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TABLE OF CONTENTS.
NUMBER XLIX.— JANUARY.
Page.
Mr. C. Lyell's Reply to a Note in the Rev. Mr. Conybeare's
Paper entitled " An Examination of those Phaenomena of
Geology, which seem to bear most directly on theoretical
Speculations" 1
Memoir of the late J. S. Miller, A.L.S. Curator of the Museum
of the Bristol Philosophical Institution 4?
Rev. J. Challis on the theoretical Determination of the Motion
of Fluids 7
Mr. N. J. Winch's Remarks on the Geology of the Banks of
the Tweed, from Carham, in Northumberland, to the Sea
Coast at Berwick II
Rev. W. D. Conybeare's Examination of those Phaenomena of
Geology, which seem to bear most directly on theoretical
Speculations (continued) 19
On the New Nautical Almanac 23
On the Visitation of Greenwich Observatory: with a Copy of
the New Warrant 27
Mr. R. Warrington's Examination of a Native Sulphuret of
Bismuth 29
Recent Discovery of the Ladder of M. de Saussure in the Mer
de Glace ; with Inferences respecting the Progressive Move-
ment of Glaciers 32
Mr. R. Bakewell's Facts and Observations relating to the
Theory ofahe progressive Development of Organic Life ... . 33
Proceedings of the Royal Society 37
. Linnaean Society 46
— Geological Society 4-7
Zoological Society 53
Chloroxalic Acid — Potash from Felspar 66
Native Phosphates of Manganese and Iron — On Oxamide, by
M. Dumas 67
On two Kinds of Fulminating Gold, by M. Dumas 69
On the State of Mercury in Mercurial Ointment, by M. Mit-
scherlich 70
Mr. Bennet's New Alloy for the Pivot Holes of Watches —
Earthquakes at the Cape of Good Hope in 1809 71
New Patents 75
Meteorological Observations 78
Meteorological Observations made by Mr. Thompson at the
Garden of the Horticultural Society at Chiswick, near
London ; by Mr. Giddy at Penzance, Dr. Burney at Gosport,
and Mr. Veall at Boston 80
a 2 NUMBER
IV CONTENTS.
Page
NUMBER L.— FEBRUARY.
Prof. Encke on the Construction of the Berlin Astronomical
Ephemeris for 1832 81
Mr. N. J. Winch's Remarks on the Geology of the Banks of
the Tweed, from Carham, in Northumberland, to the Sea
Coast at Berwick 85
Mr.J. W. Lubbock on the Limits upon the Earth's Surface
within which an Occultation of a Star or Planet by the Moon
is visible 90
Tables of the Decimal Parts of a Day and an Hour 92
Mr. R. W. Fox on the alleged Production of Heat in Mines
by the Condensation of the Air which ventilates them ; and
on the Fallacy of other Objections to the Opinion that a
high Temperature exists in the interior of the Globe 94?
Mr. J. W. Lubbock on the Stability of the Solar System .... 99
Rev. T.Moore's Remarks on the Origin of Rock-basins; in
reply to a Paper by Mr. E. W. Brayley, jun 101
Rev. W. D. Conybeare's Examination of those Phenomena of
Geology which seem to bear most directly on theoretical
Speculations (continued) Ill
Mr. S. Sharpe on the tidelike Wave of Lake Ontario 117
Dr. A. Smith's Observations relative to the Origin and History
of the Bushmen (continued) 119
Mr. W. Sturgeon's Account of an Aurora Borealis observed
at Woolwich on the Night of January 7th, 1831 127
New Books: — Mr. De la Beche's Sections and Views illustra-
tive of Geological Phenomena 131
Proceedings of the Royal Society 133
Geological Society 134?
Linnaean Society 138
. Astronomical Society 138
. Zoological Society 14-0
On the Spontaneous Inflammation of Powdered Charcoal 148
On Pure lodic Acid and the Detection of the Vegetable Al-
kalies— Para-Tartaric Acid — On the Chlorides of Iodine
and the Detection of the Vegetable Alkalies 149
Chloride of Gold and Potassium, &c. — Vauquelin's Process for
obtaining Chromium 150
Carburet of Sulphur not decomposed by Electricity — Influ-
ence of the Aurora Borealis on the Magnetic Needle — Ni-
trous Atmosphere of Tirhoot 151
On the Occurrence of Chalk- Flints in Banffshire, by J. Christie,
Esq 152
New Scientific Books— The Comet 154-
Lunar Occultations of Planets and fixed Stars by the Moon,
in February 1831. Computed for Greenwich, by T. Hender-
son, Esq. ; and circulated by the Astronomical Society 156
New Patents 157
Meteorological Observations 158
NUMBER
CONTENTS, V
Page
NUMBER LI.— MARCH.
Dr. E. Turner on the Volatility of Oxalic Acid 161
Mr. B. Bevan on the relative Hardness of Road Materials 164
Mr. T. Batchelor's Observations on a Species of Muscae Voli-
tantes apparently existing in theAqueous Humour of the Eye 165
Mr. C. Rumker on Mr. Witchell's Method of clearing a Lunar
Distance 1 68
Mr. W. J. Henwood's Facts bearing on the Theory of the
Formation of Springs, and their Intensity at various Periods
of the Year 170
Prof. Encke on the Calculation of the Orbits of Double Stars 178
Mr. A. H. Haworth's Botanical Description of Hermione
Cypri > 183
Mr. J . Ivory on an Omission in Clairaut's Theory of the Equi-
librium of a homogeneous Fluid; in some Remarks on the
56th Article of the " Bulletin des Sciences Mathematiques"
for August 1830 185
Rev. W. D. Conybeare's Examination of those Phenomena of
Geology which seem to bear most directly on theoretical
Speculations (continued) 188
Dr. A. Smith's Observations relative to the Origin and History
of the Bushmen (continued) 197
Mr. D. Gilbert's Statement respecting the Legacy left by the
late Earl of Bridge water, for rewarding the Authors of
Works, to be published in pursuance of his Will, and de-
monstrative of the Divine Attributes, as manifested in the
Creation 200
New Books : — Six Maps of the Stars: published under the
Superintendence of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful
Knowledge r. 202
Proceedings of the Royal Society 206
Linnaean Society 210
Geological Society 21 1
Astronomical Society 220
Zoological Society 222
Parhelia, &c. lately seen at Bedford '..'.".' 232
Aurora Borealis of the 7th of January 233
A Mode of ascertaining the Value of Manganese Ores 235
Electro-chemical Decomposition of the Vegeto-alkaline Salts 237
Lunar Occultations of Planets and fixed Stars by the Moon,
in March 183L Computed for Greenwich, by T. Henderson,
Esq. ; and circulated by the Astronomical Society — Meteo-
rological Observations 238
NUMBER LIL- APRIL.
Mr. F. Baily on the Computation of the Moon's Motion in
Right Ascension 241
Errata
yi CONTENTS.
Page
Errata in Weisse's Planetary Tables 245
Mr. C. Gill on the Rectification of Curves 250
Mr. J. Gordon's Remarks on the Demonstrations of the
Theorems of Lagrange and Laplace for the Expansion of
Functions, given by Dr. Lardner and M. Lacroix ; with a
Demonstration of those Theorems 253
Rev. W. D. Conybeare's Examination of those Phaenomena of
Geology, which seem to bear most directly on theoretical
Speculations 258
Mr. S. Sharpe on the Reduction to the Meridian 270
Anniversary Proceedings of the Geological Society 271
Mr. B. Bevan on the Hardness of Copper Slag as a Material
for Roads 317
Lectures on Geology — New Scientific Books — Lunar Occulta-
tions of Planets and fixed Stars by the Moon, in April 1831.
Computed for Greenwich, by T. Henderson, Esq. ; and
circulated by the Astronomical Society — Meteorological
Observations . . 318
NUMBER LIII.— MAY.
On the Impediments to the Study of Natural History; illus-
trated by a Reference to certain technical and incidental
Obscurities, in the Arrangement of the Diurnal Family of
Lepidopterous Insects by various celebrated Naturalists . . . 321
On the recent Change of Form of the Summit of Mont Blanc 328
Mr. J. Bryce's Notice of the Discovery of the Plesiosaurus in
Ireland 331
Mr. J. W. Lubbock on the Tides on the Coast of Great Britain 333
Mr. W. Galbraith on the Reduction of the North Polar Di-
stances of Stars observed at Greenwich, and corrected by
Bradley's Refractions, to Distances according with Ivory's
Refractions 335
On the Effect of a Change of Polar Distance on the Reduction
to the Meridian of a Zenith Distance observed out of the
Meridian 338
Dr. A. Smith's Observations relative to the Origin and History
of the Bushmen (continued) , . . . 339
New Books : — Phillips's Illustrations of the Geology of
Yorkshire 342
Proceedings of the Royal Society 354
Astronomical Society 361
• • Linnaean Society 364
• Zoological Society 366
- Geological Society 376
at the Friday- Evening Meetings of the Royal In-
stitution of Great Britain 380
Proceedings
CONTENTS. vii
Page
Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society 382
Fall of the Broughton Suspension Bridge, near Manchester . . 384
University of Cambridge 389
Manganese in Human Blood— On Sulfo-Sinapisine, originally
termed Sulfo-Sinapic Acid 390
Emission of Light during the Compression of Gases 391
Action of Chloride of Bromine upon Water and ^Ether — Cry-
stallization of Bismuth 392
Reaction of Persalts of Iron and Carbonates — Inflammation of
Phosphorus by Charcoal — Observations on Aurora? Boreales
witnessed at Bedford, at various times, from April 19, 1830,
to January 11, 1831, by W. H.White, H.M.C.S 393
Rev. W. D. Conybeare's Preliminary Addresses to the Course
of Lectures on Theology, delivered at the Collegiate Insti-
tution of Bristol— Dr. Webster's Dictionary 396
Lunar Rainbows — Lunar Occultations of Planets and fixed
Stars by the Moon, in May 1831. Computed for Greenwich,
by T. Henderson, Esq. ; and circulated by the Astrono-
mical Society 397
Meteorological Observations 398
NUMBER LIV.— JUNE.
Dr. J. Apjohn on a Combination of Bicyanide of Mercury and
Iodide of Potassium 401
J. E. B. on Mr. Lindley's Statement respecting the Investiga-
tion of the Structure of the Orchidece 403
Prof. Encke on the Calculation of the Orbits of Double Stars 405
Mr. Brayley, Jun., on the Odour exhaled from certain Organic
Remains in the Diluvium of the Arctic Circle, as confirma-
tory of Dr. Buckland's Opinion of a sudden Change of Cli-
mate at the Period of Destruction of the Animals to which
they belonged; and on the Probability that one of the Fossil
Bones brought from Eschscholtz Bay, by Captain Beechey,
belonged to a Species of Megatherium 411
Dr. A. Smith's Observations relative to the Origin and History
of the Bushmen 419
Mr. J. Nixon's Theory of the Telescopic Level 423
Ne w Books :— Phillips's Illustrations of the Geology of Yorkshire 430
Proceedings of the Royal Society 441
»• Geological Society 445
Zoological Society 449
Linnaean Society 461
at the Friday- Evening Meetings of the Royal
Institution of Great Britain 461
Cambridge Philosophical Society 462
Mr. Galbraith on an Omission in his Paper on North Polar
Distances . . .463
viii CONTENTS.
Pago
Lunar Occultations of Planets and fixed Stars by the Moon, in
June 1831. Computed for Greenwich, by T. Henderson,
Esq. ; and circulated by the Astronomical Society 464?
Meteorological Observations 464?
Index . 468
PLATE.
I. A Map illustrative of Mr. LUBBOCK'S Paper on the Tides on the Coast
of Great Britain.
ERRATA.
Page 220, line 11 & 12, omit the sentence " and the scene of the fabulous
adventures of Robinson Crusoe."
Page 220, line 20, for " metastique [?]>" read " chaux carbonates metas-
Page 331, line 14, for Sarne read Lame.
Page 332, line 30, for Sarne read Larne.
Page 332, line 31, for William Terarent, Esq. read William Tennent, Esq.
THE
PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE
AND
ANNALS OF PHILOSOPHY.
[NEW SERIES.]
JANUAR Y 1831
I. Reply to a Note in the Rev. Mr. Conybeare's Paper entitled
"An Examination of those Phenomena of Geology, which
seem to bear most directly on theoretical Speculations." By
C. LYELL, Esq. F.R.S. For. Sec. G.S. Sfc.
To the Editors of the Philosophical Magazine and Annals.
Gentlemen,
T OBSERVE in the first page of your last Number (De-
"• cember 1830) the following passage, in a paper by my
friend the Rev. W. D. Conybeare : " While on classical sub-
jects, I would just' remark how much I am gratified by finding
every quotation in Mr. LyelPs able remarks on the attention
of the ancients to geology, identical with those previously
given in my own Outlines, with the single exception of the
passage from Strabo, to which, however, I have given a re-
ference although certainly partial and imperfect : as there is
not a word of acknowledgement, of course this coincidence is
accidental." — Surprised at this unexpected charge, I imme-
diately compared the second chapter of my " Principles of
Geology" with those two pages of the introduction to the
" Outlines," (pp. 38, 39,) which comprise the whole of Mr.
Conybeare's allusions to the geological doctrines to be met
with in the writings of classical antiquity. The authors cited
in those pages are Aristotle, Lucretius, Seneca, Plutarch,
Pliny, Herodotus, Polybius, Strabo, Pausanias, Xenophon, *
Theophrastus, and Ovid. Of these twelve, five only are to
be found among the classical authorities adverted to by me ;
viz. Aristotle, Seneca, Pliny, Strabo, and Ovid. The passages
N.S. Vol.9. No. 49. Jan. 1831. B which
2 Mr. Lyell's Reply to the Rev. Mr. Conybeare
which I have cited from Aristotle and Seneca relating to the
supposed periodical revolutions of the globe, had been pre-
viously collected and commented upon in Dr. Prichard's
" Egyptian Mythology," a work to which I have been careful
to refer in no less than four places in my second chapter, and
to which Mr. Conybeare has also acknowledged his obliga-
tions in his Introduction (p. 39). In regard to other citations
from Aristotle's Meteorics, besides that they must be familiar
to all who are at once scholars and naturalists, Mr. Conybeare
can hardly be ignorant that they have been referred to again
and again, not only in the works of the early Italian writers
on geology, but also by Hooke, Ray, and Biirnet *, the last-
mentioned of whom has given a translation of the passage in the
Meteorics, lib. 1. 14. to which Dr. Prichard and Mr. Cony-
beare refer. An enumeration of all the passages in Pliny re-
lating to the birth of new islands and analogous subjects is to
be found in Raspe's workf; but even Raspe lies open to an ac-
cusation from Mr. Conybeare of having copied his citations
from previous writers, and among others from Hooke. The
last-named philosopher has called attention to the same no-
tices by Pliny on the formation of new lands by river-alluvions,
to which Mr. Conybeare refers J. The learned mathematician
has moreover enlarged §, as well as Whiston || after him, on
" the burying of Typhceus under Etna," and other mytho-
logical stories of the gigantomachia ; and passages on this
subject from Pindar, Sophocles, Plutarch, Apollodorus, Vir-
gil, Ovid, Lucan, and several others, are quoted by these
writers, many of which allusions have been revived by some
of the learned of our days, and perhaps regarded by them in
the light of original discoveries in the mines of classic lo're.
The only passage in Strabo mentioned in the " Outlines,"
is one not alluded to by me, but which had been already given
at full length by Raspe more than sixty years before, in his
copious extracts from the writings of the ancients on volcanic
phaenomena ; but I have looked in vain for that " partial and
imperfect reference" which Mr. Conybeare says may be traced
in his own two pages to that doctrine of Strabo respecting ele-
vation by earthquakes, of which I have endeavoured to point
out the importance.
Is it then the trite quotation from the Metamorphoses of
Ovid which has laid me open to so sweeping a charge of pla-
* Sacred Theory of the Earth, vol. i. p. 214.
t De Novii Insults, 1763.
Hooke's Discourse of Earthquakes : Posthumous Works, p. 299.
Ibid. p. 323.
New Theory of the Earth, &c. p. 201.
giarism ?
respecting certain Quotations from Classical Authorities. 3
giarism ? I should have owed an apology to my readers for
pretending to recall to their minds that celebrated passage
so hackneyed by repeated references in the works of Fabio
Colonna, Hooke, Moro, Generelli, Ray, Vallisneri, Fortis,
and others, had not all those writers in common with Mr. Cony-
beare neglected to give a full and connected view of the Pytha-
gorean system as developed in the memorable verses of the
Roman poet.
I have scrupulously stated, in my "jPrinciples of Geology*,"
Hooke's acquaintance with the learned Italian writers who
preceded him, as well as his allusion to Strabo and other
classical authoritiesf ; and I have not been silent respecting
the erudition of Moro:f, and several of his successors. The
notions of Theophrastus respecting fossils are discussed by
Fabio Colonna j, and alluded to by Scilla||; and the various
references to Plutarch and Lucretius in the treatises of the
early geologists are known to those who are versed in the
history of the science. No less rich are the various writings
of Fortis in classical citations bearing on geology. Mr. Cony-
beare is surely aware that his predecessors had left no field
open wherein geologists of his day might display their scho-
larship, unless they availed themselves of a more enlarged ac-
quaintance with natural phenomena to form a juster estimate
of the relative value of facts and theories recorded by the an-
cients. The estimate of their importance given by me in the
" Principles of Geology" is somewhat different from that to
which Mr. Conybeare inclines ; for I have been disposed to
refer to .observation and inductive reasoning the origin of
those crude speculations which in the " Outlines " are attri-
buted " to principles assumed on the high priori road."
Your readers will, perhaps, think that these rival claims to
priority to half a dozen classical common-places are unworthy
of the cultivators of a science which more than any other is
marked by the daily discovery of grand and unexpected truths
in physical science, especially as the initiator of this discussion
ranks high as an original observer : but I feel that I should
presume too much on the acquaintance of the public with my
work, and regard too little the weight of an assertion made by
Mr. Conybeare, if I allowed the statement in his note to pass
without observation.
2, Raymond Buildings, Gray's Inn,
Dec. 5th, 1830.
* Principles of Geology, p. 32. f Ibid. p. 34. t Ibid. p. 42.
§ De Glossopelris, Sfc. || DC Corpor'ibus Marims,p. 41.
B2 II. Memoir
[ * ]
II. Memoir of the late J. S. Miller, A.L.S. Curator of the Museum
oftheBristol Philosophical Institution. By A Co R RESPON DENT.
]V1 R. J. S. MILLER was a native of Dantzig, the only son
•*-*-*• of truly respectable parents. He was designed by his
father for commercial pursuits, and served an apprenticeship
with M. Bennies, a merchant of his native town. He came
to England in 1801, with a full resolution of proceeding to
America, and with letters of recommendation to persons in
that country. The vessel in which he expected to cross the
Atlantic had sailed on the day before his arrival; and being
thus detained in Bristol, he formed connections by which he
was finally induced to alter his purpose and to fix his abode
in this city. Here he endeavoured to establish himself in
mercantile business, but his efforts were unsuccessful ; and it
happened, unfortunately for his prospects in life, that Dantzig
was at this period overrun and pillaged by the French. His
father's property shared the common fate; and of fifteen hun-
dred pounds which had been left to Mr. Miller, nothing ever
came into his possession except a box of valuable coins, which
was concealed during two years in a church, and a very in-
considerable sum of money. He now devoted himself en-
tirely to scientific pursuits, for which he had shown a strong
inclination from his early youth, and he soon acquired very ex-
tensive information in various branches of natural history.
Some curious researches in entomology introduced him at an
early period to the acquaintance of Dr. Leach, and this was
the first occasion on which his talents became known beyond
the circle of his personal friends. The prospect of succeeding
Dr. Leach at the British Museum opened a new field to his
mind ; and although he was frustrated in this expectation by
the appointment of Mr. Children, he applied himself from this
time with increased energy to his researches in natural history.
An investigation of the structure and nature of the organic
remains of the Encnnus, for which the vicinity of Bristol af-
fords so remarkable a field, now became his favourite pursuit.
It was while he was engaged in the publication of his well-
known work on the Crinoidea, that he became known to the
Rev. W. D. Conybeare, by whom his merit was soon distin-
guished and very highly appreciated. As the work was going
through the press. Sir. Conybeare kindly undertook to revise
it, and, by correcting the peculiarities of a foreign idiom*, to
* This, however, was strictly confined'to the correction of such idiomatic
inaccuracies as might have obscured the sense to an English reader; in
all other cases it was considered in every respect desirable scrupulously to
preserve unaltered the author's own expressions. — W. D. C. j
render
Memoir of the late J. S. Miller, A.L.S. 5
render it more acceptable to the public than it might otherwise
have been. In this publication Mr. Miller had to surmount
many difficulties; and although it became the means of spread-
ing universally his reputation as a profound and accurate na-
turalist, it was to him a source not only of present expense, but
of ultimate pecuniary loss. This may be attributed in part to
his great liberality of disposition. I am informed that he
gave away not less than a hundred copies of his work, princi-
pally to individuals whom he supposed unable to purchase it.
His pen was always ready and his services energetic in any
scientific undertaking in which they were requested, as the
many letters of thanks and works presented to him in conse-
quence of such assistance will sufficiently testify. Notwithstand-
ing the difficulties he experienced at nis first publication, he
was not discouraged. He contemplated and had arranged in
his mind the materials for a second work on Fossilized Corals,
and likewise an Appendix to that on the Crino'idea. There
was scarcely a department of natural history to which he had
not directed his mind with zealous and intense application ;
and there is no doubt that he would have achieved more,
as an original discoverer, than he has actually performed, if
his time and exertions had not been engrossed, during the last
years of his life, by his occupations in the Museum of the
Philosophical Institution of Bristol, of which he was the
Curator from the period of its establishment.
Mr. Miller's constitution of body, though not robust, was
healthy, and during a period of twenty-seven years he had
never a day of severe indisposition. His cheerfulness and tem-
perance were remarkable. The unceasing activity of his mind
was apparently too great for the physical energy of his body ;
and the confinement to which he was of necessity subjected,
in consequence of his appointment in the Institution, probably
contributed to undermine his health, which began to give way
about three years before his death. He was married in the
year 1806, and has left a widow and three sons.
As a naturalist, Mr. Miller was well fitted by the habits of
his mind to cooperate in the researches of an age, of which
it is the peculiar merit to obviate the reproaches once, per-
haps, justly cast, against mere systems of classification, and
to found such arrangements upon the just and philosophical
grounds afforded by the exact determinations of science, and
the general principles of physiology and comparative ana-
tomy. The labours of Baron Cuvier may be cited as the
great model in this line ; but among those who in this country
have followed the same course, the subject of the present me-
moir assuredly deserves very favourable mention. To an acute-
ness
6 Memoir of the late J. S. Miller, A.L.S.
ness of mind which readily seized on general relations, he
joined the most indefatigable patience ot laborious investiga-
tion,— a quality particularly requisite in the branch to which
he especially directed his attention ; viz. the elucidation of the
history of the organic remains which are preserved in our
strata in a fossilized state. In this state individual specimens
generally occur in a more or less imperfect condition, so that
the real type of the organization can seldom be ascertained
without the most careful comparison of many particular re-
lics. They are likewise in many instances so imbedded in
the solid rock, that the most essential parts are concealed, and
cannot be detected without the nicest dexterity of manual
operation. When these circumstances are taken into the
account, we may fairly appreciate the labour and talent ne-
cessary to produce such a work as Mr. Miller's account of
the fossil Crinoidea. This family of organic bodies, from the
delicate beauty and interesting character of many of its spe-
cimens, had long excited the attention of naturalists ; but still
our whole knowledge on the subject, previously to the ap-
pearance of Mr. Miller's work, was in the highest degree
vague and indeterminate. His researches, however, have
established in the most complete manner, and have placed
in every respect in the fullest and clearest light, the whole
history and relations of this curious family. He has de-
monstrated its arrangement into four divisions, including nine
genera, and more than twenty species. Of each species he
has developed the whole anatomy with the same exactness
as if they had been recent objects easily preserved, overcom-
ing the many and great obstacles which, as it has been al-
ready noticed, the fossilized state presents to such inquiries.
Persons who are at all aware of the complicated structure of
the Crinoidea^ and the numerous articulations which enter into
the composition of each individual, must feel all the arduous-
ness of such a task ; but those only can fully appreciate the
extreme care with which it has been performed, who have had
an opportunity of examining Mr. Miller's collection of ori-
final specimens now deposited in the Museum of the Bristol
nstitution, and of comparing these with the illustrations
published in his work.
The great merit of this treatise secured its immediate re-
ception as the standard work on the subject, by all the scien-
tific writers interested in similar pursuits on the continent as
well as in this country ; and reference is now uniformly made
to it as such. The author had intended to follow up this
work, as before mentioned, by a similar examination of our
Coralline remains ; but it is feared that he has left no papers
on
Rev, J. Challis on the Motion of Fluids. 7
on this branch at all prepared for publication. A paper of
his, published in the Transactions of the Geological Society,
contains very valuable contributions towards the history of
our fossil Belemnites, and has been most favourably referred
to by the French author who has subsequently published the
standard monography of that department.
Mr. Miller's talents have been highly estimated by the
ablest of our naturalists and geological writers. Professor
Blumenbach, Baron Cuvier, MM. Latreille and D'Aubigne,
have expressed in letters to him high commendation of his
works. Professor Buckland obtained his assistance in ar-
ranging the valuable collection of organic remains belonging
to the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. The same Professor,
in his very interesting paper 'on the recent discovery in this
country of fossil remains belonging to the flying reptile the
Pterodactylus, mentions that Mr. Miller first suggested to him
the possibility, thus confirmed, that the fossil bones commonly
supposed to belong to birds really appertained to that animal.
And Mr. Conybeare, while drawing up the lists of the organic
remains in our strata, which are given in his " Outlines," was in
the common habit of appealing to Mr. Miller's authority.
In surveying the results of Mr. Miller's scientific acquire-
ments and of his exertions, we must not forget the important
benefits rendered by him to the Museum of the Institution of
which he was Curator. It may safely be affirmed, that the
history of similar collections does not present another instance
in which so rapid a progress has been made in accumulating
the varied stores connected with such undertakings ; and the
rapidity of this progress must undoubtedly be ascribed in a
great measure to the energy and zeal of the Curator in the
service, and to the interest which he so well knew how to
communicate to those with whom he came into intercourse.
III. On the theoretical Determination of the Motion of Fluids.
By the Rev. J. CHALLIS, Fellow of Trinity College, Cam-
bridge, and of the Camb. Phil. Soc.*
CUPPOSE x,y, z, to be the coordinates of any particle of
^ a fluid mass in motion, at a given time /, and 21, v, w, the
velocities of the particle in the directions of the axes of x,y, z,
respectively, at that time. The general investigation of the
motion of fluids conducts to a case of very extensive applica-
tion, in which udx + vdy + wdz is a complete differential of
a function of x,y, z, which may also contain t. In a commu-
* Communicated by the Author.
nication
8 Rev. J. Challis on the theoretical Determination
nication to the Phil. Mag. and Annals of Philosophy for
August 1829, which contained several inaccuracies, I made
an assertion respecting this case of fluid motion, the correct-
ness of which subsequent consideration has only tended to con-
firm ; viz. that when udx + vdy + w d z is an exact differential,
the whole motion is such that the motion of each elementary
portion of the fluid is directed to a fixed or moveable centre.
The course of the reasoning by which this proposition may
be established is I conceive such as follows. We know from
the theory of partial differential equations, that their integrals,
whether we can obtain them exactly or not, must contain arbi-
trary functions. The arbitrariness of which we are informed
by pure analysis, has a signification in the applications of the
functions to physical questions. Thus the existence of arbitrary
functions in the integrals of the equations which determine the
motion of fluids, is the proper proof that we can give to the
fluid any motion we please ; and this is an evident consequence
of one of the fundamental principles in the investigation of
the motion, — the perfect mobility of the particles. The forms
of the functions depend on the particular motion we choose to
give to the fluid by vessels, pipes, or other means. But how-
ever irregular we may cause the motion to be, it may still be
conceived to be composed of elementary motions, which obey
the law of continuity, independently of our will, just as a line,
however broken and irregular, may be conceived to be made
up of elementary portions which are straight lines. Absolute
discontinuity is inconceivable. The law of these motions will
be independent of time and position, and dependent only on
the nature of the fluid. Hence, to learn whether the motion
be really so composed, it will be necessary, after having ob-
tained the complete integral of the equation expressing the
continuity of the fluid, to ascertain whether the arbitrary func-
tions which the integral contains, can be shown to have a
particular form, when discussed on the supposition that the
origins of the time and coordinates are not fixed. This will
in general require the solution of a functional equation. An
instance of this reasoning was given in the communication
above mentioned, for the case in which the motion is in space
of two dimensions. From the complete integral of — ^- -f —
ds? dy*
— 0, a particular form of the arbitrary functions was obtained,
which indicated that the velocity was directed to a centre and
varied inversely as the distance from the centre. I have since
found that the complete integral of -~- + ~- + -~f = 0,
which M. Poisson has expressed by definite integrals (Mem. de
VAcad.
of the Motion of Fluids. 9
r Acad. des Scien. Ann. 1818), also conducts to a particular
form of the arbitrary functions, when treated according to the
same principles : and from the discussion it appears that
9 is known not to be a complete dif-
ferential of a function of x,y,z9 confirm the view here taken.
When a mass of incompressible fluid revolves uniformly, with-
out changing form, about a fixed axis, d
to be
N. S. Vol. 9. No. 49. Jan. 1831. C a function
10 Rev. J. Challis on the Motion of Fluids.
a function of r and t, is p = — ^- -f /(£), and the velocity
From what has been said, these ex-
or r
pressions for
is an exact differential. But in ge-
neral F (t) and f (t) can be considered constant at a given
time only for values of r restricted within limits indefinitely
near each other. Let r' be a value indefinitely near to r.
Then*'-? = F (t) (± - - -1)= -*&.p-f) = • (,<-r).
Here ?J— r may be considered the increment ds of a line s9
drawn continually in the direction of the motions of the par-
ticles through which it passes. Hence d$ = ads; and
p =fa> ds -f x (0> tne integral being taken in regard to an
arbitrary portion of the line 5. The two expressions for <$>
thus obtained, have a relation to each other, analogous to that
between the two expressions which the general and the par-
ticular solutions of a differential equation of the first order
give for the same variable. By equating these values of f,
But in the example before us, if y = the distance of any
point from the axis, r, being the length of the portion of a
tangent to s intercepted between the point and the axis, will
be y -—-. Therefore,
or' , 'V = ./•*• + *co
Hence -r =fwds + x (0 ~/(0 5 and .'. o» = —
y y **o >
Now the particles in contact with the surface of the cone
must move in straight lines directed to its vertex : and if 2a
= its vertical angle, - = sin «. Hence to = — ^-^ that
j'
is, the velocity varies inversely as the square of j/, and conse-
quently inversely as the square of the distance from the vertex.
Therefore if we conceive a conical surface to have the same
vertex and axis as that which contains the fluid, and to have
a vertical angle, less by an indefinitely small angle than Vot,
the fluid contiguous to the containing surface will move as if
included
Mr. Winch on the Geology of the Banks of the Tweed. 11
included between the two surfaces. Similar reasoning may be
applied to the fluid contiguous to this new containing surface,
and so on throughout the whole of the mass. From this we
infer that the motion is at every point directed to the vertex
of the given cone. Also, let V = the velocity of the vertical
descent of the horizontal surface, and h its distance from the
vertex of the cone, and let us consider a point on this surface,
at which the direction of the velocity makes an angle & with
the axis. The velocity at this point = V sec 0 and V sec $
c dy csin^ TT h? V sin 6 m,
= - • = ~ Hence ~c = ---- There-
f V sin2 6 h* T/,
fore in general co = -^7- . — • If § = the distance of any
point from the vertex g sin 6 = y, and
V h* 1
cos 6 ' £ cos* 6 '
As the vertical velocity M cos 0 varies as CQS ^ g, it is the
same at all points of a plane perpendicular to the axis. Hence
the fluid descends in parallel slices ; that is, a portion which
at any instant is included between horizontal planes will al-
ways be included between horizontal planes.
Trin. Coll. Camb. Nov. 13, 1830.
IV. Remarks on the Geology of the Banks of the Tweed, from
Carham, in Northumberland, to the Sea Coast at Berwick.
By N. J. WINCH, Esq. Secretary of the Natural History
Society of Newcastle-upon- Tyne*.
fT1HE rocky strata which border the Tweed from Carham
••• Bourn, where the river begins to form the boundary be-
tween Northumberland and Scotland, to the sea shore at Ber-
wick, appearing to be associated in a manner so different from
the order generally considered by geologists as the natural
arrangement, will oblige me to abstain from theory altogether
in the following remarks. It is, therefore, my intention to lay
before the Society merely a series of notes lately made during
an examination of the north-eastern termination of our district,
accompanied by specimens which will serve to assist in verifying
the correctness of the observations. A superficial view of the
banks of this beautiful river presents a succession of eminences,
I can scarcely call them hills, chiefly composed of diluvium, con-
* Read before the Natural History Society of Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
on the 20th of July last ; and now reprinted from the Transactions of that
Society.
C 2 taining
12 Mr. Winch on the Geology of the Banks of the Tweed.
taining numerous basaltic boulders, water-worn, as usual.
This soil is red ; but colour does not always indicate the na-
ture of the rocks below, for a red soil also covers the por-
phyries and sienites of the north of England and the south of
Scotland. By a cut on the side of the road immediately be-
yond Coldstream Bridge, the incumbent mass of loose earth
is shown to be not less than fifty feet thick, at that spot, from
the top of the bank to the road, and for fifty feet more, to the
brink of the stream, no rock is seen to crop out from under
the debris ; and subsequent remarks led me to think that this
part of the country was generally clothed by a diluvial soil of
considerable thickness. To avoid repetition, it may not be
amiss to enumerate the rocks which are the subject of these
notes. Excluding basalt, they are all stratified, and, with few
exceptions, dip towards the southward of east, but at very
different angles, some beds rather exceeding than falling short
of 4>6°. The suite comprises dolomite, indurated marl, and
limestone containing gypsum, red and variegated sandstone,
with nodules of red ochre, bituminous shales and sandstones,
\vith vegetable remains, encrinal limestone, also with vegetable
exuviae, shale, with bivalve shells, and numerous beds of coal ;
the whole series appearing to rest upon transition rocks,
which, to the north-west and south-west form the Lammer
Muir and Cheviot range of mountains.
At the distance of sixteen miles, in a direct line from the
sea, and in the vicinity of Carham, a small burn enters the
Tweed on its south side, dividing Northumberland from Rox-
burghshire. Here a bed of close-grained iron-gray basalt
occupies the bed of the river for a considerable distance, and
near Carham Church rocks of pale-brown dolomite may be
seen on its banks. This limestone seems to be superior to
the basalt, and is heaped together in irregular masses, but that
these are a part of a regular stratum is evident, for at Had-
don Rigs, a mile south from this place, the stone is quarried
to the depth often feet for agricultural purposes, though, from
the veins of reddish-brown chert which pervade it, the produce
of pure lime is much diminished. Besides chert, calcareous
spar occurs in the rock, which, at the quarry just noticed, is
about ten feet thick, with a covering of ten feet of soil. The
next point where rocks are exposed to view is on the north
side of the river ; at the foot of Spring Hill, about a mile west
of Birgham. Here numerous thin strata of soft arenaceous
limestone, of an ash colour, interstratified with greenish-gray
indurated slaty marl, mixed with sand and mica, form cliffs
of nearly sixty feet high, and the river flows over strata of the
same description. Jn this limestone, veins of flesh-coloured
compact
Mr. Winch on the Geology of the Banks of the Tweed. 13
compact gypsum* and nodules with crystals of brownish-red
selenite are tolerably abundant. The rocks lie very regular,
and dip, at a trifling angle, to the south-east. The relation
they bear to the red and variegated sandstones will be noticed
when the strata situated lower down the Tweed come under
consideration.
In the bed of the rivulet called Firebourn, a slip or dyke is
worthy of notice ; in the language of miners, it casts up to
the east, and the thin strata of limestone and indurated marl,
before mentioned, may be seen in the water-course, dipping
at an angle of 40° in that direction. On the banks of the
river, at a trifling distance lower down, another slip divides
the rocks, and brings two beds of micaceous sandstone into
contact with the calcareous series ; the upper of these sand-
stone beds is slightly tinged red, owing to its mica being
oxidated, but the lower is of a pale yellowish-brown colour,
and ambiguous character, rather resembling a coal sandstone;
their aggregate thickness, with a thin micaceous parting, is
fourteen feet. Half a mile below Firebourn there is a ford
across the Tweed, noted in Border History ; its direction is
south-east, and may have been occasioned by the dyke. On
the south side of the river the ruins of Wark Castle stand on
an eminence sixty feet high, composed of calcareous strata,
similar in every respect to those at Spring Hill, but their dip
is in an opposite direction. These impure limestones seldom
exceed a foot in thickness, and gypsum is interspersed through
them. At about a hundred yards west of the Castle, rocks of
dolomite again crop out on the banks of the river, but to the
eastward this peculiar mineral was no more to be seen ; nor
could I thoroughly satisfy myself as to its geological position,
though I have every reason to believe that it rests upon the
basalt, and suspect this rock belongs to the same bed as oc-
cupies the north shore of the Tweed at Carham, and is here
again brought to the surface by the Firebourn Dyke.
Again, passing to the north side of the Tweed, near the
Temple at the Lees, eight alternations of the same calcareous
beds as form the cliffs at Spring Hill and Wark, (except that
the lower stratum of limestone contains very minute bivalve
shells filled with calcareous spar,) occupy the bank and the
bottom of the river; their thickness above ground is about
ten feet, and their dip towards the north-west. No strata of
this description were again noticed for nearly six miles, and
* Gypsum is also found at Fluers, some miles higher up the Tweed, on
its north bank, and has been found by the Rev. A. Baird, on the banks of
the Whiteadder, near Hutton Hall.— Geological Essay on Berwickshire,
in the Preface of Johnston's Flora of Berwick, p. xxi.
when
14 Mr. Winch on the Geology of the Banks of the Tweed.
when again seen, were found associated with red sandstone, in
the vicinity of Nor ham.
The town of Coldstream stands on what are usually called
coal-measures, comprising sandstones and bituminous shales,
exactly the same as those of the Newcastle coal-field, and
wherever diluvium does not form the shores of the river, these
may be traced for the distance of two miles and a half. The
little river Leat, which here empties itself into the Tweed,
passes through Mill Haugh, where the late Lord Home bored
for coal, but to what depth I could not ascertain. An exten-
sive free-stone quarry is worked in this field to the depth of
thirty feet; the upper and middle beds are white micaceous
sandstone, fine-grained, and full of coal pipes, the lower is
free from these vegetable exuviae*. A strong chalybeate
spring rises to the day, and runs into the Leat at a short di-
stance from the quarry. Both above and below Coldstream
Bridge the Tweed flows over these coal measures, which dip,
at a trifling angle, to the south-east, and the rocks on the south
side having been cut through, micaceous sandstone, alterna-
ting with bituminous shale, and covered with a bank of red
earth, are laid open to view, and beds of the same nature may
be noticed half a mile lower down the stream. But the cliff
at Lennel Braes, on the north side, two miles to the eastward,
exhibits the most perfect section of this suite of strata to be
met with in the vicinity. At the Braes the perpendicular cliff
extends for more than a hundred yards, and was estimated by
me at forty feet in height, exclusive of its diluvial covering,
but the correct section, published in Mr. Witham's pamphlet
On the Vegetable Fossils found there, makes its elevation
forty-four feetf. The uppermost bed is sandstone, which is
succeeded by four others, alternating with slaty sandstones, or
coal metals and shales inclosing balls of clay iron-stone. Their
dip is north-east, and the rocks on the south side of the river
appear to resemble them. The petrified trunks of trees are
irregularly dispersed through the lower bed of shale, and are
both of the monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous classes of
vegetables ; but for an accurate description of these interesting
fossils the pamphlet before mentioned must be referred to.
At no great distance east of this escarpment a quarry has
been opened on the side of the bank to the depth of twenty
* Sandstones, bearing strong indications of being associated with beds of
coal, are quarried at Sprouston, in Roxburghshire ; for an account of which
see Mr.Buddle's pamphlet " On the search for Coal in a Part of the Counties
of Roxburgh and Berwick, in 1806," pp. 10, 11. These sandstones are
very hard, and filled with coal pipes.
f Mr. Witham's paper will be found in the Phil, Mag. and Annals, N.S.
vol. viii. p. 16. — EDIT.
feet,
Mr. Winch on the Geology of the Banks of the Tweed. 15
feet, and is situated more than twenty feet above the river.
The stone here has a slight tinge of red, similar to the stra-
tum in the upper part of the cliff at Firebourn, which abuts
against the calcareous beds. It dips to the southward, and is
divided by thin slaty micaceous partings, and capped by about
ten feet of loose sand, the abode of flights of sand-martins.
On the north side of the Tweed, at the distance of a mile
above Twizell Ferry, rocks of well-defined red sandstone make
their appearance. It is fine-grained in texture, of a dark red-
dish-brown colour, and abounds with spangles of silvery mica.
The cliff is of considerable elevation, and from hence to the
sea coast, thick beds of red and variegated sandstone, at some
places covered by the thin calcareous strata previously men-
tioned, and at others interstratified with them, become preva-
lent, though coal measures may be noticed in their vicinity.
On descending the river until opposite Twizell Boat- House,
fine-grained micaceous red sandstone rocks, and those of the
coal formation, or at least such as have heretofore been con-
sidered exclusively as such, are in close contact. On the
north shore, low rocks of the latter description appear in situ,
and it may be worth remarking, that, on ascending the river
Till, for the distance of a mile westward, Twizell Castle may
be seen, built on an extremely hard gray micaceous sandstone,
filled with coal scars*, and so promising did this neighbour-
hood appear, as to induce the proprietor to make a trial for
coal. Three-quarters of a mile further up the Till, the red
rocks are again met with, and worked at Mill Quarry, but at
Dunston Haugh, two miles and a half from the Castle, the
stratum quarried is yellowish-white, and seemed to be a coal
sandstone. But to return to Tweed side. On the south bank,
above the Ferry House there is a perpendicular cliff, forty
feet high, of white sandstones, though tinged red on their sur-
faces by the oxidation of their mica ; the beds are separated by
thin micaceous partings, and in every respect resemble the rock
quarried below Lennel. On the north side, just below the ferry,
the cliff is not less than 50 feet above the stream, and composed
of fine-grained red sandstone, with small scales of silvery mica.
On descending the river, the rocks on the south shore con-
tinue red, micaceous partings divide the thick strata, through
which nodules of red ochre are dispersed in abundance, and
those on the north side agree with them in every character.
* Minute fragments of red garnets are embedded in this sandstone ; a
circumstance I have never noticed in the sandstones of the Newcastle coal-
field; but in the millstone grit at Shaftoe Crags, near Wallington, the same
mineral was detected by W. C. Trevelyan, Esq., and it abounds in the
grauwacke of Bournmouth, north of Berwick. The Twizell sandstone I
suspect to be an old member of the carboniferous limestone formation.
Opposite
16 Mr. Winch on the Geology of the Banks of the Tweed.
Opposite Newbiggin, the elevated cliffs are rendered sin-
gular by an escarpment of bright red marl, which, from a
distance, is a striking object. The dip is towards the south-
east. Near Norham Boat-House, the Tweed sweeps round
the foot of a promontory of not less than seventy to eighty feet
in height ; its rocks are red, and differ in no respect from those
a little higher up on the north bank of the river. To the
eastward, Norham Castle stands upon an eminence overlook-
ing the Tweed, and, as the stones of which it is constructed
are red and white, the vicinity of quarries of both these kind
of rock is evident; but the geology of its immediate neigh-
bourhood may be studied to most advantage by carefully in-
specting the abrupt cliffs below the Castle mount. A beautiful
and interesting section is there developed. The lowest bed,
which is scarcely above the level of the stream, consists of a
whitish sandstone and limestone forming a breccia; on this
rests a stratum of reddish sandstone, forty feet thick, which
is, in turn, capped by fourteen thin seams of soft ash-coloured
limestone, interstratified with an equal number of others of
greenish -gray slaty marl, mixed with sand and silvery mica;
their aggregate thickness is twenty-five feet, which, with five
feet of diluvium, will give seventy feet as the elevation of the
escarpment. When viewed from below, the upper part of this
singular cliff appears to be striped with the regularity of a
ribbon. In the thick bed of sandstone, pear-shaped nodules
of extremely hard white micaceous sandstone abound, and
greatly impede the Work of the quarry-men ; some of these
nodules are not many inches in diameter, but I measured one
of two feet and a half; they are not ranged in lines, but their
sharper extremities point towards the north-west, which is the
full rise of the stratum containing them. Proceeding eastward
to the vicinity of Horncliffe House, the rocks are still red
sandstone, with similar calcareous seams as those near Nor-
ham resting upon them, and a cut, made to widen the road to
the Chain Bridge, lays open thirty feet of rock, comprising
six different strata; the lowest is red sandstone, the others
limestone and slaty indurated marl. A slip of six feet cuts
through these beds. Above West Ord, a cliff' of sixty feet
again exhibits the nature of the rocks ; here the variegated
sandstone rests upon the red, which is filled with nodules of
red ochre, and is covered by the calcareous series so fre-
quently mentioned ; and at the plantations, a little lower down
the river, six alternations of these thin beds are covered by
thick strata of red and variegated sandstone. At Ord Mill,
the red rock alone is visible ; the dip of the whole series is
southward of east. Diluvium now covers the rocks on the south
of
Mr. Winch on the Geology of the Banks of the Tweed. 17
shore of the Tweed the whole way to the harbour, but on the
north bank, Berwick Castle stands upon an elevation about
ninety feet high. Under the soil the rocks are variegated and
red sandstones, of extremely fine-grained texture; the beds
are thick, in which they may be compared to the posts in this
part of our district, while the thin calcareous strata occupy
the place of our metals and bituminous shales ; but so consi-
derable a proportion of carbonate of lime do all the sandstones
hereabout contain, that they effervesce on the application of
diluted mineral acids. The dip southward of east. From,
the rocks on which Berwick Castle is constructed to the en-
trance of the harbour the space is covered by soil ; but both
towards the north and south high and rugged cliffs bound
the ocean. Those to the north shall first be brought under
consideration. On passing through the Sally-port, and be-
fore reaching the Pier, the following succession of rocks rise
to the day: — 1st. A thick stratum of fine-grained brick-red
micaceous sandstone. 2d. Hair-brown limestone, with small
encrinites. 3rd. Slaty micaceous sandstone, of an ash-gray
colour. 4th. Red sandstone. 5th. Encrinal limestone. 6th.
White sandstone, blotched by red ochre and containing coal
pipes. 7th. Encrinal limestone. 8th. Slaty micaceous sand-
stone. 9th. Encrinal limestone. 10th. Variegated sandstone.
These strata occupy the space from the Sally-port to the Pier.
The limestones are of inconsiderable thickness, and envelope
bivalve shells as well as encrinites. The red and variegated
sandstones are very fine grained, with but little mica ; and the
coal sandstones white, when not tinged by yellow ochre.
At this point, which may be about a hundred yards north of
the Pier, a slip dyke, of considerable magnitude, intersects
the cliff, and may be traced eastward into the sea; its breadth
is three yards, the south side of the chasm being filled for
two yards by shale, and the north side by a rib of brownish-
purple limestone, so hard as to give fire with steel ; it is of a
fine texture, with a splintery fracture, and impressions of the
lanceolate leaves of some species of Variolaria of Ad. Bron-
gniart, Stigmaria of Sternberg, are dispersed through it. The
hade of the dyke is inconsiderable, but to the south of it the
strata dip to the south-east at an angle of 45°. A little to the
north, the rocks become less inclined, and dip to the east at
a trifling angle; the upper is a stratum of ash-coloured shale,
twelve feet thick, filled with Producti (Productus scoticus,
Sowerby, Mineral Conch, t. 59, f. 3 ; and Productus anti-
quatus, t. 317, f. 1, 5, 6.), the shells of which retain their
pearly lustre; the lower stratum is encrinal limestone, in-
closing specimens of very large Producti (Productus gtgan-
N.S.Vol 9. No. 49. Jan. 1831. D tens,
18 Mr. Winch on the Geology of the Banks of the Tweed.
teus, Sowerby's Mineral Conch, t. 320.) — being the same
fossil which gives the name of cockle-shell limestone to one
of the beds in the neighbourhood of Alston. On the beach
the limestone is laid bare by the action of the waves, and ex-
hibits the extraordinary undulations long since noticed in the
stratification at Holy Island. Probably the stratum may be
the same ; but it is not safe to hazard conjectures on the iden-
tity of mineral beds on a coast where their dips are so various,
and positions unconformable.
On the south side of the harbour, at the distance of half a
mile from the bridge, the strata incline to the south-east at an
angle of 45°, and are arranged in the following order: — 1st,
fine-grained pale red sandstone ; 2nd, a thin stratum of slaty
micaceous sandstone ; 3rd, twenty-five feet of dark red mica-
ceous sandstone; 4th, shale, with thin strata of encrinal lime-
stone; 5th, red sandstone, divided by the same limstone : —
the total thickness of these beds is one hundred and twenty
feet. Below Spital Mill, half a mile further south, a thick
stratum of sandstone, of peculiar appearance, crops out; it is
yellow, blotched with red, and is very friable, its grains scarcely
adhering; and on the beach, about twenty yards north of this
spot, the limestone is separated by a parting of ash-coloured
shale, containing bivalve shells (Corbula limosa, Fleming's
British Animals, 426.) in abundance. Near Spital Farm, a
dark gray compact limestone, containing vegetable exuviae,
similar to those noticed in the limestone in the dyke on the
north side of the harbour, rises to the day about high-water
mark, and may be considered another of the anomalous rocks
of this coast. At the foot of the rail-road, situated a little
further south, coal sandstone, inclosing casts of large vege-
tables, (Stigmaria Jicoides, Sternberg, t. 12. f. 1, 2, 3; and
Lepidodendron obovatum, t. 6. f. 1.) and bituminous shale al-
ternate, beyond which a quarry has been worked in the red
rock to the depth of forty feet. The stone it affords is hard
and fine-grained, and has been used in constructing the new
pier. Proceeding southward to Huds-head, the red rock, of
which the cliff here consists, abuts against the coal sandstone,
which is close behind it, and within two hundred yards one
of the Scremerstone shafts is sunk. At North Scremerstone,
two miles from Berwick Bridge, the rocks are red sandstone,
shale, and encrinal limestone, the latter of which has formerly
been quarried, and a little to the south, an extensive quarry
is now open at a place called the Red Houses. The stratum
is 18 feet thick, and affords a blueish-gray stone, close in its
texture, and containing encrinites. It dips at an angle of
4-5°, and undulates in the same way as the limestone upon the
beach
Rev. W. D. Conybeare on the Phenomena of Geology. 1 9
beach on the north side the harbour. Proceeding inland to
Sunnyside Hill, where workmen are now employed in widen-
ing the great south road to Berwick, two excavations are made
in the solid strata. At the northern cut, which is now twenty-
two feet deep, the lowest rock is dark-gray encrinal limestone,
covered by beds of coal measures of inconsiderable thickness,
but interstratified with four thin seams of coal. The southern
cut, which is nearer the summit of the hill, is at present four-
teen feet deep, the lowest rock is a thin limestone bed; 2nd,
a thin seam of coal with a band of shale ; 3rd, limestone ;
4th, coal and shale ; 5th, red sandstone ; 6th, coal and shale.
The dip is, as usual in this vicinity, to the east. Sunnyside
Hill is a mile south of Berwick. Near the coast, I observed
no basalt in situ, and the only well-defined dyke of that de-
scription met with, was at Ousenton Bourn, a mile and a
half east of Cornhill ; the rib of basalt is 18 feet wide, and
crosses the bourn from west to east. The blocks lie in a
horizontal position, and the stone is dark-gray, approaching
to black, with large greenish crystals of glassy felspar.
[To be continued.]
V. An Examination of those Phenomena of Geology., which seem
to bear most directly on theoretical Speculations*. By the
Eev. W. D. CONYBEARE, M.A. F.R.S. F.G.S. %c.
[In Continuation from vol. viii. p. 406.]
Observations on Article V. " The decreasing violence of the
Convulsions affecting the Strata at successive Geological
Periods."
"Vl^E have already noticed the effects of the dislocating
forces which must have acted during the deposition
of the strata referred to the Transition and Carboniferous
formations, and we have found that the agency of these
forces must have been universal and extreme during the first,
and very general and very violent during the second period :
in proceeding, we shall find that they are comparatively rare
and partial in the formations of later origin, although they
have never entirely ceased; and we are led by a strict analogy
to ascribe the actual volcanic phaenomena to the same causes,
though at present acting with an energy greatly diminished.
Next to the carboniferous strata occur those of the magne-
sian lime, new red sandstone and lias : these as well as the
succeeding oolitic formations remain very generally undis-
turbed, and in a position so little inclined that they have beea
thence denominated by many geologists on the continent as
* Communicated by the Author.
D 2 well
20 Rev. W. D. Conybeare on the Phenomena of Geology
well as in England, horizontal: throughout Germany and
France such is their general situation, excepting in the vici-
nity of the great, though local disturbances which have ele-
vated the Alpine and Pyrenean chains.
Partial disturbances are however yet observable. In the
lias of Bristol, instances of faults of about 200 feet sometimes
extending for more than a mile, and attended with contorted
strata, &c. have been noticed in my paper on the South-west coal
fields, in the-Geological Transactions. The view of East cliff' in
the same memoir presents some smaller faults ; — in my present
neighbourhood, on the Glamorganshire coast, the lias which
reposing on new red sandstone crowns the summit of Pen-
narth Point, is towards the centre of that headland depressed
about 100 feet to the sea level by a complicated fault. On the
north of Barry Island is a fault which must be nearly 200
feet, throwing down the lias, and producing at the fracture
curved and vertical strata. This fault strikes the contiguous
shores of the mainland, and extends over an interval of a mile.
Many other faults occur in the lias of this coast, which yet
strikingly exhibits the decreasing energy of the convulsive
forces in this as compared with the preceding period; for the
carboniferous limestone is often exhibited towards the base of
the cliffs, (its strata elevated 70 degrees,) on which the red
marl and lias repose horizontally; — disturbances in the lias of
the Yorkshire coast are mentioned in the surveys of Young
and Phillips : and the analogous formations of Scotland, in
the Brora coal-field, &c. are much deranged : indeed, from
their relation to the adjacent primitive mountains it appears
probable that the elevation of the latter was in part, at least,
effected during this period.
The oolitic formations have been less examined in this re-
spect. I may however mention, that in the neighbourhood of
Bath I have found in the hills above Bitton, the inferior oolite
to participate in a fault affecting the lias, and throwing the
beds down about 200 feet. In the cliffs west of Bridport har-
bour on the Dorsetshire coast, a considerable fault accom-
panied with vertical strata may be observed. The distur-
bances affecting the oolites of the Weymouth district and Isle
of Purbeck, must however be referred to the great convulsion
which has affected the whole of that part of our coast and the
Isle of Wight, subsequently to the deposition of the chalk
formation, and during the tertiary period. The analogous
formations of the Jura chain are much disturbed, the whole
chain exhibiting in places an arched section ; but these con-
vulsions must be referred to the forces which have elevated
the Alps, and which certainly continued their action until
the
bearing on theoretical Speculations. 21
the middle of the tertiary period. The observations as yet
made on that great chain are scarcely sufficiently full or ac-
curate to determine whether that elevation was at once effected
by a single period of convulsion, or gradually during many
such successive periods * ; but the latter opinion appears far
more probable, and seems most agreeable with what is hitherto
known. It is scarcely necessary to add, after our introductory
observations on this article, that the method of determining
this point would be, carefully to examine the junction of the
different constituent formations, and carefully to examine how
far they were conformably affected by the same convulsions.
On this point the sections published by Ebel are scarcely
sufficiently minute or accurate to afford the requisite informa-
tion. In those of Mr. Murchison we find the tertiary conglo-
merates, &c. of Gossau overlying unconformably : but as on
the Italian side the vertical beds of scaglia (equivalent to
chalk) and of the succeeding tertiary deposits seem quite con-
formable to the older formations, we have here convulsions
even as late as the tertiary period, compared with which, every
thing of actual occurrence, the elevation of Jorullo, &c. dwin-
dles into insignificance.
In our own island the elevation of the central range of
chalk in the Isle of Wight, and that of the Isle of Purbeck,
must be referred to the same period. If by examining the re-
lations of the contiguous formations it appears to have been the
result of a single convulsion, limited to a period subsequent
to the lower tertiary deposits and antecedent to the higher, —
this single convulsion, thus limited to a point of time geologi-
cally, affects a district nearly sixty miles in length (from the
east of the Isle of Wight to Whitenore Point, east of Wey-
mouth) : and if we take into account the thickness of the strata
moved, and the extent of their dislocation, it must have occa-
sioned an angular movement throughout the whole of this
space averaging more than 1000 feet. I could only desire
the advocates of " actual causes," energizing with their pre-
sent degree of power, to show me a single instance of any
effect produced by them in the least comparable with this.
VI. The analogous rocks belonging to the different succes-
sive formations present a regular gradation in texture and
consolidation: the earliest being the most crystalline and
compact; and these characters becoming regularly less and
less in the successive deposits, as they are more and more re-
* Elie de Beaumont, in his very valuable memoir " Epochs de Souleve-
ment" shows the Alps south of Savoy to have been elevated at an old
tertiary period, the eastern Alps at a much newer.
cent.
22 Rev. W. D. Conybeare on the Phenomena of Geology.
cent. We also find that effects analogous to those which
characterize the earlier rocks may be produced by igneous
action.
Observations. — All rocks may be conveniently classed under
the comprehensive genera Calcareous, Quartzose, and Argilla-
ceous. We may examine what have been called the formation
suites of each of these in order. — I. The Calcareous class pre-
sents, 1st, in the earliest deposits saccharine marble; 2ndly,
compact and semi-crystalline rocks in the transition and car-
boniferous series ; Srdly, rocks of less compact and looser
texture in the oolites ; ^thly, earthy rocks in the chalk and
tertiary formations. — II. The Quartzose series exhibits, 1st,
crystalline quartz rock; 2ndly, compact sandstones in the
carboniferous formation ; Srdly, looser sandstone ; 4thly, sand.
— III. The Argillaceous series is represented, 1st, by com-
pact clay slate in the lowest deposits ; 2ndly, by semi-indu-
rated shales in the carboniferous group ; and Srdly, by com-
mon clay in the subsequent formations.
Now these changes are analogous to those which are
known, or generally believed to be the result of igneous ac-
tion. In Sir J. Hall's experiments on the fusion of lime under
the pressure of a column of water, crystalline marble was pro-
duced : and besides these actual experiments we may refer to
the changes effected by trap dykes, as universally acknow-
ledged to be of igneous origin. In the north of Ireland the
chalk where covered by trap becomes a compact limestone,
and where intersected by trap dykes, assumes completely the
texture of primitive saccharine marble for some yards from
the contact. The lias shales become here and in Scotland
altered by the contact with trap into flinty slates, and loose
sandstones into compact and crystalline. In Professor Hens-
low's very valuable account of Anglesea, in the Cambridge
Philosophical Transactions, much information on this subject
will be found. In one place he describes a mass of granitic
texture which appears to have resulted from sandstone thus
altered. In Cornwall and the Lead Hills of Scotland, wherever
the granite protrudes through the incumbent grauwacke, we
find an intervening zone approximating in its characters to
gneiss, which certainly appears to be grauwacke altered by the
contact : and Bone believes this to be the case generally with
the gneiss and mica slate of the Pyrenees.
The Alps appear at first sight to present an exception to
the general rule announced at the head of this article; but it is
in truth an exception of that kind which proves the rule. Here
the limestones contemporaneous with our oolites still preserve
a highly compact and crystalline character. This is well de-
scribed
On the New Nautical Almanac. 23
scribed in Professor Sedgwick's paper in your Number for
August last ; but if the elevation of these mountains be referred
to a volcanic force which must have violently affected these
regions to a later period than the general surface of our con-
tinents,— it is exactly what we should expect, that the consti-
tuent rocks should there also exhibit to a later period the
effects of intense igneous action.
On the whole, then, as in our preceding article we saw rea-
son to conclude, from the dislocations of the strata, that the
forces (probably of a volcanic nature) which at first affected
them with intense violence, subsequently from time to time
experienced a gradual diminution of energy, — so we here
find the texture of the constituent rocks indicating a like di-
minution of igneous action at the successive periods marked
by the deposition of the series of formations.
VII. The series of organic remains both vegetable and
animal included in the successive formations indicate also, a
diminution of temperature from the earlier to the later pe-
riods.
Observations. — Adolphe de Brongniart's admirable treatise
on vegetable fossils, fully proves this as to that kingdom. In
a late communication to the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal,
I have endeavoured myself shortly to state the argument as it
affects the animal kingdom. Mr. Lyell has given a very in-
genious explanation of the change of temperature as arising
from the gradual growth of the continents and elevation of
the mountain chains. I only doubt whether the cause thus
suggested, is fully adequate to account for the degree of the
resulting effects : besides which, the general analogy of the
phsenomena noticed in the preceding articles, all converging
on one point, seems rather to indicate the gradual refrigeration
of the surface of an originally heated mass, (such as the
theories of Leibnitz and all his imitators suppose,) and this re-
frigeration must necessarily have accompanied the gradual
formation of a solid crust.
[To be continued.]
VI. On the New Nautical Almanac.
TT is well known to most of our readers that, for many
-•• years past, numerous complaints have repeatedly been made
against the state of the Nautical Almanac, as not keeping pace
with the progress of astronomy and navigation : and the pages
of our journal have from time to time contained many remon-
strances and comments on this subject, from various indivi-
duals.
24 On the New Nautical Almanac.
duals. An attempt, indeed, was made about seven years ago
to redress the evil, and a Committee of the Royal Society was
appointed to consider " whether any and what additions ought
to be made to the Nautical Almanac." The result however
was not attended with any advantage to science, as the only
Resolution which they came to, was the following; viz. "that
it would highly conduce to the interests of practical astronomy,
if tables of precession, aberration, solar nutation and proper
motion of 60 principal stars were formedjfor every day> in the
period of four years, including leap-year: and that a separate
table be given for every degree of the moon's node." And in
consequence of this resolution, a folio volume of tables for
that purpose was computed and printed at a great expense,
which has been complained of as a manifest waste of public
money; since no Observatory, except that of Greenwich,
would, in the present state of science, ever think of resorting
to so cumbrous a mode of assistance, amidst the numerous
helps that are afforded by more accurate and elegant tables.
Seeing therefore no chance of improvement from this quar-
ter, it was proposed to bring the subject before Parliament;
and various papers were moved for and printed by the House
of Commons, with this view: but, from an assurance that Go-
vernment was about to take up the subject, the matter was then
dropped. During the last summer, however, the Board of Ad-
miralty (with whom the management of the Nautical Almanac
now rests, by virtue of a recent act of Parliament) sent an
official communication to the Astronomical Society of London,
requesting their opinion and advice, as to the alterations and
additions that it would be proper to make in that national
work ; and it is to the result of the Society's labours that we
now wish to draw the attention of our readers.
The Council commenced their operations by nominating a
Committee, consisting of 40 members, comprising not only
some of the most profound mathematicians, but also most of
the experienced practical astronomers and nautical men of
science in the country, as well as the Professors from the naval
establishments at Greenwich and Portsmouth. This Com-
mittee, having met, proceeded to examine and discuss seriatim
the various parts into which theNautical Almanac is divided; and
having agreed on certain preliminary arrangements, appointed
a Sub-Committee to examine them more in detail, as well as to
examine and digest the various hints and suggestions which had
been forwarded to them, not onty by members of their own
body, who were unable to attend the meetings, but likewise
by other correspondents relative to this subject. The Sub-
Committee
On the New Nautical Almanac. 25
Committee having made a report of their labours, it was
ordered to be printed ; and a copy of the same (together with
a specimen of the printed pages of the new almanac) having
been forwarded to each member of the Committee, a distant
day was appointed for taking it into consideration ; by which
means every opportunity and facility have been afforded for
the most ample and open discussion of the several points in
question. The final result of their deliberations is contained
in a Report, which has been forwarded to the Admiralty: and
we have the satisfaction of stating that nearly the last act of
the late Board, was the approval of that Report, and the
issuing of an order for its being carried into immediate exe-
cution.
We have been favoured with a sight of that Report (which
will form a portion of the ensuing volume of the Memoirs of
the Astronomical Society), and we here present our readers
with the following summary of the principal alterations and
additions.
The use of apparent time is abolished in all the computa-
tions : and mean time alone adopted.
The calculations are, in general, carried one place further
in the decimals than has hitherto been done : that is, all quan-
tities expressed in time are carried to two places of decimals
in the seconds ; and those in space, to one place.
The moon's right ascension and declination are given to
every hour / and to the declinations are annexed the differences
for every five minutes.
The places of the six principal planets are to be given for
every day ; and those of the four new planets for every fourth
day : with an ephemeris of the latter for every day, for one
month before and after their opposition.
The co- efficients A, B, C, D, which are used for computing
the apparent places of the stars, are to be given for every day.
The apparent contacts of Jupiter's satellites, and also of
their shadows, with the planet, are to be inserted.
The lunar distances of the planets are also to be inserted :
with the proportional logarithm of the first difference annexed
to all the lunar distances.
Predicted occultations (visible at Greenwich) of planets and
fixed stars, to the sixth magnitude inclusive, are to be given :
and also,
Elements for predicting such occultations of the planets
and fixed stars, to the jifth magnitude inclusive, as may be
visible in any habitable part of the globe : with the limits of
latitude annexed, within which they will be visible.
The apparent places of the fixed stars are to be increased
N.S. Vol. 9. No. 49. Jan. 1831. E to
26 On the New Nautical Almanac.
to 100 in number: a and 8 Ursa Minor is are to be given for
every day ,- and the remainder for every tenth day as usual,
but with the differences annexed.
The list of moon-culminating stars is to be incorporated
with the work : and various tables added for facilitating
the computations connected with this interesting and useful
branch of practical astronomy.
These are a Jew only of the numerous alterations and ad-
ditions that have been made to this national work. To enu-
merate the whole of them would far exceed the limits which
we can conveniently devote to the subject; and we must
therefore refer the reader to the Report itself. They are of
a nature, as the Council very justly observe, to satisfy not only
the wishes of the astronomer, but also the demands of the na-
vigator ; and (what is also very gratifying to hear) are not
likely, with a due regard to ceconomy, to add much to the ex-
pense of the publication.
Upon the whole we cannot help congratulating the public
upon this vast accession of strength to the most useful branches
of astronomy and navigation: and we consider that they are
much indebted to the Council of the Astronomical Society,
for the great labour and time which they have devoted to this
important subject. It appears that an interval of two or three
years must necessarily elapse before these improvements can
be completely carried into effect. The Nautical Almanac for
1833 is already computed, and nearly ready for publication ;
so that the proposed alterations cannot take place till the year
1834- : and the Council have particularly requested that they
be not deferred beyond that period.
With a view of insuring a greater degree of accuracy in the
computations, and as a means of detecting any errors, the
Council have recommended that, in the Preface to each year's
almanac, there be inserted an account of all the tables and
authorities depended upon in every computation, with an ex-
press notice of such equations as may be omitted, or of any cor-
rections introduced. And they have also recommended that
notice of any errors should be advertised in the London Ga-
zette, and in some of the public papers, as soon as possible
after their discovery.
If these suggestions are strictly attended to, and the whole-
some advice given by the Council be duly followed, we have
no doubt that the important and valuable contents of the New
Nautical Almanac will insure it a place in almost every vessel
that sails on the ocean, and in every active observatory in the
world.
VII. On
[ 27 ]
VII. On the Visitation of Greenwich Observatory: ivifh a Copy
of the New Warrant.
HPHE annual visitation of the Royal Observatory at Green-
•*• wich has, for nearly 150 years, been confided to the
Council of the Royal Society and to such other persons as
they might from time to time invite for that purpose, by virtue
of the King's warrant directed to them at the commencement
of every reign. His present Majesty, however, has been pleased
to make a totally new arrangement on this subject. But,
before we enter on the cause of this alteration, we would re-
mark that when this annual visitation was first established,
Flamsteed was greatly offended ; inasmuch as he considered
that the Council of the Royal Society (with whom he was not
on the best terms) was thus set over him as a sort of spy upon
his actions. It has however been silently acquiesced in by his
successors ; but, whatever importance it might at a more early
period have possessed, it has gradually declined from its ori-
ginal object, and ceased to answer the purpose for which it
was designed ; for little or no business was done at the meet-
ing : and if any matter requiring consideration was brought
forward, it was always turned over to the Council of the Royal
Society, where it was usually lost sight of, and altogether for-
gotten or neglected.
A representation of these circumstances was made in the
proper quarter; and His present Majesty has been pleased to
appoint a new set of Visitors; and has at the same time en-
larged the powers hitherto granted to that body. By this
warrant (which is dated last month) the President of the Royal
Society, and five individuals nominated by him, together with
the President of the Astronomical Society, and five individuals
nominated by him, added to the Savilian Professor of Astro-
nomy at Oxford, and the Plumian Professor of Astronomy at
Cambridge, are now appointed the regular and permanent
Visitors of the Royal Observatory. As many of our readers
may be desirous of perusing this scientific document, we here
insert it verbatim.
" William R.
" Trusty and well-beloved, we greet you well. Whereas,
our Royal predecessor King George the Fourth did by war-
rant under his Royal sign manual, bearing date the nine-
teenth day of May, in the first year of his reign, constitute and
appoint the President, and in his absence the Vice-President,
of the Royal Society for the time being, together with such
others as the Council of the said Royal Society should from
time to time think fit, to be regular Visitors of the Royal Ob-
E 2 servatory
28 On the Visitation of Greenwich Observatory.
servatory at Greenwich, during His said Majesty's pleasure.
Now know ye, that we have revoked and determined, and do
by these presents revoke and determine, the said appointment,
and every clause, article and thing therein contained. And
further know ye, that we having been given to understand that
it would contribute very much to the improvement of astro-
nomy and navigation if we should appoint regular Visitors of
our Royal Observatory at Greenwich with sufficient powers
for the due execution of that trust, we have therefore thought
fit, in consideration of the great learning, experience, and other
necessary qualifications of our Royal Society and of the Astro-
nomical Society, to constitute and appoint, as we do by these
presents constitute and appoint, you the President for the time
being of our Royal Society, together with our trusty and well-
beloved John W. Lubbock, Esq.; Captain Henry Kater;
George Peacock, Clerk; William Pearson, Clerk, Doctor in
Divinity; and Richard Sheepshanks, Clerk, Fellows thereof:
and you the President of the said Astronomical Society,
together with our trusty and well-beloved Charles Babbage,
Esq. ; Francis Baily, Esq. ; Captain Francis Beaufort ; Doctor
Olinthus Gregory; and J. F. W. Herschel, Esq., Members
thereof; and likewise the Savilian Professor of Astronomy at
Oxford, and the Plumian Professor of Astronomy at Cam-
bridge, for the time being, to be regular Visitors of our Royal
Observatory at Greenwich during our pleasure; authorizing
and requiring you from time to time to order and direct our
said astronomer and keeper of our said Royal Observatory
to make such astronomical observations as you in your judge-
ment shall think proper : and that you do survey and inspect
our instruments in our said Observatory ; and as often as any
of them shall be found defective, that you do inform our Lord
High Admiral (or the Commissioners for executing the office
of Lord High Admiral), that so the said instruments may either
be exchanged or repaired : and that you do from time to time
make such suggestions and representations to our Lord High
Admiral (or to the Commissioners for executing the office of
Lord High Admiral), touching the said Observatory, the li-
brary, the instruments, and the observations, as in your judge-
ment will be conducive to the credit of our Observatory, and
to the promotion of astronomical and nautical science. And
our further will and pleasure is, that our astronomer and
keeper of the said Observatory for the time being, do deliver
to you every three months a true and fair copy of all the ob-
servations he shall have made, and that such number of copies
of the said observations be printed as the Lord High Admiral
(or the Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High
Admiral)
Examination of a Native Sulphur et of Bismuth. 29
Admiral) shall consider expedient. And when our said astro-
nomer and the Council of our Royal Society and of the Astro-
nomical Society shall have been supplied with as many copies
as they may desire, to distribute for the benefit of science, the
remainder shall be sold at such price as the Lord High Ad-
miral shall fix. And our further will and pleasure is, that
you do meet annually at our said Observatory on the first
Saturday in the month of June, and at such other times as
may seem expedient to our Lord, High Admiral (or the Com-
missioners for executing the office of Lord High Admiral), and
that at such meeting the President of our Royal Society shall
take the chair, or in his absence the President of the Astrono-
mical Society ; or in the absence of both the said Presidents,
that the Fellows and Members present (of whom seven shall
form a quorum) shall elect a chairman for the time being
among themselves : and that at every such meeting the chair-
man shall be empowered to call in and employ one of the
assistants in our said Observatory to act as secretary for the
time being. And our further will and pleasure is, that as
often as any vacancies occur by death or resignation, the same
shall be filled up by the President of the Society, in whose
list such vacancy may have happened. And our further will
and pleasure is, that any President of our said Royal Society,
or any President of the Astronomical Society, who may have
become a Visitor to our Royal Observatory, by virtue of his
office, shall during our pleasure continue to be a Visitor not-
withstanding that he may have vacated the office of President
of such Society. And for so doing, this shall be your warrant.
And so we bid you farewell. — Given at our Court at Saint
James's, &c. &c. &c.
" To our trusty and well-beloved the President of our
Royal Society for the time being, the President of
the Astronomical Society for the time being, and
the other persons hereby appointed Visitors of our
Royal Observatory at Greenwich.
By His Majesty's command,
" ROBERT PEEL."
VIII. Examination of a Native Sulphur et of Bismuth. By
Mr. R. WARKINGTON*.
rPHE mineral which forms the subject of the present paper,
••• is found in the western parts of Cornwall ; it occupies
the cavities and fissures of a porous mass of yellow copper
pyrites and silica, in the form of striated needles and bands.
* Communicated by the Author.
It
30 Examination of a Native Sulphur et of Bismuth.
It lias exteriorly an iron-gray colour, sometimes with a bis-
muthic tinge, and in its cleavage surface possesses a lustre ap-
proaching that of polished steel. Its specific gravity is 5'85,
and its hardness = 2'7. When heated before the blowpipe
on charcoal it inflames, and by increasing the heat for some
time, appears to be entirely volatilized, with the exception of
a minute globule of brown scoriaceous matter.
On examination it was found to contain bismuth, sulphur,
copper, iron, and siliceous matter. The first analysis was per-
formed by acting upon the mineral, reduced to a very fine
powder, with nitre-muriatic acid, until the whole of the sulphur
was acidified ; this was conducted in a small stoppered retort,
to which a receiver was attached, in order to collect any small
quantity of sulphur that might be carried over mechanically
during the digestion. The solution thus obtained was diluted
with water, and filtered to separate the silica ; a solution of
nitrate of baryta was employed for the precipitation of the sul-
phuric acid, and the sulphate of baryta (and also the silica)
washed at intervals with warm dilute nitric acid, to remove any
small quantity of bismuth which might fall by the gradual
dilutions. — After the separation of the excess of baryta, am-
monia was added in slight excess, which threw down the oxides
of bismuth and iron, and held the oxide of copper in solution ;
by evaporation to dryness and the addition of potassa tfiis
oxide was obtained.
The mixed oxides were then acted upon by dilute muri-
atic acid, added in small quantity; the oxide of iron was thus
completely removed, and the dichloride of bismuth which
remained, after being digested in a weak solution of potassa,
was collected as an oxide : the iron was again precipitated
from its muriatic solution by ammonia.
Although this analysis was conducted with the greatest
care, and repeated in order to avoid ambiguity, yet the results
in both cases exceeded the weight of the mineral employed.
Upon heating the oxide of bismuth obtained in the second
analysis, before weighing (and which was performed in a
small tube of green glass sealed at one of its extremities), it
was observed that a small quantity of white opaque vapour
arose and appeared to be condensed upon the upper part of the
tube, and on adding distilled water to it, a precipitate of di-
chloride of bismuth was instantly formed, proving it to have
been sublimed chloride of that metal. The oxide itself was next
examined; by dissolving it in pure nitric acid, and testing the
solution with nitrate of silver, a small quantity of chloride of
silver was thrown down.
Having ascertained these facts, a solution of muriate of
bismuth
Examination of a Native Sulphur et of Bismuth. 31
bismuth was prepared, and the three following experiments
tried with it: — one quantity was precipitated by potassa in great
excess, another by ammonia, and these were digested at a
boiling heat for about six hours ; the third portion was added
gradually to a large quantity of very hot solution of potassa;
and the whole three collected and well washed, dissolved in
nitric acid and tested as before; muriatic acid was however
detected in each. It was evident from these results, that mu-
riatic acid could not be employed in the analysis, or that, if
employed, it must be separated before the precipitation of
the oxide of bismuth. 6*88 grs. of the mineral were digested
in nitric acid as long as any sulphur remained undissolved ; it
was then filtered, and gave '345 gr. silica. The sulphuric
acid was next separated by a solution of nitrate of baryta added
as long as any precipitate was occasioned, and the sulphate of
baryta, after heating to redness, weighed 9*654? grs. After the
excess of baryta had been carefully removed, ammonia added
in excess threw down the oxides of bismuth and iron as be-
fore, and held the oxide of copper, which was obtained in the
manner before stated, and equalled *306 of a grain. The weight
of the mixed oxides was 5**594 grs., which were then dissolved
in muriatic acid, and a current of sulphuretted hydrogen passed
through the solution, and the whole thrown upon a filter : the
clear solution which passed through was boiled for some time,
and after the addition of a little nitric acid to bring the iron
to the state of peroxide, ammonia was added, and the oxide
collected weighed '344 gr. ; deducting this from the weight of
the mixed oxides, leaves 5*25 grs. as the quantity of oxide of
bismuth ; the results are, therefore,
Oxide of bismuth 5*25 = 4*718 bismuth.
Sulphate of baryta.... 9*654 = 1*309 sulphur.
Peroxide of iron *344 = *241 iron.
Peroxide of copper... '306= *245 copper.
•345 silica.
6*858
•022 loss.
6*880
Or, we may consider the mineral to be constituted of 5*7815
grs. sulphuret of bismuth, being in the proportion of 1 atom
bismuth -f 1 atom sulphur, and that the iron, copper, and
silica are merely parts of the matrix which cannot be sepa-
rated mechanically from the pure mineral.
IX. Re-
[ 32 ]
IX. Recent Discovery of the Ladder o/'M. cle Sa assure in the
Mer de Glace ; wil/i Inferences respecting the Progressive
Movement of Glaciers.
[We have been favoured with the following paragraph from the Journal dc
Gcnlvc, to which arc added a few observations by an English gentleman
resident in that town. — EDIT.]
"HPHE ladder which M. de Saussure used in crossing the
crevices in the ice during his first visit to the Col du
Geant, and which he left on the upper part of the glacier,
has lately been discovered imbedded in the Mer de Glace, in
a situation nearly opposite to the aiguille called Le Moine.
This ladder, moving on with the body of the ice, will thus
appear to have advanced three leagues since the year 1787."
M. Plouquet, a German writer, published some years since
a pamphlet in which he endeavoured to prove that the pro-
gressive movement of the glaciers was a thing physically im-
possible. If M. Plouquet, or the editor of the Literary Ga-
zette of Jena, in which paper appeared a confirmation of his
statement, could visit the spot where the immortal De Saus-
sure's ladder now is, and still persist in the opinion that the
progressive movement of the glaciers is a thing physically im-
possible, we think we should be able to combat that opinion
by the following observations, and by the experiment which
has been renewed at the instigation of Captain Sherwill at
the Mer de Glace, as stated by that gentleman in his "Ascent
of Mont Blanc."
There are in the neighbourhood of Mont Blanc and else-
where, many glaciers which terminate at the edge of a preci-
pice, where may be seen walls of ice from one to two hundred
feet perpendicularly high. From these walls immense blocks
of ice detach themselves frequently in the course of a day
and fall over the precipice, separating in their course, and
thus dissolve according to the season of the year.
Who then will doubt that the ice is continually projected
forward from the tipper to the lower part of the glacier, and that
the main body thus pushing on causes the fall of these masses
over the frightful precipice. — But let us take another proof:
the blocks of granite and other large stones seen riding on the
surface of the glaciers, and which in the end arrive in the
valleys that receive the waters of these eternal reservoirs, — how
comes it that these granite blocks descend from an elevation
of ten or fifteen thousand feet, if it were not that the body on
which they are placed was in continual, though to the eye
imperceptible motion ? These facts would rather prove that
the quiescent state of the glaciers would be a thing physically
impossible.
Captain
Mr. Bakewell on the progressive. Development of Organic Life. 33
Captain Sherwill in his relation of his ascent of Mont Blanc,
speaking of the glaciers, says, " In traversing these stagnated
oceans, very large blocks of granite of many tons weight may
be seen riding on the surface of the ice. These blocks have
afforded the means of ascertaining a fact of importance. The
experiment I am about to relate to you was made last year
by some of the guides of Chamouni. Two poles were erected,
one on each side of the glacier, out of reach of its movement,
and so placed as to be in a direct line with a block of granite.
In the course of twelve months this block had entirely changed
its position as respecting the two poles, and had advanced
about one hundred yards on its march towards the valley ; — a
clear proof that the glaciers do move on, and are continually
diminishing at their lower extremity by the melting of the ice,
and increasing at the upper end by the constant snows."
We do not therefore believe that there is a single inha-
bitant of the valleys into which the glaciers descend, who en-
tertains the smallest doubt of their progressive movement :
and we will venture to say, that the " physical impossibility"
raised and stated by the learned German, arises from a super-
ficial examination only of the glaciers, in which the generative
and destructive forces of nature are so happily combined, that
no fear need be entertained of the too rapid progress of them
towards the fertile and pastoral valleys which for centuries
past have been threatened, but nothing more.
If the progress made by the ladder of M. de Saussure,
taken for one year, and the result of the experiment made at
the instigation of Captain Sherwili, should not appear to
agree, it must be recollected that from the Col du Geant, to
the spot where the ladder is at present, is a very rapid descent,
and of course the march of the glacier would be rapid in pro-
portion : whereas the experiment of Captain Sherwill was made
on a level part of the same glacier, the Mer de Glace, where
the ice is of a more compact texture than that at an elevation
of above ten thousand feet, and consequently its progress
towards its final issue would be somewhat slower.
X. Facts and Observations relating to the Theory of the pro-
gressive Development of Organic Life. By ROBERT BAKE-
WELL, Esq*
A S it will be readily conceded that the true object of all
•*^~ geological investigations should be the discovery of truth,
and not the support of hypotheses, the following account may
* Communicated by the Author.
N.S. Vol.9. No. 49. Jan. 1831. F deserve
34 Mr. Bakewell's Facts and Observations relating to the
deserve attention, in reference to certain opinions that have
been recently advanced in geology ; and it may serve to prove
how extremely cautious we should be in drawing general in-
ductions from isolated facts. During a visit to Nottingham
in the last summer, a medical gentleman in that town brought
me part of a bone which was pronounced by an eminent phy-
siologist to be a portion of the femoral bone of a horse or an
ox. This bone was found in forming an excavation in the
sand-rock on which Nottingham and its Castle stand ; it was
about forty feet below the surface; and the workmen who found
it asserted most confidently, that the rock in which it was im-
bedded was solid, and that there was no fissure or opening near
the place. The sand-rock of Nottingham contains numerous
rounded pebbles of quartz, quartz-rock, jasper, and Lydian
stone, and occasionally pebbles of granite, slate, and porphy-
ry: its first aspect presents the appearance of an alluvial or
diluvial formation, and this resemblance is further increased
by the soft incoherent state of some of the beds. It may how-
ever be proved to be a member of the new red sandstone; for
some of the yellowish beds abounding with pebbles alternate
with well characterized red sandstone; the whole may be
seen passing under the red marl with gypsum, on the north
and east side of Nottingham ; and as this marl passes under
the lias on the south, the true position of the Nottingham
sand-rock in the series of British strata is most clearly esta-
blished. As the occurrence of the remains of a large mam-
miferous quadruped, in a bed of such great relative antiquity,
was a fact at variance with what had hitherto been known,
I was persuaded there was some error in the statement,
and particularly as I observed, where a section was making in
the rock west of the town, there were many deep vertical fis-
sures in it, filled with loose sand; this was the case also in
other situations where the bare rock was exposed to view. To
confirm or invalidate the truth of the workmen's assertion,
the excavation was carefully examined with lights, and a break
or fissure was discovered through which the bone was doubt-
less introduced, though the fissure was now closed with loose
sand.
Thus this apparent geological anomaly was clearly ex-
plained, and many anomalous facts of a similar kind that have
been described, would I doubt not admit of a solution equally
satisfactory if the circumstances were accurately examined.
Mr. Lyell, in his very ingenious and elaborate " attempt to
explain the former changes on the earth's surface by a re-
ference to causes now in operation," has stated " that the oc-
currence of one individual of the higher classes of mammalia,
whether
Theory of the progressive Development of Organic Life. 85
whether marine or terrestrial, in the ancient strata, is as fatal
to the theory of successive development as if several hundreds
had been discovered." Could we be certain that the indivi-
dual had been really contemporaneous with the rock in which
its remains were found, we might admit the truth of the in-
duction ; but this certainty we can never obtain from the re-
mains of one, or even of more than one individual imbedded in
any rock whatever: — for when we consider what fractures and
convulsions have affected the ancient crust of the globe, and
how much it has been torn by currents and inundations, we
are compelled to admit that organic remains from the upper
strata may sometimes be buried in the lower rocks. The
real subject of surprise is, that such instances are not of more
frequent occurrence. It is well known to practical men, that
fractures in many of the strata are so completely closed by
pressure or infiltration in a short time, as scarcely to leave a
trace of their former existence : — what must be the case then
when these causes have been in operation for thousands of
years ? It is stated in the same work, that " a single vertebral
bone of a saurian animal, with a patella, and echinal spines,
have been found in the mountain limestone of Northumber-
land." Supposing the fact to be correct, these organic re-
mains being common in the oolitic strata, and never having
been found before in the mountain limestone ; if we are to in-
troduce the law of chances into geology, we may say that the
chances are many millions to one against their being found
together as coexisting animals in a formation in which they
have hitherto been absent : but it is extremely probable that
they might have been transported together through a fracture
into the strata below, and that this fracture has been subse-
quently closed ; hence all inferences drawn from such ano-
malous facts are of little value. The entire skeleton of a man
imbedded in solid coal 97 yards below the surface, at Ashby-
wolds in Leicestershire, which I mentioned in chap. i. of my
" Introduction to Geology," proves how cautious we should
be in drawing conclusions from individual instances. The
men, when the skull was first discovered, ascended to inform
the proprietor of the mine, and told him at the same time
that the coal was solid and unbroken around it ; but when he
examined the place, as they were clearing out the remainder
of the skeleton, he perceived that the coal, though apparently
compact, was not so solid as in other parts of the bed ; and
by opening passages in different directions, the appearance
of an ancient pit was discovered, though it had not been
worked, nor was there any tradition in the neighbourhood of
its having been sunk.
F 2 A living
36 Mr. BakewelloM the progressive Development of Organic Life.
A living lizard was found in a bed of coal at Rothwell Haigh
near Leeds, about twelve years since. I saw it soon after it was
found, preserved in spirits: it was nearly seven inches long,
and is now in the possession of the Rev. Dr. Sharp, vicar of
Wakefield. The depth of the mine is one hundred and eighty
yards ; it has been worked many years ; and being situated in
elevated ground, has levels for drainage nearly as low as the
river Calder, so that it is not very difficult to admit that the
lizard might find a ready passage into the mine, and have
sunk into a fissure in the coal, and remained there in a nearly
torpid state till it was discovered in working the coal. Had
the lizard died, and its bones become mineralized by water con-
taining the sulphate and carbonate of iron, which abounds in
the mine, we should have had an instance of a saurian animal
in coal, which might have been cited to prove the high anti-
quity of a species of reptile similar to what is now living in
the country. The experiments of the late Dr. Jenner, which
I have mentioned elsewhere, prove that bones may be par-
tially mineralized in a few months by immersion in lias mud,
containing much metallic and saline matter. On the other
interesting disquisitions in Mr. LyelPs work, it is not my in-
tention to offer any remarks at this time ; they cannot fail to
render an important service to geology, by the searching in-
vestigations to which they will undoubtedly give rise : but I
maintain that the theory of the progressive development of
organic life cannot be overturned by individual anomalous
exceptions, by ingenious reasoning, or by negative evidence*.
It is true that this theory, which holds that a succession of
more perfect classes and orders of animals may be traced,
in ascending from the lower or more ancient strata, to the
more recent formations, has been carried too far by some of
its supporters; and like other general conclusions in every
science, requires to be admitted with certain limitations : yet
it appears to me, in the present state of our knowledge, to
be one of the most interesting and best established doc-
trines in geology. Whenever several individuals belonging
to different genera, in any of the higher orders of the class
Mammalia, shall be discovered in the ancient strata, then in-
deed may we fairly admit that the theory of the progressive
development of organic life is completely refuted.
I had intended to send some observations on certain parts
of the geology of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, and Leicester-
» By negative evidence, is meant that which is grounded on our igno-
rance of the organic remains that may possibly exist in the ancient strata,
in countries that have not yet been examined.
shire,
Royal Society. 37
shire, which I have recently examined : but I must reserve
the communication for a future Number of your Annals.
Hampstead, Dec. 14, 1830. ROBERT BAKEWELL.
P.S. I omitted to mention, that the bone found in the Not-
tingham sand-rock appeared partially mineralized, and much
resembled bones from some of the tertiary beds.
XL Proceedings of Learned Societies.
ROYAL SOCIETY.
Nov. 18,— A PAPER was read, entitled, " On the nature of ne-
1830. gative and imaginary quantities." By Davies Gil-
bert, Esq. President of the Royal Society.
The object of this paper, the author shows, is one that has
given rise to much controversy, and has been involved in much un-
necessary mystery. Paradoxes and apparent solecisms, when in-
volved with facts and indubitable truths, will always be found, upon
accurate examination, to be near the surface, and to owe their ex-
istence either to ambiguities of expression, or to the unperceived
adoption of some extraneous additions or limitations into the com-
pound terms employed for definition, and which are subsequently
taken as constituent parts of their essence.
The first misapprehension pointed out, is that of considering any
quantity whatever as negative per se, and without reference to an-
other opposed to it, which has previously been established as positive.
In order to avoid previously formed associations of ideas, the author
prefers employing in his reasonings on this subject, the symbols
(a) and (b) to express this quality of opposition, rather than the
usual ones of plus and minus.
By the aid of this notation he is enabled to present, in its full
generalization, the law of the signs in multiplication, — a process
which, it is well known, is founded solely upon the principle of
ratios; and to show that like signs invariably give the sign belong-
ing to the assumed unity, or universal antecedent of the ratios ;
and unlike signs, the contrary.
Since either the one or the other of the arithmetical scales de-
rived from the two unities is in itself equally affirmative, but nega-
tive with relation to the other, it follows, that by using the scale of
(6), all even roots in the scale of (a) will become imaginary, and
thus the apparent discrimination of the two scales is removed ; so that
the properties belonging to the two scales are interchangeable, and
all formulae become universally applicable to both, by changing the
signs according to the side in which the universal antecedent is
taken. Imaginary quantities, then, are merely creations of arbi-
trary definitions, endowed with properties at the pleasure of him
who defines them ; and the whole dispute respecting their essence
turns upon the very point that has been contested from the earliest
times, between the hostile sects of realists and nominalists.
It
38 Royal Society.
It is now, however, universally agreed, that all abstractions and
generalizations are mere creatures of the reasoning faculty, existing
nowhere but in the mind contemplating them. Such, in algebra,
are the supposed even roots of a real quantity, taken in the scale
opposite to that which has given the universal antecedent : the
sign indicating the extraction impossible to be performed, veils
the real quantity, and renders it of no actual value until the sign
is taken away by an involution, the reverse of the supposed opera-
tion which the sign represents ; although the quantity itself is, in
the mean time, by its arbitrary essence, made applicable to all the
purposes for which real quantities are used, in every kind of for-
mula.
Several illustrations of these views of the nature of imaginary
quantities occurring in logarithmic formulae, and series expressing
circular arcs, are given by the author. By considering all quantity
as affirmative per se, and admitting plus and minus merely as con-
nective terms, we thus succeed in banishing mystery and para-
dox from the science most powerful in eliciting truth, and where they
ought least to find a place.
Nov. 25. — A paper was read, entitled, " On a simple electro-
chemical method of ascertaining the presence of different metals ;
applied to detect minute quantities of metallic poisons." By Ed-
mund Davy, Esq. F.R.S., M.R.I. A., and Professor of Chemistry to
the Royal Dublin Society.
The Voltaic arrangement employed by the author consisted
merely of small slips of different metals, generally zinc and platina,
placed in contact and forming a galvanic circuit with the inter-
posed fluid suspected to contain the poisonous metal ; in which case,
as was formerly shown by Sir H. Davy in his Bakerian lecture, the
metal held in solution was deposited in the form of crystals, on the
negative surface. The zinc was usually employed in the form of
foil ; the platina was, in some cases, a small crucible, or a spatula,
but more frequently platina foil was used. It is generally necessary
to mix a few drops of acid with the metallic compounds that are
subjected to this test, and that are placed in contact with the pla-
tina : on applying the zinc foil, the platina will soon become coated
with the reduced metal.
The author then enters into the detail of his experiments on the
efficacy of his method in the detection of arsenic, mercury, lead and
copper, in their different states of oxidation and saline combina-
tions ; and of the precautions necessary to be observed in the case
of each metal. He was enabled to detect the presence of arsenic,
by the exhibition of its characteristic properties, when only the
500dth part of a grain of that metal was deposited on the platina;
and in some instances could appreciate even the 2500dth part of a
grain, by the application of appropriate tests.
The author next ascertained that the electro- chemical method is
competent to the detection of very minute quantities of the differ-
ent metals, when their compounds are mixed with various vegeta-
ble and animal substances. Thus, the presence of arsenic would
readily be discovered when mixed with all the ordinary articles of
diet,
Royal Society. 39
diet, — such as wheaten flour, bread, starch, rice, potatoes, peas,
soup, sugar, vinegar, gruel, tea, milk, eggs, gelatine, and various
kinds of wine ; also when mixed with the principal secretions of
the alimentary canal, as bile and saliva. Arsenious acid mixed
with butter, lard and oils, or with sheep's blood, or ox bile, was de-
tected with great ease. Similar results were afforded by corrosive
sublimate, the acetate of lead, and sulphate of copper, added in
small quantity to the most complicated mixtures of organic sub-
stances. In some instances where the common tests do not act at
all, or only act fallaciously, the electro-chemical method acts with
the greatest certainty.
Anniversary Meeting, Nov. 30th. — On this occasion the President,
Davies Gilbert, Esq. M.P. delivered the following Address :
Having now, for the last time, to address you in reference to the
loss of eminent persons sustained by the Society in the preceding
year, I cannot but congratulate you on the difference between the
list now read, and that which we had the misfortune to hear twelve
months ago. Several individuals of great distinction, of extensive
acquirements and of splendid talents, are undoubtedly brought before
us on the present occasion : but advanced age or long absence from
this metropolis tend in some instances to lessen the pain we should
otherwise feel on the recital of their names. While in the former
case, persons at the very head of different departments in science,
of our own ages, and daily conversant with our social habits, were
suddenly taken from us, leaving the higher paths of science (as we
feared at the time) without a foot that might in future trace their
windings j and our more familiar society without that sparkling of
intellect, which invigorates the understanding, and at once elevates
and refines the common intercourses of life.
The individual, who unquestionably demands our first attention is
Major James Rennell, taken from us in his eighty-eighth year, la-
mented by all those who are capable of appreciating his science,
and by every one conversant with his active virtues or with the sim-
plicity and kindness of his manners.
I have endeavoured to collect some particulars respecting this
distinguished person in his early years.
Major Rennell was descended from an ancient and respectable
family in Devonshire, said to be of Norman origin. His father was
a Captain in the Royal Artillery, and fell at the siege of Maestrich.
James Rennell was born at his father's house, Upcott near Chud-
leigh, in Devonshire, on the 23rd of December, 1742. He entered
on the naval service of his country at a very early age, where his
spirit and exertions soon attracted the notice of Sir Hyde Parker,
with whom he sailed in the Brilliant frigate to India. After the con-
clusion of peace, his eager desire for active service induced him to
quit the navy, and he obtained a commission in the corps of engi-
neers belonging to the East India Company. His zeal and ability in
discharging the duties belonging to this station obtained for him the
friendship
40 Royal Society.
friendship of many superior officers, and especially of the great Lord
Clive j and he was soon promoted to the station of Surveyor General
in Bengal.
The fatigues attached to this civil employment were sufficient to
exhaust the strength of any European constitution, conducted as
were the surveys, with indefatigable industry, along the banks of the
great rivers, periodically overflown and perpetually damp. But these
were not all : Major Rennell in encountering dangers which are in-
separable from military renown, had suffered wounds so severe that
he was, 1 believe, twice left exposed on the field of battle, and never
recovered from their effects up to the latest period of his life. These
altogether compelled his return to England, and alone prevented
him from attaining the highest military stations.
Retired to private life, the whole energies of his mind were direct-
to scientific and literary pursuits. We have, founded on his exer-
tions in India : An Atlas of Bengal. — A Map of the Mogul Empire. —
Marches of the Army in India. — A Map of the Peninsula.
But the mental powers of Major Rennell were far from being con-
fined to one region of the world.
We have from his pen a work on the Geography of Africa. And with
a vigour of intellect that may well call to our recollection the greatest
of the Roman Censors, he acquired at an advanced age a competent
knowledge of Greek for consulting the early writers in that language,
and gave to the world, The Geographical System of Herodotus, in-
cluding the Expedition of Darius Hystaspes to Scythia; The Site of
Babylon ; The Temple of Jupiter Ammon ; The Periplus of Africa, &c. ;
and A Dissertation on the Locality of Troy.
The attention of this great investigator of every thing connected
with the surface of our globe, extended itself from mountains and
plains to the waters of the ocean j and produced a most curious in-
vestigation of the currents prevalent in the Atlantic, and of accumu-
lations caused by certain winds in the English Channel.
And lastly, I would mention a very ingenious mode of ascertain-
ing distances, and connecting with their bearings the actual localities
of spots in the Great Desert, by noting the average rate at which
camels travel over those worlds of sand.
This is a very imperfect catalogue of the works published by Major
Rennell ; and I am happy to add that several more exist in manu-
script, destined, we may hope, at no distant time, to appear.
Major Rennell has been honoured by the Copley Medal from this
Society -, by the Gold Medal from the Royal Society of Literature ;
he was a Corresponding Member of the Institute of France 3 and
a Member of various other Societies.
Our regret for such a man, exerting his intellectual powers with
so much energy and to such useful purposes, throughout the course
of a long life, and up to his eighty-eighth year, must always be
strong and sincere; but we console ourselves with the reflection
that he had attained the utmost ordinary limit of human life, amidst
the respect and esteem of all who knew him, and that his memory
is revered.
Mr.
Royal Society. 41
Mr. Chenevix was undoubtedly a man of considerable ability, ac-
quirement and industry. We have from him seven different commu-
nications to the Philosophical Transactions :
An analysis of the arseniates of copper. — Observations on Dr.
James's powders, with a method of preparing a similar substance in
the humid way. — Observations and experiments upon oxygenated and
hyperoxygenated muriatic acid. — An analysis of corundum. — Obser-
vations on the chemical nature of the humours of the eye. — Inquiries
concerning the nature of a metallic substance, under the title of
Palladium. — On the action of platinum and mercury on each other.
In the latter years of his life, which could not have reached three-
score, he appears to have abandoned chemistry, and to have fallen on
speculations wholly unworthy of being noticed from this place.
The only remaining individual who has taken a direct active part
in our labours, by contributing to the Transactions, is Mr. James
Lewis Smithson, and of this gentleman I must be allowed to, speak
with affection. We were at Oxford together, of the same College,
and our acquaintance continued to the time of his decease.
Mr. Smithson, then called Macie, and an undergraduate, had the
reputation of excelling all other resident members of the University in
the knowledge of chemistry. He was early honoured by an intimate
acquaintance with Mr. Cavendish j he was admitted into the Royal
Society, and soon after presented a paper on the very curious
concretion frequently found in the hollow of bambil canes, named
Tabasheer. This he found to consist almost entirely of silex, exist-
ing in a manner similar to what Davy long afterwards discovered in
the epidermis of reeds and grasses.
Mr. Smithson enriched our Transactions with seven other commu-
nications : — A chemical analysis of some calamines. — Account of a
discovery of native minium. — On the composition and crystalliza-
tion of certain sulphurets from Huel Boys in Cornwall. — On the
composition of zeolite. — On a substance procured from the elm-tree,
called Vlmine. — On a saline substance from Mount Vesuvius. —
Facts relative to the colouring matter of vegetables.
He was the friend of Dr. Wollaston, and at the same time his rival
in the manipulation and analysis of small quantities. Ayaflij £' epi$ rfte
PpoToiffi. Mr. Smithson frequently repeated an occurrence with
much pleasure and exultation, as exceeding any thing that could be
brought into competition with it,— and this must apologize for my in-
troducing what might otherwise be deemed an anecdote too light and
trifling on such an occasion as the present.
Mr. Smithson declared, that happening to observe a tear gliding
down a lady's cheek, he endeavoured to catch it on a crystal vessel :
that one-half of the drop escaped, but having preserved the other
half, he submitted it to reagents, and detected what was then called
microcosmic salt, with muriate of soda ; and, I think, three or four
more saline substances -, held in solution.
For many years past Mr. Smithson has resided abroad, principally,
I believe, on account of his health : but he carried with him the
N.S. Vol.9. No. 4-9. Jan. 1831. G esteem
42 Royal Society.
esteem and regard of various privute friends, and of a still larger
number of persons who appreciated and admired his acquirements.
Of gentlemen who have not taken a direct share in the labours o.
this Society, I would notice Mr. Henry Browne.
No one, I believe, was ever more distinguished in the important
station of commanding those vessels which secure to England the
commerce of nations unknown to former ages j nor did any one
more largely contribute towards introducing the modern refinements
of nautical astronomy, which skilfully pursued, and under favourable
circumstances determine the place of a ship with greater accuracy,
than what in the early part of the last century would have been
thought amply sufficient for headlands, roadsteads, or harbours of the
first importance. And 1 cannot omit this opportunity of congratu-
lating all those who addict themselves to astronomical pursuits, or
who feel an interest in the perfection of geography and navigation,
on the great improvements recently suggested and likely to be made
in our national ephemeris ; improvements which, in part at least, I
hoped to have got adopted twelve years ago : but now under more for-
tunate auspices I flatter myself that they will be carried into execu-
tion, and their practical advantages cannot fail of being very great.
Retired to private life, Mr. Browne usefully amused his declining
years by a continuance of his favourite pursuits j and up to the latest
period of his life he patronised, encouraged, and promoted practical
astronomy.
Lieutenant-Colonel Mackenzie has, I understand, cultivated sci-
ence in the East, but no particulars have come to my knowledge.
Sir Lucas Pepys is well known to have attained considerable emi-
nence in his profession.
The Rev. Stephen Weston will long be remembered for his learn-
ing, abilities, good nature, and for his eccentric compositions on va-
rious subjects, and in different languages. And for one at least,
I may truly say, that it would gratify me to find a more permanent
reputation secured for this excellent man, by a collection being given
to the public of his numerous Opuscula.
The late Duke of Atholl demands also attention, not on account of
his high station, but as a patron of science, and especially of that
most important, interesting and rapidly improving branch of science,
Geology.
Geology, deriving its birth from the continent of Europe, seems to
have been drawn to this island by the genius of Dr. Hutton, and
here to have grown with the vigour of youth under the fostering hands
of many who now hear me, and also of a gentleman to whom the
Duke of Atholl afforded every assistance to be derived from his large
property, and his extensive influence.
The Duke of Atholl has also at once enriched and decorated his
country j and afforded an instructive example to all other proprietors
of similar wastes, by clothing tracts of land, incapable of a different
cultivation, with the most valuable of the pines. His forests of larch,
which have acquired maturity in the course of a single life, promise
not merely to supersede the use of foreign deal, but to allow of our
reserving
Royal Society. 43
reserving the tree always esteemed the peculiar pride and boast of
this island, for the construction of ships of war on the largest scale.
Another individual remains, whom no technicality in regard to
pursuits can prevent our noticing with honour, on this occasion :
whose very deportment indicated the elegance of his mind j and
the justness of whose remarks on every thing connected with art,
gave assurance of the perfection invariably found to exist in all sub-
jects created by the touch of his magic pencil.
Sir Thomas Lawrence stands proudly preeminent among native
artists, and perhaps among artists of the whole world, in that de-
partment to which he exclusively applied the powers of his genius :
nor would, 1 am persuaded, the great painter of the preceding age
have been unwilling to admit him as his equal in the delineation of
portraits — not the servile copies of individual features, but poetic
likenesses, where every excellence is heightened, where the mind is de-
pictured, and where the particular person seems to embody the class
of virtues, of intellectual powers, or of amiable qualities designating
the moral order in which he is arranged.
This constitutes unquestionably a department of historical paint-
ing, not inferior, perhaps, nor even less difficult of acquirement than
the others, where all is imaginary.
The name of Reynolds must, and, 'for various reasons, ever will
stand first on the list of those who have cultivated in this country the
whole extent of an art, the most refined, requiring talents the most
rare, and at the same time the most delightful of all that have sprung
from the human mind j — but that of Lawrence will be hailed by the
Academy as their Spes altera, and their Decus gemellum.
I am not aware of the loss of any Fellow of the Society on our
Foreign List.
Gentlemen,
Your Council for the past year have awarded one of the Royal
Medals to Dr. Brewster, for his various communications on Light,
printed in the last volume of your Transactions.
Unable as we are to investigate the real essences of physical bodies,
it is impossible nicely to discriminate their relative importance by
observing the external or accidental properties they may assume :
but light is so preeminent in all its relations ; as the cause of vision j
in the rapidity of its flight, or of its vibration j in its connection
with heat ; in its adorning every thing in nature by a secondary
quality ; — that no more could be wanting to secure its place at the
head of that class of transcendant or imponderable substances, which
appear to animate the material world.
Other properties have, however, been recently discovered, not less
wonderful than those that were previously known, and which promise
to decide the long agitated question between corpuscular projection
and the vibration of a fluid at once inconceivably elastic and rare.
In all these discoveries Dr. Brewster has taken an ample share.
And as a public testimony of the sense entertained by the Royal
Society of their importance, and of his ability and exertions, I have
the honour of presenting to him the Royal Medal.
G 2 The
44- Royal Society.
The discovery of any new elementary substance has ever been
deemed an occurrence worthy of being marked by some public de-
claration of applause.
The ascertaining chlorine to be, in the actual state of our know-
ledge, one of this class, has justly been considered as among the
most brilliant of Sir Humphry Davy's achievements in chemical sci-
ence. Iodine has been added to the supporters of combustion, oc-
cupying, like oxygen and chlorine, the negative extremity of the scale
in Electro-chemistry.
More recently another substance, apparently intermediate be-
tween chlorine ami iodine, has been derived from the same source as
that yielding the latter, — from the water of the sea -, and from its pe-
culiar odour denominated brome, and subsequently bromine. An
ample account of the properties distinguishing this substance may
be found in a memoir by the discoverer, Mons. Balard of Montpelier,
read before the Academy of Sciences, published in the dnnales de
Chirnie, vol. xxxii. p. 337, and abridged in the twenty-second volume
of the Quarterly Journal of Science, p. 384.
It will be seen by referring to the Second Part of our Transactions
for the present year, that Dr. Daubeny has detected bromine in
various springs 5 and it appears that the action of this substance,
on the living system, unites with its chemical qualities in associ-
ating it with iodine. So marked and so decisive indeed are its effects,
that various medical waters are conjectured to owe their beneficial
qualities to the presence, in extremely minute portions, of this ele-
mentary body, unknown and unsuspected previously to the re-
searches of M. Balard.
To him, therefore, I am directed by your Council to deliver the
other Royal Medal, in testimony of the high respect entertained for
his ability, industry, and skill displayed in the discovery of bromine.
The Copley and the Rumford Medals have not been awarded.
The Society next proceeded to the election of the Council and
Officers for the ensuing year, when the following were declared to
be the lists :—
Council. — Peter Barlow, Esq. ; John Barlow, Esq. ; William Ca-
vendish, Esq.; Sir Astley Cooper, Bart.; Henry Ellis, Esq.: Mi-
chael Faraday, Esq. ; Colonel Fitzclarence ; Davies Gilbert, Esq. ;
Captain Henry Kater ; Viscount Melville ; Sir George Murray,
.Bart.; Rev. George Peacock ; Sir Robert Peel, Bart. ; A. Wilson
Philip, M-D. ; John Pond, Esq.; George Rennie, Esq. ; N. Aylward
Vigors, Esq.
President : His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, K.G. —
Treasurer: John William Lubbock, Esq. — Secretaries: Peter Mark
Roget, M.D , and John George Children, Esq.
Dec. 9.— -A paper was read, entitled, " On the performance of
fluid refracting telescopes, and on the applicability of this prin-
ciple of construction to very large instruments." By Peter Bar-
low, Esq.F.R.S. Corresponding Member of the Institute of France,
of the Imperial Academy of Petersburg, &c.
Jn the first part of this paper the author adduces proofs of the
efficacy
Royal Society. 45
efficacy of telescopes constructed with fluid lenses, on the princi-
ples developed in his two former papers, published in the Phil.
Trans., in separating double stars, resolving nebulae, and exhibiting
different appearances in the discs of the planets. He institutes, with
this view, a comparison between the performance of his telescope
of 8 inches aperture and 12 feet in length, with Mr. Herschel's
telescope, made with his new 20 inches speculum, and with Sir
James South's new refractor, of 12 inches aperture and 20 feet fo-
cal length. In Mr. Barlow's telescope 7; Persei, which is marked as
double in South and Herschel's catalogue, is seen distinctly sextuple.
The stars composing a Orionis, marked in the catalogue as two dis-
tinct sets of stars, each triple, are shown in Mr. Barlow's telescope as
being both quadruple, with two very fine stars between them. A
very fine double star was discovered by Mr. Herschel between the
two which compose /3 Capricorni, and was considered by him as a
very severe test : this star is seen distinctly in Mr. Barlow's tele-
scope, but not double.
Messier's 22nd nebula is resolved by Sir James South's tele-
scope into an immense number of brilliant small stars. In Mr. Bar-
low's telescope the same resolution is effected, though somewhat
less completely.
The two last-mentioned instances he considers as affording ex-
cellent criteria of the exact limits of the power of the instrument.
Mr. Barlow next examined Jupiter and Mars in order to com-
pare the defining powers of the two instruments. Both these planets
were more sharply defined in Sir James South's telescope than in
that of the author, but in this respect the superiority of the former
instrument was by no means great : and in the exhibition of the
shadow of one of Jupiter's satellites passing over his disc, there
was no apparent difference between the two instruments. Their
powers seemed as nearly as possible equal when applied to Mars.
An experience of three years has not shown the slightest per-
ceptible change in either the quantity or quality of the fluid em-
ployed as the lens of the author's three-inch telescope ; neither has
the glass inclosing it suffered any diminution of its transparency.
The author conceives it therefore to be sufficiently established,
that sulphuret of carbon is capable of supplying all the properties
of flint-glass, which are required in the construction of a telescope;
and moreover, that in consequence of its high dispersive power, it
admits of being placed so far behind the principal lens of plate- or
crown-glass, as to require to be only one half of the diameter of the
latter. This combination also gives a focal power of one and a
half times the length of the tube ; and consequently the telescope
may be reduced in length to two-thirds of that which a glass tele-
scope of the usual construction would require for an equal amount
of spherical aberration. In the conclusion of his paper, the author
proposes what he considers as a great improvement in the plan of
construction for very large telescopes on this principle : it consists
in making the object- lenses double, by which their spherical aber-
ration may at once be reduced to about one-fourth of its present
amount
46 Linmean Society.
amount, and will then admit of easy correction by a fluid lens,
without requiring the inconvenient curvatures for its surfaces which
are now necessary. This construction will also be attended with
the advantage of requiring a much smaller thickness in the plate-
glass, and will thus facilitate the selection of proper pieces of glass
for being worked into an object lens.
From all these considerations, the author entertains the confi-
dent expectation of being able, with proper assistance, to construct
a telescope of 2 feet aperture and 24 feet in length, which
would as much exceed the most powerful telescopes of the pre-
sent day, as these exceed the refractors which existed at the
close of the last century.
LINN^AN SOCIETY.
Nov. 2. — The session was commenced by the reading a part of
a paper, by John Hogg, Esq. F.L.S. (continued at the subsequent
meetings), intitled Observations on some of the Classical Plants of
Sicily. The author, who had made ageneral collection of the plants
of the island in 1826, in consequence of the recent publication of
the Sicilian Flora, of Presl and Gussone, limits himself in this com-
munications to the classical plants, which he has illustrated by very
interesting citations from Theophrastus, Dioscorides, Pliny, the
Syracusan poets Theocritus and Moschus, and other writers of
antiquity.
Nov. 16. — Read, An account by Lieut.-colonel Bowler, accom-
panied by drawings, of a curious species of Palm, apparently iden-
tical with the Doum Palm of Upper Egypt (Hyphcsne coriacea of
Gaertner), found in the Cutcherry Compound at Masulipatam, and
also near Kongaram in the Teloogoo Compound, both in the Go-
vernment of Madras. The trees were from 18 to 50 feet high,
with their stems generally twice forked, but some were found with
an elongated simple stem having as many as six heads. The fronds
are used by the natives for thatching, and the hard fibrous nuts,
when steeped in water and beaten, are made into brushes for white-
washing their houses. Colonel Bowler observes, '« The Sunasies,
whenever they can procure them, carry the stalks of the fronds in
their hands, and impose upon the ignorant natives, by attributing
to them many surprising virtues, and pretending they cut them
from a curious tree which was in a large forest at an incalculable
distance.
" The inhabitants of Kongaram and the neighbouring hamlets
look upon this tree as the guardian of their jungle, and hold it in
some degree of veneration ; conceiving it has, as I am told, its San-
scrit name Kulpa Vroochum* implies, the power of fulfilling the de-
sires and wishes of mankind, at least such as from firmness of heart
and morals have faith in its supposed virtues."
* A holy tree in the gardens of Tnclra. It is said in the Pooranas to have
been found in the ocean when Krishna churned it, and that it was given to
Jndra, telling him that it would grant the wishes of all beings.
The
Geological Society. 47
The tree had probably been introduced from Egypt by the Arabs.
The paper and drawings were communicated by the Council of
the Royal Asiatic Society.
Dec. 9. — Read a paper On the plant which yields the Gum Am-
moniacum, by Mr. David Don, Lib. L.S.
Although the gum Ammoniacum has held a place in the Phar-
macopoeia from a very early period, yet the plant itself has hitherto
remained wholly unknown. It proves to be a new genus, belong-
ing to the group of UmbellifercK, named by DeCandolle Pence-
danecz, differing essentially from Ferula and Opopannx in its large
cup-shaped epigynous disk, and in having solitary resiniferous canals.
The specimen was obtained, in the districts where the gum Ammo-
niacum is collected, by Lieut. -colonel Wright, of the Royal Engi-
neers on his way through Persia from India, and was by him pre-
sented along with other dried plants to the Linnsean Society. Every
part of the specimen is covered by drops of a gum, possessing all the
characters of gum Ammoniacum, and this circumstance alone would
seem sufficient to remove all doubt on the subject, but Mr. Don has
carefully compared it with the fruit and fragments of the inflores-
cence found intermixed with the gum in the shops, and he finds
them to accord in every respect, so that the plant may now be con-
sidered as fully ascertained. Dioscorides derives the name Ammo-
niacum from Ammon or Hammon, the Jupiter of the Libyans, whose
temple was situated in the desert of Cyrene, near to which the
plant was said to grow; but as the plant is now ascertained to come
from the north of Persia, and not from Africa, Mr. Don is disposed
to consider the name Ammoniacum or Armoniacum, as it is indif-
ferently written by ancient authors, as merely a corruption of Ar-
meniacum. We subjoin Mr. Don's essential character of the
genus, and some of the more important parts of the detailed de-
scription.
DOREMA. Discus epigynus cyathiformis. Achenia compressa,
marginata: costis 3 intermediis disiinctis, filiformibus. Valleciilce uni-
vittatae. Commissura 4-vittata.
Herba (Persica) robusta, facie fere Opopanacis. Folia ampla, sub-
bipinnata. Umbella prolifera, subracemosa. Umbellulae globoscet
breviter pedunculate. Flores sessiles, lanuginiimmersi!
The species is Dorema Ammoniacum.
Mr. Don concludes his paper with a few observations on the plant
which yields the analogous gum Galbanum, which he regards as
constituting also a new genus allied to Siler, but differing essentially
in the absence of dorsal resiniferous canals to the fruit, and in the
commissure being furnished with two only. He proposes for the
plant the name of Galbanum officinale. The Bubon Galbanum of
Linnaeus possesses neither the smell nor taste of Galbanum, and is
altogether a totally different plant.
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Nov. 3. — In consequence of the Resolutions passed at the general
meeting held on the 18th of last June, changing the evenings of
ordinary
48 Geological Society -.
ordinary meeting from the first and third Fridays in each month,
from November to June, inclusive, to the alternate Wednesdays,
the Society assembled on this evening for the session.
The reading of a paper entitled " Remarks on the Formation of
Alluvial Deposits," by the Rev. James Yates, M.A. F.L.S.,F.G.S.,
was begun.
Nov. 17. — The reading of the paper on the Formation of Alluvial
Deposits, by the Rev. James Yates, begun at the last meeting, was
concluded.
After adverting to the importance of this branch of Geology to
the successful study of all the more ancient sedimentary deposits,
and to the explanation of the methods by which bare rocks are
converted into productive soils, the author proposes to describe
some of the processes which regulate the production of alluvium,
and the principal forms which it assumes.
I. — He considers first those processes of disintegration, not de-
pendent upon the action of running water, by which materials
are supplied for the formation of alluvium. These are of two
kinds.
1.— Earthquakes and landslips, by which large masses are detached
suddenly from the mountains, and fall occasionally with so great
an impetus as to extend across valleys.
2. — Other processes, such as frost and oxidation, which are far
more important in their effects. The agents of this class always di-
vide rocks according to their natural structure of separation, so
that every fragment of the debris is bounded by the plane of its
cleavage. The fragments as they fall produce two principal forms ;
(a) the lengthened talus, which in general covers the base of all
calcareous, and conglomerate or sedimentary rocks ; and (£) the
acute cone, which is discharged from the ravines of highly inclined
schistose rocks, having a cleavage which meets the planes of stra-
tification at an acute angle.
II. — The materials thus furnished are distributed by streams,
which round off their angles by continual friction, so as to convert
them into pebbles, sand, and mud. The hard and heavy fragments
driven along by streams, also wear down the rocks in place, the
latter being acted upon according to their degrees of softness and
their proneness to disintegration.
When the detritus thus produced is discharged from a lateral
into a principal ravine, or valley, the divergence of the stream gives
it the form of a cone ; but as the force of running water carries
loose materials much further than they would fall by their own
weight, the form thus produced is not an acute but an obtuse cone.
In the Alps some of these obtuse cones attain 500 feet in height,
and three miles in diameter, bearing upon their surfaces forests
and villages.
The quantity of solid materials descending over the apex of an
obtuse cone, is sometimes so great as to stop up the valley. The
waters of the principal stream then accumulate above the obstruc-
tion, and after the subsidence of the lateral stream, tear away the
base
Geological Society. 49
base of the encroaching cone. This form the author designates
as the obtuse cone dipt at the base.
Narrow valleys and plains are frequently divided by transverse
ledges of gravel. The formation of these is attributed to the opera-
tion of rivers, which it is supposed had first accumulated their de-
tritus in dams, and that these dams, having been successively broken
down after the subsidence of floods, were re-produced upon a rise
of the streams.
Numerous causes are assigned which vary the depth of streams.
These are, rains; the melting of Alpine snows and glaciers; the
breaking up of ice in rivers; and the bursting of lakes.
III.— Whenever detritus is conveyed by running into standing
water, a separation takes place between those finer particles which
are held in suspension, and those which it only rolls along the
bottom.
As the debris of horizontally stratified rocks forms a length-
ened talus at their base, so the loose and heavy materials washed
down the side of a mountain, and conveyed into a lake, as soon as
they reach its margin fall in a steep slope of the same description.
Layer after layer is thus deposited, the result of which is, that a
terrace is gradually formed, dipping under the surface of the lake
with a gentle slope, and then abruptly terminating in a steep de-
clivity.
The author next endeavours to show, that what is commonly
called a Delta is more strictly speaking the Sector of a Circle.
After describing numerous examples of forms of alluvial matter, in
artificial reservoirs and in lakes, the author alludes to the probable
existence of similar deposits upon a vast scale in the deep and still
waters of the ocean; and considering the English, St. George's and
Bristol Channels, to be of the nature of estuaries, he observes, that
the arc of the Sector is found encircling the south-western extremity
of Ireland on the one hand, and the north-western angle of France on
the other, and coinciding with a line along which the water deepens
suddenly from one to more than two hundred French fathoms.
It is then shown that lakes are filled up, not by depositions in
their deep, central water, but by the gradual advance of all their
lateral terraces and cones.
IV. — When two streams meet, they neutralize each other's mo-
tion, and a deposition takes place at the point of quiescence.
Peculiar appearances ensue, when streams meet at different levels.
If a lateral stream brings down a disproportionate quantity of de-
tritus, its bed is raised, but is abruptly terminated by the action
of the principal stream. Hence the valleys of mountainous re-
gions exhibit not only level terraces formed in lakes, but others the
edge of which have a steep declivity.
Finally, the author presumes that the forms which alluvium puts
on in rivers, are produced also in seas, and in the ocean, by the
opposition and union of currents flowing either at the same or at
different levels.
A short Memoir was then read, entitled " Remarks on the Ex-
istence of Anoplotherium and Palaeotherium in the lower Fresh-
N.S. Vol. 9. No. 49. Jan. 1831. H water
50 Geological Society.
water Formation at Binstead, near Ryde, in the Isle of Wight," by
S. P. Pratt, Esq. F.G.S. F.L.S.
The author lately discovered, in the lower and marly beds of the
quarries of Binstead, in the Isle of Wight, and which belong to the
lower fresh- water formation, a tooth of an Anoplotherium, and two
teeth of the genus Palaeotherium, animals characteristic of strata of
the same age in the Paris basin.
These remains were accompanied, not only by several other frag-
ments of the bones of Pachydermata (chiefly in a rolled and in-
jured state), but also by the jaw of a new species of Ruminantia,
apparently closely allied to the genus Moschus. From the oc-
currence of the latter fossil, the author infers that a race of ani-
mals existed at this geological epoch, whose habits required that
the surface of the earth should have been in a very different state
from that which it has been supposed to have presented, in con-
sequence of the frequent discovery of the remains of animals who
lived almost entirely in marshes.
Dec. 1.— A paper was read, entitled « An Explanatory Sketch
of a Geological Map of Moravia, and the West of Hungary," by
Dr. A. Boue, For. Mem. G.S.&c.
The author in presenting this Map to the Geological Society,
states that it has been made with the assistance of Messrs. Teubner,
Rittler, and Von Lill von Lilienbach ; and that with the latter
gentleman in particular he has recently worked out many details,
which it is hoped may rectify certain errors in the great Geological
Map of Germany, published by Schropp of Berlin.
Moravia has been in part described by Andre, Von Albin Hein-
rich, Von Lill, Von Oeynhausen, and Beudant ; but the two lasc-
mentioned writers, it is stated, have not visited the country.
This region is made up of the union of three principal chains
of hills, the Eastern or Bohmerwaldgebirge, the Sudeten or Silesian
mountains, and the Western Carpathians, the contact of the two
first of which is hidden by a red sandstone of the coal-measures, and
green, chalk marl.
The hilly region called the Gesenke, consists of grauwacke, and
extends across Moravia to near the Bohemian range. The Gesenke
is separated from the Carpathians by the tertiary and alluvial val-
leys of the Upper Oder.
The more ancient and longitudinal valleys, in Moravia, have a
general direction from W.S.W. to E.N.E. ; and are with some few
exceptions, cut through transversely by the present streams.
In the part of Hungary and Gallicia indicated on this Map, the
rivers on the contrary flow for the most part in longitudinal valleys,
parallel to the Carpathians, as the Nitra, Gran, Vistula, and the
Waag, although the latter for a certain space runs through a trans-
versal rent in primary rocks.
In the Western groups are numerous Scotch and Scandina-
vian minerals. Many of the oldest stratified rocks are crossed
by large dyke-like elliptic bodies, running from south-west to
north-east. The respective characters of the primary Sudeten
and Tatra mountains are then described. The grauwacke dis-
tricts
Geological Society. 51
tricts are stated to differ little from those of the Hartz and the
South of Scotland ; and the caverns which abound in the blueish gray
limestone, subordinate to this formation, may, the author conceives,
have been produced by the acidulous waters which are still so
abundant in the country, as at Gefatter Loch, &c. This old lime-
stone formation abounds in Madrepores, Caryophyllia, Encrinites,
and Orthoceratites.
The author is of opinion, that the sienite was erupted during the
period between the formation of the grauwacke, and the primary
chain of Bohemia. This sienite has very various characters, being
sometimes porphyritic, at other times associated with talcose and
quartzose rocks, &c.
Above the sienite lies a coarse, red conglomerate, which is con-
nected in Bohemia with a great deposit of red sandstone with
coal. Here the author corrects an error in Schropp's Map, where
the district is coloured as new red sandstone j instead of which, he
considers it to be of the age of the Scotch red coal-grits.
The other coal deposit of the basin of the Oder is in aluminous
and bituminous slate, with gray sandstone, and many vegetable im-
pressions, but without red sandstone.
The Zechstein is wholly absent in these parts, and the true red
marl is very scarce.
The Muschelkalk, however, occupies some space in Upper Silesia
and Poland, and contains most of its characteristic fossils.
The Jurassic and Alpine limestones extend over a large portion
of the Map j and the dolomite, the upper beds of which abound
with Madrepores, Encrinites, Diceras, and Terebratulae, is overlaid
by the Carpathian or Vienna sandstone (Andrychow, &c.).
The Carpathian sandstone fills a cavity between a range of true
Alpine limestone on one side, and Jura limestone on the other, and
is easily divisible into three parts.
1 . The lowest division is marly and calcareous, containing Fu-
coides intricatus and F.Jurcatus, and has been mistaken on Schropp's
Map for transition limestone. It is cut through by dykes of ser-
pentine and greenstone.
12. The middle group is more quartzose.
3. The highest is characterized by reddish marls, several beds
of ruiniform, compact limestone, some Fucoides, Encrinites, Lepa-
dites, Tellinites, resembling those of Solenhofen ; Possidonia, Tere-
bratulae, Ammonites, and Belemnites. This triple system of the
Carpathians is overlaid by a group of sandstone which the author
considers to be the "green-sand;" this is composed of conglome-
rate, nummulite limestone, and green, calcareous beds with Gry-
phcea columba, Ostrea vesicularis, &c.f also with superior beds re-
sembling the Planer Kalk of the Germans. The greensand of Mo-
ravia has all the characters of that of North-western Europe, pass-
ing upwards into a superior, marly greensand, with fossils, and for-
ming long, continuous plateaux. For details the author here refers
to previous publications of his own, and to sections with which his
Map is accompanied.
H 2 Chalk
52 Geological Society.
Chalk does not exist in the Carpathians, nor could the author
recognise it at Cracow, the limestone of which he refers to the
Upper Jurassic, although he states that chalk is found in the plains
of Poland, Eastern Gallicia, Podolia, Volhynia, and Southern
Russia.
The tertiary deposits of the countries described, though be-
longing to two distinct basins, have everywhere the same cha-
racters. The low grounds of Gallicia are supposed to have
formed a part of the great basin of Northern Europe, which must
have connected the Baltic with the Black Sea, and perhaps with
the seas and lakes of Asia. The tertiary beds of Moravia, on the
contrary, he considers to have been deposited in an arm of that
sea, which must have occupied the great depressions of Hungary
and Austria, communicating with the Mediterranean through Ba-
varia and Switzerland, inasmuch as these deposits, whether on
the North or on the South of the Carpathians, have a common
character. The various tertiary groups are identified with those
of the sub-Apennines ; the blue marls, and yellow, sandy marls,
besides the characteristic shells, contain salt, sulphur, gypsum,
&c. ; and in some parts there are freshwater shells, including the
My til us of the Danube. In respect to the place of the salt of
Wieliczka, the author, differing from MM. von Lill and Keferstein,
who had placed it in the Carpathian sandstone, considers it to be
of tertiary age, because it is associated with sub-Apennine shells,
and is connected with upper marine sandstone, and limestone.
Above the blue saliferous marls is a vast extent of molasse with
Pectens, Ostreae, and many fossil vegetables. The beds of this de-
posit are highly inclined along the foot of the Carpathians. At
Nicholschitz and Krepitz in Moravia, and at Zazlusin and Dobro-
mil in Gallicia, it is represented by marly, siliceous deposits, with
semiopal, and fishes, as well as Hymenopterous, Dipterous, and
Coleopterous insects.
The sandy banks, with Ostreae and Cerithii, which abound in
Moravia, Hungary and Gallicia, are referred to an age interme-
diate between the blue saliferous marl and the molasse just de-
scribed, and are considered to be older than the conglomerates
and coral limestone of Austria.
The older alluvium of these districts, and particularly that of the
valley of the Oder, besides boulders and gravel, contains, existing
species of fresh-water shells mixed in beds of marl with bones of ex-
tinct animals and fossils.
Of basaltic rocks, the cone of Randenberg is scoriaceous, and has
been protruded through grauwacke. Near Barrow a felspathose
rock has pierced the Carpathic sandstone, converting it into jaspi-
deous rocks resembling those of the Giant's Causeway, and the
IsleofSkye,&c.
The author refers to M. Beudant for full particulars of the tra-
chyte, but begs to distinguish certain trachytic conglomerates, as
being of aqueous origin, from the trachytic or igneous breccia.
An original "manuscript" Map of all the districts described in the
previo us
Zoological Society. 53
previous Memoir of Dr. Bone", was presented by M. von Lill von
Lilienbach, who amongst other novelties has discovered two cones
of trachyte near the mercury mines, in the Carpathian sandstone
of Krosciensko. •
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Nov. 9. —11. W. Hay, Esq. in the Chair.
The Chairman opened the business of the Meeting, by stating the
objects contemplated by the Council in the formation of the Com-
mittee. He explained these objects in conformity with the sub-
joined Extracts from the Minutes and Report of the Council.
Extracts from the Minutes of Council.
July 21. — " On a consideration of the advantages likely to ac-
crue to the Society, by cultivating an extensive correspondence on
subjects of Natural History ; it was Resolved, that a Committee be
appointed, to be entitled * The Committee of Science and Corre-
spondence,1 for the purpose of suggesting and discussing questions
and experiments in animal physiology, of exchanging communi-
cations with the Corresponding Members of the Society, of promo-
ting the importation of rare and useful Animals, and of receiving
and preparing reports upon matters connected with Zoology.
" That the Committee be requested, in the first instance, to pre-
pare a Report upon the Animals, for the importation of which it is
most desirable that the Council should take measures, whether for
purposes of utility or exhibition, under the heads of the seve-
ral countries in which they are produced ; and pointing out the
means which should be taken for their preservation, either on the
passage or after their arrival; and secondly, to obtain all informa-
tion possible, upon the subject of the importation and breeding of
Fish."
Oct. 6.—" It was ordered, that the Committee of Science, nomi-
nated at the Council of the 21st of July, should be requested to meet
at the Society's rooms, at eight o'clock on Tuesday the 9th of
November, and on every subsequent second and fourth Tuesday of
the month. It was also Resolved, that the Committee should have
power to add to their numbers ; and that the members of the Coun-
cil should be ex officio members of the Committee."
Extract from the Report of the Council.
Nov. 4. — " It has been objected to the Council, that but little of
their attention has been directed to the advancement of Zoological
Science; and the apology which they have to offer is, that their time
has been necessarily devoted to the very complicated and extensive
arrangements under which the formation of their present establish-
ments has been begun and accomplished. They have latterly been
particularly anxious to place the responsibility of detail upon their
salaried officers, so that their own time may be principally applied
to more general superintendence, and particularly to the encou-
ragement of scientific researches: they have, therefore, endeavoured
to establish meetings of such members of the Society as have prin-
cipally applied themselves to science; at which, communications
upon
54? Zoological Society.
upon Zoological subjects may be received and discussed, and occa-
sional selections made for the purpose of publication. They propose
from time to time to publish in the cheapest form an abstract from
the most interesting of these communications ; and they trust that
the first of these papers will be ready for delivery on the first of
January, 1831. They further propose, that these meetings shall
take place on the second and fourth Tuesdays in every month; and
they have invited, for the 9th of November next, such members
of the Society as appeared likely, from their scientific pursuits, to
take an interest in their views.
" The Council have moreover suggested that letters be sent to
the superintendents of the principal Menageries in Europe, viz. at
Paris, Leyden, Munich, Vienna, Madrid, &c. proposing mutual
communication of all observations upon these matters, arid an
occasional interchange of such animals as may be most easily pro-
duced or imported in each country. They have also proposed, that
circulars be addressed to the Corresponding Members of the So-
ciety, requesting particular information upon such facts of Na-
tural History as it may be desirable to investigate at each place ;
and they further propose that a prize be offered for the Essay which
shall contain the best and most extensive practical knowledge upon
the importation and domestication of foreign animals in this and
other countries."
The Chairman concluded his Address by calling on the Members,
collectively and individually, to forward the views of the Council,
by communicating such facts as might tend to the advancement of
Zoological Science.
Mr. Vigors called the attention of the Committee to a Galli-
naceous group of America, which supplied in that continent the
place of the Quails of the Old World. Of this group, or the
genus Ortyx of modern authors, which a few years back was
known to ornithologists by two well ascertained species only, he
exhibited specimens of six species ; namely, of Ort. virginianus and
californicus, which had been the earliest described, the former by
Linnaeus, the latter by Dr. Latham ; of Ort. capistratus, a species
lately named and figured in Sir W. Jardine and Mr. Selby's " Il-
lustrations of Ornithology"; and of Ort. Douglasii, Montezunuz, and
squamatus, which had been characterized by himself in the "Zoolo-
gical Journal ". In addition to these species he exhibited plates of
three others of which he regretted that he could obtain no spe-
cimens in London ; namely, of Ort. macrourus, figured by Sir W.
Jardine and Mr. Selby ; of Ort. Sonninii, figured by M. Temminck
in the "Planches Coloriees " [No. 75.] ; and of the Ort.cristatus, fi-
gured in the " Planches Enluminees" [No. 126.] of M. Buffon. To
these nine described species, he added two others apparently new
to science, and which he characterized under the names of Ort. ne~
oxenus and affinis ; stating at the same time his doubts whether
both might not be the females or young males of the imperfectly
known species Ort. Sonniniior cristalus. — The following are the spe-
cific characters of these birds.
ORTYX
Zoological Society. 55
OKTYX NEOXENUS. Ort. brunneus, supra fusco rufoque undulatim
variegatus, subtus pallido-rufo maculatus ; gents lateribusque
colli rujescentibus ; caudu brunneo-Jusco rufoque undulatim
Jasciatd ; cristd brevi brunnea.
Statura minor quam Ort. californicus .
ORTYX AFFINIS. Ort. pallide brunneus ; dorso alisquefusco pdli-
doque rufo variegatis ; caudd pallescenti-brunnea, fusco al~
boque undulatim Jasciatd ; capite, collo, peclore, abdomineque
riJL/escentibus, hoc albo guttato, illis albo nigroque variegatis ;
Jronte apiceque cristce elongate rufo-brunnece albescentibus.
Statura minor qui\m species praecedens.
Mr. Vigors proceeded to state, that individuals of four of the
above-mentioned species, namely, Ort. virginianus, californicus,
neoxenus and Montezumce, had been exhibited in a living state in the
Gardens of the Society. Specimens of the former three, he added,
were still alive there, having braved the severity of the last winter
without any artificial warmth. They were all natives of the northern
parts of America. The Ort. virginiajius, he also mentioned, had
bred in this country, and had even become naturalized in Suffolk.
He state A in addition, that Capt. P. P. King, R.N. had pointed
out to him, amongst his collection lately brought home from the
Straits of Magellan, specimens of a bird which he made no doubt
was the same as the Cattle des Isles Malouines of M. Buffon, figured
in the " Planches Enluminees " [No. 222.], and which was subse-
quently named Perdix Falklandica by Dr. Latham. This bird has
been added to the genus Orlyx by modern authors, but erroneously -t
as the structure of the wing, in which consists the chief difference
between the Ortyx of America and the genus Coturnixor the Quails
of the Old World, associates the Magellanic bird more closely with
the latter group, than with the birds of its own continent. Mr. Vi-
gors mentioned, that the form which characterizes the true Quails
extends to Australia, where several species are found. And referring
to the deviation in form, which partially separates the South
American bird from the allied groups of the same continent, and
brings it in contact with those of Australia, and through them
with those of the old continent, he dwelt upon the beautiful series
of geographical affinity, which in this instance united the zoology
of the southern extreme of the New World with that of the nearest
portions of the southern hemisphere, in like manner as the zoology
of the northern extreme is united with that of the neighbouring
continents of Europe and Asia. He pointed out some additional
instances, in which the same union might be traced.
Mr. Owen commenced the reading of a paper On the Anatomy
of the Orang Utan (Simia Satyrus, L.)-
The subject principally referred to was a young male, probably
about four years of age, which had recently been presented to the
Society by Mr. Swinton of Calcutta ; it reached England in a very
debilitated state, and died on the third day after its arrival in Bruton-
street.
The morbid appearances met with in its examination were very
slight,
56 Zoological Society.
slight, and of themselves not sufficient to account for the death of
the animal. The brain \vas firm, and its membranes bore no traces
of inflammation. The stomach and intestines were also equally free
from morbid appearances. The liver was perfectly healthy, which
was the more remarkable, as on the third day before death the
faces were clay-coloured from a deficiency of bile. The heart was
healthy, except that it had two or three patches of organized lymph
upon its surface, indicating old inflammation : the pericardium con-
tained more than half an ounce of fluid : about four ounces of fluid
were also effused in the cavity of the chest, and the cellular tissue of
the lungs was gorged with serum, a circumstance which must have
occasioned a great obstruction of the circulation. There existed be-
fore death evidence of this effusion, in the slow and laboured breath-
ing of the animal, as noticed by Mr. Martin, who also states that
the pulse was 100 and very feeble, but, as far as he observed, without
intermission. No other organ exhibited any lesion of structure ;
the lungs and liver were free from tubercles, the developement of
which appears to be the most frequent cause of death in animals
which, coming from warm countries, have sojourned in our damp
climate. The effusion observed may probably be considered as one
of the consequences of that debility and exhaustion of the system,
produced by a long voyage, improper food, and diarrhoea, which
terminated in premature death.
The general appearance and position of the abdominal viscera in
the Orang bear much resemblance to those of the human subject.
The stomach is thicker and narrower at its pyloric end, and the vil-
lous coat is of less extent. The small intestines are lined by a smooth
and uniform membrane, and are without valvulce conniventes. The
position of the caecum is the same as in man : to its extremity is at-
tached the vermiform appendage, which is wider at its commence-
ment ; thus exhibiting as a permanent structure in the Orang, that
which in man is a foetal peculiarity. The colon is sacculated, and ap-
pears, from the existence of glandules solitaries and from the presence
of lacteal glands in the meso-colon, to take a great share in the
functions of digestion. The liver generally resembles the human;
the gall-bladder is long and tortuous; the pancreas is relatively larger,
and the spleen more pointed at its extremities than in man ; the
hepatic and pancreatic secretions enter the duodenum separately, but
close together. In the structure of the abdominal ring, the Orang
recedes further than the Chimpanzee (Simia Troglodytes, L.) from
the human type ; the kidneys also differ, and present, like those of
the Monkeys generally, only a single papilla. The palate, unlike
that of man and of the Chimpanzee, has no pendulous uvula.
In external form, the brain resembles the human and that of the
Chimpanzee : it differs from the brains of other animals in the num-
ber and disposition of the lamina; of the cerebellum; in the posterior
fissure of that part j and in wanting the transverse band of fibres
posterior to thepons Varolii. As compared with that of the Chim-
panzee, the medulla oblongata is shorter in proportion, as are also
the anterior lobes ; and the cerebellum projects further behind the
cerebrum.
Zoological Society. 57.
cerebrum. The internal structure of the brain has not yet been ex-
amined ; some previous preparation of that part having been
deemed necessary, in order to render it sufficiently firm for dis-
section.
The structure of the larynx is minutely described, and contrasted
with the anatomy of the same part in the Chimpanzee, in which
the laryngeal sacs are not developed as in the Orang. The left
laryngeal sac in the present instance was the largest, and extended
over the top ef the sternum. In the Chimpanzee the laryngeal sac
is produced into a cavity in the body of the os hyo'ides, presenting
the first indication of the excavation which is carried to so great an
extent in the Monkeys of the genus Mycetes. The thyroid gland is
small in the Orang. The lungs are entire on each side, and not
divided into lobes. The aorta gives off by a common trunk the
right subclavian and the right and the left carotid arteries, the
latter of which is given off in the Chimpanzee, as in man, from the
arch of the aorta.
In the course of his illustrations of the anatomical differences
which exist between the Orang and the Chimpanzee, Mr. Owen
frequently referred to Tyson's " Anatomy of a Pigmy", and con-
firmed many of the descriptions given in that work.
Nov. 23, 1830.— Dr. Waring in the Chair.
The following letter from F. Jenkins, Esq., Secretary to the
Physical Committee of the Asiatic Society, was read :
" Calcutta, 24th March 1830.
" Sir, — I am directed by the President of the Physical Com-
mittee of the Asiatic Society to present, in their name, to the
Zoological Society, a small collection of Indian Birds, made (for
our Society) by Capt. Franklin (one of its most zealous members)
during a late geological tour.
" I am instructed at the same time to state, that it will afford
pleasure to the Physical Committee of the Asiatic Society to pro-
mote as far as may be in their power, the views of the Zoological
Society in this country ; and they will be happy to receive commu-
nications of their wishes on the subject.
" The collection is in charge of Captain Franklin, who is pro-
ceeding in the ship Lady Nugent, to England. I am, &c. &c.
" N. A. Vigors, Esq. Sec. Z. S. F. JENKINS."
The collection alluded to in the preceding letter was laid on the
table. It was formed by Major Franklin, F.R.S., &c. on the
banks of the Ganges, and in the mountain chain of Upper Hindoo-
stan. It contained one hundred and seventy-one species, and was ac-
companied by drawings of each of the birds, made while they were
recent. Mr. Vigors briefly remarked on several of them, as afford-
ing interesting illustrations of the extent of the geographical dis-
tribution of certain species. He declined to enter at any length
into the subject, which he expected would be fully treated of by
Major Franklin in a paper which that gentleman was preparing,
and which would be communicated to the Committee at an early
meeting.
Mr. T. Bell exhibited a pair of living Acouchiest ( Olive Cavy,
N. S. Vol. 9. No. 4-9. Jan. 1831. I Penn.,
58 Zoological Society.
Penn., Dasyprocta Acuschy, Illig.,) recently obtained by him from
Guiana. Although they are abundant in their native country, he
had never, before the arrival of these individuals, seen a specimen of
the species, nor was he aware of the existence of even a preserved
skin in any English collection. The Acouchy is readily distinguish-
able from the well-known Agouti by its smaller size, its lighter
and more elegant proportions, its deeper colours, and other cha-
racters, which have been well pointed out by Barrere, Buffon, and
other naturalists. The most marked difference is found in the tails
of the two animals, that of the Agouti being little more than a tuber-
cle, while the tail of the Acouchy is upwards of two inches in
length ; it is slender, and of equal diameter throughout its extent,
and resembles a quill, or a portion of a tobacco-pipe. The animal
frequently agitates this organ with a quick tremulous motion. Both
the individuals are mild and gentle in their dispositions, but some-
what timid; they are, however, familiar with their master, and run
to him whenever he enters the room in which they are kept, and
about which they are allowed to range during the day. Their food
is entirely vegetable; they are especially partial to nuts and almonds :
they drink but little. They are extremely cleanly, and take great
pains to keep their fur in order, in cleansing which they mutually
assist each other. They leap occasionally in play to a considerable
height, and frequently on springing from the ground to an elevation
of two feet, descend on the spot from which they rose. Their
voice is a short, rather sharp, plaintive pur. The individuals, male
and female, show great attachment to each other.
Mr. Vigors exhibited specimens of several species of birds, ap-
parently undescribed, from the Himalayan mountains. These
formed part of a collection which Mr. John Gould, A.L.S., had
lately received from India, and of which he intended to publish
coloured illustrations, to the number of one hundred figures. Se-
veral of the plates, representing some of the most interesting of the
species, were laid upon the table.
Mr. Vigors having called the attention of the Committee to the
expedition with which these birds were made known to science —
the specimens themselves not having been more than two months
in England, while representations of many of them were already
within that short space of time brought before the public, — pro-
ceeded to make some remarks upon the geographical distribution
of the species. He particularly pointed out the identity of a large
proportion of their forms with those of Northern Europe; observing
that the elevation of their native mountains placed them on an equa-
lity in point of climate with the birds of more northern latitudes.
At the same time he added that many of the forms peculiar to
Southern Asia and the Indian Archipelago were found intermingled
with those of the northern regions. Among the forms similar to
the European, he particularized three species of Jays, the two first
of which exhibited a striking affinity in their markings to our well-
known British bird. They were named and characterized as follows :
GARHULUS LANCEOLATUS. Garr. mnaceo-badius ; capite sub-
cristato, guldt jugulo, alisque atris ; collo anteriori albo lanceo-
lato ;
Zoological Society. 59
lalo ; pteromatibus rcmigibusque ccendeo fasciatis, illis albo ter-
minatis ; caudd c&rulea, nigro Jasciata,fascid laid apicali albo
terminata notatd.
GARRULUS BISPECULARIS. Garr. pallide badius , uropygio cris-
soque albis ; macula laid postrictali, caudd, pteromatibus^ remi-
gibusque atris ; his duabus c&ruleo fasciatis.
GA RRULUS STRI ATUS . Garr. pallide brunneus, subtus pallidior ;
corporis supra subtusque plumis in media albo longitudinaliter
striatis ; crista verlicali, remigibus, rectricibusque unicoloribus.
This latter species was observed to deviate in general colour and
markings from the European species, although according in form ;
and in the former characters to exhibit a manifest approach to the
Nutcrackers, or the genus Nucifraga of Brisson.
A new species of this latter European form was also observed in
the collection ; a second species being thus added to a group which
had hitherto been supposed to have been limited to one. In the
shape of the bill, which was somewhat shorter and stouter at the
base than in the European species, it indicated an approach to the
Jays. Its characters were as follow : —
NUCIFRAGA HEMISPJLA. Nuc. castaneo -brunnea ; capite subtus,
collo anteriori, dorso, pectoreque albo maculatis ; capite summot
alis, rectricibusque intense brunneis ; his, duabus mediis exceptis,
ad apicem late albis.
The two following species of Woodpecker, which approached in
size and colouring most closely to the European green Woodpecker •,
were also described.
Picus OCCIPITALIS. Mas. Pic. viridis, uropygio lutescenti ; Jronte
coccineo ; vertice, striga lata occipitali ad nucham extendentey al-
teraque utrinque sub oculos postrictali, atris; remigibus rec-
tricibusque f us co atris, harum duabus mediis pallido-jusco striatis,
illis externe albo maculatis ; gula genisque canis.
Fcem. Fronte atra albo lineata.
Picus SQUAMATUS. Pic. supra viridis, uropygio sublutescenti ;
guld juguloque mridi- canis ; capite coccineo; strigd super ocu-
tari, alter a suboculari, abdomineque viridi -albis, hoc atro squa-
mato ; strigd super ciliari alter dque utrinque mentali atris ; remi-
gibus rectricibusque Jusco -atris, illis externe, his utrinque albo
maculatis.
A species of Haiufinch, according accurately with the characters
of that northern form, was also described.
COCCOTHHAUSTES iCTERioiDES. Mas. Cocc. capite, jugulo, dorso
media, alls, Jemorum tectricibus, caudaque atris ; nucha, uropy-
gio, corporeque subtus luteis.
Fcem. Olivaceo-canat uropygio abdomineque lutescentibus ; remi-
gibus rectricibusque atris.
As also a small Owl, very nearly allied to the Noctua passe-
rina and Tengmalmi of Europe.
NOCTUA CUCULOIDES. Noct. brunneo^fusca ; capite, dor&o, tectri-
cibus alarum, corporeque subtus albo graciliter Jasciatis ; remi-
gibus externe albo maculatis; rectricibus utrinque fa sciis albis
quinque notatis ; guld alba.
I 2 Among
60 Zoological Society.
Among the forms peculiar to India was observed a second spe-
cies of the singular group which contains the Horned Pheasant, or
the Meleagris Satyra of Linnaeus, and which has been lately sepa-
rated by M. Cuvicr under the name of Tragopan. Its specific cha-
racters are ;
TRAGOPAN HASTINGSII. Trag. dorso brunneo:fusco undulato,
abdomine intense rubro, amborum plumis ad apicem nigris in
media albo guttatis ; cristd crissoque alris, ilia ad apicem coccined,
hoc albo maculato ; collo posteriori coccineo ; thorace aurantio ;
regione circumoculari nudtt, carunculisque pendentibus luteis ;
caudd atrd, lutescenti-albo undulatd.
A species of true Pheasant, which seems to have been indicated
by former writers from incomplete descriptions or drawings, but
never to have been accurately characterized, was also exhibited
and named.
PHASIANUS ALBO-CRISTATUS. Mas. Phas. supra ater, viridi
nitore splendens ; dorso imo albo-Jasciato • cristce plumis albis,
elongatis, deorsim recumbentibus, basi subfuscis ; remigibus cor-
poreque inferiorijuscis ; pectoris plumis lanceolatis albescentibus.
Fcem. Corpore supra cristdque breviorijvscescenti-brunneis; ab-
domine pallid iore ; guld, plumarumque corporis apicibus et rha-
chibus albescentibus ; rectricibus lateralibus atris, mediis brunneis
albescenti undulatis.
A third species was likewise added from the collection to the
group of Enicurus of M. Temminck, which has hitherto been con-
sidered as limited in range to the Indian Archipelago. The fol-
lowing are its characters : —
ENICURUS MACULATUS. En. capite, collo, dorso superiori, pec-
tore, ptilis, remigibus secundariis, cauddque intense atris ; frontis
notd latd, maculis confertis nuchce et sparsis dorsi, pteromatibus ,
dorso imo, abdomine, rectricibus lateralibus, mediarumque apici-
bus albis ; remigibus primariisjuscis ; rostro nigro ; pedibus al-
bescentibus.
Statura En. specioso sequalis.
Mr. Owen resumed the reading of his paper On the Anatomy
of the Orang Utan (Simia Satyrus, L.) This part of the com-
munication is devoted to the osteology of the animal, which is
minutely described and contrasted with that of the Chimpanzee.
With the skeleton of the Pongo (Pongo Wurmbii, Desm.) the re-
semblance is in many particulars almost complete j and the exten-
sive examination which Mr. Owen has made of entire skeletons of
both the Pongo and the Orang, and of numerous crania of the
latter at various ages, has led him to adopt the opinion of those
who maintain that these constitute really but one species, of which
the Orang is the young, and the Pongo the adult. The remarkable
differences in the crest of the cranium, and in the facial angle,
appear to be the result of the action of the powerful muscles of
nianducation, and of the developement of the extremely large
laniarii.
A marked peculiarity of the cranium of the Orang exists in
the junction of the sphenoid with the parietal bones; a junction
which
Zoological Society. 61
which is not found in the Chimpanzee, and has been asserted to
exist in man alone. Other peculiarities are met with, in the absence
of a crista galli on the ethmoid bone, and in the non-existence of'
either mastoid or styloid processes : there is a process from the ar
ticular surface of the temporal bone, which is necessary to prevent
dislocation backwards of the lower jaw, the auditory process not
being adapted to prevent such an accident. The intermaxillary
bones are distinct. There are largeforamina behind the deciduous
teeth, which lead to cavities containing the permanent ones ; the
crowns of the latter are as large as those of the Pongo. The os
nasi is single and triangular ; it has a strong spine at the back part.
There are three infra-orbital foramina; and large foramina in the
malar bone. The anterior condyloid foramina are two on each side.
The true vertebra are 23 : 7 cervical, with long simple spines ;
12 dorsal ; and 4- lumbar. There are 8 false vertebra, viz. 5 sacral,
and 3 coccygeal. The ribs are 12; 7 true, and 5 false. The
sternum is composed, below the first portion, of a double series of
bones alternating with each other : the same structure obtains in
the Pongo.
The spine of the scapula is strongly incurvated upwards. The
bones of the arm and hand are much elongated. The thumb is
short ; the proximal phalanges of the fingers bent.
The ilia are narrow, flattened, and elongated. The^wwr is short
and straight ; it has no ligamentum teres, a deficiency which occurs
also in the Elephant, the Sloths, in Seals, the Walrus, Ornithorhyn-
chus, &c., and by which a greater extent of motion is allowed to
the thigh. The tibia and fibula are shorter than ihefemur: these,
like the bones of the fore-arm, have a greater interosseous space
than is found in man. The patella is very small. The os calcis pro-
jects far behind. The bones of the metatarsus and the phalanges
are elongated, the first series of the latter being bent. The hinder
thumb is very short : in the individual examined it had a metatar-
sal bone, and two phalanges. A nail existed on the thumb of each
hinder hand.
Dec. 14-. — G. B. Greenough, Esq. in the Chair. A letter was
read from Dr. Andrew Smith, addressed to N. A. Vigors, Esq. The
following are extracts :
" Cape Town, 8th Sept. 1830. — I am sure you will be pleased to
learn that I have discovered another species of Macroscelides, as
well as a new one of Erinaceus ; and three species of the genus
Otis, together with one of Brachypteryx. The descriptions of these
I hope to be able to forward to you in the course of three weeks or
a month. The first is designated in our Museum, Macroscelides ru-
pestris ; the second, Erinaceus Capensis ; the third, fourth, and
fifth, Otis Figorsii, Ot. Jerox, and Ot. Afrao'ides ; the sixth,
Brachypteryx Horsfieldii. The first was found by myself on the
mountains near to the mouth of the Orange river, and the circum-
stance of its always residing among rocks, together with the diffe-
rence in its coloring, readily pointed it out as being of a distinct
species. As to the colour, the most marked distinction consists in
the Cape species having a large tawny rufous or chestnut blotch
on
62 Zoological Society.
on the nape and back of the neck. The second, Erinaceus Ca-
pensis, exhibits considerable affinity to the European species, yet
betrays such marked peculiarities as to warrant its being consi-
dered as really different from it. The third, Otis Vigorsii, inhabits
the most dry and barren situations in the south of Africa, and is
known among the colonists by the name of Karor Koran. The
prevailing colour above is a light tawny or reddish yellow, and below
tawny gray, passing into dirty white on the belly. The back is
variegated by numerous violet blotches or reflections, as well as by
whitish spots, and the under parts by transverse narrow zigzag
black lines. The fourth is above principally tawny yellow, and
below dull blueish gray : it is found in the country toward Latakoo.
The fifth is met with on the flats near the Orange river, and is
called the Bushman Koran. With the exception of a great portion
of the quill feathers being white, it resembles much the common
Koran of the colony, the Otis Afra. The sixth is met with in
high rocky situations, and agrees in most respects with the generic
character of Brachypteryx, as described by Dr. Horsfield."
With the above letter Dr. Smith transmitted to the Society a
E resent of sixteen specimens of fishes, obtained in the neighbour-
ood of the Cape of Good Hope, " the details relative to which,"
he states, " will be forwarded as soon as possible." The specimens
were exhibited, and Mr. Bennett laid on the table a list in which
they were enumerated as the Sebastes Capensis f Agriopus torvus,
Sci&na hololepidota, Otolithus tzquidens, Chrysophris globiceps,
Chr. gibbiceps, and Pagrus laniarius, of MM. Cuvier and Valen-
ciennes ; an undetermined species of Dentex ; a fish allied to
Oblada, Cuv., and apparently the type of a new genus; a new spe-
cies of Scomber, Cuv. ; a Lichia ? ; two species of Clinus, Cuv.,
one of which is probably the Clinus Capensis ; an undescribed spe-
cies of Bagrus, Cuv., of the section distinguished in the " Regne
Animal ", by having six cirri and a rounded and smooth head ; a
species of Scyliium, Cuv., probably new to science ; and a second
species of the genus R/iina, Schn., which deviates from the type
by a slight production of the front of the head, and thus makes an
approach to Rhinobates, Schn.
Mr. Vigors exhibited several species of Humming-birds from
the collection of Mr. John Gould, one of which, previously unde-
scribed, had been dedicated to Mr. George Loddiges, F.L.S., &c.
It approaches most nearly to the Trochilus Lalandei,Viei\\. but may
be distinguished from that bird (in which the crest is brilliantly
green and the throat and breast rich blue,) by the following cha-
racters :
TROCHILUS LODDIGESII, Gould. Troch. crista elongata, purpu-
reo-lilacind ; guld crissoque saturate cinereis ; pectore abdomine-
que nigris.
This species is from Rio Grande.
Mr. Loddiges stated that both species belonged to a genus which
he had distinguished among the Trochilida by the name of Cephal-
lepis; and promised to bring before the Committee, at an early
meeting, the results of his researches on the Trochilidce generally.
At
Zoological Society. 63
At the request of the Chairman, Mr. Martin reported the diseased
appearances noticed on the examination of the Beaver which re-
cently died in the Society's Menagerie. They were stated to be
such as result from great and universal inflammation. On exam-
ining the stomach, its lining membrane was found covered with a
blush of inflammation, prevailing more especially about its cardiac
portion, where a number of dark coloured spots and patches indi-
cated the existence of gangrene. Both the stomach and the colon
contained undissolved fibres of bark in considerable quantity, the
function of digestion having been for some time past necessarily de-
ranged. Along the course of the small intestines, traces of high arte-
rial action were still presented ; in the large intestines the traces of
inflammation were more obscure. The pericardium was highly in-
flamed, its inner surface presenting a granulated appearance. The
heart also, as well as the lungs, gave evidence of having partaken in
the general disease. Much disease existed about the lower jaw,
which may probably have been the primary cause of all the mis-
chief, as it must have existed for several months, and necessarily
have produced a continued state of irritation in the system. The
alveolar processes of the lower jaw, embracing the incisor teeth,
were destroyed by caries, and the teeth themselves had fallen out.
In the adjacent soft parts there were extensive abscesses, and a
wide spread of discolouration, evidencing the progress of the dis-
organization.
Mr. Cox exhibited a Nightingale in fine plumage and full song,
which had been for four years in confinement. He stated that the
error generally committed by persons attempting to keep these
birds and the other species of Sylviadce, was the over care bestowed
upon them. A treatment not more tender than that afforded to
granivorous species, agreed well with the Nightingale, for which it
was by no means necessary to provide insects as food ; meat scraped
fine and mixed with egg forming a sufficient substitute, and furnish,
ing a nourishment at once grateful to the bird and fully adequate
to supply its wants.
Mr. Bennett called the attention of the Committee to two birds
which had been for some time living in the Society's Garden. In
many respects, especially as regards the nakedness of their cheeks,
and the nakedness, length, and reticulation of their tarsi, they agree
with the Caracaras (Polyborus, Vieill.) ; but differ from the type of
that genus in the greater compression of their beaks ; their trans-
verse oval nostrils ; their comparatively slender make ; and their
more vulturine appearance, which is much increased by the soft
downy nature of the plumage of their head and neck. From the
genus Morphnus of M. Cuvier, which they resemble in many parti-
culars, they are at once distinguished by the length of their wings,
which reach, when closed, to the extremity of the tail. He stated
his opinion that they would be found, on a close examination, (which
could only be made after death,) to constitute a new genus. Until
the opportunity of determining this question should occur, he asso-
ciated them provisionally with the Caracaras ; and having met with
no
64? Zoological Society.
no trace of a description of them in any ornithological writer, he
proposed for them the following specific character :
POLYBORUS? HYFOLEUCUS. Pol. ? capite, collo, pectore, abdomine-
que albis ; scapularibus Jiisco-griseis ; dorso tegminibusque fuscis ;
remigibus nigricantibus ; cauda basi nigra , apice fascia lot a al-
lida.
Jun. Fuscus, capite^ collo, corporeque subtus dilutioribus, remigibus
Jiisco-nigricantibus.
The following observations, by Mr. Yarrell, on the subject of his
attempts to preserve Whitebait alive, were read.
" Several dozens of strong lively fish, four inches in length, were
transferred with great care from the nets into large vessels, (some
of the vessels, to vary the experiments, being of earthenware, and
others of wood and metal,) filled with water taken from the Thames
at the time of catching the fish. At the expiration of twenty mi-
nutes nearly the whole of them were dead, none survived longer
than half an hour ; and all fell to the bottom of the water. On
examination, the air-bladders were found to be empty and collapsed.
There was no cause of death apparent. About four dozen speci-
mens were then placed in a coffin -shaped box pierced with holes,
which was towed slowly up the river after the fishing-boat. This
attempt also failed : all the fish were dead when the vessel had
reached Greenwich.
11 I was told by two Whitebait fishermen that they had several
times placed these fishes in the wells of their boats, but they inva-
riably died when brought high up the river. The fishermen believe
a portion of sea water to be absolutely necessary to the existence
of this species, and all the circumstances attending this particular
fishery appear to prove their opinion to be correct."
A report by Mr. Yarrell on the morbid appearances observed in
the examination of the Society's Reindeer, was read. It is as
follows :
" On opening the body and removing the viscera, the lungs ap-
peared highly inflamed, of a dark purple colour; and on cutting into
their substance, the cells contained matter. The small intestines
also bore marks of inflammation, but in a much less degree : the
mesenteric glands were diseased, but not to the extent that might
have been expected in an animal that had been many years in an
artificial state. The external surface of the neck and head exhi-
bited a high degree of vascularity, and the animal appeared to have
been under the influence of that periodical determination of blood
to the head, which is known to occur in all deer at the annual pro-
duction of new horns. As far as the brain could be examined by
the occipital foramen, both the substance and its investing mem-
branes were also inflamed ; but I have no doubt the primary cause
of death was the inflammation of the lungs."
Several new species of birds belonging to the collection brought
home from the Straits of Magellan by Captain King were exhibited.
In the absence of that gentleman, the following species were pointed
out by Mr. Vigors, which are thus characterized in Captain King's
MSS.
TURDUS
Zoological Society. 65
T URDUS MAGELLANICIS. Turd, corpore supra grisescenti-oliva-
ceo, subtus pallide rufescenti ; capite supra, remigibus, caudaque
fusco-atris ; guld albd,fusco-atro lineatd.
Habitat in Fretu Magellanico.
PSITTACARA LEPTORHYNCHA. Psitt. vtridiii ; fronte, strigdper
oculos, caudaque rufis ; capite nigro, abdomine imo rufo, varie-
gatis ; mandibula superiori elongata, gracillima.
Statur^, Psitt. Lichtensteinii tequalis.
Habitat in insuld Chiloe.
Pious MELANOCEPHALUS. Pic. capite corporequc supra nigris,
hoc albo maculato ; pectore abdomineque albis, illo albo lineato,
hoc albo fasciato.
Longitude 6 vel 7 uncias circiter.
Habitat in Fretu Magellanico et insula Chiloe.
HYLACTES. Novum genus, Megapodio affine.
Characteres Generici :
Rostrum subelongatum, subtenue, apice subeniarginato ; naribus
basalibus, longitudinalibus, membrana subtumescenti pilisque per
niediam longitudinem tecta.
Alee brevissimae, rotundatse; remige 5ta longissim^.
Cauda subelongata, gradata.
Pedes fortes ; tarsis subelongatis, in fronte scutellatis j digitif
unguibusque elongatis, his fortioribus subcompressis; halluce fortis-
simo, incumbente.
HYLACTES TARNII. Hyl. saturate fusco-brunneus ; fronte, dorsot
abdomineque rufis, hoc Jusco Jasciato.
Habitat in insula Chiloe et Portu Otway sinu Penas.
COLUMBA FITZKOYII. Col. vinacefi ; alis, dorso imo, cauddque plum-
beis ; huj us fascia, remigibusque atris ; nuchce plumis viridi-
splendentibus ; fascia occipitali albd.
Habitat in nemoribus insula? Chiloe.
CYGNUS ANATOIDES. Cygn. albus, remigibus primariis ad apicem
nigris ; rostra pedibusque rubris, illo lato, subdepresso, tuberculo
nullo.
Habitat in sinubus interioribus apud extremitatem meridionalem
America?.
ANSER INORNATUS. Mas. Ans. albus : dorso inferiori, caudd,
fasciis nuchee dorsique superinris , Jemorumque tectricum, ptero-
matibus, remigibusque atris ; rostro nigro, pedibusjiavescentibus.
Fcern. Capite colloque canis ; dorso superiori corporeque inferiori
albis, nigro confertim Jasciatis ; dorso imo, remigibus, rectrici-
busque nigris ; ptilis speculoque albis ; tarsis subelongatis.
Habitat in Fretu
MicuopTER'js PATACHONICUS. Micropt. supra plumbeo grises-
cens ; gula scapularibusque rufescejitibus ; abdomine speculoque
alarum albis ; rostro viridescenti-nigro , ungue nigro.
Habitat in parte occidental! Fretus Magellanici.
Statura minor Micropt. brachyptero.
ANAS CHILOENSIS. An. fronte, gents, abdomine, uropygio, ptsro-
matibusque albis ; capite posteriori, collo, dorso inferiori, p'Mis,
remigibus primariis, caudaque fuscis ; dorso superiori pectoreque
N.S. Vol. 9. No. 49. Jan. 1831. K fusco
C6 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles.
Jusco et albo fasdatis ; remigibus secnndariis et tertiis scapulari-
busque nitide atris, his albo lineatis ; abdominis lateribus crisso-
que rufescentibus ; striga post oculos lata splendide purpurascenti-
viridi.
Longitudo circa sexdecim uncias.
Habitat in insulu Chiloe.
ANAS FRETENSIS. An. guld, gents, collo, pectore, dorsoque ante-
rlori pallide badiis ; collo graciliter undulato ; pectore dorsoque
anteriori atro maculato; dorso abdomineque imis, crisso, caudaque
albis nigro fasciatis ; dorsijasciis latis, aldominis gracillimis,
caudce sublatioribus, crissi sparsim undulatis ; capite supra, remi-
gibus, scapularibusque viridescenti-atris ; his albo in medio linea-
tis j tectricibus plumbeo-canis, fascia apicali alba : specula supra
viridi, deinde purpureo , t fascia atra apice albo terminatd.
Statura Anatis creccoidis, Nob.
Habitat in Fretu Magellanico.
It was announced that the whole collection of Capt. King's birds,
with the descriptions of the remaining new species, would be brought
forward at an early meeting.
XII. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles.
CHLOROXALIC ACID.
M DUMAS has obtained a compound of chlorine and oxide of
• carbon, to which he has given the above name. This compound
contains the same quantity of oxide of carbon as the chlorocarbonic
acid, but combined with only half the quantity of chlorine. It is
prepared by treating crystallizable acetic acid with chlorine, ex-
posed to solar influence 5 the chlorine must be in excess.
It crystallizes in rhombs, is fusible at45c Fahr., is deliquescent and
volatile 3 it dees not act either upon the salts of lime or of silver. Its
taste is very remarkable, and is both bitter and sharp. The impres-
sion produced upon the tongue is so caustic, that the skin whitens
immediately, as if oxygenated water had been applied to it. All the
chloroxalates are soluble. — Le Globe, 14 October.
POTASH FROM FELSPAR.
According to M. Fuchs, this important alkali may be extracted
from minerals containing it, by the following method : — They are
to be calcined with lime, then left for some time in contact with
water, and the liquor filtered and evaporated. M. Fuchs says he
has thus obtained from nineteen to twenty parts of potash from fel-
spar, per cent, and from fifteen to sixteen from mica. — Royal Inst.
Journal. Ann. de V Industrie, v. 278.
We presume, from the quantity of potash stated to be obtained
from these minerals, that it is estimated in the form of hydrate.
NATIVE
Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 67
NATIVE PHOSPHATES OF MANGANESE AND IRON.
M. Dufre'noy has analysed two varieties of the above-named mine-
ral. The first, to which the name of Huraulite is given from its
occurring in the Commune des Hure'aux, was originally found by M.
Alluan in the granite near Limoges. The characters of this mi-
neral are, — that it is crystallized, the crystals being of the size of a pin's
head j the primary form is an oblique rhombic prism. It shows no
cleavage, its fracture is vitreous, it is transparent, has a reddish yel-
low colour, scratches calcareous spar, but is scratched by steel j its
sp. gr. is 2'27. It fuses very readily, and gives with the blowpipe a
black button with a metallic lustre j when heated in a matrass it gives
water. It is composed of
Phosphoric acid. . . . 38'0
Oxide of iron 11-1
manganese. . 32*8
Water 18'0
99-9
The other phosphate of manganese is called Hdteposite j it has
been found only in lamellar masses, presenting a three- fold cleavage ;
the primary form appearing to be an oblique rhombic prism : it has
but little lustre, and it is greasy like that of phosphate of lime 5 its
colour is greenish gray, or blueish : when it has been long exposed
to the air the colour is a fine violet, and the vitreous lustre is changed
to semi-metallic. Its sp. gr., when it has not changed by exposure,
is 3-524, but when it has, it is 3'390. It dissolves in acids, except a
little silica ; and by the blowpipe it fuses into a brown enamel, with
a semi-metallic lustre. It is composed of
Phosphoric acid . . . . < 41 '77
Oxide of iron 34'89
Red oxide of manganese. 17*57
Loss by heat 4*40
Silica ' -20
98-83
The double phosphate, analysed by Berzelius, gave
Phosphoric acid .... 32-80
Protoxide of iron .... 31 '90
manganese 32'60
Phosphate of lime . . 3'20
100-50
It appears, therefore, that these three minerals are composed of
different atomic proportions of their constituents. — Ann. de Chimie,
xli. 347.
ON OXAM1DE. BY M. DUMAS.
Oxamide is a new product formed during the distillation of oxalate
of ammonia ; its name is derived from the compound which produces
it, and which it reproduces. When oxamide is treated with pot-
K 2 ash,
68 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles.
ash, 36 parts yield 100 of ammonia, and yet it contains no ammo-
nia j by the same treatment 100 parts give 82 of oxalic acid, and it
contains no oxalic acid. These curious properties connect oxamide,
on one hand, with the well known formation of ammonia by treating
animal matter with potash ; and on the other, with the production of
oxalic acid by treating vegetable matter with potash, as shown by
MM. Gay-Lussac and Vauquelin.
When oxalate of ammonia is subjected to distillation, it suffers a
kind of decomposition which M. Dumas had never before observed
in any organic substance. It first loses water, its crystals become
opaque, it then fuses and boils, but in those portions only which more
immediately receive the impression of the fire ; when the operation
is over, slight traces of a light carbonaceous product remain j the rest
being volatilized.
The receiver contains water strongly impregnated with carbonate
of ammonia, and a flocculent matter of a dirty white colour is sus-
pended in it. The neck of the retort usually contains crystals of car-
bonate of ammonia, and a thick deposit similar to the flocculent
matter already noticed, both of which are oxamide j this is separated
from the carbonate of ammonia by washing on a filter with cold water,
in which it is nearly insoluble.
Various gaseous bodies are given out during the distillation, the
products being ammonia, water, carbonate of ammonia, carbonic
acid gas, oxide of carbon, cyanogen and oxamide j the latter amounts
to only about 1 -20th of the oxalate of ammonia decomposed.
Oxamide is obtained in the form of confusedly crystallized plates,
or in that of a granular powder, which has occasionally traces of
yellowish or brown spots, produced by a substance analogous to
azulmic acid. When triturated and well washed it is of a dirty
white colour, resembling that of uric acid, is inodorous and insipid,
and does not act upon coloured papers.
Oxamide is volatile, and when moderately heated the vapour con-
denses and crystallizes confusedly ; but when strongly heated part
only sublimes," and the rest is decomposed, giving cyanogen. Boiling
water dissolves a small portion, which crystallizes as the solution
cools. Oxamide is composed of
By Experiment. By Theory.
Carbon 26'9f> - - 4 volumes or 27'08
Azote 31-67 - - 2 do. 32-02
Oxygen 3G79 - - 2 do. 36-36
Hydrogen 4'59 - - 4 do. 4\54
100-00 100-00
Oxamide may therefore be considered either as a compound of
cyanogen and water — nitric oxide and bicarburetted hydrogen —
or oxide of carbon and an azoturet of hydrogen, different from ammo-
nia : but in whatever light it may be regarded, it is converted into
dry oxalate of ammonia by the addition of two volumes of the vapour
of water j and when it is treated with potash it is converted into
oxala
Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 69
oxalate of potash and ammonia j sulphuric acid converts it into
sulphate of ammonia, carbonic acid and carbonic oxide :, .and these
changes appear to be effected by the addition of the vapour of water
in the proportions above stated.
Many animal substances, such as albumen, gelatin, fibrin, &c.,
act with potash precisely like oxamide, and the uric and hippuric
acids much resemble it in this respect. M. Dumas is occupied in
further researches on this subject.— Ann. de Chirnie, June 1830.
ON TWO KINDS OF FULMINATING GOLD. BY M. DUMAS.
Basil Valentine long since described the remarkable properties of
fulminating gold. Three suppositions have been offered respecting
its nature : first, that it is an ammoniuret, or a compound of ammo-
nia and oxide of gold ; secondly, it has been considered as an azo-
turet, just as a chloride is produced by the mutual action of oxide of
gold and muriatic acid; and thirdly, it has been considered as ana-
logous to salts, the azoturet of gold acting as an acid and ammonia
as the base.
One hundred parts of fulminating gold treated with oxide of cop-
per and also with oxide of lead, in the well-known manner, gave
from 9'7 to 9-9 of azote and 13 of water 5 the quantity of chlorine
was determined by that of the chloride of silver yielded by the
muriate of copper left after analysis j 100 of fulminating gold gave
4'5 of chlorine. The quantity of gold was found by mixing the
fulminating gold with ten times its weight of sulphur and gently
heating the mixture. When the sulphur is heated to about 302° Fahr.
the mass swells, gases are disengaged, and the vapour of sulphur
burns. When all the sulphur is expelled, the residue is heated to
redness, and pure gold remains, amounting to about 73 or 74 per
cent. The necessary corrections being made, fulminating gold ap-
pears to consist of
Gold
Azote ....
Ammonia . .
Chlorine . . .
Water ....
100-0
These are equivalent to
By Experiment.
Six atoms of gold =7458 or 73*6 - -73*00
Twelve atoms of azote =1062 10'4- - 988
Two atoms of chlorine = 442 4-3 - - 4'50
Forty-two atoms of hydrogen = 263 2-6 - - 2'20
Nine atoms of oxygen = 900 9'1 - -10-42
10125 100-0 J 00-00
It results from the preceding researches that common fulminating
gold is a compound of two atoms of ammoniacal azoturet of gold and
one atom of ammoniacal subchloride of gold, with a sufficient quan-
tity
7Q Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles.
tity of water to convert the azote into ammonia and the gold into
oxide.
Scheele and Bergman have shown that oxide of gold when treated
with ammonia is converted into a fulminating compound j this
compound is undoubtedly different from the foregoing. To ascertain
its nature, some oxide of gold was prepared by decomposing a boil-
ing solution of muriate of gold with barytes, which precipitated aurate
of barytes, the base of which was removed by dilute nitric acid. The
remaining oxide of gold, which was well washed and pure, was put
into strong solution of ammonia for twenty-four hours. The powder
was washed bydecantation, collected on a filter, and dried at 2 12°.
This powder is of a deep gray or olive colour ; it detonates strongly,
but its appearance shows that it is different from common fulminat-
ing gold. When treated in the manner already described, it yielded
By Experiment.
Two atoms of gold =2486 or 77'6 76- 1
Four atoms of azote =354 ll'0 9'0
Twelve atoms of hydrogen = 75 2'31 ]4.Q
Three atoms of oxygen = 300 91 1 /
3215 100-0 100-0
In this analysis the azote is not in sufficient quantity, but there is
too much for an azoturet, and consequently greatly too much for an
ammoniuret. It is probable that during desiccation the ammoniacal
azoturet might lose a little ammonia. As, however, Bergman found
that 100 of oxide of gold gave 120 of fulminating gold, and as ac-
cording to the above analysis they should yield 118, it cannot be
considered as far from correct. — Ibid.
ON TJiE STATE OF MERCURY IN MERCURIAL OINTMENT.
BY M. MITSCHERLICH.
The mercurial ointment employed occupied four weeks in pre-
paring ; part of it was set to dissolve at a moderate temperature in
alcohol containing caustic potash in solution. The mercury was
separated in the metallic state and formed one globule at the bottom
of the vessel ; the solution was filtered, and the metal was carefully
removed from beneath the filter ; a white matter remained, which
was not removed by washing, and which heated in a tube gave no
metallic mercury, nor did it sublime.
From this experiment it appears that the ointment does not con-
tain oxide but metallic mercury. To be certain whether by the re-
action of the alcohol and potash the oxide had not been reduced,
the following experiment was made : I -101 gramme of protoxide of
mercury was triturated for a long time with lard. The ointment
thus prepared was subjected to alcohol mixed with potash as in the
preceding experiment. The portion remaining undissolved had not
the least appearance of metallic mercury; it weighed 1-196 : sub-
mitted to distillation with muriatic acid, no metallic mercury appeared,
but 1-29 gramme of protochloridc of mercury, equivalent to 1'089
of protoxide of mercury. A small portion of the sediment when
heated did not sublime. — Hensmans Repertoire, August 1830.
MR.
Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 71
MR. BENNET'S NEW ALLOY FOR THE PIVOT HOLES OF
WATCHES.
The injurious effects of jewelled holes in watches and chrono-
meters have been long observed. (See Nicholson's Journal, vol. vii.
p. 208.) It seems that, however perfect the polishing may be,
sooner or later the hard substance of the jewel grinds and cuts the
steel pivot; and the metallic particles, by mixing with the oil, ren-
der it unfavourable for action; and this effect is the more likely to
take place the nearer the pivots are to the maintaining power. Holes
made of brass are objectionable, on account of the liability of this
metal to oxidation. Gold is too soft for the purpose. What seems
to be required is, a metal, that shall preserve the oil in a pure fluid
state, have little friction with the steel pivot, and be in a small de-
gree softer than the pivot, for it is of less consequence that the
hole be worn than the pivot. Mr. Bennet, watch-maker, Red Lion-
street, Holborn. in a pamphlet on this subject, states that he has
discovered an alloy possessing the above-mentioned requisites. It
is composed of 3 dwt. of pure gold, 1 dwt. 20 gr. of silver, 3 dwt.
20 gr. of copper, and 1 dwt. of palladium. " The palladium,"
he says, " readily united with the other metals, and the alloy fused
at a temperature rather below that required for melting gold in
the separate state. It is very nearly as hard as wrought-iron, and
rather brittle, but not so brittle but that it can be drawn into
wire. Its colour is a reddish brown ; the grain, on breaking, as fine
as that of steel ; it takes a very beautiful polish ; and the friction
with steel was much less than that of brass and steel. It is better
worked than any metal with which I am acquainted, except brass.
Nitric acid had no sensible effect upon it." Mr. B. has constructed
a watch with holes made of this alloy, and pronounces the experi-
ment to be successful. If longer trial should confirm this opinion,
the small expense of the metal, as compared to that of jewels, will
will not be its least recommendation.
Nov. 15, 1830. J. C.
EARTHQUAKES AT THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE IN 1809.
An Account of the Earthquakes which occurred at the Cape of
Good Hope during the month of December 1809. By W. L.
von Buchenroder, Esq. Member of the South African Institution.
Abridged by the Author from the more detailed Statements read
at one of the Meetings of the South Institution.
The occurrence of earthquakes at the Cape of Good Hope on the
4th of December 1809, as well as during several successive days,
is yet remembered by numerous residents of the colony; but as far
as I know, few if any of the various facts connected therewith, or
of the different phenomena which took place, have been collected
and recorded. It may therefore not be uninteresting to preserve
a faithful account of what was observed, particularly as from the
propensity of man to exaggerate any uncommon occurrence, (which
was fully exemplified at that period,) as well as from the lapse of
time,
72 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles.
time, it will be in a few years more, if not altogether impossible,
at least highly difficult to obtain a correct statement of the occur-
rences as they took place. With such a view the following remarks
are submitted to the Institution ; and if those members who were in
the colony at the time in question would furnish in like manner
their individual observations, the object to be wished might readily
be accomplished.
Dec. 4, 1809. — Nothing uncommon was observed in Cape Town,
either on that day or on those immediately preceding it. The
weather was fine, clear, and, as might be expected at the season,
very warm. But although it was fine in Cape Town, there was ob-
served throughout the day, as well as during the two or three
immediately preceding it, a thick haze over the eastern shore of
Table Bay. The wind during the day was S.S.E. and blew a fresh
breeze.
In the evening, a little after ten o'clock, three shocks, each ac-
companied by a tremendous noise, were felt within the space of a
minute or two. When the first took place I was sitting in a large
company, all the members of which started simultaneously and
hastened to the door, the majority exclaiming that a powder-maga-
zine must have blown up ; while one gentleman called out that it
was an earthquake, adding, he was acquainted with such, from
having experienced some on his voyages to the West Indies. WThile
we were standing in the street, the second shock took place, which
was felt much stronger; was accompanied by a louder and very
tremendous noise, that continued longer than the first; and resem-
bled the report or sound that would be produced by a great many
pieces of ordnance fired off by a train, at a little distance. The
sound was somewhat hollow, and ended with a rumbling noise, but
was not followed by any distinct echo.
This second shock roused all the inhabitants, who came running
into the streets in great consternation, many of them even un-
dressed, from having been in bed. Within the space of about a
minute, a third shock, but not nearly so violent as the second, and
even less so than the first, took place, accompanied also by a simi-
lar noise, but less loud, of shorter duration, and more rumbling.
The shocks, as well as the sounds, particularly the rumbling,
seemed to come from the North, and to go towards the South.
Nothing was perceived however of the wavelike motion of the
earth, which has been frequently observed in other countries to ac-
company earthquakes ; and the sensation of the shocks was such
as is occasioned by the explosion of a powder-magazine, or the
discharge of heavy artillery.
The wind, which had been blowing a fresh breeze from S.S.E. ,
changed at the same time to N.N.W. and then followed a calm.
The sky was very clear, the stars shone with great brilliancy, and
numerous meteors were observed. In Table Bay nothii g was re-
marked except a heavy swell.
About ten minutes after the third shock, a rumbling noise was
again heard, and a shock felt, but inferior, as well in loudness as
violence,
Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 73
violence, to any of the former. I myself, as well as most of the
inhabitants, continued either standing or walking in the streets,
where we heard rumbling sounds from time to time till about one
o'clock in the morning. During that time it continued calm, with
the exception of now and then gusts of variable winds.
Dec. 5th.— In the morning, a little after seven o'clock, another
shock was felt, accompanied with a sound like thunder. The wind
was variable, chiefly westerly and in light gusts.
In walking through the streets of Cape Town I observed that
nearly all the buildings had suffered more or less from the shocks
during the preceding night, as was evinced by numerous cracks in
the trails, the traces of which are yet perceptible in many houses.
These were irregular as to direction, and extended generally four,
six, or more feet, from the top of the walls, and in a few instances
even nearly down to the foundations. Although such were visible
on both sides thereof, yet they did not amount to open clefts ; and
I do not know any instance in Cape Town of a house having re-
ceived so much damage as to have required it to be rebuilt. The
parapets of many were at that time ornamented with figures, urns,
&c. of stucco, like to what may yet be seen on a few ; and in some
instances fragments of those had fallen, and the people were here
and there busy in taking down others. I Heard also that an old
chimney or two had tumbled. No cracks or fissures were observed
in the ground in Cape Town.
There were (as might be expected) a variety of reports in cir-
culation with regard to what was seen and heard, most of which
were unworthy of attention ; yet I cannot omit remarking that many
persons concurred in affirming that they had seen large meteors,
witnessed their explosions, and experienced the instantaneous
shocks, and heard the reports caused thereby. In occurrences like
the above, the unadorned narrative of the simplest people is found
frequently the most useful in order to come to a matter of fact ;
wherefore I am induced to give a statement, as it was made unani-
mously by several slaves, who resided at a house above Green-point,
near the corner of Lion's Head. They stated " that they saw
something like a wagon illuminated by numerous lights proceed
swiftly from the opposite side of Table Bay, or from the direction
of Saldanha Bay ; that it ascended half-way up Lion's Head, and
then turned towards the Marine Villa; that it descended again, and
burst when near the sea, and that immediately thereon they felt
a shock and heard a tremendous noise."
In Cape Town several people had seen a flash ; wherefore they
took the first shock and noise for an uncommonly loud clap of thun-
der, and were only alarmed by the repetition thereof. A farmer
on the road near Rondebosch, stated " that he saw a meteor or fire-
ball proceed towards and strike the Devil's Hill," and that imme-
diately thereafter the second shock (if I recollect right) occurred.
At about half-past twelve o'clock a loud report or clap was
heard, and a shock was felt. The sky at that time was very clear,
and the weather warm ; with light airs from N.W, In the afternoon,
N.S. Vol. 9. No. 4-9. Jan. 1831. L a little
74 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles.
a little before five o'clock, a rumbling, protracted, and moderately
loud sound was heard, but no shock was perceived. A few fleecy
stationary clouds were observed, which disappeared in the evening.
Many inhabitants were busy in pitching tents, and some in placing
wagons, in the squares of Cape Town, in wljich they slept during
some weeks. The night was very fine and calm, the sky without
clouds, and the stars shone uncommonly clear.
Much interest was excited by what was said to have been ob-
served at Jan Biesjes Kraal, and at Blauweberg's Valley. It was
stated "that the earth had opened, that volcanic eruptions had
taken place, that craters had been formed, and that lava had issued !"
Numbers of persons flocked to these spots, and I went also on the
9th to examine them ; but what I found fell considerably short of
what I expected from the wonderful accounts I had heard, yet was
nevertheless remarkable and interesting. Near the Kraal I found
rents and fissures in the ground, one of which I followed for about
the extent of a mile. In some places they were more than an inch
wide, and in others much less. In many places I was able to push
into them, in a perpendicular direction, a switch to its full length,
of three or four feet. By the people residing in the vicinity I was
informed that they had observed these fissures on the morning of
the 5th of December, in some instances three and four inches wide,
and that one person had been able to push the whole length of an
iron rod, used to fix curtains upon, into them, and that others had
been able to do the same with whip-handles of even ten feet in
length.
The house at the Kraal in question (the residence of a Mr. Bant-
jes) I found to have suffered so much, that it was not habitable,
and consequently had been evacuated. In the walls were numerous
clefts ; by which they were rent completely asunder, so that I could
put a stick from one side to the other in many places. The clefts
extended from the top to the bottom, and corresponded with fis-
sures in the ground.
At Blauweberg's Valley, I found the sandy surface studded with
innumerable holes, resembling in shape, but in nothing else, craters
ia miniature. These holes were from six inches to a foot and a
half, and some even three feet, in diameter, and from four inches to
a foot and a half deep ; of a circular form, and the sides sloping to
the centre. They were lined with a crust of blueish clay, of about
a quarter of an inch in thickness, which had been baked by the
sun, and according to its nature had cracked and curled up in frag-
ments, which however adhered still to the sloping sides of the holes.
I reckoned seven of these holes, of different dimensions, in an area,
contained within a circle which I drew around me with a walking-
stick, and which might have been somewhat more than ten feet in
diameter.
The appearance of the blueish baked clay, which had given rise
to the story w£ Uva ! was easily accounted for, from the rain (a
great quantity of which had fallen in the preceding season) having
been [prevented by the substrata from penetrating and sinking
deep
New Patents. 75
deep into the ground ; so that under the sandy surface a consider-
able quantity of water had collected, in which a portion of the sub-
stratum of clay had become dissolved, and which had been forced
up through the loose sand by the concussions which took place.
The people at Blauweberg's Valley stated, that " they saw jets
of coloured water spout from these holes, to the height of six feet,
in the night of the 4th of December, at the time that the shocks were
felt."
LIST OF NEW PATENTS.
To W. Church, Haywood House, Birdesly Green, near Birming-
ham, esquire, for certain improvements in the construction of boats
and other vessels, a part of which improvements are applicable to the
construction of carriages.— Dated the 21st of September 1830.—
6 months allowed to enrol specification.
ToF.Molyneux, Hampstead, Middlesex, gentleman, and W. Bun-
day, Kentish-Town, in the same County, merchant, for certain im-
provements in machinery for spinning and twisting silk and wool, and
for roving, spinning and twisting cotton, flax, hemp and other fibrous
substances. — 21st of September. — 6 months.
To J. Harrison, Wortley Hall, Tankersly, Yorkshire, gardener, and
R. G. Curtis, of the same place, glazier, for certain improvements in
glazing horticultural and other buildings, and in sash-bars and rafters.
— 6th of October. — 2 months.
To C. Derosne, Leicester-square, gentleman/.for certain improve-
ments in extracting sugar or syrups from cane-juice and other sub-
stances containing sugar ; and in refining sugar and syrups. Partly
communicated by a foreigner. — 29th of September. — 2 months.
To M. Donovan, Dublin, for an improved method of lighting
places with gas. — 6th of October. — 6 months.
To Lieut-Col. L. Walker, C.B. Cumming-street, Pentonville, for
a machine or apparatus to effect the escape and preservation of persons
and property in case of fire or other circumstances. — 6th of October.
— 6 months.
To R. Pering, Exmouth, esquire, for an improvement on anchors.
— 6th of October. — 6 months.
To J. Heaton, W. Heaton, G. Heaton, and R. Heaton, Birmingham,
manufacturers and copartners for certain machinery, and the applica-
tion thereof, to steam-engines, for , the purpose of propelling and draw-
ing carriages on turnpike- roads and railways. — 6th of October. —
4 months.
To J. Dickinson, Nash Mill, in the parish of Abbotts Langley, Hert-
fordshire, esquire, for an improved 'method of manufarturing paper by
means of machinery. — 6th of October. — 6 months.
To W. A. Archbald, Vere-street, Cavendish-square, gentleman,
for an improvement in the preparing or making of certain sugars. —
13th of October.— 6 months.
To D. Napier, Warren-street, Fitzroy-square, engineer, for certain
improvements in printing and in pressing machinery, with a method
of ceconomizing the power applicable to the same, which method of
L 2 oecono-
76 New Patents.
(Economizing power is also applicable to other purposes. — 13th of
October. — 6 months.
To F. C. Jacquemart, Leicester-square, esquire, for improvements
in tanning certain descriptions of skins. Communicated by a
foreigner. — 20th of October. — 6 months.
To J. B. Sharp, Hampstead, Middlesex, esquire, and W. Fawcett,
Liverpool, civil engineer, for an improved mode of introducing air into
fluids, for the purpose of evaporation. — 20th of October. — 6 months.
To A. Craig, Ann-street, St. Bernards, in the parish of St. Cuth-
berts, Mid- Lothian, for certain improvements in machines or machinery
for cutting timber into veneers or other useful forms. Communicated
by a foreigner. — 20th of October. — 6 months.
*To A. Ure, Burton Crescent, Doctor of Medicine, for an apparatus
for regulating temperature in vaporization, distillation, and other pro-
cesses.— 20th of October. — 6 months.
To A. Ure, Burton Crescent, Doctor of Medicine, for an improve-
ment in curing or cleansing raw or coarse sugar. — 20th of October. —
6 months.
To A. Ure, Southampton Row, Doctor of Medicine, for an air-
stove apparatus for the exhalation and condensation of vapours. —
20th of October.— 6 months.
To S. Clerk, South Down, Brixham, Devonshire, for certain im-
provements in making or preparing saddle-cloth and girths, for keep-
ing saddles in place on horses and other animals of burthen. — 20th
of October. — 6 months.
To Sir T. Cochrane, knight, (commonly called Lord Cochrane,)
Regent-street, for his apparatus to facilitate excavating, sinking, and
mining. — 20th of October. — 6 months.
To T. Mason, No. 56 Great Portland-street, brush-maker, for an
improvement in the manufacture of painting-brushes, and other
brushes applicable to various purposes. — 20th of October. — 6 months.
To S. Clegg, No. 16 Sidmouth-street, Gray's Inn Lane, civil en-
gineer, for an improved gas-meter. — 20th of October. — 6 months.
To H. Calvert, Lincoln, gentleman, for an improvement in the
mode of making saddles so as to avoid the danger and inconvenience
occasioned by their slipping forward. — 26th of October. — 2 months.
To J. Shores, Blackwall, Middlesex, boat-builder and shipsmith,
for an improvement on tackle and other hooks, which he denominates
" the self relieving hooks." — 1st of November. — 2 months.
To J. Collinge, Lambeth, engineer, for an improvement on the
apparatus used for hanging or suspending the rudders of ships, or
vessels of different descriptions. — 1st of November. — 6 months.
To B. Cook, Birmingham, brass-founder, for an improved method
of making a neb or nebs, slot or slots, in shells or hollow cylinders
of copper, brass, or other metals for printing calicoes, muslins, cloths,
silks and other articles. — 1st of November. — 6 months.
To L. Aubrey, Two Waters, Herts, engineer, for certain improve-
ments in cutting paper. — 1st of November. — 6 months.
To J. Bowler, Castle-street, Southwark, hat-manufacturer, for
certain
New Patents. 77
certain improvements in machinery employed in the process of dyeing
huts. — 4th of November. — 2 months.
To J. B. Nott, Schenectady, New York, but now of Bury-street,
St. James's, esquire, for certain improvements in the construction of
a furnace or furnaces for generating heat -, and in the application of
heat to various useful purposes. Communicated by a foreigner. — 4th
of November. — 6 months.
To T. Bramley, gentleman, and R. Parker, lieutenant in the Royal
Navy, both of Mousley Priory, Surrey, for certain improvements on
locomotive and other carriages or machines, applicable to rail and
other roads ; which improvements, or parts or parts thereof, are also
applicable to moving bodies on water; and working other machinery.
— 4th of November. — 6 months.
To A. Bell, Chapel Place, Borough of Southwark, engineer, for
certain improvements in machinery for removing wool or hairs from
skins. — 4th of November. — 6 months.
To A. W. Gillett, Birmingham, merchant, for an improvement in
the construction and application of wheels to carriages of pleasure or
of burthen $ or to machines for moving heavy bodies. Communicated
by a foreigner. — 4th of November. — 2 months.
To G. C. Bompas, Fishponds, near Bristol, esquire, M.D. for an
improved method of preserving copper and other metals from corro-
sion or oxidation. — 4th of November. — 6 months.
To J. Gibbs, Crayford, Kent, esquire, for improvements in evapo-
rating fluids, applicable to various purposes. — 6th of November. —
6 months.
To J. Hall the younger, Dartford, Kent, engineer, for a machine
upon a new and improved construction, for the manufacture of paper.
Communicated by a foreigner. — 9th of November. — 6 months.
To G. M inter, Princes-street, Soho, upholsterer, cabinet and
chair manufacturer, for an improvement in the construction, making,
or manufacture of chairs, which he intends to denominate " Minter's
Reclining Chairs." — 9th of November. — 6 months.
To H. Pratt, Bilston, Staffordshire, miller, for certain improvements
in the making and manufacturing of quarries, applicable to kilns for
drying wheat, malt and other grain, and to various other purposes. — •
1 J th of November. — 6 months.
To Sir T. Cochrane, knight (commonly called Lord Cochrane),
Regent-street, for an improved rotary engine, to be impelled by steam,
and which may be also rendered applicable to other purposes. — llth
of November. — 6 months.
To C. S. Cochrane, Great George-street, Westminster, esquire,
for certain improvements in the preparing and spinning of Cashmere
wool. Communicated by a foreigner. — 13th of November. — 6 months.
To J. Tyrrell, St. Leonard's, Devonshire, esquire, barrister-at-law,
for a method and apparatus of setting sums, for the purpose of teach-
ing some of the rules of arithmetic. — 13th of November. — 6 months.
To T. Sands, Liverpool, merchant, for certain improvements in
spinning machines. Communicated by a foreigner. — 18th of Novem-
ber.— 6 months.
METEORO-
78 Meteorological Observations for November 1830.
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS FOR NOVEMBER 1830.
Gosport: — Numerical Results for the Month.
Barom. Max. 30-40. Nov. 24. WindN.— Min. 29-10. Nov. 16. Wind S.
Range of the mercury 1-30.
Mean barometrical pressure for the month 29-833
Spaces described by the rising and falling of the mercury 7*700
Greatest variation in 24 hours 0-570. — Number of changes 14.
Therm. Max. 59°. Nov. 1. Wind W.— Min. 34°. Nov. 23. WindN.W.
Range 25°.— Mean temp.of exter. air 480<07. For 30 days with 0 in HI 4976
Max. var. in 24 hours 16°'00.— Mean temp, of spring-water at 8 A.M. 52-96
De Luc's Whalebone Hygrometer.
Greatest humidity of the atmosphere, in the evening of the 20th ... 93°
Greatest dryness of the atmosphere, in the afternoon of the 25th... 61
Range of the index 32
Mean at 2 P.M. 70°-5.— Mean at 8 A.M. 78°- 7.— Mean at 8 P.M. 77*5
of three observations each day at 8, 2, and 8 o'clock 75-6
Evaporation for the month 1-20 inch.
Rain in the pluviameter near the ground 4-695 inches.
Prevailing wind, S.W.
Summary of the Weather.
A clear sky, lj fine, with various modifications of clouds, 15£ j an over-
cast sky without rain, 7i ; rain, 6. — Total 30 days.
Clouds.
Cirrus. Cirrocumulus. Cirrostratus. Stratus. Cumulus. Cumulostr. Nimbus.
21 9 28 1 20 21 21
Scale of the prevailing Winds.
N. N.E. E. S.E. S. S.W. Wr. N.W. Days,
i 1 3 3£ 4 13 2| 2^ 30
General Observations. — The state of this month has been generally wet
and boisterous, with a mild air for the season, excepting a few days. In
the afternoon and night of the 6th, a very heavy gale blew here, first from
the South, then from South-west, during which time one inch and a quarter
of rain fell; but the quantity was much greater in some of the Northern
districts, where damage to a considerable amount is said to have been done
by the rush of water from the hills, and the consequent inundation of the
adjacent lands.
Early in the morning of the 9th a little ice appeared on the ground,
being the first time this autumn. In the morning of the 15th a parhelion
appeared on the east side of the sun : and at 2 P.M. on the 17th, a faint
anthelion was observed on a light cloud opposite to, and nearly of the
same altitude as the sun; it was perfectly circular, colourless, and brighter
than the cloud in which it appeared, and of the same size as the sun's ap-
parent disc.
The mean temperature of the atmosphere this month is four-fifths of
within our
solar and
three lunar halo?, ten meteors, three rainbows, four aurorae boreales, and
thirteen gales of wind, or days on which they have prevailed, namely, one
from the North, three from the East, one from the South-east, two from
the South, and six from the South-west.
AURORA
Meteorological Observations for November 1830. 79
AURORA BORE ALES. — At 9 o'clock in the evening of the 1st instant, a
bright aurora borealis appeared between the North and West, behind a
low cirrostratus cloud, which it enlightened in some attenuated places, and
several very bright patches were seen in the horizon. At 18 minutes
past nine the first column of light emanated from it (whose bearing was due
North) to an altitude of about 16 degrees, and was succeeded by ten or
twelve more perpendicular columns of various breadths between that point
and the magnetic north during a peculiarly bright moon-light, the moon's
altitude being from 25 to 30 degrees, and only 28 hours beyond her opposi-
tion with the sun. Jt has been much doubted whether the coruscations
of an aurora can be seen in this latitude after the first, or before the last
two or three days of the moon's age; but in this instance the strong
lunar light had but little influence in diminishing the splendour of these
flame-coloured columns. The sky became overcast by 10 o'clock, and
did away its appearance.
At half-past seven in the evening of the 4th, an aurora was observed
between the North and West, and increased in brighness till eight, when
two bright columns of light rose from it, about North-west by West, to an
altitude of 22 degrees. Several other columns successively rose between
that point and the true North till a quarter past eight, at which time the
moon began to rise, but the steady light of the aurora did not disappear
till nine. Two bright trained meteors appeared over it, and the thermo-
meter rose one degree. A faint aurora appeared in the evening of the
7th, from 7 till 10 o'clock, without any coruscations; and two meteors
appeared over it.
REMARKS.
London.— November 1, 2. Fine. 3 — 5. Fine: rain at nights. 6. Stormy
and wet. 7. Rain in the morning : fine. 8. Fine. 9. Clear and frosty in
the morning : fine. 10. Fine : heavy rain. 1 1. Showery: fine. 12. P'ine.
1 3. Cloudy : rain. 14. Cloudy: rain at night. 15. Cloudy. 16. Rain.
17, 18. Fine in the mornings: cloudy : rain at nights. 19. Fine. 20. Rain.
21. Fine: showers at night. 22. Showery. 23. Fine. 24. Foggy: densely
foggy at night. 25. Foggy in the morning ; fine. 26. Slight fog: cloudy.
27. Fine : rain. 28. Small rain : fine. 29. Hazy. 30. Drizzly and foggy.
Penzance. — November 1. Fair. 2. Rain: fair. 3. Rain. 4. Fair.
5. Fair: rain. 6. Heavy rain. 7, 8. Clear. 9. Clear: showers. 10. Fair:
showers. 11. Fair: hail showers. 12. Fair. 13. Rain. 14. Showers.
1 5. Fair. 1 6. Rain. 1 7. Showers. 1 8. Clear. 1 9. Fair : rain. 20. Fair.
21. Fair: showers. 22. Clear: showers. 23. Fair. 24. Misty: rain.
25, 26. Fair. 27. Fair: rain. 28. Rain. 29, 30. Fair.
Boston.— November 1. Fine: beautifu^appearance of the Northern Lights,
9 P.M. 2. Fine. 3. Cloudy. 4. Fine. 5. Fine*: rain P.M. 6. Cloudy :
rain P.M. 7. Cloudy. 8, 9, Fine. 10. Fine: rain P.M. 11. Fine.
12. Cloudy. 13. Cloudy: rain P.M. 14. Fine: rain P.M. 15. Fine.
16. Stormy: rain A.M. and P.M. 17. Fine. 18. Cloudy. 19. Fine.
20. Cloudy. 21. Fine. 22. Rain. 23 — 25. Fine. 26, 27. Cloudy.
28. Rain, and stormy. 29, 30. Rain.
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The equation to the cylinder referred to the axes x9y9 z is
{«(*-*!) +b(y-yi) +c(z-zl)}*
+ {(a' (x - *,) + V (y -y,} 4- c' (z - *»)}* = r*
The equation to the plane d if is
of' (x - xj + V'(y - 3/J + '(*- z}) = 0.
If a, and St denote the right ascension and declination of
the moon, and «2, 82 of the star, since the plane di/ is perpen-
dicular to a line joining the centre of the moon and star, it is
easy to show that
an at COS #2 cos ^2> ^" = Sm a-2 COS ^2» C" = Sm &2«
The following well-known equations of condition obtain
between the quantities «, b, c9 a', b', c', «", b", c" :
aa' + bb' + c c1 =0
aa" + b b" + c c'f — 0
-f c2 =
Since these equations are more than are necessary to de-
termine these quantities, we may suppose one of them as c = 0,
and then it is easy to show that
a = sin «2, b = — cos a2
a' = cos «2 sin 82 , b' = sin «2 sin $2 , c' = — cos 82,
and the equation to the cylinder becomes
{ (x - xj sin «2 - (y - */,) cos «2}2
+ {(x- x,) sin S2 cos a2 + (y - j/J sin <*2 sin S2
- (a -«,) cos&2}2=r9
If x = U cos $ cos «3, y = R cos cos «3 for ,r, JR cos
fy a Degree. 93
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[ 94 ]
XVII. On the alleged Production of Heat in Mines ly the Con-
densation of the Air 'which ventilates them; and on the Fallacy
of other Objections to the Opinion that a high Temperature
exists in the Interior of the Globe. By RoBEnxW. Fox.
To the Editors of the Philosophical Magazine and Annals.
Gentlemen,
A PAPER has recently appeared in the Edinburgh Re-
•**• view* " On the Progress of Geological Science," in which
arguments are adduced against the existence of an elevated
temperature in the interior of the earth.
These arguments are founded on the cold which prevails
about the poles, notwithstanding they are twelve miles nearer
the centre than the surface of the earth is at the equator ; and
on the comparatively low temperature of the water in aban-
donded mines, as well as at the bottom of the sea, as far as
this has been ascertained.
It is at the same time admitted that the heat is found to in-
crease in mines in proportion as they are deepened, and that
its degree depends on their depth under the surface, rather
than with respect to the level of the sea. That it is not pro-
duced by the miners, and the candles and gunpowder they
use, is fully acknowledged, as the influence of those causes
must be perfectly insignificant on the large quantity of water
pumped out of deep mines.
But the reviewers attribute the elevation of temperature
observed in mines to the condensation of the currents of air
which ventilate them. " Now," they say, " as this air passes
from the surface to the bottom of the minef, it becomes
more and more compressed. Its temperature in consequence
must be continually increasing, and of course it must be al-
ways giving out heat to the walls of the mine and to the water
with which it comes in contact. The heat given out at the
bottom will be greatest, because there the compression is
greatest. The greater the quantity of air thus condensed,
and the more rapid the current, the greater will be the quan-
tity of heat evolved. This, we are persuaded, is the true
cause of the elevation of temperature as a mine increases in
depth."
These opinions, proceeding from such authority, induce
me, from the part I have taken in this question, and the op-
portunities I possess, from my local situation, for getting in-
formation relative to the Cornish mines, to offer a few remarks
# Edinburgh Review, No. 103, p. 49—52.
•f Dolcoath is the mine referred to, and 84° the temperature of the
water at the bottom, the mine being 238 fathoms deep.
for
Mr. R. W. Fox on the Increase of Heat in Mines. 95
for the purpose of showing that neither the hypothesis, nor
the objections derived from the temperature of abandoned
mines, are tenable.
I do not apprehend that a degree of pressure equal to what
takes place in our deepest mines would raise the temperature
of air many degrees, probably not more than five or six at the
utmost, supposing none of the heat to escape to surrounding
bodies ; but the water flows into some of our mines in consi-
derable streams at the temperature of from 80° to 90°, which
is about 30° to 40° above that of the climate : and nearly two
millions of gallons are daily pumped from the bottom of Pol-
dice mine, which is 176 fathoms deep, at 99° to 100°. This
being warmer than the human body, of course puts that source
of heat out of the question; and it often happens that streams
of water, the moment they gush into mines, are equal and
sometimes superior in temperature to the air immediately in
contact with them.
Neither do the seasons seem to produce any sensible effect
in deep mines, which they doubtless would do if the heat
were in almost any degree attributable to the compression of
the air.
Our mines are for the most part ventilated by shafts open-
ing into the levels or galleries from the surface or from a
higher level. These shafts are commonly numerous in ex-
tensive mines, and the air circulates freely and often copiously
through them, ascending in some shafts, and descending in
others. In all cases, I believe that the upward currents are
at a higher temperature than the downward ones ; so much so,
indeed, that in winter the moisture is often frozen in the latter
to a considerable depth, and not at all in the former. The
temperature of these currents has recently been ascertained
in some mines.
In Dolcoath the air ascended in one shaft at 60°, and de-
scended in another at 51° : — the thermometer was placed six
feet down in these shafts.
In Poldice a current came up at 61°, and another went
down at 4-8°, both having been observed at thirty feet below
the mouths of the shafts.
In Tingtang mine, which is 178 fathoms deep, the thermo-
meter was let down fifteen feet in two shafts, and indicated a
temperature of 59° in the ascending, and 42° in the descend-
ing current.
The inferior specific gravity of the heated air is, in fact, the
cause of its ascent, and consequently of the descent of fresh
supplies from the atmosphere at a lower temperature ; so that
it
96 Mr. R. W. Fox on the Increase of Heat in Mines,
it is clear that the air which circulates in mines tends to di-
minish, and not to augment their temperature. The air sup-
plied by mechanical means is comparatively trifling; this mode
of ventilation being resorted to only, when, from a deficiency
of shafts, the circulation is very imperfect; and as it must ul-
timately form a part of the warm ascending currents, it is un-
necessary to consider its effect on temperature as a distinct
question.
True it is, that the ratio of increase is by no means uniform
in the mines ; nor ought it to be expected to be so, as there
are many disturbing causes which must affect the temperature
very differently in different places. Of these, the copious fil-
tration of water into the deepest excavations of mines, is, I con-
ceive, the most influential, subject as it is in a peculiar degree
to be modified by local circumstances both in its quantity and
direction. It cannot however be doubted that it must chiefly
come from more elevated ground ; and therefore I think it
may be inferred, that the temperature of mines is not equal
to that of the earth at the same level, either in degree or in
uniformity.
The temperature of water in the shafts of abandoned
mines has been repeatedly referred to in opposition to the
opinion that a native heat exists in the earth itself. On this
subject I have made some observations in a paper published,
in 1827, in the third volume of the Cornwall Geological
Society's Transactions, which I may perhaps be allowed to
quote.
" My impression is, that the experiments which have been
made in these collections of water tend to support the opi-
nions" (in favour of a subterranean heat), " the differences of
temperature being considerable in different stopped mines ;
and even in different shafts of the same mine a variation of
temperature has been observed.
" Some very shallow mines, it seems, have been found full
of water to the adit level at the temperature of 51°; others, at
from 52° to 56°, and even 57°, as was the case at Gunnis
Lake copper mine, the depth of which was 125 fathoms, and
the adit 35 fathoms, from the surface; so that, taking the
mean temperature of the climate at as high as 51°, (which,
from some experiments to be mentioned*, I now think is
rather above the mark, as it respects our principal mining di-
** A series of observations, continued throughout the year, made on the
temperature of the ground, and three feet under the surface, gave for Dol-
coath 49°-94 ; and Huel Gorland, which is more elevated, being about
350 feet above the sea-level, 48°'99.
stricts
and on the interior Temperature of the Earth. 97
stricts at least,) it gives an excess of five or six degrees for the
whole of the water in some shafts, which is equal to ten or
twelve degrees for the extreme, even supposing equal quan-
tities of water to flow into the shafts from the higher and lower
galleries : this, however, I imagine to be by no means the case,
but that by far the largest portion of what is emptied into the
adits from the overflow of the waters in shafts *, must be de-
rived from the upper levels and workings of mines. The
levels are usually driven on the veins at intervals of ten fathoms
under the adits ; the superior ones being more extended in
length than the inferior; so that they are likely to intercept
most of the waters coming from the ground above; and the
water following that course which opposes the least resistance
may be supposed to pass principally through the uppermost
levels into the shafts, and to sink therein, if its relative tem-
perature be low. Thus it may be presumed that the compa-
ratively stationary water in the deeper levels, has but little in-
fluence on that in the shafts; for it is well known that this
fluid conducts heat in a lateral direction very slowly.
" The effects above mentioned are doubtless variously mo-
dified in different places by the nature and thickness of the
strata and the more or less pervious state of the veins : be-
sides, the workings communicating with the shafts are in some
mines much more open and excavated than in others. And
considering all these circumstances, we might, I think, anti-
cipate that the results of experiments on the temperature of
water in stopped mines must be discordant and inconclusive
as to the actual heat of the earth itself, however strongly they
may corroborate the truth of its existence."
I might have added, that there are usually several shafts
in mines not carried down through the adit, which must re-
ceive large supplies of rain-water from the surface ; and this
water having, it may be presumed, a mean temperature less
than that of the climate, of course tends to diminish the tem-
perature of the water in abandoned mines.
The experiments made to ascertain the temperature of the
ocean at great depths are, I think, quite inconclusive with re-
spect to the subject under consideration. The bed of the sea
is doubtless composed of very imperfect conductors of heat;
but if it were all of solid rock, it would surely be incapable
of transmitting heat to the water so fast as the latter would
convey it away, not only from its natural tendency, when heated,
to ascend in colder portions of that fluid, but also from the
* The quantity of the waters so discharged from the shafts, is generally
considerable.
'N. S. Vol. 9. No. 50. Feb. 1831. O incessant
98 Mr. R. W. Fox on the Increase of Heat in Mines.
incessant agitation of the ocean produced by currents and
tides, &c. For these reasons, it appears to me that a low
temperature at the bottom of the sea is not at all inconsistent
with a high degree of terrestrial heat.
The temperature about the poles of the earth must also be
governed by the relative impressions of the heat and cold to
which they may be exposed ; and if frost and snow are found
on Hecla and other volcanic mountains and districts, owing
to the very slowly and imperfectly conducting medium of the
rocks and the ground, surely the effects produced by the cold
in the polar regions cannot be deemed incompatible with an
elevated temperature under the surface. The zones of equal
temperatures at accessible depths in the earth having been
found to conform, in some degree, to the irregularities of its
surface, — this fact affords another instance that whilst the in-
ternal parts of mountains and hills may be sustained at a high
temperature, their sides and even the valleys which separate
them may be quite cold. This arrangement of the zones of
heat must, I conceive, cause the water or moisture in the in-
terior of mountains and hills to give out vapour more or less
copiously, according to circumstances; and this ascending
towards their summits and sides, gradually condenses into
drops in proportion as the temperature of the ground di-
minishes. The drops accumulating into small streams, ulti-
mately appear, in part at least, at the surface, and form a more
or less considerable proportion of springs or fountains.
If the terrestrial temperature could be determined with cer-
tainty at any given depths within our reach, I much question
whether it ought to be considered as furnishing us with pro-
per data for calculating the ratio of increase to a far greater
depth, because it appears to me to be highly probable that in
the former case the heat may be due to the ascending portions
of warm water, more than to the conducting power of the
rocks ; and this idea derives confirmation from the fact, that
those rocks which most readily transmit heat (compact granite
for example) are usually found at a lower temperature in mines
than clay-slate and other rocks which are the most pervious
to moisture and the worst conductors of heat.
It must however be acknowledged that whether the ter-
restrial heat increases more or less rapidly towards the centre,
the frequent occurrence of volcanos and hot springs, in di-
stricts far separated from each other, tends strongly to confirm
the opinion that a very high temperature exists in the interior
of the globe. 0 ... ^
TT i L t to too, ROBERT W. Fox.
Falmouth, Jan. 13, 1831.
XVIII. On
[ 99 ]
XVIII. On the Stability of the Solar System. By J. W. LUB-
BOCK, Esq. F.R.S.*
THHE following passage occurs in the 103rd Number of the
•*• Edinburgh Review, p. 4-3, lately published. " The earth
is one of eleven planets which revolve round the sun. It has
been demonstrated by mathematicians, that all the little irre-
gularities arising from the mutual actions of the planets on each
other run through regular periods, and then vanish. So that
their motions, for anything which we know to the contrary,
may continue for ever, without any real alterations in the mu-
tual distances between the sun and planets."
The proof of this proposition, as here stated in its utmost
generality, is not to be found in any work on physical astro-
nomy ; nor is it true, unless the planets move in a medium ab-
solutely devoid of any resistance. The proof given by M. de
Pontecoulant, Theorie Anal, du Sy steme du Monde, vol. i. p. 4-55,
extends only to the square of the disturbing force. In rigour,
however, it matters not at what stage of the approximation
the terms come in which create a derangement; the effect might
be more slow, but would not be less certain.
In a paptr recently published in the Philosophical Trans-
actions, I have endeavoured to overcome this difficulty by the
following very simple considerations.
By th»3 first approximation, or that which takes into account
the first power of the disturbing force, supposing the body to
move in a medium devoid of resistance,
Semi-major axis "1
Eccentricity I = & , f cosines . h
Inclination of the orbit to a f . w ]fed by
fixed plane J tfjfos/
Longitude of the perihelion^
Longitude of the epoch >= Series of sines -f a quan-
Longitude of the node J tity multiplied by the time.
The arguments under the sign sine and cosine in these ex-
pressions are multiples of angles depending on the mean mo-
tions of the bodies which compose the system.
A second approximation may be obtained by integrating
the differential equations for the variations of the elliptic con-
stants, after having substituted in the disturbing function their
values found by the first approximation. But the values thus
found for them by the second approximation retain the same
form as before : the same is true for the next approximation ;
* Communicated by the Author.
O2 and
100 Mr. Lubbock on tlie Stability of the Solar System.
and indeed however far the approximation be carried. So that
the following theorem is true, without neglecting any powers
of the eccentricities or inclinations, or any powers of the dis-
turbing forces :
Semi-major axis ~)
Eccentricity o • c - - \
Inclination of the orbit to a >= Senes of ">.smes th0"
fixed plane j ".'^ 'I1'3"11'?
by the time.
Longitude of the perihelion ~)
Longitude of the epoch > = Series of sines -f a quan-
Longitude of the node ) tity multiplied by the time.
The series of cosines being a periodic function, it follows that
however long the periods of some of the inequalities may be,
the semi-major axis, the eccentricity, and the inclination to a
fixed plane vary periodically within limits which depend upon
the magnitude of the disturbing forces, that is, upon the mag-
nitude of the mass of the primary compared with the masses
of the planets, and upon their mean distances from the primary,
&c. The other three constants have a term varying with the
time ; but this, from the nature of these constants, does not
affect the stability of the system.
The contrary obtains when the body moves in a medium
which resists according to any power of the velocity, in this
case, considering only the terms which depend on the resistance
of the medium ;
Semi-major axis 1 0 . - .
Eccentricity ) = Sene,S <*™*f + a, qUant'ty
Longitude of the perihelion \ Qmult'Plfd by the time.
Lonfritude of the epoch / : = Senes of. cosmfs. *^°«
<* any quantity multiplied by
the time.
I have also extended these results to the problem of the ro-
tation of the earth about its centre of gravity. The solution of
this problem contains six constants: which constants are analo-
gous to those which occur in the determination of a planet's
motion round the sun, an analogy first, I believe, pointed out
by M. Poisson.
* By integrating the expressions for the variations of these
constants,
The mean motion of rotation, ~]
The cosine of the geographical j
latitude of the axis of install- )>= A periodic function with-
taneous rotation, out any quantity multi-
The obliquity of the ecliptic, J plied by the time.
The
Mr. Moore's Remarks on the Origin of Rock-basins. 101
The geographical longitude of ^|
the pole of instantaneous ro- |
tation,
The longitude of a given line >= A riot|ic
quantity multiplied by
lie time.
in the body,
The longitude of a fixed line
in the ecliptic, reckoned from
the first point of Aries,
Thus the geographical latitude of the pole of the axis of
instantaneous rotation, the angular velocity of rotation, and
the obliquity of the ecliptic vary eternally within limits which
in fact are extremefy narrow, and thus the stability of the
system is preserved.
I have only shown these results to be true when the earth
is supposed to revolve in a medium absolutely devoid of all
resistance and friction. It seems worthy of inquiry how they
become modified when some degree of friction is supposed
to exist.
XIX. Remarks on the Origin of Rock-basins ; in reply to a
Paper by Mr. E. W. BRAYLEY, Jan.* By the Rev. THOMAS
MOOUE.
To the Editors of the Philosophical Magazine and Annals.
Gentlemen,
A N article on the subject of rock-basins, by Mr. Bray ley Jun.,
•**• — extracted from his contribution, on the subject of Geo-
logy, to "The History and Topography of Devonshire,"a work
now in the course of publication, — having been inserted, with
some slight alterations, in the Philosophical Magazine for No-
vember 1830, a place for some remarks in reply to his objec-
tions to the artificial origin of those cavities, is now requested.
Mr. Bray ley commences his observations in the work just
mentioned (page 288, 8vo edit.) by saying, " The writer of
these outlines might be considered as liable to a charge of in-
attention to his friend the Rev. T. Moore, author of the topo-
graphical and principal part of this work, were he to omit
noticing the remarks on the origin of rock-basins contained
in the first chapter of Book II." &c. The present writer, how-
ever, must take the liberty of observing, that, valuable as
* See Phil. Mag. and Annals, N. S. vol. viii. p. .'531.
Mr.
102 Mr. Moore's Remarks on the Origin of Rock-basins;
Mr. Bray ley's communication may be, he should have been
more gratified by " the breach than the observance" of this
instance of civility; not because he had any aversion to his
opinion on the origin of rock-basins undergoing the test of
investigation, but because it was obviously improper to render
a work on topography the vehicle of controversy by the
writers of it ; and also, as he never meant to lay any stress on
his own opinion on that subject, he did not wish it to be made
a prominent subject in the above-mentioned work ; nor more-
over had he any intention of arguing the question fully in the
slight notice which he had taken of it there. However, as
Mr. Brayley has endeavoured to show the futility of this opi-
nion at considerable length, some sort of reply seems to be ne-
cessary, and the following remarks are therefore respectfully
submitted to the candour of the reader who may feel inter-
ested in the subject.
Since the article alluded to has been published, an intel-
ligent and highly respectable correspondent in Devonshire,
who is said to be excelled by none in an acquaintance with
the antiquities and other curiosities of Dartmoor, has favoured
the writer with the following observations, which he begs
leave to insert as corresponding with what was suggested to his
own mind by the little which he himself saw, and by all that
he heard of the rock-basins in this district. " Respecting rock-
basins much diversity of opinion has existed; but whoever
will inspect them must be convinced of their artificial ori-
gin. To all appearance they have a connection with other
relics found in their neighbourhood ; for it may be remarked,
that these rock-basins are generally situated on tors which
overlook or border on the remains of the ancient British vil-
lages on the moor. They are also very distinguishable from
the hollows worn by the effects of weather, these basins being
often of very regular figure, arid cut in the hardest rocks,
where no other derangement of the surface is visible."
On the opposite side of the question, Dr. MacCulloch, as
quoted by Mr. Brayley, has observed, " The true origin of
rock-basins is easily traced by inspecting the rocks themselves,
where they are found." Such is the opinion of my corre-
spondent just quoted; but that correspondent was also con-
vinced that such inspection would necessarily lead to a con-
clusion directly opposed to Dr. MacCulloch's. And the
only proof which this distinguished writer has adduced as
furnished by the appearance of the rocks is the following :
" On examining the excavations they will always be found
to
in reply to a Paper by Mr. E. W. Brayley, jun. 103
to contain distinct grains of quartz and fragments of other
constituent parts of granite;" but he adds, '* in time the
accumulated gravel is blown away by the winds, although
in the deeper hollows it may often be found forming consider-
able accumulations." In the first place, I very much doubt
whether it be really a fact that gravel of this description is
always found in these excavations, and indeed Dr. MacCul-
Joch's own remark seems to imply that it is not; for why
does he observe that in time the accumulated gravel is blown
away, if it were always found there ? But let us suppose the
statement to be correct, and in many of them such gravel or
sand, it will readily be admitted, is found ; then, I observe,
these particles of gravel or sand may as readily be supposed
to have been swept into the basins by the wind, as blown out
of them, and to have found a lodgement there : nor will any
one think this circumstance extraordinary, who has any know-
ledge of the violence of the winds in this district.
Dr. MacCulloch proceeds to observe, that " the circum-
stances which occasion the formation of rock-basins are the
presence of water, and the alternate action 'of air and water.
Jf a drop of water can make an effectual lodgement on a surface
of granite, a small cavity is sooner or later produced. This
insensibly enlarges as it becomes capable of holding more
water, and the sides, as they continue to waste, necessarily re-
tain an even and rounded concavity, on account of the uniform
texture of the granite." Now we have no doubt that a con-
tinued stream of water, especially if it flow with rapidity, will
wear itself a channel, arid create hollows in the hardest
rock; and the Rev. J. P. Jones, the distinguished Botanist of
Devonshire, in his account of one of his tours on Dartmoor,
mentions a remarkable fact of this kind very much to our pre-
sent purpose. He states, that in crossing the streams on the
Moor, he observed, not only many small cataracts, but basins
in the rocks on the borders of the currents ; and that these cu-
rious cavities, however, were never formed unless the rapidity
of the stream, meeting with some obstructions, formed an
eddy. Here then is the operation of natural causes fully ade-
quate to the effect produced. A body of water perpetually
whirling round with considerable velocity, and carrying with
it, no doubt, gravel and stones, has insensibly, through a long
succession of ages, scooped out these rock-basins: but that a
drop of water, having found a lodgement on the horizontal
surface of the hardest granite, should, by chemical operation,
make any serious impression there, and that hence by the
gradual accumulation of water rock-basins should be formed
on
101 Mr. Moore's Remarks on the Origin of Rock-basins ;
on these flat surfaces, some of which, as Dr. MacCulloch ob-
serves, " are as regularly spheroidal internally as if they had
been shaped by a turning lathe, " and it may be added some
of which also are several feet in diameter*, — to the reception
of this proposition my power of credence, I confess, is not
equal. I see here, indeed, a theory supported by a distin-
guished name, but by no sufficient proof. Mr. Brayley him-
self states a fact in direct hostility to this hypothesis. There
are granite beds, it seems, which present basins on their per-
pendicular faces ("Devon," p. 292 — 294-); and water might
indeed be arrested there by a miracle, but if.it followed the
course which nature requires, it would certainly descend, and
leave the rock as before. Some other cause therefore must
necessarily be sought for, to account for the production of these
basins at least.
But if we are to suppose that rock-basins can be formed
by "the presence of water, and the alternate action of air and
water," and if, as Mr. Brayley affirms, " we need not hesitate
in admitting the solution of granite in water to an extent ca-
pable of producing this effect of disintegration," then I ask, in
what state ought we to find the granite in the beds, or rather
at the sides of the rivers near the surface of the water, where
it must be constantly exposed to the alternate and powerful
action of air and water? Worn indeed it may be by the
current, together with the sand and stones which the water
carries along with it; but that it is corroded chemically, and
that to a great degree, in conformity with Dr. MacCulloch's
theory, by the operation of both these elements, does not ap-
pear to be the fact j-.
Again : if cavities can be formed in the rock in the manner
Dr. MacCulloch supposes, then I maintain, the whole of
the horizontal surface of the rocks would be corroded, and
would be generally as full of hollows as a honeycomb, though
with nothing of the regularity of the latter, for a drop of water
would easily find a lodgement in numerous places. This
however is not the case on any of the rocks in Devonshire ; on
* Borlase states the diameter of some of them to be six feet.
f A valuable correspondent of Plymouth, who has much informa-
tion on these subjects, after expressing his concurrence with the brief
remarks in defence of the artificial origin of rock-basins which gave occa-
sion to Mr. Brayley's discussion of the subject, observes, " There may be
instances in which Dr. MacCulloch's theory is verified, but I have never
found moorstone decomposing under the drip of water; and why are the
rock-basins so often upon the highest ridge of these stones, if they be not
artificial ?"
the
in reply to a Paper by Mr. E. W. Brayley, jun. 105
the contrary, as my correspondent before quoted observes,
" the basins are not only often of very regular figure, but are
cut in the hardest rocks, where no other derangement of the
surface is visible. And they are also very distinguishable from
the hollows worn in the softer parts of some rocks by the
effects of weather." These cavities are not only, as Dr. Mac-
Culloch states, occasionally circular in their boundary, and
as regularly spheroidal internally as if they had been shaped
in a turning lathe, but their sides also are smooth and even ;
and these circumstances appear to me to be decisive of the
question. Dr. MacCulloch, it is true, ascribes this regularity
of form to " the uniform texture of the granite," Now the
constituent parts of the granite which most generally prevails
in Devonshire, are stated to be quartz, felspar and mica; and
we are told that these several materials are of different de-
grees of hardness. Mr. Brayley has spoken of " the felspar of
the base as dull, earthy and decomposing" ("Devon," p. 251),
and of another ofthedecomponent parts as "almost indestruc-
tible." This being the case, then, I maintain that the decom-
position, which is admitted to be going on at present as here-
tofore, would necessarily follow the softer particles of the rock ;
and the consequence would be, that the figure of the cavities
in question would become, in all cases, irregular, and bear
little or no resemblance to the rock-basins as they now are,
and as Dr. MacCulloch describes them. And not only would
they be irregular in their form, but the surface of these ca-
vities would also be rough and crumbly, the " soft, earthy
part having decayed," and left the " indestructible" portions
projecting. But this is not the fact ; and Mr. Brayley has ac-
cordingly admitted (" Devon," p. 290) that in his examinations
of the rock-basins on the summit of Carnbrea Hill, near Red-
ruth in Cornwall, " he did not find the sides of the basins
crumbly." The inference appears to me to be obvious and
conclusive: — the sides of the basins ought to be rough and
crumbly, if formed as Dr. MacCulloch represents, and if the
constituent parts of granite, as is also affirmed, are of different
degrees of hardness or durability ; but they are not rough and
crumbly, and therefore not formed by the only natural pro-
cess to which their formation is attributed.
What Mr. Brayley however considers as the strongest evi-
dence of the artificial origin of these cavities, but which, not-
withstanding, has escaped Dr. MacCulloch's notice, is as fol-
lows : — " Many of the rock-basins on Carnbrea are crossed
by veins of porphyry or porphyritic granite, which traverse
the earns, and which, offering a much greater resistance to
the action of decomposing agents than the granite itself, have
N.S. Vol. 9, No. 50. Feb. 1831, P been
106 Mr. Moore's Remarks on the Origin of Rock-basins ;
been left in the form of ridges, their edges only having been
rounded by the action of the elements. This fact is obviously
conclusive," &c. Not having seen these cavities, I shall not
venture to give any opinion decidedly respecting them. From
Mr. Brayley's description of them they appear to be very ir-
regular, and if he had not said that he did not find their sides
crumbly, I should be disposed to consider them as belonging
to that class of excavations which have been formed by natural
causes. If their origin were artificial, it is possible the ridges
might have been left through want of sufficient skill to re-
move them; or, the softer parts of the rock may perhaps have
been since worn away by the action of the weather, leaving the
porphyry projecting. But at any rate the reasoning from
these does not appear to me to apply to the rock-basins in
Devonshire, where, though the component parts of the granite
are said to differ greatly in durability, no projections occur.
From the former of these instances therefore no serious ob-
jection appears to arise to the artificial origin of the latter.
Mr. Brayley, indeed, has himself felt a difficulty on this sub-
ject; for admitting the insufficiency of Dr.MacCulloch's theory,
he has proposed another objection to it, by saying (" Devon,"
p. 292), " And indeed it would appear that some further
cause than the uniform texture of the granite must in reality
operate in the formation of these basins; for if that only were
the reason, the granite would be as much acted upon in a di-
rection perpendicular to its surface, as in those directions
which are parallel to it; and the depth of the basins ought
always to be equal to their diameters, or nearly so ; which, as
far as the writer's knowledge extends, is seldom, if ever, the
case. And the occurrence of the rock-basins on the vertical
faces of the granite at Scilly would seem to be a further cor-
roboration of this idea; for it is difficult to conceive how the
action of water could produce such cavities in this situation,
unless it were aided by the tendency of the rock to disintegrate
more easily in certain directions, with respect to the planes
of its surfaces, than *in others." The reasonableness of these
remarks is sufficiently obvious; and the further cause than
the uniform texture of the granite necessary to the pro-
duction of rock-basins, Mr. Brayley supposes to be found in
the spheroidal structure of this rock. His reasoning appears
to be thus: — The constituent parts of granite are spherically
arranged ; in other words, a mass of granite consists of a num-
ber of spheres; and as disintegration on the flat surface of
the rock takes place, this kind of structure is favourable, in
some way or other, to the formation of these cavities : and
that the structure of granite is thus spheroidal in all cases,
Mr.
in reply to a Paper by Mr. E. W. Brayley, jun. 107
Mr. Brayley is of opinion that Dr. MacCulloch has rendered
in the highest degree probable. To me however, I must take
the liberty of saying, the proofs adduced are not by any means
so satisfactory as Mr. Brayley supposes them to be. Some
kinds of rocks, and even some rare specimens of particular sorts
of granite, may be unquestionably spheroidal; but to infer
hence that all granite is so, would surely be much too hasty,
and can scarcely be satisfactory even to those who have a fa-
vourite notion to support. But that the structure of the De-
vonshire granite is not of this kind appears evident from the
following considerations. In the first place, if it were so, this
ought to be apparent on inspecting it. The crystals, for in-
stance, are usually large and very distinct ; but have they any
appearance of a concentric or spherical arrangement ? Cer-
tainly not: they seem to be thrown together in confusion,
and have in general no regular arrangement whatever.
Again, the direction of the fissures in this granite are clearly
adverse to the supposition of its spheroidal construction.
Masses of this rock are divided into cuboidal or laminar
blocks, bounded by fissures horizontal, perpendicular, or in-
clined, often " mere mathematical planes and preserving an
exact parallelism among themselves ;" whereas, if the consti-
tuent parts of the granite had a spherical arrangement, these
blocks surely ought to be spheroids, and the fissures of a cir-
cular form. They would separate like the coats of an onion,
" whether the fissures, as originally existing in the granite,
are to be considered as the effects of contraction produced in
the mass by the evaporation of water, or by the abstraction of
heat." Much is said, it is true, about the boulders of this
rock, and the rounded form of the edges and corners of the
blocks and the laminae. To this it may be replied, that all the
projections of the granite, the corners, and the edges, are most
worn because they are most exposed to the action of the at-
mosphere, to which their decomposition is attributed, and that
this would be the case, whether there were anything spherical
in the arrangement of their constituent parts, or not ; so that
no argument in favour of such arrangement can be derived
from this circumstance, of sufficient weight to decide the ques-
tion. Proof therefore being wanting of the spheroidal structure
of this granite, all reasoning from it in favour of the forma-
tion of rock-basins by a natural process, falls to the ground*.
On
* Mr. Brayley has mentioned the Logan on the Teign in connection
with this subject, and has taken it for granted that its form is spheroidal.
But his account of it is in the main particulars erroneous. Having taken
a slight sketch of it myself, on the spot, I can speak of it without hesitation.
It is not properly seated, as he observes, " in the channel of the river," but
P2 at
108 Mr. Moore's Remarks on the Origin of Rock-basins ;
On the whole, therefore, I am still inclined, for the reasons
now adduced, to retain my original opinion, that the rock-
basins properly so called, and distinguished from other irre-
gular cavities in the rocks, are artificial. At the same time
I am not disposed to lay any undue stress on this opinion, and
have undertaken the defence of it with reluctance. One or two
other facts, however, in support of it, may be added. The
rock-basins in Devonshire," Mr. Burt*, who was well ac-
quainted with Dartmoor, has observed, " are always on the
verge of the rock." What reason can be assigned for this, if
these cavities are the result of the chemical operation of the
elements? Does not such a position indicate some design in
their formation ? They are also comparatively few in num-
ber, for among the numberless rocks and tors on Dartmoor
by far the greater part are without this distinction: and why
should not rock-basins be found upon rocks and tors of the
same texture generally, if formed by some natural process by
which all are liable to be affected ? They are, moreover, some-
times found singly, where there is no other derangement of
the surface; and generally in the vicinity of other British
remains. Cornwall, which abounds most with the latter, ex-
hibits also, it seems, the greatest number of the former. All
these circumstances serve to strengthen the belief of the arti-
ficial origin of these singular cavities. Nor is there any evi-
dence, from time immemorial, of their increase either in size or
number.
At the same time, I am contending only that their origin is
artificial. By whom or for what purpose they were formed
is not known ; nor is it my intention to hazard any conjecture
on the subject. They are of two kinds ; one, simple cavities
at the side of it, at the foot of a steep hill, the side of which is covered
with blocks of granite of different sizes, and has every appearance of hav-
ing rolled or slidden down the declivity with many other blocks, which lie
on the banks and in the bed of the river, and of having rested and poised
itself upon a slight elevation of a low rock beneath. Or if this were not
the case, the fissure between itself and the rock on which it rests may have
been worn larger than it was originally by the current, which is here very
rapid, leaving a fulcrum near the centre on which it moves. It is now
moved with difficulty, and could never have oscillated more than an inch
or two. Its form moreover does not approximate to the spheroidal. I have
seen in some publication, the title of which I do not now recollect, what
was intended for a view of it, and in that view the form, indeed, that was
given to it, was spheroidal : but it is no more like the real Logan than an
apple to a cube. The true form of it is intended to be given in a future
number of" The History and Topography of Devonshire," and a near re-
semblance to it may be now seen with the ornamented letter at the begin-
ning of Book II. of that work.
* Notes to Carrington's " Dartmoor," p. 196.
cut
in reply to a Paper by Mr. E. W. Bray ley, jun. 109
cut in the surface of the rock ; the other, with lips, or com-
munications between the different basins, in some instances
one of them being lower than the other, and the communica-
tion between the two sometimes extending to the bottom of
the upper basin. Borlase*, who was the first writer, I be-
lieve, that made any attempt to account for the origin and de-
sign of these cavities, rejects the notion that they were used
for libations of blood, wine, honey, or oil, and thinks they
were intended to collect water from the rains or dews, in the
greatest purity, for the purpose of ablutions, which were very
common among the priests of all ancient superstitions, and
probably therefore among the Druids. But he proposes this
of course only as conjecture.
That the ancient Britons were capable of forming them,
there can be little doubt. We know that they had made at
least some progress in the mechanical arts. We learn, for
instance, from Caesar, who could not be mistaken, that they
had chariots of war, armed with scythes, and there is other
evidence of their possessing skill equal to the task in question.
The Phoenicians, moreover, had made much greater progress
in mechanical skill ; nor is it disputed that with the West of
England especially they had much commercial intercourse,
and there is some evidence of their having formed settlements
here as they had done elsewhere. This being the case, they
could scarcely have failed to communicate some portion of
their own improvements to the Britons. What is there ex-
traordinary in the supposition that these rock- basins might
possibly be formed by these ancient inhabitants of the island?
And if conjectures are to be hazarded, the most probable seems
to connect them with Druidical superstitions.
I cannot conclude without taking notice of one observation
more of Mr.B/s ( " Devon," p. 289) : he has found, he say s, " other
antiquarian friends are not willing to resign altogether that
notion of these excavations, which in the hands of Dr. Borlase
and his compeers has given rise to so imposing a pageant of
the ceremonies of Druidism." I at least have not met with
any writers who are at all disposed to rest their opinions
on so slight a foundation. Their notions of Druidical cere-
monies are usually derived from ancient writers, who were
best acquainted with these matters, and are most worthy of
credit. In the account which I have given of these super-
stitions in the early part of the work on Devonshire, I have
made very little use of Borlase's work; for I am aware
that this writer appears to have been in the habit of bringing
together statements favourable to his own notions, from va-
* p. 230 of his work on the antiquities of Cornwall.
rious
110 Mr. Moore's Remarks on the Origin of Rock-basins.
rious sources, without sufficient examination into their value
and authenticity. Not considering him therefore a guide that
could be always followed with safety, I have referred to other
and higher authorities. At the same time I am far from think-
ing this writer to be deserving of contempt. His learning
and the general extent of his researches entitle his opinions
to attention. 1 must also be permitted to add, that I have
not rested the proof of the existence of Druidism in the West
of England on the existence of rock-basins, or on any other
British remains in this district, but on the consideration, that
as this superstition constituted the religion of the ancient in-
habitants of this island, it was matter of course that it pre-
vailed also in the West, and retained its hold longer there
than elsewhere in England, as this was the last quarter from
which the Britons were driven, or in which they were reduced
to subjection. The British remains in Devonshire and Corn-
wall may, or may not, be connected with this ancient supersti-
tion ; but the probability appears evidently to be that they
were.
After observing justly (" Devon," p. 281) that every natural
phenomenon and production that was not understood, was in
early times generally attributed to supernatural agency, Mr. B.
proceeds to remark, that " in modern times, natural phaeno-
mena of the same description, which the existing state of sci-
ence has not afforded the means of explaining, have been
regarded as the works of ancient nations, and, in this country
especially, as those of the Druids, or at least of the people
whose operations were instigated or directed by them." And
no doubt much error has arisen from this source : but it may
be well to recollect that it is possible to run into the op-
posite extreme, and in the eagerness to stand as far aloof as
possible from the prejudices of ignorance and folly, credulity
may still be discovered in ascribing to the agency of nature
the results of human art and industry. In our efforts to
assign natural causes for extraordinary productions, we must
be stopped somewhere by reason and common sense, or in the
future and accelerated progress of the sciences we shall doubt-
less at length find out, not only that the rock-basins, but
the cromlechs, and what are vulgarly supposed to be Druidi-
cal circles, as Stonehenge for instance, are positively natural
phsenomena. In these latter productions I discover marks of
human agency and design, and therefore ascribe them to these
causes; and for similar reasons I am still inclined to believe
that rock-basins are artificial.
Islington, Jan. 3, 1831. THOMAS MooilE.
XX. An
[ 111 ]
XX. An Examination of those Phenomena of Geology, which
seem to bear most directly on theoretical Speculations. By
the Ecv. W. D. CONYBEARE, M.A. F.R.S. F.G.S. $c.
[Continued from page 23.]
VIII. rpHE distribution of the rocks usually considered as
-•• of volcanic origin, in the different formations, is
such as to indicate the greater prevalence of volcanic agency
during the earlier periods ; and the relations of the actual vol-
canic vents are such as to prove that these are only the resi-
dual portion of a much larger number which have coexisted
in the antecedent epochs.
Observations. — This article ought strictly to have occupied
an earlier place in my arrangement, and to have immediately
followed No. IV. but as it will be seen that many causes tend to
throw obscurity on this part of our subject, and to prevent
our arriving at more than approximate results, I have judged
this departure from a more exact method justifiable, as I have
thus been enabled to give precedence to the evidence which ap-
peared to me most clear and satisfactory. From the intrusive
position of these rocks, which appear very frequently to have
been injected among the strata which they traverse, subse-
quently to the deposition of those strata, a difficulty arises, in
limine, as to the determination of their age. We know them to
be subsequent to the beds traversed ; but who shall say how
much so? In order to ascertain this point, the junction of
these beds with the succeeding formations should be carefully
examined, and the exact geological point noted where these
intruding masses are cut off and cease to traverse those for-
mations. For instance, if a trap dyke shall be found travers-
ing the coal measures, but cut off by the incumbent mag^
nesian limestone, we may then be sure that the cause which
produced this dyke was in action before the deposition of the
magnesian limestone. We have, however, hitherto few obser-
vations to this effect; but it yet seems to me that an approxi-
mation is attainable ; for we find that the rocks usually con-
sidered as igneous, materially vary in their characters in the
different^formations ; granite occurring most generally in asso-
ciation with the rocks termed primitive; peculiar greenstones
and porphyries with those of transition ; others again with
some varieties of basalt in the coal formation. Now whenever
we find peculiar varieties always associated with a single for-
mation, and excluded from the contiguous formations of more
recent date, we may fairly, I think, infer that their production
has taken place almost contemporaneously with that of the
formations in which they so occur ; yet it must be owned that
the
112 Rev. W. D. Conybeave on the Phenomena of Geology
the different varieties of trap pass into each other by such
insensible gradations, that much doubt must often hang over
the subject.
In the so called primitive epoch, we find a very large pro-
portion, universally distributed, of rocks which have been re-
ferred to an igneous origin by evidence which has produced
an increasing effect on the minds of geologists, the more at-
tentively it has been examined and weighed. I speak prin-
cipally of the granitic rocks ; but I think we must refer most
of the'felspathic and amphibolic series to this class. From their
general relations, we may probably consider most of these
rocks as having originated antecedently to the transition
period; but I am far from supposing that any of them are
necessarily confined to this age; on the contrary, I believe
many granitic rocks, those especially passing into sienite, to
belong generally to the transition period, and some to even
younger epochs*.
The transition period likewise embraces a very large pro-
portion of rocks, such as greenstones, sienites, &c., apparently
of igneous origin ; though here again the same difficulty as
to limiting their exact age presents itself: for instance, in
Pembrokeshire the graywacke is extensively associated with
greenstone, which latter, when it approaches the superjacent
carboniferous limestone, breaks through it, thus demonstrat-
ing its more recent origin. Yet when we take a general view
of the primitive and transition districts, and compare the pro-
portion of the rocks generally esteemed of igneous origin,
which universally occur associated with them, occupying ge-
nerally nearly one-fifth of these districts, with the much smaller
proportion of the igneous rocks in the more recent formations,
and their frequent absence in the latter case, we cannot,
I think, resist the conclusion, that the causes which have pro-
duced them were in much more active operation in the earlier
period.
The carboniferous series still embrace many trap rocks,
though in a far less proportion, and much more limited to
particular localities. Thus they are very abundant in the Scotch
carboniferous tract ; less so, but still far from scarce, in that
of Northumberland and Durham ; that of Derbyshire scarcely
exhibits them, except in the toadstones alternating with the
limestone. We find them in overlying masses at Cleehill, and
in Staffordshire at Dudley; but the great coal basins of our
south-western counties, Somerset and South Wales, scarcely
* Boue refers the granite of Zinwald in Bohemia to the transition period,
and that of Baveno even to the carboniferous. Near Predazzo there is an
upright mass of granitic porphyry, said to be younger than the lias.
present
bearing on theoretical Speculations. 113
present a trace of them, excepting in the single point in the
west of Pembrokeshire, which has been already mentioned ; for
the trap of Tortworth in Gloucestershire, though it nearly ap-
proaches the Bristol coal-field, yet appears to be limited to
the transition group.
In the carboniferous districts our former difficulties again
recur in limiting the age of the associated trap. In one in-
stance, the Cleaveland trap dyke (in the north of Yorkshire)
traverses not only the coal-measures, but also the incumbent
red marl, lias, and inferior oolite. We must however, I think,
consider far the greater part of the trap rocks to have been
produced before the age of these formations ; for how other-
wise can we account for the absence of trap in these last,
which throughout England is, with this single exception, I be-
lieve total. We have here, then, in the carboniferous series, an
example of an intermediate group containing much less of
volcanic rocks than those which preceded, and much more
than those which succeeded.
In the oolitic and other more recent formations of England,
I am not acquainted with any instance of the occurrence of
any rock of the trap family, excepting only the just- mentioned
case of the Cleaveland dyke. On the continent, however, Elie
de Beaumont has noticed, associated with the lias in the hill
of Chardonnet(Alps of Brian9on), a petrosiliceous eurite (com-
pact felspar?), with a little hornblende, in beds of considerable
extent. In the Vicentin, at Predazzo, and in the Tyrol, au-
gite porphyry occurs in the lias and oolite. Brongniart re-
fers these rocks to his entritic group, which he considers as
occupying a middle place as to age, between the older granites
and younger trachytes and basalts in the volcanic series, and
ranging from the transition to the older tertiary beds : this he
defines as composed of rocks having their parts interspersed
with crystals, nodules, and portions confusedly crystallized ;
it seems to include the rocks more commonly called trap por-
phyry, compact felspar with hornblende, and several varieties
of toadstone (variolite, spilite agatifere, &c.). — See TabL des
TcrreinS) p. 344.
In the tertiary period, the north of Ireland presents us with
an extensive area of basalt reposing on the chalk; the same rock
occurs superior to the scaglia of the Vicentin, associated with
trachyte. Trachyte and lava, evidently of more recent origin
than the tertiary lacustrine deposits, also abound in the vol-
canic districts of Auvergne,of the South of France, near Mont-
pelier, and Toulon, of the lower Rhine, &c. ; and it seems
probable that the basalt of Cassel, and even of Saxony, be-
longs to the same period. Indeed, basalt and trachyte ap-
N, S. Vol. 9. No. 50. Feb. 1831. Q pear
111? Rev. W.D.Conybeare on the Phenomena of Geology
pear generally to characterize the youngest sera of volcanic
action.
Brongniart is also of opinion that the period of activity of
the extinct volcanos of Auvergne belonged to the close of the
tertiary rather than the commencement of the actual epoch ;
and believes it to have preceded the action of the causes,
whatever they may have been, which produced the vast accu-
mulations of gravel, which he designates " Clysmien," a term
which, having the fear of Mr. Lyell before my eyes, I dare
not translate 'diluvial' (Tall. p. 364). He admits, however,
that any well authenticated example of the lava of those vol-
canos actually overlying the said gravel, would negative this
presumption ; but contends that the instances hitherto cited
have been only beds of volcanic fragments, which might readily
originate in the same causes which produced gravel of the
other rocks.
Proceed we now to the volcanic vents which still continue
in a state of activity. If we compare the proportion of the
surface actually thus occupied with that of one-fifth, which
we have seen must have prevailed in the primitive and tran-
sition periods, we shall again have a ratio which I can only
express as tangent : cotangent of the infinitesimal part of a
second, which (as far as I am acquainted) the advocates of
existing causes alone consider as that of equality. It might
however be objected that this is an unfair view of the case ;
that in all the earlier formations we have the accumulated
products of the volcanic action of many remote successive
ages of immense duration; that perhaps but a very small
proportion of this total resulted from the volcanos of any
one single age ; and that the new vents which have in the
actual sera succeeded to those now extinct may, therefore,
be as numerous as those which previously existed at any
single date. But to this we answer, that if the actual sites be
examined, far from appearing to be new vents which have re-
placed extinct old ones, they will be found to be only small
residual portions of much more extensive volcanic districts,
which appear from the rocks characterizing them, trachyte,
basalt, &c., to have been contemporaneous with those of Au-
vergne, the Rhine, &c. Thus in Iceland, Hecla only is active ;
but the whole island is obviously the product of ancient vol-
canos. In Italy, Vesuvius occupies but a small part of the
Campi Phlegrsei; and there are many other like districts near
Rome, about the Alban lake, &c. &c. On this subject I can-
not do better than quote the very words of Brongniart, whose
authority deserves the more attention, as he has most care-
fully studied the whole subject, and drawn up one of the most
complete
bearing on theoretical Speculations. 115
complete accounts of volcanos extant, published in the Dic-
tionnaire des Sciences Nalurelles : —
" Pour rasseinbler ici toutes les observations qui concourent
a etablir LE REPOS ACTUEL des grands phenomenes geolo-
giques, et Pabsence de toute formation complete de terrain
nouveau, je dois rappeler en abrege les faits qui dans Phis-
toire des terrains pyrogenes volcaniques tendent a confirmer
cette proposition.
" 1. Toutes les bouches volcaniques en activite fontpartie
d'une systeme volcanique dont Porigine ou Pepoque d'appa-
rition a la surface du globe est absolument inconnu. On ne
pent citer aucuiie nouvelle bouche volcanique, aucun nouveau
cone ou butte volcanique terrestre, littoral, ou marin, qui ne
fasse partie ou ne soit lie avec un systeme de terrain volcanique
ancien." p. 61. — He adds, that the modern lavas are destitute
of many rocks and minerals which characterize the ancient,
e.g. true basalt, trachyte, metallic minerals, &c. ; and that the
rocks which are produced by aqueous solution, such as the
siliceous incrustations of the Geyser, and concretionary lime-
stones in modern volcanic districts, are little varied and of
small extent compared with the analogous deposits of the an-
cient basaltic and trachytic tracts.
I have been the more anxious fairly to state these argu-
ments, because in a very valuable publication, which has ap-
peared at the moment I am writing, by one of our first scien-
tific names (which I had most earnestly hoped to have seen
placed, where it undoubtedly ought to have been, at the head
of our first scientific Society) , I mean Herschel's Discourse on
the Study of Natural Philosophy, p. 147, — the author, speaking
of the diminution of the temperature of the globe, states that
some geologists have ascribed this to the immensely superior
activity of former volcanos, which, however, he observes, can
hardly be esteemed a vera causa; for, says he, " we are not
sure that such supposed greater activity of former than of pre-
sent volcanos really did exist." Now, unless I have entirely
failed, I would hope that in my late communications I have
shown some grounds for believing that we are as sure of this
fact as we can be of any which is not submitted to the evi-
dence of the senses, but requires to be established by a chain
of inferential reasoning. Mr. H. himself inclines to refer this
diminution of temperature to the diminution of the excentri-
city of the earth's orbit. On a subject of this nature I feel
myself altogether incompetent to hazard an opinion ; and I
will therefore only inquire whether, seeing that the mean
distance of the earth from the sun is necessarily a constant in-
variable amid all the oscillations of the system, the proposed
Q 2 secular
116"' Rev. W. D. Conybeare on the Phenomena of Geology.
secular variation be fully adequate to account for the pheno-
mena.
[To be continued.]
P.S. I most reluctantly enter into anything which may re-
semble a personal controversy with Mr. Lyell ; and therefore
regret that, in a note to one of my communications, I may seem
to have provoked it ; but it is best, perhaps, frankly to state
the case. On comparing his second chapter with the passage re-
ferred to in my Outlines, I did not doubt that it had been imme-
diately suggested from that source, and I felt, foolishly perhaps,
hurt at the absence of acknowledgement. All the passages per-
haps may have been quoted by others before in scattered parts of
different works; — but that they had been brought together ex-
pressly with the purpose of illustrating the attention which the
ancients had given to geological phenomena, before I, and
subsequently Mr. Lyell, had so collected them, I am still ig-
norant. That I am not desirous to claim originality for second-
hand quotations, will, I think, sufficiently appear from the note
in my Outlines referred to., where I have expressly acknow-
ledged my obligations to Prichard's Egyptian Mythology,
instead of citing directly the passages from Lipsius and Cen-
sorinus, which I might readily have done. It was in fact our
common citations from Prichard's work which most strongly
persuaded me that Mr. Lyell had copied from me. That two
independent authors should apply exactly in the same manner,
and in the same connection, to geological subjects, the same
extracts from a work on a subject by no means of universal
interest, and altogether alien to geology (the argument of
Prichard relating entirely to mythological cosmogony), ap-
peared to me extremely improbable ; and I think those who
examine the phaenomena of the case cannot consider my sus-
picion unnatural. At the same time if Mr. Lyell will state in
express words (which he does not appear to me to have done
in his late notice) that the coincidence was really accidental,
I shall be most happy to apologize for having used the ex-
pression ironically ; on the other hand, if he was in any de-
gree led to the materials of his chapter from my previous
statements, I trust he will feel that an acknowledgement would
have been more friendly.
There are only two points incidentally introduced on which
I have to observe : first, with regard to my quotation from
Strabo. I am inexpressibly surprised that Mr. Lyell should
consider it as altogether unconnected with the passage to
which he has referred. Strabo concludes the general argu-
ment, which Mr. Lyell has so ably condensed, by alleging
certain
Mr. S. Sharpe on the tidelike Wave of Lake Ontario. 117
certain examples to illustrate and confirm his views. " In or-
der," says he, " to render less wonderful and incredible the re-
volutions which we have just stated to be the causes of the
deluges and the like catastrophes which have been mentioned
at the Lipari Islands, &c., it is worth while to produce for
comparison yet more examples of the like nature which exist
or have happened in other places." Strabo, vol. i. p. 83, 84.
ed. Ox. One of the first examples thus introduced (at the
top of the very next page) is the case of the volcanic elevation
of the country about Methone, which I have myself quoted :
under these circumstances, it certainly appears to me per-
fectly impossible for any one to have carefully verified my
quotation, in the connection in which it stands, without being
necessarily conducted to the general argument abridged by
Mr. Lyell, of which as an illustration it certainly does form
an essential part. I should have been quite at a loss to con-
ceive how I could myself, as I have done, make this singular
omission, did not Mr. Lyell now suggest a cause, by showing
that the passage had been before quoted by Raspe; from whom,
therefore, I candidly confess that I now suppose I must have
taken it at second-hand, without even the trouble of verifica-
tion. All I remember is, that I copied the reference from a
note in my common-place book. My carelessness has been
rightly corrected, by occasioning me to overlook by far the
most important passage in the whole range of classical anti-
quity, with reference to geology ; — a passage which has been
now so ably put forward by Mr. Lyell, from whose merit I
willingly confess it will little detract, whether or no he may
have been originally led to it in the process of verifying
Raspe's or my previous quotation.
The last observation I have to make is on Mr. LyelPs re-
mark, that I have represented the ancients as proceeding in
the priori road rather than by induction ; which is grounded,
I believe, on my having given an example in which Aristotle
certainly has done so.
XXI. On the tidelike Wave of Lake Ontario. By SAMUEL
SHARPE, Esq. F.G.S.*
TN a late Number of the Philosophical Magazine is a paper
1 by Dr. Bigsby, on the Lake Ontario, in which he slightly
mentions the tidelike wave on the lake, but only in such a
manner as to make us wish for further information.
* Communicated by the Author.
The
1 1 8 Mr. S. Sharpe on the tidelike Wave of Lake Ontario.
The observations he records are :
1st, Observed by Mr. Gourlay; at the Whirpool there was
a tide of three feet every four or five minutes.
2ndly, by Dr. Bigsby; a mile below the Whirlpool there
was a flux and reflux of a foot every three or four minutes.
3rdly, by Mr. Gourlay, confirmed by Dr. Bigsby; atQueen-
ston Wharf, on the river Niagara, there was a constant ebbing
and flowing of one foot in a minute.
4-tlily, Related by Mr. Gourlay on the report of others,
that the tide of Nappanee took fifty minutes to flow and a
hundred minutes to ebb.
Now if we suppose these undulations to be caused by the
wind, and that like water in a basin, when it is highest on one
side it is lowest on 'the other, the distance from shore to shore
will be similar to half the space between the tops of two waves
in the ocean, and having the distance given, we may by com-
parison with the pendulum learn the time of undulation.
As the first and second observations were made at different
times, though at the same place, the wind had probably been
blowing with different force, which accounts for the disagree-
ment in the height to which the waves rose ; and might have
been blowing in different directions ; in one case more along
the lake, and in the other more across it, which might account
for the difference of the time.
Let us compare these two observations with the theory,
neglecting the last two, which were made at different places ;
the third being on the river, which will account for the shorter
intervals between the flux and reflux ; and as there is no ob-
vious reason for the longer period of the fourth observation,
we may perhaps be allowed to think it less accurate, as being
related at third hand.
Making d = the distance from shore to shore,
p = the length of a seconds pendulum 39*11 inches,
t = the time between high- and low-water,
we have by Newton's Princip. II. 4-6.
d .<*
8>
and taking d, first = 171* miles the extreme length of the
lake, we have / = 6T2^j minutes.
And again, d, as a minimum, at the average breadth of the
lake, = 35 miles, we have t = 2-j% minutes.
These are the longest and shortest periods that can be al-
lowed for the undulation ; and as the first and second obser-
vations are within these extremes, they agree as nearly with
the theory as can be expected without further details.
These
Observations on the Origin and History of the Bushmen. 119
These remarks are offered with the hope that they may be the
means of drawing out more information on the subject from
those of your readers who have opportunities of making similar
observations either on our own lakes or on those of other
countries.
XXII. Observations relative to the Origin and History of the
Bushmen. By ANDREW SMITH, M.D. M.W.S. fyc.*
rT^HAT the genuine Hottentot, at least in an uncivilized
•*• state, will doubtless ere long only be known to us through
the pages of history, is a position tenable, upon the rapid
decay of the race, its intermixture with other varieties, and
the gradual extension of civilized life; all now in active pro-
gress, having a strong tendency to produce the state, and hurry
on to the period in anticipation. This apparent certainty of
the approaching extinction, of at least the savage portion of
the race, points out the present as the latest stage calculated
for observing and recording information concerning the pe-
culiarities of their character and organization, which nature
herself will soon cease to supply, and declares that every,
even the most trifling, advance to this point will be something
gained for posterity. Under such impressions the following
remarks are offered to the notice of the Institution, not so
much from their being adapted to supply the numerous wants,
as for calling attention to the subject, and eliciting from others
the various and requisite details.
The Aborigines of South Africa, under whatever local
names they may have passed, or still do pass, according to
the special tribes to which they may have belonged or do yet
belong, will be found to have consisted, and still to consist,
only of two distinct races, namely, those of the Hottentot and
Caffer. The first of these, or that which from the circumstances
above alluded to has the greatest claim upon our immediate
attention, was, and to a certain extent is, even now divided
into distinct tribes or hordes; each having its own distinctive
appellation, and, more or less, governed by its own laws.
Amongst those, one division has always held, and still con-
tinues to hold, a most conspicuous position, and has ever
been proverbial with the rest, on account of its troublesome
character and universally outrageous conduct. To this the
other tribes, as well as its own members, apply the name of
A * tf
* From the South African Quarterly Journal, No. II. page 171
Saap
120 Dr. Smith's Observations relative to the
Saap or Saan ; and history describes a portion thereof under
the appellation of Bushmen, to which, as a subdivision of the
former, the following remarks are intended to apply.
The term Bushman, or more properly Bosjiesman, is of
Dutch origin, and commonly employed at present by the
colonists to designate a native of the wild and savage tribes
residing immediately beyond the northern boundary of the
colony, and supporting themselves either by plunder or the
spontaneous productions of nature. The time when such
communities began to exist must ever remain a matter of
conjecture, yet it is certain that they occurred at an early
period; for we find that the histories of such hordes are familiar
to the better disposed Hottentots even far in advance of the
colony, and stated by them to have existed from time
immemorial. Considering the manner in which their num-
bers are at present occasionally increased, we may, without
much danger of error, attribute their origin partly to the
consequences of war and poverty, and partly to the association
of characters whom crime induced to seek a refuge in the
desert, or the habits of a better state of society expelled from
its haunts. In very early times the part of the country now
known to us as the chief resort of the Bushmen was more
densely populated than at present, and the outrages and
violences perpetrated by its inhabitants were, according to
tradition, even more frequent and horrible than they now are.
In such days also, the barren districts lying between the Oli-
phant and Groone Rivers, now a long way within the boundary
of the colony, together with various other spots near the west-
ern coast, were peopled by such characters; and the Great
Karoo, as well as the country about the Camptoes River,
were likewise at one period the retreats of persons like those
in question. The belief of such having been the case is
founded partly upon the traditions of the older Hottentots;
partly upon the statements of the writer of the Diary of a
Journey made by Governor Simon van der Stell, to the
country of the Amaquas *, and partly upon the authority of
a document quoted by the Rev. Dr. Philipf, which furnishes
evidence, showing that in the year 1702 a party of armed
Boors reached as far as the last-named district, and found
there " no kraals, except hordes of Bushmen." Besides such
* " Beschryvinge van de Kaap der Goede Hoope, door Francois Valen-
tyn,1' p. 6, Amsterdam, l?26j or translation in the South African Quarterly
Journal, vol. i. p. 39 et seq.
f Researches in South Africa, by the Rev. John Philip, D.D. vol. i. p. 37.
real
Origin and History of the Bushmen. 121
real and presumptive proofs of their ancient existence in
various situations, we also find them in the present clay
scattered over all the deserts of Great Namaqualand and the
Butchuana country*, and observing there a similar line of
conduct towards the Hottentots, Damaras, and Gaffers, in
their vicinity, that those within reach of the colony do towards
its inhabitants. All such have certainly anything but a
tendency to support the opinion entertained by not a few,
that the tribes in question were originally called into existence
through the outrages of the colonists; and though I am ready
to admit that very great oppressions have been extended to
the natives by the white population, yet it is impossible to
allow, with such facts before us, that the latter were in any
way instrumental in giving origin to a peculiar community of
individuals, which there is every reason to believe existed long
before European influence approached even the confines of
their country.
Though justice induces me thus to object to such a cause
as that assigned, yet at the same time I am quite prepared to
admit that the malpractices referred to by the advocates of
that opinion, have had doubtless considerable share in aug-
menting the number, — believing that whatever tends to create
poverty, is calculated for producing and likely to produce
Bushmen, wherever Hottentots occur. Instead then of as-
cribing the origin of such to an individual, a recent and a
limited cause, 1 would rather venture to attribute it to influ-
ences which operated of old, as well as still continue to ope-
rate,—namely, poverty and crime. The former I would re-
gard as having been, and as still being, the most productive ;
the latter as the most odious and dangerous : the first, as hav-
ing been, as well as being, the consequence of misfortune, but
more frequently of imprudence ; the last, as now and then the
result of accident, but more generally of mental depravity;
and both, as having operated and as still operating in many
parts of South Africa, in producing and increasing the num-
bers of the tribes under consideration.
The majority of the Bushmen population, according to the
restricted sense in which the term is here to be understood,
consists of pure Hottentots; and the remainder of blacks,
either the offspring of an intercourse with the former and
other coloured persons, or else the actual outcasts of other
* Mr. Anderson, who was some time a Missionary amongst the Corannas,
when speaking of a spot near the Orange River, says, " The Coronnas
occupied this place; they are hy no means so numerous as the Boschesman,
who are every where to be found from east to west in the Briqualand." —
Transactions of the Missionary Society, vol. iii. p. 54.
.V. 5. Vol. 9. No. 50. Feb. 1831. R races
122 Dr. Smith's Observations relative to the
races themselves. The number of inhabitants is small, com-
pared with the great extent of country over which they are
scattered, and which consists of the whole of that extensive
plain lying between the northern boundary of the colony —
the Kamiesberg range of mountains, and the confines of the
Orange River. The distribution of the population varies
according to the season of the year, the supply of game, and
the relation of the tribes to the surrounding inhabitants. In
situations where nature is liberal of productions convertible to
the support of man, something like small communities are
occasionally met with; but in places again, where food is
scanty, or water defective, it is rare to find more than one or
at least two families together; and those having little or no
intercourse with their neighbours, unless when self-defence, or
the spoils of some marauding expedition bring them for a time
into contact. The fact of their being usually dispersed in
such small parties when friendly and well disposed, and of
their associating in hordes or troops when projecting and
executing mischief, or enjoying the spoils often consequent
upon that, frequently furnishes the farmer with a fair guide for
judging of their views, and often enables him to discover the
retreat of thieves, where those themselves had in the first
instance escaped detection.
The little intercourse which they thus have with each other,
and the absence of almost every kind of property, render
them quite strangers to the great objects of laws, and con-
sequently unconscious of the benefits of a regular Government.
They have, therefore, really either hereditary or permanently
elected rulers; and few, if any, of them are disposed to acknow-
ledge any superiority, except that which physical strength may
secure. In situations where a temporary leader is advan-
tageous, and which they consider as only so in war or the
chace, they unconsciously give place in the former to the
bravest and most dexterous, and in the latter to the most ex-
perienced and cunning. They have no established laws by
which offences are tried, nor determined punishments by which
aggressions are avenged; every individual is his own lawgiver,
and every crime is punished according to the caprice of the
sufferer, or the relative positions and relations of the impli-
cated parties. The absence of everything like system ren-
ders punishments amongst them very unequal, and often ex-
tremely disproportionate to the crimes they are employed
to retribute. It permits injuries of the highest order often to
be inflicted with impunity, and others of the most insignifi-
cant character to be visited with the most hideous vengeance;
yet,
Origin and History of the Bushmen. 123
yet, nevertheless, such is the satisfaction of all with their
present circumstances, in relation to such points, that they
cannot be persuaded that it is better to be governed and pro-
tected by acknowledged and constituted regulations, than be
subject to the varying whims of every mind.
The Hottentot Bushman presents most of the physical
characters of the race as exemplified in other situations, and
the mixed description, according to circumstances, exhibits
more or less of the appearances of the Negro or Caffer. In
size and strength, the former is at the very least equal to the
Hottentot elsewhere, and is certainly not, as has been generally
affirmed, of inferior stature to the members of the savage tribes
by whom he is partially surrounded. All have an expression
of acuteness and energy beyond that of their coloured neigh-
bours, and a gait and activity peculiarly striking. Their
eyes bespeak a habit of watchfulness and scrutiny particularly
characteristic, and their demeanour indicates a constant habit
of apprehension and fear. They appear to survey every
stranger as if an actual enemy, and only waiting a favourable
opportunity to injure them; and they do not, until after very
considerable intercourse, appear easy in such company.
This evidently arises from a consciousness of their offences,
and a conviction that their habits and general conduct towards
all other nations or tribes are of such a character as warrant
anything but the kindness or friendship of strangers. On
several occasions I endeavoured to convince them that the
Cape Government and the fanners were, in spite of all the
depredations and murders they had committed on the colo-
nists, yet inclined to deal liberally with them ; but in none of
these attempts did I perceive the slightest disposition to give
a credence to these assurances, but a distinct persuasion that
such was not the case, or rather, could not be so, considering
their own aggressions ; and therefore must be only a pretence
employed with a view to deceive them. The dictates of their
own hearts, perhaps, never lead them to forgive an injury, so
Unit it is only a conviction or belief of inability that induces
them occasionally to forego a punishment ; and as they are
in the habit of feeling and acting in relation to others, they
naturally fancy others must be in regard to them. Hence
arises the necessity of being acquainted with the characters
and views of ^savages, in order to be able to judge how far
principles fitted for the management of nations stored with
botli civil and moral knowledge are suitable for such as are,
in a great measure, strangers to either; and, consequently,
without the very means necessary to enable them to compre-
hend the more abstruse and complicated rules and regulations
R 2 calcu-
1 24- Dr. Smith's Observations relative to the
calculated for the guidance of man in a state of actual civili-
zation.
Most Bushmen pertinaciously avoid every communication
with foreigners, and resort to the most unfrequented and
inaccessible spots, upon the actual or even supposed approach
thereof. They are deeply versed in deceit, and treacherous
in the extreme, being always prepared to effect by guile and
perfidy what they otherwise are unable to accomplish*. Such
treachery, however, though glaringly conspicuous, appears
certainly to be resorted to more as a means suggested by rea-
son and observation, to compensate for the inequality that ex-
ists between them and their more powerful neighbours, than
to proceed from the operation of abstract vicious and disho-
nourable principles. They are, therefore, not divested of that
which under other circumstances such attainments would give
reason to suspect, — namely, personal bravery. That, all of
them enjoy in a very distinguished degree, and display in no
mean proportion in every situation, but more especially when
opposed to powers adventitious to those of their own tribes,
and upon whom they have been led from infancy to look with
impressions of horror, detestation, and dread.
Though well aware of the inferiority of their own weapons,
when compared with fire-arms, yet when they discover that
it is necessary to oppose the latter, they manifest a remarkable
degree of courage, and a perseverance and coolness which
only the absence of fear could enable them to support. On
such occasions, instances have been known of individuals who
have had their left arms completely disabled, employ their
toes to fix their bows, so as to be able to continue their
defence; and many have been observed to persevere in re-
sistance, after being wounded or maimed in such a way as to
occasion almost immediate dissolution. Such violent opposi-
tion, and often absurd inflexibility, appear to be excited partly
by the influence of their unconquerable passions, and partly
by the dread they entertain of falling into the power of enemies,
whom they believe as certain either to destroy them at the in-
stant, or convert them into slaves. The coolness and indif-
ference with which almost the whole of the Hottentot race re-
gard the approach of death, has often been commented upon;
* The Rev. Mr. Kicherer, a Missionary, who laboured for some time
amongst the Bushmen, at a station on the Zak River, says — "Another sin-
gular escape from death deserves to be recorded. In the evening of a day
which was uncommonly sultry, I was sitting near an open window, when a
concealed party of Boschmen were just about to discharge a volley of poi-
soned arrows at me ; but, by the same girl who saved the life of Brother
Kramer from the danger of Vigilant, they were detected, and made off in
haste." — Transactions of the Missionary Society, vol. ii. p. 21.
and
Origin and History of the Bushmen. 125
and though it must be acknowledged to be strongly marked in all
of them, yet from what I have myself seen as well as heard, I
feel disposed to consider it as most conspicuous amongst the
Bushmen. These, though they show an inclination to escape
where danger is imminent, yet if they find that not to be ac-
complished with facility, they encounter their fate with scarcely
the appearance of reluctance or concern; they yield up their
lives without the slightest semblance of fear, and even view
the approach of death with so little emotion, as almost to in-
cline one to deny them the feelings of reasonable beings. As
one example of such hardihood, I may instance the murderer
of the late Mr. Trelfall, who, at the time^ when the executioners
were in front of him, and ready with their weapons to inflict
the punishment which his barbarous conduct so imperiously
demanded, observed, in reference to some part of a person's
conduct who was present, and which displeased him, that he
only wished he had him — the offensive person — on the other
side, (meaning of the Orange River,) and that he would do
for him also.
Cruelty is familiar to the Bushmen in its most shock i no-
forms, and is exercised without remorse upon all such as,
under untoward circumstances, fall within their reach. The
love of revenge is one of the strongest feelings to which they
are obnoxious; it urges often to the most barbarous proceedings,
and induces to outrages of the most hideous character, merely
to satisfy momentary irritation, or the ranklings of a long-
fostered malice. Under such ascendancies, pitiable is the in-
dividual who falls within their power, as he is certain of being
subjected to the most agonizing tortures while life exists, and
to mutilations and disfigurations the most intolerable to sym-
pathy, and appalling to observation, at the very latest, the
moment that has fled. Their eagerness after retribution is
so urgent, as to render it a matter of indifference on whom it
is practised, provided the sufferer be believed to be of the same
country as the individual or individuals who may have injured
or annoyed them, and in this way the innocent are constantly
made to suffer for the guilty.
From what I have been able to observe, as to their inclina-
tion towards cruelty and revenge, I almost feel disposed to
consider such as peculiarly vigorous in the Bushmen, more
especially as I have on many occasions seen both of them ex-
ercised towards their own relations, with as much rancour as
they could be towards strangers; and several instances have
come within my own knowledge, where parents were destroyed
by their own children, as well as examples of the most decided
inhumanity of the former to their offspring, both of which
were
Observations on the Origin and History of the Bushmen.
were boasted of by themselves and lauded by their compa-
nions*. The passion of anger has amazing influence over
them, and numerous are the cases in which lives are destroyed
while under its ascendancy. Such constant and unlimited
submission to momentary feelings, disposes them to act almost
constantly upon the impulse first received, and deprives them
of the benefit of that consideration and reflection requisite to
discover consequences beyond their immediate effects. Such
total want of thought induces them to act with the greatest
indiscretion, and tutors their minds for only the concerns of
the moment: hence the idea of futurity seldom gives them
uneasiness; and the prospects of tomorrow, or a time to corn e,
are to them no subjects of importance. If they can only enjoy
the passing hour, that is all they look for, and in doing that,
they are often so much wrapt up in indifference to everything
else, that they not unfrequently neglect the precautions which
in their situations are necessary for their existence and pre-
servation, which decided indiscretion necessarily renders them
subject to much uncertainty in regard to the means of sub-
sistence; and while it paves the way to abundance at one time,
equally ensures want and scarcity at another.
In mixed society, the Bushmen are less talkative and fro-
licksome than other Hottentots, which appears to arise from
their want of confidence in persons of any community, save
of their own. Unlike others of their race, who unheedingly
enjoy themselves in all societies, and in every situation, they
exhibit signs of constant uneasiness and watchfulness; and
instead of receiving with pleasure and cordiality the jokes of
their associates, they seem to experience annoyance therefrom,
and almost an inclination to acts of resentment, They are
capricious in the extreme, and uncertain in every situation,
and it is not without explanation that many of their proceed-
ings can appear accountable to strangers.
They are notoriously patient of toil, and vigorous in a very
* They take no great care of their children, and never correct them
except in a fit of rage, when they almost kill them with severe usage. In
a quarrel between father and mother, or the several wives of a husband,
the defeated party wreaks his or her revenge on the child of the conqueror,
which in general loses its life. Tame Hottentots seldom destroy their off-
spring, except in a fit of passion; but the Boschemen will kill their children
without remorse on various occasions ; as when they are ill-shaped ; when
they are in want of food; when the father of a child has forsaken its mother ;
or when obliged to flee from the farmers or others, in which case they will
strangle them, smother them, cast them away in the desert, or bury them
alive. There are instances of parents throwing their tender offspring to the
hungry lion, who stands roaring before their cavern, refusing to depart till
some peace-offering be made to him. — Kicherer in Transactions of the
Missionary Society, vol. ii. p. 8.
high
Mr. Sturgeon's Account of an Aurora Borealis. 127
high degree; and so accustomed are they to exercise of an
active description, that their swiftness becomes remarkable,
and their power of continuing it truly astonishing, being such
as to enable most of them to keep pace with horses even for
days in succession, and often to drive off cattle with more
celerity than pursuers can follow. The disposition to laziness
so decidedly characteristic of the more regular Hottentots, is
equally developed in the Bushmen ; and were it not the ab-
solute necessity of daily exertion to procure the scanty means
of subsistence, they would doubtless pass their time in indolent
practices similar to those pursued where resources are more
certain and productive.
The continual use to which they apply the eyes and ears,
not only as means of discovering their food, but also as useful
agents in self-preservation, renders their senses of seeing and
hearing amazingly acute, and capable of furnishing a degree
of assistance quite unknown to the inhabitants of quiet and
civilized countries. In situations where the eye is unavailable,
it is wonderful with what certainty and readiness the ear directs
to an object; and again where distance renders sound inaudible,
the eye often operates with a precision and force which a
person who has never witnessed the like would scarcely be
disposed to credit. By the latter alone, they will often discern
with distinctness what others require a telescope to distinguish,
and discover the nature and appearances of particular objects,
when persons less versed in observation would scarcely be
able to perceive the figures themselves.
[To be continued.]
XXIII. An Account of an Aurora Borealis observed at Wool-
wick on the Night of January 7th> 1831. By MR. WIL-
LIAM STURGEON.
A BEAUTIFUL display of the aurora borealis was ob-
^ served at this place on Friday night, Jan. 7th, 1831. The
aurora commenced with the evening, and was very distinctly
seen at about half-past five o'clock, exhibiting an arch of faint
yellowish light, bordering a dense black area, which was
bounded by the arch and the northern horizon. The aurora
became more brilliant as the evening advanced and got darker,
darting occasional faint flashes of light upwards from the bright
and comparatively steady luminous curve. About half-past
six a second, and apparently concentric, bright arch made its
appearance at a greater altitude than the former, and conti-
nued nearly the whole time of the remainder of the display.
These
128 Mr. W. Sturgeon's Account of an Aurora Dorcalis
These two arches of light were frequently, after this time, very
badly defined, ever varying in breadth, and softening gradually
into shade, particularly at their convex edges, by the lambent
streamers which gently played into the partially illuminated
expanse above. These soft gliding streams seemed in conti-
nual play between the bright arches, flashing from the convex
edge of the lower or innermost, and sometimes blending the
two curves into one confused light, but never to that extent
as to obliterate the distinction of the two luminous arche-,
which the eye could always trace by the superior refulgence
of their light. Between nine and ten o'clock the altitude of
the superior arch advanced from 20° to about 24°, but never
ascended higher than that point. The inner, or inferior, arch
advanced at the same time, and apparently in the same pro-
portion, so that the same distance (about 10°) between the
two curves of strongest light, was nearly, perhaps exactly , pre-
served during the whole time. The extremities of these arches
never completely reached the horizon, but were gradually lost
in a dark gloom, resembling an exceedingly dense fog, al-
though the atmosphere in every other part was perfectly clear.
This appearance was particularly remarked on the eastern
limbs, which were lost at various altitudes. The western
limbs of the bright curves could not be so distinctly traced at
the place where these observations were made, on account of
their mixing with the reflected light in the atmosphere, of the
burning gas in London, which, at Woolwich, is always seen,
in the night, as a bright cloud hovering over the metropolis.
About nine o'clock I called on Mr. Barlow, to inform him
of the aurora. Mr. B., however, had seen it all the evening.
I remarked before I left him, that the centre of the aurora in
the horizon was considerably to the west of the north, and
near to the magnetic meridian, a circumstance which he had
already observed. I immediately returned home, and having
a very delicately suspended magnetic needle, I placed it in a
suitable situation for observation, and so far neutralized the
magnetism of the earth, as to leave no more power acting on
the needle than was barely sufficient to arrange it in the mag-
netic meridian. I observed this needle, at intervals of two or
three minutes, during the remainder of the display of the au-
rora, but never detected the slightest change in its direction,
nor was its repose in the least disturbed by any influence
which I could ascribe to that phenomenon.*
At half-past nine the aurora increased in splendour, and
shot its beautiful broad streamers upwards, as radii, from the
* See our " Intelligence," in the present Number.
external
observed at Woolwich on the Night of Jan. 7th, 1831. J29
external luminous bow nearly to the zenith. At a quarter
before ten, an immense faint stream of light kindled in the
eastern extremity of the external bow, and flashed directly
between the two large stars in the tail of Ursa Major, and in
one moment described an arch of 100°. This streamer was
not undulatory, but advanced gradually and steadily, leaving
the whole of its track, for about a minute, in a steady glow of
faint light : it then languished in every part, at nearly the
same moment, gliding into still fainter light, and soon became
entirely lost. About this time faint undulatory streams of
light sprang from various parts of the central aurora, and
sometimes broad streaks of wavering light were seen glowing
in the black area near the horizon. These latter displays,
however, were not frequent, but on account of the contrasting
blackness with which they were surrounded, appeared more
brilliant than those flashes which occurred on the upper skirts
of the aurora.
At a quarter past ten, beautiful streamers were seen kind-
ling upon the western limb of the superior arch of the aurora,
some of which instantly expanded into an attenuated light,
which became extinct at a short distance from the point of
their origin ; whilst others, more permanent and brilliant in
their display, stretched forth to an amazing distance in the
heavens, and extended their lambent glow to beyond the
planet Mars ; but, like those which had before measured a vast
arch of the heavens from the eastern limb, they in a few mo-
ments vanished for ever.
Soon after these displays of extensive streamers, there
seemed a steady pause, as if the electrical powers which gave
them birth had become partially exhausted. The steady light
of the two concentric arches, with a few faint flashes about
their edges, were the only traces of the aurora. The cessation
however was not of long duration, but the interval gave time
for reflection. The night was calm and serene, not a breeze
ruffled its repose, nor a cloud curtained any part of the hea-
vens, save that dense black speck which seemed as a nucleus
to the whole display of the aurora borealis. The atmosphere
was cold and frosty, and the stars shone in all their splendour
and glory. On turning towards the south, the spectacle pre-
sented to the eye was truly grand and imposing, and formed a
most beautiful and striking contrast with the phenomena dis-
playing in the north. Taurus had passed the meridian, pre-
ceded by the planet Mars, and Orion was now mounting the
throne of night ; refulgent Sirius blazed in the south-east of
the stellar train, and enhanced the splendour and solemnity
of the scene. In one part of the heavens was displaying the
N.S. Vol. 9. No. 50. Feb. 1831. S quivering
130 Mr. W. Sturgeon's Account of an Aurora Borealis.
quivering blaze of a transient aurora ; in another, the sparkling
light and steady march of a transcendent starry host : in the
north, a splendid exhibition for the contemplation of the Elec-
trician ; in the south, those glorious orbs which are the objects
of the Astronomer's research.
About half-past ten the eastern limb of the aurora again shot
forth immensely broad streaks of light, with intervening dense
shades. These streamers soon expanded, and mixing with each
other presented a steady uniform field of light. Other similar
streamers darted upwards from the western limb, and expand-
ing like the former heightened the illumination, which now
extended to nearly half the concave of the heavens. The light
vanished gradually, and was succeeded by faint streamers of
much less magnitude. The dark space below the inner arch
was now, for a short time, well defined by the bright glow
round its upper edge ; but it soon became confused and irregu-
lar. At eleven a streak of bright light, like a yellowish cloud,
stretched horizontally towards the east. In one moment after a
streamer kindled at its eastern extremity, and shot gradually
upwards; passed the meridian, and terminated in a very faint
light between Aldebaran and the Pleiades. About this time
the undulatory streamers became beautiful and grand, playing
in every part of the northern heavens to nearly the zenith, and
on each side of the meridian to about the north-east and north-
west points. Some bright coruscations occasionally flashed
in this part of the display, and gave to it an exceedingly inter-
esting appearance. A few moments dispersed these corus-
cations, which were succeeded by a diffused faint light. The
dense central darkness now suddenly disappeared, and a bright
light illuminated the northern horizon, for the first time since
the setting of the sun. A dark broad streak soon stretched
obliquely downwards, from east to west, nearly through the
centre of the aurora, and bright coruscations flashed in rapid
succession from its upper edge.
About a quarter-past eleven the dark central speck again ap-
peared, and some very bright streamers ascended from various
parts of its upper or convex edge, which, as before, was now
bordered by a bright steady light. Coruscations frequently
about this time reached to between the pointers in Ursa
Major ; they soon became very faint, and were succeeded by
a dull steady light.
At half-past eleven the streamers became less frequent, the
dense nucleus was ill defined, and the whole display began to
languish. A bright curved light however, with occasional
ascending lambent streams, continued to direct to the general
Centre of the aurora, which now appeared to approximate
closer
Notices respecting New Books.
closer to the north point than in an earlier part of the display.
The centre of the dark nucleus, however, was, from first to
last, west of the north, and very near to the magnetic meridian.
From twelve o'clock nothing occurred worthy of remark :
the splendour of the aurora gradually declined, and at two on
Saturday morning it had totally vanished.
I observed, during the whole of the night, that the streamers,
besides the vertical direction in which they generally shot,
had also a horizontal motion from east to west; so that in what-
ever part of the aurora a streamer was kindled, it travelled
slowly towards the west, or towards the left hand of a spec-
tator facing the north. It frequently happened that several
were lighted up in rapid succession, each of which was always
west of the preceding one. A meteoric star, which traversed
the aurora about ten o'clock, also fell sloping in the same
direction.
Artillery Place, Woolwich, W. STURGEON.
Jan. 10, 1831.
N.B. On Saturday night (Jan. 8th) the aurora was again
visible. 1 saw it about ten o'clock. It exhibited no corusca-
tions, nor any flashes whatever. The only display was a broad
arch of light, bordering the upper edge of a black area of the
heavens in the north, and similarly situated to that which ap-
peared the preceding night. At eleven o'clock no trace of the
aurora was to be seen.
XXIV. Notices respecting New Books.
Sections and Views illustrative of Geological Phenomena. By
H. T. DE LA BECHE, Esq.. F.R.S. F.G.S. Treuttel and Wurtz :
London, 1830.
NOTHING is so much calculated to facilitate the study of geo-
logy as the representation of its phenomena through the me-
dium of coloured views, sections and maps.
Mr. De la Beche is known to our readers as the author of many
valuable contributions to the Geological department of our Journal ;
and the taste and skill with which he has applied his talent of draw-
ing to illustrate the phenomena of geology have, for some time
past, contributed to enrich the Transactions of the Geological So-
ciety of London. His large tabular and proportional view of the
superior, supermedial, and medial rocks, published a few years
since, has entitled him to the gratitude of every student in geology ;
and we hail the appearance of the work before us as a more exten-
sive contribution of a similar kind, tending, more than any other
publication that has yet appeared, to render easy and familiar many
of the most difficult and complicated phenomena of the original
S 2 structure
1 32 Notices respecting New Booh.
structure of the earth's surface ; and also of the violent changes
and physical revolutions by which it has been disturbed. It has
been the object of the author to convey his information through
the medium of 40 plates, accompanied by brief descriptions. The
number and size of these plates are such as it would have been im-
possible to publish at the price affixed to the volume, had they not
been almost all lithographed by the author himself.
Mr. De la Beche appears to have had a twofold object in this
work: 1st, to present correct sections and views of the most re-
markable geological facts that have been observed in various parts
of the world ; 2ndly, to point out the importance of observing ac-
curate proportions in these miniature representations of natural
pheenomena. He disavows all intention of supporting any theory
that has been yet advanced, conceiving that none has yet been
published which is competent to solve the many difficult and com-
plicated problems presented by geology. But whilst he is the ad-
vocate of no theory, he points out the errors and unsoundness
of many, especially of that fundamental article of the Huttonian
theory, which attributes the excavation of valleys to the action of
rain-water and of rivers that now flow through them ; — many of his
sections represent facts which it is impossible to reconcile with
such a theory. In his preface, he quotes from M. Boblaye the case
of the valley of the Meuse, showing that if it had cut its own bed,
it must have run up hill at least 300 yards to form its present
channel through the Ardennes, instead of passing into the basin
of the Seine over barriers not exceeding 30 or 40 yards in height.
The Sections and Views are selected from numerous works
through which they are scattered; and in collecting his facts
together from these various sources, the author has endeavoured
to exhibit their relations to one another, and to the whole earth,
and to concentrate their force in pointing towards conclusions
which may hereafter be fully established by induction from more
numerous particulars.
Besides the sections derived from other authorities in published
works (chiefly the Geological Transactions), the author gives some
new and unpublished sections made by himself in different countries.
We subjoin one or two examples of his method of showing the
value of proportional sections. — In Plate 1. are represented two pa-
rallel columns, or vertical sections, one showing the thickness of
all the strata that occur in Yorkshire, from the chalk descending to
the carboniferous limestone (inclusive) ; the other showing the
thickness of the same strata in Wilts and Somerset: thus, at once
presenting to the eye the relative proportions of the same deposits in
the Northern and Southern extremities of England. In PI. 2. he re-
presents on a true scale the exact outline of the Alps from the Jura
Mountains across the Lake of Geneva, and Mont Blanc to Italy,
and contrasts these real representations with the false and carica-
tured figures which are usually given in geological sections. A
further example of the value of accurate measurement is pointed
out in PI. 40 ; where he exhibits the relative proportion which the
highest
Royal Society. 133
highest mountains bear to the radius of the earth, and also the re-
lation which the body of the earth itself bears to the sun. Measured
by such a scale, the highest peaks of the Himalah appear utterly
insignificant, and the greatest disturbances which have affected the
surface of our planet seem too small and trifling to produce any
appreciable effect upon the great mass of the interior of the earth.
Figures of this nature, as the author observes, give more correct
and definite ideas of the relative value of things than can be con-
veyed by voluminous pages of description, unaccompanied by
drawings that represent their true proportions.
XXV. Proceedings of Learned Societies.
ROYAL SOCIETY.
1830. A PAPER was read, entitled, Researches in Physical
Dec. 16. — -flL Astronomy ; by John William Lubbock, Esq. V.P.
and Treasurer of the Royal Society.
The author has shown in a former paper, published in the last
part of the Philosophical Transactions for 1830, that the stability
of a system of bodies subject to the law of gravitation, is always
preserved, provided they move in a space absolutely devoid of re-
sistance. This conclusion results from the analytical expressions
for the variations of the elliptic constants in the theory of the
Planetary Motions.
In the present paper he extends his researches to the problem of
the precession of the Equinoxes, which admits of a similar solution
to the former. Of the six constants which determine the position
of the revolving body, and the axis of instantaneous rotation, at any
instant, three have only periodic inequalities ; while the other three
have each a term which varies as the time; but from the manner in
which these constants enter into the resulting expressions, the equi-
librium of the system may be inferred to be stable, as in the former
case. By the stability of the system, the author wishes to be un-
derstood to mean that the pole of the axis of rotation has always
nearly the same geographical latitude, and that the angular velocity
of rotation, and the obliquity of the ecliptic vary within small limits ;
and that its variation is periodical.
The author also gives new methods of obtaining the inequalities
of longitude, and the radius vector, in the planetary theory, retain-
ing the square of the eccentricities. When only the first powers
of the eccentricities are retained, these expressions admit of sim-
plification. He subjoins, as a numerical example, the calcula-
tion of the coefficients of two of the inequalities of longitude in the
theory of Jupiter disturbed by Saturn ; and points out the requisite
substitutions for rendering the formulae applicable to the case of a
superior planet disturbed by an inferior planet.
Dec. 23. — A paper was read, On the Hour Lines of the Ancients;
by W. A. Cadell, Esq. F.R.S.
The hour lines on the sundials of the ancient Greeks and Romans
correspond
134- Royal Society.
correspond to the division of the time between sun-rise nd sun-set
into twelve equal parts, which was their mode of computing time.
An example of these hour lines occurs in an ancient Greek sundial,
forming part of the Elgin collection of marbles at the British Mu-
seum, and which there is reason to believe had been constructed
during the reign of the Antonines. This dial contains the twelve
hour lines drawn on two vertical planes, which are inclined to each
other at an angle of 106° ; the line bisecting that angle having
been in the meridian. The hour lines actually traced on the dial
consist of such portions only as were requisite for the purpose the
dial was intended to serve : and these portions are sensibly straight
lines. But the author has shown, in a paper published in the Trans-
actions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, that if these lines are
continued through the whole zone of the rising and setting semidi-
urnal arcs, they will be found to be curves of double curvature on
the sphere. In the present paper the author enters into an inves-
tigation of the course of these curves ; first selecting as an example
the lines indicating the 3rd and the 9th hours of the ancients.
These lines are formed by the points of bisection of all the rising
and setting semidiurnal arcs ; commencing from the southern point
where the meridian cuts the horizon, and proceeding till the line
reaches to the first of the always apparent parallels, which being a
complete circle, it meets at the end of its first quadrant. At this
point the branch of another and similar curve is continuous with it :
namely, a curve which in its course bisects another set of semi-
diurnal arcs, belonging to a place situated on the same parallel of
latitude as the first, but distant from it 180° in longitude. Conti-
nuing to trace the course of this curve, along its different branches,
we find it at last returning into itself, the whole curve being charac-
terised by four points of flexure. If the describing point be consi-
dered as the extremity of a radius, it will be found that this radius
has described, in its revolution, a conical surface with two opposite
undulations above, and two below the equator. The right section
of this cone presents two opposite hyperbolas between asymptotes
which cross one another at right angles. This cone varies in its
breadth in different positions of the sphere : diminishing as the la-
titude of the place increases.
The cones to which the other ancient hour lines belong, are of the
same description, having undulations alternately above and below
the equator; but they differ from one another in the number of the
undulations: and some of these require more than one revolution
to complete their surface. The properties of the cones and lines
thus generated, may be rendered evident by drawing the sections
of the cones on the sphere, in perspective, either on a cylindrical
or on a plane surface : several examples of which are given in the
paper. ___
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Dec. 15. — A paper was first read, entitled, An Explanatory Sketch
of a Geological Map of Transylvania, by Dr. Ami Boue", For. Mem. G.S.
The author premises that this sketch, having been written before his
specimens
Geological Society. 135
specimens were unpacked, is necessarily incomplete, both from that
cause and from various impediments which obstructed his observa-
tions.
Transylvania is described as being chiefly occupied by a high tertiary
basin, surrounded by four chains of mountains, viz.: 1. On the south
by the primary range of Wallachia or Taganrasch. 2. On the west
by another primary range, usually omitted by geographers; and
connected with a high calcareous chain near Kronstedt, and a ridge
of Carpathian sandstone near the pass Oytosch. 3. By the trachytic
hills separating the low tertiary and saliferous districts from the great
valley of the Secklerland. 4. By a large group of conical porphyritic
hills, with metalliferous summits, ranging by Korosch Banya, Zala-
thria, Vorospatak, &c. Many of these hills are stated to average
from 3000 to 4000 feet in height, and the highest peaks to exceed
6000 feet. The author, describing the course of the rivers, remarks
that the hydrographical features are inaccurately given in all maps,
and that most of the streams cut through the above chains by
gorges of very recent fracture. The primary rocks, he says, consist
of gneiss and slate j and that in the latter, serpentine, granular lime-
stone ; and metalliferous veins are found wherever sienite comes into
contact with the slate. The Carpathian sandstone with Fucoids
(Vienna sandstone) is mentioned as occurring in the N.E. and S.E.
of Transylvania ; — that it surrounds the auriferous porphyries of
Nagy and Banya, and that at Laposbanya the marls and slaty sand-
stones of this formation are much altered by dykes of sienitic por-
phyry, presenting exam pies of jaspideous rocks like those of Portrush,
Skye*, &c.
The author is disposed to think that there are evidences of two or
even more periods of igneous eruption, and that the scoriaceous tra-
chytic porphyries cut through and frequently overflowed the me-
talliferous porphyries. These porphyry districts are cited as offering
repeated and decisive proofs of the igneous origin of metalliferous
veins 5 all the walls of which are altered and discoloured: — large
masses of the rock are traversed by millions of auriferous rents, —
and gold is found in the sandstone as well as in the porphyry.
The remaining secondary formations are stated to consist of a
kind of recent Jurassic, compact limestone, associated with conglome-
rate, covered, here and there, by patches of sandstone and marl
containing some of the fossils of Gosau. Near Sass Vorosch, Kis
Numtschel, Kis Aranyos, &c., deposits of about the same age are
said to have been observed by M. Partsch, and that they have been
further described in the Buskowine by that gentleman, and by Messrs.
Von Lill and Rudolph. The tertiary deposits, like those of Hungary,
are considered to be entirely of the upper class, and they are shown
to consist of clay, marl, and molasse, with salt, gypsum, lignite, &c.
The molasse, the author says, is generally covered by shelly sands and
gravel, but occasionally by a sandy, coarse limestone j and that near
Illyefalvaa Arapatak, these sands contain many freshwater mixed with
some marine shells. Near the Rothethurm pass, and west and north of
Klaurenburg, he shows there are thick deposits of nummulitic and coral
limestone,
1 86 Geological Society.
limestone, equivalent to the highest tertiary limestone of Austria and
Hungary. Fichtel is quoted as the earliest and best geological writer
upon Transylvania, particularly as to the localities of shelly deposits
and salt springs ; and it is stated that from his work alone M Beudant
was enabled to compile a map of this country.
For an account of the eastern chain of trachytes the author refers
to what he has already written in Dr. Daubeny's work on Volcanos :
— he inclines to the supposition that the scoriaceous trachy tic porphy-
ries were erupted during the cretaceous or perhaps even during the old
tertiary period ; and he dissents from M. Beudant as to the possibility
of drawing any distinct line of demarcation between the trachyte and
porphyry in those places where these rocks are contiguous, although
when at great distances from each other he allows the dissimilarity
of their respective characters. A stratified, pumiceous and trachytic
conglomerate, it is stated, frequently overlies the salt in Transylvania,
and contains impressions of dicotyledonous plants, leaves, and fishes.
The extinct craters of St. Annalake and the solfatarra still burning in
the trachyte of Budoskegy, and the many acidulated and mineral
springs, are considered by the author clearly to indicate the recent age
of some of the volcanic phaenomena in this country, to the principal en-
trance of which, the Romans assigned the name of " Vulcan's Pass."
A paper was then read, On the Astronomical Causes which may
influence Geological Phaenomena ; by J. F.W. Herschel, Esq. F.R.S.
F.G.S., &c., &c.
The author states his object in this paper to be, an inquiry into
the possible geological influence of slow periodical changes in the
orbits of the earth and moon, such as have been demonstrated by
geometers to take place in consequence of planetary and solar per-
turbation. Such influence he regards as extending only to the pro-
duction of changes in the amount of the tides and their consequent
erosive action on our continents, and of periodical fluctuations in
the quantity of solar heat received by the earth, every such fluc-
tuation being of course accompanied with a corresponding altera-
tion of climates^ and therefore, if sufficiently extensive and con-
tinued, giving room for a variation in the animal and vegetable
productions of the same region at different and widely remote
epochs.
The subject of the tides is first considered. Since any approach
of the moon to the earth produces an increase of the lunar tide in
the triplicate ratio of such approach, it follows that any diminution
of the moon's mean distance must produce an increase in the ave-
rage tide during the whole period that such approach subsists.
The mean distance of the moon is actually on the decrease, and has
been so for ages past, producing the astronomical phenomenon
of her secular acceleration. The mean amount of the tides, there,
fore, has long been, and will long continue to be, on the increase
from this cause, but the effect of it is shown to be confined to such
moderate limits as to be of no geological importance.
The author next considers the possible effect of an increase in
the excentricity of the lunar orbit, which would affect not the ave-
rage
Geological Society. 137
rage but the extreme rise and fall of the tides. Such an increase,
however, he regards as necessarily limited, so as to be incapable of
producing such an enormous increase of tides as would account for
any of the greater diluvial phenomena, though possibly cases of
great local devastation in estuaries and confined channels would
arise, and the outlines of the continents, in particular parts of their
coasts, might be materially modified by such increased occasional
action. No change in the earth's orbit within the limits of possibility
would produce any material change in the solar tides.
He next considers the effect of planetary perturbation on the
earth's orbit, and, dismissing the variation of the obliquity of
the ecliptic, which is known to be confined within very narrow-
limits, he regards the excentricity as the only element whose
variation can possibly have any effect of the kind in view ;
and that by affecting, first, the mean, and secondly, the extreme
quantities of solar heat received by the earth in its annual revolu-
tion, and at the different seasons of the year. First, with respect
to the mean quantity, he announces as a consequence of geome-
trical reasoning, the following theorem : — That the mean annual
amount of heat and light received from the sun by the earth, is inversely
proportional to the minor axis of the ellipse it describes at different
epochs. And since the orbit of the earth is actually, and has
been for ages, beyond the records of history, becoming less ellip-
tic, and the minor axis consequently increasing, it follows that
the mean temperature of its surface is on the decrease. The
orbit being now very nearly a circle, this decrease cannot go much
further; but should it ever have been very elliptic, the mean tem-
perature must have been sensibly greater than at present. The au-
thor regards the limits within which the earth's excentricity is con.
fined, as (although calculable; not actually known ; and he denies
in particular that the theorem demonstrated by Laplace, in the
57th article of the Second Book of the Mdcam'que Celeste, equation
(M), which is usually cited as proving the narrowness of such limits,
affords any ground for that conclusion in the case of the earth's
orbit, however it may do so for those of the great preponderant
planets.
Under this uncertainty he considers himself authorized to assume,
that excentricities actually existing in the orbits, both of superior
and inferior planets, may not be impossible in that of the earth ; and
admitting this, he calculates the mean and extreme amounts of solar
radiation in an orbit so circumstanced. The mean amount he finds
to exceed the present by about three per cent, a quantity apparently
small ; but he adduces considerations tending to show, that on cer-
tain suppositions not impossible or improbable in themselves, this
per-centage on the whole quantity of solar heat may have influ-
enced our climates to as great an extent as geological indications
appear to require.
Considering next the extreme effects of such a state of things, and
adopting a view taken by Mr. Lyell in his Geology, he shows that
by reason of the precession of the equinoxes combined with the mo-
N. S. Vol. 9. No. 50. Feb. 1831. T tion
138 Linncean Society, — Astronomical Society.
tion of the apogee of the earth's orbit, the two hemispheres vvou Id
alternately be placed in climates of a very opposite nature, the one
approaching to a perpetual spring, the other to the extreme vicis-
situdes of a burning summer and a rigorous winter ; and that, du-
ring periods sufficiently long to impress a corresponding character
on the vegetable and perhaps the animal productions of each.
LINN^AN SOCIETY.
Jan. 18, 1831.— Edward Forster, Esq. in the Chair.
The paper read was entitled, A Notice of several recent Disco-
veries in the Structure and CEconomy of Spiders ; by John Black-
wall, Esq., F.L.S. — The object of the author's particular investi-
gation is the Clubiona atrox, of whose habits, and mode of fabri-
cating its residence and its snare, he gives a detailed and curious
account.
ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY.
Nov. 12, 1830. — The following communications were read:
I. Ephemeris of the occultations of a Tauriin 1831, for ten Eu-
ropean Observatories, by Mr. Maclear.
I I. Practical rules for the approximate prediction of occultations,
by Mr. Henderson.
III. A note by Mr. Gompertz, to a paper by M. Kreil on the
rectification of the equatorial.
IV. Occultations observed at Boston, Massachusetts, by Mr.
Robert Treat Paine.
Mr. Paine gives the mean solar time of six complete observa-
tions of Aldebaran (immersion and emersion), five at Boston and
one at Nantucky, with a 3J feet achromatic telescope, and a mag-
nifying power of 60: the telescope was adjusted on a star. " In
four of the observations nothing remarkable was noticed, except
that when the immersion or emersion took place on the enlightened
limb, the star became so tremulous as to cause an uncertainty of
Is or 2s; but in two other instances (one at emersion and the other
at immersion) the star did actually appear projected upon the face
of the moon for about 2s ; and the light of the star was in both in-
stances very much more brilliant than usual, although the emersion
took place about sunset, and the immersion while the sun was above
the horizon."
" On September 17, 1829, about 10s before immersion, [the star
spread out, and appeared like a star viewed through a telescope not
adjusted to distinct vision, and then faded away so gradually that
its final disappearance could not be noted with greater precision
than 35 or 4\ The same appearance was seen by another gentleman
observing at a place 2| miles distant from me."
V. Observations upon the period of the variable star /3 Lyrse, by
Mr.W. R. Birt.
In the year 1784-, Mr. Goodricke remarked that /3 Lyrse varied
from the third to the fifth magnitude, and fixed the period of this
variation at 6d 9U. On the 22d May, 1830, Mr. Birt commenced a
series
Astronomical Society. 139
series of observations upon this star, and at 11 hours found it of
the fifth magnitude, and equal to s and £ Lyras. Supposing the
period to be that assigned by Mr. Goodricke, eight revolutions
would have been performed in fifty-one days exactly; but when
viewed by Mr. Birt on the 12th of July, at 10 o'clock, it was about
3-4- magnitude, and less than y Lyrae; while on the 13th it was
decidedly of the fourth magnitude, and on the 14th of the third, or
as bright as y. Mr. Birt therefore concluded that it came to its
minimum brightness between the 12th and 13th, and that the
period was therefore longer than that assigned to it by Mr. Good-
ricke. This conclusion was confirmed by an observation on the
2nd of September, when, at 11 o'clock, the star was exactly equal
to e and £, as on the 22nd of May, thus giving 103 days for sixteen
revolutions, or a period of 6d 101' 40m, instead of 102 days, which
would have been required if the period were 6d 9h. It would seem
that the duration of its maximum, as well as of its minimum bright-
ness, is somewhat irregular. Mr. B. gives several comparisons of
the star with y, e, and £ Lyrae, from May 22 to September 15.
VI. A paper on terrestrial refraction, by the late Mr. Henry
Atkinson.
On the fluctuations of the atmosphere near the earth's surface; and
On the effect of such fluctuation upon the refraction at the
horizon, and at very low altitudes, especially on the dip of the hori-
zon at sea.
(Unfortunately, these papers are unfinished: the ingenious author did
not live to complete them.}
In these investigations Mr. A. proposed to himself to demonstrate,
1st, The the fluctuations in the state of the atmosphere near the
surface of the earth are not only fully adequate to account for the
very great variations which have been observed in the horizontal
refraction, but even for still greater variations.
2ndly, That the variations of the dip of the horizon at sea are
caused by the fluctuations of the atmosphere, and can be calculated
when the latter are known.
The extreme uncertainty of the law of the variation of tempera-
ture near the earth's surface has been remarked by every observer
who has directed his inquiries to this subject, by a proper adapta-
tion of course and distance to the circumstances of the problem.
We find well-recorded cases where small alterations of elevation
have produced very sensible effects upon the air, sometimes in-
creasing and sometimes diminishing its temperature ; and, again,
at other times, we find the temperature of the air nearly the same
through very considerable altitudes. (See Wells, Humboldt, &c.)
In order to subject to calculation the different hypotheses which
may be imagined, Mr. A. supposes that the variations of tempera-
ture may be actually observed within certain limits of altitude (he
has here assumed fifty feet) ; and that the state of the atmosphere
at great elevations, for example at 1125 feet above the surface of
the earth, may be considered to be in a mean state. Considering
the state of these upper and lower portions of the atmosphere to
T 2 remain
140 Zoological Society.
remain unchanged, he calculates the change in the whole horizontal
refraction which would be produced by two arbitrary and very dis-
similar suppositions as to the distribution of temperature in the in-
termediate portion of 1075 feet, and draws the conclusion, that thi*
variation of refraction arising from any conceivable derangement in
this middle portion will be inconsiderable, compared with that which
may be produced by changes in the lowest portion.
In considering the problem of the dip of the horizon, Mr. A. first
obtains an expression for it where there is no terrestrial refraction,
and deduces this simple approximate formula, that the dip in se-
conds = 63"*82 X V~hi where h is the altitude in feet above the
level of the sea.
But when account is to be taken of the terrestrial refraction,
Mr. A. finds, that if the included arc of the earth's surface be to
the terrestrial refraction as n: 1 (and this is to be determined from
a table of terrestrial refraction according to the then existing state
of the atmosphere), the preceding expression is thus modified. The
y~^2,
~~?T X
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Dec. 28, 1830.— W. Yarrell, Esq. in the Chair.
The form of a circular letter, to be addressed to the heads of
Menageries and Museums in foreign countries, was submitted to
the Committee, and approved of.
A letter was read, addressed to the Secretary of the Society by
J. V. Thompson, Esq., dated " Cork, Dec. 16, 1S30." In it Mr.
Thompson urges, in support of the universality of a metamorphosis
among the Crustacea, that he has ascertained the newly hatched
animal to be a Zoea in eight genera of the Brachyura, viz. Cancer,
Carcinus, Porlunus, Eriphia, Gecarcinus, Thelphusa?, Pinnotheres,
and Inachus ; and in seven Macrourous genera, viz. Pagurus, Por-
crllanci) Galathea, Crangon, Palamon, Homarus, and Astacus.
" These embrace all our most familiar native genera of the Deca-
poda." The Lobster, or Astacus marinus, Mr. Thompson states,
" does actually undergo a metamorphosis, but less in degree than in
any other of the above-enumerated genera, and consisting in a
change from a cheliferous Schizopode to a Decapode ; in its first stage
being what I would call a modified Zoea with a frontal spine, spatu-
late tail, and wanting the subabdominal fins ; in short, such an ani-
mal as would never be considered what it really is, was it not
obtained by hatching the spawn of the Lobster." In the other
indigenous species of Astacus, Ast.jluviatilis, the River Crawjish, it
would appear from the excellent treatise of M. Rathke on the
developement of its eggs, that the young are hatched in a form
according with that of the fully grown animal. Mr. Thompson,
however, suspects that some source of error may exist in these
observations. " If it should be found otherwise, it can only be
regarded
Zoological Society. 141
regarded as one solitary exception to the generality of metamor-
phoses, and will render it necessary to consider these two ani-
mals for the future as the types of two distinct genera." In il-
lustration of the change of form observed by him in the limbs of
the Lobster, Mr. Thompson inclosed a sketch of the " cheliferous
member of its larva" which is represented as divided to its base, and
consisting of, 1. a cheliferous portion j 2. a portion of equal length
with the preceding and terminated by natatory ciliae (described as
the outer division of the limb, or future Jlagrwn) ; and 3. a short
rudiment of one of the future branchite.
A specimen of the Labrusmaculatus, Bloch, presented to the So-
ciety by Sir A. Carlisle, was exhibited. When quite recent, its rich
deep blue colouring was stated to have been extremely beautiful ;
but this had already disappeared considerably, although the specimen
had been but twelve days in spirit. Still enough remained to
show how defective in this particular is the figure in Bloch's Ich-
thyology [No. 294?.], which appears to have been taken from a
dried specimen, and exhibits scarcely a trace of the rich colouring
of the recent fish.
The Chairman brought to the recollection of the Committee the
recent addition to the British Fauna of a species of Warbler (the
Sylvia Tithys, Scop.) nearly allied to the Redstart, Sylvia phcenicu-
rus, L., but distinguished from that bird by its dark slate-coloured
breast, and by the dusky-black colour of its two middle tail-fea-
thers. The first occurrence of this bird in England was recorded
in the 5th volume of the "Zoological Journal," page 102, by Mr.
John Gould, who has since ascertained that two other individuals
have been met with ; one in the neighbourhood of Bristol, the
other at Brighton. Both these specimens were obtained during the
last summer. The Chairman added, as a peculiarity of this bird,
that its egg, as described and figured by continental writers, is
white; while the eggs of all the nearly allied species are pale blue.
A communication by J. C. Cox, Esq., F.L.S., &c., was read, on
the subject of preserving a proper temperature for exotic animals.
Mr. Cox commences by remarking on the capability of animals for
enduring great extremes of temperature, and instances the experi-
ments of Sir Joseph Banks and Sir C. Blagdon, in which a heat of
at least 230° was borne without great inconvenience ; while, on the
other hand, Captain Parry and his men were exposed to a tempera-
ture of —40° and even lower : thus showing that the human frame is
susceptible of a range of temperature of probably 300°, without
injury to life. Such extremes can, however, be submitted to but
for a short period. To keep animals, natives of tropical climates,
in good health, they should be .preserved from too great extremes;
and as it is important to imitate as much as possible the character
of the climate from which they are brought, the hygrometric state
of the atmosphere should be attended to almost equally with the
temperature. The hot winds of the Desert (Mr. Cox remarks), to-
gether with the absorbent nature of the sandy soil, render the
general state of the atmosphere in the central parts of Africa
that
1 4-2 Zoological Society.
that of extreme dryness ; but this is an exception to intertropical
regions in general. In Guiana and La Plata, for instance, and in
Ceylon, the thick woods exhale a considerable degree of moisture,
far exceeding that of our own country ; the mean dew point of the
atmosphere of London being 44°,5, while that of intertropical regions
is from 70° to 75°. Animals from such climates, it is suggested,
require a moist atmosphere, and this may readily be produced by
watering the flues used for heating the houses in which they are
kept. Analogous to this is the advantage obtained in the cultiva-
tion of stove plants by keeping the houses well watered. The
neglect of supplying to the air a sufficient quantity of simple and
innoxious moisture is attended with two evils. Not only are the
animals kept in an atmosphere too dry for their healthy preserva-
tion ; but the dry air, greedily absorbing moisture, becomes impreg-
nated with the excreted fluids of the animals in confinement ; and
thus the secreting surfaces of the lungs are at once exposed to a
constant stimulus from increased and rapid exhalation, and to the
additional stimulus inflicted by the continual breathing of air loaded
with saline and irritating particles. In well constructed houses it
is of the first importance that the fluids of the animals should be
conducted from the buildings. Ventilation should also be perfect
not only through the body of the building, but through each indivi-
dual cage or den. This is doubly necessary where the air is viti-
ated, not only by the animals themselves, but by numerous visitors.
For the general regulation of the admission of cold air a convenient
plan is to have a leaden or iron weight balanced in a vessel of mer-
cury, attached to a sliding sash, which will thus rise or fall in
proportion to the height of the mercury. Mr. Cox regards it as of
no importance, as to the effect produced on the atmosphere, by
what means an increased temperature is preserved, whether by flues
or steam or hot water, if the degree obtained be the same : the
only reason for preferring one to another is the greater facility it
may afford of keeping up an equable temperature.
Mr. Owen read a portion of his notes made at the dissection of
the Beaver which died lately at the Society's Gardens. He limited
himself on this occasion to the description of the organs connected
with digestion. The salivary organs and those of deglutition were
treated of in detail : the former parts, which are remarkably deve-
loped in all the Glires, were especially examined on account of the
peculiar nature of the animal's food 5 while the latter claimed par-
ticular attention from the recent interesting discovery by Mr. Mor-
gan of a peculiar construction of the fauces in the Capybara and
some others of the Rodent order.
Of the salivary glands the parotid are the largest. They are
united, like the lateral lobes of the thyroid gland in man, by an
anterior transverse portion ; and form together a conglomerate
mass which extends across the front of the neck to within a short
distance of the upper part of the sternum, covering the larynx and
its muscles, and passing backwards on each side as far as the mas-
toid process. There are, however, two ducts, one on each side,
which
Zoological Society. 143
which terminate in front of the molar teeth. The snbmaxillary glands
are quite distinct from the parotid, and are each about the size
of a walnut : their ducts pass under the jaw and terminate at the
side of thefrcenum lingua. The sublingual glands are very small.
Between the membrane of the palate and the bone, in the narrow
space between the rows of molar teeth, a layer of mucous glands is
situated : and a thick stratum of the same kind of glands exists also
immediately exterior to the membrane of the fauces.
The soft palate extends backwards from the posterior edge of the
bony palate as far as the circular aperture of the posterior nares.
The sides of the soft palate are continuous with the tongue, and,
becoming gradually contracted, form fauces of a funnel shape, the
posterior aperture of which just admits a black-lead pencil of the
usual size for drawing. The membrane covering the posterior part
of the dorsum of the tongue is continued smoothly and uninter-
ruptedly to the epiglottis, without the production of any fold of
membrane in front of this part, nor was there any corresponding
duplicature above, or at the sides of, the fauces: so that here no
structure existed that would allow any part of the fauces to be pro-
truded in a conical form into the pharynx, beyond the opening of
the glottis, as in the Capybara and Guinea-pig.
The fauces of the Rat are formed after the same type as those of
the Beaver -. a type which is peculiar, inasmuch as there is properly
speaking no velum pendulum palati, the membrane forming the roof
of the fauces being continued straight, without duplicature or re-
flection, to the posterior aperture of the nares : this aperture is of a
circular form, on a horizontal plane, and situated immediately above
the glottis.
The muscular apparatus of the fauces consists of a pair of muscles
which arise, one from each side of the tongue, and ascend, the
fibres diverging a little ; their action is to contract the commence-
ment of the fauces, being analogous to the palato-glossi : besides
these there are, at the narrower part of the fauces, circular fibres,
apparently continued from the superior constrictor of the pharynx,
and analogous to the palato-pharyngei.
There are no palatal arches, neither were any tonsils detected.
The peculiar cardiac gland much resembles tonsils in structure,
being composed of numerous small glands or follicles, forming an
aggregate of about 14- lines in length and half an inch in thickness,
which pour a viscid secretion, by numerous apertures, into the inte-
rior of the stomach.
Thepancreas is of considerable extent, measuring in length nearly
two feet, and following the course of the duodenum down to the
iliac region and up again as far as the umbilical, being attached to
the intestine by a process of mesentery : it is thin and narrow, and
has one small branch or process lying parallel with its body where
it passes behind the liver, and a few others at the curvature of the
duodenum. Its duct, somewhat larger than a crow-quill, enters the
small intestine at the extremity of the gland, one foot and nine
inches
14-4 Zoological Society.
inches from the pylorus, and one foot and six inches from the ter-
mination of the auctus c/wlec/ochus.
At the commencement of the colon there are two pouches of an
oval form, from the union of which the rest of the intestine proceeds
with very distinct sacculi. An analogous structure exists in the
ccecum of the Guinea-pig, where however the two sacculi appear
rather to belong to the ccecum, being partially separated from the
colon by a circular production of the lining membrane in a valvular
form.
Jan. 11, 1831.— Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart, in the Chair.
An Address by Mr. J. V. Thompson " To the Members of the
Zoological Society, and the Zoologists of the United Kingdom in
general," was read, soliciting such support, by subscription, as may
enable him to continue, without further loss, his "Zoological Re-
searches and Illustrations." This Address is printed, together with
a list of the subjects of some of the succeeding Memoirs, on the
cover of the Fourth Number of the Researches, which was at the
same time laid on the table.
An Extract was read from a Letter addressed by Daniel Sharpe,
Esq., to Mr. Bennett, in which the writer describes the luminous
appearance of the ocean as observed by him on several nights du-
ring his passage to Lisbon. A considerable sparkling was visible in
the water close under the vessel's side, particularly in the spray
just thrown oft' from the bow, and also occasionally when a wave
broke : it gradually vanished as the water became quieter. The
appearance was that of a number of small sparks not brighter than
the smallest stars. When a bucket full of the water was taken up,
nothing was visible until it was stirred or shaken, when it was in-
stantly filled with spangles, which disappeared as the water settled :
the most elegant effect was when the waves or spray broke over the
deck, which then became covered with stars for a few minutes. Mr.
Sharpe states that he collected a great quantity in a glass, and exa-
mined them carefully with a microscope the next morning, in the
expectation of observing minute Crustacea^ &c., to which the ap-
pearance he describes has frequently been attributed. He could,
however, detect nothing but an abundance of small fibres and shreds
of, apparently, animal matter, and did not find even one entire animal.
Hence he is disposed to infer that, in some instances at least, the
phosphorescence of the sea arises from the quantity of particles of
dead fishes &c. always floating on its surface ; although he con-
fesses himself unable to explain the reason why these shine only
when the water is disturbed.
It was remarked that Commerson and others have attributed the
phenomenon described to the putrefaction of animal matters : and
M. Bory de St. Vincent has declared that marine animalcula take no
share in it. Sir Joseph Banks, Dr. Macartney, and others, on the
contrary, have referred it to the presence of marine animals, prin-
cipally Crustacea ; and the existence of such, as the cause of this
appearance, has been recently insisted on by Mr. J. V. Thompson.
Dr.
Zoological Society. 1 4-5
Dr. MacCulloch has also attributed it to the latter cause ; and
states that every marine animal that he has examined is luminous.
Assuming the observations of M. Bory de St. Vincent and those of
Dr. MacCulloch to be equally correct in the instances which fell
under their notice, it is worthy of inquiry whether any, and what,
differences exist in the luminosity of the ocean, when it is occasioned
by marine animals, or when it is owing to other causes.
Mr. Yarrell exhibited a female of the common game Fowl which
had assumed the plumage of a male. The dull brown colour of
the breast was varied by an intermixture of the jet black plumage
peculiar to the male ; the feathers of the neck and those on the sides
of the tail were long, slender, hackled and bright in colour; all the
tail feathers were more or less curved; and the spurs were half an
inch in length. This bird very closely resembled the representation
attached to Dr. Butter's paper on this subject in the third volume
of the " Memoirs of the Wernerian Society." A portion of the
body of the bird was also shown, the disease of the sexual organ
pointed out, and its appearance contrasted with preparations of the
same parts from healthy birds. The cause of this change in the
external character is fully detailed in John Hunter's "Animal Eco-
nomy," in the Wernerian Memoirs before mentioned, and in a paper
by Mr. Yarrell, published in the "Philosophical Transactions" for
1827.
Mr. Vigors resumed the exhibition of the birds from the Hima-
layan Mountains, which he had commenced at the Meeting of the
23rd Nov. ; and named and characterized the following apparently
new species :
ALCEDO GUTTATUS. Ale. cristatus, supra ater, maculis rotundis
albis guttatim notatus ; sultus albus ; colli lateribus pectoreque
atro maculatis.
Statura Ale. maximi.
MUSCIPETA PRINCEPS. Muse, capite, collo, dorso summo, alis,
rectricibusque duabus mediis nigris ; corpore inferiori, dorso imo,
fascia lata alarum, maculis paucis remigum secundariarum , rec-
tricibusque later alibus aurantio-coccineis ; rostro fortiori.
Longitude circiter novem uncias.
LANIUS ERYTHROPTERUS. Mas. Lan. nucha dorsoque griseis ;
capite supra, alis, cauddque atris ; corpore subtus, striga superci-
liari, remigumque apicibus albis ; alis maculd lata rubra notatis.
Foem. Capite griseo ; dorso, alls, rectricibusque virescenti-olivaceo
notatis ; harum apicibusjlams.
Statura Lan. Collurionis.
PARUS MONTICOLUS. Par. capite, colh) pectorc, abdomine media,
alis, rectricibusque atris ; genarum macula lata nuchalique parva,
tegminum remigum secundariarum rectricumque apicibus, et re-
migum primariarum rectricumque fateralium pogoniis externis
albis ; abdominis lateribus Jlavis .
Statura paulo minor Par. majori.
PARUS XANTHOGENYS. Par. capite cristato, guld, pectore, abdo-
mine medio, striga utrinque colli, scaindarium maculis, alis, cau-
N.S. Vol. 9. No. 50. Feb. 1831. U ddque
146 Zoological Society.
dayue atris, his albo notatis ; dorso scapularibusque virescenti-
gnseis ; genis, strigd superciliari, macula nucfiali, abdominisquc
later ibusjlavis.
Statura praecedentis.
PARUS MELANOLOPHUS. Par. griseus ; capite cristato pectore-
que atris; genarum, nuchce, tegminumque alarum maculis albis ;
remigibus rectricibusquejuscis , macula sub alls nifd.
Statura Par. atro paulo minor.
PARUS ERYTHROCEPHALUS. Par. supra pallide brunnescenti-ca-
nus, subtus rufescenti-albus ; guld, strigd superciliari , rectricurn-
que lateralium pogoniis externis albis ; capite supra rufo ; strigd
laid per oculos ad nucham extendente, thoraceque atris.
Statura Par. pendulini, Linn.
FRINGILLA RODOPEPLA. Fring. supra brunnea ; capite, nuchd,
dorsoque lineis fuscis rosaceoque nitore notatis ; strigd utrinque
superciliari, guld, thorace, maculis alarum, uropygio, corporeque
subtus rosaceis.
Longitudo circiter 7 uncias.
FRINGILLA RODOCHROA. Fring. supra brunnea ; capite, nucha,
dorsoque lineis Juscis , illo rosaceo tinctis ; fronte, strigd utrin-
que superciliari, guld, pectore, corpore subtusf uropugioque rosa-
ceis ; alis immaculatis.
Longitudo circiter B\ uncias.
CARDUELIS CANICEPS. Card, brunnescenti-canus ; alis cauddque
nigris ; circulo angustofrontem rictum gulamque circumcingente
coccineo ; Jascid alarum aured ; thorace, maculis paucis alarum,
uropygio, abdomine imo, crisso, rectricum externarum pogoniis
internis, mediarumque apicibus albis.
Statura Card, communis.
Picus HYPERYTHRUS. Mas. Pic. corpore supra nigro, albo-ma-
cidato, subtus rufescenti-badio ; capite crissoque coccineis ; strigd
utrinque per oculos extendente alba ; mandibuld superiori nigrd,
inferiori alba.
Foem. Capite nigro albo-lineato.
Statura Pic. medii, Linn.
COLUMBA LEUCONOTA. Col. capite conescenti-atro ; crisso can-
ddque nigris ; nuchd, corpore subtus, dorso medio, caudceque fas-
cia latd media, albis; tegminibus alarum vinaceo-canis ; dorso
superiori scapularibusque brunnescenti-canis ; remigibus, Jasciis-
que alarum brunnescenti-fascis.
Statura Col. Palumbi, Linn.
OTIS HIMALAYANUS. Ot. niger ; alis albis ; dorso medio sca-
pularibusque pallido-riifo brunneoque variegatis ; dorso imo pal-
lido-rufo undulatim sparso ; cristce collique plumis anterioribus et
posterioribus confertis, elongatis.
Mr. Vigors exhibited a living specimen of a new species of Ground
Parrakeet, which had lately been added to the Society's Menagerie.
Its native place was not ascertained : but from the more graduated
form of the tail and the plumbeous colour of the bill, .it was conjec-
tured to have belonged to some of the Australian islands -, the Par-
rakeets
Zoological Society. 14-7
rakeets of which are distinguished by these characters from the
allied groups of the same genus Platycercus of the Australian con-
tinent. The lively and active gait of this bird, as distinguished from
the slow and climbing motions of the Parrots in general, was
particularly noticed. Its colour was a uniform green without any
markings. It was named and characterized as
PLATYCEKCUS UNJCOLOR. Plat, corpore viridi concolore ; rostra
basi plumbeo, apice nigro.
Mr. Vigors also exhibited a specimen of the lineated Pheasant
of Dr. Latham [Gen. Hist., vol. viii. p. 201. sp. 14-.] which had
lately been received from the Straits of Malacca. The bird ac-
corded accurately with Dr. Latham's description, as communicated
to him by Dr. Buchanan from a living specimen in an aviary in
India, and afforded evident proof of being a distinct and strongly
marked species. It may be characterized as follows :
PHASIANUS LINEATUS, Lath. MSS. Phas. supra cano-griseus ;
Jasciis gracilibus nigris undulatus ; capite, crista elongatd, gula,
collo anteriori, corporeque infra nigris ; abdominis laterum plu-
mis in media lineis gracilibus albis notatis ; caudd albo nigroque
undulatim sparsa.
A large collection of Insects, of various orders, presented to the
Society by Dr. Leach, was exhibited. It was chiefly formed in
the neighbourhood of Rome and Florence j and notes were ap-
pended to the greater number of the species, indicating the precise
locality of each, the time of its appearance, its food, comparative
rarity, &c.
The attention of the Committee having been directed to that
part of the Minutes of the Council which referred to the prepara-
tion of a Report on the animals which it was desirable for the So-
ciety to import :
It was resolved,
That Sir Thomas Phillipps, Mr. Vigors, Mr. Owen, Mr. Cox, and
Mr. Bennett, be requested to prepare, for the consideration of the
Committee at its next Meeting, a Report on the animals for the
importation of which the Council should be recommended to take
measures.
The following Resolution was also submitted to the Committee,
and adopted :
Resolved,
That Mr. Morgan, Mr. Yarrell, and Mr. Vigors, be requested to
prepare a series of questions on points relating to the generation,
gestation, parturition, and suckling of the Kangaroo, in order that
the same may be submitted to the Council, with a request that
directions may be given to the Superintendents of the Society's
establishments to obtain information thereon.
U 2 XXVI. In-
XXVI. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles.
ON THE SPONTANEOUS INFLAMMATION OF POWDERED CHAR-
COAL.
MAUBERT, colonel of artillery, has made numerous experi-
• ments on the above subject : he states that charcoal when
very finely powdered has the appearance of an unctuous liquid, and
occupies only one third the space of sticks of charcoal of about
six inches long.
In this state of division, it absorbs air much more rapidly than
when it is in sticks ; still however the absorption goes on slowly,
requiring several days for completion ; it is accompanied with the
disengagement of heat, which is to be regarded as the true cause
of the spontaneous combustion of the charcoal ; the heat is equal
to about 350° of Fahrenheit. The inflammation occurs towards the
centre of the mass, at about five or six inches beneath the surface ;
the temperature is constantly higher in this place than in any other ;
there must consequently exist towards the edges of the mass a de-
scending current of air, which lends towards the centre, and be-
becomes vertical, without penetrating towards the lower parts of
the mass, where the temperature is but little raised. It is on this
account that a portion only of the charcoal appears to produce the
phenomena ; the remainder serves as an isolating substance, and
preserves the heat in the centre.
The variations of the barometer, thermometer and hygrometer do
not appear to have any sensible influence upon the spontaneous in-
flammation of the charcoal ; if such influence exists, the experi-
ments have not been sufficiently multiplied to prove it.
Black charcoal, strongly distilled, heats and inflames more rea-
dily than imperfect or slightly distilled charcoal.
The black distilled charcoal, which is the most inflammable, ought
to be in masses of about 60 pounds at least, that spontaneous in-
flammation may take place; with less inflammable charcoal the
inflammation occurs only in larger masses. In general the inflam-
mation occurs more certainly and readily, as the time is short
between the carbonization and powdering. Air is not only necessary
for the spontaneous inflammation, but there must be free access of it
at the surface ; the weight which the charcoal acquires to the mo-
ment of its combustion, is derived not merely from the privation of
air, but partly to the absorption of water. During trituration the
air undergoes no change from the charcoal ; nor does it suffer any
up to the moment of its inflammation.
Sulphur and nitre, added to the charcoal, take away its property
of inflaming spontaneously ; still however there is absorption of air
and heating ; and although the increase of temperature is not very
great, it is prudent not to leave these mixtures in too large masses
alter trituration. — Ann. de Chim., Sept. 1830.
ON
Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 1 49
ON PUIIE IOD1C ACID AND THE DETECTION OF THE VEGETABLE
ALKALIES.
M. Serullas has found
1st, That when perchloride of iodine is mixed with water, there
results iodic and muriatic acid from the decomposition of the water.
2nd, That the solid perchloride of iodine, previously slightly
washed with water, or still better with a solution of the perchloride,
when mixed with aether or concentrated alcohol, is suddenly con.
verted, by the elements of water, into muriatic acid, which remains
in solution, and very pure iodic acid, which is precipitated, on ac-
count of its insolubility in alcohol.
3rd, That oxide of silver, agitated in proper quantity in a solution
of perchloride of iodine, seizes only the muriatic acid, leaving free
and pure iodic acid in solution.
4th, That iodic acid (and the solution of perchloride of iodine,
on account of the iodic acid which it contains, produces the same
effect) combines rapidly with the vegetable alkalies, forming very
acid compounds with these bases, which are almost insoluble in
concentrated alkohol ; this aftbrds a method of discovering very
small quantities of these alkalies in solution in alcohol, which is a con-
dition in which it is easy to place them. — Ann.de Chim., Sept.1830.
PAHA-TARTARIC ACTD.
M. Dulong communicated to the Academy of Sciences a letter
from M. Berzelius, relating to several chemical compounds, which
are perfectly similar to each other in the nature and proportion of
the elements of which they are composed j but are very different in
their physical and chemical properties. M. Berzelius has paid par-
ticular attention to the new acid which M. Gay-Lussac has met
with in tartar, and which has been called Thannic acid; M. Berzelius
shows that this acid, which possesses very different properties from
tartaric acid, gives by analysis a perfectly similar composition. It is
also well known that common phosphoric acid, and that which has
been recently calcined, and which has been called pyrophosphoric
acid, offer very considerable differences in their properties ; it is also
the same with stannic acid (deutoxide of tin), accordingly as it is
prepared by treating tin with nitric acid, or by decomposing the
deutochloride, or fuming liquor of Libavius.
M. Berzelius, in order to connect all these observations, proposes
to call those bodies isomeres (of equal elements) which possess the
same composition, and to add the Greek preposition para to that of
the two bodies which occurs most rarely, and is obtained with most
difficulty ; — thus common phosphoric acid will be termed simply
phosphoric acid, and the pyro-phosphoric will be termed para- phos-
phoric, and we shall have also tartaric acid and para-tartaric acid,
stannic acid and para-stannic acid.— Jbwrw. de Pharm, Oct. 1830.
ON THE CHLORIDES OF IODINE AND THE DETECTION OF THE
VEGETABLE ALKALIES.
M. Serullas lately read a memoir on the above compounds before
the
150 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles.
the Academy of Sciences, in which he states that the perchlo-
ride of iodine, when put into water, suddenly decomposes it, and
occasions the formation of iodic and muriatic acid. When it is
put into alcohol the same effects are produced ; and as the iodic acid
is insoluble in ulcohol, its action affords a ready method of separat-
ing the two acids ; the iodic acid is deposited in the state of a co-
lourless crystalline powder ; iodic acid is one of the most sensible
reagents for detecting the presence of the vegetable alkalies, with
which it combines to form compounds of very little solubility, so
that, according to M. Serullas, the hundredth part of a grain of the
alkali may be detected. These compounds, when dried, detonate
strongly if heated much above the temperature of boiling water.
—Le Globe, Nov. \\th.
CHLORIDE OF GOLD AND POTASSIUM, &C.
M. Berzelius finds this salt to consist of
Chloride of potassium . . 1 7*525
Gold 46-800
Chlorine 25'050
Water 10-625
100-000
This salt crystallizes sometimes in striated prisms, truncated at the
extremities, and sometimes in hexagonal plates ; the colour is yellow-
ish-orange, and the crystals effloresce very readily in dry air.
The chloride of gold and sodium consists of
Chloride of sodium . . . 14-466
Chloride of gold .... 76002
Water 9'532
100-000
This salt crystallizes in prisms of an orange-red colour ; it does not
part with its water of crystallization without at the same time losing
chlorine. — Ann. de Chim., Sp.pt. 1830.
VAUQUEIJN'S PROCESS FOR OBTAINING CHROMIUM.
When an attempt is made to procure chromium by employing the
oxide and charcoal, the operation never succeeds well, whatever may
be the degree of heat to which the mixture is subjected. The chromic
acid is more readily reduced than the oxide, and 72 parts yielded 24
parts of metallic chrominm. The muriate of chrome is that which suc-
ceeded best, and in the following manner : — Treat chromate of lead in
fine powder with 4 or 5 times its weight of muriatic acid, until it is per-
fectly dissolved j then evaporate to dryness and dissolve the muriate
of chrome by alcohol, that there may be no chloride of lead.
Evaporate again at a moderate temperature, to the consistence of a
syrup, and make it into a mass with a sufficient quantity of oil and a
little charcoal, to make it into a paste ; put it in a small crucible, in-
closed in another crucible filled with charcoal powder, and heat it in
a good forge fire for about an hour.— Ibid.
CARBURET
Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 151
CARBURET OF SULPHUR NOT DECOMPOSED BY ELECTRICITY.
According to M. Wohler, the black deposit on the sides of the
tubes, which M. Becquerel supposed to be carbon derived from the
decomposition of carburet of sulphur by electricity, is merely sulphuret
of copper produced from the sulphur in the sulphuret of carbon. —
Poggendorf's Annalen. Brf.wster's Journal, Jan. 1831.
INFLUENCE OF THE AURORA BOREALIS ON THE MAGNETIC
NEEDLE.
Mr. Sturgeon has mentioned, in his paper on the Aurora Borealis
of Jan. 7th, as witnessed at Woolwich (p. 128 of our present Number),
that he could not observe the slightest change of direction or disturb-
ance in the magnetic needle, during the display of the Aurora. As
this is a subject of much importance, we deem it improper to publish
this result, without stating, at the same time, that M. Arago, at the
Observatory of Paris, was also engaged on the evening of the 7th, in
observations on both the horizontal and the dipping-needle, during
the appearance of the Aurora ; and that he found the former to be de-
ranged 1° 6' 47" by the influence of that meteor, and the latter the
enormous quantity of 21', the ordinary diurnal variation of the dip, at
this season, scarcely exceeding 1 '. An account of M. Arago's ob-
servations will be found in the Le National of January 12th.
NITROUS ATMOSPHERE OF TIRHOOT.
Tirhoot is one of the principal districts in India for the manufacture
of saltpetre ; the soil is everywhere abundantly impregnated with this
substance, and it floats in the atmosphere in such quantities, that
during the rains and cold weather it is attracted from thence by
the lime on the damp walls of houses, and fixes there in shape of
long downy crystals of exceeding delicacy. From damp spots it may
be brushed off every two or three days almost in basketsful. In con-
sequence of all this, the ground, even in hot weather, is so damp,
that it is extremely difficult either to get earth of sufficient tenacity
to make bricks (the country being quite destitute of stones), or,
when made, to find a spot sufficiently solid to sustain the weight of
a house. Even with the greatest care the ground at last yields, and
the saltpetre corrodes the best of the bricks to such a degree, that the
whole house gradually sinks several inches below its original level.
Houses built of inferior materials of course suffer much more ; one,
of which the inner foundations were of unburnt bricks, absolutely
fell down whilst I was at Mullye, and the family in it escaped almost
by miracle. My own house, which was not much better, sank so
much, and the walls at bottom so evidently giving way, that I was
compelled with extreme expense and inconvenience, to pull down
the whole inner walls, and build them afresh in a more secure man-
ner. From the same cause a new magazine which Government di-
rected to be built, with an arched roof of brick-work, was, when
complete, found so very unsafe, that it was necessary to demolish
it entirely, and rebuild it on a new plan, with a roof of tiles. In such
a soil it will easily be concluded that swamps and lagoons prevail
very
152 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles.
very much, of course, mostly during the rains, and till the sun ga-
thers power in the hot weather ; and, in fact, what has been above
&o much insisted on, as to the two contrary aspects of the country
with respect to vegetation, may, by a conversion of terms, be equally
applied to the water on its surface. In the cold and dry weather it is
comparatively scanty; in the rains it is superabundant : and as the
rivers in this district are frequently found to change their situa-
tions, so, through a long course of time, it has resulted that hollow
beds, being deserted by their streams, become transformed into
what, during the rains, assume the appearance of extensive lakes,
but in dry weather degenerate into mere muddy swamps, overgrown
with a profusion of rank aquatic vegetations, particularly the gigan-
tic leaves of the lotus, and swarming with every tribe of loathsome
cold-blooded animals. Some of these lakes, during the height of
the rains, communicate with their original streams, and thus under-
go a temporary purification ; but others receive no fresh supply ex-
cept from the clouds, and of course their condition is by much the
worse. Some of the conversions of a river-bed into a lake have
occurred in the memory of the present inhabitants, or at least
within one descent from their ancestors.— Tytler on the Climate of
Mullye, in Trans. Med. fy Phi/s. Soc. of Calcutta, vol. iv.— - -Jame-
sons Journal, Jan. 1831. p. 177.
ON THE OCCURRENCE OF CHALK-FLINTS IN BANFFSHIRE. BY
JAMES CHRISTIE, ESQ., SEC. TO THE BANFF INSTITUTION.*
Some time ago I took the liberty of submitting for your inspec-
tion specimens of a quantity of flints found scattered and mixed
with the water-worn stones and shingle along the shore of Boyndie
Bayf , to the westward of Banff, and to state, that flints of a similar
description are occasionally found to the eastward as far as Peter-
head. I had not seen any organic remains in the flints of this part
of Scotland, to enable me to form an opinion as to their being of the
chalk- formation f . Since that time I have met with abundance of
flints on the hill or rising ground between Turiffand Delgaty Castle.
The surface of the ground there is irregular, rising occasionally into
hillocks, and sinking into hollows, filled with bogs and swamps.
These hillocks are composed of a conglomerate or pebbly mass,
* At p. 381 of the last volume of this Journal, \ve noticed Mr. Christie's
discovery of Hints on the shore near Banff. — Edit. Edinb. New Phil. Journ.
f The flints sent me from Boyndie Bay are of the same description with
those found near Delgaty. They contain traces of zoophytic Organic re-
mains.— Edit. Edinb. New Phil. Journ.
\. Some years ago, while examining the geognosy of the vicinity of Peter-
head, our attention was directed to the chalk-flints found in that neighbour-
hood, by previous information. We traced them extending over several miles
of country, and frequently imbedded in a reddish clay, resting on the granite
of the district. These flints contain sponges, alcyonia, echini, and other fos-
sils of the chalkrflint, thus proving them to belong to the chalk formation,
which itself will probably be found in some of the hollows in this part of
Scotland.— Edit. Edinb. Neiv Phil. Journ.
having
Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 153
having a base or ground of white or gray colour, and apparently com-
posed of decayed felspar, and very minute scales of mica or talc,
or both, in which are imbedded rounded pebbles of grayish-white
translucent quartz-rock. The quartz-pebbles are from the size of
a pea to that of a hen's egg. This conglomerated mass is here and
there alternated with or traversed by a white quartzy sand,
with scales of mica. The whole conglomerated mass is mixed up
with flints of various sizes and forms. The flints are yellow, brown,
and gray, more or less translucent, often enveloped in a white sili-
ceous opaque crust, and containing organic remains principally of
sponges or alcyonia. In some flints the centre is hollow, and the
walls of the cavity lined with calcedony. One of the hillocks has
been opened to the depth of about fifteen or eighteen feet. The
quartz-pebbles become more translucent the deeper the pit is open-
ed ; and the flints, which, at the surface of the ground, are generally
of a brown colour, exhibit other tints in the interior of the bed. The
hollows between the hillocks are destitute of pebbles and gravel,
and have a clayey bottom. The direction of the hollows appears
in general to run east and west. These hollows may perhaps
have been scooped out, and the beds containing flints and peb-
bles of quartz carried off by some of those mighty inundations which
have more than once swept over the face of nature.
As to the extent of the deposit, I can say but little : in one di-
rection, I have traced it for nearly a mile, occasionally interrupted
by the hollows. The point where the specimens were taken up is
about half a mile distant from another patch, through which the
ditch I formerly mentioned has been cast. At that point, also, the
flints and quartz-pebbles, and other deposits, are the same as those
already mentioned. The spot where these deposits are found is in
the interior of the country, about ten miles from the sea, and is the
highest ground in the neighbourhood. I have not been able to as-
certain the depth of the bed, as the pit filled with water on digging
down, and the water became thick with the clayey or chalky matter.
The workmen, however, told me, that further down the hill they had
met with a bed of white clay, and they believed the deposit of peb-
bles, flints, &c. rested on it.
I have never seen the chalk-formations, but, as I understand it,
this deposit has many features of its upper strata. The flints are
abundant throughout the whole, and I found them on the surface
at a mile distant from the hillock where the specimens were taken
from*. — Edin. New Phil. Journ., Jan. 1831.
* We trust Mr. Christie, and other members of the Banff Institution, will
continue their researches in regard to these flints ; for possibly the chalk-
formation itself may be found in situ in this part of Scotland. — Edit.
Edinb. New Phil. Journ.
N. S. Vol. 9. No. 50. Feb. 1831. X NEW
154 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles.
NEW SCIENTIFIC BOOKS.
Just Published.
Account of the " Traite sur le Flux et Reflux de la Mer," of
Daniel Bernouilli ; and a treatise on the Attraction of Ellipsoids.
By J. W. Lubbock, Esq. F.R.S.
In the Press.
A Geological Manual 3 by H.T. De la Beche, F.R.S. &c. In one
volume, with numerous wood-cuts.
The Utility of the Knowledge of Nature considered j with refe-
rence to the Introduction of Instruction in the Physical Sciences,
into the General Education of Youth : comprising, with many addi-
tions, the details of a Public Lecture on that subject, delivered at
Hazelwood School, near Birmingham, on the 26th of October,
1830. By E. W. Brayley, jun. A.L.S., Lecturer on Natural Philo-
sophy and Natural History, and Teacher of the Physical Sciences in
Hazelwood School.
Preparing for Publication.
Mr. MacCulloch, Professor of Political Economy in the University
of London, is preparing for publication, a Theoretical and Practical
Dictionary of Commerce and Commercial Navigation. In one large
volume, 8vo, with Maps, &c.
THE COMET.
Extracts of Communications from Mr. Herapath and Sir J. South
to the Editor of The Times, Jan. C25th, <28th, and 29th.
On the 7th, at 6h 30m A. M., it was in 264° 1 1 ' right ascension, and
12° 33' south declination, from my observation. On the 9th, at 6h47m
A. M, it had 261° 59' right ascension, and 12° 1' south declination, by
the observation at Kensington Observatory ; and on the 18th I found
it in 252° 18' right ascension, and 9° 2' south declination,, at 5h 43m
A. M. The time was apparent or solar in each case. On the 7th the
head was white and brilliant, with a tail of between 1° and 2° at Cran-
ford, and the comet equalled, as I conceived, stars of the second mag-
nitude. To Sir James South, on the 9th, the head was very luminous,
and the tail about 1° long ; while to Mr. J. T., near Liverpool, on the
12th, the tail seemed 2°, or, as he informs me by letter, probably 3°
long, the head being bright and the nucleus well defined. On the
18th the head appeared to me much less and more confused j but the
tail had extended in length to full 3°, and was much more apparent.
At these several epochs it was about 25°, 29°, and 47° distant from
the sun.
From all these circumstances, it appears that the apparent motion
of the comet is retrograde j that it crossed the ecliptic about the lat-
ter part of Capricorn, and is proceeding by a path rather concave
towards the north, betweenrthe stars £ and S Ophiuchi, passing to the
north of the former, and about 2£° to the south of the latter, which it
will reach on the 28th inst. ; that its apparent motion is decreasing,
and will probably before long cease, and at length become direct j
that the comet has approached nearer to the sun, and most likely to
the
Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 155
the earth too ; and though its motion is now increasing towards the
north, in all probability it will finish by declining towards the south.
From its great elongation, it would seem the true path of the comet
is without that of Venus, and that it is either between us and the sun,
or on the other side of the sun. In the former case, its real motion is
direct, in the latter retrograde ; but judging from the appearance of
the body, I should think it is between us and the sun.
Whether this be the comet said in the Morning Herald to have been
predicted by the Chinese, or that of 1770, which Mr. J. T. imagines
it might be, or indeed any one of the comets which have yet appeared,
the present observations are not sufficient to determine. However,
its great elevation above the ecliptic, and its long train, which mark it
for a comet of a long period, are not, I conceive, favourable to an iden-
tity with that of 1770.
On the 7th I find it was south about 20h 21m A. M., and rose about
20' after 5 j on the 18th it was south 10' before 9, and rose at about
33' after 3 j on the 30th it will be south about 8' after 7, and rise
about half-past 1. Its place on the 18th differed, I see, only 13' in
right ascension, and about half a degree in declination, from the place
it should have had by my computations from the observations of Sir
James South and myself on the 9th and 7th. Should it therefore
proceed as it has, on the 25th, it will be in about 244° -§-ds right as-
cension, and 6°-fds south declination -} and on the 30th, in 239° £
right ascension, and 5° south declination : hence it may be easily
found. Since the 18th I have not seen it.
Jan. 26. — I this morning saw the comet for the last time I expect
that I shall see it. It is diminished in splendour wonderfully since the
18th. At that time it was beautifully brilliant, but a little after 5 this
morning it was totally invisible to the naked eye. The great light of
the moon, no doubt, had some influence in this j but at 6, and a
quarter after, when the moon had been for some time down, it could
be seen by the eye at intervals only, and then as a very small star,
destitute of any of the appendages of a comet. Even when viewed
through a telescope, with a power of about 30, both before and after
the setting of the moon, it merely exhibited a nebulous appearance,
without, as far as I could discover, any tail or well-defined nucleus.
From these circumstances it may easily be imagined, that it was
impossible to ascertain its place by the sextant. As far as I could
judge, it was very little to the right of a straight line joining e Ophi-
uchi, and 17 or v Ophiuchi, by Bode's Catalogue. It seemed to be
better than one-third of the distance of these stars from v, and not
far from, but to the right of, a small star, I believe 16 Ophiuchi, which
appeared in the field of the telescope. Its position appeared not to
differ from the place my computation would have given it, except that
1 thought it was more to the south.
It is, however, evident that this body will no longer be a subject
for even tolerably good instruments, but must be left to such powerful
means as are possessed by the fixed observatories. One thing which
surprises me is, that in so short a period as 19 days it should have
X2 had
156
Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles.
had such unaccountable changes. On the 7th it was a brilliant comet,
with a tail of from 1° to 2°, on the 12th from 2° to 3°, on the 18th
at least 3°, and by the 26th it had sunk to a tailless and almost un-
discoverable star. This excessively rapid rise and diminution of
splendour is, to the best of my knowledge, a novelty in astronomy,
and I presume must arise from some peculiarity in the comet's path
round the sun, relative to that of the earth. It is therefore to be re-
gretted that the weather has been so unfavourable as to preclude our
daily tracing its successive and perhaps singular gradations.
I should now imagine this body must have passed its perihelion for
some time, probably before my second or even my first observation.
In this case the greater apparent length of its tail on the 18th may
have been owing to its greater elevation above the plane of the eclip-
tic. However, I am anxious to know what has been seen of this body
on the Continent; they have most likely had better opportunities of
seeing it further south than we have had. JOHN HERAPATH.
The following is from The Times of Jan. 29: —
" It was observed here on Wednesday and this mornings. On
the former occasion, it might, by a person knowing well where to
look for it, be with difficulty detected by the unassisted eye ; this
morning, certainly not. In either instance, under very slight illu-
mination of the field, it became invisible.
" At 141' 16m 38s sidereal time of Tuesday the 25th, its right
ascension was 16" 14>m 46s and T^ths ; and its southern declination
was 6° 36m and 6s; whilst at 14" 31m 16s and Aths, sidereal time
of yesterday, the 27th, its right ascension was 16" 4m 6s and -frihs ;
and its southern declination 5° 45m and 34-s. Hence its daily dimi-
nution of right ascension, in time, is about 5m £0S and of southern
declination about 25m 15s. J. S."
Observatory, Kensington, Jan. 28, 1831.
LUNAR OCCULTATIONS.
Occupations of Planets and Jixed Stars by the Moon, in February
1831. Computed for Greenwich, by THOMAS HENDERSON, Esq. ;
and circulated by the Astronomical Society.
*:
Immersions.
Emersions.
o
CS
Stars'
13
5
U
*,°"
Angle from
Angle from
1831.
Names.
1
oSfe
Sidereal
time.
Mean
solar time.
fl<5
H
S'dereal
time.
Mean
solar time.
•S aJ
tj
%
d
<
££
ff
H
I
h m
h m
h m
h m
Feb. 1
k* Virginis
6
1500
13 2
16 16
81
8°3
14 19
17 32
227
243
19
48 Tauri
6
468
4 41
6 46
108
119
5 54
7 58
278
303
y Tauri
3'4
478
6 55
8 58
114
147
8 1
10 5
266
305
71 Tauri
5-6
503
9 59
12 2
69
109
10 48
12 51
303
341
*' Tauri
5
510 11 1
13 4
136
174
11 39
Li 42
236
272
6* Tauri
5-6
511
10 57
13 0
114
152
11 45
13 48
258
293
20
111 Tauri
6
640
9 52
11 51
52
93
10 37
12 37
312
353
LIST
New Patents. 157
LIST OF NEW PATENTS.
To J. Revere, Weybridge, Surrey, M.D. for a new and improved
method of protecting iron chain cables, iron boilers, and iron tanks,
from the corrosion produced upon them by the action of water. —
Dated the 27th of November 1830. — 2 months allowed to enrol spe-
cification.
To W. Church, Haywood House, Warwickshire, esquire, for certain
improvements in apparatus applicable to propelling boats and driving
machinery by the agency of steam, parts of which improvements are
also applicable to the purposes of evaporation. — 29th of November.
— 6 months.
To R. Dalglish, junior, Glasgow, calico-printer, for improvements
in machinery or apparatus for printing calicoes and other fabrics. —
6th of December. — 6 months.
To H. Blundell, Kingston-upon-Hull, merchant, for improvements
in a machine for grinding or crushing seeds and other oleaginous sub-
stances, for the purpose of abstracting oil therefrom, and which ma-
chine, with certain improvements or alterations, is applicable to
other useful purposes. — 6th of December. — 6 months.
To R. Edwards, Dewsbury, Yorkshire, leather- and flock-seller, for
an improvement on, or substitute for, glass, sand, emery, and other
scouring-paper or substances. — 6th of December. — 6 months.
To S. Brown, Billiter-square, London, commander in the Royal
Navy, for certain improvements in the means of drawing up ships and
other vessels from the water on land, and for transporting or mooring
ships, vessels, and other bodies, on land, from one place to another.
— 6th of December. — 6 months.
To J. G. Lacy, Camomile-street, London, gun. manufacturer ; and
S. Davis, East Smitbfield, gun-lock maker, for a certain improvement
or improvements in the construction of guns and fire-arms. — 6th of
December. — 6 months.
To J. Dixon, Wolverhampton, and J. Vardy, of the same place,
for certain improvements in cocks for drawing off liquids. — 13th of
December. — 2 months.
To T. Walmsley, Manchester, manufacturer, for improvements in
the manufacture of cotton, linen, silk, and other fibrous substances,
into a fabric or fabrics applicable to various useful purposes. — 13th
of December. — 6 months.
To W. Needham, Longour, Staffordshire, gentleman, for certain
improvements in machinery for spinning, doubling, and twisting, silk
and other fibrous substances. — 13th of December. — 6 months.
To S. Parlour, Croydon, Surrey, gentleman, for certain improve-
ments on lamps, which he denominates " Parlour's Improved Table
Lamps." — 13th of December. — 2 months.
To J. L. Benham, Wigmore- street, Middlesex, ironmonger, for
certain improvements on shower and other baths. Communicated by
a foreigner. — 13th of December. — 6 months.
To R. Witty, Basford, in the parish of Wolstanton, Staffordshire,
engineer, for certain improvements in apparatus for propelling car-
riages, boats, or vessels, and for other purposes, by the power of
steam. — 13th of December. — 6 months.
Meteoro-
158 Meteorological Observations for December 1830.
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS FOR DECEMBER 1830.
Gosport: — Numerical Results Jbr the Month.
Barom. Max. 30-45. Dec. 15. Wind W.— Min. 28-86. Dec. 0. Wind S.E.
Range of the mercury 1-59.
Mean barometrical pressure for the month 29-607
Spaces described by the rising and falling of the mercury 8-130
Greatest variation in 24 hours . — Number of changes 22.
Therm. Max. .r,>0. Dec. 6. Wind S.E.— Min. 16°. Dec. 24. Wind N.
Range 36°.— Mean temp.of exter. air 38°'26. For 29 days with 0 in £ 41-53
Max. var. in 24 hours 200>00. -Mean temp, of spring-water at 8 A.M. 51-58
De Luc's Whalebone Hygrometer.
Greatest humidity of the atmosphere, in the morning of the 29th ... 92°
Greatest dryness of the atmosphere, in the afternoon of the 24th... 59
Range of the index 33
Mean at 2 P.M. 74°-4.— Mean at 8 A.M. 80°-8.— Mean at 8 P.M. 787
of three observations each day at 8, 2, and 8 o'clock 78'0
Evaporation for the month 0-80 inch.
Rain in the pluviameter near the ground 2-430 inches.
Prevailing wind, N.W.
Summary of the Weather.
A clear sky, 2£; fine, with various modifications of clouds, 12 ; an over-
cast sky without rain, 10^ ; foggy, 1 ; rain, 5. — Total 31 days.
Clouds.
Cirrus. Cirrocuinulus. Cirrostratus. Stratus. Cumulus. Cumulostr. Nimbus.
16 4 31 0 14 10 18
Scale of the prevailing Winds.
N. N.E. E. S.E. S. S.W. W. N.W. Days.
5J 5£ 3 3£ li 2.i 3 6£ 31
General Observations. — This month has been generally wet and windy,
and cold from the 10th to the 28th. In the night of the 5th a hard gale
blew here from the South-east with rain, and there was a considerable de-
pression of the mercury in the barometer. At Plymouth serious damage
was done among the shipping, and many lives were lost during the gale
from the same quarter : many merchant brigs were driven on shore, broken
to pieces, and their cargos destroyed.
Early in the morning of the 17th an inch in depth of snow fell here,
which disappeared by the evening: there were also sprinklings of snow on
the following morning.
On the 21st the maximum temperature occurred in the night, and was
followed by a little rain and wind from the South-west. In the afternoons
of the 23rd and 24th it again snowed. The icy efflorescences which accu-
mulated pretty thick on the inside of the windows in the night of the 23rd,
did not dissolve during the following day, even in rooms with fire. A
Fahrenheit's thermometer placed on the ground in the night of the 24th,
receded to fourteen degrees, and to sixteen degrees in the nights of the
23rd and 25th. There was a difference of twenty-five degrees in the maxi-
mum temperatures of the 22nd and 24th ! which was certainly a very great
change in forty-eight hours. About this time a heavy fall of snow took
place at Limerick in Ireland, which was succeeded by hard frost. In the
night of the 26th half an inch in depth of snow fell.
The mean temperature of the external air this year (1830) is a quarter
of a degree lower than that of the coldest year since 1816,
The
Meteorological Observations for December 1830. 159
The atmospheric and meteoric phenomena that have come within our
observations this month, are one solar and four lunar halos, nine meteors,
four rainbows, five aurorae boreales, and ten gales of wind, or days on which
they have prevailed, namely, two from the North-east, one from the East, two
from the South-east, two from the South, and three from the South-west.
AURORA BOREALES. — In the evening of the llth instant, a bright aurora
borealis appeared at half-past eight, between an opening in a black cloud
in the northern horizon. By 2 A.M. the cloud had dispersed, when the
aurora was again seen with increased brightness, and as a segment cut off
by the horizon, occupied a space of seventy degrees, from which emanated
several flame-coloured perpendicular columns, some of which were two
degrees wide, and thirty degrees in altitude. In half an hour after, they
were succeeded by others, which ultimately exhibited red and purple tints,
with an inclination to the horizon. Many persons in the country saw the
aurora about this time, and described it as having a very awful appearance,
from a mixture of the colours.
12th. An aurora borealis appeared from 6 till 10 P.M. and extended
from North-north-east to North-west. The altitude of its arch was about
eight degrees, and four meteors appeared over it.
13th and 14th. Faint aurorae appeared throughout the nights, much the
same in height and extent as the one on the 12th.
25th. An aurora borealis appeared in the moonlight, from seven o'clock
till after midnight, whose arch of light in the early part of the night ex-
tended from North-north-east to West-north-west, and many coloured
columnsVose from it. At half-past eleven, coruscations, just perceptible in
the lunar light, emanated from the aurora, and it soon after sunk beneath
the horizon.
REMARKS.
London. — December 1. Hazy. 2. Cloudy and cold. 3, 4. Drizzly.
5. Fine. 6, 7. Cloudy. 8. Overcast: rain at night. 9. Heavy rain in the
morning, and at night. 10. Cloudy : clear, with frost, at night. 1 1. Fine.
12. Cold and cloudy; at night clear and frosty. 13, 14. Fine, with frost.
15. Foggy, with slight rain. 16. Foggy in the morning: showers: sharp
frost at night. 17. Sleet. 18. Cloudy and cold, with some snow. 19. Fine
in the morning: rain,with strong wind at night. 20 — 22.Fine. 23 — 26. Se-
vere frost, with some snow. 27, 28. Overcast. 29. Frosty : fog in the
morning : clear at night. 30. Fine. 31. Boisterous in the morning: fine at
night.
Penzance. — December 1. Fair. 2. Rain. 3. Fair : misty. 4. Fair:
showers. 5. Fair: stormy : rain. 6. Fair : rain. 7. Fair. 8. Fair: rain.
9. Rain. 10. Showers, hail, and rain. 1 1. Fair: showers. 12. Showers.
13, 14. Clear. 15, 16. Fair. 17. Rain : fair. 18,19. Clear.
20—22. Showers. 23. Showers, hail, and rain. 24, 25. Snow.
26. Clear. 27. Showers, hail, and rain. 28, 29. Showers. 30. Rain.
31. Clear.
Boston. —December 1—8. Cloudy. 9, 1O. Cloudy: rain A.M. and P.M.
11. Fine. 12. Snow. 13. Fine. 14. Cloudy. 15. Cloudy: rain A.M.
and P.M. 16. Fine. 17. Rain. 18. Snow. 19. Fine. 20. Stormy : rain
P.M. 21 — 23. Fine. 24. Cloudy and stormy: snow P.M. 25. Cloudy :
snow P.M. 26. Fine. 27, 28. Cloudy. 29. Fine. 30, 31. Cloudy : snow
melted.
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THE
PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE
AND
ANNALS OF PHILOSOPHY.
[NEW SERIES.]
MAR C H 1831
XXVII. On the Volatility of Oxalic Acid. By EDWARD TUR-
NER, M.D. F.R.S. L., # E.9 Sec. G.S. Professor of Chemistry
in the University of "London*.
rP'HE object of this notice is to communicate a few facts
respecting the volatility of oxalic acid. It is stated in
chemical works, that when this acid is exposed to the destruc-
tive distillation, part escapes decomposition and is sublimed,
being deposited as a white sublimate in the neck of the retort;
but whether this appearance is owing to real volatility, or is an
instance of that spurious kind of sublimation, exemplified in
the ascent of boracic acid along with aqueous vapour, and in
the removal of fused chloride of silver when a current of hy-
drogen gas is passing rather rapidly over its surface, does not
seem to have been fully determined. Oxalic acid, in conse-
quence, is not generally regarded as volatile, except at a tem-
perature sufficiently high for producing its decomposition.
Having been accidentally led to investigate this point, I
found that oxalic acid may be sublimed at a very moderate
temperature, even so low as 212°Fahr., without undergoing any
chemical change, except that the common crystals lose two-
thirds, corresponding to two equivalents, of their water of
crystallization. When 63 parts of the common crystals are
placed in a water-bath, efflorescence rapidly ensues, and
17*31 parts, somewhat less than two equivalents, of water are
expelled. If the effloresced mass is then removed from the
fire and exposed to the air, it speedily recovers from the at-
mosphere precisely the quantity of water which it had lost ;
but if it be still kept in the water-bath, the surface of the acid,
* Communicated by the Author.
N. S. Vol. 9. No. 51. Mar. 1831. Y instead
162 Dr. Turner on the Volatility of Oxalic Acid.
instead of remaining pulverulent, becomes covered with nu-
merous minute acicular crystals, and an acrid vapour rises,
which condenses on cold surfaces in the form of needles. This
vapour is accompanied with a small quantity of moisture, which
completes the two equivalents of water required to be with-
drawn, in order to constitute the sublimed acid.
The sublimation of oxalic acid at 212°, though sufficient
both to occasion loss in analysis, and to establish the fact of
volatility, is too slow for affording a supply of the sublimed
acid. A convenient process for this purpose is the following:
About half an ounce or an ounce of oxalic acid, purified by
repeated crystallization, is dried in a rather deep evaporating
basin, exposed on the sand-bath to a temperature of about 350°
or 4-00° Fahr. : as soon as sublimation commences, the vessel
should be covered with a layer of smooth filtering paper, on
which is laid a fold of common blotting-paper, and both are
pressed tight upon the edge of the basin by means of another
and somewhat larger capsule, placed with its convexity down-
wards, and containing cold water or ice. During this rapid
sublimation some of the acid is decomposed, and the water
derived from this source is absorbed by the coarse outer fold
of paper ; while the acid is condensed on the smooth paper
below, and gradually falls down upon the sides of the dish.
At intervals of about an hour the apparatus should be removed
from the fire, and the sublimed portions, while still warm, be
brushed away with a feather, and quickly secured in a well-
stoppered bottle.
Sublimed oxalic acid, as thus procured, is commonly in
.he form of minute shining acicular crystals; but I have oc-
casionally obtained it in slender prisms half an inch long,
possessed of considerable lustre and transparency. On ex-
posure to the air it becomes dull and opaque from the absorp-
tion of moisture, 45 parts or one equivalent of the sublimed
acid rapidly acquiring two equivalents of water, and thus re-
gaining its original constitution. This water is again com-
pletely expelled by a temperature of 212°. The vapour of
the acid is very pungent, exciting cough and sneezing more
readily than the fumes of nitric or muriatic acid.
Sublimed oxalic acid rises slowly, as already mentioned, at
212°. As the temperature increases, the sublimation becomes
more rapid ; and if the heat does not exceed 300° or 330°, the
acid sublimes entirely without decomposition. At 360° the
sublimation is very free; between this point and 400° it sub-
blimes rapidly; and at 4-14>° it fuses and enters into brisk
ebullition. At temperatures exceeding 330° more or less of the
subliming
Dr. Turner on the Volatility of Oxalic Acid. 163
subliming acid, as the beat is more or less intense, suffers de-
composition ; a change immediately indicated by the appear-
ance of water.
The facts already mentioned leave little doubt of sublimed
oxalic acid consisting of 36 parts or one equivalent of the
anhydrous acid, and 9 parts or an equivalent of water. The
correctness of this opinion was proved by analysis, the oxalic
acid being precipitated with lime, and its quantity inferred in
the usual manner by decomposing the resulting oxalate of
lime. The sublimed acid, also, is readily decomposed by con-
centrated sulphuric acid, yielding abundance of gas, which con-
sists of exactly equal measures of carbonic oxide and carbonic
acid. When neutralized with potash and ammonia it yields
crystals similar to the well-known oxalates of those alkalies;
and the crystals obtained from a solution of the sublimed acid
in pure water, were measured by Mr. Miller of St. John's Col-
lege Cambridge, and found identical with the crystals of the
common acid. These facts leave no doubt concerning the
nature and constitution of the sublimed acid.
Before concluding this notice, I may add a few remarks on
the solubility of ordinary oxalic acid in water, concerning which
the statements of different authors are very discordant. The
solvent power of water increases rapidly with the temperature.
A hot solution of oxalic acid was set aside for twenty-four
hours, when the clear liquid, kept at the temperature of 50°
Fahr., was decanted from the crystals which had been de-
posited. This solution consisted of one part of crystallized
acid and about 15 '5 of water. The experiment was repeated
by putting the pulverized crystals into water at 50°, agitating
repeatedly during twenty-four hours, and then decanting the
solution from the undissolved acid. The ratio of the ingre-
dients was almost exactly the same as that above stated. Si-
milar observations were made with water at 57°Fahr., of which
9*5 parts dissolve one of the crystallized acid.
Crystallized oxalic acid dissolves in almost an unlimited
quantity in water kept at 212° by immersion in boiling water.
If the acid solution is kept boiling by the direct application
of fire, the temperature rises considerably above 212°, and the
quantity of the crystallized acid dissolved is then unlimited.
This is not surprising; since the crystals fuse in their water
of crystallization at about 220° Fahr.
I may also add the following observations on the degree of
permanence of crystallized oxalic acid. When the crystals
are kept for some hours under a bell-jar, with quick-lime, at a
temperature not higher than 50° or 55°, they contain all their
water of crystallization, consisting of one equivalent of real
Y 2 oxalic
164 Mr. Bevan on the relative Hardness of Road Materials.
oxalic acid and three equivalents of water. If then exposed
to a damp air, they increase slightly in weight by absorbing
water hygrometrically, and its extent varies with the humidity
of the atmosphere. In dry air at 70° Fahr. the crystals lose
some of their water of crystallization, and effloresce on the sur-
face. The efflorescing temperature is thus very little above
the ordinary heat of summer.
XXVIII. On the relative Hardness of Road Materials. By
B. BEVAN, Esq.
To the Editors of the Philosophical Magazine and Annals.
Gentlemen,
T AM not aware of any published experiments on the rela-
L tive hardness of road materials; and having for my own
use examined a considerable variety of substances, as to their
power of withstanding the percussion of a given weight, falling
a few inches, I take the liberty of sending the results for your
Magazine, if you think them sufficiently interesting. They
were chiefly made in 1825, and the weight used was of cast-
iron, falling upon the several specimens broken to the ordinary
size adopted in modern roads, resting upon stone, or upon iron.
If the weather to which these materials were exposed had no
effect towards their destruction, the table hereby given would
nearly express their relative value for the purpose of support-
ing the wear of a road. Such of the articles, therefore, which
resist the action of frost and atmospheric moisture, and have
the highest numbers, will be found the most valuable.
Remaining, yours truly, B. BEVAN.
Mount Sorrel sienite 100
White marble 37, 31
Chert pebbles, much used in Middlesex* 34, 27, 52, 56, 55, 65
Quartz pebble in Bedfordshire gravel 70
Ferruginous sandstone of Bedfordshire 20, 42
Hurlock, from lower chalk 10
Chalk 3
Granite, Scotch 110
Flint, yellow 33, 26
Greenstone or basalt, Quittlehill, near Coventry... 110
Sandstone, soft 13, 6
Tile fragment 20
Gritstone, near Brix worth, Northamptonshire ... 48,60
Limestone, near Brad well, Bucks 5
* These pebbles, we believe, are merely rolled chalk-flints, altered in
colour by the protoxide of iron contained in them having been converted
into peroxide. — EDIT.
Dry
Mr. Batchelor on Musca Volitantes in the Eye. \ 65
Dry clay 12
Flint, black 11, 30
Portland stone, hard 14
Quartz, white 56
Blue pebble, like Rowley rag 105, 110
Coarse limestone, near Stilton, Huntingdonshire 60
Gritstone on road, near Leeds 100, 115
Yorkshire paving-stone 20
Ketton, hard 20
Tetternhoe 4
Chert f?] from hills in Devonshire and Cornwall 57
Gray wether of Hertfordshire and Wiltshire .... 18
Grit of upper bed, Colly weston, near Stamford,
Lincolnshire 40
Second bed, do 100
Slate at do 50
Stockton limestone, Warwickshire, (lias) 45
Newbold-on-Avon do 36
Limestone of Stoke Cruerne, Northamptonshire 35
The steady pressure, without percussion, required to crush
a piece of the marble weighing \ oz. = 600 Ibs.
To crush the gray flint of 1 -2 oz. weight = 2000 Ibs.
To crush rolled white quartz pebble 2 oz. = 3400 Ibs.
B.B.
P.S. To-day we have summer weather. At half-past three
this morning, in clear starlight, the exposed thermometer
was at 48°
At half-past seven in the morning 49°
At half-past one in the day 60°
At half-past five this afternoon 54°
The larks and other spring birds are singing; and the
yellow butterfly is in full action. B. B.
Leighton Bussard, Feb. 10th, 1831.
XXIX. Observations on a Species of Muscce Volitantes appa-
rently existing in the Aqueous Humour of the Eye. By
THOMAS BATCHELOR, Esq.*
AMONG the numerous defects and diseases to which the
component parts of the eye are subject, accidental cir-
cumstances have led me to investigate several, which appear
to have their seat in the humours ; and which, as far as 1 can
learn by inquiries among medical men, are not very accurately
understood. That disorder of vision, to which I shall chiefly
* Communicated by the Author.
confine
166 Mr. Batchelor's Observations on a Species of Muscat
confine my attention in the following paper, is a species of
inusca volitans apparently floating in the aqueous humour ;
which, excepting a slight notice by Mr. Ware (Medico-
Chirurgical Transactions, vol. v.), has been wholly overlooked,
or referred to other sources, by writers who have devoted
themselves to this branch of medicine. Mr. Ware describes
them as consisting of " a number of intersecting motes or
beams, floating before the eyes. Sometimes they appeared
nearly spherical, sometimes little long knotted lines, varying
in number, size, and opacity." This description is most ap-
plicable when the observer looks towards a bright cloud, or
gleam of sunshine through a window, immediately after waking
in a morning. Where the light is more feeble they give the
idea of dusky spots floating before the eye. Mr. Wardrop,
in his work on the Morbid Anatomy of the Eye, speaking of
floating muscae, goes so far as to say, that " if they are pro-
duced by any spot or opacity in the transparent humours of
the eye, it must be in the posterior part of the vitreous hu-
mour; because experiments, and the principles of optics, prove
that no opacity of the aqueous, crystalline, or anterior part of
the vitreous humour can throw a partial shadow on the re-
tina." The opacities of the retina are those only which
Mr. Wardrop has taken into consideration.
I have tried various means of illuminating the interior of
the eye, in order to be enabled to examine these specks to the
greatest advantage. They may be seen by looking through
any small lens at a candle, but the optical reasons alluded to
by Mr. Wardrop, render it advisable to use the smallest lens
which can be procured ; and the light thus entering by a very
minute point, is obviously more likely to admit of a shadow-
being cast upon the retina by a small object between it and
that membrane. By looking through a small hole in a plate
of tin, I have also clearly seen a stratum of still smaller par-
ticles than those which appear as specks, and interfere (in a
trifling degree) with vision, under ordinary circumstances.
Examining them by the above methods, these muscae are
found not to be opaque spots, but pellucid globules, and,
as nearly as I can judge of their seat, floating in the aqueous
humour. Though frequently suspended for a short time, they
seem to possess greater gravity than the medium in which they
exist, and when the eye is at rest sink below the line of vision.
From this situation they can readily be projected upwards by
a rapid motion of the globe of the eye in a vertical direction ;
and the best time for observing them is as they fall gradually
to the lower part of the eye, passing across the field of vision.
They are then seen distinctly to consist of globules, either
detached,
Foli 't antes existing in the Aqueous Humour of the Eye. 167
detached, arranged in lines, or mingled irregularly together.
The insulated specks exhibit a bright spot in the centre,
(I have sometimes however seen it dark,) surrounded by a
dark circle. They are, in fact, small lenses capable of con-
verging the rays which fall upon them to a minute focal point;
and the dark ring surrounding the central point is the sha-
dow of the circumference of the globule, from which the rays
of light have been directed to pass through the centre. In a
very bright light, no less than four dark circles may be seen,
the outer narrower and better defined than the inner ones. In
the lines or strings of globules, the dark shadow is also seen, but
under a different form, a double line of shade passing along
each side of the chain ; these lines appear to be indented at
intervals, but not very clearly, as if the globules had been
compressed by adhering to each other. On the slightest
movement of the eye-ball they change their position, and are
frequently lost sight of, but without any uniformity of direc-
tion or motion. The lines and groups, as well as the insulated
globules, are perfectly unconnected one with another.
A close inspection in a good light discovers the minuter
globules in great abundance; their density is so trifling as merely
to give a spotted or mottled appearance to the fluid ; they move
altogether as if they formed a connected stratum, and in my
own case are interspersed with a few larger and brighter points
which keep their relative position. They will not sink much
below the centre of the eye, though they may be projected
above it; their descent is much slower than the motes de-
scribed above. But that they really do descend may be proved
by fixing the eye steadily, when they pass slowly downwards
across the centre of vision, most clearly; — a sufficient proof that
they are not diseased points of the retina. It may perhaps be
said that they are merely the appearances which are produced
by the mucus and tears spreading over the cornea, brought
into view by the mode of examination mentioned above; but
their characters and position are not altered by winking, which
must happen if their source is external. In fact, the minute
divisions of mucus are sometimes seen; and, besides the cir-
cumstance of their instant removal by winking, they differ so
much from the internal globules as to be immediately distin-
guished from them.
What part of the eye, then, can be considered as the seat of
muscae, possessed of the characters ascribed to these, parti-
cularly their great and irregular mobility, — if not the aqueous
humour ?
XXX. On
t 163 ]
XXX. On Mr. WitchelPs Method of clearing a Lunar Di-
stance. By C. RUMKER, Esq.*
T HAVE remarked that a very imperfect approximate fo-
-•- reign method for clearing the lunar distance (under some cir-
cumstances liable to considerable errors) is now much in vogue
amongst British mariners, although they have better methods
of their own: amongst which WitchelPs appears to me one of
the best. I think approximate methods better calculated for
mariners than direct ones, since small errors are more likely to
vitiate the result and more easily escape discovery than in the
former, where the computer after a little practice can nearly
judge from the altitudes and distance what each correction
will amount to: and WitchelPs enables him morever to assign
to himself by a rough sketch the reasons for his proceedings.
But as analytical demonstrations are now more approved, I
offer you the following one of his formula, preceded by a simpler
practical rule than the one usually given.
Add together the logarithms of,
Cotangent of half the sum of both apparent altitudes.
Tangent of half their difference.
Cotangent of half the apparent distance.
The sum of these logarithms is the tangent of an arc A, which
must be added to half the apparent distance, and also sub-
tracted from it. Then add together the logarithms of,
Cotangent of the sum of A and half distance.
Cotangent of the lesser apparent altitude.
Proportional logarithm of the corresponding correction.
Cotangent of the difference of A and half distance.
Cotangent of the greater apparent altitude.
Proportional logarithm of the corresponding correction.
The sums are the proportional logarithms of two corrections
in distance, whereof the difference must be subtracted f from
the apparent distance as long as A is less than half the appa-
rent distance ; but if A is greater, their sum must be added
to the apparent distance if the moon's altitude is greatest, but
subtracted therefrom if that altitude is least. With this cor-
rected distance find from Table XXXV. of Norie's Req. Tables,
the corrections answering to the moon's correction in altitude
and in distance: their difference added to the corrected distance
* Communicated by the Author.
•f- I here suppose that the correction in distance depending on the
moon's altitude is greater than that from the sun. In the very rare con-
trary case their difference must be added ^li*n A is l^ss than half distance.
if
Mr. Rumker on the Formula for clearing the Lunar Distance.169
if this is less, but subtracted from it if it is greater, than 90°,
gives the true distance.
Demonstration.
D = apparent distance L S.
k — apparent sun's altitude,
H = apparent moon's altitude.
Then is, with the omission of
the third correction, which we
shall explain hereafter, the true
distance Is = LS — Lm+ Sm
= LS-L/cosL + SscosS.
-o . T sin h — sin H cos D sin h
But cos L =
cos H sin D " cos H 2 sin J D cos J D
sin H sin h sec2 \ D-sin H (1 -tang* j- D) _
cos H tang D 2 cos H tang \ D
sin ft — sin H -f (sin h + sin H) tang * \ D _
2 cos H . tang \ D
s;n'*-slnH + tang9 i D tang H(S!n *~S!" "cotangSD+tangSD)
sm h + sin H \sinA-fsinH /
cotang H . 2 sin H tang \ D sin h -\- sin H — (sin h — sin H)
siu A -j- sin H sin /i -j- sin H
tang H ftaDC | D -f ^^nS.£. cotang J D^
* sin A -|-sin H /
sin /t — sin H
cotang I D . tang \ D
tang h (*-H) cotang J. D
1 - tang i D -
. _ tang ^ (A-H)
and making tang A = cotang | D tangf(A+H)
we have cos L = tang H . tang ( JD ± A) accordingly as 7^ ^ H.
and also cos S = tang li tang (4 D + A). Q. E. D.
In case that A > ^ D, the sign of the cosine of either L or
S, and consequently that of the corresponding correction, will
be changed. It may easily be proved that A is the part of
the apparent distance intercepted between its middle and a
perpendicular from the zenith upon it. It remains now to
explain the third correction, which is nearly applicable to all
approximate methods :
We have hitherto supposed s 1 = s m, which is incorrect.
N.S. Vol. 9. No. 51. Mar. 1831. Z Describe
1 70 Mr. Hen wood's Facts bearing on the Theory of theFormation
Describe from s as pole the circle / o , then is o m the third cor-
rection. Draw at m a tangent and make T I = tang D, then is
sin T = sin / m . cotang D.
but mo. sin 1" = tang D (1 —cos T) = tang D . 2 sin2 £ T
4 tang D 4 sin 2 | T = | tang D (2 sin J T)2 = £ tang D sin2 T
= i tang D cotang2 D sin2 Im = sm * L l ~ s™ 1 — .
2 tang D
Hamburgh, Jan. 16, 1831. C. RuMKER.
XXXI. Facts bearing on the Theory of the Formation of
Springs, and their Intensity at various Periods of the Year.
By W. J. HENWOOD.
r|^HAT those springs which exist during the winter and dis-
-*• appear as summer approaches, owe their origin to rain,
has not I believe been disputed. But whether we may ascribe
to the same cause those on which changes of the seasons ap-
?ear to exert but little influence, has been frequently discussed,
n the mining districts of Cornwall, registers of the perform-
ance of the steam-engines employed for pumping water, is
periodically published by Messrs. John and Thomas Lean, of
Camborne. These documents supply information from which
it is not difficult to calculate the quantity of water drawn by
each engine in a' month, and consequently the intensity of
springs at the spot. The particulars contained in the follow-
ing columns are of some consequence in this investigation.
In some of the extensive mines several steam-engines are
required ; and as they are usually erected at a considerable di-
stance from one another, each drains the whole of a certain
district. Hence I think we may safely assume the water drawn
by one engine as representing the intensity of the springs
at that spot. The numbers in Table I. denote cubic feet of
water drawn by one engine; in Table II. the averages of the
respective mines are for one engine on each ; but in Table III.
the numbers are intended for cubic feet of water drawn by all
the engines on each of the respective mines.
Mine
of Springs, and their Intensity at various Periods of the Year. 171
E. of St. Day.
N. of Redruth
1
ij
222
'a 'a a
CO l-H I-H
es S.E. of St
ile.
E. of St. Da
St. Day.
1 m
1-5
1
1
-25 mile.
mile.
es
«^£«3
lajjs Jj§
"II 12
COW
0-5
0-2
Ca
1
Dista
from S
CO O O O CN CO "*
,2^§S >---iO 1C CO*
6°
at the foot of a hill which ris
near the summit of the hil
a plain at foot of a granite hill
etween two small hills which rise about 8°
foot of a granite hill which rises about 12
between two small hills which rise about 10°
summit of a small hill
near summit of a hill
be
at
all hil
about
west at
hill
of a
s*i«
ilUi
lllvl
Ial|l
rt rt rt
55 55 co
t
7°
rising abou
ity abou
n at foo
bout 17
hills
ms, accli
oms, plai
l rising a
U3aj>3^
"I -1^1
8»s« :S?B
111
rt a B
te at
te at
foot
betw
gran
iff $
222
ooo
11
as
.2 O
H U
-H!
-st
1
1 72 Mr. Kenwood's Facts bearing on the Theory of the Formation
It appears to me desirable to determine the intensity of
springs at various depths, beneath the same surface ; and this
will be seen in the following columns, which denote the quan-
tities drawn out of Huel Hope Mine, on which there is but
one engine.
TABLE I.
Ij
S|
|S
&a
1825.
Cubic Feet
of Water
drawn out.
Depth of Mine I
in Fathoms. I
1826.
Cubic Feet
of Water
drawn out.
Depth of Mine 1
in Fathoms. 1
1827.
Cubic Feet
of Water
drawn out.
Depth of Mine!
in Fathoms. 1
1828.
Cubic Feet
of Water
drawn out.
Depth of Mine
in Fathoms.
1829.
Cubic Feet
of Water
drawn out.
74
2,428,149
77
2699 121
88
*
11°
2,889,535
Feb...
71
2,123,209
2 536 137
108
3,292,749
2,748,953
Mar...
April
...
2,562,010
2 309 617
• ••
3,362,051
3 073 158
3,125,796
2 872 23 1
...
2,788,771
2 659 448
May.
June..
July...
Aug. .
Sept. .
Oct...
48
53
55
56
1,679,843
1,482,723
1,459,652
1,335,605
1,369,297
77
2,092,514
•
1,766,160
1,677,752
1,584,818
1,669,365
2,873,097
2,899,681
2,833,634
2,553,753
2,273,581
2,225,924
112
2,874,119
2,629,117
2,662,792
2,501,831
2,264,919
2,281,205
128
2,788,974
2,716,185
2,285,164
2,231,667
2,242,170
2,621,985
Nov...
Dec..
66
1,346,398
2,066,255
*
2,414,911
88
2.309,194
2,984,186
•
2,146,405
2,388,438
2,489,828
*
I by no means intend to imply that the increase observable
in the preceding is entirely due to the augmented depth; for
the horizontal excavations are continued at the same time, and
I think a more extended series of observations requisite for de-
termining what part of the increase should be assigned to each.
The water is seldom drawn directly to the surface, but passes off
through a gallery ("the adit"), which is excavated (" driven")
from the nearest deep vale to the engine shaft, and is thence
extended to the veins, which are usually much worked at this
depth. The adit is in some mines forty-five fathoms from the
surface ; and by its great extension intercepts in its descent
a large portion of the rain-water which has been absorbed by
the earth. Of this quantity I have taken no notice. On the
other hand there is a loss of water in the pumps, through im-
perfection of buckets and other apparatus; through the en-
gine not making at all times its stroke of the full calculated
length, and by its being sometimes worked more rapidly than
the flow of water will supply ("going in fork"), and conse-
quently drawing air.
Respecting the sum of all these defects practical men are
by no means agreed ; the extremes may be taken at one-fifth
and one-tenth of the whole. In an experiment at Huel Towanf,
in which I had the honour to assist Mr. Rennie, the ob-
served quantity was to the calculated as 83 : 92, or thereabout.
I think we shall not be very far wrong if we consider the
Phil. Mag, and Annals, N.S. vol. vii. p. 424.
rain-
of Springs, and llieir Intensity at various Periods of the Year. 1 73
rain-water carried off by the adit, counterbalanced by the de-
ficiency of the engine's actual performance, when compared
with its calculated duty. In which case the preceding numbers
would nearly represent the intensities at that spot, provided
we could apply a correction for the increase due to the hori-
zontal increase in the extent of the mine. But the whole of
this water is not drawn from the bottom, for in most of the gal-
leries ("levels") there is some which is conveyed to the en-
gine without being permitted to descend ; yet as the veins are
usually very porous, the greater part (say four-fifths) comes
to the bottom, and the larger portion of the remainder from
but little above; this obtains, however the depth may be aug-
mented. The columns in Table II. are independent of one
another; the lowest number in each being unity, they exhibit
the monthly intensity of the springs in the various mines, on
a mean of seven years ; the column " ratio" denotes the relation
of the average number of strokes per minute made by all the
engines in Cornwall, and " rain," the ratio of rain ; both for the
same period. I purposely select mines in various parts of the
county, the most distant being about thirty-three miles apart.
Perhaps it may be expected that I should offer some expla-
nation of the differences in the following columns ; but were
I to attempt it, it must after all be very hypothetical. I there-
fore decline affording any.
It may not be out of place to observe, that when the United
Mines were worked to a depth of 208 fathoms, the mean
monthly quantity of water drawn out was about 13,000,000
cubic feet ; at present they are worked to 90 fathoms depth,
and the mean may now be about 4,350,000 cubic feet.
The area of the portion ofGwenap parish, which would be
included by a line drawn in an east-north-east direction from
Pennance to Huel Friendship, thence west -north -west to
Huel Derrick, and from there south to Pennance, is about
1969 acres. Within this line are all the mines mentioned in
Table III., there being steam-engines worked on them ; be-
side others on which there are no engines, they being drained
by the adjacent mines. Within the bounding line there are
not more than three or four wells, but along the south and
west lines there are several at a little distance ; whilst about
a quarter of a mile north of the north line is the stopped mine
of Huel Busy, in which the water is at the adit This affords
a tolerably favourable opportunity for comparing the quantity
of rain, falling on a known area, with the evaporation, and
the quantity of water afforded by springs in a given time, from
the same spot. The following columns, Table III., contain
such a comparison ; the evaporation being estimated from the
register of W. Snow Harris, Esq. of Plymouth, who kindly
permits me to'use his numbers ; and the rain from tbe register,
published by E. C. Giddy, Esq. of Penzance, in this Journal.
174? Mr.Henwood'sZfac/sfofl/77/g on theTheory of the Formation
I believe I correctly follow Mr. Daniell* in estimating the
evaporation " from water, vegetation, or ploughed land " as
ecjual; although this does not coincide with Mr. Dalton's ob-
servations on the same subject f.
It has been already remarked, that the computed quantity
exceeds that actually delivered ; and if we consider the differ-
ence to be one-seventh of the whole, there will still be an ex-
cess of 104,407,394?-15 cubic feet J ; nor will our conclusions be
much falsified, by omitting the quantity afforded by wells,
which probably does not much exceed 10,000 cubic feet per
month. Whence then this excess ?
Mr. Fox (whose kindness to me in innumerable instances
has exceeded that of a parent) has in several cases detected
muriate of soda in water from some of the mines situated se-
veral miles from the sea, and thence remarks : " It may be in-
ferred from such facts as these, that the sea-water must in some
places penetrate into the fissures of the earth, and conse-
quently may in a greater or less degree assist in supplying the
loss of moisture carried off by evaporation^," &c. The slate
strata of Cornwall are usually considerably inclined, and the
veins by which they are traversed being unconformable to the
stratification, they must receive much of the water which per-
colates through the strata.
* Meteorolog. Essays, p. 122. f Manchester Memoirs, O.S. v. p. 361,670.
J Mr. Dalton's experiments on the evaporation from mould and vegeta-
tive surfaces, to which I have already referred, are the only ones on these
points which I have seen described in detail. If we follow the numbers
there given by this illustrious philosopher, it will give a different value to
the 8th and 10th columns of Table III. thus:
Evaporation from a Surface of Water
being for each Month unity, that from
a Surface of Vegetation will be
The Evaporation
on 1969 Acres,
therefore
Differences between
Water drawn and
Evapor., and Rain.
Dec.
Jan.
Feb.
Mar.
April
-9893
-672 ...:
-264
-178
•33
cubic feet.
4848712-69
3293576-19
1335643-8
1246293-71
3018614-62
cubicfeet.
— 9045621-78
+ 15012644-77
+ 10146946-25
-|- 24972680-8
3861611-79
May
June
July
Aug.
Sept.
Oct.
Nov.
-5412
-3366
-7276
-5589
-7577
1-1365
1-0063
8336444-65
4/89535-2
7641600-89
7826444-45
9241229-49
9946719-14
7500325-66
+ 39824522-25
+ 4823217-9
- 1198998-76
— 1903063-6
— 10528726-26
+ 19607897-3
+ 26487825-57
69,025,140-49
+ 114,337,712-65
cubic feet of water drawn, and evaporated more than the rain fallen ; and
when corrected for imperfection of apparatus, the excess still amounts to
59,881,580-54 cubic feet. The author has mentioned some of the objec-
tions to which his experiments are open. I shall therefore only remark
that they seem to need repetition.
§ Cornwall Geol. Trans, iii. p. 324.
ofSpri?igs, and their Intensity at variomPeriods of the Year. 1 75
w
r-« O< —i CS C5 ^ 00 «O >0 » OS
Q* CO O> i— i «-H O O O t O •— t
c*
&
•tpnoui «
(5)^_if5
OOG^
G* G*
O5 t>»
• G*
co
^
-,g ^
•SUAiOQ
•asoy
pnH
CO CO *O ^"^ Oi t^^ O^ CO CO '00 *O
OQpC5CpOpiO»C'p»pl>« CO
T1 CO
U5rtH
CO •— i G*
C5
F-iG*iO
i— iOO»-HOi— iG^i— IP- i— <
«O O5 O5 !>. CO QO QO
^-(G^G^COr-(r-<^-i
00 00 O5 t^. O* — « CO O5
•^ G^ >Q CO ^ G^ I-H 0 O •-< ^
«O G^^HCOlO l^.^H OOTf*
— i OOOO 0 O —i O G*
^uouuujj S_
TABLE
176 Mr. Hen wood's Facts bearing on theTJicory oftheFormation
of Springs, and their Intensity at various Periods of the Year. 177
But as the metalliferous veins, which have a direction of from
east to west, or thereabouts, suffer frequent intersections and
dislocations by the cross veins, they do not convey the liquid
to a very great distance in their longitudinal extent. But
the cross veins, which have a direction of about north and
south, are in many cases supposed to traverse the Cornish
peninsula from sea to sea, and although sometimes, are not
frequently, dislocated, and consequently may be the medium
through which sea-water may enter the mines. There are
some mines in which the water stands at the. adit, (North
Downs and Huel Busy,) which intervene between those in
which the muriate of soda was detected and the sea; but as
the latter are by far the deeper, it may be readily admitted
that the percolation may have taken place at or near the lowest
levels. But it has not yet been shown that sea-salt does not
exist in the water of North Downs and Huel Busy; and until
a long continued series of observations shall show its absence,
I think we may reasonably adopt Mr. Fox's suggestion.
The level at which the water stands in some stopped mines
is not unworthy of notice. Poladras Downs is about a mile
north of Huel Vor ; before its working was resumed, the water
during the winter stood at the adit, but in summer it sunk be-
low that level, which is fourteen fathoms deep. Great Work
and Huel Breage are about a mile west of Poladras; in winter
the water runs out at the adit, but in summer it sinks three or
four fathoms; the adit is about thirty fathoms deep. These
facts have been communicated to me by G. S. Borlase, Esq.
F.R.S. In Huel Falmouth, before the resumption of opera-
tions, the water rose to the adit, twenty-five fathoms deep, in
winter; whilst in summer it sank about six or seven feet be-
neath it.
I believe it may be assumed as a general fact, to which
there are not many exceptions, that, cateris paribus> mines
worked in the slate of Cornwall afford much more water than
those in granite.
I believe my numbers do not coincide with Mr. Dalton's
on the same subject*; but through the kindness of John
Taylor, Esq. F.R.S., I am to be favoured with engine-reports
and other information from his mines in Mexico ; and if leisure
permit, I hope to submit them to calculation, as they may
assist in determining the question on which I feel compelled
to differ from such high authority.
Perran Wharf, near Truro, W. J. H.
January 28th, 1831.
* Manchester Memoirs, O. S. v. p. 346.
N. S. Vol. 9. No. 51. Mar. 1831. 2 A XXXII. On
[ 178 ]
XXXII. On the Calculation of the Orbits of Double Stars.
By Professor ENCKE*.
TT was the immortal Herschel who, among his many grand
- views, first directed the attention of astronomers to the
highly remarkable phenomenon that so many stars are placed
closely together, and to the conclusion which he drew from
this circumstance, that there is great probability that two such
stars, separable only by highly magnifying telescopes, are not
only apparently near each other, owing to the place whence
they are viewed, but that they really form in space a coordinate
system ; that they act upon one another, and in consequence
undergo changes in their relative positions, which, after longer
or shorter intervals, may be capable of observation, and whose
laws may be developed in the course of time ; and from that
moment a new field has been opened for practical astronomy,
the extent of which it is not yet possible to determine. Herschel
was not satisfied with merely advancing this hypothesis, but
he, in the beginning of his career, thoroughly examined the
heavens, and recorded a number of observations on the rela-
tive positions of stars thus placed closely together, in order to
transmit to future times safe points of comparison; and he en-
joyed the satisfaction of learning, that on a new examination,
after a lapse of more than twenty years, such sensible changes
were observed, in several double stars, as left no doubt re-
garding the truth of his hypothesis. After him, Struve ofDorpat
first resumed these investigations, confirmed the observations
of Herschel, and after a due appreciation of his wonderful
zeal, and the eminent skill evinced by him in the management
of inferior means, he obtained, in the great refractor of
Frauenhofer, one of the most powerful instruments for accu-
rately investigating this subject. Herschel (the son), and South,
had in the mean time likewise devoted their eminent talents
to the observation of double stars; and since the new cata-
logue of Struve has proved the vast number of such systems ;
since the comparison of the observations made with different
instruments, and after different methods, promises a by far
greater degree of accuracy than was formerly expected ; since,
lastly, practical optics, in England, France, and Germany
have, with regard to the size of instruments and the distinct-
ness of images, reached a perfection hitherto deemed unattain-
able, the observations of double stars have obtained much
additional interest.
Our experience is, indeed, as yet too short to derive from
it any thing permanently correct; the whole space of time to
* From Encke's Ephemeris, for 1832.
which
Prof. Encke on the Calculation of the Orbits of 'DoubleStars.il '9
which it extends being hardly fifty years, during which time
even the subject has neither been continually nor closely pur-
sued, as it is at most fifteen years during which the attention
of several astronomers has been simultaneously directed to it.
As there are, however, a few systems of stars the observations
of which embrace nearly a full revolution, and as in the case of
others considerable portions of the curve in which they move
may be determined, it cannot be deemed an idle speculation
to apply to those distant systems the laws by which our solar
system is governed, in order to perceive how far these laws
may then be confirmed.
The only course we can adopt in this respect is to apply
the Newtonian law of gravity, whose truth, within the limits of
our solar system, may be considered as rigorously demon-
strated, and whose extension beyond those limits possesses
the highest degree of probability. Agreeably to that law the
relative orbits of two celestial bodies, subject only to their
present mutual action on one another, will be a conic section,
or, in the case here under consideration, an ellipse.
The point in which most probably such systems of stars
will differ from our solar system, viz. that the difference be-
tween the two mutually attracting masses will not in them be
so considerable as in the case of the sun and planets, has no in-
fluence on the orbit; and instead of considering the motions of
both bodies around their common centre of gravity, we may
with perfect rigour suppose the one to be at rest, as it were, in
the seat of the central force. If we denote the mass, and the
three coordinates, referred to an arbitrarily assumed system of
three rectangular axes, of the one star by m, #, ?/, z9 those of
the other by m1, d,y'9 z1, their distance by §, and the time by
t, the differential equations of the motion of the one star, as
far as it is only acted upon by the attractive forces of the
other, will be, agreeably to the Newtonian law of gravity,
1 80 Prof. Encke on the Calculation
and from their combination we obtain the following :
.-_,)=o, which are the
t~ g8
differential equations of an elliptical motion, for which the
central force m'+m may be supposed to reside in the one
star. The knowledge of the ratio of this mass to that of the
sun will not be obtained until the parallax of this pair of stars
is known ; nor will the ratio of m and m' be ascertained until
we have determined the law, according to which the centres
of gravity of the different systems move about, and until by
its application we can ascertain the position of that point be-
tween the two stars, for which it is true, or of their common
centre of gravity*. Our observations do not refer to the el-
lipse actually described by the moving star about the one at
rest, but to its projection on a plane vertical to the line of
vision. The projection of a conic section on a plane any how
inclined being likewise a conic section, the projection will in
our case likewise be an ellipse, with this difference only, that
the star at rest will no longer be in its focus. The determina-
tion of the orbit of the double stars is, therefore, on the one hand
incomparably more easy than the determination of the orbits
of planets, inasmuch as the change of position of the observer
does not come into consideration. But, on the other hand, it
is more difficult, because the focus itself of the ellipse is
not given, but only its projection in the projected ellipse, and
the mass being unknown, the measure of areal velocity is
wanting. As, therefore, in the case of planets, six data or
elements are sufficient, because by them, combined with the
known mass of the sun, or the k in Gauss's Theoria Motiis,
&c. which depends on it, the area! velocity itself is given, so
in the case of double stars this latter must be separately ascer-
tained, and we want, consequently, the determination of seven
elements.
Every observation gives, besides the moment of time, two
coordinates in the plane of the projected ellipse, which deter-
mine the relative position of the moveable stars with regard
to the one at rest. Three complete observations or the six
quantities obtained by them, and independent of one another,
* See Bessel, inZach's Monthly Corresp. 1812, August, p. 161.
are
of the Orbits of Double Stars. 1 8 1
are not sufficient for the determination of seven elements.
Four observations are still more than sufficient. In a similar
manner however, to the determination of the orbit of a comet,
the superfluous datum of the four observations may be made
use of for obtaining, in conjunction with another, a datum which
is more suitable to the calculation, or it may be employed for
any other particular purpose, and for facilitating the develop-
ment. If the tune were not to be taken into consideration at
all, it would be necessary, the ellipse having five constants in
its most general equation, to have five distances, with their in-
termediate angles, in order to obtain the projected ellipse.
The condition that the point from which the distances have
been taken, is the projection of the focus of the true ellipse,
would give the position of the plane, and consequently its
true form. If, however, the observations were in other re-
spects incomplete ; if, for instance, at a given time only one of
the polar coordinates, perhaps only the angle of position, as
it is called, had been observed, and as it will be by no means
advisable to neglect an element, which is so easily obtained
as the time, we should require as many observations as there
are elements to be determined; viz. seven.
The latter case may perhaps arise in future, as, according
to our present experience, it is more easy to determine the
angle of position with a certain degree of accuracy, than the
distance. For the present time, however, it would be super-
fluous to found the determination of an orbit on such incom-
plete observations, which presents, as it appears, greater diffi-
culties than that founded on the employment of complete obser-
vations. The epochs are as yet not distant enough from one
another to allow the selection of seven of them. I limit my
investigations, therefore, to the case of four complete observa-
tions, from which the orbit of a double star is to be derived.
M. Savary has already treated the same subject in the Conn,
des Temps for 1830, and has illustrated his methods by an
application to £ Urs. Maj. in such a manner as to present in
his calculations a closer conformity to the observations, than
could have been expected from the difficulty of obtaining them.
The difference of his deduction from that which here follows,
consists perhaps only in his employing the properties of the
ellipse when referred to its conjugate diameter ; while my in-
vestigations are founded on the relations usually employed in
astronomy. My formula? may also, perhaps, be more conve-
nient for calculation.
Let the star which is considered to be at rest be the point of
beginning of the coordinates, and let the times of the obser-
vations in their proper order be tv t^ t& t^
The
182 Prof'.Encke on the Calculation of the Orbits of Double Stars.
The observations commonly give immediately the p >lar co-
ordinates of the moveable star, when the angles are reckoned,
sometimes from the circle of declination, sometimes from the
parallel of the star at rest. Let the angles reckoned from any
one of the principal axes, in the direction of the motion, from
0° to 360°, be designated by pl9 />2, p3, p4; and let the di-
stances be expressed by g} , g2» g3, g4. In comparing linear
dimensions it is more convenient to have rectangular coordi-
nates. If we consider, therefore, the principal axis as the
axis of one of the coordinates, and an axis perpendicular to
it as that of the others, we have, with due regard to the signs
of the trigonometrical functions,
= ft cospi, & = fa cos p2, £3 = p3 cps#j, £4 = p4 cos ^4
= ft Sin pl9 >J2 = pz SU1 P<2 9 *)3 = PS Sm ^35 *)4 = P
If we designate the origin of the coordinates by 0, and the
respective places of the star by 1, 2, 3, 4, and the double areas
of the triangles inclosed by any three of these five points, by
the respective three numbers in parentheses, we have the fol-
lowing six expressions :
(012) = g, g2 sin fa-pj = ij2f, - >j, £2
(0 1 3) = $!& sin (#,-/>,) = %^ - ^ £3
/AN (014-) = Slg4 sin (Pt-pj = 114?! - >), £4
(023) = ga g3 sin (p3- p9) = >j3 £2 - ij2 ^3
(0 2 4) = §2 g4 sin (p4-
(034) = ^ sin
From their combination the triangles between the places
themselves may be derived. We have
(1 2 3) = (0 1 2) + (0 2 3) - (0 1 3)
(1 2 4) = (0 1 2) + (0 2 4) - (0 1 4)
(1 3 4) = (0 1 3) +(03 4) -(014)
(2 34) = (0 2 3) + (0 3 4) - (0 2 4)
which, however, are connected together by the following equa-
tion of condition :
(C) (1 2 3 4) = (1 2 3) + (1 3 4) = (1 2 4) + (2 3 4).
Agreeably to the nature of the ellipse, the signs of the areas
(B) must always be positive. A negative sign in the areas
(A) denotes that if the triangle be conceived to be formed
by the movement of the distance to which the greater index
belongs, a movement through an angle of more than 180° in
the positive direction has taken place.
If we denote, in a similar manner, the chords between
any
Mr. Haworth's Botanical Description o/TIermione Cypri. 183
any two of the four places by the respective two numbers in
parentheses, we have
(12)3= (fa- fi)* + Ok - 1i)'
(13)*= (£3-£l)*+(>,3 ->,,)*
/™
The equations (A) (B) (C) (D) contain the data of the ob-
servations.
[To be continued.]
XXXIII. A Botanical Description of Hermione Cypri. By
A. H. HAWORTH, F.L.S. 8?c. fyc.
To the Editors of the Philosophical Magazine and Annals.
Gentlemen,
TN my last communication to your useful Magazine, N. S.
•*• vol. viii. p. 130, it was stated, under the description of
Hermione tenuiflora, that the double and semi-double flowering
varieties, hitherto proposed doubtingly under it, were pro-
bably of another and distinct species, supposed to come from
the Island of Cyprus, which I there designated H. Cypri.
At that time the flowers, in their single state, had not fallen
under my examination. In fact I never could procure or find
the plant in that state until the present time ; when the acute
eye of my friend Mr. Sweet detected a specimen of it, nearly
in full bloom, amongst Mr. ColvilFs forced bulbs, at his noble
Nursery in the King's Road ; whither I went to examine it,
and there saw along with other bulbous plants, in full bloom,
the most showy and best managed collection of Hybrid Amaryl-
lidae I ever beheld.
I had no sooner pronounced the Hermione Cypri new to
me, and to be undescribed, by any modern writer at least, in
its single state, than Mr. Colvill, with his usual kindness
towards helping me to elucidate this beautiful tribe of plants,
made me a present of it; although it was the only one in his
extensive collection.
I am the more flattered at this, because it enables me to
show that the conjecture I made, as above cited, concerning
the distinctness of this species, has not proved incorrect. And
I hope to persuade Mr. Sweet to give the botanical world a
representation of it, from the pencil of his excellent artist
Mr. Smith, in an early Number of his beautiful British Flower
Garden.
184? Mr. Haworth's Botanical Description o/'Hermione Cypri.
Garden. I have carefully drawn up the following botanical
description of H. Cypri, for your Magazine ; and remain,
Gentlemen, yours, &c.
A. H. HAWORTH.
Genus, HERMIONE Nob. in Narciss. Revis. p. 121.
Sectio secunda ALBJE.
Cypri. H. (slender early white) scapo subquadrifloro, gracili;
corollas laciniis obovatis, mucronatis, subimbricantibus,
semireflexis; corona cupulari lutea, truncata, sesqui-
duplo longioribus.
N. Cypri Nob. in Phil. Mag. N.S. viii. 133-4.
Habitat in Insula Cypri.
Floret in caldario in Januario, sed in aere aperto
forsan in Martio.
DESCRIPTTO. Herba tunicatim bulbosa, subpedalis.
Folia erecta, lorata, hujus generis ordinaria, superne
primo fere plana, obtusa, viridia, post florescentiam
longiora, oblique flexa. Scapus gracilior quam in af-
finibus proximis, striatus, virens, fere solidus; basi
teretiusculus, superne sensim parum compressus et
anceps ; florendi tempore foliorum altitudine ; demum
illis brevior, et superne cavus. Spatha in exemplo
nostro quadriflora, ordinaria, erecta, altitudine pe-
dunculorum minorum. Pedunculi erecti, inaBquales,
1— 2-unciales, graciles, acute triangulares, laet& virides,
elevatim striatuli, genuine (florendi tempore) parvo,
oblongo, obtuse triangulari, striatulo, saturatiore.
Flores eleganter rectangulatim nutantes, vel plus; sed
nunquam cernui : corolla^ laciniis obovatis vel oblongo-
obovatis seu fere ellipticis albis, extus basi luteis (inte-
rioribus minoribus, ut in omnibus et minus mucronu-
latis), tubo respectu primo fere horizontalibus, planis,
vel varie paululum flexis et imbricantibus; demum se-
mireflexis, et varie flexuosim obliquis ; tubo prismatico
laete viridi, gracili, parum longioribus. Corona lutea,
crassa, iinna; ore integro, ruptatim subinde unifissa
subregularis, et paulo latior quam altior. Stamina or-
dinaria et pollen coronae concolora, 3 interiora tubo
humiliora; antheris ordinariis inclusis, tria alia tubi
altitudine, antheris protuberantibus. Stylus gracilis,
albicans, coronam aequans, stigmatibus tribus exiguis
seu minimis, planis, patulis, subrotundis, albis.
Obs. N. Tazettae Linn, in Fl. Grccc. tab. 308, pul-
cherrime representata, simillima, ut ovum ovo; at
differt
Mr! Ivory on the Equilibrium of Fluids. 185
differt bulbo triplo major e ; scapo basi solid iusculo non
cavo; foliis (in caldario) non glaucescentibus ; planis,
nonjlexulis; florurn pedunculis acuto-triangularibus,?z07z
teretiusculis, laciniis corollae valde albis, nee lacteis;
tubo parum longioribus, nee tubi longitudine; corona
lutea, nee aurantid, sesquiduplo nee triplo Ion gioribus,
et laevi, non plicata, ut in Fl. Grceca supra citata.
/3. semiplena. Park. Parad. 85. jig. 2.
y. plena. Park. Parad. 85. f. 3. 4.
I dare not cite the beautiful figure of tab. 1011, in the Bo-
tanical Magazine, there called Narcissus orientalis, var. Fl.Pl.9
because that plant shows eight flowers on its slender scape,
which in that respect very well agrees; but I much doubt
whether ours would ever have more than four or five. But it
may be the double state of JV. Tazetta ofFl. Gr. I. c., as the
latter is there said to bear, when cultivated, many flowers.
If this conjecture proves correct, it will afford another in-
stance of extremely similar species often occurring, as it were,
in pairs ; as in H. pracox of Tenore ; and PL tenuiflora Nob.
H.papyratia, Bot. Mag. 947, and//. Jasminea Salisb. et Nob.
and many others.
That zealous and indefatigable Botanical Professor Dr.
Schultes, assisted by his son Dr. Schultes, have greatly
aided my endeavours to elucidate the Narcissece^ by completely
copying the whole of my last contribution to your excellent
Magazine, on these much favoured plants, into the Addenda at
the end of the 7th volume of their new edition of Linn. Syst.
Veg. just published; which will doubtless spread the matter
much more extensively than has hitherto been accomplished.
Chelsea, Feb. 7th, 1831.
XXXIV. On an Omission in Clairaut's Theory of the Equili-
brium of a homogeneous Fluid; in some Remarks on the 56lh
Article of the " Bulletin des Sciences Mathematiques " for
August 1830. By JAMES IVORY, Esq. M.A. F.R.S.*
A N article in the Bulletin des Sciences Mathematiques for
•*•*• August 1830, demands some observations from me.
We may begin with stating, in what Clairaut's theory of
the equilibrium of a homogeneous fluid consists. This is a
point not in any respect doubtful. According to the inventor
of the theory and all other authors, two conditions are neces-
sary and sufficient for the equilibrium. Supposing the equi-
librium possible, it gives only one equation for determining
the figure of the fluid. No accelerating forces are taken into
* Communicated by the Author.
N.S. Vol. 9. No. 51. Mar. 1831. 2 B account
186 Mr. Ivory's Remarks on the 56th Article of the
account except those in action at the outer surface ; and it is
implied that the like forces, expressed by the same functions
of the coordinates, and no others but these, act upon every
interior particle of the mass. It follows from this view of the
matter that the level surfaces depend entirely on the outer
surface, and attempts are made to demonstrate this. — Vide
Mec. Ccl. livre iii. J 22.
On the other hand I contend that the figure of the fluid
will depend upon the forces that actually urge every particle
to move from its place : that, in a homogeneous planet in a
fluid state, there are forces prevailing in the interior parts,
which Clairaut has neglected: and that the equilibrium is
impossible, unless such a figure of the fluid can be found as
will set free the interior particles from those irregular forces.
For this purpose the true figure of equilibrium must possess
a property not deducible from Clairaut's theory ; and this new
condition, although it relates only to a particular problem, or
to similar problems, it is usual to call my new principle of
hydrostatics.
In the 27th volume of the Annales deChimie ctde Physique,
p. 231, M. Poisson considers a homogeneous planet AB C,
supposed fluid and in equili-
brium. The interior surface
abc is similar and similarly
posited to the outer surface
ABC, on which supposition
the interior mass abc will be
separately in equilibrium if the
exterior stratum were taken
away. The narrow canal
AabB has its ends in the up-
per surface ABC, and the
part between a and b is wholly within the interior mass abc.
M. Poisson proves that the equilibrium of the whole canal re-
quires this equation,
8 = q — p9 or p = q — 8 ;
p and q being the weights of the canals A a and BZ>, and 8 the
effort of the fluid in the canal a b, acting from a to b and
caused by the attraction of the matter between the two sur-
faces. Now I observe that M. Poisson, by allowing that the
stratum attracts the particles within it, and by calculating the
pressure 8 produced by its action, admits the omission made
by Clairaut, and in reality proves that the theory of that geo-
meter is insufficient for solving the problem. For there is
no force at the outer surface A B C, similar to the attraction
of
/^\\ /r^\
s~^ v
/ /^ ^b^ \
I ( )
V ^^-~-^_—~^^ J
>v c .
^\ ^^^
Bulletin des Sciences Mathematiques./or August 1830. 187
of the stratum between the two surfaces upon the particles
within the lower surface. Such an attraction therefore can
have no place in the theory of Clairaut, which notices no forces
except those in action at the outer surface. It is implied in
the theory that the only forces urging a particle, whether si-
tuated in the surface or in the interior parts of the fluid, are
the centrifugal force and the attraction of the whole mass ;
these forces produce the pressures of the canals a A and b B ;
but they have no connection with the pressure 5, which has
quite a different origin. The theory of Clairaut is therefore
insufficient for determining the equilibrium, because it leaves
out some of the causes tending to change the figure of the
fluid.
Further, I shall prove that the equation found by M. Pois-
son leads to two independent conditions for the figure of
equilibrium. These conditions are, first, the equation of the
outer surface, which is all that Clairaut's theory requires; se-
condly, the equality of pressure at all the points of every in-
terior surface, as a b c, similar and similarly posited to the
outer surface. For we may suppose that one end a of the
canal a b remains fixed, while the other end b is successively
applied to every point of the surface a b c ; in every position of
the canal we shall still have the equation,
P = ?-&;
from which it follows that q — 8 is equal to the constant quan-
tity of p at every point of the surface. Now, q being the weight
of the canal b B, and 3 the effort of the canal a b towards 6,
caused by the attraction of the stratum, the intensity of pressure
at every point of the surface a be, will be the same. By means
of this property, the equation of the surface a b c will be de-
rived from the equilibrium of the whole mass ABC; the
same equation is deducible from the separate equilibrium of
the interior mass a be; and as the two equations must be iden-
tical, we thence obtain a condition which is independent of the
outer surface of the fluid.
When the conditions for the equilibrium are more atten-
tively investigated, it will appear that the attraction of the
stratum upon the particles in the inside must produce no in-
ternal pressure. From this it follows that 8 = 0 in M. Pois-
son's equation. In a paper in the Phil. Trans, for 1824, in
which I first considered this problem, I have fulfilled what is
physically required for the equilibrium by supposing that the
stratum attracts every particle in the inside with equal force
in all opposite directions. I have since found that this is not
exact in all laws of attraction. But the fluid within the stratum
2B2 will
1.88 Rev.W. D. Conybeare on the Phenomena of Otology
will be freed from all pressure caused by the attraction of the
exterior matter, if the stratum exert no attractive force upon
the particles situated in its lower surface; and this property,
more general than the other, is indispensably required for the
equilibrium. The paper alluded to must therefore be cor-
rected by substituting the second property in place of the first;
for which purpose nothing more is necessary than a change of
the language in some parts, without any alteration of the cal-
culations or the results.
In a homogeneous fluid in equilibrium it may be proved
that the whole matter above any level surface must act upon
the fluid below it by external pressure only, without exerting
any accelerating force upon the particles that may cause in-
ternal pressure : and, as this is general whatever be the nature
of the accelerating forces, it may properly enough be called a
new principle of hydrostatics.
The embarrassment attending the application of Clairaut's
theory arises from that author having failed to lay down the
independent conditions of the equilibrium. Of the two con-
ditions which are asserted to be necessary and sufficient for
the equilibrium, one is included in the other : for it is easy to
prove that the equation of the outer surface is deducible from
the other condition.
Feb. 12, 1831. JAMES IVORY.
XXXV. An Examination of those Phenomena of Geology,
which seem to bear most directly on theoretical Speculations.
By the Rev. W. D. CONYBEARE, M.A. F.R.S. F.G.S. $c.
[Continued from page 116.]
Part the Second. — Of Aqueous Action, and the excavating
Forces which have operated on the Strata.
HPHE phenomena of geology (to assign an adequate cause
•*• for which, is the legitimate aim of theory) appear to me
reducible to two classes: — 1. those which indicate igneous
action and the operation of elevating and dislocating forces
on the strata; and, 2. those which indicate aqueous action
and the operation of excavating forces. My former observa-
tions, which I would consider as constituting the first part of
my present essay, have been dedicated to the first class of
these phaenomena ; and I now propose to enter on the second.
On these two heads, the difference between Mr. Lyell and
myself amounts simply to this : Mr. Lyell believes that the
forces which act on our planet have been, and are, ever con-
stant and invariable ; that therefore as to the first topic, all
the
bearing on theoretical Speculations. 189
the dislocations of the strata and all the probable ignigenous
products have resulted from volcanos acting precisely with
the same energy and under the same circumstances as at pre-
sent ; and that it would not be in the least improbable that all
these phenomena should be reproduced to-morrow. I, econtra,
have endeavoured, by a tolerably detailed examination of
those phenomena, to show, that the only fair inference from
them is the direct contradictory of the above proposition ; and
that they universally indicate forces acting most violently in
the earliest epochs, but gradually decreasing in intensity
through the subsequent periods : so that the actual state of the
planet is one of comparative repose, — the present convulsions
which partially affect its surface being only, as a French
writer has observed, the last faint struggles of the expiring
giants.
Now as to the second head, of Aqueous Action, &c., we find
in several geological positions, but most especially and most
generally as a superficial covering indifferently investing every
other formation, vast accumulations of gravel, evidently con-
sisting of debris originally torn from the rocky strata of those
formations, and subsequently rounded by attrition under water.
We also find the strata themselves traversed by breaches and
ploughed by deep furrows, so that the surface has been not
unaptly compared to a block of stratified marble irregularly
cut into by a graver's tool. Now, associating together these
fragmented ruins and yawning breaches, it is as natural to refer
them to the same cause, as if we should notice a breach in a?
wall regularly constructed of masonry, and observe its loosened
and removed blocks piled beneath it; — but what is that cause?
what is the graver's tool which has thus sculptured the face of
our planet? Mr. Lyell says that the streamlets actually flow-
ing through our valleys are adequate to account for all, if we
will but throw all prejudice aside, and allow a sufficient num-'
ber of millions (I should rather say iiifinit-illions) of ages
since their continued action. This may be called the Fluvial
theory ; or more properly, the Atmospheric theory: for it evi-
dently amounts to this, " that the atmospherical waters fall-
ing on any given district and draining off from it are adequate
to produce, by their continued action, all the phsenomena of
water-worn gravel and excavation which we observe in that
tract." Now it will be my endeavour to show, from the ar-
rangement and investigation of those phsenomena, that the at-
mospheric drainage, even if continued for ever and a day (that
with the liberality of common parlance I may allow all the
time I can), is altogether incapable of accounting for them;
and
190 Rev. \V. D. Conybeare on the Phenomena of Geology
and that they indicate the effects not of drops and rills*, but
of violent currents and of vastly extended sheets of water.
This I shall call the Diluvial theory, premising that I use the
term diluvial only in a general and philosophical sense. Theo-
logically, I am well contented to let the Scriptural narrative
rest on its appropriate moral evidence, and should only fear to
weaken that evidence by mingling it with my own crude sci-
entific speculations. I hold indeed, that Science, by exhibit-
ing to us the independent evidence of analogous convulsions,
may well be cited, as removing from that narrative all ob-
jections arising from alleged antecedent improbability: but
whether the diluvial traces we still observe geologically, be
the vestiges of the Mosaic deluge, or whether that convulsion
were too transient, &c. to leave such traces, is quite another
question.
Before entering more particularly on the examination of
the phenomena which indicate the operation of diluvial cur-
rents, I would first observe, that the existence of such currents
is itself a necessary corollary from the points which have been
previously established; and indeed, I am quite unable to con-
ceive any possible geological theory which must not necessarily
involve the supposition of such currents.
In the first place it must be universally admitted, that the
mass of our continents was originally formed beneath the
ocean, and that they have subsequently emerged. Now I would
ask, how it can be possibly conceived that this elevation of
die continents from the bosom of the waves could have been
unattended with violent currents: also, it is nearly impos-
sible that the configuration of the original surface may not
have been such, that vast lakes should not have stagnated in
many of its portions; these lakes must have subsequently dis-
charged themselves by the disruption of their barriers (as that
of Thessaly is traditionally said to have done) : hence must
have arisen another class of diluvial currents. Again, we find
(from examining the dislocations of the strata) that violent
convulsions affecting vast masses must have occurred after
other portions of the continents had previously emerged. Thus
for instance, the Isle of Wight and sixty miles of the adjacent
coast have been apparently abruptly thrown on the beam-ends
of the strata, at a time when we must suppose much of Eng-
land to have been previously above the sea level. Now I
would ask, is it possible to conceive that such a convulsion
* The Atmospheric theory always reminds me of the celebrated line in
Coleridge's tragedy :
" Drip, drip, drip, drip ; there's nothing here but dripping."
could
bearing on theoretical Speculations. 191
could have occurred without creating so violent a disturbance
in the level of the then existing sea, as to have caused an im-
mense diluvial wave to overwhelm much of the continents
previously emerged ?
Having thus seen that the most elementary phsenomena of
geology necessarily involve the existence of such currents,
and that therefore they must be by the same necessity ad-
mitted in evei-y theory whatever which pretends to account for
these phenomena ; let us (as in the former part) proceed to
examine the case more in the detail.
I. The conglomerate rocks and strata of gravel interposed
in several of our geological formations indicate several periods
of violent diluvial action, of which the last was more recent
than the deposition of all our regular strata, and appears to
form the precise limit of demarcation between the epochs of
the geological formations and the actual epoch ; and in every
instance the disposition and distribution of the water-worn
materials is such, as to be absolutely incompatible with the
theory of their fluvial origin.
Observations. — The British strata which have been most care-
fully examined present four principal accumulations of water-
worn detritus of preceding rocks, and the Continental series, as
far as known, appears to be analogous. These deposits are as-
sociated : 1. with the old red sandstone ; 2. with the lower beds
of the new red sandstone; 3. with the plastic clay above the
chalk ; and 4. they form the most superficial deposit covering
all the regular strata. We may examine these in order : —
1. Although we occasionally find beds of a conglomerate
texture associated with the grauwacke, yet these appear
neither very extensive nor well defined ; it being occasionally
difficult to distinguish between true pebbles derived from the
fragments of previous rocks, and nodules formed in the settle-
ment of a compound mass by the concretion of particular ma-
terials round particular centres, through an attraction of
aggregation : but in the old red sandstone we often find beds
of great extent composed of the conglomeration of indisputable
fragments derived from the earlier rocks, and rounded by at-
trition. The most common of these pebbles are quartz, derived
from the veins of that mineral abounding in all the transition
formations. We also find fragments of the harder and more
siliceous varieties of slate, jasper, greenstone, &c. It would
be interesting to compare more fully than has yet been done,
the fragments of this conglomerate with the earlier rocks, and
thus to trace them to their original habitats. As to the dis-
position of these accumulations of what must have once been
gravel, — as they form extensive beds, they must have been
spread
1 92 Rev. W. D. Conybeare on the Phenomena of Geology
spread abroad by oceanic waves, like the gravel now lining
the beaches of our coasts : for it is clear that river courses
can only convey gravel over the lines of their channels, or
over the flats exposed to their floods. When therefore we find
gravel uniformly distributed over extensive plains which we
cannot conceive to have been in such a predicament,! see not
how we can avoid having recourse to oceanic waves ; indeed,
comparing the level of these beds with those of the posterior
rocks of submarine formation, (so far as the subsequent disloca-
tions and disturbances which have much deranged the relative
position of these strata will allow us to make the observation,)
we very generally find these masses of gravel deposited be-
neath what appears to have been the sea level at the epoch of
their accumulation. It certainly may be said, on the part of
the Fluvialists, that although the distribution of these gravel
beds must be referred to oceanic waves, still they may have
originated in the action of the rivers traversing the then
existing continents, and have been by these rivers transported
to the bed of that ocean. That this may have been partially
the case is, indeed, true ; just as it is with regard to the gravel
of our present sea-beaches. But surely in both instances it
must principally be referred to the more powerful agent, as
we must from the preceding argument be equally convinced
of the presence of " Earth-shaking Neptune" in both cases.
In the earlier period indeed, there is every reason to believe
that the currents of the then ocean must have been much more
violent than those which now exist, inasmuch as the disloca-
tions of the strata which appear then to have taken place, are
such as cannot be supposed to have occurred without having
occasioned the most impetuous waves and diluvial currents by
the impulse communicated to the circumfluent waters.
The quartzose conglomerate of the millstone grit incumbent
on the carboniferous limestone occurs under circumstances
exactly similar, and in geological age so nearly approaches the
former, that it seems superfluous to separate it as indicating a
distinct diluvial period.
2. The vast beds of conglomerate constituting very gene-
rally the lowest members of the new red sandstone, present a
still more striking instance of similar phenomena: they form
indeed, one of the most magnificent and illustrative oi all geo-
logical exhibitions. The materials of this conglomerate being
generally derived from the most contiguous chains of the older
rocks, vary in different districts : thus where the new red sand-
stone abuts against transition chains of grauwacke, &c. (as in
Devonshire,) the pebbles are quartz, hard slates, porphyry, &c.
(e. g. the celebrated Heavitree conglomerate) ; where the for-
mation
bearing on theoretical Speculations. 1 93
mation approaches calcareous chains (as along the Mendips,
on the Bristol Avon, on the south edge of the South Welsh
coal basin, &c.)> its materials have been derived from the car-
boniferous limestone.
In this case the blocks included are often of considerable
size, as especially in the section exhibited by the new road
ascending Clifton Downs from the end of St. Vincent's Rocks:
here they must sometimes weigh several tons. The pebbles
exhibit all the characteristic organic remains of the original
rock, and the outline of those remains is often truncated by
their rounded surface.
This conglomerate has most evidently originally formed
beds of gravel lying against the chains whence that gravel was
derived, in a manner exactly similar to that of an actual sea-
beach ; they are thickest at the nearest points to those chains,
and regularly decrease as they recede from them. Thus the
calcareous conglomerate covering the coal-measures near the
Mendip chain is twenty-three fathoms in thickness ; about ten
miles distant from that chain it does not exceed one or two
fathoms, and still further off quite disappears. These deposits
forming the lowest members of the nearly horizontal strata
(the comparatively undisturbed position of which shows that
no material changes of relative level have been occasioned by
subsequent convulsion), we may confidently infer from the
superior level of the superincumbent lias, oolites, &c. that these
gravel beds were distributed beneath the then sea-level; and
the extreme dislocation of the subjacent carboniferous rocks,
&c. will sufficiently account for violent diluvial currents in the
then ocean. When we examine points where sections are pre-
sented of these conglomerates resting on the older rocks,
we find the edges of the strata of the latter truncated and
smoothed, and their surface often irregularly excavated, in a
manner which we cannot but ascribe to the operation of such
currents.
The Rothe todte liegende of the German geologists is ge-
nerally identical in age and position with the conglomerates
now considered. I can at least answer that this is the case
with those portions of it which I have myself examined in the
neighbourhood of the Thuringerwalde.
3. We do not meet with any other extensive accumulation
of water- worn pebbles in the strata, until we arrive at the ter->
tiary deposits next above the chalk (the gravel associated with
plastic clay) : we indeed, in the intermediate formations, find
some traces of this kind ; for instance, in the calcareous grit
beneath the coral rag, and in the iron-sand below the chalk ;
but they cannot be compared with the conglomerates before
N.S. Vol. 9. No. 51. Mar. 1831. 2 C described,
191? Rev. W. D. Conybeare on the Phenomena of Geology
described, containing only very small pebbles, such as we may
consider at all times to be pretty generally distributed over
the channel of the ocean. Now this absence of large water-
worn fragments, as well as the circumstances attendant on the
instances of their presence, appears to me to furnish data in-
dicating the true theory of their origin ; for otherwise, it
might be said that the ordinary action of the waves on the sea
coast was quite adequate to explain the existence of these
gravel beds, without any necessity of having recourse to ex-
traordinary diluvial currents. But if so, why do we not find
them universally intermixed among our formations ? for at
every period there must have been lines of sea coast, and the
ordinary action on these coasts must, of course, have been
constant and uniform. Why, on the contrary, do we only find
them among the products of periods which, on independent
grounds (the dislocation of the strata), we must conclude to
have been epochs of extraordinary convulsions, and of such
convulsions as we cannot conceive to have taken place, with-
out having been accompanied by much disturbance in the
level of the then existing oceans, and, consequently, by vio-
lent diluvial currents ? Thus, during the deposition of the
oolites and chalk (as we have already observed in the first
part of our essay), we observe few, and comparatively trifling
indications of the operations of the dislocating forces : and
here, also, we find few and trifling indications of diluvial cur-
rents. But, as we have already seen, in the tertiary period the
convulsions that elevated the strata of the Isle of Wight and
the Dorsetshire coasts, and those which elevated much of the
Alps, took place ; now we may well represent to our minds
what must have been the effect of these convulsions on the sea
level, if we should, for a moment, endeavour to imagine what
would be the consequences of their repetition. Supposing,
for example, that a new island, 800 feet high, were suddenly
to be protruded from the bosom of the sea on the Lincolnshire
coast, and that, at the same time, 60 miles of the adjacent flats
on that coast were broken up, and their beds thrown from an
horizontal into a vertical position, — what, in such a case, must
be the agitation of the waters ! would not the resulting flood
spread far and wide ? and may we not conceive that the diluvial
waves would overtop the neighbouring chain of the Wold
hills, scoop out deep valleys in them, and reduce much of their
materials to the state of gravel ?
The gravel associated with the plastic clay is principally
composed of flints derived from the chalk strata : it may be
well studied in the neighbourhood of London, as it underlies
all the elevated grounds of the plain of Blackheath ; and may
be
bearing on Theoretical Speculations. 195
be seen in all the pits of Woolwich, Charlton, Chislehurst, and
Bexley. It is distinguished from the overlying superficial
gravel, by its containing the shells, &c. of the plastic clay.
The upper surface of the chalk, wherever it can be examined,
appears to have been deeply eroded by the currents which
produced this gravel.
4. I cannot better describe the most recent accumulations
of gravel, &c., than by abridging Brongniart's excellent article
on the " Terrains Clysmiens ou Diluviens," in his Tableau,
p. 66, &c. ; and I am happy to join to my own arguments the
views of a geologist so superior. " These deposits," he says,
" are the most superficial of all the rocks of the period imme-
diately preceding the actual epoch : to the common characters
which belong to all the formations of alluvial origin (such as are
actually proceeding) they join the peculiar feature of present-
ing themselves under circumstances which must oblige us, of
necessity, to admit great differences, both as to the forms and
elevations of the surface of the earth at the period of their
deposition from the actual state, and also as to the mass and
force of the aqueous currents which then prevailed. Sometimes
these characters are found in their position, for they present
themselves at elevations or distances whither no water-course
moved by the actual forces, even the most violent, could ever
possibly arrive.
" Sometimes these are distinguished from all actual alluvial
deposits by the volume and nature of the fragments which
compose them ; for they are often of such a volume, that no
actual water-course could possibly transport them, and of such
a nature, that they cannot be attributed to the rocks of the
soil where they are found ; but must have been detached from
rocks so distant, that they must have been transported by a
force, of which, in the actual state of nature, no examples are
known, that can fairly bear an application to the objects and
localities under observation.
" The organic remains, such as elephants, hippopotami, &c.,
and the absence of all remains of man and his arts, offer an-
other ground of distinction."
I would only add to these extracts from Brongniart, whose
whole article is well worthy of examination by all who wish
fully to understand the subject, a few arguments drawn from
particular examples.
I have often been truly curious to know whether the writers
who ascribe these diluvial phaenomena to the actual operations
of atmospheric waters draining off the surface of the earth,
ever could have attempted to present to their minds any thing
like a precise view of the districts in question, and of the phae-
2 C 2 nomena
196 Rev. W. D. Conybeare on the Phenomena of Geology.
nomena they undertake to explain : for instance, of the struc-
ture of Luneburg Heath, and all the vast diluvial flats of the
North of Germany. These are occupied by one vast accumu-
lation of gravel, partly chalk flints, derived, probably, from a
zone of that formation, which must originally have occupied
this tract (as may be seen from the chalk-pit at Luneburg),
but every apparent mass of which has been swept away, and
buried beneath its own ruins: but with these are intermingled
vast blocks of granite, often as large as small cottages, for
which, at a little distance, I have more than once mistaken
them; — this granite being derived from the Norwegian moun-
tains, on the opposite side of the Baltic. Now I will attempt
to explain all this on the Fluvial theory. First, the rivers now
flowing through the North of Germany must have changed
their course so frequently, as to have covered, successively,
every inch of the North of Germany, since this gravel is uni-
versally distributed : and this they must have done, though we
do not find from the earliest records preserved of the topo-
graphy of the country, that they are in the habit of changing
their course in the least. Secondly, they must have washed
away every projecting mass of the chalk formation, although
we do not find that the slightest mound of the most ancient
entrenchments in the neighbourhood has been sensibly affected
by atmospheric causes for some thousand years. Thirdly,
they must have carried blocks of many tons in weight for
some hundred miles, though they have now unaccountably
left off transporting any thing of more than a few ounces, and
that only for short distances. Fourthly, they must have trans-
ported these blocks up their currents ; since the granite is de-
rived from the opposite side of the Baltic, but the actual
course of all the streams is towards the Baltic. I have always
admired the seemingly sarcastic ingenuity of the ancient geo-
metricians, in adopting the reductio ad absurdum as a mode
of demonstration ; but I doubt whether even the fertile ima-
gination of these worthy elders ever conceived any thing quite
equal to this.
But I will come nearer home. The great plain of London
is deeply and universally covered with flint gravel, apparently
derived from the chalk ridges of Hertfordshire, &c. : in that
plain arise many insulated hills, as Highgate, Harrow, &c., and
these hills are equally capped with flint gravel. Now, as no
stream (not even Father Thames) can roll gravel up hill, we
must suppose that the original surface of the plain was once
at the same level as the tops of these hills, in order to allow the
chalk flints to have been transported thither : and while things
were in this state, we must suppose the then Thames to have
changed
Dr. A. Smith on the Origin and History of the Bushmen. 197
changed its course often enough to bear the gravel to all the
points now constituting the hill tops, since they are by no
means in any single line. Next, we must suppose the Thames
still wandering from bed to bed, to have excavated down to
the present level, that is, some 400 or 500 feet, a district of
several thousand square miles. And lastly, to have univer-
sally distributed the gravel over the surface so excavated : yet,
since in the time of the Romans, Londinium was already an
emporium, the river has been remarkably reclaimed from the
fickle habits of its youth, having been ever constant to a single
channel ; and the camps of that people on Wimbledon Com-
mon and Holwood Hill have resisted the atmospheric action
of some eighteen centuries, without material degradation.
I have, about a year since, in a paper communicated to the
Geological Society on the valley of the Thames, of which
an analysis was given in this Journal at the time5*, mentioned
instances connected with that valley, in which the diluvial peb-
bles must have been derived from districts having their drain-
age in directions exactly opposite to that by which they must
have been transported to their present locality.
(To be continued.)
XXXVI. Observations relative to the Origin and History of the
Bushmen. By ANDREW SMITH, M.D. M. W.S. fyc.
rT^
•*•
[Continued from p.
language spoken by the Bushmen is decidedly a dia-
lect or dialects of that in use amongst the Hottentots else-
where; but in most situations is so altered and modified, as
that its origin and dependence can scarcely be traced. Some
express themselves almost exactly in the same manner as the
Namaquas ; others by the same words, only with a peculiar
pronunciation, and a third division in a style partly varied by
the mode of utterance, and partly by the introduction of new
words or expressions either resorted to for the purpose of com-
municating newly acquired ideas, or with the design of confu-
sing their tongue and rendering it only intelligible to the mem-
bers of their own communities. Of the three, the latter mo-
dification is by far the most general, and forms what is known
amongst the colonists by the appellation "Cnese tal." From
the plan just adverted to being frequently adopted, and consi-
dered as of advantage in carrying on their dangerous and un-
lawful exploits, very considerable modifications are even cur-
* See Phil. Mag. and Annals, N.S. vol. vi. p. 61.
rent
198 Dr. A. Smith's Observations relative to the
rent amongst families or associates themselves ; all of which,
however, are more or less perfectly understood by the popula-
tion at large, though very incompletely by strangers, who are
well versed in the more regular language upon which such
rude and slang jargon is ingrafted. That clapping noise oc-
casioned by various motions of the tongue, and which is truly
characteristic of the Hottentot language, is particularly con-
spicuous amongst the Bushmen, and by many is so incessantly
employed, as to make it appear that they gave utterance to no
articulate sounds, but only an uninterrupted succession of claps
apparently unfitted for conveying any meaning, and yet com-
pletely recognised and understood by those to whom they are
directed. Lest the foregoing observations, setting forth the
dialects of the latter as in a great measure unintelligible to
the former, may yet, as has already been the case, be urged in
proof of their existence as a distinct race, it may be observed
that the modifications in use amongst other tribes would not
be understood by the different inhabitants, were it not for the
occasional intercourse and association of persons of different
divisions, whereby all become acquainted with the discrepan-
cies of each other. Such communications, however, do not
generally take place between the Bushmen and other tribes,
and consequently the dialects of the latter, instead of having
been and continuing to be familiar to others, are distinctly
known merely to themselves; and only, if at all, understood by
strangers after long and serious consideration. That it is the
seclusion and not a radical distinction that renders it incom-
prehensible, is distinctly evinced by the circumstance of those
who live on friendly terms with other Hottentot tribes, and
unite more or less therewith, expressing their own words by
such a modified pronunciation, as to render them quite intel-
ligible, and to bespeak the same root for all varieties.
Their articles of clothing are very simple, rude, and ineffi-
cient. A kaross, somewhat in the form of a mantle, is sus-
pended over the shoulders, and is according to the season of
the year, or the temperature of the moment, either permitted
to hang loose behind the body, or made to envelope as much
thereof as its usual scanty dimension will possibly effect. Such
is usually composed of sheep-skin, with the woolly side in-
wards, and forms almost their only protection against the
weather, being required to answer all the purposes of a dress
by day, and all the offices of a covering by night. Besides
that, both sexes have a more limited and partial one for hiding
what the dictates of modesty forbid to be exposed ; and though
the extent to which such concealment is carried is different in
each, yet to a certain extent the same objects are kept in view.
In
Origin and History of the Bushmen. 199
In the men, a portion of skin, usually either of a jackal or of
a wild cat, is suspended in front of the body from a leathern
girdle which encircles the loins, and frequently a portion of
dried leather hangs from the same behind to conceal at least
a portion of the after parts, when the principal article of
covering is too short to perform that office. Amongst the
women again, the article in question is more extensive, and
commonly consists of some ragged skins or pieces of leather,
variously fixed together and attached round the loins, thereby
enveloping more or less the whole of the parts between those
and the middle of the thighs. The members of this sex also
universally endeavour to procure some sort of covering for
their heads, which they usually compose of the same article as
that which forms the other parts of their dress; and if obtain-
able of sufficient size, apply it somewhat like a turban. The
men on the other hand are commonly regardless of the part
just adverted to, and generally appear bareheaded, unless when
hunting or exposed to the influence of a very strong sun, on
which occasions they usually employ a sort of cap made of the
dried skin of some animal they may have killed in the chase.
The inefficiency, however, of such clothing induces them
to have recourse to other means of protection besides those
which have been detailed, and particularly to that of anointing
their bodies and limbs with fat, either pure or variously adul-
terated. In the practice of this, they have always a twofold
object in view ; namely, the protection of their skin against the
parching effects of heat and wind, and the agility and pliability
ensured to the muscles and joints ; and whatever may be said
against the custom, it is certainly a necessary and highly bene-
ficial one to such as are without those complete coverings,
which more civilized life supplies. The necessity of often ex-
posing themselves during the great heat of the day, doubtless
soon made them aware of the want of some protection against
a powerful sun, and suggested the present method they pursue
of forming a sort of umbrella by the disposing of ostrich fea-
thers round the extremity of a common walking stick. All,
as well male as female, betray a remarkable anxiety after or-
naments, and evince a marked desire for every article that
appears to them either gaudy or uncommon. Amongst such,
the most in esteem are perhaps beads, buttons, and pieces of
copper, brass, or polished steel; and what of those they hap-
pen to procure, they attach to different parts, — such as the
neck, ears, hair, loins, extremities, &c., and not unfrequently
also to their different articles of clothing. Indeed so strong
is their love of decoration, that they will, in the absence of the
more desired objects for that purpose, employ those of their
own
200 Mr. D. Gilbert's Statement respecting the
own construction,— such as sashes formed of circular pieces
of the shell of the ostrich egg, pieces of wood, teeth of wild
animals, shells, young tortoises, &c. and those they display
in different positions and forms, according to the fancies of
the wearers.
The circumstance of their having no fixed abodes goes to
prevent them from having any established huts ; and the con-
stant necessity of moving from one place to another in quest
of an uncertain and scanty subsistence, inclines them to bestow
little care or labour on their temporary dwellings. They
either erect a shelter of bushes for the night, under the shade
of which they repose, or dig a hole in the ground, into which
they creep, or else seek a refuge in some natural crevice of a
rock, or under a projecting stone, either of which they consider
as quite sufficient for a transient residence. Though such is
the general method they follow, in protecting themselves
against the effects of the weather during the periods of their
repose, yet some are more particular, and extend their consi-
deration so far as to supply themselves with a sort of mat, which
they place nearly upright by means of a couple of poles, viz.
one at each extremity, and under the protection of that they
seek their rest.
[To be continued.]
XXXVII. Statement respecting the Legacy left by the late
Earl of Bridgewater, for rewarding the Authors of Works,
to be published in pursuance of his Will, and demonstrative
of the Divine Attributes, as manifested in the Creation. By
DAVIES GILBERT, M.P. F.P.R.S.
To the Editors of the Philosophical Magazine and Annals.
Gentlemen,
THE following short statement respecting the late Earl of
Bridgewater's legacy of eight thousand pounds, and of
the final arrangements made in consequence of it, may pos-
sibly be thought not unworthy of a place in your Journal.
The Reverend and Right Honourable Thomas Henry
Egerton Earl of Bridgewater died in the month of February,
1829, at Paris, leaving his last will and testament bearing date
on the 25th of February, 1825, in which he desired and directed
his trustees to lay out and invest in their own names in some or
one of the public Stocks or Funds of Great Britain, the sum of
eight thousand pounds sterling ; the said sum with all accruing
dividends thereon to be held at the disposal of the President,
for
Legacy left by the late Earl of Bridgewater. 201
for the time being, of the Royal Society of London, to be
transferred, paid and applied, according to the order and di-
rection of the said President of the Royal Society, in full, and
without any diminution or abatement whatsoever, in such
proportions and at such times, according to his direction and
judgement, and without being subject to any controul or re-
sponsibility whatsoever, to such person or persons as the said
President, for the time being, of the aforesaid Royal Society
should or might nominate or appoint and employ. And he
thereby declared his will and particular request to be, that
some person or persons should be nominated and appointed
by the said President, to write, print, publish, and expose to
public sale, one thousand copies of a work on the Power,
Wisdom, and Goodness of God, as manifested in the Creation ;
illustrating such work by all reasonable arguments, as for
instance, the variety and formation of God's creatures in the
animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms ; the effect of diges-
tion and thereby of conversion, the construction of the hand
of man, and an infinite variety of other arguments ; as also by
discoveries, ancient and modern, in arts, sciences, and the
whole extent of literature.... And he desired that the profits
arising from and out of the circulation and sale of the afore-
said work should be paid by the said President of the Royal
Society, as of right, as a further remuneration and reward to
such person or persons as the said President of the Royal
Society should so nominate, appoint, and employ; with a
further power to advance the sums of 300/. and of 5GO/.
during the writing and printing of the said work.
The testator appointed John Charles Clarmont, Thomas
Phillips, and Eugene Auguste Barbier, Esquires, executors
and trustees of his will. And these gentlemen, on the 14th of
July 1830, invested the devised sum of 8000/. in the purchase
of 3 per cent, consolidated Bank Annuities, which now stand
in their names for the above specified purposes.
The late President of the Royal Society having ascertained
from a Noble Lord immediately connected with the deceased,
that his family were desirous of having the objects of the be-
quest executed, proceeded as follows : —
He was fully aware of the duty imposed on him to select
persons amply qualified for discharging in an adequate man-
ner the task they would have to perform ; and he was also
impressed with the conviction, that however carefully a se-
lection might be made, several gentlemen must be omitted,
possessing the requisite qualifications, equally, perhaps, with
those who received the appointment.
For the purpose therefore of acquiring the most able assist-
N. S. Vol. 9. No. 5 1 . March 1831. 2 D ance,
202 Notices respecting New Books.
ance, and of placing the whole transaction above even .the
suspicion of favouritism or partiality, the late President was
induced to request the aid of two individuals, as highly distin-
guished by their abilities and by their learning as by the emi-
nent stations which they hold in the hierarchy of the country,
where able and intrepid champions have never been wanting
to vindicate the natural and moral attributes of the Divinity
against the equally dangerous attacks of infidelity, fanaticism,
and imposture. The two distinguished prelates, the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London, most readily
condescended to afford their assistance; and after much de-
liberation, and with the concurrence of the Noble Lord above
alluded to, the work has been placed in the hands of the fol-
lowing eight gentlemen : —
The Rev. William Whewell, M.A. F.R.S., Fellow of Tri-
nity College, and Professor of Mineralogy in the University
of Cambridge.
The Rev. John Thomas Chalmers, Professor of Divinity at
Edinburgh.
John Kidd, Esq. M.D. F.R.S., Regius Professor of Medi-
cine in the University of Oxford.
The Rev. William Buckland, D.D. F.R.S., Canon of Christ
Church, and Professor of Geology in the University of Ox-
ford.
Peter Mark Roget, Esq. M.D., Sec. R.S.
Charles Bell, Esq. F.R.S., Surgeon.
The Rev. William Kirby, M.A. F.R.S.
^ William Prout, Esq. M.D. F.R.S.
Each being pledged to take a part, as designated by the
testator, most adapted to his acquirements and to his pursuits:
and thus it is confidently hoped and expected, that a work
entrusted to such individuals will appear, as a whole, worthy
of the age and of the country about to give it birth.
XXXVIII. Notices respecting New Books.
Six Maps of the Stars. Published under the superintendence of the
Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. London, KS30. 4to.
WE congratulate our astronomical readers, as well as that large
portion of the public which is interested in the science of
astronomy, on the appearance of these beautiful maps. They would
have formed u valuable addition to astronomical literature, had they
been published on terms corresponding with those which works of this
description on a similar scale ordinarily bear. But published, as they
are, at a price so low as to enable every individual, who feels an in-
terest in the subject, to possess himself of an atlas of all the stars
visible
Notices respecting New Booh.
visible to the naked eye, adequate in plan and in execution to the
present state of astronomy, their value becomes greatly enhanced.
They form, perhaps, in a scientific point of view (with the exception
of the Life of Galileo and that of Kepler, each of which must be re-
garded as being, on the whole, of equal importance to them) the
most valuable single part of the works published by the Society for
the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, and the precursor, we hope, of
many more, characterized by similar excellence.
The projection according to which these maps are laid down, is
that which was suggested, for representing the sphere of the heavens,
by Mr. Lubbock, (under whose immediate direction, we understand,
they have been executed,) in his paper on the perspective represen-
tation of a circle, published in our fifth volume, of the present series.
This is the Gnomonic Projection j the stars being projected on the
maps in perspective; that is, as they would be, if it were possible, at
a given moment, by a Camera Lucida. The celestial sphere is thus
projected upon six planes, (each of which is represented by a map,)
forming the sides of a cube, the eye being supposed to be at the centre.
The distortion at the corners is too trifling to interfere sensibly with
the effect. The heavenly sphere is thus contained in six maps j and
the poles being taken for the respective centres of the upper and
lower surfaces of the cube, the sides of the cube are symmetrical, the
parallels of declination on them being portions of hyperbolas, and the
meridians straight lines j the upper and lower surfaces are also sym-
metrical, the parallels of declination on them being circles, and the
meridians straight lines. From the properties of this projection, these
maps have the advantage of enabling any one to find any star or con-
stellation with the greatest readiness j for, as stated in the " Expla-
nation" prefixed to them, those stars which are in the same great
circle in the heavens, and therefore appear to be in the same straight
line, are still in the same straight line in the map.
The circles of right ascension and of declination for every degree
of right ascension and of declination, having been projected agree-
ably to this method, the stars were laid down, we are informed in the
tf Explanation," by Mr. W. Newton (author of the well-known globes)
from the Catalogue of the Astronomical Society, taking all the stars
in that catalogue up to the sixth magnitude, exclusive, which are
about all that can be seen by the naked eye. The magnitudes as-
signed to the stars represented are those of Piazzi, as given in the
Catalogue of the Astronomical Society j the difference of magnitude
being indicated by the number of "petals" (rays) in the asterisk
denoting each star ; those which vary in magnitude (taken from
Westphal's list, as quoted in the Bull des Scien. Math, for 1827,)
being distinguished by the letters Var. placed over them, as well as
by a different symbol from that of the invariable stars. The nebulae,
it is stated, are laid down from a catalogue with which the Society
was favoured by the kindness of Sir James South, and which had
been reduced to the year 1 822, by Mr. Mosley, from that given by
Messier in the Conn, des Terns for 1786, and from the catalogue given
by Lacaille, in the same volume, of the nebulae observed by him in the
2 D 2 southern
204- Notices respecting New Books.
southern hemisphere. The former, in these maps, have Messier's
number underneath, those of Lacaille have no reference. The pla-
netary nebulae discovered by M. Struve are also inserted, from his
Catalogue novus Stellarum ciuplic.ium et multiplicium.
The Milky-way is taken from Wollaston's Catalogue, "as far as
that catalogue gives its boundary, that is, to about 30° south declina-
tion j beyond that/' it is observed, " we know no good authority for
its limits."
When a star has a Greek letter in the Astronomical Society's Ca-
talogue, this letter is placed against it in the map ; when the star has
no Greek letter, the number which stands in the second column of
that catalogue is used ; and in some few cases, when neither of these
references exists, the Italic letter which corresponds to the star in the
catalogue is employed. Some stars are without either of these refe-
rences. The double stars have two dots following the reference, as
a : Andromedse j they are taken from Sir James South's Catalogue of
Double Stars in the first volume of the Transactions of the Astrono-
mical Society, from the catalogue given by the same astronomer in the
Philosophical Transactions for 1826, and from M. Struve's catalogue
before referred to.
The prefatory explanation, in addition to the statements we have
abridged in the foregoing paragraphs, consists only of an interesting
extract from the preface to Flamsteed's Historia Ccelestis, respecting
the figures assigned to the constellations, and which contains nearly
all that is known of their history. The figures assigned to them by
that astronomer, after a careful examination of Ptolemy's Catalogue,
which is the most ancient work in which they are found, (although it
is manifest from Ptolemy's statement that similar figures had been
used from a period long anterior to his,) have been closely adhered to
in the present maps, having been copied from Flamsteed, for this pur-
pose, by Mr. W. Clarke. The maps have been engraved, with great
clearness and precision, as well as delicacy of touch, by Messrs.
J. and C. Walker ; and from the union of these qualities, they have
an appearance of beauty and softness unusual in maps and engraved
linear representations of scientific subjects, while they are at the same
time perfectly adapted — by the distinctness of every line and symbol
— for reference and consultation. Their size is ten inches and a half
by about ten and three quarters, being very nearly the same as that
01 the Society's Geographical Maps. Nos. I to 4 are occupied by
those portions of the northern and southern celestial hemispheres
which extend to about 40° of north and south declination ; No. 5 in-
cludes the stars circumjacent to the North Pole -, and No. 6, those
which are circumjacent to the South Pole.
Having so fully expressed our approbation of this celestial atlas, an
extension of which by a series of maps including stars up to the
twelfth magnitude, we are glad to hear, has been determined upon
by the Society, we may be permitted to mention an omission or two
which we have observed in it. In the "Explanation" the only au-
thorities cited for the Nebula are Messier and Lacaille as noticed
above, the latter for those of the southern hemisphere j and these
appear
Notices respecting New Booh. 205
appear to have been the only authorities employed in laying down
those objects. But in the Philosophical Transactions for 1828 is a
catalogue of 629 nebulae and clusters of stars in the southern hemi-
sphere, observed at Paramatta by Mr. Dunlop, no use of which ap-
pears to have been made in the construction of these maps.
Lacaille, we believe, observed only about 40 or 50 nebulae and
clusters oi stars in the southern hemisphere ; 26 of which, besides
the Nebula Major and Nebula Minor, are given. Now although a
large number of those described by Mr. Dunlop may be too small,
(like the remainder of Lacaille's,) to be laid down in the present
series of maps, and may require to be reserved for that which, as we
have mentioned, is now in preparation, yet it seems probable that
out of nearly 600 nebulae and clusters observed solely by Mr. Dunlop,
some must be equal in apparent magnitude to the 26 of Lacaille's
which have actually been inserted, and must therefore require inser-
tion in the present series equally with them.
The " Planetary Nebulae" discovered by Struve, of which it is re-
marked in the " Explanation " that " they deserve to be reckoned
amongst the most interesting objects in the heavens," have with
great propriety been inserted j and No. 8 of Struve is the only one
of them which appears in the maps representing the southern hemi-
sphere. Now Nos. 266 and 267 of Dunlop probably belong to this
interesting class of bodies, especially the latter.
Annexed to Mr. Dunlop's Catalogue are two elaborate plates, very
correctly laid down from observations, of the Nebula Major and Ne-
bula Minor, no use of which seems to have been made in representing
those nebulae in the maps. In Mr. Dunlop's plates their forms appear
to differ considerably from those given in the maps ; and the places
assigned to them by Mr. Dunlop, differ from those given by Lacaille.
In laying down the Milky-way, Mr. Dunlop's detailed map of it, from
the Robur Caroli to Scorpio, does not appear to have been referred
to. Lacaille is quoted in the "Explanation " as the only authority
respecting the dark space in the southern cross ; and this phaenome-
non, it is observed, " does not seem to have been attended to in any
celestial globes or maps." This also is particularly mentioned by
Mr. Dunlop, and is very accurately laid down by the telescope in his
map of the Milky-way.
If we are correct in our estimation of the value of Mr. Dunlop's
observations, and if also the Society for the Diffusion of Useful
Knowledge should agree with us in the propriety of introducing such
of their results as come within the range of magnitude of the present
maps, in future impressions, probably, the omissions which we have
noticed will be supplied. [B.]
XXXIX. Pro-
t' 206 ]
XXXIX. Proceedings of Learned Societies.
ROYAL SOCIETY.
Jan. 13 & 20, A PAPER was read, On the Equilibrium of Fluids 5
18M I. •£*• and the figure of a homogeneous Planet in a
fluid stale ; by James Ivory, Esq. A.M. F.R.S.
The author considers the essential property of a fluid, and that on
which its definition should be founded, as consisting in the perfect
mobility of its particles among one another. If abstraction be made
of the force of gravity, or other accelerating force, when a conti-
nuous fluid is at rest, and consequently in a state of equilibrium,
all its particles are equally pressed in every direction, are equally
distant from one another, and are similarly arranged about every in-
terior point. No fluid is absolutely incompressible ; but the degree
of compressibility may be conceived to be so small as not to affect the
results j and it is accordingly disregarded in the investigations which
occupy the present paper.
These investigations are built on the assumption that the hydro-
static pressure at every point of the fluid is the same function of
the three rectangular co-ordinates of the point drawn to three planes
intersecting one another at right angles. The author shows that the
algebraical expressions of the accelerating forces producing the pres-
sure are not entirely arbitrary ; because they must necessarily be
equal to the partial differential co-efficients of a function of three in-
dependent variables, and therefore they are likewise the same func-
tions of the co-ordinates of their point of action in every part of the
mass. This is one of the conditions required for the equilibrium of
a mass of homogeneous fluid; and a second necessary condition is,
that these functions of the ordinates are capable of being integrated.
When these two conditions are fulfilled, the determination of the
figure of equilibrium is reduced to a question purely mathematical.
For we can form an equation expressive of an equilibrium between
the accelerating forces and the variation of pressure, and by integra-
ting this equation we may obtain the hydrostatic pressure ; whence
maybe deduced the equation of all those points at which there is no
pressure, that is, of the outer surface of the fluid. All that is then
requisite for securing the permanence of the figure of the fluid, is
that the pressures propagated through the mass be either supported,
or mutually balance one another. The upper surface, which is at
liberty, and where there is no pressure, and all interior surfaces,
where the pressure is constant, have the same differential equation ;
and from this the author infers that such surfaces are perpendicular to
the resultant of the accelerating forces acting upon the particles con-
tained in them. These interior surfaces were denominated by Clai-
raut level surfaces ; and they are distinguished by the two proper-
ties of being equally pressed at all their points, and of cutting the re-
sultant of the forces at right angles.
The author next extends the investigation to heterogeneous fluids,
the different parts of which vary in their density, and deduces a si-
milar
Royal Society. 207
milar conclusion to the former with respect to the perpendicularity of
the interior level surfaces to the resultant of the accelerating forces,
which act upon the particles situated in each surface respectively.
He discusses the hypothesis of Clairaut, of narrow canals traversing
the mass in various directions, and shows that the same results follow
from it as from the general theory.
The conditions laid down by Clairaut, and all other authors, as
those which are necessary for the equilibrium of a homogeneous fluid,
are these two : — first, the accelerating forces must be expressed by
the partial differential co-efficients of a function of three independent
co-ordinates j secondly, the resultant of the forces in action at the
upper surface at liberty must be perpendicular to that surface. The
author shows that the second condition is a consequence of the
first ; and he states the independent conditions of equilibrium to
be these: — first, the expressions of the forces must be the same func-
tions of the co-ordinates in every part of the mass ; secondly, the
same expressions must be the partial differential co-efficients of a
function of three independent co-ordinates.
In a very extensive class of problems, the difference in the two ways
of laying down the conditions of equilibrium disappears. But the theory
of Clairaut cannot be extended to the cases in which the particles
mutually attract or repel one another, or where the accelerating forces
depend on the figure of the mass of fluid. Such is the condition of a
homogeneous planet in a fluid state, in which there are forces which
prevail in the interior parts, but vanish at the surface ; and which are,
therefore, not taken into account in Clairaut's theory. But since
these forces tend to change the figure of the fluid, that theory is in-
adequate to give an exact determination of the equilibrium in those
cases.
In the second part of the paper, the author applies his theory of
the equilibrium of fluids to the determination of the figure of the pla-
nets, under the supposition that they are composed wholly of fluid
materials. For this purpose he first considers the problem of deter-
mining the equilibrium of a homogeneous mass of fluid entirely at
liberty, when the accelerating forces are known functions of the co-
ordinates at their point of action. In the investigation of this pro-
blem, he supposes that the centre of gravity is at rest, and undis-
turbed by the action of any accelerating force. He then supposes the
fluid to be in equilibrium, and that three planes are laid down, intersect-
ing one another at right angles in the centre of gravity of the mass,
to which planes the particles of the fluid are referred by rectangular
co-ordinates. The algebraical consequences of this supposition are
then pursued, the conditions necessary to equilibrium pointed out,
and the conclusion deduced, that the resultant of the accelerating forces
is perpendicular to the outer surface, and also to the interior level
surfaces of the fluid, at every point of which there is the same inten-
sity of pressure. The figure of the fluid being determined, it remains
to inquire, whether the equilibrium is secure ; and the result of the
inquiry furnishes an equation which proves that the particles have no
tendency to move, from any inequality of pressure.
A further
208 Royal Society.
A further discussion is entered into in order to prove that the pres-
sures propagated from the surfaces into the interior parts balance and
destroy one another, which completely establishes the permanence of
the figure of the fluid. It is also shown that the mass of fluid, under
these circumstances, has no tendency to turn upon an axis.
To illustrate the foregoing problem, the author applies it to the de-
termination of the figure of equilibrium of a homogeneous mass of
fluid entirely at liberty, of which the particles attract one another with
a force directly proportional to the distance, at the same time that
they are urged by a centrifugal force caused by rotation about an
axis.
He then enters upon the investigation of the second problem, in
which the law of attraction of the particles is that of the inverse du-
plicate ratio of the distance j and finally arrives at the conclusion,
that the form of the fluid in equilibrium is, exclusively of all other
figures, an oblate elliptical spheroid of revolution, and that its axis of
rotation is the lesser axis of the spheroid. He also shows that within
the spheroid there are no more than two sets of surfaces equally
pressed by the action of the exterior fluid ; arid no more than two diffe-
rent spheroids of equilibrium answering to the same rotatory motion.
If the whole spheroid be one of small oblateness, the greatest of the
interior surfaces of equable pressure, which is not a level surface,
stands upon the equator ; and the rest are within this, and are simi-
lar to it, and similarly posited. When it is very oblate, the greatest
of these surfaces is described about the lesser axis -, and the rest are
within it, and are similar to it, and similarly posited. The existence
of two sets of interior surfaces, that are equally pressed at all their
points by the action of the exterior fluid, is inconsistent with Clairaut's
theory, and is a proof of its insufficiency for determining the figure of
a homogeneous planet.
Jan. 27. — A paper was read, On the probable electric origin of
all the phenomena of Terrestrial Magnetism, with an illustrative ex-
periment ; by Peter Barlow, Esq. F.R.S. Corr. Mem. Inst. France,
and of the Imp. Acad. St. Petersburg!!.
The author begins his paper by a retrospect of the several discove-
ries on terrestrial magnetism made since the commencement of the
present century. Humboldt, by his numerous and accurate observa-
tions on this subject, laid the foundation of all the scientific know-
ledge relating to it, which we hitherto possessed. The task of reducing
these observations to definite principles, by subjecting them to calcu-
lation, was undertaken by Biot ; and the conclusion which he drew
from them was, that, on the hypothesis of the earth's being a great
magnet, the facts would best accord with the supposition that its
two poles are coincident, or indefinitely near to each other, at the
centre of the globe. The same result was also obtained, though by a
different process of reasoning by M. Kraft of St. Petersburgh. It
followed as a necessary consequence that terrestrial magnetism ob-
serves a law different from that of a permanently magnetic body, but
identical with that of a body in which transient magnetism is excited
by induction. The law which obtains in the case of a sphere of iron
rendered
Royal Society. 209
rendered magnetic by induction was first investigated, in 1829, by
Mr. Barlow j and also, by Mr. Charles Bonnycastle, Professor of
Mathematics in the University of Virginia -, it has since been amply
confirmed by the more elaborate analytical investigations of Pois-
son. But the result of all these inquiries, instead of affording
us clearer notions of the action of terrestrial magnetism, tended
rather to perplex and obscure our views respecting its nature and
operation.
While our knowledge was in this imperfect and almost retrograde
state, a new light broke in upon us in the great discovery of Oersted,
which, by disclosing the intimate relation which electricity bears to
magnetism, must be regarded as forming a new era in the history of
this department of physical science. The operation of the tangential
force between a galvanic wire and a magnetic needle was pointed out
by the author, in a paper which was read to the Royal Society in the
year 1822 j and was still more fully examined by M. Ampere, who
extended the investigation to the law of the reciprocal action of gal-
vanic currents on one another ; and thence deduced a general theory
of magnetic action.
Having established the general fact that the magnetism which is
induced on an iron ball resides only on its surface, and acts accord-
ing to the same laws as the magnetic influence of the earth, the
author was desirous of ascertaining whether he could succeed in imi-
tating the effects of terrestrial magnetism by distributing galvanic
currents round the surface of an artificial globe. This conjecture he
put to the test of experiment, by having a hollow wooden globe
constructed, sixteen inches in diameter, with grooves cut at all the
parallels of latitude distant by 10° from each other. Copper wires
were then laid in these grooves, and disposed so as to allow of the
transmission of a galvanic currrent in similar directions through the
whole system of these circular wires. This being effected, it was
found that a magnetic needle, properly neutralized, so as to be ex-
empt from all influence from the earth, and freely suspended in different
situations on the surface of this artificial globe, assumed positions ex-
actly analogous to those of the dipping-needle in different parts of
the earth. The author has no doubt that if the electrical currents
in this experiment could be increased indefinitely, the apparatus
might be made accurately to represent every circumstance of mag-
netic dip and direction actually observed in nature.
It thus appears that all the phenomena of terrestrial magnetism
may be produced by electricity alone : for it is evident, that in place
of the needle employed in the experiment above described, the gal-
vanic needle of Ampere might have been substituted, to the complete
exclusion of the only magnetic part of the apparatus.
The discovery of Seebeck, that heat applied to a circuit of metallic
conductors developes galvanism, and consequently gives rise to
magnetic induction, supplies another link in the chain of evidence,
that terrestrial magnetism is purely an electrical phenomenon, de-
riving its origin, during the diurnal revolution of the earth, from the
action of the sun's rays on successive portions of its surface, in d.»
rections parallel to the equator. The probability, therefore, is now
N. S. Vol. 9. No. 51. March 1831. 2 E much
210 Linnaean Society.
much increased, that magnetism is a quality not essentially distinct
from electricity.
Feb. 3. — A paper was read On the Lunar Theory. Communicated
by the Rev. Dr. Lardner, F.R.S.
The subject treated of in this paper is introduced by a review of the
labours of Clairaut, Euler, D'Alembert, and Thomas Simpson. The
theories of these eminent men, the author remarks, were very defici-
cient in accuracy, and were not at all adequate, without correction
from observation, to the construction of tables. They could serve
only to point out the arguments of the equations, and not all even of
these. The inequalities of the moon's motion are investigated by ap-
proximating processes, which lead to results more or less accurate,
according as the approximations are carried to a greater or less ex-
tent. The writers above mentioned had contented themselves with
short and easy approximations j and though they had accomplished
much, had yet left much more to be done. Subsequently to these,
Mayer published an elaborate theory of the moon j but his coefficients
required much correction, the results of his computations being in
some cases found to differ very widely from observation. A much
greater degree of accuracy was attained by Laplace, who bestowed
particular attention to the influence of minute quantities, in every
part of his theory. In the present paper the author has endeavoured
to introduce further improvements into the lunar theory, by carrying
the approximations considerably further than had hitherto been ac-
complished.
In the solutions of the problem given by former mathematicians,
the chief obstacle to the attainment of accuracy was the extreme
length and labour of the necessary computations. Another object,
therefore, which the author has had in view, is to facilitate these com-
putations, and render them less laborious. This he endeavours to
effect by the employment of certain artifices, by which the multiplicity
of small terms will, with their coefficients, be reduced within a prac-
ticable compass, and their numerical computation rendered less ap-
palling.
The coefficient of the equation depending on the moon's distance
from the sun, affords the means of calculating the sun's horizontal
parallax. For this purpose Laplace has computed this coefficient
with greater accuracy than the rest j and he makes the sun's pa-
rallax nearly 9". The author's theory gives it little more than 8J",
which is very near the mean of the various results obtained by the
observation of transits. He thinks that there is, therefore, great
reason to conclude that its true value is about this quantity.
LINN.EAN SOCIETY.
Feb. 1. — A. B. Lambert, Esq. in the chair.
A communication from John Blackwall, Esq. F.L.S. was read, in-
titled Remarks on the Pulvilli of Insects. In this paper the writer con-
troverts the statement of Dr. Derlmm in his Physico-Theology, sup-
ported by Sir E. Home, and generally adopted by naturalists, that the
feet of flies and other insects are furnished with " skinny palms,"
which enable them to stick on glass, £c, by means of the pressure of
Geological Society. 211
the atmosphere. Mr. Blackwall states that he found that minute hairs
very closely set and directed downwards so completely cover the in-
ferior surface of the expanded membranes, improperly called suckers,
with which the terminal joint of the tarsi is provided, that it cannot
possibly be brought into contact with the objects on which these in-
sects move. He concludes, from observation and experiment, that
the insects traverse the vertical sides of smooth bodies, by means
strictly mechanical, as Dr. Hooke had suggested.
Feb. 15. — The reading of Mr. Blackwall's paper on Spiders was
concluded. • •
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Jan. 5. 1831. — A paper was read entitled, " On the general struc-
ture of the Lake Mountains of the North of England, and on the
great dislocations by which they have been separated from the
neighbouring chains ;" by Prof. Sedgwick, Pres. G.S.
The country, of which the author hopes to give a detailed descrip-
tion in a series of communications, is bounded to the west and the
south by the waters of the Irish Sea and Morecambe Bay. Towards
the north it descends into the plain of the new red sandstone within
the basin of the Eden ; and on the east side it presses against, and
partly encroaches on, the central carboniferous chain of the north.
Within these limits are found two distinct classes of rocks, all the cen-
tral region being composed of crystalline unstratified rocks, irregu-
larly associated with great formations of schist, which are subdivided
(agreeably to the system first published by Mr. Otley of Keswick,)
into three well defined groups ; while on the outskirts of these older
formations is a broken zone of carboniferous limestone, and exten-
sive deposits of superior [secondary] strata. The author avoids all
mineralogical details ; and after noticing the effects produced by the
several formations on the external features of the country, describes
at great length the range of a band of transition limestone (from
Millam in Cumberland, to the neighbourhood of Wasdale Head in
Westmoreland) nearly across the whole physical region under con-
sideration ; and states that it is finally cut off by a protruding boss
of granite, which he regards as newer than the limestone. Upon this
description he founds the following conclusions.
1st. Great cracks and fissures were formed at a very ancient pe-
riod, diverging from the central regions, and intersecting the line
of bearing of the strata. All the great valleys in the range described,
are scooped out in the prolongation of these breaks, which were
in all cases accompanied with internal movements ; the present po-
sition of the systems of strata on the opposite sides of a transverse
valley sometimes indicating a relative lateral movement of more
than a mile in extent. These singular changes of position are re-
ferred partly to a true lateral shift, and partly to subsidence.
Reasoning from analogy, the author concludes that all the great
diverging valleys of the Lake Mountains took their origin in fissures
probably formed during the period of the protrusion of the central
syenite and granite.
2ndly. He observes that the upper and lower systems of the slate
2 E 2 rocks
212 Geological Society.
rocks are often violently contorted; while the central system, thougb
cracked and fissured as above described, hardly ever exhibits the in-
dicationsof any flexures. This is explained by the presence of enor-
mous unbending masses of compact felspar, porphyry, &c., which
are so intimately associated with the middle division of the slate that
the formations cannot be separated. The appearance is explained by
referring the felspathic rocks to some modification of sub-marine
volcanic action ; by supposing that igneous and aqueous causes acted
together, and that the operations were many times repeated.
Srdly. The mean line of bearing of the different systems is shown
to be nearly N.E. by E., and S.W. by W. This makes them, one
after the other, to abut against the carboniferous zone ; from which
it follows that they must also be unconformable to it. The author
confirms this inference by referring to detailed sections ; and, from
the whole of the evidence, he concludes, that the central Lake Moun-
tains were placed in their present position, — not by a long-cor.-
tinued, but by a sudden movement of elevation, before or during the
period of the old red sandstone.
Lastly, He enters into some details, from which he endeavours
to show, that if lines be drawn in the principal bearing of the fol-
lowing chains (viz. the southern chain of Scotland from St. Abbs
Head to the Mull of Galloway ; the grauwacke chain of the Isle
of Man, the slate ranges of the Isle of Anglesea; the principal grau-
wacke chains of Wales, and the Cornish chain), they will be nearly
parallel to each other, and to the line of bearing of the Lake Moun-
tains, as above indicated. The elevation of all these chains is referred
to the same period ; and the parallelism is not regarded as acci-
dental ; but as a confirmation of one of the great principles upon
which are founded some of the most beautiful generalizations of the
Essays recently published by M. Elie de Beaumont.
The author next describes the system of faults by which the Lake
Mountains were broken off from the central carboniferous chain.
After some speculations on the original extent of the carboniferous
deposits, which were spread out from the Scotch border to the
central plains of England, and perhaps continuous with the similar
deposits on the Bristol Channel, he points out some peculiarities of
the western coal-fields.
Istly. The axes of the several contemporaneous basins are not
parallel.
2ndly. The causes which produced this arrangement appear to
have partially affected the then neighbouring grauwacke regions.
Thus the transition slate of North Devon does not range parallel
to the mean bearing of the grauwacke chain, but to that of the Welsh
coal-field.
Srdly. These coal-fields are contrasted with the carboniferous
chain of the north, extending from the latitude of Derby to the
mouth of the Tweed : and it is inferred, from the nature of the
beds resting on the edges of the dislocated strata, that the eleva-
tions of the south-western and northern systems were not perfectly
contemporaneous.
4thly. The
Geological Society. 213
4thly. The coal-fields of the Bristol Channel have no well-
fined line of bearing, and have produced but small effects on the
range of the superior secondary formations, which from the south
coast to the latitude of Derby are nearly parallel to the mean range
of the grauwacke chains above indicated. On the contrary, the great
carboniferous chain north of Derby has produced a direct influence
on the bearings of the newer formations.
He then briefly describes the structure of the great carboniferous
chain of the North of England. The forces of elevation appear on
the whole to have acted (though not without considerable devia-
tions) on a line bearing nearly north and south. The position of
the High Peak limestone, and the great north and south faults on
its western side, are first noticed ; and the axis of elevation is con-
tinued by help of an anticlinal line through the region of millstone
grit, separating the Yorkshire and Lancashire coal-fields. The reap-
pearance of the carboniferous limestone, its high elevation, and pro-
longation to the Scotch border, and the faults which range near its
western escarpment are then noticed ; and the great Craven fault (de-
scribed in detail by Mr. Phillips) is traced still further towards the
north from the hills of Barbondale to the foot of Stainmoor. The na-
ture of the dislocations is illustrated by sections ; and it is shown
that the prolongation of the Craven fault from Mollerstang, to Stain-
moor foot has thrown down the carboniferous system with an in-
verted dip into the valley of the Eden, and produced a dislocation
precisely similar in kind to that near Ingleton, described in detail
by Mr. Phillips, and indicated in one of Mr. Conybeare's sections. —
It is further shown that these dislocated mountain masses, becom-
ing more expanded and less inclined, are prolonged without any
further break of continuity into the northern zone of the lake moun-
tains. A great fault which ranges at the foot of the Cross Fell Chain,
and meets the Craven fault at the foot of Stainmoor at an obtuse
angle, is then described ; and it is shown that when it strikes the
carboniferous chain above Brough, an effect is produced precisely
similar to that which accompanies the prolongation of the Craven
fault. By the intersection of these faults, the very complex rela-
tions of the mountain masses, in the last ramifications of the Eden,
and the insulated position of the Lake mountains are at once ex-
plained.
Lastly. The author speculates on the origin of the phenomena
described, and points to the different crystalline rocks appearing near
the carboniferous chain. He proves that the great breaks took
place immediately before the oldest deposits of the new red sand-
stone, and endeavours to show that they were produced by a vio-
lent and transitory, and not by a long-continued action.
Jan. 19. — The reading of a paper, entitled " Supplementary
Observations on the structure of the Austrian and Bavarian Alps,''
by Roderick ImpeyMurchison, Esq. Sec. G.S. F.R.S. was begun.
Feb. 2. — The reading of the paper, by Roderick Impey Murchison,
Esq. Sec. G.S. F.R.S., begun at the last Meeting, was concluded.
This
214 Geological Society.
This memoir contains the results of observations made by the au-
thor during last summer, with the view of extending the researches
of Professor Sedgwick and himself* : the present remarks being
limited to the consideration of that portion of the Alps, on the
northern side of the axis, which is included between the lake of
Constance on the west, and Vienna on the east, followed by a short
description of the valley of the Danube.
1 . Primary Rocks. — He notices that Mr. Partsch and himself
discovered that traces of the primary axis of the Alps reappear in
the Leitha-gebirge, and are there overlaid on each side by tertiary
deposits.
2. Transition Rocks tvith Iron Ores are briefly alluded to, merely
for the purpose of marking their place in the series.
3. Rauchwacke or Magnesian Limestone. — The author shows that
the formation is much developed near the eastern termination of
the Austrian Alps, (St. Johann, Kirchbiichel, Sobenstein, &c.)
that it there dips under red sandstone and Alpine limestone, and
is quite similar to rocks occupying the same position in the Tyrol
(Schwatz, Soil, &c.).
4?. New Red Sandstone with Salt and Gypsum. — In former sections,
(published by Professor Sedgwick and the author,) this formation
is only designated in one line of valleys, i. e. along the great es-
carpment of the Alpine limestone j recent observations have, how-
ever, convinced the author, that it is reproduced in other longitu-
dinal depressions, further removed from the axis of the chain. In
the valley of Abtenau, for instance, he ascertained that the red
sandstone containing thick masses of gypsum and several salt-
springs, dips conformably on one side under black shale and lime-
stone, of the age of the lias, and on the other is overlaid uncon-
formably by the shelly deposits of Gosau. He also cites Berchtes-
gaden, with its salt-mines, as another case of a valley in which
the new red-sandstone is denuded, and he shows that the strata
there dip beneath the whole of the oolitic series of the Kneifel-
berg and Untersberg.
5. Lower Alpine Lime&tone, or Lias and Inferior Oolite. — It is
stated that the dark-coloured limestone and shale which surmount
the red sandstone at Abtenau, range northwards with various con-
tortions, and are well exposed in the gorge of the Mertelbach be-
low Crispel ; where, accompanied by M. Von Lill, the author col-
lected several fossils, viz. : Ammonites, two species, (one very near
to A. Conybeariy) Pecten, three species, small Gryphaea, Mya,
Perna, two species, Ostraea, Corallines, &c. In mineral characters
these beds, it is said, closely resemble some of those of Whitby,
from which, together with the complexion of the fossils, and their
place in the series, the author refers the group to the lias. An
* Prof. Sedgwick and Mr. Murchison's paper on the Austrian Alps, here
alluded to, will be found in the Philosophical Magazine and Annals, vol.viii.
p. 81 — EDIT.
overlying
Geological Society. 2 1 5
overlying red, encrinite limestone, contains at least five or six species
of Ammonites and some Belemnites ; amongst the former is the
A. multicostatus. This red limestone crops out on both sides of
the valley of the Salza near Hallein, and reappears in various places
in the Salzburg Alps (Aussee, Ebensee, &c.).
6. Salt Deposits — The place assigned to most of the salt-mines of
the Austrian Alps in the memoir of last year, has been confirmed ;
and additional sections are given at Halstadt and Aussee to prove
that the salt masses in these places are fairly encased in Alpine lime-
stone. In other localities, however, as above indicated, this mine-
ral is shown to occur in the same formations as in England.
. 7. Upper Alpine Limestone, or Upper Oolite. — In this group the
author comprehends semi-crystalline, brecciated, scaly, compact
and dolomitic limestones. The Hippurite limestone, though with
some doubt, is considered to mark the superior limit of this series,
the author having been led to this conclusion from the relations
seen on the north flank of the Untersberg, at Windischgarsten,Gosau
and the Wand, in all of which places there are passages from the
Alpine limestone into the Hippurite rock.
8. Sandstone, Calcareous Grit and Shales, Slaty Limestone, #c.—
The Gres de Vienne is placed by the author as the lowest member
of this group ; although in the eastern termination of the Alps he
agrees with M. Bou6, that its separation from the Alpine limestone
cannot well be effected. All along the chain, however, from the Enns
to the lake of Constance, he thinks that the grits and shales with
fucoids constitute a natural group distinguished in external charac-
ters from the Alpine limestone, and that they there form the lowest
term of the green sand. He then describes several transverse, pa-
rallel sections across that zone. The first of these is in the valley of
the Allgau or Sonthofen, in the upper end of which, near Miesel-
stein, the grits and fucoid shales are broken through by gneiss,
which appears to have been heaved up in a solid form posterior to
the deposition of the former j whilst in an adjoining gorge dikes
of igneous rocks seem to have made unavailing efforts to pierce
through the overlying mountain of the Schwarzenberg. The dis-
locations and inversions of dip in the parallel ridges of the Allgau
are described in detailed sections. At the mouth of the valley the
Grinten, a narrow serrated mountain, ranging E.N.E. and W.N.W.,
is composed of many of the same rocks described last year at Nes-
selwang, but owing to a complete reversal of dip the lowest beds
or inferior green sand are thrown into juxtaposition with a ridge
of conglomerate of tertiary age, which dips to the north beneath
the molasse of the plain. The lowest beds are nearly vertical, and
consist of brown chert ; these are succeeded by green, calcareous
sandstone and grit highly inclined, containing Inoceramus concentric
cus, Myaplicata, Plicatulapectinoides, a small Gryphsea, Ammonites
and Belemnites, — fossils characteristic of the middle and lower
green sand. The overlying strata are a cream-coloured limestone
with ammonites, passing up into a slaty red marly limestone undi-
stinguishable from Scaglia, The formations seen in the Grinten,
therefore,
216 Geological Society.
therefore, are a part of the lower, all the upper green-sand, and
probably a portion of the chalk.
9. Lower Nummulitic Limestone and Shale, fyc. (Sonthofen Iron
Ores). — The strata containing the iron ores at Sonthofen surmount
the preceding series in the gorge of the Starzlach. The author
considers them, from the character of their fossils, particularly Spa-
tangi, certain species of Nummulites, Belemnites, Terebratulae,
and Trigoniae, to be more connected with the cretaceous than with
the superior formations. To show the essential difference be-
tween the age of these iron ores of Sonthofen and those of the
Kressenberg, a detailed section is described from south to north on
the banks of the Traun, where a vast thickness of lower, nummu-
litic, calcareous grit, with shales, marls, and cretaceous beds, as ex-
hibited in vertical strata opposite the town of Arzt, are shown to
be of the same age as those of Sonthofen, and are clearly proved
to be overlaid by the nummulitic iron ores of the Kressenberg.
10. Upper Nummulitic Iron Ores. — It is to the shelly iron ores at
Kressenberg, and not to those of Sonthofen, that Professor Sedg-
wick and the author assigned the place of transition -tertiary beds, —
a place, the correctness of which, it is contended, is now established
as clearly by the evidences of superposition, given in this memoir,
as it formerly was by Count Minister, from the vast predominance
of tertiary fossils.
The natural section on the Traun is then completed, by showing
that the iransition-tej-tiarybeds are conformably overlaid by inclined
strata of pebbly sandstone and marls, in the higher part of which,
near Traunstein, there are a number of shells unquestionably of
tertiary age. All these inclined strata are capped by a thick range
of horizontal coarse conglomerate. Sections made on the flanks of
the Untersberg confirm the observations of the previous year, and
show the Hippurite limestone dipping under the green sand and
shale, — the green sand and cretaceous beds surmounted by a vast
thickness of nummulitic, green grit; and this again overlaid by blue
marls with shells of the age of Gosau and Kressenberg *.
Other localities are noticed, where detached remnants of both
the lower and upper nummulitic groups were visited by the author,
(St. Pancratz, Mattsee, &c.), and the Gryphite abounding in these
beds is stated to be not the Gryphcea columba, but a new spe-
cies. Through the labours of Mr. Lonsdale, eight species at least of
Nummulites have been distinguished, some of which characterize the
lower or secondary strata at Sonthofen, Arzt, and Mattsee, others
together with a coral (Nummulina complanata) prevail in the transi-
tion-tertiary groups of Kressenberg, Schweiger Mill, &c. Having
thus, both by superposition and by fossils, shown the existence on
the' flanks of the chain of a deposit with a predominance of tertiary
and very few secondary shells, as distinguished from a lower group
* This section as given last year was necessarily terminated by the river
Saal, because the Hogl on its northern bank consists of an unconformable
mass of secondary grit and shale (green sand), which is thrown off from
the Stauffen, a promontory of Alpine limestone.
in
Geological Society. 217
in which secondary fossils prevail, the author proceeds to point out
accumulations of the same age, at various heights, within the great
secondary chain of the Alps.
In the valley of Gosau several new facts are enumerated. The
edges of the shelly deposit are seen to rest on red sandstone, on
Alpine and Hippurite limestone, and on green sand. Besides the
underlying conglomerate *, the shelly system is considered to be
clearly divisible into two parts, of which the inferior contains many
secondary as well as tertiary fossils, with Tornatella (Turbinel-
lus, Sow.), Nerinea/rolled Hippurites, &c. ; whilst the superior blue
marls abound with myriads of shells of a tertiary aspect, and many
corals, of species figured by Goldfuss, from the tertiary formations
at Castel Arquato, Bassano, &c.
As all the conchologists who have seen the unmixed shells of
these upper blue marls have declared that they belong to formations
newer than the chalk, the author conceives this case, therefore, to
be now established beyond dispute, both by stratigraphical and
zoological evidence : and he further is of opinion that the slaty
overlying psammites of the Horn and the Ressenberg clearly repre-
sent the molasse.
A case of more extraordinary elevation than that of Gosau was
this year discovered by the author, in the Alpine pasturage of
Zlam above Aussee and Grundelsee, where blue marls with
Cerithea, sharks' teeth, &c., overlie calcareous grits and conglome-
rate, with Tornatella and Nerinea, and are carried up in a cleft of
Alpine limestone to at least 6000 feet above the sea. Several lo-
calities mentioned by Dr. Boue are then alluded to : Windisch-
garsten is a valley similar to Gosau, of which, according to the au-
thor, it exhibits only the lower shelly beds, and amongst the conti-
guous rocks on which these repose, are grits, fucoid shales, Hippu-
rite limestone, younger Alpine limestone, &c.
Formations of the transition-tertiary age are then described on
three sides of the Wand, a mountain of Alpine limestone, at the
eastern extremity of the Alps, where the author made various sec-
tions assisted by Mr. Partsch of Vienna. At Piesting Meyersdorf,
Dreystetten and Griinbach, they found that the shelly, blue marls
invariably occupied the same place in the series as at Gosau. At
Griinbach, the ascending order, as seen in vertical strata, is Alpine
and Hippurite limestones, green grit and shale, coal beds with
freshwater shells, nummulitic grit, marls with Gosau shells and
corals. In none of these sections could Mr. Partsch or the author
detect the trace of Belemnites, said to have been found here by
Dr. Boue.
II. The memoir next describes the valley of the Danube.
It is stated that the phenomena on the flank of the Bohemian
chain, even where it approaches very near to the Alps, are entirely
different from any that have been previously described.
In a section from Vilshofen, on the Danube, to Schaerding, true
clu'Ik with flints and characteristic fossils is seen, at Ortenburg, rest-
* See former Memoirs.
N.S. Vol. 9. No. 51. March 1831. 2 F ing
218 Geological Society.
ing horizontally on black granite. The surface of this chalk is cor-
roded, and the fissures are rilled, and covered by sands with oysters,
and these again by blue marl, all wearing the aspect of the lower
tertiaries in England. These beds in the Inn-kreis, at Pielach near
Molk, &c. &c. stretch horizontally round promontories of gneiss and
granite, and offer a remarkable contrast to the vertically and dislo-
cations of the strata of the same age in the opposite and principal
chain of the Alps.
These discrepancies of arrangement, when coupled with the dif-
ferences in the direction of the two chains, are cited as corroborating
some of the views of M. Elie de Beaumont : for the Bohemian
mountains trending from N. W. to S. E. are seen not to have been
moved from a very ancient period ; whilst the principal chain of the
Alps running from W.S.W. to E.N.E. is found to have undergone
one of its last convulsions posterior to some of the most recent ac-
cumulations.
The tertiary deposits in the valley of the Danube and basin of
Vienna are cursorily enumerated. At Pielach and other places near
Molk, the lower blue marl or " Tegel " alternates with, and is sur-
mounted by, yellow sand ; and the lowest beds of this system are
presumed to be the equivalents of the London clay and lower Sub-
apennines.
The middle and higher tertiary deposits are alone well seen in the
basin of Vienna, and this the author attributes to the gradual declen-
sion in the height of the Alps in their range to the east, by which the
older tertiaries, which rest on their edges, are not brought to day in
that neighbourhood. These lower beds have, however, been reach-
ed by borings near Vienna, where 300 feet of the inferior blue
Tegel have been traversed, even to the white sands. The lower
blue marl is covered by yellow sands containing many species of
shells, and this again passes up into upper blue marl.
It is from these upper sands and marls, although of not half the
thickness of the lower, that nearly all the known shells of the basin
of Vienna have hitherto been collected ; and hence the author infers
that it is impossible to decide upon the comparative age of all the
formations in this basin until the species of the different deposits be
separately ascertained, — a work which he hopes to see accomplished
by M. Partsch.
The blue marls and sands are proved to be overlaid by a pebbly,
calcareous conglomerate, which graduates upwards into the Leitha-
Kalk or great, white, coralline building-stone of Vienna, containing
bones of Tapir, Mastodon, &c. (Loretto, Margarethen, Eisenstadt,
Wollersdorf ) } and this rock is identified, by the author, with the
coral limestone of Lower Styria, formerly described by Prof. Sedg-
wick, and himself.
It is stated that freshwater limestone, with Lymnaea, Helix, and
Planorbis, is seen in patches (Eich Kogel, &c.), but that where this
formation is absent, the Leitha-Kalk is usually succeeded by thick
accumulations of gravel and sand, with concretions, and bones of
Tapir, Mastodon, Anthracotherium, &c. ; these gravel beds being of
the
Geological Society. 219
the same age with the superior deposits of Lower Styria, through
which it has been asserted in a former memoir, that basaltic and
trachytic eruptions have penetrated.
Lastly. The superficial covering of the low countries of Austria,
called Loss *, is mentioned as being of great thickness and extent,
containing bones of extinct species of elephants, mixed up with ter-
restrial shells of existing species, which character, combined with its
loamy structure, is considered to indicate a tranquil period of deposit.
Recapitulating the principal points illustrated in this memoir, the
author recurs to that essential part of it, in which, following up the
idea of Prof. Sedgwick and himself, he endeavours to prove the
large development and persistence in the eastern Alps of certain
shelly deposits, of an age intermediate between the chalk and the
tertiary formations ; and he concludes by expressing an opinion, that
with more extended examination, geologists may arrive at the con-
clusion, that the disturbing forces which in the West of Europe
have destroyed the formations succeeding to the chalk, were local
phenomena, which operated through a limited portion only of the
earth's surface.
Feb. 16. — A letter was first read from Peter Cunningham, Esq.
dated Newcastle on Hunter's River, New South Wales, Oct.16,1829 ;
and communicated by John Barrow, Esq. F.R.S. &c.
This letter is written with a view to give some insight into the
former state of the interior of New South Wales, and the writer
accompanies it jAvith a few organic remains ; amongst others,
with the second cervical vertebrae of a large animal found, on the
surface. He states, that a great ridge separates the eastern and
western waters, running from N.N.E. to S.S.W. and that in Liver-
pool plains the oldest rock appeared to be a hard, blue granite
with red sandstone on its flanks. Granite has also been seen at the
Wallanbai rivulet, at Carrington, and at Waybong, — distances of
35, 55, and even 100 miles from the sea. In the Liverpool
range, it is said, there is a slaty, blue rock resembling grauwacke,
and that this is succeeded, about 26 miles up the Patterson, by a
coarse, red sandstone, and that again by a blue limestone. Another
limestone is described as having an oolitic structure with corals on its
surface. Most of the alluvial tracts in this part of the colony (Liver-
pool plains, &c.) are spoken of as consisting of rich, black, loose mould,
formed by depositions from the hills, which on the slopes arrays itself
into ridges, and in the plains into alternate hillocks and cavities.
Much red sandstone with salt springs is stated to exist in the inte-
rior, as well as on the coast of the colony, and the red, loose, sandy
soil is said to be generally covered with the " iron tree", and with
long, weak spikes of flaccid grass. It is to the want of an admixture
of clay, or any retentive stratum, with the sands, that the author attri-
butes the great deficiency of water in the colony, boring having been
found quite useless throughout the absorbent sandstone country, al-
though in the immediate flanks of the primary ridges water gushes
* See former Memoir, Phil. Mag. & Annals, N.S. vol. vii., p. 49.
2 F 2 out
220 Astronomical Society.
out freely, and chalybeate and saline springs occur at short distances
from each other.
The coal of the colony appears to be a lignite, and is associated
with grey marlstone containing impressions of leaves of dicotyledonous
plants. The secondary rocks contain casts of Terebratulae and other
shells j but the author does not attempt to make out precisely the
order of superposition, or the equivalents of the strata.
A memoir was then read " On the Geology of the Island of Juan
Fernandez, in the Pacific Ocean, by Alex. Caldcleugh, Esq. F.G.S."
After a sketch of the past history and present state of this island,
celebrated as the place of exile of Alexander Selkirk and the scene of
the fabulous adventures of Robinson Crusoe*, the author proceeds to
state that it is about twelve miles in length and four in breadth, pos-
sessing three ports, and consisting of very high land, the culminating
point of which rises to about 3005 feet above the sea.
The author could discover no trace of a volcano said to exist here
by former visitors j all the rocks, according to him, consist of basaltic
greenstone and trap of various mineralogical structure, both amorphous
and vesicular, together withtrappean concretions, no other contained
minerals being observable except olivine and metastique [?] . It is fur-
ther mentioned that the basalt in parts is almost columnar, and in
others has a peaked and serrated outline, the mass being, here and
there, traversed by dykes.
Owing to the peculiar character of this basalt, and especially from
the great quantity of olivine, the author compares its age with that of
Bohemia, the Rhine, the Vivarrais, and Beaulieu in Provence.
ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY.
Dec. 10, 1830. — The following communications were read : —
I. On a Method of determining the Declinations of Stars with
one Mural Circle, by J. Pond, Esq. A.R.
II. A Letter from Capt. Philip P. King, R.N.on a Comet seen near
the South Pole. " This comet was discovered by Lieut. Wickham, of
H.M.S. Adventure, on the night of the 1 8th of last March. An ima-
ginary line from y Crucis through a Crucis to the smaller nebula,
being crossed by another from Sirius through the larger nebula,
their intersection would be very close to the comet's position. It
was very bright and large. At midnight the following angular dis-
tances were measured with a sextant.
Comet and a Crucis 31° 50' 30"
Sirius 71 0 0"
Three weeks after, when Captain King had arrived at the Strait
of Magalhanes, the comet was too faint to be observed: it was seen
near 0, j/, <5 Junonis Pavo.
* There appears to be some confusion in this statement, aiising proba-
bably from the prevailing, though, we believe, erroneous supposition, that
the fiction of Robinson Crusoe was founded on the real adventures of Alex-
ander Selkirk in Juan Fernandez. The scene of the adventures of Robin-
son Crusoe, as is evident from the particulars related in the narrative, is an
island supposed to be situated on the north-eastern coast of South America,
opposite the mouth of the river Amazons. — EDIT.
A notice
Astronomical Society. 221
A notice of the same comet, from Sir Alexander Johnstone, was
communicated by Mr. Baily. It was discovered by Prof. Dabadie,
at the Mauritius, on the evening of the 16th of March. It was first
seen between the Chameleon and the great nebula. The next day it
had advanced about 5° towards the north, and it continued in this
direction with a diminished velocity, till it reached the eastern wing
of Cygnus, where it disappeared about the end of May. The length
of its tail never exceeded 5°. Professor Dabadie had no observa-
tory; but he made a great number of observations of its distance
from several stars, and from three of these he deduced the follow-
ing elements.
Longitude of ascending node = 228° 31'
Inclination of the orbit = 49 46
Place of the perihelion =238 13
Perihelion distance = 0-897
Passage of the perihelion, April 11, at 2lh
Motion direct.
The distances from which these elements are deduced are as
follows : —
1830. True time at Port Louis.
March 19 at 8" 45m 50s Comet and Canopus = 36° 11'
920 Comet and a Centauri= 34 50
April 1 16 48 0 Comet and a Centauri= 69 34
17 21 0 Comet and a Aquilse = 43 50
April 15 16 25 50 Comet and a Aquilae = 21 50
40 50 Comet and a Centauri == 97 39|
III. A letter from Sir Thomas Brisbane, with occultations of
fixed stars by the moon, observed at Makerstown, lat. 55° 34' 45" N.
long.0h 10m4s W.
IV. An Account of a private Observatory, recently erected at
Bedford, by Capt. W. H. Smyth, R.N.
Capt. Smyth gives sixty observations of standard stars, for each
of which the zenith point was determined by the collimator, and de-
duces from the mean of the whole,
The latitude of the Bedford observatory 52° 8' 25"-45
By eight observations of Polaris, above and below"j
pole, face east and face west, instrument ad- >52 8 29 *71
justed by the plumb-line and levels J
Mean 52 8 27-58N
From six observations of the moon and raoon-culminating stars,
half of the first and half of the second limb, and compared with
corresponding Greenwich observations,
The longitude of the Bedford observatory =lm 51s<975West.
From four corresponding occultations . .*. 1 51*486
From thirty-eight non-corresponding ocO
cultations and eclipses of Jupiter s sa- > 1 47 *948
tellites J
Capt. Smyth is inclined to adopt, for the present, lm 5P*7.
ZOOLOGI-
Zoological Society.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
January 25, 1831. Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart, in the Chair.
A specimen of the Cereopsis Novce HoUandice, Lath., which had
recently died at the Society's Menagerie in the Regent's Park, was
exhibited.— Mr. Yarrell stated that having examined the body of
the bird, he had remarked that its trunk was much shorter than that
of the true Geese, and more triangular in its shape : the pectoral
muscles were large and dark coloured. The trachea was of large,
but nearly uniform, calibre, without convolution, and attached in
its descent to the right side of the neck as in the Heron and Bit-
tern -j in the form of its bone of divarication and bronchia it most
resembled the same part in the Geese. The muscles of voice were
two pairs ; one pair attached to the shafts of the osjurcatoriumt the
other to the inner lateral surface of the sternum. The lobes of the
liver were of large size, morbidly dark in colour j their substance
broke down under the finger on the slightest pressure. The sto-
mach, a true gizzard, was of small size as compared with the bulk
of the bird. The first duplicature of intestine was six inches in
length, at the returning portion of which the biliary and pancreatic
ducts entered ; from thence to the origin of the cceca four feet six
inches ; the cceca nine inches each ; the colon and rectum together
five inches : the whole length of the intestines was seven feet five
inches. The stomach and intestinal viscera were loaded with fat 5
the other parts exhibited nothing remarkable.
Internally this bird,which was a male, resembled the true Geese ;
but externally, in the character of the bones, particularly in the
rounded form of the edge, and great depth, of the keel of the ster-
num, and the lateral situation of the trachea in reference to the cer-
vical vertebrtz, it was decidedly similar to the Ardeidce.
Mr. Yarrell availed himself of the occasion to remark that the
Natatores of Mr. Vigors's systematic arrangement in Ornithology
were placed between the Grallatores or Waders on the one side, and
the Raptores or Birds of Prey on the other: and that the order con-
tained five groups, two of which, the Alcadae and Colymbidce^ were
called normal, containing those birds which were considered to be
the types of the true Swimmers, and three groups, Anatidce^ Peleca-
nidce, and Laridce, called aberrant, as deviating from the type, and
exhibiting some characters which connected them either with the
Grallatores or the Raptores. Some of the Laridcc and Pelecanidce in
the length of their wings, their consequent power of flight, and the
mode of taking their food in the air, exhibited their obvious affinity
to the Birds of Prey on the one hand ; while some of the Anatidce,
by their lengthened legs and neck, and their habit of passing much
of their time on land or frequenting shallow pools of water, showed
an equal affinity to some of the Waders. This was the case with
the Cereopsis, and occurred also in the Semipalmated Goose and in
another Goose now living in the Society's Gardens, the Anserju-
batus, Spix.
It was stated that in proportion as these birds departed from the
characters of the true Gccsc in their external appearance and habits,
and
Zoological Society. 223
and in both approached to the Ardeidce, they would also be found
on examination to resemble them in their internal organization. In
proof of this an extensive series of parts of the skeletons of birds
from the true Divers to the Cranes was exhibited, and the peculia-
rities pointed out. The keel of the breast-bone in the Ducks and
true Geese was shown to be of considerable depth, with its inferior
edge nearly straight ; those of the Semipalmated Goose and Cereopsis
were shown to be much deeper in the keel, and the inferior edges
much more convex ; and comparison with the same parts from the
Spoonbill, Herons, Bitterns, and Storks, showed the approximation
to the Ardeidce in form. The peculiarities of the whole series indi-
cated, between the two extreme points, the developement of the
powers of flight as contrasted with the maximum of the powers of
diving, in a succession of characters as easily recognisable in the
skeletons as in the external appearances of the birds themselves, and
supplied a valuable auxiliary chain of affinities to assist the natura-
list in his views of arrangement.
On the subject of the Cereopsis Mr.Bennett observed, that having
lately had occasion to investigate the history of that bird, hehad met
with some facts respecting it which might not be without interest.
After noticing the mistakes in Dr. Latham's original description
and figure, which have been already corrected by MM. Temminck
and Vieillot, he pointed out certain errors in those given by the
two last-named writers, as compared with the bird on the table,
and with seven living specimens in the Society's Collection, all of
which, he believed, had been hatched in this country. Thus in
the description of the latter author it is said, " la tete est couverte
d'une peau nue, ridee et jaune, depuis la base du bee jusqu'audela
des yeux"; and in that of the former, " une peau ridee et jaunatre
couvre le front"; but this supposed naked skin does not exist in
nature, and although represented in M. Vieillot's figure, is very
properly omitted in that of M. Temminck. The latter indeed is,
with the exception of the legs being coloured of a dingy yellow
instead of a deep orange, a very characteristic representation. No
synonyms had hitherto been added to the original name ; but Mr.
Bennett stated that he had little doubt, both from the description
and locality, that a bird mentioned by Labillardiere as seen at
Esperance Bay, on the south coast of New Holland, and named by
M. Vieillot, in the " Nouveau Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle,"
Le Cygne cendrc, was of the same species. To this bird it would ap-
pear, from d'Entrecasteaux's Narrative, that the unfortunate Riche
had applied in his MSS. the name of Anas Terrce Leeuiuin. On a
specimen, in all probability not distinct, brought home by Labillar-
diere, M. Vieillot founded a new species of Goose, Anser griseus,
described at length in the second edition of the " Nouv. Diet.
d'Hist. Nat." If this assumption be correct, the same individual
must have afterwards served as the type of his figure of the Cere-
opsis ; for only a single specimen of that bird existed until very lately
(or indeed probably still exists) in the gallery of the Paris Museum,
in which Labillardiere's specimen was deposited.
A speci-
224 Zoological Society.
A specimen was exhibited of a small species of Deer from Chili,
which had lived in the Society's Menagerie for upwards of twelve
months, and which Mr. Bennett stated that he believed to be new.
It is a female, and consequently does not offer the accessory cha-
racters which zoologists have been in the habit of deriving from
the horns. The other distinctive marks are as follows :
CERVUS HUMILIS. Cerv.parvus, obesus, brevipes jfacielatd, brevi,
obtusa ; Jissurd infra-orbitali mediocri ; cauda subnulla : cor-
pore totonifo, antice nigrescenti, postice fronte pedibusque infe-
rioribus saturatioribus, infrh dilution.
Alt. ad humeros vix 1 £ ped. : long, cauda? vix unciam superans.
Mr. Bennett added that he was informed by Captain P. P. King,
R.N., that a second skin of the same species had been brought to
England by him ; that the young was spotted with yellow, and had
a yellow stripe on each side of the back ; and that the animal was
plentiful at Conception, and found even as far south as the Archi-
pelago of Chiloe, living, he believed, in small herds.
A hybrid Pheasant belonging to the Society having lately died
at the Garden, Mr. Yarrell observed that he had examined its body,
a preparation of a part of which, together with the preserved skin,
was then on the table. He remarked that in mules produced be-
tween animals placed at different degrees of distance from each
other in the scale of Nature, it was a point of some interest to as-
certain the relative state of the sexual organs, which it might be
expected would be found more or less perfect, depending on the
extent of the distance interposed between the parent animals. The
bird in question was a male, bred between the pheasant and the
common Jowl) but most allied in appearance to the former. The
sexual organs appeared to be perfect and of large size for the pe-
riod of the year.
Three examples of the Ardea Nycticorax, Linn., were placed on
the table. On these Mr. Yarrell observed that the Menagerie of the
Society had furnished an interesting link in this species, in a young
bird which united in its plumage the brown spotted wing of the
Gardenian Heron with the black head and ash-coloured back of
the Night Heron : thus exhibiting the change from the young to
the adult bird, and proving that the two supposed species are really
but one.
Two living specimens were exhibited of the Suricate, Ryzccna
tetradactyla, lllig., which had recently been added to the Society's
Collection. Both individuals were extremely gentle, and suffered
themselves to be handled and played with, without evincing any
uneasiness.
At the request of the Chairman, Mr. Martin reported the morbid
appearances observed in the Lion which recently died at the So-
ciety's Gardens. Before removing the skin, the whole of the body
presented a remarkably bloated appearance, which was found on exa-
mination to be owing to general emphysema. This was suspected by
Mr.Martin to be the result of morbid arterial secretion ; it could not
have been caused by putrefaction, the animal having been dead but
a few
Zoological Society. 225
a few hours, and (he body being still warm. The same appearance
had been not unfrequently observed by Mr. Spooner, the Veteri-
nary Surgeon of the establishment, in animals worn out by linger-
ing chronic disease. On examining the lungs, their cellular struc-
ture was found completely obliterated, except in one small portion,
where alone any oxygenation of the blood could have taken place.
They presented a dark appearance on the surface, with a hardness
or density of structure which must have resulted from long-conti-
nued inflammation. They were also studded with tubercles. On
cutting into them, purulent matter oozed from the incision, and
several abscesses, though not large, were discovered. The liver
was dark, and so soft as to break down with the slightest touch.
The spleen presented no decided trace of disease. The intestines
adjacent to the liver were tinged with a dark and somewhat purplish
hue ; but although distended with air presented nothing remark-
able. The stomach contained only a little bile and mucus.
The muscles generally were pale and flabby, as might have been
anticipated, where a chronic disease had wasted the vital energies,
and where the blood, impeded in its passage through the lungs, had
long ceased to be sufficiently oxygenated.
Mr. Owen commenced the reading of his account of the Myology
of the Simla Satyrus, L. He confined himself to the notice of
such muscles as are peculiar to that animal, and have not any ana-
logues in the human frame ; of those which, if analogous, deviate
remarkably in their proportions and attachments; and lastly, of
such as have been considered as of doubtful existence in the Orang.
The occipito-frontalis, which escaped the observation of Tyson
and Dr. Traill (Wernerian Trans, iii.) in the Chimpanzee, and which
some physiologists have asserted to be peculiar to man, is distinctly
developed in the Orang Utan. Portions of this muscle were also
found on the head of a Chimpanzee that had been flayed with great
care, the rest having been removed with the scalp, to which the
tendinous part closely adheres.
The following muscles of the face were described, corrugator
supercilii, levator labii superioris alceque nasi, levator anguli oris,
zygomaticus major, depressor anguli oris, orbicularis palpebrarum
and orbicularis oris. On reflecting the inner membrane of the lips,
the depressores labii superioris and levatores labii inferioris were
found of considerable breadth and strongly developed : their action
in protruding the lips in a conical form has been frequently noticed
by those who have had opportunities of observing the living animal,
The platysma myoides is of greater extent than in the human
subject, and some of the fibres have a different direction, bearing a
greater resemblance to the cervical portion of the panniculus carno-
sus in some quadrupeds, as the Beaver and Guinea-pig.
The muscles of mastication, and the articulation of the lower jaw
were described.
The digaxtricus has not any connection with the os hyoides, the
anterior fleshy portion being altogether wanting in the Orang Utan.
It is inserted by a strong round tendon into the angle of the lower
N. S. Vol. 9. No. 51. March 1831. 2 G jaw.
226 Zoological Society.
jaw. This circumstance is interesting in connection with the me-
morable dispute between Dr. Monro (primus) and the French ana-
tomists, concerning the actions of this muscle; and it is remarkable
that Winslow, with his accustomed ingenuity, should have alluded
to such a disposition, in illustrating his opinions of the actions of the
digastricus on the lower jaw in the human subject. Some peculiarities
in the mylo-hyoideus, genio-hyoideus, sindomo-hyoideus were noticed.
The peculiar muscle discovered by Tyson in the Chimpanzee, and
called by him levator clavicular, arises in the Orang Utan from the
occiput and transverse process of the atlas. In the Chimpanzee
which Mr. Owen dissected, he also found it arising from the trans-
verse process of the atlas, and not from the second or third cervical
vertebra. It is inserted broadly into the humeral extremity of the
clavicle.
Neither in the Orang Utan nor in the Chimpanzee is there any true
ligamentum nuchtz. The part commonly so called in the human
subject, consisting also in these animals only of the inelastic com-
missural tendons of the trapezii, the rhomboidei and the serrati
postici superiores. To give additional support, however, to the head
of the Orang Utan, which preponderates so far anterior to the oc-
cipital foramen, the origins of the rhomboidei are extended upwards
to the occipital bone, to which they broadly adhere, beneath the
trapezii. In the Chimpanzee this disposition does not occur, but
in both animals the rhomboideus is a single muscle, without division
into a greater and lesser portion.
Three muscles supply the place of the pectoralis major in the
Orang Utan. Their proportions and attachments were minutely
described; and while speaking of these with reference to each other,
it was found convenient to apply to them the names of sterno-
humeralis, costo-humeralis, and sterno-costo-humeralis.
The reading of the remainder of this part of the anatomy of the
Orang Utan was postponed to a future meeting of the Committee.
Several species of Birds belonging to the collection recently
made by Capt. Philip P. King, R.N., during his survey of the Straits
of Magellan, were exhibited. Other birds from the same collection
had been named and characterized! at the Meeting on the 14-th of
December : and on the present occasion Capt. King pointed out
the distinctive characters of the following species which he believed
to be new.
SYNALLAXIS ANTHOIDES. Syn. supra brunnea, plumis in media
fusco late striatis, tectricibus alarum superioribus rufo tinctis ;
subtus pallide cinerea ; rectricibus lateralibus ad marginem exler-
num,fa. c, three parhelia all nearly of the apparent
size of the sun; d, e, a column of white light meeting the horizon
downwards, and indefinitely extended upwards \f)g, /*, portions of
a broken solar halo, exhibiting distinctly the prismatic colours;
it &, lj three luminous trains of light terminating in points, the train
k being highly coloured with yellowish-red vapour, probably owing
to its being situated in the centre of the column of light rf, e ; it was
also much longer than the other two, i and /, which were very faintly
tinged : the train m terminated very abruptly, but was more di-
stinct than the train n, which terminated in a point.
These interesting phenomena were refracted upon dense atte-
nuated cirrostratus vapour; but as it was rapidly moving out of the
refracting angles of the sun's rays, they did not continue visible for
more than twelve minutes. — W. H. WHITE, H.M.C.S.
AURORA BOREALIS OF THE ?TH OF JANUARY.
Gosport Observatory, Jan. 7th, 1831.
In the afternoon of this day there was a peculiar brightness in the
atmosphere near the horizon, for several degrees on each side of the
true north point, which indicated the approach of an aurora : in-
deed we have reason to suspect that it was a faint appearance of
one, while the sun shone in all his splendour, without the interpo-
sition of cloud or vapour. Shortly after sunset an aurora borea-
lis gradually rose above the northern horizon, and at a quarter past
five o'clock it had assumed the form of an arch of refulgent light
ten degrees high, and seventy degrees wide. From this time till
half-past five it continued to increase in the intensity of its light,
expanding to the western point of the horizon and 55 degrees to the
eastward of north, which made the chord of the aurora 155 degrees.
Now a bright flame-coloured rainbow-like arch, between three and
four degrees broad, and pretty well defined at its upper edge, ema-
nated from the curved edge of the aurora to an altitude of 35 degrees;
and while it remained apparently stationary, a beautiful rainbow-
like arch, still more brilliant, formed about ten degrees south of the
zenith, by streamers suddenly springing- up from the N.E. by E.
and W. by S. points of the horizon and meeting in the zenith, so
that these two bows presented themselves at the same time.
At thirty-five minutes past five the latter bow, in some parts four
and in others six degrees wide, divided a little to the eastward of its
vertex ; and the long streamers which formed it passed off gently to
the southward in very bright patches, two in the S.E. and one in the
S.W. quarters, like luminous clouds, and continued in sight nearly
a quarter of an hour. One of these bright patches nearly covered
Orion several minutes.
At forty minutes past five another rainbow-like arch, equally wide
and bright, was formed by long streamers from about the same
points of the horizon, whose point of convergence was the same,
and its course through the feet of Gemini, near the Pleiades, through
Aries, the square of Pegasus, the head of Equuleus, and the bow of
N.S. Vol. 9. No. 51. March 1831, 2 H Antinous
234 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles.
Antinous. It passed off gradually towards the south, and at a quar-
ter before six the planet Mars, tlien near the meridian, and about
45 degrees in altitude, rested, as it were, conspicuously on it. At
six it had gone far towards the southern horizon, and could scarcely
be perceived, leaving the sky unusually clear and bright. By this
time the bow over the aurora had much increased in altitude, and
was nearly effaced.
At a few minutes past six, after a great many coloured columns
of light had risen from the N.E. and N.W. quarters, and passed the
zenith, the aurora sunk considerably towards the horizon ; but its
upper edge remained bright and very well defined. Some of the
streamers or columns were long, others short, and the widest gene-
rally remained long enough to pass through a gradation of prismatic
colours. At half-past six the aurora again increased in altitude,
and vivid coruscations radiated from every part of its arch, and on
intermixing with each other formed wide columns, which were so
grand with crimson tints as to astonish every spectator. Between
seven and eight the aurora had spread at least two-thirds over the
heavens, and as far as the shoulders of Orion on the eastern side
of the meridian, when large perpendicular columns, and short
pointed luminous coruscations, rising from the aurora like glitter-
ing spears and conical points in nearly parallel rows, now mixing
and then dividing, all passed through red, orange, lake, crimson,
green, and purple tints, so that the appearance altogether over so
great an extent of the heavens was awfully grand and sublime, par-
ticularly when contrasted with the cerulean sky, and its spangled
constellations in the southern portion of the hemisphere.
At ten minutes before eight, when the aurora was in its greatest
splendour, several thousand persons had assembled in groups in va-
rious parts of the town and neighbourhood, and where they could
get an uninterrupted sight of Portsdown Hill, behind which the
finest part of the aurora appeared.
At five minutes before eight another luminous rainbow-like arch
stretched across the heavens from the eastern point of the horizon,
and displayed several prismatic colours while passing southward.
Soon after eight a large tenebrious space, in and near the horizon,
presented itself several degrees on each side of the magnetic north,
and the aurora still far over the heavens, gradually diminished. At
nine it again ascended, and wide columns rose from every part of
its arch, and passed through the same colours as before mentioned.
Between nine and ten the magnetic needle, which in the early
part of the evening stood at 24 degrees West of the true North, was
disturbed, and receded upwards of half a degree northward, either
by the influence of the aurora, or by a change of wind from N.E.
to S.W. and of course a change in its electrical state. At a quar-
ter before eleven there was a grand display of about twelve or four-
teen glowing columns from the aurora, several of which passed
beyond the zenith, when a perfect red rainbow-like arch, ten de-
grees above the aurora, was visible. At eleven another bow 3^
degrees wide rose from the aurora, and passed through Aries,
Cassiopeia,
Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles". 235
Cassiopeia, Ursa Minor, and the square of Ursa Major: it soon
reached the zenith and gradually disappeared.
At half-past eleven the aurora again began to sink slowly, and
did not rise afterwards. At five minutes before twelve a large bril-
liant meteor, the only one observed through the night, passed under
Ursa Major. At one o'clock A.M. the highest part of the aurora
about the magnetic north had sunk to within six or seven degrees
of the horizon ; yet bright coruscations occasionally emanated from
it till two, when the observations were discontinued, as no more
interesting meteoric appearances were likely to occur.
The vertex of each of the rainbow-like arches that were formed
by streamers from or near'the intersecting points of the aurora with
the horizon, coincided with the magnetic north within one or two
degrees, and uniformly preserved this parallelism in passing off
towards the south.
During the evening and night, while the aurora was pretty high,
the light which it spread through the atmosphere was equal to the
light of the moon shining through a very attenuated cloud j and the
stars which formed the square and tail of Ursa Major were almost
imperceptible, inconsequence of the refulgence of the aurora.
Of all the auroras boreales that have been observed here the
last twenty years (some say forty years), this was the most exten-
sive, the most beautiful in colours, and the most interesting, on ac-
count of the singular phaenomena which it displayed, in the number
of distinct luminous bows, which were presented in the course of
the night. This aurora borealis was seen at Paris and at Brussels.
In two days and a half after the aurora a very strong gale of
wind came on from the north-east, and continued about twenty-four
hours.
There were also faint auroras on the preceding and following
evenings ; and a luminous one, though not high, from six till nine
in the evening of the 1 1 th, which would have been interesting but
for the interposition of clouds throughout the night.
A MODE OF ASCERTAINING THE VALUE OF MANGANESE ORES.
Dr. Turner, Professor of Chemistry in the London University, has
given a method of ascertaining the commercial value of the ores of
manganese, in the last Number of the Royal Institution Journal, the
object being solely to ascertain the relative quantities of chlorine,
which an equal weight of each ore was capable of supplying. The
method of manipulating is as follows : — About ten grains of the ore
in fine powder is introduced into a flask capable of containing about
an ounce of water, and into its neck is fitted by grinding a bent tube
about two inches long, which conducts the chlorine from the flask into
a tube about sixteen inches in length, and five-eighths of an inch wide,
full of water, and inverted in a small evaporating capsule, employed
as a pneumatic trough. The apparatus being adjusted, the flask is
half filled with concentrated muriatic acid, the conducting tube in-
stantly inserted, and heat applied by means of a spirit-lamp. The air
of the flask, together with the chlorine, is then collected, the greater
part of the latter, if the gas is not very rapidly disengaged, being ab-
2 H 2 sorbed
236 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles.
sorbed in its passage j and, consequently, the receiving tube, at the
close of the process, will be about half full of gas. When the ore is
completely dissolved, the last traces of the chlorine are expelled from
the flask by muriatic acid gas. In order that the chlorine thus col-
lected may be entirely absorbed, the aperture is closed by a ground
stopper, or still more conveniently with the finger, and the gas is
well agitated until the chlorine is wholly absorbed. As the solution
in the inverted tube may become too saturated to dissolve all the
chlorine, it is convenient to fill a pipette with pure water, and, with
the aid of the mouth, force a current to ascend into the tube, and
thereby cause the heavier solution to flow out into the capsule.
The absorption being complete, the solution of chlorine is intro-
duced into a six- or eight-ounce stoppered bottle, and a dilute solution
of green vitriol, made, for example, with a hundred grains of the
crystallized salt and a pintof water, is added in successive small quan-
tities until the odour of chlorine just ceases to be perceptible. The
quantity of liquid required for the purpose may be conveniently mea-
sured in a tube about sixteen inches long, and three quarters of an
inch in diameter, divided into two hundred parts of equal capacity,
and supplied with a lip, so that a liquid maybe poured from it without
being spilled. In conducting this part of the process, the operator
will perceive two odours : — at first, the characteristic odour of chlo-
rine, accompanied with the peculiar irritation of that gas ; and, sub-
sequently, an agreeable, somewhat aromatic odour, unattended with
the slightest irritation. The object is, to add exactly so much solution
of iron as suffices to destroy the former of these odours, without at-
tempting to remove the latter j a point which, with a little practice,
may be readily attained. The whole of the iron is thus brought into
the state of peroxide.
The first trial is generally accompanied with some loss of chlorine,
and should only be used as a guide to a second and more precise ex-
periment. Accordingly, a weighed portion of the same ore is dissolved,
and the chlorine collected as before, except that the solution of green
vitriol, in quantity rather less than sufficient, is at once introduced
into the inverted tube and capsule. A more ready and perfect ab-
sorption of the chlorine is thus effected, and the subsequent addition
of a small quantity of sulphate of iron suffices for completing the
process.
The principal sources of error in this method are the two following :
— loss of chlorine, by smelling repeatedly, and exposure to the air
•when the gas is absorbed by pure water ; and oxidation by the air
when the absorption is made directly by means of the solution of iron.
The small flask and inverted tube are apt to retain the odour of chlo-
rine, and should therefore be rinsed out with the absorbing liquid. It
should be remembered, also, that a given quantity of chlorine will
emit a more or less distinct odour, accordingly as it is more or less
diluted. But by operating always in the same manner, and employ-
ing such weights of different ores, that equal quantities of the solution
may contain nearly equal quantities of chlorine, it is easy to be inde-
pendent of these errors of manipulation by causing them to aftect
each
Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 237
each experiment to the same degree -, it will accordingly be found,
with a little practice, that results of surprising uniformity may be thus
obtained ; and even the constitution of pure oxides of manganese may
be ascertained by this method, almost with the same accuracy as by
directly determining the quantity of oxygen.
The substance first used by Dr. Turner to determine the quantity
of chlorine was a solution of indigo; but a weak solution of green
vitriol, employed by Mr. Dalton for ascertaining the strength of
bleaching powder, was found to be more precise in its indications.
ELECTRO-CHEMICAL DECOMPOSITION OF THE VEGETO-ALKA-
LINE SALTS.
Mr. Brande states that Sir H. Davy suggested the possibility that
morphia, when electrified in contact with mercury, might afford re-
sults corresponding to those which Berzelius had observed in respect
to ammonia, thinking that the nascent elements of the morphia, as
liberated by electrical decomposition, might effect a similar apparent
amalgam of mercury : he probably made a few experiments on the
subject, which do not appear to have been recorded. Mr. Brande
electrified moistened morphia and mercury, the metal being rendered
first feebly, and afterwards more powerfully, negative. No change
occurred in the fluidity of the metal, nor when mixed with water did
it exhibit any appearance of having united to foreign metallic matter j
cinchonia similarly treated exhibited similar results.
Quina, when moistened and electrified in contact with mercury on
a. disc of positive platina, presented different appearances : the metal
became filmy, butyraceous, and had its fluidity diminished. When
put into water, a peculiar motion was perceptible on its surface, small
globules of gas were liberated, and it slowly regained its usual aspect.
These appearances were eventually referred by Mr. Brande to the ob-
stinate adhesion of a small quantity of lime to the quina,and of which
he has not been able to deprive it.
The electro-chemical decomposition of the salts of the vegeto-
alkalies is very characteristic, in consequence of the difficult solubility
of their bases. When a solution of sulphate of morphia, cinchonia, or
quina is decomposed between two plates of platina, the negative
plate, if the solutions be strong, is soon covered with a white crust of
the alkaline base, which gradually falls off in films ; when the solution
is more dilute, they fall in the form of a white cloud.
No appearances of metallization were obtained by electrifying mer-
cury negatively in contact with the above-named "salts. When in-
fusions of opium, bark, and nux vomica were treated in this way, no
distinct separation of their difficultly soluble alkaline matter occurred,
as might have been expected, probably in consequence of the multi-
plicity of substances present. — Royal Institution Journal, Feb. 1831.
LUNAR
238 Meteorological Observations for January 1831.
LUNAR OCCULTATIONS.
Occupations of Planets and Jixed Stars by the Moon, in March 1831.
Computed for Greenwich, by THOMAS HENDERSON, Esq. ; and
circulated by the Astronomical Society.
1
Immersions.
Emersions.
Stars'
1
j 0.
Angle from
Angle from
1831.
Names.
"c
-^ ^
Sidereal
Mean
Sidereal
Mean
of
time.
solar time.
faj
s
time.
solar time.
*5 CJ
0
J5?
OT
•3
w
1J
tj
^
fc*
>
fc^
>
h m
h m
o
h m
h m
o
Mar. 1
65 Virginis
6
1531
8 27
9 51
116
7°9
9 12
10 36
200
166
66 Virginis
6
1532
9 5
10 29
85
50
10 12
11 36
227
198
I* Virginis
6
1545
14 36
15 59
35
49
15 42
17 5
277
301
5
m Scorpii
5
1907
13 41
14 49
72
46
15 1
16 8
256
242
24
18 Leonis
6
1177
7 37
7 31
345
319
j) almost touching Star. —
Occulted to places fur-
ther North.
28
k* Virginis
6
1500
8 10
7 48
40
3
9 9
8 47
274
241
31
y Librae
4-5
1764
14 50
14 15
102
96
16 2
15 27
222
228
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS FOR JANUARY 1831.
Gosport: — Numerical Results for the Month.
Barom.Max.30-60.Jan.7. Wind N.E.—Min. 29-08. Jan. 21. WindS.E.
Range of the mercury 1-52.
Mean barometrical pressure for the month 29-823
Spaces described by the rising and falling of the mercury 6-500
Greatest variation in 24 hours 0-800. — Number of changes 18.
Therm. Max. 53°. Jan. 23. Wind E.— Min. 25°. Jan. 25. Wind N.
Range 28°.— Mean temp.of exter. air 38°'69. For 30 days with 0 inV? 37'57
Max. var. in 24 hours 180>00.— Mean temp, of spring-water at 8 A.M. 49-42
De Luc's Whalebone Hygrometer.
Greatest humidity of the atmosphere, in the morning of the 1 7th ... 99°
Greatest dryness of the atmosphere, in the afternoon of the 31st ... 62
Range of the index 37
Mean at 2 P.M. 78°-0.— Mean at 8 A.M. 83°-3.— Mean at 8 P.M. 82-0
of three observations each day at 8, 2, and 8 o'clock 81'1
Evaporation for the month 0-85 inch.
Rain in the pluviameter near the ground 2-30 inches.
Prevailing wind, E.
Summary of the Weather.
A clear sky, 3£ ; fine, with various modifications of clouds, 8 ; an overcast
sky without rain, 13; foggy, i; rain, sleet and snow, 6. — Total 31 days.
Clouds.
Cirrus. Cirrocumulus. Cirrostratus. Stratus. Cumulus. Cumulostr. Nimbus.
11 7 27 0 9 7 31
Scale
Meteorological Observations for January 1831. 239
Scale of the prevailing Winds.
N. N.E. E. S.E. S. S.W. W. N.W. Days.
4 5i 8 5| 2* 1 i 4 31
General Observations. — The first part of this month was dry, the latter
part was wet and alternately mild and cold, with occasional gales of wind.
After the aurora borealis in the evening of the llth, the sky was hidden
by clouds till the 24th, with the exception of about one day.
On the 23rd the thermometer in the shade rose to fifty-three degrees, and
on the 26th only to thirty-four degrees : in the night of the 22nd it receded
only to forty-six degrees, but in the night of the 25th, to twenty-five de-
grees, the minimum temperature for the month.
On the 25th and 26th there was a uniform elevation of the mercury in
the barometer, but a very sudden depression of four-fifths of an inch on
the 27th, with rain. On the 28th and 29th-the mercury rose half an inch
in the tube, and a little snow came on with an easterly wind. On the de-
scent of the mercury on the 31st between three and four inches of snow
fell here in the night, even with a strong gale from the south. In the
neighbourhood of London upwards of two feet in depth of snow are said to
have fallen upon a plane surface about the same time ; and in place? where
it had drifted, the stage-coaches could not pass before it was cleared away,
consequently they were several hours behind their usual time.
The atmospheric and meteoric phaenomena that have come within our
observations this month, are one lunar halo, four meteors, four aurorae
boreales, and seven gales of wind, or days on which they have prevailed,
namely, four from the North-east, one from the East, one from the South,
and one from the South-west.
REMARKS.
London. — January 1, 2. Fine. 3, 4. Overcast. 5. Foggy. 6. Fine:
clear and frosty at night. 7. Clear, with frost : dense fog at night.
8. Frosty. 9. Overcast. 10. Hazy, with small rain. 11. Cloudy and cold.
12, 13. Drizzly and foggy. 14. Hazy. 15, 16. Cold and clamp. 17. Cloudy:
slight rain at night. 1 8. Rain : lightning at night. 19 — 23.Wet. 24. Sleet:
frosty at night. 25, 26. Clear and frosty. 27. Sleet. 28, 29. Fine.
30. Fine: foggy at night. 31. Frosty: fog in the morning, succeeded by
a heavy fall cf snow.
Penzance. — January 1. Fair: rain at night. 2. Rain : fair. 3. 4. Fair.
5. Misty. 6. Fair. 7— 9. Clear. 10— 16. Fair. 17— 19. Misty: rain.
20. Fair: rain. 21,22. Rain. 23. Fair: misty. 24, 25. Showers, hail,
and rain. 26. Showers. 27. Rain. 28. Showers. 29, 30. Fair : rain.
31. Fair.
Boston.— January 1 . Fine. 2,3. Cloudy. 4. Misty. 5. Cloudy. 6. Fine.
7. Fine : northern lights very brilliant in the evening. 8, 9. Fine.
10 — 16.Cloudy. 17. Cloudy: rain P.M. 18. Fine. 19. Mist)'-. 20.Cloudy:
stormy with rain P.M. 21, 22. Cloudy: rain at night. 23. Rain.
24. Cloudy. 25. Fine : snow early A.M. 26. Fine. 27. Cloudy. 28. Fine.
29, 30. Cloudy. 31. Fine.
Meteoro-
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THE
PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE
AND
ANNALS OF PHILOSOPHY.
[NEW SERIES.]
APRIL 1831.
XLI. On the Computation of the Moon's Motion in Right
Ascension. By FRANCIS BAILY, Esq. F.R.S. fyc. $c.*
A S the method of determining the longitude of places, by
-*•*• means of moon-culminating stars, is daily coming into
more general use, I trust the following table will be accept-
able to such of your readers as may have occasion to make
calculations connected with inquiries of that kind. I have
already shown (in my paper on this subject, inserted in the
Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. ii. p. 1), that
" in order to deduce, from the observations, the correct dif-
" ference of meridians between the two places, we require
" only one element from the lunar tables, viz. the moon's
" horary motion in right ascension ; or, more properly, the
" true increase of the moon's right ascension between the two
" apparent times of culmination :" and that, for the purpose
of determining the correct value of this element, it will be
best, when the difference of longitude is very great, to com-
pute the right ascension of the moon for the two given times
of observation ; using the equation of second, third, and some-
times even fourth differences. But it appears that in many
cases, of frequent occurrence, where the difference of meri-
dians does not exceed three hours, we may adopt a much
more concise and easy method for the solution of the pro-
blem, by computing accurately the semi-diurnal motion of the
moon in right ascension, from an ephemeris, by means of dif-
ferences only.
In No. 33 of Professor Schumacher's Astronomische Nach-
richten, M. Bessel has given a series which is applicable to
this purpose ; together with a short table of the value of that
* Communicated by the Author.
N. S. Vol. 9. No. 52. April 1831. 2 I series,
242 Mr. Baily on the Computation of
series, for every hour of the day. The table, however, which
he has computed, being frequently found too limited for ge-
neral use, I have here enlarged it, by calculating the terms of
the series for every ten minutes during the clay; whereby
the requisite quantities for any intermediate time may be taken
out almost on inspection ; or at least, in the most essential
points, with very little trouble: since it will seldom be found
necessary to interpolate, except in the values given in the co-
lumn B.
M. Bessel's formula is as follows ; viz. make <7, b, c9 d, e
respectively equal to the first difference, the mean of the two
middle seconcl differences, the third difference, the mean of
the two fourth differences, and the fifth difference of the moon's
right ascension, as taken from the Nautical Almanac. Then
will
2
,
n—\
"ISO"
denote the moon's semi-diurnal motion in right ascension
corresponding to that fractional part of the twelve hours, from
the preceding noon or midnight, indicated by n : and which
must always be assumed equal to the middle point of time
between the two observations. Or, preserving the same value
of c and x as are adopted in my Memoir above mentioned,
the value of n must be assumed equal to J (c + x). If there-
fore we express the co-efficients of b, c, d, e by the letters
B, C, D, E, respectively, the semi-diurnal motion (M) of the
moon in right ascension will be denoted by
M = a + Rb + Cc + Dd + Ee.
The following table contains the logarithms of B, C, D, E,
for every ten minutes of the twelve hours from the preceding
noon or midnight, as above mentioned; to which must be
added respectively the logarithms of b, c, d, e; the natural
numbers thence resulting, being added to the first difference,
will give M, or the semi-diurnal motion required. And, re-
taining the value of the symbols x> s and A> as adopted in
the Memoir above quoted, the true difference of longitude
will be
which is (I believe) the most simple form in which the general
solution of the problem can be at present expressed : but,
when the new Nautical Almanac appears, 7%s will be a con-
stant
the Moon's Motion in Right Ascension.
243
stant quantity, and equal to 7*5 X 86636-555 (log=r 1-4927720);
and other quantities will be given that may still further abridge
the arithmetical operations.
Argument
= *('+*)
Logarithms of
Argument
= *('+*)
B
C
D
s
Oh Om
10
20
30
-9-69897+
9-68674
9-67415
9-66118
+8-92082+
8-88358
8-84404
8-80626
+ 8-92082-
8-91452
8-90759
8-90003
-7-92082-
7-89017
7-85648
7-81975
12" Om
11 50
40
30
40
50
I 0
9-64782
9-63403
961979
8-75663
8-70776
8-65455
8-89188
8-88307
8-87361
7-78085
7-73788
7-69085
20
10
11 0
1 10
20
30
9-60506
9-58983
9-57403
8-59603
8-53085
8-45706
8.86347
8-85259
8-84096
7-64050
7-58207
7-51555
10 50
40
30
40
50
2 0
9'55764
9-54061
9-52288
8-37169
8-26986
8-14267
8-82845
8-81520
8-80121
7-45244
7-36098
7-24118
20
10
10 0
2 10
20
30
40
50
3 0
9-50440
9-48509
9-46489
9-44370
9-42142
9-39794
7-97108
7-70031
+6-93855+
-7.48946-
7-83556
8-01773
8-78709
8-77180
8-75534
8-73650
8-71619
8-69442
7-07557
6-83372
-6-51562-
+5-98986+
6-73015
6-97498
9 50
40
30
20
10
9 o
3 10
20
30
9-37312
9-34679
9-31875
8-13964
8-22982
8-30028
8-67203
8-64795
8-62217
7-10460
7-21709
7-31246
8 50
40
30
40
50
4 0
9-28880
9-25661
9-22185
8-35722
8-40426
8-44370
8-59442
8-56398
8-53085
7-37997
7-43406
7-47473
20
10
8 0
4 10
20
30
9-18406
9-14267
9-09691
8-47707
8-50544
8-52961
8-49507
8-45486
8-41021
7-51249
7-54447
7-57067
7 50
40
30
40
50
5 0
9-04576
8-98777
8-92082
8-55015
8-56750
8-58200
8-36245
8-30477
8-23716
7*59366
7-61309
7-62895
20
10
7 0
5 10
20
30
8-84164
8-74473
8-61979
8-59390
8-60340
8-61064
8-16105
8-06131
7-93794
7-64222
7-65284
7-66078
6 50
40
30
40
50
6 0
8-44370
8-14267
- 00 +
8-61575
8-61878
-8-61979-
7-76219
7-46136
+ 00 -
7-66657
7-66996
+7-67094+
20
10
6 0
I shall now proceed to give an example of the use of this
formula and table, a duty which I hold to be incumbent on
every person who proposes any new ones for general use. On
the 9th of February 1830, the second limb of the moon was
212 observed
244 On the Computation of the Moon's Motion in Right Ascension*
observed at Greenwich at 13h 36m apparent time, and at the
Cape of Good Hope at 12'1 20ra apparent Greenwich time;
each being estimated to the nearest minute. Consequently
the middle point of time, between the two observations, is
\ (c + x) = Oh 58m from the preceding midnight : and the
successive differences of the moon's right ascension, taken from
the Nautical Almanac, will be as follow : viz.
oii* ° ^ c d e
Feb. 8. at M = 154 31 52 o , n
+ 5 54 21 / //
9. at N = 160 26 13 —5 8 "
-f 5 49 13 -f 51 //
at M = 166 15 26 —4- 17 -f 7 „
+ 5 44 56 +58 -4,
10. at N = 172 0 22 -3 19 -f 3
+ 5 41 37 +61
atM = 177 41 59 -2 18
+ 5 39 19
11. atN = 183 21 18
Therefore, by entering the table with the argument \ (c + x),
we have the respective logarithms of the several quantities as
under : viz.
£=-2-35793 c = + l-76343 d =+0-69897 e =—0-60206
B=-9-62264 C = + 8-66519 D =+8-87550 E =-7-70026
Bb = + 1-98057 Cc=
and, taking the natural numbers of these logarithms, we shall
find the value of M to be as follows : viz.
a = 5 44 56-000
Eb = + 1 35-625
C c = + 2-683
Dd = + 0-375
Ee = + 0-020
M = 5 46 34-703 (log = 4-3179526)
which is the moon's motion in right ascension for the twelve
hours, of which J (c + x) is the middle point of time. So that
if we had s = 24h 3m 57$'6, and A = + 2m 26S<315, the
operation would be as follows : viz.
7 is = 5-8127677
M = 4-3179526
1-4948151
A = Oh 2m 26S>315 = 2-1652889
A = 1 16 11-976 = 3-6601040
x = 1 13 45-661
In
Errata in Weisse's Planetary Tables. 245
In this example, it will be seen that I have interpolated
for the odd minutes, in order to show the method of obtain-
ing, in all cases, the correct values of the logarithms of the
table required : but it is evident that, with the exception of
the logarithm of B, this was unnecessary ; and that no error
would have arisen if we had taken, even in all the quantities,
the tabular values opposite to the nearest tenth minute. And
I would further remark, that it will seldom be necessary to
extend the series to so many terms as are here given : since
we may generally stop at the third difference (and sometimes
even at the second difference), if we see that the subsequent
differences are not sufficiently large to affect the result.
Before I conclude, I would remark that the logarithms of
D and E were calculated for every half hour only, and the
values interpolated for the intermediate ten minutes, using
second differences in the computations.
F. B.
XLII. Errata in Weisse's Planetary Tables. By A CORRE-
SPONDENT.
number of individuals who in this country are en-
•*• gaged in science, except in what may not inaptly be de-
signated as fancy-work [?], is so very limited, that considering
the heavy duty on the importation of books*, it is a most
hazardous speculation for a bookseller to introduce foreign
scientific works into England. The consequence is, that many
of the highest value in point of utility, but of which the sale
would necessarily be limited, are either altogether unknown
in this country, or have fallen into the hands of individuals
without the means, or possibly the inclination, to bring their
merits before the public. The industrious zeal of Mr. Baily
and the hitherto discreditable state of our Nautical Almanac,
led to the speedy adoption of Encke's Ephemeris ; but the in-
estimable Tabula Regiomontancc Reductionum of Besself have
scarcely been heard of. The Formeln der Geometric und Tri-
gonometric, published at Berlin in 1827, and Hesterman's most
useful Leges Trigonometric, have met with no better fate. The
* While in Russia, a nation which we are accustomed to contemn ,as
something more than semibarbarous, no duty, arid in France a duty equi-
valent to only six shillings per hundred weight, is levied upon the importa-
tion of books ; — in England, they are subjected to five pounds per hundred
weight.
f This work, indispensable to practical astronomers, consists of one
large octavo volume, printed with a degree of clearness which should serve
as a model for all books of tables, and is published by Bachelier of Paris,
and Treuttel, London.
same
246
Errata in Weisse's Planetary Tables.
same may be remarked of Bagay's Tables *, by far the cheapest
and best volume of the sort which ever appeared; and as to
Weisse's Planetary Tablesf, we much doubt if two copies
have as yet reached England. The compendious nature and
simplicity of these tables are such as to recommend them
especially to the notice of every astronomer, but their merits
in these respects are counterbalancedaby indistinct type and
numerous errors, of which no corrections are furnished by the
author. To supply this deficiency, and with a hope that a cor-
rect reprint of this convenient little book may either be un-
dertaken here or introduced from the continent, a list is sub-
joined of all the errata in the more valuable parts of the work,
detected by a complete and systematic examination.
Page
5 b.
•rAprilisll pro 0*9310 lege +Q'93IQ
z
0*1489
+ 0-1489
6.
z Julius 1
0-3989
+ 0-3989
x 8
0-2839
0-2889
7.
x September 27
0-9679
0-9979
r no
O.Qfifil
O.QQfil
y October 7
— 144
14-42467
14-42267
X •
— 159
16-98680
16-98580
x 1900 —
— 163
17-44115
17-44415
z 1840 —
— 171
1-32734
1-32744
x 1900 —
— 180
418-30949
— 18-30949
66.
x 1840 —
— 231
10-53344
10-55344
x
— 251
4-81669
4-51669
z . —
— 240
6-81877
6-81477
x 1900 —
— 259
1-86783
1-89783
67.
z
— 273
7-72260
7-76260
x 1840 —
— 313
14-43359
14-32359
68.
y
— 330
8-68794
8-64794
Chislehurst, Feb. 10th,
1831.
N. S. Vol. 9. No. 52. April 1831. 2 K XLIII. On
[ 250 ]
XLIII. On the Rectification of Curves, By Mr. CHARLES GILL.
To the Editors of the Philosophical Magazine and Annals.
Gentlemen,
Y/l^HILE investigating the properties of a family of curves,
I was lately led to remark, that the elegant property
demonstrated by Mr. Beverley, in your Number for June
1 826, is capable of considerable extension. Unde«r the idea
that anything tending to the simplification of this abstruse
problem will be viewed with satisfaction by your mathematical
readers, I submit to you the result of my labours.
The proposition may be more generally enunciated thus :
Let C be any point in a given curve line of any order, and B,
a point any how given by position : join B C, and draw BQ,
C Q to meet in Q, and contain a given angle (/3), C Q being
also a tangent to the curve. Then the rectification of the
curve which is the locus of the point Q may be generally ex-
pressed by f D C cosec /3 . a 6, 0 being the angle B Q makes
with a fixed axis, taken at pleasure.
Let B M be a fixed axis, and let ^ M B C = .8'(p)),and ACcr = 180°-/3-0+p;
hence, tan (/3 + 0-) = - -- = - ......... (*)• Now
B Q — . W. . sin (/3 + 0— ) _ 8(4>)cos(|3 + fl-^)]J. But
(«), S'()sm(/3+0-
and its tangent, T, terminated by a perpendicular upon it
from the centre = - _________ _ _ — . Which between = 0°,
9 99
V a9 —
and $ as arc whose sine is = -7- becomes = cosec ft ( 2 a -f
b*
— — (quadrantal arc of the ellipse + difference between the
infinite arc of the hyperbola and its asymptote) j for the
length of the branch M Q B, and (using the under signs) the
A*
length of the other branch P Q' Q" = cosec ft ( — C2a + -— x
2 d
the above factor) hence the whole length of the curve = twice
2b
the sum of these = - - cosec ft (quadrant of the elliptic arc
+ excess of the asymptote of the hyperbola, infinitely pro-
duced). When B is in the circumference, or b = «, E be-
comes = its abscissa, and T — H = semi-transverse of the
hyperbola .-. whole length = 8 a cosec ft, the same as Mr. Be-
verley's, when ft = 90°.
This integral only applies when B is without the circle, or
b ~7 a : when b Z «> we shall have M'Q = cosec $fdq>(<2,b cos 9
a? + b* cos 2 H -- __ r=^
>/«*-£* sin 24>/ I >/a2-^sinap
— b (E — H + T) > ; and here the semiaxes of E are -T-, and
* * i • i • fl2 cos
1^_- . This,
a 2
between
;
B b = a sin /3, Ab = a cos /3 ; P c = — 8' (0) cos (0 -f x), and
B c = 8' (0) sin (0 + x). .'. 8 (p) sin 4> = « sin /3 - 8' (0) cos
(0 + x) ... .-. («), and 8 () cos dy .,, , fl N du, dy ... du,
bemg =-^--^ wdl be =/(y) ^- . -g =f(y) _J..
Consequently . 1 = . 2 ; and differentiating, , 8' =
, dw,
and by supposition
"B~* = f(yY~l—r^'> hence by substitution we obtain
dnu
From which we may now infer the truth of the lemma.
Laplace' 's Theorem. — If y = F [z + x .f (j/)] and ul =
(^); also if ?{*>)} = F^*) and/{F(^)} =/x (s); then
_
the nth term being - d2.-s T ' i .8.3..(«-l)
For by Maclaurin's theorem 2/! = U0 -f- . I . — ; —
U X
4
term
where U0 , , l , -^ — |- &c. represent what ?/L , and its dif-
, ,
A XQ U XQ
ferential coefficients become when x — 0.
Now, since y = F \_% 4- ^./(j/)]* .*. some function of y
must be = z -f- xf(y) ; we therefore have by the lemma
-
We may now evidently infer the truth of the theorem.
Lagrange's Theorem. — If y = z + xf(y) and 2/j = p (
then the preceding theorem becomes u\ — 9(2) +/ (2)
JV.& Vol. 9. No. 52. 4pr«7 1831. 2 L XLV.
[ 258 ]
XLV. An Examination of those Phenomena of Geology,
which seem to bear most directly on theoretical Speculations.
By the Rev. W. D. CONYBEARE, M.A. F.R.S. F.G.S. fyc.
(Part II.)
[Concluded from page 197.]
Art. II. nPHE configuration of the valleys which appear to
•*• have resulted from excavation, especially the
intersection by transverse valleys of continuous longitudinal
valleys, themselves opening possible outlets to the drainage, —
is inconsistent with the theory which assigns the drainage of
the atmospherical waters as the excavating agent.
Observations. — If any difficulty should be felt at first sight
in exactly appreciating any of the terms employed in the above
short general enunciation of the principle here maintained,
I shall trust fully to explain them in proceeding with the de-
tail. In the first place, I would propose to class our valleys
according to the apparent difference of their probable origin ;
although the excavating action of water may very probably
have materially modified them generally, yet it would be
clearly inconsistent with the phenomena to refer their origin
exclusively to this cause; the convulsive forces which have
acted on the surface of our planet have often dislocated its
strata, elevating one portion and depressing another from the
level of their planes of deposition, and again contorting and
bending them into the zigzag form of the letter (W). Now
in the first case the lines of subsidence, and in the second the
concave reentering angles, would naturally form valleys ; these
I would term generally valleys of dislocation : or if it should
be expedient to distinguish those referable to the one or the
other of the above cases, they may be characterized as valleys
of subsidence or of contortion*. On the other hand, the valleys
traversing the districts of which the nearly horizontal strata
are scarcely at all affected by dislocation f, cannot have origi-
nated in such causes; and if there be sufficient grounds for be-
lieving the strata to have been originally continuous, we must
of course suppose the valleys actually intersecting them, to
have
* While I am sending these lines to the press, an interesting analysis of
Professor Sedgwick's paper read at the Geological Society, On the Cum-
berland district, has appeared in your last Number. He describes the valleys
in that district as valleys of dislocation.
f These nearly horizontal strata having been deposited at the bottom
of the sea, appear indeed to have been subsequently raised by some ele-
vating force : but in this case, such a force must have acted gradually and
uniformly, so as not to dislocate their planes (which remain perfectly con-
formable), or disturb their relative levels. Now in the objections which
Mr.
Rev. W. D. Conybeare on the Phenomena of Geology. 259
have been formed by excavation. Moreover this account of
their origin seems to follow as an almost necessary corollary
from the phaenomena, of the gravel derived from the water-
worn fragments torn from the mass of those strata, which
were detailed in the foregoing article: for the existence of
this gravel obviously presupposes the partial destruction of the
strata which yielded it.
I shall now, then, more particularly examine the physical
structure of the districts which are thus especially affected by
valleys of excavation.
These districts are occupied by strata disposed in planes
approximating to the horizontal, from which they seldom de-
viate more than 5° or 6° ; their emergence from the super-
strata, therefore, usually forms acclivities of gentle slope along
the back of the strata ; their termination against the substrata
(or, as it is technically termed, their basset edge) presents, on
the contrary, an abrupt escarpment, traversing the strata.
Beneath these escarpments, therefore, we generally find ex-
tended valleys ranging in a direction parallel to the strata,
which have usually been distinguished as longitudinal valleys.
But besides these, other systems of valleys occur cutting across
the ridges presented by the escarpments of the basset at nearly
right angles. Now as these strata usually, at one extremity at
least of their course, abut against an oceanic basin, the longi-
tudinal valleys naturally appear to open one line of drainage:
that presented by the transverse valleys is, however, the chan-
nel usually pursued by the actual rivers. In my paper before
alluded to on the Valley of the Thames, I have shown that its
waters thus cut transversely through three chains, which seem
to oppose themselves as barriers to their course, although the
longitudinal valleys ranging at the base of those barriers ap-
pear to open more obvious outlets to the drainage ; and it is
quite obvious, that since those longitudinal valleys have ex-
isted, the waters could never have risen within several hun-
dred feet of the summits of the chains, over which on the flu-
vial hypothesis they are once supposed to have flowed. It
must be argued, then, that at first no such longitudinal valleys
existed ; that is, that the strata did not, as at present, terminate
Mr. Lyell has urged to some of the arguments which the geologists of my
school employ, — such as the transport of gravel, &c. in directions contrary
to the actual drainage of the valleys, — he seems to have overlooked the di-
stinction between such districts, and those of inclined and dislocated strata ;
for the examples have been taken from the more horizontal districts : to
which his remark, that we may suppose the actual drainage to have been
altered from that which originally prevailed, by earthquakes, &c. will not
apply.
2 L 2 in
260 Rev. W. D. Conybeare on the Phenomena of Geology
in abruptly escarped basset edges, but that their planes were
prolonged so as to expire insensibly against the more elevated
portions of the substrata, which, on emerging, usually rise to
higher levels ;— so that the whole surface at first presented one
uniform declivity, nearly uninterrupted. The Fluvialists must
then suppose that the drainage across this declivity excavated
the transverse valleys as its main channels, while the lateral
drainage into these main channels excavated the longitudinal
valleys. But in order to constitute the supposed original uniform
declivity, the mass of materials formerly upfilling the whole
space, and which we must imagine to have been subsequently
removed, is stupendously great ; for these longitudinal valleys
usually present very extensive plains at the foot of the basset
escarpments, whereas the transverse valleys are comparatively
narrow defiles. If then we attribute the latter to the main
course of drainage, and the former to its lateral action, we
attribute an inferior effect to what must surely be considered
as the most favourable line of action, and a vastly superior
effect to that least favourable. I would refer to the analysis
of my paper on the Thames, in your Magazine for July 1829,
for the particulars of my argument, as far as that district af-
fords any grounds of illustration.
With regard to the evidence then adduced, it was remarked
by a writer, anxious at the same time to point out the neces-
sity of confining the inferences so as to leave untouched all
the districts in which facts of an opposite tendency might be
observed, " similar facts are supplied by nearly all the greater
valleys of England ; and on the whole they point to one con-
clusion, that fluviatile erosion, as a mere solitary agent, has
produced but small effects in modifying the prominent features
of our island." ( President Sedgwick's Address to the Geological
Society, 1830.) Mr. Lyell, on the contrary, in a passage ap-
parently designed as an allusion to this paper, has objected
to reasoning from the actual form of the surface in any given
district as to what may have taken place (as to drainage, &c.)
under the original configuration of the district, which he con-
ceives may have been entirely different. I can only reply, that
the actual configuration must in some manner have resulted
from that original one. He supposes the agent employed in
the transformation to have been fluviatile erosion. Now the
scope of my argument was intended to prove that no original
form of surface could be assigned from which fluviatile erosion
could have educed the actual form. This, 1 repeat, was the
aim of my argument; whether or not I succeeded in that aim
is another question. On this, as on other controverted subjects,
temperate discussion can alone elicit truth ; and I shall feel gra-
tified
bearing on theoretical Speculations. 26 1
tified if any Fluvialist shall hereafter undertake the examina-
tion of the same phaenomena, and explain in detail, on his
own hypothesis, the exact manner in which the valleys of the
Thames and its tributaries can have been formed.
Lest it should be imagined that the circumstances of this
river are in any manner peculiar, I will add a short examina-
tion of the various streams which traverse the portion of our
island occupied by the more horizontal strata, and in which
therefore the valleys are attributable to excavation rather than
dislocation. This district, as it is known, extends diagonally
across the island, from the south of Durham to the east of
Devon ; the more horizontal formations occupying all the
tract south-east of the diagonal line. Beginning our examina-
tion at the north extremity, the Derwent and its tributaries
first present themselves.
1. First, as to the Rye, — Did not a transverse valley open
across the oolitic chain of the Howardian hills, the waters of
Ryedale would form a lake discharging itself along the Vale of
Pickering at the base of the chalk escarpment, into Filey or
Scarborough bay.
2. Had not the great transverse breach between the chalk
wolds of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire given vent to the outlet
of the Humber, all the flats near the junction of the Trent and
Derwent would have formed an immense lake, whose waters
would have been so dammed up as to have flooded all the
lower portions of the Ouse and Swale, and discharged them-
selves finally by the mouth of the Tees; as the escarpments
of the chalk wolds, and afterwards of the eastern moorlands,
would have presented an insuperable barrier, preventing any
other egress to the sea basin excepting Teesdale, previously to
their fracture by transverse valleys. Now in order to get over
this difficulty, the Fluvialist must, I conceive, argue that at the
time when his streams commenced their operations, the said
escarpments presented no barriers at all, all the valleys on the
west of them having been at that period filled up (by materials
since removed) to such a level as to overtop the chalk and
oolitic ranges ; since by such a configuration of surface alone
could the streams have been brought to act on these ranges so as
to cut transversely through them. Let the Fluvialist, however,
so reconstruct the district in question : I next ask what it will
require to reduce it from this " its form ten million years
ago " to its actual features ? Why simply the excavation of
the entire vales of Lincoln and York (a district about 100
miles long and more than 15 broad) to a depth of 700 feet
beneath its supposed original level. I will ask but one other
question, How long would atmospherical drainage take to effect
this ?
262 Rev. W. D. Conybeare on the Phenomena of Geology
this ? Seeing that since the Romans occupied Eboracum 1 700
years ago, that agency has not effected a degradation of
7 inches on any one of the valla of their encampments, we
may perhaps have sufficient data to calculate upon. I leave
the Fluvialists to work out the question at leisure, offering in
the meanwhile, as a mere approximation, an infinitillion of
ages in the ?/th power.
3. We next come to the breach of the river Witham, through
the oolitic range at Lincoln, where a dam of very trifling ele-
vation would at once turn it into the Trent.
5. South of this the oolitic range is broken through by the
transverse valleys of the Welland and Nen : but as the head
waters of these streams rise almost within the limits of these
valleys, I shall not insist on them ; though as the breaches tra-
verse the whole chain, I do not see how the Fluvialist can ac-
count for them without filling up the subjacent plains on the
north-west as before.
6. I now arrive at my old ground, the district containing
the Cherwell and other head waters of the Thames ; and
must refer to my former observations.
7. The chalk range is broken through not only by the
Thames, but by a very considerable number of valleys, a
complete transverse valley occurring almost every 10 miles
throughout the course of that formation. Many of these valleys
afford a passage to actual streams; and many others, quite an
equal number I believe, are totally destitute of such rivers,
and yet bear every character of being truly valleys of excava-
tion. The chalk, indeed, as must be familiar to those who
have resided long in any district chiefly composed of it (the
locality of much of my own youth), abounds in valleys devoid
of water, the stratum being so absorbent as generally at once
to swallow up the atmospheric showers without allowing them
to collect into rills. Now I very earnestly wish that the Fluvi-
alists would inform me how tljese valleys, which neither have
nor ever have had streams flowing through them, have been
formed by the erosion of the said non-existing streams.
8. The valleys of excavation at the south-western extremity
of our district, Dorset and Devon, have been fully described in
an essay by my friend Buckland in the Geological Transac-
tions, vol. v. ; and wherever he has preceded me, I am always
content with reference only.
9. I will conclude therefore with the south-eastern extre-
mity, the Weald of Kent. It is well known that the axis and
saddle of this district consists of a range of sand denominated
(from the place where it terminates on the coast) the Hastings
Sand. Round this axis mantle the upper and ferruginous green
sand
bearing on theoretical Speculations. 263
sand and the chalk. On the north, both these formations form
chains of steep escarpment separated by deep longitudinal
valleys from the central axis and from each other: but on
the south, from the general degradation of the sand, the chalk
alone forms a regular escarpment. Now most of the main
streams of this district have their head waters in the central
axis; whence those running northwards into the Thames
have to intersect by transverse valleys the two barriers of the
Kentish rag hills and of the northern chalk downs, neglect-
ing the two intervening longitudinal valleys, into which a dam
of less than 100 feet high erected in any of these breaches,
which are about 600 feet high, would turn the drainage
towards the Straits of Dover. Such are the circumstances of
the Wey, the Mole, and the Medway ; the Darent and the
Stour rising almost within the limits of the rag hills, indeed,
can scarcely be said to break through more than one of these
barriers, the chalk. On the south side we have the Arun,
the Ader, the Ouse, and the Quckmere, which in like manner
break through the single opposing barrier of the chalky South
Downs (as the sands do not on this side present a regular
escarpment). Now it is I think quite inconceivable that fluvia-
tile erosion could possibly have produced such a configura-
tion, unless we suppose that the surface originally, when the
drainage commenced its work, presented uniform slopes from
the central axis to the aestuary of the Thames on the one side,
and the sea on the other, the intermediate longitudinal valleys
having been then filled up ; and that while the direct drainage
excavated the transverse valleys, the lateral drainage exca-
vated the longitudinal valleys : in which case I would ask,
first, why has the lateral drainage produced so much more
considerable effects than the direct drainage? and secondly,
how has it happened that the lateral drainage into so many
distinct main channels has coincided so as to form one uniform
longitudinal valley, instead of ramifications extending from one
principal stream without any relation to those of the next
principal stream ? While the geologist is studying the valleys,
the antiquary will observe throughout this tract the boldest
prominences of the escarpments studded with ancient earth-
works, which, though placed in the most exposed situations,
have resisted the action of atmospherical causes for some
twenty centuries : and should the two parties meet under these
circumstances, it will be somewhat difficult for the former to
persuade the latter that these deep defiles have been worn
down by an agency which his own observations naturally lead
him to believe to be next to null.
But it may well be said that the Diluvialist, if he thus assails
the
Rev. W. D. Conybeare on the Phenomena of Geology
the theory of the Fluvialist, is bound in fairness to state his
own, that it may lie equally open to investigation. I shall en-
deavour to do so then, premising that while I frankly combat
that which appears to me improbable, I can only pretend to
suggest that which to me appears more probable; and that
should I fail in this, in the opinion of others, it by no means
follows that fhifialism is the correct explanation. As to my
own views, then, I offer them simply as those of one individual,
often, I am sensible, likely to require correction ; and when
that is not the case, yet susceptible of a far better development
than any I can give them.
In the first place, then, as to the longitudinal valleys and the
basset escarpments of the strata bounding them. It seems very
possible that this configuration of surface is not exclusively
and entirely to be ascribed to excavation, although its features
may have been greatly modified and exaggerated by this ope-
ration. We may easily conceive forces in action during the
period of the original deposition of the strata, which may have
caused the strata to terminate with truncated edges, facing
towards the elevated ridges of the older rocks, against and upon
which they were precipitated, instead of having allowed their
planes uniformly to extend until they abutted against those
older ridges : for we must suppose the oceans which deposited
these strata to have possessed some lines of shore ; these we
may naturally conceive to be indicated by the most elevated
crests of the older ridges : against such lines of coast, currents
most probably have ranged. While therefore the depositions
were proceeding quietly in the deeper and more tranquil
waters, they would be interrupted in the range of these littoral
currents, — may not the longitudinal valleys have originated in
this cause? The usual disposition of the actual submarine sand-
banks is, I believe, analogous ; they are cut off' from the coasts
by deep intervening channels, beyond which they rise with
escarpments often of considerable abruptness.
To examine into the causes which may have modified and
increased these longitudinal valleys, and produced the trans-
verse defiles, we should, I apprehend, in the first place pro-
ceed regularly to investigate what would be the probable ac-
tion of the waters in their gradual retreat from the summits
of the strata originally formed beneath them to their present
level. We have reason, with regard to the more horizontal
strata, to which our attention is now confined, to conclude,
from the conformity of the stratification and absence of dislo-
cation, that the elevating forces must have in this instance pro-
ceeded with an uniform and gradual action, and consequently
that the retreat of the sea and relative depression of its level
would
bearing on theoretical Speculations. 265
would be likewise gradual. Now the lines indicating the main
direction towards which the waters in their subsidence must,
tend, being coincident with the dip of the strata over the
backs of which the descent was taking place, must of course
have been transverse to the bearing of those strata : the ge-
neral currents of the so descending waters would therefore
naturally tend to produce transverse furrows in the strata:
hence would the transverse valleys originate ; while at the
same time the longitudinal valleys would be materially modi-
fied; the descending currents setting against the escarpments
of the strata would naturally tend to undermine them, and
from the direction of the inclination of their planes would act
to advantage, especially as we usually find the longitudinal
valleys extending into the softer alternating strata, such as
clay, and sand, and the harder rocks constituting the over-
hanging escarpment: hence the undermining agency of the
waves operating with facility on these softer materials, would
considerably increase the breadth of the longitudinal valleys
and render the escarpments steeper and more abrupt. In
proportion as the depression of the sea-level was gradual,
there may have been a long continued reiteration of tidal waves
sweeping over the same tracts. I happen at the present mo-
ment to have directly beneath my eyes a complete illustration
of the necessary consequences of the action of tidal waves on
strata gradually inclined, — residing within a few yards of a
coast formed by such strata (of magnesian limestone) ; these
dip towards the sea under a very gentle angle, only about 2°.
The ebb consequently exposes a band of them of considerable
breadth, more than a furlong; the whole of this band has been
eroded by the tidal waves into a complete and most illustra-
tive model, presenting on the small scale all the phenomena
above described, escarpments overhanging expanded longi-
tudinal depressions, transverse breaches, &c. &c. And I may
add, that the tidal action very commonly does actually pro-
duce what Mr. Lyell, following Mr. Scrape, fancies can result
only from fluvial action, namely, serpentine and meandering
furrows often of considerable depth and length. I need not
add what pleasure it would give me to see either gentleman
here, and convince him of the fact by ocular demonstration.
I have indeed been surprised how this argument could have
been so strongly urged by two observers, to the combined
acuteness and accuracy of both of whom geology is so deeply
indebted : for it has ever appeared manifest to me, that even
a diluvial current, supposed to be excavating the strata over
which it rushes, can continue to pursue a straight inflexible
line no longer than the constitution of those strata is such as
N.S. Vol. 9. No. 52. April 1831. 2 M to
266 Rev. W. D. Conybeare on the Phenomena of Geology
to oppose an uniform resistance to it ; when any circumstance
occurs which creates a variation in the resistance, such as the
change from softer to harder strata, faults traversing them,
and the like, a corresponding deflexion in the course of the
current seems a necessary consequence.
The origin of the valleys of excavation, then, I am inclined
to refer in part to the currents of the ocean in which they
were first deposited, in part to those accompanying the gradual
retreat of that ocean. But since we have also sufficient evidence
that subsequent convulsions, such as the elevation of the Isle
of Wight for instance, must have disturbed the oceanic level
sufficiently to have occasioned renewed diluvial waves sweep-
ing over tracts which had previously emerged, we have hence
a third class of currents, which must undoubtedly have tended
greatly to modify the results of the two former.
Do I then deny that fluvial erosion has ever produced a
single valley? and if so, how do I dispose of the evidence
which has been brought forward in favour of this view ? I will
avow the tendency of my arguments openly and frankly. I deny
that all valleys of excavation have been so produced: I deny
that many have been so produced : I deny that any have been
so produced, except under extraordinary circumstances. And
to the evidence I reply, that it relates to districts in which these
extraordinary circumstances undoubtedly exist, — volcanic di-
stricts for instance, such as Auvergne and the neighbourhood
of lEtna. Now I cannot admit the action of torrents occa-
sioned by, and cooperating with, volcanic convulsions, as an
example of the ordinary action of common streams; — but that
under these extraordinary circumstances, and even under such
more common but still comparatively rare incidents as the
late floods in Scotland, fluvial action may occasionally produce
considerable effects, / do not deny.
Art. III. — The phenomena of cataracts are inconsistent
with the fluvial hypothesis.
The fluvial hypothesis requires me to believe, that since the
emergence of our continents the atmospheric drainage has
commonly furrowed them into valleys hundreds of miles in
length, and hundreds of feet in depth ; — that the streamlets
forming the Thames, for instance, have done this. But if such
have been the effects of these comparatively tranquil streams,
what must the effects have been of a volume of water like that
of Niagara precipitated in thundering fury ! 1 here indeed
take it for granted that Thames and Niagara have been
acting on the surface for the same period. If this be denied,
I shall certainly require a reason for that denial, and shall
wish to be informed what is the exact seniority of old Father
Thames
bearing on theoretical Speculations. 267
Thames over young Niagara. Meanwhile considering them as
coaeval, I will ask how 1 am to account for the mighty effects
ascribed to the Thames, within a period during which the ut-
most effects that can be ascribed to Niagara are the gradual
wearing away of the bar over which it rushes, for a distance not
exceeding 7 miles ; for the general range of the mountains which
occasions those falls extends only that distance eastwards from
their present site, when the hills entirely subside into the flats
bordering Lake Ontario, and of course the original site of the
falls cannot have been beyond the extreme escarpment of
those hills. Mr. Lyell, taking for his datum that the falls have
receded near 50 yards within the last 40 years, calculates that
they must have occupied 10,000 years in retrograding from the
original to the actual position, and that it will require 30,000
more for them to reach Lake Erie. But if both the actions
commenced together, must it not have completed this effect
ages before the Thames could have excavated even a third
of its present valley? Taking Mr. Lyell's own determinations,
I do not know a more striking instance of the comparatively
inconsiderable power of fluvial erosion acting under circum-
stances that must every way give it its maximum of intensity :
but I must confess my doubts whether the falls actually do
recede, as far as their general line is concerned, at the rate of
50 yards in 40 years. I suspect that some partial degrada-
tion of the strata has here been mistaken for the general re-
trogradation. My grounds of suspicion are these : The falls
are, as is well known, divided in the centre by an extremely
small islet; but from the periods of our earliest accounts it
should appear that this islet has occupied exactly the same
relative position, with regard to the falls, that it holds at the
present moment. The celebrated narrative of the Indian whose
canoe drifted against this islet, whence he was subsequently
so wonderfully rescued, more than a century ago, involves a
full description of all the particulars of this locality, and proves
it to have been then very nearly the same as at present.
Cataracts indeed appear generally to have undergone sur-
prisingly little change from the earliest periods to which hi-
story extends. The cataracts, or rather rapids, of the Nile
above Syene, when examined by the scavans of Buonaparte's
expedition, agreed pretty closely in locality, features, and
extent, with the description given by the Grecian Father of
History. I have always inclined to consider the cascades of
Tivoli as another evidence of the slight changes effected in
this way during a long series of centuries. But Mr. Lyell's
remarks on this locality (although I cannot say they have
changed my opinion) in every way claim an attentive exami-
2 M 2 nation,
268 Rev. W. D. Conybeare on the Phenomena of Geology
nation, which I shall accordingly endeavour to give them. My
argument would stand thus: All the localities of this scene
still appear the same as when its beauties inspired the muses
of Horace and Statius some 18 centuries ago; the fane of
the sibyl, the " domus Albuneae resonantis," still re-echoes
with the dash of the fall beneath : — though did rivers travel at
the rate the Fluvialists think they do, the said falls must
surely have removed far beyond ear-shot of the old sibyl long
ago. Mr. Lyell, however, dwells at length on the fall of a
little bit of vertical cliff, 1 5 paces wide and a few yards long,
occasioned by the floods in 1 826 : as if the undermining such
a fragment were the same thing as the excavation of a valley
of denudation. At such an event Vesta, he thinks, must have
trembled in her beautiful temple for the stability of the planet
over which she presides. If the turret-crowned goddess were
indeed thus affected, the proximate sibyl whom I have al-
luded to, may, I think, well have stept in, in the neighbourly
character of a comforter.
" My dear Sister," — methinks I hear her saying, — " banish
all such apprehensions ; from long experience I myself can
assure you they are as totally unfounded as any of the dreams
with which the Clouds, the great patrons as you know of all
theories of atmospheric drainage, ever inspired the Aristophanic
Sophists. Many many years have I myself lived in this self-
same old house; and from the first moment I came here, I
have ever heard the torrent below, dash dash dash — thun-
dering away at the very same spot : yet during the whole time
it has not been able to work away enough to remove five
inches yet. Believe me, according to a proverb which I un-
derstand to prevail in the island whence those wild savages
come, whom, as you may remember our friend Cicero cau-
tioned Atticus, were far too stupid to buy as slaves, ' 'tis all
much cry and little wool.' If you are not to be shaken from
your seat till this fluvial action can shake you, trust me, you
may sit still long enough."
Never myself having had the pleasure of visiting this most
interesting spot, I should not, however, have ventured to ques-
tion the views which Mr. Lyell appears to have formed after
personal examination, had 1 not found my own opinion of the
nearly permanent position of the fall strongly confirmed by the
minute descriptions of a scientific friend perfectly acquainted
with the locality. The inferences drawn by this friend from
the phaenomena of this Classical cascade are altogether in agree-
ment with the conclusions I am endeavouring to establish. In-
dependently of the historical records, and all the remains of
antiquity, according to his opinion, the natural phaenomena of
the
bearing on theoretical Speculations. 269
the spot appeared to prove that the place of the great cascade
had been stationary, or nearly so, from the moment when the
river commenced its course through the valley of excavation
previously traced out for it by some cause far different from any
action of the river itself. The circumstances of the spot are the
following: The Anio above Tivoli flows gently onwards towards
the edge of the precipice, through a gorge of Apennine lime-
stone of the oolitic period. Near the entrance of Tivoli, a dyke
has been constructed across it, diverting a part of its waters
through an artificial tunnel on the left or southern side, and
thus conducting them so as to issue in several artificial casca-
telli out of the side of the hill below the main and only na-
tural cascade, that of the Grotta di Nettuno. With the arti-
ficial cascatelli we have nothing to do, further than to observe,
that one of them turns the machinery of an iron-foundry
now established within the half-ruined walls of the Villa of
Maecenas (Dom us antiqua heuquamdisparidominaris domino).
This branch, by its relations to the domain of that great pa-
tron, shows that no change has taken place since his time along
the line of its descent, from his palace to the bottom of the
valley beneath, excepting the deposition of travertin ; the waters
of the Anio while foaming in a state of precipitation have
always deposited travertin; and this travertin accumulating
on the bar of limestone over which it fell, as may especially
be seen at the great and only real cascade of the Grotta di
Nettuno, immediately became a defence against all further
erosive action of the river on the subjacent Apennine limestone.
This perpetually increasing shield of travertin would probably
go on accumulating more rapidly in its upper parts than the
agitated state of the bottom would allow below ; and hence
periodical breakings away of its unsupported overgrowings
would take place, as of the curling edges of drifted snow. But
this failure of support would not affect the inferior sheets of
travertin in immediate contact with the limestone : these once
formed, will have remained from the day of their formation,
arresting all further destruction of the stratified rock beneath.
From the base of the cascade to the plain of Rome is about
a mile ; and in this mile the river descends a valley narrow at
its base, and flanked on both sides by slopes of moderate in-
clination, most steep at the cascatelli on the left bank, and
on the right bank nearly opposite them. Now it is observed,
had this cascade been working gradually backwards through
the eternity of the fluvialist theory, it must have deposited
travertin all along the gorge it was forming at each succes-
sive station, which it occupied from time to time, just as it has
done at its actual station the Grotta di Nettuno; every part
of
270 Mr. S. Sharpe on the Reduction to the Meridian.
of the gorge below this point should have been a precipitous
ravine uniformly incrusted with travertin, such as now covers
the site of the actual cascade : instead of this, we have a valley
included by gentle slopes, except at its upper extremity, where
its sides for a short interval become more steep ; nor is there a
single particle of the travertin which, on the theQry, ought to
have prevailed through its whole extent, except in the neigh-
bourhood of the artificial cascatelli, which of course must ne-
cessarily produce it, just as the natural cascade does.
I have now concluded the cursory view which I proposed to
take of the phaenomena of geology bearing on theoretical
points, and of the inferences which the observers of the school
to which I am attached, have thought themselves justified in
deducing from them. And I am now happy to leave, I hope for a
long time, the field of theoretical, and especially controversial
discussion. Having heartily tired myself, and I fear far more
tired your readers, I can well say with the copyists of the
middle ages: "Explicit, expliceat; ludere Scriptor eat."
XLVI. On the Reduction to the Meridian. By S. SHARPE,
Esq. F.G.S*
TN the well-known formula for the reduction to the meridian
"• of a zenith distance observed near to the meridian (see
Baily's Tables, page 93) :
x being correction required ;
P hour angle ;
L latitude of the place ;
A polar distance of the body observed;
Z zenith distance of ditto ;
_ . eP/cosLsinA\ „ . , P/cosLsinA\2 , „
sm,r=2sin2-—( r— ~ — ) — 2sm4 — -( ^—^ — Vcot Z.
2 \ sin Z / 2 V sin Z /
When the sun or a planet is the body observed, the additional
term + 8.P is usually added: SP being its change of de-
clination, proportional to the time P.
But when this is done, the first term ought to be
2 sin • ^(-^gz + gp > °r> wha< is the same thing,
we should add a fourth term
± 2sin*-|sin(PS)-^£.
Remembering that these two terms containing 8 are to be of
* Communicated by the Author.
different
Geological Society. 271
different sines when some of the observations are on one side
of the meridian and some on the other.
And this new term is too important to be neglected,
1st, In low latitudes, when ~ is large.
2nd, At a*distance from the meridian, when P is large.
3rd, Near the equinoxes or planet's nodes, when 8 is large.
4th, When the observations are principally on one side of
the meridian.
If we make
cos L sin A , , /cos2 L sin2 A cot Z\ , XT cos2 L
- — jj— -, — —., . M= ( . „ . — r. — ) and N = . . ^
sm Z sin 1" \ sm2Zsml" / sin2 Z
K =
x = versin P . K — (vers P —
vers2P
which is the form most easily calculated for a repeating circle,
with a table of natural sines and versed sines, when Mr. Daily's
convenient Tables are not at hand.
S. SHARPE.
XLVII. Proceedings of Learned Societies.
ANNIVERSARY OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Address to the Geological Society, by the President, the Rev. ADAM
SEDGWICK, M.A. F.R.S. #c., on announcing the first award of the
Wollaston Prize. (February 18, J 831.)
Gentlemen,
BEFORE you proceed to elect the Officers and Council for the
coming year, it remains forme to announce from the Chair the ad-
judication of the Wollaston Prize. The affecting circumstances under
which it was founded, so short a time before the death of one of the
most illustrious men who have adorned our lists, the earnest wishes he
expressed, almost with his dying breath, for the honour and well-being
of this Society, and the peculiar public interest attached to a first
award, have thrown a more than usual responsibility upon the Coun-
cil. We were deeply conscious of this responsibility ; we have not
come to our decision lightly ; and in what we have done we look for
your entire approbation.
I am anxious, in the first place, to recall to your recollection the
powers committed to the Council, and the spirit of the instructions
by which they were directed in their award j and I have no means of
doing this so effectually as by quoting a portion of the communication,
in which Dr. Wollaston first informed us of his intention of establish-
ing the " Donation Fund." After stating that he had invested one
thousand
272 Geological Society.
thousand pounds in the three per cent, reduced bank annuities, in
the joint names of himself and the Geological Society, he directed
that after his decease "the Society should apply the dividends in pro-
moting researches concerning the mineral structure of the earth, or
in rewarding those by whom such researches might hereafter be made j
or in such manner as should appear to the Council of the said Society
for the time being, conducive to the interests of the Society in parti-
cular, or the science of geology in general," &c. And he afterwards
enjoined the Society " not to hoard the dividends parsimoniously, but
to expend them liberally, and, as far as might be, annually, in further-
ing the objects of the trust."
Such, Gentlemen, was the letter of our instructions : and as we
were enjoined to expend the proceeds of the Donation Fund, as far
as might be, annually j I will read an extract from the Report of the
Council at the preceding Anniversary, as it will explain our motives
for withholding, on that occasion, the distribution of the dividends.
"The Council have not thought it expedient to make as yet any
distribution of the dividends arising from this fund, but have appro-
priated the first year's income to the acquisition of a die for a medal
which is to bear the head of Dr. Wollaston : and they hope that the
Society will approve of this endeavour to perpetuate in the minds of
geologists the memory of their illustrious benefactor. The first an-
nual distribution, therefore, of the Wollaston Medal, as well as a cer-
tain sum of money, will be awarded at the next anniversary according
to the provision of the bequest." — (Feb. 19th, 1830.)
Mr. Chantrey kindly undertook to carry the resolution of the
Council into effect; and under his directions Mr. Wyon of the Royal
Mint was employed to execute a die, which we hope before long to
see finished. We met, therefore, in the early part of this year to act
upon the letter of our instructions, and we recorded our award in
the following Resolutions.
Extract from the Minute-book of the Council, Jan. 11, 1831.
Resolved unanimously — 1 . " That a Medal of fine gold, bearing the
impress of the Head of Dr. Wollaston, and not exceeding the value
of ten guineas, be procured with the least possible delay."
2. "That the first Wollaston Medal be given to Mr. William
Smith, in consideration of his being a great, original discoverer in
English Geology; and especially for his having been the first, in this
country, to discover and to teach the identification of strata, and to
determine their succession by means of their imbedded fossils."
The first gold medal struck from the die now in progress will
therefore be sent to Mr. Smith ; and we have added to it a purse of
twenty guineas, from the dividends of the " Donation Fund," which
it is now my duty publicly to present to him in the name of the Geo-
logical Society. His great and original works are known to you all;
and I might well refer to them for our justification, and without any
further preface place the prize in his hand, offering him my hearty
congratulations. But since his arrival in London, within the last few
hours, he has given me a short account of his early discoveries, and
has
Geological Society. 273
has shown me a series of documents of no ordinary interest to this
Society, and important to the correct history of European geology.
I should ill perform my present task were I to withhold this infor-
mation from you ; I proceed therefore to communicate it with what
brevity and simplicity I can.
Mr. William Smith was born at Churchill in Oxfordshire — a place
abounding in fossils, the playthings of his childhood, and the objects
of collection in his early youth. This is one of many instances where
things, in themselves inconsiderable, act powerfully on peculiar minds,
so as to influence the whole tenour of after-life. During his boyhood
his habits of observation became confirmed by lessons in practical sur-
veying : he remarked the alternations of argillaceous and stony strata,
and thence became acquainted with the origin of springs and the
true principles of draining j and fortunately many practical works of
this kind were carried on under his immediate inspection.
In 1787 (when eighteen years of age) he was employed in survey-
ing and inclosing extensive tracts of common-land : this gave him a
further insight into the minutest modifications of structure in his native
country ; and within the two next years his surveys extended beyond
the oolite hills into the plain of the new red sandstone. The regular
stratification of the lias and the peculiarities of the red ground, at
that time new to him, made a lasting impression on his mind. Carry-
ing with him his acquired habits of accurate observation, he continued
his surveys (during 1790) to the coast of Hampshire, and to the
country round Salisbury and Bath j and he became gradually familiar
with the outline of the chalk downs, and the external characters of
large agricultural districts. In 1791, while employed in making ex-
tensive surveys in a part of Somersetshire, he remarked the identity
of the red marl and lias of that county with the corresponding for-
mations of Gloucestershire, and recognized their discordant position
on the coal measures. During the same year he made several detailed
sections of the coal strata; collected fossil plantvS which he found cha-
racteristic of particular beds in his sections j and remarked that none
of the many fossils of the lias were found either in the coal strata or
the red marl : and at this time he also began to make practical obser-
vations and inquiries with a view of ascertaining the range and extent
of the successive deposits, and the reality of a general line of clip to-
wards the east, of which he had already seen so many local instances.
I think these facts of great importance, as they contain the germ
of all Mr. Smith's future discoveries. And we must bear in mind — that
his attention was distracted by the duties of a laborious profession —
that he had barely reached the age of manhood — and that he had not
received a glimmering of direction in his general speculations.
In the course of the two following years, while continuing the duties
of a surveyor and civil engineer, he became gradually acquainted with
all the minute facts of stratification in the country round Bath : and
for the purpose of bringing to the test the inquiries suggested by his
surveys in 1/91, he made two transverse sections along the lines of
two parallel valleys intersecting the oolitic groups (determining the
actual elevation of these lines by means of levels carried from the
N. S. Vol. 9. No. 52. April 1831. 2 N Somerset
274 Geological Society.
Somerset Coal Canal) j and ascertained that the several beds, found
in the high escarpments around Bath, were brought down by an
eastern dip, in regular succession, to the level of his lines of section.
During these two years Mr. Smith was in the constant habit of ma-
king collections of fossils, with strict indications of their localities ; and
in completing the details of his transverse sections, he found, where
the beds themselves were obscure, that he could by organic remains
alone determine the true order of succession. During this period he
also extended his surveys through the Cotteswold Hills, and became
acquainted with the general facts of the range of the oolitic escarp-
ment towards the North of England.
In the year 1794- he crossed the whole series of formations, and
marked their escarpments between Bath and London ; and afterwards
extended his surveys to the Durham and Northumberland coal-
field: while on his way, partly by actual sections and partly by the
help of external contours, with which his eye was now familiar, he
ascertained the range of the chalk to Flamborough Head, and of
the oolitic series, through a regular succession of escarpments, to
the Hambleton Hills and the cliffs of Yorkshire. Combining the
facts discovered in this excursion with the distribution of the for-
mations in the south-western parts of England, he began to record
his observations by colouring geological maps. Several documents
of this kind are now unfortunately lost : but I have been informed
by Mr. Phillips (Curator of the museum of the Yorkshire Philo-
sophical Society), that he possesses a valuable geological map, co-
loured by Mr. Smith in the year 1800, connecting the structure of
the North of England, which at that time he had not again visited,
with the structure of the South-western districts ; and delineating
the whole oolitic series through England, in some places very cor-
rectly, and in all with a general approach to accuracy.
Mr. Smith in 1795 became for the first time a housekeeper; and
no sooner had he apartments of his own, than he turned them to
account by arranging his large collection of organic fossils (the
accumulations of several years) stratigraphically. I am certain,
Gentlemen, that this stratigraphical collection, preceded by many
years any other similar collection formed in this country : and with-
out pretending to any exact knowledge of the history of Continental
geology, I greatly doubt whether a stratigraphical collection of or-
ganic fossils, derived from a long series of formations, and specially
intended to assist in identifying their subordinate strata and deter-
mining their relations, was ever made before the year 1795 in any
part of Europe.
Local collections of organic remains were undoubtedly made in
this country long before the time of Mr. Smith, and in the works of
our older writers we may sometimes find the glimmerings of his dis-
coveries.— Woodward formed a magnificent collection of organic re-
mains ; and he separated from the rest a series of fossils of the Hamp-
shire coast, and was aware that many of the species were the same
as those of the London clay : but this fact, and many others of like
kind, were with him but sterile truths j and being led astray by his
theory, he knew nothing either of the real structure of the earth,
or
Geological Society. 275
or of any law regulating the distribution of organic forms. — Michell
was a man of great talents, and undoubtedly made out the true rela-
tions of the secondary deposits in one portion of this island: but he
was, 1 believe, ignorant of the importance of organic remains, and did
not use them as a means of identifying strata. — Lister is distinguished
among the writers of the seventeenth century as the first to propose
the construction of mineralogical maps, and he had some limited no-
tions of the distribution of organic fossils, though he misunderstood
both their nature and importance.
The works of these authors were, however, entirely unknown to Mr.
Smith during his early life, and every step of his progress was made
without any assistnnce from them*. But I will go further, and affirm,
that had they all been known to him, they would take nothing
from the substantial merit of his discoveries. Fortunately placed in a
country where all our great secondary groups are brought near toge-
ther, he became acquainted in early life with many of their complex
relations. He saw particular species of fossils in particular groups of
strata, and in no others j and giving generalization to phenomena,
which men of less original minds would have regarded as merely
local, he proved (so early as 1791) the continuity of certain groups
of strata, by their organic remains alone, where the mineral type was
wanting. He made large collections of fossils j and the moment an
opportunity presented itself he arranged them all stratigraphically.
Having once succeeded in identifying groups of strata by means of their
fossils, he saw the whole importance of the inference — gave it its ut-
* I am anxious to do no injustice to those who preceded Mr. Smith. No part of
Woodward's collection was arranged stratigraphically — Michell, who occupied
the Woodwardian Chair several years, was of course intimately acquainted with
every part of this collection: but I do not think he made any use of it as a means
of determining the order of superposition. There is, however, one passage in
his celebrated paper " On the Cause and Phsenomena of Earthquakes" (Phil.
Trans, vol. li. p. 587), which I am bound to notice. It is as follows : " These
inequalities are sometimes so great, that the strata are bent for some small distance,
even the contrary way from tlie general inclination of them. This often makes
it difficult to trace the appearances I have been relating ; which, without a general
knowledge of the fossil bodies of a large tract of country, it is hardly possible to
do." I am almost certain, that by the term fossil, he did not intend organic re-
mains. In the works and catalogues of Dr. Woodward (with which of course
Michell was most familiar), and in the language of naturalists of the last
century, every mineral substance was designated under the general term fossil;
and organic remains were almost always distinguished by the name of extraneous
fossils, organic fossils, &c. &c. The memorandum, by which it is proved that
Michell had a knowledge of the true relations of several of our secondary groups,
was found by accident among the papers of Sir Joseph Banks, and published in
1810. It could not, therefore, have possibly been known to Mr. Smith during
the progress of his discoveries. (See Tilloch's Philosophical Magazine, vol. xxxvi.
p. 102.)
Since the Anniversary, I have looked over the paper in which Lister recom-
mends the construction of mineral maps (Phil. Trans, vol. xiv. p. 730 : 1684).
It is clear that he had no correct notions on the nature of stratification ; and
his opinions on organic remains was, as is well known, most erroneous and un-
philosophical. All these questions are discussed at considerable length, and with
great ability and candour, in an article of the Edinburgh Review (vol. xxix.
p. 311, &c.), now known to be from the pen of Dr. Filton, To this article I par-
ticularly wish to refer the reader.
2 N 2 most
276 Geological Society.
most extension — seized upon it as the master principle of our science
— by help of it disentangled the structure of a considerable part of
England — and never rested from his labours till the public was fairly
in possession of his principles. If these be not the advances of
an original mind, I do not know where we are to find them ; and I
affirm with confidence, after the facts already stated, that the Council
was justified in the terms of their award, and that Mr. William
Smith was o .otoo.^c.o..tn.o..u^oo.
: : th : : rr : o : :oot^ too :co : .3* .r-. . :^oco .
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0-65
54, South Bridge, Edinburgh,
14th March 1831.
N.S. Vol. 9. No. 53. May 1831.
WM. GALBRAITH.
2 X LIV. On
LIV. On the Effect of a Change of Polar Distance on the Re-
duction to the Meridian of a Zenith Distance observed out of
the Meridian. By A CORRESPONDENT.
To the Editors of the Philosophical Magazine and Annals.
Gentlemen,
T TROUBLE you with a few lines on the effect of a change
-•- of polar distance on the reduction to the meridian of a
zenith distance observed out of the meridian. Retaining the
symbols used in a paper in your last Number, where A and Z
are understood to refer to the time of meridian transit; let
us suppose that for the hour angle P we have the polar di-
stance = A +& A, and the zenith distance Z + #. The cor-
rection x to be applied to the zenith distance Z + .r, in order
to obtain Z, the zenith distance on the meridian is to be found
from these two equations :
sin L cos A + cos L sin A = cos Z
sinLcos(A +8 A) +cosL . sin (A + 8A) cos P = cos (Z + x)
Considering the square of 8 A and oc? as evanescent, we shall
find
cos L. sin A „ . , ™ cos L2 sin2 A n n • i™
x = - — TJ - 2 sin \ P2 -- ^—^f - cotang Z2sin^P*
sm Z sm2Z
sin LA
The part 8 A is owing to the change of polar distance, which
from A +8 A at the time P of the observation, is become A
at the time of the body's transit over the meridian, and
8 A - : — rj — • 2 sin i P2 is the increase of the first term
sin LA
of the value of x by the substitution of A + 8 A for A, as that
term belongs to a polar distance A ; whereas the real polar
distance belonging to the hour angle P was A
The equation may be thus written :
cosL.sin(A+SA) _ 2 ^ p_
_
sm Z sm Z1
The correction of x depending on 8 A is hardly ever re-
quired ; but the preceding formula shows how easy it is to
take it into account.
LV. Ob-
[ 339 ]
LV. Observations relative to the Origin and History of the
Bushmen. By ANDREW SMITH, M.D. M.W.S. $c.
[Continued from page 200.]
Tj^OR subsistence, the Bushmen, as has alreadybeen observed,
•*• trust principally to the fruits of the earth, and to the game
which their plains afford : but when either of those are found
deficient, few have any hesitation in supplying their wants from
the flocks of the neighbouring farmers. With even such a
variety of resources, they are nevertheless often sufferers from
extreme want, and are thereby necessitated to consume almost
every article which is to be found within the range of their
retreats. Of the vegetable productions, many roots, both
fibrous, fleshy, and bulbous, form articles of their food ; and
of berries and other fruits, they employ almost all that are met
with whose qualities are not prejudicial to health, and many
of which are doubtless possessed of no properties beyond those
of filling and distending the stomach. Amongst the most
useful and nutritious of the vegetable products, is the seed of
a species of grass which grows in their country, as well as in
the northern parts of the colony, and which, when cleaned and
boiled, has considerable resemblance in taste to barley similarly
prepared. This at the proper season occurs in considerable
quantities, and is acquired in two ways, — either by directly
collecting the tops of the grass and then separating the seed,
or by robbing the black ants which there occur, and who carry
quantities of it as food to their subterranean abodes.
Subservient as the vegetable kingdom is thus rendered, the
animal one is made not less so ; for, from the largest quadrupeds
that inhabit their wastes, to the most disgusting reptile or the
smallest insect, almost all are in some way or other employed
as articles of provision. The hippopotami, zebras, quaggas, dif-
ferent species of antelopes, jackals, &c. as well as the ostrich and
bustard, form the favourite objects of pursuit with the men; and
the pursuit of the hares, dassies, moles, rats, snakes, lizards,
grasshoppers, ants, and such like forms, the occupation of the
women and boys. There is scarcely a four-footed animal which
they can destroy that they do not convert to food, and there is
hardly a portion of any one of those, with the exception of the
bones, that they do not devour. The flesh in every situation
they greedily consume ; the stomach and intestines they esteem
as delicacies; the liver and kidneys they often swallow even raw,
and the contents of the stomachs of many animals they drink
or eat either pure or diluted with water. The blood of most
animals they highly prize, and though usually cooked before
2X2 it
34-0 Dr. A. Smith's Observations relative to the
it is used, yet it is often, either from choice or necessity occa-
sioned by a want of water, swallowed as it flows from the body.
The skins, at least of the larger animals, are not even rejected,
and those they often feed upon with a degree of rapacity,
which nothing but extreme hunger would support.
Some of the articles just stated are regularly made use of
in their natural state, but the majority only when cooked. The
vegetable productions that require such preparation, are either
boiled or roasted; and those belonging to the animal kingdom
are mostly treated in the latter way, with the exception of grass-
hoppers, larvae of ants, and ostrich eggs, which are commonly
consumed without being submitted to the influence of cooking ;
all the others are, when choice can be exercised, more or less
prepared ; and what requires most labour, is the dried skins
of the larger animals. Those are first moistened by water,
and then stamped and roasted ; or else roasted first, and
stamped afterwards. Though the employment of articles like
the last mentioned is calculated to create a degree of wonder
in those who have never suffered severely from the pangs of
want, yet how much more adapted for such a purpose is the
observance of a fact, which almost daily occurs amongst the
Bushmen, — namely, the preparation of pieces of old shoes, &c.
for the purpose of furnishing a scanty and tasteless meal.
The vegetable products are principally obtained without
much labour; and if we except the different roots, few require
much exertion. The latter it is necessary to dig out of the
ground, and for that purpose they employ either a piece of
pointed wood hardened by having been previously a little
burnt, or else a gemsbok horn, and by either of those they
loosen the surrounding soil with amazing rapidity. The ani-
mal productions are partly procured without much trouble,
but the majority not without very considerable exertion, as
well as the exercise of no small degree of dexterity and cun-
ning. The bow and arrow are the means upon which they
mostly rely for obtaining the latter ; and next to those, snares
and dogs. In employing the former, they either endeavour to
approach the animal within a suitable distance to wound him
severely, or else to conceal themselves so as to be in the way
as he may be pursuing his progress, or, lastly, by the practice
of decoys to bring him into a fitting position. The facility
they have of creeping, and the similarity between the colour
of their skin and the arid wastes over which they hunt, when
conjoined to the amazing sharpness of their sight, enable them
often to advance within a very little distance of game, and
often by a wound of a poisoned arrow to intimate to the ani-
mal its unfortunate situation. He observes every motion of
its
Origin and History of the Bushmen. 341
its head during his approach, and whenever it is possible for
its range of vision to extend to him, he remains most perfectly
quiet ; but when that is not the case, he advances with circum-
spection, and is sustained by such patience, that he will some-
times pass a whole day in the pursuit, without any particular
prospect of success. When again he adopts the second plan,
he remarks the direction the animal is following, and the posi-
tion of the best vegetation in the quarter towards which he is
proceeding ; and having fully satisfied himself as to its probable
course, he digs a hole in the ground, and there conceals him-
self till fate determines what shall be the result. The third
mode, or that by decoys, is practised generally with success
where the requisites for forming such are procurable. They
are principally, if not invariably, executed through the instru-
mentality of young animals, which, when obtained, are fixed
a little way in advance of a low bush fence, behind which the
hunter is 'secreted, and from whence he destroys the dam, as
she visits her offspring. Another description of plan he fol-
lows, and one not less successful, in '^hunting the ostrich, —
namely, that of digging a hole close to a nest, and concealing
himself therein. When in that position, and having previ-
ously provided himself with a dog, he throws it upon the eggs ;
and as soon as the bird sees the animal in that position, it has-
tens to the spot to drive him away, when it instantly falls a
victim to the ingenuity of its betrayer.
Snares they construct in various ways, and by such they
often greatly increase their supplies. Some are formed of
nooses placed in positions through which animals are accus-
tomed to pass, and others consist of large and deep holes dug
in the ground, and so covered over with grass and other arti-
cles as not to be distinguishable from the surrounding parts
till discomposed by the steps of a visitor, when it is usually
too late to discover the fraud. By this method, when prac-
tised in situations where water or grazing ground occurs, sea-
cows, zebras, quaggas, and various of the antelope species, are
frequently obtained. By the formation of trenches or long
narrow ditches, grasshoppers are also commonly entrapped,
particularly when driven in great abundance towards them, as
when the^1 fall therein they are totally unable to escape again.
The resort of the white ants they discover by observing the
hole at which they enter the ground ; and when that is accom-
plished, and the object is to secure the young, they dig away
the earth till the nest is discovered, when it is immediately
exposed, and the larvae, as well as many of the older specimens,
are selected. In the pursuit of these, they often dig holes
several feet in depth, and three or four in diameter ; and after
that,
34?2 Notices respecting New Books.
that, they are not unfrequently disappointed of the objects in
view. When, however, they are successful, they carry the
fruits thereof to their temporary residence, and there, by the
assistance of a small piece of dried skin, remove all the earth
and other impurities, after which they either devour the re-
mainder, or else place them in a pot upon the fire and warm
it a little ; during which time they keep agitating the contents,
so as to prevent them from burning, &c. After a few minutes
of such treatment, they are considered as prepared and adapted
for food. In this state they are not unpalatable, and it is only
the knowledge of their nature that gives anything like a dis-
inclination to relish them.
By the Bushmen, the food under consideration is highly
esteemed, and that and the ostrich egg are perhaps the most
admired articles of their subsistence. After what has been
stated as to the variety of articles employed in diet, it will
doubtless appear a little strange, that on many occasions they
are scarcely able to exist. Such evidently arises from the
scantiness with which the varieties alluded to are distributed,
particularly at certain seasons, as well as from the difficulty
with which many of them are obtained. It matters little, how-
ever, what the cause or causes are, as the fact is established,
and is what doubtless induces them to plunder both the colo-
nists and their various Hottentot neighbours. Lest, how-
ever, this remark should be construed as expressing my be-
lief, that unavoidable want is the only incentive to plunder, I
may observe, that I am quite convinced that laziness and a
love of animal food are very often what alone urge them to
thieving. [To be continued.]
LVI. Notices respecting New Books.
Illustrations of the Geology of Yorkshire ; or a Description of the Strata
and Organic Remains of the Yorkshire Coast : accompanied by a
Geological Map, Sections, and Plates of the Fossil Plants and Ani-
mals. By JOHN PHILLIPS, F.G.S., Keeper of the Museum of the
Yorkshire Philosophical Society, &c. York, 1829, 4 to. pp. 192.
Twenty-four Lithographs.
GEOLOGY naturally divides itself into two branches, according
as its cultivators study the crystalline aggregates or the strati-
fied deposits which combine to form the crust of the earth ; and ac-
cordingly we have always had two distinct classes of geologists. For
the examination of Plutonic rocks, Mineralogy is required ; for the
Neptunian deposits we must refer to the sciences of Botany and Zoo-
logy. The most brilliant discoveries, the most striking and most
successful generalizations with respect to the structure of the earth,
which have yet been made, have originated in the study of or-
ganic
Notices respecting Nc*w Booh. 34-3
ganic remains. The thousands of extinct animals and plants, which
fill the dark mansions of the earth, yield to the geologist as sure a
record of the revolutions by which our planet, after it had become a
mass of mere mineral matter, was prepared for the habitation of man,
as the mummy and the pyramid, the coin and the urn, the inscription
and the column, declare the subsequent vicissitudes of human society.
By announcing, forty years since, the important fact that each suite
of analogous strata, — the result of a peculiar set of natural operations,
— contains a peculiar suite of organic reliquiae, derived from the beings
then living in the waters, or transported thither from the land, and
consequently that the different fossil species of plants, corals, shells,
and vertebrated remains, belong to different epochs, and mark the
successive periods of the earth's formation, Mr. W. Smith changed
entirely the whole face of geological science. His principles, success-
fully applied to determine the stratification of England, received a
splendid confirmation from the researches of Cuvier and Brongniart
in France, and are at this moment universally admitted as the basis
of the laborious researches by which Buckland, Sedgwick, Murchison,
Lyell, De Beaumont, Von Buch, Voltz,Dufresnoy, Deshayes, Necker,
Brocchi, and others, have established the general accordance with
each other of the stratified deposits of Europe, and the existence of
more or less perfectly analogous deposits over all the world.
Mr. Smith's map of the strata of England and Wales, published in
1815, but prepared as early as 1800, will long remain a venerable
monument of the then state of knowledge on that subject. And if
the amiable and excellent author, oppressed less by age than by
heavy afflictions, has been so regardless of his reputation as to neg-
lect the corrections of his noble work which his own unwearied in-
vestigations have furnished, is there one among the more eager and
more fortunate aspirants after such fame, so ungrateful for the light
which guides his steps as to reproach the modest self-oblivion of the
father of English geology ?
Townsend, in his character of Moses, published, with a slight ac-
knowledgement, what he had learned from his friend "Stratum Smith."
Farcy's Derbyshire contains a similar abstract j and Mr. Smith's own
publications have partially exposed in print those views which were
the theme of all his conversations.
The author of the present publication, the nephew and pupil of Mr.
Smith, has dedicated to him a performance calculated in a remarkable
degree to develope and confirm his opinions. We have long intended
to give this work a degree of attention in our pages in some respect
corresponding to its merits, although they have been repeatedly re-
corded in them by Mr. De la Beche, Professor Sedgwick, and other
geologists. The present time, when the Geological Society has
awarded to Mr. Smith the first Wollaston medal, for his discovery of
the means of identifying strata by organic remains ; and when the late
President of the Society has exposed in so luminous a manner the
benefits which Geology has derived from his researches, in an address
officially delivered from the Chair,— cannot but be appropriate for re-
calling Mr. Phillips's work to the attention of the public.
The
344- Notices respecting New Booh.
The organic reliquiae of the Yorkshire coast have been for a long
time celebrated j and the most distinguished geologists of England
have employed themselves in investigating the relations of the strata,
there exposed in the sea cliff's and inland ranges of hills. But though
in these researches a certain part of the history of the strata was de-
termined, and represented on Mr. Smith's and Mr. Greenough's maps,
and described by Messrs. Conybeare and Sedgwick, still the whole
district was most imperfectly known, and the oolitic series in parti-
cular was not at all understood. In 1822, the Rev. G. Young and
Mr. John Bird, residing at Whitby, published a volume of observations
on the subject containing some good descriptions, but altogether
destitute of zoological accuracy and sound geological generalization,
and consequently leaving the stratification of the Yorkshire coast in
greater obscurity than ever. To remedy this state of things, by dis-
closing the true history and relations of the several rocks and their
imbedded organic remains, is the object of Mr. Phillips's work.
The first chapter is an essay on the Principles of Geology, and
contains a condensed view of the discoveries respecting the structure
of the earth, which have produced the modern practical system of
geology. This is a necessary introduction to the subsequent discus-
sions ; for, though no science in modern times has made greater pro-
gress than geology, its zealous cultivators are not numerous, and few
of the persons likely to possess this book would be supposed familiar
with its real principles. The general laws relating to the stratifica-
tion of the crust of the earth, the distinctions of primary, secondary
and independent rocks, the distribution of organic remains in the
earth, and their relations to the existing races of animals and plants,
the effects of internal convulsions in the earth during the deposition
of the strata, are successively considered. Next follow observations
on the changes which the surface of the dry land has undergone by
the agency of ancient floods. In this part of his work Mr. Phillips
avows himself very decidedly opposed to that part of the Huttonian
theory of the earth which ascribes the excavation of valleys to the
streams which now run down them, and agrees with Dr. Buckland
and Mr. Conybeare in their opinion, that the same great flood of
waters which destroyed so many of the land animals of the ancient
world was the principal agent in producing the present inequalities of
the earth's surface. The modern changes occasioned by the action
of water in the sea, rivers and streams, on the ancient framework of
the earth, are next sketched, and the whole terminates in a bold and
striking summary view of the series of changes which appear to have
visited the earth, from the period of its earliest physical condition, of
which induction from known facts furnishes any indications.
" Having thus traced the outlines of a practical system of geology,
I shall conclude with a very orief sketch of the series of changes which
appear to have visited the earth. From chemical researches it seems
highly probable that the whole crust of the earth is to be viewed as
originally produced by oxidation of fluid metals and metalloids. From
a careful study of the effects of heat, under different circumstances,
and of the habitudes of earthy compounds under its influence, it seems
probable
Notices respecting New Books. 345
probable that the granitic rocks, which are the lowest of the primary
series, owe their present condition and appearance to the effect of
partial or general fusion. Above this granitic series we find, certainly,
the effects of deep and overruling water. Many of the primary, and
all of the secondary rocks owe their present appearances and arrange-
ments to the action of water. These strata exhibit the results both
of agitated and of tranquil waters, — mechanical aggregates, — sedi-
mentary deposits, — and chemical precipitates, in frequent repetition.
This circumstance, combined with the facts relating to organic re-
mains, teaches us, that during a long period the sea flowed rich in
living beings over rocks which contain no reliques of life. At times
tranquil, at intervals tumultuous, this ocean, perhaps of elevated
temperature, even in the northernmost regions, varied its deposits at
different periods, yet preserved among them a general conformity of
arrangement, from the oldest to the most recent, and a similarity
over large regions. The aquatic animals and other remains, which
are entombed in the earth, exhibit a long series of beings, whose
origin dates from some of the earliest strata, and whose forms, differ-
ing according to the antiquity of the rocks, successively come nearer
and nearer to the modern productions of the land and the ocean.
During this process, at intervals, vegetable forests swept into estua-
ries, or lakes, furnished the materials of coal, and the intermitting
action of submarine volcanoes frequently broke the consolidated
strata, and formed basaltic and other overlying rocks. At times, too,
more violent exertions, probably of the same cause, uplifted groups
and ranges of mountains with great disruption and dislocation. Ope-
rations of the same kind are to this day continued, but so feebly*,
that we commonly speak as if the causes which concurred to produce
the crust of our planet had ceased to exist. They appear, however,
to have been gradually weakened j and when the last series of the se-
condary beds, partly marine, partly lacustrine, was deposited, a large
portion of pre-consolidated rocks became tenanted by land animals.
But again the waters returned and overflowed the inhabited world -,
removed rocks, excavated valleys, and destroyed the terrestrial inha-
bitants, from whose anatomical construction, as displayed in their
remains, it may be inferred that the antediluvian face of the earth was
like our own, diversified by lakes, and forests, and mountains.
" This transient flood retires from the desolated continents j again
the forest is clothed with foliage j birds fly in air, and animals roam
the earth ; the mountains gather clouds, rain falls, the streams flow
down their new channels, the sea resumes its appointed boundary;
cliffs are wasted, low shores are extended, valleys are filled up, vol-
canoes are in action ; nature revives again, and man, by contempla-
tion of the phenomena, reads the awful history of his birth-place,
gathers ideas of the immense agency exerted in the construction of
the earth, compares this planet with the other members of the solar
system, and views the solar system itself as only a small part of the
immeasurable works of God !"
* Absumptis per longum viribus aevum.
N.S. Vol. 9. No, 53. May 1831. 2 Y
346
Notices respecting New Books.
This part of the work is clear and methodical, and agrees with the
most generally received opinions of English geologists.
The evidence adduced in support of Dr. Buckland's diluvial theory
deserves particular attention ; and if the author has rather exceeded
what his evidence will warrant, when he says " the deluge covered
the whole earth," he has certainly imposed a serious difficulty on
those who deny that such a flood has overswept the hills of England.
In Chapter II. we find the following tabular view of the series of
Yorkshire strata.
"Tabular View of the Series of Yorkshire Strata.
Utmost Thickness.
Feet.
Chalk for- f 1 White Chalk 500 /TheWold hills from Flam-
mation. \ 2 Red Chalk 5 \ borough to Hessle.
( Speeton, Knapton.
Kirby-Moorside, Helms -
ley, Settrington, El-
loughton.
Silpho Brow, Sinnington,
Wass Bank.
Scarborough Castle, Pick-
ering, Malton.
Clay vale C
formation.! [»
(Smith.) l4KimmeridgeclayJ
5 Upper calcareous
grit
6 Coralline oolite
I
4>
I
calcareous)
J
8 Oxford clay
9 Kelloways rock
10 Cornbrash lime-
stone
vening.
f Scarborough Castle, Sal-
150 < tergate Brow, Rievaulx
L Abbey.
40
5 < Gristhorpe, Scarborough.
200 < Gristhorpe, Scalby.
Gristhorpe, White Nab,
ker.
13 Lower sandstone,! ^nn jCloughton, Peak, Burton
shale, and coal. J \ Head, &c.
200
150
500
15 Upper lias shale
1 6 Marlstone series
1 7 Lower lias shale
Cliffs near Whitby, Hills
near Guisbrough, &c.
Cliffs near Staiths, Head of
Bilsdale, Eston Nab, &c.
RobinHood's Bay,Boulby,
Redcar.
Notices respecting New Books.
34-7
Feet.
s~>>
"18 Red marl and red
A%Q
o %
sandstone.
111
II
-Brotherton lime-
45
O >>
stone
** ^r •<
19<
Red clay and
50
** •£»
gypsum
J 1
Magnesianlime-
120
<; inches.
The stomach, ccecuni, and portions of the skeleton were laid on
the table. Mr. Brookes remarked that the cartilage which, passing
from the carpus, affords support to the volitant membrane in the
Flying- Squirrels, is found in all the Pteromyes and Sciuropteri ; but
that it does not exist in Galeopithecus.
One of the specimens of Suricate (Ryzana tetradactyla, Illig.),
which were exhibited to the Committee on the 25th January, having
died, the following notes respecting its anatomy were read by Mr.
Owen.
"The
368 Zoological Society.
" The specimen was a female, and measured, from the end of the
snout to the vent, 1 1 inches. On opening the body it was observed
that the bile had exuded through the peritoneum, and had stained the
ensiform cartilage close to which thejundus of the gall-bladder lay.
The viscera of the abdomen presented a beautiful appearance when
exposed ; the liver occupied the hypochondriac and epigastric re-
gions ; below this appeared the stomach with its vessels injected,
and along the convexity of this organ the spleen swept across the
abdomen from the left to the right lumbar region ; the convoluted
intestines occupying the lower part.
" The oesophagus has a course of about half an inch in the abdo-
men, and enters the stomach half an inch from the left extremity
of that viscus. The stomach is of a full oval shape, without any
contraction in the middle, and retaining the same circumference to
very near the pylorus : its longitudinal diameter is 2 inches j its
depth 1 inch 10 lines. There is a large omentum, broadly attached
to the stomach and spleen, which was hidden among the convolu-
tions of the small intestines. The duodenum makes a large curve at
the right side of the abdomen, is a loose intestine throughout its
whole course, having a mesoduodenum which becomes shorter as it
approaches the spine at the lower part of its curve ; it is continued
into the jejunum before it crosses the spine. The small intestine
then descends into the left iliac region, makes a sudden turn up-
wards, and after a few convolutions again at the lower part of the
abdomen, terminates in the ccecum which is situated in the left lum-
bar region just above the left kidney. The circumference of the
small intestines is nearly the same throughout their course, viz.
1 inch ; their length 3 feet 2 inches.
" The caecum is nearly an inch in length, with a rounded extremity,
and rather contracted at its commencement ; but its position and
direction are the reverse of the caecum in the human subject, having
the blind end pointing to the diaphragm, and lying, as in birds, by
the side of the small intestine, and in the direction of the large intes-
tine, which is continued almost straight down to the anus. There
is not any natural division into colon or rectum, the large intestine
being without longitudinal bands or sacculi, and measuring in length
only six inches. The circumference is rather more than that of the
small intestines.
" The liver is tripartite, with a lobulus Spigelii ; the right division
is bilobed; the middle division has three lobes, with the gall bladder
lodged deep in the right fissure, and the coronary ligament in the
left; the left division is entire. The gall-bladder is large • it had
an irregularly contracted surface. The ductus choledochus enters
the duodenum half an inch from the pylorus.
hocfusco graciliter fasciato -, abdomine cris-
soque ferrugineis ; alls caudaque brunneo-fuscis, apicibus patti-
3 B 2 dioribus;
372 Zoological Society.
dioribus ; dorso imo tcctricib usque caudce superioribus subrufes-
centibus.
Tectrices alarum inferiores ferrugineo fuscoque notatae. Statura
paullo minor quam in specie precedent!.
This bird also was observed to be closely allied to the last, and
to differ from it probably only in sex or age. Until such points
however could be ascertained, it was considered advisable to regard
it as specifically distinct.
Another interesting modification of form was exhibited among the
Shrikes, in which the forked tail, acuminated wing, and short and
feeble legs of the birds allied to Dicrurus appeared united to the
head and bill of some of the Stares, particularly the genus Pastor.
Mr. Vigors characterized the form under the generic name of
HYPSIPETES.
Rostrum subelongatum, debile, parum curvatum, apice leviter
emarginatum ; naribus basalibus, lateralibus, longitudinalibus, mem-
brana partim clausis; rictus setis paucis, parum rigidis.
Alee subelongatae, subacuminatse ; remige prima brevi, secunda
longiori septimae aequali, tertia et sexta sequalibus, quarta et quinta"
aequalibus longissimis.
Pedes brevissimi, debiliores ; acrotarsiis scutellatis.
Cauda subelongata, forficata, rectricibus extrorsum spectantibus.
HYPSIPETES PSAROIDES. Hyps, capite supra subcristato, remi-
gum apicibus, rectricibus que nigris ; corpore alisque cineraceo-
griseis ; abdomine imo crissoque pallidioribus .
Rostrum pedesque flavi. Tectricum alarum remigumque pogonia
interna fusca. Tectrices alarum inferiores cineraceo-grisege. Lon-
gitudo corporis, 11^-; alee a carpo ad apicem remigis Stiae, 5; rvstri
1 ; tarsi, 4 ; caudce, 4<^.
The following species were also exhibited and described.
MUSCIPETA BREVIROSTRIS. Mas. Muse, capite, collo, nucha,
dorso superiori, alis, rectricibusque mediis splendenti-nigris ;
corpore hifra, dorso imo, pteromatum apicibus, fascia remigumt
rectricibusque lateralibus splendide coccineis ; rostro brevi, sub-
debili.
Foem.? Fronts, corpore infra, dorso imo, fascia alarum, rectrici-
busque lateralibus Jlams ; capite, nuchd, scapularibus, dorsoque
superiori griseis ; alis rectricibusque mediis nigris.
Longitudo corporis, 8-i- ; alee, 3-£- ; rostri, -rV ; tarsi, £ ; caudce, 4-.
CARDUELIS SPINOIDES. Mas. Card, fronte, occipite, collo corpo-
reque infra, ptilis, pteromatum apicibus, fascid remigum, rectri-
cumque lateralium basibus flavis ; capite supra dorsoque oliva-
ceis ; alis caudaquefuscescenti-nigris.
Foem. ? Coloribus minus saturatis ; abdomine dorsoque olivaceo-
fusco striatis.
Statura paulo major quam Card. Spini.
Picus AUKICEPS. Mas. Pic. capite supra aureo; occipite, abdomine
imo, crissoque coccineis ; colli parte posteriori et striga utrinque
later all, corporeque supra nigris ; colli parte Jrontali et lateribus,
corporeque infra albis, hoc nigro striato ; scapularibus, pteroma-
tibus,
Zoological Society. 373
tibus, remigibus, rectricibusque lateralibus albo-maculatis ; dorso
media griseo, albo nigroquejasciato.
Foem. Sine not a coccined occipitali.
Statura Pic. medii.
Picus PYGMJEUS. Mas. Pic. capite supra dorsoque media griseo-
canis, hoc albo nigroque fasdato ; striga utrinque per oculos ad
nucham extendente, guld, maculisque pteromatum remigum et
rectricum lateralium albis ; pectore abdomineque albescentibus ,
Jusco graciliter striatis ; notd longitudinali gracili utrinque post
oculos coccined.
Foem. Sine notd coccined postocularL
Statura minor quam Pic. minoris.
The male exhibited of this species was observed to have the two
middle tail feathers elongated beyond the rest, and the lateral fea-
thers were shown to be altogether soft and flexible, like those of
the genus Picumnus, Temm.
CINNYRIS GouLDi2E. Cinn. capite supra, guld colloque infronte,
regione auriculari, striga utrinque gracUi ad latera colli usque
ad humeros extendente, uropygio, caudce tectricibus, rectrici-
busque duabus mediis elongatis pur pur eo et cceruleo metallice
splendentibus; capitis lateribus, occipite, nucha, scapularibus, dorso
summo, ptilisque sanguineo-rubris ; dorso tmo, pectore, abdomi-
neque sulphureisy his sanguineo sparsis ; remigibus rectricibusque
lateralibus Juscis.
Longitudo circiter 5 uncias.
Mr. Vigors expressed the pleasure which he felt in dedicating
this species to the accomplished artist, Mrs. Gould, who executed
the plates of these Himalayan birds.
March 8, 1831. Sir Thomas Phillips, Bart, in the Chair.
The Report on the animals for the importation of which the Coun-
cil should be recommended to take measures (prepared in pursuance
of a Resolution of the Committee, Jan. 1 1.), was presented and read
by Mr. Vigors. It was directed that it should be suspended in the
Meeting Room for the consideration of ^the Members of the Com-
mittee until the next Meeting, to which it shall be again submitted,
and its adoption be recommended.
An extract was read from the ' Lecture faite a la lere Stance
Annuelle de la Societe d'Histoire Naturelle de 1'Jsle Maurice,
24 Aout, 1830, par M. Julien Desjardins, Secretaire de la Socie"te,'
a manuscript copy of which had been transmitted by that Society.
The zoological labours of the Mauritius Natural History Society
have, during the first year of its existence, embraced numerous de-
partments of animated nature.
The Mammalia of the island have been treated of by M. J. Desjar-
dins. They are twenty-six in number, of which twelve only exist in
the wild state. These are enumerated as the Simla Aygula, L. j
Pteropus vulgaris ; Pter. rubricoUis, Geoff. ; Nyctinomus acetabulo-
sust Geoff, j I'aphozous Mauritianus, Geoff, j Erinaceus setosus, L. ;
Sorex Indicus, Geoff. ; Mus Rattus, L. j Mus Musculusf L. j Lepus
nigricollis; Sus scrofa, L. ; and Cervus Elaphus, L.
Various
374- Zoological Society.
Various Birds of Mauritius have been brought before the Society,
including the Fulica Chloropus, L, ; the Numenius Madagascariensis,
Briss. ; and a Snipe, known in the island as the Cul blanc. To the
latter M.L. Desjardins has given, with some doubts, the name of Sco-
lopax Mauritinna.
Several birds from Madagascar have also occupied the attention of
the Society, and M. J. Desjardins has identified them as follows : two
species of Falco, Cuv. ; Strix flammea, L. ; Loxia Madagascariensis,
L. ; Corvus Dauricus, Lath, j a species of Regulus, Cuv. ; Cuculus
canorus, L. j Tetrao Coturnix, L. ; Scopus Umbretta ; Rallus Mada-
gascariensis, n. s. j Fulica Chloropus, L. ; Fulica cristata, Gmel. j
Scolopax Capensis, L. ; Colymbus minor, L. $ and four species of the
genus Anas, L.
There are very few Reptiles met with on the island. An instance
has occurred of the discovery of a living Snake, the second within
the memory of the inhabitants. It was the Coluber rufus, LaCep. j
and had probably been brought from India in some ship. The earlier
travellers speak of the existence of Tortoises, but none are now found.
M. J. Desjardins has, however, discovered three deposits of the re-
mains of these animals, all of which are evidently of modern date,
their age not exceeding two or three centuries. There are two
Saurian Reptiles, which, although common, remained undescribed
until M. L. Desjardins gave to them the names of Scincus Telfairii
and Seme. Bojerii : he has also described a third, smaller and much
more uncommon than the others, the Seine. Boutonii.
Three new species of Fishes have been described and figured by
M. T. Delisse. They are a Heniochus, Cuv. ; a Holacanthus, Cuv. ;
and an Ophidium, L.
In invertebrated animals, especially those which inhabit the sea,
Mauritius is rich. Among the Annelida, M. Lienard, sen. has de-
scribed an Amphitrite, which he believes to be new : he has also
described the Amph. voluticornis and Amph. splendida, Lam., together
with three new species, the Amph.fuscata, albicans, and tricolor. A
lacustrine Erpobdella has been described by M. L. Desjardins, who
has preserved to it the trivial name of sex-lineata, doubtingly given
by MM. Quoy and Gaimard. Three new species of Crustacea, of the
genera Lupa, Plagusia, and Cancer, have been described by M. Lie-
nard, jun.: and M. De Lisse, sen., has proposed to regard as the type
of a new genus the Homard sans cornes of the fishermen ; to this
group he gives the name of Scyllibacus, and places it between Scylla-
rus, Fab. and Ibacus, Per. The species is named Scyllibacus orientalis.
Many Insects have been exhibited at the meetings of the Society, and
M. J. Desjardins has read a description and history of the metamor-
phoses of the Coccinella sulphurea, Oliv. Among the Cirrhipeda a
new species of Anatifa, allied to An.striata, Lam., has been described
by M. Desjardins under the name of An. Mauritiana.
The Radiata which have been described, are a species of Fistularia,
Lam., and anew species of Cephea, the Ceph. lamellosa, so named by
M. Lienard, jun. on account ,of the foliaceous lamella which cover
the under surface of its arms.
Among
Zoological Society. 375
Among the Mollusca, six species of Doris have been described by
M. Lie"nard, sen., to one of which, regarded by him as new, he has
given the name of Dor. marginata. The same gentleman has also de-
scribed a Pleurobranchus. M. Lie"nard, jun. has described another
species of Dom, and has given a description of a Dolabella, with
an account of its anatomy.
Such is a brief outline of the zoological labours of the Mauritius
Natural History Society, which within the short period of its exist-
ence has received no less than fifty memoirs, descriptions, and notices
on different branches of natural science.
At the request of the Chairman, Mr. Martin read his notes of the
dissection of a specimen of the Testudo Indica, L,, which recently
died at the Society's Gardens.
The animal was of large size, although considerably less than one
formerly in the possession of the Society, the dissection of which,
by Mr. Yarrell, has been published in the Zoological Journal. The
carapace or dorsal shell measured 2 feet 1 1 inches in length, and the
plastron or ventral shell 2 feet 4- inches. The breadth was 1 foot
9 inches.
The length of the stomach was 2 feet ; the circumference in the
largest part 1 foot 3 inches ; its shape a flattened oval, contracting
gradually towards the pylorus. On opening it, the coats, and espe-
cially the middle or muscular, were found extremely thick and firm,
and increasing in thickness towards the pylorus, which protruded in
a singular manner, to the distance of nearly an inch into the duo-
denum, at which part a few longitudinal rugcc were observed, the
rest of the lining membrane being perfectly smooth. It contained
a little fluid only. The liver presented nothing remarkable ; it con-
sisted of two principal lobes, in the right of which the gall-bladder
was buried, so as just to show itself; the length of the gall-bladder
was 2 inches.
The small intestines were thick and firm, their length being 3 feet
6 inches. The gall-duct enters the duodenum 3 inches, and the
pancreatic duct 10 inches, below the pyloric orifice. On laying open
the small intestines, their lining membrane appeared corrugated with
numerous longitudinal rugce, and they were found perfectly empty.
The large intestines were smooth on their internal surface, and
filled with an immense mass of condensed vegetable matter, which
was green and fibrous, and appeared to have only partially under-
gone the process of digestion. In the colon near the entrance of the
small intestines were two or three small black patches, seemingly
gangrenous. There was no ccecum. The circumference of the colon
measured 9 inches. The length of the large intestines was 6 feet
8 inches, exclusive of the cloaca, which was 1 foot.
At the lower part of the abdomen, (in a singular cavity, formed by
a diaphragm-like expansion of peritoneum, from which, to the oppo-
site or extreme side, passed numerous bands, bearing a resemblance
to the chorda tendine&,)the urinary bladder, of enormous capacity, was
lying loose, irregularly folded, but containing a considerable quan-
tity of viscid fluid : its parietes were thin, but very fibrous in texture.
When
376 Geological Society.
When moderately distended with air, its shape was made manifest,
as trilobed, or rather, as consisting of one large central bag, from
each side of which, a conical process jutted out ; the extent from
point to point being 1 foot 10 inches. It opened by a neck of about
3 inches in length, and closely invested with lung, into the cloaca,
about 6 inches from its termination ; the penis was long and deeply
furrowed, and the glans large at the base, with a pointed apex.
The lungs were very florid in colour, and extremely light, spongy,
and cellular, the cells being large and distinct. They extended the
whole length of the carapace.
The kidneys were situated at the back of the abdomen, in shape
oval; flat on one side, convex on the other; about 5 inches long,
2^ inches broad, and consisting of numerous lobes, which gave to
their surface a furrowed or brain-like appearance; the relative
proportion of the venous ramification in them was found to exceed
that of the arterial.
As regards the death of the animal, nothing positive could be
determined ; but it appeared to Mr. Martin, from the black patches
about the colon, and the quantity of undigested matter in the large
intestines, to have resulted principally from an unnatural accumu-
lation of faecal matter, and the attending evil consequences.
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
March 2nd. — A paper was first read On the rippled markings of
many of the forest marble beds north of Bath, and thefoot-tracks of
certain animals occurring in great abundance on their surfaces. By
George Poulett Scrope, Esq., F.G.S., F.R.S.
The wavy and wrinkled figuring of these and other sedimentary
strata, the author considers to be identical in all its various acci-
dents, as well as in its origin, with the markings of the sea-sands
exposed at low tide on many of our shallow shores. He attributes
it to the vibratory movement of the lower stratum of water, when
agitated by winds or currents, by which sediment, either in the act
of precipitation or stirred up from the bottom, is led to arrange
itself in ridges corresponding to the intervals between the contigu-
ous arcs of oscillation.
Since it cannot be supposed that such movements reach to any
very considerable depths, these ripple-marks make it probable that
the beds in which they occur were formed on a shallow shore ; and
this idea is further confirmed, and their analogy with the littoral
deposits of our modern coasts brought still closer, by their compo-
sition of rolled fragments of shells, of corals, spines of echinus, and
Crustacea, by the imbedded remains of fuci, and above all by the
frequent intersection of their surfaces by the sharp well-defined and
fresh-looking tracks of some small animal, impressed upon the sand,
apparently when left dry by the ebbing of the tide.
Here then, says the author, we have brought together in the
compass of a small slab, several interesting memoranda of the day,
however distant, when the waves of the ocean were beating against
a line
Geological Society. 377
a line of coast now in the centre of our island ; and a new class of
facts to assist in better deciding the question as to the date of
emergence of the different successive formations from the bosom of
the deep.
Mr. Scrope does not hazard a conjecture respecting the genus
or even the class to which the animal may have belonged ; leaving
it to zoologists to determine whether it be marine, terrestrial, or
amphibious. He, however, earnestly recommends geologists in
every quarter of the globe to examine minutely the surface of sand-
stones, and other sedimentary strata, particularly where ripple-
marked or alternating with clay seams (which effectually preserve
the surface in all its original freshness), little doubting that the re-
sult will be to throw much new light on the early history of our
planet, and on the habits and characters of its successive races of ani-
mated inhabitants.
The reading of a paper, entitled " A description of longitudinal
and transverse sections through a portion of the carboniferous chain
between Penigentand Kirkby Stephen/' by the Rev. Adam Sedgwick,
F.G.S., F.R.S., Woodwardian Professor in the University of Cam.
bridge, — was begun.
March 16. — The reading of the paper by the Rev. Professor Sedg-
wick, begun at the last Meeting, was concluded.
The author having in a former paper (read Jan. 5th, 1831*) de-
scribed some of the characters of the great central carboniferous
chain of the North of England, here describes, in great detail, the
composition of a very remarkable portion of it, which forms a con-
necting link between the structure of the High Peak of Derbyshire
and the region of Cross Fell. The principal section, commencing
at the top of Penigent in Hocton parish, passes over the highest
mountains of the chain, and ends in the valley of the Eden, near
Kirkby Stephen, among the conglomerates of the new red sandstone.
From the top of Penigent and of Whernside, branch out two other
sections connecting the mountains along the principal line, with
those which range between Wensleydale and Swaledale. The suc-
cessive groups of strata appearing along these lines are described
in the ascending order, and their modifications in the successive val-
leys where they crop out are shortly noticed,
It is impossible to notice the seventeen groups enumerated in
this paper; but they may be subdivided more simply into three
principal groups as follows :
1st. Great scar limestone ; the maximum thickness of which is
more than 500 feet. The author compares this group with the
limestone of the High Peak, and shows that they have many cha-
racters in common. He particularly notices the reciprocating wells
and caverns, about the origin of which he briefly speculates. Ho
notices the chief changes of mineralogical character ; and states
that among the very rare fossils of the mountain limestone, Ammo.
nites, Trilobites, and Orthoceratites, appear to be confined to this
group. He further states, that although carbonaceous and bituminous
* See Phil. Mag. and Annals, for March, p. 211
N.S. Vol. 9. No. 53. May 1831. 3 C matter
378 Geological Society.
matter are the colouring principle of the limestone strata in this
group, there are no workable beds of coal subordinate to it on any
of the lines of section.
2nd. The next great group comprehends no less than eleven
groups of the author's sections, and in several mountains is more than
1000 feet in thickness. It is essentially composed of mountain
limestone, sandstone, and shale. The limestone groups are stated
to be five in number, and to be very remarkable for their regularity
in all the various sections : the lowest contains the black compact
beds now extensively quarried in the North of England for marble ;
the highest group represents the twelve-fathom- limestone of the
mining districts; it contains beds made up of an incredible number
of encrinital stems, and is also quarried for marble. The shales are
carbonaceous, and contain three or four beds of coal, some of which
are of good quality, and are extensively worked for domestic use :
the most remarkable of these beds occurs under the twelve-fathom-
limestone.
3rd. The highest complex group includes all the deposits con-
nected with the millstone grit, and is stated to be more than 500
feet in thickness. It includes three distinct deposits, to which the
author gives the name of millstone grit; and several beds of carbo-
naceous shale, one of which contains a bed of coal three feet thick
and of good quality. Besides this there are one or two other coal-
beds, but of very inferior value, seen here and there along the lines
of section.
After entering on many minute details, which it is impossible
to notice in this abstract, the author describes five transverse sec-
tions, drawn nearly east and west from different points in the prin-
cipal line of section across the prolongation of the great Craven
fault, described in a former paper. By the help of these sections
he points out the peculiar relative movements of the grauwacke
and carboniferous chains during the period of elevation which pre-
ceded the new red sandstone. At the foot of Barfell, above Sed-
burgh, a mass of the carboniferous system, six or seven hundred
feet in thickness, has been torn up from the foundations of the
mountain and placed in an inverted position.
From all the previous details the author draws a series of con-
clusions, and shows :
1st. That the region described in the paper, forms a connecting
link between the northern and southern ends of the carboniferous
chain ; and that the carbonaceous deposits are gradually more and
more interlaced with the limestone in the range towards the north.
2ndly. That many of the coal-beds alternating with the mountain
limestone must have been deposited in the waters of a deep sea ;
that no fresh. water shells appear associated with the fossils of these
beds; and that the highest part of the Yorkshire coal-fie!ds was
probably deposited in shallow bays and estuaries, inasmuch as Pec-
tens and Ammonites are there found associated with fresh-water
genera.
3rdly. That, with limited exceptions, the same species of fossils
are found in all the beds of limestone ; but wherever there is a change
of
Geological Society. 379
of mineral character, that there we may remark an equally sudden
change in the fossil species. Thus the vegetable impressions
abounding in the sandstone and shale are not found in the lime-
stone ; on the contrary, the corallines, encrinites, &c. of the lime-
stone, with rare exceptions, do not occur in the shale or sandstone
beds.
4thly. That the beds of limestone appear to have been formed by
a slow and tranquil deposit, assisted by the action of organic bodies,
which lived and died on the spots where they are now found ; that
on the contrary, the beds of shale and sandstone appear to have
been formed mechanically, and contain fossils drifted from a di-
stance. Hence these beds are less continuous and regular than the
groups of limestone; but some of them, especially two of the coal-
beds, may be traced through the greater part of the several lines of
section.
5thly. That the valleys of the carboniferous chain, near the lines
of section, are not excavated on lines of fault, but on true valleys
of denudation. Notwithstanding this, there has been some change
in the distribution of the water channels, at a period very recent,
compared with that of the elevation of the carboniferous chain — just
before the deposit of the new red sandstone.
March 30th. — A paper was read, entitled " Geological remarks on
the vicinity of Swan River and Isle Buache or Garden Island, on
the coast of Western Australia ; by the Rev. Archdeacon Scott.
F.G.S."
The author, who was accidentally detained for several months at
the settlement recently established on the western side of Australia,
describes a line of coast, of more than thirty miles in length, as
composed of a highly calcareous sandstone, presenting very similar
mineralogical characters throughout its whole extent. At a pro-
montory, about five miles to the north of the river Swan, the cal-
careous sandstone exhibits a surface in which are numerous concre-
tions having the appearance of inclosing vegetable matter. This
character is by no means confined to that spot, but is very commonly
observed; and on a rising ground, to the east of a space marked out
for the intended town of Fremantle, the sandstone assumes the
appearance of a thick forest, cut down about two or three feet from
the surface, so that to walk on it becomes extremely difficult, and
even dangerous.
The author gives a detailed account of the sections which accom-
pany the paper, and notices the beds passed through in sinking
various wells in the calcareous sandstone.
At Mont Eliza, which rises above Perth, ten miles from the
mouth of the Swan, and the principal place in the settlement, the
calcareous sandstone attains the height of about 300 feet, and is
observed to be based upon a ferruginous sandstone fitted for the
purposes of building. From Perth to the foot of Darling's Range,
red clay and white marl are found after passing the Helena River.
Darling's Range is estimated at about 1500 feet above the level of
the sea, and is composed, where visited, of greenstone and sienite ;
3 C 2 and
380 Royal Institution.
and he was also informed that clay-slate had been discovered more
to the southward in the same range.
Isle Buache, or Garden Island, consists of the same highly cal-
careous sandstone which forms so considerable a portion of this
part of the Australian coast.
FRIDAY-EVENING PROCEEDINGS AT THE ROYAL INSTITUTION
OF GREAT BRITAIN.
Jan. 21. — Mr. Faraday on a peculiar class of Optical Deceptions.
— These deceptions depend principally upon the general effect produced
upon the eye when two or more bodies are presented in such rapid
succession to it as to produce no distinct impression for each, but pro-
duce a general impression often very clear and distinct in appearance,
but entirely unlike the real appearance of the active bodies. Thus, if
two equal cog-wheels be placed one before the other, and put in rapid
motion in opposite directions but with equal velocities, a spectral
fixed cog-wheel will appear -, although if either cog-wheel be looked
at alone, nothing but a plain uniform tint, corresponding to the place
of the cogs will be seen. The various deceptions depending upon this
effect were traced and illustrated, and it appears that many of them
are of common occurrence.
In the Library numerous Wheel-animalculee were exhibited by
powerful microscopes belonging to Cuthbert and Varley, for the pur-
pose of illustrating the appearances, which were referred to the class
of deceptions above spoken of.
Jan. 28. — Mr. Ainsworth entered into a geological investigation
of the methods of determining the ages of the rocks considered as of
igneous origin, from a consideration of their composition and struc-
ture.
Feb. 4. — Mr. Brande discussed the relation of the vegeto-alkalies
to the common alkalies, and to certain proximate principles of vege-
tables. After briefly stating what Davy had done in decomposing the
alkalies and alkaline earths, he proceeded to detail the exertions made
by himself and others to obtain anything analogous to a metallic base
from those alkaline bodies which were known to be compounds of
elements not metallic. All exertions of this kind had failed j but as
to the effect of the Voltaic pile upon the salts of the vegeto-alkalies,
it was precisely the same as upon the metallo-alkaline salts, the base
proceeding to the negative pole, and the acid to the positive pole. The
properties of the new febrifuge principle Salicme were dwelt upon,
and also a new vegeto-alkali discovered by Mr. Hennell, but not yet
described, namely, Elateria.
Feb. 1 1. — Mr. Harris of Plymouth gave an account of certain in-
vestigations which he had made relative to the power possessed by
different bodies of intercepting magnetic action, and showed the ex-
periments by which the existence of such power was proved, and its
force estimated. Thus it has been supposed that iron had an intercept-
ing power, but copper, and many other metals and substances, none.
He found, however, and showed, that when the copper, silver, zinc, or
other substance interposed was in sufficient quantity, these metals
also
Jloyal Institution. 381
also intercepted the magnetic influence j and in a ratio corresponding
with that in which different bodies in rotation are affected by or affect
a magnet. The results of these and other modes of investigation were
fully described.
Feb. 18. — Mr. Faraday gave an experimental account of the new
substance discovered by M. Dumas, and called by him oxamidi or
oxalamidi. See our present volume, p. 67.
Feb. 25. — Mr. Cowper exhibited models of, and described the
most recent improvements in, paper-making -, and especially his own
machine for cutting paper made in sheets of unlimited extent into
such as were of proper size for ordinary uses. Some extraordinary
advantages of the powers of mechanism in paper-making and print-
ing were developed and illustrated in the course of the evening.
In the Library was placed a beautiful series of anatomical models
in wax by M. Schloss.
March 4-. — Dr. Edmund Clarke gave an account of the present
state of Vesuvius and of Pompeii. This gentleman has ascended
that volcano several times, and attended particularly to its natural
history: the results of his observations were communicated in this
evening's discourse, and illustrated by many specimens of minerals,
plants, &c., and by numerous drawings.
March 11. — The beautiful machinery employed by Mr. Mordan
in the manufacture of pencils of the ordinary construction, the
points for the ever-pointed pencil, and the Bramah pens, was ar-
ranged in the Lecture-room in perfect working-order, and the ope-
rations were all explained by Mr. Ainger, whilst they were per-
formed by Mr. Giordan's men.
In the Library, amongst many other objects of interest, was a
peculiar mountain barometer invented by Robinson, which could
be divided in halves and packed in a case not more than sixteen
inches long. There was also a portable transit instrument by the
same maker.
March 18. — The subject this evening was the Elasticity of matter
in general; particularly the elasticity of torsion in threads of glass;
with the application of this property to delicate physical research.
Mr. Ritchie, who treated this subject, resumed and illustrated what
he has already published upon it in the Philosophical Transactions,
adding several very beautiful experimental demonstrations of cer-
tain physical laws which have been established by mathematical
calculation.
March 25. — Mr. Faraday spoke on Light and Phosphorescence; his
object being to introduce to the members of the Royal Institution
certain experiments recently made in the laboratory by Mr. Pear-
sail, the Chemical Assistant, in which, after bodies phosphorescent
by heat, such as apatite, chlorophane, &c. &c. had been deprived,
by strong calcination, of their power of emitting light, it was proved
that it could be restored to them again. This was effected by
passing ten or twelve strong electrical discharges over them, and
it was observed, that at the same time there was a tendency to the
restoration of the colour of the fluor spar.
Specimens
382 Cambridge Philosophical Society.
Specimens of well-manufactured New Zealand flax were in the
Library, with various chemical apparatus, &c.
The meeting was then adjourned over two Fridays, to the 15th
of April.
CAMBRIDGE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.
'A meeting of this Society was held on Monday evening, Fe-
bruary 21, Dr. F. Thackeray, the Treasurer, in the chair. Various
books were presented to the Society, among which were three
volumes of the Correspondance Mathematique et Physique, pub-
lished by M. Quetelet, of Brussels, and presented by him ; Dr.
Morton's Travels in Russia, from the author, and a Russian Dic-
tionary presented by the same gentleman ; Mr. Jones's new work On
the distribution of Wealth, from the author ; The second edition
of the first volume of the Translation of Niebuhr, from the transla-
tors. The following presents to the museum were also announced :
— several skins of birds and a collection of insects from China,
presented by the Rev. G. Vachell ; a collection of foreign insects,
by J. G. Children, Esq. ; and two specimens of Charr from Wales,
by W. Yarrell, Esq. A Daniell's hygrometer was presented by
R. W. Rothman, Esq. Fellow of Trinity College. W. Swainson,
Esq. well known as an ornithologist, was elected an honorary mem-
ber.— A paper was read by Professor Airy, " On the nature of the
rays formed by the double refraction of quartz;" of which the fol-
lowing is an abstract : —
It is well known to those who have followed the recent discoveries
respecting the properties of light, that the phaenomena exhibited
by quartz are very different from those of any other substance of
similar crystalline character — as for instance, calc spar. Thus, when
exposed to plane-polarized light, a plate of calc spar exhibits a
series of rings, of which the colours commence from Newton's black
at the centre ; and these rings are intersected by a black cross :
— quartz, on the other hand, displays a series of rings, the central
point of which exhibits a colour different according to the thickness
of the plate : there is no cross, but at a distance from the centre,
rudiments of black brushes begin to appear. Again, in the case of
calc spar, — on turning the analysing plate, the rings change in colour,
but are always circular, and of unchanged dimensions. On turning
the analysing plate in the experiment with quartz, the rings become
square figures, with a curious defect of symmetry, and dilate or
contract continually. If we put together a plate of right-handed
and a plate of left-handed quartz in the same apparatus, we obtain
a most singular and beautiful appearance, consisting of four co-
loured spirals cutting a number of concentric circles.
On exposing these substances respectively to light circularly-
polarized, the appearances are still more remarkable : calc spar ex-
hibits rings dislocated at each quadrant, with a gray cross ; while
the colours in quartz are seen in the form of two spirals inwrapping
each other, with no black or gray cross.
Professor Airy, after describing these phaenomena, the most
striking of which are new, proceeds to state and develop the hy-
pothesis
Cambridge Philosophical Society. 383
pothesis which they have suggested to him ; of which the main
point is this : that the two rays in quartz are elliptically-polarized,
one to the right, the other to the left ; the major axes of the ellipses
being respectively in and perpendicular to the principal plane. Cal-
culations founded on this supposition represent with a very close
agreement, the various and complex phenomena which have
been noticed; and, what is more remarkable still, they not only
coincide in the general facts, but lead also to deviations from sym-
metry, such as are observed to exist in the figures.
After the meeting, Professor Airy exhibited, 1st, A model to il-
lustrate Fresnel's idea, that circularly-polarized light is formed from
plane-polarized (when the plane of polarization is inclined 45° to
that of total internal reflexion), by retarding the undulations per-
pendicular to the plane of reflexion by one quarter of an undu-
lation ; and that double such a retardation shifts the plane of po-
larization 90°; — which was also shown to be the fact with Fresnel's
rhomb.
2d, A new polarizing machine : the advantages of which are ; —
that complete rings may be seen with a very small specimen : that
by placing the specimen in another position, the macled structure
may be very well seen : that circularly-polarized light may be used
as well as plane ; and that lamp-light may be used as well as day-
light.
3d, An attempt to exhibit the coloured rings by the light of
heated lime ; which succeeded so far as to show the practicability
of this application.
March 7. — The Very Reverend the Dean of Peterborough, the
President, in the chair. — The following presents were laid on the
table : A pair of the Scaup Duck (Fuligula Mania), by the Hon.
Richard Neville ; An egg of the Cayman, presented by Dr. Jermyn;
and an egg of the Great Bustard, found in Cambridgeshire, pre-
sented by Mr. Barren. A paper was read by R. Murphy, Esq. Fel-
low of Caius College, " On the general solution of equations." After
the meeting, the Rev. R. Willis, of Caius College, exhibited a num-
ber of experiments on the transverse and longitudinal vibrations of
strings, membranes, and solid bodies, illustrative of the recent re-
searches and discoveries of M. Savart.
March 21. — Dr. F. Thackeray, the Treasurer, in the chair.
A paper by Mr. Miller, of St. John's College, was read, " On the
elimination of the time from the differential equations of the motion
of a point, acted upon by a central force, and affected by disturb,
ing forces, or by the resistance of a medium." A paper, by the
same gentleman, was also read, containing Determinations of the
form and measurements of the angles of several artificial crystals ;
viz. sulphuret of nickel, borate of potash, nitrate of ammonia, car-
bazotic acid, carbazotate of potash, benzoic acid, nitrate of silver
and ammonia, and sulphate of copper and ammonia. The latter
compound appears, by comparison with the measurements of Mr.
Brooke, to be isomorphous or plesiomorphous with respect to
various other double sulphates ; viz. the sulphates of ammonia and
magnesia,
384 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles.
magnesia, of nickel and potash, of nickel and zinc, of potash and
magnesia, and of copper and potash. — After the meeting, Mr. Willis
exhibited a machine constructed for the purpose of illustrating the
motions of the particles of a fluid in which undulations of various
kinds are singly or jointly propagated.
April 18. — The very Rev. the Dean of Peterborough, the Pre-
sident, in the chair. The first part of a paper by Professor
Whewell was read, containing A mathematical exposition of some
of the leading doctrines of Mr. Ricardo's " Principles of Political
Economy and Taxation." There was also read, by Professor Airy,
A description of an apparatus constructed under his direction, and
of the properties of elliptically-polarized light exhibited by means
of it ; it was stated that the phenomena had been found to agree
in the most precise manner with the results previously obtained by
calculation. — After the meeting, Professor Henslow exhibited a
number of the appearances of what have been called *« spectral
wheels/' produced by the rotation of two wheels, one behind the
other.
LVIII. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles.
FALL OF THE BROUGHTON SUSPENSION BRIDGE, NEAR MAN-
CHESTER.
WE have been favoured by an esteemed correspondent at Man-
chester, with some extracts from the Manchester Chronicle
and Manchester Guardian newspapers, of April 16th, respecting
the giving way of a suspension bridge over the river Trwell, at
Broughton, about two miles from Manchester. Our correspondent
informs us that the editors of both papers have been at great pains
to investigate the circumstances. Both give the same account, sub-
stantially, of the accident and of its causes. The following particu-
lars are chiefly extracted from the Manchester Guardian, with some
additions from the Manchester Chronicle.
A very serious and alarming accident occurred on Tuesday, April
12th, in the fall of the Broughton suspension bridge, erected a few
years ago by John Fitzgerald, Esq., whilst a company of the 60th Rifles
were passing over it; and, although fortunately no lives were lost,
several of the soldiers received serious personal injuries, and damage
was done to the structure, which will require a long time and a very
considerable expense to repair.
It appears that, on the day when this accident happened, the
60th regiment had had a field-day on Kersall Moor, and about
12 o'clock were on their way back to their quarters. The greater
part of the regiment is stationed in the temporary barracks in
Dyche-street, St. George's Road, and took the route through
Strangeways; but one company, commanded, as it happened sin-
gularly enough, by Lieut. P. S. Fitzgerald, the son of the proprietor
of the bridge, being stationed at the Salford barracks, took the
road over the suspension bridge, intending to go through Pendleton
to
Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 538
to the barracks. Shortly after they got upon the bridge, the men,
who were marching four abreast, found that the structure vibrated
in unison with the measured step with which they marched ; and
as this vibration was by no means unpleasant, they were inclined to
humour it by the manner in which they stepped. As they pro-
ceeded, and as a greater number of them got upon the bridge, the
vibration went on increasing until the head of the column had nearly
reached the Pendleton side of the river. They were then alarmed
by a loud sound something resembling an irregular discharge of
fire-arms ; and immediately one of the iron pillars supporting the
suspension chains, viz. that which was to the right of the soldiers,
and on the Broughton side of the river, fell towards the bridge,
carrying with it a large stone from the pier, to which it had been
bolted. Of course that corner of the bridge, having lost the sup-
port of the pillar, immediately fell to the bottom of the river, a de-
scent of about sixteen or eighteen feet; and from the great inclina-
tion thereby given to the road-way, nearly the whole of the soldiers
who were upon it were precipitated into the river, where a scene of
great confusion was exhibited. Such of them as were unhurt got
out as well as they could, some by scrambling up the inclined plane
which the bridge presented, and others by wading out on the
Broughton side; but a number were too much hurt to extricate
themselves without assistance, which was immediately rendered by
their comrades.
The company consisted of seventy-four officers and privates ; and
of these about sixty, including one officer (Lieut. Fitzgerald), were
upon the bridge at the time ; the remainder had not reached the
bridge, and were left standing on the Broughton side, when the bridge
gave way. Lieut. Fitzgerald being on a line with the leading file,
had nearly reached the Pendleton side, where of course the incli-
nation of the road-way was not so great as it was nearer the Brough-
ton side. He, and a few of the men near him, did not fall from the
bridge, being merely thrown down on the road-way, but upwards
of forty men were either precipitated into the water, or thrown
with great violence against the side chains of the bridge. Of these,
more than twenty received injuries of different kinds, six were so
much hurt that it was found necessary to procure two carts (some
of the men being taken out on one side and some on the other), for
the purpose of sending them to the barracks. Four of them, whose
injuries are of a very serious nature, still (April 16th) remain in the
hospital.
As the bridge, in the inclined position into which it was thrown
by the accident, blocked up a considerable portion of the water-way
of the river, and it would inevitably have been carried away in case
of a flood, — a number of men were promptly set to work to dis-
mantle the flooring at the end which had fallen down, which has
been completely effected ; and preparations are now making to re-
pair the injury which the structure has received from this alarming
accident, and at the same time to remedy some defects in its con-
struction, by which the risk of future accidents will be avoided.
N. S. Vol. 9. No. 53. May 1831. 3D Causes
386 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles.
Causes of the Accident. — As we conceive the public have a right
to be fully informed with respect to the.causes of an accident of this
alarming nature, we have made some particular inquiries on the
subject, the results of which we shall lay before our readers j not
only that they may form an opinion upon this particular case, but
also that they may be enabled to judge how far it is calculated
to render doubtful the security of structures of this kind, — a con-
siderable number of which have now been erected in different parts
of the kingdom.
Immediately after the accident, it was discovered to have arisen
from the breaking of one of the chains, by which the iron pillars
supporting the bridge are stayed and supported ; and which chains,
as our readers are no doubt aware, are carried to some distance
on each side of the river, and secured to a great mass of masonry
sunk into the ground. By the breaking of this chain, the pillar
was of course deprived of its support, and the weight of the bridge
immediately drew it from its situation, as we have already de-
scribed. It remains then to ascertain the causes of the failure of
the chain. There is no doubt that the immediate cause was the
powerful vibration communicated to the bridge by the measured
and uniform step of the soldiers. If the same, or a much larger
number of persons had passed over in a crowd, and without ob-
serving any regular step, in all probability the accident would not
have happened, because the tread of one person would have
counteracted the vibration arising from that of another. But the
soldiers all stepping at the same time, and at regular intervals,
communicated, as we mentioned in describing the accident, a
powerful vibration to the bridge, which went on increasing with
every successive step j and which, causing the weight of the bridge
to act with successive jerks on the stay-chains, had a more powerful
effect upon them than a dead weight of much larger amount would
have had, and at length broke one of the cross bolts by which the
links of the chain are joined together. Perhaps this accident,
alarming and injurious as it has been, may have the effect of pre-
venting some more dreadful catastrophe in other quarters. From
what has happened on this occasion, we should greatly doubt the
stability of the great Menai bridge (admirable as its construction is),
if a thousand men were to be marched across it in close column, and
keeping regular step. From its great length, the vibrations would
be tremendous before the head of the column had reached the
further side, and some terrific calamity would be very likely to
happen. If any considerable number of troops should be marched
across that bridge (which, from its being one of the principal routes
to Ireland, is not improbable), we hope the commanding officer
will take the precaution of dismissing his men from their ranks be-
fore they attempt to cross : indeed, that precaution should be ob-
served by troops crossing all chain bridges, however small they
may be*." But
* The following remarks on this part of the subject are given in the
Manchester Chronicle': — " It has been stated by some scientific men, and
we fully concur in the opinion, that the peculiar manner in which the
soldiers
Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 387
But although the immediate cause of this accident was, the vi-
bration arising from the measured step of the soldiers, it is not at
all probable that so small a number as were present on the occasion
would have brought down the bridge, unless there had been errors
of the most glaring description committed in its construction, as
well as something very faulty in a part at least of the materials of
which it was composed.
The principal error of construction, and the only one to which
we feel it necessary to call the particular attention of our readers,
will be tolerably well understood by a reference to the subjoined
engravings, and the explanation which accompanies them. The
following sketch represents the manner in which the links of the
chain are generally joined together.
The main links of which the chains are composed (A, A) (each of
which consists of two round bars of iron, two inches in diameter, and
about five feet long, but
represented in the sketch __ ^^
as broken off near their Ij j ; p
extremities) are joined ^ L j jj H ! j -^
together by means of three A£H | \l — ^A
short links and two bolts, ^Q3 ^ir
in a manner which will
be much better under-
stood by a reference to the sketch, than by any verbal descrip-
tion which we could give. This is obviously a very good and strong
joint ; for the bolts, being held both in the middle and at each end
by the short links, would resist an enormous tension on the main
links, and could not easily give way unless they were in a manner
shorn asunder. This excellent mode of joining the links, however,
appears to have been strangely departed from, and one of a very
inferior description adopted, precisely where the strain was the
greatest, and where the greatest strength ought to have been em-
ployed, namely, in each of the stay-chains or land-chains by which
the whole weight of the bridge is supported. Those chains, as we
soldiers marched whilst on the bridge had no slight share in causing the
accident. Before they reached the bridge we are told that they were
walking ' at ease,' but when they heard the sound of their own footsteps
upon it, one or two of them involuntarily began to whistle a martial tune,
and they all at once, as if under a command from their officer, commenced
a simultaneous military step. This uniform motion naturally gave great
agitation to the bridge, the violent effects of which would be most severely
felt at each end. As a familiar illustration of our meaning, we may remark,
that if a rope, the ends of which being fastened to opposite walls, should
be much agitated in the centre, its motion would be far more violent at
the ends than in any other part.
" It will not be irrelevant here to state that the rifle party, when they
passed over the bridge in the morning, walked across it in an easy manner,
without using the military march ; that several waggons traversed it the
same morning ; and that the Royal Artillery, under the command of Major
Chester, whilst stationed in this town, regularly crossed it with horses,
guns, &c., when on their way to and from Kersall Moor."
3 D 2 have
\
388 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles.
have already mentioned, are fastened to large masses of masonry
beneath the surface of the ground, and this fastening is made, in
each case, by means of a large disk of cast-iron, to which the first
link of the chain is bolted. That link, instead of being composed
like the others of two round bars of iron, and joined to the next
link in the manner above described, is composed of a strap of iron,
about 3| inches broad, and is joined to the second link by a bolt
in the manner represented in the subjoined sketch.
Now it must be very obvious to any person who has the slightest
acquaintance with matters of this kind, that the bolt in this link,
not being supported at the
ends as in the one above
mentioned, could not offer a
resistance nearly equal to the A
former, unless its dimensions j
were increased. But the bolt
used in each case was of the
same dimensions, namely, two inches in diameter. The weakness of
the latter joint was also greatly increased by a circumstance, which
is not very well represented in the engraving, but which we can
probably explain to our readers. The bars forming the link A being
round, only a very small portion of their surface touched the bolt ;
and as they were two inches in diameter, the point of contact was
an inch distant from the side of the iron strap to which they were
joined by the bolt. The tension of the .chain therefore might be
considered as acting on the bolt with a leverage of an inch ; and,
under those circumstances it was not at all surprising that the bolt
should give way. Indeed it is probable that, even if it had been
iron of a fair average quality, the joint would not have borne more
than one-fourth, or perhaps one-fifth of the tension which the other
joints would bear.
But the bolt, instead of being good metal, was composed of iron
which was either originally bacl, or had been rendered brittle by
mismanagement in the process of forging the bolt. It broke with
a granular and crystalline fracture, exactly like that of cast-iron,
and did not exhibit anything of the fibrous appearance of good
iron. Under these circumstances, the wonder is, not that the bridge
should have given way now, but that it should have stood a single
week after its erection.
We understand it is intended to remedy the defect to which we
have alluded, not only in the chain which has given way, but in all
the other stay-chains, in which it equally exists ; and there can be
then no doubt that the bridge will be of abundant strength to bear
any load which is likely to pass over it.
A defect occurred a long time ago in the disk or plate with which
the bolt was connected, and the necessary repairs were lately made
under the superintendence of Mr. Stephenson, a gentleman possess-
ing extensive knowledge in mechanics, and who resides on Mr. Fitz-
gerald's estate. It is due to him to state that the plate and bolt
have been minutely examined, and the fact has been clearly esta-
blished
Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 389
blished that the accident was caused solely by the fracture in the
bolt, the plate being as sound and firm as on the day on which it
was attached to the masonry.
Before closing this article, we may observe that some very ex-
cellent | papers on chain bridges (one of them on this particular
structure) have been read at the Literary and Philosophical Society
in this town, by Mr. Eaton Hodgkinson, and, we understand, are
likely to appear in the forthcoming volume of the Transactions of
that Society. In the paper on the Broughton bridge, some defects
in its construction were pointed out, and particularly the insufficient
strength of the stay-chains, as compared with that of the suspen-
sion-chains; but the particular defect which principally led to the
failure of the bridge, having been concealed under ground, was not
seen by the author of the paper, and of course was not men-
tioned in it. In an appendix to this paper, Mr. Hodgkinson strongly
enforces the necessity of proving by a very high test, the chains
used in the construction of bridges of this kind ; and he details a
variety of experiments for the purpose of showing that a test of
this kind does not, as is generally supposed, diminish the strength
of the metal in any sensible degree. The accident which has just
occurred will go far to bear out this suggestion. If the different
parts of the Broughton bridge had been carefully and adequately
proved before its erection, no such joint as that which gave way
could ever have existed in it.
It has been suggested to us by a friend, that great advantage
would probably result if a system of periodical inspection of sus-
pension bridges by eminent engineers were adopted by the pro-
prietors of the bridges. In order to render the plan effectual, it
would be requisite that the results of the periodical examination of
every part of each bridge on which its stability depends, should be
published, on the authority of the engineer employed, and for the
correctness of which he should be considered responsible. By this
means the attention of all parties concerned, to the most important
points of construction in chain bridges would be kept alive ; acci-
dents arising from defective materials, or accumulated strains upon
them, would be anticipated, and great security attained by the
constant responsibility of the inspectors.
UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE.
At a congregation on Wednesday, March 9, a grace to the fol-
lowing effect unanimously passed the Senate : —
" To petition the King that, if it should be His Majesty's pleasure
to comply with the prayer of a petition lately presented to His Ma-
jesty for a charter to incorporate under the title of the University
of London,' the proprietors of an institution recently founded there
for the general advancement of literature and science, a clause may
be inserted, declaring that nothing in the terms of the charter is to
be construed as giving a right to confer any academical distinctions
designated by the same titles or accompanied with the same privi-
leges, as the degrees now conferred by the Universities of Oxford
and Cambridge.'* MANGA-
390 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles.
MANGANESE IN HUMAN BLOOD.
Professor Wurzer, in analysing human blood according to Engel-
hart's process by liquid tests, was led to suspect that he obtained a
small quantity of manganese : not being however quite satisfied as to
the correctness of his analyses, he was induced to repeat them in the
following manner. The blood, which had been obtained by venesec-
tion, on the day before the experiment, was ignited in an open cru-
cible, the incinerated mass oxidized by nitre, and then diluted with
water } the residuum was dissolved in muriatic acid, and the iron pre-
cipitated from the solution by succinate of ammonia. As the precipitate
contained also some phosphate of lime, it was again ignited, and then
dissolved in muriatic acid j the phosphate of lime was separated from
the solution by alcohol, the excess of the latter expelled by heat, and
the iron precipitated by ammonia. By boiling the filtered" liquid with
carbonate of soda, the manganese was precipitated, and then dissolved
in nitric acid and again ignited. In two grammes of the incinerated
residue there were found IH08 of oxide of iron, and 0'034 of protoxide
of manganesf. — Poggendorff's Annals.
ON SULFO-SINAPISINE, ORIGINALLY TERMED SULFO-SINAPIC
ACID.
MM. Henry, jun. and Garot have re-examined a peculiar matter
found in the seed of the Sinapis alba, and which they some time since
considered as an acid j they have now arrived at the following con-
clusions, viz.
That there exists in white mustard-seed a peculiar crystallizeable
substance (sulfo-sinapisine), constituted of the elements of sulfo-
cyanogen, and an organic matter which develops the volatile oil of
mustard. It does not, however, contain any sulpho-cyanuret of cal-
cium, as has been stated by M. Pelouze, and the sulpho-cyanic acid
which he obtained was derived from the action of acids upon the
mustard-seed.
The properties of sulfo-sinapisine are, that it is white and inodorous,
its taste is bitter, resembling that of mustard ; it is very light, com-
pared with its bulk, more soluble in hot alcohol or water than when
they are cold j the solution is always yellowish, though the substance
may be perfectly colourless.
On cooling, crystals, resembling a cauliflower in appearance, are
obtained ; sometimes they are in the form of pearly needles, or pris-
matic and stellular. It crystallizes quite well in acidulated water,
without altering its properties. When heated it first gives out a
yellow liquid, and then decomposes into very foetid compounds, con-
taining carbonate and hydrosulphuret of ammonia, brown oil, and a
bulky charcoal. No traces of lime, soda, or potash are discoverable.
Test papers are not altered by a solution of sulfo-sinapisine. Ni-
tric acid speedily acts upon this substance j a bright colour, red
vapours, and sulphuric acid are produced. Muriatic acid dissolves
and renders it green, and when heated, a strong smell of prussic acid
is observed ; when sulphuric or phosphoric acid is added to this sub-
stance
Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 391
stance mixed with water, and distilled, much sulpho-cyanic acid is
produced, and with the former acid sulphuretted hydrogen is also
evolved ; the volatile product reddened blue paper strongly, and gave
an intense crimson tint with permuriate of iron ; carefully saturated
with potash, it gave a coloured salt, but which possessed the proper-
ties of a sulpho-cyanuret. The alkalies produce singular phenomena
with sulfo-sinapisine; ammonia dissolves it and renders it either yel-
low or orange-yellow; by evaporation small brilliant crystals are
produced, which are sometimes red ; they contain no alkali, and ap-
pear to consist of the substance scarcely altered : in time, the am-
moniacal mixture becomes green.
A solution of potash or soda renders the colour yellow, which
changes to orange and green ; the solution evaporated to dryness,
gives out an abundant odour of the volatile oil of mustard. When
the residue is calcined it fuses, especially with potash, as the sulpho-
cyanuret of this base does ; the remainder is charcoal mixed with
several salts, such as sulphates and sulphurets.
The organic substance decomposed the sulphocyanurets which
were formed; for when the mass was not calcined, but dissolved,
accurately saturated with sulphuric acid, evaporated to dryness and
treated with alcohol, crystals were obtained by evaporation, which
though not well defined possessed all the principal characters of the
sulphocyanurets; namely, those of strongly reddening the persalts of
iron, and of forming a white precipitate in the persalts of copper,
when influenced by a deoxidizing body.
The action of salts upon the aqueous solution of sulfosinapisine
is various ; — the salts of lime, zinc, manganese, the acetate and
subacetate of lead, produce no effect ; the persalts of iron redden
it strongly; persulphate of copper, the protonitrate of mercury and
nitrate of silver all give white precipitates. Sulfosinapisine yielded
by analysis
Carbon 50-504
Hydrogen 7*795
Azote 4-940
Sulphur 9-657
Oxygen 27-104
100OOO
Journal de Pharmade, Jan. 1831.
EMISSION OF LIGHT DURING THE COMPRESSION OF GASES.
An evolution of light has been observed when certain gases have
been compressed suddenly. M. Soissy stated, in opposition to what
had been previously asserted, that it happens only with atmospheric
air, and with oxygen and chlorine. M. Thenard has however found
that when the pistons are moistened only with water instead of
grease, no light was evolved; these trials were made on the sup-
position that water or muriatic acid might be formed by action upon
the fatty matter.
Various substances were then subjected to compressed oxygen
and
392 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles.
and chlorine gases, &c. ; and M. Thenard has stated the following as
the results of his experiments : No gas, by itself, is rendered luminous
by pressure exerted in pistons in the usual manner j pressure by hand
cannot raise the temperature of a gas in a glass tube much above
4.00° Faht. ; powders which remain undecomposed at this tempera-
ture explode instantly in azote, hydrogen, or carbonic acid gas,
when compressed suddenly; wood and paper suddenly compressed
in oxygen inflame, and oiled paper in chlorine. — Ann. de Chimie,
xliv.181.
ACTION OF CHLORIDE OF BROMINE UPON WATER AND -ETHER.
M. Serullas has found, that chloride of bromine, though perfectly
saturated with chlorine, does not decompose water; the formation
of muriatic acid, which occurs when it is agitated with aether, results
from the action of the chlorine upon the aether, and the same action
produces bromide of carbon.
When chloride of bromine is agitated with aether and water, the
chlorine may be entirely separated in the form of muriatic acid,
before the bromine, which is isolated at the same time in the aether,
is converted into bromic acid and bromide of carbon ; the alka-
line chlorides and bromides, even in very small quantity, mixed
with oxide of manganese, slightly diluted sulphuric acid, and heat-
ed in a proper apparatus, give a chloride of bromine, which is col-
lected and treated as above with aether, to separate its elements ;
by this method the co-existence of chlorine and bromine may be
determined, how much soever either of them may predominate in
a saline mixture; taking care, when the chlorine is in excess, to
calcine the product of the saturation of the aqueous part, to reduce
the chlorate formed to the state of chloride, that all the chlorine
may be precipitated by a solution of nitrate of silver.
By means of a spirituous solution of quina or cinchonia, either
free or combined, the instant that an aqueous and concentrated
solution of solid chloride of iodine is sufficiently dilute to decompose
water, it may be discovered; the acidulous iodate, which is precipi-
tated in this case, and which is not produced when it is concen-
trated, serves as an indication. — Ibid. xlv. 202.
CRYSTALLIZATION OF BISMUTH.
The following process is given by M. Quesneville, jun. for pro-
ducingfine crystalsof bismuth: — Fuse the metal in a crucible, adding
portions of nitre occasionally, and raising the heat so as to decom-
pose the nitre, and mix the whole well by stirring ; when the opera.'
tion has been continued for some hours the metal assumes green
and yellow colours, which remain even after it has cooled : if the
metal presents only rose, violet or indigo colours, and becomes co-
lourless when cold, good crystals will not be procured. When the
metal has acquired the proper colours, it is to be poured into a hot
ladle, and the surface should be prevented from cooling faster than
the bottom, by being covered, or having a hot iron held near it. The
cooling should be rather sudden, or otherwise the metal crystallizes
in layers: when a crust has formed at the surface, a hole should be
made
Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. S93
made through it by means of a hot coal, and not 5y percussion,
which would disturb the crystals; the liquid metal is then to be
poured out: in about half an hour the remainder of the crust may
be broken, and the crystals will be found in great perfection. —
Journal de Pharmacict 1830, p. 534-.
REACTION OF PERSALTS OF IRON AND CARBONATES.
M. Sorbeiran finds that the persalts of iron decomposed by neu-
tral carbonates yield a carbonate of peroxide equally neutral: this
carbonate is soon destroyed to produce a double salt, formed by
the neutral alkaline sulphate and the subsulphate of iron, yielding
a new sulphate of iron, before unknown, and containing three times
as much base as the neutral salt : a weak alkali in excess precipitates
another subsalt, which has not been before noticed, but is a true
double salt, composed of the subsulphate of iron and the hydrated
peroxide. The aperient saffron of Mars is a hydrate of the peroxide
of iron, containing 3 atoms of water mixed with variable and acci-
dental quantities of sesquicarbonate of iron, and sometimes neutral
carbonate of iron — Ibid. 1830, p. 535.
INFLAMMATION OF PHOSPHORUS BY CHARCOAL.
Dr. Bache of Philadelphia states, that, at the temperature of 60°
Fahr. or upwards, carbon in the form of animal charcoal or lamp-
black causes the inflammation of a stick of phosphorus powdered
with it: the effect takes place either in the open air, or in a close
receiver of a moderate size — Sillimans Journal, xviii. 373.
OBSERVATIONS ON AURORA BOREALES WITNESSED AT BEDFORD,
AT VARIOUS TIMES, FROM APRIL 19, 1830, TO JANUARY 11,
1831. BY W. H. WHITE, H.M.C.S.
To the Editors of the Philosophical Magazine and Annals.
Gentlemen,
The frequent appearance of the aurora boreales at Bedford, lat.
52° 8' 48" north, long. 2' 49" east, may perhaps form some apology for
my troubling you with a short account of them. The first that I ob-
served was on the 1 9th of April, 1830. Soon after sunset a bright
light appeared in the horizon about the magnetic north, which in-,
creased in brightness as the twilight decreased. I watched it till a
little after nine P.M., before any coruscations could be distinguished,
when a few faint flame-coloured flashes darted about 12° or 14° above
the horizon about the north-west. About eleven P.M. several columns
of light rose in the north-west in quick succession, which continued
for upwards of an hour; some of them extended as far as the north,
and were slightly tinged with red. During the appearance of the
aurora up to midnight, several bright meteors appeared above it,
but none of them were visible more than two seconds.
Sept. 7th. — A little before the moon rose I observed an aurora which
extended from the north nearly to the north-west, from which ema-
nated several columns of light j the rising moon soon overpowered
its light, so that I could not distinguish any other coruscations.
N.S. Vol.9. No. 53. May 1831. 3 E Sept.
394- Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles.
Sept. 8th. — The aurora again appeared, more extended than on the
preceding evening. I watched it for upwards of half an hour, when
clouds intervened and prevented further observation.
Sept. 17th. — The aurora borealis again appeared, soon after eight
P.M., in the horizon between the north-west and north-by-east, from
which emanated seven or eight reddish columns of light, two of which
reached the star Benetrasch in Ursa major. Soon after nine P.M. the
aurora disappeared.
Oct. 5. — At a quarter past seven P.M. an aurora again appeared
between the north and north-west. A few very thin columns of light
emanated. About eight P.M. a few coruscations were visible, but
the rising of the moon overpowered them in light.
Oct. 16. — About half-past nine P.M. the aurora again appeared
about the magnetic north, from which several columns of light, slightly
tinged with red, emanated, and attained the altitude of about 40°.
In one hour no traces of the aurora were visible.
Oct. 1 7. — An aurora again appeared and bore a strong resemblance
to a morning twilight j no coruscations were visible, and it soon dis-
appeared.
Nov. 1. — A little before nine P.M. a bright aurora was visible be-
tween the north and west points of the horizon ; soon after nine, not-
withstanding the moon shone very brightly, several columns of light
darted up near the magnetic north, some of which attained the height
of 20°. Clouds intervened about half-past, nine, and the aurora was
no longer visible.
Nov. 4. — An aurora appeared soon after seven P.M., which ex-
tended from the north nearly to the west. About eight a few co-
lumns of light were perceptible. The rising of the moon prevented
any further observation, and the aurora soon disappeared. Two
very bright meteors appeared soon after eight.
Nov. 7. — A faint aurora was visible for more than two hours, but
no coruscations were distinguished. One bright meteor appeared
about half-past seven.
Dec. 1 1 . — At seven P.M. a very bright aurora borealis appeared be-
tween the north-west and north-by-east points of the horizon j at eight,
clouds intervened, but at nine the sky again became clear, and very
large columns of red light were seen to rise quite to the zenith -} it
increased in splendour till past midnight. Some of the columns ap-
peared as if tinged with black, and had the resemblance of dense
columns of smoke. Two persons who were guarding their master's
property against the attacks of incendiaries, assured me that the red
columns continued to play in every direction, and on every point of
the compass between the east and west, till past four A.M. A respect-
able gentleman in this neighbourhood, who has been an attentive ob-
server of meteorological appearances for upwards of forty years,
assured me, that he never recollected during that period the Northern
Lights so powerful in this country, nor did he ever observe so many
meteors in any one night in his life-time ; the number he could not
ascertain, but he thought nearly twenty.
Dec. 12. — The aurora again appeared at six P.M. between the
north-
Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 395
north-east and north-west, but few coruscations were visible till
about ten P.M., when several columns of white light darted in quick
succession up to the zenith. Huge masses of white light, if I may so
term them, rose in the north-west, and, as it were, sailed majestically
along the horizon to the true north, and some as far as north-east,
and then shot up in massy columns. These appearances lasted till
half-past eleven, when the aurora began to diminish in brightness,
and in about two hours disappeared. Two bright meteors appeared
in the north.
Dec. 13. — The aurora again appeared light in strong twilight, but
no coruscations were visible.
Dec. 14. — At six P.M. the aurora was again visible, but fainter than
on the preceding evening.
Jan. 7, 1831. — An aurora borealis appeared in the north-east,
which had a reddish tinge, and had a similar effect to the rising moon
on a hazy evening. At a quarter past five a zone of white light rose
from the centre of the aurora, passed over the Pleiades just below Aries,
and to the west-south-west point of the horizon, forming a complete
arc. After remaining in a perfect state for about three minutes, the
centre of the bow began to disappear, and in a few seconds the whole
vanished. Several patches of white light were afterwards formed in
the south-east and south-west, which remained for some time. At
twenty minutes past five, perpendicular columns of red and white
light darted up to the zenith, and some even passed the zenith and
reached Orion, having an altitude of about 30° south. At half-past
five the northern hemisphere appeared to be covered with a complete
canopy of various coloured lights, which extended from north-east to
west, and exhibited one of the most magnificent appearances ever
witnessed in this latitude. Columns of light continued to emanate
till past midnight. The aurora did not finally disappear till about
four A.M.
Jan. 8. — An aurora was again visible for about two hours, but no
coruscations were visible.
Jan. 1 1. — Was a very cloudy evening, but having occasion to go
out about ten o'clock, the northern parts of the heavens appeared
unusually light -, the clouds dispersed, and an aurora presented itself
extending from north to north-west j two or three coruscations were
visible, but clouds again intervened, and at eleven the aurora could
no longer be seen.
N.B. After the aurorae in November and December, we had strong
gales of wind from the south and south-west 5 but since the appearances
of the present year we have had a calm.
Should these notices, copied from my journal, merit a place in
your Magazine, your insertion of them may cause naturalists in dif-
ferent parts of the country to make some useful remarks upon them.
I have the honour to be, Gentlemen,
Your most obedient Servant,
Bedford, W. H. WHJTE, H.M.C.S.
January 12th, 1831.
3 E 2 REV.
396 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles.
REV. w. D. CONYBEARE'S PRELIMINARY ADDRESSES TO THE
COURSE OF LECTURES ON THEOLOGY, DELIVERED AT THE
COLLEGIATE INSTITUTION OF BRISTOL.
A Collegiate Institution for the diffusion of the superior branches
of Education has been recently established at Bristol, by the joint
subscriptions of a proprietary body : it has been placed under the
superintendence of a Principal and Vice-Principal, who are distin-
guished graduates from the University of Cambridge. As it was de-
sired to place the Institution on an extensively useful and liberal
basis, impartial admission to the advantages it offers is conceded
without distinction to the members of different religious commu-
nities : at the same time a large portion of the Council (being
members of the Established Church) have felt it their duty in no
manner to neglect the providing due means for the religious in-
struction of the pupils, belonging to the same persuasion, in the
tenets of that Church. They have accordingly formed themselves
into a special committee, for the purpose of arranging an appro-
priate course of Theological Lectures. The Rev. W. D. Conybeare,
who is Visitor of the College and Superintendant of its Examina-
tions, has undertaken the commencing course of these lectures, and
recently delivered three preliminary addresses, which are now in
the press, and will shortly be published by Mr. Murray. The sub-
jects are : —
I. On the proper application of classical and scientific educa-
tion to the purposes of theological instruction.
II. On the natural evidences of religion as deduced from the
several branches of science.
III. On the argument from analogy, and on the peculiar evi-
dences and doctrinal character of the Christian revelation.
As Editors of a Philosophical Journal, our concern is of course
principally with the Second Part. In this we understand the author
has endeavoured to exhibit a compendious and condensed view of the
arguments derived from the proofs of design in the physical organiza-
tion of the universe, following the steps of Ray, Derham, and Paley,
but with a special view to point out the additional illustrations de-
duced from the more recent discoveries of science. As delivered to a
collegiate body, one of the objects of which must naturally be con-
sidered as directed to scientific instruction, it has been the aim of the
author of this address so to treat his subject as to present its inferences
as applications arising from the facts developed in the several sciences
exhibited in a systematic arrangement. Thus the heads of his sub-
divisions are Dynamics j the Cosmical sciences ; Astronomy, and
Geology : those relating to the constituent principles of Nature,
Light, Heat, Electricity, Chemistry; and Animal and Vegetable
Physiology, including under the former an article on Entomology.
DR. WEBSTER'S DICTIONARY.
The Proprietors of the Edition of Dr. Webster's English Dic-
tionary publishing in this country, have purchased from the family
of the late Rev. Jonathan Boucher, Vicar of Epsom, the valuable
and voluminous MSS. which he had, during the last fourteen years
of
Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles.
397
of his life, prepared for a Glossary of Provincial and Archa?ological
Words, intended as a Supplement to Dr. Johnson's Dictionary ; and
they mean to publish these MSS. in one volume 4-to, containing
Six Numbers of twenty sheets each, as a Supplement to Dr. Web-
ter's English Dictionary. The larger portion of the MSS. is now
in a state fit for publication; and the Supplement will be com-
menced as soon as the work of Dr. Webster, of which Eight Num-
bers have already appeared, is completed. They also intend to pub-
lish an octavo edition of Dr. Webster's English Dictionary, which
will contain all the technical and scientific definitions from the
quarto work ; but without the copious etymological matter, which
will not be required by ordinary readers, for ordinary purposes. A
multitude of words, collected by the Editor, and not found in the
quarto edition, will be inserted, and also a large collection of Archaic
terms from the MSS. of the late Rev. Jonathan Boucher.
LUNAR RAINBOWS.
To the Editors of the Philosophical Magazine and Annals.
Gentlemen,
An hour after moonrise on the showery night of the 31st ult.,
I observed an entire lunar rainbow, of a whitish hue, the prismatic
colours not being clearly distinguishable. The moon was then
shining beautifully bright from beneath the dark brow of an over-
hanging cloud ; but her light was above one-fourth part less than
at her full, four complete days having nearly elapsed since her op-
position.
Since witnessing the above I have made numerous inquiries both
in this neighbourhood and in Penzance, to ascertain whether lunar
rainbows are of frequent or of rare occurrence in Cornwall; and
the result of these inquiries is, that there is scarcely an individual
in the habit of being out late at night in this rainy county who has
not repeatedly seen them. I mention this, as all the writers on
meteorology which I have read, consider these phenomena of
much rarer occurrence than in reality they are.
I am, Gentlemen, your very humble Servant,
Redruth, Feb. 28, 1831. Rn. EDMONDS.
LUNAR OCCULTATIONS.
Occupations of Planets and fixed Stars by the Moon, in May 1831.
Computed for Greenwich, by THOMAS HENDERSON, Esq. • and
circulated by the Astronomical Society.
1831.
Stars'
Names.
Magnitude.
f
Immersions.
Emersions.
Sidereal
time.
Mean
solar time.
Angle from
Sidereal
time.
Mean
solar time.
Angle from
11
I
.C .
1
May 21
22
y Virginis*
V- Virginis
4
6
f 14651
\1466/
1545
h m
13 27
16 31
h m
9 32
12 31
0
122
37
o
132
66
h m
14 9
17 30
h m
10 13
13 31
0
186
281
o
203
315
* Dou
bie star.
METEO-
398 Meteorological Observations for March loo*.
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS FOR MARCH 1831.
Gosport: — Numerical Results for the Month.
Barom. Max. 30-443. Mar. 31. Wind N.E.— Min. 29-213. Mar. 6. Wind W.
Range of the mercury 1-230.
Mean barometrical pressure for the month 29-906
Spaces described by the rising and falling of the mercury 7*943
Greatest variation in 24 hours 0-605. — Number of changes 16.
Therm. Max. 58°. March 27. Wind S.— Min. 32°. March 23. Wind E.
Range 26°.— Mean temp, of exter. air 46°'98. For 30 clays with 0 in ^ 46'56
Max. var. in 24 hours 180>00.— Mean temp, of spring-water at 8 A.M. 48-84
De Luc's Whalebone Hygrometer.
Greatest humidity of the atmosphere, in the evening of the 2nd .... 96°
Greatest dryness of the atmosphere, in the afternoon of the 19th... 51
Range of the index 45
Mean at 2 P.M. 67°-0.— Mean at 8 A.M. 75°-6.— Mean at 8 P.M. 77'2
of three observations each day at 8, 2, and 8 o'clock 73*3
Evaporation for the month 2-40 inches.
Rain in the pluviameter near the ground 1-770 inch.
Prevailing wind, West.
Summary of the Weather.
A clear sky, 4J; fine, with various modifications of clouds, 11 ; an overcast
sky without rain, 10; rain, 5^. — Total 31 days.
Clouds.
Cirrus. Cirrocumulus. Cirrostratus. Stratus. Cumulus. Cumulostr. Nimbus.
15 6 25 1 17 18 18
Scale of the prevailing Winds.
N. N.E. E. S.E. S. S.W. W. N.W. Days.
H 4| 3| 2 4i 5 6J 3| 31
General Observations. — The first part of this month was wet and windy ;
the latter part was dry, with great changes in the temperature of the at-
mosphere, and frequent strong equinoctial gales, which on several occa-
sions were blighty. The general mildness of the weather the last two
months, has made the spring nearly a fortnight earlier than that of last
year. From the 2nd to the 16th instant a quick budding and leafing of
the trees were observed ; but the cold northerly and easterly gales nearly
suspended these operations of nature during the latter part of the month.
In the mornings of the 10th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 23rd, 24th, 25th, and 28th,
hoar frost appeared in the grass fields before sunrise, and there was some
ice on the ground in the morning of the 24th.
In the evenings of the 13th and 14th the inosculation of passing nimbi
produced lightning and thunder. In the morning of the 24th from 8 till
12 o'clock, there were frequent falls of snow, sleet and hail.
The atmospheric and meteoric phenomena that have come within our
observations this month, are four meteors, four auroras boreales, lightning
on two evenings and thunder on one ; and seventeen gales of wind, or days
on which they have prevailed, namely, three from the North-east, three
from the East, two from the South, five from the South-west, and four
from the West.
LUNAR ECLIPSE. — On the 26th the moon rose about East by North, very
nearly half eclipsed, at 5h 28m P.M. mean time here; but the red haze in
and several degrees above the eastern horizon, prevented the earth's shadow
from being well defined on her disc.
The
Meteorological Observations for March 1831. 399
The eclipse continued interesting till one minute after six, when clouds
intervened, and it was not seen afterwards by the naked eye. But at
twenty minutes past six, mean time, there was an opening in the cloud,
when by the aid of a telescope it appeared that the moon's southern limb
had just emerged out of the earth's shadow, as the penumbra was then se-
parating from the moon's limb.
AURORJE BOREALES. — In the evening of the 7th of March 1831, an
aurora borealis appeared from seven till ten o'clock. It rose slowly the
first half-hour, and the arch of light, extending from the North-east by
North to North-west by West, attained its greatest altitude about half-
past eight. Soon after eight two columns of light emanated from the aurora
about sixty degrees West of North, and were followed by many others till
nine. At a quarter before nine several broad flame-coloured columns rose
through Cassiopeia, and suddenly changed to red and lake colours ; and
on receding, parts of them were left behind, which continued several minutes
in the form of red patches.
The mean of several altitudes of the upper edge of the arch of the aurora
when best denned (not a rainbow-like arch) between 8 and 9 o'clock,
taking the vertex to be in the magnetic north, was 10° 3'. At nine the
aurora began to sink, and disappeared by ten.
In the night of the 8th, when the clouds disappeared at 11 o'clock, a
faint aurora presented itself, and kept up till 1 A.M.
In--the evening of the llth, at half-past eight, an aurora borealis rose
slowly from the northern horizon, and at forty minutes past nine its arch
of light was brightest and at its greatest altitude, which was nearly the
same as that in the evening of the 7th, described above.
At ten minutes before ten there was a range of twelve flame-coloured
columns along the whole extent of the arch, about seven degrees distant
from each other, one degree wide, and twenty-five degrees in altitude,
which had a fine and rather a singular appearance. A few drops of rain
now fell from a distant nimbus towards the North, which soon passed off
to the eastward, and the aurora appeared again, but sunk slowly, with oc-
casional coruscations from it till twelve, when it disappeared.
REMARKS.
London. — March 1. B'ine. 2, 3. Rain. 4. Slight fog in the morning :
very fine. 5. Overcast. 6. Stormy and wet. 7. Fine. 8. Overcast : rain
at night. 9. Fine. 10. Foggy. 11. Rain. 12. Fine in the morning :
windy, with rain at night. 13. Stormy and wet. 14. Fine: showery:
fine at night. 15. Stormy and wet. 16. Cloudy: small rain: fine.
17 — 20. Fine. 21 — 23. Cold and dry. 24. Sleet: cold rain, with some
hail in the afternoon. 25. Windy, and cold : rain at night. 26. Wet in
the morning: fine. 27. Very fine: at night windy with showers. 28. Fine.
29 — 31. Cold and dry, with north-east wind.
Penzance. — March 1. Fair. 2. Misty. 3. Rain. 4. Misty. 5. Rain.
6, 7. Fair. 8. Rain. 9. Fair. 10. Fair': rain. 1 1 . Rain : fair. 12. Rain.
13, 14. Showers. 15, 16. Rain. 17— 21. Clear. 22, 23. Fair. 24. Clear:
rain. 25. Fair : rain. 26. Rain. 27, 28. Clear. 29. Fair. 30. Clear.
31. Fair.
Boston. — March 1. Fine. 2. Cloudy: rain early A.M. 3. Cloudy: rain
at night. 4. Cloudy. 5. Rain. 6. Cloudy: rain at night. 7. Fine.
8. Fine: rain at night. 9, 10. Fine. 1 1. Rain and stormy. 12. Fine:
rain P.M. 13. Fine: hail-storm at night. 14. Fine. 15, 16. Cloudy.
17. Fine. 18— 23. Cloudy. 24. Snow. '25. Fine. 26. Rain. 27, 28. Fine.
29. Cloudy. SO. Fine: rain early A.M. 31. Fine.
Meteoro-
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IP
ONO —
C*OCNC<eneus, 460.
Vegeto-alkalies, electro-chemical de-
composition of, 237.
Vigors (Mr.) on the genus Ortyx, 54 ;
on Strix personata, 46 1 .
Warrington's (Mr.) examination of a
native sulphuret of bismuth, 29.
Watches, new alloy for the pivot-holes
of, 71.
Water cement, an artificial, 442.
Webster's (Dr.) English Dictionary,
396.
Weisse's planetary tables, errata in,245.
Whewell (Prof.) on Ricardo's princi-
ples of political economy, 462.
Willis (Mr.) on sound, 462.
Winch (Mr.) on the geology of the
banks of the Tweed, 13, 85.
Yarrell's (Mr.) dissection of a chin-
chilla, 227 ; notes on the Ctenodac-
tylus Massoniit 449.
Yates (Rev. J.) on the formation of
alluvial deposits, 48.
Yorkshire, review of Phillips's Geology
of, 342, 430.
Zenith distance, on the effect of a
change of polar distance on the re-
duction of a, 338.
Zoological Society, 52, 140, 222, 366,
449.
%* A General Index to thejirst ten volumes of the Philosophical
Magazine and Annals, will be published, (after the termination of
the next volume, which will be the tenth of the New Series,) with
the Number for January 1832.
END OF THE NINTH VOLUME.
» L A M M A M
LONDON:
FRINTED BY RICHARD TAYLOR, HKD LION COURT, FLEET STREET.
1831.
PROGRESS OF THE TIDE ROVXD GREAT BRITAIN.
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ofOiqh Wottr ,,t full and .-in,,,.,,-
\
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ANEW ANALYTICAL SCALE OF EQUIVALENTS. Com-
prising, in portable compass, expressed in Analytical Symbols, clas-
sified for prompt reference, most of the Salts, Reagents and Precipitates
used in Analytical and Operative Chemistry : Multiples of the leading
Constituents, viz. Oxygen 1 to 12, Hydrogen 8 to 50, Carbon 2 to 10,
Nitrogen 1 to 5, for adjusting the Atomic Results of Organic Analyses ;
Silica 1 to 6, and Alumina 1 to 3, for those of Minerals ; and Water 1 to
25 for Crystallized Salts, Hydrates, &c. : all the Elementary Bodies : all
the principal Binary Oxides, Chlorides, Iodides, Bromides, Sulphurets,
&c. ; and the greater number of Acids, Mineral and Organic, both as
Anhydrous and Crystallized : — forming a comprehensive Scale of Equi-
valents ; and a General Table of Atomic Weights, adjustable, by moving
the Slider, to the Oxygen or Hydrogen Standard. The Numbers de-
duced, chiefly, from comparison of the Tables of Thomson and Berzelius,
with the Experiments on which they were founded.
By Mr. JOHN PRIDEAUX, Member of the Plymouth Institution.
For Sale, price 8s., at Messrs. Newman, Regent Street: Messrs.
Knight, Foster Lane, London ; and Maclaghlan and Stewart, College
Street, Edinburgh.
CONTENTS OF N° 49.— New Series.
I. Reply to a Note in the Rev. Mr. Conybeare's Paper entitled
" An Examination of those Phenomena of Geology, which seem
to bear most directly on theoretical Speculations." By C. LYELL,
Esq. F.R.S. For. Sec. G.S. &c page I
II. Memoir of the late J. S. Miller, A.L.S. Curator of the Mu-
seum of the Bristol Philosophical Institution. By A CORRESPON-
DENT 4
III. On the theoretical Determination of the Motion of Fluids.
By the Rev. J. CHALLTS, Fellow oif Trinity College, Cambridge, and
of the Camb.Phil. Soc 7
IV. Remarks on the Geology of the Banks of the Tweed, from
Carham, in Northumberland, to the Sea Coast at Berwick. By
N. J. WINCH, Esq. Secretary of the Natural History Society of
Newcastle-iipon-Tyne. (To be continued.) 11
V. An Examination of those Phenomena of Geology which
seem to bear most directly on theoretical Speculations. By the Rev.
W. D. CONYBEARE, M.A. F.R.S. F.G.S. &c. (To be continued) 19
VI. On the New Nautical Almanac 23
VII. On the Visitation of Greenwich Observatory: with a Copy
of the New Warrant 27
VIII. Examination of a Native Sulphuret of Bismuth. By Mr.
R, WARRINGTON 29
IX. Recent Discovery of the Ladder of M. de Saussure in the Mer
de Glace ; with Inferences respecting the Progressive Movement of
Glaciers , 32
X. Facts and Observations relating to the Theory of the progres-
sive Development of Organic Life. By ROBERT BAKEWELL, Esq.. . 33
XL Proceedings of Learned Societies : — Royal Society ; Linnaean
Society; Geological Society ; Zoological Society 37-66
XII. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles ; — Chloroxalic Acid ;
Potash from Felspar ; Native Phosphates of Manganese and Iron ;
On Oxamide, by M. Dumas ; On two Kinds of Fulminating Gold,
by M. Dumas ; On the State of Mercury in Mercurial Ointment, by
M. Mitscherlich j Mr. Bennet's New Alloy for the Pivot Holes of
Watches ; Earthquakes at the Cape of Good Hope ; List of New Pa-
tents ; Meteorological Observations for November 1830, Table, &c. 66-80
%* It is requested that all Communications for this Work may be addressed,
post paid, to the Care of Mr. R. Taylor, Printing Office, Red Lion Court,
Fleet Street, London; where complete Sets of the Old Series of the Phi-
losophical Magazine may be had at half of the original price.
JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTION.
AMONG the Original Papers in the SECOND NUMBER, published
on the 3st of February, 1831, are the following: —
On the Decomposition of the Vegetable Alkaline Salts, by W. T.
Brande, Esq. F.R.S., &c. &c. — On a peculiar Class of Optical Deceptions,
by Michael Faraday, Esq. F.R.S. &c. &e.— On the Mode of ascertaining
the Commercial Value of Manganese, by Edward Turner, M.D., F.R.S.,
&c. &c., Professor of Chemistry in the London University. — On the Mag-
netic Curve, by Peter Mark Roget, M.D., Secretary of the Royal Society,
£c. — On the Construction of Arches, by M. Lassaulx, Architect to the
King of Prussia, communicated by Professor Whewell. — On Vomiting,
by Marshall Hall, M.D., £c. &c. — On Stuttering, by the Same. — On the
Aurora Borealis of the 7th January, 1831, by S. H. Christie, Esq.
F.R.S., &c. &c. — On the Performance of the Magnetism in Steel Bars, by
the Same. — On the Invention of the Telescope, by Professor Moll of
Utrecht. — On the Rainbow, by Alfred Ainger, Esq. — On the last Erup-
tion of Mount Vesuvius, by Dr. Donati. — On a New Comet, by Professor
Dabadie. — On Induced Phosphorescence, by Thomas Pearsall. — Descrip-
tion of a new Hydraulic Syphon, by Mr. Almond. — With the usual Mis-
cellaneous Scientific Intelligence, &c. &c.
JOHN MURRAY, Albemarle Street.
Just Published, by J. SOUTER, School Library, 73 St. Paul's
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A N ELEMENTARY ESSAY on the COMPUTATION of LO-
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of the Higher Orders ; the Summation of Infinite Series, &c. By J. R.
YOUNG. 8vo, boards, 10s. 6d.
3. ELEMENTS of GEOMETRY; containing a New and Universal
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out and corrected several important Errors that have hitherto remained
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boards, 8s.
4. THE ELEMENTS of ANALYTICAL GEOMETRY ; compre-
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which are separately treated of, and their Use shown in solving several
Cases of Trigonometry : the whole designed to give the young Student a
Knowledge in using his Instruments, and constructing Geometrical
Figures with accuracy. By GEORGE PHILLIPS, Queen's College,
Cambridge. New Edition. 2s. 6d.
CONTENTS OF N° 50.— New Series.
XIII. On the Construction of the Berlin Astronomical Ephemeris
for 1832. By Professor ENCKE page 81
XIV. Remarks on the Geology of the Banks of the Tweed, from
Carham, in Northumberland, to the Sea Coast at Berwick. By
N. J. WINCH, Esq. Secretary of the Natural History Society of
Xewcastle-upon-Tyne T 85
XV t On the Limits upon the Earth's Surface within which an Oc-
cultation of a Star or Planet by the Moon is visible. By J.W. LUB-
BOCK, Esq. F.R.S 90
XVI. Tables of the Decimal Parts of a Day and an Hour. By
A CORRESPONDENT 92
XVII. On the alleged Production of Heat in Mines by the Con-
densation of the Air which ventilates them ; and on the Fallacy of
other Objections to the Opinion that a high Temperature exists in
the interior of the Globe. By ROBERT W. Fox, Esq 94
XVIII. On the Stability of the Solar System. By J. W. LUBBOCK,
Esq. F.R.S 99
XIX. Remarks on the Origin of Rock-basins; in reply to a Paper
by Mr. E. W. BRAYLEY, Jun. By the Rev. THOMAS MOORE 101
XX. An Examination of those Phaenomena of Geology which
seem to bear most directly on theoretical Speculations. By the Rev.
W. D. CONYBEARE, M.A. F.R.S. F.G.S. &c. (To be continued) .... Ill
XXI. On the tidelike Wave of Lake Ontario. By SAMUEL
SHARPE, Esq. F.G.S 117
XXII. Observations relative to the Origin and History of the Bush-
men. By ANDREW SMITH, M.D. M.W.S. &c. (To be continued.) . . 119
XXIII. An Account of an Aurora Borealis observed at Woolwich
on the Night of January 7th, 1831. By Mr. WILLIAM STURGEON . 127
XXIV. Notices respecting New Books: — Mr. De la Beche's Sec-
tions and Views illustrative of Geological Phaenomena 131
XXV. Proceedings of Learned Societies : — Royal Society ;
Geological Society ; Linnaean Society; Astronomical Society; Zoo-
logical Society 133-147
XXVI. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles ; — On the spon-
taneous Inflammation of powdered Charcoal ; On pure lodic Acid,
and the Detection of the Vegetable Alkalies ;,Para-tartaric Acid; On
the Chlorides of Iodine and the Detection of the Vegetable Alkalies ;
Chloride of Gold and Potassium, &c. ; Vauquelin's Process for ob-
taining Chromium; Carburet of Sulphur not decomposed by Elec-
tricity; Influence of the Aurora Borealis on the Magnetic Needle j
Nitrous Atmosphere ofTirhoot; On the Occurrence of Chalk-flints
in Banffshirej NewScientfic Books ; The Comet ; Lunar Occultations
of Planets and fixed Stars by the Moon, in February 1831; List
of New Patents ; Meteorological Observations for December 1830,
Table, &c 14-8-160
\* It is requested that all Communications for this Work may be addressed,
post paid, to the Care of Mr. R.Taylor, Printing Office, Red Lion Court,
Fleet Street, London; where complete Sets of the Old Series of the Phi-
losophical Magazine may be had at half of the original price.
Articles in the Philosophical Magazine and Annals for June,
July, August, September, and October, 1830.
Vernon (Rev. W. V.) F.R.S. Chemical Examination of artificial Brusite.
Andrews (J.). Separation of Baryta or Strontia from Lime.
Herapath (W.). On the Combustion of the Diamond.
Galloway (E.). On the new Paddle-wheel.
Schmidt (Dr. E.). On the Dimensions of the Earth.
Ivory (J.) F.R.S. On the Figure of the Earth. And, On the shortest Di-
stance between two Points on the Earth's Surface.
Lubbock (J. W.) F.R.S. On the Census.
Farey (J.). On Improvements in the Steam-engine.
Taylor (J.) F.R.S. On the Duty of Steam-engines in Cornwall.
MacLeay (W.S.) F.L.S. On the Dichotomous Method in Natural H'istory.
Roget (P. M.) Sec. R.S. Letter in refutation of an alleged Inaccuracy in
the Minutes of the Council of the Royal Society.
Gilbert (Davies) Pres. R.S. On the same subject.
Babbage (C.). F.R.S. Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, Cambridge,
on the same Subject.
Nixon (J.). On the Measurement (by Trigonometry) of the Heights of
the principal Hills of Swaledale, Yorkshire.
Galbraith (W.) M.A. On the Obliquity of the Ecliptic.
Witham (H.) F.G.S. On the Vegetable Fossils found at Lennel Braes,
near Coldstream, upon the Banks of the River Tweed.
Bevan (B.). On the Power of Horses.
Alison (R. E. ). Narrative of an Excursion to the Summit of the Peak of
Teneriffe in February 1829.
De la Beche (H. T.) F.R.S. On the Geographical Distribution of Organic-
Remains in the Oolite Series of England and France.
Sabine (E.) Capt. R.A. Sec. R.S. Notices occasioned by the Perusal of
a late Publication by Mr. Babbage.
Rumker (C.) Elements of the Comet in Pegasus ,- with Observations and
Elements of the same Comet, by M. Valtz, of Nimes.
Fleming (Rev. Dr.). Note on Mr. MacLeay's Abuse of the Dichotomous
Method in Natural History.
Sedgwick (Professor) and Murchison (R. I.), Esq. Sketch of the Struc-
ture of the Austrian Alps.
Prideaux (J.). On the mean Atomic Weights of Simple Bodies, according
to Thomson and Berzelius.
Yarrell (W.) F.L.S. On a new Species of Swan.
Challis (Rev. J.). Attempt to explain theoretically the different Refran-
gibility of the Rays of Light.
Noggerath (Prof. J.). On the Magnetic Polarity of two Rocks of Basalt
near Niirburg in the Eifel.
Meikle (H.). On the CEconomy of the Steam-engine.
Conybeare (Rev. W. D.). On Mr. Lyell's '« Principles of Geology."
Squire (T.). On the computed times of a late Occultation of Aldebaran.
Dakin (G.). On an improved Electrical Machine.
Sharpe (S.). On the Solid of greatest Attraction.
Children (J. G.). F.R.S. On Ochsenheiraer's Genera of Lepidoptera
CONTENTS OF N°5l.—A7ew Series.
XXVII. On the Volatility of Oxalic Acid. By EDWARD TURNER,
M.D. F.R.S. L. & E., Sec. G.S. Professor of Chemistry in the Uni-
versity of London page 161
XXVIII. On the relative Hardness of Road Materials. By
B. BEVAN, Esq 164
XXIX. Observations on a Species of Muscse Volitantes apparently
existing in the Aqueous Humour of the Eye. By THOMAS BAT-
CHELOK, Esq 165
XXX. On Mr. WITCHELL'S Method of clearing a Lunar Di-
stance. By C. RUMKER, Esq 168
XXXI. Facts bearing on the Theory of the Formation of Springs,
and their Intensity at various Periods of the Year. By W. J. HEN-
WOOD 170
XXXII. On the Calculation of the Orbits of Double Stars. By
Professor ENCKE 178
XXXIII. A Botanical Description of Hermione Cypri. By
A. H. HAWORTH, F.L.S. £c.&c 183
XXXIV. On an Omission in Clairaut's Theory of the Equilibrium
of a homogeneous Fluid ; in some Remarks on the 56th Article of
t\\Q " Bulletin des Sciences Mathematiques" for August 1830. By
JAMSS IVORY, Esq. M.A. F.R.S 185
XXXV. An Examination of those Phenomena of Geology which
seem to bear most directly on theoretical Speculations. By the Rev.
W. D. CONYBEARE, M.A. F.R.S. F.G.S. &c. (To be continued) .... 188
XXXVI. Observations relative to the Origin and History of the
Bushmen. By ANDREW SMITH, M.D. M.W.S. &c. (To be continued.) 197
XXXVII. Statement respecting the Legacy left by the late.Earl
of Bridgewater, for rewarding the Authors of Works, to be published
in pursuance of his Will, and demonstrative of the Divine Attributes,
as manifested in the Creation. By DA VIES GILBERT, M.P. V.P.R.S. 200
XXX VIII. Notices respecting New Books: — Six Maps of the
Stars : published under the Superintendence of the Society for the
Diffusion of Useful Knowledge 202
XXXIX. Proceedings of Learned Societies : — Royal Society ;
Linnsean Society; Geological Society; Astronomical Society;
Zoological Society 206-232
XL. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles ; — Parhelia, &c.
lately seen at Bedford ; Aurora Borealis of the 7th of January as seen
at Gosport; A Mode of ascertaining the Value of Manganese Ores ;
Electro-chemical Decomposition of the Vegeto-alkaline Salts ; Lunar
Occultations of Planets and Fixed Stars by the Moon, in March 1831 ;
Meteorological Observations for January 1831, Table, &c 232-240
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A TRANSLATION of the PHARMACOPOEIA LONDINENSIS ;
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the Decompositions which take place during their Preparation. Illus-
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the Alkaline, Earthy, and Metallic Salts.
By RICHARD PHILLIPS, F.R.S. L. & E. &c.
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A TREATISE on LIGHT and VISION. By the Rev. HUMPHREY
LLOYD, M.A. Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin.
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THE BOTANICAL MISCELLANY. By W. J. HOOKER, LL.D.,
F.R.S. and L.S., &c. &c., and Regius Professor of Botany in the
University of Glasgow.
Volume I. of the BOTANICAL MISCELLANY, containing Nos. I. II.
and III., is now complete, with Seventy-four Plates, Price 11. 11s. 6d.
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CONTENTS OF N° 52.— New Series.
XLI. On the Computation of the Moon's Motion in Right Ascen-
sion. By FRANCIS BAILY, Esq. F.R.S. &c. &c page 241
XLII. Errata in Weisse's Planetary Tables. By A CORRESPON-
DENT 24-5
XLIII. On the Rectification of Curves. By Mr. CHARLES GILL. 250
XLIV. Remarks on the Demonstrations of the Theorems of La-
grange and Laplace for the Expansion of Functions, given by Dr.
Lardner and M. Lacroix ; with a Demonstration of those Theorems.
By Mr. JAMES GORDON 253
XLV. An Examination of those Phenomena of Geology, which
seem to bear most directly on Theoretical Speculations. By the Rev.
W. D. CONYBEARE, M.A. F.R.S. F.G.S. &c 258
XL VI. On the Reduction to the Meridian. By S. SHARPE, Esq.
F.G.S 270
XL VII. Proceedings of Learned Societies : — Anniversary of the
Geological Society — Address to the Geological Society, by the Pre-
sident, the Rev. ADAM SEDGWICK, M.A. F.R.S. &c., on announcing
the first award of the Wollaston Prize to Mr. Smith ; Address to
the Geological Society, delivered on the evening of the Anniversary
by the Rev. Professor SEDGWICK, M.A. F.R.S. &c. on retiring from
the President's Chair 271-317
XL VIII. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles : — On the Hard-
ness of Copper Slag as a Material for Roads, by B. BEVAN, Esq. ;
Lectures on Geology at the University of London, by Mr. J. PHIL-
LIPS, F.G.S. ; New Scientific Books ; Lunar Occultations of Planets
and Fixed Stars by the Moon, in April 1831; Meteorological Ob-
servations for February 1831, Table, &c 317-320
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CONTENTS. — Vol. 4, Part 2nd. — Mr. Gough, on the Pile-engine. Dr. Falconer,
on the History of Sugar. Dr. Beddoes, on the Flints of Chalk-Beds, &c. Mr.
Gough, on the Vegetation of Seeds. Mr. Hoffman, on Plica Polonica. Mr. Cop-
land, on the Combustion of Dead Bodies. Mr. Richardson, on Planting Waste
Lands. Mr. Dawson, on the Inverse Method of Central Forces. Dr. Ferriar, on
Ancient Terrassed Works. Dr. S. A. Bardsley, on Hydrophobia. Mr. Gough, Fur-
ther Experiments on the Vegetation of Seeds. Mr. Barrit, on Ancient Carved Pil-
lars and Obelisks. Dr. Garnett's collection of Meteorological Observations.
CONTENTS.— Vol. 5, Part 1st.— Dr. Bardsley, on Party Prejudice. Mr. Dai-
ton, on an extraordinary Case of Vision of Colours. Mr. Uvedale, on the Name of
the Founder of Huln Abbey. Mr. Gough, on the Variety of Voices. Rev. Mr. Gis-
borne, on the Institution of Literary and Philosophical Societies. Dr. Anderson,
on an Universal Character. Mr. Dawson, on the Inverse Method of Central Forces.
Mr. Collier, on Iron and Steel. Mr. Rupp, on Dr. Priestley's Experiments on Air.
Mr. White, on three Kinds of Timber-Trees. Mr. Lambe, on the Analysis of Lea-
mington Springs. Dr. Guthrie, on the Persian Cotton-Tree. Mr. Hoyle, on the
Hypev-oxymuriate (.Chlorate) of Potash. Mr. Collier, on Fermentation and Distil-
lation. Dr. Brown, on an Universal Written Character. Mr. Rupp, on Chemical
Bleaching. Mr. Fisher, on the Change of Colour in a Negro.
CONTENTS. — Vol. 5, Part 2nd. — Rev. Mr. Walker, on Tragedy, and the In-
terest in its Representation. Mr. Dalton, on Rain, Dew, Evaporation, and the
Origin of Springs. Mr. Dalton, on the Power of Fluids to conduct Heat. Mr.
Banks, on the Force and Velocity of Air from Bellows, &c. Anon. Essay on Beauty
in the Human Form. Rev. Mr.Walker's Defence of Learning and the Arts, against
the Charges of Rousseau. Dr. Hull, on Defects in the Nervous System. Mr.
Dalton, on Heat and Cold, produced by the Condensation and Rarefaction of Air.
Mr. Barrit, on some Antiques found in the Ribble. Mr. Dalton, on Mixed Gases,
the Force of Steam, Evaporation, and the Expansion of Gases by Heat. Dr. Henry's
Review of Experiments relating to the Materiality of Heat. Mr. Gough, on Judg-
ment as to the Direction of Sounds. Mr. Gough, on the Theory of Compound
Sounds. Mr. Dalton's Meteorological Observations at Manchester. Appendix.
Mr. Barrit, on a Roman Inscription ; with a Note by Dr. Holme. Dr. Henry's
Note on his paper on Heat.
CONTENTS OF N° 53.— New Series.
XLIX. On the Impediments to the Study of Natural History;
illustrated by a Reference to certain technical and incidental Ob-
scurities, in the Arrangement of the Diurnal Family of Lepidopterous
Insects by various celebrated Naturalists. By A CORRESPON-
DENT page 321
L. On the recent Change of Form of the Summit of Mont Blanc.
By A CORRESPONDENT 328
LI. Notice of the Discovery of the Plesiosaurus in Ireland. By
JAMES BRYCE, Jun. A.B 331
LII. On the Tides on the Coast of Great Britain. By J. W. LUB-
BOCK, Esq. F.R.S. (With a Map) 333
LIII. On the Reduction of the North Polar Distances of Stars
observed at Greenwich, and corrected by Bradley's Refractions, to
Distances according with Ivory's Refractions. By W. GALBRAITH,
Esq. A.M 335
LEV. On the Effect of a Change of Polar Distance on the Re-
duction to the Meridian of a Zenith Distance observed out of the
Meridian. By A CORRESPONDENT 338
LV. Observations relative to the Origin and History of the Bush-
men. By ANDREW SMITH, M.D. M.W.S., &c. (To be continued). . 339
LVI. Notices respecting New Books : — Phillips's Illustrations of
the Geology of Yorkshire 342
LVII. Proceedings of Learned Societies : — Royal Society ; As-
tronomical Society ; Linnaan Society ; Zoological Society ; Geo-
logical Society ; Friday Evening Proceedings of the Royal Institu-
tion of Great Britain ; Cambridge Philosophical Society 354-384
LVIII. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles: — Fall of the
Broughton Suspension Bridge, near Manchester ; Cambridge Uni-
versity ; Manganese in Human Blood ; On Sulfo-Sinapisine, origi-
nally termed Sulfo-Sinapic Acid ; Emission of Light during the Com-
pression of Gases ; Action of Chloride of Bromine upon Water and
^Ether ; Crystallization of Bismuth ; Re-action of Persalts of Iron
and Carbonates ; Inflammation of Phosphorus by Charcoal ; Obser-
vations on Aurorae Boreales witnessed at Bedford, at various times,
from April 19, 1830, to January 11, 1831, by W. H. White,
H.M.C.S.; Rev. W. D. Conybeare's Preliminary Addresses to the
Course of Lectures on Theology, delivered at the Collegiate Insti-
tution of Bristol ; Dr. Webster's Dictionary j Lunar Rainbows ; Lu-
nar Occultations of Planets and Fixed Stars by the Moon in May
1831 ; Meteorological Observations for March 1831, Table, &c. 384-400
It is requested that all Communications for this Work may be addressed,
post paid, to the Care of Mr. R. Taylor, Printing Office, Red Lion Court,
Fleet Street, London ; where complete Sets of the Old Series of the Phi-
losophical Magazine may be had at half of the original price.
Now ready, embellished with Twenty plain, and Ten coloured, Engra-
vings, 4to, of New and Rare Plants, Price only ll. Is. Nos. V. and VI. of
THE BOTANICAL MISCELLANY. By W. J. HOOKER, LL.D.,
F.R.S. and L.S., &c. &c., and Regius Professor of Botany in the
University of Glasgow.
Volume I. of the BOTANICAL MISCELLANY, containing Nos. I. II.
and III., is now complete, with Seventy -four Plates, Price I/. 11s. 6