ey TY “a. a! ef we. f a a) 1 : is ‘ . vy} < mT ec Ce | Sf is . f - oa spe a9 i yd ROYAL 7 hy Rat ASAE, ea ~ e / ae : ee i TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY. VOL. XIII. i. 4 y f “ / ol i ih, Sy ‘, ; oo ae a * te tn ney A wee 4 rd ne iter: va < e Hs Pe : wimieiorsoenaian \ — ; ; THE TRANSACTIONS * OF THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY. VOL. XIII. c EB = aes geo, Sessa a. satan eS TRI PER Phill , : DUBLIN : GRAISBERRY AND CAMPBELL, PRINTERS TO THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY, hg , ’ “Fers. c-70 4 r - ~~ 24 * . i ye a * ergiro: SURAT May e..°.% ~~. * aT 7o : = gon ie Lm aoe ; } Boom bas erie lasy z \ swe ; LF YERLAT Te tn Aefoy saltrwics: ait = * * * AN ALPHABETICAL LIST ee PRESENT MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY. Those marked thus * are Members Sor Life. er A. Rev. Jerome Alley, Captain Joseph Atkinson. John Ashburner, Esq. John Lade Arabin, Esq. B. Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. President R. S. William Ball, L. L. D. . Rev. D. A. Beaufort, L. L. D. Cornelius Bolton, Esq. Rev. Robert Burrowes, D. D. Peter Burrowes, Esq. Hon. Nat. F. Burton. *» * * ” * ¥ Vi Rey. Archdeacon Brinkley, D.D. Vice President. of Astronomy T. C. D. William Brooke, M. D. Treasurer. Right Hon. Denis Browne, M. P. Samuel Black, M. D. Rev. Sir Harvey Aston Bruce, Bart. Benjamin Ball, Esq. Bindon Blood, Esq. Robert Blake, M. D. Robert Bateson, Esq. Rev. Henry Boyd. C. Rt. Hon. Earl of Charleville, President. Joseph Clarke, M. D. Vice President. John Cooke, Esq. Right Hon. Lord Carleton. Right Hon. Earl of Carysfort. Right Hon. Earl of Cunningham. John Crosthwaite, Esq. James Cleghorn, M. D. State Physician. Right Rev. Lord Bishop of Cloyne. Right Hon. Lord Viscount Castlereagh. Rev. John Cramer. Turner Camac, Esq. Right Hon. Earl of Charlemont. His Grace the Archbishop of Cashel. William Chapman, Esq. James B. Clinch, Esq. Andrews’s Professor * * * * ” * vil Right Hon. Earl of Chichester. Hon. Henry Caulfield. Richard Chenevix, Esq. Rey. Charles Coleman. Right Rev. Lord Bishop of Clogher. Richard Carmichael, Esq. John Cheyne, M. D. Clancy, M. D. Hon. Mem. Right Hon. Earl of Clare, Andrew Carmichael, Esq. William Chaigneau Colvill, Esq. Nicholas Carlisle, Esq. Hon. Mem. »: Rey. William Davenport, D. D. 8. F. T.C. D. John Dunn, Esq, Richard Dease, Esq. William Hamilton Drummond, D. D. Isaac D’Olier, Esq. L. L. D. E. Rev. Thomas Elrington, D. D. Provost, T. C. D. and Vice President. Thomas Egan, M. D. F.R. S. Right Hon. William Elliott, M. P. Rev. Charles Richard Elrington, F. T. C. D. F. Right Hon, John Foster, M. P. B 2 * & * * * * * vili Right Hon. Maurice Fitzgerald, M. P. Edward Deane Freeman, Esq. Robert Murray Fraser, Esq. Rev. Michael Fitzgerald. Thomas Fitzgerald, Esq. John Leslie Foster, L. L. D. and M. P. Right Hon. William Vesey Fitzgerald, M. P. G. Richard Griffiths, Esq. The Very Rev. Richard Graves, D. D. Dean of Ardagh. Samuel Guinness, Esq. Rev. Thomas Goff. Rev. Hosea Guinness, L. L. D. Sir Charles L. M. Giesecké, Professor of Mineralogy, Dublin Society, &c. 15 i William Harvey, M. D. Physician General, The Most Noble Marquis of Hastings. Hon. A. Herbert, Esq. William Higgins, Esq. F. R. 8. Professor of Chemistry, Dublin Soeiety. Edward Hay, Esq. Right Hon. Sir George F. Hill, Bart. M. P. Rey. Thomas Dix Hincks. Colonel Edward Hill, Vice President, and Secretary of Foreign Corres- pondence. William Haygarth, Esq. Robert Hutton, Esq. Rev. Edward Hincks, F. T. C. D. M. Weld Harstonge, Esq. * * * Rev. William Jessop. Hon. Judge Johnston. Hon. Thomas Knox. Hon. George Knox. Alexander Knox, Esq. Rev. Samuel Kyle, F. T. C. D. The Very Rev. Doctor Kenny, Dean of Achonry. George Kiernan, Esq. Rey. James Kennedy, F. T. C. D. L. Right Hon. Earl of Londonderry. Colonel Anthony Lefroy. Right Hon. Earl of Limerick. Rev. Bart. Lloyd, D. D. S. F. T. (God} Right Hon. Earl of Leitrim. Samuel Litton, M. D. Charles Lendrick, Esq. M. William Marsden, Esq. F. R. S. Alexander Marsden, Esq. William M‘Guire, Esq. Rev. Marcus Monck. The Very Rev. William Magee, Dean of Cork. * Rev. George Miller, D. D. Right Rev. Lord Bishop of Meath. Ninian Mahaffy, L. L. D. P. E. M‘Loghlin, M. D. Sir Capel Molyneux, Bart. Justin M‘Carthy, Esq. James Macartney, M.D. F. R.S. F. L. 5. Professor of Anatomy and Surgery, T.C. D. William Shaw Mason, Esq. Henry Joseph Monck Mason, L. L. D. Gerard Macklin, Esq. State Surgeon. Rey. Charles Mayne. * + N. Sir John Newport, Bart. M. P. Right Hon. Lord Viscount Newcomen. * Rey. William Neilson. John North, Esq. Alexander Nimmo, Esq. C. E. F. R. S. E. a O. Charles O’ Hara, Esq. M. P. Thomas Herbert Orpen, M. D. Rey. Andrew O’ Beirne. P. “ Robert Perceval, M. D. John Pollock, Esq. Rev. T. Prior, D. D. &. F. T. C. D. Edward Perceval, M.D. xt * Paul Patrick, Esq, Rey. St. John Quinn. Right Hon. Earl of Ross. Solomon Richards, Esq. Rev. Thomas Romney Robinson, F. T. C. D. Librarian. John Radcliffe, Esq. L. L. D. Judge of the Prerogative Court, &c. * * S. * Hon. Alexander Stewart. Whitley Stokes, M. D. Hon. Sir William S. Smith, Bart. Rev. G. V. Sampson. James Stewart, Esq. * Rey. James Symes. James Simes, M. D. William Spear, Esq. Rev. Francis Sadlier, D. D. F. T. C. D. Secretary. Rev. Joseph H. Singer, F.T. C.D. Secretary. Anthony Semple, Esq. * * * T. Rev. W. Trail, D. D. Robert Thorp, Esq. Henry Taffe, Esq. Right Hon. Lord Baron Trimbestown. * William Turner. Esq. * x xu Thomas Taylor, M. D. Thomas Townsend, Esq. W. Rev. Richard Woodward. Benjamin Woodward, Esq. Hon. Colonel Robert Ward. Isaac Weld, Esq. ® Robert Wigram, Esq. M. P. F. R. 8. ® William Webb, Esq. Thomas Weaver, Esq. William Wallace, Esq. Rey. Robert Walsh. Tar Acapremy desire it to be understood, that, as a body, they are not answerable for any _opinion, representation of facts, or train of reasoning, which may appear in the following Papers. The Authors of the several Essays are alone responsible for thei contents. ERRATA. SCIENCE. Page Lin i iL = vag Uner Silex, jor 50. 0, read 52. 49, 2, from the bottom. For difference read differences. 30 — 16. For A, 7ead Ay. 31 — 12. For = read = 32 — — For (q) read (9). For (9) read (10). For (10) read (11). For (11) read (12). 34 — 13. For 1+-e% read 1—e?: 36 — 13. In some copies, for » = #ead ». — — 4 fromthe bottom. For an, read and. 39 — 13. For 2—2m, read 2—m. 14. Fer cos (8y—3my) read cos. (3,—2nv—r). 40 — 2, At end insert (e). 46 — 7, from the bottom. For cos (vx—mv--m) read cos (vx—2 m+n) and the same in pages 48 and 49. 3? 3m 50 — 3, from the bottom. For z read a 55 — 8, from the bottom, For c,c” read c,e™, 59 — 12. For (14) read (10). 66 — 17. Dele hollow. 70 — 15. Dele the bracket after the fraction in the denominator; and, in the second ex- pression, dele C and the bracket, 77 — — Note (/) line 7. For v read t - 80 — 4, from the bottom. For 2. read Z. 97 — 1. For different, read diffuse. 104 — 11. For 3 read } 109 — 16. Dele for. 110 — 17. For precation read precaution. ANTIQUITIES. 16 — — Note 36. For Britannia, read Britannie. 20. Place the parenthesis after Samuel, 113 — 12. Dele a. 116 — Note || line 1. Change the Italic for Roman letters CONTENTS. SCIENCE. Page ‘I. AN Account of a New Mineral Substance, discovered at Killiney, in the Vicinity of Dublin. By Thomas Taylor, M. D. M.R.I. A. F.L.S. Read June 23d, 1817. 2 3 II. Observations on Curvatures of the Spine. By James Macartney, M.D. M.R.1A. F.R.S. Professor of Anatomy and Sur- gery in the University of Dublin, &c. §c. Read May 19th, 1817. . 2 E 2 3 : - 13 III. Investigations in Physical Astronomy, principally relative to the Mean Motion of the Lunar Perigee. By the Rev. John Brinkley, D. D. F.R.S. M. R.I. A. and Andrews’ Professor of Astronomy in the University of Dublin. Read April 21st, 1817. This Essay obtained the Conyngham Medal. - - 25 IV. Observations relative to the Form of the Arbitrary Constant Quantities, that occur in the Integration of certain Differential Equations, and also in the Integration of a cerlain Equation of Finite Differences. By the Rev. John Brinkley, D.D. F. R.S. M.R.I. A. and Andrews’ Professor of Astronomy in the Unt- versity of Dublin. Read June 23d, 1817. - - 58 V. On the Construction of Furnaces for High Heats, and the Theory of their Operation. By the Rev. T. R. Robinson, A. M. F.T. C.D. M.R.I. A. Read April 21st, 1817. 2 - 63 d Xvi VI. On the Means of producing an Intense Heat by the Combustion of Oxygen and Hydrogen Gases. By the Rev. T. R. Robinson, A.M. F.T.C.D. M.R. 1. A. Read January 12th,1818. - VII. Description of a New Air-Pump. By George Kiernan, Esq. M.R.I1. A. Read Feb. 23d, 1818. - a ~ Z VIII, On the Manner, in which Algebraic Functions of the Princi- pal Variable, are, in certain cases, introduced into the Integrals of Linear Differential Equations, that have constant Co-efficients. By the Rev. Edward Hincks, A.M. F.T. C.D. M. R. LA, IX. On Voltaic Electricity. By the Rev. T. R. Robinson, F. 'T. C.D. M.R.I. A. Read Nov. 23d, 1818 = - - X. Essays respecting the Changes, which the Human Skeleton under- goes at different Periods of Life ; and the Deformities, to which it is sulject during its Development. By William Wallace, M. R-C. Sil. M.’R. LAS gerieee Essay I, Read Feb. 22d, 1819 - - - Section II. Read June 28th, 1819 - - - XI. A Method of computing Astronomical Refractions, for Olyects near the Horizon. By the Rev. John Brinkley, D. D. F. B.S. M. R. I. A. and Andrews’ Professor of Astronomy in the Uni- versity of Dublin. Read Jan. 17th, 1820. - - XII. On the Inscription of a Regular Polygon of Seventeen Sides in a Circle: or Division of the Circumference into Seventeen Equal Parts. By Samuel James, Esq. Presented by the Rev. Francis Sadleir, D. D. F. T. C.D. M. R. I. A. Read Jan. 24th, 1820 = 2 é é; é ! XIII. A Method of correcting the Approximate Elements of the Orbit of a Comet, and the Application of the same to Observations made at the Obervatory of Trinity College, Page 93 109 129 153 165 XVil Dublin, on the Comet of July, 1819... By John Brinkley, D. D. F. R.S. M. R. 1.,A. and Andrews’ Professor. of As- tronomy in. the University of Dublin. Read April 17th, 1820 = = - z a = . POLITE LITERATURE. I. An Essay on the Life and Writings of Oppian. By the Rev. William Hamilton Drummond, D, D. M. R. I. A. Read April 26th, 1819. - - - - = - II. Analysis of the Cynegetics of Oppian. By the same. Read Jan. 24th, 1820. + 0 : 2 3 ¥ A ANTIQUITIES. I. On the Mixture of Fable and Fact in the Early Annals of Ireland, and on the best mode of ascertaining what degree of credit these Ancient Documents are justly entitled to. By Thomas Wood, M.D. A Prize Essay. Read July 8th, 1816. - - Il. An Essay on the Nature and Symbolical Character of the Cheru- bim of the Jewish Tabernacle. By H. J. Monck Mason, Esq. L.L.D. M.R.I. A. Read January 26th, 1818. -) = III. Observations on some remains in the County of Cavan, supposed to be those of a Vitrified Fort, in a Letter to the Rev. F. Sad- leir, D. D. Sec. R. I. A. By the Rev. Cesar Otway. Commu- nicated by the Rev. Dr, Sadleir. Read April 28th, 1817. Page 189 47 81 _ 128 -Xvill IV. Remarks on a Brass Medal of our Saviour, found in the Friar’s Walk in the Vicinity of Cork, in October 1818. By Henry J. Monck Mason, L. L. D. M. R. I. A. Read Jan. 95th, 1819. - - - - - = - V. Conjectures on the Origin of the Oriental Practice of Writing from Right to Left, deduced from a Consideration of the Names and Forms of the Hebrew Characters. By William S. Sankey, A.M. M. R. I. A. and Extraordinary Member of the Royal Medical Society, Edinburgh. Read April 26th, 1819. - VI. Observations which accompanied a Hebrew Medal, submitted to the Inspection of the Royal Irish Academy. By the Rev. R. Walsh, M.R.I. A. Read June 28th, 1819. - = = VII. Description of a Rich and Ancient Bow, containing a Latin Copy of the Gospels, which was found on a Mountain in the County of Tipperary, and is now in the Possession of H. Monck Mason, Esq. L. L.D. M. R. J. A. Read May 24th, 1819. - - e Py = c VIII. A Description of an Ancient Drawing in the Red Book of the Exchequer in Ireland. By H. Jos. Monck Mason, Esq. Page 129 151 161 175 LL.D. M. R.I, A. Read Feb. 28th, 1820. - - 181 SCIENCE. AN ACCOUNT OF A NEW MINERAL SUBSTANCE, DISCOVERED AT KILLINEY, IN THE VICINITY OF DUBLIN. eee BY THOMAS TAYLOR, M.D. M.R.I. A. F.L.S. ALTHOUGH the mineral kingdom im bulk so. eminently surpasses the animal. or vegetable, yet naturalists have already distinguished the species of each of the latter into some tens of thousands, while those of the former are scarcely made to exceed four hundred in number. Such, then, being the uniformity of mineral substances, the difficulty of assigning to them exclusive characters, whether taken from their composition or external. appearance, being. also very great, the admission ofa mineral to the rank of a new species should, be practised with | the utmost. caution. :Conscious of a very. ;limited. knowledge of Mineralogy; [should not have. ven- -tured to lay before the Royal Irish Academy, the following remarks on a mineral found in: the vicinity: of Dublin, if I were not sup- ported in -considering it a: new ‘species: by the :opinions of some Be 4 eminent mineralogists, by some obvious marks of distinction in its external characters, and by the results of a chemical analysis. Having observed on the south-western side of the hill of Killiney, near Dublin, persons engaged in the clearing of land by the ope- ration of blasting large blocks of Granite, I was led through curio- sity to examine the broken pieces, in the hopes of meeting with some unusual mineral substance. These expectations were strength- ened by the consideration, that these blocks lay in the direction of the remarkable junction of Granite and Mica-slate, which runs from Killiney, through the Scalp, into the county of Wicklow. Here I had the good fortune to meet with the mineral under description, also in considerable abundance some fine specimens of Spodumene, a species so rare, that, if we except the very small pieces of it detected by Sir Charles Giesecké in Greenland, it has hitherto been found only in one quarry in Sweden. They both occur at Killiney in veins in granite. These veins consist of fine-grained granite, of an inch or two in thickness, having their central parts filled with Spodumene, with the present species, which, from its locality, may be termed Killinite, large irregular pieces of Quartz, imbedded crystals of felspar, and minute garnets. Killinite occurs imbedded in elongated prisms, the number of whose sides, or the figure of whose terminations is not distinctly observable: in one case, however, the prism indicated the octohe- dral form. These prisms are frequently rifted across; they intersect one another at various angles. The structure is lamellar; the na- tural joints cannot be perceived in more than one direction. The lustre is shining, between pearly and silky. It is easily frangible. The fracture is fine grained, uneven, with a dull lustre. Its colour is usually of an olive green tinged with brown and yellow ; sometimes of a light brown and of a pearly lustre. Its powder is of a greyish 5 white colour. It is translucent; yields easily to the knife, though not to the nail; scratches marble, but not crystallized fluor. Its specific gravity is 2.698. When breathed upon, it yields an argillaceous odour distinctly. Before the blow-pipe it quickly loses colour and becomes white, swells, and is changed with but little difficulty into a white enamel. Pieces, which seem to have been exposed to the air for some time, have their surface coated of a dark colour, and present the appearance of holes corroded into them, and lined with a ferruginous dust, no doubt from the decomposition of the Iron contained in this mineral. In general appearance Killinite seems nearly allied to Serpentine, and has many points of resemblance to Nephrite; from both of — these species, however, its fusibility before the blow-pipe, and the chemical analysis, prove it to differ abundantly, as both these con- tain at least 10 per cent. of lime, an earth of which scarcely an appreciable quantity can be discovered in our mineral. From Ser- pentine it may be more particularly distinguished by its containing only atrace of Magnesia, which forms 37 parts in the hundred of that mineral. Nephrite, and the varieties of Jade, contain at least 5 parts in the hundred of Soda, a substance not to be found in Killinite. But the species with which there is the greatest rea- son to apprehend a confusion, is Spodumene, which occurs in the very same vein in which our mineral is found. But Spo- dumene, besides presenting some differences in the chemical analysis, as the greater proportion of Silex and of Lime, and the absence of any trace of Manganese or Magnesia, may be distinguished, Ist. by the greater specific gravity, which of the specimen from Killiney is 3.06; 2dly, by the structure which pre- sents natural joints in three directions, while these are observable only in one in Killinite ; 3dly, by: the greater degree of hardness, since it scratches glass; 4thly, -by its lighter colour, which is green- ish white; and ‘Sthly, by its appearances: before the blow-pipe ; for before a strong flame Spodumene ‘at first swells, then falls dnto a whitish powder, and if the flame be urged on small pieces, ‘they are readily converted into transparent glass globules ; while Kil- Jinite, without presenting the peculiar appearance of ashes before ‘the blow-pipe, (whence the name of Spodumene is derived,) never *beconies transparent, but is changed into a white opaque enamel. The following chemical analysis of Kallinite was: kindly under- taken and ‘performed by my friend Doctor Barker, Professor of ‘Chemistry’ in: the University. It is unnecessary to state to the ‘members of ‘this Academy, (most of whom well know,) what en- tire confidence may be placed in his knowledge and accuracy. Various experiments, instituted for the purpose, indicated. the ‘chief constituents of this “mineral to be Silex, Alumine, Potash, and oxide of Iron. To ‘ascertain ‘the relative quantity of these substances, different methods “were employed. By the action of ‘Sulphuric acid, the quantities ‘of Silex and: Potash chiefly were de- termined. By solution in caustic Potash, and the usual subsequent ‘treatment, the quantity of ‘Alumine was ascertained, and the re. sults obtained by the Sulphuric Acid at the same ‘time confirmed. Another process, in which the chief agent was Nitrate of Barytes, served to establish the presence of Potash, and to guard against error in estimating the quantity of this alkali. Diluted nitric acid exerted no action on the mineral. One hun- dred grains of it reduced to fine powder, and heated to redness in a platina dish during half an hour, suffered a loss of weight equal to five grains, arising from the expulsion of water (A.) a "The remainderowas mixed swith -about three; hundred: grains of recently distilled:Sulphuric: Acid, and evaporated to dryness in a vessel of platina:: This operation was twice repeated; the resulting: dry. mass. -was »washed . with» boiling. water, until all the: soluble sulphuric -compounds had been separated from: a. gritty, white /inso- Juble powders This -was:dried and: heated: to redness. It weighed fifty grairis, andj had the-properties of Silex. (B.) The washings: containing» the substances: dissolved: by) the Sul- phuric acid were evaporated to: the consistence of a syrup: nearly,: and set asides crystals in the form of the octohedron. or its modifi~ cations gradually appeared ; these, when separated from: the liquor, had all the properties of Alum, and when dry weighed 49.75 grs. indicating very nearly 5 grains of Potash. .(C.) From the liquor remaining ‘after the separation of the alum crystals, oxide of Tron was obtained; which, purified from. Alumine by: the solvent ‘action of caustic alkali, and dried; amounted. to 2.49 ers. (D). ‘This was united with 1.62 ers. of Silex. (Bb) and ihe fluid from which the Iron and Silex had. been. separated. by means of subcarbonate of Potash, yielded 0.75. grs.-of black oxide of Manganese (EB), together with 0.87 grs. of Silea. (Be). Traces of Lime and Magnesia, in combination with owide. of Iron, were also observed, which were estimated at 0.50 grs. (F'). By the preceding method the quantity of Alumime was: not de- termined with exactness ; for this reason, as well as further to con- firm the other results of that analysis, the following process was employed. One hundred grains of the mineral reduced to’ fine powder, together with three hundred grains. of caustic pot- ash, were heated to redness ina silver crucible. ‘The mixture as- sumed a dark green colour, and afforded, with diluted muriatic acid, a perfect solution of a greenish yellow colour, This, when evapo- rated sufficiently, and suffered to cool, formed a jelly, and on ae 8 being again heated was converted into a bright yellow coloured mass, which had its colour destroyed by water, and restored by muriatic acid. With this acid the powder was digested for some time, then well washed with water, carefully collected, dried, and ignited; it then weighed 50.06 grs. and exhibited the properties of Silex. The acid solution, united to the aqueous lixivia, was mixed witha solution of subcarbonate of potash, which caused a powder of a dull erange colour to fall down. This was repeatedly washed ; the wash- ings set aside; the residual powder dried, and then boiled in a silver crucible, with successive portions of caustic alkali, until the alka- line liquors ceased to afford any precipitate on the addition of muriate of Ammonia. A powder of a deep brown colour remained undissolved by the alkali. The alkaline washings collected were decomposed by a solution of Muriate of Ammonia, a white powder separated, which, washed carefully, and dried at a red heat, weighed 22.75 ers.; it was Alumine. (G). From the liquor re- maining after the precipitation of the muriatic solution by subcar- bonate of Potash, a brown flocculent powder was collected by means ef evaporation, and when dry, appeared of a_ yellowish white colour; it weighed one grain, and consisted of oxide of Manganese, equal to 0.50 grs. and oxide of Iron united to some Lime, Magnesia and Silex, together equal to 0.50 grs. The substance mentioned above on which caustic alkali had no action, and of a deep brown colour, formed a partial solu- tion with Muriatic Acid, and there were obtained from it 1.50 grs. of oxide of Iron, 0.37 grs. of Silex, and of Alumine united to a minute portion of Lime 0.94 grs. (Ga). The oxide of Iron was ob- tained from the solution by Succinate of Ammonia, the other ingre- dients by the usual means. The muriatic liquor formed curing the separation of the Alumine from its solution in caustic potash by 9 Muriate of Ammonia, as already stated, afforded, on evaporation, a brown powder, which consisted of Alumine 1 gr. (Gb) and oxide of Iron 0.25 grs. The mineral was also heated with Nitrate of Barytes, in order to confirm the inference deduced as to the quantity of potash in- dicated by the Alum crystals in the first process with Sulphuric Acid. Fifty grains of it, in fine powder, were mixed with 250 grs. of powdered Nitrate of Barytes, and heated to redness in a platina crucible, during more than half an hour. To the fused mass, on cooling, diluted muriatic acid was added, which dissolved a part only. The residuum was therefore again treated with 150 grains of Nitrate of Barytes, and the product of this operation dissolved in muriatic acid. The filtered liquor was then decomposed by means of subcarbonate of Ammonia. The fluid was separated by the filter, evaporated to dryness, and the muriate of Ammonia expelled by heat. The dry mass lixiviated with water, and again evapo- rated, yielded a residuum which had all the characters of muriate of Potash, and when dry weighed 3.50 grs. equivalent to 2.22 grs. of potash, consequently for 100 grs. of the mineral 4.44 of potash. If we adopt the results of the first process, adding the quantity of Alumine afforded by the second, we shall approximate to the constituents of this mineral, and their respective quantities, with suf- ficient accuracy for the purposes of scientific arrangement. VOL. XIII. c 10 The results stand thus: ers. Water - (A) 5.00 Silex - (B) 50.00 Ditto (Bb) 1.62 Ditto (Be) 0.87 Potash - (C) 5.00 Oxide of Iron (D) 2.49 Oxide of Manganese (E) 0.75 Lime and eee Oia with oxide of Iron Nee: Alumine - (G) 22.75 Ditto (Ga) 0.94 Ditto (Gb) 1 Loss - 9.08 100.00 ers. 5.00 52.49 5.00 2.49 0.75 0.50 24.69 9.08 100.00 il A tabular view of the characters which distinguish Kallinte from substances nearly allied as window glass. easily to the knife. to it. Dpecitic gravity. Fusibility. Hardness. Fusible without intumes- Killinite ......00 2.69 cence into a white Scratches marble, but not opaque enamel. crystallised fluor. Falls into ashes, at length Spodumene....| 3.06 becomes a transparent Scratches glass. glass. ‘ Fusible with intumes- Scapolite....+s 3.68 cence into a shining | Hard white enamel. Serpentine...... 2.20 Infusible. Yields Nephrite........ 2.95 Various Scratches glass, though it yields to the knife. A tabular view of the constituents of Killinite, and of substances nearly allied to it. | 3 oO [=] a seillegee behice Wh ald eedlesivin, geienehikent hg SS) ce PU EIR URGETIN iPro egateyon) (Seto Vcrt ees Ae eel Wh fer, (eal) comer! Outs Killinite .....0.159,0 24.69)0.95 10.25 |5.0 2.49 10.75 [5-0 Spodumene .../4.4, {24.4 |3.0 5.0 2,20 45. 133. {17.6 05 |1.6 |05 |o5 Scapolite ... { a ase ie ieee pc || PE 53. |1s. |13.9517.0 3.5 120 [45 Serpentine -..J39 19,5 jo2 37.24 06 [14.0 53.75|1.5 (19.75 8.50 |10.75/5.0 |20 {2.95 Nephrite.... 2 {49.0 |24.0 {10.5 {3.75 Be ee 44.0 [30.0 eS | 0.25 |6.0 12.5 {0.5 Vauquelin. Laugier. Simon Hisinger. T. Saussure. Klaproth’s analysis of Saussurite. T. Saussure’s analysis of Saussurite. A reference to the foregoing tables will, I trust, readily shew, that the difference between Killinite and the minerals which most nearly resemble it, are striking and satisfactory. OBSERVATIONS ON CURVATURES OF THE SPINE, BY JAMES MACARTNEY, M.D. M.R.I. A. F.R.S. PROFESSOR OF ANATOMY AND SURGERY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF DUBLIN, &c. &c. en Re DISTORTION of the Spinal column may arise from three causes. The first is that peculiar disease, which, terminating in the ulcera- tion of the bodies of the vertebra, necessarily induces an abrupt and very evident curvature ; or, more properly, an angular figure of the spine. The second is that state of the bones, in which, from a de- ficiency of earthy matter in their composition, they are mcapable of preserving their natural form; but bend or diminish under the operation of pressure. The spine, in those circumstances, will ex- hibit very different degrees of curvature, in proportion to the soft- ness of the bones, In some persons, the deformity may be very slight ; but, in others, there may be several very considerable lateral flexures of the spine. The third cause of distorted spine is the feebleness of those muscles, which are employed in maintaining the erect position of the body. The tendency of a weakened state of the muscles to augment the more serious kinds of curvature, and VOE. XIII. . D 14 to induce, even without a softened condition of the bones, an evident distortion of the back, does not appear to have yet received sufficient consideration, either from medical men, or from those, whose interest it is, early to notice, and prevent, deformity in young people. Slight curvatures are too often neglected, and hence, the wrong direction being given to the spinal column of bones, a serious and permanent distortion is apt to be subsequently established, during a period of ill health, or by confinement to some one attitude from peculiar studies or occupation. Slight curvatures of the spine are sometimes also disregarded, under the erroneous supposition, that they will afterwards be con- cealed by modes of dress. No means, however artful or ingenious, will serve to disguise any distortion of the spine so well, that ils injurious effects on the whole figure will not be felt, although the cause of the disagreeable appearance may not be known. A per- fectly straight spine communicates to the motions, not only of the trunk, but of the extremities, a facility and grace which secretly and irresistibly influence our judgment of the figure, in the same manner as the countenance, sooner or later, determines our opinion of the face. Spinal curvature is so much more frequent in females than men, that it might, with great reason, be considered as a complaint pe- culiar to the sex. These circumstances render it highly necessary to watch and prevent every deviation from the natural form of the back in growing girls, The progress of: spinal curvature, where the other bones do not exhibit an undue flexure from softness, is very insidious. Dister- tion may, exist for a considerable time, without being known. 15 Parents are usually the last to notice it. Before there is any perceptible deformity, the young person may be observed to avoid, when at rest, the erect position of the body, by reclining on her companions, or against any near object; or will be seen to prefer some particular position, in which the weight of the head is thrown off the middle line of the body,—In leaning also, to write or draw, one side will be often favoured more than the other; and no admonition will be sufficient to check the disposition to seek rest for the spine. The first appearance of deformity is usually an unequal projec- tion of the shoulder blades, which is supposed to be a defect in the situation of the scapula itself. Every degree of lateral curva- ture in the spine causes a corresponding prominence of the ribs, on the side to which the vertebra are bent ; and this again produces the eminence of the shoulder blade on the same side. In examining the external appearance of the spine, the person should be made to sit, for some time, with the body erect, in order to produce a degree of fatigue; when, if there be any tendency to lateral curvature, it will be detected by the spine resting itself by inclining towards the side, rather than forwards. The degree of curvature may be ascertained by tracing the projection of the spinous processes along the back, the situation of each of which should be marked with ink for future instruction. In place of the lateral curvature, it sometimes happens, that the na- tural S-like flexures of the spine are encreased, so as to produce a de- gree of deformity. This is particularly to be observed with respect to the dorsal flexure of the spine, in children of weakly constitutions, whether male or female. The stooping of the shoulders, which marks the approach of old age, is also to be accounted for by the diminished strength of the muscles of the back. I have known d2 16 but two cases, in which the natural backward. flexure of the loins was increased so as to amount to distortion. When curvature of the spine has existed for any length of time, the bodies of the vertebrae, which are concerned, conform to the wrong inclination the spine has assumed. They are rendered thin, on one side, by absorption; whilst the other side preserves, or in some places exceeds, its natural thickness. When any consider- able curvature has existed for a length of time, it necessarily induces a second in an opposite direction of some other part of the spine; and this again often gives rise to a third in the direction of the first. The means, which are most commonly supposed to be necessary for avoiding deformities of the spine are, I believe, those which have the greatest share in producing the usual spinal curvature. I allude to the attempts which are made to oblige young people to maintain the body immoveably in the erect posture; and to the restraint, which is imposed on the developement of the trunk, and the exercise of its muscles, by the early use of stays. It may not be improper to state some physiological principles, on which the above opinion is founded. It is a well known law of muscular action, that it cannot be maintained without intervals of repose. No determination will enable a person to hold the arm, in the extended position, more than a few minutes. The sensation of fatigue is more intoler- able than the greatest pain. We have frequent opportunities of seeing this exemplified during surgical operations. It is generally acknowledged, that muscles are strengthened by be- ing exercised; but the difference between the ordinary actions of muscles, and those attended with effort, has been overlooked. The bulk and strength of muscles are not increased by the customary 17 actions, although ever so often repeated ; while exertion of muscles beyond their habitual operations, even with long intervals of rest, will augment their magnitude and power to an extent, that it is difficult to limit. This law of muscular action applies equally to the voluntary and involuntary muscles. The heart, the dia- phragm, and the muscles so constantly employed in speech in the motions of the eyes and lips, gain no additional bulk during life, unless exerted to an unusual degree. As examples of a different kind, I may mention the enormous bulk the anterior muscles of the’ thigh arrive at in old stage- dancers, and the great strength the muscular parts of inter- nal organs acquire, when there exists any obstruction to the expul- sion of their contents. A most extraordinary example of the last kind came under my knowledge some months ago, in which the left ventricle of the heart, in consequence of a diseased state of the aortic semi- lunar valves, had attained a degree of power by the constant efforts it had to make, so disproportionate to the strength of the arteries, that the smaller branches of the latter were ruptured in several parts of the body, and coagula of blood formed, espe- cially in the substance of the liver, and behind the peritoneum. The tunic of the liver at length gave way, and the: patient died, from. the quantity of blood, that was shed into the cavity of the abdomen. Another law of muscular action deserves to be noticed. Mus- cles lose power and bulk by disuse; but what would be disuse, in one case, would not constitute it in another; or, in different words, in proportion to the frequency, with which a muscle is intended to act, the necessity for its exercise exists, in order to prevent its degeneracy. There are some muscles, in the human 18 body, which are rarely put into full action. In animals we have examples of muscles, which are only intended to be empioyed on particular occasions, that may never occur. Such muscles do not decline from disuse; whilst those, that are provided for constant employment, cannot remain at rest without sustaining a great diminution of their bulk and power. Now if we apply the preceding principles to the muscles at- tached to the spinal column, the injurious effects of exhausting their strength, by attempting to maintain any one permanent attitude of the body ; of restraining their ever varying motions ; or of substituting for their natural support to the bones of the spine, the artificial one of stays, must be sufficiently ob- vious. Experience appears to accord exactly with theory on this subject. We find, that those distortions of the back, which are in a degree almost universal amongst women of the better ranks of life, rarely occur in the other sex, who do not employ an ex- ternal support to the spine; that they are equally rare in females, who have never worn stays; and that those women, who have been early accustomed to carry burthens on the head, are quite remarkable for the straightness of the spine, and correctness of the form of the shoulders. I. might add, that the neck, of which the motions are uncon- strained by modes of dress, is scarcely ever distorted ; although the weight of the head is chiefly borne by this portion of the spine. As far as I have had the means of judging, or of collecting information from others, these remarks are equally applicable to the inhabitants of other countries as to those of Ireland. 19 Besides the longitudinal muscles which are chiefly employed in erecting the spine, the flat muscles, which execute the rotatory mo- tions of the shoulder-blade, are often not fully developed, from want of being exerted; the consequence of which is, that the weight of the upper extremity constantly tends to bring it down- wards and forwards, producing too great a roundness of the shoulders, and a projection or constant elevation from the ribs of the posterior edge of the shoulder-blade. If it came within the scope of this Paper, I could shew many evil effects, on the shape of the whole female bust, from exter- nal constraint. It is sufficient to state at present, that I have found those women, and’ only those, who never wore any other than loose vestments, to possess the form and proportions which are displayed in the most beautiful of the antique statues. In seeking a remedy for distortions of the spine, it is not un- natural to place great reliance on different kinds of machinery. The operation of bandages and of artificial supports would ap- pear at first to be very obvious and intelligible, The application, however, of mechanic force or pressure to the living body, with the view of rectifying deformities, requires the greatest care, dis- cretion, and knowledge of the vital properties of the different tissues engaged. Itis too often entrusted to the judgment of me- chanics, who construct and sell surgical apparatus, and thereby gain a. certain degree of experience, undirected by any princi- ples: a species of knowledge, which is always dangerous in those, who have to manage the various and’ complicated powers of the living system. It would be departing from the plan of this Paper, to enter into the merits or faults of various mechanical contrivances, which 20 have been devised for correcting deformities of the trunk. The principle, however, on which they should be alone constructed and applied, may be stated to be that of removing weight and pressure from parts, which could not be enabled, by other means, to sustain the operation of these mechanic powers. All instru- ments have injurious effects, as far as they limit or interrupt the natural actions of the muscles. It is by muscular action that we not only move, but sustain any one position of the body. The application of a splint to a broken leg is unavoidable ; but, if the instrument were continued to be worn, it would ultimately render the limb useless, by destroying the power of its muscles. Nature indeed sometimes adds elastic power to muscular, for the purpose of aiding and relieving the latter. This advantage is provided by the elastic ligaments of the spine in the human body, and still more so by those of the heavy-headed quadru- peds. If such a combination of power could be imitated by art, it would, no doubt, prove highly useful; but pee of the kind has yet been attempted. Mechanic motion and vital action are so different in their laws and nature, that it becomes necessary to make the former sub- ordinate to the latter in the living body. I recollect but one instance in the structure of animals, where nature has substitut- ed the one for the other: it is the joint of the tibia with the melatarsus in the stork; in which there is a mechanical con- trivance for allowing the animal to rest, while standing on one leg, without any muscular effort.* External machinery cannot be affixed to the body without * Dumeril and Cuvier have noticed this mechanism, but have unaccountably described it as existing in the joint of the knee. al in itself producing pressure somewhere. This may be well illus- trated by the use of monitors and bandages for drawing the shoulders back, and, as it is ignorantly supposed, for opening the chest. When these instruments leave any permanent effect, it is a hurtful one. The muscles of the scapula are rendered weak by disuse ; the convexity of the superior ribs, on which the breadth and expansion of the chest depend, is diminished; and the ante- rior part of the ribs and sternum are thrown forwards, causing that shape, which is known under the name of hen-breasted. I have known several instances in which worse consequence followed this lateral compression of the chest in young women: such as difficult breathing and altered function of the skin, impaired powers of digestion and great emaciation, in persons, who had previously enjoyed robust health. When it becomes necessary to relieve the spine from the weight of the superior parts of the body and the head, until by proper medical treatment the strength be sufficiently restored, I prefer the mode of resting on a flat surface, or, what is more comfortable, a gently inclined plane, to any species of machine or bandage, that has yet been invented. I think, however, that the effects of the recumbent posture are not always understood, and are sometimes overrated. There appears to be no necessity for enjoining rest, as is usually done. On the contrary, the patient should rather be encouraged to exercise the spinal muscles by rolling about, and moving the arms and legs at pleasure, for which purpose a large platform, stuffed with wool, or a ma- irass, on which children can have their toys and plays with VOL. XII. E 22 their companions, is preferable to a sopha or plain board, which are most frequently employed.* The recumbent position is sometimes resorted to as the sole means of curing, or of preventing curved spine. In_ several celebrated boarding-schools in London, it is used indiscrimi- nately for all species and degrees of distortion; and, in some seminaries, all the girls are condemned to get their lessons, dur- ing so many hours every day, in the supine posture, with the view of preventing the occurrence of deformity. It appears to me more than unnecessary to confine healthy girls to the recum- bent position; yet too much caution cannot be used, to prevent children leaning uniformly to one side, in the act of writing, draw- ing, &c.—more especially if they be weakly, or if they seem to prefer that particular position. The advantages from exercising the spinal muscles, in various positions of the body, should never be lost sight of; both as the means of preventing, and of curing curvature, when the erect position can be safely sustained. In some cases, where the curva- ture has been slight, the persons very young, and the general health good, I have succeeded in restoring the natural form, * I do not apply these observations to curvature from carious or ulcerated vertebra, nor do I intend to enter into the consideration of that disease at present; there being no differ- ence of opiaion with medical men, respecting the propriety of treating it by rest and external stimulation. + It occasionally happens that strong and labouring people acquire some lateral inclination of the body, and a projection of the shoulder blade, in consequence of employing one hand almost exclusively in their work.—I have observed, in these cases, that the shoulder which is the least exercised, is the one that stands out; whilst the other is apt to be peculiarly well formed, a fact which corroborates the principles laid down in the preceding part of this paper, and suggests the propriety of teaching young people, as much as possible, to become ambi- dextrous. 23 merely by liberating the body from all constraint of stays or moni- tors, and permitting as much exercise to be taken as could be borne without fatigue. Balancing any object, however light, on the head, has great efficacy in rectifying the shape of the spine. It is also readily adopted, as a pastime, by young people. In some instances of spinal curvature, where there was not a softened state of the bones, I have tried, with the best effects, exerling the muscles of the back, by the carriage of a bag of sand on the head; employing at first short periods of time for the exercise; and allowing rest in the intervals, in the recumbent posture; and as the strength encreased, repeating the exertion more frequently, and continuing it longer. I have every reason to believe, that this treatment, if employed with proper caution, will be always useful in cases of curvature from weakness; and, if practised with assiduity, during early youth, I am persuaded would be the best means of preventing distortion. The means, which are most beneficial, where merely the shoul- ders are round and prominent, are skipping with a rope, and the use of the dumb bells; particularly in the action of carrying them backwards, which exerts the flat muscles, that lie between the shoulder blades and the spine. I shail conclude by observing that, in all cases where a cur- vature of the spine, from a softened state of the bones, is appre- hended or has taken place, every endeavour must be made to improve the health and strength, by a purer air, tonic medi- cines, and the cold bath; without which, machinery and rest will be useless, and exercise hurtful. 24 Some situations are much more productive of a disposition to curved spine than others. In certain districts of England and Holland, it is found to prevail. In the neighbourhood of Ley- den I observed great deformity of the spine to be almost universal with the women, and to exist even frequently in men. Damp and low situations would seem to have a peculiar tendency to induce a softened state of the bones. With respect to medicines, it is generally known that prepa- rations of iron are the best tonics im this disease. In the em- ployment of the cold bath, I have found great advantage from having it used in the manner of affusion; not only in cases of weak spine, but whenever the object was to restore strength, and increase the activity of the circulation. I have also employ- ed the affusion of tepid water, with very marked benefit, in cases, where, either on account of the season or other circum- stances, the dashing of cold water over the body would have produced too great a shock. If the person be young, and the curvature not of very long standing, although it may have produced great deformity, there is no reason to despair of a perfect recovery. As long as the growth of the body is going on, there is a considerable ten- dency in all the parts to return to their destined form and_ uses, when placed in proper circumstances, and when the actions of the vascular system are vigorous and healthy. Thus we find even fractured and dislocated bones make great advances, in young people to their original figure or situation. The gradual reduc- tion and shaping of the osseous case, in Necrosis, also belong to the same law of the animal ceconomy. INVESTIGATIONS IN PHYSICAL ASTRONOMY, PRINCIPALLY RELATIVE TO THE MEAN MOTION OF THE LUNAR PERIGEE. By tHe Rev. JOHN BRINKLEY, D.D. F.R.S. M.R.I. A. AND ANDREWS’ PROFESSOR OF ASTRONOMY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF DUBLIN. Read April 23, 1817. THE difficulties that occur relative to the investigation of the mean motion of the apsids of the lunar orbit are well known. Two cir- cumstances have principally led me to offer to the Academy the following paper on this subject. It affords me an opportunity of introducing a peculiar method of integration which I hope soon to illustrate more fully elsewhere. This method is I think deserving of the attention of mathematicians, and as applied to the integra- tion of the equation of the lunar orbit affords very convenient results, The other circumstance alluded to, was a desire to improve a parti- cular step that appeared defective in the lunar theory as given by several authors, and recently by M. Laplace. These circumstances and some deductions that offer themselves in the following investi- gation will be best understood by a brief detail relative to this subject. VOL. XIII. ¥ 26 The computation of the mean motion of the lunar apsids is by far the most important point in which the Newtonian Theory of the Moon, as given in the Principia, appears defective. Newton him- self, in the latter editions of the Principia, seems to have aban- doned the attempt to reconcile or rather deduce from Theory the motion given by Observation. In the first edition he had made the attempt, after stating his re- sults (Scholium, p. 462.) ; he adds, “‘ computationes autem, ut nimis “ perplexas & approximationibus impeditas, neque satis accuratas, ** apponere non lubet.” It may be presumed that he found his method on examination inaccurate, otherwise it cannot be doubted he would have no- ticed it in the subsequent editions, and given, if not the method in detail, the results. Machin appears the first after Newton who attempted this problem ; the inadequacy of his solution, and of those of some others of the same nature, will be noticed further on. Clairaut, in 1748, had the honour of giving the first exact solution according to the principles of the Newtonian Theory of Gravity, after he had, in the Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, announced that the Newtonian law was in- exact, inasmuch that the mean motion of the lunar apsids deduced from that law did not agree with observation. Clairaut’s result was confirmed by Euler, D’Alembert and Mayer, and subsequently by other mathematicians. Their re- searches, however, being directed more towards a general theory of the lunar motions, than towards the particular question of the mean motion of the apsids, are so complicated, that the exact thread of reasoning respecting this motion cannot without difficulty be 27 traced. The integration of the principal equation is usually com- menced by supposing a formula which depends on the knowledge of that integration or on the result of observations. Thus in the Theory of the Moon by M. Laplace, he has, * w being the reciprocal of the Moon’s Distance from the Earth, u= Fa ; 1 +49° +e cos (v—*r) &e.} and remarks «¢ Cette valeur de u suppose lellipse lunaire immobile; mais on verra bientot qu’en vertu de l’action du soleil, les neeuds & le perigee de cette ellipse sont en mouvement. Alors, en designant par (1—c)» le mouvement direct du perigee, &c. u= ma 5 1 +47? +ecos (c-—r) &e.$ This is his first approximation, but certainly the first approxima- tion should be the former, and the second should be deduced therefrom by a regular process. The result undoubtedly con- firms this hypothesis, but it seems more consonant to the usual steps of mathematical reasoning to deduce one from the other, this is an object in the following investigation, in which also the mean motion of the perigee is computed by confining the process principally to this point, and therefore will be easily intelligible to those who may be unwilling to encounter the formidable calculations necessary for the complete lunar theory. The method of integration which is applied to the differen- . tial equation of the lunar orbit is peculiarly convenient for the above purposes. With respect to this method it does not seem necessary here to remark more respecting it, than only to men- tion, that it principally derives its convenience from certain theo- F 2 * Mec. cel. p. 187. Liv. 7. Tom. 3. 28 rems for finding Fluxions per Saltum, The method will be easily understood without the theorems. These and important applications thereof it is intended soon to give in a_ separate volume. In order to simplify the computation as much as possible, the plane of the lunar orbit has been supposed coincident with the plane of the ecliptic, the orbit of the earth without excentricity, and the approximation has been only carried to the first power of the excentricity of the lunar orbit. These circumstances have little effect on the quantity of the mean motion of the Lunar Perigee. The quantity of the motion found is expressed in terms of the quotient of the periodic time of the moon by the periodic time of the earth, and thereby are satisfactorily shewn the erroneous conclusions of Machin, Walmsley, Frisi and Matthew Stewart, who imagined that the mean motion of the apsids could be in- vestigated by considering the moon acted on only by a centripetal force, the mean tangential force being = 0. This is of some im- portance, as authors have recently referred to these solutions as exact. Professor Playfair, indeed, in his outlines of Natural Philo- sophy, published in 1814, speaks (vol. 2. p. 261) with some doubt on the subject. After giving Dr. Stewart’s result, and referring to those of the others, he says, “ The result of these investigations, “ therefore, agrees nearly with observation, but it cannot be *« denied that the principle on which they are founded is liable “to some objections, so that if it were not for the information “‘ derived from the direct solution of the problem of the three * bodies, it might still be doubted, whether the principle of gravity “ accounted exactly for the motion of the Moon’s apsids.” 29 It is entirely by accident that their results are exact in the case of the Moon. Had the periodic time of the moon been different from what it is, observations would have pointed out the error of their conclusions. The differential equations and the expressions for the forcesjacting on the moon might have been [taken from Laplace or other authors, but it is hoped that the manner in which the differential equations are deduced, may afford an excuse for the introduction of the iu- vestigation. The method of limits, the undisputed invention of Newton, seems deserving of more attention than is nowpaid to it. The differential equations are at once deduced without the inter- vention of rectangular co-ordinates which in the present case would unnecessarily have added to the length of the process, but in other respects advantage has been taken of the facilities offered by La- place’s investigation of the Lunar motions which may be consi- dered as the most satisfactory and as the most accurate that has appeared. 30 @ Investigation of the differential equations of the orbit described by a body moving in a fixed plane about a fixed centre, when acted on by two forces, one directed to that centre, and the other in a direction perpendicular to the radius vector. Let APQ be the orbit described s about the centre E; let PE =x; AEP =»; velocity at P=v; the force at P in direction PN perpendicular to PE=P ; the centripetal force at P=R; area AKP=2 and the time of describing PQ = At; the sign A expressing a difference. Then if PT be drawn perpendicular to EQ we may thus proceed to investigate the relation of » and « zd _ jimit 2X4 = tim. 27 = lim. = i ds ~ APE an VPeePm Agee. (1) Pre Dee 2X2 aa eS 2 a now v = lim. rae gg on dAP=vdt SBE Qe Sa _ PQXQE _ PE dAP PE vdt Therefore lim. 57 = lim. TPQE ae x qAPE = 3 x ar (2) To investigate the value of = we may consider z a function of ¢, then by Taylor's Theorem d d*z ds As=F Att GrAP Ere +h (3) 31 Az may also be considered as consisting of two paris, one part (= = At ) is independent of the two forces R and P, which between P and Q are variable both in quantity and in direction, and the other part arises from the action of these forces during the time 4 ¢. This part we may suppose also produced by an equivalent constant force acting during the time 4 ¢in a direction perpendi- cular to PE, and we may represent this force by P + q 4t, q being a variable but determinate quantity, then by the property of uniformly accelerated motion as=Fatt= (Ptqatjat (4) comparing equations (3) and (4) gat qart+ be. =% (P+q at) or taking the limits of this equation d2z Pr Prdt* Gee Sg OES — ea (5) dz 6 Azeue 22 ~— 27d But Dn lim. Whe B or dz = (6) Multiplying together equations (5) and (6) did? s=F a dvdt? and by integration ds? =(ht+ f*> dy jae (7) h being a constant quantity. Then from equations (7) (2) and (1) we obtain dy = —— hee eee ri a ee (8) a= 5 Tp Fi Peay also by equations (7) and (6) a? dy Ft ie ps Baad: (2) 32 But it is necessary to eliminate v from equation 8. Roe lim, 2 = Force in direction of the Tangent oe At =P lim. 5 7 — Riim. $3 Ss Pe. ap 2a PQ adAP aAP dAP Therefore because v = = odv=Pad»i—Rdz or by integration v= f2Pards—f2Rdx+k, k being a constant quantity (q) wai nf a (8) becomes FST bik Ta (b) Qh+jrardy x£ dy = This equation of first fluxions is not so convenient for integrating by approximation as the equation of second fluxions which can easily be deduced from it, as follows. Both, however, will be used in the subsequent investigations. Substituting w = = and making y = f P u-'dy +f Ru dae tk andw=2h+ f P u- dy», we obtain by squaring, &c. 2 dy? (4 — uU ) haw (9) differencing this equation, making d » constant dy yd d*u Budiey 2a dua = dy? (10) but by equat. (9) ydw y dw _ dw + u? dw wedu w wdu \dy* ) wdu * therefore by ae (10). 1 dy dw d*u aa, (au (aes 2) ae a en) Ly = Wa 4 J oy = q phd Ru Now 7, Pu at (11) — pd pee, du? dw _ __ Pu du Pu dy = ait @ du dy du hence we easily deduce from equation (11) 3 dtu i= Pag Pdu R es — ee SS c atu (+ fn" dy) + thusdy 4h u? . ( ) The equation a is equivalent to the first of the equations (L) of Laplace,* and the equation (c) is equivalent to the second of the equations (L) when s = 0. (II) Application to the Lunar Orbit. 1. If we suppose the moon only attracted towards the earth, P =o, and R varies inversely as the square of the distance from the earth. Let R = = M representing the sum of the masses of the moon and earth. Let also a(1 +e) anda(l—e) represent the greatest and least distances of the moon from the earth on this. hy- pothesis: these distances must be invariable, because the centripetal forces (the force P being = 0 on this hypothesis) are equal at equal distances on each side of the apsids. We can obtain the values of the constant quantities h and & of the equation (b) in the following a Taal k= oN tk at manner. Equation (9) becomes v* = —f therefore V and V representing the velocities at Perigee and Apo- gee respectively aly Bh fT ot Bele ms ky V a ante t When P=o equation (7) gives VOL. XIII. G * Mec. cel. p. 181. tom. 3. 34 ds" = h, therefore at the Apsids di v= 4 dz? ae 4h di*® X dist.2 — dist * hence 2 = = ee a(1l—e) sin a? (l—e)* 2M 4h qa ~~ a?(1+e)? These two equations give ha= a (i—e? ) M (7 gee ead Substituting these values in equation (b) aud making P= o and R= == = dx de =f (15) ‘io — = z* V a(1—e?) x? The integration of this equation (making the longitude of Peri- ; a(ei-ca) pant gee = 1), gives y = arc (cos = 7 % )+a im (zee «2 or COs (}—7) = —— S and therefore a(i—e?) © = ae GS (16) This is the equation of an ellipse, the centre of force being in the focus. The second law of Kepler follows from this conclusion. It may be remarked here that the first law of Kepler follows from equation (7) when P = 9, for it gives s = ht, as we may sup- pose s and ¢ to commence together, and therefore the areas about a fixed centre are proportional to the times of describiug them. Also by help of equation (16) we deduce a conclusion that 35 will be of use hereafter, and which also proves the third law of Kepler. Because t = ie = rae consequently, since by equat. (16) the orbit is an ellipse, the periodic time is as eens (17) VM and hence about the same centre of force, neglecting the masses of the revolving bodies, the squares of the periodic times are as the cubes of the greater axes. 2. Supposing the moon also acted on by thesun. jan — (gm — ez) 0 C-5 m? a3 SE 1 ‘ 1 P = su SP3 — sa) sin o—) — 4 DEPORT <= Now SP = 4/44 _ 24 (cos y—v) = é\fi—? ie) cos (»—*) u* u hence neglecting quantities of the order +, 1 1 8 cos (v—») we FR (1 SR aa Ua m2 Therefore if we neglect quantities of the order ia =w + 2 © cos Co) =v — (1 +3 cos (?2»—92/)) asu atu 2a3u 3m? 3m* 4 - P = — = cos (—») sin (+) = — 5 sin (29 —21) ous Per. Time Moon. rl 1 etal ROW BS Te WN Perm ani cm) nea y =r73 ay: 1 bei t L Parallax Sun | 1 Fy ial may b and @ being’ uni i — Parallax ion ee) ee 400 neany 3 “ y. Oe 38 considered of the order m*. Therefore inthe above values of R and P quantities of the order m* are neglected. These values of R and P are next to be sub-tituted in equation (c) ] a ae _ ae sin (2 y= 9’) =_—_ sin (2 — 2) x “Ohu? s Se 4hatsu* (1—4 e cos (—7)) by equat. (18) 3m*a 4h But sin (2»—-2 ’) = sin (2»—2mp + 4em sin (»—7)) = sin (2v-—2 my) + dem sin (¥—z) cos (2 »—2 mr) = sin (2>—2mr) + 2 em sin (3 »—2 my—7)—Zem sin (v—2my + =) sin (2»—2 mv) ? P 3m*a ; : ( Hence yas S17 ae (2—2m) e an (3 »-—2m »—r) — (242m) ¢ sin (»—2 m v+7) consequently : 2—2 Spm C08 (2v—2 my) 1 Pdy As 3m? a 2—2m ot ao Soa rea Gs (3 »—2m »—z) 24-2m — joan © C08 C—2m » + 7) Without considering the disturbing force of the Sun, we found M being unity that h = { a (1—e’) = { a neglecting the se- cond power of the excentricity. If therefore we make h = 4a + Iv h’ will be a quantity of the order of the disturbing force or of m? Also without the disturbing force of the sun, equation (c) becomes 39 —_ cos (2 »— 2m ») Pdy $m* 9-9 hence (= Ayn 0) S maz oe a ~ (22 e cos (3 »—2m»v—z) 22m 1—2m neglecting quantities multiplied by h’ m? as being of the order m* Pd Nears rae 2. > a = 5 me sin (2 »—2 ”) sin (»x—r) (l—3e cos (v—z)) gm? (€ COS (v—2m v+m) ) € cos (v - 2m» +z) = 4a l—e cos (3 »—2mr—z) R ae 1 m? 3m? a Lastly eg hin oan Pe cos (v-—r ) cos 2»—2my 3-1-4 amt) — =t™ 6 cos (v—2m vt) 2a 2 3- —4m — = e€ cos (3 »—2 myn) Substituting these quantities in equation (c) it becomes du + ae m? 3m? 3m? ¢ 2—2m a ea tog 2S on C8 Cy ian Al wy = > Jeo (20—2mv) 142m 1—m 3m? Z 3m? } —_—= foot € COs (tm) | 2oaf cos (3»—3my) 1—2m 3—Im = 0. (d) Each of the terms after the four first terms are contained in the form mK cos (cyv—z): it is therefore required. to integrate an equa- tion of the form a —: + u — G+m? K (cos cv—z) + &c =o G and K being constant quantities. AQ (III.) Integration of the Equation. du dy G and K being constant quantities, and 1. c= any number greater or less than unity, 2. c= 1 and m? of any magnitude. 3. c= 1 and m? avery small quantity. The subsequent mode of integration will be more readily un- derstood by a short prefatory explanation.* Let us suppose we have in any manner arrived at an equation. a" @ (x, y)=0, when w=o and dx is constant, m representing +u— G4 mK cos (c—r) = 0 any number not less than 2, we can then conclude Q (x, y) = Cr+ Cot + C5? 20. + Cy, 2 The equation d” ? (a, ¥) = © may be called the m” particular fluxion of this equation with reference to v=o. If we have only equations of particular fluxions commencing with the order », the values of cj, Cs, ¢s, &c. are arbitrary. But if there be preceding equations of particular fluxions not contained * The mode of integration here shortly explained derives its advantage from the method of finding fluxions per saliwm. Theorems for this purpose were given by me in a paper read before this Academy in the year 1798, and published in the Seventh Volume of the Trans- actions. ‘These theorems were considerably extended, and applied both to the direct and in- verse reduction of analytical functions in a work which I had prepared for the press, but hav- ing adopted a notation differing beth from the fluxional notation, and that of the differential calculus, I was for many years deterred from publishing it. Lately, however, I have again resumed the subject, changing the notation into the usual notation of the differential @lculus, and I hope soon to offer the result to the notice of mathematicians. The method of ‘integra- tion here used belongs to that division of the work entited ‘“‘ On the inverse reduction of analytical functions.” a 41 in the form d™ 9 (a, y) = 9, such equations will serve for determining certain of the values of ¢, , cs &c. It will be generally found more convenient in reference to the converse of theorems fog finding fluxions per saltum to use the fluxional equation. dno (ay) _ ae ame which may be denoted by d” 9(x, y) = 0, the denominator being understood by the line under d and by the order of the fluxion, so that d” @ (a, y) =e may with respect to the value of x =o and the denominator be cal- led a particular divided fluaional equation, of which the integral is Q(x, y) = Cy) 4 Coe + C5 u" ———C, ao This mode of proceeding is applicable to the summation of many series, to finding generating functions, to the integration of equa- tions of finite differences and of many fluxional equations, more particularly those equations called linear equations. To proceed with the equation (e) It fluxion gives Gu+dud’? =m Ke sin (c—-z) dv’ (1) 1. Taking the n—3 particular fluxion when y=o and d » is con- stant, n being even and not less than 4. n—4 » a u + d’-2 ud vy? = m? (-—1) “2 Ke" cos # di” (2) 2. Taking the n—3 particular fluxion when v=o and d» is con- VOL. XIII. H 42 stant, n Being odd and not less than 3. d™ut+a"—ud *? = —m?® (—1) T Ke sin a dy" (3) Let z be a function of « such that when »=o dud" 3 Then equations (2) and (3) become mg+d"—°s dy’? = (—1) zm? Ke'— cos # dv" (4) dt z+ 02d P=—(—1) 2m? Ke sin xd" (5) Now when »=0 the nth particular divided fluxion of Te : when n is odd and not less than3= dy? d*~* = cty* = (13 ¢" "ds" and when n is even — 0 and the nth particular divided fluxion of nm—2 n—-2 7 y } when n is even and not lessthan2=(—l)2 c dy i ic? “when n is odd = 0 Hence equations (4) and (5) are deduced from the integral (1+) 3 = Cy+Ce -+C5 y? — m* Kesin a.y3 +m? K cos ov? 1 c?y? or _ Cy Ca-+05x7 __m?_K (cv sin w+»? cos w) “— 19? (ic?) (-Fy?) (w) (6) Where c;, co, cs are constant quantities, of which two are arbitrary with respect to the given equation. cr st £:” — ¢;and therefore may be written The former fraction — 43 Cc, +¢,y¥ Type ae C5 The fraction (w) may be readily resolved into two fractions of~ the form p+qy rs» lpcty® If)? where p +r=o0 qtsc? = —m? Ke sin + q+S=0 ptrce?~=—m?Kcost SENG Kcosa m* Ke sin w = See Nite ee ee 1—c? 1—c?* oe m? K cos « _ m® Kesin « PE me ae 1—c? . r--sy . ° . the fraction ipa May be considered as contained in c,-e,y 5 . I 9 ©: and c, being arbitrary. inh cyte, » p+ whence z = + => (H 1+" L+c?y? Therefore, when n is odd and »=0 n—t1L n—l drusd; — (-]) =e dy + (—l)2 qe" dr when 7 is even and » = 0 du = d"s =(—1)*¢ dv"+ (—1 )p c" dy" These equations are the nth particular fluxions of u = c, cosy + csiny+pcoscy + + sincy—Cs comparing the second fluxion of this equation with the giver. equation eee ne Therefore substituting for p and q their values above given : 2K wu — C,; COSy + Co SIN y— — cos (cr—7) + G Case 2. Whenc = 1 Equation (6) of this article gives H 2 44 ec. m? K(y3sina+-»* cos) Sc la (1)? (v) let the term v be represented by pede +P) let also the part of u corresponding to v be called w. 1. n being even and» = 0 n—2 Go =(—1) 7 AG) nee 2. n being ond and » = 0 d'y = ny? = (‘5 = adv. Therefore d" w Fae (=) dv—'dy n—1 or do = — (—1) ~ Gar dy—z dv") according as is even or odd. These two equations are the particular divided fluxions of P c q pees =~ 5 = —— SI Ww an Ose Coe ae = Ny the latter term may be neglected, being contained in c,sin». Hence substituting for p and q ux c, cosyvt+cosiny—am? Ky sin v—z) + G Case 3. When c = 1 and m?is a very small quantity, the following integration will be exact to the first power of mz. By the same substitution as in the preceding case 14 (1-49? )? 5 1 NOW: tae aaa nA = <—io—oo +r (47)? — ane = c are =a) = a aa SATS) y= aS nearly Teal PY Cas Hence z = oo wai : a Py. es ae nearly 45 Then d*u=d*z=c, (—1)? (¢; +2ydr, m even and » = 0 n—2 n—1 dy =a es = Cc; Ch? ( +4 ytd 5: , n odd and » = o These two equations are the particular fluxions of u=c, cos(1+2 inne c, sm (1 +2) +G . Cy C2 where p = m* Keos x and q = m* K sin x A first approximation therefore gives the value of w in period- ical terms, instead of in terms without the periodical signs as occur in the complete solution of the differential equation obtained in case the 2d. (IV.) Further application to the Lunar Orbit. It was found by Equation (18) Art. (II.) that without the dis- turbing force of the Sun u =i(1 + Sen U—*)) = 1 + © cosy cosy + £ siny sin , re- a a a a garding only the first power of the excentricity. Also without the disturbing force of the Sun by the preceding article the integral of equation (d) of article (II.) becomes Y= c, cosy +c, siny+ 1’ a comparing these values of u C, =£ cosr ¢, = snr a a Hence in case 3 of the preceding article, because 2 < 2 i a el 3s and therefore p= __ 3m Geom q=— 3m? e sin + 2a 2a 46 c, cos (1 + PY y+e. sin a-Lyy = < cos * cos d-2)*> » +£sin xsin(I— 3 — cos ce ee * 7) ae vA aie application of the first and third cases of the preceding article, the integration of equation (d) 3m? (0) gives u = — i = “ cos( (1 — ze) at a= cos (2 »—2 mv») +42 cos V—2 my + #) += e008 (3 2 my—z) Cf) where A” = a — i (wl: and therefore is of the order of m* tee AS "3 my) aio ( eye and therefore on account of the 1—2m divisor 1— (1—2m): = 4m —4 mi: is of the order of m I—m 9 2 { jet |S ol alles 0 . == . AC) a3 wf a I= (SS) and therefore is of the order 3—2m of m* Hence u = - oe cos (y--7) + = cos (v—my + 7) will be a new value of u, exact to the order of m. It is clear by the third term of the value of u given by equa- tion (f) that when a—*) y—r = 0 or a multiple of the circum- ference, the moon is at perigee, not regarding the periodic terms depending on the place of the sun, and therefore the mean motion . . . 2 of the moon : mean motion of its perigee :: 1: — The pro- AT gressive motion of the perigee thus found is, as is well known, only about half its real motion. We must next investigate the effect of the new substitution u= =e cos (—7) + A= * cos (@—m» +7) on the terms of the equation (c) of art. (1.) and thence deduce a new equation (d) the integration of which will give a new value of u. For this purpose it will only be necessary to compute the variation of equation (d) arising from a variation du = = cos (0—m +7) and as the object of our enquiry is the mean motion of the Lunar perigee, it will be only necessary to compute the new terms of the equation (d) of the form B cos (v—z), for from a similar term, viz. = = “ cos (v—z7) arose the term cos( (1 —z 7). The inte- gration given in case 3 of the preceding article will then at once give the coefficient from which the mean motion of the perigee is deduced, as far as the new approximation to the value of wu is concerned. To compute the variation of the equation (d) as to the above- mentioned terms. R 3 m2du 9m? du 3m? 5 % SS — SS SS — v 1. = = — Saint — Fas Ts 008 (2-2 ) +o sin (2 »—2 ») y= my—2 em sin (v—) This gives dy = —2emsin (v—7), supposing du = = cos (»—r) Hence nearly @ » = —2Aemsin (v—m » + 7) when du — = cos (vx—2 m» + 7) Substituting these values of du and @», 48 3m* du Sai hat contains no term of the form ‘The first term or — B cos (v—z) 9m? du 2 The second term or — s7,, cos (2 »—2m») gives a term gm*eA oe — im = cos (v—r) (1) The third term oa a term 3m*eA 3m* Ae sar cos aed = — —— cos (r—z) (2) Pdu_ 2. 3 ag eS ae Ay) Teer = sin (2»—2y) 6m72du du 3m* ddu . = + 7, sin (22m nee Zarah Gy Sim (2 »—2my) au a 3» cos (2x—2mr) The first and third terms do not afford any term of the required form B cos (v—z) 3m? ddu but — saa a Sin (2-2 m v) gives 3 (1—2m) — e cos (v—=) (3) 3. The variation of | s e i ti pe | in + z ut f= dy sin (2—20) (substituting — instead of @ oa ~+4u u) | ieee Lee es dy sin (2»—2r) + f= sul 2" d»d» cos ae at = +0 ope ——, dy sin (2» -2,) The eee two terms give a term m* A = (1+m) Aecos (—z) (4) The third term gives a term eg OR Score) (5) a 4 (1—m) 49 Hence collecting the terms (1) (2) (8) (4) (5) the co-efficient of the term e cos (s—7) in the variation of the equation (d) obtained by 3u= 4 cos(,—2m»+7) will be found = mate m2 ~ (5+5m) A e cos 0—) apneic the coefficient of e cos (v—r) im the differential equa- tion arising from the substitution of = = < cos (=r) + cos o—my+ #) is thus found = — = (1 + (5+5m) A) Hence by case 3 es (111) the corresponding term in the in- tegral or value of wu = e cos (cc = 7 (1+ (+5 m) 4) )»—#) Therefore the mean motion of the lt is 3 m? (1+ (545m) A) that of the Moon being unity. $d =a) (44 is) = im(5+19m) nearly; Periodic time moon . ~ sep ei Periodic time earth nearly = 0,0748. Therefore A=, 1801 nearly. Hence the mean motion of the perigee thus found by the se- cond approximation =, 00326 or 2°.58’,4 each revolution, the ob- seryed mean motion =, 00845 = 3. 2, 5 each revolution: the dif- ference is about ;'th part of the whole, whereas the first approxi- mation was only about one half of the whole.. It is evident, that if we had also found the variations arising from the other terms of w besides Ae cos (9 - m»+4-2), the results would, (as will easily appear by considering the values of these quantities in comparison of Ae cos (r—mv+7) and the na- ture of the combinations required to form the angle (v--«) have had only a small effect on the mean motion of the perigee. The above, it is conceived, is sufficient for two purposes. VoL. XII. I 50 1. To shew by a compendious process that the mcan motion of the Lunar perigee may be satisfactorily accounted for by the New- tonian Theory of Gravitation. 9. To shew that the term e cos (»—z) occurring in the first ap- proximation fer the value of «w becomes by succeeding approxima- tions of the form e cos (cy) and therefore if we use this form in the first approximation and then add other terms of the proper combination of angles with indeterminate coefficients, as Laplace has done, considerable advantage will be thus afforded of obtaining a sufficiently exact value of u, for the purpose of an exact determination of the Lunar orbit. No farther difficulty afterwards occurs ex- cept that arising from the great length of the computations. It is remarkable that in the above expressions for the mean motion of the perigee, the part 3 m®* arising from the first approximation is nearly equal to 3 m*? (5+5m) A; because m = ,0748 and A =, i814 and therefore (5+5m) A = 0,97 or unity nearly. But this coincidence is merely accidental, had the periodic time of the moon been double what it is, the first approxi- mation would not have given } of the whole motion, but had the Moon revolved about the Earth in one day, the Newtonian re- sult, according to the principles of the 9th sect. of the first book of the Principia, would have been within ;, part of the whole, instead of being within one half only. Hence we see the results of the investigations of Machin, Walmsly, Mathew Stewart and Frisi are all quite erroneous, as their methods give the mean motion of the perigee = aa nearly, which only affords an exact result when the periodic time of the Moon = that of the Earth nearly. ns 51 The common error into whic they have fallen is, as appears to. me, pointed out in a paper of mine in the 8th volume of the trans- actions of this academy. Although the above investigation is only exact to the first power of the excentricity of the lunar orbit, yet it appears that the ex- centricity does not enter the above expression for the motion of the perigee, and therefore it follows that the excentricity of the lunar orbit has but little effect in the motion of the perigee. In fact only the second powers of the excentricities of the solar and lunar orbits and the second power of the tangent of the in- clination of the lunar orbit to the plane of the ecliptic enter into the more exact expression of the mean motion of the lunar perigee. OBSERVATIONS RELATIVE TO THE FORM OF THE ARBITRARY CONSTANT QUANTITIES THAT OCCUR IN THE INTEGRATION OF CERTAIN DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS ; AND, ALSO, IN THE INTEGRATION OF A CERTAIN EQUATION OF FINITE DIFFERENCES. By rue Rev. JOHN BRINKLEY, D. D. F.R.S. M.R.I. A. AND ANDREWS’ PROFESSOR OF ASTRONOMY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF DUBLIN. Read, June 23, 1817 IT is well known that the integral of a differential equation of any order will contain as many constant arbitrary quanti- ties as the order contains units, and it is generally assumed that they are entirely arbitrary, as well in form as in quantity. But making them arbitrary as to form, oftentimes makes them less comprehensive than they would otherwise be. 54 Let 9 (a, y,4,¢,,¢., &c.) =o be the complete integral of 9' (a, y, a, dx, dy, d*y &c.) = 0 then c,,c:, &c. being arbitrary as to form, it may happen that. although the former equation be exact when a is any assigned quantity, yet if its limit be taken by making a = 0, the equa- tion @ (2, y, €.,€., &c.) =o will not be the exact integral of the equation 9'(a, y, dx, dy, d*y &c.). This at first seems to afford an argument against the general accuracy of the method of limits, and a similar circumstance in.a case of finite differences has been urged by Lagrange* against the method of limits. The objection, however, lies not against the method of limits, but against the arbitrary form of the constant quantities. This will be readily understood by considering the instances here- after adduced. “The last is the case referred to by Lagrange. About the year 1782, M. Charles shewed that an equation to finite differ- ences might have two integrals, each having a constant arbi- trary quantity. He applied this reasoning to differential equa- tions and deceived himself as to the result. This result La- grange gets rid of, by attributing the source of error to the passage from finite to infinitely small quantities. « Ainsi il faut dire que passage du fini a l’infiniment petit, « anéantit non-seulement les quantités infiniment petites, mais « encore la constante arbitraire.” Let us take the equation dz -+ Ad’ zda + Bd—*sda? + - - - Psdx=0 1) where A, B, C, &c. are constant quantities. * Séances des écoles normales, &c. 1801; p. 401,.&c. 55 Euler* first gave the integral of this equation, and has since been followed by many other authors. 14+ da+ Ba? + &. - - - + Px" is always reo solvable, as is well known, into simple or quadratic factors. The quadratic factors not resolvable into:simple factors are, as is also well known of the form (laa): 4 Bix (2). when (8 =o, there are two equal simple divisors (l—«7). now according to Euler, and I believe all authors who have since written on the subject (to the last of whom, Lacroix, I may particularly refer) the part of the integral corresponding to the quadratic factor (2) is c,e cos Ba+c,e sine (3) where c, & c, are constant arbitrary quantities, and the part of the integral corresponding to the two equal roots is c,e*t +o, et a4 (4) now it would at first view naturally be expected that the ex- pression (4) would be deduced from the expression (3) by tak- ing the limits when 6 =o. But in this case we obtain only c, e* instead of e*"(c, +c, x) Here the application of limits seems to fail entirely. The expression (3) is true whatever definite value we assign to B, and yet is not true of the limit to which this quantity approaches, when f is indefinitely diminished and becomes evan- escent. This, which certainly appears a sort of paradox, may be thus explained: * Nov. Comm, Acad. Pet. Tom. 3. 56 The expression (3) camot be considered as including the case of the limit, for the general expression is eet sin Bx c, e*tcos Ba + ¢,(———, Be (9) now whatever value we assign to 6 excepting 6 — 0, as c, is Ca B But in order that the expression may be general, it must be retain- ed of the form (5). Then if we make =o it becomes Zee Ie x aS or c, e**+c.e**x because the limit of arbitrary is arbitrary, and therefore may be expressed by c.. Sin Bs 8B I shall not give here the investigation of the form (5) but only mention that I deduced it by a methed of integration similar to that which I applied to the differential equation of the Lunar orbit in a preceding paper. By which method I obtain the gene- ral ‘integration of Equat. (1) without the intervention of impos- sible expressions. Again, if 1+ Ae+ Ba>+ - - Pa contain two equal factors of the form (l—aw)*+@*«* Kuler first and lastly Lacroix* have made the corresponding part of the integral ext (c, +¢, x) cos Bxt(c,t ¢,*) sin Bx (6) now when 8 = o this becomes e7* (c, + c, 2);whereas the part of the integral aris- ing from four equal simple factors of the form (1—a *) is ex (c, + Ga + C, v* +¢,2°) as is well known. Here then the same difficulty occurs, and the method of li- mits might be considered as leading in this instance also to an * Lacroix Traite du Calcul. Diff. &c. tom. 2, p- 319, ed. 2. The first edition has not the case of the equal quadratic factors. 57 erroneous conclusion. But the form (6) is not. sufficiently ge- neral to include the case of @=o0. For its general form I find to be by the method above referred to, (o A * C3 7 Cy ens c, cos Bar +(4 a 5,)sin Ba ney & sin Ba— FZ, xcosBx} (7) This, because of the arbitrary quantities, agrees with the form (6) in every case but when 6 =o, By making @ = 0 in form (7) the result is eat fc, +e,2 40, @7 +e,%? t because when 6 = 0 sin Bx sin Bx rcosBr Biya ee BP os isle The next example is from Lagrange ;* it arises from the integration of an equation of finite differences,, and which, as that author seems to think, furnishes a strong objection against deducing the properties of differential equations from the limits of, finite dif- ferences. Lety, y, y” &c. x L+I7,x2 + 21 &e. of which the relations are 3 be corresponding: values y=axn+a yoda (etiad (8) &c. &c. and a(@tijtad =a(rt+it+a (9) Then y = a(2@ +72) +a and Ay=y—y=at Hence y = my Es es (10) VOL. XIil. K * Seances des écoles nofmales, 1801, p, 401, &c. 58 of which equation of finite differences the integral is y =axr + @ The equation (9) is easily reduced to ((a’ + a) +(@+2)) (@’ +a) =0 Hence a— ad —o and d@+a+a+it=o (11) the former equation gives a = a’ and therefore a =a’ &c. Hence one integral of the equation (10) is ¥ = 4x +a’, where a is any constant arbitrary. To find the value of a from the latter equation a+a+er+i=0 Supposea = u+ma+n m and n being constant, and wu a new variable. Then a’ =u +m(2#+i)+n & equation (11) becomes uw’ + u+ (2m+1)r#+2n+(m41ji=0 If we make 2m + 1 = oand2n+ (m+1)i=0 m= — 5 and n = —i andu +wu =o (12) with these values of m and n a=u— $- = in which value of a, u may represent any quantity satisfying equation (12) let u = b re (13) b and r being constant quantities. Then w = brt+’ and from equation (12) breti + be = 0 divide by br andr? + 1l=0 39 therefore r = (—1)* and wu = b(—1) = Hence a = 5 (—1)? — aii (14) where b is a constant arbitrary quantity. consequently we have obtained two integrals of the equation y= t + Ge viz. y=ax +a’ where a is any constant arbitrary quannty, and y=ax+a? where = * a is any quantity of the form b (—1)* — 5 oa =; b being any constant arbitrary quantity. If we now suppose i to be diminished, and the limit of AY to be taken, 7. e. £¥ be substituted, equation (14) becomes dx a De yee (16) are the integral of this equation is as easily appears y=ax+a* a being a constant arbitrary quantity. This coincides with the first integral of equation (10). The second integral of this equa- tion becomes in this case, because : is evanescent and because In x Bb? (—1) * =b?(1)? =b? y= hos (17) According to this conclusion we have two integral equations each containing an arbitrary quantity for the same differential equation of the first degree. This cannot be. And in fact the equation (17) will not answer. Thus it would appear that the K 2 60 same reasoning, which applies to the integration of equations of finite differences, when applied to the limits of these equations, viz. to differential equations, leads to error. The above integration is, as to substance, the same as in the work of Lagrange above re- ferred to. He attributes the error to the passage from finite quan- tities to indefinitely small quantities, and thence to the limits, But this appears to me a mistaken view of the question: the second value of a (14) is not as general as it ought to be, and cannot apply to the limiting equations, for in equation (15) we as- sumed u=br* and then t=br't', now b being any arbitrary con- stant quantity if we make as in the case of the limits i=0, w=br* and ‘%=br* and therefore, w=d, but this is impossible for by equat. (12) w+%=o an equation that cannot subsist w and # being equal and finite quantities. Consequently that the values of wu and % may apply to the limits, it \is necessary that the constant arbi- trary quantity should be of the form 7b instead of 6, then when we take the limits by making 7=0, w=o, and ui=o and therefore u+u=o. If we carry on the process with w=zbr*, the second value of x a =t b(—1)? — 5 _ =; b being any constant arbitrary quantity. So that one of the integrals of the equation ray , (Ay! z rs eee y= ant @& oy . where a =i b (—1) *? — < a = b being any constant arbitrary quantity. Here evidently 7) is arbitrary as to quantity and may be represented by b for all values of 7 excepting i=o. 61 Hence taking the limits, as before, we have the differential equation. — ody dy? y=+G dx dx and its integral y = ax+a’® becomes, because a= — — y= x ay ei Integrals of this kind are well known among mathematicians un- der the name of particular integrals. Thus we have obtained from an equation to finite differences two integrals each containing a constant arbitrary quantity, and then by applying the method of limits we have from thence ob- tained a differential equation and two integrals, one a common in- iegral, and the other a particular one, and thus the method of limits in this, as doubtless in all other cases when properly applied, gives exact results. The elucidation of these and similar difficulties seems of some importance, when it is considered that Lagrange, to whom un- questionably belongs a very high place among mathematicians, per- haps the highest, appears to have considered the method of limits with . less attention, than was due to it, and to have imagined it involved in difficulties that do not belong to it. After having given the preceding example he proceeds to remark on, and make similar objections to, the method of limits, in other instances, and particu- larly in deducing Taylor’s theorem from the equation of finite differences. These objections, as it appears to me, may be easily obviated, and the only proof in every respect unexceptionable of this important Theorem deduced from the limits of the equation of finite differences. i vee. Ae Brat i RE es ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF FURNACES FOR HIGH HEATS, AND THE THEORY OF THEIR OPERATION. By T. R. ROBINSON, F. T. C.D. M.R.1 A. OB O° Go Sa Read April 21, 1817. WE are told that Chemistry was formerly denominated the Phi- losophy of fire, and caloric is still our most powerful agent ; it is therefore of some importance to the practical chemist to be in- formed of the means by which it may be applied in the most pow- erful manner, and I have endeavoured in this communication to collect the facts which are scattered through the works of various authors relative to the perfection of furnaces. Little originality can. be expected on such a subject, I have however attempted, where any point required elucidation, to supply what was wanting in ex- periment and theory; and I have given a concise sketch of the gradual improvement of these instruments down to the present day. Of the furnaces of the ancients nothing is known, they were pro- bably like those which the Hottentots and Mexicans used when first visited by Kuropeans: Chemistry had its birth among the Ara- bians, and we owe to them the invention of this part of chemical apparatus ; in the works of Geber we find described an air-furnace exactly similar to those used at present, except that it wants a 64 chimney. The Alchemists used the Athanor for digestions, &c. but wherever a high heat was required, they employed the Blast furnace, till Glauber added along tube to the vent-hole of Ge- ber’s furnace. In his treatise on Philosophical furnaces, (a very curious work which contains many inventions which have of late years been rediscovered, as Woolfe’s apparatus, the (a) Water- lute, the use of steam to heat a larger mass of fluid, &c.) he gives an interesting account of his contrivance. After expatiating on the vexation which the unfortunate alchemist continually suffered in his experiments with the Blast furnace, where he was exposed to poisonous fumes and the mortification of seeing his hopes dise appointed by the failure of his crucibles, he tells us that he determined iu a fury to resign chemistry, he sold his bellows and was disposing of the remainder of his apparatus by throw- ing it out of the windows, when he found in a broken crucible some grains of silver which he could not sell without fusing them into a mass. After some meditation he contrived a fur- nace which was so convenient that it tempted him to resume his favorite pursuit, Glauber’s furnace was gradually modified by succeeding Chemists, Cramer and Boerhaave have described various forms of them, but they were not able to excite very strong heats, as the former directs Assays of Iron cre, and some of Copper to be made with the assistance of bellows open- ing into the ash-pit. Pott was the first who conceived the pos- (a) Glauber used lead, as his apparatus was red hot, and some of his experiments with it are very curious, in one, when attempting to extract a spirit from gold (for all his chemistry was occupied with the discovery of remedies,) he threw into it successive portions of aurum fulminans, and observed the production of water by its explo- sion. 65 sibility of exceeding in a small compass the power of the Glass and Porcelain furnaces, and to a certain degree he succeeded, but his plan was defective as the area of his flue was only 75 of the area of the furnace, he also entertained an erroneous idea that the draught was augmented by a horizontal tube connected with the bottom of the furnace. Macquer’s furnace was very good, his attempt to explain the theory of the draught is, however, defective. He supposes that the air in the upper part of the furnace is rarified so as to form a vacuum into which the ex- ternal air presses; he, however, does not explain why the air ascends rather than descends; but Baume has supplied this de- ficiency by saying, that fire, being light, by its own nature must ascend. Macquer proceeds to state, that the current of air is more strong, as the vacuous space at the top of the furnace is the greater, and therefore it is useful to enlarge this space by the addition of a tube (tuyau d’aspiration) ; and to give the cur- rent velocity we must make its aperture less than that of the furnace, for fluids urged through a contracted channel must move more rapidly as the contraction is greater. (b) This explanation may be a lesson to those who attempt to account for any phenomenon without the necessary knowledge; for Macquer, notwithstanding his excellence as a chemist, must have been completely ignorant of Hydrostatics, and ought to have consulted some of his mathematical friends on the subject. He, however, found that his principles were faulty; for if the tube was too much contracted, the performance of the furnace was materially affected, and he supposed this to depend on the VOL. XIII. L (4) See his Dict. de Chymie. Fourneau. 66 proportion between its length and diameter, as he found that if it were lengthened beyond a certain limit the draught was diminished, and that a wide chimney might be longer than a narrow one. This fact depends on the greater loss of heat in the narrow tube, the cooling surface is as its diameter, but the air to be cooled as its diameter squared, so that the latter dimin- ishes much faster than the former. Where the tube was six -inches wide, it could not be used longer than twelve feet, but much heat was lost, for it was composed of sheet iron which was heated to redness. But though his reasoning was bad, his practice was excellent, and his furnace was the best which had then been constructed. De Morveau found that it was capable of fusing Manganese and softening Platina; but it must be re- marked, that at that very time a committee of the institute, who were appointed to repeat Clouet’s experiments on steel, could not fuse iron in it, and found that Wedgewood’s Pyrometer marked 152. Baumé’s furnace was a hollow tube withont any contrac- tion, with a grate at its bottom, and he found it superior to any with which he was acquainted ; but though no other chemist has adopted it, except Saussure, there is no question that it is the best form which has yet been invented. Since that time little has been done by chemists towards the improvement. of these instru- ments: the English have acquiesced in the common mode of constructing them, and from the great superiority of coke to char- coal, their air furnaces produce, with ease, a higher heat than is necessary for most operations, so that they have not been com- pelled by this consideration to enquire into their defects. What- ever alterations have been made here, regard the convenience of 67 the operator, and we do not possess any theory of ,their perfor- mance.(¢) To estimate completely the circumstances on which it depends is, in the present state of our knowledge, impossible ; we are not accurately acquainted with the capacities of bodies for heat, their conducting powers are almost unknown, and we have no means of deciding whether they vary with the temperature, and ac- cording to what law. But though a rigorous investigation can- not be attained, we may arrive at limits within which the real values are contained: aud as the process of combustion includes in it the consideration of fuel in a state of ignition, and of the vessel in which it is consumed, we will enquire into them se- parately. Combustion is well known; if a fragment of charcoal] be placed in atmospheric air it suffers no change, but if it be heated to redness, it rises to a higher temperature, a portion of it disappears, while light is evolved, and the air which has sup- ported the process, and which, when cooled, is found not to have changed in bulk, now contains no oxygen, it has been changed mto carbonic acid. It is found, that the consumption of 1 part of charcoal in common air affords 9.3 parts of nitrogen by weight, and 3.6 of carbonic acid, and as this mixture cannot support combustion, it must be apparent, that the continuance of the process requires its removal and a fresh supply from the atmosphere. We are much in the dark as to many of the circumstances of com- bustion, I am not acquainted with any plausible reason for the ne- cessity of a red heat to its commencement, it cannot be said that by L@2 (c) In Rees’s Cyclopedia, a theory of the action of chimneys is given, whichis almost completely erroneous. 68 ignition cohesion is diminished, for charcoal becomes denser by heat, and by a priori arguments, it should even seem that as bodies burn with difficulty in rarified air, and the heat of the burning body must expand it, therefore ignition might be adverse to combustion. We are also ignorant whether charcoal burns faster at a higher temperature, and little can be affirmed about the most important products, the light and heat for which we excite it. Probably the light comes exclusively from the combustible, it is different in different bodies, and in the case of hydrogen is almost nothing, though the heat produced is intense, and the quantity of oxygen condensed enormous; the experiments of Saissy indeed would if accurate lead to a contrary conclusion, he found that by com- pressing in a glass syringe any gas containing oxygene (among which he reckons chlorine) which was a supporter of combustion, a flash of light was seen to pervade the barrel, but I suspect that it was occasioned by the combustion of some of the grease employed in lubricating the piston. The caloric is mostly de- rived from ‘the supporter, but the combustible itself affords some, for much heat is produced by the action of certain inflamma- ble bodies on each other, as sulphur and iron, After this brief notice we may proceed to ascertain if possible the maximum of heat which the combustion of charcoal can produce; if no ca- loric were lost the temperature would increase without limit, but this is not the case, some of it is dissipated by radiation, some transmitted through the walls of the furnace, and much wasted in heating the gases which have supported the com- bustion and are thirteen times as heavy as the fuel con- sumed. The influence of radiation is trifling, in fact it does not affect the interior parts of a furnace, as the coals which sur- 69 round the central portions radiate back to them as much caloric as they receive, and for the same reason the conducting power of the materials of the furnace cannot much diminish the effect, the centre of the fire is surrounded by one of the worst conduc- tors with which we are acquainted, ignited charcoal; and ex- perience shews that in furnaces of a certain size, this reasoning may be depended on. I have produced as high a heat as ever was measured, 169 of Wedgewood in a furnace whose walls were only two inches thick, and another equally well constructed, but more massive, did not give a higher result. The loss from heating the gases is much more serious, their capacity is equal to that of charcoal, and their weight much greater, so that most of the caloric produced is absorbed by them. To ascertain the amount of the loss, let us suppose a quantity c of charcoal at the temperature 4 to undergo combustion, the caloric evolved is divided between the air which has burned it and the unconsumed charcoal, now we know how much is required to raise a determi- nate quantity of this air @ degrees, and therefore how much goes to heat the remainder of the fuel and the crucible. It is clear that as @ is greater more of the caloric will be required to heat the gases, and of course less will remain to raise the temperature of the furnace, so that there is a certain value of it at which all would be employed in bringing them to the heat of the coals, and this would be a major limit, for if 4 were greater than this, the air which had burned a quantity of fuel after receiving all the heat proceeding from it would still be less hot than the sur- rounding bodies, and therefore would cool them. In practice the maximum temperature is a little below this on account of the loss of heat by the walls of the furnace, as I have already stated. 70 Since the quantities of caloric which bodies contain are as their temperatures and capacities conjointly, the caloric procceding from the combustion of ¢ of charcoal is represented by C x c x (6 + ) (where C = capacity of charcoal, ¢ its quantity, @ its temperature before combustion, and ¢ the number of degrees of Fahrenheit which the combustion of a portion of charcoal would heat an equal portion ;) and supposing all this to be found in the gases, their temperature (= x) x da=Cc (6 +t), where A and a are the capacity and quantity of them, therefore « = °° ae a but a, as is well known, consists of 4 volumes of nitrogen and | of carbonic acid, or, by weight, of 9.3 nitrogen + 3.6 carbonic acid, and from this we can compute A.(d) As the limit is when x= 6,6xAa=cCx +8 and 6(Aa—Cc) =cCt 9.3N+3.6.P c Ct ob= gag, but A= “pep ere and d= Ot rt = SS) Ss“Now O(a 6) Hee C) 9.3N+4+3.6 P—C we know C t by experiment, Lavoisier, Crawford and Dalton have all given values of it which differ from each other considerably. I prefer Lavoisier’s, which was made in the calorimeter described by him, and is, that 1 pound of charcoal gives as much heat as is equivalent to the fusion of 96 pounds of ice, 100 may be taken as (d) Let two bodies whose capacities are N and P, be mixed in the quantities n and p, to find the mixtures, capacity A. The quantities of caloric contained in them before and after mixture are the same, as there is no chemical action, but these are as the products of their weights and capacities, therefore Nn 4 Pp = (» + 7) ARR 7a) but here n the quantity of nitrogen = (9. 8) c and p that of carbonic acid = (3. 6) c. 71 a fair statement, for the tendency of the errors in that apparatus is to diminish the result. Dalton’s trial was made by a very inarti- ficial method, and therefore is entitled to less confidence. Reck- oning the caloric which is absorbed in the fusion of ice to be = 1402 C ¢ =14000, N and P are known by the experiments of Laroche and Berard, (e) and C though with less certainty, by a mean of the muunbers of Crawford and Gadolin, the first makes it .27, the other .39, .3 may be taken as a fair average, and our equation will give us §=4575°. If the fire were blown by pure‘oxygen as N n disap- pears from the denominator, it would be 6 times as great. (f) Two objections may be urged against this determination, one de- rived from theory and one from observation, the first is that I have supposed the capacities permanent, while there is every reason to suppose that they change with the temperature. Admitting to a cer- tain degree the truth of this, it does not affect my conclusion, for the numerator of the fractiou @ is independent of the temperature, it being the quantity of caloric evolved during the combustion of an atom of charcoal: now this must be invariable, for the proportion (e) According to these able experimenters N=, 2754 and P=. 221. {(f) If the combustible were Hydrogen, burnt with pure oxygen, the circumstances are ix some degree different, the mixture is at the temperature of the atmosphere, and all the libe- 6=C’x ¢ tated caloric is found in the steam resulting from the combustion, therefore rs 2 now » s 1132 132 =.85 therefore §=5738, or about + more than the utmost heat of furnaces and much inferior Ct is by a mean of Lavoisier and Dalton, 420009, s = and S by Laroche and Berard to the heat of charcoal blown by oxygen. Iam aware that the reverse is commonly’ sup- posed to be true, but if we consider that in the experiments which have been made with char- coal the bodies experimented on are cooled by the blast of oxygen, while in the other case, the flame is impelled on them in the most advantageous manner, and less heat is lost by radi- ation, we shall not be surprised at the superiority of its effects. 72 of oxygen which it takes is definite, and the caloric is derived from it. The denominator is affected, but the capacities of gases increasing and that of charcoal also though in a lesser degree, the whole must be increased, and therefore, the value of @ diminished, so. that my result must be above the truth. The other objection depends on the observations of Wedgewood, who supposed, that the extreme heat of a furnace was about 30,0009 degrees, but we cannot place much dependance on the method which he employed ; there is no evidence that his pyrometers contract uniformly, and the contrivance which he used to connect his scale with Fahrenheit’s is defective; as silver is easily fusible, and bodies expand irregularly near the points at which they change their state, it is certain that the degrees measured by it are much too large. Thus sulphuric acid will scarcely boil unless the sand round the retort be red, yet it distills at 600, not far from the point where Newton determined the commencement of ignition. In the large reverberatories of the iron founderies, it is stated by Mushet, that one ton of coal fuses one ton of soft cast iron. Now it may be shewn from Watt's experiments, that, one part of coal would, if no heat were lost, vaporise 10 of water, therefore, to melt one part of iron, there is used as much caloric as would heat one of water, 10,000°, reckoning the la- tent heat of steam 1,000°. But the gases which pass through the furnace are as hot as melted iron, and are twelve times the weight of the coal, while their capacity is about .28, the caloric must therefore be divided between them and the iron. Com- 73 puting on (g) these data we find, that the temperature at which the soft cast iron melts, is about 2,828°: now we know, that this fuses at 130° of Wedgewood, each of his degrees is, there- fore 19° or 20° of Fahrenheit nearly. Robins found, that air by a white heat, or about 35° or 40° of Wedgewood was quadrupled in volume, therefore, supposing’ it to expand uniformly, it must by the known expansion of air have been heated 3X480 or 1440°, which would give 1° of the pyrometer=26°. Lastly, the experiments of Beaunier and Gal- lois, related in the 70th Number of the Journal des Mines, give us an approximation. ‘They exposed in a refining fiwnace’ mas- ses of iron of known weight and capacity till they had ac- quired its temperature, these were rapidly withdrawn, and plunged into a quantity of cold water; the augmentation of its temperature gave the heat of the iron. They found that at the instant when the last pellicle of litharge disappears from the melted silver, its heat was 700 of Reaumur or 1575° F: and as the silver was perfectly fused though sunk deep in the hol- low of the cupell beneath the current of flame, while the iron was in the hottest part, we may fairly suppose it to have been 10° W. hotter than the silver and therefore at 352 W. This gives 19 W=28? I¥. (h) I offer these estimations not as certain VOL. XIII. M (g) Let W and w be the weights of the gases and iron, C and c their capacities, and 6 the 10000 10000 WC+we 3.5 the capacity of iron to be .14; it is probably something greater. temperature, then &x%(WC-+wc) =10000°, therefore 9 — taking (h) In these computations I have subducted from the numbers expressing the heats, 600’ or the number of degrees before ignition commences, as Wedgewood’s scale begins at that point. 74 but probable; I have however valued the heats in pyrometric degrees so that I think they cannot be far from the truth, and the near coincidence of conclusions derived from methods so dis- similar, is sufficient to shew that they are approximations to the real value. If we take the mean of them and reckon 180° to be the utmost power of a good blast furnace, the maximum heat would be 4320° F. not much removed from the determination of theory. Leaving this question to be decided by future experiments, we will proceed to observe that the temperature of a furnace is not uniform throughout, the heat gradually diminishes from the axis to the cir- cumference of it, for which reason the crucible when intense action is required should not exceed a certain magnitude, and it also varies from the grate upward. When air is drawn through a body of coals, its oxygen is changed into carbonic acid gradually, and at the same time it is heated so that ils temperature is continually augment- ing as long as it can support combustion, afterwards it can acquire no increase. The centre of that stratum of fuel where the air is completely deoxidated I will call the focus of the furnace; and its position should be ascertained by experiment, a rod of refractory clay should be fixed vertically on the grate, and its vitrification will mark the limits in which the greatest action has taken place. Ina furnace supplied with Kilkenny coal, I found that it was 2 inches above the grate, but this depends on the quantity of the fuel and also the rapidity of the current of air, as when it moves with great velocity, it will be less deoxidated in passing through a given quan- tity of coals. I found after an unsuccessful attempt to fuse platina, that in essaying it with a double load on the bellows, the focus rose so much above its previous place that the upper part of the crucible 75 . and its lid were destroyed while the bottom of it and the included metal were scarcely affected. Above the focus there is no combus- tion, but the stream of heated air communicates its caloric to the incumbent fuel, and ignites it to a considerable degree previous to its descent to a lower part of the furnace, so that it is nearly at the maximum when it begins to burn. As however the air must pass for some space in contact with an extensive surface of heated coal ; the same effect must be produced in our furnace as in those experi- ments, where carbonic acid dissolves a proportion of its base and becomes carbonic oxide. It is the substance which burns with a blue flame over the iron furnaces, and injures the power of those of the chemist, not merely by combining: with fuel of which it doubles the expenditure, but still more by absorbing much caloric during its formation. According to Dalton this gas gives out during its com- bustion, £ as much heat as charcoal, it must therefore absorb while forming about half of the intire heat. In consequence of this the upper strata of fuel are not by any means as much heated as they would otherwise be, and the gases which escape from the furnace, if its depth be considerable and the fuel free from Hydrogen, are at no high temperature. I have exposed various bodies in the flue of a good air furnace, but never found them heated above moderate redness, if the upper part of the furnace were close(i). We must next consider how a supply of air is directed through the fuel and maintained ; the most obvious method is to apply mechanical power M2 (z.) De Morveau proposed a furnace which on this principle is bad, it is Macquer’s with a horizontal flue joining it to the chimney, in thisa muffle is placed, which he thought would be heated to a great degree by the flame, even above the heat of a glass furnace; but unless he used half burnt charcoal, he could obtain no such result. -_~ 76 to compress a portion of air and permit if to escape through a small aperture, and this is extensively practised by the manufacturer, and on particular occasions by the Chemist, as a much higher heat can be procured by this means than in the air furnace, but it is not neces- sary to examine it in detail. A more refined method consists in a permitting the gases which have passed through the furnace to es- cape through a vertical tube of imperfectly conducting materi- als: these being hot, and therefore dilated are of less specific gra- vity than the external air, so that the column of them which fills the tube is not in equilibrio with the external pressure, and the difference of weight between it anda similar column of air is the force of draught, the air will rush into the fireplace with ihe velocity due to it, and being expanded there will in its turn fill the chimney and continue the process. This ingenious con- trivance was probably discovered by accident, it was perhaps in- vented to remove the smoke, and some attentive observer perceiv- ed that it augmented the combustion ; its theory is simple although as I have already observed, we are not possessed of data suffi- cient to determine it completely. If the temperature were uni- form throughout the tube and the specific gravity of the gases propor- tional to it, it would be easy to determine the effect, but as this is not the case, we must ascertain, first the law of the diminu- tion of temperature, 2dly the weight of the column of gases, and lastly determine from them the draught. It is certain that if the tube be of uniformly conducting materials, Newton’s law will be ob- served, according to which the quantities of heat lost are propor- tional to those which remain.(k) In this case let h be the distance (4) This law is beautifully illustrated by some experiments of Biot related in the Journal des Mines; he connected one end of an iron rod with a constant source of heat, and ap- 77 from the top of the chimney, @ the temperature there: if we con- sider the differentials, d 4 is as @ x dh, for dh is as the cooling sur- face, and the decrement of 4 depends on 6 and the magnitude Cm) C : of that surface, then >= mM. dh, m being a coefficient depend- ing on the conducting power of the walls of the chimney, and /1.(@) =hm + C now make h= 0 and C=. t, t be- ing the temperature at the top of the tube, to be determined by experiment, the complete integral is / ( +) =mh.(0) In respect of the S. G. of heated air, it appears from the experiments of Dalton and Lussac that all gaseous bodies expand equally and uniformly by equal additions of heat ; therefore if 1 of air became 1 + e by one degree of Fahrenheit, it would by 6° become 1 + e 4, and its S. G. being in- plying thermometers to different parts of its length, found that by erecting perpendi_ culars at those points proportional to the temperatures there, the line connecting their extremities was a logarithmic curve, it was the reverse of the case which we are at present considering, the heated body was a solid, cooled by air, here it is air cooled by a solid. He ascribes the phenomenon to the conducting power of bodies which he supposes to vary according to this law. (/) The tube after some time becomes hot, and abstracts caloric from the air less rapidly than at first, but as its temperature is proportional to that of the included air, the decrements of heat must be also proportional, and the equation continues true but with a different value of m. We may easily find what the temperature would be if it were uniform throughout the tube, for calling itz we have z xX h = 9xXxdh= sik C, but when @ = t, h = 0, therefore 8 m —t 6—t¢ c Oni ee It has been asserted that knowing cA C=— —, and cs h= m m t this we could find the S. G. of a uniform column of equal dimensions with that contained in the chimney, but the sum of all the is very different from oar 4 x s 1+e0 78 versely as its bulk would be = s being its S. G. at the tem- s 1+e6? perature of the ae a The differential of the column of heated Olle dé 3 ° : 2 air js therefore ia =; xdh or < a ecoane the integral of which is xl ( jo or (substituting for — — its value ® )) t ) ): In this equation m is not found, and (A) Jet) pal Ga (4 ee we must ascertain t and @ by experiment, the number obtained by in- troducing their values will give the space through which a bo- dy must fall to acquire the velocity with which air rushes into the furnace. This increases with A, but not as any manageable function of it, it also augments with the fraction = but at a much slower rate, we can however deduce some important practical conclusions. In the first place, is there any maximum of draught, or in other words can a chimney Pa 5 too long: ? to answer this let the differential of it, or dh— xc a =o and by substitu- dé 8 8 tion and transposition, a = m* oe a and 1+ ¢d=s, or, = = §.now as cannot be negative this is oie only when the Sept: of the tube é 79 are heavier than atmospheric air. If they have not passed through a sufficient, quantity of coals to be saturated with carbon, this may be the case in the air-furnace, and when flaming fuel is burned is so in every case. Were the mixture nitrogen and carbonic acid, s would be 1.09 and 4, 45°: If on the other hand the acid is changed into oxide the chimney cannot be too long, and the ; 0) s. t eb+1 draught must be augmented because l. (@) is greater than 1.(— +) therefore the difference of their logarithms is negative and the less its coefficient, the greater is the whole. It might however be questioned how far the absorption of caloric by the carbonic oxide in its formation might operate by diminishing 4, but as this is much more diminished than the logarithms are, there seems reason to conclude that on the whole its presence is advanta- geous except from the increased consumption of fuel. The up- per part of the furnace must therefore be carefully closed as the admission of air there is injurious, by lessening the quantity which passes through the coals, by burning the carbonic oxide, and by lowering the temperature of the ascensional column. The force of draught is never very considerable, I observed it in a rever- beratory, where of course the chimney was much hotter than it can ever be in the class(o) of furnaces which we are at pre- sent considering, a glass tube, like the syphon gage of an air- pump with water in its bend was luted to an aperture con- nected with the bottom of the chimney, the difference of the heights oscillated between + and = of an inch. We may therefore infer that bellows working with a load equivalent to +; of a pound (o) From the current of flame; Ihave seen it so hot as to produce instant combus © tion in fragments of wood introduced through apertures several feet above the fire-place 80 on the square inch deliver air with a greater velocity than can result from a chimney 40 feet high ; the quantity however makes up for this. It has been said that air is much obstructed in its passage through tubes, and accordingly it has been recommended to make the inside of the tube as smooth as possible, and carefully to avoid any angles in its course. No doubt these directions are, where it is convenient, to be attended to, but the neglect of them cannot materially influence the effect. In some experiments which I made on the motion of air through tubes, and which if the duties of my station permit me, I will at some future period complete, I found that it was not much retarded by roughening the internal sur- face of the tube through which it passed. In one of these trials a tube of glass was used, 30 inches long and twice bent at right an- gles, it was 4 inch bore, and a considerable quantily of air was forced through it from a large gasometer with a velocity of 118 feet in a second, this required 161 half seconds ; the tube was then moistened with Lac Varnish, and filled with sand which coated its interior. The same quantity of air was passed through it in this state and the time was 200, but the adhering sand had diminished the width of the tube so that a correction was required (p), and the corrected times were as 190: 200, or in this case, the resistance was about ;, of the entire force, this was an extreme case, for the velocity was great and the space through which it passed small, and as the retarda- tion arises principally from the adhesion of air to the surfaces over which it passes, in a narrow tube this must be much increased. {p) The correction was made by removing the sand from the interior of the tube, leaving only a narrow ring where it adhered + of an inch broad. When the tube was removed entirely, the time of discharge was 156 half seeonds. 8l Where the velocity is moderate, no diminution is observed, and the managers of gas lights find that 3 of an inch of wa- ter afford sufficient pressure to send the coal gas through many miles of pipe, while the flames are of equal magnitude near the gasometer, or at the remote extremity. Angles do not seem to affect much the progress of air, so that it is unnecessary to raise the chimney from the top of the furnace directly. But though it is useless to be very careful in smoothing the interior of the tube, we must take another precaution, that it shall be constructed of materials which are bad conductors of caloric. Lavoisier’s proposal of a double tube of iron, with the interval filled with pounded charcoal, is very good while the iron lasts, but it would be soon destroyed at high heats, particularly by the sulphurous fuel of this country. On the large scale a similar contrivance is used with success, and has the additional advantage of preventing the ruin of the structure. In the im- mense fires of large steam engines, distilleries, &c. the mterior of the tube is in a state of strong ignition through its whole extent, and if the tier of bricks, in immediate contact with the flame, be firmly connected with the remainder of the fabric, the whole must be disjointed and shaken by their unequal expansion : but when it is constructed with a double wall, separated by an interval of some inches, the interior one is seen to rise, when heated, above the other, and as it cools, gradually to subside. For the chemist, a nine inch wall will generally be sufficient, and if he fears its expansion, a few iron hoops will give it the necessary strength. We have already seen, that the draught increases with the VOL. XIII. N 82 height of the chimney, but have not considered the influence of its diameter, as it does not directly affect the velocity of the current; but it is not to be neglected, for as we have al- ready stated, a column of air of large diameter, will be less cool’d than a small one, and in addition to this, as the current moves through the fuel with a determinate velocity, the wider the chimney is, it will move the slower there, and experience less friction. But still more necessary is it to have it of large dimension, on account of the dilatations which the air must ex- perience in passing through the fire-place, for it is obvious, that a free passage should be afforded to all the air which can enter between the fragments of fuel. Now the air in the flue or narrowest part of the funnel may be heated 1000°, and this temperature will triple its volume, the area of the flue there- fore should be three times that of the apertures in the fuel at least. ‘The magnitude of these depends on the quantity of space occupied by the fuel, compared with the vacuities between them, and I endeavoured to ascertain the proportion by the following method: A vessel, whose capacity was known by weighing the quantity of fine sand which filled it, was filled with fragments of coal, of such a size as I found produced the best effect in my furnace (about the size of a walnut); sand was then poured in till all the interstices were filled up, and the ratio of this to the entire content of the vessel was the ratio of the whole space to that which was unoccupied by coal. In_ three sets of experiments made with vessels of different shapes and sizes, I found that the numbers differed much less than I ex- pected, and the mean gave 219 to 100, therefore the solid content of the furnace is to the bulk of the fuel as 219: 119. These 83 magnitudes however have 3 dimensions, while those which we wish to compare, namely the horizontal section of the furnace and the portion of it occupied by fuel have only two, and therefore are as the squares of the cube roots of the above numbers, that is as 1,502 : 1, or nearly as 3: 2, the apertures in the horizontal section are then about one third of the area of the furnace. It appears from what has been previously stated that the chimney should be thrice as great or equal to the total area ; and this gives the con- struction which is recommended by Baume and Saussure, a ver- tical tube of uniform diameter with a grate at the bottom. The intervals between the bars of the grate must be greater than + of the area, because they are partly obstructed by the coals, but as the fragments of fuel are in this case in contact with flat surfaces, about ids of the intervals are pervious; on this supposition the breadth of the bars should be equal to the intervals, and no evil can arise from making them narrower. Furnaces are in general very badly constructed in both these respects, the grate is often made of square bars whose thickness is three times their interval, and it seems to have been feared that the heat might escape up the chimney, to judge from the smallness of its aperture. Pott allowed a flue of 4 inches for a fireplace of 18, and Boerhaave one of 3 to a fireplace of 12, even now we sometimes see them im the proportion of one to four, but we may be certain that all such perform badly. We are not sufficiently acquainted with pneumatics to pronounce on Venturi’s chimney, which depends on the fact that a diverging ajutage increases the discharge of water from an orifice ; if the same is true of air, the tube should be a frustum of a cone with the wide end upward, and De N 2 84 Morveau asserts that one of this form performed as well as a cylinder of twice the length. A more certain method of increasing the draught where the height of the chimney is limited might be the application of a small furnace to heat the interior of the chimney by its flame, it should open into it immediately above the flue and be constructed like the fire place of a reverberatory. On the furnace itself little is to be said, it should be cylindrical, formed of a double row of fire bricks moulded according to its figure and arranged in a case of strong sheet iron; these, from the species of arch which they form, possess great strength and are not loosened by the alternate expansion and contraction to which they are liable, such an instrument has been in my possession for some years and is still uninjured, it was not however constructed on proper prin- ciples as to its flue and I have ceased to use it, its bricks were to prevent pyrometric contraction, (or that which Wedgewood observed in clay when heated) baked in a violent heat, and no subsequent shrinkage has taken place. The parabolic and ellip- tic shapes which the old chemists extolled so highly are useless, the reflection and radiation of caloric take place only in trans- parent media, and the crucible which occupies the centre of a furnace is effectually screened by the surrounding charcoal from any influence of its walls, and the only direction which remains is, that its depth from the bottom of the flue to the grate should be at least twice its diameter. If these principles be observed, the chemist will be satisfied with their result: in a furnace whose area was 99 inches and its chimney narrower than it should have been, I have obtained intense heats, on one occasion I obtained a button of manganese which weighed 115 grains, after 2 hours 85 and a half, and I imagine few instances oceur where a higher temperature is required. I should now conclude this ‘disquisition which has already exceeded its proper limits, yet I am induced to trespass still more on the indulgence of the Academy and give a succinct account of another species of furnaces, which is as im- portant to the manufacturer as the air furnace is to the chemist ; I mean that which acts by the combustion of coal gas, being in fact but a blow-pipe on a large scale, and to which the French in their zeal for ‘appropriation have given the name of fumivore. They are of indispensable use where large quantities of ma- terials are to be heated, and their improvement is beneficial, not merely to the manufacturer who employs them, but to all in their vicinity. What a gloomy spectacle does one of our large towns present to a foreigner, it is covered with a murky shroud of smoke, its edifices are blackened and disfigured, while the very lungs of its inhabitants are stained by the sooty atmosphere which they inhale! Evena common observer, when he sees a pitchy cloud disgorged from the chimney of a steam ‘engine floating on the wind to an immense distance, views it with disgust as a foul blot in the landscape, and he from whose establishment it proceeds would feel equal annoyance at the sight of it, did he know that in it the most valuable part of his fuel is uselessly evaporated: yet this is actually the case and it is not an exaggeration to say that one third of it is thus'lost. Attempts have been made to remedy this nuisance, but have not hitherto been completely successful, at least we may conclude so from the fact that the contrivances which have been proposed are not adopted ; I will therefore give an ac- count of them, and endeavour to ascertain the causes of their 86 failure, previously stating the circumstances of the combustion of pitcoal which differs materially from that of coke or charcoal. When a furnace is charged with this fuel, it must be apparent that the temperature is much inferior to that which would be produced, if the combustible were free from gaseous and vaporisa- ble matter, these in assuming the elastic state absorb an immense quantity of caloric which is in general completely lost ; besides the coal fuses and agglutinates so that the afflux of air is not as free as in the former case, and the upper strata of fuel cannot burn from the want of oxygen. We may therefore consider them as exposed to distillation, so that the tar, gas, &c. which proceed from them make their escape through the chimney unaltered: and may conclnde that in general coal does not produce more heat than it would have done if previously coked or reduced to =ds of its weight ; it cannot even afford so much. But the volatile pro- ducts are highly combustible, there is no reason why they should not burn if oxygen be present, and if a stream of air be mixed with the smoke and the mixture ignited, experience shews that it is totally consumed. The first trial was made by Mr. Watt, it was not much different from the stove of Dalesme which is men- tioned in one of the first volumes of the Philosophical Transac- tions, and may be described in a few words as an inverted furnace, the chimney proceeds from the ash-pit and the draught is down- wards through the fuel. Let us suppose the fireplace to be nearly filled with ignited coke and that a quantity of raw coal is laid on the top, from the impression of the heat it will be in part vola- tilised, and the smoke must be drawn through the fuel along with the air which maintains the combustion, it will therefore be con- 8% sumed and the resulting flame may be directed on the body to be heated. He found that the apertures between the coals could not admit enough of air to burn the smoke completely, and he in- troduced an additional portion immediately below the grate. I am not acquainted with the practical value of this invention, in fact I know it only from Watt’s paper in the Repertory, and a drawing of one attached to a Scotch still in the 6th volume of Tilloch’s Magazine; I have however mentioned it as it seems to be forgotten, it will probably be valuable in small stoves, but in large furnaces the slag would I think soon choak the grate and we cannot remove it without interrupting the draught by opening the ash-pit. Mr. Roberton of Glasgow at- tempted to produce the same effect by a much simpler contrivance. He feeds the fire through a door which is constantly filled with coal, and thus no large aperture is left through which a stream of cold air may rush to lower the temperature, the fuel which is in- troduced gives off its elastic products which are mixed with air, ad- mitted through a slit over the door, and are burned in passing over the coke which occupies the posterior part of the furnace; as soon as flame ceases to be formed, fresh coal must be introduced which pushes forward the former portion now completely coked : and with attention to supply it in small quantities and at short intervals of time, not an atom of smoke will escape from the chimney, at least in the reverberatory furnace: the apparatus does not succeed so well, when applied to heat a boiler. It will readily appear that the mixture of air and coal gas cannot be much heated while it is in contact with a metallic surface whose temperature is not far above 212, it must therefore escape unconsumed into the chimney 88 where its combustion may be expected to take place, but this con- tributes nothing to economy of fuel, it rather produces an opposite effect, as the air admitted through the slit will unquestionably be heated at the expence of the boiler. This will demand more fuel than would have been necessary if the furnace were perfectly closed, and the encreased expenditure is probably the reason why fumivores are not universally used ; but surely the improvement of these contrivances is an object of national importance ; and as I have pointed out the probable cause of disap- pointment in Mr. Roberton’s apparatus, it is’ to be hoped that ma- nufacturers will turn their attention to the subject. I had in con- junction with Mr. Kiernan tried many experiments to this effect even before I knew that any thing had been done by others, and we observed this defect of which I have spoken, the remedy was obyious and on trial it succeeded, the smoke must not be permitted to come into contact with the boiler until it is enflamed, and there- fore the fire-place must be detached, and we must resign the caloric which is radiated from the fire, employing only the current of flame. Our experiments were necessarily made on a small scale, they how- ever were completely successful ; and the destruction of the smoke was attended with a great increase of heat. In a reverberatory whose bad performance had excited us to these experiments, this was remarkable, it had failed to fuse brass in its original condition, and with (r) nearly the same quantity, of coal it became capable of fusing cast iron and vitrifymg Stourbridge clay. A sand-bath, of which I an- nex a plan to explain in what our method consists, had a grate 9 inches square, the flame was directed round two sandpots 18 inches (7) More coal was burned on account of the increased draught. 89 in diameter, and, though the fire was so small, the sand could be easily made red hot in that nearest to the fire, sulphuric acid dis- tilled freely, and, in calcining magnesia, the bottom of the retort was melted. Mr. Kiernan altered according to our views a furnace which heated a steamboiler of the capacity of 50 gallons, its area had been 15 inches,it did not raise the steam in less than two hours, and was a nuisance to the vicinity. ‘The fire-place of the fumivore was 10 by 16, much too large as we discovered, and it made the water boil violently in 25 minutes. We endeavoured to ascertain what the effect was more accurately, a fumivore had been adapted to a stillin the laboratory of the Apothecaries-Hall, with a fire-place of 9 by 16, we charged the still with 125 gallons of water and kin- dled the fire, having weighed a quantity of coal for the experiment ; in ar: hour and five minutes the water began to distill, and the pro- cess was continued for 5 hours more, in which time 67 pounds of coal were burned and 70 gallons of water (s) distilled, which gives 8. 87 pounds of water vaporised by every pound of coal, something above Watts’s maximum, although the form of the still was not the most advantageons, its bottom being concave so that the flame did not touch the central part of it. We have tried many other ex- periments with equal success, but it would be useless to detail them as they are similar in their results to those aiready stated, and we haye not yet had an opportunity of making any on a very large scale. It is (¢) however necessary to observe that the performance of these VOL. XIII. oO (s) During the first hour 45 pounds of coal were introduced into the furnace, so that it was full when the distillation commenced, and I reckon that 67 were consumed afterward, as that quantity was supplicd, and the fire-place was full when the experiment was ended. j (t) If a large quantity of coals be introduced at once, the furnace-ceases' to consume its smoke, on account of the reduction of the temperature, but this continues only for a few se- 90 machines depends greatly on the attention of the fireman ; the sup- ply of fuel should be nearly uniform, but if the attendant, as is usu- al, waits till the furnace is nearly empty, and then throws in a large quantity of coal, we may indeed burn the smoke by opening the re- gister so as to admit more air, but it is not possible to do this with- out losing much heat and such alternations should be avoided ; if a steam engine were at hand it would perhaps be advisable to feed the fire by machinery, and leave to the workmen only the care of keep- ing the grate open, as it is liable to be choaked with slag. I will now conclude this long discussion, with the hope that some person may resume the subject whose situation can enable him to prosecute these experiments, and give them that publicity which is necessary to make them useful ; if it be found that the fumivore is as effective when applied to a large furnace as we found it, the use of itshould be enforced, and not left to the mere option of the ma- nufacturer. It is nota diminution of the liberty of the people to say that no establishment shall be tolerated which incommodes its neigh- bours, at least when the inconvenience can be prevented. Interest is not always adequate to overcome prejudices, but it is not to be ex- pected that they should be gratified at the expense of the health and comfort of thousands. We hear every day some proof of the necessity of legislative interference on this head ; in fact where a ma- nufacturer does not avail himself of the resources which the wide diffusion of knowledge places within his reach, he is toa certain de. gree criminal, but he is doubly so where his neglect endangers others. conds : the fact confirms my opinion of the defect of Roberton’s apparatus, and I have ob- served another to the same effect ; allour fumivores smoke when the fire is kindling and, un- til the roof of the fire-place is red hot. 91 For instance, a high pressure steam engine should be presented as a nuisance of the most formidable kind, and its employment among a croud of workmen on no account endured. The artist whose trade diffuses nauseous exhalations (as the chandler) should be compelled to direct them through the fire of his boiler, and in fine no annoyances should be tolerated but those which admit no remedy, and which are I trust few in number ; the power of man is, as Bacon observes, commensurate with his knowledge, and it there- fore is capable of effects surpassing all calculation. T. R. ROBINSON. April 15, 1817. 02 EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE. a Fig. 1, is a vertical section of the sand-bath, on a scale of ,+. Fig. 2, a horizontal section ; the letters of reference are the same in both: Ais Mr. Roberion’s door, a species of tube which is con- stantly kept full of coals; at the upper part of it is seen the slit through which air is admitted. B is the fire-place ; the flame proceeds through the flue C into the cavity D, which corresponds to the shape of the sand-pot, leav- ing round it a vacancy of three inches ; here it is constrained to de- scend and surround the bottom of the pot by the stops E E, of baked clay, which are fitted to the sides of the pot. The second flue C, conducts it to a second cavity D, arranged as the first; and it finally escapes through F into a vertical tube fourteen feet high. The draught and heat are accurately governed by a semi-circular register in the door of the ash pit, and a sliding door in the chimney, which do not require a particular description. pea | o ag S mea ce p=] iS ON THE MEANS OF PRODUCING AN INTENSE HEAT, BY THE COMBUSTION OF OXYGEN, AND HYDROGEN GASES. BY T. R.. ROBINSON, F. T. C.D. M. R.T A.. Read, Jan. 12, 1818. ABOUT fifteen years ago, Mr. Hare, an American, described an. apparatus for burning a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen gases, but his observations were not much attended to; since that time several refractory metals have been discovered, and it is surprising, that no one thought of using this powerful instrument to accom- plish their fusion. Dr. Marcet’s spirit lamp blown by oxygen, and even the immense voltaic batteries of Mr. Children, (a) are inferior to it for these purposes, and the expence of procuring and using it is but trifling. However, it was neglected till the brilliant researches of Davy, on the combustion of gases, led him (a) Tungsten and Iridiam were not perfectly fused in their flame. 94 to the discovery, that flame cannot pass through capillary tubes, and he had the courage to ignite the most violent of explosive mix- tures at the jet of Newman’s blow-pipe. All know the wonderful powers of this invention in the hands of Dr. Clarke ; and though his reduction of the earths, which a few years ago would have been inestimable, has not increased our certainty of their metallic na- ture, without doubt, chemistry is highly indebted to him and he is entitled to great praise for his activity in this investigation. Yet, notwithstanding the beauty of this contrivance, I think that Hare’s instrument is better adapted to the uses of the chemist ; it is, perhaps, inferior in power, but this is counter-balanced by great advantages, which it is the object of this communication to indicate, and at the same time to detail some of the facts which I have observed. Mr. Hare’s description of his blow-pipe was published in the 14th vol. of Tilloch’s Magazine, much of the paper is gc- cupied with an inconvenient sort of gas-holder, but his account of the effects of the gaseous flame is very striking, and had he not added iron and plumbago to the subjects of his experiments, he must have anticipated Dr. Clarke. His gases were contained in separate vessels, they were conducted from these by tubes which united in a conical nozzle 4 of an inch long, and the mixed stream was ignited at its aperture. At first sight, it appears that no ac- cident can happen, as the mixture takes place only in the nozzle, but, if we consider more attentively, it may be feared, that an in- equality of pressure in either of the gasometers might force its gas inlo the other: if this takes place in that which holds the oxy- gen, it must become apparent by the extinction of the flame, and may be guarded against; but in the case of the hydrogen, we have no such security, as it will burn, while at the same tine 95 it is contaminating the other gas, till the mixture arrives at the exploding point, and destroys, if not the operator, at least the ap- paratus. This apprehension was increased in me by the recollec- tion of an explosion which endangered one of our most accom- plished members : an instrument invented by Cuthbertson, to shew the formation of water during the combustion of hydrogen, in which the flame was fed nearly as in the American blow-pipe, from some event of this kind was shattered with a frightful deto- nation. Such considerations long restrained me from gratifying the curiosity which Mr. Hare’s account excited, till the news-pa- per accounts of the new blow-pipes added a fresh stimulus. How- ever, I tried the instrument which I constructed after his plan, with air instead of oxygen, and it appeared that my caution was not unnecessary, for an explosion took place in a few minutes, ' and blew to pieces the connecting tube of the air gasometer, which was in this trial of glass cemented to the stopcock. It soon oc- curred to me that the possibility of such an event might be pre- vented by a simple contrivance, of which [lay a drawing before the Academy, and I have not had any reason to distrust its ef- ficacy, though I have, in some instances, maintained the flame for 28 and 30 minutes without intermission, In Fig. 1, the tube A, connected with the oxygen gasometer, is an inverted syphon, its ascending leg rises through the neck of the small glass bell B, into which it is cemented ; the shaded part represents mercury, through which the tube passes, being protected from it by cement. C. is a smaller bell, from whose summit the tube D conveys the gas to the blow-pipe; In using this, the bend of A, (which is ~ of an inch wide) is filled with water to the height of 4 inches, jt is then screwed to its gasometer, the bell C is pressed down 96 into the mercury, and the blow-pipe screwed to the other gaso- meter. When we turn the stopcock of the oxygen, the gas drives the water before it into the bell, and rises through it in bubbles as represented in the plate; but were its elasticity overpowered by that of the hydrogen, the water would be driven back into the longer leg of the syphon, and would add to the oxygen a pressure of eight inches, which is more than enough, as the total force of the hydrogen is seldom more, in my apparatus, than six inches. This safety apparatus (b) might be applied to the hy- drogen, but it is unnecessary, as an excess of oxygen puts out the flame. Fig. 2, represents the nozzle of the blow-pipe as I use it, for that of the inventor did not answer my expectation, ex- cept when its aperture was small; when it was <> of an inch, it became apparent that the gases were not accurately mixed. D and E are the tubes which bring the gases; they are soldered into holes, drilled through the piece of brass F, so that their aper- tures are at its surface, and their sides in contact, the metal is cut away between them, the piece G applies closely, being fitted by grinding, and it is clear, that the most perfect mixture must take place while the gases pass through it. As this jet is made of brass, it must be kept cooled by any convenient method ; I sur- round it, in general, with moistened lint, but this may be avoid- ed by making it of platina. The widest aperture which I have tried is =; of an inch, and its performance is most satisfactory. When the machine is used, the hydrogen cock is opened, and (b) It is scarcely necessary to tell the chemical reader, that this is only a modifica- tion of Welter’s tube; the mercury allows room for fexion of the parts and latitude of adjustment, 97 the stream ignited, it gives a different flame, scarcely luminous, but hotter than a candle urged by the blow-pipe, for I have fused by it platina wire of 1; of an inch, and it may be remarked, by this means we can ignite small quantities of precipitates, &c. to whiteness in the most elegant manner on a leaf of platina. Having made the flame of whatever size we judge necessary, we gradually admit oxygen, it changes its appearance, and is impelled with much greater rapidity, diminishing in thickness, and becoming more pointed and dense, while it emits a moaning sound. As the supply of oxygen increases it becomes blue, surrounded by a yellow cone, as in the common blow-pipe ; with more oxygen, the yellow cone disappears, and the flame becomes of a brighter blue, it is reduced to a mere thread, and from the deficiency of hydrogen, the brass of the jet burns while the heat is very much diminished. It is not easy to ascertain the proportions of gas which give the greatest heat, nor is it of much use, as a quantity. at its maximum is not much affected by a considerable change in the variable on which it depends ; but I tried one experiment, to know if it agreed with the theoretic proportion of 2to 1. When the heat seemed most intense, I extinguished the flame by turning the hydrogen cock, and immediately returned it to its position, I then collected the mixture which issued from the blow-pipe, 1..5 cubic inches of it were exploded by the electric spark, and after the requisite correction, it was found that there remained 0. 3, there- fore 0. 4 of oxygen were present; but my oxygen was impure, containing = of nitrogen very nearly, therefore the residue must have contained 0.1 of this gas, and if the hydrogen was pure, the result gives 10 hydrogen + 4 oxygen + 1 nitrogen, as near as could be expected in this rough mode of estimation to the VOL. XIII. P 98 irue proportion (c). It might be possible, by annexing a graduated circle to the keys of the stopcocks, to burn the gases in known pro- portions, but the eye is able to judge of the heat with sufficient aceuracy by the light which is disengaged from the object of ex- periment. The intensity of this is astonishing ; my laboratory, a room of 25 feet square, is strongly illuminated by a globule of plati- na, not exceeding , of an inch in diameter, and the phosphorescent glare of some bodies, as lime and magnesia is intolerable, even when the eye is defended by dark green glasses. But what is the origin of this light? we can conceive, that a solid heated in a furnace, when it is surrounded by luminous objects, may receive and emit this emanation at the same instant, but our obscure flame, which is scarcely visible in broad day-light, is incapable of affording it; (d) shall we say with Davy, that ordinary matter may become caloric, and light if its particles are put in violent motion, or may we not rather suppose that caloric is under certain circum- stances, perhaps by increasing its velocity, convertible into light ? Ts it too wild an hypothesis, to suppose, that the repulsion by which these ethereal substances are projected from bodies, acts only at insensible distances, and that they are radiated from solids by the united energy ef many particles, while in gases, only single atoms can act on them, in consequence of their distance from (c) The heat is much more diminished by an excess of oxygen than of hydrogen, notwith- standing the high capacity of this latter, for it burns in the air, and protects the blue interior flame from the cold medium which surrounds it. (d) If a platina wire be ignited in the unmixed flame of hydrogen, this becomes much brighter, a luminous atmesphere surreunds the metal in a manner which it is not easy to explain, 99 one another? This would, at least, account for the fact, that gases can scarcely become luminous or lose heat by radiation. But, to return from such uncertain ground, the purity of the wases must be attended to. I procure my hydrogen from frag- ments of zinc; the oxygen from peroxide of manganese contains nitrogen, so nearly + of its volume whenever I examined it, that I am inclined to suspect it is chemically combined, which is also pro- bable from the circumstance that the water which is contained in the native oxide, and is disengaged during its decomposition, is acidulous with nitric acid. If it be used, it should be care- fully dried, as, if it has, been exposed to a damp atmosphere, it attracts enough of moisture to produce explosions in the process. I have seen such an accident. Chlorate of potash affords oxy- - gen nearly pure, but its high price precludes its use; red pre- cipitate will be found most convenient and economical ; it is ea- sily decomposed in a glazed earthen retort, which will serve repeatedly, and the value of the revived mercury is more~ than half the price of the oxide. .The gas is most impure in the beginning of the distillation ; its impurity has been with me from => to -4, rejecting the first bubbles. This detail is minute, but’ it will, I trust, be found useful, as the heat depends materially on the quality of the gas; in fact, in a series of experiments the purity of it should be always stated, and the process of ana- lysis by Volta’s Kudiometer is so easy that it may ,be performed in a few minutes. I have tried many experiments with this apparatus, and can say that it is a valuable addition to the laboratory ; to describe them at length would be useless, as most of them were but repetitions of what others had done. ‘That the earths are re- p2 100 duced in many instances I have no doubt, though from want of sufficient experience or dexterity I have not been able to collect their bases. The alkaline earths give the most marked results. A little artificial carbonate of barytes was placed in a cavity scooped in charcoal, andthe unmixed flame directed on it with no ef- fect but incandescence ; the heat ‘was raised, and the powder fused with violent effervescence, a yellowish green flame streamed from it for afew seconds, and the liquid soaked into the char- coal, or was volatilized in acrid fumes. This constantly occurred, and I found that the earth ‘retained its acid till its fusion, at which instant it must have partly become a hydrate, and partly been reduced; the metal seems to be soluble in hydrogen, to judge fromthe uniform tinge of the flame, and this is according to the analogy of potassium, manganese, zinc and iron. Chloride of barium was decomposed, even in the unmixed flame of hydro- gen, as might have been expected from the strong affinity be- tween that gas and chlorine, but the base was volatilized. The nitrate afforded the same results as the carbonate, and this whe- ther they were gradually heated, or exposed at once to the most intense action of the flame. Lastly, I used the earth itself, obtained by decomposing pure crystals of the nitrate, which in particular had been freed from iron by ammonia. It cannot be freed from this metal by crystallisation, and might easily contain enough of it to afford deceptive appearances in these experiments. (I had found that a mixture of the carbonates of manganese and lime, when reduced in a powerful blast fur- nace, gave a regulus of which = must have been calcium, and by analogy iron and barium might be expected to possess the same relation.) ‘The earth then obtained was gray, without that 101 yellowish tinge which it generally has, and on essaying it, I found it free from any impurity but a little carbonic acid, and. a trace of platina from the crucible. A fragment of it exposed on charcoal to the flame entered into the same watery fusion as the carbonate, and was dissipated with the coloured flame. When it was placed on a fragment of Wedgewood’s ware, avoid- ing the fusion of the support, the appearances were rather dif- ferent ; during the few seconds which elapsed before it acquired the temperature of the flame, some hydrate was formed which melted, but the remainder resisted fusion, and was changed into a sort of frit; this evolved the usual flame, and it was obvious that the reduction was taking place. In this and subsequent experiments, I examined the residue for the metallic lustre, but I never certainly found it, and I do not think that any hydro- gen was disengaged when these residues were passed into dilute muriatic acid over mercury ; some gas was liberated, but I sus- pect it to have been carbonic acid, as it was totally absorbed by ammoniacal gas when added in excess above what was re- quired to saturate ‘the, acid (e).’ I am_ therefore inclined to think that the barium was volatilized as fast as it was formed. The various bedies on which 1 have tried experiments are, with few exceptions, fused in a few minutes, shivers of gunflint melt rapidly into globules, hydrate of alumine is rather more refractory, the subsulphate of it is easily fusible. Magnesia was blown away by the blast, but 4 parts of it with 1 of hydrate of alumine gives a clear glass. Lime is most untractable, the (°) The first specimens of barytes which I obtained gave a gas which was net absorbed by this treatment: I suspect that it was oxygen from peroxide of barium, as they were deprived of this property by the application of a violent heat. 102 common limestones vitrify with facility, granular white marble crumbled as it lost its acid, and its particles were dispersed, but in some instances I have seen its angles rounded and glaz- . ed. The difficulty of fusing it proceeds; chiefly from its white- ness, by which much heat is Jost. The metals are fused, and their oxides reduced in every in- stance which I tried, but unless we operate on large masses the reguli are burnt at the moment of their formation; these de- compositions are produced by the excess of hydrogen, and some of the metals which form carburets can be obtained in purity only by this method; for example, manganese and nickel; a fragment of rutilite fused, and the reduced titanium burnt with violence. Oxide of tungsten gave a button, but too small to take its S. G. A piece of manganese was fused, and kept for some time, when an excess of oxygen was admitted it defla- grated violently. A globule of copper was vaporised with a flame of great splendour; gold, silver, and platina are dissipated, not in flame, but by a vehement ebullition which throws their par- ticles to a distance. I lay before the Academy a button of this last metal, weighing 72 grs. which was obtained by fusing on charcoal, 3 globules of it weighing 84 grs. so that no less than 12 grs. were dissipated. This enormous loss arose from the direction of the blowpipe, for altering which I had made no provision, and as platina is a very bad conductor of caloric, that portion of it which was next the flame was boiling before the more remote part was fused. However it was fused in less than three minutes, and remained liquid some time after it was removed from the flame, so that I am confident it might be east in moulds, and by making four or five of these flames con- 103 verge on a mass of platina, it might be melted in the quantity of several ounces. I shall conclude by stating why I prefer this mstrument to that of Davy. In the first place it is less expensive; the two gas helders are not to be reckoned as parts of it, they are found in every laboratory, and are, in fact, necessary to the use of the other, and the blowpipe can be afforded for five shillings. Se- condly, it does not endanger the operator, while the other is fraught with peril, and even with the improvements which have been made on it, it is, in no little degree, formidable; the gases are mixed in the most explosive proportion, and from their compressed state, the machine may not unaptly be compared to a loaded shell; its insecurity is acknowledged by the gentleman who is most dexterous in the use of it, as he finds it necessary to operate behind a bomb proof, Thirdly, It affords greater facility in prolonging an operation. With a nozzle of =. I find that 150 cubic inches of the mixed gas escape in a minute under the pressure of 6 inches; now the instruments of Newman, which I haye seen, do not hold more than 80 cubic inches, and without enormous condensation none of them could supply such an aperture for five minutes. Now we cannot enlarge its receiver without augmenting the danger, and the condensation is also limited, for the gases explode by sudden compression, and the syringes now used are too large to be wrought slowly against a high pressure. Fourthly, the effect is very little inferior, if at all; no advantage is gained by having the gases in a common receptacle, and very little by their condensation. Could the new blowpipe be used with gases, whose elasticity was ne more than an inch or two 104 of water, it would not give more heat than a flame of hydro- gen burning in an atmosphere of oxygen, (/) and therefore any mixture more than is required for the combustion is unnecessary. The compressed state of the gases is of moreimportance ; if while a jet of hydrogen were burning in oxygen their densities were suddenly doubled, all other circumstances remaining the same, the heat would be much increased, for the same quantity of caloric would be evolved in half the space. But the quantity of ca- loric evolved cannot be the same, for much heat is given out in condensation, and this must be subtracted from the product of combustion. Air suddenly compressed into 4 of its volume is heated upwards of 1000°, how much more we know not; and besides this in the new blowpipe, the condensed gases are in the act of absorbing heat during their ignition, for they are expand- ing, and the escape of compressed air has been actually pro- posed as a frigorific process ; and if we further consider that all compression is at an end when ihe gases arrive at the end of the tube, or in fact before they arrive at the body to be heated, we must admit that little augmentation of effect is produced by it. Lastly, we can vary the properties of the flame at pleasure, while with the new blowpipe the proportions of the gases are in- variable during an experiment. If the common blowpipe had not its oxygenating and deoxygenating flame, it would be of comparatively small value to the mineralogist; but our instrument possesses both these powers in the highest degree, and it thus (f) This seems to follow from the fact that hydrogen when burnt with atmospheric air in my blowpipe, and in the open air, had equal powers of fusing platina wire. 107 enables us, in a single essay, to know the habitudes of a sub- stance with respect to caloric through a wide range of tempera- ture, and to combine with its agency either the affinity of oxy- gen, or the action of the most powerful reducing body which chemistry affords. We can arrange our flame as the phenomena may direct, and increase the magnitude of this apparatus with- out limit; while the other cannot, in prudence, be attempted on a large scale, and is scarcely manageable as to the nature and intensity of its flame. T. R. ROBINSON. January 11, 1818. VOL. XIII. g DESCRIPTION OF A NEW AIR-PUMP. BY GEORGE KIERNAN, ESQ. M. R. I. A. Read Feb, 23, 1818. THERE is scarcely any instrument to which science has been more extensively indebted than the air-pump. From its invention to the present day, few important chemical discoveries have been made without its assistance, and it has in fact created the art of ex- perimenting on invisible fluids. To the chemist therefore it is indis- pensable, it assists our operations on gasses, by it we are enabled to free in the most perfect manner the objects of analysis from moisture, and Leslie’s beautiful experiments have given us a fri- gorific process practicable at all seasons, and susceptible of results which may be applied to various important purposes, even to those , of domestic economy: by the help of this process the nicer and more delicate anatomical preparations are conveniently and expe- ditiously dried without being liable to the injury inseparable from their exposure to the united action of heat, air, and moisture. 0 2 110 ‘Birds also, and the smaller animals may be thus preserved as spe- cimens, without injury to their plumage or external appearance. For many of these purposes a very imperfect instrument is suf- ficient, but it is im some instances requisite to abstract the air in a very high degree from our vessels. ‘This great power of exhaus- tion has not yet been obtained without machinery, complicated, and therefore liable to derangement, and the high price of these more perfect instruments prevents many persons from availing themselves of them. I have, on this account, ventured to lay before the Academy the description of an air-pump, which I think will be found to unite simplicity with great power of exhaustion, and which to all ap- pearance is scarcely susceptible of being put out of order. In Cuthbertson’s pump there are three valves, two of which are opened mechanically, and of course are metallic, so that although in theory it is capable of exhausting indefinitely, yet if we consider how much the imperfections of werkmanship, which are almost unavoidable in every air-pump, are increased by the complicated nature of his, and the excessive difficulty of its execution, it may be questioned whether in practice it is of as much value as it appears. Prince’s rejection of the receiver-valve is a great improvement, but the remainder of his apparatus is not equally elegant, and it may _ be shewn that his valve-pump does not extend its power very much independent of the complexity of such an addition. The instrument which I now describe resembles his, in the mode by which the re- ceiver communicates with the barrel, but the valve which com- - municates with the atmosphere is opened mechanically. The apparatus for opening it cannot be attached to the piston, for 111 in that case there would always remain in the barrel a cylin der of air of the external density whose height would be the space through which the piston moved in closing the valve. It is therefore necessary that this should be closed before the pistow moves from the bottom in the ascending part of the stroke. I have attained this object in a manner that will be easily understood by a reference to Fig. 3, which represents a front section of the: pump, where A B is the barrel, C, the piston which is solid, D, a collar of leathers, through which the piston-rod passes, E, Fig. 2,. a hole drilled through the barrel, aud communicating with the re- ceiver by means of the pipe L, this hole is so placed, that when the. piston is drawn up to the top, it just passes it by. F, the valve opening outwards, and having a projecting wire or tail to which the wire frame (GG) is attached. This valve is gently pressed up to its seat by a weak spring, and is covered by a cap (I) with holes in it for to let the air through. H, the rack which is move- able on the piston-rod, having a play of about : of an inch between. two knobs. The action of the pump is as follows: when the piston is made to descend, it expels all the air that is in the barrel through the: valve F, and when it nearly reaches the bottom, the end of the rack comes in contact with the upper cross-piece of the wire frame G G, and depresses it, by this means the valve is kept open until after the stroke is completed. The winch is now turned back, and before the rack can move the piston from the bottom, it (the rack) must move through the space between it and the upper knob, in doing which, the pressure is taken off the wire-frame, which now rises by the action of spiral springs concealed in the tubes MM. The piston is still at the bottom of the barrel, and they 112 being both accurately ground together, no air can possibly remain between them, so that each time the piston is drawn up, a va- cuum is left behind it until it passes the receiver-hole, when a fresh portion of air must expand from the receiver into the barrel, this is expelled as before, and so the exhaustion must proceed without limit, at least as far as the expansive power of the air will per- mit. I have not had time since the instrument was finished, to deter- mine accurately its powers, but I know them to be considerable : When ihe valve is disengaged from its frame (and of course no longer opened mechanically) it still performs pretty well, bringing the mercury in the barometer gage to within + of an inch of the barometric column, although the valve requires some force to open it against the pressure of the atmosphere ; but in its ordinary con- dition, (attached to the frame) the difference is only +> of an inch, and on a dry day I have seen it less. Very few air-pumps exceed this, and even these do not without precations of manipulation, which, if used in the present instance, would encrease its power. In one respect, only, I am not perfectly satisfied with it. In the ascending part of the stroke, the mercury sinks in the gage, and rises again as soon as the piston passes the hole, and these oscil- lations in some experiments may be inconvenient. They are however only troublesome at the commencement of the exhaustion, diminishing with every stroke of the pump, and therefore do not produce any serious anneyance. But I have de- vised a means of preventing them, which is also useful on another account, as it makes the wp as well as the downstroke, efficient in exhausting from the receiver, and the instrument becomes equiva- lent to a double barrelled pump. This improvement consists in 113 interposing between the pump and pipe leading to the receiver a piece figured at Fig. 4, in which isa conical piece of brass, (A) ground into a seat, and having a leather valve, (B) of the ordinary construction, opening towards the barrel. With this addition, it acts like'a pump of the ordinary construction. Suppose the pis- ton to be drawn up from the bottom of the barrel, the air above it cannot return into the receiver as before, it must be expelled through the parchment valve, (H) in the upper part of the pump, see Fig. 3 after the piston passes the hole, the space below it is filled from the receiver, and in its descent this portion of air is driven through the lower valve while the vacuum left above it is again fil- led from the receiver, and discharged as before through the upper valve: (H) at last the air in the receiver will be unable to open the valve which is interposed between it and the barrel. If more per- fect exhaustion be required, the conical piece of brass (A) is now to be pushed out of its seat, which is effected by turning a wire that moves through a small collar of leathers, and which carries a pinion playing into the teeth of the little rack (D). It is obvious that the pump is now restored to its original form, and the ex- haustion must proceed sine limite as before. It may be said that this produces complication, but if it does it doubles the rapidity of exhaustion, and in this respect may be compared toa pump, with a second barrel piston, &c. and there can be no doubt of its superior simplicity, besides it is of very easy execution, for the little collar of leathers is easily made, and always remains staunch,* and any accidental leakage of the valye * As there is so little difficulty in making a collar of leathers, it may perhaps be worth con- sidering whether one having a rod with a groove cut in half its length, might not be substi- tuted for the stopcock of the air pump, which is always so difficult to be made and kept staunch. 114 is of no consequence, as it will be pumped out in the next stroke. The whole piece being connected with the receiver pipe and bar- rel by screws, can with ease be removed and examined. Indeed there is no part of the pump that cannot be readily got at, and in par- ticular, the lower valve can be removed, cleaned, and replaced during the exhaustion. By screwing on a pipe over the lower valve and connecting it with any vessel, we have a complete condensing apparatus, and if required, the air may be taken from the receiver, and transferred to any other vessel. Fig.1. isa perspective view of the pump, with its barometer gage, &c. but it is obvious that it can be made of a much eheaper construction. GEORGE KIERNAN. } Se ——— — — i : it Yi lt | | | =S= ili ht Fig.4 Fig.3 ON THE MANNER ALGEBRAIC FUNCTIONS OF THE PRINCIPAL VARIABLE, ARE IN CERTAIN CASES INTRODUCED INTO THE INTEGRALS OF LINEAR DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS THAT HAVE CONSTANT COEFFICIENTS. BY THE REV. EDWARD HINCKS, A.M. F.T.C.D. M.R.LA. « SenREnennniainesisn-_cacecaaeeeeennaae Read 16th March, 1818. ‘ ° * : d.Q.2. d*.Q.2 LET V =o; V being a linear function of @.2, —J—, Gov oeeensensenee d®. 9. : : fae Mate ~ - and ¢.z being an unknown function of 2, which it is the business of the integration to determine. This function is in its nature an exponential one. For, let « be any root of the equation V =o; V being what V becomes, when the exponent of the cha- racteristic d of each term is transported to the right of the suffixed VOL. XIII. R 116 quantity, so as, for instance, to change any term k. 2 into. (4. 9 )r k ie fy the given equation; B being any arbitrary constant, and ¢ being the well known transcendental 2,718, &c. whose hyperbolic loga- rithm is unity. For, substitute this quantity for 9.7 in the function E da’, = os a = kBc*.a’; da™ d? ; » and of course ¢.2 or —e “ into unity. Bc" will satis- V; any term of it, ask. will become k. and the entire function V will therefore become Bc «= Ve: Fr being what V becomes when for oes we write «, and being consequently, by the supposition, equal to nothing. This value of g.v will therefore render equal to nothing V,= Be V.: and will consequently satisfy the given equation; and it will in like bs 1 , ee a4 manner be satisfied by Bc,x* Be", &c. if a, «, &c. be also roots of the equation, V =o, and B, B, &c. be other arbitrary con- stants. It appears then that the quantity 9.2 should generally consist of m terms of the form Bc#*, and is therefore, as I said above, in its nature exponential, If any roots of the equation, V = o, should be impossible, the impossibility may be removed by the following artifice. Let, for example, € + A ./—1 be roots of the aforesaid equation. The corresponding parts of @2 will be (ee VDA SVG : ' Fe + ¢ Feign F and F to be Wen al yee BL B= g 2 2 tively equal to : , B and B being new 117 arbitraries; and the part of ¢.” just mentioned will become C ee Ee —Shabgaaplay ye Be” | oi? Binge 7 f Ne ee) bea Be dge plesdacs* BY =a TTT HOE WW EQIO Olio Nitsa TD or ey vs ae ae = Be cosra + Be'= ‘sin 2 x; an expression delivered from the impossible form. But this is a mere artifice of analysis, and does not alter the nature of the function 9g. x, which is still composed of quantities of the form Bc*’, though concealed under a certain disguise. It is however well known that cases occur, in which quantities of the forms Fc™ x”, or Fx’, F and F being arbitrary, form a part of the expression for ¢.2 ; and, when we consider the heterogeneity of exponential and algebraic functions, it may be perhaps thought not altogether unworthy of our attention to examine in what manner this is brought about. I have en- deavoured in the present paper to give a brief explanation of this difficulty, if such it shall be considered by any. The cases alluded to, in which quantities of either of the above- mentioned forms are included in ¢.x are those, in which any root of the equation, V = 0, is equal to nothing, or in which two or more roots of this equation are equal to each other. First, I shall suppose it to have a root, not actually equal to nothing, but evanes- cent, and represerited by h 3a, h being a finite coefficient. ‘The corresponding term of ¢.x will be Be**°* = B. { lthe death? wv’, 2 5 &e.t, which ultimately is reduced to its first term. It appears then that a single root of the equation, V = o, being equal to nothing will in- rR 2 118 troduce into ¢.a an arbitrary term independent of x, We have next to consider the case of two roots being equal te zero; but as this is included in the more general case of two roots being equal to each other, I shall proceed to this last; and suppose that ta the equation, V = 0, has two roots represented by « +hda and a+h 3 a, which are of course ultimately equal to each other. The terms of 9.x corresponding to these roots are Be [=F Baha y ath dalxc and Be ; which being developed according to the powers of the indefinitely small variation 2 @, and added together give (B+ B)c**+(Bh+Bh)e**adat(Bh + Bh") ¢* a + &c. (1) Instead of the arbitrary constants B and B, we may feign two others A and 4’, so that B + B= 4, and BAY BYES W Te In fact, this condition will be fulfilled, if we make A — AN 1 Ah— A - re ie Bee ;—. Substituting these values for h—hk h—k Band B in the function (1), we have dc** + JA’c* "a9 + Ae **. (h+W) 2°. ae Tene two first terms. By pursuing a similar analysis ‘it will readily ‘ap- pear, thatif there be 7 roots indefinitely near to «, and ‘represented byathda ath da, « +h” da, &.; and if-we develope the 7 terms, introduced by them into ¢.x, of the form -B.c Oe re according to the powers of da; we may equate the coefficients of a 2 a 2 phy xv t—I — Se ae er ee” he a A ae YS ip to + &c. which is ultimately reduced to ;its 119 3 A Al A” &e., t new arbitrary constants represented by 4, —, yogi? ttseaes ei : é hod his : the remainder of the developement of ec °*,c"°* &c. will ule x o timately disappear, leaving the ¢ terms A ¢“ [Ale oe ie g § m &C. @—1 2 : Oa) ay | e 7) 2 ) as part of the expression of 0.2. It appears then that the form of the function ¢.x is in its na- ture, as I stated in the beginning of this paper, erponential ; and that the algebraic functions, that occur in it in certain cases, are no more than the remains, or, if f may use the expression, the skeletons of exponential ones; the rest of which have disappeared, in consequence of the evanescent factors, by which they were multiplied, ene. tS Phas. ae der idee ‘eet shied Hi hala ab inter ae a - ee riled Reh yi tat et ee aa ; . ot hace Sent te fi : ms ene pao » epi al pence ft ¥ RY saat «ul Pigs inal ite Nee i Yow ae “ f hy Hsieh * bau: tL eR Ree wr | ath af oc eo a Sar i. 4 ; = ‘ ; ¥ 2» - Fa ON VOLTAIC ELECTRICITY. BY THE REV. T. R. ROBINSON, F.T.C.D. M. R.1. A. Read Nov. 23, 1818. JKIGHTEEN years have now passed, since the celebrated Philoso- pher of Pavia gave a new impulse to physical research by the in- vention of the apparatus, which bears his name. The observation, which, in the hands of Galvani and others, had remained an in- sulated and barren fact, or at most subservient to Physiology alone, when developed by his, penetrating genius, became the key to a new world ; it gave new plumes to the wing of Chemistry; and the result was a career of discovery, which changed the whole science, and has immortalized the fortunate individual, who achieved it. , But, while the chemical facts, which were obtained by the pile of Volta, have been prosecuted to the utmost, it is to be regretted, that the instrument itself has been left nearly as it came from its inventor ; its theory is unknown ; the mode of using _it with the greatest. effect doubtful; and every construction of VOL. XIII. s 122 it, which has yet been proposed, defective. These afford an ample field for research; and it is much to be wished, that it were occu- pied by some person qualified for the task. In the mean time, though prevented by other employments from endeavouring to reap the harvest, I lay before the Academy a few facts, which I have gleaned on the verge of the forbidden ground. They are not of very high importance; but, in the present state of our knowledge, no addition to it, however trifling, is to be despised. There is, I believe, no instance, where a fluid does not constitute one of the elements of a Voltaic combination. But what part does it act in them ? that of a conductor of electricity, or a non-conductor? It may seem strange, that so simple a question should remain to be solved; but I am under the necessity of thinking, that it has not yet been satisfactorily answered. The discoverer of the pile, and many other philosophers, are of the first opinion ; while the latter seems to be held by Davy, and others of as high authority. To judge from the analogy of that modification of electricity, which is excited by friction in a state of high intensity, water and aqueous fluids should be esteemed conductors; but analogy is not always a safe guide; and, in this instance, I am inclined to distrust it, and to imagine, that they transmit electricity by a very different pro- cess from that, by which metals conduct it. If a plate of glass be highly charged, the equilibrium of its sides is frequently re- stored by an explosion which fractures it. In this case, the elec- tricity certainly passes through the glass; but we do not therefore say, that itis a conductor. If two balls, one communicating with the machine, and the other with the earth, be immersed in oil, the result is the same ; but here its fluidity instantly closes the path of the discharge. In fact, when a jar is charged to the utmost, the tendency of the fluid accumulated on its interior to expand 123 itself is in equilibrio with the cohesion of the glass; and, if this latter were diminished, it would be broken by a charge of less in- tensity. A slip of glass of good quality, one tenth of an inch square, cannot be pulled asunder by less than thirty pounds; and the cohesion of a square inch of the surface of water is about two grains. I have also found, that a jar, one eighth of an inch thick, cannot bear a charge, which would strike through more than four inches of air; and therefore we may conclude, that, if the particles of glass cohered as weakly as those of water, it would be pierced by a power, which could pass through the ten millioneth of an inch of air. It is therefore probable, that this passage of Voltaic elec- tricity through water is merely a series of spontaneous discharges, facilitated by the separation of its elements. This opinion is con- firmed by many facts. If a feeble power, as of ten pair of plates very weakly charged, be used to decompose it, gas does not ap- pear instantly on making the connexion. Sometimes more than a second intervenes, and afterwards its evolution is not uniform; but it makes its appearance in bursts, with very perceptible remis- sions between. If we also consider an observation of Davy, that any bending in the tube between the wires materially impedes the decomposition ; and that, if the plates are of moderate size, they afford more of the electric matter than the tube can transmit. And, if we add to this the assertion of Cavendish, that waiter conducts, even in high intensities, 400,000,000 of times worse than iron, we can scarcely suppose it not to insulate such low powers; for low they must be, as a battery of 2000 pair could only strike through half an inch of a Torricellian vacuum, in which a spark of the common machine would perhaps pervade miles. Ina trough of the common construction, I cut off halt a zinc plate, and that half of the adjacent copper, which was opposed s 2 124 to the remainder, and I found, that the power of the apparatus was reduced almost to nothing by this change. It is therefore clear, that the electricity passed through the acid, only when the metallic surfaces were opposed perpendicularly ; for, when they were in that position, the instrument regained half its original power. It may also be worth attention, that the law, according to which fluids are decomposed by different Voltaic powers, is very different from that, which obtains in the fusion of wires. Two batteries were used, each containing twenty pair of plates; but the surfaces of the one were double those of the others: and I found, that the lengths of iron wire, which they ignited, were 6 and 1 inches; but, when they were applied to decompose a weak solution of po- tassa, they gave in six minutes 3.9 and 2 cubic inches of gases, Now there is reason to believe, that the quantities of electricity were, in these instances, as 2:1, and the gases evolved were nearly in the same proportion ; while it is known, that the action of this fluid on metallic conductors is in the duplicate ratio of its quantity. It also passes through wires of any length with undiminished velo- city ; for we find, that a battery fuses nearly equal lengths, when the conductors are a few feet long, or when they extend several fathoms. The laws, according to which the decomposing and wire- melting powers vary, with the mterval between the electrical poles, are also different. If a battery heat eight inches of wire red hot, it will fuse six nearly ; and we may thence infer, that this power is inversely as some high power of the interval; for the temperatures produced must be at least as 6ne to six, as I have shewn in a former communica- tion.* 'The power of decomposing is inversely as the interval, as ap- * It is a curious fact, and which I have never seen explained, that the ignition is not uniform throughout the wire. It begins at the points of contact, and spreads over the intervening space, till both meet in the centre, which is not so Juminous as the ex- tremes, 125 pears from the following experiment. Water was decomposed by a given Voltaic power in an apparatus: contrived so, that the interyal could be changed at pleasure ; and it was found, that, when the wires were 1.45 inches asunder, 53 measures of gas were obtained. in 8 minutes; at the distance of 2.8, 26; and at 4. 3, 16. Now multiplying each product by its corresponding distance, we obtain 76. 8, 72. 4, and 70. 95; so nearly the same, that the difference may be safely referred to the error of observation. If then water and other similar fluids conduct electricity, at low intensities, differ- ently from metals, and only by a succession of spontaneous dis- charges, we may consider them as non-conductors; and, applying the theory of charged electrics to the plates of acid media, which are elements of the pile, by it and an unquestionable datum, namely, that electricity is evolved, whenever two bodies are connected, one of which is undergoing chemical change, we may investigate the action of this instrument, which is still so obscure. I have attempted this, and have obtained formulas, which represent tolerably the pheno- mena; but I dare not confide in them till:they are verified by fur- ther experiments. For, in physical researches, we cannot proceed as in questions of pure geometry; where a few abstract principles are sufficient to open a path, which leads to the most sublime discoveries. In this more difficult field, even the transcendent powers of Bernouilli and Euler have been foiled ; and their unsuc- cessful efforts -have enabled the enemies of this exalted science to ridiculeits application to such inquiries.* * See Euler’s Theoria Navalis, his paper on the Strength of Materials, and others ;— where, with the most wonderful display of analysis the conclusions are of no practical value, as they are drawn from insufficient data. 126 If then we wish to enlighten this department of knowledge by the torch of mathematical reasoning, we must beware of proceeding from data either trivial or false; and must store our minds with experiments, by which we may try our conclusions. For this I am not yet prepared ; and, before I conclude, I shall mention some facts, connected with the Voltaic apparatus, which are not generally known. The intervals between the plates should be as small as possible ; for, according to my view of the subject, the plates of fluid are charged : and, with a given intensity, the charge is inversely as the thickness, and experience confirms this conclusion ; for it is known, that the pile, notwithtsanding its various imperfections, is much more powerful than the trough, while the series is small. Nor is any thing gained, by making the cells large, towards the longer continuance of electrical action; as a battery ceases to act pow- erfully long before all the acid contained in them is saturated. 'This diminution of effect is in part owing to the presence of a salt of zinc; for, if we add a little chlorid of zinc to a mixture of hydro- chloric acid and water, which would have produced a vivid effect, it is rendered nearly inert. But it is still more occasioned by the pre- sence of hydrogen gas; which virtually diminishes the surfaces of the plates, and of course lessens the quantity of electricity, The troughs, which I have already mentioned as capable of fusing 6 inches of fine iron wire when first charged, after.3 minutes could only ignite one. The plates were then raised, and, after two hours, when they were again immersed, it ignited 3:; and this difference was not owing to any subsidence of the metallic salt, for the fluid was agitated in the cells before the plates were let down. The re- lative values of these impediments may- be estimated from the following experiment. A trough, charged with water, contain- ing 75s of hydrochloric acid, gave, by decomposing solution of 127 potassa, in the first five minutes, 0. 8 of a cubic inch of gases ; in the next five, 0. 25. It was recharged, and gave, in the first five, 1.0. ‘The plates were then raised for 5 more, and, in the next five, it gave 0. 45; but, had the gas not been al- lowed time to escape from the fluid in the cells, it would have afforded only 0. 3, and the hydrogen would have diminished the effect 4. For the same reason we do not find, that we gain a proportional augmentation of power by increasing the strength of the acid mix- ture. With = of hydrochloric acid, I obtained 0. 8; with -., 0. 875 ; and with =., 1. 0, where the numbers proportional to the quantities of acid are 8, 9. 3, and 11.2, Experiments have been made by me on constructing batteries of large surface ; but I have not obtained any striking results. Where the trough is large, much difficulty is usually experienced in making it water-tight ; but the form which I used is very convenient. A cell is formed of thin copper soldered, so as to hold the acid ; from the middle of one of its broad sides proceeds a slip of copper, which is connected with a zinc plate, supported in a similar adjacent cell, so as not to be in contact with its sides. (See the Plate.) The series in this way may be continued ad libitum; and, from the double surfaces, which are effective in this construction, the arrangement is extremely pow- erful. In the same plate is exhibited another arrangement, which I have found convenient: its construction is obvious, without any description. I endeavoured, though without success, to ob- tain both quantity and intensity of electricity without the enor- mous expence of a series of large plates. It seemed possible, that, as the intensity depended on the number, and the quantity on the size, if the central plates were small, and their magnitude gradually augmented to the extremes, this result might be obtained. "128 The central zinc plate was half the size of those at the extremes, and they were gradually increased on both sides; each copper plate being equal to the zinc opposed to it. When J first tried the bat- tery, it fused a wire equivalent to the size of the extreme plates ; but, as I never obtained a similar result, I must conclude, that this was a deception ; for the power of the apparatus, whether estimated by fusion or decomposition, did not exceed that of a series of plates equal to the least in it. It remains to apologize for obtruding on the Academy these remarks in their present imperfect state. I could wish to have prosecuted the subject further; but, I trust, ‘that, even at present, they may be found not unworthy of acceptance. 'To me at least the information, which they convey, is new; and, if they should excite others to come forward in a similar manner, I shall conceive, that they have not been penned in vain. The quantity of knowledge which is lost to the world by the reserve of individuals, who are reluctant to publish any thing unfinished or unconnected, is deplorable. No person ever ranged in the: course of Experimental Philosophy, who has not found some fact unnoticed by others, some- thing peculiar to reward him for his labour. How many interest- ing details would have been unknown to us, had not Wollaston been a friend of the editors of certain periodical works! How many important discoveries are buried in the grave of Tennant! Nor is this true only of the stars of the Chemical sky; and he who knows asingle fact in Physics, which is not generally known, is wanting in his duty to science and mankind, if he withhold it either through indolence or modesty. ESSAYS RESPECTING THE CHANGES WHICH THE HUMAN SKELETON UNDERGOES AT DIFFERENT PERIODS OF LIFE; AND THE DEFORMITIES TO WHICH IT IS SUBJECT DURING ITS DEVELOPMENT. By WILLIAM WALLACE, M.R.C.S.I. M.R.I. A. LECTURER ON ANATOMY AND SURGERY, ONE OF THE SURGEONS TO THE CHARITABLE INFIRMARY, AND SURGEON TO THE DUBLIN INFIRMARY FOR CURING DISEASES OF THE SKIN. ESSAY I. WHEN we take a general view of the organization of animals, we remark great variety of structure. Every class possesses organs peculiar to itself; and the organs, which each class enjoys in com- mon with others, are subjected to numerous modifications. Hence, those characters are very few, which are common to the different classes of animals, or to the same kind of organ in different ani- mals, Their resemblance often consists in little more than in the effect produced. 'To ascertain these varieties and their laws, at the VOL. XIII. ~ 7 130 most important of which we arrive by an analysis of the conditions of existence,* is the object of Comparative Anatomy: a science indispeusable to General Physiology and Natural History. lf we confine our observations to the structure of the different varieties of the same species, or even to the organization of the same individual under different circumstances, we shall also ob- serve the same kind of organs subjected to perpetual varieties ; for, Ist. Every organic body is destined to undergo, during the progress. of its natural existence, a series of changes more or less remarkable; losing certain parts, and developing others, which were either much less considerable, or did not exist. The meta- morphose of the caterpillar into the butterfly, and of the tadpole into the frog, &c. are ebvious and striking im the. extreme ; but the changes, which the higher or more complicated animals under- go, though not so remarkable, are nevertheless as real. The infant, at birth, loses its placenta and coverings ; at a certain period, is nearly deprived of its thimus and renal capsules ; and acquires, by degrees, its hair and its teeth. Moreover, the rela- tive magnitude, and intimate structure of the different tissues and organs, undergo perpetual changes, from conception to the latest moment of a protracted existence ; so that no being is possessed of an organization, exactly the same, at any two different periods of life.* * « Comme rien. ne peut exister s'il ne réunit les conditions, qui rendent son existence « possible, les différentes parties de chaque étre doivent étre coordonnées de maniére a “ rendre possible ’étre total, non-seulement en lui-méme, mais dans ses rapports avec “© ceux’ qui l'entourent; et /’analyse de ces conditions conduit souvent 4 des lois générales “« tout.aussi démontrées que celles qui derivent du calcul, ou de 'expérience”” Cuyier, Regne Animal distribué d’aprés son Organisation, Paris, 1817. Introduction, p. 6. * Cuvier Régne Adimal. acs 131 Qdly. Every organized body, on the surface of our globe, is sub- ject to the powerful influence of physical agencies. We remark the same vegetable to vary in many of its most remarkable qualities, according to situation, &c. The tree of luxuriant branches and ma- jestic grandeur, transplanted far from the genial influence of the solar rays, becomes a frail shrub, or even does not elevate itself higher than an herbaceous plant; and the savoury vegetable soon loses its qualities ina foreign land. If climate exercises such infinite power over vegetable life, to what extent, is it reasonable to suppose, can it influence the higher order of animals, connected as they are, so intimately, by one of their most important functions, with the at- mosphere, in which they exist? If we cast our eye over the different species of Mamm2*~; we shall soon observe, that its influence on animals is fully as great, as we might, @ priori, have been led to suspect, from observing its action on the ‘vegetable world. | In fact, we remark the same animal assuming different statures, new forms, various colours, and changing the proportions of its different parts, according to the circumstances, in which it is placed. Even man, who can, more than any other animal, accommodate himself, with- out undergoing very material changes, to all climates, all tempera- tures, the different varieties of atmosphere, and every mode of life, alters his organization to adapt himself to these various circum- stances. He assumes a different stature, another colour of the skin, ‘and undergoes alterations in his moral and intellectual character. The modifications, which the same species exhibits under different circumstances, produce what are called varieties; and these varie- ties are so remarkable, that we are often at a loss, whether to con- sider them as simple varieties, or as different species. 3dly. Obvious and remarkable characters distinguish the different sexes. We find peculiarities in each, not only in respect to those T2 132 , organs and their functions, on which the sexual character depends, but also observe, that these peculiarities necessarily demand others, in almost all the component parts of the organization. Athly. The different temperaments and idiosyncracies depend on peculiar modifications of structure; which, although scarcely sen- sible, must nevertheless exist. And, 5thly. The organs of every living body are subject to lusorial va- rieties; whether from defect or disease in the procreative functions of the parents, or from other and more concealed causes.* Hence, the varieties afforded by the same kind of organs in dif- ferent individuals of the same species, or in the same individual under different cizcumstances, are scarcely less remarkable than those, which are to be found between the same kind of organs in dif- ferent classes ; and a knowledge of these varieties would, perhaps, be equally pregnant with interest and utility. An inquiry, which would have for its object the varieties afforded by the organization of the human species, arising from the causes just mentioned, might, with great propriety, be denominated Human Comparative Anatomy. Altbough Human Comparative Anatomy has not been entirely ne- glected, (for, since the middle of the last century, we find the most illustrious Anatomistst convinced of its importance, and much devoted to its advancement, ) it is far from having created that general interest, and procured that share of attention, which its great importance de- mands. When it is considered, that the science of anatomy will ever be imperfect, until it has ascertained all the natural varieties of structure ;—that the Anatomist can never hope to arrive at the * Varietics of organization, the effect of diseased action of the individual, are not, of course, here taken into consideration. + Haller, Albinus, Hunter, Bichat, Blomenbach, Soemering, Scarpa, Prochaska, Reil, Portal, and the Wenzels. 133 general laws of our organization, until his data are complete ;~ that, if the function is not solely the result of organization, it must be admitted there is an intimate connexion between the actions of the different organs and their structure; and hence, that every modification of texture is necessarily accompanied by corresponding modifications of function ;—that a knowledge of every variety in organization is indispensible to the Physiologist and Pathologist, and consequently to the Physician and Surgeon, whose arts are founded on Physiology and Pathology; and that it affords to the naturalist the only rational basis, on which he can attempt to reason respecting the unity of the human spe- cies and its varieties ;*—I say, when all this is considered, one is astonished to find, that, from the moment, when a tolerable knowledge of the anatomy of the adult was obtained, Human Comparative Anatomy did not become a grand object of inves- tigation. Now, as it may be presumed, that every enquiry, in any way tending to promote the interests, and advance the knowledge, of a subject so interesting and useful, would be acceptable to the Academy, the author is induced to commu- nicate to them the results of a great number of dissections, undertaken with the view of ascertaining the changes, which the human skeleton undergoes at different periods of life; and, if they should be considered as calculated to assist in the ad- * « L’étude de l’Anatomie, dans les divers ages de la vie, offre un nouveau champ de dé- « couvertes ; et i] n’est pas douteux, qu’ en la cultivant, on ne parvienne 4 concilier les “ opinions des divers anatomistes, parce qu’ils ont regardés comme constant, ce qu’ils n’ont vu « que dans un seul dge de la vie.”"— Portal, Mémoires de l’ Academie des Sciences, ann. 1771. + It is not intended to investigate, at present, the changes which the structure of the bones undergoes at different periods of life. This will form the subject of a future enquiry : the present being limited to the consideration of the changes inthe form, and relative proportion, of the whole skeleton and its different parts. 134 vaneement of a science, perhaps of the: first importance to-man- kind, he will, as.soon as ‘more pressing duties permit, commu- nicate other facts, which he has collected respecting the. deve- lopment. of other organs. A division of the skeleton, founded on physiological princi- ples, would, if attainable, be much superior to any other, in the consideration of :the phenomena exhibited during its deve- lopment; but such a division is impracticable, in consequence of the same part being frequently subservient to very different functions. We must therefore follow an arrangement founded on the portions of the body, into the formation of which the dif- ferent parts of the skeleton enter; and as, perhaps, nove will an- swer the object of this enquiry. better, than the common divi- sion into. head, trunk, and extremities, it will be followed through- out these Essays. I. HEAD. The head is composed of a great number of bones, so arranged and connected together as to form an assemblage of cavities, destined for the reception and defence of important parts; par- ticularly the brain, and many of the organs of external sensa- tion.* Each of these cavities may therefore form the head of * The organs of sensation are divisible into external and internal. The former make us acquainted with surrounding bodies, and the latter with the state of our own system, 135 a section, in an enquiry into the development: of this part of the skeleton ; consequently the cranium, auditory cavities, orbits, mouth, and nasal fosse, which: afford lodgement to the brain, the organs of hearing, vision; tasting, and smelling ; as also those parts of the bones’ of the head, which: are subservient to the function of mastication; will successively come under our con- sideration; and will naturally lead to some observations, respect- ing the changes, which the head in general undergoes, in con- sequence of the changes of its particular parts. SECTION I. CRANIUM. The proportion of the cranium to other parts of the skeleton, and of the several regions of the cranium to one another, at dif- ferent periods of life, forms a curious and interesting object of inquiry. The rapidity. of its growth, when compared with al- most all the other cavities of the head, and with the entire skeleton, has, at all times, attracted considerable attention, and been a fruitful source of speculation; but the relations, that exist between the development of its different parts, have been, in a great measure, overlooked. Between the third and fourth week after conception, the cranium is observed. It has then the appearance of a vesicle containing the infant brain ; and forms, at least, one half of the whole embryo, and the entire of the head: for the other cavities cannot be distin- guished. By degrees, the face is developed; but, for a long time, 136 we are astonished at the small proportion, which it bears to the cavity containing the brain. The predominance of the cranium, compared with the other cavities of the head, and with the entire skeleton, (though gradually diminishing, from almost the first mo- ment of formation,) is preserved, to a certain extent, till the com- pletion of growth. Not merely till the cranium has ceased to grow; but, till all the other parts of the skeleton have acquired their per- manent dimensions. From observations I have made, I am convinced, that the cavity of the cranium has arrived at its permanent dimensions, at the eighth year of our existence, or perhaps sooner. To general observers, this remark would not appear correct. Their attention is, however, only directed to the exterior of the cranium; and, it must be ad- mitted, that, after this period, the cranium, viewed externally, in- creases in its dimensions; but this increase of external dimension has no influence on the cavity. It is produced by an increase of the thickness of the bones of the cranium and their coverings. This fact is confirmed by the observations of the Wenzels;* these ac- curate and indefatigable anatomists having observed, that the brain, which is contained in, and fills this cavity, has attained its perma- nent dimensions at the age of seven years. As therefore the cavity of the cranium has arrived at its maximum, between the seventh and eighth year, (a period much earlier than any other part of the skeleton,) it follows, that the permanent relations of magnitude are not established, when the cranium ceases to grow-; but at the con- clusion only of the development of the entire skeleton. The cavity of the cranium does not increase, in the same ratio, ® Wenzel, (Joseph and Charles,) de Penitiori Structura Cerebri Hominis et Brutorum., Fol. Tubiagen, 1812, p. 254, 295. as 137 during all the periods of its growth. At birth, it has acquired much more than one half of its permanent dimensions ; conse- quently it grows, during the nine months of uterogestation, more than from birth to the eighth year, when its development is com- plete. Indeed, it would even appear to increase, during the seven months previous to parturition, more than during as many years after birth. The cranium is generally considered as containing a single organ. Now, as it may be supposed, that all parts of the same organ will grow in the same proportion, and, as there is a con- nexion between the development of the cranium and the parts it contains, we should be naturally led to expect, that all parts of this cavity would grow with equal rapidity. Observation, however, proves this supposition to be erroneous ; and demonstrates, that, not only the various parts of the cranium develop themselves in dif- ferent proportions, but also that each portion of the brain has a rapidity of growth peculiar to itself. If a line be drawn round the cranium, passing over the nasal and external occipital protuberances, it will be separated into two portions, a superior and inferior. These two portions grow very une jually. The upper part, which is called the vault, is developed much more rapidly than the under, or base. Let the vault of the cranium, in its longest diameter, be divided into five equal parts. The two anterior fifths grow less rapidly than the three posterior. Of the three posterior fifths, the two anterior are most rapid in growth. As, therefore, the vault of the cranium grows more rapidly than the base, and as that part of the vault, where the two posterior join the three anterior fifths, is, of all parts of the vault, the most rapid in its growth, it follows, that this por- VOL. XII. U 138 tion of the cranium holds a predominance over all the others, tili their development is completed. . From measurements which I have made, it would appear, that the longitudinal, transverse, and vertical diameters, do not bear the same proportion to each other at all periods. The vertical diameter is proportionably smaller during early life; more particularly where it corresponds to the posterior fossa of the cranium, which lodges the cerebellum. This would appear to depend on the slow growth - of the base. The transverse diameter proportionably exceeds the longitudinal, till the third month after conception: hence the sphe- rical form of the head at this period. From the third until the ninth month, the longitudinal diameter grows more rapidly than the transverse, which causes the elongated form of the head at birth ; and, from birth until the growth is completed, the proportion of the transverse to the longitudinal gradually increases, when their per- manent relations of magnitude are established. These observations appear, in some measure, to favor the doc- trines of Gall and Spurzheim, respecting the functions of different portions of the brain: doctrines, which have excited much unme- rited ridicule. Though their conclusions (many of which are sup- ported by numerous facts,) have not hitherto received the sanction of general experience, to deride them, solely on that account, is highly absurd. Since it has pleased Providence to make an orga- nized material substance the medium of all the mental faculties, it. is not irrational to suppose, that these several faculties may depend, for their existence, on certain parts of the organized mass; and, for their degree, on the proportion of these parts.* The irreg: larities for the attachment of muscles, observed in the * See Parry, Elements of Pathology, London, 1815, vol. i. p- 281. 139 base of the scull, are not as large, in proportion to the size of the cranium, in early life, as afterwards ; but there is, at all times, the same proportion between the magnitude of the foramina, for the transmission of nerves and blood vessels, and that of the cavity of the cranium: with this exception, however, that the hole, through which the blood of the lateral sinus passes, is relatively smaller in proportion to the youth of the subject. _ There occurs, at different periods, a very remarkable change in the position of the large foramen of the occipital bone. The younger the subject, thenearer this foramen, and consequently the condyles, for the articulation of the occiput with the spine, to the centre of the base of the cranium. There is probably a connexion between the situation of this hole aad the development of the face; for, the greater the deve- lopment of the face, the farther the foramen is removed backwards ; and it is likely, that its place in the adult is determined by the quantity of room required for the face and pharynx. Its situation however, in early life, so much nearer the centre of the base than afterwards, must be considered as, in some measure, owing to the greater rapidity of the growth of the posterior than anterior parts of the cranium. What- ever may be the cause, which determines this peculiarity, it serves the useful purpose of rendering the head more easily supported by the action of its muscles ; which are, in early life, but weak, com- pared with the size of the cranium. The varieties of structure, which the cranium exhibits, at dif- ferent periods of life, will be more fully considered, when speak- ing of the changes of structure, which the whole skeleton under- goes; but, as some observations on this subject appear to be here required, I shall make a few remarks, reserving the remainder for a future occasion. The walls of the cranium, when this portion of the skeleton u2 140 can be first distinguished, are composed solely of a semitransparent and very delicate membrane. By degrees its density and thickness encrease. It becomes firmer and more opaque ; and, about the mid- dle of the second month after conception, it can with ease be shown to consist of two layers. From the manner, in which the bone is afterwards deposited, between the layers of this membrane, it may probably be considered as the rudiments of the dura mater and pericranium. ‘These two membranes (for I shall now con- sider each layer as a distinct one,) are connected by the medium of a tissue, apparently cellular, and looser than the membranes themselves ; but this medium does not resemble, nor do they, at this period, contain between them any thing like cartilage. Their nature, and the resemblance between them and other structures, cannot, in consequence of their delicacy and imperfect organization, be determined ; but, as well from some observations on them at this period, as from their nature, when more fully developed, I suppose them to be of the same structure as that tissue, which Bichat calls fibrous. About the end of the second month, the walls of the cranium undergo a remarkable change. Cartilage is deposited between the dura mater and pericranium in the base; but not, as is sup- posed, in the vault.* The deposition of the cartilage in the base is even limited to particular parts. I have observed cartilage in the situation, where the «thmoid, the body of the sphenoid, the petrous portion and mastoid process of the temporal, and the lower part of the occipital bones, are developed ; but, not in the situation of the orbital processes of the frontal, ér temporal wings of the sphenoidal. * Kerkringius, Osteog. Feet, cap. IT. SS 141 The next change, observed in the structure of the cranium, is the deposition of bone. The period, at which this takes place, is rather indefinite. It always, however, commences some time in the course of the third month, and earlier in the base than in the vault. Bone will generally be found in the base, at the be- ginning of the third month; and, in the vault, towards the ter- mination of the same month. ° The deposition of bone, in the base, is made in the cartilage, which, as I have mentioned, previously existed there; but, in the vault, in the medium, which connects together the two membranes of the cranium : a medium, which I have already asserted, and which I shall hereafter prove, to have no resemblance to cartilage. There is, therefore, this remarkable difference between the struc- ture of the base and vault, during their development, that, in the former, cartilage precedes the formation of bone, but not in the latter. These facts, with which Anatomists do not appear to be generally acquainted,* will, on a future occasion, obtain con- siderable attention. At present, I shall not take into consideration, either the causes of cartilage preceding bone in the base, or of its nonexistence in the vault, further than to observe, that both the existence of cartilage in the base, at a period, when the rest of the cranium is only membranous, and the commencement of the de- position of bone in the same situation, before it is observed in the vault, are arrangements, which appear to be necessary, for the purpose of affording, at as early a period as possible, defence to the base of the brain; which, it is well known, cannot bear me- chanical injury with so much impunity as the vault. The number of distinct points of ossification found in different » See Nesbit’s Osteogeny. 142 parts of the walls of the cranium, the rudiments of the future bones, is subject to some variety, owing to the occasional for- mation of those little bones called Wormian ; but, I believe, with the exception of these, twenty-six will in general be found.* These bony nuclei are necessarily, at first, separated from each other by a considerable interval; and are held in contact, in the base, by the cartilage which surrounds them, and by the membrane that lines their internal and covers their external sur- faces; but, in the vault, merely by the membranes and medium, which connects these membranes. By degrees, the nuclei encrease, both in thickness and superficies, so as to diminish the interval, which at first existed between them. This increase is much more rapid in the base than in the vault. However, even here, and in those skulls which grow most rapidly, there are very few, if any, of the bony nuclei brought into contact before the sixth mouth after conception. At birth, ossification is so far advanced, that almost all the bones in the base are in contact with each other; and any interval, that exists between them, is filled up by the cartilage surrounding their edges; but, in the vault, there are few places where the edges of the bones are contiguous; being, in almost every part, separated by an interval, in some situations of consi- derable extent, and connected by the dura mater and pericra- nium, which line their internal, and cover their external sur- face. There is also a very thin stratum of cellular substance, ® The frontal is formed by two, the occipital by four, the spheroidal by three, the zthmoidal by three, each temporal by three, each parietal by one, and each of the small bones of the ear generally by one. Swe eee a 143 which serves to connect these two membranes in the intervals of the bones, and also the bones themselves; for it passes from the edge of one bone to that of another. It is to be observed, that those bones, which form the posterior part of the vault, have extended their growth farther than those, which constitute the anterior part. Hence the smaller size of the occipital, when compared with the frontal fontanella: a fact observed by Mor- gagni,* and considered by him to depend on the cerebellum requiring to be well defended during parturition. These facts, respecting the changes in structure, which the walls of the cranium undergo at different periods, prove, that the ossification of the base advances more rapidly than that of the vault. This does not, on a first view, seem to accord with the observations just made on the growth of the dimensions of these two parts of the cranium, compared with each other. It has been already remarked, that the base is much slower in developing itself than the vault ; but this observation only related to the growth in dimensions, not in structure. It may, however, appear extraordinary, that there should not be a connexion be- tween the growth of the structure, and the growth of the di- ~ mensions. The cause of this want of connexion is, however, on reflection, very evident. The development of the cranium in dimensions must keep pace with the development of the dimen- sions of the brain; but the growth in structure is connected with the necessity, which the different parts of the brain have for defence ; therefore, as the dimensions of that part of the brain, which corresponds to the vault of the cranium, grows with greater rapidity, the same must occur with respect to the corres- © Adversar: Anat.11. Animad, 32, 144 ponding part of the cranium. On the other hand, the base of the brain, where the origin of all the nerves is situated, requires more secure means of defence; hence the corresponding part of the cranium has its structure, on which its powers of defence depend, rapidly developed. In the cranium of a foetus at birth, we remark two beautiful arrangements, destined, at the same time, to facilitate the process of parturition, and to protect that part of the brain, which more particularly requires defence. Ossification has, at this period, as I have already remarked, so far advanced in the base, that almost all the bones are contiguous ; and, where there is any interval between their edges, it is filled by a cartilage having considerable powers of resistence. At the same period, the bones of the vault are se- parated, to a considerable extent, from each other, and only united by membranes. This conformation gives to the. base a great de- gree of strength, and enables it to resist any pressure, which would be likely to alter its form, and thereby injure a portion of the brain, very sensible to every mechanical violence ; while the bones of the vault are enabled to approximate, and even to overlap each other : a change, which, in consequence of the structure of this part of the brain, can take place with impunity. From all these consi- derations it appears, that it is by alterations in the form of the vault, and more particularly of its anterior part, that the head accommo- dates itself to the form of the pelvis during parturition. After birth, the bones extend themselves to such a degree, as, not only to increase the dimensions of the cranium, but also to approach each other ; and thereby diminish or annihilate the inter- vals, which separated them in earlier life. At last they have ar- rived at such a state, that they are almost every where in contact ; and we remark, that their edges have then assumed forms of va- 145 rious kinds, preparatory to their union with each other. ‘Those bones, which are in the base, have plane edges ;* those on the sides of the vault are so constructed, that one bone shall overlap the other ;+ those on the top of the vault are serrated, by which they are mutually enabled to receive and support one another.t It will be admitted, that the cause of all these peculiarities has never been satisfactorily explained. Some Physiologists, unable to conceive the possibility of any occurrence in the body, without a mechanical cause, have attempted to account for the phenomena on mecha- nical principles. By them we are told, that the bones of the cra- nium overlap each other at the side, in consequence of the pres- sure of the temporal muscle ;§ and that the conformation of their edges in the top of the vault, where they are serrated, arises from the bones ossifying in the form of radii, and hence mutually re- ceiving each other, when they meet. Their opinion is, however, proved to be without foundation, when it is considered, First, that the overlapping of the bones of the cranium is to be observed, where neither the pressure of the temporal muscle, nor any mechanical agency, with which we are acquainted, can. exist: VOL. XIII. x * Harmonia. + Sutura squamosa. + Sutura vera. § The manner how I imagine this sort of suture is formed at these places is, that, by the action of the strong temporal muscles on one side, and by the pressure of the brain on the other, the bones are made so thin, that they have not large enough surfaces opposed to each other to step the extention of their fibres in length, and thus to cause the common serrated appear- ance of sutures, but the narrow edge of one bone slides over the other. Monro’s Works, edited by his ‘Son, p. 75. q ‘‘ The suture is that articulation, where two bones are mutually indented into each other, or as if they were sewed together ; and {s formed by the fibres of two bones meeting, while they are yet flexible and yielding, and have not come to their full extent of growth : so that they mutually force into the interstices of each other.” Monro’s Works, edited by his Son, p: 55—36. , 146 Hence, it may be presumed, that, as the cause, which produces the overlapping in one situation, produces it in others; and, as this cause is certainly in many situations not mechanical, it may be inferred, that it is not mechanical in any. Secondly. If the serrated appearance of the true suture was caused by the accidental union of the ossifying radii, it should be found, in all situations, where the radii exist at the commencement of ossification ; and, as the appearance of the radii is, in all situa- tions, the same, the serrated suture should, every where, have the same form. Neither of these, however, is the case. Thirdly. Neither mechanical pressure, nor the pre-existence of radii, would explain the cause of the form observable in the edges of the bones in other situations ; in the base, for example, where they meet by plane surfaces. Fourthly. There is no reason to suppose, that the cause of the conformation of the articulating surfaces of the bones of the cranium is different from that, which determines the form of the articulations in other parts of our skeleton ; and, as it is universally admitted, that these depend on the laws of our organization, and not on any accidental mode of ossification, or on mechanical pressure, it is much to be wondered, that physiologists should have, for so long a time, attributed the nature of the articulations of the cranium to such causes, Finally. The admirable adaptation of the edges to their uses, which, I shall just now prove, must immediately force us to con- clude, that their construction depends on some immoveable law of nutrition ; and not on the uncertain influence of mechanical pres- sure, or the accidental formation of radii. I shall not now take into consideration the advantages arising from the cranium being composed of a great number of bones. 147 For the present, however, it may be admitted, that this conforma- tion was necessary ; and hence it became indispensable, that the several bones should be united in such a way as to remove, as much as possible, every kind of mconvenience likely to arise from such organization. This appears to be the principle, which re- gulates the form of the edges of the bones. How well the arti- culations of the cranium are calculated to answer this end will ap- pear from a consideration of the mechanism of this cavity in resisting injury. If any pressure be made on the anterior, posterior, or lateral part of the cranium, so as to act directly on the base, it resists in con- sequence of the mutual support, which the bones afford each other, by means of the broad and plane surfaces, with which they are united. This mode of articulation is, therefore, peculiarly well adapted to the base; for, if the bones were here united in such a manner as either to overlap, or with narrow edges mutually to receive each other, they would not be able to oppose the necessary resistance. If the top of the vault be pressed on by the fall of a heavy body, by the weight of a load placed on the head and acting’ perpendi- cularly, or by any broad and resisting body impelled against it, the motion is divided and propagated in all directions. The portion of the impulse, which acts perpendicularly, tends to drive in the part pressed on ; but this is effectually prevented by the serrated form of the articulations of the bones in this part, by means of which they are enabled mutually to receive and support each other: and that portion which acts laterally, tends to drive outwards the lower part of the parietal bones ; but, as they are overlapped by the sphenoid and temporal bones, which form to them a kind of buttress, this cannot take place, unless these bones perform a revolutionary x2 148 motion. This, however, is effectually prevented by the breadth of the plane surfaces, by which the bones in the base are united. As these few observations are sufficient to illustrate the function of each kind of articulation, I shall not farther enlarge on the subject. It may, however, be here remarked, that the respective functions of each kind of articulation is so accurately fixed, that the nature of the injury, to which particular parts of the cranium are subject be- ing known, we could, a priort, determine the kind of suture to be found in each part. These observations will perhaps be considered as of some importance, in consequence of their affording princi- ples, by which we can explain the causes of the innumerable and hitherto apparently capricious varieties remarked in the articula- tions of the cranium. They also demonstrate the connexion, which exists between their construction and the well being of a cavity des- tined to protect the most important and most delicate organ of our system; and we are thereby forced to consider their formation as depending on determined laws, and not on the uncertain influence of pressure, or the accidental formation of radii. Anatomists not fully acquainted with the manner, in which the true suture enables the bones that form it, mutually to support each other, have been much at a loss to explain a peculiar appear- ance, exhibited by this kind of articuiation: the existence of serra only on the external surface of the cranium. The common me- chanical explanation being not only entirely inadequate, but almost, if not wholly, unintelligible.* * It must be observed, that the indentations of the sutures do not appear on the inside of the cranium by much so strong as on the outside; but the bones seem almost joined in a straight line : nay, in some skulls, the internal surface is found entire, while the sutures are manifest without, which may probably be owing to the less extent of the concave than of the convez surface of the cranium, whereby the fibres of the internal side would be stretched farther out at the 149 If we consider the function of this suture, which is to enable the bones, that form it, mutually to receive and support each other; and the manner, in which the conformation of their edges perform this office, the appearance is easily explained. The bones of the cranium are composed of two layers or tables, an external and an internal. In the serrated suture, the external table of each bone is applied on the internal of the other, in such a way, that the latter supports the former. It is therefore necessary, that the external table of both bones be mufually prolonged over the internal, upon which they lie, and from which they receive their support. This is accomplished in the following manner. A number of serrz or pro- cesses belonging to the external table of one bone, for example, of the right parietal, pass into cavities or fissures for their reception, in the external table, and on the internal table of the opposite bone, or left parietal ; while, in return, an equally great number of serra of the left parietal pass into cavities for their reception in the external table and on the internal table of the right parietal. It is easy to apply these observations to explain the cause of the existence of the serra externally, and consequently of their absence inter- nally. Thus, we have seen, that, in this kind of articulation, the internal tables support the external. Now it is necessary, first, that the external table shall be prolonged over the internal, from which it receives support; secondly, that the external edges of the bones than the exterior ones, if they were not resisted. The resistences are the fibres of the opposite bone, the parts within the skull, and the Diploe; of which the last being the weakest, the most advanced fibres, or serra, run into it, and leave the contiguous edges equal, and more ready to unite: whereas the serrz of the external table have space enough for their admission between the fibres of the opposite bone; and, therefore, remain in the indented form, and are less liable to the concretion whereby the sutures are obliterated. Monro’s Works, edited by his son, p.’76. See also Hunauld, Mem. de l’Acad. des Sciences, 1730, 150 tables shall be serrated, that they may mutually receive each other, and thereby allow the external table of each to be reciprocally sup- ported by the internal table of the other. If the external table was not prolonged over the internal, there could not be any support gi- ven; and, if there was not an interlacing of the external tables, there would not be a mutual support. As the circumstances, by which each of the tables is affected, are different, the serrated con- formation, necessary in the external table, does not exist in the in- ternal; for no advantage could be derived from their interlacing, but a great inconvenience would result from it, as the internal table would be thus rendered nearly unable to support the external. These considerations prove, not only the mechanism of the kind of articulation, which exists in the vault, but also how admirably it is calculated to answer the desired end. Had the bones been here connected by plane surfaces, as they are in the base, they could not afford any support to each other; or had one bone overlapped the other, one only would be supported, and the other easily driven in.* While the bones of the cranium are separated, by a considerable interval from each other, I have already remarked, that they are re- tained together, in the vault, partly by the dura mater and pericra- nium, and partly by a very thin stratum of cellular substance, which passes from the edge of one bone to the edge of another ; but, in the base, by a cartilagenous substance, which surrounds the edge of the growing bone, and by the membranes covering the cranium, and lin- ing its internal surface. Such is, for example, the state of the cra- nium at birth. In proportion as the bones are increased, this interval between them is diminished, and the medium of connexion modified in its nature. In the cranium of a child, about twelve months old, we remark, that the very thin stratum of cellular substance, which * See Winslow, Mem. de l’Acad. des Sciences, 1720. 151 formed, at an earlier period, the medium of connexion between the edges of the bones in the vault, is converted into a membrane much thicker, more unyielding, of a fibrous structure, and resembling more nearly the texture of a very strong fibrous membrane, than any other tissue in the body. At the same period, the cartilage, which joined the bones in the base, is less in quantity, the bones being now more closely applied to each other; and it has assumed the appear- ance of fibro-cartilage. If the cranium be examined, when its de- velopment is a little farther advanced, the edges of the bones are so closely applied to each other, that no medium of connexion is ob- servable ; hence the cause of anatomists remaining so long ignorant of the existence of an animal substance, between the edges of the bones of the cranium, when their articulations are perfectly formed.* From observing the state of these articulations at the earlier periods of life, I was led to suspect, that, even when they are most perfect, there exists between the bones, that form them, an animal substance; and Iwas able, by the following simple process, to demonstrate, not only its existence, but also its nature. I deprived a recent cranium of its soft coverings, and subjected it to the action of dilute muriatic acid, with the intention of examing the nature of this medium; which I expected to be able to do, by depriving the bones of their calcareous matter. The cranium had not been long exposed to the acid, when it was rendered flexible, and appeared formed of one con- tinuous sheet of cartilage. The cartilagenous basis of all the bones of this cavity is therefore continuous, there being no interruption, as is generally supposed, where these bones are articulated together. Thus we observe, that, when the articulations of the bones of the cra- nium are perfectly formed, there is a cartilaginous medium of union, which serves to keep the bones, which form the cavity, in contact ; and this cartilaginous medium is, at this period, continuous and of * Bichat, Anatomie descriptive, 152 the same nature with that, which constitutes the animal basis of the bones themselves. Towards the latter periods of life, the quantity of cartilage be- tween the edges of the bones is gradually diminished by the progress of ossification; and the osseous substance of one bone, at last, be- comes continuous with that of those, with which it is articulated. By this means all appearance of the articulations is removed, first on the internal surface, and afterwards on the external; and, if death did not put a stop to the progress of ossification, it would only terminate, when it had formed the whole cranium into one bone. For a considerable period after birth, the bones of the cranium are very thin, and their structure uniform. By degrees their thick- ness increases, and their surfaces becoming very compact, while the interior assumes a cellular appearance, what are called the tables and diploe of these bones are formed; but, in very advanced life, the texture of these bones becomes uniformly compact, and the cellular tissue is obliterated. Hence the existence of tables and diploe is peculiar to the middle period of life, and are not be found well marked either in the very young or very aged subject. Read Feb. 22, 1819. SECTION II. AUDITORY CAVITIES, Read, June 28, 1819. "THE auditory apparatus consists, Ist, of an assemblage of organs, which serve, by their physical properties, to collect, transmit, and modify, the immediate cause of the sense of hearing.—2dly, of a nerve destined to receive and convey to the brain the impressions of sound. he cavities in the temporal bone, which are subservient to these parts, may be called auditory ; and are naturally divisible, according as they belong to the former or the latter, into the tympa- num, with its appendages, and the labyrinth. The tympanum and its appendages offer to our consideration a great number of parts, whose development must be separately considered. On the external side of this cavity, we observe the external auditory tube and the groove, in which the circumference of the membrane of the tympanum is lodged ; on the internal, the oval hole, the round hole, the promontory, and the pyramid ;—anteriorly, the canal which lodges the internal muscle of the malleus, the eustachian tube, and the partition which separates them ;—posteriorly, the mastoid cells and their opening ;—superiorly and inferiorly, a number of little sinuses, or caverns, bony fibres, &c.—and, finally, in the interior VOL. XIII. Yy 154 or middle, the cavity of the tympanum properly so called, and its bones. At the termination of the third month after conception, we can first remark the rudiments of the external auditory tube. Two thirds of the circle of its root are, at this period, formed by a small bone, not thicker than a hair, curved, so as to describe a semicircle; and the remainder, by the roots of the mastoid and zygomatic processes. Its greater edge is convex, but the smaller is grooved, for the reception of the circumference of the membrane of the tympanum. _ Its thick- ness increases, and it gradually forms a larger portion of a cir- cle; at first connected by a membrane to the parts, on which it lies. About the fifth month after conception, its bony union commences at its extremities; and, soon after, throughout its entire extent. Bone is now gradually deposited, along its eoncave or lesser edge ; in such a way as to form the nonarticular part of the glenoid cavity, and afterwards the auditory process. In this manner, the lower and anterior part of the auditory tube is completed ; and, by the gradual development of the zygomatic and mastoid processes, the upper and back parts are formed. The diameter of the bony circle, which I have described as con- stituting the root of the auditory tube, is equal to the diameter of the tube itself, at any period of life ; hence, it is only in length, that this tube encreases after birth. The period, at which the auditory tube gains its ultimate length, varies cousiderably ; but, I believe, it will generally be found, about the 14th year, as long as at any after period; unless we except the portion, which is formed by the root of the mastoid process, and this is not perfected so soon. I have been induced, from observing a close connexion between the growth of this tube and the organs of mastication, to consider the bony ring, first formed, in which the groove for the membrane of the 155 tympanum is placed, as the only part of the external auditory tube, directly subservient to the function of hearing, and that the rest is merely to protect the auditory canal from the pressure of the condyle of the lower jaw ; which, was it not defended by the bony sheath, would be in constant danger of being compressed, and its area obliterated, whenever the inferior maxillary bone was exten- sively moved. In the earlier periods of life, when the condyles have not the power of extensive motion, the auditory tube does not exist ; its place being occupied by a fibrous membrane, which is attached, by one end, to the edge of the curved bone that forms the rudiments of the auditory tube, and by the other, to the cartilaginous portion of the auditory canal.* The groove of the auditory tube, in which the circumference of the membrane of the tympanum is encased, and which consequently regulates the line of direction of thismembrane, is, when first observed, nearly horizontal. By degrees, it becomes so inclined from without, downwards and inwards, that at birth it is very oblique. Hence, as Bichat has observed, the membrane of the tympanum is, at that period, continuous and almost parallel to the superior side of the auditory canal ; while the inferior side forms, with the membrane of the tympanum, a very acute angle, corresponding to the extremity of the canal. After birth, the direction of the groove becomes more vertical, and this alteration is accompanied by a corresponding one in the membrane of the tympanum. It may be here observed, that, as the diameter of the groove, in which the membrane of the tym- panum is encased, is at birth nearly as large as it will ever be, so is the membrane itself. v2 * There, for the sake of description, confine the term auditory canal to the tube,which con- veys the air to the membrane of the tympanum; and wish to designate, by the words auditory tube, the portion of bone which enters into the formation of the auditory canal. 156 Two months after conception, the oval hole, which forms the com- munication between the vestibule or middle cavity of the labyrinth, and the tympanum, is, although verysmall, to be observed. About the end of the third month, its circumference is ossified. In the sixth month, it isas long and as perfect as at the ninth ; but not so broad. Ihave not been able to remark any difference between the form and size of the oval hole of the foetus at birth, and of the adult. But its position varies; for, in the foetus, it is comparatively nearer the poste- rior side of the cavity of the tympanum than in the adult. The round hole, the medium of communication between the cochlea or anterior portion of the labyrinth and the tympanum, is visible at the same time as the oval hole. About the third month, its circumference is ossified ; and, in the course of the sixth month, it is as large as in the ninth, when itis equal in dimensions to what it will be in the adult, but of a different form ; for in the adult it is rounded, but in the foetus it is triangular. We find, that the direction of the round hole is subject to great variety ; and Scarpa,* who has paid very minute attention to its dis- position in different subjects, is of opinion, that he has traced a con- nexion between its direction and the age of the individual. He says that, for some months after conception, this opening is directed rather anteriorly ; that, ata more advanced period of uterogestation, it is successively turned downwards and backwards; that, at birth, its aspect is nearly directly backwards; and_ that it inclines itself more and more in that direction till a certain period, when its aspect changes, and is turned more outwards, so as to look towards the membrane of the tympanum. These changes in direction are attri- buted to the influence of the promontory and mastoid process. Before * Anatomice Disquisitiones de Audito et Olfactu. Auctore, A. SCARPA. 157 the promontary is developed, the round hole is directed outwards ; but, in proportion as its growth advances, it conceals this hole and directs it backwards. When the mastoid process develops itself, it occasions a new direction in the hole, which it turns again more out- wards. My observations on this subject agree with those of the illustrious Scarpa, so far as relates to the varieties, which we find in the direction of this hole in different individuals ; but, I am fully of opinion, with Bichat and Buisson, that it is very difficult to trace any connexion between its aspect and the age of the subject. I have indeed, in my collection, preparations, which prove, that, in almost any two subjects of similar age, the aspect will not be ‘found the same. While, in some cases, we shall find it pos- sessed of the same direction, in preparations taken from subjects of very dissimilar ages, it will exhibit, in others, a different aspect, although they be of the same age. Whether the direction of this hole depends on the development of the promontory and mastoid proces is not easy to determine; but, if it is they which influence it, we ought to be prepared to expect much diversity; for the exact manner, in which they grow, is subject to considerable variety. The promontory is visible about the third month after conception, and, in the fourth, it is ossified. It does not grow so quickly as the oval and round holes, which are above and below it ; hence it has not attained its full size, till some time after birth; but it is developed with more rapidity than the cavity of the tympanum, into which it projects; and, therefore, about the fourth month after conception, it is in contact with the membrane of the tympanum. When we compare the promontory of a foetus, at the ninth month, with the same part in the adult, they appear to differ, not so much in magnitude as structure. In the foetus, it is porous and spongy; ut, 158 in the adult, extremely hard and compact. In the fourth month after conception, the pyramid is visible; and, about the fifth, the canal, which lodges the muscle of the stapes, is ossified. This canal is, in the foetus, comparatively much nearer the stapes, than in the adult. Until the middle of the fourth month after conception, neither the eustachean tube, nor the canal for the reception of the internal muscle of the malleus, are to be observed. The bony circle, which forms the rudiment of the auditory tube, crosses the place, where they are to be developed ; and their first appearance corresponds with the period, when the circle is united by bone to the parts on which it lies. About the end of the fifth month after conception, their ossification commences. At first, there is no partition between these canals ; but ossification, when it has begun, advances so ra- pidly, that they are almost fully formed at birth. About the fourth month after conception we remark, at the upper and back part of the cavity of the tympanum, an opening of con- siderable size; which, in the foetus at birth, leads into a cavity, found between the lower part of the squamous portion of the tempo- ral bone, and the upper part of the petrous portion. ‘This hole and cavity lodge the short lee of the incus, and are the rudiments of the mastoid cells, and their opening into the cavity of the tympanum. One cannot say that, at birth, there are any of the mastoid cells formed. This opening, which I have mentioned as seated at the upper and back part of the cavity of the tympanum, is of consider- able size, and leads into a deep and wide fossa ; but this fossa is not divided, as it will be in the adults, into a number of cells by bony partitions ; nor does it lead downwards into any cells in the situa- tion, in which the mastoid process is afterwards to be developed. The mastoid cells are to be considered as very slow in growth, 159 when compared with the other parts which we have examined ; and they seldom acquire their ultimate magnitude till after the adult pe- riod of our life. About the seventh month, the caverns and bony fibres, which exist in the upper and under part of the cavity of the tympanum, begin to be developed. They have, however, a different appear- ance now from what they exhibit in the adult ; resembling, at this period, rather the cellular structure of the cancellated tissue of bones, than any thing else. It is not till a considerable time after birth, that they assume the same appearance which they present in the after periods of life. The bony fibres, which cross the bottom of the tympanum, havea regularly arranged appearance in adults, which is wanting in earlier life. The cavity of the tympanum, two months after conception, is scarcely to be observed. The membrane of the tympany lies then in contact with the internal side of the cavity. In the third month it is more obvious; and in the fourth has attained a considerable extent at its upper part, where the opening of the future mastoid cellsis observed. We remark a very considerable difference between the rapidity of the growth of the upper and under part of this cavity. The upper portion grows so much more rapidly than the under, that, although the former has, at the fourth month, a very consi- derable size, the latter, until the fifth, is scarcely observable. The slow growth of the lower portion would appear to be connected with the development of the eustachean tube ; for it does not commence till the growth of the tube commences; and, like it, grows then so rapidly, that, at birth, it has acquired almost its permanent dimen- sions. It is also the slow growth of the lower part of the tympanum, which causes the horizontal direction of its membrane during the earlier months of uterogestation ; and it is its gradual development 160 afterwards, by pressing outwards the lower part of the bony circle, that incases this membrane, which produces its oblique direction observable at birth. I have not been able to observe the rudiments of the bones of the tympanum, before the beginning of the third month after concep- tion. They are then in a cartilaginous state, and it is not till the termination of this month, that their conversion into bone com- mences; but their ossification then advances so very rapidly, that, about the end of the sixth month after conception, they have at- tained their permanent dimensions, and only differ from the same bones in ihe adult, in being a little less compact in their texture. As these bones grow so much more rapidly than the cavity of the tympanum, in which they are contained, until the sixth month after conception, they appear to be closely enveloped by its lining mem- brane, and are almost every where in contact with its parietes ; but, after this period, the capacity of the cavity, compared with the mag- nitude of the bones, becomes greater, and they are gradually re- moved to a distance from its sides. There is a remarkable change observed to take place in respect to the direction of the long leg of the incus and its relations to the handle of the malleus, destined to enable these bones, which do not increase in magnitude after the sixth month, to accommodate them- selves to the progressive development of the cavity of the tympa- num. Until the termination of the fourth month after conception, the long leg of the iucus, and the handle of the malleus are parallel and in contact. After this period, the long leg of the incus is gra- duallly removed from the handle of the malleus; and that ex- tremity of it, which is connected with the orbicularis, directed in- wards; so that they form, when the cavity of the tympanum is fully developed, a considerable angle with each other. By this change 161 the length of the chain of bones is accommodated to the increasing breadth of the cavity of the tympanum, without undergoing any alteration in their magnitude. The labyrinth, or second division of the auditory cavities, consists of the cochlea, vestibule, and semicircular canals. The tube, which conducts the auditory nerve to the labyrinth, may also be here considered. About the second month after conception, we can observe the rudiments of the cochlea, vestibule, semicircular canals, and inter- nal auditory tube, excavated in cartilage, though they are all remarkably small; but, before the conclusion of the third month, their dimensions are considerable, and their form well defined. In the course of the fourth month, ossification commences, generally, first in the cochlea, and afterwards, successively in the vestibule, in- ternal auditory tube, and semicircular canals; those parts which are nearer to the point of the petrous portion of the bone ossifying sooner than those near the base. About the termination of the sixth month, all the cavities of the labyrinth are formed of bone; except a small portion of the semicircular canals, corresponding to the base of the petrous portion of the temporal bone. At birth their os- sification is complete, and they all appear to be then as large as at any future period of life. ''The substance of the petrous portion of the temporal bone, which encases and surrounds these several cavities, does not grow so ra- pidly as the cavities themselves ; hence it exhibits several peculiari- ties in form, prior to birth, and for some years afterwards. During VOL. XIII. Z 162 the entire foetal life, but the nearer conception the more remarkable, the petrous portion is marked by numerous eminences and exca- vations ; owing to the labyrinth not being then so much covered by bone as to hide its inequalities. The point of the petrous portion of the bone, not prolonged beyond the cochlea, is, at this period, as it were, truncated and rounded. Of the excavations to be observed, the most remarkable is one situated under the superior semicircu- lar canal, and particularly noticed by Nesbit and Bichat. It is also, in consequence of the small quantity of ossific matter covering the labyrinth, that the internal auditory tube, although as wide at birth as at any after period of life, is not as deep as it will bein the adult. For a long time, there is a very striking difference between the structure of the bone, which forms the parietes of the cavities of the labyrinth, and that which covers them; the former being, almost from the moment of its first formation, extremely compact; while the latter, till nearly the ninth month, is very soft, spongy, and vas- cular ; affording us an opportunity of examining with facility the anatomy of the labyrinth, in consequence of the readiness with which the spongy covering can be removed from the compact tissue which forms its walls. In examining the development of the auditory cavities, our at- tention is strongly roused by the want of connexion observed in the growth of the different parts, which constitute them. ‘The develop- ment of many portions is so extremely rapid, that, at the ninth month after conception, they have those dimensions which they are to enjoy 163 during the whole course of our existence ;* while others are as re- markable for their tardiness of growth as these are for their rapidi- ty.+ Inthe present state of our knowledge of the physiology of these organs, I am afraid we cannot offer any satisfactory explanation of the final cause of this phenomenon. As, however, a knowledge of the changes, which an organ undergoes at different periods of life, constitutes an important portion of that series of data required, before we can hope to form any rational theory of the manner in which it performs its functions, we should collect industriously, and note with accuracy, every fact connected with the development of these ca- vities, although we may not be able, at present, to apply them to any very useful purpose. * Viz. Cavity of the tympanum, groove for the membrane of the tympanum, bones of the tympanum, Eustachean tube, oval hole, round hole, promontory, pyramid, cochlea, vesti- bule, semicircular canals, internal auditory tube. + External auditory tube, mastoid cells, Z2 A METHOD OF COMPUTING ASTRONOMICAL REFRACTIONS FOR OBJECTS NEAR THE HORIZON. By tHe Rev. JOHN BRINKLEY, D. D. F.R.S. M.R.1. A. AND PROFESSOR OF ASTRONOMY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF DUBLIN. Read, January 17, 1820. ALTHOUGH observations of zenith distances, when the object is near the horizon, are frequently affected by irregularities of refraction, that seem not capable of being reduced to any law, yet there is rea- son to suppose that the effect of these irregularities will disappear in a mean of a great number of observations; and thus a mean refraction for any altitude may be obtained, depending only on the mean zenith distance, and the corresponding heights of the barometer and ther- mometer. The investigation of the law of these regular refractions, as they may be called, has much engaged the attention of astro- nomers. 166 This inquiry has led to the extremely complex but elegant mathe- matical researches of Kramp, Laplace, and Bessel. Their investiga- tions are nearly related to each other. Dr. Young* has also recently, by an entirely different method, and with great analytical skill, ob- tained an equation expressing the relation between the refractive force of air and thé refraction at any zenith distance. It is an objection to these inquiries, however curious in them- selves, that the results are entirely useless for the nicer purposes of astronomy, unless we shall also be able to reduce to calculation what now appear as irregularities. To this it may be answered, that, when the difficulties as to the regular refractions are overcome, the way will be cleared for an attempt, apparently indeed more hopeless, on the others. It is admitted, that the true refraction is always less than that computed on the hypothesis of an uniform temperature, and greater than that obtained by supposing the density to decrease uniformly ; that, as far as 80° from the zenith, these limits approach each other very closely; and that, till very near the horizon, they do not widely recede from each other. The former hypothesis has given occasion to elaborate inyesti- gations by M. M. Kramp and Laplace, and a modification of it to still more elaborate ones by M. Bessel. It is the object of this paper to deduce, by help of a modification of the result of the hypothesis of a density decreasing uniformly, by an extremely simple invesligation, the refraction, at any low altitude, corresponding to any heights of the barometer and thermometer. The Tables thence resulting for zenith distances, between 80° and the horizon, will, I conceive, be found as convenient as can be desired. They scarcely yield in simplicity to the French Tables, * Phil. Trans. 1819, Part I. + Trans. R. L. Academy, vol. 12. p. 89. 167 and enabie us to obtain the quantity of refraction, as changed by the weight and temperature of the atmosphere, in which, near the horizon, the French Tables appear entirely to fail. The first Tables in which this has been attended to, as far as the horizon, if I mistake not, were those of Mr. Bessel.* Tn our ignorance of the law of variation of density, we can only verify any hypothesis that we adopt, by a comparison of its results with those obtained by direct observation. In this way, by help of Dr. Bradley’s observations, Mr. Bessel has obtained a modification of the law of uniform temperature, that will give the refractions, to within about three degrees of the horizon, with great exactness. Dr. Young has, by adopting a Jaw of variation of temperature ad- vanced by Professor Leslie, obtained an equation for refraction, the solution of which gives the refractions with considerable exactness as far as the horizon. The following method is derived from the formula obtained in the hypothesis of a density decreasing uniformly. It is shown in my paper, + above refered to, that, on this hypo- thesis, Refr. = 1 tan [ #~( a a —-— 4) refr. if Where 4 = zenith distance, ! = height of uniform atmosphere, a = radius of earth, and m: 1:: sin incid. : sin refr. for air at the l surface ; or making S wire oe : es 1k ae 2 ) refr. we may suppose the true refraction = = + tan (@—kS), the mu ltiplier & as well as S being different for ee zenith distance. tical tan 6” Or making 6% S= 6, s= aa ro te TainiCL and the true refraction — = ae fikawsli es mi e true refraction — dias [ — A 5 ye) * Bessel’s Fundamenta Astron, p. 26, &c. + Trans, R.J. Academy, Vol. 12, p. 94. 168 From the zenith distance to about 80°, k = 1 and at 90° = 0, 8 nearly, but it seems reasonable to suppose, that, whatever be the law of variation of density, which occasions this quantity & to differ from unity, that & is constant, or very nearly so, at the same zenith distance, whatever may be the change of density at the surface. For, however great within the usual limits we may suppose the chayge of density at the surface to be, there is no reason to suppose a material change in the law of density in the atmosphere.* Hence, if we obtain the quantity = (— _ "—) for any ze- nith distance and density at the surface, we shall easily obtain it for the same zenith distance. and any other density, by considering k and tan @ as constant. It is evidently sufficient to take the mean value of & barom. ~ 1,0375 — =(m —1 — —(i—5 ——_ ___ _____ tai ) x ao x C1—(— 20),0001) x 1-,002083 (7 — Say °Md 1 U yg 14,002083 (¢ — 32) ae 1,0375. + where m’ — 1 and are the mean values of m — 1 and = cor- responding to Far. Therm. 50 and Barom. 29, 60 and which, adapted to the French Tables, are ; v m’ — 1 = 57,72 sin 1” and —_—= 300128 Hence the mean value of Jian 6 k(m —1) tan & de at — = 264",02 & tan ¢ and of aie ire! be a = 287,86 k tan a sin 1 2 sin 1” By help of a great number of observations of a given star, we can obtain the refraction corresponding to the mean of the Baro- * This reasoning may be fallacious, and it appears to be very desirable, that the facts should be ascertained by a sufficient number of observations, at given zenith distances near the horizon, for different values of m — 1. « + Trans. R. I, Acad, Vol. 12, p. 98, 99. ———— ee So 169 meters and mean of the Thermometers, and thus obtain the value of k S corresponding to the zenith distance of that Star, and hence its mean value for Barom. 29,60 and Therm. 50. By selecting 3 or 4 stars between 88° and 90° zenith distance, and 3 or 4 between 80° and 88° zenith distance, the mean values of k S may be determined, (if a sufficient number of observations be used to make the effects of the irregular refractions disappear.) Then a Table of the mean values of & S between 80° and 90° zenith dis- tance, may be interpolated. Irom the mean value for any zenith distance obtained by this Table, the actual value of k S may be computed from the heights of the Barometer and 'Thermometer, and then the refraction is easily had. By this method a Table may be much more readily constructed, and, if I mistake not, with greater exactness, than by help of any hypothesis of the actual variation of density. Or this method may be applied to the verification of any Table of refractions. From such a Table, we can readily find, by compu- tation, — ) for each zenith distance. sin. 1’ k tan Ne m — ] a 2 The parts of this quantity have a given ratio to each other, what- ever be the zenith distance; therefore each can be readily de- duced from the whole, and the first may be put into a convenient Table. From this Table we may readily find for any height of the Barometer and Thermometer, k tan & (G ) and k tan ¢ (7=>) @ sin. 1” by substituting for / and m their values above given. Their difference = k S and the refraction = = tan (¢ — k S) be- sin. 1” ing compared with the observed, will easily show the correction that k S requires; and thence the correction required by the mean VOL. XIII. AA 170 values. For this examination, as was said, a mean of a very con- siderable number of observations will be required, for each of the zenith distances that shall be considered necessary to be examined for the verification of the Table. The Table I have adopted for computing the mean values of log. kitan (vid. my Table I.) is the French Table of mean refrac- a sid. aisinepk’ tions. It appears to me, that for zenith distance very near the horizon, more weight is to be given to that than to any other we possess. The well known accuracy, skill, and judgment of M. Delambre, seem justly entitled to this confidence. He tells us he constructed it by help of many hundred observations made by a repeating circle from 70° to 90° 20’. But it must be confessed, that reference can no where be had to a sufficient number of observations to verify the numbers in my Table I. corresponding to any one zenith distance between 88° and 90°.. Mr. Groombridge, to whom we are much indebted for his numerous observations of Stars at low altitudes, was unable, from local circumstances, to observe much below 88°; above 88°, several references may be had to observations sufficiently numerous, (among others those. of Dr. ‘Bradley, computed by Mr. Bessel,) by which it -will ‘appear that Table I. is very exact, and. consequently the Frencli Table of mean refractions from which it was deduced. When however it is required to compute the refraction for other states of the Barometer and Thermometer, the results by my tables and the French differ for low altitudes. This is occasioned from it being supposed in the French Tables that the refraction is propor- tional to the’ density, ne is by no means Spee exact in very low altitudes. The inveétigations of M. Heaney en which the French tables 171 are founded, are indeed exact on this head; but the difficulty of introducing the variation into the tables seems to have occasioned its omission. M. Bessel’s investigations are rendered more intricate, by developing this change in a manner so as to be conveniently introduced into tables. In my method the development and tables appear equally simple : Inches ay “UW RENO R Tee Be a tego Rs oo 2, (Ste ee neers by Sieh Toth cgg At 90° Z. D. { Be oe refraction a woven Tables ca Whereas the mean refraction is by each 33.23 At present we have not sufficient observations to determine, whe- ther the actual variations of réfractions at low altitudes are most conformable to the theory of M. Bessel, to that of Dr. Young, or to that above given. It can only be ascertained by help of very numerous observations, so numerous that they must require the co- operation of many observers; but the exactest instruments are not required, and much assistance might be given by instruments of in- ferior accuracy, and of which the errors may amount to some seconds. In the following Tables: v Tab. I. = log k& —— tan 0 u 1,0375 51,72 Tab. Il. = log [= “F,002083 (f= 32) * (1 —,0001 (¢ ~ 50)) x a5gs 7,7 Tab. III. = 2 ag (a —, 0001 (¢~ 50) x sag) AA 172 USE OF THE TABLES. Log A in minutes of a degree = Tab. I. + ar. comp. Tab. IT./-+- Tab. III. Log Bin minutes = Tab. I. + log = + Tab. II. — log. 57,72 + log. barom- — Tab. I. + Tab. II. + log. barom. + 7.2773. Log refraction in seconds = Tab. I. + log barom. + log tan (zen. dist. — A + B) If Table II, p. 103. vol. 12. Trans. R. I. Academy be added to these they will serve for computing the refraction from the zenith to the horizon. : Example. App. zenith dist. (of # Lyra S. P.) = 87°.42/.10" Bar. = 29,50 & Therm. 35°,0* Tab. I. for 87%42,/17 gives 1.8160 Tab. II. for Therm.35° ... 0.3039 Tab. III. Act .. 0.2906 Tab. I. 1.8160 Tab. I. 1.8160 a.c. Tab. II. 9.6961 Tab. II. 0.3039 Tab. III. 0.2906 log Bar. 1.4698 A — 63449 log 1.8027 const. 7.2773 B 7,36 log 0.8670 B+ 736 erection — 56,13 87 42,17 (ZD—A+B) 86.46,04 tan 11.2481 Tab. II. 0.3039 log Bar. 1.4698 refr. 1051”,5 log 3.0218 —e = 17/31"%,5 The mean of 42 observations of « Lyre S. P. made at the obser- vatory of Trinity College Dublin, (mean of bar. 29,50 and mean of therm. 35°) gave 17’.26’,5. * Trans. R, I. Acad. vol. 12, p. 112. 173 ee TABLE II. ——s—nk aaa TABLE I. Zot Logarithms. ee One 80.0 1.3605 6,90 81.0 1.4031 7,62 82.0} 1.4488 8,21 83.0 1.4981 9,07 84.0 1.5524 | 10,13 85.0 1.6132 | 11,00 85.30] 1.6462 11,37 86. O}] 1.6803 12,07 86.30} 1.7165 13,23 87. O} 1.7562 13,75 87.20] 1.7837 | 14,55 87.40] 1.8128 14,65 88. O| 1.8421 15,50; 88.20] 1.8731 | 16,05 88.40} 1.9052 16,75 89. 0 1.9387 | 17,25 89.20 1.9732 18,00 89.40] 2.0092 | 18,60 90. O! 2.0464 TABLE III. Therm. near | Logarithms: Barom. i) 20 0.2913 30 0.2909 40 0.2904 50 0.2900 60 0.2896 70 0.2891 80 0.2887 mo Loga rithms ae fi Logarithms as Logarithms, 10 0.3283 34 0.3048 58 0.2827 1l 0.3273 35 0.3039 59 0.2818 12 0.3263 36 0.3030 60 0.2809 13 0.3253 37 0.3020 61 0.2800 14 0.3243 38 0.3011 62 0.2791 15 0.3233 39 0.3001 63 0.2782 16 0.3223 40 0.2992 64 0.2773 We 0.3213 41 0.2983 65 0.2764 18 0.3203 42 0.2974 66 0.2755 19 0.3193 43 0.2965 67 0.2746 20 0.3183 44 0.2956 68 0.2737 21 0.3173 45 0.2946 69 0.2728 22 0.3163 46 0.29387 70 0.2720 23 0.3154 47 0.2928 71 0.2711 24 0.3144 48 0.2919 72 0.2703 25 0.3134 49 0.2910 73 0.2694 26 0.3124 50 0.2900 74 0.2685 27 0.3114 51 0.2891 75 0.2677 28 0.3105 52 0.2881 76 0.2668 29 0.3095 53 0.2872 77 0.2660 30 0.3086 54 0.2863 78 0.2652 31 0.3076 55 0.2854 79 0.2644 32 0.3067 56 0.2845 80 0.2636 33 0.3058 57 0.2836 81 0.2627 -_--« . . , Vol xm Scnce, 0 face page. 175 . ON THE INSCRIPTION REGULAR POLYGON OF SEVENTEEN SIDES IN A CIRCLE: OR DIVISION OF THE CIRCUMFERENCE INTO SEVENTEEN EQUAL PARTS. BY SAMUEL JAMES, ESQ. PRESENTED BY THE Rev. FRANCIS SADLEIR, D.D. F.T.C.D. M.R.LA. Read, January 24, 1820. THE inscription of all regular polygons in a circle, besides those _ of whichothe constructions are given in the elements of Kuclid, and those arising» from them by continual ‘bisections, or taking. their differences, has been thought for ages to exceed ‘the powers of elementary geometry ; and, through the progress of mathematical discovery from ‘the time of the ancient Greek geometricians, no addition toithe: number, as known to them, appears to have been made until about the beginning \of the present century ; when an unexpected discovery was made by M: Gauss of certain other regular polygons, which yet admitted of being inscribed geometrically in a circle. This discovery was announced to the public in'a work pub- lished by him at Leipsic in the year 1801, entitled, Disquisitiones 176 Arithmetice, in which he has shown that all such regular polygons as have the number of their sides expressed by 2" + 1, and being at the same time a prime number, admit of being inscribed geometri- cally in a circle: and hence since 5, 17, 257, 65537, are prime numbers of this form, consequently regular polygons of these sides, admit.of geometrical construction. As the construction, however, of none of these polygons, except of the first, or regular pentagon, has yet been publicly given, I beg leave to submit that for the second, or a regular polygon of 17 sides, together with the analysis. The former will be found exceedingly simple, but as the latter depends on the application of some general properties of the circle, I shall previously demonstrate these in the four following Lemmas. SAMUEL JAMES. Dublin, 17th October, 1819. LEMMA I. If on each side of a given point in the circumference of a circle, equal arches be taken, parallel right lines drawn from their extre- mities, to terminate in a diameter passing through the given point, are equal to each other. See Plate, Fig. 1. Let AB and AC be equal arches taken at each side of the given point A in the circumference BAC; and BD and CE two right lines drawn from their extremities B and C parallel to each other, terminating in the diameter FA passing through A: then will BD and CE be equal to each other. For if BC be drawn cutting the diameter FA in I, it is well known, because the diameter F'A bisects the arch BC, in A, that it also bisects its chord BC, in I ; and because BC meets the parallels BD, 177 CE in BandC, the angle IBD is equal to ICE, (29 B.1. Euc.) and for a like reason, because FA meets the parallels, the angle BDI is equal to CEI ;_ therefore in the two triangles BDI and CEI, the two angles IBD, BDI, are equal to the two ICE, CEI, and the side BI is equal to IC, therefore the two triangles are equal in all respects, (26, B. I. Euc.) and the side BD to CK*.—Q. E. D. LEMMA IT. If the semi-circumference of a circle be divided into any odd number of equal arches, and chords be drawn connecting the opposite points of division, the difference between the sums of those chords, alternately taken, will be equal to the radius of the circle. See Piate, Fig. 2. Let the semi-circumference AEK be divided into any odd number of equal arches AB, BC, &c. and chords BI, CH, &c. be drawn, connecting the opposite points of division B, I; C, H, &c.; then will the difference between the sums of those chords, alternately taken, be equal to the radius of the circle ; that is .- (BI+ DG) — (CH + EF) = OK, the radius of the circle. For draw the radius OF to either extremity, as F, of the least chord EF’, cutting the several other chords in the points L. M. N. Then because the diameter AK, and chords BI, CH, &c. inter- cept the equal arches AB, KI; BC, IH; &c. they are parallel to each other, as is well known, and therefore, because the arch KF = FG, the right line EF is = NG, by the foregoing Lemma, and ~ for the same reason DN is = MH, and CM = LI, &c. * The demonstration of this property might conveniently be made a part of that in the 2d Lemma ; I have however, for the sake of distinctness, given it a separate demonstration. VOL. XIII. BB 178 Hence therefore since NG = EF DN = MH LI = CM and... BL = OK by addition. . BI+ DG = OK + CH+ EF or. . (BI+DG)- (CH + EF) =OK..Q. E. D. And in the same manner whatever be the number of equal arches. CoroLLtary.—Hence as the above chords are the chords subtend- ing respectively 1, 3, 5, &c. of the equal arches, if therefore the semi-circumference be divided into any odd number of equal arches, the difference between the sums of the chords alternately taken, originating in the same point, and subtending 1, 3, 5, &c. of those arches, is equal to the radius of the circle: the greater sum being always that in which the greatest chord is included. LEMMA III. Inacircle, the rectangle under the radius and the sum of the chords of two arches, is equal to the rectangle under the chord of half their sum, and the supplemental chord of half their difference : and, LEMMA IV. The rectangle under the radius and the difference of the chords of two arches, is equal to the rectangle under the supplemental chord of half their sum, and chord of half their difference. See Plate, Fig. 3. Let AB and ABD be two arches of which AB, and AD are their chords ; bisect the arch BD in C, and join AC, BC, CD; take O 179 the centre of the circle, and draw the diameter COK, and join AE, BE, DE. Then because ACDE is a quadrilateral inscribed in the circle, by Ptolemy’ s Theorem, (Prop. D. Book VI. Simson’s Euclid.) AD x CE = AC x DE+CD ~ AE. or because DE = BE is Le se BC AD x CE=AC x BE + BCX AE... 1. Again, because ABCE is a quatrilateral inscribed in the circle. AC x BE = AB x CE + BC x AE or AB x CE= AC x BE—BC x AE .-.IL. ve ey (AD +AB) x CE =2 AC xBE; or because CE = 2 CO. (AD + AB)x2CO —2 ACXBE; _ or.(AD+AB)x CO = ACxBE; which is the 3d Lemma: for CO is the radius of the circle, AD + AB the sum of the chords of the two arches ABD and AB; AC the chord of half their sum ABC, and BE the supplemental chord of half their differ- ence BC, or CD; whence the truth of the 3d Lemma is manifest. In the same manner, by subtraction, I. and II. (AD—AB) x CO = BC x AE; which is the 4th Lemma : for CO is the radius of the circle, AD — AB the dif- ference of the chords of the two arches ADB and AB; AE the supplemental chord of half their sum, and BC the chord of half their difference: whence the truth of the 4th Lemma is also ma-~ nifest. Anatysis.—See Plate, Fig. 4.—Suppose now in the semicircle AEK, the semicircumference to be divided into seventeen equal arches, of which the points B, C, D, &c. are the Ist, 3d, 5th, &c. points of division, and AB, AC, AD, &c. the chords drawn from A, the extremity of the diameter, to those points respectively. BBQ 180 Then agreeably to the Corollary to the II. Lemma, the difference between the sums-of those chords, alternately taken, is equal to the radius of the circle; that is.. (AI+AG+AE+AC)—(AH+AF + AD+AB)=AO or .(AG+AE+AC—AD) — (AH+AB+AF — AI)=AO. Theor. I. But a remarkable property of these chords, (AG + AE+AC — AD) and (AH+AB + AF — AI) will be found to result from the application of the 3d and 4th Lemmas, viz. The sum of all the rectangles under each of the first four, and each of the four following, is equal to four times the square of the radius of the circle-—(See Note 1.) That is, . (AG + AE + AC— AD) x (AH + AB +AF — Al) = 4 AO’... Theor. II. Again, by the application of the same Lemmas, it will appear that .. (AH + AB)x(AI— AF) = AO®.. Theor. III. See Note 2. . (AG + AE)X(AD — AC) = AO®.. Theor. IV. See Note 3. Aniby eto \ AOx(AD—AC) = AH x AB... Theor. V. Since therefore in Theorems I. and II. are given (AG+AE+AC — AD) — (AH+AB+AF—AI)=AO and (AG+AK+AC — AD) x (AH+AB+AF—AI) = 4 AO? ; by the construction of a well known simple problem of finding two lines of which their difference and rectangle are given, AG + AE + AC —AD and....AH+AB+ AF—AI i are given. bitky:-/ caer AH+ AB + AF — Al is the same as . . (AH+AB) — (AI— AF) therefore. . . . . (AH+ AB)— (AI — AF) is given) B. and Theor. II. . (AH+ AB) x (AI— AF) is given) °°” therefore, as before AH + AB Bn eee a Al a are given. 181 Againsince inAnalysis A. (AG + AE)—(AD — AC) is att and Heer Vs ish P22 (AG + AE) x (AD —AC) is given TMETELOTE ele wicks sso she AG + AE) ore given: REC, oh a Si BBA MRE he AD— AC} j ante Uns Since hes raua sts AD — AC is given, and AO is given, (AD — AC) x AO is given; thatis Theor. V........ AH x AB... is given, but Analysis B....... AH + AB.. is given; therefore the swn and rectangle of AH and AB are given, whence AH and AB are each given, and thence, as is evident, the side of the polygon. And hence now, combining the several constructions as derived in the Analysis, the construction of the problem, or division of the cir- cumference into 17 equal parts, will be simply as follows :— Construction.—See Plate, Fig. 5.—Draw the radius OC per- pendicular to the diameter AK ; take OD equal to one-fourth of the radius ; and make DE, DF, each equal to DC; and EG and FH equal to EC and FC respectively ; divide OG into two parts OI, IG, such, that their rectangle shall be equal to OH x AO; then if from A, OI be applied on the circumference to R, and the arch KR be bisected in P — or IG be taken twice in the circumference from Ato N; the arch KP, or AN will be the 17th part of the whole circumference. For if DC, EC, FC be drawn, it is well known, from the simple construction of finding two lines of which their difference and rec- tangle are given, that DC + DO | EC + EO| FC + FO | will be the greater and DC—DO | EC— EO} FC—FO]|..... the less of two lines of which half their difference is DO, EO and FO re- spectively, and rectangle OC’. 182 And hence it is evident that in Analysis A, where half the differ- ence of the chords, as specified, is = 20D, and their rectangle 4AO’, or 40C?, that. AG+AE+AC — ADis = 2 (DC+D0) = 20F) by construc- and. AH+AB+AF—AI.. 2(DC--DO)=2OE}) _ tion; and therefore now Analysis B (AH + AB) — (AI— AF) is given = 20E Sos iats chee (AH+ AB) x (AI— AF) = AO’= OC’. and Analysis C(AG+ AE)—(AD—AC) = 20F aud :shsrsahets 8 (AG + AE) x (AD--AC) = AO* = OC’. Whence under the construction referred to there is given in the former AH + AB = EC, EO = OG, ) by construc- and in the latter....... AD — AC=FC— FO= OH tion. and hence Theor. V... AH x AB=(AD— AC) x AO=OH x AO and therefore finally.... AH + AB=OG andy J.) . cee Sane, eh AH x AB=OH x AO But since OG has been divided into two parts OJ, IG, the rec- tangle of which is equal to OH x AO, consequently OI is = AH, and IG = AB, but AH is the supplemental chord of twice the arch, and AB the chord of half the arch, subtended by the side of the polygon, by hypothesis; and hence, OI and IG are equal to those chords, respectively, and since OI has been applied on the circumference from A to R, and the arch KR bisected in P; andIG taken twice on the circumference from A to N, it is evident that the arches KP and AN are each the 17th part of the whole circum- ference. Corottary.—IG is the side of a regular polygon of 34 sides inscribed in the circle. Scnotium.—Such is the construction of this interesi.ng problem to which we are led by the preceding Analysis: a construction in itself exceedingly simple, falling little short of the well known 183 simple construction of a regular Pentagon in a Circle ; the princi- ples, however, from which this construction is derived, are less evi- dent, involving some peculiar properties of the chords subtending 1, 3, 5, &c. of the equal arches arising from the division of the semicircumference into seventeen equal parts, or which is the same, of the Supplemental Chords of the progressive arches arising from the division of the whole circumference into 17 equal parts. These properties form the five Theorems in the Analysis, and which com- prehend all the necessary data for the solution of the problem. The Ist is an obvious deduction from the 2d Lemma, and the 5th, the immediate application of the 4th :—the 2d, 3d and 4th properties are derived by a more extended application of the 3d and 4th Lemmas, as shewn in the notes; of these, the 2d property is very remark- able, and of great importance in enabling us at the commence- ment of the Analysis, combined with Theorem I. to effect the de- composition of the chords as therein specified ; and without which we might perhaps in vain attempt the solution:—the 3d and 4th properties are equally valuable in effecting a further decomposition of these chords; leading finally to the entire separation of the supplemental chord of twice the arch, and chord of half the arch subtended by the side of the Polygon, and thence, by an obvious construction, to the side of the Polygon: and it might perhaps be worth while to enquire how far the principles employed in this Analysis might be attended with advantage in their application to the solution of similar problems. The five Theorems in the Analysis may be conveniently exhibited under the following abridged form : 184 Put AG 4 AE = 2» Then (r—y)—(2—v)= 7 AD—AC—y (2—y) X (z—v)=4r' (whence 2 and ¥ AH+AB= 2 DEMS ToC = ?7°( are determined ; AI —AF=v DOP G8 OR OA | = and . Be O) =p then AH ose MA AH and AB are determined. and AH x AB=y$ I shall conclude this paper with the following numerical calcula- tion of the length of the side of the Polygon: Let the Radius AO = 1; and suppose the chords AR, AP, KP, and AN, to be drawn; then following the several constructions, OD =4, DC =,/0C+0D = Ge PROVES OF = DC+DO = S17 ees 290/17 +1 ) FC nae wie Ay 34.49/18 V17; oH = FC — OF =10/34 49,77 —vii—D; _Again EO =DC — DOr 2 (i I751): a ealeeh per — Jno +00 —~1Vs4 — 9/17, and OG = EC+ EO =3(V34_9 viv + V17 —1) gudhence OLF 1G | (0G) =! (/s4—9 Vy #17 — ie. VOW AOl tae em ho ane ian bi etag = (V/ Sata vIT= VIF Wek. Whence, by the well known division of aright line into two parts containing a given rectangle, we shall have OI =2 06-+V 06 — OH AO and IG= £0G _\/0@ -- OH xA0 185 which in numbers gives OI, the supplemental chord of twice the arch subtended by the side of the Polygon, = x (V34—9./17 aa a) FUT WW UCT i = Ee Be. 4(/34—2,/17 + 4/17 —1) )— 4 G/3442,/11—y 171) = (by reduction ¥ (4/34—2,/17+4/17 —1) 43/1748 T1—s/34—2,/ 1720/3442. TSAR : but by a well known Theorem, “ If the supplemental chord of an “ arch be encreased by the number 2, (the radius being unity) the “ square root of the sum will be the supplemental chord of half “ that arch,” and hence AP =244 (v2 i7+/7F—1) +4) 1743) 11—V VB OTT, and therefore KP (=AK—AP)=2 4 /si—2717+_/T7—1) 5 (17/17 — / 342. 17 9\/1743,/17—./ 34—2y 172/342 17); KP = hi hiiee/ 17 — WV 34--2,/17 er 9/17 +3V 17—v 342, 112. 844.217) which, reduced to numbers, gives KP or AN, the side of the poly- gon=.367499035633, &c. VOL. XIII. ce 186 NOTE I. This property is thus derived. From the third and fourth Lemmas it will appear that... AG x AH=AO x AI+AE™ AG x AB=AO x AE—AD AG xX AF=AO x AI+ AC AG x—AI =AO x—AH—AF AE x AH=AOx AG+AC AE x AB=AOx AG—AF AE x AF=AOx AI—AB AE x—Al =AO x—AF—AD AC x AH=AOx AEKE—AB AC x AB=AOx AI—AH AC x AF=AOx AG—AD AC x—AI = AO x—AD—AB —ADx AH =AO x—AF—AB —ADx AB=AO x—AH+ AG —AD, AF =AO x —AH+AC —AD x —AI=AO x AE+AC. Now in the above rectangles under the radius and the sum, or difference of the chords as specified, it will be observed that each chord is four times taken ; whence by addition it is evident, that these rectangles will become... AO x (4AG+ 4AE+4AC—4AD)—(4AH + 4AB +4AF—4AD) ; that is by Lemma II. AO x 4A0 or 4A0’, whence the truth of this property is manifest. 187 NOTE II. This property is derived in a similar manner. AH x AI=AOx AG+ AI >whence by addition AH x —AF:- AOX —AD—AH f(AH+AB) x (AI—AF) =AO x (AG+ AE+AC—AD)— AB x AI=AOx AC—AB \(AH + AB+ AF—AI) “AB x—AF=AOx AE—AF J = (by Lemma II.) AO x AO, or AO*. NOTE III. In like manner this property is derived. AG x AD=AO x AG—AB, whence by addition AG x—AC=AO x AC—AF f(AG+AE) x (AD—AC) = AO x (AG+AE+ AC—AD)— AE x AD=AO x AI—AD)\(AH+AB-+AF—AI) AE x—AC= AO x AE—AH? = (by Lemma II.) AO x AO, or AO*. cc2 A METHOD OF CORRECTING THE APPROXIMATE ELEMENTS OF THE ORBIT OF A COMET, AND THE APPLICATION OF THE SAME TO OBSERVATIONS MADE AT THE OBSERVATORY OF TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN, ON THE COMET OF JULY 1819. BY JOHN BRINKLEY, D.D. F.R.S. M.R.I. A. AND ANDREWS’ PROFESSOR OF ASTRONOMY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF DUBLIN. Read, April 17, 1820. WHATEVER difference of opinion there may be among astro- nomers, relative to the respective convenience of the different methods of obtaining approximate elements.of the orbit of a Comet, there can be none, I think, relative to the superiority of M. Laplace’s method of correcting the approximate elements when found. But this method may, as it appears to me, be considerably improved in the following manner. 190 The method as given in the “Mecanique Celeste,’* may some- times become impracticable, or at least, lead to tedious computations for want of a knowledge of the degree of exactness required in the approximate elements. M. Delambre, after describing -- M. Laplace’s method, remarks, “‘ Cette methode est fort belle; si elle est peu longue, elle réussit presque toujours; elle n’est pourtant pas infaillible, et apres de trés longs calculs, on a été forcé d’y renoncer pour la seconde cométe de 1813.” Not being able to refer to the observations used for that Comet, it is not certain whence the difficulty arose, whether in obtaining the approximate elements or in the correction. It is most likely in the latter; and, ifso, the method here proposed would have prevented the very long calculations, and probably would have removed the whole difficulty. M. Laplace’s method of correction is as follows : He takes three observations of the Comet, separated from each other by considerable intervals; and, with the approximate perihelion distance (p) and approximate time of perihelion, he computes three anomalies, (», »’, ””) and three radii vectores (r, 1’, r”) Let /—»=U, y’—v=U’. Let also 8, 6’, 6” and =, 7’, z” be the respective heliocentric longitudes and latitudes. He computes these by means of the ob- served geocentric longitudes and latitudes, the Comet’s distances from the sun, and the earth’s distances from the sun. From the heliocentric longitudes and latitudes he computes the angles at the sun, subtended between the first and second places of the Comet, and between the first and third. ‘These angles he calls V and V’ respectively. Then, if the approximate elements were correct, V=U and V’=U’. This not being so, he supposes m = U—V and m’=U’—V’. * Tom. 1. p. 225 &c. + Delambre, Astr. Tom. 3. p. 386. 19] Then 1. Changing only the approximate perihelion distance by a “small quantity, he obtains new values of m and m’. 2. Changing only the time of perihelion by a small quantity, he obtains other values of m and m’. From the relation of these values, he obtains two equations, by the solution of which the corrections of the perihelion distance, and of the time of perihelion are obtained. If these be not sufficiently correct, as will generally be the case, new corrections must be investigated. Every correction of the elements requires nine long operations, in which, to obtain the necessary exactness, it is requisite to use logarithms of seven places of decimals. By the alteration Iam about to suggest, there will be required for the first corrections only three operations, in which seven places of figures will be necessary ; in the other part of the process, five or even four places of logarithms will be sufficient; and, in the subsequent cor- rections, only three operations to seven places of figures will be neces- sary. ‘The repetition of the part of the process in which four or five places only were used, may in general be dispensed with. Instead of two hypothesis as in M. Laplace’s method, by which two equations with two unknown quantities are obtained, I obtain with- out any hypothesis, two equations in which the fluxion of the peri- helion distance and of the time from perihelion are the unknown quantities, in the following manner :— Let the true values of U and V be U + dU and V + dV. Then U + 8U = V + dV and U’ +0U’= V' + dV’. Now we can compute dU, dU’, dV, dV’ so as to obtain two equa- tions of the form adp + bdté V—U adp + bd’ = V’- U’ 192 From which the values of dp and dé may be obtained, t being the time from perihelion. Let T = the time in the table of the Comet of 109 days when anomaly = p A = change of anomaly in that Table in one day at time T ict em coher ihrags Ce ane Q) C= TT pt evs olliy (2) Then td dy = AdT = (by equat. 2) Hh a 3) ANG by equat (1) log r+-2 log cos 4» = log p hence d log r = sin 1” dy tan $ » + dp rg dlogr _ ‘ dp or (7) pT d» tant» sae Let S, T, C, represent the Sun, Earth, and Comet respectively, and P the projection of the Comet on the plane of the earth’s orbit. The processes to obtain the heliocentric longi- tudes and latitudes, are S S sin SCT = PSTCXST, Cor —180-—SCT—STC sin CTP (geo. lat.) sin CST sin STC sin CSP (hel. lat.) = cos CST cos TSP = cos hel. lat. Comets hel. long. — Earth’s hel. long. + TSP Having thus obtained £, @' and z, 7 (a) 195 According to Laplace’s method of computation, using an auxiliary angle A, sin’ A = cos’ 4 (@’-—8) cos x cos 2 sin} V =cos(iw+ ia + A) cos(f r+ 42'—A) From these formula, we may proceed to investigate dV log sin hel. lat. = log sin geo. lat. —log sm STC + log sin CST therefore, dlog sin hel. lat. = d log sin CST = d CST cot CST But, log sin SCT = log sin STC + log ST—log r d log sin SCT =— d logr ord SCT — ~~ tan SCT dlogr_ __ y tan SCT sin 1” therefore d CST = —d SCT = a tanSCT Hence dhel. lat. (z).= 2 tan SCT cotCSTtane . . . « (c) d hel. long. (6) = d TSP log cos TSP = log cos CST—log cos + hence d TSP = cot TSP tan CST d CST—cot TSP tan x dx or substituting from equation (c) and the equation preceding (c) dhel.long. (6)=cot TSP tan SCT x (tan CST—cot CST tan’ z)....(e) log sin A = log cos4 (’—f) + 4 log cos r+ 5 log cos a” Hence 2dA =—tan A(d@’—df)tani(@—@)+drtan x + da’ tan (f) and dV=— £ (dx + dz’42dA) tani V tan Gat fr + ae @g) — 1 (de + de’—2dA) tan 4 V tan (Er+ is’ — A) . Thus by equation (a) we obtain the value of dy’—dy=dU and by equations (a), (b) (c) (e), (f) and (g), the value of dV and thence the equation U + dU—V-+dV in terms containing only known ,quan™ tities and the two unknown quantities dp and dé. And in a similar manner the equation U’ + dU’ = V+ dV in terms containing only known quantities and the two unknown quantities dp and di. The solution of these equations furnishes the values of dp and dé. VOL. XII. DD 194 The coefficients of the unknown quantities in these equations would be correct, if we had the elements correct ; but, as the elements are only approximate, so these coefficients are only approximate, and their degrees of accuracy depend on the influence of the errors of the elements on these coefficients. Thus, if in computing dz, SCT should be nearly a right angle, the corresponding error of dz would be great, compared to what it would be, if SCT were nearly 45°—In the former case, therefore, the elements would require to be much more correct than in the latter— If SCT should be so near a rightangle, that it was uncertain whether it were actually greater or less than a right angle, that observation could not be used for the correction of the elements ; and so in similar cases. The magnitude of the angles SCT, CST, and TSP, will therefore point out the fitness of the observations used, and the degree of exactness required in the approximate elements. When Elliptic Elements are required, equations (a) and (b) are to be adapted to an elliptic orbit. Then another unknown quantity viz., dm, m being = axis major, will be introduced ; and so four observations at least must be used, as there will be three equations with three unknown quantities. 195 Application to the Comet of July 1819. —— OO The observations made on the north meridian, at the Observatory of Trinity College, Dublin, gave Mean time of ob Longitude by Latitude by 1819. |servation at Obser- ete observation. observation. vatory T. C. D. July 4 | 12" 7’ 21”, 8 | 100 37 35,7 | 22° 14 53, 9 5 | 12 7 38, 4/101 16°32,3] 28 $3 1,5 6.| 17 7 46, 4 |101 54 0,0] 24 39 30, 4 The latitudes and longitudes are corrected* for aberration and parallax, and the longitudes are reckoned from the mean equinox. The method of Laplace+ is very convenient for the first approxi- mation, when the observations are near together, and made with such exact meridian instruments as we possess at our Observatory. That method gave me, from the above longitudes and latitudes,t perihelion dist. = ,3397, and time of perihelion June 27°. 15". 5’. 28”. * A first approximation, which I computed merely to obtain the outlines of the orbit, enabled me to obtain the corrections for aberration and parallax. + Mec. Cel. tom. 1. p.221, &c, { The sun’s places were computed from the Nautical Almanac, but the log. of the sun’s distance was-taken from the Conn, des Temps, the log. of the distances in the Nautical Al- manac not being sufficiently exact to be used in the correction of the approximate elements. 196 By observations on the north meridian, July 4, 13, and 20, we have Mean time of ob- : Latitude by 1819. |servation at Obser- Hing aa observation. vatory T. C. D. ; N. July 4 | 12° 7 21, 8 | 100 37 35,7 | 22° 14 53, 9 13 ig 4 99,0 | 105 41 6,4 | 98 52, 5, 8 20 1155 13, 3.-| 108 48 50,1}. 30 9 58, 5 The observations of July 4 and 13, and the above approximate elements, give U—V =—588",7. And those of July 4, and July 20, give U’'—V’=—655, 5. The processes for finding U, U’ and V, V’ give the angles, by which the coeff, of dp and dé are determined. By help thereof we find dy = 18841 dt—572072 dp d= 9380 dt—657490 dp dy’= 5859 dt—595680 dp ee =7555 dt+377800 dp ie d log 7’ x= Fr Tye at qe dt+79355 dp a? 4 les" _ 6065 dt—9430 dp sin 1” dr = —4,6822 : dB=— 0,927x dz’ = +0,4992’: df’ = + 11,8862’ dx” = —0,6412”: dp’ =+ 3,081.2” POLITE LITERATURE. VOL, XI, B AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF OPPIAN. BY THE REV. WILLIAM HAMILTON DRUMMOND, D.D. M. RIA. Oppianum Cilicem admirabilem illum et nunquam satis laudatum poetam. Tan. Faber, Epist, LXIV; Read,'April 26, 1819. IN this.country and in England, the name of Oppian is seldom mentioned, and but very little known ; yet he has not been destitute of admirers, since first he recited his poems to a Roman audience, and won the approbation of the emperor, to whom they were parti- cularly addressed. He has been quoted by the best writers of natural history, and justly praised for the elegance and truth of many of his descriptions. Among the Halieutic and Cynegetic poets, he deservedly holds the highest rank. His works may be considered as a valuable repository of the knowledge of the ancients on the subjects of hunting and fishing. I have, therefore, proposed to write an essay on the life and writings of this poet, hoping that such a B2 4 theme, not being foreign to the literary department of the Academy, will be received with their wonted candour and indulgence. Should it prove the means of making him more known to my countrymen, I shall be well compensated for my labour, and have the satisfac- tion of reflecting, that the gratitude due to his memory, for the pleasure which I have received from his writings, may thus be discharged. To two writers, one of them an anonymous grammarian, the other Constantinus Manasses, who lived at Constantinople in the twelfth century, we are chiefly indebted for the history of Oppian.* They have recorded few particulars, indeed, of his life, but these few are equally honourable to his character as a man, and success as a poet. He was born probably in the last year + of the reign of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, in Anazarba, a city of Cilicia. If he derived no honour from being the native of a country which had acquired and merited the double reproach of being greatly addicted to piracy and falsehood,t he might enjoy the nobler praise of reflecting a lustre on the land of his birth by his genius and virtues. Democritus was a glory to Thrace, and Anacharsis to Scythia. But Cilicia was not, like those countries, un- known to the Muses, and a stranger to refinement. On the con- trary, it ranked high among the provinces of Asia Minor, that land of poets and philosophers, for the cultivation of the fine arts. * Vide Belin de Belu. Prolegomena in Opp. p. III. + Idem. t+ The alarming lengths to which the Cilicians had carried their piracies, in the time of Pompey the great, are well known to the classical reader. The other part of their character became proverbial, Aoryos marcos, mH eadias aarndevey t8¢ Kidimas. The TOle KABML HOKITTE enig- matically expressed the infamy attached to the names of the Cappadocians, Cretans and Cili- cians. ‘‘ Augustinus, in grammaticis, indicat fuisse tortum in Corn. Syllam, Corn. Cinnam et Corn. Lentulum, Creditumque est in libris Sybillinis horum nomina tribus hisce literis fuisse designata”’ Erasmr Adagia, p. 309. 5 Tarsus, its capital, though less frequented by strangers than Athens and Alexandria, claimed a superiority over both those cities, and every other seat of learning, for successful application to the study of philosophy and the sciences. * It could boast of numerous distin- guished philosophers both of the Stoic and Academic sects, and also poets, among whom Diogenes and Dionysides are worthy of men- tion, the one for the inspired facility with which his verses flowed on any given subject—and the other as forming one of the stars which composed the poetic constellation of the Pleiades in the court of Ptolemy. It had also the honour of producing the apostle Paul ; Nestor the tutor of Marcellus, the son of Octavia ; -+-—Athenodorus the eloquent and philosophic friend of Augustus ;—and Hermo- genes the sophist, who wrote a treatise on rhetoric at the age of fifteen, ¢ and acquired such reputation that M. A. Antoninus listened. with pleasure to his discourses, and rewarded his genius with magnificent presents. That the other cities of the province were imbued with the same taste for letters as the capital, would be no unreasonable supposition, though we had no direct proof of its reality; for there is a contagion in literary improvement which is impatient to be diffused; and it seldom happens that one region is in a state of great mental activity without producing a corres- ponding action and meritorious emulation in others. Such was ac- * Tosceutn d¢ rots evSude avteumors omen Zoos THY Piroresev, reek THY wAANY EyXUKALOY wrrcoULY Teel Sete yeyouer, woF vmegotoamlas, xas ASyvac, xces ArckeevOgesay, nae eb Tivol wAdoy Tomoy Ouvaroy chara ey w TYOAE Keb DiceresGoes Tav DiroroPwy, xar Ta Aoyay yiryovact Strabo. lib, XIv. + Idem. + This Hermogenes was a striking proof of what has often been remarked of the preco- city of genius, that it outgrows its strength, and decays as rapidly as it flourishes. At the age of twenty-five his memory was gone, and though he lived till an advanced age he soon relapsed into second childhood and became the contempt of those to whom he had once been an object of envy or admiration. ‘ Hermogenes in peuritia senex, in senectute puer.” 6 tually ‘the case in Cilicia. From Mallos, a city of this province, had sprung Crates, the cotemporary of Aristarchus. Like this critic he was a learned commentator on Homer, and. was the first to introduce into Rome the study of grammar, when he appeared in that city as ambassador from Attalus the second, king. of Per- gamus. The small town of Laertes gave birth to Diogenes the celebrated biographer. Soli or Pompeiopolis contends with Tarsus for the honor of Chrysippus and Aratus, the author of the “ Phe- nomena.” Anazarba could boast.of Asclepiades and Dioscerides, the former distinguished as the author of several compositions, par- ticularly a treatise on rivers, * the latter by his knowledge of medi- cine and botany. The geographical features of the country from which the first impressions are taken, have commonly a lasting influence on the poet’s genius. They are sometimes its exciting cause, and the true ‘source of its inspirations. The: scenes which delighted in childhood store his mind with images, and become the oviginal ef his poetic descriptions. In this respect Oppian was fortunate. Cilicia, in ‘addition to the inspiring influences of an Asiatic climate, enjoyed many advantages favourable to the excitement and cultivation of poetic taste. One of jits two divisions, known by the appellation of Trachxa, the rough and:stony, was characterised by lofty and pre- cipitous mountains, adorned with romantic scenery, and abounding with the noblest quarry for the hunter. Its other division, the Campestrian, spread into extensive plains, whose fertility rendered it the most opulent of the Roman provinces. Its principal rivers were ‘the Cydnus and Pyramus. The former flowed through Tarsus, and was remarkable for the crystalline purity of its waters, and the wooded magnificence of its banks. Its tempting beauty and cool- *Tlees TOT ea. Vide Voss. de Hist. Greca. 7 ness had nearly proved fatal to Alexander the Great. The. Py- ramus which flowed past the city of Oppian, was of a more sublime description. As issuing from the defiles of Mount Taurus, it rushes through a rocky and tortuous channel to the sea, with a noise, says the scholiast who describes it, loud as thunder, it may have _pre- sented to the poet a lively picture of the inundation which he de- picts so strongly, when speaking of the Orontes. Cilicia had, moreover, been the scene of many events so renowned both in real and mythological history, that they could scarcely fail to excite the emotions of a young and susceptible mind. Some of its cities had suffered from the ravages of the Greeks, in their famous expedition to Troy; and one of the female Cilician captives had given rise to the fatal contention on which the Iliad is founded. It had sent warriors to the siege of that city, and given Andromache a wife to Hector. One of its rocky passes had_ wit- nessed a mighty struggle between the armies of the East and West for the empire of the world. After the defeat of Crassus it beeame a frontier barrier of the Romans against the Parthian incursions. It may have derived some glory from being the province of the great master of Roman eloquence ; and if, agreeably to the observa- tion of Strabo, the names of places sacred to the Muses, are ample evidence that in such places poetry has been cultivated with success, Cilicia may claim no small share of poetical renown. It contained the famous saffron-bearing mountain Corycus : and the more famous Corycian cave, a favourite haunt of the Nine. Mallos was built by Mopsus, the son of Apollo and the nymph Manto, daughter of the prophet Tiresias. Another prophet equally renowned, Calchas, Kaayas @esogidns osovororwy oY, aessos was said to have carried on a contest, in this country, with Mopsus, 8 for the palm of divination, or of power,* and to have died of cha- grin at being defeated. The city of Soli had the reputation of being built by the great legislator Solon. The son of Jupiter and Danae was the founder of Tarsus. The Muse’s horse, Pegasus, had dropped one of his foot-wings on the spot where it stood. From this circumstance the city was said to derive its name; and in the days of mythological belief, it might have been supposed to derive some portion of the Muses’ inspiration. With these advantages of soil and climate, united to their histo- rical and fabulous associations, Oppian enjoyed the undivided affec- tion of a father capable of giving a proper direction to his pursuits. Agesilaus was a man of the highest rank among the citizens of Anazarba, devoted entirely to letters, and livmg more as a philo- sopher than a man of the world. In voluntary seclusion from the intrigues of courts and the bustle of the forum, he spent his days in the instruction of his son, and sought happiness where it has its only permanent residence, in the bosom of domestic affection. His plan of education was liberal and expanded. It embraced music, geo- metry, grammar, and the whole circle of the sciences. His wife Zenodote shared the duty and the pleasure of the task ; and subse- quent circumstances lead us to infer, that they found in their pupil all the docility and all the affection which can flatter the hopes and secure the love of a parent. While they were engaged in this delightful vocation, their country became the theatre of war. Severus was contending with Niger for universal sovereignty, and they were perhaps but little aware how much their future fortunes would be affected * Tov Suveroy Oe re Kaayavros evravde meget drdocsrty, aAAO Te Kas DoPoxaAns. Ov movoy de thy eee TNS MavTi~ns sey Mepevdevxcccry, aAAy Kes TNS HOKNSe Strabo, lib. xiv. 9 by the result. A battle at the famous strait where Darius had been vanquished by Alexander, decided the contest. The for- tune of Severus prevailed, and Niger met an irretrievable defeat. Several of the provinces, by espousing the cause of the latter, had provoked the resentment of the conqueror. “ His unfor- giving temper,” to use the words of Gibbon, “ stimulated by avarice, indulged a spirit of revenge where there was no room for apprehension. The most considerable of the provincials, who without any dislike to the fortunate candidate, had obeyed the governor under whose authority they were accidentally placed, were punished by death, exile, and especially by confiscation of their estates. Many cities of the east were stript of their an. cient honors, and obliged to pay into the treasury of Severus four times the amount of the sums contributed by them for the service of Niger.” Among the suffering cities, it is probable, Anazarba was included, and Agesilaus might have incurred the usurper’s resentment either by supineness in his cause, or by imputed attachment, to that of his rival. When the citizens of Anazarba waited on the victor to offer the usual congratula- tions, Agesilaus was not in the number. Hoping, perhaps, to escape notice, or deeming himself out of the reach of ma- lignant suspicion, he continued in the retirement of study, and lost the favourable opportunity of recommending himself to the imperial patronage. The jealous and tyrannical mind of Severus construed this neglect into a proof of intended disre- spect or avowed disaffection, and avenged it, by ordering him into immediate exile to Melita, an island in the Adriatic sea. Oppian, his son, and it may be presumed his wife, went the vo- luntary companions of his banishment. Happily they had resources in themselves against the malignity of their destiny, and proved VOL. XIII. Cc 10 experimentally the truth of Cicero’s eulogy on the love of letters. Those studies which amused them in prosperity became the con- solation of their misfortune. A mind imbued with a taste for literature finds solace in its own contemplations, and learns, in the acquisition of mental treasures, to forget the evils and de- privations it has suffered from the world. If to this taste be joined a love of nature, it becomes still more independent. No- thing, indeed, can be better calculated than a fondness for na- tural history, to recreate the mind and body, and preserve both in a state of healthful activity. It presents an ever-varying and inexhaustible fund of pleasure; and, while it inspires the most sublime sentiments of the wisdom and benevolence of the Deity, teaches man to be resigned to his lot. Who has read the vo- lume of nature with success, and not become more virtuous and more happy? Prior to his exile, Oppian must have laid the foundation of his future fame. Though the Halieutics were first made public at Rome, it is likely that the Cynegetics first occupied his at- tention, and that, though he did not finish, he. composed the greater part of them, while he had an opportunity, in Cilicia, of acquiring experimental knowledge of the subject. His situation now, in an island surrounded by all the finny tribes of the Adriatic, was peculiarly favourable to his icthyological studies. Here he might collect many facts both from the experience of the fisher- men of the island and his own. In the poetical colouring and arrangement of these facts he found an uncloying feast, and in- stead of blaming the cruelty of the emperor, bewailing his condi- tion with unmanly tears, or complaining of the injustice of fortune,* * Ovid seems to have found only an image of his misfortunes in those objects which would have diverted a mind devoted to the study of natural history ; 11 as Ovid had done in similar circumstances, he bore it with cheerful magnanimity as a philosopher. Not that he did not cherish an anxious wish of returning to his native country, that instinctive love of home which he has so beautifully described as adhering to the deer species, when taken from their native haunts. "EZoya 0 av rode Qurov cov domuov co Pooryamonl cs HSaarcus 7 evvees PrAtoy TE varesos peradeov Ki de re sv seerrnot wednouvres Beoysdecos A yeevrnges ooryorey er GAAgS eUTinE Kwl8Ss Trrod: 0 ev Buownors ehevstegov aurts Asrroseys Pesce xors yAunegon Oopov nrvatev, Nyt voeseaxer, Ovd eran Zewos rig ex aAdodaroiow araodas. Ovx mgm ror psvoios Pirn tauren wecoreros’ Kou Badsoy de rodeos rig everranronr enor Sygwv. Ku». B. |. 306. What wond’rous instinct bids the deer repair To well-known forests, and his wonted lair ? Should hunters snare him in their tortuous toil, And lead him captive to a foreign soil, How soon, when freed among its wilds to stray, Back to his lov’d retreats he speeds his way ! c2 Estur ut occulta vitiata teredine navis, fEquoreos scopulos ut cavat unda salis, Sic mea perpetuos curarum pectora morsus, Fine quibus nullo conficiantur, habent. It must, however, be allowed that the cases are not exaetly parallel. Oppian was young, and full of hope and expectation. Ovid was now advanced in years, he had experienced the pleasures of a court, and hope had ceased to flatter. 12 In the strange scene the exile loaths to roam, So dear his native haunts, so sweet is home! For not to man is love of home confined ; It rules as strongly in the savage kind. Many great and learned men, when in exile or prison, have prepared their way to future fame and fortune, planned the enter- prize which led to victory, or pursued the meditations which ren- dered their names immortal. Had not Seneca and Boethius been banished, neither of them, especially the latter, had written on the consolations of philosophy. The loss of his Mantuan estate led Virgil to the Court of Augustus; and poverty was the parent of those verses which secured to Horace the patronage of Mecenas. But Oppian had a higher and more amiable incentive to stimulate his muse, than the desire of riches, or the favour of courts. He wished to be the means of restoring his father to his native coun- try; and as the genius of poets had been successfully employed before, even under greater difficulties, he did not despair of accom- plishing his wishes, by an exertion of poetic talent accompanied by some seasonable compliments to the imperial family. The cha- racters too, both of the emperor and his wife Julia Domna, may have flattered his hopes. Severus, notwithstanding his cruelty and avarice, was a lover of learning, and exhibited striking proofs of his willingness to encourage its cultivators. He listened with pleasure to the discourses of Hermocrates, and honoured Arria, a lady of distinction, with his particular friendship, because she applied her- self to the study of philosophy and the reading of Plato. Accord- ing to Spartian, Aurelius Victor, and Eutropius, he had himself studied philosophy, and excelled in various branches of polite lite- rature. ‘Though the declaration of Dion were true, that he evinced 13 more inclination than ability to learn the liberal arts, his own want of talents did not render him less an encourager of those who pos- sessed them. As to his wife Julia Domna, Gibbon says, that “she had applied herself to letters and philosophy with some success, and the most splendid reputation. She was the patroness of every art, and the friend of every man of genius.” She sought by acts of liberality to mitigate the odium of dishonouring her husband’s bed; and though abandoned to the indulgence of her licentious passions, she did not forget what she owed to her country and the advancement of learning. She procured the rights of Roman citizens for Emessa, the city of her birth. She induced Philostratus to undertake the life of Apollonius; and by her continued. generosity to the literati, se- cured the fame of which she was solicitous. Of such a woman, a young and accomplished poet might reason- ably expect the countenance. And if we take into the account that _ her sister Julia Mesa was married to Julius Avitus, a native of Apamea, a city familiar to Oppian, may it not be fairly con- jectured, especially as he had given proofs of his poetical talent prior to his exile, that his name was not unknown to the Roman court before he appeared there in person, and that he had some reason for indulging the hope of bemg received and heard with candour and liberality ? That a taste for literature and the fine arts continued to be cul- tivated at Rome, and patronized by the reigning families long after the Augustan age, is evident to every reader of history. A taste for them became the fashion, and those who had it not, affected to have it. But the splendor of the age when Cicero spoke, and Virgil and Ovid sang, has attracted most eyes so forcibly, that they have been dazzled by its brilliancy, almost into blindness to all succeeding excellence. The honor bestowed on the past, weakens 14 the attention due to the present. If the old poets, Ennius and Lucilius, in the days of Horace, were the great themes of panegyric, no wonder if, in after times, the writers of the Augustan age should be thought to have so concentrated in themselves all the rays of eloquence and poetry, as to leave nothing to their successors but darkness and despair. But, though it be granted that they far sur- passed their followers, it cannot be concluded that a taste for lite- rature was not more general in succeeding times, and that some real genius was not always starting up, among the tribes of sophists and poetasters, to vindicate the honor of true taste, and prevent a total declension into barbarism. Eloquence in Rome being so indispensible to success in civil, and frequently, in military employments, proved a very important part of education, and its culture necessarily involved that of other branches of literature. Hence it happened, for a long series of years, that the emperors themselves were’ often renowned, not only for their proficiency in oratory and poetry, but for their patronage of men of letters, in which they seem to have made Augustus their model, and wisely considered it as a necessary part of the imperial character. Tiberius, that monster of debauchery, was fond of the liberal! aris, and, though he is perstringed by Juvenal for the verbosity of his style, he was no mean orator in his yernacular tongue, which he spoke with great fluency. He also wrote lyric verses, and shewed his esteem for genius by erecting statues of the poets Kuphorion, Rhianus, and Parthenius. Even the atrocious Caligula shewed himself willing to render a service to history, by allowing the books of Titus Labienus, Cremutius Cordus, and Cassius Severus, which had been prohibited in the reign of Tibe- rius, to be freely perused. The very vanity which led him to dis- play his eloquence in the senate, in behalf of friend or foe, as the ~ 15 cause of either best suited the exhibition of his powers, and his in- stitution of the famous rhetorical competitions at Lyons, though followed by such ludicrous results, shew that the interests of litera- ture were not forgotten. He pleaded causes after he had obtained the honor of a triumph, and composed comedies in Greek which _were extant in the time of Suetonius. His successor Claudian, ac- cording to Seneca, was an encourager of learning as well asa writer. He wrote two histories, one of the Tyrrhenians in twenty books, the other of the Carthaginians in eight ; and added three letters to the Roman alphabet, one of which is only conjectural, the other two, the AXolic digamma and the anti-sigma are well known. Though Nero thought it the acmé of glory to be hailed as the best harper in the world, he did not disdain the praise of eloquence. While he was yet a youth he pleaded the causes of the Ilians, the Rhodians, and the people of Bononia, with such ability, that he gained their respective suits. His cruelty in putting Seneca and Lucan to death, is no proof of his hostility to philosophy and poetry. He might punish the indiscretion of an artist, without any wish to exterminate the art. Galba was well versed in the sciences, and had made civil law his particular study. Vespasian, the only one of all the emperors whose moral character, as Tacitus observes, was meliorated by the possession of power, promoted both the fine arts and the mechanical, more than any of his predecessors. He invited the most celebrated poets to Rome, and gave annual sala- ries, payable out of the public treasury, to the Greek and Latin professors of rhetoric. His son, the virtuous Titus, was both an orator and a poet, and could speak on any subject with fluency and learning, without premeditation, If Domitian did not feel, he pretended, a love for letters, and is said to have succeeded so well in composition, that he was the admiration both, of Pliny and Quin- 16 tilian. The translation of Aratus which has reached our time, is, in the opinion of Vossius, undoubtedly the work of this emperor. His subsequent tyranny, indeed, frustrated the hopes which these promises gave, and his banishment of the philosophers merited the keen reprobation which it has received from the philosophic pen of Tacitus... Nerva, who succeeded, was also a poet. His elegant verses had gained him the friendship of Nero, and the honor of having his statue erected in the palace of that tyrant. Though Trajan was prevented, by having spent his younger years in a camp, from obtaining the renown of a scholar, the encouragement which he gave to learning, appears in the great number of eminent writers who flourished in his reign, among whom the names of Ju- venal, Tacitus, and the younger Pliny, are the most distinguished. Adrian, at the age of fifteen, had made such proficiency in the study of Greek, that he was named the young Grecian. Gifted with a memory capacious and retentive almost beyond credibility, a me- mory which could repeat a whole volume after a single perusal, and name every soldier in the Roman army, he excelled at once in every branch of literature, science, and the fine arts. He united the lighter pursuits of painting and music to the study of physic, botany, and mineralogy ; the grammarian’s accuracy to the orator’s vehemence, and the enthusiasm of the poet to the patience of the mathematician. He gave a welcome reception in his court to all who had signalized themselves in these pursuits; and often found amusement in disputing with the philosophers, and challeng- ing the poets in extemporaneous verses, which he poured forth with the fluency of an improvisatore. He also wrote a Greek poem enti- tled the Alexandriad, and several other works both in prose and verse. F'lorus, Suetonius, and Arian the disciple of Epictetus, adorned his reign. Antoninus Pius was frugal of the treasury, and deemed it a 17 shame that the property of the public should be devoured by useless vermin: accordingly, he suppressed among other salaries which had been too lightly bestowed, that of Mesodemus, a lyric poet, who had obtained a pension from Adrian, for some elegiac lines on the death of his favourite Antinous. But he was, notwithstanding, a ge- nerous patron of learned men, particularly of those engaged in the education of youth, and gave them, through all the provinces, the most liberal support. The name of M. Aurelius speaks a vo- lume. At the age of twelve he ranked among the philosophers, wore their habit, and practised their austerities. In oratory, phi- losophy, and a knowledge of civil law, he had no equal. The encouragement which he gave to literature degenerated into indiscriminate liberality. For, though many deserving men en- joyed his bounty, others parteok of it who had no recommendation but their beards. Celsus, Lucian, Apuleius, Polyzenus, Pausanias, probably Au. Gellius, and the two Sexti, the stoic and the empiric, were among the writers of this period. Even Commodus, the most execrable savage that ever disgraced a throne, was the patron of Julius Pollux, who had been one of his preceptors, and in- scribed to him the work entitled “ Onomasticon.” Mention has already been made of Severus.* From the cursory review which has thus been taken of the literary taste of the Roman emperors, from the time of Augustus to that of Severus, an interval of about two hundred years, of the encouragement which they gave to letters, and the number, of emi- nent writers who lived during this period, it will appear, that lite- rature has no great reason to complain of its interests being ne- glected by those whose influence could promote them best; or that the great efforts of the Augustan age had exhausted the human VOL. XIII. D * For more on this subject see the Universal History, vols, xiv. xv. 18 mind, and left it effete.* The investigation might be followed to a much later period, with a similar result. But this may suffice to show that Oppian did not appear in a barbarous age, ner among a people unimbued with taste, or incapable of appreciating poetical excellence. No reason has been assigned for Oppian’s selection of fishing, as a subject favourable to the design he had formed of recommending himself to the imperial family at Rome. It is not to be doubted, however, that it was congenial to his own taste, and that of the age. He gives it the epithet of “ seareq,” beloved; and his works contain abundant evidence that they could be composed by no one who was not passionately addicted to the pleasures which they de- scribe. The Romans were exceedingly fond of aquatic excur- sions, and the representation of naval engagements on their lakes. To these Lucretius alludes in the beginning of his second book ; Fervere quom videas classem, lateque vagari. Augustus dug a lake near the Tiber, and Domitian built a theatre, for these entertainments. But Claudius, to give them a higher zest, at the draining of the Fucine lake, had a real battle between two fleets, the one of Rhodes, the other of Sicily, each consisting of twelve vessels of three banks of oars, whose crews were composed of condemned malefactors, to the number of 19,000. The signal was given by a silver triton, raised by mechanism out of the lake. The conflict was bloody, and the majority of the combatants perished.— Caligula delighted to sail along the coast of Campania, in gallies of cedar magnificently appointed. 'Tigillinus gave a splendid feast * The French Encyclopedie, in the article Age, having spoken of Horace, Ovid, Cicero, &c. adds “ Fatigué d’avoir donné le jour a tant d’hommes immortels, la nature se repose pendant plusieurs siecles!” This is in the true Gallic style. 19 to Nero on the lake Agrippa, in a large vessel towed by others of inferior size, embellished with ornaments of gold and ivory. The feast, to harmonize with the scene, consisted entirely of wild ani- mals. Fishing formed a part of these amusements ; and the empe- rors did not disdain to handle the implements of the art. Eutro- pius numbers it among Nero’s luxurious vices, that he fished with golden nets, drawn by purple ropes.* A passage, near the commencement of the first Halieutic, shews that the family of Severus sometimes enjoyed this recreation. The imposition practised by Pythias, the goldsmith of Syracuse, on Canus, the Roman knight, as related in the third book of Cicero’s Offices, shews how much a good fishing coast enhanced the value of a country residence, in the estimation of the Romans. And the fourth satire of Horace’s second book, if we had no other documents, would show how well they appreciated the vazious excellencies of fishes, as articles of luxury. Their fish-ponds were supported at immense expence, and sometimes sold for the most exorbitant sums. Nor were they contented with having one sense gratified at the cost of this part of the animal creation. They had certain fishes, parti- | cularly the mullet, brought to table alive in vases, that they might feast their eyes with the change of colours exhibited in their ° dying agonies.-- Hunting was followed, as an amusement, less by the Romans, than the Greeks. It is classed by Sallust, in his philosophising mood, with agriculture, among servile employments. But he speaks D2 * Retibus aureis piscaretur quz blateis funibus extrahebat, Eurrep. lib, vii.c. 14. + Mullum expirantem versicolori quadam et numerosa varietate spectari, proceres gulz nar- rant, rubentium squamarum multiplici mutatione pallescentem, utique si vitro spectetur ‘ inclusus. C. Plin. Nat. Hist. Liber. ix.c. 17. 20 of it as a necessary means of subsistence, not as the recreation of the wealthy and powerful. With these it has ever been a favourite sport, and among the Romans, a high degree of eclat was attached to success in it, as we may infer from the artifice of Gargilius, (in Horace) who bought a boar, and had it carried on a mule through the forum, that he might enjoy the reputation of having killed it in the chace. Gargilius qui mane, plagas, venabula, servos, Differtum transire forum populumque jubebat, Unus ut e multis, populo spectante, referret Emptum mulus aprum. Independently then of their general interests, as embracing a know- ledge of animated nature, it may be inferred that the subjects of fishing and hunting had peculiar attractions fora Roman ear. ‘Taste, like dress and equipage, has its changes and revolutions, If georgics were a favourite topic, in the days of Virgil, field sports may not have been less so, in the daysof Oppian. Ovid,* if the disjointed fragment ascribed to him be his, had written on Halieutics ; and Gratius Faliscus, his co- temporary, on hunting. The writings of Seneca, Pliny, and Athenzus who devoted a considerable portion of his work to icthyology and the writers on that subject, had awakened public attention. Add to this that the games of the Circus,+ and the frequent exhibition of * Ennius too, at a much earlier period, had written on fishes. See L. Apuleii Apologia. Q. Ennius Hdvra9yrx01¢ que versibus scripsit, inumerabilia piscium enumerat. + Every species of wild beast was exhibited at these games ; Quodcunque tremendum est Dentibus, aut insigne jubis, aut nobile cornu, Aut rigidum setis, capitur; decus omne timorque Sylvarum, non caute latent, non mole resistunt. CLAUDIAN. 21 wild beasts and birds collected from every region of the empire, ne- cessarily introduced some knowledge of natural history to the Romans, and rendered every thing connected with it interesting. The adaptation of such subjects as fishing and hunting to poetry, not being the business of the present inquiry, let it suffice to ob- serve that the success of Oppian justified his choice. The most unpromising subject, in the creative hands of a poet, assumes a character of which a dull imagination is unable to form any con- ception. He covers the naked rock with verdure, and renders the most sterile soil prolific. The Halieutics being completed, Oppian repaired to Rome, and, according to the custom of the age, announced their public recital, in the temple of Apollo. This was a mode of giving rapid publi- city to every new composition, and, under proper management, it might have been attended with the most beneficial results. But, as it afforded too much room for party spirit and intrigue, it may have sometimes tended to repress the spirit of true genius, by unmerited reprehension; and to exalt the mediocrity which could condescend to bribe applause, into an elevation which nothing but solid learn- ing and the most brilliant talents could long support. Oppian, however, was fortunate in having a candid audience. Severus and his family honoured him with their presence, and the poet had Some were collected merely for curiosity, as Crocodiles, and various species of beasts and birds ; but the more ferocious kinds were for the combat.—See Kennet’s Ants. J. Cesar opposed 20 elephants to 500 men on foot. Twenty more with turrets on theix backs, and 60 men to defend each turret, engaged with 500 foot and as many horse. Titus, at the dedication of the Coliseum gave 5000 wild’ beasts to be slain. (Eutrop.) M. Anto- ninus was said to have 100 lions in the exhibition of the games, after a victory. (Eutrop. lib. viii. e. 14.) Vitellius, at one supper, had 2000 fishes and 7000 birds. 22 taken the proper precaution, according to the precepts of the Rhetoricians, to secure their benevolent attention, by his compli- mentary exordium. The event exceeded his expectations. The emperor expressed such gratification, that he proposed to give him whatsoever remuneration he chose to ask. The object of Oppian was now attained, and he immediately asked the restoration of his father. The piety of the request was pleasing to the emperor; and he not only granted it, but ordered that he should receive a stater for each of his verses; a gratuity equally honourable to the genero- sity of the prince, and the merits of the poet. The verses of Oppian, on account of their eminent success and splendid reward, received the epithet of golden; as those of Py- thagoras had been honored by a similar title, for the superior praise of their excellent morality. According to Suidas, he was gifted with twenty thousand staters,* from which it is inferred that his verses must have amounted to the same number, though little more than a fourth part of them now remains. The Palatine manuscript of his anonymous biographer, as quoted by Belin de Belu, says that he was so enriched by the emperor’s liberality, that he transcribed his poems in letters of gold. Thus did Oppian, in the highly meritorious performance of a filial duty, find himself suddenly advanced to a high elevation of fame and fortune. He returned in triumph with his parents to Anazarba, honored as the best of poets, and most exemplary of sons. ‘The indubitable proofs of genius which he had given, justify * A golden stater was equivalent to 16s. 4d. of our money. Two myriads, or 20,000 of them would be above £16,000, asum far exceeding what Octavia gave to Virgil. That Oppian should receive such an enormous sum is scarcely to be credited. It is not thus that poets are remunerated. But it is by no means necessary to suppose that all his poems had a share in the munificence of the emperor. 23 the supposition, that, had he lived till his powers acquired full vigour and maturity, he might have contested the palm of superiority with the most renowned poets of antiquity. But he did not long sur- vive to enjoy his good fortune, or accomplish his poetical pro- jects. He died a victim to the plague, about the thirtieth year of his age, to the inexpressible regret of his parents and countrymen. The latter shewed their grief for his loss, and honor for his memory, by erecting his statue, and engraving on its base the following inscription : OTIMIIANO® xrcos error aidsor, ahaa pe poorens Baonavos eknemute witos, xevegos 7 Aida ps Kas viov ovre xarerye rov everins vroQnrny" Ex de rou we yeovor Cwov* paspeverv Poros cusvesg Esaoey, oun av Hg [406 soov veges cAAaye Qurap. OPPIAN. On me the Muse had deathless fame bestowed, But Fate, too soon life’s thread asunder tore ; Stern Pluto dragged me to his dark abode, While yet in youth I wooed the Muse’s lore : My life, till age, had Fate malignant spared, No poet e’er had brighter glories shared. * & soy abest a Cod. Sylb, qui duos ultimos versus sic legit.” Es 3g wroavy HE Heovoy pesevery QSov05 caeivog E6eoey Oux cy ot ig ioov HAs0s GAAGEY EY XFoVs DaTaY. 24 The muse of Oppian was employed on three subjects, fishing, hunting, and fowling. His poem on the first, consisting of five books, has come down to us entire. The last book of the Cyne- getics has been lost. ‘The Hixeutics, containing two books, have been partially preserved in a Latin translation by Gesner,* in whose days the original was said to be kept in an Italian library. Other works have been attributed to Oppian, and we have his own words to show that he wrote dithyrambics. He also informs us that he intended to exercise his genius on a more exalted theme, of which he is thought to give a specimen in his description of the Orontes. Some writers seem to be of opinion that Oppian was a generic name of such poets as wrote on marine subjects, and they endeavour to support it by etymology. Certain it is, that a poet of this name furnished Martial with the subject of a satiric epigram. Schneider, a learned German editor of Oppian, strenuously maintains, that the author of the Cynegetics, and the author of the Hialieutics, were two different persons, the former a native of Apamea, a city of Syria, who lived in the reign of Severus and Caracalla, and wrote in a style altogether inelegant. ‘The latter, he affirms, flou- ® Ego nullum ex scriptoribus nondum publicatis hactenus consequutus, preter Gracam paraphrasin in Oppiani Ixeutica, id est de aucupio libellos, quos quidem Latinos feci, et passim huic de avibus volumine inserui, Con. GrsneEn. + Thus we have “the Lake poets” of our own days. “ Non omittendum hic videtur qualem nominis Grammatici seu Scholiastee Oppiano attribuant, qua de re hac verba reperi in antiquo Cod. M. S. Frederici Sylburgii mei: Oxmmiayvos ETUMOAC YET AL MO OMTH TE Batre xcs Te ado, 4 Saracoe, yverae Omriaros, xk Teomn TST bis 7, Kab TS A us vy, Ommiavos, 6 Tas Suracone wyeas exitngav. Sive igitur hinc nomen Oppiano impositum sit, sive aliunde, concinna est hac etymologia ; dummodo sciamus, hoc idem nomen. aliis etiam ante hunc poetam fuisse, ut ex Martiali docebo.” Esset, Castrice, cum mahi coloris, Versus scribere coepit Oppianus. “i Lib. vii. 3- 25 rished in the reign of M. A. Antoninus, the philosopher ;—that he was a citizen of Anazarba, the genuine Oppian, whose poem on fishing is as much distinguished by its Grecian purity and sweet- ness, as the other by its latinized Greek, and its frequent devia- tions from the authorized principles of composition. He endeavours to support the hypothesis by internal evidence, and the testimonies of Suidas, Eusebius, Hieronymus, and Atheneus; with what suc- cess remains to be considered. Belin de Belu, a Frenchman who published an excellent edition of the Cynegetics in 1786, in his preface, has vigorously opposed the German editor ; yet Schneider, in a late edition of Oppian, has returned to the contest. According to the German, Suidas affirms that, in the reign of M. Antoninus, Oppian brought his talents into notice, “ ingenium extulisse.” But, replies Belu, this is saying more than the text of Suidas authorizes, though it were even granted that he means M. Antoninus, the philosopher, and not M. Antoninus, who was named Caracalla.* His words are, yeyovws ens Maexs Avravve Bucirews, and they notify only the time of the poet’s birth which might have taken place about the conclusion of the former emperor’s reign. For from his death till that of Severus, VOL. XIII. E * Hallucinatio nata est ex nomine Antonini; non enim Antoninus philosophus est, cui dicata sunt Halieutica, sed Antoninus Caracalla, cui, vivo adhuc Severo patre, divinum illud epos Oppianus obtulit. Scaliger. With much reason is Gibbon surprised to find the Caracalla of Roman history, in the Caracul of Macpherson’s Ossian. “ In the Caledonian war,” says he, ‘* the son of Severus was known only by the appellation of Antoninus ; and it may seem strange, that the Highland bard should describe him by a nickname, invented four years afterwards, scarcely used by the Romans till after the death of that emperor, and seldom employed by the most ancient his- ‘ torians.” 26 was an interval of little more than thirty years, about the same space of time that Oppian lived.* Now, since Oppian, im- mediately on obtaining his father’s restoration, returned to Ana- zarba where he died; the time of his death seems, with much probabilty, to have happened soon after that of Severus, or in the first year of the reign of Caracalla, and consequently his birth may have taken place under Antoninus the philosopher. The testimony of Eusebius appears more pointed. His words are Ex: Magne Avravivs Owmiavos rv Adsevringy owveyeanlaro But all their force as an argument in favour of Schneider is lost, unless it be proved that they apply to the philosophic emperor, and not to Caracalla. Belu maintains, with Scaliger, that it is of the latter only they are to be understood. The work of Hieronymus in which Oppian is mentioned, being a translation from Eusebius, adds no- thing to the argument. The evidence of Athenzus is considered by Schneider, as decisive in his favour. Atheneus is generally supposed to have written in the time of Commodus, for he speaks of that emperor as his cotem- porary o za jes, and of having seen him driving in a chariot armed with the club of Hercules. Again, he mentions Oppian as having lived a short time before him, roy odsyy eo juav yevopevevO x miavov Ksdrsxe. Hence the inference that’ our poet must have flou- rished before the reign of Caracalla or Severus. Belu replies that the phrase, z«3’ 7s, cannot apply to a cotemporary, but to a person defunct; and that Commodus must have been dead when it was written. The passage orye zeo nua, he thinks, is an * Belu’s chronology does not correspond with Gibbon’s and Wotton’s. According to him M. A. Antoninus died A. D. 182, and Caracalla began to reign A. D. 212; whereas it is more accurately ascertained that the former event took place March 17, A. D. 180, and that Severus died February 4, 211. 27 interpolation of the writer who abridged the two first books of the Deipnosophists of Athenzeus, as Justin abridged the history of Trogus Pompeius. But what necessity for this supposition ? Athenzus might have seen Commodus, as he declared he did, and lived till the reign of Caracalla, and after the death of Oppian- In this there is nothing at all inconsistent or improbable. Though he is supposed by Suidas to have flourished in the time of M. Aure- lus, the very passage under consideration, proves that he also flourished under Commodus, and Vossius adds, Pertinax and Severus. A work of such various and extensive erudition as the Deipnosophists, and it is only one of his works, may well be allowed to require and occupy the labours of a long life.* The hypothesis of Schneider is not supported by the testimony of any ancient writer, nor do any of the biographers of Oppian appear to suspect the two poems commonly ascribed to him, to be the composition of different pens. Eusebius speaks of only one Oppian, a Cilician ; Sozomen of one who was rewarded by Severus ; and Manasses, with the anonymous biographer, of one who wrote on fishing and hunting. Schneider, notwithstanding, thinks he has found internal evidence sufficient to prove that the author of the Cynegetics was not of Anazarba, but Apamea. Unfortunately for his cause, the principal passaze on which he rests is acknow- ledged to be corrupt. It occurs in the second book of the Cyne- getics, where the poet is speaking of the Orentes, and the inundation of the Apamean’ plains. E 2 * Athenzus himself shews, beyond all question, that he long survived the reign of Caracalla; and, therefore, might well speak of Oppian, as having lived some time before him. In the XV book, 23d c. of the Deipnosophistis, he mentions the death of Ulpian, the friend and mi- nister of Alexander Severus ; an event which did not happen till A. D. 228—sixteen or seven- teen yeats after Oppian’s death. Vid. Animad, in Atheneum. Tom. prim. Argentorati, 1801. 28 Aros 0? ev mecarolos exaryiZav redio1olr Asev aeZopevos, oes reryeos eyyus odevay Xeeooy O68 Hb VNTOV, ELnv FOAL, vdurs eva. He considers this text as erroneous, because it consists of parti- ciples without a verb,* and to rectify it, changes yvay, in the last line, into yeve.+ Belu agrees that the reading is wrong, but says, the error lies in the pronoun 4 which should be the verb e&%. This, he maintains, was the original text ; but the € in old manu- scripts, particularly those of the twelfth ‘century, having a resem- blance to 7, the carelessness of some transcriber wrote it in that form ; and the » being afterwards added, to suit thé concord, gave anew country to the poet of Anazarba. Another passage quoted by Schneider to assist his argument, is from the second book, where the poet having spoken of the temple of Memnon in the vicinity of Apamea, says, *AdArAw ra [EVs HOTH KOT OV, KLEITOLEY Eevee HHAAY Tlarens nerconc, courn Uiwordnids worrn’ Here, says the critic, is the writer’s own confession that Apamea is his country. Belu to remove the difficulty, instead of jereens reads vmereenc, and supposes the poet to be addressing Julia and her son Antoninus Bassianus ; to which Schneider objects, because the poem commences with ‘an address to Antoninus alone. But not to give so much importance to a single word, surely a poet might be allowed, without any great violation of propriety, * « Judicans et quidem recte, locutionem, que solis constat participiis, subsistere non posse” Belu-Prologomena. p. xv. + Schneider has farther judiciously rectified the passage, by changing exespLay into smanyiZo. 29 to call that country his own which lies contiguous to the land which is so in reality, especially when he is a great distance from both. If a native of Middlesex, when removed to some remote climate, chanced to speak of the romantic beauties of Cumberland or Wales, and in the warmth of poetical inspiration, called it his own country, must a critic infer that he was a native of either of these regions? As distance diminishes the appearance of the shores we leave, it seems to increase the comprehension of the patriotic senti- ment; and it is not the individual spot where we first drew breath, but the province, the island, or the whole kingdom, that is embraced in the endearing appellation of country.* The’ Halieutics contain, in themselves, abundant proof that their author solicited the regard of two imperial patrons. Were it clearly ascertained what two were meant, the question would be decided. All the poet’s biographers, with the exception of Schnei- der, suppose he intends Severus and Antoninus, 7. e. Caracalla. The latter was proclaimed by the army, after the reduction of Ctesiphon, partner in the empire with his father, and accordingly the poet writes, EE s wos xecweos, mayo Seovov euleCawres Apoa, Serrecios rs TouTne wos Poosdspuos opank. Lis. ii. v. 682. And again, Zor re, porno, mos Osos meyouyea mute Iyens. Lr. i. v. 66. * Since this passage was written, I have found that Bodinus, who published an edition of Oppian, Lutetiz, 1555, entertained a similar sentiment. ‘ Quia Ciliciz proxima est Syria, utramque patriam appellat.” 30 But, says Schneider, these lines are addressed to M. Aurelius and his son Commodus. In confirmation of his opinion, he quotes the following lines, and it must be acknowledged, they favour his opinion more than any other of his arguments : Adana ov [20b, xUpTIOTE TOMITTS YoY Bacirewv, Avros 7? Avravve nous visos nyadteov anes TlgoQeores EO UOLT Ee Lis. iv. v.4. This is a serious difficulty. The only solution I can offer, without concurring with Schneider, is the following, and the learned reader may judge of its validity. Caracalla had a son by his wife Plautina. Both the mother and her child became objects of the tyrant’s hatred and persecution. But, notwith- standing, might not the poet have intended a compliment to the father, in thus invoking the patronage of his son, though an infant, who might be regarded as successor, or heir apparent, to the empire ? As to any argument founded on the style of the two poems, I think it decidedly against the hypothesis of Schneider. The style of each contains as strong evidence as the most incredulous critic can require, that one pen was the writer of both: for in both do we not only meet the same images and sentiments, clothed in nearly the same expressions, but the same train of thought and mode of illustration? These resemblances are not casual, nor like the imitations of one poet from another; but they exhibit the same disposition and complexion of thought diffused through dif- ferent topics, in such a manner as evinces them to be emanations of an individual mind. Each discovers that the author of the one possessed a familiar knowledge of the subject of the other. The ew 31 habits of beasts and fishes are compared in each, and introduced for the sake of mutual illustration. Thus, in the first Halieutic, a ship arrested in the middle of her course, by the adhesion of the Remora, or sucking fish, is assimilated to a wild beast suddenly struck by the shaft of the hunter. The habits of the bear, in the third Cynegetic, resemble those of the Polypus. The one retires in the wintry season, to the shelter of his cavern ; the other to his habi- tation in the deep: the one finds sustenance in licking his paws, the other in the corrosion of its cirri. The same fondness for his native haunts which we have already seen ascribed to the deer, in the second book of the Cynegetics, is ascribed to the lobster in the first of the Halieutics: and each description is accompanied with similar reflections couched in almost the same language. Acraxos av megs On rs xe s Qoeroy o1ov Eowres Osneing Sarepng never Oeeow, 8de wor avrns Nemes’ exav, GAN?’ es psy cevanrynoiy Ths eourrtes Trre Qeguy ereguoe mods morovds wedesyy Aorag oy 8 perc Ongar env voornae yoeadeny Srevdar, 80 ederss Zesvov muyov wArov creases, Ovd” ereens TeTeNS ETIGMAAET OS, HAAM Oseoees Kas domor, ov nercreire, nos ndeoe nok vopov crus Kewns, 1 pu eee, nous 8x nydnee Jaraooey, Tg pas oomeZewvarny cAim@roos wyeevrTyeese Ors tege woe TrwTosow bog Domos nde Sarnoon Tlarean, was yogos eQerrios, ev’ eyevorro, Drader evs xeodin yAvnegon y00v0s, #0 meee 8voIS Tlereig eQnwegiosos TEAEL YAUKELWTATOV array’ Ovd’ arsyeworegoy noes VTE, 05 HEY CVO aH 32 Dvzirorw rarens rercon Brov edrrywosvrers Eicwos ty wAdodwmosow arising Cuyov ehnwv. Hat. 4. 1. 263. So dear the lobster loves his native home, Nought e’er can lure him from its bounds to roam ; But if transported, by some stern decree, To distant shores, then left to wander free, Around no foreign rock his arms he flings ; To no new chamber in the deep he clings ; But back, with eager speed, his path explores To his loved grottoes, and his well-known shores ;* Nor dreads his wonted pasture to regain, Tho’ banished thence by hunters of the main. Dear to the finny tribes their native waves, Their sands paternal, and their coral caves ;— Each haunt sweet rapture on their hearts distils : Not man alone the patriot passion thrills ; These feel it too, and well with him they know That angry fate inflicts no. direr woe Than durance sad, beneath her ruthless stroke, - In hopeless exile, and a shameful yoke. * These lines, and still more those on the deer, page 11, remind us of our own pathetie Goldsmith’s verses on a similar topic : And as a hare whom hounds and horns pursue, Pants to the place from whence at first she flew, I still had hopes, my long vexations past, Here to return, and die at home at last. 33 To point out other similitudes equally striking would be more tedious than difficult. There is not only a general resemblance in the style of the two poems, but the same peculiarities, and whole lines exactly the same occur in both. As to the charge of barba- rism, and violation of the rules of syntax, brought by Schneider against the Cynegetics, it is not well supported. Belu shows that the passages selected to justify the charge are sanctioned by the ex- ample of the best Greek writers; and that the anomalies imputed to Oppian might, with equal reason, be imputed to Homer, Pindar, Lucian, and others. He is accused, for instance, of making a mas- culine singular agree with a verb plural, though the highest classi- cal examples authorize the practice, when the noun is a collective, or when it indicates a genus and not an individual. Because a word, or a phrase, an ingenious metaphor, or callida gunctura, hap- pens to be rare, or to be found only in one author, it does not fol- low that it must be a barbarism. Such a canon would be fatal to the spirit of a writer, oblige him to follow, with servile steps, the tracks of lis predecessors, debar him from every “ brave disorder,” and crush every attempt at originality.* VOL. XIII. F * Schneider condemns the following passage as barbarous : Austosg abegrouriy emsbuvay yuaroics, but says not wherefore. It is justified by the example of the verses attributed to Orpheus ; opecepcrysh Ot xEgavyes aeibegos ey yucAoiri- and it will, no doubt, strike the reader of taste as truly poetical. The eagle rushing impetu- ously on the ethereal concaves, and the thunder roaring in the concaves of ether, are sublime images. The former reminds us of Gray’s eagle— 34 Whatever merit Schneider may possess as the editor of a Greek work, his observations on the style of the Cynegetics, lay him under the imputation of deficiency in those qualities of taste which have the keenest perception and highest relish of the beauties of classical composition. The erudition of Bentley, though so suc- cessfully employed in rectifying or altering the text of Horace, and other classical writers, by no means qualified him for being an useful editor of Milton. The province of a verbal corrector, and that of a liberal and enlightened critic, are very distinct; and though I am not prepared to maintain that the very requisites of the one tend to disqualify for the other, it will scarcely be denied that minute and laborious attention to words, is often fatal to the spirit of liberal criticism ; and that a false quantity, or erroneous punctuation, may be detected by the pedant who shall suffer beauties of the very highest order to escape unnoticed. There are critics, indeed, who enjoy the happy talent of uniting a strict — observance of all the niceties of style, to the feeling and compre- hension with which the works under their judgment were composed ; who read with the same spirit as the author wrote, and who, from stooping to-the correction of a point or accent, rise and accompany the philosopher and poet, in researches the most profound, and in flights the most elevated. But, among those who assume the office of criticising, how few shall we find of this description ? Though it is to be regretted that the history of Oppian is not more circumstantial, we may learn from what has been preserved Sailing with supreme dominion, Through the azure depths of air : The latter of Miltons thunders when they “« Bellow’d through the vast and boundless deep.” 35 of it, that he was endowed with some of the most amiable virtues, particularly filial piety, which forms a most beautiful and inter- esting trait in his character. He was also sincerely attached to the land of his birth, as is demonstrated by some passages in his poems, as well as by the circumstance of his having left all the attractions of the Roman court to return to his native city, where he died. If an author’s works may be considered as a fair reflec- tion of his mind, we may contemplate Oppian in this mirror, with improvement and delight. Though not blessed with a belief or knowledge of revelation, he was a firm believer in the equity, wisdom, and goodness of Providence; as what honest and en- lightened lover of nature is not? “His admirable lessons of morality on all occasions,” says Kennet, “ especially that most wise and elegant reflection at the beginning of the second book of the Halieutics, on the weakness of mankind in the smallest matters, without the influence and assistance of heaven, show him to have been one of the most rational and best principled of heathens ; and that his works are able to teach us nobler secrets, than the mysteries of hunting and fishing.” He evinces great tenderness of disposition, with just detestation of cruelty ; and paints the influence of natural affection in colours inimitably beautiful, He has been praised for his love of truth, for his exposure of certain vulgar errors, and for a virtue seldom found in a heathen writer,—modesty ; as, when he speaks of-a certain fish, with whose trivial name he would not pollute his page, he describes it by a circumlocution. I could wish there had been more room for this part of his eulogy. Regard for the moral virtues is the first and highest praise of every writer. But the genius which is employed in embellishing vice, and F2 36 rendering corruption palatable, is deserving the reprobation of every lover of mankind. Oblivion whelm the amatory lay In whose inebriate, deep-drugged current, rolls The soft pollution that corrodes the heart, And saps its virtue! aye, tho’ sweet it flow, Moore sweet than ever flowed from Lesbian lyre, Yet let it perish! ne’er may ivy wreath, Nor deathless laurel clasp the poet’s brow, Whose lyre corruption strings. The works of Oppian are valuable to the naturalist, on account of their correct and beautiful descriptions of animals, and the view which they exhibit of the state of natural history at the period when they were written. If he has recorded many fables, he only availed himself of the poet’s privilege. Some of these fables might have been received as true; others are such palpable inventions that they could not even be intended to misinform or deceive. Such are the stories of the boy and the dolphin; of the transformation of the nurses of Bacchus into lynxes ; of Phineus becoming a mole, Myrrha a tree, and Mentha a plant; of the preservation of Arion; of Per- seus and the Chimera ; of Progne and Philomela. These are the speciosa miracula of the Cynegetics and Halieutics. The style of Oppian is perspicuous and florid ; the versification flowing and harmonious. Sometimes he borders on affectation, and indulges a fondness for Ovidian graces. In describing a fish, as the fisherman draws it out of the sea, he calls it the “ marine dancer.” 37 Eivadsov Pogenos ov HEGOS OCYNOTNLO Cyn. A. 61. His metaphors are often daring, his apostrophes sublime, and _his similies, not unfrequently, lengthened into minor episodes. ‘These abound in his poems, and, like Homer’s, are always instructive and amusing. He sometimes indulges an Asiatic style of hyperbole. He compares dogs, for instance, to the ridges of towering hills, and the elephant to the immense summit of a mountain, or to a weighty cloud bringing tempest to timid mortals. Daing xev Wav ExeOuvree, HL xogugny ogtos DUVLTELCITOV, 1 VEPOG CLbVOVs Xsimoe Pegor deshosos Beorwr, exs veeov adevesv* Yet this is not more hyperbolical than Homer’s comparison of Hec- tor to a “ moving mountain topt with snow,” a ” , oes uwsPoevTs corns. Or of a wild boar to a wooded promontory, Ogeev eos YAgvyy Luv ayelov, ede” eqmes Ones ye ciroQaya AAC eiw vAnevtt. A very marked characteristic of his style is a profusion of epithets. Having described the horse, he says, Toros oor Bosvos xeaereony Sneesov evuee, Ovpcivar, ovvacbros, aenios, obesnos barmog* The Syrian bulls are, 38 Aibaves, nguregol, peryarnroges, cvguuerwmos, Ayeguvrot, oberagor, negearnecs, coyerobvyor, Moxqrai, Broovgos, Cnrnuovess evenryereios” The arrows of love, Tosss, ayere Dcespuors exyels mUeoEVTAS OIoTSS, Tlevzedaves, ParEees, PSioiPeovers, Oba TENEVT AS, Tyxedovee WVELOVTOLS, CLYMATERS, Olok HOLL aures Oneus averroinous ex aCverosos wodoios; The ape tribes, Tis yag av 2 oruyen roiov yevos, ex Sov sderSa, AlAnxeor, oruyecor, Ovedeguerov, asoroceror The cetaceous tribes Kyrea 0 obesmoyuier, weAwercr, Tovpora woves Ann apomanero BeCeiSora, deuce wer oro, Eioideew aes 0 cron xenogvdmervee Avorn. In this fondness for epithets he has imitated Homer, who frequently crowds his line with them; for example, dorAryooxsov £4,955 Beitv, meyer, oribagor, nenoeudmevor. Agec, Ages, Beororosyes uso Poves TEI EoITANT Oe These specimens may give a tolerably correct idea of one of the 39 most marked features of Oppian’s style. His sentiments and moral reflections are well-timed and judicious. No poet has treated with more effect of the loves and antipathies of the brute tribes, of jea- lousy and love, the pains of parturition, the rage of famine, the ad- mirable powers of the human mind, and the mutual affection of parents and their offspring, both in the human and irrational crea- tion. His account of the love of the wild goat for her kids con- tains a noble specimen of his powers in the pathetic. In description, the great province of the poet, he is exceedingly animated. He draws with a pencil so bold and discriminating, and with a colour- ing so. vivid, as to place the object before the eyes of the spectator meo ommaray moses ro weayue;* and, at the same time with an accu- racy which the best naturalists might be proud to imitate. What ichthyologist has not admired and quoted his beautiful account of the Nautilus? The noise and rage of his bull-fight, which shrinks not from a comparison with Virgil’s, are nobly enhanced by the original simile of two war-ships engaging in battle. The attack on the stag by an army of serpents, and the efforts of the animal to extricate himself from their folds, are fearfully descriptive. The influence of spring on the animal creation would be worthy of Lucretius, nor is there in the whole range of Greek poetry a more spirited apostrophe than that to love. Though Oppian sought and found untasted springs, he did not disdain to quaff of the fountains which had been discovered by his predecessors ; yet he is no servile imitator. Possessed of powers to shine as an original, he reads nature for himself, not only with the eye of a poet, but the discriminating judgment of a naturalist. Homer, in his comparison of the cranes bringing war and death on * Vide “ Rittershusii de Vita Oppiani.” 40 the pygmies, marks only the clamour* with which they urge their flight. Oppian describes them as darkening the air with their broad and continuous files. —Oxvides ws Hore wee xAayyn yeonvay meres weavords weo Aur’ ems av yemnava Quyor, nas asterparov ombeov Krayyn raiye werovrens ex wxenvoro couwy, Avdeaos uy orotrs Povov, ros xem Pepsocts* Heeens a Oem THIYE KKANV cosa meoPegovrecs. Il. B. Qs 8 oF am’ audiomen re woes ceryumrroto eoo.wy Lirerns yegavav XKOPOS coveras negopavav Arhavros vidoevra moryov, xcs KEleme Duysres, Tloypoccsmv +’ orsyodeaveny cemevnvee yevedra. Troi 0 ag imramernos xara STIXAD eveees exmos Higa re cxsiazos, xas AAAYTON OTMON eves. Opp. Al. A. As when from Athiop, or Egyptian springs, The cranes’ shrill chorus spread their soaring wings ; What time the feeble pigmy race they fly, The snows of Atlas, and the wintry sky :-— In files unbroken moyes the long array, Their shade deep-darkening all th’ ethereal way. * Pope says ‘ with noise and order, war and death they bring.” But no order is men- tioned in the original, nor should it in the translation; for Homer’s object is to contrast the disorderly approach of the Trojans to the well-disciplined march of the Greeks. 4] Virgil has imitated Homer with far inferior success : Quales sub nubibus atris, Strymoniz dant signa grues, atque zthera tranant Cum sonitu, fugiuntque notos, clamore secundo. Lucan shews more observation than Virgil; but, I apprehend, a naturalist would not have admitted chance as the disposer of the orderly arrangement of the cranes in their flight. Strymona sic gelidum, bruma pellente, relinquunt, Poturz te, Nile, grues, primoque volatu Effingunt varias, casu monstrante, figuras. Mox ubi percussit tensas Notus altior alas, Confusos temeré immixte -glomerantur in orbes, Et turbata perit dispersis litera pennis. Lucan. lib. v. 711. The bird hastening with food to her young, and the joy which they express at her appearance, are beautifully described- in_the following lines of Oppian : Qs D oxor’ amrqveros Peges Boow oprarsyores Mare e1ceesvn CeQuee mewTayyeros oevig Os? aararov revcovres emidewrxsos nohen Tdocvvos TEL [ANTCl, HOLb tLEIPOVTES edwdys Kesros avarrvecsow’ arav O° em dapece AcAnney Avdeos Zesvodonoso Arya xAuCeor veoooos. VOL. XIII. G 42 As when the bird that heralds rosy spring, Flies to her nest on fond maternal wing : At her known voice, the tender callow brood Leap with delight, and ask th’ expected food ; With opening bills around her fondly crowd, And tell their joy in chirrups clear and loud, Till all the hospitable dome around That shields their nest, re-echoes to the sound. Nor is her grief for the loss of her unfledged progeny, when de- voured by a serpent, less faithfully painted. He had a passage of Homer in view, but he has improved on his original. Qs 8 omor’ oprarsyoros yersoos vyriayorwe Negdev ved ogoPoio ruyov ois ayys weraoons Kos reg ev narereQve woe eomooen evdov odovrar, Marne de xewrov wev ervComevn Oedovnrecs Koya rereayvie Pove yoov aAr ore rasdus ASenon PSireves, 10” exers Qodw oredes AiCeret, HAN avrgow vee yevverow Seuxovros Esrereasy peo? opyiv ean TasdoxToves arn. Hat. E. |. 579. Thus when a serpent creeps, with hunger stung, Where hangs the swallow’s nest of twittering young ; As down his cruel jaws he draws the prize, The wretched dam around him screaming flies, Their fate bewailing, till her helpless brood Have all become th’ insatiate monster’s food : 43 Then, pierced with anguish, and with deep despair, And deeming life no longer worth her care, Seeks his fell jaws, and lets the fate that slew The hapless offspring, slay the parent too. The description of the war-horse is very noble. The poet is sup- posed to have imitated Job, but I see no such resemblance as will justify the supposition. No heathen poet has equalled the sublimity of Job. The “neck clothed in thunder” is an image of unri- valled grandeur. may 7 NY warn «This is but feebly ren- dered by the Septuagint sveducus reaynkw avrs dob. Our transla. tion is much superior, since it preserves the image and the spirit of the original. If the testimony of critics be deemed necessary for the confirma- tion of the opinions expressed in this essay, of Oppian’s merits as a poet, it may be had in abundance. Almost every distinguished critic and naturalist, since the publication of his poems, have been among his admirers. The scholiasts of Homer, Theocritus, Nican- der, and Lycophron, speak of him with esteem. 'Tzetzes para- phrased his Halieutics in Greek, and Laurentius Lippus, an Ita- lian, translated them into Latin. An elegant translation into Latin hexameters was made by David Peifer, an illustrious Saxon, in the sixteenth century, and lately published by Schneider. Erasmus, Barthius, Melancthon, Faber, and Sir Thomas Brown, with Ges- ner and Aldrovandus, have given him their meed of praise. But no one of all his eulogists is more warm in his panegyric than J. C. Scaliger. Language seems feeble in expressing his enthusiastic admiration of a poet whom, of all the Greek writers, he considers as the only one worthy to be placed by the side of Virgil. G2 44 It is not, however, to be concealed that all critics are not equally favourable. Rapin terms him dry. “ Nicander est dur, Oppian est sec.” Little credit can be attached to such sweeping criticism. It is scarcely to be imagined that the taste which has a true relish for the didactic style of the Georgics, could coincide in the senti- ments of the French critic. The curse of Tantalus must have been upon him, when he pronounced Oppian dry. The learned Gilbert Wakefield, in a letter to Fox, says of Op- pian, that “ he is very puerile, and writes in a false style; but his descriptions are entertaining and exact. He alone, of all the an- tients, delineates the cameleopard very accurately, and from na- ~ ture. He will recompense the trouble of perusal.” Something warmer might have been expected from the admirer and editor of Lucretius. If it be conceded that there are instances of false taste in Oppian, they are comparatively few; not so many, perhaps, in proportion to the number of his lines, as may be found in Ovid, whom Wakefield considered as “ the first poet of all antiquity.” The great abhorrence felt by the critic for field sports, may have given an unfayourable bias to his judgment of the author of the Cynegetics, To the mere English reader the works of Oppian have been made known, but very partially and imperfectly, by a translation of the Ha- lieutics, edited at Oxford in 1722. The two first books were trans- lated by Mr. Diaper, and the remaining three by Mr. Jones. The latter speaks with the zeal of friendship of Mr. Diaper’s translation, and though he allows that he has somewhat paraphrased the author, believes “‘ thal he has no where deviated from his sense and intention.” The great fault of the translation is undoubtedly its verbiage, under which the beauty and spirit of the original are buried. In one passage twelve lines are employed to render three of the original ; and 45 in another, no fewer than thirty to represent nine. But this is not to translate. Though a single grace or illustration may be ad- mitted by a translator, provided it be done rarely, and in the true spirit of the original, such licentiousness should never be to- lerated. It turns beauty into deformity, and sinks the sublime to the bathos, | ERRATUM, page 24, note, 3d line,—for volumine, &c, read volumini integros. ANALYSIS OF THE CYNEGETICS OF OPPIAN. BOOK FIRST. Read, Jan. 24th, 1820. THE work commences with a very complimentary address to Antoninus, and praises his mother, Julia Domna, in terms of in- genious flattery. The poet then declares, that he is invited by Calliope and Diana herself, to undertake the novel subject on which he writes. He hears the voice of the goddess of the chace exhort- ing him to arise, and accompany her through a region of song where no poet ever trod before, and professes his willingness to sing what she may inspire. She does not wish to hear of the rites of Bacchus, the race of heroes, or the deeds of war; but de- sires him to sing of dogs and horses—the stratagems and profits of the chace—the loves, the antipathies, and the births of wild beasts. 48 Having besought the aid of him whose rule extends from the rising sun to the extreme limits of the ocean, to favour his design, he enters on his subject by saying, that a god first taught mortals the three kinds of chace, the aerial, the terrestrial, and the marine, Hees», x Toviny Tey “0b ELVOOALND eearesvny" These three modes are compared, to illustrate the danger of hunt- ing. The pursuit of birds, and the toils of the fisherman are exempt from danger, and accompanied with pleasure: but it is a far different task to contend with the lion, the panther, and other ferocious beasts. The fisherman, sitting on a rock, and drawing up the fish, is very poetically described. L. 56—61. Th’ intrepid fisher, by the sea-beat shore, With bending rod, and hooks distained with gore, Sits on the cliff, and oft delights to feel The playful fish upon his barbs of steel ; From depths profound he lifts the. fimny prey, Dancing in air, and gasping life away. The personal qualifications of the hunter, his dress and arms, are next described. Obesity is a great obstacle to activiy; he should therefore be light, agile, and strong; his right hand armed with two javelins, his girdle with a sword, while by his left he guides his dogs, as a rider his horse by the reins. His vest should be tucked above his knee, and his cloak should hang back from his shoulders, in such a manner as not to approach his hands, 49 or impede his movements. In tracing wild beasts it is often ne- cessary to go unshod, and to throw the cloak aside, lest its motions in the wind, or the noise of the buskins should start the game prematurely. The times best adapted for hunting vary. Some- times the morning, and at others the evening is to be _pre- ferred ; now the meridian heat, and again the moon’s pale ray. The season of spring, which protrudes the leaves of trees, or the autumn which causes their decay, is most favourable for a whole day’s exercise. But in winter, the middle of the day should be chosen; and in summer the dawn of morning, when husbandmen yoke the plough, or the evening, when shepherds pen their flocks. The arms and apparatus of the chace, nets, poles, spears, and a variety of instruments for which we have no corresponding terms in English are here enumerated. Horses are preferable to mares, because they are stronger, and less prone, in the season of love, to disturb the game by neighing. ‘The races of horses are as va- ried as those of men. ‘The one which is superior to all others is distinguished by the loftiness of his head bending down from an arched neck ; by the breadth of the space between his eyes, and the clustering locks of his temples. His eye is keen and fiery—his - nostrils. expanded—mouth wide—ears short—chest broad-—back long, and his mane curves and tosses like the plumes of the war- rior’s crest. The tail of sweepy length—the thighs compact and muscular—his legs long and taper, and as free from flesh as the legs of the storm-footed stag ;—his hoof, which he lifts high from the ground, dense, horny, and solid. Such, such be mine, unmatched in strength and speed, The social, high-souled, battle-bearing steed! VOL. XIII. H 50 * * * * * + With what impatient joy he hears, from far, The shrill-tongued clarion speak the coming war! Gods! with what transport he beholds the fields Bristling with pointed spears, and serried shields! Thro’ the long ranks he darts a fearless gaze, Nor winks to meet the armour’s steely blaze. Well is he skilled his rider’s voice to know, When to stand firm, and when to charge the foe. Dauntless he moves beneath th’ embattled tower, Where burns the siege, where smites the arrowy shower, When locking targe on targe the foemen spread The wing-like shield of safety o’er their head. Aloft in air a seven-fold plain is raised, Art’s sage device, with boss on boss emblazed ; Beneath the solar fires it flashes bright, And the sky blazes with reflected light. Various perfections of the horse—his docility—affection for his master, and regret for his loss when he falls in battle :—this has sometimes proved strongr enough to burst the chains of nature, and make him express his grief in articulate sounds. He can fly over the standing corn without bending it, and over the billows of the deep without wetting his hoof. He bore the hero who slew the Chimera beyond the skies, and seated a king on the Per- sian throne. What may seem most surprising in his character is his insuperable abhorrence of all incestuous intercourse. A certain king’s horses were all swept away by a plague, except one mare and her foal, from which he hoped to restore the loss; after many et ee ee ee ee ee ee eee ee 51 fruitless attempts to effect their union, he succeeded at length by an artifice. When the unhappy horses discovered the imposition, they showed the greatest horror, and by incessant neighings -seemed to call on the gods to avenge their wrongs: at last, by a mutual impulse, they dashed their heads against the rocks, and terminated their wretched existence. The swiftest horses of Sicily are excelled by those of Parthia and Armenia, and these again by the horses of Iberia, whose fleetness is equalled only by that of the eagle, the hawk, or the dolphin in the waves ; but they are deficient in courage and strength, and their beautiful forms are no compensation for their broad and feeble hoofs. The Moorish horse excels every other in patient endurance of toil, and the performance of long journies :—next is the Lybian ;— greater in size, and more able to resist the violence of heat and thirst. The Parthian alone has courage to brave the roar of the lion. The virtues of horses are ascertained by the colour of their eyes. Those with eyes of an azure hue are best for pursuit of the stag ; —the blue of the bear ;—the sanguine of the panther ;—the fiery of the boar,—and the grey of the lion. The Nyszan horse, the fa- vourite of kings, has no rival in beauty. Of the Orynx, (the Zebra) another beautiful race, there are two species ; the one marked with long stripes like the tiger,—the other with round spots, like those inflicted by burning brass on the panther’s young.—The modes employed by men to vary the hues of horses while they are yet in embryo, of pigeons, and of children, as practised by the Lacedemonians.—These adorn the chambers of their pregnant wo- men with pictures of the most beautiful youths, Nereus, Narcissus, Hyacinthus, Apollo or Bacchus, that the frequent contemplation of them may transfer the similitude to their infants. H 2 52 The poet having finished his observations on horses, proceeds to the management of dogs, and, at the commencement of this topic, gives a powerful description of the influence of love, in the season of spring, on all the animal creation. In mingling the breeds of dogs, the congruity of their nature should be studied. The Arcadian should be mixed with the Klean, the Cretan with the Pee- onian. But the dog ofan unmixed breed is preferred by all hunters ; his form is long and vigorous—his head light—eyes of a spark- ling azure—mouth wide, well armed with teeth—a thin membrane falls over his small ears—neck long—chest broad—fore-legs shorter than the hind ones ; the tibize long—shoulders broad—the contex- ture (rwecx) of the ribs oblique—loins muscular, not fat—the tail long and slender. Such a dog is best fitted for pursuing the deer and hare ;—but for the attack of the bull, the boar, and the lion, a larger and more ferocious race are required, a race distin- guished by their fiery eye, hirsute covering, broad back, and in- trepid spirit. The white and the grey coloured are of little value, as they are incapable of bearing either heat or cold. Those are superior to all others whose form resembles that of the wolf, the tiger, the fox or the panther, and whose colour is that of wheat. in rearmg dogs, they should not be suckled at the teats which have recently begun to flow, of the goat, the sheep, or domestic bitch, but at the teats of the stag, the lioness, or the wolf. They im- bibe the spirit of their nutriment, and become strong and swift as their nurse. Their names should be short, and care taken to render them social and familiar both with horses and men, and observant of strict silence at the command of their master. There are two kinds of tracing—that of men and that of dogs; the former fad the game by sight, the latter by the smell. . Winter, 53 when snow covers the ground, is the most favourable season for this amusement. In spring the dogs are perplexed by the variety of odours exhaled from the flowers, but in autumn the effluvia of the game are easily detected. In Britain is found a small species of dog, in size and form re- sembling the domestic, table-courting race, but armed with formi- dable claws, and strong serried teeth. They are known by the name of Agasszan, and excel all others in the acutensss of their smell, and the accuracy of their search. The mode in which the hunter should train his dog is next de- scribed. He is recommended to take a hare in his arms, and having gone toa distance, by a circuitous and involved path, to bury it in the ground. The dog is then desired to find it ;' until he succeeds, he shews all the restlessness and anxiety of a young woman, who, for the first time, is on the eve of parturition. The simile is worthy of quotation. L. 494—501. Thus the young wife, assailed by pain and fear, What time the tenth revolving moon is near To hail her mother,—from her panting breast - Her gems unlooses, and unbinds her vest. Her brows ungirt, loose floats her clustering hair, As round and round she roves in sad despair. To every room she tells her torturing pain ; Now seeks her couch for-rest, but seeks in vain. Then low in dust some new position tries, And tears her rosy cheeks, and utters piteous cries. The dog moves round every stone and clod, and leaves no place unsearched. When he succeeds he barks for joy, and skips like 54 a fawn round its dam. If he be trained for wild hares, he ap- proaches them privately, creeps low beneath the covering of the vines or the stubble, like a rapacious wolf stealing on the flock, when the shepherd is asleep, and at last makes a sudden spring, swift as an arrow ora hissing snake, and takes, kills, and carries off the prey. Thus the waggon bears the fruits of harvest; the rustics gathering round it use all their exertions to urge it forward ; one applies his shoulder to the wheel, another to the body, and a third to the axis. The sweating steers respire from their labour, and the wearied soul of the driver is rejoiced. Thus the dog comes with the prey in his jaws, the huntsman meets him delighted, re- lieves him of his burden, and caresses him in his arms. ANALYSIS OF BOOK SECOND. THE origin of hunting ascribed to the Centaurs ;—but among ar- ticulate-speaking men, Perseus, assisted by his winged steed, was the first who led to the chace of the wild goat and the stag. Castor taught men to hunt on horseback, and to strike wild beasts with the javelin in their full career. Pollux employed the assistance of dogs, and Hippolytus shewed the use of nets and toils. Meleager excelled in the standing conflict with wild beasts; Atalanta pur- sued them with arrows, and Orion took them in nocturnal snares. The eulogy on hunting is written in the spirit of one who had a deep sense of its pleasures. Such strenuous chiefs, of old, the race pursued, Whom numbers followed, by its love subdued ; For who but once the glorious sport has tried, In chains unbroken is for ever tied. How sweet the hunter’s sleep on vernal flowers ! How cool his rest in Summer’s sunless bowers ! How joyed, ’mid rocks, the short repast he shares, Or plucks the fruit mellifluous Autumn bears ! His thirst in streamlets from the cave he cools, Or bathes his wearied limbs in standing: pools. And in the woods the shepherds’ off’ring: hails, Their loaded baskets and their flowing pails. 56 The poet now proceeds to sing of the jealousies and battles of bulls—One must reign lord of the herd, but if he meets a rival a dreadful contest takes place. They eye each other obliquely with indignation and rage ; they breathe fire from their nostrils, scatter the dust around them like wrestlers in the arena, roar the signal of fierce defiance, and rush to the conflict with terrific violence. Their shock is like that of two hostile gallies impelled by the wind and oars,—the brazen prows crash, and the ocean foams. One of the ‘combatants is, at length obliged to yield. Groaning with anguish and shame he retires to the mountain forest, in whose covert he abides, till returning strength enables him to renew the fight. Again he roars defiance to his rival, now enervated by pleasure, and be- comes in turn the master of the field. The bull of Egypt is superior to all others,—of a snowy white- ness—equal in size to a Re A yma, a deep-beamed ship, and of a gentle, social disposition. The Phrygian bull is of a yellow or red hue, his neck brawny ; a round excrescence rises on his forehead, and he has the power of depressmg or elevating his horns at pleasure. The Aonian bull is of a dappled colour, remarkable for a solid hoof, and single horn rising from the middle of his forehead. The Armenian bull has formidable horns, retorted at the points. The Syrian is strong and ferocious, swift in the course and strenuous in the fight. Such was the race that Hercules drove from Erythia when he slew Geryon. It‘was then the hero made a passage for the inundations of the Orontes, by rending asunder the stony barriers of the Dioclean and Emblonian hills. This mundation, its effects, and the manner in which the passage was rent, are described with great effect. The Biston, so named from its country, Biston of Thrace, is 57 ranked with the bulls, and distinguished by the shaggy locks, which toss on his neck and chin; in this particular, as well as in colour and ferocity, he resembles the lion; the acuminated tips of his horns are curved like hooks—they point not in a direction towards each other, but vertically, whence, when he at- tacks beasts or men he raises them aloft on their points. His tongue has the roughness of a file, and when he licks himself. it is distained with blood. The horn-bearing deer is described with much accuracy ; his eyes large—skin dappled—head lofty—back fat—limbs slender— small neck and short tail; his nostrils quadrifid, and he pours his breath through four channels. His horns are of no use, for he wants courage to employ them against the beasts of prey, the dog, or even the timid hare. He is easily stung by jealousy, and feels all the power of love with as much violence as the males of the gallinaceous tribes, and all fowls of a flowery plumage * * * * * 9 * * At the time of parturition the female re- tires into the deepest coverts, as does the male also when he sheds his horns, ashamed to appear divested of the “ branchy honors of his head.” He hides his horns in the ground, that they may not fall into the hands of the hunter—When a herd of deer has to pass an arm of the sea, one of them acts as a pilot,—all the rest follow in a continuous line, each leaning his neck and head on the deer before him. When the leader is wearied he retires to the rear, and the second in order becomes the guide, till he resigns his place to the next. They use their feet as oars, and spread their broad antlers to the wind, like the sails of a ship, Between the deer and serpent tribes exists a deadly animosity. When the deer spies the marks of a serpent in the dust, he traces VOL. XIII. I 58 him to his den, and putting his nostrils to the opening, blows so strong a blast that he rouses the serpent, and provokes him, though reluctant, to mortal conflict. The serpent lifts his neck on high, champs his venomed jaws, and utters fearful hisses, but in vain. The deer, as if in disdainful sport of his enemy, lacerates him with his teeth, and stamps his palpitating mutilated body on the ground, in a manner to excite pity even for a monster so ruthless. Serpents, however, seek their revenge. On the sandy plains of Libya a whole army of them will attack a deer. They fasten on his head and neck—they twine around his limbs, his horns, breast, and loins, till he is all enveloped in their folds, In vain does he attempt to fly ; he attacks them with his horns, he rends them with his teeth, and stamps them to pieces with his hoof, till the ground is covered with their gore and their fragments. But still they cling to his sides, and even in death retain their hold. At length the deer, by a divine impulse inspired, hastes to the brink of a river, and finds in its crabs a remedy for his misfortune. The serpents drop from his skin, and his wounds are closed. The swiftness and strength of the Aogzss, Gazelle, are well known. Between this race and that of Partridges subsists an intimate friend- ship, and they always love to dwell near each other, a circum- stance which cruel men turn to their destruction, since they employ the one species as a decoy for the other. Goats and sheep have the seat of strength in their forehead, which they can use with so much power as to lay the wild boar palpitating in the dust. Often too, they combat with each other, and the noise of their meeting horns resounds to heaven. The con- test is mortal, and one must be victorious or die. A small canal in the middle of their horns serves as a passage for their breath, whence if its orifice be covered with wax, the gate of life is closed. The 59 affection of the young for their old and decrepid dams is equalled only by that of pious children to their parents. Crete contains a race of four-horned sheep, remarkable for their purple fleece, which is so hard and rough that it resembles the co- vering of a goat rather than that of a sheep. The Subus has two horns on his broad red forehead, and when he swims through the sea he is accompanied by shoals of fishes sport- ing delighted around him.—The mutual love of animals of different species for each other, is a subject of wonder. Such is that of the deer and the attage (the quail, rail, or woodcock) —of the gazelle and the partridge, the horse and the bustard, the wolf and the pye, for the wolf always delights in a bird of a grassy hue. The address to love, the “ improbus amor,” is very spirited. O Love, dread power, invincible, divine, What wond’rous art, what matchless might is thine! The firm-set earth beneath thy arrows reels, — And fix’d is ocean when their power he feels. When high from earth thou speed’st thy heaven-ward flight, Olympus trembles.—E’en in realms of night, Tormented shades, in anguish as they groan, With shivering horror thy dread presence own, And though the sweets of Lethe’s stream they prove, Ne’er drink oblivion to the power of love. In strength resistless spreads thy awful sway, Beyond where ever shot the solar ray. In vain with thine his arms would Phoebus wield, E’en Jove’s winged lightnings to thy terrors yield. Such, dreadful god, thy shafts of keen desire, Heart-wounding, cureless, dipt in plague and fire, 12 60 To lawless loves they savage beasts impel, And against nature drive them to rebel. It is admirable to see the attiges perching on the back of fawns, or partridges fanning the gazelle with their wings, or the bustard pursuing the horse in play. The sargus assails the goat. But all the tribes of fishes crowd around the subus, in admiration of him as he swims. He makes a cruel return by devouring them, but even his cruelty cannot provoke them to hostility. There is an animal of extraordinary ferocity and strength named the Oryx. His colour is that of vernal milk, his cheeks alone being black ; his chine is fat and double; his horns lofty, black, sharp, and harder than brass or iron. He is daring and intrepid, fearing not the bark of the hunter’s dog, the roaring of the wild boar, the bellowing of the bull, nor the lion, nor panther, nor man himself. The hunters often perish among: the precipices in their conflicts with this creature. When he sees a boar with naked tusks, or a lion with serrated teeth rushing against him, he fixes his horns firmly on the ground, and waits the attack with such resolution, that the enemy is slain by the shock. ‘Thus the hunter receives the lion on his spear. Sometimes, however, they are both slain, and become a prey to the astonished rustic. He ranks the elephant among the horned tribes, and by argu- ments, now known to be erroneous, contends that his tusks are horns. It is said that elephants converse with each other in articu- late sounds, - that they have a spirit of prophecy, and like swans foretel their death, The Rhinoceros is not much larger than the Oryx. He elevates a horn, situated a little above his nose, of such strength and sharp- ness, that it can perforate brass, and dissever the hardest rock. 61 He often lays the elephant dead. His colour is a light yellow, and purple drops adorn his back, All of this species are males—at least no female was ever seen. How they are generated he knows not, unless they spring from the earth, or by some mysterious mode from each other, without love, nuptials, or parturition, as some of the testa- ceous tribes are generated in the sands. As to the smaller animals, his muse cannot condescend to sing of them, though he speaks of the dormouse and its winter’s sleep with his usual descriptive powers. Neither will he sing of the squirrel, whose bushy tail covers his whole body, as his gorgeous plumage covers the peacock; nor of the rough race of hedge-hogs, of which there are two species, bristled with sharp thorny prickles ; nor of the three kinds of apes, a weak, mischievous, and imperti- nent race ; nor of the blind mole, though sprung, according to fame, from the royal blood of Phineus, who was changed, by the wrath of Pheebus, into an animal which still retains his similitude in its blindness and voracity. 62 ANALYSIS OF BOOK THIRD. HAVING sung, in the former book, of the horn bearing grami- nivorous tribes, the poet now proposes to sing of carnivorous animals, and commences with the lion.—The metamorphose of the Curetes by Saturn, for being instrumental to the saving of Jupiter when newly born.—The Armenian and Parthian lions are not remarkable for strength. ‘Those of Arabia are universally celebrated, but their number is small. In Africa they are more abundant, possess im- mense strength, and are superior to all others. They devote one day to feeding, and another to the chace,—and sleep wherever they chance to be overtaken by night, without precaution or conceal- ment. They have a narcotic power by which they immediately relax - the limbs of the beast which they attack. Five whelps are the produce of the first parturition, four of the second, and each in suc- cession is diminished by one, till the lioness becomes effete. Of the Panther there are two species, differing in size, but in other respects similar, except in the tail, which in the small species is longer than in the other. ‘These were originally the nurses of Bacchus, and hence they still delight in wine. Of Lynxes there are also two species.—the one small and the other large. The former preys upon hares, the latter attacks and subdues the stag. The colour of the one is red, of the other saffron or sulphureous. In other respects they have a strong resemblance. 63 The love of lions, tigers, lynxes, pards, and tigers for their young is very powerful. When returning to their lair, they find their cubs taken away, they raise a lamentable cry, like that of women twining around their children, when they see their country laid waste by the sword of the enemy, and their houses encircled by a devouring conflagration. The power of parental affection ezopyq, in all the animal creation is here beautifully illustrated. When the hen spies a hawk at a distance, immediately she screams aloud— calls her young ones— curves her neck aloft in a posture of defence,— ruffles up her feathers, and spreads out her wings. The timid brood lie chuckling close under their protection, while she resolutely repels the bird of prey. In the same cause do wild beasts shew the most ferocious courage in contending with the hunter. They fear not the multitude of armed youths advancing against them, nor the glittering of iron and the missile rock, but dare even to die for their beloved young. Bears are a savage and cunning race. They bring forth un- formed masses of flesh, which they lick into shape. During the winter they sleep in caves, and live by the suction of their paws, as does the polypus in the waters. The onager, or wild ass, is ex- ceedingly jealous, and delights in many females. When a young one is brought forth, if it isa female, he licks it with great tender- ness; but if it isa male he rushes against it, and endeavours to in- flict a severe proof of hostility. The dam, making all the opposi- tion in her power, is compared to a mother whose child is slaugh- tered in her arms by barbarous warriors.—The effect of jealousy is finely described—The wild horses of the Adthiopians are cloven- footed like stags, and so impatient of servitude that they can never be tamed to the yoke—The wolf and hyzna, the one hostile to sheep, the other to dogs,—both nocturnal robbers ; the one impelled 64 by hunger, the other seeing only in the dark ;—the one resembles a shepherd’s dog, the other is gibbous in the middle of his spine, hirsute all over, and marked with black stripes. A whip made of wolf skin has peculiar terrors for dogs—a drum of the same material puts to si- lence all drums made of sheep skin—for even dead sheep dread dead wolves!—The hyenas change their sex yearly, and the male becomes a fruitful dam.—Of wolves there are five species—the first of a yellow hue,—swift, audacious, and by shepherds named the archer,—the next of superior magnitude and swiftness, known by the two names of the hawk and the plunderer; he seeks his prey with the dawn, and dwells in the lofty mountains—but when snow covers the ground, he assumes greater boldness, and in quest of prey approaches even the city walls. The third species inhabits the mountains of Taurus and Cilicia—an animal superior to the race of wolves, named the Golden, of prodigious strength, and able to resist the unspent brass and the pointed iron. He dreads the rising of the dog-star, and during the prevalence of its heat, lies concealed in his shady cavern. Of the two remaining species, the one from his white colour is named the Hoary Kite. The other is of smaller size,—black,— hirsute,-—preys on hares. Wolves copulate with panthers, and produce the animals called Thoes. The tigress excels among quadrupeds as much as the peacock among birds,—resembles a mountain lioness, except in her beauti- fully spotted skin ;—such are her fiery eyes, her strong limbs, and sweepy tail. She is the swiftest of wild beasts: the boar is the most ferocious. His hair bristles on his neck like the rough plumes of the warriors crest; he distils his foam on the ground, and in rage gnashes his white tusks, which are said to conceal a hidden fire, the ~ effects of which are seen in the singed coats of the dogs which he attacks. 65 The porcupine is the most hideous of animals,—he raises his quills like the spines of the hedge-hog ; ; when. attacked he shoots them forth like arrows from the bow of a skilful archer,—discharging them as he flies from the conflict, and mortally wounding the pur- suing dogs. Hence the hunters are obliged to take him by craft. The Ichneumon isa small creature, but worthy of the muse’s song, both for his ingenuity and courage, which he employs suc- cessfully against the serpent and crocodile. When he observes the latter sleeping, he darts down the open jaws, and feasts luxuriously on the liver and viscera, till nothing but a shell is left, when he leaves his confinement in search of new prey. The torments of the crocodile vainly struggling to escape, or eject the internal foe that devours him, are ably depicted——When the ichneumon sees a ser- pent he conceals himself in the sands, coiled up, with nothing visi- ble but the point of his tail, and fiery eyes ; suddenly he darts on the enemy, as he approaches breathing pestiferous blasts, and dis- playing his venomous fangs in vain. The ichneumon grasps him by the jaws, and lays him dead. Of wild animals the Fox is the most crafty. He dwells in a den which has seven passages remote from each other, to favour his escape from the hunter’s snares. He is often a formidable enemy to beasts of prey, and the sportsman’s dogs. When winter ap- proaches, and the vine hangs destitute of clusters, he plans his frauds with success against birds and young hares. The poet next invokes the muse to sing of animals of a mixed nature, particularly of that one which partakes of the camel and panther, viz. the camelopard, which is described with fidelity ; and the ostrich, the offspring of the sparrow and camel. ‘The bird-lime , twig that waves in the aerial path of birds takes her not—but horses, dogs, and hidden snares. Her size is enormous, and she can VOL. XI. K 66 bear a grown boy, as a rider, on her back. Her feet are like those of the camel, and covered with scales. Though well-plumed she sails not through the lofty paths of ether, but runs with a velocity equal to the speed of flying birds. The book closes with a description of the hare. Her colour cor- responds to that of the soil she inhabits. She is exceedingly vi- gilant—sleeps with her eyes open—is very prolific by reason of her superfetation, and of all animals is the most libidinous. f a i oe ANALYSIS OF BOOK FOURTH. IN the fourth book, the poet proposes to sing of the arts employed by hunters, against their prey. These are so numerous that no mortal could name them—they are known to the gods alone. He will therefore sing of such as he knows by his own experience, or has learned from the information of others. Some wild beasts find compensation for their want of size and strengir in cunning. Some are timid but fleet—others excel in courage and strength; all know instinctively to use the arms which nature has supplied. The stag and bull employ their horns—the oryx and the lion their jaws,—the boar his tusks, and the hare her fleetness. The common modes of hunting are by means of nets, fet- ters, horses, and dogs. The hunter often pursues his game on horseback without dogs, and sometimes strikes it with arrows. When laying the nets, or going in quest of game, it is as necessary for him, as for the mariner, to be attentive to the direction of the winds ; since wild beasts have great acuteness of smell, and flee as soon as it indicates the enemy’s approach. The hunter, therefore, should always face the wind. The mode of taking a lion:—When the traces are observed of his customary path to a river to slake his thirst, the hunters dig a deep K 2 68 pit, surround it with an enclosure of stones to prevent its being seen, and suspend a lamb from the top of a column erected in the middle of it. The lion, allured by the bleating of the lamb, makes a spring at it, over the fence, and falls into the snare. A trap is then let down by ropes, and the lion, invited by the meat within, enters it and is drawn up. On the banks of the Euphrates are a swift g@rey-coloured race of horses, so courageous that they dare to meet the lion :—iounted on these the hunters start and pursue him, while another party on foot, having spread the toils, and taken their appointed stations, shaking burning torches, and beating shields which they carry on their left arms, join in the pursuit, and drive the prey into their toils, as fishermen drive a shoal of fishes scared by the torches’ blaze. A third mode of taking lions, as practised by the Atthiopians, is wonderful as it is dangerous. Four men take as many shields, composed of flexible twigs, round and covered with bull hides, to defend themselves against both the claws and the teeth of the lion. They clothe themselves in sheep skins, and tie on their heads a helmet which leaves no part uncovered except the eyes, nose, and lips. ‘Thus armed, they approach the lion’s den, loudly cracking their whips ;—he, provoked by the sound, sprmgs out with a tre- mendous roar, swelling with rage,—his eyes darting fire,—impe- tuous as a thunderbolt. ‘he woods and rocks and all the welkin re-echo to the roar, which is loud as the cataracts of the Ganges, augmented by the confluence of twenty torrents. He rushes against them like ‘a wintry tempest. But they wait his onset firm,—and while his rage is directed against one in front, he is assailed by another behind, and he quits the former object of his fury to take vengeance on his latter assailant. But he spends his rage in vain. 69 They, trusting to their woollen mail, their shields, and belts, which neither his powerful teeth, nor iron claws, can penetrate, persevere unremittingly in their hostile attacks. He is beset on all sides, like a warrior who after many desperate acts of valour is encircled by the foe and compelled to yield. He distils his bloody foam on the ground, casts down his eyes ashamed to be overcome,—and at length falls like the pugilist who, after many victories, is forced to yield to the superior fortune of his antagonist. He suffers himself to be bound, and to be lifted up as quietly as an unresisting ram. In a similar manner are panthers and thoes taken. Panthers, though now a wild race of beasts, were once a beautiful blue-eyed race of women, crowned with flowers, the nurses of Bacchus. Him they lodged in a mountain cave, in a cradle covered with fawn-skin, and adorned with bunches of grapes; and danced around him, beating their tympana, and striking their cymbals. They were the first to celebrate the sacred mysteries of the god. Having de- parted from the Beeotian land, they placed the ark which bore him on the back of an ass, and coming to the .banks of the Euripus, supplicated an old fisherman to ferry them over. He received them into his boat, and immediately the benches and stern were covered with ivy and the vine. The fisherman, struck with terror, sprang into the sea. Aristzus, to whose mansion they were conducting the god, had taught men the arts of hus- bandry and pasturage,—to press the berries of the olive,—coa- gulate milk, and enclose bees in skeps. He received Bacchus from the women, and educated him in a cave with the Dryads and Apiarian nymphs—When the child began to play among the boys, he was wont to strike the rocks with a rod, and they gushed with wine. Sometimes he cut the lambs into small pieces, and again conjoined them so ingeniously that they revived, and 70 cropped the green pasture as before—-Now he found his thyrsus, and wandered over the country teaching his arts. At length he approached Thebes, and all the inhabitants ran out to meet the fire-engendered youth. But Pentheus threatened to rend. him asunder, maugre the hoary hairs of Cadmus and Agave suppliant at his feet.» The Bacchante, alarmed, cast their garlands from their heads, and their thyrsi from their hands,—tears fell from their eyes, and they called aloud on Bacchus to hurl his paternal thunderbolts, and take vengeance on the ruthless tyrant,—to change him into a bull, and them into carnivorous beasts of prey, to rend him asunder. Their prayer was heard. ‘The god raised aloft the neck of Pen- theus, gave him a sanguinary eye, and armed him with threatening horns. He caused the women to assume the savage aspect of wild beasts, lined their jaws with formidable teeth, clothed them in dap- pled hides like deer, and rendered their disposition fierce. ‘They became panthers, and tore their unhappy victim to pieces. They still retain their native fondness for wine, as is evinced by the mode in which they are taken. In the thirsty regions of Africa, when they have discovered a small pool of water, they repair to slake their thirst in it, with the first rays of the morning. 'Thither, before the dawn, the hunters have brought twenty jars of sweet wine, ripened by the revolution of nine years. Having mingled it with the water, they retire to a distance, and lie concealed. ‘The panthers come to the wonted haunt, drink copiously, and then frisk about like dancers, till overpowered by the wine they lie down and sleep, and become an easy prey to the hunter. The hunting of bears on the banks of the Tigris is thus pursued: A great multitude of hunters go into the deep recesses of the woods, accompanied by dogs in leashes, one of which is slipt to trace the wild beast to his lair. The dog pursues, exulting as a young virgin i eee 71 who, in the season of spring, wanders with naked feet, among the mountains in quest of early flowers. The fragrance of some sweet violet invites her onward. Her cheerful mind exults in the ga- thered prize, and she returns to her rural cot, crowned with a flowery garland.—The nets are immediately spread, and a rope extended from each extremity about as high as a man’s middle, thickly set with fillets of various colours, and the feathers of numerous wild birds, the terror of beasts of prey. While this stratagem is preparing on the left hand, an ambush is laid under the rocks to the right. Arbours thickly covered with green branches are formed ata small distance from each other, and four men are lodged in each. All things being now ready, a trumpet is sounded —the beast, roused from his den, springs forth with a loud roar, and flies, pursued by the youths, to the open plain. The ambus- cade arising drive him towards the formidable cord. ‘Terrified by the shouting of the crowd and the flapping of the feathers, he falls into the toils. The men stationed ‘at each extremity of the net, come together and enclose him in the fatal snare. He rages furi- ously, and not unfrequently escapes. When taken, a strong man chains his right paw, deprives him of all power, binds him to a stake, and at last shuts him up in a chest of pine. The hare, when hunted, should be pursued down the declivity. For when she sees the hunters, she immediately ascends the hill, because her fore legs are shorter than her hind ones, and they have _ the advantage in such a chace, the ascent being difficult for horses. —Beaten paths should be avoided, for the hare bounds over them easily, but in ploughed lands, and in the summer season, her feet are heavy, and in winter they are shod with a pernicious weight of clay. The deer should be allowed no respite in the chace,—for if the 72 shortest time be granted her for free respiration, or any other de- mand of nature, she renews her course with redoubled speed. . The Fox is taken neither by snares nor nets—for, with wonderful cunning, he detects the one, and breaks the meshes of the other.— Packs of hounds pursue him; but their victory over him is not bloodless. ANTIQUITIES. VOL. XIII. ON THE MIXTURE OF FABLE AND FACT IN THE EARLY ANNALS OF IRELAND, AND ON THE BEST MODE OF ASCERTAINING WHAT DEGREE OF CREDIT THESE ANCIENT DOCUMENTS ARE JUSTLY ENTITLED TO. eee _BY THOMAS WOOD; M. D. ee DUBLIN: GRAISBERRY AND CAMPBELL, PRINTERS TO THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY, 1818. XS cs af ‘ INa mixture of fable and fact in the early annals of Ire- land, the author of this tract conceives that, ‘ the best mode of ascertaining what degree of credit these ancient documents are justly entitled to, would be to combat by fact and argument those leading opinions, whether absurd or plausible, which, being re- ceived as facts, some by the credulous, others by intelligent classes of society, tend only to mislead the judgment, and, consequent- ly, to confuse the genuine history of Ireland. He has therefore endeavoured, in the following sheets, to select those prominent opinions for investigation, with a view of dispel- ling the cloud, which has obscured some of our historic pages. B@2 -~ AN INQUIRY INTO THE PRIMITIVE POPULATION OF IRELAND. SS 0036 Sunt qui delectationis causa, rebus veris nonnihil mentiuntur, seepé etiam veritatem omittentes, Hen. Corn. Agrippa de Historia. THE desire of illustrious descent is natural to the human charac- ter, and consequently we find but few, if any nations, that had not aspired to the honour. The transition from belief to confi-. dence, is rapid in uncultivated minds, and curiosity is awakened by the recital of achievements, which moderns could not presume: to equal. To gratify it, the story must be artfully managed and agreeably told. The most amusing, and, to a savage mind, the most persuasive form, is that of poetry. Accordingly, the first historians were poets, who, from vanity or interest, were induced, as in this island, to beguile the time of their hearers with the narration of wonderful national exploits. Similar favours were expected by, and conferred upon, individual chiefs. In conse- quence those bards, who were designated by twelve different appel- lations in the Irish language, were said to be courted as men of. learning, and appointed to -assist the rulers of Ireland with advice: in recompense for which services they were personally distinguished by some trifling piece of finery, and even granted considerable tracts of land." 1. Histoire d’Irlande par M. ? Abbé Ma Geoghegan, tom. 1. p. 105. 6 The duties of their office, say Irish historians, were to trace the origin of their ancestors, to. pursue’ their foreign migrations, to adjust and preserve their annals, and to keep an account of their genealogies, alliances and wars.2 The result of their in- spiration must have flattered the credulity of the ages in which they wrote; as they pretended to succeed, in tracing the lineal descent from Milesius to Japhet. The feasibility of the perform- ance is accounted for by arguments, sufficiently convincing to unenlightened understandings ; but the absurd stories, with which the history is interlarded, prove that the human. intellect of those days had: not in this country emerged from the lowest scale of knowledge. Treland was anciently known to foreigners by various Greek and Latin denominations, most of which are imitative of its ori- ginal name Etre or Eirin. An Irishman was hence called Ev- reanach, and, in allusion to his ancestors, Gall, in the plural Gaill, which word, Dr. O’Brien says, was afterward corrupted into Gaidhil, Gaedhil, Gaoidhiol. From this name the language is called Gaotleag, which, according to the same authority, should be spelled Galic or Gailic.*- Kirin is derived by Camden from tar the west; a derivation — objected to by O’Flaherty, Mac Geoghegan, O’Brien, and O’Conor, who are probably the best Roman Catholic writers. Mac Geoghe- gan’s objection is grounded upon its implied sense; viz. the be- ing west of itselfj* and O’Brien rejects the definition because that meaning is not implied.* He also thinks it absurd to ap- 2. Lameme, p. 103. Antiq: Hib. Jac. Warai, cap-2. Druid porrd et bardi ab’ utra- que natione; eximio honore habiti.’. Keating, &c. 3. Dr. O’Brien’s Irish English Dictionary ; remarks on the letter A, p. 3. 4. P. 193. 5. Vid. his Preface to the Dictionary, 7 ply the word to the situation of Ireland with regard to Bri- tain and the lower parts of Gaul and Germany, which, he says, ‘ was only relative to others, and not to them who were the inhabitants. He concludes with a new definition, that Kirin is a contraction of I~aruinn or I-erin, compounded of 7, an island, and zarun, iron. In asserting that car ‘ does not signify the west, but relative- ly to the position of persons facing toward the east’; and that ‘if a person turns his face toward any other point, the word tar is applied to what is behind his back, even when it is turned to the east ;’ this author contradicts himself, for under the word zar we find it signifies after, back, backward, and also the west. In exemplification he adds tar-mumhan, west Munster ; on tarthar, from the west; a word compounded of iar the west and tar for tir, a country. In another part of his dictionary T also find iar-ghaoth, the west wind. Hence we may infer that the word was always used in two senses; one signifying the west ; the other, behind or backward. His own definition is much more exceptionable, for iron was not in use among the first settlers in Treland : if it were, they would not have substituted those oblong stone hammers, which, among other mines, have been found in those of copper at Killarney. Neither is it likely, that, when the name was first applied, they were acquainted with iron in the state of oxide, nor with furnaces adapted to produce a heat suf- ficiently intense to smelt it. In corroboration of Camden’s definition I beg leave to add, that no name could be more applicable to Ireland, when’ first discovered, than Eire, or Erin, if derived, as it seems to be, from iar the west, and z, y, or wz an.island. It would thus signify, by way 8 of distinction, the western island,® the ultima habitatio occidua of Europe, and would have been a sort of polar star to those Celtic and Scythian tribes, which have at various times migrated hither. In the south, and, for aught I know, in other parts of Treland, lo- cality is still constantly distinguished in Irish, by reference to the cardinal points. > THE HISTORY OF IRELAND, ACCORDING TO NATIVE WRITERS. UNACQUAINTED with almost every history, but that of the Bible, and ignorant even of every alphabet, before Christianity had introduced the British Roman, the bards and romancers of Ire- land, as some Spanish and Gothic writers haye also done,” avail- ed themselves of this source of information to invent tales, suited to give an exalted idea of the origin of their ancestors; ‘ non tam ut vera referant, quam ut delectent.’ These were of so ex- travagant a nature, that some late native historians,* in sepa- rating what they avow tobe fabulous from the true history, have altered and adjusted some of the subjects within the bounds of possibility, though not of probability, and then presented them to the world as incontestable facts. 6. And in this sense it is named by the Welsh, Ywerdon, yverton, or the western country. 7. The Spaniards derive their origin from Tubal, and some of the Saxon writers from Ma- gog, grandsons of Noah. 8, O'Flaherty and also Ma Geoghegan, 9 After the arrival and destruction by a deluge of three Spanish fishermen, we are told that Czesarea, the niece of Noah, accomipa- nied by Baronna and Balba, with fifty other women and only three men, had disembarked at Dun na mbare in Bantry, a short time before the flood. Partholanus or Bartholomew, (in En- glish), a relative of Japhet, with his colony, are next stated to be the first inhabitants; and their arrival in Kerry is fixed at the 312th year after the flood.'* I suspect this colony to be confounded with that of the Belg, for two of those generals, who are said to have headed the Belge 688 years after, are called Rudric and Slang,* which are the names given to two of Bar- tholomew’s sons. This supposition is corroborated by the confu- sion of dates, and the short remainder of their history. They continued in Ireland 30 years, according to some, 300 accord- ing to others, when the colony was destroyed by the plague.'! Ireland being now deserted thirty years, Nemethus and his sons Starn, Hiarbanel and Fergus! (names of Gothic origin), ac- companied by their nurses, as the family of Bartholomew had been'*-, planted themselves among the woods of Ireland, and con- structed forts. The plague having thinned their ranks, and the remainder being destroyed by the Fomharaig, Ireland, though it presented a champ libre to the conquerors, was again left to its native woods during 200 years, according to those historians, to which O’Flagherty adds 212, when in A. M. 2657 he intro- duces the Belge,!+ about 1440 years before their actual ar- rival.15 Another account states that Nemethus was a Scythian, and the VOL. XIII. c 9. Antiq. Hib. cap. 2. et Ogyg. Dom. p. 162. 10. Ogyg. p. 163. * ‘Ebid.. p. 171. 11. Ibid, p.168. 12. Ibid. p. 169,. ‘13. Ibid, p. 163. —'14. Ibid. p. 170, 171. 15. Hist. of Manch. vol. 2. p. 241. 10 great grandson of Partholanus : that after the expulsion of his co- lony by the Fombharaig, they passed, some into Scythia, some into Greece: that after an absence of two centuries, five sons of Dela, a descendant of Nemethus, brought new colonies hither after the flood, which, after a successful battle with the inhabitants, di- vided the country into five parts.’® Of Bartholomew’s colony the only surviver was Ruan or Thuan, a giant. This man having lived 100 years in the shape of a human being, twenty in that of a stag, 100 in the form of an eagle, three in that of a fish, at length appeared in the original shape of a man. This last transformation might continue, for aught Bishop Nicolson could see to the contrary, down to the days of St. Patrick,!” to whom he gave an exact account of the fate of his colony. ‘ Let this pass,’ says the bishop, ‘ with the history and chronicle of Carbre Lifachair, who. being first avow- ed to be an historian as old as any of the evangelists, was dis- covered to. be no writer at all, but a king of a later time.’ The Belg are said to be the first in Ireland, who elected monarchs ;!*- next the Dananni, a tribe of the Belge, who wor- shipped Danaan as their common mother, and her three sons as deities.'°- From Ptolemy’s silence as to a division of this island and the regal power under Slang and his four brothers, it may be in- ferred, if this account be true, that the partition took place about the third century. In this age the names of tribes and places, given by Ptolemy, migbt have been changed with the introduction of government: the river Ovoca, for instance, into Invhear Dom- nann, the Modonus into Invhear Slaine, after those Belgic tribes. Irish historians, in order to clothe their fables with the seem- 16. Ogvg. p. 172. 17. Nicolson’s Irish Historical Library, p. 10. 18 Ogyg. Dom, O’Flaher. p. 172. 19. Ibid. p. 6. 11 ing garb of truth, pretend to ascertain the time of the arrival of colonies in this island, even before the flood, with so much pre- cision that, the’ year and month not being thought sufficient, they add the day, and specify by name each family of the chiefs. And this impudent forgery upon chronology being found not to agree with historical data,’° later writers have, under the pre- tence of error, excused and rectified it.?- Yet, though they pre- tend to those early records of antiquity, they are completely ig- norant of those tribes enumerated by Ptolemy in the second cen- tury, of the towns they inhabited and of the names of several rivers, which appear upon his map of Ireland. This want of knowledge proves that our bards had commenced the history of Treland at a later period, or that those Roman traders, from whom Ptolemy had derived his information, were instructed by some of the Belgic or Teutonic tribes of the southern coasts. Such is the light thrown upon Irish history by native writers, who nevertheless accuse all others of incompetency, if ignorant of the Irish tongue; yet two of the best Philo-Milesian histo- rians, O’Flaherty and Mac Geoghegan, though they inveigh against the qualifications of others on this account, were them- selves extremely ignorant of the Irish language. Mr. O’Connor, in the late edition of Camden’s Britannia, in- forms us that “ the account of Partholanus and Nemethus, &c. cannot have been in the original copies of Nennius, but inserted by some monkish transcriber; and it is evidently taken from Irish romances of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and is not con- tained in the historic poems of Irish bards. The original of Ne- 20. Hist. Monastique du Royaume d’ Trane. p- 38. * Mais la chronologie d’IvJande est peut- -estre une des plus brouillées qu’il y ait.’ 21. Ogyg. p. 168, 170, 182, 184. c2 12 meth the son of Aguomin is in the ancient historic poem of the Tuatha De Danaan thus, Far bannul faidh Fionn go fail Mic Neimidhe, mhic Adhnamhoin. After dangers long the Finns to Erin came, The sons of poesy, sons of song. “ The poem relates to the bardic academies, supposed to have been established in Ireland by the northern scalds, under the conduct of Garmann or Gurmund, commander of the Dubh Gals, about the beginning of the ninth century, who during this period infested the coast of Britain, France and Spain. He was slain, according to the Ulster annals, in the year 855. ‘The poem is said to be the composition of Torne Eigis, bard to the O’Nials in the fourth cen- tury; but neither its versification nor language places it beyond the twelfth. And, on examination it proves to be an almost literal translation of an ancient Scaldic poem on that subject. The monkish and Latin writers of the ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centuries relative to Ireland, copying from Irish romances, have given in some measure sanction to all those ridi- culous and fanciful relations, with which the Irish annals are clouded. ?*” OF THE MILESIANS. After the Tuatha Dea Danaan the next colony is called Scot- tish, Scythian or Milesian from Spain. And we are told that the chiefs of the four colonies claimed the Saxon Magog, the nephew of Noah by Japhet, as their common father, and all are said to have used the Scottish tongue.” Those colonies are brought 22, Camden's Brit. p. 220. 23, Ogyg. p. 7. Keating, &c. 13 from a fictitious Chamus m Africa, from Scythia, Thrace, a part of Macedon called Mygdonia, Scandinavia and Spain ;** and they are made to travel backward and forward with as little uncon- cern, as if they had nothing to apprehend on’ passing through savage regions; and with as much ease as if chaises, relays and pacquet boats were in readiness to receive them. Such tales are unworthy of refutation. The narrators have unwittingly destroyed their credit by the insertion of dates, which relate to times long before the introduction of letters and figures into Britain or Ireland. | Dr. O’Brien observes: ¢ I rather should, in my quality of a mere Irishman of the old stock, shew him my gratitude for his zeal in asserting that patriarchal genealogy of Milesius, which. our bards have been stout enough to trace up to our first fa- thers through the plains of Senaar, mentioning also in their way both the Pharaohs of Egypt and Moses, though they knew not one step of that dark road, no more than Senaar and these personages, until they had learned them from the holy Scrip-: tures. In his remarks upon the letter A he adds ;’° “ We should not in the mean time time forget that it is to this change made in the words Gaill and Galic, doubtless by our heathen- ish bards, who. inserted the letter D, that we owe the important discovery necessarily reserved to their successors, who embraced Christianity, of those illustrious personages Gadel and Gadelus: the former an usher under that royal schoolmaster Pheniusa Far- ra, king of Scythia, in his famous school on the plain of Senaar, where this Gadel invented the Irish alphabet and the Gadelian language, so called, as. it is pretended, from his name; and the 24. Hist. d’Irlande, tom. 1. p. 59, 66. 25. Ir. Eng. Dict. Preface, p. 59 26.. Ibid. p.. 5. sf 14 latter a grandson of that king by his son Niul married to Sco- ta, daughter of Pharaoh Cingris, as our bards call him, instead of Cinchres, king of Egypt, under whose reign they tell us Moses and our Gadelus were cotemporaries and great friends; and from this Gadelus our learned bards gravely assure us that the Irish derive their name of Gadelians, who, they tell us, were also called Scots, from his wife the Egyptian princess Scota, This. disco- very, I have said, was necessarily reserved to our Christian bards, as their heathenish predecessors most certainly could have no notion of the plain of Senaar, of Pharaoh, or of Moses; objects not to be known but from the Holy Scriptures, or some writings derived from them, such as those of Josephus, Philo, &c. never known to the Irish bards before their Christianity.’ If the Clanna Mileag, or Cinc Scuit, as those writers assert, were indebted to the Scythian king for letters and language, or to the Egyptians or Cantabrians of Spain, as others affirm, we should have the characters and language of one of those three nations ; but it requires no great skill in languages to prove that there is no affinity between the Gailic and the Scythian, Coptic or Cantabric letters or languages.** Mr. Ledwich observes that neither Bede, Nennius nor Giral- dus Cambrensis mention the name of Milesius, and that Lord Littleton remarks it as extraordinary, that if the Scots were a people of Scythian extraction, who came into Ireland from any part of Spain in such very early times, the name which denoted their original country, should have been lost or forgotten during so 27. « The ancient Gothic and Coptic are immediately derived from the Ionic Greek.’ Origin and Progress of Writing, by F. Astle, Esq. p. 54. ¢ Theancient Spaniards, before their intercourse with the Romans, used letters nearly Greek, Don Nassarri, principal librarian to the king of Spain, has given us this alphabet, con~ sisting of twenty-four letters, taken from coins and other ancient monuments.’ Astle, p. 86. 15 many ages, and revived about the middle of the fourth cen- tury.”*- The emigration is supposed to have taken place from the north- west parts of Spain, and from a similarity to Spanish names of tribes, the Lucani, Concangi and Iberi, of the south-west coast of Ireland, are selected for our notice by English, as the Mile- sians are, by Irish writers. ‘These relations, partly founded upon interpolations in some of those corrupted editions of Ammianus Marcellinus, an author of the fourth century, and of Nennius, a British writer of the ninth, have formed the groundwork of ro- mances. ( Leibnitz and Macpherson, on the authority of Larramendi’s Biscayan or Cantabric Dictionary, affirm that there is no con- nection between the Irish and the Biscayan language, and Me- rula jomed in this opinion. The reputed Spanish origin of He- remon, the son ofa fictitious Milesius,?* is manifestly Irish; for the name was derived from Ur or rather Ocr-Mhumhan,>*: East Munster, a territory inhabited by the family of a certain chieftain, not the territory from his name. For a similar reason, the tract which belonged to Fitz Thomas, the earl of Desmond, was called Deas Mhumhan by the Irish, or South Munster; and another, which belonged to the family of O’Brien, was denominated Tuath Mhumhan, or North Munster. Various considerations, combined 28. Antiq. of Ireland, p. 3. 29. Mileadh, otherwise named Gal-lamh, are appeliations of the same import as Cior-ghal, a ehampion or soldier, 30. New Ross in the county of Wexford, according to Mr. Geoghegan’s map, is the site of this chieftain’s fortress. It was situated at Airgeadrois, upon the Barrow, not the Nore, as Keating and he represent it. The word’ Mhimhaz is not of Cantabrian origin. It is derived by Dr. Keating from mzmho, greater; a name applicable to the comparative magnitude of this province. The title Oir-mhimhan, corruptly or designedly spelled Eireamhon, has been long since transferred to the eldest branch of the illustrious house of Orimond. 16 with the history of the unnatural wars, which took place be- tween Heremon and his reputed brether Heber and_ their poste- rity, convince me that the Hearni of Ptolemy, the name of a Belgic tribe, which settled in the south of Ireland, were, owing to defective tradition, construed as personal by Irish bards, and understood to mean a chieftain, whom they denominated Heber, Evbhear. Seamen in those days were merely coasters, and considered in this point of view, I cannot conceive what intuitive knowledge could have guided a Spanish colony to an island 150 leagues removed from Spain, or 1500 for aught they knew; to say nothing of the te- merity of transporting hither men, women, children and cattle, in earuce or small wicker boats covered with leather ;°) in an age too .when the island and navigation were equally unknown.** The Greek and Latin writers seem to have been completely ig- norant of the relative situation of Ireland; for, in the first cen- fury Strabo places it north of Britain ; Tacitus and Orosius between Britain and Spain ;°*—~* and even so late as the eighth century, Bede fixes its south extremity opposite to the north coast of Spain.** This general ignorance of its relative situation, as 31. Lusitani, Stiabone teste, lib. 3. navigia habebant ex corio facta. Phil. Cluverii Introductio in univers. Geogr. p. 49. $2. Appianus, gravis auctor, qui vixit sub Hadriano Imp. scribit, Hispanos ab occidentali et septentrionali oceano abstincre, nisi quando in Britanniam una cum estu maris transvehun- tur. Theat. Geogr, vet. Petro Ber. Bevero. 33. P. 124. Porrd extrema navigatio 4 Celtica versus septentrionem, nostra ztate, dicitur esse in Hiberniam (é iz} rm Iegmy) : quae ultra Britanniam sita. P. 307. Tum magna Hibernia versus septentrionem juxta Britanniam porrecta, Strab. Geogr. v. 1. cum notis Casauboni. 34. Ch. 10. Tacitus de Vita Agrico. In occidentem Hispanie obtenditur.” 35. Oresii Hist. 1.1. c. 2. * Hibernia insula, inter Britanniam et Hispaniam sita:” &c. $6. P, 2. Est autem Hybernia insula——ad occidentem quidem Britannia sita: sed sicut ee eee ee ee ee. ee ee 17 Mr. Ledwich remarks, gave rise to the opinion of Spanish emi- grations, and induced the ancients to state the reports of igno- rant traders as facts.*”- As a Scythian or Cantabric Heremon cannot be recognized in Otr-mtimhan, the basis upon which the Milesian history is founded is consequently destroyed; and the whole edifice is razed by two facts; viz. 1. That the elements of literature were not known in Ireland, probably, before the fourth century. 2. That tradition cannot be depended upon beyond a cen- tury. OF SCANDINAVIAN INVASION. The Rey. Mr. Ledwich, in order to maintain a favourite hy- pothesis, has brought forward the assertions of early writers, in opposition to a generally received opinion. ' He says; ‘ it is supposed by many that the great northern swarm did not arrive here before the beginning of the ninth cen- tury; but from what has been already delivered from Roman writers, domestic traditions, and the evidence of the Irish lan- guage greatly corrupted by Teutonic and Gothic words, it seems VOL. XIII. D contra aquilonem ea brevior, ita in meridiem se trans illius fines plurimim protendens, usque contra Hispania septentrionalia pervenit. 5 Eccles. Hist. lib. 5. Venerab. Bede. $7. If the situation of Ireland were in the first century unknown to Strabo, the first geo- grapher of that age, and even in the eighth to the Venerable Bede, how can it be supposed that Milesius could have ascertained it ina much more remote age! 18 more than probable that ScytInan colonies did arrive here before ihe “Incarnation.”* ‘ The Scots issued from Scandinavia and were named by our Firbolgs, Scutten, the Welsh Y-scot, expressing in their respec- tive languages Scythians and Scots.”% ‘And the Scot bhearla, ac- cording to Irish historians, was the vernacular one of the Neme- thians. All grant these were a Scytlian or Teutonic colony. They were probably the people of Worms, called Nemetes, and were seated about Spire and Mentz.%°- He continues to inform us, upon the authority of Whitaker’s Manchester, p. 428, vol. 1. which I find in vol. 2. p. 225. ‘that the Saxons and Cimbri, in the second century, applied themselves to navigation, and became formidable to the Romans. That they soon made themselves known to the inhabitants of the British isles by their piracies, and were styled Lochlyn or Lochlynach; that they took pos- session of the Orkney island, landed in the north of Ireland, and ravaged the country. That before the middle of the third century they landed a second time in Ireland, disembarked a considerable body of men, and designed its absolute subjec- lion.’ His Roman authors are Eumenius the panegyrist, who speaks of ‘the Irish and the Picts invading Britain 55 years before Christ." He introduces Claudian, who ‘ makes the Scots fly to the north when they were broken and dispersed.’ Yet, he adds, ‘ at this time, about the end of the fourth century, the same poet establishes them in Ireland.” ¢ Sidonius Apollinaris joins the Scots, Saxons and Picts as kindred people.* ‘ Claudius does 38. Antiq. of Ireland, p, 24. 39. Ib. p. 11. 40. Ib. p. 15. 41. Ib, p. 14. 42.‘ Totam cum Scotus Iernem movit.’ 43, Antiq. of Irel. p. 11. 19 the same. Aventinus calls the Scots a clan or tribe of the Saxon nation, as were the Picts.’ With respect to the arrival of the Normans in Ireland before the ninth century, our great antiquarians, Camden, Usher, Ware, Saxo Grammaticus, Cluverius, Pinkerton, &c. are silent; and we may consider their silence a positive argument in opposition to that opinion. Our native historians, if of any weight, introduce them, some, A. D. 795;** O'Flaherty 798; Keating in 820. Accord- ing to the Saxon annals the first Danish ships that sought out the English nation arrived there from the country of Herathi, part of Jutland, a. p. 787.4% Soon after, our best historians in- troduce them into Ireland under Turgesius, and into Normandy under Rodolphus ; and, if authors had authorized the fact, they would not have failed to notice their arrival at an earlier date. With respect to the Teutonic corruption, I am persuaded that a philologer, who would be at the trouble of comparing O’Brien’s Irish Dictionary with the Gothic of Olaus Varelius, which should rather be found blended with the Irish of those supposed early colonies than the more modern ‘Teutonic, would be convinced that the Irish tongue contains but a few Gothic words. And it appeared to myself an extraordinary fact, considering the mixture of Gothic in the Italian, French, Spanish, English and Manks languages,** which the dominion of the Goths D2 44. Tom. 1. p. 376. Selon les annales d’Irlande, les pirates Normands, pararent pour la pre- miere fois dans cette isle en 795. Hist. d’Irlande par 0 Abbé Geoghegan. 45. Histor, Collect. p. 299. 46. The incorporation of the Icelandic with the Gailic constitutes the only difference be- tween the present Manks and the present Irish. 20 over those countries had effected, that even its Cimbric dia- lects, used by the Danes, Norwegians, Swedes and, Icelanders, had not crept into the Irish language, during the attempts of these rovers to subjugate Ireland. And it seems even the more wonderful that it had continued pure, when we take into view the vicinity and long residence of several Belgic tribes on the south-east and west coast of this island. On the other hand M. Pezron, in his antiquities of nations, says that ¢ the Teutonic language hath borrowed much from the Celtic.’ And in answer to his sixth chapter, in which he says, * the Persian language hath borrowed much of the Teu- tonic,’ I may apply to Messrs. Pinkerton and Ledwich the. opi- nion of Verstegan, ‘ by this it may seem, especially to such as have any knowledge in the Dutch tongue, that between that and this, there is no neerenesse of affinitie at all, but as much far- nesse as needeth to be.’4” I have noticed and admitted the residence of Teutonic or Bel” gic tribes, which probably arrived in Ireland soon after the In- carnation ;** but that the Gaoill or Britons, who occupied the centre of this island, were of Gothic origin, or, that the Belgz of our coasts had emigrated from the north, I deny. With the assistance of an able Irish teacher | have examined the British etymons in Baxter’s Glossary from the letter A to EK; the comparison has convinced us, that both languages, the [rish and British, were originally the same; that the present British in his opinion, the present Irish in mine, have been greatly corrupted from the primitive Celtic. I am also confident that the words, their combination, construction of sentences and idioms 47. A Restitution of decayed Intelligence in Antiquities, by R. Verstegan, p. 20. 48, The History of Manchestey, by the Rev. Mr. Whitaker, vol, 2. p. 241. 21 of the Irish, are extremely different from those of the Gothic. It therefore appears to me that Mr. Pinkerton who says the Irish is half Gothic, and that Mr. Ledwich, who adopts the opinion, have taken the probability for a fact.** And though it. were half Gothic, this mixture of language would not prove the Irish to be of Scandinavian origin, because it might have been effected by the Belgz of the coasts. The experience of other countries instructs us that the circumstance of one tribe adopting the language of another, depends chiefly upon its inferiority in point of population, This fact may account for the Gothic of the Belge not being im- mersed in the gaoileag of the Irish.°° On the contrary we may infer from it that the Belgze, as the smaller population, had adopt- ed the latter language. Notwithstanding the pains taken from the time of the Normans to that of Edward the IIId, to establish the French language in Britain, it never, for the reason assigned, be- came general in that island.*!: © And the Scot-Chearla was the vernacular one of the Nemethians, who were a Scythian or Teutonic colony.’** Consequently the Scot- Chearla was not the vernacular language of the Nemethians. The quotation from Whittaker’s Manch. is given upon the sole authority of Ossian, and therefore requires confirmation. The same observation applies to his Gallic and Roman authors. Their assertions are without proof. It is probable that Claudian, who wrote about the fourth century, was guided by Strabo, who wrote in the first; for the Scots, whom the former establishes in Ireland, could not have fled thither in a direction north of Britain. 49. Antiq. of Ir. p. 20. 50. Another reason may be found in the harshness of the Gothic language, from the fire- quent use of consonants, which was always offensive to the Celtic ear. 51. Enquiries touching the diversity of languages, by Edw. Brerewood, P. A. p. 22. 52, Antiq. of Ir. p, 15. 22 Sidonius Apollinaris (Caiws Solttus) and Claudius, both of the fifth century, and Aventinus of the sixteenth, consider the Scots, Saxons and Picts, as kindred people :’°*-—but the facts stated by Camden, p. 115. convince me that the Picts were of British origin. And if Tacitus be supposed capable of identifying the language of Gaul in Brita, we must suppose him to have been equally so of ascertaining that of the Picts to be British: otherwise he would not so uniformly have given the appellation of British to those Ca- ledonians.** If the venerable Bede, who, in the eighth century, had in vain sought authentic information from books respecting the Picts and Scots, was reduced to the necessity of reporting fables on rumour, it is matter of curious inquiry to know from what source those authors, quoted by Ledwich, had acquired their information in the fourth and fifth centuries. Treland having at an early period, received the tribes of two great nations; the Celte, Gauls or Britons, chiefly. within its 53. Antiq. of Ir. p. 11, 54. Let the reader also consult Herodian, Dio and Tacitus, and attend to Agricola’s speech to his soldiers, who were opposed to Galgacus the Pictish captain, He will be convinced that those Britons had not acquired the name of Picts, which probably signifies either painted men or champions, until christianity, in the year 296, became the prevalent religion of the empire under Constantius Chlorus and Constantine, and when the Britons, who had then disused painting, held those old countrymen in abhorrence, on account of their idolatry and pillage. It is probable that those Romanized Britons, having then forgotten much of their ancient lan- guage, regarded as foreigners, those naked painted barbarians, whom Herodian represents as bog-trotters, adorned with rings of iron, and without helmets or breast-plates. The language of the Picts must have undergone a great change before the 8th cent., when Bede speaks of it as different from the British. « Caledonia their country, according to Macpherson, is com- pounded of céel, or, with an aspirated G, Géel, the generic name of the nation, and doch, a district or region, the proper name by which the Scotch Highlanders call their country, Albin being rather a figurative form of speech.’ Enq. into the Antiq. of Scotland by James Macpherson, Esq. 23 centre; the Goths or Belgz on the borders; it is highly probable that those authors who quote no authority for their assertions, having heard of those Gothic tribes in Ireland, and of the Norman pira- tical attempts on the British coast, in the time of the Romans, re- quired no further proof to draw those specious inferences. Other writers, from an erroneous construction of a line in Pro- pertius, have brought the Irish from Turkey in Europe. And so much stress has been laid upon it, that I had long hesitated, lest I should incur the censure of critics, in venturing upon my own au- thority to give it a different interpretation. The line I allude to is in the 4th book of the elegies of Propertius, and in the epistle of Arethusa to Lycos: Hibernique Geta, pictoque Britannia curru; which is understood to mean, ‘ the Irish Gete, and Britain with her painted chariot.’ ‘To understand the force of this line I shall quote the two preceding ones, in which Arethusa, in an epistle addressed to her lover, continues to describe his travels. Te modo viderunt iteratos Bactra per ortus, Te modo munito Beticus hostis equo, Hibernique Getz, pictoque Britannia curru ; which, as I conceive them, should be thus translated :—at one time the Scythians have seen you in the frequented east; at another the Betic (Spanish) enemy beheld you upon your armed steed: you have also been seen by the wintry or frigid Gete and by Britain with her painted chariot. The propriety of the epithet applied to the Gete** is confirmed 55. A Scythian tribe, who occupied both sides of the Danube in Bulgaria and Moldavia of Turkey in Europe. 24 in the following verses, andvalso in several others of Ovid’s poem ‘de ‘tristibus’, which was written during his exile among those savages. Pellibus, & ‘sutis arcent malé frigora braccis ; Oraque de toto corpore sola patent. Szepe sonant moti glacie pendente capilli, Et nitet inducto candida barba gelu: &c. The word is used adjectively by Propertius, as in the following distich, in which it is applied to the ancient inhabitants of Li-. thuania, who were named after the river Borysthenes. Hine etenim tantim meruit mea gloria nomen, Gloria ad hibernos lata Borysthentdas. If this distich had not escaped the notice of authors, it is pro- bable they would have been more cautious in their construction of the former line. Such epithets were in common use among the Roman writers, who believed most northern regions too cold for the life of man. Even the mild climate of Ireland was, in those days of geographical ignorance, termed glaciale, or icy, by Claudius and Hadrianus Junius. Strabo observes of Ireland, ‘ it is scarcely inhabitable on ac- count of the cold, insomuch that those places situate further to the North are supposed to be uninhabitable: egre ob frigus inco- litur, ita ut que ulterius sunt habitari non posse existimentur.** Propertius was cotemporary with Mecenas, C. Gallus, Ovid, Tibullus and other wits, in whose time, about that of Julius Ceesar, it is by no means likely that he possessed information respecting Ireland, which the former had not communicated, nor any prior or subsequent writer acquired. Britain not having been known to the Romans before the invasion of J. Cesar, it is even probable 56. Strab. Geograph, cum notis Casauboni, &c V. 1. p. 307. 25 Propertius had never heard of Ireland, and very improbable that he kriew this island to have been peopled by the Gets or Scythians, between. whom and the Romans the intercourse was so limited, that Ovid, in order to preserve his native language in remembrance, was obliged to devote the chief part of his time to writing and soliloquy. Catullus is said to have been born. 86 years before Christ; he was probably cotemporary wilh Propertius, who, it is supposed, had died 1) years before the Christian: era, and certainly with Cesar, with whom he was intimate. But, notwithstanding this intimacy, he must have been ignorant of the existence of Ireland, when he twice calls Britain: the most western island :- quis potest pati, Mamurram habere, quod comata Gallia Habebat unctum, & ultima Britannia? Eone nomine, imperator unice, Fuisti in-ultima occidentis insula ? WHENCE IRELAND WAS PEOPLED, AND BY WHOM. THOSE Scythian or Gothic tribes having been classed under the general denomination of Celtai or Celta by Greek and Roman writers, it becomes necessary. to describe their relative situation. They differed in manners and customs, and also in language. The Germans or Teutons occupied the present Germany, whence they extended themselves beyond the Albis or Elbe,.occupying the. pre-- sent Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland; and, in later times, the Orkney and Shetland isles, the Thule of the ancients.. Their. old west boundaries were the Rhine and the North sea, which separated them from the Celt of Gaul and Britain. With the: VOL. XII. . 10 26 exception of some German iribes, which crossed the Rhine anu settled in Gaul and Britain, such was the relative situation of those iwo great nations in the time of J. Caesar, Tacitus, and Ptolemy: the Celta, occupying the west of Europe as far as the south of Gaul, were bounded on the east by the Germans. It may be in- ferred, from the subsequent part of their history, that the west mi- gration of the Celtee was caused by the superior prowess of those Goths; and it may be presumed, that the Gothic encroachment upon the territory of some Celtic tribes m Gaul compelled the dis- possessed to seek other territories in Britain. A mutual hatred seems to have prevented any friendly intercourse ; and this, in some measure, may account for the Gavill never having learned the lan- guage of the other, which differs as widely from it, as the Sclavonic probably from either. In the endeavour to discover whence those opposite tribes came, one step toward the discovery is obtained by ascertaining a road which they had not taken. And, as in the pursuit of two stolen trees, which, for the sake of distinction, I shall suppose to be of different species, we follow that track, which the broken branches, or even the fallen leaves, point out ; so, in the pursuit of those tribes, we must endeavour to trace them from the parent stock to the branches, and vice versa. The Gavill or inhabitants of Gaul were expressed in Latin by the word Galli, and in Greek by Celéat, which romanized, became Celtee,>7- a word generally used to denominate the branches ‘of this people in all their migrations. For it appears, that, among the ancient Greeks, the letters K and C were commutable with the letter G. And-among the French and Ftalians, who have no W 87 Ceéltaiis the Greek denomination for Gavill, and Galli the Roman; as we are called English by ourselves, Anglois by the French, and Inglese by the Italians. 27 in their alphabets, G or Gu are substituted. Hence warre in Gothic was, by the former, changed into guerre ; warden into guarden, now gardien; Wales, Gaulles ; Cornwales (Cornwall) Cornu-Gaules. ‘On the other hand, the G of the French is in Gothic changed into W; hence Guarden is expressed by warden; guerre by warre; Gaulles, now pays de Galles, Wales. The only clue to information, which can be expected from savage nations in those ages of mental darkness, appears in those denomi- nations, which they bestowed upon each other; and these will enable us to trace those tribes in their emigrations. The Goths or Germans, as I have observed, substituting W for G, applied the name of Welsh to those Gauls, who anciently occupied the north west part of Italy, which was then denominated Gallia cisalpina, and since Lombardy. And this denomination, originating from this: part, was afterward transferred to the whole of Italy, which was called Weishland, and its mhabitants Welshers.* 'Ehis name was also extended to those Gauls, who lived upon the west banks of the Rhine. In the Netherlands, which were formerly inhabited by the Belge, the French language was called Wals, and the inhabitants of Henault and Artois, Wallen or Wallons, and their provinces Walsland ;°° words importing Gals, Gallen, Gallons or Gauls. According to ancient Saxon werks, this people, occupying the Cimbric Chersonesus, the present North and South Jutland, and being separated from the Britons by the North sea, called this W. people Welsh, and, sometimes, to distinguish them from other Gallish or Wallish tribes, Brit-Welsh, contracted from Brittaint- Welsh, and the island was denominated Brit-Welshland. The Saxons, having afterward made a conquest of this island, and driven E 2 58. Restitution of decayed intelligence by Richard Verstegan, p. 152. 59. Verstegan, p. 153.. 28 the Britons into its western wilds, continued to nominate those Gauls or Britons Weallas or Wallish, and their country Weallasland, which were abridged into Walsh or Welsh, and Welshland.- Another body of Britons having settled in Cornwall, this region was called Corn-Weallas.°'| And these appellations were synoni- mous with Gallish, Galsh, Gelsh, Gaulish, which, in the language of Ireland, are now equivalent with the “ord Gaoillach, which means Irish people. This Gothic pronunciation of Gaoill or Caoill, like an ill name applied to an exalted personage, having pursued them from south to north, and from east to west, is a presumptive proof that the first inhabitants of Britain were the offspring of Gauls.°* And as such they should speak the same language. Accordingly we find in the 6th book of Czesar, that it was customary among those Gauls, who were studious of the Druid discipline, to pass over to Britain for instruction. And, as they had no books in either coun- try, it is likely the instruction was communicated through the medium of the Gallic tongue. Tacitus says, their holy rites and superstition are similar to those of the Galli, and the two languages differ but little. Beside it appears from Cesar, that the merchants of Gaul traded with those of Britain, and through this commerce his design of invading Bri- tain was discovered to them: that the Britons were in the habit of sending auxiliaries to Gaul, omnibus feré Gallicis bellis, almost upon every occasion. This close correspondence in a common language, conjoined with similar manners, customs, and religion, induced Tacitus to say, that, 60. Idem, 153. 61. Idem, 152. and Camden. 62. ‘ Ferocissimos esse Gallorum, qui sub septentrionibus habitant.’ Diodor- 1. 5. 63. Taciti, Agricol. vita, 11. ‘ Eorum sacra deprehendens, superstitionem persuasione. Sermo haud multum diversus.’ 64, Jul. Czesar. de bel. Gal. lib. 4. Sect. 18. 29 ‘ all circumstances considered, it is likely the Gauls took possession of this neighbouring soil ;’ in universum tamen estimanti, Gallos vi- cinum solum occupasse, credibile est. And accordingly, notwithstanding the long interval, which oc- curred from the-first to the last disembarkation of Gauls in Britain, those Britanno-Gallic descendants may yet be recognized by the agreement in some articlés‘of dress, in the construction and form of their houses, in implements of husbandry, the variety of corn sown, the mode of reaping, thrashing, grinding, and, finally, of sifting its flour.*° On the separation of the British Gauls from the parent country, it may fairly be presumed, from the state of nudity in which the British and Picts were found,” that neither the Gauls nor they had known the use of clothing; for, as savages are neither remarkable for invention, nor for readily relinquishing their acquirements ; and as children are imitative of the attainments of their parents, it may be inferred, that such a luxury, once known, would not have been easily abandoned. The practice, recorded by Diodorus, p. 353, of the Gauls having formerly fought naked, seems to corroborate the opinion. Nor is it unlikely, that before the illuminating dawn of knowledge had opened upon them from the east, they also, as in South and North Britain, had stained their bodies blue with the juice of woad. If we turn from those proofs, in which the original appears in the copy, to their instruments of war, we shall find them likewise illus- 65. Sect. 11. Tacit. Agric, vita. 66. Whit. Manch. VY. 1. p. 284, &c. 67. Cesar, Tacitus, and Herodian, &c. « As late as the battle of Killicranky, the Highlanders threw off their plaids and short coats, and fought in their shirts.’ Whit. Man. V. 1. p. 300. 3 ‘ The Scots fought naked at the battle of Mechlen, a province of Brabant.’ Scoti nudi pugnabant in prelio Mechliniensi. Famiani Strade.de bello Belgico. 30 trative of their Gallic descent. ‘ Ammianus Marcellinus, describing a body of Gauls, furnishes them all with battle axes and swords.’ And those swords, which were afterward transferred to Ireland, were, according to Spenser and Whitacre, large, broad, and un- pointed,*’ and were beth Scythian and Gaulish. ‘ Celts or stone hatchets,’ [another proof of their ignorance of iron,] ‘ and the mi- litary chariot, were derived to the Britons from the Gauls, and in- troduced into the island with the first inhabiters of it.* And the British chariots had their wheels frequently furnished with scythes like the Gallic.’ So late as the 13th century, the gesum or heavy javelin, which was peculiar to the Gauls, was, according to Brito, used by the British in Wales.” In both countries, oaths were taken on the ensigns or military weapons ;’ and, in both, the division of townships was alike.”* In later ages, domestic implements and personal ornaments, the in- vention of their posterity, passed into Britain through the medium of commerce; but these commodities, which were unknown to the primitive settlers, are foreign to the subject of this treatise. THE WELSH NOT CIMBRIANS. Mr. Pinkerton’* considers the Cimbri, whom he affirms to be Goths and from the Cimbric Chersonesus, a congenerous people 68 Whit. Man, p. 19. and, ‘ within these four or five centuries, the Irish went constantly armed with an axe.’ Marcellinus flourished, A. D. 375. 69 Whit. p. 17. *Whit. p. 22. For the chariots in Gaul, see Strabo, p. 306. 70. Idem, p. 22. And Ma’Geoghegan, speaking of the Irish, says, ‘ Les chariots étoient en usage chez eux, non-seulement pour les voyages, mais aussi pour la guerre ; leurs histoires nous en rapportent plusieurs exemples, &c, p. 114. 71. Pennant’s Wales, V. 2. p. 245. 72. Whit. V.1. p. 379. 73. Whit, V. 1. p. 370, 74, Vol, 1. p. 148. 31 with the Welsh. ‘Those, he says, had originally peopled all Scot- land ; but, about two centuries before the Christian zra, were driven to the south of Scotland by the Picts, a Gothic colony from Nor- way. p.18. He regards those North Cimbri © as the ancestors of the modern Welsh, who style themselves Cymri, and their language Cymraig, to this day. And he believes ‘ the original Gaelic in- habitants had almost entirely evacuated the country, and retired to Ireland.’ Those Cimbri, on the other hand, occupied the present Somer- setshire in the second century. And South Wales was, on the ar- rival of the Romans, in the possession of the Silures and Dimete, as North Wales was in that of the Ordovices.’*> These were all Gallic or British tribes, and, if they had been vanquished by the Cimbri, this event must have occurred after the second century ; and Wales, if we believe Diodorus,’* would have received one Gal- lic tribe, im exchange for others of the same family; which, how- ever, is not true, for the Cimbri were a Gothic tribe, from whose language, according to Hickes, the Icelandic, Norse, Swedish, and Danish are derived.’’- But the British, with the almost common consent of historians, are affirmed to have taken refuge in the sixth century, some in Wales, some in Cornwall, and others in Armorica, after the Saxon invasion of Britain.”* And accordingly, in old Saxon records, they are recognized as Gauls, as I had before observed, under the de- nomination of Weallas and Corn-weallas, not of Cymri, Cimbri, or Cambrians. And accordingly their language, which, conformable 75. Ptolemy’s Geog. 76 ‘Whit. M. W.2. \p. 224. 77. See the preface.to his-grammat. Ang. Sax. and Meso-Goth. ‘ Et.ex. Cimbrica,’ Islandica, Norwegica, Suedica, Danica.deductz-sunt.’ ; 78, Powel in his Welsh chronicle says, it occurred « about the year of Christ 590.’ Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin through Wales, by Girald de Barri, V. 1. p. 174 32 with the conjecture of Mr. Pinkerton, should be Gothic or Teu- tonic, is the Celtic of Gaul, and was recognized as such by the Saxons, under the name of Wilse. I find it difficult to learn from what source, beside that of Ossian, Mr. Pinkerton could affirm, that the Cimbri possessed Scot- land two centuries before the incarnation ; for Britain was unknown to the learned world before the invasion of Julius Cesar, which occurred about half a century before Christ, and it appears, from ‘Facitus, that those barbarians, the Britons, could give no informa- tion respecting their origin.”® The affinity between their language, that of Cornwall and of Armorica, districts peopled at the same time by other bodies of the same Britons, evinces that those Cimbri were not ¢ a congenerous people with the Welsh.’ And although they call themselves Cimbrians or Cambrians, a denomination which Archbishop Parker deduces from Kambrus,°° one of their chief- tains, they were always known to the world by some name syno- nimous with Welsh or Gauls. Having thus ascertained, partly through German introduction, the settlers in Britain to be Gallic, we are next to learn that se- veral British tribes passed thence over to Ireland. And here the nation of their ancestors is perpetuated by the name, which was transported with them and retained, long after their bards had suffered its tradition to vanish into utter oblivion. This appellation 79. Sect. 11, Ceterum Britanniam qui mortales initio coluerint, indigene an advecti, ut inter barbaros, parum compertum ! S0. De antiquitate Britannice ecclesiz, p. 24. « Cumaraicc, derived from Cumar, a valley, are a people living in a country full of valleys and hills. Thus the O’Briens of Cumarach in the county of Waterford were called Cumaraicc, as they inhabited the valleys between Dungarvan and the river Shure. Hence also the name of the old Brittans of Cumberland,—and for the same reason the Brittans of Wales were thus talled.’ O’Brien’s Dict. in voce, and also p. 13, of his preface. 33 is two-fold. The one relating to their forefathers is Gaill or Gaoill, corrupted into Gaoidhil; and this signified Gauls of France, of Britain, and Ireland. The other, applicable to the re- lative situation of this island, and derived from it, is Erinigh, which also means Irishmen. The former name, importing an origin anterior to the assumed one of Britain, manifests its own remote antiquity. The various significations of the word Gaoill are all illustrative of the original stock. Gal and gdol signify kindred ; as fear Gaoil, a kinsman ; brathair Gdoil, a man of the same _ tribe ; sean-Ghaill, the old English ; and Gaotleag is the appellation of the language they conversed in. The term Gaoill, indiscriminately applied in later ages to fo- reigners, evinces the ignorance of the lower order with regard to the inhabitants of other nations; and that of Welshers, bestowed, by the common people of Germany, upon other foreigners residing in Italy beside the Gauls, arose from the same cause.°®!: WHY THE IRISH WERE DENOMINATED S€OTS OR SCYTHIANS. The inhabitants of Ireland were also, from the 3d to the 15th century, known, in Britain and on the continent, under the denomi- nations of Scotz, Scutten, Scythians, or Scots; and the island was indifferently called Scotia, Scotland, or Hibernia, without any satisfactory reason assigned for the origin of those denominations. In the hands of late writers, the word Scotia, derived probably VOL. XIII. F $1, Verstegan, p. 152. 34 from Scuit, seemed a playful expression, adapted rather for the imagination of the poet, than fer the sober reason of the histo- rian. Some, deriving it from the Greek, thought it implied obscu- rity: aterm fitted for the insular and conjectural situation of Erin- Others, reflecting on the various tribes, which, from time to time, she sheltered within her woods, gave it the Gothic interpretation of a jumble, or a heap, composed of various materials. Some Irish historians, of the middle or later ages, deduced it from Scota, an Egyptian princess. Mr. Whitacre derives it from the Gothic. Scot or Scut, which, signifying a refuge, he enlarges into ‘ wanderers or « refugees.8* Others say it was applied in derision, the word in Gothic also importing a disease. Each author seems pleased with his own construction of the word, though he could not obtain the approbation of the rest. But the proper application of the term has hitherto remained, like one of the definitions, im obscurity. The obvious meaning of this denomination led Mr. Ledwich, contrary to the opinion of our best writers, to bring the Nordmans hither at an early period, from Letten, Letitia, or Lettenland, in Livonia ; and some, ‘ the Gail or Gaill, from Semigallia, a province of Livonia, bordering on the Lettmanni.** In answer to which, I observe, from Mr. Pinkerton, p. 8. an author whom he often quotes, ‘ that the Lettic speech, to be found in Courland, Livonia, &e. is a-kin to the Slavonic language, yet with many shades of dis- * tunction.’ Porphyry, in the third century, Prosper, about the year 397, and P. Orosins, in 417, were, I believe, the first authors, who speak of the 82. V. 2. p. 233. Whitt.” Manch. V.2. p. 233. An author of great research, of deep penetration, and who has literally served an apprenticeship to British antiquities. 83. P. 18. 39 Iyish, as Scots or Scythians; and these were followed by Gildas, Nenius, and others. These synonimous denominations, thus early mtroduced, so generally used, and so long continued, must have had some motive for their origin ; and, in the endeavour to account for them, I must advert to tribes, which, in a subsequent part of this tract, will be noticed in their proper order. These tribes originally were situated upon the coasts of Germany and Gaul, and the cause was obvious. They were traders in Gaul and Britain ; and the descendants of those maritime tribes also settled upon the S. E. and W. coasts of Ireland, and pursued the same occupations. Hence, probably for the purpose of trade, the origin of Watling,** or Gaoilach-street ; which was constructed at an early period, and extended from Dover to Cardigan in South Wales.** Accordingly Tacitus informs us, that ‘ the harbours and approaches to the Irish coast were well known to the merchants resorting thither for the sake of commerce.** Hence the informa- F 2 84. Whit. Man. v. 1. p. 103. 105. ‘ The Watlingestreet, therefore, was originally de- nominated by the British Sarn Guethelin, or the way of the Irish; and the Ikening-street was equally denominated Sarn Ikenin, or the way of the Iceni.” « Both those roads must have been begun by the Belge of the S. counties; and, what is very extraordinary, both appear plainly to have commenced from the south. p, 1066. The Cantii opened a communication with the NW. parts of Britain and the colonists of Ire- land, that they might receive from them those supplies of cattle, which the Irish must then have furnished in a considerable degree; and such was equally the object of the Ikening street.’ P. 105. ‘ But the Belge were strongly actuated by a commercial spirit, and pursued its directions so vigorously, that, within a century from their first entrance into the island, the most Westerly tribes of them carried on a considerable trade with the Phenicians; and all of them afterward a much greater with the Romans of Narbonne and the Greeks of Marseilles.’ 85. Gibson, Explic. Nominum & locorum in Chron. Sax. 86. Tac. Agricol. Vita Sect. 24. ‘ Melius aditus portusque per commercia & negotiatores cogniti, 56 tion communicated to Ptolemy by the Roman traders, and hence the Gothic appellations of the tribes of Ireland. In the Netherlands, Scutten was synonimous with Scythians and Scots ; and, according to Camden, ‘ our countrymen, who dwell next to Scotland, used to call them, not by the name of Scots, but Scyttes Settes. And hence the early Saxon annals enumerate the languages or nations of Great Britain thus: “ Brittene Igland is ehta hund mila lang & twa hund brad ; and her sind on this Igland fif getheod (languages), Englise, & Brittise, & Wailse, & Scyttise, & Pyh- tisc, & Bocleden.”* They were also known by the Brittish in Wales under the name of Y. Scot,** which comprehended the Seythians as well as the Irish. The Gaoill, the subsequent Scoti of Richard of Cirencester, being situate in the centre of Ireland, and probably content with their herds and pastoral life, seem, thus se- cluded from the busy world, to have lived as unknown to the con- tinent as to Ptolemy. On the contrary it appears, that those Belgic tribes, during part of the Roman dynasty in Britain, and in after ages, had ex- changed commerce for pillage; and, in conjunction with the Picts, infested the British coasts.**- Their manners, customs, lan- 87. Book-learned. 83. Camden. 89. See Eumenius, Ammian. Marcellinus, Gildas, &c. From Gildas’ curious description of the third plundering excursion of the Scots and Picts into Britain, which took place early in the 5th century, we have no reason to look for the ruins of palaces in Ireland, nor any to admire the costume of its inhabitants. ‘ Itaque illis ad sua revertentibus, emergunt certatim de curucis (Curach, a small boat of willow, covered with hides) quibus sunt trans Tithicam vallem vecti:—————de arctissimis foraminum caver- nulis, fusc2 vermiculorum cunei, tetri Scotorum Pictorumque greges, una eademque sanguinis fundendi aviditate concordes, furciferosq. magis vultus pilis, ® quam corporum pudenda, pu- dendisq. proxima, vestibus tegentes, &c. * The Belgic glibb, 37 guage, dress, and dense glibbs, denoting them to be of Gothic descent ; as well as their arms,°° composed, according to Spenser and Ware, of large and long wicker shields, short bows and quivers, and small bearded arrows. The Roman and British writers, ignorant of their real origin, naturally inferred, that they must have emigrated from the regions of Scandinavia, of which the information of the ancients was solely founded in rumour, and accordingly they designated them as Nordmans. Thus it will appear, that two tnbes, originally of two great nations, occupied the soil of Ireland at the same time. One called Gaoill from Britain, but of Gaulish descent, inhabited the centre of Ireland; the other Scwit, synonimous with Scythians, Goths, Teutones, Germans or Belgz, planted themselves on the coasts, and surrounded the former on the E. S. and W.°!. The former seem to have devoted their lives to the care of their herds and flocks: the latter to trade, fishing, and piracy. The report of traders, it is probable, authorized Aristotle, °: or some writer of his age, Diodorus, Dionysius,°* Isacius,°* Strabo, 90. View of the state of Ireland, P. 82 and following pages. See Ma Geoghegan; p. 113. and Ware, C. 2. Hist. d’Irlande p. 113. ‘ Leurs armes étoient la pique, Je sabre, & la hache, comme les anciens Gaulois, dont parle Marcellin,’ P. 114. © Leurs boucliers d’osier, leurs arcs, & leurs petites fléches, faisoient voir leur rapport avec les Scythes, de qui ils avoient tiré leur origine. Ils se servoient, comme eux d’un cri martial, qui etoit, furah, farah, comme qui diroit prenez garde.’ 91. Ptolemy’s map of Ireland, Whitaker, and. others, 92. De mundo .—*Ey rérw YE BEY YnTOL peyisoure Ty avecw sacs duo Beerlovvins) Aeyopevaus, * AABiwy, xe} "Teun. 93. Ferocissimos esse Gallorum, qui sub septentrionibus habitant. Dicunt ex iis nonnullos anthropophagos esse, sicut Britannos qui Ivin tenent.’ Diodor. 1. 5. 94. Aicoas vnoo eas Berrayudes avrie Pave, &c. Dionys. Perieget. 95. * Nomine Britanni@ occidentalis eam celebrat Isacius in Lycophronem.’ Theat. Geog. vet. P. B. Bevero, 38 and Ptolemy, to call Ireland a British island; thence insinuating that its inhabitants were Britons. Tacitus °%%- seems to confirm the inference in his account of this island: © the soil, climate, manners, and genius of the inhabitants differ little from those of Britain.’ He has unaccountably omitted the mention of language; but, the affinity now subsisting between the Trish and Welsh, after the lapse of ages, is a proof that the Gaulish or British language was then spoken in Ireland. ‘Time has in every tongue, and particu- larly in unwritten ones, produced so considerable a change, that the present descendants of any nation could not, from the mere knowledge of modern tongues, understand the primitive languages of their respective forefathers. Consequently, the ancient language of Gaul, which M. Pezron too hastily assumes to be that of Ar- morica and Wales, must have undergone a similar destiny be- fore the 6th century; and, as the Cornish, now a dead lan- guage, and the Armorican, have since that period been consi- derably altered from that of Wales and from each other, it is not wonderful, that the Irish, which had been introduced into this island before the Incarnation, should have suffered a still greater change. Yet, compared with the present Welsh, the roots and collocation of words approach much nearer than a linguist, judging by the great interval of time, could reasonably suppose; and the idioms and accent have a still nearer affinity. The relation between some words is very remote; between others very manifest, as it Pap from the few I quote from Baxter’s Glossary. 96. 24. * Solum ceelumque & ingenia cultusque hominum haud multum 4 Britannia dif- ferunt.’ 39 British. Bich avr lin. Trish. Buc air linn ; Caper apud mare. British. Camva laiin ise. Trish. Cuimeacht na nuiscidh lan; Pleni amnis curvatura. British. Caer gloyii ui. Trish. Cathair an uisge ghloin ; Civitas amnis limpidi. British. Caer bein taloch. Trish. Cathair beinne na tulcha; Arx montium sublimium. British. Dun bel isc. Trish. Dun bhéil uisce ; Arx ad caput aque. Some words of the Welsh, Cornish, and Armoric, were rah which the Irish preserved; and others were preserved in the former, which are lost in the latter : a circumstance not to be wonder- ed at, when we consider, that even the Greek had lost some words after the use of letters in this language. The affinity between the different branches of the Gothic, the Dutch, Saxon, and Danish, is very striking; yet no native, accus- tomed only to the one, can be understood by any of the rest. The same observation is even applicable to the subdivisions of those people, each of which speak in a peculiar dialect ; yet all a from the old Gothic. ‘The change effected by time in languages may be exemplified in the Latin and English. Polybius informs us, that the articles of alliance between the Romans and Carthaginians could scarcely be understood even by antiquaries in his time, which was only 350 years after they had been executed. Alterations in a more remote age, = oe unexpected in this language, are recorded by 40 Quintilian and Festus ; and the change wrought in 150 years preceding the time of Cicero appears from an inscription on the pillar erected in commemoration of a naval victory obtained over the Carthaginians, of which I shall quote the first line : Exemit leciones macistratos castreis exfociont ; which in classical Latin is rendered thus : Exemit legiones magistratus, castris effugiunt. And, as to the English language, an author of the 17th century affirms, that he could understand but a few words of that, which had been written in the reign of Henry the First.°” The manners and customs of the Irish, as well as their arms, declare the lineage whence they sprung to be partly of the Gauls (see p. 38.) and partly of the Goths. But, although the resemblance on a general view was strong and convincing, yet some deviation might naturally be expected from the hand of time; for a narrative of which I refer the reader to Sir James Ware, Spenser, Ledwich, &c. A history of Erin is therefore nothing less than a history of the Gauls preceding the Incarna- tion, and of the Germans subsequent to that era. Having spoken of the Gaoill and Belge collectively, we shall next endeavour, with as much precision as may be defensible from history, to ascertain the time, when those tribes had separately arrived in Ireland. 97. Enquiries touching the diversity of languages by Professor Brerewood, p. 44. 98. See Spenser, p. 95. O'Flaherty, p. 296, Ma Geoghegan, p. 113. v. 1. Sir Jas. Ware, ce. 12, 4h OF THE TRIBES OF IRELAND. Conjoined with the identity of language, customs, and manners, the most satisfactory proof of the common origin of a people is the coincidence of names of tribes; especially when those names are common to tribes of two near islands. About 350 years before the Christian zera, according to Whitacre, and, as he conjectures, about 650 after Britain had been planted from Gaul, the first British colony dislodged by the Belge, finding all the central and northern parts of England already occupied, transferred themselves into the uninhabited isle of Ireland.° This colony must consequently have been composed of some of the fol- lowing tribes, which were vanquished by the Belge; viz. the Cantii, Regni, Bibroces or Rhemi, tribes which occupied the S. coast of Britain, from Kent to the W. boundary of Dorsetshire. The period of this emigration rests principally upon the information of Cesar and Richard, the latter of whom dates their departure from Britain, A. M. 3650. Mr. Whitacre supposes the second embarkation to have taken place in about 250 years after the first, or 100 before the Incarna~ tion. This colony was composed of some of six tribes, 1° which were seated N. of the former, and dislodged, according to VOL. XIII. Cc eae 99. Whit. Manch. V. 2. p. 232. 100. Bibroces of Surrey, Cassii of Middlesex and Essex, Segontiaci, tribes, whic Heedui, Cimbri & Carnabii. h had be- fore surrendered to Caesar : 42 Richard, by Divitiacus or some other Roman general.'?!. These, uniting with the former, constituted a central nation, which was bounded on the N. by the mountains of Tyrone; on the S. by the Suire and Blackwater; on the E. by the Barrow, Boyne, and Loch Neagh ; and on the W. by the Shannon, Loch Allin, and Loch Erne.°* Part of the centre being Initherto unoccupied, mu- tual protection and identity of family required this coalition.'* These were followed, according to our author, by two tribes, the Damnii and Rhobogdii, from the S. W. of the present Scot- land: the former, as he supposes, from Valentia, or that part of Britain included between the wall of Antonine and that of Ha- drian. They were called Darnii or Darini by Ptolemy, and by Trish writers Tuath Dea Danaan, a denomination derived proba- bly from the river Dee. O'Flaherty brings them, on doubtful authority, from Beeotia and Athens to Scandinavia; and says they had, at two distinct periods, been inhabitants of Ireland. That, on their return from Scandinavia, where they occupied towns called Falia, Goria, Finnia, and Mu- ria, (whose existence was, I believe, in romance only,) they dwel- led for some time near the river Dea or Dee, and occupied two towns in the vicinity of that river, called Dobar and Irdobar, whence they arrived and settled in the N. of Ireland. Mr. Whitacre calls them a British tribe; and, with better judgment, supposes them, on their return from Ireland, to have settled on the 101. Whit. p, 233..—* Certissimum est Damnios, Voluntios, Brigantes, Cangos, aliasque nationes, origine fuisse Britannica, que ed postea [post Scotos] trajecerunt,—postquam Divi- tiacus—vel duces alii victores illis domi tumultum fecerant.’ Richard, p. 42. 102. Whit- p. 232. 103. ¢ In Hiberniam commigrarunt ejecti 4 Belgis Britones, ibique sedes posuerunt, ex illo tempore Scotti appellati’ Rich, p. 50. 104. Ogyg. p. 6, 174. 2 ee 43 opposite coast of Galloway, under the denomination of Novantes. June time of Ptolemy, some of this tribe occupied parts of the present shires of Peeble, Lanerk, Dunbarton, and Ayr, whence the firth of Clyde presented a short passage to the N. E. coast of Ireland. They passed over, perhaps, when subdued by Lollius, and took possession of parts of the counties Antrim and Downe; having, according to Ptolemy, the Argita flumen, or Loch Suile, within their West boundary; but, according to Richard, only the Logia, or Loch Feabhail, (Loch Foyle,) and this author gives them Dunum, Dun, or Down Patrick, for their capital, The commentators on Camden seem to extend the territory of this tribe too far to the W., when they suppose it to have occu- pied the district called Cineal Eoghain, and more anciently Dair Calgaic, whence they fancy this tribe had been denominated.!° Of the Rhobogdii 1°* Mr. Whitacre gives us no further information; merely presuming, that, as all Ireland, as he supposed, had been colonized from Britain, this people must have been included. Ac- cording to Camden, they occupied parts of the counties Antrim and Dun na Ngall or Donnegal, whose N. division was called after the inhabitants, Jar-Gall, or the western Gauls :'°7- to these Whitacre adds all Derry.’ The promontory called by Ptolemy Rhobogdium, and which Sir James Ware rightly supposed to be that of Inis Koghain from the situation which Ptolemy has assign= G2 105. Camd Brit, v. 4, addenda, p, 437. 106. The situation of this tribe in Gaul and Ireland favours the definition by Baxter :—Vete- rum Brigantum dialectis re, 7i, et ro, promiscué dicuntur pro rac vel rhag, pre; est etiam iiog diti, fluctus aque, ut sit Robogdium tanquam Pre maris fluctu. 107. Idem, p. 445. 108. Hist. of Mane. y.2. p. 232. 44 ed it, is erroneously transferred by later writers to that of Mair- head.10 This tribe is described in bardic verse as Foghmhoraicc or pi- rates, who settled at Tozrinis, or Tor Chonuing, whence Tir Con- nell, the present bun na Gal (Domegal).. Four of the sons, who are stated to have been artisans, are denominated Bog, Robog, Ruibne, and Redan. Mercator and Ortelius place this tribe .on the N. E. coast; but, from the coincidence of Ware's map of Ptolemy with the position assigned them in Trish history,* I consider his edition the only correct one with regard to this people. For reasons which I shall presently assign, I suppose the Ro- bogdii to have been the Rhedones of Celtic Gaul; who, in conse- quence of their maritime skill, the construction and size of their vessels, were enabled to pillage the southern coasts of Ireland. Re- mains of this tribe appear in the word Robogh, the name of a small episcopal town in Antrim. Mr.. Whitacre, through Richard, informs us, that, about 50 years before Christ, that part of the Ordovices, who occupied the N. of Shropshire and the neighbourhood of Mediolanum, after the reduction of the county of Salop by the Carnabii of Cheshire, ‘ seem to have passed over into Ireland, and to have retained the memorial of their erigin in the name of their capital, Eblana or Mediolanum. The former name evidently affixed the new name of Eblani to the tribe, and the latter seems as evidently to point out the old appella- tion of its city.” But Mediolanum has been so generally applied te towns, that, if Eblana be a corruption, the original word has 109 By Mr. Beaufort in Camden, p. 447. * See the history of this people in p, 18, &c. of the old translation of Keating, or p. 179. &c. of the late. 110, Hist. of Man, p. 235, 45 undergone a greater change than we should expect in the course of two centuries from the supposed date of their settlement to the time of Ptolemy.---The capital of the Eburovices in Normandy was de- nominated Mediolanum; another, belonging to the Santones, in Gallia, comata; one in Italy, which, in the middle ages, was called Milan; another in Lombardy, beside a district so deno- minated in Spain." If then we were to argue from the similitude of names, Dublin might have been colonized from either of those places, The early Irish accounts of Dublin, alluding to it having been built and inhabited by the Danes in the 5th century, are evidently anticipated. The Blanioi or Eblanoi of Ptolemy constitute the can- tred of Dubhlana or Dubhlin of the Insh’; whence it is supposed; Difelin of the Danes, Develin of the English, Dublinium and Dub- linia of Latm writers; Dinas Dulin of the Welsh, Duflin of the Saxons are taken.1* Batle-cliath is comparatively a modern ap- pellation.”: . The commentators of Camden state, that, ‘ when Eagan king of Munster visited it, it was called Atha-Cliath Dubhline ;’ which is interpreted, ‘ the passage of the ford of hurdles over the black pool.” And 'they add, that « the etymology of Ballacleith is founded upon a very false supposition; for the ground, upon which Dublin stands, could'at no time have been soft or quaggy. ‘The ancient city, once enclosed with walls, stands on very high and firm ground; and, in the lowest parts of it toward the river, where several new streets have been built-within 50 years, they come to‘a fine gravelly foundation in a few feet.’ A recent writer derives the word from du, a country, tbh, a 111. Phil. Cluver. Introd. Geogr, p. 68 & alibi. 112. Camd. Brit. p. 327. 113. Idem. p. 335. 46 tribe, and latghean, Lemster; because Laighean was the family name of the people of the counties Dublin and Meath, a name said to be obtained from the being expert at throwing the laighean or spear. And from Thh-laighan, the name of the. territo- ry, with tir, a country, affixed, is derived Laihanstir, Leinster, and hence the Eblana of Ptolemy'!* But du, aot, i, or tbh, are synoni- mous, all signifying land or territory, and Camden informs us, that the province was called Laynestr!!® by the Danes: consequently this definition is inadmissible, as the Danes as Germans spoke a different language, and had not arrived in Ireland until the end of the eighth century ; beside family names in early ages were nomi- nated after the territories they occupied. If the similitude of names should be considered as illustrative of colonization, the Diablintes or Diablinte, of the west coast of Gaul, have a strong claim to the attention of antiquarians, as well from the similarity of Diablindum,"* their metropolis in Gaul, to that of of Dun Dubhlin in Ireland, as from their history. This tribe, in conjunction with the Veneti, Namnatz, Menapii, and others, was vanquished in a naval conflict with Czesar’s fleet, about the time that Mr. Whitacre assigns for the emigration of the Ordovices. Having lost their fleet and the flower of their army, Cesar treated the sur- vivors with unusual severity, in consequence of their having thrown his ambassadors into prison and loaded them with chains. The se- 114. Camd. Brit. p. 335. This author, Mr. Dutton, in his Statistical Survey of the County of Dublin, is proba- bly indebted for this definition to Keating, who tells us that Leinster owes its name to the spears used by the Gauls in aiding Labhra Loinseach against Cobhthach Coillbréagha. O’Brien’s Dict. 115. p. 324. 116. Notitia orbis antiqui, Christ, Cellarii, 1703. 47 nators were put to death, and the prisoners sold as slaves."!”) The remainder, it is probable, dreading the future wrath of Cesar, ac- tuated by sudden impulse, determined, in imitation of several] pre- ceding tribes, on seeking a safe retreat. It isnot unlikely, that the Veneti, during their commerce with Britain, had acquired some in- formation respecting the unoccupied state of the Irish coasts; and, im pursuance of this intelligence, they might have chosen the west shore and the situation assigned by Ptolemy to the Venic- nii, it being the most remote from Czesar’s power. We may reasonably suppose their neighbours in Gaul, the Namnate, de- sirous of fixing their residence contiguous to this, and where Ptolemy has placed the Nagnati. The north-west coast being thus occupied with these three tribes, including the Rhedones, we may suppose the Diablinte, from want of room, and lest any jealousy should arise in trade, to have preferred a settlement on the oppo- site coast; where the attractions of a spacious harbour would na- turally fix them in the situation of Dublin, and in the cantred of Dubhlana: two denominations, which, if called after them, have not suffered much by the corruption of ages. The subsequent occupation of Armorica by the Britons may be adduced as an additional argument in favour of the opinion of the emigration of those tribes. We find, in Adelmus Benedictus, the regions of the Veneti and of the Curiosolite particularly specified as the place of retreat of the Britons ;"% and, as two other van- quished inbes, the Diablintee and Rhedones, were seated between 117. C. Jul. Ces. Com. lib. 3. 16, 118. Nam cum ab Anglis et Saxonibus Britannia insula fuisset invasa, magna pars incola- rum ejus mare trajiciens, in ultimis Gallie finibus, Venctorum et Corosolitarum regiones oc. cupavit. - Corpus Francicz Historiz Veteris, p. 396. 48 ikiese, it is very’ probable, that ‘they had also forsaken their terri- tories. ‘The remains of ‘the: whole thus unitmg in the general emi- gration, ‘the Curioselita. or Osismii might have ‘separately joined some of the rest ; and assumed the name of one of the. more distin- guished tribes, or changed the former name to Auteri, whom Ptolemy places S. of the Nagnate. The coincidence of circumstances connected with those people appears on recapitulation very striking. Firstly, the causes and time of emigration. 2. The maritime situations chosen as the fittest for piscatory or trading people. 3. The agreement of dene- mninations. 4. The identity of nation or tribes. 5. The circum- stance of three neighbouring tribes. in Gaul becoming neiglibours in Ireland. 6. The subsequent occupation of their territories in Gaul by the British, 7. The failure of Mr. Whitacre’ in ac- counting for those particular tribes, notwithstanding his seven years application to the subject of British antiquity. 8. Their city Nagnata, to which Ptolemy applies the epithet exo; or illus- irious, excelling, as we should expect, among a commercial and intelligent people, all the rest in Ireland. 9. And, if Mr. Pinker- ton’s assertion be partly true,'!® these are the only tribes, except the Belge, and perhaps the Menapii, which embarked directly from Gaul for Ireland. 119. Vol. 1. p. 213. ¢ The original population of Ireland passed from Gaul, and was af- terwards increased by their brethren the Guydil from England.’ gq It appears more likely, that the Gaoilach or Watling-street, which Mr. Whitacre says was made 50 or 60 years after the settlement of those Mediolanenses, had been intended to facilitate traffic with those Gallic colonies than with his transplanted Ordovices of Ireland; as they had previously in Gaul kept up a.commercial intercourse with the Britons, Mr. Whitacre, as if to suit the direction of the read to his theory, has carried it from Richborough in Ken a tarda mb wheel 49 Of the Venienti Mr. Whitacre onlysays, ‘about 140, certainly be- fore Ptolemy’s geography, upon the expedition of Lollius into Caledo- nia and his great;successes.in Vespasiana, the Venicnii and Hardinii came into Ireland and settled upon the NW. coast. And_,both were evidently of the.same kindred, being called together the two Venicnian tribes, and being both subject to their one metropolis in the country of the Hardinii.”*°. This account seems.to rest solely with Mr. itacre, and is founded-upon the conjecture, that the word oc from-arden, harden or Caledonia, a name by which the author of Ossian says the S. W. part of Scotland was formerly known ; and, as Ptolemy placed the Venicnii in. their neighbour- hood, he supposed, that both tribes» had emigrated from the same part of Scotland. But Scotland in those days was, as well.as Treland and Britain, distinguished by its particular tribes ; among whom, the Venicnii. and Erdinos, Erdinii or Hardinii, are un- noti y Ptolemy. And it is not unlikely, thatthe latter, as wei Auteri, were merely tribes of the Gaoill,!?: perhaps the, Curiosolitae or Osismii, not of the Belgie, as O'Flaherty as- serts ;!°2 and:that the Erdinii, from their situation with respect. to some of the rest, were called .Jar-daoine or the W.. people; for the territory, fomerly occupied by the Erdinoi of Ptolemy, was VOL. XIII. H to the Segontium of the Ordovices,.a town near Bangor in Wales. But Dr, Gibson, on the contrary, thus describes it from an ancient MSS. ‘ It begins at Dover and passes through the middle of Kent to London ; then by St. Alban’s, Dunstaple, Stratford, Toucester, Litleburn, Mount Gilbert near Salop,-and the: middle of Wales to Cardigan,’ Explicat Nom, & locor. in Chron. Sax. 120. Hist. of Man. p.244. 121. O'Halloran calls them’ Ernains and Erenochs: ‘ Dogbhuibh Eireannach.’ Despoiler of the Ernains. 122. Ogyg. p. 16. *¢ Erdini quidem, qui prope fluvium, & Jacum Erna regiones Ferma- nach, et utramque Brifiniam habitabant, nostris Zrnai appellati, de Belgarum reliquiis fuere.’ 50 anciently divided into two large districts, one called Jar-caél or Tar-gaél, the W. Gauls; the other Ros-gaél or the sylvan Gauls ; each name denoting the occupants to be of Gaulish descent. Mr. Whitacre has not been more fortunate with respect to the Nagnatee.' These, he says, upon the authority of Ossian, were the Belge from the most S. part of Ireland; who, having been hemmed in by boundaries too confined for the growing tribes, fought their way through the N. W. parts of the island ; a ttled, where Ptolemy has placed them, under the new per of Nagnate. And he still leaves them not only their former posses- sions undisturbed, but assigns to them the whole W. region, through which they passed from the county of Cork up to Leitrim and Fermanagh. Trish history too agrees with the author of Ossian and Mr. Whit- acre in fixing a Belgic tribe in the N. W. part of the county Mayo; a district, which had been long called Ioras ~ where Ptolemy has placed the Nagnate. This concurrence of opinion seems to militate against what has been said of the Nam- nete ; but Mr. Whitacre could not have had any authentic infor- mation, through Irish or Scottish historians, respecting Ireland, be- fore the time of Ptolemy ; when all the tribes, of which the former speaks, both Belgic and British, were by that geographer placed where we now find them on his map, and, with some change of position, confirmed by Richard. Among the rest, we find the Nag- natee and the Belgic tribes of the S. E. and W. coasts; whose dis- tinct settlements prove that both were then co-existent, and the one independent of the other. Consequently, Mr. Whitacre’s ac- count of the Nagnate and the fir Domnann of Irish historians 123. Hist. of Man. p. 244. 124, Ogyg. p. 15. 5] must relate to a posterior age; when the Belge, according to Ossian, had waged numerous and successive wars with the Gaoill or Scoti of Richard. With regard to the river Ovoca of Ptolemy, in the territory of the Cauci, being called Iumhar Domnan, or the harbour of the Dam- nonii, it may be said, that the Gaoill were always in the habit of includ- ing particular tribes under general appellations.!2 Pirates or sea robbers were denominated Foghmhoraig ;!2° the Danes or Norwe- gians Gheinte!?” and Lochlannicc ;!%%- not, as writers wildly as- sert, from any geographical knowledge of Scandinavia, which the Irish possessed ; but from the circumstance of fleeing for safety to their vessels, which were drawn inland upon our lakes, to secure their prey and avoid the fury of our despoiled natives.!2°° And these foreigners were distinguished from each other only by the epithets of dubh and fionn, which signify men with dark complex- ion and with fair. Some tribes were known by their expertness at shooting or using poisoned arrows; hence the name of Tuatha Fiodhgha :°- several by peculiarity of situation, as the Tuatha Fiodhbhuidhe,*\ &e. And hence the various names given in Gaul, '125. Antiq. Hib. c. 6. Jac. War. ¢ Hiberni veteres, externos, prasertim vicinos Europzos, cujuscunque fuerint nationis, non rard Gallos promiscue appellabant.’ 126. From fogh, plundering ; mor or muir, the sea. 127. Offspring ; from geinim, to engender. 128. Loch, a lake; dann, Gothic for land ; lake-landers. 129. L’hist. d’lrl, Tom. 1. p. 378. * Il n’y avoit pas encore de place forte, ni de ville fortifiée, en Irlande: le general Normand (Turgesius) voyant la nécessité d’ayoir des places de retraite, pour se mettre a couvert en cas de besoin, & assurer le butin, supplea au défaut en distribuant sa flotte—dans les différens lacs du pays; il en placa une partie sur le lac Neagh, une autre sur le lac Rée dans le Shannon; il envoya le reste 4 Lughmiagh.’ 130. Pronounced Fa ; the arrow nation. 131, The wood-land nation. H? 52 Britain, and Scotland, to, tribes of similar families. The geograpliy of the N. beyond the 52 degree of latitude, was not known to tlie ancients ;!3* and we have no authentic annals of Ireland, which re- fer to events prior to the 5th century.’ Hence we cannot expect an indubitable confirmation or refutation of Ptolemy’s tribes of Jrelaud, from Irish, documents; and) particularly of those, whose manners, religion, and language, differed from their own. Mr. Whitacre continues to, inform us, that, ‘ when the name of a tribe or.a town on the W. coast of Britain is retained in the appellation of a tribe upon the opposite shore of Ireland, we niust naturally conclude the. one to, haye given denomination to. the other” Accordingly he introduces into Ireland the Volantii or Voluntii®* of part of Westmorland or Cumberland. about the commencement of the Christian cera, when they were driven hither by the Brigantes of Yorkshire and Durham. But, in bring- ing with them Sistuntii under the new name of Caucz, which, to accommodate itself to the latter tribe of Ptolemy, he has coined from their metropolis Coccium; and the Carnabii of Cheshire under the tortured, appellation of Coriondii, two tribes, which, he says, were at the same time subdued and dislodged by the Brigantes ; he immediately deviates from the rule of affinity in names, which he had just established. 132. Pinkerton’s Geography, p. 8. ¢ The line of 50° or 52° of N. Latitude must confine the ancient knowledge in the N. E.’ 198. Nicolson’s Ir. His. Lib. p- 11. ‘Many, very many, are the histories of Ireland that go under the name of Annals, some of which are anonymous, both as to persons and places. The most considerable of these, that have fallen under my observation, are the annals reaching no lower than the year 436, &c.—The Ulster annals are written partly in Latin, partly in Irish. Begin at the year 444, end in 1541.’ 134, Remains of those people are still found in the word Ulla, the name of the ancient principality in the county of Down, 53 The Sistuntii, on the other hand, as Mr; Whitacre himself in- forms us, assumed the name of Brigantes !** from their conquerors ; and remained where they were, even after they had submitted to the Romans.'°*: The Carnabii of Cheshire, at least a part of them, must also have remained; as we find they: were attacked by Agri- cola in his second campaign. 7 If there. had been any refugees, they might have found protection among those of the same name, who occupied Flintshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, and part of Leicestershire, and who still remained. unsubdued ;1°° or they might have emigrated to Cathness in Scotland, where we find Ptolemy has planted a tribe of that name. Others suppose the Coritani to have been the ancestors of the Coriondii, and the resemblance of names favours the opinion ; for they were called Cottanni, Coritani, and simply Corii. The first Mr Whitacre derives from Coit-en, woods, places of their habita- tion: the second from Corii, the little people, and tan, country.’°* These occupied part of Northamptonshire, the greater part of Lei- cestershire, all Rutlandshire, &c. and they were subdued by the Iceni before the arrival of the Romans.4° Remains of the name might have been transferred in later ages to that of the county Cork, Corca or Corcath, the army or battle of the Corii.'4! Mr. Whitacre says he is warranted by history to assert, that all © the tribes of Ireland came originally from Britain ; and he quotes Diodorus and Camden in proof of the assertion.* But the latter 135. Hist. of Man. v-i. p. 10. 136. Eadem, p. 41. 137. Eadem, p. 40. This occurred in the year 79. 138. Eadem, p, 147. 139. Eadem, p. 206. 140. Eadem, v. 1. p. 207. 141. In the middle ages, the remains of several districts in the county of Cork had this pre- fix Cor, as Cor-ca-luighe, Cor-ca-bhaiscin, Cor.biareigh, &c. 142. Eadem; v. 2. p. 236. 54 author, on the contrary, speaking of the Cauci and Menapii of Ireland, says, ‘ the Cauci were a maritime people of Germany, who lived near the Menapii, but not at the same distance as in Ger- many.’ And, he says, it is probable from the name, that these people are derived from the Menapii, a maritime nation of Bel- gium.”4* Exclusive of the fact, that neither of these tribes had set- tled in Britain, we have the authority of Richard, Ware, and Clu- verius, in favour of their emigration to Ireland from Brabant and the W. coast of Germany ; and, as the first asserts, a little before Czesar’s invasion of Britain, With regard to their history, we are informed by Tacitus, that Tiberius subdued the Cauci; and that they were again defeated vy Gabinus under the empire of Clau- dius. The territories of the Menapians were attacked by Casar and _ his officers ;!“* and some of that tribe were also defeated on their confe- deration with the Veneti and Diablinte.!“* Conformably with the account of Richard, I should suppose, that, at this time or soon after, when Titurius and Cotta!® had laid waste their territories with fire and sword, a part of this tribe, impelled by the conse- quences of a devastating war, had steered for the nearest shore of Treland ; and, like the former colonies, preferring a maritime situ- * ation, planted themselves on the E. coast, and occupied the S. parts of Wicklow and Wexford ; in which latter county they erected, on the E.. of Modona, or the river Slaine, (Slane,) a town called Menapia after the tribe.” Mr. Whitacre must have been driven to the last resource, when he adopted the expedient of collecting the present names of towns and villages of the region 143. Camden, p. 324. 144. Jul. Cas. lib. 3. 29. 145. Ib. 3. 14. 146. Ib. lik, 4. 31. 147. Hist. of Mane. v. 2. p. 243, and Camden, p. 327. 55 they inhabited, to prove that ‘these Belgic tribes were Gallic or Celtic'* The ancient map of Ireland, and even those of the middle ages, are very different from that of the present; and, if any names are exempt from change, those of the rivers and mountains are in general the only ones, whose roots are per- petuated. But Ptolemy’s map proves, that the ancient names for the former of these are neither commemorated in our re- cords, nor preserved by tradition. About 45 years after Christ, Mr. Whitacre supposes, that the Belge, our Fr-bolgs, had steered for the S. shore of Ireland from the coasts of Dorsetshire, Devonshire, Somersetshire and Cornwall ; after more than twenty of their towns had fallen into the possession of Vespasian in 30 engagements with the proper Belge, Duro- triges, and Damnonii. And the first body of the Belgz, that landed in Ireland, were, according to him, the Vodiz, Oudiai, or Udiz of Ptolemy; a small embarkation from Inishuna, the hungry island of Macpherson, which Whitacre supposes to have been one of the Silley islands; probably the Cassiteris of the Phenicians, and Silura of Solinus, an isle which he conjectures to have once existed near the W. point of Cornwall.'°- Though it may be impossible to trace the origin of the tribe with- out indulging in fancy, we find a pretty evident memorial of their subsequent settlement S. of Cork, in the name of a territory called Aoibh or Ibh Idouth.!°- This comprehends the present baronies of Ciaruidhe Chuirithe (Kerry curry), Cuirseacha (Courcy’s), Barra- cha ruath (Barryroe), and, according to Richard’s map, the greatest part of the principality of Corca-luideh, the ancient kingdom of 148, Eadem, p. 236. 149. Eadem, p. 241. 150. Camden, p. 271, 56 Cork ; which comprizes the baronies of Cairbreacha (Carbury E. and W.) Cineal Meice (Kinal Meak), Cinenalea, and Mus- crioth.!- This tribe was followed by three ‘others, ‘the Velaborii, Lucenii, and the Ibernii; which, with the Vodie, constituted, according to our author, ‘the only Belgic tribes, which appear to have landed in Treland. He adds, © the Velaborii, Velabri, or Veliberi, were, I suppose, the Damnonian inhabitants of Voliba or Voluba on the river Vale in Cornwall; Volub-er-i signifying the men of Voluba.”?- Mr. Whitacre scems ‘to have erred respecting the terminations of this word, neither signifying people. Er in British denotes land, and 7 or in means an island, in Irish. The people of Voluba, ex- pressed in Trish, would be fir Volub. Tt is however probable they were a Damnonian tribe, whose British origin and situation about Dunmore head are aptly defined ‘by Baxter, * bél or vél aber, caput estuarii, the head of an estuary. ‘This tribe probably pos- sessed a small part of Kerry and ‘part 'of Limerick, ‘ having ‘the 151. It is absurd to look for etymons in the British language, or in its Irish dialect for the names of Belgic tribes, if those names had not originated with the conquered people. A Belgic tribe subduing a British one and seizing upon a British town or district may receive a British appropriate denomination, as simply Lucd Ceni, the people of Ceni; Guyr or fir vél aber, the people of the head of the estuary; Flonaghaill, Finngallians or Fair Gauls ; fir na croibhe, men of the branch, denominations not understood by the new inhabitants. Dubh Gheinte and Finn Gheinte, Irish appellations for the Danes and Norwegians, are other in- stances. On the other hand, the Belge were known in Germany, Gaul, and Britain, by some common name, from which it was derived, and in Ireland by jir bole: the Damnonii by ir Damnon; the Damni by Tuath Dea Danaan. Keating. Bishop Nicolson, who forms his opinion from the name of Inch Galla, applied by the Irish to the isles of Orkney, Man, and those of Scotland, thinks the Finn-galians came hither from Scandinavia ; but those who had were not called Gal or Gaoill. Irish Hist. Libr. p. 7. 152. Whitacre. Man. v. 2. p. 242, q if f 57 Durius flowing through their dominions, and Regia, or Cathair, (a place now in ruins,) near it for their metropolis.”°: ‘ And the Lucenii seem to have been the Damnonian inha- bitants of Centa of Cornwall; Lucd importmg the people of the town Cenia, and the D, asI have shewn, being quiescent. among the Irish." These people, called Lucant by Richard, seem to have been a piscatory tribe; their territory being naturally a steril tract; and confined, as it appears on maps, to the peninsula of Dingle sound, and the barony of Ibh Torna Eigeas or Clan Mhuiris. Remains of the name seem to be preserved in Luach- neigh, another ancient appellation for the barony of Clann--- Mhuiris. The Itterni, Iverni, Iberni of Ptolemy, Iberia or [beri of Richard, possessed the neighbourhood of Bantry, the S. E. parts of Bearhaven, the steril barony of Ibh Rathach,'** and some land about Ceans mara (Kenmare), where Ptolemy places their town Ivernis and near the present village of Kenmare or Nidin.°% Remains of the Tberni, Tberi, Ibh-béara, are still preserved in Bedra, the present Trish. denomination of Bearhaven ; and, as Mr. Whitacre supposes, they ‘ were probably derived from the Ihernis, of Ravennas and the present Beare in Dorsetshire.’ Our author informs us, through Richard, that, in the year 51, a body of Brigantes with a party of Cangi or Concangi of the Sistuntians, whose territories were then invaded by Ostorius, arrived in Ireland. ‘ The E. coast was then occupied from end to end, VOL. XIII. I 153. Eadem, p. 130. 154, In this the D is changed into T in pronunciation ———Hist. of Man. p. 242. 155. The territory of forts; formerly called Corc-cael-luich, whence the family of Kiely. 156. The small nest, in allusion to a horde of robbers, who formerly occupied this scite. 157. Hist. of Mane, V. 2. p, 242, 58 and the Brigantes entered upon the only vacant portion of it. In this situation, the Concangi were forced to cross the central paris of the island and the dominions of the Scoti, and setile upon the W. sea; and with both, or about the same period, came perhaps the Auterii.”'°*- The Brigantes took possession of a great part of Wa- terford, and probably the S. parts of Tipperary, Kilkenny, and Carlow. On the W. they were bounded by the Daurona or Da- brona of Ptolemy, the Saveranus of Giraldus Cambrensis, abhan mor or Blackwater; and on the E, by the Birgus or Brigus, abhan Breoghan, which, being composed of the waiers of three confluent rivers, the Siwir, Feow and Berbha or Mear-ow, constitutes the present haven of Waterford.’ The name of this tribe is preserved in that of the river Breoghan, corrupted from Brighan, and also in the denomination of the country, whicli is called Ibh Breoghain, and of its inhabitants, who were nominated Sliocht Brecghain ; and hence the family name of its chiefs O Breoghan, which is cor- rupted into O Brain. Within their territory, in the county Kilkenny, we find a memorial of the Druids in the name of a well called tiobruid na ndroith, the Druid’s well; over which is built a singular cell. Additional evi- dence of their residence in Ireland, contrary to the opinion of Mr. Ledwich, and of the emigration of this tribe from Britam, is ex- hibited, beside other places, on the summit of Tory hill, called Sliebh Greine, or the hill of the sun. Here, in a circular space covered with stones, on one of which, composed of siliceous brec- cia and placed over two or three unequal ones, is the inscription BELI DIUOSE 158. Eadem, p. 243. See p. 46 of this essay. Richard, p. 51. A. M. 4050, < circa hee tempora, relicta Britannia, Cangi & Brigantes in Hiberniam commigrarunt, sedesque ibi posucrunt’; and p. 42, Ostorius. 159. Hist, of Mane. p. 229, and Camden, p, 283, 300. 59 in ancient Pelasgic letters,!% which, in Britain, were known only to the Druids. We are hence instructed, that the sun, which was here worshipped under the name of Beal or Greine, was there also known by the appellation Dionusos ;1*- a denomination like- wise applied to Bacchus. It appears from Irish history, that the power of the Brigantes,* who, unfortunately, were situated between Belgic tribes on the E. and W., was considerably weakened by a rebellion of the lower order, and defection of troops ; while that of the Belgze, on the other hand, was strengthened by the accession of the disaffected Gaoill and by extent of territory. Possessing, in the 2d century, nearly the whole of the present counties of Cork, Kerry, and Limerick, the Belgz afterward wrested a considerable part of the present province of Munster, on the east, from the Brigantes ; and crossing: the Shannon, they seized upon the counties of Clare, Galway, part of Roscommon, and Sligo, which belonged to the Cean-cangi, the allies of the Brigantes and cotemporary settlers. And they finally succeeded in fixing their head quarters in Ulster, whence they occasionally sent foraging parties to spoil the S. of Ireland. Notwithstanding the numerous wars, which occurred between them and the Gaoill, the history of the former is so intermixed with fable and confused, that, without the light reflected from the works of foreign writers, the historian could neither learn when, 12 160. Quum in reliquis feré publicis privatisque rationibus, Grecis literis utantur. Ces, lib. 6.13. The Pelasgic alphabet, which prevailed in Greece before the age of Deucalion, 1529 years before Christ, consisted of 16 letters. Origin and Prog. of writing, by T. Astle, p. 53. 161. Camden, p. 306. * It was with this tribe that the Belge had been chiefly engaged in war. q See Keating’s History of the Wars between Eibhear and Heremon. 60 nor whence they came, who they were, the names by which their septs were known, nor where they first settled in Ireland. Nay, more: they are preposterously affirmed to be of the same family as that of the Cangi and Brigantes, who were British and Celtic tribes. —Their stay in Ireland is limited by some to 30, by others to 80 years; after which period, we find them bandied from Ireland to the adjacent isles; thence back to Ireland, from which they were ulti- mately expelled by their own kinsmen, the Ultonians; whose pos- terity, even so lately as the time of Spenser, were recognized by hint as Scythian or Gothic. These facts, conjoined with the extent of the Belgic conquest, evince that those exiles had been a band of robbers; who, after Ireland had become somewhat settled, were, like the Picts among their more civilized countrymen, the Britons, found troublesome to their neighbours. Exclusive of the fact, that the Belge in Gaul and Britain had acquired the first military character, the foreign history of Ireland, from its commencement to the 12th century, is that of Goths; which renders the supposition of their expulsion from Ireland highly improbable. Beside, our national manners and customs were Gothic ; and their prevalence proves, that the weaker were compelled to adopt those of the stronger people- They acquired the Celtic language from necessity, and consigned their own to oblivion ; because the Gaoill, on account of the fre- quent use of consonants and its harshness in utterance, would not learn it. As the Belge had used the Gaoileag, and the Gaoill acquired their manners and customs, it became difficult to discri- minate the posterity of one tribe from that of the other. It is even probable, that their descendants had, in later ages, intermixed with those of the Gaoill, and by the tie of consanguinity become one people. 61 ‘They having obtained an ascendancy over the Gaoill, we may reasonably expect from an enterprizing people, the children too of a trading family, some national improvement; but the bards assure us, that none was effected by them, and the face of Erin in the 12th century proved the. truth. of the assertion. And on reflection it could not be expected; for, while theft and robbery were not otherwise corrected than by retaliation, and the crime of murder not otherwise punished than by the Gothic law of eruic or amercement, life and property must have beet insecure, The tranquillily of the state. must also. have been. constantly inter- rupted by the ambitious; who, with very) few exceptions, were rewarded even with the sceptre, on effecting the murder of kings. As those opposite and savage tribes, while distinct, seemed des- tined never to taste the sweets of peace in any country common, to both, we may therefore conclude, that the long continued misery of Ireland was caused by the hegative circumstance of it, not having been conquered by the Romans in the time of Julius Cesar or of Agricola; but what they, unfortunately, had not done, was at length happily achieved by the posterity of the Angles, Sax- ons, and Normans, under Henry the second, and the succeeding: kings of England; who ultimately succeeded in abolishing’ those laws, manners, and customs, and in reducing this island under the wisest and best form of government. OF THE PICTS. Exclusive of Ptolemy’s tribes, this island, in ater ages, received others; among which we find the Picts, from the opposite coast, 62 seated at Magh Plagha,' in the N. part of the county Ros- common. O’Flaherty,'® on the authority of St. Adamnan’s life of St. Columba, and on that of St. Comgallus’ life of St. Patrick, assigns them that large district in the county Antrim, which in early ages was called Dalnaradia. They were denominated Cruitnigh, and their country Cruithin tuath, by the Irish. This appellation is variously defined: by some from cruintiacd, wheat, which in pronunciation is yery different from Cruztneach, a Pict. Cruit denotes indifferently a harp, violin, or hunch on the back ; and in all those significations it is pronounced alike. But, used substantively, Cruitneach has but two meanings: a Pict or a humpy man, and in the plural it also means Picts or humpy people. From this agreement, and the propensity of the Insh for nicknames, it may be inferred, that this appellation was ap- plied in derision; perhaps from the circumstance of a few de- formed persons having been seen among them. This tribe pro- bably joined in an Irish emigration to Scotland. OF THE FEINNE OR FINNLANDERS. I have already hinted at the difficulty of ascertaining whence some foreign tribes came to Ireland, and accounted for the cause. Amidst this number we may include the Feinne, or Fiann Ei- rean, whose history is involved in error and clouded with ro- mance. ‘The import of their denomination sunk gradually from its original meaning into that of the militia of Ireland; and some ages elapsed, before it attracted the notice of antiqua- rianism, when it was wildly derived from, and considered of 162, Pronounced mi plow: the verdant plain. 163. Ogyg. p. 189. emg 63 the same import with, a Phenician colony. Brazen swords, like those at the battle of Cannz, which have been found in our bogs, were only wanted to confirm the belief; as ifarms, made by foreign artists, could not be imported into a martial island, through the medium of commerce, and with the design of barter, without bringing a colony to convey them! Freed from fable, I consider those Femne a race, probably of Sclavonic extraction, propelled from the E. to the N. parts of Prussia; whence, in consequence of encroachment on_ their W. dominions, or from the report of the discovery of Erin, or from the promise of recompense, they were induced to accom- pany the Nordmans on an expedition to this mild and fertile isle. As tribes distinct from those, they were allotted, either by the in- vaders or natives, separate districts. And, in process of time, the character of assailants was changed into that of champions in the cause of Ireland, probably by peaceable demeanour and inter- marriage ; at which time the natives and they seemed to con- slitute but one people; and they were called Fianna Kirionn, perhaps to distinguish them from those of their own country. Some settled in Leinster,'!** some in the barony of Fermoy ;'°° and they were, as it appears from their former situation and achievements, a hardy and valiant race. ' Some striking facts prove they were Finnlanders. Tacitus, for mstance, calls them Fenni; the Irish Feinne. 'The former says they slept on the ground, and prepared beds for their infants and old men amidst the 164. Trans. of the R. Irish Academy, v. 1. p. 84. 165. Fearmoighe, Fermoy. Fir maighe Feine, i. e. viri campi Pheeniorum seu Pheenicum- ©’Brien’s Dict. in voce. 166. Cluv. p. 173. Szpius a Russis obsidione frustra cincta. Sunt qui 100,000 Russos ab exigua Finnorum aciec fusos tradunt. 64 interwoyen branches of trees.’ The Irish say the materials of their bedding were composed of branches of trees, moss, and green rushes ;'°° beds unmeet for Phenicians. Cluverius gives them the character of warriors; so do the Irish. The care of our coast was entrusted to their fidelity; a confidence, which, it appears, they abused.j¢9,. They spoke in a language perhaps peculiar to them- selves and the Lapplanders, and called bythe Irish bearla na bhfeine, or the tongue of the Finnlanders ; '7°- which was probably a dia- lect of the Sclavonic. Ledwich says they were reported to be skil- led in philosophy and magic, and had erected monstrous stone mo- numents named leabthacha na bhfeinne, or beds of the Finlanders ; but which OBrien affirms to be Druidical. O*Flaherty speaks of a marriage, which had taken place between an Irish king and a daughter of a king of Fumoire, Finnlaind; which denomination, he says, then comprehended all the inhabitants of Scandinavia.*” A northern Jatitude, their mode of living, and a military education, inspired those Finnish rovers with a martial spirit, to which we are chiefly indebted for that beautiful poem called the Ossian of Mac- pherson: and, granting all due merit to that genius, which has arranged, connected, and embellished, detached and desultory pieces, Erin may claim an humble share of praise, as the principal theatre, upon which those celebrated actors trod ; and probably, as the maternal parent of the hero of this poem, as well as of those effusions, which became the ground work of the composition. 167. C. Corn. Tac. de nioribus Germ. 1. 6. Victui herba, vestitni pelles, cubile humus. —— Nec aliud infantibus ferarum imbriumque suffugium, quam ut in aliquo ramorum nexu conte- gantur. Huc redeunt juvenes, hoc senum receptaculum, 168. O'Brien's Dict. 169. Hanmer, p. 52. 170. O’Brien. 171. Ogyg. p. 303. 65 In this poem, Ossian is said to have been born A. D. 282, or a little later; but, as in fragments discovered in the High-lands of Scotland by the industry of the Rev. Mr. Young,'’?: compared with some in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, the name of St. Patrick is often introduced, he could not have been long’ existent before the 5th century; and, if those Feinne, of whom Ossian was general, were Nordmans, as most writers affirm, or accompanied by them, as I believe, this event could not have occurred before the Sth century. Consequently those detached pieces, ascribed to Ossian, were probably the composition of the 9th or 10th century, or even of a later time. It has been said, that the name of St. Patrick is an Irish interpolation ; but it is more likely, that the word culdee has been foisted in by Mr. Mac Pherson, to give the poem an air of antiquity ; and that the word Erin,'’* which frequently occurs, was industriously expunged, and Almhuwin, the residence of Ossian in Leinster, changed into Albin,!”* with a view of claiming this hero as a native of Scotland. Thus it appears, that national vanity, at the expense of truth, lays claim to heroic and virtuous deeds; when, without apparent hazard of detection, the record may be stolen from the obscurity of time. The names of Oisin, Fionn mac Cumhail, and Oscar, are im- mortalized on, and some transferred to, a few of our bleakest mountains ; and the cause is assigned in Irish verse; through which VOL. XIII. K 172, Trans. of the Royal Irish Academy, V. 1. p. 49. 173. I. 65. Ciod e fath de thuruis do dh’ Eirion? For what cause have you come to Ire- land? This question is changed into, ‘ Ciod é fath do thuruis do’n tir?’ For what cause have you come to this country?———A mbhaithibh Fiann Eirion, the noble Fians of Ireland, is changed into, ‘ O’r maithibh is or mor uaislibh,’ the nobles and great chieftains. 174. Trans. of the R. Irish Acad. v. 1. under the head of ‘ Ancient Gaelic poems, &c,’ ~ 66 medium the names of those chiefs have been handed down from father to son, and are as familiar to the most uncultivated Irish ear as the commonest Christian names. OF LETTERS IN IRELAND. Bishop Stillingfleet informs us, through Gildas, who is reckoned the most ancient and authentic British writer, that the gospel was received in Britain before the defeat of its inhabitants by Suetonius Paulinus,’ which occurred A. D. 61. and he supposes that Lucius, King of part of Britain, had been baptized by Elvanus, Medwinus, Foganus, or Duvianus, about the year 187. 17° Tt ap- pears from Tacitus,’ that, about the former year, Agricola in- duced the sons of the principal British chiefs to apply themselves to literature. ; ; Tertullian, who is supposed to be the most ancient Latin father, speaking, about the beginning of the 3d centrury, against the Jews, says, ‘ that territories of the Britons, inaccessible to the Roman arms, had embraced christianity.”!7* By this assertion, Ireland is imagined to be meant, and this supposition is confirmed by other wri- ters. Archbishop Usher informs us, that, in the time of the em- peror Constantine, about the year 329, there were four bishops in Ireland, Ailbeus, Declanus, Ibarus, and Kiaranus, who drew many into the evangelical net.!’* On the other hand, Prosper 175. Histor, Collect. up to the Norman conquest, p. 110. 176. Exdem, p. 198, 177. J. Agric. vita, 21. 178. Johan, Lomeieri de bibliothecis, p. 149. and Archb. Parker, p. 1. Lloyd’s Br. and Ir, p. 57. 179. Hist. Collect. p.-170. 67 says, that Ireland, or the country of the Scots, was a barbarous island in the year 397 ;'8°- and, in 429, he introduces Palladius as the first bishop, primus episcopus, who was sent hither by Pope Celestine, to preach ‘ to those believing in Christ’ :!** but. .Probus, in his life of St. Patrick, affirms, that those wild savages, immites & fert homines, would not receive his doctrine ;'**- on which account, after a short visit, Palladius passed over to the country of the Picts, where he died. Jocelin gives a similar account. , We may hence infer, that, neither religion nor literature had made any: remarkable impression on the Irish before the con- clusion of the 5th century :'** and, from the-circumstance of the Britons relapsing into Heathenism on the arrival of the Saxons; we may draw a similar inference with regard to them; and believe, with Mr. Astle, that writing was very little practised by the Britons before the coming of St. Augustine, A. D. 596.'** The state of property, in those days, fluctuated between sae and fear; between strength and weakness; and that of life seemed equally insecure, insomuch that a certain erutc or fine was thought, as I have before observed, a sufficient atonement for murder. Un- Kk 2 180. Eadem, p. 145. 181. Exdem, p. 173, et Epitome Annalium Cardinalis Baronii a Spondano, p. 625—cum alioqui ipsam Sestiam jam a tempore Victoris papa & martyris, evangelium ex parte accepisse plerique consentiant.’ 182. Lloyd’s Brit. & Ir. p. 57. 183. This inference is supported by a curious ancient Irish document, the style and lan- guage of which seem to announce it as authentic. From this we learn, that Laoghaire, the son of Neill, having, in the year 457, been taken in a battle fought against the inhabitants of Leinster, swore by the sun and wind, that, during his life, he would never again demand the tribute for cows. The history continues to inform us, that this toparch, having violated his oath, was, in consequence, killed by the sun and wind. Annals of the Four Mastevs. 184. Orig. & Prog. of writing, p. 96. 68 der those circumstances, there would be no reward, among a_ bar- barous people, for instruction ; no incentive to learn before the ar- rival of Christian pastors, whose chief protection, in a heathenish island, would depend on their speedy success in making converts ; and this success, in a great measure, on exciting their surprise at the power of a few letters in becoming the repository of our ideas; and in being understood by all, to whom the secret of deciphering or reading should be communicated. The early introduction of Christianity and letters into Britain, together with the intercourse between these islands, render the above history of the Irish church highly credible. As tuition is an inseparable attendant, we may also believe, that letters were brought hither at an early period from Britain, and most probably by the clergy of that island; who, from their knowledge of the British language, were best qualified and most disposed to perform the office of instructors. This opinion is also evinced by the num- ber of Trish letters nearly corresponding with that of the old Roman alphabet ; by the substitution of other letters for Q, V, W, X, Y, Z,'** which are omitted in both alphabets ; and, still more forcibly, by the agreement in power of those substituted letters with the old Roman ones'** The present British-Saxon figure of 185. Q. X. Y. Z. were used in Britain after the arrival of St. Augustine, A. D. 596. 186. By the ancient Romans C was used for G. By the ancient Irish CC Dee cece ont D for Ue F In all Irish words, derived from 2 commutable. Latin words beginning with V, Vv F is used for V. In those purely Irish, Bh are used for V. C V(pronounced likeC) forQ. By the Irish, . . . C. No J. ——— No J. P and B commutable P and B commutable. H often omitted. H used only as an aspirate. C § used for X. And sometimes by the Irish. 69 Irish characters is comparatively modern, because the Normands destroyed both our churches and ancient MSS. in the 9th century ;1°7- but, by the criteria of their number and power, the antiquity of former ones is clearly deduced. And history confirms the assertion. We had seminaries of education established in different parts. of this island at an early era.!*** One was founded, in the 6th century, at Rosailithre, now Ross Carbury ;!%° when the British-Roman alphabet must have differed from that called the present Sax- on.'*°—From the paucity of Irish characters. two- inferences may be deduced: 1. that, at the time of their introduction, no more were known in the sister isle; whence they unquestionably were’ borrowed. 2. That the zra of their introduction was prior to that: of G, H, U, into Britain, and probably after. © was sub- stituted in place of K by the Romans; but. before the. letters X, Y, Z, were known in Britain.—It is- not improbable, that. ‘ the number of believers, who fled from. the- Dioclesian - per- - secution, about the beginning of the 4th. century, might have brought letters with them, and taught the Irish. the knowledge 187. Veter. Epist. Hibern: Sylloge Jacob. Usserii, Preefatio: ‘ Tametsi Norwagienses gras- satores nono post Christum seculo, duce Turgesio, insulam hanc per annos 30 occupantes, ec- clesias feré omnes atque libros incendio consumpserint, &c.’ 188. Hist. Monastique d’Irlande par L. A. Alemand,p. 2. ‘ Pour ne parler donc ici que de ce quil y a de plus certain, j’observeray que le quatriéme siecle a non seulement va naitre en Irlande de grands Saints presque tous moines, dont les plus considerables ont esté sans doutes Saint Diarmit & Saint Liberius, qui. ont rendu le lac de Rée, qui est au milieu de I’Irlande, recommandable par les deux premieres Abbayes qui ont paru dans ce royaume.’ 189. Dr. Hanmer says, ‘ St. Brendan, bishop of Kerry, read publickly the liberal sciences in Rossai Lithry, now Ros-Karbry.’ He died at Clonfert, May. 16th.577. Nicolson’s Ir. His. Lib. Sir Jas. Ware’s chronological catalogue of Irish authors, from about the year 450 to his own time, contains about 200 names. 190. Hickes says that the present Anglo-Saxon elements are a more. modern compound of Latin letters. Gr. An, Sax. p. 2. 70 and use. of them.’ That they had letters before they became general in Britain may be evidently inferred from the following facts. that the Cornish had 21 letters exclusive of double ones, and the Armoricans all the letters of the French or English al- phabets, except W and Y. Prior to the intercourse of the Romans wiih the Celtz, the extent of their understanding seemed limited to a degree scarcely credible. The mental powers of the wild Indians were perhaps more comprehensive. The most uncivilized of these had names for numbers and understood decimal arithmetic. The former, on the other hand, seemed incapable of enumerating their herds, flocks or armies; and it would also appear, that the lapse of time into minutes and hours, and that of days into weeks and months, passed almost unnoticed. ‘The same source, whence the Roman letters were received, seems also to have supplied all the Celtic tribes with the novel ideas of numbers, their use, and also of the division of time. These inferences are deducible from the Celtic names, which are derivatives from the Roman ones; not the latter from the former, as some etymologists would persuade us; for, as the earliest history of the Celta is the history of savages, instruction could not be communicated by ignorance. The opin- ion originated chiefly from the apparent absurdity of supposing those Celtic tribes so uninformed as facts evince. With the excep- tion of those words derived from the Latin, and a few others, which happen to have a resemblance in sound and sense, of which the greater part are found in one dialect only, and some in two, no lan- guages can be more distinct. If they approached as nearly as the Greek in resemblance to the Russian, which nevertheless is not a 191. The antiq. of Irel. p. 107. 71 derivative from the latter, the only merit, which would be conceded by those etymologists to Roman greatness, they would ascribe to a dogmatical Celtic descent! As Lhuyd’s comparative etymology is a scarce book, the curious reader will pardon the following extracts ; from which he may judge of the extrarodinary abundance of derivatives in each of those Celtic dialects on the subjects of our enquiry. NUMBERS. British. Cornish. Armoric. Trish. Scotch. A A Unus, Yn, ynig, ihyn. Urjnyn. Yunan, Aon, ke, ynar, achd, koir. Duo. Day, doy, duy. Deau. Dou, diou, Do, dis, beit, koraid, kupla. Tres. Tri. Tre, tair. Tri. Tri, teora. Quatuor. Peduar. Padzhar. Pevar. Keathra, cele thri. Quinque. - Pymp. Pemp. Pemp. Kuig, koig. Sex. Chuéch. Huih. Huech, She, seishear. Septem. Saith. Seith. Seith. Sheachd, moir- ; A A seisear. Octo. Uyth. Eath. Eith. Ocht, Novem. ‘Nau. Nau. Nao. Nyi. Decem. Dég. Dég. Dék. Deich. A Undecim. _ Ynardhég. Idnak. Yunek. Yn-deg, Yn ar *1 = 10. 1+ 10. 1 + 10. J = 10. dheik. 1== 10. 1 +106, Duodecim. Omitted. Tredecim. Tri ar dhég. Tardhak. Tredhak. Tridéak. 3 + 10. 3 = 10. 3 == 10. 3 == 10. Quatuordecim. Peduarardhég. Pazuardhak. Pevardhek. §_Keathair deag. 4 = 10. 4 = 10. 4 = 10. 4 == 10. 4 = 10. Quindecim. Pymtheg. Pemdhak. Pemdhek, Kuig-deag. _ Koig-dieg. 5 = 10. . 5 => 10. 5 == 10. 5 +> 10. 5 + 10, 5 = 10. A : Sedecim. Yn ar bymtheg. Huettag. Chuedhek. Shedék. 6 = 10. 1 = 15. 6 = 10. 6 = 10. 6 + 10- Septendecim. Day ar bym- Seitag. Seitek. Sheachd deag. 7 = 10. theg. 7 = 10. 7 ++ 10. 7 => 10. 2+- 15. Octodecim. Daynau. Eitag. Trihuech. Ochtdéag,. 8 =. 10. 2x9. 8 == 10. 3 x 6. SZ 10: * Ihave chosen this sign =~ to denote addition, in preference to the algebraical mark + ; as that of multiplication x , often occurring in the same word,so nearly resembles the former. Novyendecim. Gi 10. Viginti. Triginta. _ Quadraginta, Quinquaginta. Sexaginta. Septuaginta. Octoginta. Nonaginta. Centum. Januarius. Februarius. Mars. British. Peduar ar bym theg. 4 2 1S Ygen, ygeint. Deg ar hygen, 10 = 20. Deygen. 2x 20. Dég a dey- zen; hanner- ant. 10 = 2 x 20. Tri ygzan. 3 x 20. Dég a thri igen. ‘10 == 3 x 20. Peduar ygen. 4 x 20. Nau dég. “9 x 10. Dég a phe- duar ygain. 10 += 4X 20.. Kant, 72 Corntsh Igans. Deg uar ni- gans. 10 ++ 20. Duganz. 2x 20. Hunter. Kanz. Trei iganz. 3 .X 20. Trei iganz a dég. 3X 20 == 10. Padzhar igans. 4 x 20. Padzhar iganz ha dég. 4 x 20 <= 10. Kanz, THE MONTHS. “Mis Tonaur, y maruvis, y mis dy. Mis Chuevror. Maurth, Dyu y thyvel, kad, bruydr,ymladh, the God of war; also taken for war or battle itself. Genvar. Huevral, cor- rupted into Huerval. Armortc. Nanteg. 9 10, Igent. Trigont. Hanter kant. Tri ygent. 3.x, 20: Dek ha tri yant. 10 + 3 X 20. Pevar ygent. 4 xX 20. y gent. Dég ha pevar 10 ++ 4x - Kant. ‘Guenver. Cheveurer. Meyrs, Brisel. Trish. Nye deg. 9° 10; Fichid. Deich & fi- chid. Diech ar ‘ichid. 10=-2010++20 Keathracha, Keathrachad. Ky gaid, Deik agus dyi- ichid. 10 = 20 x 20. Sheashgad, sheashga, tri fi- chid. 3 x 20. Deich & tri fi- chid, 10 = 3 X 20. Ochtvodha, keithre fichid. 4 x 20. Nochadh, no- cha, Deichagus keithre fichid. 10+ 4 x 20. Kéd, Kead, Keantr. Ginvair. Feavra, fyili: { Mart. 78 British. Cornish. Armoric. Trish, Aprilis. Ebrilh. Miz ebral. Ebrel, Aibrean, Maius. Mis Mai. Méz mé. Méz Me. Mai. Junius. Mis Mehevin. Mizephan. Mezeven. Mi Ghiuine, mi meodhair hav- raidh, oigmi. Julius. Mis gorphen- Miz gorephan. Guezre. Boymé, mi bo nay. voye. Augustus. Aust. East. Eost. Ogust. September. Mis medi. Méz guednga- Guengolo. Seicht vi, mar la. ata an fovair. October. Mis hydrev. Miz hedra. Guhere, Oicht vi, an mi Hedhre. i deireannact d’avradh. November. Mis tachuedh> Miz diu. Mis diu. Nyi vi, an keid KK vi do gheivre- i mis dy kyn adh. nadolig. December. Rhagvyr. Mis kevardhiu. Kerdiu. Deichvis;: mi meodhainan - gheivridh. To show the difference between .primitive and those derivative de- nominations, I shall cite, in the words of Verstegan, the Saxon names for these months; from which the reader-will also perceive the - affinity to the English language. January, Wolf-monat ; because wolves are then more dangerous, owing to the inclemency of the season. February, Sprout-kele; because in this month the Kile-wurt, or. cole-wurt, their chief pot-herb, began to sprout. March, Lenct-monat ; length moneth, because the days did then :- first begin in length to exceed the nights. April, Oster-monat; because winds in this month blow chiefly from the ost or east. May, Tri-milki; because they milked their kine three times in the day. VOL, XIII. L 74 June, Weyd-monat ; because their beasts then did weyd or feed in the meadows. July, Heu or hey-monat ; hay month. August, Arn-monat; more rightly, barn-monat; because they then filled their barnes with corn. September, Erst-monat ; or barley month. October, Wyn-monat; because in this month they got wines from foreign countries. November, Wint-monat; wind month, when sea-faring men usually shrowded themselves at home, (notwithstanding the little- nesse of their then used voyages,) untill the blustering March had bidden them well to fare. December, Winter-monat ; but, after the Saxons received Chris- tianity, they termed it Heligh-monat, or holy month. * Some of the Germans, in their several provinces, did somewhat vary from the others, in some of these moneths appellations ; and our ancestors came in time to imitate from the French the names by us now -used.’ ‘The numeral characters used by the Irish are Roman and Arabic, and consequently derived from the Britons. The continued change of place to bualies, and consequent un- settled state of the lower orders; their ignorance of the Latin language, which was anciently the only medium of instruction in Irish seminaries ; their barbarity in the early and middle ages, conjoined with idleness and other vices; are adverse to the opi- nion of education having been ever general in Ireland. The greater part of Ireland having been peopled before the arrival of the Romans in Britain, we cannot suppose they were distinguished by any higher degree of mental attainment than the \ 75 people of the countries, whence they emigrated, :had_ possessed. The same manners, customs, religion, dress, trade, money, arts, arms, maritime vessels, mode of warfare, architecture, state of agriculture, judicature, medicine, and education, which charac- terized the Gauls and Britons, were introduced into this island by the transplanted children of those nations. The manners and customs of the Irish may therefore be regarded as a tolerably accurate copy of the exemplar, which their British progenitors had set before them; and consequently this part of our early history is to be sought for in the works of foreign writers. Here, owing to an inconsiderable commerce ; to an insulated situation ; a nominally elective, but really an usurped monarchy ;!9% laws incompetent and feebly executed ; frequent domestic war 3,5. a want of education and of morality; the arts continued many ages in the same state, in which the first settlers had introduced them: without change, without improvement; and, not excepting the round towers, which, I believe, were constructed by the Danes, and aptly termed by Barry Cambrensis, ‘ turres ecclesiasticz,’ we had no buildings of stone, before the time of Henry the Second, to equal even the Gothic pointed arch. The few bridges were of the most simple contrivance ; and of the public roads, which were for the most part few in number, and those ill planned, none was good. The market towns were in general wretchedly poor, not numerous, and were situated at inconvenient distances. From the L2 192. See the history of Irish kings in Keating, O'Flaherty, &c. 193. The fate of their kings evinces the turbulence of those times: O’Flaherty, p. 420, informs us that, of 136 Pagan kings, 100 died by the sword, and only 17 met with a natural death. 76 extent of forests and of uncultivated land, we may infer, that commerce was at a low ebb; agriculture ill understood and neg- lected ; and the population thin and poor. Their payments were chiefly in kind; 1%* the materials for food seem to have been scanty and savage ;'° the feeble and relaxed state of govern- ment encouraged the extortion of a variety of unjust imposts,!%* some of which are supposed to have been introduced by the English. From this picture, which Iveland presented in the 12th century, we may infer a similarity of features, and even a more barbarous complexion, in earlier ages. Laws enacted, even so late as the 17th century, for the civilization of the Irish, are such 194. Campion, p. 28, so late as the 16th century, informs us, that ‘ they exchange by commutation of wares for the most part, and have utterly no coyne stirring in any great lord’s houses,’ 195. Antig. Hib. Cap. 22. Among the herbs used as articles of food were wood-sorrel, oxalis acetosella, trefoil, trifolium pratense, scurvy grass, cochlearia officinalis, and water-cress, sisymbrium nasturtium. Campion, P. 25, says: ‘ their kyne they let blood, which, growen to a jelly, they bake and overspread with butter, and so eat in it lumps.” And Spencer, P, 99.—Perhaps the custom is not wholly disused ; for an acquaintance of mine informs me, that, his cows having been driven°to a pound, in the parish of Domhnach mor, about 30 years ago, he found the pound-keeper’s family employed in frying their blood ; and, on complaining of the act, they averred in excuse, that the extraction of it would tend to fatten them, 196. These are termed by Sir J. Ware, Bonaght, Sorchen, Coshery, Cuddy, Shragh, and Mart; to which Sir Richard Cox adds, ‘ Cutting or South, Dowgello, Kernety, Musterown, which are thus expounded: \. Budnacht mhor, free quarter at discretion. 2. Buénacht bheag, a portion of meat and drink, beside money for the maintenance of soldiers. 3. Sraithin, diminution of ‘Sraith, a charge for the Gallow-glasses; meat and drink once in the fortnight. 4. Coisir, a temporary living upon a party. 5. Cuid oidhche, supper; or an equivalent in honey, aqua vitz, or money. 6. Sraith, a yearly rent in money. 17 as would be naturally expected for the improvement of any bar- barous country.'°” There were in Ireland, as in Britain, four orders of people be- side the sovereign and petly kings or toparchs: viz. the knights, the fear uasal, uchelwyr of the Britons, free tenants, and the slaves, servi, who were either the captives of war, or persons procured by money, or the exchange of goods. 'The last, denominated. vil- leins, were, in the barbarous Latin of those days, called. Firma- ri and Betagi, words coined in imitation of the Irish Firmecirigh and Biadhthalugh, farmers and. victuallers. The duty of the Fir- marii was to cultivate land for their lords in fee. The Betagii seemed to have belonged to this class, and were called native vil- leins. They were more particularly employed in the slaughter of cattle, and in providing the king’s household and army with pro- vision. Both were considered the property of their masters, by whom they were legally as disposable as cattle or corn. They were required to perform the drudgery of husbandry, and te exe- 7. Mart, or Boroimhe; a yearly rent in beef. 8. Cot, and Scuit, a tax on extraordinary occasions, imposed by the Belge or Nordmans. 9, Dubh-ghiall, black rent ; a contribution for the keeping of dogs and huntsmen. 10. Ceatharneach, a tax of 3s. 4d. or 4 shillings the ploughland, to maintain the lord’s kerne. 11. Mustruin, a charge of money and victuals for workmen, who built for the lord of the soil. Beside other taxes, mentioned by Sir R, Cox, which I do not tinderstand, I find two, which come under the head of eruic ; a fine levyed for rape, felony, or murder, viz. 1. Ca’in, the king’s amercement. 2. Gairtighe, literally the lamentation or wo of the house. ‘ The fine paid to a son for the murder of his father was rated at 7 cumhals or 2] kine.’—Hist. of Irel. by Thos. Leland, D. D. vol. 1. p. 35. 197. An act was passed in the 11th year of Charles I. against plowing by the tayle, and pulling the wool off living sheep, instead of clipping or shearing them, 78 cute the most menial offices. Those mean employments were, ac- cording to Ware and Ma Geoghegan, deemed a sufficient reason for exclusion from military offices; but it seems more probable, that the necessity of pursuing such, especially during war, pre- cluded the possibility of engaging in other pursuits. The superior orders possessed slaves, and these, according to their employments or circumstances connected with the loss of li- berty, seem to have been subdivided into several varieties: otier- wise it would be difficult to account for the multiplied denomi- nations, by which this rank of persons was designated in the Irish language.!°° Jealousy, ambition, and revenge, acted, from the remotest era of our history, like so many secret springs, whose perennial direc- tion silently led to the troubled fountain of war; which produced an abundant supply of captive slaves. From this low and degrad- ed system of servitude, those vices incident to slavery must be considered as inseparable; and it seems, that, in every age, even down to the present time, a coincidence of causes has conspired to transmit them in hereditary suecession. On the other hand, we should not omit to notice, from the catalogue of virtues, their hospitality and good nature; for which they have at all times been eminently conspicuous. ‘ The same rights of supremacy, which were possessed by the king over the royal peasants, were equally enjoyed by the Uchel- wyr over his own.”!°? The nativi liberi, or the common people, who, as in Gaul and Britain, were considered pene servorum loco, 198. I find the word slave expressed by 15 or 16 Irish names, as modh, déorara, Trail. Drugaire, &c. 199. Hist, of Mane, v. 1. p. 352. 79 rented lands, according to Spencer, ‘ from yeare to yeare, and some as long as they list themselfes.°° ‘Those, who held under kings or toparchs, were bound to provide them, at stated times, with food and lodging; according to the tenour of the tax called Coisir.°'. The tenants of knights, and of those who held in fee,2°2 were four times in the year, according to Ware, obnoxious to that called Sraithin; but once in the forthnight, according to Sir R. Cox. The knight, squire, or éasal mor, and tenants, obeyed the summons of war. The last were divided into clans, called after the names of their chiefs; and each acknowledged the authority of its proper lord.?°* 200. View of the state of Irel. p. 133. ; 201. Sir R. Cox, p. 183, has given us two remarkable laconic notes written by two Irish chiefs. < In 1491, O'Neal wrote to Hugh Roe O’Donel, demanding chief rent; ‘ Cuir cha- cham mo chois, nu mana ccoirir ;) send me my rent, or, if you do not ——. To which O’Do- nel answered; ‘ Nil aon chios agad orm, agas da mbeadh’ —— ; I owe you no rent, and if I did.” ——. Antiq. Hib. cap. 13. 202. Antiq. Hib. cap. 13. 203. Hist. of Manch. v. 1. p. 351, &c. 204, Dp: 274. « ' . ESSAY ON THE NATURE, AND SYMBOLICAL CHARACTER, OF THE -CHERUBIM OF THE JEWISH TABERNACLE. BY H. J. MONCK MASON, ESQ. L.L.D. AND M.R.IA. Read, Jan. 26, 1815. HAVING observed, from the example of Science, that it is gene- rally desirable in an abstruse inquiry, first to propose the subject of discussion, I shall do so shortly here. It is my intention in the following pages to endeavour to demonstrate, that the Cherubim, in their simple and more obvious use, were a consecrated banner of the Israelites: and that, as symbols, they were not only types of the family of Judah, but of the entire redeemed body of the faith- ful of the Christian church ; and, in these allegorical senses, col- lateral emblems with, and similar to, some of the zodiacal signs. I shall also in this paper lay the foundation of proof, and even proceed as far as its limits will allow in the demonstration, that VOL. XIII. M 82 these symbols were, both of them, parts of an hieroglyphical re- cord of the primeval promise of the Redemption. In order that I may unfold, in a satisfactory manner, my con- jectures upon this dark but interesting subject, it is requisite that I should dwell shortly upon the origin and antiquity of armorial devices ; and trace them to that period, when, used as distinctions merely personal, they were the symbols of the character, or the memorials of the actions of individuals, or bore some other alle- gorical meaning, through which they acquired veneration, in some cases amounting even to worship. I pass over the history of gentilitial* or family arms, and that custom among the Romans, the “ Jus imaginum,”’+ in some res- pects so similar to Heraldic institutions, that it serves to illustrate their growth; and shall but observe, that there are very many expressions in the classical writers of Rome and of Greece, from which it might appear, that they were not altogether unknown in the age which formed the subject of their works, or at least in that period during which the writers flourished. In a tragedy of Seneca, Hippolytust is known to have been of the family of Acton, by the insignia of that race ; and Ovid supposes Aigeus to have recognised his son Theseus, by the devices engraven upon the hilt of his sword, which are expressly called, “ signa sui * The ordinances regulating the first public tournament, holden in the year 938, demonstrate their existence long previous to that date. See Goldastus Constit. Imper. p. 212. + Mr. Kennett asserts this to have been “ much the same thing as a right to bear a coat of arms among us;” (Rom. Antiq. p. 99.) but there was no such external resemblance ; although the right, confined to the great, and hereditary in every branch of the family. doubtless assisted the change by which armorial bearings became gentilitial from personal, and was probably the origin of adorning the funerals of illustrious persons with the escut- cheons of their ancestors, } A.3. 83 generis.”* But a passage of Euripides, a poet far more antient, approaches still nearer to the description of a modern gentilitial atchievement ; in it a leader is described as bearing in the midst of his shield, not merely an individual distinction, or a national emblem, but his family device ; TO rig xuveye Tagdevomaios exyovos "Eaionw oixiov eyav tv psow colnet. It is foreign from my present purpose to follow these autho- rities farther. It is obvious that the use of family arms grew out of the practice of bearing devices as the insignia of individuals, but at no fixed point of time. A gradual and imperceptible growth is of the very essence of custom; and, as the peculiarities of modern Heraldry are of different dates, the art also established itself by degress. We meet with notices yet earlier in sacred history, of armorial emblems having been continued to be borne by the descendants of those whom they first distinguished; such are “the ensignst of their father’s house,” which formed the standards of the several tribes of Israel: but, as these tribes were numerous states, as well as descendants each from the common individual who first as- sumed the device, these bearings were as much ethnical as gen- tilitial. I may therefore pass to the consideration of national emblems. mM 2 * Metam. Lib. VII. See also Hneid VII. 657, where Aventinus is described as bear- ing upon his shield “ insigne paternum,” the “ centum angues, cinctamque serpentibus Hydram” of his ancestor Hercules; and, Bryant’s Mythology, v. 1. p, 488, &c. + Phoen. lin. 1112. $ Exod. I. 52. and IL. 2. 84 The practice of bearing national devices displayed, in painting, sculpture, ore mbroidery, upon the * military standard of the state, is one of the earliest and most universal customs of mankind. We may collect, from the classical authors, from the historians and antiquarians of more barbarous states, and from the sacred wri- tings, more particularly from the frequent allusions to it with which the prophecies abound, the general prevalence and antiquity of the custom. The early accounts which we possess of the Eyyp- tians and of the Israelites enable us to trace its origin with sufti- cient certainty. We are informed by Diodorus Siculus,> that the first race of Egyptians, unable, on account of the confusion of their bands, to resist’ the onsets of their enemies, placed the fi- gures of beasts upon the spears of their leaders, and, by means of the order thus obtained, succeeded in discomfiting their anta- gonists.—The arrangement for the march of the returning Israel- ites was thus ordained by the Deity ; “ Every man of the children “of Israel shall pitch by his own standard, with the ensign of their “ father’s house.” It appears then, that the practice arose in the manifest necessity of having some bond of union with each leader, some mark by which his adherents might be enabled “ to follow “him+ on to victory, or, in case of a rout, to rally about his * Cities were frequently in antient times distinguished by their emblems; Bryant’s My- thol. 2. 288. For the use of them in ships, see Acts of the Apostles 28, 11. Potter's Antiq. of Greece 2. 129. Ovid, Paris Helene v. 114; and Trist. Lib. 1. El. 9, Argonaut. Lib. 1. v. 201; and the first chorus of Iphig. in Aulide. The fable of Europa was an allegory of the following history: The vessel which bore the maid was dedicated to Jupiter, and ornamented with the device of a bull; hence she was poetically feigned to have been forcibly carried over the seas by the deity in the shape of that animal.—Potter ubi sup. + Lib. 1. + Carte’s Life of Ormonde, preface. 85 “ person:” it is also plain, that national standards had their com- mencement, like gentilitial heraldry, in devices attached to in- dividuals ;* who, in the first instance, were the primitive leaders of a tribe, or the patriarchal ancestors of a nation; as, in the other, they were the first distinguished heads of a particular fa- mily. * The use of armorial distinctions, as personal insignia in the field, was subsequently very general. See Plin. Nat. Hist. 35. 3.; Juv. 11.106. Sil. Ital. Punic. a. 5. v. 78, and many other authorities quoted by Edmondson, &c, See also Herodotus, Clio, 172, &c. Accordingly we find that the warriors of antiquity were often known to each other, although sheathed in armour, and unacquainted with each other’s countenances or forms’: Hom. Il. 6. v. 110, &c. but this right was at all times the privilege of rank, or the distinction of merit, (Sueton. in vita Aug. & Dio. 51. 458.) Thus Amphiaraus, in the Tragedy of *Erra ix} @reasc, declines to assume a mark of honour so esteemed); and, desiring to Je, not seem the best, he bore his shield plain, 2 onyii Zxwv tGeicuty’ or * significantia arrogantiam,” as Barnes translates it, (schyl. & Eurip. Phen. 1. 1117-8.) Alexander the Great is said to have rewarded the attachment and fortitude of his followers by an armorial emblem, as a memorial (Edmondson’s preface) ; and it was the common practice of chivalry, as well as of earlier days, for a warrior to wear his armour plain, until he had atchieved a device by some great exploit. (Don Quix. c. 2.p.1.b. 1. and Hom. Il, 10. v. 259, &c.) Itis cu- rious to observe, that names were not given by the antient Britons to their sons, until they had performed some signal action, (Henry’s England b. 1, 4.57.) It appears then that these distinctions were always estimated highly, by the warriors of all times, as well as of the age of chivalry. The insignia mentioned by Virgil to have been borne upon the shields of the Grecian soldiers, and which cnabled the Trojans who slew them to escape from the ruins of their burning city, by changing arms with the deceased, could only have been the common em- blem of their leader, or of their nation : indeed a personal mark for each individual soldier could have been accomplished by the use of letters alone; and we find that, at the precise time when Virgil flourished, the names of individuals were first written on their shields, by the order of Augustus, (See Vegetius de Re milit. b. 2. c. 18, and Virg. in. 2.339.) The Spartans who invaded Messenia in the year before Christ 682, under the command of -their poet and general Tyrtzus,’ used written billets, by which they hoped to be recognised after death, in case their features shouldbe disfigured in the conflict ; but these were not armorial. (Gast’s Greece v.'1. p. 213.) Mottoes were in use previous to the Trojan war: Agamemnon offered to Jupiter Olympus a shield inscribed with one, and with a device of a lion. 86 ‘The veneration attached to national ensigns was in most empires excessive. To pass by later instances of the Danish Raven, the Ro- man Eagle, and others ; among the nations with whom this inquiry is most concerned, the Egyptians and the Jews, it amounted to ado- ration. So great was the devotion paid by the former to the figures which formed the bond of their military union, that, as Diodorus Siculus tells us, it had led several of the writers of his age into the false opinion of its having been the origin of animal worship: with respect to the latter, I shall hereafter prove, that the golden calf of Horeb was set up, by the Israelites, at once as their standard and their God. The common source* from whence these Talismans principally derived their magical power, was their allegorical na- ture: from the commencement of their use to the present day, they have been either the memorials of such virtues in their original bearers as were most esteemed ; the emblems of such characters, or the records of such exploits, as gave to primitive Heroes and Patriarchs their rank of Deities in the Pagan world; or, finally, they perhaps contained a mystical allusion, deeply connected with religious mystery, or popular superstition. Had alphabetical writing been invented when the use of military ensigns first became necessary, the name of a chieftain, or some inscription, appropriate to the circumstances of the band, might have preceded or prevented the adoption of emblems; but, long before the discovery of that art, new tribes were compelled to the use of this general bond; and the mark chosen was the represen- * The wearing of the skins of beasts in battle, whether from necessity, or to strike a panic by the terrific appearance of their heads, could not have been, as has been conjectured, the ori- gin of armorial devices: (Plutarch in vit. Marii. and Virg, En. VII. 666.) this cause is quite inadequate to account for the worship of such emblems. 87 tation of some simple object, whose image would naturally associ- ate with their leader, or their cause.—It was sufficient to acquire for these devices respect, that, assumed as they were at periods the most important in the history of the state, they became the first in the train of grateful association which led to the remembrance of signal events ; events, too, most frequently connected with the rever- ence attached to a common patriarchal ancestor, to whose cha- racter, or religious doctrines, those signs bore frequent allu- sion. This respect was naturally increased to veneration, when the mist of tradition, which magnified exploits remote in the distance of antiquity, rendered objects of a nature more subtle and refined entirely indistinct. In fine, when the pure religion of the sons of Noah degenerated into Idolatry, the same grossness of mind which transferred worship from an only God to the images by which his attributes were expressed, gave adoration to emblems thus com- bined with so many recollections that were almost sacred. Heathen priestcraft did not neglect their use ; and hence itis, that military devices form no inconsiderable proportion of the vocabulary of hie- roglyphic.t' I shall now proceed to shew their connexion with the immediate subject of this tract. + With regard to the assistance which the study of armorial bearings may afford towards the illustration of history, I may perhaps be indulged in a few remarks. Lord Bacon informs us, (de sapientia veterum,) that the Grecian allegory of Perseus and Medusa inculcates the advantages of circumspection and alertness in war ; and, that the terrific head of the latter, placed upon her conqueror’s shield, enforces this lesson, that ‘ one great action happily atchieved « is the best means of restraining and preventing the attacks of our enemies.”-—We have seen before, in the Fable of Europa, an instance,—while the expedition of the golden fleece, the allegorical symbol of the Hydra of Hercules, and many more, afford us other examples,—that armorial devices are the records of events, and the types of character.—As, therefore, they frequently occur among the newly discovered remains of antient art, they should be well under- 88 The Cherubim of the tabernacle, like every thing connected with the Jewish ceremonial, possessed.a twofold character; the one simple and positive, the other typical, and extending itself to a re- lation with circumstances considerably affecting the general interests of the human race: of each of these in their order; and _ first shortly, of the positive nature of this figure. The names of Cherub and of Cherubim, (the Hebrew plural,) stood. I shall refer to the devices from the valuable collection of antiquarian relics which belonged to the late Sir William Hamilton, for an obvious illustration of this truth; and, par- ticularly to one example of exceeding high antiquity, where the entire story of the nocturnal expedition of Diomede and Ulysses, and their characters, are elucidated by the symbols which are borne upon their shields. (V. 3. p. 103.)—Modern heraldry has ever been, and still is used, as an additional record of the greatest events; and even bearings the most un- meaning in appearance, the pales, cheverons, &c. commemorate the champion of the tourna- ment to have been the founder of the family. But of the modern art I shall be content to remark, that one part of its language bears a connexion so remarkable with original hiero- glyphic, that I cannot think it merely accidental: the various colours used in armoury, when applied to the bearings of Princes, are named from the sun, moon, and planets, by which in antient hieroglyphic such persons were symbolized. It is scarcely necessary to observe the indispensable assistance which armorial representations have aflorded towards the construction of prophecy, whose language, which Bishop Porteus calls ‘‘a speaking hieroglyphic,” is re- plete with such symbols. he right understanding of these is requisite, also, to the illustra- tion of many allusions throughout the entire of the sacred volume. I cannot dismiss this subject without the mention of one instance, which is particularly re- markable, of the utility of heralcic emblems jn the illustration of important subjects. The princes of modern Europe have frequently assumed peculiar devices ; that which the vanity of Louis X{V. led him to adopt, as emblematical of his character, was the sun, with the motto, ‘nec pluribus impar.” (Burnet Hist. of his own times, v. 2. p. 268. fol. Edit.) Fleming, in his discourse of “ The rise and fall of the Papacy,” (Ed. 1701, in 12mo, p.68.) Supposes this device to be alluded to in the Apocalypse; and, relying upon this construction, predicts the downfal of the French Monarchy, ascertaining the very year of this event, and announcing its probable occurrence, above 70 years before it took place. See further, upon the uses of this study for these purposes, Maurice’s Hist. of Teelostas, and Observations on the ruins of Babylon, &c.—Particularly pages 96 and 211 of the latter. ae 89 eccur’ in many parts of the sacred writings: with different mean- ings, as far as concerns their simple character, but with significa- tions much more similar, when considered as types. They are a denomination of a part of the celestial host, the guardians * of the entrance to Eden, and mere ornaments of “ cunning + work :” the singular cherub signifies an ox, or a calf; and, in this sense, + is applied in Ezekiel to describe one of the parts of the com- pound cherubim : in the same prophet || the Prince of Tyrus, who is a type of Adam, is called the covering cherub ; and, lastly, there are the cherubim of Ezekiel’s § vision, which are admitted by all the commentators, and indeed declared by the prophet him- self, to have exhibited, in their appearance, the resemblance of those of the tabernacle. These were figures compounded of the ap- VOL. XIII. N * Gen. 3. 24. + Exod. 26. 31. 96. 8 and 31.1 Kings, 6 and 7. passim. 2 Chron. 3.14. Ezek. 41. 18. These’ornaments are differently described in several of these texts. t Ezek. 10.14. The singular word always signifies a part of the compound, but is not al- ways confined to mean one single image. See Exod. 25, 18, &c. || Ezek. 28. 13. § chaps. 1 and 10 passim. In verses 15 and 22, of the 10th Chapter, Ezekiel de- clares them to be the same. See Mede’s works, fol: 1677. page 437, &c. and Grotius agrees with Mede. See also Faber’s orig. of Pag. Idol. V. 3. 605. This latter writer has not said sufficient of the cherubim; and upon this subject Calmet is unsatisfactory, and Parkhurst, as I shall easily demonstrate, mistaken, The writer of the 152d. fragment of Calmet was not however far from the truth, when, in commenting on this figure, he says, that « the emblems of antiquity” had references similar to those which, “ whoever had paid “any attention to the study of Heraldry, as practised among us,” may have “ observed in ‘the arms of some of our families:” and, it is worthy of remark by the way, that the spread eagle of the German standard took its rise in the combination of two eagles captured from the legions of Lollius and Varro, which had been destroyed by the ancestors of that people. (Sueton. in vit. Augus,c. 23.) This union was somewhat analegous to that of the Isvaelitish national emblem —other texts mentioning cherubim are Num. 7.89. 1 Sam. 4-4-2 Sam. 6. 2—1 Kings 6. 23—2 Chron. 3. 10. Ps, 80. 1 (and elsewhere. in these and the Prophets,) and Heb. 9. 5. 90 pearances of a man, a lion, an eagle, and an ox*; such was the ' tradition of the Rabbins, and such they are admitted to have been bY Sir Isaac Newton} and by others: in fine, they are so described, in that vision of Ezekiel, which he “ knew to be the Cherubim.” In speaking hereafter of the symbolical character of this mystical figure, I shall note the erroneous opinion of Parkhurst and some eminent men, concerning its meaning as a type. I shall now con- fine myself to demonstrate that it was, in its simple use, a conse- crated standard of the Israelites, carried in the midst of their army, as the center of their march, the rallying point of their movements, and emblem of their union. The arrangement for the journey of the Hebrews is thus formed by the Deity himself. “ Every mant of the children of Israel « shall pitch by his own standard, with the ensign of their father’s “house; far off about the Tabernacle of the congregation shall “they pitch :” the command proceeds to combine the tribes into four grand divisions, three tribes to each of these; and disposes the four principal tribes, under which they are thus arranged, at the four distinct sides of the tabernacle ; to which, placed in the cen- ter, the entire disposition refers. Upon it rested the cloud of smoke and pillar of fire which gave the|| signal for their journeys, and * The order for their construction is in Exod. 25.18, &c. and ch, 37. 7. see also Chron. 3. 13, &c. Ishall not here consider it necessary to reconcile such apparent variations in the several texts which relate to the cherubim, or which I shall quote in this tract, as are unimportant to the object of the inquiry + The authority of Sir I, Newton isto men of science next to demonstration—for it is well known that “on the ground of doubt he never ventured a positive affirmation.” Chalmer’s Discourses, p. 85. See therefore his work on the Apocalypse Ed. Lond, 1753 in 4to. p. 259, and Mede ub. sup. see also p. 96 of thistract. + Num. 2.2, and 1. 52, j| Exod. 40. 34. &c, 91 conducted their march ;—within it were the Cherubim, stretching “ forth their wings on high, covering the mercy-seat,” from whence the “ Lorp or Hosts” condescended to “ commune” with Moses the instrument of his commands. And these Cherubim, com- pounded of the four devices which were borne upon the standards of the leading tribes, formed as I conceive, the civil and military em- blem of the combined state. I have shewn the importance which was attached in all antient communities to their national standards; I shall here add an in- stance, which bears a considerable analogy to, and illustrates, the subject before us. Quintus Curtius § mentions it “ to have been an ‘immemorial custom among the Persians, for the army never to. * march before the rising of the sun ; and, that a golden image of “his orb was then displayed in the front of the King’s pavilion.” Several texts from the sacred writings demonstrate, that the Jews, as well as other nations, possessed an equal reverence for such en- signs. Moses, upon the defeat of Amalek by Joshua, “ built an * altar, and called it Jehovah-Nissi,” that is, the Lord my banner ; David says of the Deity,* “ Thou hast given a banner to them that feared thee,” and again,|| “ In the name of God we set up our ban- ners? in fine the prophet Isaiah employs the term in a manner yet more striking ;* “and in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall “ stand for an ensign of the people :” to explain these texts more fully here, would be to anticipate the latter part of this tract ; it N2 4, Exod. 25. 22. § See Maurice on the ruins of Babylon, &c. p. 71. T-Exod. 17. 15. * Ps. 60. 4—See also Is. 13.2—18. 3-30, 17-62, 10—and Jerem. 50, 2—51.12 & 17 &e. {| Ps. 20. 5—See also Cantic, 6, 4, * Tsaiah 11. 10. 92 is sufficient for the present to remark, that the scriptures abound with reference to kingdoms and empires by their ensigns, as their best known types, and that the Israelites joined with other nations in the popular attachment to their military banners. They had deeply imbibed Egyptian manners and sentiments ; and, as each of the Jewish tribes was also a separate family, there was yet more reason that they should each of them revere the antient “ ensign ‘of their father’s house ;” while, connected as they were by their descent, the choice of God, and their misfortunes, into one single and independent state, they had doubtless a common emblem of military union. As this people had not yet “ set * up their banners for tokens,” or given to them that adoration, which they afterwards did, the reverence with which they were regarded was still far re- moved from devotion. The Deity, therefore, who established the Jewish ceremonial to be, as far as was possible, conformable to the usages of the people, preserved the use of the national standard + for the community, as he did the “ ensigns of their father’s house” for each tribe, to serve as a necessary bond. But it was, concealed from the public eye ; perhaps, lest the gross intellect of a stubborn multitude might be tempted to give it worship, on account of its as- * Psalm 74. 4. + Agreeable to this is the common language of scripture: besides that there seems to be throughout the entire of the 1st book of Sam. c. 4. a kind of military importance belonging to the ark, which we feel to be somewhat different from the consequence attached to it upon higher grounds: whenever the Deity is mentioned in combination with the Cherubim of the Taber- nacle, he is the “ Lord of Hosts,” the captain of his chosen people. See particularly the chapter above alluded to, and also 2 Sam. 6. Pl. 80th and 99th, and Is, 63. We should not here forget the following expression which he uses to his people, when he speaks of their deliverance from Egypt; “I bare you upon eagle’s wings, and brought you to myself,”, Exod. 19. 4, and similar elsewhere. See hereafter Bishop Horsley’s construction of Exod. 25. v. 13, 14 and 15. 93 sociations with the escape from Egyptian bondage, and other mi- raculous deliverances of fresh occurrence, and of great importance. to the national prosperity, as well as glory. That this standard was the compound figure of the Cherubim, appears from its construction, and its position; that it had long been used, is plain from this, that in the order for the formation of that which was to be placed in the ark, it is not described as a novel invention *, but referred to as already well known by its name. It was therefore, as I con- jecture, the already existing national standard of the Israelites at the period of which we speak. And the history of the idolatry of the rebellious Hebrews serves very much to strengthen this opinion : during the absence of Moses, who had acquired a powerful influence over their minds, they are tempted to despise the denunciation of the second commandment ; and, quitting both their devotion to Him “ who brought them out of the land of Egypt,” and their reverence for an emblem which He had sanctified, but hid- den from their sensual perception, they apply to Aaron in these words, “ Up,f make us Gods to go before us’—some visible substance adapted to our gross intellect. They accordingly set up at once, for their God and their leader, their idol and their standard, the golden image of a calf. With an inconsistency natural to the vulgar multitude, while “ they { turned back “again in their hearts into Egypt,” and are “ polluted with her “idols,” and copy her standard-worship, their theme of praise to the object of their adoration, is, “ these§ be thy Gods, O Israel, * Of this opinion is Faber, + Exod. 30. 1. t Ezek: 23. 30. § Exod: 32. 4 and 8. 94 “ which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt;” and they ehoose for this object, a part of the emblem which they desert: preferring the image of a calf, because it was that which predo- minated in the sacred compound,* and which bore the name in the singular that belonged to it. Were there any doubt, that, in forming it, they had the Cherubim in view, it will be re- moyed by referring to the History of Jeroboam’s Idolatry. This prince, to prevent his people from going “ up+ to sacrifice in the «“ house of the Lord at Jerusalem,” “ made two calves of gold” (each a substitute for one of the two compound symbols of the Cherubim ;) “ and said unto them, behold thy Gods, O Israel, « which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt:” a similar language, and used upon a similar occasion, to that of the rebellion in Horeb. The calves of Jeroboam were plainly then substitutes for the Cherubim, as was also the calf above mentioned. This conversion is further evident from the language of the Psalms, when speaking of the degenerate Israelites—“ they{ turned their glory,” (“the Cherubim of glory o’ershadowing the mercy-seat,” as they are called by St. Paul, the glory that “ departed from Israel,§ “when the ark of the Lord was taken,”). as is said in Samuel, “into the similitude of a calf that eateth hay.” I have asserted that the figure thus copied from the Cherubim was set up as a standard; this, which seems probable from the mode of relating * The feet of the Cherubim were those of an ox or calf. + 1 Kings 12, 2and 28. Also several texts of Hos. chaps. § and 10. + Ps. 106. 20. 1| Heb: 9, 5. § 1 Sam: 4.22. See also Ez. 9. 3—45, 4, and Hos. 10. 4. q An ox in the Bible translation. Faber says, that the formf Baal was a bull, Grig, of Pag. Idol. V. 1, p. 434. 95 these facts, is rendered yet more so by another passage in the Psalms,* wherein it is said of the enemies of the Lord, “ they ** set up their banners for tokens ;” or, in the Bible version, “ their © ensigns for signs”—in the style of Egyptian grossness: and this brings me to a remarkable coincidence whieh tends to enforce my conjecture. ‘The names Cherubim and Seraphim, united together in the nomenclature of the heavenly host, had both of them, di- rectly or in their roots, + the signification of oxen; and were both of them, in this sense, the names of Jewish and of Egyptian idols: as, therefore, the people of Egypt bore upon their standards the images of animals that were the object of their devotion, + it is plaiu that the worship of the Cherub or ox, as set up for the banner of the chosen people, was the manner in which “ they turned “ back again into Egypt in their hearts ;”§ and that, as they parti- ally copied from the sacred emblem, its resemblance and its name, they applied to the copy its obvious use—to lead them as a mili- tary standard. Since many further demonstrations of the truth of this conjec- ture will follow from the next inquiry that I shall institute con- cerning this figure, I shall proceed to examine into its typical cha- racter ; first slightly noticmg some coincidences with my opinion, to be drawn from the comments and traditions of the Rabbins and others. We find in Exodus, that twelve stones were “ graven with the * Ps. 74. 4. + The meaning of Ser-Apis is disputed. Apis was unquestionably a bull; Bryant goes near 4o give the same meaning to Serapis. See Mythol, v. 2, 248. —~ Diod. Sic. ubi sup. § Acts, 7: 39, &c. 06 * names of the children of Israel, and put upon the shoulder of * the Ephod ;” and the same number were set upon the pectoral of the High Priest, graven also “every * one with his name, “according to the twelve tribes.” The several colours of these gems were, agreeable to the Rabbinical + tradition, the same as formed the ground of the several ensigns of the tribes; the name of each tribe being engrayen upon a stone of a corresponding colour. This is a coincidence not to be neglected; it shews how much the Jewish ritual was connected with military emblem ; it proves that something of this latter kind formed the hieroglyphic of each tribe ; and gives strength to the conjecture, that an armo- rial compound of military devices formed the sacred symbol of the combined state. With regard to more modern commentators, I shall observe two slight coincidences with mine, in collateral opinions of Mede, and Bishop Horsley. The first, in mentioning how Rabbinical tradi- tiont confirmed, that the faces of the Cherubim of the tabernacle were those which Ezekiel describes, adds this signification of the entire hieroglyphic, that upon these the Deity was borne, as Lord of the four cohorts of the Israelitish hosts—“« Quemadmodum, enim, “ Principum Quadrige dominorum suorum fulgent insignibus; ita “ hic Cherubim, signis Jehovee, Regis Tetrarchiorum Israelis.” The following remarks of Bishop Horsley § go yet farther to prove a * Exod, 39. 10. + Univ. Hist. v. 1. pages 547 &c. $~ For these see Mede ubi sup. and the note in Wetstein’s Gr, Testament v. 2. 766. to Revel. 4, 7. for much curious matter from the Rabbins upon this subject, to which 1 shall hereafter refer. § On Hos. 11. 6. 97 military character in this emblem, and its adjuncts: the word which has been translated staves, * by which the ark was car- ried, has created some dispute; it is rendered “ vectes,” and is said to be figurative of the great men of the state: Grotius ob- serves, “ Vectes rect¢é vocantur, qui armis rempublicam sustentant;” and with this thought some Rabbins agree, for, as the Bishop adds, the original “ is properly a military word:” I proceed to consider the typical character of the Cherubim. The law of the Jews, which was + “ rather a public and solemn “ declaration of allegiance to the true God, in opposition to the “ Gentile idolatries, than a pure and spiritual obedience in moral “and religious matiers, which was reserved for that more “perfect system appointed to succeed in due time, when the “state of mankind would admit,” had, as St. Paul + expresses it, “ashadow of good things to come ;” and, to suit the character of establishments progressively advancing towards higher degrees VOL. XIII. ° * Exod, 25. v. 13, 14, and 15. + Magee on Atonement, v. 1. p- 591. } See Heb. 16. 1. on which Grotius comments thus, ‘ Lex vetus dupliciter spectatur; aut “carnaliter, aut spiritualiter. Carnaliter qua instrumentum fuit zorsrecs reipublicee Judaicee ; “ spiritualiter, qua cxsy axe Tw peAdovrwy.” It may not be unimportant here to observe shortly, how agreeable to the nature of man was this emblematical mode of communicating with his chosen people, which was adopted by the Deity; which, even in the pure preaching of Christianity, was in some degree continued by our Saviour, in his beautiful parables.—Lan- guage itself in its original composition is often a kind of oral hieroglyphic, and compound ideas are frequently expressed by the modified names of simple ideas, with which the abstract one will readily associate. To instance this remark : the English word ‘“ ruminate,” signifies “< to chew the cud? and also to bring into use, from the memory, knowledge already re- ceived. Thus is this latter very abstract idea expressed by the name of a striking analogy in simple nature. The oriental languages abound with more and stronger examples. 98 of perfection, to the nature of uncultivated mankind, the en- tire of its ceremonial possessed a symbolical character, and it was only perfect as a type of institutions which were yet to exist. The Cherubim, therefore, were allegorical as the rest; and bore a double typical allusion; the one sufficiently obvious, the other more deeply concealed. They were, in the first place, an em- blem or hieroglyphic of the people of Israel. The arguments which I have adduced, the authority of Sir Isaac Newton,* Mede,, and others, agreeing with the Rabbinical traditions, will per- haps establish this fact; but if these will not suffice, it will acquire proof in the sequel; wherein I shall endeavour to ascertain the second and important antitype of the Cherubim. ‘To this I shall proceed, after having shortly noticed one common but erroneous interpretation of this sacred figure, which is deserving of notice, because it is adopted by such men as Hutchinson, and Parkhurst. This figure has been conjectured to be an emblem of the Tri- nity}: but this supposition is liable to objections entirely unsur- mountable. Besides that, throughout all the various descriptions of Cherub and Cherubim, we find no triple union; some being single, others double, but none the “ tria juncta in uno”---an ob- jection which has required much sophistry to attempt to remove, but in vain—it is quite decisive against it, that in the Revelations, + where this compound image is confessedly alluded to, it is said to have fallen down and worshipped “ God that sat upon the tbrone:” the same is also said of it in Ezekiel. It could not * See the works of Sir Isaac Newton, and of Mede, and Wetstein, as quoted aboye. + See Parkhurst’s Dictionary, at the word ‘ Cherub. + Chap. 5, 8. and 19. 4, 99 therefore have been an emblem. of the Trinity, unless we admit of the absurdity of supposing the Godhead to have adored itself, Again, we are led by this conjecture into a similar contradiction with relation to- the Cherubim of the tabernacle, between which the Deity was said to dwell, and where even his presence existed, visible, and independent of these signs altogether. But further still, had the Cherubim been an emblem of the Trinity, it had been a direct and positive infringement of the second command- ment to have constructed it—a graven image of the Deity, such as is expressly forbidden, § and could not therefore have been or- dained by. him. I think that the figure of the Cherubim, placed as it was in con- nexion with the Shechinah in the Tabernacle, was a type of the great body. of the redeemed of the human race within the church of Christ ; as the entire pilgrimage seems to be typical of mankind struggling through the temptations and misfortunes of the world, but assisted by the divine grace, in its efforts to attain the enjoy- ment of promised happiness. It will further appear that this sym- bol, together with the other devices of the tribes, and the Zodia= cal signs, were copied one. from the other, or instituted together, to serve, among other purposes, as collateral emblems of the same future congregation under the Christian dispensation. The Cherubim are acknowledged to have been a symbol of the family of Judah; and we know that the blessings which were conferred upon that family, and the promisses given to it, were not confined to it alone. The benediction bestowed upon Abraham is 02 § I find that Mr. Faber rests much upon this latter’ argument, in combating Parkhurst’s epinion—See his book aboye quoted. V. 1. p. 427. 100 in these comprehensive words, “ In thee* shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” It is then unquestionable that all the em- blems which connect the descendants of this Patriarch with, the promise of redemption, bear an extended reference to mankind. I do not think it necessary to detail the several texts of both Testaments which speak of the Tabernacle, the Temple, and the Church of Christ, as being im scriptural allusion the same. These texts so fully justify the opinion, which rests also upon the authority of Sir { Isaac Newton, and the principal commentators, that I may consider it as proved; and quote only such of them as will elucidate the remainder of this discussion. ||St. Paul, ad- dressing the Corinthian Christians, tells them, “ Ye are the tem- “ ple of the living God,” a church, as he afterwards expresses it, §“ built upon the foundation of the Apostles and the Pro- “ phets ;’ the allusion which is contained in this latter text is afterwards more fully illustrated by St. John,] where those found- * Gen. 12. 3. See also Gen. 18. 18—22. 18 and 26. 4. Ps. 72.17. Acts 3. 25. Gal. 3. 8, &e. + Rev. 21. 3. See also Rey. 7. 15, which Mr. Faber remarks should be construed, “ shall dwell asin a tabernacle among them.” Heb. 3. 6. Is. ch. 54 passim, and c, 4. v. 5. and 6. Levit. 26.11 and12. Ezek. 37. 26, &c. and frequently in the Epistles. $ See his work quoted above, p. 259, &c. See also Faber, V. 3. p. 634. 2. Com6. 16: § Ephes. 2. 20. This analogy has so strongly impressed the minds of the primitive Chris- tians, that they usually designate the four Evangelists, as the leading Apostles, by the em- blems of the Lion, the Ox, the Eagle, and a Man, the devices of the four principal tribes. This practice is coeval with the existence of the earliest MSS. and, although strained, de. monstrates clearly the conceptions of primitive Christians and the Fathers of the church: it also coincides with whatever of Rabbinical tradition can be reconciled with a Christian creed. I call this practice a strained symbolification ; for St Mark and St. Luke are but the repre- sentatives of St. Peter and St. Paul, which latter besides was not one of the twelve. 4 Revel. chap. 21 throughout, 10k ations of the church are said to be of twelve precious stones, which had “ in them the names of the twelve Apostles of the «“ Lamb.” Let us here remember the gems of the pectoral and of the Ephod, and their inscriptions; and observe the double connexion of type and antitype which exists, in the deseription of the Christian church, throughout this chapter of the Apoca- lypse. “ The names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel” are written upon its gates, and also upon the precious stones of the garments; those of the Apostles upon the analogous gems which form its foundations. A text* in Ezekiel, where we have again au allusion to the precious stones, combined also with another view of the Cherub, calls the former “ stones of fire,’ and leads us therefore to seek in the Heavens some kindred emblems to the Cherubim. It will not be irrelevant to preface this part of the subject, by re- calling to the recollection of my learned auditors, the traces which are to be found, in every Heathen mythology, of a revelation of the promise having been once universally understood. It was, indeed, originally recorded by unnumbered typical memorials, which the roughness of barbarous idolatry has never been able entirely to de- face. But to dwell fully upon this important subject is far be- yond my limits ;+ I shall therefore confine myself to a few circum- * Ezek, 28. 13—and 43. 7. + See an incomparable work, called “ L’Antiquité devoilée au moyen de la Genese,”” Barrett's Origin of the Constellations, Faber's Origin of Pagan Idolatry, and Maurice’s His. tory of Indostan, p. 334,&c. The first of these works shortly deduces idolatry from the pure source of the “Culte Primitit” thus—* Afin d’en perpetuer le souvenir, ilgla peignirent sous «« des emblémes différens, au defaut de l’écriture alphabetique : consacrés par un respect re- « ligieux, ces emblemes devinrent une source d’erreur. D'abord l'ideé de la chose figurée “ saltera peu-a-peu dans Vesprit des hommes charnels & grossiers, puis elle se confondit 102 stances which will suffice to point out some of these traces in the mythology of the people, from whom the Israelites* imbibed their early tendency to idolatry. Tt has been justly observed that} “ all the priests of antiquity “‘ had two sets of religious doctrines and opinions, which were “ very different from one another ;” a circumstance which by its general prevalence suffices to demonstrate, that all mythologies had originally in them something above the vulgar creed, “ adapted to “‘ the capacities and superstitious humours of the people.” Plu- tarch asserts thus of the Egyptian Fables, and one of the most beautiful of them will corroborate the assertion. I allude to the allegory of Cupid and Psyche, and the emblems connected with it.§ No customs are preserved so long unchanged as those which relate to the burial of the dead, and we may, therefore, expect / ‘* totalement avec l’embleme.” p. 52: and again, in its reviewer, ‘‘ D’ou il resulte que toutes ‘“‘ ces theogonies ne sont, a proprement parler, q’une ecriture symbolique; & Vidolatrie “ cette ecriture mal entendue.” (p. 206, at the end of the work.) For the origin of the ora- cle of Dodona, see Herodotus, Ed.1551. p. 175. This oracle “ etoit le centre de Druidisme,” (Antig. Dev.)—For the worship of the Druids, connected with the subject of this note, see Henry’s England, v. 1. p. 97, 100, &c. ; * The Egyptians had so corrupted the Israelites, and the influence of their superstitions had spread so rapidly to infect the only remnant of pure religion upon earth, that it was found necessary to denounce image worship, by an express and written command; and it affords much probability to the conjecture, that alphabetical writing was first revealed to mankind in the decalogue, that the first notice we have of its existence is a document which commands the total disuse of hieroglyphical images of the Deity, the purposes of which writing alone could supply. + Henry’s England, V. 1. C. 2. Sect. 1. § There is, in Norden’s travels, (V. 1. plate 58.) the representation of a very curious piece of sculpture of the most remote antiquity, which he found in Egypt; it is impossible not to acknowledge it to be a delineation of the History of the Fall of Man, and to represent Adam and Eve, and the tree of knowledge. > 103 io discover, in the funeral rites of nations, the strongest. remaining traces of a religion originally purer, had any such been received, Existing therefore, as they do, in the Egyptian ceremonies, we acknowledge at once their origin. Their mummies were swathed in imitation of the Chrysalis, to whose torpid state of existence they considered. death to be *analogous, as they compared the life of man upon earth to that of the caterpillar or grub. The mummies were preserved with the greatest care and veneration, those of princes in indestructible pyramids, that the soul, which was emblemed by the aurelia or butterfly, might safely emerge from them, in process of time, to glory and to immortality. This fine allegory gave rise to the story of Cupid and Psyche, or the reunion of Cupid—Egos, or divine love—with uy, the soul of man : and, as this deity was of a character far less terrestrial than the Cupid of more modern paganism, so is the story in which he thus appears, but little contaminated by the channel through which it flowed from the second parent of mankind. Psyche having, through the temptation of curiosity, broken the commandment of Egos, falls from her state of innocence, and is deprived of the en- joyment of his visible presence ; assisted, however, by his unseen influence, through the temptations and misfortunes which were the unavoidable and threatened result of her disobedience, she is at length restored to that celestial union which had been pro- mised to her repentance. But to approach nearer to our subject; even the gross animal worship of the Egyptians was of nobler descent, and “ -was, ac~ * Bryant's Mythol. V. 2. p. 385, &c. + Brit. Review, No. 17. Art. 6. (104 “ cording to Lucian and other writers, connected with the wor- « ship of those depicted in the starry spheres.’’” ‘The adoration of the bull Apis* arose in its having been a type of a cycle which bore a reference to the revolutions of both sun and moon, to both which luminaries it was therefore sacred. I need not dwell upon the connexion between the planet Mercury and Thoth, and such like, but I cannot omit the fact, so important here, that the fable of the twelve} labours of Hercules was invented to bear an allusion to the passage of the sun through the twelve signs of the Zodiac. And here, before we proceed, it will not be amiss and may be required, since the present existing division of the Zodiacal belt into constellations has been mentioned as being the model of a fable so antient, to demonstrate its antiquity also. It is ac- knowledged that the celestial sphere is indebted to the Greeks for very little more than a new }nomenclature to some of the constellations, and a new fable connected therewith; we must ascend far higher for its invention. Besides the allusions, of Ho. mer|| and Hesiod, to the Pleiades and other assemblages of stars, the latter§ describes the Zodiac as the crown of Pandora. He- rodotus says, that the Egyptian priests claimed the invention of this belt. Constellations are named or alluded to in the sacred writings, in Job, @ in Isaiah, the Psalms, and elsewhere ; and the * Savary’s Letters, L. 61. + See Barrett’s Orig. of Constellations, p. 166, &c. and Gebelin, t Maurice on Ruins of Babylon, p. 79. Barrett, &c. &c. || See Barrett, C. 2, and throughout, and Maurice, p. 42, &c. § Theog. 580. q Job 9. v. 8 and 9.—Is. 13. 10, and 40. 22.—Ps, 147.4, &c.—2. Esd, 2. 6. 105 Zodiac in Genesis,* Job, and Ezekiel; of which more hereafter. The discovery of its delineation in the temples of the upper {Egypt gives it an acknowledged existence of above 4000 years from the present, and traces as antient have been discovered in Hindostan.||_ Since, therefore, people so remote ds the Hindoos, the Jews, and the Egyptians; people too so long disjoined from a common stock, and, what is yet more material, of religious creeds so different and irreconcileable, possessed remnants of this great hieroglyphic so similar, as almost to be the same ; we -must con- clude that it is of an antiquity coeval with the time of their first separation. But to proceed, a remarkable part of the beautiful history of Joseph enables us to connect the Zodiacal signs with the family of Judah. I allude to his dream, which it will be necessary here minutely to examine. Joseph is related to have addressed his brethren thus,§ “ Behold, I have dreamed a dream; and behold, “ the sun and moon, and the eleven stars made obeisance to “ me:” the jealousy with which they hear this narration is so great, that it afterwards tempted them to resolve almost unani- mously, to put the dreamer, although he was their brother, to death ;—a jealousy which proved, that there was something in the vision which was prophetic of disaster to themselves, and VOL. XIII. P * C. 37. 9. + C. 22. 14. + Denon’s Travels, and Brit. Rev. No. 17. p. 146. || Maurice’s Hist. of Hind. and also his Ruins of Bab. p. 76.212, &c. Barret. Faber, Asiatic Res. V. 2. xxvii. Antiq. Devoilée, & Brit. Rev. ubi supra. § Gen. 37. 9, &c. 106 which they all at once understood. When the dream is re- lated to Jacob, this Patriarch, with equal promptitude, perceives the allusion: “ what is this dream that thou hast dreamed,” he impatiently exclaims; “shall I, thy mother, and thy brethren, “ indeed come to bow to thee tothe earth?” or, in other words, is our subjection thus clearly designated by signs which we can- not mistake ; signs so intelligible, that “his father observed the * saying,’ while, equally perceiving their manifest import, “ his ‘“‘ brethren envied him.” From these texts it appears unquestionable, that the figures which represented the twelve divisions of the Sun’s celestial course, bore, in those days, an acknowledged re- ference to the sons of *Judah: and, further, it seems probable that the connexion was yet more antient, and that it was com- bined with revelations deeply affecting the family of Israel, and consequently the human race, or it would not be thus particu- larly recorded. The zodiacal signs appear, from this part of Joseph’s history, te have bome a relation to him and his: brethren, and the Cherubim did so too; these hieroglyphics then bore a. relation to each other : a fact which will acquire certainty from the examination of the celebrated vision of Ezekiel. * I do not rest upon the blessing of Judah in Gen. 49. nor on that of the tribes in Deu- ter. 33, nor endeavour to reconcile the allusions in them with each other, or with the Zo- diacal signs; but it is material certainly to observe concerning these, that Judah is, in both texts, a lion; Ephraim in Deuteronomy, a bullock» (and also in Hos. 10. 11.) and Dan is, in Genesis, a serpent. In a paper in V. 5. of the Acad. des Inscrip. p. 31. where an attempt is made to explain all these matters, it is remarked, that. Reuben is a man_pour- ing out water, agreeable to the text, “‘ Unstable as Water,” &c. in Gen. 49, It is also proper to remark the abrupt transition, in Deut. v. 26, from the blessing, to the praise of the “God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon “ the Heaven, &c.” as if such a theme nate- rally followed, as connected with the allegory of that just preceding it. 107 We must assume it as conceded, that the living creatures whicli are seen by that prophet by the river of Chebar, were resemblances of the Cherubim of the tabernacle. He well knew the appear- ances of these latter; when, therefore, he exclaims at seeing the former, “ and * I knew that they were the Cherubims,” there can be no question of their mutual similitude. His description of the vision, therefore, while it paints the appearance of the Cherubim, will afford us, to a great extent, a glossary of their symbolical meaning. They are described as having the four faces of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle; in their progress “they + went every “ one straight forward, and they turned not when they went ;” their appearance was “ like burning coals, and like the appearance of «Jamps” ; and that of their wheels, “ was as it were, a wheel in “ the middle of a wheel. As for their rings they were so high, they “were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about “ them four.’ Above the firmament that “ was over their heads, “was the likeness of a throne,” and “ the likeness as the appear- “ ance of aman upon it.” It is impossible to read these sublime. passages, and not at once perceive that they contain an allegory, equally just and grand, of the starry universe. The wheels within wheels, the several appearances, the ring full of eyes, point out that the ring of glory which formed the celestial chariot could sig- nify nothing else. .The words, “ about them four,” recall us to their acknowledged similitude the Cherubim. I interpret their allu- sion thus: In like manner as the four faces of that figure, placed PQ * Ch. 10. v. 15, and 20. + Ch. 1, and 10, passim. 108 towards the four * opposite points of the compass, in correspon- dence with the positions of the tribes which they typified, formed the terrestrial chariot of the Cherubim of the ark, upon which rode the Lord of the Israelitish host; so the Deity was seated, sublime above the constellations, and principally the signs of the bull, and those others, which, corresponding with them four in their appearance, occupied the four quarterly stations in the zodiacal belt. In drawing this analogy between the 2d, the 5th, the 8th, and the 11th signs of the zodiac, and the figures which went to the composition of the Cherubim, a serious objection will occur 5 that, although we have among the signs the bull, the lion, and a man, there is nothing to correspond with the fourth face of the eagle: the following considerations, however, will not only recon- cile this variance, but afford a new proof of the hypothesis ; ope- rating thus with that double force, in its favour, which a seemingly fatal objection, converted into an argument from the other side, must necessarily possess. The fourth sign of the zodiac, of which we now speak, is the scorpion, or in some antient spheres the serpent; we shall find it proved that, in several compound figures of various mythologies, which seem plainly to be borrowed from the Cherubim of the Jews, or, together with this latter, from some source common to both, the serpent was usually a part of the compound. The god Cronus “was + adragon, which had the bestial heads of a bull and a “lion, and the human face; and whose shoulders were furnished *‘ with the golden wings of a bird ;’ and, among instances of com- * Mede ubi sup. + Faber orig. &c. v. 1. p. 430, and 450. See also Parkhurst’s Dict. on the word Cherub, 109 bination nearly similar, the sacred serpent of the Egyptians was delineated with the head of a hawk. When we combine these evidences with the antient Rabbinical tradition, that the serpent entered into the composition of the Cherubim, and the fact, that the Rabbinical mede of representing the ensign of the tribe of Dan * was an eagle bearing a serpent in his talons; if also we recollect the words of Jacob, when, speaking of that son, he said, “ Dan shall be a serpent by the way;” we must admit that our analogy is strengthened even by the objection adduced against it. The following suggestion, obligingly communicated to me by the very learned and ingenious Vice Provost +, is very important here. Nearly over the scorpion in the: celestial sphere, is the serpent ; and as it were in the meridian above it, is the constellation of the eagle— not more distant from it, than might have arisen from the arbitrary delineation of signs, which seem in their establishment so: unmean- ing, and in their confines so undefined. But still further to assist in support of this construction: of the words “ them four,” it is to be remembered, that Ezekiel speaks direetly of the throne of glory among the stars, and only by allu- sion of the Cherubim. These words, therefore, used in their positive: sense, seem directly to: designate four remarkable stars of the first magnitude, almost the only luminaries of that splendour in the zodiac ; and which, placed at about 90° from each other, and. near the ecliptic, or at least in the constellations of the belt, mark °. * This has been erroneously. depicted in Calmet’s Dictionary, as the standard of Reuben. + I have here to acknowledge many obligations to this gentleman, not only on several lite- rary occasions, but particularly in respect to this essay, in'completing which I have received important assistance, as well from verbal communications, as from his work upon the origin of. the constellations, which is replete with valuable matter. 110 particularly the four constellations of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius. * It is an analogy, although slight, yet worthy of re- mark, that the star in the Lion which is called Regulus, is named the chief of the celestial host—in like manner as the tribe of Judah, of which the Lion of the Cherubim is the type, was the chief of the tribes of Israel ; and gave birth also to that chief of the Christian church, who is called the { “ Lion of the tribe of Judah,” the root of David, our Saviour Christ. And here I shall revert to the re- markable expression of Isaiah + which I have cited before ; “ and “in that day, tuere shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for “an ensign of the people; and remark, how these two texts tend not only to strengthen each other, but my conjectures throughout— The prophecy of Isaiah refers to our Saviour, by the metaphor of an ensign ; an allusion which is fully pointed in the Apocalypse by the text just quoted—The connexion also between the figure of the Cherubim, the standard of Judah, and this reigning tribe is manifested ; a connexion which the preceding observations carry yet farther, in my opinion, to the constellation. But to follow this vision: above the firmament which was placed over the constellations, is seen the great Judge of mankind. Let us now turn to the parallel vision of St. John in the Apocalypse. In this, and in that of Ezekiel, the four beasts are described in a manner so alike—with their wings, and “ full of eyes “within,” and so on—that we at once feel, upon their intro- duction, that we “know them to be the Cherubim.” They are clearly the same allegory, and must bear the same allusion ; * These are Aldebaran, in the neck of the Bull; Regulus, or Cor-Leonis ; Antares, in the heart of the Scorpion ; and Fomalhaut, in Aquarius, in the mouth of the southern Fish. f Rev. 5. 5. + Ch. 11. 10, 111 and, therefore, while we admit those images of the Apostle’s vi- sion to represent the children of Judah, and Ezekiel’s to represent the stars, we must allow the Cherubim to be a kindred symbol with ‘the constellations, and also to bear a reference to the emblems of the tribes—and this so much the more, as the images in both visions are similarly employed, im pouring forth their hymns of praise ; the one to the Lamb of God, the other to our Saviour, in that form in which he is expected to appear as the Judge of mankind---Precisely similar to the scope of these texts, is that picture of the antient of days which we find in the prophecies of Daniel. ‘ His throne* was “ like the fiery flames, and his wheels as burning fire.” From all _ these texts, therefore, it appears manifest, that this sublime cha- riot, or throne ef God, bears that exact relation to the “ glory of “the Lord,”+ which the Cherubim in the Jewish Tabernacle did to the Shechinah, or Divine presence therein. 'To pass by seve- ral texts which abound to support this connexion, I shall parti- cularly observe upon two which oceur in the 68th Psalm. This Hymn was composed upon “ the removing of the ark. Mede|| has remarked, that St. Jerome, in his translation of the 10th verse, has expressed the words which we render thus, “ Thy “ congregation shall dwell therein,” by the following, “ animalia “tua habitabunt in ea.” Another Latin translation§ has it, “ bes- “tia tua,” and, as a conjectural second reading, “ coetus tua:” the original also signifies, “ army.” Here then we have the Israe- * Chap. 7. 9. + Ezek. 8. 23—8. 4—and 10, 18—Heb: 9. 5—2 Sam. 6.2, &e. || See Horsley on the Psalms in: loc. he says these verses “refer to-a choice of a place for «‘ the temple, and the display of the Divine glory in the sanctuary.” §, By Everard Vander Hooght. 112 litish Forces referred to, as was common in scripture, by their most appropriate sign—their military banner; which must be plainly understood to have contained “ animalia’—to have been a compound of various animal representations. But, further, the Psalm proceeds with the praises of the Lord of Hosts, and rises to the following strain,§ “ the chariots of God are twenty thou- “sand, even thousands of angels.” The word which is here translated, ‘‘ thousands of angels,” (which by the way St. Je- rome has rendered “ milleni pacificorum,” a term of dubious ap- plication, and meaning saints, rather than angels,) is shenan ;* and is formed of four letters, the initials to Hebrew words, which signify, a Bull, an Eagle, a Lion, and a Man—occurring no where else in Scripture thus compounded. Does not, then, this word seem to have been itself an hieroglyphic, used at once to express the hieroglyphic which is under our consideration, and its an- titype the company of the saints in heaven ? that “ great multi- “tude which no man could number,” which is similarly placed and occupied in the Revelations ;+ and of which we are told, in the parallel passages of Ezekiel, that “thet voice of their § V.17.. Iam indebted to the Vice Provost for some of the most important of these sug- gestions. ; * Shin, Nun, Aleph, and Nun—the initials of Shor, a bull; Neshar, an eagle; Argai, 8 lion ; and Nin, ason. +C.7.9. ¢ C. 1.3. Bishop Horsley translates the sentence in question, “‘ The Captain of the blessed is over them ;”and objects to ‘ Chariots,” mistaking, as I conceive, the metaphor, by consi- dering it too literally; Azs translation admits equally of his objections. He makes the thou- sands of angels, “ 10000 pair: “ forming thus a further analogy to the Cherubim, of which there were two compound figures. I shall here again refer to the note of Welstein quoted before, and to that on v. 11. of the same chapter. He shews the connection in Rabinnical tradition between the four animals and the angels—“ Quatuor caterye angelorum Deum *« Jaudant; la. est Michaelis a dextris ; altera Gabrielis a sinistris ; 3a, Urielis ante ipsum ; 43, ** Raphaelis post ipsum ; shechina Dei vere in medio est,” &c. 113 speech” was as “the noise of an host!§” But let us examine the context yet farther—it is said, the Lord is among these, (whe- ther angels, or saints, or cherubim,) “as in Sinai in the holy place ;” so that, were we even to suppose the above comment strained, we are here told, that the Lord sitteth upon this glo- rious chariot in the Heavens, asin the Tabernacle; a‘ compari- son yet further illustrated and extended by the expressions of St. Paul. “But* ye are come up to Mount Sion, and unto the “city of the living God, and to an innumerable company of « Angels ; to the general assembly, and church of the first born, * which are written in Heaven.” Now, when we read of the Lord riding upon a cherubim in one text, and upon the Heavens in another, and on his angels in a third; dwelling among them, and “ between them in Zion,” (which is the acknowledged type of the Church;) when we combine the glory which o’ershadowed the mercy seat, which departed from Israel with the captivity of the ark, which was converted into the similitude of a calf by the stupid Hebrews, and was the object of praise in Daniel, Eze- kiel, Esdras, and the Revelations; we cannot but admit, that there is, that mystical connexion which I have conjectured, be- tween the subjects of these various texts. But, before I proceed to produce others to strengthen it yet more, I shall mention an example of allusion, in which another part of ‘the furniture of the Jewish temple is combined with the stars, to form kindred types of institutions in the Christian VOL. XIII. Q § See 2 Esdras 2. 42. * Heb. 12. 22—-and 2. Esdr. 2. 42. q See Ps. 18—10. 68. 4—78. 61—80. 1 and 99. 1—Is. 37. 16. 1 Sam. 4, 21 & 22, &e. Z Sam. 6. 2, &c. and several other texts appropriate here. t See also in Ezek. 9. 3, and 43. 4; and Hos. 10.4. 114 church, which also have their relations to the company of an- gels. I allude to the first vision in the Apocalypse, and the ex- planation of the} mystery of “the seven stars and the seven “ golden candlesticks”— it is thus given. “The seven stars are “the angels of the seven churches.” In a similar manner, the che- rubim of the same temple, and the emblems of the starry sphere which appeared to Ezekiel, and which bore their similitude, were types at once of the church, and of the “ milleni pacificorum” in the Heavens. The next text which I shall quote, to prove the connexion between the Cherubim and the sphere, will, while it affords {us demonstration thereof, present to us a new view of the subject. Thet 28th chapter of Ezekiel contains a denunciation against | the Prince of Tyrus, by whom, as is evident from the context, and from the 31st chapter of the same Prophet, was symbolised Adam, or mankind in general. The words are—< thou hast “been in Eden ;” “every precious stone was thy covering ;” “Thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of “ fire; “Thou art the anointed Cherub;” “and I will destroy * thee, O covering Cherub, from the midst of the stones of “ fire.’ Here we find the Cherub to be the type of fallen man, him to whom, under the same type, the divine mercy afterwards promises forgiveness of his sins; and, in these texts, we can particularly trace the connexion, which we have elsewhere sug- + Revel. 1.20—I cannot here omit the ingenious interpretation given by the learned Vice Provost to the words that we construe shew-bread—Lehim Phanim signify, literally, the bread of faces ; these he supposes to be analogous to the faces of the signs. Alluding to the sub- division of the Zodiac into 3 faces to each sign, which is well known to have been the Rab- binical division—each face had 10 deacons, 360 in all ; agreeable to the number of degrees. ¢ Particularly Ver. 15, 115 gested, between the precious stones of the new Jerusalem, and those of the Jewish ceremonial; between the sToNES oF FIRE which formed the bright ornament of the canopy of Eden, those of the Ephod, and Pectoral, and the foundations of the Church of Christ. There is in the book of Acts an entire || chapter, wherein St. Stephen abridges the history of the Jews, and uses some ex pres- sions which partially illustrate this subject. “ This is that Moses,” he exclaims, “ that was in the church in the wilderness,” or “the “ "Tabernacle of witness in the wilderness ;” from him the Israelites “in their hearts turned back again into Egypt;” and, having made to themselves idols, so offended the Deity, that he turned, and gave them “up to worship the Host of Heaven: in con- sequence of which they “ took up the Tasrrnacte of Moloch, “and the Srar of the God Remphan,”’§ and other Gods, who constituted a part of the Host of Heaven, in the double sense of Deities and of celestial luminaries. In this we see a continuation of that connexion in the minds of the Israelites, so like to the superstitions of the people whose idolatries they closely copied, between the stars, the Heavenly Host, and the Fabernacle of witness which their gross intellect could not entirely comprehend : and, itis important to add, that they might have been possibly induced to the error of setting up material objects for their praise, upon their signal deliverance from bondage—of forming a molten calf for their worship—as well by its predominance in the figure of the Cherubim, as by its being the image which designated Q2 || Chap. vii, § Seealso Amos 5. 26—1 Kings 11. 33—2 Kings 23, 16—«Jer. 19. 13.—-Zephan. 1. 5, 116 that sign of the Zodiac, in whieh the sun was at the time of || their departure from Egypt. The first part of the address of St. Stephen speaks of the “ Ta- “ bernacle of witness in the wilderness ;” and we have already seen the use which had been made of banners for tokens, and observed the meaning of the text of Isaiah,§ that “ there shall be a root “ of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people ;” and of that of the Revelations, in which our Saviour is stiled, the Lion of Judah—recollecting then the promise to the seed of David, thus expressed in the 89th Psalm, “ His seed shall endure for ever, “and his throne shall be established, as the faithful witness in - “ Heaven ;” let us conclude with shortly pointing the meaning of these allusions, and the object of this compound symbolification. I conceive that the Cherubim, connected with the Shechinah, the other parts of the Tabernacle, or Temple, and the Jewish History, particularly their pilgrimage, are types of the promise of redemption to mankind; and, that the Zodiac and the visions in the Heavens of the inspired writers, are types collateral with them, of the same great event ; but going farther, to picture the great body of the faithful placed among the celestial Host hereafter. || They quitted it on the 15th day of the first month on the morrow of the passover, Num. 33.3. This wasin April. § Ts. 11. 10; q V.35 and 36. See both the versions of our church, + I should not pass unnoticed an opinion of Mr. Holmes, (on the Revel. V. 1. p. 50.) that the four animals of the Apocalypse are emblems of qualities of the Deity: the principle of this construction is, that, ‘as these living beings were in the midst of the throne on which “ God was seated, they are something essentially belonging to his person.” But this is a pal- pable non-sequitur, and would as well prove the Cherubim to belong to the Shechinah. This conjecture is liable to all the objections which lie against Parkhurst’s, with which it is allied. It should be always remembered, that the four animals are redeemed, and cannot therefore be images of the Deity ; but rather represent, in the words of Dr. Hale, “the whole congre- “ gation of the faithful in the four quarters of the world.”—Chron, 2. 1300. 117 The truth of this conclusion may appear from many parts of this Essay; to dwell upon it here, in any manner worthy of its importance, would far. exceed my limits; and it would de- grade such a subject to treat of it lightly. My present object is, I hope, attained,.and that I have succeeded in proving an antient connexion of typical allusion, between the Cherubim and the Zodiac. It remains however for me to shew, what I commenced with asserting, that the several Cherubim of Scrip- ture, however apparently differing in description, are. far more si- milar as types, than such descriptions would seem to allow: Commentators have observed of the Cherubim of cunning work, that these in Ezekiel, which were formed of. the. combined heads of a lion and of a man, are emblems of the union of the Divinity of Christ—the lion of Judah—and of:his Manhood: while their turning towards the palm-branches, between which they are carved, is symbolical of the blessed effects of peace, which are promised to mankind as the.results this mystical union. We have before spoken.of the covering: cherub, those only, therefore, of the garden of Eden remain. There was an antient opinion concerning them, which Sir-Thomas More,+ relying on the authority of Ambrose, Origen, Lactantius, and others of the Fathers, has thus expressed— Igneos hosce Cherubinos sym- “ bolum facere alicujus status anime, que eam idoneam reddat “ ad gustandum fructus immortalitatis vite.” I might have quoted’ before a passage of Philo relating to them,} as it concludes with a hint, that, even by these cherubim, were signified the celestial + Mori op. Fol. Lond. 1679—V.3. p. 611. $ Francof. Ed. Fol, 1691. p. 111. 118 spheres. “ Quid autem per illa Cherubinos et versatilem gladium * joneum subindicetur? Quid si hie totius ceeli circumferentia “ cogitari vult?’ Mr. Faber has laboured io demonstrate, and with much success,* that the Cherubim of Paradise were placed in a tabernacle ; which, he says, is the force of the eriginal He- brew words: that “ the flaming sword which turned every way,” more properly “ a bright blaze of bickering fire,” was analogous to the Shechinah; and the Targums, he asserts, suppose, “ that “ the glory dwelt between the two cherubim at the gate of Eden, just as it rested upon the two cherubim of the temple.” The entire subject is worthy of much consideration; and the more it is reflected on, the more manifest it will appear, that in the cover- ing cherub of the holy mountain Eden, the Cherubim of the taber- nacle of mount Zion, and the exalted Cherubim of the sphere, is a triple connexion of allusion, to man before the fall, to man under the law, and to man under the effects of the Christian dispensation}. The Seraphim occur but once in the Old ‘Testament$, and they are acknowledged to be the same as are described in the Apoca- lypse||. Although commentators differ as to the antitype of these emblems, they all agree in considering them as bearing reference * V.1. 420, &e. £.To bring these Cherubim and those of the ark'to a yet closer alliance, it was the tra- dition of the Targums, that the two former were each a compound, in like manner as the, two latter; and to each compound, both of the Garden and of the Tabernacle, there was said to have been a Shechinah. § Is. 6.2. {| Among others, see Sir Isaac Newton, ubi sup. 119 to somewhat in the christian dispensation. St. Jerome* says, that the Seraph, touching the mouth of Isaiah, denoted “ Kvangelium ” and that there were two, to represent the two sacred books.~ The word “ Seraph” means “ to bur ;” a derivation that preserves the connexion with the « stones of fire,” and other kindred types, of which we have already spoken. The word Teraphim is the same as Seraphim, but in the Chal- dean dialect, and the use that is made of it in scripture, may not unaptly be compared to the literal manner in which the Chaldzans, and other heathen nations, distorted the Jewish hieroglyphic to a dialect of their own. It is translated “imaget ;” and is men- tioned with the ephod in Judges,§ and in Hosea, where it ma- nifestly appears, from the context, to have been an idol. In my opinion it was an image of the Cherubim,.converted into an object of worship, in like manner as the golden calf and the calves of ' Jeroboam had been before. We see in all these shadows the faint images of the same good. things which were yet to come. Whether these emblems of the Sphere and of the Cherubim were of antediluvian existence or not, is not within the scope of my present inquiry ; but it is my belief. * testamenti missum ad Prophetam ; * Hieron. op. Ed. Lug. Bat. 1530. V. 3. p. 121. + Same Ed. V. 4. p. 175,—' Duo Seraphim clamant adinvicem. Ita duo testamenta, fide- +¢ liter concordantia, sacratam concinent veritatem Dei.” + 1 Sam. 19. 18—and Gen. 31. 19.—It is said to have been derived from Terah, the fa- ther of Abraham, a great carver of images, (Maurice on Ruins of Babylon, &c. p. 45.) but 1 do not entirely agree with this. _ § C. 17. 5. and Hos, 3, 4. see Bishop Horsley on this text. 120 that they were revealed to Adam. It is remarkable that, when the offended Deity thought it necessary to exterminate by the de- Juge the degenerate race of mankind, the rainbow was first dis- played in the heavens— _ Distended * as the brow of God appeased— a fleeting token that justice was satisfied by a punishment which purified the earth from vice. When, therefore, the deeper taint of original sin infected the very nature of man, and demanded from infinite justice a radical cure, and God found it in his infinite mercy, he promised, as an atonement, an amply sufficient sacrifice from him- self, and recorded the glorious promise, not in transient colours, but in indelible characters of eternal light; the fulfilment of which was manifested by the extraordinary appearance of a “ star in the east.” I cannot then think it to be a forced construction upon that pas* sage‘in ‘Genesis, wherein we are told that the stars were “ for *‘ sions and for seasons,” to suppose, that the first use of those signs was to serve as the emblems—the hieroglyphical record—of a promise}, which was certainly given, and the remembrance of which was as much more important than any thing else to the happi- ness of mankind, as ‘eternity surpassed seasons ? It would be criminal here to pass unnoticed the observations of Volney, unfortunately celebrated as an antichristian philosopher, and not to shew how his very objections afford arguments ; and that, * Milton’s Paradise lost. 11. 880. + C. 1.14. Doctor Barrett quotes innumerable authorities to shew, that the opinion has very generally prevailed, that the heavens contained a hieroglyphic of futurity —It was the doctrine of a vast number of the Rabbins, of some of the Fathers, and of many modern wri- ters: Traditions among the Hindoos and other nations serve to confirm it. See Barrett Orig. of the Constel. p. 85, &c. Antiq. Dev. 124, &c. f It is not unworthy of remark, at least as a curious fact, that the significations of the names of Adam, Seth, and their descendants, in order, to Noah, contain a sketch of the fall of man, and of his redemption. See St. Jerome’s interpretations of each word. 121 in cayillmg against revelations, the stone which he has laboured up the mountain, falls back, to frustrate his weak efforts, and to crush himself. He tells us, * that the prophecies relating to the myste- rious birth of the Messiah were mere effusions of metaphorical poetry, and signify No More than “ the sun rising in the constel- “ lation of Virgo ;” the twelve apostles were mere imaginary things, meaning but the twelve signs of the zodiac; and all “ the pre- ‘« tended personages from Adam to Abraham, are mythological be- “ ings, stars, constellations,” and: so on. Such is the self-delusion of sophisticated learning. But, let us, perceiving in what this wretched arguer would: suppose to be mere arbitrary establishment, its real bearing ;—acknowledging it as the hieroglyphic of primeval prophecy, thus gloriously recorded---let us rank the extorted confession. of this connexion as a collateral proof of the truth of our general argument---such a proof of truth, as the short-sighted perversion of infidelity will ever amply afford. In putting together the foregoing coincidences,. to form a chain of circumstantial evidence concerning the allegory of this mystical emblem, I hope I have succeeded in throwing some light upon an interesting subject: if I have, the utility of this research does not rest merely in an abstract inquiry into the nature of an obsolete: custom, or the explanation of an image no longer of any conse- quence to mankind. It has aimed at nobler and more important results---to elucidate the congruity which exists, not only throughout God’s establishments, but his sacred and revealed vo- lumes---to bring Genesis, and the Apocalypse, (the books the most VOL. XIII. R * Ruins.—Ch. 22, &c. 122 combated, and the most remote in the period of composition,) te harmonize, not only with each other, but with the rest of the scriptures ; with prophecy, and with its fulfilment, with the rich ef fusions of thanksgiving in the Psalms, the cold language of nar- yation in the historical books, and the formal and accurate phrase- ology of the law---to coalesce the records of sacred history with those of profane, and beth of these with the accounts of tradition, the remnants of art, and the strong testimonies arising from the man- ners of mankind, in various times and nations---in fine, to afford an additional instance of the agreement that exists between all these authentic evidence and the Curistian Reveations. ON A VITRIFIED FORT IN THE COUNTY OF CAVAN. BY THE REV. CASAR OTWAY. Read April 28, 1817, Leixhip, Jan. 10, 1817. Dear Sir, IT beg leave through your means to announce to the Royal Irish Academy, the existence of the remains of a Vitri- fied Fort in Ireland. And, as I have reason to presume, that this: is the first and only account of a Fert of this construction in Ireland, I trust that the communication may not be thought unworthy. of the attention of. your learned society. The Vitrified Forts of Scotland, have. occupied the attention of the antiquarian and geologist, and much has been written concern- ing the cause and mode of their construction.. While some have given them a Volcanic, others with more reason have decided that they were of Human origin; but it is still undecided whether the vitrification of. their materials has depended on accident or design R 2 124 In every instance, it appears that those forts are found on emi- nences of considerable elevation, that they are of a square form, that at present very indistinct vestiges of them remain, as in general an accumulation of soil is deposited over them, and a quantity of loose stones is heaped against their sides. From accurate investigation also, it is proved that their elevation could never have been more than breast high, they bear evident marks of vitrification through- out, but in some places it is more complete than in others; in no instance however does the vitrification extend more than a foot or two from the foundation, and with the perfectly vitrified and cemented materials are always mixed stones that are only discoloured and wasted by the fire. In every respect the Irish Fort agrees with the Scotch, except that it is round instead of being square ; it is situ- ated in the county of Cavan, on the top of a lofty hill, called the hill of Shanthamom, three miles east by north of the town of Cavan ; this hill of Shanthamom rises above the surrounding hills of this very hilly country, and assumes the appearance of a moun- tain being covered with heath and bog. On its highest and central eminence is the Fort from which there is a noble view of a great part of the north west of Ireland, of Lough Erne, and of the lakes and waters connected with it. To a casual observer this fort would appear to be an almost obliterated Danish rath, (as those raths or forts are very common on the subjacent hills,) but upon closer inspection of the stones which lie adjacent, and upon raising the green sod which almost entirely covers the foundation, the stones appear as if they had all undergone the operation of Fire, masses are found vitrified and cemented together, and all the indubita- ble marks appear of what is called in Scotland a Vitrified Fort. 125 The diameter of this very curious enclosure is about thirty-four yards ; on the north side, the marks of Fire are much more evi- dent than elsewhere; on the south-west side advantage seems to have been taken of the Rock having risen from the surface and forming a perpendicular and natural breastwork of about four feet in height, and no artificial means, by vitrification, or otherwise, seem to have been used to strengthen this part of the en- closure. Formerly I have reason to believe that the Remains of this Fort were much more considerable, for I have been given to understand, that Mr. Blackwood the Proprietor of the Hill and surrounding Lands, drew away a large quantity of the mate- rials in order to form a road on the east side of the Hill. I also know that the neighbouring Gentry have carried away quantities of the vitrified masses in order to form rock work and curi- ous materials for Artificial Grottoes. Indeed to this circum- stance I owe my knowledge of this Fort. For having seen about ten years -ago at the Rev. Mr. Brougham’s, a Grotto formed of » vitrified materials, and knowing.that there was no Iron Furnace in the country, I conceived that those materials were of Volcanic origin, and after much enquiry, I ascertained and visited the place from whence they were taken, At that time being a very young man I knew nothing of the vitrified Forts of Scotland, and there- fore thought little of those remains, but having lately read Mr. M‘Culloch’s account of the Scotch Forts in the Geological Transactions, it struck me immediately, that this Fort in the County of Cavan was of the same nature, and therefore worthy of a closer investigation. Having therefore occasion to pass through the County Cavan last Summer, I took an opportunity 126 of going to the top of the Hill of Shanthamom, but was scarcely arrived at the summit when the day became so wet that I was prevented from an accurate examination of the Fort. To some other person, then I leave it, who may be more for- iunate, as to time, and circumstance, to examine this Fort more minutely. Occupied with Parochial duties, I do not pretend to, be a Geologist or an Antiquarian, nor shall I presume to offer a decided opinion as to the origin or use of this very ancient monu- ment. I shall only remark, that it is constructed. on a spot where a trench could not be dug, nor a mound thrown up, without ex- treme difficulty, as the schistose rock comes immediately to the sur- face, that it is distant four miles from any place where lime could had to cement stones in the common way, and that there was abundance of wood and bog in the immediate vicinity to supply: fuel for the purposes of vitrification. The ancient inhabitants hav- ing from experience, and from the example of their Scottish an- cestors, ascertained the vitrifiable qualities of the adjacent rocks, they therefore adopted the readiest and only means in their power to form ihe enclosure they wanted. Herewitl: I send a specimen of the stones as cemented together by vitrification, and also a piece of the rock of which the hill is composed. I have the honour to remain, Your obedient servant, CASAR OTWAY, Clerk. 127 N. B. About three hundred yards from the fort, on the north side of the hill, are five large stones placed erect, which are called by the country people, Fin M‘Coul’s Fingers, those stones are about five feetin height, would weigh about four tons each, and seem to me to be the remains of a Druidical circle. To the Rev. Doctor Sadleir. aaue on ssDaIF aon Ma 7% Tie! : ) hy bib’ v . us f pes a a + Me d a eee ‘URODA COoUl i i [reg iT Ithni ai t r act fea , & 4 iw ip’ REMARKS ON A BRASS MEDAL OF OUR SAVIOUR, FOUND IN THE FRIAR’S WALK IN THE VICINITY OF CORK, IN OCTOBER 1818 ; By HENRY J. MONCK MASON, L.L. D: M.R.1 A. : Read Jan. 25th, 1819. UT will be necessary minutely to describe this curious relic before I institute an inquiry into its antiquity. Upon one of its sides is exhi- bited the head of our Saviour, with the letters 14s on the left, and X on the right of the figure. The three first letters are « Jesu,” the final Hajin being omitted, “ more ‘peteribus usitato ;’ because, as Elias Thesbites, an authority relied upon by all the writers on the subject of those inscriptions, observes, “ litera Hajin ardua sit, ac “ difficilis pro gentibus; ideo in lingua sua non dicunt Jeschuah, “sed Jeschu; propterea Judzei etiam vocant eum Jesu, absque “ Hajin.”* VOL. XIII. Ss * It is curious to remark that, although the same authority of Thesbites is relied on by all, it is quoted by the several writers as justifying conclusions directly opposite to each other. 150 With respect to the letter Aleph, it must either signify the date of the period when it was struck, or have some other allusion. It cannot, in my opinion, be a date; for, supposing it to be so, it must express the number one, or one thousand. The latter of these significations will scarcely be contended for ; since, besides that there is no point to the Aleph, such as is attached to it when it stands for 1000, this construction would bring us to fix, as an era for the stamping of the medal, the commencement of the eleventh century, which was the centre of the darkest age, when ancient arts were no more, nor had they as yet commenced to revive; a period, when a medal like this could not have been executed. If then the Aleph signify a date, it must be that of one year; and this, either from the Incarnation or the Resurrection. The former is the more pro- — bable of these two (although I reject them both,) because the In- carnation of our Saviour is the subject of the inscription; but the era called “ Anno Domini,” which was dated from the birth of Christ, was first used in the sixth * century at the earliest. So that, if the Aleph mean the yearone of the vulgar era, the medal must have been the manufacture of later years, and the date an imposition. It may be said to relate to the Resurrection, and to be stamped in commemoration of the anniversary of that great event ; but, besides that the inscription upon the other side of the medal does not justify this supposition; besides, that the indulging of it must lead us necessarily into much vague conjecture ; I think the following fact will induce any candid inquirer to give to this letter By one author the omission of the Hajin is insisted on as a proof of forgery; with another it adds to the probability of the medal being both genuine and antique.—Rowland’s Mona Ant. restaur, p. 318. Morinus and others, as quoted hereafter. * See O’Conor, Rerum Hiber. Scriptores. Epis. Nuncup. p. ciii. note 1. 131 any other meaning, that may appear probable, rather than one, which will fix the first century for the stamping of the medal. The fact I allude to is, that no such memorial is, in any the re- motest degree, alluded to by the early Christian writers, or by the Fathers of the Church. Had it existed in their day, it could not have been quite unknown; had it been known, it could not but have been very interesting. ‘The magnificent expence of Mary, in anointing our Saviour towards his burial, was thought worthy of such particular remembrance, that wherever the gospel was preached it should be related; is it likely then, that this costly commemoration of an event so infinitely more important, would not only have passed unnoticed in the Acts, or in the Epistles, but also in the works of the erudite and voluminous Fathers * of the Church? In fine, if any single passage from any one of these be quoted that makes mention of any such medals, we may then be reasonably induced to give to them the very great antiquity that some persons contend for. Let us now inquire what meaning the Aleph may possess, if it be not a date. Our learned and ingenious Vice Provost+ has suggested, that, as Aleph is the initial letter of both the words =4N, Homo, and t7>x or 5x, Deus, it is meant to relate to the double nature of the Redeemer; a doctrine of primary importance to the Christian faith, and which is implied by the inscription of the other side. s2 * It is rightly said, in Rowland’s Mona Antiq. Restaur. in speaking of the Anglesea Medal, that a passage of St. Austin there quoted refers, not to any known existing resemblance of our Saviour, but to our abstracted idea or mental conception of his appearance. Indeed if St. Austin, in the passage alluded to, means any thing more, it proves that he had no knowledge of the existence of these medals. + The Rev. John Barrett, D. D. 132 We have the authority of Buxtorf and others, that the letter Aleph has been frequently used alone, to represent each of these words; and the same Hebrew scholars inform us, that it also stands for the word yw, Dominus. This, therefore, is the construction which Wagenseil* and Morinus give to it, as placed upon this medal; which also the Vice Provost is rather inclined to prefer: it is, indeed, in my mind the most likely to be correct.-+- The inscription upon the reverse side is’as follows : “TT wy TIN 2 IN 1 Dlbwa Na 72 mw Of the eighth letter there was once some doubt, because of its being somewhat indistinct: but a closer examination, and the analogy of all similar medals, determine it to be a Beth. The antepenulti- mate letter is also indistinct; it may either be a Hajin, or a Jod with a Vau: I am inclined to agree with Dr. Barrett in thinking it the latter, admitting thus a construction less forced, and more analogous to other specimens. The following is perhaps the proper translation of the above—“ Messias Rex venit in pace, et “lux * de homine facta est vita.” In the first part of this transla- © V. Wag. Sota. V. 1, p. 576, &c. } 1t may be worthy of remark, that the letter py was, as Waserus informs us, always stamped upon the Hebrew sheckles, as a mark which “ justum ipsorum atque legitimum pondus “docet:” and also that “a square, whereon is figured the monogram of the name of Christ, “© was Constantine the Great’s ensign, after he had embraced Christianity. It has an “ Alpha “ and Omega” on the sides, signifying the Divinity of Jesus, who says of himself, in the “* Revelations, “« Ego sum Alpha aad Omega.’ (Anon. work, from the French, on the “ Knowledge of Medals,” p. 97.) «It was common among the Greek Emperors to put his “image upon their medals.” Same author. + Thus Waserus, Leusden, Alstedius, &c. translate it: it seems to allude to the text of St. John I. 4. & xe) ¥ Lun nv To Qas Tor vbeamrayre” « And the life was the light of men.” It may also be “ lux ex homine factus est vivens,” 133 ‘tion, all the written authorities agree; but Dr. Barrett expresses his doubts whether it would not be better, “ Messias regnat,” in- stead of “Rex.” The original will bear both of these inter- _ pretations. Wagenseil contends that the latter part should be, “ homo ex homine,” &c.; because that the Vau, which is radical, is omitted in 4N, lux; but he argues his point with some weakness. It is ne- cessary for his construction to suppose, not only that the Resh - should be read a Daleth, which might be granted him, but that a final Mem should have been left out by the error of the maker of the medal.* Now one half of this stretch of supposition would have sufficed to have restored the word 4n to its perfection, by sup- posing the \ (a letter, by the way, more easy to overlook or omit than the final Mem) to have been omitted through mistake. This conjecture would have left him at liberty to agree with all other writers upon the subject, had he desired it. It is further to be ob- served, concerning the construction which I have given in con- formity with the more general opinion, that it is impossible in our medal to read the second letter of this word as a Daleth. Another, and the most disputed word, is the penultimate of the inscription: the second letter is indisputably a Shin, the first may. - be a Pe * or a Hajin, and all the authorities induce us to read it * He supposes “ excidisse Mem, eam ob causam, quia sequenti verbo idem elementum est “ jnitiale; idque non tam sculptoris, quam ipsius autoris potuit accidisse errore, Nec enim _ “est alius quem magis frequenter scribentes committunt, quam ut litera ante sibi similem, ab “iis negligatur.” This, I allow is common in the hurry of writing, but is it at all probable it should happen in the slow process of engraving or the striking of a die ? * It is to be observed, that the Pe and the Hajin have been written in a manner so similar in some antient MSS. that it is difficult to distinguish them from each other. Thus it is in a 134 the latter. Considering it so, we must suppose the remainder of the word to be a Jod and a Vau. The Vice Provost is-also decidedly of this opinion. This word, therefore, I consider to be “ hassui.” Beiore I institute an inquiry into the genuineness of this medal, or the probable time of its being struck, it is necessary that I should give a short account from other authors of similar medals, which have been commented on by the learned. I shall first mention Theseus Ambrosius,* his words are—“ Cum Rome essem, in feli- “ cioribus Julii II. Pontificis maximi, et in sequentibus Leonis X. “ temporibus memini me vidisse in zneis numismatis: et anno pre- “ terito in wre conflatam, servatoris nostri imaginem cum literis “« Samaritanis,” &c. “ in cujus altera parte literae conflate: seu per- “ cussee videbantur, quarum sensus talis erat, Messias Rex venit in “pace, Deus Homo factus est.” In this coin the word m*pbn, Elohim, occurs instead of 2 ni, Ve or me—the letters were Sama- ritan. Waserus quotes Thes. Ambrosius, in his work upon Hebrew coins,} and gives a very poor engraving of a medal, which he de- scribes to have been of brass. The head on it looks to the nght hand, and is placed between the letters of the name. There is no Aleph; and, in the inscription upon the reverse, there is a Vau to complete the original Hebrew word 4y. The penultimate word is sswy hassui, which Waserus construes “ facta est,” rendering the sentence thus, “ et lux de homine facta est vita.” MS. in the College library, which was collated for Dr. Kennicott. Ludoyicus Capellus has remarked much upon the confusion of Hebrew letters, one with anothcr. * De Lit. Samar. cap. 5, fol. 21, b. + De Antiq. nummis Hebreorum p. 62. 135 Hottinger* mentions both the preceding, and. gives a plate of one in his possession, which was of silver, It agrees with ours, and has the penultimate word “hassui.” It is strange that this plate has the last word sp; but Hottinger, in giving the de- Scription of it in his text, copies the sentence without it, and trans- lates it thus, “ lux ex homine factus.” Another strange variance between his plate and text is, that in the latter he places a Vau in the word 5x, from whence we may indeed conclude, that, if any letter were omitted in the die by mistake, it must have been the Vau in -y, and not a final mem. Crinesius} mentions the medals of Thes. Ambrosius and of Wa- serus, but with nothing: particularly worthy of noticing in this place. Leusdent says, that he had one of brass, and quotes Alstedius concerning it. I shall revert to these authors hereafter : the speci- men given by both of them agrees entirely with that of Waserus: they both construe the inscription as he does. Wagenseil§ describes two medals : upon one side of the first is the head of our Saviour, and upon the other the words, | TS CIN TTS mw 898) yiws Or, Jesus Nazarenus Messias, Jehovah et homo simul. This medal approaches near to that, which was found in the island of Anglesea, and _ is represented by Wagenseil as being rare. The second is entirely similar to the medal which forms our subject, and the penultimate word is “ hassui”. Of this specimen he * Cippi Hebr. p. 149. Tab. vi. n. 5. + Babel, sive de Confusione Linguarum, cap. II. Mem. 1. p. 20, &c. Ed. Noriberg, 1629. £ Philologus Hebr. mixtus Dissert. 28, de num, Hebr. p. 192. q Precognita Theologica, p- 550. § Sota, v. 1. p. 576, &c, &c. | Jeshuang Nazri Meshiah Jehovah ve Adam Jackad. 136 observes, “ alter, preterquam, quod et a nobis possidetur, in’ multo- * rum est manibus, et passim incidas in infantes, qui eum e collo: * suspensum gestant.”. The writing upon this medal he wishes to- construe thus: “ Messias Rex venit in pace, et Homo ex homine “« factus est vivus, sive verus.” I shall comment upon these observa- tions hereafter. Morinus* follows the opinions of Wagenseil, but says nothing upon this part of the subject that is worthy of observation here. They are also slightly noticed by Walton, in the peor ae to. the Polyglot Bible. The next notice that I shall mention of these medals is that of one which was found in the Island} of Anglesea; it was of silver, and iscribed thus, “ Jeschuah gibbor Meschiah havah vAdam Joked”, according to the description that is given in Rowland’s work. It is needless to dwell here upon the probability of there being much error in this reading ; it is translated into English thus, in the letter alluded to, “ Jesus is, and was, the mighty and great Messias, or Man Mediator, or Reconciler.” Lastly, a letter has been received by Dr. Quarry of Cork, from the Rev. Thomas Symonds of Oxfordshire, with a fac simile of one of those medals, which is in his possession. From. this letter it ap- pears, that the medal described in it is of silver and smaller than ours, and that in other respects they entirely agree. The last letter of the penultimate word is in both specimens indistinct: Dr. Quar- ry admits that it may be the remnant of an Hajin, but he seems rather to think it a Vau and a Yod. * Morinus de Lingua primevali, c. q. p. 305. n. 12, &e. + See Rowland’s Mona Antiq. restaur. ed, 1723, in 4to. p. 318, 137 Pinkerton says nothing of these medals; of the Hebrew shekels he expresses the most decided contempt. He admits of some of them to be genuine ;* but says that the same impression runs through all the coins of this barbarous nation, and that the admis- sion of but one of them is rightly esteemed a disgrace to a cabinet. It is proper to recollect, that, in laying down this law, he confines his observations to the rude Hebrew coins; nor does he seem to have a knowledge of the specimens of more finished art, that are the subjects of our inquiry. But, even if he had spoken of these latter, T must confess, that the partiality, not savouring much either of learning or of taste, which is manifested in this passage, and elsewhere; against the Jews, his scepticism in some matters, and dogmatism in others, would at least incline me to retort upon his judgment. the same indifference, which he does not hesitate to lavish upon that, of others 3 and certainly, were our observations concerning the Jews confined to mere matters of taste, the fabricators of the temple were any thing but barbarous. It is unnecessary to enter into the much debated question con- cerning the antiquity of the use of the present Hebrew characters ; for it is quite admitted, by contending writers on the subject, that ihey were unquestionably in use before the birth of our Sa- viour.t I shall proceed to inquire into the probable period of the VOL. XIII. T * Waserus says (p. 59) “ Jus cudendi monetam Hebrzis liberum usque ad Vespasiani tem- pora.”’ See also anonymous work of « the Knowledge of Medals,” p. 116. + See his work uponcoins, and his intemperate expressions contained in the preface, against the Rev. D. Jennings, p. xiii. t See Calmet on Hebrew Coins, Bayer de Num. Samarit. p. 148, Morinus ut sup. p. 303. 138 stamping of this medal, and shall first repeat the observation, that we are not informed of such relics having been noticed by any of the early fathers of the Church. The opinion of Wagenseil, against the antiquity or genuineness of these medals, is given in very decisive terms ; but in terms also which involve in them some weakness, and even contradiction. He commences with condemning, as altogether spurious, the coins which were imposed upon the public as being coins of Abraham, of Moses,.and of David. Hesays, “ Provocamus ad judicium univer- “ sorum qui veterem et genuinam pecuniam a nova, atque ad si- « militudinem ejus effictaé, valent distinguere ; et multis evidentissi- “ misque signis probatum dabunt, omnes scire siclos* sive nummos « Judeorum, opus recens et zax# xopparos esse.” He then quotes the coinciding opinion of Carolus Patinus,+ a well known autho- rity upon the subject of coins; and proceeds to relate, that the pilgrims to Palestine were all possessed with an anxiety to bring home sacred relics from the Holy Land; and that, as those to Lo- retto, to Rome, and to other places, were wont to return with crosses and such like, so these pilgrims “ conchis, crucibus, et sa- Waserus ut sup. Crinesius, p.20. The period of the Jewish captivity seems to have been the most probable time for the change from the Samaritan to the Hebrew character. Wase- rus says, (p. 62,) “ Reliquos Judaos ob secessionem X tribuum, partim odio &c. eis, non modo “ nullo sacrorum usu communicare, sed ne characterum formas &c. easdem retinere voluisse ; “sedformam quadratam excogitasse.” Crinesius condemns this, and observes, ‘‘ Existimo « jllam potius de apostatis Israelitis X tribuum esse prasumendam, quam de Judzis, specia- liter sic dictis.” * He dves not seem to deny some shckels to be genuine, which even Pinkerton admits, but to speak only with reference to an antiquity so remote as the ages of Abraham, of Moses, and of David. + See Pinkerton, Pref. p. vii. &c.; he wrote his History of Medals in 1665. eee Ot a eD 139 “ cratis nummis, redire solent.” From hence, as he asserts, the Jews in those parts took occasion to fabricate coins, and obtained from the sale thereof considerable gain. He then relates a story, extracted from a German annalist,* which I shall give from the original, of a Count Ruodolfus de Furndorf, who visited the Holy Land in 1180; and, being commissioned by the Abbot of St. Gallus, procured several relics from a monastery in Palestine, “ quod Sm. « Abraham nominatur.” These relics were transmitted home with much care; and, as the Count concludes, “ in altari S. Galli, cum “ reliquiis nostris, sunt collocate.” So far of these ancient Hebrew shekels and coins. | Wagenseil then proceeds to observe, that a similar observation with this con- cerning their being forgeries, may be applied to the medals, “ qui “ Servatoris nostri imagini Hebraicam addunt inscriptionem.” He argues, that if the Palestine forgers of relics were induced to make coins of Abraham and of David, to impose upon the pilgrims; much more so would they be tempted to strike medals of our Sa- viour, the great object of these pilgrimages—“ nempe alicui Chris- © tiano, &c. verisimile visum est, nihil sacris viatoribus accidere posse gratius, quam si monetam Christi vultum exhibentem, e re- gione quam vivus incoluerat, iis liceret referre.” Such is the opinion of this authority, in which he seems to be partly followed by Morinus ; this latter author further adds, that the division of some of the Hebrew words, so as to have parts of the same word in separate lines, is an evidence of the forgery: and he also says, that the abbreviation of Hebrew words, by a final apo- T 2 * Alemannicarum Rerum Scriptores, tom. I. p. 18, 140 cope, as in the omission of Hajin from Jeshuang, was an innova- tion of the later Syrians. TI shall revert to these observations, and conclude this account with this deduction, that, if these authors are to be credited, these medals are quite modern, and, according to Wagenseil, of the twelfth century at the earliest. Let us now inquire, whether there be any evidence, upon which we can rest the presumption of an earlier date. I have already stated the circumstances which make against the supposition of their being of the first Christian age ; but there are not wanted learned opinions to give them very great antiquity. Hottinger and Wase- rus, in treating of them, seem to entertain no doubt of their being genuine remnants of the earliest possible date: at least, so far from expressing such a doubt, the latter acquaints us with circum- stances, which I shall hereafter relate, and which are vouchers for the truth of the résemblance to our Saviour. Crinesius not only admits these medals to be genuine, but quotes them as collateral proofs of the use of the present Hebrew character in the time of Christ. He argues, that they were not coins, because such an “image and superscription” was alienissima a consensu gubernato- «rum Jerusehalamitanorum, penes quos fuit libertas excudendi mo- “ netas ;” and determines, that “a piis inter Christi fideles priva- “ tim> procuratas invicem pojuns cyonns nee} piriag yaew fuisse “ oblatas:” and Morinus, although he inclines to the opinion of a later forgery, says of the medal of Theseus Ambrosius, which bore an inscription in Samaritan characters, that some of these people were Christians, (for which he quotes John iv. 39,) and that “ pro- « habilius est hos Samaritanos, ad conservandam suze conyersionis “ memoriam, hunc nummum privatim cudisse.” He also goes so far 14] as to bring all these medals as authorities to demonstrate, that both Hebrew and Samaritan characters were in use at the period of our Saviour’s life. Leusden calls his medal, “ Siclus Judzo-Christianus,’’ and says, that it was the fabrication of converted Jews; he quotes Alstedius, who ranks it under the title, “ posterior effigies sicli sa- “cri.” The opinion of Alstedius concerning their origin is po- sitive, he says. “ Sic enim statuo de tali nummo, post mortem “Christi quidam Judzi receperunt Evangelium, hi igitur talem “ nummum loco veteris illius sicli substituerunt.” It iz to be remarked, that the converted Jews here spoken of, are implied to have struck this coin just after cur Saviour’s birth. Let us now examine into the nature of the evidence which is given against them by Wagenseil ; and I must premise, that, as an authority against their antiquity, we must consider him to stand alone. Patinus, whom he quotes as having condemned the, coins of Abraham and of David, does not speak of these; and Morinus, who follows Wagenseil in some opinions, not only doubts upon this point, in opposition to him, as I have shewn ‘above,’ but where he inclines to agree with him in others, is not altogether consistent in his reasonings. He thinks they may be forgeries, because parts of the same words are in different lines. But, surely, if the fabricator were, as Wagenseil supposes, a Christian, “ linguam Hebraicam “ edocto”, he must have understood the customary mode of writing that language; and, therefore, a deviation from practice must have been wilful, and not from ignorance. ‘To meet this obvious answer, Morinus guesses that they were forged by Jews to deceive the Christians, and that the forgers introduced this error, that they might not deceive their own sect. This conjecture is palpably fu- 142 tile ; and, besides, it supposes what was not the fact, that none of the Christians were conversant in the Hebrew tongue. Indeed the division of the words is best accounted for by an observation, which Morinus elsewhere makes, that it necessarily took its rise in the con- straint which the circular form of the medal put upon the en- graver. The observation of Morinus, that the final apocope in the abbre- viation of Hebrew words is of modern invention, is scarcely founded in fact. The Hebrew scholar may be easily satisfied upon this point, by consulting the Lexicons and the writers upon this subject. We had occasion to notice the several meanings, which the single Aleph conveys. But to return, we must narrow the testimony before us to that of Wagenseil, as I have before remarked. In the first instance, then, it is a complete non sequitur, that, be- cause a certain Count went to the convent of St. Abraham, to pur- chase relics, that he came home laden with forged coins of this pa- triarch. The original annals say no such thing, nor does Wagen- seil inform us, that any such were in his time existing in the Abbey of St. Gallus. I confess, however, that although this matter is by no means proved, it is very far from being improbable. Admitting it, then, it by no means follows, as a logical deduction, that Pa- lestine, at that time, gave birth to spurious medals of our Saviour. Observe also his contradictions: the forgery is committed by Chris- tians SKILLED in the Hebrew tongue; but when, to carry the import- ant point of reading “ homo” for “ lux”, a Mem must be conjured up, it was, forsooth, omitted by the carelessness common in tran- 143 . seription—* atque hujus quidem typum sculptor Christianus, rup1s “ Hebraarum litterarem, absente autore, incidit.” This is plainly arguing ina circle, nor does the invention of the deputy engraver make it to be entirely logical. I shall here observe, that the convert- ed Jews of Wagenseil are contemporary with the Crusaders; so that his argument is not supported by the authority of Alstedius. I have yet to notice more particularly his assertion, that such me- dals were so common in Germany, that they were every where to be found suspended to the necks of children. But it is to be remark- ed, that this observation applies to a specimen which differs from that before us ; and he admits, that another of these medals, (similar to the rest with regard to the subject matter,) wasas rare, as any that the writers, who mention them, declare them all to be. How one - specimen, therefore, happens to be so very common, requires some explanation ; both to prevent the assertion from proving too much, and to reconcile it to the testimony of others, as well as to probabi- lity. What was considered as exceedingly rare by Theseus Am- brosius, and by writers cotemporary with Wagenseil, could not, in fact, have come to be so common in his time. I therefore conjec- ture, first, that of the medal, concerning which this author thus speaks, there were most probably both originals, and a second or counterfeit edition; and, secondly, that the abundance, which he describes, applies to the latter alone. We cannot, by any other sup- position, account for so great a plenty succeeding to a rarity so consi- derable ; and the author of the anonymous work of the “ Knowledge of “‘ Medals”*, affords us information, which seems to prove this position * This book is, I believe, a translation from Jobert, and the work alluded to by Pinkerton. See his Preface. 144 to be just: he asserts, (p. 115.) “ I know somebody did think fit “ tostamp a few,” (scil. Hebrew coins,) “ in Germany ; and that “ yxthin this little wiile ; thus the medal of Jesus Christ, though “ perhaps made by some converted Jews, is one of these,” &c. These medals, thus fabricated “ within a little ‘while,’ could be only the copies of those, which, in the commencement of the sixteenth century, are described as being so rare; and they must have had some value attached to them, as charms or otherwise, or expense would ngt have been incurred in their imitation. The very discus- sions that have taken place among the learned concerning them, de- monstrate, that they have been considered by the disputants as being curious, and also rare. In fine, it is quite manifest, from a passage in Morinus, that those specimens, which Wagenseil saw in common use, could not have been originals. He speaks of one of them as “ ce- “lebratus in gazophylacio Pontificio accuraté conservatus, quare * qui Pontifices ab omni errore tutos profitentur, vix possunt ejus “ sinceritatem in dubium revocare.” From hence it follows clear- ly, that, although the originals might have been possibly them- selves the forgery of imposture, they could not be the same of which Wagenseil speaks; and that the assertion which he makes con- cerning them can only apply to the copy. The Vice Provost has permitted me to add an ingenious conjec- ture, that he has made, relating to some cabalistic meaning, which he supposes to be couched in the inscription, It contains two final Mems, both of them “ dilated, such as we find them made at the end “ of a line, in order to fill up space; though here they are not at “ the end of lines, and consequently it could not have been for that “ purpose, that they were dilated. I think them, therefore,” he says, 145 * to have been thus dilated, in order exactly to resemble the original “‘ whence they were taken, and which original I would thus express : Jo mw Ist line, two words, seven letters; the last a final, and never dilated. mpbwl No i 2d and 8d lines, two words, and seven letters; mn Ni) the last letter to each a final Mem dilated. ‘om swwy 4th line, two words and six letters. To supply a seventh letter in the last line, which is necessary to- wards affording the complete division, and the perfect total of twenty- eight, he supposes the letter 7 to have been omitted from the verb ihm, by Apocope; “ which could produce no difficulty as to the ‘sense of the word, because it is of such frequent recurrence;’’ and there was no space to admit on the medal the “ letter 7, which, if “it had been there, would have been probably dilated.” He therefore supposes it to have been copied from some book ; and that, consisting thus of twenty-eight letters, (a perfect number,) placed with a necromantic arrangement, it was fancied to have been possessed of some charm, and was therefore chosen as the motto of these medals, which were frequently used as amulets. It must, however, be here remarked, that, however this ingenious hypothesis might possibly apply to this medal, it cannot to that of Theseus Ambrosius ; nor to the first’ of Wagenseil, nor to the An- glesea medal. I have now summed up the evidence for and against the great antiquity of these medals. I cannot get over the silence of the Fa- thers, particularly when I consider the great estimation in which VOL. XIII. U 146 Morinus mentions them to have been holdei by the Popes; to me therefore it is clear, that they are not of the first age the Christian zra. T hardly think, that they were the fabrication of the Greek emperors,* whose sacred inscriptions, above alluded to, were all in the Grecian character ; nor can any good reason be assigned for their preference of the Hebrew, this not being the letter in which the New Testa- ment, excepting perhaps the Gospel by St. Mathew, was originally written, They must be of earlier date than the age of Leo X. ; for, at that period, they are spoken of by Theseus Ambrosius as being of uncommon rarity; See also Morinus as quoted above. I suppose them therefore to have been the fabrication either of the age of Charlemagne, or of the Crusades. In favour of the first supposition there is (besides the analogy, which Doctor Barrett has observed be- ~ tween the inscription and the motto of that prince,) this fact to be considered, that it was just at this time, A. D. 787, that the intro- duction of image worship, sanctioned by the 2d Council of Nice, may be considered as bearing date; for the second it may be alleged, that the account of Wagenseil, who places their origin m Palestine, is at least considerably plausible. ‘The words of Morinus plainly intimate, that they Were preserved to assist the purposes of Papal * Dr. Barrett observes an analogy between the inscription and the motto of Charlemagne, which was thus written, and in this order, ‘Christus regnat, “¢ vincit, “ imperat” or triumphat. “ The first line,” le says, answéts to “ Christus regnat:” the second line explains his’ con- « quest, that it consists in his being the author of peace; or, to use a ‘elassical expression, he ‘‘ was “ sine clade victor ;” the third and fourth lines explain the nature of his kingdom, or “sriumph,” &e. 147 imposture ; but the yeneration with which they were guarded at Rome, no more proves their origin to have been Roman, than the finding of a specimen in Ireland demonstrates any thing beyond the fact, that it was lost there. It is a remarkable circumstance, that most of the specimens of similar medals, which have been noticed by the learned, are im- pressions of different dies, agreeing with each other neither in their sizes or inscriptions. ‘There are five varieties at the least. With regard to the resemblance, Waserus* has given us the fol- lowing curious account :—“ Sed neque hoc silentio transmitti debet, “ viz. imaginem Domini, que nummo illo nostro exprimitur, ad eam * descriptionem esse designatam, quam Lentulus, civis Romanus, “et Jude olim preses, ad Imperatorem Tiberium misisse vulgo « perhibetur.” His account then proceeds with a fine detail of the resemblance, describing it precisely according to that which, whether handed down by tradition, or acquiesced in as just from its suitable expression, has, been chosen by the common + agreement of Carlo Dolci and all others, both painters and sculptors, as best fitted: to convey a proper idea of our Sayiour’s sacred countenance and appearance. Although Waserus says, “ vulgo perhibetur,” I have not been successful in my attempts to discover upon what v2 * P.68. Wascrus’ observations on the subject are printed in the “ Critici Sacri,” Amstel. 1698, vol. vi, at the end. _ His plate is copied in the same work, see vol. i, tab. 12. + The head of Christ is always represented as elevated, and the hair always falls down along the sides : a mode of representation adopted, as Dr. Spurzheim contends, by a common senti- ment ameng modern artists, as best expressing the incarnate God,'p. 340.—Denon, (V.1. p. 213. Ed. 1800, in 8°.) considers. the resemblance of our Saviour, which is now commonly received, to be traditional, and not to have been invented after the revival of the arts, 148 authority he grounds the above anecdote. It is not to be found among the extraordinary mass of evidence, collected from writers both sacred and profane, which Rendle has accumulated to demonstrate that Tiberius was a Christian emperor ;* but it is proper to observe of the bust, that, although it does not appear in the plate of the fac simile, there is in the original a mani- fest fulness on the temples that plainly indicates a large quan- tity of hair, descending from the crown along the sides of the head. It remains to observe upon the conjecture, that the metal of which this medal consists is Corinthian brass, that such is altogether wild. This mixture was accidentally formed by the fusion of metals at the burning of the Temple of Corinth; and it was all of it converted, at the time, into statues, urns, and such like. Pinkerton asserts, that he never met with any of it in coins. ; To conclude, I cannot but consider this medal to be a relic of # With relation to resemblances of Christ, Theophanes, in Chronographia, p. 41, makes mention of a statue of our Lord, that was in the City of Czsarea Philippi. It was’said to have been erected to his honour by the woman»whose issue of blood he healed. This was destroyed by Julian, who placed his own statue in its stead. The first plate of the Archzologia, vol.i. con_ tains a picture of our Saviour, taken from a painting of great antiquity, preciselysimilar to that upon our medal, and to the traditional portraits of which we have spoken. Beneath it is the following inscription ; * This present figure is the similitude of our Lord Jha oure Savior, im- “ printed in amiruld (? emerald) by the predecessors of the Greate Turke, and sent to the Pope “Innocent VIII. at the cost of the Greate Turke, for atoken for his cause, to redeem his * brother that was takyn presoner.”” Pope Innocent died in 1492. We are not further in- formed concerning this interesting portrait, in the letter that accompanies it; not even of where it was found, or why the inscription is in English ; but, from this latter circumstance, I suspect it to have been a more modern copy of the original sent to Innocent VIII. 149 great interest and value; we must at all events assign to it a respect- able antiquity; and it doubtless possesses a sufficient rarity, in the present day, to give it some charms even in the eyes of a connoisseur. It enjoys this further claim upon taste, that it is a fine specimen of art; and, as such, is certainly very far from being a disgrace to the cabinets of the curious. This medal is the property of Mr. Corlett of Cork. Since the reading of the preceding paper, a medal, precisely si- milar to that in the possession of Mr. Corlett, has been exhibited by the Rey. Robert Walsh, of Finglass. It is more perfect than the former ; contains the same inscription; and has the remains of an haft at the side, by which it is quite obvious, that it was once hung as an amulet. The Beth and Hajin, in the second and third lines, are perfect. The appearance of this medal makes it clear that they were used suspended, as Wagenseil describes ; and it is more than pro- bable, that they were originally struck to answer the purpose of an amulet. I shall here subjoin the very ingenious attempt of the - Rey. Dr. Barrett, to construe the cabbalistic meaning of the in- scription, which he has made since the former part of this sheet went to press. I shall premise a short account of the Cabbala, abstracted from the Encyclopedia Britannica. “ There is another Cabbala, which consists in searching for ab- “ struse and mysterious significations of a word in Scripture, from “whence they borrow certain explanations, &c.” One kind of this species “ consists in taking the Jetiers of a Hebrew word for 150 “ciphers or arithmetical numbers, and explaining every word by “ the arithmetical value of the letters whereof it is composed.” It appears, ‘that cabbalistic mscriptions were common upon amulets; and further, that our Saviour and his miracles were much con- nected, in the minds of some visionaries, with the mysteries of the Cabbala. Wemay then reasonably conclude, that this art, which was chiefly employed in expressing or explaining hidden meanings of a theological description, through the medium and connection of fancied powers existing in numbers, was employed in the formation of such an amulet as this. The Vice Provost's construction is thus. There are 2 words in each line—This number is the first of the equal numbers. There are 3 meanings, or a triple one—This jis the first of the unequal numbers ; unity not being considered as number. 2 and 3 are lucky and unlucky numbers in conjuring. 4 lines—4 is the first of the square numbers, and represents a surface. 7 letters on each line—the number of days in the week. 8—the number of total words,.and the first of the cube numbers. 28—the number of letters, and a perfect number. 52—the sum of all the foregoing, and the number of weeks in the year. So there are 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 28, and 52, He construes the conjurations then in this manner: “ May this “ amulet prove a perfect (28) preservation to its wearer ; in any si- “ tuation of life, whether prosperous or unlucky (2 and 3); in every “ portion of space (5 and 8), and part of time (7 and 52) ; by virtue “of him, whose name and image it bears; who reigns the “ Messiah, .&c.” CONJECTURES ON THE ORIGIN OF THE ORIENTAL PRACTICE OF WRITING FROM RIGHT TO LEFT, DEDUCED FROM A CONSIDERATION OF THE NAMES AND FORMS OF THE HEBREW CHARACTERS. By WILLIAM S. SANKEY, A.M. M.R.I. A. AND EXTRAORDINARY MEMBER OF THE ROYAL MEDICAL SOCIETY, EDINBURGH. Read April 26, 1819. THOUGH, at first view, it may appear perfectly indifferent, whether, in written language, the order of the characters, in each word, and of the words themselves, should proceed from left to right, as is usual among the Europeans, or from right to left, as generally adopted by the Orientals;* yet, to the mind of one, who * The Coptic and Armenian languages are written from left to right, according to the 152 considers with how much greater ease the motion of the hand in writing is directed from the body than towards it, many questions naturally present themselyes.* Are we to infer, that the Orientals are left-handed, or that they use their left hands in writ- ing? The contrary appears to be the fact: so far, at least, as we are enabled to judge from the accounts of travellers, or have had opportunities of personal intercourse with individuals of the present day. How then, it may be asked, did a method of writing, so awkward as that from right to left, come to be generally adopted among the Orientals? A method, which, as it preceded that now in use among the Europeans, so it maintained its ground a long time, even among the Greeks; by whom it was received from the Phoenicians. Nor, did it at once yield to that method, more natural to right-handed persons, of proceeding from left to right; the Beseogrdo, or writing alternately from right to left, and from left to right, forming the link between the Pheeni- cian and the Greek practice. European order. The Coptic character is however supposed to have been adopted from the Greek, which it much resembles. Though the Armenian language is ancient, the character is comparatively modern, * Many theories have been offered to account for the preference given, in our various actions, to the right hand and right side of the body. Mr. John Bell, with many other anatomists, attributes it to the peculiar distribution of the blood-veseels in the immediate neighbourhood of the heart. Bichat ascribes it merely to the effect of our social habits. My friend, Dr. Robert Hamilton of Edinburgh, endeavours to account for it in the following manner: The heart is situated, not in the. mesial plan, but considerably to the left ; it is the most noble organ of organic life ; there exists a strong animal feeling, that this viscus is situated on the left side ; that its injury would be hurtful ; and that its defence is all-important. Influenced then, by this feeling, whenever there is danger in our active employments, we present our right side, and keep the left, as much as we can, under cover, This induces a habit of acting with this side, and this habit produces a greater facility. 153 A consideration of the Hebrew characters seems to me to furnish an answer to these interesting questions, so far, at least, as the Hebrew mode of writing is concerned; and to afford grounds for hazarding the assertion, that the Hebrews, if not all the Orientals, proceeded originally, in writing, from the left of their pages to the right. In order to establish this position, it is necessary to observe, that a resemblance, more or less striking, may be traced be- tween many of the characters of the Hebrew Alphabet, and the sensible objects designated by their names. This resemblance is not however to be sought in the characters as presented in their ordinary, or what may be called their upright position. Let the characters, however, in a word be so presented, that they shall follow one another downwards, and the resemblance will, in not a few instances, be recognised at once. Thus, for ex- ample, the name of 2 signifies a house; to which, however, the character, in its ordinary position, as in N12, bears little or no similitude.. Let the word x52 be now so turned, that its constituent letters shall be arranged one beneath the other, (the first being at the top, the second directly under it, and so on,) seer F asin § ; and the character m at once presents us with the rough outline of a house. In like manner, the name of ) signifies a camel; between which and the character, in its ordinary position, no likeness can be traced. In the lateral position however, +, we have the profile of a quad- ruped ; of which, as probably the most in domestic use, the camel became the representative. Again, s, signifying a hand, bears a considerable resemblance, VOL. XIII. x 154 in its lateral position, «, to a hand and wrist, seen in a side view. A still more striking resemblance between the character and the sensible object, from which it receives its designation, will be perceived on viewing the letter y in its lateral position. In its ordinary position, it would be difficult to trace any connexion ‘between this character and an eye: the sensible object, which its name denotes. Immediately however on its being turned thus, a, the resemblance is apparent. : A similar resemblance might be traced in many other characters of the Hebrew Alphabet ; enough however, it is trusted, has been said to establish the truth of the observation made above : that the characters of that Alphabet, when viewed laterally, resemble the sensible objects, after which they have been named. This, at least, is the case in many instances; and, if we cannot trace it in all, it is most probably owing to the change or corruption in their forms, which a lapse of ages may be naturally supposed to have pro- duced. It is important here to remark, that this resemblance is connected with the characters as seen in their lateral, and upright position ; since on this circumstance are grounded the opinions I have formed respecting the origin of the present mode of writing among the He- brews; and further, it should be particularly noticed, that this re- semblance is to be perceived only when the base, not the vertex, of the character forms the right side. ™, not u, resembles a house; ~, not —, resembles a quadruped; a», not %,an eye: and so in the other instances. These observations might seem to countenance the opinion, which some have entertained, that the Hebrew charac- ters were originally hieroglyphical, each letter conveying a com- plete meaning in itself. 155 However this may be, under the view I have been considering, the Hebrew words were originally composed of the alphabetic cha- racters, not proceeding from right to left, as now written, but set down one below the other. The mode of inscription then was as follows: the inscriber, com- mencing at the upper corner of the left side of the tablet, or stone, or whatever else was employed to bear the inscription, set down the words, formed as already described, one below the other, till he had arrived at the bottom of the tablet, &c. when he again commenced at the top, setting down the characters to the right of those already described. Hence the writing on the tablet, &c. consisted of parallel rows of characters set down one beneath ihe other; each such succeeding row being to the right of the preceding, according to the very order of writing now in use among the Europeans. When this writing was conducted on a number of parchments, &c. it is probable they were connected together, and laid before the writer, in a manner similar to deeds, briefs of lawyers, &c. Af- ter the parchment, which lay at top, (as being that which first presented itself to the writer,) was filled up with parallel perpendi- cular rows of characters, in the manner already. described, it ap- pears then to have been thrown back, and the writing carried on, either on its reverse, or on the obverse of the parchment lying im- mediately beneath it ; following the same arrangement, both of the characters and of the rows, as before. Let now the book, or ra~- ther collection of parchments, be so turned, that that which hither- to formed the top, shall form the right side, the writing will con- sist, not of perpendicular, but of parallel horizontal rows; in which the characters will proceed from right to left, as most com- mon among the Orientals ; the horizontal rows, as is usual in writ- x 2 156 ing at present, commencing at the top, and proceeding to the bottom. As, in this case, that which formerly was the bottom, now becomes the margin, it is evident that the order also of the pages will be the same as that generally adopted by the Orientals. This is strongly corroborative of the prior reasoning ; since we find, that the same hypothesis, which affords a solution of the origin of the oriental mode of writing from right to left, accounts also for what, to a European, must appear, at best, an inverted order of paging. With respect to the cause of the change from the perpendicular to the horizontal row, an*imgenious friend, to whom I communi- cated my thoughts on this subject, has suggested, that it may per- haps have originated in the great inconvenience found in the use of the former, when writing on long parchments. Indeed the danger of defacing the lower characters of the rows already formed, while writing new characters in the upper part of the succeeding rows, would soon shew the necessity of adopting the horizontal row, and consequently of altering the position of the parchment. The Besgodadov method was probably then introduced to prevent the inconvenience and loss of time experienced in changing the position of the hand, and transferring it at once from the outer to the imer margin. So long, indeed, as the perpendicular rows continu- ed in use, it is not likely, that the Bssgopydov would be introduced, for the very reason already assigned as having led to the introduc- tion of the horizontal row: namely, the dread of defacing the lower characters; which, as the Gsseopqdev would, in that case, have been down and up, it would have been almost impossible to avoid, when- ever the characters were’ formed by a colouring liquid. The intro- duction, however, of the horizontal row having led to that of the Beseopndovr, the much ereater ease experienced in the alternate rows, 157 in which the writing was conducted from left to right, than vice versa, together with the disadvantage of having a double character for each letter, (the original and its direct reverse,) probably sug- gested the expediency of omitting altogether the row proceeding from right to left; which would at once reduce the order of writing to that at present in use among the Europeans. When adopted by the Greeks, it was from them propagated to the western parts of Europe. The principles here discussed apply also to the Hebrew rolls. From inspection of the Esther roll, preserved among the MSS. of Trinity College, Dublin, it appears, that, in order to avoid the inconvenience that would otherwise arise from the length of the parchment, it was divided into compartments; so that each com- partment might, in a manner, be considered as a distinct page. The arrangement, however, of these compartments, as remarked, is strictly conformable to the same principles. Thus, when the un- rolled parchment is presented lengthways to the eye, the writing is found to be disposed into distinct compartments, one beneath the other; the subject of the writing commencing in the upper com- partment, and proceeding in order downwards through the others. On the other hand, let the parchment be viewed laterally, so that what formed the top shall now form the right margin, and you im- mediately have the writing disposed into so many distinct compart- ments, of which each succeeding one is placed to the left of the preceding; just as has been before observed to take place, under similar circumstances, with respect to the parallel rows. The Chinese method of writing, so well known, in perpendicular columns, will probably be regarded as affording some support to the opinions now laid down.* In addition to this, an argument * This support, it must be owned, would be stronger, if the Chinese did not commence 158 -may be also drawn from the characters on the Babylonian bricks, of which a fac-simile is given in Maurice’s Observations on the Ruins of Babylon.* From this it appears, that these characters were disposed into several perpendicular columns; in. which the characters themselves were arranged one beneath the other. Before concluding this paper, it may be necessary to make a remark or two on the resemblances between the characters, and the sensible objects designated by their names; inasmuch as at- tempts have been frequently made to trace such resemblances. They have been considered by many as fanciful,;- while others have denied the existence of any resemblance whatsoever. When, however, it is taken inio consideration, that these resem- blances have hitherto been traced in the characters viewed in their upright, not lateral position, any failure of this kind can furnish no argument against the ideas on this subject, which have been ad- vanced in the earlier part of this essay. They may rather be con- sidered as giving weight to them, inasmuch as they seem to direct. their perpendicular rows at the right side. Still, however, it affords no small countenance to the position, which lies at the foundation of the present reasoning : namely, the distribution of alphabetic characters one beneath the other. * See Maurice’s Observations on the Ruins of Babylon: Plate in p. 34. Fig. 2. 8vo. London, 1816. For this argument I am indebted to the Rev. Doctor Barrett, Vice Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, See also Fig. 1, in same plate, representing an ancient inscription on the walls of Persepolis, Mr, H. Mason, of this Academy, has also furnished me with another illustration of this principle, in the striking resemblance between the Arabic or Indian figures expressing the numbers two and three, and those of the characters now in use for these numbers, when the former are written in the lateral position, + See Hermannus Hugo de Prima Scribendi Origine 12mo. Antwerpiz, 1617. See also, The Origin and Structure of the Greek Tongue, by Doctor Gregory Sharp, p. (15) p. (159) 8vo. London, 1777. eat 4 159 us to some other than the upright position of the characters in tracing those resemblances, which @ priort reasoning might lead us to expect ; since we can scarcely imagine, that names of sensible objects could have been arbitrarily affixed to characters, to which they had no resemblance. In confirmation of this, it may be remarked, that the charac- ter , in which Doctor Fitzgerald, one of the warmest advocates of this resemblance, acknowledges, that little or none can be dis- covered, affords, when viewed in its lateral position, a fair illustra- tion of the principle.* The sum of the positions laid down in the preceding part of this essay amounts to this: that the letters of the Hebrew alphabet were originally characters expressive of sensible objects :—that, in wri- ting and inscribing, those characters were originally set down one under another, forming perpendicular rows; the first of these rows commencing at the left corner of the tablet, parchment, &c. and each succeeding one being formed to the right of the preceding :-— that in collections of parchments, lying one over the other, the writing was commenced on that, which lay at top:—that, on com- pleting the last row to the right, it was turned back, and the writing pursued in a similar manner, either on the reverse of that parchment, or on the obverse of that lying immediately beneath :— and lastly, as that, which it has been the principal aim of this essay to establish, that this accounts for the Orientals in general, or at least the Hebrews, proceeding, in their order of writing, from right to left; and commencing at that part of the book, which, among the Europeans, forms the termination. * See an Essay on the Originality and Permanency of the Biblical Hebrew, by the Rey. Dr Fitzgerald p. 91, 92, 8vo. Dublin, 1796, 160 It may perhaps be considered as affording some degree of con- firmation to this opinion, that it was formed from a simple consi- deration of the Hebrew characters, in relation to the sensible ob- jects designated by their names, without knowing, at the time, how much support it might derive from other sources; and from the con- sideration of the analogies of the characiers of other languages. Such are the ideas, which have been suggested to my mind on this subject, and which perhaps may be deemed not altogether un- worthy of attention ; inasmuch as they offer something towards reconciling an apparent anomaly in written languages, as com- pared one with another, Fic-Siultes of Varcous MEDALS of JESUS CHRIST referred to in the annexed HSSAY. OBSERVATION S WHICH ACCOMPANIED A HEBREW MEDAL, SUBMITTED TO THE INSPECTION OF THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY. BY THE REV. R. WALSH, M. R. I. A. 9000s Read, June 28, 1819, ‘ IN the the late war, my brother, Doctor Walsh, was attached to the British army acting in the north of Europe, where he availed himself of an opportunity of visiting Poland and Russia ; and, in his way, collected some coins and medals, which, on his return to Ireland, he gave to me, to add to my collection. They were wrapped in paper, to prevent their attrition, and generally labeled, on the envelope, with the name, use, and value of each. It was * These observations were written without any knowledge, that Mr. Mason had been en- gaged on a similar subject, and the original transcript contained much more, that had been collected for the occasion; but, as many of them were found to be repetitions of that Gentle- man’s remarks, they are now omitted, and those only retained, which do not appear to have been anticipated by his essay, to which this is to be considered as supplementary. VOL. XIII. ¥ 162 often my intention to examine and arrange this collection; but I deferred it from various causes; nor was I apprised, that it con- tained any thing very valuable, till chance threw in my way the pamphlet on the subject of the “ Hebrew Medal, found at Friar’s Walk, near Cork.” I then recollected, that a similar one was among the coins my brother had collected on the continent; and, on examination, I found an exact duplicate, but in a more perfect state. He informed me, that he obtained it from a Polish Jew, at Rostoc, in Lower Saxony, who prized it as an ancient amulet used by the early Christians ; but he annexed no such virtue to it himself, and parted with it as a charm, which would be valuable to a Christian, but could impart no protection to a Jew, though marked in the Hebrew characters. I found it laheled “ Hebrew Talisman.” On comparing it with the medal found near Cork, it appears to be a duplicate struck from the same die, and differing only in the superior state of its preservation. The inscription is much plainer ; and those letters, which in the Cork medal were obliterated or im- paired, and occasioned a difference of opinion from their indistinct- ness, are here well defined and ascertainable beyond controversy. ‘The 5 beth, in the 4th place of the 2d line, is entirely effaced in the Cork medal: in this it is as distinct as any other letter. In the 5th place of the 3d line, the x aleph and the 45 raish are blended togetlier, as if by some violence striking the surface of the yielding metal till they coalesced: in this they are distinct and separated ‘by a proper interval. In the 3d place of the 4th line, the apices of the letter, whether it be an y agin or a 5 phe, are blended toge- ther in the Cork medal: in this they are perfectly distinct; and the last letter of the same line, which in the Cork medal is repre- seited by two indistinct marks, ,, like commas, in this isa plain 5 ioud. 163 The true reading then of the inscription, with the translation, which has been obligingly made for me by the Vice-Provyost, is as follows :— So WY TIN AN) Dbwa ND Ta mwa Thus in English characters— Meshiach malak ba beshalom veor meadam gnashui chai. Translated into Latin— Messiah regnavit ; venit in pace; et lux ex homine factus, vivit. In English— The Messiah has reigned; he came in peace; and, being made the light of man, liveth. These circumstances, arising from the more perfect preservation of this medal, will, I trust, settle every controversy that may arise, at least from the ambiguity of the letters. It must be acknowledg- ed, however, that there is great rudeness visible even in their most perfect state. Though the impression is sharp and well defined, the nice and delicate marks, which distinguish similar Hebrew letters from each other, seem to have been altogether disregarded in the original die, from which the impression is taken. It may further be added, that the letters are entirely without vowel points ; of which not a trace is discernible in any part of the inscription. But the most striking dissimilitude in the present state of the medals is in the bust on the obverse. The figure is certainly in- ~ tended to represent the Saviour of the World, yet, in the Cork medal, it seems to retain little of those characters, that should de- signate so august a personage. The head appears bald; the frontal and temporal bones, and those of the upper jaw, fleshless and pro- jecting ; so as to exhibit the appearance of a naked scull. The chin is peaked and without a beard, or with one very imperfectly expressed ; and, in the whole aspect, there is an expression of v2 164 meanness rather than of dignity. These defects were not probably in the first impression of the countenance, but were caused, like those of the letters, by the injuries.of attrition or erosion, naturally to be expected from the situation in which the medal was found. The bust on the medal, now submitted to the Academy, accords exactly with those delineations of our Saviour’s person, which, whether spurious or genuine, convey at least a representation of what it ought to be. The head seems formed on the description of Christ said to be sent by Lentulus to Tiberius.* The hair di- vided on the vertex, “ Nazareorum ritu ;” from thence descending, “ plani et integri, ad aures; inde crispi non nihil. usque ad hu- * It is recorded by Eusebius, in his Ecclesiastical History, (Lib. 1. cap. xiii.) that Ab- garus, King of Edessa, held a correspondence with our Saviour ; and Mosheim adds, (Vol 1. p- 57) that he received from him his picture, as a mark of esteem and approbation for his faith and piety. The letters, which were said to have passed on the occasion, are still extant ; but they are rejected by the learned as spurious. It is asserted, however, that the original picture is preserved in the Vatican ; from which a print, now very scarce, was published about 200 years ago. ‘The portrait nearly resembles the form and expression of that on the medal. A respectable English periodical publication states, that the original letter of Lentulus to Tibe- rius, is in the possession of the family of the late Earl of Mazarene- A translation of this letter, with a portrait of our Saviour prefixed, was, a few years since, circulated in Dublin. The portrait resembled that on the medal : the following is the translation of the letter— «© There appeared, in our days, a man of uncommon great virtue, named Jesus Curist, who is yet living among us, and of the Gentiles is accepted as a prophet of truth ; but his own disciples call him the Son of God. He raiseth the dead, and cureth all manner of diseases. A man of stature somewhat tall, and comely, with a very reverend countenance, such as the beholders may both love and fear. His hair of a colour of a chesnut full and ripe ; plain to his ears, whence downwards it is more orient, curling and waving about his shoulders. In the midst of his head, is a seam or partition of his hair, after the manner of the Nazarites. His forehead plain and very delicate. His face without spot or wrinkle: beautiful, with a lovely red. His nose and mouth formed as nothing can be represented. His beard thick, in colour like his hair ; and not over long, but forked. His look innocent and mature. His eyes grey, clear, and quick. In reproving he is terrible ; in admonishing he is courteous and fair spoken ; pleasant in conversation, mixed with gravity. It cannot be remembered, that any have seen 165 meros.” This arrangement of the hair is finely expressed in the medal ; and, before it had suffered any thing from the injuries of time or accident, must have been very beautiful. The beard, “ ca- pillis similis haud prolixa et bifiidata,” not descending to the breast; but befitting the supposed age of the person represented, and giving a gravity and dignity to the expression of the countenance. The particular features beautiful ; “ fronte plana, naso et ore decoro ;” and, from their combination, forming a countenance “ placidus et venustus ;” but withal having a certain severity, “ ut aspicientes non tam ad amorem quam terrorem sui alliceret.”. The medallic portrait well accords with this description: it is such indeed as Raphaél or Carlo Dolce might and probably did copy. It is im- possible to contemplate it without being struck with the severe dig- nity, mixed with profound melancholy, so consonant to the cha- racter of the man of “ sorrows ;” who was often seen to weep, but never to smile ; who had lost the expression of youth, not by length of years, but of affliction ; and whose countenance was so impressed with the marks of premature age, that the Jews supposed him near 50, when he was yet but 30 years old. The rest of the bust is fine : a full and open chest, over which the tunic lies in graceful folds ; while the exterior garments descend with ease from the shoulders. This drapery is executed in bold relief, and hangs on the person with grace and elegance. The metal of which the medal is composed seems a rare kind of brass, and in this also corresponds with that found in Cork. As it him laugh; but many have seen him weep. In proportion of body most excellent; his hands and arms most delicate to behold. In speaking very temperate, modest, and wise. A man, for his singular beauty, surpassing the children of men.” The Latin description, referred to in the text, and with which the medal is compared, is taken from Waserus. 166 is impossible to ascertain its component parts without the destruc- tion of the medal or some portion of it, its ingredients can only be conjectured from its sensible qualities. It is much paler than com- mon brass; does not readily tarnish by exposure to air ; it might be mistaken for pure gold, did not its specific gravity immediately detect it, as it feels much lighter than a common brass medal of similar magnitude. Its weight in air is 262,76 grains, and its loss im water 31,16 grains, giving a specific gravity of 8,45. It has another remarkable property, which distinguishes it from modern metals: it is very sonorous, and thus it seems identified with the yaruos 'nyav of the New Testament ; which may haye been the ob- ject of the Apostle’s allusion in his epistle to the Corinthians, as well because it was light, as because it was “‘ sounding.”* These qua- lities perhaps arise from a combination of copper, zinc, and tin, alloyed with a small portion of gold and silver; the levity and paleness depending upon the first, the sonorous properties on the second, and the resistance to oxydation or tarnish upon the last ingredients. The Ancients are known to have used all these me- tals in combination with copper in their coins and medals.+ The * Lightness of character, indicated by an allusion to lightness of weight, is a common mode of illustration in the sacred writings. The Psalmist says of men of high and low degree— « To be laid in a balance, they are lighter than vanity.” —Ps. LXIL. v. 9. Vessels of “* brass without weight” are mentioned in Jeremiah; but it probably alludes to their quantity, and not their quality. + Itis a remarkable property in the combination of zinc and copper, that the yellowness of the compound increases by the addition of zine, till it becomes equal to the quantity of copper. From that point it grows paler, till it becomes white. This circumstance would indicate a large proportion of zinc in the compositian of the medal. Newman's Chem. p. 65. Zine and copper formed the substance called Cadmeia, and tin has been detected in the analysis of ancient coins. Tin gives its sonorous properties to modern bell metals. Dyzes An. Journal Physique 1790, Qos Pa ao i a a h +h 167 composition usually called Corimthian Brass was much more rare and valuable: it was an accidental amalgam of gold, silver, and bronze, occasioned by the fusion of different vessels at the con- flagration of Corinth, and found in its ruins after that opulent City had been sacked by the Consul Mummius. . It is evident, from different writers, that medals similar to those described were not uncommon during the middle ages. They are mentioned as having been seen by several authors ; seven of whom have handed down their exact form, by preserving fac similes of them in their works, viz. :— A. D. Waserus de Antiq. Nummis Hebreorum, 1605 Alstedius Precognita Theologia, - 1616 Hottingerus de Cippis Hebreicis, - 1658 Wagenseil Sota - - - - 1674 Leusden Philologus Heb. mixtus, - 1696 Surenhusius Mischna, - - - - 1700 Rowland Mona Antiqua, - - - 1702 Five originals* are known to be in the collection of different individuals at the present day, viz. :— In that of Mr. Corlett, Cork, one brass, Rev. Mr. Symmonds, Ensham, one silver. Rey. Ad. Clark, D. D. Milbank, _ one brass, Do. Do. one copper. Rev. R. Walsh, Glasnevin, one brass. ® An advertisement has appeared in the London papers intimating, that a medal, similar to that found in Cork, had been discovered in the ruins of St. Alban’s. It is not unlikely, that imitations would be multiplied as the medal became an object of public curiosity. Seve- ral metallic casts were taken from Mr. Corlett’s medal, and I have suffered impressions to be taken of that in my possession. 168 From a comparison of all those it would appear, that the medals were struck from six different dies ; as may be seen by an examina- tion of the prefixed plate. No. 1, Represents the medal in my collection, which has been submitted to the inspection of the Academy. It is copied by Mr. Grattan, an ingenious Dublin artist ; but, though a very fine head, does not exactly represent the profound melancholy so exquisitely expressed in the original ; with which the artist was so struck, that he requested to take a copy as a study for his own gratification and improvement. No. 2, Is a fac simile of the Cork medal, copied by the same artist. No. 3, Is copied from Waserus. A similar one is given by Al- stedius very coarsely finished. On the observe of both, the y aleph is wanting, and the head is turned to the left. On the reverse, the shape of the letters and their arrangement, though different from all the rest, are exactly similar in each. No. 4, Is copied from Hottinger. It is smaller than any of the rest; though it does not appear, from any circumstance of the description, that the size has been attended to. The engraving is very coarse, and the character of the countenance badly expressed. No. 5, Is copied from Wagenseil. One exactly resembling it is given by Surenhusius, who quotes Wagenseil; and it is evi- dent, from the size of the fac similes, the form of the letters, and heir disposition on both sides of the medal, that they are intended to represent an original exactly similar to Mr. Corlett’s, one of Dr. A. Clark’s, and mine. No. 6, Is copied from Leusden. The plate from which it is taken is extremely coarse. He supposes it was a siclus or shekel in circu: Jation among the early Jewish converts to Christianity; and gives : 169 fac similes of two other coins, without the head of Christ, but with Hebrew inscriptions ; which, he says, was the cotemporary shekel of the unconverted Jews. No.7. Is copied from Wagenseil and Surenhusius.—It is re- markable, that the name is written witha final y agin, and there are no letters on the obverse. The head is also turned to the right. This medal Wagenseil considers very rare ; and asserts, that he had seen but one at Vienna, with the Ambassador of the Elector Palatine. No. 8. Is copied from Rowland’s “ Mona Antiqua.” The original was found at the cirque of Bringwn, in the year 1702. It was sent by him, as a rare and valuable relique, to his friend Lluid, the Archeologist, who was, at that time, keeper of the Ashmole Museum at Oxford ; but it was lost on the way by the carelessness of the bearer, and never reached its destination. 1t was of silver, and, through one of the letters near the edge, a hole was drilled or fretted, perhaps for the purpose of suspension. There are no letters on the obverse ; and it is further remarkable, that the name, like that of the former, terminates with an y agin. One of the medals, now in the pos- session of Dr. A. Clarke, seems to be a duplicate of this. It is of copper, and weighs 740 grs. and is in beautiful preservation. The inscrip- tion corresponds with those of Wagenseil and Surenhusius, of which Rowland’s is probably a corruption ; and is thus translated by Dr. Clarke: “ Jesus of Nazareth, Jehova and man united.”’* * I have received a Letter from the Rev. Dr. Hales of Killesandra, with whom I corres- ponded on the subject of the medal, and he has suggested some remarks, which he has been so obliging as to allow me to make use of. He supposes that the medal, of which a fac simile is given in Rowland, was a clumsy copy from that given by Wagenseil and Surenhusius ; and that the inscription was ‘corrupted in the transcript.—* The second word is plainly a corrup- “tion of sTs15 and the fourth word of 4-54 ; the letter 5 iod being dropt at the end of the VOL. XIII. Z 170 That some of these medals were the fabrication of the latter ages, there seems to be no doubt ; unless we reject the evidence of those authors, who describe them, particularly Wagenseil, who found them so common as to be in the possession of every child. There is reason however to believe, that they are not all of the same era ; and that such as are similar to No. 1, are the most ancient, and of which copies have been multiplied by the simple and ready method of casts. Among the persons, who were induced by curiosity to visit me to see the medal, were two Jews ; one of whom was well acquainted with the |'ebrew Language, and read the inscription with fluency and correctness. He asserted, with confidence, that the x aleph on the obverse was not the initial of a word, but the date of the coin ; which would be so expressed, he said, at the present day. This corresponds with the conjecture of Dr. Quarry and others, who assert, that the original medal was struck the year after our Saviour’s resurrection, to commemorate that event. Nor is this altogether inconsistent with probability; for, though the early Christians did not commence their public dates from the birth of Christ before the sixth century, yet that event, or his resurrection, might be preserved by private memorials or tokens; a custom not unusual in ancient, and even adopted in modern times.—TIf this be so, it is not impossible, that this medal may be the parent of all the rest, which being fabricated in different and subsequent ages, omitted the date, only to be found on the venerable original. Another circumstance seems to favour this con- jecture; the style of the workmanship corresponds with that of cotemporary medals. There is a breadth and bold relief in the neck and chest, which resemble the character and manner, distinguish- “ second and the beginning of the fourth, and the rest corrupted.’’—The inscription, thus cor- rected, would give a translation exactly corresponding with that on the medal of Dr. Clarke, viz, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ ; the Lord and the man together. 171 ing the coins of Agrippa, which are still extant. It is a fact well known, that the arts declined from the reign of Adrian, and were not revived till the age of Leo X. As this beautiful medal is known to have existed before the latter zra, it is probable it existed before the former also, since thereis no good medal extant, which is ascertained to be the production of the intervening dark period. With respect to their use, and the purposes for which they were made, authors are as much divided as on the date of their origin. They must however have been intended either for circulating coins ; for medals to commemorate some interesting event ; for reliques to gratify pious credulity ; or for amulets or charms to protect the wearer against injury or misfortune. Of these opinions Leusden adopts the first, Morinus the second, and Wagenseil the third. But whatever might have been their origin, there is strong evidence to suppose, that they were very generally applied to the fourth purpose. The following passage occurs in a French work entitled, “ Pratiques Superstitieuses,” printed in the year 1700. “ Les Chretiens succom- berent bientot 4 la tentation d’user semblables moyens, pour prevenir ou guerir les maladies. Dées le second siecle, on voit en usage des Talismans, c’est a dire, des petites figures ou des images graves sur du metal qu’on portoit sur soi—On trouve des Talismans, avec le noms de Jesu Christ,’ &c.*—It is highly probable, that many of these medals were made, and most of them used for a similar pur- pose, in the early and middleages. In the time of Wagenseil, they were suspended from children’s necks ; like the “ Agnus Dei,” which * The Abraxas or Abrasax of the Basiliens, an heretic sect of Christians of the second cen- tury, were of this kind: small medals containing different mysterious figures and obscure inscriptions in different languages. One is preserved by Baronius, in his voluminous Eccle- siastical History. It is the figure of a man surrounded by letters in the Greek character, to which Baronius gives a variety of mysterious interpretations. Similar medals are mentioned by Chiffet and Montfaucon. On one of the latter is the figure of the patriarch Abraham. z2 172 pious mothers hang on the breasts of their infants, at the present day, in this country. The medal in my possession has a small projection over the apex of the head, which appears to have been the base of an eyeor small ring. This ring was evidently intended for the pur- pose of hanging it about the neck ; and, when at length it was worn out by the weight of the pendant, a place for suspension was formed by notching the base. ‘This was the use assigned to it by the Jew from whom it was purchased, and which induced my brother to label it, “Hebrew Talisman.”’* The value of those medals has also been a subject of much con- troversy ; some holding them in the most extravagant estimation, and others asserting, that they should be rejected altogether from a cabinet of genuine antiques. Both these opinions are erroneous. There is no certain evidence, that they have a claim to the high antiquity and interesting origin, which some assign to them ; but it is nevertheless certain, that they havea respectable claim on the atten- tion of the curious. When Literature and the Sciences began to dawn in Europe, after the darkness of the middle ages, and the minds of inquisitive men were first directed to search for the remains of ancient art, these medals were discovered. They were seen at Rome by Theseus Ambrosius, and described, as a great curiosity in the pontificate of Julius II, the immediate predecessor of Leo X, the reviver of learning in EKurope.t+ This proves, that they * Procopius asserts, that the letter, &c., sent to Abgarus by our Saviour, was used by the Edessenes, for this purpose : “ in vicem Quaexrgis, sive amuleti, in postes urbis sue posuisse.” Fabric, Cod. Apoc. Note vi. p. 218. + Itisremarkable, that many of the works of ancient art, which have been handed down to posterity as just objects of admiration, were discovered also about this period. The Venus de Medici, the Apollo Belvedere, the Laocoon, and the Torso, were brought to light either in the age of Julius II, or immediately after. Without meaning to imply any comparison between these splendid remains and the medal, it may be asserted, that this coincidence in the time of the discovery is in favour of the antiquity and value of the latter. Julius died in 1513. 173 existed at that time, and were among the objects of ancient art, that now engaged the attention of the learned; but it does not prove, that they did not exist long before. The very curious and scarce work of Theseus Ambrosius itself has been just found in the Library of Trinity College Dublin, where it had lain for centuries unknown; and, but for this recent and accidental discovery, his valuable evidence would be wanting in the present enquiry: how many rare works, of asimilar kind and earlier date, illustrative of the subject may yet be discovered, we cannot presume to say ; but, since his time, the medals have been noticed and particularly described by a series of writers to the present day. Assuredly then, what has been thus already an object of interest and research to the learned men of Europe, for more than 300 years, and which are now so scarce, that but five genuine originals are known to exist, must be of no small value in the estimation of a curious and learned enquirer. Sod GFURFUIEDOMINISD || a 1 m=z T= vie Vig Ss - Y NA AN OFbS bYaTae eI DdeY MAPS ( I BR sil S Cet ORGARBUILL evs | | | t 1 i ) SF AlAl \ |& ToW0 Wel c Va Ay) MbYA bel ISSUES dIswoUr DESCRIPTION OF A RICH AND ANCIENT BOX, CONTAINING A LATIN COPY OF THE GOSPELS, WHICH WAS FOUND ON A MOUNTAIN IN THE COUNTY OF TIPPERARY, AND IS NOW IN THE POSSESSION OF H. MONCK MASON, ESQ, L.L. D. M. R. I. A. Read, May 24th, 1819» "THE rich and curious relic which is here presented to the Aca- demy was found, about thirty years past, by some persons who were looking for nests in. the caverns, among the rocks of the Devil’s Bit Mountain, in the county of Tipperary. They found it carefully con- cealed, and in a state of perfect preservation : they were induced, by their hopes of profit, to tear off the silver plate which surrounded the upper side, and to pick out some of the lapis lazuli, with which it was studded; the representation of the Passion saved the other 176 side from similar injury. It got at length into the possession of Dr. Thomas Harrison of Nenagh, from whom I purchased it. This Box contains a copy of the four Gospels in Latin, written in the Irish character, and upon vellum. The character may be cal- led either Saxon or Irish, as we find in it all the letters which are common to both, but none of those which are peculiar to either, excepting the q, the use of which is unavoidable in the writing of Latin. Neither the th, or the w, peculiar to the Saxon, nor the mor- tified letters, which are exclusively Irish, occur ; it appears, however, from an inscription at the end of the MS., thatit was written by an Irishman. The period of the writing does not appear ; but it was, in ali likelihood, anterior to the Norman Conquest of England. I have compared it with the Book of Durham in the British Museum, (the date of which is inscribed in it by the writer,) and with other MSS. in that repository, in company with learned antiquaries; and the result of this comparison was, that it was written, most pro- bably, in the 9th century: the embellishments of the paintings, and the illuminations, will also suit with this conjecture. With regard to the version of this copy, it is certainly very ma- terially different from the two Vulgates of Sabatier, and the four Latin Translations of Blanchini; it also varies from the four most ancient and interesting Latin Versions preserved among the MSS. in the Library of our University, viz. A. 1. 1. A. 1. 5. A. 4. 6. and A. 4, 15. Two verses may suffice to shew this. I shall select the commence- ment of the 19th chap. of St. Matthew, which is thus, “ Et, inde ex- “surgens, venit in fines Jude ultra Jordanem, et convenerunt iterum “ turbee ad eum, et, sicut convenerunt, rursus docebat illos.” St. Jerome’s Versio antiqua.—“ Et factum est, cum locutus esset “ sermones istos, transtulit se a GalilaeA, et venit in finibus Juda et “ trans Jordanem, et secute sunt eum turbz multe, et curavit eos ibi. = ss ee es See 177 Vulgata nova. Et factum est, cum consummasset Jesus sermones istos, migravit se a Galilea, et venit in fines Jude et trans Jorda- nem, et secute sunt eum turbe multe, et curavit eos. Blanchini’s four versions are so similar, that I do not think'it necessary to transcribe them, the four MSS. in Bib. T. C. D. above noticed, come yet nearer to the Vulgates. It is evident that the version in this book is very incorrect, nor is it supported by the authority of any of the Greek MSS. that are quoted by Mill, or by Wetstein. This cannot therefore be the Ttalic, which has been so long a desideratum, and which is alleged by St. Augustine, and supposed by all the commentators, to have been the most correct translation of the Gospels into Latin. It affords, however, a collateral proof, to be added to many already often insisted on, that the Irish church was, in those remote ages, not very slavishly dependant on the See of Rome. There is in this book a very extraordinary various reading, on which I think it ne- cessary to enlarge. After the 48th verse of the 27th chapter of St. Matthew, the following is inserted: “ alius autem, capta lanced, pu- “ pungit latus ejus, et exivit aqua et sanguis ;’—the next proceeds, «¢ Jesus autem clamans,” &c. This reading, which is to be found in four * Greek MSS., in the AXthiopian version of the New Tes- tament, and in the works of St. Chrysostom, does not occur in the Vulgates which Sabbatier has published, or in any of the four Italic texts of Blanchini. Its history is curious, as it is related by Wetstein. Inthe time of Pope Clement V. this additional verse was very generally received ; but that Pontiff, considering it to con- tain heretical doctrine, that our Saviour had been wounded before his death, as this text imports, condemned it at the Council of * Viz. Cod. Step. d and 4, Bodl, 7. and Huntington 2. See Mill’s and Wetstein’s New Tes- tament. VOL. XIII. AA 178 Vienna, holden in the year 1311.4 This text is of itself suffici- ent to make the MS. which I now describe as containing it to be considered as curious. The genealogy of our Lord agrees with that received into the version of the English church, excepting that it omits Levi, who was the father of the grandfather of Joseph. This copy has the division by Ammonian sections, and has not the addita- mentum in Matt. xx. 28. The writing on the first page is the , finest I have ever seen; but it becomes less and less elegant at every page; until, at the conclusion of the book, it is ;exceedingly bad. But the gradual deterioration proves that it is written by one scribe. There is, at the end of the Gospel of St. Luke, some general prayers for the dead; and, at the conclusion of each book, an in- cription in Irish, or in Latin, from which we can only learn the name of the writer. Two leaves have been lost, which contained from Mark, ii. 5. to ii. 24. and Luke xiv. 18. to xv. 18. Preceding the Gospels of St. Matthew, St. Mark, and St. Luke, are very curious coloured representations of those Evangelists ; and, before that of St. John, ‘is the eagle, which has, from the first ages of Christianity, formed his emblem. The costume of the figures + The text rested indeed upon the slightest authority, existing only in four MSS. of the hundreds collated by Mill, Wetstein, and their predecessors, and in the works above al- luded to. I find’ it in several of the most ancient vulgate copies, that were written in Ireland, and exist in the College library, asin A. 1. 5. and A, 4. 6. it is also in some others. Birch asserts, in his edition of the Gospels, that it is to be found in the Vatican MS. one which is surpassed by none in antiquity, and by few in importance ; but I doubt the fact, for, were it the case, it could not have escaped the knowledge and the notice of Wetstein, who _doeg not mention it. 179 is very curious, and is borrowed from the clerical habiliments of the Church of Rome. The box is of copper, adorned with plates of silver, some’ of which are gilded with liquid gold ; beneath the open worked plates of silver are plates of gilded brass; it is studded with lapis lazuli, and, in the centre of one side, it is ornamented by a large piece of polished rock chrystal. I conceive that this box, the workmanship of which is of most excellent execution, was framed about the same period at which the book was written, or not long after; its runic ornaments are very similar indeed to those of the illu- minations of the paintings in the book: But what puts its great antiquity beyond all doubt, is the tenor of the ancient inscription, which still remains perfectly legible wpon one of the sides. It is written in Gothic characters, suchas continued in use in monu- mental inscriptions, until about two centuries past; and is as‘ fol- lows—“ Tatheus O’Karbuill (O’Carroll,) REIDEEU * meipsum “ deauravit: Dominus Domnaldus O Cuanain, Converbius, (the Comapb, Coarb, or succesgor in the Irish language,) “ ultimé meip- “sum restauravit: Tomas : Ceard : dachorig : in mindsa +-” This latter part of the inscription is in the Irish tongue ; and Mr. O’Reil- ly has, as I conceive, guessed rightly atits meaning. He reads it— « Thomas” (was, understood, or ?s,) “ the artist who made,” (Da or ‘D0 coyyg;) “ this holy depository,” (jn mora, or, more commonly as now written, an mjjya.) The very ancient notification of “re- _ stauravit,”’ as applied to the box, demonstrates its antiquity. | I con- AA2 * I have consulted with Doctor Barrett, and other antiquarians, and with Mr. O’Reilly, the learned editor of the Irish-English Dictionary, in hopes of discovering the meaning of these seven letters, and this mark; but in vain. It is most probably a title, and a high one, as the successor is stiled Dominus. ‘There can be no doubt about the letters : they are all ca- pitals throughout. 180 + ee jecture that the inscription was continued round upon the plate which was torn from the other side; and that, with it, we have to lament the loss of the date. There are, in our College, among the MSS. the book of Kells, and the book of St. Columb, undoubtedly original; but the fine cover, in which the latter was anciently preserved, is now lost, Many other such books are still extant, but no where one preserved in a box so antique as this. I shall refer here tg Usher’s Britan. Eccl. Antiq. Lond. 1687, p. 361, wherein he mentions two books of St. Columb, the first of which is that which Mr. O’Conor has described in his Rerum Hibern. Scriptores, Epis. Nuncup. p. clxxx, and which I conceive he should have called the book of Durrow ; the latter, which is the venerable volume of Kells, is probably the greatest literary curiosity of this description in the United Kingdom, and is perhaps justly called by Mr. O’Conor, (Proleg. part 2d. p. clxxvi.) “ Totius Europe facilé princeps:’ but Mr. O’Conor has fallen into an error, in his “ Epistola Nuncupatoria,” by con- founding this book with the book of Durrow. It may not be amiss to announce here a fact, which will be gratifying to the learned, that the Codex Hymnorum of Primate Usher, so often mentioned by Mr. O’Conor, is not lost, as has been supposed, but is to be found among the MSS. in the Library of our College. See much interesting matter respecting this valuable re- lic in Mr. O’Conor’s Epis. Nuncup. in the places refered to, under the title “ Hymnus,” in the Index. DESCRIPTION OF AN ANCIENT DRAWING IN THE RED BOOK OF THE EXCHEQUER IN IRELAND, BY H. JOS. MONCK MASON; ESQ. L. L. D. M.R.L A. Read, Feb. 28th, 1820. THE annexed sketch is an accurate fac simile of a drawing traced upon one of the leaves of an antient book of record, called the Red Book of the Exchequer, which is preserved in the office of the chief remembrancer of that court in Ireland. An inscription in the drawing, and the entries which precede and follow it, determine it to have been made about the 11th year of the reign of king Henry LV: the spectacles are plainly a modern addition, and are drawn in different ink from the rest. 182 Uncouth as this sketch may at first appear, it is no contemptiblespe- cimen of art in some of its parts —for instance, the figure of the crier, stepping out of the court, is both correct and animated—it is, at all events, a curious exhibition of the court, and of the costume of the time. It may not, therefore, be uninteresting to explain the nature and occupation of the characters represented therein. The court is that of the Exchequer.—In the 11th Henry IV. this court was settled in the form which Mr. Madox describes it* to have assumed in the year 1261 ; the Lord Treasurer presided therein, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, an officer created to act as a controul upon him, and two Barons formed his assistants ; the office of third Baron was united to that of the Chancellor, the fourth was not added until long afterwards. This court consisted of two parts—the superior, and the inferior, or receipt, which latter was solely employed in the receiving and paying of money : it is the superior or judicial court which is represented here, employed, as was their proper duty at their original establish- ment, in deciding matters relating to the revenues of the crown. The Sheriff was formerly the collector of all the king’s revenues, as he is now of that branch, only, which is levied by the green wax process ; + he accounted in the Exchequer, and this account was divided into three parts, made at separate periods of the year—they were called his profer, visus, and summa—at the latter he was to make up his final account in person; and the form of this duty is still pre- served, being almost the only remnant in existence of the original business of the court—it is that which is exhibited in this sketch. The Sheriff was charged from the great pipe + roll with all * Madox’s History of the Exchequer, p. 564, &c. + Howard’s Exchequer, Preface 18. Madox. 644, &c. t So called because it was the pipe or channel for process—the crown debts, and the sum- mons to levy them being entered thereon. 183 debts, on which summons had been put into his hands, unless'* he paid the money, or good cause of discharge appeared by matter of record. The payment, or excuse; were marked against the charge, not only on the great pipe roll by the clerk of the pipe, a species of clerk to the treasurer, but also on counter roll of the comptroller of the pipe, who was a clerk to the chancellor, and whose record checked the former. These were cast up in his charge on the great roll, by the secondary of the pipe, together . ‘with the account of the green wax. This last was a process issued upon estreated debts, by the clerk of the estreats, or summonister, an officer appointed to assist the clerk of the pipe, upon the increase of business of the Exchequer, and who received the answers of the sheriff, on his apposal of the green wax before the foreign ap- poser. I am confident that the three figures that are upon the left of the drawing are the Judges, or three barons, of whom the Chan- cellor of the Exchequer in those days was always one, as appears from a patent roll, 19 Ed. III. p. 2. M. 10. quoted by Archbishop Usher— See his MSS. Bib. T.C.D. E. 3. 10—a document which men- _ tions that the number of barons was diminished from three, the third being merged in the office of chancellor of the Exchequer. I do not think the treasurer is represented here, as he did not at this period sit often as a judge. Of the figures at the’ top of the drawing, 1 think that the person viewing the pen is the treasurer’s remembrancer, who took notes of such rules, &c. relating to the revenue, as were not belonging to * Hence the phrase ‘ oneratur nisi,” abbreviated to “ oni ;” “tot,” signifies totum, or the sum with which he is charged on each account ; the word “ nil,” (nihil habet in manu,) is marked for sums which cannot be levied, as in cases of death, &c. + See Howard, p.17, &c. 184 the office of the chief remembrancer. Such he appears to be from the terms of the roll which he is represented to engross. He sits between the clerk, or secondary of the pipe roll, and the comp- troller ; the first of whom is demonstrated by his long roll written lengthways; the second by the narrow one written across. Next to this latter is the crier of the court ; the words which he uses “a “ demain,” still said, but in English, upon the adjourning of the court, his staff, and his attitude put this beyond a doubt. The extreme figure opposite is, most probably, either the usher, whose business was to keep the court, deliver writs, &c. or the mar- shal, who, while the account was depending, kept the writs, vouchers, &c. in binns, files, or bags, (Madox, 727.) He had the custody of the king’s debtors until they were discharged. This figure may also represent the auditor compotorum (Mad. 729.) The sixth person, was, as I conjecture the clerk of the estreats, or summonister.* | Opposite to the judges are the sheriff; “ succinctus gladio,” and probably the attorney and solicitor general, who appear to have been usually present, or perhaps two auditors, whose attendance seems to have been also requisite. That which is next to us is clearly the foreign apposer, who, to this day, attends at the passing of sheriff’s accounts, that they may be apposed before him, (apponere,) of their sums upon the green wax process, after they are apposed of their sums out of the office of the clerk of the pipe. * This office was held with that of chief grosser” at one time ; see Stat. 7 and 8, Ed, 1V.c. 48: and, by 11 and 12 Ed.1V.c. 40 and 66, and 21 Ed. IV, c. 1, it appears, that the effice of clerk of the pleas and clerk of the green wax were at that time united. This sixth figure might be some person who held these two last employments.