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THE 


EDINBURGH, NEW 
PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL, 
Sa THE 


PROGRESSIVE DISCOVERIES AND IMPROVEMENTS 


IN THE 


SCIENCES AND THE ARTS. 


CONDUCTED BY 


ROBERT JAMESON, 


REGIWUS PROFESSOR OF NATURA STORY, LECTURER ON MINERALOGY, AND KEEPER OF 
THE MUSEUM IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH}; 


Fellow of the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh; of the Antiquarian, Wernerian and Horti- 
cultural Societies of Edinburgh; Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy, and of the Royal 
Dublin Society; Fellow of the Linnean and Geological Societies of London; Honorary Member 
of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta; of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, and of the Cam- 
bridge Philosophical Society; of the York, Bristol, Cambrian, Northern, and Cork Institutions; 
of the Royal Society of Sciences of Denmark: of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Berlin; of the 
Royal Academy of Naples; of the Imperial Natural History Society of Moscow; of the Imperial 
Pharmaceutical Society of Petersburgh; of the Natural History Society of Wetterau; of the Mi- 
neralogical Society of Jena; of the Royal Mineralogical Society of Dresden; of the Natural His- 
tory Society of Paris; of the Philomathic Society of Paris; of the Natural History Society of 
Calvados; of the Senkenberg Society of Natural History ; of the Society of Natural Sciences and 
Medicine of Heidelberg; Honorary Member of the Literary and Philosophical Society of New 
York; of the New York Historical Society; of the American Antiquarian Society ; of the Aca- 
demy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia; of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York; of 
the Natural History Society of Montreal, §c. Sc. 


JANUARY...APRIL 1830. 


TO BE CONTINUED QUARTERLY. 


EDINBURGH: 


PRINTED FOR ADAM BLACK, NORTH BRIDGE, EDIN BURGH ; 
AND LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, & GREEN. 
LONDON. 


1830. 


Neill & Co. Printers, Edinburgh. 


ag 


CONTENTS. 


Arr. I. Biographical Memoirs of M. Hatxe’ and M. Corvi- 
sartT. By Baron Cuvier, - - 

II. Notice regarding the Salt Lake Inder, in Asiatic Rus- 
sia. Communicated by Lieutenant J. E. ALExAN- 
pER, 16th Lancers, K.L.S. M. R.A.S. Corres. 
Mem. S.A. E. &e. - - - 

III. On the Discovery of a new Species of Pterodactyle, and 
of Fossil Ink and Pens, in the Lias at Lyme Regis ; 
also of Coprolites or Fossil Faces in the Lias at 
Lyme Regis, and Westbury-on-Severn, and else- 
where, in formations of all ages, from the Carboni- 
ferous Limestone to the Diluvium. By the Rev. 
W. Bucxtanp, D.D. F.R.S. Pate G. S. and 
Professor of Geology and moe aay in he*Univer- 
sity of Oxford, = - - - 

IV. On the Chemical Conte. aud Temperature of 
Springs, in reference to the Rock Formations in their 
Vicinity. By Dr and Prof. Gusravus Biscuorr, 

VY. Examination of some Minerals. By M. Victor 


HartTwa.tu, - = = ee 
VI. Analysis of Pyrophyllite, a new Mineral. By M. R. 
Herman of Moscow, = is 


VII. Additional Remarks on Active was ve Ro- 
BERT Brown, F.R.S. &c. - 
VIII. On the Tripang, or Bicho de Mar, or Sea-Slug of In- 
dia, the Holothuria tubulosa of naturalists. By 
Cuar Les CouiieR, formerly Staff-Surgeon in Cey- 
lon, now Inspector of Hospitals in the Mauritius. 
Communicated by Sir, Jams M°Gricor. Witha 
Plate, “ - 2 = = aif 
IX. Observations on the ancient. Roads of the » Peruvians. 
By Joun Giuures, M.D. MTW.S. - 

X On the Stomach of the Manis pentadactyla of Cey- 
lon. By C. T. Wurrerietp, Esq. Assistant- 
Surgeon, Royal Artillery. Communicated by Sir 
James M°Gricor. With a Plate, - 


Page 


18 


21 


26 
38 
40 


41 


¢ 


46 


53 


58 


Pic. . 


ii CONTENTS. 


Art. XI. Repetition of M. Dutrochet’s Experiments on the 
Mimosa pudica. By Roperr Spirra, Esq. one 
of the Presidents of the Plinian Natural History 

Society, - - - - - 60 
XII. Additional Remarks on the Climate of the Arctic 
Regions, in Answer to Mr Conyspeare. By the 
Rev. Jonn Fuemine, D.D. F.R.S.E. Com- 


municated by the Author, - - 65 
XIII. On a peculiar Noise heard at Nakuh, on Mount 
Sinai, . = = : = 74 


XIV. On the Constitution of the Territory of Rome, with 
some general Observations on the Geognostic Cha~ 
racter of Italy. By Professor F. Horrman. With 


a Coloured Map, - - = = 76 

XV. On the different Colours of the Eggs of Birds. By 
M. GuocEr, - - - - 98 

XVI. On the Chemical Nature of the Equisetz, or Horse- 
tail, - é 2 = = 100 

XVII. On Parasitic Animals, and on a new Genus of that 
Family, - - = - ae OE 

XVIII. On the ancient Forests of Scotland. By Parrick 
F. Tyruer, Esq. F.R.S. E. F.A.S. &e.  - 105 
XIX. Salt Wells and Springs of Inflammable Gas in China, 108 
XX. Remarks on the Ancient Flora of the Earth, - 112 


XXI. On the relative Conductibility for Caloric of different 
Woods, in the direction of their fibres, and in the 
contrary direction. By MM. Ave. pz xa Rive, 
and ALPH. DE CANDOLLE, - 4 131 

XXII. Account of the Nuremberg Boy, Caspar Hauser, 
who was shut up in a Dungeon from the fourth to 


the sixteenth year of his age, - - 134 
XXIII. Fresh-water Springs at the Bottom of the Sea, 140 
XXIV. On the Lofty Flight of the Condor, - - 142 


XXV. Notes in regard to the Geology of Cherry Island 
and Spitzbergen. By Professor Krinuavu of 


Christiania, = - = - 144 

XXVI. Is the Domestic Cat originally a native of this 
Country, 2 = - - 146 

XXVII. Account of a new species of Mineral named Poly- 
basite ; and Observations ou Zinkenite, 148 
XXVIII. On the Egg of the Ornythorynchus, - 149 


XXIX. On the Philosophy of Nature, - - 152 


CONTENTS. iil 


Art. XXX: Observations on the Daily Periodical Growth of 

Wheat and Barley. By M. Ernest Mayer, 
Professor at’ Konigsberg, - - 154 

XXXI. Plan for ascertaining the Rates of Chronometers 

by Signal. By R. Waucnorg, Esq. Capt. R.N. 


Communicated by the Author, - 160 
XXXII. Notice of GozTHE’s Essay on the Metamorphoses 
of Plants, - - - 162 


XXXIII. Observations on the Affinities of Vellosia, Barba- 
cenia, Glaux, Aucuba, Viviana, Deutzia, and of 
a new Genus of the Order Rubiacee. By Mr 


Davin Don, Libr. Linnean Society, &c. 164 
XXXIV. Description of an Economical Apparatus for Heat- 
ing Apartments. By Jonn Harr, Esq. 175 


: XXXV. On the anomalous Structure in the Leaf of Rosa 
: berberifolia. By Mr Davin Don, Libr. L. S. 175 
: XXXVI. Comparative View of the Secondary Rocks in the 
Alps and the Carpathians. By A. Bove’, M.D., 
M.W.S. F.G.S. &c. - - - 176 
: XXXVII. Description of several New or Rare Plants which 
| have lately flowered in the neighbourhood of 
: Edinburgh, and chiefly in the Royal Botanic 
Garden. By Dr Granam, Professor of Botany, 183 
XXXVIII. Celestial Phenomena from Jan. 1. to Mar. 1. 1830, 
calculated for the meridian of Edinburgh, Mean 
Time. By Mr Grorce Innes, Aberdeen, 187 
XXXIX. Proceedings of the Wernerian Nat. Hist. Society, 189 


XL. Screntiric INTELLIGENCE. 


METEOROLOGY. 
1. Extreme Dryness of the Atmosphere of Greece, and rising 
of the Land there. 2. Winter Climate of Rome very fa- 
vourable for Consumptive Patients. 3. Climate of the Sou- 
thern Hemisphere. 4. Dr Gerard’s Travels in Thibet, 190-2 
HYDROGRAPHY. 
5. Ice-Islands off the Cape of Good Hope. 6. Colour of Rivers, 193 
MINERALOGY. 
7. Impressions of Gems, &c. in Siliceous Sinter. 8. Notice of 
magnificent Rock Crystals, and rose-coloured Fluor-spar. 
9. Magnificent rose-red Fluor-spar. 10. Price of Selenium, 193-4 
GEOLOGY. 
11. Observations made on Mount Caucasus by M. Kupfer, 12. 


iv CONTENTS. 


Gigantic Plant of Craigleith Quarry. 13. On Tertiary de- 
posites. 14. Chalk in the United States. 15. Number of 
species of Fossil Shells in the Paris Basin. 16. More Caves 
containing Bones of extinct Animals, mixed with works of 
art. 17. Natural History Society of Switzerland. 18. 
Bones of the Paleotherium in Molasse. 19. Geognostical 
situation of the great deposite of Lead-glance and Calamine 
in Silesia, - - - - - 194-8 


BOTANY. 
20. Oak Trees liable to be struck by Lightning. 21. Potato at 
a great height on the mountain Orizaba. 22. Method of 
detecting Adulteration of Tea. 23. Culture of the Vine 

in Mexico, - - - - - 199 


ZOOLOGY. 
24. Periodical appearance of shoals of Herrings in Loch Roag. 
25. Notice of the Comparative Anatomist Bojanus. 26. 
Royal Medal presented to Mr Charles Bell. 27. Anatomi- 
cal, Physiological and Pathological Researches in regard to 
Veins. 28. Cross of the Anas clangula and Mergus albel- 
lus. 29. Remarkable Birth. 30. Thompson’s Zoological 
Illustrations. 31. The third volume of Poli’s great work, 
and on the animal of Argonauta Argo. 32. Humming Bird 
and Insects at a great height on the Volcano of Orizaba. 
33. Spur on the wing of the Rallus crex.. 34. An Electrical 
Molluscous animal. 35. Species of Mussel exclusively em- 

ployed as Bait in the Newfoundland Cod Fishery, 199-204 


ARTS. 

36. Improvement in the Smelting of Iron. 37. Artificial Ultra- 
marine, - - - - 4 e 905 
Arr. XLI. List of Patents granted in England, z ib. 


XLII. List of Patents granted in Scotland, a 208 


TO CORRESPONDENTS. 


The Editor regrets that want of room prevents his noticing the books 
transmitted until next Number. 

The Memoir illustrative of Plate IV. shewing Isogeothermal Lines, and 
Plate I. of Tripang and Manis, are unavoidably delayed till next Number. 

At p. 31, vol. viii. in Major Morrison’s paper, is the following statement : 
« Each vessel being furnished with from 100 to 120 nets, each net being 4€ 
feet in length, which are joined to each other with great facility, and whem 
in the sea present a curtain from 14 to 16 feet in depth;” for which the Ma- 
jor now requests the following may be substituted: “ Each vessel, when 
equipped for the taking of Mackerel, having from 100 to 120 nets, each net 
being 40 yards in length, which are joined to each other with great facility, 
and are 18 feet in depth; and for the taking of the Herring, are furnished 
with from 46 to 60 nets, each being 30 yards in length, and 27 feet in depth.” 


Art. I. 


II. 


iil. 


IV. 


VI. 


VIL. 


VIII. 


“CONTENTS. 


Page 
Biographical Memoir of Sir Bensamin THomson, = 
Count Rumford. By Baron Cuvier, = 209 
Observations on the Action of the Mineral Acids on Cop- 
per, under different circumstances. By Joun Davy, 
M.D. F.R.S., Physician to the Forces. Commu- 
nicated by Sir James M¢Gricor, Director-General 
of the Army Medical Board, - - 229 
On the Mean Temperature of the Atmosphere and of 
the Earth, in some parts of East Russia. By Pro- 
fessor A. T. Kurrer. With a Plate of Isogeother- 
mal Lines, = > e - - 233 
On peculiar Noises occasionally heard in particular 
Districts, with some further Remarks on the produc- 
tion of these Sounds. Communicated by the Au- 
thor, = 2 = = = 258 


. On the Geographical Characters and Geognostical Con- 


stitution of Spain. By Professor HausMANN of 

Gottingen. Communicated by the Author, - 267 
Description of an Apparatus for Evaporating Fluids, 

and also for separating Salts from their aqueous so- 

lution by Crystallization without the aid of the Air- 

pump. By P. A. Von Bonsporr, Professor of 

Chemistry in the Alexander University in Finland, 278 
Observations on the Theory of Capillary Action given 

in the Supplement to the Encyclopedia Britannica. 

By Epwarp Sane, Esq. Teacher of Mathematics. 

Communicated by the Author, = = 280 
Account of the Larva of a supposed C&strus Hominis, 

or Gad-Fly, which deposites its Eggs in the Bodies 

of the Human Species; with the particulars of a Case 

communicated by Dr Hix of Greenock, - 


Arr. IX. 


CONTENTS. 


Description of the Apparatus or Signal-Post for re- 
gulating Chronometers. By R. Wavucuorg, Esq. 
Captain R.N. Witha Plate. Communicated by 


the Author, - - - - 288 
X. On Miargyrite and Jamesonite, © - é 292 

XI. On the relative Age of the different European Chains 
of Mountains, . -* - - - 293 

XII. Observations on the Fontaine Ronde, a Periodical 
Spring on the Jura. By M. Durrocuer, 307 

XIII. On the Height of the Perpetual Snows on the Cor- 
dilleras of Peru, . - - - 311 

XIV. Observations on a paragraph in the last Number of 


XV. 


XVI. 


XVII. 


XVIII. 


XIX. 


XX. 


XXI. 


XXII. 


XXIII. 


the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal. By 

W. J. Broperip, Esq. F.R.S. Communicated 

by the Author, - - 312 
On supposed Vegetable Remains in Chalk. By Gi- 

DEON Manrevy, Esq. F.R.S. Ina Letter to 

the Editor, - - - . 313 
Notes regarding the Serpentine Rocks on Dee Side. 

By the Rev. James Farquuarson. Communi- 

cated by the Author, - - - 314 


On the Hya-hya, or Milk-Tree of Demerara. Ina 


Letter to Professor JAmzxson from JAMES SmirH, 
Esq. - - - - - 314 


Notes relative to the dried specimen of the Hya-hya. 

By G. A. W. Arwnort, Esq. F.L.S. F.R.S. E. 
&e. - - - - - 319 

On the Formation of the Earth. By the late Sir 
H. Davy, - - - - 320 

Lectures on the History of the Natural Sciences. 
By Baron Cuvier, - - = 326 

" Lectures I. & II. Earliest History of the Human 
Species, ~ - - - = ib. 
Lecture III. Egypt, : - - - 334 
Lecture IV. Greece, - - - 342 

On the Heights of the most remarkable Summits of 
the Cordillera of the Andes in Peru, - 350 


On the Chemical Constitution of Brewsterite. By 
Anrtuur ConnE.Lt, Esq. F.R.S.E. Communi- 
eated by the Author, - - - 355 

Queries respecting the Natural History of the Sal- 
mon, Sea-Trout, Bull-Trout, Herling, &e. By Sir 
Witwiam Jarpine, Bart. F.R.S.E. M.W.S. &e. 398 


CONTENTS. iil 


Arr. XXIV. On the various Preparations of Milk, particularly 
of Mares’ Milk, used by the Kalmuck Tartars, 360 

XXV. Analyses of Limestenes from the Quarries be- 

longing to the Earl of Elgin, near Charlestown 

in Fifeshire. By Rev. A. RopERTSON junior, 
Inverkeithingy Communicated by the Author, 364 

XXVI. A Uniformity of Climate prevailed over the Earth 
prior to the time of the Deluge? - 366 

XXVII. Notes on the Moth named Saturnia Luna—the 

Domestication of Foreign Butterflies—and the 

Geographical Distribution of Insects. Com- 
municated by James Witson, Esq. F. R.S. E. 368 

- XXVIII. Account of several New Species of Grouse (Te- 
trao) from North America, - = 372 

XXIX. Description of several New or Rare Plants which 

have lately flowered in the neighbourhood of 

Edinburgh, and chiefly in the Royal Botanic 

Garden. By Dr Grauam, Professor of Bo- 

tany in the University of Edinburgh. With 

a Plate illustrative of the germination of the 
Nepenthes distillatoria, - = 377 

XXX. Celestial Phenomena from April 1. to July 1. 

1830, calculated for the Meridian of Edin- 

burgh, Mean Time. By Mr Grorce Innes, 


Astronomical Calculator, Aberdeen, = 381 
XXXI. Proceedings of the Wernerian Natural History 
Society, - - = - 384 
XXXII. Screnrivic INTELLIGENCE, - = 385 
METEOROLOGY. 


1. Climate of Britain. 2. Winter of 1829-30. 3. Meteoro- 
logical Table kept at Kinfauns Castle. 4. Meteorological 
Tables for Aberdeen. 5. Latitude of Calton Hill. 6. 
Mysterious Sounds. 7. Effects of Electricity on Rocks. 

8. Meteoric Lron of Atacama, - - 385-396 


MINERALOGY. 


9. Perishable Nature of Works of Man, 2 — 396 


iv CONTENTS. 


GEOLOGY. 
10. Norway has not been materially elevated above the level 
of the sea for the last 800 years. 11. Fossil Insects in 
lower Oolite, at Solenhof. (12. Antique Green Porphyry. 


13. Durability of Stones, = - - 391, 392 
BOTANY. 

14. On Columba Root, = = - ~ 393 
ZOOLOGY. 


15. Nature of Respiration. 16. Cuttlefish Fishery. 17. Ana- 
tifera Vitrea or Vitreous Barnacle. 18. Mortality among 
Leeches. 19. Belemnites, - = = 394, 395 


NEW PUBLICATIONS. 


20. A Concise System of Mathematics, in Theory and Prac- 
tice, for the Use of Schools, Private Students, and Prac- 
tical Men. By Alexander Ingram, "sq. Edinburgh, 396 

21. An American Dictionary of the English Language. By 
Noah Webster, LL. D. = P- = < ib. 

22. French edition of Berzelius’ Chemistry condemned, 397 


Arr. XXXIII. List of Patents granted in England, from 15th 
September to 2lst November 1829, 398 

XXXIV. List of Patents granted in Scotland from 17th 
December 1829 to 3d March 1830, = 399 


THE 


EDINBURGH NEW 


PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL. 


Biographical Memoirs of M. Hauix/* and M. Corvisart. 
By Baron Cuvier. 


1. Biographical Memoir of M. Haute’. 


Jean Nort Hate’, born at Paris, on the 6th January 1754, 
was of a family, several of whom had become distinguished in 
the arts}. His father, grandfather, and one of his uncles, had 
been excellent painters, and he had himself applied to drawing 
with great success. ‘This inclination was naturally favoured by 
a pretty long residence at Rome with his father, who was di- 
rector of the French Academy in that city, and, in fact, he 
studied there, with great assiduity, the monuments of ancient 
art, and the works of the great artists of the sixteenth century ; 
but, among his father’s acquaintance, he at the same time met 
with two men of science, the French Franciscans, Jacquier and 
Lesueur, the commentators of Newton, and their conversation 
opened to his mind another prospect. He was always characte- 
rized by a remarkable accuracy of judgment; and the sciences 
founded on calculation and experiment, offered to this predomi- 
nant quality of his mind greater attraction than the arts, whose 
principal source will always be a lively imagination, and a great 


* Read at the Royal Institute of France on the 11th June 1827. 


+ Claude Guy Hallé, his grandfather; Noel Hallé, his father; the two 
Restouts, Jouvenet and La Fosse, his kinsmen. In the number was also” 
the poet La Fosse, the author of Manlius. 


OCTOBER—DECEMBER 1829. A 


Q2 Biographical Memoir of M. Halle. 


degree of sensibility. On his return, a domestic example con- 
firmed him in this new pursuit. 

Anne Charles Lorry*, one of the most able and most es- 
teemed physicians at the end of the last century, was his ma- 
ternal uncle. Charmed with the steadiness he discovered in 
his young friend, he wished to make him his pupil and succes- 
sor, and soon gained him entirely to medicine. In vain did the 
protectors of his family hold forth to him brilliant expectations 
in the finances ; nothing could shake his resolution, and, after 
attending the schools in conformity to the established rules, he 
took his first degrees in 1776. 

The knowledge and clearness of understanding, of which he 
gave proof in his first exercises, so much distinguished him, that, 
even before he had in form received the doctor’s cap, the 
founders of the Royal Society of Medicine wished to have him 
as a companion in their labours ;—a precocious honour, which 
afterwards prevented him from obtaining in the Faculty the title 
of Regent Doctor. The same affront has been offered to Four- 
croy, and other individuals of the highest merit, and from the 
same motive,—the childish jealousy which led the Faculty to 
consider the Royal Society as a rival body, and which induced 
them to vow an implacable hatred against those of their own mem- 
bers, who had consented to let their names be inscribed on the 
lists of the Society. It will be remembered that this antipathy ex- 
cited the most ridiculous dissensions among the physicians of the 
capital, and gave rise to a multitude of odious libels and satires ; 
but what may already give a favourable idea of the gentleness 
and modesty of M. Halle’s character, as well as of the esteem 
which these qualities inspired, is, that, in productions, in which 
men of the highest reputation were not spared, he was less 
abused than any of his brethren. Keeping, in fact, at a dis- 
tance from all intrigue, thinking only of the elucidation of his 
art by whatever aid the sciences could yield to it, but never va- 
luing himself on his successes or his discoveries, and not seeking 
a popular reputation, he did not offend the vanity, or interfere 
with the interest, of any one. The study of medicine appeared 
to him sufficient to occupy a lifetime. Nothing that relates to 


* Son of Francis Lorry, and brother of Paul Charles Lorry, both profes- 
sors of the Faculty of Law. . 


Biographical Memoir of M. Hallé. 8 


man as a physical and moral agent, was, in his opinion, uncon- 
nected with that noble science ; and, in the disinterested feelings 
towards it which he experienced, he viewed as marks of imbeci- 
lity all endeavours to gain the estimation of a public, destitute 
of every thing that would qualify them to judge. He, there- 
fore, remained constantly beside his patients, or in his closet, 
observing the progress of natural history, chemistry, natural 
philosophy, and even of political economy and the welfare of 
all ranks, not less than of physiology and anatomy; but al- 
ways considering these sciences in their relations to the health 
of the species, and to that of individuals. It will readily be un- 
derstood that, after forming to himself so enlarged ideas of me- 
dicine, after prescribing to himself so extensive a course of 
study, he would not be in haste to bring himself forward to 
public view ; and, in fact, excepting his labours at the Society 
of Medicine, of which he was one of the most industrious mem- 
bers *, and the care which he bestowed on the publication of 
some writings of his uncle +, he does not seem to have brought 
forward any work, or to have engaged in any public employ- 
ment, up to 1795, when he had already passed his fortieth year. 
Stull, while he was thus laboriously improving himself, he had 


“ We find, by him, in the Collection of Memoirs of the Royal Society of 
Medicine, a Report on the Properties and Effects of the Root of Tooth-wort in the 
Treatment of Itch ; Observations on the Phenomena and Variations which the 
Urine presents in a State of Health ; and on two examinations of dead bodies, 
which presented phenomena very different from those which the disease 
seemed to indicate. In the first there was a scirrhous induration of the sto- 
mach ; in the other a disorganization of the kidneys. A Memoir, On the Effects 
of Camphor given in large Doses, and on the Property which that substance pos- 
sesses of being a Corrective of Opium; reflections on secondary fevers, and on 
the swelling which takes place in small-pox, and several interesting reports 
on questions submitted to the Society, especially those on police; as it regards 
the salubrity of towns. He gave, in particular, in 1784, an interesting Re- 
port, On the Nature and Effects of the Mephitic Air of Privies, when the sub- 
ject to be examined was the preservative the oculist Janin pretended to 


_ have discovered in acetic acid. It was printed separately in 1785. 


+ In 1784, he published an edition of Lorry’s work, entitled, De Precipuis 
Morborum Mutationibus et Conversionibus ; and inserted in the Memoirs of the 
Royal Society, the observations of the same author, On the Volatile and Odo- 
rous Parts of Medicines, derived from Vegetable and Animal Substances. Ata 
later period he published an edition of the writings of Bordeu, On the Glands 
and Cellular Tissue. 


Ag 


4 Biographical Memoir of M. Halle. 


not lived without benefit to others. His practice had gradually 
extended, but it was of a singular kind. The easy circum- 
stances which his family had long enjoyed, allowed him to visit, 
by preference, the sick poor; and this he did assiduously. He 
aided them by his gifts as much as by his advice; and, inge- 
nious in his charity, concealed his bounty from those by whom, 
from delicacy, it would not have been accepted. More than 
one person in distress, on recovering from sickness, found all his 
expenses paid, and learned, only by importunate inquiry, that 
every thing had been provided by his physician. His charity 
gained a great reward, and that which best suited him, the 
ability still to exercise it at the period when it became most 
necessary. His father and grandfather had received the ribbon 
of St Michael, and the ennoblement that always accompanied 


admission into the order, brought him under the decree of 


banishment, when the Convention commanded the nobles to 
leave Paris; but, as the physician of the poor, he was excepted 
from the rule; and he had then another kind of calamity to re- 
heve. 'To avert dangers that threatened every one, and, when 
it was possible, to provide the means of escaping them, became 
in his eyes duties not less sacred than those of his profession. 
He penetrated into the prison of Malesherbes, brought him con- 


solation, and received his last farewell. He drew up, at the ~ 


Lyceum of Arts, the petition soliciting the pardon of Lavoisier. 
A thousand other services, where the chief condition was secrecy, 
but which time has in part revealed, occupied him during these 
two years, which were ages of misery and disgrace. 

At length the period arrived when M. Hallé was called to 
teach, aad to’advance, by his writings, the art to which he had 
devoted himself. | Fourcroy, entrusted, in 1794 and 1795, 
with the establishment of a school of medicine, conferred on 
him the chair of Medical Physics:and Health. Not long after, 
im 1796, when the Institute was formed, he was named a mem- 
ber of the Section of Medicine and Surgery ; and, in 1806, 
Corvisart, fully occupied with his duties near the chief of the 
government, selected him as his. coadjutor in his chair at the 
College of France, and soon left it to him entirely. 

At the Institute, M. Hallé shewed: himself not less active 
than he had been before at the Society of Medicine... Among 


a 


Biographical Memoir of M. Halle. 5 


us he successively treated the greatest questions of medical 
science, whether in the reports that were asked of him, or in 
memoirs in which he explained his own views. His reports on 
the cowpox are the most important of all. He had upheld it, 
in some degree, frum the time of its introduction, in 1800, and 
had made known its beneficial effects. In 1812, when these 
had been established by an experience of some duration, he re- 
examined the subject, shewed the nature of the exceptions, 
ascertained their causes, and thus contributed to gain, for that 
admirable preservative, the confidence that was due to it. He 
may be regarded as one of its most successful promoters ; and 
France will name him with the Woodvilles and the Rochefou- 
caults. On this account, Italy, too, owes him especial gratitude. 
In 1810, he was summoned to extend vaccination in the state 
of Lucca and in Tuscany ; and the public experiments he made 
there, together with the detailed account he gave of them, for- 
warded its popularity in that country. 

In his lectures at the faculty, M. Hallé viewed medicine as a 
subject of observation, and dwelt chiefly on those phenomena of 
the animal economy which can be referred to the known laws of 
the physical sciences. Physicians have, according to him, too 
much undervalued the application of these sciences. ‘* The 
problem of nature,” says he, “ is a compound of the known and 
the constant, with the unknown and the variable; and it is a 
great error to imagine, that, to resolve it, to obtain the value of 
the unknown, and to fix the shades of the variable, the constant 
and calculable elements are to be neglected.” In this lay the 
fundamental principle of his course. He did not publish his 
lectures, but the articles which his pupils extracted from them, 
for the Dictionnaire des Sciences Médicales, will serve to afford 
some idea of the whole course *. In these articles are seen com- 
bined the most enlarged views, a sound judgment, and vast 
erudition. He always keeps pace with the advance of the 
sciences, and brings them to his subject in the most ingenious 
manner. 

His erudition was still more eminently displayed in his lectures 


* Especially the articles Hygiene, Matiére de Hygiene, Alimens, Bains, 
Percepta, Electricité, Physique Medicale, Afrique, Europe, &c. 


6 Biographical Memoir of M. Halle. 


at the College of France, in which he, as it were, shewed the 
other side of the picture of medical science, where the economy 
is viewed in its intimate changes; and physical considerations 
must almost always be in a great measure renounced. He took 
for his subject the history of experience in medicine, from the 
first written monuments of the art, and began his course with an 
interpretation of the works of Hippocrates, not that he, like so 
many moderns, by whom they have been scarcely understood, 
wished to exhibit them pedantically, as collections of infallible 
oracles, to which nothing could be added, and from which no- 
thing could be taken away ; but because he saw in them the first 
attempts of genius to reduce to rules an order of facts which 
seem to consist only of exceptions, and because the just and 
profound views which, notwithstanding some errors, are in these 
works, in so great number, excite the higher admiration from 
having been formed at a period when all was unknown beyond 
what is evident from the immediate observation of diseases. 

An intimate acquaintance with the Greek language, and assi- 
duous study of the philosophers and physicians of antiquity, 
had suggested to him happy explanations of several obscure 
passages in the Father of Medicine; and it is much to be regret- 
ted that neither his notes, nor those of his auditors, have been 
found sufficiently ample for the reproduction of this course, at 
least in its principal articles, as has been done with respect to 
his course on the study of health. 

His design was to follow the progress of observation in all 
ages, to shew how new facts have led to more correct general 
principles, and how, on the other hand, science has almost always 
been retarded by systems. It was a kind of experimental logic, 
in which he exercised his pupils, and they could have had no 
better master than he who, from his childhood, had been so dis- 
tinguished by his sound judgment. 

Nothing was wanting in M. Hallé as to knowledge to make 
him an excellent professor. He was thoroughly versed in all 
the accessory sciences, and had read in their original language 
the works of all the great physicians. His own experience was 
immense, and directed according to the surest method; but it 
is not generally at the age of forty that one can acquire the fa- 
cility of elocution indispensable to fix the attention of a nume- 


— 


Biographical Memoir of M. Hallé. 7 


gous auditory. He was not an exception, and there will appear 
little cause of surprize when we reflect how few there have been 
among the many eminent individuals successively chosen for our 
deliberative assemblies. Nevertheless, what was unpleasant in 
his delivery was redeemed by the profoundness of what he 
taught; and perhaps it was this very depth, the vast extent of 
his knowledge, and his multiplied views of objects, that contri- 
buted to render his lectures less agreeable to most young people. 
At first, a student would have only simple and clear rules, and 
ignorance alone could establish such in medicine. But M. Hallé 
had also pupils of talent and sagacity, who, not having allowed 
themselves to be repelled by those circumstances, had reason for 
congratulation, as they have since expressed on every opportu- 
nity. From this select number have come many of the able 
physicians and distinguished professors who are now the‘orna- 
ment of the Faculty. 

M. Hallé’s practice also was in some degree affected by this 
great extent of his knowledge. He knew too much not to have 
doubts in all cases, and in acute diseases nothing is so vexatious 
as doubting. The sick, as well as those about them, in general, 
like physicians whose practice is decided. He was therefore 
preferred for chronic diseases, where it is not necessary to form 
an immediate opinion. In this kind of practice he enjoyed the 
highest reputation; and those who may not choose to rely on 
the decision of the public, will at least trust to the judgment of 
a physician, whose right to judge in such a case will not be dis- 
puted. Corvisart, in bequeathing to Hallé the portrait of Stoll, 
wrote that he left this gift to him as the physician whom he 
most esteemed. 

He had above all, in a high degree, the talent of making him- 
self beloved by his patients. Most of them were no longer of 
the class toward whom he could exercise his charity, but bene- 
volence can assume all forms. Those of whom he took charge 
became in a manner his children. They saw in him a friend or 
relation, rather than a physician. When he could not relieve 
them, he withdrew their mind by agreeable conversation from 
the depressing thoughts which would have aggravated their 
disease, and even frequently, when their circumstances were 
not such that he could have the most natural pretext for 


8 Biographical Memoir of M. Hallé. 


shewing his generosity, he was at pains to find others. I do 
not merely say that he accepted nothing from his professional 
brethren or his pupils—this were a common case; but he also 
refused any thing from artists, because, being the son and 
grandson, the nephew and grandnephew, of well-known painters, 
he considered himself as one of their family; he received no- 
thing from churchmen, because, if they had only what was ne- 
cessary for them, they ought not to reduce it—and if they had 
more, it belonged to the poor. Such reasons he never wanted ; 
one almost required to be privileged, in order to make him ac- 
cept a recompense; but there was another privilege, the great- 
est of all in his eyes—that of persons who were unable to recom- 
pense him. They were preferred to every other. Returning 
home one day exhausted with fatigue, he was told that a lady 
had come to consult him. He sent to request her to apply to 
some of his brethren. But she dared not, because she had no- 
thing to give. ‘ Oh! in that case,” said he, ‘‘ I have no right 
to send her away.” 

This generosity pervaded his whole conduct. He always 
gave up the whole profits of his works to the young men who 
had assisted him in collecting materials for them. Being en- 
gaged to draw up the new Codex, what was assigned him by 
the goyernment for this labour, he laid out in completing the 
Cabinet of the Faculty. 

Happy in the good he did, in his fortune, and in his 
family, M. Hallé seemed moreover to possess the blessing 
which increases the enjoyment of every other. His health was 
most robust: only sometimes he was troubled by oppressions 
arising from an excess of blood, but they were speedily removed 
by bleeding. A stone, however, suddenly manifested itself in 
hhis bladder. At this critical moment, when so many other men 
would have thought only of themselves, his careful charity re- 
mained unaltered. Before having the operation performed, he, 
with difficulty, visited some poor individuals whom he had main- 
tained, fearing that his long absence would seem to them to 
proceed from forgetfulness. The operation was successful ; but 
there took place a new congestion in his chest, which, almost 
suddenly, carried him off on the 11th February 1822. He was 
only sixty-eight years old; and if the ingenious modes lately 


Biographical Memoir of M. Corvisart. 9 


devised for the treatment of this cruel disease had been but a 
little sooner known, he would probably still have been full of 
activity and life. In the Academy his place was filled by M. 
Chaussier, and in the College of France by M. Laennec, who 
has himself been in his youth removed from an art which he 
had already benefited, and to which he gave promise of still 
more important discoveries. 


2. Biographical Memoir of M. Corvisarr. 


JEAN Nicoias Corvisart, the associate in office, and constant 
friend of M. Hallé, was only one year younger. He was 
born on the 15th February 1745, at Dricourt, a village in the 
department of the Ardennes, whither his father, an attorney at 
Paris, had retired, during one of those banishments of the par- 
liament, which the quarrels of that body with the clergy so fre- 
quently occasioned during the reign of Louis XV. The duties 
of an attorney, exercised with talent and probity, yielded sure 
profits, and would have enriched M. Corvisart, the father ; 
but he is said to have had a passion for painting, without 
knowing much about it, and, what he gained by defending his 
clients, he laid out in purchasing bad pictures. Being not more 
skilled in human nature, he, for a long time, persisted in wish- 
ing his son to follow his own profession, and kept him for whole 
days copying law papers. ‘The young man, who was of a lively 
and ardent disposition, felt that he had been born for less mo- 
notonous occupations. A vague uneasiness disquieted him, his 
law studies became every day more insupportable, and, per- 
haps, he would have fallen into great irregularities, had he not, 
on one of those festive rambles in which he indulged himself, 
whenever he could escape the eye of his father, entered by 
chance the lecture-room of Anthony Petit, one of the most elo- 
quent men who have been professors of anatomy and medicine 
during the eighteenth century. On hearing the impressive dis- 
course of that master, and attending to the majestic develop- 
ment of ideas, whose novelty equalled their extent, the young 
Corvisart recognised the profession for which he was designed. 
He longed to study the animal economy, and for, this purpose 
he determined to be a physician. From this moment, dispatch- 


10 Biographical Memoir of M. Corvisart. 


ing early in the morning the writings which his father had pre- 
scribed for him as the work of the day, and requesting the 
clerks, his companions, to keep his secret, he occupied all the 
hours that he could spare in attending the lectures of Petit, 
Louis, Dessault, Vicq d’Azyr, and our estimable fellow mem- 
ber M. Portal. His father at length perceiving his want of 
assiduity, inquired into the cause of his conduct, and discovered 
it; but, finding that it was now too late to restrain him, he per- 
mitted him to direct his whole attention to his new career. 
The Academy has possessed many members, whom an irresisti- 
ble propensity has thus led to escape from the more humble 
plans which their relations had formed for them, and this per- 
severance in seeking a profession, in defiance of all obstacles» 
would undoubtedly be a good test for the choice of one; but 
how many young persons would be found whom these obstacles 
would not completely arrest, or who would not enter on courses 
worse than idleness or irresolution ? 

The mode of teaching medicine was then very far removed 
from the extent and regularity which it has since attained. The 
Faculty of Paris, an ancient body, organized in the middle 
ages, had scarcely made any change in a system of government 
that dated back five centuries. With the title of Doctor, all 
its members received the right of teaching; but they did not 
become bound to teach. It was only by chance that a sufficient 
number ever devoted themselves to the task of insuring a regu- 
lar course of lectures to youth. Some professorships were, in- 
deed, instituted in the Faculty, but their fee was wretchedly 
small. The professors were changed every two years, the 
younger doctors being made to occupy these chairs in regular 
succession. They hastened to get through the drudgery, in 
order to acquire the title of Regent Doctor, and, entering on 
office without the preparation of study, they retired without 
having formed themselves by practice. Besides, there were no 
public lectures at the beds of the sick. In order to see a few 
patients, the students accompanied the elder physicians in their 
visits; afterwards, when these elder physicians were unwell, or 
too much busied with practice, they acted for them, and thus 
they continued, till at length they, too, slowly attained their pro- 
fessional rank. 1 


SE 


Biographical Memoir of M. Corvisart. ll 

M. Corvisart, to whose ardent genius this tedious progress 
could not fail to be singularly disagreeable, had yet the patience 
to conform ‘himself to it in every point; but he chose his mas- 
ters as a man destined to become one himself. Desbois de 
Rochefort, chief physician of La Charité, and Dessault, chief 
surgeon of the H6tel-Dieu, in the healing art two of the most 
eminent men of their time, became his principal patrons. It 
is well known that Desbois de Rochefort had the great merit of 
first shewing the example of regularly delivering clinical lec- 
tures in his hospital. Under his guidance, M. Corvisart for 
several years occupied himself in the observation of diseases, 
and in the opening of bodies. For this task he had a real pas- 
sion. The melancholy spectacles which it displays, the dangers 
to which it is liable, neither repelled nor discouraged him. A 
puncture which he had received while dissecting, brought him 
almost to the point of death, and he is said to have escaped only 
through the assiduous care which Dessault lavished on him. 
He also, at a very early period, delivered in his own house lec- 
tures—not on medicine properly so called (for he did not think 
that so young a doctor could conscientiously do so), but on 
anatomy and physiology ; and his ‘perspicuity and ardour at- 
tracted a crowd of hearers. Nothing more was wanting to him, 
but to be himself at the head of an hospital, where he could 
freely pursue the views which his growing experience suggested 
to him. The first masters of the art judged him worthy of one, 
and he thought himself on the point of attaining this object of 
his wishes, when a cause the most trifling in the world kept him 
back for several years. The customs ‘and dress of physicians 
were scarcely less antique than the system of government of the 
Faculty. If Moliére had made them lay aside the gown and 
the pointed cap, they had at least preserved the full-bottomed 
wig, which no one else any longer wore, and it was on entering 
into office that they had to muffle themselves in it. It is af- 
firmed that M. Corvisart and M. Hallé were-the first who gave 
the scandal of not assuming it, and that this levity, as it was 
called, proved very hurtful to them. It is at least certain, that, 
on the occasion of which we speak, it was the cause of M. Cor- 
visart’s disappointment, and that through the person from whom 
he had least reason to expect it. A celebrated lady, whose hus. 


12 Biographical Memoir of M. Corvisart. 


band was the cause, at least the incidental cause, of the greatest 
innovations that have taken place in France since the establish- 
ment of the monarchy, had just founded an hospital, and M. 
Corvisart ardently wished to obtain the charge of it; but he 
presented himself in his natural hair, and this innovation she 
dared not take upon herself to countenance. At the first word 
she declared to him that her hospital should never have a phy- 
sician without a wig, and that it was for him to choose between 
that head-dress and his exclusion. He preferred keeping his 
hair. 

By a happy contrast, and when probably he had not greater 
expectations, it was a monk who, on another occasion, did him 
more justice. On the death of Desbois de Rochefort, which 
happened in 1788, the superior of the ecclesiastics attached to 
the Hépital de ]a Charité, a man held in great estimation for 
his wisdom and his zeal in favour of the sick, and who had 
‘ been daily witness of M. Corvisart’s assiduous cares, employed 
his credit in getting him attached to that house, and succeeded 
in the endeavour. From this time, M. Corvisart, continuing 
the clinical instructions of his predecessor, saw all the young 
physicians attend his lectures. He excited admiration by pos- 
sessing in an eminent degree the talent of discovering from the 
first moment the nature of diseases, and of foreseeing their pro- 
gress and event. His fellow-practitioners were not slow in do- 
ing him full justice, and he was already considered as one of the 
first masters in the capital, when, in 1795, Fourcroy procured 
a chair to be founded for him in the New School of Medicine. 
Two years after, in 1797, he was appointed to the professorship 
of medicine in the College of France, and there found himself 
in the capacity of teaching the art in a theoretical point of view, 
-as he had hitherto shewn it practically. The same pupils who 
heard him in the one school explain the general principles, went 
to see in the other their happy application, and in all things 
found him correct, ardent, and obliging in the highest degree. 
In every thing, his pleasing eloquence, his lively temper, his sure 
and quick tact, excited the highest admiration. If any one had 
a feeling of repugnance tc an art condemned to witness such 
melancholy scenes, he had only to hear M. Corvisart for some 
time to become an enthusiast in it. 


Biographical Memoir of M. Corvisart. 13 


Already all Europe rung with his fame, when, in 1802, he 
was raised to the highest post in his profession, and yet this 
elevation was not alone the result of his renown. Every one 
remembers that it was put to the proof, and that, on being 
called into consultation respecting an affection of the chest, 
which threatened the chief of the government, he first discovered 
its cause, and effected its removal. 

His success, however, had not inspired him with an implicit 
faith in medicine. It is even said that the mistakes which, not- 
withstanding his great sagacity, sometimes happened to him, 
gave him the greatest vexation, and made him, in those mo- 
ments of discouragement, speak ill of his art; nor did he, like 
those works in which it was pretended to assign precise charac- 
ters, and a regular progress to each disease, and from which 
young persons might form of medicine an idea similar to that 
afforded by the physical sciences, properly so called, and still 
Jess those in which it is presented in a deceitful simplicity, under 
the idea of referring diseases and remedies to a small number of 
forms,—it was not thus that he viewed it. Organized beings 
have their certain laws, each of them conforms to the type of its 
species ; but the disorders which introduce themselves into their 
organization, are subject to endless combinations ; each day this 
may assume a different complication ; and it is from the whole 
symptcms of each moment, taken together, that they are to be 
judged of, and combated. Nor did any one pay more attention 
to these sensible signs. The best physician, according to him, 
was he who had succeeded in giving to his senses the greatest 
delicacy. He did not attend solely to the pains felt by the pa- 
tient, to the variations of his pulse, or of his respiration. A 
painter could not have better distinguished the shades of colour, 
nor a musician all the qualities of sounds. The slightest altera- 
tions of the complexion, of the colour of the eyes and lips, the 
different intonations of the voice, the smallest differences in the 
muscles of the face, fixed his attention. Even the variations 
of the breath and transpiration were carefully measured by him, 
and, in the judgment which he formed, nothing of all this was a 
matter of indifference. ‘The innumerable openings of bodies 
which he had made, had enabled him to remark the correspon- 
dence of the slightest external appearances with the internal le- 


14 Biographical Memoir of M. Corvisart. 


sions. He is said to have distinguished, at the distance of several 
beds, the disease of an individual that had just come to the 
hospital; and, with respect to the disorganizations of the heart, 
and great vessels in particular, he had attained to a truly won- 
derful accuracy of divination. His decisions were irrevocable, 
like those of destiny. Not only did he predict the fate that 
awaited each patient, and the period at which the catastrophe 
was to happen, but he gave, beforehand, the measure of the 
swellings, dilatations, and contractions of all the parts ; and the 
opening of the bodies scarcely ever refuted his announcements. 
The most experienced, it is said, were utterly astonished by 
them. 

His two principal works, the Treatise on the Diseases of the 
Heart *, and the Commentary on Auenbrugger, are celebrated 
testimonies of the manner and genius of M. Corvisart. In the 
first, the inflammations of the pericardium, the dropsies which 
fill its cavity, the thickening and attenuation of the walls either 
of the heart in general, or of each of its cavities, the hardening 
of its tissue, its ossification, its conversion into fat, the contrac- 
tion of its orifices, its tumours, its inflammations, and its rup- 
tures, are presented, together with their melancholy symptoms, 
and their fatal results, with an order and clearness that nothing 
in medicine can surpass. This book so occupied the minds of 
the young physicians who were eager for instruction, and their 
imagination was so powerfully struck by it, that, for some time, 
it is said, they saw nothing but diseases of the heart, as at other 
times they have seen every where gravel, bile, asthenia, or in- 
flammations. The effect which it would have on the sick would 
be still more cruel. His epigraph itself, Heret lateri lethalis 
arundo, tells how disheartening the reading of it is ; but medical 
books are not made for those who are not physicians ; and it is 
well that those who are so, should know positively when nothing 
remains for them to do. This unhappy certainty prevents 
them at least from tormenting their patients with useless reme- 
dies. 

In the Commentary on Auenbrugger, it is the diseases of 


* Essay on the Diseases and Organic Lesions of the Heart and Large 
Vessels, extracted from the Clinical Lectures of M. Corvisart, and published 
under his inspection by M. E. Horeau, 1 vol. 8vo. Paris, 1806, 2d edition. 


Biographical Memoir of M. Corvisart. 15 


the chest, the fluids which fill its cavity, the tumours which 
obstruct the bronchia, or the cellules of the lungs, that he 
teaches us to distinguish, by the different sounds which the walls 
of that cavity emit when struck. The form given to this work 
ought to be remarked as the proof of a noble generosity. In it 
M. Corvisart sacrificed his fame, a kind of property of which 
men are less disposed to be lavish than of any other, to a de- 
licate feeling of justice towards an unknown individual, and one 
who had been long dead. He had already, from the suggestions 
of his own mind, made most of the experiments contained in this 
commentary, and had intended to collect them in a single work, 
when there fell into his hands a dissertation, published in 1763, 
by a physician of Vienna, translated in 1770 by a French phy- 
sician, and yet almost entirely forgotten, in which he found 
part of what he had observed. J could have sacrificed Aven- 
brugger’s name, says he, to my own vanity, but I did not 
choose to do so: it is his beautiful and legitimate discovery that 
I wish to revive. ; 

These words of themselves describe a character. No one, in 
fact, was more free, more open, more unassuming; nor could 
any person be less occupied with himself. Placed so near the 
man whose word was all-powerful, and at the time when so 
many prerogatives were brought back by little and little, which 
were of advantage only to those who were decorated with them, 
how easily could he have obtained for himself the restoration of 
the ancient privileges conceded to first physicians, so lucrative, 
but so useless, it may even be said so hurtful, sometimes to the 
real progress of medicine. But he was sensible that at the 
height which the sciences had reached, the exclusive influence 
of one individual, were he the most skilful in his profession, 
could only restrain their flight. So far was he from wishing to 
gain any pre-eminence, that he did not take a higher rank in 
his hospital than was due to him in point of seniority. On the 
other hand, contrary to the example of those zealous persons 
who think they shine so much the more when they are sur- 
rounded only by obscure individuals, he appointed to the dif- 
ferent situations in the medical house the physicians who en- 
joyed most reputation in the city. There were in the number 
some who had written and spoken against him; for even this 


16 Biographical Memoir of M. Corvisart. 


was not to him a motive of hesitation. Those whose memory 
alone remained to be honoured, the Bichats and the Dessaults, 
obtained, at his solicitation, monuments, the only mark which 
he wished to leave of the favour which he enjoyed. I forget 
he has given another,—in founding, at his own expense, in the 
Faculty, prizes for the young persons who distinguish them- 
selves by good clinical observations. It has been remarked, 
that many men, on attaining distinction, have remembered the 
obstacles which poverty opposed to them in their early years, 
and, by a very natural feeling, have sought to render less diffi- 
cult the progress of some of their successors. M. Corvisart was 
led to this the more willingly, that, to his enthusiasm for his 
profession, he joined a true friendship for those who were pos- 
sessed of the same feeling. He was jealous of none of his fel- 
low practitioners, and always did them whatever services lay in 
his power. His greatest pleasure was to see himself surrounded 
by young physicians who exhibited talent, and it was not with 
his advice, and with his lectures alone, that he encouraged 
them ; he made them partake the enjoyments of his fortune, and 
the diversions which a secret inclination to melancholy appear 
to have rendered necessary to him. It is said, that, when he 
had performed the duties of his profession, if he did not give 
himself up to the amusements of gay and enlivening society, he 
fell into depression of spirits, and painful melancholy ; that in 
him the active and busy physician of the morning, became in 
the evening a man of pleasure, who would not permit either his 
art or his patients to be spoken of,—a disposition unfortunately 
too common among men of ardent genius, and which greatly 
diminished the services which M. Corvisart might have rendered 
to science. Without hurting his zeal for teaching, which iden- 
tified itself with his passion for his art, it made him a rather ne- 
gligent academician, and an unproductive author. After ha- 
ving keenly desired to be admitted among us, he scarcely ever 
assisted at our meetings. His treatise on the diseases of the 
heart, although his own in the ideas and in all that forms the 
essence of a work, did not come from his pen, but was drawn 
up by.one of ‘his pupils, M. Horeau ; and if it may be regret- 
ted that any one should require such diversions, he was a fortu- 
Site 


t . 


Biographical Memoir of M. Corvisart. 17 


nate man, who, amid all his amusements, was capable of leaving 
such a monument. 

It is asked, and the question naturally suggests itself with 
respect to many others, if, on the frequent occasions when pro- 
fessional duty brought him near a man whose power was unli- 
mited *, he had not some opportunities of giving him advice that 
might have been useful to himself, and have perhaps spared 
some of the blood of Europe? It is certain that he did not al- 
low himself to sink so much as many personages who appeared 
externally in a higher position, and that whenever, for example, 
the master shewed a disposition to banter him on his profession, 
a smart reply quickly checked the attempt ; but it is also cer- 
tain, that he never conversed about any thing of general interest. 
On matters of indifference, every familiarity was allowed him ; 
but a cold look, or a harsh word, stopped him the moment he 
tried to break this circle. He himself related, that, at the pe- 
riod of a birth, which, coming especially from such a marriage, 
seemed calculated to satisfy the most ambitious hopes, he per- 
mitted himself to ask if any thing more could be desired. Tow- 
jours Champenois Docteur ! was the only reply he received, and 
the speaker turned his back. 

M. Corvisart had applied on himself his inexorable talent of 
foresight, and had obtained from it but a very melancholy 
augury. His conformation, and the instance of his father, had 
given him a presentiment of the apoplexy which threatened 
him, and which did not fail to come on nearly at the time that 
he had foretold it. This cruel disease at first only affected his 
motions ; his judgment remained sound, and the first use which 
he made of it was to renounce all exercise of his art, and give 
himself up entirely to repose. But this precaution delayed only 
for a very short time an attack which proved fatal. He died 
on the 18th September 1821, leaving no family. 

His place in the Academy of Sciences has been filled up by 
M. Magendie, and his chair in the College of France had for 
several years been occupied by M. Hallé. 


* Bonaparte. 
OCTOBER—DECEMBER 1829. B 


( 18 ) 


Notice regarding the Salt Luke Inder, in Asiatic Russia. Cowwi- 
municated by Lieutenant J. E. ALExanpErR, 16th Lancers, 
K.L. S. M. R. A. 8S. Corres. Mem. S. A. E., &e. 


THE country and desert of the Kirguis, in which is the Lake 
Inder, is very imperfectly known, owing to the great danger at- 
tending travelling in that region, from the Nomade tribes of 
Kirguis and Tartars, who move about like the Arabs, plunder- 
ing caravans and travellers. ' A German botanist of the name 
of John C. G. Herrmann, who, some years ago, left St Peters- 
burgh for the south of Russia, and has never since been heard 
of, once visited this lake: from some memoranda of his *, and 
other sources, I have been able to collect what follows. 

On descending the River Ural, formerly known by the name 
of the Jaik, and in the direction of the Military Cordon, there 
is situated the advanced post called Gorski or Inders-Koigor, 
about 800 versts distant from the town Uralsk, capital of the 
Ural Cossacks. The Gorski post is singularly situated on the 
right bank of the river, and faces the Lake Inder, which con- 
tains such an abundant supply of salt of the first quality, that 
it would suffice for the consumption of all the Russias, if the 
difficulties attending the carriage of it were not almost insur- 
mountable ; and this is the reason why the preference is given 
to the salt of the Lake Geldon or Elton, where those difficulties 
do not exist, though the salt of this lake is very inferior to that 
of Lake Inder. 

This great magazine of salt is situated at about 26 versts in 
the Kirguis desert, in lat. 48° 30’, and long. 69°. It is elevated, 
above the level of the River Ural, and the shores are surrounded 
by low hills of sandstone, on which there is scanty vegetation, and 
afew shrubs. The lake, which lies as in a basin among the hills, 
is twenty versts in length, and nine broad, and is an oval in appear- 
ance. ‘The bottom is an immense stratum of salt, covered to an 
imconsiderable depth with water. The saline stratum has several 
orifices in it : down one of these (sixteen inches in circumference), 


“ My friend Mr Prescott of St Petersburgh, well known to the botanical 
world, purchased some time ago the Herbarium and MSS. of Hermann. 


On the Salé Lake Inder. 19 


a plum line was lowered, and no bottom was found, with 180 
feet of cord. The water impregnated with salt, which rests on 
the solid stratum, is so shallow that one can traverse the lake in 
every direction, either on foot or horseback. At the end of summer 
the water is all dried up, and the lake is covered with salt as 
white as snow recently fallen, and of great purity. 

Those who live on the north side of the Cordon, use the salt 
of this lake, but those who are more to the eastward, use the 
salt of the lake in the Russian territory, being afraid to ven- 
ture into the desert to supply themselves with the superior salt 
of Inder. The lake has several salt springs in it, and to the 
distance of ten or twelve versts round it, the water is so impreg- 
nated with salt, that neither man nor beast is able to swallow it. 

The plants and insects that are found here are also peculiar 
to the place ; but I have not been able to collect much informa- 
tion regarding them, for it seems to be impossible to spend that 
time in the vicinity of the lake, which is requisite for a thorough 
investigation of it. The disposition of the Kirguis is so hostile, 
and their hordes are so numerous, that, notwithstanding Her- 
mann was accompanied with a numerous escort, and field pieces, 
it was impossible to make the tour of the lake. Indeed, 2000 
Kirguis kebeeks or tents were pitched on the banks of the 
River Kara Kiel, which runs parallel with the lake, at a few 
versts distance : these they could not pass, and consequently on- 
ly saw the centre of the lake, the salt of which, from the ex- 
amination of specimens, was crystallized in cubes. 

From Mr Prescott, I learn that the vegetation of the lake 
hears a strong resemblance to that of the Caspian Sea, and of 
the salt and sandy steppes around it. ‘The low bushes are prin- 
cipally of the tribes of Polygonee and Salsolew, numerous 
species of Salsola, Salicornia, Calligonum Palasia, Tamariz 
and Atraphaxis. ‘There are, however, some, as I said before, 
peculiar to the place; such as Leontia vesicaria, Molucella tu- 
berosa, and Megacarpeca lacineata, all curious in their structure. 
For the short period during which it was possible to visit the lake, 
the most interesting herbaceous plants observed were : numerous 
Cruciferae, Ranunculi, Ala, Amaryllis tatarica, Astragali, 
Carex physodes, and anew genus, near Frittillaria, called Rhi- 


nopetalum by Dr Fischer, from its curious wba appendage 
BQ 


20 On the Salt Lake Inder, in Asiatic Russia. 


to the upper sepal. There can be little doubt, if circumstances 
would admit of a thorough investigation of the shores of the lake 
at any future period, that great botanical treasures might be ex- 
pected. 

An officer in the Russian service told me that he was at the 
lake in the month of May, and saw large herds of antelopes 
on the sand hills, likewise quantities of snipes near the salt 
pools ; and swans, cranes, ducks, and flamingos, which seemed 
to resort to the lake to drink the water. He also said that he 
had a servant who was bitten there by the minute worm of the 
marshes, called the Siberian Plague, which can be no other than 
the Furia infernalis, of the existence of which some naturalists 
doubt. Ivan, the servant, had been out all day, and in the 
evening, when he returned to the tents, his master observed 
that there was a red spot on his cheek, and that it was slightly 
swelled. His master knew what had happened, and told him, 
that, if he did not take care, he would be dead in three days; 
and that the only remedy was to perforate the skin of the cheek 
diagonally, and in different directions, with an awl, and to rub 
snuff into the wounds. Now, Ivan was a Kirzack, or Russian 
of the old faith, who cross themselves in a different manner from 
the others—have a number of superstitious rites and ceremonies 
—have no priests, the laity officiating by turns, and each man 
carries with him his own plate, knife and spoon, as they will 
not eat out of the vessel of another. Among other things, they 
will not touch snuff, consequently Ivan made up his mind to 
die ; and next morning his head was swelled to an immense size. 
But his master did not wish to lose him, so, pretending to pre- 
pare some herbs for him, he got an awl, and pierced his cheek 
in a slanting direction, under the skin, and rubbed in snuff, 
and repeated the operation; and though the servant was in a 
high fever for two days, yet at last the swelling and fever sub- 
sided together, and he recovered. Children frequently die from 
the bite of this worm, which, in Siberia, is greatly dreaded. 

Sr PETERSBURGH, 

30th June 1829. 


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( a) 


On the Discovery of a new species of Pterodactyle, and of Fossil 
Ink and Pens, in the Lias at Lyme Regis ; also of Coprolites 
or Fossil Faces in the Lias at Lyme Regis, and Westbury- 
on-Severn, and elsewhere, in formations of all ages, from 
the Carboniferous Limestone to the Dilwvium. By the Rev. 
W. Bucxtann, D.D. F.R.S. F.L.S. F.G.S. and Pro- 
fessor of Geology and Mineralogy in the University of Ox- 
ford. 


IN the course of the last session of the Geological Society of 
London, several papers on the above subjects were communi- 
cated by Professor Buckland, the substance of which is collected 
in the following notice ; the papers themselves being in course 
of publication in the Transactions of the Society. 


I. Piterodactyle—This specimen of pterodactyle was dis- 
covered in December last, by Miss Mary Anning, and belongs 
to a new species of that extinct genus, hitherto recognised only 
in the lithographic Jura-limestone of Sollenhofen, which the 
author considers as nearly coeval with the English chalk. The 
head is wanting, but the rest of the skeleton, though dislocated, 
is nearly entire; and the length of the claws so much exceeds 
that of the claws of the Pterodactylus longirostris and_brevi- 
rostris (of which the only two known specimens are minutely 
described by Cuvier), as to shew that it belongs to another spe- 
cies, for which’ the name of Pterodactylus macronyx is pro- 
posed ; it is about the size of a common crow, and a drawing 
of this fossil by Mr Clift accompanies the paper. The author 
had for some time past conjectured, that certain small bones 
found in the lias at Lyme Regis, and referred to birds, belong 
rather to the genus Pterodactyle. This conjecture is now veri- 
fied. It was also suggested to him, in 1823, by Mr J. S. Mil- 
ler of Bristol, that the bones in the Stonesfield-slate, which have 
been usually considered as derived from birds, ought to be at- 
tributed to this extraordinary family of flying reptiles: Dr 
Buckland is now inclined to adopt this opinion, and is disposed 
to think still further, that the coleopterous insects, whose elytra 
occur in the Stonesfield-slate, may have formed the food of the 

3 


22 Professor Buckland on Pterodactylus Macronyx, 


insectivorous pterodactyles. He conceives also, that many of 
the bones from Tilgate Forest, hitherto referred to birds, may 
belong to this extinct family of anomalous reptiles: and, from 
their presence in these various localities, he infers that the genus 
pterodactyle existed throughout the entire period of the de- 
position of the great Jura-limestone formation, from the lias to 
the chalk inclusive, expressing doubts as to the occurrence of 
any remains of birds, before the commencement of the tertiary 
strata. 


II. Fossil Ink and Pens.—An indurated black animal sub- 
stance, like that in the ink-bag of the cuttle-fish, occurs in the 
lias at Lyme Regis ; and a drawing made with this fossil pig- 
ment, four years ago, was pronounced by an eminent artist to 
have been tinted with sepia. It is nearly of the colour and 
consistence of jet, and very fragile, with a bright splintery frac- 
ture; its powder is brown, like that of a painter’s sepia; it oc- 
curs in single masses, nearly of the shape and size of a small 
gall-bladder, broadest at the base, and gradually contracted to- 
wards the neck. These ink-bags are attached to the remains of 
two unknown mollusce ; one apparently an orthoceratite, the 
other a loligo. 

1. In the first of these the ink-bag is surrounded by a thin 
envelope of brilliant nacre, which formed the lining of a shell, 
having the external shape and wavy surface of an orthoceratite. 
In the most perfect specimen the author possesses, the upper 
chamber is nearly five inches deep, and two inches in diameter ; 
within it was lodged the ink-bag and other soft parts of the ani- 
mal’s body ; the bottom of the cavity terminates in a series of 
circular transverse plates, like the chambered alveolus of a be- 
lemnite, packed close on each other like a pile of watch-glasses. 
The uppermost ‘of these plates is in immediate contact with the 
base of the ink-bag, the rest diminish rapidly in size, and nearly 
in the same proportion in which the plates diminish in the be- 
lemnite ; beyond the lowest of them, no elongation of the shell, 
nor traces of any sheath, have yet been found; the external . 
shell, in most specimens, has entirely perished, but its nacre is 


always preserved, and is usually compressed to a thin flat sack 
1 


and on Fossil Pens and Ink, and Coprolites. 23 


surrounding the ink-bag; the author proposes to designate this 
fossil by the name of Orthoceras-belemnitoeides. 

2. In the newly discovered Loligo from the lias, the ink-bags 
are in contact with the horny remains of a pen somewhat like 
that of the Loligo vulgaris, but having a thin plate of cellular 
spongy carbonate of lime immediately beneath, and adhering to 
the horny plate of the pen ; for this species, the author proposes 
the name of Loligo antiqua, 


III. Coprolites or Fossil Faces.—Dr Buckland has ascer- 
tained from an extensives series of specimens, that the fossils 
locally called Bezoar stones, which abound at Lyme Regis, in 
the same beds of lias with the bones of ichthyosaurus, are the 
feeces of this animal. In size and form they resemble elongated 
pebbles or potatoes, varying generally from two to four inches 
in length, and from one to two inches in diameter ; some few 
are larger, others smaller. Their colour is dark grey, their 
substance like indurated clay, and of a compact earthy texture, 
and Dr Prout has ascertained, that their chemical analysis ap- 
proaches to that of Album graeecum. Bones and scales of fishes 
occur abundantly in these feecal bodies ; the scales are referable 
to the Dapedium politum, and other fishes that occur in the lias ; 
the bones are those of fishes, and also of small ichth yosauri. 
The interior of these coprolites is arranged in a spiral fold, 
coiled round a central axis; their exterior also bears impressions 
apparently received from the action of the intestines of the 
living animals. In many of the entire skeletons of ichthyosauri 
found in the lias, compressed coprolites are seen within the ribs 
and near the pelvis ; these must have been included within the 
animal’s body at the moment of its death. Dr Buckland has 
ascertained further, that the circular bodies, resembling the 
bony rings of the suckers of cuttle fish, occur in the coprolites 
mixed with the scales and bones above mentioned. AjJl these 
bodies appear to have passed undigested through the intestines 
of the ichthyosauri ; and Dr Prout has also found that the black 
varieties of coprolite owe their colour to matter of the same na- 
ture with the fossil ink in the lias; hence it follows, that the 
ichthyosauri fed upon the sepiz of. these ancient seas as well as 
on fishes, and on the young of their own species. The author 


24 Professor Buckland on Pterodactylus Macronyz, 


has also ascertained, by the assistance of Mr Miller and Dr 
Prout, that the small round black bodies, having a polished 
surface, and resembling pebbles of jet, which occur mixed with 
bones in the lowest strata of the lias on the banks of the Severn, 
near Bristol, are varieties of coprolite: they appear to be co- 
extensive with this bone-bed, and occur at many and very dis- 
tant localities. He has also received from Mr Miller similar small 
black feecal balls from a calcareous bed, nearly at the bottom of 
the carboniferous limestone at Bristol. This bed abounds with 
teeth of sharks, and with bones, teeth, and spines of other fishes ; 
and the coprolites in it may have been derived from small rep- 
tiles, or from fishes; and, in the case of the lias bone-bed, from 
the molluscous inhabitants of fossil nautili, ammonites and be- 
lemnites. In a collection at Lyme Regis, there is a fossil fish 
from the lias, which has an ichthyo-coprus within its body ; and, 
in Mr Mantel’s collection of fishes, from the chalk near Lewis, 
there are two specimens of the Amia Lewesiensis, each contain- 
ing a coprolite within its scales and ribs: to these the author 
proposes to assign the name of Amia-coprus. He also pro- 
poses to designate the so-called bezoars, which are derived from 
the ichthyosauri, by the name of Ichthyosauro-coprus ; and the 
Album greecum of the fossil hyenas by the name of Hyzna- 
coprus. Dr Buckland has also recently ascertained the exist- 
ence of coprolites in the Oxford oolite near Weymouth, and in 
the Kimmeridge clay near Oxford. About four years ago he 
found, in Mr Mantell’s collection of bones of various reptiles 
from the Hasting’s sandstone of Tilgate Forest, balls of feecal 
matter, differing in shape from those of the ichthyosaurus. To 
some of these reptiles he refers the coprolites in question; and 
conjectures that Sauro-copri will be found, wherever the remains 
of saurians are abundant. Dr Buckland has also coprolites 
found by Mr Richardson, in the green sand of Wiltshire, and 
by Miss Anning in green sand near Lyme. 

As soon as Dr Buckland had established, by a series of were 
mens, that the balls of ichthyosauro-coprus were composed of a 
lamina of earthy phosphate of lime, wrapped spirally round it- 
self, it occurred to him that this structure is so similar to that 
of the supposed fir-cones or iuli in the chalk and chalk-marl, that 
he immediately conjectured these so long misnamed iuli, to be 


and on Fossil Pens and Ink, and Coprolites. 25 


also of fecal origin. On examination, he found many of them 
to contain scales of fishes, and to bear on their surface impres- 
sions derived from the intestines in which they were formed ; 
and Dr Prout’s analysis proves their composition to be the same 
as that of other coprolites. The spiral intestines of the mo- 
dern shark, ray, and dog-fish, afford an analogy that may ex- 
plain the origin of their spiral structure, as well as that of the 
spiral structure of many coprolites at Lime Regis; and the 
teeth and palates of sharks, and other cartilaginous fishes, that 
abound in the same chalk-marl with them, render it probable 
that the supposed iule have been derived from some of these 
animals. Until this poimt can be fully established, it is pro- 
posed to designate them by the name of [uloideo-coprus. 
‘There are several fine specimens of this Iuloideo-coprus from 
the quarries of Maestricht, in the collection of Colonel Houlton 
of Farley Castle, near Bath. Dr Buckland has also discovered 
a coprolite among fossils he possesses from the London clay ; 
and has found two other varieties of the same substance in a 
collection lately made at Aix, in Provence, by Mr Murchison 
and Mr Lyell. One of these coprolites is in the shale of the 
fresh-water coal formation at Fuveau; the other in the insecti- 
ferous marl-bed above the gypsum at Aix. Dr Buckland con. 
cludes that he has established, generally, the curious fact, that, 
in formations of all ages, from the carboniferous limestone to 
the diluvium, the faeces of terrestrial and aquatic carnivorous 
animals have been preserved. The examples he produces from 
the carboniferous limestone, the lias, the Hastings sandstone, 
the green sand, the chalk-marl and chalk. The Maestricht 
rock, the London clay, the fresh-water deposites at Aix, and 
the diluvium in caverns, are taken respectively from the several 
great periods into which geological formations are divided. 
They are important, as shewing a continued tranquil condition 
of the earth’s surface to have prevailed for some time, where- 
ever they occur abundantly. 

A letter from Dr Prout to Professor Buckland, was read on 
the 3d of April 1829, stating that he has made an analysis of 
the coprolites from Lyme Regis, and Westburn-on-Severn, and 
found the composition of all of them to be very similar, viz. 
phosphate of lime, and carbonate of lime, together with minute 


6 On the Chemical Constitution and 


variable proportions of iron, sulphur, and carbonaceous matter, 
The relative proportions of the principal ingredients, appear 
to differ somewhat in different specimens, and even in different 
parts of the same specimen; hence no formal analysis has been 
attempted : but the phosphate of lime may, perhaps, be esti- 
mated to constitute from about one-half to three-fourths of the 
whole mass. 

Dr Prout conceives this composition to prove that the basis 
of these coprolites is bone ; and that Professor Buckland’s opi- 
nion, that they are of facal origm, or of the nature of Album 
ereecum, offers a very satisfactory explanation of their occur- 
rence, and accounts at once for their chemical composition, their 
external form, and their mechanical structure. Dr Prout has 
also examined all the most important specimens of coprolite 
that are mentioned in Dr Buckland’s papers, and concurs with 
him in believing them to be all derived from digested bones. 

The Guano, or dung of sea-birds, on the coast of Peru, and 
islands adjacent, affords an analogous example of the preserva- 
tion of recent fseces, in beds and masses, which are stated to be 
sometimes fifty or sixty feet in thickness. This Guano, how- 
ever, differs chemically from any fossil coprolites that have been 
examined by Dr Prout, and contams much urinary matter. 

Dr Buckland proposes to add this Guano to his series of co- 
prolites by the name of Ornitho-coprus. 


On the Chemical Constitution and Temperature of Springs, in 
reference to the Rock Formations in their Vicinity. By 
Dr and Prof. Gustavus Biscuorr *. 


THE facts stated in our work quoted below, ‘shew an evident 
connexion between the volcanic ridge of the Westerwald, 'Tau- 
nus, &c., and the numerous springs found there. Our mineral 
waters at Geilnan, Fachingen, and Selters, as well as several 
others in these mountains, experimented on by different che- 
mists, are remarkably distinguished by their containing dif- 
ferent salts of soda, such as the carbonate, sulphate, and mu- 


* Dr Gustavus Bischoff, uber die Vulkanischen Mineral quellen Dentsch. 
jands und Frankreichs, 1 vol, 8vo. Bonn, 1826, 


Temperature of Springs. Q7 
riate. What is more natural than to inquire, Are these salts of 
soda also found in other springs, which rise in other volcanic 
ridges? _Berzelius has already preceded us in the exposition 
and answering of this question, 

This excellent chemist says*, that, as the atmospheric wa- 
ter, which enters pure into the earth, reissues charged with the 
carbonate, sulphate, and muriate of soda, these salts must be 
a universal and common product of volcanic activity. But 
who, he continues, if he considers the immense yolcanic masses 
which surround Carlsbad, from Engelhaus to Schlackenwerth, 
will hesitate to apply this conclusion to the springs of Carlsbad ? 
He then shews the great similarity between a great part of the 
north of Bohemia, and particularly where the mineral waters 
are most abundant, and the provinces of Auvergne and Vivarais, 
in France. He says, that even here, between the lava-streams, 
which have flowed from the extinguished volcanoes surrounding 
the Puy de Dome in Auvergne, in all directions, into the 
plains of Limagnes, a greater or less number of warm springs 
issue, which are rich in the carbonate, sulphate, and muriate of 
soda, and even deposite carbonate of lime. Berzelius mentions 
several of these springs, which bear great resemblance to Carls- 
bad, and observes, that whenever we recede from the volcanic 
district, no spring of that peculiar composition is to be met 
with; but they reappear when we reach Cantal, which is also 
volcanic ; and that, finally, the alkaline natron springs appear 


- in Vivarais (department of Ardeche). This chemist, in conclu- 


sion, remarks, that he is far from maintaining, that all natron 
springs, saturated with carbonic acid, with or without a propor- 
tion of iron, must necessarily have the same origin : to be jus- 
tified in maintaining such a position, researches would be re- 
quired, which have not yet been made, and which could be 
effected by no single naturalist. I agree with Berzelius in 
thinking, that a more exact investigation of the environs of 
such springs, will render more apparent to us their connexion 
with ancient volcanic appearances; and I have endeavoured to 

* Researches on the Mineral Waters of Carlsbad, Téplitz, and Konigs- 
wart, in Bobemia, by J. Berzelius. From the Transactions of the Royal 
Academy of Sciences of Sweden for 1822; translated by Gustavus Rose, 


with some illustrations by Gilbert, in his Annalen der Physik, vol. xxiv, 
p. 113, and 276. 


98 On the Chemical Constitution and 


prosecute the inquiry, as far as was possible, from the present 
state of our knowledge of the geognostical relations of those 
countries, with the chemical constitution of whose springs we 
are acquainted. What has already been done in these districts 
permits of an extent being given to these researches, which 
could scarcely have been expected, and yet many observations 
may easily have escaped me. But I flatter myself, that what 
follows will answer the above question in the affirmative in a 
general way. 

As this is the most proper place, I will first shortly treat of 
those inquiries and considerations of other naturalists, which 
have any relation to the subject. 

The older naturalists almost unanimously attributed the heat 
of warm springs to subterranean fire, or, at least, to the same 
causes which produce this fire. On the erroneous view, that 
they all contained sulphuretted hydrogen gas *, was founded the 
supposition, that the water of these springs previously flowed 
over beds of iron pyrites, and, by their action on them, ob- 
tained both their sulphuretted hydrogen gas and their elevated 
temperature. 

Becher+ assumed, in reference to Carlsbad, that water, hold- 
ing common salt in solution, flowed over a burning bed of py- 
rites, the sulphuric acid of which changed the muriate into 
the sulphate of soda. Berzelius has demonstrated } the untena- 
ble nature of this assumption, which does not once refer to the 
origin of the carbonate of soda. 

Klaproth §, who at once saw the difficulties of Becher’s hypo- 
thesis, believed, that the Carlsbad waters were heated by a large 
bed of coal, set on fire by iron pyrites; and that iron pyrites, 
coal, limestone, and salt-springs, were the raw materials out of 
which nature elaborated these hot mineral waters. But Leopold 
von Buch ||, on geognostical, and Berzelius 4], on chemical 
grounds, have respectively shewn the untenableness of this pro- 
position. 

The latter observes, that however easy it is to be convinced 


* Parrot, Grundriss der Physik der Erde und Geologie. | Riga and Leipzig, 


1815, p. 315. 
+ New Treatises on Karlsbad, by David Becher, 2d edit. 1789. p. 20. 
+ Swedish Academy for 1822, p. 173. § His Beitrage, vol. i. 346. 


|| Bergmannische’s Journal for the year 1792, p. 383, especially p. 412. 
§ Swedish Academy, p- 177. 


Temperature of Springs. 29 
that these explanations are insufficient, yet it is difficult to sub- 
stitute a more probable one in their place. We know, says Ber- 
zelius, that near many active volcanoes hot springs pour forth im- 
mense quantities of water. We may conclude, from their tempe- 
rature, that their channels pass near the centre of volcanic action, 
from which they acquire their heat. Their water, besides, holds 
in solution many ingredients which are foreign to that of or- 
dinary springs ; for instance, the above mentioned salts of soda, 
and a much greater quantity of silica than is found in ordinary 
springs. The hot springs of Iceland are a well known ex- 
ample of this. The circumstance of these waters, in some places, 
containing sulphuretted alkali, he views, as shewing, that, on 
the spot where the water dissolved this salt, the operation of 
the volcano had not extended far enough, to oxidise all the 
oxidizable substances, or had withdrawn itself, before its action 
was completed. He now makes use of extinguished volcanoes, 
in which the crater has been’ closed by congealed lava, filled 
with ashes, sand, and rubbish, and the glowing focus has gra- 
dually cooled. But there is found, as he correctly remarks, 
not the smallest loss of temperature by radiation, but the 
warmth can only escape through the mass of the surrounding 
rocks, and as these are known to be the worst conductors of 
heat, thousands of years might be required ere they reached the 
mean temperature of the earth. But the springs existing near 
a voleano continue, after its extinction, to flow through their 
former canals only so long as the water existing is supplied from 
the atmosphere, and must issue forth to the surface as formerly, 
warm and saliferous, as long as they meet in their course with 
salts to dissolve, and as long as the places through which they 
flow are heated by the proximity of the still warm focus of the 
extinguished volcano, &e. &c. 

Against this view of Berzelius, Von Hoff* observes, that we 
can by no means attribute such a small conducting power to 
the materials of which the interior of the earth, or earth’s crust, 
consist, as that for thousands of years they should preserve such 
a temperature as that must be which can produce the phenome- 
na we observe in such springs when they come under our ob- 
servation at the surface; for, from the mean density of the 


* Geognostical Observations on Carlsbad, 1825, p. 33. 


30 On the Chemical Constitution and 


earth, by calculation, we may suppose its interior to consist of 
materials of the densest kind, which are the best conductors of 
heat. But were this not the case, Von Hoff continues, yet 
the continued exit of so considerable a quantity of heat, as 
that which the sprmgs of Carlsbad discharge from the earth, 
must produce a considerable cooling in its interior, if the 
warmth was not continually generated. But since we have 
known these springs there has not been the smallest gradual di- 
minution of temperature, or any of the other effects, nor, conse- 
quently, of the activity of the process; on the contrary, their 
force during the last century, since which their phenomena have 
been more accurately observed, and viewed by more experienced 
naturalists than formerly, has continued undiminished, and in 
this period several new and permanent hot springs have burst 
forth, without those already existing having ceased yielding water 
of the same quality as before. 

That these objections are weighty cannot be denied ; but as 
throughout nature, when we attempt to estimate things on the 
large scale, for which a sure criterion is wanting, false conclu- 
sions may easily be made; while, on the contrary, quantities 
found by incomplete experiments may more certainly guide us, 
I instituted the following experiments. 

I brought basalt in a wind furnace, to the strongest white 
heat, till it began to melt, and then suddenly plunged it into a 
measured quantity of water, of a known temperature, contained 
in a cylindrical vessel, constructed of cast brass, on which was 
fitted an air-tight cover of the same metal. Immediately after 
the immersion of the glowing basalt in the water, the cover was 
applied, in order to prevent the escape of steam, and bythat means 
of heat. On a thermometer, inserted in an opening of the 
cover, the bulb of which reached the water, 1 observed the in- 
crease of temperature as long as the hissing noise of the glow- 
ing and gradually cooling basalt was heard. The following 
are the results :— 

1. A piece of basalt, 9 oz. weight, heated to a bright red, 
was plunged in 93.75 oz. of water, of 17°.7 R. The tempera- 
ture of the water increased to 31°.2 R. 

2. A second piece of basalt, 9 oz. weight, was heated till 
some melted portions dropt off, and immediately put in 112 oz. 


——— 


Temperature of Springs. 31 


of water, of 26.°6 R., by which the temperature was raised to 
37.°5 R. When subsequently weighed it was only 7 oz. 

3. A third piece of basalt of 14.5 02. weight, was not heated 
so strongly as the preceding, although it was melted in different 
points, and was placed in 112.5 oz. of water, at 29° R., which 
was raised to 48° R. The basalt afterwards weighed 13.6 oz. 

4. A fourth piece, of 22 0z., was heated very strongly, but 
without beginning to melt. It raised the temperature of 112.5 oz. 
of water at 37.°5 R. to 62.°3, and then weighed 21 oz.* 

In order to compare the results of these experiments with one 
another, we will reduce the weight of the basalt employed to 
16 0z., or 1 civil pound, from which we gather, that, in the 
same quantity of water the elevation of temperature bore an 
exact relation to the mass of the glowing basalt. We will set 
aside the first experiment, as in it a smaller quantity of water 
was used. We then find 16 oz. of basalt raised the tempera- 
ture of 112.6 oz. of water,— 


From the second experiment, half melted, = - 24.°2 R: 
third a little less melted, - 22.931 
fourth white heat, without melting, 18.°67 


These results shew a conformity which we should not have 
expected ; for the degrees of temperature diminish just as the 
heat in each succeeding experiment was supposed to be less. 
If we admit the first experiment, which produced the greatest 
increase cof temperature, we may assume, that 1 lb. of half melt- 
ed basalt can raise the temperature of 7 lb. of water 24° R.; 
consequently, 2 lb. would raise the same quantity 48° R. If 
we now take the mean temperature of the atmospheric water 
which supplies the hot springs of Carlsbad, at + 11° R., we 
then find that 2 lb. of half-melted basalt can raise '7 Ib. of wa- 
ter from 11° R. to 59° R., which is the temperature of the 


* In these experiments the increase of temperature of the water must 
certainly be regarded as too little, from the inevitable loss of heat out of the 
vessel, partly by conduction, partly by radiation, and this loss must, of course, 
have been greater the higher the temperature of the water. This may partly 
have caused the less elevation of temperature in the second and third experi- 
ments, as the water was already heated by the preceding one. Any way, 
however, this loss of warmth was small, for I afterwards observed, that 10’ 
elapsed before the thermometer fell 1° R., and, in a much shorter time, the 
basalt had given off its heat to the water. 


82 On the Chemical Constitution and 


Sprudel fountain at Carlsbad, as determined half a century ago 
by Becher, and more lately by Berzelius. 

Now, the quantity of water which issues from the whole of 
the openings of the Sprudel is 46373 eimers in an hour, which 
gives 469503.85 Vienna pounds *; consequently, 


Tn 24 hours, : ‘ z . -11,268092.4 Ib. 
365 days, - - - - Ad 12853726 
5 centuries, = - - 2,056426.863000 
7000 years, - - - 28,1 89976,082000 

For that is necessary, 
m 

In 24 hours, - - - - 3,219454,9 Ib. 
365 days, - - - 1175,101065 
5 centuries, - - - 587550,532285 
7000 years, - - - 8,225707,452000 


of half-melted basalt to raise the water discharged by the whole 
Sprudel from 11° to 59° R. If we take the specific gravity of 
basalt at 2.9 and 1 Vienna pound = 0.0177 Vienna cubic feet : 
then would the mass of half-melted basalt required to heat 
that quantity of water for 7000 years, occupy a space of 


Sepo 707 ko2.00’ . 0.0177 = 5020,517996 Vienna cubit feet. 


In order to form a rough idea of this mass, we will compare 
it with the cubic contents of the highest mountain in the Bohe- 
mian Mittelgeberge, the Donnerberg, at Milleschau. From a 
calculation given below, the cubic contents of this mountain, 
consisting entirely of clinkstone, is = 16,354, 166,666 cubic fect. 
The above mass of basalt, which, from the hypothesis, would 
be necessary for the heating of the whole Sprudel Fountain at 
Carlsbad, since the days of Adam, according to the sacred 
writings, would scarcely be the third part of this mountain. 

But this calculation presumes that the basaltic mass of the 
surrounding mountains, on the extinction of volcanic activity, 
was as strongly heated as the basalt itself, or that it derived no 
warmth from within for 7000 years, which cannot be admitted. 
We have also founded our calculation on the supposition, that 


* Compare Gilbert’s Annals, v. Ixxiv. p. 198. I have omitted the spe- 
cific gravity of the Carlsbad water, as we have only to do with approxima- 
tive quantities. 


Temperature of Springs. 33 


the temperature of the Carlsbad water was formerly no higher 
than at present *. On the other hand, the atmospheric water 
imbibed by the earth may be heated at great depths by a high 
temperature existing there, so that it may reach the glowing 
masses much warmer than 11° R., which we have assumed. 
But we cannot comprehend in our estimate all these possible 
cases; it is sufficient that we have got an approximation. We 
may easily, at pleasure, increase or diminish the results, and in- 
quire whether we are at liberty to assume the existence of such 
masses of basalt, or other rocks, in a half-melted state, or even 
at a white heat, in the interior of the earth? This much can- 
not be doubted, that, when we keep in view the immense masses 
of volcanic mountains which we find on the surface of the earth, 
and which we must admit have at one time been melted in its 
interior, from which they were projected, that even much larger 
masses of volcanic rocks may now exist in the interior of the Bo- 
hemian Mittelgebirge, and other volcanic ridges, in a melted, or, 
at least, in a glowing condition? And, if even a part of their 
warmth should be abstracted from such glowing masses by the 
surrounding mountains, nothing prevents us supposing, that, in 
such an event, warmth enough should still remain for the heat- 
ing of the water. But this conducting power of heat can hardly 
be very considerable, even for a period of a thousand years; 
for our forges, which frequently go throughout the whole year, 
do not require a very thick wall of stone to confine much of the 
heat. And then we must look at the weak conducting power of 
volcanic products, which the followmg will prove. Monticelli 
and Covelli found, on the 15th January 1822, in a crater of 
Vesuvius, which vomited fire, a layer of snow, one foot thick, 
which had fallen two days before+. They could even touch 
with the hand the outside of the edge of a canal formed of con- 
gealed lava, in which the glowing rock was still flowing t. 

Now, although, as shewn trom the preceding calculations and 
observations, the possibility of the heat of hot springs being de- 


* Compare Von Hoff, p. in art. 35. 
+ Of Vesuvius in its activity during the years 1821, 1822, 1823, &c. from 


the Italian, by Néggerath and Pauls, 1824, p. 15. 


$ Idem, p. 3%, and Néggerath’s Observations, p. 39. 
OCTOBER—DECEMBER 1829. c 


34 On the Chemical Constitution and 


rived from a long extinguished volcanic point of the earth’s 
crust, still retaining its heat in its interior, cannot be denied ; 
yet the view of Von Hoff, of an undiminished activity of volea- 
nic operations in the interior, under hot springs, is not thereby 
affected. We would, therefore, regard warm springs as stand- 
ing in more intimate connexion with those processes in the inte- 
rior ofthe earth, which produce volcanic eruptions and earth- 
quakes, and view their high temperature and the mixture of 
different gases and substances, and their violent issuing forth, as 
the effects of this process of decomposition *. Von Hoff finds 
support for this view in the fact, that those points of the earth 
which yield a constant and considerable discharge of mineral 
waters, gases, vapours, &c., seem to be peculiarly exempted, if 
not from all internal commotions, at least from the more violent 
eruptions and catastrophes. _ Thus, it is not known that Carls- 
bad ever experienced a proper earthquake, for the most violent 
eruptions of the Sprudel cannot be considered as such. A phe- 
nomenon has lately rather tended to establish the conjecture, 
that Carlsbad is protected from any proper earthquake by its 
continual evacuations of hot gas and water. ‘This town, and its 
environs, felt nothing of the pretty strong earthquake, which, 
in January and February 1824, extended from the base of the 
Saxon mountains into the circle of Elnbogen, to within two 
miles of Carlsbad-+. Records are not wanting of an internal 
motion of the earth in the circle which contains the warm springs 
of Wiesbaden, Schlangenbad, Ems, Bertrich, and Aachen, and 
many accompanying cold ones; but these earthquakes were as 
rare, as weak, and insignificant . 

Comparing the grounds which favour the hypothesis of warm 
springs having a similar origin with earthquakes and volcanic 
eruptions,—either that their warmth is in consequence of long 
extinguished volcanic activity in the place of their origin, or of 
a volcanic process still existing at a great depth, with the hy- 
pothesis which deduces this temperature from burning beds of 


* Von Hoff on Carlsbad, p. 56, 57. Hallaschka in Kastner’s Archiv, vol. i. 
turlichen Veranderungen der Erdoberfliche, 1824, part ii. p. 89. 

+ Von Hoff’s Geschichte der durch Uberlieferung nachgewiesenen Na- 
p- 323. 

~ Von Hoff’s Geschichte, p. 313. 


‘| 


| 


Temperature of Springs. 35 


iron-pyrites and coal, the former has by far the greatest pro- 
bability ; and it is not to be denied, that, in a geological point 
of view, it is an elevating consideration, if we ascribe similar 
origins to volcanoes and earthquakes, and to mineral springs ; 
and so deduce the destructive effects of the former, and the be- 
neficial effects of the latter, from a common cause. 

Keferstein, also, in his Geological Observations on the Hot 
and Warm Springs of Germany *, lays down the principle, 
that the regular production of hot vapours and springs is con- 
nected with volcanic activity, although the volcano be at rest 
and shew no eruption ; and that volcanic action does not consist 
in the combustion of beds of coal, but in terrestrial operations 
seated deep under the oldest formations. He observes on this, 
that basalt, which is connected with systems of volcanoes, 1s so 
grouped in Germany, that its localities may be viewed as a 
basaltic parallel, which traverses the north of Germany from 
west to east; and in which line also, all the hot springs of the 
north of Germany are situated ; and that the few basalts besides 
this, which occur in Germany, accompany the north base of the 
Alps. This northern basaltic parallel, he finds, corresponds 
to a more southern, which traverses the south of France, the 
Alps, Hungary, and Transylvania. No basalt is found in the 
Alps themselves; but he thinks it probable that the Alps rest 
on a volcanic basis, that, in them, the volcanic phenomena may 
have been limited to some earthquakes, which may have been 
the more formidable, as it seems that the great mass of the 
mountains may have prevented the eruption of the lavas +, in- 
stead of which, hot springs haye burst a passage for themselves 
in many places. He shews that the greater number of them are 
seated in the Alps ; some surround their immediate base (as also 
some portions of basalt); few arise in the further outskirts of 
the Alps. He lastly informs us, that the hot springs of Ger- 
many, and the adjoining countries, issue from the oldest forma- 
tions, gneiss, granite, and clayslate; and that, where this is not 
the case, these older rocks are so situate in the vicinity, that we 


* His work Teutchland Geognostisch-geologisch dargestelt, &c. vol. fi- 
pt. 1. p. 1. 


+ Compare Von Hoff’s Geschichte, &c. p. 334. 


36 On the Chemical Constitution and 


may infer them to have a connexion with the springs. That 
this is the case in several other parts of the world, he shews by 
several examples. 

If we now bring under our view what the above has taught 
us regarding hot springs, we come to the three following general 
conclusions :—1. We find~hot springs and exhalations of hot 
gases and vapours near all active volcanoes, whence we conclude 
them to be intimately connected with volcanism. We also see, 
that permanent hot springs appear when the proper eruptions, 
which occur only from time to time, have ceased *. 2. We also 
find warm springs near extinguished volcanoes, as well as those 
mountains whose igneous origin is no longer disputed: But it 
appears that the temperature of hot springs is higher near active 
than extinguished volcanoes. 3. We lastly find warm springs 
in primitive mountain chains, which present on their surface no 
voleanic products; but which some geologists regard as raised 
by the general volcanism of the earth, at the period of its great- 
est activity +. 

From what we have said before of hot springs, coming under 
heads 1. and 2., we may so lay down the principle, because hot 
springs, which we regard as the products of volcanic action, ap- 
pear in the neighbourhood of active and extinguished volcanoes ; 
we also infer, from what has been previously said of such 
springs in primitive mountains, which shew no volcanic produc- 
tions, the existence of volcanic activity at a greater depth. 

I have already hinted at the fact, that the temperature of the 
earth increases with the depth. So far we are obliged to admit 
voleanic action at a great depth {, to which the atmospheric wa- 


* Vesuvius and Etna have a number of hot springs. The now dormant 
volcano on Ischia has hot springs. In the volcanic district of the Lake of 
Agnano, the Piscarelli are 93°. Iceland is quite filled with hot springs, of 
which the Geyser, of 80°, is best known. The volcanic West India Islands 
shew the same phenomenon : likewise the volcanoes in Java, in Japan, where 
the springs of Ungino have a temperature of 100°; in America, &c. Kefer- 
stein, wt antea, p. 49. Also Von Hoff, ut antea, vol. ii. p. 379, 481, 485, 518; 
548. 


+ Von Hoff, ut antea, pp. 552. 
+ Compare Von Hoff, ut aniea, p. 366, 367, and 549. 


Temperature of Springs. 37 


ter must sink to acquire its heat; yet nothing prevents its being 
warmed by the high temperature at that depth, independent of 
volcanic fires ; and, in such a heated state, again appearing at the 
surface, if it must still rise so high; for, if the channels through 
which it flows become once heated, their walls would conduct 
little heat outwards *. Berzelius seems inclined to attribute this 
origin to the tepid, non-alkaline, but partly saline, and slightly 
sulphureous waters, which spring from a granitic soil, in which 
we find no volcanic remains +. 

I rest satisfied here with merely having pointed out this pos- 
sible cause cf the warmth of springs ; for it would be difficult, 
in a field where we have merely grounds of probability, to pro- 
nounce any thing decisive. 

I now resume the thread of my investigation. 

Keferstein and Von Hoff have endeavoured to shew that hot 
springs constantly accompany volcanic ridges, but without pay- 
ing any attention, in their observations, to their chemical consti- 
tution. Berzelius has, from the occurrence of mineral waters 
which contain soda saturated with carbonic acid, in the volca- 
nic districts of the Bohemian Mittelgebirge, in Auvergne and 
the Vivarais, inferred their connexion with volcanic agency. 
I have also observed this connexion in the mineral waters ana- 
lyzed by me, at Geilnau, Fachingen, and Selters ; and which I 
will now endeavour to point out in the great basaltic or vol- 
canic mountain chain, which begins in the Eifel, and extends 
to the Riesengebirge. I divide this basaltic chain into seven 
separate groups, and describe those springs containing carbonic 


acid, saturated with soda, with their relation to the geognostical 


* A remark naturally deduced also regarding springs warmed by volcanic 
activity. 

+ If we look at the numerous existing observations on the temperature 
in the interior of the earth (see Annales de Chimie and de Physique, v. xiii. 
p- 183), we will observe a considerable increase of temperature at compara- 
tively trifling depths. ‘Thus Gensanne found in the mines of Giromagni, 
at Befort, in a difference of depth of 332 metres, a difference of temperature 
of 10°.2 C. viz. in a depth of 433 metres + 22°.7C. In the mines of Corn- 
wall, the temperature, at a depth of 348 metres, was-+ 26° ; while, at the sur- 
face, it was 4+ 15°. Von Humboldt found in a mine of New Spain, in America, 
at a depth of 502 metres, 4+33°.8 C., while the mean annual temperature is 
there 16°C. We see from this, that water, which has sunk to no great depth, 
may be heated from 22°.7 C. to 26° or even 33°.8 C. 


38 M. Hartwall’s Examination of some Minerals. 


character of the rocks from which they rise, or which surround 
them. By way of appendix, I will present, in the eighth and 
ninth groups, the springs belonging to this class in Auvergne, 
the Vivarais, and in the Pyrenees *. 


‘ 


Examination of some Minerals. By M. Victor Hartwatt +. 


1. Fergusonite. 


Tuts mineral, named in honour of Robert Ferguson, Esq. of 
Raith, occurs near to Kikertaurvak, not far from Cape Farewell, 
in Old Greenland. On account of its near resemblance to Yt- 
tertantalite, it was referred to that species, until Haidinger, by 
a careful survey of its crystals, proved it to be a new species. 
Being analysed, it afforded to me the following constituent parts : 


Per Cent. Oxygen. 

Tantalic Acid, 0.5521 47.75 5.49 
Ytter Earth, 0.4743 41.91 8.34 
Oxide of Cerium, 0.0582 4.68 0.59 
Zircon Earth, 0.0350 3.02 0.79 
Oxide of Tin, 0.0120 1.00 
Oxide of Uranium, 0.0110 0.95 
Oxide of Iron, 0.0040 0.34 

99.65 


The proportion of the oxygen of the bases is to that of the 
acids nearly as 2:1. This relation, although not perfectly cor- 
rect, is as much so as could be expected from the analysis of so 
compound a mineral. Hence if we consider the combinations of 

*“'Tantalic acid, and oxide of tin with zircon earth, oxide of ura- 
nium and iron, as accidental mixed parts, there results for the 
Fergusonite the following formula :— 


Ys a 
C Ta 
The Fergusonite, therefore, differs from the yttrotantalite, in 
* For the details referred to above, we must refer to Dr Bischotf’s va- 


luable work. 
+ From the Vetenskaps Academiens Handlingar, Jahrg, 1828. 


M. Hartwall’s Eaamination of some Minerals. 39 


composition, the latter having its composition represented by the 
following formula :— 


Ys ) Yt 
Cé hes 


2. Manganesian Epidote or Pistacite. 


The mineral found at St Marcet in Piedmont, and known to 
mineralogists under the name Manganesian Epidote, was refer- 
red to the epidote genus, on account of its series of crystalliza- 
tions. 

This mineralogical determination it was desirous to have 
confirmed by chemical analysis ; and, further, chemists were cu- 
rious to know the particular state of oxidation of the manga- 
nese and iron which it contains. The following is the analysis 
of Hartwall :— 

Per Cent. Quantity of Oxygen- 


Silica, - « = 0.4425 38.47 19.35 

Alumin - - - 02030 17.65 8.34 

Lime, - - - =~ 0.2490 21.65 6.08 

Peroxide of Manganese, _ 0.1620 14.08 4.17 

Peroxide of Iron, - 0.0760 6.60 2.02 

Magnesia, pk OSE 1,82 0.70 
100.27 


I have inferred, says Hartwall, by the calculation of the result 
of the analysis, that the manganese and iron occur in the mineral 
in the state of peroxide. This is proved not only by the dimi- 
nished quantity of the isomorphous alumina along with them, 
but also by the reddish-brown colour of the mineral. Accord- 
ing to these data, the formula is as follows :— 


AL. J 
Cae). is on 
i Si + 2Mn [ Sz 


(HOH) 


Analysis of Pyrophyllite, « New Mineral. By M. R. Her- 


MANN of Moscow. 


Tus mineral occurs in the Uralian Mountains, and is known 
to mineralogists under the name Radiated Tale. But its rela- 
tions before the blowpipe are different from those of indurated 
talc. _ Heated betore the blowpipe, without any re-agent, it di- 
vides in a fan-shaped manner into a swollen mass, which occu- 
pies: twenty times the space of the original specimen. ‘The 
pounded mass is quite infusible. If heated in a glass-retort, 
there condenses, on the upper part of it, a water which does not 
attack the glass, and which, on evaporation, leaves no silica. 
Soda dissolves the mineral with effervescence, into a clear yel- 
low glass. Phosphoric salt dissolves it into a colourless glass, 
leaving a siliceous skeleton. It acquires a blue colour with so- 
lution of cobalt. By these characters the mineral is well mark- 
ed, and is distinguished from talc, particularly by its relations 
with solution of cobalt, its aqueous contents, and its fan- 
shaped splitting by heating. But in order to obtain a more dis- 
tinct conception of this mineral, I subjected it to analysis. Ac- 
cording to this, it contains in the 100 parts 


5.62 Water, - - - 5.00 Oxygen. 
59.79 Silica, < Fs ore BROT 
29.46 Alumina, .. 2 ~ 98.95 
4.00 Magnesia,- -  - 1.55 


1.80 Oxide of Iron. 
Trace of Oxide of Silver. 


We see from this analysis, that the oxygen of the water 
amounts to a third, and the oxygen of the silica the double of 
the oxygen of the bases. The mineral thus analysed, therefore, 
corresponds to the following formula :— 


MS? + 3AQDP + IOH. 


The name Pyrophyllite is given to it on account of its exfo- 
liation on exposure to heat. 


Gabbe *) 


Additional Remarks on Active Molecules. By Roserr Brown, 
F. R. S. &c. 


Axzour twelve months ago I printed an account of Microscopi- 
cal Observations made in the summer of 1827, on the Par- 
ticles contained in the Pollen of Plants; and on the general 
Existence of active Molecules in Organic and Inorganic Bodies. 

In the present supplement to that account, my objects are, to 
explain and modify a few of its statements, to advert to some of 
the remarks that have been made, either on the correctness or 
originality of the observations, and to the causes that have been 
considered sufficient for the explanation of the phenomena. 

In the first place, I have to notice an erroneous assertion of 
more than one writer, namely, that I have stated the active 
molecules to be animated. This mistake has probably arisen 
from my having communicated the facts in the same order in 
which they occurred, accompanied by the views which presented 
themselves in the different stages of the investigation ; and in 
one ease, from my having adopted the language, in referring to 
the opinion of another inquirer into the first branch of the sub- 
ject. 


Although I endeavoured strictly to confine myself to the 
statement of facts observed, yet in speaking of the active mole- 
cules I have not been able, in all cases, to avoid the introduc- 
tion of hypothesis ; for such is the supposition, that the equally 
active particles of greater size, and frequently of very different 
form, are primary compounds of these molecules,—a supposi- 
tion which, though professedly conjectural, I regret having so 
much insisted on, especially as it may seem connected with the 
opinion of the absolute identity of the molecules, from what- 
ever source derived. 

On this latter subject, the only two points that I endeavour- 
ed to ascertain, were their size and figure: and although I was, 
upon the whole, inclined to think that in these respects the 
molecules were similar from whatever substances obtained, yet 
the evidence then adduced in support of the supposition was far 
from satisfactory ; and J may add, that I am still less satisfied 
now that such is the fact. But even had the uniformity of the 
molecules in those two points been absolutely established, it did 


49 Mr Brown on Active Molecules. 


not necessarily follow, nor have I any where stated, as has been 
imputed to me, that they also agree in all their other properties 
and functions. 

I have remarked, that certain substances, namely, sulphur, 
resin, and wax, did not yield active particles, which, however, 
proceeded merely from defective manipulation ; for I have since 
readily obtained them from all these bodies: at the same time I 
ought to notice that their existence in sulphur was previously 
mentioned to me by my friend Mr Lister. 

In prosecuting the inquiry subsequent to the publication of 
my observations, I have chiefly employed the simple micro- 
scope mentioned in the pamphlet, as having been made for me 
by Mr Dollond, and of which the three lenses that I have gene- 
rally used, are of a 40th, 60th, and 70th of an inch focus. 

Many of the observations have been repeated and confirmed 
with other simple microscopes having lenses of similar powers, 
and also with the best achromatic compound microscopes, 
either in my own possession, or belonging to my friends. 

The result of the inquiry at present essentially agrees with 
that which may be collected from my printed account, and may 
be here briefly stated in the following terms: namely, 

That extremely minute particles of solid matter, whether ob- 
tained from organic or inorganic substances, when suspended in 
pure water, or in some other aqueous fluids, exhibit motions for 
which I am unable to account, and which, from their irregulari- 
ty and seeming independence, resemble in a remarkable degree 
the less rapid motions of some of the simplest animalcules of 
infusions ; that the smallest moving particles observed, and 
which I have termed Active Molecules, appear to be spherical 
or nearly so, and to be between 1-20,000dth and 1-30,000dth 
of an inch in diameter ; and that other particles of considerably 
greater and various size, and either of similar or of very dif- 
ferent figure, also present analogous motions in like circum- 
stances. 

I have formerly stated my belief that these motions of the 
particles neither arose from currents in the fluid containing them, 
nor depended on that intestine motion which may be Ps BREACH 
to accompany its evaporation. 

These causes of motion, however, either singly or combined 
with others,—as, the attractions and repulsions among the par- 


Oe 


Mr Brown on Active Molecules? 43 


ticles themselves, their unstable equilibrium in the fluid in which 
they are suspended, their hygrometrical or capillary action, and 
in some cases the disengagement of volatile matter, or of minute 
air-bubbles,—have been considered by several writers as suffi- 
ciently accounting for the appearances. Some of the alleged 
causes here stated, with others which I have considered it un- 
necessary to mention, are not likely to be overlooked or to de- 
ceive observers of any experience in microscopical researches ; 
and the insufficiency of the most important of those enumerated, 
may, I think, be satisfactorily shown by means of a very simple 
experiment. . 

This experiment consists in reducing the drop of water con- 
taining the particles to microscopic minuteness, and prolonging 
its existence by immersing it in a transparent fluid of inferior 
specific gravity, with which it is not miscible, and in which eva- 
poration is extremely slow. If to almond-oil, which is a fluid 
having these properties, a considerably smaller proportion of 
water, duly impregnated with particles, be added, and the two 
fluids shaken or triturated together, drops of water of various 
sizes, from 1-50th to 1-2000dth of an inch in diameter, will be 
immediately produced. Of these, the most minute necessarily 
contain but few particles, and some may be occasionally obser- 
ved with one particle only. In this manner minute drops, 
which if exposed to the air would be dissipated in less than a 
minute, may be retained for more than an hour. But in all 
the drops thus formed and protected, the motion of the particles 
takes place with undiminished activity, while the principal causes 
assigned for that motion, namely, evaporation, and their mutual 
attraction and repulsion, are either materially reduced or abso- 
lutely null. 

It may here be remarked, that those currents from centre to 
circumference, at first hardly perceptible, then more obvious, and 
at last very rapid, which constantly exist in drops exposed to the 
air, and disturb or entirely evercome the proper motion of the 
particles, are wholly prevented in drops of small size immersed 
in oil,—a fact which, however, is only apparent in those drops 
that are flattened, in consequence of being nearly or absolutely 
in contact with the stage of the microscope. 

That the motion of the particles is not produced by any cause 
acting on the surface of the drop, may be proved by an inver- 


44 Mr Brown on Active Molecules. 


sion of the experiment; for by mixing a very small proportion 
of oil with the water containing the particles, microscopic drops 
of oil of extreme minuteness, some of them not exceeding in size 
the particles themselves, will be found on the surface of the drop 
of water, and nearly or altogether at rest ; while the particles in 
the centre or towards the bottom of the drop continue to move 
with their usual degree of actwity. 

Bymeans of the contrivance now described for reducing the size 
and prolonging the existence of the drops containing the par- 
ticles, which, simple as it is, did not till very lately occur to me, 
a greater command of the subject is obtained, sufficient perhaps 
to enable us to ascertain the real cause of the motions in ques- 
tion. 

Of the few experiments which I have made since this manner of 
observing was adopted, some appear to me so curious, that I do 
not venture to state them until they are verified by frequent and 
careful repetition. 


I shall conclude these supplementary remarks to my former 
observations, by noticing the degree in which I consider those 
observations to have been anticipated. 

That molecular was sometimes confounded with animalcular 
motion by several of the earlier microscopical observers, appears 
extremely probable from various passages in the writings of 
Leeuwenhoek, as well as from a remarkable paper by Stephen 
Gray, published in the 19th volume of the Philosophical Trans- 
actions. 

Needham also, and Buffon, with whom the hypothesis of or- 
ganic particles originated, seem to have not unfrequently fallen 
into the same mistake. And I am inclined to believe that Spal- 
lanzani, notwithstanding one of his statements respecting them, 
has, under the head of Animaletti d’ultimo ordine, included the 
active molecules as well as true animalcules. 

I may next mention that Gleichen, the discoverer of the mo- 
tions of the particles of the pollen, also observed similar mo- 
tions in the particles of the ovulum of zea mays. 

Wrisberg and Muller, who adopted in part Buffon’s hypo- 
thesis, state the globules, of which they suppose all organic bodies 
formed, to be capable of motion ; and Muller.distinguishes these 
moving organic globules from real animalcules, with which he 


Tl ee A 


Mr Brown on Active Molecules. 45 


adds, they have been confounded by some very respectable ob- 
servers. 

In 1814, Dr James Drummond of Belfast, published, in the 
7th volume of the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edin- 
burgh, a valuable paper, entitled ‘ On certain appearances ob- 
served in the Dissection of the Eyes of Fishes.” 

In this Essay, which I regret I was entirely unacquainted 
with when I printed the account of my observations, the author 
gives an account of the very remarkable motions of the spicula 
which form the silvery part of the choroid coat of the eyes of 
fishes. 

These spicula were examined with a simple microscope, and 
as opake objects, a strong light being thrown upon the drop of 
water in which they were suspended. The appearances are mi- 
nutely described, and very ingenious reasoning employed, to show 
that, to account for the motions, the least improbable conjecture 
is to suppose the spicula animated. 

As these bodies were seen by reflected and not by transmit- 
ted light, a very correct idea of their actual motions could hardly 
be obtained ; and with the low magnifying powers necessarily 
employed with the instrument and in the manner described, the 
more minute nearly spherical particles or active molecules which, 
when higher powers were used, I have always found in abun- 
dance along with the spicula, entirely escaped observation. 

Dr Drummond’s researches were strictly limited to the spl- 
cula of the eyes and scales of fishes ; and as he does not appear 
to have suspected that particles having analogous motions might 
exist in other organized bodies, and far less in inorganic mat- 
ter, I consider myself anticipated by this acute observer only to 
the same extent as by Gleichen, and in a much less degree than 
by Muller, whose statements have been already alluded to. 

All the observers now mentioned have confined themselves to 
the examination of the particles of organic bodies. In 1819, how- 
ever, Mr Bywater, of Liverpool, published an account of Micro- 
scopical Observations, in which it is stated that not only organic 
tissues, but also inorganic substances, consist of what he terms 
animated or irritable particles. 

A second edition of this essay appeared in 1828, probably 
altered in some points, but it may be supposed agreeing essen- 


46 Mr Brown on Active Molecules. 


tially in its statements with the edition of 1819, and which T have 
never seen, and of the existence of which I was ignorant when 
I published my pamphlet. 

From the edition of 1828, which I have but lately met with, it 
appears that Mr Bywater employed a compound microscope of 
the construction called Culpepper’s, that the object was examined. 
in a bright sunshine, and the light from the mirror thrown so 
obliquely on the stage as to give a blue colour to the infu- 
sion. 

The first experiment I here subjoin in his own words :— 

“¢ A small portion of flour must be placed on a slip of glass, 
and mixed with a drop of water, then instantly applied to the 
microscope ; and if stirred and viewed by a bright sun, as already 
described, it will appear evidently filled with innumerable small 
linear bodies, writhing and twisting about with extreme activity.” 

Similar bodies, and equally in motion, were obtained from 
animal and vegetable tissues, from vegetable mould, from sand- 
stone, after being made red hot, from coal, ashes, and other in- 
organic bodies. 

I believe that in thus stating the manner in which Mr Bywa- 
ter’s experiments were iN I have enabled microscopical 
observers to judge of the extent and kind of optical illusion to 
which he was liable, and of which he does not seem to have been 


aware. I have only to add, that it is not here a question of 


priority ; for if his observations are to be depended on, mine 
must be entirely set aside. 


On the Tripang, or Bicho de Mar, or Sca-Slug of India—the 
Holothuria tubulosa of Naturalists. By Cuanves Coiiren, 
formerly Staff-Surgeon in Ceylon, now Inspector of Hospitals 


in the Mauritius. Communicated by Sir James Macericor. 
With a Plate. : 


Havine had many opportunities of observing this species, 
and thinking that, although its organisation is already known 
in a general sense, a complete account of it may be interesting 
to naturalists, I submit the following memoir on the subject*. 


* A beautiful memoir on the structure of the Holothuria tubulosa by 
Tiedemann was published in.1816.  Enrr. 


¥ 
¥ 
: 


ie 


Mr C, Collier on the Sea-Slug of India. aT 


Some advantage is derived from it, as an article of commerce, 
in Ceylon ; for, after being dried, it is exported in large quantities 
to China*. The animal is found throughout the year on this 
coast, attached to rock, or lying on the sand, surrounded by 
species of Haliotis, Patella and Lepas, in shallows close to the 
shore. Its surface is of a deep black colour, soft and gelatinous 
to the feel, and studded over with papillary bodies +, by means 
of which, it attaches itself to objects, and probably absorbs the 
water, with which its cavity is always more or less distended. Its 
length and circumference vary exceedingly ¢, both from age and 
rapid but partial contraction. The extremity where the mouth 
is situated is flat, compared with the opposite end, where the 
anus is, and which is tapering. Through this latter aperture, 
the water contained within the sac is thrown with considerable 
force. It can withdraw, as M. Lamarck has observed, all its 
external organs§ ; and it can, besides, expel through the posterior 
opening, or by rupture, through the outer covering, all its inter- 
nal organs, leaving the empty sac (as it may be termed) to part, 
after a few hours, with the signs of vitality |. 

The mouth Qj is strengthened with a calcareous or cartilaginous 


* This employment of it has been alluded to by Linnzeus, for he in- 
quires: An heec quee, teste Ill. Pailas, siccata, Sinensibus in cibum cedit ? 
Syst. Nat. part vi. p. 3139. 

+ The apices of these papillary bodies are white, and flattened, or rather 
concave and perforated. They resemble, excepting in size, those which are 
extended along the branches of the asterias, and described minutely by M. 
Cuvier, in his Legons d’Anatomie Comparée, vol. i. p. 407. 

+ An individual is sometimes found eighteen inches long. Crawford says, 
some of the Tripang or Holothuriz are as much as two feet in length, and 
from seven to eight inches in circumference. The length of a span, and the 
girth of from two to three inches, however, is the ordinary size. En1r. 

§ Les Holothuries sont tres contractiles, elles font rentrer, facilement et 
completement, tous leurs organes exterieurs, tels que leurs tentacules, leur 
bouche meme, leurs papilles, et leurs tubes aspiratoires. Hist. Nat. des 
Anim. sans Vert., vol. iii. p. 73. 

1 This expulsion has not, so far as I know, been noticed by authors, but 
it follows so uniformly the least violence, or removal for a short period from. 
the habitat, that a view of the parts in sitw can very rarely be obtained. It 
is noted by Tiedemann.—Eprvr. 

4] Linnzeus supposed that, as in the asterias, there was but one opening 
for the alimentary canal :—“ Holothuria omnes, maris incolz, per apertu- 
ram anteriorem nutrimentum hauriunt et faeces expellunt ; per posteriorem 
aquam ingressam ejiciunt.”” Syst. Nat. part vi. p. 3140. 


48 Mr C. Collier on the Sea-Slug of India. 


serrated ring*, and surrounded by twenty pinnated tentacula (ten- 
taculis racemosis, Linn), Connected with and opening intoit are 
many small, transparent, oblong bodies, (one of which, always dis- 
tended with fluid, is larger than the others) which, in the opinion 
of M. Cuvier t, are secretory organs. The alimentary canal {, 
and its retaining membrane (mesentere membraneux, Cuv.), have 
been already described in the Lecons @ Anatomie Comparée ; 
but the term Cloaca §, which has been employed, is applicable, 
not to the termination of the intestine, which is smaller than the 
rest of the canal, but to the kind of sac, formed by the transverse 
membrane, into which the bowel opens. 

The vascular system || is so intricate and peculiar, that it is 
indeed difficult, even after patient labour, to form a clear and 
connected view of its constitution. The following is the result 


* M. Cuvier decides, but hastily I think, that this apparatus serves only 
as a point of attachment for the longitudinal muscles :—‘* Les Holothuries 
ont bien Vouverture de la bouche entourée d’un anneau, formé de dix piecés 
demi-osseuses, mais elles servent seulement de point d’apui aux muscles lon- 
gitudinaux du corps, et aux tentacules recouvertes par la peau interieure de 
la bouche, et ne contenant aucune dent, elles ne servent point a la mastica- 
tion. Vol. iii. p. 336. 

+ Les Holothuries ont tout autour de leur bouche des sacs oblongs et 
aveugles, qui débouchent dans cette cavité, et qui ne peuvent manguer d’y 
verser quelque liqueur analogue a la salive. ol. iii. .p. 340. 


+ The alimentary canal is of the same caliber, exceedingly delicate in its 
texture, about four times the length of the animal, and disposed in three lines 
of unequal length ; that is, it descends, returns to the right, erosses, and again 
descends to the anus. The tenuity (and consequently apparent unfitness for 
their office) of the tunics of the intestine, is found in some testaceous mol- 
lusca also, and in those more particularly (as Murex tulipa and sazatilis, and 
Trochus niloticus ) which inhabit coarse shells. In the last mentioned species 
the parts can seldom, with all care, be displayed without injury, and yet 
very rough matter (as coral, and shells comminuted and entire) has tu pass 
along them. Fluid is found within the intestine, between portions filled 
with solid matter; and this fluid, like that within the cysts, which are ap- 
pended to the mouth, appears to be, from taste and appearance, sea-water. 


§ L’anus s’ouvre dans le grand cloaque situé a l’arriére du corps, et qui 
n’est separé de la cavité de l’'abdomen, que par une valvule. Vol. iv. p. 143. 


|| M. Cuvier bears testimony to the difficulty of this branch of the sub- 
ject :—“ Je suis contraint d’avouer que, malgré tous mes efforts, je n’ai pu 
encore parvenir 4 me faire des ideés certaines, sur l’organization des Echino- 
dermes, 4 V’egard du systeme vasculaire.” Vol. iv. p. 414. T have not been 
able, I confess, even with the subject before me, to follow this able anato- 


mist’s demonstration. 


Mr C, Collier on the Sea-Slug: of India. 49 


of my investigations. A large vessel can be traced from the 
summit of the membranous expansion, close to the entry and 
termination of the intestine, to the lung *, and is there seen to 
ramify ; and from the lung arise distinct groups of vessels, which 
unite into one, and this again immediately divides into many short 
branches, like vasa brevia, which pass directly to and encircle 
the contiguous intestine ; and it sends one branch upwards, 
which may be followed to the mouth, and another downwards, 
which is lost on the second line of the intestine. A branch, too, 
is sent to the organs, which are, as is supposed, for reproduction. 
This would appear to be the distribution from the lung. Now, 
the pulmonary vessel is joined, at its origin, by another, which 
descends, gradually enlarging, along the floor of the covering, 
and by a vessel besides + of extreme tenuity, from off the intes- 
tine at the anus, which may be traced enlarging as it recedes 
from this point, along the whole course of the canal. This junc- 
tion of the three vessels forms a sac between the lamina of the 
membranous expansion, and into this sac, if I may trust my dis- 
section, the vessels open; but as no impelling power can be de- 
tected, the further transmission of the fluid is not apparent. 

The nervous system is so obscure, that I confess I know no- 
thing about it. 

Connected by a vessel with the lung and the intestine, is a large 
mass}, constituted by a congeries of long circular worm-like 


* The lung is of a reddish-brown hue, and appears like ramifications of 
vessels, among very loose cellular fibre, charged with fluid. 


+ The course of this vessel may be worth notice. It passes from the 
mouth, enlarging to about the centre of the oesophageal or first line of the 
canal, and then bifurcates, sending one branch under the lung to the oppv-. 
site line of the intestine, which again bifurcates, and then completes the 
whole course of the canal ; it empties itself, being, as was observed, of ex- 
treme tenuity, at the anus, into the pulmonary vessel. If it be a returning 
vein, it is singular that it should be smallest where it joins the apparent ori- 
gin of the circulation. 


+ The quantity and the form are alike in two individuals found together, 
while the colour thus differs. Does this variation depend upon any period 
of particular activity of the organ? M. Cuvier considers that as an ovary, 
and conjectures that the white filamentous bands have some relation with 
male organs:—‘‘ Je crois que ces sont les ovaries de ces animaux: mais on 
obgerve aussi, vers leur anus, des filamens blanchatres, nombreux, semblable 


OCTOBER—DECEMBER 1829. D 


50 Mr C. Collier on the Sea-Slug of India. 


bodies, which, in some individuals, are red, and in others greyish 
white. And attached to this mass by cohesion, is a loose con- 
geries of white, narrow, delicately serrated, filamentous particles, 
which are so glutinous as to adhere to objects, and are highly 
elastic. Some of these filaments are often seen issuing, as it were, 
from the posterior opening ; and they are always first protruded. 
In small and apparently young individuals, these parts are 
scarcely to be discerned. If these be the sexual organs, the mode 
of reproduction and the kind of influence which may be mutual- 
ly exercised, seem to be beyond the reach of observation, and te 
admit, therefore, of no elucidation. 

The covering without is, as has been observed, black, beset 
with papilla, and it gives off a slight purple tint, such as that of 
Murex Tulipa ; within, it is furnished with delicate transverse 
fibres, and broad muscular bands, which are extended from the 
posterior extremity, and attached to the gristly circle of the 
mouth, or to the summit behind the mouth. A membrane is 
extended across the posterior extremity, and beneath it hes the 
contracted termination of the intestine ; and within its laminze 
commences apparently the system of the circulation. 


The Tripang, Sea-Slug, or Holothuria Trade in India. By 
the Eprror. 


This animal is used very extensively by the Chinese for 
culinary purposes. They make of it a very rich and palatable 
soup, and dress it in different kinds of stews. There are va- 
rious modes of curing it. It is first gutted, and the water 
pressed out of it, and then laid in dry lime, called by the na- 
tives chunam ; afterwards, according to the circumstances of 
the fishing station, dried in the sun, or on stages, by means of 
fires of wood under them. It is a most important article of 
commerce, and is the most considerable article of the exports of 
the Indian islands to China, unless, perhaps, pepper. ‘There 
are fisheries, as they are called, of Tripang, in every country of 
the Indian Archipelago, from Sumatra to New Guinea. It 


& des vers, et formés chacun d’un fil mince, assez elastique, contourné en spi- 
rale, et Se laissant dé’rouler. Ces organes auroient ils quelque rapport avec le 
sex male?” Vol. v. p. 200. The ovary-like mass weighs, in some indivi- 
duals, nearly two ounces. ; 


Mr C. Collier on the Sea-Slug of India. 51 


has also, within these last few years, been discovered abund- 
antly on the coasts of Ceylon and the Isle of France, and is no 
doubt general throughout those seas. It has, as we are in- 
formed, already been sent from thence to China, where it finds 
a ready market; although, from its being unskilfully prepared, 
it is classed with the lowest qualities of the riod Sieg. When 
the Chinese can be employed in fishing and preparing it, there 
is little dowbt that it will ferm an important article in the com- 
merce of those countries with China, as it can be got in any 
quantities. Judging from the extent and population of China, 
and their taste for such articles, where, along with the birds’ 
nests (a peculiar product of the Archipelago), it forms as indis- 
pensable an article of luxury as the tea of China does to this coun- 
try, especially among the higher orders, it will not be an easy 
matter to glut the market with it. 

Being found principally on coral reefs, and never on flat mud 
dy shores, the most considerable fisheries are consequently to the 
eastward from Celebes te New Guinea and Australasia, where 
the form of the land is the most favourable. The animal is 
caught on ledges of coral rock, usually at the depth of from 
three to five fathoms. The larger kinds, when in shallow water, 
are occasionally speared, but the most common mode of taking 
them is by diving for them in the manner practised for pearl 
oysters, and taking them up with the hands. The most produc- 
tive are the fisheries among the Aroe Islands, and those in the 
Gulf of Carpentaria, and generally on all the north-west coast of 
New Holland. Upwards of forty vessels, of from twenty to fifty 
tons, leave Macassar annually for the coast of New Holland, 
besides others that go elsewhere in the same trade. A vessel of 
twenty tons, manned by twenty-five hands, is considered to be 
successful, if she have obtained seven thousand pounds weight of 
Tripang. It is, says Crawford, the capital of the Chinese resi- 
dent merchants which sets these adventures on foot, as they ad- 
vance to the undertakers from two to four hundred Spanish 
dollars, according to the extent of their equipment, securing to 
themselves the refusal of the cargo. 

The holothuriz, as already mentioned, vary in size, but their 
quality or value in the market does not depend on size, but up- 

3 pa 2 


52 Mr C. Collier on the Sea-Slug of India. 


on properties which are understood only by those who have had 
a long experience of the trade. The Chinese merchants are al- 
most the only persons who possess this skill; even the native 
fishers themselves, as Crawford remarks, being often ignorant 
on the subject, and always leaving the cargo to be assorted by 
the Chinese on their return to port. The commercial classifi- 
cation made by the Chinese, is curious and particular. In the 
market of Macassar, the greatest staple of this fishery, not less 
than thirty varieties, are distinguished, varying in price from 
five Spanish dollars per picul (picul is 1332 Ibs.) to fourteen 
times that price, each being particularized by well-known names. 
It is evident from this account, says Crawford, that the Tripang 
trade is one in which no stranger can safely embark, and it is 
consequently almost entirely in the hands of the Chinese. The 
quantity of Tripang sent annually to China from Macassar is 
about 7000 piculs, or 8333 cwt. The price in the market of 
China varies from eight Spanish dollars per picul, to 20, to 50, 
to 75, to 110, and to as high as 115, according to quality. 

The whole quantity sent to China from Macassar, and other 
parts of India, may be estimated at 14,000 piculs. ‘Taking 
this quantity at the low average of 40 dollars a picul, and va- 
luing the dollar at 4s. 3d., its entire value, m a commercial 
view, is L.119,000. Notwithstanding this enormous export to 
China, we do not understand that its value in the market has 
ever been materially affected by the quantity imported, an evi- 
dent proof that the demand of the market still exceeds the sup- 
ply. When we reflect that the opium, pepper, birds’ nests, 
sharks’ fins, tripang, and various other articles, the products of the 
countries under our controul, which are fully as indispensable to 
the Chinese as the teas of China are to Europe, the fear so much 
entertained of the Chinese interdicting our trade with that empire 
is quite preposterous. In short, these few articles of luxury 
give us the command of the Chinese tea market. ‘The celestia} 
empire cannot exist without its trrpang and birds’ nests. 


( 53 ) 


Observations on the Ancient Roads of the Peruvians. By Joun 
Gituies, M. D. M. W.S., &c. Communicated by the 
Author *. 


My attention was first directed to these roads in J anuary 
1825, when, with the view of examining the celebrated silver 
mines of Uspallata, I was induced to pay a visit to the owner 
of one of these who was likewise the proprietor of the neighbour- 
ing Valley of Uspallata. It being then the hottest season of the 
year at Mendoza, his family had removed with him to his resi- 
dence in the valley, to enjoy the cool air of the mountains. 
Attached to the house were to be seen all the machinery and 
other requisites for grinding and amalgamating the silver-ores ; 
some people were then employed in reducing the ores which 
had been previously collected, the whole being under the super- 
intendance of Don Jose Arroyo, a native of Peru, somewhat 
advanced in life, and whom I found intimately acquainted with 
the topography of his own country, and the customs most pre- 
valent among them. He had taken an active part in the revo- 
lutionary proceedings in Peru against the dominion of Spain, 
and as Peru was still in the hands of the Spaniards, he had 
then, like many others of his countrymen, taken refuge in one 
of the neighbouring provinces, which had been more fortunate 
in their endeavours against the mother country. 

While enjoying the hospitality of my friends, I took advan- 
tage of the occasion to visit all the most interesting objects 
which presented themselves in the neighbouring mountains and 
valley, and, among others, at the recommendation of the Peru- 
vian already mentioned, was induced to visit the western side 
of the valley, at which place there existed, as he had been some 
time previously informed, very distinct traces of these ancient 
roads, usually known by the name of Camino del Inga, or road 
of the Incas, some instances of which he had previously wit- 
nessed in Peru ; and the result of my visit was such as gratified 
me far beyond my expectations. 

On first seeing these roads, I was much surprised at finding 


* Read before the Wernerian Natural History Society, December 5. 1829. 
f 


54 Dr Gilhies’s Observations on 


them in such high preservation, that their extent and dimen- 
sions could be distinctly traced to a great extent, although there 
is every reason to conclude that they have been rarely trodden 
on by the foot of the traveller, since the discovery and conquest 
of these countries by the Spaniards, now more than 300 years 
ago. I cxamined the road in several places, af some distance 
from each other, and found it to measure fifteen feet in breadth. 
‘The principal preparation which it seemed to have undergone 
was that of levelling, and the removal of all impediments, such 
as shrubs, large stones, &c.; its surface consisted principally 
of the soil, gravel, and small stones, which characterized the 
surrounding district, and seemed altogether to constitute a 
road sufficient for all the purposes of communication, in a coun- 
try where it is so little liable to injury from the elements, and 
to a people who made all their journeys on foot, and possessed 
no other beasts of burden except the llamas and alpacas, none 
of which, it is probable, ever accompanied them to such a dis- 
tance from their native country. The circumstance which ap- 
peared the most remarkable, was the total absence of every kind 
of shrubs from the line of road, unless where it had been crossed 
by some occasional mountain torrent, or more permanent water- 
course, which, carrying down with it some of the neighbouring 
shrubs, had left them there to take root: with this exception, 
its surface exhibited no other vegetation, except occasional tufts 
of grass, or of some herbaceous plants. Such inconsiderable 
encroachments of vegetation, during so long a period of time, 
may at first sight appear somewhat extraordinary, yet is easily 
accounted for in a climate such as that which characterizes 
the Valley of Uspallata, where it seldom rains, and where 
scarcely any dew falls; so that there generally does not exist 
sufficient moisture to nourish any other than a scanty vegeta- 
tion, consisting of some thorny and resinous shrubs, with a few 
patches of grass, and other less conspicuous plants. This re- 
markable difference in the vegetation of the line of road, and 
the surrounding country, renders the former particularly evi- 
dent, more especially when viewed from the elevated part of 
it, which approaches the base of the mountains, where it is 
called La Punta del Cerro Negro, From this situation it may 
be twaced, as far as the eye can reach, in one continued line, 


the Ancient Roads of the Perwoians. 55 


proceeding in the direction, by compass, of north by west. Un- 
less where nature has presented almost unsurmountable obstacles 
to their doirig so, they seem, in forming these roads, to have 
invariably followed the most direct course, disregarding ordi- 
nary inequalities in the surface, which might have been avoided 
by an inconsiderable detour. 

In the subsequent conversations which I had with the Peru- 
vian and other travellers on this subject, I ascertained that very 
distinct traces of these ancient roads are not only to be seen in 
many parts of Peru, but are frequently met with along the line 
of the Cordillera, which proceeds from Uspallata to Potosi in 
Peru, but only in such places where they have not been effaced 
by coming in contact with more modern roads. It may be dis- 
tinctly traced from the place where I first examined it, along 
the whole extent of the Valley of Uspallata, which is said to 
terminate at the river of St John’s (Rio de San Juan), upwards 
of 100 miles to the northward. It has also been traced as far to 
the southward as the Valley of the Tenuyan, about 34 degrees 
of south latitude, where, on the following year, when passing 
the Cordillera, by the pass of the Planchon, I made a fruitless 
attempt to discover it, none of my guides being sufficiently ac- 
quainted with the localities of the valley, to be able to point 
it out tome. From this valley, I have not yet been able to 
trace its course further south, either personally or by the testi- 
mony of others; yet I have little doubt, that, by a careful in- 
vestigation, it might be ascertained to continue much farther to 
the south. From the Valley of Uspallata it takes rather a cir- 
cuitous course to reach the Valley of the Tenuyan: on leaving 
La Punta del Cerro Negro, it runs southward, and soon inclines 
more to the westward, until, at Los Ranchillos, it leaves the 
Valley of Uspallata, and joins with the high road to Chile, which 
skirts the northern side of the Rio de Mendoza, as far as La 
Punta de las Vacas, passing in this route by Picheuta and Tam- 
billos, places whose names are of Indian origin. At the latter 
place are still to be seen the ruins of some habitations, supposed 
by many to have been used by the Peruvians during their 
journeys; but, by others, and perhaps with more probability, 
as having been erected to give temporary shelter to the negro 
staves, who were formerly carried from Buenos Ayres across 


56 Dr Gillies’s Observations on 


the mountains, by this road, for the supply of Chile and Peru. 
At La Punta de las Vacas, the Incas road again leaves the 
high road, and may be traced across the river of Mendoza, and 
along the Valley of Topongato, to the foot of the lofty moun- 
tain of that name, by which, it passes into the Valley of the 
Tenuyan. j 

The early Spanish writers on these countries give details re- 
specting these royal roads of the Incas; and, among other 
things, state, that from Cusco there existed a double line of 
these roads, over an extent of about 500 leagues, towards Quito, 
the one being made along the plains, at great trouble and ex- 
pence, to obviate the difficulties presented by a sandy and loose 
soil, and the other along the mountains, in which cases ridges 
were levelled and valleys filled up, the latter: being preferred in 
summer. ‘These roads were twenty-five feet wide, and, at regu- 
lar distances, had palaces, store-houses, and other habitations, 
for the use of the officers of the royal house and of the revenue. 
From Cusco these roads also proceeded in a southerly direction, 
dividing into several branches, one of which passing through 
Potosi, was continued by the route now called Camino del Des- 
poblado, along the Cordillera of the Andes, belonging to Salta, 
La Rioja, San Juan, and Mendoza, the continuation of which 
is seen at Uspallata. This branch must have been originally 
formed for the purpose of communicating with the Araucanian 
Indians, and the other nations inhabiting Chile, and those tribes 
which inhabit the country along the eastern side of the Southern 
Cordillera of the Andes, and from thence to the Southern At- 
Jantic Ocean and Cape Horn, all of whom are of quite a diffe- 
rent race, and speak a language very different from the Quichoa, 
or language of the Peruvian Indians. The cause why they 
seem to have preferred this route to any other, may be suppos- 
ed to haye been the greater abundance of water and other con- 
veniences for travellers, than along either side of the mountains ; 
these, in many places, being very scarce on the eastern side, and 
are altogether awanting on the western, where the desert of 
Atacama, bounded on the one side by the Pacific Ocean, and on 
the other by the Andes, is quite impassable. Besides, the moun- 
tain route may be presumed to have been safer, more free from 
interruption, and more centrical for the purpose of communica- 


: 


the Ancient Roads of the Perwoians. 57 


tion with the various nations inhabiting both sides of the Andes. 
It is evident, from. the size of these roads, and the precision 
and care with which they have been formed, that their inter- 
course with these nations must have been considerable ; and they 
are calculated to convey to us high ideas of the energy and civi- 
lization of the Indians of Peru, before they had any knowledge 
of European costoms. At the present day, the Peruvian Indians 
are so tenacious of the customs and habits of their ancestors, 
that they generally prefer travelling on foot to every other mode, 
and thus, from constant habit, are capable of performing on foot 
very long journeys in a short space of time, without exhaustion, 
and with very little nourishment. To this cause may with jus- 
tice be ascribed the circumstance of the Spanish officers, during 
the late war of independence, having so effectually retained this 
part of the new world under the dominion of the mother coun- 
try; almost the whole of their infantry was composed of these 
Indians, with whom they were able to make such long and ra- 
pid marches, as rendered them, in a mountainous country, su- 
perior in point of mobility to any other force which could be 
brought against them. Some of these Indians, who are called 
Cholos by the people to the south, even now occasionally travel 
on foot from Peru, along these mountain routes, to visit Chile, 
Mendoza, and other places, where they carry on a petty traffic with 
gums, and various vegetable products of their own country, and 
a few articles of their own manufacture. This mountain route, 
in a considerable part of its extent, is also at the present day 
frequented by such of the inhabitants of Mendoza and San Juan 
as convey troops of mules for sale, and carry brandies and other 
articles of produce to Upper Peru, or Bolivia, as it is now called. 
This road is considered by them to be the most direct, and pre- 
ferable to any other, on account of the plentiful supply of water, 
fire-wood, and pasture for their mules; and it is probable that, 
in time coming, it will be much frequented for similar purposes, 
This route is traversed in various parts of its extent, by a num- 
ber of passes across the Cordillera of the Andes, among which, 
north of that of Uspallata, may be mentioned, the Pass of Los 
Patos, celebrated as the road by which General San: Martin 
crossed with his army from Mendoza to Chile before the battle 
of Chacabuco. Further to the north are situated the respective 


58 Dr Gillies on the Ancient Roads of the Peruvians. 


passes which communicate between San Juan and Coquimbo, 
and between La Rioja and Copiapo, which latter place is situ- 
ated on the southern boundary of the desert of Atacama; and 
in that part which is denominated E] Despoblado, it is crossed 
by the road which communicates from Salta to the port of Co- 
bija, at the northern extremity of the Atacama desert. This 
latter place has of late risen to some importance, having, under 
the name of El Puerto Lamar, been erected into a free port by 
the government of Bolivia, for the introduction of goods into 
that country, so as to avoid the heavy transit duties and other 
charges to which they are subjected, on passing through the port 
of Arica and other parts of the Puertos Intermedios, which be- 
long to the Peruvian Republic, or the government of Lower 
Peru. This spot, which is the only place where the Republic 
of Bolivia communicates with the Pacific Ocean, notwithstand- 
ing all the encouragement given to it by an almost entire exemp- 
tion from duties, is yet so scantily supplied with water for the 
use of man and beast, that it can never become a place of exten- 
sive population. ‘ 


On the Stomach of the Manis pentadactyla of Ceylon. By C.'T. 
WauiteErieLp, Esq., Assistant-Surgeon, Royal Artillery. 
Communicated by Sir James Macgrigor, Director-General 
of the Army Medical Department, &c. &c. With a Plate. 


A rew weeks ago, while engaged in the dissection of an indi- 
vidual of the Edentated family, Pangolin, “ Manis pentadac- 
tyla” (or trivially, Scaly Lizard), I observed, within its stomach, 
a cyst, which, as it was filled with a vast number of worms of 
the Ascaris genus, I was led to consider as a deviation from 
the natural structure of the organ. But having since examined 
the stomach of two cther individuals, in which the same features 
were found, that conclusion has been necessarily abandoned. 
This structure appears to me, from its peculiarities, to deserve 
the notice of those engaged in the pursuit of comparative ana- 
tomy; and Baron Cuvier having described distinctly, in his 
Anatomie Comparée (vol. iii. p. 387.),the form, division, and 
pyloric granular structure of this stomach, and yet left unno- 


= 


= 
: 


Edina aes 


PLATE I. 


External Vetw of Stomach of Manis pentadactyla. 
Published by.ABlack Edin! 1830. 


ppAponpuyuad siunyy Jo 


the Manis pentadactyla of Ceylon. 59 


ticed the part here more particularly alluded to, I am induced 
to offer the following observations on the subject :— 


The stomach of the pangolin in situ, differs but little in out- 
ward appearance from the stomach of many of the mammalia, 
its division into two cavities being scarcely perceptible ; but its 
muscular fibres are stronger and more apparent, particularly in 
the cardiac portion, and some may be traced readily to the py- 
Jorus. When laid open, however, the two cavities are very 
evident, and are distinguished, not only by the thickness and 
strength of their parietes, but also by their lining membrane. 
The membrane of the cardiac portion is rugous, or puckered 
into numerous irregular folds ; and the membrane of the pylo- 
ric portion resembles the thick coriaceous lining of the gizzard 
of the gallinacea. In this part may be observed numerous open- 
ings, the excretory ducts of a large granular structure which is 
there situated. Between these two portions of the viscus is 
situated the peculiar cyst-like structure, the form, exact posi- 
tion, and aperture of which may be better understood by a re- 
ference to the accompanying Plate I., than by any verbal de- 
scription. It is lobulated, and resembles the convolutions of 
the cerebrum, covered with the pia mater. It occupies nearly 
the centre of the large curvature of the stomach, and projects 
into its cavity ; is of an elliptic form, with its long diameter placed 
transversely, and is covered by the inner membrane of the 
stomach, which is here smooth. In the centre of the side to- 
wards the pylorus, is a large opening, leading into a cavity, and 
thence into several chambers, which are constituted by the lobe- 
like structure I have described. The margin of this opening 
is studded with follicular glands, which are continued in a chain 
towards the pylorus; and the inner surface is highly vascular, 
and secretes a ropy mucous fluid. 

Insects, particularly ants, form the principal food of the pan- 
golin, and of many others of the edentated family, and for ob- 
taining these, its long and delicate tongue, for penetrating into 
small cavities, seems to be well adapted. But it may be as 
sumed, that insects are not its only food, and that there is 
strength and provision as great as with the gallinacea, for tritura- 
ting and digesting grain or roots, and the very strong and talon. 
like nails (well adapted for turning up the earth), with which 


60 Mr Spittal’s Repetition of Dutrochet’s Experiments 


the fore-feet are furnished, would seem to favour the conclu- 
sion. 

Within the stomach there was a quantity of sand, gravel, 
and small pebbles, but there were no traces of food. In one 
instance, within the lobulated body, there was, as I have already 
noticed, a vast number of living ascarides; but, in a second 
instance, a few only were found, and in a third there were 
many. Are these worms taken in from without, or are they 
generated within the viscus? If generated there, do they find 
a retreat within the chambers of the central cavity, during the 
early and triturating process of digestion ? 


Repetition of M. Dutrochet’s Experiments on the Mimosa 
pudica. By Rosert Srrrrat, Esq. one of the Presidents of 
the Plinian Natural History Society. 


As I have not observed any notice of M. Dutrochet’s experi- 
ments on the Mimosa pudica having been repeated in this 
country, perhaps the following communication, containing an 
account of some of these which I performed during the summer 
of 1828, and. again during the summer of 1829, may not be 
altogether uninteresting. 

'To give an idea of the opinion of this philosopher on the 
structure and functions of the sensitive plant, I shall, before de- 
scribing the corroborative experiments, present, in a few words, 
a general view of those points which most concern the present 
topic, that what follows may be the better understood. 

After much research, M. Dutrochet concludes that the Mi- 
mosa pudica possesses the elements of a diffused nervous system, 
more especially developed in the leaves and bourrelets situated 
at the base of the petioles. This nervous apparatus, he ob- 
serves, is seen on the walls of the cells and tubes of the plant, in 
the form of small semitransparent globular and linear bodies, 
which become opaque from the action of acids, and transparent 
from that of alkalies. He believes that all the motions of the 
sensitive plant are spontaneous, or depend on an internal princi- 
ple, which receives the impressions of external agents, and that 
the nervous apparatus mentioned conveys those impressions, or 
is the seat of what he terms nervimotility. 


~ on the. Mimosa pudica. 61 


To prove, then, that impressions made at one part of the plant 
are conveyed to other parts, following M. Dutrochet, I concen- 
trated the rays of light by means of a lens on one of the extreme 
leafets, and found that immediately afterwards this leaflet, with 
its fellow on the opposite side, closed; and that the impression was 
conveyed down the petiole was evident, from the leaflets below 
closing in succession downwards ; then the leaflets of the second- 
ary petioles on each side closed from below upwards, or towards 
the extremity of the leaf; shewing whence the impression came, 
and its course. Much about the same time, the secondary peti- 
oles supporting the leaflets approached each other in a lateral 
direction ; then the primary petiole bent itself down towards the 
ground. Sometimes this was all that happened, and occasionally 
the impression did not go so far; but generally when the sun- 
shine was bright, it was conveyed to the other leaves of the plant, 
for the most part to those above and below first, then to the 
next in vicinity ; sometimes, however, the impression was mani- 
fested first in those leaves at a considerable distance from that 
on which the stimulus was applied ; the first effect on which was 
the bending of the petiole towards the ground, the next the ap- 
proaching of the secondary petioles, and, lastly, or about the 
same time, the closing of the leaflets in pairs, in each of the 
secondary petioles, from the base towards the extremity of the 
leaf; the motion being reversed in regard to that in the leaf 
stimulated. Such, then, were the general effects of the concentra- 
tion of the sun’s rays and other stimuli on the leaves of the 
sensitive plant. The Mimosa pudica, however, frequently closes 
all its leaves in the bright sunshine, the primary petiole being 
then, as far as I have observed, generally in an erect position, 
the leaflets and secondary petioles only being flexed; the same 
happens at night, with considerable flexion of the primary 
petiole ; also in cold weather, and on the application of many 
stimuli. I remember several years ago, being very much asto- 
nished at the effect produced by cold water on the Mimosa pudica. 
During bright sunshine, I poured a quantity of cold water imto 
a plat in which the flower-pot, containing the plant, was standing; 
immediately after which, the leaves rapidly flexed themselves to- 
wards the ground ; the secondary petioles and then the leaflets 
closed.. That it was by the roots that the impression was con- 


62 Mr Spittal’s Repetition of Dutrochet’s Experiments 


veyed was evident, from the effects manifesting themselves at 
the lower part of the stem first, and proceeding progressively: 
upwards. I have tried other stimuli, such as caustic and a 
heated iron-wire, which perhaps answers best. It is more con- 
venient in experimenting, for it may be had at any time, which 
cannot be said of the bright sunshine, more especially in this 
country, and does not destroy the leaves like caustic, it not being 
necessary to touch, nor even to apply it so near as to scorch them; 
it also appeared to me to act more certainly than any other sti- 
mulus in causing the flexion of the leaves, and its impressions 
seemed to be generally conveyed further than those of any 
other. After the application of these stimuli, the leaves became 
erect, but not for a considerable time, longer or shorter, aecord- 
ing to the state of the atmosphere, which appears to have great 
influence on their action, this beimg always m most perfection 
during warm moist weather, and bright sunshine. The leaves, 
on becoming erect, I have always found as sensitive as before 
the application of the stimuli mentioned, but Professor Graham 
has found that this property is completely destroyed, for a much 
longer period, by the application of the vapour of hydrocyanie 
acid to the leaves of the plant, than after other stimuli. 

The part of the plant which conveys these impressions, M. 
Dutrochet believes to be situated in the woody fibres alone. I 
have not repeated all his experiments to prove this, having been 
unable to procure plants sufficiently large for the purpose, but 
I performed one, and that in the following way: I removed all 
the cellular structure composing the external part of the bour- 
relet, and left only the small bundle of woody fibres in the 
centre, having previously supported the leaf so treated, with a 
glass rod. On applying the heated iron-wire or lensto the leaf, af- 
ter this operation, the impression was conveyed to the other 
parts of the plant, and the usual consequences of such an applica- 
tion took place, apparently little, if at all, impaired in intensity. 

M. Dutrochet, in another experiment, reversed that just de- 
scribed ; that is, he removed the central bundle of vessels, and 
left only the external cellular part of the bourrelet, after which 
he found, on applying similar stimuli, that these impressions 
were not all conveyed ; but this experiment I have not repeat- 
ed: it is a very delicate one, and can only be done in large 
plants. 


on the Mimosa pudica. 63 


The next experiments are concerning the organs of motion 
in the sensitive plant,—as to the kind of motion, it is by what 
M. Dutrochet terms incurvation,—the meaning of which will easi- 
ly be understood by the following experiments, which I have re- 
peated, tending to prove what part of the sensitive plant it is 
which possesses this power. He states that the moving power 
of that plant is situated at the basis of the primary petioles, the 
secondary petioles, and also at the basis of each of the leaflets. 
This organ of motion then, which he terms a bowrrelet, is the 
little oblong swelling situated at the different places mentioned. 
To prove that it does possess the powers attributed to it by M. 
Dutrochet, following him, I removed the whole of the cellular 
substance of the bourrelet at the base of a primary petiole, leav- 
ing merely the central bundle of vessels: it was not every leaf 
which could supportitself after this operation, but afew did so, and 
the better after the removal of a portion of the leaf, so as to les- 
sen its weight ; and it was impossible to excite any motion in the 
primary petioles of such afterwards, although otherwise the leaf 
appeared quite healthy, and motion was excited as usual in the 
other bourrelets. This then proves, that the bourrelet is the or- 
gan of motion; and the next question is, How do the flexion 
and extension of the leaves take place? This is solved by the 
following experiments :— 

I removed the upper half of the bourrelet at the base of one 
of the primary petioles, with a sharp knife ; immediately after 
this, the leaf, instead of flexing itself towards the earth, which 
was always the, case with those leaves in which the bourrelet 
was uncut, after the same extent of agitation which necessarily 
arises during the performance of the operation, remained for a 
time in the same position in which the leaf happened to be 
when this was performed, but soon began to move gradually 
upwards, and there it remained stationary while the plant was 
sufficiently supplied with water; for this, as M. Dutrochet re- 
marks, has a great effect on the motion, which is supposed by 
him to occur, in consequence of an afflux of fluid to the one or 
other side of the bourrelet, according to circumstances. The 
application of a drop of water to the cut surface, in general 
caused a rapid movement of the leaf upwards, and to a greater 
extent than usual ; and no agitation or stimulus short of such as 


64 Mr Spittal on the Mimosa pudica. 


destroyed its. vitality, could cause the leaf, after this opera- 
tion, to flex itself towards the ground. ‘This experiment, then, 
proves that the portion of the bourrelet which raises the leaf, is 
not the upper half, but that it is forced up by the action of the 
lower half alone. 

To shew the action of the upper, I removed the lower half 
of the bourrelet in the same manner as formerly mentioned, con- 
cerning the upper, immediately after which, the leaf bent itself 
towards the ground, and there it remained, and never rose again, 
although otherwise quite natural. The descent was always more ra- 
pid after this operation than the ascent of the leaves after the re- 
moval of the upper half of the bourrelet, as in the former ex- 
periment ; and this no doubt is caused by the assistance which 
gravity gives to the force downwards; but it is manifest that 
there is a force pushing downwards, for, on simply inverting the 
flower-pot containing the plant carefully, the leaves operated on 
will be found to beonly slightly raised from the earth, the effect of 
gravity beinginsuchacasereversed. 'Thisexperiment, then, proves 
that the lower part of the bourrelet does not cause the descent of 
the leat, but that this is confined to the upper half alone, the mo- 
tion being caused by incurvation downwards, as the contrary is pro- 
duced by incurvation upwards, in consequence of the occasicn- 
al turgescence of these parts, excited by the stimuli mention- 
ed. After these operations the leaves remained in a healthy con- 
dition for a considerable time, generally for many days, but 
were rendered less able to bear the heat of the mid-day sun. 

The leaves of the Mimosa pudica, like the leaves of most 
plants, turn themselves towards the light, and this is effected in 
theplant under consideration by the action of the bourrelet, which 
possesses a lateral incurvation toa slight extent ; and in remov- 
ing the upper or under portions of the bourrelet, in the experi- 
ments described, if the incision happened to be a little to either 
side, the leaves were invariably twisted upwards or downwards, 
and to one or other side of the stem. 

Such, then, are repetitions of a few of the experiments of M. 
Dutrochet, on this very interesting plant, and the conclusions to 
which they lead are quite in unison with those of the author 
himself. There are many more however, just as interesting, 
which at some future opportunity I propose to consider. 


Additional Remarks on the Climate of the Arctic Regions, in 
Answer to Mr Conypeare. By the Rev. Jonn Fiemine, 
D.D. F.R.S.E. (Communicated by the Author.) 


Tue remarks which I communicated in the April number of 
this Journal, ‘ On the value of the Evidence from the Animal 
Kingdom, tending to prove that the Arctic Regions formerly en- 
joyed a milder Climate than at present,” were not intended to of- 
fend any class of readers, and did not seem likely to provoke any 
angry discussion. My surprise was therefore considerable, when 
I found, in the following Number of the Journal, an “ Answer” 
to my paper, by the Rev. Mr Conybeare, in which the author 
has betrayed a degree of irritation incomprehensible in the pecu- 
liar circumstances of the case, and has exhibited such a want of 
accurate information, sound judgment, and good taste, as to re- 
call the character which Martin Lister gave of certain geologists 
in his day: —‘* It is to be observed (says he) where men are 
most in the dark, there impudence reigns most: they are not 
content fairly to dissent, but to insult every body else.” Indeed 
the whole character of the paper differed so much from the esti- 
mate I had previously formed of Mr Conybeare’s attainments, 
that I was disposed to indulge the hope that he would, upon due 
consideration, do himself justice by voluntarily avowing the mis- 
takes into which he had been betrayed. His silence, however, 
has left me no other course to pursue, than the painful one of 
exhibiting him to the readers of this Journal in a light which 
will probably fill their minds with surprise, and perhaps his own 
with mortification. 

In the paper which has given rise to this discussion, I at- 
tempted to point out the value of Analogy as an instrument of 
research in Natural History, and the danger arising to geolog 
in particular, from confounding the terms genus and species. 
The important question which I proposed to solve, was thus 
stated :—‘* Supposing ourselves acquainted with the habits and 
distribution of one species of a genus, can we predicate, with any 
degree of safety, concerning the habits and distribution of the 
other species with which it is generically connected ?” In order 
to proceed with due caution, I investigated the three following 
conditions :—“ 1. If two animals resemble each other in struc- 


OCTOBER—DECEMBER 1829. E 


66 Dr Fleming on the Climate of the Arctic Regions, 


ture, will their habits be similar? 2. If two animals resemble 
each other in external appearance, will their habits be similar ? 
3. If two animals resemble each other m form and structure, will 
their physical and geographical distribution be similar?” The 
numerous facts which were produced under each of these heads, 
justified the reply in the negative. When I read the title of Mr 
Conybeare’s paper, “‘ Answer,” &c. I was at first struck with the 
boldness of the attempt to outargue demonstration, and did ex- 
pect that he would have ventured on the examination of the dif- 
ferent points I had discussed, and have endeavoured either to dis- 
prove my facts, or to combat the soundness of the conclusions 
which I had drawn from them. I regret to find, however, that 
it did not suit the tactics of my opponent to pursue so straight 
a course. He seems to have been aware of the impregnable 
nature of the positions which I had taken up, and wisely kept 
at a distance, resolved, however, to practise a little desultory 
skirmishing, to convince his friends that his spirit is not wholly 
subdued. 'To soothe his feelings, by giving him employment, 
I shall put a few light troops in the pursuit, ordering them to 
trace every step he has taken ; fight him wherever he pleases to 
make a stand; and, should he offer to surrender, to give him 
honourable terms, not on account of his dignified conduct since 
the commencement of the campaign, but in consideration of his 
former good character, and the efforts he has made to restore the 
Eualio Sauri; but, above all, his connection with our esteemed 
ally, ‘“« The Geology of England and Wales.” 

The first paragraph of the “ Answer,” begins with what Mr 
Conybeare probably imagined I would value as a compliment, 
and ends with a sentence intended for condemnation. In natural 
history, I am styled “ a diligent and meritorious compiler ;” 
while, in geology, my “ information is evidently extremely h- 
mited.” 


Falsus honor juvat, et mendax infamia terret, 
Quem, nisi mendosum et mendacem. 


With the value or extent of my compilations from the works of 
naturalists, or from the book of Nature, Mr Conybeare is in igno- 
rance, as the sequel will demonstrate ; and he is in the same state 
with regard to my geological labours, or the extent of my collec- 
tion of organic remains. Is it not probable that an individual who 
permits himself to praise or to censure an author whose works he 


in Answer to Mr Conybeare. 67 


has never read, may be equally dogmatical in reference to things 
he has not studied ? I am censured, at the same time, for pre- 
suming to differ from Baron Cuvier, and from all the most emi- 
nent names in geological research. I did not expect that my 
right to judge would have been called in question. When the 
page of Nature is accessible to me, I value the lesson which 
it yields; and, when backed by such authority, I dare to call 
nonsense by its true name, even when uttered by a Cuvier or a 
Conybeare. 

My opponent feels himself obliged by the ** interests of scien- 
tific truth,” to object to my “ estimate of the value of the evi- 
dence derived from the Animal Kingdom, as to the former tem- 
perature of the northern regions, as altogether insufficient and 
superficial.” Doubtless it was unnecessary, on the part of Mr 
Conybeare, to have replied to such a paper, if the author had 
no authority, and his statements no weight ; and still less neces- 
sary to make the reply as lengthened as the original, if all he 
had to destroy was “ superficial.” It seems, however, that this 
character attaches to my remarks, because I had been too much 
under the influence of the inductive philosophy. I had, it would 
appear, tried the value of the standard, in the first place, by a 
number of particulars with which T was acquainted, and which 
injured its value, when I ought to have asswmed the standard as 
correct, and thereby been enabled to degrade my opposing facts 
to the rank of trifling exceptions. I was so much occupied, it 
seems, in the examination of the particulars of the argument, 
that I became insensible to the value of its cumulative character. 

But my object was to prove that the particulars in this cumu- 
lative argument were of no value, because different species were 
assumed as identical in distribution, when we only knew that 
they resembled each other generally in structure. Now,-it is 
this general resemblance in structure which has induced Mr 
Conybeare to conclude that all the analogies invariably lean one 
way,—all point to the “ products of warmer climates as the only 
beings with which the tenants of our strata hold affinity.” Mr 
Conybeare (as well as many other geologists of reputation who 
have not attended to the first principles of zoology) does not 
seem to be aware of the origin of this affinity, the character 


of which, on this account, it seems necessary to state in this 
E2 


68 Dr Fleming on the Climate of the Arctic Regions. 


place, however briefly. There are more species of animals in 
tropical than in arctic countries, and better collections of spe- 
cimens of these in our public establishments. Whenever, there- 
fore, we attempt to trace the resemblance of a new, recent, or 
extinct animal to those which have been identified, we may 
expect to find analogous forms most readily where the species 
and the specimens are most numerous. All this leaning one way 
may point out generical affinity, but, in reference to the point 
at issue, the physical distribution of species, it offers no assistance 
whatever. My views “ of the doctrine of chances,” therefore, 
do not probably differ much from those of my opponent, who 
does not seem to be aware that he throws with loaded dice, and 
that the ‘* cumulative” evidence which is cast up, though highly 
useful to the systematical zoologist, has hitherto betrayed the 
unsuspecting geologist into error. 

I am at a loss to comprehend in what way Mr Conybeare 
has any right to censure me, on account of the difference of 
my “ geological notions, from the speculations of Professor 
Buckland.” I am not aware of any remarkable difference in 
geological opinion betwixt us, with the exception of the ‘ di- 
luvian hypothesis.” The views of Cuvier, on this subject, I 
have always considered as erroneous, and I did regret that so 
acute and energetic a geologist as Professor Buckland should 

‘have been deceived by them. The learned Professor’s zeal for 
a favourite vision, led him to provoke me to a reply in the 28th 
Number of the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, April 1826,— 
a reply which my friends assure me gave the death-blow to the 
diluvian hypothesis. Certain at least it is, that, since that time, 
with the exception of a very few individuals who may still be 
found on stilts, amidst the “ retiring waters,” the opponents 
of the hypothesis have become as numerous as were formerly its 
supporters, and the period is probably not far distant, when the 
“ Reliquiz diluvianze” of the Oxonian geologist will be quoted 
as an example of the zdola specus. 

When we examine any genus of animals or plants, we find 
the species differing more or less in habit. Whatever species 
we assume as the type, the others will be found varying more 
or less in form, and in their relation to heat and moisture. If 
we consider the typical species as limited to a certain isothermal 
line, others will be found departing therefrom; and in many 


Dr Fleming on the Climate of the Arctic Regions. 69 


groups will be found species linked together by external resem- 
blance, yet widely separated by geographical distribution. In 
every genus, whether limited or extensive, there is a leaning 
this way, (even in the Palms, to which Mr Conybeare rather 
incautiously alludes), though this cumulative evidence has been 
strangely overlooked. These plain truths, familiar to every one 
in the least degree acquainted with the laws which regulate the 
distribution of animals, constitute the foundation of my argu- 
ment, though it has been unaccountably perverted by my oppo- 
nent. He exhibits me as stating that, “‘ because some genera are 
not limited, therefore no genera are so limited,” or * because, 
in certain widely diffused genera you cannot argue from the ha- 
bits of some of the congenerous species, to the rest, therefore 
you cannot argue thus in any genera whatsoever.” Now, such 
views of the subject never entered into my mind ; and most cer- 
tainly I was never guilty of sending such nonsense-to the press. 
The reader will search in vain for it in my paper of April last. 
It has been said, that, “‘ when a man has the framing both of 
his own argument and that of his antagonist, he must be a 
very unskilful logician if he do not come off with advantage.” 
But though the “ narrow system of Oxford logic,” in which 
my opponent states that he has ‘* unfortunately been trained,” 
may have dictated to him such a mode of proceeding, com- 
mon candour should have exercised a counteracting influence ; 
and common prudence should have restrained him from putting 
on record such a proof of his limited acquaintance with the in- 
fluence of climate as the following, in which, by a singular mis- 
take, he attributes the habits of the individuals of a species, to 
the species of a genus: “ Nature has limited by the laws of 
climate, not only species but genera ;” “ so that although some 
stray species may be found beyond the general limits, yet these 
are very rare, and always attest, by their dwarf size, how un- 
congenial is their habitation.” 

Before proceeding to the consideration of what Mr Conybeare 
supposes to be the proofs of the accuracy of his views, I may 
notice the censure he passes on my “ philosophical boldness,” 
because I ventured to state that Cuvier had boasted too confi- 
dently of analogy as a guide ; and, because I quoted the re- 
semblance of the sheep and the sow, in the general form of their 
feet, while a great difference existed in the digestive organs. 


70 Dr Fleming on the Climate of the Arctic Regions. 


Mr Conybeare should have compared the feet of the two spe- 
cies before he ventured to write on the subject. I might, have 
quoted several other, examples, from the same source, but I 
shall at present only supply one other. .Cuvier has declared’ 
that “ the smallest articulating surface of bone, or the smallest 
apophysis, has a determinate character, relative to the class, the 
order, the genus, and the species to which it belonged ;_ inso- 
much, that when one possesses. merely a well preserved extre- 
mity of a bone, he can, by careful examination, and the aid of 
a tolerable analogical knowledge, and of accurate comparison, 
determine all these things with as much certainty as if he had 
the entire animal. before him.” Yet in spite of this piece of 
silly gasconading, the learned anatomist is forced to admit, in 
reference to the fossil bones of the genus Horse, ‘“‘ It is not pos- 
sible to say whether it, was one of the, species now existing or 
not, because the skeletons of these species are so like each other, 
that they cannot be distinguished by the mere comparison of 
isolated fragments.” Analogy is thus at fault; for surely re- 
markable differences prevail in the external appearance, habits, 
and distribution of the Zebra, the Ass, and the Horse. 

We admire the boldness with which Mr Conybeare ventures 
to proceed from generals to particulars ; and he commences by 
displaying the extent of his knowledge regarding the distribu- 
tion of the Lamelliferous Polyparia, constituting the genus Ma- 
drepora of Linnzus. After all his researches, he has discover- 
ed that a single species lives in the seas of Norway, and he tri- 
umphantly exhibits this “ solitary tenant of colder seas,” in 
contrast with the “* hundreds of species inhabiting warm la- 
titudes.” (‘There is a considerable numerical exaggeration here, 
which I leave to its author to correct.) In a note to this 
paragraph, he adds, that an English Caryophyllea had been 
described by Mr Broderip, in the Zoological Journal for April 
1828. Mr Broderip, it is true, imagined that “ the hard 
parts of this indigenous species do not appear to have been 
any where described ;” but had Mr Conybeare been acquaint- 
ed with the history of British zoophytes, he might have 
corrected this mistake, by pointing out that I myself had pub- 
lished (in the 2d volume of the Wernerian Society’s Memoirs) 
a description of the same species, fourteen years previous to 
April 1828 ; and I may add, that Dr Leach saw my specimens 


Dr Fleming on the Climate of the Arctic Regions.  T1. 


so early as }812. Personally unacquainted, apparently, with 
the physical distribution of the Lamelliferous Polyparia, Mr 
Conybeare endeavoured to gain the requisite information, by a 
process which indicated his incompetency for the task. In or- 
der to ascertain the number of species, he consulted Lamarck’s 
Catalogue, (Histoire Naturelle des Animaux sans Vertébres, we 
presume), which is not offered as complete, nay, where the au- 
thor expressly says, “ J’ai cite d’un premier jet et presque sans re- 
cherches, sous chaque genre, tantot un petit nombre d’espéces, 
tant6t un nombre beaucoup plus grand.” In ordinary circum- 
stances, any zoologist wishing to ascertain the ‘productions of 
the northern regions, would have consulted those authors in 
whose writings the species have been deseribed, instead of a con- 
fessedly imperfect compiler. Mr Conybeare must surely have 
heard of the ‘* Systema Naturz” of Linnzeus, where the Ma- 
DREPORA ramea is recorded as a native of Norway, as well as 
prolifera. If he could not have obtained a sight of the ‘ Sys- 
tema,” he might have consulted the ‘* Elenchus Zoophytorum” 
of Pallas, and he would have found similar notices. But he 
should not have contented himself with even such compilations, 
** Lubuit enim imtegros adire fontes, atque haurire.” In the 
** Prodromus Zoologiz Danice” of Miller, he would have found 
notices of the following as northern species, M. interstincta, da- 
micornis, muricata, prolifera, virginea, ramea. In the Fauna ; 
Greenlandica of Fabricius, M. damicornis and parasitica are re- 
corded. Had he even imposed on himself the less irksome task 
of ascertaining the number of British Species, and ever opened 
my ‘ British Animals,” he would have found three species in- 
dicated as natives of our own seas, (p: 598). He would thus 
have discovered nine species inhabiting the colder seas, instead 
of his “ solitary tenant,” and saved himself the pain of owning 
his connexion with the following flippant remarks: “ How will 
Dr Fleming account for the gradual disappearance of this family 
in our latitudes ? Why does a page of our natural history, once 
so rich, now present a total blank ?” 

I have thus redeemed a pledge given at the beginning of this 
paper, that Mr Conybeare lauded me as a compiler, when he had 
not at all examined my alleged compilations; and I may now add, 
that he appears to have been unacquainted with the animals 

3 


72 Dr Fleming on the Climate of the Arctic Regions. 


about which he was speculating, and even with the authors by 
whom they have been described. 

Mr Conybeare next passes on to the Crinoidea. There is a 
large species, a native of the West Indian seas, and a species 
inhabiting our own seas, so minute (surely he has never seen 
Thompson’s figure or description !) ‘ that it cannot be ascer- 
tained to belong to the family at all, without a powerful lens.” 
All the fossil species are large, and hence the analogy he sup- 
poses is in his favour. But Mr Conybeare should have been 
aware, since the discovery of the Encrinus Milleri of that in- 
defatigable zoologist the Rev. Lansdown Guilding, that there 
is a small species as well as a large one in the Caribbzean seas, 
and that in consequence of the facts ascertained by Thompson 
and Guilding, the Pentacrinus and Comatula must be united 
in one group, a circumstance which the frontispiece of Miller’s 
Crinoidea might have intimated; and he may, at the same time, 
be informed, that a large and well developed species of the lat- 
ter is now before me from North Lat. 73°. 

My opponent very prudently passes over the bivalve and 
unchambered univalve shells, and makes a stand under the pro- 
tection of the Nautilide. ‘ The few existing species of this 
class (he says) are confined to warm latitudes.” Where did he 
learn this dogma, uttered with so much complacency? In 
Turton’s Conchological Dictionary there are 24 species, and in 
my “ British Animals” 39 species of the class, enumerated as 
natives of our own seas! ‘ Turpe est in patria vivere et pa- 
triam nescire.” 

Having hitherto conducted the chace in a more rapid man- 
ner than was probably suitable to the resources of the pursued, 
- we shall slacken our pace for a few moments while we discuss 
the merits of his arguments derived from Reptiles. Of the Cro- 
codilide, he says, “* This family actually includes many species, 
and is exclusively limited to warm latitudes.” Some of the 
species are certainly natives of warm latitudes, but there is here 
a leaning observable in some species towards colder regions. 
The crocodile of the Nile can surely bear a greater degree of 
cold than the one which inhabits Senegal, though probably less 
than the caiman of the Mississippi, for, according to Cuvier, 
** cette espéce va assez loin au nord ; elle remonte le Mississippi 
jusqu’ a la Riviere Rouge. M. Dunbar et le Docteur Hunter 


ene 
ich 1 el 


GEOGNOSTICAL SKETCH OF ROME - wat ___ Fin? new Phit Sour Vol. Spi 


5, 


PLATE H. 


(Wart Marine 
[J Sandetone 


)Granuter tagu \Veleanie 
hetdal Tagyu 


Firmation 


Formation 
Sandy Mart & Clay | Fechwater 


= A : \Zirmation 
GB Fisecntine 


Porta 
Tiburlina 


Porta Castelle 


Vaeptiee 


Pincius near to the Porta del Popolo 


Dr Fleming on the Climate of the Arctic Regions. 73 


en ont rencontré un individu par le 32° et demi de latitude nord, 
quoiqu’on fut au mois de Decembre, et que la saiscn fut assez 
rigoureuse.” If, then, we have an existing species capable of 
living in a temperate river, where is the foundation of the claim 
of the extinct species to be regarded as exclusively the inhabi- 
tants of warm latitudes? The geographical positions of their 
remains may be considered as an index of the physical distribu- 
tion of the species. 

* The existing Chelonians,” says Mr Conybeare, “ with a few 
minute exceptions, are all confined to warm latitudes.” He 
ought to have enumerated these minute exceptions, stated the 
number of species natives of Europe, and the different stragglers 
which have visited the British shores, aye, the Ultima Thule ; 
and we have no doubt that his pen would never have recorded 
the passage now quoted. 

Mr Conybeare gives “ a list of the animal genera actually li- 
mited exclusively to warm latitudes, but occurring fossil in this 
country.” He admits that certain genera afford no indications 
as to temperature whatever, and affects to overlook. the value 
of the evidence which they furnish in determining the laws of 
physical distribution. But to what extent will his selected ani- 
mal genera aid him? His first example is the Elephant. This 
genus is at present confined to warm latitudes; therefore he sup- 
poses every fossil species must have flourished in a warm lati- 
tude. It is not my intention to repeat the arguments already 
advanced, to prove the falsity of this conclusion, for the scanti- 
ness of Mr Conybeare’s zoological attainments prevents him 
from comprehending their value. But I will introduce him to 
Baron Cuvier (whom he has designated “ the first philosophical 
authority,” but whose writings he does not appear to have exa- 
mined), who will tell him, in the first volume of his incompa- 
rable work ** Recherches sur les Ossemens Fossiles,” that the 
extinct elephant or mammoth was not a dwarf ; that it had a co- 
vering suited to a cold climate, (p. 197); that it possibly could 
support a temperature too low for the existence of Indian species ; 
that it is even probable that it was so constituted as to prefer a 
cold climate, (p. 200) ; nay, so satisfied is Baron Cuvier of the 
visionary nature of the views entertained by the school to which 
Mr Conybeare belongs, that he says, “ Ainsi toutes les hypo- 
theses Pun refroidissement graduel de la terre ou @une varia- 


74 On a peculiar Noise at Nakuh, on Mount Sinai. 


tion lente, soit dans Vinclination, soit dans la position de laxe 
du globe, tombent @elles-mémes, (p. 203, see also p. 88). 

Mr Conybeare closes his paper with the following passage : 
« J will also add, that the bones of Cetacea, which might at first 
sight seem to indicate a cold ocean, either belong to species re- 
sembling those of the Mediterranean (the Rorqual), or to ex- 
tinct genera (the Ziphius), or are considered by Cuvier as 
doubtful.” So far, however, is this state of thecase from be- 
ing a correct one, that Baron Cuvier has enumerated ten fossil 
species : one is like a species native of the Ganges, a second has 
no close affinity with any known species, while the remaining 
eight bear a resemblance to the species at present natives of the 
British seas! Some of the species referred to by Cuvier as 
analogous, the Narwal, for example, are not likely, in our day 
at least, to dwell in the Mediterranean, even under the protec- 
tion of my opponent. 

I have thus replied to Mr Conybeare’s paper, when proba- 
bly I might have been employing myself otherwise to greater 
advantage. But the interests of truth seemed to require of me 
to point out the vast difference between confident assertion and 
the deductions of science ; and to attempt to convince my oppo- 
nent that the physical distribution of animals is ‘* a subject (to 
reply in his own terms) in which his own information is evident- 
ly extremely limited ; and yet one without an intimate acquaint- 
ance with which, it is impossible to conduct to a satisfactory 
conclusion the discussions upon which he has chosen to enter.” 


On a peculiar Noise heard at Nakuh, on Mount Sinai. 


[x is known from the reports of travellers, that a low sandstone 
hill, which runs along the east coast of the bay of Suez, about 
three hours from Tor in Sinai, gives rise to a remarkable 
phenomenon. Here, where the ridge is about 150 feet high, 
there is a steep acclivity named Nakuh, facing the coast, from 
which there is heard to proceed a striking and very penetra- 
ting noise. Seetzen, who, in the year 1810, first noticed this 
circumstance, says that at: first it somewhat resembles the tone 
of an CEolian harp, afterwards that of a hollow top, and lastly 
was so loud that the earth seemed to shake. To the imagina- 


On a Peculiar Noise at Nakuh, on Mount Sinai. "5 


tion of the Arabians, it resembles the tones of El Nakuh, a 
long board, suspended in a horizontal position in the Greek 
monasteries, and there used instead of a bell, a mode of calling 
together the devout now nearly prohibited: hence also pro- 
bably the tale that a monastery is concealed in the hill. 

Seetzen, although he has not attempted a full explanation 
of this sound, maintains that it 1s produced by the grating 
of the coarse dry sand along the surface of the rock. This 
very obvious explanation does not appear to have been consi- 
dered satisfactory, for we find an English traveller, Mr Gray, 
who visited this place in 1818, of another opinion, He consi- 
ders the grating of the sand not as the cause, but as an effect, of 
the sound, and maintains, in common with some other travel- 
lers, that the sound must, from the existence of hot-springs, viz. 
those of Hamam Faraulm, in the neighbourhood, be of volcanic 
origin, although he can give no other reason for this opinion. 

It is certainly not easy, and probably without experiment 
not possible, to shew how the rolling or sliding of sand down 
an inclined plane, could produce the remarkable noise heard at 
Nakuh. Notwithstanding this, the opinion of Seetzen has been 
confirmed by Professor Ehrenberg, who, in the year 1893, also 
visited this remarkable place. He ascended from the base of 
the hill, over its cover of sand, to the summit, where he ob- 
served the sand continually renewed by the weathering of the 
rock ; and convinced himself that the motion of the sand was 
the cause of the sound. Every step he and his companion 
took caused a partial sound, occasioned by the sand thus set in 
motion, and differmg only in continuance and intensity from 
that heard afterwards, when the continued ascent had set loose 
a greater quantity of sand. Beginning with a soft rustling, it 
passed gradually into a murmuring, then into a humming noise, 
and at length into a threatening, of such violence, that it could 
only be compared with a distant cannonade, had it been more 
continued and uniform. As the sand gradually settled again, 
the noise also gradually ceased. From the account of Seetzen, 
it is also known that this noise is often heard when animals run 
across the sand; also when the wind blows violently, or when 
loose masses of rock set the sand in motion. 

The sand of Nakuh is rather coarse granular, and composed 
of fragments of transparent quartz. 


TB)», ) 


On the Constitution of the Territory of Rome, with some Gene- 
ral Observations on the Geognostic Character of Italy. By 
Professor F. Horrman. With a coloured Map. 


A. Peculiarities of the Roman Territory, arranged according 
to the Differences of the Formations. 


Tue rock formations on which Rome stands, are extremely 
worthy of the attention of the geologist. Few parts of Italy, 
certainly few of those which have been thoroughly investigated, 
contain, in so comparatively narrow a compass, such numerous 
and varied phenomena, and which are of so much importance 
with regard to the history of this earth ; and, if Leopold von 
Buch, upon these grounds, was justified in saying, on his first 
examination of this country, that this classical spot was as im- 
portant to the naturalist as to the historian ; this assertion has, 
since then, been only the more confirmed, since we have here 
before us a district which has repeatedly, and for a length of 
time, occupied the talents and acuteness of so excellent an ob- 
server. The inquiries of Leopold von Buch himself, the pre- 
vious incomplete exposition of Breislak, which has been in part 
set aside by his successors; and, above all, the laborious re- 
searches of the meritorious Brocchi, upon the Roman territory, 
will all be welcome and instructive guides to those who shall in 
future direct their attention to a subject still by no means ex- 
hausted; and the aim of this memoir will be fulfilled, if we suc- 
ceed in presenting a compressed, but clear view, of the most im- 
portant eeognostical relations discovered by the foregoing natu- 
ralists, to the judgment of the reader. 

We shall commence with a relation of the individual facts eli- 
cited by the labours of these distinguished philosophers ; and 
then proceed to deduce those conclusions to which these ele- 
ments may lead us. But it will be, perhaps, most in accord- 
ance with our design, first to make the following observation. 

A single glance upon the form of the surface of the space 
included within the walls of ancient as well as modern Rome, 
informs us, that we may conveniently regard this little territory 
as formed of three quite distinct portions. A broad open val- 
ley, intersected by the numerous windings of the river; on the 
right, a high, uniform, and nearly continuous chain of hills, 


Observations on the Geognostic Character of Italy. 77 


with steep declivities and level summits ; on the left, on the 
contrary, a low broken hilly region, the different eminences of 
which are either completely isolated from one another by diffe- 
rent intersecting prolongations of the valley, or constitute long 
narrow ridges, which terminate in the valley by a soft and gentle 
declivity. 

It is extremely satisfactory to the geologist, that here, as in 
so many other cases, the differences in the external physiogno- 
mical characters of this district, stand in close and intimate con- 
nexion with the nature of the rocks which constitute its interior. 

Three formations, formed at very different epochs, and un- 
der very different circumstances, concur in the formation of the 
district. Once covered by the sea to a considerable depth, the 
fundamental rock was formed from the products of the univer- 
sal ocean ;—pierced and ruptured by volcanoes, this received a 
covering of matters taken from the interior of the earth’s crust : 
and, later still, it was overflowed to a surprising depth by fresh 
water, which covered it with deposites, partly from a state of 
chemical solution, and partly from a state of mechanical suspen- 
sion. It appears, then, most proper to begin with the traces 
left by the sea, the most general of all these forming powers, on 
the surface of the district; then pass to the operation of volca- 
noes; and, finally, conclude with the most local and circum- 
scribed phenomena, those referable to fresh water. 


I. Agency of the Ocean. 


* 

The chain of hills on the right bank of the Tiber, the lengthened ridges of 
the Janiculus and the Vatican, both mere prolongations of Monte Mario, the 
highest point of this part, belong, in the most essential part of their mass, to 
the products of the ancient ocean. ‘The uppermost stratum is a thick bed of 
a peculiar sandstone. A yellow siliceo-calcareous sand is pretty plentiful at 
the Vatican, in the garden of Belvidere, and before the Porta Angelica, to 
the left behind the city wall. It uninterruptedly forms the whole declivity 
of the Janiculus, on the side next the Tiber, as far as the exposed state of 
the rock allows us to judge of its internal constitution ; and, on the opposite 
brink, along the wall between the Porta St Spirito and the Port St Pan- 
crazio, fully half the height of the precipice, eighty feet high, in the hollow of 
the Valle d’Inferno. This sand is often a mere loose unconnected mass, 
more or less evidently formed of fragments; on the contrary, it is often ce- 
mented by the intervention of a basis, into a regular horizontally stratified 
conglomerate. Brocchi takes notice of a collection of fragments of limestone, 
in front of the Porta Angelica. According to this author, fragments of lime- 
stone and flint, mixed with loose sand, is seen behind the city-wall, between 


78 On the Constitution of the Territory of Rome, with 


the Porta Portese and St: Pancrazio, as also on that part of the Janiculus, 
where the botanic garden is situate ; at the Villa Sante, and in many other 
places in the vicinity. Leopold ven Buch particularly describes similar re- 
lations at the Vatican, before the Porta Fabbrica, going up to the Osteria 
Cruciano. We see here sand and fragments several times regularly alter- 
nating with one another, and united by a calcareous, often obviously sparry 
cement, full of scales of mica, into a fine grained sandstone, and coarse con- 
glomerate strata. The sandstone itself is abundantly mixed with little sil- 
ver-white and black plates of mica, and is consequently very splendent, and 
its predominant cement gives it an argillaceous aspect ; yet its mass effer- 
vesces strongly with acids. In the conglomerates, on the contrary, whose 
calcareous cement is much purer, we can evidently distinguish fragments of 
red and white quartz, much greyish-white and blackish-grey Appenine lime- 
stone, blood-red jasper, flint, flinty slate. Similar relations are described 
by the same observer, on the opposite side of the Janiculus, in the above 
mentioned hollow between the Porta S. Spirito and Porta Portese. The 
sandstones and conglomerates are here frequently marked by a greater abun- 
dance of a siliceous cement, by which they are changed into a pudding-stone, 
of a peculiar appearance, forming pieces which are easily recognised in the 
working of the sand-pits, by their superior hardness, and which immediately 
detach themselves. Brocchi informs us also of a solid sandstone bed on the 
Janiculus, near the wall of S. Pietro, in Montorio ; and on the Monte delle 
Crete ; on the Janiculus to the west of the wall, where it is found in com- 
pany with a very fine breccia, with a calcareous cement. Breislak saw the 
same appearance on the Monte dei Fornaci, close to the hills of the Vatican. 
In this superior stratum of our oceanic formation, we seldom meet with 
organic remains ; yet they belong, it appears, entirely to the great shell de- 
posite, which covers the summit of Monte Mario, at the Villa Mellini; and 
in which, according to Brongniart, the most abundant, as well as the most 
entire, are large oyster-shells, which bear the nearest resemblance to the Os- 
trea hippopus. The learned Abbate Gismonde also found here a petrifaction, 
which had been previously described by Brocchi, in his Conchiliologia foss Sub- 
appenina, a Patella of the genus Emarginula. Brocchi mentions, that, on digging 
the foundation for the saloon of the Museum of Pius Clement, a bone was 
found, which was thought by Brongniart to be the metatarsus of a Paliothe- 
rium. The remains of the fossil mammalia, which Brongniart appears inclined 
to refer to this genus, we constantly found in the environs of Rome, and, ac- 
cording to the express testimony of Brocchi, in the fresh-water deposites. 

Under the sandstone there regularly occurs, when we can observe the struc- 
ture of the rock, a large mass of blwish-grey clay-marl. Its fracture is fine 
earthy and large conchoidal; when moist, it becomes workable, and there- 
fore is a true Figuline marl. It is found uninterruptedly in the hollow 
which separates the Janiculus from the Vatican, covering both the bottom 
of the valley and the declivities of the adjoining hills to a considerable height. 
Brocchi describes it as behind the sacristy of St Peter, on the Vatican, and 
at the Monte delle Crete, an appendage of the Janiculus. The ancients for- 
merly used the marl of the Vatican for potter’s work, as is shewn by the 
verse of Juvenal (Sat. V-): 

*« Et Vaticano fragiles de monte patellas.” 


Observations on the Geognostic Character of Italy. 79 


Many clay-pits are now sunk for the same purpose, on the Monte delle 
Crete, and at the Monte dei Fornaci, which discover to us the interior of 
the mountain. Leopold Von Buch gives us a particular description of it, 
from which we gather, that the marl has a decidedly stratified disposition, 
and separates into beds of even a foot and a-half in thickness, which are al- 
ternately, dark and light coloured. In its upper strata, the marl regularly 
alternates with the beds of the above described sandstone and its breccia, 
which is a proof of its contemporaneous formation. Its interior contains a 
much greater number of organic remains than the sandstone. Brocchi de- 
scribes, behind the sacristy of St Peter, numerous fragments of shells, Den- 
talia, Telline, and pieces of the cover of the Lepas Balanus. There are, like- 
wise, numerous remains of plants, which seem to have belonged to branched 
Fuci; Brocchi also found in it bituminous wood, traversed by slender veins 
of iron-pyrites. Flaminus Vacca even mentions, that large pieces of it were 
found in the clay, on digging the foundations of the church of St Peter. On 
the Monte delle Crete, are also found numerous remains of marine shells, 
even in the beds of clay which alternate with the sandstone. The same is 
mentioned by Breislak at the Monte dei Fornaci. 


II. Volcanic Agency. 


If we have seen the heights on the right bank of the Tiber, formed 
throughout the greatest part of their mass of a marine formation ; on the other 
hand we find, in the hilly country on its opposite side, viz. the seven hills of 
Rome, and the flat country partly connected with them to the south of the 
city, the predominant rocks to be the products of volcanic operations. The 
rock, which is here most abundant, and which forms the main substance of 
these hills, is a large continuous deposite of volcanic tuff, tufa of the Italian 
naturalists, and separated, by Brocchi, from ‘ofa—the fresh water deposite. 
This species of rock, which is so abundant in many parts of Italy, and in the 
vicinity of every volcano, is distinguished from proper lavas by its never hay- 
ing been seen in the form of a couwlée, or stream *. 


* The nearest point to Rome, at which true lava is met with, is in the hill 
of Capo di Bove, two miles from the Porta St Sebastian, where it is quar- 
ried, and under the name of Selcea, or Selee Romano, forms the paving 
stone of the city. It is a true basaltic lava, with a blackish-grey colour 
sharp-edged fracture, formed, according to Fleuriau’s acute observations, of 
an internally crystallized granular aggregate of augite, leucite, magnetic iron, 
different zeolites, &c. (Journ. de Phys. 1795, ii. p. 59.) In its cavities are 
contained many small cubical mellilites, with a white fossil, which appears 
felspar ; and, lastly, zeolites. The whole mass, evidently rests on peperino. 
Leopold Von Buch believed this hill to stand isolated and unconnected with 
any active volcano. Breislak concludes from it, the existence of a hypothe- 
tical crater, which he thought to have discovered in the midst of the seven 
hills of Rome ; and that its connection with it was destroyed by the hands of 
man. But the researches of Riccioli have shewn it to be the termination of 
a long stream, the origin of which can be traced into the Alban Hills, along 
the Via Appia, the pavement of which often rests on it. 

Within these some years, another locality of this rock has been observed, on 


80 On the Constitution of the Territory of Rome, with 


Brocchi, in his account of the geology of Rome, distinguishes it into two 
kinds, differing essentially from one another. 

Ist, Lithoidal Tufa or Steintuf. Is of a reddish brown colour, with orange spots, 
owing to pieces of a slaggy pumice-like lava. Its fracture is earthy and almost 
conchoidal, and is so hard as to be capable of being used as a building stone. 
It contains white mealy leucites, whose gradual transition into the fresh 
crystallized substance, has been satisfactorily shewn by Von Buch ; scales of 
brown mica, crystals of black and green augite, and, more rarely, small por- 
tions of felspar. Now and then are found round blocks, and angular frag- 
ments of limestone imbedded in it. A fine grained variety can be distin- 
guished, which would appear a homogeneous mass, were it not mixed with 
numerous scales of black and silver white mica. 

It usually appears in the form of large beds, from four to six feet thick, 
traversed by long, vertical, and oblique fissures, which have probably arisen 
from the contraction of the mass during the process of drying. The fine 
granular variety, again, has the peculiarity of having a disposition to the slaty 
structure, on account of the linear arrangement of the scales of mica. 

Of the ancient Roman monuments, the Cloaca maxima is built of it, not 
of peperino, as is usually stated ; also the part of the under structure of the 
Tabularium of the Capitol, which is seated on the Hill, whilst its outer co- 
vering is of peperino. The same hill contains ancient tufa quarries. In the 
ruins of the passages in the theatre of Marcellus, we see it cut into blocks 
shaped like bricks ; in the same way are formed the squares of tufa in the 
fortress of the Gzetani at the tomb of Cecilia Metella, and at the corner 
tower of the new Capitol. 

It appears to be the Lapis quadratus of the ancients, which the Romans, at 
least in early periods, employed in paving the streets. Squares of tufa are 
very often found forming the foundation of the basalt pavement, as is seen in 
several parts of the city wall: for example, at the Porta St Lorenzo. Of the 
two kinds of ¢ophi which Vitruvius mentions as occurring in Campania, the 
Tophus niger seems to be the black stone of Piperinum, which is used in se- 
veral of the buildings of Pompeii, but the Tophus ruber is the Roman tufa. 
The place on the Via Flaminia, on the other side of the tomb of Naso, where 
the tufa was quarried, and which now bears the name of Pietre Rossa, was 
called by the ancients Sara rubra. 

In the dwelling-houses are found squares of a greyish yellow tuff, with 
pieces of yellow pumice, e. g. in the ancient cellar of the house No. 66, in the 
Longara, and in the foundations of the Papal garden, on the way from the 
Lavator del Papa to the Quartero Fontane. Brocchi did not find this kind 
any where in situ. 

The points where this kind of tufa exists within the city walls, are, com- 
paratively few in number. It forms the chief mass of the Capitoline Hill 
and is here exposed, both by the precipice of the Tarpeian rock, and by the 


the left hand of the road to Ostia, a mile behind the Tre Fontane. It has 
exactly the appearance of the lava at Capo di Bove, and contains crystals 
of Gismondi’s Abrazite, which is most probably a variety of Harmotome. 
It is rather a mechanical aggregate of volcanic slags, of lapillo, sand, and 
ashes, which, carried to a distance from the craters from which they were eject- 
ed, have been deposited in their present situation. 


4 


Observations on the Geognostic Character of Italy. 81 


subterranean galleries, which were formerly used for quarries. On the Av- 
entine hill it appears in the Vigna Lovati, opposite St Prisca, where a quarry 
has been opened, from which, as Von Buch mentions, were extracted the 
stones for the foundations of the palace Braschi. The stone here, from its 
hardness and fracture, as well as colour, resembles bricks so much, that it 
might easily be mistaken for them, did not we see it rising before us into a 
precipice 60 feet high. Count Dunin Borkowski has, in his description of this 
place, compared the lithoidal tufa from the pits of the Monte Verde, before 
the Porta Portese, with a claystone porphyry. In the Vigna d’Asti, as well 
as on the Aventine, Flaminio Vacca has already mentioned the occurrence of 
this tufa, and also round St Saba. It further appears on the Celian Hill, in 
the subterranean passages to the east of the church of St Giovanno e Paolo, 
where are found the remains of an ancient Roman edifice ; and not far from 
thence, at St Giovanni in Laterano, in the vault No. 22. Brocchi, too, saw it 
on the Esquiline Hill, in the section laid bare by the subterranean passages 
of the church St Francesco di Paolo, full of fragments of lava, and traversed 
by variously contorted veins of fatty clay. It is abundant outside Rome, 
nearer it at Monte Verde than at. Ponte Nomentron, Torre Pignatara, be- 
fore the Porta Maggiore, and, finally, at Ardea, and along the Via Ardeatina. 

2d, Granular Tufa, Brockeltuf. It is very different from the preceding : 
colour blackish brown, or yellow brown; light; very friable, consisting of 
large loosely connected grains, with white particles of mealy leucite; frag- 
ments of augite; scales of mica, and, at times, containing blackish-grey 
masses of lava. 

With regard to the degree of solidity, texture, and colour, it offers great 
varieties, according as it is more or less decomposed. It has either entire- 
ly the character of Japillo, and is only not so dry and less meagre to the 
feel than that which is now ejected from volcanoes, or it is extremely friable, 
loses the porous texture, and crumbles down into an earthy mass. It is still 
more affected by filtrating moisture, which changes it into a kind of clay, 
which adheres to the tongue ; is viscid, and from which the leucite has van- 
ished, whilst the augite and mica remain. It is this same earth which, near 
Velletri, at the foot of Monte Artemisio, is used for the construction of 
bricks; and at St Agata, in Campania, between Molo di Gaeta and Capua, 
for potter’s ware. ‘The rude sepulchral urns, at the lake of Carnevoli, in the 
Albano, are formed of the same volcanic clay. 

This tufa sometimes forms a peculiar variety, when it is very much de- 
composed, which Brocchi calls earthy tutf, Tufa terroso. (It is worthy of at- 
tention, that what Brocchi calls, in his catalogue raisonnée, Tufa terroso, is al- 
ways this, which has been since called Granular Tufa; the lithoidal tufa, on 
the other hand, corresponds to the pietroso of his catalogue. It is of a yellow 
colour, much lighter, and so friable as to crumble down into a fine powder, 
which absorbs water with a hissing noise, giving out, at the same time, an 
earthy smell. Of such a description is especially the tufa described by 
Leopold von Buch, (ii. p. 31.) This tufa, as well as the former, consists of 
distinctly separated beds, and appears, like it, intersected by large crevices, 
which divide it into more or less regular parallelopipeds. At Monte Pincio, 


OCTOBER—DECEMBER 1829. EF 


82 On the Constitution of the Territory of Rome, with 


and close to the Basilica of St Lorenzo, outside the gate, it presents impres- 
sions of the leaves of land-plants ; and, in the latter place, it is pierced by nume- 
yous tubular canals, which indicate. the previous existence of branches and 
stems of trees. Similar appearances are further seen in a hill at Monte Sacro, 
at the ancient Via Salara, near the Wine Mountain of the Jesuits ; and under 
the city walls, between the Porta St Giovanni, and the Amphitheatrum 
Castrense. 

With regard to the relations and positions of this species of tufa, the most 
essential points to be observed are the following: It is, in general, much 
more extensively diffused than the lithoidal tufa, and forms the principal 
mass of the Pincio, of the Quirinal, the Viminal, and the Palatine. In the en- 
virons of Rome it is equally abundant ; and all the catacombs of Rome are 
dug in it, with the exception of those of St Valentino." ‘ 

Many points, with regard to its relations, set in a clear light its position 
with regard to the other formations of this district. Without doubt the 
most important of these is its occurrence on the heights of the right bank of 
the ‘Tiber. Here the volcanic rock every where covers the above de- 
scribed marine formation. ‘Leopold von Buch first enumerates a stratum of 
tufa, six feet thick, on the highest point of the Vatican, immediately over the 
sandstone of the Osteria cruciuno, at the Vigna of Guiseppe Frangioni. It 
couitains many small pieces of true peperino, round masses of a mixture of 
augite and leucite, similar to that of the Rocco di papa in the Alban Hills ; and, 
more rarely still, small pieces of basalt. Above this, lies a remarkable stra- 
tum of portions of an ash-grey pumice-stone, of the size of a walnut, and 
which floats in water, which may be shewn to extend to pretty considerable dis- 
tances in this quarter. Just the same, or extremely similar, are its relations, 
not only at the base of this hill, but also at the Janiculus. A greenish-grey 
granular tufa is here exposed, among other places, at the Porta di Sto Spirito, 
under the walls of the garden Barberini, and here it covers an aggregate of 
pumice-stones, cemented by a basis of a whitish tufa. The ridge, which is 
here separated from the rest of the hill by a little valley, as well as.the op- 
posite declivity in the court-room of the Papal court, is almost volcanic. Such 
rocks also appear on the summit of the Janiculus. Besides, where the different. 
tributary streams of the Tiber have furrowed this elevated plain, a similar 
succession of strata is seen, as below the Villa Frangioni. A granular tufa, or 
T. terroso, of a brownish colour, is seen right opposite the Porta St Pancrazio, 
at the upper margin of the hill, in which lie imbedded large pieces of pumice- 
stone, in a state of good preservation ; and also before the gate to the left 
in the city wall, accompanied by pumice-stone, and pieces of a yellow spongy 
lava. ‘These are the same strata which extend from here to the summit of 
eee ee ee eee ee 

* These catacombs are the Arenarie of the ancients,which, according to 
Brocehi, was the denomination, in former times, as well as now, of the puz- 
zolano pitsat Frosinone and Segni le Arenare, for the puzzolano earth is no- 
thing else than a variety of this tufa, probably the Avena nigra of Vitruvius, (ii- 
p. 4, 6.) whilst the Arena rufa, which occurs in other parts of Vitruvius, is, per- 
haps, connected in reality with the red puzzolano, which is now esteemed 
the best, and is found at St Paolo, near the Three Fountains. Both kinds 
were used for cement in the ancient edifices. 


Observations on the Geognostic Character of Italy. 88 


Monte Mario, of which Brocchi (tab. ii. p. 1, 4.) has given a very instruc. 
tive section. It is principally the Tufa terroso which is here predominant. 

On the left bank of the Tiber, where the granular and lithoidal tuffs occur 
together, the latter is superimposed on the former. There are examples of 
this on the Esquiline, where the subterranean passages of the convent of St 
Francesco de Paola have afforded a very instructive section ; also of the Ca- 
pitoline Hills under the Tarpeian Rock. Yet Brocchi expressly mentions 
that this relative position is by no means of regular occurrence. The reverse 
is seen before the gates of Rome, in the rocks round the tomb of Naso, as 
well as elsewhere. 

There is no undoubted superposition of the volcanic tufa on the marine 
formation on this side the Tiber. The only point where, in this part of the 
city, a foreign deposite is found under it, is the singular discovery of Brocchi 
at the Tarpeian Rock. We there see, in the large subterranean passages of 
the Hospital della Consolazione, lowermost, a thick stratum of brown mica- 
ceous clay, in which a compact limestone of the same colour forms some even 
beds one or two feet thick. To this suceceds a mass of sand and clay six 
feet thick, and over it ten feet of granular tufa, above which, to the summit 
of the rock, is the lithoidal tufa. Brocchi is much inclined to refer the fun- 
damental bed to a marine formation; on the grounds advanced by him, it is 
certainly very probable. Other local appearances besides this, would indi- 
cate that the proper fundamental stratum of the Seven Hills of Rome is a sub- 
terranean prolongation of the marine formation, from the right to the left 
bank of the Tiber. It is the sounding for wells in this part of the city which 
lead to this general result from a comparison of their depths, although now 
we can hardly draw any conclusions regarding the strata through which they 
have been pierced. From Brocchi’s observations, which we have collected 
for that purpose, it follows that the most of these wells, some of which are 
even placed on the summit of the hill, reach the water almost universally at 
a depth which comes near to the level of ancient Rome, from ten to twenty 
feet under the level of the modern city. The volcanic tufa itself can hardly 
retain the water, on account of its porous structure ; and it, therefore, must 
meet at this depth with a stratum of clay or marl, which prevents its sinking 
deeper ; similar to the strata on the Vatican and Janiculus, whose abundant 
springs are mentioned by all who describe this place, appear at the surface. 
The position of the volcanic tufa, with respect to the fresh.water formations, 
which we will now describe, is also remarkable. * 


* In passing, we may be permitted to touch upon two minerals foreign 
to the Roman soil, but which, often alternating with the lithoidal tufa, 
hold an important place in the architecture of the ancients. These are 
the Gabine and Alban stone. We will comprise both best under the 
name Peperin, (Peperino, Pepperstone.) The Gabine differs from the 
Alban only in containing less augite and mica, and consists of a collection 
of angular pieces of grey and reddish brown lava, traversed by cale-spar, 
aud at times containing small rolled limestone masses. Both it and the 
Alban Peperino are well distinguished from the Roman tufaceous rock. In 
the Peperino (says Von Buch) every thing is almost fresh, entire and un- 
broken, splendent ; in the tufa dull, and broken down; the former more re- 

F'2 


84 On the Constitution of the Territory of Rome, with 


III. Agency of Fresh Water. 


The plain of Rome, or the portion of the city intersected by the Tiber, 
and which is bounded by the marine formation to the north, and by the vol- 
canic hills to the south, belongs to the products of stagnant fresh water to a 
considerable height on the sides of the valley, and pretty far up the lateral 
valleys which separate the seven hills from one another. These waters over- 
flowed this region at a period when, after the retreat of the sea, and after 
the cessation of volcanic irruptions, the present river dug its bed. The pre- 
vailing substances are loose unconnected masses of clay, sand, and boulders, 
which were left behind, covering a considerable surface, after the retiring of 
the water; yet its presence has, in many points, formed a beautiful stone 
of a firmer consistence, peculiarly characteristic of this country; of which 
are formed all the ornamental parts of the masterpieces of ancient architec- 
ture, and the constant production of which can even now be observed: it has 
obtained the name of Lapis Tiburtinus, or Travertine. The argillaceous strata 
of the valley, whose general distribution has been shewn by the laborious 
researches of Brocchi, by means of numerous borings, are particularly im- 
portant on this account, because they cannot be penetrated by the waters 
which issue forth from the adjacent hills, and are consequently the means of 
supplying the numerous wells in the lower part of the city. The clay is 
constantly mixed with a small portion of carbonate of lime, and, as it always 
effervesces with acids, is a true argillaceous marl, (Marna argillosa). Its 
colour is yellowish grey. It is constantly interspersed with small silver- 
white scales of mica, and contains here and there small pieces of augite and 
small quartz fragments ; it greedily absorbs water; is plastic, and hardens 
in the fire. ‘Treated with acids, it gives an insoluble residium, which, when 
not mixed with quartz, is chiefly composed of ferruginous alumina. This 
clay is useful in pottery work. Brocchi has shewn, that in the most ancient 
periods use was made of it. 


sembles a porphyry, the latter sandstone, and similarly aggregated strata- 
The wacke-like basis seldom changes its ash-grey colour. The tufacevus stone 
at Rome is never so light. Its fracture is fine earthy, but uneven, fine grain- 
ed, soft ; the tufa, again, is almost friable, which is never the case with the 
lithoidal tufa. Immense numbers of small micacevus scales are found in it, 
partly as individual black plates, partly as elongated masses, from an inch to 
the size of a cannon ball. These masses are a collection of micaceous plates, 
mixed with augite crystals, and often containing magnetic ironstone. Lustre 
and colour is always wanting in similar plates in the tufa. On the contrary, 
leucite and augite are more rare in the Peperino than in the tufa, but more 
frequently small angular white pieces, which are granular limestone. 

The Gabine and Alban stone form immense beds, so that they appear one 
mass; é g round the Gabine Lake and at Marino. They often include 
lumps of basaltic lava. 

The Alban and Gabine stone is found much more frequently in the an- 
cient buildings than the indigenous tufa. Yet the only certain remnant of 
the ancient kings is of the latter rock. It appears that later the former 
rock was preferred on account of its greater fineness, or more beautiful colour. 
The outer upper walls of the Tabularium are built of Gabine stone. 


Observations on the Geognostic Character of Italy. 85 


In several points of the plain, the clay is conjoined with collections of dif- 
ferent kinds of sand. It is mostly a yellow calcareous sand, more or less in- 
termixed with argillaceous marl, and at times including limestone fragments, 
as, e. g. was seen by Brocchi in a pit at St. Guiseppe a Capo, No. 11. | It is 
partly, also, a siliceous sand, which is usually limited to the base of the hills, 
and which, in the plain itself, is only exposed by one pit on the Campo Vac- 
cino, by the side of the Temple of Peace, towards St Francesca Romano. It 
has also been found on the slope of the Palatine, towards the Colosseum, ac- 
cording to the chart of Brocchi; and it has been met with on the edge of the 
Ceelius, in some pits which were made to find out the ancient Cloaca of the 
Amphitheatre. The colour of this sand is yellow, with numerous silver-white 
scales of mica, and pieces of augite. With the aid of the glass, there is visible 
between the transparent grains of quartz, small white prisms, probably of 
felspar. It is always mixed with clay, but destitute of any lime. Hence it 
does not effervesce with acids, and melts before the blowpipe into a black slag. 
The derivation of this clay and sand from fresh water is principally evinced, 
according to Brocchi’s observations, by our finding in it porous and tubular 
cale-tuff, containing remains of lacustrine snail-shells. In the sand in the 
Campo Vaccino, we find the Helix palustris and planata, Lin., both of which 
only thrive in fresh and quiet waters. In the calcareous sand, on the sides 
of the Janiculus, Brocchi mentions the existence of Cyclostoma obtusum, Drap. 
probably the Helix piscinalis of Gmelin. 

Strata of the same substance are also found in more elevated situations, 
far above the level of the plain of Rome, which are evidently owing to the 
same original cause. Brocchi, e. g. found an argillaceous marl of a yellow 
colour, which belongs to this series, on the Capitoline Hills, in the cellars of 
the Palace of the Conservators, lying on a volcanic tufa. It is here divided 
into three beds, the lowest of which, indurated and full of augite crystals, 
also contains many portions of an orange-coloured pumice lava. The others, 
again, are whiter, and without volcanic fragments. They commonly contain. 
vegetable remains, and bits of the shells of the Tellina cornea and Helix tentacu- 
lata, or Cyclostoma impurum, Drap., and their delicate opercula. These remains 
are more scanty in the two upper beds than in the lower; but the former, 
again, are richer in concretions of a muddy yellow limestone. In a still more 
striking manner is the same appearance presented at the Esquiline, in the 
subterranean passages of St Pietro in Vincoli, where, 140 feet above the 
Tiber, and above the lithoidal tufa, is a yellow clay, full of calcareous con- 
cretions, and rectilineal streaks of a very friable granular tufa, which agrees 
in all its characters with the fresh-water clay of the plain. There is also 
seen on the slope of the Aventine, under the bastion of Paul IIT., opposite 
the Porta di Testaccio, a bed of a yellow-grey sandy marl, in which are 
many of the helices of the Campo Vaccino, covered by a considerable deposite 
of porous cale-tuff. 

The Travertino, undoubtedly the most important of all the fresh-water 
deposites of this region, has been fully and learnedly described by Leo- 
pold Von Buch, as it occurs here. It is, for the most part, a chemical de- 
posite of carbonate of lime, which the ancient waters, held dissolved in an ex- 
cess of carbonic acid, and deposited here, as is often the case at the foot of 


86 On the Constitution of the Territory of Rome, with 


alpine limestone ranges, where the long agitatiow of the water, and its exten- 
sive contact with the atmosphere, have furnished the conditions necessary for 
its formation. Even now similar formations are going on in the conduits 
which supply all parts of ancient as well as modern Rome with water ; and 
where the Anio leaves the Appenines, by the splendid cascades at Tivoli, we 
have a similar formation, in a great scale, under our very eyes. 

The principal masses of this cutious limestone lie in horizontal beds and 
strata. It is yellowish white, of uneven fracture, and earthy grain. On ex- 
posure to the air, it gains considerable hardness, and usually assumes that 
reddish hue which gives so peculiar a character to the monuments formed of 
it, and contributes, in no small degree, to cause that imposing impression of 
pomp and majesty which they never fail to excite. Leopold von Buch ex- 
pressly observes, that what is especially characteristic and remarkable in it, 
are the numerous perforations and vesicular cavities, from which it is never 
free. These are of two descriptions of cavities, either elongated and narrow, 
internally dull, and in which vegetable remains often occur, which shew that 
they are derived from portions of plants, which have since disappeared; or 
they are large shapeless openings, which seem to have been irregularly com- 
pressed in a longitudinal direction. Their interior is usually covered with 
calcareous spar, which has the stalactitic and reniform external shape ; and at 
times, when the cavities have again been filled, appear as regular white spots. 
These openings have most probably arisen from the escape of gases which 
existed during the consolidation of the stone, as is at present the case in the 
small Lagune of Solfatara near Tivoli, which has been so often described. 

The travertino is rich in organic remains, but never contains marine pro- 
ductions. They are usually vegetable, particularly in the line extending from 
the Porta del Popolo to Ponte Molle, where many impressions of leaves of 
trees, traces of branches and seeds, round which the lime seems to have ag- 
gregated in concentric layers are found. Every where we see in it the same 
fresh-water Conchylie above noticed as occurring in the sand and clay of this 
formation. In the district of ‘Torre di Quinto, opposite Prima Porta, Brocchi 
found it abundantly associated with the femora of animals resembling frogs. 

The existence and geognostic relations of the travertino is seen often and 
clearly exposed within the hills of Rome, and particularly on those at the left 
bank of the Tiber. The most considerable of these deposites is seen on the 
declivity of the Aventine, towards the Tiber. It there forms a horizontal 
bed, at a height of ninety feet above the level of the river, the longitudinal 
direction of which can be followed in an uninterrupted line for the distance 
of half a mile. In a pit, which is found within Trelles of No. 14. in the Mar- 
morata, it is distinctly seen above the river-sand ; which, on that side again, 
covers the volcanic tufa of this hill. It now and then alternates with strata 
of caleareous sand, and includes small pieces of pumice-stone, and likewise 
the usual remains of vegetables and shells of Heli decollata and muralis, which 
are frequently found alive in the gardens of this spot. Over it lies a stratum 
of that argillaceous clay which we have already seen to be the principal cover 
of the plain. 

Single masses, and even thin beds of travertino, are numerous in the 
sandy and marly strata, even in the upper ones of volcanic tufa, on the slope 


Observations on the Geognostic Character of Italy. 87 


of the Esquiline, of the Viminal, and Quirinal: its relations are, however, most 
striking on the Pincius. Wethere see, at the church of the Augustines, close 
to the Porta del Popolo, a thick bed of granular tufa projecting out, in which 
are masses of cellular travertino, with impressions of reed-like vegetables, 
and also leaves of the Populus alba, Betula alnus, and small twigs of the Ta- 
marie galliea ; there was also found here the fragment of an unknown bone. 
Over it lies a grey fluviatile clay, with impressions of leaves of the Salix 
alba, and then come those numerous alterations of volcanic tuffs, fluviatile 
sand, and more or less complete strata of travertino, to a height of more than 
130 feet above the level of the river. Leopold von Buch first observed that 
this was constantly the relation of the travertino to the strata of tuff in this 
part of Rome, and he has completely demonstrated, that the Pincio forms, 
in a certain measure, the commencement of a considerable ridge of preci- 
pitous travertino rocks, which, on the outside of Rome, are continued unin- 
terruptedly from the Porta del Fopolo to Ponte Molle, and in which this 
order of superposition often recurs. In this rocky ridge are the catacombs of 
St Valentino, in the vineyard of the Augustines at Papa Giulio, the only ones 
in the environs of Rome which do not occur in a volcanic rock. Near this 
spot Leopold yon Buch mentions the occurrence in the travertino of distinct 
impressions of the leaves of the plane tree, chesnut, nut-tree, and laurel. 

We shall reserve for the following section what explanations are to be 
sought of these important relations. Yet here it merits observation, that 
even on the right bank of the Tiber, the travertino formation is by no 
means of rare occurrence. We have already seen that it exists outside Rome, 
at the Torre di Quinto, Leopold von Buch has given a remarkable locality 
at the chapel of St Andreo. But within the walls of the city are seen many 
cellular concretions of calc-tuff in the fluviatile sand on the declivity of the 
Janiculus ; and Breislak and Leopold von Buch there found, under the walls 
of the Villa Pamfili, in the granular tufa itself, a piece of travertino enclo- 
sed, in which were found well-marked Helicites. 


B. Conclusions from the Geognostic appearances of the Roman 
Territory. 


In the foregoing exposition of the facts, which an attention 
to the constitution of the Roman soil presents to the intelligent 
observer, it was our intention, as much as possible, to limit our- 
selves to the space included within the walls of the city. The 
wish to explain the appearances, and, as much as possible, to 
connect them with the relations of this territory, necessitates us 
to leave these limited bounds, and to give a glance at the strue- 
ture of the Italian Peninsula. 

Italy, traversed with slight exceptions, throughout its whole 
length by the gigantic ridge of the Appenines, is naturally 
divided into two nearly equal halves, but of essentially different 


88 On the Constitution of the Territory of Rome, with 


constitutions. As far as we yet know, the chain of the Appe- 
nines, throughout the greatest part of their mass, is a uniform 
limestone range, of great thickness. The steep rocky walls of 
Tivoli, which rise immediately from the plain to the height 
of 2000 feet, are formed throughout of the same light grey com- 
pact limestone, with few petrifactions, which forms on the one 
side the mountains of Pesarv and Urbino, and on the other 
side the plains of Apulia, as far as the point of Otranto. Ac- 
cording to the comprehensive description which Brocchi* has 
given it, this limestone is decidedly a member of the secondary 
or floetz series ; it is identical with that of the opposite shore of 
Dalmatia, and with the southern chain of calcareous Alps, which 
bounds the plains of Lombardy, along the districts of Como, 
Bergamo, Brescia, Verona, &c. and, which Breislak (Geologia 
di Milano) has described in the hills of Brianza, in the plain” 
of Milan. On that account, it most probably belongs to the 
Jura formation, and in part to the chalk series ; which, as it is the 
newest, so is without doubt the most extensive and thickest of all 
the secondary formations on the surface of the earth. In its 
north and south part ; in the Tuscan territory, and even in the 
more northern part of the States of the Church ; as well as at the 
opposite extremity in the mountains of Calabria ; this extensive 
secondary deposite is seen reposing on undoubted transition and 
primitive rocks. These fundamental rocks, the basis of the 
high mountain chain, all appear on the Mediterranean side, and 
therefore bound the floetz formations on the side opposite to the 
Adriatic Sea. But this relation is by no means confined to the 
two extremities of the Italian Peninsula, but even in the inter- 
mediate districts it has a considerable influence on the formaticn 
of the country, the more exact knowledge of which we owe to 
the talents and industry of the celebrated Brocchi. According 
to him, it is a general rule in this region, that wherever the hilly 
plains on the Mediterranean side expose the basis of the coun- 
try, more ancient rocks appear immediately at the surface, un- 
covered by the Appenine limestone. Here the shore of the sea 
of Liguria, where the transition mountains stand in evident con- 
nexion with the principal mass of the Appenines, the members 
of this formation are almost every where seen on the Tuscan 


* Conchiliologia Fossile Subappenina, i. p. 23-33. 


Observations on the Geognostic Character of Italy. 89 


coast, opposite to the primitive rocks of Elba. In the States of 
the Church, the existence of more or less decided transition rocks 
are first noticed in Brocchi’s Catalogo Racionato, in the vicinity 
of Ronciglione ; also between the hills of Cimini and Monte 
Fiascone, near Viterbo, between Civita Vecchia and la Tolfa ; 
and, lastly, from the subinsular rocks of the Capo Circelo to 
Teracina. On the neighbouring Ponza isles, the existence of 
transition limestone has also been lately demonstrated.* But on 
the opposite or Adriatic side of the central range, these remains 
of older formations are entirely wanting. We must, therefore, 
view the Appenine chain, as, indeed, all the mountain chains on 
the surface ofthe globe, according to the general views of Leopold 
Von Buch, as raised from rents in the crust of the earth, and 
even perhaps, on account of the geognostic constitution, as the 
gaping margins of such gigantic fissures themselves. _ It is there- 
fore clear, that the raising cause must here liemuch nearer the sur- 
face on the western than on the eastern side of the central 
chain. This idea of the mode of formation is certainly con- 
firmed by what all have observed, the unequally steep declivity 
of the Appenines on their S. W. side. Further, the reason fol- 
lows immediately from this, for the breaking out of the nume- 
rous volcanoes of this country, only in the space between the 
mountains and the Mediterranean, never on the opposite side. 
In the latter situation, the enormous pressure of the Appenine 
limestones on the fundamental rocks ; but in the other, free from 
this cover, they can more easily give vent to the subterranean ex- 
pansive powers. But before proceeding to the special examination 
of these relations, it will be necessary to view these points a little 
closer. 

The space which lies between the lofty secondary ridge and 
the sea-coast, is, on both sides of the Appenines, much broken, 
and covered by extensive masses of a sandstone and marl, of very 
new formation. ‘The immense masses of marine remains of well 
preserved shells, which, in many cases, have scarcely lost their 
colour and animal matter, of large cetaceze, &c., whieh exist 
in this extensive formation, have already, in many places, at- 
tracted the attention of naturalists. Brocchi was the first to 


* At Capo Negro on Jannone. Compare Geological 'l'rans. Second Series, 
Vol. II. Part IL. p. 220, Plate xxv. Vig. 6. 


90 On the Constitution of the Territory of Rome, with 


collect them in his classical work, under one formation; and to 
give to the space covered by them the expressive name of the 
Sub-Appenine Hills. We see, from the description which he has 
given, that these hills, on the Mediterranean side, commence in 
the territory of Lucca, and after some interruption in the king~ 
dom of Naples, terminate at the southern point of Italy, near 
Reggio, in Calabria. The marine hills of the right bank of 
the Tiber, at Rome, the sandstone and marl of the Vatican 
and Janiculus, forming the oldest deposites of the Roman soil, 
entirely belong to the members of this new formation. ‘The 
comparisons collected by Brocchi shew, that, in their internal 
constitution and organic remains, they completely agree with 
other points of the same nature in Italy. The height to which 
they reach on the Monte Mario is not unusual; for on the 
hill where the little republic of St Marino is situated, strata 
exactly similar occur, according to the measurement of Saussure, 
to a height of more than 2000 feet above the level of the sea. 
The determination of the period of formation of these strata can 
be made with greater exactness. They must have been first 
deposited after the first elevation of the secondary cham of the 
Appenines had already taken place; for in the interior of the 
latter, no trace of them is found higher than the elevation just 
mentioned. They every where cover, wherever they exist, as well 
the Appenine limestone as the older formations, in an unconform- 
able and overlying position, Brocchi has, therefore, ranged them 
under the Tertiary formations ; and this position has been since 
confirmed by the examination of the organic remains. Prevost 
endeavoured to show that they may be compared to the upper 
member of the Paris Calcaire grossiere,*—a view which has been 
since established ‘by Brongniart, after he had examined this 
district, in conjunction with Brocchi. 

The fragments of older rocks which form the sandstone and 
rolled masses of the Janiculus, and its prolongations, are, as 
Leopold von Buch has already observed, all derived from the 
nearest Appenines, brought hither by those enormous marine in- 
undations which once washed the foot of the mountain chain 
to aconsiderable height. ‘These remarkable masses were formed, 


* Description Geologique des Environs de Paris, p. 792. 


Observations on the Geognostic Character of I taly. 91 


independently of the present arrangement of the valley of the 
river ; and the subsequent course of the Tiber in the valley of 
Rome, has evidently been determined by the then existing in- 
equalities in the ground. Yet, before the fresh water deposites, 
the products of volcanic agency appeared in the basin of the 
ancient sea. ‘The volcanoes of Italy; whose general relations to 
its structure we have already touched on, succeed one another 
from the frontiers of Tusany, in an evidently continuous line, 
which here, a in so many cases, runs parallel to the nearest 
range of mountains.* 

The environs of Rome lie between two of the most remark- 
able centres of these volcanic ridges, all of which, with the ex- 
ception of those in the Campanian fields, have been extinguished 
long before the appearance of man in this country. In the N. 
or rather in the N.W., the trachytic Monti Cimini, between 
Viterbo and Bolsena, and with them the extinguished craters of 
Bracciano and la Tolfa; S.E. the basaltic Alban Hills, with 
the heights of Frascati and Marino, and the ancient craters of 
Albano and Nemi. 

The changes which have happened to these mountains in the 
formation of the Roman soil, must be of later date than the for- 
mation of the tertiary deposites. It is certainly a striking fact, 
for which we are indebted to Von Buch, that im the sandstone 
heights near Rome, among the numerous fragments they im- 
close, we never meet with the productions of the Alban Hills, 
In vain do we look for pieces of lava, tufa, peperino, or similar 
appearances, which are yet frequently scattered on the declivi- 
ties of these hills. Every where here, as in the rest of Italy, the 
masses of volcanic tufa, ancient lava streams, and the innumerable 
minerals which derive their origin from subterranean fires, are 


* Breislak limits the volcanic district which is in most intimate connexion 
with Rome, to the space between the heights of Radicofani and the Alban 
Hills ; and it was for a long time believed that the volcanoes of Latium were 
completely separated from those of Campania. On the other hand, it has 
been only lately shown by Brocchi, that the volcanic line is not interrupted, 
as it appears, at the point where the Appenine limestone reaches the Pon- 
tine marshes. He traced numerous vestiges of volcanic rocks through the 
valley of the Herniker, and found here the chain of the Appenines cut right 
across by the rectilineal fissure, which traverses the upper part of the Gavi- 
gliano. 


92 On the Constitution of the Territory of Rome, with 


always met with on the strata of the Sub-Appennine Hills, accord- 
ing to the authority of accurate observers. We have already 
shown, that at the Janiculus and Vatican, and probably, also at 
the foot of the Tarpeian Rock, and uniformly under the cover- 
ing of the Seven Hills, every where undermost is the marine 
Jormation, and spread over it the volcanic products. 

The opinions of geologists are not so unanimous on the pe- 
culiar causes and relations of the formation of this rock within 
the walls of Rome. Breislak has advanced upon this point a 
very surprising hypothesis. He imagined, from the form of the 
Seven Hills, it might be inferred, that, formerly within the walls 
of Rome, and in the Forum itself, a crater existed, from which 
were expelled the surrounding igneous products. He even be- 
lieved he had discovered small lateral craters on the outer- 
most hills of the Aventine, and in the Intermontiwm of the Ca- 
pitoline ; and he saw in the tufa of these hills, which we have 
just regarded as a mechanical aggregate of volcanic matters, 
nothing else than a lava which had really once flowed. The 
grounds on which its proposer endeavoured to support this sin- 
gular view have been lately refuted, from a consideration of the 
district itself, by Leopold von Buch, and Brocchi. A glance at 
the improved chart of the city, and especially at. the excellent 
plan of Nolli, on which both these philosophers based their ob- 
servations, compared with the chart which Breislak has append- 
ed to his work, plainly shows how arbitrary and rash changes we 
must admit, in all the details of this district, in order to give the 
form of a serrated crater to its present appearances. Further, 
it has been demonstratively shown, that the ¢fa found here is 
not a lava. 

Breislak views it as a crystallized granular aggregation of he- 
terogeneous fossils ; but Von Buch has given it as his express opi- 
nion, that its constituents are never so sharp and regularly con- 
nected, as would happen from a crystallizing process on the spot. . 
They bear numerous traces of abrasion on the surface, which 
they must have experienced on being brought from a distance. 
For example, this is well seen in the numerous leucites which 
have completely lost their fresh appearance, and, by a gradual 
change from the exterior to the interior, have crumbled into dull, 


Observations on the Geognostic Character of Italy. 98 


mealy spots. How can he reconcile the constantly stratified dis- 
position of this tufa,—the occurrence of thin layers of alluvion,— 
the evident intermixture with rolled pieces of volcanic and foreign 
rocks, of which we gave many examples,—how can we reconcile 
all this with the supposition of its once having been in the state 
of a red hot stream? These numerous relations rather lead us 
to the view, that the volcanic constituents of the tufa have re- 
ceived their present properties through the medium of water. 
In fact this is the view embraced by both the are mentioned 
philosophers. 

Was it, then, the oceanic water which produced the tufaceous 
covering of the Roman soil, or didit arise from terrestrial fresh 
water 2? Von Buch seems inclined to the latter supposition ; 
and, indeed, the grounds which he advances would be decisive, 
if the formations which we are considering were confined to 
Rome. ‘Tufa and travertino, which are so undeniably fresh 
water deposites, are here, as we have above seen, often irregularly 
alternating with one another. Almost all the hills of Rome 
show examples of tufa strata resting on regularly deposited 
travertine, and what we admit of one of these deposites cannot 
be refused to the other. ‘ The formation of these two rocks, 
so different in external aspect, composition, and structure, must, 
notwithstanding, be viewed as contemporary.” These are the 
words of this gifted naturalist. The view, on the contrary, 
which Brocchi has adopted to account for the manner of forma- 
tion of this volcanic tufa, excludes entirely the operation of 
fresh-water, and it is certainly deserving of strict examination 
the grounds on which this talented observer rests his positions. 

Undoubtedly it is of importance, in the first place, to con- 
sider that the tufa-covering of Rome is not entirely isolated in 
the district of the Italian volcanic zone, but is regularly ex- 
tended from the mountains of St Fiora, in Tuscany, through 
the Romagna into the plains of Campania, into the vicinity of 
Vesuvius, and the Phlegroean fields. Such an uniformity in a 
stratum formed through the medium of water, of such an ex- 
tent, certainly requires as great an extension of the water which 
produced its deposition and consolidation. Fresh waters could 
not have easily produced such relations. This tufa is, further, 


94 On the Constitution of the Territory of Rome, with 


found even in islands and regions quite destitute of fresh waters, 
or where, at least, they are very scanty; so Brocchi found it 
on Ischia and Procida, which have no rivers ; it has lately been 
discovered on Lipari by the researches of the well informed 
traveller, Mr Ruppel; and, in Sicily, the tufa is seen in the 
Val de Noto, where rivers are very scarce. But still more 
indubitable evidence exists in the numerous organic marine re- 
mains which the tufa now and then encloses to a considerable 
height, and of which Brocchi has taken notice in many points. 
Among others, there was found in the Peperino, in a layer 
of pumice-stone, mixed with granular tufa, 23 miles from Mon- 
tallo, on the road from Corneto, many pieces of the shells 
of the Venus islandica, Nearer Rome, at Aqua Traversa, on 
the othe: side of Ponte Milvyi, shells of sea-mussels occur in beds 
of tufa, alternating with a loose sand. On the summit of the 
Monte Cayo, in the Alban Hills, well preserved Bivalve Mu- 
rices have been dug out of a dark volcanic earth. Sea-bivalves 
are found near Velletri, in a tufa stratum, which covers a lava 
stream, some of which are preserved in the museum Borgia, 
and. no less numerous are the examples of such appearances in 
the Phlegroean fields, on Ischia and in Sicily. 

Since the Italian voleanoes have been raised above the sea, 
they have no longer formed tufa masses, which can at all be 
compared with the oldest covering of the volcanic regions. Even 
the well-known tufa, which envelopes Herculaneum, is of very 
slight cohesion, which it first received by moisture and pressure ; 
and besides this, Lippi has distinctly shewn it to have arisen 
from alluvions. Brocchi thinks that, on that account, he may 
conclude, that the tufa-covering was especially the werk of sub- 
marine volcanoes, or of such whose products were taken and car- 
ried away by the sea. He rests his opinion upon the known exam- 
ple of the elevation of an island with an irruption of pumice, 
mixed with sea-shells, at Santorini, in the Archipelago, to which 
we might add many which have been observed since. Von Buch, 
too, considers this view as admissible, from what he says at 
the conclusion of his treatise on Mount Albano:—* Perhaps 
Peperino is to be explained as a repeated irruption of ashes, 
which were much diffused, fell into the sea, and there assumed 
a stratified form. With these ashes were ejected, from the in- 


Observations on the Geognostic Character of Italy. 95 


terior, the basalts and limestones which are now enveloped in 
the Peperino.” 

The same is expressed by this naturalist, when, in another 
place, he observes, on the great extent of the pumice of the 
Vatican as far as the vicinity of Civita Vecchia :—< But what 
other agent than an universal water, without any violent agita- 
tions, could have extended these horizontal strata over such a 
space >” 

But to what is owing the singular reciprocal mixture of tra- 
vertino and tufa strata, which we have mentioned above? Broc- 
chi has explained himself on the point, and, as we think, satis- 
factorily. He esteems it probable, that all the tufas, which 
either rest on travertino, or contain fresh-water products, are 
no longer in their original condition. They must have been de- 
posited in their first position by the same waters, which brought 
together the constituents of the travertino, and have subse- 
quently been united by the chemical operation of the dissolved 
substances. 

We must, therefore, according to Brocchi, distinguish the 
Tufa originale and tricomposto, since both are extremely simi- 
lar in their external characters, and can only be separated by 
the relations of their position. Yet we must observe, what is of 
undoubted interest for the history of the Roman territory, that 
even, accordmg to Brocchi’s very industrious researches, the 
matrix of the Roman tufa has not, as might be at first ima- 
gined, been in the Alban Hills. It must rather be sought, with 
more probability, in the more distant Monti Cimini, and in 
the hills round the Lago di Bracciano. On this he has often 
observed, in his Catalogo Racionato, that the present existence 
of pumice-stone, in the tufas at Rome, is evidently at variance 
with their origin from the hills of Albano and Tusculum.— 
These volcanoes, as Gmelin has already observed, have never pro- 
duced any pumice; and we do not find in them the Roman lithoi- 
dal tufa, but constantly the peperino, which is foreign to Rome. 
According to the opposite authorities, a lithoid tufa extended 
itself from Rome, of which the Roman is only a slight variety, 
to far beyond the hills of Cimini, It is reddish brown, or red- 
dish yellow, contains felspar, and large pieces of orange-colour- 


1 


96 On the Constitution of the Territory of Rome, with 


ed slaggy pumice lava, which the Roman tufa only contains in 
very small fragments, It is even the universal rule, that the 
minuteness, and also the firmer cohesion of the ingredients, ge- 
nerally go together, the more we approach it on the N.W. to 
the hills of Rome, where this mass seems to terminate. 

If we have hitherto required, for the explanation of the geo- 
logical phenomena presented by the oldest formations of Rome, 
and the voleanic cover which succeeds them, a distribution 
of the sea and land different from the present; yet, on the 
other hand, in the newest strata of Rome, in the, formations of’ 
marl and river sand, and in the thick beds of travertino, we 
meet with evidence of a state of things, which, in local limita- 
tion; comes very near to the present constitution of the country. 
The volcanoes of the neighbourhood were extinguished then, as 
well as now. When these strata were formed, the internal com- 
motion of the earth’s crust had already ceased, the sea had 
nearly retired within its present bounds, and perhaps its last 
ebbings had contributed to excavate the broad furrow of 
the principal valley, and of its lateral ones. The great basin of 
the Tiber, as well as the lesser valleys which separate the hills 
of Rome from one another, were also covered by these fresh- 
water formations; the former must, therefore, have existed pre- 
vious to the production of the latter. The condition of organ- 
ized beings must have been the same as at present ; for the re- 
mains, which once lived in them, agree completely with those 
now existing on the spot ; yet the formation of the valley could 
not be quite completed, as is indicated by the extension of 
fresh-water formations into places which they could no longer 
reach. The Tiber, in times previous to the historical epoch, 
must have been elevated more than 130 feet above its pre- 
sent level. The circumstances of its flow must have also been 
different in ancient times. The modern Tiber forms neither 
mar! nor sand, for the level of ancient Rome neither covers, nor 
does it shew, a stone which can be compared with the Traver- 
tino. The shell remains, which exist in these formations, are 
never those which thrive in its bed; they have all been 
inmates of stagnant, or very slow flowing waters. The river 
water must have, therefore, formerly existed in a still state to 


On the Constitution of the Territory of Rome, &. 97 


a much greater extent. The stream has been once a lake, of 
whose former existence, indeed, all observers speak, who have 
noticed this region even in a general way. 

Leopold von Buch, among others, says,—‘ Every step upon 
the Roman plain plainly discovers to us traces left by this great 
lake ;” and, in another place, he shews, upon undisputed 
grounds, that it was just the quiet nature of the deposition, 
which distinguishes the ancient travertino from what is now 
deposited in pipes and water-conduits. 

Breislak has, besides, expressly shewn how the formation of 
travertino, which is still going on under our eyes in the small 
lagunes of the Solfatara, and in the Lago di Tartaro, at Ti- 
voli, only presents, upon a smaller scale, the same appearances 
which once took place in greater magnificence upon the plain of 
Rome. Yet we cannot forget, that the evidences of a more 
violent motion of the water of the river, at this period, are in 
manifest contradiction with these phenomena. They are found- 
ed on the numerous large boulders of limestone aud basaltic 
lava which are here and there met with on the travertino, at 
considerable elevations: for the modern Tiber can no longer 
roll so far down its bed such masses. Brocchi’s observations 
have shewn, that it deposites its large pebbles at Gavignano and 
Filacciano, 30 miles from Rome ; and from thence to its mouth 
only, the well-known yellow fine sand, from which it obtained 
from the ancients the name of Blonde :-— 


“In mare cum flava prorumpit Tibris arena.”—Ovip. Mertam. xiv. 


Leopold von Buch is inclined to seek for this former higher 
elevation of the fresh waters, in the imperfect retreat of the sea ; 
and Brieslak, as well as Brocchi, follow him in this supposition. 
But we neither know whether the present state of things could 
have terminated suddenly (and perhaps this quick diminishing 
of the level of the water was the cause of the rolling down of 
these fragments) ; nor do we know what change this last con- 
vulsion can have wrought in the constitution of the region, 
We must admit that we want the knowledge of many consi- 
derable circumstances in order to explain satisfactorily the nu- 
merous geological phenomena presented by Rome ; and we may 

OCTOBER—DEUCEMBER 1829. e 


98 M. Gloger on the different Colours of the Eggs of Birds. 


conclude these observations with the words once used by Leopold 
Von Buch, that we are very far from believing ourselves capable 
of raising the veil, which may yet long envelope these ever- 
memorable regions. 


Norr.—This Memoir of Horrman will appear in a great work, at present 
in the press, on the Geology, Antiquities, &c. of Rome, by the Prussian Ambas- 
sador at Rome, M.‘Bunser. It was communicated to PocaEnpDorr for his 
excellent Annalen, from which it has been translated from the German by a 
young friend, for this Journal.—Ep1r. 


SS eee 


On the Different Colours of the Eggs of Birds. By M. GuoceEr. 


[+ is a remarkable circumstance that the birds, whose nests and 
eggs are more exposed to the view of their enemies than those 
of other animals, lay eggs, the colour of which is scarcely distin- 
guishable from that of surrounding objects, by which the eye of 
rapacious birds or other animals is deceived ; while the birds, 
whose eggs are of a bright colour, and consequently capable of 
attracting notice, conceal their nests in hollow trees or elsewhere, 
or leave their eggs only at night, or continue to sit upon them 
from the period of parturition. It is to be observed also, that 
in the species whose nest is exposed, and in which the females 
take charge of the eggs, without the males troubling themselves 
about them, these females are commonly of a different colour 
from the males, and more in harmony with the tints of sur- 
rounding objects. 

Nature, says M. Gloger, has therefore provided for the pre- 
servation of the species whose nest is exposed to the view, by 
giving their eggs a colour incapable of revealing their presence 
at a distance, while she has been able, without inconvenience, to 
give the most lively colours in those cases where the eggs are 
concealed from sight. It would have been more correct to say, 
that a certain number of birds can deposite their eggs in places 
- accessible to the view, because the colour which their eggs have 
renders them liable to be confounded with surrounding objects ; 
while other birds have been obliged to conceal their eggs be- 
cause the brightness of their colours would attract their enemies. 
But in whatever way it may be accounted for, the fact exists, 


M. Gloger on the Different Colours of the Eggs of Birds. 99 


and the author, who in his memoir has taken a view of all the 
birds of Germany, has convinced himself of it.* 

Eggs may be distributed into two series, according as their 
colour is simple or mixed. The simple colours, such as white, 
blue, green, and yellow, are the brightest, and consequently the 
most dangerous for the eggs. 

1. Pure white, the most treacherous of all colours, occurs in 
the birds which’ nestle in holes, as the woodpeckers, wrynecks, 
rollers, bee-eaters, king’s-fishers, snow-buntings, robins, water- 
ouzels, swallows and swifts. It is only in these species that the 
eggs are of a shining white. 

The eggs are also white in some species which, like the house 
swallow, certain titmice, the wren, &c., construct: nests, whose 
aperture is so narrow that their enemies cannot see into them. 

White eggs also occur in species which leave them only at 
night, or at least very little during the day ; of which kind are 
owls and hawks. 

Lastly, this colour is met with in those which lay only one 
or two eggs, and which sit upon them immediately after; as 
pigeons, boobies, and petrels. 

2. The pale green or pale blue colour is found to be peculiar 
to the eggs of many species which make their nest in holes, as 
starlings, saxicole, fly-catchers, &c. 

In the second place, this colour is common to the eggs of 
birds whose nests are constructed with green moss, or at least 
placed among grass, but always well concealed ; for example, the 
hedge-sparrow and blue-throated: warbler. 

Lastly, green eggs are met with in several large species capa- 
ble of defending themselves against the attacks of enemies, such 
as herons. 

3. A slight green colour is observed upon the eggs of seve- 
ral gallinaceous birds which lay among’ grass, without’ making a 
regular nest, and which is presently concealed by the great quan- 
tity of eggs which they lay ; as in the partridge and pheasant. 


* The memoir, entitled “ Uber die farben der Kier der Vogel von Herr C. 
Gloger,” is inserted in Erster Band, 6tes Stick of the Verhandlungen der 


Gesel. Naturf. Freunde zu Berlin, 1829. 
G2 


100 On the Chemical Nature of Equiseta, or Horsetails. 


The same colour is also observed in many web-footed birds, 
which cover their eggs when they leave them, and which are 
moreover careful to look after them; as swans, geese, ducks, 
divers, &. The eggs of certain large birds which nestle in the 
open air, are even of a muddy white, as is observed in vultures, 
eagles, and storks. 

Among the party-coloured eggs, there are distinguished those 
which have a white ground, and those whose ground is of some 
other colour than white. The eggs which have a white ground 
are those of the golden oriole, the long-tailed titmouse, the nut- 
hatch, creeper, chimney-swallow, &c. Most of their eggs are 
concealed in nests that are well covered. The party-coloured 
eggs, whose ground is not white, at least not pure white, are 
those of the lark, titlark, some wagtails and buntings; those of 
crows, shrikes, thrushes, quails, and most of the singing birds, 
in which the colour of the interior of the nest accords with that 


of the eggs. 


On the Chemical Nature of Equiseta, or Horsetails. 


Every body knows that the Equiseta or Horsetails, which are 
rough plants covered with asperities, are much employed for po- 
lishing wood, metals, &c., and for scouring culinary utensils. 
But it is probably less known that these plants are not less re- 
markable in a scientific point of view than with reference to the 
arts. Their singular structure, which completely separates them 
from all other vegetables, has given rise to interesting researches 
on the part of botanists, among which we must assign the first 
rank to those which M. Vaucher has published in his Monograph 
of the Equisetaceze. Natural philosophers have also made some 
curious observations on these plants, such as the examination of 
the remarkable optical properties possessed by the small crystals 
which the microscope discovers in their dried tissue. 

It was therefore to be desired, that chemists should also ex- 
amine the equiseta, and make known to us the elements which 
enter into their composition. Accordingly, M. Braconnet has 


engaged in this kind of investigation ; and it is from a memoir 
4 


On Parasitic Animals. 101 


on this subject, which he has published in the Annales de Phy- 
sique et de Chimie, Sept. 1828, that we extract the table which 
contains the analyses of the ashes of some species of the genus 
Equisetum. The great quantity of silica which these ashes ap- 
pear to contain, and which exceeds the half of their weight, is a 
remarkable fact, when we consider it in its relations, whether to 
the mechanical properties of the equiseta, or to the optical pro- 
perties possessed by the small crystals with which their surface 
is sometimes covered. The presence of silica in such large pro- 
portion is also in accordance with the observation of M. Bracon- 
net, that the equisetaceze grow only in very siliceous soils, almost 
entirely destitute of carbonate of lime. But how is this great 
quantity of silica itself dissolved, in order to be introduced into 
the tissue of the plant? This is one of the subjects which has 
especially occupied the attention of the author. To form a cor- 
rect idea of this particular point of inquiry, it is necessary to 
read the memoir itself. We shall here only remark, that potash 
does not contribute, as might be expected, to produce this solu- 
tion, for the ashes of these vegetables present the curious, and 
perhaps unique, fact, of not possessing alkaline properties, or 
only in a feeble degree in some cases. 


Composition of the Ashes. 


Names of Equiseta. 


PP 
2 
at 
66 
#2 
2 
g 
aa 
<a 


Sulphate of Lime. 
Sulphate of Potash. 
Chlorure of Potas- 
Carbonate of Lime. 

Magnesia 
Ferruginous phos- 
phate of Lime. 
Potash in part uni- 

ted with silicious 
acid. 


plant. 


Eqguisetum fluviatile, | 23.61 | 12.00 | 3.39 | 2.83 | 2.72 | 1.46] 0.66] 0.55| .0 
E. hyemale, . . ./11.81] 8.75]0 0.33 | 0.28 | 0.93] 0 0.80} 0.72 
E.arvense, . . .|13.84] 6.38|0 0.37 | 0.22 | 5.51] 0.46 junde.| 0.30 
E. limosum, . . .| 15.50] 6.50|3.3 | 2.20] 1.20| 1.50] 0.3 | do. 


On Parasitic Animals, and on a new Genus of that Family. 


: the intestinal worms or parasitic animals, there are 
some which have at the lower surface, or at the posterior ex- 
tremity of the body, one or more cup-shaped organs, more or 


102 On Parasitic Animals. 


less similar to those which are observed upon the arms of poly- 
pi, or at the posterior extremity of the body of leeches. Some 
naturalists have derived, from the number of these organs the 
names which they haye given to the animals bearing them but, 
as if they had taken’them for mouths, they have made up the 
names from numerical titles, and the word stoma: thus, dis- 
toma, hexastoma, polystoma. .M. Cuvier himself, having disco- 
vered, twenty-seven years ago, in the Mediterranean, a species of 
this family, which has three cups, conformed with the establish- 
ed custom, and named it Tristoma. 

It is now well known, that the organs in question are not 
more subservient to the imbibition of food than those of simi- 
lar form which the polypi and leeches possess. The animal 
employs them only for fixing itself, and, with a little attention, 
the true mouth is always found, which is single, and very 
different from the cups. 

The expressions distoma and polystoma are therefore impro- 
per; and the great inconveniences. resulting to natural history 
from the perpetual changes in names, alone induce:M. Cuvier 
to prefer them to those of hewacotyles, and the others which M. 
de Blainville has proposed, and which more correctly represent 
the organization which they ought to designate. 

Be this as it may, the animal presented to the Academy by 
M. de Cuvier belongs to the group of parasites, but is infinitely 
more polystomatous or polycotylous than any hitherto described. 
Most of these animals are small, several of them microscopic ; 
but this is four, five, or six inches in length. It has upwards of a 
hundred cups, and if, in naming it, the same method is adopted 
as with reference to the others, it should be called hecatostoma, 
or hecatocotyles. 

What adds more to the singularity of its conformation, is the 
singularity of the abode which it has chosen, or which has been 
assigned to it by Nature. It lives in the abdominal cavity, or even 
in the substance of the flesh of the polypus, the only animal 
-which surpasses it in the number of cups with which it is fur- 
nished. 

M. Cuvier remarks how favourable this circumstance is to 
the metaphysicians who amuse themselves with composing the 
intestinal worms all of a piece with the elements furnished by 


On Parasitic Animals. 103 


the body of the animals which they inhabit. Here we have 
the body of a polypus, which has for its parasite a worm, so 
like the arm of a polypus, that the illusion cannot be greater. 
Of the two polypi which he produced before the Academy, there 
was onein which the heawacotyles was attached to one of the arms, 
which it had even nearly destroyed, and which it seems in such 
a degree to replace, that at first sight it might be taken for the 
arm itself. <* Let it be judged,” said M. Cuvier, “ how many 
theories might be founded on such an extraordinary resem- 
blance. Never has the imagination been exercised on so curious 
a subject. As to myself, who have long adhered to the exposition 
of positive facts, I shall at present confine myself to making 
known, as accurately as possible, the exterior and interior of our 
animals.” 

Natural History owes the discovery of this worm to the at- 
tention of M. Laurillard, keeper of the Anatomical Galleries of 
the Museum of Natural History, who having been sent to Nice 
to collect the fishes of the Mediterranean, at the same time en- 
gaged in examining and collecting all the other productions of 
that sea, so rich and as yet so little known. 

He found this worm on the Octopus granulatus of M. La- 
marck. Neither the Octopus vulgaris, nor the Eledone, nor any 
other cephalopodous animal, was observed by him to furnish 
any, although he carefully examined them for that purpose ; so 
that the Hecatocotyles would seem to be peculiar to the Octopus 
granulatus. 

Of five individuals which fell into the hands of M. Laurillard, 
there were three in the cavity of a single octopus, with the 
head attached to some part of its interior, and the tail stretching 
into the abdominal sac, but without penetrating into the perito- 
neum. A fourth was found in another octopus, but in a similar 
position. The fifth alone was attached, as we have said, 
to an arm of the octopus, and had transformed itself into a 
kind of bag into which it had introduced its head, the rest . 
of its body remaining free at the exterior. The hecatocotyles 
is, therefore, properly speaking, but a semi-intestinal, or ra- 
ther a semi-external parasite, like the polystoma and trysto- 
mee, and like the lernese and chandracanthi. It is easily detached 
from the animal on which it lives, and immediately swims about 


104 ; On Parasitic Animals. 


in the water, or climbs upon any solid surface that may’ present 
itself, without seeming to suffer much from the change of posi- 
tion. It fastens itself strongly, by means of cups, to the fingers 
or to any other body, imitating in this also the octopus its patron, 
this being the most appropriate term for the animal which a 
parasite devours. 

Here M. Cuvier gave an anatomical description of the ani- 
mal. Its form is elongated, and somewhat prismatic, the dorsal 
surface being rounded, and. the inferior surface flat. Its ordi- 
nary length is four or five inches. It is thicker, and especially 
higher, at its fore part, where its breadth is from four to five 
lines, and its height six or seven. Both dimensions diminish to- 
wards the posterior part, and especially the height, which is 
there reduced to less than a line, while the breadth is still two 
lines, The anterior extremity is obtuse. The cups are placed 
at the inferior surface. Fifty-two pairs were counted. M. 
Cuvier then described the stomach, intestines, and alimentary 
orifice, which latter appears to be single. He then passed to the 
very remarkable apparatus which he supposes to belong to its 
generative faculty. This organ, the uses of which still remain 
to be determined in a precise manner, will afford a curious 
subject of investigation to the naturalists who may have an op- 
portunity of observing the animal in its living state. 

“Such,” said M. Cuvier in concluding, “ are the observa- 
tions which I have made on this truly extraordinary animal. 
I doubt not that the attention of the naturalists who inhabit 
the shores of the Mediterranean having been once excited by 
this first notice respecting so remarkable a creature, will soon 
complete its history, whether, by supplying what is wanting in 


my memoir, or by rectifying the errors into which I may have 
fallen.” 


( 105 ) 


On the Ancient Forests of Scotland. By P. F. Tyrizr, Esq. 
F.R.S. F.A.S. &e. 


We must be careful not to permit the ideas which are derived 
from the condition of Scotland in the present day, to influence 
our conclusions as to its appearance in the rude and early ages 
of its history. No two pictures could be more dissimilar than 
Scotland in the thirteenth and fourteenth, and Scotland in the 
nineteenth century. The mountains, indeed, and the rivers, are 
stern and indomitable features of nature, upon which the hand 
of man can introduce but feeble alterations; yet, with this ex- 
ception, every thing was different. The face of the country was 
covered by immense forests chiefly of oak, in the midst of which, 
upon the precipitous banks of rivers, or on rocks which formed 
a natural fortification, and were deemed impregnable by the mi- 
litary art of that period, were placed the castles of the feudal 
barons. One principal source of the wealth of the proprietors of 
these extensive forests consisted in the noble timber which they 
contained, and the deer and other animals of the chase with 
which they abounded. When Edward I. subdued and overran 
the country, we find him in the constant practice of repaying the 
services of those who submitted to his authority, by presents of 
so many stags and oaks from the forests which he found in pos- 
session of the crown. Thus, on the 18th of August, 1291, the 
king directed the keeper of the Forest of Selkirk to deliver thirty 
stags to the Archbishop of St Andrews, twenty stags and sixty 
oaks to the Bishop of Glasgow, ten to the High Steward, and 
six to Brother Brian, Preceptor of the Order of Knights Tem- 
plars in Scotland.* 

* These curious details, illustrative of the former extent of the Forests 
of Scotland, are extracted from volume ii- of a History of Scotland, by Pat- 
rick Fraser Tytler, Esq., F.R.S. and F.A.S.; a work distinguished by those 
qualities which ought to characterize legitimate and patriotic history. No 
one, indeed, who takes an interest in the glorious deeds of arms, and striking 
displays of mental energy exhibited by our ancestors, and who delight in 
tracing the gradual advancement of Scotland from its comparatively rude and 
simple state, to its more refined although less energetic condition, but will 


peruse the volumes of this work with feelings of unmixed pleasure. and ex. 
press the hope that the author may finish the plan he has sketched out. 


106 Mr P. F. Tytler on the Ancient Forests of Scotland. 


To mark the names, or define the exact limits of these huge 
woods, is now impossible; yet, from the public records, (chiefly 
the Rotuli Scotiz, lately printed at the expense of Government), 
and the incidental notices of authentic historians, a few scattered 
facts may be collected. 

In the north, we find the Forest of Spey, extending along the 
banks of that majestic river ; the forests of Alnete, and of 'Tar- 
naway, of Awne, Kilblene, Langmorgan, and of Elgin, Forres, 
Lochindorb, and Inverness. The extensive county of Aberdeen 
appears to have been covered with wood. We meet there with 
the forests of Kintore, of Cardenache, Drum or Drome, Stocket, 
Killanal, Sanquhar, Tulloch, Gasgow, Darrus, Collyn, and 
what is called the New Forest of Innerpeffer. In Banff was the 
forest of Boyne ; in Kincardine and Forfar the forests of Alyth, 
Drymie, and Plater; in Fife, those of Cardenie and Uweth; 
in Ayrshire, the forest of Senecastre ; in the Lowlands, those of 
Drumselch near Edinburgh, of Jedburgh, and Selkirk, Cot- 
tenshope, Maldesley, Ettrick, and Peebles; of Dolar, Tra- 
quhair, and Melrose. 

The counties of Stirling and Clackmannan contained extensive 
royal forests, in which, by a grant from David I. the monks of 
Holyrood had the right of cutting wood for building and other 
purposes, and of pasture for their swine. In the reign of the 
same king, a forest covered the district between the Leader and 
the Gala; and in Perthshire, occupied the lands between Scone 
and Cargil. Immense tracts which, in the present day, are 
stretched out into an interminable extent of naked and desolate 
moor, or occupied by endless miles of barren peat hags, were, 
in those early ages, covered by noble forests of oak, ash, beech, 
and other hard timber.* Huge knotted trunks of black oak, the 

* Ash and Beech have indeed a place in the Flora Scotica of Lightfoot and 
of Hooker, and they have long ornamented our “ woods and plantations.” But 
there is great reason to doubt their being truly indigenous to this country, or 
having formed any part of the ancient forests. No traces of them occur in 
our peat-mosses ; yet ash-keys and beech-mast would in all probability have 
proved as indestructible as hazel-nuts or fir-cones, which are abundant in 
many peat-mosses. Besides the oak, which seems greatly to have prevailed, 
the ancient forests probably consisted chiefly of Fir, meaning the Pinus syl- 
vestris or Scots-fir ; Birk or birch; Hazel; Wych Elm, or broad-leaved, not 
the smooth wych-elm of England; Roan-tree or mountain-ash; Yew ; Aller 


or alder ; and Saugh, as the sallow is here called.—Eprv. 
1 


Mr P. F. Tytler on the Ancient Forests of Scotland. 107 


remains of these primitive woods, have been and are still discov- 
ered, buried deep under the surface, in almost every moor in 
Scotland. Such, indeed, was, at an early period, the extent 
and impervious nature of these woods, that the English, in their 
invasions, endeayoured to clear the country by fire and by the 
hatchet ; and Knighton relates, that in an expedition of the Duke 
of Laneaster into this country, in the reign of Richard the Se- 
cond, this prince, ,having recourse to these methods, employed 
in the work of destruction so vast a multitude, that the stroke 
of eighty thousand hatchets might be heard resounding through 
the forests, whilst the fire was blazing and consuming them at 
the same moment. So utterly erroneous is the opinion of one of 
those conjectural historians, who pronounces that there is little 
reason to think that in any age, of which an accurate remem- 
brance is preserved, this kingdom was ever more woody than it 
is now. 

In the fourteenth century, however, many districts in the 
midst of these forests had been cleared of the wood, and brought 
under cultivation. Thus, in the Forest of Plater, in the county 
of Forfar, David the Second, in 1366, made a grant of four ox- 
gangs of arable land for a reddendo of a pair of white gloves, 
or two silver pennies, to Murdoch del Rhynd. In the same 
forest, the monks of Restennet, at the death of Alexander the 
Third, enjoyed the tenth of the hay made in its meadows; and 
in 1362, the king permitted John Hay of Tullyboll, to bring 
into cultivation, and appropriate the whole district lying between 
the river Spey and the burn of Tynot, in the Forest of Awne. 
From these facts it may be inferred,*that the same process of clear- 
ing away the wood, and reducing large districts of the forests into 
fields and meadow lands, had been generally pursued throughout 
the country. It was a work, in some measure, both of peril and 
necessity ; for savage animals abounded as much in Scotland as 
in the other uncleared and wooded regions of northern Europe ; 
and the bear, the wolf, the wild boar, and the bison, to the hus- 
bandmen and cultivators of those rude ages, must have been 
enemies of a very destructive and formidable nature.* 

* The Brown Bear (Ursus arctos) appears to have been extirpated in the 


12th or 13th centuries. The Wolf existed till towards the close of the 17th 
century, there being on record an authentic account of the killing of one in 


( 108 ) 


Salt Wells and Springs of Inflammable Gas mn China. 


Tue following details which appear deserving of the atten- 
tion of naturalists, have been printed in No. 16 of the Annales 
de T Association de la Propagation de la Foi, a periodical work, 
containing the letters of the Bishops and Missionaries of the 
missions to the two worlds, and which forms a continuation to the 
Lettres edifiantes. M. Drufesse, bishop of 'Tabraca, who died 
in the exercise of his apostolic functions, had said a few words 
respecting the salt springs; but the subject is treated much 
more at length in the number mentioned above, by M. Imbert. 
The geographical position of the country in which these wells 
occur, is determined in an accurate manner by M. Klaproth, 
whose authority gives additional credibility to the account of 
the missionaries. We shall content ourselves with giving the 
facts, without following the opinions or adopting the terms of 
the author. 

The greatest number of salt wells and springs of inflammable 
gas, of which we here speak, occur, according to M. Klaproth, 
in the districts of Young-Hian and Wei-yuan-Hian, in the de- 
partment of Kia-Ting-Fou, in the Chinese province of Szu-T’ch- 
houan on the borders of Thibet. There are several other wells 
of the same nature in the other districts of this department, and 
in the other neighbouring districts situated to the east of the 
great chain of mountains, covered with perpetual snow, which 
traverses the eastern part of Szu-Tchhouan from south to 
north. 

According to the report of M. Imbert, there are in the vici- 
nity of the town of Ou-Thouang-Khiao, several thousands of 


1680. The Boar, the origin of our common pig, occasionally occurred in a 
wild state till about the same period. According to Dr Fleming (“ British 
Animals” in Joco), the skulls and horns of the Ox tribe found in our peat- 
mosses and marl-pits, are chiefly those of an animal closely allied to the Bos 
‘Taurus (the stock from which our present black cattle have sprung), and not 
of the Bison; but the remains of the European bison (B. Urus) have repeat- 
edly been found in England, and the probability certainly is, that it was also 
an inhabitant of Scotland. It may be added, that the Beaver was formerly a 
denizen of the wooded margins of our lochs, but has disappeared with the an- 
cient forests.—Edit. 


Salt Wells and Springs of Inflammable Gas in China. 109 


these salt wells in a space of ten leagues by five.* Every per- 
son who is tolerably rich, takes a few associates with him, and 
digs one or more wells. The expense of digging a well is from 
seven to eight thousand francs. These wells are commonly 
from fifteen to eighteen hundred French feet in depth, while 
they are only five or at the most six inches in diameter. They 
are almost always bored in the solid rock. 

The process employed by the Chinese, in forming them, al- 
though very simple, is not described by M. Imbert so clearly as 
might be wished ; it will be understood, however, on reading 
what follows. This people accomplish the most difficult un- 
dertakings with time and patience. There is sunk vertically 
into the bed of earth, which is commonly met with at the sur- 
face, a wooden pipe crowned with a hewn stone, perforated with 
a hole, which, like the pipe, has the same diameter as it is in- 
tended to give the well, that is, five or six inches. In this tube 
there is made to work a steel head of three or four hundred 
pounds weight. This steel head, the author says, is notched at 
the end, and is a little concave above and round beneath. A 
workman, by leaping upon the extremity of a balance or lever, 
the other extremity of which is attached to the steel head, lifts 
it to the height of two feet, and lets it fall again by its own 
weight. Some pails of water are thrown in from time to time, 
to assist the trituration of the substances, The spur or steel 
head is suspended by a good corde de rotin, of the diameter of 
the finger, but as strong as a cord of gut. A triangular piece 
of wood is attached to the cord, and each time that the lever 
raises the cord, a second workman seated near the tube, makes 
the triangle perform a half revolution, that the steel head may 
fall in a different direction. At noon, the second workman as- 
cends upon the lever to take the place of his companion. At 


* According to M. Klaproth, the town of Ou-Thouang-Kiao, is four 
leagues to the east of the city of Tang-Kian, at the foot of the great moun- 
tain of Ou-Lhoung-Chan, which covers the whole country situated between 
the rivers Foung-Khi and Fou-kia-Ho. The following are the geographical 
positions of the places mentioned above :— 


Kia-Tin-Fou, . - - 101° 28’ 45” L. E.—29° 27’ 26” L. N. 
Young-Hian, -.- + He 7 —29 33 
Ou-Thoung-Khiao, . 112 11 , —29 33 


Wei-Yuan-Hian, . . 112 12 —29 38 


110 Salt Wells and Springs of Inflammable Gas in China. 


night two other men takes their place. When three inches have 
been bored, the steel head is withdrawn, by means of a pulley, 
with all the substances with which its upper concavity is loaded. 
By this mode of boring, there are obtained wells which are per- 
fectly vertical, and whose lower surface is highly polished. Beds, 
of sand, coal, &c., are frequently met with. The operation then 
becomes more difficult, and is sometimes entirely frustrated, for 
these substances no longer offering an equal resistance, it hap- 
pens that the well loses it verticality, but these cases are of rare 
occurrence. At other times the iron ring which bears the steel 
head breaks. When this accident happens at a certain depth, 
the Chinese know no other means of remedying it than to em- 
ploy a second steel head to break the first, an operation which 
may take several months. When the rock is good, an advance 
of nearly two feet is made in twenty-four hours; so that it takes 
about three years to dig a well. 

The apparatus for drawing the water is equally simple with 
that which is employed for boring. A bamboo tube, twenty- 
four feet long, at the end of which is a valve, is let down into 
the well: © When it has reached the bottom, a workman: pulls 
at the cord which sustains it, giving it strong jerks; each jerk 
opens the valve, and fills the tube with water. It is then drawn 
out by means of a kindof! vertical capstan, or large windle, 
fifteen or sixteen feet in diameter, which is put in motion by 
two, three, or four buffaloes or oxen, and upon which the cord 
is rolled up. 

The water of these wells yields by evaporation a fifth, and 
sometimes a fourth of salt. This salt is very sharp, and con- 
tains much nitre.* For distillation there are employed large cast 
iron cisterns, five feet in diameter by only four inches in depth. 
The metal is at least an inch thick, and at most three. The 
mass of salt, which has the form of the cistern, weighs upwards 
of two hundred pounds, and is very hard. It. is broken into 
three or four pieces, to be disposed of in commerce. 

Now, what is very extraordinary is, that these saline wells are 
frequently at the same time wells of inflammable gas. If, ac- 
cording to M. Imbert, a torch be presented to the orifice of a 


* We suspect there is here a mistake, nitre being a compound foreign to 


salt springs. 


Salt Wells and Springs of Inflammable Gas in China. 111 


well when the tube full of water is near coming up, it inflames, 
and produces a jet of fire from twenty to thirty feet high, which 
may set fire to the shed of the well. This sometimes hap- 
pens through the imprudence or malice of a workman. There 
are some of these wells from which no salt is taken, but which 
furnish enough of inflammable gas to carry on the distillation of 
the salt water obtained from other wells in the neighbourhood. 
Thus, near Thsee-Lieou-Tsing, * there are four wells in a val- 
ley, which at first yielded water, but are dried up twelve years 
ago. ‘The people then dug, in order to find water, to the depth 
of more than 3000 feet, but in vain. There was seen to issue 
a column of inflammable air, charged with blackish particles, 
which continued to make its escape with a noise that was heard 
to a great distance. Over the orifice of two of these wells there 
was built a cover of hewn stone, six feet high, to prevent the 
approach of fire. This misfortune happened not long ago. The 
fire communicated itself immediately to the interior, and deto- 
nation took place, which shook the ground like an earthquake. 
It was attempted to extinguish the fire by throwing upon the 
orifice, mud, stones, or water, in small quantity, means which 
commonly succeed when the column of inflammable air is. not 
great ; but this method proved unsuccessful, and the flame con- 
tinued until there was led to a height which overlooked the well 
a quantity of water, sufficient to form a small lake there, which, 
on being suddenly opened, was poured into the well. The ex- 
pense attending this operation amounted to 30,000 francs, which, 
in China, is a great sum. 

As we have said, these springs of inflammable air are em- 
ployed for heating and lighting all the salt works in the neigh- 
bourhood. Bamboo pipes carry the gas from the spring to the 
place where it is intended to be consumed. These tubes are 
terminated by a tube of pipe-clay, to prevent their being burnt. 
A single well heats more than three hundred kettles. The fire 
thus obtained is exceedingly brisk, and the cauldrons are ren- 
dered useless in a few months.. Other bamboos conduct the gas 
intended for lighting the streets and the great rooms or kitchens. 
Thus, Nature presents, in this place, a complete establishment of 
gas light. The whole of the gas cannot be employed. The 


* According to M. Klaproth, the town of Thsee-Lieou-Tsing. cr of the 
well which runs itself, is about a league below the place. 


112 Salt Wells and Springs of Inflammable Gas in China. 


excess is conducted beyond the limits of the salt-work, and there 
forms three chimneys or columns of flame. The surface of the 
court is exceedingly hot, and burns beneath the feet. Even in 
January the workmen are half naked, having only a small pair 
of drawers to cover them. In winter, the poor people, in order 
to warm themselves, dig the sand to the depth of a foot. With 
a little straw, they set fire to the hollow thus formed, and sitting 
round it, warm themselves as long as they are so inclined. They 
then fill up the hollow with sand, and the fire goes out. 

The singular circumstance of saline water and inflammable 
gas occurring together in the districts of Young Hian and Wei- 
Yuan-Hian can only be accounted for by the alternation of salt 
beds and beds of coal. In fact, the latter are often met with 
in boring the salt wells. Some coal mines are worked in this 
country. They contain much gas, and lamps cannot be burnt 
in them. ‘The miners obtain an imperfect light from saw-dust 
and resin, which burn without flame, and are not easily extin- 
guished. In boring the salt wells, a bituminous oil (naphtha, 
no doubt) is met with, which burns in water. Four or five 
hundred pounds of it are collected daily. It is used for light- 
ing the hall in which the wells and salt-pans are. 

The salt-wells and coal-mines employ an immense number of 
the inhabitants; and some rich individuals have so many as a 


hundred wells in their possession. 
Bibl. Universelle. 


Remarks on the Ancient Flora of the Earth. 


Bnronenrant’s description of the plants of a former world, and 
account of the distribution of their principal forms in the dif- 
ferent strata of the earth, is undoubtedly one of the most im- 
portant contributions which geology has lately received. By 
means of it, we are, for the first time, able distinctly to view all 
the information connected with this important object. We are 
thereby made acquainted with the simplest elements of the dif- 
ferent floras, from the earliest to the present time. Indeed, the 
law of the progressive development of the classes of plauts, 
and of a gradual perfection of their organization from the re- 
motest periods till the latest geological epoch, is proved by 
this investigation in as striking and evident a manner as has 


Remarks on the Ancient Flora of the Earth. 113 


been done among the incomparably more numerous tribes of 
the animal kingdom belonging to a former age. 

In consequence of the nature of the subject, investigations of 
this kind necessarily consist of two parts essentially different from 
each other, and the comprehensive knowledge they require is sel- 
dom found united in the same individual. For it is required not 
only to reconstruct the whole of an organic body from the 
imperfect remains that are preserved, and hence to draw a 
conclusion as to the family or species in which it may be classed,— 
but it is equally necessary to determine the nature and the age 
of the rock formations in which these organic remains are found. 

Further, the first part of the investigation referred to, which 
belongs entirely to the province of Natural History, is incom- 
parably more difficult to be developed from the remains of vege- 
table bodies than from those of the animal kingdom ; for the 
essential characteristics of the latter are more numerous, and 
much less liable to complete destruction. - The zeal with which 
our cotemporaries have pursued this object, has greatly contri- 
buted to remove many of the difficulties ; and, independently of 
the first attempts, particularly those of Schlotheim and Count 
Sternberg, no one has devoted himself to these pursuits with 
greater sagacity and success than Brongniart. The natural 
history of fossil plants, in almost all its parts, has been com- 
pletely changed by this eminent naturalist, and in a wonderfully 
short time. ‘Though we are anxious to make our sincere ac- 
knowledgments of the great value of the descriptive part of his 
Natural History of the Vegetable Kingdom, we are, notwithstand- 
ing, obliged to put forth some objections to the purely geological 
part of M. Brongniart’s work, which occurred to us in the course 
of reading his introductory treatise.* 

After the character of the Floras into which the vegetation 
of a former age may be divided, M. Brongniart distinguishes 
four different periods, and he determines them geognostically 
in a similar though much more accurate manner, than had 
formerly been attempted by Count Sternberg. (Fascic. iv. 
p: 32.) According to him, the first period comprehends the 

* In the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, vol. vi. there is a transla- 
tion of Brongniart’s Memoir “ on the Vegetation of the Earth at different 


periods.” 
OCTOBER—DECEMBER 1829. H 


114 Remarks on the Ancient Flora of the Earth. 


transition rocks and the coal formation ; the second is confined 
to the formation. of the variegated sandstone, the third con- 
tains all the strata of kewper, to the lowest members of the chalk 
formation, and the fourth comprehends all the formations found 
above the chalk. Though the details given by M. Brongniart 
seem so far to favour this distribution, we cannot help remarking, 
that it cannot be adopted in a purely geognostical sense, and that 
we, at first sight at least, can recognise only the first and last 
periods as independent formations.. The author himself, indeed, 
makes the same remark, when he states that the second and 
third of these different periods do not very closely correspond 
with the divisions: which the most of geologists receive as sepa- 
rate groups of formations. It appears to us, also, as if he had 
not sufficiently considered that the distinctions adopted by him- 
self are founded only on the local relations of the rock forma- 
tions, and cannot consequently possess a general character. We 
cannot, indeed, with propriety, consider the separation of the 
first and second periods by the formations of the old red sand- 
stone and the magnesian limestone or xechstein as by any 
means generally prevalent ; for it is at present universally ac- 
knowledged, that though, in a great part of Germany and Eng- 
land, such a separation may take place, either in both formations, 
or in one of them, nevertheless, in other extensive districts, no 
difference can be pointed out between old red sandstone, and 
the superimposed new red sandstone. We are hence obliged to 
consider both rock formations as nothing else than the under 
and upper strata of one and the same formation in which 
the formation ‘of magnesian limestone or zechstein but occa- 
sionally makes its appearance as a subordinate bed, and that 
always of smallextent. Our author cannot possibly be igno- 
rant that ‘this view is very strikingly exemplified in the rocks 
of France. In no part of that country has a bed of lime 
stone been found, which could, with any probability, be com- 
pared with the magnesian limestone or zechstein. ‘This is also 
known to be the case in the south of Germany, and, as far as our 
observation extends, among the Alps also, where, nevertheless, 
the conjunction of red sandstone with quartz porphyry is known 
to be nothing uncommon. In the northern parts of the British 
islands, in which strata so like copper-slate or kupferschiefer 


Remarks on the Ancient Flora of the Earth, 115 


were lately discovered, the division of the old red sandstone and 
the variegated sandstone is but very imperfect. 

This remark is of still greater consequence, when applied to 
the distinction of the second and third periods, according to our 
author's division. In these we observe the variegated sandstone 
separated from the keuper by the shell-lmestone (muschelkatk) 
formation. It is known, however, that there are extensive dis- 
tricts in which no traces of this rock, the shell-limestone, which 
separates the two formations, are to be found, and in which the 
formation of variegated sandstone and the keuper formation are 
necessarily blended into a single mass. This is the case, for in- 
stanee, in the extensive and important formation of red marl in 
England, which unquestionably belongs to both formations. It 
¢onsequently appears to be very difficult, amidst this simple rock 
formation, to propose a separation of such importance as the ap- 
pearance of two perfectly new creations of organic beings seems 
to require. 

Independent of the striking want of agreement known to 
exist in the division of rock formations, according as they are 
distinguished, either by the principles of superposition, or ac- 
cording to the distribution of organic bodies, we would never- 
theless have attributed no importance to these objections against 
the method of M. Brongniart. We are further obliged, how- 
ever, to start various doubts as to the accuracy of some other 
views presented by M. Brongniart, and closely connected with 
the principles referred to. 

After the description which M. Brongniart gives us of those 
relations in which the Floras of the different formations stand to 
one another, he proceeds to say, that, he is inclined to think that 
the successive creations of plants are distinguished by a sudden 
change in the essential characteristics of vegetation. This opi- 
nion of our author appears to have been formed, as if the inter- 
vals between the ceasing of an old flora, and the commencement 
of a new one, had been filled up by an overflowing of the ocean. 
He has therefore attempted to prove, either that no organic re- 
mains occurred, or if any, only those of marine plants are found 
in the strata which separate the members of the four divisions 
already alluded to. ‘This opinion, however, we are not inclined 


to admit as equally conclusive. 
oO 
H ~ 


i16 Remarks on the Ancient Flora of the Earth. 


He sets out by affirming, that no remains of plants have been 
observed in the old red sandstone (rothliegende.) We would, 
however, request our author to compare only one of the numer- 
ous memoirs which treat of this rock formation, to convince 
himself that this opinion of his is inaccurate. The works of 
Charpentier, Freisleben, Schlotheim, Hoff, &c., abound in in- 
formation regarding the local situation of the plants of a for- 
mer world, met with in the undoubted formation of old red 
sandstone, or rothliegende. In the classical work of Alex. v. 
Humboldt, (Essai sur le Gisem. p. 214), we find the remark, 
that the whole formation of the red sandstone (gres rouge), is 
generally characterised by the absence of fossil shells, but that in 
both hemispheres it abounds in trunks of fossil trees and other 
debris of the monocotyledones. (V. Rel. Hist. t. x. p. 278.) I 
myself have had frequent opportunities of admiring the great 
number of petrified trunks of trees found in the quarries at Kyff- 
haiiser in Thuringia, in the midst of old red sandstone, some of 
them three feet thick, and from twenty to thirty feet long. They 
are exactly the same with those which are not uncommon in the 
whole extent of the old red sandstone throughout the district of 
Mansfield, and also in the Thuringerwald ; and occasional exam- 
ples of them, from their upright position, seem to prove that they 
grew immediately in the place where they are. at present buried. 
From the previously mentioned works (particularly from those 
of Freisleben, Kupfersch, vol. iv. p. 172,) it is sufficiently known 
that a great part of the coal formations in the north of Ger- 
many, particularly those of Manebach at Ilmenau, of Wetten, 
of Opperode, Ilfeld, &c., which have become so famous as depo- 
sitories of vegetable remains, are found as subordinate beds in 
the midst of old red sandstone, or rothliegende. The truth of 
this assertion I have had an opportunity of proving m various 
places. From the uppermost strata of old red sandstone, roth- 
liegende itself, which some refer to the formation of zechstein, 
(S. Freisl. 1. c. ui, p. 238,) we have recently received intelligence 
of the abundant appearance of a plant which is evidently a fresh- 
water production. (Leonh. Taschenbuch. xxu. I. p. 253.) 

M. Brongniart further maintains, that, hitherto, nothing but 
marine plants has been found in the formation of magnesian 
limestone or zechstein ; and this opinion seems probable, when 


Remarks on the Ancient Flora of the Earth. 117 


we reflect that the very numerous animal remains of this for- 
mation have, for the most part, been inhabitants of the ocean. 
From the accurate discrimination of M. Brongniart, we have 
lately learned to recognise from five to six kinds of Fucoides, 
which are found in the copperslate or kupferschiefer, (a member 
of the magnesian limestone) of Mansfeld, and in the forest of 
Thuringia. It is nevertheless highly probable, that at the 
time when this remarkable intermediate stratum was formed, 
there ‘were parts of the dry land rising above the level of the 
ocean. We at least find sufficient proofs of land plants oceur- 
ring along with those just mentioned, in zechstein and kupfer- 
schiefer. For if, upon closer investigation, those plants called 
Lycopodium by Schlotheim (Leonh. Taschenbuch, vii. p. 55,) 
and the Lycopodiol. funiculatus of I/menau (Petrefactenk, p. 
415; Lycop. taxifolius, Sternb. Fasc. iv. p. 8), are proved to 
be nothing else than sea-alge ; and if the remark made by 
Count Sternberg (Fasc. iv. pp. 40, 44), that Bruckmannia 
tuberculata, Pecoptoris obtusa, and Alethopteris vulgatior, are 
found in kupferschiefer, may have been caused by imperfect 
information regarding their local situation; yet Freisleben 
(Kupfersch. Geb. iii. p. 182), very distinctly describes the im- 
pression of an articulated calamite, or similar plant, in the kup- 
Jerschiefer of the county of Mansfeld. Single pieces of coal, in 
which the fibrous texture of wood is preserved, are neither in 
Mansfeld nor in the forests of Thuringia of rare occurrence. 
But the woods, having the Dicotyledonous structure, and so 
abundant at Frankenberg in Hesse, are above all things con- 
vincing. More than twenty years ago they were described and 
delineated by Ullman (Mineralogberg, and Hiittanmanische 
Beobachtungen, 1803, p. 80, tab. 1); and recently by Bonn 
(Leonh. Taschenbuch, 1828, p. 509), they were with great 
probability considered as a kind of cypress. Impressions of ferns 
are also frequently found along with these woods. The latest 
observations entitle us to reckon the formation of Frankenberg 
rich in mineral treasures to the zechstein or kupferschiefer. 1 
may here be further permitted to state, that Mr Sedgwick found 
in the marl-slate of East Thickley in Durham, impressions of 
two or three species of ferns, some of which perfectly correspond 
with those of the copper-slate, kupferschiefer of Mansfeld, and 


118 Remarks on the Ancient Flora of the Earth. 


appear in corresponding strata, which leaves no doubt of the 
identity of this formation with that of the zechstein formation in 
Germany. (Philos. Mag. et Ann. of Philos. vol. ii. p. 302.) 
If, after the evidence here adduced, we may be permitted to as- 
sume that there is no very decided distinction between the first 
and second of M. Brongniart’s periods of the vegetation of a 
former age, the same may, very probably, be the case with the 
following periods. According to him, the second and third pe- 
riods are separated by the formation of shell limestone or muschel- 
kalk. The circumstance, however, that, in this limestone, in a 
great part of Germany, there is a particular coal formation, ac- 
companied by remains of land plants (Lettenkohle of Voigt) 
cannot’ be here brought forward, for late observations have 
proved, that this coal formation belongs to the kewper, not to 
the shell limestone. Hence, on reference to the division of the 
second and third periods, we can only-infer, that the formation 
of the shell limestone, or muschelkalk, does not belong to the 
class of rocks universally distributed, and that it may often 
happen that we find the strata of keuper that contain plants, as 
well as those of the variegated sandstone, to be nothing else 
than upper and under beds of one and the same formation, in 
conformable stratification. But, lastly, we must dissent from 
M. Brongniart’s opinion in regard to what he considers the up- 
per boundary of the third period, that only marine plants are 
found in the chalk formation. (Ann. des. Se. n. 4. p. 217. Hist. 
des. Veget. Foss. libr. i. p. 85. note, &c.) 

Indeed it is known, that generally in the formation of true 
chalk, and in that of chalk-marl and greensand (guader-sand- 
stein) belonging to it, vegetable remains are seldom found, in 
comparison with the immense accumulation of petrified animal 
remains which characterise it. According to the most accurate 
statements, as many of these plants appear to belong to the 
land as to the sea. If we next, in reference to the chalk of Eng- 
land, compare the multitude of observations contained in the 
transactions of the Geological Society of London, we find, first, 
observed in the chalk of Cambridge near Cherry Hinton, by W. 
Hailstone (G. Tr. iii. 250), coniferous fruits and branches with 
leaves, which the author is inclined to reckon in the family of the 
Conifere. They had been previously described by Parkinson, 


Remarks. on the Ancient Flora of the Earth. 119 


in his work on Organic Remains. W. Phillips also mentions, 
in the marl belonging to the chalk formation of Folkestone, (G. 
Tr. vol. i. pp. 49, 50), wood-coal, still possessing the fibrous tex- 
ture of wood as an appearance by no means uncommon ; and De 
la Beche found, in the well-defined greensand near Lyme Regis, 
on the coast of Dorsetshire, impressions of ferns. Gideon Man- 
tell also, has already mentioned, as occurring in the chalk of 
Sussex, at Hamsey, at Lewes, and at Brighton, the stems wit 
remains of leaves and distinct cones, which he compares with the 
fruit of the Pinus Larix. (Geology of Sussex, p. 103, tab. ix.) 
Count Sternberg has more recently referred these parts to an 
undetermined species of the genus Contes, and in every instance 
they seem to have been originally land plants. 

We find these appearances more abundant in the strata be- 
longing to the chalk formation of Germany. The greensand 
(quader-sandstein) and the planerkalk. of Saxony and Bohemia, 
the complete identity of which with the strata of greensand 
and crai tuféau, we may consider proven, afford numerous ex- 
amples of them. That we may not be detained by unsatisfactory 
references, we will adduce the observations made by Count 
Sternberg. He describes and figures, as occurring in the pldn- 
erkalk of the lordship of Schmetschna in Bohemia, a species of 
the Gatting Thuites, (Th. alienus, Synopsis, p. xxxvii. Fasc. 
iv. p. 40. tab. Ixv. f. 1.) of the family Conifere; and also 
leaves of trees of the class of Dicotyledones, which are here 
represented as a thing by no means uncommon in the green- 
sand (quader-sandstein) near Tetcschen, so well known to geo- 
logists, (Tab. xxv. f. 1. a. b.) Exactly the same relation oc- 
curs in the contemporary strata distributed in the immediate 
neighbourhood of the Hartz. The leaves of Dicotyledones, so 
abundantly found in the greensand at Heidelberg near Blank- 
enburg, are generally known. They are found along with 
trunks and branches, and cannot possibly, from the perfect pre- 
servation of their parts, derive their origin from older formations. 
In an exactly similar way we found leaves and fragments of large 
trees in the clay-beds of the same greensand (quader-sandstein) 
at Quedlinburg. They are there immediately connected with 
the strata of a chalky marl abundantly filled with green colour- 
ed grains, and abounding in distinctly defined remains of testa- 


120 Remarks on the Ancient Flora of the Earth. 


ceous animals, identically. the same with those found in the chalk 
of France and England. Further, we found impressions of ex- 
actly similar leaves of dicotyledonous plants in the chalk-marl 
near Wernigerode. In the same hand specimen we here observed 
leaves connected with a well-preserved specimen of Belemnites 
mucronatus ; and I have since had an opportunity of witnessing 
the great similarity between these with the impressions of leaves 
_ found by Professor Nilson in the greensand of Schonen. In 
the chalk of Westphalia, which is almost uninterruptedly con- 
joined with that of the Netherlands and the north of France, 
and which are noted for characteristic fossil remains of animals, 
there are frequently found remains of plants undoubtedly be- 
longing to the land. In the quarries near Soest, Werl, and 
Unna, we often found in the strata of grass-green sandy marl, so 
abundant in these places, pieces of a coaly substance, distinctly 
exhibiting the fibrous texture of wood. Equally numerous in 
those places are the remains of a plant, which, from the most 
perfect specimens we could find, undoubtedly belongs to the fa- 
mily of Lycopodiacee. It shews some slight analogy with the 
(Lycopodiol. dichotomus, Sternb.) particularly with the specimen 
delineated in tab. ii., and probably belongs to a species not 
hitherto described. 

It would be easy to multiply the number of facts here given, 
by comparing a greater number of geological writings. We 
believe, however, that we may, with sufficient certainty, con- 
clude, that the boundaries of the periods of vegetation fixed by 
M. Brongniart are really by no means distinguished by such 
precise and complete interruptions as he imagines. 

Although there are probably none of the generally distributed 
strata formed by deposition, in which remains of a contemporary 
continuous land vegetation are not to be found, it still appears to 
be a very important question, as regards the crust of the earth, 
what relations the continued appearance of a single species of 
plants bears to the different periods of the vegetation of a former 
age. If, in this enquiry, we follow the numerous analogies pre- 
sented by the relations of the animal creation of a former age, 
we shall be quite inclined to think, that the Flora of the differ- 
ent periods of vegetation must be distinguished from one another 
by perfectly distinct characters of the forms of the plants. In 


Remarks on the Ancient Flora of the Earth. 121 


the commencement of the formation of every new kind of rock, 
we observe, that the animal remains that were characteristic of 
former formations almost entirely disappear. Entirely new 
forms often distinguished but specifically, and as often differ- 
ent in genus and family, appears suddenly, in the place of 
the old forms. 'The more that the researches of naturalists 
have enabled us to discriminate closely the organic remains of: 
a former world, the more do the early statements so often brought» 
forward vanish ; as if there were certain genera and species of 
animals, which had escaped uninjured all the revolutions of the 
earth’s surface. It appears in reality to have been these import- 
ant analogies that directed M. Brongniart in the establishment of 
his principles, for we find him expressing it as his opmion, that no 
common character exists among the Floras of the different pe- 
riods. M. Brongniart at least, expressly maintains, that the 
same species of plant does not occur in any two contiguous 
periods, that among them every thing is different, and that we 
cannot help believing, that an entirely new creation of mem- 
bers of the vegetable kingdom produced under perfectly new 
circumstances, may have displaced the older creation. 

_ We would certainly have every reason to feel quite satisfied 
with these results of our author’s researches, but for the cireum- 
stance that the knowledge of the plants of a former world 
developes some facts, that, according to our judgment, do not 
agree with his views. Before we, however, bring forward these 
facts individually, we cannot help remarking, that our objec- 
tions by no means apply to the general character of the Floras, 
whose different periods of vegetation, the method M. Brongniart 
has with so much research determined. The method first pointed 
out by Alexander von Humboldt in his works on the geographi- 
cal distribution of the plants on the present surface of the earth, 
of characterising the floras of different regions by the quotients 
which determine the natural families by their union, has been 
attempted in this department by M. Brongniart with equally suc- 
cessful results. Hence he justly remarks, that although later 
observations should add newly discovered forms to the indivi- 
duals adduced by him, yet, in the essential characters, his floras 


would remain with but an unimportant alteration. 
4 


122 Remarks on the Ancient Flora of the Earth. 


When we, however, proceed to compare the successive divi- 
sion of plants in the different epochs of the earth’s formation, 
with their geographical distribution on the present surface of 
the globe, it will not seem wonderful that the species observed 
in the one district are partly found also in the other; for it 
is generally known that, in the present state of vegetation on the 
earth’s surface, there are single species which are preserved un-~ 
changed through every zone and climate. In the same manner 
it is well known that the transitions of floras from one region to 
another take place only by the gradual substitution of single 
species by others more or less closely related to them, as well as 
by the gradual decrease and disappearance of single families ; 
while others increase in the universality of their distribution as 
well as in the number of their species. 

‘The formations of old as well as modern epochs, in opposition 
to the statements of M. Brongniart, afford us many instances of 
the equal appearance of kindred species belonging to a former 
age in different formations. We have already remarked, that 
many of those coal formations, distinguished for their abun- 
dant vegetation, can be shewn to be subordinate beds of old 
red sandstone, while others, indeed, by far the greater num- 
ber of them, such as the celebrated basins of England, Flanders, 
Westphalia, and the Lower Rhine, belong entirely to the transi- 
tion rocks ; and yet, among the vegetable remains of both forma- 
tions, no permanent distinction has hitherto been discovered. 
There are often enough the same Lepidodendru, Sigillarie, 
and Calamites, the same kinds of Newropteris, Pecopteris, of 
Asterophylla, Annularia, Stigmaria, &c., which were known 
to belong to the coal-pits of Manebach, Wetten, and Essen, 
and also of Luttich, Namur, Valenciennes, Newcastle, Bath, 
&e.* It farther seems as if the character of the vegetation of 


* The general view of the localities of the species of fossil plants describ- 
ed by Sternberg in his “ Tentamen Flore Primordialis,” affords an inte- 
resting contribution to the above important fact. One hundred and fifty 
species (of which 138 are vascular cryptogamia) are accurately described 
and enumerated as belonging to the old coal formation in general. Of these 
seventy-five species belong exclusively to the oldest formation, forty as ex- 
clusively to the coal formation of the old red sandstone or rothliegende, and 
thirty-five species, about the fourth part of the whole, occur equally in both. 


Remarks on the Ancient Flora of the Earth. 123 


these old periods had preserved itself unaltered even to the up- 
permost strata of the old red sandstone or rothliegende. At least 
we sometimes observe among the trunks of trees dug up at 
Kyffhauser, and in the Forest of Thuringia, some whose inner 
texture so very closely agrees with what are called star-stones, 
found in beds of coal ( Palmacites macroporus and microporus ) 
that we cannot help believing them to have belonged to a species 
perfectly identical, Moreover, impressions of Lepidodendron 
have frequently been found in the old red sandstone or rothlie- 
gende of Rothenburg, (L. aculeatum, Sternberg.) Fragments 
of calamite have also been found in the same formation; and 
we can hardly doubt, according to circumstances, that the softer 
parts of plants in pit-coal would be found here also, had not 
the predominating cvarse grains, and the tumultuous formation 
of the old red sandstone formation, prevented their preservation. 
In exactly the same way, no traces of plants, except the imper- 
fectly preserved remains of the stemsof Lepidodendron, Calamites, 
&c., are ever found in the coarse granular strata of coal sand- 
stone ; neither are the leaves and the finer traces of Filices, Ly- 
copodiacee, and others of the same kind, ever found in such 
coarse conglomerated strata. 

It further seems to us, as if the characteristic forms of remote 
periods were continued by the perfect accordance of the species, 
even to much newer strata. We, for instance, owe to Schlotheim 
the knowledge of a remarkable Syringodendron, (his Palma- 
cites canaliculatus, Petrifactenk, 396, tab. xvi. f. 2,) found in 
the strata of the sandstone at Gotha, decidedly belonging to the 
keuper formation. Count Sternberg has since recognised it as 
identical with his Syringodendron sulcatum, found also in the 
coal of Eschweiler, Essen and Waldenburg. But this observa- 
tion appears to us particularly important on this account, be- 
cause we have lately been assured by the remarkable researches 
of M. Brongniart, that one of the same species of plants, belong- 
ing to a former age, is known to exist both in the sandstone of 
the keuper formation, and in the strata belonging to the forma- 
tion of the Lias and Oolite of the great Jura formation. But 
these are rocks, which, in regard to their kind of formation, and 
the character of their animal remains, are as perfectly different 


124 Remarks on the Ancient Flora of the Earth. 


from one another, as, on the other hand, the characters of the 
transition. rocks are distinguished from that of the _ red mand 
stone. ' 

1t is unsatisfactory, in investigations of this description, to 
appeal to examples which do not rest on sufficiently accurate 
determinations. Of this description, according to the testimony 
of Brongniart, are the occurrence of Calamites arenaceus in 
the keuper and in the variegated sandstone, and the Calamites 
remotus or distans in the variegated sandstone and coal forma- 
tion. Such examples, however, prove the very great similarity 
of the forms which appear destined mutually to occupy one an- 
other’s place in the different periods of the vegetation of a for- 
mer time.. M. Brongniart has himself shewn us a remarkable 
example of one and the same species in the strata of two: per- 
fectly different formations. Itis, his Fwcoides Brardu, (Hist. de 
Veget. Fossiles, livr. 1. p.'77, tab. ii. f. 8-19. Ann. d. Se.n. xv. 
p: 452,) found both in the Lignites under the chalk at Pialpin- 
son, and also in the copper-slate (kupferschiefer) of Frankenberg. 
But how shall we account for so striking a contradiction ‘in the 
principles and facts that should form their foundation? — ; 

In the comparisons hitherto adduced, we have intentionally 
avoided returning to the remarkable discoveries of H.H. Elie 
de Beaumont, and Ad. Brongniart, in the phenomena of vege- 
table remains in the anthracite sandstone of the Southern Alps: 
M. Brongniart, as is known, has here recognised in the strata be- 
longing to the most decided dias formation, at least 15 species of 
well preserved ferns, which: were hitherto found together, only 
in the old coal formation. In the same locality, he has detected 
the appearance of Lepidodendrons, Sigillaria, Stigmaria and 
Calumites, which were hitherto supposed to belong exclusively 
to the coal formation. But the ingenious hypothesis which M. 
Brongniart has herewith brought forward, (Ann. Sc. d-n. t. xiv. 
p. 127.) and more recently expressly maintained, (1. c. tom. xv. 
p. 375 note,) to explain these remarkable anomalies, is as little 
satisfactory to us, as it is at variance with the general views en- 
tertained by its author. 

If, however, the hypothesis of M. Brongniart, which we oppose; 
is really established by further investigations, there still remains 


Remarks on the Ancient Flora of the. Earth. 125 


the undisputed fact, that, during the third period of vegetation, 
there may, in a part.of the earth’s surface, have been plants which 
correspond in all their known characters with those of the first 
period. But what, at the first look, may almost seem still more 
remarkable, is the circumstance, that these plants, in regard to 
the part which they, arranged in families, take in the general 
Flora of the globe, shew a similar deviation from the principal 
characters of the vegetation of these periods of formation. After 
the great development of the vascular Cryptogamia, we here 
observe the same remarkable predominance of that class which 
is peculiar to the Flora of the old coal formation. These re- 
markable anomalies by no means appear to us of much conse- 
quence. _ If we enquire into the general causes, which we may 
ascribe to the universally recurring peculiar character of the 
vegetation of the oldest periods of organic creation, we will 
find, in the acute observations of our author, a key to the solu- 
tion of this apparent contradiction.. For M. Brongniart, in his 
treatise, so often referred to (p. 244), has proved as cautiously as 
convincingly that the character of the Flora of his first period 
correspond perfectly with characters of the Flora of the present 
islands, and this agreement is the more striking, the more the 
islands are scattered in the main ocean, and the farther they are 
from great continents. What prevents us from concluding, that 
in those periods also of middle secondary formation, the same 
operations may have been produced by causes precisely similar ? 
For.if the present magnitude of the continental masses rising 
above the water, is not able to completely obliterate the import- 
ant difference between a continental and an insular Flora, how 
much more may we not, from good grounds, expect the same 
difference in those periods in which the influence of great con- 
tinents was in all probability not so great as at present. Yet, 
M. Brongniart, for this reason, gives to the character of the 
vegetation of this second and third period the name of a Coast 
Flora. 

Before we conclude our remarks on a subject of such univer- 
sal interest, we cannot help casting a look at the division of 
plants into families, which, according to the investigations of M. 
Brongniart, constitute the vegetation of his particular periods.  In- 


126 Remarks on the Ancient Flora of the Earth. 


dependent of the classes of Agamous and Cellular Cryptogamia, 
which here seem to us inconclusive, M. Brongniart next, in the 
first period; recognised only the presence of members of the class 
of Vascular Cryptogamiaand of Monocotyledonia. He has there- 
by, however, as appears, allowed it to escape his observation, 
that two species of his genus Conites, (C. cernwus and arma- 
dus, xxxix. t. 29. f. 1, 2. and t. 46, f. 1,) had been before de- 
scribed and delineated by Count Sternberg, as belonging to the 
coal formation of Bohemia, whose cones appeared so distinct, 
that we can scarcely doubt that they may be justly ranked in the 
family of the Conifere or Cycadee. Three of the more per- 
fectly organised classes of Brongniart have shown themselves al- 
ready in the first period, though the last, as regards the amount of 
the whole, forms but a very insignificant fraction, In the number, 
however, of the classes that M. Brongniart ascribes to his third pe- 
riod, we consider ourselves entitled, from the foregoing observa-~ 
tions, to notice an exception. We here find the appearance of 
Dicotyledones expressly denied, and yet the appearance of their 
undoubted remains both in the greensand or quader-sandstein, 
and in the Jura formation, is not at all uncommon. It will not 
be first necessary to call to mind the impressions of leaves in the 
period of the formation of chalk to which we have already re- 
ferred on another occasion. Their well known structure, the dis- 
tribution of their veins, leaves us not a moment to doubt with 
what toclass them. It was more striking to us, however, to ob- 
serve that M. Brongniart did not hereby think of his own early 
and numerous observations and remarks. For we find the leaves 
of many completely undoubted kinds of Dicotyledona in the sand- 
stone formation of Hoer on Schonen, mentioned by himself; and 
the author himself attaches great value to these, as affording evi- 
dence of the age of the strata. ‘The same appearances are also 
known to belong to the Jura formation. In the strata of this age, 
in France and England, we find the presence of dicotyledonous 
plants frequently mentioned. Desnoyers and Brongniart them- 
selves knew the same in the Jura oolite of Mamers. Further, the 
same appearance probably occurs in the strata at Stonesfield near 
Oxford, so rich in fossils. Mr Webster has also described the 
abundant appearance of very considerable Dicotyledonous trees 


Remarks on the Ancient Flora of the Earth: 127 


in the layers of Portland and Purbeck stone, (Geol. Trans. ii. 
p- 41,) standing upright, and having their concentric formation 
perfectly preserved. Among the remains of a former age found 
by G. Mantell, in the strata of the iron-sand of Tilgate Forest, 
there are also unquestionable remains of plants of this class. 
Count Sternberg has likewise already described the fruit of a 
species of juglans or walnut found in the salt-works of Wielitz- 
ka, the beds of which, we may refer, according to the accu- 
rate researches of Professor Pusch, to the formation of Lias 
contemporary with the sandstone and limestone which, to such 
an immense extent, compose the mass of the Carpathians. For 
understanding the progressive development of organic bodies, 
during the different periods of the earth’s formation, it is cer- 
tainly a very important object to fix the limits from which are 
first exhibited traces of the most perfect organization, of which 
the members of the vegetable and animal kingdoms are in gene- 
ral capable. The question as to the first appearance of dicoty- 
ledonous plants, is of equal signification as that in regard to the 
first appearance of remains of quadrupeds in the crust of the 
earth. In the present state of the organic creation, the propor- 
tions of both classes to the total sum of animals and vegetables, 
appear regulated according to analogous laws. We, however, 
do not know so extensively the creations of the present time and 
of a former age, as to be able satisfactorily to estimate their re- 
Jative numerical value, and we, of course, still stand in need of 
one of the most important documents regarding the economy of 
nature in the different periods of her formation. It is, notwith- 
standing, always of much importance to be able to look into the 
facts already established, and to observe that the gradual de- 
velopment of organic bodies in the animal and vegetable kingdom 
has followed precisely the same progress. While the simplest 
organised kinds of both kingdoms first appear, we also find rez 
peated throughout the same gradations, as regards the gradual 
appearance and increase of the more perfectly organised beings 
in the strata of the earth’s crust. Of the four footed animals, 
it is known that those which first appeared, yiz. the amphibia, 
are the lowest in the zoological scale. While the division of 
saurian animals attains a remarkable development in the Jura 


128 Remarks on the Ancient Flora of the Earth. 


limestone, in which at least twenty species have been distinguish- 
ed, the more perfectly organised mammalia on the other side of 
the chalk, that is below it, seem to possess only a single repre- 
sentative; but on this side of it, that is above it, there occurs a 
state perfectly comparable with the character of the Fauna of the 
present creation, if we abstract the difference of climate. Such, 
also, is the case in the extensive range of the vegetable kingdom. 

M. Brongniart has himself explained the character of the vegeta- 
tion of his fourth period, as perfectly similar to that now in exist- 
ence. The dicotyledonous plants which appear here, belong, for 
the most part, to the most perfectly developed families. In the 
period of formation, below the chalk, M. Brongniart found among 
the more highly organized vegetables only varieties of the na- 
tural families of the Cycadew and Conifere prevailing,—a fact 
of very great importance, the knowledge of which we owe ex- 
clusively to the laborious researches of this distinguished ob- 
server. The influence which these exercise in the present crea- 
tion only through a small number of genera upon the Flora of 
these periods, seems to have induced M. Brongniart to raise 
them to the rank of a distinct class; for he distinguished them 
both in the tabular survey before us, and in his History of Ve- 
getable Fossils (livr. i. p. 20), under the denomination of 
Phanerogamous Gymnospermes, and gave them a position be- 
tween the Vascular Cryptogamia and the Monocotyledona. 
However important the grounds may have been that enabled 
the author to act thus, we can neither give an assent to the prin- 
ciples hence deduced by him, nor consider the place assigned to 
his new class as the right one. 

Regarding the name of Phanerogamous Gymnospermes, occa- 
sioned by the remarkable researches of R. Brown, it does not 
become us to decide on the accuracy of the fact here brought for- 
ward. We may, however, have recourse to the opinions of two 
botanists of the first rank, Decandolle and Richard, who consider 
it by no means proven that the female flowers belonging to these 
plants can be regarded as a simple ovula, without pericarpium. 
If further investigations, however, should shew us that the 
families of the Cycadea and Conifera, in the numerous devia- 
tions which moreover so much distinguish them, still preserve 


Remarks on the Ancient Flora of the Earth. 129 


this remarkable exception to the prevailing organization, yet the 
influence which this discovery can have on the classification of 
fossil vegetables, must always be of small importance. For it 
depends on the nature of the preservation of these remains of a 
former age, whether we, in all our attempts to arrange them in - 
naturally distinct groups, according to the peculiarity of their 
forms, which arise from the organs of vegetation, will assign a 
greater importance to these, than to the organs of propagation. 
Their essential differences are particularly observable only in 
those parts which can scarcely ever come under the eye of an 
observer of the plants of a former age ; hence the characteristics 
derived from such parts must evidently be placed in the lowest 
order. If we now consider the single varieties of Cycadeee and 
Conifere according to their external perceptible peculiarities— 
if we compare the formation of their stems, the nature of the 
insertion of their leaves, &c., we will be at no loss what place to 
assign them. A. Richard, and after him Decandolle, has ad- 
mitted, that the Cycade@ are most closely related to palms and 
arborescent Monocotyledones, while the Conifere are imme- 
diately connected with the more perfectly organized dicotyle- 
dones. Indeed, the stems of the one, when found without being 
accompanied by leaves and fruit, are subordinate to the division 
Endogenites ; but the others are such perfect Exogenitee, that 
we cannot, without reluctance, surrender the general validity of 
this important distinction as the foundation of two great main 
divisions of all remains of plants not precisely determined. M. 
Brongniart himself, from similar grounds probably, has inserted 
in his Tabular Survey the genera Endogenites and Eaogenites, 
though they here lose all signification, from his having establish- 
ed a fourth class. 

Though, for the reasons assigned, we wished both families of 
this new class in M. Brongniart’s Tabular Survey separated, and 
the one associated with the Monocotyledonous Phanerogamia, 
the other with the Dicotyledonous Phanerogamia, we have by 
no means overlooked their very close affinity, which first of all be- 
came remarkable from the memorable researches of Richard and 
his son. The peculiar embryo with two cotyledons, which had 
not before been observed of any known species of the Palmec, 
Liliacew, &c. brings the Cycade so very near the Dicotyle- 

OCTOBER—DECEMBER 1829. I 


130 Remarks on the Ancient Flora of the Earth. 


dones, that we, from the simple observation of this character 
alone, would no longer hesitate to transfer them to this higher 
class. On the other hand, the Coniferw, from the imperfect 
organization of their organs of fructification, descend from the 
great division of the Dicotyledones to the foregoing class ; and 
yet, on the other hand, they are so intimately conjoined with 
the more highly organized classes, and, indeed, by the same 
properties, as caused us to place the Cycadec with the Dicotyle- 
dones. If, therefore, weconsider M. Brongniart’s Gymnospermous 
Phanerogamia, as an independent class of vegetables, we would 
immediately transpose them, according to a different system of 
denomination, to a place between his fifth and sixth classes. 
This is also the precise spot which the varieties belonging to 
them occupy, according to their appearance in the succession of 
strata that compose the crust of the earth. The first traces of 
them are lost in the oldest secondary sandstone formation, as 
the first traces of the more imperfectly organized quadrupedal 
amphibia appear in the oldest secondary limestone. Both of 
them gradually increase, and indeed predominate, in the Flora 
and Fauna of formations, which lie below the chalk ;, and both 
are at last displaced by the more perfectly organized forms of 
both families, belonging to the latest period of creation, which 
immediately preceded that now in existence. 

If we now take a summary survey of the results of the fore- 
going considerations, it appears— 

1st, That among the universally distributed rock formations, 
since the first appearance of organic beings, there is not one of 
them in which the remains of a contemporary land-vegetation 
are not to be observed. 

2d, That the different periods of the vegetation of a former 
age are gradually, from the oldest to the newest, characterized 
by the continual entrance of new, and always more perfectly 
organized families of plants; but that there is not connected 
with that arrangement a complete disappearance of all the spe- 
cies of the preceding periods. 

3d, That species of the most perfectly developed class the 
Dicotyledonous, already appear in the period of the secondary 
formations, and that the first traces of them can be shewn in the 


1 


ats mas pete tM Oe 


Conductibility for Caloric of different Woods, &c. 181 


oldest strata of the secondary formation, while they uninterrupt- 
edly increase in the successive formations.* 


On the relative Conductibility jor Caloric of different Woods, 
in the direction of their fibres, and in the contrary direction. 
By MM. Ave. pr La Rive, and Aten. Dr Canpo.te. 


Tue conductibility of the metals and some other substances 
has long been a subject of inquiry, on account of the important 
results which it has furnished with reference to the arts and 
sciences. There are other substances not less useful to be known 
in this respect, such as glass, porcelain, and other products of 
art, as well as woods of various kinds. A memoir by M. Des- 
prez, inserted in the Annales de Chimie, has made known the 
relative conductibilities of some of these substances. We have 
thought that it would not be without interest to complete the 
knowledge which we possess on this subject, by comparing the 
conducting powers of certain species of wood. This compa- 
rison may, besides, lead to various considerations relative to ve- 


getable physiology. 


With this object, we procured well dried pieces of wood, of a 
square form, 4 inches 10 lines long, 18 lines broad, and 1 inch 
thick, To know the differences that might result from the direc- 
tion of the woody layers, we had pieces sawn in the contrary direc- 
tion to that in which wood is commonly wrought, that is to say, 
the fibres being transverse, in place of being m the direction 
corresponding to the length of the piece of wood. It is this di- 
rection contrary to the woody fibres that caloric follows, when 
it passes from the atmosphere into the interior of a tree, or 
vice versa. On one of the broad surfaces of these pieces of wood, 
beginning at the distance of three centimetres, from one of the 
extremities, were bored, at equal distances of 9 lines, five holes, 
7 millimetres in breadth, which reached only the middle of the 
thickness of the wood. Into each hole we poured a little mer- 


* The second part of this Memoir will appear in next number of the 
Journal. 


T2 


132 MM. Aug. de la Rive and Alph. De Candolle on the 


cury, into which a thermometer was immersed. One of the ex- 
tremities of the piece of wood was sunk in a tin case, about 23 
centimetres long, so as not to cover any of the holes. This 
apparatus was freely suspended in the air, and a spirit of wine 
lamp was placed under the extremity, armed with tin. ‘I'be 
flame could only strike this part, on account of the chimney of 
the lamp and plates of glass which we placed vertically between 
it and the piece of wood, taking care to renew them as soon as 
the heat began to traverse them. In this manner, the source 
of heat was single, without, however, directly striking the wood 
in such a manner as to burn it. In order that the thermometer 
should have precisely the temperature of the interior of the 
wood, we threw a little lycopodium powder upon the orifices of 
the holes, which prevented all external radiation of the balls of 
the thermometers, and of the mercury which surrounded them. 

At the end of from one to two hours, each thermometer had 
attained the maximum of temperature which its distance from 
the source of heat, and the conductibility of the wood, com- 
bined with the radiation, permitted it toassume. We only con- 
sidered the experiment as ended, when the thermometers had 
attained their fixed point for ten minutes or a quarter of an 
hour. We have retrenched from all the thermometrical heights 
the temperature of the ambient air, which only varied from 6° 
to 10° centigr. 

The kinds of wood which we tried are six in number, of 
which three were in the two directions of the fibres. Placed 
in the order of their conductibility, beginning with the best 
conductors, they are the following :—hornbeam, chesnut, oak, 
fir, poplar, all in the direction of the woody fibres ; then ches- 
nut, oak and fir, in the contrary direction ; and, lastly, cork. 

On comparing the two extremes, it is found that, in the horn- 
beam, a very hard and heavy wood, the first thermometer being 
at 83°, the second was at 45°, a little more than the half; while 
in the cork, the first being at 78°, the second was only at 14°, 
a little more than the fifth. The densest woods were in general 
the best conductors. Chesnut, however, is a somewhat better 
conductor than oak, although it is lighter. It is also seen from 
the table which follows, that there is little difference between 
the woods cut in the same direction, and that their slight homo- 


relative Conductibility for Caloric of different Woods, &c. 133 


geneousness render the results less regular than in the experi- 
ments which have been made on other substances; but there is 
a considerable difference according to the directions of the ca- 
loric, with reference to the woody layers. Woods are much 
worse conductors in the direction contrary to the fibres of which 
they are composed, than in that of their length. The diffe- 
rence which results from these directions of the caloric is so 
much the greater, the smaller the degree of conducting power 
which the wood possesses. Thus, referring to the second ther- 
mometer, and taking in each wood the differences resulting from 
the direction of the fibres, we find 16° in the chesnut, 22° in 
the oak, and 28° in the fir. In the oak, the conductibility in 
the direction of the fibres is to that in the perpendicular direc- 
tion as 5 to 3. 

The curve formed by the heights of the thermometers, which 
is a logarithmic curve in the bodies that are very good conduc- 
tors, is not so regular in the substances which conduct ill. It 
decreases at first very quickly, and then becomes nearly parallel 
to the line of the abscisses. Thus, in the oak, the second ther- 
mometer being at a height six times less than the first, the last 
is very little different from the one next to it; it is at 1°, and 
the next to the last at 1° 56, while in the hornbeam the quo- 
tients are nearly equal. These numbers, which are directly 
given by experiment, do not express the conducting powers in 
an absolute manner, for they are the result of the combination 
of several elements, such as the dimensions of the body, their 
radiating power, &c., which elements would require to be cal- 
culated, were it wished to compare exactly the conductibility of 
woods with that of other substances. 

The great difference which results from decal direction, accord- 
ing to which the woody layers present themselves to the caloric, 
may in part explain how trees preserve so well in the interior 
of their trunk the temperature of the soil, from which they ex- 
tract their nourishment. On the one hand, this temperature 
transmits itself by the ascent of the fluids, and by its propaga- 
tion in the solid tissue of the wood, while the little conductibi- 
lity im the transverse direction forms a great obstacle to its 
coming into equilibrium with the external temperature. 


134 Account of the Nuremberg Boy, Caspar Hauser. 


of the 2d, that of the 2d 1002, cal 
by that of the 3d, &¢. ‘| culated 


Ist. 2d 3d Ist | 2d | 3d 

Ther. | Ther. | Ther. |Ther.|Ther. |Quot.| Quot.|Quot.{Quot. 

Hornbeam in the longi- 
tudinal direction, 

Chesnut do. 


Oak do. 
Fir do. 
Poplar do. 


Chesnut in the trans- 
verse direction, 

Oak do. 

Fir do. 

Cork do, 


Annales de Chimie and Physique, Jan. 1829. 


Account of the Nuremberg Boy, Caspar Hauser, who was shut 
up in a Dungeon from the fourth to the sixteenth year of his 
age. 


Axour twenty-five years ago public curiosity and the solicitude 
of the scientific world, were powerfully excited by the discovery 
of the wild man of Aveyron, who was surprised in the woods 
leaping from tree to tree, living, in a naked state, the life of a ba- 
boon rather than that of a man, emitting no other sounds than 
imitations of the eries of animals which he had heard, or those 
which made their escape from his breast without the emotions 
of pleasure or suffermg. A phenomenon of nearly a similar 
nature has, for the last fifteen months, engaged the attention of 
the learned in Germany. But in this case there do not exist 
the entire liberty, and the wild and erratic life, which degraded 
the intellect of the unfortunate being just mentioned. There 
has, on the contrary, been a state of absolute constraint and 
captivity. Hitherto nothing had transpired in France respect- 
ing this singular phenomenon, and we should probably have 
still remained ignorant of it, had it not been for the attempt at 
assassination made a month ago upon this unfortunate creature, 


Account of the Nuremberg Boy, Caspar Hauser. 135 


now restored: to social life; and, as would appear, pursued by 
the same villain who, for twelve years, had kept him buried in 
a dungeon. <A person of high rank, and distinguished by the 
superiority of his mind, has addressed to us the following letter, 
which reveals, in some measure, the entire history of this unfor- 
tunate being. Our correspondent has seen and conversed with 
this mysterious young man. We have thought it right to publish 
his letter in the same spirit which dictated it, that is to say, less 
as the recital of an extraordinary and touching adventure, than 
as a subject of moral and psychological study. At the moment 
when we were sending this letter to press, we received the Nou- 
velle Revue Germanique, which is printed at Strasburg, and in 
which the same facts are translated from the Hesperus, one of 
the best of the German journals. But we have in addition, the 
assurance of authenticity and the observations made on the same 
subject by a person who, by profound study, has been familiar- 
ized with all the great questions of philosophy.* 


“ 0 THE EDITOR OF LE GLOBE. 


“Sir, Paris, November 15. 1829. 


‘“* Within a few days the French journals speak, for the first 
time, of the history of a young man found at Nuremberg, whose 
name is Caspar Hauser. They speak of him in consequence of 
the assassination attempted upon his person in the course of last 
month, quoting the Austrian Observer, which has itself derived 
its information from German journals printed in countries near- 
er the place of the atrocity than Vienna. The story appears to 
them incredible, and with good reason, for what is true is not 
always probable. I have seen the young man in question, and 
am able to furnish authentic information respecting him. I am 
convinced you will judge it worthy of being made public. 

*¢ In the month of May 1828, there was observed at the en- 
trance of one of the gates of the city of Nuremberg, a young 
man who kept himself in a motionless attitude. He spoke not 
but wept, and held in his hand a letter addressed to an officer of 
the regiment of Light Horse in garrison in the town. ‘The let- 
ter announced that from the age of four to that of sixteen years, 


* The letter is probably the production of the celebrated Cousin. 


136 Account of the Nuremberg Boy, Caspar Hauser. 


the bearer had remained shut up ina dungeon, that he had 
been baptized, that his name was Caspar Hauser, that he was 
destined to enter the regiment of Light Horse, and that it was 
fer this reason that the officer was addressed. 

*¢ On being questioned he remained silent, and when further 
interrogated he wept. The word which he most frequently 
pronounced was haam, (the provincial pronunciation of heim, 
home,) to express the desire of returning to his dungeon. 

“‘ When ic appeared evident from the state in which the young 
man was, that the statement contained in the letter was true, he 
was confided to the charge of an enlightened professor of the 
most respectable character, and, by a decree of the magistrates, 
was declared an adopted child of the city of Nuremberg. 

‘‘ Previous to my return to France, I had determined to visit 
that city, the only large town in Germany which I had not 
seen. This was about the end of last September. I was fur- 
nished with a letter to one of the magistrates, who, from the 
nature of his functions, had the charge of superintending the 
education of Caspar Hauser. It was this person who brought 
him to me; and, by a privilege which I should not have ven- 
tured to claim, the last moments of a residence devoted to the 
examination of the curiosities of this great monument of the 
middle age, afforded me an opportunity of seeing a very rare, 
if not unique, subject for the study of human nature. We 
beheld a young man, below the middle stature, thick, and with 
broad shoulders. His physiognomy was mild and frank. With- 
out being disagreeable, it was no way remarkable. His eyes 
announced weakness of sight, but his look, especially when a 
feeling of internal satisfaction or of gratitude made him raise it 
towards the skies, had a heavenly expression.. He came up to 
us without embarrassment, and even with the confidence of can- 
dour. His carriage was modest. He was urged to speak, to 
give us an account of his emotions, of his observations upon 
himself, and of the happiness of his condition. 

“We had no time to lose, for our horses were already harness- 
ed. While I was reading an account composed by himself, in 
which he had begun to retrace his recollection, he related to my 
travelling companion whatever had not yet been recorded in it, 
or replied to his questions. I shall, therefore, first present the 


Account of the Nuremberg Boy, Caspar Hauser. 13% 


details of the narrative, and then mention what was repeated to 
me of a conversation of which I heard only a part. — 

‘‘ His manner of speaking and of pronouncing German was 
that of a foreigner, who has exercised himself for some years in 
it. The motion of the muscles of the face indicated an effort, 
and was nearly such as is observed in deaf and dumb persons 
who have learned to speak. The style of the written narrative 
resembled that of a scholar of ten or eleven years, and consist- 
ed of short and simple phrases, without errors in orthography 
or grammar. The following is a brief account of it :— 

‘* His recollections disclose to him a dark dungeon, about five 
feet long, four broad, and very low; a loaf of bread, a pitcher 
of water, a hole for his wants, straw fora bed, a covering, two 
wooden horses, a dog of the same material, and some ribbons, 
with which he amused himself in decorating them. He had no 
recollection of hunger, but he well remembered being thirsty. 
When he was thirsty he slept, and on awakening the pitcher 
was found full. When he was awake, he dressed his horses 
with the ribbons, and when his thirst returned he slept. The 
man who took care of him always approached him from behind, 
so that he never saw his figure. He remained almost constant- 
ly seated. He recollects no feeling of uneasiness. He is igno- 
rant how long this kind of life lasted ; and when the man began 
to reveal himself and to speak to' him, the sound of his voice be- 
came impressed upon his ear. His words are indelibly engrav- 
ed upon his memory, and he has even retained his dialect. 
These words ran exclusively on fine horses, and latterly on his 
father, who had some, and would give them to him. One day, 
(I make use of this word although it is improper, for to him 
there were neither day, nor time, nor space,) the man placed 
upon his legs a stool with paper, and led his hand in order te 
make him trace some characters upon it. When the impulse 
given by the man’s hand ceased, his hand also stopped. The 
man endeavoured to make him understand that he was to go 
on. The motion being without doubt inopportune, the man 
gave him a blow on the arm. ‘This is the only feeling of pain 
which he remembers. But the stool greatly embarrassed him, 
for he had no idea of how he should put it aside, and was ut- 
terly unable to extricate himself from this prison within a pri- 


138 Account of the Nuremberg Boy, Caspar Hauser. 


son. One day, at length, the man clothed him, (it would ap- 
pear that he wore only a shirt, his feet being bare), and taking 
him out of the dungeon put shoes upon him. He carried him 
at first, and then tried to make him learn to walk, directing the 
young man’s feet with his own. Sometimes carried and some- 
times pushed forwards, he at length made a few steps. But, 
after accgmplishing ten or twelve, he suffered horribly, and fell 
acrying. The man then laid him on his face on the ground, 
and he slept. He is ignorant how long these alternations were 
renewed ; but the ideas which he has since acquired have enabled 
him to discover, in the sound of his conductor’s voice, an ex- 
pression of trouble and anguish. The light of day caused him 
still greater sufferings. He retains no idea of his conductor's 
physiognomy, nor does he even know if he observed it ; but 
the sound of his voice, he tells us, he could distinguish among 
a thousand. ‘ 

«« Here ends the narrative, and we now come to the conversa- 
tion. During the first days which he passed among men, he 
was in a state of continual suffering. He could bear no other 
food than bread. He wag made to'take chocolate : he felt it, he 
told us, to his fingers’ ends. 'The light, the motion, the noise 
around him, (and curious persons were not wanting to produce 
the latter), and the variety of objects which forced themselves 
upon his observation, caused an indescribable pain, a phy- 
sical distemper, but this distemper must have existed in the 
chaos of his ideas. It was music that afforded him the first 
agreeable sensation: it was through its influence that he expe- 
rienced a dispersion of this chaos. From this period he was 
enabled to perceive a commencement of order in the impressions 
by which he was assailed. His memory has become prodigious : 
he quickly learned to name and classify objects, to distinguish 
faces, and to attach to each the proper name which he heard 
pronounced. He has an ear for music, and an aptitude for 
drawing. At first he was fond of amusing himself with wooden 
horses, of which a present had been made to him, when he was 
heard continually to repeat the word horses, beautiful horses 
(rfss, schonab r$ss ). He instantly gave up, when his master 
made him understand that this was not proper, and that it was 
not beautiful. His taste for horses has since been replaced by a 


Account of the Nuremberg Boy, Caspar Hauser. 139 


taste for study. He has begun the study of the Latin language, 
aud by a natural spirit of imitation, his master being a literary 
man, he is desirous of following the same career. 

*¢ So extraordinary a phenomenon could not fail to inspire, in- 
dependently of general curiosity, an interest of a higher order, 
whether in observing minds or in feeling hearts, and the wo- 
men especially have expressed their feelings towards him in lit- 
tle presents, and letters of the most tender kind. But the 
multitude of idle visits they made to him, and especially these 
expressions of tender feeling, were productive of danger to him, 
and it became necessary to withdraw him from so many causes 
of distraction, and to lead him into retirement. Accordingly, 
he now lives retired in the bosom of a respectable family. Pure 
morals, an observing mind, and a psychological order, preside 
over his education and instruction, in proof of which, he has 
made immense progress in the space of the last sixteen months. 

“* Here, then, by the inexplicable eccentricity of a destiny 
without example, we have presented, and perhaps solved a pro- 
blem, which from the Egyptian king mentioned by Herodotus, 
down to the writers of novels, to the Emilius of Rousseau, and 
the statue of Condillac, has exercised the imagination of men, 
and the meditations of philosophers. It is evident that in the 
profound darkness, the absolute vacuity in which Casper Hauser 
was for twelve years immersed, all the impressions of the first 
four years of his life were effaced. Never was there a tabula 
rasa like that which his mind presented at the age of sixteen. 
You see what it has been capable of receiving. But the me- 
taphor is false, for you see how it has re-acted. 

*< In proportion as the sphere of his ideas enlarged, he has 
made continual efforts to pierce the shades of his previous ex- 
istence. They have been useless, at least as yet. ‘I inces- 
santly try,” said he to us, ‘ to seize the image of the man ; but 
I am then affected with dreadful headachs, and feel motions in 
my brain which frightens me.” I have told you that his figure, 
his look, and his port, bore the expression of candour, careless- 
ness and contentment. I asked him if he had, either in his 
dungeon, or after coming out of it, experienced feelings of 
anger. How could I, said he, when there has never been in 
me (and he pointed to his heart) what men call anger. And 


140 Account of the Nuremberg: Boy, Caspar Hauser. 


this being from whom, since the commencement of his moral 
existence, had emanated all the gentle and benevolent affections, 
has all these illusions dissipated by the violence of an assassin. 
Happy, perhaps, had it been for him had he fallen under it, or 
should he yet fall! And yet, if, after having been struck by 
the murderer, he drags himself mechanically and squats in the 
corner of a cellar, as if he would again enter his cave, he who, 
in the first. moment of his social existence, had no other wish 
than that of being led back to it, see him now become a social 
man to such a degree, that his first cry is to supplicate that he 
be not again led to it! 

“¢ This assassin, I only know, as yourself and as the public know, 
through the medium of the newspapers. The young man, they 
say, thought he recognized in him the voice of his conductor. It 
is probable that the conductor is the assassin ; but it is also pos- 
sible that the young man may be deceived; for in that so well 
remembered voice were concentrated all his ideas of evil. Be 
this as it may, it is as a psychological phenomenon that I have 
presented his history, and not as an adventure, respecting which 
every one may form his own conjectures. All that I can say 
is, that the functionary who presented him to us, and who, by 
the duties of his office, was charged with directing the inquiries, 
has informed me that for a moment they imagined they had 
found traces of a discovery ; but these traces had ended in no- 
thing else than the rendering it probable that the place of his 
imprisonment is to be found in a district at the distance of about 
ten leagues from the city of Nuremberg.”—Le Globe, 21st No- 


vember. 


Fresh Water Springs at the Bottom of the Sea. 


Turse springs occur near the islands of Bahrain and Arad, 
which are situated on the south side of the Persian Gulf. Bah- 
rain is low and more fertile than any island in that gulf. Many 
fine groves of date trees are scattered over it, and perhaps the 
purest fresh water is to be found at a large pool having a spring 
near it, within two or three miles of the town of Monama. 
When Captain Maughan left Bahrain in 1828, the island was in 


Fresh Water Springs at the Bottom of the Sea. 141 


the possession of the Ootoobies, a powerful tribe of Arabs from 
the desert opposite. About one and a half or two miles to the 
north-east lies the little island of Arad, merely a low sandy islet, 
with a few date trees upon it, and a hamlet composed chiefly of 
fishermen’s huts. ‘The harbour for shipping is formed between 
Bahrain and Arad islands, from which project extensive reefs of 
rocks. ‘The depth of the harbour is from three to four and a 
half fathoms, with a sandy bottom. On the western and north 
sides of Arad, at some distance from the beach, are springs of 
fresh water gushing from the submarine rocks, where the salt 
water flows over them at the depth of a fathom or two, accord- 
ing to the state of the tides. Some of the fresh water springs 
are close by the beach, and here the fishermen fill their jars or 
tanks without difficulty, but many of the springs are distant 
from the shore ; and whenever the fishermen on the bank near 
them require water, they bring their boat close over the spring, 
and one of the crew dives under the surface of the salt water 
with a leathern mussuck, or tanned skin of a goat or sheep, and 
places the neck or mouth of it over the spring. The force of the 
spring immediately fills the bag with fresh water, and the man 
ascends without difficulty to the surface, and empties his cargo 
into a tank, and he descends continually to replenish his mus- 
suck, until the tank be filled. Captain Maughan was told that 
some of the springs are in three fathoms water. The mussuck 
they use may contain from four to five gallons ; the people who 
generally fish about these islands are pearl divers, accustomed 
to dive in twelve and fourteen fathoms water for pearls. They 
are a quiet, and, if not molested, a harmless race of Arabs ; 
during the summer time they wear but little clothing. There 
are also springs of fresh water under the sea near the north- 
eastern part of Bahrain island. From all that Captain Maughan 
could learn, above thirty springs of fresh water have been dis- 
covered in the sea in the neighbourhood of Bahrain and Arad. 
The sandy beaches of the neighbourliood are composed. of 
the usual sea-sand, chiefly composed of broken corallines and 
shells. The nearest high land is the coast of Persia opposite, 
about Cape Verdistan, Kongoon, Assiloo, &c.; and it is com- 
posed chiefly of sandstone, black coarse marble, and gypsum. 


142 On the Lofty Flight of the Condor. 


The vegetation is scanty, merely a few shrubs, mostly a species 
of balsam, skirting the sides of the mountains. The land about 
EI Katiff on the main, twenty miles further to the westward of 
Bahrain, is of moderate height, and not of any considerable ex- 
tent. All the coast to the eastward of Bahrain is very low and 
sandy, until it jos the mountains over Cape Mussendom. 


On the Lofty Flight of the Condor. 


Next to the Condor, the Lammergeier of Switzerland and the 
Falco destructor of Daudin, which is probably the same as the 
Falco Harpya of Linnzus, are the largest flying birds. 

The region which may be considered as the habitual abode of 
the Condor, begins at a height equal to that of Etna, and com- 
prehends strata of air at an elevation of from 9600 to 18,000 
feet above the level of the sea. The largest individuals that 
are met with in the chain of the Andes of Quito, are about four- 
teen feet from the tip of one wing to that of the other, and the 
smallest only eight. From these dimensions, and from the vi- 
sual angle under which this bird sometimes appears perpendi- 
cularly above our heads, it may be judged to what a prodigious 
height it rises when the sky is clear. When'seen, for example, 
under an angle of four minutes, it must be at a perpendicular 
distance of 6876 feet. The Cave of Antisana, situated op- 
posite the mountain of Chussulongo, and from which we mea- 
sured the bird soaring, is situated at a height of 12,958 feet 
above the level of the Pacific Ocean. Thus, the absolute height 
which the Condor attained, was 20,834 feet, an elevation at 
which the barometer scarcely rises to 12 mches. It is a some- 
what remarkable physiological phenomenon, that this bird, which 
for hours continues to fly about in regions where the air is so 
rarefied, all at once descends to the edge of the sea, as along the 
western slope of the volcano of Pichincha, and thus in a few 
minutes passes as it were through all the varieties of climate. 
At a height of 20,000 feet, the air-cells of the Condor which 
are filled in the lowest regions, must be inflated in an extraor- 
dinary manner. Sixty years ago, Ulloa expressed his astonish- 
ment at the circumstance that the vulture of the Andes could fly 


On the Lofty Flight of the Condor. 143 


at a height where the mean pressure of the air is only 14 inches.* 
It was slams imagined, from the analogy of experiments made 
with the pneumatic machine, that no animal could live in so rare 
a medium. I have seen the barometer fall on Chiniborazo to 
13 inches 11,% lines. My friend, M. Gay Lussac, respired for a 
quarter of an hour in an atmosphere whose pressure was only 
0™.3288. At heights like these, man in general finds himself 
reduced to a most painful state of debility. In the Condor, on 
the contrary, the act of respiration appears to be performed with 
equal ease, in mediums where the pressure differs from 12 to 30 
inches. Of all living beings, it is without doubt the one that 
ean rise at will to the greatest distance from the earth’s surface. 
I say, at will, because small insects are carried still higher by 
ascending currents. Probably the height which the Condor at- 
tains is greater than that which we have found by the calcula- 
tion mentioned above. I remember that on Cotopaxi, in the 
Plain of Suniguaicu, covered with pumice, and elevated 13,578 
feet above the level of the sea, I perceived that bird at such 
a height, that it appeared like a black dot. What is the smallest 
angle under which objects weakly lighted are distinguished ?+ 
The diminution which the rays of light undergo by passing 
through the strata of the atmosphere, has a great influence upon ' 
the minimum of the angle. The transparency of the air of 
mountains is so great under the equator, that, im the province of 
Quito, as I have elsewhere shewnt, the poncho or white mantle 
‘of a person on horseback is distinguishable at a horizontal dis- 
tance of 84,032 feet, and consequently under an angle of 13 
seconds. 


* Astronomical observations made by order of the King of Spain, p. 109. 


+ It is probably one minute. In 1806, a balloon, which was four fathoms 
in diameter, was seen with the naked eye at Berlin to fall at a distance of 
40,200 feet. It was then under a visual angle of 24% But it could have 
been distinguished at a much greater distance, notwithstanding the consti- 
tution of our northern, atmosphere. 


$+ In my memoir on the diminution of heat, and on the lower limit of per- 
petual snow. 


Humboldt, Tatleaux dela Nature, t. ii, pp. 7278, 


(144) 00™ 


Notes in regard to the Geology of Cherry Island and Spitz- 
bergen. By Professor Kre1Ltuav of Christiania. 


in great primitive land of Scandinavia continues onwards to 
the extreme pomt of Norway ; but in this high latitude, some 
newer formations make their appearance among the older. The 
sandstone-quartz of Alten has been known since the travels of 
the celebrated Von Buch. On the east, towards the Russian 
dominions, there is a considerable district which deviates more 
from the primitive formation than the sandstone-quartz of Al- 
ten does. Sandstone and conglomerate extend across the sub- 
jacent gneiss in a horizontal position, and here we do not meet 
with the well known Norwegian and Swedish transition rocks, 
but what appear to be secondary deposites. Notwithstanding, 
it is difficult to refer to its proper place this sandstone of East 
Finmark. Neither beds of limestone nor organic remains have 
been met with in it, yet it is probably nearly allied to the old 
red sandstone.” ‘The porphyry and amygdaloid of this forma- 
tion are here represented by claystone and jasper. 

Hence, in Eastern Finmark, we find ourselves on the edge of 
a great secondary basin. The first land which rises above the 
level of the ocean in the Arctic Sea, beyond the North Cape, is 
the small Cherry Island (Bear Island) in north latitude 74° 30’, 
which is entirely composed of secondary rocks, horizontally stra- 
tified, and cut perpendicularly on the coast into cliffs. The 
rocks are principally sandstone and limestone. The limestone 
abounds in petrified sea-shells, and in the sandstone he discover- 
ed a bed of coal from two to four feet thick. Further to the 
north, the depth of the sea is so inconsiderable and uniform, 
that the seamen, after seeing the horizontal strata of Cherry 
Island, conclude that they continue on their course northward, 
to sail over the horizontal. basis of Cherry Island, over beds 
which are visible on Hope Island, and the Archipelago of the 
Thousand Islands. ‘These beds are said to be of a soft blackish 
clay-slate. The Thousand Islands lie off East Spitzbergen. 
Here there is a lofty extensive table-land very steep towards the 
sea. Already at the distance of half a degree of latitude, a ho- 
rizontal stratification is announced by a Jayer of snow, resting 


4 


On the Geology of Cherry Island and Spitzbergen. 145 


on a black wall of rock. On approaching towards the west side 
of Stansforeland, between 77° and 78° N., the lowest bed at a 
distance appears to be basalt. It proved to be a coarse granu- 
lar trap-rock, split by means of vertical rents into imperfect 
columns. This bed forms a flat extent of coast, about ten miles 
and a quarter broad, and forty-one miles long, and is the base 
or fundamental rock of an alternation of fine granular sand- 
stone, an arenaceous marl-slate, compact siliceous limestone, 
and frequent repetitions of the trap-rock. Organic remains 
were not discovered either in the sandstone or limestone. This 
same formation appears to extend to north latitude 80°, and 
probably forms the greater part, if not the whole, of East Spitz- 
bergen. It is true some boulders were met with, which point at 
primitive rocks, viz. a rounded mass of gneiss. But these boul- 
ders may have come from West Spitzbergen, which furnishes a 
great primitive chain. 

An interesting deposit of shell-clay was observed at Stansfore- 
land, in which the shells (4¢valves) were of the same kind as found 
in a similar clay in the southern parts of Norway. This depo- 
site extends onwards nine miles and a half from the shore, and 
rises one hundred feet above the present level of the sea. The 
heaps of whalebones found at a considerable height on the 
Thousand Islands may stand in connexion with this appear- 
ance. ' 

The primitive rocks of West Spitzbergen appear at the 
South Cape in Jat. 761°. They are mica-slate, with numerous 
beds of quartz. In Horn Sound and Bell Sound these rocks 
form the high land ; and, to judge from the form of the moun- 
tains, these or other primitive rocks ascend higher on the west 
coast. The primitive rocks, where examined at the South Cape, 
were perpendicular, with a direction from N. E. toS. W. To- 
wards the east, lay a formation over the very limited primitive 
district, which certainly belonged to that of Stansforeland. 

A new formation occurs westward along the sea-coast, in 
fiords, under the high chain, and in small flat islands, which lie 
in front of the coast.. There appears to be but feeble traces of 
the transition period, but more evident symptoms of secondary 
deposites. In the year 1826, sea-horse fishers from Finnmark 
brought siaty tons of coal from Eissund, in north lat. 78°. 

OCTOBER—DECEMBER 1829, K 


146 On the Geology of Cherry Island and Spitzbergen. 


The coal of Spitzbergen, which extends beyond north latitude 
79°, resembles canned coal. The gypsum also, which occurs ex- 
tensively in many parts, belongs to the secondary rocks of this 
coast. Specimens of it can easily be procured in Finnmark. 
Very far towards the north, on the west side, limestone occurs 
extensively distributed : it is possible that it may belong to the 
primitive chain, if this stretches out so far, but more probably it 
is of newer formation. 

From what is known of the east coast of Greenland, it ap- ~ 
pears, between north latitude 71° and 72°, to resemble Spitzber- 
gen so much, that we may place there the western boundary of a 
particular territory, which is bounded on the south by the Scan- 
dinavian primitive mountains ; but on the east embraces a part of 
Nova Zembla, and may extend forward to the Strait of 
Waigatz. 


N. B.—The preceding observations were delivered at the 
meeting of Naturalists in Berlin, in September 1828, by the ac- 
tive and enterprising traveller Keilhau himself. 


Is the Domestic Cat originally a native of this Country ? 


Tx has for years been a question with naturalists—Is the Wild 
Cat of Europe the original of our Domestic Cat? Some have 
referred all the varieties of the house cat to our wild cat ; others, 
as Brehm, Fleming, &c., rejecting this opinion, maintain that 
the house, or domestic cat, belongs to a wild species no where 
found in Europe, and that the European wild cat is a peculiar 
and distinct species. In the former volume of the Journal, 
vol. vii. p. 369, we noticed the discovery of a species of cat in 
Nubia, by Riippel, the Felis maniculata, which he regards as 
the original stock from which the domestic cat of the Egyptians 
was derived, and whence, probably, alsosprung the domestic cat 
of Europe. -This opinion we consider as probable. However 
it may turn out as to the species from which the domestic cat 
originated, there can be little doubt of its being different from 
our common wild cat, Felis Catus- 


Is the Domestic Cat originally a native of this Country ? 147 


When we examine the wild cat, we find that it is much larger, 
has a stronger make, is more powerful, and has a shorter and 
thicker body and head, than the domestic cat. These distinc- 
tions shew that the two animals cannot well be considered as 
belonging to the same species. The great size of the wild cat, 
in comparison with the tame cat, intimates that they are very 
different from each other. All wild animals, by domestication, 
become stronger and larger, which is the reverse of what we 
observe in the domestic cat. The wild cat, if the domestic cat 
is derived from it, has become smaller by domestication, which 
is contrary to all experience, in regard to other animals. A 
principal proof that the tame cat is not derived from the wild cat, 
lies in the differences of the tail in these two animals. That of the 
wild cat is strong, and of nearly uniform thickness, and as if cut 
off at the end; further, is provided with a tuft of hair and three 
dark rings, while that of the domestic cat is proportionally much 
longer, more slender, gradually terminating in a point, and is 
provided with more than three rings. Further, when we com- 
pare the skeleton of both cats, we find, besides other consider- 
able differences, that the tail of the domestic cat has more ver- 
tebrze than that of the wild cat. 

Where such marked differences occur, we cannot hesitate in 
believing, that the domestic cat has not originated from our 
wild cat. If the Felis maniculata of Riippel is the original of 
our domestic cat, then it follows that probably it was brought 
at an early period from Nubia into Egypt, from thence to 
Greece and Italy, and, in course of time, was spread over other 
countries in Europe. Hence, probably our domestic cat origi- 
nated in the East, from whence we have obtained the most of 
our domestic animals.* 


* Dr Fleming, in his “ British Animals,” page 15, says, ‘‘ It is generally 
believed by naturalists, that the wild cat is the parent stock of the Felis 
Catus, var. domesticus, or common house cat. Several circumstances appear to 
be at variance with this supposition. The tail of the domestic cat tapers to 
a point, while in the wild cat it terminates abruptly. The head, too, is 
larger in proportion to the body. The size is much smaller, a character at 
variance with the ordinary effects of domestication.” 


K 2 


( 148) 


Account of a new species of Mineral named Polybasite, and 
Observations on _Zinkenite. 


Tus mineral has been hitherto confounded with the Sprédgla- 
serz, but is distinguished from it by form and composition. 
Rose was the first to point out the difference of this species from 
Sprédglaserz, and communicated to his brother H. Rose the 
following observations :—The crystals of this new species are 


regular six-sided prisms, which are commonly low and tabular, ' 


and terminated on the ends by planes perpendicular to the axis 
of the prism. The lateral planes are transversely streaked, and 
meet under 120°. The planes perpendicular to the axis are 
streaked in a direction parallel to the planes of an equilateral 
triangle, or parallel to the alternate terminating edges of the six- 
sided prism. Hence it follows, that the crystal must be rhom- 
boedral. The fracture is uneven. The crystals are iron black ; 
lustre splendent both on the fracture and external surfaces. 
Colour not changed in the streak. It is sectile ; hardness be- 
tween that of rock salt and calcareous spar. Specific gravity of 
a variety from Durango in Mexico is=6.214, at temperature 
of 10%5. R. 

The Polybasite occurs partly in superimposed crystals, partly 
massive and disseminated. It occurs in veins in the mines of 
Guanaxuato in Mexico; also at Guarisamey in Durango, in 
the same country, with crystallized copper pyrites and calcare- 
ous spar; and also with stilbite, as at Andreasberg in the 
Hartz. Probably the six-sided tables, streaked on the terminal 
planes, from the mine Morgenstern near to Freyberg, belong 
to this species. 

Werner’s description of Sprédglaserz includes two six-sided 
prisms ; one, which, when carefully examined, as has been done 
by Mohs, proves to be an oblique four-sided prism, with 
truncated acute lateral edges, and this is the Sprédglaserz of 
Mohs ; the other, which is a regular six-sided prism, is the pre- 
sent species the Polybasite. The Polybasite of Guarisamey, 
in Durango, in Mexico, affords the following constituent parts : 

Sulphur, 17.04; antimony, 5.09; arsenic, 3.74; silver, 
64.29; copper, 9.93; iron, 0.06=100.15. The portions of 


Account of a new species of Mineral named Polybusite. 149 


sulphur taken up by the antimony and arsenic, for the sulphuret 
of antimony and su!phuret of arsenic, are — 1.90 and 2.40; al- 
together 4.30. The silver takes up 9.56 of sulphur, in order to 
form the sulphuret of silver, and the copper 2.53 sulphur to 
form the sulphuret of copper. ‘The quantity of sulphur is three 
times greater in the electro-positive metallic sulphurets than in 
the electro-negative ; the quantity of sulphur in the sulphuret of 
silver and sulphuret of copper is as 4:1. The formula for the 
compound can therefore be expressed as follows :— 


Cop. 9.955 4 4 aorls 
As As 


In this compound, therefore, the sulphuret of antimony and 
the sulphuret of arsenic are combined with the greatest quantity 
of base, and hence the name Polybasite, given to this species, 
from zoavs and Baots. 


Zinkenite.—Rose refers this mineral species to the prismatic 
series of Crystallisation, and Hartmann, in his interesting popu- 
lar Lectures on Mineralogy, does the same. Lately, the last 
mentioned author informs us, that he has fully confirmed this 
opinion, by finding crystals in the form of rhomboedral prisms, 
bevelled on the extremities ; the bevelling planes set straight on 
the acute lateral edges of the prisms; the crystals grouped as 
in arragonite. In opposition to this statement, we have that of 
Mohs, (in Partsch’s Catalogue of the Vienna Imperial Cabinet), 
and of Haidinger (Anfansgrunde der Mineralogie), who 
maintains that Zinkenite belongs to the Rhomboedral System. 


On the Egg of the Ornithorynchus. 


M. Georrroy St Hizarre lately communicated to the 
Academy of Sciences, a letter containing the figure and 
description of an Ornithorynchus’s egg. At the same time, 
he made some remarks on the discussions which have arisen 
among the naturalists of Europe, respecting the classifica- 


150 On the Egg of the Ornithorynchus. 


tion of the group of Monotremata, comprehending the Echidne 
and Ornithorynchi. Most naturalists refer these singular animals 
to the class of mammifera, and consider them as viviparous. M. 
Geoffroy St Hilaire, however, has always believed these animals 
to be oviparous, and to constitute of themselves a fifth class, en- 
tirely different from the mammifera. For a moment, however, 
the question seemed to be decided against him. M. Meckel 
imagined that he had found mamme in the ornithorynchus, 
and described the texture of these organs. M. St Hilaire, 
however, maintains, that, notwithstanding M. Meckel’s ability as 
an anatomist, he had been deceived on this point, and that what 
he had taken for mammz was something else. When this in- 
formation reached us, we wrote to an intelligent friend on the 
subject, and the following is his answer to our queries :— 

‘‘ Your informer probable goes too far, when he says that I 
have seen and examined the egg of an Ornithorynchus. I have 
examined the shells of two eggs in the possession of Mr Lead- 
beater here, and brought from New Holland as those of the Orni- 
thorynchus, You are aware that M. Murdoch, and other tra- 
vellers, have maintained that they have seen the eggs of this 
animal, and that Mr Hill declared, that, in dissecting a female, 
he found a small yellow egg in the left ovary. Geoffroy St 
Hilaire has lately confuted the details of Meckel about the 
mammary glands, and considers these organs of the Ornitho- 
rynchus as of the same nature with the odorous glands of the 
squirrels. ‘The day before I left Paris, in September last, that 
venerable anatomist mentioned to me, that he was perfectly con- 
vinced that the ornithorynchus is a true oviparous reptile, from 
his examination of its structure, and particularly from its organs 
of generation. As you might expect, Geoffroy St Hilaire felt 
a deep interest in my news about the eggs at present exhibited 
in London and Manchester, as those of this animal, and he en- 
treated me to send him soon whatever information I could ob- 
tain regarding them, or to procure for him a specimen. 

** Two of these eggs are in the possession of Mr Leadbeater, 
F. L. S. of Brewer Street here, and two are preserved in the 
Museum of Manchester, as I am informed by him. The whole 
four were brought from New Holland by Holmes, a collector 


On the Egg of the Ornithorynchus. 151 


of objects of natural history, who has resided many years in that 
country, and who is known to some naturalists in London. 
They were brought along with a number of Australian birds to 
Mr Leadbeater, who has a splendid collection. Mr Holmes 
was shooting on the banks of the Hawksburgh River, a great 
way up the country, when he saw an ornithorynchus rise a few 
feet before him, and escape into the river: he saw the animal 
distinctly, and knew it well. On examining the spot where it 
had been sitting, he found a depression about 9 inches diameter 
in the sand, and the four eggs in question lying in that hollow. 

*“ The eggs are certainly not those of a bird, but they very 
closely resemble in form and size those which I have found in 
many Saurian and Ophidian reptiles, not a tenth part of the size 
of an ornithorynchus. They have not a thick and a narrow 
end like most birds’ eggs, but have a cylindrical form, suddenly 
rounded at the extremities, and are of equal thickness at both 
ends, precisely like those in the oviducts of several reptiles be- 
fore me. 'The shells only are preserved, and one of them is 
broken, which shows its inner surface. -They have a uniform 
dull white colour, and are much more thin and translucent than 
birds’ eggs'of the same size. ‘They measure 13 inch in length, 
and $ths of an inch in breadth. When we examine the outer 
surface of the shell with a lens, in place of finding the uniform 
opacity and compact texture of a bird’s egg, we observe that the 
calcareous matter is so deposited in the membrane, as to present 
a beautiful reticulated or cellular appearance, not by the for- 
mation of actual cells, for the surface is quite smooth and uni- 
form, but merely by the white opaque earthly matter having so 
disposed itself in the transparent membrane, as to appear like 
so many minute cells, with a transparent centre. The inner sur- 
face of the broken shell does not present this reticulated appear- 
ance, the white earthy matter being there deposited in separate 
particles, and giving the whole a minute granular appearance, 
when viewed through a lens. 

“ This is not the kind of information you expected to receive 
about the eggs of this remarkable animal, which Lesson con- 
siders as a bird, Cuvier as a quadruped, and Goeffroy as a rep- 
tile, and I am sure it is not that kind which I should have 
been delighted to have been able to communicate to you.” 


On the Philosophy of Nature. 


M. Georrroy Sr Hivarre read lately to the French 
Academy a memoir, entitled Meditations on Nuture. He 
began with general considerations respecting the new branch 
of science cultivated in Germany, and which has been called 
the Philosophy of Nature. He pointed out the course pur- 
sued by the partisans of this philosophy, which has not only 
been publicly taught, but is professed by men of profound 
knowledge. The philosophers of nature have two objects in 
view: 1st, That of associating in their conceptions the whole of 
the phenomena of nature; 2dly, That of arriving at these con- 
ceptions, not by deductions a priori derived from the observa. 
tion of particular facts, but by original views. 

The author shewed the risk there is in following such a course, 
and how easily those who pursue it may fall into error. He did 
not deny, however, that a man of genius might, by means of 
it, do great service to science. 

Kepler proceeded in almost all his astronomical investiga- 
tions according to the inspiration of his genius, without waiting 
for the results of observation. Tycho, his master, warned him 
to give up these vain speculations. The advice was excellent. 
‘* But,” says Delambre on this subject, in the Biographie Univer- 
selle, ** what should we have lost, had it been followed? Such 
conduct, it was said, was folly ; but to this folly Kepler owed 
his glory, for it led him to the discovery of his immortal laws. 
This temerity gave to the genius of Newton the means of ar- 
riving at the proposition, that every particle of matter gravitates 
to every other particle, with a force inversely proportional to the 
squares of the distance, the most important law of philosophy. 
Assuredly, when this law, which is now the foundation-stone of 
all physics, was conceived and reduced to this state of sublime 
simplicity, it was the genius alone of Newton, proceeding upon 
the theories of Kepler, which could elicit it. 

The author then gave a concise view of the principal opinions 
entertained by the partisans of the philosophy of nature. Then, 
speaking of an assertion made by several of them, who have 


————————— 
7 Se 


On the Philosophy of Nature. 153 


represented his own investigations in general, and in particular 
his idea of the unity of organic composition, as a proof of the 
great results to which a conception a priori might lead, he pro- 
tested against such an assertion ; and, after giving an account of 
his discovery, shewed that it was the result of the generalization 
of a.series of particular researches, and of observations made 
with all due care. 

It was by following this course that the author succeeded in 
placing his law of the unity of organic composition among the 
number of established principles. The details into which he 
entered on this subject appear to us worthy of attention. 

He first replied to those who think they see some resemblance 
in his principles of the unity of organization to the old idea, that 
all the beings of nature were created in view of each other, and 
shewed how his great principle differs from this hypothetical 
and insignificant proposition. 

But, it will be said, is not the philosophical resemblance of 
animated beings an idea that has been debated since the days of 
Aristotle ? Undoubtedly it is; but the question was far from 
being solved : and the author himself, when he took it in hand, 
set out from considerations which would have led him a@ priori 
rather to admit two types of organization than one only. Con- 
sidering the important office which respiration performs in the 
life of organized beings, and struck with the incontestible idea 
that the food is only converted into animalized substance, in con- 
sequence of the phenomena of respiration, and under its influence, 
he would have been led to think that organized beings separate 
into two very distinct classes, according as they respire in media 
so essentially different as air and water. But observation, and 
observation alone, apprised him that this is not the case, and 
that there is only a single being capable of being modified 
according to circumstances, so as to live in air or in water. 

Consider the vertebrate animals, for example: they are evi- 
dently constructed in a twofold point of view. Their embryo 
presents the principle of two respiratory organs, so that if these 
organs are equally developed, as in the amphibia, they exist to- 
gether in the adult animal without injuring it, and, on the con- 
trary, serve it successively in their respective medium. Let one 
of these organs predominate over the other, there results an ani- 


154 On the Philosophy of Nature. 


mal breathing in the air or a fish. And wherever, in this very 
case, the predominant system does not stifle the other entirely, 
there always remain traces of the latter, the existence of which 
is sufficient to attest the twofold original design, and whose de- 
velopment, limited as its uses, so far from hurting the free ex- 
ercise of the opposite system, enriches it with constantly useful 
aids. 

The author then spoke of his researches respecting insects. 
He dwelt particularly on his numerous investigations on the sub- 
ject of monstrosity, on those by means of which he succeeded in 
shewing that all the cases of monstrosity, formerly considered 
as lusus or sports of Nature, on the contrary furnish so many 
proofs of the constancy of her laws. It was especially in conse- 
quence of this examination that the author arrived at this en- 
tirely unexpected result, which very happily solves the difficul- 
ties, and explains them in a perfectly natural manner : that it as 
not the organs themselves, but the materials of which the organs 
are composed, that recur in all animals in invariable positions, 
which are in short always and decidedly similar. 

“There results from this recital,” said the author in conclud- 
ing, ** that, if we believe in the determinate existence of certain 
organic materials, in that of a very small number of laws for 
arranging them, in a prescribed and necessary order of arrange- 
ment, and consequently in the philosophical similarity of beings, 
and, finally, that if we have made of these propositions, extended 
to all their identical cases, the subject of an abstract and general 
principle, we have not at least conceived it before examining 
facts, but we have, on the contrary, adopted it as the result of 
long and laborious researches.” Le Globe. 


Observations on the Daily Periodical Growth of Wheat and Bar- 
ley. By M. Ernest Mayer, Professor at Konigsberg. 


Tue author, who distinguishes himself as well by the accuracy 
of his observations as by the philosophical direction which 
he gives them, had already made known to us the rapidity of 
growth of the stalk of Amaryllis belladonna *, which is such 


* Mem. de la Soc. Horticult. de Berlin, t. v. p. 110. 


Observations on the daily growth of Wheat and Barley. 155 


that it may even be followed by the eye, and is much quicker 
during the day than during the night. 

The stem of bulbous plants, which only bear at their summit 
a single flower, or a single bunch of flowers enveloped in a 
spatha, is without doubt the organ best suited for observations 
of this kind, not only because its growth is very rapid, but also 
because the bulb presents a fixed base, and the origin of the 
spatha a determinate summit. But as the author was sensible 
that no important result could be obtained otherwise than by 
the comparison of a pretty large number of observations made 
in nearly similar circumstances, and as he could not easily pro- 
cure a sufficient number of individuals of this kind, he resolved 
to make his experiments upon graminez, and consequently 
upon leaves. 

After planting in flower-pots seeds of wheat and barley, 
which he placed three and three in each vessel, he selected for 
his experiments four pots, containing six plants of wheat and 
barley, which appeared to him the nearest to each other in size. 
These vessels were placed in a very light room, heated once a 
day at six in the morning, by means of a large earthen-ware 
stove. The shutters of the apartment were hermetically closed 
every evening, and were opened again at day-break. <A 
Reaumur’s thermometer, placed near the window at the height 
of the vessels, marked the temperature of the apartment, and 
was consulted each time that the plants were measured. 

The observations commenced on the 11th March, at eight in 
the evening, and continued till the 16th March, at eight in the 
morning. During this period of five nights and four hours, the 
weather was in general cloudy and soft, and the sun appeared 
only on the morning of the 14th. The external temperature of 
the atmosphere, of which the author gives a table, presents the 
following general result : 


At 7 in the Morning. At 3 in the Afternoon. 
Max. Min. Max. Min. 
+2°. —0°.25. + 4.°00. + 1°.45. 


The temperature of the apartment never rose above +.17°.50, 
and never fell below + 14°.00 ; which gives a mean of + 15°.75. 
The author also gives a table of the state of the temperature of 
the room for each observation ; and remarks that the gradual 


156 Prof. Mayer’s Observations on the 


progress of the temperature of the apartment, although artifi. 
cial, was yet more or less in connexion with the motions of the 
external temperature ; for the temperature of the apartment at- 
tained its minimum between five and six in the morning, at the 
moment when the stove was lighted ; it increased rapidly, until 
two or three in the afternoon, and then gradually fell back to its 
minimum. 

To measure the growth of the plants, the,author made use of 
a Paris foot divided into inches, lines, and quarter lines. This 
instrument was furnished with a sufficiently broad base to let it 
be placed upon the earth in the pots, as near as possible to the 
plants, and always in the same place. The plants were con- 
stantly placed and measured in the same order, and at the same 
hours. The author having always measured to the summit of 
each plant, has necessarily comprised in his appreciations of 
growth, organs of different knots in various degrees of develop- 
ment. The cotyledon, or first leaf of the graminez, rises from 
the ground to the height of about an inch before the second leaf 
can be perceived, which rises from the former by the first leaf. 
Thus he began with measuring up to the point of the first leaf 
or cotyledon ; then, when the second was visible, to the point of 
this second leaf, and lastly to the point of the third. The in- 
ternode of the first leaf had ceased to grow, the internode of the 
second was still growing, and the third was only beginning to 
shoot. t 

The wheat plants a, 5, c, of the vessel No. 1, and the barley 
plants 2, h, i, of the vessel No. 3., had their cotyledon almost 
entirely developed, when they began to be measured. The 
plants of the vessels Nos. 2. and 4., on the contrary, ‘scarcely 
shewed themselves above ground, and their second leaf did not 
become visible until the 13th, although the seeds had been sown 
on the 7th. On the 16th, in the morning, the third leaves of the 
three plants of wheat of the vessel No. 1., and of the two barley 
plants of the vessel No. 4. (the third having perished) had at- 
tained nearly the third of the limb of the second leaf, which 
continued to grow, while the third leaf of the barley plants of 
the vessel No. 3. had already attained the half of the limb of 
the second leaf ; lastly, the three plants of the vessel No. 2. had 
not yet shewn their third leaf. 


daily periodical growth of Wheat and Barley. 157 


‘hese details may appear unnecessarily minute, but they 
prove the scrupulous accuracy of the author, and shew what de- 
gree of confidence his observations deserve. 

They are followed by a table, in which the author has con- 
signed every two hours, from eight in the morning to ten at 
night, the total height which each wheat and barley plant had 
attained, from its base to its summit. The growth observed 
during the hours of the night is also marked for each plant. 
This table contains 383 observations marked in inches, lines and 
fourths of lines. The author himself has extracted from this 
table the principal data to form another, which we here copy, 
and which presents the means of the periodical growth of each 
plant for each of the six periods of the day, consisting of two 
hours, and for the night period of twelve hours. 


Mean of the Periodical Growths of the Plants of Wheat and 


Barley. 
In Pot No. 1. In Pot No. 2. In Pot No. 3. In Pot No. 4. 
a. b. e€ d e Sf: g h ie L m 
From 8 p.m. to8a.m.| 6.75 6.93 6.31 | 5.31 4.56 4.31 | 5.18 5.50 5.31 | 4.31 4.31 
10 a. M- 1.68 1.93 1.25] 1.00 1.18 0.93 | 1.31 1.50 1.06 1.00 1.18 
12 a. mM. 1.06 1.25 1.43| 087 0.81 1.18 | 1.00 0.81 0.93 | 0.68 0.93 
2p. M. 1.43 1.37 1.18| 1.00 1.31 1.12 0.87 1.25 1.00 | 1.25 1.31 
4p. M. 1.68 1.31 1.37] 1.31 1.18 1.56 | 1.12 1.06 1.25 | 1.25 1.31 
6 P. M. 0.87 1.00 0.75 | 0.87 0.62 1.00 0.62 0.87 0.50 | 0.87 0.81 
8 Pp. M. 1.06 1-00 1.06] 0.43 1.06 0.37 | 0.87 0.62 0.81 0.81 0.75 
Total of growth. 
From 8a.m.to2p.m.| 417 4.55 3.86 | 2.87 3.30 3.23 | 3.18 3.56 2.99 | 2.93 3.42 
2p.m.to8p.m.| 3.61 3.31 3.18] 2.61 2.86 2.93 | 2.61 2.55 2.43 2.93 2.87 
8 a.m. to8rv. m.| 77.88 7.86 7.04 5.48 6.16 6.16 | 5.79 6.11 5.42 | 5.86 6.29 


These measurements are in fourths of lines, and their centesimal frac- 
tions. 


Far from being surprised at the anomalies which this table 
presents, in the periodical growth of the eleven plants compared 
together, one is astonished at not finding these anomalies great- 
er, when he recollects, 1st, That the plants were not of the 
same species ; 2dly, That they were in different stages of evolu- 
tion at the period when the experiments commenced, and that 
some of them had even-ceased to grow before the end of the 
experiment. 

The following are the general results which the author de- 
duces from his observations. 


158 Prof. Mayer’s Observations on the 


_ 1st, The growth was generally more accelerated during the 

twelve hours of day, than during the twelve hours of night. 

2dly, The growth was generally more rapid from eight in the 
morning to two afternoon, than in the subsequent period of six 
hours. 

8dly, The growth of each plant presents daily two periods of 
acceleration and two periods of retardation ; the first accelera- 
tion shews itself between eight and ten in the morning, the se- 
cond between noon and four. 

Thus when the total growth in length of a plant of barley 
is 11.76 in the twenty-four hours, this increase will be distri- 
buted periodically as follows : 


From 8 a. m. to 10 a. m. = 1.27 
10 12 - 0.99 %3.45° 
12 2 Pp. M. - 1.19 he 42 
2ep.m.. 4 ae j ‘on 
4 8 - 0.79 \ 2.97 
6 8 - 0.88 
8 8 A. M. - = 5.34 
11.76 


The author also deduces from his table the means of the 
total growth of each of the plants taken separately, from eight 
in the morning to ten at night, and he estimates the means of 
all these individual growths during the same period at 0’”.80. 

The most remarkable circumstance which this series of ob- 
servations and calculations presents, is without doubt the alter- 
nate acceleration and slackening, which takes place three times 
a day, in the morning, shortly after noon, and later in the even- 
ing, as well as the relation which is observed in the intensity of 
each acceleration, and of the slackening which follows it. The 
greatest acceleration takes place from noon to four o'clock, and 
is. followed by the greatest slackening. The smallest acce- 
leration takes place from six to eight in the evening ; and the 
slackening which immediately follows it from eight to ten, is the 
most imperceptible of all. 

Heat is with reason considered as the principal agent of all 
regular vegetative growth, and we know that heat follows a re- 


- gular progress in its daily increase and diminution. Moisture, 
4 


daily periodical growth of Wheat and Barley. 159 


although necessary to plants, does not, on the contrary, appear 
to be submitted to any rule of time or quantity. As to light, 
vegetables require it of a very high degree of intensity, be- 
fore they can arrive at certain periods of their perfect develop- 
ment; but it is much less necessary to their growth in length. 
It would therefore appear of importance to compare the periodi- 
cal motions of the growth of the young plants, with the vari- 
ations of the internal temperature of the apartment. For this 
purpose, the author gives a table of its variations ; but he has 
found little or no connection between the oscillations of the 
thermometer, and the oscillations observed in the growth of 
the young plants. The only relation which he has been able to 
make out between the two tables, is that presented by the cir- 
cumstances that the first acceleration of the growth coincides 
with the most rapid ascending motion of the thermometer, be- 
tween eight and ten in the morning. But this coincidence does 
not again present itself in the subsequent periods ; and even the 
greatest acceleration which takes between two and four in the 
afternoon, happens at the moment when the thermometer begins 
to fall. 

The author concludes his curious memoir, by observing that 
it is somewhat probable that these periodical oscillations of the 
daily growth depend upon the vitality of the vegetable alone ; 
or that, perhaps, the cause is a complex cause; that the pe- 
riodicity of the oscillations depends upon the vitality, and their 
intensity upon external causes. But as it would be improper to 
draw too positive general conclusions from the small number of 
observations which he has made, he proposes to continue them, 
and in the mean time lays before the public what he has been 
able to gather on this interesting subject, in the hope of exciting 
others to similar researches.* 


* Extract from the Linnea, t. iv. pp. 98-113. Bib. Univers. Feb. 1829. 


( 160 ) 


Plan for ascertaining the Rates of Chronometers by Signal. 
By R. Wavucuorr, Esq. Capt. R.N.—Communicated by 
the Author. 


Easter DuppinGsTon, PorRTOBELLO, 
9 6 
My Dear Sir, , 23d November 1829. 


Jw sending you the accompanying plan for regulating chrono- 
meters by an instantaneous signal, J may mention that the sub- 
ject has occupied my attention since 1818, when I first propos- 
ed a telegraph for the purpose to the Lords of the Admiralty, 
and, in 1824, I again wrote on the same subject, and received 
a letter of thanks from their Lordships. 

I now feel particularly happy in stating that their Lordships 
have directed a trial of the above plan to be made at Ports- 
mouth ; and, in a letter of the 12th of this month, from an of- 
ficer in an official situation there, who has taken a great interest 
in and superintendence of the signal, he says,—‘* The Admiral 
and myself were at the King’s Stairs, when a boat from a line- 
of-battle ship landed with her chronometers, &c. not only to set 
them by the clock at the Observatory, but they had brought 
their artificial horizon and sextant to take sights. It was blow- 
ing very fresh, and the ship I believe was waiting for this in- 
convenient, and after all unsatisfactory process. I then repeat- 
ed to the admiral (which I had several times mentioned be- 
fore) your plan, marking this as a case in point. From that 
moment he pursued its adoption with energy, and it is now, al- 
though in an infant operation, quite sufficiently established to 
give proof of complete success.” 

Before concluding, I cannot help expressing a hope that the 
Edinburgh Astronomical Institution may take the plan into 
their consideration, as the Observatory on the Calton Hill is so 
admirably adapted for the purpose. A flag-staff of a very 
«moderate height, and a ball of four feet diameter, would be per- 
fectly well seen by all the shipping in Leith Roads ; besides the 
advantage which would accrue to every watch-maker in Edin- 
burgh and Leith, by giving them the power of comparing their 
time-pieces with true time. I may mention that that very in- 
genious and very excellent watch-maker, Mr Whitelaw, No. 


9 


= 


On ascertaining the Rates of Chronometers by Signal. 161 


1G. Prince’s Street, has stated to me, that he could, with per- 
fect ease, adapt the Observatory clock, or any other time-piece, 
so as to disengage the ball at a given hour, without injury to the 
time-piece, which would certainly be a very great. convenience. 
I am, &c. Rr. WavucHopr. 


To Professor Jameson. 


The great importance of the chronometer, and the additional 
security and precision which it has imparted to the science of 
navigation, need not here be insisted upon. It is deeply to be 
regretted, however, that a discovery only second to the mariner’s 
compass and quadrant, should still be so limited in its use 
among the merchant ships of this and other countries. Nor is 
the cause of this limitation (which is producing annually so 
much waste of life and property) difficult to be accounted for. 

The obvious and acknowledged reason why merchant ships 
do not carry time-pieces so frequently as they otherwise would, 
is not so much owing to the expense of the instruments, as to 
the difficulty of obtaining a good rate, arising from the inabili- 
ty of masters of ships to obtain one, both from the great accu- 
racy required, and the want of time and opportunity. ‘This 
last cause applies to men-of-war equally with merchant ships, 
as it may, and does frequently occur, that ships come to an 
anchor even upon our own coasts, without having it in their 
power to get a set of observations for an artificial horizon. 

It is a custom, I believe, pretty generally on board of King’s 
ships (when a good opportunity offers) to send the time-pieces 
on shore for the purpose of getting a rate, which they do with 
considerable risk to the chronometer; and, after all, it is fre- 
quently found, that the shore rate and ship rate do not agree,— 
the cause of this disagreement arising from the same source of 
error to which compasses are subject, viz. the magnetic influence 
which the mass of iron in the ship has upon the instrument. 

Many advantages would therefore accrue, could an accurate 
rate be found without moving the time-piece out of the Post- 
TION OF PLACE in which it is to remain whilst at sea, and with- 
out the necessity of sending on shore to obtain one. 

The plan I have to recommend for obviating all these diffi- 
culties, is as follows :—Suppose, at Portsmouth for instance, it 
was notified to all the ships at Spithead and St Helens, to mer- 

OCT OBER—DECEMBER 1829. L 


162 On ascertaining the Rates of Chronometers by Signal. 


chant ships as well as to men-of-war, that a few minutes before 
noon, at Greenwich, a particular signal would be hoisted at the 
platform (a conspicuous place), and that the instant it was noon 
at Greenwich, it would be hauled down. ‘This would give 
every ship within sight an opportunity of comparing their time- 
piece with Greenwich time, and they would by this means get 
- a rate far more accurately than could be obtained with the best 
sextant and artificial horizon in the hands of the most eaxpe- 
rienced observer, as the hauling down of the signal would be 
regulated by the transit instrument at Portsmouth Observatory. 

Should the plan be approved of, the masters attendant at the 
different dock-yards at home, and at the naval stations abroad, 
might be entrusted with the signal and transit instrument. <A 
north and south window in any convenient store-house would 
answer all the purposes of an Observatory, and the whole ex- 
pense would be that of the transit instrument. 

The men-of-war at the different ports would always be a 
check upon any carelessness or inattention on the part of the 
master-attendant. Indeed, the known longitude of the place, 
and the hauling down of the signal, indicating Greenwich time, 
would prevent the possibility of any error. Perhaps one hour 
after noon might be better for the signal, to allow an observa- 
tion being made to ascertain the time of day a short time before 
the signal is made. 

The accompanying signal by means of balls, is that which 
has been adopted at Portsmouth, and which appears to answer 
perfectly *. 


Notice of Gorrur’s Essay on the Metamorphoses of Plants. 


Tr is a remarkable fact in the history of science, that an illustri- 
ous poet who might seem exclusively devoted to moral cogita- 
tions and the arts of imagination, turning aside for a moment 
from his usual pursuits, and casting a glance over the vegetable 
kingdom, should make an important discovery. ‘This is what 
happened to the celebrated Goethe in 1790. With a remarkable 
sagacity, he perceived the prodigious variety of the foliaceous and 


* We shall probably in next Number of the Journal give a figure of this 
signal, 


Goethe on the Metamorphoses of Plants. 163 


floral organs of plants. There exists among them so great a simi- 
larity, that each of them may be considered as a metamorphosis 
of some other. Far from giving credit to Goethe for this inge- 
nious idea, the German public seems to have wished to punish 
him for having left his poetry, and paid little attention to his 
work, which was still more neglected by foreigners. 

When I published my Theorie Elementaire in 1812, in which 
I designated, by the name of degenerescence, the same phenome- 
non which Goethe had named metamorphosis, I had not seen 
his work, and although, on afterwards meeting with it, I learned 
that I had been anticipated in this point of my theory, I was 
glad to find myself in accordance respecting this important view 
with that illustrious author. I venture to think, that this con- 
formity of opinion, and the new proofs which I have adduced in 
its favour, have directed the attention of Europe and of Ger- 
many in particular towards Goethe’s Essay. From this period, 
in fact, the work, which had been almost forgotten for twenty- 
three years, was better appreciated, and a new edition of it was 
published in 1817. 

No French translation of it yet existed; but M. de Gingins 
has made amends for this omission, and the learned public owe 
him thanks, not only on account of the interest which the 
work possesses in respect to the higher departments of botany, 
but also on account of the literary phenomenon which it presents. 
This translation, which is written with elegance and accuracy, 
is preceded by a short preface, in which the translator gives a 
brief account of the various works that relate tothe metamorphoses 
of the organs of plants. Some very short notes illustrative of 
ambiguous points are also added. But he has seen that there 
is no occasion for actually removing every little inaccuracy 
which may have escaped the poet who had become botanist for 
the moment. It is a work in which we ought to see the pro- 
duction of sagacity and genius, rather than find fault with every 
oversight in points of minute observation. M. de Gingins was 
better than any one qualified to engage in these researches. 
His monograph of the Lavandule has evinced his talent for ob- 
servation, and we are happy to be able to announce here, that 
he is continuing his investigations and will gradually extend 
them to the whole family of the Labiate. (A. P. Dr CANDOLLE). 
Bibliotheque Universelle. 

Lies 


( 164 ) 


Observations on the Affinities of Vellosia, Barbacenia, Glaus, 
Aucuba, Viviania, Deutzia, and of a New Genus of the or- 
der Rubiacee. By Mr Davin Don, Librarian to the Lin- 
nean Society, Member of the Imperial Academy Naturz 
Curiosorum, of the Royal Botanical Society of Ratisbon, and 
of the Wernerian Society of Edinburgh, &c. (Communicated 
by the Author). 


VELLOSIA ann BARBACENIA. 
Tuxse genera, together with Xerophyta, I consider as form- 
ing part of the family of Hypowxidee, to which they appear to 
me to bear a greater affinity than to either of the other families 
with which they have been associated. They agree with Hy- 
poxidee, in having a monophyllous perianthium, whose tube is 
completely adherent to the ovarium, which is therefore wholly 
inferior ; in the stamina being inserted in the base of the divi- 
sions of the perianthium, which are disposed in a double series ; 
in the structure and insertion of the anthers ; in their trilobate 
stigma; in the presence of a fleshy, epigynous disk ; in their 
trilocular, polyspermous ovarium ; and finally in the seeds being 
furnished with a prominent umbilicus. Their habit also cor- 
responds better with Hypowidee than with Haemodoracee, in 
which the inflorescence is panicled ; and the ovarium little more 
than half inferior. Dr Martius, who, in his elegant work on the 
plants of Brazil *, has referred Vellosia and Barbacenia to the 
Hemodoracea, describes their seeds as being furnished with a 
thin membranous testa; but, from an examination of the seeds 
of Vellosia candida, although not perfectly mature, I am led to 
believe that the testa, when examined in the mature seeds, will 
be found to be crustaceous, like that of the Hypowidee. As 
the consistence of this organ appears to afford the only certain 
mark of discrimination between some families of the great class 
of Liltacea, it would be highly interesting to know its structure, 
in the ripe seeds of Vellosia, Barbacenia, and Xerophyta, as, 
without such knowledge, whatever opinion may be advanced 
respecting their affinities, will still be conjectural. I have ascer- 
tained, however, that the seeds of Vellosia and Barbacenia, are 
furnished with a very short process, analogous to the rostelliform 


* Nov. Gen, et Sp. Pl. Bras. i. p. 13. 


Mr D. Don on the Affinities of Veilosia, Barbacenia, &c. 165 


umbilicus of the Hypowidee. In Hypowis erecta, the segments 
of the perianthium and the stamina are frequently eight, and, 
from the variation of these organs in other species of the genus, 
the number of stamina therefore in Vellosia, will appear less 
anomalous; but it must be observed, that, in Vellosia, the divi- 
sions of the perianthium are unaffected by the increased number 
of stamina, which vary from 6, 12, 18, to 24; thus affording a 
striking example of the unerring regularity of the laws of na- 
ture. Dr Martius states that the stamina are sometimes 15, 
and this number is easily reconcileable with a six-parted peri- 
anthium, by considering them as exhibiting a quintuplicate of 
the three inner segments of the perianthium only, and we should 
expect to find them disposed into three bundles, and not into 
six, which would be unnatural. We have already cited Hypoais 
erecta, as affording an example of occasional increase in the 
number of stamina ; but there the increase is only partial; and 
therefore we find that the segments of the perianthium are in- 
creased in proportion : for it appears to be a law, which Nature 
never departs from, that, when any of the organs of fructifica- 
tion suffer a partial increase only, the neighbouring parts are 
also affected in number ; but when the increase is general, then 
it becomes a multiplicate of the organ to which the increased 
one is most analogous. The genus Lophiola may be mentioned 
as exhibiting a considerable affinity with Hypovis, particularly 
in the structure of its seeds, which are cylindrical, ascending, 
and attached to the placenta, by their slightly prominent umbi- 
licus ; but the testa is scarcely crustaceous, although of a thicker 
consistence than in the rest of Haemodoracee, which agree with 
Tridee, in having a membranous testa. The chief distinction 
between these two families depends, as Mr Brown has shewn, 
on the situation of the stamina. In the Jridee, the stamina are 
placed opposite the outer segments of the perianthium, and the 
anthers face outwards ; while, in Hemodoracea, the stamina are 
placed opposite the inner rac crpens of the perianthium, and the 
anthers face inwards. 


Additional Remarks.—Since the above observations were 
written, I have been favoured by Robert Barclay, Esq. with a 
ripe capsule of the Barbacenia purpurea, from his choice 


166 Mr D. Don on the Affinities of Glaux, &c. 


collection at Bury Hill, and from which I perceive that the 
seeds are compressed, cuneiform, and truncate at the apex, 
and narrowed towards the base, which is furnished with a pro- 
tuberance, arising from an elongation of the testa and umbi- 
lical cords. The testa is coriaceous, and marked outwardly with 
numerous shallow furrows. ‘The genera would seem, therefore, 
to constitute an intermediate group between the Hypowidee and 
Bromeliaceee, to which last M. Kunth has referred them. 


GLAUX; L. 


Syst. Linn. PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
Ord. Nat. PLANTAGINEA, Juss. 

Calyx liberus, monophyllus, campanulatus, coloratus, 5-fidus : Jobis oblongis, 
obtusis, concavis, zestivatione imbricatis. Corolla. Stamina 5, hypogyna, ca- 
lycinis laciniis alterna : filamenta subulata, glabra, inferné compressiuscula : 
anthere biloculares, peltatee, basi emarginatze, apice inappendiculatie: Joculis 
parallelis, rima longitudinaliter dehiscentibus. Pollen farinaceum. Pistillum: 
ovarium globosum, uniloculare, pluriovulatum : stylus teres, glaber, medio de- 
flexus! stigma punctum obtusum, pruinosum. Capsula sphzerico-ampullaris, 
unilocularis, 5.valvis, oligosperma, calyce marcescente basi obvoluta, et stylo 
persistente coronata. Placenta centralis, carnosa, cevitatem capsule implens 
Semina 5 circiter, nidulantia, hine convexa, inde angulata, undique elevato- 
punctata: festa simplex, crassiuscula, cellularis, submucilaginosa: albwmen 
copiosum, carnosum. Embryo axilis, teres, longitudine feré albuminis: coty- 
ledones obtusze, brevissimze: radicula cylindracea, obtusa, infera, centripeta. 
Plumula inconspicua. 

Herba (littorea) perennis, vadice repente. Caules teretes, succulenti, erecti, sub- 
simplices. Folia opposita, sessilia, ligulata, subcarnosa, integerrima, margine car- 
tilaginea ; superiora sepé sparsa. Flores aaillares, solitarii, subsessiles, roset. 


I propose to place this genus at the end of Plantaginee, 
where it will form the connecting link between that family and 
Primulacee, to which it has hitherto been referred. The sim- 
ple nature of the floral envelope, the alternation of the stamina 
with its lobes, and the structure of its fruit and seeds, shew a 
marked affinity to the former, while in habit it corresponds better 
with the latter family. Both Glaux and Littorella agree in the in- 
sertion of stamina; and the variation in the medes of dehiscence 
of the capsule to be found in Primulacee, shews that this cha- 
racter can only be considered of generic importance. The floral 
envelope of Plantaginee is elearly a calyx, and the scales at its 
base are to be regarded. as bractese, which are also present in 
Primulacee. The nature of the albumen, when present, and 


Mr D. Don on the Affinities of Aucuba, &c. 167 


the direction of the radicle, appear to afford the only discrimi- 
native marks between the Plantaginea and Plumbaginea. The 
anthers of Plantago and Lysimachia are terminated by a small 
membranous appendage, analogous to that of the Composite. 
Some analogies might be pointed out between Glauz and T'hy- 
melee, but hardly amounting to an indication of affinity. 


AUCUBA. Thunb. 
Syst. Linn. DIGECIA TETRANDRIA. 
Ord. Nat. LORANTHEA, nobis. 


Calyx axcté adhzrens: margo parim elevatus, 4-dentatus: dentibus obtusis, 
brevissimis. Petala 4, decidua, dentibus calycinis alterna, margini disci 
elevati carnosi 4-angulati inserta, ovata, acuminata, carnosa, margine hinc 
truncata, utrinque minuté papillosa, zestivatione valvata, apice induplicata. 
Stamina 4, petalis opposita ? Ovarium cylindricum, tubo calycino arcté obvolu- 
tum, uniloculare: ovuio solitario. Stylus brevissimus, crassus, teres. Stigma 
capitatum, crassum, carnosum, viscidum, obsoleté bilobum. Bacca carnosa, 
monosperma, stylo persistente coronata. Czetera ignota. 

Arbor (Japonica) inermis, sempervirens: ramis more Loranthi aut Visci 
dicholomis v. verticillatis. Folia opposita, petiolata, ovato-lanceolata, acuminata, 
dentata, cost prominenti, reticulato-venosa, coriacea, glabra, lucida, pallidé viridia, 
luteo-maculata. FPetioli semicylindrici. Flores paniculati, parvi. Paniculze 
plures, spiciformes, pedunculate. Pedunculi vidlosiusculi. Bracteze lanceolate, 
membranacee, pallide, caduce. Calyx adpressé pilosiusculus. Petala atrosan- 
guinea. 

Obs.—Gemmz magne, angulatz squamis conduplicatis imbricate, folia 
ampla dentata venosa, atque petioli ramis basi dilatata articulati, analogiam 
cum Fraxino commonstrant. ‘ 


This genus was included by Jussieu in his order Rhammni ; 
but, from its having no affinity whatever to either of the families 
into which that order has been since divided, its place in the 
system has remained undetermined : and perhaps also, from its 
want of novelty, the plant has been despised by botanists, and 
its characters and affinities consequently overlooked. Like the 
Salix babylonica, too, we possess only one sex of the tree in 
Europe, and that the female; which circumstance has like- 
wise prevented its being accurately examined. The structure 
of the female flower agrees so exactly with that of Viscum, 
that, notwithstanding the different mode of growth of the two 
genera, and the absence of more accurate details respecting the 
male blossoms, and the ripe fruit, its arrangement among the 


168 Mr D. Don on the Affinities of Lipostoma, &c. 


Lorantheee appears fully justified’; and I have no doubt that it 
will ultimately be found to form the connecting link between 
the Araliacee and that family. 


LIPOSTOMA. 


Syst. Linn. TETRANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
Ord. Nat. RUBIACEA, Juss. 


Char. essent. Calyx 4-fidus. Corolla tubulosa, 4-loba. Capsula opercularis ! 
polysperma. 

Calyx limbo 4-partitus. Corolla basi tubulosa, fauce ventricosa, campanu- 
lata, limbo 4-loba: tubo intis superné barbato: Jobis ovatis, patulis, zestiva- 
tione valvatis (hinc limbus inexplicatus tetragonus). Stamina 4, corollz lo- 
bis alterna, faucique inserta: filamenta compressa, glabra, inferné cum tubo 
corollze connata: anthere lineares, medio insert, versatiles: Joculis basi pa- 
rim divergentibus ; valvuld exteriore majore. Ovarium biloculare, calycis tubo 
arctissimé adherens, apice prominulum, emarginatum, subinde bicallosum : 
disco epigyno planiusculo, suborbiculato: ovulis in quoque loculo plurimis. 
Stylus capillaris, glaber. Stigmata 2, subulata, undique papilloso-hispidula. 


Capsula globosa, bilocularis, opercularis! septo medio membranaceo szpiis - 


disrupto unilocularis, polysperma: operculo planiusculo, deciduo. Placente 
2, sphericze, stipitatee, septo infra medium insertz : stipite compresso, adscen- 
denti. Semina parva, confertissima, angulata, scabra: testa membranacea : 
albumen copiosum, corneum. Embryo axilis, erectus, lacteus: cotyledones ob- 
longze, plano-convexz: radicula cylindracea, obtusa, infera, cotyledonibus 
param longior. 

Herbz (Brasilienses) diffuse, pilose. Folia opposita, petiolata. Stipule sub- 
ulate, interpetiolares. Flores sessiles, capitati, bracteolis interjecti. Capitula 
pedunculata, solitaria, avillaria. Corolla cerulea. Ovaria sepits abortientia. 


1. L. capitatum, pilis patulis, foliis subrotundis. 
Eginetia capitata.—Graham, in Edinb. New Phil. Journ. for April 1828, 
p- 389. 
Hedyotis campanuliflora.—_Hook, in Bot. Mag. t. 2840. 
Hab. in Brasilia. Sello. If (v. v. c. et s. sp. in Herb. Lamb). 


Herba habitu Pomacis, perennis, procumbens, diffusé ramosissima, tota hir- 
sutissima: pilis simplicibus, patulis. Caules teretes, nunc purpurascentes, 
palmares v. spithameei, aut dodrantales. Folia opposita, petiolata, subrotun- 
da, undulata, nervosa, pollicaria, supra gramineo-viridia, subtis pallidiora, 
nitidissima, venis arcuatis prominulis. Pedéioli semiteretes, basi annulo pro- 
minulo conuati, brevissimi, vix 3 lineas longi. Stipule subulatze, interpe- 
tiolares, petiolis longiores. Capitula axillaria, solitaria, longé pedunculata. Pe- 
duneuli bipollicares. Corolla majuscula, amoené coerulea, fauce lutea, extiis 
pilosa. Capsule operculum calycis limbo connatum, simulyue deciduum. 
Semina fusca, hine convexa, inde compresso-angulata, undique tuberculata. 

» 


~ 


Mr D. Don on the Affinities of Lipostoma, &c. 169 


2. L. sericeum, pilis adpressis, foliis ovatis acutis. 


Hab. in Brasilia. Sello. ©) (vs. sp. in Herb. Lamb.) 

Planta tota pilis adpressis vestita, subsericea. Radix fibrosa, annua. Caulis 
semipedalis, divisus. Rami teretes, patuli. Folia opposita, petiolata, ovata, 
acuta, membranacea, basi parum attenuata, pinnate nervosa, costa media sub- 
tis prominula nervisque alternis oppositisve subarcuatis instructa, sesqui- v. 
bipollicaria ; juniora subsericea. Petioli semicylindrici, vix unciales, basi an- 
nulo connati. Stipule setaceze, petiolo duplo breviores. Capitula duplé mi- 
nora, pedunculata. Peduwneuli capillares, folio longiores, sericeo-pilosi. Ca- 
lycis dentes setaceze. Corolla paulé minor, pilosa, calyce duplé longior. Cap- 
sule operculum liberum, nec calycis limbo connatum. Semina triquetra, atro- 


fusca, elevato-punctata. 


I was led to investigate this genus, from remarking the strik- 
ing resemblance of Lipostoma capitatum to Pomax umbellata, 
- and the result has proved that there really exists a very consi- 
derable degree of affinity between these two plants, and that 
they form, as it were, the links connecting the Rubiacee to the 
Opercularine, which Mr Brown is disposed to keep united ; 
and, indeed, I cannot see by what characters the Opercularine 
can well be separated, unless as a section only, as Mr Brown 
has already suggested : for their habit is entirely Rubiaceous ; 
and we frequently find in Spermacoce the same variation in the 
number of stamina and in the divisions of the corolla; and a 
somewhat similar involucrum may be observed in Canephora. 
The anomalous structure of their fruit is derived from the early 
rupture and confluence of the ovaria and calyces, which consti- 
tute the operculum. ‘The seeds in Opercularia and Pomaz are 
attached to the base of the receptacle, and not suspended from 
the top, as Gertner has stated. From observing the various 
degrees of confluence in the fruit of certain Rubiaceae, such, for 
example, as Morinda and Sarcocephalus, and even in some spe- 
cies of Spermacoce, the singularity of the fruit in Opercularia 
and Pomaz is very much lessened ; and we are led to anticipate 
a similar state of the ovaria, rather than to regard it as a re- 


markable anomaly. - 


DEUTZIA, Thunb. 
Syst. Linn. DECANDRIA TETRAGYNIA. 
Ord. Nat. PAYLADELPHEA, nobis. 


Calyx campanulatus, 5-dentatus: dentibus ovatis, acutis, erectis. Petala 5, 
Jaciniis calycinis alterna, sessilia, oblonga, obtusa, pube stellata tomentosa. 


170 Mr D. Don on the Affinities of Deutzia, Viviamia, &c. 


Stamina 10; alterna petalis opposita, breviora: si/amenta linearia, complanata, 
apice cuneato-tridentata ! dentibus lateralibus obtusis, obliquis ; intermedio 
subulato, longiore, antherifero: anthere subrotunde, biloculares, loculis tu- 
midis, longitudinaliter dehiscentibus. Ovariwm tubo calycis adherens, hinc 
inferum. Styli. 4, longi complanati, glabri. Stigmata capitata, pruinosa. 
Capsula subrotunda, lignosa, 4-locularis, polysperma, apice quadrifariam de- 
hiscens: Joculis stylo verticalibus. Placente 4, axi insert, sublunate. Se- 
mina nondim vidi. 

Arbuscula (Japonica) erecta, ramosissima. Rami teretes, corlice spadiceo, dein 
deciduo induti. Folia opposita, petiolata, ovata, acuminata, serrata (serraturis 
setaceis) membranacea, nervosa, utrinque, sed presertim sublis, ramulisque pube 
stellata vestita, basi roiundata, sesquipollicaria : nervis alternis, oblique transversis. 
Petioli teretiusculi, lineam longi. Racemus terminalis, multiflorus. Pedicelli 
brevissimi, opposili, 1 v. 3-flori, pilosi. Calyx et corolla alba, pube stellata, sicci- 
tute fulvescente, copiose vesiila. 


1. Deurzia scaBra, Thunb. Diss. Nov. Gen. 1. p. 20. t. 1. Fl. Jap. p. 185, 
t. 24. Willd. Sp. Pl. 2. p. 730. 

Hab. in montosis prope Nangasacki Japonensium. h (v. s. sp. in Herb. 
Lamb.) 

An examination of several specimens of this interesting, but 
hitherto obscure genus, has enabled me to determine its place 
in the natural system. Although I have not had an opportu- 
nity of examining the seeds, its affinity to Phaladelphus is clear- 
ly established, from which it is principally distinguished by the 
reduced number of its stamina, and by the structure of its fila- 
ments. The pubescence in all the species of Philadelphus, which 
I have had an opportunity of inspecting, is uniformly simple ; 
but in Decumaria it is starry; and the capsule of this genus 
is four-celled, and the styles and stigmata are united into one 


body. 


VIVIANIA, Cavan. 
MACRAEA, Lindi. 
Syst. Linn. DECANDRIA TRIGYNIA. 
Ord. Nat. CARYOPHYLLEA, Juss. Prope Molluginem. 
The genus Viviania was first proposed by Cavanilles in the 
** Anales de Ciencias Naturales, tom. vii. p. 211. t. 49.,” pub- 
lished at Madrid in 1804; and it is rather singular that no sub- 
sequent author has taken any notice of it. Its intimate affinity 
to Mollugo proves it to be a legitimate member of the Caryo- 
phyliew. It is chiefly distinguished from Mollugo, by the pre- 
sence of petals, and the greater confluence of the styles and di- 


Mr D. Don on the Affinities of Viviania, &c. 171 


visions of the calyx. In the structure of the capsule and seeds 
both genera entirely correspond. 

The Viviania marifolia, of which Cavanilles appears to have. 
seen but an imperfect specimen, collected by Don Luis Née, 
near Acapulco, comes very near to Mr Lindley’s Macrea rosea, 
but the calyx is exhibited, in the figure above mentioned, as 
pentaphyllous, which, however, is most probably an error. 

I have nothing to add to the excellent description given by 
Mr Lindley of the genus, in Brande’s “ Journal of Science,” 
vol. xxv. p. 104. 


Additions to some of the Author's former Communications 
to this Journal. 


PALO DE VACA. No.6. p. 336. 

Having lately had an opportunity of examining a nut of this 
tree, collected in Caraceas by Mr Fanning, who has also brought 
a considerable number of young plants of it to England, I am 
now satisfied of its being really a species of Brosimum, as M. 
Kunth has already suspected. The name of Brosimum Galac- 
todendron may well be applied to the species. 


CICHORACEE. No. 12. p. 306. 


In writing out the prefatory remarks to the memoir on the 
above family, I have inadvertently fallen into an error in stat- 
ing the anthers of Composite to be unilocular, they being really 
bilocular, and each cell composed of two unequal valves, the 
innermost being the narrowest. The characters of T'rowimon, 
p- 309, are derived from 7’. glaucus and cuspidatus of Pursh ; 
and I rather think that 7’. dandelion of Gertner will prove to 
be a species of Cynthia, a genus sufficiently distinct from 
Krigia. 

CALAMPELIS. No. 13, p. 89. 
Stamina 4, didynama, fertilia ; quinti rudimento brevissimo, obtuso, glabro, 


intra stamina superiora breviora: filamenia teretia, glabra, arcuata: anthera, 
bilobe, biloculares, introrsee : Joculis divergentibus, apice distinctis, disco 


172 Mr Hart on Heating Apartments. 


magno, carnoso, hippocrepico, papilloso-glanduloso impositis : valvwlis margine 
inflexis, demim solutis, interiore parim breviore. Stylus fusiformis, glaber. 
Stigma obtusissimum, leviter bilobum : Jobis margine revolutis, minuté papil- 
loso-pruinosis. Ovarium placentis 2 parietalibus, magnis, carnosis, seminiferis, 
subinde intervallo distinctis, uniloculare. 


The previous description having been taken from dried speci- 
mens, it will be found to contain some inaccuracies, which are 
now corrected, from an inspection of the living plant. 


Description of an Economical Apparatus for Heating Apart- 
ments. By Joun Harr, Esq. Communicated by the 
Author. 


I. this climate, where we must frequently have recourse to 
artificial heat, in order to keep up a proper temperature in 
our buildings, no plan seems to answer so weil, both for the 
purposes of ventilation and heat, as that of introducing a copi- 
ous stream of moderately heated air, by means of a well con- 
structed cockle, especially for heating large houses, churches, or 
other public buildings. But as a cockle is very expensive, and 
requires a considerable space for its erection, any plan of econo- 
mizing either must be acceptable to your readers. With this 
view, therefore, I send for insertion in your Journal,§the de- 
scription of an apparatus of this kind I got erected last year, for 
heating the Library and Apparatus Rooms of the Andersonian 
University, the cost of which was only about one-fourth the 
price of a cockle of the same heating power. 

The space in the ground-floor being rather narrow to contain 
a cockle of sufficient size, it occurred to me, that a few cast- 
iron pipes, built into a furnace (after the manner of retorts in 
the ovens of the gas-works), would answer the purpose of a 
cockle, by simply causing the external air to pass through the 
heated tubes. I accordingly procured six cast-iron pipes of 
seven inches diameter, and nine feet long (gas mains cast with- 
out sockets), and had them built up after the manner shewn in the 
Plate III.; by this arrangement, I obtained about eighty super- 
ficial feet of surface, exposed to the heat, or, heating surface, 
equal to a cockle of four feet cube. 


Mr Hart on Heating Apartments. 173 


Plate III. Fig. 1. Section of the building, shewing the pipes laid 
inclined, the lower ends projecting through the wall of the furnace 
into the aperture or tunnel which communicates with the external 
air, while the other end of the tubes reaches about a foot beyond 
the opposite end of the furnace, before it enters the heated air 
flue in the wall of the buildings. A spiral of sheet iron, sup- 
ported on studs, is introduced into the centre of each tube to 
give the air a gyratory or sweeping motion, along the sur- 
face of the heated metal. The tubes are placed about one inch 
asunder, and a row of fire-tile is laid above them, leaving a 
space of nine inches at the end uncovered, as seen in Plate 1IT. 
figs 2. and 3.; by this arrangement, the flame and heat gets 
completely round them, and is made to sweep along their sur- 
face, till it finds a passage through the openings left between 
the tubes and the side-walls up to the next tier: it then passes 
along them in the same manner, when it finds similar openings 
at their other extremities up into the vent. The furnace used 
for heating these tubes is of the same construction as those used 
by the potters, as it consumes the smoke; the space for the 
fuel is fourteen inches wide by twenty-four deep; and the arch 
or opening for the admission of the flame is six inches in 
height. ‘To prevent smoking the house from carelessness, when 
kindling the fire, or adding fresh fuel, the mouth of this furnace 
is provided with a lid or cast-iron cover: The air, therefore, for 
supplying the fire, enters by a side tube left in the brick-work, 
the opening of which is below the level of the arch of the fur- 
nace, and the aperture for the admission of the air has a regis- 
ter to regulate the draught; the furnace likewise is provided 
with a door in front to withdraw the ashes. The flame, after 
passing through the arch, is made to turn upward, and spread 
itself upon the tubes by means of the dwarf wall A; and the 
tubes being placed about two feet above the opening for admit- 
ting the flame, they never become red-hot. The external air 
enters the passage B by a grate in the wall; from thence it 
passes through the heated tubes, where it is rarified ; it then 
ascends the heated air-flue, and escapes by the registers inte 
the different apartments. The combined area of the pipes con- 
tains about 230 superficial inches of free space for the passage 
of the air, while the heated air-flue is two superficial feet, or 288 


174 Mr Hart.on Heating Apartments. 


inches, and the combined openings into the rooms nearly the same 
size ; the air, therefore, is seldom above 100°, unless some of the 
registers are shut. A damper is likewise placed where it enters 
the vent, which is generally shut so soon as the fire goes out, to 
retain the heat. 

If the damper is shut, the apparatus, after the fire is with- 
drawn, will still be found giving out an agreeable warmth for 
two days after; in this property it resembles the brick-stoves of 
Russia or Holland. The cockle I was inquiring after would 
have occupied a space of six feet cube for the brick-work alone, 
and was to have cost L. 40; whereas this apparatus was put up 
for the following sum :— 


Six cast-iron Mains, > 2 L.7 10 0 


Two Dampers, Door, and Cover for the 
Fire-place, - - - HE edsir0 
Brick-work, a ei = 2 0 0 
L.10 10 0 


Besides, serious accidents have several times occurred with 
the common cockle, from the brick-work giving way between 
the furnace and the air-flue, through which the flame or sparks 
found a passage into the buildings. It must be evident, how- 
ever, on inspection, that no danger of this kind can arise from 
this arrangement, as the communication with the air-tunnel, or 
lower end of the pipes, passes outside of the wall of the furnace 
altogether, so that no fire or sparks can ever get into the tubes ; 
and, as their other ends project a foot beyond the opposite 
wall before they enter the heated air-flue, no sparks or dust can 
enter by that end. 

In constructing a stove of this kind, care must be taken that 
the brick-work rest on one end of the tubes only, as their alternate 
expansions and contractions would soon rend the building ; the 
tubes, ‘therefore, must be free at one of their extremities, and 
the joints ‘simply pointed round, I am, &c. 


Joun Harr. 
MircHELL-STREET, GLascow, 


Nov: 30,. 1829. 


(U5 +) 


On the Anomalous Structure of the Leaf of Rosa berberifolia. 
By Mr Davip Dow, Librarian to the Linnean Society, 
Member of the Imperial Academy Naturze Curiosorum, 
of the Royal Botanical Society of Ratisbon, and of the 
Wernerian Society of Edinburgh, &e. (Communicated by 
the Author.) 


Tue ordinary leaf of Rosa is compound, being generally com- 
posed of an indefinite number of pairs of leaflets, terminating 
with an odd one; and the lowest pair, although present in the 
form of stipulz, are considerably modified, being found to be 
more or less confluent with the general petiolus. This view of 
the origin of the stipulz, in this genus, is clearly shewn by the 
ultimate leaves, or bracteze, in which the various degrees of mo- 
dification may be observed. The stipule of Zosa vary much 
in size ; in some species they are large and foliaceous ; in others, 
such as Rosa Banksie, microcarpa, and sinica, they are small, 
and so very fugaceous as to be only observed in the early stage 
of the leaf. As in other extensive genera having compound 
leaves, it might be expected that Rosa would also contain spe- 
cies, in which a reduction in the number of leaflets takes place. 
In Rosa sinica and hystrix the leaflets are only three; while in 
Rosa berberifolia, and in a second species, known only from a 
representation contained in a collection of Chinese drawings pre- 
served in the library at the India House, the leaf is reduced ‘to 
its simplest form. The compound nature of a leaf reducéd ‘to 
its simplest form is always indicated by the presence of an arti- 
culation. A casual inspection of the leaves of Rosa berberifolia 
would lead one to conclude that the stipul@ were entirely want- 
ing; but a more attentive examination shews that these organs 
are also present in this plant, although under a very anomalous 
form. Immediately under the leaf we find a callosity forming 
a prominent ridge on the branch, attenuated towards the base, 
and terminated by two or three spines. This callosity evidently 
originates in the confluence of the stipulz with the stem. ‘The 
leaf itself, surrounded by the spines, is situated immediately on 
the summit of this callosity, to which it is articulated by its very 
short footstalk. ‘The articulation is particularly distinct, and 


176 Mr D. Don on the Leaf of Rosa berberifolia. 


clearly proves the compound nature of the leaf in Rosa berberi- 

folia. This opinion, respecting the change of the stipule in 
this plant, may appear parodoxical, but it is borne out by a 
comparison of the leaves of certain Capparidee, where the sti- 
pulz have also become changed into spines, and where they are 
alsc partially confluent with the stem. The coriaceous leaves 
of Rosa berberifolia, their spiral insertion, and the elongated, 
callous bases of the confluent stipulz, would seem to be intend- 
ed by Nature to protect the young and tender shoots of this 
plant from the powerful effects of a scorching sun in those arid 
and sandy plains of which it is a native. It would be well to 
ascertain with certainty, whether the inside of the tube of the 
calyx, or hollow receptacle, is really destitute of bristles, as I 
was led to conclude from an examination of a solitary flower. 
This circumstance, if really constant, would perhaps justify its 
separation from Rosa, as Mr Lindley has already proposed. 


Comparative View of the Secondary Rocks in the Alps and the 
Carpathians. By A. Bove, M.D. Member of the Wer- 
nerian Society, &c. &c.—Communicated by the Author. 


Severat new journeys and investigations induce me, as the re- 
sult of these, to distinguish the northern Alpine calcareous chain 
into two great divisions or masses of limestone ; the one, the in- 
Jerior of a blackish or grey colour, resting upon, or uniting itself 
with, the red sandstone, the slate and the sparry iron-ore lime- 
stone, and, lastly, with talcose and micaceous rocks, sheltering 
the central crystalline Alpine chain; the other, the superior, 
generally greyish white, being near the tertiary plain, and cover- 
ing the salt formation. Between these two limestone deposites, 
there are, besides the salt-clay, a large body of grey marly 
sandstone, marls, conglomerate, and a deposite of limestone, 
characterised by particular ammonites, madreporites, orthocera- 
tites, nautilites, terebratulites, &c. The sandstone is, like the 
salt deposite, not found every where ; and, frequently, its place 
is taken by a marly deposite, which is characterized by fucoides, 
ammonites, hamites, belemnites, encrinites, &c. 


Dr Boue’s Comparative View of the Secondary Rocks. 177 


The inferior limestone chains contain fishes, and particular 
fucoides, (Seefeld) ; the superior limestone contains terebratu- 
lites, nautilites, echinites, belemnites, singular bodies like hippur- 
ites, ammonites, &c.; and the dolomitic and oolitic character is 
more frequent in the superior chain than im the other. All these 
five sub-divisions are united together by alternations at their line 
of junction, as is well exemplified in the section from Werfen to 
Reichenhall in Salzburg. 

Parts of the red slate and sandstone formation, below the Al- 
pine limestone, re-appear on the northern side of the inferior 
chain, as at St Agatha, on the lake of Hallstadt, in the Abtenau, 
where it contains ophite or diorite masses, with much gypsum, 
as in the Pyrenees. The age of this singular red sandstone de- 
posite we shall not now attempt to fix; for, although it has many 
of the characters of the old red sandstone, yet many things are 
against this classification. : 

The Alpine limestone is probably Jurassic, and we may be 
able, by means of my extensive collection of fossils, to recognise 
in it even those sub-divisions called great Oolite, Corn-brash, 
Coral-rag, Oxford Clay, &c. Upon this Alpine limestone there 
is superimposed, partly in conformable, partly in an unconform- 
able position, a most diversified deposite, which is to be observed 
near the Wand in Lower Austria, at Lunz, Hinter Laussa, 
Gams, Hieflau, Windish Gersten, on the lake of Gmund, in the 
basin-like valley of Gossau, in the valley of Abtenau, upon the 
northern part of the Untersberg near Reichenhall, and at Samt- 
jech, to the north of Unter Schwatz in the Tyrol. Geological 
maps, sections, and descriptions, will fully prove this fact. 
Here, for the present, we shall rest satisfied, by mentioning 
that the conglomerate, which often forms the base of this forma- 
tion, is seen lying upon the limestone in all the upper parts of 
the valleys to the north of Gossau, Geschitt, and Buchberg, and 
Hillau ; other parts of the deposite lie unconformably upon Al- 
pine limestone in the Brill valley, near Gossau in Hinter Laussa, 
or come only in contact with great walls of Alpine limestone, as 
at Hennerkog]l, an alpine region near the lake of Gossau. This 
formation is composed of conglomerate, marly sandstone, with — 
impressions of leaves or culmites, marls, clays, and beds of hip- 
purite and nummulite limestone ; these: latter, along with the 

OCTOBER—DECEMBER 1829. M 


178 Dr Boués Comparative View of the Secondary Rocks 


conglomerate, occupying the undermost part, although not al- 
ways present, as is the case with all the other members. Some- 
times one member predominates, sometimes another, and even 
in some localities only one or two. members are present. The 
fossils of this deposite abound particularly in certain beds of 
clay and marl; whole beds of a tornatella like fossil, characterise 
the deposite at the Wand in the Gossau, at Gams, at the Un- 
tersberg, and in the Tyrol. Amongst the hippurites, like the 
long: horns of Provence, we find the spirulites of the lowest 
chalk of Rochefort, or smaller ‘species of hippurites. The cy- 
clolites are very common every where ; it is the Cyclus hemisphe- 
ricus so common in the chalk and greensand of the Perigord. 
The Gryphza Columba of the greensand is found in it in the 
Gossau, and has been confounded by Mr Lill with the Gry- 
pheea arcuata. The variety of madrepores, astroites, agaricia, 
fungites, &c., is very great every where; but what is most striking 
amongst these secondary fossils, to which must be added some 
species of great inocerames or mytilites, Ostrea vesicularis of 
the chalk, are found a great many bleached univalve and 
bivalve shells, like rostellaria, turitella, natica, ovula, trochus, 
pleurotoma, arca, cucullea, lucina, nucula, pecten, corbula, 
solen, delphinula, lituolites, discorbites, &c., fossils of which 
the species are often tertiary ; and, indeed, so tertiary, that con- 
chologists, who have not been in loco, thought there must be 
two formations. This opinion, however, is erroneous, for the 
same bed, even the same hand-specimen, contains cyclolites, gry- 
phites, inocerames, mixed with these tertiary fossils. To the 
list of secondary fossils I must add the Ananchites ovata, and 
belemnites, which I found at the foot of the Wand, in Austria. 

After this detail, I leave to the geological public to judge of 
the discrepancy of opinion between myself and Messrs Murchi- 
son and Sedgwick, who, as I hear, taking only into considera- 
tion the tertiary fossils, have classified the deposite in which 
they are contained, with the tertiary class, and suppose that 
these fossils had already existed in the time of the green- 
sand and chalk deposite. But, does not the greensand of Eng- 
land sometimes afford fossils also found in the tertiary soil ? 
The most curious localities of this formation is where the sand- 
stone, conglomerate, and marl only are present, as at Hinter 


in the Alps and the Carpathians. 179 


Laussa, where they are separated from the Alpine limestone by 
a true pisiform iron-ore. In other parts, as in the Abtenau, very 
small parts of this deposite, and often in highly inclined strata, 
cover the older limestone, and have always been classed with 
the older limestone. This cameleon-like formation appears to 
contain gypsum, as at Untersberg, and sometimes also beds of 
coal. I did not observe in it any fucoides, although other ve- 
getable remains are frequently found in it. Coal is known, and 
even used, at the Wand, near Mayersdorf, near Griinbach, and 
in the Abtenau. A substance, resembling retinasphalt, is found 
in it at Mayersdorf, and in the Gossau. This formation is 
most widely extended in Switzerland and Savoy, as in the 
canton Appenzell, St Gallen, Glaris, Schwitz, Unterwald (val- 
ley of Sarnen), Lucern (Pilatus, Entlibuch), Bern (Ralliger, 
Stocke, chain of the Masen, &c.), Pays de Vaud (Diablerets), 
in the Faucigny on the hills between Cluse, Vallorsine, and Sal- 
lenche. In the two last countries it rises higher than elsewhere, 
and perhaps this intimates the sudden elevation of those chains. 
The same is the case with the rocks of Mount Perdu, in the Py- 
renees ; but there is in that chain, as in Savoy, and at Bex, the 
greensand and other accompanying rocks. 

Along the whole northern foot of the Alpine limestone chain, 
there is a vast deposite of greyish marly sandstone, with beds of 
limestone and of marly clays ; it is the well-known sandstone of 
the Appenine and great Carpathian chains, viz. that sandstone 
in which fucoides are so frequent, the sandstone which also 
belongs to the S.E. part of Europe and the Pyrenees. This 
formation lies, in some places, unconformably upon Alpine lime- 
stone, as perhaps at Gieshiibel near Vienna, or it comes most 
abruptly, and in a highly-inclined position in contact with the 
Alpine limestone, as near Ipsitz in Austria, at St Lorenz near 
Mondsee ; in other places it is united with the limestone, by al- 
ternation, as near to Waidhofen, and especially near Amergau 
in Bavaria, and between Baden and Heiligen Kreiitz in Lower 
Austria. The junctions, however, are generally concealed, or 
occupied by valleys. This vast deposite, several thousand feet 
thick, contains, in the lower. part, conglomerate, and sometimes 
considerable beds of coal, with impressions of cycadées and 
other vegetables, as at Ipsitz, Gersten, and in the Carpathians. 


M 2 


180 Dr Boue’s Comparative View of the Secondary Rocks 


In the Carpathian chain, the undermost part of this vast depo- 
site is marl and limestone; the middle part is very quartzy, 
and the uppermost part is characterised by a smaller or greater 
number of beds of a particular compact limestone, containing am- 
monites, belemnites, and encrinites. Instances of it are seen at 
St Veit near Vienna, and also between Trentschin, and Silein, 
and Arvain Hungary. It isidentical with the ruiniform or land- 
scape marble of Florence; and beautiful ruimiform varieties are 
met with both in the Carpathians and in the Alps (Klosternen- 
berg, Sontagsberg.) ; 

These contorted and curved strata, pass gradually into chlo- 
ritic greensand rocks, so that both deposites are intimately 
united, This transition often takes place upon two sides, as 
in the section between Jablunka and Silein in the Carpathians, 
or between Teisendorf and Reichenhall in Bavaria, or on one 
side, as between Gmund and Trauenstei. In this last place, 
the greensand part is entangled between the greyish sand- 
stone formation and the Alpine limestone of the Trauenstein, 
in the Geschlief, in such a way that one would be apt to say 
that the vertical strata of the Trauenstein cover the greensand ; 
but an examination at once disproves such an opinion. Masses 
of serpentine are found in the greyish sandstone, in two points 
between Waidhofen and Ipsitz, as well as in Italy; and ophite 
or diorite form curious veins in the lowermost marly part of the 
Moravian district of Teschen and Paskaw, &c. 

The classification of this sandstone has hitherto been attended 
with much difficulty ; but no one could believe that, if the Al- 
pine limestone belongs to the Jura limestone, this sandstone 
must belong to the greensand ; for I found it lying upon newer 
parts of the Jura limestone, and containing diceratites, madre- 
pores, &c., at Andryschow, in Gallicia; and this Jura lime- 
stone is the same that extends from Ernstbrunn, in Austria, to 
Nicolsburg, to Kurowitz, Stramberg, Stanislowitz, Podgoreze, 
and at last to the great Jura deposite of Russian Poland. The 
Jura limestone, a well characterized transition limestone, and 
the undermost part of our problematical sandstone, forms a 
great extent of country in Eastern Moravia, and Gaallicia, 
marked on the maps as entirely transition limestone. Besides, 
Mr Lillis of opinion that our sandstone alternates with Jura 


in the Alps and the Carpathians. 181 


limestone ; that, at Koscielisko, where it lies, as in the Alps, 
conformably upon Alpine limestone, it contains nummulites, so 
that we are inclined to place it wnder the greensand, which, 
in fact, covers it in many places, and even under that other 
subdivision of the greensand deposite, which we described in 
the Alps, and which reappears with many of the same charac- 
ters in the Carpathian chain. It would thus, then, probably 
prove to be contemporaneous with the uppermost divisions of 
the English Jura, viz. Purbeck limestone and Kimmeridge 
clay ? and with those alternations of nummulite and compact 
limestone, with the sandstone containing fucoides, in Istria and 
Dalmatia. Whether I be right or wrong, the fact still remains 
of its lymg upon alpine limestone, as well in the Alps as in the 
Carpathians; for the limestone of the Alps continues from 
Haimburg and Thelen, through Jablonitz, Neustadt, Trents- 
chin, Silein, Bela, Tishora, to Koscielisko and Zakopane, in the 
Tatra, and terminates there to the eastward of this crystalline 
groupe. In the limestone chain of the Tatra, I observed the lime- 
stone lying upon the red sandstone, which is separated from the 
limestone by a breccia containing belemnites, terebratulites, &c. ; 
the same subdivision into two limestones separated by a marly 
sandstone, containing fucoides; but the whole deposite is by no 
means so thick as in the Alps. Upon this limestone our proble- 
matical sandstone lies; and above its upper limestone beds there 
occur only the conglomerate, nummulite limestone, and a grey 
sandstone, without fucoides, which we saw in the Alps. The sec- 
tion from Koscielisko to Neumarkt is very excellent, every bed 
nearly is seen, and there is no derangement of the stratification ; 
it is the equivalent, as M. Lill says, to that in the Alps between 
Werfen and Teisendorf, which is the best in the whole Alpine 
chain. 

The Carpathian chain appears to be so constituted, that our 
greyish sandstone lies en the south side upon the Carpathian 
Jura limestone, our presumed Jura limestone; while, on the 
north side, it lies on the decided Jura limestone of Poland. In 
the middle the limestone forms basin-shaped cavities, filled up 
by rocks like those of Gossau, and the true chloritic greensand, 
followed by the lowermost hard chalk, or Planer limestone, with 
fishes, inocerames, &c. and vegetable remains. A great part of 


182 Dr Boué’s Comparative View of the Secondary Rocks 


Gallicia is occupied by a chalk-basin of this description, covered 
with tertiary rocks. ‘The particular feature of this Carpathian 
aud Alpine chalk, is its alternation with very sandy or marly 
greyish-sandstone, with fossil vegetables. In the Alps, fine 
masses of this kind occur in the greensand in the Allgau near 
Sonthofen, where it contains also in its undermost part not only 
nummulite limestone, but also, as at Neukirchen and Lauerz, 
iron-ore, with many fossils. Count Munster pronounces these 
last to be tertiary, an opinion which I cannot reconcile with the 
belemnites, inocerames, and ammonites, which 1 found in the 
under part of the greensand of Sonthofen. 

Upon the chalk of Gallicia there rests a vast deposite of blue 
clay, with gypsum, salt, and sulphur. I found in the salt not 
only some subappenine shells, as Ostrea navicularis, taken for a 
Gryphza acuta by M. Pusch, Pleurotoma, a Nucula, allied to 
the Margaritacea, microscopic shells, &c., but also fresh-water 
shells, as Anodontz, Paludinze and Mytili, like those of the Da- 
nube. ‘These shells of Wieliezka probably occur in other salt- 
mines. At Lemberg I found, upon the chalk, the same marls, 
with rolled masses of the same Jura limestone and of granite as 
in the mine of Wieliezka. The Moldavian and Transylvanian 
salt deposite, with brown coal, must also be tertiary. Above 
this clay there is only a very thick deposite of sand and sand- 
stone, which covers the foot of the Carpathians in Gallicia, as 
well as in Transylvania, but which, being the result of the de- 


composition of the Carpathian sandstone, occasionally assumes - 


its appearance, and has till now been confounded with it. 

The tertiary sandstone is characterized by its sands, its marls, 
its beds of semiopal, its tertiary shells (ostrea, pecten, nummu- 
lites), and its not containing fucoides. In the plain of Gallicia 
and Podolia, and in the Bukowina, the tertiary clay is covered 
by sand, sandy marl, with beds of a tertiary limestone, which 
is partly cellular, without shells, and has the appearance of a 
formation which has taken place in brackish water. Generally 
these beds are followed by others full of cerites, or miliolites, 
and also mixtures of fresh and salt water shells, resembing those 
in Austria and Hungary, and above there are vast deposites in 
the quartzy sand, of coral limestone, both compact and disinte- 
grated. An old alluvial marl covers the whole near the great ri- 


——_—— 


in the Alps and the Carpathians. 183 


ver. ‘The coral limestone occupies the same position in Austria 
and Hungary as it does in Gallicia, and not under the clay, as 
every one, excepting M. Prevost, thought. New quarries have 
established this fact ina decisive manner. French geologists had 
already, through means of the fossils, come to the same conclu- 
sion, in regard to the coral limestone of Brittany and Manche, 
which is the calcaire moellon of Marcel de Serres. ‘The under 
part of the blue clay at Lemberg, in Gallicia, abounds in amber. 
You already know that the chalk on the Dneister lies upon a 
reddish sandstone, united by alternations with a limestone con- 
taining trilobites, orthoceratites, spirifer, productus, bitibulites, 
or the spines of the Strophomene rugosa. M. Partsch observed 
in different places of Transylvania the same undermost green- 
‘sand formation, with tornatille, cerithia, the Gryphzxa co- 
lumba, asin the Alps. The same deposite, with immensely thick 
beds containing Gryphezea columba, I observed, in company 
with Kefferstein and Lill, at Orlowa, in the N. W. Carpathian. 
The same, with beds of nummulite limestone, is met with in 
Bukowina and at Poyana Stampi. 


Description of several New or Rare Plants which have lately 
flowered in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, and chiefly in 
the Royal Botanic Garden. By Dr Grauam, Professor 
of Botany in the University of Edinburgh. 


10th Dec. 1829. 


Begonia diversifolia. 


B. diversifolia ; herbacea, glaberrima ; foliis radicalibus reniformibus late 
crenatis, caulinis sublobatis ineequaliter argute serratis, superioribus 
inzequaliter cordatis, inferioribus reniformibus ; floribus axillaribus 
congestis, pedunculis petiolos zquantibus vel superantibus ramosis ; 
capsulze ala maxima acutangula. 


Description.—Whole plant smooth and shining. Stem herbaceous, twin- 
ing, branched, smooth, very obscurely angled, transparent. Stem leaves al- 
ternate, petioled, half cordate, acuminate, somewhat lobed towards the 
base, acutely and unequally serrated, smooth, bright green above, paler 
and somewhat glaucous behind; nerves branched and prominent behind: 
petioles shorter than the leaves, spreading, flattened on the upper side. 
Root-leaves kidney-shaped, nearly equalat the base, broadly crenate, on 
petioles many times longer than themselves, and which are slightly com- 
pressed at the sides, and channelled above: afew leaves at the bottom of 
the stem resemble these, but are on shorter petioles, and have their edges 
pretty equally lobed, the lobes being unequally and sharply serrated. 


184 


Dr Graham’s Description of New or Rare Plants. 


Stipule ovate, oblique, green, ciliated. . Peduncles axillary, about as long 
as the petioles on the lower part of the stem, longer above ; slightly 
compressed, bracteate, pedicels rising from the axils of the bractez, so- 
litary, or two together, a male and female. Occasionally the peduncle 
is twice divided, with a pair of opposite bracteze at each division ; and it 
is extremely probable, that, at another season of the year, the inflores- 
cence would look very differently, and the plant assume a much hand- 
somer appearance, from perfecting many more flowers; for in the 
axil of the leaf from whence the peduncle springs, and in the bosom of 
each bractea, there is a cluster of flower-buds. Bractee cordato-ovate, 


- concave, blunt, entire, shorter than the pedicels. Corolla rose-coloured ; 


outer petals cordato-ovate, pointed, sharply serrated; inner petals ob- 
ovato-elliptical, entire, subacute. Stamens yellow, monadelphous, union 
of the filaments extended high ; anthers (as is common in the genus) ob- 
ovate, truncated, compressed, the pollen-cases being distant, lateral, con- 
nate. Germen with three unequal sides, unequally winged, of three 
somewhat unequal loculaments, each containing a large, green, bi-parted, 
waved, seminal receptacle, covered with minute ovules; the largest 
wing acute, the second subacute, and the third very small and rounded. 


As far as I can judge by the imperfect characters which have been pub- 


lihed of this beautiful and extensive genus, this species is undescribed. 
It was raised from seeds sent from Rigla in Mexico to P. Neill, Esq. by 
Captain Vetch, and flowered in the stove at Canonmills in October 
1829. 


Gomphalobium polymorphum, var. luteum. 
This variety was imported from New Holland by F. Henchman, Esq. and 


sent by Mr Mackay to the Royal Botanic Garden, where it flowered in 
spring last. It does not differ at all from the representation given of 
the species in Botanical Magazine, t. 1533, except that the leaves are 
more generally linear, and the flowers of a bright yellow, with a faint 
red tinge on the back of the vexillum. 


Sphacele Lindleyi. 


S. Lindleyi ; ramis floccoso-tomentosis ; foliis petiolatis, cordato-deltoi- 
deis, subtus albidis ; bracteis sessilibus ovatis ; verticillis sub-8-floris. 
Sphacele Lindleyi, ramis floccoso-tomentosis, foliis petiolatis ovato-lan- 
ceolatis basi obtuse hastato-sagittatis subtus tomentosis superioribus 
sessilibus axillis utrinque sub-trifloris.—+Benth. MS. 

Sphacele Lindleyi, Benth. in Bot. Reg. fol. 1289. 

Stachys salviee, Lindl. Bot. Reg. t. 1226. 


DeEscriptTion.—Shrub (in our specimens 5 feet high). Stem round below, 


bark brown, cracked, and peeling, younger shoots tetragonous, green, 
and pretty densely covered with short, white, soft tomentum. Wood 
hard, with a large pith. Branches decussating- Leaves on petioles about 
a third of their own length, spreading, cordato-deltoid, attenuated to a 
long bluntish apex, much wrinkled, light green, on both sides covered 
with a short soft tomentum most abundant and white below, middle 
rib strong, and, as well as the reticulated veins, very prominent below. 
Bractee sessile, ovate, acute, in structure and colour resembling the 
leaves. Flowers in verticels, generally of 8 flowers, spreading at right 
angles, peduncled : peduncles simple, filiform, purple. Caly# campanu- 
late, scarcely bilabiate, green, with many (13-15, Benth.) purplish nerves, 
reticulated towards the teeth ; tube twice as long as the peduncle, naked 
within ; teeth 5, subulate, subequal, rather larger upwards, naked at 
their apices, giving to a point the appearance of a minute soft amucro, 
but every where else on its outside, as well as the peduncle and outside 
of the corolla, tomentous. | Corolla bilabiate, purple, twice as long as the 
calyx; tube subcylindrical, slightly inflated towards the faux, white at 
its origin, and, where the colourless portion terminates, surrounded on 


Dr Graham’s Description of New or Rare Plants. 185 


its inner side with a dense ring of erect white hairs; upper lip suberect, 
notched ; lower lip trifid, lobes rounded, nearly equal, reflexed, the 
middle one emarginate. Stamens 4, didynamous ; filaments adhering to 
the inner side of the tube to near the faux, erect, straight, distant, 
nearly colourless ; anthers dark, bilobular, lobes linear, subacute, spread- 
ing, and both turned outwards, forming nearly a right angle with each 
other; pollen white. Stigmata subequal, spreading. Style filiform, shorter 
than the stamens, purple above. Germen on a fleshy disk, 4-lobed, lobes 
obovate, green, smooth. Whole plant perfumed. 

The genus Sphacele was instituted by Mr Bentham in his valuable review 
of the Labiate, now in the course of publication in the Botanical Regis- 
ter, and characterised in fol. 1289. of that work. The name is meant to 
express the resemblance to the Sage, which is indeed very great in the 
present species. Mr Bentham enumerates three species, which he finds 
in the herbarium of the Horticultural Society, all collected in Chili by 
Mr Macrae, collector to the Society; and the specific character which I 
have quoted from Mr Bentham, is contained in a letter to Dr Hooker, 
from which also I have extracted, with his permission, some part of the 
above description. Dr Hooker informs me that he also has three spe- 
cies in his herbarium; but he does not say whether they are the same 
as those mentioned by Mr Bentham. 

This species was raised from seed sent to the Royal Botanic Garden, Edin- 
burgh, by Mr Cruckshank in 1822, |having been gathered by him in 
Chil, where only the genus has hitherto been found. It has been kept 
in the greenhouse, and flowered with us for the first time in November 
1829. It has also flowered in the Botanic Garden, Glasgow, the seeds 
having been procured from the same valuable correspondent. 


Lobelia mollis. 


L. mollis; annua; caule erecto, ramoso-pubescente ; foliis petiolatis, sub- 
cordato-ovatis, acutis, supra pubescentibus, subtus ad venas solummodo, 
mucronulato-duplicato-serratis, superioribus lanceolatis ; bracteis pu- 
bescentibus; pedunculis terminalibus, elongatis, racemosis ; pedicellis 
laxis; calyce inferiore, laciniis subulatis, corolla brevioribus. 


Descrirtion.—Annual (1 foot high). Stem erect, branched, slightly 
flexuose, sparingly pubescent, purplish below, green above. Branches 
erect.. Leaves (8 lines long, 6 broad) scattered, petioled, pale green, soft, 
ciliated, pubescent on the upper surface, but on the midrib and veins 
only below, subcordato-ovate, doubly incise-serrated, each vein termi- 
nated with a little dark mucro; the lower leaves less acute and more en- 
tire, the upper narrower and more lanceolate, those in the middle of the 
stem ovato-deltoid and pointed. Petioles half the length of the leaves, 
“ec are winged and ciliated. Peduncles terminal, elongated (34 inches 
below the lowest pedicel) nearly glabrous. . Pedicels (6 lines long) fili- 
form, slightly pubescent, rising from the axil of a subulate, pubescent 
bractea, which is less than a third of the length of the pedicel. Calyz of 
5 subulate segments, inferior, subadpressed, green, glabrous, equal in 
length to the tube of the corolla, marcescent. Corolla (24 lines long) in- 
ferior, glabrous, purplish, marcescent; limb 5 parted, two segments 
spreading, and turned up, linear-subulate, three straight parallel, pro- 
jecting downwards and forwards, linear-lanceolate nearly equal to each 
other, concave, broader and paler than the ascending segments; tube 
cylindrical, cleft along its upper side, equal in length to the calyx. Sta- 
mens five ; filaments pubescent, flat, colourless ; anthers united, purplish, 
slightly hairy, with two short, white awns, projecting from their lower 
edge. Pistil equal in length to the stamens; germen superior, ovate, 
a glabrous, grooved on two sides ; style subclavate, smooth, colour- 
ess; stigma subsimple, pale leaden-coloured, bearded ; ovules minute, 
numerous, attached to a central receptacle. Seeds small, ovate, brown. 
Raised at the Botanic Garden from Dominica seeds sent by Dr Krous in 
the end of 1828, and flowered from September to November. 


186 Dr Graham’s Description of New or Rare Plants. 


The species is very nearly related to Lobelia Xalapensis, Humboldt, Nov. 
Gen. Spec. Plant. v. iii. p. 246., but differs in the bractez and stem being 
pubescent, in the sharp teeth of its leaves, in the longer peduncles and 
pedicels, and in the calyx equalling the tube only, not the whole length 
of the corolla. If Sprengel is right (System. Veget. i. 713.) in consider- 
ing L. Xalapensis perennial, then L. mollis further differs in being strictly 
annual; but if I have not furgotten, and I have not the volume by me 
at the moment, Humboldt makes no such statement. 


Lobelia rugulosa. 


L. rugulosa; foliis subrotundis, repandis, nervoso-rugulosis, glabris pe- 
dunculis folia longe superantibus ; laciniis calycinis integerrimis, base 
glandulosis; caule maculato, prostrato, radicanti. 


Description.—Whvle plant glabrous, with milky juice. Stem procum- 
bent, diffused, much branched, slightly flexuose, covered with oblong, 
dark olive-brown spots, obscurely channelled on two sides, one side of 
each shallow groove having a slightly prominent edge. Leaves (4 lines 
long, 3 broad) alternate, distichous, spreading at right angles to the 
stem, flat, petioled, veined, dark green and slightly wrinkled above from 
e elevated veins, paler below, edges slightly callous, repand, dentate. 
Petioles about a third of the length of the leaves. Peduneles (13 inch 
long) solitary, axillary, erect, filiform, reddish below, green above. Ca- 
lyx persisting, superior, segments awl-shaped, nearly equal, somewhat 
spreading, quite entire, having along each edge at the base an oblong 
gland, which is in certain states green and indistinct, in others white 
and conspicuous. Corolla (8 lines across) white, marcescent, cleft nearly 
to the base along the upper side, segments five, somewhat unequal, 
spreading, slightly pointed, arranged like the radii of a semicircle, the 
middle segment rather the largest and most linear, the others narrower, 
more tapering at the base, and more deeply divided; at the faux, the 
four upper segments have in the middle a purple streak, the lowest seg- 
ment, and the somewhat prominent edges of the others in contact with 
it, are at this point yellow. Stamens 5, equal to the length of the tube 
of the corolla; filaments free, curved, colourless; anthers united, curved, 
leaden-coloured, smooth, with two short awns projecting downwards 
from their apex; pollen white. Stigma large, glandular, bilobular, re- 
volute, of a faint rose colour. Style green, bent at its apex. Germen 
green, obovate, slightly compressed laterally, oblique, slightly furrowed, 
bilocular, dissepiment in the shortest diameter with a seminal receptacle 
on each side. Ovules numerous, minute, colourless. 

We received this plant, without any specific name, from Messrs Young, 
nurserymen, Epsom, in 1828. It is a native of New Zealand, and | 
flowered very freely in the greenhouse of the Royal Botanic Garden in | 
August and September. As far as I can judge by the description of Lo- 
belia membranacea, in Prodr. Nov. Holland., it should stand next to that : 
species of Mr Brown. 


Celestial Phenomena. from January 1. to March 1. 1830, calcu- 
lated for the Meridian of Edinburgh, Mean Time. By 
Mr GeorceE Innes, Aberdeen. 


The times are inserted according to the Civil reckoning, the day beginning at midnight. 
—The Conjunctions of the Moon with the Stars are given in Right Ascension. 


JANUARY. 
D. Fel Oe D. H 
a o> foe 17 )) First Quarter. | 17. 4 057 ( Last Quarter 
3% 1 4650 d)oxX 17, 144513 d)xmy 
4 113730 ¢6d%2% 19. 75233 ¢))ya 
& 20 654 d)ryd 20. 85323 d6)ég 
5. 212313 fg)l3y 20. 95727 6) Oph. 
5. 21 52 41 6) 238 20 11 38 37 © enters sss 
6. 2 52 44 d)2z8 20 16 51 33 Em. III. sat. 2/ 
8. 15 35 8 Bice 21. 1 27 16 dYat 
9. 3 26 37 © Full Moon 22 ll 3 36 dg) x 
Ll. 756 2 })h 2. 33.2913 gd Opes 
11. 12 49 35 SDE 24. 16 53 59 © New Moon. 
BP is20T GB IV 4 201540 ¢)H- 
ei? or, uth EE Beh aan Soe hs 
13. 233839 J¢)rQ 26. 123631 6)9e0 
14 113557 ¢)etmy 26. 1850 - ¢4@QH 
14. 132916 Gace 27. .. =. . & greatest elong. 
1b. 31251) 6 oo TH 27. 195120 4)? 

15. 103520 od 27. 205043 Em. III. sat. Y/ 
16. 5 50)37 dy oT Sk. 10 47 28 ) First Quarter. 
FEBRUARY 

D. H. aes D. H. Feed, 

2. 14449 g)yB 13. 223013 g¢)xTy 

2. 3222 S)ldyZ 15, 16-11-28...) y= 

2. 3 32 21 d)288 16. 0 29 26 ( Last Quarter. 
2. 83754 f¢)as 16. 1849 3 6) @ Oph. 

4. 040 - Oh 18. 5 49 18 Im. IIL. sat. 2/ 

“L- Si 4812-4) 18. 6212 gj¢ 

4. 19 44 7 © Full Moon 19 2 22 47 © enters H 

7 12042 2) BYE 19 94144 4)7 

9. 0 39 18 db 3d 3 Oph. 20. 2 12 27 ¥ verynear ly f 
1. 829 t d)rK 3. 994 ¢)H 

10. 1325 6 6 ¢ B Oph. Bh 20H cre -B- 

10. 191822 g)any 22, 224456 d)BbK 

il. 10 52 56 d Da» TM 23 4 36 58 @ New Moon 

ll. 2330 - Inf d6@S G65 1 Sg! ey 

12 132716 g)om 


188 Celestial Phenomena frem Jan. 1. to April 1. 1830. 


MARCH. 
D. Enemy D. i wp oy 
i 72412 So)yB 16. 101217. g)of 
in 8 40 45 $f )1dB 17. 17 31 58 ( Last Quarter 
ie 9 10 20 d)238 18 411 0 oogw? 
lL 141210 S)eXs 19. 2550 )¢ 
1. 20 1 44 ) First Quarter. | 19. 2 27 53 dé px 
5. 5 30 50 Im. I. sat. 2/ 19. 11 55 18 5646 YU 
5. Loggaates Sid Iot 2. 85237 d)BK 
6 410% 47 20.. 2 233 4)H 
7. 3°94 SPER 21 22655  G@enters ~ 
7 1540 ~ Ink dO? 22. #94655 g)See 
9. 13 28 53) = Full Moon. | 22. 20 57 - dg )® 
9. 14017-29° » SS )'e iQ 23 03055 4) 
10. Rss) © greatest elong. | 24. 14 37 0 @ New Moon 
10. 21217. 6)>)4T] 26. 44220 Em. IIL sat. 7/ 
10. 174611 fg )aty 22 1145 —- d8ose 
UU. 52244 ¢)y™]y 6. SS FF - Goya 
1. =62019 27. dg DOTY 28. 162116 ¢)13% 
12. 18 40 32 ddl vf 28 16 49 52 5d) 238 
13. 52153 d)xzt® 28. 2142 0 S)ad 
14. 23°17 S2 oat ae Be 6 49 24 ) First Quarter 


16. 217 38 d ) ¢ Oph. 
Times of the Planets passing the Meridian. 


| JANUARY. 


Mercury. Venus. Mars. Jupiter. 

ay Ae, Be 3:7 

15 19 8 42 LL AG 

15 17 8 37 ll 6 

10; 12 53 15 14 & 32 10 49 
15} 13 8 15 9 8 26 10 35 
20} 13 19 15 1 8 19 10 19 
13 26 10 5 


en 
09 
eT eT 


is 


a a: Ca 
1j 12 24 
5) 12 37 


Saturn. Georgian. 


Jupiter. 


H. £¢ 2 sprit 
7 37 8 17 22 26 
7 32 6 4 22 9 
7 27 7 48 21 48 
7. 21 7 30 21 27 
TAT 7 14 oar 
7 fea i 657 20 46 


Proceedings of the Wernerian Society. 189 


On the 6th of January there will be an occultation of Aldebaran by the 
Moon. 


; H. ‘ a“ 
Immersion, . .. 5 - 3 26 40, at 157° 
Hmersion;’*"s, . "5 1,204! 14°53, at 281° 


The angles are reckoned from the Moon’s vertex, towards the right hand, 
round the circumference, as viewed in an inverting telescope. 


Proceedings of the Wernerian Natural History Society. 


1829, Dec. 5.—Dr Wattrer Apa, V. P. in the Chair.— 
Mr Witham of Lartington read an interesting paper on the 
Vegetation of the first period of the ancient World, and illus- 
trated it by sketches, and by the exhibition of a number of fine 
specimens of stigmariz and sigillariz, chiefly from the coal- 
field of Newcastle. In the course of his observations, he like- 
wise gave an account of the very remarkable stem of a monoco- 
tyledonous plant found in Craigleith Quarry three years ago. 
(See p. 195.)—Dr John Gillies then read an account of the 
extensive Roads or Highways of the ancient Peruvians, still 
known by the name of Caminos del Inga. (The Doctor's paper 
is printed in the present Number of this Journal, pp. 53-58.) — 
The Rey. Dr Scot then read an essay on the Okrub of the an- 
cient Hebrews, or Scorpion of the English Bible. 

At this meeting, the following gentlemen were elected OrricE- 
Bearers of the Society for 1830: 


Rosert Jameson, Esq. President. 


VICE-PRESIDENTS. 


Henry Witham, Esq. Dr R. K. Greville. 

Dr Walter Adam. David Falconar, Esq. 

Secretary, P. Neill, Esq. Librarian, James Wilson, Esq. 

Treasurer, A. G. Ellis, Esq. Painter, P. Syme, Esq. 
COUNCIL. 

Dr John Boggie. Sir Arthur Nicholson, Bart. 

Rev. Dr Brunton. Dr John Gillies. 

John Stark, Esq. Rev. Dr David Scot. 


Dr John Aitken. Dr Charles Anderson. 


( 190 ) 


SCIENTIFIC IN'TELLIGENCE. 


METEOROLOGY. 


1. Extreme dryness of the atmosphere of Greece, and rising of 
the land there.—In a letter from Bory St Vincent, at present in 
Greece, to Geoffroy St Hilaire, dated Milo, 20th September, 
there are curious details in regard to the extreme dryness that 
prevails in the isles of the Archipelago during the summer. 
The dryness is such, that, under the influence of a temperature 
of 86° Fahr., nearly the whole animals and vegetables of the 
country disappear. The plains of France, he says, are less naked, 
and more abundant in animals, in the month of January, than are 
these islands in the months of summer. The only living crea- 
tures observed during the warm season are a few lizards running 
about the dry stone-walls. The coasts of the islands are not 
less meagre of living beings than the land ; there are but three 
species of fucus, and six confervee, and consequently no fishes. 
M. Bory St Vincent has particularly examined Santorini, the 
most curious island in the Mediterranean. It is throughout of 
volcanic formation. He is of opinion that new volcanoes will 
soon appear there. He visited a road-stead where the bottom 
is rising from year to year, and at present is not more than 
three fathoms from the surface of the sea, and is sensibly warm. 
Every thing announces that it will soon appear above the sur- 
face. 

2. Winter climate of Rome very favourable for consumptive 
persons.—Carus, in his lately published Analekten, agrees with 
Dr Clarke in thinking that the beautiful and mild winter of 
Rome is very beneficial to consumptive patients, and adds, that 
this opinion is further strengthened by an appeal to the power- 
ful and handsome form of the Romans, particularly the Roman 
females. In summer, Rome is exceedingly unpleasant and un- 
healthy. In proof of this it may be mentioned that the fever 
Hospital of St Carlo, during the winter season, is nearly empty, 
while in summer it generally contains 1000 fever patients, 


2 


- 


Scientific Intelligence.—Meteorology. 191 


brought from the unhealthy parts of Rome, and the Campagna 
di Roma. 

3. Climate of the Southern Hemisphere.—A letter from an 
officer of His Majesty’s Ship, Chanticleer, says, ‘* The cold of 
southern regions is a complete fable, and at variance with truth 
and nature. At Cape Horn, in latitude 56° deg. south, vege- 
tation was in full vigour in May, or the November of their 
year, and snow rarely lies upon the low grounds. In fact, we 
have sufficient matter to elucidate the climate of the south, and 
to establish its comparative mildness with the north, especially 
if America be taken as the example. Thesummers of the south 
are by no means warm or hot, nor the winters cold; but to 
compensate for this, it is the region of wind, storms, and rain ; 
perpetual gales, and eternal rains: never twenty-four hours 
without rain.” Another account from the same quarter says, 
Staten Land or Island is composed of steep mountains, 2000 
feet high, covered to their summits with trees. The soil, 
at the foot of the mountains, is singularly marshy. The mean 
temperature of the island is constantly low, and varies but 
little ; there is not more than a difference of four or five degrees 
of Fahr. during the twenty-four hours. The summers are not 
warm, the winters not cold; but as a compensation it seems to 
be the region of winds and tempests: not a day passes without 
rain, and the gusts of wind are almost perpetual. The barome- 
ter is almost always low ; the magnetic intensity is feeble ; elec- 
trical phenomena are of rare occurrence ; and the winds are ge- 
nerally westerly. 

4. Dr Gerard's Travels in Thibet.—Dr Gerard,the brother of 
Col. Gerard, who has traversed the Himalaya mountains, has just 
visited the valley of Sutlej, and made some curious observations 
at that place, which is the highest inhabited spot on the globe. 
The principal object of his journey was the introduction of vac- 
cination into Thibet ; but it appears that the prejudices of the 
Rajah prevented him from succeeding in that humane enter- 
prise. One of the villages where he stopped was proved to be 
14,700 feet above the level of the sea. At this place, in the 
month of October, the thermometer in the morning marked 


192 Scientific Intelligence — Meteorology. 


16° Fahrenheit, and, during the day, the rays of the sun were 
so hot as to be inconvenient, and yet the waters in the lakes 
and rivers were frozen during the night, but were free from 
ice at two o'clock in the afternoon. By means of artificial ir- 
rigation, and the acticn of solar heat, large quantities of rye 
were raised at this immense height, some of the fields being at 
14,900 feet. Dr Gerard gives his opinion, that cultivation might 
be carried as high as from 16,000 to 17,000 feet. The goats 
bred in this region are the finest in the country, and are of that 
species whose wool is used for the.manufacture of shawls. At 
a height of 15,500 feet, quantities of fossil shells are found on 
calcareous rocks, upon strata of granite and pulverised schist : 
they consist of mussels, and others of various forms and dimen- 
sions. To the north of the frontier of Kinnaour, Dr Gerard 
attained a height of more than 20,000 feet, without crossing 
the perpetual snow. At one o'clock in the afternoon, the ther- 
mometer was at 27° of Fahrenheit. Notwithstanding this ex- 
treme elevation, the action of the sun had an unpleasant ef- 
fect, though in the shade the air was. freezing. The aspect of 
the surrounding regions was sublime and terrible ; and, on the 
frontier, a ridge of snow was perceptible. In these regions, 
which for a long time were inaccessible, Mr Gerard met with 
one of the most intrepid philologists known in Hungary, named 
Cosma de Kerds. This traveller, after advancing towards the 
centre of Asia, arrived at Kinnaour, in Thibet, where he fixed 
himself in the monastery of Kanum, and lived among the monks 
of the Lamaic religion. Aided by a learned Lama, he made 
great progress in the study of the literature of Thibet, and dis- 
covered an encyclopzedia in forty-four volumes, which treated of 
the arts and sciences. The medical part of this large work 
forms five volumes. ‘The art of lithography has been practised 
at the principal city of Thibet from time immemorial, and it 
has been used to display the anatomy of the different parts of 
the human body. It appears that science and letters, flying 
from the tyranny of the caste of the Brahmins, abandoned the 
plains of Hindostan, and took refuge on the mountains of Thi- 
bet, where, until the present time, they remained totally un- 
known to the rest of the world. 


Scientific Intelligence —Hydrography. 193 


HY DROGRAPHY. 


5. Ice-Islands off the Cape of Good Hope.—A remarkable 
debacle has taken place this year among the Antarctic ices. A- 
bout the end of April last, our ships met enormous floating 
masses of ice, about a hundred leagues from the Cape of Good 
Hope. The ship Farquharson being in south latitude 39° 45, 
and 48° 46’ long., saw two ice-islands about 150 feet high, 
and about two miles.in circumference. Their sides were deep- 
ly cut by fissures, in which the ice in some places resembled re- 
fined sugar, in others was not unlike limestone. These islands 
were surrounded with fields of ice, which appeared to have been 
broken from these islands. 

6. Colour of Rivers.—The Rhine in its course from the Alps 
to the Lake Constance is bluish ; after its passage through the 
green waters of the Lake Constance it is e7ass-green ; and after 
repeated mixture with the rivers and streams of the Vorsch- 
weitz, Alsace, and the Black Forest, yellowish green. The 
Main, flowing from the ferruginous rocks and plains of Fran- 
conia, acquires a reddish yellow colour ; during great degrees 
of cold, it becomes greenish blue, owing to the deposition of the 
iron ochre ; and when if it is not coloured yellow, by long con- 
tinued rains, it flows onwards with an amber grey colour. All 
the rivers, of Old Bavaria, which are formed of waters from 
lakes and alpine streams on the Iller, Lech, Iser, and the Inn, 
are bluish green in winter ; in spring grass-green, and in au- 
tumn pale herb-green. 


MINERALOGY. 


7. Impressions of Gems, &c. in Silicecous Sinter.—At the hot 
springs of S. Filippo behind Radicofani, on the borders of the 
Papal States, siliceous sinter is daily depositing in considerable 
quantities. Impressions of gems and coins in this siliceous mi- 
neral, can be obtained in no great length of time, by exposing 
them to the spray of these springs. 

8. Notice of Magnificent Rock-Crystals, and rose-coloured 
Fluor Spar.—About 100 years ago, a great drusy cavity, lined 

OCTOBEK—DECEMBER 1829, N 


194 Scientific Intclliigence.—Mineralogy. 


with rock-crystals, was opened in Zinken, which afforded 1000 
ewt. of rock-crystal, and at that early period produced 30,000 
dollars. One crystal in this magnificent cavity weighed 800 
cwt., others from 400 cwt. to 500 cwt. Within these few 
years, another opening has been made in the rock under the old 
drusy cavity. Last year the work was resumed in August, in 
those places where the snow could be removed, The work 
is now 34 feet advanced. In the course of working, very pre- 
cious and beautiful rose-red octahedral crystals of fluor-spar were 
found in a cavity. The larger crystals were from one to two 
inches in diameter, and infinitely more beautiful than the rose- 
fluor of St Gothard. 

9. Magnificent rose-red Fluor-Spar.—Lardy, in a letter to 
Leonhard, says, that he saw on St Gothard the famous speci- 
men of fluor-spar mentioned by travellers, for which the pro- 
prietor asks 50.louis d’ors. It is an octahedron, with a rich 
rose-red colour, is four inches in diameter, and is formed of an 
ageregate of small octahedrons, or, more correctly, of tetrahe- 
drons. He was shewn at the same place a six-sided prism of 
corundum, distinctly acuminated on the extremities, four inches 
long, and one inch broad. It rests on dolomite. It was offered 
for 15 louis d’ors. In the letter, Lardy mentions that the next 
meeting of the Swiss naturalists is to take place on Mount St 
Bernard. 

10. Price of Selenium.—Selenium is now obtained in such 
quantity from the seleniferous lead-glance, that it may be pur- 
chased perfectly pure, at Harzgerode, at the rate of four louis 
dors the ounce. 


GEOLOGY. 


11. Observations made on Mount Caucasus, by M. Kupfer. 
—M. Gay-Lussac communicated to the Academy of Sciences a 
letter from M. Kupfer, Professor at Casan, dated from the 
Baths of the Caucasus, and containing various physical obser- 
vations made on that mountain. M. Kupfer had with him an 
escort of 600 Russians and 350 Cossacks, which had been 
judged indispensable for his safety in these wild countries. . He 
has succeeded, after much labour, in ascending one of the 
highest peaks of the Caucasus, which is said to exceed Mont 


Scientific Intelligence.—Geology. 195 


Blanc in height by 1000 feet. ‘These observations agree with 
those which M. Gay-Lussac made at the same time. The 
Professor of Casan thinks he may conclude from them, that it 
is impossible to attribute the magnetic virtue of the globe to the 
existence of a central metallic nucleus. 

12. Gigantic fossil Plant of Craigleith Quarry. — About 
three years ago, the workmen in this celebrated sandstone quar- 
ry (from which has been derived nearly all the beautiful free- 
stone with which the New Town of ‘Edinburgh is built) came 
accidentally to uncover what seemed to have been the trunk of 
a lofty tree. It now lay in a position nearly horizontal, and 
conformable to the dip of the sandstone strata. The colour and 
consistence of the trunk, or cast resembling a trunk, differed 
considerably from that of the sandstone in which it was im- 
bedded, and the quarriers easily traced the stem for the length 
of thirty-six feet. At the base it was about nine feet in circum- 
ference ; and it continued proportionally thick throughout, only 
declining slightly in size toward the upper end. It seemed to 
have been a single, unbranched stem; at least no certain symp- 
tom of ramification appeared. The internal structure seemed 
to be uniform, or without any visible distinction of bark, wood, 
and pith, or any trace of concentric layers. This singular spe- 
cimen may therefore be regarded as a gigantic member of the 
Cyperaceze, or of some other family of the Monocotyledonous 
tribe, belonging to the earliest Flora of our world. The greater 
part of this curious specimen was preserved for Mr Ramsay of 
Barnton, the proprietor of the quarry; but some fragments 
were left, and these, fortunately, fell into the hands of the ac- 
tive and ingenious Mr Witham of Lartington. That gentle- 
man had thin sections cut, both transverse and longitudinal ; 
and when these are placed under the microscope, the structure 
of a monocotyledonous plant is distinctly shewn. Mr Witham 
sent a fragment to M. Auguste Brongniart, who has made such 
vegetable remains his peculiar study; and he also pronounced 
the plant to have been monocotyledonous. At Mr Witham’s 
request, likewise, the substance of the stem was submitted to 
analysis by Mr William Nicol ; and 100 parts gave 


nw2 


196 Scientific Intelligence —Geology. 


Carbonate of Lime, F 2 60 
Oxide of Iron, 3 c s 18 
Alumina, 2 i - 4 10 
Carbonaceous matter, .- . 9 
Loss, : ; : : 3 

100 


Lime was, therefore, nearly as abundant in the fossil as silica 
in the containing sandstone rock. 

13. On Tertiary deposites—Marcel de Serres, in his inter- 
esting work on the Tertiary Deposites of the South of France, 
maintains, that, in that quarter, the coarse marine limestone 
(Calcaire grossier) and plastic clay abound. This, however, 
is denied by Cordier, Rozet, and Boué, who are of opinion, 
that these rocks are entirely awanting there, for there we have 
the Mediterranean basin, in which all the tertiary rocks are 
newer than the coarse marine limestone, and commence with the 
blue clay. The great basins of Wallachia, Bessarabia, Gallicia, 
Hungary, Austria, Bavaria, and Switzerland, belong to this sys- 
tem. Indeed, Dr Boué remarks, in a letter to Professor Jameson, 
“ that the plastic clay, and coarse marine limestone of Paris, exist 
only at Paris, and, perhaps, alsoin England, and at a few points 
in Northern Germany, at Cassel, Helmstadt, Evessen, &c. 
Elsewhere no such formations exist, for all the lignite, or brown- 
coal deposites, in other countries, occur in the upper tertiary 
formations ; and all which Brongniart and others have classified 
as coarse marine limestone in various parts of Europe belong 
decidedly to the same upper tertiary formation, which is Boué’s 


second tertiary limestone, or the calcaire moellon of Marcel des. 


Serres. The coral-limestone of the tertiary basins of Austria, 
Hungary, and Gallicia, according to new observations, lies, not 
below, but above the blue sub-Appennine clay. This deposite 
occurs in the same situation in the Manche, Tourraine, and 
Lower Brittany; and the coral limestone of Vienna, according 
to C. Prevost, takes the same position in the tertiary series.” 

14. Chalk in the United States.—Dr Morton of Philadelphia 
has transmitted to Paris a Memoir on the Chalk and Green- 
sand he has discovered in the United States. It will appear in 
the Annales des Sciences Naturelles of Brongniart. 


ee 


Scientific Intelligence.—Geology. 197 


15. Number of Species of Fossil Shells in the Paris Basin.— 
M. Deshayes, in a note to the French Academy of Sciences, in- 
timates, that the total number of species of fossil shells in the 
Paris Basin determined until this time is 1200. 

16. More Caves containing Bones of extinct Animals mixed 
with works of art.—M. Marcel des Serres has discovered several 
new caves, containing bones of extinct animals buried along with 
works of art. These caves, few in number, occur in the south-west 
of the department of Herault; at a short distance from the town of 
Bize. The bones, which are very numerous, belong chiefly to 
the Ursus speleus and Ursus arctoideus. The works of art 
found along with these are fragments of very coarse and imper- 
fectly made pottery. All these bones and fragments of pottery, 
irregularly mixed together, are contained in a red mud, which 
also incloses small rolled fragments of rocks, of various kinds. 
This mud is analogous to that which occurs in other caves in 
different parts of Europe, and which contains only the remains 
of extinct animals. Dr Boué, we observe, has just read a com- 
munication on this subject to the French Academy. In 1823 
he found at Lahr, in what he considers marly diluvium, human 
bones. Cuvier, to whom these remains were shewn, agreed 
that they were human, but conjectured they might have been 
from some very ancient burying-ground. During the present 
year, our active friend has again visited this place, which+is on 
the Rhine, and is more convinced than ever that they are of 
equal antiquity with the remains of antediluvian animals found 
in the same beds of marly diluvium,—while others contend, 
from the marl occurring on the banks of a river, that it may be 
of comparatively recent origin. As the subject will now under- 
go a thorough examination, it may be worth while to mention, 
that Schlotheim, Donati, Germar, Razoumouski, and Guittard, 
in their writings, mention their having found human bones along 
with remains of antediluvian animals. Cordier, we are in- 
formed, will soon publish a memoir on this curious subject. 

17. Natural History Society of Switzerland.—The first vo- 
lume of the Memoirs of the Natural History Society of Switzer- 
land is about to leave the press. It contains two very interest- 
ng memoirs on the Jura by Merian an 1 Rengger, one by Lusser 


198 Scientific Intelligence—Botany. 


on the Urner Mountains, and also a description of the Bones of 
Kupfnach, by Schinz. 

18. Bones of the Paleotheriwm in Molasse-—The sandstone 
of Ballingen, on the upper Zurich Lake, contains bones and teeth 
of the Palzotherium. This ‘sandstone, which is tertiary, and 
a variety of the molasse formation, was formerly referred to 
the secondary class. 

19. Geognostical situation of the great deposite of Lead- 
glance and Calamine in Silesia.—It is now perfectly ascertain- 
ed, that this extensive deposite occurs in a variety of the shell 
limestone, particularly abundant in’ fossil shells. Lead-glance 
also occurs in the shell-limestone of Wurtemberg and West- 
phalia, and calamine in the same formation, in the Nekar circle 
in Baden. 

BOTANY. 

20. Oak-Trees liable to be struck by Lightning.—In Den- 
mark, where there are considerable tracts covered with oak and 
beech trees, it is remarked, that the oaks are struck with light- 
ning twenty times for once the beeches are struck. It is con- 
jectured by some observers, that this circumstance is to be traced 
to the forms of the two species of trees. 

21. Potato at a great height on the Mountain Orizaba.— 
MM. Schiede and Deppe, in a letter to Baron A. Humboldt, 
giving an account of their ascent of the great volcano of Ori- 
zaba in Mexico, mention that they found the potato in a wild 
state, at a height of 10,000 feet above the level of the sea. It 
was about 34 inches high, with large blue flowers, and tubers 
or potatoes the size of a hazel-nut. 

22. Method of detecting the adulteration of Tea.—The Chi- 
nese frequently mix the leaves of other shrubs with those of 
the tea-plant ; this fraud is easily discovered by adding to an 
infusion of it a grain and a half of sulphate of iron. If it is 
true green tea, the solution placed between the eye and the 
light assumes a pale bluish tint ; if it is dohea tea, the solution 
is blue, inclining to black, but if it is adulterated, it shews all 
the colours, yellow, green, and black.—Desmarest’s Chemie Re- 
creative. 

23. Culture of the Vine at Mextco.—The Botanic Garden of 
Geneva possesses a collection of more than 600 varieties of 


Scientific Intelligence.— Botany. * 199 


vines, collected from different vineyards in France, Switzerland, 
and Italy. In the month of November 1827, a selection of the 
best varieties was sent to Mr L. Alaman, one of the principal 
proprietors in the Mexican United States. He planted them 
on his lands in the state of Guanaxuato, and writes that a hun- 
dred and five stocks are in full vegetation. He adds, that, on 
the elevated plain of Mexico, the same inconvenience is not ex- 
perienced in the cultivation of the vine which arrests its cultiva- 
tion at Cayenne, and in several parts of the United States : 
namely, that the grapes of the same cluster ripen unequally. 
At Mexico, they ripen together as in Europe, and it is to be 
presumed, that this cultivation, which was formerly prohibited by 
the Spanish Government, might be established there, the climate 
resembling that of Murcia or Rome. If these hopes are realized, 
it will be curious that the Botanic Garden of Geneva should have 
been the means of furnishing these plants to South America. 
It will be recollected that it was the Paris garden that supplied 
Martinique with the coffee plants, from which originated all 
the coffee plantations in America ; and that, in our own days, it 
has sent the bread-fruit tree to Cayenne, where it is now exten- 
sively cultivated. Facts like these, evidently demonstrate the 
practical utility of these establishments, which are commonly 
looked upon as exclusively subservient to theoretical studies. 


ZOOLOGY. 


24. Periodical appearance of shoals of Herrings, in Loch 
Roag.—Loch Roag, in the Western Islands, is one of the lar- 
gest arms of the sea called lochs. Its jaws’are about 6 miles 
wide, and it runs up through the island of Lewis for about 12 
miles. The shores of the loch, following its windings, would 
measure not less than 40 miles. In westerly gales, the Atlantic 
swell rushes into it with great fury ; but there are many little 
islands in it, which afford shelter to shipping, so that the loch 
abounds with places of safe anchorage. The finest and purest 
kelp used to be manufactured on the rocky shores of this 
loch, as evinced by its fetching at Newcastle generally a guinea 
per ton more than the kelp of any other Highland district. 
Before the middle of the 18th century, Loch Roag was the 
most celebrated herring-fishery station on the north-west coast 


200 Scientific Intelligence.— Zoology. 


of Scot.ana; the Loch Roag herrings being accounted the 
largest and richest of all. Swedish vessels used to rendezvous 
in the loch, and buy up the herrings at 1s. a crane, 2. e, a barrel of 
green fish as taken out of the net.. Soon after 1750, the her- 
rings abandoned Loch Roag, and for five and thirty years none 
were seen in it. About 1790, the shoals began again to revisit 
the loch; and for several years after that date very large and 
fine herrings were taken in it, during the months of November, 
December and January. In the course of the season of 1794, 
no fewer than 90 sail of decked vessels entered the loch, and the 
whole herrings captured, were bought up from the country 
fishers at the high rate of about half-a-guinea a crane. (Statis- 
tical Account of Scotland, vol. xix. p. 252). About 1797 the 
herrings once more bade adieu to Loch Roag, and no shoal has 
entered its precincts till the present autumn, when, after the 
lapse of 32 years, their presence was again witnessed, to the 
great joy of the parishioners of Uig. Mr Alexander Campbell, 
light-house keeper at Isle of Glass, writes to Mr Stevenson, civil 
engineer, on 31st October 1829, “* There is this season a tolerably 
good fishing of herrings and cod on the east and west coast of 
Long Island : even in Loch Roag a quantity have been caught, 
where there have been no herrings for these thirty years past. 
At that time back, this loch was the first in the Highlands for 
herrings of a large size.” 

25. Notice’ of’ the Comparative Anatomist, Bojanus.—This 
unfortunate man was not only one of the most skilful anato- 
mists of our time, as is shewn by his great work on the Anato- 
my of the Tortoise—a work which has never been surpassed,—but 
was also deeply versed in the philosophy of this important de- 
partment of natural history. He died at Darmstadt, in ‘the 
month of April 1827, in the vigour of life, at the age of fifty- 
one. His beloved wife, who watched and tended him with 
measureless affection, was separated from him by a sudden death, 
an event which hastened his dissolution. His last hours were 
soothed by the devoted kindness of his sister. He suffered un- 
der a fistula of the back, which penetrated to his lungs, and the 
bones also were probably corroded. He could stand, but with 
the greatest difficulty—he could not sit erect—and was almost 


Scientific Intellig ence.— Zoology. 201 


deprived of the use of his limbs; and yet, in defiance of mental 
agony and bodily pain, he continued, and apparently with undi- 
minished vigour, his philosophic labours. The frightful disease 
he laboured under was caught at Wilna, in one of those dismal, 
cold, and damp apartments so often used for anatomical pur- 
poses. No biography of this remarkable man, as far as we 
know, has hitherto appeared. He was born at Buchsweiller, in 
Alsace, at that time belonging to Hesse Darmstadt. During the 
revolution he emigrated with his father, an officer in the Hessian 
service, to Darmstadt,—studied at Jena, and afterwards was 
appointed Professor of Veterinary Medicine in the University of 
Wilna, of which, for twenty years, he was a principal ornament. 
In the year 1818 he returned to Germany, on a visit to his rela- 
tions and friends at Jena, Weimar, and Darmstadt, with the 
title of University Counsellor, and Knight of the order of 
Wladmir. On his return, he took with him, from Jena, an 
engraver, Lehman, to engrave the plates from his own draw- 
ings, for his great work, De Anatomia Test. Europ. Fol. for 
in Wilna there were no engravers, and the engraved plates 
had to be sent to Petersburgh to be cast off. These inconve- 
~niences occasioned an expence of many thousand dollars, for 
which he received no return, as in the year 1825, fifty copies 
only of the work had sold. | Six copies: were sent to Britain; 
and of these, one copy reached Edinburgh. 

26. Royal Medal presented to Mr Charles Bell—Our distin- 
guished countryman Charles Bell, whose very important and 
beautiful discoveries in regard to the nervous system have raised 
him to the highest rank as an original and profound anatomist 
and physiologist, has just received from the Royal Society of 
London the first royal medal, as a testimony of the important 
services he has rendered to science by his discoveries. 

27. Anatomical, Physiological, and Pathological Researches, in 
regard to Veins—M. Dupuytren has just made a very favour- 
able report to the French Institute, in regard to M. Breschet’s 
work on the veins of the bones. The veins of bones were entirely 
unknown about twenty years ago; at least they were only ad- 
mitted as a necessary consequence of the laws of organization, for 


no facts or researches had then proved their existence. It was 
4 


202 Scientific Intelligence.— Zoology. 


about this time that MM. Fleury and Chaussier, and Breschet, 
discovered the veins of bones. For the first time veins were seen 
penetrating the diploe, under the form of canals, with ‘osseous 
walls, equally incapable of dilatation, contraction, or change of 
place. It was discovered that the blood could circulate in these 
canals, without the aid of the action of their sides, but solely by 
the impulsion of the arterial blood into that of the veins, or by 
a kind of inherent power of absorption of this latter order of 
vessels. The veins of the flat bones of the cranium, of the 
shoulders, and of the pelvis, those of the ends of the principal 
long bones, were alone only known at that time, so that much 
remained to be discovered. Such was the state of the subject 
when Breschet resumed researches which had been abandoned 
for along time. Breschet has confirmed all previous observa- 
tions, and traced veins through all the other bones in which they 
had not been detected. His investigations have made us almost 
as completely acquainted with the veins of the bones as we are 
with the arteries of the bones. But Breschet has not confined 
his researches to the veins of the bones; he has extended them 
to the veins which serve to co-ordinate the first to the general 
venous system. Here we place his researches into the veins of 
the interior surface of the brain, of the surface and interior of 
the rachis,—labours which alone would have conferred high 
distinction on many anatomists. Such is a general statement of 
the facts and discoveries which form the basis of this very ori- 
ginal work, now in the progress of publication. 

28. Cross of the Anas clangula and Mergus albellus.—Yn- 
spector Eimbeck of Brunswick exhibited, at the meeting of 
naturalists in Berlin, a bird, which appears intermediate between 
the Anas clangula and Mergus albellus. Some of the natural- 
ists present were disposed to consider it a cross of the two species 
—others to view it as a distinct species. It was shot in the sum- 
mer of 1828, near to Brunswick. 

29. Remarkable Birth.—A few days ago, a poor man’s wife 
at Rowdle was confined, and attended by Dr Clark. She had 
three children : the first natural ; the second had four hands and 
four feet. ‘The woman and infants are all dead. The third 


died before the birth.—Extracted from letter from Alexander 
3 


ss 


Scientific [ ntelligence.— Zoology. 203 


Campbell, light-house-keeper at Isle of Glass, to Mr Stevenson, 
engineer for Northern Lights.—31st October 1829. 

80. Thompson’s Zoological Illustrations.—The third num- 
ber of Dr Thompson’s ‘“ Zoological Illustrations and Re- 
searches” is nearly ready for publication. It contains a memoir 
on the Cirripedes or Barnacles, shewing their deceptive charac- 
ter, the remarkable metamorphoses they undergo, and proving 
that they belong to the class Crustacea. The same number 
also contains observations on the genus Nebalia of the class 
‘Crustacea, with an illustrative plate. In volume 6th of the 
new series of this Journal, at page 398, we noticed from the 
Zoological Journal, the discovery in the Caribbean Seas, by Mr 
Landsdoun Guilding, of a new species of recent Encrinus. Mr 
Thompson, in the present number of his Illustrations, however, 
as we are informed, has proved it to be a Comatula, and main- 
tains that no crinoidal animal has been found since he discovered 
the Pentacrinus europeus. We may add, that Heusinger, 
who is about to publish his observations on the Comatulz of 
the Mediterranean, is disposed to consider Dr Thompson’s Pen- 
tacrinus as a species of Comatula. 

31. The third volume of Pol’s great work, and on the ani- 
mal of Argonauta Argo.—The well-known Professor Stefano 
delle Chiage, a scholar of Poli, will, we understand, publish 
the continuation of that celebrated naturalist’s work under the 
title Poli Testac. utr. Sic. tom. iil., cum additamentis et anno- 
tationibus, Stephani delle Chiage. Carus, who paid Chiage a 
visit some time ago, saw several of the engraved plates of the 
work ; one of them, which displayed the shape, anatomy, and 
ova of the Argonauta Argo, he considered particularly interest- 
ing, because it exhibited, in embryo, within the ovum, the ru- 
diments of the shell in which the animal lives, by which the 
question, whether the delicate shell in which the animal lives is 
its own or one foreign to it, is most satisfactorily answered. 

32. Humming Bird and Insects at a great height on the Vol- 
cano of Orizaba.—Schiede and Deppe, on their ascent of Orizaba, 
observed, at a height of 10,000 feet above the sea, the Humming 
Bird (Trochilus) flying round the orange-coloured flowers of 
the Castilligen. Ata height between 14,000 and 15,000 feet, 
on the same mountain, above the region of grasses, &c. they 


204 Scientific Intelligence.— Zoology. 


found, under a block of porphyry, many moths, some dead, 
others alive, which appear to have been carried upwards into 
this snowy region by an ascending current of air. In the same 
dreary region, a live species of beetle was found, which, from 
its nature, must be considered a native of this lofty situation. 

33. Spur on the wing of the Rallus Crex.—The wing of the 
Rallus Crex, or Corncraik, is-furnished with a spur, as is the 
case with a good many other birds mentioned in a former Num- 
ber of this Journal. 

34. An Electrical Molluscous Animal.—My Calder mentioned 
to the Asiatic Society of Calcutta, a molluscous animal, which 
has the property of giving electric shocks, like the torpedo and 
gymnotus; but neither genus nor species of the animal is no- 
ticed. We hope Mr Collier will inquire after the animal, and 
let us know what it is. 

35. Species of Mussel exclusively employed as Bait in the 
Newfoundland Cod Fishery.—The utility of the inhabitants of 
shells (shell-fish) to mankind is well known. ‘The following 
fact, as it is connected with an important branch of commerce, 
is a further proof of the value of these animals in an econo- 
mical point of view. It was communicated to M. Sander Rang 
by Bellanger, the captain of a French frigate, and is inserted in 
Sang’s valuable work on the Mollusca. The captain, endea- 
vouring to ascertain how it happened that the French cod-fishers 
on the Banks of Newfoundland were not so successful as the 
Americans, discovered that it was owing tothese latter employing, 
asa bait, the animal of a species of mya (mussel), which abounds 
on several parts of the American coast ; and he was the more con- 
firmed in the truth of this fact, by observing that the French 
fishers, towards the conclusion of the season, purchased from 
the Americans the remaining portions of their bait, in order that 
they might the more speedily complete their cargo. Bellanger, 
who is well versed in conchology, examined this mya very care- 
fully, and found that it was a species met with abundantly on the 
coasts of the French channel. ‘To our readers interested in the 
kinds of bait used in the Newfoundland fishery, we recommend 
the perusal of Mr Cormack’s valuable communication, vol. 1. 
of the New Series of this Journal. 


Edin new Phil. Jou! Vel .8.pZ0h,. 


PLATE I 


oy 


Wi \ 
Ll 


(wl 


Gj A 
ao = 


——————— 


EMitchell feubp. 


Published bv A Black din! 1850 


— | 


Scientific Intelligence.—Arts. 205 


ARTS. 


36. Improvement in the Smelting of Iron.—Heated air for 
blast furnaces has been used for some time at the Clyde Iron- 
Works, and with great success. Experiments have proved that 
iron is smelted by heated air, with three-fourths of the quantity 
of coals required, when cold air, that is, air not artificially 
heated, is employed for that purpose, while the produce of the 
furnace in iron, is at the same time, greatly increased. All the 
furnaces at Clyde Iron- Works are now blown with it. At these 
works the air, before it is thrown into the blast-furnaces, is 
heated 220° of Fahr. in cast-iron vessels placed on furnaces, si- 
milar to those of steam-engine boilers. It is expected that a 
higher temperature than 220° will be productive of a propor- 
tionally increased effect. But this is the subject of experiment. 
It is supposed that this improvement will accomplish a saving 
in the cost of the iron in Great Britain, to the amount of at 
least L. 200,000 a-year. 

37. Artificial Ultramarine.—In preparing this pigment, we 
must be careful that the mass of silicated natron and alumina is 
as moist as possible. If it is too much dried before the addi- 
tion of the sulphur, we will wait in vain for the appearance of 
the blue colour ; even a greenish-blue tint will not shew itself. 
But one and the same mass affords different kinds of ultrama- 
rine, which must be separated from each other by repeated 
washing. Gmelin remarks, that the success of the operation 
appears to depend on the co-operation of the air.—Hermstadt. 


List of Patents granted in England from 2d July to 15th Sep- 
tember 1829. 


1829, 
July 2. To E. Gattoway, Southwark, for “ improvements in steam-en- 
gines and machinery for propelling vessels.” 
To J. Perxins, London, engineer, for ‘“‘ improvements in ma- 
chinery for propelling steam-vessels.” 
To 'T. Kersy, Wakefield, York, and H. F. Bacon, Leeds, “ for 
their new or improved gas-lamp burner.” 
4. 'To R. Crabtree, Halesworth, Suffolk, “ for his machine or appara- 
tus for propelling carriages, vessels, and locomotive bodies.” 


206 List of English Patents. 


July 4, To M. Know tes, Surrey, for “ an improved method of construct- 
ing and forming ceilings and partitions for dwelling-houses, ware- 
houses, work-shops, or other buildings, in order to render the 
same more secure against fire.” 

To G. K. Scuttrnorrr, Middlesex, gent. for “‘ improvements on 
axles or axle-trees, and coach and other springs.” 

To J. C. DannrEt1, Bradford, Wilts, clothier, for “‘ improvements 
in machinery applicable to dressing woollen cloth.” 

8. To W. Ramszottom, Manchester, for “ improvements in power- 
looms for weaving cloth.” 

To W. Leeson, Birmingham, for “ improvements in harness and 
saddlery, part of which improvements are applicable to other pur- 
poses.” 

To M. Poot, Lincoln’s Inn, Middlesex, for “‘ improvements in 
harness and saddlery, part of which improvements are applicable 
to other purposes.” 

To M. Poors, Lincoln’s Inn, Middlesex, for ‘‘ improvements in 
the apparatus for raising or generating steam and currents of air, 
and for the application thereof’ to locomotive engines, and other 
purposes.” 

9. To T. Satmon, Stoke-ferry, Norfolk, for “ his improved malt- 
kiln.” 

25. To G. Straker, South Shields, for “‘ an improvement in ships’ wind- 
lasses.” 

To L. Queti1n, London, for “ his improved vehicle, or combina- 
tion of vehicles, for the carriage or conveyance of passengers and 
luggage.” 

To F. H. N. Drake, Esq. Colyton House, Devon, for “‘ improve- 
ments in tiles for covering houses, and other buildings.” 

To J. Nicholls, Pershall, Stafford, for “ improvements in the lever, 
and the application of its power.” 

To J. BatEs, Bishopsgate Street, merchant, for “ his improved me- 
thod of constructing steam-boilers or generators, whereby the 
bulk of the boiler or generator, and the consumption of fuel, are 
reduced. 

30. To J. Hurcuinson, Liverpool, for “ improvements in machinery 
for spinning cotton, silk, linen, woollen, and other fibrous sub- 
stances.” 

Aug. 1. To J. BaTEs, of Bishopsgate Street-within, for “ his new process 
or method of whitening sugar.” 

3. To N. Jocetyn, London, late of North America, for “ improve- 
ments in the preparation for manufacture of blank forms for 
bankers’ checks, bills of exchange, promissory-notes, post-bills, 
and other similar instruments, or securities for the exchange of 
payments of moneys, by which forgeries and alterations in the 
same are prevented or detected.” 

5. To J. Bartey, Leicester, frame.smith, for “ improvements in ma- 
chinery for making lace.” 


List of English Patents. 207 


Aug. 5. To J. Brown, Birmingham, coach-maker, for “‘ his improved coach, 
particularly adapted for public conveyance and luggage.” 

10. To W. Suanp, Esq. Burn, Kincardineshire, for “ improvements 
in distillation and evaporation.” 

J. J. Macieop, Esq. Westminster, for “ improvements in prepar- 
ing or manufacturing certain substances so as to produce barilla.” 

11. To J. Rowrann, London, and C. Macmiztian, London, for 
“‘ their improved process or mode of constructing, forming, or 
making streetways, carriage-roads, and high-ways in general.” 

To J. H. Rotre, Cheapside, musical-instrument maker, for “ im- 
provements upon the self-acting piano. forte.” 

14. To E. Wrerxs, King’s Road, Chelsea, for “‘ improvements in and 
upon certain apparatus, already known for the communicating of 
heat, by means of the circulation of fluid.” 

20. To J. Musuer, Regent Park, for “a certain medicine for gouty 
affections of the stomach, spasms, cramps, inflammations of the 
lungs, coughs, beyond any other medicine or application in like 
cases.” 

21. To J. Jones, Leeds, for “‘ improvements in machinery. or appara- 
tus for dressing and finishing woollen cloths. 

To Lieut. W. Rocrr, London, for “ improvements in the con- 
struction of anchors.” 

Sept. 2. To G. H. Manton, London, gunmaker, for “‘ an improvement in 
the construction of locks for all kinds of fowling-pieces and fire- 
arms.” 

To J. Tucker, Middlesex, brewer, for improvements in the con- 
struction of cannon. 

9. To T. S. BranpretH, Liverpool, for ‘a new method of applying 
animal power to machinery.” 

To J. A. Fonzi, Middlesex, for “ improvements on fire-places.” 

To J. Loames, jun. of Wheeler Street, Spitalfields, soapmaker, for 
‘a new preparation or manufacture of a certain material pro- 
duced from a vegetable substance, and the application thereof to 
the purposes of applying light, and other uses. 

To J. Morean, Tipton, Stafford, for “ a method of preparing iron- 
plates, or black plates for tinning.” 

Sept. 9. To Colonel R. Torrens, Croyden, Surrey, for “ an apparatus for 
the purpose of communicating power and motion.” 

15. To D. Laurence, Strood, and J. C. Asurorn, gunmakers, Kent, 
for “ their improvements in apparatus to be applied to fowling- 
pieces and other fire-arms, in place of locks.’ 

To Captain G. Harris, R. N. Brompton, Middlesex, for “ his 
improvements in the manufacture of ropes and cordage, canvas, 
and other fabrics or articles, from substances hitherto unused for 
that purpose. 

To J. Mitye, Edinburgh, architect, for “a machine or engine for 
dressing stones used in masonry, by the assistance of a steam-en- 
gine, a winch, a horse, or water power, whereby a great quan- 
tity of manual labour will be saved. 


( 208 ) 


List of Patents granted in Scotland from 16th September to 


1829, 


Sept. 16. 


bo 
qr 
: 


Oct. 28. 
Nov. 3. 
6. 


6th December 1829. 


To Wiiz1amM ‘Poot of the parish of St Michael on the Mount, in 
the city of Lincoln, smith, for “ certain improvements in ma- 
chinery for propelling vessels, and giving motion to mills, and 
other machinery.” 


. To Exrzan Gatxoway of King Street, in the burgh of Southwark, 


engineer, for “* certain improvements in steam-engines, and in ma- 
chinery for propelling bina which improvements are appli- 
cable to other purposes.” 

To Joserpn ANGE Fonzi of Upper Marylebone Street, in the 
county of Middlesex, Esq. for “ certain improvements on, or ad- 
ditions, to fire-places.” 

To Joun Tucker of Hammersmith, in the county of Middlesex, 
brewer, for “‘ certain improvements in the construction of can- 

non.” 

To Davip LawrEnce of Strood, and Joann CrunpDwE Lt of Ash- 
ford, gunmakers, both in the county of Kent, for “ certain im- 
provements in apparatus to be applied to fowling-pieces, and other 
fire-arms, in place of locks.” 

To Josava Bates of Bishopsgate Street-within, in the city of Lon- 
don, merchant, for au invention, in consequence of a communica~ 
tion made to him by a certain foreigner residing abroad, “ of a 
new process or method of whitening sugars.” 

To Josuva Bates of Bishopsgate Street-within, in the city of Lon- 
don, merchant, for an invention, in consequence of a communica- 
tion made to him by a certain foreigner residing abroad, ‘“* of an 
improved method of constructing steam-boilers or generators, 
whereby the bulk of the boiler or generator, and the consumption 
of fuel, are considerably reduced.” 

To Ross Winans of Vernon, in the county of Suiéex, and of the 
province of New Jersey, in the United States of North America, 
presently residing in London, for “* certain improvements in dimi- 
nishing friction in wheel-carriages, to be used on rail-roads; and 
which improvements are applicable to other purposes.” 

To Wirriam Suanp of the Burn, in the county of Kincardine, Esq. 
for “ a certain improvement or improvements in distillation.” 
To Wiri14Mm RoneceEr of Norfolk Street, Strand, in the county of 
Middlesex, Lieutenant in the Navy, for “‘ certain improvements 

in the construction of anchors.” 

To Cuartes TurnER Sturtevant of Hackney, in the county of 
Middlesex, soap-boiler, for “ certain improvements in the pro- 
cess of manufacturing soap.” 


SS ee ee ee ee eee 


THE 
EDINBURGH NEW 
PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL. 


Biographical Memoir of Sir Bensamin Tuomson, Count 
| Rumford. By Baron Cuvier *. 


a 


Bensamr Tuomson, more commonly known by his German 
title of Count Rumford, was born in 1753, in the English Co- 
lonies of North America, at a place then called Rumford, and 
at present Concord, belonging to the State of New Hamp- 
shire. His family, which was of English origin, cultivated 
some lands there ; and he himself has said that he should pro- 
bably have remained in the humble condition of his parents, 
had he not in childhood been deprived of the little means they 
were able to bequeath to him. ‘Thus, like many other eminent 
literary characters, it was to early misfortune that he owed his 
subsequent good fortune and celebrity. 

His father died young. His mother having married again, 
he was separated from her by his stepfather 5 and his grand- 
father, from whom alone he had any thing to expect, had dis- 
posed of all that he possessed in favour of a younger son, and 
left him in almost complete destitution. 

There is nothing more calculated to induce a premature de- 
velopment of intellect than such a condition as this. The young 
Thomson attached himself to a clergyman of learning, who un- 
dertook to prepare him for the mercantile profession, by giving 
him a smattering of mathematics. But the good minister also 

* Read to the Institute of France. 

JANUARY—APRIL 1830. 0 


210 Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford. 


spoke sometimes to him of astronomy, and his lessons in that 
science benefitted his pupil more than he had foreseen. 

The young man brought him one day the plan of an eclipse, 
which he had traced according to a method which had suggest- 
ed itself to him on reflecting upon his master’s discourses. It 
was found to be singularly accurate, and this success induced 
him to abandon all for science. 

In Europe, the sciences might have afforded him some re- 
compense ; but, at that period, there was none in New Hamp- 
shire. Fortunately for him, he had obtained from nature what 
ensures a favourable reception at all periods and in all countries, 
a fine figure, and dignified and gentle manners. They procured 
for him, at the age of nineteen, the hand of a rich widow ; and 
the poor scholar, at the moment when he least expected, be- 
came one of the great personages of the colony. 

His good fortune was not of long duration. The discontent 
which the conduct of the Ministry and Parliament had, for ten 
years past, so imprudently cherished, now rose to the greatest 
extremity. The Government resolved on war, and New Hamp- 
shire was destined to be its first seat. 

In the night of the 18th April 1775, the royal troops, march- 
ing from Boston, after having fought a first battle at Lexington, 
proceeded toward Concord ; but, being presently assailed by a 
furious multitude, were obliged to betake themselves tu their 
garrison. Mrs Thomson’s family was attached to the govern- 
ment by important offices. Her husband, young as he was, 
had himself received from it some marks of confidence. His 
personal opinions, besides, led him to support the government. 
Thus it was natural that he should join the ministerial party 
with all the fervour of his age, and freely participate in its 
chances. He therefore retired to Boston with the army, and in 
such haste, that he was obliged to leave at Concord his wife, 
who was far advanced in pregnancy. Having afterwards to 
move from place to place, he never saw her again, nor was it 
until after a period of twenty years that he met the daughter to 
which she gave birth a few days after his departure. 

It was undoubtedly an evil of not less magnitude to fight 
against his countrymen ; but perhaps he did not view it as such, 
and that evil we shall only lament, without venturing to impute to 


Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford. 211 


him any blame. During the cruel period from which we have 
just emerged *, when almost all the states of Europe saw their 
citizens serving under opposite colours, each asserted that he 
was fighting for his country ; and the chance of arms itself, 
which is the universal umpire, has not terminated this kind of 
contest. Fortunately, honour and fidelity are points respecting 
which there are no disputes, and in those happy moments, when 
reason, induced by exhaustion, at length puts an end to the 
bloody quarrels of nations, honour and fidelity rally all the vir- 
tuous and brave. 

Mr Thomson remained firmly attached to the royal govern- 
ment, and served it with courage and address, whether in the 
field of battle or in the cabinet; but he did not participate in 
all the mad schemes of some of its partisans. Those against 
whom he fought always respected him, and of this feeling he 
received a very honourable proof at the end of the war, when 
several cities of the United States sent him urgent invitations to 
return. 

It is well known that one of Washington’s first exploits was 
to compel the English troops to evacuate Boston, on the 24th 
March 1776. Mr Thomson was employed to carry the news of 
this unfortunate affair to London. Missions of this kind are 
not generally such as procure rewards; but the prepossessing 
appearance of the young officer, and the accuracy and extent of 
the information which he gave, made a favourable impression 
on Lord George Sackville, then Secretary of State for the 
American department, and so celebrated for the misfortunes of 
his administration. He thought he had made a good acquisi- 
tion by attaching such a man to his office, and having received 
abundant proofs of his talents and fidelity, raised him, in 1780, 
to the important post of under Secretary of State. 

This appointment would have been a very advantageous one 
under a more able minister ; but Mr Thomson soon experienced 
the most painful feeling that can affect an honourable man, that 
of the incapacity of his benefactor. The royal army seemed 
condemned to every kind of misfortune. Public opinion pro- 
nounced more decidedly against the ministers. ‘To the re- 


* The period of the Revolution. 


212 Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford. 


proaches which their imprudence might have merited, calum- 
nies were added, as always happens when men in place are un- 
successful. Mr Thomson saw himself about to become the 
object of some of these imputations. He perceived that a des- 
perate cause can only be served with honour by serving it at 
the peril of one’s life, and he returned to the army, where he 
obtained the command of a division. This was at the commence- 
ment of 1782. The English were confined to Charleston, and 
reduced to a war of posts. Mr 'Fhomson re-organised their ca- 
valry, led it in several encounters, and had still such opportuni- 
ties enough of distinguishing himself in the course of this cam- 
paign, that he was appointed to contribute to the defence of 
Jamaica, then threatened by the combined fleets of France and 
Spain; but the defeat of Count de Grasse averted the danger, 
and soon after peace was proclaimed, which put a close to Mr 
Thomson’s military career. 

Nothing could have happened to him so contrary to all his 
inclinations and hopes of advancement. He was thirty years of 
age, held the rank of colonel, enjoyed a high degree of reputa- 
tion, and was ardently attached to his profession. He consi- 
dered war so peculiarly suited to his genius, that seeing no ap- 
pearance of it anywhere excepting between Austria and the 
Turks, he determined on offering his services to the Em- 
peror. But his good destiny had decided ditferently from his 
inclination. When at Munich, on his journey, he found an op- 
portunity of entering into a more advantageous although more 
pacific service. The ideas of his earlier years revived, and he 
was soon brought back to the sciences and the application of 
them, as to his true vocation. 

He had never entirely forsaken them. In 1777, at the com- 
mencement of his residence in London, he had made curious ex- 
periments on the cohesion of bodies. In 1778, he had under- 
taken others on the force of gunpowder, which procured him ad- 
mittance into the Royal Society ; and, in 1779, he had embarked 
in the English fleet, chiefly with the view of repeating his ex- 
periments on a great scale. But, perhaps, amid the distrac- 
tions of his military station, and even in the leisure of a private 
condition, he would only have made isolated trials, without a 
constant object, and without great results. He looked upon the 


Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford. 215 


sciences from a new point of view, when he required their as- 
sistance in a great military and civil administration. The states- 
man remembered that he was a natural philosopher and geome- 
trician. His genius had assisted in establishing his credit ; he 
employed his reputation to second his genius; and in this man- 
ner each new service that he rendered to the country which had 
attached him to itself, produced some discovery, and each dis- 
covery that he made enabled him to render some new service. 

It was the late king who gave Mr Thomson to Bavaria. 
The young colonel, on his way to Vienna, passing through 
Strasburg, where the Prince Maximilian de Deux-Ponts, after- 
wards King of Bavaria, commanded a regiment, presented. him- 
self at parade on horseback, and in his uniform. At this time 
the whole conversation of the military turned on the American 
campaigns. It was natural for them to be desirous of hearing 
an English officer speak on the subject ; he was therefore intro- 
duced to the prince, when some French officers were present, 
who had served in the opposite army. The manner in which he 
described what he had seen, the plans he showed, the original 
ideas he threw out, were a proof that Mr Thomson was a man 
of no ordinary acquirements; and the prince, knowing that he 
was to pass through Munich, gave him strong recommendations 
to his uncle, the reigning elector. 

Charles Theodore, who, from being a mere prince of Sulz- 
bach, had become, by the successive extinction of the chief 
branches of the Palatine house, sovereign of two electorates, was, 
in many respects, worthy of this favour of fortune. He was a 
man of intellect and education, and displayed a taste for science, 
and for all that announced greatness of mind: he encouraged 
the arts in his dominions, built beautiful palaces, and founded 
the Academy of Manheim. If he did not adopt in his govern- 
ment those maxims of philanthropy and toleration which now 
prevail in the counsels of princes, it is to be attributed to the 
epoch in which he received his education, an epoch in which 
Louis XIV. passed in Germany for the model and ideal of a 
perfect monarch. We have already said, and we shall see 
still more plainly in the sequel, that Mr Thomson’s ideas were 
much of the same nature. He could not therefore fail to esteem 
the Elector, nor the Elector him; and, in fact, after the first 


214 Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford. 


interview, he received the offer of an appointment, and resolved 
to have no other master. 

He travelled, therefore, rapidly to Vienna, and hastened to 
return to London, to obtain permission to enter into the service 
of Bavaria. This was granted to him, with flattering marks of 
satisfaction on the part of his government. The king knighted 
him, and allowed him the half-pay belonging to his rank, which 
he retained till the period of his death. 

To the accomplishments and external advantages of which we 
have spoken, and the circumstance of his being an Englishman, 
which is always so great a recommendation on the continent, 
Sir Benjamin Thomson (for it was with this title that he return- 
ed to Munich in 1'784) added a talent for pleasing, which could 
hardly have been anticipated in a man that had issued, as it were, 
from the forests of the new world. The elector, Charles T'heo- 
dore, granted him the most marked favour: he made him 
successively his aide-de-camp, his chamberlain, member of his 
council of state, and lieutenant-general of his armies. He pro- 
cured for him the decorations of the two orders of Poland, be- 
cause the statutes of those of Bavaria did not then permit his 
admission to them. Lastly, in the interval between the death 
of the Emperor Joseph and the coronation of Leopold II., the 
Elector took advantage of the right which his functions, as vicar 
of the empire, gave him, to raise Sir Benjamin to the dignity of 
Count, by the name of the district of New Hampshire in which 
he was born. 

Count Rumford has sometimes been blamed for the import- 
ance which he seems to have attached to distinctions, to which 
his real merit might have rendered him indifferent. They who 
have done so, however, have not sufficiently considered his 
situation. Formerly, a title without birth was of no estimation 
among us; but it is not so in England, where the title, as it 
were, metamorphoses the man, or in Germany, where one sel- 
dom receives a great office without, at the same time, receiving 
a corresponding title. Count Rumford, therefore, might think 
this custom necessary for the maintenance of a respect which he 
knew how to render so useful. We have besides seen, by a 
recent experiment made on the great scale, that some, not being 
philosophers enough to refuse titles when chance offered them, 


Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford. 215 


and others being apparently too much so to think that titles 
were worth the trouble of being refused, every body accepted 
them. We do not therefore condemn Count Rumford for ha- 
ving done like all the world ; we even pardon beforehand those 
who may imitate him in this respect, provided they imitate him 
in other respects also. 

His new master not only procured honourable distinctions for 
him, but also confided to him a real and very extensive power, 
by uniting in his person the administration of war and the di- 
rection of the police ; and his reputation, besides, soon gave him 
a great influence over all parts of the government. 

Most of those who have been led to power by the course of 
events, arrive there already misled by public opinion; they 
know that they will infallibly be called men of genius, and that 
they will be celebrated in prose and verse, if they succeed in 
changing in some point the forms of the government, or extending 
a few leagues the territory in which this government is exercised. 
Is it therefore surprising, that internal commotions and external 
wars incessantly disturb the repose of men? It is to themselves 
that men ought to look. Fortunately for Count Rumford, Ba- 
varia could not at this period hold out these temptations to her 
ministers. Her constitution was fixed by the laws of the em- 
pire, her frontiers by the great powers that surrounded her ; and 
she was reduced to the condition, which most states find so hard, 
of confining all her cares to ameliorating the condition of her 
people. 

It is true that she had much to do in this respect. Her so- 
vereigns, enriched at the period of the religious wars, in conse- 
quence:of their zeal for catholicism, had long carried the marks 
of this zeal far beyond what an enlightened catholicism requires ; 
they encouraged devotion, and did nothing for industry ; there 
were more convents than manufactories in their territories; the 
army was almost reduced to nothing ; ignorance and idleness 
predominated in all classes of society. 

Time does not permit us to mention all the services which 
Count Rumford rendered to this country and its capital, and we 
are obliged to limit ourselves to a few of the more remarkable. 

He first occupied himself with the army, in the organization 
of which, a peace of forty years had allowed gross abuses to be 


216 Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford. 


introduced. He found means of removing the soldier from the 
ill-treatment of officers, and of adding to his comfort at the same 
time that he diminished the expenses of the state. ‘The equip- 
ment of the troops, their clothing and head-dress, became more 
suitable and more convenient. Each regiment had a garden, 
where the soldiers themselves reared the vegetables which they 
required, and a school in which their children received the ele- 
ments of education. The military discipline was simplified ; the 
soldier was brought nearer to the citizen ; the privates had more 
facilities afforded them of becoming officers ; and a school was 
at the same time established, in which young men of family 
might receive the most extensive military education. The ar- 
tillery, as being more connected with the sciences, chiefly at- 
tracted the regard of Count Rumford, who made numerous 
experiments for its improvement. Lastly, he established a 
workhouse, in which were manufactured, with regularity, all 
the articles necessary for the troops—a house which, at the same 
time, became in his hands a source of improvement in the police 
still more important than those which he had introduced in the 
army. 

After what we have said of the state of Bavaria, it will easily 
be conceived that mendicity must there have become excessive ; 
and it was in fact asserted, that, next to Rome, Munich had the 
greatest number of beggars of any city in Europe. They ob- 
structed the streets, divided the stations among each other, sold 
or inherited them as one does a house or a farm. Sometimes 
they were even seen to fight for the possession of a post or 
church-door ; and, when opportunity presented, they did not 
refuse to commit the most revolting crimes. 

It were easy to find by calculation that the regular support of 
this mass of wretches would cost the public less than the pre- 
tended charities which they extorted from it. Count Rumford 
had no difficulty in perceiving this ; but he saw, at the same time, 
that to extirpate mendicity, something more was necessary than 
to prohibit it; that but half of the work would be done by arrest- 
ing the mendicants and feeding them, unless their habits were 
changed, unless they were formed to industry and order, and 
unless there were inspired into the people a horror of idleness, 
and of the lamentable consequences which it induces. 


Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford. 217 


His plan, therefore, embraced physics and morals. He pon- 
dered it long, proportioned all its parts to each other, and to 
the laws and resources of the country; prepared with vigour 
and in secret the details of its execution, and, when all was 
ready, directed it with firmness. 

On the Ist of January 1790 all the beggars were led to the 
magistrates, and it was signified to them that they would find 
in the new workhouse whatever was necessary for their subsist- 
ence, but henceforth they were prohibited from begging. 

In fact, there were provided for them materials and tools, 
large and well heated rooms, wholesome and cheap food. Their 
work was paid by the piece. At first it was imperfect, but they 
soon improved. ‘lhe workmen were classed according to their 
progress, which also facilitated the arrangement of the products. 
Their employment was to produce clothing for the troops. At 
the end of some time there was an overplus, which was sold to 
the public, and even to other countries, so that ultimately there 
was an annual profit of upwards of 10,000 florins secured to 
the state. 

The whole establishment was, at the commencement, amply 
supported by voluntary subscription, in which all classes of the 
inhabitants were made to feel interested, and which was much 
inferior to the sum of the alms that were formerly given. 

And to change in this manner the deplorable condition of a 
degraded class, nothing was required but the habit of order and 
judicious management. Those wild and distrustful beings 
yielded to the dispositions that were manifested to promote their 
wellbeing. It was, says Count Rumford himself, by rendering 
them happy, that they were taught to become virtuous. Not 
even a child received a blow. Still more, the children were at 
first paid merely for looking on the work of their companions, 
and they soon came weeping to implore that they also should 
be set to work. Some praises properly bestowed, some hand- 
somer dresses, recompensed good conduct, and excited émula- 
tion. The spirit of industry was roused by self-love, for the 
springs of the human heart are the same in the most opposite 
conditions, and the equivalent of a cordon of nobility exists 
even in the lowest grades of society. 

3 


218 Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford. 


It was not, however, the mendicants alone whose condition 
was ameliorated. 'The bashful and honest poor were also ad- 
mitted to ask’work and food. More than one woman of rank 
that had fallen into misfortune, obtained flax and soup from the 
commissioners, without being ever questioned, and among the 
brave of the Bavarian army, there were many who wore clothes 
that had been spun by a noble and delicate hand. 

The success was such that not only were the poor completely 
succoured, but their number was greatly diminished, because 
they learned to support themselves. ' In one week two thousand 
five hundred had been registered, and some years after they 
were reduced to fourteen hundred. They even learned to feel 
a sort of pride in relieving their old companions; and nothing 
prevented better their asking alms, than having enjoyed the 
pleasure of bestowing them. 

Although Count Rumford had been directed in his operations 
more by the calculations of a politician than by the impulses of 
a man of feeling, he could not help being truly moved at the 
sight of the change which he had effected, when he beheld on 
those countenances, formerly shrivelled by misfortune and vice, 
an air of satisfaction, and sometimes even tears of tenderness 
and gratitude. During a dangerous illness he heard a noise 
under his window, of which he enquired the cause. It was a 
procession of the poor who were going to the principal church, 
to implore of heaven the safety of their benefactor. He con- 
fessed himself that this spontaneous act of religious gratitude, 
in favour of a person of another communion, appeared to him 
the most affecting of recompenses; but he did not dissemble 
that he had obtained another, which will be more lasting. In 
fact, it was in labouring for the poor that he made his most 
important discoveries. 

M. de Fontenelle said of Dodard, who, in rigorously observ- 
ing the fasts prescribed by the Church, made accurate experi- 
ments on the changes which his abstinence produced in him, 
that he was the first who had taken the same path for getting 
to heaven and the academy. Count Rumford may be associated 
with him, if, as may be believed, the services rendered to men 
lead to heaven as surely as the practices of devotion. This 

4 


Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford. 219 


much is certain, however, that it was to his benevolent schemes 
that he was indebted for the glory which his name will possess 
in the history of physics. 

Every one knows that the object of his finest experiments was 
the nature of heat and light, as well as the laws of their propa- 
gation; and in this, what interested him was, to know how to 
feed, clothe, warm, and light with economy, a great assemblage 
of men. He first engaged in comparing the heat of different 
kinds of clothes. This, as is well known, is not an absolute 
heat, and we only mean by it the property of retaining that 
which is generated by our bodies, and of preventing its dissipa- 
tion. Count Rumford enveloped thermometers raised to a 
higher temperature than the air with various substances, and 
observed the time they took in returning toa state of equili- 
brium. He arrived at this general result, that the principal re- 
tainer of heat is the air between the fibres of substances, and 
that these substances furnish clothes so much the warmer, the 
more they retain the air heated by the body. It is thus, and it 
will not fail to be remarked, that Nature has taken care to clothe 
the animals of cold countries. 

Passing then to the examination of the most effectual means 
of economising fuel, he saw in his experiments that flame in the 
open air gave little heat, especially when it was not rapidly agi- 
tated, and did not strike vertically the bottom of the vessel. 
He also observed that the vapour of water conduced very little 
to heat when it was not in motion, Chance gave him the key 
of these phenomena, and opened up to him a new path of in- 
quiry. Casting his eyes on the coloured liquor of a thermo- 
meter, which was cooling in the sun, he perceived in it a con- 
stant motion, which continued until the thermometer had fallen 
to the surrounding temperature. Some powders which he dif- 
fused in liquids of the same specific gravity, were also agitated 
whenever the temperature of the liquid changed, a circumstance 
which announced continual currents in the liquid itself. Count 
Rumford came to think that it was precisely by this transporta- 
tion of molecules that the heat was distributed in the liquids, 
which by themselves would have allowed very little caloric to 
pass. Thus, when the heating commences below, the warm 
molecules, becoming lighter, ascend, and the cold molecules are 


220 Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford. 


precipitated to the bottom to be heated. This he verified by di- 
rect and ingenious experiments. So long as only the upper 
part of a column of liquid was heated, the lower part did not in 
any degree partake of the heat. A piece of red hot iron plunged 
in oil to a short distance from a bit of ice which lay at the bot- 
tom, did not melt a particle of it. A bit of ice kept under boil- 
ing water was two hours in melting, while at the surface it melted 
in three minutes. Whenever the internal motion of a liquid 
was arrested by the interposition of some non-conducting sub- 
stance, the cooling or heating, in a word, the equilibrium, was 
retarded in it. Thus feathers or hair would produce the same 
effects in water as in air. 

As it is known that fresh water is at its maximum of density 
at seven degrees above the freezing point, it becomes lighter a 
little before freezing. It is for this reason that ice always forms 
at the surface, and that once formed, it preserves the water 
which it covers. Count Rumford found in this property the 
means by which nature preserves a little fluidity and life in the 
countries of the north ; for, if the communication of heat and 
cold took place in fluids as in solids, or only in fresh water as in 
other liquids, the streams and lakes would quickly be frozen to 
the bottom. 

Snow, on account of the air which is mingled with it, was, in 
his eyes, the mantle which covers the earth in winter, and pre- 
vents it from losing all its heat. He saw in all this distinct 
precautions of Providence. He saw the same. in the property 
which salt water possesses, the reverse of that of fresh water, by 
which, at all degrees of temperature, its molecules are precipi- 
tated when they are cooled ; so that the ocean, being always tem- 
perate at its surface, softens the rigour of the winters along the 
shores, and warms again, by its currents, the polar climates, at 
the same time that it cools those of the equator. 

The interest of Count Rumford’s observations, therefore, ex- 
tended, in some measure, to the whole economy of nature in our 
globe, and perhaps he made as many cases of those relations 
to them which he perceived in general philosophy, as of their. 
utility in public and private economy. 

Their mere announcement must have made my hearers an- 
ticipate this utility ; and, besides, there is ne one who does not 


Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford. Q91 


know their effects from experience. It was by a regular appli- 
cation of these discoveries, that Count Rumford constructed 
fire-places, furnaces, and caldrons of new forms, which, from 
the hall to the kitchen and the workshop, have reduced the 
consumption of fuel by more than a half. 

When we fancy to ourselves those enormous chimneys of our 
ancestors, in which whole trees were burnt, and which almost 
all smoked, we are astonished that the simple and sure improve- 
ment of Count Rumford was not sooner devised. But there 
must be some difficulty concealed in all those things which are 
found out so late, and which we call so simple when once they 
are discovered. 

The improvements which Count Rumford made in the con- 
struction of kitchens, will have a more important, although a 
somewhat more tardy result, because somewhat more firm foun- 
dations must be laid for their first establishment The unfor- 
tunate cook himself, at present half roasted by the heat of his 
fire, will be enabled to operate calmly in a mild atmosphere, 
with an economy of three-fourths for fuel, and of one-half for 
time; and Count Rumford did not consider as of small importance 
this ease procured for those who prepare our food. As the same 
quantity of original matter furnishes a much greater or a much 
smaller quantity cf nutrition, according as it is prepared, he 
looked on the art of cookery as equally interesting with that 
of agriculture. He did not confine himself to the art of cook- 
ing food at little expense, but also bestowed much attention 
on that of composing it. He discovered, for example, that 
the water which is incorporated with food becomes itself, by this 
mixture, a nutritive matter; and he tried, of all the alimentary 
substances, to find out that which nourishes most and at the 
smallest expense. He even made a study of the pleasure of 
eating, on which he wrote an express dissertation; not assuredly 
for himself, for his moderation was excessive, but in order also 
to discover the economical means of increasing and prolonging 
it, because he saw in it an intention of nature to excite the or- 
gans which are to concur in digestion. 

It was by thus judiciously combining the choice of substances, 
with all possible economy in the art of preparing them, that he 
was enabled to support man at so little cost, and that, in all 


222 Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford. 


civilized countries, his name is now connected with the most 
efficacious aids that industry can receive. This honour much 
excels those which have been decreed to the Apiciuses of ancient 
and modern times ; I would even venture to say, to many men 
who have been celebrated for discoveries of a higher order. 

In one of his establishments at Munich, three women were 
sufficient to prepare a dinner for a thousand persons, and they 
burnt only ninepence worth of fuel. The kitchen which he con- 
structed in the Hépital de la Piéta at Verona, is still more per- 
fect, there being burnt in it only the eighth part of the wood 
which was formerly consumed. 

But it was in the employment of steam for heating,” that 
Count Rumford, so to speak, surpassed himself. It is known 
that water kept in a vessel which it is unable to burst, acquires 
an enormous heat. Its vapour, at the moment when it is 
let loose, carries this heat wherever it is directed. Baths and 
apartments are thus heated with wonderful quickness. Ap- 
plied to soapworks, and especially to distilleries, this method 
has already enriched several manufacturers of our southern de- 
partments ; and in the countries where new discoveries are more 
slowly adopted, it has afforded immense advantages. The brew- 
houses and distilleries of England are heated in this way. In 
them a single small copper cauldron boils ten large wooden 
vats. 

Count Rumford went so far in these improvements as even 
to economise all the heat of the smoke, which he only allowed 
to issue from his apparatus after it had become almost perfectly 
cold., A person justly celebrated for the elegance of his mind, 
said to him that he would soon cook his dinner with his neigh- 
bour’s smoke. But it was not for himself that he sought economy. 
His varied and often repeated experiments, on the contrary, cost 
him much, and it was only by dint of lavishing his money, that 
he taught others to save theirs. 

He made nearly as many researches on light as on heat, and 
among his results, the following observations are principally 
worthy of notice; that flameis always perfectly transparent and 
permeable to the light of another flame; and that the quantity 
of light is not in proportion to that of the heat, and that it does 
not depend, like the latter, upon the quantity of matter burnt, 


Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford. 223 


but rather upon the vivacities of the combustion. By combining 
these two observations, he invented a lamp with several paral- 
lel wicks, the flames of which, mutually exciting each other, 
without allowing any of the rays to be lost, are capable of pro- 
ducing an unlimited mass of light. It is said, that when it was 
lighted at Auteuil, it so dazzled the lamp-maker who had con- 
structed it, that the peor man was unable to find his way home, 
and was obliged to pass the night in the wood of Boulogne. 

I deem it superfluous to mention how he varied and adapted 
to all sorts of uses the different instruments that are employed 
for lighting. The Rumford lamps are not less diffused nor less 
popular than the chimneys and soups of the same name. This 
is the true character of a good invention. 

He determined, by physical experiments, the rules that ren- 
der the oppositions of colour agreeable. Few fine ladies imagine 
that the choice of a border, or of the embroidery of a ribbon, 
depends on the immutable laws of Nature, and yet such is the 
fact. When one looks steadily for some time at a spot of a 
certain colour on a white ground, it appears bordered with a 
different colour, which, however, is always the same with rela- 
tion to that of the spot. This is what is called the complemen- 
tary colour; and, for reasons which it were needless to develope 
here, the same two colours are always complementary to each 
other. Itis by arranging them that harmony is produced, and 
the eye flattered in the most agreeable manner. Count Rum- 
ford, who did every thing by method, disposed, according to 
this rule, the colours of his furniture, and the pleasing effect of 
the whole was remarked by all who entered his apartments. 

Continually struck, in all his labours, by the wonderful phe- 
nomena of heat and light, it was natural for him to attempt a 
general theory respecting these two great agents of nature. He 
considered them both as only effects of a vibratory motion impres- 
sed on the molecules of bodies, and he found a proof of this 
in the continual production of heat which takes place by friction. 
The firing of a brass gun, for example, putting water in a short 
time into a state of ebullition, and this ebullition lasting as long 
as the motion which produced it, he found it difficult to con. 
ceive how, in such a case, matter was disengaged, for it would 
require to be inexhaustible. 


224 Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford. 


He moreover proved, better than any person, that heat has no 
weight. A phial of spirit of wine, and another of water, re- 
mained in equilibrium after the congelation of the latter, although 
it had lost by this, caloric enough to raise the same weight of 
gold to a white heat. 

He invented two singularly ingenious instruments. The one, 
which is a new Calorimeter, serves to measure the quantity of 
heat produced by the combustion of a body. It is a box filled 
with a given quantity of water, through which the product of 
the combustion is made to pass by a serpentine tube; and 
the heat of this product transmitted to the water, raises ita 
determinate number of degrees, which serves as a basis to the 
calculations. The manner in which he prevents the external 
heat from altering his experiment, is very simple and ingenious. 
He commences the operation at some degrees below that heat, 
and terminates it at as many degrees above it. The external 
air resumes, during the second half, precisely what it had given 
out during the first. The other instrument serves to disclose 
the slightest differences in the temperature of bodies, or in the 
facility of its transmission. It consists of two glass balls filled 
with air, connected by a tube, in the middle of which is a bubble 
of coloured spirit of wine. The smallest increase of heat in one 
of the balls drives the bubble toward the other. This instru- 
ment chiefly, which he named a Thermoscope, made known 
to him the varied and powerful influence of different surfaces 
over the transmission of heat, and also pointed out to him nu- 
merous methods of retarding or accelerating, heating or cooling, 
at will. 

These two last kinds of researches, and those which have re- 
ference to illumination, ought to interest us more particularly, 
because he had made them after he had fixed his residence at 
Paris, and taken an active part in all our occupations. He con- 
sidered them as his contributions in quality of a member of the 
Institute. 


Such are the principal scientific labours of Count Rumford, 
but they are far from being the only services which he rendered 
to science. He knew that, in discoveries, as in philanthropy, 
the work of an individual is transitory and limited, and, in the 
latter, as in the former, he strove to establish durable institu- 


Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford. 225 


tions. Thus he founded two prizes, which were to be annually 
assigned by the Royal Society of London, and the Philosophical 
Society of Philadelphia, to the author of the most important ex- 
periments on heat and light ; an endowment by which, in evinc- 
ing his zeal for natural philosophy, he also testified his respect 
for his native and for his adopted country, and proved, that, by 
having served the one, he had not quarrelled with the other. 

He was the principal founder of the Royal Institution of 
London, one of the best contrived establishments for hastening 
the progress of science and its application to the arts. Ina 
country where every individual prides himself on encouraging 
whatever can be of service to the community, the mere distri- 
bution of his Prospectus brought him considerable funds, and 
his activity would soon have led to its execution. The pro- 
spectus itself was already a sort of description, for he spoke in 
it of what he proposed as of a thing in a great measure realized : 
A vast house presented all kinds of trades and machines in ac- 
tion ; a library was formed in it; a beautiful amphitheatre was 
constructed, in which were delivered lectures on chemistry, me- 
chanics, and political economy. Heat and light, the two fa- 
vourite subjects of Count Rumford, and the mysterious process 
of combustion, which puts them at the disposal of man, were 
to be continually submitted to examination. 

This Prospectus is dated at London the 21st January 1800, 
and the foundation of the Royal Institution was the work of 
fifteen succeeding months which Count Rumford passed. in Eng- 
land, with the hope of settling there. 

After having been loaded, during fourteen years, by the 
Elector Charles Theodore, with proofs of an always increasing 
favour, after having received from him, at the period of the 
famous campaign of 1796, the difficult trust of commanding 
his army, and of maintaining the neutrality of his capital against 
the two great powers that seemed equally anxious to attack it, 
Count Rumford obtained from him as a final recompence, in 
1798, the post which he most desired, that of Minister Plenipo- 
tentiary at the Court of Great Britain. 

There could be nothing more flattering to him in fact than 
to be enabled to return among his countrymen, and, according 

JANUARY—Makcu 1830. P 


226 Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford. 


to the noble expression of an ancient, te combine leisure with 
dignity. But his hopes were frustrated. The usage of the 
English’ Government’ does not permit, that a man born its 
subject should be accredited to it as the representative of another 
power, and the minister for foreign affairs signified to Count 
Rumford that it was resolved not to deviate from this usage. 

A still more acute disappointment soon after befel him. He 
was informed of the death of the Prince, his benefactor, which 
happened in 1799, and he foresaw that he would have no. less 
difficulty in resuming his old than in exercising his new fune- 
tions. In reality, the Elector Joseph Maximilian was neither 
ignorant of his merit nor of his services, and remembered that he 
was the first author of his fortune ; but, with a different system 
of government, and opposite political interests, it was natural 
that be should have other counsellors than his predecessor, and 
Count Rumford was not of a character to enter into partner- 
ship. Besides, the happy changes which he had effected, had 
rendered him less necessary, and his views, which had been so 
useful when Bavaria required to be enlightened, were no longer 
such as suited, precisely because the success of their adoption 
had already been so rapid. 

He therefore only returned to Munich for a short time, du- 
ring the peace of Amiens; and yet even in this short time, he 
performed a true and great service to science, in contributing, 
by his advice, to the reorganization of the Bavarian Academy, 
on a plan which, with utility, in every respect, combined a truly 
royal magnificence. 

The period at length arrived when a final retreat had become 
necessary. And it was no mean honour for France, that a man 
who had enjoyed the consideration of the most civilized coun- 
tries of the two worlds, preferred it for his last residence. He 
preferred France, because he quickly perceived it to be the 
country where merited reputation most surely gains a true dig- 
nity, independent of the transitory favour of courts, and of all 
the chances of fortune. 

In fact, we have seen him among us for ten years, honoured 
by Frenchmen and foreigners, esteemed by the friends of science, 
participating their labours, aiding with his advice even the 


Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford. 227 


meanest artizans, nobly gratifying the public with a constant 
succession of useful inventions. 

Nothing would have been wanting to his happiness, had: the 
amenity of his behaviour equalled his ardour for public utility. 
‘But it must be acknowledged, that he manifested, in his con- 
versation and in bis whole conduct, a feeling which must appear 
very extraordinary in a man so uniformly well treated by others, 
and who had himself done so much good. It was without lov- 
ing or esteeming his fellow-creatures, that he had done them all 
these services. Apparently, the vile passions which he had ob- 
served in the wretches committed to his care, or those other pas- 
sions, not less vile, which his good fortune had excited among 
his: rivals, had soured him against human nature. Nor did he 
think that the care of their own welfare ought to be confided to 
men in common. That desire, which seems to them so natural, 
of examining how they are ruled, wasin his eyes but a tactitious 
product of false knowledge. He had nearly the same ideas of 
slavery: asa planter, and he considered the Chinese government 
as the nearest to perfection; because, in delivering up the peo- 
ple-to the absolute power of men of knowledge alone, and in 
raising each of these in the hierarchy, according to the degree 
of his knowledge, it made in some measure so many millions of 
hands the passive organs of the will of a few good heads ;—a 
doctrine which we mention without in any degree pretending to 
justify it, and which we know to be little adapted to the ideas 
of European nations. 

Count Rumford himself experienced, more than once, that it 
is not so easy in the west as in China, to engage other men to 
be nothing but hands ; and yet no one was so well prepared as he 
to make good use of the hands that might be submitted to him. 

An empire, such as he conceived, would not haye been more 
difficult for him to manage, than his barracks and poor-houses. 
For this he trusted especially to the power of order. He called 
order the necessary auxiliary of genius, the only possible in- 
strument of real good, and almost a subordinate divinity re- 
gulating this lower world. He purposed to make it the subject 
of a work which he thought would be more important than all 
that he had written; but of this work there were found among 
his papers only a few unconnected materials. He himself, in his 

p2 


~ 


228 Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford. 


person, was, in all imaginable points, a model of order. His 
wants, his pleasures, and his labours, were calculated, like his 
experiments. He drank nothing but water, and ate only fried 
or roasted meat, because boiled meat, in the same bulk, does 
not afford quite so much nutriment. In short, he permitted in - 
himself nothing superfluous, not even a step or a word, and it 
was in the strictest sense that he teok the word superfluous. 

This was no doubt a sure means of devoting his whole strength 
to useful pursuits, but it could not make him an agreeable being 
in the society of his fellows. 'The-world requires a little more 
freedom, and is so constituted that a certain height of perfection 
often appears to it a defect, when the person does not take as 
much pains to conceal his knowledge as he has taken to acquire 
it. 

Whatever Count Rumford’s sentiments were with respect to 
men, they diminished nothing of his respect for the Divinity. 
In his works, he neglected no opportunity of expressing his 
religious admiration of Providence, and of offering to the ad- 
miration of others the innumerable and varied precautions of 
Providence for the preservation of his creatures. Perhaps even 
his system of politics was derived from the circumstance of his 
imagining that princes ought to act in like manner, and take 
care of their subjects, without being accountable to them. 

This rigorous observance of order, which probably marred 
the pleasure of his life, did not contribute to prolong it. A 
sudden and violent fever carried him off, in his full vigour, at 
the age of sixty-one. He died on the 21st August 1814, in 
his country house of Auteuil, where he passed the summer. 

The notice of his obsequies arriving only at the same time 
with the news of his death, did not allow his fellow members 
to perform the accustomed honours at his tomb. But, if such 
honours, if any efforts to extend renown and render it durable, 
were ever superfluous, it would be for the man who, by the 
happy choice of the subjects of his labours, had richly earned 
the esteem of the learned, and the gratitude of the unfortunate. 


(-229"") 


Observations on the Action of the Mineral Acids on Copper, 
under different circumstances. By Joun Davy, M.D., 
F.R.S., Physician to the Forces. Communicated by Sir 
James Maccricor, Director-General of the Army Medi- 
cal Board, &c. * 


My Dear Sir, Lonvon, December 24. 1829. 


Ir you think the accompanying paper of any interest, will 
you do me the honour of publishing it in your Journal. It 
was written, as you will perceive by the date of it, more than 
two years ago, and before M. Bequerel had published either of 
his very important dissertations on the application of feeble 
electro-chemical powers to produce new combinations. The re- 
sults contained in my papers are precisely of the same class as 
those more ingeniously and ably obtained by the French che- 
mist. The circumstance which principally renders them, in my 
opinion, deserving of some notice, is the facility of making the 
experiments, no complicated apparatus being required, or any 
manual dexterity. I am, &c. 

Joun Davy. 


To Professor Jameson, &c. 


Ix a paper published in the Philosophical Transactions of 
1826, I described certain changes which I had witnessed in 
some ancient alloys of copper, attributable to the operation of 
clectro-chemical attraction, acting very slowly and in the man- 
ner of a mineralizing process. 

In this paper I shall describe the results of some experiments 
which I have been induced to make on the action of the mineral 
acids on copper, placed in different circumstances, with the 
hope of illustrating the changes just alluded to, and of obtain- 
ing a farther insight into phenomena of an obscure kind and 
interesting nature, at least in their bearings in relation to the 
mineral kingdom. 


* This interesting paper, as I observe by a note on the margin, was sent 
to England for publication, and reached London in July 1827. 


250 Dr J. Davy on the Action of 


I shall first mention the experiments which I have made with 
these acids, atmospheric air having been excluded, or nearly so. 
Sixty drops of each of the three mineral acids were diluted with 
six ounces of distilled water, a quantity equal exactly to the ca- 
pacity of the phials employed. In these mixtures, small bars 
of polished copper were immersed, and the phials were closed 
with glass stopples, smeared with a composition of wax and oil. 
After the lapse of sixty-nine days, viz. from the 25th May to 
the $d August, the results were examined, and were found to 
be the following : 


The dilute sulphuric acid was colourless, had a just percep- 
tible taste of sulphate of copper, and, on the addition of ammo- 
nia, acquired a faint blue hue, and the bar of copper was slight- 
ly tarnished with black oxide of copper, not equally over its 
whole surface, but more in some places than in others. 

The results in the instance of the dilute muriatic acid were 
very similar ; ammonia imparted to it a bluish tint, just percep- 
tible, and black oxide of copper tarnished the bar in such a 
manner, as to produce the appearance of successive strata, with 
intervals between them, where the brightness ef the metal was 
but little impaired. 

The results with the dilute nitric acid were somewhat differ- 
ent. The acid had acquired a bright blue colour, and the me- 
tal was covered with a very thin and slightly adhering crust of 
black oxide, which was more copiously formed about the mid- 
die of the bar than at its extremities, and a little air was gene- 
rated, which was probably either azote or nitrous oxide, for it 
did not produce a red fume on the addition of atmospheric air. 


Without stopping now to reason on these phenomena, I shall 
proceed to describe another set of experiments, differing chief- 
ly from the preceding in this circumstance, that the glass-vessels 
full of the dilute acids, in which the copper bars were immersed, 
were covered only with glass, so as to retard evaporation, but 
not prevent the entrance of atmospheric air. After an interval 
of eight months, viz. from the 3d August to the 2d April, the 
results were examined. 

The sulphuric acid was found saturated with copper, and the 


Mineral Acids on Copper. 231 

bar covered with athin crust of black oxide of copper, and wni- 
formly covered, with the exception of the upper part of it, 
which was almost free from stain to the extent of about two 
lines, which was more corroded than the surface in general, and 
which, from evaporation, rose above the fluid. The nitric acid, 
too, was found saturated, and the top of the bar of copper pro- 
jecting a very little above the surface of the solution, but it was 
still moist. There was a pretty considerable deposition of pro- 
toxide of copper on the bar, with a little subnitrate of copper, 
and a very minute quantity of copper in its metallic state. The 
subnitrate was found chiefly at the two extremities of the bar ; 
the protowide was very generally deposited, whilst the metallic 
copper was almost entirely confined to one side, and to a small 
space towards the upper end of the bar. The deposition being 
crystallized, and the colours bright and distinct, the appearance 
it made was brilliant, especially when placed in the sunshine, 
and resembling, in miniature, native specimens of the same 
kind. 

The results in the instance of the muriatic acid were very si- 
milar; submuriate, protoxide, and metallic copper, were de- 
posited. The submuriate was very abundant, and collected 
chiefly about the lower part of the bar, where it had formed 
crystallized plates, not unlike what is seen in the native speci- 
mens of this mineral from Peru. The protoxide was in a smal- 
ler quantity than in the preceding experiment, as well as the 
metallic copper, and their crystalline form was less distinct. 


I have made a third set of experiments, with this difference 
only in conducting them, that the bar of copper, in each in- 
stance, was only half immersed in the dilute acid, and that at- 
mospheric air had ‘free access, in consequence of which, evapo- 
ration of the fluid went on pretty rapidly, and it was necessary 
every now and then to add water, to prevent desiccation. I do 
not consider it necessary to describe the results minutely ; 
they were much the same as those obtained when atmospheric 
air was admitted, and evaporation partially prevented, excepting 
in the case of the sulphuric acid, in which, on this occasion, the 
charges were analogous to those exhibited with the other two 
acids; thus far, at least, that protoxide of copper was deposited, 
and a slight trace of metallic copper. 


232 Dr J. Davy on the Action of 


Having now described the facts which I have observed rela- 
tive to the action of the mineral acids on copper in these differ- 
ent circumstances, I have little else to add. The phenomena 
are evidently of the same class as those which were the subject 
of my former paper, and equally referable to electro-chemical 
action. In the first set of experiments, in which atmospheric 
air was excluded, or very nearly so, scarcely any change was 
observable, excepting in the instance of the nitric acid, and the 
change in that case was probably connected with the decompo- 
sition of a small part of the acid. In the second set of experi- 
ments, on the contrary, the changes which took place were nu- 
merous and complicated, owing to the presence of atmospheric 
air, and the reaction of the combinations formed on each other. 
And, in the third set, in which the circumstances of the experi- 
ments were still more various, the effects were produced more 
rapidly, though less distinctly, and as well in the instance of 
the sulphuric acid as of the nitric and muriatic. It may appear 
extraordinary, that the peroxide of copper was formed, and, I 
may say, deposited in the first set of experiments, and that it 
was not dissolved by the acids. ‘To what cause the formation 
and deposition of this oxide was owing, I am at a loss to con- 
ceive, and I can offer nc suggestion in the least satisfactory to 
myself. It is almost as obscure as an effect which I have ob- 
served, on immersing a polished bar of copper in a neutral solu- 
tion of sulphate of copper, when copper in its metallic state, in 
very minute quantity, is precipitated *. The black oxide not be- 
ing dissolved when deposited is not surprising, considering that 
it is an oxide of difficult solubility, even in the strong mineral 
acids, and much more so when these acids are diluted with water. 
Why the protoxide of copper should have made its appearance 
when atmospheric air was admitted in the experiments, and on- 
ly then, is probably owing to the action of an electro-chemical 
cause. Moreover, I may remark, that, when copper is either 
put into an open fire or left in distilled water, exposed to the 
action of atmospheric air, the same oxide is formed ; and, in the 
latter instance, the colouring effect is so brilliant and beautiful, 


* This I conceived might have been occasioned by the sun’s rays; for it 
was in making some experiments on their chemical agency, that I first no- 
ticed the phenomenon ; but my conjecture was not confirmed on repeating 
the trial in the dark. whom tho same precipitation occurred. 


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Mineral Acids on Copper. 233 


when the metal has been previously polished, that it has occur- 
red to me, that thus coloured ruby-red, it might be useful in 
the ornamental arts. 

To conclude. The phenomena noticed in the foregoing expe- 
riments (so like what we see in the mineral kingdom), in which, 
in the same specimen, we often witness the mixture of native 
copper and its protoxide, and some combination with an acid, 
offer an analogy not destitute of interest, and which may serve 
to explain circumstances which have hitherto been enveloped 
in mystery, as, the manner in which these minerals originated, 
thus grouped together, and, I was about to add, the manner in 
which they are preserved, retaining their lustre almost equally 
unimpaired in the recesses of the metallic vein, and in the cabi- 
net of the mineralogist ; but this latter peculiarity has already 
been explained most satisfactorily, by the electro-chemical re- 
searches of Sir Humphry Davy. 


Corrv, April 17. 1827. 


On the Mean Temperature of the Atmosphere and of the Earth, 
im some parts of East Russia. By Professor A. T. Kurrrer. 
With a Plate of Isogeothermal Lines. 


Tue thermometrical observations, which form the basis of the 
following determinations, were made with rectified thermome- 
ters. I first determined with care the error of a mercurial ther- 
mometer of Pixii, in Paris, which I intended to use as a normal 
thermometer. JI did this according to the method described by 
Bessel, in these Annals, b. 82, p. 287, a very necessary precau- 
tion; for, although the boiling and freezing points were pretty 
accurately fixed, yet the error of the instrument, one way or 
another, amounted to a whole degree. With this normal ther- 
mometer, the others were now carefully compared, and their in- 
dications corrected by a table formed for the purpose. 


Temperature of the Air in Kasan. 


This was daily observed in the shade, for a whole year, at 
9a. m., 12 noon, 3 and 9 rv. m., in an apartment selected for 
4 


234 On the Mean Temperature of the 


the purpose, in the garden of the University. For three months 
the highest and lowest temperatures were also daily observed. 
For that purpose, in want of a better instrument, the following 
arrangement was given to a common mercurial thermometer :— 
After the above thermometer was finished, I warmed the bulb, 
till the quicksilver ascended almost to the top of the tube; it 
was then quickly plunged with its open end in boiling. alcohol, 
a little of which entered the tube. A small cylinder of steel 
(piece of a needle) was sunk in the alcohol, which, on holding 
the thermometer in the perpendicular position, soon fell down 
on the surface of the quicksilver. A portion of the alcohol was 
then removed, till not more than a filament, ten degrees long, re- 
mained in the tube ; a little mercury was then allowed to enter, 
in order to confine the alcohol, arid then air, which filled the up- 
per end of the tube, which was closed with some cotton. It is 
easily seen, that, if we first bring the small steel cylinder in con- 
tact with the surface of the filament of mercury in connexion 
with the bulb, and then place the thermometer in the horizon- 
tal position, the cylinder will be continually pushed forwards, 
while the mercury expands by heat ; but, when the tempera- 
ture has reached it maximum, and begins to decline, the cylin- 
der remains on the spot to which the mercury has pushed it. If 
now we make an observation, the distance of the cylinder of 
steel, from the surface of the contracted filament of mercury, 
will give the number of degrees which one must add to the tem- 
perature at the time of observation, to find the previous maxi- 
mum of temperature. To obtain now the corresponding mini- 
mum, we bring the cylinder in contact with that filament of 
mercury which confines the alcohol, by holding the thermometer 
for some moments reversed, with the bulb uppermost, by which 
the cylinder will slowly slide down. When now, by increasing 
cold, the mercury contracts, the cylinder is pushed on by the 
second mercurial filament, and finally rests (if the thermome- 
ter lies horizontal), where the temperature has attained its mini- 
mum. 

The following table contains the mean for every month, 
from November 1827 to November 1828. The thermometer is 


Fahrenheit’s. 


~ 


Atmosphere and the Earth. 235 


Mean of 
Month. 9 a.m. |12 Noon.) 3 P.M.] 9 2. M- Maximum.| Minimum.} Max. and 
Min. 


1827. ° ° ° ° 
November, | 27-27 | 30.87 30.65| 27.5 : ¥ 7 
December, | 13-10 | 15.80] 15.13 14.23 18.95 6.13 12.54 

1828, 

January, - | — 2.65 0.5 0.72 0.27 DOM ee Fist), eee 
February, = 2.54 2.52| 4.32 |— 2.87 6.80 |—10.75 | — 1.97 
March, .- | 21.87 | 27.95| 29.52] 21.87 
April, -- - 42.57 | 47.52| 48.87] 40.77 
May,...-| 57.65 62.60| 63.95] 54.05 
June,--+- 67.55 | 72.50) 73.85] 63.27 
July, ..-| 65.30 71.15| 72.27| 63.95 
August, - - 63.27 | 69.35} 70.47| 61.47 
September, | 45.05 | 53.15 54.95| 46.17 
October, - 37.40 | 39.87) 40.77 36.72 


—_—<—$— | ———_— —__—— 


—— 


Mean, ..| 36.5 37.4 | 37.62) 35.6 


——— 


‘The greatest cold was on the 18th and 19th January (—39°.32 
the mercury froze) ; the greatest heat on the 8th July (87°.8). 

To deduce from these observations the mean temperature of 
the air in Kasan, we may assume, without fearing any great er- 
ror, that the mean of the observations made at 9 a. M., corres- 
pond to the mean temperature of the whole year; as here we 
are only considering one year, which is certainly not sufficient, 
exactly to determine the mean temperature of a place. It Is 
known that we approach nearest to the true mean temperature, 
when we take the mean of the maxima and minima; but, that 
this mean comes very near the mean of the observations at 
9 A. M., we’may convince ourselves of, at least for three months, 
from the above table. We may also consult the works of Bou- 
vard (Mem. de lAcad. ‘des Sciences, 1824), and. Hallstrom 
(Poggendorf, b. 80, p. 373.) 

The mean temperature of the air in Kasan, for the year 1828 
(ov, more correctly, from November 1827 to November 1828), 
is therefore 36°.5 Fahrenheit; but it is observable that the year 
1828 was a cold year: the true mean temperature of Kasan 
must, therefore, be taken at somewhat higher. The mean tem- 
perature of April is considerably higher than the mean of the 
year ; that of October not only approaches very near the mean 
of 1828, but also corresponds, as we shall immediately see, al- 
most exactly to the mean temperature of Kasan. 


236 On the Mean Temperature of the 


The thermometer stood seven months above, and five below, 
the freezing point. 


The mean temperature of winter, that is Dec. Jan. Feb. = 2°.52. 
spring, — March, April, May, = 40.77. 
summer, — June, July, Aug. = 65.30. 
autumn, — Sept. Oct. Nov. = 36.50. 
Farther, 
The temperature of the hottest month, . = 67°.55 
coldest month, . = 2.87 


Professor Bronner, during his. residence at Kasan, in the 
years 18]4 to 1817, has likewise made thermometrical observa- 
tions, the results of which are calculated by Professor Fr. Par- 
rot in Dorpat, and published in ‘‘ Erdmann’s Contributions to- 
wards the Knowledge of the Interior of Russia,” Part I. It is 
a pity that Professor Parrot has continued, in his calculation, 
the divisions of the Julian Calendar, which is still used in Rus- 
sia; so that the mean temperature of the individual months are 
not comparable with the means calculated for other places ; but 
this has, of course, no influence on the mean temperature of the 


year. 
The observations were at 7 a. M., 12 noon, and sometimes 8, 


sometimes 9 Pp. m., and gave the following results : 


1816. Mean. 


1817. 


Mean of all the Observations,| 37.62 | 38.07 | 39.87 | 35.37 | 37.85 


Mean of the Observations } 
at 7 a.m. and 12 noon, f 


Wanting. | 37.17 | 38.97 | 36.50 | 37.62 


If we add to this the result of 1828, we obtain 37°.4 as the 
true mean temperature of Kasan, about 120 feet above the levei 
of the sea. 

I put also the mean temperature of April and October into 
the quoted years. As Professor Parrot has calculated the mean 
for the Julian months, I first, taking the observations of 1828 
as a basis, inquired, whether the mean of the Julian March and 
April, did not approximate to the mean of the Gregorian Apnil, 
and the mean of the Julian September and October to the mean 


Atmosphere and the Earth, 237 


of the Gregorian October, and found that it was really the case ; 
and now we have, from Bronner’s table, the mean temperature 
for the Julian months March, April, September and October, 
“calculated two and two, and the results viewed as the mean 
temperatures of the Gregorian months of April and October. 


From all Obser- 
vations. 


From Observa~ 
tions at 7 A. M. 
and 12 noon. 


1814, April, 33.80 
October, 39,42 
1815, April, 36.72 
October, 38.30 
1816, April, 34.70 
October, 39.87 
1817, April, . 
October, 
April, . 


October, 


Temperature of the Earth in Kasan. 


The temperature of the earth is indicated by springs, which 
issue forth in sufficient quantity and velocity, not to be af- 
fected by the temperature of the air. The temperature of such 
springs changes very little, and their changes are subject to dif- 
ferent periods from those in the temperature of the air; the 
maximum and minimum falls much later than in the corres- 
ponding points in the temperature of the air. Springs, in moun- 
tainous districts, seem not to give so certainly the temperature 
of the earth as those in plains, because, in the former, we are 
never certain that they do not take their origin at a considerably 
greater elevation, and issuing forth at a lower point, indicate a 
lower temperature than belongs to the ground from which they 
flow. As little can we select springs flowing to the surface from 
marshy ground. 

It sometimes happens that the earth’s temperature, in any place, 
may be fixed with greater certainty, if springs, issuing at the 
same time ¢rom different points and kind of ground, shew a tem- 
perature nearly the same, and almost uniform throughout the 
whole year. 


238 On the Mean Temperature of the 


Springs which, before they issue forth or are formed, collect 
in considerable numbers into a common reservoir, shew also a 
very constant temperature ; but, since they are always in contact 
with the air, so their temperature approaches the mean tempeta- 
ture of the air; so that in high latitudes, where the temperature 
of the earth is more elevated than the mean temperature of the 
air, these reservoirs are colder than the proper springs. The 
same is the case with wells of at least twenty feet deep, where 
the cooling may be more considerable, from the colder air al- 
ways sinking downwards. 

In Kasan I have observed the temperature of two springs 
well adapted for these inquiries. The first rises from a lime- 
stone rock at the bottom of the hill on which the citadel is 
placed, and on its north side ; it is pretty copious, and holds in 
solution a large quantity of lime: the second is at Butiska, 
in the neighbourhood of Kabon, and not far from the archie- 
piscopal Palace. Several springs here rise in a curved line, 
and, by their union, form a rivulet, which is continually enlarg- 
ing; one of them, near the bridge, rushes forth from the 
bed of the rivulet, with sufficient force to create considerable 
agitation in the water flowing over it. ‘The thermometer was 
placed in the spring itself, as deep as possible, and at a season 
when the water of the rivulet had almost the same temperature 
as the spring itself. The water of this spring holds also in so- 
lution a little lime, but much less than the former. 

Notwithstanding these springs were above a German mile 
distant from one another, and issue from very different soils, 
yet the temperature of both, on 29th October 1828 (tempera- 
ture of the air about 32°), was found about 43°.7. Bronner 
found the temperature of the first spring, on the 16th January 
1815, 42°.8. I found it, fourteen years afterwards, in the same 
month, scarcely even so much. These two observations are, pro- 
perly speaking, not sufficient to fix with precision the tempera- 
ture of the earth, and it is desirable that, in future, they should 
be continued into every month ; but we may, by a comparison 
of these with other observations, draw conclusions approaching 
very near to the truth. For this comparison Ermath’s observa- 
tions on the changes of temperature in the spring of Julienthaler, 


Atmosphere and the Earth. 239 


in Konigsberg (See these Annals, July 1827, part x. p. 302.), 
will be useful, which are contained in the following table : 


October, . ‘ 49.41 April, . ; : i 44.73 
November, - : ; 47.97 May, . : : 45.18 
December, .- : . 46.53 June, . H § : 46.58 
January, .- : , 45.02 July, °. E . P 48.02 
February, . : 5 44.19 August, . ‘ F 49.23 
March, : = : 43.74 September, . - : 49.77 


The four last numbers are calculated. 

We see, from these observations, that the minimum of tem- 
perature falls in March,’the maximum in September ; the mean 
of both gives 46°.76: therefore, very near the mean tempera- 
ture of the earth, calculated from all the observations which 
Erman finds, 46°.70. The difference of temperature for Ja- 
nuary and October, is, for the Konigsberg spring, 4°.39; for the 
Kasan spring, 0°.9, that is nearly five times less ; it is therefore 
probable that the fifth part of the changes of the Konigsberg 
spring very nearly expresses the changes for the Kasan spring. 
We thus obtain for Kasan: 


September, . 43.7 + 4 (49.77 — 49.41) = 43.77. 
March, .  . 42.8 — 3 (45.03 — 43.74) — 42.55. 
Mean, : = 43.16. 


We may therefore regard 43°.2 as the true mean tempera- 
ture of the earth at Kasan. 

The temperature of springs depends on many, often variable, 
cireumstances, and especially on the quantity of water which is 
renewed in a certain time. A well not far from the second 
spring, the level of whose water was only about twelve feet un- 
der the surface of the ground, and was scarcely two feet deep, 
whose water was therefore continually renewed (for this well 
supplies the whole village, at the Archiepiscopal Palace), 
shewed, on the 19th July 1828, 43°81. Another well, in the 
village of Butiska, likewise not far from the second spring, but 
which was little used, and the level of its water twenty feet un- 
der that of the earth, shewed, on the 19th July 1828, 41°.56; 
on the 29th October of the same year, 42°.12. This tempera- 
ture of 42°.12 was also that of a small spring on the 4th No- 


240 On the Mean Temperature of the 


vember, enclosed in a wooden basin, scarcely two feet under the 
surface of the ground, at the country-house of Professor Vogel, 
at the foot of the ridge of hills which skirts the left bank of the 
Kasanka. If we combine the observations of the 29th July and 
19th October, as above, we obtain for the mean temperature 
of the wells at Kasan 41°.13. 

The mean temperature of wells in Kasan is therefore about 
2°.03 less than the mean temperature of the earth, and re- 
semble the temperature of the atmosphere in their changes 
being greater in the observations .brought forward, and double 
as much as the temperature of the earth. 

In Kasan, the mean temperature of the wells is a little more 
than the mean between that of the air and earth. 


Mean Temperature of the Air in Slatoust (Lat. 55° 8’, 
Long. 57° from Paris ; Elevation above the level of the 
sea 370 metres). 


Dr Eversmann, now professor of Natural History in Kasan, 
during the years 1817-1820, made thermometrical observa- 
tions in Slatoust, with a thermometer, whose freezing and boil- 
ing points were accurately adjusted. The observations of 1818 
and 1819 are complete ; for 1817 and 1820, I calculated mere- 
ly the means for the months of April and October. 

It would indicate the greatest cold in the morning, the 
greatest heat about 2 p. M.; but as these observations were not 
made with a register-thermometer, we are not certain whether 
the highest and lowest temperature was observed. 

Observations were also made at 12, 6, and 10; but as the 
mean of the maxima and minima gives most exactly the mean 
temperature of the year, so in the calculation of the latter no 
regard was paid to these observations. The following table 
contains the monthly mean :— 


Atmosphere and the Earth. 241 


January, - 


February, - 0 ‘54 
March, . 18 .66 
April, . 36 .27 
May, 50 .21 
June, 60 .53 
July. 65 .79 
August, 57.11 
September, 51 .58 
-October, 41 .18 
November, 4 3 16 .64 
December, .- : : s 5. -52 | —1 .52 


Mean, . 


1818. 1819. 

Mean of the three Winter months 4 Z 
Dee. Jan. A 2.48 = 
ddapeesusesse-necccnrane Spring months, . . - 36.34 35 .06 
Seunetsasnaaavpansncsase Summer months, - - 60.55 61 .13 
enn rccmasnemercacasstee Autumn months, . .- 30.72 36 .47 


The mean temperatures of the months of April and October 
of 1817 and 1820 were— 


39°.87 
35 .82 


Mean of all the four April observations, = 38°.88. 
Se ana etn taeieie acts enoae October do, -. . = 33.37. 


Hence the most probable mean temperature of the atmosphere 
at Slatoust + 33°.35. 

From the above table is the mean of the temperatures of all 
the months of the years 1818 and 1819 also = 33°.35. 


JANUARY—MARCH 1830. Q 


242 On the Mean Temperature of the 


Temperature of the Earth in Kisnekejewa (Lat. 54° 30%, 
Long. 60°), on the east side of the Urals, 300 metres above 


the level of the sea. 


In the copper-mine of Kisnekejewa, a level, which opens on 
the declivity of the mountain, leads to a shaft twenty-five 
metres deep; here the temperature of a collection of water was 
39°.87. This station has not been wrought for a long period. 


Temperature of the Earth at Bogoslowsk (Lat. 60°, Long. 60°), 
height above the sea 200 metres. 


In the copper-mine of Turinski, east from Bogoslowsk, the 
temperature of the mine-water, at the depth of 112 metres, is 
43°.25. Inthe mine of Frolow, not far from the former, the 
mine-water, at a depth of 65 metres, has a temperature of 
39.°2; the water here filled the deepest part of the works, 
shewing that they had been long unwrought. A spring, which 
issues forth at a depth of 56 metres, shewed 38°.07. 

We may, by comparing the differences of the observed tem- 
peratures with the differences of the depths, deduce the law of 
the increase of temperature as we descend, as is seen from the 


following view :— 


Depths in | Temp. Difference of the Depths. Difference} Depth for 
Metres. of Temp. | 2°.25 of Fahr. 


38°.07 | No. 3. —No. 1. = 56 . 24°.3 


39 2 No. 3. —No. 2. = 47 
43 .25 | No.2. —No.l. = 9 


Sum, 112 


As the amounts contained in the last column are more cor- 
rect the greater the differences of depth, it is not correct to 
take the mean from them: we would obtain a more exact value, 
which yet does not require more calculation (as the operation 
from the theory of the least squares would demand), if we di- 
vide the sum of the differences of depths by the sum of the dif- 
ferences of temperature, we would thus obtain 2°.25 as the in- 
erease of temperature for every 24.4 metres of descent. 

3 


Atmosphere and the Earth. 243 


We will compare these observations with those collected by 
Cordier in his treatise, ‘‘ Essai sur la Temperature de l’Inte- 
rieur de la Terre,” Annales du Musewm d Histoire naturelle 
(8. Annee, 3. Cahier) *. It is here to be observed, that, to ob- 
tain correct results, the temperature of mines cannot be com- 
pared with the mean temperature of the air, but only one mine- 
station with another; that the superior station be not too near 
the surface of the ground; that, finally, the lower station be at 
a sufficient depth. If we proceed in this way, many irregulari- 
ties vanish, which Cordier met with in comparing his observa- 
tions. 


Depth in Temp. | Difference} Difference eee ao 


Metres. C, of Depths. | of .Temp: 
I. Temperature of Springs 
in Mines. 
78 9.4 ° 
Saxony, ss 4 256 13.8 \ 178 4 4 49.5 
; 39 11.9 
Brittany, . . 4 Sho longi \ io =| 2.7 1° 374 
Il. Temperature of the 
Mine-Water. 
82.3 15.6 3 
Cornwall, . . 4 274.5 i 192.2 10.0 19.2 


Ill. Temperature of large 
collections of Water in 


Mines. 
71.4 | 15 ae 
Cornwall, . . { 329.4 26.7 258.0 11.1 23.2 
IV. Temperature of the 
Rock. ) 
Saxony, . | 484 lee 80 3.15 | 213 
Littry, . . 4 ps ae! 99 | 5.1 | 19.4 
Degise,!. ar | i P78 ga | 4.32. |, Mas 


The last five observations may be used with some safety in 
the determination of the increase of temperature with the depth, 
The two first exceed the other too much, to admit of their 
being employed in the determination of the mean. Here, again, 
dividing the sum of the differences of the depths by the sum of 
the differences of temperatures, we obtain, as the depth corres- 
ponding to 1° c., 20.2 metres,—or for 2°.25 Fah., 25.25 metres,— 
or an increase of temperature of 8°.91 Fah., for every 100 metres ; 
which agrees very well with the results found for Bogoslowsk. 


“ This paper given in former Number of this Journal. 


a2 


244 On the Mean Temperature of the 


We may from this law calculate the temperature of the earth 
at Bogoslowsk, although we possess no direct observation ; for, 
after the most diligent search, we found no spring fitted for the 
purpose. As we have here determined the temperature of the 
earth from that of springs whose temperature is almost uni- 
form, and as this property is not found in all springs, but only 
in those which arise from a certain depth; so it is not properly 
the temperature of the level of the soil, of which we have been 
hitherto speaking, but that of a shaft, which is continued to a 
considerable, but very uniform, distance from the level of the 
earth. If we, therefore, wish to calculate the temperature of 
the earth from that of great depths, in the above sense, we 
must first of all determine at what depth the bed may be, 
from which rise the springs which possess a nearly uniform 
temperature throughout the whole year. This question cannot 
be answered with precision, yet this depth may be fixed at 
nearly 25 metres. This estimate does not appear too large ; 
for, at Paris, the oscillations of the temperature of the earth do 
not quite cease at 28 metres; and it is probable, that, in high 
latitudes, where the maxima and minima are farther removed 
from one another than at Paris, the oscillations of the deeper 
points are as observable as was the case with the springs which 
were examined. 

Deducting, now, 25 metres from the first station, 31 metres 
remain, as its depth below the bed, to which we have referred 
all the temperatures of the earth. But 31 metres give, accord- 
ing to the foregoing, 2°.7, as the difference of temperature. 
But as the temperature of the upper station was found to be 
38°.07, the temperature of the soil at Bogoslowsk must be placed 
about 35°.37. 

In Bogoslowsk, in some places, after hard winters, the soil at 
the end of summer is still frozen some feet below the surface. 
We see from this, that we are justified in referring the tem- 
perature of the earth to a deeper level, and that, in inconsider- 
able depths, the mean temperature of the year is very change- 
able, and may sink below 32°. When the oscillations of the 
earth’s temperature are so great, that the formation of ice is 
possible, it may happen that the succeeding warmth is not able 
to melt it; and thus we easily explain the existence of ice on 
ground where the mean temperature is certainly above 32°. 


Atmosphere and the Earth. 245 


Temperature of the Earth in Nishney-tagilsk (Lat. 58°), and 
Werchoturie (Lat. 59°). 


These two places are situate, as well as Bogoslowsk, on the 
eastern declivity of the Urals, and are nearly 200 metres above 
the level of the sea. In Nishney-tagilsk, mine-water, found 
at a depth of 65 metres, had a temperature of 40°.7'7. Deduct- 
ing here, again, 25 metres from the depth, and calculating the 
number of degrees which the temperature of the earth must de- 
crease to this depth of 45 metres, we find 37°.17 for the tem- 
perature of the earth in Nishney-tagilsk. A well 5 metres 
deep indicated $7°.85: this temperature is somewhat too high 
(particularly as, from the above quoted observations, wells in a 
a high latitude ought to shew a lower temperature than 
springs), which is easily explained, from the observation having 
been made in autumn,—that is, at the time of the maximum of 
temperature of deep wells; and the well was not deep enough, 
to have a constant temperature. 

The Werchoturie, an impetuous spring, had a temperature 
of 36°.72. Even this temperature is probably a little too high, 
as the observation was made in autumn. As the springs in 
Kasan, at that season, have a temperature 0°.45 higher than 
the mean, we may safely assume that the true mean tempera- 
ture of the springs in Werchoturie was 36°.27. 

Some experiments are here to be mentioned, which were per- 
formed in Kuschwa and Bogoslowsk, at the instance of Dr Er- 
man, and with the assistance of the mining-officer, whose polite- 
ness was truly exemplary, and which consisted in piercing into 
the earth with a borer to the depth of 20 feet, and observing 
the temperature at the deepest point. None of these experi- 
ments gave a decided result: they always met with water, 
which, collecting at the bottom of the bore, and coming from 
the surface, indicated a higher temperature. Perhaps, also, 
the borings were not deep enough, and the spots not happily se- 
lected. The temperature of this water was always about 41° 
and 42°.12, which was also that of most of the wells near the 
surface in that quarter. The boring in Kuschwa (Lat. 58°4), 


246 On the Mean Temperature of the 


indicated 41°. A well there, whose surface was almost close un- 
der the surface of the ground, was 41°.56; a similar well in 
Nishney-turins (Lat. 58°), 41°.45 ; another in Nishney-tagilsk, 
9 feet deep, 39°.42; a bore hole in Bogoslowsk, 42°.57; a re- 
servoir of water, which was filled by a small spring, and whose 
level was very little under the surface of the earth, in the same 
place, 41°. 

I may be permitted to quote an observation which Dr Erman 
communicated to me, and which may confirm the observations 
at Bogoslowsk. He found near Perm (Lat. 60°) the tempera- 
ture of the mine-water, at 30 metres, =36°.5, which gives 36°.05 
for the depth of 25 metres. Perm lies nearly as high as Bogos- 
lowsk, and besides farther west: the temperature of the earth 
there, must therefore be a little higher than that of Bogos- 
lowsk. 


Conclusions. 


We see from the foregoing, that the temperature of the earth 
is sometimes very different from the mean temperature of the air, 
and its distribution follows different laws. Wahlenberg’s obser- 
vations, have long ago shown (and the preceding confirm it), that 
the temperature of springs in high latitudes is higher than that 
of the air. Von Humboldt, and after him Von Buch, found the 
temperature of springs, in low latitudes, considerably lower than 
that of the air. We shall here give a comparative view of the 
principal of these observations, in which only those are used 
which are made at the level of the sea, or not much above 
1500 feet above it. Observations on springs were preferred to 
those on wells. The greater part is extracted from Von 
Buch’s Treatise on the Temperature of Springs, in Poggendorf’s 
Annals, vol. xii. part 3. 1828, and also from Humboldt Trea- 
tise on Isothermal Lines. 


Atmosphere and the Earth. Q4'7 


Height | Temp. of| Temp. of 


PLACES. Latitude. | above Sea} Earth, Air, Observer. 
in metres.| Fahr. Fahr. 

CON, ener ves — ats 9 §. 45 72.95 | 78.12 |Smith. 
Cumana, . 103 0 78.12 | 82.40 |Humboldt. 
St Jago (Cape Verd Isles), 15 0 76.10 | 77.00 |Hamilton. 
Rockfort (as peepee ait ike 0 79.02 | 80.60 |Hunter. 
Havannah, -. . a. 2g 0 74.30 | 78.12 |Ferrier. 
Nepaul} (eee + yon. §«|(ae 0? 73.85 | 77.00 |Hamilton. 
Teneriffe*, . . . . . 1283 0 64.40 | 70.92 |Buch. 
Cairo, Spe fs) 2 <b ee als NO 0 72.5 72.5 |Nouet. 
Cincmnmatis) (3°). )-) sad Wad 160 54.27 | 53.82 |Mansfield. 
Philadelphia, ... . |40 0 54.95 | 54.27 | Warden. 
Carmeaux+, . . 2 . {43 300? | 55.40 | 57.87 |Cordier. 
Geneva, . .... . |46 350 52.02 | 49.32 |Saussure. 
arty ane Sr. Meet teen. LAD 75 52.70 | 51.57 | Bouvard. 
Berlin, SARE oath 2e 40 50.22 | 46.40 
BI eho iccuek senestelitich 0 49.32 | 49,10 | Kirwan. 
Kendal es ee Oe 0 47.75 | 46.17 | Dalton. 
Keswick, . 2). 3s. 548 0 48.65 | 47.97 
Konigsberg, - . . . . |543 0 46.62 | 43.25 | Erman. 
Edinburgh, . . . . . [56 0 47.75 | 47.75 | Playfair. 
Carlscrona, . . . . .///563 0 47.30 | 47.30 |Wahlenberg. 
pea ATs. aN. its S160 0 43.70 | 42.12 $0 
Umeo, ap ootegy (Ate AE cl oe: 0 syak'g iit descdeD 
Giwartenfiéll, . . . . |66 500 34.25 | 25.25 


We may augment this Table by the observations made in 
Kasan and the Urals. For, where the temperature of the air is 
unknown to us, we will fix it by analogy, from which no great 
error can arise, as the places are so near each other. It is 
known, that, for middle latitudes, the diminution of tempera- 
ture is 1°.125 for every degree. This is established by obser- 
vations made near the points in question, namely, in Petersburg 
and Moscow. ‘The difference of latitude between these two ci- 
ties is 4°%; the mean temperature of the air at Petersburg, is 
38°.75 ; of Moscow, 40°.1; the difference of the mean tempera- 
ture is therefore 1°35, As Moscow is nearly 300 metres higher 
than Petersburg, to this difference 2°.92 is to be added ; we have 
therefore a decrease of nearly 4°.5 for 4°.4 of latitude, or not 
quite 1°.12 for each degree of latitude. 

* As at a height of 1500 feet the temperature of springs in Teneriffe 
is almost the same, so might the temperature 64°.40 belong to a somewhat 
higher place (as often seems to be the case in mountainous districts), and 
therefore, if we reduce it to the level of the sea, an augmentation would be 


required. 


+ The mean temperature is estimated from the mean temperatures of 
Montauban, Toulouse, and Montpellier. 


248 On the Mean Temperature of the 


Therefore, 


PLACE. Latitude. } Elevation. Tene of Temett 


Kisnekejewa*, . i 300 39.87 


SAMS opens * 30 43.25 
Nishney-tagilsk, 200 | 37.17 
Werchoturie, - 5 200 36.27 
Bogoslowsk, . . 200 35.37 


The first view of these tables shows that the temperature of 
the earth, in the same latitude, is different under different meri- 
dians ; therefore, to obtain a clear view of the phenomenon, we 
must particularly class the observations according to the meri- 
dians in which they fall. The observations brought forward 
comprise four principal meridians, or rather meridional zones ; 
that of Paris, of Umeo, of the Urals, and, lastly, of Cumana. 

Besides, some of the stations mentioned have a considerable 
altitude above the sea; the temperature of their soil must there- 
fore be reduced to its level. Unfortunately, we possess so few 
observations of this kind, that it is impossible to fix with exact- 
ness the diminution of the temperature of the earth with the al- 
titude. We may, however, conclude from these observations, 
that the decrease of the temperature of springs is subject to 
nearly the same law as that of the air, and that, if any difference 
exists, the first decreases more slowly than the latter. We will, 
therefore, in round numbers, estimate 2°.25 for 250 metres. 
We then obtain for the temperature of the earth in Congo 77° ; 
in Cincinnati, 55°.62 ; in Geneva, 55°.17; in Paris, 53°.37; in 
Giwartenfiall, 38°.75 ; and in Carmeaux, 58°.1. Of the ob- 
servations in the Urals, that of Kisnekejewa must be increased 
2°.7, the rest 1°.8. The observations now obtain the following 
form, classed according to the meridians just mentioned. 


* The mean temperature of the air in Slatoust (Lat. 55°) is 1°.35. Kis- 
nekejewa is half a degree more to the south, and 70 metres lower. 


> 4 


Atmosphere and the Earth. 249 


First Meridian of 0. Second Meridian of 20° E. 


Earth. 


PLACE. Latitude. | “arth. PLACE. Latitude. | Te™P. 


St Jago, - - | 15N.| 7610 || Cairo, . . . 30 N. | 72.5 


Teneriffe, . | 283 64.40 |} Carlscrona, . | 56} 47.3 
Carmeaux, - 43 58.10 || Upsal,. . - 60 43.7 
Geneva, - - 46 na.L7 || Waeo, 2 fits 64 37.17 
Paris, - - - | 49 53.37 || Giwartenfiall, | 66 38.75 
Dublin, . - 53 49.32 ||Congo, - - 9S. | 77.0 
Keswick, .- 543 48.67 

Edinburgh, - 56 47.75 

Third Meridian of 60° E. Fourth Meridian of 80° W. 

Kisnekejewa, 543 42.57 ||Cumana, . . | 10 (7 8.12 
Nishney-tagilsk,| 58 38.97 || Rockfort,. + | 18 79.02 
Werchoturie, 59 * 38.07 || Havannah, . | 23 74.30 
Bogoslowsk, - | 60 37-17 || Cincinnati, . | 39 55.62 


Philadelphia, 40 54.95 


We see from these examples, 

1. That the temperature of the earth, as well as the mean 
temperature of the air, is not the same on the same parallel. If 
we draw lines through all the points which have the same ter- 
restrial temperature, these isogeothermal lines resemble the iso- 
thermal, that they are parallel to the equator, but diverge from 
it in several points. 

2. That the terrestrial temperature, as well as the mean tem- 
perature of the air, decreases with the increase of the latitude, 
but irregularly. The diminution of temperature from the equa- 
tor to the poles, happens so much the quicker the nearer we ap- 
proach the parallel of 45°. Beyond this, again, it decreases with 
less rapidity. By this we may explain, why, in low latitudes, 
it is less than the mean atmospheric temperature; for the latter 
decreases very little to Lat. 20°. The terrestrial temperature, 
therefore, which is continually decreasing, must, in these lati- 
tudes, be less, though, at the equator, it be as high as the mean 
of the air. In middle latitudes, again, the terrestrial tempera- 
ture again equals the mean of the air, as it does not decrease so 
rapidly as the latter. In higher latitudes, for the same reason, 
the terrestrial temperature finally exceeds the atmospheric. 

3. We may express the distribution of the terrestrial tempe- 
rature, under the same meridian, pretty well by the following 
formula : 


a—b sin? 1 — t, 


250 On the Mean Temperature of the 
where a and 6 are constant, 7 the latitude, and ¢ the terrestrial 
temperature. 

Let us combine, in the first meridian, to find out the constant 
numbers, the observations of Paris and Edinburgh. We obtain, 
a—b sin? 56° = 47°.75, 

a—6 sin? 49° = 53°.37 ; 
from which 
a= 79°92, b= 4'7°.02. 
The following Table gives the comparison of the observed 
and calculated values : 


Calculated. | Observed. 


Equator, 
Teneritte, 
St Jago, 
Carmeaux, - 
Geneva, 
Paris, 
Dublin, . 
Keswick, 
Edinburgh, 
Pole, . 2 


The observation at Teneriffe deviates very much; but this 
island lies very far west, and consequently not properly un- 


der the first meridian. 
In like manner, for the second meridian, if we use only the 


observations of Cairo and Upsal, 
rs 86°.9, b= 5'7°.6. 


These values give the following Table : 


PLACE. Calculated. | Observed. PLACE. Calceulated.! Observed. 
Mp) Wires) oak firon \asin, Sibhin.ak - face 
Equator, . 86.9 4 Upsal, . . 43.7 
Caixoyistex ¢ 72.5 72:5 Umeo, =. . 40.32 
Berlin, . . 50.67 50.22. || Giwartenfiall, | 38.75 


47.07 | 47.3 Pole, . . . | 29.30 


Carlscrona, 


For the third meridian, we find, from the observations of 
Kiskencjewa and Bogoslowsk, 


= 831520 O = 61°87: 


Atmosphere and the Earth. Q51 


From which, 


PLACE. Calculated.| Observed. 


Equator, . S 
Kisnekejewa, . 42.57 
Nishney-tagilsk, 38.97 
Werchoturie, . 38.07 
Bogoslowsk, 37.17* 
Pole, , 


Lastly, for the fourth meridian, from the observations of 
Rockfort and Philadelphia, 
a 86°, b= 75°.82. 
And from which, 


Calculated.| Observed. 


Equator, 
Rochfort, . 
Havannah, 
Cincinnati, 
Philadelphia, 


Glee ats 


The result calculated for Cumana deviates very much from 
the observed; but as Cumana also lies considerably to the east, 
it is here like Teneriffe. The same is the case with Konigs- 
berg, in the second meridian, whose terrestrial temperature is a 
whole degree less by observation than calculation. Here a lo- 
cal cause seems to lower the terrestrial as well as atmosphe- 
ric temperature. In Konigsberg, the temperature of the air is 
43°-25: in Mittau, almost 2° farther north, and more to the 
east, it is higher, viz. 44°.6, from very careful observations car- 
ried on by Professor Pauker of Mittau for four years. The 
observation of times, also, does not agree with the calculation. 

From these formulz we may easily find the terrestrial tem- 
perature for every degree of latitude, under one of the meri- 
dians for which the formule are calculated. It is easily seen, 
that we may readily find in these meridians the points in which 
a temperature of 42°.25, 54°.5, or 65°.75 will be found. Lines 
drawn through these points, are the isogeothermal lines which 
we have already noticed, and are represented in Plate IV. In 
fact, if we eliminate the latitude 7 from the equation 

a—bsin?l=t 
we obtain, by the usual reductions, 


‘ amt 
cos? / = 1 — 2 ——. 
o . 
* Such a comcidence of the observed and calculated results is only to be 


ascribed to chance. 


252 On the Mean Temperature of the 


from which formula we can easily find the latitudes which cor- 
respond to certain temperatures. We thus find, 
LATITUDE. 
In Ist Meridian, | In 2d Meridian., | In 3d Meridian, | In 4th Meridian, 


Long. 0° from Long. = 20° E. | Long. = 60° E. | Long. = 80° W. 
Paris. 


77 30 65 52 


60 31 53 47 
48 36 43 14 
37 18 32 25 
24 30 18 57 


As the terrestrial temperature of Cumana and Teneriffe is 
considerably less than the points lying in the interior of South 
America and Africa, which are under the same parallel, so must 
the isogeothermal lines, in the ocean between Africa and Ame- 
rica, have a considerable inflexion to the south. 

I have endeavoured to establish the terrestrial temperature at 
the surface of the earth (or rather at a depth of 25 metres) as a 
general law of nature, and have not, as has hitherto been done, 
deduced it from the mean temperature of the air, with the con- 
sideration of local circumstances. Von Buch, in the above trea- 
tise, has endeavoured to render it probable, that the differences 
between the terrestrial temperature and the mean of the air are 
produced by the cooling or warming of the lower strata, by the 
surface-water sinking downwards *. Although this may certainly 
have some influence on the terrestrial temperature, yet many ob- 
servations are opposed to its admission. It is not shewn, that 
the system of subterranean waters to which the springs belong, 
stands in any immediate connection with the atmospheric water ; 
and rain sinks but to a small depth into the earth, particularly 
if it is composed of rock, and is chiefly expended in the process of 
vegetation, or evaporated, or collected into running waters. In 
Bogoslowsk, where, for the greater part of the year, the ground 
is covered with snow, and consequently no water can sink down; 
yet in mine-works the quantity of water is not greater in sum- 
mer and autumn than in winter, and only augments in spring, 
when the pressure of the atmospheric water is considerable, 
from the sudden melting of the snows, and the swelling of the 
rivers. In high latitudes, where the springs almost throughout 

* Vide Remarks on Temperature of Springs, by Von Buch, p, 166, vol. vi. 
of the Edin. New Phil. Journ. 


Atmosphere and the Earth. 253 


the whole year, break forth from under a covering of snow, how 
can the small quantity of water, which, in summer, by the melt- 
ing of the snow and fall of rain, sinks into the earth, elevate the 
temperature of the subterranean water so many degrees for the 
whole year ? 

In some places, such as marshes, the mixing of atmospheric 
water with that of springs is evident ; also loose sands, such as 
those of the Egyptian deserts, heated by the sun’s rays, elevate 
the temperature of springs * ; but such observations have been 
excluded in the above calculations. 

However well the formula a — 6 sin * / = ¢ expresses the ob- 
servations, yet it must not be forgotten that it is only an approxi- 
mative formula, and that it may give false results for points far 
removed from the places of observation. ‘To such places belongs 
the pole, for which all the four equations must give the same 
value, but which is not the case. It may be admitted, that, in 
the vicinity of the pole, the terrestrial temperature is at its 
minimum, which this formula cannot indicate, as, at 7==0 it has 
its greatest value, at 7 — 90° its smallest. As the isogeother- 
mal line of 32° under the first meridian, approaches very near 
the pole, if we can trust the formula even reaches it, so that 
the space, which is included by the isogeothermal line of 32°, has 
a considerable indentation, and seems almost to form two por- 
tions, the middle points of which are to be viewed as two dis- 
tinct poles of cold. One of these points probably lies in North 
America, the other in the north of Siberia. Unfortunately we 
still want observations on these places. 'The temperature under 
these poles of cold cannot be much under 32°. 

With respect to the temperature at the equator, we see that 
these points which are on coasts washed by the sea, or on islands, 
have a lower temperature than those which are in the middle of 
a great continent. The warmest point of the equator is in the 
interior of Africa; to the north of this point, at least in lati- 
tudes which do not exceed 50°, the isogeothermal lines have a 
considerable curve to the north. That point, which, in the 
ocean included between great continents, falls in 60° east longi- 
tude, has even a temperature of 3°37 lower. Those points, 
finally, which lie next to the observations made on the west 
coast of Africa (Teneriffe) and cast coast of America (Cuma- 


" Well at the great Pyramid 88°25. 


254 On the Mean Temperature of the 


na) * possess almost the same low temperature, so that we may 
conjecture, that the coldest point of the equator between 80° 
west and 60° east longitude, is, in the great ocean between the 
west coast of Africa and the east coast of America; but, from 
thence the terrestrial temperature increases rapidly te the east 
and west. ‘The same holds for the calculated temperatures of 
the equator which, we have already observed of the pole, that 
the formulz: are perhaps not quite conformable to one another. 
It is difficult to conjecture what can have produced a greater 
terrestrial temperature in the low latitudes of the second meridian. 
The circumstance of the equator in Africa, extending through 
a large extent of country covered with sandy wastes, may be a 
cause of the phenomenon; but it is difficult to conjecture how 
this could influence high latitudes. If we reflect that there are, 
under this meridian, two active volcanoes (Vesuvius and Etna) ; 
that Germany is studded with basalt and other igneous rocks ; 
that a greater or less number of warm springs testify the high 
temperature of the interior ; that, finally, in the Tyrolese Alps, 
porphyry and augite-rock predominate, to which, according to 
the new views, these immense masses owe their elevation ; it is 
natural to be expected, that even this circumstance of melted 
igneous masses being found at a small depth under the surface 
of the whole district, may be connected with the higher tem- 
perature of the soil. 

South of the equator we possess but one observation, that of 
Congo, under the second meridian ; and if a single observation 
can justify us in forming any conclusion, ii explains how the 
warmest isogeothermal line (or the isogeothermal equator) does 
not coincide with the equator of the earth. We require only, in 
the map, Plate IV., to halve the distance between the isogeother- 
mal line of 77:0 and the point in Congo, where the terrestrial 
temperature is also 77°, to find a point through which the isogeo- 
thermal equator must pass. If this linc, as is probable, runs 
parallel to the isogeothermal line of 77°, then is the temperature 
on it greater under the first meridian, less under the second, and 
likewise less under the third and fourth, than the calculated 
temperature for the equator of the earth ; the temperatures are 
therefore distributed similarly on the isogeothcrmal equator, as 


* Combining the observations at Philadelphia and Cumana, we find only 
79-92 for the temperature at the equator. 


Atmosphere and the Earth. 255 


they would be if this line coincided with the terrestrial equator, 
and deviate little from 81:5; that is, the mean temperature of 
the air in these regions. 

The temperature of the earth stands in manifest connexion 
with other appearances exhibited by nature. I will here only 
mention some of these, to show how fruitful these considera- 
tions may in time become. Wahlenberg has already shewn, that 
in high latitudes many perennial deep-rooted herbs, trees: and 
shrubs, only thrive, because the temperature of the earth exceeds 
the mean temperature of the air. In these latitudes, the periods 
of vegetation appear to be as much regulated by the periods in the 
temperature of the earth as that of the mean temperature of the 
air ; a remark which I had often an opportunity of making, on 
my journey to the northern Urals. In Middle Russia, the ve- 
getation commences later than in Germany, but the harvest falls 
at the same time, in the month of July ; but if, proceeding north- 
wards, we pags the point where the mean temperature of the air 
is 32:0, the harvests become later, and happen in August ; and, 
finally, before the cultivation of grain is completely at an end, 
in the beginning of September; this period, which corresponds 
with the maximum of the atmospherical temperature, approaches, 
therefore, in high latitudes, the time when the terrestrial tempera- 
ture is highest. ‘The connexion which the direction of the north- 
ernmost isogeothermal lines appears to maintain with the boun- 
dary of the polar ices, also merits our attention. These limits 
are laid down on the accompanying chart, from Scoresby’s in- 
teresting paper on the Polar Ice *. The first glance at the chart 
informs us, that the isogeothermal line of 32° extends somewhat 
to the south of the boundary of the ice, except at Greenland : but 
of this country we know that formerly it was not so much beset 
with ice as at present. The terrestrial temperature can only 
operate on masses of ice, which sink to a considerable depth, 
which is not the case with those on the Continent ; and thence the 
effect of a large mass of land, such as Greenland, on the polar ice 
boundary is easily explained. The floating of the ice on the east 
coast of Greenland towards the south-west, which Scoresby has so 
well observed, would intimate colder points in the north of Ame- 
rica, particularly of Greenland ; at least, I do not know how we 


* This remarkable memoir first appeared in the 2d volume of the Memoirs 
of the Wernerian Society. 


256 On the Mean Temperature of the 


can otherwise explain this appearance, so much at variance with 
our ideas of the distribution of temperatures in the surface of the 
earth. It is clear, that, if the coldest point of the polar sea is 
just under the pole, the colder water must move below from 
north to south, and the warmer on the surface from south to 
north, the first of these currents would be changed by the rota- 
tion of the earth into a south-west, the second into a north-east 
one; as it must be the surface-water which affects the floating 
of the ice, it must take place towards the north-east, viz. in the 
_ opposite direction, to what really happens. But, if the coldest 
point is some distance south from the pole, then the surface-cur- 
rent must take a southerly direction, or rather a south-west, on 
account of the rotation of the earth. 

I believe, that, in future, we will find more connexion be- 
tween the phenomenaof currents and thedistribution of the earth’s 
temperature; but the latter may exert some influence on the 
distribution of the intensity of the earth’s magnetism. I have, 
in a former treatise, endeavoured to establish the probability of 
the magnetism of the earth being seated at its surface ; if this 
is the case, then certainly the distribution of the earth’s tempe- 
rature must influence that of the magnetic intensity. But we 
have here the choice of two hypotheses, either the earth is to be 
regarded as a magnet itself, and then the intensity of its mag- 
netic power decreases with the increase of temperature, or it 
receives its power from without, and is, as it were, a mass of soft 
iron, which is rendered magnetic by a foreign body, and then 
its magnetic force increases with the heat. 

Although the first of these hypotheses has been that hitherto 
universally received, yet the second gains some probability from 
the newly discovered magnetic influence of the sun’s rays, and 
the dependence of the daily changes of the declination on the 
course of the sun. We will immediately see, that the knowledge 
we have obtained of the distribution of the earth’s temperature 
gives us a means of deciding the question with greater certainty. 

Let us suppose, first, the globe of the earth as a heated mass, 
extremely capable of magnetism, and whose surface has almost 
a uniform temperature, to be rendered magnetic by the power 
of a distaut heavenly body (the sun). It is clear, that the dis- 
tribution of the magnet will only, in such a body, shew a great 
regularity, and the lines of equal inclination will correspond with 


Atmosphere and the Earth. 257 


those of equal intensity. But if, by degrees, differences in the 
surface temperature arise, it is clear that the lines of equal inten- 
sity in particular will change, and will remove in some points from 
those of equal inclination. If a line of equal inclination passes 
through several points, which have the same terrestrial tempera- 
ture, then, in all these points, the intensity of the magnetic force 
will also be the same; but in all points of the same line, where 
the terrestrial temperature is higher or lower, will the intensity be 
greater or less (if the second hypothesis be correct). This ap- 
pears really to be the case; and if future observations increase 
the number of those already collected, we may consider this cir- 
cumstance as a powerful confirmation of the second hypothesis. 

From Hansteen’s chart (of the lines of inclination and isody- 
namic lines for the whole magnetic power for 1825, also from 
the chart of isodynamic lines, which is appénded to his, Treatise 
in Poggendorf’s Annals, v. 9.), we see that the inclination and 
isodynamic lines in Scotland run nearly parallel ; but in the east, 
in Norway and Sweden, the latter deviate to the north, and in- 
tersect the former: On the line of equal inclination, therefore, 
in the east, the intensity is less than in the west, which is also 
the case with the terrestrial temperature. Edinburgh has nearly 
the same inclination as Stockholm ; in Edinburgh the intensity 
is 1:400, the terrestrial temperature 47°75; in Stockholm, the 
first 1386, the other 43-7. The same is the case with Paris and 
Kasan, whose inclinations differ little from one another; in Paris 
the intensity is 1:348, the terrestrial temperature 52-7; in Ka- 
san, the former 1-320, the latter 43-25. Further, in Teneriffe 
and Naples: in Teneriffe the intensity = 1-298, terrestrial 
temperature 64°62; in Naples, the former 1-275, the latter 
about 61-25. 

We now easily see why the pole of intensity falls to the south 
of the pole of inclination. As the temperature of the earth de- 
creases to the north, so the lines of equal inclination lying near- 
est the pole of inclination, go to the north of it through colder 
points than to the south ; but in these colder points, from the 
above principles, the intensity must be less than in the warmer ; 
we must therefore seek for the pole of intensities, viz. the point 
where the intensities reach their maximum, to the south of the 


JANUARY—MarcH 1830. R 


258 On peculiar Noises occasionally heard 


pole of inclination,—where it is really found, according to the 
newest observations calculated by Hansteen. The pole of in- 
tensity lies under Latitude 56°, Longitude 80°; and of inclina- 
tion under Latitude ‘71°; Longitude 102° west from Paris.— 
phe md ie 1829. 


On peculiar Noises occasionally heard in particular Districts, 
with some further Remarks on the production of these 
Sounds. ee by the Author. 


Ix page 74. of your last Journal, an interesting paper is in- 
serted upon the peculiar noises heard at Nakuh, on Mount Si- 
nai, resembling the tone of an Aolian harp, or the sound emit- 
ted by the instrument used in the Greek monasteries instead of 
a bell; that this is succeeded by a murmuring like that of a 
hollow top ; and, lastly, becomes so loud that the earth seems to 
shake. In discussing the opinions of Mr Seetzen, Mr Gray, 
and other ‘travellers, it is finally decided, on the evidence of Pro- 
fessor’ Ehrenberg, that the phenomenon is referable solely to 
the rolling or grating of dry coarse granular sand down the sur- 
face of a steep acclivity m the rock. ‘Those who are conversant 
with alpime scenery, and in the habit of strolling amidst the re- 
cesses of these mountainous regions, will readily bear their testi- 
mony to the: power of avalanches for the production of those 
awful ‘concussions which so often rouse attention, re-echoing 
from every pinnacle and precipice ; while, to the more gradual 
and gentle lapses of sheets of pulverised snow down the smooth 
inclined planes of lengthened acclivities, may be referred the 
minor moanings which rise and fall upon the ear, much resem- 
bling in character the tones of El Nakuh. But however just 
may be the deductions formed from the visit of Professor 
Ehrenberg to that remarkable place, I am induced to notice the 
subject, for the purpose of pointing out, not only the possibility ; 
but the certainty, that similar effects may be produced by other 
causes, and that the murmurings of El Nakuh are by no means 
confined to the bosom of Mount Sinai. For I suspect that not 
only all elevated regions, but other tracts of land under favour- 


in particular Districts. 259 


ably exciting circumstances, become, more frequently than our 
philosophy dreameth of, instruments on which Nature delights 
to play “ sounds and sweet airs.” , That, hills and plains, the 
wilderness and the waters, are in ber hands but as ‘‘ harps whose 
chords: elude the sight ;” though, whether this melody, be. of 
“ the air or the earth,” must remain a matter of mystery, 
whereupon wisdom yet may ponder. I shall proceed to e¢orro- 
borate my views by a few instances. It is observed by the 
author of one of the most delightful minor works * of -modern 
date, that the “ purely rural, little: noticed, and, indeed, local 
occurrence, called by the country people Hummings in the air, 
is annually to be heard in one or two fields near his dwelling. 
** About the middle of the day, perhaps from twelve o’clock till 
two, on a few calm sultry days in July,” he says, ‘* we occasionally 
hear, when in particular places, the humming of apparently 
a large swarm of bees. It is generally in some spacious open 
spot that this murmuring first arrests our attention. As we 
move onward, the sound becomes fainter, and by degrees is no 
longer audible. That this sound proceeds from a collection of 
bees, or some such insects high in the air, there can ‘be no 
doubt ; yet the musicians are invisible. At these times a soli- 
tary insect or so may be observed here and there, occupied in 
its usual employ; but this creature takes no part in our aérial 
orchestra.” 

Now, before entirely acquiescing in an opinion thus delivered 
in the language of certainty, it should be remarked, in the first 
place, That the writer mentions the fact as local and partial, 
heard only in one or two fields, at particular times of the year, 
when the air is in a certain state, viz. calm and sultry. In the 
next place, it may, for good reasons, be fairly doubted, whether 
it really is produced by insects “high in air ;” for it so happens, 
that, in the bosom of a thick wood, where there is a space par- 
tially opened, though still a very narrow and confined spot, in 
days precisely such as he describes them, i. e. sultry, and in 
the middle of summer, when the air is calm, I have often 
paused, to listen to a similar aérial humming, appearing to re- 
sult from some unseen power close at hand; which for. several 


* Journal of a Naturalist, p. 369, 2d edit. 
R 2 


260 On peculiar Noises occasionally heard 


years I hesitated not to attribute to insects, an opinion J felt 
compelled, though reluctantly, to give up, since, after the most 
diligent search, I could never detect the presence of any col- 
lected body sufficiently numerous to account for the effect. 
Many of the properties of sound have hitherto eluded the powers 
of science, and much that is mysterious still remains to be un- 
ravelled. 

With respect to the celebrated statue of Memnon at Thebes, 
we have some very obstinate authorities to contend with, be- 
fore it can be given up as entirely and absolutely fictitious. 
Strabo, for instance, positively affirms that he heard sounds 
emitted; and so far was he from being a credulous auditor, 
that, without being able, as he says, to declare whether it 
proceeded from the statue or the base, he adds, that, although 
it did certainly appear to him to issue from the one or the other, 
he would rather believe that it came from the bystanders, and 
was altogether an imposture, than conclude, though supported 
by the evidence of his own senses, that stones ranged in such 
and such a manner were capable of yielding sound. Pausa- 
nias, also, who saw the mutilated remnants of the statue when the 
lower part alone remained on the pedestal, speaks of it as a fact 
concerning which there could be no question. Pliny, in his 
Natural History, book 36. ch. 7., in enumerating the various 
Egyptian marbles, mentions this Memnonian block as possessing 
the singular quality of cleaving or cracking under the influence 
of the morning sun. Juvenal alludes to it in his 15th Sat. 
15; 


‘“* Dimidio magicz resonant ubi Memnone chordz.”’ 


And Tacitus, finally, informs us, An. lib. 2. § 61., that Germa- 
nicus, in his progress up the River Nile, actually saw this 
** Memnonis saxea effigies, ubi radiis solis icta est, vocalem so- 
num reddens.” Notwithstanding this collected evidence, though 
we may hesitate in admitting the fact to its full extent, I am in- 
clined so far to give it weight, as to believe that, if there was 
imposture, that imposture had still truth for its foundation, 
namely, that some similar phenomenon had been detected in 
masses of insulated stones,—a supposition strongly corroborated 
by the unquestionable testimony of Humboldt, whose attention 
was drawn to some remarkable granite rocks in South America, 


in particular Districts. 261 


which spontaneously, at certain times, emitted sounds much re- 
sembling those attributed to the colossal statue of Memnon, a 
circumstance well known to the natives, who, however, were at 
a loss for an explanation of the cause. 

This distinguished traveller says, in the 4th volume of his 
Personal Narrative, that, according to credible witnesses, sub- 
terraneous sounds, like those of an organ, are heard towards 
sunrise, by those who sleep upon the granite rocks on the banks 
of the Oroonoko. He adds, that MM. Jomard, Jollois, and 
Devilliers heard, at sunrise, in a monument of granite, placed 
at the centre of the spot on which the palace of Karnak stands, 
a noise resembling the breaking of a string *. 

The reflective powers of surfaces, whether inclined or hori- 
zontal, and the transmitting capacity of the air, afford data for 
every variety of theory, in the equally unaccountable and singu- 
lar instances on record ; and I believe that many of your read- 
ers, at all in the habit of paying attention to the numberless 
phenomena presenting themselves, will bear testimony to having 
heard strange sounds, whence and wherefore they knew not. 
He who has been called upon to keep watch during the lone 
hours and stillness of a calm night, will occasionally hear low 
murmurings rising and falling on the ear, for which he would 
find it difficult to account on any other theory than vibrations 
of air acting in some particular manner on intervening surfaces 
or projections. 

It may be urged, and it is perfectly just, that the intensity 
of sound is very considerably increased during the night, which 
has been ascribed by Humboldt to the presence of the sun 
acting on the propagation and intensity of sounds, by opposing 
them with currents of air of different density, and partial un- 
dulations of the atmosphere, caused by unequally heating dif- 
ferent parts of the earth. In these cases, the vibrations of sound 


* Analogous, and corroborative in somé degree of these facts, is the fol- 
lowing beautiful, though somewhat fanciful, passage of Madame de Stael’s : 
“* Et l’on meme que sur les cétes de |’Asie, ot l’atmosphere est plus pur, on 
entend quelquefvis le soir une harmonie plaintive et douce, que la nature 
semble adresser 4 l’homme, a fin de lui apprendre qu’elle respire, qu'elle 
aime, et qu’elle souffre.” 


262 On peculiar Noises occasionally heard 


are divided into two waves, where the medium suddenly changes, 
and a sort of acoustic’ mirage is produced, arising from: the 
want of homogeneity of the air, in the same manner as a lumi- 
nous mirage takes place from an analogous cause *. But, ad- 
mitting the ‘ingenious explanation of this scientific traveller, 
other causes ‘possibly, however, and: probably connected with 
the presence or absence, excess or diminution, of solar heat, may 
be operative in both the increase, and protracted continuity of 
sound. Thus, Captam Sir Edward Parry, during the intense cold 
experienced in Winter Harbour, was surprized at the great dis- 
tance at which the human voice could be heard: “ I have,” he 
says, ‘ often heard people distinctly conversing in a common 
tone of voice, at the distance of a mile, and today I heard a 
man-singing to himself as he walked along the beach at even 
a greater distance than this.” The strong odndeitey of sound 
to ascend, again, has great effect. Humboldt remarks the bark- 
ing of a dog has been heard when the listener was at an eleva- 
tion of about three miles in an aerostatic balloon. And it has 
been remarked, that, from the edge of the Table Mountain, 
which is 3600 feet high, and the upper part of which rises per- 
pendicularly at the distance of about a mile from Cape ‘Town, 
every noise made below, even to the word of command on the 
parade, may be distinctly heard. 

The conducting power of water is well known, but to what 
extent would scarcely be credited, had we not the most un- 
doubted evidence at hand, that of the much to be lamented Dr 
Clarke, whose words we shal] give. ‘ A remarkable cireum- 
stance occurred, which may convey notions of the propagation 
of sound over water, g greater than will perhaps ‘be credited ; but 
we can appeal to the testimony of those who were witnesses 
of the fact, for the truth of that which we now relate. By our 
observation of latitude, we were 100 miles from the Egyp- 
tian coast; the sea was perfectly calm, with little or no swell, 
and scarcely a breath of air stirrmg, when the Captain 
called our attention to the sound, as of distant artillery, vibrating 
in a low gentle murmur, upon the water, and distinctly heard 
at intervals during the whole day. He said it was caused by 


* Ann. de Chim. vol. xii. p. 162; also this Journal, old series, vol. iii. p. 194. 


m particular Districts. 263 


an engagement at sea, and believed the enemy had attacked our 
fleet at.Alexandria. No such event had, however, taken place, 
‘and. it was afterwards known, that the sounds we then heard 
proceeded from an attack, made by our troops, against the for- 
tress of Rachmanie on the Nile, beyond Rosetta. ‘This had 
commenced upon that day ; and hence alone the noise of :guns 
could have originated. The distance of Rachmanie from the 
coast in a direct line, is about ten leagues ; this allows 130 miles 
for the space through which the sound had been propagated 
when it reached our ears*.” 

Of the conducting and reverberating powers of a flat’ sur- 
face, I would mention, not only from its extreme singulari- 
ty, but its classical position, the echo in the Gardens of Les 
Rochers, once the well known residence of Madame de: Se- 
vigné. An additional reason for noticing it is, because I doubt 
whether its existence is sufficiently known, or was duly appre- 
ciated, even in the days of its celebrated guardian, since we 
find her alluding to it only as a “ petit rediseur,” repeating 
** mot & mot jusque dans loreille;” and gladly would I induce 
any scientific traveller to include within his tour through. this 
picturesque part of France, a visit to.a place and object so well 
worthy of his attention. The Chateau des Rochers, sold unfor- 
tunately in the Revolutionary times, and (I speak of a few years 
ago) in the hands of a most unworthy and disreputable owner, 
is situated no great distance from the interesting and ancient 
town of Vitré. A broad gravel walk on a dead flat, leads 
through the garden to the house. In the centre of this, on a 
particular spot, the listener is placed, at the distance of about 
ten or a dozen yards from another person, who, similarly 
placed, addresses him in a low, and, in the common acceptation 
of the term, inaudible whisper, when ; | 


“Lo, what myriads rise !”’ 


for immediately from thousands and ten of ‘thousands.of invisi- 
ble tongues, starting from the earth beneath, or as if every peb- 
ble was gifted with powers of speech, the sentence is repeated 
with a slight hissing sound, not unlike the whirling of small 
shot passing through the air. On removing from this spot, 


* Clarke's Travels, vol. iii. p. 331. 


264 On peculiar Noises occasionally heard 


however trifling the distance, the intensity of the repetition ts 
sensibly diminished, and within a few feet ceases to be heard. 
Under the idea that the ground was hollow beneath, the soil 
has been dug up to a considerable depth, but without discover- 
ing any clew to the solution of the mystery. On looking round 
for any external cause, I felt inclined to attribute the phenome- 
non to the reflecting powers of a semicircular low garden-wall, 
a few yards in the rear of the listener, and in front of the 
speaker, although there was no apparent connexion between the 
transmission of sound from the gravel-walk and this wall. The 
gardener, however, to whom I suggested this, assured me that 
I was wrong, since within his memory the wall had been taken 
down and rebuilt, and that in the interim there was no perceptible 
alteration in the unaccountable evolution of these singular 
sounds. 

On the smooth surface of ice, and on a much larger scale, 
a somewhat similar effect has been observed. For an instance, 
I shall refer to the animated account extracted from Head’s 
Forest Scenes, a little work scarcely, if at all, inferior to 
the spirited rough notes of his brother of galloping notoriety. 
‘© March '7.—The frost continued, and the cold increased to a 
very low temperature, the effect of which upon the extended 
sheet of ice which covered the bay, was somewhat remarkable. 
It cracked and split from one end to the other, with a noise 
which might have been mistaken for distant artillery ; but this, 
when it is taken into consideration that the sheet of ice was 
15 or 16 square miles in area, and 3 feet thick, may be easily 
imagined. Nor was this all: I was occasionally surprised by 
sounds produced by the wind, indescribably awful and grand. 
Whether the vast sheet of ice was made to vibrate and bellow 
like the copper which generates the thunder of the stage, or 
whether the air rushing through its cracks and fissures made a 
noise, I will not pretend to say ; still less to describe the vari- 
ous intonations, which in every direction struck upon the ear. 
A dreary undulating sound wandered from point to point, per- 
plexing the mind to imagine whence it came, or whither it went, 
and whether aérial or subterranean, sometimes like low moan- 
ing, and then swelling into a deep-toned note, as produced by 
some AXolian instrument, it being in real fact, and without me- 


im particular Districts. 265 


taphor the voice of winds imprisoned in the bosom of the deep. 
This night, March 7., I listened for the first time to what was 
then perfectly new to me, although I experienced its repetition 
on many subsequent occasions, whenever the temperature fell 
very suddenly *.” 

In this case, as well as in that mentioned by Sir Edward 
Parry, it should be remarked that temperature was closely con- 
nected with the sounds, a proof that the peculiar state of the 
air, with respect to its radiating powers of heat, is an important 
feature in causing these phenomena, and so far at least may be 
adduced in support of even the morning music of Memnon’s 
statue, when the sudden action of the solar rays might produce 
incalculable effects, darting on certain substances, surrounded 
with a temperature considerably cooled down by dews, and the 
chill of the night air. 

I shall conclude by mentioning two other causes, bearing per- 
haps more closely on the original question, which, like the echo of 
Les Rochers, have fallen under my own immediate observation. 

In the autumn of 1828, when on a tour through Les Hautes 
Pyrenées, I formed one of a party, quitting Bagneses de Lu- 
chon at midnight, with an intention of reaching the heights of 
the Porte de Venasque, one of the wildest and most romantic 
boundaries between the French and Spanish frontier, from the 
summit of which the spectator looks at once upon the inacces- 
sible ridges of the Maladetta, the most lofty point of: the Py- 
renean range. After winding our way through the deep woods 
and ravines, constantly ascending above the valley of Luchon, 
we gained the Hospice about two in the morning, and, after 
remaining there a short time, proceeded with the first blush of 
dawn to encounter the very steep gorge terminating in the pass 
itself, a narrow vertical fissure through a massive wall of per- 
pendicular rock. It is not my intention to detail the features 
of the magnificent scene which burst upon our view as we 
emerged from this splendid portal, and stood upon Spanish 
ground,—neither to describe the feelings of awe which rivetted 
us to the spot, as we gazed, in speechless admiration, on the 
lone, desolate, and (if the term may be applied to a mountain), 
the ghastly form of the appropriately-named Maladetta. 1 al- 


“ Head’s Forest Scenes, p. 204, 


266 On peculiar Noises, occasionally heard 


lude to it solely for the purpose of observing, that we were most 
forcibly. struck with a dull, low, moaning, AZolian' sound, which 
alone broke upon the deathly silence, evidently proceeding from 
‘the body of this mighty mass, though. we in vain attempted to 
connect it with any particular spot, or assign an adequate cause 
for these solemn strains. The air was perfectly calm. The sky 
was cloudless, and the atmosphere clear to that extraordinary 
degree conceivable only by those who are familiar with the ele- 
vated regions of southern climates. So clear and pure indeed, 
that, at noon, a bright star which had attracted our notice 
throughout the grey of the morning, still remained visible im the 
zenith. By the naked eye, therefore, and still more with the 
assistance of a telescope, any water-falls of sufficient magnitude 
would have been distinguishable on'a front. base, and exposed 
before us; but not a stream was to be detected, and the bed of 
what gaye'evident tokens of being oceasionally.a strong torrent, 
intersecting the valley at its foot, was then nearly: dry. I will not 
presume to assert, that the sun’s rays, though at the moment im- 
pinging in all their: glory on every point and peak of the snowy 
heights, had any share in vibrating these mountain chords ;. but 
on a subsequent visit, a few days afterwards, when I went alone 
to explore this wild scenery, and at the same hour stood on the 
same spot, I listened in vain for the moaning sounds ;. the air 
was equally calm ; but the sun was hidden by clouds, and a cap 
of ‘dense mist hung over the greater portion of the mountain. 
My remaining instance in point is nearer home, and though 
by no means of common occurrence, is sufficiently frequent to be 
pretty generally known in its own immediate neighbourhood. 
‘On turning to a map of Cheshire, it will be seen, that, from 
within a short distance eastward of Macclesfield, a range of hills 
extends in an irregular curve to the north-west, forming a sort 
of concave screen, somewhat abruptly terminating over. the 
comparatively level plains of this part of the county., In dif- 
ferent parts of these, as well as in more elevated spots, at the 
various distances of from four to six miles or more, at'certain 
seasons of the year, usually in the early part of spring, when 
the wind is easterly, and nearly calm on the flats, a hollow 
moaning sound is heard, familiarly termed the soughing of 
the wind,” and evidently proceeding from this elevated range, 


in particular Districts. 267 
which, I should add, is intersected with numberless ravines or 
valleys; and I have nc doubt, that when the atmosphere is, in 
that precise state best adapted for receiving and transmitting 
undulations of air, a breeze, not perceptible in the flat country, 
gently sweeps from the summits of the hills, and acts the part 
of a blower on the sinuosities and hollows or cloughs as they 
are called, which thus respond to the draught of air like 
enormous organ-pipes, and become for the time wind-instru- 
ments on a gigantic scale, producing those striking and melan- 
choly modulations so well expressed by the provincial word 
*“‘ soughing,” derived, no doubt, from the old Welsh substan- 
tive * suad,” a lullaby, or the verb ‘* suaw,” to hush, to lull, to 
rest; or, as Sir Walter Scott in his glossary interprets it, a hol- 
low blast or whisper, im which sense he uses it. ‘* Hist,’ ex- 
claimed Mucklewrath *, ‘ I hear a distant noise. ‘ It is the 
rushing of the brook over the pebbles’ said one. < It is the 
sough of the wind among the bracken’ said another.” And, 
again, when old Dousterswivel + is keeping his midnight vigils 
near goot Maister Mishdigoat’s grave, the “ melancholy sough” 
of the dying wind is fitly associated with ‘ strains of vocal 
music, so sad and solemn, as if the departed spirits of the 
churchmen who bad once inhabited those deserted ruins, were 
mourning the solitude and desolation to which their hallowed 


precincts had been abandoned.” 
E.'S. 


On the Geographical Characters and Geognostical Constitution 
of Spain. By Professor Hausmann, of Géttingen. Com- 
municated by the Author f. 


Geographic Features of the Country. 


Tur chief direction of the Pyrenean chain, properly so called, 
is from ESE to WSW. It is disposed, not in one but in 


* Old Mortality, vol. iv. p. 85. + Antiquary, vol. ii. p. 265. 


$ As we know but comparatively little of the geographical and geological 
features of Spain, we have much pleasure in laying before our readers these 
observations of Professor Hausmann, abstracted from a memoir lately read 
before the Royal Society of Gottingen, by that distinguished naturalist, but 
not yet printed or published.Epit. 4 


268 Prof. Hausmann on the Geographical Characters 


two chains, which run parallel to each other. An erroneous 
view has been taken up and propagated by many of the newer 
geographers, viz. that the principal mountain groups in Spain 
are mere continuations of the Pyrenees: they have assumed and 
delineated in maps what they call an Iberian Mountain Chain, 
which chain is said to arise in the west, in the mountains of 
Asturias, at the sources of the Ebro, from thence to run in a 
south-eastern direction towards the frontiers of Arragon and 
Old Castile, where it assumes a southerly direction, and ranges 
downwards to Cabo de Gata, where it terminates. It is con- 
ceived that the other principal chains of mountains are lateral 
brauches of that Iberian mountain chain, and that they thus 
form not longitudinal valleys, but transverse valleys. This er- 
ror has arisen frem a series of heights which range through 
Spain, in the direction of the supposed chain, forming the prin- 
cipal water-shed (divortia aquarum) between the Atlantic and 
Mediterranean Seas, and which, therefore, in regard to the 
surface of the Iberian peninsula, is of great importance, because 
there is connected with it the striking phenomenon, that, with 
exception of the Ebro, all the considerable rivers flow towards 
the Atlantic Sea, and that the eastern acclivity is short, while 
the western and south-western are long. But this series of 
heights (héhenzug), has not the characters of a connected 
mountain chain (group), although single mountain masses are 
found in its line of direction. Among these, the most distin- 
guished are the Sierras de Molina, de Albaracin, de Cuenca, 
on the borders of Arragon and Old and New Castile. Not only 
the external aspect, but also the internal composition, go to 
prove that the principal mountain chains of Spain are not mem- 
bers of a great mountain system, or system of mountains. The 
principal mountain chains which traverse the interior of Spain, 
have the same general direction, which is from WSW. to ENE. 

The most northern chain begins at the western frontier of Ar- 
ragon, and forms, under the name Somosierra and Guadarrama 
mountains, the boundary between Old and New Castile, and con- 
tinues, under the names Sierra del Pico, Montana de Griegos, 
Sierra de Gata, and at length unites with the Portuguese Sierra 
de Estrella. This very striking mountain chain, which is so 
much distinguished by its form and height, is much less con- 


and Geognostical Constitution of Spain. 269 


nected in its longitudinal direction than the chain of the Pyre- 
nees. ‘The eastern part of it, whose majestic pyramidic sum- 
mits are seen from the high table land of Madrid, rises 7700 
feet above the level of the sea. Another mountain chain ranges 
between the Tagus and the Guadiana, under the names Montes 
de Consuegra, Sierra de Yevenes, Montanas de Toledo, Sierra 
de Guadelupe, and continues onwards to Portugal. A more 
simple chain than this is the moderately high Sterra Morena, 
which, beginning on the eastern boundary of Mancha, continues 
onward between the Guadiana and the Guadalquiver. Its 
northern foot is much higher than its southern. We rise gra- 
dually to the road which leads from Madrid towards Andalusia, 
to a pass 2255 feet above the level of the sea. The acclivity is 
steeper on the south side. 

The most southern chain of mountains, which, in its direc- 
tion, corresponds to the south coast of Spain, or rather ranges 
along in the direction of the coast, is distinguished by its form 
and height. Both in its exterior and interior, it is more com- 
plicated in its structure than the other Spanish ranges of moun- 
tains, because there are in it many high ridges which run pa- 
rallel, and thus longitudinal valleys are formed. This moun- 
tain range has not an uninterrupted course; on the con- 
trary, the eastern part of it, whose principal mountain ridge 
is named Sierra Nevada, is separated from the western, named 
the Sierra de Ronda. The first, the Sierra Nevada, is par- 
ticularly distinguished by its extent and height. Its principal 
mountain ridge overtops the highest summits of the Pyre- 
nees ; for, according to the measurements of Dom. Simon 
Rojas Clementi, the highest summit, Cumbre de Mulhacen, is 
11,105 feet above the level of the sea; hence, notwithstanding 
its southern situation, it rises above the snow line, which there 
attains a height of 8600 feet above the sea. The northern foot 
of the Sierra Nevada is bounded partly by the table land of 
Guadiz and Granada, of which the latter is 2000 feet above the 
sea. ‘The southern acclivity of the ridge which runs parallel 
with the central chain, sinks, on the contrary, very rapidly into 
the sea. ‘The most easterly of these is the Sierra de Aljamilla ; 
then follows the Sierra de Gador, rich in ores ; and to these the 
Contraviesa, the Sierra de Lujar, and the Sierra de las Almi- 
jaras. These ridges do not form an uninterrupted series; or 


270 ~=Prof. Hausmann on the Geographical Characters 


the contrary, are separated from each other by transverse val- 
leys. In the continuation of this coast chain, we have, to the 
south-west of Malaga, the Sierra de Mijas and the Sierra Ber- 
meja, which range towards the Sierra de Ronda, which extend 
their arms towards the most southern extremity of Spain. 

When we take a general view of these different principal 
mountain chains of Spain, and at the same time attend to the 
prolongation of the middle ones ito Portugal, it follows, that 
the more southerly they are, the shorter is their course. It 
further appears, that there is connected with this a southerly 
curvature of the extreme branches ; with these is connected the 
turning of the rivers from their principal direction as they ap- 
proach ‘to the sea.. This is least considerable with the Tagus, 
but most considerable with the Guadiana and Guadalquiver. 
These rivers do not break across the mountain chains, as is the 
case with the smaller streams which belong to the Sierra Neva- 
da; in order to reach the sea by the shortest course: on the 
contrary, they continue true to the course of the accompanying 
mountain chains to their estuary. As the general figure of the 
Iberian Peninsula is explained from the relations of its chains of 
mountains, in the same way, but in a more striking manner, 
can be explained the south coast of Spain, from Gibraltar to 
Cabo de Gata. 

Besides. the principal mountain chains already mentioned, 
there are many others of lesser extent and elevation, which do 
not belong to these. » Many of these have an effect on the for- 
mation of those situated on the eastern acclivity of the Iberian 
peninsula, on the figure of the sea-coast, and on the rivers that 
flow on this coast into the Mediterranean. Amongst these 
mountain masses, the most considerable is that which rises south 
from the Ebro, on the borders of Arragon, and Old and New 
Castile, and the kingdom of Valentia, and which consists of 
many ridges that run in different directions. ‘The mountains 
of Jaen, which separate the Valley of the Guadalquiver from 
the high table land of Granada, is very striking. 

Spain is distinguished not only by the great number of its 
considerable mountain masses, but also by its lofty table lands, 
which extend between the ranges of mountains, forming a strik- 
ing contrast with the perpendicular or mural precipices which 


and Geognostical Constitution of Spain. Q71 


shoot up from them, and also occasion a great uniformity in the 
nature of Spain, as it brings the climate of a great part of this 
country to that of a higher latitude. ‘The whole middle part 
of Spain from the Ebro to the Sierra Morena, and. from the 
frontiers of Portugal to the high mountain range which forms 
the water-shed between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediter- 
ranean Sea, is formed by them into a widely extended table-land, 
of which the different plains, separated from each. other by 
ranges of mountains, are from 2000 to 2500 feet above the level 
of the sea; but, in regard to it, we have to remark, that the table 
land of Old Castile in general occupies rather a higher level than 
that of New Castile. The southern part of Spain also possesses 
single table lands, which, however, have neither the extent nor 
the connection of those situated in the middle of the penin- 
sula. 


Geognostical Structure, 


The principal mountain chains differ not only in their exter- 
nal aspect, but also in their internal composition : they appear 
more as different individuals than as members of a single sys- 
tem. They have this in common with one another, that their 
nucleus consists, in whole or in part, of primitive and transition 
rocks-; but not only the species, but also the relations of these, 
vary in the different chains. A great body of granite, which 
seldom reaches the highest points of the country, and contains 
subordinate beds of gneiss and other primitive rocks, ranges 
through the Pyrenees properly so called. It is surrounded’ by 
a predominating mass of crystalline slate and of transition rocks, 
among which ‘the most. abundant are clay-slate and limestone. 
On the contrary, on the western continuation, in the Biscayan 
mountains, the -older rocks are not widely distributed, and ap- 
pear first in Gallicia, at the western extremity of the northern 
mountain chain, where, according to Humboldt, granite accom- 
panied by crystalline slates appear again, and in great extent. 
The principal mass of the mountain chain which separates Old 
from New Castile is composed of gneiss and granite. In the 
chain of mountains extended between the 'Tagus and the Gua- 
diana, according to Link, the principal rock is granite. The 
long ridge of the Sierra Morena contains principally transition 


272 Prof. Hausmann on the Geographical Characters and 


rocks; granite breaks out on its southern foot towards the 
Guadalquiver. This rock, so frequent in the Iberian penin- 
sula, appears to be wanting in the highest southern chain. ‘The 
middle mountain ridges consist of mica-slate, abounding in gar- 
nets, which, in the ridges lying before them, passes into less 
crystalline mica-slate, chlorite-slate, and clay-slate, which some- 
times inclose beds at times of vast magnitude, of compact 
limestone, marble, dolomite, and serpentine. On the south 
coast, newer transition-slate and grey wacke-slate, with beds of 
flinty slate, lie here and there on the older slate. The basis or 
fundamental rock of the Rock of Gibraltar is of these rocks. 

The structure of the chains of mountain corresponds in gene- 
ral with their chief direction. Not only the alternations of the 
different rocks, but also the direction of the strata, are conform- 
able with the direction of the chains ; hence, in the greater part 
of Spain, the principal direction of the slaty rocks is from SW. 
to NE. or WSW. to ENE. But the inclination of the strata 
varies. In the Pyrenees properly so called, the dip of the 
strata is conformable with the two acclivities of the range. In 
the Somosierra and Guadarrama ranges, the principal mass of 
gneiss dips SE. towards the granite lying before it. In the 
Sierra Morena, the predominating dip of the slaty strata is to- 
wards the NW., so that they appear to rest on the granite 
which breaks from under them. In the Sierra Nevada, the 
dip of the, strata is conformable with the two acclivities of the 
chain. It is worthy of remark how the curvature of the south 
coast of Spain cbeys the direction of the strata, and how the 
formation of the far projecting southern point of the land also 
stands in connection with the direction of the strata. At the 
foot of the Rock of Gibraltar, the slaty strata run nearly north 
and south, with a rapid dip towards the east. The Gut of 
Gibraltar is therefore nearly at right angles to the direction of 
the strata. The rocky wall between the Mediterranean and 
Atlantic seas, by this direction of the strata, must have opposed 
the strongest resistance to the currents. 

The primitive and transition rocks, in very different places, 
are rich in ores. The present mines are confined principally to 
the south-west and south-east parts of Spain. The mighty 
lead-glance veins of Linares occur in granite; the colossal de- 


and Geognostical Constitution of Spain. 273 


posite of lead-glance in the Sierra de Gador, which afforded, in 
the year 1828, 600,000 cwts. of lead, is distributed in masses 
(putzen), in a limestone which may be referred to the oldest 
transition-rocks, and the rich mercury mines of Almaden, are 
contained in clay-slate. 

The secondary rocks also assist in forming the principal 
Spanish mountain chains, but in a different manner. They 
ascend to a great height on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees, 
even some of the highest summits are of secondary rocks. The 
western continuation of the Pyrenean chain consists, in the Bis- 
cayan provinces, principally of secondary rocks ; and it is pro- 
bable that the lofty limestone mountain ridges which separate 
Austurias from Leon, is a continuation of the Biscayan second- 
ary formation. On both sides of Somosierra the primitive rocks 
are skirted by those of the secondary class, but they are far 
from the middle and higher parts of the mountain chain. When 
we follow the road from Madrid to Andalusia, we meet with 
secondary rocks near the transition clay-slate of the passes of 
the Sierra Morena, but we must descend very low on the south 
side before we meet with similar rocks. ‘The high mountains of 
Jaen are formed of secondary rocks. In the northern vorge- 
berge of the Sierra Nevada, between Granada and Guadiz, 
there are secondary deposites, which are not, however, so con- 
siderable and extensive as to reach to the higher ridges. Also 
in the vicinity of Malaga new secondary rocks lie on the foot 
of older mountain masses, and ridges of secondary rocks extend 
from the hills of Ronda towards the southern extremity of Spain. 
The wonderful isolated Rock of Gibraltar is also principally 
composed of new secondary rock. The distribution of the rock 
is not confined to the immediate vicinity of the higher mountain 
chains, but it extends from the one to the other, rises or falls in 
the intermediate spaces, and forms in this way the widely ex- 
tended high table land. 

The most important of the Spanish secondary rocks are the 
following, viz. variegated sandstone and marl, gryphite limestone 
and the white limestone or Jura limestone. The first of these 
exhibits the same relations as in Britain, where it is known un- 
der the name New Red Sandstone, or Red Marl. The shell 
limestone, which, in Germany, is enclosed between Werner’s ‘va- 
riegated sandstone, and the younger variegated marl forma- 

JANUARY—MARCH 1830. s 


274 Prof. Hausmann on the Geographical Characters 


tions, is wanting in Spain, as is also the case in England. ‘The 
sandstone and mar] is rich in gypsum and masses of rock-salt. 
At Vallecas, near to Madrid, and in some other places, there 
rests upon it, in single beds, that rare deposite consisting of 
meerschaum, with nests of siliceous minerals. It is to this for- 
mation, which occurs widely spread over the high table-lands of 
Old and New Castile, that these countries owe the reddish-brown 
colour of their soil, and the tiresome uniformity of their surface. 
The lias formation is widely distributed in the northern provinces 
of Spain. It appears to reach a considerable height on the Spa- 
nish side of the Pyrenees. In the Biscayan provinces, it exhibits 
the same characters as the gryphite hmestone of the Weser, 
and is so widely distributed that nearly all the older rocks 
are covered by it. Here it is remarkably prolific in an excellent 
iron-ore. ‘The immense mass of sparry iron-ore, converted by 
decomposition into brown and red iron-ores, of Somorostro, near 
to Bilboa, and which probably forms the ironstone hills men- 
tioned by Pliny im the 34th Book of bis Natural History, be- 
longs to this formation. Probably also the vast beds of coal in 
the Austurias are subordinate to it. The white Jura limestone, 
which is one of the most widely distributed formations, is also- 
of great geognostical importance in Spain. It forms, in most 
places, the immediate cover of the variegated sandstone and 
marl, and occurs in the north, and also in the south of Spain, 
in single ridges, and great mountain masses. This formation is 
exhibited in its most characteristic forms in the narrow pass of 
Pancorbo, in Old Castile, in the lacerated mountains of Jaen, 
and the isolated rocky wall of Gibraltar. Wherever it occurs, 
its presence is announced by the yellowish-brown colour of the 
soil with which it is covered. 

Some members also of the chalk formation occur in Spain. 
The sandstone of the rocky ridge of the southern coast, between 
Cadiz and Gibraltar, and the limestone in the district of Los 
Barios, bring to our recollection the rocks of the Saxon Switzer- 
land. The first agrees with the German quadersandstein, the 
latter with the Saxon planer limestone, an equivalent for impure 
chalk. 

Tertiary deposites do not appear to be particularly abundant 
in Spain. In the south, particularly near the sea-coast, there is 


and Geognosticd! Constitution of Spain 275 


a deposite, filled with marine organic remains, in which caleare- 
ous sand and pebbles occur, partly in a loose mass, and partly 
more or less firmly compacted by means of a calcareous cement. 
Judging from the included petrifactions, among which are beds 
of oyster-shells, this deposite, on which Cadiz stands, and which, 
in some places, rises into hillocks and low hills, belongs to the 
upper tertiary sea-water formation. Probably the tertiary de- 
posite mentioned by Brongniart as occurring in the neigh- 
bourhood of Barcelona, belongs to the same deposite. ‘That 
Jresh-water limestone occurs in Spain has been sufficiently 
proved by the observations of Baron Von Ferussac. The 
deposite very much resembles that so generally distributed in 
Germany, and is found in different parts of Spain, both in 
the interior and on the coast, and at different heights. The 
calcareous breccia, generally with a ferruginous basis, which 
occurs principally in the south-west, where it is widely dis- 
tributed, belongs to the latest of the antedilwvian deposites. 
It not only incrusts limestone rocks of different formations 
more or less thickly, but also fills up rents and fissures mm 
them; thus it abounds among the calcareous rocks of Gibraltar, 
where it sometimes contains bones of quadrupeds no longer 
met with there. The formation of this breccia is ascribed 
to a catastrophe which affected different parts of the coast of 
the Mediterranean sea. As Professor Hausmann had not 
an opportunity of travelling in Murcia, he was not able to 
confirm or reject the accounts of Spanish geologists, who 
maintain that it contains true volcanic rocks. The occurrence 
of other rocks, which are conjectured to have come from below, 
has been noticed in but few places. Characteristic basalt oc- 
curs in Catalonia. The porphyritic and basaltic looking rocks, 
extending from Cabo de Gata, and from Avila, on the north 
side of the Guadarrama range, are still problematical. Hypers- 
thene-rock has been found by Professor Garcia in the vicinity 
of Salinas de Poza, in Old Castile, in contact with Jura lime- 
stone. Professor Hausmann found in the mountains of Jaen, 
near to variegated marl containing masses of gypsum, rocks of 
greenstone. 

Prof. Hausmann concludes his discourse with some remarks 
on the more general geological relations of Spain, in whieh 

s'2 


276 Prof. Hausmann on the Geographical Characters 


he pointed out the influence of soil and climate on the other de- 
partments of nature, as also on the peculiarities and occupations 
of man. A glance of the whole nature of Spain discovers a 
threefold principal difference. The northern zone, which ex- 
tends to the Ebro, differs entirely in its characters from the 
middle zone; and this again is completely different from the 
southern zone, which is bounded on the north by the Sierra 
Morena and a part of the Ostrandes. The northern zone, 
which includes Gallicia, Austurias, the Biscayan provinces, Na- 
varre, the northern part of Arragon, and Catalonia, is a widely 
extended mountainous and hilly country. The snow-fields and 
glaciers of the Pyrenees on the one side, and on the other the 
north and north-west winds, have a marked influence in lower- 
ing the temperature of the atmosphere, and in increasing the 
supply of water. The increased humidity is favourable for ve- 
getation, which, on the whole, very much resembles that of the 
south of France; and the variety of rocks containing lime, clay, 
and sand, and also their frequent alternations, operate benefi- 
cially on the soil. The soil every where invites to cultivation, 
and the Catalonians and Biscayans are active cultivators of the 
ground. The middle part of Spain, to which belongs Old and 
New Castile, a part of Arragon, Leon, and Estremadura, is not 
so favourably circumstanced. In general, we rarely meet with 
either beauty or variety of aspect. The extensive and lofty 
table-lands, destitute of trees, are dull and tiresome ; their uni- 
form and monotonous surface, formed by vast deposites of hori- 
zontally disposed secondary strata, is swept across by the wind, 
and burnt up by the rays of the sun. Whichever way the 
eye turns, it meets with scarcely any thing but wretchedly culti- 
vated corn-fields, and desert heaths of cistus. Seldom, in gene- 
ral, more in the southern than in the northern districts, planta- 
tions of olive trees afford a meagre shelter, and vary the scenery, 
although in an inconsiderable degree. Nothing certainly has so 
great an influence on these properties of nature, with which 
many of the peculiarities and modes of life of man harmonize, 
than the high situation of the widely extended table-lands, 
and the uniformity of the rock which forms the support of the 
soil. It is owing principally to the horizontal stratification, 
and the want of water, that the great Spanish table-lands are 
so widely extended, and so little intersected by deep valleys. 


and Geognosticul Constitution of Spain. QT 


The rivers, in most cases, carry but little water in comparison 
to the magnitude of the land, and the number of considerable 
mountain chains; and it is further surprising how insignificant 
the waters of most of the Spanish mountain groups are, even 
when the qualities of the rocks favour the formation of springs. 
The causes of this great deficiency of water are principally the 
great dryness of the atmosphere—the inconsiderable cover of 
snow on the mountains, and its short continuance—the absence 
of forests, and the want of great moors on the heights, and the 
comparatively inconsiderable breadth of the mountain ranges. 
The southern and south-western part of Spain, which compre- 
hends Andalusia, with Granada and Murcia, is very different 
from that just described. On the opposite side of the Sierra 
Morena the whole Jand has a more southern and foreign aspect, 
a breathing of that African nature, which announces itself not 
only by the world of plants, but also by the animal world, and 
man himself. The great difference of climate is produced by 
the southern situation, the exposure of the acclivity on the 
south and south-west to the African winds, and the strong re- 
flection of the solar rays from the lofty, naked mountain walls. 
The mountain ranges are more closely aggregated, the valleys 
more deeply cut: there is no room for very extensive table- 
lands, and the more limited ones that occur, as those of Gra- 
nada, are more amply supplied with water than those in the 
middle of Spain. Along with this arrangement, there is greater 
difference among the rocks, and also of their position. The south 
of Spain, therefore, possesses not only a much higher tempera- 
ture, one fit for the orange and the palm, but also a more varied 
and more favourable soil for cultivation. But these relations 
would have acted more beneficially if the air had been more hu- 
mid, and moisture had been everywhere more abundant. The 
deficiency of moisture is the principal cause not only of the 
striking meagerness of phenogamous vegetation, on the most of 
the mountain acclivities, but also of the remarkable paucity of 
lichens and mosses on the mountains on the coast; and in 
connection with this is the fact, that the weathering of the 
rocks, and the reforming of the original surface of the moun- 
tains, assume there a somewhat different course from what is 
observed in places which are moister, and provided with a more 
powerful vegetation. 


( 278 ) 


Description of an Apparatus for Evaporating Fluids, and also 
Sor separating Salts from their aqueous solution by Crystalli- 
zation without the aid of the Air-pump. By P. A. Von 
Bonsporr, Professor of Chemistry in the Alexander Univer- 
sity in Finland. 


W uen we wish to evaporate gradually the water of a solution, 
and particularly to dry such matters as will not bear exposure 
to heat without being decomposed or otherwise changed, we 
employ, as is well known, free or rarified air, in which the aque- 
ous vapour as it rises is removed by substances, particularly 
sulphuric acid, that greedily absorb moisture. But, as the air- 
pump, the instrument employed for obtaining a vacuum, is not 
in the possession of every one, and besides it is difficult to pro- 
cure one in which the bell-glass will remain long in the state of 
a vacuum, and even the best is so far inconvenient, that in it 
only a small number of evaporations can go on at the same 
time, the account of another method for evaporating water will 
not, we think, prove unacceptable to the friends of science. 

In a series of experiments I undertook, in the year 1826, on 
the salts which are formed by the union of the chloride of elec- 
tro-negative and electro-positive metals, I procured a number 
of salts, which (as they could only be prepared in small quan- 
tities), it was nearly impossible to obtain well crystallized, parti- 
cularly when they had a tendency to deliquesce. I found my- 
self, therefore, arrested in the midst of my investigations, because 
one air-pump only was at my command. This difficulty in- 
duced me to think of other means. It appeared to me that air 
has little or no effect in retarding evaporation, providing it is 
kept dry or nearly so ; that is, if the aqueous vapour is absorbed 
by an appropriate substance as fast as formed. I therefore 
tried whether or not a saline solution, placed under a bell-glass, 
in which there was at the same time a saucer with sulphuric 
acid, could be evaporated to crystallization, and actually found 
that, by this arrangement, my object was gained, notwithstand- 
ing the pressure of the atmosphere. 

The following is a description of the apparatus I used for 
this purpose, 


Description of an Apparatus for Evaporating Fluids, &c. 279 


We pour into a flat-bottomed vessel of glass or porcelain, 
after it is placed in a horizontal position, sulphuric acid, un- 
til it filled it about one-third of its height, and then place 
in it several small wine-glasses, and on these, as supports, the 
vessels with the solution to be evaporated. This arrangement 
is represented in Plate III. Fig. 4. In order to save room, the 
supports or wine-glasses should be of different heights, and the 
vessels of different sizes. I use, in preference, for evaporation, 
small glass vessels, which are provided with a knob on the bot- 
tom. In this way they stand more securely, and we can, after 
a part of the salt is crystallized, pour eut part of the solution, 
and allow crystallization to take place in another part. In order 
to effect this, we give the vessel an oblique position, by placing 
the knob on the edge of the support, as represented in Plate 
III. Fig. 5.; we can also place the vessel on a larger support 
or wine-glass, as is represented at a, Fig. 5. Plate IIL, if the 
fluid is to be taken from another vessel. If the salt deliquesces 
in the air, this mode of separating the mother liquor from the 
crystals is very advantageous. But otherwise it is convenient 
to place the vessel in the way described, because thereby the 
mother liquor is quickly and certainly separated ; in salts that 
do not deliquesce, we rather place the whole in the open air. 

I have found, besides the advantages already mentioned of 
this form of evaporating vessels, that those in which the bot- 
tom is flat in the middle, and rounded on the sides, as repre- 
sented in the figures ¢ g, are the most proper for the formation of 
crystals, and the most convenient for removing the crystals 
without injury; the common semi-globular dishes are by no 
means so advantageous when the salt is disposed to shoot into 
long four-sided prismatic crystals or needles; the crystallization 
takes place most freely in a vessel with an entirely flat bottom, 
as din Figs. 4. and 5. Plate III. 

Another, and probably more convenient, arrangement is the 
following: We procure a vessel of glass or porcelain, with a 
flat bottom, and nearly perpendicular sides, and a tubulated 
bell-glass, having a simple rim, and of such dimensions that it 
can stand undisturbed in the vessel, and when sunk in the sul- 
phuric acid, atmospheric air will at same time be excluded. 
Fig. 5. Plate III. represents this apparatus. ‘The opening of 


280 Mr Sang on the Theory of Capillary Action 


the bell-glass is shut either with a stopper, or also, as repre- 
sented in the figure, is covered with a smaller bell-glass. If we 
wish access to the evaporating dishes, we remove the stopper or 
the small bell-glass, raise the large bell-glass, and in an oblique 
direction, in order to prevent the splashing of the sulphuric 
acid, and place it in the mean time in an empty dish, with the 
side supported against its rim. I have also found that the tube 
may be left open, and still the evaporation goes on weil, because 
the dry air in the bell-glass is, as is well known, heavier than 
the moister exterior air, and thereby the intermixture of this 
latter is in great part prevented. When tubulated bell-glasses 
are not to be had, we can use ‘in place of them large flasks 
with straight sides, the bottoms of which are cut off *. 

By means of this apparatus, I have succeeded in producing 
not only well formed crystals of the new compounds already 
mentioned, but also distinct shoots of combinations of substan- 
ces, which were held to be partly incapable of crystallization, 
or had hitherto been known only in confused forms. 


Observations on the Theory of Capillary Action given in the 
Supplement to the Encyclopedia Britannica. By Epwarp 
Sane, Esq. Teacher of Mathematics. Communicated by 
the Author. 


Ly the article Capillary Action, inserted in the Supplement 
to the Encyclopzedia Britannica, it is assumed, as the basis of the 
theory, that the attraction existing between the particles of mat- 
ter extends only to distances which are insensible when com- 
pared with the extent of capillary action. And, in order to ex- 
plain the elevation of a fluid at the sides of a partially immer- 
sed solid, we are told, that the attraction of the solid (K’—43 K) 
first causes the elevation of the adjacent film, that this film then 
acts as a second solid, raising that immediately adjoining, and 
that thus the disturbance extends to the entire surface of the 
fluid ; nor does the author stop short here, for he assumes that 

* The best mode of cutting off the bottom of flasks is to tie round them 


a cord dipped in oil of turpentine, and then set fire to it. 
4 


given in the Enclopedia Britannica. 281 


the weight of the whole elevated fluid is proportional to the ho- 
rizontal extent of the surface which causes its suspension. 

These assumptions appear to me inconsistent with all the ob- 
served properties either of solid or fluid matter. The first of 
them, indeed, accords exactly with the observed non-distur- 
bance of a fluid’s surface, until a solid is brought into actual 
contact with it. But- although the action of the solid has only 
an evanescent extent before contact, it does not therefore fol- 
low, that after contact has taken piace, its influence is not sen- 
sibly extended ; neither can such a supposition be admissible 
when it leads us to conclude, that a mass of matter is elevated 
and sustained by a force applied only at one extremity, and 
which, therefore, does not pass through its centre of gravity. 

The subject is one of great importance, and I imagine that a 
scrutiny of the reasoning may not be unacceptable. In con- 
ducting this examination, I shall first demonstrate the inade- 
quacy of the hypothesis to account for the phenomena, and 
then attempt to indicate that error which has led the cele- 
brated author of the above-mentioned paper to a conclusion ex- 
actly opposite. 

Let AB represent the vertical face 
of a solid partially immersed in a fluid A 
whose horizontal surface is CM, its 
disturbed surface MLK. Having 
traced a canal vertically from C to D, 
thence horizontally to P, and after- 
wards vertically upwards, to termi- 
nate in the disturbed surface at L, 
it is obvious, that the equilibrium of 
the fluid contained in this or any 
other canal, is essential to that of B 
the whole mass. Now the horizontal portion DP is already 
in equilibrium with respect to all the attractions acting upon 
itself, since the attraction of the plate is not supposed to ex- 
tend so far, and it may therefore be regarded as the mean 
of communication between the two vertical branches CD and 
LP; the pressure at the lower extremities of which must 
thus be equal. Now these pressures are caused, in the first 
place, by the weights of the two masses ; and, in the second, 
by the attractions of the fluid upon the minute portions situated 


282 Mr Sang on the Theory of Capillary Action 


at the two orifices C and L. But, ¢ being the inclination of the 
surface at L to the horizon; K the attractive force at C; the 
quantity of fluid at L, subjected to the attraction, is propor- 
tional to the secant of 4, and therefore the whole attraction is 
K sec ¢. But of this force one portion is acting in the direction 
of the canal, the other against its sides. The former of these 
two is as the cosine of 4, and hence the compression caused in 
the canal is K sec ¢. cos ¢ or K-itself. The fluid therefore is 
(as indeed is demonstrated in the third section of the subject- 
paper) in equilibrium with respect to the force of cohesion ; but 
it is not so in respect to that of gravity, so that the equilibrium 
cannot take place unless the surface LMC is horizontal. 

The same conclusion might have been deduced from the 
consideration of the equilibrium of a particle of fluid situated at 
the point L. Such a particle is acted on only by two forces ; 
that of gravity, and the cohesion of the fluid ; now the latter of 
these is already perpendicular to the surface, wherefore no equi- 
librium can exist, unless the other also is perpendicular to it, 
that is, unless the surface at L be horizontal. 

The above reasoning appears to me sufficiently conclusive ; 
yet, as the method differs considerably from that which has oc- 
casioned these remarks, it may not be improper to consider the 
subject in the same light with our author. 

Let, then, MLK represent a small por_ 
tion of the inclined surface, LP a vertical K Fig -2 
plane; a particle placed at L is attracted L 
by the whole fluid with a force K, whence M 
that portion of this foree produced by the 
wedge MLP, is }K—2Ksiné; and 
the part due to the wedge PLK is 
1K+4Ksiné. After establishing, in 
the most distinct manner, this proposi- 
tion, he proceeds : 

«« Returning now to the canal below the vertical plane PL, 
and the level surface of the fluid, let ¢ denote the inclination of 
the curve at L to the horizon; the canal would be in equili- 
prium with respect to the corpuscular forces that act upon it, if 
the attractions upon all its vertical sides were equal. But, ac- 
cording to what has just been investigated, the upper end is at- 
tracted by the fluid beyond the vertical plane PL, with a force 


P 


given in the Encyclopedia Britannica. 283 


equal to 3K +4Ksin?@, and the attractions upon each of 
the remaining sides is only equal to } K; wherefore there is 
an excess of attraction equal to } K siné, which causes the 
drop of liquid at the upper end of the canal to press on the 
fluid above it, with a force equal to 3 K siné acting upward, 
and sustaining the part of the ring cut off by the vertical plane 
LP.” | 

Now, here it is to be remarked, that the force } K + 4 K sin 4, 
is part of the entire force K, and that it acts not upwards, but 
in the direction of the normal to the curve surface at L, and 
that, instead of tending to support the superior fluid, it merely 
goes to generate a compression in the interior nucleus. 

If we examine the composition of this force aright, one part 
of it, Kcos¢@, is acting in the direction of gravity, and the 
other, K sin¢, impels the drop of fluid at L in a horizontal 
direction; but in establishing, from this decomposition, the 
conditions of equilibrium, we are at liberty to reject none of 
these forces ; yet, granting that we were so, it appears to me 
very improbable, that the part } K siné retained, would pro- 
duce the effect in question. I can easily conceive that a repell- 
ing force at L, might tend to support the superior fluid; but 
how an attraction can do that is to me quite mysterious; it ap- 
pears as if I were told, that, standing to the northward of an- 
other person, and pulling him, this exertion would tend to push 
me northward. 

My principal object, in making these remarks, is to prevent 
the belief that a complete solution of the difficulties of this im- 
portant subject has been attained. I have as yet seen no satis- 
factory explanation of the elevation and depression of the sur- 
faces of fluids, when brought in contact with solid matter ; and 
these investigations induce me to believe, that the whole ap- 
pearances are due to a change in the corpuscular arrangement 
produced by the simple contact of a heterogeneous substance, 
the laws and nature of which change are, and perhaps for ever 
will be, unknown to us. 


32. St ANDREW’s SQUARE, 
Edinburgh, Feb. 8. 1830, 


( 284 ) 


Account of the Larva of a supposed Gisrrus Hominis, or 
Gad-Fly, which deposites its Eggs in the Bodies of the Hu- 
man Species ; with the particulars of a Case communicated 
by Dr Hix of Greenock. 


Aw accurate knowledge of the natural history of the genus 
(Estrus (gad-fly or breeze), is of great importance in an econo- 
mical point of view, when we consider that the most valuable of 
our domestic animals, the horse, ox, and sheep, form the usual 
nidus for their development and increase, and are frequently 
incommoded, sometimes essentially injured, or even destroyed, 
by their attacks. The insect called botts by farriers, is the larva 
of the @strus Equi, and although Mr Bracy Clark (to whom 
we owe the best account of that and other species of the ge- 
nus *), concludes that, upon the whole, they are not injurious 
to the horse, it appears from the accounts of Valisnieri, that the 
epidemic which proved so fatal to the horses of the Mantuan 
and Veronese territories during the year 1713, was primarily 
occasioned by these larve. The disease called staggers in 
sheep is likewise occasioned by an insect of this genus ( Zistrus 
ovis), and the hides of cattle are perforated by another kind, 
which lives beneath the skin. The reindeer of the Laplanders, 
which has been said to unite in one animal the useful qualities 
of many, is more than almost any other a martyr to a species of 
gad-fly, probably peculiar to itself, and therefore named by na- 
turalists @strus Tarandi. 

That man himself, the “ Lord of the Creation,”. should be 
the subject of similar attacks, is not so generally known. Hum- 
boldt, however, mentions, that he examined several South Ame- 
rican Indians, whose abdomens were covered with small tumors, 
produced by what he inferred (for no very positive informa- 
tion seems to have been acquired on the subject) to have been 
the larvae of some species of (Estrus. Larvz of analogous forms 
have also been detected in the frontal and maxillary sinuses of 
Europeans ; and the surgical and physiological journals of our 
own and other countries, have reported extraordinary instances 


* 3d Vol. of Linn. Trans. 


On the Larva of a supposed Cstrus Hominis. 285 


of flies, beetles, &c. working out their way from different parts 
of the human frame. 

Mr Clark mentions a case in which the gad-fly of the ox ap- 
pears to have left its accustomed prey, and deposited its eggs 
in the jaw of a woman, who eventually died of disease produced 
by the botts which sprung from the eggs. Leeuwenhoeck ob- 
tained maggots from a glandular swelling on the leg of a wo- 
man. These he fed with flesh till they assumed the pupa state, 
and afterwards produced a perfect insect as large as a flesh-fly. 
Lempriere in his work on the Diseases of the Army in Ja- 
maica, records the case of a lady, who, after recovering from a 
dangerous fever, died a victim to the maggots of a large blue 
fly, which sometimes buzzes about the sick in the West Indies, 
and which, in the case alluded to, made their way from the 
nose through the os cribriforme, and so to the brain. A re- 
volting instance of scholechiasis is narrated in Bell’s Weekly Mes- 
senger, as quoted by Messrs Kirby and Spence *. A pauper, 
of the name of Page, was in the habit of secreting the remnants 
of his food betwixt his shirt and skin. On one occasion, a piece 
of flesh was so concealed, when the poor man was taken ill and 
laid himself down to repose in a field in the parish of Screding- 
ton. The weather being hot, the meat speedily became pu- 
trescent, and was blown by the flies. The maggots, which were 
of course hatched almost immediately, after devouring the meat, 
proceeded to prey upon the body of the pauper, whose still liv- 
ing form, when discovered by some neighbouring inhabitants, 
presented a most appalling spectacle. He was carried to a sur- 
geon, but died a few hours after the first dressing of his 
wounds. 

These, and other similar cases, ought not to be considered so 
much in the light of ordinary or natural effects, as the result of 
accidents produced by filth and disease. It is otherwise, how- 
ever, with the gad-flies, whose natural habit appears to be to 
deposite their eggs beneath the skin, or among the hairs of qua- 
drupeds, in a healthy or unimpaired condition. Although sys- 
tematic authors have described an Gstrus hominis, said to de- 
posite its eggs beneath the skin of man, and to produce ulcers, 


* Introduction to Entomology, vol. i. p. 138. 


286 Account of the Larva of 


which sometimes prove fatal, yet nothing seems to have been 
added of late to these vague indications, in illustration of its real 
history. 

~ The following is an authentic instance, which lately occurred 
to our knowledge, and with the particulars of which we were fa- 
voured by Dr A. Hill of Greenock. George Killock, steward 
of the ship Cecilia, while in the harbour cf George Town, De- 
merara, during the month of September 1828, felt an extreme 
itching in a spot situated on the lower and back part of the right 
arm, which he frequently rubbed and scratched. The feeling 
was quite different from that caused by the bite of the mus- 
quito or sand-fly, with which he was sufficiently familiar. Ere 
long, something like a boil or indolent tumour formed, which oc- 
casioned great pain, as if a sharp instrument had been thrust 
into the arm, or as if suppuration was going on at the bones. 
This extreme pain came on periodically in paroxysms, and the 
arm was poulticed for a length of time. ‘The swelling was not 
so great as to affect the movements of the joint, and as there 
was no appearance of its coming to a point, applications were 
given up. One day, about five weeks after the commencement 
of the pain, Kellock observed some bloody matter on his shirt- 
sleeve, which he shewed to the captain, when the latter distinct- 
ly perceived something in motion in the centre of a small ori- 
fice, which had become apparent on the tumour. 'The motion 
increased, till, to his surprise, the head of an insect protruded it- 
self; and this it continued to do daily, though the animal was 
observed to withdraw into its burrow when any one came near, 
or even pointed at it. The pain at this time was so acute as to 
cause sickness. The chamber of the insect seemed exactly to 
fit its body, and merely admitted of its motions outwards and 
inwards. It occasionally discharged a quantity of blood-co- 
loured matter. Many attempts were made to seize it, but it al- 
ways instantly retreated, and the captain, not knowing but that 
it partook of the nature of the Guinea worm, with which he was 
well acquainted, was fearful of a forced extraction, lest it should 
break asunder, and leave a principal portion in the wound. 
However, it was observed to protrude more and more of its 
body every day, and, upon one occasion, it came out to the 


length of more than an inch. At last it dropt out of its own 
3 


a supposed Gistrus Hominis or Gad-F'ly. 287 


accord upon the cabin-floor, with a noise resembling tha 
which a pebble would make on falling on the ground. It kept 
moving and turning about for some time, like an earth-worm, 
but, ere long, shrunk into nearly half its previous size. The 
atmosphere was at this time cool, the ship being within a week’s 
sail of Greenock. The insect lived for three days, and was 
then put into spirits, after which it shrunk still more. Calcu- 
lating from the period at which the itching was first felt, it had 
lived in Killock’s arm, in the larva state, for about six weeks. 
The wound healed readily, leaving externally the appearance of 
a small scar. 

In the 12th edition of the Systema Nature there is no men- 
tion of this insect. Gmelin, however, says, that it dwells be- 
neath the skin of the abdomen sta months, penetrating deeper 
if it be disturbed, and becoming so dangerous as sometimes to 
oceasion death. In Dr Turton’s General System of Nature, 
there is the following notice of this insect, or of one of which 
the habits are similar. “ @strus hominis. Body entirely 
brown. Inhabits South America, Linne, ap. Pall, Nord. Beytr. 
p- 157. Deposites its eggs under the skin, on the bellies of the 
natives; the larva, if it be disturbed, penetrates deeper, and 
produces an ulcer which frequently becomes fatal.” 

We are informed that Killock, previous to this attack, while 
at work, usually wore his shirt-sleeves rolled up above his el- 
bows; and that, while in George Town, Demerara, he gene- 
rally slept on deck. It is easy then to suppose, that the GEstrus 
or parent fly had availed itself of a proper opportunity to depo- 
site its egg upon his arm, probably by a slight puncture of the 
skin, by means of the ovipositor with which it is furnished. 
When the larva had attained its full size, it dropped out, in- 
stinctively searching for a covering of natural earth, in which 
to undergo the intermediate state of pupa, which it is des- 
tined to assume for a time before it becomes a winged insect. 
The instinct of the parent, however admirable under ordinary 
circumstances, was of course insufficient to provide against the 
accident of Killock’s being a seafaring man,—and the larva 
could not have attained the perfect state, for want of the pro- 
per nidus in which the pupa is accustomed to repose. Had a 
flower-pot containing earth been on board the vessel, the dif. 


288 On the Larva of a supposed estrus Hominis. 


ferent changes of the insect might have been observed, and our 
knowledge of the species completed. As it is, we are ac- 
quainted with the larva alone. Its description is as follows :— 

Length, in its present shrivelled condition, seven-tenths of an 
inch; circumference round the centre or thickest part one inch ; 
colour pale dingy apple-green, tinged with brown. The mouth 
appears to have been somewhat tubular, but is furnished on its 
upper part with a pair of sharp minute hooked crotchets, of a 
shining black colour, probably for the purpose of adhering more 
firmly to the spot from which it was desirous to draw its food. 
The eyes are large and prominent; their colour brown. The 
body is composed of nine rings or segments, exclusive of the 
head and anal portion. There are thus, in all, eleven segments, 
besides the mouth, the exact number of which the larve of the 
European species consist. ‘There are no feet. These organs 
are, however, obviously supplied by transverse circles of small 
black spines or hooks, with which the principal segments of the 
body are furnished ; and, besides these, there are several rounded 
unequal protuberances on the back and sides. The latter are 
possibly produced or rendered more apparent, by the decrease 
of size which has taken place. Supposing these minute spinous 
hooks to be, along with the skin, under the control of muscu- 
lar action, (and Lyonnet has beautifully exh:bited the compli- 
cated muscular structure of another larva), then, according to 
the direction in which the hooks are pointed, a wriggling mo- 
tion would produce either outward or inward progression, and 
serve all the ‘purposes of locomotive organs, just as (to use a 
familiar illustration) an ear of barley placed within the sleeve of 
a pedestrian, works its way in a direction opposite to that to- 
wards which its beard is directed. 


Larva of @strus Hominis. 


( 289 ) WY 


Description of the Apparatus or Signal-Post for regulating 
Chronometers. By R. Waucnorr, Esq. Captain R. N. 
With a Plate. Communicated by the Author. 


My Dear Sir, 


Tue enclosed drawing will more fully explain the nature of 
the plan given in the last Number of your valuable Journal, for 
ascertaining the rates of chronometers by an instantaneous sig- 
nal. 


In addition to what was there stated, I have only to suggest, 
that in a situation such as the Calton Hill, for instance, near 
Edinburgh, where there is an Observatory without a regular 
observer attached to it, it is not imperative that the true time 
should be shewn every day ; but when a meridian observation 
of the sun is taken, the flag may be hoisted at noon, which will 
intimate that the ball will drop at one o’clock, or any other time 
which may be fixed upon. The flag should, as mentioned -in 
the accompanying description, be hauled down. precisely onc 
minute before the true time is shewn by the ball. 

By this most simple contrivance, any gentleman belonging to 
the Astronomical Institution, who knew the error of the Obser- 
vatory clock, might, any day that was convenient, announce the 
true time to the towns of Edinburgh and Leith, and. to: the 
shipping in Leith Roads. 

At a foreign port, where a resident observer cannot be ob- 
tained, a transit instrument may, nevertheless, be fixed in: the 
meridian of the place, and a flag-staff for the instantaneous sig- 
nal be erected, and placed under the charge of some careful 
person, to be used by any man-of-war or merchant ship, having 
time-keepers on board, touching there; as the observation by 
the transit of the sun over the meridian, is both more accurate 
and more easily obtained than by the present method in general 
use, viz. by a sextant and artificial horizon. 

Should this plan for shewing true time be universally adopt- 
ed, which, from its simplicity, it bids fair to be, both by this 
country and by France and America, there will then be no port 
of any consequence into which a ship, can enter, where an-accu- 

JANUARY—Marcu 1830. T 


290 Captain Wauchope on regulating Chronometers. 


rate rate for the time-pieces on board may not be found. Chro- 
nometers willbe more gencrally adopted, and the visk attached 
to both liferand property embarked’ in’ ships; ‘be: much: dimi- 
nished. 

I shall feel much obliged by your giving this a place.in the 
next Number of the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal.—I_ re- 
main, &e. 

R. Waucnore. 


EasTER DupDINGSTONE, 
Ist February 1830. 


Description of the Signal-Post for regulating Chronometers. 


DE, Plate V., is intended to represent the interior of an ob- 
servatory, through the roof of which, the halliards d (or hoisting 
line’ of the ball C) pass, and are then secured 'at x, by the disen- 
gaging lever y.' x is intended ‘to represent a time-piece, or the 
observatory-clock, ‘by which the signal is regulated. ‘The 
drawing’ represents a time-piece 2, placed’ upon the same’ table 
with the disengaging lever y, so as to allow the observer to have 
his eye upon the time-piece, and his hand upon the disengaging- 
lever, that the signal may be instantaneous. 

A C represent two balls, of four or five feet diameter, ‘made 
in the usual way of black canvas and iron wire. A B represents 
an iron rod, which secures ‘the upper ball A, to the upper out- 
rigger, and passes through the diameter of the ball C, and:is 
secured‘ upon the lower outrigger at B. Upon this rod the ball 
C traverses.’ .A segment of the ball A is cut off at the point of 
contact’ of ‘the’ two balls, as in the drawing, that no daylight 
may “be seen between them, when im the position there’ repre- 
sented. =~ 
d represents the halliards (or hoisting-line) of the ball C, 
which is rove through a small block on the upper outrigger, 
and passes through the centre of the ball C, and through the 
roof of the observatory, and is there secured by the disen- 
gaging ‘lever “y at 2,’ upon the table, where the regulating 
time-keeper =, is placed. 

e represents the downhaul of the ball C, at the end of which 
and about four feet from the ground, a weight is attached. 


PLATE V. Edini new Phil. Jou? Vol.§ p. 290. 


Gi 
{i Ai : 


| il 


ya a 


P u 


| 


| 


I 


(tara essT 


Published by A#lack Edin? 1830. E-Metchell feulp! 


” 


Captain Wauchope on regulating Chronometers. 291 


y «x represents the disengaging lever secured on the table, 
which is explained in the figure below, and so constructed, that 
a slight movement of the hand at y disengages the halliards, 
which are secured at 2, so as to allow of an instantaneous se- 
paration of the balls. ‘The ball C (as above mentioned, having 
a weight attached to it, at the end of the downhaul) cia 
falls to B, along the iron rod A B, which is kept at a distance 
from the flag-staff by the two outriggers, and which prevents 
the ball C nent being affected by the wind. 

The ball € will take about four-tenths of a second to fall its 
own diameter, five feet, which separation of the two balls con- 
stitutes the signal.» The halliards should, ‘therefore, be disen- 
gaged four-tenths of a second before the true time. 

Five minutes before the signal is made, a red flag, with a 
white ball, should be hoisted as a preparatory signal ; and, pre- 
cisely one minute before the ball C drops, the flag should be 
hauled down. The ball should drop thrice, at the mterval of a 
minute between each time, for the convenience of observers. 


gi of the disengaging Lever, as shewn m the Lower 
Drawing. 


aa, aa represent two thin upright iron plates, one-eighth 
of an inch apart, rivetted upon the plate mn. 6 is a thin 
iron plate, with a hole; in the lower end, as seen in the separate 
drawing of it 4 a ,,this.is inserted between. the two. plates 
aa, aa, and has a hook at the top, for a chain at the end of 
the halliards to hook to; the hole z, corresponds with a simi- 
lar hole in each of the plates (aa, aa), and is secured in the po- 
sition, as in the drawing, by the joint R, of the lever y, which 
is here drawn out to shew it. The lever y traverses upon 
the pivot P, having a joint at S, to allow it to play freely. A 
slight motion of the hand at y, disengages the joint R from 
the plates aa, aa, and sets b, to which the halliards are at- 
tached, at liberty, and allows the ball C instantly to drop. 

The reason why a chain should be attached to the lower end 
of the halliards, is to allow for their contraction and expansion 
in dry or wet weather. 

peg 


On Miargyrite and Jamesonite. 
I. MIARGYRITE. 


Tas mineral, formerly confounded with the Red Silver-ore, 
was first separated from it by Mohs, under the name Hemi- 
prismatic Ruby Blende. H. Rose of Berlin adopts the view of 
Mohs, but gives to the substance the name of Myargyrite, from 
agryveos, Silver, and p«wy, less, because it contains less silver than 
red silver-ore. It is found at Braunsdorf in Saxony. On ana- 
lysis, it afforded 


Sulphtir, ude) thd 2 2N05 
Antimony,. ..- .., - 39.11 
SUVer ene see we. GEO 
Copper,” ee ee. es. SUG 
Beang eerie 6, 9 ht 9.62 

99.17 


As 36.40 of silver take up 5.41 of sulphur, in order to form 
sulphuret of silver, and 39.14 of antimony and 14.65 sulphur, 
the quantity of sulphur in sulphuret of antimony is to that in 
sulphuret of silver as 3 to 1. This mineral contains, besides, 
small quantities of sulphuret of silver, sulphuret of copper, and 
sulphuret of iron. 1.06 parts of copper take up 0.54 of sul- 
phur, in order to form the highest sulphur state ; and 0.62 parts 
iron require 0.74 parts sulphur and 0.62 parts iron, to form 
sulphuret of iron. The composition of this mineral, which is 
analogous to that of the zinkenite, is expressed by the follow- 
ing formula, 


Sb + Ag. 

It results from this composition, that this mineral has the 
same constituent parts as dark red silver-ore, but in very diffe- 
rent relations, so that it cannot be viewed as a mere variety of 
red silver-ore, but as a distinct species. 


II. JAMESONITE,. 


This mineral occurs in Cornwall and in Hungary; but in 
neither is it abundant. 


It was first described by Mohs, under the name Axotomous 


On Jamesonite. 293 


Antimony-glance, afterwards by Haidinger under its present 
name, which is that adopted by mineralogists. The following 
three analyses of it were made by Henry Rose: 


I. Il. III. 

Sulphur, . ee RT| 22.53 A 5 
Antimony, - . 34.40 34.90 33.47 
De a a eee eer 38.71 40.35 
Lead, with slight ra 0.74 

of [ron and Zinc, 3 

Copper, 25.08 2 0.13 0.19 0.21 
Iron, - - - + + + 2.30 2.65 2.96 


—e 


99.73 99.72 


The proportion of sulphur taken up by the antimony and lead 
is as 12.87 to 6.33, also as 2 to 1. The overplus of sulphur is 
sufficient to form with the iron iron-pyrites. Although the mi- 
neral appears to be pure, yet we cannot admit that the quantity 
of iron-pyrites is an essential ingredient of its composition. The 
essential composition of Jamesonite may be expressed by the 


following formula, 2Sb + 3Ph. 


On the relative Age of the different European Chains of Moun- 


tains. 


Cicero remarks, that he did not conceive how two augurs 
could look upon each other without laughing. Not many years 
ago, the saying might have been applied to geologists, without 
their having much reason to complain; for the science which 
they professed was then a mere collection of absurd hypothe- 
ses, not rendered necessary by any accurate observation. Now, 
however, the case is different, and geology occupies a place 
among the sciences. ‘The number of particular investigations of 
which it is composed is immense, the facts collected are as nu- 
merous as accurately observed, and some of the general results 
that have been deduced from them deserve the greatest at- 
tention ; for they throw light upon the original state of the 


globe, and upon the frightful physical revolutions which it has 
1 


294 On the relative Age of the 


ge at distant — separated byvin intenmals of tranquil. 
lity. . ae 

Perhaps on a fuser occasion, I shall scoot a 1 brief sketch of 
these great, phenomena; but in the present article, I shall con- 
fine myself to a single subject, the relative age of the different 
mountain’ chains inEurope. ‘In selecting this subject, I have 
been less determined by its novelty, than ‘by the clearness and 
methodical accuracy with which M. Elie de Beaumont has treat- 
ed it. Ivshave also to.say, that I have had the advantage of de- 
riving from his friendly communications information without 
which it would have-been impossible for me to draw up the pre- 
sent , article, the original. memoir not having yet made its ap- 
pearance. It does not belong to me to foresee the estimation in 
which geologists will hold M. Ele de Beaumont’s investiga- 
tion; but I am greatly deceived if they will, not unanimously 
consider it .as one of the most curious.and best conducted. The 
very favourable report which MM. Brongniart, Brochant, and 
Beudant have given of it in the ese oany of Sciences, will, 
I suppose, ensure for it the approbation of all the scientific 
world. 

It is an opinion now nearly universally admitted, that the 
mountains have been formed by upraising; that they have issued 
from the bowels of the earth by violently perforating its crust, 
so that there has perhaps been a period when the surface of the 
globe presented no remarkable inequalities., 

Since this view has'been adopted, difficulties that have hitherto 
proved insuperable have disappeared from. science. ,, It will be 
seen for example, how we can now explain the presence of shells 
on the summits of the loftiest mountains, without supposing that 
the sea had covered them in their present state. It is sufficient 
to, say,.in fact, that these mountains, in issuing from the bosom 
of the waters, raised with them, and carried to a height of three 
or four thousand yards, the fermations deposited by the sea. 

The moment the geologist admits the formation of mountains 
by means of upraising, numerous interesting subjects of inquiry 
present themselves to him. He has to ask, for example, if all 
the great chains have risen at the same period ; and in the case 
of a negative reply, what is the order of their relative antiquity. 


different, European Chains of Mountains. 295 


» Sucl»-ave precisely, the.questions, which have engaged the: at- 
tention of M. Elie de Beaumont ;,.and, there is reason. to, think 
that he has,\in some, degree, solyed them. ‘The following are his 
results; ':;I-shallrafterwards pass to the proofs. 

The system of, the. Erzgebirge in Saxony, the, Céte @Or, in 
labdicmitshi and Mount Pilas in Forez, is the first.that has been 
raised of; all, the mountainous .districts which ,M. de, Beaumont 
has.yet eonsidered...|The:systemof the, Pyrenees and ,Appe- 
nines, although more! extensive and of greater elevation, is of a 
much less ancient date...The system, of the western Alps, of 
which: the:colossal mass of Mont Blanc forms.a,part, was, raised 
long after the:Pyrenees.. .. Lastly,.afourth raising, posterior to 
these:just mentioned, has. given rise to the central, Alps, (St Go- 
thard), the, Ventoux and Leberon Mountains, near Avignon, and 
in:all probability, to the Himalayan,Mountains in Asia, and. the 
Atlas range in Africa. 

I have presented these results first, in. the hope that their sin- 
gularity may engage.the reader to follow. with. more attention 
the somewhat minute details which will enable us to determine 
their accuracy. 

Among the numerous and diversified deposites of which the 
crust of the globe is composed, there are some which have been 
named. sedimentary formations. 

The sedimentary formations properly so called, are composed, 
in whole or in part, of detritus carried along by the waters, similar 
to the mud of our rivers, or the sands of the sea-shore. These 
sands, more or less comminuted, agglutinated by. calcareous or 
siliceous fluids, form the arenaceous rocks called sandstones. 

Certain limestone formations are also ranked among those 
which are called sedimentary, even although, which is rarely the 
case, they leave no sedimentary residuum after being dissolved 
in nitric acid, the remains of shells which they contain. shewing 
in another and perhaps still better manner, that their formation 
has also taken place in the bosom of the waters. 

The sedimentary formations are always composed of very dis- 
tinct successive beds. The more recent, may be divided into 
four great sections, which, in the order of their antiquity, are 


the following :—Oolite or Jura limestone—The green-sand and 
2 


296 On the relative Age of the 


chalk system—The tertiary formations—Lastly, the first or old 
transported or alluvial deposites *. 

Although ‘all these formations have been deposited by the 
waters, although they are met with in the same localities, and 
upon each other, the transition from the one to the next species 
does not take place by insensible gradations. A sudden and 
abrupt variation is always observed in the physical nature of the 
deposite, and in that of the organized’ beings, whose remains 
occur in them. Thus, it is evident, that between the epoch at 
which the Jura limestone was deposited, and that of the preci- 
pitation of the green sand and chalk system which covers it, a 
complete renovation im the state of things took place at the sur- 
face of the globe. The same may be said of the epoch which 
separated. the precipitation of the chalk from that of the tertiary 
formations, as it is equally manifest that in each place the state 
in which the nature of the fluid from which the formations were 
precipitated must have completely changed between the time of 
the tertiary formation and that of the old transported or alluvial 
formations. 


* With the object which L have in view, an accurate definition of these 
formations is unnecessary, I might even have contented myself with nam- 
ing and designating them as Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4. No. 1 would have been, for ex- 
ample, the oldest sedimentary formation of the four, that which the others 
cover, in a word, the Jura limestone. No. 4 would then be found connected 
with the superior formation, or that of the transported deposites. I shall, 
however, give a very brief account of these deposites, in as far as regards their 
nature and aspect. 

''M. de Humboldt has given the name of Jura limestone to the vast sedimen- 
tary deposite of which the Jura Mountains are in a great measure composed, 
and,which is formed by a whitish limestone, sometimes compact and uniform, 
like the lithographic limestone which is extracted from it, sometimes com- 
posed of small round grains named Oolites, whence the designation of oolitic 
limestone. ° 

. The sedimentary formation comprising the green-sand and the chalk, con- 
sists of a succession of sandstone beds, often mixed with a large quantity of 
small green grains of silicate of protoxide of iron, and surmounted by a very 
thick series of beds of chalk. The beds of both species which form the cliffs 
of the English Channel are the type of this kind of formation. 

‘The tertiar'y sedimentary formation is that of the neighbourhood of Paris.: It * 
isa very varied succession of beds of clay, limestone, marl, gypsum, sand- 
stone, and buhrstone. 

Lastly, The old alluvial formations derive their name from their resemblance 
to the alluvia produced by the rivers of the present period. 


different Ewropean Chains of Mountains. 297 


These distinct and abrupt variations in the nature of the suc- 
cessive deposites formed by the waters, are considered by geolo- 
gists as the effects of what they have called the revolutions of 
the globe. Although it may seem difficult to say very precisely 
of what these revolutions consisted, their existence is not the less 
certain. 

I have spoken of the chronological order in which the dif- 
ferent sedimentary formations had been deposited. I ought, 
therefore, to say, that this order has been determined by fol- 
lowing, without interruption, each kind of formation into regions 
where it could be positively determined, and over a great hori- 
zontal extent, that a particular bed lay above another of a cer- 
tain kind. Natural breaks in the strata, cliffs on the sea-shore, 
common wells, artesian wells, and the cuts of canals, have 
afforded great assistance in this determination. 

I have already remarked, that the sedimentary formations 
are stratified. In plain countries, as might be expected, the 
disposition of the beds is nearly horizontal. As we approach 
mountainous countries, this horizontality generally alters ; and 
upon the sides of the mountains, certain of these beds are 
highly inclined, and even sometimes become entirely vertical. 
Could the inclined sedimentary beds which are seen upon the 
slopes of mountains, have been deposited in oblique or vertical 
positions? Is it not more natural to suppose, that they originally 
formed horizontal beds, like the contemporaneous beds of the 
same nature with which the plains are covered, and that they 
were raised and turned up at the moment when the mountains 
on whose sides they rest emerged ? 

As a general proposition, it does not seem impossible that the 
slopes of the mountains have been encrusted on the spot, and in 
their present position, by sedimentary deposites, since we daily 
see the vertical sides of vessels in which selenitic waters are eva- 
porated becoming covered with a saline layer, the thickness of 
which goes on continually increasing ; but the question which 
we have preposed to ourselves is not of so general a nature, for 
all that we have to determine is, Whether the /mown sedimentary 
beds have been thus deposited ? Now, this question may be an- 
swered negatively, as I shall prove by two kinds of considera- 
tions, totally different from each other, 


298 On the relative Age of the 


Incontestible geological. observations have shewn, that the 
limestone beds which form the summits of Buet in Savoy, and 
Mont Perdu in the Pyrenees, having an elevation of from three 
‘to four thousand yards, have been formed at the’ same time as 
the chalks of the cliffs on the shores of the English Channel. If 
the mass of water from which these formations have been precipi- 
tated had been raised to a height of from three to four thousand 
yards, France would ‘have been entirely covered. by. ity and 
similar deposites would ‘have existed upon all the heights infe- 
rior to three thousand: yards. Now, we observe, onythe: con- 
trary, in the north of France, where these deposites appear to 
have been very little disturbed, that the chalks never attain a 
height of more than two hundred yards above the present ‘sea. 
They present precisely the disposition of a deposite, which had 
been formed in a basin filled with a fluid, whose level had not 
attamed any of the points at present having an elevation of 
more than two hundred yards. 

I pass to the second proof, borrowed from Saussure, and 
which seems to me still more convincing. 

The sedimentary formations often contain rolled pebbles of a 
nearly elliptical form. In the places where the stratification of 
the deposite is horizontal, the longest axes of these pebbles are 
all horizontal, for the same reason for which an egg doesnot re- 
main on end; but where the sedimentary beds are inclined at 
an angle of 45°, the larger axes of a great number of these 
pebbles also form angles of 45° with the horizon ; and when the 
beds become vertical, the long axes of many of the pebbles are 
vertical. 

The sedimentary formations, therefore, as is demonstrated by 
the observation of the pebbles, have not been deposited on the 
spot and in the position which they now occupy: they have 
been more or less raised at the moment when the mountains 
whose sides they cover issued from the bowels of the earth *. 


* To be convinced, that in the act of the rising of a horizontal bed, all the 
long axes of the pebbles which it contains could not have become vertical, 
one has only to trace lines in different directions on a horizontal plane, and 
to make it afterwards turn round a certain hinge. In this motion, all the 
lines parallel to the hinge will remain constantly horizontal. ‘The perpendi- 
cular lines to the hinge will, on the contrary, be inclined to the horizon, the 
whole quantity by which the plane moves ; so that, at the moment when it at- 


different European Chains of Mountains. 299 

It is now evident that the sedimentary formations whose beds 
present themselves on the slopés of mountains, in inclined or 
vertical directions, existed before these mountains were reared. 
The equally sedimentary formations which prolong themselves 
horizontally until they meet these slopes, are, on the contrary, 
of a date posterior to that of the formation of the mountain : for 
it cannot be conceived that, in issuing from the ground, it should 
not have raised at once all the ‘beds that existed in the district. 

Let us place proper names. in the general and very simple 
theory which we have just unfolded, and M. de Beaumont’s 
discovery will be proved. 
_ Of the four species of sedimentary formations which we have 
above distinguished, three, and they are the highest, the near- 
est to the surface of the globe or the newest, are prolonged in 
horizontal beds from the mountains of Saxony, the Céte d’Or, 
and Forez ; one, the Jura or oolite limestone, alone is seen raised. 
Therefore the Erzgebirge, the Cote d’Or, and Mount Pilas in 
Forez have issued from the globe after the formation of the 
oolite limestone, and before the formation of the other three se- 
dimentary deposites. On the slopes of the Pyrenees and Ap- 
penines, there are two raised formations, viz. the oolite lime- 
stone and the green-sand and chalk formation. ‘The tertiary 
formation and the alluvial formation which cover it have pre- 
served their original horizontality. The mountains of the Py- 
renees and Appenines are therefore more modern than the Jura 
limestone and the green-sand which they have raised up, and 
older than the tertiary formation and the alluvial formation. 

The western Alps (among others Mont Blanc), have raised, 
like the Pyrenees, the oolite limestone and the green-sand ; but 
they have, moreover, raised the tertiary rocks; the alluvial 
deposite alone remaining horizontal in the neighbourhood of 
these mountains, The rising of Mont Blanc must, therefore, 
have been between the period of the formation of the tertiary 
rocks and that of the alluvial deposite. Lastly, on the sides of 


tains the vertical position, these lines will be themselves vertical. The lines 
placed originally in directions intermediate between those of these two sys- 
tems, will form with the horizon angles comprised between 0° and 90%. Now, 
this is the precise image of the disposition which the large axes of the peb- 
bles affect in the raised strata. 


300 On the relative Age of the 


the system of which Ventoux forms a part, none of the species 
of sedimentary formation are horizontal, the whole four being 
raised. When Ventoux rose, therefore, the alluvial formation 
itself had already been deposited. 

In commencing this article, I announced, however singular it 
must have appeared, that the relative antiquity of the different 
chains of the European mountains had been discovered. We 
now see that M. de Beaumont’s observations have even done 
more, since we have been able to compare the age of the forma- 
tion of the mountains with that of. the various sedimentary de- 
posites. 

I have already called the attention of the reader to the un- 
known but necessary causes, which have induced variations so 
abrupt in the nature of the deposites formed by the waters at 
the surface of the globe. M. de Beaumont’s investigation per- 
mits us to add to what had been conjectured respecting the nature 
of these revolutions, some positive notions which are as follows : 

The sedimentary formations seem, by their nature and the 
recular disposition of their beds, to have been deposited in times 
of tranquillity. Each of these formations being characterized 
by a peculiar system of organized beings, vegetable and animal, 
it was indispensable to suppose that between the periods of tran- 
quillity corresponding to the precipitation of two of these super- 
imposed formations, a great physical revolution had taken place 
upon the globe. We now know that these revolutions have 
consisted of, or at least have been characterized by, the uprais- 
ing of a system of mountains. The two first raisings pointed 
out by M. de Beaumont not being by any means the greatest 
among the four which he has succeeded in classifying, it will be 
scen that it cannot be said that, in growing old, the globe be- 
comes less liable to undergo these catastrophes, and that the 
present period of tranquillity may not terminate, like the prece- 
ding, by the sudden irruption of some immense chain of moun- 
tains. 

Since it remains established that the mountains have not 
emerged from the globe at the same epochs, it were natural to 
examine if the contemporaneous mountains do not present some 
relations of position between cach other. This inquiry could 


different European Chains of Mountains. 301 


not escape the penetration of M. de Beaumont, and the follow- 
ing is the result :— 

The directions of the Erzgebirge, the Céte d’Or, and Mount 
Pilas are parallel toa great circle of our globe, which would 
pass through Dijon, and would form with the meridian of that 
city an angle of about 45°. 

The contemporaneous mountains of the second rising, viz. 
the Pyrenees and Appenines, the mountains of Dalmatia and 
Croatia, and the Carpathian mountains, which belong to the 
same system, as may be deduced from the descriptions given of 
them by various geologists, are all disposed parallel to an are of 
a large circle, whose orientation will be well determined if I say 
that it passes through Natchez and the mouth of the Persian 
Gulf. Thus, whatever may have been the cause, the mountains 
which, in Europe, have issued from the earth at the same pe- 
riod, form chains at the surface of the globe, that is to say, lon- 
gitudinal projections, all parallel to a certain circle of the sphere. 
If we suppose, as is natural, that this rule may be applicable 
beyond the limits within which it has been determined, the Alle- 
ganies of North America, since their direction is also parallel 
to the great circle which joins Natchez and the Persian Gulf, 
would seem to belong, in respect to date, to the Pyrenean sys- 
tem. Now, M. de Beaumont has been enabled, in this case, to 
verify the accuracy of the inference, by a careful examination 
of the excellent descriptions which the American geologists have 
given of these mountains. It would appear from this that we 
might, without much risk, venture to conclude that the mountains 
of Greece, the mountains situated to the north of the Euphra- 
tes, and the chain of Ghauts in the Indian peninsula, which also 
come very accurately under the condition of parallelism already 
indicated, must have risen, like the Alleganies, along with the 
Pyrenees and Appenines. 

The third system of mountains in the order of antiquity, 
that of which Mont Blanc and the Western Alps form a part, 
is composed of ridges parallel toa great circle, which would join 
Marseilles and Zurich. In the whole space comprehended _be- 
tween these two cities, the rule is verified with a very remark- 
able accuracy. The chain which separates Norway from Swe- 
den and the Cordillera of Brazil, being also both parallel to the 


302 On the relative Age of the 


same circle, have probably perforated the crust of the. lobe’ at 
the same time as Mont Blane. 

For the fourth and) last system of which M. de Beaumont 
has spoken, the great circle of comparison passes through the 
Empire of Morocco and the eastern extremity of the Himalayan 
mountains. The parallelism has been verified on the Ventoux 
and Leberon mountains near Avignon ; the Saite-Baume and 
many other chains in Provence ; ‘and, lastly, the central chain of 
the Alps, from the Valais to Styria. If parallelism be here alse 
an indication of the date, as there is every reason to believe, we 
might refer to this comparatively modern system of moutitains 
the Balkan, the great porphyritic central chain of the Caucasus, 
the Himalayan mountains and the Atlas range. 

There is an immense chain of mountains, the most extensive 
in the world, which, from its direction, cannot be referred to 
any of the systems above described. ‘This cham is the great 
American Cordillera. In the deficiency of satisfactory geologi- 
cal observations, M. de Beaumont has indulged im conjectures 
from which it would seem, with some degree of probability, to 
result, that this great chain is newer than the fourth of these 
systems. ‘These conjectures, however ingenious they may be, 
are too much out of the limit within which f would confine my- 
self, to be given here. Besides, I should apprehend. that inat- 
tentive persons might confound them with the strict inductions 
of which I have presented an account, and thus fall into error. 
I therefore hasten to conclude this article, which, however, I 
cannot do without remarking how much the purely geographi- 
cal study of the chains of mountains will be simplified, when 
the parallelism supposed by M. de Beaumont as a distinctive 
character of contemporaneous mountains, having been directly 
verified in the most distant points in the Himalayan range, for 
example, compared with Mont Ventoux, will take its place 
among the principles of science. Simple classifications, capable 
of being retained by the most treacherous memories, and free 
of every thing arbitrary, as the order of antiquity will be that 
followed, will then guide us through the inextricable labyrinth 
of intersecting chains, of which no geographer has as yet been 
able to present a perfectly satisfactory picture. 

Since the results obtained by M. de Beaumont have been 


different European Chains of Mountains. 303 


made known, I have seen that people were surprised at the cir- 
cumstance that the chains of the same date were simply parallel 
to a great circle of the sphere, and did not occur as prolongations 
of each other. But all that can be inferred from this kind of 
direction, is merely that the cause, of whatever nature it may be, 
which has elevated the different mountain chains, while it pro- 
pagated its action in the plane of a great circle, embraced a zone 
of a certain breadth, and that the points of less resistance upon 
the solidified crust do not occur in the direction of a mathemati- 
cal line, which, indeed, would have been very strange if they 


had. 


A lady of my acquaintance, to whom I had given a brief 
verbal account of M. de Beaumont’s memoir, wished to dissuade 
me from publishing an account of it, from a dread, that the 
public might be mduced by so apparently strange a theory, to 
infer, that our present geologists bear a strong resemblance to 
their predecessors. All my efforts to shew her that the raising 
up of the mountains is no longer a gratuitous idea, that it re- 
sults as a consequence from facts, and that it affords the only 
explanation hitherto made of the inclination of the strata of the 
sedimentary formations and of many other phenomena, were ab- 
solutely fruitless. I then thought of adducing the small raisings 
which have taken place in our own days. The effect produced 
by this kind of argument, has suggested to me the idea of em- 
ploying it here. 

No one can deny, that volcanic ejections ultimately form hills, 
or even mountains of considerable height, upon the surface of 
the globe. It has been shewn, for example, that the lavas which 
have issued from Etna, would form a much greater volume 
than that of the mountain, and the Monte Nuovo, near Naples, 
was produced by the scoriz ejected in the space of forty-eight 
hours only ; but this is not the kind of phenomenon of which I 
intend to speak; the question to be examined is this: Have 
there been, since the commencement of historical records, por- 
tions already consolidated of the crust of the earth, which have 
been raised up in masses by internal causes? Are these de- 
posites, which a revolution of the globe posterior to their forma- 


304 On the relative Age of the 


tion has elevated in our times, above their original level? The 
reply to these questions must be affirmative, of which we have 
the following proof furnished by M. de Humboldt. 

In the night of the 28th and 29th September 1759, a piece 
of ground three or four miles square, situated in the intendancy 
of Valladolid, in Mexico, rose in the form of a bladder. The 
limits at which the raising was stopped, are still recognized by 
the fractured strata. At these limits, the elevation of the ground 
above its original level, or rather above that of the surrounding 
plain, is only 37 feet ; but towards the centre of the upraised 
space, the total raising has not been less than 500 feet. 

This phenomenon was preceded by earthquakes, which lasted 
nearly two months; but when the catastrophe happened, every 
thing seemed quiet, and it was only announced by a horrible 
eataiancia noise which took place at the moment when the 
ground rose. ‘Thousands of small cones from two to three yards 
high, and which the natives call hornitos, issued in all parts. 
At length, in the direction of a long crack running from, north- 
north-east. to south-south-west, there suddenly arose six large 
masses, all of them elevated from four to five hundred yards 
above the plain. The largest of these six hills is a true volcano 
(the volcano of Jorullo), vomiting basaltic lavas. 

We thus see that the most evident and the most distinctly cha- 
racterized volcanic phenomena accompanied the catastrophe of 
Jorullo, and that they have probably been the cause of it ; but 
all this says nothing against the fact that an extensive, ancient, 
and perfectly consolidated plain, in which sugar-cane and indigo 
were cultivated, has been in our time suddenly transported to a, 
great height above its original level. The eruption of burning, 
matter, and the formation of the hornitos, and of the volcano of 
Jorullo, so far from having contributed to produce this effect, 
must on the contrary have lessened it ;. fer all. these apertures, 
acting as safety-valves, would have allowed the elevating cause 
to disperse, whether it was gas or vapour. If the ground had 
opposed more resistance, if it had not yielded in so many points, 
the plain of Jorullo, in place of becoming a, mere hill 500 
feet high, might: have acquired the elevation of, any; neigh- 
bouring summit of the Cordilleras. 

The circumstances which accompanied the fortunate of a new 


Different European Chains of Mountains. 305 


island, near Santorino, in the Greek Archipelago, in 1707, seem 
to be also calculated to prove that the subterranean fires not 
only contribute to raise the mountains by means of ejections 
furnished by the craters of volcanoes, but that they also some- 
times raise the already consolidated crust of the globe. The 
extract which I here present of accounts published at the time 
by Bourguignon and Father Gorée, both witnesses of the event, 
seems to me liable to no objection. On the 18th and 22d of 
May 1707, slight shocks of an earthquake were felt at Santorino. 
On the 23d at sunrise, there was observed, between the large 
and the small Kameni (two islets), an object which was taken 
for the hull of a wreck. Some sailors went to the place, and on 
returning reported, to the great surprise of the whole popula- 
tion, that a rock had risen from the waves. In this region, the 
sea had previously been from 80 to 100 fathoms deep. On the 
24th, many persons visited the new island, landed upon it, and 
gathered upon its surface large oysters, which still adhered 
to the rock. The island was actually seen rising. From the 
23d May to the 13th or 14th June, the island gradually in- 
creased in extent and elevation, without noise or shocks. . On 
the 13th June, it might be half a mile in circumference, and 
from seven to eight yards high. No flame or smoke had yet 
issued from it. From the moment when the island appeared, 
the water had been troubled near its shores; and on the 15th 
June it became almost boiling. On the 16th, seventeen or 
eighteen black rocks issued from the sea, between the new island 
and the little Kameni. On the 17th, they increased consider- 
ably in height. On the 18th, smoke rose, and great subter- 
ranean noises were for the first time heard. On the 19th, all 
the black rocks were joined together, and formed a continuous 
island, totally separate from the first. Flames, columns of 
ashes, and red-hot stones issued from it. These volcanic phe- 
nomena were still going on on the 23d May 1708. The Black 
Isle, a year after its appearance, was five miles in cireumference, 
one mile broad, and more than 60 yards high. 

It is evidently seen, in this account, that the appearance and 
enlargement of the first island were not accompanied with any 
volcanic phenomenon, and that it eould not be considered as a 
product of ejected matter. Now, this is the very idea at which 

JANUARY—MARcCH 1830. U 


306 On the relative Age of the 


the geologists who reject the theory of upraisings stop short. 
This island, according to them, was a great mass of pumice 
stones, detached from the bottom of the sea by the earthquake 
which happened the evening before its first appearance. But, 
if this were the ease, how is the immobility of the floating mass 
to be accounted for? It cannot be supposed that it always 
touched the bottom of the sea, for then there would be recog- 
nised the existence of a true raising. Now, if the mass floated, 
it is necessary to say when, and in what manner, it became fixed ; 
whence it derived its support, what were the causes of enlarge- 
ment and gradual ascent of which the observers make mention, 
and which, in three weeks, transformed a mere rock, hardly 
visible, into an island half a mile in circumference. So long 
as these questions are not answered, the supposition of a raising 
up of the bottom of the sea will remain the only plausible ex- 
planation that has yet been given of the phenomena by which 
the appearance in 1707 of the first new island, in the harbour 
of Santorin, was accompanied. 

I shall now give a third example :—On the 19th November 
1822, at a quarter after ten at night, the cities of Valparaiso, 
Melipilla, Quillota, and Casa-Blanca, in Chili, were destroyed 
by a frightful earthquake, which lasted three minutes. The 
following days, in going along the coast over an extent of thirty 
leagues, several observers perceived that it was greatly raised ; 
for on a shore where the tide never rises more than from one or 
two yards, any elevation of the ground is easily noticed. 

The following are some of the observations from which this 
remarkable inference was deduced. 

At Valparaiso, near the mouth of the Concon, and to the 
north of Quintero, there were seen in the sea, near the shore, 
rocks which no person had previously seen. A vessel which 
was wrecked on the coast, and whose remains the curious went 
to examine at low water in boats, was laid perfectly dry by the 
earthquake. In walking to a considerable distance along the sea- 
shore, near Quintero, Lord Cochrane and Mrs Maria Graham 
found that the water, even when the tide was up, did not reach 
the rocks, on which there were sticking oysters, mussels, and other 
shells, whose animals, but recently dead, were in a state of pu- 
trefaction. Lastly, The entire banks of the Lake of Quintero, 


different European Chains of Mountains. 307 


which communicates with the sea, had evidently risen greatly 
above the level of the water, and in this locality the fact could 
not escape the most careless observers. 

At Valparaiso, the country appeared to be raised about a 
yard. Near Quintero, it was found to have risen a yard and 
a third. It has been asserted, that, at the distance of 4 mile in- 
land, the raising was more than two yards; but I am not ac- 
quainted with the circumstances of the measurements which Jed 
to this last result. 

Here, as is seen, there were no volcanic eruption, no lavas 
spread out, no stones and ashes projected into the air; and un- 
less it be maintained that the level of the ocean has fallen, it 
must be admitted that the earthquake of the 19th November 
1822 raised the whole of Chili. Now, this last consequence 
is unavoidable; for a change in the level of the water would 
shew itself in the same degree over the whole extent of the coast 
of America, while nothing of this kind has been observed in the 
harbours of Peru, such as Payta and Callao. 

If this discussion had not already been protracted, I might 
have brought the preceding observations to a close, from which 
there results that, in a few hours, in consequence of some shocks 
of an earthquake, an immense extent of country may rise beyond 
its original level, into connexion with those which shew that there 
is in Europe a large country, Sweden and Norway, whose level 
also rises, but in a gradual manner, and through a cause inces- 
santly acting, whose nature is not well known. The numerous 
observations on which this curious result is established, would, 
however, occupy too much space, and I shall be obliged to omit 
them for the present. 


Observations on the Fontaine Ronde, a Periodical Spring on 
the Jura. By M. Durrocuer. 


Tux Fontaine Ronde is situated about a league and a-half 

from Pontarlier, in the road from thence to Lusanne. This very 

powerful spring has no proper basin, for the water rushes im- 

mediately from a declivitous bottom, covered with coarse gravel, 
u2 


308 M. Dutrochet’s Observations on the Fontaine Rondc, 


which is fifteen paces in length, and six or eight in breadth. 
The water issues forth uninterruptedly from the deepest lying 
part of the bottom, but from the highest part it ebbs once and 
flows once every six minutes. This spring, therefore, is not 
intermittent, but periodical. Springs of this description are, in 
general, but rare occurrences, and the phenomena they exhibit 
have always attracted the attention of the curious. 

Long ago Heron of Alexandria proposed a plausible explana- 
tion of the intermittence of springs, in supposing that there were, 
in the interior of the earth, reservoirs of water provided with 
natural syphons. This explanation answers well for most cases ; 
hence it has been adopted by natural philosophers. If the in- 
termittence is of unequal continuance, or the swelling of variable 
height, and if these inequalities are repeated regularly and pe- 
riodically, we explain them by supposing that there are many 
dissimilar reservoirs, and that each has its peculiar syphon. 
All this is possible, and art can, by arrangements of this de- 
scription, produce appearances resembling those in nature. But, 
however appropriate this explanation may be, we must not for- 
get that it is a mere hypothesis, and that nature may have other 
means, besides those already mentioned, for producing the in- 
termittence of springs. The careful study of the Fontaine 
Ronde has afforded mea proof of this. This spring, as already 
mentioned, rises during three minutes and falls for the same 
time, so that its periods have a continuance of six minutes. But 
I remarked, on frequent visits to the place, that the water did 
not always diminish in equal quantity. Generally, the highest 
part of the gravel bottom was entirely exposed by this ebbing ; 
sometimes, however, the water did not fall so low as to uncover 
the gravel. These anomalies did not exhibit any regularity in 
their recurrence; and it was therefore difficult to unite them 
with the periodical regularity which must be produced by one 
or more syphons. If the intermittence of a spring is caused by a 
syphon, the reservoir must necessarily be emptied, by means of 
the syphon, in a shorter time than it would be filled again by the 
afflux of the water. If the afflux is increased, the reservoir is 
more speedily filled, and then the period of intermittence is 
shortened, but the flowing out from the syphon is lengthened. 
Lastly, when the afflux brings as much water into the reservoir 


a Periodical Spring on the Jura. ( 309 


as the syphon carries off, the action of the syphon experiences 
no interruption, and the spring becomes continuous in place of 
intermittent. 

In the hypothesis of the presence of a syphon, an increase of 
water in the reservoir must necessarily increase the continuance 
of the flow and diminish the intermittence, even at length en- 
tirely destroy it. But, according to this hypothesis, the period 
of the rising and falling can never diminish in equal proportion ; 
yet this we found to be the case in the Fontaine de Ronde. 
Its rise generally continues three minutes, and it occupies the 
same period for its fall. But on one day I observed that the 
rise occupied only two minutes, and that the fall took the same 
time. The period of the spring which, as already mentioned, 
is six minutes, was on this day only four minutes. ‘This pe- 
riod of four minutes I obtained for a whole hour, during which 
I observed the spring. This observation convinced me that the 
periodic swelling or rise of the Fontaine Ronde could not be pro- 
duced by a syphon: it must result from some other cause, as 
appears from the following observations. 

During the swelling of this spring, a great quantity of car- 
bonic acid rises from the bottom, and the water, owing to the 
numerous air bubbles that pass through it, appears to be in a 
state of ebullition. We might suppose that these air bubbles 
originate from the atmospherical air which had interposed itself 
among the uncovered gravel during the time of low water, and 
which was not entirely driven out of the intervening spaces at the 
moment of rising, but which afterwards, when the gravel bottom 
was entirely covered, escaped in bubbles through the water. To 
a belief in this conjecture we might feel supported by the circum- 
stance of the number of the air bubbles being much increased 
when we stir the bottom with a stick. But when,with the view 
of ascertaining how far this opinion was founded, I collected a 
quantity of this gas and mixed it with lime-water, I found that it 
became clouded. The gas, therefore, was carbonic acid ; and that 
it contained no hydrogen gas was proved by the gas not inflaming. 
It is evident, therefore, that the rising of the spring is accompanied 
by an evolution of carbonic acid. This gas, which I conceive to 
be formed in the interior of the earth, reaches the subterraneous 
canals of the springs only periodically, because it is only perio- 
dically forced out, whilst the spring flows constantly. In fact, 


310 M. Dutrochet’s Observations on the Fontaine Ronde. 


the spring flows uninterruptedly and abundantly while the level 
sinks; but as the swelling begins, air bubbles rise every where 
from the water, and even from that part of the spring which is 
the seat of the constant flow. This observation proves that the 
carbonic acid is not constantly mixed with the water in the sub- 
terranean canals, but only reaches them periodically; hence, pro- 
bably, this periodic flow of the gas into the subterranean canals 
is the cause of the rising of the spring. There is an opening, 
partially filled with stones, at the foot of the hill, about fifteen 
feet from the spring, by which the spring, in the winter, when it is 
very powerful, pours out its superfluous water, but which is dry 
during the rest of the year. When we apply our ear to this 
opening we hear, as long as the rising of the spring continues, 
a pretty loud bubbling noise ; but during the ebb or decrease 
of the spring, no noise is to be heard. This subterranean 
bubbling arises, in all probability, from a very considerable 
evolution of gas. 'This proves, again, that the gas which occa- 
sions the rising of the spring, is not entirely carried off by the 
water, but that a greater part is developed under the surface of 
the earth, and escapes by means of other canals, very probably 
by the opening just mentioned. 

We shall not enter into any hypothesis as to the cause of 
this periodic evolution of gas, but rest satisfied by pointing out 
its occurrence at the same time with the periodic rising of the 
spring*. 

In the Jura there are other periodic springs, as in the town 
of Siam in the Canton of Champagnole. Its flux or rise con- 
tinues seven minutes, its ebb six minutes; its period, therefore, 
is thirteen minutes. But I did not observe any evolution of gas 
in this spring.—Annal. de Chim. et Phys. t. xxxix., p. 280. 


* Vide Manchester Memoirs, for an ingenious paper by Mr Gooch on this 
subject..—-EDIToR. 


{ 3 ) 


On the Height of the Perpetual Snows on the Cordilleras of 
Peru. 


M. Penriany ascertained that the lower limit of the perpetual 
snows on the acclivities of the eastern Cordillera of Upper Peru, 
is very rarely under 17,061 feet, while on the Andes of Quito, 
although much nearer to the equator, this limit is only 15,749 
feet. M. Pentland, when travelling through the pass of AL 
tos de Toledo, in the month of October, found that upon Incho- 
cajo, which belongs to the western Cordillera, the inferior limit 
of the snow was 1312 feet above the pass, or 16,831 feet above 
the sea. 

The northern back of the Himalaya has already exhibited a 
similar anomaly, and produced by the same cause. We allude 
to the influence which the great table-lands ought necessarily to 
exercise on the law of the decrease of heat in the atmosphere. 
It is evident if this law had been found for a free atmosphere, 
by means of aerostatic voyages, the numbers it would furnish 
would make known very nearly the temperature of the differ- 
ent zones of a mountain, if this mountain was isolated, shot up 
rapidly into the air, and supported itself on a base of incon- 
siderable extent, and at the level of the sea. ‘The same would 
not be the case if the mountain rested upon an elevated table- 
land ; at an equal height the temperature would be more con- 
siderable than in the first case. It is also through the influence 
of the table-land on which the two Cordilleras of Peru rest, 
that we are enabled to explain how organic life is preserved at 
so great an elevation. In the Andes of Mexico, between 18° 
and 19° north latitude, all vegetation ceases at a height of 14,075 
feet ; while in Peru, at a greater height, in the. continuation of 
the same chain, there exists not only a numerous agricultural 
population, but also villages and large towns. At present one 
third of the population of the mountainous districts of Peru and 
Bolivia, live in regions situated much above that where all ve- 
getation ceases under the same latitudes in the northern hemi- 


sphere. 
3 


( 312 ) 


Observations on a paragraph ix the last Number of The Edin- 
burgh New Philosophical. Journal. By W. J. Broventr, 
Esq. F. R.S. (Communicated by the Author.) 


Ix a paper which has for its title “ Additional Remarks on 
the Climate of the Arctic Regions, in answer to Mr Conybeare,” 
published in the Jast number of the Edinburgh New Philoso- 
phical Journal, there is, at page 70, the following passage: ‘In 
a note to this paragraph, he (Mr Conybeare) adds, that an Eng- 
lish Caryophyllea had been described, by Mr Broderip, in the 
Zoological Journal for April 1828. Mr Broderip, it is true, 
imagined that ‘ the hard parts of this indigenous species do 
not appear to have been any where described ;) but had Mr 
Conybeare been acquainted with the history of British Zoophytes, 
he might have corrected this mistake, by pointing out that I 
myself had published (in the 2d volume of the Wernerian So- 
ciety’s Memoirs), a description of the same species, fourteen 
years previous to 1828; and I may add, that Dr Leach saw my 
specimens so early as 1812.” 

It is by no means my intention to follow Dr Fleming through 
his “‘ Additional Remarks ;” but he has charged me with a mis- 
take, and I, most reluctantly, trouble you with my defence, to 
which I shall strictly confine myself, and which will not long 
detain your readers from subjects much more worthy of their 
attention. 

My respect for Dr Fleming did not permit me, when I pub- 
lished the passage to which he alludes, to suppose that he could 
have intended to record, under the name of Caryophyllia Cya- 
thus, the indigenous species described by me. When I first 
saw “ Caryophyllia Cyathus (Lamark), *” so common in the 
Mediterranean, announced in the Memoirs of the Wernerian 
Society as an inhabitant of the sea which washes Zetland, 
I was somewhat surprised; but the opinion which I enter- 
tained of Dr Fleming prevented me from supposing that he 
had not there found two small individuals of that species, and 
from concluding that the hard parts of Caryophyllia Smithii 
(the Caryophyllia described by me) differing so strongly as they 


* Memoirs of the Wernerian Society, vol. ii. Parti. p. 249. 


On supposed Vegetable Remains in Chalk. 3138 


do from those of C. cyathus, could have been deseribed by Dr 
Fleming as belonging to the last-mentioned zoophyte. In his 
“‘ History of British Animals,” published in 1828, Dr Fleming 
has repeated the record of the species described in the Memoirs, 
but without the reference to Lamarck. 'The only Caryophyllia 
‘recorded in these publications is Caryophyllia, or, as Dr Flem- 
ing writes it in the latter work, Caryophyllea Cyathus ; and, in 
both places, Madrepora cyathus of Solander and Ellis is given 
as the synonym. Madrepora Cyathus is Caryophyllia Cyathus 
of Lamarck’s “ Systeme des Animaux sans Verttbres,”"—of 
Leach, who has figured and described it as an inhabitant of the 
Mediterranean in the “ Zoological Miscellany,” (Lond. 1814, 
vol. i.), and has there referred to Lamarck’s Systeme for the 
species, and to Dr Fleming, after Lamarck, for the genus,—and 
again, of the “ Histoire Naturelle des Animaux sans Vertébres.” 
This is the only Caryophyllia Cyathus, as far as my informa- 
tion goes, admitted by zoologists in general ; and this is certainly 
not the indigenous species described by me in the Zoological 
Journal for 1828. If Dr Fleming has described the latter, 
(C. Smithii) under the title of C. Cyathus, he must pardon me 
for suggesting that he has confounded two very different spe- 
cies ; but I cannot regret the ‘ mistake” which, according to his 
assertion, I appear to have made, when I supposed him inca- 


pable of so doing. 


On supposed Vegetable Remains in Chalk. By Gipron Man- 
TELL, Esq. F. R.S. &c. In a Letter to the Editor. 


Sir, 


Tue author of the interesting **‘ Remarks on the Ancient Flora 
of the Earth,” which appeared in the last Number of your Jour- 
nal, having stated, upon the authority of the “ Illustrations of 
the Geology of Sussex,” that the remains of leaves and fruits of 
coniferous plants occur in the chalk at Hornsey, &c. I beg leave 
to offer a few observations in explanation, It is true, that, in the 
passage referred to, (Geology of Sussex, page 103), mention is 
made that the bodies in question (the supposed fossil Juli of 
Cherry Hinton), bear a distant resemblance to the cones of the 
larch, and that Professor Hailstone had declared their vegetable 


cad 


314 Notes regarding the Serpentine Rocks on Dee Side. 


origin was placed beyond all doubt, by specimens in the Wood- 
wardian collection, and that he had found, in the quarry at 
Cherry Hinton, the impression of a branch of some vegetable of 
the fir tribe, with the linear leaves surrounding it ; yet it is dis- 
tinctly stated that M. Kénig believed them to be of animal ori- 
gin, and that there were specimens in my cabinet with scales of 
fishes attached to them. It was also remarked (Geol. Suss. 
p- 158), that their constituent substance was precisely similar to 
that of the vertebrz and other bones of fishes found in the chalk ; 
and that, from this analogy, I believed they would hereafter 
prove to be parts of fishes. I scarcely need observe that this 
conjecture has been recently affirmed by the ingenious experi- 
ments of Dr Buckland. Vide Geological Transactions, New 
Series, vol. iii. p. 222. On Coprolites, Sc.» 

The arguments of the author of the excellent paper which 
has eccasioned these remarks, are, however, in no respect weak- 
ened by this fact, since dicotyledonous wood occurs abundantly 
in the Galt and green-sand, and sparingly in the flint nodules 
of the chalk. I am not certain that it has been found in the 
Hastings’ beds. 


Caste Pracr, LewEs, January 20. 1830. 


Notes regarding the Serpentine Rocks on Dee Side. By the 
Rev. James Farquuarson. (Communicated by the Author.) 


Tue accompanying specimen of serpentine is of the rock of a con- 
geries of summits of the hill named Coil, about two miles SW. of 
the Manse of Glenmuick, on Dee Side, Aberdeenshire. Residing 
some days last July in that neighbourhood, my attention was 
directed to these summits by their singular aspect, so different 
from that of the granite mountains with which they are every 
where surrounded, and the greenness of their surface, amidst 
mountains every where covered with heath. I took an oppor- 
tunity one day to ascend them, and found their composition as 
different from that of the neighbouring granite masses as their 
aspect, as the specimen shews. Their vegetation, too, is quite 
different, consisting principally of grasses (various Festucas 
and Poas chiefly), to the very summit, 700 or 800 feet above 
the bed of the river, here 700 feet above the sea, with a vast 
* 


Notes regarding the Serpentine Rocks on Dee Side. 315 


profusion of Silena inflata, then in full flower, but no where else 
to be seen, and Arabis hispida. The rock is bare in many 
places near the summits, of a greenish-grey colour, and much 
softened and weather worn on the surface ; fissured like basalt, 
but not regularly. The principal fissures, however, directed 
pretty uniformly from SW. to NE. The summits seen from 
NE. are conical and precipitous in some places, seen from NW. ; 
they are more elongated but precipitous at their E. and W. ter- 
minations. ‘There are four or five of them. They rise a hun- 
dred feet or two above the general mass of the mountain with- 
in the space of about a square mile. ‘The peculiar rock is, how- 
ever, not confined to the summits, being seen at one place about 
two miles N. of these near the level of the river. I could not 
discover its junction with the granite. Many boulders of this 
remarkable rock are scattered over the granite hills towards the 
SE. even on the face of the steep hills beyond the river Muick, 
which bounds the mass in question on the SE. flowing NE. in- 
to the Dee. Many fragments of it are also found in the bed of 
the Dee below the junction of the Muick; but although I 
passed frequently over the ground, I could find no boulders to 
the N. or NW. There is asbestus in the bed of the Muick near 
the base of the Coil. But the specimen herewith sent is very 
remarkable for the quantity of fixed magnetism which it pos- 
sesses. The poles are in the line of the stroke of the hammer 
which broke it off, the place that received the stroke attracting 
strongly the south pole of a magnet, and the opposite end of 
the specimen the north pole. The stroke was at the point, 
where the weather-worn surface is yet seen. 
Axrorp, December 19, 1829. 


On the Hya-hya or Milk-Tree of Demerara. Ina Letter to 
Professor Jameson from James Smiru, Esq.* 


W sorver has read Humboldt’s Travels to the Equinoctial 
Regions of this Continent, cannot but have felt his imagination 


* The important discovery contained in this communication from my for- 
mer pupil, Mr Smith, cannot fail to interest our readers. Ere long we shall 
be able to publish in the Journal further particulars in regard to the milk. 
tree, and other remarkable trees of Demerara. 

4 


316 On the Hya-hya, or Milk-Tree of Demerara. 


powerfully affected by his description of the Palo de Vaca or 
Cow-tree. Such at least I confess was my case to an extra- 
ordinary degree. I have journeyed through the country laid 
down as that where the cow plant grows, but particular circum- 
stances prevented me at the time from seeing it. 

In a late excursion, however, up the river Demerara, it was my 
good fortune to fall in, certainly not with the same kind of tree, 
but with one possessing the mild milky qualities ascribed by Hum- 
boldt to the Palo de Vaca. The tree I allude to was fortunately 
at the time coming into flower, two specimens of which, together 
with the wood and bark, and a small bottle of the milk, I for- 
ward along with this, and beg to have them subjected to your 
own, as well as the examination of your scientific friends*. 

The manner of my discovering the tree was simply this : 
Among the various productions I had been in the constant habit 
of inquiring for in the forests, were those trees which yielded 
milky juices in any abundance, as their saps; and, at different 
times, I had been led by my Indian guides to a vast variety, 
all of which, however, had more or less acrid and deleterious 
principles with the lactescent quality. On the excursion to 
which I allude, however, I chanced to stop at the little Indian 
settlement of Byawadanny, just below the first rapids of the 
Demerara, and there I was told of a tree called by the Indians 
Hya-hya, the milk of which was both drinkable and nutritious. 
* I was then in company with a Mr Couchman, the superin- 
tendant of a wood-cutting establishment in the immediate vici- 
nity. We had sent a lad to search around for the tree, and he 
returned in a short time to tell us he had met with it. We fol- 
lowed him to the spot, and found that he had felled the tree. 
It had fallen across a little rivulet, the water of which when we 
arrived, was completely whitened from its juice. On striking a 
knife into the bark, a copious stream of milk-like fluid imme- 
diately followed. Our guide drank of it, and Mr Couchman 
and myself tasted it after him. It was thicker and richer than 
cow’s milk, and destitute of all acrimony, leaving only a slight 
feeling of clamminess on the lips. I had already seen that it 


* The specimens reached me, but only lately, in safety. The milk is now 
under examination, and a report on its chemical properties will appear in this 
or next Number of Journal.—Epit. 

2 


On the Hya-hya, or Milk-Tree of Demerara. B17 


mixed freely with the water of the little stream, and as I slept 
that night near the spot, the next morning Mr Couchman and 
myself drank it in warm coffee. With this it commingled 
equally well, and lost all the viscosity before perceptible in its 
pure state, so much so, as to appear to us incapable of being 
distinguished from animal milk. Mr Couchman was determined, 
he said, to use it as a substitute for milk at his little neighbour- 
ing woodland establishment. 

A variety of experiments, too, have since tended to confirm me 
in my opinion, that it in no way differs in quality from the ve- 
getable milk of the cow-tree. Yet it was plain that the tree was 
not that described by Humboldt. The following is the account 
given of the Palo de Vaca in the Personal Narrative of that dis- 
tinguished traveller :—‘“ This fine tree rises like the broad- 
leaved Star-Apple. Its oblong and pointed leaves, tough and 
alternate, are marked by lateral ribs, prominent at the surface, 
and parallel. There are some of them 10 inches long. We 
did not see the flower.” You will observe from the specimens 
I forward of the Hya-hya, that the leaves in no way correspond 
with those mentioned in the description just quoted. Nor does 
the tree, in short, bear the most distant resemblance to the 
“‘ broad-leaved star-apple *.” 

I extract from my note-book the imperfect description taken 
on the spot, with a few observations. ‘ Trunk from 16 
to 18 inches in diameter, 30 to 40 feet high, branching from 
the top; bark greyish colour, slightly scabrous, and about a 
quarter of an inch thick, between which and the wood the milk 
seemed to be secreted. The incision made by the stroke of a 
knife into it latitudinally, or diagonally, caused it to flow freely ; 
but when the cut was made longitudinally, little or no milk 
exuded. The leaves elliptic, and very acuminate ; smooth, and 
in pairs. The flower had not yet fully developed itself, though 
the corolla was observable, and, as well as could be discerned, 
appeared monopetalous, with five divisions in the limb. The 
calyx single, contiguous to the flower, and four-parted ; the 
peduncle axillary, and bearing four flowers, and sometimes 

* It is stated by Mr D. Don, in a preceding Number of this Journal (No. 


15, p. 171.), that the Palo de Vaca is a species of Brosimum, and he proposes 
to call it B. Galactodendron.—Ep1T. 


318 On the Hya-hya, or Milk-tree of Demerara. 


” 


five.” I afterwards attempted to dissect the corolla, and could 
discover it te belong to the class Pentandria, and order Mo- 
nogynia. I was unable to obtain the fruit.” 

I am not aware that the Hya-hya has, either under its Indian, 
or any other appellation, been ever before made known; and 
possessing, as I am convinced it does, the chief virtues of the 
Cow-plant, should it turn out any acquisition to botanical 
knowledge, I shall feel happy in being the instrument of its 
discovery. 

The milk I send you has now been in bottle thirty-six days: it 
did not commence to curdle before the seventh day after it was 
taken from the tree, and even then the process appeared exceed- 
ingly slow; so much so, that on the twelfth day I used some 
of another portion, which had been bottled at the same time, in 
tea, without its being distinguished from animal milk by those 
who drank it. 

I forgot to mention that I am informed by the Indians, that 
the Hya-hya is by no means uncommon in the woods of this co- 
lony ; I may, therefore, very soon hope to procure the fruit. 


Note relative to the dried specimen of the Hya-hya. By G. A. 
W. Arnort, Esq. F.L.S. F.R.S.E. &c. 


THE specimen transmitted by Mr Smith having been com- 
municated to me for examination, I beg leave to make the fol- 
lowing remarks :— 


The calyx is 5-cleft, very short, the lobes rounded and ciliated. Corolla 
coriaceous, deciduous, hypogynous, monopetalous, hypocrateriform, the mouth 
naked ; the tube elongated (about half an inch long), slightly inflated at the 
base and towards the apex; the limb 5-cleft, the lobes very short and round- 
ed; sestivation imbricated. Stamina 5, alternate with the segments of the 
corolla, and enclosed in the tube: the filaments are distinct, filiform but 
short, inserted on the tube about its middle; the anthers are bilocular, 
opening. longitudinally, sagittate, acuminated at the apex, and connivent: 
pollen granular. _ Ovarium solitary, bilocular; oyula numerous, destitute of 
hair (coma). Style 1, filiform, with an incrassated apex, from which. proceeds 
a bifid stigma. I may further add, that the ovula appear to me surrounded 
by a kind of gelatine, so that I have no doubt but the ripe seeds are immer- 
sed,in a pulpy matter; but the structure of the pericarp and seeds I cannot 
determine, as the specimen is only in bud. 


Enough is, however, known to enable one to refer this plant to 


On the Hya-hya, or Milk-tree of Demerara. 319 


the Apocynez, as restricted by Brown, and it is now necessary 
to inquire its genus. 

In the 1st vol. of the Wernerian Transactions, where Mr 
Brown’s paper on this order is published, no genera are de- 
scribed but those which have the seeds comose, to which tribe, 
from the appearance of the ovarium and ovula, I do not think 
this can belong. But in the Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holl. p. 467, the 
genus T'abernemontana is introduced, and the description there 
given agrees with the above in every point but one. Mr Brown 
ascribes to that genus two ovaria, although only one style: the 
same character is given to the genus by Lamarck, and by Vahl 
(under 7. undulata), so that there is no doubt of that being 
necessary to the genus; and the point comes then to be, whether 
or not, from the bad state of the specimens, I have been de- 
ceived. In the mean time, however, although I have found a 
solitary ovarium in the three buds I opened, I think it may be 
placed in Tabernemontana until better specimens in flower be 
procured, and the fruit be observed ; more especially as it ap- 
proaches very closely in other respects to 7’. citrifolia. 


In T. citrifolia, however, the segments of the calyx are acute; and those 
of the limb of the corolla linear-oblong, obtuse, and nearly equal in length to 
the tube. In the species before us, as far as I can judge from the bud, the 
segments of the corolla are very short and round, somewhat like tliose of the 
calyx. The peduncles are axillary from } to 1 inch long, bearing a cyme of 
few flowers. Bracteas opposite; two usually large foliaceous ones at the 
base of the principal ramification, and two small ovate and ciliated ones sub- 
tend each of the other divisions: there is also a similar pair on the ultimate 
pedicels below the calyx. Perhaps, on account of the foliaceous appearance of 
the lower bracteze, they ought to be called leaves, and then the inflorescence 
would be terminal on short axillary branches.—Petiols opposite, half an inch 
long; leaves about 4 inches long, and 13 broad, oblong, not attenuated at 
the base, but suddenly acuminated at the apex; they are plane, somewhat 
coriaceous, smooth, and entire, with diverging veins, that are parallel to each 
other. 

I would propose to name this species T. utilis, from the circumstance al- 
luded to in Mr Smith’s account of it. 


T. utilis ; foliis oppositis oblongis acuminatis integerrimis subcoriaceis planis 
parallele venosis, pedunculis cymosis axillaribus, calyce obtuso ciliato, corolla 
limbi laciniis rotundatis brevissimis. 

Has. Ad ripas fluminis Demerari. 
I may further remark, that, in 7. citrifolia, the leaves are attenuated at 
the base: in the allied 7. alba they are described as undulated, with an acute 


calyx: and, in 7. /asrifolia, which has the calyx obtuse, the leaves are some- 
what obtuse. 


320 On the Hya-hya, or Milk-tree of Demerara. 


The usual properties of the milk of the Apocynez are dele- 
terious, and it is rather remarkable to find an instance to the 
contrary in this tribe; and T do not think there is any other on 
record. Future observations may, however, perhaps ascertain 
similar mild qualities in other species of T'abernamontana, 
especially in their young branches, or when the sap is on the 
ascent, and before it be elaborated. Among the Asclepiadez 
of Brown, which have similar baneful properties, and which 
many botanists indeed consider a mere section of Apocyneze, an 
instance is also known of the milk beg wholesome: I allude to 
a plant found in Ceylon, which the natives call Kiriaghuna, 
from Kiri (milk), and who employ its milky juice when the milk 
of animals cannot be procured ; its leaves are even boiled by 
them as a substitute in such dishes as require to be dressed with 
milk: it is the Gymnema lactiferum of Brown. 'The young 
shoots of several species of plants belonging to both the Ascle- 
piadex and Apocynez are used as food. 


On the Formation of the Earth. By the late Sir H. Davy *. 


The Stranger —Ow these matters I had facts to communicate. On the geo- 
logical scheme of the early history of the globe, there are only analogies to 
guide us, which different minds may apply and interpret in different ways. 
Astronomical deductions, and actual measures by triangulation, prove, that 
the globe is an oblate spheroid flattened at the poles; and this form, we 
know, by strict mathematical demonstrations, is precisely the one which a" 
fluid body, revolving on its axis, and become solid at its surface, by the slow 
dissipation of its heat, or other causes, would assume. I suppose, therefore, 
that the globe, in the first state in which the imagination can venture to con- 
sider it, was a fluid mass, with an immense atmosphere revolving in space 
round the sun; and that, by its covling, a portion of its atmosphere was con- 
densed in water, which occupied a part of the surface. In this state, no 
forms of life, such as now belong to our system, could have inhabited it ; and 
I suppose the crystalline rocks, or, as they are called by geologists, the pri- 
mary rocks, which contain no vestiges of a former order of things, were the 
results of the first consolidation on its surface. Upon the further cooling, the 
water, which more or less had covered it, contracted ; depositions took place, 
shell-fish and coral animals, of the first creation, began their labours ; and 
islands appeared in the midst of the ocean, raised from the deep by the 
productive energies of millions of zoophytes. ‘These islands soon became co- 


* Extracted from a posthumous work, entitled, ‘* Consolations in Travel: or the Last Days of 
a Philosopher ;” by Sir Humpury Davy, Bart. late President of the Royal Society of London,— 
jn which views on various important topics are brought out in the form of dialogues. 


Sir H. Davy on the Formation of the Earth. 321 


vered with vegetables, fitted to bear a high temperature, such as palms and 
various species of plants, similar to those which now exist in the hottest 
parts of the world. And the submarine rocks, or shores of these new forma- 
tions of land, became covered by aquatic vegetables, on which various species 
of shell-fish and common fishes found their nourishment. The fluids of the 
globe in cooling, deposited a large quantity of the materials they held in so- 
lution, and these deposites agglutinating together the sand, the immense 
masses of coral rocks, and some of the remains of the shells and fishes found 
round the shores of the primitive lands, produced the first order of secondary 
rocks. As the temperature of the globe became lower, species of the oviparous 
reptiles were created to inhabit it;—and the turtle, crocodile, and various 
gigantic animals of the Sauri kind, seem to have haunted the bays and waters 
of the primitive lands. But, in this state of things, there was no order of 
events similar to the present ;—the crust of the globe was exceedingly slen- 
der, and the source of fire a small distance from the surface. In consequence 
of contraction in one part of the mass, cavities were opened, which caused 
the entrance of water, and immense volcanic explosions took place, raising 
one part of the surface, depressing another, producing mountains, and causing 
new and extensive depositions from the primitive ocean. Changes of this 
kind must have been extremely frequent in the early epochas of nature; and 
the only living forms, of which the remains are found in the strata that are 
the monuments of these changes, are those of plants, fishes, birds, and ovipa- 
rous reptiles, which seem most fitted to exist in such a war of the elements. 
When these revolutions became less frequent, and the globe became still 
more cooled, and the inequalities of its temperature preserved by the moun- 
tain chains, more perfect animals became its inhabitants, many of which, such 
as the mammoth, megalonix, megatherium, and gigantic hyzena, are now ex- 
tinct. At this period, the temperature of the ocean seems to have been not 
much higher than it is at present, and the changes produced by occasional 
eruptions of it have left no consolidated rocks.. Yet, one of these eruptions 
appears to have been of great extent, and some duration, and seems to have 
been the cause of those immense quantities of water-worn stones, gravel, and 
sand, which are usually called diluvian remains; and it is probable that this 
effect was connected with the elevation of a new continent in the southern 
hemisphere by volcanic fire. When the system of things became so permanent, 
that the tremendous revolutions depending upon the destruction of the equi- 
librium between the heating and cooling agencies were no longer to be dread- 
ed, the creation of man took place ; and, since that period, there has heen little 
alteration in the physical circumstances of the globe. Volcanoes sometimes 
occasion the rise of new islands, portions of the old continents are constantly 
washed by rivers into the sea, but these changes are too insignificant to af. 
fect the destinies of man, or the nature of the physical circumstances of 
things. On the hypothesis that I have adopted, however, it must be remem- 
bered, that the present surface of the globe is merely a thin crust, sur- 
rounding a nucleus of fluid ignited matter ; and, consequently, we can hardly 
be considered as actually safe from the danger of a catastrophe by fire.” 
Onuphrio said, ‘* From the view you have taken, I conclude that you con- 
sider volcanic eruptions as owing to the central fire ; indeed, their existence 


JANUARY—wmMakcu 1830. x 


322 Sir H. Davy on the Formution Of the Earth. 
offers, I think, an’ argument for believing that the interior of the globe is 
fluid.” 

The Stranger answered, “ I beg you to consider the views I have been de- 
veloping as merely hypothetical—one of the many resting places that may 
be taken by the imagination in considering this subject. There are, how- 
ever, distinct facts in favour of the idea, that the interior of the globe has a 
higher temperature than the surface ; the heat increasing in mines the deeper 
we penetrate ; and the number of warm springs that rise from great depths, 
in almost all countries, are certainly favourable to the idea. The opinion, 
that volcanoes are owing to this general and simple cause, is, I think, likewise 
more agreeable to the analogies of things, than to suppose them dependent 
upon partial chemical changes, such as the action of air and water upon the 
combustible bases of the earths and alkalies, though it is extremely probable 
that. these substances may exist beneath the surface, and may occasion some 
‘results of volcanic fire; and, on this subject, my notion may perhaps be 
more trusted, as, for a long while, I thought volcanic eruptions were owing to che- 
mical agencies of the newly discovered earths and alkalies ; and I made many and 
some dangerous experiments, in the hope of confirming this notion, but in vain.” 

Ambrosio. “ You are obliged to have recourse to creations for all the living 
beings in your philosophical romance: I do not see why you should not sup- 
pose creations or arrangements of dead matter by the same laws of infinite 
wisdom ; and why our globe should not rise at once a divine work, fitted for 
all the objects of living and intelligent natures.” 

The Stranger replied, “‘ I have merely attempted a philosophical history, 
founded upon the facts known respecting rocks and strata, and the remains 
they contain. I begin with what may be called a Creation, a fluid globe sup- 
plied with an immense atmosphere ; and the series of phenomena which I 
imagine consequent to the creation, I suppose produced by powers impressed 
upon it by Omnipotence.” 

Ambrosio said, ‘“ There is this verisimilitude in your history, that it is not 
contradictory to the little we are informed by revelation as to the origin of 
the globe, the order produced in the chaotic state, and the succession of living 
forms generated in the days of creation, which may be what philosophers call 
‘ the Epochas of Nature’; for a day with Omnipotence is as a thousand years, 
and a thousand years as one day.” 

“ T must object,” Onuphrio said, “ tu your interpretation of the scientific 
view of our friend; and to your disposition to blend them with the cosmo- 
geny of Moses. Allowing the divine origin of the Book of Genesis, you must 
admit, that it was not intended to teach the Jews systems of philosophy; but 
the laws of life and morals; and a great man and an excellent christian raised 
his voice, two centuries ago, against this mode of applying, and of often 
wresting the sense of the Scriptures, to make them conformable to human 
fancies; ‘from which,’ says Lord Bacon, ‘ arose not only false and fantasti- 
cal philosophies, but likewise heretical religions.” If the Scriptures are to be 
literally interpreted, and systems of science found in them, Galileo merited 
his persecution, and we ought still to believe that the sun turns round the 
earth.” 

Amb. “ You mistake my view, Onuphrio, if you imagine I am desirous of 
aising a system of geology on the Book of Genesis. It cannot be doubted 


Sir H. Davy. on the Formation of the Earth. 323 


that the first man was created with a great variety of instinctive or inspired 
knowledge, which must have been likewise enjoyed by his descendants ; and 
some of this knowledge could hardly fail to have related to the globe which 
he inhabited, and to the objects which surrounded him. It would have been 
impossible for the human mind to have embraced the mysteries of creation ; 
or to have followed the history of the moving atoms, from their chaotic disor- 
der into their arrangement in the visible universe; to have seen dead matter 
assuming the form of life and animation, and light and power arising out of 
death and sleep. The ideas, therefore, transmitted to, or presented by Moses, 
respecting the origin of the world and of man, were of the same simple kind, 
and such as suited the early state of society ; but, though general and simple 
truths, they were divine truths, yet clothed in a language, and suited to the 
ideas, of a rude and uninstructed people. And yet, when I state my satisfac- 
tion in finding that they are not contradicted by the refined researches of 
modern geologists, I do nct mean to deduce from them a system of science. 
I believe that light was the creation of an act of the divine will; but I do 
not mean to say that the words ‘ Let there be light, and there was light,» 
was orally spoken by the Deity ; nor do I mean to imply, that the modern 
discoveries respecting light are at all connected from this sublime and mag. 
nificent passage.” 

Onu. “* Having resided for a long time in Edinburgh, and having heard a 
great number of discussions on the theory of Dr Hutton, and having been ex- 
ceedingly struck both by its simplicity and beauty, its harmony with existing 
facts, and the proof afforded to it by some beautiful chemical experiments, I 
do not feel disposed immediately to renounce it, for the views I have just 
heard explained.” 

The Unknown. ‘I have no objections to the Huttonian or Plutonic views, 
as capable of explaining many existing phenomena; indeed, you must be 
aware that I have myself had recourse to it. What I contend against, is its 
application to explain the formation of the secondary rocks, which I think 
clearly belong to an order of facts not at all embraced by it. The surface is 
constantly imagined to be disintegrated, destroyed, degraded, and washed 
into the bosom of the ocean by water, and as constantly consolidated, ele- 
vated, and regenerated by fire ; and the ruins of the old form the foundations 
of the new world. It is supposed that there are always the same types, both 
of dead and living matter; that the remains of rocks, of vegetables and ani- 
mals of one age, are found imbedded in rocks raised from the bottom of the 
ocean in another. Now, to support this view, not only the remains of living 
beings, which at present people the globe, might be expected to be found in 
the oldest secondary strata; but even those of the arts of man, the most 
powerful and the most populous of its inhabitants, which is well known not 
to be the case. On the contrary, each stratum of the secondary rocks con- 
tains remains of peculiar and mostly now unknown species of vegetables and 
animals. In those strata which are deepest, and which must consequently be 
supposed to be the earliest deposited, forms even of vegetable life are rare; 
shells and vegetable remains are found in the next order; the bones of fishes 
and oviparous reptiles exist in the following class: the remains of birds, with 
those of the same tribes mentioned before in the next order; those of quad- 
rupeds of extinct species, in a still more recent class; and, it is only in the 

2 x 2 


324 Sir H. Davy on the Formation of the Earth. 


loose and slightly consolidated strata of gravel and sand, and which are usually 
called Diluvian Formations, that the remains of animals, such as now people 
the globe, are found, with others belonging to extinct species. But in none 
of these formations, whether called Secondary, Tertiary, or Diluvial, have 
the remains of man, or any of his works, been found. It is, I think, impos- 
sible to consider the organic remains found in any of the earlier secondary 
strata, the lias-limestone, and its congenerous formations, for instance, with- 
out being convinced, that the beings, whose organs they formed, belonged to 
an order of things entirely different from the present. Gigantic vegetables, 
more nearly allied to the palms of the equatorial countries than to any other 
plants, can only be imagined to have lived in a very high temperature ; and 
the immense reptiles, the Megalosauri, with paddles instead of legs, and 
clothed in mail, im size equal or even superior to the whale; and the great 
amphibia, Plesiosauri, with bodies like turtles, but furnished with necks 
longer than their bodies, probably to enable them to feed on vegetables 
growing on the shallows of the primitive ocean, seem to shew a state in 
which low lands, or extensive shores, rose above an immense calm sea, and 
when there was no great mountain chains to produce inequalities of tempe- 
rature, tempests, or storms: Were the surface of the earth now to be carried 
down into the depth of the ocean, or were some great revolution of the wa- 
ters to cover the existing land, and it was again to be elevated by fire, 
covered by consolidated depositions of sand or mud, how entirely different 
would it be in its characters from any of the secondary strata; its great features 
would undoubtedly be the works of man ; -hewn stones, and statues of bronze 
and marble, and tools of iron, and human remains would be more common 
than those of the lower animals, on the greatest part of the surface; the 
columns of Pestum and Agrigentum, or the immense iron and granite 
bridges of the Thames, would form astriking contrast to the bones of the cro- 
codiles or sauri, in the older rocks, or even to those of the mammoth, or 
Elephas primogenus, in the diluvial strata. And, whoever dwells upon this 
subject must be convinced, that the present order of things, and the compa- 
ratively recent existence of man, as the master of the globe, is as certain as 
the destruction of a former and a different order, and the extinction ofa num- 
ber of living forms, which have now no types in being, and which have left 
their remains wonderful monuments of the revolutions of nature.” 

Onu. “I am not quite convinced by your arguments. Supposing the lands 
of New Holland were to be washed into the depth of the ocean, and to be 
raised according to the Huttonian view, as a secondary stratum, by subter- 
raneous fire, they would contain the remains of both vegetables and animals 
entirely different from any found in the strata of the old continents; and, 
may not those peculiar formations to which you have referred, be, as it were, 
accidents of nature belonging to peculiar parts of the globe? And, you speak 
of a diluvian formation, which I conclude you would identify with that be- 
longing to the catastrophe described in the sacred writings, in which no hue 
man remains are now found ; now, you surely will not deny, that man existed 
at the time of this catastrophe ; and he, consequently, may have existed at 
the period of the other revolutions, which are supposed to be produced, in the 
Huttonian views, by subterranean fire.” 


Sir H. Davy on the Formation of the Earth. 325 


The Unknown. ‘I have made use of the term diluvian, because it has 
been adopted by geologists, but without meaning to identify the cause of the 
formations with the Deluge described in the sacred writings: I apply the 
term merely to signify loose and water-worn strata, not at all consolidated, 
and deposited by an inundation of water; and, in those countries which 
they have covered, man certainly did not exist. With respect to your argu- 
ment derived from New Holland, it appears to me to be without weight. 
In a variety of climates, and in very distant parts of the globe, secondary 
strata, of the same order, are found, and they contain always the same kind 
of organic remains, which are entirely different from any of those now af- 
forded by beings belonging to the existing order of things. The catastrophe 
which produced the secondary strata and diluvian deposition, could not have 
been local and partial phenomera, but must have extended over the whole, 
ora great part of the surface of the globe; the remains of similar shell 
fishes are found in the limestones of the old and new continents ; the teeth 
of the mammoth are not uncommon in various parts of Europe; entire skele- 
tons have been found in America, and even the skin covered with hair, and 
the entire body of one of these enormous extinct animals has been disco- 
vered in Siberia, preserved in a mass of ice. In the oldest secondary strata, 
there are no remains of such animals as now belong to the surface; and, in 
the rocks which may be regarded as more recently deposited, these remains 
occur but rarely, and with abundance of extinct species ;—there seems, as it 
were, a gradual approach to the present system of things, and a succession of 
destructions and creations preparatory to the existence of man. It will be 
useless to push these arguments further. You must allow, that it is impos- 
sible to defend the proposition, that the present order of things is the an- 
cient and constant order of nature, only modified by existing laws; and, 
consequently, the view which you have supported, must be abandoned. The 
monuments of extinct generations are as perfect as those of extinct nations ; 
and, it would be more reasonable to suppose, that the pillars and temples of 
Palmyra were raised by the wandering Arabs of the desert, than to imagine 
that the vestiges of peculiar animated forms, in the strata beneath the sur- 
face, belonged to the early and infant families of the beings that at present 
inhabit it.” 

Onu. “TI am convinced ;—I shall push my arguments no farther, for I will 
not support the sophisms of that school, which supposes that living nature 
has undergone gradual changes, by the effects of its irritabilities and appe- 
tencies; that the fish has, in millions of generations, ripened into the quad- 
ruped, and the quadruped into man; and that the system of life, by its own 
inherent powers, has fitted itself to the physical changes in the system of the 
universe. To this absurd, vague, atheistical doctrine, I prefer even the 
dream of plastic powers; or that other more modern dream, that the second- 
ary strata were created, filled with remains, as it were, of animal life, to con. 
found the speculations of our geological reasoners.” 

The Unknown. “ Y am glad.you have not retreated into the desert and de- 
fenceless wilderness of scepticism, or of false and feeble philosophy. I should 
not have thought it worth my while to have followed you there: I should as 
soon think of arguing with the peasant, who informs me, that the basaltic co- 
lumns of Antrim or of Staff2 were the works of human art, and raised by 
the giant Finmacoul.” 


Lectures on the History of the Natural Sciences. By Baron 
Cuvier *. 


Lascrures Firs anp Séconp. Earliest ‘History ‘of ‘the ‘Hunan 
Species. 


‘Avren a statement of the motives which had induced him ‘to 
undertake the task of publicly relating the history of the natu- 
ral sciences, M. ‘Cuvier spoke of the utility of this department 
of study. He then rapidly traced the progress of the sciences, 
from the most remote period to the present time, distinguishing 
three ‘principal ‘epochs: the religious epoch, the philosophical 
epoch, and, lastly, the epoch of the division of labour, which 
may be also named the scientific epoch, properly so called. 

The first of these epochs comprehends the whole time during 
which science remained shut up in the temples, and was-culti- 
vated bythe priests only, who concealed it from the ‘vulgar, or 
only presented it to them under emblematical forms. 

The second epoch commences at the time when the sciences, 
whose rudiments had been imported from Egypt, began, after a 
long interval, to be developed in Greece. From the moment of 
their'revival, they assumned a new direction, separated themselves 
entirely from religion, and were no longer cultivated by the 
priests, but by philosophers, who communicated the fruit: of 
their researches without reserve, and without disguise. The 
early Greek philosophers embraced the whole range of human 
knowledge, and cach of them was at once a metaphysician, a 
moralist, a geometer, a naturalist, and a natural philosopher. 

The third epoch was marked by the separation that was ef- 
fected among the different departments of science. Each branch 
was cultivated by men who devoted themselves exclusively to 
it, directed the whole force of their minds towards.it, and by 
this judicious distribution of labour, obtained a success unknown 
to their predecessors. 


* Of these highly interesting lectures, at present delivering in Paris, we 
shall in this and the succeeding Numbers give such a view as will interest 
our readers. The reports we now publish are held by some of our friends 
now attending these lectures to be correcti-Eorr. 


The Deluge. 327 


It was no fault of Aristotle’s that this epoch was so long in 
making its appearance. That great man, in fact, had assigned 
its natural limits to each department of science; but, unfortu- 
nately, he Jeft no successor worthy of such a master, and the 
sect of Peripatetics, which he had formed, even fell into con- 
tempt in a few centuries. It was only after the long interval 
of the middle ages, and towards the commencement of the six- 
teenth century, that the change took place. Thus, the sciences 
have, as yet, been regularly cultivated only for three cen- 
turies. 

After thus marking the characters of the three scientific 
epochs, the Professor reverted to the first, and, in endeavour- 
ing to determine its origin, was led to speak of the antiquity of 
human society. He shewed, that notwithstanding the paucity 
of the data which we possess on this question, we may yet ar- 
rive at some satisfactory results, by having recourse at the same 
time to history and geology, which severally present evidences 
corroborative of each other. Thus, while the traditions of all 
nations have preserved the remembrance of a great catastrophe, 
the Deluge, which changed the earth’s surface, and destroyed 
nearly the whole of the human species, geology apprises us, that 
of the various revolutions which have agitated our globe, the 
last evidently corresponds to the period which is assigned to the 
deluge. 

We say, that by means of geological considerations alone it 
is possible to determine the date of this great event with some 
degree of precision. 

There are certain formations which must have commenced 
immediately after the last catastrophe, and which, from that 
period, have been continued up to the present day with great 
regularity. Such are the deposites of detritus observed at the 
mouths of rivers, the masses of rubbish which exist at the foot 
of mountains, and are formed of the fragments that fall from 
their summits and sides. ‘These deposites receive a yearly in- 
crease, which it is possible to measure. Nothing therefore is 
more easy than to calculate the time which it has taken them to 
acquire their present dimensions. This calculation has been 
made with reference to the debris of mountains, and in all cases 
has indicated a period of about four thousand years. The 


328 Baron Cuvier’s Lectures on the Natural Sciences. 


same result has been obtained from the other alluvial deposites. 
In short, whatever may have been the natural phenomenon that 
has been interrogated, it has always been found to give evidence 
in accordance with that of tradition. The traditions themselves 
exhibit the most astonishing conformity. The Hebrew text of 
Genesis places the deluge in the year 2349 before Christ. The 
Indians make the fourth age of the world, that in which we now 
live, commence at the year 3012. ‘The Chinese place it about 
the year 2384. Confucius, in fact, represents the first king 
Yao as occupied in drawing off the waters of the ocean, which 
had risen to the tops of thie! mountains, and in repairing the da- 
mage which they had caused. 

Men assuredly did not begin to cultivate the sciences until 
long after this epoch. Astronomy is that of which traces are 
found at the most remote period, and it would seem to have ori- 
ginated in several countries at the same time. ‘The first obser- 
vation of an eclipse made by the Chinese, and of which the 
authenticity has been established, was in the year 776 ‘A. C. 
At Babylon, the most ancient observation made by the Chal- 
deans was in the year 747 A.C. It has been said, indeed, 
that Callysthenes sent from Babylon to Aristotle a series of 
observations which comprehended a space of 1900 years; but 
this assertion, which first made its appearance in Synesius, a 
writer of the sixth century, deserves no trust. Aristotle, who 
speaks of astronomy in various parts of his works, would not 
have omitted so important a fact. 

It has been supposed that in the zodiacs, painted on the walls 
of certain temples in Egypt, a proof was to be found that astro- 
nomy had been cultivated in that country from a very remote 
period. But whatever interpretation is given of these zodiacs, 
we have now, thanks to M. Champollion’s discoveries, certain 
information respecting the antiquity of these temples; that of 
Denderah, in particular, was built in the reign of ‘Tiberius, and 
bears the name of Nero. Another was built in the reign of Do- 
mitian. It may therefore be considered as sufficiently proved, 
that the sciences had not acquired any degree of improvement 
until the eighth century before the Christian era ; notwith- 
standing great nations had been formed in several parts of the 
earth some centuries earlier. Fifteen hundred years. before 


Earliest History of Man. 329 


Christ there were already four; the Indians, the Chinese, the 
Babylonians, and the Egyptians. 

The Chinese having always kept themselves separate, the 
progress which they might have made could only benefit them- 
selves, and could in no degree contribute to the general civili- 
zation. Thus, in the history of the sciences, they are never 
mentioned. As to the other three, so great a similarity is ob- 
served in their general doctrines, and in the emblems under 
which these doctrines are veiled, that they must evidently have 
had communication together. 

The subject of metaphysics being the same for all nations, it 
will readily be conceived how several of them may have arrived 
separately at the same system of religious philosophy. It will 
also be conceived: how they should have agreed in the choice of 
emblems, as these emblems are in general taken from among the 
natural bodies which men have more commonly around them. 
But how can the identity of political constitutions be accounted 
for, unless on the supposition of a communication. We know 
what is the organization of Indian society: it is at present pre- 
cisely what it was before the Christian era. The people are di- 
vided into four principal castes. First come the Brahmins, the 
depositaries of science, and the ministers of religion; then the 
soldiers, those to whom exclusively the defence of the country 
was formerly intrusted. ‘These men have the privilege of hear- 
ing the sacred books read. Then come the merchants, and 
lastly the artizans. In the two last castes, the different profes- 
sions form so many hereditary subdivisions. This singular con- 
stitution, which could only have originated from a powerful ge- 
nius, and which, before it could have been established among a 
single people, would have required the use of very extraordi- 
nary means, presents itself again in Egypt. Doubtless, no one 
will imagine that mere chance could have produced a coincidence 
of such a nature. 

A similarity still more surprising, because manifesting itself in 
things of a more arbitrary nature, is that observed in the mo- 
numents of the three nations. ‘The columnar architecture, it is 
true, might have originated at once in the artificial caves of 
Upper Egypt, and in the subterranean pagodas of India, since 
it were natural to think of supporting by pillars wrought in the 


330 Baron Cuvier’s Lectures.on the Natural Sciences. 


rock the ceiling of these excavations; but in the edifices which 
rise above ground, similarity of form cannot be determined by 
the use.of the same materials. In Assyria, in place.of granite 
or syenite, brick alone was in use; and yet, from the little that 
remains to us of the religious monuments of that country, we 
see that their great architectural forms were the same as in In- 
dia or Egypt. 

'The three nations had also a similarity in their geographical 
position, all of them having established themselves in the vici- 
nity of great rivers, in countries where internal navigation was 
favoured by numerous natural canals. ‘The history of the Indians 
discloses them to us at first in the great plains of the Ganges, and 
having only some colonies on the banks of the Indus,—the Ba- 
bylonians settled in the delta of the Euphrates,—the Egyptians 
along the Nile. The three countries were in the route of an 
immense commerce, which religion covered with its protection. 
There was not, in fact, a sacred edifice among them, that had 
not. a part intended for lodging merchandise, a kind of caravan- 
sera. 

Although the mode of communication adopted during the 
whole of the religious period was by no means favourable to the 
progress of the human intellect, it is probable that the sciences, 
in the three countries that must be looked upon as their cradle, 
would have attained a high degree of perfection, had they not 
been repeatedly arrested by the irruption of barbarians. 

The countries inhabited by the Babylonians, the Chinese, 
and the Indians, form a rich girdle around a vast region, com- 
posed for a great part of elevated sandy plains, adapted solely 
for pastoral tribes. These tribes can never arrive at the same 
degree of civilization as agricultural nations, and still less can 
they attain that of commercial nations ; but they are sober, coura- 
geous, active, have little attachment to the soil, are eminently 
qualified for conquering, and are ready, whenever an enter- 
prising chief presents himself, to rush in multitudinous bands 
upon their rich neighbours. History shews us in all ages the ci- 
vilized nations sometimes repelling the pastoral nations, and 
sometimes subjugated by them. China has been repeatedly in- 
vaded and subdued by the Tartars, India by the Mongols, Ba- 
bylonia by the Assyrians, and at a later period by the Persians. 


India the Cradle of the Sciences. $31 


Egypt was also repeatedly invaded by nomadic tribes. The 

first conquest is that called the conquest of the shepherd kings, 
about the year 1750 before Christ. They retained their con- 
quest for two centuries. During this period, the order of ‘the 
priests was entirely cast down, and the fountains of science dried 
up. The second irruption was that of the Medes and Persians 
under Cambyses. Posteriorly to-our-era, there came.other no- 
madic tribes still—the Saracens, ‘and, lastly, the Turks. We do 
not reckon the conquest at the time of Alexander, which was in 
fact far from being hostile to civilization, as the Greeks were at 
‘that time more advanced than the Egyptians. 
‘ The sciences, then, being in the east continually retarded by 
the irruptions:of ‘barbarians, were ‘not placed in circumstances 
favourable to their development, until they had penetrated :into 
the west, passmg from the Egyptians to the Greeks, and from 
these latter to the rest of Europe. As ‘to the Indians, they 
have not directly contributed to our civilization, and in fact it 
is only a very short time since any scientific communication has 
been established between their country and ours. 

Yet it is in India, according to al! appearance, that we-are to 
look for the origin of the sciences. It is in that country, in 
fact, that the men who escaped from the deluge must have esta- 
blished themselves. The loftiest mountains of the globe, the 
chains of Himalaya and Thibet, would: afford:them. an asylum, 
and the bases of these mountains would present them with the 
first cultivatable land. Babylonia could then have been nothing 
but marshes, and Egypt was yet under water. ‘In fact, all the 
low part, as. the priests told Herodotus, is a gift of the Nile. 
That river each year deposites a new layer of mud. By count- 
ing the number of superimposed layers, which are easily distin- 
guished from each other, it may be seen how much the land 
rises in a given time; and in this manner we come by a very 
simple calculation.to the result, that, 2000 years before Christ, 
the whole of Lower Egypt had no existence. 

The priority of the Indians is further shewn by a tradition, 
to which no attention seems hitherto to have been paid. It is 
in fact in the extracts which have been preserved of the works 
of Manetho, that, in the reign of Amenophis, a king of ‘the six- 
teenth dynasty, a colony came from India to settle in Ethiopia. 


332 ~=Baron Cuvier’s Lectures on the Natural Sciences. 


Now, Diodorus Siculus, and all those who have written on the 
religion of Egypt, derive that religion from Ethiopia, or Upper 
Nubia. Thebes itself was but an island, a colony of Meroe, 
which was the sacerdotal city of the Ethiopians. ‘Thus, then, 
civilization came from India into Nubia, and from Nubia into 
Egypt. From the latter country it might even be traced to 
Babylon, since, according to Diodorus, the Chaldeans, who 
formed the sacred caste in Babylonia, were snip nothing 
but a colony of Egyptian priests. 

We might naturally expect to find much inforniation re- 
specting the history of the sciences among the Indians, who 
were the first to cultivate them, and who, notwithstanding va- 
rious conquests, have kept themselves so unaltered, that, at this 
very day, we find them just what Alexander found them. Yet 
among the Indians we hardly obtain any accounts of this nature. 
It is not that they have not written much, and that from the 
earliest times, but they do not possess a single historical book. 
Perhaps the Brahmins, to make their caste be held in more es- 
timation, might have withheld the knowledge of the events 
which would have also borne testimony to the origin of the 
others. This at least is certain, that they hold it as a doctrinal 
point that history should not be written. The fourth age, say 
they, the age in which we live, is too miserable, all that takes place 
is too low, to be worthy of having the recollection of it perpe- 
tuated. The traces of the efforts of civilization have not there- 
fore been preserved by them, and the only hope which we have, 
in the absence of annals, is that of deriving some indirect state- 
ments from their other books, or their monuments. 

The monuments cannot afford us much assistance. Al- 
though they bear no date, it may be judged that they are pos- 
terior to the time of Alexander and the Ptolomies. If they 
had existed at that period, some Greek writers would not have 
failed to speak of them, as their gigantic proportions must have 
rendered them remarkable in all times. Besides, we can in some 
measure judge of their age by the emblems which are repre- 
sented on them. These emblems all belong to the religion of 
the present day. Now, the mythological notions to which they 
refer are found developed only in treatises posterior to the Ve- 
das, since the pantheism of the vedas is entirely metaphysical. 


Antiquity of Indian Astronomy. 333 


The temples which we know are therefore less ancient than the 
Vedas. 

As to the vedas themselves, or sacred books written in San- 
scrit, we know their age by means of a calendar which is found 
annexed to one of them, and which gives the position of the 
vernal equinox. Now, by means of the known laws of the pre- 
cession of the equinoxes, we have been able to see in what year 
that calendar must have been closed. It ascends to 1500 years 
before Christ. 

‘The vedas contain an exposition ef the religious philosophy 
of the Indians. The oupavedas, which are of the same date, 
are composed of various scientific treatises on music, medicine, 
war, architecture, the mechanical arts, &e. These two works, 
as well as some very long poems, are written in Sanscrit, a lan- 
guage which is not at present spoken,—a language the most re- 
gular that is known, and which is especially remarkable for the 
circumstance that it contains the roots of the various languages 
of Europe, of the Greek, Latin, German and Sclavonic; so 
that, to find even the first instrument of science, namely, lan- 
guage, it would seem that we must go to the Indians in search 
of it. The astronomical part of the vedas contains few rules. 
Those which the Indians at present possess for calculating eclipses 
belong to much later treatises, and which all bear their respec- 
tive dates. These treatises are in verse, and are learned by 
heart by the Brahmins of the astronomical caste. 

It is well known that, in the last century, Bailly maintained 
that there had formerly existed in India a very advanced astro- 
nomy, of which the present astronomy is but a feeble remnant. 
His theory rested principally upon the circumstance, that the 
Indians possessed methods of calculating much more perfect 
than would seem compatible with the low state of the mathe- 
matics among them. Admitting the fact, what are we in strict 
logic to infer from it? That the Indians in former times 
were a little more advanced than they are at present. But this 
past time, perhaps, is not very remote. It might even be ad- 
mitted, with M. Delambre, that the Indians have not invented 
the formule of calculation, but that they received them ready 
made from the Arabians. These formule are far from being 
so perfect as Bailly supposed ; but their very defects have served 


334 Baron Cuvier’s Lectures on the Natural Scicnecs. 


to prove the falsity of the theory of which we speak. ‘Yhe 
Indians boast of possessing a long series of observations, which 
go back to the year 4000 before Christ, a period at which, ac- 
cording to them, there was a conjunction ofall the planets. If 
they have actually observed this conjunction, we can, by means 
of calculation, confirm its reality. This it has been attempted 
to do. Now, it has been found that this conjunction did not 
exist; and it has been moreover discovered, that if, in the re- 
trograde calculation, in place of making use of the correct for- 
mulz which we now possess, we were to employ the defective 
formulze of the Indians, he would arrive at an erroneous result, 
but at one which, for the epoch indicated, would give the ap- 
pearance of a conjunction. 

There results from these facts, and several others, which we 
owe to the researches of an English philosopher, that the an- 
cient Indians had neither an astronomy of any degree of ad- 
vancement, nor a regular geometry. As to the natural sciences, 
they must have possessed some slight knowledge of them, as 
their commerce, which was very flourishing, made a great va- 
riety of substances pass through their hands; but these sciences 
never made any considerable progress among them. Their be- 
ing prevented from touching dead bodies, and the horror which 
they had of skins, must have placed an insurmountable barrier 
in their way. In short, all that the Indians could have commu- 
nicated to the Egyptians, was their metaphysics, their mytho- 
logy, and their constitution. 


Lecrure Tuirp— Egypt. 


Egypt presented circumstances highly favourable to the de- 
velopment of the sciences, of which it had received from India 
only an imperfect germ. From the extreme fertility of its ter- 
ritory, the inhabitants had abundant leisure to devote to study, 
and being condemned to inactivity during the time the river 
kept them pent up in their towns, they could not fail to be in- 
clined to meditation. 

The inundation itself, by giving the Egyptians wants un- 
known to other nations, induced an activity of mind, and led 
them to a multitude of useful discoveries. The necessity of re- 
tracing the boundaries of properties, after the river had retired 


Surveying and Anatomy originated in Egypt. 335 


into its bed, led them to invent surveying, and the desire of fa- 
cilitating the flowing off of the waters, taught them the art of dig- 
ging canals. They seem to have paid early attention to the study 
of the celestial phenomena, which alone could afford them the 
means of foreseeing the motions of the Nile ; and as the extreme 
purity of the atmosphere was favourable to this study, they made 
more progress in astronomy than any other nation. 

The Egyptians made great progress in architecture also, for 
having been induced by circumstances, of which we shall pre- 
sently speak, to employ a great portion of their riches in build- 
ing, they had excellent materials in abundance, which the river 
permitted them to transport with ease. 

Religion was not in Egypt, as it was in India, an obstacle to 
the progress of the natural sciences. On the contrary, it im- 
posed in some measure an obligation to cultivate them ; and, in 
fact, not only did it borrow many of its emblems from the animal 
kingdom, but it also necessarily excited attention to all those 
animals which it had pronounced to be sacred. 

This part of the Egyptian religion did not come from India, but 
originated in Ethiopia. It is probable that the Ethiopians, before 
the arrival of the Indian colony, had been addicted to fetishism, 
as are in general all the tribes of the negro race, and that they 
would not adopt the new religion without mingling with it a 
part of their old superstitions. But in whatever manner this 
religion was established, it is certain the priest attached at least 
one animal to each divinity. The hawk was consecrated to 
Osiris, the ibis or the cow to Isis, the crocodile to Saturn. In each 
of the temples in which these divinities were worshipped, there 
were brought up several of the animals which were dedicated 
to them, and which themselves in some measure shared in the 
divine honours paid to their patrons. There were thus afford- 
ed constant opportunities of observing their external forms and 
their habits’ There were even occasions of observing their in- 
ternal structure, as it was customary to embalm them after 
death. 

In Egypt the same horror toward dead bodies was not en- 
tertained as in India; not only were the bodies of sacred ani- 
mals embalmed, but those of men also. Now, this practice 
could not fail to give those who were charged with it a know- 


336 Baron Cuvier’s Lectures on the. Natural Sciences. 


ledge of the form and position of the organs. It was undoubt- 
edly in Egypt that anatomy originated ; it was to that country 
that the Greeks resorted to study it ; and thither Galen made 
a journey expressly for the purpose of seeing the representation 
in bronze of a human skeleton. 

This much in respect to the observations on animals; as to 
minerals, they in some measure presented themselves to obser- 
vation, being in Egypt not deeply buried, as in most other 
countries. They were known not only by their external cha- 
racters, but also by what we at the present day call their chemi- 
cal characters; and we may here remark, that the name Che- 
mistry itself comes from the word chim, which was the ancient 
name of Egypt. As to what was afterwards called the Egyp- 
tian science, the Hermetic art, the art of transmuting metals, it 
was a mere reverie of the middle ages, utterly unknown to an- 
tiquity. The pretended books of Hermes are evidently suppositi- 
tious, and were written by the Greeks of the lower Empire. 

All the books of the Egyptians are lost; and thus, in pur- 
suing the history of the sciences among them, we have perhaps 
fewer resources than in tracing it among the Indians. There 
remains a catalogue of the sacred books of Hermes, which Cle- 
ment of Alexandria has preserved in the sixth book of his Stro- 
mata. ‘The books of Hermes were held in great veneration in 
Egypt. They were carried in procession in the religious so- 
lemnities, and every priest was obliged to have by heart at least 
the part which related to the attributes of his order. These 
books treated of religion, the arts, medicine, and several other 
sciences; but it is remarkable that they did not speak of his- 
tory, whence it would appear, that the Egyptian priests had the 
same repugnance as the Brahmins to preserve by writing the re- 
membrance of the events of which their country had se the 
theatre. We have therefore no annals of Egypt; but we have se- 
veral lists of their kings preserved by Eusebius and other writers. 
These lists do not agree well together. They may, however, 
be useful for being consulted, provided the cause be not for- 
gotten which probably introduced into them the confusion 
thiey exhibit ; for it would appear, that in ancient times Egypt 
was divided into independent states. The names of the sove- 
reigns of all these small kingdoms have been handed down to 

3 


Age of the Pyramids. 337 


us ; but, instead of presenting them in linear series, the writers 
have placed them in the same line, as if there had been a re- 
gular succession. This mistake has greatly contributed to mis. 
lead several modern writers, and to induce them to refer to a 
very remote epoch the origin of the Egyptian nation. 

The conquest of the shepherd kings abolished all the little 
principalities, and subjected Egypt to a single domination. Af- 
ter the expulsion of the conquerors, the victorious dynasty be- 
came in its turn sole master, and thenceforward the union be- 
came definitive. It was by this union that the Egyptian nation 
became really powerful, and it was after this period alone, that 
it could undertake great works. The recent discoveries of M. 
Champollion have afforded us an undeniable proof of this. 
Having found means of reading the names of the sovereigns 
inscribed in hieroglyphic characters upon the monuments, he 
has found none anterior to the seventeenth and eighteenth 
dynasties, that is, to those which expelled the nomadic con- 
querors ; and it is probable that most of the edifices which bear 
the names of these princes, and which appear to have been 
raised in honour of them, were not built until long after their 
death. t 

As, in the deficiency of books, we rest our hopes of obtain- 
ing some documents upon the monuments, it is of importance 
to determine their age, at least in a relative manner. This may 
be done by comparing the style of their architecture, which, 
simple and rude in the more ancient times, acquires elegance as 
we approach those more modern. 

‘The pyramids, which, however ostentatious, evidently belong 
to the infancy of art, are certainly anterior to the columnar edi- 
fices, and those possessed of elegant proportions. Now, these 
pyramids, even by Manetho’s account, were not built until after 
the reign of Sesostris, the vanquisher of the shepherds. This 
much is certain, that they did not exist at the time of the Jew- 
ish migration, for the Scriptures make no mention of them. It 
would even seem that, at this period, the Egyptians used brick 
in their public buildings, as they employed the Jews in manu- 
facturing them in enormous quantities. Nor did the pyramids 
exist at the time of the migration of Cecrops and Danaus, as 

JANUARY—MaARcH 1830. ¥ 


338 Baron Cuvier’s Lecturcs on the Nutural Sciences. 


the Greeks never imitated their form. The first allusion to the 
splendid edifices of Egypt occurs in Homer, who speaks of the 
hundred-gated Thebes, and who, without doubt, by this ex- 
pression meant the gigantic propylei placed in the front of 
temples, of which that city, in fact, contained a great number. 

Most of the edifices which we know must have been built 
from the year 1000 before Christ to the year 550, the epoch of 
the invasion of the Persians. In fact, this was the period at 
which Egypt enjoyed her greatest prosperity. An exaggerated 
idea, however, would be formed of the power of that country, 
were we to judge of it only by the number and magnificence of 
the monuments which have been left to us. It must be remem- 
bered that there had been a gradual accumulation of them for 
ages; for, in a climate always equable, edifices built of granite 
endure until they are purposely overturned. It ought also to 
be remembered, that Egypt, from her position mistress of the 
commerce of Africa, must have acquired immense riches, and 
that all these riches must have been employed in the valley of 
the Nile, since beyond it there was nothing but sand. Being 
unable, therefore, to enlarge her territory, she covered it with 
palaces. A similar concurrence of circumstances produced the 
same results at Palmyra. Palmyra is an oasis of verdure placed 
in the midst of the desert. It had no other advantage than 
that of possessing some springs, but this was enough to induce 
the caravans which went from the Euphrates to the Mediter- 
ranean to pass that way. These caravans came laden with the 
valuable productions of the East ; and during their short abode 
in the oasis, they left much gold, of which the inhabitants 
could have made no use, had they not employed the greater 
part for raising temples and palaces. 

In modern times, Genoa, enriched in the same manner by 
commerce, and restricted in her territory by the sea and the 
Appenines, has reproduced, in some degree, the wonders of Pal- 
myra and Egypt. 

Egypt, during the whole time of her prosperity, remained 
shut to strangers; but towards the sixth century before our 
era, troubles having arisen, and having brought on a civil war, 
the weaker party sought support in foreign countries, and Psam- 
meticus first brought auxiliary troops from Asia Minor, It 


Practical Geometry in Egypt. 389 


was then only that the Greeks could profit by the advances 
which the Egyptians had made; and that Thales and Pytha- 
goras, and perhaps several other sages whose names have not 
been preserved, went to be instructed in the school of the 
priests. 

To judge of what the Greeks must have gained by this com- 
munication, it is necessary to know what was at this period the 
state of knowledge in Egypt. Let us, in the first place, look to 
the siunthewuticab sciences. 

It is certain that the Egyptians had a knowledge of share 
lics, as they were expert in the art of digging canals; that they 
had ideas of mechanics, since, without very powerful machines, 
it would have been impossible for them to erect obelisks, and to 
raise the enormous blocks which some of their monuments pre- 
sent. It is certain that they had tolerably perfect modes of 
procedure in stereometry, of which a proof is given in the cut- 
ting of the stones of their buildings. We know, further, that 
they were good surveyors. All this would lead us to believe 
that they were pretty well advanced in the mathematical theo- 
ries. But, on the other hand, if it be true that it was only 
after his travels that Pythagoras discovered the theorem of the 
square of the hypothenuse, it must be admitted that the geo- 
metry of the Egyptians was still in its infancy, or, at least, that 
it was purely practical. 

At the period when the first migrations were made to Greece, 
astronomy was very little advanced in Egypt, as the lunar year 
alone was known. But as this science, as we have said, was 
very necessary to the Egyptians, they devoted themselves to it 
with great application, and made rapid progress in it; so that, 
when a communication was re-established with the Greeks, in 
the reign of Psammeticus, they had already adopted the solar 
year of 365 complete days. Soon after, they made the addition 
of a fourth of a day, and thus came much nearer the true dura- 
tion. ‘This reformed solar year was employed for civil uses. 
As to the religious year, having been regulated at an earlier 
period, it remained with its 365 complete days, without its 
being allowed to change it. It happened, in consequence, that 
the festivals were gradually displaeed—that they no longer cor- 

Y¥2 


340 Baron Cuvier’s Lectures on the Natural Sciences. 


responded to the same sideral epochs as at the time when they 
were instituted—and that, to return to them, they required to 
pass through all the seasons in succession. This period, at the 
end of which every thing was restored to the original order, 
was what the Egyptians named the Great Year, or the Year of 
Syrius. 

It is probable that it was only from the heliacal rising and 
setting of the principal stars that the Egyptians succeeded in 
thus approximatively determining the length of the year; for 
their means of observation were very imperfect, and it is not 
believed that they had any other instrument than the gnomon 
for measuring the heights of the sun. 

We might be inclined to think that the Egyptians were very 
little advanced in general physics, were it true that they con- 
sidered fire as an animal which devoured the bodies that were 
presented to it; but, perhaps, this was only the opinion of the 
vulgar, and not that of the learned. 

The Egyptians had very correct ideas on several points in 
geology ; they had well observed the laws of alluvial deposition, 
and at the present day we account for the formation of the Delta 
in no other manner than that in which it was accounted for in 
the days of Herodotus. 'They had discovered the existence of 
solids not only in the alluvial formations, but also in_ rocks. 
Thus, it may be thought, that when Thales in Greece declared 
water to be the first principle of all things, he only gave a new 
form to the theories of the Egyptian priests, who alleged shat 
the earth had arisen from the waters. 

The properties of minerals were tolerably well examined. 
The country offered every facility for this; the mountains 
which form the sides of the valley of the Nile exhibited, and 
in all their native lustre, various species of rocks; in the lower 
part limestone, farther up sandstone, and towards Syene por- 
phyry and granite. Egypt was in some measure a great mi- 
neralogical cabinet. The necessity of passing along the small 
valleys which run towards the Red Sea, led to the discovery 
of other minerals which do not occur in so great masses. It was 
in one of them that the mine of emeralds was discovered, which 
supplied all those known to antiquity. 

The manner in which the Egyptians wrought fine stones, por- 


Chemistry, Zoology, and Geology in Egypt. 341 


phyry and granite, shows that they had the use of very sharp 
instruments, and that they consequently were well acquainted 
with the art of tempering. Very little iron, it is true, has 
been found in their cities and tombs; but this depends upon 
the circumstance that that metal is easily destroyed. Besides, 
various other metals have been found in them, and, among 
others, bronze, and’gold of great purity. ‘They were acquainted 
with all our enamels and porcelains; they knew how to make 
up the most brilliant and the most solid colours, and even ul- 
tramarine ; in a word, they were infinitely more advanced in the 
chemical arts than the Greeks and Romans ever were. 

We have said that the habit of rearing sacred animals in the 
temples, would have enabled the Egyptians to study the man- 
ners of these animals, and to observe their forms. with care ; 
and, accordingly, they reproduced them with. perfect fidelity in 
painting and in sculpture. We find on their monuments more 
than fifty species of animals, so recognisable, that even when the 
figures are of small dimensions and merely given in outline, it 
is impossible to mistake them. Thus we distinguish in their 
sculptures the great aritelope, the oryx, the giraffe, the large- 
eared hare, the sparrow-hawk, the vulture, the Egyptian goose, 
the quail, the lapwing, the ibis, &c. Gau, in his work on 
Nubia, has given a copy of a painting which represents the 
triumph of an Egyptian monarch. There are seen in it the 
different nations offering to the conqueror animals peculiar to 
their respective countries. There are distinguished in it the 
hunting-tiger, an animal which we have only known in Europe 
for about thirty years back, the aspic, coluber haje, the crocodile, 
&e. Although in these representations the zoological characters 
have not been expressed, yet the general aspect is so well ex- 
hibited, that a naturalist can always readily make out the ani- 
mal, even in the case of insects and fishes. In a painting brought 
to France by M. Caillaud, and which represents people fishing, 
there occur more than twenty distinct species of fishes ; siluri, 
cyprini, and other species of singular form and peculiar to 
Egypt, all so faithfully expressed, that one can recognize them 
at first sight. 

It cannot be imagined that a nation which devoted itself with 
so much perseverance and success to the observation of nature, 


342 Baron Cuvier’s Lectures on the Natural Scicnces. 


should have confined itself to the mere collecting of facts, without 
attempting to connect them by theories, and to ascend to prin- 
ciples. It must, therefore, be supposed, that there was at a cer- 
tain epoch in the colleges of the priests, the knowledge not only 
of philosophical and religious doctrines, but also that of parti- 
cular scientific theories. These theories doubtless have been 
lost in consequence of the oppression to which the sacerdotal 
caste was subjected at the time of the conquest of Cambyses. 
The leaders of the colonies which issued from Egypt, pos- 
sessed in general but a small part of the knowledge of which 
this privileged caste was the depository. They carried with 
them only the practical results. ‘The case was different with 
the Hebrew legislator. He had been brought up by the Egyp- 
tian priests, and knew not only their arts, but also their philo- 
sophical doctrines. His books shew us that he had very perfect 
‘ideas respecting several of the highest questions of natural phi- 
losophy. His cosmogony especially, considered in a purely 
scientific point of view, is extremely remarkable, inasmuch as 
the order which it assigns to the different epochs of creation, is 
precisely the same as that which has been deduced from geolo- 
gical considerations. According to Genesis, after the earth and 
the heavens had been formed and animated by light, the aqua- 
tic animals were created, then plants, then terrestrial animals, 
and last of all man. Now this is precisely what geology teaches 
us. In the deposites which have been first consolidated, and 
which, consequently are the deepest seated, there occur no or- 
ganic remains ; the earth, then, was therefore without inhabitants. 
In proportion as we approach the upper strata, we find appearing 
at first shells and remains of fishes, then remains of large rep- 
tiles, then bones of quadupeds. As to the bones of the human 
race, they are met with only in alluvial deposites, in caves and 
in the fissures of rocks ; which shows that man made his ap- 
pearance upon the earth after all the other classes of animals. 


Lecturr Fourtu.—GREECE. 


The Greeks did not receive the whole of their knowledge 
from Egypt. They had communications with the Phenicians, 
and probably also with the Babylonians, as well as assuredly 
with the tribes of Colchis and Caucasus, from whjch latter they 


Early Science in Greece. 343 


received religious rites, that differed greatly from those of 
the Egyptians. But, with respect to the result of all these 
early communications, we are reduced to mere conjectures, and 
can only hope for accounts possessing any degree of accuracy, 
from the period when Cadmus carried the Phenician alphabet 
into Greece. From this epoch we have an unbroken chain, and 
the history of the sciences is based upon a continuous series of 
written documents. 

The sciences, once introduced among the Greeks, were there 
free of the fetters which had retarded their progress among the 
other three nations, whose history we have sketched: they had 
no longer to suffer from the irruptions of barbarians, nor from 
the interests of a privileged class. 

India, Assyria, and Egypt were, as we have said, countries 
quite open, and which, from the very nature of their ground, 
were incapable of being defended. ‘This was not the case with 
Greece, of which the whole central part being mountainous, of- 
fered great facilities for resisting aninvasion. There each tribe, 
separated from the others by deep valleys and passes, found na- 
tural ramparts in its rocks. An invader would have to con- 
quer the land foot by foot, and the parts which he had sub- 
jected would speedily withdraw themselves from his domination. 
All the small islands connected with this country were, in like 
manner, defended by their mere position, and were enabled to 
preserve their independence. Accordingly, Greece could never 
long remain united under the same laws; and perhaps these 
circumstances, which depend upon the natural configuration of 
the country, will, even in our time, render the establishment of a 
central government extremely difficult. 

The settlements which the Greeks made on the coast of Asia 
Minor and Italy were not, it is true, so easily defended ; but 
when they were overrun, the learned men who had sprung up 
there betook themselves to central Greece, and carried to it the 
tribute of their knowledge ; so that the conquest of the colonies, 
far from retarding the civilization of the mother country, only 
served to advance it. 

Mythological forms were, in the East, only the emblematic 
expression of a system of general philosophy, and thus the 
priests were at the same time the learned men of the nation 


344 Baron Cuvier’s Lectures on the Natural Sciences. 


In Greece, the external forms of religion only were received, 
without, however, any understanding of the meaning concealed 
under these emblems, so that the priests there were not in general 
more learned than the vulgar. ‘They did not form a caste, for, 
although in the beginning, there had been a tendency to perpe- 
tuate the priestly dignity in the same families, this scheme was 
acted on within very narrow limits, and could therefore exercise 
but a feeble influence upon the constitution. 

The sciences, therefore, at their revival in Greece, were com- 
pletely separated from religion, and consequently free in their 
progress ; while, in the countries in which a divine origin was 
attributed to them, they necessarily remained stationary, as no 
one, without being guilty of sacrilege, could change in any re- 
spect a doctrine which had emanated from the Divinity itself. 


_ Epochs of the History of the Sciences in Greece.—The his- 
tory of the sciences in ancient Greece presents four distinct 
epochs. ‘The first commences with the establishment of the 
Pelasgi in that country, and terminates with the arrival of the 
Egyptian colonies, about the fourteenth or fifteenth century be- 
fore our era. The second comprehends all the time that elapsed 
between the arrival of these Egyptians and the settlement of the 
Greek colonies upon the coast of Asia Minor, about the year 
1100 before Christ. The third extends from the establishment 
of these colonies to the time when the communications with 
Egypt were revived, about the year 600 before Christ. The 
fourth epoch commences with the journey of Thales to Egypt, 
and comprises the most brillant age of Greece. 

Were we to refer to some writers of the Alexandrian school, 
we might suppose ourselves possessed of a very exact history of 
ancient Greece. We have genealogies of the kings who reigned ° 
in that country, with quite as many details as those of the sove- 
reign houses of Kurope ; but these genealogies, in which there 
always figure at the head some mythological personages, such 
as Jupiter or Neptune, are evidently not authentic. Thus, the 
history of the Greeks, before the time when Cadmus brought 
them the art of writing, is entirely conjectural. All that we 
know is, that, previous to the arrival of that chief, the Pelasgi 


The Pelasgr. 345 


were not entirely in a barbarous state, and that they were al- 
ready acquainted with several arts. 

The Pelasgi were originally from India, of which the San- 
serit roots that occur abundantly in their language do not per- 
mit us to doubt. It is probable, that, by crossing the moun- 
tains of Persia, they penetrated as far as the Caucasus; and 
that from this point, instead of continuing their route by land 
they embarked on the Black Sea, and made a descent upon the 
coasts of Greece. They founded several cities in that country, 
and there are still found in the places where they first settled, 
Thyrintum, Mycene, &c., remains of their buildings, known by 
the name of Cyclopean Walls. In the time of Pausanius, it 
was already known that these buildings were anterior to the ar- 
rival of the Egyptian colonies, and that to the labours of the 
Pelasgi were owing certain gigantic works, such as the treasuries 
of Minias, and the canals dug through Mount Ptéus, to afford 
an issue to the waters of the lake Copais, and prevent the inun- 
dation of Beeotia. 

The religion of the first Pelasgi was much more simple than 
that of the Greeks. It was probably confined to the deification 
of certain powers of nature, and their representation under sen- 
sible forms. 

The disturbances which took place in Egypt about the four- 
teenth and fifteenth centuries before our era, caused various emi- 
grations. Those which directed themselves towards Greece 
were pretty numerous. ‘The best known are those of Cecrops, 
Danaus, and Cadmus. __Cecrops, in the year 1556 before Christ, 
carried into Attica the mysteries of Isis or Ceres; Danaus, in 
1485, brought over the thesmophories; and Cadmus, in 1493, 
imported the alphabet, whose oriental origin is sufficiently indi- 
cated by the form of the letters and the name which they have 
preserved. The colonies arrived with sufficient strength to es- 
tablish themselves in the country of the Pelasgi, and diffuse their 
civilization there. But, as we have said, their chiefs had only 
been half-instructed in the science of Egypt, so that they only 
brought over the external form of the religion, without connect- 
ing with it any metaphysical idea. Their divinities, although 
evidently borrowed from the Egyptian mythology, henceforth 
appeared only under purely human forms, and this very anthro- 


346 Baron Cuvier’s Lectures on the Natural Sciences. 


pomorphism was favourable to the progress of the graphic arts. 
What in fact would sculpture have become, had it been confined 
to the hideous forms of those emblematical beings in which the 
priests had personified one of the attributes of the Divinity, had 
it been forced to represent a god with four heads and an 
hundred hands, as in India, or with the head of a wolf or a hawk, 
as in Egypt ? 

A particular tribe, the Hellenes, which extended its rule 
not only over the Pelasgi, but also over the foreign colonies 
settled in Greece, ultimately gave its name to the whole coun- 
try. This tribe, which, under the guidance of Deucalion, set- 
tled in the neighbourhood of Parnassus, came from the north, 
and probably from Caucasus, as it was on that mountain that 
the poets represented Deucalion’s father, Prometheus, as chained. 
Now, the tribes of the Caucasus were certainly acquainted with 
the doctrines of India through their connections with Colchis, 
which was long, in a manner, the factory of their commerce in 
the European seas. The Hellenes were the earliest civilized of 
all the nations of Greece. It is to them that we owe the worship 
of Apollo and the introduction of the arts. 

The Greek religion, at the commencement, partook of its In- 
dian and Egyptian origin. The island of Samothrace, in which 
were established the most ancient mysteries, had divinities whose 
significative names still indicate the metaphysical ideas which 
were connected with them. In Thrace, the part of the conti- 
nent in the neighbourhood of this isle, Orpheus, instituted reli- 
gious forms which resemble those of the east. The influence of 
Cecrops, however, prevailed, and pure anthropomorphism was 
established. This Orpheus was a priest and a poet at the same 
time. There are attributed to him a collection of hymns, and 
some works, in which there occur details respecting plants and 
stones, but only considered with reference to theurgy. Nearly, 
at the same epoch, Chiron, it is said, already studied their pro- 
perties for the purpose of applying them to medicine. 

Chiron and Orpheus are reckoned among the heroes who, un- 
der the name of Argonaute, went to Colchis to conquer the 
Golden fleece. It is probable that this expedition is not the re- 
presentation of a single fact, but rather the expression of the 
commerce which was established by the way of the Black Sea 


Homer and Hesiod. 347 


with the nations of the Caucasus. Even Orpheus and Chiron 
might be merely the poetical representation of the first efforts 
for the cultivation of the necessary arts. Be this as it may, 
real advances were made by the family of the Asclepiadz, which 
ascends nearly to this period, that is to say about 1300 years 
before Christ. 

A century after, the famous Trojan war took place, in which 
the Europeans contended against the Asiatics. The poems of 
Homer, written about the year 950, that is about 200 years after 
the event, shew us, that at this period the arts had made con- 
siderable progress. The metals were forged and tempered ; 
arms chased and gilded ; cloths woven and dyed with the most 
brilliant colours. Sculpture and painting had also been in- 
vented. 

The Iliad and Odyssey contain some moral maxims; but 
there are no traces in them of a philosophical doctrine, nor even 
of a religious doctrine properly so called. The gods are only 
men, stronger and more beautiful, but still vulnerable, and dif- 
fering from other men only in having the faculty of concealing 
themselves from view, and of rising in the air. 

The comparisons with natural objects which occur so fre- 
quently in the verses of Homer, shew, that at this period very 
accurate observations had been made on the manners of animals. 
When that poet compares a hero pursued by common warriors 
to a lion assailed by jackals, the picture which he draws of the 
habits of the latter animals is as correct as brilliant. 

Hesiod may be considered as the contemporary of Homer, for 
his two works bear the seal of the same epoch. In his Theo- 
gony, we see mythological anthropomorphism in all its purity ; 
some faint traces of pantheism appear in the history of the giants 
and Titans. In his book of Days and Hours, Hesiod incul- 
cates upon men the necessity of labour, and gives some rules for 
their guidance. He speaks of the culture of corn, the time of 
tilling and sowing, &c. It is to be remarked that he always 
indicates the time proper for these operations by the heliacal 
rising of a star, which proves, that if the lunar year was already 
established in Greece, it was, at least, little used in domestic life, 
its mode of division necessarily rendering it inconvenient. He- 


2 


348 Baron Cuvier’s Lectures on the Natural Sciences. 


siod, in his book, names a certain number of plants, and points 
out their properties. 

Such, in the ninth century before our era, was the state of 
knowledge in Greece. 

It was during the time which elapsed between the Trojan 
war and the birth of Homer and Hesiod, that the colonies 
which migrated to the coast of Asia Minor set out. Their 
emigration was produced in consequence of the revolutions 
which took place in Greece, when the Heraclidee made the 
conquest of the Peloponnesus. Ionians, Dorians, and Eolians, 
left their country, and went to found, in Asia, a great number 
of cities, some of which, such as Smyrna, Ephesus, and Miletum, 
soon acquired a high importance. 

When there were Greek settlements on both sides. of the 
Egean Sea, the frequent communications which were established 
between them, gave a new impulse to commerce, and presently 
caused the riches of the east to flow in. The new cities were 
soon in a state to send out colonies themselves, and several bands 
from them went to settle on the shores of the Black Sea. 

A little more than two centuries after the conquest of the 
Peloponnesus by the Heraclide, Greece was agitated by fresh 
troubles, the result of which was the almost universal abolition 
of royalty. This revolution gave rise to a new emigration, 
which, this time, taking a direction opposite to the first, settled 
upon the shores of Italy, in the country which afterwards bore 
the name of Magna Grecia. These Italian colonies, which 
soon became extremely rich and polished, were an additional 
means of civilization to central Greece. 

We now come to an epoch marked by two events which had 
a great influence upon the progress of the sciences. The first 
is the re-establishment of the communications with Egypt, which 
took place when Psammeticus took Greeks from Asia Minor 
into his armies, as auxiliaries: the other is the war of the Per- 
sians against the Greeks, the conquest of the colonies of Asia 
Minor, and the invasion of central Greece itself, an attempt 
which fortunately was not crowned with success. 

About 600 years before Christ, Cyrus possessed himself of 
Media. His son Cambyses carried his arms toward Egypt, 
subjected the whole of that country, and reduced the priests to 


Persian Invasion of Greece. 349 


a state of great degradation. The effects of conquests of this 
kind are commonly rendered less rigorous, because the victors, 
yielding to the ascendency of civilization, adopt the manners 
and customs of the vanquished. In Egypt, such a union could 
not take place. The Persians, whose religion rested upon the 
doctrine of the two principles, were in this respect evidently 
superior to the Egyptians, and they moreover held the religion 
of that people in abhorrence, on account of the honours which 
they rendered to images. They therefore persecuted them 
cruelly. 

The same reasons rendered their yoke heavy upon the Greek 
colonies of Asia Minor, when Cambyses’s successor Darius con.. 
quered them. Oppression there arrested the progress of the 
arts and of poetry, as in Egypt it had stifled the philosophical 
and religious doctrines. The conquest of Darius threw upon 
central Greece a multitude of emigrants, who carried there the 
knowledge which they had acquired in Egypt ; for, as soon as 
the gates of that country had been opened by Psammeticus, 
Thales, Pythagoras, and several other sages, hastened thither 
to be instructed in the school of the Egyptian priests. It may 
therefore be said, that if the successes of the Persians disquiet- 
ed Greece, so far from retarding its progress toward civiliza- 
tion, they even contributed to accelerate it. 

Xerxes, who reigned after Darius, attacked central Greece ; 
but he was repulsed: and it is at this time that the most bril- 
liant epoch of that country commences. In fact, philosophy, 
cultivated at first in the colonies of Asia Minor, and then in the 
Italian colonies, at length concentrated itself at Athens, and 
there, in a few years, arrived at a high degree of perfection. 

The Greek philosophy did not originate from a single stem. 
It did not possess uniformity, because it was not confided to a 
single learned body. It was derived, it is true, by different 
channels, from the ancient Egyptian philosophy ; but the sages 
who went to drink at this source, each in his own manner, mo- 
dified the doctrines which were communicated to them, and 
formed different schools. 

(To be continued. ) 


( 350 ) 


On the Heights of the most remarkable Summits of the Cordil- 
lera of the Andes in Peru, 


To know the highest summit in every chain of mountains, the 
highest mountain in every country, in every continent, in the 
whole world, has always been a favourite object with mankind. 
Astronomical observations have permitted this research to be 
extended even to the Moon, to Mercury and Venus. These 
planets have been studied of late with so much care, and with 
instruments so powerful, that it seems difficult to determine 
more precisely than has already been done, the height of the pro- 
digious mountains which cover their surface. The asperities of 
the Earth have also been the objects of constant research. The 
number of points whose several heights above the level of the 
sea, are irrevocably fixed, is very considerable ; and yet, not to 
mention countries which geographers have never yet explored, 
it would be difficult to say with certaity, even of the Hima- 
laya, Caucasus, the American ranges, and even of some chains 
in Europe, whether their culminating points have been accu- 
rately measured. Not but that the traveller may have, in every 
place, directed his attention to the summits which appeared to 
him the highest ; but unfortunately such appearances are often 
deceitful, and bad substitutes for real measurements. The cir- 
cumstance of a mountain being more or less isolated, the incli- 
nation of its sides, its distance, the form, disposition and height 
of the surrounding grounds, and finally the state of the atmo- 
sphere, are so many causes of fallacy, from which the most ex- 
perienced observer cannot get free, and which are removed only 
by the barometer and geodesical instruments. Were it necessary 
to adduce examples in support of these reflections, many might 
be quoted. ‘Thus we might say that, at the beginning of the 
eighteenth century, the Peak of Teneriffe was reckoned the 
highest mountain ia the world *, though, in the Alps of Switzer- 
land, there were summits which surpass it nearly one-third ; 
though many travellers had, on their return from Peru, seen 
the great Cordillera of the Andes, and even visited some of 
the populous towns that are situated on their table-lands, whose 


* See the Geography of Varenius, reviewed by Newton. 


Summits of the Cordillera of the Andes. 351 


height is far superior to that of the Peak. We might also re- 
mark, that the Pyrenees had been traversed by learned acade- 
micians, supplied with powerful instruments, and that they still 
gave out that Canigou was the highest top in the chain ; whereas 
we now know, that not only Malahite, Mount Perdu, the Cy- 
lindre, &c. surpass it by 1968 feet; but also that, at a short dis- 
tance from this mountain, within the same limits of the depart- 
ment of the Eastern Pyrenees, there are summits which, accord- 
ing to the late observations of M. Coraboeuf, exceed it in height 
nearly 460 feet. We need not be astonished then, if, from 
time to time, certain peaks descend from the rank, as to height, 
which was once assigned them. Mont Blanc itself, so long in 
possession of the first place in the system of European moun- 
tains, came to lose it afterwards, from an imperfect measurement 
of the summits of Mount Rose. Now Chimborazo has, in its 
turn, to lose its pre-eminence. This mountain, so celebrated in 
the works of Bouguer, of La Condamine, and above all in those 
of M. Humboldt, is not the highest in the world, as has been 
supposed for so many years *. It is not even the highest summit 
of the Cordilleras. 

Mr Pentland, an active and enterprizing naturalist, who was 
attached to the Peruvian embassy, was induced, by the love of 
science, to solicit a mission into Upper Peru, a region hitherto 
but little explored. During his journey he attended particularly 
to the heights of the mountains, and found that their elevation 
much exceeded what was generally supposed. 

The great mass of the Andes, from 14° to 20° south latitude, 
according to Mr Pentland, is divided into two chains or parallel 
cordilleras, between which there is a very extensive elevated 
valley. The south extremity of this valley is traversed by the 
river Desaguadero ; to the north is the famous Lake of Titicaca, 
of an extent equal to twenty-five times that of the Lake of Ge- 
neva. This great valley forms a kind of table-land, the most 
elevated on the globe, except Thibet ; but, while Thibet pre- 
sents only ranges of mountain pasture, covered with herds of 
sheep, this table-land of the New World supports cities above 
the regions of the clouds, even higher than the snow-covered 
pinnacle of the Jungfrau ; post stations higher than the summit 


* This has been proved already by the heights in the Himalaya range. 


352 Heights of the most remarkable Summits of the 


of Mont Blanc; while its plains are covered with harvests of 
maize, rye, barley, and even of wheat. The banks of the Titi- 
caca formed the central part of the kingdom of the Incas. It 
is in one of the islands of this Jake that Manco Capac was born, 
It is there that we find the finest remains of the monuments 
that were erected by the Peruvians, during the time of their 
ancient civilization. The western Cordillera, that which, in the 
language of the country, is called the “* Cordillera of the West,” 
separates the Valley of Desaguadero, the Thibet of the New 
World, as Mr Pentland calls it, and the basin of the Lake of 
Titicaca, from the shores of the Pacific. This chain contains 
many active volcanoes, such as those of Sehama, Arequipa, &e. 

The eastern Cordillera separates the same valley from the vast 
plains of the Chiquitos and Moxos, and the declivities of the 
rivers Beni, Mamore and Paraguay, which fall into the Atlantic 
Ocean, from those of Desaguadero, and the lake of Titicaca. 
This eastern Cordillera is confined within the limits of the new 
republic of Bolivia. The Illimani and the Sorata, the two 
loftiest summits measured by Mr Pentland, are situated in this 
range. They not only surpass Chimborazo, but even approach 
in height to the principal summits of the Himalayas. 

Mr Pentland not being able to reach the top either of imani 
or Sorata, on account of. the immense glaciers which covered 
their sides, measured their heights by means of trigonometrical 
operations. 

In measuring Illimani, the triangles were made to rest on a 
base measured along the side of a lake, situated at the very foot 
of a mountain, and whose height above the level of the sea was 
determined barometrically. The angles of elevation exceeded 
20°. 

The height of Sorata is grounded upon an operation which 
was)carried on along the banks of the Lake Titicaca; but this 
operation having made it appear only how far the top of the 
mountain rises above the line, marking the inferior limit of the 
perpetual snows, it was necessary, in order to get the real 
height, to borrow the vertical co-ordinate of the snows, at other 
points of the same chain, where an immediate measure was pos- 
sible. Thus we see that the height of Sorata has been obtained 
less directly than that of Illimani. Mr Fentland is sure that, if 


Cordillera of the Andes. 3538 


any errors exist, they must be very trifling, or at least errors 
which cannot be called gross. If, then, we except three or four 
points among those which are marked in the following tables, 
all the other determinations of heights are the result of barome- 
tric measures, frequently repeated with the excellent instruments 
of M. Fortin. 


Heights of Mountains in Upper Peru, above the Level of the 
Sea *. 


Eastern Cordillera. 


Feet. 
1. Nevado di Sorata; - - - = 25,250 
It is the loftiest summit in this range, and is considerably 
higher than the former loftiest summit of the New 
World, Chimborazo, which is only 21,425 feet above 
the sea. 
2. Nevado di Illimani, which is situated to the eastward of 
the city of La Paz, is - “ = = 24,350 
3. Cerro de Potosi, - - - - 16,037 
This is the famous metalliferous mountain, which gives 
name to the neighbouring city. The highest point 
where mines are worked in the Cerro de Potosi, is 15,912 
Western Cordillera. 
1. Mountain of Tajora, or Chipicani, = = 18,898 
2. Mountain of Pichu.—Pichu, composed of trachite, - 18,603 
3. Volcano of Arequipa, . - - . 18,373 


This is the most perfect and picturesque volcanic cone 
in the whole range of the Andes. 


Passes (Cols) of the two Cordilleras. 


Pass of Atlos de los Huessos, is - - - 13,605 


This pass is on the southern base of the volcano of Are- 
quipa. The name is from the circumstance of its 
being strewed over with numerous bones of beasts of 
burthen, who have perished during the journey : Hues- 
sos, in Spanish, signifying bone or bones. 


Pass of Paquani, - - - - - 15,227 
* The following are some terms of comparison :— 
English Feet. 
Javaher, in the Himalaya, é , 25,745 
Chimborazo, in the Andes of Quito, - 21,425 
The Elbruz, in the Caucasus, were to Dr Kupfer, 16,411 
Mont Blanc, ; 15,781 
Peak of Teneriffe, : J - 12,172 
Malahasen, in Granada, in Spain, : - 11,663 
La Malahite, in the Pyrenees, . 3 - 11,421 


JANUARY—MAKCH 1830. x 


354 Heights of the Mountains in Upper Peru. ‘ 


Feet. 
As terms of comparison, we may mention, that, in the Alps, 


the Pass of the Furka, is - - - 8,301 
That of the Col de Seigne, is - - - 8,071 
And that, lastly, Mount Cenis and the Simplon, are 

only - - - - 6,778 and 6,578 

Peruvian and Bolivian Cities. 
Lima, the capital of Peru - - - - 512 
Cochabamba, capital of the department of the same name, 8448 


This town, of which the population is 30,000 souls, is more 
elevated than the Great Saint Bernard. 


Chuquisaca, or La Plata, capital of the new republic of Bolivia, 9331 
Tupisa, capital of the Bolivian province of Cinti, - 10,004 
La Paz, near the source of the Rio Beni, - - 12,195 
La Paz is the most flourishing city in Bolivia. Its height 
above the level of the sea surpasses the highest summit of 
the Pyrenees. 


Oruro, near to Desaguadero, - = 12,441 
This city has a population of 5000 souls. 

Puno, on the western shore of the Lake T7ticaca, - 12,832 
The population of Puno is 5000. 

Chucuito, ” - - - - 13,025 


This city, more elevated than the highest summits in the 
Tyrol, had a population of 30,000 souls before the Indian 
insurrection excited by Tupac Amaru. 


The grand place of Potosi, - - - 13,314 
The highest part of Potosi, - - - 13,668 
Potosi thus occupies the same height as the Yung-Frau, 
one of the most remarkable summits of the Alps of 
Berne, 


Villages. . 


Tiaguanaco, - - - - - 12,812 
This village, situated on the shores of the Lake Titicaca, is 
celebrated for the ruins with which it is surrounded, which 
are remains of the most gigantic monuments ever erected 
by the Peruvians. 


The surface of the Lake Titicaca is, above the sea, - 12,703 

Tacora, an Indian village, - - - - 14,252 
Hamlets and Single Habitations. ' 

Hamlet and post-station of Chullunquani, - - 13,869 

Post-house of Ancomarca, - - - 15,722 


Here, then, is a post-house situated at a height equal to that of 
Mount Blanc. It must, however, be remarked, that, owing to 
the rigour of the climate, it is inhabited only three or four months 
during the year ; but the route is taken, during every season of 
the year, by travellers journeying from La Paz, and other cities 
to the shores of the South Sea. 


( 355 ) 


On the Chemical Constitution of Brewsterite. By ArtTHuR 
ConnELt, Esq. F. R. S. E. (Communicated by the Author.) 


ur formula of 3 Nel Si + 4 Al Si8 + 24 H has been given 
=r 

by Berzelius for the constitution of this mmeral *; and, from a 

statement made by Dr Brewster +, it would appear that Berze- 

lius- had founded this formula on an analysis of Retzius. It 


gives, 
Silica, | co) ws). sop eryg 71266 


Alumina, . . . 17.011 
Soda, 

=| Val -764 
Het bi 


Water. (pon) laos 


99.933 


From some researches which I have made on the composition 
of Brewsterite, I have been led to the conclusion that this for- 
mula does not express the true constitution of the mineral, when 
derived from its almost only locality, Strontian in Argyleshire, 
and we must either suppose that some other mineral had been 
analyzed by Retzius, or that certain of the above constituents 
may be replaced by other substances. ‘The specimens which 
I have examined I have shewn to Professor Jameson, whose 
name will be a sufficient sanction that no mistake exists as 
to their identity with Brewsterite. ‘The most remarkable re- 
sult which I have obtained, is the detecting baryta and stron- 
tia in the specimens under investigation ; and this circumstance 
has induced me to offer this short notice on the subject, al- 
though my researches are not yet so far completed as to en- 
able me to present a regular analysis of the mineral. The first 
specimen in which I found these earths, consisted of a kind of 
crystalline mass of concretions of Brewsterite, thickly studded 


* See Poggend. Anal. xii. 18. 
+ Edinburgh Journal of Science, iv. 316. The formula has been there 


printed by mistake * S*+4AS + 8 Aq, instead ofc 
which is the formula corresponding to that in the text, In the Annal, de 
Chim, et Phys. xxxi. 21. it is given in the latter form. 


S?+4AS8*4+8 Aq, 


72 


~ 


356 Mr Connell on the Chemical Constitution of Brewsterite. 


with well formed crystals of the mineral. The portions of it 
examined were first exposed in small fragments to the action of 
largely diluted muriatic acid, to remeve any calcareous spar or 
other matter soluble in such a menstruum. The decomposition 
was then effected by means of carbonate of soda, as the action of 
strong muriatic acid, although considerable, seemed not com- 
plete. Thinking it possible that the baryta and strontia might 
have been mingled, in some form or other, as impurities in the 
less perfectly crystallized portions of the mineral, I selected 
from a different specimen, a small quantity of well formed erys- 
tals of Brewsterite, with some small portions, which appeared 
to be fragments of crystals, my object being to avoid amorphous 
matter as much as possible. _ What I thus selected was first ex- 
posed to the action of water, acidulated with muriatic acid, for 
the same reason as before. It was then reduced to fine powder, 
and fused in platinum foil over the spirit-lamp, with a mixture 
of the carbonates of soda and potassa. After separating silica 
in the usual manner, and precipitating by ammonia, carbonate 
of potassa was added to the residual liquid, and the whole eva- 
porated to dryness. Whatever was soluble was then removed 
by water. The residue, after being washed and ignited, dis- 
solved with effervescence in dilute nitric acid, leaving a very 
slight dark residue. The solution by spontaneous evaporation, 
gave white crystals, which were chiefly thickish tables, and were 
not altered by exposure to the air. There was hardly any trace 
of deliquescent matter, shewing that the mineral could contain 
no notable quantity of lime, an observation perfectly supported 
by my examination of the other specimen. The crystals were 
next folded in platinum foil, and ignited over the spirit-lamp, 
to drive off the nitric acid. The residuum, which was dark 
coloured, was dissolved in dilute muriatic acid. The solution 
was set to evaporate spontaneously, and gave a mixture of tabu- 
lar and of long prismatic crystals, partially coloured yellow, as 
by a salt of iron. The prismatic crystals were taken up by hot 
alcohol, and recrystallized from a watery solution. Both the 
tabular and the prismatic crystals, by ignition, became darkish, 
and when redissolved in water, left a dark coloured residue, 
which seemed, to a great extent, insoluble in muriatic acid, and 
gave traces of iron. The watery solutions, when recrystallized, 


Mr Connell on the Chemical Constitution of Brewsterite. 357 


gave well characterized crystals of muriate of baryta and mu- 
riate of strontia, the former being the more abundant of the 
two. The former tinged the Aine of a candle slightly green 
or greenish-yellow, nbd the latter gave the well known fine red 
of salts of strontia. Both, when dissolved, gave white precipi- 
tates, with sulphuric acid. 

On decomposing a quantity of the first mentioned specimen, 
by carbonate of baryta, I got no trace of alkali. 

It is thus plain, that lime and soda do not enter into the con- 
stitution of the specimens examined by me in the quantity 
given by the formula of Berzelius. I have alse reason to believe 
that silica and water are not so abundant as shown by that for- 
mula. The precipitate by ammonia, I have little doubt, was 
principally alumina. 

It is not impossible that, as in Harmatome, baryta may be re- 
placed by other substances, a similar replacement may occur 
with respect to this mineral. 

I am unwilling to offer any opinion at present as to the quan- 
tity in which baryta and strontia exist in this mineral. It ap- 
peared to me, however, in my examination of the first specimen 
I have mentioned, that the baryta and strontia together, and 
including the insoluble residue remaining after ignition of the 
muriates, amounted to somewhere about 15 per cent. of the 
mineral. But I wish to be understood as giving no definite 
opinion at present on this point, or on the relative proportions 
of the two earths. 

Supposing the earths to exist in the mineral in the state of 
silicates, which appears to follow from the preceding researches, 
this mineral will afford the second instance only, so far as I 
know, of baryta occurring in nature in any other state of com- 
bination than with sulphuric or carbonic acids, Harmatome being 
the first instance; and should the strontia be found to be in 
sufficient quantity to form an essential constituent, as my re- 
searches, so far as they 80, seem to show, it will be the first in- 
stance of this earth occurring in nature, unless as a sulphate or 
carbonate. 

I shall proceed in completing a regular analysis of this mine- 


ral as soon as possible. 
2 


( 358 ) 


Queries respecting the Natural History of the Salmon, Sea- 
Trout, Bull-Trout, Herling, &c. By:Sir Wi1t11aM Jar- 
DINE, Bart. F.R. S.E., M. W.S., &c. 


Dai value of the Salmon Fisheries in Great Britain has de- 
creased so much of late years, and particularly in the north of 
England, and south of Scotland, that a remedy for it, indepen- 
dent of its interest as a difficult and unsolved question in Na- 
tural History, will become of no little importance to proprietors. 
The following Queries are proposed, with the view and with 
the hope of gaining some information upon the natural history 
and economy of this valuable species. It is only by arriving 
at'a correct knowledge of its various habits, and those of the 
species allied to it, which frequent our rivers in almost equal 
numbers, that we can hope to devise or accomplish any means 
of increasing the production, or of decreasing the certainly too 
extensive destruction of it in its different states. 

The Queries relate only to its natural history, and answers 
are earnestly requested, stating facts relative to the opinions 
given, with the suggestion of additional queries, or any thing 
that will tend to illustrate the history of the species. 

Address the Answers to Sir William Jardine, Jardine-Hall, 
by Lockerbie, Dumfriesshire. 


Salmon. 


1, At what age do Salmon commence spawning ? and how often is it sup- 
posed that they have migrated to and from the sea, previous to their first 
parting with the spawn ? 

2. Do the males and females attain maturity at the same period or age’? 
arid ‘do all of one'age spawn nearly at the same season ? 

3. At what time do the young, or fry, first leave the rivers ? 

4. When do the young, or fry, first return to the rivers ? 

5. What is the size, weight, and appearance of the fry, on their first re. 
turn from the sea, aud under what denomination do they then go ? 

6. Are they so far arrived -at maturity as'to spawn, and be productive, on 
their first return from the sea, or previous to a second migration ? 

7. Are any fish known to shed their spawn abortively, before they arrive 
at their full growth or maturity? or is the spawn observable in young fish 
retained until the parents attain the ordinary growth aiid size of the species 
when it is known to be productive ? 


Queries respecting the Natural History of the Salmon. 359 
Grilse. 


8. Are Grilse immature salmon, and if they are, what is their age ? 

9. What is the distinctive character between a large Grilse and a small 
Salmon ? 

10. At what season do grilses first appear in the rivers ? What is their 
weight ? and are they supposed to be the fry of the same year, on their first 
return from the sea ? 

11. Have the fry been marked, and afterwards taken as grilses in the 
course of the same year, and have grilses been marked, and afterwards taken 
as full grown salmon ? 

12. Is it supposed that any sexual intercourse takes place between the 
salmon and other species of the genus, thereby producing a mongrel or mix- 
ed breed of fish ? 

Whitlings and Sea-Trout. 


13. Does the Whitling of the Tweed ever become a salmon—if not, to 
what size and weight does it attain ? 

14. Is the Whitling of the Tweed known by any other name in its vari- 
ous stages of growth ? Does it spawn, and at what season? What are its mi- 
grations ? 

15. Is the Sea-Trout of some other rivers the same with the Whitling of 
the Tweed? Is it found in all rivers containing salmon? Does it spawn ? 
Is the young, or fry known—and what are its migrations ? 


Herling *. 


16. Is the Herling or Hirling of the Annan and Nith, and the Whitling of 
the Esk in Cumberland, the same with the Finnock of the west coast of Scot- 
land, and the Sewin of the Welsh rivers? 

17. Is the Herling found in the rivers on the eastern coast of Scotland, or 
in any of the rivers in England or Ireland, and under what name or names 
is it there known ? 

18. Does the Herling spawn, and at what season ? and is it known in any 
intermediate state between the fry and Herling2 Is the fry known, and 
what are its migrations ? 

Bull-Trout. 


19. Isthe Bull-Trout of the Tweed the same with the salmon-trout of 
the Tyne and Tees, &c.? and is it known by any other name during its 
growth from the Fry to maturity ? 

20. Is the Parr met with in all rivers containing salmon ? where and 
when does it spawn? Is it the same with the Brandling of the North of 
England, and the Skirling of Wales? Is it supposed to be a perfect fish, or 
the fry of some species of salmon ? 

21. What is the Grey (Salmo Eriox ) of Dr Fleming ? What are its states 
from the young to the adult ? What are its migrations ? 

22. Are there any species of migratory salmon, distinct from those above 
mentioned, known in the rivers of your neighbourhood ? 


* The Herling, seems to be the Salno Albus of Dr Fleming's “ British Animals,” and most 
Ichthyologists. The species has not been thoroughly investigated. 


( 360°) ' 


On the various Preparations of Milk, particularly of Mares’ 
Milk, used by the Kalmuck Tartars. 


Tur ordinary drink of the Kalmucks, and which forms an es- 
sential part of their food, consists of various preparations of the 
milk supplied by their cattle. The mares yield milk as well as 
the cows; and, for several reasons, they prefer the former. 
When fresh, this milk has a taste of onions, which is very repul- 
sive; but, in proportion as it sours, if the operation is performed 
with cleanliness, it becomes more liquid than the other, acquires 
an agreeable vinous taste, and neither forms cream nor coagu- 
lates. In this state, it furnishes a wholesome and refreshing 
drink, and which, when in sufficient quantity, froths in a re- 
markable degree. The cow’s milk, on the contrary, both on 
account of the cheesy matter which it contains, and its disagree- 
able taste, becomes unpleasant to drink when it sours; and, in 
persons not accustomed to it, induces colics and diarrhceas, al- 
though the Kalmucks themselves experience no inconvenience 
from it, unless they have neglected to boil it. ‘This they do, in 
the first place, and never use it until it has undergone this ope- 
ration, without which they would be exposed to the inconve- 
niences with which sour milk affects Europeans. In like man- 
ner, the Kalmucks do not relish water that has not been boiled. 
Poor persons, to prevent their being reduced to the necessity of 
drinking it pure, mix it with their milk, in the proportion of a 
third part or half, in order to make the most of the latter as a 


drink. 


The milk is therefore heated as soon as it is withdrawn from 
the animal ; and, when warm, it is poured into a large skin bot- 
tle, with which the poorest hut is furnished, and in which there 
is always a remnant of sour milk sufficient to sour the new milk 
after it has been stirred with a stick kept for the purpose. 
Those bottles are never washed or cleaned. They are therefore 
always incrusted with cheese and dirt, and the smell emitted by 
them is sufficient to shew what they contain. But it is precisely 
m this that the secret for making the milk undergo the vinous 
fermentation consists. If it be intended to sour milk in empty 
or new bottles, all that is necessary is to put into them the least 


Preparations of Milk used by the Kalmuck Tartars. 361 


drop of the milk-brandy to be presently described, or a little of 
the curdled milk that is found in the stomach of young lambs. ; 

All the preparations of milk are comprehended under the 
name of Tchigan. The drinks prepared from pure mare’s milk 
(the Koumys of the Tartars), are named Gunna Tchigan, 
or Horse Tchigan; those into which mare’s milk and cow’s 
milk enter, are called Besrek ; sour cow’s milk is named Airek, 
and all kinds of fresh milk, Ussoun. 

In summer, and in general whenever their flocks yield them 
much milk, the Kalmucks do not fail to inebriate themselves 
with the strong drink which they derive from it. Mare’s milk 
affords most spirit, and the milk of the cow affords much less, 
especially in winter when the fodder is dry. Sheep’s milk is 
never employed, as it does not contain spirit. 

The milk intended for distillation is only allowed to remain 
twenty-four hours, in summer, in the skin-bottles to sour; but 
in winter, and in cold weather, it may be left two or three days 
to be rendered fit for distillation. The cream is not taken off ; 
on the contrary, the milk is agitated very strongly, from time to 
time, with the stick, and the butter which forms of itself on the 
milk, or even on the common Tchigan, is removed and employed 
for other uses. 

Notwithstanding the numerous testimonies on the subject, 
and the daily experience, not of the nomadic tribes alone, but 
also of all the Russians, many people in Europe cannot conceive 
how a spiritous and inebriating liquor could be obtained from 
milk. But it cannot be supposed that those travellers who have 
repeatedly seen these tribes distil their brandy from milk, with- 
out adding the least vegetable matter to the original liquid, and 
then, in their unbridled passion for debauch, drink until they 
stagger and fall, have said so merely to impose upon the public. 
Nor can it be objected that the weakness of their head renders 
them liable to be easily inebriated by the vapours of the milk, 
for the Kalmucks can take very large quantities of grain brandy 
without losing the use of their legs; and there are Russians, 
who, although professedly great drinkers, are sooner inebriated 
than the Kalmucks by milk-brandy, and often even by the sour 
milk of mares, and yet are extremely fond of this kind of drink. 
I am aware that strangers have in vain tried to make milk- 


362 Preparations of Milk used by the Kalmuck Tartars. 


brandy. I shall even confess that I had a trial made under my 
own eyes, at Selenginsk, by Kalmucks, and was so unsuccessful, 
that I only obtained a watery fluid which had the smell of sour 
milk; but the reason of this was, that two clean vessels had 
been used. On the contrary, whenever I allowed these people 
to use their own vessels, abundant alcoholic vapours were pro- 
cured. It is, therefore, an important point to determine, by 
means of vessels impregnated by long use, with a strong smell, 
and the remains of sour milk, that sudden souring which deve- 
lopes a spiritous principle. This fermentation of a rare species, 
and entirely swi generis, can only be brought to the desired 
perfection by frequent repetition of the process, just as, accord- 
ing to Russel *, the thick milk (Jeban), which the Arabs ha- 
bitually use for making cheese, can only be obtained by pro- 
ducing the coagulation of the fresh milk by means of a milk 
previously curdled, or, in other words, by the cohobation many 
times repeated of curdled milk. 

After describing the process of distillation, Pallas remarks, 
if the brandy is made from cow’s milk, what is obtained is equal 
to the thirtieth, or at most to the twenty-fifth part of the mass ; 
but when from mare’s milk, it equals the fifteenth part. The 
new fluid is pale and watery, and does not inflame; but it keeps 
without spoiling, in glass bottles, like weak corn-brandy. ‘The 
rich _Kalmucks render it stronger by several distillations, and 
they have names for the products of each rectification. ‘The 
arki is named dang after its first rectification ; arza, after the 
second ; Khortsa, after the third. They seldom go farther, al- 
though the rectifications are sometimes pushed to six. The 
names given to the two last are chingsta and dingsta. The 
Kalmucks are generally, however, content with the products of 
the first distillation. 

The receiver has scarcely been filled when they pour the 
brandy warm from it into a large wooden vessel with a spout, 
from which they fill leather bottles or gourds. 

It is customary for the host, with whom ‘the company 1s then 
to pour brandy into a vessel, and afterwards to throw part of it 
into the fire, and part towards the hole by which the smoke is- 


* Russel’s Aleppo, p. 54. 


Preparation of Milk used by the Kalmuck Tartars. 363 


sues to render the spirits of the air or his tutelary angel propi- 
tious. Lastly, the warm brandy circulates among the company, 
composed of kinsfolk and friends, in large cups, which often do 
not hold less than a bottle. If alittle is left, it is heated again 
before it is drunk. This milk brandy, on account of the 
aqueous parts which it contains, does not inebriate so easily 
when a small quantity is taken, as brandy made from grain ; 
but it is found, by the example of the Russians and all the tribes 
of the Steppes, that the drunkenness which it causes continues 
longer, and entirely destroys the appetite. On the other hand, 
it does not produce violent headaches like corn-brandy. 

The rich Kalmucks and Mongols are in the habit, when they 
pass the winter near towns, of distilling with or without milk 
brandy from leavened bread. The product, it is said, is strong- 
er and has a keener taste than milk brandy. The residuum of 
the distillation of milk brandy, which is sharp and has a smell 
like wine lees, is applied to various uses. Sometimes it is mixed 
with fresh milk, and immediately eaten ; sometimes it is applied 
for preparing sheep and lamb skins ; sometimes the women boil 
it, either by itself, or, if it is too sharp, with a mixture of sweet 
milk, until it thickens, and then pour the cheesy substance into 
bags, which, when. thoroughly dried, they throw into heaps. 
They also, like the Tartar tribes, frequently form it into round 
cakes, which they dry in the sun, and keep principally for jour- 
neys and for winter use. The residuum of distillation is called 
‘bosson, and by the Mongols tsakha. The cheese formed in 
heaps is named chourmyk, that in cakes, thorossoun. 

They make another kind of cheese also, chiefly of sheep’s and 
goats’ milk. The fresh milk is put into a kettle with a like 
sour milk (edereksen ussun), or some remnant of brandy (bos- 
sah.) They are well mixed, and then left for some time to 
sour. ‘Fire is then put under the kettle, and the mixture is 
stirred while it boils briskly, that the cheesy parts may be con- 
verted into a kind of froth (koosoun.) When all the aqueous 
parts of the milk are expelled by boiling, a little butter is added. 
The whole is again stirred, and left upon the fire until the froth 
begins to dry and turn brown. It is then ready, and if pro- 
perly prepared, has an agreeable taste. 

The Kalmucks make their butter in the following manner :— 
A sufficient quantity of cow’s or sheep’s milk is put into a ket- 


364 Preparation of Milk used by the Kulmack Tartars. 


tle, and boiled for some time, after which there is added a little 
sour milk cream (areyn.) It is then withdrawn and allowed to 
stand until it sours, which does not require a whole day. This 
milk is then beaten with a kind of butter stick, and poured into 
an earthen pot or other vessel, when the decomposed butter 
comes to the surface, and is placed in vessels, skins, or dried 
stomachs, in which it is kept. If the milk still seems to con- 
tain fat, it is again treated in the same manner. This milk is 
called tossoun by the Kalmucks, and arame by the 'Tartars *. 


Analyses of Limestones from the Quarries belonging to the 
Earl of Elgin, near Charlestown, in Fifeshire. By A. Ro- 
BERTSON junior, Inverkeithing. Communicated by the 
Author. 


"Tuese limestones were taken from three different strata of the 
vast deposite of mountain limestone, which is so extensively 
quarried in the neighbourhood of Charlestown. As this lime- 
stone is extensively used for building and the purposes of agri- 
culture, and, besides, belongs to an interesting formation, I con- 
ceived that a chemical analysis of its principal varieties would 
prove acceptable not only in an economical, but also in a geolo- 
gical view. 

A full detail of the modes of analysis was sent to Professor 
Jameson ; but, as the processes contained nothing further than 
an accurate employment of the most improved methods, I do not 
consider it necessary to lay them before the public. 


1. Limestone of a grey colour, with foliated structure. 

At the instant when broken, a very peculiar and disagreeable 
odour arises from the fresh fracture, which, however, is dissipa- 
ted in a few seconds. It afforded the following constituent 
parts :— 

Carbonic Acid, 41:2; Lime, 50:2; Magnesia, 1-44; Alu- 
mina, 1:25; Silica, 5°56; Iron, 0:28; Manganese, a trace; 
Carbon, 0°13; Naphtha, a trace; = 100-06. 


* This article is drawn up from a MS. of the late Professor Pallas, of 
which an account is given in the ninth cahier of the Memoirs of the “‘ Museum 
d’Histoire Naturelle.” 


Cr 


Analysis of Charlestown Limestones. 36 


2. Greyish-brown Limestone, with splintery fracture. 
When fresh broken, like the former, it emitted a foetid odour, 
which was of momentary continuance. It afforded, on analysis, 
the following ingredients — 
Carbonic Acid, 42°3; Lime, 51-6; Magnesia, 0-92; Alu- 
mina, 18; Silica, 2°76; Iron, 0°35; Manganese, a trace; 
Carbon and Sulphur, 0:26; Naphtha, 0:13; = 100-12. 


3. Compact ash-grey Limestone. 
On breaking, did not emit any particular odour. Its consti- 
tuent parts I found to be as follows :-— 
Carbonic Acid, 40:25 ; Lime, 47:05 ; Magnesia, 2°59; Alu- 
mina, 0°95 ; Silica, 7-9: Iron, 0-56; Manganese, a trace ; 
Carbon, 0-7; Naphtha, 0-7 ; = 99-44. 


To ascertain whether any sulphuretted hydrogen was present 
in the gas evolved during the solution of the limestone in mu- 
riatic acid, a hundred grains of each of the limestones were se- 
parately dissolved in gas bottles. Within the bent tubes of 
these bottles, rolls of paper, covered with white lead, were placed, 
and the extremities of the tubes were conducted nearly to the 
bottoms of vials, into which had been poured a little very strong 
fuming nitrous acid. By transmission of the gas through these 
vials, its peculiar odorant principle was completely destroyed, 
and the nitrous acid contained in them being diluted with distil- 
led water, after it had stood for some time, there was observed 
in it a barely perceptible quantity of whitish matter, resembling, 
in its appearance, sulphur deposited from hydrogen. The test 
papers were a little darkened by the gas from the ash-grey lime- 
stone, so very slightly so, that a close comparison with the ori- 
ginal tint of the paper was necessary to discover the change ; 
the others were a shade or two deeper in colour. 

Judging from the appearance of the matter undissolved by 
the muriatic acid, these limestones, perhaps with the exception 
of the last, are not strictly uniform in composition, some of the 
constituent parts seeming to be only mechanically mixed, and 
unequally disseminated throughout the mass. The one which 
contains the greatest portion of naphtha, carbon, and sulphur, 
is also that which is lowest in the stratification. 


( 366 ) 


A Uniformity of Climate prevailed over the Earth prior to 
the time of the Deluge ? 


Ir appears from the observations of geologists, that during the 
earlier periods of the earth’s formation, there did not exist, 
among the then created animals and vegetables, that kind of 
geographical distribution which characterizes the organized 
beings of our time. Thus, in the lias and oolite deposites, by 
far the greater number of fossil vegetables belong to the family of 
Cycadea ; indeed, sixteen of the kinds distinguished by Brong- 
niart, which is more than one-fourth of the whole, have a reference 
to the present existing genera Zamia and Cycas ;—genera that 
belong to those which grow between the tropics, or on the confines 
of the tropics. In like manner, the stems of Equisetum cokum- 
nare, Brong,, ten feet long, which occur so abundantly in the 
lias, and leaves, from four to five feet long, of the genus Menis- 
cum, also met with in this formation, belong to productions of 
a warm climate. The wide distribution of these fossil plants is 
also in favour of a uniformity of climate. Well defined re- 
mains of Equisetwm columnare have been found in strata of lias, 
from the southern acclivity of the Alps to near the northern 
extremity of Scotland, in an extent, therefore, of fully 12 degrees 
of latitude ; and the Ferns and Cycadza, found along with them, 
belong to the same species, or to species so nearly allied, that 
we may justly conclude the external circumstances under which 
they existed were very much alike. According to Dr Richard- 
son, there occurs, on the banks of the Mackenzie River, as far 
as 70° N. Lat., a coal formation, along with limestone and bi- 
tuminous shale, which formation is probably identical with that 
in the county of Sutherland, in the north of Scotland. He 
found init Ferns and Lepidodendrons:; and the animal remains 
enumerated agree pretty well with those of the lias and Jura for- 
mation. There is, therefore, little probability of its being’ dis- 
proved, that, during the deposition of the lias, the same tempe- 
rature prevailed in all countries, where this universal deposite 
was formed. M. Brongniart, and others, are inclined to believe, 
that the climate of the globe has changed gradually from. the 
earliest to the present period. But proofs of the universal dis- 


Uniformity of Climate prior to the Deluge. 367 


tribution over the globe of a climate, resembling that in the 
present tropical regions, are met with not only in the formations 
of the secondary period, but also in those of later periods. Mo- 
nocotyledonous trees, ‘which are of but rare occurrence on the 
southern boundary of the temperate zone, are found in a fossil 
state not only in the strata immediately associated with the chalk 
formation, but also in the beds of brown coal, and other strata 
of the tertiary class; and, although the numerous groupes of 
animal remains hitherto found in these formations have the 
greatest affinity to those animals which at present inhabit the 
seas and lands of lower latitudes, it is certainly no slight proof 
of the former distribution of one and the same climate over the 
whole earth, when, in coeval formations, we find the same fos- 
sil remains in widely different degrees of latitude. This, it is 
alleged, has been verified by observation. The same (or very 
nearly allied) organic remains, as those of the tertiary and 
diluvial strata of the basins of Paris and London, of the sub- 
Appenine hills, and of the shores of the Baltic, have been, we are 
told, recently observed in the same kind of strata on the banks of 
the Irrawadda in the Birman Empire, in the neighbourhood of 
the Brahmaputra in Bengal, and in Jamaica. 

In conclusion, we need only cast a glance at the acknowledged 
locality of some of the extinct gigantic pachydermata, as the ele- 
phanit, rhinoceros, &c., to be convinced, that, in the period of 
creation immediately preceding our own, there may have ex- 
isted, on both shores of the Atlantic Ocean, to a distance ex- 
tending from the mouth of the Lena, in 70° north latitude, to 
the tropic, a climate at least very analogous to that in the pre- 
sent tropical regions. From the preceding and other well 
known facts, we may venture to infer, that it was after the 
Deluge, that there first appeared those differences of climate 
which we were unable to shew had existed at any prior period ; 
and that this event took place with such fearful rapidity that 
the inhabitants of the tropical woods and savannahs of Siberia 
were preserved uninjured, with all their tender parts, enclosed in 
the ice of the Arctic Sea. 

H—n. 


( 368 ) 


Notes on the Moth named Saturnia Luna—the Domestication 
of Foreign Butterflies—and the Geographical Distribution 
of Insects. Communicated by James Witson, Esq. F. R.S. E. 
&e. 


Tu most remarkable fact in the history of this beautiful species 
of moth, which is a native of North America, or, I ought ra- 
ther to say, of certain individuals of the species, is, that through 
the zeal and ingenuity of Mr Sémmer, a German merchant, 
who resides in the Danish town of Altona, the eggs transported 
from a North American port have been hatched in Europe, and 
the perfect insect eventually produced in a state of the greatest 
beauty. I am not yet acquainted with the means made use of 
by Mr Sémmer in rearing the caterpillars, nor with the name 
or nature of the plants on which they were fed ; but these and 
other particulars in the history of this interesting colony may 
be afterwards inquired into, and, I doubt not, will be freely 
communicated. 

Mr Sémmer is well known among the scientific collectors of 
Hamburgh and Altona, and possesses an entomological cabinet 
of singular beauty and of great extent in the only department 
which he cultivates, that of the Lepidopterous order. The 
science of Entomology has been so prodigiously extended within 
these last few years, that, with the exception of Latreille, and 
one or two others of more than usual talent and perseverance, 
who have cultivated and adorned the universal field, the fellow- 
ers of this science have been obliged each to content himself with 
a mere section of the subject. Thus, Jodart and Duponehel 
have illustrated the Lepidoptera, Baron Dejean the Coleoptera, 
and Professors Fahleen of Lund, and Wiedemann of Kiel, the 
Dipterous tribes. Gravenhorst, indeed, has lately published 
three very thick volumes upon a family of Hymenopterous in- 
sects, the Ichnewmonide alone. With the numerical extent of 
that particular family I am not acquainted, but the total amount 
of known species embraced by the science of Entomology, has 
been estimated at one hundred thousand. When we consider 
how many singular facts an attentive observance of the history 
and habits even of a single species brings to light, we may form 


Domestication of Foreign Butterflies. 369 


some idea, however vague and inadequate, of the boundless and 
inexhaustible storehouse of materials, which any thing like a 
complete knowledge of the instincts and economy of the whole 
class would exhibit. 

To return for a moment to the Saturnia luna. The intro- 
duction of this insect to Europe renders it extremely probable, 
that if entomologists were as assiduous in their own calling as 
botanists are in theirs, the eggs of many beautiful species might 
be transported from foreign countries, and bred here, and that 
thus a new source of admiration and delight would be created not 
only to the man of science, but to the poet and the painter. The 
greater proportion of those ornamental plants which now form 
the most attractive features in our gardens, are the original pro- 
duce of foreign climes; and it would greatly add to their beauty, 
if a few of the many gorgeous butterflies which hovered around 
them in their original countries, were now seen among the par- 
terres of the British flower-garden, or among the rich and varied 
pastures of England. The beautiful Apollo Butterfly, frequent 
in the Valley of Chamouni, and other parts of Switzerland, was 
found by M. Bory St Vincent, at a considerable elevation on 
the mountains of the Sierra Nevada in Spain ; and, as it is 
an autumnal species, its eggs must be so constituted as to en- 
dure, without injury, the influence of the severe winters of 
Switzerland and other central parts of Europe. According 
to Degeer, it is not uncommon, even in Sweden, where it 
will probably be found to occupy less elevated stations than 
in the south, in conformity with a rule which obtains both 
among plants and animals, viz. the higher the latitude the 
lower the locality, and vice versa. In trying entomological ex- 
periments of the kind alluded to, care, of course, should be taken 
to import only such species as are known not te feed upon culi- 
nary or other plants of value, for their economical uses. It 
may be objected to the practicability of such endeavours, that 
the larva would necessarily perish for want of those particular 
plants on which their progenitors had been accustomed to feed ; 
but I believe, that as necessity is the mother of invention among 
the human race, so among the more insignificant tribes of the 
insect world ; though a decided preference may be exhibited to 
one plant rather than another, yet where that chosen one does 

JANUARY—ManrcH 1830. Aa 


370 Geographical Distribution of Insects. 


not exist, life is vigorously sustained by numerous substitutes. 
The silk-worm, in default of its favourite mulberry leaves, thrives 
well upon lettuce and other plants. 

In regard to North American species especially, Nature her- 
self points out, that the character of the climate, in relation to. 
the development of insect life, possesses many attributes in com- 
mon with that of Britain and other portions of Europe. Many 
of the species are alike common to both continents, and an in- 
teresting and instructive list might be drawn up in illustration 
of this community of kinds. This, however, must be done from 
the specimens themselves, and not from books of travels, or 
other general sources, the authors of which, till of late years, ap- 
plied the supposed synonyms of animals always in a vague, and 
frequently in an inaccurate manner. This reproach is now re- 
moved by the admirable descriptive catalogues which, in the 
form of natural history appendices, are annexed to or follow the 
publication of all voyages of discovery or other records of travel. 

It is in considering the widely extended distribution of many 
of the forms of insect life, that the subject of the geographical 
allotment of animals is seen under its most curious and truly 
wonderful aspect. A discovery ship under the guidance of 
brave men, surmounts with difficulty the terrors of the ocean, 
and after being months on the trackless main, and some thou- 
sand miles from any of the great continents of the earth, she 
arrives at last, and accidentally, at some hitherto unknown 
island of small dimensions, a mere speck in the vast world of 
waters by which it is surrounded. She probably finds the 
“‘ Lord of the creation” there unknown,—but though untrod by 
human footsteps, how busy is that lonely spot with all the other 
forms of native life! Even man himself is represented not un- 
aptly by the sagacious and imitative monkeys, which eagerly 
employ so many vain expedients to drive from their shores what 
they no doubt regard as merely a stronger species of their race. 
“‘ Birds of gayest plume” stand fearlessly before the unsympa- 
thizing naturalist, and at every step of the botanical collector, 
the most gorgeous butterflies are wafted from the blossoms of 
unknown flowers, and beautify the “ living air” with their many 
splendid hues; yet how frail are such gaudy wings, and how 
vainly would they now serye as the means of transport from 


Geographical Distribution of Insects. 371 


that solitary spot where all the present generations have had 
their birth! In what manner, then, did they become its deni- 
zens, or by what means were they transported toa point almost 
imperceptible in comparison with the immeasurable extent of 
the circumjacent ocean. These are subjects of inquiry, a few 
out of many such, which itis more than probable man will never 
solve. b 

“ In his tam parvis atque tam nullis que ratio! 

Quanta vis! quam inextricabilis perfectio !” 

The primary causes of the distribution of species, as well in 
the animal as the vegetable world, are, in the opinion of Hum- 
boldt, among the number of mysteries which mere natural science 
cannot reach. ‘This science, or the branch of it which takes 
cognizance of zoological geography, is not, however, occupied 
in the investigation of the origin of beings, but rather of the 
laws according to which they are now. distributed over the sur- 
face of the earth. It is the spirit of inductive philosophy ap- 
plied to the ascertained facts of zoology, as connected with clime 
and country. It enters into an examination of things as they 
are, the co-existences of vegetable and animal forms in each 
latitude, at different heights, and at different degrees of temper- 
ature; it studies the relation under which particular organiza- 
tions are more vigorously developed, multiplied, or modified ; 
but it approaches not problems, the solution of which is impos- 
sible, since they touch the origin or first existence of the germs 
or life. 

Many interesting facts have been ascertained and detailed by 
scientific observers of late years, which, in a collected form, 
would serve as the basis of a memoir on animal geography, 
which, however imperfect, would scarcely be devoid of interest- 
ing and important results. 


Aa 2 


( 372) 


Account of several New Species of Grouse (Tetrao) from North 
America. 


Ava late meeting of the Wernerian Society, James Wilson, 
Esq. F.R.S.E., &c. gave a detailed account of several new 
species of grouse discovered by Mr David Douglas among 
the Rocky Mountains in North America. He observed in 
general, that birds of this genus are of a hardy constitution, and 
patient of extreme cold. They only occur in northern or tem- 
perate countries, and have not yet been discovered in Africa, in 
the eastern parts of Asia, or in South America. The special 
localities which they affect vary according to the different kinds ; 
and even the haunts of the same species admit of variation ac- 
cording to circumstances. The Wood Grouse—such as the 
Capercailzie (J'etrao Urogallus)—prefers forests of pine; the 
Red Grouse (7'. Scoticus) restricts itself to the sides of sloping 
mountains and moors, careless of more shelter than is afforded 
by the heath, or other alpine plants of yet more lowly growth, 
or even by the natural roughness of the ground. The habits of 
the Black Cock are intermediate between those of the species just 
alluded to.. Ptarmigans (of which the species of Europe and 
Awerica are still insufficiently characterized and distinguished) 
prefer, in comparatively temperate climates, such as that of 
Scotland, the bare and stony sides and summits of our highest 
mountains; but under the rigorous temperature of Greenland, 
and the most northern parts of America, they are chiefly found 
by the sea-shore, and among the willow and other copse woods 
of the lower and more sheltered vales. The restriction of the 
Common Grouse (7". Scoticus) to the two islands of Great Bri- 
tain and Ireland, is a familiar though a singular fact in the geo- 
graphical distribution of birds. ‘The first and most remarkable 
of the specimens to which it was Mr Wilson’s more immediate 
object to direct the attention of the Society, was the T'etrao 
Urophasianus, or FPheasant-tailed Grouse, the largest of the 
American species of this genus, and, excepting the Capercailzie, 
the largest to be met with in any country. This bird seems to 


New Species of Grouse from North America. 373 


have been observed by Lewis and Clarke, by whom it is men- 
‘tioned under the name of Cock of the Plains; and a notice of 
it was published, some time ago, in the Zoological Journal, by 
‘Chas. Lucien Buonaparte, who obtained an imperfect specimen 
of the male in London. The length of this bird (when full 
grown) is 32 inches; its girth 22; its weight from 6 to 8 |b. 
The female is considerably less than the male. Her plumage 
closely resembles his, except that she wants the lengthened fila- 
mentous feathers on each side of the neck, and differs slightly in 
the colour of chin, cheeks, throat, and breast. The flight of 
these birds is slow and unsteady. Their wings are feeble and 
proportionably small ; their progress through the air is effected 
by a fluttering motion, rather than a direct continuous flight: 
When raised, their voice resembles that of the common pheasant. 

They build on the ground, beneath the shade of Purshia 
and Artemisia, or near streams among Phalaris Arundinacea. 
The nest is carelessly constructed of grass and twigs; the eggs 
{from 13 to 17 in number) are about the size of those of a com- 
mon fowl, of a wood-brown colour, irregularly blotched with 
chocolate-brown at the larger end. The period of incubation is 
about three weeks, and the young leave the nest a few hours af- 
ter they are hatched. In the summer and autumn months, 
these birds are to be found in small troops; in spring and win- 
ter, in flocks of several hundreds. They never perch ; indeed, 
within their range, not a bush larger than a broom or common 
whin is to be found. Their food consists chiefly of the buds, 
leaves, and fruit of Purshia tridentata, Artemisia, the seeds of 
Cactus, brown and black ants, and sand-bugs. Their flesh is 
dark-coloured, and not particularly well flavoured. They are 
plentiful throughout the plains of the Columbia River, and in 
the interior of North Carolina; but have never been seen east 
of the Rocky Mountains. 

The next species, in size and importance, is Richardson’s 
Grouse (7’. Richardsonii), so called in honour of the distin- 
guished traveller of that name. ‘There is a remarkable differ- 
ence in this species between the plumage of the male and female. 
The weight of these birds varies from 2} to 3 lb. Their voice 
is a continuation of distinct hollow sounds, like the cooing of a 


374 New Species of Grouse from North America. 


dove. ‘They build their nests of small twigs, leaves, or grass, 
amid coppices of. birch or hazel, in the vicinity of springs or 
mountain rills.. They lay from 13 to 19 eggs, nearly as large 
as those of the domestic fowl, marked with red specks. Their 
flight is swift, steady, and peculiarly graceful. When startled, 
they drop from the branches of the pine-trees, their usual roost- 
ing-place, to within a few feet of the ground, before they com- 
mence flying—a circumstance which often deceives the hunter. 
This trait seems peculiar to the species. In spring, they are 
seen m great numbers, basking in the sun, on the southern de- 
clivities of low hills; and, in winter, in flocks of sixty or eighty, 
in the vicinity of ‘springs, lakes, or large streams. They are 
easily destroyed, continuing to sit with apparent tranquillity af- 
ter several shots have been fired. Their flesh is white and ex- 
cellent. They feed on the buds of the pine, the catkins of birch, 
alder, and hazel, and the fruit of the Fragaria and Vaccinium. 
They are very abundant in the sub-alpine regions of the Rocky 
Mountains, in Lat. 52 deg. N., Long. 115 deg. W., and still more 
numerous in the rocky districts of the Colombia, in Lat. 48 deg. 
N., Long. 118 deg. W. ‘They are rare on the mountains of the 
N. W. coast *. 

The third species exhibited was named the smaller Pheasant- 
tailed Grouse (7. Urophasianellus). The sexes resemble each 
other closely in colour, but the male is rather larger than the 
female, and his tail more fully developed. Their prevailing 
colour is pale brown, richly blotched and barred with black. 
The wing-coverts, and the outer webs of the primary wing fea- 
thers, are marked with many rounded or oblong spots of a pale 
colour. Their flight is swift, noiseless, and steady. They are 
shy, and not easily approached by the sportsman. They are 
found in the same range of country with the larger species first 


* Tetrao Richardsonii, as above described, appears to be synonymous with 
the Tetrao obscurus of Say, recently figured by Lucien Charles Buonaparte in 
his American Zoology. The latter name, as prior in date, is probably enti- 
tled to the preference, although we believe that no copy of Buonaparte’s 
work had reached this country at the time Mr Wilson published the figure 
of Tetrao Richardsonii in the 8th Number of his Iustrations of Zoology. 


New Species of Grouse from North America. 375 


described, with which they associate, and which they resemble 
much in their habits. The number of their eggs varies from 
12 to 15, in size not much exceeding those of a pigeon, and in 
colour of a light ash.—The fourth species has been. named, in 
honour of Mr Sabine, Tetrao Sabini. The plumage is rich 
and varied, and presents those singular appendages or’ shoulder- 
knots, so conspicuous in the wood-partridge of the United States 
and Canada ( Tetrao Umbellus.) The colours in the plumage 
of the female are greyer, and less richly toned—in other respects, 
the sexes do not much differ. The weight of an individual bird 
is two pounds. Their voice is a continuation of measured 
sounds, not unlike the ticking of a large clock. Their flight is 
rapid, and consists of a quick clapping of the wings, and then of 
a sudden shooting forwards, without any perceptible motion of 
the individual parts. They feed on the buds of Pinus, Fraga- 
ria, Rubus, Corylus, Alnus, and the berries of Vaccinium. 
They pair in March, and build upon the ground, in coppices of 
Corylus, Amelanchier, and Pteris, and on the outskirts of pine 
forests. Their nests are composed of the slender fronds of 
Pteris, dry leaves, and grass. Their eggs are of a dingy white, 
with red spots, and vary in number from 9 to 11. They are 
remarkable for attachment to their young. The Tetrao Sabini 
is a rare bird. During spring, it is found in small flocks, 
rarely exceeding eight or twelve; at other seasons, it seldom 
happens that more than three or four are seen together. 
Like the Tetrao Umbellus, which it resembles in the prevail- 
ing character of its plumage, it is in the habit of perching upon 
the stumps of decayed trees, in the darkest parts of the forests, 
and there performing the singular operation called drumming ; 
which is effected by giving two or three loud distinct claps with 
its wings, followed by many others, which become quicker and 
quicker, until the noise appears to die away in the distance, like 
the sound of a muffled drum. ‘This beautiful species was dis- 
covered by Mr Douglas, in the woody parts of the N. W. coast 
of America, between the parallels of Lat. 40 deg. and 49 deg. 
The fifth and last species exhibited, is called, in honour of the 
distinguished commander of the over-land Arctic Expedition, 
T'ctrao Franklinii. Myr Wilson has as yet seen only the male. 


376 New Species of Grouse from North America. 


The general plumage is dark and glossy, composed of alternate 

bars of black and greyish brown. The head, neck, and breast, 

are almost black; the tail is entirely black. The upper and 

under tail-coverts are black, terminated by a large white spot ; 

and the lateral parts of the abdomen are likewise spotted with 

white. It runs with great speed over shattered rocks and among 

brushwood, and only uses its wings as a last effort to escape. 

When raised, its flight is similar to that of the last-mentioned 

species. Its alarm note is composed of two or three hollow 

sounds, ending in a disagreeable grating noise, like the latter 

part of the cry of the Guinea fowl. Like other birds of the 

same genus, it builds on the ground, not unfrequently at the 

foot of decayed stumps, or by the side of fallen timber, in the 

mountain woods. Its nest is composed of dead leaves and grass, 

and contains from five to seven eggs, of a dingy white colour, 

not larger than those of our wood-pigeon. It is said to be one 
of the most common birds in the valleys of the Rocky Moun- 
tains, from Lat. 50 deg, to 54 deg. N., near the sources of the 
Columbia. It probably inhabits still higher latitudes—Mr 
Wilson remarked, in conclusion: ‘ I have little doubt that: 
some of these birds might be imported into this country, of 
which the soil, climate, and natural productions, are not so dis- 
similar to those of their native regions, as to preclude the hope 
of a successful issue to an experiment of a very interesting na- 
ture, which the wealth and zeal for field sports, inherited by 

many of our aristocracy, would render easy, and which might 

eventually prove of more permanent and substantial advantage. 

Their importation would certainly form a fine addition to the 
feathered game of Great Britain.” 


( 377 ) 


Description of several New or Rare Plants which have lately 
flowered in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, and chiefly in 
the Royal Botanic Garden. By Dr Granam, Professor 
of Botany in the University of Edinburgh. With a Plate 
illustrative of the germination of the Nepenthes distillatoria. 


10th Mar. 1830. 


Cestrum bracteatum. 


C. bracteatum; filamentis basi barbatis; foliis lanceolatis undulatis pu. 
bescentibus ; stipulis oblique cordato-reniformibus ; bracteis spatha- 
ceis; floribus fasciculatis. 

Cestrum bracteatum, Link § Otto, Icones Plant. Rar. Hort. Reg. Bot. Berol. 

Pars I. p. 11, t. 6. 

DeEscriFT10on.—Stem woody, rough. Branches covered with dense, green- 
ish tomentum, which withers and remains long attached. Leaves scat- 
tered, light green, stalked, spreading, lanceolate, strongly veined, waved 
or crisped, covered with harsh pubescence on both sides, the middle rib 
and veins projecting much on the under-side, the former above also. 
Petiole erect, grooved above, pubescent, purple before fading, about a 
sixth of the length of the leaf. Stipules geminate, varying in size, the 
largest upwards, broadly falcate or kidney-shaped, horizontal and bend- 
ing round the branch, more glabrous than the leaves. Peduncles (about 
an inch long) axillary and terminal, generally about twice as long as the 
petioles, slightly flattened and dilated towards the flowers. Pedicels 
very short, stout, straight, slightly pubescent. Flowers fascicled, nod- 
ding, of a uniform pale yellow. Bractee single at the base of each flower, 
with the exception of the central one, spathe-like, appressed, acuminate, 
and coloured like the flower, pubescent. Calyx about as long as the pe- 
dicel, pubescent within and without, nearly cylindrical, with five strongly 
projecting ribs on the outside, leading to five slightly connivent acute 
teeth. Corolla inferior, hypocrateriform, pubescent without, smooth with- 
in; tube nearly an inch long, dilated a little upwards, and contracted at 
the throat: limb 5-cleft, segments ovate, acute, spreading at right angles 
to the tube, each with two strong ribs projecting behind. S/amens five ; 
filaments inserted immediately above the middle of the tube, each having 
a tuft of matted hairs projecting from the inside at their base, above this 
straight and smooth, nearly reaching to the faux. Anthers bilobular, 
short, connivent, bursting laterally : pollen yellowish-white. Stigma sap- 
green, nearly round, but flattened a little at the top, raised above the 
anthers, and projected into the faux. Style (three quarters of an inch 
long) nearly colourless, filiform. Germen roundish or obovate, smooth, 
yellowish-green, obscurely furrowed, seated on a small yellow disk. 
Ovules numerous, obovate. 

We received this plant from the Botanic Garden of Berlin, in June 1828. 
It is a native of Brazil, and blossomed in the stove of the Edinburgh 
Botanic Garden in December 1829, producing, during a considerable 
time, a succession of rather ornamental flowers. 


Conostylis aculeata. 
C. aculeata ; perianthiis intus glabris, scapis corymbisve divisis, foliis gla- 
bris margine aculeatis : aculeis interstitio brevioribus.—Br. Prodr. 309. 
Descrirrron.—Leaves (6-13 inches long } inch broad) dull green, red at 
the base, distichous, equitant for about two inches at the base, ensiform.. 


378 Dr Graham’s Description of New or Rare Plants. 


faleate, sometimes twisted, coriaceous, stiff, many-nerved, glabrous, acu- 
leate; aculei colourless, straight, ascending, rigid, rising Bont coloured 
bases. Scape terminal, decumbent, 7 inches long, sparingly branched, 
round, branches rising from the axils of sheathing pointed éractee, which 
(are about an inch long, and) diminish upwards. Inflorescence a corym- 
bose cyme. Flowers crowded. Perianth campanulate at the base, per- 
sisting, 6.parted, segments erect, ovato-lanceolate, concave, regular and 
nearly equal, yellowish-white and smooth within, without greenish-yel- 
low, and, as well as the scape, base of the bracteze, and pedicels, co- 
vered with a branching greenish tomentum. Stamens six, inserted into 
the perianth, filaments adhering to the perianth for the greater part of 
their length, smooth, slightly connivent, prolonged by the back of the 
anthers, which are longer than them, and are linear, erect, slightly bent 
backwards, yellow, bilocular, bursting along their edges; pollen yellow. 
Pistil single, shorter than the stamens; stigma of three short suberect 
points style single, rigid, smooth, persisting, slightly tapering ; germen 
alf inferior, 3-locular, conical and empty above the perianth; ovules 
numerous in each loculament, round, attached to a central receptacle, 
which is undivided and prominent in each loculament, confined to that 
part of the germen below the perianth. 
Our specimen of this plant was received from Robert Barclay, Esq. Bury- 
hill, in 1828, and flowered in January and February last. 


Elephantopus Martii. 


E. Martii ; caule ramoso, piloso, folioso; foliis subsessilibus, undulatis, 
rugosis, superne hispidis, subtus tomentoso-pubescentibus, serrato- 
crenatis, denticulatis, inferioribus spathulato-oblongis, breviter atte- 
nuatis, superioribus lanceolatis. 

Elephantopus scaber, Herb. Martii. 


Descriptrron.—Svem, including the flowering-stalks, in our plants, which 
are still growing, ten inches high, but in native specimens much more, 
herbaceous, erect, branched, flexuose, covered with simple, spreading, 
rather harsh hairs, which are most numerous on the younger branches. 
Lower leaves (6 inches long and 2 broad) spathulato-oblong, shortly atte- 
nuated, decurrent along short petioles, stem clasping, corrugated, undu- 
late, serrato-crenate, pubescent on both’ sides, pubescence harsh above, 
soft and much more dense below; middle rib very large, prominent on 
both sides, especially below, flattened or slightly channelled above, pri- 
mary veins very prominent below, oblique, with transverse prominent 
reticulations terminating in little mucros, which in the lower leaves are 
in the bottom of the indenations; wpper leaves lanceolate, and diminish- 
ing upwards, but otherwise similar to the lower. Bractee ovate, sessile, 
similar in colour and structure to the leaves, solitary, or, at the extremities 
only, three together from the confluence of three capitula. Flowers all her- 
maphrodite, capitate, axillary or terminal, sessile. Involucra chaffy, im- 
bricated, generally four-flowered ; chaffs few, imbricated, lanceolate, mu- 
cronate, three-nerved, keeled, erect, entire, or serrated towards the apex, 
green, scariose at the edges, pubescent on the outside, smooth and shining 
within, longer than the bractese, the four innermost subequal, and twice 
as long as the others. Corolla small, purplish-white, tubular, smooth ; 
tube longer than the involucrum, curved, slender ; limb 5-parted, seg- 
ments secund, equal, linear-lanceolate. Stamens shorter than the limb ; 
filaments slender; anthers linear, unconnected at least after expansion. 
Stigma hairy, bi-parted, revolute. Style exserted, filiform, smooth ex- 
cepting near the stigma. Germen green, obovate. Achenia obconical, 
with ten smooth ribs, interstices pubescent. Pappus of few (10?) rough 
simple hairs, dilated and slightly ciliated at their bases, shorter than the 
tube of the corolla. 

Seeds of this plant were sent to me from Mr Harris at Rio Janeiro by 
Captain Graham, late of his Majesty’s Packet Service, in April 1829. It 
has been kept in the stove, and flowered in February and March last. It 


Dr Graham's Description of New or Rare Plants. 379 


certainly nearly approaches to Elephantopus scaber, but may be distin- 
guished from this species, which is moreover a native of the East Indies, 
by being much larger, its stem much more branched, the leaves more 
corrugated, more undulated, more strongly reticulated, and much more 
densely covered with far softer pubescence below. I am enabled to 
identity it as the plant of Martius, by a specimen communicated by 
Martius himself to Dr Hooker, who, with his usual kindness, permitted 
me to examine all the species in his herbarium. The specimen alluded 
to was collected by Martius on the Rio Belmonte, too common a name 
to be very precise, but probably in or not far from the province of Rio 
Janeiro. 


Lobelia Kraussii. 


L. Kraussii ; caule herbaceo, glabro, erecto, ramoso; foliis lanceolatis, 
subsessilibus, decurrentibus, argute serratis, utrinque nudis; pedun- 
culis axillaribus, solitariis, foliis longioribus; laciniis calycinis subu- 
latis, subdentatis, patentibus, corollaque glabris. 

Descrierion.—Root perennial. Stem (1-14 foot high) succulent, green, 
glabrous, angular from decurrent leaves, erect, branched. Leaves (44 
inches long, ? broad) numerous, scattered, lanceolate, glabrous on both 
sides, shining, bright green, paler below, sharply serrated, the serratures 
largest at the base, subsessile, decurrent, much smaller towards the top of 
the stem, slightly bullate, strongly veined, veins prominent on both sides. 
Peduneles (3 inches long) axillary, solitary, numerous towards the top 
of the stem, 1-flowered, nearly twice the length of the diminished leaves 
from the axils of which they spring, smooth, compressed, and having 
two subopposite bristle-shaped smooth decurrent bractez near the 
middle, below which they are bright green, paler in the middle, and 
towards the top red. Calyx red, glabrous, persisting, of five rather un- 
equal subulate segments (5-7 lines long), spreading at right angles to 
the peduncle, and each with a very few obscure teeth. Corolla (1 inch 
long) red, marcescent ; tube compressed, cleft to its base along the up- 
per side, but spreading little; limb 5-parted, segments linear-subulate, 
with the apices deflected, the two upper the broadest, the three others 
turned downwards, and that in the centre rather the smallest. Stamens 
shorter than the corolla, marcescent ; filaments white, smooth, forming 
a half cylinder, and united, except towards the base, where only they 
are unconnected to each other and pubescent; anthers leaden-coloured, 
terminated by a dense white beard; pollen abundant, and whitish. 
Stigma bilabiate, segments revolute, rounded, glandular, slightly hairy 
behind. Style as long as the stamens, yellowish, and slightly clavate, 
continued downwards into the dissepiment, marcescent. Germen gla- 
brous, bilocular, with a conical empty beak (which afterwards falls down) 
rising above the calyx, otherwise inferior. Ovules numerous, attached 
to a central receptacle, the transverse section of which is kidney-shaped 
in each loculament. Seeds minute, pale brown, lenticular, hollow on one 
side, when seen under the microscope dotted and shining. 

The seeds of this plant were obligingly communicated to me from Domi- 
nica in September 1828 by my valuable correspondent Dr Krauss, in 
acknowledgment of whose kindness I have named the species. It first 
flowered in the stove in January and February last, and is ornamental. 
In the arrangement of the species, it must stand near L. persicifolia of 
Lamarck. 


Nepenthes distillatoria: foem. 

Early in summer 1828, I was informed by Professor Dunbar of this Uni- 
versity, that a plant of Nepenthes distillatoria was coming into flower in 
his stove. I immediately went to see it, and was not a little pleased to 
find that it was a female. Professor Dunbar was kind enough io permit 
its removal to the Botanic Garden, where we placed it beside our male 
plant, fortunately then in flower for the second time. As the female 


380 Dr Graham’s Description of New or Rare Plants. 


flowers expanded in succession, we dusted the pistilla with the pollen, 
secreted in abundance by the male plant, and had the satisfaction to 
see the germens gradually enlarge, and the seeds ripen in succession 
in December and January. 

Descrirtion.—The habit and inflorescence of the female is so precisely 
like that of the male described at length in the Edinburgh New Philosophi- 
cal Journal for October 1827, and in Botanical Magazine, fol. 2798, and 
the figure of the female blossom taken from Mr Loddiges’ plant, and 
published in Bot. Mag. t. 2629, under the name of N. Phylamphora, is 
so accurate, that I shall here add very little to the account of the adult 
plant. Pitchers of firmer texture in their lower half, and the inner sur- 
face of this portion, as well as the inner surface of the lid, is covered 
with conspicuous glands. Raceme, or more properly panicle, crowded, 
from the lowest pedicel to the apex about ten inches long. Capsule (1 
inch long) erect and secund perhaps from the peduncle pushing out ho- 
rizontally, ovato-oblong, truncated, crowned with four flat, sessile, brown, 
hard, emarginate stigmata, tetra-locular, tetra-valvular, two opposite su- 
tures, opening before the others, dissepiments from the centre of the 
valves. Seeds dicotyledonous, very numerous, attached to the dissepi- 
ments, erect, small, provided with a brown arillus, which is 3th of an 
inch long, and greatly attenuated at both its extremities, angular or fur- 
rowed, flexuose, and slightly twisted; nucleus ovato-oblong, pointed at 
both ends, about a fifth of the length of the arillus, and nearly oceupy- 
ing its centre, yellowish; embryo central, straight, white. 

Plate VI. contains a sketch of our male plant, made about two years ago, 
when it was eight feet high. It is now 163 feet above the surface of the 
soil, and perfectly healthy, but scarcely more branched, one branch only 
having come out under each of two panicles. 

Germination. Plate VI. also shews the ripe seeds, the germinating seeds, and 
the young plants in different stages of advancement. Some of the seeds 
were sown as soon as they were ripened, and others at various periods 
during spring. They required much heat to make them germinate, and 
protection by a plate of glass laid over the pots, which stood in flats filled 
with water. Germination began in April and May. Fig. 1. Arillus of 
ripe seed laid open, to show the relative position and size of the nucleus 
still covered by its inner coat, which is seen extending towards the 
extremities of the arillus. 2. Nucleus removed from the arillus, and 
divided, to show the embryo. 3. Seed with germination just beginning, 
the plume rising in form of an arch, the apices of the cotyledons being 
still held down within the albumen. 4. Slit in the upper part of the 
arillus spreading, the plume erect, albumen absorbed, the cotyledons 
spreading, the first pitcher scarcely appearing in the centre. 5. Ger- 
mination advanced another stage, the first pitcher with its lid closed 
erect, and the radicle pushing through the arillus on the opposite side 
from the plume. 6. Three pitchers evolved, having each two prominent 
ciliated wings, and the upper surface of the lid muricated, the two first 
sessile,the cotyledons deflected, and beginning to fade,—the radicle 
branched. 7. Five pitchers formed, the three last upon the apices of 
small leaves, but without any intervening cirrhus ;—the cotyledons more 
deflected, and greatly wasted. The arillus remains in all these, in con- 
ssequence of being transfixed by the radicle. Ali but Fig. 7. which is 
of natural size, magnified. ‘The accurate Gertner (De Fruct. et Sem. 
Plant. 2. 18.) never could have called these seeds monocotyledonous if 
he had seen their germination. 

It appears from the above, that the pitcher is an appendage to the middle 
rib of the leaf, this (the leaf) originally consisting of the ciliated wings 
of the pitcher only, but is subsequently elongated downwards, and at 
last the membranous expansion along the pitcher degenerates into two 
prominent nerves, and for a considerable way along the middle rib is en- 
tirely removed, leaving this to act as a long simple cirrhus. 


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(381. ) 


Celestial Phenomena from April 1. to July 1. 1830, calculated 


for the Meridian of Edinburgh, Mean Time. 


By Mr 


Gerorcer Innes, Astronomical Calculator, Aberdeen. 


The times are inserted according to the Civil reckoning, the day beginning at midnight. 
—The Conjunctions of the Moon with the Stars are given in Right Ascension. 


APRIL. 

D. (Toge vonaaes 

2. 17 40 20 d)h 

3. 85042 f¢)ER 

5. «=. 20 2233 J De 

6. 81010 g)sam™m 

6 235758 d)at 

7, 113623 g)y™ 

8. 2346 fg)9TR 

8. 718 3 © Full Moon 
9 113424 d)xTp 

10. 339 8 Im.ITI. sat. 7 
11. 5 26 36 Oo) w= 

12. $29 9 4) Oph. 
13. 3 54 37 Im. I. sat. 2/ 
1. 145231 6)7 

16. 6 36 39 ( Last Quarter. 
16 16590 f)sV 

16. 21526 )¢ 

17 81648 6)H 

18 19300 4)S$e 

19. 10 55 26 Gone see 

19. 1l 46 25 8 very near 0 
19, 225412 6) 

20. 14 47 35 © enters & 
22. 7 36 - Sup. d © % 
22. 23 12 20 @ New Moon. 
23. 054 - dg) 

25. MS) ee) 8 
abo) cg p13 
25. 24247 4 )23B8 
25. 72547 f¢)at 

26. a 8 . § OY 

7. 1458299 d4fgH 

29 2841 4¢¢94K 

29 210 4 Im. I. sat. 2/ 
29 19 38 26 ) First Quarter. 
30. 02945 f)h 

30. avite 6 OO? 

30. 23416 46 39% 
Mm 646 Syegn 


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382 Celestial Phenomena from April 1. to July 1. 1830. 


JUNE. 
D. i: eer D. is Coane 
hf 0:13 29. “dg: Dy, 18. 21:13 26 ase 
1. 9 10 24 5d QoX 18. 22 26 0 fd )jla 
1 16141 ¢)ysTty 1% 2254 1 4 )2d 
3. 019 17 6 ) ~ 19. 3.39 27 hanes 
4. 18 045 Sg )ys 20. 12312 Im. III. sat. 7/ 
5. 20 34 36 Em. III. sat. 2/ | 20. 320 — dg )% 
5. 20 45 57 d ) ¢ Oph. 20. 4 34 52 Em. III. sat. 2/ 
6. 0.10 -2 Im. II. sat. 2/ 20. 14 51 23 @ New Moon. 
6. 14 4 29 © Full Moon. | 21.. 23.38 47 © enters 55 
7. 0 36 20 Im. I. sat. 2/ 22. 22 53 31 Im. I. sat. 2/ 
9.) MAA Be oh) a 24. by @ Bo leh ie 
9, "ee a | ek ha ya AS 9 Sia A ES 
10. 201824 4¢)H 2. 124039 d)eK 
12 232948 )¢ BG. 1@rAl Ah. ee) en 
13 02515 d)acs 27, 42330. g jammy 
13. 0 34 59 Em. III. sat. 2/ | 27. 8 34 49 Em. III. sat. 2/ 
13. 101412 g)oss 27... I5L 5, dd) aly 
ae 22 36 10 ( Last Quarter. | 28. 3, 2 OG ) First Quarter. 
16. “Ie 1s, — Int 6.G)0 28. 73248 S¢)ym 
17, 102636 4)Q 28. 223041 4¢)9Ty 
VR 23 33 40 Im. IV. sat. 2/ 30. 048 3 Im. I. sat. 2/ 
18. 2314 #£4xEm.IV. sat. 2/ | 30. 7 37 35 d ) «Tp 


On the 22d of May, there wlil be an Occultation of Aldebaran by the Moon : 
D. H. ‘ “ 
PAICTEIOWS 9". 5 0 ok cites eres 18 42 16, at 184° 
EIMERSION, Galo ayes 0 Beh foes 19,13 8, at 258°. 


The angle denotes the point of the Moon’s limb where the phenomenon will 
take place, reckoning from the vertex of the limb towards the right hand round 
the circumference, as seen with a telescope which inverts. 


The following Occultations were observed at the Observatory, Marischall 
College : 
1829, Mean Time. Mean Time. 


D H. ‘ “ D. Huby g “ 
Aug. 21. y Tauri, Emers. 22 43 33,4 | Dec. 9. Aldebaran, Immer. 17 46 29,1 
92. éTauri, Emers. 2 29 41,0 Emers. 18 37 44,8 
75 Tauri, Emers. 2 37 49,0 | Immersion instantaneous. 
160 Mayer, Emers. 3 45 51,3 At Emersion, the star was 0/,2 in 
Aldebaran, Immers. 5 36 14,6 | recovering its full splendour. 


The Telescope used was a 3} feet achromatic by Dollond. The observa- 
tions have been corrected for the error and rate of the clock, which were ob- 
tained by transits of the sun and stars. 


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‘suouDUYIIC ay Pun “unpriayy aya Gurssod syaunjg aya fO saw, 


( 384 ) 


Proceedings of the Wernerian Natural History Society. 


(Continued from p. 189.) 


1830, Jan. 9.—Rosenr Jameson, Esq. President, in the chair. 
The Secretary read a communication by Dr R. K. Greville, on 
the various economical uses of sea-plants ; and the Doctor ex- 
hibited beautiful dried specimens of the most useful and inte- 
resting species.—The Rev. Dr David Scot of Corstorphine then 
read an essay on the Rams and Badgers with the skins of which 
the Israelites covered the Tabernacle-—Specimens, male and 
female, of a rare North American Moth (Saturnia Luna), bred 
in Europe by M. Sémmer of Altona, from imported eggs, were 
exhibited ; and illustrative notes, by Mr James Wilson, were 
read to the meeting. (See supra, p. 367.) 

At this meeting, Dr Joun Cotpstream of Leith, was ad- 
mitted an ordinary member; James Marner, Esq. of South 
Shields, a non-resident member; M. Cuavvrn of Caen, a fo- 
reign member ; and Dr Homes of Montreal, a corresponding 
member of the society. 


Jan. 23.—Davip Farconar, Esq. Vice-President, in the chair. 
—There were read to the meeting some notices relative to 
the coal found under the marly red sandstone near Leicester, 
contained in a letter to Henry Witham, Esq., illustrated by 
sections of the borings for coal.—Dr John Aitken then exhibited 
a number of very fine anatomical preparations, and gave from 
them a demonstration of the circulation of the blood in the foetus, 
in man, and in several of the lower animals, particularly the 
cow, the red deer, the dog, and the seal. 

The members of the society afterwards proceeded to Dr 
Hope’s laboratory, to witness a beautiful experiment, showing 
the intense light and heat produced by passing upon an ignited 
ball of lime, placed in the focus of a light-house reflector, a con- 
tinued stream of hydrogen gas. 


Feb. 6.—Davip Fatconar, Esq. V. P. in the chair.— 
The Secretary read a memoir by Mark Watt, Esq., on the 
1 


Scientific Inteligence.—Meteorology. 385 


power which certain spiders possess of fixing their threads hori- 
zontally between two perpendicular bodies placed at a distance 
from each other. Likewise, a notice regarding a sort of fascina- 
tion practised on small birds by the whitret or weazel; in a 
letter from the Rev. Alexander Duncan of Mid-Calder.—The 
Rev. Dr Scot then read an essay on the Dishong of Moses or 
Gazelle of the Plain, the pygarg of the English Bible. 


1830, Feb. 20.—Davip Farconar, Esq. V. P. in the chair. 
—There was read an account of several new species of grouse 
recently discovered by Mr David Douglas among the Rocky 
Mountains, communicated by James Wilson, Esq. ; the speci- 
mens at the same time being placed on the table. For a full 
description of these species, see p- 372 of this Number.—The 
Rev. Dr Scot read an essay on the mustard plant mentioned 
in the Gospels, showing that it was probably the Sinapis nigra, 
which grows five or six feet high in warm countries, rather 
than the Phytolacca decandra, which probably did not exist 
in Judea. 


SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE. 


METEOROLOGY. 


1. Climate of Britain.—Of all the climates of Europe, Eng- 
land seems to me most fitted for the activity of the mind, and 
the least suited to repose. The alternations of a climtate so vari- 
ous and rapid, continually awake new sensations; and the 
changes of the sky from dryness to moisture, from the blue 
ethereal to cloudiness and fogs, seem to keep the nervous sys- 
tem in a constant state of disturbance. In the mild climate of 
Nice, Naples, or Sicily, where, even in winter, it is possible to en- 
joy the warmth of the sunshine in the open air under palm trees, 
or amidst evergreen groves of orange trees, covered with odorous 
fruit and sweet-scented leaves, mere existence is a pleasure ; 
even the pains of disease are sometimes forgotten amidst the 

JANUARY==MARcH 1830. Bb 


386 Scientific Intellig ence—Meteorology. 


balmy influence of nature; and a series of agreeable and un- 
interrupted sensations invite to repose and oblivion But in 
the changeable and tumultuous atmosphere of England, to be 
tranquil is a labour, and employment is necessary to ward off 
the attacks of ennui. The English, as a nation, is pre-eminent- 
ly active, and the natives of no other country follow their ob- 
jects with so much force, fire, and constancy. And, as human 
powers are limited, there are few examples of very distinguished 
men living in this country to old age. They usually fail, droop, 
and die, before they have attained the period naturally marked 
for the end of human existence. The lives of our statesmen, 
warriors, poets, and even philosophers, afford abundant proofs 
of the truth of this opinion ; whatever burns consumes, ashes 
remain. Before the period of youth is passed, grey hairs usually 
cover those brows which are adorned with the civic oak or lau- 
rel; and in the luxurious and exciting life of the man of plea- 
sure, their tints are not even preserved by the myrtle wreath, 
or the garland of roses, from the premature winter of time— 
Sir H. Davy. 

2. Winter of 1829-30.—It appears that the cold in the south 
of France and in Spain has long prevailed, and been more severe 
than has been experienced there for a great number of years ; 
but that in this country (Scotland), and in places in a higher 
northern latitude, although they have had very deep snow, yet 
it has been found comparatively mild for a winter like this ; 
therefore, the rigour of the frosty air seems to have been con- 
fined within the parallels of 55° and 38° N. Lat. with prevail- 
ing N. and N.E. winds from over the continent of Europe. Ire- 
land being within these parallels, it is curious that its mhabi- 
tants should, at the same time, also have enjoyed a mild atmos- 


phere.— Annals of Philosophy, March 1830. 


4 


Scientific Intelligence.— Meteorology. 


387 


3. Meteorological Table —Extracted from the Register kept 
at Kinfauns Castle, N. Britain. Lat. 56° 23’ 30”; above the le- 


vel of the sea 150 feet. 


(Communicated by Lord Gray.) 


Morning, 9, || Evening, 3 past 8, || Mean || Depth | No. of D: 
ming pnt, | ening: oct len, | epi | No.of Dass | 
1829 -__*__|| by Srx’s || in Gar- | Rain or Fair. 
a Barom. | Therm. |] Barom. | Therm. |} Therm. }} den. Snow. . 
Inches. } 5 Inches. | ° Inches. 
January, ...... 29.750| 34.774 || 29.774 | 33.742 || 39-129]! 5.00} 10 | 21 
February, - ...| 29.499| 39.607 || 29.715 | 40.000 || 40-321 )) 2.00 Zaa2k 
March, . ......| 29.720] 41.387 || 29.714| 40.581 |}41-645)) 1.50 7 | 24 
Sd yl ae ane 29.318] 44.800 |] 29.357 | 42.533 || 43.767]! 3.00) 15 15 
May,..........| 29.811| 54.326 || 29.829 | 50.161 |/52.258)) 1.70} 7 | 24 
June,..........| 29.792| 60.600 || 29.782 | 55.500 || 58.067}; 1.80} 13 17 
Fulys oi. 29.51 2| 60.258 || 29.520 | 55.774 ||58.193|| 5.85| 16 | 15 
August,.......] 29.622) 58.064 || 29.637 | 54.838 || 56.387 || 5.40} 14 17 
September, ...| 29.487| 52.133 || 29.492 | 49.733 |] 51.133 )| 2.75] 11 19 
October, ......| 29.744] 48.419 || 29.743 | 47.003 47.903 2.50) 13 18 
November, ...| 29.789| 41.467 || 29.826 | 41.066 || 41.366}) 2.80) 11 19 
December,....} 29.955 39.194 | 29.961 | 37.645 || 38.71C}| 1.30) 7 24 
Average of ny | ana 
the year, 29.667 47.919) 29.696) 45.634 47.073 || 35.60 | 131 | 234 
ANNUAL RESULTS. 
MORNING. 
BAROMETER. THERMOMETER. 
Observations, Wind. Inch. Wind. ¥ 
Highest, 3st Dec. SW. 30.50 | 31st August, SW. 67° 
Lowest, 1éth April, SE. 28,53 | 22d January, SW.--21° 
EVENING. 
Highest, 3lst Dec. SW. 30.56 | 8th August, SW. 64° 
Lowest, 15th April, SE. 28.63 | 19th January, Woo Zor 
Weather. Days. Wind. Times. 
Fair, 234 | N. & NE. 19 
Rain or snow, 131 | E. & SE. 101 
sr | CS. & SW. 201 
7p W.& NW. 44 
i) 
Extreme Heat and Cold by Sia’s Thermometer : 
Coldest, 22d January, Wind, SW. 19° 
Hottest, 11th June, do. SE. 74 
Mean Temperature for the year, 47°:073 
Results of Two Rain-Gauges. - 
In. 100. 


1. Centre of Kinfiuns Garden, about 20 feet above the levelof the sea, 35.60 
2. Square Tower, Kinfauns Castle, 180 feet, 


Bb2 


36.00 


388 Scientific Intelligence.— Meteorology. 


4. Meteorological Tables for Aberdeen, 1829.—As in a con- 
temporary Journal, that of Dr Brewster, there is an accurate 
Meteorological Table for Edinburgh, by Mr Adie, we do not 
consider it necessary to republish it here, but are happy to have 
an opportunity of communicating to our readers accurate Me- 
teorological Tables of another well known part in Scotland, viz. 
Aberdeen, drawn up by Mr Innes of Aberdeen. 


TABLE of the Mean Temperature at Aberdeen for each Month of 
the last Seven Years. 


From Observations made by Mr GeorceE Innes, Astronomical Calculator. 


1825. 


37.95 

37.54 

39.88 

44.42 

48.50 

56.10 

60.50 

‘ 59.83 

September, . 57.56 
October,.-..... 50.45 
November, .. 40.14 
December, «- 39.37 


47.69 


MEAN OF THERMOMETER, 


At Aberdeen, for each Month during 
the Year 1829. 


JANUALY, +00 cee ceeseeesressensveeees 34.40 
February, «....0-cesceecesesscsvens 38.69 
Mar chy oc... .ccccscccccccccceccesece 41.60 
April, .2.ceceeeeeseeseseseseeeee eee 43.25 
WVU, ccncesesencncnencecvesnassaeens 51.85 
SIMI Ys syoccenstoseses sarees csqnvne 56.43 
DULY, -.ncevannscensessncsesiseseasce 58.56 
AUGUST, .....cccceceserserevenorenere 56.49 
September,.......ceeeeeseesceeees 51.57 
(cho e rave cus cemacancesecontsnnes 46.45 
Novemhe®, .......0...<gdeee.oethes 41.01 
December, ......+ ce sors 39.14 


Mean Temp. of the Year,..... 46.62 


1826. 


34.29 
40.59 
40.04 
45.32 
63.27 
62.65 
51.48 
60.34 
55.25 
49.56 
38.41 
40.23 


RAIN 


Fallen at Marischal College Observa- 
tory, Aberdeen, during the Year 1829. 


JANUATY,..000sceecorcerens 3.48 Inches. 

February, ......sseseseeeee 0.99 

IVIOCM sects cre ae feccncoer és 3.12 

WANE Setecuicadsoncape chats 2.74 

Mays osesecececcersescesees 0.66 

QREINE: Core ste cs cccnnessacess 1.54 

MFULY Jecatak. cis ddvcubes cansen 1.92 

AUgust,*....00c0sseecevees 4.35 

September,...-...2+sce+00 2.35 

OGhOhEr.y. S.. caer gasoureee 2.42 

November, tt 3. iscccaetee 2.34 

December,........0s000+0 2.45 © 
MANGES. ono aasenoeee 28.66 Inches. 


* The quantity which fell during the food 
of i 2d, 3d, and 4th of August, was 1.80 
inch. 


Scientific Intelligence.— Meteorology. 389 


5. Latitude of Calton Hill—As the Calton Hill is one of 
our most interesting meteorological and geological points, we are 
happy in having an opportunity of giving the precise position 
of the Observatory placed upon it. The Latitude of this Ob- 
servatory, as determined by Mr Henderson, from the data of 
the Trigonometrical Survey, is 55° 57 19” 5 N. 


6. Mysterious Sounds.—The wide spread sail of a ship, ren- 
dered concave by a gentle breeze, is a good collector of sound. 
“It happened,” says Dr Arnott, ‘ once on board a ship sail- 
ing along the coast of Brazil, far out of sight of land, that the 
persons walking on deck, when passing a particular spot, al- 
ways heard very distinctly the sound of. bells, varying as in 
human rejoicings. All on board came to listen, and were con- 
vinced ; but the phenomenon was most mysterious. Months 
afterwards, it was ascertained, that, at the time of observation, 
the bells of the city of St Salvador, on the Brazilian coast, had 
been ringing on the occasion of a festival; their sound, there- 
fore, favoured by a gentle wind, had travelled perhaps 100 
miles by smooth water, and had been brought to a focus by the 
sail on the particular situation or deep where it was listened 
to. It appears from this, that a machine might be constructed, 
having the same relation to sound that a telescope has to sight. 


7. Effects of Electricity on Rocks.—FElectricity, as a chemi- 
cal agent, may be considered, not only as directly producing an 
infinite variety of changes, but also as influencing almost all 
which take place. ‘There are not two substances on the sur- 
face of the globe, that are not in different electrical relations to 
each other; and chemical attraction itself seems to be a pecu- 
liar form of the exhibition of electric attraction ; and, where- 
ever the atmosphere, or water, or any part of the surface of the 
earth, gains accumulated electricity of a different kind from the 
contiguous surfaces, the tendency of this electricity is to pro- 
duce new arrangements of the parts of these surfaces. Thus, a 
positively electrified cloud, acting even at a great distance on a 
moistened stone, tends to attract its oxygenous, or acidiform, or 
acid ingredients, and a negatively electrified cloud, has the 
same effect upon its earthy, alkaline, or metallic matter ; and the 
silent and slow operation of electricity is much more important 


Q, 


390 Scientific Intelligence.—Mineralogy. 


in economy of nature, than its grand and impressive a 
in Siva and thunder. 

8. Meteoric Iron of Atacama.—In the lately published hats 
of the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, there is 
an analysis of this iron by Dr Turner, which is not correctly 
given. Dr Turner sends the following as the accurate result. 
Tron, 93.57; Nickel, 6.618 ; Cobalt, 0.535 ; = 100.723. 


MINERALOGY. 


9. Perishable Nature of Works of Man.—No work of excel- 
lence ought to be exposed to the atmosphere ; and it is a great 
object to preserve them in apartments of equable temperature, 
and extremely dry. The roofs of magnificent buildings should 
be of materials not likely to be dissolved by water, or changed 
by the air. Many electrical conductors should be placed so as 
to prevent the slow or the rapid effects of atmospheric electri- 
city. In painting, lapis lazuli, or coloured hard glasses, in 
which the oxides are not liable to change, should be used, and 
should be laid on marble, or stucco encased in stone; and no 
animal or vegetable substances, except pure carbonaceous mat- 
ter, should be used in pigments; and none should be mixed 
with the varnishes. Yet, when all is done that can be done, in 
the work of conservation, it is only producing a difference in 
the degree of duration. And from the statements that our 
friend has made, it is evident that none of the works of a mor- 
tal bemg can be eternal, as none of the combinations of a limit- 
ed intellect can be infinite. The operations of Nature, when 
slow, are no less sure. However man may for a time usurp do- 
minion over her, she is certain of recovering her empire... He 
converts her rocks, her stones, her trees, into forms of palaces, 
houses, and ships; he employs the metals found in the bosom 
of ‘the earth as instruments of power—and the sands and clays 
which constitute its surface, as ornaments and resources of 
luxury; he imprisons air by water, and tortures water by fire, 
to change, or modify, or destroy, the natural forms of things. 
But, in:some lustrums, his:works begin to change, and ina few 
centuries they decay and are in ruims; and his mighty temples, 
framed, as it were, for ummortal.and divine purposes—and his 
bridges formed of granite, and ribbed of iron—and his walls for 


Scientific Intelligence.—Geology. 391 


defence, and the splendid monuments by which he has endea- 
voured to give eternity even to his perishable remains, are gra- 
dually destroyed ; and those structures which have resisted the 
waves of the ocean, the tempests of the sky, and the stroke of 
lightning, shall yield to the operation of the dews of heaven, of 
frost, rain, vapour, and imperceptible atmospheric influences ; 
and as the worm devours the lineaments of his mortal beauty, so 
the lichens and moss, and the most insignificant plants, shall feed 
upon his columns and his pyramids, and the most humble and 
insignificant insects shall undermine and sap the foundations of 
his colossal works, and make their habitations amongst the 
ruins of his palaces and the falling seats of his earthly glory. 


GEOLOGY. 


10. Norway has not been materially elevated above the level of 
the sea for the last 800 years.—The history of the small island 
of Munkholm, on the coast of Norway, is interesting, as con- 
nected with a well known speculation, namely, that which 
maintains that the land of Scandinavia is gradually rising above 
the level of the sea, through the agency of some. subterranean 
power. M. Everest says, “‘ The history of this small isle weighs 
strongly against the rise of Scandinavia, as a general proposi- 
tion. Its area is not greater than that of a small village, and, 
by the official survey, its highest pomt is said to be 23 feet 
above the mean high-water-mark (that is, the mean between 
neap and spring tides). An extreme spring tide may rise 3 feet 
higher, thus leaving 20 feet for the highest point. But the 
Swedish rate of rise is stated at 40 inches in a-century. Now, 
A. D. 1028, or 800 years ago, a monastery was founded. there 
by Canute the Great; and, in 995 (33 years before that time), 
it was in use as a common place of execution, and the famous 
Hagen Hlade Jarl’s head was nailed to a gibbet there. Take 
the first of these periods, 1028; then, 40 x 8 = 320 inches, or 
26 feet 8 inches; so that this rock must then have been below 
high-water-mark, according to this supposition. It is not likely 
that, in such a state, it would have been chosen as the site of a 
building.".-Everest's Travels through Norway. 

11. Fossil Insects in lower Oolite, at Solenhof:—In the cabi- 
net of the Royal Academy of Munich, there are many speci- 


392 Scientific Intellig ence.— Geology. 

mens of fossil insects, found in the oolite limestone of Solenhof. 
The following are mentioned by Wagner. Thirty species, many 
undescribed, of the class Crustacea ; several species of the genera 
Aschna, Agrion, Myrmeleon; so that, at the time of the de- 
position of this limestone, there lived at least three genera of 
Hymenopterous insects. A fossil Sirix, in the collection, may 
be considered as the representative at that period of the order 
Neuroptera. Von Schlotheim mentions an impression in this 
limestone of an insect, which he conjectures to be nearly allied 
to the moth named Sphinx ligustri; and also a fossil beetle, 
allied to the genus Cerambyx. The Spider class appears to 
have existed also at this time, as is shewn by a fossil nearly al- 
lied to the Solpuga Fabr Galeodes of Olivier. 

12. Antique Green Porphyry.—lIn the Island of Aigina, one 
of the Greek Islands, Captain Boblaye, a French engineer, dis- 
covered rocks of antique green porphyry (ophite), which he 
refers to the porphyries of the coal formation. 

13. Durability of Stones——When the felspar of the granite 
rocks contains little alkali, or calcareous earth, it is a very per- 
manent stone ; but when in granite, porphyry, or syenite, either 
the felspar contains much alkaline matter, or the mica, schorl, or 
hornblende, much protoxide of iron, the action of water contain- 
ing oxygen and carbonic acid on the ferruginous elements tends 
to produce the disintegration of the stone. The red granite, 
black syenite, and red porphyry of Egypt, which are seen at 
Rome in obelisks, columns, and sarcophagi, are amongst the 
most durable compound stones; but the grey granites of Cor- 
sica and Elba are extremely liable to undergo alteration : the 
felspar contains much alkaline matter, and the mica and schorl 
much protoxide of iron. A remarkable instance of the decay 
of granite may be seen in the hanging tower of Pisa; whilst the 
marble pillars in the basement remain scarcely altered, the gra- 
nite ones have lost a considerable portion of their surface, which 
falls off continually in scales, and exhibits everywhere stains from 
the formation of peroxide of iron. The kaolin, or clay, used in 
most countries for the manufacture of fine porcelain or china, 
is generally produced from the felspar of decomposing granite, 
in which the cause of decay is the dissolution and separation of 
the alkaline ingredients. Water is capable of dissolving, in 


Scientific I ntelligence.—Botany. 393 


larger or smaller proportions, most compound. bodies; and the 
calcareous and alkaline elements of stones are particularly liable 
to this kind of operation. When water holds in solution carbo- 
nic acid, which is always the case when it is precipitated from the 
atmosphere, its power of dissolving carbonate of lime is very 
much increased; and, in the neighbourhood of great cities, 
where the atmosphere contains a large proportion of this prin- 
ciple, the solvent powers of rain upon the marble exposed to it 
must be greatest. Whoever examines the marble statues in the 
British Museum, which have been removed from the exterior of 
the Parthenon, will be convinced that they have suffered from 
this agency; and an effect so distinct in the pure atmosphere 
and temperate climate of Athens, must be on a higher scale in 
the vicinity of other great European cities, where the consump- 
tion of fuel produces carbonic acid in large quantities. 


BOTANY. 


14. On Columba Root.—Columba Root has long been a well 
known article of the Materia Medica, and esteemed a valuable 
medicine for rectifying the tone of the stomach and alimentary 
canal, when injured by such diseases as cholera and dysentery. 
The plant grows in the countries of Mozambique and Querimba 
on the east coast of Africa. The authorities at the Portuguese 
settlements there have endeavoured to preserve to themselves a 
monopoly of the medicine, and they long succeeded in doing so. 
In the year 1805, however, a single plant was brought alive to 
Madras by M. Fortin. This specimen grew and flowered there, 
and was described by Dr Andrew Berry, then of the Medical 
Board of Fort St George, now of Edinburgh. It proved a 
dicecious plant ; and Dr Berry correctly remarked, that it was 
closely allied to the genus Menispermum. The individual 
growing at Madras was a male. Willdenow and Sprengel in- 
serted the plant in their systems under the name of Menisper- 
mun palmatum. Sir J. E. Smith, in Rees’ Cyclopeedia, con- 
jectured that it had been carried from Columbo, in Ceylon, to 
the East Indies, and had thus derived its name. ‘This, how- 
ever, was a mistake, it being known in Africa by the name of 
Kalumba. De Candolle afterwards determined that the plant 
properly belonged to the genus Cocculus, but regretted that he 


394 Scientific Intelligence.— Zoology. 


had no means of describing the female flower or the seed. After 
the lapse of twenty years, an enterprising naval commander, who 
was fond of botany (Captain Owen), happened to be stationed 
in the Mozambique Channel, and of course had a good deal of 
intercourse with the natives on the coast. He succeeded in 
bringing away from the port of Oibo, many cases containing 
living plants of both sexes. Some of these were taken to Bom- 
bay, others to the Isle of France, and some to the Seychelles 
Islands. All the plants left at the Mauritius proved male; but 
females appeared among those at the Seychelles, and from thence 
some female plants were transmitted to the King’s garden at the 
Isle of France; so that the multiplication of the plant by seed is 
now certain. Professor Bojer of the Mauritius has sent home 
drawings and descriptions of both sexes ; and Professor Hooker 
of Glasgow has just published these in the Botanical Magazine, 
of which he is the able conductor. A tincture had been made 
from the roots of plants grown at the Mauritius, according to 
the formula of the London College : it was found to be stronger, 
and to have a more grateful and aromatic flavour, than that pro- 
cured from Apothecaries’ Hall. We are happy to add, that 
living plants have been sent to this country by Mr Telfair of 
the Isle of France, and have been received both by Mr Barclay 
of Buryhill and by the Glasgow Botanic Garden. 


ZOOLOGY. 


15. Nature of Respiration—My idea is, that the common 
air inspired enters into the venous blood entire, in a state of 
dissolution, carrying with it its subtile and etherial part, which 
in ordinary cases of chemical change is given off ; that it expels 
from the blood carbonic acid gas and azote; and that, in the 
course of the circulation, its etherial part and its ponderable 
part undergo changes which belong to laws that cannot be con- 
sidered as chemical,—the etherial part probably producing ani- 
mal heat and other effects, and the ponderable part contribut- 
ing to form carbonic acid and other products. The arterial 
blood is necessary to all the functions of life, and it is no less 
connected with the irritability of the muscles and the sensibility 
of the nerves, than with the performance of all the secretions.— 
Sir H. Davy. 


Scientific Intelligence.—Zoology. 395 


16. Cuttlefish Fishery.—A curious account has been pub- 
lished-by M. Pilaje, of the uncommon and important Cuttle- 
fish (Sepia) fishery on the coast of Newfoundland. It is the 
Loligo piscatorum of authors. It occurs in vast abundance, but 
at different times, on different coasts; for example, at St Pierre 
in July, on the southern coasts of Newfoundland only in Au- 
gust, and in Bonne Bay first in September. Its vast shoals 
present a curious appearance, by their strongly twisted compact 
form. When they approach, hundreds of vessels are ready for 
their capture. A cylindrical polished piece of lead, of which 
one end runs into a number of hooks, is used as a bait. When 
it occurs in great numbers, a person can take a thousand in the 
space of an hour. At this season of the year, the sea on the 
coast of St Pierre is covered with from 400 to 500 sail of Eng- 
lish and French ships engaged in the Cuttle-fish fishery. The 
Cuttle-fish is sometimes eaten, but the proper object of their 
capture is the using them afterwards as bait in the taking of the 
cod and other fishes that afterwards appear on the coast. In 
Mr Cormack’s paper in vol. i. p. 37, of Edinburgh New Philo- 
sophical Journal, the reader will find an interesting account of 
the Cuttle-fish as a bait in the cod-fishery of Newfoundland. 

17. Anatifera Vitrea or Vitreous Barnacle.—This species, a 
native of the Mediterranean, is not, like the others, fixed, on the 
contrary, is a free pelagian molluscous animal. It suspends it- 
self, like the Ianthina, at the surface of the water by means of 
white translucent air-vesicles. These vesicles are connected 
with the fleshy pedicle ; by their means the animal floats freely 
on the surface of the water, but it can also sink itself at plea- 
sure. 

18. Mortality among Leeches.—'That atmospheric changes 
haye a remarkable influence upon leeches, is a well established 
fact. In 1825, M. Derheims of St Omer, ascribes the almost 
sudden death of them at the approach of, or during storms, to 
the coagulation of the blood of these creatures, caused by the 
impression of the atmospherical electricity. This opinion, which 
at that time was the result of theory, he confirmed, in the month 
of March last, by direct experiment. 

19. Belemnites.—Raspail, who enumerates 250 species of this 
genus, maintains that they ave not shells of animals, but cuta- 


396 Scientific Intelligence.— Zoology. 


neous appendages of a marine animal, perhaps allied to the 
Echinodermata. 
NEW PUBLICATIONS. 


20. A Concise System of Mathematics, in Theory and Prac- 
tice, for the use of Schools, Private Students, and Practical Men. 
By Alexander Ingram, Esq. Edinburgh.—We have carefully 
examined this valuable work, and find it throughout excellently 
calculated for the purposes stated in the title. ‘The matter is 
well selected and judiciously arranged; the practical rules are 
given with great clearness, and the illustrations prove the 
thorough knowledge of the late excellent author, in all the prac- 
tical details of this important branch of education. It is neatly 
and correctly printed, and, what we consider of importance in a 
work of this description, is remarkably cheap. 

21. An American Dictionary of the English Language; by 
Noah Webster, LL.D. 2 vols. 4to. New York.—In this work, 
Dr Webster has exhausted the labour of a long life, and, in 
search of materials, visited the Royal Library at Paris, and the 
libraries of the English Universities. Of his etymological re- 
searches, I feel myself but imperfectly qualified to judge, my 
own studies having lain in a different department. I know, 
however, that he entered on these pursuits more than thirty 
years ago, with an ardent admiration of the writings of Horne 
Tooke; and that, extending his inquiries to the eastern dialects, 
which were unknown to that writer, he has gradually embraced 
more than twenty languages within the circle of his investiga- 
tions, and made them all subservient to his researches into the 
origin and progress of our own. That these inquiries should 
present many things of doubtful probability, is of course to be 
expected. That many new relations between our own and 
other languages are pointed out, and that much light is thrown 
on the radical meaning of words, will, I presume, be obvious to 
all who take an interest in such discussions. The number of 
these, however, in this country at least, is comparatively few ; 
and, to others, such inquiries will present a perfect blank, or 
will perhaps afford a fruitful theme for ridicule. This work, as 
a defining dictionary, I have been led, from the nature of my 
pursuits, to examine with close attention. I have even collated 
ihe greater part of its pages with Todd’s edition of Johnson’s 


New Publications. 397 


Dictionary. In this respect, the improvements appear to me to 
be numerous, and highly important. Many thousands of the 
most common senses of terms were either overlooked by Dr 
Johnson, or have found their way into the language since his 
time. In scarcely a single instance have these deficiencies been 
supplied by the English editors, or even the most glaring errors 
corrected. ‘That the dictionaries of our language are fifty years 
behind the progress of knowledge among the English nation, as 
recorded in our books, is a fact conceded by every one who has 
taken the pains to examine the subject. Dr Webster, besides 
adding very largely to the number of definitions, has given to 
them, in a great degree, the precision of modern science; and 
although every attempt of this kind must, from the nature of the 
case, be liable to many imperfections, we cannot but think that 
he will be ultimately regarded as having carried forward Eng- 
lish lexicography as much beyond the point where it was left 
by Johnson, as Johnson himself advanced it beyond the pro- 
gress of his predecessors. Like most men who have long con- 
templated the irregularities of English orthography, Dr Web- 
ster has been too anxious, probably, to accelerate its slow pro- 
gress towards stricter analogies. His alterations are not indeed 
very numerous ; but supported as they are by general prin- 
ciples, and harmless as they are at all events, he will still un- 
doubtedly be liable to the charge of “ the affectation of spelling 
better than his neighbours.” We were afraid that the real me- 
rits of this excellent work would be overlooked for atime. In 
this, however, we have been deceived, for a British edition of 
this American Dictionary is in the course of publication, which, 
we understand, will rival the splendid American edition. 

22. French edition of Berzelius's Chemistry condemned.—Di- 
dot in Paris, says Berzelius, in a letter to Kastner, commenced 
a French translation of my book on Chemistry, which is an- 
nounced as an entirely new edition. Unfortunately, however, 
the undertaking has misgiven. Jordan, the translator, a person 
unknown to me, is no chemist; hence the first volume, which has 
already appeared, teems with the grossest errors. At my re- 
quest the second volume, which is even more wretchedly exe- 
cuted than the first, has not been published. What Didot will 
do in these circumstances I know not; but the translation of 
Jordan I shall never sanction. 


( 398 ) 


List of Patents granted in England, from 15th September to 
21st November 1829. 


, 


1829. 

Sept. 15. To J. Arrcuison, Clyde Buildings, Glasgow, for his “ improve- 
ments in the Concentrating and Evaporating of Cane Juice, So- 
lutions of Sugar, and other Fluids.” 

To T. Coss, Calthorpe House, Bradbury, Oxford, for his “improve- 
ments in the manufacture of Paper, intended for the walls of 
rooms, and in the apparatus for effecting the same.” 

23. To T. Westwoon, Middlesex, watchmaker, for his “ improvements 
in Watches and Time-keepers.” 

To J. Brown, Clerkenwell, watchmaker, for his “ improvements 
applicable to Watches and other Horological Machines.” 

To H. Tyzer, Warwick Lane, brass-founder, for his ‘‘ improve- 
ments in the construction of Water-closets.” 

30. To J. Moore, Bristol, for “ Machinery for propelling carriages, 
ships, or other floating bodies; and Apparatus for condensing the 
steam of the steam-engine, after it has propelled the steam- 
engine piston.” 

To Lieutenant M. Ropezr, Royal Navy, Strand, London, for his 
‘“‘ improvements in the construction of Cat-head Stoppers.” 

To T. Banxs, Patrecroft, civil engineer, for his “‘improvements in 
Steam-engines.” 

Oct. 7. To P. Descroizit1Es, Fenchurch Street, London, for his “improve- 
ments in Apparatus for removing the down from cotton and cer- 
tain other fabrics, by singeing.” ’ 

15. To W. Cuurcu, Heywood House, near Birmingham, for “‘improve- 
ments in Machinery for propelling vessels by steam, and in 
Boilers applicable to the same, and also to other purposes.” 

To W. Cuurcu, Heywood House, near Birmingham, for his ‘*im- 
provements in, on, or upon Instruments for sharpening knives 
and other edge-tools, and the Machinery or Apparatus for manu- 
facturing the same.” 

28. To T. J. Futxer, civil engineer, Middlesex, for his “improved Me- 
chanical Power, applicable to machinery of different kinds.” 

Noy. 2. To G. DanreE, Birmingham, for his “ Self-acting Air or Gas Regu- 
lator or Stopcock, for governing the flow of air or gas, which may 
be applied to other purposes.” 

To J. Maccurpy, Esq. Great James’ Street, Bedford Row, Lon- 
don, for “‘improvements in the method of constructing Mills and 
Mill-stones for: grinding.” 

To Colonel J. Viney, Piccadilly, for “improvements in Steam- 
boilers, and in carriages or apparatus connected therewith.” 

To J. Soams junior, Spitalfields, soap-maker, for his “ preparation of 
a certain material produced from'a vegetable substance, andthe 
application thereof to the purposes of affording Light, and other 


uses.”” 


List of English Patents. 399 


~ 1829. 
Nov. 2. To J. Tucker, Hammersmith, brewer, for his “ Exploding Shot or 
Projectile.” 

To J. Srewart, George Street, Euston Square, for his ‘“¢‘improve- 
ments in Piano-fortes.” 

To J. CowpERoy, Esq. City Road, for his “improvements in the 

' machinery for making Bricks.” 

To F. Natsu StonEason, Esq. Wells, Somerset, for his “improve- 
ments in the manufacture or application of Silks, mixed or com- 
bined with other articles.” 

7. To W. Goocu, London, for his “ improvements in Baths of different 
descriptions.” 

10. To D. Macpouvear, Edinburgh, horticulturist, for his “improve- 
ments on Syringes, applicable to gardens and other purposes.” 

To J. Ost19R, Birmingham, for ““improvements in the construction 
of Glass dnd Metal Chandeliers, and other articles for ornamental 
lighting.” 

12. To P. Grzzs, Crayford Mills, Kent, for “improvements in machi- 
nery for Cutting Marble, Wood, and other substances.” 

17. To J. W. Dopeson, Middlesex, for his “improvements in Ships’ 
Scuppers, and which may be applied to other purposes.” 

21. To T. Getuen, Esq. Furnival’s Inn, London, for “improvements 
in Dressing Woollen Cloths.” 

To W. CiurtTEersuck, Gloucester, for “improvement in the Shears 
used for cutting or cropping of Woollen Cloth, and other fabrics 
requiring shearing.” 


List of Patents granted in Scotland from 17th December 
1829 to 3d March 1830. 


1829. 

Dec. 17. To Cuartes Broox of Meltham Mills, near Huddersfield, in the 
county of York, cotton-spinner, for an invention of “ certain 
Improvements in Machinery for Spinning Cotton, and other fi- 
brous substances.” 

17. To James Soames junior, of Wheeler Street, Spittalfields, in the 
county of Middlesex, for an invention of “a New Preparation or 
Manufacture of a certain Material produced from a Vegetable 
Substance, and the application thereof to the purposes of affording 
light, and for other Uses.” 

1830. 

Jan. 25. To Joun Tucker of Hammersmith, in the county of Middlesex, 
brewer, for an invention of “ an Exploding Shot or Projectile.” 

Feb. 2. To Joun Revere of New York, in the United States of America, 
now residing in the parish of St James, Westminster, Doctor of 


400 List of Scotch Patents. 


Medicine, for an invention of “ a New Alloy, or Compound Me- 
tal, applicable to the Sheathing of Ships, and various other useful 
1830. purposes.” 

Feb. 2. To Epwarp DaxEyne and James DakxEynE, both of Derby Dale, 
in the county of Derby, merchants, for an invention of ‘* a Ma- 
chine or Hydraulic Engine, for applying the power or pressure 
of Water, Steam, or other Elastic Fluids, to the purpose of work- 
ing Machinery, and other uses requiring power, and applicable to 
that of Raising or Forcing Fluids.” 

8. To Greorce SrrakER, of South Shields, in the county of Durham, 

. ship-builder, for an invention of “an improvement in Ships Wind- 
lasses.” , 

9. To James Ramsay and ANDREw Ramsay, both of Greenock, in 

North Britain, cordage and sail-cloth manufacturers, and Ma- 

THEW Orr of Greenock foresaid, sailmakey, for “‘ an Improve- 

~ ment in the Manufacture of Canvas, and Sail-cloth for the making 
of Sails.” 2 

13. To Tuomas Joun Fuxxer of the Commercial Road, Limehouse, 
in the county of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for an invention of 
“an improved Mechanical Power applicable to Machinery of dif. 
ferent descriptions.” 

16. To Ayton Bernuarp of Finsbury Circus, in the county of Mid- 
dlesex, engineer, for an invention of ‘¢ Certain Improvements on 
or additions to, Wheels or Apparatus for propelling Vessels, and 
other purposes.”” 

19. To Joun BrarruwatreE and Joun Erisson of the New Road, — 
London, for an invention of “ an Improved Method of Manu- 
facturing Salt.” 

26. To Parricx Dawson, distiller at Lillyburne, for an invention of 
“‘ an Improvement in the Apparatus used for Distilling.” 

To Rozert Busx of Leeds, in the county of York, gentleman, for 
an invention, in consequence of a communication made to him 
by a certain foreigner, residing abroad, “ of certain Improve- 
ments in Apparatus used for Distilling and Rectifying.” 

Mar. 3. To Joun M‘InneEs of Auchenreoch and of Woodburn, in the coun. 
ty of Stirling, Esq. for an invention of “ the Manufacture or Pre- 
paration of certain substances, which he denominates the British 
Tapioca, and the Cakes and the Flour to be made from the 
same.” 


( 401 ) 


INDEX. 


Age of Mountains, remarks on the, 293 

Age of the Pyramids, 337 

Alexander, J. E. on the Salt Lake Inder in Asiatic Russia, 18 
Ancient Flora of the Earth, remarks on the, 112 

Ancient woods of Scotland, remarks on, 105 

Ancient roads of the Peruvians, account of, 53 

Arctic Regions, remarks:on the, 65 

Arnott, G. A. ‘W. Esq. notes on the hya-hya or milk-tree, 318 


Barley, observations on the growth of, 154 

Bischoff, Dr, on the chemical constitution and temperature of Springs, 26 

Bonsdof, Professor, his description of an apparatus for evaporation, 278 

Boué, Dr, on the secondary rocks of the Alps and Carpathians, 176 

Bojanus, the comparative anatomist, notice of, 200 

Brewsterite, on the chemical constitution of, 355 

Brown, Mr Robert, his additional remarks on active molecules, 4l 

Buckland, Professor, on a new pterodactyle, fossil ink and pens, and 
coprolites, 21 


Candolle on the relative conductibility for caloric of different woods, 131 

Casper Hauser, account of, 134 

Capillary action, remarks on, 280 

Cat, domestic, on the origin of the, 146 

Caves, containing bones of extinct animals, notices of, 197 

Caucasus, Mount, observations made on, 194 

Celestial phenomena from Jan. 1. to March 1. 1830, 187—April 1. te 
July 1. 1830, 381 

Chalk, on supposed vegetable remains in, 313 

Cherry Island, geology of, 144 : 

Chronometers, plan for ascertaining the rates of, 160 

Cod-fishery, bait used in the, 204 

Columba root, observations on, 393 

Collier, Mr, on the tripang, 46 

Condor, on the lofty flight of the, 142 

Connell, Mr Arthur, on Brewsterite, 355 

Copper, experiments on the action of acids on, 229 

Coprolite, or fossil feces, observations on, 21 

Cordillera of the Andes, observations on the, 350 

Corvisart, biography of, 9 

Craigleith quarry, gigantic fossil plant of, 195 

Cuttle-fish fishery, 395 

Cuvier, Baron, his biography of Halle, 1—Corvisart, 9-Rumford, 209 
—Remarks on parasitic animals, 101—Lectures on the natural 


sciences, 326 


Davy, Sir Humphry, on the formation of the earth, 320 
Dr John, on the action of acids on copper, 229 


JANUARY—MAKcH 1830. cc 


402 INDEX. 


De la Rive on the conductibility of wood for caloric, 131 

Deluge, observations on the, 327, 366 

Don, Mr David, on the affinities of Vellosia, Barbacenia, Glaux, Au- 
cuba, Viviana, Deutzia, and Rubiacee, 164—on Rosa berberi- 
folia, 175 

Dutrochet, M. on a periodical spring on the Jura, 307 


Earth, on the formation of the, by Sir H. Davy, 320 
Egg of ornithorynchus, observations on the, 149 

Eggs of birds, observations on the colours of, 98 

Egypt, on the early history of, by Baron Cuvier, 334 
Equiseta or horse-tail, on their chemical nature, 100 
European mountains, their geological age considered, 293 
Evaporation, apparatus for, 278 


Farquharson, Rev. James, on the serpentine rocks of Dee Side, 314 

Fishery, cod, bait used in, 204 

Fleming, Dr, reply to Mr Conybeare on the climate of the Arctic Re- 
gions, 65 

Flora, ancient of the earth, remarks on the, 112 

Forests of Scotland, on the ancient, 105 

Furnaces, blast, heated air used in, 205 


Gad-fly, observations on the human, 284 

Gas, inflammable, native sources of, 108 

Geology of Spain, on the, 267 

Giéethe on the metamorphoses of plants, 162 

Graham, Dr, on new and rare plants in the Edinburgh Royal Botanic 
Garden, 183, 368 

Grouse, description of several new species of, 372 

Growth of wheat and barley, observations on the, 154 

Greece, dryness of the atmosphere of, 190 

on the early history of, by Baron Cuvier, 342 


Halle, M. biography of, 1 

Hartwell, M. Victor, examination of some minerals, 38 
Hart, Mr John, description of a heating apparatus, 175 
Hausmann, Professor, on the geology of Spain, 267 
Hermann, M. account of pyrophyllite, 40 

Herrings, periodical appearance of, in Highland lochs, 199 
Hoffmann, M. on the geology of Rome, 76 

Holothuria tubulosa, an article of commerce, 46 

Hya-hya, or Demerara milk-tree, account of the, 35 


Innes, Mr George, celestial phenomena, 187, 381 

Insects, on their domestication and geographical dist ibution, 368 
Inder, salt lake of, notice regarding the, i8 

Tron, improved mode of smelting, 205 


Jamesonite, a new mineral species analyzed, 292 
Jardine, Sir Wm., queries regarding salmon and trouts, 358 


Keilhau, Professor, on the geology of Spitzbergen and Cherry Island, 
144 


INDEX. 403 


Kinfauns meteorological register for 1829, 378 


Larva of an (Estrus lodged in the arm of a sailor, account of a, 286 
Limestone, analyses of, 364 


Manis pentadactyla of Ceylon, account of the, 58 

Man, on the early history of, by Baron Cuvier, 326 

Mantell, Gideon, Esq., on supposed vegetable remains in chalk, 313 
Memnon, statue of, on the noises heard at the, 260 

Miargyrite, a new mineral described, 292 

Milk, on various preparations of, by the Kalmucks, 360 

Milk-tree of Demerara, account of, 315 

Molecules, active, Mr R. Brown on, 41 

Mountains, on the age of different classes of, 293 


Nakuh, remarks on the noises there, 74 

Nepenthes distillatoria, Dr Graham’s account of the germination of, 
371 

Noises, on peculiar, heard at particular places, 258 


C&strus Hominis, or gad-fly, observations on, 284 
Ornithorynchus, on the egg of the, 149 


Parasitic animals, remarks on, by Baron Cuvier, 101 

Patents granted in England, 205, 398 

in Scotland, 208, 399 

Pelasgi, notes on the, by Baron Cuvier, 345 

Peru, on the perpetual snows of the Cordillera of, 311 
Peruvians, remarks on the ancient roads of the, by Dr Gillies, 53 
Peruvian mountains, heights of, 353 

Philosophy of nature, remarks on the, 152 

Plants, on the metamorphoses of, 162 

Polybasite, a new mineral, an account of, 148 

Pterodactyle, account of a fossil species of, found in the lias, 21 
Pyrophyllite, analysis of, by M. Hermann, 40 


Roads, ancient, of the Peruvians, notices regarding the, 53 

Robertson, Rev. A., of Inverkeithing, on the limestones of Chasen 
364 

Rocks, secondary, of the Alps and Carpathians, remarks on, 176 

Rome, on the territory of, 76 

winter climate of, 190 

Rumford, Count, biography of, 209 


Salmon, queries respecting the natural history of, 358 
Salt lake in Asiatic Turkey, account of, 18 

Salt wells in China, 108 

Sang, Mr Edward, on capillary action, 280 

Serpentine rocks of Dee Side, on the, 314 

Sinai, Mount, remarkable noises heard at, 74 

Smelting of iron, improvement in the, 205 

Smith, James, Esq., on the milk-tree of Demerara, 315 
Snow line, on its height in Peru, 311 

Society, Wernerian, proceedings of the, 189, 384 


404 INDEX. 


Sounds, mysterious, notice of, 389 

Spain, on the geology of, by Hausmann, 267 

Spittal, Mr Robert, experiments on Mimosa pudica, 60 
Springs, fresh water, at the bottom of the sea, account of, 140 
their chemical constitution and temperature, 26 

of inflammable gas in China, 108 


Tabernzmontana, a species of, described, which yields milk, 318 
Temperature, on the mean, of the atmosphere and earth, 233 

Thibet, notice of Dr Gerard’s Travels in, 191 

Thompson, Sir Benjamin (Count Rumford), biographical account of, 209 
Tripang, or sea-slug of India, account of the, 46 

Trout, queries respecting the natural history of, 359 

Tytler, P. Esq., on the ancient forests of Scotland, 105 


Wauchope, Captain, description of an apparatus, or signal-post, for re- 
gulating chronometers, 289 

Wernerian Natural History Society, proceedings of the, 189, 384 

Wheat, observations on the growth of, 154 ; 

Whitefield, Mr C. T., on the manis pentadactyla, 58 

Wilson, James, Esq., on domestication of insects, 368 


Zinkenite, a new mineral, described, 148 


EXPLANATION OF PLATES. 


Plate I.—Holothuria tubulosa or Tripang, 46. 

Fig. 1. The Tripang or Holothuria laid open. The transparent ob. 
long bodies are represented at a ‘The lighter parts of the 
intestine are those containing fluid. ‘The lung is seen at & 

Fig. 2, Is the sac, after the removal of the organs; shewing the 
calcareous ring of the mouth, the transverse fibres and lon- 
gitudinal bands, arid the membrane, extended across the pos- 
terior extremity, which forms (and has been termed) the 
cloaca. 

Fig. 3. Is a view of the groups of vessels which, issuing from the 
lung, form one vessel, which divides immediately into many 
small branches, to be distributed to the contiguous intestine. 
On the outer surface of the intestine is seen a vessel, which 
may be traced to the anus, where it joins the pulmonary vein. 


Fig. 4. A tentaculum *. 


Plate II.—Geognostic Map of the Territory of Rome, p. 76. 
I1I.—Hart’s economical apparatus for heating apartments, p. 172. 
IV.—Chart of Professor Kupfer’s Isogeothermal lines. 
V.—lLlustrative of Captain Wauchope’s Signal-post for regulating 
Chronometers, p. 289. 
Vi.—Nepenthes distillatoria or Pitcher-plant of China, its seeds, and 
mode of germination, p. 379. 
* The Editor regrets that part of the interesting drawings illustrative of the Tripang have been 


lost in a quarter in London, where they had been deposited some time by the author. Mr Collier 
has again sailed for India, and promises to transmit to us without delay a further account of those 


animals, so important in a commercial point of view. 


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