence of the original state of created life in any coun-
try; and our information regarding their distribution in two of
these island groups and the neighbouring continents, is now pretty
full. The entomology of Europe and the north of Africa, it is un-
necessary to say, is well known. Mr Wollaston’s work (so far as
relates to the order to which his published volume is confined, the
Coleoptera) leaves nothing to be desired for Madera; and Messrs
Webb and Bertholet’s great work on the Canary Isles, although the
entomology in it, is not to be compared to Mr Wollaston’s, either
for extent of investigation or careful description, gives us a very
fair amount of knowledge regarding the insects of these islands.
Remain the Azores and the Cape de Verde Islands, of which our en-
tomological information is still very imperfect. From these sources
we see, first, as regards the Coleoptera, that Mr Wollaston has
recorded 482 species as found in Madera—of which 281, or more
than one halfare peculiar to Madera and the Maderan group. The
remaining 201 are composed partly of insects generally distributed
over Europe, but for the most part inhabiting the district known
as the Mediterranean province, viz., the south of Europe and north
of Africa, and Mr Wollaston points to Sicily, as showing more
affinity to the insect fauna of Madera than any other single coun-
try. He also notices some slight collective assimilation with
what we observe in the south-western extremity of our own
country, and of Ireland, nearly all the species which are common
to Madera and the British Isles, being found in those particular

eS Se.

ie ae

166 Reviews and Notices of Books.

regions ; and he specially draws attention to one species almost
identical with the Mesites Tardii, Curt., which is peculiar to the
west of Ireland, and south-west of England. Whether itis speci-
fically distinct or not, we cannot form an opinion for ourselves, not
having seen the new species, M. Maderensis, Woll.; but judging
from Mr Wollaston’s description, we should say with him that
it was, but still so near as almost to pass for a variety modified
by climate, locality, or food,—(the food of the Irish species, bemg
the holly, and that of Maderan species, the laurel).

We do not find that the insects of Porto Santo (like the flora
mentioned by Mr Lowe) show a greater preponderance of Medi-
terranean forms in that island than in Madera. It has a slight
proportion (about a sixth) more than its share—but that propor-
tion does not necessarily prove even that amount of preponderance,
Mr Wollaston acknowledges that Porto Santo (although carefully
examined) was not so thoroughly investigated as Madera proper,
nor at all seasons of the year.

The most striking part of the entomological fauna of the
Maderan group, however, is undoubtedly its endemic species. The
very large proportion of such species is of itself striking, and their
character is not less so. It has been observed that when endemic
species are found in an isolated spot, not very distant from an
extensive country, these species are found to bear what may be
called a relationship or family likeness to the species of the
greater country. The Gallapago Islands is an example of this.
“ Most of the organic productions,” says Darwin, “are aboriginal
creatures found nowhere else—there is even a difference between
the inhabitants of the different islands, yet all show a marked
relationship with those of America, though separated from that
continent by an open space of ocean between 500 and 600 miles
in width. The Archipelago is a little world itself, or rather a
satellite attached to America, whence it has derived a few stray
colonists, and has received the general character of its indigenous
productions.” The Atlantic groups furnish us with another in-
stance of the same thing. The endemic species both of the
Azores and Madera, have more affinity to those of Spain and
Portugal, Sicily, and the Mediterranean provinces generally,
than to those of any other country. It is as if the creative
power acted according to the same law over a wide area.

The existence of certain species peculiar to one island, and not”
common to the whole group, is a fact observed by Mr Wollaston in
the Maderan group, equally as by Mr Darwin in the Gallapagoes.

We have not the means of estimating what amount of insects
endemic to the Atlantic groups, are common both to the Azores
and the Maderan group. Judging from the flora we should expect
that there would be several. As to the Canaries, so far as we
have been able to discover, there would appear to be not a single

Reviews and Notices of Books. 167

instance of a species endemic to Madera being found in the
Canary Isles, or of a species endemic to the Canaries being found
in Madera. We were not prepared for this; we did expect to

find a few common to both. When we first took Mr Wollaston’s
work into our hands, and turning it over for the new species,
found not a single one followed by the letters Br., marking that
the species had been described by M. Brullé, who executed the
entomological part of Webb and Bertholet’s work, we thought
that Mr Wollaston had surely overlooked or confounded some of
the species ; and it was only after we had gone carefully over both
works, and compared every new species in both groups with each
other, that we were compelled to come to the conclusion that
Mr Wollaston was right, and that none of the endemic species of
either island are to be found in the other. In saying so, we do
not overlook such species as Calosoma Madere Fab., which is un-
doubtedly found in both groups. But we do not consider it to be
a distinct species, but merely a variety of C. Indagator, Fab.
Neither do we overlook such species as Olisthopus Maderensis of
Wollaston, which he seems to think may turn out to be 0.
glabratus, Br.; but as the only ground for his hesitation is that
Brullé’s description is short and perhaps defective, and does not
negative some salient points in the character of the species, we
readily confirm his judgment, and adopt the species as distinct.
Abstracting these and such like, we do not find a single endemic
species of either group of isles common to both.

Another very interesting point to be noticed in relation to these
species, is the number of new generic forms found in Madera, as
contrasted with the Canaries. Mr Wollaston constitutes no less
than 41 new genera; and although in one or two instances, to
which we shall presently revert, we think he has established
them on insuflicient grounds, there still remain between 30 and
40 undoubtedly new genera, to which no exception can be taken;
whereas in the Canaries, M. Brullé has not found a single type
of a really new genus, unless it be of two species of Silpha,
which might be constituted into a sub-genus akin to Phosphuga.

As to the distribution of species found in the Canaries, M. Brullé
remarks, that it is with Algeria, Spain, the south of France, and
Greece, that these isles have most relationship; although they
have also some connection with Egypt and Senegal; and like
Madera and the Azores, possess a number of the more northern
species found in Britain and the greatest part of Europe. We also
find one or two American forms, such as Trogosita Pini, Br.
The total number of species of Coleoptera recorded by Brullé is
181, of which 70 are new, the largest proportion of which are
Heteromera. And perhaps here is the place to give a glance at
the proportions in which the particular families of Coleoptera
are found in these groups of islands. Mr Wollaston dwells

68 Reviews and Notices of Books.

with interest upon the almost total absence of some of the prin-
cipal families in Madera. He says, “not so much as @ soli-
tary witness of the Cicindelide, Buprestide, or Pselaphide, has
hitherto been brought to light; whilst the great genera, Carabus,
Nebria, Silpha, Necrophorus, Cetonia, Telephorus, Tentyria, Pi-
melia, Acis, Asida, and Otiorhynchus, are altogether wanting.
The vast race of Thalerophagous lamellicornes, as also the im-
mense department of the Elateride, are represented apparently
by but a single form; as are also the Silphide, Telephoride, Ten-
tyriade, and the Gdemeride.” The numbers of the Hydrade-
phaga and Longicornes are also in unusually small proportion.
The causes for such distributions is an interesting topic, upon
which, if we had space, we should like to enlarge. We think we
could show reasons for many of the anomalies in the distribution
of insects in countries of different habit and climate ;—as, for in-
stance, in a country where the vegetation is excessively rapid, that
there should be fewer carnivorous insects to keep the number of
vegetable feeders within bounds;—in a country where a carease,
if left to itself, would dissolve into liquids and aerial products in
the short space of a day or two, there should be no Neerophori, or
burying beetles ;—and, as Mr Wollaston shows, in regard to the
scarcity of water-beetles in Madera, that there it is sufficiently ac-
counted for by the rapid nature of the rivers, which are liable to
sudden inundations from the mountains, and to deposit their con-
tents in positions distant from their banks, or to pour in ceaseless
torrents over the perpendicular faces of the rocks.

The following comparison with the Canary species, however,
goes to show that the absence of several of the genera or families
in Madera is probably not owing to any special cause, but is merely
accidental.

GENERA. Madera, Canary Isles.
Cicindela, d
Carabus,
Nebria,
Silpha,
Necrophorus,
Cetonia, ‘ ‘ .
Telephorus,
Tentyria,
Pimelia,
Hegeter,
Asida, :
Otiorhynchus,*

—
COCONDOWOrRONK We

ooroooooooceo

* The Otiorhynchi in Madera are represented by Laparocerus and its con-
geners.

_ Reviews and Notices of Books. 169

FAMILIES. Madera. Canary Isles.
Elateride, . J ‘ 1 0
Hydrocantharide,* . ; 0 1

* Of all the Coleoptera, the Hydrocantharida, or water-beetles give the rudest
ronrag to Professor E. Forbes’s theory. They are more widely and exten-
sively ibuted than any other tribe. Many of them bear testimony to the
ancient junction of lands as to whose former continuity there can be little
doubt, such as North America and Siberia, Mexico and the West Indies, Mada-

and the south of Africa. Others, however, if their presence is to be held
unaccounted for by introduction or migration, would infer the junction of Mada-

and the East Indies and Philippine Islands; the junction of China and
Australia with these islands, and even their junction with Peru. We may
adduce one or two examples of this; the general correctness of which may be
relied on, as they are in a great measure taken from the published catalogues
of the contents of the British Museum, (works which are of the greatest value
to the scientific naturalist). For instance,—

1. Both in North America and Siberia, Asia and North of Europe, there are
to be found Dytiseus Ooligbukii (Kirby); Hydaticus zonatus (Hoppe) ; Ilybius
4-maculatus (Aubé); Agabus tristis, (Aubé); A. femoralis (Payk.); A. congener
(Payk.); Gyrinus marinus (Gyll.).

2. In Mexico, South of North America, West Indies, and Brazil, are found
Cybister levigatus (Oliv.); Acilius incisus (Aubé); Oolymbetes calidus (Fab.) ;
Copelatus posticatus (Fab.); Hydrocanthus nigrinus (Aubé); Laccophilus proxi-
mus (Say).

Feet and South Africa and Madagascar and the Isle of France are united
by the following :—Gyrinus abdominalis (Aubé), Turkey, Cape of Good Hope ;

bister africanus (Lap.), Sicily, Sardinia, North Africa, South Africa; C. se-
negalensis (Aubé), Senegal, South Africa, Madagascar, Isle of France; Hyda-
ticus sobrinus (Aubé), Madagascar, Isle of France; Hydaticus bivittatus (Lap.),
Isle of France, Madagascar, Senegal; Copelatus pulchellus (Klug,), Senegal,
Isle of France; Hydrocanthus guttula (Aubé), Isle of France, Madagascar ;
Hyphidrus impressus (Klug.), Madagascar, Bourbon, Isle of France; Dineutes
premorsus (Fab.), Bourbon, Isle of France; Dineutes aereus (Klug.), Nubia,
ag and Cape de Verde Islands ; Orectochielus costatus (Aubé), South Africa,

¥.

4. Again, we find these African lands and dependencies united to the Hast
Indies and Philippine Islands, &c., by the following, viz.:—Cybister tripuncta-
tus (Oliv.), Isie of France, Hast Indies, Java; Lunectes griseus (Fab.), nearly
cosmopolitan—Europe, Egypt, Algeria, Senegal, Hast Indies; Hydaticus Fa-
bricii (M‘Lieay), Senegal, Cape of Good Hope, Madagascar, Kast Indies, and
Philippine Islands; Hydaticus vittatus (Fab.), Hast Indies, Java, Hong-Kong,
&e.; Laccophilus posticus (Aubé), Isle of France, Philippine Islands; Orecto-
cheilus specularis (Aubé), Sierra Leone, Guinea, Hast Indies ; Dineutes micans
(Pab.), Guinea, Hast Indies; D. subspinosus (Klug.), Arabia, Nubia, Senegal,
Madagascar, Isle of France, East Indies.

5. A farther connection can be established between these eastern lands and
Australia and New Zealand, and even Peru. Thus, Gyrinus striatus (Fab.),
South of Hurope, Barbary, Canary Isles, Madagascar, Bourbon, Australia ;
Dineutes australis (Fab.), Hong-Kong, Philippine Islands, Australia; @yrinus

(Brullé), Isle of France, Peru, Chili, Brazil, And,
. Colymbetes notatus (Fab.), is found both in Europe (Britain) and New

These are startling connections, but the consideration of two points will,
we think, go far to satisfy us that they are not inconsistent with Professor
Forbes’s theory. The first is, that from their constitution, and the medium in
which they live, the water-beetles are better adapted to bear extremes of cli-
mate than other insects, and that thence they might extend their range through
climates which would prove barriers to other species, and can bear differences
of temperature which would destroy others. Hence we may infer that the
water-beetles are the most ancient insect creations now existing on the face

170 Reviews and Notices of Books.

Of the Orthoptera, Brullé notices twenty-four species
known, and thirteen new; of Hemiptera, twenty-nine known and
eight new; of europtera, ten known and three new; of #7
optera, exclusive of the Ichneumons and Chalcidites, thirty-two
known and the same number new; of Lepidoptera, “he records
about forty, mostly already known in Europe, except four of
Egypt and Senegal, one new Polyommatus and several nocturnal
Lepidoptera; of Diptera, sixty known and forty new. Those
known are, for the most part, rather from Europe (particularly
Portugal) than from Senegal.

We have, unfortunately, not the means as yet of giving similar
information regarding these orders in the other groups of islands.

As regards the mammalia, the species are chiefly, if not all in-
troduced, In the birds, however, we find the same condition of
things prevailing as in the plants and insects. There are some
species endemic to the islands, but the greater number are also
natives of the Mediterranean province.

As to the mollusca, very similar geographical relations prevail
with them. According to D’Orbigny, out of one hundred and
ninety-six species found at the Canaries, nearly the half belong to
the Mediterranean—about a tenth to the pelagic animals of the
Equatorial high seas—about an eighth to the west coasts of
Africa, and a third are peculiar to the Canaries themselves.

From an enumeration, with descriptions of the land mollusca
of Madera, published in 1851, by the Rev. R. T. Lowe, we find
out of seventy-one species found by him, forty-four were new.
That of these seventy- one, no less than sixty belong to the genus
Helix alone (including its sub-genera), while in Great Britain
there are only about forty-five species. With this extraordinary
excess of numbers in regard to the terrestrial mollusca in favour
of Madera, the only fresh-water species found by Mr Lowe were
Ancylus fluviatilis, Drap., and Linnea minuta, Drap. Speaking of
the distribution of the twenty-seven known species, Mr Lowe re-
marks, “ Did we possess any exact knowledge of the species indi-
genous to the northern parts of Africa, it may be thought that a
chain might be traced, as in the plants from the Canaries through
Madera to that region; and thence by the south of France and
Europe generally to Great Britain and the North. It is, however,
unfavourable to this hypothesis, and in itself very remarkable, that
an extensive collection of Helices from the Canaries, contributed
by Mr Webb, teaches that Madera has at least as little connec-
of the earth. The other consideration is, that although, perhaps, at first sight
a water-beetle may not seem a very probable insect to be introduced by man,
still, in point of fact, there are few classes of insects more likely to have their
range extended in this way. A ship fills its water-casks at a stream or well
in one country ;—if they are not exhausted by the time it reaches its destina-
tion in another, the old water is started out, and the casks again filled, so that,

supposing a few larve or eggs of water-insects to get into the barrels when
being filled, they may be introduced as colonists into any quarter of the globe.

Reviews and Notices of Books. 171

tion in this respect with the Canaries as with the south of Europe,
and stands, as it were, isolated in great measure with respect to
both.” The Canary Islands have actually more species in common
with the south of Europe than Madera has, and Madera has not
more than five or six at most in common with the Canaries.

Of the Echinodermata, there are forty-two species at the
Canaries, of which seventeen are proper to the Mediterranean,
eleven proper to the Mediterranean and to the shores of France
on the Atlantic Ocean, and fourteen special to the Canaries and
the coasts of Africa.

Of the Foraminifera, D’Orbigny records forty-three species in
the Canaries; of these thirty-three are proper to the Canaries ;
seven inhabit also the coasts of France and the Mediterranean.
D’Orbigny supposes these may have been transported by the
winds or by the keels of ships, but we are not altogether disposed
to get rid of the difficulty in such a summary way, the rather
that when we look at the next group, the fishes of these islands,
we find a similar anomaly, which we cannot get rid of in the same
way. M. Valenciennes says, “The ichthyology of the Canary
Isles offers several kinds of interest to general zoology. That
Archipelago, situated at the entrance of the great basin of the
Atlantic upon the coast of Africa seems rather to connect by the
fishes which it nourishes, the coasts of the American continent to
the basin of the Mediterranean than to the coast of Africa. It
is not only then, on account of the number of new species
that it is interesting, but because the mixture of American forms
with those of the Mediterranean will throw fresh light over the
erten of the distribution of species over the globe. The

riacanthus, the Beryx, the Pimelepterus, the great Caranwes
(horse mackerel), the mackerels all of American forms are found at
the Canaries, and the resemblance of several species is so much more
remarkable that it takes place in fishes which cannot be reckoned
among the wandering species. The Pimelepterus incisor is one of the
best examples to cite.” He further observes, that there does not ap-
pear to be somany American species at Madera as at the Canaries ;
and he adds,—*‘ The resemblance between the ichthyology of these
islands and St Helena and Ascension Island, again offer another
interesting consideration. It shows that the fishes are much more
removed from the coasts of the two great continents bathed by the
Atlantic, than one would have supposed. In fine, as we do not
find at the Cape of Good Hope the American species which reach
to the Canaries, and that notwithstanding we observe there a suf-
ficiently great number of Mediterranean species, one would be in-
duced to think that in the distribution of species of fishes, the con-
figuration and the nature of the coast have more influence upon
the life of those animals, than the degree of heat due to the latitude
of the countries,”

172 Reviews and Notices of Books.

We confess, we should rather be disposed to seek for an expla-
nation of the problem in an alteration of the geographical features
of those parts of the globe, and some of the recent zoological dis-
coveries on the west coast of Africa, and particularly in the Bight
of Benin, give force to a view which the peculiarities of the Canaries
first suggested to us. On that coast, a number of American forms
have lately been discovered,—a long-tailed Hystrix (the poreupines
of South America being the only long-tailed poreupines previously
known), and a number of species of insects from Old Calabar,
lately received, prove to be of South American forms, and one
longicorn at least (Mallodon Mawillosus, Fab.), seems identical with
the South American species. It is also to be observed, that many
marine plants and animals are common both to the coasts of
South America, and South Africa. The range of such species,
as laid down in Johnston’s Physical Atlas, seems to be from the
Cape of Good Hope up to the Canary Isles. Let us see if any
other arrangement of the land and water of that part of the globe
would account for such facts. Professor Edward Forbes carried
his speculation as to the connection of Ireland and the Mediter-
ranean district with the Atlantic groups, to the extent of supposing
a great continent filling up the bed of the Atlantic, till it reached
the great bank of gulf-weed. As his speculation is very ingenious,
and will serve as a step towards the explanation of the problem
which has stopped us, we shall make no apology for quoting his
remarks :—‘ My own belief is,” he says, ‘‘ that a great miocene
land, bearing the peculiar flora and fauna of the type now known
as Mediterranean, extended far into the Atlantic, past the Azores;
and that in all probability, the great semicircular belt of gulf-weed
ranging between the 15th and 45th degrees of north latitude, and
constant in its place, marks the position of the coast-line of that
ancient land, and had its parentage on its solid bounds ;”’ and, with
relation to this, he quotes the following passage from Harvey’s
Manual of British Alge,—* Authors who have written on this
Fucus (the gulf-weed), have much disputed, both respecting its
origin, and whether it continues to grow while floating about.
Nothing at all bearing on the former question has yet been dis-
covered ; for though species of Sargasswm abound along the shores
of tropical countries, none exactly corresponds with S. bacciferum.
That the ancestors of the present bank, have originally migrated
from some fixed station, is probable; but further than probability
we can say nothing. That it continues to flourish and grow in its
present situation is most certain, Whoever has picked it up at
sea, and examined it with any common attention, must have per-
ceived, not only that the plants were in vigorous life, but that new
fronds were continually pushing out from the old, the limit being
most clearly defined by the colour, which, in the old frond is foxy-
brown ; in the young shoots, pale transparent olive. But how is

Reviews and Notices of Books. 173

it propagated, for it never produces fructification ? It appears to
me that it is by breakage. The old frond which is exceedingly
brittle, is broken by accident, and the branches continuing to live,
push out young shoots from all sides. Many minute pieces that
T have examined, were as vigorous as those of larger size but they
were certainly not seedlings, and appeared to me to be broken
branches, all having a piece of old frond, from which the young
shoots sprung. As the plant increases in size, it takes something
of globular figure, from the branches issuing in all directions, as
from a centre. On our own shores we have two species, analogous
to S. bacciferwm in their mode of growth, namely Fucus Mackayi,
and the variety B. sub-ecostatus of Fucus vesiculosus (F. balticus
Ag.). Neither of these has ever yet been found attached, though
they often occur in immense strata; the one on the muddy sea-
shore, the other in salt marshes, in which situations respectively,
they continue to grow and flourish; and it is remarkable, that
neither has ever yet been found in fructification, in which respect
also they strikingly coincide with S. bacciferum., And if it be
hereafter shown that F. Mackayi is merely F, nodosus, altered
by growing under peculiar circumstances, may it not be inferred
that Sargassum bacciferum—which differs about as much from
Sargassum vulgare, as Fucus Mackayi does from Fucus nodosus—
is merely a pelagic variety of that variable plant.” Professor
Forbes adds,—“ My friend and colleague, Dr Joseph Hooker, who
has had great opportunities of studying the gulf-weed, believes with
Dr Harvey, that the Sargassum baceciferum is an abnormal condi-
tion of Sargassum vulgare. Now, as the latter is essentially a
coast-line plant, growing on rocks, with a very limited vertical
range, I propose to account for its abnormal condition as Sargas-
sum bacciferum in the gulf-weed bank, on the supposition of the
submergence of the ancient line of coast on which it originated.”
« The fact that there is a well-marked belt of miocene coast-line
in North America (as shown by Mr Lyell), and that the mollusca
of that belt, as I have convinced myself from personal examina-
tion, indicate a representative, not identical fauna in that region,
proves that during the miocene period, there was an Atlantic gulf
separating the new world from the old, and favours the notion
that the coast-line of a post-miocene European land would be
somewhere in the central Atlantic, about the position of the great
Fucus bank. The probability of the ancient existence of such a
land, is further borne out by the fact, that the floras of the groups
of islands between the gulf-weed bank, and the main land of the
old world, are all members of one flora, itself a member of the
Mediterranean type, and only peculiar in as much as certain en-
demic species are present, many of which are common to the
Azores, Madera, and the Canaries,”

Following out this line of thought, let us suppose the north-

174 Reviews and Notices of Books.

eastern coast of South America advanced to meet this ancient
European miocene land, so near as to have only a sea of moderate
extent and of no great depth between them.* This will be quite in
accordance with the traces of coast left by the gulf-weed; for,
besides the great bed to which Professor Forbes refers, there is
another smaller bed in front of the south-east of the Mexican Gulf
or north-west of South America, and a connection is traced between
the two beds all across that portion of the Atlantic.t Such an
arrangement would still give us the Atlantic north of the 45th
degree of north latitude, stretching across from the great gulf-weed
bank to North America, but south of that the two continents of
the old and new world, not actually joined together, but ap-
proached so near, and connected perhaps so closely by islands and
with so shallow a sea, as to allow the same marine plants and ani-
mals to find their way to either side, but still at such a distance as
not to allow a commixture of the land animals or flora—leaving
the resemblance or representation, in the few when it is found, to
be accounted for by the relationship arising from proximity at the
time of creation,—an influence which would cease to act when the
proximity in question ceased to exist. But it seems to be one of
the laws of this planet, that whenever a depression or a rise in
one part of its crust takes place, a corresponding converse rise or
fall must take place in some other part. It is not an empty ball
which can collapse. If, therefore, we suppose such a great mass of
land to have been of a higher level than now exists, we must admit
a corresponding lowering somewhere else, and this is just what
we want to complete our theory—we want some other passage be-
tween the Mediterranean and the seas of the Cape of Good Hope
to allow the Mediterranean fishes which are found there to make
their way to it. A very trifling depression of the African conti-
nent would place the Saharan deserts and the great plains in the
south of Africa under water, and there might be an uninterrupted
passage from the Mediterranean to the Cape by seas and straits of
which we do not dream.

But the general considerations suggested by Mr Wollaston’s
work have led us away from the work itself, and the manner in
which it has been executed, and we should not like to close our
remarks without bearing testimony to its excellence. The book, so
far as outward finish goes, bears more resemblance to the admi-
rable works which are brought out by ourselves, and more espe-
cially by our neighbours, under the sanction and at the cost of
government. It is obviously the work of a man of gentlemanly
tastes and instincts—the paper, the typography, the plates, and

* We here speak only of the north-eastern coast of South America. There
are geological reasons against supposing such an approximation of the coasts
further south, as where the great plains of the Pampas, &c., are found.

t Johnston’s Physical Atlas.

ete

7

Reviews and Notices of Books. 175

the general style, all speak of a man who likes to have “ every
thing handsome about him ;”’ and it is no slight praise to say,
that the composition and scientific part is on an equal footing
with its external appearance. The descriptions of species are most
carefully and clearly drawn up, and the notes and observations upon
them are calculated to make the subject as interesting as descrip-
tions of insects can well be. Besides, by not confining his descrip-
tions to new species, but embodying descriptions of all the species
found in Madera, he fully adapts his work for the use of whoever
wishes to take up the study of Maderan insects—in fact, gives in one
volume all that the resident in Madera requires to know on the
subject ; so that the invalid who resorts to entomology as an occupa-
tion for the hours that hang heavy on his hand, may follow out his
pursuit with all the advantages which a large and valuable entomo-
logical library could otherwise alone have given him. And what is
of great advantage to beginners, he may attempt to make out his
species with almost the certainty of finding them described in this
work; for Mr Wollaston’s industry and talents as a collector (even
though we were not otherwise aware of them), pierce through every
page of the book. But while we acknowledge its merits so fully, we
do not mean to say that there is nothing in which we do not differ
from him. The point which is most open to criticism in a work of
this kind is, of course, the new species and genera constituted by the
author. Now, we must admit that, so far as we have had an oppor-
tunity of examining specimens in nature of Mr Wollaston’s species,
they appear to be sound, and he seems to have avoided the vice into
which too many of our English entomologists have fallen, viz., becom-
ing species-makers. But we are not quite so well satisfied with all
his new genera. Most of them, we admit, are well cut, and pos-
sess forms and characters distinctly entitling them to a place as
genera, but some of them appear questionable. We think there are
two great rules which should never be lost sight of in characterizing
genera. The first is, that a species is not necessarily to be made a
new genus, merely because there is no genus, as already constituted,
which will admit it. In many instances the new species may differ
only on some unessential point, which, although forming part of the
described characters of the old genus, may be struck out without in-
juring the individuality of the genus, and in such a case the old
genus should be widened to receive the new species, instead of con-
stituting it a new genus itself. The second, which must be taken
along with the first, is, that characters which may be of essential ge-
neric importance in one family, may be of merely secondary impor-
tance in another. ‘There is ample proof in this work that Mr Wol-
laston was quite alive to the importance of these rules, but we do not
think he has acted upon them with sufficient determination. For
instance, we think he he has broken the first of them in creating the
genus Thalassophilus, which is clearly an AZpus. In like manner

176 Reviews and Notices of Books.

Crypta might be widened to receive Cryptomorpha; Mycetea to
receive Microchondrus ; and, perhaps, Dorcadion to receive Deu-
calion, although of this we have more doubt ;—Boromorphus ap-
pears to us to be not distinct from Boros ; and we have no hesita-
tion in saying that Somatium should be placed in Hypocyptus ; Meco-
gnathus in Sunius; and Metopsia in Pheobium. We think he has
overlooked the second rule in making a new genus for his species
of Melyrosoma, which should have found a place under Melyris; —
Cyphocelis and Atlantis appears to us both to belong to Lapa-
rocerus; and Anemophilus and Scoliocerus, and perhaps also Li-
chenophagus should belong to Omias. We think Lichenophagus
is better entitled to a place as a genus than either of the other
two, although Mr Wollaston himself, while he entertains no doubt
about Anemophilus and Scoliocerus, treats it with doubt, and only
erects it into a provisional genus; and lastly, we think he has dis-
regarded both rules deliberately and with his eyes open, in not
modifying Clypeaster to receive Arthrolips, Corylophus to receive
Gleosoma ; and Agathidium to receive Stagonomorpha.

We have not space to go over the characters of these genera, and
point out on what grounds we differ in opinion from Mr Wollaston
regarding them; and if we had, we do not know, that this is the
proper place for it. We merely indicate the points on which we do
differ from him; and we wish our readers to take this along with
them, viz., that we have formed our opinion, not like Mr Wollaston,
from a prolonged and careful microscopic examination of the species
themselves, but merely from a perusal of his description, and from
the plates, as we have not been fortunate enough to see more than a
few of them in nature.

The arrangement is another topic, on which men may easily differ,
and yet in which, as Mr Mantalini says, “ we may both be right and
neither wrong.” We shall therefore not enter into a discussion as
to that adopted by Mr Wollaston, farther than to say that in a great
deal we cordially agree with him, and where we differ, we admit that
there is much to be said in support of the view he has adopted.

We cannot close without expressing our admiration of the figures
and dissections which have been executed by Mr Westwood. He is
one of the few scientific artists we have, to whom we can point as
on a par with our continental neighbours.

In a word, the whole work is one from which we have derived the
liveliest gratification, and which British naturalists may contem-
plate with satisfaction, as being a credit to their country.

Experimental Researches in Electricity. By MIcHAEL
Farabay, D.C.L., F.R.S., &. Vol. Il. London: 1855.

The volume under notice contains the record of ten years’ work
by the great Electrician whose name it bears. The first paper, con-

Reviews and Notices of Books. 177

taining the nineteenth series of his electrical researches, (the preced-
ing eighteen of which were published in the two former volumes,)
is dated November 1845, the last February 1855. The contents are
republications, chiefly from the Philosophical Transactions of 1846-
1852, but in addition, from the Proceedings of the Royal Institution,
and the pages of the London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine.
They amount altogether to 580 closely-printed octavo pages, and dis-
cuss seriatim some of the most interesting but difficult problems
of Physical Science. The nature of matter, of force, of polarity ;
the conditions of electrical and magnetic action ; the connection sub-
sisting between the great material agencies, heat, light, electricity,
magnetism, gravity, and the like, are either formally or incidentally
discussed in the light of profound and original views. The remark-
able discoveries which have rewarded the genius and patience of the
author, during the last decade, such as the magnetisation of light, and
the illumination of magnetic lines of force; the magnetic condition
of all matter, including the unexpected and fertile observation, that
as the earth has its pre-eminently magnetic constituent, iron, so
the air has its magnetic constituent, oxygen, the arrangement of
substances as magnetic under the heads of paramagnetic, or ferro-
magnetic, like iron, nickel, and cobalt, and diamagnetic like phos-
phorus and the majority of remaining substances ; the distribution of
the lines of magnetic force within a magnet and through space, the
diamagnetic conditions of flame and gases ; the connection between
electrical induction, conduction and insulation ; and many not less im-
portant observations, speculations, and conclusions, are announced for
the first time, or expounded with fuller illustration and confirmation
in this volume.

To analyse or to criticise it, is not our present intention. In
truth only men of like genius and training with Faraday, and
habituated to similar researches, can judge of its merits and demerits,
and they will justly make treatises similar to his, the vehicles of
their judgments.

It is within our province, however, to refer to three aspects of the
work, which are worth a moment’s notice.

Istly, It reproduces in one continuous series, those researches (xix
to xxix), which must otherwise be consulted in various volumes of
the Philosophical Transactions. It contains also the more popular
expositions of many of these researches, which the author gave as oc-
casional lectures at the Royal Institution, and which as his own ab-
stract and summary of conclusions, would have a special value, even if
they did not (as they always do) contain new matter, and additionally
lucid explanations of abstruse speculations. The volume further em-
bodies various papers from the Philosophical Magazine, which either
discuss questions of great interest as collateral to the main subjects
of the researches, or explain more fully such of the conclusions in
these as had been misapprehended, or reply to objections raised to

NEW SUERIES.—vVOL, I. NO. L.-—IULY 1855. M

178 Reviews and Notices of Books.

them. The entire work is thus one which no electrician can dispense
with. —
Secondly, To younger men devoted to Physical Science, this
volume, like its predecessors, may be held up as one of the noblest
examples which the records of knowledge afford, of the spirit in
which physical researches should be prosecuted and proclaimed.

Faraday combines to a rare extent great boldness in speculating,
with great caution in concluding. His patience and perseverance as ~
a worker are as remarkable as his originality as a thinker, and his
skill as an expositor ; and with an ingenuity in devising experiments,
and a manipulative skill and dexterity in performing them, never we
believe surpassed, he combines an accuracy and fidelity in working,
such as brilliant experimenters and dexterous manipulators often fail
to exhibit. Half-truths with him are hateful things, and he grudges
neither thought, nor time, nor labour, not to speak of expense, pro-
vided they will bring him certainty of knowledge, even though it be but
the certainty of nescience. His aim is ever a decided Yes or a decided
No; or the attainment of the certainty that the problem is one which
man cannot answer either way. These qualities cannot fail to im-
press every thoughtful reader of the book, which is fitted to render
‘a moral as well as intellectual service to all who study it. We
have risen from its perusal with increased perception of the truthful-
ness, modesty, impartiality, and unjealous, unenvious spirit of its
author. The cheerful acknowledgment of the labours of others, the
patient study of all reasonable objections to his own most cherished
views, the frank confession of change of opinion, where that has
occurred, the lowly estimate of himself, and the lofty, nay solemn
estimate of the dignity of his vocation as an unfolder of the works
of God, make us love as much as we honour our great Electrician,
and should prompt our younger men to imitate his spirit, which they
may all do, as well as rival him in his discoveries, in which they may
be less successful.

Thirdly, These hasty observers of whirling tables, and so-called
spirit rappings, and all the host of half-trained amateurs who have
imperfectly mastered the alphabet of electricity, should study a page
or two of this volume, before intruding on the precious time of Fara-
day with ill-considered questions. He has been driven to make
public complaint of the unreasonable demands thus made upon him,
and ‘that he is entitled to do so, those will most fully acknowledge,
who can best follow the discussions of this profound book, and who
also know how willing its author is to assist the studies of the un-
learned, and how much he delights in rendering his attractive science
a source of instruction and amusement even to children. Let those
who decide upon the import of the most startling and unexpected
physical phenomenon, after one or two hastily devised and imperfect
experiments read (to take one example), the account of days, nay
weeks, spent by our author in deciding the apparently simple, but in
reality, very difficult question, “Can a Magnet exist with only a

Reviews and Notices of Books. 179

North or only a South Pole; or must it have two Poles?” and till
they have observed in the same spirit, and made certain that their
supposed phenomenon has an actual existence, and that they have a
distinct and answerable question to put, be slow to take sucha
_ man as Faraday from labours by which all his brethren are gainers.

The Natural History Review: A Quarterly Journal, in-
cluding the Transactions of the Belfast Natural History
and Philosophical Society, Cork Cuvierian Society, Dublin
Natural History Society, Dublin University Zoological
Association, and the Literary and Scientific Institution of
Kilkenny, as authorised by the councils of these Societies
for the Sessions 1853-4. Vol. I. Dublin: 1854. 8vyo.

This is a work of a character different from other periodicals
devoted to Natural History. It consists of reviews of works re-
lating to Natural History, including notices of serial publications,
and, in addition, gives the proceedings of Irish societies.

The plan isagood one. There are ample materials for an annual
volume, noticing, analysing and reviewing works of zoology and
botany, with geology, the travels of naturalists, &c.; but we think
it should be confined to works published in Great Britain and
Treland, and thereby give a complete view of what has been done at
home in each year. Commencing at 1855, it might form the sequel
to the Bibliographia of the Ray Society, and where it was not ne-
cessary to review, the correct title of the work, papers, or memoir,
could be recorded, As an Irish work the proceedings of Irish
societies might be given; but if all British also were to be in-
cluded, or even a part of them attempted, the materials to be
properly reported would more than fill the volume, and the space
allotted for a partial notice only would be better occupied by
working up the Natural History publications.

Prodromus Faune Zeylanice ; being contributions to the

Zoology of Ceylon. By E. F Ketaart, M.D. Edin., F.LS.,
&. Vol. I. Ceylon: 1852. Vol. II., Part I. Colombo:
1854. 8vo.

The Fauna of a country is a catalogue of its animal productions,
and is useful and interesting in proportion to the information con-
veyed in regard to the habits and distribution of its animals.
Insular Fauna are peculiarly interesting, as they often contain
species entirely local, and not yet discovered upon the adjacent
continents.

M2

180 Reviews and Notices of Books,

The first volume of the Fauna of Ceylon was published so long —
since as 1852, and contains the “ Natural History of Newera
Ellia,” “ Description of Ceylon Mammalia,’’ ‘ Catalogue of Ceylon
Birds,” “ Description of Ceylon Reptiles,” and an “ Appendix by
the late Dr Gardner on the Flora of Ceylon.” The volume is
the work of Dr Kelaart, an officer residing there, and employing
his leisure time in these researches ; and although it is the “ pro-
domus” only of a more extended work, a view of the Zoology of
the island is given which will be very useful to residents or visi-
tors who may desire information.

Volume II., Part I., a reprint from the “ Journal of the Asiatic
Journal of Ceylon, ya ’ published within the last year, and con-
tains the commencement of a more detailed account of the birds
and reptiles, the result of the joint labours of Dr Kelaart and Mr
Edgar Layard. And “in order to keep the Ceylon student of
natural history up to other departments of zoology, in addition to
those the authors are more particularly engaged in,” an appendix
is added, giving the results of the labours of European zoologists,
where they relate to the natural history of the island. That
joined to the present part contains a notice of the Viverride, by
J. E. Gray, and the characters of new land shells collected by
E, Layard—Streptawis, Helix, Vitrina, Achatina, Bulimus, Pupa,
cataulus, and Cyclophorus.

Remarks on some Fossil Impressions in the Sandstone rocks
of Connecticut River. By Joun C, WARREN, M.D. Boston,
U.S. 1854. 8vo.

This little work of fifty-four pages, already in part printed in
the Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, is with
some additions now intended as a systematic Synopsis, and a Sum-
mary of the discovery of Footprints and other impressions ob-
served upon the surfaces of the rocks in America.

In America, as well as in this country, the attention of geolo-.
gists to the impressions of footprints and other markings, has been
comparatively recent, and it is only a few years since, that, from
the accumulation of materials and the importance beginning to be
attached to the subject, the terms Ichnolithology and Ichnology
were applied to it. Next to the actual fossilized portion of an
animal, the undeniable footprint is the nearest proof of its pre-
sence at some period or other, It tells us clearly that a creature
had existed, and, perhaps, gives more information, if well marked
and defined, than small or detached fragments of the skeleton
itself. Dr Hitchcock is deservedly the great American authority
in this branch of geology, and he has worked it out with wonderful

‘

Proceedings of Societies. 181

‘perseverance and assiduity. Of this Dr Warren bears ample testi-
mony; and we are glad to see that younger men are now taking it
up, and that the observations, from being: more extended, are being
brought to bear more generally in the history of ancient life. In
the present work the aid of photography has been brought to assist,
and it is the first time we have seen it so applied. The photo-
graphic illustration gives an excellent idea of the slab from which
it is taken, with this exception, that having been reduced from one
of large dimensions the size is not conveyed to us, but we have no
doubt of the art being admirably adapted for such illustrations.

PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES.

Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Monday, 2d April 1855. Dr Curistison, V.P., in the Chair.
The following Communications were read :—

1. Account of Experiments to ascertain the amount of Prof. Wm.
Thomson's *‘ Solar Refraction.” By Prof. C, Prazazi Suyru.

After alluding to the excessive difficulty of ascertaining the presence
and nature of a resisting medium in space, by planetary or cometary per-
turbations, the author reminded the meeting of the statements made in
those rooms last year, that one of the consequences to which the dynamical
theory of heat had led him, was the necessity of the existence of a medium
filling space ; that such medium was but-an extension of our own atmo-
sphere, and must experience a condensation in the neighbourhood of the
sun; and that there must consequently arise a certain refraction of any
heavenly body seen through such medium.

Impressed, therefore, with the importance of endeavouring to get by
these means some further light in regard to the long-vexed question of the
resisting medium, Professor Smyth had instituted, during the last summer,
a series of observations on stars in the neighbourhood of the sun. Atmo-
spheric difficulties had, however, prevented much being done ; and in the
whole history of the observatory, but one group of observations available
for the purpose in view had been found. This, on being subjected to

caleulation, has given two results, both confirmatory, and indi-
cating an amount of solar refraction of 0s-04 in right ascension, at a dis-
tance of 12 minutes of time from the sun.

2. On the Ewtent to which the Theory of Vision requires us to regard
the Bye as a Camera Obscura. By Dr Grorex Winson.

‘The object of this communication was to combat the current theory of

, a8 exercised by vertebrate animals, in so far as it teaches that the

t which reaches the retina from without, thereafter passes through

a emamanonag and is absorbed by the pigment of the choroid be-
it.

The author, after enumerating the arguments adduced in favour of this

view, proceeded to state that a mass of evidence, daily accumulating, had

182 Proceedings of Societies.

established, beyond question, the certainty that light is reflected from the
anterior layers of the retina and from the choroid, and so abundantly, that
oculists take daily advantage of the fact to examine, by means of this
light, the deeper internal structures of the eye.

This organ, accordingly, cannot be regarded otherwise than in a limited
sense as a camera obscura, and the arguments in favour of the opposi
belief were shown to furnish no substantial support of the current opi-
nion. Thus, the eyes of albino animals were found to exercise vision
perfectly, although destitute of pigmentum nigrum ; and the presence of
the tapetum lucidum, which acts like a concave metallic reflector in t
eyes of many creatures, was shown to furnish no obstacle to sight, which,
on the other hand, it rendered more acute when light was feeble. The
supposed cross reflection of light within the eye was also shown to be a
phenomenon which could rarely occur so as to disturb vision.

The author finally urged that the reflection of light from the bottom of
the eye served important ends, especially in the lower animals. Those
ends he held to be—

1. The return from the choroid of light through the retina, so as to
double the impression on the latter.

2. The reflection of light on external objects, which was best seen in
creatures whose eyes are provided with tapeta lucida, and acted alike
as an assistance to them in finding their food, and in the case of car-
nivorous nocturnal and marine animals, to their prey in escaping from
them.

In the human subject it was contended that, in very faint light, re-
flection from the bottom of the eye would assist vision, and that the
known delicacy of visual perception, which characterized those who had
been long imprisoned in damp chambers or dungeons, afforded an ex- .
ample of such assistance. The author also insisted on the fact, that, as
the reflected light is always coloured, so as in the human eye to be bright
red, yellowish-red, or brownish-red, and in different eyes to a different
degree ; and as we add from our eyes coloured light to every object we
gaze at, no two persons see the same colour alike, or will exactly agree
in matching tints. The existence and importance of such a chromatic
personal equation was dwelt on at some length.

3. Researches on the Amides of the Fatty Acids. By Dr Tuomas H.
Rowney, Assistant to Dr Anderson, University of Glasgow.

The author in this paper gives the details of an examination of the
compounds obtained by the action of ammonia on some of the oils and
fats. The method employed was to mix one volume of the oil, two vo-
lumes of alcohol, and four volumes of strong ammonia, in a stop
bottle, and place it in a moderately warm situation, the stopper being
tied down. After a time, varying with the oil employed, a whitish solid
matter is formed, which increases in amount as the oil diminishes, until
at length the whole becomes nearly solid. The mass is collected on a
cloth filter, washed with a little water, and squeezed, and the residue dis-
solved in warm alcohol ; the crystals deposited on cooling are washed first
with dilute spirit, then water, and again expressed, and this is repeated
till a resinous matter, which adheres obstinately to the product, is re-
moved,

The amides thus formed, when pure, are white, and permanent in the
air, but if any of the resin be present they soon become yellow and
resinous. The quantity obtained from different oils varied much, the
drying oils yielding less of the amides and more resin than the fat oils.
Of the oils examined by the author, linseed, poppy, and croton oil, yield

Proceedings of Societies. 183

margaramide, almond and seal oils oleamide, castor oil ricinolamide,
— —— and castor oil, after solidification by nitrous acid, give elaid-
almamide, which two latter compounds are isomeric with
anise os ricinolamide.
The melting point of these amides were found as follows :—
Margaramide, . . . » . 103°C. (60° C. Boullay.)
Palmamide and Bisidamide, pss) | QAP ERs
SONIC ak fo bie ee fe, BQO.
The author considers the melting points ascribed to ricinolamide
(60 C.) and isocetamide (67° C.), by Boullay, are below the truth.
The researches of the author are not yet completed, and the results of
experiments now in progress will be given on a future occasion.

Monday, 16th April 1855. Right Rev. Bishop Terror, V.P.,
in the Chair.
The following Communications were read :—
1. Notice of some new Forms of British Fresh-Water Diatomacee. By
Wiut114M Grecory, M.D., F.R.S.E., Professor of Chemistry.
The author stated that he had examined, more or less minutely, nearly
300 fresh-water gatherings, and that he had found in these very nearly

all the known British species, besides a number not yet described.
The new forms were described in three sections.

I. Species figured by foreign authors, but new to Britain.

1, Eunotia tridentula. 10. Stauroneis ventricosa, Ehr.
2. Navicula follis (Trochus?) Ehr. |11. Cocconema cornutum, Ehr.
amet oe dubia, Kiitz. 12. Gomphonema subtile, Ehr. i
er Bacillum, Ehr. 13. Melosira distans, Ehr.
. Pinnularia megaloptera, Uhr. 14, Navicula amphigomphus, Ehr., and
i dactylus, Ehr. 15. oe dilatata, Ehr., possibly
r es nodosa, Kiitz. varieties of Navicula dubia, not
¥ pygmea, Ehr. figured by the author.
°. Stauroneis Legumen, Kiitz.

II. New Species, observed by others nearly about the same time as b
the author, and named by the Rev. Professor Smith, but still MS.

species.
16. Navicula apiculata, Sm. 20. Pinnularia hemiptera, Sm. (not
17. ~ ,,° rostrata, Sm. figured.)
18. ” scutelloides, Sm, 21. Navicula sufflata, Sm. (Auvergne.
19. Mastogloia Grevillii, Grev. Found in Britain by the author.

Not figured.)
Il{. Species now first deseribed and figured.

22, Cymbella (7?) sinuata, W. G. 34, Pinnularia linearis, W. G.
23. in turgida, Ww. G. 35. ‘ biceps, W. G.
24, oe obtusa, W. G. 36. ‘i digitoradiata, W. G,
25. - Pisciculus, W. G. 37. ob Elginensis, W. G.
26. 8 Arcus, W. G. 38. Hs globiceps, W. G.
27. Navicula cocconeiformis, W. G. 39. Stauroneis obliqua, W. @
28, op lacustris, W.G., do, 6. | 40. * dubia, W. G.
29, ,, lepida, W. G., do. A. 41. 4, ? ovalis, W. G.
By » bacillaris, W. G. 42. Surirella tenera, W. G.
$l. ,, ineurva, W. G. 43. Gomphonema insigne, W. G.
32. +4 longiceps, W. G. 44, be ventricosum, W. G.
33, Pinnularia gracillima, W. G. (va-| 45. Pe Sarcophagus, W. G.

civa, Sm.) 46, > quale, W.G,

184 Proceedings of Societies.

The author concluded by making some observations on the distribution
of fresh-water diatoms, and showed by various examples that it is often
quite easy to determine the characters of a species, if these be well marked,
even when it occurs sparingly or scattered, and that when a form is once
noticed, we are pretty sure to find it soon after in greater abundance. To
show the value of minute search, he stated that although most of the above
new species occurred in several gatherings, yet, in point of fact, nearly the
whole of them had been observed in a detailed exploration of only four
gatherings those, namely, from Elgin, Elchies, Lochleven, and Dudding-
ston Loch.

2. On Glacial Phenomena in Peebles and Selkirk Shires. By Roperr
Campers, Esq., F.R.S.E., &e.

In this short paper, the author presented faets, from which he thought
himself entitled to infer that the Silurian mountain tract of southern Seot-
land falls entirely into his views regarding ancient glacial operations in the
country generally, as expounded in a paper read to the Royal Society of
Edinburgh in December 1852, and published in the Edinburgh New Phi-
losophical Journal for April 1853. He showed that the compact boulder
clay, which he regards as the detritus of the early and general glaciation of
the country, exists in the valleys of this district, and in passes amongst the ~
hills, up to those of Glenlude and Tweedshaws, which are respectively 1152
and 1352 feet above the mean level of the sea. Striated boulders from Glen-
lude and Tweedshaws were brought before the Society. The rounded form
of the hills, andthe horizontal mouldings or flutings which are seen along
the faces of many of them, he considers as other memorials of the operations
in question. The nature of the rocks is unfavourable for the preservation
of smoothed or striated surfaces ; but Mr Chambers had found one such on
the border of St Mary’s Loch, in Selkirkshire, 800 feet above the sea. On
the assumption that the hills had been shorn and rounded by moving ice, it
appeared from the high inclination of the strata, as exhibited in a copy of
Professor Nicol’s section of the district, that the amount of denudation fully
equalled the remarkable examples adduced by Professor Ramsay in regard
to South Wales and the Mendip Hills. Finally, Mr Chambers deseribed
an example of the later and limited operations of ordinary glaciers in the
elevated moor of Loch Skene, a tarn formed and retained by a moraine.

3. Preliminary Notice on the Decompositions of the Platinwm Salts of
the Organic Alkalies. By Tuomas Anperson, M.D., Regius Pro-
fessor of Chemistry in the University of Glasgow.

This paper was a preliminary notice of an investigation which has oceu-
pied the author for some time past, and which, though still too incomplete
for publication in full, is sufficiently advanced to render obvious the general
character of the results, although, from the extensive and elaborate nature
of the inquiry, a very considerable time must elapse before it is complete in
all the requisite details.

It has-been known for some years that the platinum salts of the organic
alkalies are decomposed when boiled with excess of bichloride of platinum ;
and with narcotine, the only one as yet examined, the action is a true pro-
cess of oxidation, yielding results similar to those obtained by treating the
base with peroxide of manganese or nitric acid. The present investiga-
tion refers to the pure platinum salts, which undergo an entirely different
decomposition, the nature of which is materially dependent on the stabi-
lity of the base. Having observed that the decomposition was more pre-
cise and definite when the less decomposable bases were employed, and ap-

Proceedings of Societies. 185

_ parently calculated to afford the key to the more complex changes, which
_ eceur in other cases, the author has hitherto directed his attention more par-
_ ticularly to pyridine and picoline, which are so remarkable for their stabi-
lity, and especially for the obstinacy with which they resist the action of
-oxidizi ents.

When the latinum salt of pyridine, carefully freed from excess of bi-
chloride of platinum, is dissolved in hot water, and the solution kept
steadily boiling for some hours, a fine sulphur-yellow crystalline powder

ins toappear. After five or six days’ continuous boiling the whole of
the platinum salt is converted into this substance, but if the powder be
filtered off before the change is complete, the mother liquid on cooling
gives a deposit of fine golden-yellow scales resembling iodide of lead.

The yellow powder is insoluble in water and acids, and is decomposed
by potash slowly in the cold, more rapidly on boiling, with the evolution
of pyridine. It is the salt of a platinum base, analogous to platinamine, to
which I give the name of platinopyridine. Its analysis gave—

Expt. Calculation.
Carbon, . .. . 24°30 2412 ©, 60°—
Hydrogen,. . . . 214 201 4H, &
Nitrogen, . . . . ws. 5°65 N 14:
Chlorine, . . . . 28°56 28:54 Che 7
Piatinem,;s0 3. ©. «63 9°60 89°68 Pt 938°7
100-00 248°7

It is therefore a bihydrochlorate of platinopyridine, with the formula
C,, H, Pi N+2H Cl, and the decomposition which yields it consists sim-
ply in the expulsion of an equivalent of hydrochloric acid, as represented by
the equation

C,H, N, HC1Pt Cl, =C,, H, PtN4+2HCl4+ HOL

The equivalent of hydrochloric acid escapes with extreme slowness, but
- the change may be much facilitated by the addition of a sufficient quan-
tity of pyridine to combine with it, although an excess must be carefully
avoided, as it produces a different decomposition, to be afterwards de-
seribed.

Platinopyridine cannot be separated from the bihydrochlorate by alka-
lies, but when boiled with salts of silver, the corresponding salts of the
base are obtained. The decomposition, however, is very slowly effected,
and certain changes occur which the author is not yet in a condition satis-
factorily to explain. When the hydrochlorate is boiled with two equi-
valents of sulphate of silver, it gradually loses its colour, and the yellow
solution produced contains the sulphate of platinopyridine, which is ex-
tremely soluble in water, and dries up into a gummy mass on evapora-
tion. Considerable difficulties were encountered in obtaining the salts of
platinopyridine in a state fitted for analysis, and the only one which has
iven satisfactory results is the chromate, which is obtained on adding

ichromate of potass to the sulphate, in the form of a fine orange-red
precipitate, having the formula, C,, H, Pt N HO CrO,.
en the bihydrochlorate of platinopyridine is boiled with two equiva-
lents of sulphate or nitrate of silver for a shorter time than is requisite
for its complete decomposition, and the chloride of silver collected on a
filter, washed and treated with ammonia, it leaves behind a yellow erys-
talline matter, generally in small quantity. This substance is insoluble,
or nearly so, in water, but dissolves in boiling nitric acid, from which it
is deposited, on cooling, in beautiful shining plates. It contains chlorine,
but its constitution is not yet satisfactorily determined.

186 Proceedings of Societies.

The golden-yellow scales produced when the ebullition of the platinum
salt of pyridine is stopped before the change into platinopyridine is com-
plete, have a very singular constitution, the analysis giving—

Expt. Calculation.
Carbon, « - < s ; 9290. 386% oe
Hydrogen, pi ms 2°30 2°06. Hy Be
Nitrogen, . Z ; ny 526. Nei sae
Chlorine, . . . 32°75 33°24 Cl, 177°5
Platinum, . . . 3661 3697 Pt, 197-4
100-00 533°9

and its formula is—

C,, H; N H Cl Pt Cl, + C,, H, Pt N 2H Cl,
- representing it as a double compound of the original platinum salt and
the bihydrochlorate of platinopyridine. The author reserves the expla-
nation of its constitution until the paper is published in full.

When the platinum salt of pyridine is boiled with an eacess of pyri-
dine, the fluid becomes extremely dark-coloured, and on evaporation to
dryness in the water-bath and addition of water, a dark solution is ob-
tained, and acrystalline residue left, which is very sparingly soluble in
water, more so in boiling alcohol, and is deposited on cooling in small
needle-shaped crystals. Its composition was found to be—

Expt. Calculation. |
Carbon, Hite Caet 28°14 C,, 60°
Hydrogen, ; . 2°48 2°34 4H, 5°
Nitrogen, 4 tes 658 N 14
Chlorine, : ‘ 16°69 1665 Cl 35°5
Platinum, . . 45°83 46°29 Pl 98-7
100-00 213°2

This corresponds with the formula C,, H, Pt N-+-HCl, which is that of
a hydrochlorate of platosopyridine corresponding to the hydrochlorate of
platosamine. By treatment with nitrate and sulphate of silver the salts
of these acids are produced.

The picoline platinum salt decomposes very slowly, but after eight or
ten days’ boiling a platinopicoline is produced. If a little picoline be
added to the solution, the change is complete in a few hours. The bihy-
drochlorate is insoluble in water, and the double compound containing
that substance in combination with the original salt, and of which the

formula is—
C,, H, N H Cl Pt Cl,+C,, H, Pt N 2H Cl,

crystallizes in grains, and is much less soluble than the corresponding
pyridine compound. The properties of these substances will, be after-
wards fully described.

The platinochloride of ethylopyridine is very slowly decomposed by
boiling, but eventually a substance is deposited which as yet has given
only discordant results. A small quantity of pyridine appears to promote
the decomposition, but the most remarkable effect is produced by the addi-
tion of ammonia. The solution in this case is completely decolorized
a few minutes’ boiling, and it then gives a white precipitate on the addi.
tion of carbonate of ammonia. The substance so obtained is very spa-
ringly soluble in water, and almost insoluble in aleohol. Analysis showed
it to be Raewski’s carbonate, the sesquihydrochlorocarbonate of diplati-
namine. The action of ammonia is readily explained by the equation

Proceedings of Societies. 187

C,, H, N HCl+Pt Cl,42HN,=N, H, Pt HCl+C,, H, N HCl.

The salt, N, H, Pt HCl, was separated from the fluid and examined
it appears to be identical with the substance obtained by Gerhardt by the
action of ammonia on the platinochloride of ammonium.*

The details of these, and other decompositions, the author reserves to
a future time ; contenting himself with stating that most of the platinum
salts examined are decomposed by sufficiently protracted ebullition, al-
though some are extremely stable.

The platinum salt of ethylamine is scarcely changed when boiled alone,
but in presence of excess of base, a substance is produced, sometimes in
yellow, and at other times in purple crystals, which become yellow at
212°. It appears to be the hydrochlorate of platosethylamine.

The aniline compound is very easily decomposed, but the products do
not appear to be definite.

_ The narcotine compound dissolves in a considerable quantity of hot
water, and on boiling the solution at first remains unchanged ; after some
hours, however, it acquires a brown colour, and, a few minutes’ longer
boiling, a black precipitate, containing the whole of the platinum, but
combined with some organic matter, is deposited. The filtered fluid, on
addition of ammonia, gives a precipitate resembling narcotine, but whether

_it is that base, or a product of decomposition, is not yet determined.

The brucine compound is very sparingly soluble, but if boiled with
water is at length decomposed, with the production of a black powder ;
on filtering a red solution is obtained, which deposits a yellow platinum
salt on pa, It is possible, however, that this may be merely a por-
tion of the original salt, for as soon as the undissolved portion had be-
come black the solution was filtered.

The author reserves for a future paper the consideration of the infer-
ences to be drawn from this investigation, remarking that it is likely to
modify to some extent certain of the views now entertained regarding
the constitution of the bases. In the third part of his investigation of
the products of the destructive distillation of animal substances, he has
shown that pyridine and picoline, by taking up a single atom of the
alcohol radicals, are converted into fixed bases, so that according to the
ordinarily received opinion, they are nitryl bases in which the whole of
the hydrogen is replaced by these different radicals. The production of
the Malet bases, however, shows that they do still contain replaceable
hydrogen, so that either the formation of a fixed base by the addition of
one equivalent of a radical does not prove that they are nitryl bases, or
the received opinion regarding the constitution of the platinum bases
must undergo some modification.

It is clear that at present we cannot attempt any explanation of these
apparently anomalous results; but the author is now engaged examin-
ing the decompositions of the platinum salts of amide and nitryl bases
containing known radicals, which will probably lead to their correct
explanation.

4. On the Volatile Bases produced by Destructive Distillation of Cin-
chonine. By ©. Grevinre Witwiams, Assistant to Dr Anderson,
University of Glasgow. .

In this paper the author shows that cinchonino by distillation with
potash, undergoes a very complex decomposition, and that instead of
yielding one base, as has hitherto been supposed, it gives at least seven.

The mode of résearch at first adopted was to convert the basic liquid
into platinum salt, and separate the bases by fractional crystallization.

* Comptes Rendus des Travaux Chimiques, 1849, p. 113.

188 Proceedings of Societies.

The experiments made in this manner indicated that several substances
were present, but it was evident that to decide the question, a very large
amount of material would be required; the author therefore subjected
100 ounces of cinchonine to distillation with potash, and thus obtained
sufficient of the basic oil to enable him to effect twelve complete fractiona-
tions, involving at least 240 distillations.

Runge’s pyrrol was present in the crude bases, and was removed by
protracted boiling of the acid solution.

The bases were produced free from water by digestion with potash ;
the following fractions were then analysed.

Fraction boiling at 310° F. The basic liquid on analysis gave num-
bers exactly agreeing with the formula C'* H® N, which is that of
lutidine, a base which has as yet only been twice observed before, it
having been discovered in Dippel’s animal oil by Dr Anderson, and
found soon after in shale naphtha by the author of the present paper.
Pyridine and picoline were also found by fractionally crystallizing the
platinum salts obtained about this point in the earlier distillations, but
the quantity present was extremely small.

Fraction boiling between 350° and 360° F. This fraction was found
to consist of collidine, a platinum salt giving on combustion numbers
agreeing closely with the theoretical values, Collidine was also found in
fractions boiling as high as 380° to 390°.

Fraction boiling between 410° and 420° F. Five analyses of pla-
tinum salts obtained at this point indicated the base present to possess
the formula, C!® H’? N, being that of the chinoline of Gerhardt. The
author proposes in a future paper to compare chinoline with the leuko-
line of Hofmann, with a view of determining the question of their being
identical, or merely isomeric. Chinoline forms by far the greater por-
tion of the basic liquid.

Fraction boiling between 510° and 520° F. This was found to con-
sist of a new base, which the author terms Lepidine, the formula of
which, derived from analyses of the double salt with bichloride of pla-
tinum, the hydrochlorate, nitrate, bichromate, and also the hydriodate of
the amyl compound, is C?® H® N, the experimental numbers in each case
agreeing closely with those required by theory.

The author states his belief that several bases said to be the sole pro-
ducts of certain reactions, as well as some natural ones, will be found to
be mixtures; he also gives the results of some experiments proving
pyrrol to be produced by destructive distillation of many nitrogeneous
bodies, and concludes with the following table of the substances analysed
by him in the course of the investigation,—

Platinum salt of pyridine, , : ; C'? H®N, H Cl, Pt Cl?
“ a picoline, P r : C H’ N, H Cl, Pt C?

Lutidine, : te ae,9 ; ; . C' HPN.

Platinum salt of lutidine, . d ; : C'* H°N, H Cl, Pt Ci?
a ce methyllutidine, ; i C's HUN, H Ch. Pt CP
Ma = collidine, ‘ ; A C's HUN, H Cl, Pt Cr
“a chinoline, : d ° C8 H’N, H Cl, Pt CP?

Lepidine, CFE EE RIESE A 120 iP

Platinum salt of lepidine, : ; i C?? H®N, H Cl, Pt CP

Hydrochlorate of lepidine, : : , C?? H®N, HCL

Nitrate of lepidine, : Y ; C*? H®N, NO®, HO.
Bichromate of lepidine, : ; : mi C20 H®N, 2 Cr 08, HO
Hydriodate of amyllepidine, : : : C*° H! N, HI.

Proceedings of Societies. 189

_ Monday, 30th April. The Very Rev. Principal Lez, V.P.,
in the Chair.

The following communications were read :—

1. Remarks on the Coal Plant termed Stigmaria. By the
Rey. Dr Fremine.

The author, after noticing the proofs of Stigmaria being the root of
Sigillaria, called attention to the external organs, known formerly as the
leaves, and more recently as the rootlets of the former. He stated that
in the many examples of stigmaria which he had examined, he had never
observed these rootlets articulated to the stem by anything resembling a
ball-and-socket joint, considering the appearance which had led to this
notion as due to shrinkage and state of preservation.

The views of Dr Hooker as given in his valuable paper on Stigmaria
in the ‘‘ Memoirs of the Geological Survey,” vol. ii., p. 437, were next
considered. This acute observer, from an examination of a particular
specimen, concluded that these rootlets, within the body of the stem, form
obeonical or flaggon-shaped bases, the summits of which are on a level
with the mouths of the cavities in which they are contained.

In the two specimens which Dr Fleming exhibited from the Boghead
parrot coal, it clearly appeared that the rootlets communicated directly
with the body or trunk, which in this case had been filled from within,
with the pulpy matter of the coal, and had thus entered the tubular root-
lets which extended for some distance into the argillaceous matter on the
outside. Hence he inferred that the flaggon-shaped bodies noticed by Dr
Hooker were the lower portions of the rootlets, not in the inside, but on
the outside of the stigmaria.

Dr Fleming next exhibited examples of the different quantities of coal

roduced by stigmaria, sizillaria, favularia, calamite, sternbergia, and
iaodendson, observing that as these plants, can furnish coal-making
materials separately, and as their remains exist in coal, it cannot be de-
nied that, in the aggregate, they would be equally productive, nor, with
these facts in view, could it be maintained that coal can only be formed
from fir or allied woods.

The author then proceeded to observe, that in ordinary household coals,
such as caking, cherry, or splint, each bed is stratified, and the strata are
separated at their partings by patches of fibrous anthracite, as if formed
from broken portions of woody matter. These partings indicate a recur-
ring intermittency of action, probably arising from season changes during
the accumulation of vegetable matter in a form analogous to peat. The
parrot coals, on the other hand, by the absence of stratification (being
merely laminated or slaty parallel with the plane of stratificaton of the
neighbouring sedimentary rocks), indicate a more decidedly simultaneous
origin, and appear to have been in the state of disintegrated vegetable
matter, mixed more or less with earthy mud, and distributed like the beds
of sandstone and clays. That these coals were originally clays into which
bituminous matter was injected, will not be countenanced by any one ac-

uainted with their structural character, contents, and relative position,

here is no bitumen in the Boghead parrot, nor any substance analogous
to what has been termed ozokerite from Binny Quarry, to which Dr Ben-
nett has referred. The last substance, indeed, melts at a heat considerably
below that of boiling water.

The pulpy condition of the original material of the parrot coals must
have been favourable for the molecular changes usually termed metamor-
phic, which may have so far modified the forms and structures of the

190 Proceedings of Societies.

vegetable tissues as to give them a segregrated or concretionary cha-
racter, — :

The author concluded by remarking that the Boghead yarrot could not
be considered as a new mineral species, for it is neither chemically, opti-
cally, nor mechanically homogeneous, as demonstrated in the papers of
Professors Bennett and Balfour in the last part of the Society’s Transae-
tions.

2. On Errors caused by Imperfect Inversion of the Magnet in Observa-
tions of Magnetic Declination. By Witt1am Swan, Esq.

The direction of the magnetic meridian, as indicated by that of a freely
suspended magnetized needle, will generally be erroneous, unless the mag-
netic axis of the needle is parallel to its axis of figure; and hence, in or-
der to obtain an accurate value of the magnetic declination, it becomes
necessary to take the mean of two observations of the needle, first sus-
pended on its usual position, and next inverted. If, however, the inver-
sion of the needle is not accomplished with perfect accuracy, the correec-
tion, for want of parallelism between the magnetic axis of the needle and
its axis of figure will not be complete; and the value of the magnetic
declination obtained from the mean of two observations of the needle,
first in its usual position, and then inverted, will be affected with a resi-
dual error due to an imperfect inversion of the needle. The present in-
vestigation refers chiefly to that form of declinometer magnet, in which the
magnet is converted into a collimator by attaching to it a lens and eross
fibres, or a divided glass scale, in the principal focus of the lens.

It is shown that the errors due to imperfect inversion may be computed,
provided the magnet is observed, not only in its usual position, and then
inverted,—that is, turned 180° round its axis,—but also when turned
round 90° and 270°.

Putting 3 for the correct reading, for the magnetic meridian on the
limb of the theodolite used in observing the magnet; 3,, 3,, 3,, 3,, for
the readings, when the magnet is turned through 0°, 90°, 270°, 360°, re-
spectively, and « for the correction to be applied to the value of the mag-
netic declination got from the mean of the readings in the direct and in-
verted positions of the magnet.

3= 4$(3, — 3,) —«.
The value of s in seconds of are may then be computed with sufficient
accuracy by the following formulea—

tan 6 =

sin $(3, — 33) sin } (3, — 3,)

sin B cos 6

sine = ;

ae sin « cos +(B, + Bs) sin +(B, yas Bs)

— sin 1” sin y cos $, (3, — 3,)
a sin « cos $, (py, + ¥,)sin¢(y, — v3)
2~ sin 1” sin W, sin y, cos $ (3, — 33)

6 = &; + &5

Where 6, = 8 + ¥,3 b3 = B + ¥33
1» Yo Vi» ¥z and y, being angles found by actual observation.

Proceedings of Societies. 191

8. On the Accuracy attainable by means of Multiplied Observations.
By Epwarp Sane.

In this paper the author remarks that, on opening any astronomical
work of the present day, we are at first startled by, and then familiarized
with, the excessive precision of the numbers set down. In our Nautical
Almanac, for example, although referring to a period three or four years
‘subsequent to the date of publication, the declinations of the stars and
planets are set down to tenths of a second of arc, and their right ascen-
sions to hundredths of a second of time.

Similarly in tables of the geographical positions of observatories, we
find the latitude and longitude often given to the same degrees of preci-
sion; an accuracy which would affect to discriminate between the lati-
tudes of the two ends, or the longitudes of the two sides of a dining-table.

Yet it is very much to be doubted if any astronomical instrument exist,
which, by a single observation, is capable of giving the altitude of a star,
or the longitude of a place, true to the nearest second ; and it is also very

_ much to be questioned, whether any ear, however practised, have acquired
such delicacy of perception as to note the instant of an expected occur-
rence true to the nearest tenth of a second.

‘Now, astronomers draw the most important conclusions from the mea-
‘surements of minute quantities. ‘Thus, the absolute distances of the sun
and planets are determined from the measurement of an angle of 8 or 9
seconds, and which is set down as being accurately 8”°5776, the unima-
ginable precision of the last figure being obtained by Professor Encke
froin observations made in 1761, 1769.

The linear velocity of light, again, is computed from observations on
an angle of some 40” ; our knowledge of the relative masses of the planets
is founded on the measurement of minute disturbances, and our wide guess
at the distance of the fixed stars relies on the perception of a single se-
cond of annual parallax, and a heap of uncertainties of precession, nuta-
tion, and proper motion.

The common method of determining any quantity to an extreme degree
of precision, is to measure that quantity very often, and then to take the
arithmetical mean of the multitude of discordant results, it being under-
stood that some principle of compensation exists which renders the mean
more trustworthy than any of the actual observations from which it has
been obtained.

But the author shows that in reality there are two perfectly distinct
cases; those where a known law of compensation exists; and those in
which the separate observations and their errors are independent of each
other.

Thus, when we repeat the measurements of an angle upon different

s of a circle, we are certain that, however erroneous the division may

, the entire circumference is 360, and that, therefore an error of defect

in one part, implies one of excess in another partofthelimb. Again, if we
‘read at three or five places equidistant from each other, we know that that
part of the inaccuracy which arises from the eccentricity of the fittings is
‘eliminated. Or if we take an altitude face East and then face West, we
know that the two errors arising from a misplacement of the zero com-
pensate for each other. Butin all those cases where the compensating
“geen ne exists, a result from which any of the compensating quantities
is excluded, cannot be considered as that of a complete observation: thus
an altitude face East, without its complementary altitude face West, could
not be used to found upon; and those only in which the compensating
principle has had full scope can be admitted to be observations.

The other case, the author illustrates by Santini’s observations, made

192 Proceedings of Societies.

for the purpose of determining the latitude of Padua, which consisted in —
observing the instant when several stars of various declinations reached a
fixed altitude, in making which he depended on the going of his clock and
the verticality of the axis of his instrument. From sixteen series of
observations he deduces, as the mean 45° 24’ 2°16” as the latitude of
Padua; but when we examine his numbers we find that two of them are
6”:16 below and one 5” above the mean ; and as there existed no i
reason why one set of stars should have been taken rather than another,
Santini might have chanced to make only one or other series of observa-
tions, and have deduced materially different latitudes; and within the
limits of the errors to which the particular class of observations is liable
it is difficult to adduce any argument in favour of one rather than the
other, in fact, it is a matter of accident which result is arrived at it.

The author comes to the conclusion that the averaging of multiplied
observations is a fallacy ; if the results agree, the averaging is useless ;
if they do not agree, their discordances afiords evidence that the means
employed are insufficient to procure the accuracy aimed at. .

Taking into account the various sources of error in the graduation
and adjustment of instruments, we can scarcely assume that the declina-
tion of any star is known certainly to half a second of are, or its right
ascension to the twentieth second of time; and it appears that the true
use of multiplied observation is to guard against blunders in reading off,
and to indicate the degree of confidence which is to be placed in our re-
sults. A quantitative statement in any branch of physical science should
give, along with the numerical result, the limit or probability of error,
and conclusions drawn from such numbers ought to be made with the
probabilities of error full in view. Increased exactitude is only to be
obtained by improvements in the means of observing.

Royal Physical Society.
Wednesday 28th March. Professor Ftemine, President, in the Chair.

1. Of Some Circular Mounds, covered with a Metallic Slag, which occur
on the Sloping Sides of the Gneiss Hills, Parish of Birnie, Moray-
shire. By Witt1am Rainp, Esq. (A specimen of the slag was exhi-
bited.)

~ Several deposits of this metallic matter occur in circular, somewhat ele-
vated, mounds, about four feet in diameter, lying upon the moss-soil of the
moors, both in this locality and in some of the moorland slopes of the
country to the westward, the vague traditions of the county bei 8 that
they are the remains of iron-works, used by the armies that had in former
times passed over the country. A discussion ensued, in which Professor
Fleming, Mr Alexander Rose, and others, took part, on the probable cause
of the formation of this metallic matter,—whether it was accumulated by
fires occurring in the moors, or by solution, and subsequent deposition
from water. Similar slags were exhibited by Professor Fleming from
Maryculter, Aberdeenshire. An accurate analysis of the mineral was re-
commended, and a report to be given in to the Society at its next meeting.

2. Contributions to the Hydrology of the British Islands, By Wtiu1aM
Rainn, Esq.
In collecting materials for the Hydrology of the British Isles, in con-

Proceedings of Societies. 193

nection with Mr Keith Johnston, for the second edition of his Physical
Atlas, the author had obtained, from published and unpublished sources,
upwards of one hundred records of rain stations and temperature. These
amounts were marked down in their respective positions on the map of
Britain, and this map was coloured with light and dark shades according
as the amount of rain-fall was small or large in the locality. The map he
exhibited showed, in the first place, what had been already done, and what
parts of the country yet remained to be filled up by observation and re-
gistration. A considerable portion of the surface of Britain and Ireland
was observed to be dotted with figures, but a large part of Wales and the
north-west coast of Scotland were deficient. If we take three waving lines
along the map of Great Britain we shall meet with three gradations of
rain-fall. The line along the east coast, and penetrating some way into the
interior, marks out the region of least deposition. On the whole eastern
side of England, from Kent and Surrey, and Oxford, north to York, the
average annual fall of rain is 23 to 24 inches. From Durham, north into
Scotland, the mean fall is 27 inches, though in some localities, as Mid-
Lothian and Morayshire, the rain fall is from 24 to 25 inches. The mean
annual rain-fall of the whole eastern half of Great Britain is 27 inches.
If we take a middle line, which includes the mountain range that traverses
England from south to north, and extends through the centre and west of
Scotland, we find that here is the greatest amount of deposition. In the
mountains of Cumberland and Westmoreland, from 50 to 140 inches of
rain fall annually. South of this range throughout England, from 36 to
46 inches are deposited. In Scotland, from the Lowther Hills to the
mouth of the Clyde, from 47 to 50inches. A third line embraces the west
coast near the level of the sea. At Land’s End, the annual fall is 42 inches,
in Exmoor, 56 inches. As we proceed farther north, the mean fall de-
ereases to 38 and 35 inches. Taking the western half of Britain, includ-
ing the mountain regions, the annual mean of the rain stations is 45°5
inches, but considering that there is a deficiency of data for the elevated
regions of Wales and the north-west of Scotland, and a preponderance of
coast stations where the fall of rain is moderate, we may suppose that the
actual fall for the western half of Britain is at least 5 or 10 inches more than
this average ; that is, from 50 to 55 inches. We thus see that the moun-
tain regions of Britain, by their superior elevations, compared with the
valleys and plains, and by the consequent diminution of their surface tem-

rature, become the condensers of the moisture of the warm and moist
southerly winds. From the interesting data of Mr Miller of the Lake
district of England, it is also demonstrated that the greatest amount of
sees takes place at an elevation of 1900 feet, and above this, the

of rain rapidly diminishes.

In Ireland the greatest amount of rain-fall occurs on the south-west
coast, 59 inches falling in the vicinity of its highest range of mountains.
In the low lying central plain of Ireland the annual fall is 23 and 24 inches,
while on the mountain ranges of the north-east and south-east from 30 to
37 inches fall.

If we divide the year into three periods of four months each, beginning
the winter “geben with November, we shall find that most rain falls in the
summer and winter months, and least in spring. This is shown in the
following tabular view :—

NEW SERIES,—VOL, II, NO. .—JuLY 1855. N

194 Proceedings of Societies.

Spring. | Summer.| Winter.

Inehes, Inches. Inches.
Penzance, Cornwall, . . . - 12:2 13°5 17-4

Keawiek,| ‘6x. 9:40 56 sey 2% 160 24:6 19-9
ET), See mee ee ise 8:3 98 15:5
Gilmourton, Lanarkshire, . . 116 17:3 18°38
Glencorse, Pentlands, .. - 10:2 14:3 11-6
EO Serra a a ky) ip 8 67 9-2 8-9
POND te eat ig ie! esti 72 9-4 65
ga Pua dle 8 ae aig Re 73 10°0 9°9

On the east coast there are during the year 165 days on which rain falls; _
on the west coast there are 212 days on whieh rain falls. The greatest
depth of rain noted to have fallen in twenty-four hours, is from 1} to 25
inches. At Kendal, in 1792, 44 inches fell. Our longest continued rains
usually begin on the south and west of Great Britain, and proceed north-
wards. This oceurs when an easterly and south-west eurrent both prevail
in the atmosphere. In these cases it sometimes takes several days before
the dry east wind becomes saturated with moisture, and rain begins to fall
on the eastern eoasts. Hence the popular idea that our greatest rains
come from the east, whereas, in reality all the deposited moisture comes
with the southerly current, and the eold east wind acts merely as the eon-
densing agent. .

3. On the Discovery of Calcareous Zoophytes in the Boulder Clay of
Caithness, N.B. By Cuantes W. Peacu, Esq., Wick.

Zoophytes have hitherto been diseovered in the boulder elay of Caith-
ness, but the author laid before the Soeiety specimens of two species, one
found by Mr Dick at Thurso, the other by himself in the scaur in Wick
harbour. The former which was much rubbed, proved to be the Lepralia
simplex of Johnston, the latter the Lepralia Peachii, both of which now
exist in our seas. The only perceptible difference between the recent and
ancient specimens, is, that the latter have thicker walls to their eells, Re.
bably as a provision against the Boreal elime and more troubled seas they
were denizens of. Besides this addition to the fauna of the boulder elay,
he mentioned that its flora has yielded some of those curious calcareous
plants, the Melobesia. He proposed in a future communication to lay be-
fore the Society, the details of a microscopic examination of these plants.

4. Mr A. Murray then read a short notice he had reeeived from Sir
W. Jardine on the Bark-boring Woodpeckers of California.

5. Analyses of Table Spar from Mourne Mountains, and Pectolite from
Girvan. By M. Forster Heppre, M.D.

These analyses have already appeared in the Philosophical Magazine.

6. Dr J. A. Surrn exhibited an adult male, female, and young male
of the Gadwall duck (Anas strepera), shot on the Forth, near Kin-
cardine, in the beginning of March; two adult males of the Smew
(Mergus albellus, Linn), killed near Mountblairey on the River Do-
veron, in Banffshire, in February and March ; and aspecimen of the Glau-
cous Gull, Larus glaucus, taken on the Firth of Forth last autumn.

Proceedings of Societies. 195

Wednesday 25th April—Rozerr Cuampers, Esq., President, in the
Chair.

1. Remarks on Rain Gauges, with the view of securing Comparable
Observations. By Professor FLemine.

Tn this communication, the author remarked that the expensive form in
which rain-gauges were usually made, rendered them comparatively rare,
but the gauge recommended by himself, and described in this Journal for
July 1849, in its most expensive form cost only about £1. He pointed out
the objections to rain-gauges of the ordinary construction, and particularly
to the error which is introduced by having them elevated above the sur-
face, stating that when so placed their indications are not to be relied on,
The author stated as the result of experiment, in accordance with theo-
retical considerations, that rain-gauges need not exceed three inches in
diameter, that the trouble attending them may be limited to emptying
them once-a-month, and that the index rod, if divided into tenths of an
inch, is sufficient for all practical purposes. The eye with a very little

ice can easily read off to one-fourth of a tenth, a difference often
ined than the amount of rain falling at the same time within short
istances. He mentioned that gauges of the description which he had re-
commended were being established in different parts of the country.
Twelve parish schools in Annandale were furnished with them by Mr
son, for his Grace the Duke of Buccleuch, and the results, according
to Mr Stewart, Hillside, Lockerby, have been satisfactory. In conclusicn,
he remarked that trust-worthy observations would not be secured, for
generalizations respecting the distribution of rain, until some simple,
easily constructed, and inexpensive but accurate form of gauge be adopted,
such as he believed his instrument to be; and sunk in agrass plot, as free
from the influence of trees, buildings, or local currents of wind as prac-
ticable, the grass around the funnel being occasionally trimmed.

2, On Electrical Fishes ; with a description of a new Species of Malap-
terurus from Old Calabar, recewwed from the Rev. Hope M. Waddell,
Missionary there. By Anprew Murray, Esq., W-S.

See page 35 of the present number of this Journal.

3. Mr Murray exhibited a collection of Coleoptera, which he had received
from Mr Jameson, Professor of Chemistry at Quito. Among these were
Oxychelia bipustulata, Phares conspicillatus, Semiotus imperialis, and
other known Columbian species, but a great many were new to him, and
apparently undescribed.

Murray also exhibited a few Coleoptera, taken by his friend Cap-
tain Maeneil, of the 20th Regiment, in the camp before Sebastopol during
the past winter. These included fine specimens of Hammaticherus heros,
Cetonia stictica, and some other species, which, besides their beauty and
oS Sega an additional interest from the locality and circumstances
in which they were collected.

4. Anatomical details of the new species of Malapterurus, By Professor
Goopsik.

Professor Goodsir stated, that as he had only received the specimen of
Malapterurus a day or two before the meeting, it was impossible for him
to do more than merely make a few remarks on the subject. He would,
however, be glad to give a detailed communication to the Society next
session, after he had made a careful dissection of this very interesting

n2

196 Proceedings of Societies. wee

fish. The Professor then, after reviewing shortly the results of Pacini’s
recent examination of the electrical organs of Torpedo, Gymnotus, am
Malapterurus, and his own examination of the presumed electrical organ
in the tail of the skate, discovered by Dr Stark, and subsequently described
by Robin, stated that, so far as his own dissection had proceeded, the strue-
ture of the specimen of Malapterurus, for which he had been indebted to
Mr Murray, corresponded to the description of Pacini, with the exception of
the structure of the electrical organs themselves, in which he had hitherto
failed in detecting lozenge-shaped plates or octahedral cells, but eould
make out only a fine fibrous meshwork, permeated by a gelatinous granu-
lar substance, as had been previously stated by Geoffroy. The presumed
inner electrical organs he found, as Paeini had deseribed, to be merely
fibrous membranes, with subjacent fatty deposits.

5. Dr Lowe exhibited some interesting specimens sent home by the Rev.
Mr Waddell. Among these was a lizard, evidently belonging to the
Monitor class of lizards. It was about a foot in length, and beautifully
banded and spotted, bearing a close resemblance to the figure given in the
ninth volume of Cuvier’s Animal Kingdom as Monitor pulcher of Leach,
but differing from that species by the rings on the tail being continued to
the extremity. Two large myriapods,—one, which appeared to be Julus
maximus, was about seven inches long, haying fifty-four rings. It was
a male, the very remarkable organs of reproduction being very conspi-
cuous on the sixth ring. The last ring but one was prolonged so as to
almost form a tail. On each leg, except on the first three or four pairs
and on the last seven or eight, was a remarkable gland-like body, situate
on the joint immediately before the claw. These were probably analo-
gous to the bodies observed in the foot of flies, and for the same purpose,
viz., to assist in walking. The other Julus was evidently a female, as
shown more particularly by the fringes on the sixth ring. This specimen
measured no less than nine inches, and had sixty-six scales or rings. Al-
though a difference of sex might account for some variety of appearance,
Dr Lowe had no doubt that this specimen belonged to a distinct species. In
particular, he pointed out the beantiful sculpture to be observed upon its
surface, and the greater length of the antenne. The penultimate segment
also was not in any degree prolonged, and the legs were provided with two
instead of one of the gland-like bodies already mentioned. Lastly, Dr Lowe
showed two cockroaches of an unusual appearance, and some spiders, the
whole of which had been sent by Mr Waddell, and to whom the Society had
already been so much indebted for various objects of the highest interest.

6. Analysis of the Morayshire Slag, exhibited by William Rhind, Esq.,
at last Meeting. By M. Forster Hepprz, M.D,

The author stated that the extreme brittleness of this substance, the
number of vesicular cavities, the pavonine lustre of its fracture, and the
separation of minute specks of metallic iron, showed that it was indubitably
a slag. In the qualitative analysis he obtained silica, alumina, lime,
oxides of iron and manganese, magnesia, potash, soda, and a trace of phos-
phoric acid. The quantity of silica is 24-045, of alumina 14-410, of lime
2-184 ; the proportions of magnesia, potash, and soda being small, he did
not determine, and the large excess obtained in the analysis, when the iron
was calculated as perowide, showed that a considerable portion of it (about
one-third) must have been present in the metallic state ; the total quan-
tity calculated as metal is 52°370; the manganese he did not separate
from the iron, because the quantity was small, and could not in any way
affect the decision that the substance was a slag.

Upon the whole, the opinion of Dr Fleming, as stated at last meeting,

Proceedings of Societies. 197

seemed to be established, that the substance in question was neither an
ore of manganese nor a bog iron ore, but a slag arising from the burning
of a bed of peat during a dry season, melting a ferruginous soil.

7. Notice of the Discovery of Fossils in the Limestones of Durness, in
_ the Cownty of Sutherland. By Cuartes W. Pracu, Esq., Wick,

Corresponding Member of the Royal Geographical Society of Cornwall,
_ {The Fossils were exhibited.)

The author, after stating that the limestone beds of West Sutherland-
shire had been referred by Mr Hugh Miller to the old red sandstone for-
mation, although the absence of fossils had prevented his asserting this
positively, stated that he had been fortunate enough to detect in the lime-
stone of Durness distinct traces of spiral shells, probably Gonatites or
Clymeniz, which exist, though not abundantly, between Balnakiel and
the Kyle of Durness. Besides the whorled shells, coral-like markings
were very abundant, as well as the pipe-like forms found by Mr Miller
in the quartz rocks of Assynt. He found amongst the blocks seattered
over the face of the country around Durness, and on the tops of the dykes,
several containing these strange forms, and he immediately detected their
similarity to those he had found at Goran Haven, Cornwall, in the quartz
rocks. e Cornish ones he described in a paper published by the Royal
Geological Society of Cornwall, as like the sandy tubes made by the Sa-
bellaria alveolata, so abundant on that coast, and occasionally found on
all the coasts he was acquainted with. He still saw the resemblance in
the Sutherland ones, and it would be a very interesting fact if, besides
these *‘ pipes,’’ Trilobites, Orthide, &c., should be found in the Assynt
quartz, as well as the Cornish.
_ Mr H. Miller stated at the close of Mr Peach’s paper, that he had
twice visited the north and west of Sutherland, in order to acquaint him-
self with the character and relations of the formation in which Mr Peach
had been so successful. But though he had examined with some little
care the cherty concretions of the limestone of Durness, he had found
no such decided organisms as, one at least, of the specimens on the table.
The apparent whorls in the rock had attracted his notice ; but the region
was one in which mistakes had already been made; Macculloch had re-
bp: the white cylinders of Stonechrubie as organic; and the late Mr

ay Cunningham had fallen into what was deemed a similar mistake re-
specting the supposed tubes of Loch Erribol ; and as he could get no such
unequivocal organisms as the one on the table, he did not venture to come
to any conclusion regarding them. One well-preserved fossil, however,
serves to throw light on many obscure ones, and such was the cast spe-
cially referred to by Mr Peach, now before the Society. It was evidently
that of a whorled shell, though, as its whorls were not on the same plane,
neither a Olymenia nor a Goniatite. It was not, improbable, however,
that the other whorled shells on the table belonged to the former genus—
a genus of which no fewer than forty-three species had been found in the
old red sandstone of other countries. Mr Miller then went on to show
the stratigraphical relations of the Durness limestone. It was overlaid,
he stated, by a vast deposit of quartz rock, corresponding apparently to
the sandstone of Tarbat Ness and Dunnet Head, and underlaid by a
coarse-grained red sandstone, the analogue, it would seem, of the Great
Conglomerate ; while the limestone itself appeared to belong to the same

ologie horizon as the flagstones of Caithness and Orkney, and the fish-
oie of Cromarty and Ross. No very decisive finding, however, could
be based on the organisms yet found; and Mr Miller concluded by re-
marking, that he trusted Mr Peach would have some farther opportunity

198

furnished him of following up a course of discovery so interesting in itself
and on which he had entered with such decided success.

Proceedings of Societies.

8. Dr Joun Arex. Smiru exhibited two adult specimens of the Water
Rail, Rallus aquaticus, Penn., captured by his friend Dr John Messer,
R.N., on board H.M.S. Arrogant in the southern entrance of the Briti
Channel ; one on the 12th October 1853, in lat. 49°27, N., long. 8°3 W.;
the other on the 13th, in lat. 48°55, N., long. 5-22, W. A remarkable
pale-coloured specimen of the Ring-dove, and a curious piebald Mole,

caught near Cramond,

Botanical Society of Edinburgh.

1. On Placentation.

12th April 1855.

By Joun Crievanp, Esq.

Professor Balfour.

Communicated by

In this paper the author endeavoured to show that in some cases of
supposed axile placentation, the ovules were attached to the reflected

margin of an inner row of carpels.

of Natural History for May 1855.

2. Notes on the Flora of the neighbourhood of Castle Taylor, in the
y A. G. More, Esq., Trinity College, Cam-

County of Galway.
bridge.

The paper is published in the Annals

3. Notes on the Flora of the Bass Rock. By Professor Batrour.
The following is the list of the plants which have been observed at dif-

ferent times on the rock:

Ranunculus repens
Crambe maritima ?
Cochlearia officinalis
Silene maritima
Lychnis diurna
Cerastium tetrandrum
oe semidecandrum
Lavatera arborea
Geranium molle
Vicia lathyroides
Montia fontana
Sonchus oleraceus
Hieracium Pilosella

Lastrea dilatata
Hypnum, 3 species ?
Parmelia parietina
aquila }
saxatilis
Ramalina scopulorum |
Placodium canescens |

Phanerogamous Plants.

Leontodon Taraxacum
Carduus tenuiflorus
lanceolatus
palustris
Hyoscyamus niger
Armeria maritima
Atriplex rosea
Beta maritima
Rumex crispus
Acetosa
Urtica dioica
Narcissus Pseudo-narcis-
sus (old garden)

Cryptogamous Plants.

Squamaria murorum
Prasola orbicularis
Enteromorpha intestinalis
Laminaria digitata
saccharina
Alaria esculenta
Callithamnion Rothii

The total number of species observed amount to—
Phanerogamous, : :

Cry ptogamous,

Narcissus biflorus, In the

site of the old garden
Agrostis canina

MAE, | ris
Holcus lanatus
Poa trivialis
... pratensis

. annua
Sclerochloa maritima
Dactylis glomerata
Festuca ovina

«. duriuseula
Serrafalcus mollis

Chondrus crispus
... mammillosus
Rhodymenia palmata
Delesseria sanguinea
Agaricus personatus
amethystinus

38
22
60

_ Proceedings of Societies. 199

“A. Notice of Plants collected during a Trip to Loch Lomond in July
1854. By Professor Batrour. With Remarks on the Geological
Phenomena observed during the Trip. By James Hecror, Esq.

5. Register of the Flowering of Spring Plants in the Royal Botanic
Garden, as compared with the four previous years. By Mr James
M‘Naz.

1855. 1854. 1853, 1852. 1851.
Tussilago alba... ... |March 15/Feb. 14 March 1/Feb. 27\Jan. 26
Symplocarpus fetidus ... — 20\March 3) — 16) — 20/Feb. 4
Corylus Avellana ob — 21; — 10) — 9Jan. 25\Jan. 16
Narcissus pumilus ... |April 2| — 10| — 21|March 11)March 5
Scilla bifolia, alba — 5 — 13 — 27; — 21; — 8
8) rubra Oh mee ee OO Ba ee
Rhododendron atrovirens — 6/Feb. 18/Feb. LljJan. l4Jan. 2
Daphne Mezereon — 6 — 183 — 1 — 21} — 28
Primula denticulata — 7 — 27\March 25/Feb. 19\Feb. 15
. Arabis albida “on — gs — 15 — 15 — 18) — 7
Aubretia grandiflora... -- 8 17 Feb. 1)March 18|/March 1
Nordmannia cordifolia .. — 9 March 1\March 24 — 10\Feb. 20
Dondia Epipactis — 9% — 11) — 2) — S8Jan. 4
Primula nivalis ... — 16) — 4) — 15/Feb. 20\/March 16
Scilla bifolia, cerulea — 10) — 15) — 27|/March 20) — 6
Pulmonaria angustifolia — 10; — 19 — 30) — 1
Symphytum caucasicum — 10) — 11) — 26/Feb. 2) — 23
Doronicum caucasicum . — lj — 1)| — 2 — 2
Draba aizoides ... by — ll} — 20\April 1)/March 26) — 14
Erythronium Dens Canis — 11) -— 10March19} — 12; — 1
Anemone Pulsatilla — 11) — 14/April 13\Feb. 21/April 15
Tussilago Farfara — ill — 4 Feb. 19

Norr.—Between 10th March and 12th April, 1854, 65 spring flowering
species were recorded, and during the same period this year, only 22 of the
species have come into bloom.

Mr Evans stated that the first expanded flowers of the Apricot were
observed in the Experimental Garden on 24th March, being about three
weeks later than last year.

Lowest Oye oeeveap indicated by the Register Thermometer Fah. kept

at the Botanic Garden during March 1855 :—
deg. deg. deg. deg.
March 1 ... 37 | March 9 ... 31 | March17 ... 34 | March 25 ,.. 26
Ream <.. 30 tees IB 3 BOY ca! Se Gin ee
nee yt. NAb... OO} ... 19. Bil s. a wee
ge ip bie eh ee ost OO! ie BM er BOO Be
ee G ey), OL fie AB a AO ec Bini Fi i. RON
eB ys BF yee ee iy: 28) we BE aio pt | MO helen ia
See: she 8 eee RG: ing: 88 ghee cee BOL eet Re cee
Be te RB $e SAO ies OD rae eee

Average lowest temperature for March 293°.

200 Proceedings of Societies.

10th May 1855.

1. On some New Species of British Fresh-Water Diatomacee, with
remarks on the Value of certain Specific Characters. By Professor
GreGory.

After enumerating the various species of Diatomaceze which were new
or rare in Britain, and which he had detected in different gatherings,
Professor Gregory remarks :—

Species, among diatoms, are generally distinguished by the following
particulars, which are noted in the character attached to the specifie name,
viz. the form; the structure, where anything remarkable occurs; the
- length of the individual frustule, within the usual limits; the arrange-
ment and number of the strie, where these are visible, as well as their
nature, whether moniliform or continuous, narrow or broad, close or dis-
tant, &c., and frequently the aspect of the median line, if present, and of
the nodules at its centre and extremities.

I shall not here enter on the subject of the structure of the frustule,

artly because this is rather a generic than a specific character, and part-
y because little is known of it in reality.

But I propose to direct attention to some points which oceur in almost
every character of the species, namely, the form or outline, the number of
the strie in a given space, and the aspect of the median line and nodules,
because it appears-to me that these characters, at all events in some BS
cies, are subject to considerable variation, and cannot therefore be safely
trusted to as specific characters. a

First, as to form or outline. In a large number of species this varies
so much that, if we were guided by it, we should make many species out
of what certainly is but one, as is shown by the fact, that these forms

ass by gentle gradations into each other. This kind of variation occurs
in Navicula lacustris, of which three very different forms occur. It is seen
also in Navicula elliptica, of which four varieties occur, only three of
which are oval, but of different proportions, while the fourth is econ-
stricted. Navicula dubia is believed to belong to the same species as
N. amphigomphus and N. dilatata, and by some, all three are united to
N. firma. It is certain that all four agree in having the side lines, but
they all differ in outline. Navicula lepida, one of the new species, ex-
hibits three varieties, differing in form. One is very short and broad,
nearly orbicular, while another has straight sides. But the most remark-
able example is found in a species which I have elsewhere described,
and which has, although very frequent, been most unaceountably over-
looked hitherto. I have named it Navicula varians, and I exhibit
a proof of a plate, not yet published, in which I have figured a con-
siderable number of the types of form in which it appears, along with
many of the intermediate or transition forms which I always find to ac-
company them. It would require a second plate to show all the marked
types, of different outline, observed in this species, and the connecting
transition forms. Of all those figured in the plate, not more than three
have ever been figured before, and these all as distinct species, namely,
Navicula inflata, N. rhyncocephala, and N. scutelloides. But the first
and the last of these are only doubtfully placed by me under N., varians.
The former may be a distinct species, although the figures seem to show
that it also has a tendency to vary. As to the latter, the N. seutelloides
of Smith would seem, according to Dr Greville, to be a Cocconeis, not
a Navicula.

My reason for uniting nearly the whole of the forms in the plate, an
a number of others, in one species, are, first, the similarity in the general

Proceedings of Societics. 201

aspect, and in the peculiar arrangement of the stria; secondly, in the
gatherings where I find them, all or most of them occur together, with
every degree of intermediate form. Yet, if several of those which differ
most in form were to be found unmixed with others, they would cer-
tainly have been considered—indeed, so far as observed, they have been
- considered—as distinct species, and some have even been placed in dif-
ferent genera.

It is plain that, in describing this species, we cannot give any form as
a specific character. And if our description or our figures are to be of
use to observers, we must give at least figures of all the distinctly dif-
ferent types of form, adding that transition forms occur between any one
of these types and all the others. The same rule applies to all the species
already noticed as varying in form. To these I may add the following—
viz., Pinnularia divergens, Navicula rhomboides, Eunotia triodon, E.
bigibba, Himantidium bidens, and others.

he next character is that of the number of strie, which in this country
are usually given for 1-1000th of an inch; on the Continent, for 1-100th
of a line, or 1-1200th of an inch. In some species, perhaps in many, this
character is by no means constant. In Navicula varians, I find that in
the smaller individuals, there are often 24 to 26 strie in 1-1000th of an
inch ; while in the larger, there are only 14 to 16, and this in individuals
of the same type of outline. Smith describes Pinnularia divergens with
11 striz in 1-1000th inch, while I find it more frequently with from 22
to 26 in 1-1000th inch—the arrangement, which is peculiar, being the
same in both.

A very striking example occurs in Navicula elliptica, which, as we
haye seen, also varies in form. The species, as described by Kutzing,
has very coarse striw, even coarser than appears by any of the figures.
But in a variety to which I have directed attention, and which I regarded
on this account as a distinct species, till I found a gradual transition to
the first-named type, the strie are so very much finer, being about three
times more numerous, that the aspect of the frustule is totally changed.
In comparing examples of the extreme types in regard to striation, I took
individuals of equal size, and I found in one very coarse strie; in the
other, stris so fine as not to be easily seen, unless the valve were placed
in the most favourable position with reference to the light. I might adduce
other examples, but I shall pass on to another character.

This is the appearance of the median line and nodules, In the coarsely
striated yariety of N. elliptica, there are lines on each side of the median
line, forming a double cone, of which the bases meet near the centre. But
in the finely striated variety, these lines are parallel to the median line ;
only bending outwards round the central nodule. This assists in giving
a very different aspect to the two forms, which yet are connected by a

graduated chain of transition forms.

Time will not allow me to dwell longer on this subject ; but I may add,
that in the variety 6 of Navicula lepida, the character and aspect of the
median line and nodules is quite different from those in the typical form a.
In this case, the striation is also more conspicuous in @ than in @.

We have, then, if we consider only the three characters of form or
outline, number of striw, and aspect of median line and nodules, evidence
that great variations may occur in any one of them. Nay, in Navicula
elliptica and N. lepida, variations occur in all three together. In such
cases as these last, it is difficult to define the species by these characters
in the usual way, and we have apparently no resource but to state the
fact of the tendency to vary in one or more of these points, as one of the
specific characters, In Navicula varians, the arrangement of the striw
is always the same, as it is also in Pinnularia divergens, and many others,

202 Proceedings of Societies.

but in Navicula elliptica even this fails; for the strie are highly radiate
in the coarsely striated form, and nearly parallel in that with finer strie.

In all such cases, the definition should be accompanied by accurate
figures, showing the way in which the species vary, and in regard to out-
line, as already remarked, giving all the marked types of form between
which the transition forms will naturally find their place.

As to size, in some cases enormous variations occur, as may be seen in
the plate of N. varians, even in the same type of form; also in N. -
tica, Eunotia triodon, Pinnularia divergens, and many others. If Pinnu-
laria megaloptera be referred to P. lata, we have a variation in length
from about 20-10,000ths of an inch to nearly 80.

The distribution of Diatoms over the world is one of the most remark-
able points about their history. Not only do we find, if we examine a
gathering from any part of the world, that most of the forms are identical
with those of our own waters; but in tracing these minute organisms
through the later to the earlier sedimentary rocks (and it is said that they
occur in the lower Silurian strata, the oldest in which any organic remains
occur), we find still the greater number of species to be those of the pre-
sent day. This part of the subject well merits a close investigation.

Ehrenberg, in his last great work on the distribution of microscopic
forms over the earth, both in the present period and in past geological
times, has shown that in all soils in which plants grow, Diatoms are
sent, often in considerable quantity, and in great variety. He ascribes
to them a great part in the formation of such soils, and it is probable that
by their life and growth they extract much silica from the water in which
they live, and transfer it at their death to the soil. The sediment of all
rivers contains a considerable amount of Diatoms, as, for example, the
mud of the Nile and that of the Ganges, which have formed the great
Deltas of Egypt and Bengal.

I propose to lay before the Society, at a future meeting, the results of
an examination of some small portions of earth taken from botanical
cimens in herbaria from foreign, chiefly tropical, countries. In all of
these Diatoms occur, so far as | have examined them, as is also reported
by Ehrenberg in the work I have alluded to. If any member of the
Society can supply me with such earth from exotic specimens, as in many
cases a little earth adheres to them, I shall be ae and they
shall be carefully examined, and the results made known at the time re-
ferred to. If any plants should arrive from abroad, with earth i
to them, such earth ought to be carefully preserved for examination. The
results of the examination of the specimens of earth given to me by Pro-
fessor Balfour are in several respects very interesting.

2. Remarks on Specimens of Megacarpea polyandra, Bentham, By
Dr Batrovur,

Mr Moore having kindly sent from Glasnevin a specimen of the flowers
and leaf of this plant, I think that it is of sufficient interest to call for
notice at a meeting of the Botanical Society.

The seeds of the plant were sent by Colonel Madden to Dublin, and he
gre the subjoined remarks in regard to the plant as seen by him in

ndia :-—

Colonel Madden states :—‘‘ The following notice of Megacarpwa po-
lyandra (Bentham), extracted from my Road Book, containing merely
hurried remarks made on the spot on plants collected, and cursorily exa-
mined, at the end of a frequently fatiguing day’s journey in a very difficult
country, do not pretend to any minute accuracy, and are only caleulated to
afford a general idea of the plant and of the site and conditions under

—

Proceedings of Societies. 203

which it exists. A more scientific description of the plant will be sup-
from specimens grown in the Botanic Garden, Glasnevin, Dublin,

Mr D. Moore, the curator, from seeds transmitted by me from Kumaon

in 1849, and which, though speedily germinating, and attaining a great
size, have only flowered this spring, for the first time in Europe ; as Mr
Moore thinks, in consequence of the past severe winter, which must closely
resemble the extreme rigour of that proper to the locality where the Me-

is indigenous.

«« The interest of the plant consists in its possessing a number of sta-
mens, (from 12 to 15), quite abnormal in the order of Cruciferz, to which
it otherwise belongs; and which might seem, taken alone, to place it be-
tween that order and Papaveracez ; but when these extra stamens are
viewed as developments of the glands which are present in the Cruciferz
on the dise or torus, between the petals and the ovary and ordinary sta-
mens, the plant may well be referred simply to that order.

*« The Genus Megacarpexa was first discovered, I believe, by Fischer,
in the salt Steppes and calcareous hills of Turkistan, in the neighbourhood
of the Caspian bas; and by Ledebour in Siberia ; and was originally re-
ferred to Biscutella. ‘Two species are described by De Candolle, (Prod.
I., 183), but so imperfectly, that till further information is obtained, it is
impossible to determine whether the plant before us, from the Himalaya,
is identical with either of them, especially M. laciniata from the Altai
Mountains, or a new species which is to bear the name of M. polyandra,

“ Megacarpea emma this very species) was next met with by Dr Hugh
Falconer in the Highlands of Little Tibet, on the Husora River, an af-
fluent of the Indus, and in the same country by the late Mr J. E. Winterbot-
tom, who described it to me as growing 6 to8 feet high on the Barzil Pass,
upper glen of the Kishenganga River, between Kashmere and Astor ; but
neither of these botanists was, I believe, so fortunate as to obtain the
flowers, which were first seen by Captain R. Strachey in 1848, on a visit
to the glacier sources of the Pindar River in Kumaon, up to which date
the existence of the plant in the British Himalaya was unknown ; nor has
it been discovered, so far as | am aware, in any other of our provinces—
at least those south of the Sutlej] River. Here it occurs in three localities,
where the climate resembles or approximates to that of Little Tibet,
Turkistan, and the other habitats, viz., extreme cold in winter, and ex-
treme heat and aridity in summer, conditions which have proved favour-
able to the migration or presence of many other Tibetan and Siberian
plants on the dry northern slope of the Himalayan range, where a system
of vegetation is established in marked contrast with what prevails on the
Indian face, which is annually for three months deluged with rain.*

* A very instructive example of the manner in which plants are distributed
in distant regions of similar physical character is afforded by Calligonum Pal-
lasii. This, like the Megacarpza, abounds in the Caspian province, and equally
or much more, in the sandy deserts of Western India, between the Jumna
and the Indus rivers, The heat for many months annually is extreme, and
one is at first surprised to find a plant flourishing here which is also indigenous
to the steppes of the Caspian, where the winter cold is equally extreme. But,
as is now well known, the Caspian and its deserts occupy a deep hollow at the
western end of a plane descending from the sources of the Oxus and Jaxartes,
and as a consequence of this low position on the earth’s surface, possess a sum-
mer temperature as high as the winter one is low, and perhaps equal to that of
the Indian desert above referred to. In the latter, during the months of April,
May, and June, when everything else is burnt up, the Calligonum, with its
innumerable green leafless twigs, covers the waste of sandhills with a mantle
of verdure, yielding a favourite food to the camel, the proper beast of burden
of the country. It is known to the people by the name of Phoke, and under
this designation is first mentioned by Mr Elphinstone in his account of the

204 Proceedings of Societies.

“ Tn Kumaon the plant occurs on the open sunny downs, at from 11,500
to 14,000 feet above the sea level, where all arboreous vegetation has
ceased. It is well known to the mountaineers by the name of Roogee.
They eat the pounded root as a condiment; it has like the whole plant a
strong permanent odour and flavour, something like horse-radish. The
localities in which it grows are—1. Champwa near the Kaphini glacier ;
2. Near the Soondurdhoongee glacier, the heads of the Pindar River ;
and, 3. At Ralim, on one of the spurs of the snowy Paneh—Choola
Range, which bounds the next great valley to the east. Here the ee
flowers in May, June, and ripens its fruit in September, October. The
root is fusiform, a foot or more in girth at the collar, and from 1 to 2 feet
long, forked below ; internally of light cellular substance, externally ex-
hibiting very numerous horizontal annular ridges. Several annual stems
from 4 to 6 feet high. When young in winter protected by many ereet,
rectangular, straw-like scales. Radical leaves spreading from 2 to 24 feet
long, the exterior half occupied by 7 or 8 distant, distinct, sub-opposite or
alternate pinne; petiole dilated at the base; cauline leaves scattered,
erect, pinnato-pinnatifid, about a foot long, with 10 to 12segments
linear-lanceolate, acuminate, incised, the lower ones more or less separate,
terminal more confluent. Flowers in dense terminal and axillary ety
corymbs, shorter than the leaves; small, white or yellowish white, wit
a sweet fragrance or strong odour of horse-Radish (according to taste),
and much frequented by bees, flies, &c. Peduncles and pedicels villous,
the latter long and one-flowered. Sepals 4, oblong, obtuse, coloured, from
1-5th to 1-4th inch long; petals alternate, oval, veined, half the height of
the sepals ; stamens 12 to 15, hypogynous, erect, as long as the calyx, and
disposed in 2 or 4 sets. Ovary one, flat, obcordate, resembling the silicle
of Capsella Bursa-Pastoris, with 2 auriculate, 1-seeded cells; stigmas 2
on a very short style. Thesilicle is about 1? inch by 14, one of the cells
being abortive.”

The following is a description of the plant taken from the specimen sent
by Mr Moore :—

Megacarpea polyandra, Benth.—Leaf sent by Mr Moore about a foot
long—greatest breadth about 7 inches; deeply pinnatifid—lobes narrowish,
tapering at the apex—toothed ; upper surface dark green—under surface
glaucous, covered with short hairs, many of which are glandular. Similar
hairs occur on the petiole, which is thick, with ridges and grooves, flat-
tened on the upper side and rounded below. Flowers in compact racemose
clusters, of a yellowish white colour, and having a strongish odour.
Sepals whitish, with a yellowish and purplish tinge in some places, rugose,
deciduous, broadly obovate, and convex externally. Petals smaller than
the sepals—obovate, tapering below—rugose. Stamens varying from 11
to 13, some longer than others, but not apparently in any definite number ;
filaments thick—broader below. Anthers innate, two-lobed, yellow ;
green circle of glands round the base of the stamens, attached to a broadish
thick receptacle. Ovary transversely elliptical, with a short style and
large stigma—two celled. Fruit a silicula, with the replum across its
narrow part. Seed brownish, about 1} inch in length, and about the
same in breadth—winged ; the wing nearly a quarter of an inch deep—
veined ; hilum straight or slightly curved about half an inch long.

3. Register of the flowering of Spring Plants in the Royal Botanic
Garden, as compared with the four previcus years; with a register of
kingdom of Caubul. A species of Ephedra likewise occurs, which is also called

by the same name, but the true plant is the Calligonum, and neither Ephedra
nor Ascelpias acida (the Soma plant) as some have supposed.

Proceedings of Societies. 205

the lowest temperature indicated by the thermometer at the garden
“during April 1855. By Mr James M‘Nas. [Published in the Seot-
tish Gardener for June 1855.]

4. Remarks on the effects produced by the intense frost of February
1855 on the out-door plants in the Royal Dublin Society's Garden,
Glasnevin. By Mr D. Moore, Communicated by Professor Batrour.

5. On the Disease of Finger-and-Toe in Root Crops. By Sir Joun
S. Forres, Bart. Communicated by Professor Batrovur.

6. Note on the origin of the name Chenopodium Bonus Henricus. By
Mr Harpy, Penmanshiel. Communicated by Professor Batrour.

14th June 1855.

1. Remarks on the Calamite and Sternbergia of the Carboniferous
Epoch. By Dr Fremrne. Additional Illustrations by Dr Balfour.

The author made some preliminary remarks regarding the study of
vegetable paleontology. ‘The specimens, accessible for the illustration of
the subject usually occur in a fragmentary form, marcerated, rubbed,
squeezed, and without indications of age or conditions of growth, so that
the greatest sympathy should be extended to those who attempt to decypher
in such circumstances. The investigation of these relics, he next observed,
should be preceded by the study of the structure, functions, and distribu-
tion of living plants, and hence he viewed with delight the formation ofa
ania of the remains of extinct plants within the walls of the Botanie

arden.

Dr Fleming then exhibited several examples of Calamites of different
kinds, which he considered as justifying the following conclusions,—1,
That many species have the original matter, now forming a thin film
of coal, smooth on the outside or not exhibiting externally any traces of
joints or longitudinal ribs, 2. From the inside of their woody cylinder,
now converted into coal, diaphragms proceeded at regular, but occasion-
ally at irregular intervals, dividing the inside of the hollow stem into a
series of chambers. These partitions appear to have possessed a very
loose texture towards the centre, but became more dense in substance to-
wards their junction with the stem, and usually leave traces of coaly
matter at the sides. The jointed character of the casts of the inside, in
general all that is noticed by the geologist, is thus referable to the dis-
sepiment, and cannot be regarded as resembling the jointing of a Cala-
mus. %. The inside of the woody cylinder, although smooth on the out-
side, was wae longitudinally on the space between the partitions, or
on the walls of the chamber, and hence the ribbed surfaces of the casts.
4. The stem, unlike stigmaria and lepidodendron, had no woody axis nor

medullary sheath.
he author next exhibited specimens of Sternbergia, displaying, like the
Calamite, the external cylinder of coal, with a smooth surface, and giving
no indication of the internal arrangements. The inside exhibited dia-
Tada having the same origin as in the Calamite, but less regularly

isposed, frequently uniting, and giving to the surface of the cast, not a
distinctly jointed, but a transversely crumpled appearance. Ho concluded
by stating, that from the smooth surface and thickness of the coaly matter
into which the plant had been converted, joined to its independent or de-
tached condition in the rocks, it could not be regarded as the remains of a

206 Proceedings of Societies.

discoid pith, but, like the Calamite, as a plant which had a hollow stalk, —
the cavity divided into chambers by transverse partitions, the remains of
which give to the casts their characteristic appearance.
Professor Balfour exhibited numerous specimens of Rhizomes and stems
of plants, which seemed to illustrate, in some measure, the appearance
resented by such coal plants as Stigmaria, Calamite, and Sternbergia.
r Balfour agreed with Dr Fleming in his views regarding these plants,
and referred particularly to the statements made by Dr Fleming in his
paper on Stigmaria in the Proceedings of the Royal Society.

2. On a Deposit containing Sub-fossil Diatomacee. By Professor

Harness. [This paper appears in the present number of this
Journal. }

3. Notice of the time of flowering of certain Trees this season. By
Mr M‘Nas.

4, On the Effects of the past Winter on certain Trees in the neigh-
bourhood of Belfast. By Professor Dicxtr,
The following table shows the lowest point to which the thermometer

fell during the month of Febrnary 1855. It is taken from a register
kept at Queen’s College, Belfast :—

Min. Min,
Feb. 1. 27:0 F. Feb. 15. 13-0
2. 30-0 16. 19:0
3. 30:0 17. 20-0
4, 33:0 18. 17:0
5. 39:0 19. 21°5
6. 366 20. 22-0
(fe 37:4 21; 27-0
8. 31:0 22. 27°0
9. 30-0 23. 30-0
10. 29-0 24, 24-4
11. 22-0 25. 34:0
12. 30°0 26. 34:0
13. 23:0 27. 34:0
14. 18-0 28. 37:4
Mean temperature for the month, 32°45
Mean maximum, . : ° 37°6
Mean minimum, . : é 27°7
Amount of rain, . ‘ é 1-690

It will be observed that the absolute lowest temperature was on the
15th, viz., 13° F. In 1845, on 5th March, the thermometer in the Bo-
tanic Garden indicated 10° F.; lower, therefore, than in 1855. The in-
jury to the plants, however, in 1855, was greater, because in February
last a generally low temperature, with east and north-east winds, pre-
vailed during two weeks.

The following list of plants injured or killed in the Belfast garden
during last winter has been drawn up by the curator, Mr Ferguson :—

Pinus macrophylla, § much injured, 12 feet high.
eee 8 be

apulcensis, killed,

patula, much injured, 6
pseudo-strobus, slightly injured, 7
Devoniana, much injured, 24
Russelliana, browned.

palustris, killed.

Scientijic Intelligence. 207

> Abies Brunoniana, killed.
Jezoensis, killed.
Cepressus funebris, _ north side killed.
ase uhdiana, much injured.

abs elegans, killed.
; mexicana, __ killed.
torulosa, 1 killed, and others much injured.

Nay lusitanica, killed.
Juniperus macrocarpa, slightly injured.
Fitzroya patagonica, _ killed, 4 feet high.
Saxegothza conspicua, killed, Chess
Cephalotaxus Fortuni, not injured in the least, whereas the larger-

leaved variety has suffered much.

Erica arborea, killed, 10 feet high.

For the sake of comparison, it may be interesting to insert here the
following report by the late Mr Templeton of Oranmore, respecting the
seyere winter of 1813-14, as reported in the Belfast Magazine for that

ear :—

7 ‘* Viburnum Tinus, Cistus ladaniferus, C. creticus, Erica arborea, E.
australis, E. mediterranea, Ulex europeus, Prunus Laurocerasus, P. lusi-
tanica, in many places were killed to the ground, or had their young
branches destroyed. Edwardsia microphylla and Coronilla glauca, which,
trained against a wall, had stood the frost of several winters, are either
killed to the ground, or have their branches of two or three years killed.
Calycanthus precox, Pyrus japonica, and Corchorus japonicus, have
passed the winter in the open ground. Timber trees suffered greatly,
especially the oaks, which were split with great violence. Walnut, ash,
and other trees, had their last year’s shoots killed. On 29th December
the thermometer fell to 7° F.”

5- Remarks on the Dye Lichens. By Dr Lauper Linnsay. [This
paper appears in the present number of this Journal. ]

6. Account of the origin and of the contents of the Musewm of Eco-
nomic Botany attached to the Royal Botanic Garden of Edin-
burgh. No,I. By Professor Batrovr.

SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.

ZOOLOGY.

The “ Académie des Sciences de Paris” have awarded the Cuvierian
Medal of 1854 to Professor John Miiller of Berlin for his researches on
_ the structure and development of the Echinodermata. The Royal Society
of London, at their anniversary meeting November 1854, presented the
pe vad medal to the same distinguished foreigner for his important con-
tributions to comparative anatomy, and particularly for the researches
above-mentioned.

Development of the Nematoidea.—In a recent work by MM. Ereo-
lani and L. Vella, it is stated that the embryos of the ovoviviparous
Nematoids do not attain complete development where deposited by the
parent. The ova of the oviparous nematoids, and the embryos of the
ovoviviparous require to leave the position where they were deposited,
and live free for a certain time, and to perfect themselves by entering the
bodies of animals. The ova of some nematoids remain stationary in the
intestinal mucus of the animals in which their parent had deposited them.

208 Scientific Intelligence.

€
The changes in the development of these ova succeed each other with
great rapidity so soon as they are placed in water. Some infusoria,
referred by Ehrenberg and other naturalists to the genera Vibrio and
Auguillula, are only nematoids in an embryonic state.—(Rev. et Mag. de
Zool., 1854.)

Production of the Cysticerus fasciolaris from the Eggs of the Tenia
crassicollis—(From a letter of R. Leuckhart of Giessen, to C. Th. von
Siebold of Munich.)—‘‘ In October of last year when in conjunction with
Bischoff, in making some investigations about the Ascaris mystax, I met
with a cat affording excellent specimens of the Tenia crassicollis; I
immediately resolved to produce a brood of them, if possible, in the
form of hydatids. For some years past I have kept a colony of white
mice, which occasionally in my researches were more or less used. This
colony at that time consisted of twelve. I divided them, and fed one-half
of them with the eggs of my Tenia, which I obtained by erushing be-
tween the fingers. The juice thus procured I mixed partly in the water,
partly in the food (hemp seed and white bread) in different places in the
cage of my mice.

Inder such circumstances the probability was naturally very great
that the mice would convey the Tenia into the intestinal ceil, ie ex-
periment was thus conducted, but unfortunately among many other inyes-
tigations, it was for some time forgotten. In February I first opened five
of them, and found them all affected with hydatids of about an inch in
length. One specimen contained five worms, another three, and so’ on.
The fifth had no hydatids, but exhibited on the outside of the stomach
and in the omentum small cysts of clear water of the size of a pin-head,
which, on microscopic examination, appeared formed of a bulb of fibres
of cellular tissue, and a dense structureless skin, in which was contained
a mass of a fatty appearance. Similar little cysts were found also in the
other mice, in one specimen even in the serous coat of the liver, so that
I have no doubt these are properly entozoa, which have strayed and
died, never having arrived at the end of their journey. Indeed, I could
not find the embryonal hooks, but they also were wanting in the eysts of
the perfect worms.

My experiment is not to be assailed, for the mice were born in m
house, never left their cage, got the above-mentioned food and fres
spring water to drink, and so could scarcely by accident have become in-
fected with the brood of the cat’s tenia, neither have I ever observed
at any period hydatids, except in my mice. Besides, it happens that
these mice contained (except one) several hydatids, which seldom oceur in
those at liberty.—(Zeitsch. fur Wissenschaf. Zool., 1854.)

Gosse on the Systematic position of the Rotifera,—‘‘ The hemisphe-
rical bulb which is so conspicuous in Brachionus amphiceros, lying across
the breast, and containing organs which work vigorously against each
other, has long been recognised as an organ of manducation ; it has been
called the gizzard; but the author proposes to distinguish it by the term
mastax. Itisa trilobate muscular sac, with walls varying much in thick-
ness, receiving at the anterior extremity the buccal tunnel, and on the
dorsal side giving exit to the esophagus.

Within this sac are placed two geniculate organs (the mallet) anda
third on which they work (the incus). Each malleus consists of two
parts (the manubrium and the wneuws) united by a hinge joint. The
manubrium is a piece of irregular form, consisting of carine of solid
matter, inclosing three areas, which are filled with a mere membranous
substance. The wnceuws consists of several slender pieces, more or less
parallel, arranged like the teeth of a comb, or like the fingers of a hand.

Geology. 209

The ineus consists of two rumi, which are articulated by a common
base to the extremity of a thin rod (the fulcrum), in such a way
that they can open and close by proper muscles. The fingers of each
uneus rest upon the corresponding ramus, to which they are attached
by an elastic ligament. The mcllei are moved to and fro by distinct
- muscles, which the author describes in detail, and by the action of these
they approach and recede alternately ; the rami opening and shutting
simultaneously, with a movement derived partly from the action of the
mallet, and partly from their own proper muscles.

All these organs have great solidity and density ; and from the-action
of certain menstrua upon them, appear to be of calcareous origin.

It is with the Insecta that the author seeks to ally these minute crea-
tures; and by a course of argument founded on the peculiarities of struc-
ture, the following identifications are maintained :—That the mastaw is
a true mourn; that the mailed are MANDIBLES; the manubria possibly
representing the cheeks into which they are articulated ; that the rami of
the tnews are MAxILLa; and that the fulerum represents the cardines
soldered together.

While the connection of Rotifera with Insecta is maintained through
these organs in their highest development, their affinity with Polyzoa is
suggested by the same organs at the opposite extremity of the scale, since
the oval muscular bulbs in Bowerbankia, which approach and recede in
their action on food seems to represent the quadriglobular masses of
Limnia and Rotifer, further degenerated.

If this affinity be correctly indicated, the interesting fact is apparent,
that the Polyzoa present the point where the two great parallel divisions
Mollusca and Articulata unite in their course toward the true Polypi.—
(P. H. Gosse, Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond., 1855.)

Organ of Hearing in Nautilus umbilicatus.—The organ of hearing
which had escaped detection in the specimen of Nautilus pompilius dis-
sected by Professor Owen, altered, as it doubtless had been, by long im-
mersion in spirit, was discovered in the example of Nautilus umbilicatus.
It consists of two spheroidal acoustic capsules placed one on each side, at
the union of the supra and sub-cesophageal ganglia, and measuring about
one-twelfth of aninch in diameter. Each capsule rests internally against
the nervous mass, and is received on its outer side into a little depression
in the cephalic cartilage. It is enveloped in a kind of fibrous tissue, and
filled with a cretaceous pulp, consisting of minute, ecliptical, octoconical
particles, presenting under a high power a bright point near each end,
brid | much in size, and sometimes combined into stellate, cruciform, or
other figures. Cilia were not observed within the capsules. —(Johkn D.
Macdonald, R.N., Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond,, 1855.)

GEOLOGY.

Tunnel through the Malvern Hills—Discovery of Graphite.—One of
the results arising from the formation of railways has been the opening
up, by cuttings and tunnels, of the various strata through which they
pass, and the exposure, in consequence, of some extremely interesting
sections. A work of some magnitude is now proceeding in the vicinit
of Malvern, no less than that of tunnelling through the base of the Mal-
vern Hills. The junction, on the east side, of the syenite and the red
sandstone has been already disclosed, and a mineral has been discovered,
either identical with or closely allied to graphite. The following re-
marks by a correspondent were made last month during an examination
of the tunnel :—

* Arrived at the bottom of the shaft, we commenced our observations,
and, working eastward, we came to the edge of the syenite, and found &

NEW SERIES.—VOL, I. NO, 1.—JULY 1855. i)

210 Scientific Intelligence.

band of gray marl, in a moist and clay-like state, in contact with it, dip-
ping ata high angle. This we very carefully measured, and ascertaine |
y the clinometers the angle to be 54°. alking on in the same direc-
tion, we passed through red marls, mingled occasionally with gray, all
dipping eastward, until, at a distance of 45 feet from the syenite, we dis-
covered the first band of Keuper shale. The dip of this we took eare-
fully, and found it 37°. The marls in the neighbourhood of these shales
were so highly indurated as to have the appearance of very compact sand~-
stone. Proceeding eastward, we noticed several thin bands of Keuper
shale, the dip varying very considerably, some of them being almost hori-
zontal, while the perpendicular, the dip of the highest was 57°. I eon-
clude from this circumstance that they must have been subjected to local
disturbance subsequent to the general upheaval. We noticed
farther that seemed remarkable on the eastern side, and, haying
the end of the working, we retraced our steps to the shaft, and began our
inspection of the interior of the Malvern Hills, I should state that the
syenite in immediate contact with the new red seemed very loose and
broken up, and at first I was disposed to think this was the result of the
grinding process in upheaval; but finding no fragments among the clay
and ne came to the conclusion that its fragmen and rotten appear-
ance was produced by the action of water, a considerable quantity of whieh
was held against it by a barrier of clay.

** We journeyed westward, and carefully examined the syenite as we
went. Its appearance is varied as at the surface, but we saw no variety
of rock differing from the surface or quarried specimens we are familiar
with, excepting that the hornblendie syenite is of a much lighter colour,
approaching in appearance the chlorite of the Wytch. Associated with this
particular variety of rock, at 111 yards west of the shaft, we found the
black shining mineral which Professor Phillips pronounces graphite. It
there appears in a vein about 6 inches wide; a large quantity has been
worked out, and now, at 123 yards from the shaft, the vein has a width
of nearly 3 feet; it is much mixed up with masses of quartzose and fel-
spathic rock, and is so loose and schist-like that quantities of it may be
knocked down with a stick or hammer. The direction it takes is from
south-west to north-east, and as it appears to be increasing in mass, we
may hope to pass through a considerable quantity, and it may probably
improve as we approach the centre. Several springs make their appear-
ance in the tunnel, but they all rise from the bottom.”

Age of the Bengal Coal-fields.—In the coal-fields of India numerous
remains of fossil plants are found referable to genera which to European
geologists are known only to occur in rocks of a more recent date than
the true carboniferous epoch. Associated with these are other genera
not hitherto found at all in European rocks, but occurring plentifully in
this country (India), and also in Australia. Now it is well known to
every geologist that the remains of plants alone furnish exceedingly 5 ad
evidence on which to base any conclusions with regard to the age of the
rock in which they occur. And this being the case, it is important to
find, if possible, fossils belonging to the animal kingdom in connection
with them. Now, in Australia, associated with beds containing fossil
plants specifically identical with those found in the Indian coal-fields,
occur other beds rich in animal remains of a well-marked type, which
type represents a period (geological) corresponding to the lower carboni-

erous group of Europe. It was at first supposed that the beds contain-
ing the fossil plants oceurred above, and formed a distinet group from
“ the shelly beds ; but the observation of all the most truthworthy witnesses
negatives this. And in Australia, so far as our present evidence goes,
it must, I think, be considered that the same fossil plants which in India

Chemistry. 215

_ characterize the coal-yielding beds, occur associated with abundant
_ remains of shells, which must be considered of the carboniferous epoch of
_ European geology. But the question is by no means so easily solved ;
for Sitting into Western India, we find associated with identieally the
_ same plants as occur with those found in the coal-yielding beds of Bengal,
_ numerous remains of shells, &c., which are undoubtedly representatives
_of the oolitie period. The evidence here also would seem clear, and the
statements of Captain Grant, in his description of Cutch, would lead us
to refer the coal-yielding beds of that district containing Ptilophylla, &e.,
to the oolitic group. Taking, therefore, the analogy of the nearer country,
and coupling this with the general analogy of the fossil plants found in
these beds, 1 am disposed to think that we must provisionally consider
these coal-bearing rocks of Bengal as belonging rather to the Mesozoic
period than to the Palaozoic.—(Mr Oldham, Proc. As. Soc. Bengal, 1854.
_—dJourn. As. Soc. Bengal, No. vi., 1854, p. 619.)
CHEMISTRY.
Researches on Nascent Oxygen. By M. Avauste Hovzeav.
M. Houzeau has made the important discovery that nascent oxygen can
be produced abundantly by a purely chemical process, and then has pro-
perties completely similar to those of ozone. His process consists in
Rg ae uric acid in a tubulated balloon, to the neck of which a nar.
row tube plunging under the water of the pneumatic trough is attached.
Peroxide of barium is then thrown in, and the gas immediately dis- ~
oe In some instances it is necessary to raise the temperature to
100° Fahr., but it must not exceed this, for when exposed to a higher tem-
perature the oxygen passes into its ordinary condition.
_ Nascent oxygen is a transparent gas with a strong odour, which at first
is not disagreeable, but becomes unsupportable when it has been smelt
for some time. It may be respired if care be taken, but if introduced in
ig quantity into the system, it produces nausea and vomiting. When
heated to 107° it loses all its active properties. In presence of water it
‘oxidises most of the metals, including silver. It peroxidises most me-
tallie protoxides, and converts arsenious into arsenic acid ; the alkalies
and acids act powerfully upon it. It oxidises ammonia with great
‘rapidity, and if a rod dipped in a solution of that alkali be introduced into
the gas, the vessel is instantly filled with white fumes of nitrate of
ammonia. It immediately ignites the non-spontaneously inflammable
phosphuretted hydrogen ; hydrochloric acid in solution in water is in-
stantly decomposed by it, with formation of water and evolution of
chlorine. It decomposes iodide of potassium, and bleaches vegetable
_ colours. When passed slowly through a tube containing spongy platinum,
asbestos, cotton wool, or other porous substances, it is immediately converted
into common oxygen. ‘The author, in concluding his paper, remarks that
peroxide of barium is not the only substance containing oxygen in the
' naseent state, but on the contrary that it exists in that condition in most
ifnot all compounds, and the reason why we do not obtain it from other
substances is, that the conditions of our experiment do not permit its
evolution in its primitive state, the heat, light, or other means we employ
converting the active oxygen into its inert form. Comptes Rendus, vol.
40, p. 917.—[The author promises in a future paper to compare his
nascent oxygen with Schonbein’s ozone. It is to us obvious, however, that
they are identical, and the experiments of M. Houzeau must be consi-
dered as conclusive evidence in tavour of the view taken by Berzelius, that
ozone is really an allotropic oxygen; and it is to be regretted that M.
Houzeau had not employed that term in place of nascent oxygen, which
chemists have been in the habit of using in a somewhat different sense. —
Ed. Vhil. Jour.)
o 2

212 Scientific Intelligence. 4

Preparation of the more owidisable Metals by Electrolysis.—The recent
researches of Bunsen have shown that the density of the electro current
has a very important influence on its power of producing chemical decom-
position, The density of the current is equal to its intensity divided by
the surface of the pole at which the decomposition oceurs. Hence, if a
current be passed through a solution of chloride of chromium we may ob-
tain, according to the diameter of the reducing pole, either hydrogen,
sesguioxide of chromium, protoxide of chromium, or the metal itself.
Upon this principle Bunsen has arranged an apparatus, by means of
which chromium, manganese, and other metals may be — obtained
in the wet way. He employs a decomposition cell, of which the one

ole is formed by the inner surface of a charcoal crucible, filled with
Ecdesahiloric acid, and kept hot by immersion in the water bath. Within
this is placed a small porcelain cell containing the fluid to be decomposed,
in the centre of which is a narrow strip of platinum, forming the other

le.
Pe eanicnion is obtained by this apparatus in plates of more than fifty
square millimetres in size, which are very brittle, and on the side next
the platinum have a high metallic lustre. It has completely the appear-
ance of metallic iron, but is more permanent in moist air, and burns
when heated, with the production of the sesquioxide. Hydrochloric and
dilute sulphuric acid dissolve it with difficulty, with evolution of hydro-
gen and production of a salt of the protoxide. It is scarcely attacked by
nitric acid, even when boiling. Its specific gravity is about 1-7th higher
than that determined from the impure metal produced by the old process.

Manganese may be obtained in plates of above 100 square millimetres,
which have a fine metallic lustre, and are as easily oxidised as potassium
in moist air.

By employing an amalgamated platinum wire, the density of the stream
may be still further increased, and even barium and strontium reduced,
although the metals cannot thus be obtained pure; but by a modifica-
tion of the process, and employing the fused chlorides, Bunsen and
Matthiesen have succeeded in obtaining several of these metals, for the
first time, in a state of purity.

For the preparation of calcium Matthiesen has employed two different
methods. Des is uncertain, but when successful gives the metal in globules
the size of a pea. Two equivalents of chloride of calcium, and one of
chloride of strontium are fused in a Hessian crucible. An iron cylinder
forming the positive pole is immersed in the fused mass, and with this is _
placed a porous cell, containing the same mixture filled in to a level from
half an inch to an inch above that in the outer crucible, by which means,
and with proper regulation of the heat, a solid crust is maintained on the
latter. A thin iron wire forms the negative pole, and with six Bunsen’s
cells, a large amount of calcium may be obtained in less than an hour.
A more certain plan is to melt the same mixture in a porcelain crucible,
containing a carbon positive pole, and to use a thin harpsichord wire
just dipping under the surface of the fluid as a negative pole, on which
small globules of the metal soon collect.

Calcium is a light yellow metal, resembling an alloy of silver and gold.
Its hardness approaches that of gold, and it is very ductile, and may be
hammered into extremely thin plates. Its specific gravity is 1-584. It
retains its lustre for some days in dry air, but decomposes water rapidly.
Nitric, hydrochloric, and sulphuric acid produce still more violent action.
Heated on platinum foil it burns with a bright flash. It also burns with
brilliance when heated in chlorine. With water, calcium is negative to
potassium and sodium, positive to magnesium.

Strontiwm—obtained by galvanic decomposition, with a brilliant metallic

Botany. 213

lustre, and a light brass-yellow colour. It gives a golden yellow streak on
the touchstone, which soon passes into a copper colour, owing to superficial
oxidation. Its specific gravity is 2-542. It decomposes water very rapidly,
and burns with a brilliant white flame in oxygen, chlorine, iodine, and
sulphur. It is electro negative to calcium.

ithium has the colour and lustre of silver, but is rapidly oxidised, and
in the air instantly becomes black. It must be preserved under naphtha,
and in hermetically sealed tubes. It melts at 356° Fahr., and is the
lightest of all known solids or liquids, its specific gravity being 0°5936.
It burns brilliantly, and with a white light, in air, oxygen, chlorine, and
-. — of bromine, iodine, and sulphur. It decomposes water in
the cold.

The details of these experiments will be found in Bunsen’s papers in
Poggendorf’s Annalen, vol. xci. p. 691, and Comptes Rendus, vol. xl. p.
717. Matthiesen’s paper is in the Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie,

for March 1855, rh the Chemical Society’s Journal for April 1855.

BOTANY.

Contributions to a Knowledge of the Vegetation above the Snow Line.
By Apotrs ScuLaGintwe!t.

_ The following is a list of the different species of phanerogamous plants,
mosses, and lichens, which were found in the year 1851 in particular
parts of the Western Alps, far above the mean limit of the snow. These
observations connect themselves with our previous remarks on the vege-
tation of the subnival and nival regions of the Eastern Alps, below the
heights of 7000 and 12,000 feet (Untersuchungen iiber die physicalische
Geographie der Alpen, 1850, cap. xxi., 584-596).

As regards the determination of the plants collected, I am indebted to
Professor Alex. Braun of Berlin for the mosses and lichens, and to Pro-
fessor Koch for the phanerogams. It must be observed that the enu-
meration of the plants in the vicinity of the Vincenthut, as well as the
other iniliwidual localities, cannot lay claim to absolute completeness.
But the comparison of the different localities enables us to ascertain with
tolerable certainty the sum of the characteristic species.

In the neighbourhood of Monte Rosa the phanerogams attain a very

t height. Their growth is favoured by the great absolute height of
is mountain group, and by its southern exposure. Isolated phanero-
are here pretty frequently found at the height of 11,000 Parisian

eet ; while one of these plants (Cherleria sedoides) was found at 11,700.
In the Central Alps of the Tyrol and the Bernese Oberland individual
phanerogamous plants occur between 10,000 and 10,500 feet. In the
northern side chain of the Alps, in Switzerland, in Southern Bavaria,
_ and in Austria, the mountains are not generally sufficiently high to per-

mit an accurate determination of the limit; but at all events phanerogams
grow at 9000 feet, and perhaps somewhat higher.

On Zugspitze, in the Bavarian limestone Alps, 2954 metres = 9094
Paris feet, on the light upper alpine limestone the following plants
were seen :

Draba tomentosa Didymodon capillaceus

Saxifraga stenopetala flexicaulis ? steril.
androsacea, var. pygmea | Hypnum julaceum

Andrea rupestris uncinatum

Barbula tortuosa

The lichens on the highest point were remarkably little developed.
There was only some appearance of a Lecidea and a Verrucaria, which
could not be more precisely determined.

214 Scientific Intelligence.

In the neighbourhood of Vincenthut on the southern slope of Monte
Rosa, Piedmont, between 9500 and 9800 Paris feet, on gneiss, the fol-
lowing plants were observed :—

Achillea hybrida Festuca ovina y violacea
Androsace glacialis Koeleria hirsuta
Artemisia mutellina Luzula spicata
spicata Poa alpina
Aster alpinus laxa
Cardamine alpina minor
Cerastium latifolium Bartramia ithyphylla
Cherleria sedoides Bryum turbinatum
Chrysanthemum alpinum Didymodon capillaceus
Erigeron uniflorus Grimmia obtusa
Eritrichium nanum Gymnomitrium concinnatum
Gentiana imbricata Gymnostomum rupestre
verna Hypnum julaceum (Isothecium mo-
Hutchinsia petrea niliforme)
Linaria alpina Polytrichum septentrionale (P. sex-
Oxyria digyna angulare)
Potentilla alpestris Trichostomum latifolium (Desma-
Primula Dinyana todon latifolius)
Phyteuma pauciflorum Weissia crispula
Ranunculus glacialis Cetraria cucullata
Salix herbacea islandiea
reticulata nivalis
Saxifraga aizoides Cladonia gracilis
bryoides Cornicularia ochroleuea
biflora Lecidea conglomerata
exarata geographica
muscoides pulche r
oppositifolia Lepra ineana
retusa Parmelia ceratophylla, var. multi-
stellaris puncta
Senecio uniflorus fahlunensis « vulgaris
Silene acaulis fahlunensis 3 lanata
Thlaspi cepeefolium saxatilis
corymbosum Peltigera canina, var. minor
rotundifolium Solorina erocea
Veronica alpina Stereocaulon alpinum
Agrostis rupestris Thamnalia vermicularis
Avena subspicata Umbilicaria polymorpha «# eylin-
Carex nigra drica
Elyna spicata polymorpha ¢ mesen-
Festuca Halleri teriformis

Environs of Monte Rosa. The Pass of St Theodul or Matterjoch,
3353 metres = 10,322 Paris feet.

Androsace glacialis Ranunculus glacialis
Eritrichium nanum Salix herbacea
Gentiana verna Saxifraga oppositifolia
Linaria alpina Thlaspi cepeefolium

The Nase, a rocky edge which rises out of the Lys-glaeier.
A. Second Peak, 3570 metres = 10,990 Paris feet.

Cherleria sedoides Erigeron uniflorus
Chrysanthemum alpinum Eritrichium nanum

Botany. 215
ira nana, a single shrub. | Senecio uniflorus
highest locality in whichthis | Poa laxa
lant was found in the neigh- | Didymodon capillaceus
urhood of Monte Rosa. Jungermannia
Primula Dinyana Polytrichum alpinum
Ranunculus glacialis Racomitrium lanuginosum
Saxifraga bryoides Weissia crispula
oppositifolia
B. First Peak, 3630 metres = 11,176 Paris feet.
Cherleria sedoides | Lecanora muralis var. ?
Chrysanthemum alpinum | Lecidea conglomerata
Ranunculus elacialis geographica
Saxifraga bryoides | Parmelia stygia var. lanata (Cor-
Silene acaulis 6 exscapa _ _ nicularia lanata)
Poa laxa | Solorina crocea
Didymodon capillaceus | Stereocaulon condensatum ,
Weissia crispula | Umbilicaria anthracina
var. atrata | vellea + spadochroa

Lecanora flava 6 chlorophana

On Weisthor, a pass over the highest point of Monte Rosa, 3618 metres

= 11,138 Paris feet.
Chrysanthemum alpinum Senecio uniflorus
Eritrichium nanum Poa alpina
Gentiana imbricata laxa
Ranunculus glacialis Racomitrium
i muscoides a compacta. | Lecidea geographica
(S. acaulis) Parmelia fahlunensis var. lanata
¢ moschata. | Umbilicaria polymorpha var.
(S. moschata)

On Firninsel, on the western slope of Monte Rosa, near the Glacier of
Gorne, 3723 metres = 11,462 Paris feet.

Cherleria sedoides
Lecidea conglomerata

It was here that the last trace of
on the north-western side of Monte

Lecidea geographica

abate plants was observed,

Rocks on the southern slopes of the Vincent Pyramid, 3823-5 metres

= 11,770 Paris feet.
Cherleria sedoides. A few small | Stereocaulon
specimens. This is the highest | Weissia crispula
station for phanerogamous | Lecidea armeniaca
plants which has yet been ob- conglomerata
served on the Alps. geographica
Andrea rupestris Umbilicaria vellea « hirsuta
Grimmia polyphylla « glabra

Peak of Monte-Rosa, 4640 metres = 14,284 Paris feet.

Lecidea conglomerata.
geographica « contigua, 6 atrovirens.

“aa a Parmelia and an Umbilicaria, which could not be fully deter-
mined,

Peak of Mont Blanc, 4810 metres = 14,809 Paris feet. Determined
by Scheerer from specimens collected by Saussure on Mont Blane. Linnea.
1842, Bd, xvi. 66.

Lecidea confluens | Parmelia polytropa

216

Scientific Intelligence.

Bernese Alps, Gauli Pass, between the Gauli-glacier and the Unteraar-
glacier, 3274 metres = 10,080 Paris feet. .

Androsace glacialis
Chrysanthemum alpinum
Gentiana imbricata
Potentilla grandiflora
Ranunculus glacialis
Saxifraga bryoides
oppositifolia
Silene acaulis
Poa laxa

Rocks on the south-west slope of
source of the Viescher-glacier, 3350

Chrysanthemum alpinum
Draba frigida
Linaria alpina
Saxifraga bryoides

museoides « compacta
Silene acaulis
Poa laxa

Peak of the Ewigschneehorn, near the Gauli Pass, 3400°5 metres

10,468 Paris feet.
Androsace imbricata
Poa laxa

Didymodon capillaceus
Grimmia uncinata ?

Barbula (Syntrichia) ruralis

Bryum Ludwigii?

Jungermannia

Polytrichum septentrionale. (P.
sexangulare)

Racomitrium fascieulare ?

Lecidea geographica

Umbilicaria polyphylla 6 floceulosa

the Finsteraarhorn, near the right
metres = 10,313 Paris feet.

Didymodon eapillaceus

Hypnum cupressiforme

Cladonia neglecta

Lecidea geographica

Lepra incana

Parmelia elegans

fahlunensis var, lanata

Lecidea geographica
confervoides

Parmelia elegans

Umbilicaria polymorpha 6 deusta

Peak of the Jungfrau, 4167 metres = 12,828 Paris feet, according to

Eschmann.

Lecidea conglomerata
confluens var. steriza

Parmelia elegans « miniata

Umbilicaria atro-pruinosa y reticu-
lata
Virgini

Determined by Scherer from specimens collected by Agassiz on the
Jungfrau (Linnea. 1842, Bd. xvi. 66).—(Archiv fur Naturgeschichte, xx.
Jahr. 1 Bd.)

On Beech-Oil. By Witurto E. G. Seemann.

Amongst the various kinds of oil used in Northern Germany, especially
the kingdom of Hanover, for culinary purposes or as ma of com-
bustion, that extracted from the nuts of the beech (Fagus sylvatica,
Linn.) is, on account of its numerous good qualities, deserving of notice.
Beech-oil does not play a prominent part in commerce, nor is it likely to

.do so, owing to the fact that it cannot be procured in large quantities ; the
country-people who collect the nuts, or cause them to be collected, use the
greater part of the oil extracted from them in their own household, and
only dispose of the remaining fraction. This is the reason why it is im-
possible to give even a rough estimate of the quantity annuallyproduced.
About Hanover the nuts are gathered towards the end of October or the
beginning of November. This is done either by picking up by hand those
which have fallen to the ground, or by spreading out large sheets under
the trees and beating the branches with poles, so as to cause the nuts to
separate from them. The latter process appears, at first sight, the least
expensive; but as the good nuts have to be separated from the bad
here) ones, it is found on closer examination to be just the contrary.

n 1854 about 25 Ibs. of nuts sold in Hanover for eighteenpence; 25 Ibs.

yield about 5 Ibs. of oil, 1 lb. selling for about sevenpence, The oil isof a

Mineralogy. 217

pale yellow colour, and has an extremely agreeable taste. It is often
adulterated with walnut-oil; the latter is even sold as beech-oil, and that
may account for the difference of opinion entertained respecting the
quality of the Beech-oil. The townspeople use it chiefly as salad oil, but
the peasantry employ it generally as a substitute for butter, &c., and only
_ when there has been a good harvest of nuts, for burning in their lamps.
The husks are, after the oil has been expressed, made into cakes about
nine inches square and one and a half inch thick; these are used for com-
bustibles, and not given, as some people imagine, as food to cattle—
(Hooker's Journal of Botany, June 1855.)

MINERALOGY.

Composition of Euclase. By M. A. Damour.
Euclase has been already examined by Vauquelin and Berzelius, and
shown to be a silicate of alumina aud glucina. Damour has found that
it also contains water and fluorine. The mean of four analyses has given

Oxygen.

Silica, ; . : 41°63 21°61 4
Alumina, . ‘ : 34:07 15°92 3
Glucina, . : ‘ 16°97 10°73 5
Lime, ; ; : 0°14 ra
Protoxide of iron, ; 1:03
Protoxide of tin, : 0°34 re
Water, i ; . 6°04 5°37 1
Fluorine, . , i 0°38 a

100°60

which gives the formula, 6 Be 3Al Si+3H. The oxide of iron appears
to be an accidental mixture, but the tin and fluorine, Damour considers
as essential ingredients, and in that case, euclase must belong to the
class of minerals, which like the topaz, tourmaline, &c., have been pro-
duced by the action of volatile fluorides and chlorides on the aryandlne
rocks.—(Comptes Rendus, vol. xl., p. 944.)

Svanbergite, a new Swedish Mineral.—Igelstrém has described under
this name a mineral which occurs at Horrsjéberg in the district of Elfdahl
in Wermland, in a vein in quartz rock along with cyanite, pyrophyllite,
lazulite, mica, and iron pyrites. Its crystalline form is oblique prismatic ;
colour light red ; semi-transparent; cleavage distinct, parallel to the base
of the prism ; —* gravity, 3°30; hardness, 5. Before the blow-pipe
it gives in the flask a very acid water. On charcoal it loses its colour,
but melts only when in extremely thin splinters. With soda in the re-
duction flame, it gives a red liver, which evolves sulphuretted hydrogen
_ when treated with dilute acids. The finely powdered mineral is insoluble
in acids, a small quantity is dissolved on boiling, and the white residue
remains entirely unattacked. Its composition was found to be—

Sulphuric acid, . , t ; : 17°32

* Phosphoric acid, " j : ; 17°80
Alumina, . P ; , ' : 37°84
Lime, ; : 3 f : ; 6:00
Protoxide of iron, : j ; 1°40
oda, : : ‘ P ; F 12°84
Water, i j , ; A 4 6°80
Chlorine, . ; ; 7 ‘ . traces,

—Ofversigt of Akademiens, Forhandlingar 1854, p. 156.

218

Scientific Intelligence.

Statistics of the Production of Metals during 1854. By Wuityey.

Whitney gives the following table of the production of the metals
during last year. It appears to be estimated from that of former years,
and though probably only an approximation, is of considerable interest.

3 Mercury.! ,
Gold. | Silver © jon
oe | Se [ate 2 Sa
Troy. | Troy. ae ns. | tons. ms. tons,
Russia, 60,000 58,000) PO | . 6,500, 4,000) 800, 200,000
Sweden, 2} 3,500' ... | ... | 1,600 40] 200) 150,000
Norway, I Tee oA 17,000, . eye 500) >... se 5,000
Great Britain, . 100} 70,000 ... | 7,000; 14,500) 1,000} 61,000 3,000,000
Belgium, . ue 5000 ; ve | ae |16,000) Lay 300,000
Prussia, ‘ 000}... wi 1,500, 33,000 150,000
Harz, . 6} 30,000, ... el 150, 1 5,000;
Saxony, Oh gaooot 2: 100i 50 ... | 2000 7,000
Rest of Germany,| ... 3,000 = 58 eas a “ee 1,000, 100,000
Austria, ae 5,700; 90,000) 500,000 50} 3,300, 1,500) 7,000, 225,000
Switzerland,. .| ... bas ie aly as ni esis | 15,000
France, , As. 5,000)... ; =. ais 1,500 600,000
Spain, 42} 125,000 2,500,000, ~10| “600... | 30,000 40,000
Italy, ace =i | te ee 250) sas 500
Africa, . . .| 4,000| ... bs . | 600!
East Indies and |
Southern Asia, | 25,000 5,000} 3,000
Australia and
Oceania, 150,000 8,000 be 3,500) ne
Chili, 8,000; 250,000}... ... | 14,000; ee
Bolivia, 1,200} 130,000 ne er aa a
Peru, . raul 1,900! 30,000} 200,000; 1,500) ... :
\Eeuador, New
| Grenada, &e., | 15,000! 130,000) F 1,500 3
Brazil,. . . «| 6,000 700; ... ie ;
Mexico, 10,000/1,750,000, ... Bee 3h 44
ee ee uy ee, Ciuge aed 3000) 2. | e
United States, . | 200,000 22,000 1,000,000 2 3,500) 5,000 15,000 1,000,000
Totals, | 481,950|2,695,200 4,200,000 13,660, 56,900, 60,550, 133,000 5,817,000

Statistics of the production of the Metals in Russia during 1852.—
In the Mining Journal of St Petersburg complete statistics of the metal-
productions of Russia for the year 1852, are given, from which the follow-
ing details are extracted.

The quantity of gold obtained from the Government mines was :—

Ekaterinburg,
Bogosslowsk,
Goroblagodat,
Slatoust,
Nertschinsk,
Altai,

Total from Government mines,

Private mines,

Puds.* Lbs. Sol. Doli.

‘ 34 38 38 60

: 40 4 30 ee

10 3 16 oot

49 22 63 ine

72 19 44 32

. 37 23 40 ase
244 31 9 92

1122 39 18 5

Total, 1367 30 58 1

The quantity of silver containing gold amounted to 1073 puds, 32 Ibs. 85
sol. 25 doli, all, with the exception of 17 sols., from Government works,

Of platinum the Government mines yielded only 3 Ibs. 30 sol.

The private mines gave 16 puds 19 lbs. 37 sol.

* 1 pud = 40 Russian pounds ; 1 lb. = 96 solotnik ; 1 solotnik — 96 doli.

Meteorology. 219
Of the other metals there were produced :—

Puds. Lbs.
Copper, ; : : 410,572 19
Lead, : ; : 40,315 13
Cast-iron, j - 13,159,759 37
Steel, ; ‘ ¢ 78,876 18
Wrought-iron, . . 10,292,692 36

Other metallic products, 2,400,847 13
The production of gold appears to have gradually increased, up to the
year 1847, when it reached its maximum, since which time a steady dimi-
nution has occurred. The amount obtained from 1823 up to 1848 is given
in the following table :-—

Puds. Lbs. Sol. Dol. Puds. Lbs. Sol. Dol.
1823, 105 6 48 24 | 1836, 398 te 93 90
1824, 204 20 74 Se Ba 442 20 43 ak
1825, 232 18 2 vos | £858, 493 13 35 24
1826, 231 6 18 ,2¢ | 18389, 492 39 43 42
1827, 281 30 74 wos | 1840; 533 39 87 84

1828, 290 32 11 60 | 1841, 655 12 28 18
1829, 288 8 77 72 | 1842, 908 13 18 72
1830, 352 32 54 72 | 1843, 1241 26 54 26
1831, 364 27 60 87 | 1844, 1276 24 33 83
1832, 384 24 4 45 | 1845, 1304 14 58 90
1833, 378 22 69 72 | 1846, 1628 28 12 74
1834, 375 ane 18 84 | 1847, 1741 7 91 76
1835, 385 26 5 24 | 1848, 1726 35 24 48

' METEOROLOGY.

Abstract of the Meteorological Register for 1854, kept at Arbroath, by
ALEXANDER Brown, Hon. Mem. of the Lit. and Phil. Soc. St Andrews ;
and Observer for the British Meteorological Society, London.

Latitude, 56° 34’ N. Longitude, 2° 35° W. Distance from the Sea, gths of a mile.
_ Height of the Barometer above the Sea, 50 feet; height of the Thermometer from the
ground, 11 feet, and of the Rain-gauge, 3 feet.
The number of “ Rainy Days” includes those days on which snow or hail fell.

|

THERMOMETER. 3 | BAROMETER.
ngs - Corrected for
me 54), Rain Capillacity, ts.
73 | Mean|Mean Spring | = Reded. to 32°.
& P.M. Mean Max.} Min. Mean Water ae tached ;
4 8} a.M.| 10 P.M.
Bab

Jan...... 31 | 35-2| 3h6| 46-1| 28-1! 346) 475 || 18 || 2:571|) 2957 | 29°57
Feb......| 35:7 | 37°9| 368| 43:1] 31-4| 37:3) 47° || 16 | 0851) 29:94 | 294
March...| 42:1| 428| 42:4| 509) 35:4| 431 465 | 7 | 0833| 30.3] 3013
April... 45°7| 442) 45° | 536) 36°5| 45° | 46:5 || 6 | 0-215|| 3012 | 3010
AY ...| 50°9| 49:6 | 50-2| 59°6| 39-6| 496) 47° 5 | 2849) 2968 | 2969
June.....| 566 | 563| 565) 628! 45°6| 54:2! 48:5 | 2722) 2981 | 2981
July.....| 59°! 59°3| 59°4| 68:1) 49°3| 58°7| 49: 1559 || 2988 | 29-88
Aug......, 58°9| 68'1| 585| 67-4) 48:5| 58° | 505 | ... |) 1463|] 2990 | 29-90
Sept......| 547 | 54:1| 544! 647| 46:3] 55:5) 51: || .. | 1:052|| 2998] 2997
Oct. .....| 439| 441] 44 | 621| 377| 449! 496 || 7 || 1-986)! 29°71 | 2971
Nov......| 88°0| 391] 385) 442| 337| 38-9] 49 || 15 3:379 || 29-78 | 29-75
Dec...... 356 | 36° | 858) 427) 307) 367) 475 |) 21 | 1338)) 29-55 29-56

sum} sum
Mean ...| 46:3| 46:4| 46:3) 54:1) 986| 46:3] 48:3 || 95 | 20818! 2983 | 2983
Do. 1853) 45°4| 449 452) 628) 885] 456! 47-7 || 101 || 27-602)| 2982] 2983

220 Scientific Intelligence.

HYGROMETER. WINDS, AT 8} A.M.
Degree of ||. 43/5
1854. | Mean | Humidity, |'3 ae Pl Lj |e beg | 1B las I E i
Dew | (complete |~Aiealizie (ai Biai= A
Point.* | Saturation a me a | Alo
1-000,

‘| Jan...... 303 | 082 || 18 | 13 1}/5/5/8/6/|5)\4/2\81
Feb.. 31°4 824 20] 8} 1 1 10 j11 | 6 |} 28]
March 38:5 866 19 | 12}}2);1/)}2 3| 7 11 | 2138 }381)
April....| 37:3 766 27} 3/3/13); 4);4)/3)1)7)5 30}

ay 439 814 16 | 15 6;1|\,7)4/3/6) 38) 1/381
June. 50: 837 13 | 17 || 3} 3}2/|8;1)|3)]4)67)1 480
July..... 53:8 *838 18} 13]}1/4)1 | 7|6/5)}1)4) 2481
Aug 52:4 833 22; 9/'3!13/)1)4)4/6)612) 8/81
Sept 50-2 "856 18 | 12 1/1/7;6(11)4 30
Oct...... 39°6 858 16 | 15 || 3 | 212)3)9)9) Bir
Nov 33: 841 15 | 15 |} 1;2;3);2 3| 712 30
Dee...... 299 819 17 | 14 8 13 | 8 | 2 |3i

|; sum |
Mean...) 408 0836 | 219/146 || 17 23 20 40/34' 51 89/69) 22

| Do. 1853 213 | 152) 41 35,30 52/42 40/51/52 22

Barometer at 84 A.M. was highest on 4th March, 30°83. Wind, W.

We iuaeebiectakedeas vanced was lowest on 29th Nov., 28°54. Wind, W.

Barometer at 10 P.M. was highest on 4th March, 30:73. Wind, W.

Puiacbuscobacs haces tees sees was lowest on Ist May, 28°82. Wind, W.

Thermometer at 84 A.M. was highest on 23d & 25th June, 69°. Wind, W.

aidan conde oakvaseec cabuaebens was lowest on 3d Jan., 18°. Wind, N.W.

Thermometer at 7} P.M. was highest on 22d July and 27th August, 68°.
Wind, 8.E. & 8.W.

a NES OR BD G of aA A was lowest on 3d Jan., 20°. Wind, N.W.

Therm. in night, highest 22d July, 57°; lowest 2d and 4th Jan., 17°.

Therm. in day, highest 27th Aug., 78°; lowest 2d Jan., 29°.

Coldest day, 2d Jan., when average of Ther. was 23° for day and night.

Hottest day, 27th Aug., when aver. of Ther. was 67 for day and night.

Coldest month of the year, January; hottest, July.

Wettest month of the year, November; driest, April.

Mean temperature of the year 463 degrees.

Mean temperature of eleven years, 45°625 degrees,

For eight years the average daily temperature at 8} a.M., at 73 P.M., and the
mean of the daily extremes, are as follow, viz. :—

84 A.M. 72 P.M. Mean of Extremes,

WOR dou cis tx hake BB ssi sy os sashes 447. eee 45:9
DMs croncacrnien yD ies ate GO8 ccuckssectaeen 45°

jbo SS ERS RE Eo ig RSP ae 44-4 44-7
DOGO aikessduceess BD ii cdiciccisteus 468 eae 455
AGL iiustuomoccs 7 tee Ge SEY Me He OOM eee 46:3
cs RS 1 Rp yt EME AER, AGP a5. icc teceson 462
WEG scacdeccectipes BNNs eca castes vues GBF Sc cccsacncnone . 456
DS iepiiccescacntes MS av deccass ha ey eee eee 46:3

The average temperature of the six months of chief vegetation—viz., those
from April to Sept., inclusive—for seven years, is as follows :—

IBEB ice divest O87) ASBR cas 52: 1853......... w+ 534
ress Pe sdeininee OO? | TRBR ssvinatas 53° 1BG4, sasvcce sis . 535
1 | SORE

* The dew-point thus found is obtained from observations of the Wet and Dry Bulb
Thermometers, and deduced by Mr Gilaisher’s Hygrometrical Tables. ‘The observa-
tions of the Wet and Dry Bulb Thermometers are made daily at 8} a.m. The times
of observation of the instruments, stated in the Table are Greenwich mean time.

Earthquakes. 221

MISCELLANEOUS.

Great Earthquake in Turkey.—(From a letter in the Times of Ist
March, from Constantinople.)—Yesterday Constantinople was shaken
by an earthquake which, had it lasted long, might have been reckoned
among the calamities of the human race. At five minutes past three in
the oon the shock was felt, and it lasted, as nearly as can be com-
puted, about half a minute. The motion was a sharp, rapid, trembling,
which caused every pane of glass and every tile on the housetop to rattle ;
but the violence of the movement was far beyond that which is generally
felt in the earthquakes of the coast of Asia Minor. Between three and
five o’clock no less than six shocks were counted; two took place be-
tween seven and eight o’clock in the evening, and the last that I felt was
at a few minutes before midnight. The motion was chiefly felt in the
upper rooms of houses, where glasses were thrown off the tables, and
persons who were standing were obliged to sit down or to cling for sup-
port to some fixed object. The buildings which have been injured are
not a few. The British Embassy is one of the most solid edifices in the
country ; but a stack of its massive chimneys was thrown down, and the
large square stones of which the walls are constructed are said to have
been displaced in certain parts. Every bell in the palace rang violently,
and even in one or two churches the still larger masses of metal resound-
ed dismally. A number of minarets in Stamboul and Pera have been
thrown down—whether with any loss of life I have not learnt. After
the shock was over there was much commotion in the place. Business
was to a great degree suspended, and husbands and brothers hastened
home to see if the female part of their families had received any injury
from the convulsion or the terror it caused. (From another letter dated
8th March.)—The accounts from Broussa are terrible. Such a long con-
tinued convulsion of nature has hardly been heard of in the history of the
world. The earthquake had lasted five days, and shocks were of constant
occurrence when the last news left. The great shock of the 28th Febru-
ary had destroyed 3 to of the town, and killed or maimed nearly 300 of
the inhabitants. though the shocks were only felt at Constantinople
during two days, they lasted at Broussa during four succeeding days, not
without causing serious damage to the already shaken houses. The com-
mencement of the convulsion was preceded by torrents of rain, which
lasted more than 24 hours, accompanied by high wind and occasional
thunder. At three o’clock the sky became suddenly overcast—a strong
smell of sulphur was perceived, and the first shock took place, which, in
less than a minute, overthrew mosques, houses, and bazaars, in one vast
ruin. Nearly 80 mosques have been so much injured that their speedy
fall is expected, while not one in the whole city has escaped some damage.
The khans or large buildings, which served either as inns or places for
transacting business, are mostly injured, and five of them were completely
destroyed, crushing scores of their unfortunate inmates, The bazaars,
with their heavy arches, are flat on the ground. The ancient mosque of
Dayoullon-Monastir, a Greek ecclesiastical edifice, said to be 1200 years
old, is unhappily destroyed. Another mosque, the Oulon-Djarmi, a fine
building 600 years old, is also a mass of ruins, It was the chief ornament
of the city, and the most splendid religious edifice in the days when
Broussa was the capital of the young and growing Ottoman Empire.
Great destruction has fallen on the silk factories, of which scarcely one
has eseaped without damage, while the number of women who have lost
their lives by the fall has been very large. Large masses of rock were
detached from their beds, and came crashing down the sides of Olympus
into the neighbourhood of the town. In one place several houses were
erushed by one of these avalanches, The old wall and fort were shaken

222 Scientific Intelligence.

to the ground, and in their fall buried ten or twelve houses and the fae-
tory of Hadji Anastasi, a respectable Greek manufacturer, who also lost
his life, As the shocks continued during the night the whole population
at once quitted the town, and it is now encamped in the neighbourhood—
the well-off in tents, the poor under the open heaven, preferring to bear
the chill nights of March than to live in hourly dread of destruction within
the circuit of their ill-fated city. The shocks which have since taken
place have thrown down many buildings which were previously injured,
but there is no reason to believe that any fresh edifices have been de-
stroyed. The ravages of the earthquake have not extended over any very
great tract of country. There is no news that Kutahia or Angora have
suffered.

Another Earthquake at Broussa.—The Morning Chronicle’s corre-
spondent, dating ‘“‘ Broussa, April 11,” writes :—<‘ Yesterday evening,
shortly before eight o’clock, two or three violent shocks of uake were
felt here, and caused universal terror among the inhabitants. Every one
called to mind the fearful seenes which had occurred hardly a month since,
and was struck with the apprehension of the coming calamity, unhappily
only too fully realized. In five minutes from that time every public
monument and building in Broussa was a heap of ruins. The city is
destroyed—fire having devoured what relics the earthquake had left.
Among other noble monuments that have perished is the magnificent
mosque of Oulou-Djami, the pride of the city. Two minarets of this edi-
fice were overthrown in the former earthquake, and the cupola cracked. It
is now wrecked from top to bottom, leaving nothing but a pile of crumbled
stones, amidst which the celebrated turbés of the first Sultan are buried.
All the other mosques have experienced a like fate. No stone-built house
in Broussa has resisted the terrible shocks. Enormous masses of earth -
and rock were detached from the flanks of the mountain, above the upper
streets of the place, and rolled down upon the Jews’ quarter, whose de-
struction they completed. As to the wooden houses, which escaped with
less damage from the earthquake, they have been destroyed almost totally
by a conflagration. The flames broke forth at many points simultane-
ously, about nine o’clock. The scene is awful. The Bazaar, and the
whole quarter of the city around it, present nothing but heaps of smonlder-
ing ashes. The European quarter has suffered least. ‘The population
seem paralysed with terror, and are plunged into a state of indescribable
stupor. The number of victims it is impossible to reckon. News has
arrived that the village of Tikindji, situated about a league from Broussa,
has been totally destroyed. Several hamlets and farm-houses in the vici-
nity are also reported to have been wrecked by the convulsion.” On the
same day shocks were felt at Constantinople, but without any serious in-
jury to the buildings. The destruction of Broussa has reduced 70,000
people to a state of deep distress.

Professor Reinwardt’s Library.—The sale of Professor Reinwardt’s
library took place by auction in Leyden a few months since. As a gene-
ral library it was not very valuable; it was almost entirely scientific,
rich in botanical works, and one some upon zoology of a local cha-
racter not easily procured. It realized a sum of about 20,000 guilders.
The prices given for the books were very unequal.

The following is a short note of the principal incidents in the career of
Professor Reinwardt :—

Professor Reinwardt was born at Leitringhausen, in Germany, 3d
June 1773. His eldest brother was established as an apothecary in Am-
sterdam, and, having lost his father early, he came himself to Amster-
dam and studied chemistry and botany in the Atheneum of that city.
He was also employed in the business of his brother.

Miscellaneous. 223

In 1801 he obtained a professorship at the university of Hardenvyk.
In 1808 or 1809 King Louis Napoleon placed him in the direction of the
ie or zoological garden at Haarlem, which was not long sup-
, and in 1810 he obtained the chair of natural history and chemis-
try in Amsterdam. In 1815 he was appointed to superintend a govern-
ment measure in the East Indies for regulating agriculture, public edu-
cation, &c., &c. He there made large collections in every department of
natural history, and returned in 1822 to the Netherlands, when he was
named professor of botany, natural history and chemistry at Leyden.
Reinwardt published no great work, but there are numerous papers and
‘reports on various subjects in the transactions of the Dutch and other
_ scientific societies. He was a good classical scholar, besides possessing
an acquaintance with several modern languages. His botanical know-
ledge was extensive. He was well versed in chemistry, and was a good
mineralogist. He died March 6, 1854.

George Louis Duvernoy.—On the Ist of March this year died at Paris
George Louis Duvernoy, member of the Institute, knight of the Legion
of Honour, professor of comparative anatomy in the Museum of Natural
History, and also in the College of France. He was born on the 6th of
August 1777, and thus attained the age of more than seventy-seven.
Montbeliard (Department de Doubs) was his birth-place, as well as that
of his famous teacher and friend George Cuvier, to whom he was related.
In 1801 he obtained the degree of doctor in medicine. He made himself’
early known (1805) by the publication of the three last parts of the Le-
cons d’Anatomie Comparée, of which Cuvier himself confessed that not
only the whole arrangement, but even the contents, were principally the

work of Duvernoy. Like Cuvier, Duvernoy belonged also to those
French literati, at that time more rare than now, who were acquainted
with the German language, and the works published in it. In a more
special and practical knowledge of human anatomy he was superior to
Cuvier, before whom, however, in originality and universal knowledge
he must succumb. He aiterwards settled as a physician in Montbe-
liard, where he lost a beloved wife, just at the time when he was
promoted to the degree of doctor in medicine. His residence in that
city became almost intolerable, and he took the opportunity of removing
to Strasburg, where he had been invited as assistant to Professor Ham-
mer in teaching the natural history of the animal kingdom (1827). By
the death of Cuvier (1852) he saw himself disappointed in his expectation
of assisting him in the teaching of comparative anatomy. A few years
after, however, he was appointed professor of comparative physiology in
Paris to the College of France. In 1850, when above seventy years of

e, he succeeded De Blainville, who had been nominated, in 1832, in
place of Cuvier, to the chair of comparative anatomy at the Museum of
of Natural History.

Duvernoy’s greatest activity was between the years 1830 and 1803,
and it is the more remarkable that, at the advanced period of life to
which he attained, his scientific zeal appeared steadily to increase.
Without having to thank Duvernoy for great discoveries, he deserves,
on account of manifold researches into the anatomy of all classes of ani-
mals, to be reckoned among the most deserving savans of our time.
We shall content ourselves by simply naming some of his published
works. ‘To these, in the first place, belong five parts of the new edition
of the Legons d’Anatomie Comparée from 1835-1846, in which all the
organs of animal life are treated of, and of which more than the half
has been added as wholly new to the earlier edition of 1805. There
was a smaller work, the Atlas of Reptiles (finished 1842), for the splen-

224 ; Scientific Intelligence.

- did edition of the Regné Animalof Cuvier. To the Dictionnaire Univer-
selle d’Histoire Naturelle, edited by D’Orbigny, he gave various contri-
butions, and among them an ample article on ovology.

During his residence at Strasburg he contributed various papers on
zoology and comparative anatomy to the Memoires de la Société d’ His-
-toire Naturelle of that city, of which he was one of the most active mem-
bers, among others, on the Macroscelis of Algiers (1832). In the Annales
des Sciences Naturelles we find many contributions from his hands, espe-
cially on the Anatomical Signs of Poisonous and Harmless Snakes (tom.
xxvi.) ; on the Organization of Snakes in general (tom. xxx.) ; on the Pe-
culiarities of the Vascular System in Chimera artica ; also on the Liver
of the Mammalia. In the Archives du Muséum we lately saw (1853) a
copious treatise from his pen, adorned with many figures, on the Fossil
Species of Rhinoceros.

Finally, the Mémoires de l’Académie des Sciences contain Investiga-
tions on the Shrew Mouse, with figures of the microscopic tissue of the
teeth ; contributions to the Anatomy of the Echinodermata (tom. xx.,
1848), and an extended treatise, elucidated with numerous figures, on the
very ‘cpa Nervous System of the Mollusca acephala (tom. xxiv.,
1853). x:

The simple mention of these works shows sufficiently that Cuvier found
an active successor in Duvernoy. Besides comparative osteology, he has
elucidated almost all parts of the science with useful and important re-
marks. In all his scientific works Duvernoy showed a noble modesty,
an estimable and amiable character, a devout and finely sensible tone of
mind, and a friendliness which no one can easily forget who had the pri-
vilege of his personal acquaintance.

At his own request, his earthly remains were carried to Montbeliard, to
rest in peace near those of so many whom he had held dear.—Sit illi terra
levis !—‘‘ Allgemeine Konst-en Letterbode,’’ No. 13, 1855).

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

L’ Institut, from 4th April to 30th May 1855.

Faraday’s Experimental Researches in Electricity. Vol. IIL.

Practical Meteorology. By John Drew, Ph.D.

Bibliothéque Universelle de Genéve. January to December 1854 and
January 1855.

Revue des Cours Publics de Paris. Nos. 2, 3. 4. :

Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Nos. CCOXLY. and CCXLVI.

The Quarterly Journal of the Chemical Society. Vol. VIII. No. 1.

Wathen, G. H., The Golden Colony, or Victoria in 1854.

Miscellaneous Works of the late Thomas Young, M.D., F.R.S. 1855.
Vol. I. and II., including his Scientific Memoirs. Edited by George Pea-
cock, D.D., Dean of Ely.

Vol. III., Hieroglyphical Essays and Correspondence. Edited by John
Leitch.

Life of Dr Thomas Young. By George Peacock, D.D., Dean of Ely.

Lyell’s Manual of Elementary Geology. 1855.

Hooker’s Journal of Botany and Kew Garden Miscellany. April, May,
and June 1855,

Annales des Sciences Naturelles. 4™° Serie. Tom. III. No.1. —

Leonhard und Broun Neues Jahrbuch fur Mineralogie, Geognosie, Geo-
logie und Petrefaktenkunde, Jahrgang 1855. Erstes und Zweites Heft.

The Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia. July, Au-
gust, and September 1854. From the Editor.

PLATE 1.
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CONTENTS.

1. On the Geology of the Dingle Promontory. By Roxert
- Harxness, F.R.S.E., F.G.S., Professor of Geology,
Queen’s College, Cork. (Plates IV., V.),

2. Description of a Malformed Trout, with Preliminary Re-
marks, By T. Spencer Coszoxip, M.D., Assistant
Conservator of the Anatomical Museum, University of
Edinburgh. (Plate VI.),

3. Appendix to Paper on the Influence of the Lower Or-
ganisms in the production of Epidemic Diseases. By
Dr Davupeny, . 2 ‘ ; :

4. On the Cleavage of the Devonians of the South-West of
Ireland. By Rozsert Harkness, Professor of Geo-
Loay, and Joun Brytu, M.D., Professor of Chemistry,
Queen’s College, Cork,

5. Description of a New Species of Trematode Worm (Fas-
ciola gigantica). By T. Spencer Coxszorp, M.D.,
&e, (Plate VII.), :

6. Astronomical Contradictions and Geological Inferences
respecting a Plurality of Worlds,

7. On some new Compounds of Furfurine. By Mr Rosert
Davipson, ‘ ° ° :

PAGE

225

238

"243

245

262

267

284

il CONTENTS.

PAGE
8. On a new Glucoside existing in the Petals of the Wall-

flower. By Mr Joun Gatuezrty, Assistant to Dr T.
Anderson, ‘ : : ; 4 294

9. Miscellaneous observations on some Tropical Plants.
By Joun Davy, M.D., F.B.S., &., é i 298

10. On the Composition of Two Mineral Substances employed
as Pigments. By Tuomas H. Rowney, Ph.D., .« 306

11. Sketch of the Operations executed in the Drainage of
the Lake of Haarlem, with its actual state at the
present time. By M. Grvers D’Enpzcezst, Presi-
dent of the Commission for the Drainage of the Lake
Haarlem, &c., &c., ; ; s ‘ 309

12. On some of the Basic Constituents of Coal Naphtha.
By C. Grevitte Wittiams, Assistant to Dr Ander-
son, Glasgow University, ; ‘ ~ 324

13, Biographical Sketch of the late Guorcz Jounston of
Berwick, : ; ‘ P 2 332

14, A Brief Review of the Present State of Organic Electri-
city. By Joun Goopsir, F.R.S., Professor of Ana-

tomy in the University of Edinburgh, . ’ 308
15, Supplemental Observations on Electric Fishes. By
Anprew Murray, ‘ ; ; . 379
REVIEWS :—

1. Acadian Geology: an Account of the Geological Struc-
ture and Mineral Resources of Nova Scotia, and por-
tions of the neighbouring Provinces of British America.

By Wim Dawson, F.G.S., &., ; 2 380

CONTENTS. ii

PAGE
2, Old Stones: Notes of Lectures on the Plutonic, Silurian,

and Devonian Rocks in the Neighbourhood of Mal-
vern. By W.S. Symonps, F.G.S., &., : 380

3. Contributions to the Natural History of Labuan and the
adjacent Coasts of Borneo. By James Mortey of
Labuan, and Lewis Lurwettyn Ditiwyn, F.LS., &c. 395

PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES :—

British Association for the Advancement of Science, . 396
Botanical Society of Edinburgh, : : ; 399

SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE :—

ZOOLOGY.

1. Tetragonops ramphastinus. 2. Habits of American
Jaguar, : , : : ; 404

GEOLOGY.

8. New Phyllopod Crustacean. 4. Discovery of Gems and
Fossils in the Haute Loire, : } ‘ 404

CHEMISTRY.

5, Researches on Silicon and Titanium. 6, Manufacture
of Cinnabar at Idria, 7. Artificial Preparation of
Essential Oil of Mustard, 4 ; 405-406

iv CONTENTS.

PAGE.

BOTANY.

8. Alge in Van Diemen’s Land. 9. British Weeds in
Van Diemen’s Land. 9. Magnolia seed-coat. 11.
Caoutchouc in South America. 12. Piassaba fibre.

13. Sarsaparilla. 14. Viola calaminaria, 406-409

MINERALOGY.

15, Analysis of Phosphorite from the Siebengebirge. 16.
Selenium in Pseudomalachite from Reinbreitbach.
17, On the occurrence of Feldspar containing Li-
thins > CR ee ’ i 409-410

METEOROLOGY,

18. Adstract from Report Smithsonian Institution, . 410

MISCELLANEOUS.
19. Navigation of the Amazon, : , : 410

INDEX, : : : ' : ‘ 411

ERRATA IN No. 3.

Page 4, line 23, for they read those
— 8, line 30, for on read one
— 13, line 14, for or read and

THE

EDINBURGH NEW

PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL.

On the Geology of the Dingle Promontory. By RoBERt
| Harkness, F.R.S.E., F.G.S., Professor of Geology, Queen’s
College, Cork. (Plates IV., V.)

The district of country which forms the north-west side of
Dingle Bay contains within it the most westerly land in Ire-
land, and that portion which lies west of Ventry presents to
the Atlantic several bold headlands; and along the faces of
these we have a fine exposure of the rocks which constitute
the solid framework of this part of Ireland.

The stratified deposits which make their appearance in this
district, for the most part consist of gray grits, which have a
prevailing inclination towards the south, and this southern dip
becomes very apparent and very persistent as we approach
Slea Head, the promontory which marks the northern entrance
into Dingle Bay.

_ Commencing ata small brook about a mile east from this

headland, we have gray grits and conglomerates, which dip
south at an angle of 50°, and on the face of some of the grit-
beds there are distinct traces of ripple-markings. Beds of the
same nature prevail westward to Slea Head, and the same in-
clination seems to obtain, but the rocks are much fissured and
present numerous traces of false bedding ; the lines of pebbles
in the conglomerate, however, afford sufficient evidence that
the prevailing dip is south at the same angle. The pebbles

NEW SERIES.—VOL, I. NO, 1.—oor. 1855. P

226 Professor Harkness on the

which enter into the composition of the conglomerates along
the cliffs here consist of rounded fragments of quartz, which
are very abundant; also portions of gray and purple sand-
stone, and slates, which, like the quartz fragments, have been
subjected to the rounding agency. On rounding Slea Head,
beds of gray shale occur interstratifying the sandstone and
conglomerates, and these also afford a dip of 50° 8. On
going northward from Slea Head to Coumeenoole the conglo-
merates become fewer, and the shales more abundant, and in a
small cove to the north-west of the village, indurated gray
shales are seen abundantly intercalating the sandstones, and
here also the inclination is towards the south at 50°. Quartz
veins are very common at this spot intersecting the strata at
about right angles to its dip. Westward from this small
cove, the same shales and sandstones are seen, the former
becoming more abundant and assuming a darker colour, which
soon becomes purple; and these purple shales having a dis-
tinct cleavage present themselves in the form of purple slates
with greenish-gray beds running through them, and as such
they form Dunmore Head, the most westerly point in Ireland.

These purple slates have the same angle of dip and direc-
tion as the sandstones on the south of them, and they consti-
tute the coast until we reach near to Dunquin. But imme-
diately south of this locality they are changed in their colour,
having a drab-shade, and in the small coves, where sea-weed
is obtained, we have precisely the same arrangement as to
dip and direction as occurs to the south: At Dunquin Cove
these drab shales are seen lying on purple slates, which latter
seem to be of small thickness, and the strata here have the
south dip, but the beds have a curved form.

North of the Dunquin Cove we have a series of strata com-
ing in from underneath the beds lying south, which are very
interesting from the great quantities of fossils contained in
them, and also from the characters of these fossils. They
consist of Corals, Brachiopods, Lamellibranchiata, Gasteropods,
Cephalopods, and Crustaceans of decided Silurian types. The
deposits in which they occur consist of yellow soft slates, which
seem to have been affected by atmospheric action, and green
slates ; both these forms of deposits being full of fossils. The

Geology of the Dingle Promontory. 227

area occupied by these beds is but small, and on the north they
are rapidly succeeded by purple slates similar to such as oc-
cur south of Dunquin. ‘They have, however, the south dip
and the curved aspect of the strata which are found imme-
diately south of Dunquin Cove. The purple slates which suc-
ceed them on the north have also the southern dip; and as we
approach Clogher Head purple grits and sandstones prevail ;
and these, at the last-named locality, are intersected by por-
phyry,—a circumstance which was noticed by Mr Jukes, who
had a run over these headlands some years ago. These pur-
ple grits and sandstones have the prevailing dip, viz., south ;
and on the north side of Clogher Head purple slates are again
seen haying the usual inclination, and they are succeeded on
the north at the small cove near the village of Clogher by
greenish shales which have a dip south at an angle of 45°.

The surfaces of these greenish shales are in some instances
covered with branching corals in an imperfect state, which
appear to be the Heliolites inordinata, (Londs.). Following the
coast from the village of Clogher, ina north-east direction, we
have strata of a similar character exposed, and affording the
same dips. When we reach Ferriter’s Cove the green slates
also make their appearance, and here likewise we have the
prevailing south inclination. At Ferriter’s Cove the green
slates abound in fossils to a greater extent than even the beds
at Dunquin ; they, however, contain the same organic remains,
and as the slate is less liable to be acted upon by the weather
the fossils are more perfect. Not only the fossils but also the
mineral nature of the beds show an intimate connection between
the strata exposed immediately north of Dunquin, and those
between Clogher Village and Territer’s Cove, and here also, as
at the former locality, we have evidence of a curving in the
deposits.

At that portion of Ferriter’s Cove which lies nearest to the
village of Ballyoughteragh we have the green slates dipping
south 55°, and from this spot the strata are well exposed along
the cliffs to Doon Point, having the same inclination. At Doon
Point a dike of porphyry cuts through the strata in the direc-
tion of their strike, and this is well seen in consequence of its
hardness rendering it less liable to be affected by the destruc-

pr 2

228 Professor Harkness on the

tive action of the breakers than the slate rocks with which it
is associated, and this porphyry forms the extreme limits of
Doon Point. On the north side of Doon Point we lose sight
of the green slates which are seen on the southern side of this
headland so full of fossils ; the deposits on the north side con-
sisting of reddish sandy beds, having the same south dip at
55°. These reddish sandy strata are thin-bedded, and form
the south side of the cove immediately north of Doon Point.
The north side of this cove consists, for the most part, of gray
porphyry, having crystals of white felspar about half-an-inch
in length embedded in it. On rounding this porphyritic point
we come to a cove called the Slate Cove, a name which well
expresses the nature of the rocks which here occur. The
strata at Slate Cove are composed of purple and gray slate
dipping 55° south, and corresponding in their aspect to the
slaty beds which are seen in the headlands south, namely,
north side of Clogher Head and at Dunmore Head. Passing
on northwards, in the direction of Sybil Head, we have these
purple and gray slates succeeded by beds of a more arena-
ceous character, which are thin-bedded and have a very distinct
slaty cleavage. These also afford the same south dip. The
direction of the inclination and the cleaved structure of these
thin-bedded reddish-purple sandstones is well seen in a rock
which forms an abrupt island on the south side of Sybil Head,
which is known under the name of Feough. These purplish-
red sandstones, as we proceed north to Sybil Head, become less
prominent, and at this last locality we have a strong conglo-
merate coming in, and forming the rugged points of this pre-
cipitous headland. This conglomerate is composed of rounded
fragments of quartz, syenite, porphyry, and schistoze rocks, and
its inclination and direction is indistinct, except where beds
having more of the character of a sandstone occur, and then
the same south dip.is visible. Sybil Head presents a bold
precipitous wall to the north, from the top of which, in some
spots, a stone would fall without meeting with any impediment
until it reached the Atlantic, and at first sight this perpendi-
cular wall would be taken for the dip. It results, however,
from. cleavage, which has here cut the conglomerates and
sandstones into perpendicular masses; the direction of the

Geology of the Dingle Promontory. 229

cleavage being that which usually prevails in the south-west

of Ireland, viz.,in an east and west course; and in conse-
quence of the Atlantic cutting away the rocks here in the di-
rection of the cleavage, we have a headland with a perpendi-
cular wall on its north side exceeding 500 feet in height.

Going along the headlands in a north-easterly direction
we have these conglomerates and sandstones exceedingly well
developed. They form the three picturesque headlands known
under the name of the Three Sisters; and these, like the
Sybil’s Head, present the same bold front on their north sides
to the Atlantic.

At the north-west side of Smerwick Harbour we again meet
with the same beds which are exposed immediately south of
the Sybil’s Head; these consisting of thin-bedded purplish-
red sandstone, which towards the south pass into purple slates,
such as are seen at the Slate Cove near Ballyoughteragh. Here,
too, we have the same south dip, at about the same angle; and
at Port-Lore the porphyry makes its appearance under precisely
similar conditions as when it manifests itself at Doon Point
on the west. At Boat Cove, a short distance south from Port-
Lore, we have greenish-yellow slates coming in, affording the
same dip and direction ; and here, as at the north side of Fer-
riter’s Cove, they present the curved appearance and agree
very nearly with the beds at the latter locality in all their
conditions.

South from Boat Cove we have but a small expanse of strata,
the coast becoming low and sandy; but in the small interval
which occurs between the Boat Cove and the sand shore we
find the same greenish-yellow slates, having the same arrange-
ment as regards direction and inclination ; and on the faces of
these we also meet with the coral which is so abundant near
the village of Clogher, and which bears great affinity to the
Heliolites inordinata, (Londs.).

The sandy nature of the coast between this and the Black
Point precludes any observations being made on the solid
strata occurring in this interval; and the country between this
and Ferriter’s Cove being flat and boggy, also prevents any of
the rocks occupying this area being seen; but it is probable
that the green slates occupy about the whole of this area to

230 Professor Harkness on the

near Black Point. At Black Point we have purple grits
coming in, showing the same arrangement in inclination and
direction ; and these, along with conglomerates, continue to
form the coast round the Mark Point to the village of Ballin-
rannig. The conglomerates are well seen a short distance
inland W. of the village of Ballinrannig at a place called
Carrigaloughran ; and here too they preserve the uniformity
of inclination and direction which runs through the whole of
the stratified deposits already alluded to. From Carrigalough-
ran the strike of these conglomerates is westwards ; and with
the sandstones, with which they are associated, they appear
to form the mountains which range in the direction of Clog-
her Head.

With regard to the strata which make their appearance on
the east side of Smerwick harbour, it would seem, judging
from the contour of the coast, that from Ballynagall north-
wards purple slates and conglomerates, such as are seen in the
north-west side of Smerwick Harbour, occur, and that about
Murrough the same greenish slates as appear at Ferriter’s Cove
and the Boat Cove form the solid strata. Not having had an
opportunity of examining this portion of Smerwick Harbour,
I can, however, speak only as to the probable nature of the
deposits which here make their appearance.

Having given a description of the deposits which occur on
this coast, and also the mode in which they present themselves,
we are led to inquire, what is the relation which they bear to
each other, and to what series among sedimentary rocks are
they referable ?

The only observations which I can find concerning the
strata which constitute the geology of this district are in Sir
Roderick Murchison’s Siluria, pp. 167 and 168, where it is
stated, that ‘ in the district of Dingle, or the western part
of Kerry, which I have personally examined, a vast number
of fossils (trilobites, mollusks, and corals), have been of late
years found, which I have recently inspected, either in the
cabinets of Mr Griffiths, or those of the Government surveyors.

** Some of these fossils, particularly from the eastern parts
of this promontory, may belong to the same Lower Silurian ~
type which prevails through Wicklow, Kildare, Wexford, and

Geology of the Dingle Promontory. 231

Waterford. Others, however, including most of the species
found in Ferriter’s Cove and at Dunquin, are as certainly Upper
Silurian fossils, which are well known in England and Wales.

“ Among the commonest of these may be mentioned,—
Euomphalus funatus, Cardiola interrupta, Murchisonia
Lloydii, Pterinea (Avicula) retroflexa, Orthis lunata, O. ele-
gantula, Rhynchonella (Terebratula) Wilsoni, R. navicula
phacops (Asaphus) caudatus, Encrinurus punctatus, and a
multitude of common Upper Silurian corals.

“ It is, therefore, to be hoped that the exact order of that
promontory between Dingle and Tralee Bays may soon be un-
ravelled.”

Mr Griffith, in his map, lays down the district as Silurian ;
and as this was done previous to the publication of Siluria,
he must have long recognised this promontory as appertaining
to the Silurians.

That this is the case, so far as the Coves of Dunquin and
Ferriter are concerned, there is no reason to doubt, since the
fossil evidence is conclusive on the point. The question, there-
fore, which remains to be determined is, what relation do the
Silurians of Dunquin and Ferriter bear to each other, and what
connection have they with the strata of purple slates, grits, and
conglomerates, with which they are associated ?

Looking at the contour of the coast of the most westerly
portion of Ireland, as this occurs between Dingle and Tralee
Bays, we find three prominent headlands,—Slea Head, with its
westerly continuation, Dunmore Head being on the south;
Clogher Head near the centre, and Sybil Head on the north.
Between these headlands we have two well-marked bays, or
rather coves, viz., Dunquin and Ferriter, the headlands and the
coves being formed of different mineral substances. The for-
mer consist of hard conglomerates, grits, and slates; and the
latter of slates of a softer nature which have yielded more
readily to the power of the Atlantic, and consequently present
us with indentations in the form of small bays.

We have, therefore, three distinct occurrences of grits, con-
glomerates, and hard purple slates, separated from each other
by two areas of soft green slates, of undoubted Silurian age.

The conglomerates, grits, and hard purple slates, whether

232 Professor Harkness on the

they occur on the south, in the centre, or on the north side of
the district, have the same lithological nature, and the same
arrangement as regards dip and direction ; and the like re-
mark applies to the two areas occupied by the Silurians. In
these two latter areas we have evidence which does not present
itself among the conglomerates, grits, and slates, namely, in-
dications in the form of curved strata, leading us to infer that
the deposits here are rolled over. And in these two areas we
have organic remains of such a character as to show that these
deposits have an intimate connection paleontologically.

If therefore we take in connection the lithological structure
of the beds here, the curved character of the Silurian strata,
and the relationship which exists between the organic remains
in the two Silurian areas, we shall be able to arrive at some
knowledge concerning the arrangement of these deposits, and
the geological age to which they are referable.

The conglomerates, grits, and hard purple slates, which
occupy the three headlands appear to be intimately allied to
each other, not only in their mineral nature, but also in their
geological position, and both near Dunquin and on the side of
Ferriter’s Cove, we have them with the Silurians conformably
underneath them—and then passing over the Silurian areas,
we find them again apparently coming out from below these
latter. The conformity which exists between all the strata
of this coast, shows that a perfect sequence occurs among them ;
but this sequence is not of such a nature as to support the
inference that we have the highest beds on the south, and the
lowest on the north, although there is a continuous south dip
from Sybil Head to Slea Head. Had such been the case, we
should have had a sequence of deposits over this area, giving
us about 24,000 feet of perpendicular strata; since we have
over a distance of about 6 miles an average dip of 50° south
—and moreover we should have the same Upper Silurian fossils
occurring in strata removed from each other by the distance of
about 12,000 feet of perpendicular depth ; acircumstance quite
at variance with anything known concerning the thickness of
the Upper Silurians.

From the results of my observations on this portion of the
coast of Kerry, I am disposed to regard the whole of the strata

Geology of the Dingle Promontory. 233

here as owing their present position to two great rolls, in the
lower portion of which Upper Silurian strata are exposed, and
are overlaid conformably by a series of slates, grit, and con-
glomerates, which probably belong to the Devonians.

The section therefore which is exhibited in this portion of
the coast consists as follows: commencing at the south, or at
Slea Head, highest beds, conglomerates, and gray grits; next
gray grits with shales passing downwards into purple slates,
these beds constituting the Devonians. Taking the line occu-
pied by these Devonians as 2} miles along the dip, we should
have of these conglomerates, grits, and slates, about 9000 feet
in perpendicular thickness.

It is, however, by no means improbable, that about Slea
Head, the conglomerates may be doubled upon each other, and
in this case, the estimated thickness must be reduced.

_ The Silurians, which succeed the conglomerates, grits, and

purple slates, which I have regarded as Devonian, and which
make their appearance conformably underneath the Devonians
at Dunquin, are only slightly developed so far as regards thick-
ness, but in them the curved strata are seen which indicate a
roll. Ata short distance inland from the coast they appear
to be overlaid by the slates of the Devonians, and therefore we
have at Dunquin only a small patch of the Silurians exposed.
In consequence of the roll in the Silurians here, we have the
slates of the Devonians succeeding them to the north in a re-
versed position, and apparently underlying them. As we ap-
proach Clogher Head these Devonians put on more of the cha-
racter of the middle series of the Devonians, assuming a gritty
nature ; and as this gritty nature is succeeded to the north of
this headland by the slaty beds of the lower series of the De-
yonians, we may infer that about Clogher Head the roll se-
parating the Dunquin Silurians from those at Ferriter’s Cove
presents some of the higher deposits of the Devonians, the
strata here being rolled under.

Near the village of Clogher we have the Silurians coming
out from below the purple slates, the lower members of the De-
vonians precisely as at Dunquin, and having the same degree
of conformability. The circumstances which are attendant on
the Silurians occupying the area between Clogher Village and

234 Professor Harkness on the

Doon Point, are in all respects like those which accompany the
Silurians at Dunquin. And here, too, we have the same eyvi-
dence of rolling in the form of curved strata. Measuring
along the dip from Clogher Village, where the purple slates
disappear over the Silurians, to Doon Point,—where, in conse-
quence of the secondroll which gives rise to the Silurian area of
Ferriter’s Cove, we have the same slates apparently passing
under the Silurian beds,—the distance is about two-fifths of a
mile, and this distance with the prevailing dip 50° south would
give us about 1600 feet of perpendicular thickness; but as the
strata are here rolled over, this thickness must be reduced one
half, and therefore about 800 feet of deposits form the Silu-
rians as they are developed at Ferriter’s Cove ; and certainly
not more are exposed at Dunquin.

North from Doon Point to the Sybil’s Head we have the
northern portion and lower beds of the Devonians of the second
roll exposed, and as already mentioned, these consist, first, of
the purple slates of the lower series, succeeded by the grits and
conglomerates which constitute{the coast from Sybil’s Head to
the north-west entrance into Smerwick Harbour.

The area occupied by the Silurians, which come out under-
neath the northern roll, is apparently more extensive than that
of the southern one. From Ferriter’s Cove it extends east-
ward to Smerwick Harbour, and from the nature of a portion
of the eastern side of this bay it would appear to extend a short
distance inland, but it must soon become covered up by the
base of the lofty mountains which lie east from Smerwick
Harbour, and which are formed of deposits appertaining to
the higher beds of the Devonians, as these occur forming the
headland of this coast.

From the foregoing remarks it will be perceived, that, so far
as the western portion of the county of Kerry is concerned, we
have two formations manifested, which are conformable the
one to the other, viz., the Devonian and the Silurian.

With regard to the former, this can only be considered as
Devonian because it partakes of the lithological character of
this formation as it occurs elsewhere in Ireland; but probably
future observation may discover among the purple slates fossils
which possess a Silurian character. Until such be the case it

Geology of the Dingle Promontory. 235

would appear better to consider the purple slates, with their
overlying grits and conglomerates, as Devonian. These con-
glomerates are succeeded by gray and purple grits of a hard
nature, forming the mass of the Devonians in this portion of
the county of Kerry, which, in their mineral nature, have a
great resemblance to the strata which make up the lofty moun-
tains lying between Glengariff and Killarney.

As concerns the rolling of the strata to which I have attri-
buted the occurrence of the two Silurian patches of the same
age, and the thrice-repeated purple slates, grits, and conglome-
rates, every one who is conversant with the geology of the
south-west of Ireland, will be struck with the intimate relation
which those rolls in the west of Kerry bear to those which oc-
cur among the Devonians of the county of Cork, more parti-
cularly those appearing in the northern area of these Devon-
ians, where we have frequently a south dip prevailing over
several miles of country across the strike of the beds, the
strata being rolled as in the Dingle promontory. And it is
only in the lower beds of these rolls that we could expect to
find the deposits, on which the Devonians rest, exposed.

Such an exposure does not, so far as I am aware, exist in
the interior of Ireland ; and it is only on the coast, where the
immense force of the Atlantic has for ages been wearing the
solid strata that we should most naturally expect to find such
low beds exposed, and on the most westerly portion of Ireland,
we have the strata manifested under such conditions.

Concerning the fossils which present themselves among the
Silurians of Dunquin, and about Ferriter’s Cove, and elsewhere
in this district, the corals consist of the following forms,—
Alveolites fibrosa (Londs.), Favosites multipora (Londs.), F.
polymorpha (Gold.), Halysites catenulatus (Linn.), Petraria
bina (Londs.), Stromatopora concentrica (Gold.), Heliolites
interstincta (Wahl.) ;—all corals which are met with in the
Upper Silurians of England, and some even in the Devonian
beds. Besides these, there is a very abundant species, which
is found on the yellowish green slates near Clogher Village,
and south of the Boat Cove at Smerwick Harbour, which seems
to be the Heliolites inordinata (Londs.) ; but owing to the de-

236 Professor Harkness on the

composed state of its surface, which does not show the pores,
the species is uncertain. If it should be the form alluded to,
it is the only purely Lower Silurian fossil in these beds.
And the paleontological evidence, so far as the corals are
concerned, justifies the inference of Sir Roderick Murchison,
concerning the strata here, that they are Upper Silurian ; and
the occurrence of some Devonian corals would lead to the con-
clusion that the beds occupy a high position among the Upper
Silurians.

The brachiopods are also of such types as indicate the Upper
Silurian age of the lower strata at Dunquin and Ferriter’s Cove.
Among these occur Lingula cornea (Sow.), Leptoena depressa,
L. levissima (M‘Coy), L. concentrica (Port.), L. euglypha
(Dalm.), Chonetes striatella (Dalm.), C. sarcinulata (Hapsch.),
Orthis elegantula (Dalm.), O. lunata (Sow.), Spirifer crispus
(Linn.), S. speciosus (Schloth), Atrypa reticulans (Linn.),
Athyris navicula (Sow.), and Rhynchonella Wilsoni (Sow.),
forms which point out upper Silurian strata, and some of which
even appertain to the Devonian. Concerning Lamellibran-
chiata, Sanguinolites rotundatus (Sow.), Cardiola interrupta
(Sow.), are Upper Silurian species, and along with these are
several forms of Pterinea and Avicula, which seem to be
alike Upper Silurian. Of the trilobites, Phacops caudatus,
and Encrinurus punctatus have a wide range, occurring both
in the Upper and Lower Silurians. Therefore they afford
nothing definite concerning the geological age of the strata
under consideration.

Taking the paleontological evidence as a whole, it distinctly
indicates that the strata exposed have a decided Upper Silurian
character ; and not only so, but the presence of Devonian forms
in connection with Upper Silurian types, would support the
conclusion that these upper Silurian deposits appertain to a
position akin to the Ludlow group, if not to the tilestones.

The connection of the Dunquin and Ferriter’s Cove deposits
with the Silurians, as these occur elsewhere in Ireland, is re-
mote. The Silurian strata of Wicklow, Wexford, and Water-
ford, from the characters of the fossils, are decidedly of the
Lower Silurian range, and here we have the Deyonians resting

Geology of the Dingle Promontory. 237

unconformably upon the slates of the former formation, as
may be seen at Mount Misery, near Waterford, where the
Silurian slates, upturned, and dipping at an angle of 80°
N.N.W.., are overlaid by the conglomerate of the Devonians,
dipping at 12° in the same direction. So far as the Silu-
rians of the rest of Ireland are concerned, the same difference
in age would appear to be manifest between the Silurians
and Deyvonians, when these occur together; and the paleon-
tological evidence generally supports the inference, that
the Silurians of Kildare, Galway, Fermanagh, Tyrone, and
the rest of Ireland, belong to the Lower series. Under such
circumstances, the deposits which occur on the western
portion of the promontory of Kerry become very interesting,
since that locality is the only one which has yet furnished a
position in Ireland containing Upper Silurians ; and here, this
Upper Silurian character is both exhibited, by the conforma-
bility between the Devonians and the Silurians, and also, by
the fossil contents of the inferior formation. Other localities
in the neighbourhood of Dingle will perhaps be found to afford
the same strata in like intimate connection ; but when we con-
sider that we have the exposures of Dunquin and Ferriter’s
Cove, from the results of the abrading action of the Atlantic,
we can scarcely expect to find these strata exposed, where
such influence is not in operation to wear down the rolls to
which the stratified deposits have, in this country, been subject.

238 Dr Cobbold on a Malformed Trout.

Description of a Malformed Trout, with Preliminary Re-
marks.* By T. SPENCER CosBoLp, M.D., Assistant Con-
servator of the Anatomical Museum, University of Edin-
burgh. (Plate VI.)

The occurrence of malformation among fishes, though not a
matter of daily observation, is by no means unfrequent; and
it would seem, from the writings of Pennant, Yarrell, and
many other naturalists, that the Salmonide are particularly
liable to structural abnormity.

In this general statement we do not include under the term
“ malformation” those slight irregularities of outline, and
deviations of aspect, constituting varieties, properly so call-
ed; at the same time we fully recognize in these somatic
changes, however trifling, an extension or arrestment of the
same law of development resulting from modifying cireum-
stances. It is important to keep this idea in mind; and its
significance is at once apparent, when we consider the in-
numerable varieties to which trout are liable; thus viewed,
too, all morphological differences are seen to be alterations
of degree rather than of kind.

Professor Goodsir has placed on record a description of
anomalies, affecting the fins of Goldfish, in which he recognises
a law of reciprocal redundancy and deterioration ;+ but the
most interesting account of deformed fish we have met with,
is contained in the Philosophical Transactions, vol. lyii.,
entitled, “ A Letter to Dr William Watson, F.R.S., from the
Hon. Daines Barrington, F.R.S., on some particular Fish
found in Wales.” As this memoir dates so far back as 1767,
and is consequently inaccessible to many, we shall briefly in-
dicate some of the more important particulars.

Mr Barrington records, in the first place, the existence of
Perch in a pool called Llyn Raithlyn, in the parish of Traws-
vynnyd, Merionethshire. In the larger specimens, some of which
were nearly two pounds in weight, the deformity was more mani-
fest. He adds, “ I have never examined the back-bone of these

* Read at the Glasgow Meeting of the British Association, Sept. 1855.
t The specimens are preserved in the University Anatomical Museum.

Dr Cobbold on a Malformed Trout. 239

fish ; they are not only crooked near the tail, and for about
one-third of the whole length of the body; there is likewise a
very remarkable protuberance on each side, which I have
opened with a knife, but did not observe it to differ materially
- from other parts of the flesh.”

This author subsequently ascertained that there were trout,
crooked in the same part, stated to be peculiar to the river
Eynion in Cardiganshire, which is a small brook emptying
itself into the Dovey near Egglwys Vach, and is on the road
from Machentleth in Montgomeryshire, to Talypont in Cardi-
ganshire.* These trout are only caught in a small basin,
eight or nine feet deep, which the river forms after a fall from
the rocks. Mr Barrington dissected one or more; and refer-
ring to the vertebral column, says, “this bone differs most
apparently from that of a common trout, or any other fish, by
its being crooked near the tail. I have therefore no doubt
that the back-bone of the perch will turn out to be equally
crooked.” About half the perch and trout taken from the
above-mentioned localities exhibited this irregularity. From
Llyn Marchland and Llyn Bochlynd, in Caernarvonshire,
similar specimens had heen obtained.

Giraldus Cambrensis states that monocular fish are found in
the lakes of Snowdon.t This traveller and observer was
archdeacon of Brecknock, and attended Baldwin, archbishop
of Canterbury, in a progress through South and North Wales,
in the year 1188. Confirmatory of the truth of Giraldus’
remarks, it is affirmed, on good authority, that a cyclopic trout
had been caught at Lyn y Cyn, Cacrnarvonshire, the head
of which was also thicker than usual.t

In the river Gabard, in France, there is a pool containing
blind pike.§ The Fischau, near Mandorf, in Germany, also
contains blind trout.|| In Dalekarlia, a province of Sweden,

* The names of these places are spelt somewhat differently on maps of re-
cent date.

t Giraldus Cambrensis, liber ii., cap, 10.—“ Anguillis, truttis, et perchiis, om-
nes in eo pisces monoculi reperiuntur.” t See Memoir, loc. cit.

§ Hist. de V Acad. des Sciences, 1748, p. 27. L’observation par M. le Mar-
quis de Montalembert.

|| “ Truttee omnes in flumine Fischau prope Mandorf visu destitute dicunter.”’
—Fr. Lrn, Bruckmanni Epistola Itineraria, xxxvi., Wolfenb., 1734, p. 10.

240 Dr Cobbold on a Malformed Trout.

near Fahlun, are two small lakes, famous for the singular
shape of the perch, which grow to the ordinary size, and are
of a good taste, but have all a hump on their back.*

The fish we are about to describe was shewn to the Royal
Physical Society of Edinburgh, 22d Mareh 1854. On this oc-
casion, James Wilson, Esq. of Woodville, remarked, that in
his rambles among the Scottish lakes he had frequently met
with trout possessing a remarkably thickset appearance, and
arched back, but he had not examined their internal organiza-
tion.t The museum of the Zoological Society of London con-
tains a trout with an imperfect development of the upper jaw.
This variety occurs in Lochdow, near Pitmain, Inverness-shire,
and Mr Yarrel figures it in his History of British Fishes.

For the specimen now before the Association I am indebted
to Mr Thomas Turnbull,|| who captured it while fly-fishing in
the river Jed, near Jedburgh. He stated, that though for
many years familiar with different kinds of trout, he had never
met with one of this form. Its chief peculiarity, viewed ex-
ternally, consists in the preponderant depth of the body, as
compared with the length, giving the animal a hump-backed
appearance, and causing it in outline to resemble individuals
of the Sparide or Cyprinide, rather than members of its own
group. To ascertain the cause of this anomaly, we proceeded
to examine the viscera, under the impression that any devia-
tion from the structural arrangement usually observed in Sal-
monide would indicate a hybrid, the visceral morphology at
the same time suggesting the kind of fish whence such agency
had been derived.

Turning down the integument, and dissecting the great lateral
muscular mass from one side, so as to expose some of the ribs
and diverging appendages, these parts, and some of the verte-

* “In stagnis Fahlune hujus piscis (Perce) varietas est, que spina recurva,
et corpore omnino gibbo, frequens reperitur.”—Linnexi, Fauna Suecica, p. 118.

+ For a detailed description of varieties of Salmonidw, see Sir William Jar-
dine’s Account of an Expedition to the north-west of Sutherlandshire, in com-
pany with Dr Greville, John Jardine, Esq., P. Selby, Esq., and James Wilson,
Esq. The paper is published in the 18th vol. of the Edin. New Phil. Journal
for 1835.

t See also Article ANGLING, Encyc. Britannica, 7th Rdition,

|| Fish-salesman, Lothian Street, Edinburgh.

Dr Cobbold on a Malformed Trout. 241

bral segments which had also been laid bare, at once offered
an explanation of the longitudinal shortening of the trunk ; we
had here, in fact, an extreme abrogation of the spinal column,
resulting from the coalescence of numerous vertebral “ centra,”
giving rise secondarily to modifications in the surrounding
soft parts.

The following is a brief record of the skeletal peculiari-
ties :*—

The vertebral segments, not including the bony elements of
the head, which appear natural, are 56 in number.t The first
seven, proceeding from before backward, have their bodies or
“ centra” united into one bone, the multiple parts of which are
recognised by grooves at the side, and further indicated by
seven corresponding spinous processes above, and as many ribs,
with the accompanying styliform appendages, below. A single
“centrum” carries the neural and hcmal elements of the
eighth and ninth vertebre.

Thus far the bones do not present any marked change of
position, save that which immediately results from their close
approximation. There is a little bending forward of the tips
of the spinous processes belonging to the five hindmost, but
throughout their greater extent they take, as usual, an oblique
course backward.

The tenth vertebral quantity is normal, but its neural spine,
to which is articulated the first of the interspinous bones, is
much curved forward. The eleventh and twelfth are conjoined ;
their laminz or “ neurapophyses” slope backward, as in the
healthily-developed trout, but the corresponding neural spines
have a perpendicular direction. The thirteenth segment is
quantitively natural, its autogenous parts having a similar
disposition to the foregoing. The bodies of the fourteenth and

* In this description, the terms employed by Professor Owen have been in-
troduced, in order to illustrate the proportionate change which each presumed
typical element has undergone. The accompanying Plate gives a tolerably ac-
curate view of the anomalies, but the styliform appendages have been omitted,
to avoid confusion. The dotted lines explain the number of conjoined “ centra”
in each osseous mass.

t Probably there is a slight variation consistent with specific identity. Yar-
rel and Parnell give fifty-six vertebrw to the common trout, In specimens we
have examined, fifty-seven and fifty-eight have been counted.

NEW SERIES,—VOL. I. NO, 11.—oor. 1855, Q

242 Dr Cobbold on a Malformed Trout.

fifteenth vertebra are united to form a single “ centrum.” The
sixteenth and seventeenth are likewise anchylosed, but more
attenuated. The “centra” of the succeeding five segments,
viz., the eighteenth, nineteenth, twentieth, twenty-first, and
twenty-second, are all developed into a single osseous mass.
The neural spines of these, and the preceding six, are all very
closely packed together ; they support the eleven interspinous
bones, and in consequence of a vertical position, have tilted up
the latter with their associated fin rays, so as to produce the
great dorsal elevation. The ribs curve obliquely forward, and
this mal-direction, especially at the upper part of the heemal
arches, applies more or less to all the ‘‘ pleurapophysial” ele-
ments of the spinal series at present described; the small os-
seous appendages agree in number and relation.

From the twenty-third to the thirty-third vertebra inclusive,
the neural and hemal “ apophyses” are attached to a single
bone, which is consequently the representative of eleven
“centra.” The lamine or “ neurapophyses” of the first six
segments are directed diagonally forward, the neural spines
of all gradually curving backward. The transverse processes
or “ parapophyses,” with the accompanying “ pleurapophyses,”
belonging to nine of the included segments, approach the nor-
mal position.

The axes of the thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth divisions of the
spinal series, are ossified together. A single “ centrum” indi-
cates the union of the bodies of the thirty-sixth, thirty-seventh,
thirty-eighth, and thirty-ninth vertebre, the spinous transverse
processes pointing obliquely backward. The fortieth and forty-
first vertebral bodies are united. The forty-second is inde-
pendent. The forty-third and forty-fourth have coalesced.
In these latter five instances, the supra and infra-axial deve-
lopments have recovered much of their natural character.

The twelve remaining segments of the spinal series, from
the forty-fifth to the fifty-sixth inclusive, alone present a com-
pletely healthy aspect, and a glance at their uniform disposi-
tion affords a criterion of the extreme mal-arrangement to
which the abdominal vertebra have been subjected.

243

Appendix to Paper on the Influence of the Lower Organ-
isms in the production of Epidemic Diseases. By Dr
DAUvUBENY.

Owing to a delay of several months which has taken place
in the publication of this Memoir, some of the remarks of a
local nature contained in it are less applicable at present than
at the time they were originally put forth.

Thus the nuisance complained of towards the conclusion of
the Essay has been since, temporarily at least, abated, and,
it is hoped, means will be shortly taken for preventing its re-
currence ; nor haye I heard of any recent cases of intramural
interment in Oxford which call for animadversion.

The Memoir having been so long out of the author’s hands,
no notice could be taken in it of a Charge by the Venerable
Archdeacon of London, delivered on the 18th of May last, and
since published, the purport of which was to prove, that “ in-
tramural burial in England is not injurious to the public
health, and that its abolition is injurious to Religion and
Morals.”

Nevertheless, I think it will be found, that many of the
arguments alleged in support of the former position, which
places the Archdeacon in opposition, not only to myself, but
likewise to the great weight of authority on sanitary questions,
have been answered by anticipation in the course of this
Memoir.

I shall therefore merely remark, that although it be not
pretended that the origin of Cholera can be traced to putres-
cent animal matter, yet so universal is the belief in the con-
nexion between the two, that no one, if he could help it, would
choose to sleep near a churchyard set apart for the interment
of the victims of Cholera, at the time the disorder was raging.

I believe, too, that after making due allowance for the effi-
cacy which vegetable mould unquestionably possesses in absorb-
ing, and thereby rendering innocuous, the products of animal
decay, every candid mind would admit the real danger which
accrues, from the constant temptation the authorities will be
under of outstepping the limits of security afforded by the

Q 2

244 Dr Daubeny on the influence of the Lower Organisms

earth of a crowded cemetery, so long as the practice of bury-
ing in cities continues to be tolerated.

The archdeacon himself, on the authority of an eminent
chemist admits, that the soil of his own churchyard in the
parish of St Giles’s, Cripplegate, is highly charged with am-
monia. Now, this product is at once the evidence and the
vehicle of those miasmata which are often generated during
life, and disengaged after death, but of which chemistry at
present lacks any direct means of determining the presence. —

Whatever, therefore, may have been the original motive of the
enactment in the old Roman law “ Hominem mortuum in urbe
neve sepelito, neve urito,” the sentiment would be re-echoed
in all civilized countries at the present day, not only from
prudential motives, but also from the repugnance instinctively
felt against bringing the dead amongst the living, except
where long habit has reconciled us to the practice.

With respect to the theological part of the question, namely,
“ that the abolition of intramural interment would be injurious
to religion and morals,” I will merely remark, that it seems
difficult to reconcile such a view with the fact of the entire
abandonment of the practice in almost every Christian country,
excepting Great Britain.

The archdeacon is eloquent upon the advantages of preserv-
ing unbroken the connection between the parish church and
the place of burial, and for the sake of this he would be will-
ing to forego the quiet, the seclusion, the accessibility, which
are the recommendations of the burial grounds on the Conti-
nent, where this connection indeed is severed, but where, on
the other hand, at any moment of the day, the parent may
visit undisturbed the resting place of his child, or the widow
of a husband, and seek that consolation which is denied in the
graye-yards of our towns, fenced off as they necessarily are by
high walls or iron grating, and only open, perhaps for one
day in the week, during the hours of divine service. .

On which side the advantages may preponderate I will not
take upon myself to pronounce, but the archdeacon must ex-
cuse me for reminding him, that if there be any strong feeling
of attachment in the country to the parochial system of inter-
ment, that feeling may be gratified on easier terms, than by

in the production of Epidemic Diseases. 245

jeopardising for the sake of it the health of the public, through
the continuance of the practice of intramural interment.

In Oxford some years ago, at the instigation of, and chiefly
by the aid of funds contributed by, the university, the several
parishes undertook to create certain new burial-grounds in the
neighbourhood, as substitutes for the old and overcrowded
ones which had up to that time existed in the midst of the po-
pulation ; and though the scheme did not prove a remunerating
one, but turned out more expensive than the establishment of
one general cemetery would have been, still it was far better
that such an outlay should be incurred, than that the risk
should continue of creating a fomes of infection in the midst
of our town population, by allowing the previous practice of
intramural burial to be maintained indefinitely.

On the Cleavage of the Devonians of the South-West of Ire-
land. By Rospert Harkness, Professor of Geology, and
Joun Biytu, M.D., Professor of Chemistry, Queen’s Col-
lege, Cork.

The strata which, in the south-west of Ireland, form the
Devonian formation, are arranged as a series of hills haying,
in the county of Cork, long regular ridges, running in nearly
an east and west direction. In the county of Kerry they as-
sume elevations greater than any other mountains in Ireland,
and lose, to a great extent, the ridge-like appearance which is
so manifest in Cork. In both counties the higher portion of
the Devonians is succeeded by the overlying carboniferous
limestone, and this latter formation presents itself resting
conformably in the troughs of the Devonians; these troughs
being produced by a succession of rolls, to which these forma-
tions have been subjected.

The strike of the Devonian formation partakes of the direc-
tion in which the ridges run, being generally east and west ;
and this strike prevails through the whole of the paleozoic for-
mations of the south-west of Ireland, with a few local exceptions.

As concerns the lithological characters of the Devonians,
these, on the whole, have somewhat of the same mineral na-

246 Professors Harkness and Blyth on the Cleavage of

ture, consisting of reddish-brown strata, of a flaggy aspect,
which are locally known under the name of “ Brown stone.”
But besides these flaggy beds, there are seen, in the upper
portion of the Devonians, deposits which have a different na-
ture ; and with this difference of nature some important fea-
tures occur in connection with the cleavage, which is seen
among these Devonians. The upper beds of this formation
have a lighter colour, and are composed of sandstone; and in
this light-coloured sandstone, in some localities, Anodon
Jukesii and Cyclopteris Hibernicus, as well as other vege-
table remains, have been obtained by the officers of the Geolo-
gical Survey of Ireland. Sandstones, having to some extent
the same lithological characters, make their appearance among
the underlying flaggy strata; and when this is the case, the
same features, so far as cleavage is concerned, present them-
selves as those which are seen in the superior light-coloured
sandstones.

As regards the cleavage of the Devonians of the county of
Cork, this, for the most part, occurs with a dip approaching
nearly to the perpendicular; and with a strike in an east and
west direction, following the general strike of the strata. On
the whole this cleavage is of a coarse nature, and it gives to
the reddish-brown beds* the flag-like aspect already alluded
to, the strata dividing along the cleavage planes into flaggy
portions, and not along the laminew of bedding, which, in most
cases, are obliterated by the action of the force to which
cleavage owes its origin. The lighter-coloured sandstones
which succeed the reddish-brown beds are only slightly affect-
ed by cleavage, and in some instances they do not appear to
present any traces of this action, but divide along the laminz
of bedding, and on these laminz are seen the fossils alluded to.

A section affording both the reddish-brown cleaved beds
and also the overlying light-coloured sandstone, unaffected by
cleavage, may be seen at Rock Terrace quarry, Cork, of which
the following is a sketch taken from the east side of the
quarry ; and similar occurrences may be seen elsewhere in the
county of Cork.

Panne he

the Devonians in the South-West of Ireland. 247

No. 1.

|

A. Light-coloured sandstone devoid of cleavage. B. Brown-stone with
cleavage.

The sandstone strata which interstratify the brownish-red
beds, haying a distinct cleavage, also show that the cleavage
is dependent, in a great measure, on the mineral nature of the
deposits, as indicated by the two following sections, taken from
near Killeen, about three miles north of Cork.

In No. 2, the highest and lowest strata exposed consist of
sandstones having a purple colour, between which are four other
beds, two of considerable thickness, and having the usual per-
pendicular flaggy-like cleavage which pervades the Devonians
of the south of Ireland. Associated with these are two other

248 Professors Harkness and Blyth on the Cleavage of

beds, which are thin, and in which there are considerable modi-
fications in the cleavage. In these two latter the cleavage is
not only more imperfect, but instead of partaking of the per-
pendicular position common to the cleavage planes in the De-
vonians of the south-west of Ireland, they are inclined towards
the south. In order to ascertain how far the constitution of
these several beds affected the cleavage, portions of them were
submitted to chemical analyses, and yielded the following re-
sults :—

A’, which is a purple sandstone entirely devoid of cleavage,
afforded the following analysis :—

Specific gravity, 2°695 Silica, . . 79°3
Alumina, . : se Pee
Iron peroxide, 5°7

B? had the following composition, and in this bed the cleay-
age was in its normal condition.

Sp. gr., . h278e Silica, ‘ . 68-0
Alumina, . .
Iron peroxide, . 120

The thin bed C3, with the cleavage having a south inclina--
tion, yielded—

Sp. gr., - 2678 Silica, : . 766
Alumina. . a
Iron peroxide, . 9°6

The stratum B? is, in the character of its cleavage, like B*,
and in its composition it also nearly approaches the higher
deposit.

The thin bed C? has considerable affinity to C, and has the
subjoined composition :—

Sp. gr., - 2°630 Silica, : PD kn
Alumina, . ‘a
Iron peroxide, . 6-1

In the lowest stratum A®, which, like the upper bed A?, is

a purple sandstone devoid of cleavage, we have the following
constituents :-—

Sp. gr., * 2°6944 Silica, ; aia fe
Alumina, . ‘ 7:4
Iron peroxide, . 6:5.

The other section, 3, taken from the same locality, and
which consists of a stratum of reddish-brown colour, having

as. i. As ‘ ae

the Devonians in the South-West of Ireland. 249

quite a slaty character from cleavage, contained between two
No. 3.

Atty

Nun)
tm
Ni
“omy
7
Im

A. Cleaved bed. B. Sandstone without cleavage.

deposits of sandstone of a similar mineral nature, devoid of
cleavage, affords the subjoined analysis.
A, the slaty bed alluded to, :
Beat, =... 2°7397 Silica, : . 62:0
Alumina, . aE iy
Iron peroxide, . 11:3
And the underlying sandstone, B, had the following composi-
tion :—

Sp. gr., . 2-589 Silica, : - 87:0
Alumina, . P 7:0
Tron peroxide, - 2°8

Another specimen obtained from near the same locality,
and in which the cleavage was only imperfectly manifested,
afforded the following results :—

Sp. gr., . 2°6589 Silica, : oy iene
Alumina, . wo: ee
Iron peroxide, 9°6

The specimens also contained varying quantities of lime,
magnesia, and sulphide of iron. These were not determined,
as the object in view was to ascertain the relative proportions
of silica, alumina, and iron, in connection with the specific
gravity of each specimen.

In connection with cleavage the foregoing analyses give two
results. In the one we find that such beds as have the cleay-
age most developed the spevific gravity is the greatest, and

250 Professors Harkness and Blyth on the Cleavage of

the other result is, that in these also we find the greatest
amount of alumina.

Their mineral composition is such as to support the conclu-
sion that they were originally beds of a shaly nature, and
that in proportion as they lost their shaly nature from a
greater abundance of silica, and assumed the characters of
sandstone, so they became less subject to the operation of
that force to which cleavage owes its origin.

The effect of a difference in the mineral nature of deposits
having considerable influence on cleavage is not confined to
the south-west of Ireland. It appears to be a universal law
operating on this agent, and has been noticed by Professor
Sedgwick in his early paper on cleavage in the Geol. Proc.,
vol. iii., new series; and by Mr Sharpe, who, in his paper on
the cleavage of the Alps, gives many instances of the pheno-
menon of cleavage being modified according to the constitution
of the rocks through which this structure- passes; and many
other geologists have recorded observations of a like character
in various parts of the world.

West from the city of Cork, as we approach the most moun-
tainous portion of Ireland, the deposits which form the De-
vonian formation assume a somewhat different character, and
with this we have changes produced on the cleavage. In the
more mountainous portion of the country, the strata have an
older aspect, and we have thick beds of purple and greenish-
gray grits associated with beds of a more argillaceous nature ;
and in these latter the phenomena of cleavage present them- |
selves under similar circumstances to those which are seen in
the neighbourhood of the city of Cork. Here too we have the
gritty beds devoid of cleavage, or possessing it only to an im-
perfect degree, associated with deposits which are well marked
with all the features indicating this kind of structure.

The same things prevail also in the county of Kerry, where
the east and west strike of cleavage obtains to a large extent.
But here we find certain phenomena of a physical character
well presented, which do not occur to the same extent in the
adjoining county of Cork.

The whole of the county of Kerry, where the Devonians are
exposed, furnishes abundant examples of the cleavage which

the Devonians in the South-West of Ireland. 251

prevails in this formation ; but it is in the island of Valentia
that we have the best examples of the modifications which this
structure has undergone, and also the physical causes to which
cleavage appears to be in a great measure attributable.

Here we have, in numerous instances, the mineral nature
of the rock modifying cleavage to a greater extent than is seen
on the mainland, for besides dipping at various angles accord-
ing to the constitution of the stratum, the cleavage occurs in
the form of complex sigmoid flexures in several of the beds
which this island affords. A fine example of this mode of the
occurrence of cleavage may be seen at Reengarriv Point, on
the west side of the lighthouse, which presents the following
appearance.

S—

In this complex sigmoid form of the cleavage, it would seem
that the several laminz entering into the composition of each
stratum were different in their mineral constitution, and with
this difference we have various angles of the dip of cleavage,
which, running into each other, give to the strata the contorted
forms of cleavage which these afford. It would appear that
this is simply owing to the operation of that cause which we
have seen modifying the angle of cleavage in section 2 at
Killeen, near Cork, the difference being, that in the first case
we have the cause operating upon each stratum, while at Reen-
garriv Point the effect is produced on each lamina.

Many fine examples may be seen in this island of the modi-
fications which the angle of cleavage undergoes in consequence

ra eae, .
1 eee
oa a

252 Professors Harkness and Blyth on the Cleavage of

of the varying composition of each stratum, and one in par-
ticular may be mentioned which occurs a short distance to the
north of Brayhead, the most southerly point in the island.

In this instance we have an isolated rock composed of several
strata of different mineral composition, and as the wearing
away of this rock is in the direction of the strike of the cleay-
age-planes we have these planes well exposed, and dipping
at different angles in an E.S.E. direction, as shown by the —
joined sketch.

A, Pliaet of rane

We have other phenomena besides those of flexured and
variously inclined cleavage presented to us in connection with
this form of structure in this island. The usually obtainingstrike
of the cleavage in this locality is the same as that of the adjoin-
ing mainland of the county of Kerry, being W.S. W. and E.N.E.
This is the strike of the cleavage at the slate-quarry of Valen-
tia, where the dip of the cleavage is about 27 S.S.E. in the
purple stratum which is wrought for slate, and which is suc-
ceeded by a more siliceous stratum having a greenish-gray
colour, locally termed “ greenstone,’ which, in consequence
of its imperfect cleavage, is useless for commercial purposes.
These two beds, the purple slate and the greenstone, are so
intimately united to each other that the original plane of stra-
tification separating them has been obliterated, and the two

A eee Beene at i a a
of eM pepo 3! ear

the Devonians in the South-West of Ireland. 253

beds are found adhering together as though they originally

formed portions of the same stratum. Instances of a like
character may be observed in many parts of the island, and
sometimes a line of stratification may be seen perfect in all
respects at one spot; but on tracing it for a short distance it
gradually loses its distinct nature, and finally disappears

altogether, the beds which it separated becoming united,
as is the case with the purple slate and greenstone at the

quarry.

Although the prevailing strike of the cleavage in Valentia
is W.S.W. and E.N.E., yet there are others which have differ-
ent directions ; and in connection with these several strikes we
have an important physical phenomenon, which seems to have
an intimate relation with the cause to which this form of struc-
ture owes its origin.

On the north side of the island, about Reengarriv and Reeno-
drolaun Points, the strike of the cleavage planes is nearly east
and west, and here we see a series of rolls in the strata having
also the same strike, the beds dipping north and south. On the
west side of the island, between Culloohead and Brayhead, the
strike of the cleavage is N.N.E. and 8.8. W., and the dip E.S.E.
at various angles, according to the mineral composition of the.
rocks. Between these two points we have also a series of rolls,
well developed, striking in the same direction as the cleavage,
and these rolls, together with the cleavage planes and dips,
are well seen in the isolated rock already alluded to as oc-
curring north of Brayhead (Fig. 5).

From the 8S. side of Brayhead the rocks are well exposed to
the E. of the village of Clynacartan, and in this interval we
have the W.S. W. and E.N.E. strike and 8.8.E. dip of cleavage,
the prevailing one of this portion of Ireland ; and in this in-

terval are several rolls striking in the same direction with the

cleavage. In Valentia, therefore, we have three distinct
strikes of cleavage, the most predominant one being W.S.W.
and E.N.E., another, on the north side, having an E. and W.
course, and a third, on the 8. W. side, running in a N.N.E. and
§.8.W. direction ; and these three strikes of cleavage accord
with the strikes of the rolls of the strata; and the dip of the

254 Professors Harkness and Blytn on the Cleavage of

angle of cleavage, when it is not perpendicular, has always
more or less of the south in it.
No, 6.

REENADROLAUN P

REENGARRIV P#

vauss

CLYNACARTAN

Lines of strike of cleavage.

Leaving Valentia for the mainland, we find like cireum-
stances manifested. At Port Magee the same W.S.W. and
E.N.E. strike of cleavage obtains, the dip of the cleavage planes
being S.S.E. ; and here too we find a roll occurring, and strik-
ing in the direction with the strike of the cleavage.

South from this, and along the coast of St Finnan’s Bay, we
have no more evidence of rolls, but a continuous 8.S.E. dip of the
strata sets in to Ducullahead, and the strike of the cleavage
here also agrees with the strike of the strata, the dip of the
cleavage being also at various angles S.S.E. when not perpen-
dicular. Along this portion of the coast of the county of Kerry
the cleavage is more distinct in some parts than others. Thus
between Doon Point and Puffin Sound the cleavage is so dis-
tinct that the lines of stratification are imperfectly seen, the
rocks wearing away into headlands and bays along the cleay-
age planes.

Between Puffin Sound and Ducullahead the cleavage is not
so perfect, the planes of stratification being easily seen, and
the coves and headlands in this interval are formed along the

the Devonians in the South-West of Ireland. 255

stratification, and not along the cleavage. From the difference
in the perfection of the cleavage, as this is seen in this portion
of the south of Ireland, it would appear that the occurrence of
rolls in the beds is in some way connected with cleavage phe-
nomena.

The origin of cleavage, and the causes which tend to modify
the nature of its phenomena, are questions which as yet can
hardly be regarded as being satisfactorily answered. The
observations of Professor Sedgwick, Messrs Sharpe and Sorby,
on these subjects, have done much to make us acquainted with
the various phases which cleavage assumes, but as regards the
causes to which these are referable these geologists differ ; the
Woodwardian professor assigning the origin of cleavage to a
crystalline re-arrangement of the rocky particles, while the
latter gentlemen refer the phenomena of slaty cleavage to me-
chanical causes, both assuming that pressure has been the
force to which cleavage owes its origin.

This latter cause has many circumstances to support it;
and among those cited by Mr Sharpe are the distortion and
elongation of fossils in the direction of the cleavage planes,
and the compression of the more solid fragments, which occur
in the form of embedded pebbles in a direction at right angles
to the cleavage planes, and an extension in the direction of
the inclination of these planes.

Mr Sorby, having called to his aid the microscope, arrives
at the same conclusion as Mr Sharpe concerning the cause of
slaty cleavage. He finds that when cleaved rocks, in thin
sections, are submitted to microscopical examination, they
present such an arrangement among their particles, as to lead
to the inference that these particles have been subjected to the
operation of a force by which they have left their original plane
of deposition, and assumed a new one more or less inclined to
their original position; the amount of inclination varying in
proportion as the direction of the cleavage differs from the
stratification. This arrangement of particles Mr Sorby re-
gards as resulting from pressure, which forced the particles to
assume a new position at right angles to the planes of pressure,
a mode of arrangement which must have taken place under

256 Professors Harkness and Blyth on the Cleavage of

circumstances allowing of some freedom in the motion of the
particles composing such rocks as afford slaty cleavage.

Mr R. Were Fox has succeeded, by long-continued galvanic
action, in impressing on soft clay a structure haying some
resemblance to cleavage, but some doubts exist if similar con-
ditions prevail in nature, and also, if the experiments of Mr
Fox have any great bearing on the subject of cleavage.

As concerns the cleavage of the south-west of Ireland, there
are two distinct phenomena which present themselves in con-
nection with this structural arrangement. The one embraces
the various aspects in which the cleavage is seen, as regards
the modifications which it undergoes in rocks of different
mineral natures; the other includes what may be considered
as of a more physical character, the direction of the strike
of the cleavage and the causes to which this is referable.

As respects the former, the chemical examinations of the
several specimens from the sections near Killeen, in different
states of cleavage, associated with rocks devoid of this struc-
ture, afford some important deductions. In the two specimens
which have the cleavage best developed, we have the greatest
specific gravity ; and of these two specimens, that which has
a slaty cleavage shows also a greater specific gravity than the
one with the flaggy cleavage, the former being 2-739, and the
latter 2733. The two thin beds, having an imperfect cleavage
with a south dip, have less specific gravity, being 2°678, and
2°630.

In these specimens we have an increase in density attendant
on a greater development of the cleavage; and the analyses
show also a difference in chemical composition. In the slaty
cleavage specimen, having sp. gr. 2°739, we find 62:0 silica ;
139 alumina; and in the flaggy cleaved specimen, sp. gr.
2733, we have 68:0 silica, 13:5 alumina. The two beds with
the imperfect cleavage, and south inclination of this structure,
show a greater amount of silica, and a smaller proportion of
alumina; and in the purple sandstones devoid altogether of
cleavage, we find this difference prevailing to a still greater
extent. From the analyses, it would seem that the relative
amount of alumina has much to do with the presence or absence

/

the Devonians in the South-West of Ireland. — 257

of cleavage in rocks which have been submitted to this agency ;
and this refers not only to the south-west of Ireland, but also
elsewhere, for well-cleaved slates possess a considerable amount
of this constituent. The chemical constitution of these cleaved
rocks, leads to the inference, that originally they have been
shales, and have lost their shaley character, in consequence of
the operation of the cause producing cleavage. With regard to
the density of shales, these rarely exceed a sp. gr. of 2-6, and
we must assume that the greater density of the cleaved rocks
is one of the results of the cleavage force.

The originally shaley nature of rocks which are affected with
cleavage points out why these have been operated on by the
force producing this structure, while others of the nature of
sandstone do not show traces of cleayage. In the former we
have a description of rock of a somewhat soft nature, and
yielding in proportion to the amount of alumina contained in
it, while in the other we haye a rigid rock incapable of being
acted upon by that cause which has changed the original
nature of shales.

As regards the phenomena of a more purely physical charac-
ter, namely, the connection of the strike of the cleavage with
other circumstances, observations having relation to these
have been made by several geologists. Prof. Sedgwick
observes (7'rans. Geol., 2d series, vol. 3, page 473), “ when
the cleavage is well developed in a thick mass of slate rock,
the strike of the cleayage is nearly coincident with the strike
of the bed.”

Prof. Phillips (Rep. Brit. Assoc. 1843, page 61) remarks,
“the cleavage planes of the slate rocks of North Wales are
always parallel to the main direction of the great anticlinal
axis.”

Mr Darwin (Observations on the Geology of South America,
page 163) states, that “the cleavage laminz range over wide
areas, with remarkable uniformity, being parallel to the strike
of the main axes of elevation, and generally to the outlines of
the coast,” and Mr Jukes’ observations on the cleavage of New-
foundland lead to the same results. (Excursion in Newfound-
land, vol. 2, page 324,)

Mr Sharpe (Geol. Jour,, vol. 3, page 88) says “ the strike of

NEW SERIES.—VOL. Ul. NO. 11.—ooT, 1855, R

258 Professors Harkness and Blyth on the Cleavage of

the cleavage is parallel to the main direction of the axis of
elevation, and has no necessary connection with the strike of
the beds.”

Mr Sorby (Jameson’s Jour., vol. ly., p. 146) remarks, “that
the strike of the cleavage would usually coincide with the
general strike of the beds, and be parallel to the main axis of
elevation of the district, as has been found to be so commonly
the case.”

These several observations tend to the conclusion that
between cleavage and axes of strata there is considerable con-
nection ; and the examples afforded by the counties of Cork
and Kerry fully bear out this inference ; but in the latter county
they go further ; for they not only show that the cleavage planes
are parallel to the principal axis of elevation of the district,
which has a nearly east and west course, to which course the
strike of the cleavage generally accords in the district, but
they also show that the strike of the cleavage agrees with the
strike of even the minor axis, as seen in the island of Valentia,
where we have the cleavage planes following the strikes of the
several rolls which here affect the strata. The observations
in connection with the cleavage in the county of Kerry do not
however stop here ; for we find that in districts where the rolls
occur, as in Valentia, and near Port Magee in the mainland,
the cleavage is best developed and most perfect; while over
the areas where we have a continuous SSH. dip without
rolls, as on the coast of St Finnan’s Bay, the cleavage is less
perfect. In the former case, it to a great extent obliterates the
stratification, the rocks wearing away along their cleavage
planes ; while in the latter instance the stratification is distinet,
and along this the rocks suffer from the destructive action of
the Atlantic—a circumstance already alluded to,

There is another feature before mentioned in connection
with the cleavage of the rocks in Valentia island which re-
mains to be noticed. This is the perfect union which exists
between several strata, the one passing into the other in
consequence of the planes of stratification which originally
separated them having become obliterated. In cases of this
nature, we have generally these occurring in this island most
immediately in connection with the well-developed rolls, under

the Devonians in the South-West of Ireland. 259

conditions where the cleavage manifests itself in its most per-
fect degree; but even where rolls do not predominate, and the
stratification is more distinct, the surfaces of the strata pre-
sent appearances which show that some change has been pro-
duced upon these in consequence of cleavage. These altered
surfaces have an aspect which at a distance resembles ripple-
markings, but when examined more minutely, and seen in
sections, they have a more serrated nature, and the elevations
of one bed are received into the depressions of the other,
giving a somewhat dove-tailed character to the planes of stra-
tification, which gradually becomes less distinct, and finally
disappears, owing to a perfect union of the beds. The strata
having a sandstone nature rarely possess these features, being
generally distinct; but a stratum having a perfect cleavage,
and possessing such an amount of alumina as to give it a

slaty appearance, is often found intimately united with a more

siliceous rock, as is the case with the slate, and so-called
greenstone of Valentia slate quarry.

The various phenomena which the cleavage of the SW. of
Treland presents, afford some important inferences concerning
the cause of this form of structure, and support the conclusion
that pressure is the force which induces these phenomena.

The strike of the cleavage planes in the direction of the
strike of the strata—a circumstance intimately connected with
the cause of cleavage, as observed by Professor Sedgwick in
N. Wales—shows the relation which exists between the force
giving the rocks of the SW. of Ireland their present position,
and the causes of the cleavage structure. The long ridges of the
Devonians which traverse the south of Ireland are portions of a
series of curves, which have flexured this formation in this dis-
trict to a great extent, and must have given rise to a degree of
pressure sufficient to change the internal arrangement of the
particles composing these rocks, in cases. where any amount of
movement among the particles constituting them could take
place ; and in such rocks as possessed the power of re-arrange-
ment in the greatest degree, we should have the most perfect
alteration of the position of the particles resulting from this
pressure. Mr Sharp, when speaking of the force producing
cleavage, says (Quart. Journ. Geol., vol. y., p. 128), “ The di-

R 2

260 Professors Harkness and Blyth on the Cleavage of

rection of the cleavage planes is in direct relation to the moye-
ments of elevation of the strata, being everywhere at right
angles to the direction of the elevating force; and where the
beds have been raised with regularity over a single axis, the
cleavage planes appear to be portions of curves of which the
width of the area of elevation is the diameter.”

It is not only in the long ridges of the Devonians of the
S. of Ireland, having a nearly E. and W. strike, that we meet
with the connection which exists between the force which has
produced these ridges in Valentia, we have it shown to a still
greater extent in the agreement of the strike of the cleavage
planes with that of the several rolls which affect this island.
There is another circumstance which supports the conclusion
of the intimate relation of the elevating force and that pro-
ducing cleavage, which is, that when the inclination of this
structure in this country is not perpendicular, it has more or
less of a dip, having different degrees of south in it accord-
ing to the direction of the rolls. Where we have a WSW.
and ENE. strike of roll, the inclined cleavage is always SSE.
on both sides of the roll. Where we have a NNE. and SSW.
strike of the rolls, the inclined cleavage has in all cases a
SSE. dip; and where the rolls occur E. and W., the dip of
the cleavage rocks when not perpendicular is south.

An examination into the physical geology of this portion of
Ireland puts us in possession of an important circumstance,
bearing on this general southern dip of the cleavage.

The strata in the counties of Cork and Kerry haye not
merely been rolled into a series of curves, but these curves
have been pushed over in a more or less northerly direction ;
and to this pushing over of the strata we owe the inverted
position of the carboniferous limestones and coal measures,
which occur near Kanturk, and also the singular positions in
which the Silurian areas occur in the Dingle promontory.
The cleaved structure of rocks does not result from the simple
rolling of the strata, but from this cause combined with a
considerable amount of pressure; and this latter force acting
from the south has pushed over the strata in a series of ob-
lique curves to the north, and given to the inclined cleavage
its more or less of a southern dip.

_ the Devonians in the South-West of Ireland. 261

~The effect of pressure on rocky masses would be more or
less modified as the mineral structure of these masses varied,
and also in proportion to the amount of pressure exerted. As
concerns the latter, we have evidence of this in the perfect
cleavage which exists among the rocks of Valentia, where the
beds present themselves in an extremely twisted form, show-
ing the operation of great pressure, as compared with the
cleavage seen at St Finnan’s Bay, where the pressure has not
been so great, and where the cleavage is less perfect.

Regarding the differences in the mineral nature of the

rock submitted to pressure, and the alteration in structure
resulting from this, the analyses of the several strata from
near Killeen show that in the case of sandstones little or no
change has been produced, while in rocks having more or less
of a shaley nature, and possessing some degree of freedom in
the motion of the particles composing them, a circumstance
which the rigid sandstone did not afford, a re-arrangement of
the particles took place to a greater or less degree in propor-
tion to the amount of freedom, and to this re-arrangement we
owe the various degrees of cleavage which obtain among the
rocks haying this structure in the south of Ireland, and, con-
sequently, we have cleaved and uncleaved rocks intimately
associated with each other.

The obliteration of the planes of stratification among rocks
which have a cleaved structure owes its origin to the same
force which has induced this structure, viz. pressure ; for one
of the results of pressure among rocks of a shaley nature
would be not only to change the originally laminated struc-
ture from one parallel to the planes of stratification to one
at right angles to the planes of pressure, but, also to force one
structure into another in such a manner that the lines of bed-
ding would be destroyed. Mr Sharpe, when alluding to the
effects of pressure, says (Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc., vol. v.,
page 128)—‘‘ The compression of the mass in a direction per-
pendicular to the cleavage has been partially compensated for
by its expansion along the dip of the cleavage, in which
direction only its expansion was permitted as the elevation of
the beds enlarged the area occupied by them. The difference
between the amount of compression in one direction, and the

262 Cleavage of the Devonians in the S.W. of Ireland.

expansion in another, is accounted for in the greater density
of the rock after compression,

The compression of the rock in one direction and its ex-
pansion in another, would obliterate traces of stratification in
such rocks as possess a high degree of cleavage, and to this
compression also is to be attributed the increased specific gra-
vity, as shown in the two specimens from Killeen haying a
distinct and perfect cleavage.

Every circumstance attendant on the cleavage of the rocks
as this is manifested in the south-west of Ireland tends to
support the deductions of Mr Sharpe,(Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc.,
y. 8, p. 87,) that there has been “ a compression in their mass
in a direction everywhere perpendicular to the planes of cleay-
age, and an expansion of their mass along the planes of cleay-
age, in the direction of a line at right angles to the line of
incidence of the planes of bedding and cleavage, or, in other
words, in the direction of the dip of the cleavage.”

Description of a New Species of Trematode Worm (Fasciola

gigantica).* By T. Spencer Cosson, M.D., &. (Plate
VIL)

In a paper “ On the Anatomy of the Giraffe,” communi-
cated to the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh, 5th April
1854, and published in the June Number of the Annals of
Natural History for the same year, we cursorily alluded to
the circumstance of our having detected a species of fluke in
the ducts of the liver of the above-mentioned ruminant.

No fewer than forty such individuals were washed out of
the gland by means of a syringe; but as the animal had been
dead nine days, some of the entozoa had acquired a dark,
semiputrid-looking appearance, and it was not expected that
the vascular or digestive tubes would be sufficiently fresh to
admit of artificial distension. With the view of strengthen-
ing the canals, they were immediately placed in strong spirit,

* Read at the Glasgow Meeting of the British Association, Sept. 1855.

New Species of Trematode Worm. 263

by which precaution we succeeded in injecting some of the
specimens, though not in so complete or perfect a manner as
could be desired.

‘The trematode worm to which we propose to apply the com-
_ bined generic and specific title of Fasciola gigantica, is pos-
sibly confined in its habitat to the situation just indicated,
- which will account for its having hitherto escaped observa-
tion ; yet, seeing how close are the structural and physiologi-
cal affinities connecting the genus Camelopardalis with the
Ceryide, Antilopide, and Camelide, it is highly probable that
certain of the numerous species of these allied families may
be infested by the same entozoon. In the case of the common
fluke (Fasciola hepatica, Linn.), Rudolphi mentions its oceur-
rence in eleven species of Mammalia, six of the animals thus
infested being ruminants.

‘The generic name Fasciola may be objected to, because
the term Distoma has been, of late, so universally employed
by naturalists in reference to the flukes, &c. We think, with
M. Blanchard, there is no good reason for rejecting the ori-
ginal title given by Linnzeus, but that it is rather convenient
to retain it, in contradistinction to the term Distoma, substi-
tuted by Rudolphi, Bremser, Dujardin, and others. M. Blan-
chard, who has done so much to clear up disputed points con-
cerning the organization of the Planariz and Trematoda,
makes very broad distinguishing characters between the genera
Fasciola and Distoma; for example,—in the former genus he
includes only those flukes which have the digestive apparatus
ramifying or dendritic, as in the case of Fasciola hepatica,
and as is also seen in the undescribed species now before us.
In the genus Distoma, on the other hand, he characterizes the
alimentary canal as consisting of an cesophagus dividing into
two intestinal tubes which terminate in coeca, and do not pre-
sent any ramification. The Distoma lanceolatum (Mebhlis) is
instanced as an illustration of this type of structure.

The trematode now before the Association, and which we
have designated Fasciola gigantica, varies in length from an
inch and a half to nearly three inches, most of the specimens
being about two inches; their breadth averages three lines,
some attaining the third of an inch. The general form of the

264 se) Dr Cobbold on a

body is elongated, and rounded at the caudal extremity, in -
which latter feature it differs very markedly from F. hepa-
tica. The larger or more fully developed individuals present
slight irregularities or crenations of the lateral margins near
the neck ; a character, however, by no means constant. The
borders are more attenuated than in the common species, and
the substance of the body thinner. The anterior extremity
is prolonged forward about two lines, and terminates in a
sucker half a line in diameter. There is no evident distinction
between what has been termed head and neck, but the part to
which the latter title is assigned is very prominent on the
dorsal surface, from the distended condition of the oviducts
and seminal reservoir lying immediately beneath.

The digestive apparatus commences by a short esophagus
proceeding downward from the base of the oval sucker ; while
in the neck it divides into two slightly diverging trunks
which pass on either side of the. ventral sucker, again ap--
proximate, and are continued to the tail. On their passage
down, the two principal trunks lie almost parallel, near the
mesial line of the body; they give off eight or ten secondary
branches, which proceed to the lateral margins, and end in
blind coca; small twigs also proceed from the main tubes
inwards, but they do not extend beyond the middle line, and
present very few subdivisions. The ramifying systems of di-
gestive coeca in each lateral segment of the animal, are not
absolutely symmetrical, neither is there uniformity in respect
of number; they preserve, however, a general resemblance both
in the degree of subdivision and in the direction which the se-
condary trunks assume. The downward direction of the
branches,.and the:angle of divergence resulting from such a
disposition of parts form a striking contrast to the arrange-
ment of that system of canals situated nearer the dorsal aspect
of the body, and usually regarded as the circulatory appa-
ratus. These vessels are represented in J’. gigantica by a
single median trunk, from which numerous primary branches
pass obliquely upward to the sides. .

We may here remark, that considerable dispute has arisen
among helminthologists, as to the propriety of regarding this
series of canals as vascular; some have even expressed doubts

New Species of Trematode Worm. 265

as to the presence of any true organs of circulation in the tre-
matode worms, and the distinguished authority Van Beneden
holds this opinion. - Those who regard the superficial set of
tubes in the light of an excretory or secreting gland, ground
- their view on the circumstance of a supposed caudal opening,
through which matters thrown into the median vessel fre-
quently pass. M. Blanchard has shown the aperture in ques-
tion to result from over-distension of the canal, which readily
gives way at this, its weakest point; our own attempts to inject
haye confirmed this observation.
Accepting M. Blanchard’s explanation as correct, we have to
_ state further, in regard to these vessels, that they exhibit less
regularity of distribution than obtains in the branching tubes
of the alimentary system, and they inosculate freely from one
end of the body to the other. Irrespective of these distin-
guishing marks, there is a disparity of calibre between the
two sets of tubes, and all their peculiarities taken together
strongly convince us of their true vascular nature.

The external spiral appendages, with the minute orifices of
the reproductive organs, occupy the same relative position as
in I’. hepatica, i. e., lying directly in front of the second or
great ventral sucker. In reference to these structures—the
nervous system and other special parts—it is unnecessary to
give additional particulars ; their characters resembling in all
respects those seen in the typical species, and which are now
so fully understood.

Fasciola gigantica, Cobbold.

Corpore compresso, elliptico-lanceolato, tres uncias longo,
antrorsum attenuato ; ore hausterioque anticis; collo elongato,
eylindrico; cauda rotundata; ventriculo dendritico, ramis

_clausis.
Habitat in hepate Camelopardalis Giraffe.

Appendiv.—tIn the accompanying Plate, figures have been
introduced of two kinds of Cericaria, which were found asso-
ciated with the above-described trematode. One group of
these cysts infested the liver, where they appeared either at
the surface, in the form of small, hard, projecting points, or
were thinly scattered throughout the substance of the gland,

266 Dr Cobbold on a

They were very numerous, and some had undergone caleare-
ous degeneration. The other, a small group, consisted of three
semitransparent cysts, imbedded in the cellular aponeurosis
surrounding the stylo-glossi and lingualis muscles.

Description of Plate VII,

A. Dorsal aspect of Fasciola gigantica, representing, in parti-
eular, the vascular system, which has been injected with vermi-
lion. At the lower part, several of the vessels ruptured, pro-
ducing extravasation.

B. Ventral surface of another specimen of the same species.
It illustrates the disposition of the alimentary apparatus, the tubes
of which have been filled with artificial ultramarine. —

Fig. 1. Cyst from the liver, with shreds of glandular substance
adhering. Natural size.

Fig. 2. Cysticercus, or trematode larva removed from the eyst.
Enlarged 3 diameters.

Fig. 3. The same, further magnified, showing the head and neck
unfolded, and separated from the caudal vesicle.

Fig. 4. Head and neck, exhibiting the oval sucker. Magnified
25 diameters. ;

Fig. 5. Section of a cyst which has enlarged and undergone calea-
reous degeneration. The deposits are arranged in irregular
concentric laminz, and the investing sheath is much hyper-
trophied, Natural size.

Fig. 6. Oval semitransparent cyst from the cellular substance sur-
rounding the muscles at the base of the tongue. This in-—
vesting capsule is composed of two layers, the outer of con-
densed areolar tissue, the inner of well-marked epithelium.
Natural size.

Fig. 7. Enclosed endocyst, which was separated from the outer
enyelope by a transparent fluid. Natural size. (See Fig. 14.)

Fig. 8. Embryo or larva removed from the endocyst, and partly
unrolled. Natural size.

Fig. 9. Embryo in its coiled state, enlarged to show the cephalic
sucker.

Fig. 10. Sectional view of the same. A tube is seen passing to-
wards the caudal extremity, which is in this larva attenuated ;
it is apparently intestinal, but we did not succeed in tracing
its connection with the sucker, A number of markings cross
the body transversely, and these correspond with linear de-
pressions or divisions on the integument.

Fig. 11. Slightly magnified view of two ova-like bodies or cells, _
from the caudal extremity of the embryo. They could be

New Species of Trematode Worm. 267

seen with a pocket lens, and probably are the remnant of
germ cells, which, before the cercaria passed into the pupa
condition, gave rise to a progeny of embryos, differing from
the parent or nurse cercaria.
Fig. 12. One of these germ cells, showing the included formative
eellules. Magnified 60 diameters.

Fig. 13. Formative cellule, showing the nucleus and nucleolus.
Magnified 100 diameters.

Fig. 14. Irregular albuminoid particles, constituting the structure
of the endocyst. They adhered closely to each other, and
presented no distinct cell wall. Magnified 250 diameters.

Fig. 15. Spherical cells, forming the mass of the parenchymatous
substance of the embryo, and exhibiting various nuclei, or
granular contents. Magnified 250 diameters.

Astronomical Contradictions and Geological Inferences
respecting a Plurality of Worlds.

I. Astronomical Contradictions.

There are many persons who have never looked through
a telescope, who have never had the opportunity of looking
through a telescope, and who in all probability may never have
an opportunity of doing so, but who nevertheless have rested an
implicit faith in the revelations of astronomers. In making
this assertion we believe that we state the case of a large
majority of the reading and educated public. Astronomy
lies within the field of the actual observation of but few, and
all that can possibly be learned on such a subject by the mul-
titude must depend upon the evidence of those, who, from
superior wisdom, superior education, and above all, superior
telescopes, claim credit for their statements. ‘ The ring,
which, to an intelligent Saturnian spectator, would be so
splendid a celestial object,” and “ therefore is not altogether
without its use,” is unfortunately a mere matter of CREDIT to
hundreds and thousands of intellectual and educated beings,
and to whom it is likely to remain nothing else! In the
labours of such philosophers as Galileo, Kepler, Newton, De
Laplace, the Herschels, Arago, and multitudes of others,
men believed that they recognised the spirit of true philo-
sophy ; in their books they fancied they beheld sound vehicles

268 Astronomical Contradictions and Geological

of human testimony, while even in their arguments from
analogy, they were acquitted of “sporting the plausibilities
of unauthorized speculation.”

What an annihilation of all our ideas of the innumerable
splendours of creation formed on the evidence of these astro-
nomers—what a refutation of astronomical imagination do
we possess in that remarkable Essay ‘‘ On the Plurality of
Worlds!” This book is a great fact—an era in our age—an
enormous error or a great truth; there is no via media about
it. The author is sufficiently plain and straightforward in
his hypothesis, and to cast a doubt upon our belief in the
existence of intellectual inhabitants of other planetary bodies
is his sole aim and object. He evidently fears that man is
not disposed to think sufficiently of himself and his destiny,
and is likely to forget that he is “ an important object in the
eyes of the Creator.” )

Sir David Brewster has answered this Essay in a treatise,
entitled ‘“‘ More Worlds than One.” This work might have
been more carefully written, and rendered more worthy of the
subject. Sir David Brewster is a great man, and when he
writes or speaks, men read and listen, and seldom read or
listen in vain. We regret, therefore, especially, that he had
not made himself better acquainted with GroLogicaL facts
before he attempted to reason upon them. .

In order to state the case fairly, we cannot do better than
employ the very words of the controversialists, especially as
some of the expressions of the Author of the Essay are, to
say the least, peculiar, when treating of so important a sub-
ject as the creation of the universe, and we have a delicacy
ourselves about “ winding planets neatly up into balls,” and
“spoiling them in the making,” and comparing them to
“possible thistles,” which we would gladly avoid by taking
refuge in simple extracts.

When the mechanism of the planetary system, and the
composition and actual speed of light was discovered and
registered, men began to think that astronomy stood upon
sound and competent evidence, and without going into the
still deeper tangibilities of the science, and the proofs wrought
by the aid of the higher mathematics, the astronomer seems

Inferences respecting a Plurality of Worlds. 269

to have thought that he was only making a right and a rea

sonable use of his science, when he brought analogy to bear
upon his discoveries in the realms of space, and consequently
we are not surprised that Sir David Brewster, in his introduc-
‘tion to ‘“‘ More Worlds than One,” declares that the doctrine
of a plurality of worlds “ was maintained by almost all the dis-
tinguished astronomers and writers who have flourished since
the true figure of the earth was determined. Giordano Bruno of
Nola, Kepler, and Tycho, believed in it; and Cardinal Cusa and
Bruno.” “Sir Isaac Newton likewise adopted it, and Dr
Bentley, master of Trinity College, Cambridge,” has ably
maintained the same doctrine. “In our own day we may
number among its supporters the distinguished names of the
Marquis De Laplace, Sir William and Sir John Herschel,
Dr Chalmers, Isaac Taylor, and M. Arago.” “The same
just views of the sidereal system, in which no motion is visible,
are taken by Dr Whewell, in his Bridgewater Treatise.” *
* Astronomy,” says he, ‘teaches us that the stars which we
see have no immediate relation to our system. The obvious
supposition is, that they are of the nature and order of our
sun ; the minuteness of their apparent magnitude agrees, on
this supposition, with the enormous and almost inconceivable
distance which, from all the measurements of astronomers, we
are led to attribute to them. If, then, these are suns, they
may, like our sun, have planets revolving round them, and
these may, like our planet, be the seats of vegetable, animal,
and rational life; we may thus have in the universe worlds,
no one knows how many, no one can guess how varied; but,
however many, however varied, they are still so many pro-
vinces in the same empire, subject to common rules, governed
by a common power.” With these great authorities it is
hardly necessary to say that Sir D. Brewster entirely agrees ;
with these great men and great philosophers, he does Nor be-
lieve that the Earth is “ the oasis in the desert of our sys-
tem,”—* the largest solid opaque globe in it;” and, “ really,
the largest planetary body in the Solar System,—its domestic
hearth, and the only world in the Universe!’ Sir David

* Book LIL, che li., p. 270.

270 Astronomical Contradictions and Geological

Brewster has written little in his answer that is new, his doc-
trine is but an old and a general doctrine ; most people thought
as he did, until the publication of the Essay, and believed that
the mighty worlds that rolled in other spheres were not called
merely into existence, and then left untenanted! Right or
wrong, with Sir David, we have been taught to look upon this
planet but as an insignificant portion of the universe; that
the other planets of the solar system are many of them worlds,
more vast and splendid than our own ; and, therefore, inhabited
by beings more intellectual, or at least as intellectual as our-
selves: right or wrong, we cannot doubt that astronomers and
philosophers believed, and taught others to believe, in the
theory, that the planets about our sun are inhabited by i in-.
telligent beings—possibly that their satellites are inhabited
also—and that other supposed suns, known to us as fixed stars,
had each their family of planets, also the “ homes of life and
of intelligence ;”” while even the far distant nebule are stars
or suns, each with their system of globes tenanted by living
creatures.

In another place, we enter farther into the detail of the ~
arguments brought forward by Sir David Brewster in favour
of a Plurality of Worlds ; suffice it to say now, that he con-
siders the Author of the Essay has taken such a view of
the subject, as is “calculated to disparage the science of
astronomy, and to throw a doubt over the noblest of its
truths.”

Before we examine the doctrine and theory of the Author
of “The Essay,” (and which for our purpose we find neces-
sary), we may remark, that he especially deprecates the
« odium theologicum,’’* and makes a particular request, viz.,
that “those persons who may have thought that there was too
much boldness in some of the author’s expressions—as when
he speaks of wasted means in the works of creation, of failure
in some parts of its plan, of several sketches of which only one
has been completed, and the like—will see, on a further con-
sideration of what is said in the essay and dialogue, that no-
thing is involved in the ‘ thought thus expressed’ but what

* Pref. 3d Edit,

Inferences respecting a Plurality of Worlds. 271

is in full harmony with the spirit of reverence, which prompts
their own sentiment.” We have no wish to say one word
against the piety and reverential feeling of the Author of the
Essay; that he has been unfortunate in his expressions,
there can be no doubt.

This then is the theory, doctrine, and belief of our author.

Ist, As regards our planet, he endeavours to prove, that the
Earth is “ the oasis in the desert of our system,”—“ the largest
opaque globe in it;” and “ really, the largest planetary body
in the solar system, its domestic hearth, and the only world in
the universe.”

2d, Our satellite, the Moon, “is a mere cinder; a collection
of sheets of rigid slag, and inactive craters,”—‘* cooled down
as to its exterior at least, without ever being judged fit or
worthy by its Creator of being the seat of life.”

8d, The satellites or moons of the other planets, Jupiter,
Saturn, &c., are equally valuable as regards anything besides
the light they yield to their Primary, excepting the moons of
Jupiter, which are useful to man for nautical purposes!

4th, Mercury, the planet nearest our earth, is much too
hot for “ any of the conditions which make animal existence
conceivable.” —

5ih, Venus “is almost as large as the earth; almost as
heavy,”—also hot, so nor, that “ it is hard to say what kind
of animals we could place in her, if we were disposed to people
her surface; except, perhaps, the microscopic creatures, with
siliceous coverings, which, as modern explorers assert, are al-
most indestructible by heat.”

6th, Mars “is much smaller than the earth, and has not
been judged worthy of the attendance of a satellite.” Atmo-
sphere uncertain! force of gravity also small! “ In a planet
so dense,” the animals “ may very likely have solid skeletons.”
“ We may easily imagine that those seas are tenanted, like
these, by huge aquatic animals of the nature of seals and
whales.” The land of Mars also may possess animals differ-
ing from terrestrial animals, much as “ the iguanodon and
dinotherium differed from the animals which now live on the
earth.” Here it may be as well to caution the reader as to
what the Author of the Essay would himself separate as Theory

272 Astronomical Contradictions and Geological

from Physical fact. Thus, the theory of the Author would in-
clude the following heads, and which nobody is called upon to
believe without proof! That Venus contains no animals but
microscopic creatures with siliceous coverings, or the land of
Mars nothing beyond “ great land and sea saurians,” is pure
theory. Puysicat Facts, such as the size, distances, and
gravity of the planets, should always be carefully separated
from the author’s opinions, to enable us to judge fairly of
this remarkable work! That Venus is “ almost as large as
our earth, almost as heavy,” is true, but that she is inhabited
only by animalcules, MAY NOT be true.

7th, Of the Planetoids or Asteroids which revolve between
Jupiter and Mars, with the exception of Vesta; “ they are
mere dots, and we do not even know that their form is sphe-
rical ; they may be of the nature of meteoric stones,—“ mere
crude and irregularly crystallized masses of metal and earth,’
and if so, “ bits of planets which have failed in the making, ©
and lost their way, till arrested by the resistance of the earth’s
atmosphere.”’

8th, We now turn to the Author’s consideration of Jupiter. ©
The density of Jupiter, he informs us, ‘is not greater than it
would be if his entire globe were composed of water.” The
size of Jupiter is allowed to be 1300 times greater than our
earth, the diameter of Jupiter being 87,000 miles, and that
of the earth 7926. The moons of this planet are four in
number, and the Author of the Essay believes them to be of
the same use as our own moon was, “during the myriads of
years which elapsed while the earth was tenanted by corals
and madrepores, &e.” ““ Light and heat, at his distance, are
only one-ninetieth of those at the earth. None but a very
low degree of vitality can be sustained under such sluggish
influences.” We must either suppose that Jupiter has no
inhabitants, and is ‘a mere mass of water, with perhaps a
few cinders at the centre, and an envelope of clouds about
it ;” or “if we are resolved to have a population,” they must
be “ cartilaginous and glutinous masses.” ‘ It does not seem
likely that the living things can be any thing higher in the
scale of being than such boneless, watery, pulpy creatures as
I haye imagined.”

Inferences respecting a Plurality of Worlds. 273

9th, In the three planets superior to Jupiter, viz., Saturn,
Uranus, and Neptune, the case, according to the Author of the
Essay, appears even stronger “‘in proportion to their smaller
light and heat.” “They agree with Jupiter in being of very
large size and of very small density,” and “the supposition of
the probably watery nature and low vitality of their inhabi-
_ tants must be commended to the consideration of those who
contend for inhabitants in those remote regions of the solar
system.”

10th, Next we take the Sun, that vast globe of light, 880,000
miles in diameter, the central lamp of the Solar System. Re-
volving upon its axis in 25 days, and throwing off its light
with the velocity of 192,000 miles in a second, our author
tells us that although Sir William Herschel and Arago
thought it probable that the Sun is inhabited, he does nor,
and he draws a kind of parallel between a certain madman
who murdered a young lady, and was shut up in the Old
Bailey, and Sir William Herschel and Arago. They all be-
lieved the sun to be inhabited, ergo they were all mad! The
Author of the Essay, although he thus ridicules the opinions of
his brother astronomers, appears to have no doubt that, “so
far as we yet know, the Sun is the largest sun among the
Stars.” The Sun és the centre of the Solar System; the size,
&c., the author does not question, nor the heat of his luminous
atmosphere, nor possibly a solid nucleus of the “ slag” order.
The heat is certain, for “ the water and vapour of the System
were driven to the outer parts, or retained there by the cen-

tral heat of the Sun.” “ Water and aqueous vapour are
driven from the Sun” “ as they are driven from wet objects
placed near the kitchen fire’’ ‘* According to our view,

water and gases, clouds and vapours, form mainly the planets
in the outer part of the solar system, while masses, such as
result from off the most solid materials, lie nearer the sun,
and are found principally within the orbit of Jupiter.” This
accounts most satisfactorily for the sqguashiness of Jupiter,
and the sal volatile substantiality of Saturn, which “ are s¢il/
only huge masses of cloud and vapour, water and air,” with
“lumps” “ of planetary matter at the centre.”

We assure our readers that it requires some little patience

NEW SERIES.—VOL. Il. NO. 1,—ooT, 1855, 8

274 Asironomical Contradictions and Geological

to fix in our mind the remarkable illustration of our author’s
constitution of the Solar System, as treated in his essay. It
is rather wordy (he will forgive this homely expression), and
it is rather difficult to condense. We would not, however,
willingly mistake his opinions and. conclusions; and we be-
lieve we speak truth, and that Sir David Brewster has done
no more, when we say, that, from his description of the Solar
System, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion, that he be-
lieves, and wishes others to believe, that God has created use-
less worlds, appointing for them their motions with “ mira-
culous precision ;” their days, their years, and even their use-
less satellites, without one conceivable reason or idea. The
chapters on the “ Argument from Design,” on the “ Unity of
the World,” and “ The Future,” are no doubt very grand,
very eloquent, and very argumentative; but the upshot of
them all, when you have threaded the labyrinth, simply
amounts to this, that the whole Universe, with the exception
of this earth, is a void, as far as life and intelligence are con-
cerned. No man in his senses can believe in astronomy and
agree with the Author of the Essay, without also believing (in
the words of Sir David Brewster), that (with the exception of
this earth) “the sun, with his magnificent attendants, the
planets with their faithful satellites, the stars in the binary
systems, the Solar System itself, are performing their daily,
their annual, and their secular movements, unseen, unheeded,
and fulfilling no purpose that human reason can conceive ;
lamps lighting nothing, fires heating nothing, waters quench-
ing nothing, clouds screening nothing, breezes fanning no-
thing, and every thing around, mountain and valley, hill and
dale, earth and ocean, all meaning nothing.”

So much for the Solar System. We might indulge in long
quotations on the fixed Stars and Binary Systems; we are,
however, satisfied with the extinction of our sister planets,
and shall merely observe with the author, that stars “ ARE
STARS,” 7. e., that Arcturus and Sirius, fixed stars, are pro-
bably not suns, and “many may have failed in throwing off a
permanent planet ;” it is just possible “ that the distant stars
were sparks or fragments struck off in the formation of the
solar system, which are really long since extinct, and survive

Inferences respecting a Plurality of Worlds. 275

in appearance only by the light which they at first emitted.”
At all events, allowing their existence, “ whether they are as
dense as the sun, or globes a hundred or a thousand times as
rare, we have no means of knowing.” Under these circum-
stances, and as they may be only diluted moonshine, we will
pass on to the nebule.

Nebule are “ star powder”—“ vast masses of incoherent or
gaseous matter,” a long, long way off—< of immense tenuity”
—and “ destitute of any regular system of solid moving bodies.”
All this is SATISFACTORILY explained at great length in the
author’s seventh chapter. As in the solar system, we have
the luminous separated from the non-luminous, and the habi-
table earth distinguished from the uninhabitable planets; so
in the seventh chapter we have a highly luminous elucidation
of those “ mere confused, indiscriminate, incoherent masses,”
called nebule.

- We have not space to enter at any length into Sir D. Brew-
ster’s answer to the Essay in his “ More Worlds than One.”
It is probably well known to our readers. Suffice it to state,
that whereas the Author of the Essay believes this earth to be
*«the only world in the universe,” Sir David conceives—

1. That it is nothing of the kind, but one world out of many,
in the “ great material scheme planned by its Creator as the
residence of moral and intellectual life.” Sir David sum-
mons to his aid the names of Laplace, the Herschels, and
Arago, and with them joins the undeniable support of New-
ton, Kepler, and Tycho; and although Sir William Herschel
and Arago were insane upon the subject of the sun being ha-
bitable, yet their sane opinions are of consequence when
weighing the arguments of our anonymous author.

2. Sir David doubts the assertion of our author when he
says the moon, our satellite, is all cinders, or “ sheets of rigid
slag,” and justly argues, that, if it were revealed to us that
the moon had no inhabitants, “it would not diminish, in the
slightest degree, the probability of Jupiter’s being inhabited.”
«The moon has great functions to perform-as the satellite of
the earth, even if no living thing breathed upon her surface.”
Our moon, therefore, must be compared with the Moons of
Jupiter and Saturn, not with a PRIMARY planet. We were

s 2

276 Astronomical Contradictions and Geological

present at the meeting of the British Association at Liverpool
(September 1854), and heard convictions expressed that the
moon possessed no water, vapour, or air. Sir David tells us
simply that “ this is not true,’ and that there 1s an atmo-
sphere in the moon, though her atmosphere does not reach to
the tops of the mountains. However, this is of slight conse-
quence as a matter of argument. The moon being “slag,”
and Jupiter’s satellites being “ slag,’’ and Saturn’s moons
being “ slag,” do not affect their Primary.

May we be allowed a digression? It was when listening
to Mr Nasmyth, in the geological section of the British Asso~
ciation at Liverpool (September 1854), and after much reflec-
tion upon the works of the Author of the Essay and Sir Dayid
Brewster, that we were so vividly struck with the enormous dif-
ference of opinion even amongst the first astronomers! There
was the diagram of Mr Nasmyth, exhibiting the torn, crateri-
form, and disturbed surface of a portion of our satellite, the
ancient lava currents being distinctly visible, and the un-
abraded pinnacles of what may be granite mountains standing
sharply out. Yet we find astronomers quarrelling about her
atmosphere,—some admitting an atmosphere, others denying
it in toto! In one work we read of vast volcanoes and liquid
torrents of lava; another tells us that they have long ceased
to be active, and that her surface now is everlasting “ slag.”
And certainly the thought did arise, that if with such tele-
scopes, and such magnifying powers brought to bear upon the
only planetary body placed sufficiently near us to have the
inequalities of its surface rendered distinctly visible, astro-
nomers have yet come to no satisfactory determination even
as regards an atmosphere sufficient to support life; if they do
not yet know whether the “ mare crisium” be fluid or not ; if
one great authority hopes that on her surface “ traces of
living beings” will-yet “‘ be seen with some magnificent tele-
scope which may yet be constructed;’’ and another tells us
she is all “slag ;’’—if there be such contradiction respecting
OUR OWN SATELLITE, it certainly did enter into our mind that
jt would be more appropriate to settle the astronomical condi-
tions of our own moon before we wound up other Primaries
neatly “into balls,’ and peopled them only with watery mon-

Inferences respecting a Plurality of Worlds. 277

sters and gigantic cuttle-fish. Sir David Brewster and the
Author of the Essay both quote at considerable length the
great geologist of Scotland, and the poet of all geologists,
Hugh Miller. Words of the same author also flashed across
our own memory on this occasion,—words not inapplicable to
the present subject :—“ I know not why it is that moral evil
exists in the universe of the All-wise and All-powerful.”—
** The question—like that satellite, ever attendant upon our
planet, which presents both its sides to the sun, but invariably
the same side to the earth—hides one of its faces from man,
and turns it to but the Eye from which all light emanates.”—
“We can map and measure every protuberance and hollow
which roughens the nether disc of the moon, as, during the
shades of night, it looks down upon our path to cheer and en-
lighten ; but what can we know of the other?”

Yes, what can we know of the other? was the question that
haunted us at Liverpool. A vision came o’er us, and we
thought that we beheld the Author of the Essay with a power-
ful telescope standing upon a distant star, far beneath our
southern hemisphere. By his side stood he of the Mighty
Hammer, and they gazed upon Victoria-land ; even their very
words seemed wafted to us through the air :—

H. Pray, Mr Essayist, you who have distinguished nebule
into lumps, and stars into “shred coils,” and planets into
“neatly bound-up balls,” tell us what you see on the disc of
that far off planet? and from what you see of the one side,
tell us what you believe of the other ?

E. Man! I behold floating clouds, and ice-bound shores and
frozen seas. I see the flames and lava torrents of a volcanic
mountain that rises among eternal snows, but I behold no sign
of the habitation of man; and man, as constituted here, could
not exist on that inhospitable shore. ‘ Continents and float-
ing islands of ice” “ chill the fluids of the slimy tribes whom
we regard as the only possible inhabitants.” Lay aside thy
telescope, O Man! such a world is not worthy farther con-
‘sideration.

«We can map and measure every protuberance and hollow
‘which roughens the nether dise of the moon, as, during the
shades of night, it looks down upon our path to cheer and

278 Astronomical Contradictions and Geological

enlighten ; but what can we know of the other?” seemed to
re-echo in our ears, as we left to prepare for Professor Owen’s
Lecture on ANTHROPOMORPHOUS APES!

3. With regard to the other moons or satellites of the solar
system, we find Sir David declaring, that every “ satellite in
the solar system must have an atmosphere.” Jupiter is at-
tended by four moons, or satellites, the average size of which
is larger than our own. Saturn is accompanied by eight sa-
tellites, as well as his rings. Uranus has eight moons, and
Neptune is accompanied “ with one, or probably two satel-
lites.” All these satellites, Sir David believes to be “ gor-
geous appendages, for the use, doubtless, of living beings :” the
Author of the Essay, of course, believes them to be “ slag,” and
tellsjus that)“ we may be content not to know how;” “ they
tend to the advantage of the brute inhabitants of the waters.”

4, 5, 6. Of Mercury, Venus, and Mars, all of which the Au-
thor of the Essay considers too hot, or too dense for the cireum-
stances of animal life, we find Sir David saying :—* In Mars,
Venus, and Mercury, the length of the day is almost exactly
twenty-four hours, the same as that of the Earth; and in many
other points, the analogy with our globe is very striking. Con-—
tinents and oceans, and green savannahs, have been observed
upon Mars; and the snow of his polar regions has been seen
to disappear with the heat of summer.” “ We actually see the
clouds floating in the atmosphere of Mars; and in Venus, as-
tronomers have even observed the morning and evening twi- -

light. These atmospheres are doubtless the means of tem-
pering the great heat which Venus and Mercury receive from
the sun.” The reader cannot fail to be struck with the dif-
ference of opinion here manifested.

7. The Planetoids, or Asteroids, the “ dots” and “ shreds ”
of the author, are considered by Dr Olbers and Sir D. Brewster
to be the fragments of a planet that has burst.

8, 9. We regret that we cannot give at greater length, ex-
tracts from the fourth chapter of ‘“‘ More Worlds than One,”
on the analogy between the earth and the other planets. The
difference of opinion between our two authors is so decided,
that it is difficult to express, and no one that has not atten-
tively studied both works can form, an idea of the dire in-

Inferences respecting a Plurality of Worlds. 279

s.

congruity! Let Sir David speak for himself. In reference
to the position of the planets, Jupiter may be regarded as
“the middle planet, and is otherwise highly distinguished.”
“ With respect to the number of moons or satellites—the only
uses of which, that we know, is to give light to the planet, and
produce tides in its seas,—the earth has the lowest number,
all the planets exterior to it having a larger number.” The
satellites of Jupiter afford him perpetual moonlight. The
trade winds of Jupiter have left their streaks, or belts. “ Why
does the sun give it days, and nights, and years? Why do its
moons throw their silver light upon its continents and seas ?
Why do its equatorial breezes blow perpetually over its plains?”
The questions of temperature and density are discussed at full
length, and we are not prepared to say that the Author of the
Essay is right, and Sir David is wrong. The force of gravity
upon Jupiter is entered into, as also that of Saturn, Uranus,
and Neptune; and Sir David declares, “that human beings,
like ourselves, would experience no inconvenience from the
greater or less force of gravity on those planets !” while, as to
the heat of the sun, he tells us, ‘‘ that in so far as vision and
local temperature are concerned, the light of the sun may, in
these planets, be as brilliant, and the temperature of the sea-
sons as genial as they are upon our earth.”

10. The sun, in the opinion of the Author of the Essay, the
evidence of insanity in Dr Elliot, Sir William Herschel, and
Arago, is, we are informed in ‘* More Worlds than One,” the
mainspring of the great planetary chronometers, without which
they would stop and rush into destructive collision. It is the
lamp which yields them the light, without which life would
perish. It is the furnace which supplies the fuel, without
which organic nature would be destroyed.” Created for such
noble purposes, we are led by no analogy to assign to it an
additional function.

But, judging from the creations of the material world, which
haye “various and apparently contradictory purposes to an-
swer,’—“ as the masses of ironstone in our earth” answering
the two purposes of supporting its framework and supplying
*man with tools of civilization,’—Sir David argues, “ that

280 Astronomical Contradictions and Geological

though the sun and the satellites are primarily intended for
the great purposes which they so obviously subserve, it is not
unreasonable to suppose that they may also be the seats of
life and intelligence.” From the discoveries of Sir William
Herschel and Arago (insani ambo), “ we approach the question
of the habitability of the sun with the certain knowledge that
the sun is not a red-hot globe, but that its nucleus is a solid
opaque mass, receiving very little light and heat fay its
luminous atmosphere.”

The light reflected by the opaque body of the sun is seine
“ 7 rays out of 1000,” consequently this solid nucleus is not
so affected by its luminous atmosphere, as to prevent its being ©
inhabited ; in consequence too of other analogical considera-
tions, Sir William Herschel declares, “ we need not hesitate
to admit that, THE SUN IS RICHLY STORED WITH INHABITANTS.”

Of single stars “we are led to believe with Huygens,” says
Sir David, “ that the fixed stars, 3000 in number, as seen by
the naked eye, and about one hundred millions as seen by the
telescope, are the suns of other sytems, whose planets are in-
visible, from their distance.”

*“* To suppose them without planets, and to be merely globes
of light and heat, would be contrary to analogy as well as to
reason. We know that there is one star (our sun) in the
universe surrounded by planets, and one of these planets inha-
bited ; and when we see another single star equal, if not greater
in brilliancy, we are entitled to regard it as a centre of a sys- |
tem, and that system with at least one inhabited planet.”

“ The star é4 Centauri, which is the nearest to our system,
has been found to be about two and a half times brighter than
our sun, and the star Sirius, the brightest in the heavens, has
been found to be four times brighter than & Centauri, but the
distance of Sirius is four times greater than that of 4 Cen-
tauri, and therefore the intrinsic brightness of Sirius is sixty-
three times greater than that of our sun. A luminary like
this, so resplendent in brightness, and so gigantic, doubtless,
in its magnitude, was surely not planted in space to shed its
light and its heat upon nothing.’

When we compare the 10th chapter of “* More Worlds than

Inferences respecting a Plurality of Worlds. 281

One,” upon “ Single Stars and Binary Systems,” with the 8th
chapter of the Essay on “ The Fixed Stars,” we are, indeed,
inclined to agree with Falstaff as to the way in which some
persons on this planet of our own are given to MIS-STATE-
MENTS. It is impossible to read these chapters without coming
to the determination that either Sir David, Copernicus, Gali-
leo, and Kepler, are mistaken, or the Author of the Essay is.
Sir Dayid tells us that the Srars are Suns, and we are
“compelled to draw the conclusion, that wherever there is a
sun, a gigantic sphere, shining by its own light, and either
fixed or moveable in space, there must be a planetary sys-
tem, and wherever there is a planetary system, there must be
life and intelligence.” The Author of the Essay comes to the
determination, that the stars may after all be nothing but
“shred coils,” “sparks or fragments struck off in the for-
mation of the solar system, which are really long since ex-
tinct,” “ lumps which have flown from the potter’s wheel of
the Great Worker ;” “the sparks which darted from his awful
anvil when the solar system lay incandescent thereon; the
curls of vapour which rose from the great cauldron of crea-
tion when its elements were separated.”

After having entered at some length into the subject of
Single Stars, we pass by the Binary System, that is, a sys-
tem in which one star or sun with its supposed system of
planets is supposed to revolve round another star or sun with
its system of planets, or “rather round the centre of gravity
of both.” As these “sparks,” according to the author, may
have long since become “extinct,’’ we will pass on to the
nebule.

The 11th chapter of “ More Worlds than One” is devoted
to the consideration of clusters of stars and nebulae. We
have already seen that the Author of the Essay considers the
nebulee to be “Star Powder,” “vast masses of gaseous mat~
ter,” &c. &c., and that his opponent, from the fact of the
gigantic telescope of Lord Rosse having resolved certain ne-
bul into distinct stars and clusters of stars, believes that we
are entitled to draw the conclusion, that this large class of
celestial bodies are clusters of stars at an immense distance

282 Astronomical Contradictions and Geological

from our own system, that each of the stars of which they are
composed is the sun or centre of a system of planets, and that
these planets are inhabited.

Such is a short statement of the difference of opinion, the
* contradictions,” which exist among astronomers, regarding
the history and organisation of the universe. That the author
of the Essay is an astronomer we believe there is no doubt.
His hypothesis we have already seen ; some of his statements
are we understand accepted by astronomers, and others are con-
sidered as wholly irreconcileable with the science of Newton
and Laplace. If, however, there were “nothing rotten in
the state of Denmark,” it would be absolutely impossible that
such downright contradictions could exist.

Instead of the heavens presenting a glorious spectacle, filled
with stately worlds, and occupied by mortal—perhaps immor-
tal—existences, the lights of that firmament are or may be
EXTINGUISHED SPARKS that shone and then died out myriads
of ages ago! The author fears an “odium theologicum ;’—
the day for the argumentum crucis is gone by! But there is
another light in which his volume must be looked at—we have
before characterized it as an enormous mistake or a great
truth, and we again repeat our assertion,—If the Essay be
TRUE, systems disappear, suns are extinguished; the varied
scenes of life and population, believed to be implanted by the
Almighty’s hand in other planets, are blotted out from the
face of the whole broad universe, save on our own planet.
The creation is a void; solitude reigns everywhere but here
on earth ;—all that Chalmers, Newton, Brewster, have written
upon this subject are wasted words;—Earth and Earth only
is the real object of any worth in the sight of the Almighty,
the rest of the visible universe all “ slag.”

It is not, however, only to Astronomy that the Author of
the Essay appeals to prove his position ; he devotes his longest
chapter (the 6th) to the argument from GroLoey, and Sir
David Brewster’s 3d chapter, in ‘“‘ More Worlds than One,” is
also devoted to geological considerations.

As upon a question of cotton-weaving and calico-printing,
though “ cotton-weavers and calico-printers may be very nar-
row men,” the astronomers must permit the geologists to exa-

Inferences respecting a Plurality of Worlds. 283

mine their geological statements, and cross-examine our own
witnesses. With certain knowledge that we possess respect-
ing the surface of the earth in paleozoic ages, we cannot ac-
cept the proposition of the author as all proven.

- The Author of the Essay is evidently a theorist in geology
as well as astronomy, (though we shall willingly bear testi-
mony to the truth of much that he has said on our own science ;)
and he has forgotten frequently those analogies of nature and
observation which every student of God’s works should carry
in his mind, whatever be the field of his research.

The geologist learns above all things, from the records of
his science, never to base positive conclusions on merely ne-
gative grounds; for if he does, the chances are that he lives
to find himself mistaken! There is a mystery attached to all
creation, which neither astronomers nor geologists are ever
likely to be able to solve, whether the thing created be simply
slag,” the first coral, the first mammal, or the first man,—Crea-
tion always will, we apprehend, be to mortal man a “‘ mystery of
mysteries.” But there are piles upon piles of geologic records
and evidence, that, from the first organism which appears upon
the surface of our planet to the creation of man, all has been
PROGRESS,—an upward march of organization, capacity, and
intelligence. The mollusk preceded the fish, the “ fish preceded
the reptile, the reptile preceded the bird, the bird preceded
the mammiferous quadruped and the quadrumana, and the
mammiferous quadruped and the quadrumana preceded man.”

It is hard, if, while such evidences of a succession of exist-
ences and elaboration of design are revealed to us by geology on
our own planet, we cannot furnish arguments from analogy for
a like arrangement on other planets besides one, and one only.
We do not ourselves believe that the attributes of the wonder-

working Deity have been lavished upon our earth alone, and
we would summon witnesses from Geology, the records of
the hoary past, to bear upon this question.

ieee:

284 Mr Robert Davidson on some

On some new Compounds of Furfurine. By Mr RoBERtT
DAVIDSON.

The recent researches of How, Stalshchmidt, Von Planta,
and others, have shown that the natural fixed alkaloids, when
treated with the iodides of ethyl and methyl, assume a single
equivalent of these radicals, and are converted into bases so-
luble in water, and presenting many of the characters of am-
monium bases, although with some discrepancies, which our
imperfect knowledge of the fixed bases does not enable us to
explain. All our present knowledge of the bases is deduced
from the examination of those that are volatile, and the inter-
val by which they are separated from the fixed alkaloids is too
great to permit us to apply with certainty to the latter conclu-
sions drawn from the former, and some intermediate point of
comparison is wanting which may enable us to trace more mi-
nutely their internal constitution. The artificial preparation of
furfurine, which seems to throw some light on its constitution,
and its general similarity to the natural alkaloids, point to it
as a substance likely to afford some information on these
points; and I therefore undertook the experiments contained
in the following pages, for the purpose of ascertaining its re-
lations to the iodides of ethyl and amyl. At the outset, how-
ever, I encountered some difficulty from the imperfect manner
in which its salts are described, the hydriodate particularly
being entirely unknown; and I was thus induced to examine
some of them, and to make a few observations on some other
points, which I shall commence by describing.

Salts of Furfurine.

Hydriodate of Furfurine.—This salt is easily obtained by
adding powdered furfurine to a moderately-dilute solution of
hydriodic acid. The base rapidly dissolves, and, should the so-
lution have the proper degree of concentration, crystals shortly
make their appearance, which are purified by solution in boil-
ing water. It may also be formed by mixing strong solutions
of iodide of potassium and hydrochlorate of furfurine. It is

New Compounds of Furfurine. 285

obtained in fine, colourless, oblique four-sided prisms, which
require 55 times their weight of cold water for solution, but are
much more soluble on boiling. It is also soluble in alcohol and
ether, from which it may be obtained in fine crystals by spon-
taneous evaporation. It fuses in its water of crystallization
at 212°, and after the greater part is expelled, it solidifies —
into a tough mass, from which the remainder is driven off
with difficulty. Its analysis gave—

5:256 grains dried at 212°, gave

8-763 carbonic acid, and
I. 2 1°825 water.
7582 ... dried at 212°, gave
4:482 ... iodide of silver.
rz { 7008 ... dried at 212°, gave
“14143 ... iodide of silver.
III 9-447 ... gave
*| 5613 ... iodide of silver.
Experiment Calculation.
as ll. Ill.
Carbon, . 45:47 eee tag 45°44 C,, 180
Hydrogen, 3°85 is ae 330 H,, 18
Nitrogen, ie Be a TOL. Nee
Oxygen, sisi ies bad ie). 48
Todine, . 31:92 31:95 32°00 $210 I 127-1
100-00 235°1

The crystallized salt contains in addition two equivalents of
water, which it loses at 212°, or in vacuo over sulphuric acid,

7°314 grains of the air-dry salt lost at 212°
0-300 ... of water = 4:07 per cent.;

and 4:35 is the calculated number for the formula
C,, H,, N, 0, HI + 2HO.

Hydrobromate of Furfurine is obtained by mixing strong
solutions of bromide of potassium and hydrochlorate of fur-
furine. The mixed solutions slowly deposit crystals, which are
purified by re-solution in boiling water, from which they sepa-
rate on cooling in short prisms, soluble in 26 times their weight

of cold water. They contain two equivalents of water ex-
pelled at 212°—

aloe | gle
; OS a a
ie, Sal

286 Mr Robert Davidson on some

{ 7°558 grains of hydrobromate dried at 212°, gave
4048 ... bromide of silver, |
eorresponding to 22°78; while 22-92 is the — result
for the formula

C,, H,, N, O, HBr.

Bichromate of Furfurine—This salt is obtained as an
orange crystalline precipitate when concentrated solutions of
bichromate of potash and hydrochlorate of furfurine are mixed.
If the solutions be dilute, it is deposited more slowly, in the
form of slender orange needles. The bichromate is very spa-
ringly soluble in cold water, and when boiled with that fluid
speedily decomposes. [Even in the dry state, at ordinary tem-
peratures, the crystals are apt to acquire a brownish tinge,
apparently due to partial decomposition. The air-dry salt
gave the following result :—

6944 grains of bichromate gave
{ 1-417... ~~ sesquioxide of chromium.
corresponding to 14:08 per cent. of chromium, while 14°12 is
that required by the formula
Cy) Hy. Np 0, HO 2Cr 0,

Bisulphate of Furfurine—By digesting furfurine with ex-
cess of sulphuric acid, and concentrating carefully, irregular
crystals of the bisulphate are obtained. Under favourable cir-
cumstances, they are obtained in the form of rhomboidal plates
soluble in less than their own weight of cold water, and melt-
ing at 212° into a colourless oily liquid. Owing to its great
solubility, it was found impossible to purify it by re-cerystal-
lization, and it was simply moistened with a little water, and
pressed between folds of blotting paper. A sulphuric acid
determination was made, which, though differing so much from
the calculated number as to render it unnecessary to give the
details, was still sufficiently near to show that the salt was
the bisulphate.

The neutral sulphate is obtained in flattened needles re-
sembling sword blades, which are very soluble in water. They
were not analysed.

Carbonate of Furfurine.-—W hen a current of carbonic acid —
is passed through furfurine suspended in water, solution slowly

New Compounds of Furfurine. 287

takes place, and on filtering from excess of the alkaloid, and
exposing the fluid to the air, silky crystals soon begin to form.
These crystals, however, are only furfurine, as was inferred
from their general characters, and from the fact that they
dissolve in acids without effervescence. It is obvious that a
carbonate must have existed in solution, but its instability
prevented its being obtained in the solid form.

Sulphuretted hydrogen showed a precisely similar deport-
ment.

Action of Bromine on Furfurine.

A quantity of furfurine was mechanically diffused through
water, and an aqueous solution of bromine added as long as
the solution became decolorised. Vigorous action took place,
and a whitish precipitate was produced, which changed al-
most instantly into a dark uninviting substance, which ap-
peared to be a feeble acid. Various expedients were resorted
to in order to obtain a bromo-furfurine, but without success,
the action being always too violent, and resulting in a com-
plex decomposition.

Action of Iodine on Furfurine.

Powdered furfurine was digested at a moderate heat with
an alcoholic solution of iodine in a loosely stoppered flask, so
as to prevent evaporation of the alcohol. The action went on
slowly, and after eighteen hours the solution was evaporated
in the water bath, when it left a syrupy mass which in some
places showed decided traces of crystallization, and was partly
soluble in boiling water, leaving undissolved a resinous sub-
stance. ‘The fluid on evaporation gave crystals of consider-
able size, and rather sparingly soluble in water. They proved
to be the hydriodate, and the analyses Nos. I. and II. ona
preceding page were from the salt thus obtained. These re-
sults point to the conclusion, that the iodine decomposes part
of the furfurine combining with an equivalent of hydrogen
and forming hydriodic acid, which unites with the portion of
the base unacted on; the final products of the reaction being
hydriodate of furfurine, and a black resinous product of de-
composition.

288 Mr Robert Davidson on some

Action of Iodide of Ethyl upon Furfurine.

Ethylo-Furfurine.—A preliminary experiment having shown
that no action took place in the cold, between an alcoholic
solution of furfurine and iodide of ethyl, the mixture was
transferred to a tube which was sealed and immersed in boiling
water. At the end of about three hours, the point of the tube
was broken off, the contents poured into a flask, and the excess
of iodide of ethyl distilled off. The evaporation was then car-
ried to dryness. On the addition of hot water, the residue
readily dissolved, and on cooling deposited hemispherical
crystalline tufts. A portion of the mother liquor being de-
composed by ammonia, a milky precipitate separated, which on
stirring with a glass rod collected into a pale mass having the
consistence of syrup. This was found to be but sparingly
soluble in water, but freely so in alcohol, both solutions haying
an alkaline reaction. From these well-marked differences be-
tween this substance and furfurine it was inferred to be a new
base, a supposition which was confirmed by the analyses about
to be given. To obtain it in the pure state, a strong alcoholic
solution of the crystallized hydriodate was decomposed by
oxide of silver, and the precipitated iodide of silver having
been separated by filtration, the filtrate was evaporated at a
very gentle heat until it ceased to lose weight.

Analysis of the base yielded the subjoined results, the com-
bustion being made in small glass boats. ;
4-550 grains ethylo-furfurine dried at 212°, gave
I.

11:110 ... carbonic acid, and
2°134 ... water.

5113 ... gave
II. {11525 ... carbonic acid, and

2°552 ... water.
Experiment. Calculation.

: vie eae ie oe
Carbon, . 66°59 66°81 66°88 C,, 204
Hydrogen, 5-21 5°54 558 H,, 17
Nitrogen, . at ive 9°18. Ny ome
Oxygen, . ae on 18:36 O, 56

100-00 305

It will be seen that these numbers agree with those re-

New Compounds of Furfurine. 289

quired by the hydrate of ethylofurfurine, whose composition
is expressed by
C,, H,, Ny 0, HO.

The reaction between the elements of furfurine and iodide of

_ ethyl is shown in the annexed equation.

H
C;, H,, N, 0,+C, H, 1=C,, {

The hydrate of ethylofurfurine, when recently precipitated,
is a whitish syrupy substance, which, on standing, acquires a
darker shade and greater consistence. It is but slightly
soluble in water, readily so in alcohol, but from neither men-
struum can it be obtained in a crystalline form. The air-dry
base does not show the smallest indication of crystalline
structure, though left to itself for weeks. Its solution has a
bitter taste. Dilute nitric acid oxidises it in the cold, giving
off nitrous fumes. When added to a solution of a salt of
ammonia, if the temperature be raised to nearly 212°, it dis-
places the volatile alkali, a property which it possesses in
common with furfurine.

Hydriodate of Ethylofurfurine is deposited from a hot
aqueous solution as a gummy mass, but in favourable cireum-
stances in crystalline tufts, composed of thin plates grouped

together and radiating from a common centre. By sponta-

neous evaporation, | have obtained several crystals of great
beauty and magnitude, modifications of the oblique prismatic
system. ‘The hydriodate requires for solution 36 parts of
water at ordinary temperatures ; but it is much more soluble
in alcohol and ether. The crystals do not lose their bril-

liancy when exposed to the atmosphere for a length of time.

The following are the results of analysis ;—

4:857 grains, dried in vacuo, gave
8575 ... carbonic acid, and
1980 ... water.

9:900 .,. dried in vacuo, gave
5485 ... iodide of silver,

NEW SERIES.—VOL. UJ, NO. 1.—ocT. 1855, .

290 Mr Robert Davidson on some

Experiment, Calculation. :

Carbon, . 48-15 48:10 ©,, 204

Hydrogen, . 4:53 401 H, 17

Nitrogen, . ine 660 N, 28

Oyygen, . re 11:32 O, 48

Iodine, ; 29-94 29:97 I 127:1
100-00 424-1

The formula of the salt dried in vacuo is therefore,
C,, H,, N; 0, HI.
When crystallized, it contains in addition two equivalents
of water.
{ 13-485 grains at 212° lost
554... water,
equivalent to 4-11 per cent.; the calculated quantity is 401.

Chloride of Platinum and Ethylofurfurine.—After preci-
pitating the iodine in a solution of the hydriodate, the excess
of silver is thrown down by hydrochloric acid. To the solu-
tion evaporated to a moderate bulk an excess of chloride of
platinum is added. If this addition be cautiously made, only
avery slight immediate precipitate falls, the greater part erys-
tallizing out after several hours. The crystals are collected
and washed with water, in which they scarcely dissolve. They
are decomposed when boiled with water for some time.

In igniting this salt, it is necessary to apply the heat very
gradually, as it decomposes at a low temperature, and swells
to many times its bulk.

I (ian grains, dried at 212°, gave

*{ 1371 ... platinum.
II { 6-426 grains, dried at 212°, gave

{1260 ... platinum.
III { 5-285 grains, dried at 212°, gave

"11-035 ... platinum.

equivalent to a percentage of

IL. IL. II.
19°56 19-61 19°58

The theoretical amount corresponding to
tice: C,, H,, N, O,, HCl, Pt Cl,

New Compounds of Furfurine. 291

Action of Iodide of Ethyl on Ethylofurfurine.

The preceding experiments having shown that ethylofurfu-
rine does not possess the usual properties of an ammonium
base, it seemed desirable to ascertain whether it might not be
capable of assimilating another ethyl molecule, which the
constitution of furfurine seemed to render not improbable.
We have only to recall to mind the fact that furfurine is
formed from two equivalents of ammonia, in which the six equi-
valents of hydrogen may be considered as replaced by three
equivalents of a substance having the formula C,, H, O,, to
see that, as far as analogy will entitle us to draw conclusions,
we might anticipate that two equivalents of ethyl would be
requisite to produce an ammonium base.

The ethylofurfurine employed in making this experiment
was prepared by decomposing an aqueous solution of the hy-
driodate by ammonia. When agitated with a rod, the milky
particles which are separated collect at the bottom of the ves-
sel, and the ethylated base is then washed with hot water, and
stirred up, so as to allow the solvent to come more freely into
contact with its particles. The vessel being cooled by immer-
sion in cold water, the washings may be poured off without
permitting the escape of any of the base. This process is re-
peated until, when tested with a silver salt, no precipitate is
produced.

The ethylofurfurine being thus obtained, it was treated with
iodide of ethyl, in the manner already employed for furfurine.
A salt was obtained in prismatic crystals, which, when ana-
lysed, gave the following results :—

5:660 grains gave

3114 ... iodide of silver,
equivalent to a percentage of 29°73, differing but little from
the theoretical quantity in hydriodate of ethylofurfurine.

A platinum salt was also prepared as a confirmation.

bios grains platinum salt gave
(0-933... platinum,
corresponding to a percentage of 19°54, the calculated result
for the formula
C,,H,,N,0,, HC, Pt Cl
being 19°66. ee ea es.
T2

292 Mr Robert Davidson on some

Hence it appears that ethylofurfurine is incapable of uniting
with an additional atom of ethyl.

Action of Iodide of Amyl upon Furfurine,

Hydriodate of Amylofurfurine.—A spirituous solution of
furfurine placed in a sealed tube, along with excess of iodide
of amyl, was exposed to a temperature of 212° for nearly
twelve hours. A platinum salt was then prepared and ana-
lysed ; but the high percentage of platinum left upon ignition
showed the presence of a quantity of unchanged furfurine.
The tube was therefore resealed and exposed to the same tem-
perature for four days, at the end of which time it was taken
out, and the contents transferred to a basin and evaporated to
dryness. The gummy residue was purified by solution in
boiling water, from which it is deposited on standing in ra-
diated crystals, rather sparingly soluble in water, which are
the hydriodate of amylofurfurine, as shown by the subjoined
analysis :-—

5922 grains of hydriodate gave

11:240 ... ~— carbonic acid, and

2637. i... water,

5800 ... hydriodate gave

2934 ... iodide of silver.

Experiment. Calculation.
Carbon, 51-78 51:50 C,, 240
Hydrogen, 4°76 4:93 H,, 23
Nitrogen, oy 6-00 N, 28
Oxygen, nie 10:30 O, 48
Todine, 27°34 27:27. Lae
100-00 4661

These numbers agree with the formula C,, H,, N, O, HI,
and the constitution of the base was farther determined by
the analysis of its platinum salt.

Platinochloride of Amylofurfurine is prepared by the suc-
cessive addition of nitrate of silver, hydrochloric acid, and bi-
chloride of platinum, to a solution of the hydriodate. It falls
as a yellow crystalline precipitate, scarcely soluble in water.

zy, { 8982 grains dried at 212°, gave
"(1236 .,. platinum.

New Compounds of Furfurine. 293

rr, { #802 grains dried at 212°, gave
* {0852 «.- platinum.

I. II.
17-70 17-78
the calculated number is 18°14.
An attempt was also made to obtain a diamylofurfurine,
but without success, the salt obtained being only hydriodate
of amylofurfurine, as shown by this analysis.

4-821 grains dried at 212°, gave
9:075 ... carbonic acid, and
2°225 ... water.
Experiment. Calculation.
Carbon, ; 51°34 51:50
Hydrogen, ‘ 5°13 4:93

From the preceding experiments, it would appear that fur-
furine is capable of taking up only one atom of the alcohol
radicals, but the compounds produced have none of the cha-
racters of ammonium bases, their insolubility in water and
comparatively feeble alkaline properties especially distin-
guishing them from all the known members of that class,
whether produced from the volatile or fixed bases. It is
difficult to draw from them any absolute conclusions as to the
constitution of furfurine ; but the non-production of the die-
thylo and diamylo-furfurine seem to me to raise the question
_as to whether the two equivalents of ammonia, from which
the furfurine is produced, may not perform different functions
in it, one having basic characters, and the other playing an
entirely different part. Into this question, however, I shall
not attempt to enter, as it could only be answered by an ex-
tended investigation of the bases of allied constitution ; but I
may mention that I am at present engaged with an investiga-
tion of amarine, which may possibly throw some light upon it.

The preceding experiments were undertaken at the request
of Professor Anderson, and I now seize the opportunity of ex-
pressing my thanks to him, not only for his kindness in
_ placing at my disposal suitable apparatus, but also for the ad-
vice and assistance with which I was favoured.

Appended are a list of the substances described and ana-
lysed in the present paper.

294 Mr J. Galletly on a new Glucoside

Hydriodate of furfurine, C,, H,, N, O,, HI+2 HO
Hydrobromate of furfurine, . "ai H, _N, 2 O,, HBr+2 HO
Bichromate of furfurine, Ce. H,, N, O,, HO, 2 Cr O,
Hydrated ethylofurfurine, C,, H,, N. 0. ae
Hydriodate of ethylofurfurine, C,, H,, N, O,. HI+2 HO
Chloride of platinum and etbylo-

Breit: f Coy Hye Nz O HCl, Pt Cl,
Hydriodate of amylofurfurine, Cy, Hy, N, Og Hares
Platinum salt of amylofurfurine, C,, H,, N, O,, HCI, Pt Cl,

On a new Glucoside existing in the Petals of the Wallflower.
By Mr Joun GatetLy, Assistant to Dr T. Anderson.

A watery infusion of the petals of the wallflower has been
occasionally employed for the purpose of detecting the pre-
sence of free acids or alkalies in solution, giving with the
former a fine rose-red, and with the latter a brilliant green.
Although it does not appear to exceed in delicacy the sub-
stances usually employed for this purpose, I had occasion to
make use of it in some experiments, in which it became ne-
cessary to ascertain the effect produced by different colouring
matters; and in preparing the infusion I detected the sub-
stance which forms the subject of the present notice, and for
which I propose the name of cheiranthine, derived from that
of the genus to which the wallflower belongs.

When the petals, carefully picked from the flowers, are in-
fused for some time in water at a nearly boiling temperature,
they lose the dark marks with which they are covered, and
acquire a uniform pale-yellow colour. The infusion has a very
pungent smell, due to the presence of a volatile oil containing
sulphur, and doubtless identical with that found in other eru-
ciferous plants, and, in addition to the colouring matter and
other substances, contains the cheiranthine. The method
which I found most advantageous for preparing it consists in
covering the petals with boiling water, digesting for some time,
filtering off the infusion, and adding to it about a fifth of its
bulk of aleohol. The fluid is set aside, and in the course of
twenty-four hours crystals begin to make their appearance in
it, and go on increasing for some days. The whole of the

existing in the Petals of the Wallflower. 295

cheiranthine appears to be extracted by the first infusion, or,
at all events, what remains cannot be obtained, as it appears
to become uncrystallizable during the evaporation to which the
fluid must be subjected. The crystals are separated from the
fluid, and purified by solution in boiling alcohol and digestion
with animal charcoal.

Cheirarithine does not crystallize well from its watery solu-
tion; but from alcohol it is obtained in the form of fine tufts
of long silky needles of a light-yellow colour. It is very spar-
ingly soluble in cold water and alcohol, but dissolves readily
in both fluids at the boiling temperature. The hot alcoholic
solution becomes nearly solid on cooling. It is very slightly
soluble both in cold and boiling ether. It is entirely without
action on vegetable colours, and its taste, which is not very
marked, is slightly bitter and pungent. It contains only car-
bon, hydrogen, and oxygen, and its analysis, made on the
substance dried at 212°, gave,

{ 5-090 grains of substance gave
I

9-750 ... carbonic acid,
2635 =... water.
4-865 grains of substance gave
II. 9300 ... carbonic acid,
2-410 ... water,
5°330 grains of substance gave
III. < 10-245 ... carbonic acid,
2°820 .., water.

$5 Il. ul.
Carbon, ‘ P 52:24 52°13 52:42
Hydrogen, . P 5°75 5:50 5°87
Oxygen, i oi. 42°01. 42°37 41°71

100:00 100:00 100-00
These numbers agree with the formula, C,, H,, 0,,, as is
seen by the following comparison of the experimental mean
with the calculation :—

Mean. Calculation.
Oerbon,. . . 62:26 62:40 ©,, 240
Hydrogen, ‘ etl et Ke 567 H,, 26
Oxygen, . ; . 42:03 41:93 0O,, 192
458

Cheiranthine dissolves in alkalies in the cold with a deep
orange-yellow colour, which disappears on the addition of an

296 Mr J. Galletly on a new Glucoside

acid, and a precipitate slowly forms, which appears to be the
unaltered substance. Baryta and lime water, when added to
its hot aqueous solution, give gelatinous orange-coloured pre-
cipitate, slightly soluble in cold, and rather more so in boiling
water; their solutions have a pale-orange colour. Perchlo-
ride of iron gives a dirty green, almost black colour. Sub-
acetate of lead gives an orange-precipitate.

The aqueous solution of cheiranthine becomes red when
treated with chlorine; bromine gives a light-brown precipi-
tate, which dissolves in alcohol, and iodine also appears to
exert an influence upon it, the colour of a very dilute tincture
of that substance being perceptibly deepened by the addition
of cheiranthine. The compounds produced are probably sub-
stitution products, but I had not a sufficient quantity of any of
them for analysis.

When cheiranthine is boiled with dilute sulphuric acid, a
yellow substance precipitates, which is insoluble in water.
On removing the acid by means of carbonate of baryta, the
fluid is found to have a sweetish taste; and when boiled with
sulphate of copper and caustic potash, gave unmistakeable evi-
dence of the presence of sugar. The peculiar odour of sac-
charine fluids was also distinctly observed during its evapo-
ration. The yellow matter precipitated by sulphuric acid is
readily dissolved by a dilute solution of soda.

From these properties, it is obvious that cheiranthine be-
longs to the group of glucosides, like salicine, phloridzine, &c.
To the latter substance it even approximates in constitution,and
this similarity extends to the composition of its lead compound.
This substance was prepared by adding subacetate of lead to
the aqueous solution of cheiranthine, and washing the precipi-
tate, which is orange-yellow, and nearly insoluble in water.

/ 7°73 grains of the lead precipitate gave

4°88 ... oxide of lead.
Experiment. Calculation.
Carbon, ‘ i ve 22:3 On 240
Hydrogen, . ; isa 1-9 H,, 20
Oxygen, : é oy 13°4 O,, 144
Oxide of lead, pee 62.4 6PbO 669-42

ae

100-00 107342

existing in the Petals of the Wallflower. 297

The formula is therefore C,, H,, 0,,,6 PbO. The phlo-
ridzate of lead also contains six equivalents of oxide of lead;
but there is this difference between it and the cheiranthine
compound, that in the latter the oxide of lead replaces an
equivalent quantity of water, while in the former that base is
directly combined with the unchanged phloridzine. The exa-
mination of the lead compounds of the glucosides hitherto in-
vestigated is far from complete; but it is to be observed, that
the silicine compound is formed by replacement of four equi-
valents of water by oxide of lead, and is therefore analogous
to the lead salt of cheiranthine.

The foregoing are the results to be drawn from the experi-
ments hitherto made; but as they are founded on a single lead
determination, and as several other formule might be deduced
from the analysis of the cheiranthine itself, they must be con-
sidered as in some degree provisional. The season during which
wallflower can be obtained in abundance was nearly over before
I commenced this investigation, and the whole of the material
I could obtain only sufficed for the observations contained in
the preceding pages, which are far from being as complete as I
could have wished. Itis my intention, however, to return to the
subject next summer, when I shall be able to command a larger
quantity of wallflower. I propose also to extend my inquiry
to some other cruciferous plants which may possibly be found
to contain it. I may mention, however, that it does not exist
in the field mustard, Sinapis arvensis, the only other plant I
have yet examined.

This investigation was made in the laboratory of Dr An-
derson.

298

Miscellaneous observations on some Tropical Plants.
By Joun Davy, M.D., F.R.S., &.

The following observations, extracted from note-books kept
whilst I was in the West Indies, were made inthe Island of Bar-
badoes, between 1845 and 1848. Should any of them lead to
further and more exact inquiry, I shall be more than satisfied.

1. On the Juice of the Star-Apple (Chrysophyllum Cainito, Zinn.)

The juice of this luscious fruit has, 1 have found, the pro-
perty of coagulating on exposure to the air very like coagula-
ble lymph.

I have a note of one trial only. After dividing the fruit
with a knife (the knife was much blackened, chiefly, it would
appear, by the cortical part), the inner mucilaginous portion
with the seeds was scooped out, well mixed with about an equal
bulk of water, and pressed through a coarse linen cloth.
What was thus obtained was semifluid (its coagulation had
commenced), of a creamy appearance, and uniform consist-
ence. Under the microscope it appeared to be composed
chiefly of exceedingly minute granules, the largest not ex-
ceeding the a of an inch in diameter, which were ren-
dered brown by tincture of iodine, with the exception of a
very few that were tinged blue. After two hours a pretty
firm coagulum had formed with the separation of a trans-
parent fluid, and so great was the contraction as to be equal
to about one-third of the diameter of the containing vessel, a
circular glass one ; and so coherent and firm was the coagulum
itself, that it admitted of being lifted out without breaking or
change of form. On the following day, the coagulum was
found still more contracted, and in all its dimensions. The
transparent fluid surrounding the coagulum was sweet. It
was not rendered turbid by nitric acid. In a few days it
began to ferment, and in a few more it became acid. The
contraction of the coagulum continued increasing during
several days. After about a fortnight it softened, became
pultaceous, and emitted an offensive smell not unlike that of

Dr Davy on Tropical Plants. 299

chyme as mei with in the cadaver. Under the microscope, as
before, it exhibited a granular texture, without the admixture
of any fibres.

2. On the supposed influence of the Papaw (Carica Papaya, Linn.)
on Meat.

It is commonly believed, both in the East and West Indies,
that this tree has the property of rendering tender meat of
any kind that is brought near it. In Ceylon the opinion is,
that the effect is secured merely by suspending the meat be-
neath the foliage of the tree during the night. In Barbadoes
greater reliance is placed in wrapping the meat in its leaves
for a few hours with a portion of the young fruit.

The trials I had made afforded negative results, tending to
prove that the effect on the meat was owing to other and in-
cidental circumstances, rather than to any special power pos-
sessed by the plant. I shall mention one in illustration.

Of two fowls killed at the same time, one was wrapped in
the leaves of the papaw by my cook in the most approved
manner, not neglecting the introduction of a piece of the young
fruit ; the other was similarly treated, substituting the leaves
and fruit of the squasse (Cucurbita Pepo, Linn.) Both
roasted, were found equally tender. Other trials, using the
leaves of other plants, gave like results.

The juice of the leaf, to which by some the supposed effect
on the meat is attributed, appeared, as well as I could judge,
to possess very little activity. It is milky, almost insipid, or
only in the slightest degree acrid, and only after many hours
promotes fermentation, and that in a very slight degree when
added to a solution of sugar in water.

The incidental circumstances alluded to, whether the sus-
_ pending of the meat under the leaves of a succulent plant ex-
haling moisture, or the wrapping it in the same, may be sufli-
cient to account for the softening effect on the meat at a tem-
perature such as that of Ceylon or the West Indies, so favour-
able to rapid change, that change on which tenderness in meat
depends, without reference to any occult virtue in the plant.

300 Dr Davy on Tropical Plants.

3. On the growth of the Bamboo-cane (Bambusa arundinacea,
Willd.) and of the Horse-radish tree (Moringa pterygosperma).

These plants afford good examples of the powers of vegeta-
tion within the tropics in their rapid growth.

I have been assured on good authority that the first, the
bamboo, has been known to shoot fourteen inches in the
twenty-four hours. I measured one six days successively,
one that was about four feet from the stoale from which it
sprung; during the first twenty-four hours it increased in
height 6-75 inches ; during the second, 5-25 ; during the third,
4-5; during the fifth, the same; during the sixth, 4-5 inches.
The growth appeared to be in part terminal, and in part in-
terstitial, the space between the joints in the new shoot haying
lengthened. These observations were made between the 22d
and 29th September, and on a plant in a comparatively poor
and dry soil.

A horse-radish tree close to my house, that had sprung
from seed, had, in nine months from the sowing of the seed,
attained a height of at least twenty-four feet. Its trunk then
exceeded in thickness a man’s arm, and its branches, propor-
tionally large, were at this time bent from the weight of its
pods, some of which were ripe. It had received no culture or
manure, and the soil on which it grew was stony, and nowise
a fertile one.

I find amongst my notes another instance of the activity
of tropical vegetation, in the rapid manner in which plants
right themselves on change of position. Thus, in a flower-
box in which weeds had taken the place of the flowers, placed
on its end at six o’clock in the morning, I found in the short
interval of twelve hours—viz., at six in the evening—that
they, the weeds, had become bent at right angles to the soil
in which they were rooted, so that the upper portion of their
stems had recovered their perpendicular position.

The extraordinary productiveness of a tropical climate is by
many considered an inestimable advantage, forgetful of the —
more than counterbalancing evil arising from the astonishing
growth of exhausting and often smothering weeds. The poet
may sing of the

Dr Davy on Tropical Plants.

— a “ redundant growth
: Of vines and maize, and bower, and brake,
Which Nature, kind to sloth,
And scarce solicited by human toil,
Pours from the riches of the teeming soil ;’’
but the planter knows to his cost that in no part of the earth’s
‘surface is more care and industry required than within the

tropics to make agriculture profitable.

4, The purification of Sugar by Ants.

If the juice of the sugar-cane—the common syrup as ex-
pressed by the mill—be exposed to the air, it gradually evapo-
rates, yielding a light-brown residue, like the ordinary musco-
yado sugar of the best quality. If not protected, it is presently
attacked by ants, and in a short time is, as it were, converted
into white crystalline sugar, the ants having refined it by re-
moving the darker portion, probably preferring that part from
its containing azotized matter. The negroes, I may remark,
prefer brown sugar to white; they say its sweetening power
is greater; no doubt its nourishing quality is greater, and
therefore as an article of diet deserving of preference. In re-
fining sugar, as in refining salt (coarse bay salt containing a
little iodine), an error may be committed in abstracting mat-
ter designed by nature for a useful purpose.

5. Leaf of the Pigeon-Pea Tree (Cajanus indicus).

The leaf of this tree on its upper surface is covered with a
fine down. When incinerated, it yields a large proportion
of fixed matter, derived from the soil, consisting chiefly of
the vegetable alkali, of phosphate of lime, of carbonate of
lime, of magnesia, and silica. ‘The silica is derived from the
down. Under the microscope it exhibits the same form as the
- down, viz., that of spicule, in shape not unlike the poison-fang
of the serpent, tubular to a certain extent, and slightly curved,
from about 545 to x}, of an inch in length, and in width at
the base about gy55. The substance of these spicula—that
is, what remains after incineration—I infer to be silica, from
its being infusible before the blow-pipe, and insoluble in the
mineral acids,

Were the soil in which the plant grows to be examined,

Ohh a eee
Py ie ae

302 Dr Davy on Tropical Plants.

probably after a few years, these spicule might be found de-
prived of their vegetable organic portion, the residual silicious
matter preserving their forms, and they might be mistaken
for the skeletons of infusoria. ;

The leaves examined were from a plant growing in a yol-
canic soil, that of St Kitts, where it is much used as a green-
dressing to the cane-fields, and is considered very fertilizing.
As its roots penetrate deeply, and the roots of the cane spread
near the surface, it seems well adapted to counteract the ex-
hausting influence of the cane.

6. Peculiarities of the Sweet Potato (Batatas edulis).

In its raw state this vegetable has a slightly acrid taste ;
on boiling it becomes sweet. In its sound state it is almost
without odour; when it is worm-eaten, it acquires a perfume
very like that of the hair-powder formerly in fashion called
«The Marshall’s,” or that of the Vanilla-bean. The water in
which it has been boiled has the taste of a weak animal broth.

Besides starch, its principal ingredient, it contains a certain
quantity of matter resembling gluten. When the potato is
cut, this matter exudes in a liquid milky state, viscid at first,
diffusible through water, but soon becoming solid on exposure
to the air. Under the microscope, when suspended in water,
it appears in the form of granules of about aq of an
inch in diameter, which were rendered brown by tincture of
iodine.

Probably this matter is concerned in the production of the
changes to which the sweet potato is subject, as well as con-
ducing to its highly nutritious quality as an article of diet.

7. Composition of the Ground-Nut (Arachis hypogea, Linn.)

This singular nut, becoming now of so much importance in
connection with the industry and civilization of the western
coast of Africa, not only abounds in oil, to which it owes
principally its commercial value, but also contains a consider-
able quantity of starch—rather an unusual alliance—and in
addition a large proportion of albuminous matter. The starch
particles are about y,'5> of an inch in diameter. In no other
instance have I seen so much starch associated with oil.

-

fo De Davy on Tropical Plants. 303

8. The Coco-Nut (Cocos nucifera).

Of all the gifts which bountiful nature has bestowed on the
inhabitants of the tropics, this perhaps-is the most valuable,
and certainly the one most fitting them for a paradisiacal
‘state of idleness. What other fruit is there in which, as in
the coco-nut, we find a refreshing beverage contained in a
cool limpid state, in a nutritious pulp of the consistence of
blanc-mange, and as agreeable to the taste !

Tn a young nut, the lining pulp of which was thin and al-
most of gelatinous softness, the quantity of contained fluid
exceeded rather half a pint. It was quite clear, as much so
as spring water, pleasantly, slightly sweet, of specific gravity
10183. The pulp was rendered brown by the tincture of
iodine. No starch particles could be detected in it under the
microscope, nor oil globules.

The water of a ripe coco-nut, much less in quantity and
nearly transparent, was of the specific gravity 10203. It did
not become turbid on boiling, or by the addition of acetic or
nitric acid. Sugar, it may be inferred, was its principal in-
gredient.

The lining pulp was found to consist of 36 per cent. solid
matter and of 64 water, as determined by thorough drying,
As is well known, it abounded in oil. I could detect in it no
starch particles. In composition I believe it to be very like
the ripe almond. The emulsion it makes is equal to that of
the almond, and is an excellent substitute for milk for tea.

The coco-nut palm, I may add, thrives best by the sea-
shore ; it thrives even within high-water mark. Viewed in
this light, may it not be considered as designed by a kind
Providence to yield a drink in situations in which springs of

fresh and wholesome water are often not to be found. It is
only the traveller in such regions who can justly appreciate
its value, and be sufliciently thankful for such a blessing.
In Ceylon, the natives are in the habit of putting a portion of
salt into the ground when they plant the nut, so convinced are
_ they that salt is required for its successful growth.

304 Dr Davy on Tropical Plants.

9. Cassava (Manihot).

Two varieties or species of this plant are cultivated in the
West Indies, the so-called bitter and sweet (Manihot utilis-
sima and Janipha) ; 1 say so-called, because neither of them is
bitter or sweet, the words probably having been applied by
the negroes, who, with a limited vocabulary, are nowise exact
in the use of terms. The tuberous roots—the parts used—
do not differ in a very marked manner. . That of the first-
named has a more decided pungent, acrid taste than that of
the second ; and from the few comparative trials I have made,
appears to contain a larger proportion of glutinous matter and
of hydrocyanic acid.

When a section of the root is made, three parts are distin-
guishable—an epidermis, very thin and tasteless, an inner la-
minated and fibrous layer, which is easily separated, the prin-
cipal seat of the hydrocyanic acid and gluten ; and innermost,
the body or main portion, abounding in starch contained in a
cellular structure. On the division of the root, the glutinous
matter exudes as a milky fluid, like that from the sweet po-
tato, and with the same microscopic character. Its granules
are about y5,}y of an inch in diameter, and they are coloured
brown by iodine. The starch particles contained in the sub-
stance of the root vary in size from 5,55 to about 535 of an
inch in diameter.

In the mode of preparing the root as an article of diet, viz.,
by steeping for a short time in water, grating and pressure,
a portion of the glutinous matter is separated, and in the
dressing, whether by roasting or baking, the volatile poison,
the hydrocyanic acid, is dissipated. To the gluten which re-
mains, probably the highly nutritious quality of the cassava
is owing. We learn from Southey’s History of the Brazils,
that the Dutch “ soldiers preferred mandioc to wheat, thinking
it a stronger food ;” and I have been assured by a gentleman
who travelled in the wilds of South America in company with
native Indians, that he lived for many days on no other food
than cassava bread, undergoing a great deal of fatigue, and
found it to agree with him well and support his strength.

Dr Davy on Tropical Plants. 305

10. Seed of the Cotton Plant (Gossypium herbaceum).

The cotton plant, once so largely cultivated in the West
Indies, offers this advantage, that it succeeds in poor soils ;
- indeed it is said to succeed best in the poorest, and without
manure, Another advantage is, that the old, infirm, and
young, can be employed in collecting its produce.

The uses of the plant are many. Its cuttings are good for
fuel ; its seeds contain a good deal of nutritive matter, and
are eaten by cattle and sheep, but not, I have been told, by
horses, only by ruminating animals, and it is said they are
even fatal to hogs; but whether true or not I am ignorant?
The plant, as cultivated in Barbadoes, is of three years’ du-
ration.

One self-sown in my garden in that island yielded the first
year 192 pods; in each pod or capsule there were 20 seeds,
together weighing in their dry state 43:3 grains ; the lining-
wool—the cotton-wool—detached weighed 23:7 grains. The
shell or epidermis of the seed is black, thin, hard, and tough.
The substance of the seed inclosed is of a light yellow colour,
of an oily taste followed by a slightly acrid one. Under the
microscope it is found to consist of oil globules, which are
abundant, and of a fine granular matter. The seeds are
broken (for instance when crushed in a mortar) without much
difficulty, and with water on trituration yield a yellow emul-
sion. Thrown in a filter, the liquid which passes through is
turbid and yellowish. It is not apparently altered by boil-
ing; but on the addition of acetic acid flocculi separate, and
on cooling subside. Now filtered the fluid is clear and colour-
less. ‘The precipitate, it may be inferred, is in part at least
casein. The larger portion of the washed kernel, that which
is retained in the filter with the oil, soon acquires an un-
pleasant smell ; kept a fortnight and then mixed with lime it
gave off a distinct odour of ammonia. The oil is of a yellow
colour, not volatile, and is fluid at 80° Fahrenheit.

The seed incinerated without the pellicle, after burning,—
it burns with much flame,—leaves a coal that is easily reduced
to ash, inconsiderable in quantity, composed chiefly of car-
bonate of potash, phosphate of lime, and magnesia, The same

NEW SERIES.—VOL,. Il, NO. U.—oor, 1855. U

Mote -/, ec»), 17
: 1 Een .

306 Thomas H. Rowney on the Composition of
¢

were found in the ash of the epidermis with some silica.
Though growing in calcareous marl no carbonate of lime or
free lime could be detected in either.

On the Composition of Two Mineral Substances employed as
Pigments. By Tuomas H. Rowney, Ph.D.

In the course of an examination of some mineral substances
employed as pigments, which I have lately made in the la-
boratory of Dr T. Anderson, I have met with two which, in
‘addition to their practical applications, present considerable
scientific interest, their constitution entitling them to be
classed as distinct and hitherto unknown mineralogical
species.

Indian Red.—The substance named Indian red is imported
from the Persian Gulf, but the exact locality in which it is
found is unknown, at least I have been unable to obtain any
information from the importers. It comes to this country
partly in small lumps, and partly as a coarse, hard, and gritty
powder. Its colour is deep red, with a shade of purple. Its
specific gravity is 3°843.

Before the blowpipe, on platinum wire with borax and with
microcosmic salt, it gives a transparent bead, with the usual
reaction for iron; when heated by itself on charcoal it is in-
fusible, and after cooling it is attracted by the magnet; mixed
with carbonate of soda on charcoal it fuses into a bead, the
iron at the same time being reduced, and also attracted by
the magnet. By digestion with concentrated hydrochloric
acid a small portion is dissolved, and the remainder retains
its red colour, and is not further altered by continued appli-
cation of heat. The portion dissolved consisted of peroxide
of iron and alumina, with small quantities of lime, mag-
nesia, sulphuric and carbonic acids. The insoluble por-
tion contained silicic acid, peroxide of iron, and a little
alumina and water. The analysis was made by fusing the
substance dried at 212° F,. with carbonates of potash and
soda, and conducting the separation in the usual manner.
The results were—

two Mineral Substances employed as Pigments. 307

Silicie acid, : ; 30°17
Peroxide of iron, . i 56°59
Alumina, . ; 3°79
Lime, : ‘ : 2°65
Magnesia, . ; ; 1°43
Sulphuric acid, . ; 2°28
Carbonic acid, . ; 1:73
Water, ’ $ cer, eee

100-26

Another portion was digested with hydrochloric acid, which
dissolved 13:66 per cent. of the mineral. The portion dis-
solved consisted of —

Peroxide of iron, . . 3°91
Alumina, ., - ; 2°22
Lime, . ‘ ; : 2-65
Magnesia, . ‘ : ‘87

Sulphuric acid, , 2-28
Carbonic acid, ¢ ? 1-73

13°66

If, now, we deduct these constituents from the results of the
total analysis along with the water, and the slight difference
in the magnesia, the insoluble portion consists of—

Oxygen.
Silicie acid, , ; 30°17 15:96
Peroxide of iron, ; 52°68 16-53
Alumina, pki 1:57 }

The oxygen in the acid and bases is here almost exactly in
the ratio of 1:1, and the insoluble portion is therefore a sili-
cate of the peroxide of iron, represented by the formula
Eiety Os, Si O,, and corresponding in constitution to the silicate
of alumina called xenolite, Al, O,, SiQ,. Although the sili-
cate of iron of the constitution Fe,O, SiO, has not hitherto
been found in the free state, it is known in combination in
Wehrlite (Fe 0 Ca 0)* SiO, + 3 (Fe, 0, SiO,), a mineral
analogous in constitution to Wernerite and anorthite, which
are aluminous minerals both represented by the formula
(Ca O)* SiO, +3 (Al, O,, Si O,).

u2

is Ss ace
¥. CNa

308 Thomas H. Rowney on the Composition of —

Terra de Sienna is said to be obtained in the neighbour-
hood of Sienna. It is a brownish-yellow substance, which ac-
quires a fine and rich chestnut colour by ignition, in which
state it is used as a paint under the name of burnt sienna.
Its fracture is earthy and conchoidal, and it is easily seratehed
by the nail. Its specific gravity is 3-46. It adheres strongly
to the tongue, and absorbs a considerable quantity of water
without appearing moist. It gives a transparent bead both
with borax and with microcosmic salt with the reaction for
iron ; with carbonate of soda on charcoal it is reduced and
attracted by the magnet, held between platinum forceps and
exposed to the reducing flame it is infusible, but is afterwards
attracted by the magnet. It is not in the least degree attacked
by concentrated hydrochloric acid. It was fused with car-
bonates of potash and soda, and the various steps of the ana-
lysis conducted in the usual way, the iron being determined
by means of a standard solution of bichromate of potash.

Oxygen

Silicic acid, ; ; 11:14 5:80 1
Alumina, . a : 9°47 4-41 4
Peroxide of iron, ig 65:35 19-60 }
Lime, ; ; ; BS
Magnesia, . é ; 03
Water, i ; : 13-00 = =11°33 2

99°52

In this case the oxygen of the silicic acid, the sesquiatomic
bases, and the water are in the ratio of 1 + 4—+2, from which
we deduce the formula 4 (R, O,) Si O, + 6 HO, the caleulated
numbers for which are—

Silicic acid, : : : : F 11:04
Alumina and peroxide of iron, . . . 76-09
Water, . y ‘ . ; , 12°87

100-00

The characters and composition of this substance are so dis-
tinct from that of all other minerals, that I propose to apply
to it the name of hypoxanthite. Although it stands alone
among the iron compounds, it may be compared with opaline,

two Mineral Substances employed as Pigments. 309

allophane, and schrotterite, both of which are hydrated sili-

cates of alumina corresponding in composition with that exist-

ing in hypoxanthite, as is seen from the subjoined formulee—
Hypoxanthite, . 4 { Ar 0} +8i 0, +6HO
Opaline allophane, 4 (Al, 0,)+Si0,+18 HO
Schritterite, . . 4 (Al, 0,)+Si0,+16 HO

’ Sketch of the Operations executed in the Drainage of the
Lake of Haarlem, with its actual state at the present
time. By M. Grevers D’ENpDEGEEST, President of the
Commission for the Drainage of the Lake Haarlem, &c. &c.

In giving the following sketch of the actual state of the
drainage of the Lake of Haarlem, I begin with the supposition
that those who are interested in it know my work ‘upon this
undertaking, of which the first part, with three plates, was
published in 1843, and the second, with five plates, in 1853.
Both of these have been freely translated into French ;* I shall
therefore repeat none of their contents, but only carry it on
to the actual period which may almost be considered as the
end of the enterprise, since the commission charged with the
drainage reckoned upon settling by the end of 1855, the new
Polder of the Lake of Haarlem in the new Direction, which
the purchasers of the drained lands will choose among them-
selves.

It is known that the waters proceeding from the lake dur-
ing its drainage ought to have been discharged by the drain-
ing-machines into the canals, ponds and ditches, which to-
gether form an intermediate basin between the Polders of all
the hydraulic district of the Rhineland and the sea; and in
order that the basin might receive the waters of. the lake, it
ought at least to have been aided in its ordinary means of
overflowing into the sea, by the enlargement of one of the old
sluices, and of the principal canal, which terminates at the

* Apply for this work at the Brothers Van Cleef at the Hague, and at M.

Frederic Miiller at Amsterdam, “ Du Dessechment du lac de Harlem, par M,
Gevers D’Endegeest,” &c,

310 M. G. D’Endegeest’s Sketch of Operations executed in

village of Ratwyk, more especially by the establishment of
two steam-engines, the one at Spaarndam, and the other at
Mi-chemin.

_ After the drainage the new Polder continued in the same
manner to pour its waters into the basin, which again dis-
charged them into the sea; and it might be thought that the
mass of waters being infinitely greater before the drainage,
the same machines were no longer necessary. This is an
error. In general words, in the course of a year the Polder,
it is true, gives much less water, but the machines ought to
be sufficiently powerful to exhaust at the same moment the
greatest quantity of water that the Polder can receive (whether
it be rain-water or infiltrations), even during the worst month
of the worst known year; these bad months might return, and
without this power the Polder might be flooded during some
weeks, and the harvest lost. This is, then, the basis upon
_ which to establish the power of machines for all the drainage.

In constructing more or stronger ones, in order to drain more
quickly and to destroy them afterwards, would be a useless
expense. The same machines which effect the drainage re-
main for the wants of the Polder, with this difference only
that during the drainage they work day and night as much as
they are able, but that afterwards they may be used only in
the rainy season, to prevent its canals and ditches from over-
flowing their banks. The result is that the machines which
aid the discharge of the water from the basin into the sea
remain constantly necessary.

It is, then, very necessary to know the state of the machines
after their prolonged work of drainage, the service which they
still have to perform, and what may yet be expected of them.
Of the wind-mills known and approved of old, there was no-
thing problematical, but of the steam-engines, of a construc-
tion quite new and gigantic, this question is of the highest
importance.

1. Machines for the Drainage of the Basin,

The table of work of that at Spaarndam until 1st July 1852,
the period when the lake was dried, is to be found at page 15
of my second part. The following table is the continuation of

the Drainage of the Lake of Haarlem. 311

the first, but subsequent to the drainage, and it may be ad-
mitted that the expense of firing and lubrication have been in
the same proportion as that previously stated.

‘oor. 1 OD te pe
A a/essogeo
_. Working Hours, geese gBe 5;
J Si kia n
op82| "hiss
Years. Siaac| PPA | Observations.
10 8 6 4 SZos7% | sue 549
Wheels gysse | 2s2o8,8
oF, |Wheels. Wheels. | Wheels. to BSE ge SSE 55
These numbers
apply only

1852 | 124 570 | 787 266 | 23,726 | 124,134,432 to the last
six months

of 1852.
1853 | 235 | 10386 | 704 163 | 32,482 | 169,945,824
1854 | 312 686 484 120 | 25,073 | 131,181,936
. These numbers
apply only

1855 | 184 282 | 128 9 | 10,210 | 53,418,720 to the first
four months
of 1855.

855 | 2574 | 2053 | 558 478,680,912
Mo =

Total 6040 hours, or 251 days
and sixteen hours.

The steam-engine of Mi-chemin was only in a state to work
after the drainage. It only came into active operation towards
the autumn of 1853. The following table gives the details.

4 oor = o OL he
Working Hours. $6453 wac°E”
Zc S18 eseuZ
osage | 2egh ee
Years. Se sae | Ess gReg Observations.
6 4 2 S2987 S Be 8-3
Wheels. |\Wheels, |Wheels. g Eped a3 ae gmk
These cyphers apply
only to the last
1853 | 428 | 128} 1 6,168 | 28,064,400 eight months of
1853.

1 4/ 1147 | 323 s+ | 16,3848 | 74,383,400
hese cyphers apply
only to the first
four months of
1855,

1855 | 531}/ 1054 9 | 7,258 | 33,023,900

21063) 557 | 10 135,471,700

Total 26734 hours, or
4 111 days and 9}
hours.

312 M. G. D’Endegeest’s Sketch of Operations executed in

Recapitulation.

ere emerge of Seay, } 6040 hours 478,680,912 eubie metres.
dam has raised in :

That of Mi-chemin, ; 26734 ,, 185,471,700 Z

8713} ,, 614,152,612 ,,

I have said how indispensable it is to constantly keep in
repair the machines for draining the lake, in order to keep
the new Polder from which they raise the waters into the
basin of the Rhineland dry.. It follows then that the steam-
engines of Spaarndam and Mi-chemin are equally necessary,
in order to accelerate the discharge of the waters of the basin
into the sea. The short space of time elapsed since the drain-
age proves it already by the fact, that these two have
raised from the basin since the lake was drained in July 1852,
till the 1st of May 1855, a period of two years and ten months,
more than two-thirds of the mass of waters raised from the
same basin by the engine at Spaarndam throughout the period
of the whole drainage, or during more than six years. This
mass of water, in proportion much greater after the drainage
than during its progress, proves only this circumstance, that
after the drainage the rains have been more abundant. The
steam-engine of Mi-chemin leaves nothing to be desired ; it has
perfectly answered its purpose. Although only of 100 horse-
power, the half of that at Spaarndam, it requires the same at-
tention, and more than half the firing and lubrication. It
might at first sight be believed that this engine was useless,
since the lake has been drained without its assistance ; this
however is not so. The basin of the district, of which pre-
viously the lake formed the largest part, has been deprived
by the drainage of nearly four-fifths of its ancient extent, and
the fifth remaining part ought to receive not only the same
quantity of water issuing from all the Polders as before, but
also the waters issuing from the new Polder; in other words,
before the drainage, 70,000 hectares of low embankment
ground or Polder throw their superfluous waters into a basin
of 22,700 hectares; afterwards 88,000 hectares of Polder
throw their waters into 5000 hectares of basin.

the Drainage of the Lake of Haarlem. 313

Fortunately during the drainage, less rainy years and
other favourable circumstances have rendered for the time
the enlargement of the canal and sluices of Ratwyk with the
engine at Spaarndam alone sufficient for the wants of the dis-
charge; but it is certain, that these means will be found in-
sufficient during very rainy seasons accompanied by unfavour-
able circumstances. So convinced are they of this, that a
“new law has granted a sum of 200,000 florins for the esta-
blishment of a third steam-engine of the same power (100
horse) as that at Mi-chemin, for the sole purpose of discharg-
ing the waters of the basin on the opposite side to the one
at Spaarndam, upon the river Yssel. These three machines,
however, will shortly, according to an agreement formed with
the administration of the district called the Rhineland, be in
the charge of that administration, which will find the expense
of maintenance and work, the cost of which will at least be
about 30,000 to 40,000 florins per annum for keeping the
lake within its bounds; and the annual return from the re-
claimed Jands of the new Polder, taken upon the same scale
with all the others of the district, may be about 18,000 to
20,000 florins. One must then in the estimate of the ex-
penses of the undertaking only include the cost of the first
establishment of the three engines, probably about 200,000
florins for each. There will be no further expenses either for
the state or for the new Polder.

The steam-engine of Spaarndam since 1845 has not met
with any serious accident, any more than that at Mi-che-
min, the work of which dates from 1853. Both of them are
in the most satisfactory state, and perfectly answer their in-
tention. Together they raise with their great wheels into the
sea, even when it is from 4 to 5 centimetres higher than
the level of the basin, as much water as 60 large windmills
of the different Polders of the Rhineland could send there ;
with the one to be constructed upon the Yssel, they will be
equivalent to 80 large windmills. They will never prevent in
unfavourable seasons the 250 windmills, great and small, of
the Polders of the Rhineland from raising, in addition, the
waters of the basin; but whilst the mills depend upon the
wind, which rarely permits them to work continuously during

314 M. G. D’Endegeest’s Sketch of Operations executed in:

the twenty-four hours, because it is very often either too strong
or too weak ; on the contrary these steam-engines work at will
night and day, for a whole month without interruption, should
it be desirable. This then is their undoubted advantage, an
advantage which permits them even entirely to regulate the
level of the basin. .

The Machines which were used at first for the Drainage of the
Lake, and now for the new Polder,

Three engines have been established for the drainage of
the lake, each about 400 horse power, and each costing about
500,000 florins; one at the south, another at the north, and
the third at the east of the lake. When these three magni-
ficent engines had, during the 39 months the drainage of the
lake lasted, raised in 193 months of constant work 831,839,501
cubic metres of water, and thus rendered the lake dry by
the 1st of July 1852, they were able, during a warm and dry
summer, to remain stationary until the autumn. The fol-
lowing winter the water rose to 3°69 metres + OA* of 4-50
metres + 0A, which it had been during the summer. The
cause was very natural: the ground, scarcely dried, did not
absorb a drop of rain-water, and this besides, could not find
a sufficient receptacle in the then unfinished canals of the
new Polder. The water was again very low in the month of
June 1853, and they commenced from that time the sale of
the lands, which will be spoken of shortly.

Notwithstanding the exertions of the engines, the water
rose again during the following winter of 1853-1854 to al-
most 4 metres + OA, but the large canals, the secondary
canals and the ditches of the new Polder having been at last
completed, a basin for the reception of the rain water haying
thus been formed, and its passage to the engines secured, it
was easy to maintain them lower than ever during the sum-
mer of 1854.

However, during the last winter (1854~—1855) the water rose
again in the middle of the Polder, at its lowest part, to a con-

* OA is the point of commencement for our hydraulic works, corresponding
to the level surface of the country.

the Drainage of the Lake of Haarlem. 315

siderable height, and more than was expected. The cause was,
first, the unsatisfactory state of the boilers of the engines; on
the one hand, their unjinished state, on the other, the want
of sufficiently pure and filtered water to supply them, which
caused deposits of mud, always very prejudicial. A second
cause is the still unfinished state of the ditches intended for
the reception of rain water, or rather the want of a sufficient
extent of these ditches.

The lands had been divided into lots of 20 hectares. The
ditches necessary for forming the divisions were insufficient
for receiving the rain water; this was known before, but it
had been calculated that each new proprietor would dig many
more for the regular improvement of his own lots. Mean-
while, several among them commenced only with small drains,
and 4000 hectares not yet sold, and where, in consequence, no
purchaser could commence to work, continued to occupy the
centre of the Polder. It will, nevertheless, be easy to remedy
both of these inconveniences.

The following table shows the work which had been per-
formed by the three draining-machines from the 1st of July
1852, when the lake was drained, to the Ist of May 1855,
when the new Polder was perfectly freed from all superfluous
water :—

From the 1st of July 1852, when the Lake was drained, until
the 1st of May 1855,—

The “ Leeghwater” has produced 2,132,681 strokes, namely ;—

wo 0 yy «= 851,713 eleven pumps 865,194

With 11 pumps, 661,552 or with allthe , 661,552
ie) 45 > 619,416 working, 424,977

1,951,723

The “ Lijnden” 2,356,602 strokes, namely :—

With 8 pumps, 1,005,068 ( OT With all the ) 4 O95, 968
Pret. 2,960,694) “eh* pampe J 1,181,806
working,
anemecemee | 9,197,779

Carry forward, 4,139,496

316 M. G. D’Endegeest’s Sketch of Operations executed in
Brought over, 4,139,496

The “ Craquius” 2,757,140 strokes, namely :—

» 7 9 1,467,490) cisht pumps ¢ 3 984 054

With 8 pumps, 1,289,650 oth sl 1,289,650
working,
——— 2,573,704

Total, 6,713,200

The machines have sustained no serious accident since the
unexpected breaking of the fly-wheel of the “ Leeghwater.”
Some of the chains of the pumps have broken; some valves
have been deranged; those of the pumps especially are often
worn or accidentally damaged; but all this has been repaired
as it occurred by the attendant of the machines, and at the
work-shop of the “ Leeghwater.’ The boilers only require
considerable repairs. With these exceptions, the machines
are in a perfect condition. The walls and wood-work of the
buildings have not given way nor suffered any damage, and
the machinery, notwithstanding several years’ work, is better
than at the beginning, the bad or weak parts having been re-
newed successively.

There is no reason for thinking that the expenses of work
and maintenance will exceed the seven florins per hectare,
the payment of which is imposed on the purchasers as long
as the commission for the drainage shall direct the under-
taking.

Division, Extent and Level of the Polder.

The important works comprised under the name of the divi-
sion of the Polder were in part already finished in 1853.
They were terminated in 1854, without presenting the ordinary
difficulties of digging in ground scarcely dried; for if it is in
general necessary in recently-drained lands frequently to cast
out the ditches on. account of the ground being muddy and soft,
here, on the contrary, they can dig in the layers of solid clay,
which often occur on a foundation of sand; and the greater
number of the banks of the canals and ditches have remained
firm from their commencement. This solidity of the new

the Drainage of the Lake of Haarlem. 317

ground has produced a happy result, for the roads were soon
passable. Last summer, all sorts of carriages already tra-
versed the lake everywhere; and the villages on the opposite
borders, which for ages had looked at each other without com-
munication, found themselves suddenly neighbours and “ fra-
ternizing.”

The map No. 8, belonging to the second part of my work,
gives at the first glance an idea of the division of the new
Polder. Each oblong forms a block of 300 hectares, com-
posed of fifteen lots of 20 hectares, of which the length, run-
ning from north-west to south-east, is 1000 metres, or the
width of the square. Each lot is bounded on one side by a
road, and on the other by an accessary canal, suited for the
interior navigation of the Polder. The blocks along the bor-
ders of the Polder are exceptions to those general rules on
account of their slope. The roads and longitudinal canals
extend in straight lines of 18,000 to 20,200 metres. When
all the canals are brought back to their original size and
depth, which will be done this summer at the cost of the
undertaking, and when all the ditches dug by it, and those
that the purchasers ought necessarily to add in order to im-
prove their lands, shall be finished and in repair at their
charge, it appears that the basin of the Polder will suffice
for the reception of the rain-waters, and to conduct them to
the machines. If experience proves the contrary, the admi-
nistration of the Polder will order the regular establishment
of a greater quantity of ditches. This case is provided for in
the conditions of the sale of lands.

The cost of this immense work of division, far from exceed-
ing the estimated amount, already reduced to 1,287,121 fl., has
not even reached it, since it only amounts to 1,261,199 fl. See
the table at the end of the present sketch.

The Accessary Works.

These have only been increased by two moveable bridges,
and by three ferry-boats upon the surrounding canal, with
roads of greater or less extent joining to the great roads of
the surrounding country. The entrances to the Polder, with

318 M. G. D’Endegeest’s Sketch of Operations executed in

those already existing in 1852, thus amount to eleven, of 3
which five are moveable bridges, four large ferries for car-
riages, and two smaller ones for track horses.

Sale of Lands.

The lands had been formerly estimated at the average value
of 200 florins per hectare. This was thirty florins more than
the average price obtained twenty-five years ago, in the last
great drainage analogous to that of the Lake of Haarlem. How-
ever, a society of speculators had in 1852 offered to the go-
vernment to buy the entire Polder for 300 florins per hectare ;
but the commission judged the drainage an undertaking too
national to abandon its profits to strangers, who besides being
unacquainted with the manner of cultivating these new
grounds, and with the complications of our hydraulic economy,
would not easily have succeeded, and would have caused em-
barrassments.

It was necessary, according to the commission, to deliver up
this new land to the competition of all who might desire to buy
a part, whether simple agriculturists, or proprietors in the
neighbourhood who wished to enlarge their estates, or capi-
talists of great neighbouring towns; above all, in a time when
capital abounded, and when the rates of the public funds were
raised. These circumstances might bring in better prices
still than those of the sum offered. The result surpassed
the expectation. The first sale of the highest lands along
the banks took place on the 16th of August 1853; 784 hec-
tares brought in 575,000 florins, or 733 florins per hectare.
A second sale took place in the same month, and the price
of 1273 hectares was 742,450 florins, or 583 florins per hec-
tare. A third sale of 514 hectares in the month of October,
and a third in the month of November, in the same year,
were not so favourable. The remainder no longer obtained
the same price, but the average price has nevertheless re-
mained considerable.

Four sales took place consecutively in the months of Feb-
ruary, May, September and November 1854. Light sales
had then taken place.

the Drainage of the Lake of Haarlem. 319

The result of these eight sales is (at the average price of 473 fl.
per hectare) 12,634 hectares sold for Fl. 5,973,953

The remainder to sell

(if the average price of

473 fl, remains), 4,200 = for 1,986,600
SOF it for 70,000
16,866 Fl. 8,030,553

This result surpassed all expectation, inasmuch as the grand
object of the drainage was rather to put an end to the encroach-
ments of the lake, than to make a lucrative speculation of it.

The subsequent sales were made less frequent, first, with the
intention of not wearying the purchasers ; and second, in conse-
quence of the bad season of 1854-1855. New delays in the
termination of the works of the commission, and new charges
upon the Treasury for the costs of administration and of main-
tenance, have been involuntarily the necessary consequence.

The Cultivation of purchased Lands.

The result which I have just made known is so much the
more important, by the indirect benefits which will result from
it hereafter. After twenty years, these new grounds will pay
a ground-rent tax; such is one of the conditions of the sale.
After this tax has existed some years it will be paid also by
the houses and buildings, indispensable to the agriculture of
the new Polder, and for those villages which will not fail
to spring up. The personal taxes of the new inhabitants for
doors, windows and chimneys, will form a new revenue for
the state. Is it necessary to say that work is procured for
many classes by the cultivation of lands so extensive, and
_ by the construction of buildings, which already spring up on
every side? They are counted already by dozens; and at
this moment, 28 to 30 large farm-steadings, which will cost
from 6000 to 10,000 florins each, are in process of con-

* These 32 hectares are reserved in two different places in the centre of the
new Polder, in order to build villages there. This ground will be sold for
80 cents. per square metre for building houses there after a given plan, which,
after the deduction of ground for streets and squares, will bring in 70,000 fl,

320 M.G. D’'Endegeest’s Sketch of Operations executed in

struction. As for the cultivation, eight days after the first sale
in 1853, it had commenced everywhere. After each conse-
cutive sale, it has recommenced upon a still larger scale.
Those who can begin in time hasten to profit by the month
of August, in order to sow rape (“ Colza”) for the first harvest ;
those who are not ready before the autumn, sow rye; in the
spring, oats; but rape is the seed most suited for these new
lands; it covers the ground entirely with its large leaves,
smothers the weeds, and if it answers well, does the most good.
Many of the fields of the first two sales were valued in 1854 at
the rate of 400 to 480 florins per hectare. The grounds of the
lake, like those elsewhere of all the reclaimed lands of Holland,
as soon as they are dry, are covered spontaneously with a mul-
titude of plants; first, and most generally, by an aquatic plant
vulgarly called Andive sauvage (Cineraria palustris) ; then
of reeds, often (and this has taken place particularly in the
Lake of Haarlem) with an innumerable quantity of young
willows. Several of the lands sold in 1853 were already co-
vered with all these plants, which were higher than a man:
one could only walk there with difficulty, and by placing aside
with one’s hands the bushy plants which covered it entirely.
The first work in these great lots of 20 hectares is to divide
them through all their length by ditches, at first by simple
drains, which, successively enlarged, become ditches; then,
after having torn up the willows, as opposing too much resist-
ance for the operation which I am about to mention, a heavy
plank is rolled over the roots of the noxious, pliant and brittle
plants. These are bent, partly broken, and remain fallen;
they are then covered with the earth taken out of the ditches
and drains, of which the quantity ought to be calculated for
this purpose, till it arrives at the thickness of half a centimetre,
and the rape is then immediately sown. The weeds, not rising
again, become decayed; and when in the spring they ought
to push their way through, the rape in full vigour overpowers
them, covers the ground entirely, and they die. This first’ ~
operation, which is called ‘‘ noircir le terrain,” because from
the bright green which it had been by the spontaneous and
vigorous vegetation, it becomes black. This costs, including
the ditches and drains, from 70 to 100 florins per hectare.’

the Drainage of the Lake of Haarlem. 321

After the harvest, they work with large wooden shoes on the
horses’ feet, when the soil is still too soft to permit of their
walking without this aid. If they sink, it is often impossi-
ble to draw them out; in this case, they leave them on the
spot. A second sowing of rape, if the grounds are sufficiently
rich, succeeds the first harvest, or sometimes they substitute
oats, rye, or wheat. Several of these new lands along the
borders produce spontaneously grass, and are then changed
into pastures necessary for the number of horses used in the
cultivation. One can judge of the agriculture of this under-
taking, and of the sums laid out in land labour, in taking into
consideration that the 12,643 hectares sold since the month
of August 1853, have all produced this year their first or their
second harvest. In general the first has been good, and the
second promised to be so. There are only two places where
some hundreds of hectares have not answered, on account of
the deposit of ferruginous particles, which poison the ground
and spoil the water. But this phenomenon, known elsewhere,
passes away after exposure to the action of the sun and air.

The 4200 hectares still to be sold will be so in the course of
this year. Afterwards, the executive commission, ceasing from
the labour of sixteen years, will give up to the new administra-
tion chosen by the proprietors the new Polder, with the dike
and the surrounding canal, the bridges and the ferries, the
three draining machines, and their accessaries; the whole will
be abandoned by the state to the profit and to the charge of
the new Polder.

Pecuniary Results.

The law of 1839 had granted for the drainage, , ( . F1.8,000,000
A law of 1843 had increased this sum to p ; 9,916,344
But in this sum was eormprivnd for partial payment
_ of rent, ’ F1.1,390,000
And also the expenses of borrowing the 8, 000, 000, 97,000
1,487,000
The remainder for the works of the undertaking and accessaries, 8,429,344
Two laws passed in 1854 add to this sum, for expenses of main- e
tenance of drainage of the new Polder, in 1854, + : : 125,000
And for the same object in 1855, A ’ ‘ : 127,000

ae

Carry forward, Fl. 8,681,344
NEW SERIES. —VOL, 11. No. 11.—oo7. 1855, x

322 M. G. D’Endegeest’s Sketch of Operations ewecuted in

Brought forward, Fl. 8,681,344
It was necessary to add for the indispensable improvements of the
principal canals of the Polder, damaged during the last winter, 100,000
A very recent law granted also, for the steam-engine apes the
Yssel, of which I have spoken before, . ° 200,000

Total of the works, a ? . FI. 8,981,344

The following table shows the amount of each kind of work.

Table of the Total Expense for the Works of Drainage from
1839 till 31st December 1855.

Sums

ARTICLES. OBJECTS. EXPENDED.
I. Works for the discharge of waters from the Rhine-
land, namely, the enlargement of the canal of
Ratwyck, the improvement of the river Spaarne,
the steam-engine of Spaarndam and that of Mi-
chemin, n Fl. 1,089,167
That upon the Yssel yet to make, 200, 000

—_— Fl. 1,289,167

II. The surrounding canal and the dike, . " 1,988,257

Ill. Indemnities for appropriations, . 684,514
IV. Steam-engines for drainage, i fring, and

necessary attendance, . 2,299,523

V. Works in relation to the navigation, such as roads

for towing along the Spaarne and of the surround-

ing canal, with bridges and boats, and repairs of

some accessary canals, . 133,288
VI. Military works of defence, instead of those which,

in addition to the Lecke as a means of inunda-

tion, defended the capital, 275,921
VII. Works of division of the new Polder, FL 1 161, 199

Additional supply still necessary in

8

55, : : : 100,000
————__ 1,261,199
VIII. Repairs of all the works and machines, . 363,751
IX. Personal expenses, police, law, and travelling ex-
penses, offices, taxes, remuneration for appro-
priated lands belonging to the Polders, staking
out, models, specimens, poe &e., ‘ 639,477
X. Payment of rents, . ‘ - Memorandum
XI. Unforeseen expenses, . ‘ . : 46,247
Total, FL. 8,981,344

When one considers the years of unforeseen delays against
which the undertaking had at first to struggle, the new delays
due to the slow progress of the sales indicated in the present
note, and the works of military defence, as well as the esta-
blishment of a third steam-engine on the Yssel, not comprised
in the first estimate, which was 8,355,000 fl., one can say that

the Drainage of the Lake of Haarlem. 323

this estimate has been very little exceeded, a rare thing in
works so vast, and necessarily of so long duration. '

Let us see in the end what the ultimate enterprise will cost
the treasury.

I have said that the expense of the works has been : Fl. 8,981,344
From this it is necessary to deduct the amount of expense of

guarantee, of which the clear profit has been Fl. 932,236
Profits of the leases, of the pastures, and of the

fishing, also that of the sum of 7 fl. per hectare

of the ground sold in 1853, to pay for the ex-

penses of maintenance and of the drainage of

the Polder, of which I have spoken before in

1854, . ‘ ° ; : : 61,647
Do. do. in 1855, during which year the lands also
sold in 1854 will pay 7 fl. per hectare, approxi-
mately and in round numbers, . ‘ 4 87,461
aot 1,081,344
Remainder for the expenses of work at the charge of the state, 7,900,000
The revenue of the sold lands will be, after what has been said,
probabl 8,000,000

y . *. ° . . . .
In admitting that this sum may not be obtained,—that there
may even be wanting of it Fl, 100,000,— there will always be 7,900,000

The works even on this hypothesis will then have cost the
state nothing.

However, the state has had to support the rents or interest
of the negotiation of the original 8,000,000 fi.

The capital had already been redeemed in 1854, in conse-
quence of the prosperous state of the treasury. The amount
of the rents, up to the moment of the redemption, had been
3,890,000 fl.

For this sum the state will have delivered the centre of the
country from an immense lake, always increasing, from an
_ enemy becoming more and more dangerous, and will have
acquired for agriculture 18,000 hectares of fertile land,
situated in the centre of population and of capital towns, and
of which the direct and indirect advantages, indicated above,
are as incontestable as permanent.

This conquest, obtained by skill and perseverance over the
obstacles of nature and of man, commenced in times of scarcity,
continued notwithstanding the troubles of 1848, terminated
after sixteen years of labour and of care, is without doubt an
honourable satisfaction for the commission, which has directed
it without other recompense than the thanks of the public,
which the country will not fail to accord to it.

324 C. Greville Williams on some of the

The commission will finish its task at the end of the year
1855, in giving back the new Polder to its own administra-
tion, with the exception of finishing the establishment of the
steam-engine upon the Yssel, which, if the government does.
not execute itself, it will demand to have the charge of.

On some of the Basic Constituents of Coal Naphtha. By C.
GREVILLE WILLIAMS, Assistant to Dr Anderson, Glasgow
University.

There are few bodies of organic origin whose points of dif-
ference are more easily defined than the gelatinous tissues of
bones, cinchonine, coal, and the bituminous shale of Dorset-
shire; but a remarkable similarity is observed in the basic
products of their destructive distillation, thus —

GELATINOUS
TISSUES. CINCHONINE. Coal. DorsET SHALE,

Pyrrol.* Pyrrol.t Pyrrol.tt Pyrrol.§$
Pyridine.* Pyridine. bes Pyridine.
Picoline,* Picoline.t Picoline.§ Picoline.§§
Lutidine.* — Lutidine.t tas Lutidine.§ §
Collidine.* —_—Collidine.+ ne Collidine.§§
se Chinoline.** Chinoline.jj —Parvoline.§§
Aniline.* Lepidine. ft Aniline. t

As soon as I had ascertained the nature of the basic pro-
ducts of the action of heat and alkalies on cinchonine, I could
not fail to observe these resemblances, and I was anxious to
ascertain whether the intervals which are seen to exist in the
coal series, could not be filled up. Notwithstanding the nume-
rous researches which have been made upon the substances
alluded to, there are many points upon which our information

* Anderson, Trans. Royal Soc., Edin., vol. xvi., part iv.; vol. xx., part ii.,
and vol. xxi., part i.

** Gerhardt, Revue Scientif., vol. x., p. 186.

‘ft Greville Williams, Trans. Royal Soc., Edin., vol. xxi., part ii.

tt Runge (1834), Poggendorf’s Annalen, Band. xxxi., u. xxxii.

§ Anderson, Trans. Royal Soc., Edin., vol. xvi., part ii.

§§ Greville Williams (1854), Quart. Jour. Chem, Soc., Lond.

J Greville Williams (1854,), Phil. Mag.

Basic Constituents of Coal Naphtha. 325

is very scanty. Some of these are under investigation by abler
hands, but there are others which I have promised myself
to study. Among these may be mentioned the following :—
1. Whether leukol and chinoline are really identical. 2.
Whether pyridine, lutidine, and collidine, exist in coal-tar.
8. Whether lepidine or an isomeric base exists among the coal
bases. The first and last of these points are now under exami-
nation ; the second forms the subject-matter of the present
paper.

Before detailing the experiments, I should mention, in out-
line, the facts already elicited in the successive investigations
‘of the coal bases, by Runge, Hofmann, and Anderson. The
first chemist indicated the presence of kyanol and leukol (ani-
line and leukoline), but he did not attempt to ascertain their
composition, which was done by Hofmann,* who extracted his
bases from the less volatile portion of the distillate from coal-
tar; and consequently did not meet with the pyridine series.

Dr Anderson, in examining the fluid, procured by agitating
the ordinary naphthas with sulphuric acid in the process of
purification, discovered picoline ; but the quantity on which he
worked was too small to enable him to find the other members
of the series which were afterwards discovered by him in
‘Dippel’s oil.

During my investigation of the shale bases, I was induced
to prepare a small quantity of those from coal, for the sake of
comparison. I was not at that time able to procure access to
the raw material, but by treating about one gallon of crude
coal naphtha in the manner described so often in the papers
previously referred to, I procured about one and a half ounces
of base, which, fractionated two or three times, gave about half
that quantity of fluid, boiling at 270° F. By treatment with
nitric acid, to destroy the small quantity of aniline still remain-
ing, and distillation with lime, I obtained the basic liquid in
such a state, that when dry, a portion of it distilled over be-
low 240°: it was still, however, far from pure, and the quantity
was too small to allow of more than two or three fractionations ;
nevertheless, a platinum salt was obtained, giving on analysis
the following numbers :—

* Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie, vol. xlvii,

326 C. Greville Williams on some of the

Theory.
Experiment, yridine. Picoline.
Carbony.(\: a6) +) ies eek 31:0 24:1
Hydrogen, . . .. 24 21 2-7
Platinum, . ... 34:1 34°6 32°9

It was evidently therefore a salt of pyridine, contaminated
by a portion of the next base higher in the series.

Although this result pointed very unmistakably to the
presence of bases not generally believed to exist in coal-tar, I
should not perhaps have returned for some time to the subject
if it had not been, that in consequence of my having ascertained
the complex nature of the fluid, which had hitherto been re-
garded in the light of pure chinoline, a fresh comparison of the
latter in a pure state with leukol became necessary ; and pos-
sessing, through the kindness of Mr George Miller of Dalmar-
nock, the means of obtaining any quantity of coal-tar pro-
ducts, I availed myself of Dr Anderson’s permission to make
use of his laboratory, and proceeded to examine, in the first
place, the acid magma, produced by agitation of the crude
naphthas with oil of vitriol, Nine gallons of the acid matter
yielded (after separation of pyrrol and resins by protracted
boiling, &c., as described in the previous papers) three quarts
of crude bases, by far the greater portion of which boiled under
369°, although containing a large quantity of aniline. No
leukol however appeared to.be present. The basic liquid ap-
peared therefore well adapted for determining the presence of
pyridine, lutidine, and collidine.

The means of purification adopted were fractional distilla-
tion, treatment with nitric acid to remove aniline, and frac-
tional crystallization of platinum salts, according to the methods
described in my paper, on the presence of pyridine among the
shale bases, previously referred to. After several rectifications
a portion was obtained boiling very steadily between 240° and
242° F.; and as 240° was supposed to be the correct boiling
point of pyridine, a portion of the fraction was dissolved in hy-
drochloric acid and chloride of platinum added; fine prismatic
crystals of a deep golden tint soon began to form; different
preparations and crops obtained by evaporation of mother

Basie Constituents of Coal Naphtha. 327

liquors over sulphuric acid in vacuo, gave the annexed results
on analysis :—
I. { 2°730 = of platinochloride of pyridine gave

"940 platinum.
wu. {2225 ... — platinochloride of pyridine gave
“(1115 ... _ platinum.
wr, {%350 .. platinochloride of pyridine gave
“ (2:175 ~~... platinum.
97158 ... __ platinochloride of pyridine gave
IV. <7:070 ... carbonic acid and
1885 ... water, and
y, {#100 ... platinochloride of pyridine gave
* (1407 =... platinum.
I. IL. If, IV.&V. Calculation.
Carbon, + Pe .. =©-.21°05 =-21:08 C9 60
Hydrogen, .., te fe 228: 2-10 HS 6:
Nitrogen, ... pie site ae 4:93 N 14:
Chlorine, ... 37°34 Cl? 106-5

Platinum, 34°43 34: 57 34:25 34:32 34:60 Pt 98-7

cn

100-00 2852

Although the analysis agrees perfectly with the theoretical
numbers, and leaves no doubt of the identity of the base, I
was desirous, if possible, of obtaining further proof, because
small but perceptible differences are found in certain bases
when obtained from different sources, although corresponding
perfectly in boiling point, composition, odour, and general
characters. For the purpose required, no compound appeared
more suitable than the very characteristic substance procured
by prolonged boiling of the aqueous solution of the platinum
salt of pyridine. When ebullition is continued for several
days, the salt becomes converted into an insoluble powder,
much resembling in appearance sublimed sulphur, and having,
according to Dr Anderson,* an analogous constitution to the
bi-hydrochlorate of platinamine of Gerhardt. This view, it
will be seen, supposes one equivalent of platinum to supply
the place of two equivalents of hydrogen, the formula being—

clo H3
P| 2H Cl.

* Proceedings Roy. Soc, Edin., vol. iii.

328 C. Greville Williams on some of the

On boiling the platinum salt of pyridine from coal naphtha
for four days, a powder made its appearance, having all the
physical properties of the substance sought. A platinum de-
termination was all, therefore, that was considered necessary
for its identification.

3°195 grains of bi-hydrochlorate of platino-pyridine gave
1:260 ... platinum,

or, per cent.,
Experiment. Theory.

39°44 39°68

As the crude coal naphtha from which the raw material
for the experiment was obtained had originally been distilled
over, in an atmosphere of steam at 212° Fahr., comparatively
small quantities of the less volatile bases were present; some
little labour was necessary, therefore, before the lutidine could
be obtained in a sufficiently pure state for analysis. I was
unable to procure the base itself quite free from picoline, as
the quantity of material boiling as high as 310° was far too
small to allow of the requisite number of fractionations. The
portion distilling between 300° and 310°, after four rectifica-
tions, gave—

Theory.
Carhony? 3 SATIS 78°5
Hydrogen, ... 86 84

But, on converting the rest of the fraction into platinum salt,
and fractionally crystallizing in vacuo, much nearer results
were obtained. Several crops of platinum salt procured in
this manner gave, on analysis, the following numbers :—

{ 3°395 Seay of platinochloride of lutidine gave

1/062 platinum.

4:905 ... platinochloride of lutidine gave
{ 1530 =~... platinum.

Ill { 3°220. ... _ platinochloride of lutidine gave
* (1010... platinum.

8-830 ... platinochloride of lutidine, same
salt as in experiment II., but
re-crystallized, gave

8680 +» carbonic acid and

27652 ~~... ~~ water, and

Vv { 4097 ... platinochloride of lutidine g gave
" (1:290 ,,. _ platinum. .

Basie Constituents of Coal Naphtha. 329

a3 Tr Ul IV.&V. Calculation.
Carbon, .... Beh ad 0 26-81L'596-81. Ct Se-
Hydrogen, --- mm ee 3°34 3:19 lH? 10:
Nitrogen, ... me sae aS 449 N 14:
Chlorine, -- he 34:00 Cl? 106-5
Platinum, 31:28 31: 19 31: ‘37 31°49 31:51 Pt 98°7
100-00 313-2

For convenience of comparison I place side by side the
numbers obtained on analysis of platinum salts of lutidine
from the various sources from which it has been obtained :—

Dippel’s Oil. Shale Naphtha. Cinchonine. Coal Naphtha.
Dr Anderson. Grev. Williams. Grev. Williams. Grev. Williams.

(Mean.)
Carbon, 26°35 26°14 26°94 26°81
Hydrogen, 3:23 3°16 3°36 3.34
Nitrogen, oee Bes ae
Chlorine, ... py! se “em
Platinum, 31:50 31°76 31:14 31-49

The next base (collidine) was present in such very small
quantity that a great deal of time was occupied before it
could be isolated ; probably the three quarts of mixed bases
did not contain more than three or four drachms. The amount
operated on was much less than this (about three-fourths of
a drachm); but with care a platinum salt was nevertheless
obtained of considerable purity, for different crops gave on
analysis the annexed numbers—

6-855 grains of platinochloride of collidine gave
I

7°390 pea carbonic acid and
2°365 a water,

3193 ,, platinochloride of collidine gave

il. { 360° .;, platinum.
III 3°908 ps platinochloride of collidine gave
iy a ea78 | :.°,;° - platmum.
IV 5:080 ,, _ platinochloride of collidine gave
‘ 1°532 ‘a platinum,
I. & It. Ill, IV. Calculation.
Carbon, . 29°40 Ha we «©2988 ct 96:
Hydrogen, . 3°83 Ne big 3°66 BY) 4s
Nitrogen, . a ee pie 4°31 N 14:
Chlorine, . snd. hss Oat Cl’ =106°5

Platinum, . 30: 07 30-02 30°16 30°16 Pt 98-7

100°00 3272

330 C. Greville Williams on some of the

I annex the results of analyses of the platinum salt of colli-
dine from all the sources from which that base has been ob-
tained except shale naphtha; for in the latter case I was con-
tent with the result of the combustion of the base itself.

Dippel’s Oil. Cinchonine. Coal Naphtha.
Dr Anderson. Grev. Williams. Grev. Williams.

(mean) (mean) (mean)
Carbon, . 28°88 29°30 29°40
Hydrogen, . 360 3°55 3°83
Nitrogen, + die “ag
Chlorine, . ts aia i
Platinum, . 30:08 29:99 30°08

With regard to parvoline, the next base of the series, it was
impossible to obtain it in sufficient quantity for analysis with-
out an expenditure of time altogether disproportioned to the
importance of the result, and as I was sure of meeting with
it in the examination, now in progress, of the bases in the
dead oil, I was content to let that part of the inquiry remain
for the present.

It is evident, therefore, that coal-tar contains members of
at least three classes of homologous bases, namely, the pyri-
dine, aniline, and leukoline series ; for there can be no doubt
that the latter is only one of a group; indeed if leukol be
really identical with chinoline, the fact of its being one of an
homologous series is conclusively established by the existence
of lepidine (C?° H® N). Even if leukol is proved to be merely
isomeric with chinoline, there is little doubt that it will not
be found to exist alone ; but this point I hope shortly to decide.

It is singular to observe the similarity which exists be-
tween the basic products from coal and cinchonine, the chief,
perhaps almost the only, distinction of importance being
the absence of aniline in the latter case; but if the nature
of the substance decomposable by nitric acid existing in
the less volatile fractions of the chinoline base mentioned
in the paper before adverted to was properly understood, the
parallelism would, perhaps, appear even closer than it does.
Some experiments I have made, but which are not yet suf-
ficiently advanced for’ publication, indicate that toluidine
or even still higher members of that class of alkaloids, are
present among the basic products of the destructive dis-

Basic Constituents of Coal Naphtha. 331

tillation of certain nitrogenous bodies, and it is very far from
improbable that in some cases where aniline is absent its place
is supplied by one or more of its homologues. It fact it ap-
pears to me extremely doubtful whether aniline is the only
member of the group to which it belongs present in coal
naphtha; this point is now under study.

In my paper on the volatile bases from shale naphtha, I
remarked, that although no evidence of the presence of ani-
line could be obtained, certain fractions gave with chloride of
lime a brilliant green tint, and the apparently characteristic
nature of the reaction induced me, perhaps too hastily, to
apply to the substance giving the coloration a distinctive
appellation. My result was also obtained by Dr Anderson,
under circumstances which appeared to preclude the possibi-
lity of error, I mean after destruction of the aniline present
among the crude Dippel bases, by nitric acid, and recovery
of the undecomposed alkaloids by distillation with lime. I
haye also obtained still more marked reactions of vertidine in
operating on the crude bases from coal tar. If a little solu-
tion of chloride of lime be added to some of the basic fluid
mixed, by agitation, with water, the violet reaction of aniline
becomes immediately manifest ; but, at the same time, distinct
patches of a brilliant emerald green appear upon the surface
of the fluid, and, on emptying the basin, adhere to the sides,
while the violet-tinted fluid from the aniline has little tendency
to remain on the dish. Moreover, if the crude bases are
heated with nitric acid until the aniline cannot but have been
destroyed, on recovering the bases by distillation with an
alkali, the fluid gives the green coloration with chloride of
lime yery distinctly. These reactions, and some other pecu-
liarities of the volatile alkaloids of the pyridine series, as ob-
tained from different sources, are as yet by no means well
understood, but they are being actively studied, and can
scarcely fail to yield results of sufficient value to repay ex-
amination.

ite ny lle

332 Biographical Sketch of

Biographical Sketch of the late George Johnston of
Berwick.

It does not often happen that the death of one who has oc-
cupied the laborious and unobtrusive position of a country
surgeon, calls for notice in a strictly scientific Journal; but
it would ill become us to pass unmarked the name of the late
Dr Johnston of Berwick, whose death has occurred since the
date of our last publication. We could have wished that this
duty had fallen to the lot of some one better acquainted with
those departments of science which Dr Johnston more espe-
cially cultivated ; and we can pretend to little more at present
than a slight sketch of his life and labours as a naturalist.
The former was uneventful, and its history may be summed
up in few words. Born in a farm-house at Simprin, in Ber-
wickshire, on the 20th of July 1797, he passed his boyhood
at the foot of the Cheviot Hills, at Ilderton, in Northumber-
land, whither his father had removed. Ilderton and its beau-
tiful neighbourhood always retained a favourite place in his
memory. A drawing of its church and vicarage ornamented
the mantelpiece of his study; and in his latest work, “* The
Botany of the Eastern Borders,” he commemorates, in his own
happy style, after an interval of half a century, the remark-
able garden of an old French emigré who lived there, and
whose “Silver and Golden Rods,” “ Peonies of monstrous
size and beauty,” and Narcissuses “such as I have never
since seen,” served thus early to nourish his taste for flowers.
From his father’s roof he was sent to school, first at Kelso,
and subsequently at Berwick, whence he was advanced to the
University of Edinburgh. During his residence in this latter
place, he lived in the family of Dr M‘Crie, the biographer of
Knox, who was also a native of Berwickshire; and his medi-
cal studies were superintended by Dr Abercrombie, to whom,
after the fashion of his time, he was apprenticed. The ad-
vantages which he enjoyed from such intimacies were not
wasted, and he often referred to them in after life. He also
joined the Royal Medical Society, which has always enumer-

the late George Johnston of Berwick. 333

ated among its members the élite of the medical students and
younger practitioners in this city.

At the period to which we refer (1813-18), there did not
exist in Edinburgh those encouragements to the study of na-
tural science which are now to be found. There were, in-
deed, the valuable lectures of Professor Jameson, ‘* never,” as
Dr Johnston in after years wrote, “‘ mentioned without a mark
of respect from one who had the honour of being his pupil;”
but the Botanical Professor did little towards exciting that
love of the science which distinguished the pupils of his suc-
cessor. While a student, Dr Johnston gave some attention
to botany, but hardly any to zoology; perhaps it was fortu-
nate that so little stimulus was applied to his inclination for
these branches, as he was thus enabled to give more undivided
consideration to purely medical subjects. That he was a dili-
gent student we know ; that he loved his profession none could
doubt who ever met him professionally. But after he settled
as a medical practitioner in Berwick, in 1818, scientific pur-
suits served to fill up the vacant time which every beginner
must have; and in those leisure hours was laid the foundation
of his fame as a naturalist. His attention was first directed
to the botany of the district, and the result was the publica-
tion, in 1829, of his “ Flora of Berwick-upon-Tweed ;” a se-
cond volume, containing the Cryptogamia, appearing two
years later.

At intervals during the early years of his residence in Ber-
wick he published, in Loudon’s Magazine of Natural History,
a series of papers entitled, “ Illustrations of British Zoology.”
These referred chiefly to the Mollusca, Annelides, and Zoo-
phytes of Berwick Bay; and the value of his descriptions, the
accuracy of which was universally acknowledged, was en-
hanced by equally accurate delineations from the pencil of
Mrs Johnston which accompanied them. ‘To these drawings,
indeed, he often ascribed much of the scientific utility of his
works; and those alone who have made the attempt them-
selyes, or who have at least carefully watched it in others,
can appreciate the patience and care expended in portraying
those minute creatures. Regret was more than once expressed
that these interesting researches should be lost amidst the

334 Biographical Sketch of

transitory articles of a magazine, and accordingly, having re-
solved to direct his attention to the Zoophytes and Sponges,
Dr Johnston accumulated a mass of materials, and in 1838
published his “History of British Zoophytes,” followed in
1842 by the “‘ History of British Sponges and Corallines.” It
would be superfluous to mention the estimation in which
these works are held, not only in Britain, but on the Con-
tinent and in America; in fact they were at once acknow-
ledged as the standard authorities on the subjects of which
they treat, and the Zoophytes reached a second and much en-
larged edition in 1847. He at one time planned a similar
systematic History of the British Mollusca, but seems at once
to have dropped the intention on hearing of the proposed pub-
lication of Forbes and Hanley. This however did not inter-
fere with his Introduction to Conchology, published in 1850;
a more popular work, written in a pleasing and interesting
style, characterized by Mr Kingsley in his Glaucus, as a col-
lection of true fairy tales, but at the same time replete with
solid information as to the structure and habits of the mol-
lusca. His last publication, like his first, was botanical, viz.,
the Botany of the Eastern Borders, published in 1853. This
was the first volume of an extended work on the entire natural
history of the district which he had long been engaged upon,
and a reperusal of its pages only deepens our regret that he
had not been spared to complete the work, and to expend
upon the animals some of that fund of curious and amusing
information which is interwoven with his account of the plants
of the Border counties, both in relation to the structure and
habits of the objects themselves, and also to the popular super-
stitions and local names and uses belonging to them.

Besides the works above mentioned, Dr Johnston commu-
nicated many detached papers to various scientific journals,
especially the Magazine of Zoology and Botany, which he, in
conjunction with Sir William Jardine and Mr Selby, originated,
and to its successor, the Annals of Natural History, of which he
was one of the editors. In the Transactions of the Berwick-
shire Naturalists’ Club, he described the Acarides of that
county, and furnished catalogues of its mollusca and fishes.
This Club, which has proved the parent of many similar asso-

the late George Johnston of Berwick. 335

ciations, owed its origin to him, and the zeal and activity
which have hitherto marked its progress, must be in great
part ascribed to his constant superintendence. Its meetings,
which are held five times during the summer months, afforded
almost his only periods of relaxation, and he was seldom ab-
sent from them. Few, indeed, could guess from his published
works, under what disadvantages they were composed. En-
gaged in an extensive and too often ill-requited practice, in-
volving rides or drives to considerable distances in the country,
it was difficult to pursue steadily any train of investigation,
and frequently, after a hurried visit to the sea-shore, snatched
during an hour’s leisure, just as some novel form had arrested
his attention, or some long-expected discovery had rewarded
his patience, he was called away for hours, perhaps for a whole
day, and ere his return the frail and delicate structure had
perished: for he never forgot that his professional cares were
his first duty ; and very few of those who experienced his most
kind and judicious attentions as a physician, were aware of
the scientific labours he pursued at the same time, and which
were procuring for him a European reputation ; and never did
any one pursue science from more pure and unselfish motives.
His works were not remunerative; he was most frank and
liberal in communicating either information or specimens to
any one engaged in similar pursuits, and he was destitute of
any paltry jealousy of the reputation of others. To those
who knew Dr Johnston,—and his circle of acquaintances was
very large,—these statements are superfluous. Many can call
to mind the readiness with which he replied to their inquiries
on any doubtful point which his superior knowledge enabled
him to clear up; and his correspondence in this way was very
extensive. Nor was a letter from him a mere dry scientific
detail, for oftener it contained some kind advice, or was en-
twined with some quaint and amusing matter from the anti-
quarian or poetic stores of his own mind. His letters were
indeed a true picture of the man; and a selection from those
preserved by his friends would form a peculiarly delightful
volume.
With all this work as a physician and a naturalist, he com-
bined a more than usual attention to his duties as a citizen.

336 The late George Johnston of Berwick.

Esteemed by his fellow townsmen for the urbanity of his man-
ners, his profuse hospitality, and his general intellectual su-
periority, he for many years was elected to municipal office.
He was thrice mayor and twice sheriff of the town, and took
a prominent part in the management of its schools and charit-
able institutions. He took a warm interest in the Mecha-
nics’ Institute, and frequently delivered lectures for its benefit,
on which he bestowed much time and preparation, When,
to these claims on the public esteem and respect, we add the
more private obligations conferred by his valued services as a
medical attendant, and remember the extent of his gratuitous
attendance on the sick poor, we can understand why his death
was so universally lamented; but only they who knew him
personally can rightly appreciate his loss. He died on the
30th of July last from the effects of a chronic disease of the
brain, which had probably been coming on for some time, al-
though it did not appear serious till within a month of his
death.

Dr Johnston was a graduate of the University of Edinburgh,
and a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons ; he was like-
wise presented with the degree of LL.D. by the University of
Aberdeen, and he was an honorary member of many scientific
societies. The Ray Society originated in a suggestion of
his own, the wisdom of which has been amply borne out by
the importance and yalue of the works published by that as-
sociation.

On the Present State of Organic Electricity. 337

A Brief Review of the Present State of Organic Electricity.
By Joun Goopsir, F.R.S., Lond. and Edin., Professor of
Anatomy in the University of Edinburgh.

The general Theory of Electricity has rapidly approached

a consistent form through the labours of recent physicists,
and particularly by the researches of Mr Faraday. The hy-
potheses of one or of two electric fluids, however modified,
have been found tenable only so far as they involve the
idea of force. In the phenomena of statical as in those of
current electricity, there is constantly pressed upon the ob-
server the necessity of admitting two forces, or two forms
or directions of a force, inseparable from one another. And
thus “ the influence which is present in an electrical condi-
tion may best be conceived of as an axis of power having
contrary forces, exactly equal in amount, in contrary direc-
tions.” *
_ This peculiar form of force manifests itself in different
kinds of inorganic matter, under circumstances such as fric-
tion, change of temperature, magnetic influence, and chemical
action.

It is also manifested in organized beings, not only under
circumstances in which they stand related to it as masses of
mere matter; but more particularly during the actions per-
formed by their component textures and organs.

Electrical science has been hitherto chiefly prosecuted in
the region of inorganic nature; and although Volta opened
up a boundless field of discovery in the region of inorganic
under the influence of organic electricity, the latter still re-
mains comparatively uncultivated.

In the investigation of electrical force as manifested in or-
ganic nature, the peculiar economy of the organized being
must be taken into account. . Each organized being, al-
though dependent on certain external circumstances as the
conditions of its existence, is, nevertheless, a system per se.
Irrespective of those electrical conditions into which it may

* Faraday, Philosophical Transactions; and Experimental Researches in
Electricity.

NEW SERIES.—VOL. I, NO. 1.——oor, 1855. x

338 Professor Goodsir on the

be thrown, through surrounding bodies, or through the me-
dium in which it lives, it undoubtedly contains more or less
numerous sources of electrical disturbance, in the numerous
processes and arrangements productive of currents, in the
structures which collectively constitute its organization. The
organized being may be considered electrically as a system
of electrical currents, excited by electrical arrangements in
the disposition of its fluids, textures, and organs.

So far as has yet been ascertained, these electrical currents,
with the exception of those produced by the special batteries
in the electrical fishes, are not employed in the economy of
the being. They are merely necessary consequences of the
organic processes carried on by the different structures; and
effect, by their arrangement, the distribution of the resulting
electricity, and the maintenance of the general electrical equili-
brium of the organic system. The detection and investigation of
these organic electrical phenomena are, however, important, not
only for general electrical science, but also for the elucidation
of the organic processes themselves. Residual phenomena, as
such electrical disturbances must generally be considered in
physiology, will, when investigated, indicate the probable na-
ture of the actions from which they result.

ELECTRICAL PHENOMENA IN VEGETABLES.

Various observers have proved the existence in plants of
arrangements which affect the condenser and galvanometer.
The experiments of Pouillet* on electricity developed in, or
in connection with, young plants in a state of growth, al-
though valuable, present too many sources of fallacy to be
available at present. Donné+ was the first to point out the
opposite electrical conditions of different parts of vegetables.
He found the opposite extremities of certain fruits, and even
the juices removed from those parts, to be in different electri-
cal states; and thus opened up a new field of organic electri-
city, which promises, when more fully investigated, to lead to

* “ Sur l’Electricité des fluides élastiques, et sur une des causes de l’Elec-
tricité de l’Atmosphére.” Ann. de Chim, et de Physique, tom. xxxv. 1827.

+ “ Recherches sur quelques unes des Propriétés Chimiques des sécrétions

et sur les courants électriques qui existent dans les Corps Organizés.”” Ann.
de Chim. et de Physique, tom. lvii, 1834,

Present State of Organic Electricity. 339

important results. The most precise information, however,
regarding the effect of different parts of vegetables on the gal-
yanometer are contained in two communications by M. Bec-
querel in the Memoirs of the French Academy,* and in a
notice by Professor Wartmann in the Bibliotheque Universelle
de Geneve.t The researches themselves are not yet suffi-
ciently advanced to admit of a satisfactory analysis. Indeed,
as M. Becquerel observes, the electrical effects are so complex
that it is unsafe to draw any conclusion regarding the part
which electricity takes in the organic functions. Hitherto,
therefore, in his researches, he has considered electricity ra-
ther as an effect, serving to elucidate the study of physiology,
than as a primary cause of organic phenomena. Much diffi-
culty exists in determining whether certain currents, indicated
by the instrument, are primary or derived; and also in ascer-
taining how far the observed currents are produced by un-
avoidable injury of texture, and consequent mixing of fluids,
by the insertion of the platina electrodes. The progress of
animal electricity had, previously to the labours of Du Bois
Reymond,t been impeded by similar circumstances ; and until
the electromotor properties of the component parts of vege-
tables are in some way separately investigated, as those of
muscle and nerve have been by the observer alluded to, no
solid progress can be looked for in vegetable electricity.

The general arrangement of the parts of a plant, and the
functions they perform, indicate the probable direction of the
resulting electrical disturbances. The differences in the con-
stitution of the ascending and descending portions of the axis,
and of their different transverse segments, naturally indicate
the existence of longitudinal currents; while the structural
and functional differences between the central and superficial
portions of the axis point to transverse or radiating lines of

* “ Recherches sur les causes qui degagent de l’électricité dans les végétaux,
et sur les courants végétaux terrestres ;” and ‘ Memoire sur les effets élec-
triques obtenus dans les tubercules, les racines, et les fruits, au moyen d’ai-
guilles de platine.” Mem. de l’Acad. des Sciences, tom. xxiii.

+t “ Note sur les Courants électriques qui existent dans les végétaux.” Bi-
bliothéque Universelle de Genéve, tom. xv, 1850,

{ Poggendorff’s Annalen, and Untersuchungen iiber thierische Blectricitit,
1848.

x2

840 Professor Goodsir on the

force. Accordingly, all the observations of Donné, Becquerel,
and Wartmann, indicate currents, primary or derived, in the
longitudinal and transverse direction, in roots, tubers, stems,
leaves, flowers, and fruits.

The electrical reactions of the plant, soil and atmosphere.
—The soil is in a constant negative, while the air, when calm
and free from clouds, is in a positive, electric condition.

According to the experiments of Pouillet,* plants in the
later stages of germination, after they have protruded from
the soil, exhibit, by the condenser, an excess of negative elec-
tricity. The explanation he gives is, according to Beequerel,t
probably correct ; that the action of the oxygen of the air on the
starch of the seed, during its conversion, gives an excess of
positive electricity to the air, and of negative electricity to the
plant and soil. The electrical effects observed by M. Pouillet,
in this first period of vegetation, correspond with the ordi-
nary electrical conditions of the earth and atmosphere.

But according to M. Becquerel’s own observations,{ the
electrical relations of the plant to the soil and air are reversed
after germination iscompleted. If the electrodes of the galva-
nometer are inserted, the one into the stem or branch, or
passed through a number of leaves laid together, but still ad-
herent—the other into the soil—the former will exhibit an ex-
cess of negative, the latter of positive electricity, in proportion
to the humidity of the soil and the succulence of the plant.

It may, therefore, be presumed that in the act of vegeta-
tion, after germination is accomplished, the ascending sap,
which communicates by means of the root with the soil, con-
veys to it continuously the excess of positive electricity which
it has acquired during its course upwards in its reactions
more particularly with the descending sap; while the latter
furnishes to the air, by exhalation, its excess of negative
electricity.

Vegetation, threfore, produces electric effects contrary to
those which render the air and soil respectively positive and
negative.

* Ann. de Chim. et de Physiques, loc. cit.
t Mem. de l’Acad. des Sciences, tom. xxiii., p. 60.
t Ibid., tom. xxiii., pp. 61, 62.

Present State of Organic Electricity. 341

Longitudinal electrical currents in the Dicotyledonous
Plant.—Becquerel states,* that if the electrodes of the galva-
nometer be inserted transversely into the parenchyma of the
bark, the one a certain distance above the other, or if one be
inserted between the bark and wood, and the other be passed
through a number of leaves, superimposed and still adherent,
the needle will indicate a current passing from below upwardst
through the parenchyma, the upper electrode indicating po-
sitive, the lower negative electricity. M. Becquerel accounts
for the relative electrical conditions of the green parenchyma
from the leaves downwards, by the removal of oxygen.

But the observations of M. Becquerel on the relative elec-
trical conditions of the plant and soil indicate the existence
of a descending current passing from the stem through the
roots into the earth, which therefore becomes positive around
the plant.

M. Wartmann, in the notice already quoted,t states that
in the roots, the stem, the branches, the petioles, and peduncles,
there exist a central descending current, and a peripheral as-
cending one, which he denominates axial currents; and that
the galvanometer indicates currents from every part of the
plant, aerial or subterranean, to the soil, which is thus posi-
tive in relation to the plant.

From these observations of Becquerel and Wartmann, little
doubt can be entertained that electrical currents exist in the
dicotyledonous plant, in the course of the circulation of its
sap, but in an opposite direction to it.

* Mem. de l’Acad. des Sciences, tom, xxiii., pp. 55, 56.

t The statement of the direction of an electrical current is a conventional
form of expression, which ought to convey merely an indication of the relative
positions of its positive and negative extremities, and consequently of the two
polar forces, both of which exist in the current. In the circuit formed by the
galvanometer the current which traverses its wire, and which deflects the
magnetic needle, is conventionally said to pass from the positive to the nega-
tive electrode; while in the electromotor portion of the circuit,—e. gy. a por-
tion of vegetable structure—the current is said to pass in the opposite direc-
tion. But “there is never one current of force, or one fluid only.” “Ina
current, whatever form the discharge may take, or whatever part of the circuit
or current is referred to, as much positive force as is there exerted in one di-
rection, so much negative force is there exerted in the other.”

} Bib. Univ. de Genave, tom. xv., p, 302.

342 Professor Goodsir on the ‘

Currents passing from within outwards, and from without
inwards in the horizontal section of the Dicotyledonous
Plant.—According to Beequerel,* if one electrode be inserted
into the pith, in a clean horizontal section of a young poplar,
and the other into one of the woody layers, or into the bark,
the needle is deflected 5°, 10°, 15°, or more, according to the
delicacy of the instrument, the succulence of the tree, or the
radial distance of the layer into which the second electrode
has been inserted ; a current from without inwards is indicated,
the electrode in the pith being positive, that in the wood or
bark negative.

If the one electrode be inserted close to the outside, and the
other be removed from the pith, and be reinserted from place
to place outwards, the current will diminish in intensity as
the second electrode approaches the cambium. Beyond the
cambium the current changes its direction and becomes
stronger. The current which now deflects the needle passes
along the wire from without inwards, indicating a positive
electric condition of the outer part of the parenchyma, and a
negative condition of the cambium.

On removing a piece of bark, and applying the electrodes,
(which in this experiment should consist of platinum plates) to
its opposite surfaces, the current becomes very intense. The
piece of bark thus forms a voltaic couple, of which the ex-
terior or parenchymatous side is positive, and the interior,
covered by the cambium, negative.

It would appear then that, from the pith to the cambium,
the woody layers are less and less positive in relation to the
pith ; whilst from the cambium to the cuticle, the parenchy-
matous layers are more positive, or at least comport themselves
as such in the production of derived currents. This inversion
of the electrical effects corresponds with the relative position
of the cellular texture in the bark and wood. In the bark,it ~
is on the exterior ; in the wood, in the interior; in both it is
positive.

In the notice by M. Wartmann, in the Bibliothéque Uni-
verselle de Genéve,} that observer states that “in uniting by

* Loe. cit., p. 44.
t Bib. Univ. de Genéve, tom. xv., p. 301.

Present State of Organic Electricity. 343

the galvanometer the layers of the stem where the liber and
cambium touch one another (and where many botanists admit
a passage of descending juices), either with the most central
parts (the pith or the perfect wood), or with the parts more ex-
terior (the young bark), a lateral current will be found tending
from these layers to the neighbouring organs.”

It would appear, therefore, that currents pass from the con-
tiguous surfaces of the bark and wood of the dicotyledonous
plant outwards towards the cuticle, and inwards to the pith;
or at least, arrangements exist in these directions which excite
currents in the opposite directions through the galvanometer
wire.

Currents in the root and its dependencies.—According to
M. Wartmann,* in some roots the central structures and the
cortical structures are, as in the stem, positive in relation to
the layers by which they touch and are united.

Céntrifugal transverse currents would appear to exist in
certain roots, which resemble tubers in the quantity of their
nutritious deposits. For Becquerelt has found the central
part of the carrot, and of the red and white beetroot negative
in relation to the exterior.

In the potato, in the tubers of the Helianthus tuberosus
and Lathyrus tuberosus currents radiate from the centre to
the cuticle ; for the electrode at the centre is negative in rela-
tion to the other, the latter indicating a more positive condition
the nearer it is placed to the cuticle. Becquerel, who has as-
certained these facts, and refers them to the system of trans-
verse currents in the bark, states at the same time that in the
tubers of Tropewolum tuberosum, and Ullucus tuberosus,
the currents are reversed, and correspond, therefore, with the
transverse system in the wood and pith of the dicotyledonous
stem.

It remains to be determined how far the single transverse
system of electrical currents in either direction, in certain
roots, and in tubers, depends upon the disappearance of the
central or peripheral elements of the axis.

* Bib, Univ. de Genave, tom. xv.

+ Memoire sur les effets electriques obtenus dans les tubercules, les racines,
et les fruits, au moyen d’aiguilles de platine. Mem, de l’Acad, de; Sciences,
tom, xxiii.

344 Professor Goodsir on the

On currents in leaves.—The relations and functions of the
leaf indicate the probable direction of the electrical currents
which may exist in it. |

Becquerel’s* observations lead to the conclusion that cur-
rents set from the cambium to the parenchyma of the leaf;
while at the same time it is negative in relation to the pith
and wood of the branch and stem. He states that the leaves
comport themselves as the green part of the parenchyma of
the bark, that is to say, the sap which circulates in their tissues
is negative in relation to the wood, pith, and soil; and posi-
tive in relation to the cambium.

M. Wartmann} states that in most leaves the currents pro-
ceed from the limb of the leaf to its veins, and to the central
parts of its petiole, and of the stem.

This centripetal current attributed to the leaf by Beequerel
and Wartmann is evidently referable to the central, or de-
scending axial current of the plant ; while the centrifugal cur-
rent alluded to by the former belongs to the superficial trans-
verse system, or that between the inner and outer aspects of
the bark. “

The electrical condition of the flower.—From the ener-
getic actions and rapid development of the flower, a consider-
able amount of electrical disturbance is to be expected in it.
Various observers have ascertained the remarkable elevation
of temperature which occurs during the development of this.
part of the plant; and the important chemico-vital actions
which take place in it must certainly excite corresponding
electrical phenomena,

The only observations in regard to these which have been
recorded are by Zantedeschi quoted by Becquerel in his second
memoir.{ The Italian observer found that at the period of
flowering in the tulip, jonquil, and anemone, a deflection of
the needle to the extent of 3° or 4°, due to a descending cur-
rent, occurs. He also found in an Azalea, an Amaryllis, a white
lily, and in various species of Opuntia, a current passing from

* Recherches sur les causes qui degagent de l’électricité, &c. Mem. de l’Acad.
de Sciences, tom. xxiii.

} Bibliotheque Universelle de Genéve, tom. xv.

Memoire sur les effects electriques, &c, Mem. de l’Acad. de Sciences,
tom, xxiii.

Present State of Organic Electricity. 345

the stamen to the pistil; the one electrode being in contact
with the pollen, the other inserted into the stigma.

Electrical condition of the fruit—The only recorded ob-
servations on this subject are by Donné,* in a memoir which
may be said to have introduced for the first time the subject
of vegetable, as well as certain important departments of ani-
mal electricity.

Donné found that when the platinum extremities of the gal-
vanometer wire are plunged into certain fruits, the one at the
stalk, the other at the opposite end, the parts exhibit different
electrical conditions. In the apple and pear a current would
appear to pass from the stalk towards the eye at the opposite
end; whilst in the peach and apricot the current passes in the
contrary direction. In the apple and pear the fruit is electro-
positive at the distal end, electro-negative at the stalk; the
contrary being the case in the peach and apricot.

_ Irrespective of the chemical causes to which these currents
are ascribed by Donné and Becquerel, it might be well to de-
termine how far their opposite directions may be referable to
morphological differences in the two forms of fruit examined :
whether in the monocarpel form, as in the peach, the current
be not referable to the centripetal current of the leaf; and
whether in the apple form (the fleshy mass of which is not a
development of the carpellary leaf, but of the cortical layer of
the receptacle, and of the end of the peduncle) it is not due
to the same causes which produce the general superficial, or
cortical axial current in the plant.

Are the currents which affect the galvanometer derived
from currents which actually existin the plant ? or are they
produced by the insertion of the electrodes ?—M. Becquerel
expresses himself very cautiously on this point ; and blames
certain physicists for entertaining inexact ideas regarding
the currents obtained from organized bodies by the galvano-
meter platinum wires ; and for assuming that such currents are
necessarily derived from other currents which actually exist
in the plant. But M. Becquerel adds,} somewhat inconsist-
ently with his own admissions in other parts of his memoirs,

* Ann, de Chim, et de Physique, tom, lvii.
+ Mem, de l'Acad. des Sciences, tom. xxiii.

346 Poafssane Goodsir on the

that nothing at present authorizes an induction of this kind.
The effects, he states, appear to be due, at least in most cases,
to the reaction of different liquids in contact with the elec-
trodes ; from which results such a disengagement of electricity,
as that the liquid which comports itself as an acid in relation
to the other sets free positive electricity.

At the same time, M. Becquerel admits that the two neces-
sary conditions for the production of primary currents exist
in the plant. The first is, that two liquids capable of acting
chemically on one another should be arranged so as to do so
gradually and continuously, or that there should be, as M.
Becquerel expresses it, “le contact des deux liquides per |
transition insensible.” The other is the intermedium of a
conducting texture, or substance to complete the cireuit. M.
Becquerel, accordingly, both in his memoirs* and in his
abridgements in the Comptes Rendus,+ seems inclined to
admit the two axial currents, and the horizontal system in
the stem and branches of the dicotyledonous plant. Be-
yond this he appears, at the date of the publication of his
memoirs, to have drawn no more precise conclusion from
the facts then observed; and states that the electrical effects
which take place in vegetables are so numerous, that it
has only been possible hitherto to observe a limited number
of them.

M. Wartmann,{ while he admits that the electro-chemical
action, which results from the tearing of the textures during
the insertion of the electrodes, produces at first a considerable
deflection of the needle, states, at the same time, that when this
action ceases, which it speedily does, there remains a more >
feeble current which must be due to the normal electrical
action of the parts. He states that vegetable currents probably
form closed circuits ; that the extremities of the root fibres
on the one hand, and the terminations of the leaves on the
other, establish a continuity between the ascending peri-
pheral and the descending central current; while the simi-
larity in the electrical condition of the exterior of the bark,

* Mem. de l’Acad. des Sciences, tom. xxiii.
+t Comptes Rendus, tom. xxxi—xxxii.
t Bib. Univ. de Genéve, tom. xv.

Present State of Organic Electricity. 347

and the interior of the wood, probably depends on the me-
dullary rays.

To what actions and arrangements in the plant are its
electrical disturbances and currents due ?—From what has

already been stated, it must appear that the knowledge
hitherto obtained of the relations and circumstances of the
electrical disturbances and currents in the plant is not yet
sufficiently precise to afford a solution of this question. Be-
fore the publication of Du Bois Reymond’s researches on the
electrical actions of muscle and nerve, and of Pacini on the
structure of the batteries inthe Torpedo and Gymnotus, electri-
cal excitement in the animal body had not been accurately con-
nected with anatomical structure ; and until a definite electri-
cal current in the plant is distinctly referred to a demon-
strable structural arrangement, a precise determination of the
exciting causes of currents in the latter cannot be expected.
We are not, indeed, acquainted with the actual chemical or
physical causes of electrical excitement in any animal texture
or organ; but we now know the direction and relations of the
current, in and to the anatomical structure in certain cases.
This is a secure step in the proper direction, and one which
has yet to be taken in vegetable electricity.

At present, therefore, it can only be stated generally, that
the disturbance of electric equilibrium in the textures and
organs of the plant is due to the chemical action which plays
so important a part in the organic processes—at its surface, as
during transpiration, respiration proper, and the fixation of
carbon—and in its interior, during the reaction of its ascend-
ing and descending sap, with the substances contained in the
cells of its various structures. In the same manner, no pre-
cise statement can be made at present regarding the arrange-
ments by means of which electrical currents are produced in
the plant. The researches of Becquerel* have proved that a
current is produced when two liquids of acid and alkaline re-
actions respectively, and separated from one another by a
porous substance, are connected either by a fluid or solid con-

ductor. It is quite evident that similar physical and chemical

* Recherches sur les circuits electro-chimique simple formé de liquides.
Comptes Rendus, tom, xxiv.

348 Professor Goodsir on the

conditions for the production of currents exist in innumerable
forms in the organization of vegetables. It is, however, im-
possible in the present phase of the subject to define them with
greater precision.

ANIMAL ExLectriciry.—The first discovery in animal elec-
tricity was the determination of the electrical character of the
shock of the Torpedo by Walsh in 1772. The development
of the subject has since been retarded, not only by its own
intrinsic difficulty, but also by the greater attractions of those
departments of general electricity which were opened up by
the labours of Volta. Its history presents three distinct
lines of research, that of the special electrical organs of the
Fish, commencing with the discovery of Walsh in 1772,* that
of the electrical properties of muscle and nerve, starting from
the fundamental experiment of Galvani in 1786-94,+ and that
of the electrical phenomena of membranes and glands, intro-
duced by Donné in 1834.

The results which have ultimately been attained in these
three directions shall now be briefly examined, but in order to
obtain a more comprehensive view, they shall be taken up in
the reverse order.

Electric Phenomena in connection with MEMBRANE and
GLAND.—The experiments of Donné are now alluded to only
because they were the’first which proved electric disturbance
in connection with secreting membrane and structure. He
found that when the electrodes of the galvanometer were
applied respectively to the mucous membrane of the mouth,
and to the skin, the needle deviated 15°, 20°, or 30°; the former
being negative, the latter positive. In the same manner,
when the instrument was applied between the mucous mem-
brane of the stomach and the gall-bladder, or interior of the
liver, the needle deviated 30°, 40°, or 50°.

Donné attributed these electric effects to the acid and alka-
line properties of the secretions with which the electrodes
were respectively in contact. Matteucci,§ again, while ad-

* “ Of the Electric Property of the Torpedo.” Phil. Trans., 1773.

t “ De viribus Electricitatis in Motu Musculari Commentarius.” Bologna,

1791.
¢ Ann. de Chim. et de Phys., tom. Ivii. 1834.

§ Ann. de Chim. et de Phys., tom. lvi.

Present State of Organic Electricity. 349

mitting the correctness of Donné’s experimental results, attri-
buted, as Drs Wollaston* and Thomas Youngt had previously
done, the difference of the chemical composition of the secre-
tions to the electric force itself. It is evident, therefore, that
the ingenious conjectures of Wollaston and Young, and the
experiments of Donné and Matteucci, merely indicated a
promising field of discovery, and formed a prelude to re-
searches which promised more precise results after the struc-
tures experimented upon had been more definitely selected.

The Electric relations of Mucous Membrane.—Mr H. F.
Baxter has recorded the results of his experiments on this sub-
ject.t The principal object Mr Baxter had in view was to
determine the relative electric condition of the secretions of
the mucous membrane, and of its vessels and blood; fulfill-
ing, therefore, what has already been stated as an apparent
condition of success in all such inquiries, viz., experimenting,
as far as can be, on distinct textures or organs, and not on
their aggregations.

The mucous membrane of the stomachs, and of the small
and large intestines of the rabbit, cat, and guinea-pig were
selected ; and pointed and flattened platinum electrodes applied
respectively to the surface of the mucous membrane, and in-
serted into the vessels. The following were the general re-
sults—

1. The inside and outside of the gut were formed into a
circuit without effect.

2. One electrode on the mucous membrane, the other inserted
into an artery proceeding to the same spot, produced no effect.

3. One electrode on the mucous membrane, the other in-
serted into a vein proceeding from the same spot, indicated a
positive condition of the vein or its contents, by a deviation of

the needle to the extent of from 3° to 5°.

4. One electrode on the mucous membrane, the other in-
serted into a vein emptied of its blood, produced no effect.

* Phil. Mag., vol. xxxiii. On the Agency of Electricity on Animal Secre-
tions.

t Young. Syllabus of Lectures on Medicine.

} Phil. Trans., 1848. An Experimental Inquiry, undertaken with a view of
ascertaining whether any, or what signs of Current Electricity are manifested
during the organic process of secretion, in living animals, &c,

350 Professor Goodsir on the

5. One electrode applied to the mucous membrane, the
other inserted into a vein not proceeding from the same spot,
produced no effect.

6. It was not necessary to insert the second electrode into
the vein, for the needle was deflected if the second electrode
was merely dipped into the blood flowing from the vein.

Having ascertained how far the different solid and fluid
substances in contact with the electrodes might interfere
with the result, and also in what manner the effects were in-
fluenced by the death of the animal, Mr Baxter concluded
from his experiments, that—

1. When the electrodes of a galvanometer are brought
into communication—one with the mucous membrane of the
alimentary canal, the other with the blood flowing from the
same part—a deviation of the needle takes place, indicating
that the secreted product and the blood are in opposite electric
states.

2. The effect occurs during the life of the animal, and
ceases after its death. |

3. The effect may be considered as arising from the decom-
position of the blood,—i.e., from the changes which occur
during the formation of the secreted product and venous blood.

4. These changes are effected by the organic actions of the
part.

The Electric relations of Gland.—In a second paper,* Mr
Baxter records the experiments which he had made to deter-
mine the electric relations of the secretions and blood of the
liver, kidney, and mammary gland. The facts which his ex-
periments tend to establish are as follow :—

1. During biliary secretion, the bile and venous blood flow-
ing from the hepatic veins, are in opposite electric states.

2. During urinary secretion, the urine and venous blood
flowing from the renal vein, are in opposite electric states.

3. During mammary secretion, the milk, and the venous
blood flowing from the mammary veins, are in opposite elec-
tric states.

* Phil. Trans., 1852. An Experimental Inquiry undertaken with a view of
ascertaining whether any, or what signs of current electricity are manifested _
during the organic process of secretion in living animals, &c.

Present State of Organic Electricity. 351

In these experiments on glandular action, as in those de-
seribed above on the alimentary mucous membrane, the venous
blood was found to be positive, producing a deflection of the
needle to the extent of 3°, 4°, 5°, 8°, 10°.

The Electric relations of the Respiratory Mucous Mem-
brane, and the Pulmonic Blood.—Mr Baxter having ascertained
that the venous blood flowing from a secreting membrane or
gland, is in a positive electric condition, applied one electrode
in contact with the mucous membrane of the lung, and the
other in contact with the blood flowing from it, i.e., the
arterial blood. He thus found the blood of the pulmonary
veins, or of the left ventricle, invariably positive, producing
a deflection of 2°, 3°, 4°, or 5°. At the same time, he
ascertained that when the respiratory mucous membrane
and the blood of the right ventricle are connected, a de-
flection of 2°, 3°, or 4°, occasionally oceurred. All his
experiments tended to the same conclusion, viz., that the
blood of the pulmonary veins is positive; and that when
a circuit is formed between the mucous membrane of the
lung, and the blood in the left ventricle of the heart, a
current is produced.

The Electric Properties of MuscLe.—Galvani having dis-
covered and investigated the contractions produced by elec-
tricity in the muscles of the frog,* afterwards observed similar
contractions when two dissimilar metals, in contact with one
another, are also brought into contact with the nerve and
muscles respectively of the frog’s leg.t At first he appears to
have conceived the contractions to be due to electricity evolved
by the metals; but finally he concluded that it is produced by
the animal textures themselves. The researches of Volta
verified the original opinion of Galvani, that the metals, when
they are employed, are the sources of the electricity which
produce the muscular contractions ;+ but the discovery of the
pile, with its consequences, threw into temporary oblivion the
actual evidences of an electromotor property of the animal
textures independently on metals, which the numerous expe-

* De Viribus Electricitatis, &c.
t De Viribus Electricitatis, &c.
{ Nuova Memoria dell’ Electricita Animale, &e.

352 Professor Goodsir on the

riments of Galvani and his supporters had afforded.* Even
Humboldt’s observations did not prevent the almost total ne-
glect of the subject for a quarter of a century.

In 1827 Nobili,t having applied his improved galvanometer
to the fundamental experiment of Galvani, discovered the elec-
tric current of the frog. He found that, when the circuit of
the nerve and muscles of the leg is closed by the instrument,
a deviation of the needle to the extent of 10°, 20°, or 30°, oc-
curs, due to a current which passes in the limb from the toes
upwards, and which could be increased by inclosing in the
circuit several frogs arranged as a battery. There could no
longer be any doubt of the truth of Galvani’s later opinion,
that electricity is developed in connection with muscle and
nerve.

The researches of Matteucci, carried on during a transi-
tionary stage of the subject, and exhibiting occasional obseu-
rity and contradiction, are, nevertheless, valuable, not only
from having directed attention generally to electro-physiology,
but particularly from having, in regard to muscle, indicated
that its electric properties are due to its own texture, and not
to the conjoined nerves. He had always, however, experi-
mented with masses, or aggregates of muscle, and had not at-
tempted to ascertain the laws of electric action in the mus-
cular fibre or bundle itself, or in a single isolated muscle.§

These laws have been investigated by Du Bois Reymond,
who has ascertained that muscular structure presents two dis-
tinct electric conditions,—firstly, during the intervals of con-
tractions, and, secondly, during contraction.

Electric condition of a Muscle during the intervals of con-
traction.—Galvani conceived the outer surface of a muscle to
be charged with negative, the inner with positive electricity.
Matteucci had found that in order to produce contractions in
the galvanoscopic frog, two parts of its nerve must be brought
into contact with two parts respectively of the muscle of a

* Dell’ uso e dell’ attivita dell’ arco conduttore nei contrazione de’ muscoli.
1793; and Supplimento al Trattato dell’ uso, ec. 1794.

t Versuche ueber die gereizte Muskel-und Nervenfaser, u. s. w., 1797.

t Ann. de Chim. et de Phys., 1828.

§ Bib. Univ. de Généve; Ann. de Chim. et de Phys.; Traité des Phénomé-
nes Electro-physiologique.

Present State of Organic Electricity. 353

living animal ; and that the experiment uniformly succeeded if
the nerve touched the bottom of a wound in the muscle and
the margin of the wound at the same time. Du Bois Rey-
mond has ascertained the actual relative electric condition of
_ certain surfaces or aspects of the muscular fibre or muscle.*
These aspects he denominates the longitudinal and transverse
sections. These sections, again, may be either natural or
artificial.

The natural longitudinal section is as much of the surface
of a muscle as is formed by the exposed sides of its superficial
fibres.

An artificial longitudinal section is any surface exposed
by a section in the direction of the muscular fibres.

The surface or side of a fibre or fasciculus viewed as a
cylinder or prism is its longitudinal section.

A natural transverse section is any part of a muscle formed
by the extremities of its fibres, coated by tendon of attach-
ment.

An artificial transverse section is a section made at right
angles to the fibres.

The natural or artificial extremities of fibres are transverse

sections. :

By employing a very delicate galvanometer, and by certain
refined precautions in the arrangement of his experiments,
Du Bois Reymond found that the longitudinal section, natu-
ral or artificial, is invariably positive in relation to the natu-
ral or artificial transverse section. The following are the
general laws of the derived muscular current.

1. If any point of the natural or artificial longitudinal sec-
tion be put into connection, by means of the galvanometer,
with any point of the natural or artificial transverse section,

the needle will indicate a current in the wire from the longi-
tudinal to the transverse section.

2. If one point of the natural or artificial transverse section
of a muscle is brought into connection with another point of
the same or of another similar transverse section, and if the
points be unequally distant from the centre of the section con-

* “ The Law of the Muscular Current,” p. 498, vol. i. of Untersuch. ueber
Thier, Electricitat.

NEW SERIES.—VOL, I, NO, 1.—ocr. 1855, t

>

354 ~ Professor Goodsir on the

sidered as the base of a muscular cylinder, a current is indi-
cated passing from the electrode furthest from the centre, and
directed to that which is nearest to it.

3. If we now consider the mass of the muscle as a ajeaien.
and connect a point of the natural or artificial longitudinal
section nearer the middle transverse section of the mass, with
a point of the natural or artificial longitudinal section more
distant from the middle, a current is indicated passing from
the nearer to the more distant point.

4. If both connected points of one or of two natural or arti-
ficial transverse sections be equally distant from the centre of
the surface, no current is indicated. So also in regard to
longitudinal sections, points equally distant from the middle
produced no current.

These laws are most satisfactorily illustrated in the muscles
of rabbits and frogs, but they are essentially the same im man,
in representatives of the four vertebrate classes, and in mol-
luses, crustaceans, and annelids.

The electromotor power, which is exhibited in the mus-
cular current, does not depend upon the areolar texture, the
tendons or vessels, &c. of the mass; or on the contact of dissi-
milar textures with the muscular fibre ; for the power is exhi-
bited when the smallest manageable portion, or even a single
primary fasiculus is employed. The power evidently resides
in the ultimate fibre.

Du Bois Reymond has investigated the arrangement of the
electromotor elements on which this power depends. After
various experiments, he succeeded in constructing a model
consisting of a solid copper cylinder, with its cylindrical sur-
face coated with zinc, and suspended in or surrounded by an
electrolytic liquid, which fulfilled by means of the galvano-
meter all the conditions of the current as derived from the
natural sections of an entire muscle. He arranged another
model, consisting of a number of similar but smaller cylinders,
set in longitudinal series, so that the positive or zine elements
were directed laterally, and the copper or negative in the lon-
gitudinal direction. A combination of this kind, immersed in
a fluid, exhibited by means of the galvanometer not only the
currents of the natural section of an entire muscle, but also

yee SS:

Present State of Organic Electricity. 355

the currents of its artificial sections. Du Bois Reymond,
therefore, concluded, that the conditions of the muscular cur-
rent are fulfilled by assuming in the muscular mass the ex-
istence of electromotor centres, each of which may be con-
ceived to be a molecule consisting of an equatorial positive
zone, and two polar negative zones, these molecules being ar-

ranged linearly, so that the polar zones are in the direction

of the muscular fibre.

These investigations in no way anticipate the cause of the
electromotor property of the muscular fibre; they bear only
on the laws of its action. They leave very little doubt that
the muscular substance during its life, and in the intervals of
contraction, is in a state of electric tension; and that there
are in it an infinite number of electromotor centres in con-
nection with closed circuits, according to the laws already
stated; and which must be infinitely stronger than those de-
rived currents which are procured from a muscle, or a portion
of it, by means of the galvanometer.

Du Bois Reymond having observed that the current derived
from a longitudinal section and from a natural transverse sec-
tion was generally weaker than that from an artificial transverse
section, and that it was even occasionally not obtainable when
the electric tension of the muscle was much diminished by cold,
found, on further investigation, that it was necessary to admit
the existence of a layer of peculiar electromotor elements at
the ends of the muscular fibres in contact with the tendon.
He denominates this the parelectronomic layer, as it pro-
duces a current opposed to the general muscular current, and
must therefore present its positive elements towards the ten-
don. For the purpose of including this layer in his general
theory, he modifies his conception of the electromotor mole-

cules, and illustrates the entire action by a corresponding

change in his model. Instead of the molecules being, as he
had denominated them, peripolar—possessing an equatorial
positive and two polar negative zones, he substitutes for each
of such molecules a pair of dipolar molecules with their po-
sitive poles in contact, and their negative directed away from
one another. If, now, the parelectronomic layer be conceived

a8 formed of one set only of such dipolar molecules, they

z2

356 Professor Goodsir on the

must necessarily have their positive poles next the tendinous
surface.

This hypothesis not only satisfies the general law of the
muscular current, but also affords a reason for the counteract-
ing influence of the natural transverse section, and the facility
with which it can be removed by any fluid which corrodes or
acts upon the muscular fibre, or by the knife.*

The general Muscular current.—Nobili discovered, by
means of the galvanometer, that a current passed from the
toes towards the head of the frog. If the animal be deprived of
its skin, and bent backwards so that its feet dip into one ves-
sel and its snout into another, the vessels being filled with a
saturated solution of common salt, and connected by the elec-
trodes, the needle will indicate a current in the galvanometer
wire from the head to the feet. According to Du Bois Rey-
mond, the general current may, by certain precautions, be de-
tected even in the undissected frog, although the cireuit is
partially closed by the skin. This current is the resultant of
the currents of all the individual muscles of the frog; for Du —
Bois Reymond found, firstly, that in some muscles the currents
set from head to feet, in others in the opposite direction ; se-
condly, that the electromotor power of a muscle is directly as
its length and thickness; and, thirdly, that if two muscles are
opposed to one another in a circuit, the thicker or the longer
overcomes the other.

This general muscular current must therefore exist in every
animal possessing muscular arrangements, at least in the four
vertebrate classes. It does not, however, necessarily assume
the same general direction in all.T

Electric condition of a Muscle during contraction.—This
condition has not yet been accurately determined. Matteucci
observed, that when two prepared frog’s limbs are so arranged
that the nerve of the one lies across the muscles of the other,
muscular contraction of the latter induces contraction of the

* The muscular current is investigated at great length, historically and ex- _
perimentally, in the second and third chapters of section iii. of Du Bois Rey-
mond’s “ Untersuchungen.”

t The fourth chapter of section iii. in the first part of vol. ii. of the “ Unter-
suchungen,” treats “ Of the influence of Contraction on the Muscular Current.”

Present State of Organic Electricity. 357

former. He concluded therefore, along with Becquerel, that
during muscular contraction there is an evolution of electri-
city. But the galvanometer, even when a pile of contracting
limbs is included in the circuit, gives no decided indication
_ of acurrent. Matteucci, indeed, has latterly denied the evo-
lution of electricity during muscular contraction, and is in-
clined to attribute the secondary contraction to another cause.
Du Bois Reymond concludes from his investigations, that
during contraction the ordinary muscular current is much di-
minished, if indeed it does not altogether disappear.

_ The contraction produced by a single act of excitement of a
striped muscle is momentary. Any change, therefore, of its
ordinary electric condition during such a contraction is too
brief to be satisfactorily indicated by the needle. But if a
muscle be included in the circuit of the galvanometer, and if,
as soon as the deflected needle comes to rest under the influ-
ence of the ordinary muscular current, the muscle be put into a
state of continuous contraction, or tetanus, by means of strych-
nine, or an interrupted electric current, the needle will pass
backwards beyond zero, and oscillate unsteadily on the nega-
tive side, till the muscular contractility is exhausted. That
this negative deflection is not the result of any influence ex-
erted by the current employed to tetanize the muscles, is shown
by the fact that it occurs even when precautions are taken to
prevent such an influence ; and also by its occurrence when
the tetanus is produced by strychnine, and other non-electric
means.

If, again, an arrangement be made so as to enable the gal-
vyanometer circuit to.be closed as soon only as the tetanus has
commenced, the needle will be found, during the contraction,
only to approach zero more or less, instead of passing to the
negative side, indicating therefore a diminution of the ordi-
nary muscular current.

That this diminution in the ordinary muscular current is
not due to an increased resistance to conduction in the muscle
from its contracted condition is proved by placing the two
corresponding muscles of the same animal, one before the
other in the same galvanometer circuit, but reversed so that

358 _ Professor Goodsir on the

their currents aré opposed to one another, and then tetanizing
one of them, for when this is done the current of the other
acquires the ascendant.

The negative deflection in the first form of the experiment
is due, therefore, neither to invasion of the galvanometer cir-
cuit by the exciting current, nor to a change in the direction
of the ordinary current, nor to increased resistance to conduc-
tion. It is the result of the counter-current produced at the
platinum electrodes of the galvanometer during the passage of
the ordinary muscular current; and this counter-current de-
flects the needle negatively as soon as the ordinary muscular
current begins to lose its influence on it, through the annihilat-
ing effect of the tetanus. The negative deflection is also in pro-
portion to the intensity of the ordinary current, and is, more-
over, increased by the negative effect of the parelectronomic
layer, which, according to De Bois Reymond, is not atieoie
by the act of contraction.

The diminution or cessation of the ordinary muscular cur-
rent has been employed by Du Bois Reymond to explain cer-
tain curious experiments which he has latterly made. The
general muscular current of the frog sets, as has been stated,
from the toes to the head of the animal. Now, if one of the
legs of a frog be paralyzed by cutting the sciatic plexus, the feet
being then placed in the two conducting vessels for the elec-
trodes of the galvanometer, and the animal tetanized with
strychnine, it is evident that the ordinary general current will
be diminished in the tetanized limb. Under these cireum-
stances, the galvanometer indicates, not only an increase of the
upward current in the paralyzed limb, but a downward current
in the tetanized one. On the human subject a corresponding
experiment may be made. The forefinger of each hand being
dipped into the saline solutions along with the electrodes of
the galvanometer, no deflection occurs. But if all the muscles
of one arm be strongly and continuously contracted, a current
is indicated as passing from the finger to the shoulder in the
contracted arm, and in the opposite direction in the relaxed
one. It is evident that this current is the result of the dimi-
nution of the ordinary general muscular current in the con-

Present State of Organic Electricity. 359

tracted arm, and the substitution for it of the closed circuit
of the ordinary current of the opposite arm.*

The Electric Properties of Nerve-—The resemblance between
many actions of the nervous system and certain electric phe-
nomena has frequently impressed physiologists; but investi-
_ gations of this subject have been so generally mixed up with

that of the electricity of muscle, as to lead to no precise re-
sult. Matteucci had failed in obtaining any indication of
electric currents in nerves; but, nevertheless, the singular
parallelism between the two powers could not be overlooked ;
and Faraday has pointed out the importance of such considera-
tions in his statements regarding electro-nervous action and
reaction. More recently Du Bois Reymond has admitted
that electricity and the nervous force are at least equivalents.
He was the first to derive electric currents from the nerves,
and has procured many most remarkable results from his re-
searches on the subject.

The Electric condition of a Nerve in the intervals of func-
tional activity—By employing a very delicate galvanometer,
Du Bois Reymond has detected the electric current in nerve,
and has determined its laws. They are similar to those of
the muscular current, having the same relation to the longi-
tudinal and transverse sections ; except that as the nerve pre-
sents no natural transverse section, the relative conditions of
the longitudinal and transverse sections cannot be detected
before the nervous cord has been cut across. If a transverse
section is in contact with one electrode, and the outer surface
of the nerve with the other, the current passes through the
galvanometer wire from the latter to the former. The current
has the same relative direction whether the transverse section
belong to the peripheral or central extremity of the nerve ;

and, consequently, when a segment of nerve is doubled in the
middle, the current passes from the loop to both sections.
The currents derived from the natural longitudinal section,
that is, the outer surface of the segment of a nerve, are simi-
lar to those derived from the outer aspect of a muscle ; and
there is reason for believing, that if the small size of the

* The general muscular current and the frog-current are treated of in the
first chapter of section iii. of the “ Untersuchungen,”

360 Professor Goodsir on the

transverse section did not present an obstacle, it also would
be found to be in the same condition of electric tension as @
corresponding surface in a muscle.

It isa remarkable and important fact, that no difference
exists in the laws of the electric current in the two classes of
cerebro-spinal nerves. The motor and sensory nerves, the
dorsal and ventral roots of the spinal nerves, and the nerves
of special sense, all present the same electric conditions. It
is also remarkable that the spinal marrow and brain afford
the same results as the nervous cords. The former has its
natural and artificial longitudinal surfaces in a positive elec-
tric condition, and its transverse in a negative. In the brain
the entire surface covered by the pia mater, whatever com-
plication of form or direction it may assume, being morpho-
logically a longitudinal surface, is electrically positive in re-
lation to artificial sections of the organ.

Du Bois Reymond has discovered a very remarkable con-
dition of a nerve produced by the passage of a continuous
electric current through a portion of it. If a continuous cur-
rent be passed along a portion of a separated segment of nerve,
it alters the ordinary electromotor condition of the nerve in
such a manner as to increase the force of the ordinary current
at that extremity of the segment where they correspond in
direction, and to diminish the ordinary current at the other ex-
tremity where they are opposed. That a new condition of elec-
tric tension is induced by the exciting currents along the en-
tire segment, is proved by the galvanometer, which indicates a
current in the direction of the exciting current between points
equally distant from the middle of the outer surface of the
segment, where no galvanometric indications of the ordinary
current can be derived.

From the resemblance which this peculiar condition of a,
nerve bears to the change which Faraday supposes to take
place in a wire along which a current is induced by a neigh-
bouring current, Du Bois Reymond adopts the term applied by
the former to the induced change, and denominates the new
condition of the nerve the electrotonic state.

In the electrotonic state the ordinary electromotor elements
are evidently polarized, so as to have all their positive and

Present State of Organic Electricity. 361

negative poles turned in opposite directions. Du Bois Rey-
mond conceives that the change may be explained by assum-
ing that the ordinary electromotor elements consist each of
two dipolar molecules, with their positive poles in contact,
and that in the electrotonic condition, one of the dipolar mole-

gules of each electromotor element turns on itself from 90° to

100°.*

The Electric condition of a Nerve during functional acti-
vity—As Du Bois Reymond was the first to detect the ordinary
electric current in nerves, so we owe to him the only infor-
mation we possess regarding the electric condition of a nerve
during functional activity. The question to be determined is
the electric condition of a motor nerve while it is engaged in
transmitting to a muscle the stimulus which induces contrac-
tion, and of a sensory nerve while it is conveying to the sen-
sorium the impression produced at its peripheral extremity.
In this investigation it was necessary to produce in the nerve
that state of continuous activity which is required for over-
coming the inertia of the needle. Such a condition may be
procured by mechanical or chemical agents, or by the trans-
mission of interrupted electric currents.

A segment of a nerve having been placed so that its longi-
tudinal and one of its transverse sections are in connection
with the electrodes of the galvanometer, if after the needle
has come to rest at the angle of deflection produced by the
nerve current, the other end of the nerve be burned or crushed,
the needle will return towards zero a few degrees.

If the extremity of the nerve of a rheoscopic leg be con-
nected with the galvanometer in a similar manner, and the leg
itself be confined in one limb of a glass syphon, into which a
boiling solution of salt is passed from the opposite limb, the
needle will indicate a similar negative variation.

A frog having been fastened down, its sciatic nerve laid
bare, cut across at the lower end, and turned up from the thigh,
so as to have its longitudinal and transverse sections applied
to the electrodes, the needle will exhibit the usual positive

* The greater part of the first division of vol. ii. of the “ Untersuchungen”

is occupied with the subject of the nerve-current. Tho statement of the laws
of the nerve-current will be found at p. 262, 263.

362 Professor Goodsir on the

deflection. If the animal be now tetanized by strychnine;
the needle will return towards zero, and continue to oscillate,
approaching zero during each spasm, and receding from it
in the intervals of muscular action, that is, while the nerves
are not engaged in conveying their stimulus of muscular con-
traction.

From these experiments it appears, that when a motor or
sensory nerve is in a state of functional activity its ordinary
electric condition is altered, as it no longer affords the same
galvanometric indications, the current derived from it being
diminished.

Electricity passed through a nerve excites that condition
which in a motor cord induces muscular contraction ; and in
a sensory, common or special, sensation. In order, therefore,
to determine the nature of the change which occurs during -
the functional phase of a nerve, Du Bois Reymond had re-
course to electric excitement.

It has already been stated that a nerve is thrown into aliad
has been called the electrotonic condition as long as a continuous
electric current passes through a portion of it. Now, as museu-
lar contraction is induced at the closing and opening of the cir-
cuit, and at the movements of variation in the density of the
exciting current, and as sensation also occurs most vividly
under similar conditions, it was necessary to examine the
electrotonic state, as produced by variable or intermitting
currents. For, as a variable or alternating electrotonie state
promised the greatest resemblance to a state of continuous
functional activity, its investigation might be expected to
throw some light on the change which takes place in the ordi-
nary electric condition of a nerve when it is thrown into ac-
tion.

Du Bois Reymond found that the galvanometer as distinetly
indicated positive and negative variations in the currents which
passed through it, when these currents were derived from the ex-
tremities of a segment of nerve which was in an intermitting, as
when it was in a continuous, electrotonic state. When, how-
ever, the interruptions of the exciting primary current become
very frequent, the negative variation of the derived currents
becomes more marked, and even the positive variation dimi-

Present State of Organic Electricity. 363

nishes. It appeared probable, therefore, that by producing
the electrotoni¢ state of the nerve by rapidly alternating cur-
rents, the negative condition already indicated might be in-
creased. It was consequently found that if, after the needle
had come to rest in the deflection by the ordinary nerve current
from either end of the segment, a rapid series of alternating
currents be transmitted through a portion of the cord from an
induction coil (in which each primary current induces an op-
posite in the other wire), the needle returns to zero.

These experiments appear to prove, that when a nerve is
completely excited or tetanized by electricity, its usual electro-
motor power is diminished or in abeyance; and as a similar
loss of electromotor power also accompanies intense func-
tional excitement from ordinary agents, Du Bois Reymond
conceives this negative electric condition to be in some man-
ner related to the motor or sensory functional power of the
nerve.*

To what is the polarization of the nerve, when in a state
of functional activity, due ?—A nerve is thrown by a current
of electricity into an electric condition apparently similar to
that in which it is during excitation by its normal stimuli.
Is its natural action due therefore to electricity? Is its natural
electrotonic condition similar to its so-called artificial condi-
tion? Is it induced by an electric current? Du Bois Rey-
mond’s opinions on this subject are guardedly expressed.t He
holds the so-called nervous principle and electricity to be
similar or alike.. A nerve in action is in an induced electro-
tonic state; and exhibits a consequent amount of negative
variation of its ordinary electric current. The source of the
inducing current is not stated; but its direction may be con-
ceived as resulting, during its influence, from the direction
and extent of the rotation which occurs in one or the other of
the two dipolar molecules, of which the presumed ordinary
peripolar electromotor elements consist, and on which the or-

* Chap, vii. of the Second Division of vol. ii, of the “ Untersuchungen.”

Tt See p. xv. of the Preface of the “ Untersuchungen,” in which Du Bois
Reymond states that the electricity in muscle and nerve will probably ultimately
prove to be not the mere consequence of their organic processes and actions,
but the actual source of their activity.

364 Professor Goodsir on the

dinary current of the nerve depends. The induced current
will be more or less directly centrifugal or centripetal as long
as the inducing current or power rotates the peripheral or the
central dipolar molecule in each pair of double electromotor
elements in the series, round an arc of from 90° to 180°.

The Electric relations of Centrifugal and Centripetal
Nerves are identical_—It would appear to be an important re-
sult of Du Bois Reymond’s electro-physiological researches that
motor and sensory nerves exhibit no difference in their elec-
trical relations. The electrotonic condition can be induced
in either direction. It may consequently be inferred that a
motor nerve is capable of conveying its mere influence in
either direction, but effectively only when it terminates in a
muscle. On the other hand, a sensory nerve is capable of
conveying its impression both ways, but with effect only when
it reaches a sentient centre. In so far as the investigation
has been carried by employing electricity as the exciting
agent, Du Bois Reymond draws the following conclusions from
his experiments, “that in both kinds of nervous fibres the
innervation advances in both directions with equal facility.” *

The Law of the Excitation of Nerves by the Electrical Cur-
rent.—When a uniform current is transmitted through the
nerve of the prepared limb of a frog, the leg contracts only at
the closing and opening of the circuit. In order to keep up
the contraction, or to produce a tetanic condition of the mus-
cles, the current must be variable or intermittent. The ac-
tion of a muscle is not, therefore, equivalent to the strength
of the electric current which may be transmitted along its
nerve, but to the variations in it. The law is thus expressed
by Du Bois Reymond, “It is not the absolute value of the
density of the current in a motor nerve which corresponds to
the contraction of the muscle ; but the variation in this value
from one moment to another, the excitation being greater the
greater and quicker the variations in a given time.”t This
law is also illustrated by the so-called secondary contractions,
which are produced by bringing the nerve of the prepared
frog’s limb into contact with a muscle during its contraction.

* “ Untersuchungen,” vol. ii., p. 590.
+ “ Untersuchungen,” vol. i., p. 258.

Present State of Organie Electricity. 365

If the nerve is laid upon a muscle which is in a tetanic condi-
tion, however produced, the muscles of the limb become teta-
nized also. This secondary tetanus is the result of that al-
ternating negative variation which the ordinary muscular
current undergoes during continued contraction.

The nerves of sensation, like those of motion, are more par-
ticularly affected at the closing and opening of the circuit,
and by variations in the current; but they would also appear
to be capable of excitement by a constant current.*

The organized being may be considered electrically as
presenting a system of electrical currents, excited by ar-
rangements in the system of its fluids, textures, and organs ;
the two systems representing each other. The electric dis-
turbances and currents in the Microcosm are represented by
similar but grander phenomena in the Macrocosm. These
phenomena coincide in both cases with the disposition of com-
ponent parts, and rank with other forms of material force
alternately as causes and effects. But the Organized Being is,
moreover, subordinated to those indwelling psychical powers
and impulses by which it enjoys its prescribed freedom.

Tue SpeciaL ELEcTRIcAL APPARATUS IN CERTAIN FISHES.
—The only animals in which undoubted special electro-
motor organs have been detected are certain fishes, of which
the most remarkable are the Torpedo, Gymnotus, and Malap-
terurus. These animals, by means of peculiarly adapted ap-
paratus, can excite, under the influence of the nervous sys-
tem, voluntary electric currents of great power in definite
directions, but of only momentary continuance.

The general structure of the Electrical Apparatus in the
Fish.—tThe electrical apparatus in the fish consists of three
parts—the battery, the nervous centre, and the nerves. The
battery may be described, in general terms, as consisting of a
very large number of lamine of vasculo-nucleated texture,
largely supplied with centrifugal nerve fibres, which are dis-
tributed on one of their surfaces only. These laminew are so
arranged in reference to one another, and to thin intervening

* “ Untersuchungen,” vol, i,, p. 283,

366 Professor Goodsir on the

layers of fluid, as to constitute a uniform series in the order,
nerve surface—vasculo-nucleated surface—fluid—nerve sur-
face—ke.

The nervous centre consists of a portion of the cerebro-
spinal axis developed in relation to the large nervous supply
contributed to the battery, and so organized as to be subject
to the influence of the will, as well as capable of reflex
action.

The nerves are centrifugal, referable apparently to the
motor series. They are connected at one extremity to the
nervous centre of the apparatus; and are distributed at the
other to the nerve surfaces of the laminz of the battery.

The Electrical Apparatus in Torpedo.—In Torpedo there
are two batteries which occupy the two spaces between the
pectoral fins, the head, and gills. Each battery consists of a
number of hexagonal, pentagonal, or tetragonal prisms, which
vary in number from 400 to upwards of 1000, according to the
age of the animal. The prisms extend perpendicularly be-
tween the dorsal and abdominal integument; and are separated —
from, and connected with it, by a thin but dense aponeurosis,
which at the same time separates them all from, and connects
them with one another, by passing inwards in single layers, so
as to forma continuous series of prismatic aponeurotic com-
partments, in the interior of which the prisms are situated.
Each prism consists of delicate, horizontal, super-imposed
lamine, separated from one another by thin layers of fluid, so
that the arrangement bears a general resemblance to a gal-
vanic pile. It has hitherto been supposed that the laminz are
connected by their margins with the aponeurotic wall which
surrounds the prisms ; but Pacini has lately shown that the la-
minz are attached by their angles only to the corners of their
aponeurotic sheaths; and that an entire pile may be removed
from its containing cavity, by cutting the four, five, or six
series of attachments by which it is fixed.* It is extremely
important that the structure of the lamine should be deter-
mined. Valentin states, that each lamina consists of a thin

* Sulla Struttura intima dell’ organo elettrico del Gimnoto, e di altri pesci
elettrici, 1852.

a vat

,
4
:
7
a

Present State of Organic Electricity. 367

prolongation of the aponeurotic wall of the pile, covered above

_ and below by an epithelial layer, and affording a matrix for

the ultimate divisions of the vessels and nerves, which, he is
inclined to believe, are so arranged, that the terminal nervous
plexuses are placed towards the upper, the capillaries to-
wards the lower surface.* Savi describes the elementary
filaments of the nerves as forming a network by anasto-
mosis in the lamina;t but Rudolph Wagner has shown, that
each elementary filament, enveloped in a very thick sheath,
divides at once into twelve to twenty-five secondary fila-
ments, which passing towards the lamine, splitting into
two or three ternary filaments, and losing their envelopes
and dark contours, disappear in the soft, dotted, nucleated
substance of the lamine, without forming meshes.t Pacini
has lately made a most important addition to Wagner's
description of the lamine.§ The lamina, or electrical dia-
phragms, as Pacini terms them, are attached, as has al-
ready been stated, by their angles only. The vessels and
nerves enter at these points, but so as to be at first placed on
the under surface of the diaphragm, and therefore in the
fluid interposed between that surface and the upper surface of
the diaphragm below. Passing inwards and ramifying in this
fluid, they ultimately pass up to the under surface, and the
nerves are distributed on that surface only, of the diaphragm
to which they belong. Now, as the dorsal surface in Torpedo
is positive, and the abdominal surface negative, it follows, as
Pacini has indicated, that the upper surface of each electrical
diaphragm, consisting only of soft, dotted, nucleated vascular
texture, is positive, while the under surface, on which the
nerves only ramify, is negative.

Pacini was led to the observation of the position of the
nerves in the electrical diaphragms of Torpedo, by the more
complex structure which he had previously discovered in the
corresponding parts of Gymnotus.

The four nerves distributed to each battery of Torpedo, are

* Blectricitat der Thiere, in Wagner’s Handwérterbuch der Physiologie.

f Matteucci and Savi, Traité des Phenoménes Electro-Physiologiques, 1844.
{ Annales des Sciences Naturelles, 1847.

§ Loe, cit.

368 Professor Goodsir on the

branches of the fifth and eighth cerebral pairs; the nervous
centre of its electrical apparatus is therefore situated in the
medulla oblongata, and consists of a large lobe on each side of
its anterior part. Valentin} states that these lobes consist of
nucleated cellules so large as to be visible to the naked eye.
The anterior or trigeminal electrical nerve is derived from the
non-ganglionic portion of the third division of the fifth; the
three posterior or vagal electrical nerves pass out along with
the branchial divisions of the eighth nerve, but have no con-
nection with the ganglionic masses developed on the branchial
nerves. ‘These electrical nerves belong, therefore, to the non-
ganglionic series, with central relations similar to those of
motor nerves.

Gymnotus possesses four batteries, which extend nearly the
whole length of its eel-like body, from behind the pectoral fins
to the extremity of the tail; forcing the lateral muscles to-
wards the dorsal, and the comparatively small abdominal
viscera, with the anus, towards the cephalic region. The great
or dorsal batteries are separated from one another above by
the vertebral column, great vessels, displaced lateral muscles,
and the air-bladder; below by a mesial aponeurotic septum,
along which the nerves pass to the batteries and ventral fin.
Laterally these dorsal batteries are intimately connected with
the skin ; and inferiorly are separated from the ventral, or
small batteries, by a thin layer of muscle. The small batteries
are, moreover, separated from the skin by the laterally dis-
placed muscles of the ventral fin; but are intimately con-
nected with one another by a thin aponeurosis only. These
small batteries are, therefore, peculiar, not only in their close
approximation, but also in being enveloped in muscular sub-
stance.

The batteries in Gymnotus consist of a number of piles
placed horizontally in a direction from head to tail. From this
circumstance, as well as from their peculiar structure, they
are aptly compared by Rudolphi to galvanic troughs. These
troughs are in the form of flattened masses, separated from,
but connected with one another by aponeurotic septa, which
diverging, extend outwards from the inner to the outer aspect

* Electricitat der Thiere, in Wagner's Handworterb,

Present State of Organic Electricity. 369

of each battery. It is not easy to determine the exact number
of the piles or troughs in a battery, as they vary in number
in different parts of it, and are lost as they pass backwards
and downwards. From the statements of Mr Hunter* and
Valentin,+ the number of troughs in the great battery ranges
from thirty to sixty; in the lesser from eight to fourteen,
Hunter,t Rudolphi,g Knox, Valentin,g and all observers
previous to Pacini, state, what may be easily verified, that
the troughs in Gymnotus consist of numerous perpendicu-
lar lamin, which extend transversely between the aponeu-
rotic septa, with fluid interposed, as in the piles of Torpedo.
Pacini’s account** of the structure and relations of the elec-
trical laminz or diaphragms of Gymnotus is much more pre-
cise; and elucidates in a remarkable manner a structure
hitherto sufficiently obscure. The more important features
of Pacini’s account may be thus described. Each of the
electric diaphragms in Gymnotus, instead of being, as in
Terpedo, a single lamina with the nerves distributed on one
of its surfaces, consists of two lamine, with a thin layer of
fluid interposed. The posterior of these is a delicate, wide-
meshed, fibrous layer, in which alone the nerves ramify; the
anterior consists of a thicker layer of the peculiar vascular,
dotted, nucleated texture, which forms the lamine in Torpedo.
Both surfaces of the vasculo-cellular layer present an arrange-
ment of prominent, close-set, undulating ridges, with thick,
rounded, nucleated margins. The ridges are more fully de-
veloped on the anterior than on the posterior surface of the
layer, and from the ridges of the latter a number of thread-
like prolongations pass backwards through the interposed fluid
to the fibro-nervous layer, so as to connect the two layers as
one compound lamina. From the measurements and caleu-
lations of Pacini, the superficial extent of the anterior surface
of the vasculo-nucleated layer is increased by this ridged
structure from five to six times, the posterior about twice.

* “ An Account of the Gymnotus Electricus,” Phil. Trans. 1775,

Tt Loe. cit. t Loc. cit.

§ Uber die electrischen Fische in Abhand, der Akad. zu Berlin, 1822.
{| Edin. Jour. of Science, 1824.

| Loe. cit. ** Loc, cit.

NEW SERIESs—VOL. I. NO. U.—oor, 1855, Qh

370 Professor Goodsir on the

The electromotor series, therefore, in Gymnotus, instead
of simple laminz, as in Torpedo, consist of compound lamin
separated by layers of fluid. There are thus two kinds of
fluid in the electro-motor series of Gymnotus—firstly, that
between the vasculo-cellular layers and the fibro-neryous,
and which must be considered as an element of each com-
pound electric diaphragm ; and, secondly, that between any
two electric diaphragms, which is the homologue of the fluid
layer in Torpedo. As the current in Gymnotus passes from
before backwards, Pacini demonstrates the vasculo-cellular
layer the positive, and the fibro-nervous layer the negative
element of the electromotor couple.

The batteries of Gymnotus are supplied by about 224 pairs
of nerves on each side.* These are all derived from the inferior
or motor roots of the spinal nerves; none being supplied by
the lateral nerve, or combined branch of the fifth and eighth.
The spinal cord exhibits no peculiar development, nor in-
dication of the existence in it of a series of electrical nervous
centres ; but Valentin} has described a great lobe springing
from each side of the brain between the peduncle of the cere- |
bellum and the mesocephalon, extending upwards and forwards
with its fellow of the opposite side, like an anterior or supple-
mentary cerebellum. These lobes, according to Valentin, ex-
hibit no trace of the large characteristic nucleated cells which
exist in the electrical lobes of Torpedo. Whether the elec-
trical lobes in Gymnotus be peculiar developments of the cere-
bellum, or of the grey matter at the cerebral extremities of
the motor columns of the spinal cord, they present a highly
interesting arrangement.

The Electrical Apparatus in Malapterurus.—The bat-
teries aré two in number, separated, but at the same time
intimately connected to one another in the mesial plane
along the dorsal and ventral margins of the body, so as
to form a continuous layer of a gelatinous consistence close-
ly adherent to the skin, and inclosing as in a sac the en-
tire animal except the head and fins. In the Malapte-

*-J. Hunter, Phil. Trans., 1775. Rudolphi, Abhand, der K. Akad. zu Berlin,
1820.
t+ Wagner’s Handworterb. loc. cit.

Present State of Organic Electricity. 371

rurus of the Nile, of which species only dissections have
hitherto been published, a subjacent areolar, laminated, fatty
layer has been described, as a second and deeper electri-
eal apparatus.* Pacini, however, has shown that this pre-
sumed deep electrical structure consists principally of fat,
and probably acts as an insulator to protect the fish from its
own shocks: the electrical currents being presumed to pass
from within outwards—that is, through any point on the sur-
face of the body.} The determination of the intimate structure
of the battery of Malapterurus is extremely difficult. Before
Pacini, no precise description of it had been attempted. He
represents the structure as consisting of octahedral cellules,
- or alveoli: a form which, in some measure, accords with the
presumed direction of the currents through the electromotor
mass. Professor Ecker, in a communication contained in
Siebold and Kolliker’s Zeitschrift, states that Dr Bilharz
was then engaged in Egypt in the anatomy of the. Nilotic
‘species, and that he conceived he had determined the al-
veoli of the electromotor layer to. be lenticular in form,
with their surfaces directed forwards and backwards. He
would appear to have observed that they are arranged, not in
antero-posterior series, but alternately, so as to constitute de-
cussating series, and to afford in certain sections the octa-
hedral form attributed to them by Pacini. He also states,
that these lenticular alveoli consist of a fibrous membrane,
covered by a very fine layer, on which the nerves are dis-
posed.t

The presumed deep electrical layer of Malapterurus, which
is merely a fatty mass, is supplied by branches of the spinal
nerves ; but the true electrical organs or batteries are supplied,
the one on each side, by a longitudinal nerve, accompanied by
an artery and vein, which pass along on their mesial aspects.
This nerve was formerly considered to be a branch of the
eighth pair; but Pacini§ describes it as derived from the first

* $t Hilaire, Annales de Museum, tom. i, ; Rudolphi, Abhand. Berl. Akad.
1824; Valenciennes, An, des Sci. Nat., tom. xvi.
t Sopra Vorgano elettrico del Siluro elettrico del Nilo, etc. negli Annali
delle Sci, Nat. di Bologna, 1846.
{ Zeitschrift fiir wissenchaftliche Zoologie, July 1854.
§ Sopra l’organo elettrico del Siluro elettrico del Nilo, 1846,
2a2

eee

872 Professor Gocdsir on the

spinal nerve. Ecker has more recently stated* that, according
to Bilharz, “ the electrical nerve on each side appears to be a
new element intercalated between the third and fourth spinal
nerves.” From the same communication it appears that Bilharz
has found the trunk of the electrical nerve of the Nilotie Malap-
terurus, to consist not of a bundle of ultimate filaments, but
of one such filament only, one-fourth of a line in diameter,
surrounded by three fibrous sheaths, so as to present an entire
thickness of one line. From this remarkable structure, Ecker
has suggested to Bilharz further observations to determine
whether the nervous centre of the electrical apparatus in this
fish’ may not be a colossal unipolar nerve cell. From the
peculiar structure of the trunk of the nerve, it is also evident
that its branches and twigs of distribution must be subdiyi-
sions of the original single filament ; in this respect resembling
the subdivisions of the ultimate filaments in Torpenm as ob-
served by Wagner.

The presumed Electrical Apparatus of the common Bay.
—The electromotor power of this apparatus has not been expe-
rimentally determined ; but as the structure of the two organs
contained in the tail of the animal is strongly corroborative
of the opinion entertained by their discoverer, Dr Stark, that
they are batteries ;} and as the relations of their elements illus-
trate those of the batteries of Torpedo and Gymnotus, as de-
termined by Pacini, they may be briefly stated. On each side
of the tail of the skate (Raia), partly in contact with the skin,
but chiefly enveloped in the so-called sacro-lumbalis muscle, is
an elongated fusiform mass, which exhibits all the structu-
ral characteristics of an electrical battery. The mass con-
sists of a number of longitudinally and somewhat spirally ar-
ranged series of dises, the series being separated from and
connected with one another by thicker, the dises by thinner
layers of areolar texture. The dises are somewhat triangu-
lar, quadrangular, or pentangular in form ; and are invariably
arranged so that their two large surfaces or faces are directed,
the one backwards, the other forwards; and their three, four,
or five smaller surfaces or margin enter into the formation of

* Siebold and Kdlliker’s Zeitschrift, Jul. 1854.
+ Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Dec. 1844.

Present State of Organic Electricity. 373

the surface of the series to which they belong. Of the two
large surfaces, the anterior, or that towards the head of the
animal, is smooth and slightly convex; the posterior slightly
concave, and presents numerous alveolar depressions of vari-
ous but graduated sizes, which penetrate two-thirds through
the dise, and are separated from one another by correspond-
ing straight or slightly curved partitions, which diminish in
size as they pass off from three or four primary ridges, which
radiate from near the centre of the surface, and thus separate
the alveoli into larger and smaller elliptical or angular groups.
The discs consist of jelly-like dotted or granular nucleated
substance; the granules being arranged in the form of sphe-
roidal shells around clear spaces, in each of which a nucleus
is situated. The ultimate ramifications of the vessels and
nerves are situated not in but on the two large surfaces or
faces of the discs; the former on the concave, alveolar, or
posterior face ; the latter on the convex, smooth, anterior face;
and like the vascular and nervous trunks and branches of
the organ, lie in the midst of the areolar texture, which
forms the greater and lesser lamin of separation and connec-
tion of the constituent series and discs of the battery. The
ultimate arterial twigs enter the areolar texture which lines
the concave face of each disc; and pass into the alveoli as
bundles of looped capillaries; which are continued into simi-
larly arranged venous radicals. A number of ultimate ner-
yous filaments spread from one of its margins through the
areolar lamina, which clothes the convex face of each disc,
and preserve their double contours, until becoming some-
what narrower, they divide into two or three secondary fila-
ments, which pass into corresponding secondary divisions of
neighbouring filaments. The smooth convex surface of each
- dise is thus covered by an areolar lamina, which contains a
net-work of ultimate branching and anastomosing nerve fila-
ments; the secondary or division filaments, which form the
boundaries of the meshes of the net-work, having a peculiar
festooned or looped and fusiform aspect, with a mass resembling
a nucleus in the centre of each.

The organs are supplied by numerous nervous twigs, de-
rived from the ventral or motor roots of the spinal nerves of

374 Professor Goodsir on the

the corresponding portion of the tail. These are distributed,
as already stated, on the anterior faces of the discs, and do
not exhibit at their spinal extremities any appreciable cen-
tral development.*

The successive opinions ik have been entertained re-
garding the action of the Electric Organ.—Walsh eoncluded
that the electricity of the Torpedo is entirely due to the bat-
teries ; that their upper and under surfaces are capable, from
a state of electric equilibrium, of being instantly thrown by a
mere energy into a plus and minus state, like that of a charged
phial; and that the current results from a conducting medium
between their opposite surfaces being supplied naturally or
artificially. Galvani originally, Becquerel subsequently, and
latterly Matteucci; conceived the batteries to be charged by
electricity developed in the brain, or central organ of the ap-
paratus. Rudolphi considered. the perpendicular prisms in.
Torpedo as galvanic piles, the horizontal series in Gymnotus.
as trough arrangements ; but without entering into the details
of the comparison. This view of their action does not explain.
the intermittent and voluntary character of the electric dis-
charges. For, as Valentin has stated, the organs in the fish
cannot be complete galvanic batteries, or they would be
continually charged, and a current would follow every suit-
able closure of the circuit. Valentin proposes the follow-
ing theory of the apparatus. He assumes the structure of the
battery to be a series of closed spaces; the series enveloped
in thicker, the spaces separated by thinner aponeurotic la-.
mine; each space being lined by a vascular epithelium,
under which the nervous plexuses lie; and filled with fluid.
He supposes that there results from the organic or nutritive
reactions of the circulating blood, the epithelium, and the
contained fluid of each space, a certain amount of electric.
force, not, however, sufficient to overcome the insulating ob-
stacle opposed to it in the aponeurotic walls: all the spaces in
the battery are, therefore, so far only insulated electrical
spaces. As soon, however, as the will of the animal deter-
mines a flow of nervous force into the spaces, the organic re-

* Robin. sur un appareil qui se trouve sur les poissons du genre des Raies.
Ann. des Sci. Nat., 1847.

Present State of Organic Electricity. 375

actions become so much exalted, that the resolved electric
force overcomes the insulating power of the lamine, and a
current is produced ; the current being confined to the series
by their thicker aponeurotic walls.* This theory, although it
may account for a sudden increase of electricity in the organ,
affords no explanation of its progressive character; the current
is not accounted for.

The theory which most satisfactorily combines the anato-
mico-physiological as well as the electrical phenomena of the
apparatus, is that lately propounded by Professor Pacini of
Florence.t Having discovered the important anatomical fact,
that the nerves are distributed on one surface only of the
electrical elements of the battery, while the vessels and nu-
cleated cellular texture occupy the other; he finds in these
structural peculiarities the condition which is wanting in
Valentin’s theory, to explain the progression of the electri-
city. Pacini refers the electrical batteries in the fish to two
forms of structure, and two modes of action ; of the first and
simplest form the Torpedo affords the type, of the second and
more complicated, the Gymnotus. The batteries of Malap-
terurus are probably referable to the form in Torpedo, those
of Raia certainly to that in Gymnotus. In the Torpedo, ac-
cording to Pacini, the action is analogous to that which takes
place in a thermo-electric pile, inasmuch as he conceives it
to depend upon a peculiar dynamical difference in the condi-
tion of the two surfaces of each diaphragm of this binary type
of pile. The nerve surface and the vasculo-cellular surface
of the electric diaphragm correspond to the bismuth and
copper, or bismuth and antimony elements of a thermo-elec-
tric arrangement ; the nervous influence in the former taking
the place of the heat applied in the latter. There is here
assumed, what on other grounds is highly probable, that the
electrical and nervous forces are correlative; and here it
must be admitted that in Torpedo, as pointed out by John
Hunter, t the bulk of the nerves in relation to the batteries, is
much greater than in Gymnotus, which exemplifies Pacini’s

* Plectricitét der Thiere in Wagner’s Handwérterbuch,

+ Sulla struttura intima dell’ organo elettrico del Gymnoto, e di altri pesci
elettrici, 1852.

‘} Phil. Trans., 1773.

. * ita ee
isc
i a nae

876 Professor Goodsir on the

second or ternary type of animal battery. When the Tor-
pedo, therefore, wills a shock, or when, through the reflex
action of its electrical nervous centre, a shock is induced, a
sudden and copious nervous influx flows over the under sur-
faces of its electric diaphragms, the upper surfaces are thrown
into an opposite electrical condition, and a current is the con-
sequence,

Pacini refers the structure of the battery in Gymnotus to a
ternary type. This type presents a negative element, which
consists of the fibrous layer on which the nerves ramify, to-
gether with the fluid which it bounds below; a positive ele-
ment formed by the ridged vasculo-cellular layer, and the
conducting inter-diaphragmatic fluid. The vasculo-cellular
layer predominating in this ternary type over the nervous,
Pacini conceives the electricity to be evolved in the organic
actions of the vasculo-cellular layer under the influence of the
nerves. In other words, the will of the Gymnotus, or the re-
flex action of its electrical nervous centre, directs an influence
along the nerves of its batteries over the fibro-nervous layer,
which suddenly exciting the nutritive or other organic actions
of the highly developed vasculo-cellular layer, an electrical
disturbance is produced, with an opposite electrical condition
of the fibro-nervous and vasculo-cellular layers of the dia-
phragms, and, consequently, a current through the series.
Pacini compares the wide-meshed fibrous layer, on the under
surface of which the nerves ramify, to the hollow cylinder of
porous clay, which in a Bunsen’s or a Grove’s galvanic ar-
rangement, separates the negative from the positive elements.

The Batteries of the Fish are independent electromotor
structures.—From the observations of Pacini, the termina-
tions of the nerves appear to form important elements in the
structure of the battery. On physiological grounds, however,
it appears probable that the peculiar texture of the electric
diaphragm, is itself the seat of the electromotor power. As
an ultimate muscular fibre contracts, although entirely sepa-
rated from the nerve, it remains to be determined whether
an appreciable electric discharge cannot be procured from an
isolated element of the battery. If so, it may be presumed
that the force which in the form of a contraction is elicited

Present State of Organic Electricity. 377

from a muscular fibre by the influence of a motor nerve is re-
placed by electric force, when the same kind of nerve influences
an ultimate element of the electric structure. The laws of the
electromotor power of the electric organ cannot be determined
_ by experiments on its entire mass, or on rudely separated
portions of it. The parts must be selected and removed on
precise anatomical and physiological principles; and as Du
Bois Reymond has stated his intention of investigating the
electrical organs of the fish, his previous researches show that
he will be guided in his proceedings by such considerations.

If the battery is separated from its nervous centre by
section of the trunks of all the nerves which supply it, it will
still afford discharges if the nerves are irritated; and the
different portions of the organ, even the smallest, will do so
likewise if the nerves which are distributed to them be simi-
larly treated. Matteucci, who has latterly admitted that the
nervous centre is not the source of the electricity in the fish,
states, that if even a minute fragment of the battery of the
Torpedo is irritated by a spiculum of glass, it will yield a dis-
charge.*.

Peculiar Character of the Electricity evolved from the Bat-
teries of the Fish.—The nature of the force evolved from the
batteries of the fish is evinced by the shock and spark, by its
influence on the galvanometer, its magnetizing and heating
powers, and its chemical action. The absolute quantity of
electricity which the animal can put in circulation at each
effort is enormous. Tor as it can decompose water, and form
magnets, it must greatly exceed the quantity which can be
produced by any ordinary electrical machine. — It is probable,
therefore, that the animal has the power of continuing the
evolution for a sensible time; so that its successive dis-
charges rather resemble those of a voltaic arrangement
intermitting in its action than those of a Leyden apparatus
charged and discharged many times in succession. At the
same time the power is one of low intensity, so that a dry skin
wards it off, though a moist one conducts it.f

It is remarkable that the electric fishes, although affected

* Traité des Phénoménes Electro-Physiologiques, &c.
+ Faraday, Researches in Blectricity, vol. i. p. 101.

378 On the Present State of Organic Electricity.

like other. animals by ordinary electric shocks, do not. appear
to feel the electric discharges which are produced by them-
selyes, or by other individuals of the same species.

The condition of the water which surrounds the Fish
at the moment of discharge of the Electric Organs.—At
the moment of a discharge in water, the currents between
the opposite surfaces of Torpedo, or between the ends of
Gymnotus, instead of being confined to a transverse area
of limited extent, as when they pass along a wire during
a discharge in air, must be diffused through. a considerable
extent of the water surrounding the fish. The entire current
force of the batteries must, in fact, be subdivided into nume-
rous subordinate axes of force arranged in lines which come
round the margins of Torpedo from back to belly, and along
the sides of Gymnotus from head to tail. There is therefore
at the moment of discharge an atmosphere of power around the
fish which, in the language employed by Mr Faraday in refer-.
ence to the magnetic force, may be considered as disposed in
sphondyloids determined by the lines, or rather shells, of force.
“The magnet, with its surrounding sphondyloid of power, may.
be considered: as analogous ‘in its condition to-a voltaic battery
immersed in water or any other electrolyte, or to a Gymnotus:
or Torpedo at the moment when these creatures, at their own
will, fill the surrounding fluid with lines of electric foree.” “It
is evident, therefore, that another fish placed so that its an-
tero-posterior axis is in the direction of lines of inductive action.
in the water, will be affected less powerfully by the circulating
electric power than if. it were placed across these lines. Mr
Faraday* found that while the Gymnotus can stun and kill
fishes which are in various positions in relation to its own.
body, it can; moreover, by. throwing itself so. as to form a
coil enclosing the fish, the latter representing a diameter
across it, so concentrate its currents of one side as to strike
it motionless as if by lightning. The Torpedo would also
appear, from the observations of Dr Davy, instinctively
to elevate or arrange its margin so as to adjust the direction.
of its currents to the position of the object through which it
wishes to pass them. “ Thus,” as Mr Faraday observes,

* Phil. Trans., 1839.

Supplemental Observations on Electric Fishes. 379

** the very conducting power which the water has, that which
it gives to.the moistened skin of the fish. or animal to be
struck, the extent of surface by which the fish and water con-
ducting the charge to it are in contact, all conduce to favour
and increase the shock upon the doomed animal.”

Supplemental Observations on Electric Fishes. By
ac ph ANDREW MouRRAyY.

Since writing the description of the Malapterurus Beni-
nensis, published in last number of the Journal, I have re-
ceiyed the following additional information regarding it from
Mr W. C. Thomson, who was stationed for several years at
the Creek Town mission station on the river Old Calabar.

Mr Thomson tells me that the electric properties of the fish
are made use of by the natives as a cure for their sick children.
The fish is put into a dish containing water, and the child
made to play with it: or the child is put in a tub or other
vessel with water, and one or more of the fish put in ‘beside
it. It is interesting to find that a remedy, which has only of
recent years come into favour among ourselves, should have
been already anticipated by the unlettered savage, who pro-
bably has had the remedy handed down to him by tradition
from remote generations.

Mr Thomson also mentions an instance of the electric power"
of the fish which fell under his own notice, and may be worth
mentioning. He had a tame heron which had been taken
young, and never had had an opportunity of fishing for itself.
On one occasion some live fish were brought for it, and among
them was a small Malapterurus. The bird swallowed it, but
had no sooner done so than it gave a great scream, and was
thrown violently backwards. It got up again, and soon re-
covered, but always remembered the circumstance, and would
never after touch a Malapterurus.

I take this opportunity of remedying an omission in my
former paper, of a species of electric fish which should have
been included in my list of these species, viz. the Gymnotus
equilabiatus of Humboldt, found in the rivers of Guiana.

380 Reviews and Notices of Books.

REVIEWS AND NOTICES OF BOOKS.

Acadian Geology: an Account of the Geological Structure
and Mineral Resources of Nova Scotia, and portions of
the neighbouring Provinces of British America. By JOHN
Wiu1AM Dawson, F.G.S., &c. Edinburgh : Oliver & Boyd.
1855. Sm. 8vo.

Old Stones : Notes of Lectures on the Plutonic, Silurian, and
Devonian Rocks in the Neighbourhood of Malvern. By
W.S. Symonps, F.G.S.,&c. Lamb: Malvern. 1855. 12mo.

Whatever tends to the increase of knowledge concerning the
mineral structure of any country, is an important addition to the
stock of geological information, and serves as a means by which
the deductions of this science may be tested, and its details applied
to other countries than those where the phenomena of the several
divisions of this science were first observed.

As regards the New World, extensive opportunities have been
afforded for increasing the amount of geological knowledge, in the
form of the government surveys, which have been, and are still
in progress in this country, not only under our own government
in Canada, but likewise in the United States; and from this latter
many valuable and important additions have been made to geology.
As respects Nova Scotia and the adjoining districts, including
Prince Edward’s Island, nothing has been done by the agency of
government; but the importance of its mineral wealth has been
the means of furnishing us with a very extensive knowledge of its
structure and resources. The great development of its coal-fields,
and the beautiful manner in which these are exposed along its
coasts, have induced many geologists to visit it; and from these
circumstances there have also sprung up many ‘local geologists,
to whom we owe most of the information we possess concerning
those countries. At the head of these stands Mr Dawson, who,
in a work just published, and termed “ Acadian Geology,” enters
at great detail into the geology and mineral resources of Nova
Scotia, Prince Edward’s Island, and New Brunswick.

Commencing with the present physical conditions of this area,
Mr Dawson describes the changes which are now taking place along
the shores and in the interior of this district. As regards the
shores, among these we have the portions which are washed by
the Bay of Fundy, where, owing to the somewhat triangular form
of the bay, the tides rise to 60 feet or more; and rushing onwards
with great force along the coast of the United States, carry into

Reviews and Notices of Books. 381

the upper portion of this bay a large quantity of muddy matter,
which is now being deposited in the Cobequid and Chiegnecto bays,
in the form of marshy land; and on the layers of this marshy land
we have the records of physical phenomena in the form of rain-
drops, and the evidence of animal existences in the form of foot-
steps, as shown by Sir Charles Lyell,* pointing out how nearly
akin are the conditions which, at the present day, prevail in the
Bay of Fundy, to those which obtained in some of the areas of the
trias sandstones of Great Britain.

These marshy deposits, of which there are two kinds, viz. the
red marsh and the blue marsh, in some localities are found cover-
ing submarine forests, the roots and stumps of the trees of which
are seen occupying the soil on which they originally grew; and as
these trees are of such a nature as to require a rather dry habitat
for their growth and development, it would appear that some por-
tions of Nova Scotia have been subjected to downward movements ;
and to these downward movements, according to Mr Dawson, we
owe the present position of the submarine forests below beds of
marshy eharacter.

The two silty deposits, the red and the blue marsh, differ greatly
in their value as agricultural soils. The former yields a rich pro-
ductive soil, containing a large amount of soluble salts, available
for plants; the latter, although it affords a much greater quan-
tity of organic matter in the form of decayed vegetables, is inju-
rious to the growth of plants, from containing sulphate of iron,
the product of decomposed iron pyrites, which abound in this de-
scription of marsh.

In Nova Scotia alone, along portions of the Bay of Fundy, no
less than 36,382 acres of the marshy products had been embanked
up to the year 1851; and these marshes, in the production of
cheese and butter, are, according to Mr Dawson, ‘“ unsurpassed,
and perhaps unequalled by those of any other part of North
America,”

In other descriptions of alluvial deposits, Nova Scotia does not
seem-to be very prolific. The offspring of rivers and lakes being
but pastial, and the bogs, although they appear very numerous in
the rocky districts of the Atlantic coasts, are marked by no fea-
tures which give to them any peculiar interest.

The deposits which are of an age anterior to the modern alluvial
beds, and to which the term boulder formation has been applied,
are more extensive than those which are now resulting from causes
in operation over this area. We have in Nova Scotia extensive
deposits of unstratified clay filled with boulders, having all the
characters of the drift of England and Scotland, and pointing out
the existence over this country of those causes to which we owe
the transport of large blocks of rock, and their dispersion through

* Quart, Journ, Geol. Soe,, vol. 71.

382 Reviews and Notices of Books.

the clay. The general route of these rocky masses has been from
the north-east, with local exceptions: a course similar to that-of
the erratic blocks of North America in general; and Sir Charles
Lyell, in a recent lecture at the Royal Institution, has shown this
to be the direction which masses. of rocks, forming certain trains
of erratic blocks occurring in the western borders of Massachusetts, —
have taken. The force by which these blocks have been trans-
ported is still in operation, to a slight extent, on the shores of
Nova Scotia; for here, during winter, masses of ice may be seen
floating about, and bearing their rocky burdens until the atmospheric
influence causes their deposition among the mud, and thus form-
ing, even in our own time, deposits having great affinity to the
more ancient boulder clays.

In this portion of the New World there are seen, resting upon
the unstratified clays, deposits of stratified gravel and sand; and
in this circumstance there is a considerable affinity between the
deposits of Nova Scotia and those of some parts of Great Britain
and Ireland, as in the case of the “ kaims” of Scotland, and the
“ eskars” of Ireland. In external features, these beds of stratified
gravel also have much of the aspect of similar deposits in the
United Kingdom; for they “occur in mounds and long ridges,
sometimes extending for miles over the country.” —

The nature of these sand and gravel beds leads to the conclusion
that they resulted from the action of shallow water and currents ;
and Mr Dawson infers, from the occurrence in them of large
blocks; that the influence of ice was also exerted in furnishing in
part the materials which make up these sand and gravel mounds
and ridges. In this superficial gravel, the bones of the Mastodon
have been found in Cape Breton; a circumstance which agrees
with the osseous remains which have been obtained from similar
deposits in the United States, Kae Py

The solid strata which enter into the composition of Nova Sco-
tia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward’s Island, consist of sand-
stone, either triassic or permian; carboniferous rocks; strata which
have not yet been determined, but which Mr Dawson is disposed
to regard as. Devonian, and metamorphic rocks, With these
strata are associated traps of various characters, and plutonic
masses,

Concerning the first of these, the red sandstone, this, in Nova
Scotia, is only developed to a small extent, occurring along the
shores of Cobequid Bay, and running also in the form of a nar-
row strip from the south-west side of the Minas Basin to the
head of St Mary’s Bay. In Prince Edward’s Island the red sand-
stone has a much more extensive range, for it appears to consti-
tute the whole of this island. This “ new red sandstone,” that
being the name applied to it by Mr Dawson, is seen in Nova —
Scotia to rest unconformably both upon the older rocks, and also

Reviews and Notices of Books. 383

upon the lower portion of the carboniferous series. In its mineral
nature it appears to have an intimate relation to the Bunter sand-
stone of Great Britain ; and with it are associated, in many places,
masses of augitic traps, principally in the form of amygdaloids, in
the cavities of which are contained abundance of zeolitic minerals,
and others which are common to this form of igneous matter.

During the deposition of these sandstones in Nova Scotia, vol-
tanic forces were in active operation, and resulting from them is
the large area of trap which fringes the south-eastern side of the
Bay of Fundy, extending from Cape Blomidon on the north- east,
to Briar Island on the south-west.

The strata which form Prince Edward’s Island are, in their
lithological natures, similar to those which form the new reds of
Nova Scotia, consisting of sandy particles united by a calcareous
cement. ‘In some places the calcareous matter has been in suf-
ficient abundance to form bands of impure limestone, usually thin
and arenaceous.” On the south of the island there are seen some
beds of a different nature, which consist of ‘ brown and grey sand-
stones and shales, not unlike some of the upper parts of the coal-
formation of Nova Scotia, and containing a few fossil plants ;”
these appear to be the oldest strata in the island. Mr Dawson
remarks, that “‘ these beds must belong either to the very newest
portions of the coal formation, which in some particulars they
closely resemble, or to the lower part of the new red sandstone ;
and in either case the sandstones of the greater part of Prince
Edward’s Island will be new red. Unfortunately I could not
observe whether the latter were superimposed conformably or un-
conformably on the lower beds; and the fossils are hardly suffi-
ciently well characterized to indicate to which epoch they belong.”
The fossil plants which occur in these grey sandstones, are for the
most part trees; and these retain sufficient of their original struc-
ture to permit of a microscopical examination, and a determi-
nation of their tissues. The internal structure of these trees points
out their coniferous nature, and the hexagonal dises which mark
the walls of the cell refer them to Witham’s genus Pinites. From
the fineness of the tissue of these trees, as seen in transverse section,
also from the discs on the sides of the cells occurring only in two
rows, Mr Dawson is disposed to regard these plants as appertain-
ing to the higher portion of the coal measures, or even to the
permians. Such a conclusion is, however, based upon too slight
distinctions, since the lower coal measures of Great Britain have
furnished species of this genus very nearly allied to the Prince
Edward’s Island trees, and even, in some species, the dises on one
cell will be only two-rowed, while in the adjoining cell they will
appear arranged in three or even more rows.

From the red sandstone itself, on the north side of the island,
we have fossil remains of an important character in a zoological

3884 Reviews and Notices of Books.

point of view; but unfortunately these are not of such a nature
as to lead to much information concerning the age of the red sand-
stone of Prince Edward’s Island. This fossil consists of a portion
of the jaw of a reptile; and as this form has hitherto been found
only in this island, it is inapplicable as a means of comparison
with other countries, although in some respects allied to the ear-
liest saurians of the permians. On the whole, it would appear
that the evidence on which to refer this red sandstone to the
permians,—a disposition which Mr Dawson to some extent mani-
fests, is very slight; and perhaps it would be more advisable, at
present, to regard it as the equivalent of the Connecticut beds, and
place it among the trias.

The series of strata which are best developed, and which oceupy
the largest area in Nova Scotia, are those which appertain to the
carboniferous formation ; and in this country we have as fine an
exposure of these strata exhibited as can be seen anywhere.

Mr Dawson divides this formation, as it occurs in Nova Scotia,
into the upper or newer coal measures, having a thickness of 3000
feet or more; the lower or older coal-measures, which attain a
thickness of 4000 feet or more, and which abounds in “ valuable
beds of coal and ironstone, beds of bituminous limestone, and nu-
merous underclays with stigmaria.” Inthe upper series of the
coal measures, this fossil, from Mr Dawson’s statement of the
characteristic fossils of the newer coal measures, does not seem
to occur, or is rare, since we find no mention of it in the list, nor
does sigillaria appear among the characteristic forms. The lower
portion of the carboniferous formation has a thickness of 6000
feet or more, and is composed of red and gray sandstones, con-
glomerates, shales, limestones and gypseous beds. This portion
of the series, from the nature of some of its beds, was formerly
regarded as new red sandstone, until Sir Charles Lyell pointed out
its true carboniferous nature. This enormous thickness of car-
boniferous strata is remarkably well seen in the “ clifis fronting
Chiegnecto Bay and Cumberland Basin,” where the “finest and
most complete section of the carboniferous rocks in Nova Scotia,
and one of the finest in the world is seen.” It is the well-known
South Joggins section of geologists; and in it we have exposed
14,000 feet of perpendicular strata, from the marine limestones
below, to the top of the coal measures, and through this distance
more than 70 seams of coal occur.

The lower portion of the carboniferous formation of Nova
Scotia is characterized by the usual fossils of this part of the
series. In the limestones we have forms of brachiopoda, such as
are common to carboniferous limestone of Great Britain, asso-
ciated with crinoids, and in the accompanying sandstones, trunks
and branches of trees occur, indicating the drifting of vegetables
from the adjoining land,

Reviews and Notices of Books. 385

In the black limestone which overlies these sandstones, we have
abundance of ganoid scales, and the limestone itself, which is of a
bituminous nature, probably owes this nature to the decomposi-
tion of the fleshy portion of the fish of which these scales formed
the covering. In connection with these bituminous limestones are
argillaceous sandstones and nine thin seams of coal, and in the
sandstones numerous remains of plants characteristic of the coal
measures are found. These sandstones are extensively wrought
for grindstones, which are largely exported to the United States.
Above these limestones, argillaceous sandstones and thin coal
seams are seen; also reddish shales and reddish and gray sand-
stones, with a few imperfectly preserved fossils; and when we
reach the summit of these, having passed over 7636 feet of per-
pendicular strata, we arrive at the commencement of the true coal
measures, and the several members forming these are given in
detail, the table having previously appeared in the Quarterly
Journal of the Geological Society.

For the sake of more easy reference, Mr Dawson divides the
coal measures as they occur in the Cumberland district into
twenty-nine groups, and he devotes the ninth chapter to a de-
‘tailed examination of these groups, and the conditions under
which they originated. As might be expected, the features pre-
sented by these are similar to those which the European coal
measures manifest; but from the perfection of the Nova Scotia
‘section, we can become acquainted with these to a much greater
extent than elsewhere. Numerous fossil forests occur in the se-
veral strata, indicating in the first instance a soil covered with a
luxuriant vegetation, and furnishing organic matter for the pro-
duction of coal. These buried forests also tell of subsidences,
and the accumulation above them of mineral matter, until the
surface of the water was again nearly reached, and conditions
~ again prevailed capable of yielding another crop of luxuriant
aquatic vegetables; for the nature of the roots and rootlets of si-
gillaria, the most abundant form of carboniferous plants, indicates
an aquatic, or at least a swampy habitat, and these conditions we
have repeated and well shown in Nova Scotia through an immense
thickness of strata,

Here, too, we meet with the little crustacean so common in the
coal measures of Europe, the cypris. But it does not appear
that in the coal measures of Nova Scotia we can learn so much
of its habits and food as from some of the beds of the British coal-
fields.

There are, in some portions of these latter, thin black coaly
shales, known under the name of black basses, and in many in-
stances these abound in the remains of fishes in the form of de-
tached scales, spines, and teeth, and with these are associated
large quantities of cypris. The office of these small creatures in

NEW SERIES,—VOL. Il. NO. I1.—-o0T. 1855. 2B

386 Reviews and Notices of Books.

the waters of the carboniferous epoch seems to have been that of
scavengers, living on the dead fish, consuming the fleshy portions,
and leaving the solid scales, spines, and teeth, to be scattered
along the bottom of the water; and so voracious do these small
creatures appear to have been, that they entirely destroyed all
the soft tissues, since we always find that if fish remains oceur
along with cypris, the former are in a most perfect fragmentary
state.

One of the groups of the coal measures (XV.) is remarkably
interesting, as in the interior of a fossil tree, embedded in argil-
laceous sandstone, Sir Charles Lyell and the author found the
remains of a small reptile, Dendrerpeton acadianum, and a small
land-shell allied to Pupa. These had been drifted into the in-
terior of the tree after the woody portion was removed by decay,
and with them were associated other remains in the form of de-
cayed wood and fragments of plants. In this land-shell we have
the only evidence of the existence of terrestrial gasteropoda during
the whole of the paleeozoic period.

As regards the fossil plants of the Nova Scotia coal measures,
these are found under such favourable circumstances, that much
can be learned as to their nature and affinities. Many forms of
conifera, having the auricaurian type of structure in their tissues,
are seen, and these seem to appertain, as already stated, to Wi-
tham’s genus Pinites, Calamites are also extremely common,
and Mr Dawson is disposed to regard them as allied to the mo-
dern Equiseta.; an opinion which is liable to much questioning,
since it is only im their rib-like surface, and in having nodi, that
they approach this form. Hitherto we know nothing of the in-
ternal structure of these plants, and until something of this has
been discovered, the nature and affinities of calamites will remain
uncertain. Many geologists are disposed to regard them as
having some relation to sigillaria, and the circumstance that we
never meet old calamites or young sigillaria, affords some support
to this inference. And if we obliterate the nodi from the former,
they would possess the external characters of the latter, and this
circumstance is in part affected by the growth of calamites,

Concerning sigillaria, we have abundant examples of the in-
timate relation which exists between this plant and stigmaria, the
former being the stem and the latter the root. This connection
was shown to exist by Mr Binney, as Mr Dawson states, “‘ in June
1845 ; and before the close of 1846, Mr R. Brown of Sydney had
described still finer instances of the same kind from the Sydney
coal-field.” Our author does not seem to be aware that when Mr
Binney described the St Helen’s specimen in June, it was only
partially uncovered. In October of the same year, a more full
account of this specimen is given after it had been better ex-
posed, and in this instance we have as perfect an example of the

Reviews and Notices of Books. 387

intimate connection between sigillaria and stigmaria as can be
seen. When we consider the great abundance of sigillaria in the
coal measures, the circumstance that hitherto nothing is known
concerning its foliage is a subject of singular interest. The in-
ternal structure of their form shows a relation to both conifera
and ferns; and when we consider the great abundance of what
are termed ferns in the coal measures, we are led to inquire if
those fronds have no connection with the foliage of this form.
The absence of fructification in these fronds is strongly antago-
nistic to their being ferns, and the foliage of a modern cycad, the
Stangeria, having all the characters of the leaflets of vascular
eryptogams, strongly supports the conclusion that some of the
so-called ferns of the carboniferous formation were the foliage of
the sigillaria.

In the coal-field of this portion of Nova Scotia we have two
instances of coals without stigmaria under-clays. One of these
occurs in the twenty-third group, and consists of “an inch of coal
loaded with poacites,” and over this is what was originally a
sandy soil, with stigmaria roots and rootlets. In this instance it
would appear that the usual conditions for the production of coal
did not occur; and these thin seams without the usual under-
clays have probably resulted from the drifting of vegetable matter,
in the same manner as we find in the thin seams of coal among the
calegrits of the Yorkshire oolite, which bear about them every
evidence of drifting. -

The coal of the Cumberland basin in its nature differs little from
the ordinary coals of Great Britain, and in all respects seems to
have been formed from the same plants, and under the same cir-
cumstances as that of our own country.

This remark does not, however, apply to the coal which occurs
in New Brunswick, and which appertains to the lower portion of
the coal measures, The coal of this district is wrought at Albert
Mine, Hillsborough, and here the strata are remarkably con-
torted. Some of these strata consist of bituminous shales, con-
taining fishes of the same genus as that occurring in the Jog-
gins coal measures (Paloconiscus.) The coal of this mine has
been the subject of considerable litigation in the law courts of
the province ; and much doubt still remains as to its nature and
origin. In its external aspect the product of the Albert mine is
widely different from any ordinary coal, having much more the
appearance of asphalt than any other mineral substance, Its
mode of occurrence among the strata with which it is associated
is also peculiar, and all the circumstances connected with it lead to
the supposition that it is far removed from ordinary coal, Tho
sections, given by Mr Dawson, of its mode of occurrence in the
bed, show how much it differs from coals in general ; and in one
section Mr Dawson remarks that “ both at the roof and floor,

2B2

388 Reviews and Notices of Books.

the coal shows distinct evidence of a former pasty or fluid condi-
tion, in having injected a pure coaly substance into the most
minute fissures of the containing rocks.”” The manner in which
this substance is found-in connection with the stratified beds is
rather that of a vein than a seam of vegetable matter deposited in
the usual manner of coal, and this peculiarity Mr Dawson attri-
butes to a fault which has given to the Albert coal its singular
position, and our author regards this substance “ as a fresh-water
formation,” resulting from vegetable matter “ of a peculiar cha-
racter, belonging to the lower carboniferous period, and very sin-
gularly distorted by mechanical disturbances.”

There are, however, many features about this substance which
this theory fails to explain, and one of these is that by chemical
solvents it yields, in some instances, about 30 per cent. of bitu-
men, a circumstance which points out a great distinction between
this substance and coals, which rarely yield 1 per cent. of bitumen
when treated in the same manner; and by what means this vege-
table matter could become pasty or fluid we are left in darkness
by our author. Vegetable matter, when simply decomposing, does
not afford bitumen, and how then can we account for the large
portion of this substance which is found in the Albert coal ?

Under certain peculiar conditions coal is capable of affording a
large amount of bitumen ; and these conditions consist in the dis-
tillation of this substance at temperatures not exceeding 600° Fahr.
in close vessels. Under such circumstances coal would produce
a substance resembling that which occurs in the Albert mine, and
afford a material sufficiently fluid to inject the most minute fis-
sure, as is seen in fig. 23 in the Geology of Acadia; and from such
a condition a substance capable of filling up cracks in the dis-
turbed strata would be produced, and the vein-like mode of
arrangement in which the Albert coal occurs would be fully
accounted for. The supposition of such an origin for the Albert-
ite, the name by which this substance is known in New Bruns-
wick, is supported by the circumstance that in another district of
the area, in Pictou, “ the lowest carboniferous rocks are conglo-
merates interstratified with beds of amygdaloidal trap which have
flowed over these surfaces as lava currents ;” and although the
flowing of these traps seems to have ceased before the deposition
of the Albert coal seam, still the influence of that cause, to which
these traps owe their origin, may have been sufficient at an after
period to distil bitumen from this bed of coal.

The next district described by Mr Dawson is that of Colchester
and Hants; and this area contains deposits which appertain to
the lower portion of the carboniferous series, in which none of
the thick seams of coal are reached. The limestones of this
series, as in the Cumberland district, abound in the usual car-
boniferous fossils, and among these is a form of pteropod Cor-

Reviews and Notices of Books. 389

nularia, a genus which, for the most part, has, in Great Britain,
been met with in the Silurians, but of which one species, C.
quadrisuleata, has been found in the carboniferous rock of some
localities in England and Scotland.

Of the Colchester and Hants districts, consisting for the most
part of the lower carboniferous series, we have the strata which
form this portion of the carboniferous formation described in detail
in the eleventh chapter.

In this part of the carboniferous group in Nova Scotia the thick
beds of gypsum occur, which induced many geologists, guided
exclusively by mineral characters, to regard this as appertaining
to the trias. Alluding to the origin of the gypseous strata, Mr
Dawson considers that they have their origin from the action of
sulphuric acid dissolved in water on previously existing limestone
‘beds, by means of which carbonate of lime was converted into
sulphate of this substance. This sulphuric acid our author
attributes to springs or streams issuing from volcanic rocks. The
occurrence of gypseous strata low down in the carboniferous for-
mation is, so far as we yet know, confined only to Acadia, but
in many other formations we find it associated with other beds in
the same manner as it occurs in Nova Scotia. In Great Britain
the Keuper portion of the trias is the position where we princi-
pally meet with it. But this is not its exclusive position in this
country. It also occurs in the permians at Barughmouth, near
Whitehaven, and here it is accompanied by clays and limestone
as in Nova Scotia; and in several portions of the world we meet
with it in like positions. If we adopt Mr Dawson’s theory of
the gypseous beds of Nova Scotia, we must also apply it to other
localities affording this substance. And as there are many cir-
cumstances which rather support the inference that beds of sul-

‘phate of lime have originated from the deposits of sea water, we
are at a loss to see why these beds of the Acadian peninsula
should not have had a like origin.

The lower portion of the carboniferous formation, as this is
developed in the district of Pictou, contains beds of trap asso-
ciated with the aqueous deposits, pointing out the operation of vol-
ceanic forces in this area during the earlier part of the carbonifer-
ous epoch.

In this area, at the Albion mines, we have two compound seams
of coal, one of which attains 39 feet 11 inches, and the other 24
feet 9 inches in thickness. These remind us of the 10-yard seam
of the South Staffordshire coal-field, in which we have seams of
coal; and coaly shales called Batts attaining a thickness of 30
feet. These thick compound seams tell of the long intervals of
time which have been consumed in the accumulation of such a
great thickness of vegetable matter,—for the associated Batts of
the 10-yard coal of Bilston, and the coarse coals of the main, and

390 Reviews and Notices of Books.

deep seam of Pictou are simply inferior coals in which earthy
matter prevails to such an extent that they are incapable of being
used as fuel. Among these compound seams of Pictou we have
ironstones, and these may change their nature in different localities,
and put on a more coaly character; for in the Scotch coal-fields
there are instances of parrot coals passing gradually, from a loss
of coaly matter and an acquiring of ferruginous matter, into black-
band ironstone. In one of these ironstone bands in the Albion
seams the remains of an interesting reptile, having batrachian
characters (Baphetes planiceps, Owen), has been discovered. These
coal seams are cut off by a singular bed of conglomerate, and this
is succeeded by some higher coal measures; but the sections of
this portion of the carboniferous formation are not well exposed
in this part of Nova Scotia.

In the island of Cape Breton we have the carboniferous forma-
tion also occupying a large area, consisting of the lower and
middle portion of the series. One of the coal mines of this dis-
trict, the Sydney main seam, yields about 80,000 tons per an-
num; and in these coal measures we have the same occurrence of
fossils, and the same manifestations of the conditions which are
so well seen in the South Joggins section.

Some of the localities of Nova Scotia afford, among the rocks
of the carboniferous formation, ichnolites, desiccation cracks, and
rain-markings ; and altogether it is, as Mr Dawson remarks, one
of the most interesting and perfect examples of the carboniferous
formation in the world. The strong point in Mr Dawson’s book
is his description of this portion of the sedimentary deposits of
Acadia, and in it we have ample details showing the labour and
attention which the author has devoted to this portion of geology,
and we must regard it as a fortunate circumstance that Nova
Scotia possessed an individual so well capable of appreciating the
geological features and phenomena of his country.

The carboniferous rocks of Acadia rest unconformably on strata
which Mr Dawson refers to the Devonian and Silurian ‘systems.
The deposits which make up these formations consist of “shaly,
sandy, and calcareous,” beds containing abundance of fossils. Slaty
rocks also oceur, and the axes of these older rocks are formed of
plutonic masses. Our author’s account of these several rocks is
neither so full nor so satisfactory as his description of the car-
boniferous formation, and it would appear that much still remains
to be done before we can arrive at correct opinions concerning
these older sedimentary rocks. Mr Dawson observes, that “ with
respect to the age of these rocks, it is certain that the fossiliferous
parts are Devonian.” Now the list of fossils which he gives in
the appendix as derived from these strata certainly does not justify
this conclusion, since we have in it a family of zoophytes (Grap-
tolithus) which is exclusively Strunian ; and if this family occurs

~

Reviews and Notices of Books. 391

along with the other fossils mentioned, the strata containing it
must be regarded as Silurian rather than Devonian. The uncon-
formability between the carboniferous and the underlying strata
points out a want of sequence which corroborates, to some extent,
the conclusion as to the older age of the lowest fossiliferous rocks
of this district. As regards the slaty rocks, these also in some
localities contain fossils similar to those occurring in the rocks
devoid of this structure; but we have no information concerning
the period when the slaty cleavage was impressed on the rocks
in which this structure appears. There are many matters on
which we could have wished more information concerning the
phenomena which this slaty structure present; for geology is not
so rich in facts in connection with cleavage, that it can afford to
lose any observations in a district where this occurs, more par-
ticularly in such an area as Nova Scotia, where the influences of
causes from which this structure arises appear to have operated
on an extensive scale.

In these older rocks of Nova Scotia veins and beds of ironstone
occur in considerable abundance. Of the former, one vein, be-
sides containing the usual ores of iron, affords a large quantity of
ankerite, a triple carbonate, consisting of lime, iron, and magne-
sia, which seems capable of yielding a considerable amount of
iron. The southern coast of Nova Scotia consists of metamor-
phic and plutonic rocks, the age of which cannot be easily deter-
mined, Mr Dawson, however, seems disposed to refer them to
the base of the Silurian. The age of rocks of this description can
in general only be broadly made out, and whether these ought to
be referred to the group to which Mr Dawson assigns them, or to
the Laurentian group of Mr Logan, is a matter which, at pre-
sent, it is difficult to determine. Concerning the metamorphic
schists of this district, there is one thing on which we could have
liked more detailed information, viz. on the foliation of these, for
we are greatly in want of observations on this subject, in order to
determine the cause which has given to rocks of this character
their foliated structure. Mr Sharpe refers this structure tothe
same agent which has produced cleavage, but other geologists are
inclined to regard it as emanating from chemical forces; and until
we are in possession of more extensive observations, the matter is
likely to remain a vevata questio. If Mr Dawson could be in
duced to apply his industry and powers of observation to this
subject, we should expect something interesting from a field so
extensive as Nova Scotia: and if, in connection with this, he
»would make us better acquainted with the phenomena of cleavage
as they present themselves in Acadia, physical geology would be
as much indebted to him as carboniferous paleontology now is.
We have also a wish to know something more about the older
fossiliferous rocks of his country; and, if put in possession of

392 Reviews and Notices of Books.

these desiderata, geologists might then regard Acadia as one of
the best explored and most completely described fields of pa-
leontology and geology which could be found in Her Majesty’s

dominions.

Books generally present to us two features. In the one they
reflect the mind of the author, in the other they radiate the soul
of the writer. Sometimes we have these two features combined,
and, when this is the case, we rise from the perusal of the book
not only instructed but delighted, more particularly when the
soul of the author, as it shines in the book, looks bright and vi-
gorous. A little unpretending book, with the quaint title Old
Stones possesses these qualities to a high degree, affording
ample information concerning the geology of Malvern, and com-
bining therewith the delightful charm which indicates that its
author is a noble-hearted geologist.

There is no subject involved in greater obscurity than the ori-
ginal state of the earth. What the condition of our planet was
previously to the time when water wore away portions of its solid
crusts, is a matter on which conjecture has been very unsatisfac+
torily employed for many years, and geologists have now very
generally left the affair to be settled by physicists.

But still the puzzling question is often presented to us by even
casual observers, and some answer is necessary before we can
place ourselves in a position to show how sedimentary rocks ori-
ginated. Our author, therefore, commences his descriptions of
the Malverns with a considerable portion of his first chapter de-
voted to the consideration of plutonic rocks; and as this form of
rock, in the state of syenite, constitutes the axis of the Malvern
chain, a notice of plutonic rocks is an excellent base from which
to start in a geological survey of these interesting hills.

The plutonic axis of this range is not, however, its most inte-
resting feature, although we owe to its action the exposition of
circumstances which are full of exciting truths. To use the
words of our author,—

** These fine old Malverns, the components of which are coeyal, for
aught we know, with creation itself, call upon those rational beings that
live around their base to investigate their most startling history, yet how
often are they passed by altogether unobserved! They can tell of asso-
ciations connected with a period when ‘ life was first breathed upon the
waters ;’ but they are familiar, and they escape attention.”

In the low-lying sedimentary deposits which rest upon the
syenitic axis, some of the strata of which have been influenced by
the causes which have originated volcanic rocks, we meet with
some of the earliest traces of organized beings. The Lower Silu-
rians of Malvern, in deposits which consist of black schists,

Reviews and Notices of Books. 393

afford the earliest trilobites occurring in the forms of Olenus and
Agnostis ; and let any one take Old Stones in his hand, and follow
the directions of the author, and if he does not come upon the
strata which contain these fossils, there must be something wrong
with his eyes or his intellect ; for so concise and perfect is the
description contained therein, that any one who runs may read,
The sandstones which support the black shales—the “ holly-
beech sandstones” of Professor Phillips—are fully pointed out by
our author, and in these we have the lowest sedimentary rocks of
the Malverns, and here the first traces of organisms occur in the
form of fucoids. Under like circumstances do the lowest Silu-
rian strata occur in Sweden,* but in this latter country we have
a greater abundance of trilobitic forms making their appearance
in the black shales; yet in both localities the Olenus and Agnostis
are found.

“For the geologist, the valley of the White-leaved Oak has charms
that no other part of the hills possess, for he may here explore strata
charged with the earliest life upon the planet’s surface, which he can
only do elsewhere by a journey to the North Welsh mountains.”

- Our reverend geologist has, however, in this instance been led
away by the glory and antiquity of the Holly Beech sandstones
and the black shale; he has overlooked a remark which he had
previously made concerning an ancient coral found at Brayhead,
Wicklow. When using the language of the illustrious author of
Siluria, he says, “ look with reverence on this ancient zoophyte,”
for, notwithstanding the most assiduous researches, “ it is the
first animal relic we find at this early stage of the planet’s
surface.”

Leaving these most ancient sedimentary rocks of the Malverns,
we come upon a series of strata which represent, not the succeed-
ing Llandeilo beds as these are developed in North Wales, but the
Caradoe sandstone, the strata consisting of gray and purple sand-
stones and conglomerates. Our author points out, with his usual
precision, where the best sections of the Caradoc sandstone may
be seen, and also the localities where it is traversed by traps, as
well as the spots which are most prolific, the brachiopoda and
lamellibranchiata of this portion of the Silurians. In one loca-
lity below the obelisk, in a conglomerate, the remains of the
Pterygotus problematicus has been met ; an important circumstance
showing the great geological range of this crustacean, which is
obtained also from the “ Tile stones” near Kingston.

Concerning the ‘‘ Caradoc Transition beds,” our geologist remarks
that, “they are the most unsatisfactory deposits that occur along
the Malvern range.” They occur in situations difficult of access,
and many of the fossils which they furnish are in an imperfect state

* Siluria, 318,

394 Reviews and Notices of Books.

. from drifting and wearing. These, however, are of important
characters, since they consist of both upper and lower Silurian
forms, so associated together as to show that paleontologically
the two groups shade off gradually into one another. The litholo-
gical characters of the strata forming the upper and lower beds of
the two groups also in some localities, became nearly united, and
Mr Symond’s observes that we learn from our Malvern data,
compared with other evidence, that the lower Silurian and upper
Silurian are linked together, sometimes by a mineral transition,
sometimes by an interchange of fossils. The same intimate con-
nection has been already alluded to by Sir Roderick Murchison ;*
and in other localities we have a similar mixture of fossils, lead-
ing to the inference that the Silurians, both upper and lower, are
one great palzontological group.

The lower Silurians in the Malverns, therefore, are found to
consist of a series of strata of sandstone, the Holly Bush sand-
stone of Professor Phillips succeeded by deposits of black shales;
and these, according to this geologist, attain a thickness of about
2000 feet, being covered by the equivalents of the Caradoe sand-
stone, which have a thickness of about 1000 feet; and all that
requires to be known concerning these lower Silurian strata, so
far as their localities are concerned, may be learned from Old
Stones.

The last chapter of Old Stones is devoted to the old red
sandstones of Herefordshire, a county which abounds in interest-
ing matter connected with physical geology, but which must yield
to Devonshire and the North of Scotland in the matter of pale-
ontology. Several important localities are mentioned where fossil
fish may be obtained, and we are promised more on the subject of
fossils from the labours of the local natural history societies,
which are springing up in this country.

A good watch upon the fine surfaces of the strata of Puddle-
stone quarry will no doubt lead to important results ; for the con-
ditions under which the beds were deposited here much resemble
those which prevailed when the Elgin sandstone was being
formed; and along with the tracks of crustaceans, which are
found in such perfection in this locality, the feet-marks of a higher
tribe of animals may be expected to occur.

There is something in the concluding remarks of Old Stones
which leads us to regret that the clergymen of Great Britain have
among them so few who can, like Mr Symonds, fully appreciate
the importance of natural objects in a religious point of view.
Were it otherwise, we should have that love of nature, which the
Almighty has implanted in every breast, cultivated, and the love
of the sublime, the beautiful, and the good, as manifested im his
works, developed in every heart—purer and more exalted notions

* Siluria, p. 96.

Reviews and Notices of Books. 395

of the Great Creator would prevail; and the people, instead of
seeking for happiness in debasing pursuits, would devote their
leisure hours to objects which would exalt them in the scale of
beings, and better fit them for that higher destiny which the Al-
mighty has designed for his intelligent creatures.

_ There is one little matter in connection with this interesting
book, which calls for blame. This is the imperfection of the sec-
tions. ‘The first one “ showing the succession of strata, west and
east of the Malvern range,” is incorrect, and the others convey
erroneous impressions. To the geologist who has only a short
time at his disposal to visit the Malvern, we should say take with
you every day, when geologising, Old Stones, (never mind the
sections), it will save you many an hour. In the evening look
over the Memoir of Professor Phillips in the second vol., Part 1 of
the Memoirs of the Geological Survey, and if you are not well
made in the geology of the Malverns, blame yourself and not your
aids ; for with such guides no one need be ignorant of the struc-
ture of this delightful district.

Contributions to the Natural History of Labuan and the
adjacent Coasts of Borneo. By JAamMEs Mor.ey of La-
buan, and Lewis LLEweLiyn Ditiwyy, F.L.S., &. Part I.
London: Van Voorst, 1855. 8vo.

When the Island of Labuan was occupied by the British, and
coal had been ascertained to be found there, Mr Dillwyn was ap-
plied to, in order to find a person capable of superintending
the mining operations contemplated on the island, and Mr Mot-
ley was recommended and appointed to fill that situation, The
choice has been an admirable one; for, in addition to the search
for coal having been successful, and carried on with skill, the
spare moments of that gentleman have been given up to the in-
vestigation of the natural history of the island, and several col-
lections have been sent to Mr Dillwyn, who has undertaken the
charge of describing them, and of editing Mr Motley’s notes made
upon the spot. No better plan could have been devised for the
investigation of the productions of any locality, particularly of an
island, than an active observer on the spot, and a careful editor
who enjoys the advantage of access to every information at home,
The result has been the publication of the first part of the above-
named work, commencing with the Mammalia, and running also
through interesting selections from the Birds and Reptiles as they
were received. The prospectus thus indicates the intention of the
work :—

396 - Proceedings of Societies.

“ It is intended that the ‘ Contributions’ shall contain deserip-
tions of such animals, both vertebrate and invertebrate, as inhabit
the island. These will be accompanied with original notes on
their habits, and other particulars connected with their natural
history. Illustrations will be given of such animals as it may
appear to be desirable should be figured, of such more especially
as are new, or of which figures are not easily obtainable.” . The
lithographs of the animals and birds are drawn by Mr Wolf,
those of the reptiles by Mr Ford—two of the best artists that
could have been selected. When the work has further advanced,
we shall endeavour to give a review of the Fauna and the geogra-
phical distribution of animal life in Labuan and its vicinity.

PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES.

British Association for the Advancement of Science.

The Glasgow meeting of the British Association, commenced on the
12th and terminated on the 19th September, under the presidency of His
Grace The Duke of Argyll, has been one of the most interesting and sue-
cessful meetings of that body. The number of communications has been
unusually large, inconveniently so, indeed ; for the last two days of the
sectional meetings, it became necessary to curtail the papers, and alto-
gether to abandon discussion. The total number of papers amounted to
347, and among them were several of much importance, while there was
a smaller proportion than usual of those frivolous communications which
cannot be avoided at such meetings. Considering the late period at which
the meeting terminated, we cannot attempt to give a full account of the
proceedings, but we are unwilling to allow our present number to pass
without some notice of the more important papers.

The Duke of Argyll’s address formed an interesting sketch of the value
of science, and doubly important as indicating the probable prospect that
Government may be soon induced to increase the niggardly support which
it has hitherto held out to British scientific investigation. e necessity
for some such step has been long acknowledged by men of science, and
the whole question of improving the status and encouraging the pursuit
of science has formed the subject of an extremely important bet oe which
was laid before the Association, and contains a number of valuable sug-
gestions, which we trust may ere long be acted upon.

The meetings of the Sections commenced on the 13th.

The more important papers in Section A. were,

Sir D. Brewster on the Radiant Spectrum. From an extensive series
of experiments, the author concludes that every luminous ray in the
spectrum is accompanied by invisible rays of greater refrangibility than
the luminous ray itself; that these rays are rendered visible by the dis-
persive action of the solids and fluids on which they are incident, and by
which they are refracted, reflected, or transmitted. He believes that these
invisible rays occupy the same place in the spectrum as the chemical rays, —

Proceedings of Societies. 397

and that they are probably connected with the phenomena of phosphores-
cence.

Mr J.P. Joute. Experiments on the Force of Electro-Magnets. The
most remarkable results of these experiments are those dependent on the
retentiveness of the magnets, which seems to follow some law connected
with the strength of the current. It appears also that a state of intense
magnetization is not entirely removed by reversal of the magnetization,
but causes the iron to be more powerfully magnetized by currents in one
direction than the other even after the reversals are frequently repeated.

Rey. Dr Scorrspy on the Magnetism of Iron Ships.

Professor W. Tuomson. Effect of Mechanical Strain on the Thermo-
electric Qualities of Metals.

The author having found that iron and copper wire, when stretched by
forces insufficient to cause permanent elongation, had their thermo-electrie
properties altered during the continuance of the strain in a direction op-
posite to the effects which Magnus had obtained when wires are perma-
nently elongated, by passing through the draw-plate, has examined the
effect of the longitudinal and lateral compression and extension, and he
finds that the peculiar thermo-electric qualities produced are those of a
erystal. As regards iron, the general conclusion is that its thermo-electric
quality when under pressure in one direction deviates from that of the
unstrained metal towards bismuth for currents in the direction of the
strain, and towards antimony for those perpendicular to it, and the resi-
‘ual thermo-electric effect of the permanent strain is the reverse of that
which subsists during application of the strain.

Mr Witpman Wauirtenouse. Experimental Observations on an Elec-
trical Cable. Experiments were made with wires of different lengths from
1125 miles to 20 feet, and it was found that the current took about 14
seconds longer to pass through the greater, than through the shorter
length. As the result of a large number of experiments, it appears
that no advantage would result from enlarging the gauge of the wires at
present in use for submarine telegraphs, and that America and India are
quite accessible with wires similar to those now employed.

Professor Tynpaut. Experimental Demonstration of the Polarity of
Diamagnetic Bodies.

Captain Jacos on Certain Anomalies presented by the Binary Star 70

hiuchi. The anomalies observed are quite at variance with the laws
of gravitation; but the author stated as his opinion, that the conjecture
that those laws might not exist in remote space, was not to be adopted
except as a last resource, and considered that the irregularities in the
orbit of this star might be explained by assuming the existence of a dark
body attracting it.

Sir Joun Ross on the Aurora Borealis. The author gave an account
of some experiments tending to show that the Aurora was due to reflec-
tion of the sun’s rays from the surface of the polar ice.

Mr Roserr Russevt of Kilwhiss read an elaborate paper on the Me-
teorology of the United States and Canada ; and one whole sitting of the
section was occupied with various meteorological papers.

Professor Piazz1 Smytu gave an account of a number of new instru-
ments for nautical observations.

In Section B. the papers most worthy of notice were,

Professor Anprews of Belfast on the Polar Decomposition of Water by
Frictional and Atmospheric Electricity, By an ingenious arrangement,
the author was enabled to show that water is decomposed by the common
machine; and also, by using an electricdl kite, he was able, in fine
weather, to produce decomposition, although so slowly, 1-700,000th of a
grain of water was decomposed per hour.

398 Proceedings of Societies.

Dr Marureson exhibited specimens of the Metallic Bases of the Alka-
line Earths.

Mr Srewanrr read a paper on the Density of Sulphuric Acid, and in
which he endeavoured to show that the points of greatest contraction
of a mixture of water.and sulphuric acid corresponded with definite
hydrates. ;

‘Dr Penny on the Composition and Phosphorescence of Plate €
of Potash. In this paper the author showed that the salt is really a
double compound of sulphates of potash and soda, represented by the
formula 3 KO SO, + NaOSO,, and described the remarkable phenomena
of phosphorescence it presents. :

Dr Franxianp on Organic Compounds containing Metals. The author
described some new compounds which he had obtained, and particularly
one prepared by the action of nitric oxide on zine ethyl, which or be
regarded as an ammonium in which one atom of hydrogen is rep by
zinc, another by ethyl, and the remaining two by oxygen.

Dr Anprews on Allotropic Modifications of Chlorine and Bromine
analogous to the Ozone Form of Oxygen. In this important paper the
author showed that chlorine and bromine, when submitted to a series of
electric discharges, acquire the power of dissolving platinum which they
do not possess in their ordinary state. By agitation with water active
chlorine is absorbed, and converted into its ordinary state.

Professor Bunsen and Dr Roscor on the Chemical Action of Light.
This paper communicated the results of a series of researches still in pro-
gress. It appears from the experiments hitherto made that the amount
of chemical action of the sun’s rays is dependent by constant amount of
light on the length of time of insolation, and that in the same space of
time the decomposition is proportional to the intensity of the light.

Dr Catvert of Manchester detailed a series of experiments he had
made on Alloys of Iron and Aluminum. He had found that a number of
alloys, in definite proportions of these two metals, were produced. The
properties of these alloys appear to recommend them for technical uses.

Dr Doveras Mactacan on the Composition of Bread.

Mr Georce F. Witson on a New Method of producing Glycerine.

Dr Davuseny on an indirect Mode of determining the presence of
Phosphoric Acid, and on the euistence of that Acid in the Silurian
Rocks of Connemara.

Section C. Gzotoey. Sir R. I. Murcutson, President.

Mr Hven Miter on some of the less known Fossil Flora of Scot-
land.

Mr Dawson on the Coal Formations of Nova Scotia.

Captain Sir E. Betcuer on the discovery of the Ichthyosaurus and
other Fossils in the Arctic Expeditions. These remains were found on
the summit of Exmouth Island, about 700 feet above the sea, the upper
stratum of which is a bed of limestone about 30 feet thick, containing
the fossils. The specimens have been submitted to Professor Owen, who
considers them to resemble the Ichthyosaurus actetus of the Whitby
lias.

Mr Atuan described the present condition of the Geysers of Iceland,
and stated that all the phenomena observed by him seemed to indicate
that the eruptions were gradually diminishing in frequency and duration.

Mr Evan Hopxiys and Mr Campseti read papers on the Awriferous
Deposits of Australia.

Mr H. C. Sorsy on the Structure and Mutual Relations of the Older
Rocks of the Highland Border. This paper related chiefly to the contor-
tions and cleavage of these rocks, sak e author endeavoured to show

Proceedings of Societies. 399

how these might be accounted for on mechanical principles by the lateral
of other and harder rocks.

Sir R. I. Murcuison, Bart., on the relations of the Crystalline Rocks
of the North Highlands and the Old Red Sandstone of that Region, and
on the recent Fossil Discoveries of Mr C. Peach. This paper contained
an elaborate discussion of the position of the limestones of Durness and
Eriboll in the geological series. The author stated that the fossils dis-
eovered by Mr Peach, in the former of these limestones, have been sub-
mitted to Mr Salter, who considers them to approach very closely to the
genus Raphistoma found in the Lower Silurian limestones of Girvan.
He stated that in the North of Scotland there appeared to be a regular
succession of rocks from the older to newer, in passing from west to east.

¥ R. Cuamsers on Denudation and other effects usually attributed
to Water.

Numerous important and valuable papers were also read in the Natu-
ral History Section, and in Geography, Statistics, and Mechanics. These
rs embrace so great a mass of details that we cannot attempt, within
the limits of the Journal, to give any account of them.
Some of the more important papers read at this meeting are published
in extenso in our present number, and others will appear in January.

Botanical Society of Edinburgh.
Thursday, 12th July 1855.

1. On the Introduction of the Cinchona Tree into India. By Tuomas
Anpverson, M.D., H.E.LC.S.

2. On the Presence of Diatomacee, Phytolitharia, and Sponge Spicules,
in Soils which support Vegetation. By Wit11aM Gregory, M.D.,
F.R.S.E., Professor of Chemistry.

Ehrenberg, in his late work, “ Mikrogeologie,” has stated that in speci-
mens of soils from all parts of the world, he has found many microscopic
organisms ; he divides these into Siliceous and Calcareous, the former in-
cluding Diatomacew, Phytolitharia, and Polycystina, as well as Sponge
Spicules, the latter minute Mollusks and other shells. The present ob-
servations are confined to the siliceous organisms, and among these, chiefly
to the Diatomace, with Phytolitharia, and Sponge Spicules, the soils ex-
amined being such as are connected with fresh water, in which the Poly-
cystina do not occur.

Many of Ehrenberg’s observations were made on the small portions of
soil found adhering to dried plants in herbaria, and I requested Professor
Balfour to supply me with such portions of soil if possible. By his kind-
ness I obtained upwards of 60 such specimens, almost all of which were
of very small bulk, on an average, not exceeding that of a pinch of snuff,
and sometimes less. Of these a certain number consisted chiefly of earth,
with some half deeayed vegetable matter, and many contained hardly any-
thing but decaying vegetable matter, with a mere trace of earth. Of
course, the latter are not fair specimens of soil, but I have subjected all to
the same treatment, namely, boiling with nitro-muriatic acid, washing,
straining through gauze, and examining the fine insoluble residue. This,
of course, contained all the siliceous matter present, but it also contained
much organic matter, of a brown or red colour, insoluble in acids, which,
if pevensary , might be destroyed by ignition, when it would leave a trifling
ash, 4

400 Proceedings of Societies.

In every case I found Diatomacee in the residue, as well as Phytolitha-
ria. Sponge spicules apparently of fresh-water sponges, were fre-
quent, but occurred in many. In a few cases, where the acid caused effer-
nee, there was calcareous matter present, but in most this was not
the case.

Of course, in those cases in which the proportion of earth was small,
the residue consisted chiefly of the insoluble organic matter, through which,
however, Diatoms and Phytolitharia were scattered, in greater or smaller
proportion.

In the cases where the proportion of earth was larger, the residue was
much richer in Diatoms and Phytolitharia, but almost always contained
also the dark insoluble organic matter. In several the proportion of Di-
atoms in the residue was so large, that it had the appearance of a —
Diatomaceous gathering after boiling with acids. The most remarkable
soils in this respect were one from the Sandwich Islands, one from Leba-
non, one from the roots of a German moss, and one from Ailsa Craig.
; It is to be noticed, however, that Diatomacez were found in every case,

without exception, and that in all, their proportion to the whole non-cal-
careous earthy residue was considerable, and often large. In many of
those where the proportion of earth was smallest, there was no siliceous
matter in the residue, except Diatomacee and Phytolitharia.

The soils examined were from various and distant localities ; there were
about 20 from the Andes, several from Brazil and other parts of South
America, a few from North America, a few from the West Indies, one
from the Sandwich Islands, one from New Zealand, a few from India,
one from Lebanon, a good many from Germany, some from France, a few
from Spain, and some from Britain.

The great majority of the species of Diatoms in all these were found to.
coincide with our British forms, but a good many species occurred in the
exotic soils which have not yet been found in Britain, and most of these
not even in Europe, but which have been figured by Bailey, Ehrenberg,
Kiitzing, Rabenhorst, &e.

A good many were observed, which, so far as I know at present, have
not yet been figured or described. Lastly, a certain number of species
lately found by Smith, Greville, and others, as well as by myself in Bri-
tain, and some of which are scarce, have occurred in these exotic soils.
Among these I may name here Navicula seutelloides, W. Sm. Cater):
Orthosira spinosa, W. Sm., Grev. (Andes, Germany), Cymbe turgida,
W. G. (Sandwich Islands), and Navicula varians, W. G. (various soils).

Of such species as are unknown to Europe, I shall only mention here,
Terpsinée musica, one of the most striking of known forms, which I found
in the first soil I examined, one from Brazil. It is accompanied by
Nitzschia scalaris, a fine form, which occurs in Britain, but is far from
frequent here.

I am satisfied that a close examination of such specimens of soil, which
are often thrown away in putting up specimens in herbaria, will bring to
light sg 4 new forms, and supply us at home with many exotic and rare
species. It is very desirable that collectors of plants should preserve a
little of the earth adhering to their roots, and in this way copious mate-
rials would be obtained.

I have not yet worked out the apparently new forms occurring in these
soils, but there are a considerable number which require investigation.

The above observations entirely confirm Ehrenberg’s statements as to
the distribution of the Diatomacee. They furnish evidence of the fact
that these organisms are far less affected by climate and temperature than
larger plants or animals; since many of the very same species are found
in every latitude and inevery country. For example, such common forms

Proceedings of Societies. 401

as Achnanthidium lanceolatum, Achnanthes exilis, Gomphonema tenel-
lum, G. constrictum, G. capitatum, Cocconeis Placentula, C. Pediculus,
Cocconema lanceolatum, C. eymbiforme, Synedra radians, Navicula ellip-
tiea, N. rhomboides, Pinnularia viridis, P. major, P. oblonga, P. borealis,
Surirella biseriata, S. ovata, Meridion circulare, M. constrictum, Cym-
bella maculata, C. scotica, C. cuspidata, Epithemia turgida, Ep. Argus,
Himantidium Arcus, H. gracile, H. majus, Odoutidium mesodon, Di-
atoma tenue, D. vulgare, Nitzschia linearis, N. amphioxys, Melosira
varians, and many others actually occur in every part of the world from
whence these soils have come; and there is absolutely no difference be-
tween the exotic and the British*forms.

Ehrenberg specifies two species, namely, Pinnularia borealis (P. late-
striata W. G), and Eunotia amphioxys (Nitzschia amphioxys, W. Sm.), as
having been found by him in almost every instance. My results confirm
this. In no one case have both of these been absent, and in at least nine-
tenths of these soils both are present. They are often the predominant
forms, and in a few cases almost the only forms present. As both of them
occur very much scattered in ordinary gatherings from water, I suspect
that moist earth is their usual habitat. I may add that Gomphoneam
tenellum and Achnanthidium lanceolatum are also found in a large majo-
“et of all these soils.

am disposed to agree in opinion with Ehrenberg, that the microscopic
organisms found in soils contribute materially to the increase of the soil.
This is true both of the siliceous and calcareous forms. The Diatomacee,
for exampie, live as we may see daily, in moist earth. They obtain silica
from the water, and at their death their shells are added to the soil.
Where many are present, this process of transference of silica from the
rock out of which it is dissolved by the rain, to the soil where it remains
in a solid but finely divided form, goes on very rapidly where many Di-
atoms are living. Now, we have so far evidence that they live (as we
know they can do) in these soils, that we find them there very often in the
state of self-division, which is not observed in old accumulations of the
dead shells.

The peculiar capacity of the Diatomacee for resisting climatic changes,
whereby the same species can live and thrive as well in the Arctic circle
as under the line, corresponds well with the results of the study of the
same organisms in the fossil state. In Ehrenberg’s late great work, Mik-
rogeologie, will be found very fine figures of the Diatoms occurring in the
different forms of Bergmehl, Tripoli or polishing slate, Kieselguhr, pumice,
and other voleanic rocks, mountain limestone, amber, &c., and it will be
seen that by far the greater number of these species are quite identical with
recent ones. Although microscopic organisms have been found so low
down as the green sand of the Silurian system, I find that these do not
appear to be Diatomaceous, but rather belong to the Polythalaria. But

earliest Diatoms, geologically speaking, yet found, as figured by

Ehrenberg, agree in every point, as far as the great majority of the

es is concerned, with those now living in our waters, and forming de-
posits which will become rock at some future time. It is evidently the
same power of resisting change by climate, which, as we have seen, leads
to the occurrence of many identical recent species in all parts of the earth,
that has led to the permanent existence of so many of the same species,
from the time of the Kieselguhrs and polishing slates to the present day.
Some years ago, it was supposed that most of the species in the much
more recent Bergmehl were no longer to be found living ; but since then

most of them have been found recent. I myself have lately found two
“species of the Lapland Bergmeh! to be still in existence, namely, Eunotia
oetodon and Synedra hemiecyelus ; and I may add that Eunotia incisa,

NEW SERIES,—VOL. IJ. NO, U.—ocT, 1855, 2c¢

402 Proceedings of Societies.

which occurs both in the Lapland and the Mull earths, has been found re-

cent by me in a dozen British gatherings. Yet all these forms were sup-

posed, not long since, to be exclusively fossil. We cannot say that there
are no species exclusively fossil ; but so many that have been thought
so are daily found living, that it is probable the rest may be so found
too; and at all events, a very large proportion of the forms in the oldest
fossil deposits are absolutely identical with the forms of the present day,
as a glance at Ehrenberg’s figures will prove.

I have only further to mention, that although so many species are uni-
versal in their habitat, some appear to be local. Thus Terpsinée musica
does not occur in Europe, nor has it yet been found except in America,
and, I think, in Australia.

Some species are decidedly Alpine; for example, Orthosira spinosa,
which Professor Smith found on the Mont d’Or in Auvergne, and Pro-
fessor Balfour on the Grampians, occurs also in nearly every soil from
the Andes,

3. On the Effects of the Severe Frost of last Winter on Plants in the
neighbourhood of Sligo. By the Right Hon. Jonn Wynne of
Haslewood.

4. Notice of a Botanical Trip with Pupils to Falkland and the Lomond

Hills, Fife. By Professor Batrour.

5. Report on the Diatomaceew collected during the Excursion. By
Professor Grecory.

6. Report on the Musci and Desmidee collected during the Trip to the
West Lomond Hill, Fife, 30th June 1855. By Groner Lawson.

In speaking of Splachnum sphericum, Hedw., Mr Lawson states :—All
the tufts obtained were covered with an abundance of ripe capsules, and
there were also plenty of antheridia, which were found to be in an excel-
lent stage for examination, most of them being ready to discharge their
contents. It was observed, that in the same perichetium there were an-
theridia in various stages of development, those in the centre appearing
to ripen first, even while some of those at the outer edge were of small
size, and quite green. There is thus a constant succession of phytozoa
produced—a provision which tends to ensure their application to the pis-
tillidia at the proper time. In many of the antheridia examined, slight.
pressure of the thin-glass cover caused their granular contents to eseape..
This was beautifully seen under Nachet’s lowest object-glass: the matter
passes out in a continuous stream through a very small orifice in the apex.
of the antheridium, afterwards collecting in masses on the field of the
microscope, as if of a gelatinous nature. The natural discharge of the
contents of the antheridium is probably a much slower process than what
we observe under artificial treatment. These granular contents are by a
higher power (say } inch) resolved into a mass of living phytozoa, display-
ing the most active and lively movements, each whirling upon its own axis,
and quickly moving about the field as if from an intense sense of animal
enjoyment. Under Ross’s one-eighth the form of the phytozoa was well
seen ; but the morning being cloudy, there was not sufficient light to show
the cilia with which these bodies are furnished. The movements entirely
ceased about two hours after their discharge from the antheridium, and on
some.occasions in a shorter period. In one preparation, however (mounted
in water), Mr Forbes observed that the phytozoa still moved actively, two
days after mounting. As in this case several antheridia were mounted
together, it is possible that some of them, entire when put up, had dis-
charged their contents in the interim, and that the movements were seen
in phytozoa of these, and not in those originally discharged. The empty
antheridium consists of a bag whose membrane is formed of somewhat

Proceedings of Societies. 403

oblong cells, most of which contain, in addition to granular matter, a bright
red nuclear body, which appears in many cases to become divided into a
number of smaller vesicular bodies of precisely the same character, thus
presenting a striking resemblance to Protococcus nivalis, the curious de-
velopment of which has excited so much attention.

o> Demooms Digitus, Ehrenberg, some interesting phenomena were ob-

served :—
__ 1. Locomotion.—The power of locomotion possessed by- the Desmidex,
in itself highly interesting, derives additional importance from the fact,
that it has been brought forward by Ehrenberg and his followers in sup-
port of the animal character of these organisms. ‘‘ That the Desmidez
move,” says Mr Ralfs (Introduction, Brit. Desmid., pp. 20-21), ‘ must
be admitted, for this fact has been noticed by too many accurate observers
to permit any doubt of its truth; and although I have myself failed to
perceive their actual movement, I have sufficient evidence of its occur-
rence ;” but again, “ the movements of the Desmidew must be very slug-
gish, or exercised only under very peculiar circumstances, since I have
never witnessed it, notwithstanding I have almost daily living specimens
under my inspection. Mr E. Jenner has been equally unsuccessful; and
several friends, experienced in the use of the microscope, either have not.
seen it, or speak of it in uncertain terms.” It is therefore useful to notice
species in which the movements occur. The motion observed by me in
this species was not a continuous one, such as appears to be described by
the various writers on this subject, but strikingly similar to the jerking
movements of Pleurosigma and other Diatoms. iy deants precisely simi-
lar were observed in Cosmarium undulatum and other species.

2. Cirewlation.—In Penium Digitus I had likewise the opportunity of
observing a phenomenon which appeared to me precisely identical in
character with that termed the “rotation of the cell sap” in Chara and
Vallisneria, and which I have described as occurring in Anacharis Alsinas-
trum (Microscopical Journal, ii. 54). In Penium, as in these plants,
large globular granules flow in uninterrupted currents on the inner sur-
face of the utricle, and, as in Vallisneria and Anacharis, are best seen at
the edge of the cell. The course of the currents is not very determinate,
and they seem to pass each other in close proximity, continuing, however,
for hours moving in the same manner. By using the fine adjustment, a
single cue ps may often be followed in its course round the end of the cell,
down the edge, and across the suture, thus affording a beautiful demon-
stration of the unicellular character of the plant. At the suture, however,
the manner in which the granule passes seems to indicate a contraction
there ; its passage is not a slow steady movement as in other parts of the
cell ; when it enters the clear space its progress is suddenly arrested, and °
then it —— starts across into the part containing granules, as if sud-
denly re “f from compression ; after which it resumes the even tenor
of its way. The phenomenon is different from the usual appearance of
the “circulation” of Closterium Lunula; but the granules probably owe

their movements to the same cause.

7. Sketch of the Geology of the District visited in the course of
Professor Balfowr’s Excursion. ‘By Mr James Hector.

8. Record of Localities for Rare Plants. By Professor Baurour.

9. Remarks on Vegetable Ewcrescences. By Mr James Hanpie,
Penmanshiel.

10. Account of the Origin and of some of the Contents of the Museum
_ attached to the Royal Botanic Garden at Edinburgh, By Pro-
fessor Batrour.—(Continued.)

2c2

404 Scientific Intelligence.

SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE,

ZOOLOGY.

Tetragonops ramphastinus (Jardine).—A collection of birds received
in the beginning of September last from Professor Jameson of Quito con-
tains a very remarkable form of the Capitonide or South American Bar-
bets. The collection was procured on the Eastern Cordillera between
Quito and the Mountain Cayambe, and is accompanied by a map of the
route through which it was made, which will be engraved, and a figure
of the bird given in our Number for January.

Tetragonops ramphastinus is of a larger size than the greater number
. of the South American Capitonide, and is remarkable for the form of the
bill, which is very powerful, and almost square at the base; the tip of
the mandible is deeply bifurcated, and into the division rests the curved
tip of the maxilla. The base of the maxilla is strongly developed, and
the whole bill is richly eoloured,—the base yellow and orange, the apical
half bluish-blaek. The distribution of the colours of the plumage is also
somewhat peculiar ; around the eyes, crown, nape and a nuchal collar,
black; wings and tail grayish-black, the latter somewhat euneated ;
back, yellowish-brown ; rump and upper tail covers yellow; from behind
the eyes, and nearly joining upon the nape, there is a broad streak of
shining white. The whole chin, throat, breast and sides of the neck are
bluish-gray, and are separated from the belly by a band of dark yer-
milion. The centre of the belly is also vermilion, shading off at eaeh
side into yellow ; the flanks, vent, and under tail coverts are grayish-green.
Length, 8°5; wing, 4:1. .

Habits of American Jaguar.—Walking ry the beach to prevent
sleep, I witnessed a singular spectacle, but (as 1 was informed by the
inhabitants) one of frequent occurrence. An enormous jaguar was ex-
tended full length upon a rock level with the water, about forty
from me, From time to time he struck the water with his tail, and at
the same moment raised one of his fore paws and seized fish, often of an
enormous size. The fish, deceived by the noise, and taking it for the
fall of forest fruits (of which they are very fond) unsuspectingly 2 tt
and soon fall into the claws of the traitor.—(L. Herndon, Ewpl. of the
Valley of the Amazon, p. 312.)

GEOLOGY.
New Phyllopod Crustacean.—A drawing of this interesting fossil has
been sent to us by the Rev. W.S. Symonds, F.G.S., with the following
note. The drawing has been engraved on plate. ‘ The addition of anew
species of crustacean to the Upper Silurian list of organic remains is an
important fact as regards strata which have been so bits examined
as the Upper Ludlow rocks of Great Britain. Plate No. VIII represents .
the trifid tail of a phyllopod crustacean, allied apparently to Hymenocaris
vermicauda of the Lower Silurians of North Wales. This phyllopod was
detected by Mr Lightbody of Ludlow in the Upper Ludlow shales on
the banks of the river Teme, and has been forwarded to Mr Salter for ;
examination and description.”’

Discovery of Gems and Fossils in = Haute Loire. By M. Berrrann
DE Lom.

For many years Espaly was the only locality in France which yielded

corundum and zircon, and the quantity of these minerals which is now

obtained there is extremely trifling. 1844 and 1848 the author an-

Chemistry. 405

nounced the existence of three other localities in the same department ;
viz., Taulhac, where there are found corundum, red spinelle, and zircon ;

Bessac, yielding corundum, spinelle (pleonaste), and peridote ; and Cerey,
which affords the corundum and pleonaste in very considerable quantity.

The new locality is very rich in gems, and during six months has yielded
nearly 10,000 carats of corundum of various colours, some of a fine blue,
and capable of being cut, but all well crystallized, and in crystals weigh-
ing from 20 to 60 carats. With it are associated zircon, spinelle (pleonaste),
yellow sphene, sometimes transparent and capable of being cut, rutile,
ake ger in rectangular prisms, with double pyramids, earthy peridote,

pyroxene, amphibole in fine crystals, titaniferous iron, often in
om nodules, and containing numerous crystals of apatite, black tour-
ine, and a substance of a red colour and nacreous aspect, crystallizing

in octahedra; and of which the composition is not yet determined.

The same locality is also rich in fossil-bones, and in the course of a
few months has yielded 700 or 800 specimens, of which about 400 have
been teeth and fragments of the jaws of two species of Felis, one hitherto
unknown in Europe, and which, according to M. Lartet, is the Felis
smilodon found in the caves of Brazil, anda hyena. Others belong to the
Pachydermata, such as Mastodonta angustidens, several species of deer,
an antelope, and others which are not yet determined. These fossils are
found in a sub-voleanic diluvium, varying in thickness from two to ten
metres.—(Comptes Rendus, vol. xl., p. 885.)

. CHEMISTRY.

Researches on Silicon and Titanium. By M. Sr Crate Devitte.

- The author prepares silicon from the chloride by a process exactly
analogous to that which he has employed for the preparation of aluminium.
Chloride of silicon is passed over sodium contained in a porcelain boat at
ared heat. The sodium is entirely converted into chloride, and on wash-
ing with cold water the silicon is obtained with all the characters attri-
buted to it by Berzelius. But if pieces which have not touched the boat
be introduced into a crucible, surrounded and covered with pure common
salt, and exposed to a temperature sufficiently high to expel the greater
part of the alkaline chloride, the silicon is obtained in some cases in a
, i paien condition, in others as a fused and often crystallized mass.

e crystals have the colour of slightly iridescent specular iron ore; they
do not admit of measurement, for their faces are curved ; but in general
appearance they closely resemble the diamond, and are capable of cutting

s. On analysis 100 parts of these crystals gave 205 of silicic acid.
heory requires 209, ha the small deficiency consisted of silicon with
iron. It appears then that silicon, like carbon (with which it has been
classified among the non-metallic elements), exists in three different
states :—

1. As the silicon of Berzelius, which represents ordinary charcoal.

2. Graphitoid silicon, which corresponds to graphite, and is produced
under the same circumstances as artificial graphite.

3. Crystallized silicon, analogous to the diamond, Silicon has a remark-
able tendency to combine with iron, and takes it wherever it is to be
found, even from the crucibles, which are corroded in a remarkable
manner. It unites with the metals, particularly with copper, to which it
communicates such hardness that it resists the file. The compound is to
copper what steel is to iron.

itanium, obtained by a similar process, and heated in a crucible made
of alumina, is a substance infusible at a temperature at whieh platinum
rises in vapour. (?) It resembles very iridescent specular iron, and crys-

it in prisms with a square base.—(Comptes Rendus, vol. xl., p.

034,

406 Scientific Intelligence.

Manufacture of Cinnabar at Idria. By M. Hvyor.

The process commences with the preparation of the black sulphuret
of mercury. For this purpose, 42 lb. of mereury and 8 Ib. of sul-
phur in coarse powder are introduced into a cask which reeeives by
machinery a reciprocating rotatory movement at the rate of fifteen
to twenty-five rotations per minute. The length of time during which
the mixture remains in the casks varies from 2°3 to 3°5 hours, i
to the temperature. The combination of the materials is not comp
for particles of sulphur and globules of mercury may still be det
on it, and here and there it acquires a reddish tint from incipient eonver-
sion into cinnabar. The mass is then introduced into cast-iron retorts, of
which there are twenty-four arranged in four furnaces. Each retort is
furnished with an earthenware head connected by a tube with a receiver.
The heads being adjusted and properly luted, heat is applied, and the
temperature raised to 259°. As soon as sulphureous vapours appear, the
tube and receiver are attached, and at the temperature of 716° sublima-
tion goes on with rapidity. The retorts require about two-and-a-half
hours to reach the temperature at which sublimation commences, and
the charge is sublimed in about five hours. Of every 1000 parts of sub-
limed cinnabar, 365 are found in the part of the head next the retort,
327 in that nearest the tube, 255 in the tube itself, and 53 in the re-
ceiver. The cinnabar is then ground by passing it between stones placed
at different distances apart, according to the fineness of the graim re-
quired. Chinese cinnabar is ground twice, dark red four times, and
bright red cinnabar five times.

The product is then refined, as it is called, in order to remove the ex-
cess of sulphur employed in the first process. For this p it is
digested with a ley of wood ashes concentrated until it has a seca of
12B. The cinnabar is then repeatedly washed, and dried on iron plates.—
(Polytechnisches Centralblatt 1855, p. 661.)

Artificial Preparation of Essential Oil of Mustard. By Zrntn, Brr-
THELOT, and Luca.

Zinin has prepared the oil of mustard artificially by boiling an aleo-
holic solution of sulpho-cyanide of potassium with the iodide of propylene.
The decomposition is represented thus—

KC, NS,-+C, H,1=—C, H, N, 8,4-Kl.

By distilling the mixture and collecting that which comes over between
282° and 291°, a fluid was obtained which had all the characters of oil of
mustard. Berthelot and Luca, independently of Zinin, have made the
same experiment, and have shown that the product yields thiosinnamine,
identical in all its characters with that obtained from the natural oil.
They erroneously describe the product as a sulpho-cyanide of sulpho-pro-

ylene, whereas it is a sulpho-cyanide of propylenyl, with the formula
4 H, C, NS,. They further remark that this experiment may be gene-
ralized, and analogous compounds obtained from the homologues of pro-
pylene, and promise some experiments in this direction.—(Zinin, Journal
fiir Practische Chimie, vol. xliv., p. 504; Berthelot and Luca, Comptes
Rendus, vol. xli., p. 21.)

BOTANY.

_ Alge in Van Diemen’s Land.—The neighbourhood of Georgetown ap-
pears, by all accounts, to be the best Alge ground in the island. The
ground strongly reminds me of Bantry Bay ; not so much the aspect of
the hills, &c., as that of the marine flora. Everything that grows at
Georgetown (as at Bantry) is of a huge size; the leaves extravagantly

Botany. 407

broad of the leafy kinds, and the stems of the branching ones proportion-
ably long. The Dasye are commonly two to three feet long; so is Poly-
siphonia Hookeri, and even longer. I have seen bunches of Grifithsia
setacea nearly two feet long, G. corallina almost as large, and Callitham-
nia, which might be laid out so as to cover a large sheet of cartridge paper.
From a single plant of Laurencia dasyphylla I made thirty or forty
good-sized specimens ; each secondary branch being sufficient for a folio
sheet ; no paper would have been large enough to lay down the specimen
entire. The same luxuriance distinguishes most others. I have not my-
self gathered Martensia, but I have seen fragments of its fringe (without
the membrane) which indicate that the perfect specimens must have been
at least a foot in diameter. It appears to be very rare. Clauwdea seems
to be pretty generally distributed through the estuary, though very rare,
except in one or two places where it is abundantly cast up. I have not
found it growing. The best locality for it is at Point Rapid, about ten
or twelve miles higher up the river than Georgetown. I call it river, but
the water is perfectly salt for upwards of thirty miles, and in many places
very deep ; and to this depth of water, and the quiet shelter which the
plants enjoy, are no doubt to be attributed the extraordinary luxuriance
which they attain.—(Harvey, in Hooker’s Journal of Botany, Aug. 1855.)
British Weeds in Van Diemen’s Land.—Many common English weeds
are naturalized about Georgetown, and some are perfect pests. Hore-
hound is everywhere by the roadsides, and Chamomile covers the fields
and paddocks, in many places to the exclusion of grasses. Thistles are
fast going ahead all through Van Diemen’s Land, and no one seems to
trouble himself with them, although I have seen, I suppose, hundreds of
acres given over to them, and growing so thick in some places that I have
walked over my shoes in the bed of thistle-down which had blown from the
withered stems. Sweet-briar, originally introduced as a hedge-plant, is
completely naturalized, and in places forms impenetrable thickets. It an-
nually produces millions of hips, and, if let alone, will soon become as
great a pest as the thistles. The common Furze is also spreading, but not
so rapidly, in the western country. The Hawthorn grows perfectly, and
forms excellent hedges as at home, but keeps within bounds; though it,
too, fruits abundantly. I have seen Oaks heavily laden with well-grown
acorns ; but there are no trees, as yet, of large size. Elms and Ash are
occasionally cultivated, but are not common. I do not think I have seen
any of the Pine tribe in cultivation, except a few recently introduced to
the Botanic Garden at Hobart Town. The great staple, in the garden way,
of the colony is in Apples, Pears, and Plums and Cherries; all of which
thrive remarkably well; and they have already raised some seedling
apples and plums, which are well deserving of cultivation. There is a
large trade in apples to Melbourne. The smaller fruits are made into jams,
or consumed at home ; and often suffered to rot on the trees, from their
abundance. Gooseberries, Currants, Raspberries, and Strawberries grow
ey well. But Peaches and Nectarines are only fit for tarts, and often
fall off before they are ripe. Grapes just ripen and no more, and are of
small size. I have been here the hottest months of summer without ex-
periencing greater heat than we often have in England. There is less
rain, and a greater number of clear days; but, on the whole, I scarcely
think the summers hotter than those of England. People here complain
(as in all the Australian colonies) of the rapid changes of temperature, but
with less reason for complaining than in any other country I know of. To
me the climate seems as nearly perfect as a sublunary climate can well be.
mercy in Hooker’s Journal of Botany, Aug. 1855.
n Victoria colony, Miiller gathered the following British plants:—
Alchemilla vulgaris, Barbarea vulgaris, Geum urbanum, Carex stellu-

408 Scientific Intelligence.

lata, Veronica serpyllifolia ? Botrychiwm Lunaria, Lysimachia vul-
garis, Zostera marina, Potamogeton prelongus, P. crispus, Polygonum
lapathifoliwm.—(Hooker’s Journ., Aug., 1855.)

Magnolia seed-coat.—Dr Asa Gray states, that the covering of the
seed in Magnolia is not an aril, but a proper envelope of the seed. The
external coat of the ovule becomes drupaceous in the seed, its yoo 5
tion forming the fleshy, its inner the crustaceous seed-coat.—(H 8
Journal, Aug. 1855; see also Hooker and Thomson’s Flora Indica.)

Caoutchouc in South America,—Caoutchouc is procured in the Amazon
and Rio Negro districts, from various species of Siphonia. Spruce noticed
seven or eight species which yielded the substance. In the Amazon, India-
rubber is called Xeringue, which is a corruption of the Portuguese word
Seringa. The India-rubber collectors are denominated Seringuei
Alum accelerates the coagulation of caoutchouc, while ammonia keeps it
in a fluid state. Seringa trees are tapped about Pard during the dry sea~
son from June to December. Onthe Upper Rio Negro and Lower Cai-
quiare, the plants which yield the Seringa are Siphonia lutea, Spr., and
S. brevifolia, Spr. They are called long-leaved and short-leayed .
Their average height is 100 feet. The Seringa of Paré is Siphonia
brasiliensis, Willd. Siphonia elastica, Aubl., also yields caoutchoue
near the Barra. Siphonia Spruceana, Benth., is another caoutchouc tree.
It grows about the mouths of the Tapajoz and Madeira. On the Uau
there are other caoutchouc trees, probably belonging to Sapotacew (Mi-
erandra of Bentham). The Rio Uaupés joins the Rio Negro a little north
of Sao Gabriel, and its course is nearly coincident with the actual equator.
Many species of Ficus and Artocarpus also yield caoutchoue in South
America. The families of Figs and Artocarps abound towards the head-
bh ety of the Rio Negro and Orinoco.—(Hooker’s Journal of Botany,
July 1855.)

Piassaba fibre.—This fibre is furnished by two kinds of Palms, Attalea
funifera of Martius and Leopoldinia Piassaba of Wallace. There are two
kinds of fibre in commerce, according to Archer, and they are of different

ualities and values. The best comes from the Rio Negro by way of

ara, the inferior kind from Ceara.—(Hooker’s Journal of Botany, July
1855.)

Sarsaparilla. Extract of a Letter from Mr Srrvce, dated Rio Negro,
February 5, 1855.

Sarsaparilla is growing scarce and difficult to obtain on these rivers,
and is now found only at the head-waters of some of the tributaries of the
Rio Negro, Orinoco, and Casiquiare. Lower down the same streams it
seems to have been all uprooted. Those who go to gather it must spend
four or six months in the forest, and endure all sorts of privations. I
have never in the whole course of my wanderings come across one of the
species of Smilax which affords Sarsaparilla of commerce, though I have
gathered numerous species of that genus. But in 1852 I saw plants of a
Smilax near Sao Gabriel (and I sent specimens of the leaves and fruit to
Kew), which had been brought from the Canaburis, and from which I saw
the roots extracted and dried for sale.

Those who go to collect Sarsaparilla tell me they are guided by three
characters :—

1. Many stems from a root.
2. Prickles of stem closely set.
3. Leaves thin (not coriaceous).

I am assured that the species of Smilaw possessing these characters
united have also numerous long roots, radiating horizontally from the
crown ; while the single-stemmed species have only a solitary tap-root.

Mineralogy. 409

I am aware that the Jamaica Sarsaparilla is said to command a better
price in the market than that of Par4, but I thought it had been planted
in that island. Of the Sarsaparilla collected in the upper tributaries of
the Orinoco, of the Rio Negro, the greater portion goes to the Para _
market, where it fetches a better price than at Angostura. Iam not aware —
that it enters into the commerce of any other port in Venezuela except
Angostura ; and it is curious if the same Sarsaparilla coming to England
_ by way of Jamaica sells for double the price that it fetches when sent by

way of Paré.—(Hooker’s Jowrnal of Botany, Aug. 1855.)

Viola calaminaria.—The calamine hills of Rhenish Prussia, and of
the neighbouring parts of Belgium, possess a peculiar Flora. The
botanist who traverses these districts is particularly struck with a violet
allied to Viola tricolor, which occurs in great abundance, and expands
its beautiful yellow flowers from spring till autumn. It is called Viola
calaminaria by some, and by others it is looked upon as a variety of
Viola lutea of Smith. The species is distinguished from Viola tri-
color chiefly by its filiform subterranean stems, which enable it to
resist the rigour of winter. Viola calaminaria is distinguished not
only by its habitat from the Viola lutea of the Alps, as well as from
the forms met with on the granitic and syenitic summits of the Vosges
to which Spach has given the name of V. elegans, but also by its
stem being very low, and dividing near the ground into several branches
(hence V. lutea, var. multicaulis, Koch.,) and by its flowers being in
general smaller. Besides this violet, there are other plants which cha-
racterize the calamine or zinc hills of Rhenish Prussia. Among these
may be noticed Alsine verna, Armeria vulgaris, and Thlaspi alpestre.
The colour of the flowers of Viola lutea of the Alps and the Vosges
varies from a deep violet, through an infinite variety of shades and hues,
to pure yellow; whilst the flowers of Viola calaminaria, at least in
the neighbourhood of Aix-la-Chapelle, are almost constantly yellow,
of various shades. It is only on the confines of the calamine soil that
we meet here and there with specimens of a clear violet or bluish colour,
or rather a mixture of yellow and bluish. M. Braun mentions the oc-
currence of Viola calaminaria, with flowers deep violet, at Blanken-
rode, in the eastern part of Westphalia, in calamine soil. He considers
that there is a connection between the calamine soil and the presence of
this violet, and he has determined chemically the presence of zine in the
plant.—(Braun, Academie des Sciences de Berlin, 1852.)

MINERALOGY.

Analysis of Phosphorite from the Siebengebirge. By R. Buunme.
Lime, . . ; 8 ; 47°50
Phosphoric acid, . . : 37°33
Alumina, ; : : ‘ 3°28
Magnesia, F ; ; j 2°70
Carbonic acid, . ! : , 2°20
Silicic acid, ‘ ; , , 3°50
Water, . : f : 165
Loss, . ; ‘ ; / 1°84

100°00

It contained no fluorine, and only traces of chlorine. The phosphate
of lime contained in it is the tribasic phosphate, 3CaO0,PO,.—(Annalen
der Chemie und Pharmacie, vol. xciv., p. 354.)

410 Scientific Intelligence.

Seleniwm in Pseudomalachite from Reinbreitbach. By Professor
Bapexir. ;

Kersten stated some years since that selenium was found in Basis ae
bloom of this locality, but of late great doubts have been en ined of
the correctness of this observation. Professor Boedeker, after having
failed several times in detecting it in that mineral, has found it in the
pseudomalachite of the same locality. It appears to exist in the form of
seleniuret of copper, and amounts to‘about 0°3 per cent. of the mineral.—
(Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie, vol. xciv., p. 356.) .

On the occurrence of Feldspar containing Lithia. By Dr Gustav
JENZSCH.

Dr Jenzsch has analyzed a pale smalt blue feldspar (pegmatolite) from
the neighbourhood of Rodeberg in Saxony, and found it to contain 0°71
per cent. of lithia, with traces of fluorine and boracie acid. It has the
usual orthoclase formula, RO Si O, + R, O, 3Si O,.—( Poggendorf’s An-
nalen, vol. xev., p. 304.)

METEOROLOGY.

The importance of meteorology is particularly recognised by the Smith-
sonian Institution of Washington, U.S. “ There is»no part of phy- ~
sical science in which so much is to be done, even in the way of par-
tial generalization, as in meteorology ; and hence the importance of
engaging as many minds as possible in its investigation. The Institution
distributes full sets of standard instruments made under their directions.
Blank forms are furnished liberally to individuals who may desire to
record the changes of the weather, or the progress of the periodical
phenomena. To render the materials already collected available for
the advancement of science, those already collected are in the progress
of being reduced to tabular forms, and will be published in as much de-
tail as the funds of the Institution will allow. The materials collected
consist of two classes ; viz., one which includes all the records of obser-
vations published in books and periodicals, or contained in. MS. which
have been lent us for reduction. The other class consists of the current
observations, which now embrace all the returns we have received for
several years past.”—(Report Smithsonian Institution for 1853-4.)

MISCELLANEOUS,

Navigation of the Amazon.—The greatest boon in the wide world of
commerce is the free navigation of the Amazon, its confluents and neigh-
bouring streams. The back-bone of South America is in sight of the.
Pacific. The slopes of the continent look east, they are drained into the
Atlantic, and their rich productions in vast variety and profusion ma
be emptied into the commercial lap of that ocean by the most majestic of
water-courses.

The time will come when the free navigation of the Amazon and other
South American rivers will be regarded by the people of this country
(North America) as second only in importance to the acquisition of
Louisiana,

Having traversed that watershed from its highest ridge to its ve
eaves and gutters, I found my thoughts and reflections overwhelmed with
the immensity of this field for enterprise, commercial prosperity and
human happiness.

I can bear witness to the truth of the sentiment that the Valley of the
Amazon, and the Valley of the Mississippi are commercial complements
of each other—one supplying what the other lacks in the great commer-
cialroad. They are sisters which should not be separated.—(R. Herndon,
Expl. of the Valley of the Amazon, p. 193.)

Sa ee rs an OF aes.

( 411 )

INDEX.

Acadian Geology, review of Dawson’s, 380

’ Alge in Van Diemen’s Land, 406

Amazon, Navigation of, 410

Amides of the Fatty Acids, 182

Anderson, Thomas, Decomposition of the Platinum Salts of the Organic Alka-
lies, 184

Anthracite, Fibrous, 142

onan Professor, Flora of the Bass Rock, 198. On Megacarpza polyandra,
2

Bass Rock, Flora of, 198

Beech Oil, 216

Blyth and Harkness, Professors, on the Cleavage of the Devonians of the South-
west of Ireland, 245

British Weeds in Van Diemen’s Land, 407

Calamite, remarks on, 205

Calcareous Zoophytes in the Boulder Clay of Caithness, 194

Calcium, Preparation of, 212

Caoutchouc in South America, 408

Ceylon, Zoology of, 179

Chambers, Robert, on Glacial Phenomena in Peebles and Selkirk Shires, 184

Cheiranthine, 294

Chromium, Preparation of, 212

Cinchonine, Destructive Distillation of, 187

Cinnabar, Manufacture of, at Idria, by M. Huyot, 406

Cleavage of the Devonians of the South-west of Ireland, 245

Cleland, John, on Placentation, 198

Coal-fields of Bengal, Age of, 210

Coal Naphtha, Basic Constituents of, 324

Cobbold, T, Spencer, M.D., Description of a Malformed Trout, 238. On a new
Trematode Worm, 262

by sara fasciolaris, production of, from the Eggs of the Tenia crassicollis,
208.

_

Daubeny, Dr, on the influence of the lower Vegetable Organisms in the pro-
duction of Epidemic Diseases, 88. Appendix to Paper on the influence
of the lower Vegetable Organisms in the production of Epidemic Dis-
eases, 243

Davidson, Robert, on some new Compounds of Furfurine, 284

Davy, John, M.D., remarks on the Climate and Physical Characters of the Lake
District of Westmoreland, 1, Miscellaneous Observations on some Tropi-
cal Plants, 298

. Dawson, William, Acadian Geology, 380

D’Endegeest, Gevers, on the Drainage of the Lake of Haarlem, 309
De Lom, Bertrand, Gems and Fossils in the Haute Loire, 404
Desmidex on West Lomond Hill, Fifeshire, 402

Deville, researches on Silicon and Titanium, 405

Diatomace, new Fresh-water, 183, 200

Diatomacew, value of specific characters in, 200

Diatomaces, subfossil, in Dumfriesshire, 54

Diatomacew, Phytolitharia, and Sponge Spicules, in soils which support Vege-
tation, 399

412 Index.

Dickie, Professor, Effects of the past winter on trees near Belfast, 206
Dingle Promontory, Geology of, 225

Dillwyn and Motley, Natural History of Labuan and Borneo, review of, 395
Direction of the Wind, method of ascertaining, 33

Duvernois, George Louis, Biographical Sketch of, 223

Dyeing properties of Lichens, 57

Earthquake in Turkey, 221 :

Electric Fishes, Natural History of, by Andrew Murray, 35. Supplemental Ob-
servations on, 379

Electricity, review of Experimental Researches in, 176

Energetics, science of, 120

Epidemic Diseases, production of, 88. Appendix to paper on Epidemic Dis-
eases, 243

Euclase, composition of, 217

Faraday, Experimental Researches on Electricity, review of, 176

Fasciola gigantica, 262

Fatty Acids, Amides of, 182

Feldspar containing Lithia, 410

Fleming, Dr, remarks on the Calamite and Sternbergia of the Carboniferous
epoch, 205. On the Coal Plant termed Stigmaria, 189. On Rain-gauges,
195

Flowering of Spring Plants in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden, 199

Footprints, Fossil, in the Sandstone Rocks of Connecticut River, review of, 180

Fossils in the Limestone of Durness, Sutherlandshire, 197

Furfurine, new compounds of, 284

Galletly, John, on a new Glucoside existing in the petals of the Wallflower, 294

Gems and fossils in the Haut Loire, 404

Glacial Phenomena in Peebles and Selkirk Shires, 184

Glucoside in the Wallflower, 294

Goodsir, John, a brief review of the present state of Organic Electricity, 337

Gosse on the systematic position of the Rotifera, 208

Graphite, discovery of, on the Malvern Hills, 209

Gregory, Prof., on new fresh-water Diatomacem, 183, 200. On the presence
of Diatomacee, &c., in soils which support vegetation, 399

Haarlem, Drainage of the Lake of, 309

Harkness, Robert, on a deposit containing subfossil Diatomacee in Dumfries-
shire, 54, On the Geology of the Dingle Promontory, 225

Harkness and Blyth (Profs.), on the Cleavage of the Devonians of the South-west
of Ireland, 245

Heddle, M. Foster, analysis of Morayshire slag, 196

Houzeau, researches on Nascent Oxygen, 211

Huyot, manufacture of Cinnabar at Idria, 406

Hydrology of the British Islands, 192

Jaguar, habits of American, 404

Jamieson, Prof. W., ornithological collections from the Hastern Cordillera of
Ecuador, 114

Jardine, Sir William, contributions to Ornithology, 113. Pichincha, Ornitho-
logy of, 114

Johnston, George, Biographical Sketch of, 332

Kelaart, Zoology of Ceylon, review of, 179

Labuan and Borneo, Natural History of, review of, 395

Lake District of Westmoreland, Climate and Physical Characters of, 1. -

Lawson, George, on the Musci and Desmidee collected on West Lomond Hill,
Fifeshire, 402

Lichens, Dyeing properties of, 57.

Inde«. 413

Lichens, List of Works on the Chemistry of the, 70
Lindsay, W. Lauder, on the Dyeing properties of Lichens, 57
Lithia in Feldspar, 410

Wc Lithium, Preparation of, 213

M‘Nab, James. Flowering of Spring Plants in the Edinburgh Botanic Gar-
den, 199

Madeira, Insects of, 162

' Malapterurus Beninensis, 49. Anatomy of, 195

Malformed Trout, Description of, 238

Malvern Range, Evidences of Downward Movements east of, by W. 8. Sy-
monds, 30

Manganese, Preparation of, 212

Megacarpxa polyandra, 202

Metals produced in Russia during 1852, 218

Metals, Statistics of production of, in 1854, 218

Metals, Oxidizable, prepared by Electrolysis, 212

Meteorology, 410

Meteorological Register at Arbroath, 219

Mineral Charcoal, Composition of, 141

Morlot (A.) on the Post-tertiary and Quaternary Formations of Switzerland, 14

Motley and Dillwyn’s Natural History of Labuan and Borneo, review of, 395

Multiplied Observations, Accuracy obtainable by, 191

Murray, Andrew. Remarks on the Natural History of Electric Fishes, with
the Description of a new species of Malapterurus from the Old Calabar

_ River, 35, Supplemental Observations on Electric Fishes, 379
Musci on West Lomond Hill, Fifeshire, 402
Mustard, Artificial Preparation of Essential Oil of, 406

Napier, James. Observations on the Trap Dykes in the Sea-shore between the
Bays of Brodick and Lamlash, in Arran, 81

Nascent Oxygen, 211

Natural History Review, 179

Nautilus umbilicatus, Organ of hearing in, 209

Navigation of the Amazon, 410

Nematoidea, Development of, 207

Old Stones, by W. 8S. Symonds, review of, 380

Organic Alkalies, Decomposition of the Platinum Salts of, 184
Organic Electricity, present state of, 337

Ornithology, Contributions to, 113

Peach, Charles W. Calcareous Zoophytes in Boulder Clay of Caithness, 194.
Discovery of Fossils in the Limestone of Durness, 197
Peacock, George. Life and Works of Dr Thomas Young, 148
Phyllopod Crustacean, a new, 404
Phosphorite from the Siebengebirge, analysis of, 409
Piassaba fibre, 408
Pigments, two mineral substances employed as, 306
_Placentation, on, 198
Plarality of Worlds, 267
Post-tertiary and Quaternary formations of Switzerland, by A. Morlot, 14

Rain-gauges, remarks on, 195

Rankine, W. J. Macquorn, Outlines of the Science of Energetics, 120

Rhind, William, metallic slag from Morayshire, 192. Hydrology of the British
Islands, 192

Rotifera, systematic position of, 208

Rowney, Thomas H., on the chemical composition of Mineral Charcoal, 141.
Amides of the Fatty Acids, 182. On two mineral substances employed as
Pigments, 306

414 Index.

Sang, Edward, on the Accuracy obtainable by Multiplied Observations, beara

Sarsaparilla, Extract of a Letter on, 408

Schlagintweit on Vegetation above the Snow Line, 213

Selenium in Pseudo-malachite from Reinbreitbach, 410

Silicon, researches on, by M. Deville, ;

Slag, Metallic, from Morayshire, 192, 196 a4

Smyth, Prof. C. Piazzi, on Solar Refraction, 181 ara

Solar Refraction, Experiments to ascertain the amount of, 18

Sternbergia, remarks on the, 205

Stevenson, Thomas, Notice of an accurate and easily applied method of ascer-
taining the Direction of the Wind by observing the Reflected Image of the
Clouds, 33

Stigmaria, remarks on, 189

Svanbergite, 217

Swan, William, on errors caused by the imperfect Inversion of the Magnet in
Observations of Magnetic Declination, 190

Symonds, W. 8., Evidences of Downward Movements east of the Malvern
Range, 30. “Old Stones ” reviewed, 380

Tetragonops ramphastinus, 404
Titanium, Metallic, by M. Deville, 405
Trap Dykesin Arran, 81

Trematode Worm, on a new, 262
Tropical Plants, observations on, 298

Vegetation above the Snow Line, 213
Viola calaminaria, 409

Warren, John C., Fossil Impressions in the Sandstone Rocks of Connecticut
River, 180

Williams, C. Greville, Volatile Bases produced by the Destractina Distilla-
tion of Cinchonine, 187. On some of the Basic Constituents of Coal Naph-
tha, 324

Wilson, Dr George, on the Eye as a Camera Obscura, 181

Winter, Effects of, on Trees near Belfast, 206

Wollaston, T. Vernon, Insecta Maderensia, review of, 162

Young, Dr Thomas, Life and Works of, review of, 148
Zinin, Artificial Preparation of Oil of Mustard, by, 406

END OF VOLUME SECOND——NEW SERIES,

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