^^7- 8^ S,\v^S^

THE

EDINBURGH NEW

PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL,

EXHIBITING A VIEW OF THE

PROGRESSIVE DISCOVERIES AND IMPROVEMENTS

IK THE

SCIENCES AND THE

ROBERT JAMESON^

RKOIVS PROrBSSOR OF NATUBAI, HISTORY, liBCTURBR ON MINKRALOGV, AND KBRPBR OV
THE MUSKUM IN THE UNIVERSITY OP EDINBURGH ;

Fellow of the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh} of the Antiquarian andWemerian 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 So-
ciety of Calcutta j of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, and of the Cambridge Philosophi-
cal Society ; of the York, Bristol, Cambrian/ Northern, and Cork Institutions ; of the Royal So-
ciety 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 Mineralogical Society
of Jena ; of the Royal Mineralogical Society of Dresden ; of the Natural History Society of Paris ;
of the Philomathic Society of Paris ; of the Natural History Society of Calvados ; of the Senken-
berg Society of Natural History ; Honorary Member of the Literary and Philosophical Society of
New York ; of the New York Historical Society ; of the American Antiquarian Society ; of the
Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia ; of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York,

OCTOBER 1827.. APRIL 1828.

TO BE CONTINUED QUARTERLY,

EDINBURGH :

PRINTED FOR ADAM BLACK, NORTH BRIDGE, EDINBURGH;

AND LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, & GREEN,

LONDON.

1828.

p. Neill^ Printer^ Edinhnrgh.

CONTENTS

Page
Art. I. Biographical Memoir of Sir William Herschel. By

Baron Fourier, - - - . i

II. Description of a New Magnetical Instrument (pro-
posed to be called the Solar Compass or Heliastron),
with some Observations on subjects intimately or
remotely connected with the phenomena it exhibits.
By Mark Watt, Esq. Member of the Wernerian
Natural History Society. With a Plate. Commu-
nicated by the Author, - - - 1 6

III. On the Semamith of Solomopi Prov. xxx. 28. By the

Rev. David Scot, M. D. M. W. S. F.H.S. E. Com-
municated by the Author, - - 30

IV. On Vegetable Substances growing on the bodies of

living Animals, - - - - 38

V. On the relative Proportions of certain parts of the
Eye of the Foetus, compared with the same parts of
the perfectly developed Eye. By Professor Carus, 41
VI. On the Irritability of the Stigma, and on the origin
and nature of certain parts of the Fructification in
Pinus Larix. By Mr David Don, Libr. Linn. Soc.
Member of the Imperial Academy Naturae Curioso-
rum, of the Royal Botanical Society of Ratisbon,
and of the Wernerian Society of Edinburgh, &c.
Communicated by the Author, - - 43

VII. Essay on the Domestication of Mammiferous Animals,
with some introductory considerations on the va-
rious states in which we may study their actions.
By M. Fred. Cuvier. Continued from former Vo-
lume, p. 318. - - - - 45
VIII. On a new Gyrogonite, or Fossile Capsule of the genus
Chara, occurring very abundantly in the fresh- water
Limestones of the neighbourhood of Paris. By M.
Constant Prevost, - - . - 60
IX. Notice regarding Fossil Remains found in Ava, 63

ii CONTENTS.

Art. X. Report made to the Royal Academy of Sciences of
Paris, upon a Memoir by M. Constant Prevost, en-
titled. An Examination of the Geological Question,
whether the Continents which we inhabit have
been repeatedly submersed by the Sea. By Mess.
CuviER and Cordier, - - - 66

XI. On the History and Constitution of Benefit or Friend-
ly Societies. By Mr W. Eraser, Edinburgh. Con-
tinued from p. 296. of former Volume, - 69
XII. Sketch of the Physical Geography of the Malvern
Hills. By William Ainsworth, Esq. Member of
the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, &c.
Communicated by the Author, - - 9I

XIV. 1. Proposed Improvement in the Theory of Sound,
and in the mode of Measuring its Velocity. 2. On
the Theory of the Variation of the Barometer. By
H. Meikle, Esq. Communicated by the Author, 100
XV. Excerpt from a Memoir on British Harbours, drawn
up in the year 1824. By Robert Stevenson, Esq.
F. R. S. E. & M. W. S. &c. Civil Engineer. With
a Plan. Communicated by the Author, - 110

XVI. Observations on the Coal-field, and accompanying
Strata, in the vicinity of Dalkeith, Mid-Lothian.
By Robert Bald, Esq. F. R. S. E. M. W. S. &c.
Mining-Engineer. Communicated by the Author, 115

XVII. On the Covering of Birds, considered chiefly with re-

ference to the Description and Distinction of Spe-
cies, Genera and Orders. By Mr W. Macgillivray,
M.W.S. &c. Continued from former Vol. p. 263. 123

XVIII. A Tour to the South of France and the Pyrenees, in

1825. By G. A. Walker Arnott, Esq. F.R.S.E.
F.L.S. M.W.S. Continued from former Vol. p. 356. 130

XIX. Account of Harris, one of the Districts of the Outer

Hebrides. Communicated by the Author, 1 40

XX. On the Discovery of Native Iron in Canaan, Connec-
ticut, North America, - - - 154

XXI. General Observations on Natural History, made du-
ring a Journey among the Blue Mountains in New
South Wales, By M. R. P. Lesson, - 156

XXIII. Analyses made at Colombo of Ceylonese Varieties of
Ironstone and Limestone. ByGEORGE Middleton,
Esq. Apothecary to the Forces. Communicated by
Sir James M'Grigor, - - ,- I67

CONTENTS. iii

Art. XXIV. Letter from Professor Leslie to the Editor on
Mr Ritchie's Experiments on Heat, and New
Photometer, - - - - 171

XXV. Description of several New or Rare Plants which
have flowered in the Royal Botanic Garden,
Edinburgh, during the last three months.
Communicated by Dr Graham, - 172

XXVL Celestial Phenomena from January 1. to April 1.
1828, calculated for the Meridian of Edin-
burgh, Mean Time. By Mr George Innes,
Aberdeen, - - - - 177

XXVIL Proceedings of the Wernerian Nat. Hist. Society, 179

XXVHL Scientific Intelligence.

METEOROLOGY.

1. Great Fall of Rain at Bombay, - - - 182

HYDROGRAPHY.

2. Colour of the Red Sea. 3. Melted Snow employed as Drink.

4. Notice regarding the Falls of Rewah, and a remark-
able Conical Hill at Myhur, - - - 182

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY.

5. Distances at which Sounds are heard. 6. Capillary Action

7. Farther Observations made on the Solar Compass, 183-4

CHEMISTRY.

8. Metal of Alumina, - « - - - 185

MINERALOGY.

9. Largest known masses of Native Platina. 10. On the Os-

tranite, a new Mineral Species; by Aug. Breithaupt
11. On the Rose-coloured Petrosilex of Sahlberg; by M.
*Berthier, ----- 185-6

GEOLOGY.

12. From what Countries have the Islands in the^ West Indies
derived their Plants? 13. Fossil Skeletons of Guada-
loupe. 14. Organic Remains of the Alluvium and Di-
luvium of Sussex. 15. Hansteens projected Journey to
Siberia. 16. Partsch's Journey through Transylvania.
17. Fossil Remains of Quadrupeds in the Tertiary Rocks
of Vienna. IS. Von Buch's Observations and Specula-
tions in regard to the Alps. 19- Boue's Memoir on Eu-
ropean Formations, and their probable Origin. 20. Dr
Boue on Secondary Rocks, - - - 187-190

BOTANY.

21. Signs of Increase, Maturity, and Decay in Trees; by M.

iv CONTENTS.

Baudrilla^:, 22. Botanical Excursion in Sutherland-
shire, - - - - - ^71-193

ZOOLOGY.

23. On the tendency of Matter to become Organized. 24. On
the Animalcules that colour Oysters Green. 25. Bea-
ver. 26. On the Culture of Bees in Forests ; by M.
Buttner, 27- Peculiar Cases of the Use of Milk as Food;
28. On the predestination of the Sex. 29- Growth and
habits of a Young Rhinoceros. SO. Cuvier's Great Work
on the Natural History of Fishes. 31. A New Species of
Pentacrinus discovered in the West Indies, 194-200

PHYSIOLOGY.

32. Distribution of Nerves in Muscular Fibres, - 200

ANATOMY.

31. Sabulous Formation in the Brain, - - 201

ARTS.

34. Water Works of the Ancient Romans. 35, Manner of
Bronzing Statues, Medals, and Ornaments made of Cop-
per or Bronze. 36. Loss of Gold and Silver in Gilding
and Plating. 37- Piney Tallow. 38. Indelible Writing
Ink. 39. Lardner's Lectures on the Steam-Engine. 40.
Carter's Patent Cast-Iron Roofing, - - 201-203

STATISTICS AND GEOGRAPHY.

41. Civilization of the Aborigines of Newfoundland. 42. Capt.

Parry's reported Second Expedition to the North Pole, 205, 6

NEW PUBLICATIONS.

1. Introduction to Comparative Anatomy. By Professor Ca-

Rus of Dresden. Translated from the German by R. T.
Gore, Esq. 2 vols 8vo, with a 4to volume of Plates, 206

2. Conversations on the Animal Economy. By a Physician.

In Two Volumes 8vo, - - - - 208

3. Memoir on the Pentacrinus europaeus; a recent species dis-

covered in the Cove of Cork, July 1. 1823; with Two
illustrative Plates. By John V. Thompson, F.L.S. Sur-
geon to the Forces, _ - ,. - 209

4. Anatomical Description of the Human Eye. By Alexan-

der Watson, Esq. Fellow of the Royal College of Sur-
geons, Edinburgh. Illustrated by a Coloured Plate, ib.

5. Forthcoming Transactions of Foreign Societies, - 210
Art. XXIX. List of Patents granted in England, from 1 7th

August to 29th November 1827, - 210

XXX. List of Patents granted in Scotland from 3d

October to 6th December 1827, - 212

CONTENTS

Page
Art. I. Biographical Memoir of Peter Simon Pallas, Coun-
sellor of State to his Majesty the Emperor of all
the Russias. By Baron Cuvier, Knight, Professor,

&c. 211

11. Observations on the large Brown Hornet of New
South Wales, with reference to Instinct. By the
Rev. John M'Garvie, A. M. In a letter to James
DuNLOP, Esq. Paramatta, - - - 237

III. Analysis of the Gil-i-toorsh, or Sour Clay, used in aci-

dulating Sherbet in Persia. By Edward Turner,
M. D. F.R.S.E. Professor of Chemistry in the Uni-
versity of London. Communicated by the Author, 243

IV. Account of Excavations made at Pompeii from De-

cember 1826 to August 1827. By T. C. RaMaoe,
Esq. Communicated by the Author, - 244

V. Sketch of the Natural History of the Salmo Salar, or
Common Salmon. 1. Of the Process of Spawning,
and subsequent evolution of the ova: 2. Of the
growth and movements of the Young Brood, to and
from the sea during the first year of life ; and, 3.
Of the migrations of the Salmon betwixt the River
and the Sea. By Daniel Ellis, Esq. F. R. S. E.
With a Plate, . - - - 250

VI. On the Temperature of the Interior of the Earth. By
M. L. CoRDiER, Member of the Royal Academy of
Sciences, and Professor of Geology in the Garden
of Plants, - - - - - 273

VII. Memorandum from the Right Honourable the Lord
President, containing some facts relating to the
Natural History of the Swallow and the Partridge, 290
VIII. Essay on the Domestication of Mammiferous Animals,
with some introductory considerations on the va-
rious states in which we may study their actions.
By M. Frederick Cuviek. (Continued from p. 60.) 292

ii CONTENTS.

Art. IX. On the History and Constitution of Benefit or Friend- .
ly Societies. By Mr W. Fraser, Edinburgh. Con-
tinued from p. 91. - - - 298
X, A Short Sketch of the Geology of Nithsdale, chiefly
in an Economical point of View, and contrasted
with that of the neighbouring Valleys. By James
Stuart Menteath, Esq. younger of Closeburn,
Member of the Wernerian Natural History Society.
1. General Account. 2. Basin of New Cumnock. 3. Ba-
sin of Sanquhar. 4. Basin of Closeburn. 5. Basin
of Dumfries. 6. Upper and Lower Basin of Annan-
dale. 7- Upper and Lower Basin of Eskdale. 8.
Annandale and Eskdale contrasted with Nithsdale.
9. Basin of the Dee contrasted with Nithsdale, 314
XI. A proposition for carrying on a Course of Experi-
ments, with a view to constructing, as a National
Instrument, a large Refracting Telescope, with a
fluid concave Lens, instead of the usual Lens of
Flint Glass. Addressed to his Royal Highness
the Lord High Admiral, and the Right Honour-
able and Honourable Members of the Board of
Longitude. By Peter Barlow, F. R. S. Mem.
Imp. Ac. Petrop. &c. &c. - - 323
XII. On the Principal Causes of the Difference of Tem-
perature on the Globe. By Baron Alexander
Von Humboldt, - - 329
XIII. Some Account of the Habits of a Specimen of Siren
lacertina, which has been kept alive at Canonmills,
near Edinburgh, for more than two years past.
By Patrick Neill, A.M. F.R.S.E. and Sec. W.S.
Communicated by the Author, - - 346
XIV. A Tour to the South of France and the Pyrenees in
the year 1825. By G. A. Walker Arnott, Esq.
F. R. S. E. F. L. S. M. W. S. &c. (Continued from
p. 139.), - - - - ^ 355
XV. Narrative of an attempt to reach the North Pole, in
Boats fitted for the purpose, and attached to His
Majesty's ship Hecla, in the year 1827, under the
command of Captain W. E. Parry, R. N. F. R. S. L.

&c. 363

XVI. Observations on the Dissecting and Preparing of the

Bodies of Animals. By Professor Carus, - 378

CONTENTS. iu

Art. XVII. On the Irritability of the Sensitive Plant. ByM.

DUTROCHET, - - - - - - 380

XVIII. Description of an Improved Air- Pump. By John

Dunn, Optician, Edinburgh. With a Plate, 382
XIX. Remarks upon the Wasting Effects of the Sea on
the shore of Cheshire, between the rivers Mer-
sey and Dee. By Robert Stevenson, Esq.
Civil Engineer, F.R.S.E. M.W.S. &c. Com-
municated by the Author, - - 386

XX. Description of several New or Rare Plants, which
have flowered in the Royal Botanic Garden,
Edinburgh, during the last three months. By
Dr Graham, - - « . 389

XXI. Celestial Phenomena from April 1. to July 1. 1828,
calculated for the Meridian of Edinburgh, Mean
Time. By Mr George Innes, Aberdeen, 394

XXII. Proceedings of the Wernerian Natural History

Society. Continued from p. 1 82. - 397

XXIII. Scientific Intelligence.

ASTRONOMY.

I. Appendix to the Nautical Almanack. 2. Reduction of the

Observations made by Sir T. M. Brisbane in the Sou-
thern Hemisphere. 3. Voyage of Experiment and Dis-
covery. 4. Charts of the Zodiacal Stars, - 398, 399

meteorology.
5. Meteorological Table, extracted from the Register kept at
Kinfauns Castle, North Britain ; Lat. 56" 23' 30". ; above
the Level of the Sea 140 feet. 6. Mr Watt's Solar and
Lunar Compasses, - - - - 399, 400

CHEMISTRY.

7. Animal Matter in Mineral Waters, 8. Crystals of Oxalate
of Lime in Plants. 9* Iodine in Cadmium. 10. New
Mode of preserving crystals of Salts, - - 401

GEOLOGY.

II. Inflammable Gas arising after boring for Salt. 12. In-

flammable Gas from Salt Mines employed for producing
Light 13. Analysis of Peat. 14. Geology of the Hi..

W " CONTENTS.

malaya Mountains. 15. Natural Gas-Lights at Fre-
donea^ - - - - - ' 401-404

BOTANY.

16. Eriophorum pubescens. 17. Rhodiola and Scilla, 404

ZOOLOGY.

18. Recovery from Drowning. 19. Preservation of Skins.
20. Stupendous Lizard. 21. Sea Serpents and Colossal
Medusa. 22. Chinese method of Fattening Fish. 23.
Leacia lacertosa, - - - - 405-408

GEOGRAPHY.

24. Mr Cormack*s Journey in search of the Red Indians. 25.
Mr Thomas Park's Journey into the Interior of Afri-
ca, - - - - - 408,410

ARTS. '^

g6. Manufacture of Ultramarine. 27. St Helena Silk. 28.

Size and Value of Mahogany, - - 410, 41 1

NEW PUBLICATIONS.

29. Illustrations of Zoology; by James Wilson, Esq. F.R.S.
M.W.S. 30. A History of British Animals, exhibiting
the descriptive characters and systematical arrangement
of the Genera and Species of Quadrupeds, Birds, Rep-
tiles, Fishes, Mollusca, and Radiata of the United King-
dom ; including the Indigenous, Extirpated and Extinct
Kinds, together with periodical and occasional visitants ;
by John Fleming, D.D. F.R.S.E. M.W.S. &c. Minister
of Flisk, Fifeshire, and Author of the Philosophy of Zoo-
logy. 31. Elements of Natural History, adapted to the
present state of the Science ; by John Stark, Esq.
F.R.S.E. & M.W.S. 32. Sketches of the Maritime Co^
lonies of British America, - - - 411,412

Art. XXIV. List of Patents granted in England from 20th

November 1827 to 30th January 1828, 412

XXV. List of Patents granted in Scotland from 6th

December 1827 to 23d February 1828, 415

List of Plates, » - - 416

THE

EDINBURGH NEW

PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL.

Biographical Memoir of Sir William Herschel. By Baron

Fourier *.

X HE illustrious individual, with an account of whose life I
am about to present you, was one of those extraordinary men
who, although destined to honour their country and their age,
have at their outset had to surmount all the obstacles which an
adverse fortune presents to the first efforts of genius. He open-
ed up new paths in a sublime science ; he saw stars whose exist-
ence was previously unknown, and extended the boundaries of
the visible heavens. Supported by the liberality of a powerful
monarch, he devoted his life to immortal labours, and, for forty
years, the fame of his discoveries has echoed through all
Europe.

At the age of nineteen he was only a musician in the Hano-
verian Guards. His father, who had a numerous family to sup-
port, was an able teacher of music, and educated five of his chil-
dren in his own profession. William, his second son, who was
possessed of a lively imagination and elevated mind, left his na-
tive city Hanover in 1757, and went over to England, where the
state of society held out to him the prospect of a better fate.

He resided some years in the county of Durham, then at
Hahfax, and soon after was appointed director of music to the

■ Read to the Royal Academy of Sciences of the Institute of France, on
the 7th June 1 824.

OCTOBER DECEMBER 1827- A

2 Biographical Memoir of' Sir William Hcrschel.

Octagon Chapel at Bath. In this situation he enjoyed a con-
siderable income, arising partly from his office, and partly, also,
from his directing public concerts, and oratorios.

His talents were admired, his character bj^loved, and his man-
ners esteemed ; and, in a country where the fine arts are duly
appreciated, if the common advantages of fortune had been his
only object of ambition, his desires would have all been satisfied;
but an internal power impelled him to higher destinies, — he was
one day to extend the empire of science.

The profound study of his art led him by degrees to that of
geometry ; for there exist numerous relations between the laws
of harmony and the theorems of mathematics, as has been prov-
ed by many illustrious geometricians, from Pythagoras and Eu-
clid to Descartes, Huygens and Euler.

Herschel, introduced by geometry to the knowledge of theo-
retical astronomy, was seized with astonishment and admiration^
and felt as if transported into a new world. Pie anxiously de-
sired to contemplate for himself those celestial phenomena whose
laws the human intellect had been able to discover. It was
then that he began to construct telescopes, and undertook to im-
prove their use ; and as perseverance in his resolutions was al-
ways the distinguishing character of his mind, he accomplished
these objects, and soon found himself possessed of instruments
superior to all that an art so difficult and ingenious had yet
produced. His first astronomical observations, which bear the
date of 1776, were followed by a memorable discovery which
excited the public attention to the highest degree, — I mean that
of the planet which for several years has borne the name of
Herschel.

The earliest observers of the heavens distinguished a small
number of stars, which are continually changing their position
with regard to the fixed stars, and return periodically to the same
points of the sphere. The different durations of these revolu-
tions of the planets were known and compared with each other
from time immemorial, and to them is owing the period of seven
days, the universal monument of the astronomy of the ancient
nations. The moderns had made wonderful advances in the
description and study of the heavens. Galileo, Huygens, and Do-
imnique Cassini, had observed the first of the secondary stars

Biographical Memoir of Sir William Herschel. f3

which the planets carry along with them in their course ; but it
was not discovered, till the close of the last century, that there
existed an immense planet beyond the orbit of Saturn. This
discovery was destine^- to be the fruit of Hcrschers labours. He
pursued with constancy the enterprise which he had formed of
examining successively the various regions of the heavens, and
of noting down all the remarkable phenomena which occur-
red. At Bath, on the 13th March 1781, while examining, with
one of his best telescopes, the constellation of Gemini, he ob-
served a star, the light of which appeared to him very differ-
ent from that of the neighbouring stars, and somewhat to resemble
that of Saturn, but much feebler. The perfection of the instru-
ment permitted him to see a well defined disk. Having con^
tinued his observations, he discovered that this star had shifted
its place, although its motion with relation to the other stars
was very slow, for it had been stationary during twelve days
preceding. This observation was transmitted to Maskelyne
and Lalande, and was confirmed at Paris, Milan, Pisa, Berlin,
and Stockholm. The star was generally considered as an ex-
traordinary comet free of all nebulosity ; and astronomers were
occupied in determining the parabolic elements of its course.
The President Bochard de Saron, of the Academy of Sciences
of Paris, and Lexel, an astronomer of St Petersburg, who was
in Lond.on at the time, were the first who discovered its circular
form, and calculated the dimensions of the orbit. It was now
no longer doubted, that HerschePs star was a new planet ; and
all subsequent observations verified this unexpected result. We
have here a striking proof of the perfection of modern theories ;
for the laws regulating the motion of this new planet, were de-
termined before it had accomplished the tenth part of its course,
and that motion was not less accurately known than that of
other planets which had been observed during so many centu-
ries. Its distance from the sun is double that of Saturn, that
is to say, upwards of 660,000,000 of miles ; its volume is more
than seventy times as large as that of the earth ; it may be seen,
in favourable weather, without the assistance of a glass. The
period of its revolution is about eighty-four years ; and its tem-
perature, situated at the extremities of the known planetary sys-
tem, is more than forty degi'ees below that of ice. Some idea

4 BiograpJtkal Memoir of Sir William Herschcl.

of its distance from the earth may be formed from the fact, that
light, which travels at the rate of 70,000 miles in a second, takes
about two hours and a half to come from it to us.

Herschel, and, previous to his time, IJgiminique Cassini anJ
Galileo, wished to give to the celestial bodies which they disco-
vered, the names of the princes who had favoured their la-
bours ; several astronomers have proposed the names of the first
observers ; but the names of the recently discovered planets have
not been dictated either by justice or gratitude ; they have been
drawn from the confused remembrance of fables that have be-
come unintelligible. The new planet received from Herschel the
name of the Georgium Sidus; while astronomers at first gave It
that of Herschel, but afterwards hesitated with regard to the
names of Cybele, Neptune, and Uranus, the last of which ulti-
mately prevailed.

When the motion of this planet was calculated, the points of
the heavens which it had successively occupied during the pre-
ceding century, could be pointed out ; and thus, on consulting
the collections of preceding observations, it was discovered that
Flamsteed, Mayer, and Lemonier, had pointed out, in those
very places, stars which are now no longer to be seen there.
Their observations evidently refer to Herschefs planet, which
they had not distinguished from the fixed stars.

The cosmological opinions of Kepler, Lambert, and Kant, led
them to suppose the existence of an eighth planet between Jupi-
ter and Mars. The comparison that had been made of the dis-
tances of each planet from that of Mercury, which is the nearest
to the sun, suggested a similar remark. The discovery of Uranus
rendered the idea much more plausible, and excited astronomers
to new researches. The result was, that, in the great interval
between Mars and Jupiter, and at a distance differing little
from what had been indicated, there were discovered four small
stars, which look like so many separated parts of the same pla-
netary body, and which can only be perceived with the aid of
telescopes. These important observations were made about the
commencement of the present century ; we owe them to Piazzi,
Olbers, and Harding.

The astronomical labours of the music master of the Bath
Chapel, the perfection of his instruments, which were all his own

BiograpJiical Memoir of' Sir William Herschel. 5

workmanship, the singular circumstances of his life, the aids
with which the arts had furnished him, and the noble use to
which he applied his leisure hours, were the subject of conversa-
tion in England, andjrfiroughout all Europe. AH these details
fiime to the knowledge of the king. George the Third loved
the sciences as the ornament of states, and as a pure source
of glory and public prosperity. He sent for Herschel, antici-
pated and realized all his views, and made him fix his residence
at Datchett, and soon after at» Slough, within a very short
distance of Windsor Castle.

The retreat of Slough became one of the most remarkable
places of the civilised world ; it was visited by illustrious travel-
lers ; Herschel dwelt there with his family ; it was there that
he finished his long and memorable career. The king interested
himself in all his researches, and frequently wished to augment
the expences proposed, in order that nothing might hmit either
the perfection or the dimension of his instruments. History
ought to preserve for ever the reply of this prince to a celebrat-
ed foreigner who was thanking him for the large sums he had
expended in furthering the progress of astronomy. " I pay the
expences of war,"" said the king, " because they are necessary ;
as to those of science, it is agreeable to me to prescribe them ;
their object costs no tears, and does honour to human nature.*"

Herschel had secured the assistance of one of his brothers, a
loan well skilled in theoretical and practical mechanics, who se-
conded all his designs, directed the carpenters in the construc-
tion of the large instruments, and, with a rare sagacity, realized,
almost as soon as expressed, all his brother'*s inventions. Their
sister. Miss Caroline, soon acquired a very extensive knowledge
in astronomy and mathematics. A lively and constant friend-
ship, the desire of contributing to the glory of her brother, and
without doubt a disposition of mind peculiar to this extraordi-
nary family, procured her unrivalled success in her studies.
She digested and published his observations. We are also in-
debted to her for the discovery of several comets. She partici-
pated in all the watchings, and in all the literary labours of her
brother ; and assuredly no astronomer ever had a more intelli-
gent, more faithful, and more attentive assistant.

In this secluded retreat, adorned by the fine arts, and still

6 Biographical Memoir of Sir William Herschel.

more by peace and the domestic virtues, Herschel, free from all
cares, surrounded by a beloved wife and family, devoted to
science, surrendered himself to the inspirations of his genius, or,
in other words, to an invincible desire of studying nature and
interrogating the heavens ; and, to borrow the words of one (4
his most celebrated cotemporaries, it was from this solitary vil-
lage that the world was instructed in whatever was most singu-
lar, and, perhaps, most difficult to perceive in the heavens.

The history of optical inventions, and of their progressive im-
provement, is too well known to require any notice in this place.
Herschel's telescopes are those that have been named Newtonian.
But he never ceased to study their properties, to vary them, and
extend their use. Taught by long experience, he suppressed
the plain mirror which produced a second reflection ; and this
happy change, wjiich was long before proposed by Lemaire, but
difficult of execution, and only applicable in large instruments,
doubled, in a manner, the optical effect.

He found, that, by exercising the eye in a gradual manner, it
is rendered much more sensible to the impression of a weak light,
and by this means he was enabled to magnify the images of ob-
jects much beyond the limits at which other observers had been
arrested. He detected two different properties which had not
yet been distinguished, that which consists in augmenting the
apparent dimension of bodies, and that of penetrating into the
profundity of space to discover objects which might have been
entirely imperceptible. Multiplied examples leave no doubt re-
garding the truth and striking utility of this distinction.

At length he formed the resolution of carrying the power of
these instruments to the highest possible limits ; regarding less
the circumstances calculated to facilitate their employment, than
those which might augment their optical power, he constructed
a telescope of extraordinary dimensions. It is indeed the largest
instrument of this kind that has ever been made.

Let any one imagine to himself an iron tube, 40 feet long and
15 inches in diameter, suspended beneath an assemblage of inclin-
ed masts, and moved in all directions by a number of machines.
The entire system is moveable round a vertical axis, and de-
scribes a circumference of 40 feet diameter. A highly polished
metallic mirror, weighing about 2000 pounds, is introduced in-

Biographical Memoir of Sir William HerschcL 7

to llie tube, and when the instrument is turned toward the hea-
vens, this mirror reflects the shining image of the stars. The
observer is himself transported along with the tube in any di-
rection required, for he is placed in a seat attached to the upper
extremity ; the objects which he observes are behind him, and
he views their reflected images.

Herschel discovered, with this telescope, two new satellites of
Saturn ; they are both nearer the planet than those made known
by Iluygens and Cassini. Never had the heavens been ob-
served with so extraordinary an instrument ; and, it may be said,
that the greatest phenomena displayed themselves under a no-
vel aspect. The nebulosities, those small luminous and irregu-
lar clouds which may be remarked among the fixed stars, in va-
rious regions of the heavens, appeared almost all to resolve
themselves into an innumerable multitude of stars ; others, hi-
therto imperceptible, seemed to have acquired a distinct light.
On the entrance of Sirius into the field of the telescope, the eye
was so violently affected, that stars of less magnitude could not
immediately after be perceived ; and it was necessary to wait for
twenty minutes before these stars could be observed.

The instruments, of which he had previously made use, were
less advantageous for the observation of some phenomena ; but
it was more easy for him to multiply them, and vary their modes
of application. No astronomer had yet been able to acquire so
complete and so distinct a knowledge of the phenomena of the
heavens. For example, the ring of Saturn always ceased to be
jxjrceived when its plane was directed toward the earth ; but the
feeble light which it reflects in that position was enough for Her-
schel, and the ring still remained visible to him.

An entirely new and very important observation made by him,
was that of certain remarkable points on the surface of Saturn's
ring. From these points, Herschel concluded, that this satellite,
remarkable for its singular form, turns upon itself round an axis
perpendicular to its plane; and he measured the duration of tliis
rotatory motion, which is about ten hours and a-half.

Not long before, a great geometrician in France investigated
tlie same question, and solved it by mathematical anal3'sis, which
is also a very powerful instrument, and the most general of all.
M, dc Laplace demonstrated, that the rotation of the ring of Sa-

8 Biographical Mernoir of' Sir William Herschel.

turn is a necessary consequence of the general principle of gra-
vitation. He deduced from his analysis the same duration of
ten hours and a-half, which the English astronomer afterwards
found by direct observation. The history of science presents
nothing more worthy of the attention of philosophers than this
wonderful accordance of theoretical inductions with the improve-
ment of the arts.

HerschePs observations are so numerous and so varied, that
we cannot here attempt any exposition of their subjects. Most
of them have been confirmed and reduced to perfect certainty.
The instruments which he used, and which possess so many re-
markable advantages, are, however, liable to difficulties which
limit their utility. His largest telescopes ought always to be
considered rather as instruments of discovery than as instru-
ments of precise measurement. In this respect they are among
the most perfect productions of human ingenuity.

We shall now speak of HerschePs views and experiments re-
lative to the physical properties of the solar rays. From a long
series of observations, made with powerful telescopes, he con-
cluded that the light does not emanate from the body of the
sun, but from certain shining and phosphoric clouds, which are
produced and developed in its atmosphere. He thought that
this immense ocean of light is violently agitated in its whole
depth ; that, when it is broken up, we perceive either the soHd
mass which is not so luminous, or its volcanic cavities, and that
this is the origin of those black and variable spots which are seen
on the sun's disk. Their extent is often much greater than the
whole surface of the terrestrial globe ; they disappear when a
calm is re-established in the solar atmosphere. It is well known
that these spots, first observed by Galileo, led to the discovery
of the sun's motion around its axis, and shewed that this motion
is accomplished in twenty-five days and a-half.

The new improvements in optics afford a very unexpected
means of determining, whether it be true, as Herschel imagined,
that the solar light does not issue from an incandescent solid or
fluid. In fact, when such a body, raised to a very high tempe-
rature, becomes luminous, the rays which it gives off in all di-
rections do not come from the outer surface only, but are al-
so emitted like the rays of heat by a multitude of material points

Biographical Memoir (yf Sir William Hemchcl. 9

placed beneath the surface to a certain depth, extremely small
it is true, but actually existing. Now, such of these rays as
traverse the envelope of the heated mass obliquely, acquire and
preserve a peculiar property which can be rendered sensible by
experiment ; they are polarized. But if the same mass, instead
of being rendered luminous by its proper temperature, is only
covered with an extended flame, which is the source of its light,
the rays then do not possess this property.

We have, therefore, been enabled to submit to this singular
test the light which the sun sends to us. M. Arago, the author
of this beautiful experiment, and by whose labours natural phi-
losophy and astronomy have often been enriched, has in fact dis-
covered, that the solar rays, even when transmitted obliquely,
are not polarized. It is therefore obvious, that, in regard to this
point of the question, the opinion proposed by Herschel would
be immediately deduced from the latest discovered properties of
light. His researches, also, regarding the annual variations of
the solar heat have excited the attention of philosophers ; and
we shall soon be in possession of more accurate information on
this subject. In several countries, and especially at the Royal
Observatory of France, it has been resolved to collect and to
publish every year accurate observations with respect to the ex-
tent, the progress, and disappearance of the solar spots.

We have now to mention the memorable experiments of Her-
schel, which have given a new development to the physical
theory of the sun''s rays. In studying the nature of that star,
which had become with him a habitual subject of meditation, he
employed variously coloured glasses for diminishing the intensity
of the light. He thus had numerous opportunities of observing
to what degree the interposition of these glasses modified the
heat or light. It was not in the nature of his mind to stop at
superficial remarks. He therefore undertook a series of varied
experiments, and general physics was enriched with new and
important facts, which have been fully confirmed by subsequent
observations. It had long been discovered that the rays sepa-
rated by the prism, and forming the solar spectrum, do not pos-
sess the faculty of heating the terrestrial bodies to the same de-
gree. This opinion had been verified by experiments made in
Italy and France.

10 Biographical Memoir of' Sir William HerscheL

In tracing the origin of this question, we find it in the writ-
ings of a celebrated woman, whose name belongs to the literary
history of France. Emilie du Chatelet, previously to her trans-
lating and commenting upon the works of Newton, had sent a
physical memoir to the Academy of Sciences at Paris, and af-
terwards embarked with Euler in the examination of one of the
greatest objects of natural philosophy, the theory of fire. In
this memoir of Madame du Chatelet's, which was printed in
1738 by order of the Academy, the illustrious author proposes y
to collect a sufficient quantity of homogeneous light to prove
whether the differently coloured primitive rays have not also
unequal degrees of heat ; whether, as appears to her to be very
probable, the red ray, for example, does not give more heat than
the violet ray. The writer adds, " the experiment deserves
to be tried by those philosophers who may examine this es-
say." The idea here expressed was proved correct, as we have
said, by the observations of Landriani and Bochon. Herschers
experiments on the same subject not only afforded a complete
solution of the question, but led to entirely new results. He
measured with precision the thermometrical effects of the seven
unequally refrangible rays, and found that the red rays con-
tained of themselves more heat than all the others together.
The impression on the thermometer rapidly diminishes from
the red to the violet rays, which are placed at the other extre-
mity. The principal feature of HerscheFs talent was an ex-
traordinary disposition to consider the same object with unre-
mitting perseverance, and under every point of view. On re-
peating his experiments on the solar rays, he wished to deter-
mine the limit at which all sensible impression of heat ceases,
and the point at which the impression is strongest. While en-
gaged in this investigation, he met with a very unexpected re-
sult ; he saw that the thermometrical effect continues beyond
the red rays in the dark space bordering upon the spectrum,
and it was even in that unilluminatcd space, and upon the pro-
longation of the axis, that he found the point where the heat
communicated is the greatest. The situation of this point is
found to vary according to the circumstances of the experiment ;
but, be this as it may, it is certain that this mixture of rays
which the same star transmits to us, and which the prism re-

Biographical Memoir of' Sir William Herschel 11

Tracts unequally, and divides into coloured elements, contains,
also, an invisible heat, whose action may be rendered sensible
and may be measured.

The same observer further proposed to himself, to discover
what are the rays which possess the power of illuminating bo-
dies in the highest degree. He found, by a particular set of
experiments, that this property belongs to the yellow rays, and
that it diminishes with considerable rapidity, as we pass from
these rays to either extremity of the spectrum.

These singular discoveries excited a lively interest in all the
learned societies. The existence of an invisible radiating heat,
mingled with the solar light, was disputed. The discoverer was
himself exposed to contradictions which exceeded all the bounds
of literary criticism ; but that great philosopher having given
the necessary explanations, kept silence on the subject. His ex-
periments were repeated in England, Germany, and France,
under the eyes o^^the most expert observers in Europe, and the
truth of the results was universally recognised.

It happened, also, that the distinction of the coloured rays,
and of the invisible heat which the sun transmits, gave rise to the
discovery of another not less remarkable property of the light of
that star. The intensity of the chemical action of the different
rays was made the subject of observation, and it was found that
this action also, like that of the heat, subsists in an unilluminated
space, but at the opposite extremity of the spectrum beyond the
violet rays. We merely mention this experiment, as it does not
properly belong to our subject ; and it is enough for us to add,
that, at the present day, the existence of invisible rays of heat
mingled with the sun''s light, can no longer be questioned. It
was chiefly in this that the discovery announced by Herschel
consisted. It seemed as if he were destined to discover and
render sensible objects and properties, which had eluded the re-
search of all other observers for a long series of affes.

Although our planetary system occupies an extent of
twelve hundred millions of miles, it may yet be said to form but
an imperceptible point in the immensity of space. Thus far has
the genius of man enabled him to penetrate into the vast regions
of the universe. He has seen innumerable suns beyond the na-
tural limits of his senses ; for the divine intellect frtnn which his

IS Biog^raphkal Memoir of' Sir William HcrsclicL

reason emanates, has given him the power of forming, as it were,
new organs for himself. From time immemorial, sensible
changes have been observed in the colour and brightness of se-
veral stars ; new stars have been seen all of a sudden bursting
forth into brilliancy, and, like ignited bodies, gradually fading
and disappearing, having, perhaps, been converted into unillumi-
nated orbs, and for ever withdrawn from our view. The proper
and always extremely slow motions of a pretty large number of
stars have been observed, or the alternating and periodical va-
riations of some of these bodies. A more perfect knowledge of
the history of the heavens is without doubt reserved for the ge-
nerations to come. We can only, at present, hope for fixed and
accurate results, like those of planetary astronomy ; we are con-
fined to the description of the present state, and the distinction
of the general characters of phenomena. The invention of te-
lescopes, and especially HerschePs observations, have ^iven a
prodigious extension to this branch of celestiaWphysics.

We shall not here enumerate all the cosmological views of
this great astronomer. The exposition of so extensive a theory
would exceed the limits assigned to us ; but we shall point out
some of its principal features. He ranks in the first class the
stars which he names isolated, that is, such as are separated
from the others by immense intervals, and do not appear sub-
ject to a mutual action, whose effect is appreciable. He then
considers the double or triple stars, or the more complex side-
ral assemblages, whicli are systems of luminous bodies, evident-
ly approximated and retained by an existing cause, and move
together round a common axis.

He next passes to the description of the nebulosities, or those
milky-looking and confused spots irregularly scattered through-
out the heavens. He chiefly observed the Milky Way, which he
considered as a single nebulosity formed of many millions of
stars. In it he saw more than fifty thousand traverse the field
of his telescope in an hour. All these stars are distributed in a
multitude of layers of great extent, in longth and breadth, and
so superimposed, that the thickness of the system is much
smaller than the other two dimensions. The stars which appear
to us to be the brightest belong to the Milky Way. This is also
the case with the sun, the centre of our planetary orbits, and it

Biog7'apMcal Memoir of Sir WilUam Hersclui. 13

is for this reason, that, being placed in the interior of this nebu-
losity, we see it as a zone which divides and surrounds the hea-
vens. The first origin of these views occurs, if I mistake not,
in the writings of Kant, and afterwards in those of Lambert,
one of the most celebrated geometricians of Germany. But Her-
schel, to whom these works were unknown, did not confine
himself to general considerations. He deduced from positive
and multiplied observations that explanation, which had been
entertained by the celebrated philosopher of Koenigsberg, and
the academician of Berlin.

He distinguishes among the nebulosities those which power-
ful telescopes resolve into a multitude of separate stars, those in
which one or more shining centres are observed, and those
which he names planetary, of a more defined spherical form,
and a more homogeneous lustre. He shews the sin<Tular varie-
ty of this order of phenomena, most of which were before un-
known. His catalogues contain more than two thousand nebu-
losities, some resembling the~ Milky- Way, others open in the
middle, and of an annular figure, but the greater part under the
most diversified and irregular forms. Lastly, He added a mul-
titude of observations to those that had already been made on
the stars which are coloured red, blue or green, or which pre-
sent shades of these colours, and principally on the double or
multiple stars.

If one now considers the whole of these Pacts together, he na-
turally rises to the idea of a rare and diffuse luminous matter,
of which all the celestial bodies have been formed. This mat-
ter, diffused over every part of the universe, is very une-
qually condensed there. It is still in the state of vapour in
many nebulosities, and in the atmospheres of the comets, which
are so extended and so variable. The principle of gravitation
does not act on the bodies of the planetary system alon? ; it is
present in all points of space, and always opposed to the expan-
sive force of heat. It is conceived that universal attraction may
have gradually united these luminous vapours ; that the shining
centres, whether single or multiple, the groupes of stars, and the
solid bodies, are formed of them. These effects are not equally
sensible in the different stars ; they are much advanced in some,
very weak in otliers, and tend to manifest themselves more and

14 Biograpfncal Memoir of Sir William Herscheh

more. Lastly, the same causes keep up among all these bodies
immense motions, which their extreme distance scarcely permits
us to distinguish.

Such, in so far as it is possible to express them in a few
words, are the cosmogonic views of Herschel. The illustrious
author of the Mecanique Celeste has arrived at similar inferen-
ces, by following a path directly the reverse. He has seen in
our system of planets and satellites, striking indications of the
origin of these bodies. He considers them as formed at the li-
mits of the sun's atmosphere, gradually condensed by the at-
tractive forces, and the loss of radiant heat. Thus all the funda-
mental circumstances of the planetary system are naturally
explained. There is no opinion more in conformity with the
present state of science ; it accounts for all the phenomena
known.

The celestial bodies, therefore, which are least distant from
us, present, with great precision, the general characters which
they retain of their origin ; they appear to have been produced,
like all the great phenomena of the Heavens, in the bosom of
those luminous vapours subjected to the two contrary actions of
gravitation and heat.

I shall not undertake, gentlemen, to fix your attention to the
various parts of this vast picture, to compare the distances of
these stars from those which we are able to measure, to compute
the years that must have elapsed before their light reached us.
Here the numbers, the times, and the spaces, want limits ; the
most comprehensive mind is unable to form a conception of the
immensity of the universe; it only attains it by rising to
thoughts of an order still more sublime. This reflection brings
us back to the sentiments which Herschel has frequently ex-
pressed, and which the contemplation of the wonders of the
Heavens constantly forced upon him. In each of the great
phenomena which he observed, he found the impress of an eter-
nal and creative wisdom, which rules, animates, and preserves,
and which has given immutable laws to all nature.

Let one now represent to himself the picture of an entire life
devoted to the fine arts, and to the description of the Heavens.
In the early period of his life Herschel struggled against fortune

Biographical Memoir of Sir WiUia77i Herschel. 15

and subdued her. His glory was increased by all that the
chance of birth had refused him.

The arts introduced him to the sanctuary of the sciences ;
he improved optics; he undertook to describe the natural his-
tory of the heavens; he saw new stars at the extremities of the
planetary world, the extent of which lie doubled.

He contemplated innumerable phenomena in regions where
the eye of mjsm had never before penetrated ; he studied the na-
ture of the sun, divided its rays, measured their brightness, se-
parated light from heat ; he saw the effects of gravitation in all
the depths of space. To no man was it given to make known
to others so great a number of new stars. Whatever the uni-
verse displays of what is immense and imperishable, was the ha-
bitual object of his contemplation. Such were the occupations
of his mind ; let us now notice the sentiments with which they
inspired him.

He lived in the heart of a nation which, above all others, re-
gards the glory of its great men as public property. He enjoy-
ed pure happiness in the bosom of his family ; his prayers were
answered by the success of his son, and he heard the public
voice repeating the just and soothing expression, which may.
here be applied to so many others, Herschel leaves a son worthy
of his father. A benevolent prince had wished to be acquaint-
ed with him, and from that moment declared himself his pro-
tector and friend. His sister Caroline Herschel, an admii'able
model of disinterestedness, gentleness and perseverance, devoted
her life to him. For more than forty years she assisted at all
his watchings, collected all his thoughts, transcribed with her
own hand, and published all his works ; nor could she permit
any other to have this charge committed to him. She wrote
and preserved those immense registers which Herschel left to
his son, in which are faithfully deposited from the year 1776
all his observations and experiments, — a truly noble and glo-
rious inheritance, which is at once the monument of a sublime
science, and of the most affecting friendship.

Astronomy and physics will long find in these records a fer-
tile source of comparisons and discoveries. Thus the influence
of great men stretches forth into futurity ; and it is not at dieir
death that all the fruits of their labours can be appreciated.

16 Biographical Memoir of Sir William Hersclui.

The physical picture of the heavens traced by Herschel, will
be compared with recent observations, and the changes will be
remarked which a long interval may have produced. Already
striking consequences present themselves to the mind, but time
alone can develope them ; and they will only become manifest
after a great number of ages.

Tlien entire revolutions will be accomplished, our successors
will admire other phenomena and other stars ; a part of the
spectacle of the Heavens will be changed ; but at those remote
epochs the memory of Herschel will still be fresh.

He died in the eighty-fourth year of his age, without infir-
mities and without pain. His name, confided to the grateful
sciences, is for ever preserved from oblivion, — ^they crown it
with immortal glory.

Description of a New Magmetical Instrument (proposed to he
called the Solar Compass or Heliastron)^ with some Obser-
vations on subjects intimately or remotely connected with the
phenomena it exhibits. By Mark Watt, Esq. Member of
the Wernerian Natural History Society. Communicated by
the Author*.

X HE effect of the sun upon the earth, and on all the animate
and inanimate existences that it contains, has seldom or never
been over-rated, but, perhaps, hitherto, has been in many minor
instances under-rated, or entirely overlooked. It is long,'indeed,
since the grand influence the sun exerts on the planetary sys-
tem, and the general and striking changes it produces upon the
world, observable in the seasons, the tides, the trade-winds, the
diurnal revolutions, &c. have been made objects of investigation
and calculation, whilst its less ostensible, though, perhaps, not
less important impulses on animal organisation, plants, chemical
changes, and delicately formed instruments for meteorological
observations, have been comparatively the subjects of modern
research.

• Read before the Wernerian Natural History Society, 24th November
1827.

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Mr Watt 071 a New Mag^ietkal Instrument. 17

From observing, in particular, the daily variation of the baro-
meter and the magnetic needle, and remarking that a similar series
of alternate changes was more or less observable in every instru-
ment capable of indicating a slight alteration in the impressions
made on them, as the hygrometer, aethrioscope, photometer, &c. ;
and that these diurnal changes bore a proportionate relation to the
latitude in whicli the instruments were placed, or to the degrees
of solar influence that might exist in the regions in which they
were used, and of which they would partake ; and from noti-
cing, in coincidence with these movements, the daily expansion
and contraction of the petals and leaves of most plants, and that
the different species of the heliotropium and chrysanthemum
turned their corollas round toward the sun for many hours du-
ring the day, when the atmosphere was clear, I could not help
concluding, for a long time past, that what was thus partially
exhibited by some instruments, and more perfectly by the co-
rollas of plants, might be still more clearly shewn, by an instru-
ment constructed upon principles nearly similar to the laws
which regulate these motions in plants ; and that one might be
formed, that would, when suspended, move to the sun's appa-
rent course, or that would, from the attracting or repelling in^
fluence of the solar rays, stand still, in opposition to the diurnal
revolution of the earth.

Having an opportunity, last spring, of making some simple
experiments in pursuit of what had become with me rather a
plausible idea, I commenced, by attempting to trace the gene-
ral connection that appears to subsist between the solar rays,
electricity, magnetism, and the radiation of caloric, in as far as
they had any reference to the object I had in view ; to mark
their natural effect on plants, and to observe if metals, or other
substances, when placed in favourable circumstances, were not
susceptible of similar impressions from these general agents, at
least so far as to indicate by their motion when suspended, the
same attraction or repulsion, in respect to the sun's influence
that the daily alterations in the positions of the corollae of plants
evinced.

In the course of those investigations, I observed, amongs
other things, (which it would be unnecessary here to detail.

OCTOBER DECEMBER 1827. B

18 Mr Watt mi a New Magnetkal Instrumeni,

that the leaves, petals^ and stamina of all plants, were, whert
growing, strongly attracted by any good electric, when it was
rubbed ; and that, particularly, when any of the precious stones
that were transparent, were rubbed and presented to the leaves
or petals of plants, that they sprung to it, and stuck to it, as a
piece of iron to the magnet, and they remained attached to it as
long as the electricity was retained by the stones * ; sometimes
half a minute.

I also found, that all electrics attracted the magnetic needle
in proportion to their powers of retention, and that, consequent-
ly, the magnet attracted all electrics when charged with electri-
city ; and that all feathers of birds, hairs of animals, and pistils,
petals, and stamina of plants, were strongly attracted by elec-
trics ; and when in contact with any body that retained electri-
city, were more or less attracted by the magnet ; and that, there-
fore, they might all be considered, in a certain sense, natural
magnets, — being all attracted to, or attracting, light, caloric,
electricity, and the magnetic fluid.

In illustration of these observations, I would mention, that
when a piece of wax or amber is rubbed, it attracts the compass
needle. A Brazilian topaz will attract the magnetic needle if
only once or twice passed over a piece of woollen cloth. If
rubbed a few seconds, it makes the needle move round on its
pivot, in the same manner as a magnet would. The topaz,
amethyst, and sapphire, also, when rendered electrical by fric-
tion, suspend small pieces of iron or steel. A topaz of an inch
square will suspend six common sewing needles horizontally, for
an hour or two ; and if this is frequently repeated, the stone
being rubbed for half a minute or so each time, the needles ac-
quire the magnetic property ; and if they are placed gently on"
the surface of water, so as to swim, they will all arrange them-
selves parallel to the magnetic meridian ; this polarity they seem
to lose in a day or two.

If a piece of clear amber, of an oblong shape, be subjected to
rapid friction for half a minute, it will, when made to swim on

* The conducting power of living plants, in favouring the rapid distribu-
tion of electricity, has been reckoned three millions of times greater than
that of water. I should conceive from this fact, that the conducting power of
Eving plants was too highly rated.

and Remarks on the Theory of Magnetism, 19

still water, indicate polarity, by pointing according to the mag-
netic meridian. Feathers, hair, and the pistils of large plants,
as the digitalis and antirrhinum, appeared to me, when treated
in the same way as the needles, to indicate a similar disposition.
If the downy part of feathers, fine hair, or the large thistle
down, is laid upon an electric, after friction, the parts that pro-
ject beyond the sides of the electric, are considerably attracted
by the magnet.

All electrics evince polarity, and those that have the power
of retaining electricity long, demonstrate this, by pointing north
and south, if formed into an oblong, and made to swim by
means of a thin piece of cork on water, after being excited to
an electrical state by friction. The tourmaline, ruby and brazU
iian topaz readily exhibit this.

The affinity of iron to all the imponderable substances seems
greater than that of any other body, electricity, galvanism, heat
produced by percussion, and coloured light) rendering the iron
magnetic ; and the magnetic property, when once acquired, con-
veying such a sensibility to the metal, to all the impulses of
these bodies, that I found, when a number of small needles were
rendered magnetic, and so placed as to traverse freely, being
connected together at small distances by any light substance,
and so arranged in reference to each other, that none of the
needles could shew its tendency to the poles of the earth ; they
then indicated, by their motion^ the impressions they received
from the sun's rays, the radiation of caloric, and the other sub^
tie bodies alluded to ; but this will be easier apprehended by
stating the following experiments.

Twfelve or fifteen needles (of the size marked No. 10, used
for sewing) were rendered magnetic, and stuck into a thin cir-
cular slice of cork, of an inch diameter, at the distance of one-
sixth of an inch from each other. The heads of the needles were
so* fixed into the piece of cork, that they stood perpendicularly ;
and all the points being south poles, stood uppermost. The
cork was then placed on the centre of a surface of water, 1^ feet
in diameter. The needles, in this situation, being prevented
from evincing any polar attraction by their perpendicular posi*
tion, were attracted by a moderate degree of light, heat, or elec-
tricity, but were repelled by the more powerful impulses im-^

B 2

20 Mr Watt on a New Magnetical Instrument,

parted by the concentration of any of these bodies. When the
rays of the sun were collected into a focus by a lens, and made
to impinge on the needles, they moved rapidly on the water
from the solar beam. The same effect was produced by a piece
of metal heated, and held over the points of the needles. Elec-
tricity also seemed to attract or repel them, in proportbn to its
force.

I also found, that, if the small seeds of plants are dried, and
laid upon any good electric, which has been smartly rubbed,
and the poles of a strong horse-shoe magnet is moved slowly
over the seeds, they will spring from the electric to the magnet
more readily than to any other body not magnetic.

Observing, therefore, a considerable similarity between the
effects of all these imponderable bodies on plants (the petals of
which contain iron), and on iron, I formed a thin piece of silver-
plated copper into the shape of the calyx of a flower, and fitted
a thin circle of cork to the edges of the copper cup. Into this
circle I fixed twenty needles, highly magnetic, at equal distan-
ces from each other, in the form of the extended radii of the
circle (as represented by the first sketch), with all their south
poles pointing outwards, and their north poles directed to the
centre of the circle, (destroying by this arrangement their power
of indicating their polarity, in respect to the earth). I suspend-
ed this by a very delicate filament of silk, from the centre of a
glass cover, excluding any current of air, by fixing the cover to
a smooth board by wax. I exposed this star of needles to the
influence of the solar rays, and it continued first to revolve, and
then to vacillate, for the most part of the day ; exhibiting,
however, when it ceased to revolve, a movement corresponding
to the position of the earth in reference to the sun, as the sun
was always found opposite to the centre of the arc of vibration.
After repeating the experiment for four or five days, the vibra-
tions diminished in the extension of the arc they described ; and
the movement corresponding to the rising and setting of the
sun was more regular and certain. The first combination of
this sort which I made was very light. The next I formed in-
tentionally of an ounce weight, to mark the extent of the influ-
ence of the solar rays. It was formed in the same manner as
the first, with the addition of a circle of zinc round the copper

nnd Remarks on the Theory of Magnetism, it\

cup, which I conceived might possibly increase its sensibility,
by creating a slight degree of electricity or galvanism. This
combination of metals also moved regularly to the apparent
motion of the sun, and continued to vacillate as long as the rays
of the sun impinged upon the metals ; the vibrations diminish-
ing and encreasing with the sun''s altitude, being greatest when
the sun was near the meridian, and decreasing as the number
of the degrees decreased that the sun was above the horizon.

The next form of the instrument I tried, was twenty-five
needles fully impregnated with the magnetic fluid, fixed into a
circular ring of cork, of about three inches diameter. They
were placed at equal distances round the circumference of the
circle, with their north and south poles placed outwards alter-
nately. This circle was affixed to a light slip of wood, five in-
ches long, and one-fourth inch broad, by a piece of copper- wire,
of a semicircular form, the extremities of which passed through
the opposite sides of the cork circle ; and the slip of wood was
attached to the centre of the wire. Into the centre of the bar
of wood was fixed an agate cap ; and the whole traversed like a
compass needle upon a fine steel point, the bar of wood being
equipoised by a small weight at the other end of it, equivalent
to the weight of the needles (as represented by fig % PI. I.)
This instrument was placed under a glass cover, of a conical
shape, and secured from any passage to the air.

When first exposed to the sun's rays, the instrument con-
tinued to revolve upon the pivot for several hours, and then
settled with one side of the circle pointing toward the sun, in
such a position that one-half of the external part of the circle
was illuminated by the solar beams, and one-half of the internal
part of the ring. In this situation it continued to stand still, in
opposition to the diurnal motion of the earth, till the sun sunk
beneath the horizon ; the points of the needles on the edge of
the circle pointing always to the sun, so that the solar rays fell
in a direction nearly parallel to the plane described by the star
of needles.

This instrument (like all other magnetical instruments that I
have made experiments upon) accommodated itself to the pecu-
liarities of its construction. For the magnetic needle, when
placed in any situation that may be termed new to it, in respect

SS Mr Watt (y)i a New Magnetical Instrument^

to the influence that may affect it, always indicates a greater de-
gree of disturbance during the first experiments that are made
upon it, than it does after being subjected to a repetition of
them. In a few days, therefore, this instrument ceased to re-
volve for such a length of time ; and after being exposed to the
solar rays for five or six days, only revolved for a few minutes,
when first it met their influence, but continued to remain sta-
tionary, while the pivot moved with the earth, as long as the
sun remained unclouded. Towards the sun's meridian altitude,
however, when the thermometer was high (about 70°), as if sur-
charged by the solar rays, it sometimes vacillated a little, or
turned quite round, but rested in its usual position ultimately.
I found this instrument extremely sensitive, quickly indicating
by its motion an increase of heat, light, electricity, galvanism,
or a change of colour in the light that shone upon it. It moved
readily to any electric, when very slightly rubbed and held near
one side of the circle of needles ; and to all the prismatic co-
lours, and particularly to the solar beam, when concentrated by
a lens, and passed through coloured glass or silk. The violet
and red ray had the greatest effect upon it.

When a piece of scarlet dark-blue or purple coloured velvet,
of a circular shape, is placed over the face of the instrument, so
as to cover the needles, the sensibihty of the instrument is great-
ly increased.

When first placed with a disk of purple-velvet across the
needles, in the sun''s rays, it continued to revolve nearly the
whole of the day, moving always in the direction from east to
west by south, in the course of the sun's apparent motion. It
was attracted by a piece of coal or wood, ignited to red heat.

It moved also 40° or 50° to the light of a single candle, held
close to one side of the circle. All these experiments were
made when the instrument was inside the glass-bell, and the
bodies affecting it outside.

The same phenomena were exhibited when the needles were
all placed inside of a circle, all their points nearly meeting in the
centre, and no part of the needle appearing outside the circum-
ference of the ring. When suspended, it turned always one
side of the circle to the sun *.

* These experiments were made in May and June 1827.

and Remarks on the Theory of Magnetism. 23

One circle of needles, affixed to a small bar of wood, appears
to be the best for making experiments with ; but the most pre-
ferable form of the instrument for shewing the influence of the
sun simply, is to affix two circles of needles to the bar of wood,
one at each end, in a perpendicular position *. As the circles
always turn their edges to the sun, the bar of wood in this form
will be directed to the sun, or to the angle of incidence described
by its rays.

In constructing the solar compass, the wood should be of the
lightest kind, as willow or British fir. An agate or ruby cap,
and a fine steel point, are requisite to facilitate the traversing
of the instrument ; and fine long shaped needles should be
used.

Magnetism is easily communicated to the needles, by two
magnetic bars, in the usual way. A paper-full of needles, con-
tidning twenty or fifty needles, may be used, as the magne-
tism can readily be conveyed to the needles at once through the
paper : this can be performed by one holding down the pa-
per with the needles, by placing a knife or thin slip of wood up-
on the centre of the paper, and drawing the bars along it about
twenty or thirty times. If they are rendered sufficiently strong,
they will spring asunder as soon as the paper is opened, similar
poles being in contact. It is necessary that the needles should
be fully impregnated with the magnetic fluid.

A piece of clear amber, formed into a convex lens, if fixed in-
to a circle of cork, and suspended, by any flne hair or filament,
under a glass cover, will also be so arrested by the incidence of
the solar rays, that it will continue to present its surface to the
sun, if unclouded, as long as he is visible above the horizon.
And if, in addition to the lens, there is added a few small bars
of amber, attached horizontally to the edges of the circle, it ra-
ther increases its aptitude to exhibit the solar influence. The
amber I exposed to the beams of the sun, in this form, never
ceased to vacillate a little the whole of the day, the sun's posi-
tion, however, being opposite always to the centre of the arc of
vibration.

The power of the solar compass does not seem diminished,

* Represented by Fig. 3. PI. I.

24 Mr Watt on a New Magnetical Instrument^

but rather increased, by augmenting the number of the needles.
I have tried it with about three hundred needles, and obtained
the same results.

It appears to be, to a certain degree, affected by the light
of the moon, when full, and also seemed at times, when first
formed, to be strangely influenced by the different states of
the atmosphere during the night, when the moon was not in
our hemisphere. Once or twice, when placed in the open air,
in a clear atmosphere, it continued for a considerable time to re-
volve upon its pivot, stopping occasionally, and then commen-
cing its circular movement. What occasioned this motion I
could not discover, except it was some change in the electrical
state of the atmosphere.

This instrument, besides exhibiting clearly the power of solar
influence on magnetic needles, perhaps might be rendered a good
photometer. It might be used in climates where the sun is seldom
shrouded by clouds as a moving dial. Its dip, which is visible
when formed of one star of needles, may be useful at sea ; and I
conceive it is possible, that it may be ultimately made so sensi-
tive as to be attracted or repelled by the sun's influence through
its partial obscuration by mist or clouds, and then its utility at sea
would be of great service. The instrument is at present affect-
ed by the solar rays through thin clouds ; and if a piece of cork,
of six inches diameter, is cut into a circular shape, and its two
flat surfaces made a little convex ; and if about two hundred
magnetic needles are fixed into one of the surfaces of this lens-
shaped piece of cork, radiating from the centre like the petals
of a double anemony or daisy, and all the south poles of the
needles, placed so as to point to the circumference of the circle ;
and if this star of needles is suspended under a glass cover, they
are affected so far, by the light afforded by a window, that, whether
the sun shines clearly or not, the side of the cork on which the
needles are placed will not rest opposite to the light, but the cir-
cle will either turn its edge or the side without the needles to-
wards the window, before it remains stationary.

And here I feel inclined to offer a few remarks on the theory
,of magnetism, which are naturally suggested by tlie facts which
have been stated.

The great similarity that subsists amongst the general charac-

and Remarks' cni the Theory q/' Magnetism. 25

teristics of the laws that govern many of the phenomena exhi-
bited by Hght, heat, electricity, galvanism, and magnetism, has
led many to conclude that they were only a modification of the
same subtle fluid, or that the principal material that occasioned
the effects these agents produced, was variously mixed in close
affinity with other substances too etherial for us to detect. What
I have already detailed seems to favour this conclusion.

The most prevalent idea that has long existed respecting the
theory of magnetism, is, that the magnetic inffuence proceeded
from the north pole of the earth, and was originated either from
the abundance of magnetic and iron ore, that was likely to be
found there, or from some fluid which unceasingly emanated
from the north, similar to the aurora borealis. And, latterly,
the polarity of the needle has been referred to the magnetism
of the whole earth, or to a law of nature, similar in its simplici-
ty to gravitation. The north pole * has, however, been consi-
dered the most important of the two poles of the magnetic needle,
and the north the great seat of magnetic attraction, even by the
latest writers. I cannot perceive, however, that the grounds up-
on which this hypothesis is framed are conclusive, or that they
do not admit of as clear an explanation being given of the chief
phenomena of magnetism, by taking an impartial view, in some
respects the reverse of that which is generally maintained, at
least in so far as regards the notion that the north pole is the
chief magazine of magnetic attraction.

M. Prevost and others, who conceive that the magnetic fluid
is composed of two distinct substances, one of which tends to the
north, and the other to the south, suggest that the sun is most
probably the source of one of these substances ; and I would
humbly propose, but with the utmost deference to those who
are more able to judge, whether we may not reasonably enter-
tain the idea, that the sun is the chief source of magnetism ?
If we take into consideration both the facts already alluded to,
and also take a combined glance at the facts already generally
known, and explain them upon this principle ; it appears much
more clear and plausible than we would at first be inclined to
apprehend.

• I use the term North Pole in the same sense as the French writers,
for the pole which pomts to the north.

36 Mr Watt on a New Magnetical Instrument,

If we simply consider that the south pole of any magnet pos-
sesses as great a power of attraction and repulsion as its north
pole, that the compass needle diminishes in its variation as it ap-
proaches the equinoctial line, and increases both in its annual
and daily variation as it advances towards the north pole ; and,
after passing a certain degree of latitude, loses its power of ex-
hibiting its polarity altogether ; reasoning analogically, we should
be led to a conclusion the opposite of that usually held.

The fact, that the sun in the Arctic Regions produces a more
visible and extensive variation in the magnetic needle than in
the latitudes near the equator, seems to indicate, that the needle
v^fithin the Arctic Circle is more free to move to any incidental
impulse, than when near the Torrid Zone ; and we would na-
turally be inclined to conclude from this circumstance (nihil
contradicente) that it possessed near the Arctic Regions, both
less polar attraction and less local, than when near the Equa-
tor.

The observations made by Captain Parry and his officers de-
monstrate, that the needle, in its diurnal variations, was influ-
enced by the sun, and that the south pole of the magnet was at-
tracted to the sun ; the maximum westerly variation of the
north pole of the needle having been observed to occur at Port
Bowen, between 10^ a. m. and 1^ p. m., and the minimum be-
tween 8^ r. M. and ^ a. m. ; and the diurnal variation some-
times amounting to 6° and 7°.

It was likewise discovered, that an increase of magnetic in-
tensity was exhibited from the morning to the afternoon, and a
decrease from the afternoon to the morning. Captain Parjy
farther observed, " that it appeared that the sun, and, as we
had reason to believe, the relative position of the sun and moon,
with reference to the magnetic sphere, had a considerable influ-
ence, both on the intensity and diurnal variation,*" (of the
needle)*.

It therefore appears to me to be perhaps as consonant to ge-
neral ol>servation, if not more so, to conclude, that when the

♦ One of Captain Parry's officers, who was frequently employed in watch-
ing the movementa of the needle at Port Bowen, mentioned to me, that he
sometimes obseryed a considerable deflexion of the needle just at sun-rise,
when the atmosphere was clear.

and Remarks on the Theory of Magnetum, 27

compass needle ceases lo act, in the most northern latitudes, it
* is because the magnetic influence there is feeble and unequally-
supplied, and not because the needle is then placed over the
very seat of magnetism. And that the cause of the needle'«
pointing due north and south when near the Equator without
any diurnal variation is, because it is there always fully acted
upon by that combination of light, heat and electricity, or the
component parts of those bodies, that may produce the mag-
netic fluid ; and which are so abundantly and constantly gene-
rated around the Torrid Zone ; and which ever exist there more
or lessj in such force as to render the direct diurnal influence of
the sun comparatively inferior upon the compass needle, and
therefore incapable of producing much daily variation.

It is evident that there must be an everlasting emanation of
caloric, light and electricity from the Equator, verging to the
north and south poles of the earth. And it is obvious, that
whether they are distinct bodies, or only states of bodies, that
the sun is the great agent that produces these phenomena, or
regulates their rpovements. And, as this must create a conti-
nual Jlood of light, heat and electricity, advancing in the direc-
tion of the meridional lines to the north and south, and pervad-
ing the whole of the atmosphere and surface of the globe ; and
as the magnet is attracted and repelled by these bodies, accord-
ing to their various modifications, it is not perhaps unreasona-
ble to conclude that it is highly probable, that the unceasing
motion of those bodies from the central line of the earth to the
poles, may be the principal cause of most of the phenomena that
are connected with the polarity of the magnetic needle.

The property which Mr Barlow's plate possesses, of causing
the needle to continue its action beyond the degree of latitude
where it would otherwise cease to act, appears to me to be a far-
ther confirmation of this view of magnetism, as iron seems to re-
tain always more or less of the magnetic fluid, or something very
analogous to it, and the rectifying plate will therefore for a time
supply the deficiency at the poles of the earth.

If this view of this branch of magnetism is correct, it would
not be difficult to conceive why a magnetic needle should assume
a position parallel to the magnetic meridian, or nearly parallel
to the true meridian of any part of the earth, as it would, being

SS Mr Watt on a New Magnetical Instrument,

attracted by the magnetic fluid, necessarily place itself parallel
to the direction of the current of that fluid.

But this will be still more easily comprehended if we attend
to the manner in which magnetism is communicated to a bar of
steel ; and we would observe that the general notion, that the
poles of a magnet, when used in communicating magnetism to a
bar of steel, produce their opposites, is not literally true, as ei-
ther the North or the South Pole of the magnet produces al-
ways both a North and South Pole. And it depends entirely
on what part of the bar, to be rendered magnetic, we first place
the pole of the magnet, to determine where any of the poles shall
be. If, for example, we place the south poles of two magnets
upon the extremities of a bar of steel, and draw them towards
the centre of the bar, we render, by a repetition of this ope-
ration, both the extremities south poles, or similar to tlie poles
used ; and the two north poles will be found at the centre of the
bar of steel ; and a needle thus treated will stand east and
west, or north and south. And as any single pole of a magnet
will communicate both a north and south pole to any bar of
iron, the part of the bar it touches first being always a pole si-
milar to itself; and the part it is in contact with last, being ne-
cessarily of the opposite description ; this seems unfavourable to
the idea that there are two magnetic fluids.

The magnetic fluid simply seems to follow the first direction
that is given to it along any piece of steel ; and which can only
be changed by drawing a magnet along it in an opposite direc-
tion, as almost all our compass needles are rendered magnetic
by drawing the north and south poles of two magnets from the
centre of the needle to its extremities. Each of our compass
needles possess actually four poles ; they have a north and south
pole at their centre, and the same at their extremities.

It is evident, therefore, that the magnetic fluid (or whatever
it may be), will run along a bar of steel, in any way it is direct-
ed. It will commence at both the extreme points of the bar,
and give out at the centre ; or it will commence at the centre,
and run off* by the extremities ; and the ends of the same bar
may be made both north poles ; or they may be rendered both
south; or alternately north and south.

If this theory of magnetism be correct upon the whole, and

and Remarks on the TJieory of Magnetism. 29

if we find that the south pole always receives the magnetic fluid,
and the north gives it out, it follows that it must necessarily
point north and south, according to the direction of the current
that moves it.

Upon this principle also, we would readily conceive why the
needle dips when rendered magnetic, as it will be disposed to
dip to the inclination, which the stream of the subtle bodies, al-
ready alluded to, must assume in passing continually from the
sun and central parallel line of the earth, to the north and south
poles.

The sun, indeed, in a clear atmosphere, has a visible effect on
the dip of the needle. And if we take a thin bar of steel, about
the thickness of the main-spring of a watch, and two feet in
length, and render it magnetic, and balance it on a fine pivot,
we can observe a slight variation occasionally in the dip of the
needle, by a graduated scale, placed opposite one of its extre-
mities, corresponding to the clearness of the atmosphere and time
of the day.

Upon the same principle also, the annual variation of the
magnetic needle may be partly accounted for, by the radiating
heat produced by the sun, and the other fluids already mention-
ed, being conducted in greater proportions for a course of years
towards the western part of our hemisphere, from a combina-
tion ot causes no doubt similar to those which sometimes pro-
duce a series of warm seasons to the west, and sometimes to the
east of the world ; ' and perhaps this may be affected by the
comparative progress of cultivation in the diff'erent nations of
the earth. And this seems to coincide with the accounts of our
late navigators, who have found the ice more melted toward
the west than toward the east of the North Pole.

I should conceive it to be but a very imperfect method of
determining the magnetic intensity at any place, to subject the
needle to vibration or torsion, as the state of the atmosphere,
the influence of the sun at different periods of the year, and at
different times of the day, local attraction, the attraction of gra-
vitation, and the law of the vibration of the pendulum, must all
have their share in the calculation ; and all these may be modi-
fied by circumstances not readily perceived.

Brighton Crescent, Portobello,
\st October 1827.

( 30 )

On the Semamith of' Solomon^ Pro v. xxx. 28. By the Rev*
David Scot, M. D. M. W. S. F. H. S.E. Communicated
by the Author *.

W E are told in the 25th verse of the 30th chapter of the
Proverbs of Sofomon, that there are four things Httle on the
earth, but endowed with great wisdom ; and in the 28th verse of
the same chapter, we learn that the last of these four things is
called semamith, which lays hold with its hands, and is in kings'
palaces.

As no other instance of this word semamith occurs in the He-
brew Bible, several absurd interpretations of it have been given
by the Jewish doctors. All these we shall not spend time in
considering, but only notice two of the least objectionable, in
addition to the commonly received interpretation.

The first of these makes the semamith a swallow, but for no
other reason, which we can conceive, than a similarity of sound
in semmith, the Chaldee name for that bird. There may be
cases, in which the meaning of a word may be learned from an-
other, resembling it in sound ; but in others, such a resemblance
will lead into gross mistakes.

The swallow, to be sure, builds its nest in the windows, and
sometimes the chimneys of our houses, and they may do so in
Palestine ; but such a fact would not warrant the declaration, that
they lay hold with their hands, and are in kings' palaces, as it
would be grossly absurd to talk in that manner of any winged
animal.

The other interpretation referred to makes the semamith an
ape, which is a very shrewd animal, occasionally a favourite of
princes, and also furnished with two fore-legs, with which it can
seize objects, which, in a loose way of speaking, may be called
hands.

An ape, perhaps, may not be thought too large for being
called a little thing on the earth ; and most will agree that it
may excite attention, if not wonder, by its tricks ; but it' does
not go into palaces, unless by constraint. These must be desert-
ed, before it choose them for its ordinary residence.

• Head before the Wernerian Natural History Society 7th April 1827«

1

Rev. Dr Scott on the Semamith of Sohtnon. 31

To avoid these incongruities, lecourse has been had to the
spider, and certainly this insect can quote a host of names in its
favour. With a surprising uniformity, its cause has been sup-
ported by Levi, EHas, and Kimchi among the Jews ; by Santes,
Arias, Mercer, Munster, CastaHo, Junius and Tremellus among
Christians : in short by the English, Italian, and Geneva trans-
lators.

That the spider is found in kings' palaces as well as in the
houses of meaner men, is unquestioned. The species of spiders
are numerous, and one of these has the peculiar attribute of the
house spider.

This species of spider, however, is oftener in a cottage than
a palace, because there is less tolerance for such an insect in
those buildings where there is more scrubbing and sweeping.
In neglected forsaken apartments, containing useless or forgot-
ten lumber, they are most ready to take up their abode. -

But granting that palaces were not kept so neat and clean in
ancient as in modern times, or that in warm climates it is more
difficult to free buildings even of the better sort from insects,
yet, we apprehend, that the spider, which is larger of size in
warmer climates, and multiplies faster, will neither be a welcome
nor a frequent guest in kings' palaces. It will oftener obtain an
entrance into mean houses. It is encouraged by the careless-
ness which prevails among the inmates, or the quietness which
reigns through the apartments. In this manner, at least, Plau-
tus, in the Aulalaria, talks of the dwelling of poor Euclio :

" nihil est questi furibus,

Ita inaniis sunt oppletae et araniis."

Nay, when spiders abounded about one's house or furniture,
the circumstance was deemed a sign of poverty ; thus, Afranius,
quoted by Festus,

" Tamque arciila tua plena est aranearum ;"
In these terms Catullus excuses the meanness of an entertain-
ment to a friend,

" Tui Catulli plenus est sacculus aranearum ;"
And old Hesiod exhorts, in the 474th line of his works and days,

" You must drive away spiders from your vessels," i. e. banish
poverty from your houses.

39 Rev. Dr Scott on the Semamith of Solomon.

Tliese quotations seem to shew, that, according to the expe-
rience of mankind, spiders are rather found in the cottages of
the poor than in the palaces of kings ; but quite the reverse is
the testimony of Solomon, who had seen so much of life, and
thought so much of nature, if his ordinary interpreters have
done him justice.

The semamith f which is commonly interpreted the spider, is
said to take hold with its hands, while in kings' palaces. The
house, as well as many other spiders, has eight legs, and, from
the structure of these, it can move along the under surfaces of
the planks and rafters of a house, like the common fly, and se-
veral animals of the lizard tribe.

Now, the legs with which this operation is carried on, have
sometimes been called fingers. They are so called in the Frogs,
a comedy of Aristophanes, and in the 6th book of Ovid's Meta-
morphoses. These are the words of the latter :

" In latere exiles digiti pro cruribus hserent."

Even when these are called fingers, the language is highly fi-
gurative ; but the figure would border on absurdity, if it made
the row of feet on each side a hand, to which it has not the least
resemblance. Indeed, we do not recollect a passage in any au-
thor, in which hands are assigned to the spider, though we recol-
lect one in which there is a direct assertion to the contrary.
The spider itself speaks,

" Nulla mihi manus est, pedibus tamen omnia fiunt."

Among the feet with which, according to this assertion, it per-
forms every thing, the two feelers may be included. These are
not organs by which it moves, but sometimes assistants when it
seizes its prey with its teeth. We do not know how poets or
orators would describe this action ; but if they should say that
it lays hold with its hands, the language would neither be very
obvious nor very intelligible.

If, however, laying hold with the hands is to be viewed as a
figurative description of the spider's spinning its thread, and
weaving its web, these actions are seen with far more advantage
in the country than in a palace. In a misty morning during
summer, the webs of the field spider are hung from twig to
twig, among the surrounding thorn hedges and whin bushes, as
far as the eye can reach ; but though admiration may be thus

Rev. Dr Scott on the Semamith of' Solomon. 33

awakened at the thought of the industry as well as the numbers
of this insect, yet the chilling recollection is apt to steal on, that
all these webs are instruments of destruction, snares for catching
as prey, those little unfortunate beings who happen to be en-
tangled.

These operations of the field-spider have been beautifully il-
lustrated by the Abbe Pluche, in a work once very popular, but
now little read, entitled, Spectacle dc la Nature, or Nature
Displayed.

But whatever occasion these operations of the field spider may
give to ornamented description, they have nothing to do with
the proceedings of the semamith, as mentioned by the wise king
of Israel ; and, therefore, that his account may be consistent, we
are forced to look about for some other animal.

To the lovers of truth, we will be justified in so doing, after
they understand that the semamith is not the ordinary name of
the spider in the Hebrew language. This is ocubish, which has
become ocuhlm in Chaldee, and unhiibus in Arabic, both of
which signify a spider.

In the Hebrew Bible^ there are two passages in which the
spider, under the name of ocubish, is mentioned. One of these
is in Job viii. 14, " The hypocrite's hope shall be cut off, and
Ills trust shall be a spider''s house or web."" The other is in
Isaiah lix. and 5, " they hatch cockatrice eggs, and weave the
spider'*s web." In these passages, every one sees that the pro-
per work of the spider is noticed.

We allow that this insect, or any other thing, may have two
names, provided that the one recall some idea which is not sug-
gested by the other ; and we would not object to semamith, as
the name of the spider, more than to ocubish, if the accounts
accompanying the use of the former, corresponded as well with
the habits of the insect, as they do when the latter is used.

From the want of this correspondence, several ancient as well
as modern interpreters have been persuaded, that the animal
denoted by semamith belongs to the lizard, and not the insect
tribe. The Septuagint translators, who are more ancient than
any other, and whose authority is entitled to high regard, have
rendered semamith by the term calabotes, which Ilesychius the

OCTOBER DECEMBER 1827. C

d4} Rev. Dr Scott on the Semamith of' Solomon.

lexicographer declares to be a certain fish or a lizard, i^hq Troixi

As lizards are not unlike fishes in shape, and some of them
live in water as well as on land, that expositor was to be excused,
who contended that Solomon meant a fish by semamith, though
it required no great reach of thought to discover, that fishes are
not the residents of a king's palace, however they may inhabit
his ponds.

The calahotes of the Septuagint is rendered stellio by the
Vulgate interpreter ; and many lizards may be called stelliwies,
because of the variegations in the colour of the skin, peculiarly
brilliant in warm countries. Hence, Ovid says of the stellio,

" aptumque colori

Nomen habet, variis stellatus corpora guttis."

This rendering of the semamith by the Septuagint and Vul-
gate is supported by the Syriac, Chaldee and Samaritan trans-
lators. The term which each employs signifies stellio, or a
spotted lizard.

Bochart, in his Hierozoicon, says, that there are two species
of stellio, the one poisonous and the other harmless ; but doubts
which was meant by the semamith. If it be the stellio reputed
poisonous, sem with a samech, which is convertible with sin,
according to some, will signify poison, and of course the sema-
mith will be the poisonous lizard. Others, however, pronounce
shemamith, and bring it from a verb, which signifies to stun or
stupify ; and they think this lizard is so called, because it stuns
or stupifies the scorpion, to which it is said to be a determined
and terrible enemy. So Galen, De Theriaca ad Pisonem, as-
serts, that " the stellio, as soon as seen by scorpions, stuns, and
so destroys them ;" and ^lian and Isidore, &c. agree with Ga-
len in ascribing to the stellio this power over the scorpion.

But what is still more to our purpose, in proving the sema-
mith to be a stellio, is this sentence of the Talmud, treatise on
the Sabbath, chap. 8. " The terror of the sernamith is upon the
scorpion,"" a sentence which cannot be predicated of any spider,
however formidable. Every spider has no other way of catch-
ing its prey, but by entangling it in its web ; and the scorpion
must have a far stronger and fiercer creature to deal with, when
it is almost deprived of sense and life, at its very sight.

Rev. Dr Scott on the Semamith of Solomon. S5

Now, if the semamith be a lizard reputed poisonous, Bochart
informs us, that the Arabs have a lizard to which they give the
name of samahras, signifying a spotted lizard, or the lizard
which has spots like a leper, and to which the semamith, if ac-
counted poisonous, may answer.

If, however, the semamith be the stellio accounted harmless,
Bochart thinks it may be the wezgu, which is less in size than
the samabras, and so far suits the account which Solomon gives
of the semamith, that it is a thing little upon the earth.

But whether the semamith be the samabras or wezgu, as Bo-
chart has endeavoured to establish, lizards are most abundant
in warm and dry countries ; and as Arabia does not yield to any
country in these respects, it may be called the land of lizards.
They are present wherever a tent is pitched or a house is rear-
ed. The Arabs, who are continually infested with their presence,
have a name for every species ; and we believe, that, in no lan-
guage spoken on the face of the globe, is the nomenclature of
this tribe of animals more perfect than in Arabia.

With or without reason, this creature is detested by the Arabs,
as it was by the Greeks and Romans, Jahius, the son of Chomer,
asserting, that the man who killed 100 stelliones, would be dearer
to him than he who redeemed 100 slaves ; and Antonius Libe-
rales, that they were abhorred by gods and men, and that he
that slew one of them, did a most acceptable service to Ceres.

All lizards, into whatever divisions, stelliones, geclcos, igua-
nas, &c. they may be marshalled, have four feet. The hind,
but especially the fore feet, very much resemble the arms and
hands of a man. Whoever has seen any of the lizard tribe,
will be instantly struck with this resemblance ; and on this ac-
count, all the individuals of the tribe, which are very numerous,
have been properly and strictly called Lacertce, that is, creatures
with arms or hands.

Supposing the semamith of Solomon a lizard, it is most con-
sistently said to take hold with its arms or hands, in moving
from one place to another, that it may catch flies, which are its
ordinary food, elude the pursuit of its enemies, when it moves
along places which they cannot reach, or secure its safety, if its
back be undermost. In these respects it was natural for him

c 2

26 Rev. Dr Scott 07t the Semamith of Solomon.

to admire its dexterity, and declare that it discovered great wiiv-
doni, though it was little on the earth.

Indeed, every reflecting person would be filled with amaze-
ment, when he beheld this Httle animal creeping up the walls,
or along the ceiling of a house, grasping, as it would seem, the
inequalities of the timber, and roughnesses of the stones, that
its fall might be prevented, and its journey, perilous, at least,
if not impossible to other creatures, accomplished.

The animal, which performs such feats of daring and skill,
loves to frequent houses of every name, new houses as well as
old, palaces as well as cottages. Aristotle says, that it dwells in
stables ; Antonius Liberalis, that it is found near common shores ;
Pliny, that it resides in slaughter-houses, windows, caverns and
tombs ; Arnobius, that it nestles in the cavities of statues ; and
Mathiolus, that it lodges in the holes of walls near the ground.
With great propriety, then, it has been called the house-lizard,
by Porphyry, as quoted by Eusebius, by Suidas^ by the Ety-
mologist, and Phavorinus, among the Greeks ; and by Alhasim,
an Arabian physician of Bagdat.

Aristophanes, Dioscorides, and Avicenna declare, that this li-
zard fastens itself by its hands to the roofs of houses, but some-
times losing its hold, drops down among the dishes on a table,
and poisons the liquor of the cups, if it happens to touch it.
Those may believe this account who can, but our faith is not
strong enough to credit what Bustamentinus of Complutum as-
serts, that, when, by some accident, these animals have been
mingled with the food, they have poisoned whole nations. Many
are the remedies prescribed against these poisonous results by
yEtius, Paulus ^gineta, and Avicenna, but whether they be
dictated by knowledge or error, is another matter.

That lizards of all kinds are very numerous in Syria, these
words of Bruce demonstrate : " I am positive that I can say
without exaggeration, that the number, I saw one day in the
great court of the Temple of the Sun at Balbec, amounted to
many thousands. The ground, the walls and the stones were
covered widi them ; and the various colours of which they con-
sisted, made a very extraordinary appearance, glittering in the
sun, in which they lay sleeping and basking."

Rev. Dr Scott on the Semamith of Solomo7i. 37

Whore lizards are so numerous, there must be many species ;
and, after all that has been done to clear up differences, consi-
derable confusion must still remain, two or more species being
described as one, while the same name is given to two or more
species.

While we acknowledge our obligations to Bochart for the
chief materials of this essay, we regret that we have not had the
power of perusing Scheuchzer, who has treated at great length
the natural history of the Bible ; and we have not read or heard
of any, who has attempted to point out the kind of lizard whicli
corresponds with the semamith of Solomon.

Cuvier^s Stellio of the Levant may be mentioned, the synonyms
of which are the Stellio lacerta of Linnaeus, the Koscordylos of
the modern Greeks ; though not the Hardun of the Arabians,
if we mistake not, which rather answers to what is called the
land crocodile. It is this Stellio of the Levant, which is often
killed by the Mahometans, for mocking them, as they suppose,
by lowering its head, when they say their prayers.

Or Solomon's semamith may be the Gecko des murons of
Cuvier, the synonyms of which are the Gecko of Hasselquist,
the Gecko lohatus of Geoffroy, the Lacerta Hasselquista of
Schneider. It is very frequent in the houses of all those coun-
tries, bordering on the Mediterranean to the east and south. At
Cairo, it is called Ahou hurg, or father of the leper, because it is
supposed to communicate the leprosy to those who eat the food
which it has touched with its feet. When it creeps over a per-
son'*s hand, the skin inflames ; more, perhaps, says Cuvier, from
the delicate sharpness of its nails, than the deleterious matter
which it communicates.

We know not whether the Lacerta ocellata, as it has been
called by some, be different from the lizards just mentioned. It
is about a span long : the feet are short, and five-toed in gene-
ral : the colour is greenish-grey, with brown spots or disks. It
is a native of Egypt, we presume also of Palestine, and frequents
houses.

Upon the whole, both authority and probability favour the
idea, that the semamith of Solomon is a house lizard, and not a
house spider ; though at present we are unable to say which spe-
cies of house lizard has a preferable claim to every other.

( 38 )

On Vegetable Substances growing cni the bodies of living Ani-
mals.

XN a letter from Dr Samuel S. Mitchill of New York to Pro-
fessor A. P. De Candolle of Geneva, in Silliman's Journal,
March 1827, there are some interesting observations stated with
regard to vegetable substances growing on the bodies of living
animals.

His attention was called to these curious appearances in the
year 1808, when W. A. Burwell, Esq. brought him, from his
own plantation in Virginia, the larva of an insect, upon which a
vegetable had fixed itself, and grown to a considerable size.
Fjom its appearance, he was induced to consider it as belonging
to the species of Melolontha, ^whose grub is destructive at times
to the roots of grass, in meadows and pastures. The vegetable
was single, and, although somewhat injured, yet the lower part
of the stem and the point of attachment, were very distinct.

Some years afterwards, another vegetating insect was present-
ed to him by Dr W. M. Ross, who obtained it in Jamaica, du-
ring his residence there. It was a full grown Sphynx, whose
whole body had been covered with a vegetable crop, issuing
thick from the thorax and abdomen.

Another Sphynx, similarly covered with vegetables, was sub-
sequently shewn him by Dr J. B. Ricard Maddiana, who brought
it from Guadaloupe.

This gentleman also gave him severdl vegetating wasps, pro-
cured by himself in the same place. On the 16th June 1823,
while on a botanizing excursion at Bay Mahaut in the above
island, he saw lying on the ground a wasp's nest, which had
fallen from a branch of Laurus persea. Some of the animals
were flitting about over the cells, and, by the softness of their
wings, and the faintness of their colours, were easily' known to
have been hatched but a short time. Many others were lying
dead on the ground. On examining these, he instantly percei-
ved vegetables proceeding from their bodies, and this uniformly
from the anterior part of the sternum or thorax. Some of the
cells still contained young wasps in the larva state, and which
had not reached the last stage of their metamorphosis. He

On Vegetable Substances growing on living Animals. 39

drew them from their cells, and satisfied himself that there was
an incipient vegetation, and moreover that its progress had kept
pace with the growth of the chrysalis. It was remarked, that
rarely or never was there more than one vegetable on a single
wasp.

He then satisfied himself why the vegetable parasite was a-
tuated on tne fore-part of the body. Botanists have pronounced
this production to be a species of Spharia, belonging to the na-
tural order of FtmgL Upon the supposition that it is propa-
gated by seeds* in the ordinary mode, these seeds would natu-
rally alight upon the most exposed part of the unhatched insect
that was accommodated for their reception. This would of
course be near the head. Being fixed there, it would increase
with the enlargement of the animal, and drawing nourishment
from its body, would continue to grow even after it had attain-
ed its last and perfect state, until the Spharia had destroyed
the Hfe of the wasp.

The mind becomes reconciled to the idea of a vegetable sus-
taining itself upon a living animal, by considering the history of
the Ichneumon, an insect of the Hymenopterous order. It is
called pupivorous, on account of the voracity with which its
larvae devour the larvae, chrysalids, and even eggs of other in-
sects, more especially those of the Lepidopterous order. Some
of them penetrate the bodies of their prey, and, with their num-
berless brood, slowly consume, and at last kill them ; while
others, the Ophions, are attached to the skin of the larva by the
footstalk of a cocoon, through which their heads pierce the in-
ternal parts, while their tails remain in their own inclosures.
This operation frequently continues until the large invaded larva
completes its cocoon, when it dies consumed and exhausted.
After this, the family of ichneumons come forth, first bursting
their own cocoons, and then that of their prey. It is also stated
as a fact, that one species of Ichneumon sometimes destroys the
larvae of another species of the same genus. These occurrences
furnish strong and instructive analogies.

Here we find that the living bodies o£ caterpillai's and their
chrysalids, are the habitations and nurseries of other insects, the
Creator having arrayed one tribe against another, apparently
for the purpose, among others, of putting a limit to their own

40 On Vegetable Suhstajices groivhig on living Animals.

excessive multiplication. There seems also to be another check
upon their inordinate increase. The fungous tribes of vege-
tables are in various instances the destroyers of the insect race.
Their germs or seeds, conveyed by the winds or otherwise to the
surface of these creatures, find them to be situations fit for their
adhesion.

If it now may be considered as certain, continues t>Y Mitchill,
that a vegetable may grow upon the larva or chrysalis of a wasp,
and continue to increase until they change into the complete or
imago state, and after, why may not the like happen to the larva
and chrysalis of the Sphynx and Melolontha ? The presump-
tion is strong, that the seeds were scattered on the back and
sides of the larvae, exposed everywhere to their influence, and
not incased and protected like the young wasps. Whence it
might be inferred they would germinate and enlarge until after
the beginning of the fourth metamorphosis, when they would
probably overcome their supporter.

Dr Maddiana, however, thinks, that, in some instances, the ve-
getation commences only after life has ceased. Dr Mitchill
continues to adduce instances of vegetable substances issuing from
the bodies of insects ; and in conclusion draws the following in-
ferences : 1. That this kind of vegetation is not confined to a
single species of insect, but obtains in several, viz. the Wasp,
Sphynx and Melolontha, there being also reason to suppose that
it extends to others : % That the bodies of insects nourish more
than one species of vegetable, as the Sphasria, Clavaria, and pro-
bably others not yet investigated : 3. That a part, at least, of
this order of parasitical vegetables, begin their work of annoy-
ance, like the larvae of the ichneumon, in the body of the living-
insect, and continue it until the creature is killed by its destruc-
tive inroads : 4. That these mixed associations of vegetable with
animal matter, are not prone to rapid putrefaction, but remain
long enough to be collected by naturalists, and become the ob-
jects of scientific inquiry.

The chief or leading fact intended to be established, is the
derivation of nourishment by the vegetable from the living
animal, which the Doctor thinks may be rendered more admis-
sible, when we reflect that the bodies of dead animals support
vegetation, in the form of manure and otherwise, and that many

Prof. Carus on the relative Proportions of the Eye. 41
Crustacea and MoUusca are invested with a dense vegetable co-

On the relative Proportions of cei'tain parts of the Eye of tlie
Foetus^ compared with the same parts of the perfectly de-
veloped Eye. By Professor Carus.

JL HE remark has ah'eady been made by some anatomists and
physiologists, that the human eye, as well as all the organs, runs
through a series of degrees of development, in which its analogy
with the eye of animals is so much the greater, the nearer it is
to its first formation. The object of Professor Carus, in his
memoir, is to follow out this proposition in some of its details.
The following are among the most interesting results of his in-
vestigation.

The eye of man, compared with that of animals, presents -the
most extended retina, in proportion to the size of the. eye-ball
(consult Sommering''s Plates, De Oculorum hominis ariimor-
Uumque sectione hj)rizontaVi, Gotting. 1818). The vitreous
body of the human eye 'Hi the largest of all, compared with
the bulk of the crystalline humour : the portion of the eye-ball
which covers the transparent cornea, and which allows the iris
and pupil to appear, is smaller in proportion to the part which
the sclerotic covers ; and this proportion is modified only in
birds, especially the birds of prey, in which the extraordinary
breadth of the ciliary processes puts limits to the extension of
the retina, which is kept at a distance from the edge of the cor-
nea. In the eye of animals, also, the sclerotic scarcely appears
imder the palpebrae, while a considerable portion of it is visible
in the human eye.

It is equally observed, in the different forms of the latter,
that the relation of the extent of the iris and pupil, to the sur-
face of the visible portion of the sclerotic, is not always the same.
In children, the iris and pupil have a greater proportional ex-
tent, exhibiting an analogy with the eye of animals ; and in
adults a large iris with its pupil, seems to us rather to be the
expression of physical power, while an eye in which the contrary
takes place, and in which the sclerotic coat shews itself to a great

42 Prof. Car us on. the relative Proportions of the Eye.

extent, expresses rather something spiritual or celestial. The
pious painters of the old Italian and German schools had a clear
idea of this proportion, and in their representations of eyes of vir-
gins, angels, Christ, and saints, it may be seen that the pupil and
iris are smaller in relation to the sclerotic, than they are in well
formed ordinary eyes. From this it may be presumed, that the
eye of the foetus will equally present modifications in the pro-
portion of the parts of which it is composed. The results which
M. Carus has obtained, in consequence of accurate measure-
ments, are the following :

Age of the Foetus
in lunar Months.

Relation of the diameter
of the iris to that of the
globe of the eye.

Relation of the diameter
of the iris to the length
of the axis of the globe.

2

3 : 6=1:2

3: 4 = 1:1J

3

9:17 = 1:1|

9:15 = l:lf

4

12:22 := 1 :!]£

12:17 = 1:1J

5

23:38 = 1 rlJJ

23:33 =r 1:1|§

6

26:45 = 1 :1JS

26:43 = lilll

7

30:58 = 1 :li|

30:55 = 1:1|^

8

33:65 = 1 :li|

33:62 = 1:1|§

9

37:73 = 1 :l|f

37:70 = 1:1|?

10

45 :85 = 1 :1|?

45 : 77 = 1 : Iff

Woman of 60 ]

[-50:110 = 1 :2^

50:112= l:l/y

years,

It is seen from this, that the proportion of the breadth of the

iris to that of the gl6be of the eye, as well as that of the iris to

the axis of the eye-ball, increases with age. The following is

another table, which presents some points of comparison with

the eye of animals :

Relations of the breadth Relation of the breadth

Animal. of the iris to that of the of the iris to the axis

globe of the eye. of the globe of the eye.

Pike *, . . 8.5 : 10.5 = 1 : If J 8.5 : 8.5 = 1 : 1

Crocodile, ,5.0 : 7.5 = 1 : If J 5.0 : 6.5 = 1 : IJg

Golden eagle, 7.5 : 16.0 = 1 : 2^ ? 7.5 : 14.6 = 1 : 1|J

Chamois, . 10.5 : 14.0 = 1 : l//y 10.5 : 12.8 = 1 : 1//^,

There results from all this, that the eye of the foetus only as-
sumes by degrees the proportions that obtain in the eye of the
adult ; and that the smallness of the iris, in proportion to the

* Brochet, Esox iucius, Linn.

Mr Don ofi the trritabiUty of the Stigma in Pinus iMriac. 43

diameter as well as tx) the axis of the ball of the eye, is one of the
characters by which the fully developed human eye is distinguish-
ed, both from the eye of the foetus, and from that of animals.

On the Irritability of the Stigma, and on the origin and nature
of certain parts of the Fructification in Piniis Larix. By
Mr David Don, Libr. L. S., Member of the Imperial Aca-
demy Naturae Curiosorum, of the Royal Botanical Society of
Ratisbon, and of the Wernerian Society of Edinburgh, &c.
(Communicated by the Author).

XT is a well known fact, that certain plants themselves, but
more generally particular organs, are endowed with a species of
irritability analogous to that observable in the animal kingdom.
While engaged in examining the female flowers of the common
Larch, during the last spring, in order to satisfy myself respect-
ing the real nature of the stigma, I was much surprised by the
remarkable degree of irritability observable in that organ, a cir-
cumstance which I am not aware had ever been before noticed.
That the cucullate processes at the base of the ovaria are the
true stigmata, is a point so fully established, as to render im-
necessary any additional facts in its support. To regard the
ovaria as naked ovula, and that impregnation takes place by the
pollen being immediately shed on their surface, instead of being
conveyed by means of an organ analogous to the stigma of other
plants, are opinions by far too paradoxical to admit of belief.
These cftcullatc processes, when fully mature for the reception
of the pollen, expand, and their inner^surface is then clothed with
innumerable minute papillae. I took a branch bearing unimpreg-
nated female flowers, and having dusted them with the pollen
from the ripe male catkins of another branch, I found on exa-
mination the cucullate stigmata completely filled with the pol-
len, and I could readily perceive the sides of the female organ
contract gradually, until they finally became completely collapsed.
The pollen in Coniferat being composed of minute vesicles filled
with a prolific fluid, the collapsing of the sides of the stigmata
is evidently for the purpose of pressing out the contents of these
vesicles, and forcing the fluid through the narrow duct on to the

44 Mr Don on the irritability of the Stigma in Pinus Larix.

ovulum. When impregnation has taken place, the sides of the
stigma again expand, and soon after wither. In this state, the
stigma is seen filled with the empty cells of pollen. If a branch
with female catkins is separated from the tree before impregna-
tion has taken place, it is surprising how long the stigmata will
remain expanded and in a perfect state. This circumstance has
been also remarked in the female organs of other plants. That
the amentum of Finns is nothing more than a modified branch,
is well exemplified in the larch, where a comparison between an
expanding bud and the female catkin is at once convincing.
The bracteae, which in the larch are persistent, being regarded
as altered leaves, the flowers are, therefore, truly axillary, and
their situation may be compared to those of Hippwis. The
fleshy scales, which afterwards compose the cone, are analogous
to the nectarium of Salix, &c. ; and one of their uses, namely,
the nourishing the early stage of the ovarium, as the albumen
does the embryo, is precisely similar. The ovaria at first are
firmly attached to the upper surface of the scales ; but on their
increasing in size, they by degrees lose the connection, till at
length, in the ripe state, they become perfectly free. These
scales, in the early state, are fleshy and orbicular, composed of
a cellular substance, having neither veins nor nerves traversing
them ; their upper side is convex, and underneath flat, with an
acute, slightly fringed margin ; the whole surface is pruinose :
in the young state succulent, and gradually increasing in size,
they finally constitute the cone, becoming then dry, coriaceous,
or woody. In this state, from their arrangement and structure,
they admirably serve to protect the seeds from the destructive
effects of the severe weather to which in winter they would
otherwise become exposed ; and we cannot but admire the wise
provision of Nature in this instance, which has given to these
natives of cold regions the means of protecting their seeds
through the winter, until finally matured in the warm weather
of the following spring. In judging of the origin and analogies
of the stamina in Conifera^, instead of looking for the resem-
blance in the leaves, we must begin by comparing them with
the bracteae of the female catkin, which we have already shewn
to be modified leaves ; and it therefore follows, as a deduction,
that they are both modifications of the same organ, namely of
the leaf.

( 45 )

Essay ofi the Domestication of Mammiferous Aiiimals^ with
some introdtictory cansideratiovis on the variozis states m
ivhich we may study their actions. By M. Frederick
CuviEK. Continued from former Volume, p. 318.

jl\S our means of goocl treatment are various, and as the effect
of each of them differs, according to the different nature of the
animals on which they are made to act ; the choice of them
is far from being a matter of indifference, and they require to
be accurately appropriated to the object in view.

To satisfy the natural wants of animals would be a means
which eventually might bring about their submission, especially
if applied to very young animals. The habit of constantly re-
ceiving their food from our hand would familiarise them, and
render them attached to us ; but, unless the employment of this
means were continued for a very long time, the bonds which it
would form would be feeble. The good which, in this manner,
an animal would have received from us, would have been pro-
cured by itself, had it possessed the power of acting conforma-
bly to its natural disposition. It would also, perhaps, return to
its original independence, the moment we might wish to employ
it in any service ; for it would find, in this state, more than an
equivalent for all that it received from us, namely, the faculty
of giving itself up to all its impressions. To attach animals,
therefore, itwould not probably be enough to satisfy their wants;
more is necessary ; and it is, in fact, by increasing their wants,
or by creating new ones, that we attach them to us, and, so to
speak, render the society of man necessary to them.

Hunger is one of the most powerful of the means which are
at our disposal for captivating animals ; and as the extent of a
benefit is always in proportion to the necessity which is expe-
rienced of it, the gratitude of the animal is so much the more
intense, the more necessary the food which we give it has be-
come to it. It is applicable to all the mammifera, without ex-
ception ; and if, on the one hand, it may give rise to an affec-
tionate feehng, it produces, on the other, a physical debility,
which re-acts upon the will to weaken it also. It is in this man-
ner that the training of horses, which have passed their first
yeai's in a state of entire independence, usually commences.

46 M. F. Cuvier on the Domestication

After they have been caught, a small quantity only of food is.
given to them, and at long intervals ; and this suffices to fami-
liarise them to those who take care of them, and inspire a cer-
tain degree of affection, which the latter may turn to their ad-
vantage, by increasing their authority.

If, to the influence of hunger, there be added that of a se-
lected food, the power which the benefit possesses may be con-
siderably increased ; and this power arrives at an astonishing
point, when, by an artificial food, the taste of animals is much
more gratified than it would be by a better food, which nature
had destined for them. In fact, it is principally by means of
real dainties, and especially sugar^ that we manage those her-
bivorous animals, which we see submitting to the extraordinary
exercises of which our public circuses sometimes afford us the
opportunity of witnessing.

This agreeable food acts immediately upon the will of the
animal. To obtain, by its means, the effect desired, hunger
and physical weakening are not necessary ; and the affection
which it entertains for its keeper is altogether owing to the plea-
sure which the animal experiences ; but this pleasure depends
upon a natural want, and all the pleasures which animals may
feel, have not, if I may be permitted the expression, so sensual
an origin.

There is one which we have transformed into a want in some
of our domestic animals, which seems to be altogether artifi-
cial, and not to address itself to any particular sense ; it is
the pleasure of being caressed. I beheve that there is no
wild animal that does not ask caresses of the other individuals
of its species. Even in our domestic animals, we see the young
ones affected with joy on the approach of their mother, the male
and the female glad to see each other again ; and individuals,
which have been accustomed to live together, happy in being
united after separation.

But these feelings are never expressed in a striking degree ;
and it is but in few instances that they are accompanied with
reciprocal caresses. This kind of testimony, in which the plea-
sure received is doubled by that given, belongs, perhaps, exclu-
sively to man. It is from him alone that the animals have ac-
quired the wa,nt ; it is also for him alone that they experience
it ; with him only that they satisfy it ; and as the feeling of

of Mammiferous Animals. 47

Ii linger may acquire strength when the food increases the sen-
suality, in the same manner the influence of caresses may be ex*
tended when they more particularly flatter the senses. It is
thus that the gentle sounds of the voice add to the emotions
excited by the touch, and that these latter are increased by
touching the mammae.

All domestic animals are not, by any means, equally accessi-
ble to the influence of caresses, as they are to the influence of
food, whenever they are pressed by hunger. The ruminantia
appear to be little affected by them ; the horse, on the contrary,
seems to relish them in a very high degree, as do many of the
pachydermata also, and especially the elephant. The cat is not
indiff\?rent to them ; it might even be said that it sometimes
seeks them with a sort of fury ; but it is without dispute in the
dog, that they produce the most marked effects ; and what de-
serves attention, is, that all the species of the genus which I
have had an opportunity of observing, are similarly affected by
them. There was once a she wolf in the Royal Menagerie, on
which the caresses of the hand and voice produced so powerful
an effect, that she seemed to experience an actual delirium, and
her joy was not less vividly expressed by her cries than by her
motions. A jackal, from Senegal, was affected precisely in the
same manner ; and a common fox was so strongly agitated, that it
became necessary to abstain from all such expressions of kindness
toward it, from a dread of the disagreeable consequences that
might follow. It is worthy of being remarked, that all the three
animals were females.

I do not know whether I may put songs, or harmonious ipo-
dulations of the voice, among the number of artificial wants by
which the will of animals is captivated. It is well known that
the camel-leaders make use of it to slacken or accelerate the pro-
gress of the animals which they conduct. But is not this a mere
sign with vvhich the march of these animals is associated, as the
sound of the trumpet is with respect to horses, which are there-
by apprised that the lists are clear, and that they are to be let
loose .? I would be inclined to believe so, not knowing any fact
that could afford a contrary idea ; for what has been said of the
power of mu^c upon elephants, has been viewed with some pre-
judices ; at least, so far as my own observation extends, I am con-

48 M. F. Cuvier on the Domesiicatimi

vinced that such is the general impression. It would be curious^
however, to enquire on what foundation this association rests,
and what relations exist between sound and the hearing of mam-
miferous animals, whose voice is so limited as to variation and
harmony.

It is not, however, sufficient that the means of attachment aU
ways precede the acts of docility which are required ; they must
also succeed them. Constraint prudently employed does not
remain foreign to these acts; and it might be injurious if con-
tinued too long. Caresses or dainties make this effect instantly
cease ; calmness and confidence are renewed, and quickly weak-
en, if they do not efface, the traces of fear.

As soon as confidence is obtained and familiarity established ;
as soon as, by good treatment, habit has rendered the society of
men indispensable to the animal, our authority may be enforced^
and we may employ constraint, and apply chastisement. But
our means of correction are limited ; they are confined to blows,
accompanied with precautions necessary to prevent the animals
from escaping ; and they produce but a single effect, which con-
sists in transforming the feeling, whose manifestation it is neces-
sary to repress, into that of fear. From the association which
results, the first of these feehngs is weakened, and sometimes at
length entirely destroyed, even in the bud. But the application
of force ought never to be without limits, for its excess produces
two contrary effects, it either intimidates, or excites hatred. Fear,
in fact, may be carried to the point of disturbing all the other
faculties. A naturally timid horse, imprudently corrected, and
entirely absorbed by his fright, no longer perceives even the
gulf into which he precipitates himself with his rider ; and the
spaniel, so adapted by its intelligence to the chace, and so obe-
dient to the voice of his master, is converted into an undecided,
wild, or trembling animal, when a severity without bounds has
presided over its education. With regard to resistance, it al-
ways commences on the part of the animal, at the point where
our authority passes beyond the limits which time and habit had
imposed upon its obedience. These limits vary with respect to
each species, and to each individual ; and the moment they are
passed, the instinct of preservation re-awakens, and at the same
time the will manifests itself with all its force and independence.

of MammiferoiiS Animals - 49

How often do we see domestic animals, and the dog itself, revolt
against bad treatment, and exercise the most cruel vengeance
on those who inflict it. The very individuals which we regard
as vitious, and which we name restive, arc only essentially dis-
tinguished from those which are possessed of mildness and docility,
by more imperious propensities, which often, it is true, no means
can captivate, hut which, in many cases also, a more judicious
application of those commonly used might serve at least to
weaken.

I shall not relate the numerous examples of vengeance inflict-
ed by domestic animals, and particularly by horses, upon those
who had maltreated them ; the hatred which these animals have
cherished towards their cruel masters^ and the time during which
it has been retained by them in all its original violence. Such
examples are numerous and familiar ; and although they ought
to have shown that brutality is a means little calculated to ob-
tain obedience, they have been ineffectual for this purpose, and
animals are still treated by us as if we had nothing to subject in
them but their will. I cannot, however, forbear mentioning one
example which was exhibited by an elephant, and this less on
account of its rareness among us, than from the peculiar charac-
ters which accompanied it.

This animal was entrusted, at the age of two or three years,
to a young man who took care of it, and who taught it various
exercises, which he made it repeat for the amusement of the
public. It rendered an entire obedience to its master, and felt
a lively affection for him. Not only did it submit, without the
smallest hesitation, to all his commands, but it was even unhap-
py in his absence ; it repelled the advances of every other per-
son, and even seemed to eat with a kind of regret, when its food
was presented to it by a strange hand.

So long as this young man was under the eyes of his father, the
proprietor of the elephant, whether the influence of his family re-
strained him, or age had not yet developed his bad propensi-
ties, he conducted himself with propriety toward the animal en-
trusted to his care ; but when the elephant came into the pos-
session of the royal menagerie, and the young man, who was
taken into its service, was left to himself, things became changed.

OCTOBER — DECEMBER 1827. D

50 M. F. Cuvier on the Domestication r'^^

He gave himself up to dissipation, and neglected his duties ; he
even went so far, in his moments of drunkenness, as to strike
his elephant. The latter, from being habitually cheerful, be-
came melancholy and taciturn, in so much as to be thought un-
well. It still however obeyed, but no longer with that brisk-
ness which shewed that all its exercises were regarded by it as
amusements ; signs of impatience were even sometimes manifest-
ed, but they were immediately repressed. It was obvious that
very different feelings were combating within, but the situation
so unfavourable to obedience to which this violent state reduced
it, did not the less contribute to excite the discontent of its
keeper. It was in vain that the most positive orders were given
to this young man never to strike his elephant, and that he was
made to see that good treatment alone could restore the original
docility of the animal. Mortified at having lost his authority
over the elephant, and especially at not going through his
exercises with the same success as formerly, his irritation in-
creased, and one day being more unreasonable than usual,
he struck his animal with so much brutality, that the latter,
goaded to the utmost, uttered sucSh a cry of rage, that its terri-
fied master, who had never before heard it emit such a terrible
roar, ran off precipitately ; and it was well for him, for hence-
forth the elephant would not so much as suffer him to come
near it ; at the mere sight of him it became furious, and all the
means which were afterwards employed in order to inspire it with
better feelings, were ineffectual. Hatred supplied the place of
love ; indocility succeeded to obedience ; and, as long as this
animal lived, these two feelings predominated in it.

Benefits on our part are therefore indispensable to bring ani-
mals to obedience. As we are not of their species, they do not
naturally experience affection for us, and we can only act at first
upon them by restraint ; but it would not be so on the part of
individuals towards which these animals are attracted by their
instinct, which are of the same species, to which a powerful tie
tends to unite them, and for which the constraint exercised by
their kind is a natural state, a possible condition of their exist-
ence.

From the moment when they first come together, these ani-
mals are opposed to each other in the same manner as the do-

of Mammiferoufi Amnials. St

mestic animals are opj^oscd to man, after the latter has become
necessary to them, has seduced them and captivated their affec*
tions ; that is to say, the one may immediately employ force for
subjecting the other. It is the elephant, which, by the manner
in which it is rendered domestic, furnishes us with an example
of this truth. But, to be properly understood, I must first re-
late certain facts which I have already developed in my memoir
on Sociability.

All the social animals, when left to themselves, form herds
more or less numerous, and all the individuals of the same herd
know each other, and are mutually attached, according to the
relations which circumstances and their individual qualities have
established among them ; and these herds live in harmony so
long as no incident occurs to disturb it. But this sort of attach-
ment exists only with reference to the individuals of the same
herd ; a strange individual is not at first admitted by them,
they almost always receive it as an enemy, and bad treatment
often reduces it to the necessity of flying.

On the other hand, every isolated individual has need of the
society of its fellows ; it seeks them out, approaches them, fol-
lows them at first at a distance^, and, in order to be admitted,
renounces its will to the point at which the feeling of self-pre-
servation determines it to defend itself, or to withdraw.

The domestic elephants, obeying the man who leads them,
are opposed to an isolated wild elephant, in the same manner as
every individual of one herd is opposed to those of another,
Avhilc the solitary elephant is irresistibly impelled by its instinct
to approach other individuals of its species, and to submit to
them within certain limits.

Elephants, like all other social animals, might therefore im-
mediately employ force for the purpose of subjecting others;
and, in fact, this is what takes place in the manner in which
wild elephants are reduced to domesticity.

Domesticated individuals, commonly females, ai-e conducted
to the neighbourhood of places in which wild individuals have
settled. If there be in their herd one which is forced to keep
separate from the rest, and even to live solitary, or because, be-
ing a male, there are stronger individuals in the herd, or, from
any other cause, is impelled by his natural propensity, he quickly

d2

52 M. F. Cuvier on the Dmnesticatioji

discovers Ahe domestic individuals, and approaches them. The
masters of the latter, who are at hand, run up, and confine the
strange elephant with ropes, being protected by those which
belong to them, and which, on the smallest resistance from the
new comer, strike it with their proboscis or tusks, and compel it
to submit to be led away.

The chastisements inflicted by the domestic individuals upon
the wild individuals, joined to the good treatment which he re-
ceives, soon complete his captivity, or, in other words, soon
bring about the period when his will conforms itself to his new
situation, when his wants are in accordance with the commands
of his master, and when he submits to the various labours allot-
ted to him, and which habit soon renders easy ; for it is said
that a few months only are required to transform a wild ele-
phant into a domestic one.

So long as animals are, to a certain degree, susceptible of af-
fection and fear, — so long as they can attach themselves to
those who treat them well, and dread those who punish them,
it is sufficient to develope in them these feelings, in order to
weaken those which might be opposed to them, and to give ano-
ther direction to their will. This is what we have obtained by
the application of means, which now form the subject of our in-
quiries and observations. But it happens, either from the na-
ture of individuals, or from the nature of species, that the en-
ergy of certain propensities acquires such power that no other
feeling can overcome it, and under the empire of which no other
feeling can ever arise. For such animals, neither good treat-
ment nor correction will suffice, neither the one nor the other
would operate effectually ; they would even be nothing else
than new causes of exercise to the will, and, in place of weaken-
ing, they would exalt it. It is therefore indispensably neces-
sary, with respect to animals which experience so imperious a
desire of independence, to commence with immediately acting
upon their will, to deaden their rage, in order to render them
capable of fear or gratitude ; and, for this purpose, the happy
idea was suggested of submitting them to a forced state of watch-
fulness or to castration.

According to all accounts, it appears, that the first of these
means, namely, a forced state of watchfulness, is of all the modifi-

of' Mainmif'erous Animuls, 5S

cations which an animal may experience, without its being muti-
lated, that which is best adapted to weaken its will, and dispose
it to obedience, especially when benefits and chastisements are
prudently associated with it ; for then the affectionate feelings
experience less resistance, and take root more quickly and more
deeply, and fear, for the same reason, acts with more prompti-
tude and more force.

The means which may be employed for suspending sleep,
consist in strokes of a whip, applied more or less smartly, or in
a loud noise, such as that of a drum or trumpet, which is va-
ried to avoid the effect of uniformity, but especially in render-
ing hunger urgent, by withholding food ; and among the ob-
servations to which these different modes of procedure give rise,
there is one which it will not be without interest to dwell upon for
a moment, although it does not result exclusively from the parti-
cular case which we examine, but presents itself under a va-
riety of other circumstances. It shews us, that animals do not
know to refer to their cause the modifications which they expe-
rience through the medium cff sound, whenever certain particu-
lar relations do not exist between them and their causes.

When an indocile stallion or bull is struck, it does not mis-
judge regarding the cause of its pain, but immediately throws
itself vipon the person who has directed the blow, — even when
it may have been struck by a projectile, like the boar which
rushes upon the hunter whose ball has wounded it. I do not
examine whether experience has any thing to do with their ac-
tion ; this much is certain, that whatever experience these ani-
mals may have of the noise from which they suffer, they are ne-
ver able to refer the cause, either to the instrument which pro-
duces it, or to the person who employs this instrument. They
suffer passively, as if they experienced an internal disease ; the
cause, hke the seat of their uneasiness, is in themselves, and yet
they very correctly discern the direction of the noise. The
moment they are struck by a sound, their head and ears are di-
rected, without the slightest hesitation, toward the point from
which it proceeds ; there are even animals in which this action
is instinctive, and precedes all experience ; and with regard to
the sensations, I might add, that the bull acts upon seeing a
red ray, as he would under the impulse of blows. The cause o[

54j M. F. Cuvier on the Domesticatioii

the modifications which he experiences^ is in both cases entirely
external ; which shews us farther, that if the horse and the bull
do not refer the sound to the instrument which produces it, it
is less on account of the distance which separates them from the
instrument, than on account of the peculiar nature of the sensa-
tions of hearing.

The above means are applicable to all animals, and to both
sexes, although they do not produce the same results in all.
The means of castration applies only to the male individuals ;
and it is absolutely necessary only for certain ruminantia, and
chiefly for the bull. Almost all the natural wants, when not sa-
tisfied, especially when their object is to repair the strength,
such as hunger and sleep, are accompanied with a physical
weakening. There is one, on the contrary, which seems to in-
crease in proportion as the obstacles which oppose it increase,
until it is satisfied ; it is love. As we are unable to exercise
any immediate controul over it, we mutilate the animals, which
experience its effects too strongly, by removing the organs from
which it has its principal source.

In fact, the bull, the ram, &c. do not really submit to man
until after their mutilation ; for the influence of the spermatic
fluids extends in them, as also in all the other animals, much
beyond the seasons at which the desires of love are experienced.
At no period of their lives have these animals the docility which
domestication requires ; whereas the ox and the sheep have al-
ways been looked upon as models of patience and submission.
Hence it follows, that bulls and rams are useful only for propa-
gation ; and that in the ram it is only the female that is do-
mesticated.

This operation is not necessary in horses, although those
which have undergone it are generally more tractable. The
dog, on being castrated, loses all its vigour and activity ; and
this effect appears to be common to all the carnivora, for the
domestic cat is in this respect precisely in the condition of the
dog.

It is therefore by wants, over which we are able to exercise
some influence, which it depends upon us to direct, to develop,
or to destroy, that we are enabled to tame, and even entirely cap-
tivate animals ; and, from the small number of them of which

of MammifcrwiS Animals. 55

we have hitherto taken advantage, we may be eillowed to think,
that, in practice, we have not yet exhausted this source of the
means of seduction, — and that others might be brought to our
aid, should new species to be rendered domestic, or new ser-
vices to be demanded of those which already are so, enforce the
necessity of searching them out, and induce us to make the at-
tempt. Although, however, the number is thus limited, it will
easily be conceived, that, in applying them to animals of very
different natures, the results obtained must vary in a high de-
gree. In fact, scarcely any comparison can be instituted be-
tween the dog and the buffalo in this respect. While the one is
a pattern of attachment, submission, gratitude, fidelity, and de-
votedness, — the other is destitute of every benevolent and affec-
tionate feeling, and of all docility.* Between these two extremes,
come the elephant, the hog, the horse, the ass, the dromedary,
the camel, the lama, the rein-deer, the goat, the ram, and the
bull, which could all be characterised by the qualities which
have been developed in them by the influences to which we have
subjected them ; but this subject would lead me too far beyond
the limits which I ought to prescribe to myself in a mere me-
moir.

Hitherto I have only coi^idered the general effects which tl:e
various means, described above produce upon domesticated ani-
mals. It will not be useless to cast a glance over those which
they produce in wild animals ; for the comparison that will re-
sult, will perhaps assist us in eliciting the first elements of do-
mestication.

The monkeys, that is to say, the quadrumana of the old world,
which, to the highest degree of intellect in animals, unite the
organization most favourable to the development of all the fa-
culties — which have the propensity to unite together, and form
large herds, — appear to possess the conditions most favourable
for receiving the influence of our means of taming, — and yet no
adult male of this numerous tribe has ever submitted to man,
whatever good treatment it may have received. I intend con-
fining myself to the guerons, macaci, and cynocephali ; for the
orangs, gibbons, and semnopitheci, are animals as yet too little
known to us to have ever been subjected to experiment. With
regard to the former, their sensations are so vivid, their infer-

56 M. F. Cuvier on the Domesticatimi

ences so prompt, their natural distrust so great, and all their
feelings so violent, that it were impossible, by any means what-
ever, to confine them to any particular order of circumstances,
or habituate them to a determinate situation. Nothing could
quiet their desires, which change with all the modifications they
experience, and, even to a certain degree, with all the motions
that are performed around them : hence we have never been
able to count upon any good feehng on their part ; at the mo-
ment when they are giving the most striking tokens of affection,
they may be induced to tear one with fury ; and there is no
treason in this, for all their vicious qualities depend upon their
excessive mobility.

It appears, however, that, by violence, and by continually
keeping them in torment, they may be induced to perform cer-
tain exercises. It is in this manner that the islanders of Sumatra
succeed in teaching the Macacus nemestrirms to ascend trees on
being ordered, and collect the fruits ; but it is only individuals
that are thus trained, and where force is necessarily employed ;
domestication is not yet effected.

It is in consequence of the same treatment that we see some
of these animals, and particularly the magot (Macacus inuus),
learn to obey their master, and to perform those adroit and ac-
curate leaps, to execute those bold dances which their organiza-
tion and their natural dexterity render easy for them, and which
often strike us with astonishment. Yet they are so exclusively
subjected to force, that, whenever they can escape, they run off,
and never appear again, if they happen to be in countries to
which they can accommodate themselves, and which are calcu-
lated to afford them the means of subsistence.

We should better succeed in taming the American quadru-
mana with pendent tails, such as the ateles, and sapagons, which,
to a high degree of intellect and the social instinct, may join an
extreme gentleness and a lively desire of being caressed. With
regard to the Lemuridae, so many difficulties would be encoun-
tered in taming them, and so few advantages obtained, on ac-
count of their untractable and timid nature, that the uselessness
of making the attempt would have been discovered, had it been
tried. And the same remark applies ^o the Insectivora, which

4

of Mmmniferous Anirtuds, 57

would, moreover, have the disadvantage of a very limited intel-
lect, and of an unfavourable organization of limbs.

The carnivora, such as the lions, panthers, martins, civets,
wolves, bears, &c. all of them species which live a solitary life,
are very accessible to benefits, and little susceptible of fear. In
a state of liberty, they retire from danger ; in captivity, violence
irritates them, and seems especially to carry confusion into their
intellect; anger and fury then possess them. But let their
wants be satisfied when they feel them keenly ; let them expe-
rience goodness only on the part of their masters ; let no sound
of the voice, no motion, give indication of a menacing character ;
and these terrible animals will soon be seen approaching their
benefactors with confidence, manifesting the satisfaction which
they experience on seeing them, and affording the most unequi-
vocal demonstrations of their affection. A hundred times has the
apparent mildness of a monkey been followed by treachery ; but
never have the outward signs of a carnivorous animal proved
deceitful. If it is disposed to hurt, every thing in its gestures
and look will announce it, and the same will be the case when it
is animated by a benevolent feeling.

Lions, panthers, and tigers have often been seen yoked to
carriages, and obeying their, drivers with much docility. Wolves,
trained for hunting, have been seen faithfully to follow the pack
to which they belonged, and the exercises which bears are made
to perform are well known. But although we have been able
to habituate these animals to obedience, although we may have
succeeded in training them to certain exercises, we have not gone
so far as truly to associate them with us ; and yet what services
might not man derive from the lion or bear, were he able to em-
ploy them as he has succeeded in employing the dog.

The seals, which are all social animals, and possessed of un-
common degree of intellect, are, perhaps, of all the carnivora
those which would undergo the greatest modifications from our
good treatment, and which would perform, with most facility,
what we might require of them.

The glires, that is to say the beavers, marmots, squirrels,
hares, &c. seem only to be endowed with the faculty of feeling,
so little activity has their intellect. They retire from whatever
causes them pain, and, on the other hand, approach whatever is

58 M. F. Cuvier oii the Domestkation

agreeable to them,' whence they can be habituated to certain
conditions, and even to certain exercises, but they distinguish
these causes but very imperfectly ; they appear to exist for them
only when they act, and to form but little association in their
memory. The animal of this tribe, to which we have done most
good, docs not distinguish us individually, and shows no more
satisfaction at our presence than at the sight of any other per-
son ; and this is equally true with regard to those which live in
society as with regard to those which lead a solitary life.

If we pass to the tapirs, the peccaris, the daman, the zebras,
&c. in a word to the pachidermata and solipeda, we find ani-
mals living in herds, which pain may inspire with fear, and good
treatment render grateful, which distinguish their masters, and
sometimes form very strong attachments to them.

A similar effect takes place, to a certain degree, with the ru-
minantia, but principally the females, for the males, without any
exception I believe, have a brutality which bad treatment in-
creases, and which good treatment does not soften.

We learn, therefore, from the facts which have come under
our consideration, what influence the various means which have
been devised for bending animals and attaching them to our
service exercise upon them ; but they disclose nothing to us re-
garding the dispositions which are necessary in order that do-
mestication may result from this influence ; for we have seen
that several animals receive this influence like domestic animals,
without, however, becoming domestic.

Were our action upon animals limited in individuals, were it
necessary for us, at each generation, to recommence the same la-
bour, in order to associate them with us, we should not have had,
properly speaking, domestic animals ; at least domesticity would
not have been what it really is, and its influence, upon our civi-
lization, would not have had the results which the wisest ob-
servers must have discovered it to possess. Fortunately this ac-
tion is connected with one of the most important and most ge-
neral phenomena of animal nature ; and the modifications which
we have made those animals undergo, which we have first re-
duced to domesticity, have not been lost with respect to those
which have been produced by them.

of Mammiferous Animals. 69

It is a fact universally recognised, that the young of animals
have a very stmng resemblance to the individuals which liave
given life to them. This fact is as obvious in the Imman spe-
cies as in any other ; and it is not less true with reference to the
moral and intellectual faculties, than to the physical qualities.
Now, the distinctive qualities of animals of the same species,
those which have most influence over their particular existence,
which constitute their individuality, ai'c those which have been
developed by exercise, and whose exercise has been called forth
by the circumstances amid which these animals have lived.
Hence it follows, that the qualities transmissible by animals tjo
their young, those which give rise to a mutual resemblance in
them, are of a nature to arise from fortuitous circumstances;
and, consequently, that we are enabled to modify animals and
their progeny, or their race, within the limits which bound our
power to produce the circumstances calculated to act upon them.

What is thus established by reasoning, the observation of
domestic animals fully confirms. It is we who have formed
them, and there is none of their race that has not its distinct
qualities, — 'qualities which make such or such particular race to
he preferred to any other, according to the purposes for which
it is intended, and which are constantly transmitted by genera-
tion, so long as circumstances opposed to those which have occa-
sioned them do not destroy the effects of these latter. It is by
this means that we are enabled to preserve the races in their
purity, or to obtain by their mixture races having new qualities,
intermediate between those which have been united. But all
these facts are so well known, that I consider it superfluous to
dwell particularly upon any of them.

It will not, however, be useless to remark, that the most do-
mestic races, those which arc most attached to man, are those
which have experienced on his part the action of the greatest
number of the means, the use of which we have seen for render-
ing theni' attached. Thus the dog species, on which caresses
have so much influence, without distinction of sex, is indisputa^
bly the most domestic of all ; while the ox species, the females
of which alone experience our influence, and on which we have
had no other means of acting, for the purpose of attaching them
to us than feeding, is certainly that which least belongs to us.

60 Mr F. Guvier on Mammiferous Animals.

And this difference between the dog and the ox would still ne-
cessarily be increased by the difference of fecundity of these two
species. In fact, the dog, in an equal time, submits to our in-
fluence a much greater number of generations than the ox. We
are ignorant what dispositions the dog originally had to become
attached to man and to serve him, and upon which consequently
man might have acted to bring him to the degree of submission to
which he has arrived ; but there is every reason to believe that
they were numerous ; and with the promptitude with which the
elephant becomes domestic, it is extremely probable that if our in-
fluence could be exercised over a certain numberof its generations,
it would become, like the dog, one of the most submissive and
affectionate of our animals, inasmuch as all the means adapted
for rendering animals domestic are calculated to modify it.
Unfortunately no pains have been taken in attempting to make
it breed ; and, in the countries where its services have become
necessary, the natives have contented themselves with taming
individuals. This transmission of individual modifications by
generation does not, however, aflbrd a basis to domestication,
although it is indispensable to it. It is a general phenomenon
which has been observed in the wildest animals, as in those that
have been most subjected to our will. Let us inquire, there-
fore, now that we know the animals which are associated with
us, what is the disposition common to some and foreign to others,
which might be regarded as essential to domesticity ; for with-
out a particular disposition, which would second our efforts and
prevent our empire over animals from being merely accidental
and transitory, it is impossible to conceive how we should have
succeeded.

{To he concluded in next number.)

On a new Chjrogonite^ or Fossil Capside of the genus Chara,
occurring very abundantly in the fresh-water Limestones of
the neighbourhood of Paris. By M. Constant Prevost.

X. HE author commences with a historical account of the Gy-
rogonites, in which he relates all that has been said regarding
these small bodies, which are now generally considered as fossil
seeds of the genus Chara. In Forfarshire, the analogous fossil

M. Prevost on a New Gyrogcmite, 61

charae form part of one of the newest deposits, the formation of
which, if it does not belong to the present period, is at least more
recent than the diluvian deposits on which the Forfar marls rest.
On the contrary, the gyrogonites observed by M. Constant Pre-
vost, in the upper fresh water limestones of the neighbourhood
of Paris, are connected with an older formation, probably ante-
rior to the great revolution which has left the globe in its pre-
sent state. This difference of position it is of importance to
remark, because it serves to connect, by insensible shades, the
productions of nature as it exists at present, with those of the
period when the soil on which we now live was formed.

The new gyrogonite observed by M. Constant Prevost, is not
less abundant in certain localities of the heights of Montmorency,
than the gyrogcynites medicaginula along with which it occurs.
It differs essentially from this latter in its form, which is elon-
gated ovoidal ; in its size, which is less by a half or even two-
thirds, a circumstance which renders it scarcely perceptible with-
out the aid of a glass ; lastly, in the number of spiral turns,
which, in place of being six, vary from nine to ten. These
characters prevent our confounding the new gyrogonite with the
two species described by M. Ad. Brongniart, and they serve to
approximate it to the fossil which M. Ch. Leyell has made
known, and consequently to the capsules of Clmra vulgaris at
present so common in the waters of numerous marshes, which
exist upon the very soil filled with analogous fossil bodies. The
distinction becomes so much the more difficult to be established,
that in the seeds of the same species of chara^ gathered from
the same stalk, there are perceived in the size, the more or less
elongated general form, the number of spiral turns, differences
which some might consider sufficient to estabhsh several genera.
M. Constant Prevost has found similar variations in the fossil
gyrogonites, of which he has a great number in his possession.
Most of these, as in the G. medicaginula^ have lost their outer
covering, and the part preserved, or rather replaced, is only the
internal nucleus of the capsule, of which, however, the impres-
sion is frequently preserved in hollows in the compact silex.
These petrifactions are seen principally in blocks of white and
compact fresh water silex, which affect irregular rounded forms,
representing geodcs, which are disseminated without order in

62 M. Prevost oji a New Gyrogomte.

the midst of clay, marbled with red and bluish colours. These
siliceous blocks, which are often hollow in their interior, are
filled with the same clay, and with an immense quantity of
G. medicag^inula, and of the new species. In that case, the
fossils are free, and it is easy to separate them from the clay by
washing. The residuum obtained by this operation, appears to
the naked eye to be nothing but a very fine sand ; but, with the
assistance of a lens, it is distinctly seen that each grain is a part or
a complete mould of one of the two gyrogonites, or a broken
fragment of stems, the structure of which differs in no way
from that of the stems of the genus Chara. Nitric acid pro-
duces no effect upon these parts, which renders it probable
that they have been transformed into silex. When nitric
acid is poured upon the dried, and even the fresh, capsules of
recent chara, it causes a lively effervescence, produced by the
decomposition of a great quantity of carbonate of lime, which is
contained in the outer envelope of the capsule, as well as in
the stems. This effervescence destroys the opaque part of the
envelope ; and the nucleus, which is almost, in every respect, si-
milar to those that have become fossil, remains untouched in the
liquid. It ought to be remarked, on this occasion, that, in the
calcareous rocks which contain fossil gyrogonites, it is the outer
envelope that has been preserved, while the nucleus has disap-
peared, — a result the reverse of what the siliceous rocks dis-
close.

M . C. Prevost found the same gyrogonite in the fresh-water
flints of Nogent le Rotrou, which were given him by M. J.
Desnoyers, who has also some specimens of a greenish compact
limestone, resembling, in its mineralogical appearance, some
beds of Jura limestone, of the Department de la Manche ; in
which country the specimens were found in digging wells. They
contain a globular gyrogonite, which differs, in some points,
from the G. medicaginula. Some fresh- water marls of the vi-
cinity of Epernay, collected by M. Deshayes, are filled with
gyrogonites which are also globular, but less perfectly so, and
larger than the G. medicaginula, and, perhaps, similar to those
already pointed out by M. Bigot de Morogues. There has also
been observed in the deposits, superior to the Fountainbleau
sandstone, above Valvin, a constant variety of elongated gyro-

M. Prcvost on a ^ew Gyrogonite.. 63

gonitc, larger than that which forms the j)iuu'i|)al object ot the
present notice. If, to all these indications, there Ikj added the
description of tubercular gi/rogonite^ discovered by Mr Charles
Lyell in the Isle of Wight, it will be seen that the genus of
fossil Chara is an object of much interest to the botanist and
geologist. There remain, without doubt, many fossil species
to be discovered, but it is of importance that the gyrOgonites
receive specific names only after a preliminary examination of
the Chara, at present existing, may have fixed the limit of the
possible differences in the capsules of the same plant, and deter-
mined the value of the parts which are capable of furnishing
distinctive characters. This philosophical object cannot be bet-
ter attained than by the naturalist who first discovered the ex-
istence of fossil Charae ; and the circumstance, that M. Leman
is at present occupied with a work on the subject, prevents the
author of this notice from bestowing a new name upon the gy-
rogonite which he imagines he was the first to observe.

Notice regarding Fossil Remains ^ound in Ava.

T]

HE Calcutta Government Gazette contains the following
account of the fossil remains brought to Calcutta, on account of
Government, from the Burmese Empire, by the late mission to
Ava.

" Of the fossil bones, the most numerous and remarkable are
those of an animal about the size of a large elephant, stated to be
the bones of the mammoth. This is a mistake. The mammoth
is an extinct species of the elephant, differing from the two living
species, the African and Indian. The remains of this animal
have only been found in Europe, and chiefly in Siberia. The
Burman fossil bones are unquestionably those of the mastodon,
as may be clearly seen, by comparing, as I have done, the grind-
ers with those of the Indian elephant, as well as the accurate de-
scriptions and representations of both in the work of Cuvier. In
the different species of elephants, the crown of the moiares, or
grinders, is marked by superficial transverse bands. In the
mastodon, the form is widely different, the crown being marked

64 Notice regarding Fossil Remains Jbund in Ava.

by deep transverse furrows and ridges, the latter divided into
two or liiore obtuse pyramidal points or mammillae.

It was this singular appearance which made the mastodon
a long time be considered erroneously as a carnivorous animal.
Five species of the genus mastodoix are supposed by Cuvier to
have been discovered, and I imagine the bones now under con-
sideration will be found to constitute a sixth species ; for the mo-
lares, on which he principally rests for his specific distinctions,
differ very materially from the representations which he has
given of the ascertained species. The mastodon of Ava, if it
be a distinct species, will be found equal in size to the great
mastodon of the Ohio, which is reckoned to be equal in size to
the Indian elephant. A grinder, which I examined, measures,
in circumference, between sixteen and seventeen inches, and the
circumference of a humerus round the condyles is not less than
twenty-five inches. Several of the grinders and bones, however,
apparently of an animal of the same species, are much smaller
than these, but this is probably on account of their belonging
to younger individuals. I need hardly observe that our mas-
todon, like others of the same genus, and all the species of the
elephant, had tusks. Several fragments, but no entire tusks,
are in the collection.

" The next most remarkable remains are those of the fossil
rhinoceros. There are several molares of an animal of this ge-
nus in the collection. Cuvier describes four species of the fossil
rhinoceros to have been ascertained, all differing from the living
species. The bones, now found, bear a striking resemblance to
one of the species represented by Cuvier ; but the molares are
considerably larger than any of those which he has represented.
The collection seems to me to afford evidence of the existence
of two other animals of the same family with the elephant, mas-
todon and rhinoceros ; at least, teeth, which I have seen in it,
exactly resemble two species of a genus represented in the work
of Cuvier, and to which he gives the name of Anihracotherium.

" The other teeth of quadrupeds which exist, and which I am
able to recognise, are those of an animal of the horse-kind, and
those of an animal of the ruminant family, apparently of the
size of the buffalo.

" Among the remains are numerous specimens of those of a

Notice regarding Fossil Remahis foimd in Aviu 65

crocodile, which I conjecture to resemble the long-nosed alliga-
tor of the Ganges, the native name of which !ias been corrupted
by naturalists into GaviaL It is singular that this description
of alligator, as far as we know, is not at present found in the
rivers of Ava.

In the same situation with the bones were found considerable
quantities of fossil shells. Some of these were filled with blue
clay, but far tlic greater number with hard siliceous matter.
The shells which I have seen are of the genus Turbo and genus
TelUna *, and the productions of fresh water, although they
do not, at the same time, resemble the present shells of the lakes
and rivers of the neighbourhood.

The fossil wood is found in the same situation with the bones
and shells. This is in vast quantity, the hills and ravines being
strewed with blocks and fragments of various sizes, some of
them five and six feet in circumference.

The fossil remains now enumerated are found on the left bank
of the Irawadi, and within four and six miles inland fVom the
river, between the twentieth and twenty-first degrees of north
latitude, and close to the celebrated wells of Petroleum. The
aspect of the country is very remarkable. It is composed of
sand hills and narrow ravines, very sterile, and, for a tropical
country, very deficient in vegetation. Among the sand there
are beds of gravel, with iron-stone and calcareous breccia. The
whole is evidently a diluvial formation. The few scattered
trees which exist in this tract, consist of some Acacias, a Celtis,
a Hhus, a Barringtonia, a ZizT/phus, and some Indian fig trees.
To say whether or not the fossil timber found belongs to the
same species as these, would be a matter of difficulty : but, up-
on the whole, it may be said that the blocks appear too large
to warrant a belief that it docs.

The fossil bones, as well as the shells and wood, are all found
superficially, or rather indeed upon the surface, for all of them
were more or less exposed. Notwithstanding this exposure,
they have suffered very little decomposition. They are not
rolled, nor have they suffered from attrition, for their sharp
edges and processes are preserved with great distinctness ; tlic
inference from which is, that the individuals to which they be-
• Probably of the genera Cyclosioma and Cyclas, — Ed.

OCTOBER— DECEMBER 1827. B

66 Notice regarding Fossil Remains found in Ava.

longed died, or were destroyed, on tlie spot en which they are
now found. In one respect the bones differ essentially from all
fossil bones of which I have heard. They are complete petri-
factions, and all of them more or less deeply coloured with iron.
Their substance is siliceous, and some of them are so hard as to
strike fire with steel. This no doubt accounts, in a good mea-
sure, for their perfect state of preservation.

The wild quadrupeds of the neighbourhood, at present, are a
species of leopard, cat, deer, and the hog. The bones of these do
not seem to exist among the fossil remains, nor is there any evi-
dence of those of the elephant, or of any carnivorous animal.
As amongst similar remains in other parts of the world, not/ji
vestige is to be discovered here of the human skeleton.

I need hardly attempt the refutation of the idle notion which
has been entertained by many, that the fossil remains found on
the banks of the Irawadi have been generated by a petrifying
quality in the water of that river. Abundance of organic mat-
ter may be seen on the shores of the Irawadi, both animal and
vegetable, undergoing the common process of decomposition as
elsewhere. There can, I think, be no doubt that the fossil
bones, shells, and wood, are here, as similar remains are admit-
ted to be elsewhere, all the result of the last, or one of the last,
great catastrophes which changed the face of the present globe.
They are, in fact, the remains of a former state of our world,
when the greater number of the present races of animals had no
existence, and, above all, before man was called into existence.

The collection is altogether both extensive and curious, and
the more worthy of attention, since it is, as far as I am aware,
the first of any moment that has ever been discovered in the
East.

Report made to the Royal Academy of Sciences of Paris, upon
a Memoir by M. Constant Prevost, entitled An Eocaminatio7i
of the Geological Questicm, whetJier the Continents which we
ijiJtabit Imve been repeatedly submersed by the Sea. By

Mess. CUVIEB & COEDIER,

JL HE author, in the first place, endeavours to prove, that,
among the sedimentary and alluvial formations j there is no bed

On the Svhmcrgence ofContments. 67

that could be considered as representing an old continental sur-
face, that might have been long covered with terrestrial vegeta-
bles, and inhabited by land animals, before being enveloped by
marine deposits. He shews, that he has in vain sought the
traces of old continental surfaces in contact with the marine and
fresh water formations, which alternate in several parts of France,
Germany, and England. He unfolds the reasons for thinking
that the remains of vegetables, which are sometimes found in a
vertical position in sandstone of the coal formation, owe this po-
sition only to chance. The presence of remains of mammifera,
whether in the diluvian strata properly so called, or in caves an-
terior to these strata, appears to him to afford no better evidence
that the sea has overwhelmed a soil previously inhabited ; and
he ultimately arrives at the conclusion, that the countries which
are occupied by alluvial and sedimentary deposits, were covered
by the waters during the whole time that these deposits required
for their formation.

The author then carefully enumerates the principal circum-
stances which characterize the formation of the deposits which
take place in our own days in lakes, at the mouths of rivers, on the
shores of the ocean, and in all the parts of its basin which have
little depth. Among these deposits, he distinguishes those
which result from more or less rapid currents, and those which
proceed from quiet precipitations; those which belong to the
shores, and those formed in the open sea. He calls to mind the
fact, that rivers frequently carry out to great distances continen-
tal organic remfdns of all descriptions, and that the waters of the
sea, accidentally raised from their basin, sometimes make mo-
mentary irruptions over surfaces of great extent, which are com-
monly occupied by marshes, lagoons, and lakes, the bottom of
which is incontestably formed by deposits filled with fluviatile
and terrestrial organic remains. He makes various remarks up-
on the nature of the moUusca, which live isolated or in families,
near the shores, or at a distance from them. Lastly, he shews,
that, by the concurrence of presently existing causes, the English
Channel (La Manche) ought to contain alternations of strata ana-
logous to those which constitute the lower part of many tertiary
formations ; that >verc the level of the' sea lowered twenty-five
fathoms, this strait would be changed into a vast lake ; and that

"68 On the Submergence of Continents.

after a certain lapse of time, there vvould necessarily be formed
a series of strata analogous to those which occur in the upper
part of the same deposits of various countries.

Proceeding from these data, and supposing, in general, that
the level of the sea has actually imdergone a slow and progres-
sive lowering from the origin of things, the author undertakes
to explain the manner in which the tertiary deposits of the
neighbourhood of Paris have been formed, as well as those
which constitute their continuation, whether extending to the
Loire, or across the Channel in the neighbourhood of the Isle of
Wight. Considering all these deposits as belonging to an an-
cient basiuj he represents their constitution by means of two
transverse sections, in which he has brought together all the ob-
servations that have hitherto been collected, and which afford a
precise idea of the alternations, mixtures, and entanglements
which the various deposits present. The author is of opinion that
these sections are sufficient, with the aid of the explanations an-
nexed, to shew that marine strata of chalk, coarse limestone,
marls, and superior sandstones, have been formed in the same
basin, and under the same waters, as the plastic clay, the sili-
ceous limestone, and the gypsum itself, which essentially con-
tain remains of terrestrial and fluviatile animals and vegetables ;
but he does not fail to add to his system of explanation, all the
details and inductions which appear to him calculated to insure
probability. The following is a brief statement of his views.

First Epoch. — A calm and deep sea deposits the two varie-
ties of chalk which constitute the sides and bottom of the great
tertiary basin in question.

Second Epoch. — In consequence of the progressive lowering
of the ocean, the great basin becomes a gulf, in which matters
carried down by the rivers form chalky brecciae and plastic clay,
are soon covered by the marine spoils of the first coarse lime-
stone.

Third Epoch. — The deposits are interrupted by a commo-
tion which breaks and sensibly displaces the strata. The basin
becomes a salt lake, traversed by voluminous currents of water
coming alternately from the sea and the continents, and which
produce the mixtures and entanglements presented by the se-

On tJte Submergence of Coniinenls. C9

cond coarse limestone, the siliceous limestone, and the gypsum
deposits.

Fourth Epoch. — Irruption of a great quantity of fresli water,
charged with clays and marls, in the midst of which there are
still found some deposits of marine bivalve shells. The basin
is now only an immense brackish pool.

Fifth Epoch. — The basin ceases to communicate with the
ocean, and the level of its waters falls below that of the waters
of the sea. The muddy deposits of the continental waters con-
tinue.

Sixth Epoch. — Accidental irruption of the ocean, which de-
posits sands and the upper marine sandstones. Immediately
after, the basin, nearly filled up, contains only fresh water of
little depth ; it receives fewer streams ; vegetables and animals
are established in it ; the buhrstones and the fresh water lime-
stone are deposited.

Seventh and Last Epoch. — The succession of these various
operations is terminated by the diluvian cataclysm.

From the preceding analysis, it will be seen that the object
of M. Prevost's memoir is not to make known new facts, but to
bring together a great number of curious facts, to discuss their
characters, to determine their influence, to compare those which
appear capable of comparison, and to endeavour to get at the
causes by means of certain suppositions which may be more or
less probable. Attempts of this kind have certainly their im-
portance and their utility in geology ; they present, liowever,
great difficulties, and we ought to be the more indulgent to M.
Prevost for having engaged in them, that he has done so with
remarkable ingenuity. We have therefore the honour of pro-
posing to the Academy that his memoir be printed in the Ke^
cueil des Savans Etrangers.

On tlve History and Constitution of Benefit or Friendly Societies.
By Mr W. Fraser, Edinburgh. Continued from p. 296
of former Volume.

N the preceding Number of this Journal a summary was given
of the investigations of the Highland Society of Scotland, and of a
Select Committee of the House of Commons in 1825, into the

70 Mr W. Fraser on the History and Constitution of

average rate or Law of Sickness among mankind, as deduced
from the experience of numerous Friendly Societies in Scotland,
and from the Monthly Reports of the whole army quartered in
Britain during the years 1823 and 1824. It was likewise stat-
ed, that another Select Committee had been appointed by the
House of Commons in 1827 to make farther inquiries into the
same subject, and other matters connected with Health and Life
Assurance. The Report of this latter Committee was presented
to the House at the close of the last session of Parliament, and,
along with the Minutes of Evidence on which it was founded,
ordered to be printed. This interesting document contains
much additional information on subjects of the utmost import-
ance to all classes of the community ; a brief detail of which shall
be given in the following pages.

The Report commences with stating, that the Committee of
1825 having entered minutely into all matters connected with
Friendly Societies, the Committee of 1827 have not gone into
any farther investigation as to sickness, but have chiefly confin-
ed their attention to those points upon which the former Com-
mittee had come to no conclusion. The opinion, however, of
Messrs Finlaison and Davies, two eminent actuaries, was re- '
quested as to the proper contribution required for a given bene-
fit during sickness ; and these gentlemen accordingly gave in
a report, exhibiting in a very brief form, all that is essentially
necessary for securing the stability of such societies as limit their
benefits to allowances during sickness, in old age, and at death.
These comprehensive rules^ which the Committee have recom-
mended for general use, will be given when we come to treat of
the rates of contributions and benefits ; but it may here be ob-
served, that, in giving their opinion, these actuaries had no other
materials from which to calculate the probable rate of sickness,
than those which had been before the Committee of 1825.
Their data, therefore, consisted of a rate of sickness assumed by
Dr Price— of that deduced by the Highland Society from the
experience of numerous Friendly Societies in Scotland — of the
rate assumed by the Reverend Mr Becher of Southwell, in
Nottinghamshire, — and of that found to prevail in the army
from the official returns at the Adjutaiit-Gcnerars Office. This
latter rate, however, we formerly remarked, could not, for the

Benefit or Friendly Societies, 71

reasons then assigned, be applicable to the members of Friendly
Societies ; and it appears that Messrs Finlaison and Davies are
now of the same opinion, for they state, " that this is a rate of
sickness which certainly exceeds all estimate of what has hither-
to prevailed among the labouring classes, and arises, no doubt,
from causes to which the members of friendly societies in gene-
ral would not be subject."" But these gentlemen also state it to
be their opinion, that the rate of sickness reported to the High-
land Society falls short of the proportion that would be experien-
ced in the practice of Friendly Societies in England, in the same
degree that the .sickness of the army is excessive ; and they have
therefore taken a mean between the two, in calculating their
rate of contribution for benefit during sickness. As, however,
this mean is, under 50 years of age, double that reported by
more than 70 Friendly Societies in Scotland, comprising up-
wards of 100,000 members, — and, as no reason whatever is giv-
en by these gentlemen why the rate of sickness should be so very
much higher among the same classes in England, the accuracy
of their conclusion may at least be doubted. At all events, as
no additional information has been obtained on this subject ,by
the last Committee, we cannot but still adhere to our former
opinion, — that the law of sickness deduced by the Highland So-
ciety of Scotland is the most satisfactorily authenticated of any
yet published.

Law of Mortality.
The next, and perhaps the most important, question that
falls to be considered, is that regarding the rate or Law of Mor-
tality.

Tables of Mortality, it is well known, are intended to shew how man/
persons, out of a given number at any age, may be expected to survive to a
nigher age ; and, consequently, these tables form the basis of all calculations for
Health and Life Assurance. Such tables have been hitherto formed from regis-
ters of mortality, which usually include the marriages and births, as well as bu-
rials— from bodies of annuitants — and from actual surveys or enumerations of
the proportion of deaths among persons living at the same ages in countries
and in towns.

Mortuary registers were begun to be kept in Germany about the end of the
15th century ; and, in 1538, the incumbent of every parish in England was
ordered, by the Privy Council, to keep an exact account of all the weddings,
christenings, and burials within his district. This duty, however, seems to
have been for a long time very ill discharged; and it was not till about 1690,
that the ages were first inserted in the buls kept at Breslaw in Silesia, and
not till 172H, in those kept at London. In 1749 the government of Sweden
*' established what in this country would probably be called a Board of Popu-
lation, but is there denominated Tabclvarkcty for reducing into convenient
forms the extracts from the parish registers, and the returns from the magis-

72 Mr W. Frascr on the History and Const'itntion of

trates of the numbers of the people, which the governors of the different pro-
vinces are required to state to the commissioners appointed for these purposes.
The extracts from the registers are made and transmitted annually, but the
enumerations only once in three years. Printed forms, with proper blanks,
distinguishing the ages and sexes, both of the living and the dead, with the dis-
eases the deaths were occasioned by, are distributed throughout the country
to enable the people to make these returns correctly and uniformly ; and the
information thus acquired, respecting the state of population and mortality, is
much more correct and satisfactory than what has been obtained in any other
place of considerable extent."*

The first table of mortality was constructed by Dr Halley from the regis-
ter kept atBreslaw for the five years ending with 1691 ; and Mr William Kersse-
boom of the Hague, published a tract in 1742, in which he gave a table of
mortality formed from registers, kept for nearly 130 years, of many thousand
life annuitants in Holland and West Friesland. JNIr Nicholas Struyck also
published at Amsterdam, about the same time, two tables of mortality from
registers of annuitants kept there for about 35 years, — one of these tables
shewing the mortality of females, and the other that of males, but both, when
combined, agreeing very nearly with the table of Dr Halley. In 1742, like-
wise, Mr Thomas Simpson gave a table of mortality for liondon ; and in 174G,
M. Deparcieux published an essay at Paris, in which he inserted six ne»v and
valuable tables of mortality, one of them constructed from the lists of the no-
minees of the French Tontines, principally for the years 1G89 and 1696, and
the others from the mortuary registers of various religious houses in France.
Four of these shewed the mortality of the monks of different orders, and the
fifth that among the nuns of different convents in Paris. Dr Price, in the
first edition of his Observations on Reversionary Payments, published in 1771?
gave three new tables of mortality, constructed from the London, Norwich,
and Northampton bills ; and in his second edition in 1772, five other tables,
likewise new, for various places on the Continent and in England. In his
fourth edition, which appeared in 1783, he gave some other new tables of mor-
tality, for Warrington and Chester ; likewise for all Sweden and Finland, and
for Stockholm separately, in which the sexes were distinguished These latter
tables for Sweden and Finland, were the first which had been constructed
from data that could be relied on, being enumerations made at seven different pe-
riods, of the living, and registers of the annual deaths, in each interval of age,
among the whole population for 21 years ending 1776, (Stockholm excepted, it
being for 9 years only) and the materials for which had been communicated to
him by M. Wargentin, one of the Commissioners of the Tabelvarket. In 1806
M. Duvillard published a work at Paris on the Influence of the Small Pox
on Human Mortality, in which he gave a table of mortality for France, found-
ed on observations made from extensive materials collected previous to the
French Ilevolution. Mr Joshua Milne, in his Treatise on Annuities and Insu-
rance, published in 1815, likewise gave two new Swedish Tables of mortality,
exhibiting that of the sexes both separately and together, and deduced from
the Swedish observations for the 25 years ending with 1795. He also furnished
a table constructed from very accurate observations made at Carlisle upon
a mean number of 8177 persons of various ages, ranks, and conditions, by Dr
Heysham, who, for the 9 years from 1779 to 1787, carefully preserved the bills
of mortality of that city, supplied their deficiencies, and kept correct accounts
of two enumerations of the people, in which their ages were taken. And, last-
ly, Mr Milne gave another table of mortality from the Swedish Observations
for the 5 years ending in 1805, in his article on the Law of Human Mortality
inserted in the volume of the Supplement to the Encyclopaedia Britannica pub-
lished in 1824.

Such were the principal tables of mortality up to this latter date ; but the
one which had been for a long period almost uniformly relied on for practi-
cal purposes in this country, was that denominated the Northampton Table,
constructed by Dr Price from the mortuary registers of that town for 46
years ending with 1 780. A pretty general opinion, however, had for many years
prevailed, that this table exhibited the rate of mortality much higher than what

♦ Supplement to Encyclopaedia Britannica, art. Bills of Mobtalitv.

Benefit or Friendl?/ Societies. 73

actually occurred, but of this no perfectly satisfactory evidence had, till lately,
been obtained. The three Swedish Tallies, although perhaps not applicable
to this country, were always acknowledged to be formed from the most correct
data, being founded upon observations neither confined to a short period
of time nor to a small extent of territory. The two latter of these tables ex-
hibit an increased duration of life in that country ; and all the three represent
the rate of mortality there as ])eing much less than that shewn by the Nor-
thampton Table. Although the Carlisle Table gives a still lower rate than the
Swedish, yet, as the observations from which it had been deduced were more
complete than any which had previously existed in Britain, this table was
thought l)y many to exhibit more accurately than any otlier the duration of
human life in this kingdom.

The difference of mortality in the sexes, and also the disproportion of male
and female births, were found by Dr Price, from very extensive investiga-
tions, to be as follows :

According to the registers of several large towns in Germany, it appeared
that the still-born males and females were as three of the former to two of
the latter ; and from a very extensive collection of facts derived from the
registers of various places, both in this country and on the Continent, it was
ascertained that there were also more males every where born alive than fe-
males, — the total number of males born in those places, during certain periods,
being 2,388,950, and that of females 2,271,201, or in the proportion of 20 to
IJ) ; and throughout France, in the ratio of 18 to 17- But from equally satis,
factory obsei*vations, it was likewise ascertained, that, from some peculiarity
inimical to life in the male constitution, the males were reduced to a lesser
number than the females before the expiration of the first year of age. In some
situations also, more than a half, and in others more than a third or fourth,
of both males and females were found to die before the fifth year of age.

In large towns, the births were fewer, in proportion to the marriages, than
in the country ; and the mortality was so great, especially among children, that
had it not been for a continual influx from the country, the population of large
towns would have rapidly decreased.

The mortality of males continues to be greater at all ages, throughout
the whole period of life, than that of females, — the difference being, in Dr
Price's time, least in the whole kingdom of Sweden, greater at Chester, and
greatest at Stockholm. The number of deaths or '* decrements among males,
increase regularly through every period of life, from 10 to 75; but among
females, this increase is interruj)ted for a few years after 45. This cannot
be an accidental irregularity, the numbers being too great, and the period
for which the observations have been made too long, to admit of such an
irregularity. Probably, therefore, it must be accounted for in the folloAving
manner. From the age of 30 to 35, the number of manied, ^d conse-
quently of child-bearing women, is greater than at any other ages ; and this
raises the decrements in that division of life. After 35, this number is dimi-
nished, and the decrements fall. Between 40 and 45, the critical periods come
on, and the decrements are raised again ; but after 45, the number of deaths
arising from hence becoming less, the decrements become also less, but con-
tinue afterwards to increase, with increasing years, till they become greatest
at 74 or 75. It is, however, remarkable, that notwithstanding the peculiar
dangers to which the lives of females are subjected, from the causes just men-
tioned, there are no ages at which a smaller proporticm of them does not die
than of males, except the ages in which the number of deliveries is greatest,
and that even tJien the probabilities of living among them are nearly equal to
those among males*." It may likewise be mentioned, that females are found
to live, upon an average, from 3 to 4 years longer than males ; and married
women longer than unmarried.

But however accurately the rate of male and female mortality may be dedu-
ced from observations made among the population at large, it must be evident
that such a rate will not correspond with the experience of Life Assurance Socie-
ties, whose members must be all in good health at the period of their admission.
Accordingly, in almost every such society, the actual number of deaths among

• Price on Reversionary Payments, vol. ii r« 408, 7th Edit. 1812.

74 Mr W. Frascr on the Histori/ and Comtitution of

their members, for the first 10 years at least after entry, fall greatly short of
that represented by the tables of mortality ; and, of course, this difference
will be the greater, the more incorrectly any table in use may represent the
average rate of mortality among mankind to be. Thus, in the Equitable As-
surance Company of London, whose premiums are regulated by the Nor-
thampton Table, it was ascertained by Mr Morgan, the eminent actuary
of that association, upon a calculation for 30 years, ending with 1810, and
upon 83,201 members, that the mortality which had occurred was only to the
claims which might have been expected, from the age of 20 to 30 as 1 to 2;
30 to 40 as 3 to 6 ; 40 to 50 as 3 to 5 ; 50 to 60 as 6 to 7 ; 60 to 80 as 4 to 5,
and in all ages together, in the ratio of 2 to 3.

Any rates of contributions, therefore, calculated from the Northampton
Table for sums payable at death, must be necessarily more than adequate to
defray these benefits, and hence the principal source of the large surpluses or
profits that are always realised upon those assurances. Indeed, according to
the above experience, the premiums charged by the Equitable, and, till lately,
by all the other offices, for sums payable at death, are 30 per cent, higher, and
in many cases more, than are necessary to provide for the sums assured.

In the case of annuities, however, calculated from the Northampton Table,
the effect is generally the reverse ; for, as none will purchase these benefits but
those who are in the best state of health, and of strong constitutions, it has usu-
ally been found that they live, on an average, considerably beyond the time ex-
pected. Comparatively few offices, therefore, have schemes for annuities,
and such as do insure these benefits, generally purchase them from govern-
ment, which is now ascertained to be losing considerably every year by such
transactions.

While, therefore, the premiums for annuities calculated by the Northamp-
ton Table have been found greatly insufficient, the premiums for sums pay-
able at death have been as much in excess ; and as the great mass of assurances
consists of this latter benefit, such excess had become an oppressive and un-
just tax on the higher classes of the public.

But inaccurate mortality tables must, if possible, prove still more hurtful to
Friendly Societies, than even to the higher classes of mutual assurance associa-
tions ; for, on the one hand, the members of those societies are ill able to pay
more than is necessarily required, while, on the other, an inadequate contribu-
tion would prove ruinous in the extreme. Hence an accurate table of morta-
lity is of the utmost importance in the computation of their rates of contribu-
tions and allowances ; and it therefore became a serious question, first with
the Committee of the Highland Society of Scotland, and next with those of
the House of Commons, what table of mortality ought to be adopted.

The Highland Society confined their inquiry among Friendly Societies to
age and ^ckness only ; but this they afterwards regretted, as it was found that
the mortality of their members might have been also pretty accurately ob-
tained. As already mentioned, the committee had therefore to consider what
tables of mortality could best be relied on, and applied for the opinion of seve-
ral eminent calculators on the subject. Among many communications which
were in consequence received, the following are extracts from one made by
Dr Hamilton of Aberdeen.

" The choice of proper tables for ascertaining the rate of mortality, is a point
of the greatest importance. I have not seen Mr Milne's Treatise on Annui-
ties, containing the Carlisle Tables, but observe that they give the probabili-
ties of life higher than any tables I am acquainted with. The Swedish Tables,
given by Dr Price, are also high, and give an intermediate result between the
Northampton and Carlisle Tables. I think the calculations should not pro-
ceed upon one set of tables only, but upon the medium of several esteemed
the best. Perhaps the three above mentioned (Northampton, Swedish, and
Carlisle), are as good as any we are at present in possession of. I consider it,
however, as a desideratum to obtain tables founded upon more recent observa-
tions than those which we at present use, which, with the exception of the
Carlisle one, are founded upon bills of mortality kept long ago." — " Now, it
is generally believed that there has been a sensible increase in the duration of
Uuman life in this and other civilized countries, within the last half century,

Benefit or Friendly Societies,

75

which may be accounted lor from more cleanly habits, the l>etter treatment of
diseases among the poor, the practice of vaccination, &c. The belief of this
is so prevalent, that some of the insurance oflices have altered their terms ;
and the Carlisle tables seem to confirm the opinion. The effect of an increase
of longevity is to increase the value of an annuity for life ; to lower the tenns
upon which insurance for life may be effected ; to ameliorate the terms for an-
nuities to widows ; but it increases the demands upon Friendly Societies for
the relief of sickness and old age." — " Although the possession of more tables,
founded upon recent observations, is to be desired, we must, in any present
scheme, make the best of those we have •.'*

Accordingly, upon considering various tables of mortality, and after the
most mature deliberation, it was resolved to found the computations upon a
medium derived from the Northampton, Carlisle, and latest Swedisli tables ;
and, from such data, Mr John Lyon, now one of the masters of the High School,
Licith, and an able calculator, constructed a new table of mortality. In the
formation of this table, Mr Lyon reduced the three tables, of which it is an
average, to the same radix^ or number, at the completion of 20 years of age (it
being only after that age that such tables are chiefly useful, at least for
Friendly Societies); added the corresponding numbers together, and assumed
1005 as the radix for a new table, using the nearest whole numbers to avoid
fractions. Before, however, giving this table, it may not be superfluous to
contrast those tables from which it has been deduced, in decades, or periods
of ten years, by which means some idea will be formed of the propriety of the
rate of mortality adopted. According to those three tables, then, the propor-
tion of the deaths to the living, at different ages, is as follows ;

AOES.

Northampton.

Carlislk.

Latkst Swedish.

Between 20 and 30

1 to 63.7

1 to 132.60

1 to 134.86

30 — 40

1 — 53.5

1 — 94.44

1 — 102.96

40 — 50

1 — 41.7

1 — 69.72

1— 70.07

50 — 60

1 — 29.9

1 — 54.74

1— 39.81

60 — 70

1 - 20.3

1— 24.24

1 — 20.43

70 — 80

1 — 11.0

1— 12.04

1 — 8 95

80 — 90

1— 6.0

1 — 5.69

1 — 4.30

Above 90

1— 2.4

1 — 3.50

1 — 2.38

Thus it appears that the Northampton Table represents the rate of morta-
lity, in the earlier ages, to be double that represented by the Carlisle ; 1 out
of 63 persons, of any age between 20 and 30, dying annually according to the
former table, while there is only 1 out of 132 according to the latter. The
following is the average of the three, and also the average of the number of
the living to those who died at the same ages in the city of Glasgow, as cor-
rectly ascertained by Mr Cleland, during the year 1822, the one succeeding
that in which the last census was taken, and in which the number of deaths
differed only by four from that of the preceding year. The table of the High-
land Society represents the average rate of males and females combined.

Ages.

Highland Society

AVBRAOB.

GLASGOW. 1

Males.

Females. \ Both. |

Between 20 and 30

1 to 95.50

1 to 81.5

1 to 137.5

1 to 107.5

30 — 40

1 — 76.67

1 — 73.5

1— 81.1

1— 77.5

40 — 50

1 — 58.14

1 _ 58.7

1- 74.2

1 — 66.0

50 — 60

1 — 40.28

1 — 41.5

I— 47.5

1 — 44.6

60 — 70

1 — 21.90

1 — 20.7

1 — 23.6

1 — 22.3

70 — 80

1 _ 10.48

1— 8.1

1— 9.6

1 — a9

80 — 90

1 - 5.17

1 — , 5.9

1 — 6.6

1— 6.3

Above 90

1 — 2.50

1 — 1.6

1— 2.9

1 — 2.4

• Highland Society's Rqx)tt ou Baicfit or Fricmlly Societies, p. M. Edin. 1884.

76 Mr W. Fraser on the Historij ayid Constitution of

Here the difference between male and female mortality is very strikingly
shewn by the Glasgow Table, — a fact which, although well known to those ac-
customed to such investigations, has been hitherto seldom contemplated by the
great majority of the public. But, as the average of these two tables for males
and females combined, come so near to each other, in ])eriods of ten years, be-
ing, according to the Highland Society's average for all ages between 20 and
60, one in 7G.77 annually, and, according to the Glasgow observations, one in
83.66, it may be presumed that the following Table will represent pretty ac-
curately the mortality of the working classes of this country, at all ages from
that of 20 to the vitmost period of life. The average number alive, through-
out the year, is a mean between those alive at the beginning, and those alive at
the end of each year.

MORTALITY TABLE, exhibiting the Law of Mortality after 20 years
of Age, or the Number of Persons alive at the beginning of each year, till
all are dead, out of 1005, all commencing the 21st year of their age at the
same time ; — ^being an average of the Northampton, Carlisle, and latest
Swedish Tables of Mortality *.

o c

o ^

(U c

i-s

O c,

<a a

o c

o ^:

<U g

A-^

if

> 5 .

11

So •

^•^

A s

> o .

Age.

ill

1:1

Age.

ill

ifi

Age.

21

|8S

1-^

lis

lii

3. a

727

71

s 5 rt

3.2

lu

1005

10

1000

46

733

13

324

23

313

22

995

10

990

47

720

13

714

72

301

23

290

23

985

10

980

48

707

13

701

73

278

22

267

24

975

10

970

49

694

13

688

74

256

22

245

25

965

10

960

50

681

13

675

75

234

21

224

26

955

10

950

51

668

14

661

76

213

21

203

27

945

10

940

52

654

14

647

77

192

20

182

28

935

10

930

53

640

14

633

78

172

19

163

29

925

10

920

54

626

14

619

79

153

18

1'14

30

915

10

910

55

612

15

605

80

135

17

127

31

905

10

900

56

597

15

590

81

118

16

110

32

895

11

890

57

582

15

575

82

102

15

95

33

884

11

879

58

567

15

560

83

87

14

80

34

873

11

868

59

552

16

544

84

73

13

67

35

862

11

857

60

536

16

528

85

60

11

55

36

851

11

846

61

520

16

512

86

49

10

44

37

840

11

835

62

504

17

496

87

39

9

35

38

829

11

824

63

487

17

479

88

30

7

27

39

818

12

812

64

470

18

461

89

23

6

20

40

806

12

800

65

452

19

443

90

17

5

15

41

794

12

788

6G

433

20

423

91

12

4

10

42

782

12

776

67

413

21

403

92

8

3

7

43

770

12

764

68

392

22

381

93

5

2

4

44

758

12

752

69

370

23

359

94

3

2

2

45

746

13

740

70

347

23

336

95

1

1

1

Such, then, was the rate of mortality adopted by the Highland Society of
Scotland in calculating the necessary contributions for allowances in Sickness,
Deferred Annuities, and sums payable at Death, to the Members of Friendly
Societies ; and it will next be seen from the evidence taken before the two
Select Committees of the House of Commons, how far the above Table may
be considered as suitable for these purposes.

• Hjgliland Society's Report, p. 146.

Benefit or Friendlij Societies. 77

Report of Parliamentary Committee in 1825.
The causes which led to the appointment of this Committee, and the result
of their in(j[uiries into the rate of sickness, have been already detailed. As to
the law of mortality, comparatively little information was obtained, except
that atfbrded by Mr John Finlaison, actuary to the National Debt Office,
from the experience of the Government annuitants. The following extracts
contain all that is important hi the JMinutes of Evidence on this subject.

1825, March 8 — The Rev. J. T. Becher of Southwell in Nottinghamshire,
gave it as his opinion, that no greater approach to accuracy in the rate of morta-
lity can or need be made, than what is made by the Northampton Tables.—
Report, J). 29.

John Finlaison, Esq. Actuary to the National Debt Office, stated. That,
six years ago he had been appointed by Government to investigate the true
law of mortality which prevails in England, among persons of either sex, at
the present time, — at the present time, he says, because he had discovered a
very extraordinary prolongation of life in the course of the last hundred years.
He had thus been enabled to make observations upon nearly 25,000 life-an-
nuitants of both sexes, consisting of the nominees in the three Tontines com-
menced in Ireland between 1773 and 1779 ; the nominees of the great Ton-
tine commenced in the year 1789, in England ; and the nominees of Life
Annuities granted at the National Debt ()ffice since the year 1 808. — Yrovn.
which observations it appeared that the duration of existence now, compared
with what it was a century ago, is as four to three in round numbers ; but
that the difference in the duration of male and female life is much the same
as it had been stated by former authors. (See p. 73. of this Journal) These
Life Annuitants, of course, chiefly consisted of the upper classes ; but Mr
Finlaison had also been enabled, by the orders of Government, to observe the
law of mortality prevailing among 7^,000 out-pensioners during the seven
years between 1814 and 1822, when a very great difference was found, as might
have been expected, between the mortality of these two classes, the latter
being all men who had been discharged either on account of long service,
wounds, or impaired constitutions. Mr Finlaison also found, that the Car-
lisle table came nearest to that which he had deduced from the observations
of the 25,000 people, had he combined both males and females together, as
had been done by the framer of the Carlisle table ; but was of option that
the data for this latter table was rather insufficient : " In reference to the
Northampton tables, which are the basis of most of the calculations issued in
this country, it is well known that that table underrates human life to a very
great degree. I hold in my hand a calculation of the effects of the Nor-
thampton table, as applied to the nominees who have purchased annuities from
the Sinkmg Fund within the last sixteen years ; and the statement also shews
the application of my own tables to the same events, both of them as com-
pared with the fact, — the result is, that 481 of those nominees would, accord-
ing to the Northampton table, have deceased beyond what the fact has been,
out of 5,940 ; and that, by my own table, the excess that should have died
beyond the fact is only 21 ; and we rather think that difference will vanish
when we come to know the whole of the facts of the case, because several
people have not claimed their annuities, who may possibly be dead." The
witness, in the course of his examination, delivered to the Committee several
tables in confirmation of his statements. — Pages 44, 45, 46.

March 15.— AVilliam Morgan, Esq., Actuary to the London Equitable So-
ciety, conceives that there is a very great difference between the mortality of
the children of the lower and of the higher orders, more deaths taking place
among the former than among the latter class ; and that he is sure not half
the children born in London live to be four years of age. — Page 52.

April 28 William Frend, Esq. Actuary to the Rock Life Assurance lusti-

tution, thinks the Northampton table would come nearer to the average of

78 Mr W. Fraser 07i the History and Constitution of

life among the members of Friendly Societies than they would do among the
higher classes ; but does not think that there is any dilterence in the duration

of human life since the time when the Northampton table was framed

Page 87.

Dr Augustus Boxssie Granville, professionally connected with two extensive
lying-in institutions, and with the Infirmary for Sick Children, gave some
valuable and interesting information as to the earliest ages at which women
marry, — the period they are most prolific, and when they cease to bear child-
ren,i — the average number of still-born and living children to each marriage,
—the periods ot infant life when the greatest mortality prevails, &c. " The
numbers of married women, to whom my observation has extended, as far as
the statements in the books before the Committee bear me out, are 7,060 at
the Westminster General Dispensary in seven years and a quarter ; 2,755 in
three years at the Benevolent Institution ; and, in reference to the children
at both these institutions 9,000 ; while at the Royal Infirmary for Sick Child-
ren, 5,040 is the number as stated before ; giving a general total of observa-
tions, amounting to 24,450." We must delay till a future opportunity a full
detail of the results of Dr Granville's investigations ; but he states that,
in 1818, " I made a calculation referable to about 400 women, whom I had
closely questioned respecting miscarriages they might have had ; the re-
sults which that examination gave me was, that, among the class of the poor,
1 woman in 3 who is pregnant invariably miscarries. After a lapse of seven
years, I picked out, without reference to age, or any thing else, 840 other
women, attendant on another medical charity under my care, different from
that which had supplied the number obtained seven years before ; and, on
calculating from their answers to the same question respecting miscarriage,
the results of those answers, I found that, in both institutions, though the
poor are resident in different parts of the town, but of the same class in life,
precisely the same proportion resulted from the calculation, viz. that 1 in 3
miscarried, passing over the number of women who might have been exa-
mined during the intermediate period of seven years on the vsame subject." —
Pages 84, 85.

May 4 — Mr John Finlaison having on a former day received the books of
Dr Granville, with a view to calculating results that might be useful for the
purposes of the Committee, he now gave in a paper containing these results,
as calculated from a careful analysis of those registers. Whence " it appears
that the mortality among infant life, in the class of poor people, is very great,
so much so, that out of every 1000 births, only 542 infants survive the period of
nursing, or, in other words, are alive at the time of the mother's next lying-
in. It appears further, that, for whatever period child-bearing goes on
among the lower classes in London, up to the twentieth year of parturition
inclusive, the number of births are invariably constant at the rate of two in
four years ; while the number of children reared and alive at the period of
the mother's next lying-in, is also invariably constant at the ratio of one in
every four years." — " It does not appear that any material observation re-
sults from the age at which marriage is contracted on the side of the female,
with this exception, that, when marriage is formed very young, the births
are not so quick as when marriage is formed at maturer years. For example,
while 400 females, married under 17, would, in each year, from the period of
parturition, have 182 births; 400 females, married between 28 and 33, would
have 23C births, because these last happened in the earlier years of marriage ;
but the projwrtion of children which the one and the other class would be
able to rear, would be just the same." — It is added, that these observations
apply exclusively to the lower orders in London, from which class the regis-
ters were framed — Page 90.

Such was the principal information obtained by the Committee of 1 825, re-
lative to the births and mortality of this country ; but it is proper to remark,
that these subjects did not form a primary object of this inquiry — endowments
for children, the average rate of sickness, and the more minute details of the
ra^iagement of Friendly Societies, being the points, which the Committee

Benefit or Friendly Societies.

79

had principally In view. They stated, however, in their Ueport, that " it is
certain that the oxperiencc ot* the offices for insurance on lives has profed
the Northampton Tables to be much more unfavourable to human life than
the purposes of those offices require ;" and recommended to the House to
resume their inquiry in another session, that such information might be ob-
tained, under parliamentary authority, as should place the question almost
beyond controversy.

Report of Parliamentary Committee in 1827.

The attention of this Committee was chiefly directed to the Superannua-
tion Allowances of Friendly Societies, and consequently to the average dura-
tion of life, on which all computations for such allowances must necessarily
depend. It was therefore indispensably requisite, that the history and ac-
curacy of the Northampton Tables should be more particularly considered
than they had been by the former Committee ; and that this has according-
ly been done, will appear from the following brief summary of the Minutes
of Evidence.

April 3. 1827. — The Reverend J. T. Becher gives a detail of his investiga-
tions into various tables of mortality, and of the different mortuary registers
from which Dr Price had deduced the observations on which he constructed
the Northampton Tables. From such a concurrence of testimony as " was
brought under the consideration of Dr Price, when he originally formed the
Nortnampton Tables, I venture to presume that they were then render-
ed as correct as calculations founded upon the doctrine of such chances
could avail ; and consequently that they still remain sufficient for every prac-
tical purpose, unless some variation can be shewn in the ordinary standard of
mortality." — " In a note published by Mr Morgan upon Dr Price's Obser-
vations on Reversionary Payments, he states the mortality prevailing among
the members of the Equitable, or the proportions subsisting between the
claims that had been actually made, and the claims that should have been
made, according to the Northampton calculations : which statement of Mr
Morgan has, as I conceive, given rise to considerable misapprehension and
error. Subsequent calculations have been made by Mr Babbage, an eminent
mathematician, and by Mr Griffith Davies, an intelligent actuary of the
Guardian Office. Both of them have formed tables upon what they' denomi-
nate the experience of the Equitable, meaning the experience of Mr INIorgan,
as communicated to the public in the few lines which they cite as their ba-
sis. Now, in the year 1777, it will be found in the Journals of the House
of Commons, that when Mr Morgan gave evidence before the Usury Com-
mittee, he stated the claims made upon the Equitable to be to those which
should have been made, in the following proportion," Table I. " And in the
year 1810, Mr Morgan made a calculation for 30 years, upon 83,201 mem-
bers of the Equitable, from which he deduced, that the mortality which had
occurred was to the claims which might have been made," as in Table II.

Table I.

Table II.

Froni 20 to 30 as 7 to 17

From 20 to 30 as 1 to 2

30 to 40 as 3 to 5

30 to 40 as 3 to 5

40 to 50 as 1 to 2

30 to 50 as 3 to 5

50 to GO as 7 to 5

50 to 60 as 5 to 7

^s^m}*^" '»:"'-*- ="-'x.

CO to 80 as 4 to 6
And hi all ages together, in the ra-

tio of 2 to 3.

80 Mr W. Fraser oji the History and Constitution of

" Here we find subsisting between the sums a singular eoiTespondenee.
From 30 to 40, and 40 to 50, the j)rc)portions are precisely the same, and at
all other ages nearly so ; and the general ratio in both instances is as 2 to 3 ;
but so far is life from having been improved, that in all cases except where
the proportions are the same, they appear to be less in favour of life than they
■were in the year 1777 *• Besides which, in a conversation with Mr Morgan,
I find that a little inadvertency has occurred in calculating these proportions,
so as to render them less in favour of life than what they seem to be. This,
I have no doubt, Mr Morgan will explain, though I do not feel authorised
to enter upon it. But to ascertain the accuracy of his conclusion upon the
numbers taken in 1810, he made a further calculation upon 151,754 persons,
members of the Equitable for 20 years, ending in the year 1821, and specify-
ing the diseases by which the deaths were respectively occasioned ; and his
conclusion most decidedly is — as given to me in correspondence, and printed in
my Observations upon your Report, p. 99, which I solicit permission to lay
upon the table, as well from his opinions delivered in his charge to the Equi-
table in 1825, and personally repeated to me on Saturday last, — that life
among the members of the Equitable has rather diminished than increased in
value ; which opinion I find also confirmed by other actuaries." " With re-
spect to the mortality of females, he (Mr Morgan) is fully convinced that no
such difference exists as to authorise any variation of tables. If such a dif-
ference had existed, he must have discovered it, because the Equitable insures
both sexes very largely, and more especially upon survivorships, principally
between husband and wife, consequently the excess must have appeared in
the superior number of females, and this the more distinctly, as the survivor
possesses the option of receiving either a gross sum, or of becoming an annui-
tant." Mr Becher then gives a very long and minute detail of the rates of
various life assurance associations and Friendly Societies ; also, a further ac-
count of the data possessed by Dr Price for the construction of his tables ; but
our limits preclude us quoting any more of his evidence, which occupies near-
ly eight pages folio, all chiefly in defence of the Northampton Tables. — Re-
port^ pp. 15-22.

Joshica Milne, Esq. actuary, states, that there now exist three tables, which,
he conceives, show, with sufficient accuracy, the rate of general mortality, or
the proportion of the people, including all ages, which die annually. Speak-
ing with reference to this country, these thiee tables are " the Carlisle and
two others constructed from the experience of the Equitable Society, of the
mortality that has been observed to take place among its members for a period
of upwards of 30 years. One of these tables was constructed by Mr Babbage,
a gentleman well known and justly appreciated in the scientific world ; the
other by Mr Griffith Davies, actuary to the Guardian Insurance Company ;
they were both published in the beginning of the last year. I had, previous-
ly, in the Supplement to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, given a comparison of
the mortality prevailing in the several intervals of age, from 10 years to the
age of 80, according to the Carlisle and Northampton Tables, and the expe-
rience of the Equitable Society ; by which that experience and the Carlisle
table appear to agree remarkably well. The two gentlemen just named, have
since shown it at each separate age ; and I have here tables of the values of
annuities calculated from these three tables of mortality, compared with the
results of the Northampton table, derived in a similar way. I beg leave to
states as to the nature and uses of a table of mortality, the object being to
show how many persons at any one age will arrive at any greater age ; the
simplest way of considering it, is to suppose them all born at once. I can
illustrate this subject by comparing it with the table of mortality for Sweden,

•If we rightly understand the note by Mr Morgan, at p. 132, 103 of vol. i. of Dr Price's \<ork (7th edi-
tion), the deaths expected to occur previous to 1777> had been calculated by the table of mortality
constructed by Messrs Simpson and Dods from the London Observations, while the number of
deaths expected to happen during the 30 years ending with 1800, had been calculated by the Northamp-
ton table. Now, as the London table represents a much higher rate of mortality than the one for
Northampton, and as the deaths among the members of the Equitable previous to 1777 bore the same

Eroportion to the former table as the deaths occurrinc for the 30 years ending with 1810 did to the
itter tablet it aecessaxily follows that the duration of life must have increased since the year 1777>

Bejiefit or Friendly Societies. 81

which was published in my work on Annuities in the year 1815. Of 10,210
nijile children born in Sweden, just C090 arrived at 15 years of age, 3026 at
GO, and so on. In a male pojjulation, where the law of mortality was the same,
and the number of the annual births, as well as that of the annual deaths, wa»
constantly 10,210, the whole number of the jjeople would be 364,733. This It
where there is no migration, and, consequently, the number of persons is re-
duced by the law of mortality onlv : but if you suppose the population to in-
crease, which has been the case for the last century and more, in almost all
the countries of Europe ; then of course there will be a great many in the
early parts of life for whom there are no corresponding survivors in the later

{)eriods. If, for instance, the population has doubled in Kngland within the
ast 45 years, then the number now existing at 15 years of age will be twice
as great as it was 45 years ago ; but the number at CO will be only the survi-
vors of those who were 15 years of age 45 years since, and consequently only
half as many as the survivors 45 years hence will be, out of the persons now
15 years of age ; and therefore, such a table is of no kind of use for determin-
ing the probabilities of life, and if applied to that purpose will only mislead :
for instance, out of this number C098, 45 years ago, at 15, if the })opulation
had doubled, the same table would represent only 302G to have attained CO,
whereas the 12,1 DC, now 15, will leave twice as many survivors at CO, that is
C052 ; therefore, if you wish to provide annuities for them, and calculate ac-
cording to that table of an increasing population, you will only provide half
the annuities wanted. The principle applies in all cases, and hence it is ma-
nifest, that these tables (the Northampton) are quite unfit to determine the
probabilities of life by." Mr Milne having been requested to state which ta-
ble he would prefer for the calculations of Friendly Societies, declined giving
any direct oj)inion. " Having myself constructed the Carlisle table, and cal-
culated tables of the values of annuities from it, I would rather that the Com-
niittee should decide on that question than take my opinion ; and I consider
it would not be difficult to aftbrd honourable gentlemen the means of judging
with facility of the preference." — Pages 25, 2C.

April d.-^Francis Baily^ Esq, actuary, thinks that the safest tables for cal-
culating annuities for the working classes would be the Swedish. According
to him, out of 1000 born, there would be alive at the age of 65, " in Nor-
thampton 140, in Sweden 235, and in Carlisle 302 ; those have been formed
from particular towns, Sweden has been made from the country at large.
Friendly Societies are partly made up of persons from the country, a great
portion may be in town, and a great number in the country farms." He can-
not account for the extraordinary difference between the longevity of the peo-
ple of Northampton and Carlisle : — hardly thinks it worth while to perplex
the subject with a different rate of payment for males and for females, to en-
sure the same object : — has an opinion, but can hardly tell upon what it is
founded — whether from the small-pox being removed, or from habits of clean-
liness being more common among the lower classes — that the duration of life

has increased within the last 40 years Page 27.

May 4 — Charles Babbage and Benjamin Gompertz^ Esquires, actuaries.^
For calculating the necessary payments by the working classes in youth and
manhood for annuities in old age, Mr Babbage would prefer, of the tables he is
acquainted with, the Swedish tables in Dr Price's work, or the French tables
of M. Duvillard. By these tables fewer persons die from the age of 5 to 17,
but after that age more than by the Swedish tables. , -Mr Gompertz thinks the
table constructed by Mr Finlaison for the Committee in 1825, agrees nearly
with the Carlisle tables, and therefore, that it would be a good table to calcu-
late endowments for children from, in consequence of its making death among
the younger branches of mankind less than some of the other tables, and there-
fore, that a greater endowment might be expected than was calculated on ;
but does not think it would be by any means safe to rely on the Northamp-
ton tables for those purposes, "'it appears to me, that a great part of the
profit of the Equitable Assurance Company has arisen from insuring lives, in
consequence of the Northampton table being more favourable to death than it

OCTOBER DECEMBER 1827. F

82 Mr W. Fraser on the History and Constitution of

should be ; and if that should be the cause of profit, of course a reverse wilt
take place in annuities." " The society use the Northampton table, but the
real experience of the Equitable appears to agree with the Carlisle tables to-
lerably well to a great extent ; and the same observations have been made by
other gentlemen— I believe Mr Babbage, Mr Davies, and Mr Milne, as well
as myself." — Mr Babbage again remarks, that " this will aflPord an opportunity
of explaining something which might perhaps otherwise be misunderstood.
If I am asked which tables I should wish to use in making any calculations re-
lative to the poorer orders of society, I should state that my object would be
to get such tables as exactly and perfectly represented those classes through-
out all their ages ; but it may be said that this is unsafe, and that others
should be taken where the deaths are more numerous than those which really
happen. My view in all cases is, let us get as nearly as we can the law of
mortality of the class for which we want to calculate, and add to the prices
computed from it some proportional part sufficient to insure the safety of the
establishment which uses them. I strongly object to using tables giving a
greater mortality than is expected to take place, a course which has sometimes
been defended on the ground of safety to the establishment. Safety is much
more certainly secured by judging as nearly as possible the true risk, and add-
ing an additional sum for security. If tables not representing the mortality
of the class for whom they are designed are employed, every step in the rea-
sonings which are deduced from them is liable to increased error ; and if the
calculations are at all complicated, the errors so introduced may not impro-
bably act on the opposite side to that which they were introduced to favour."
— " I will mention a little work, which is probably known to some of the mem-
bers of the Committee ; its title is " Annuaire ;"'it is published by the French
Board of Longitude, and contains an account of the progress of population in
France and in Paris ; an account of the marriages and of births, male and female.
There are some singular facts very recently established, by a large enumeration.
It is published every year at the price of one franc, and contains a great deal
of very useful information. It has usually been supposed, that the proportion
of males born to that of females, was 21 to 20 ; that is to say, the quantity of
males above females was one-twentieth. In France it has been observed,
that out of 0,705,778 persons born, legitimate and illegitimate, there are
3,458,905 males and 3,240,813 females, or nearly 10 males to every 15 females.
Out of 400,391 illegitimate children there are 235,951 males and 224,440 fe-
males. These numbers differ considerably from the ratio of 10 to 15 found
among legitimate children. That ratio would give 221,204 females for 235,951
males, whereas 3,230 more females are really produced. From these data it
follows, that, in France,for every 100,000 legitimate female children, there
will be 100,534 legitimate males ; but that for every 100,000 illegitimate fe-
male children, there will be born only 105,128 illegitimate males, so that the
probability of a child's about to be born being a female is greater if it is ille-
gitimate than if it is legitimate." In conclusion, Mr Babbage states, that he
should " certainly think it would be very desirable to calculate for the poorer
classes on other tables than those used for the higher classes." — Pages 28-33.
John Naylor, Esq. actuary of the Economic Life Assurance Society, has no
hesitation in saying, that a society founded for the purpose 'of granting an-
nuities, which adopted the Northampton table, and a mean rate of inte-
rest, would be ruined, from that table representing the rate of mortality by
far too high. He consic^^rs Mr Finlaison's table (p. 80.) to be accurate from
its near agreement with the Carlisle tables, and recommends these for the
purpose of calculating annuities. He is farther decidedly of opinion, that the
average duration of life has increased within the last forty years ; and in far-
ther exphmation of all these points, he afterwards gave in a detailed written
statement to the Committee, containing much valuable information. We can
only, however, give the following extracts : — " The Northampton table is less
to be depended on than any of those above mentioned, because it is not de-
rived from proper data ; no enumeration of the population, classed according
to the ages, having been, in this instance, obtained. It is well known, that a
table of mortality, deduced from mortuary registers only, cannot be correct,
unless the population had been stationary, and the births and deaths equal,

, Benefit or Friendly Societies. 83

not only during the time the registers were kept, hut also during the previous
century. The celebrated Dr Price supposes a table of mortality may l>e ac-
curately constructed from bills of mortality, where the deaths exceed the
births, if the numbers and ages of the annual settlers can be determined ; and
in constructing the Northampton table, he computes the number of settlers
from the excess of deaths, and their ages from the bills of mortality. But the
number so computed would be correct only, if the j)opulation of Northamp-
ton had remained stationary during a century and a half; and the ages could
not be ascertained by the bills, unless the law of mortality (the very object of
the investigation) were previously known. Little dei)endence can be placed
on a table thus constructed. Indeed, it must be obvious, that a table of mor*
tality, t. e. a table exhibiting the proportions of deaths to the numbers living
at all ages, can be accurately constructed only, by means of enumerations of
the living and registers of deaths, each classed according to the ages." " It is
much to be lamented, in a country like England, where calculations on life
contingencies are so constantly required, that no efficient means have been
adopted for computing an accurate table of mortality. If fre^iuent enumera-
tions of the living at all ages, and registers of deaths at all ages, throughout
the kingdom, were obtained, not only the law of mortality for England in ge-
neral, but the variations of that law for different places, and for the same
places, at different times, and the law for each sex, might be accurately deter-
mined." Pages 34-84 and 85.

May 11 Griffith Davies^ Esq. Actuary to the Guardian Assurance Company,

states his opinion to be, that the Northampton table gives the average dura-
tion of life rather lower, and the Carlisle and Finlaison's tables somewhat
higher, than that which obtains among the aggregate mass of mankmd in Eng-
land and Wales; and therefore that neither are well adapted for calculating
payments for annuities to the members of Friendly Societies. Neither does
he think the experience of the Equitable would give an accurate result for the
persons insuring in Friendly Societies, as the Equitable insurers are, general-
ly speaking, in a higher rank of life, and are more select lives than those of
Friendly Societies. " On that account, unless the incidental expences neces-
sarily attendant upon the management of societies were taken into account,
the experience of the Equitable would be full high ; but taking into account
the uncertainty as to the rate of interest, and also the incidental expences, I
think it would be more safe to use the Carlisle table, Mr Finlaison's table, or
the experience of the Equitable, to determine the contributions for deferred
annuities." He conceives that, throughout all ages, the duration of life is
higher now than it was a hundred years ago, and that it has been gradually
increasing during that period, but morejwticularly since the beginning of the
present century. " All observations tend to confirm that female life, I believe
at all ages, is better than male, and even married better than single ;" and " as
another corroborative of the increased value of life within the last 100 years,
I think on examination of different tables, the fniitfulness of women, say from
the age of 15 to 50, will be found nearly the same at all periods; and in the
greater part, I believe of the different countries of Europe that we have tables
for, prior to the time Dr Price wrote, that degree of fruitfulncss was scarcely
adequate to compensate for the existing mortality; so that he strenuously ar-
gued that the population was decreasing in this country; and I believe that,
supposing the documents he had to reason upon to be correct, the conclusion
he drew was not so erroneous as it has been represented. It is not an increase
in the number of births, as compared with the number of bearing women, that
has increased the population, but the increased number of children that have
been reared from the birth, and passed through the different stages of life."
Pages 3G-38.

Dr A. B. Granville not being aware that he should be again examined
before the Committee, had not 'prepared the additional information which he
might have done, in addition to what he had laid before the Committee in
1825. He stated, however, that he had been for some time preparing a sc-
ries of tables, and a paper for the lloyal Society, which would bear \\\yon the
question before the Committee. He also stated, that he had obscrve<l a very
decided decrease of mortality among children from one to adult age, within

f2

84 Mr W. Fraser on the Histm^y and Constitutvm of'

the last ten years ; at least among the total number of children that came
before him as patients. The Doctor likewise gave some farther results of his
observations since 1825, which confirmed what he had then stated; and " with
regard to the question as to the number of children that such married women
may produce in a given period, I have to observe for the present, that it is a
curious fact, that if a woman marries at the age of twenty-one or twenty-two,
and is j)laced under precisely similar circumstances for the following fifteen
years as women at fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen, marrying at that age, may
be supposed to be under, will produce the same number of children as the lat-
ter would, though the party marry seven or eight years later ; and the reason
of that is this, that the latter ones, those that marry very young, cease either
sooner, or go a great number of years Avithout children. "When they arrive at
twenty or tAventy-five years of age, they will stop till about thirty,' and begin
again ; whereas the age of maturity at which a woman is most prolific, appears
to be about twenty, and there seems no stoppage, except disease steps in, go-
ing on regularly every two years, or if she does not suckle, every year until
she arrives at forty or forty-two years of age, which is the usual period for it to
terminate." The whole of Dr Granville's evidence is extremely interesting ;
but as it is not immediately connected with our present object, we cannot af-
ford room for a fuller detail. {Pages 40, 44.)

May 25 — William Morgan^ Esq. actuary to the Equitable Assurance Office,
affirms that the Northampton tables are " certainly the most correct tables
for the mean duration of Ufe, in all private concerns. For the last fifty years
I have never used any other, and I think they are the most correct ; indeed I
know they are" — " in all cases between one man and another." It having
been stated in evidence before the last Committee on Friendly Societies, that
the expectation of life is now to what it was a century ago as four to three,
Mr Morgan was asked if he adhered to that opinion ; to which he answered
that he does not adhere to it, from his own experience, " because the probabili-
ties of life in the office, compared with those in the Northampton tables, are
not higher than they were fifty years ago ; indeed the very contrary." — " The
duration of life, in general, is a little better among females than among males,
but, in my opinion, not sufficient to render it necessary to compute separate
tables for them." He thinks the Northampton Tables are as correct tables as
any that can be formed, adapted to all parts and all classes of people in Eng-
land, but thinks they want some little addition to secure them both for pay-
ments on death, and for deferred annuities. He is sure the tables construct-
ed by Mr Davies, from the experience of the Equitable, were not founded on
data sufficient for constructing any tables ; as they hardly insure any lives un-
der 30 ; and as those tables begin in early life, a great deal must be assumed
where there is no data to go upon ; besides, he finds the " probability of life
•approaching nearer to the Northampton tables in our office, than it used to be
in the later periods of life ; for the Northampton tables give the decrements
of life as high as most tables in old age." Pages 45, 49.

John Pensam, Esq. actuary to the Amicable Assurance Society, states that
they use the Northampton tables, but that the Society does not grant deferred
annuities. Upon a comparison of the Northampton tables with the experience
of the Amicable,, he found the continuance of life was materially higher than
that in. the tables, but which he attributes to the recency of selection, or the
benefit of selection rather at different ages. " I should think, in looking to
annuities, the longer continuance of life would make it necessary to take some
consideration exceeding the value of annuities by the Northampton tables."
Page 50.

June 7 — John Fiidaison^ Esq. has greatly extended his observations since he
was before the Committee of 1825 ; has gone over, of new, the whole of the
calculations from which he had deduced the law of mortality, by a far more
elaborate process than he had resorted to before, and the result of the whole
has been, that the law of mortality, as originally stated by him in the tables
before reported, is, in every part, and in every particular, upon each sex, now
satisfactorily confirmed. He alludes to the table resulting from the observa-
tions on the government life annuitants (p. 86.), and attaches no particular im-
portance to the table derived from an observation on the pensioners of Chelsea

Benefit or Friendly Societies. 85

and Greenwich Hospitals, because it was given on a view of human life in iU
worst state. He therefore considers the table resulting from the government
annuitants to represent most accurately the duration of life among the persons
generally composing Friendly Societies. He is aware, however, that the
poorer classes might be expected to die somewhat faster than those of the
nigher orders ; but it is to be remembered, that in all Benefit Societies the
members are selected lives, as well as the people who purchase annuities. If,
then, the severity of labour, and the want of comforts, should subject the
poor to a greater mortality, I do not believe that the difference can be very
considerable, when it is borne in mind that we are here referring to picked and
chosen persons from among the lower orders." Pages 50, 64.

June 12 — John Finlaison, Esq. again examined. He states, that the tables
he is calculating for Government may be divided into two parts,— the one re-
lating to the investigation of the law of mortality, and the other relating to
tables, for practical use, to be deduced therefrom. "In regard to the first
branch of the subject, I have completed all the materials necessary ; and I am
now directed, by the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, to prepare a Re-
port, showing the deductions which I have made, and the evidence upon which
they are founded, in order that such Report may be printed by their Lordships*
authority, and submitted to the investigation of scientific persons. I hope
that that Report will be ready before the 1st of January next. In regard to
the other branch of the subject, which relates to the practical tables, to be
deduced from the law of mortality, it is of vast extent. I have now, how-
ever, the assistance of six calculators, who are at work upon it, and a very
great proportion of the most necessary tables has already been calculated ;
perhaps nearly eight times as much as any preceding calculator has ever pro-
duced, is already executed." — " The Treasury have not, however, directed
me to prepare, for present publication, any part of the work, except what re-
lates to the law of mortality, and such tables of the values of annuities on
single lives, as may be sufficient to illustrate its practical effects. The rest
of the work, when finished, is intended for official purposes at the National
Debt Office, and may or not be printed, according as I shall receive their
Lordships' directions." He hopes that his tables " will supersede all the ta-
bles now in use ; and with good reason, for they have been eight years in pre-
paration, with all the means for perfecting them which the Government could
supi)ly, and to which no private individual has hitherto had access." — " The
difference between the sexes, in regard to mortality, leads to a most important
conclusion, as respects the practicalpUrposes of societies for granting pensions
to survivors. By my tables, it may, generally speaking, be said to result as
follows : Supposing a mother were to leave a pension to her son, the value of
such a pension would only be two-thirds of a pension left by a father to his
daughter, the relative ages of the children and parents being precisely the
same. It follows, therefore, that any society making no distinction of sex,
and granting pensions to widows, according to the strict arithmetical result,
would inevitably be ruined."

The above summary of the evidence has extended to a greater length than
was at first anticipated, or may appear well adapted for the pages of a Philoso-
phicalJournal; but such a detail has been deemed necessary, in order that the
interesting and important information communicated by so many intelligent
and highly respectable witnesses might be duly appreciated. It would have
been also very desirable to have inserted some of the tabular views of the
different rates of mortality, and other illustrative documents, contained in the
Appendixes, perhaps the most valuable portions of these Reports ; but as we
have already exceeded our limits, all that can be given additional at present,
is the following table, exhibiting the expectation of life at every age above
20, deduced from tables of mortality which have been founded upon obser-
vations made in this country.

66

Mr W. Frascr on the Hislory and Constitutmi of'

TABLE of EXPECTATION of LIFE, at and after the Aye of 20 Years,
according to the Northampton and Carlisle Tables of Mortality ; as also, accord^
iny to the Table (p. 76), dcdticed by Mr John Lyon, for the Hiyhland Society
of Scotla?id, from a medium of the Nortliampton, Carlisle, and Swedish Tables,
— according to that constructed by Mr Griffith Davies, from the experience
of tJie Equitable Society of London, — and according to the rate of Male and Fe-
male Mortality found by Mr John Finlaison to have prevailed among the
Government Annuitants for the last 45 years.

The Expectation or Mean Duration of life is the number of years which a body of people,
taking them one with another, may be considered as sure of enjoying,— those who live or
survive beyond that period enjoying as much more time, in proportion to their number,
as those who fall short of it enjoy less ; — or the portion of future existence which an indi-
vidual at any age may reasonably expect to enjoy. This •' expectation of life " is found by
dividing the total years by the number alive at the age whose expectation is required, do-
<lucting half unity or .30 from the quotient, on account of the chance being equal, whether
a person shall die in the beginning or end of the year. Thus, in the Table of Mortality,
(p. 7<>), .34,8JJ5 is the sum of the second column, at and after 25 years of age, and m5
the number living at that age; therefore, 34,895 being divided by 965, tlie quotient will be
36.16, and the half of 1, or .50, being subtracted ffom this latter number, it will leave
35.66, which is the expectation of life, according to the Highland Society's Table of Mor-
tality, of a person aged 25.

The Probability of Life, or the chance of a person living from one a^e to another, is found
by dividing the number living at the latter age by the number living at the former age,
according to any table of mortality which may be adopted.

Hence the Value of an Aimuity, commencing at any given age, or a Sum payable at Death,
obviously depends upon the number of years which, accorduig to such expectation and pro-
bability, a person of any age has to live.

Government Annuitants,

Age.

Northamp-
ton.

Carlisle.

Highland
Society.

Equitable
Society.

according to Mr Finlaison.

Male.

Female.

Mean.

20

33.43

41.46

41.06

38.39

43.99

41.19

21

32.90

40.75

38.16

40.33

37.83

43.36

40-60

22

32.39

40.04

37.54

39.60

37.34

42.73

40.04

23

31.88

39.31

36.91

38.88

36.87

42.09

39.48

21

31.36

38.59

36.29

38.16

36.39

41.45

38.92

25

30.85

37.86

35.66

37.44

35.90

40.81

38.36

26

30.33

37.14

35.02

36.73

35.41

40.17

37.79

27

29.82

36.41

34.39

36.02

34.86

39.52

37.19

28

29.30

35.69

33.75

35.33

34.31

38.87

36.59

29

28.79

35.00

33.11

34.65

33.75

38.22

35.99

30

28.27

34.34

32.47

33.98

33.17

37.57

35.37

31

27.76

33.68

31.93

33.30

32.59

36.91

34.75

32

27.24

33.03

31.17

32.64

32.00

36.26

34.13

33

26.72

32.30

30.56

31.98

31.40

35.61

33.51

34

26.20

31.68

29.82

31.32

30.79

34.96

32.88

35

25.68

31.00

29.31

30.66

30.17

34.31

32.24

36

25.16

30.32

28.68

30.01

29.54

33.68

31.61

37

24.64

29.64

23.05

29.35

28.91

33.04

30.98

38

24.12

28.96

27.42

28.70

28.28

32.40

30.24

39

23.60

28.28

26.78

28.05

27-65

31.76

29.71

40

23.08

27.61

26.17

27.40

27.02

31.12

29.07

41

22.56

26.97

25.56

26.74

26.39

30.46

28.43

42

22.04

26.34

24.94

26.07

25.74

29.81

27.78

43

21.54

25.71

24.32

2.5.40

25.08

29.14

27.11

44

21.03

25.09

23.70

24.75

24.42

28.48

26.45

45

20.52

24.46

23.08

24.10

23.75

27,81

25.78

46

20.02

23.82

22.48

23.44

23.07

27.13

25.10

47

19.51

23.17

21.87

22.78

22.38

26.44

24.41

48

19.00

22.50

21.27

22.12

21.68

25.75

23.72

49

18.49

21.81

20.65

21.47

20.08

25.06

23.02

50

17.09

21.11

20.04

20.83

20.30

24.35

22.33

Benefit or Frkndlij Societies,

TABLE — continued.

87

{JovcTnmcnt .A mm

iuiits. 1

A(jc.

Northamp-

Carlisle.

Hi^^hLind
Society.

E(iuitable
Society.

according,

to Mr Kl.NL.\IhMiN. 1

ton*

1

Male.

Female.

Mtaii. 1

51

17-50

20.39

19.42

20.20

19.02

23.65

21.64

52

17.02

19.08

18.82

19.59

18.97

22.93

20.95

53

IG.54

18.97

18.22

19.00

18.3i

22.22

20.28

51

1G.0C

18.28

17.02

18.43

17.73

21.50

19.62

55

15.58

17.58

17.01

17.85

17.15^

2079

18.97

5fJ

15.10

10.J!9

10.43

17.28

10.57

20.08

18.33

57

14.03

10.21

15.81

10.71

10.02

19.38

17.70

6H

14.15

15.55

15.25

10.15

15.47

18.09

I7.O8

59

13.0«

14.92

14.05

15.00

14.93

18.00

16.47

GO

13.21

14.34

14.07

15.06

14.39

17.32

15.86

(jl

12.75

13.82

13.49

14.51

13.84

10.04

15.24

02

12.2H

13.31

12.99

13.90

13.28

15.90

14.02

03

11.81

12.81

12.33

13.42

12.72

15.30

14.01

01

11.35

12.30

11.70

12 88

12.17

14.04

13.41

(>5

10.88

11.79

11.21

12.35

11.03

14.00

12.82

(>G

10.42

11.27

10.08

11.83

11.10

13.37

12.24

«7

9.90

10.75

10.17

1 1.32

10.01

12.76

11.09

G8

9.50

10.23

9.09

10.82

10.14

12.16

11.15

CI)

9.05

9.70

9.24

10.32

9.07

11.57

10.02

70

8.60

9.18

8.81

9.84

9.22

10.99

10.11

71

8.17

8.05

8.40

9.36

8.79

10.44

9.02

72

7.74

8.10

8.01

8.88

8.37

9.92

9.15

73

7.33

7.72

7.63

8.42

7.90

9.41

8.09

74

0.92

7.33

7.24

7.97

7.54

8.92

8.23

75

0.54

7.01

0.87

7.52

7.12

8.46

7.79

70

0.18-

0.09

0.50

7.O8

6.69

8.00

7.35

77

5.83

0.40

0.10

6.64

6.23

7.58

0.91

78

5.48

0.12

5.82

6.20

5.78

7.19

0.49

79

5.11

5.80

5.48

5.78

5.35

6.83

6.09

«0

4.75

5.51

5.14

5.38

4.94

6.50

5.72

«1

4.41

5.21

4.81

5.00

4.55

6.20

5.38

82

4-.09

4.93

4.49

4.63

4.18

5.89

5.04

83

3.80

4.05

4.18

4.30

3.82

5.57

4.70

84

3.58

4.39

3.77

4.00

3.46

5.22

4.34

85

3.37

4.12

3.02

3.73

3.12

4.84

3.98

86

3.19

3.90

3.32

3.50

2.81

4.44

3.03

87

3.01

3.71

3.04

3.31

2.53

4.03

3.28

88

2.86

3.59

2.80

3.11

2.31

3.62

2.97

89

2.00

3.47

2.50

2.91

2.12

3.21

2.07

90

2.41

3.28

2.21

2.65

1.95

2.83

2.39

91

2.09

3.20

1.92

2.30

1.83

2.49

2.16

92

1.75

3.37

1.02

2.03

1.65

2.21

1.93

93

1.37

3.48

1.30

1.70

1.49

1.97

1.73

94

1.05

3.53

0.83

1.31

UU

1.75

1.55

95

0.75

3.53

0.50

1.05

1.18

1.55

1.37

90

0.50

3.40

0.00

.75

0.97

1.32

1.15

97

3.28

.50

0.75

1.12

0.94

98

3.07

0.50

0.94

0.72

99

2.77

0.00

0.75

100

2.28

0.00

0.50

101

1.79

102

1.30

103

0.83

88 Mr W. Fraser 07i the History and Constitution of

From the imperfect account which has now been given of the
various investigations into the probable duration of human life,
some idea may be formed of the difficulty and importance of ob-^
taining accurate tables of mortality. The Northampton tables
were the result of many years'* arduous research and observa-
tions, and were consequently long considered as representing
the rate of mortality in this country more accurately than any
others. Whether those tables may still be the most correct for
the population at large, it were needless for our present purpose
to inquire ; but it is obvious, from the long experience of the
Equitable Society of London, and of that of the Government
annuitants, — from the concurring testimony of Messrs Milne,
Naylor, Gompertz, Davies, Babbage, and Finlaison, all men
of the highest eminence, — and from the opinions of seve-
ral other persons well informed in these matters, that the
Northampton tables are unfit for the practical purposes of
Health and Life Assurance. Messrs Morgan and Becher, no
doubt, have endeavoured to support these tables, and have cer-
tainly urged all that can be stated in their defence ; but, as is
remarked in the Committee^s last Report, there " is not, in
truth, even a prima facie case made out in their favour. It is
admitted that those tables were originally formed in a degree
upon hypothetical data ; the observations upon which they were
founded come down no farther than the year 1780, or at the
latest to 1 791 ; and it is not affirmed that they have been verified
by any actual and subsequent observations, or by the experi-
-ence of any society which has endured for a period sufficiently
long to bring to sure test the accuracy of its calculations ;"" —
and to the evidence of Mr Milne and Mr Naylor the Commit-
tee more particularly refer for the objections to the Northamp-
ton tables, (pages 80, 82 of this Journal.)

In illustration of their effects, it is stated, that, according to the
tables, out of 1000 persons existing at the age of 25, 3i3 will sur-
vive at the age of 65 ; while, by the Carlisle tables, which appear
to approach very near to the truth for the higher classes, no fewer
than 513 will survive that age. Hence a society which should
;adopt the Northampton tables for annuities, would inevitably
go ultimately to ruin, for it would in all probability have three
annuitants where it calculated only upon two ; and of the 343

Benefit or Friendly Societies. 89

persons who would be annuitants, 98 would live for 15 years ac-
cording to these tables, while 162 persons would survive through
that period, and attain the age of 80 years, according to the Car-
lisle tables.

There is also given in the Report a comparison of the results
of various tables of mortality, constructed from observations
made in Britain, in France, and in Sweden ; but we shall only
select those of this countrv.

Of 1 00,000 persons ^
aged 25, there f
would be alive f
at the age of 65 j

Of 100,000 persons ^
aged 65, there f
would be alive i"
at the age of 80 J

Expectation of life )
at the age of 25 j

Expectation of life \
at the age of 65

Value of an annui-
ty of £ 1 on a life
aged 25, interest
at 4 per cent.

Value of an annul- "I
ty of £ 1 on a life f
aged 65, interest l*
at 4 per cent. J

Value of a defer, -v
red annuity of £1 #
commencing at \
65, to a life now /'
aged 25, interest V
at 4 per cent. J

}

By Dr Price's
Table, found-
ed on the Re-
gister of Births
and Burials at
Northamptoji.

34,286

28,738

Sfears.
30.85

10.88
£ 15.438

£7.761
£ 0.55424

By Mr Milne's
Table, found
ed on the Mor
tality observed
at Carlisle.

51,335

31,577

Years.
37.86

11.79
£ 17.645

£ a307
£ 0.88823

By Mr Griffith
Davles's Table
founded on the
Experience of
the EquiUble
Life Insurance
Office.

According to
his First In-
vestifjation, as
mentioned in
hl« evidence in
1825.

49,330

37,267

Years.
37.45

12.35
£ 17-494

£8.635
£ 0.88723

By Mr Finlalson's Tables,
founded on the Experience of
the Government Life Annuit.

Mean of both
Sexes.

53,470

38,655

Years.
38,35

12.81
£17.534

£ 8.896
£0.99078

According to
his Second In-
vestigation, as
mentioned in
his evidence in
1827-

Mean of both
SeJtes.

53,950

37,355

Years.
38.52

12.50

£ 17.634

£8.751

£ 0.98334

Note.— In the above Tables, it is to be observed, that the mortality is deduced from
an equal or nearly equal number of each sex ; with the single exception of Mr
Davies's Table founded on the experience of the E(iuitable, in which office,
from the practical objects of Life Insurance, it is evident the male sex must have
composed the vast majority of lives subjected to mortality. But as it is agreed
on ah hands, that the duration of life among females exceeds that of nude*. It
follows that the results of Mr Davies's Table fall materially short of what they
would have been, if the facts on which he has reasoned had comprehended an
equal number of each sex.

No comparison is here given of the different values of sums
payable at death ; but it may be stated that a society, whose

90 Mr W. Fraser o?i the Hidory and Constitution of

premiums were calculated by the Northampton tables, and by
interest at 4 per cent., would take from a person insuring at the
age of S5, cither a single sum of £S67 : 15 : 5, or an annual pay-
ment during life of £2^:11 : 5, for <^ 1000 payable at death ;
while, by the Carlisle table, and assuming the rate of interest to
be also 4 per cent., one single payment of £ S82 : 17 : 8, or an
annual one of £ 15 : S : 5, would only be required.

" Upon the whole, your Committee are of opinion, that the Carlisle Tablfes
may prudently be adopted for general purposes, including that now in view,
the valuation of an allowance in old age. Mr Finlaison's, which are the most
recent of all the Tables, Avould, in all cases, give a higher expectation of life,
and consequently require a larger payment from the members of a Friendly
Society ; but the objection arising from selection does apply, in a considerable
degree, to these Tables; and Mr Finlaison himself bears testimony to the
sufficiency of the Carlisle Tables." — Report, p. 8.

This opinion, with the immense mass of documentary and
other evidence which has been obtained in the course of the late
inquiries, cannot fail to be of the utmost importance to all ranks
of the community, and to the higher classes in particular, as
shewing both their rate of mortality from their own experience,
and also the excessive premiums which they have usually been
charged for assurances at death.

While, however, the mortality of those in the better ranks of
life has been found to correspond very nearly with that repre-
sented by the Carlisle tables, it is by no means clear that the
same rate prevails among the members of Friendly Societies.
Regarding this contingency, no results from their experience
have as yet been obtained ; but as sickness and accidents are
undeniably increased among the working classes, by noxious and
dangerous employments, by ill ventilated dwellings, scarcity of
food and clothing, and by many other causes, from all of which
the higher classes are in a great measure, if not altogether, free,
60 it necessarily follows that the mortality will be greater among
the members of these Societies than among those of T.ife Assu-
rance Associations. Nor can we reconcile the idea of a high rate
of sickness with that of a low rate of mortality, as has been
virtually done by Messrs Finlaison and Davies, in calculating
their proposed rates of contributions and benefits for the mem-
bers of Friendly Societies.

Benefit or Friendly Sockiks. 91

Taking, therefore, those circumstances into view, and more
especially that not nearly the same attention will be paid by
these societies in the selection of their members, as is done by
Life Assurance Companies, it is evident that a somewhat higher
table of mortality should be adopted for the purposes of the for-
mer than of the latter class of assurers. Security, no doubt,
ought always to be a principal object of these societies ; but, as is
remarked by Mr Babbage, " Safety is much more certainly sc-
cureil by judging as nearly as possible the true risk, and adding
an additional sum for security. If tables not representing the
mortality of the class for whom they ai'e designed are employed,
every step in the reasonings which are deduced from them is
liable to increased error ; and if the calculations are at all com-
pUcated, the errors so introduced may not improbably act on the
opposite side to that which they were introduced to favour.""

By referring, then, to the table of expectations of life at p. 86,
it must be obvious that the rate of mortality adopted in the Re-
port of the Highland Society of Scotland will represent pretty
accurately that of the working classes, and consequently that
their table is the most suitable for all the purposes of Friendly
Societies.

(To he continued,)

Sketch of tlic Physkal Geography of tJie Malvern Hills. By
William Ainsworth, Esq. Member of the Royal College
of Surgeons, Edinburgh, &c. (Communicated by the Au-
thor).

JL HE Malvern Hills form a range running nearly due north
and south, through part of the three counties of Gloucester,
Worcester and Hereford, and seldom attaining any great height ;
but their rugged outline, and bold accHvity, rising abruptly in
the centre of a champaign and level country, make them re-
markable, giving to the eye of the stranger *the same impres-
sions of independence of origin and formation, as their difference
of structure does to the judgment of the geognost. They have
not unaptly been compared to the Sierra of the Spaniards,

92 Mr Ainsworth cm the Physical Geography

From their peculiarity of outline, height, and pointed summits,
they are fully entitled to be called mountains, though, as La-
mouroux ( Cours elementaire de Geogf. Phys.) would say, moun-
tains of the second and third order. They are one continuous
range, having no lateral branches; they have no pseudoor ex-
tinct volcanoes, or ignivomous mountains ; nor do they present
any mineral allied to the products of volcanic action, excepting
in as far as they are composed of primitive granite (Daubeny
cm Volcanoes). Their form varies but little : the Worcester-
shire Beacon, and the two most southern hills, have the most
acute pointed summits. The Herefordshire Beacons have been
altered by the labours of the Romans, digging trenches in the
talus for their encampment ; while the adjoining hills, which
will be found to be the oldest districts of the range, present
the most rounded tops, as being formed of more easily decom-
posed rock. Two of the hills are cultivated to their very sum-
mits : the ground is tilled by means of three-pronged forks ;
and there is but a very slight difference between the abundance
and date of ripening in the crops reared on the hills, and those
vegetating in the valleys below. The summits are not dis-
tirictly marked out from the acclivity : there are about sixteen
in the whole range ; a few are isolated, but more generally they
are connected, as in the hill between the Whyche and the
Sedbury and Upton road, which, rising gradually from the
south, forms five summits, before it reaches the highest point,
where it forms an insulated prominent head, which the Nor-
wegians, whose language is rich in names for the different
forms of mountains, call Kullen, while a round or less promi-
nent hill is Nuden (Von Buch, p. 52.). From this point it
afterwards descends, forming another rival series of summits,
to where the pass is hewn out of the solid rock for the Whyche
road *. The rock in this case every where rises to the north,
so that one of the extensive slopes lies in the direction of the
dip of the mountain rock, another in a direction contrary to

• The last southern summit of this range, descending towards the Here-
fordshire Beacon, makes a curve round to the west, forming a table land, on
which houses are built, and part laid out in gardens. The Herefordshire Bea-
con descending with a gradual slope to the east, bends slightly round in that
direction ; the convexity of the first corresponding with the concavity of the

of the Malvern Hills. 93

that dip, and on that side the summits are more abrupt, and
the acclivities less clothed with vegetation. The highest hills
of the range, viz. the North Hill and the Worcestershire and
Herefordshire Beacons, have a more perpendicular slope to
the north ; and throughout the whole range, the angle of the
acclivity is greater on the southern and eastern than on the nor-
thern and western aspects. The ridges are also much more nu-
merous and distinctly marked on the north-east, than any where
else.

There are, strictly speaking, only five valleys, and all of these
run in transverse directions ; nor is there a single valley to
be met with running longitudinally with the mountain-range.
Wherever they occur, roads are cut through them ; the deep-
est is the one through which the road passes from Sedbury to
Cheltenham. No boulder-masses or field-stones are found in
these valleys ; and the alluvial or transported soil seldom ex-
ceeds twenty or thirty feet in depth on the base of the hills.

No river of any magnitude takes its rise from this range.
The springs are numerous : there are eight to the west, and as
many if not more to the east ; they have long been remarkable for
their purity, but have only met with a few advocates for any pe-
culiar medical efficacy, their chemical analysis not favouring any
such views. They are so superficial, that experiments on their
temperature did not afford an approximation sufficiently identi-
cal, or approaching to the mean temperature oi the latitude or
locality, to be worth recording. Those rising on the east run
their course immediately into the Severn : those on the west, on
the contrary, divide in their direction from the Herefordshire
Beacon, which is thus shewn to be, though not the^highest hill,
yet the most elevated part of the range corresponding to its geo-
gnostical importance. Those to the south run into a stream
which joins the Severn at Gloucester : those on the north join
the river Cadwell, which unites with the Terne, the latter fir
nally emptying its waters into the Severn at Leigh near Wor-
cester.

latter, exemplifying that the same rules exist with segments of spheres, as
Buffon has laid down with respect to angles, and thus the valley through
which passes the Sedbury road is formed.

94) Mr Ainsworth 071 the Physical Geography

An examination of the geognostical structure of tlie Malvern Hills offers
the following positions :

liY, That, throughout the whole range, the various rocks entering into the
composition of the mountain-masses contain no organic remains.

2d, That in no place are they found superimposed on, or alternating with,
rocks containing organic remains, or which, from mechanical analysis,'
are known to be formations deposited subsequent to the appearance
of organization.

From the most northerly point to as far as their structure can be investi-
gated in the south, they present an uniform series of primitive rocks, from
highly crystalline granite to the more compact chlorite-slate ; and the transi-
tions between these two rocks may, with a little patience of research, be traced
throughout all their gradations ; — not that these gradations occur exactly in
accordance with the relative situation of the mountain-masses, but that, in
particular localities, such transitions are distinctly marked out. The central
part of the range, comprising the Herefordshire Beacon and its table land,
the hill extending to the north to Whyche road, and the hill above Eastnor
Wood to the south of the Beacon, arc all composed of granite, with slight lo-
•cal variations of texture. Dr MacCuUoch has remarked, that specimens may
frequently be obtained from beds of gneiss, undistinguishable from genuine
granite, an example of which he mentions as occurring in South Uist ; and fur-
ther remarks, " that the views of the geologist, embracing a wide field, must
not be limited by variations which are minute, irregular, and inconsistent, and
which do not affect the broader principles that regulate his investigations."
However just these remarks may be, they admit of too much latitude of ex-
pression to accord with the severe science of a philosophy founded on obser-
vation alone. From the slaty appearance Avhich these rocks sometimes pre-
sent, — ^from the general tendency which, throughout the whole mountain
range, they show towards assuming the appearance of gneiss, the more crys-
talline portion of the series might be considered as mere varieties of that for-
mation. This suggestion I would, however, strongly oppose. To assign the
proper denomination to a rock whose connexions and mechanical texture offer
distinctive and recognizable characters, is a basis to all strict geognostical
science. When, therefore, we find a rock in all its characters a representa-
tive of granite, assuming the highest situation in the range, independent in
itself, and only varying through gradual transitions into subordinate forma-
tions, it becomes a genuine granite, and in situation and chemical constituents
marks itself out as the oldest rock and basis of the mountain range. Its in-
vestigation in situ is interesting, and affords in its localities very marked dis-
tinctions. The hills which it forms, though bold and rugged in their outline,
are nevertheless the most rounded at their summits of any in the range.
The Herefordshire Beacon, which I have already mentioned, may be divided
into two summits, each having the remains of a Roman encampment on it,
as well as the neighbouring southern hill, formed of a red granite, in which
flesh-coloured felspar is by far the most abundant ingredient, mica being a
rare component, and often entirely wanting. The whole rock appears so liable
to decomposition, that near Eastnor Wood it is quarried and sieved for gra-
vel It bears a great analogy to the red granite met with between Loch

2

of the Malvern Hills. 95

Gilphead and Inverary ; but its effects in destroying vegetation „i. lUc sides
of the hills are not so remarkable as in the Grampians,— a circumstance most
probably owing to the diminished height, less j)erpendicular slope, and more
genial clime of the Malveni Hills, than to any material difference in the con-
stituents of these two rocks. It is worthy of remark, that the ridges by which
the Koman encampments are still so distinctly tracetl, are scooped out of the
granitic rock itself, and that the walls are not, as might be supposed, the gra-
vel, and other residue of digging the furrow, but always formed of the native
rock, which, to the present day, crops out in some situations hard and un-
changed by the lapse of years, and must have presented a much more secure
barrier than the unconnected residue of their operations, placed without sup-
port on an abrupt and oftentimes precipitous acclivity.

On the hill between the Scdbury and Ui)ton, and the Whyche road, which
rises from the two opposite points of the compass to a summit which attains
an elevation of more than 1500 feet above the level of the sea, this granite
becomes more compact, retaining, however, on the summit, the same charac-
ters ; but on the road, where several extensive sections are to be met witli,
becoming much changed, and at times its constituents are almost amalga-
mated the one into the other, being at some points, more especially at a
q\iarry on the Sedbury road, very nearly allied to a chlorite-slate. This quar-
ry, towards its upper part, presents very much the appearance of distinct stra-
tification. In fact, wherever large sections of this or the former rock occur,
they may distinctly be perceived to have a dip towards the south, and invo-
luntarily give to the mind of the geologist the idea of a once stratified rock
heaved up, deranged in the parallelism of its strata and the uniformity of its
direction, yet still preservii-g the same dip and inclination. Not fifty yards
from the milestone near the last-mentioned quarry, a vein of the same com-
pact feldspathic rock may be seen rising in an almost vertical direction, and
traversing the adjacent strata almost at right angles : it is scarcely two feet
broad. At the section made through the rock, affording a passage for the
Whyche road, the red granite may also be perceived occupying apparent-
ly distinct localities, presenting the appearance of beds in the more com-
pact and frequently ironshot mountain-rock. The mica at this point becomes
more abundant, and soon forms the principal constituent. The red gra-
nite is frequently almost entirely feldspathic ; beyond the hill crystals of
hornblende first make tlieir appearance, and becoming gradually more abun-
dant, have led the English geognosts to consider the whole as a sienitic for-
mation. Undoubtedly if in any part of the range such a rock occurs, a few
partial beds are to be met with here, but not in sufficiently extensive forma-
tions to be considered as the basis of the range ; but to this I shall liave oc-
casion to refer afterwards.

The investigation of the geognostical structure of the two most nortlicriy
hills in the Malvern range, though interesting, presents little variety. Known
by the names of the Worcestershire Beacon and the North Hill, they lie
nearly due north and south of one another, the latter being the more nor-
therly, and intersected by a narrow valley, deeper and more abrupt on the
eastern side. No stratification is discernible excepting on the western asiH?ct>
where a gentle dip to the north may be perceived, and a direction of its strata

96 Mr Ainsworth on the Physical Geography

apparently east and west. On the eastern side, the new red conglomerate *
makes its appearance, covering the sides of the Worcestershire Beacon. The
occurrence of this formation implies either a breaking and elevation of its
strata, by causes similar to those to which perhaps the Malvern Hills owe
their existence, or the deposition of the sandstone subsequent to the hills, a
supposition implying a stratification of the last-mentioned rock nearly paral-
lel to the acclivity of the hill, or in a more or less concave form filling up its
base, neither of which last mentioned appearances are presented by this rock ;
and, in the second place, implying an elevation of the formation, which, ac-
cording to Werner, in common with aU floetz rocks, is at once chemically and
mechanically deposited, little supported by the confined limits of the forma-
tion.

To the north-west low hills of limestone are found running nearly parallel
with the portion of the range which they face. The rock interposed between
them and the granite is old red sandstone, and in their organic remains and
texture they bear too remarkable an analogy with the hills of the same for-
mation which crop out, bounding at intervals the red marl across the whole
of England, not to be referred to the same formation which at Caleford is as-
sociated with the old red sandstone, and with greywacke at Chepstow and
Monmouth.

The mechanical analysis of the rocks forming these two hills, indicates
that both are mountain-masses of granite, presenting, however, great variety
of texture, and appearances, with difficulty associated by the geognost. The
granite is generally speaking close-grained, containing both mica and horn-
blende, the latter, however, often entirely wanting ; highly crystalline gra-
nite, with little mica and no hornblende, becoming as much a part of the
mountain-mass as that formation. It occurs principally en filons, which is
particularly remarkable at the pass through which the Whyche road is cut. If,
with Jameson, we consider strata as similar contiguous masses, and beds as dis-
similar, these filons will come under the latter denomination, and so we may
avoid exciting prejudices by adverting to the stratification of granitic rocks.
In these beds felspar is the most abundant constituent, — not, however, oc-
curring in prisms, disseminated through a quartzose basis, but rather itself
forming a basis for imperfectly crystallized quartz, with now and then partial
scales of mica. On the Worcestershire Beacon, a vein of quartz, of a few
feet in breadth, occurs traversing the rock in a nearly vertical direction. On
the southern part of the hill, a hole has been dug, with a view of obtaining for
strangers visiting these hills specimens of mica, which, from their highly me-
talline lustre, have been called gold -j-. This is a bed traversing the granite

• This formation, the variegated sandstone (Bunter sandstein) of Werner, has not unaptly
been called by the English geologists Red Marl, as, whenever I have applied acids, the application
has been accompanied with effervescence. Though, as its name imports, its general colour is red,
yet it almost everywhere, where large sections are presented to the eye, exhibits streaks of a more
compact sandstone, of a light blue or cream colour.

t The decomposition of granite first commences from a chemical change taking place in the
iron, which, in however smaU quantities, is yet universally distributed through the mineral king-
dom. The water aud extraneous moisture gaining access to it, converts it to a state of hydrate and
peroxide, increasing its bulk, and thus destroying its amalgamating effect on the rock, and, at the

4

of the Malvern Wills, 97

ih a direction nearly at right angles. Wherever I coiUd examine it, it wc.i
so weathered as to render my decisions very fallacious. It has, however, to
Jill appearances a decomposed basis of felspar (clay -slate) with folia of mica, to-
wards tlie surface, and, when exj)osed to decomposing agents, (Mssessiiig a high
metalline lustre, becoming towards the centre of the rock, dark and shining.
If the formation was sufficiently extensive, it would be called a porjjhyry. I
have only met with an account of a similar rock occurring near Felsobanya in
Transylvania, and in Saxony. With respect to the accuracy of denominating
these formations Sienite, 1 need only remark, tliat, notwithstanding it has
been proved that the rock from which a supposed similar series has received
its name from the time of Pliny, is not a compound of hornblende, quartz
and felspar, as first advanced by Werner, and that this name becomes no
longer applicable to the same set *, still, under all circumstances, this rock
has no claim to that title : the dissemination of hornblende is not universal,
though in some places abundant, yet it is regulated by particular localities.
The existence of mica, in some places so abundant, is at once decisive as to
its real characters ; and though hornblende is met with as a mineral occur-
ring often in abundance, but yet not so universally as to be entitled to be
called a mineral constituent, or to give to the formation a name depending
on its occurrence.

Under these circumstances, Worcestershire Beacon and North Hill, like
Hereford Beacon, will be formed of granite, containing occasionally crystals
of hornblende, and associated with gneiss, which, with little variation, forms
the northern part of the Beacon, and the whole of the North Hill. I did not
perceive it any where alternating with the granite*

To the north, then, the central granite varies slightly in its appearance,
becoming slaty -granular, yet scarcely ever losing its distinctive characters.
Towards the south, however, it presents more remarkable differences, and be-
comes scarcely recognisable in the more compact and less crystalhne rocks
forming the southern outline of the mountain-range. On the hill to the
south of Hereford Beacon, a cave has been artificially hewn out of a portion
of the mountain rock, which juts out beyond the regular acclivity, bar-
ren, and covered only with a few stunted lichens. In this cave, though
not many feet deep, the Hypnum splendens and luiescens, and a Bryitm^ ])ut
forth their leaves to a vegetation never exceeding five or six lines in length,
and then wither. This portion of the rock is more compact than the body
of the hill, and proves that the nature of the mountain must not be judged
of by the examination of a portion which, by the opposition its structure of-
fers to decomposing agents, is barren, and unclothed with vegetation, offering,

same time, by the increase in size thus given to its particles, disseminateti so generally through the
mass, uniting chemically and mechanically to destroy the cohesion, and Influence the further de-
composition of the rock Itself. In a close-grained granite, the felspar becomes of a redder hue, and k
gradually reduced to an impalpable powder, or from the quantity of alumina entering Into its com-
position, forms a basis of slate-clay : the pieces of quartz change gradually their form, and gene-
rally roll off in the shape of pebbles ; while the lamella: of mica, the last to be decoropoted, oftm
t-xhibit a metalline lustre.

• M. de Humboldt has proposed the name of Sinaite.
OCTOBER-i— DECEMBER 1827. G

98 Mr Ainsworth on the Physical Geography

at tlie same time, great facilities to the geognost ; for, as in this case, they will
generally be found to vary a little in their structure, — circumstances which,
of themselves, account for their solitary bleakness, when compared with the
other side, and oftentimes the adjacent portion of the hill. The first transi-
tion is, when the quartz becoming less extensive, and the mica more abun-
dant, at the same time assumes gradually a more lamellar aspect, and becomes
a distinct gneiss. This transition may be observed on the hill forming the
third summit to the south of Hereford Beacon. Its next transitions are two-
fold, on the one hand losing almost all parallelism of lamellae, the mica less dis-
tinct, and becoming more or less amalgamated with the other constituents,
forming a blue chlorite-slate, at times very much resembling the same forma-
tion as it occurs on the north of Tarbet Bay, in the Mull of Cantyre, and
known to Faujas St Fond and other old geologists by the name of Lapis ol-
laris. It is this rock, Avhich some authors, mentioning the occurrence of green-
stone in these hills, have, I suppose, mistaken for it.

On the other hand, the mica becomes still more prevalent in the rock, the
slaty structure more decidedly marked, and in all its characters it approxi-
mates to mica-slate. This may be most distinctly seen in the London road
that crosses the southern extremity of the hills. De Saussure has very ex-
pressively called gneiss Granite veine. The term conveys the ground of dis-
tinction between gneiss and mica-slate ; yet the distinctive characters of this
rock are not sufiiciently well marked out to warrant its receiving the latter
appellation. To the west, it again becomes very compact, and less crystal-
line, the mica becomes almost entirely lost, and the rock becomes a dark
quartzose mass. Finally, this last hill is divided by the deep valley through
which courses the London road from a mountain-mass of gneiss and chlorite-
slate, whose compact structure, and power of resisting decomposition, have
given to the last-mentioned hills more acute summits than any others in the
range. The transition of the gneiss into green chlorite-slate, I did not ac-
tually trace in situ ; but, by fracturing some of the larger pieces rolled down
the sides of the hills, or even examining the broken stones on the road, many
examples will be found, fully demonstrating that it is a mere transition of the
first-mentioned rock into a more compact and less distinctly lamellar mass.
Beyond this, cultivation has effaced the bold outline and rugged grandeur of
the primitive mountains, and the line between the old rocks and the super-
incumbent formations becomes totally lost.

From these investigations, the following general facts may be deduced :

1. That the Malvern Hills are composed of that class of rocks denominated

primitive, including granite, gneiss, and chlorite-slate.

2. That these rocks are indefinitely stratified, having generally a direction

from east to west, and rising with little variation to the north.

3. That they contain no organic remains, nor are ever found alternating with

or superimposed on rocks of a more modern formation, and that they
are of a formation much more ancient than the surrounding rocks ; and
though theoretically, it is not impossible that they might have assumed
theii* present situation at a period more modern than the deposition of
the old red sandstone, or even of the red marl, that they nevertheless

of the Malvern HilU. 99

are neither chemically or mechanically connected with those formations,
hut of a much older date.

4. That as they are older, so they assume a more lofty situation than the sur-

rounding more modem formations, even than the oolite capping the
summits of the Cotteswold range, or the transition limestone of Bristol
and Calesford.

5. and lastly^ That, in their nature, situation, and appearance, they hear evi-

dence with the granitic hills of Cumberland, North Wales, Anglesea,
Cornwall, and more esj)ecially Mount Sorrel in Leicestershire, that the
intricate and numerously alternating modem formations of England, lie
upon rocks of granite *.
In their mechanical analysis, the Malvern Hills aifbrd

A highly crystalline compound of flesh-coloured felspar and quarts;.
Of felspar, quartz and mica.
Of felspar, quartz, and hornblende.
Of felspar, quartz, hornblende, and mica.
Of felspar and mica. "

These are all referrible to the class Granite, varying in the predominance and
proportion of the ingredients. In the next transition, the rock becomes more
compact in its texture ; and the folia of mica ranging themselves in lamina?,
give a veined appearance to the formation. This is genuine gneiss, distin-
guishable, as found on the Malvern Hills, into

\st^ Gneiss, in which felspar and quartz are tht'most abimdant ingredients.
2</, In which felspar and mica alternate in layers.

3rf, In which mica becomes the predominant ingredient, verging into mica-
slate.
The compounds of felspar and mica exist, 1*/, In a highly crystalline state.
2(i, In a state in which the felspar becoming decomposed, offers a clay-slate
basis to crystals or foliae of mica. 3rf, In which the felspar is almost entirely
lost, and the mica assumes a metallic lustre and appearance.

The gneiss varies from its veined structure into a compact granular green
rock, whose principal ingre<lient is generally quartz, at first slightly lamellar,
and soon becoming small-grained lamellar, and more indistinctly crystallized
(chlorite-slate).

The geographical distribution of Plants on the Malvern Hills does not offer
any very remarkable features. Their height does not allow of the growth in
a single latitude of plants of a whole zone ; and the temperature at the sum-
mits of the hills difiers too little from that of the valley, to afford much diffe-
rence in the nature of its vegetation. The plants of the genus Erica are rare
for apparently so favourable a situation. Bushes of the Spartium scoparium arc
to be met with above Little Malvern, and to the south of the hills. Specimens
of Genista Atiglica, Ononis arvensis^ Ulex europcens and nanus, are scattere<l about
the hills ; but excepting the Grasses, the Ferns are by far the most abumlant
plants filling the valleys, while the dwarf fern gives a green covering to the

* According to these views, the formation south of London, more especially the chalk traced
by Mr Conybeare as far as Prussia, would still come under this clause, as in Great Britain they He
on their north-western boundary on granite ; and on their eaetem, their relatioo ii fioaUy erery
where the same.

G S

100 Mr Meikle on a proposed Improvement

rocks above. I did not meet with the Viola lutea. I visited tlie hills in Sep-
tember : at the time of flowering it is likely it might be found ; the V. trico-
lor was flowering in abundance. To offer a list of the plants growing on the
hills themselves, or at their base, is needless, as it would embrace half the
compendium of British plants. I shall allude only to the rarer ones. The
most remarkable, and those which seem to have claimed these hills as their
own, are the Digitalis purpurea, of which a white variety is often met with,
and the Hyoscyamus niger, most abundant on the North Hill, and above East-
nor Wood a varisty occurs with five racemes : whenever the soil has been ac-
cidentally disturbed, it sends forth its leaves, and, like the Digitalis, abounds
most in those stony spots which the Motacilla cenanthe has marked out as his
abode. In the moist places towards the base of the range, Marchantia poly-
morpha, Serapias longifolia. Orchis bifolia, O. conopsea, O. ustulata, Ranunculus
lingua, Myosotis minimum, R. pa'i-vijiorus, Colchicum autumnale. Polygonum minus,
P. aviculare, P. viviparicm, Scirpus acicularis, Satyrium, viride. Campanula rotun-
difolia, patula, latifolia, &c. In the woods, Galanthus nivalis, Chlora perfoliata,
Aquilegia vulgaris, Acer campestris and pseudo-platanus, &c. &c. The brambles
and briars are covered with the Clematis and Tamus communis. On the hills,
Arenaria tenuifolia, Drosera rotundifolia, Fumaria claviculata, Cistus helianthe^
mum, C. polyfolius, Helleborus viridis, Hypericum androscemum, &c. On the
granite rocks, were found the Sedum album, and Cotyledon umbilicus. On the
limestone rocks the Potentilla verna flowers prettily; and the following list of
the Lichens which I obtained, is a pretty accurate list of those which are to be
found on this range : Lichen geographicus, L. islandicus, L. parellus, L. physodes,
L. plicatus, L. pustulatus, L. rangiferinus, L. scrobiculus, and L. scrobiculatus.

1. Proposed Improvement in the Theory of Sounds and in the
mode of Measuring its Velocity. 2. On the Theory of the
Variation of the Barometer. By H. Meikle, Esq. Com-
municated by the Author.

A HE propagation of sound through elastic fluids, was first
considered by Sir Isaac Newton ; but his investigations led to a
result considerably short of 1142 feet, the experimental velocity
in a second, so long received in this country, and which, owing
to some inaccuracy, was far above the truth ; for the mean ve-
locity is now found by experiment to be only about 1100 feet.
Newton's result still lay much below the latter number ; but those
who have investigated the velocity from the same data, have ac-
quiesced in his conclusion. It was not known in Newton''s days,
that, when air undergoes a change of volume, it at same time
changes its capacity for heat, becoming warmer by compression,

in the Theory of Sound. 101

and colder by rarefaction. The want of acquaintance with this
circumstance, has led him and many others into the erroneous
conclusion, that the particles of elastic fluids repel each other
with forces inversely as their central distances, which could never
be the case, if the capacity be affected, no matter in what manner
or degree, by a change of density. Newton himself has shewn in
his Principla^ that, if the cube of the pressure in an elastic fluid
were as the fourth power of the density, the particles must re-
pel each other with forces inversely as the squares of their central
distances. Now, the experiments of the French philosophers near-
ly agree with such a relation subsisting between the pressure and
density of air. Numerous experiments which I have m'ad^on this
subject, answer almost exactly, and this was far from my expecta-
tion ; for, till these experiments were made, I had conjectured
that the true result would lie quite on the contrary side of those
obtained in France; but on perceiving that my result accorded
with the existence of a repulsion between the particles of air in-
versely as the squares of their distances, which is such a general
law of nature, I was led to adopt this as the true law of gaseous
repulsion. MM. Desormes and Clement have given a particu-
lar description of their apparatus and mode of experimenting, in
the 89th volume of the Journal de Physique. But I am not
aware that any intelligible account has been published of the
apparatus employed by MM. Gay-Lussac and Welter; though,
from the brief and obscure hints given in the 12th book of the
Mecanique Celeste^ I still suspect they are liable to some of the
inaccuracies which I hinted at in the Number of this Journal
for April last, and used every means to avoid, in my own ex-
periments.

The late celebrated Marquis Laplace had often directed his
attention to this subject ; and reflecting that sound is propagated
by aerial undulations, which cause a compression of the air as
they move along, he conjectured that such compression, by ge-
nerating an increase of temperature, augmented the elasticity of
the air, and consequently the velocity of sound ; and that this
was the reason why Newton'*s result fell short of experiment.
According to Laplace, the velocity of sound, as deduced by
Newton s theory, and which is about 91().3 feet, should be mul-
tiplied by the square root of the quotient obtained by dividing

102 Mr Meikle on a proposed Improvement

the specific heat of air under a constant pressure, by its specific
heat under a constant volume, viz. 1.1547. Still, however, this
multiplier, as obtained from the experiments above mentioned
on the specific heat of air, gives the velocity of sound too small.
The object of the present article is to suggest a reason for this
deficiency.

The theory of sound, as improved by Laplace, supposes it to
be propagated by a wave of air, having an increased temperature,
without any addition to its quantity of heat ; but as each portion
of the air forming the wave is warm when it communicates mo-
tion to the next, it must also impart to it a portion of its heat *.
Hencd? sound is propagated by a wave of air, having not mere-
ly its temperature increased by compression, but having also an
addition to its quantity of heat. In this way, a wave of heat
accompanies sound through the air ; and I presume, that to it
we owe the excess of the experimental, over the theoretical, ve-
locity of liaplace. The theory of this distinguished philosopher
lays no stress on the amount of the rise of temperature ; but
such amount must depend on the degree of compression, that
is, on the iritensUy of sound ; and as the transference of a quan-
tity of heat from each portion to the next, will be greater as its
excess of temperature is greater, it is clear that the velocity of
sound must be greater when it is more intense. I am perfectly
aware, that some suppose sounds of all intensities to be propa-
gated with the same velocity, and allege as a proof, the undis-
turbed succession of musical notes, when heard at a distance.
So far as regards the present inquiry, I need only remark, that
musical notes, or the differences of their intensities, are mere
playthings, when compared with the penetrating report of a
cannon issuing from the flames.

From the account of experiments made in Holland by Dr
Moll, with many excellent precautions, and published in the Phi-
losophical Transactions for 1824, p. 424, it appears that sound
moved slower from Kooltjesberg to Zevenboompjes, than in the

• Heat cannot be here lost laterally, because sound is propagated, not in
an insulated line of air, but rather as in a pyramidal figure, or something like
a spherical sector, having the sonorous body for its centre, as is plain from
sounds being heard over a considerable lateral extent. A line of air, there-
fore, which is not near the outside of the sector, will lose no heat laterally.

in the Theory of Sound. 103

opposite direction. For, on tlie 25th June, p. 452, the interval
is longer, even when sound could not be heard in the opposite
direction, than the mean of both directions on the 27th and 28tli
June *. This difference, I apprehend, has arisen from the dif-
ference of the guns/orof the mode of charging and firing them.

When the production of sound is accompanied with intense
heat, as in the firing of guns, there is reason to think that a
portion of such heat is propagated from one portion of air to
another along with the sound. On this account, I conceive
that tlie report of a gun moves faster than the sound of a bell,
over and above what is due to superior intensity. As, however,
a bell is not Iieard at such a distance as a gun, and the methods
hitherto employed are too complicated for measuring with ac-
curacy or facihty the minute interval of time in which a sound
passes over a small distance, the exact velocity of sound from
bells has not yet been determined. I therefore beg to propose
the following simple expedient, by which I presume the diffi-
culty of measuring the minute interval of time would be entirely
obviated. I shall begin with a very familiar illustration of the
principle.

Suppose a hammer, moved by clock-work, to strike a bell at
equal short intervals, as seconds, and that an obsei*ver sees the
hammer just touch the bell, at the very instant when he first
hears the sound. It is evident, that he must be either quite
near the bell, or at such a distance as requires exactly one se-
cond, or a whole number of seconds, for the sound to reach him •^.
By removing himself a very little farther off, the sound will ar-
rive too late, and by approaching rather nearer, the report
will precede the visible stroke. In short, a very small varia-
tion on the distance will sensibly disturb the coincidence ; and

• In pages 430, 4.31, some experiments are mentioned as made in January
1823, which, from the rest of the article, seems so exceedingly improbable,
that I think the author or translator, not being alike familiar wdth both lan-
guages, has put January several times for June.

f 1 here mention seconds for convenience ; but in practice, I suspect the
intervals must be at least of sufiicient length to keep the sounds of the
strokes quite distinct ; which, at any rate, will require very small intervals.
If the vibrations caused by music were quite clear of each other, the veloci-
ties of the notes might not be so nearly equal.

104 Mr Meikle 07i a proposed Improvement

as this experiment might be often repeated in the course of a
few minutes, ample opportunity would be afforded for deter-
mining the exact distance which should make the two setisations
perfectly harmonize.

But instead of watching the motions of the hammer itself, a
more precise and conspicuous signal might easily be contrived ;
such as a long index, cojnpleting a revolution during each in-
terval between the strokes, and then passing or covering some
conspicuous mark or line. For experiments in the dark, a small
hole might be opened, and instantly shut by the clock-work, at
the very nick of time to allow a lamp placed behind a screen
sending a momentary ray to the observer.

This brief outline, I hope, will make it evident, that such
machines, in proper hands, would tend in a great measure to
obviate the uncertainty inseparable from hurriedly measuring
the short interval of time v/hich elapses during the motion of
the sound of bells over small distances. For, if the visible sig-
nal be observed exactly to agree with the sound, we are sure of
the true elapsed time, from the rate of the clock, without flus-
tering ourselves to measure it at the moment. The observer,
in this mode of operating, would merely be required to walk a
very little backward and forward till he found himself at the
exact distance. But, as neither eyes nor ears are in all per-
sons equally acute, several observers might be employed at
each station ; and if they did not exactly agree about the dis-
tance, this might lead to a more minute investigation of the cir-
cumstances.

For the better obviating the eflPects of wind, a clock would be
required at each end of the base over which the sound was to
pass. They need only be pieces of strong machinery, without
any compensation to the pendulums ; and yet from them the
minute interval of time could be obtained, to a degree of exact-
ness to which the nicest chronometer, when used as formerly,
can have no pretensions : For the method now proposed pos-
sesses the same sort of advantages over the former method, that
Hadley's quadrant does in measuring angles at sea over the old
instruments.

The theory of sound is besides very imperfect, otherwise it
would not leave us so much in the dark regarding the sovereign

in the Titeory qfSouml 105

controul which wind exercises over the intensity of sound, and
which is tlie more remarkable, considering tJie vast dispropor-
tion of their velocities. It is generally suptx)scd that the rela-
tive velocity of sound and wind is not affected by the motion
of tlie latter ; but this opinion stands much in need of confir-
mation. It is clear, that the effect of wind on sound is very
different from merely bearing it along, as a current in the ocean
does a floating body. For in this way, the intensity would un-
dergo no sensible change ; whereas, we know, that, in most cases,
wind annihilates sound, when opposed to it, and magnifies it pro-
digiously when moving in the same direction. The most natu-
ral inference which we can draw from this is, that wind reflects
sound in the opposite direction ; something in the way that the
tide sends the bore up a river.

The tremendous explosion of the Stobbs Powder Mills in
1824, shewed, in a very striking light, how feebly, and to how
short a distance, sound moves against the wind, while it is pro-
digiously strengthened to leeward. A moderate breeze then
blew from the south-west, and, although in the opposite direc-
tion, the report was loud, and the houses sensibly shaken, to
the distance of thirty miles, yet very few heard it, and that
feebly, three miles to windward.

Chap. III. Book xii. of the Mecanique Celeste, is devoted to
the theory of sound, and forms a continuation of the author's
speculations on heat and gases contained in the two preceding
chapters. In it, particularly pages 127, 128, occur some of the
formulae that are employed in the memoir of M. Poisson on the
same subject; and which are closely allied to what I commenced
with in the Number of this Journal for October 1826. I then
pointed out an error into which these eminent mathematicians
had fallen, in determining the proper form of the integral of a
differential equation ; and which error arose from their intro-
ducing a needless and erroneous hypothesis, at variance with
the conditions of the problem. The mistake to which I allude
admits of being placed in a still clearer point of view ; and this
becomes the more necessary, considering the very unfair repre-
sentation which Mr Ivory has given of what, in the Phil. Afaff.
for April last, he calls the equations of the Mecanique Celeste ;
though, in fact, the equations which he has prothiced there, to-

106 Mr Meikle on a proposed Improvement

gcthcr with the errors he complains of, are the offspring of his
own contradictory hypotheses, and do not proceed from the real
nature of the subject. This will be rendered evident from the
perfect consistency of the following plain view of the case, in
which no hypothetical work is introduced.

Let t be the temperature, or rather the indication on the common scale of
an air thermometer, p the corresponding^ pressure, and ^ the density of a mass
of air ; then a being the expansion for one degree, and b another constant, we
have, from the law of Boyle,

p = *j(H-aO (A.)

Whilst the quantity of heat in any body undergoes the minute variation
dg, the corresponding variation dt in its temperature must obviously be in-
versely as its specific heat. Hence,

the last term of which is the general expression for the specific heat of any
body ; especially if the volume and pressure do not vary at the same time,
for in that case, the variation of heat might not change the temperature. But
differentiating equation (A) with p constant, we obtain

at =■ —— . do^

and substituting this value of dt in the general expression, the specific heat
of air under a constant pressure, relatively to a degree of the scale to which
t belongs, is

d^ 1 + a^
Differentiating, again, equation (A) with ^ constant, and supposing that the
mass of air undergoes the same variation dq in its quantity of heat as in the
former case, we obtain for the specific heat of air under a constant volume,
for the same degree of the thermometer,

dp \ •\- at
Now, it is admitted by all parties, and corresponds with experiment, that
these specific heats have to each other an invariable ratio ; or, in other words,
that the relations of the differentials is of a known and determinate charac-
ter. Hence, they are of the fittest possible sort for integration. Calling this
constant ratio that of A; : 1, and we get

dp 1 + at d^ i + at

From the conditions under which we have obtained this equation, dq has
the same value in both terms. The degree of the common scale, considered
as a linear quantity, is constant, and is likewise the same in both terms.
Hence, dividing by the common factors, we obtain

in the Theory qfSmind. 107

an extremely simple equation, the integration of which is free from all ambi-
guity, and gives jp r= g* ; supposing p and ^ to become each equal to unit at
the same instant *. It hence follows, that the 'general expression for 7, or
for any change which occurs in the quantity of heat contained in the air,
is no " arbitrary function," such as we might modify at our whim or fancy,
but a determinate function, fixed down by the above condition ; that the pres-
sure vary as the k power of the density, in every case whatever, in which the
quantity of heat in the mass of air undergoes no change, or when 7 = 0; and
this condition will accord with no other form but what I formerly gave,
viz.

y :^ B (logp — Ar log e) + C.

It is very remarkable, that four of the greatest mathematicians of the age
should have been so completely bewildered regarding this integration. 1«/,
The Marquis Laplace, Mec. Cel. tome v. p. 127.; 2</, M. Poisson, Annales de
Chim. xxiii. 338. ; 3rf, Mr Herapath, Phil. Mag. Ixii. 329. f ; and IMr Ivory
even after the only possible form of the function had been clearly pointed out,
as I have shewn at length in the Number of this Journal for July last.

2. On the Theory of the Variations of the Barometer.

In the Supplement to the EncycloptEdia Britannica, Profes-
sor Leslie has proposed a theory of the depressions of the baro-
meter, in which he supposes, that the wind describing a curve
in passing over the surface of the globe, acquires a centrifugal
force sufficient to diminish the pressure of the air on the earth's
surface, and consequently to depress the barometer. Mr Da-
niel!^ in his Meteorolog^ical Essays^ has endeavoured to contro-
vert this theory; but I am not sure that I have caught the
meaning of either of these gentlemen in their respective argu-
ments, and therefore do not pretend to decide on their merits.

If we proceed to compute the centrifugal force of air, as if con-
sisting of detached particles like sand, revolving in circles about
the earth's centre, the result is by no means considerable ; but, to

* This supposition has nothing to do with the value of the results : it
merely gives the formula a neater appearance.

f It is but justice to M. Poisson to observe, that Mr Herapath, in bis
first note, page 328, accuses him of setting out with the hypothesis, that the
increments of expansion, under a constant pressure, are jjrojwrtional to the
increments of heat ; whereas nothing of the kind is assumed, till he had
got to p. 330, after having obtained the " arbitrary function," as they are
pleased to call it.

108 Mr Meiklc 07i the Theort/ of the

admit the correctness of such a conclusion, would be taking for
granted, that the fluidity and the mutual action of the particles
on each other do not affect the result. Mr Tredgold has lately
shewn, that Newton''s overlooking this circumstance, in investi-
gating the laws of the resistance of fluids, has led him and his
followers into very erroneous conclusions ; and, by hastily pur-
suing a similar path, we should have reason to fear the like
consequences. It was probably considerations of this nature
which induced Mr Leslie not to apply the ordinary mode of es-
timating the centrifugal force of solids to the fluid atmosphere.

There is, however, a very important circumstance connected
with the centrifugal force of wind, which does not appear to have
been yet attended to, and which throws a very different hght
on the subject, though still adding greatly to the probability
that the barometer has to do with the centrifugal force. The
circumstance to which I allude is, that the curvilinear motion of
wind, describing a circle about the earth, in place of always
lowering- the barometer, ought frequently to augment the pres-
sure of the atmosphere, and consequently to raise the barometer.
At first sight, this may seem paradoxical enough, if not tho-
roughly absurd ; but to solve it, we have only to consider, that,
when the wind is from the east, its diurnal motion round the
eartVs axis is thereby lessened, its centrifugal force will be of
course weakened ; and so the air will be more at liberty to gra-
vitate or press freely on the earth's surface, and consequent-
ly to raise the barometer. Westerly winds, on the contrary,
by conspiring with the diurnal motion, increase the centri-
fugal force, and diminish the pressure. Hence the reason why
the barometer is commonly lower with westerly winds than east-
erly. Such difference of effects in opposite winds, so far as
centrifugal force is concerned, will become smaller as the lati-
tude increases, and the currents approach nearer to the direction
of the meridian. But cold air from a higher latitude raises the
barometer, from its being heavier than the comparatively moist
and warmer air of a lower latitude. Hence, from the combina-
tion of these two causes, the barometer in this country is usually
hiffhest with a north-east, and lowest with a south-west wind.

But the effects just mentioned are liable to be modified or
overruled, by various causes of a less general nature. The de-

Variations of' the Barometer. 109

scent of the barometer during storms, I conceive to be frequent-
ly influenced in no small degree by the reaction of the wind on
the acclivities of the earth"*s surface. When a horizontally
moving wind encounters an inclined plane, its direction is there-
by more or less elevated, and an increase of pressure necessarily
takes place on the reflecting surface. The whole pressure on
the inclined plane, when estimated in the vertical direction, is
obviously reduced in the ratio of the cosine of the inclination to
radius ; but still the vertical force exerted within a horizontal
square inch will, from the principles of hydrodynamics, be the
same as the pressure on an inch of the inclined surface. If
the one be equal to a column of 35 or 40 inches of mercury, so
will the other. This vertical pressure, therefore, exceeds that
of the barometer, in a sheltered place on the same level, in the
same ratio as the direct force on the inclined plane does. Even
a wall or precipice opposed to the wind, will occasion a greater
pressure on the ground at the windward side of its base. Hence
the mean of the whole vertical pressures over an extensive dis-
trict, exceeds what is indicated by the barometer in a sheltered
spot.

Since, then, these surfaces, on which the wind forcibly acts,
sustain a weight greater in proportion to the part of the horizon
which they occupy, than the rest of the district does, a part of
the weight of the atmosphere is, as it were, supported on pillars
during a storm ; but the pressure indicated by our barometers
in sheltered spots, being only the diminished pressure between
the pillars, is therefore too small. This affords one very satis-
factory reason why the barometer should so often be depressed
duiing storms, especially where the surface of the country is
uneven, and sometimes likewise in a ship riding among moun-
tain-like waves.

Between the tropics, the wind usually blows from the east,
diminishing the centrifugal force, which so far accounts for its
not depressing the barometer. And if, as is believed, the aerial
currents from the south-east and north-east, by meeting near the
equator, unite in a current directly from the east, which has no
other mode of escape but by accumulating upwards, and flow-
ing back to the tropics, this will aflbrd a farther explanation.
For the greater the wind, the more will it tend to accumulate

110 Mr Stevenson 6n British Harbours.

the air about the equator. So that the depression of the baro-
meter, due to the action of the wind on the acchvities of the sur-
face, seems to be prevented in the vicinity of the equator, by tlie
weight of a greater mass of air. But this, after all, is attended
with some difficulties.

Excerpt Jrom a Memoir on British Harbours^ drawn up in the
year 1824. By R. Stevenson, Esq. F.R.S.E. & M.W. S.
&c. Civil Engineer. With a Plan. (Communicated by the
Author *.)

L^TH Roads. — OUR nautical readers know that the Frith of
Forth is a principal rendezvous for shipping during the storms
which affect the eastern coast of Great Britain ; and as a naval
station, especially in the event of war with any of the northern
powers, it is of primary importance to the best interests of the
nation. To those who are not locally acquainted with this
great estuary, we may notice, that its access is obvious, and its
navigation easy. Leith Roads, which afford its chief anchor-
age, are ample and commodious, possessing a soft bottom, with
a depth of water varying from three to upwards of seven fa-
thoms, and, for larger vessels, to sixteen and eighteen fathoms.
Connected with this extensive roadstead there are other valuable
mooring grounds above Queensferry, which resemble the higher
parts of Plymouth Sound and Portsmouth, in regard to the shel-
ter and security which they afford to shipping.

Leith Haebour. — Leith Harbour, the subject of the pre-
sent section, is situate on the southern side of the Roads above
described, at the embouchure of the river Leith, about two miles
north from Edinburgh, of which it is the port. The advance-
ment of this harbour is consequently an important object with
the corporation of that capital, and also with the constituted

• Mr Stevenson communicated to us his Memoir on British Harbours
nearly three years ago ; but from the state of the I>eith Harbour Bill, then
before Parliament, and other considerations of delicacy, the author requested
us to delay its publication. There being now a variety of opinions regarding
this object of great commercial importance, we have obtained Mr Stevenson*s
consent to the publication of an excerpt of the Memoir.—EDiT.

Mr Stevenson oji British Harhoiirs. Ill

authorities of the town of Leith. I am now, therefore, to give
some account of it, and to state what appears to me most suit-
able for its improvement.

At high-water of ordinary neap-tides there is a depth of only
about eight or nine feet at the present entrance of Leith Har-
bour, and in spring-tides the depth is about thirteen or fourteen
feet. From the pecuhar form of its piers, and, particularly, ow-
ing to a considerable extension of the eastern pier beyond the
western one, as will be seen from the accompanying sketch-plan,
vessels are by this means often shut up for a length of
time with north-westerly winds. Till of late years the birthage
of the harbour was confined to the bed of the river, and had be-
come so extremely incommodious from the increase of shipping,
that its enlargement became indispensable. An additional reve-
nue was accordingly provided ; and two spacious wet-docks, ex-
tending to ten acres, were formed. These docks have proved a
vast accommodation to the port ; but a great desideratum still
remains, in the want of a sufficient depth of water, and a more
commodious entrance for the reception of large ships.

If we inquire into the cause of the shallowness of the water
at Leith, and generally along the southern shores of this frith,
it may be accounted for, on the great scale, by the set both of
the flood and ebb tides, in the following manner. The strongest
current, for example, of the flood-tide, in its course from the At-
lantic Ocean, runs along the coasts of Caithness, Aberdeen, and
Kincardine, to the higher parts of the Frith of Forth, meeting with
comparatively few obstructions on the northern side; whereas
the stream of tide which supplies its southern shores, separates
off* St Abb's Head, in Berwickshire, — one branch of the tide pro-
ceeding to the English coast, and the other along the Lothians
up the Frith. This last, however, has more the character of an
eddy-tide, having changed its course almost at right angles, at
or near St Abb's Head, and being further intersected in its pro-
gress by the Bass and other islands lying off* the coast of Had-
dingtonshire. At Gullen Ness, which forms one of the chops of
the inner part of the Frith, the channel suddenly expands into
the comparatively great bay of Musselburgh. This expanse
gives another check to the velocity of the tide, which at Leith
is again obstructed by a chain of rocks extending toward Inch-
keith, throwing the currents, both of flood ^aiid ebb, still off the

112 Mr Stevenson on British Harbours.

southern shore. Between Lcith and the Narrows at Queensferry,
the incumbrance is continued by the interposition of Cramond
Island and the foul grounds of Mickery and Oxscares, which
altogether are favourable to the process of deposition on this
shore ; while the force of the current and consequent depth of
water are increased upon the northern »ide. Of this we have an
anomalous example at Queensferry, where the soundings are
about thirty-five fathoms in depth, and consequently greater than
on the same parallel of latitude any where between the Frith of
Forth and the opposite coast of Denmark.

The great obstacle to the improvement of the present entrance
of Leith harbour arises from the extensive flat or bank trend-
ing northward to the rocky grounds called the Symonds, lying
seaward of the Martello Tower, as delineated on the annexed
Sketch of the shore between Leith and Newhaven, shewing the
figure of the bank and the position of the respective rocks in the
oflSng. On the southern side of the Frith, immediately above
Newhaven, the scouring effect of the tide is chiefly with the ebb,
and thus we account for the peculiar form of the sand-bank off*
Leith, and the greater depth of water ofl* Newhaven : at this
place the bank is comparatively narrow, and it attains its great-
est breadth off* the entrance to Leith Harbour.

The scouring effects of the river Leith are, no doubt, benefi-
cial to its alveus ; but if we carefully examine this matter, we
shall find, from the extent and flatness of the ground, that its
influence is, upon the whole, languid. The bar does not consist
of mud, but of sand, similar to that which is deposited above
and below Leith. It is not a particular ridge, but an extensive
flat, which has its origin in the local set of the tides, arising from
the configuration of the shores opposed to the tidal current. I
am therefore of opinion, that every effort to deepen the present
entrance of the harbour, which stops short of carrying two con-
tinuous piers at a very moderate distance from each other, sea-
ward of the Symond Rocks, or to the extent of about a mile
from the shore at Leith, will not only prove ineffectual, but that
one pier, of any form, which extends much beyond the other, will
prove ruinous to the best interests of the port. I would not,
however, be understood as recommending so extensive a plan
of operations, as the extension of piers to the Symond Rocks,

Mr Stevenson on British Harbours. 113

but merely as stating what humbly appears to be the only prac-
ticable mode of deepening the present entrance to the harbour of
Leith.

In quest of this object, some have projected the extension of
a single pier, in various hues of direction, toward the Martello
Tower, as a weir to the current. Others, with somewhat more
plausibility, carry two piers to a certain extent over the sand-
bank, and then proceed with one pier to the Martello Tower, as
shown in dotted lines upon the Plan. I confess that I have ne-
ver been able to satisfy myself upon this point, either as to its
beneficial effect upon the bar, or its proper influence upon the
accessibility of the harbour. To illustrate this, we simply refer
to the Dresent state of things. For example, every one conver-
sant with the nautical localities of Leith knows the difficulty ex-
perienced in leaving the port with north-westerly or favour-
able winds down the frith. In such cases, a vessel must cast
qff^ or make sail, from the western pier, beyond which the east-
ern one projects about 100 yards. But let us imagine that this
single pier were extended to a mile, or even 1000 yards, and
then, according to our views of seamanship, the difficulties at-
tending the access of the harbour would be increased tenfold ;
or, as before noticed, " it would prove ruinous to the best in-
terests of the port."

To obviate this state of things, it has been proposed to pro-
ject a pier from Ncwhaven, till it meets the continuation of an
eastern pier beyond the Symond Rocks, or seaward of the Mar-
tello Tower. By this means, several hundred acres of sand-bank,
which dries at low-water, would be included in the form of a
great outer harbour. In this case, it appears to be impossible
to avoid the silting up of so large a space as would thereby
be included by the two piers projecting respectively from Leith
and Newhaven, while the effect of the winds, at high-water,
upon a surface of about one mile in breadth, would render it
extremely difficult to transport vessels through it, to or from
the interior harbour. It is therefore to be feared, that, after ha-
ving expended a very large sum in either of these diversified
operations, we should only have an incommodious, if not im-
practicable, harbour.

Having made these observations on the set of the tides, and
the natural situation of Leith harbour, in alkision to various

OCTOBER — DECEMBER 18.^7. H

114 Mr Stevenson on British Harbours.

plans latterly suggested for its improvement, we shall now en-
deavour to inquire into the effect and tendency of executing in
whole, or in part, the apparently abandoned plan of the late
eminent Mr Rennie, and upon which, it is believed, upwards of
.^'^OOjOOO have already been expended. When Mr Rennie was
consulted on this subject, about the year 1800, he had before
him an early design by Mr Whitworth, a celebrated engineer of
his day, who had proposed to extend the birthage of the harbour,
by following the course of the river above Leith Saw-mills.
But when Mr Rennie maturely considered this subject, and took
into view the natural difficulties which present themselves, to
forming a deep-water entrance to Leith harbour from which
the tide ebbs to the extent of about one mile, he was properly
induced to form a design suitable for vessels of a greater draught
of water than were generally in use in Mr Whitworth's time, by
opening a communication at Newhaven.

Now, as the greatest breadth of the sand-bank above alluded
to is immediately off the present entrance to Leith harbour, and
as the bank becomes narrower as we approach Newhaven, a
more commodious line of direction is evidently by the erection of
a continuous sea-wall toward Newhaven ; where a sufficient
depth of water may be obtained for His Majesty''s ships of war.
After therefore consulting with that eminently scientific naviga-
tor, the late Captain Huddart, who made a survey of Leith, Mr
Rennie ultimately determined upon placing the deep-water ac-
cess to the harbour near Newhaven, as delineated in dotted lines
upon the accompanying Plan. I have endeavoured to give the
subject of the improvement of this harbour every possible atten-
tion, and I am humbly of opinion, that no design for this pur-
pose has yet been submitted to the public, which seems to warrant
the total abandonment of Mr Rennie's plan. I am also confi-
dent that it may be satisfactorily shown, not only to be the best
which, under all circumstances, can now be followed ; but also,
that the least expensive mode of obtaining a deep-water entrance
is to continue the sea-wall from the docks westward ; for I do
not now propose a suite of docks from Leith to Newhaven,
but merely a tide-harhour, which might be occasionally scoured
from the present wet-docks. To take a practical example of
this, let it be observed that a sea-wall from the wet-docks toward
Newhaven would not be more than two-thirds of the extent of
the pier required, to carry a ship to a similar depth of water

Mr Stevenson 07i British Harlours. 115

off the Martello Tower, as may be seen from the accompanying
Plan.

Wc are aware that the proposed entrance at Newhaven is dis-
tant from the chief scat of business in Leith, and that it is dif-
ficult for those accustomed to the present state of things to look
favourably u{X)n any other view of the subject ; but, in j>oint.of
fact, the pier-head near Newhaven would not be more distant from
the central parts of Leith than a pier at the Martello Tower,
while the former would be much more commodious and acces-
sible than the latter. In every extended port, more or less in-
conveniency of this description is felt ; and if the situation of the
merchants of Leith be contrasted with that of their brethren of
London, Liverpool, Dublin, and many others, they will appear
to have little cause to complain, although the entrance of the
harbour were at Newhaven.

Upon the whole, I hesitate not to recommend that the en-»
trance to Leith harbour should forthwith be improved upon a
moderate scale. Its present condition is a source of much incon-
veniency. to the trade of Leith, having, perhaps, as difficplt and
awkward an access as I have anywhere met with in the whole
course of my survey, and personal observation, on " British
Harbours '"* between the Shetland and Scilly Islands. I am fur-
ther of opinion that a sea-wall should be extended from the wet-
docks toward Newhaven, and that a deep-water entrance should
there be formed, upon the principle, if not the form, suggested
by Mr Rennie. This, as formerly stated, I conceive to be the
most proper and convenient mode of acquiring a sufficient depth
of water, and also the most economical mode of improvement of
which the port of Leith is susceptible.

Observations on the Coal-Jield, and accompanying Strata, in
the vicinity of Dalkeith, Mid-Lothian. By Robert Bald,
Esq. F. R. S. E., M. W. S., &c. Mining-Engineer * (Com-
municated by the Author.)

JlXaving, in a former paper, which I read before this Society^
made several observations upon the Mid-Lothian Coal-fields, I
have, since that time, made many investigations of this very in-
teresting district ; and these confirm tlie ideas I had formed of

• Read before the Wemerian Natural History Society 7th April 1827*

h2

116 Mr Bald on the Coal-field

the coal strata in the vicinity of Dalkeith, viz. that the edge-
coals, and accompanying strata, found at the collieries of Drum
and 'Gilmerton, four miles south of Edinburgh, with the well-
known bed of limestone, which lies immediately under all the
workable coals, decline into the centre of the valley, southward,
to a very great depth, and then deflect, rising to the south, and
are again found at Dalkeith, where the lime rock, under the
lowest workable coal, is found, and wrought extensively. We
therefore conclude, that the bed of lime-rock in the lower part
of the Dalkeith section, is a continuation of the lime-rock at Gil-
merton ; that the coal named the Parrot Coal in the sections,
corresponds with the lowest coal at Gilmerton, next the lime-
rock, named the North Green Coal ; and that the several coals
above the parrot-coal in the section correspond with the edge-
coals which lie above the said north green coal.

The following minute section of the strata was made in the
course of running a day-level some years ago from the South
Esk, to drain the Marquis of Lothian's coal-field along the Ro^
man-camp Hill. The strata cut through had a dip of from one
in four to one in three ; but the section now exhibited shews the
strata in a perpendicular line at the South Esk, calculated from
the horizontal section ; which perpendicular section extends to
the depth of 387 fathoms to the lime-rock. In it are found no
less than 27 beds of coal, making a total thickness of 82 feet 8
inches. The different beds of separate and distinct coals passed
thrpugh are of various thickness, extending from 6 inches to 9
feet, and lie at very various distances from each other, as is com-
mon in all coal-fields.

Section of the Coals, and their accompanying Strata, beginning
at the surface.

Fath. Ft. In. Fath. Ft. In.

1. Alluvial soil - - 2 Brought forward 10 4 6

Slate sandstone - 2 10. Coal - - - 6

White sandstone - 4 Indurated clay - 14

Red sandstone - 2 4 Do. do. hard - 10

5. Blue sandstone - 10 ^q^| . . _ 16

White sandstone - 4 indurated clay . 16

Red sandstone - 5 15. White sandstone - 16

Slate sandstone - 3 Red sandstone - 5 3

Slate clay - - 2 6 slate clay -.040

Garry forward 10 4 6 Carry forward 20 2 6

in the vicinity of' Dalkeith.

117

Fath.

FU In.

1

Fti .

Ft. In.

Brought forward

20

2

«

Brought forward 121

4

6

White sandstone

3

Indurated clay with Coal

3

Slate clay

1

2

G5 Bituminous shale

_

1

20. White sandstone

3

Do. very

hard

1

3

Slate clay, very hard

3

White sandstone

6

Do, do. soft

4

6

Indurated clay

4

€oal

2

White sandstone

4

Indurated clay

1

70 Indurated clay

3

25. Red sandstone

3

3

Do. soft

3

Slaty sandstone

2

White sandstone

4

White sandstone

3

Red sandstone

2

3

Slaty sandstone

2

1

White sandstone

1

c

Slate clay with Coal

3

75 Coal

2

6

30 Slaty sandstone

2

2

Indurated clay

1

4

Red sandstone

3

3

White Sandstone, hard

3

3

Slate clay with Coal

3

c

Slaty sandstone

10

Indurated clay

1

Slate clay

2

4

6

Coal

2

9

80 Grey sandstone

1

35 Indurated clay

3

Slate clay

1

1

6

Red sandstone

10

Red sandstone

3

Indurated clay

1

Slate clay

8

Red sandstone

11

Grey sandstone

2

Bituminous clay

85 Coal

3

40 Red Sandstone

4

Indurated clay

1

4

6

Indurated clay

Whitish; sandstone

13

3

Red Sandstone

Slate clay with ironstone

Bituminous shale

balls -

.

16

Red sandstone

2

White sandstone

-

7

45 Slate clay

1

2

90 Slate clay

-

4

Red sandstone

1

White sandstone

.

5

Slate clay

3

Slate clay

-

1

3

Red sandstone

1

3

White sandstone

.

6

3

Slate clay

5

Slate clay

-

1

50 Red sandstone

2

3

95 White sandstone

.

1

2

Slate clay, very dark

3

Slate clay with ironstone

6

1

6

Do. lighter -

1

1

Bituminous shnle, <

:oarse

1

Indurated clay, coarse

3

3

Slate clay with ironstone

1

White sandstone

1

3

Red sandstone

2

4

65 Slate clay, very dark-

4

100 Coal

3

Do. light

2

3

Slate clay

2

4

Do. white

1

1

White sandstone

4

Red sandstone

10

1

G

bo.

2

3

Slate clay

1

Do.

4

4

00 (Iroy Sandstone

3

3

105 Slate clay

4

Slate clay

4

White sandstone

S

Red sandstone

6

3

Blue sandstone

1

4

6

Slate clay

4

«

Red sandstone

4

6

Carry forward 121 4 5

Carryforward 148 3 5

118

M

rBald

on

the Coal-field

Fath. Ft

In.

Fath. Ft.

In.

Brought forward

148 3

5

Brought forward

293

3

11

Slate clay

-

2

White sandstone

4

4

c

110 Coal

.

2

Coal

3

Slate clay with ironstoi

le 2

Slate clay

4

6

White sandstone

.

1 3

145 Coal

6

Slate clay with sandstone 2 2

AVhite sandstone

3

3

Slate clay

-

3

Slate clay with Coal

4

6

115 Coal

-

2

3

Slate clay

2

Indurated clay

-

^

3

Coal

2

6

White sandstone

-

1 4

150 Slate clay

1

Slate clay, liard

-

2 3

White sandstone

3

4

Coal

3

Coal - . *"

4

6

120 Indurated clay

-

3

Red sandstone

4

Red sandstone

-

3 4

154 Coal

3

8

Slate clay

Coal

_

1 4

_

3

Total ascertained depth

316

2

7

Indurated clay

-

3

Various strata

15

1

125 Red sandstone with

abed

A Coal

3

G

of slate clay

-

9 4

6

Various strata

6

Coal - -

-

1 3

B Coal - - .

1

Indurated Clay

.

0* 2

6

Various strata, depth not

White sandstone

-

5

precisely ascertained;

Slate clay

-

1

3

but the coals marked

J30 Coal

-

3

A, B, C, D, E, are

White sandstone

_

2 3

from the best informa-

Slate clay

.

4

6

tion that could be ob-

Coal

.

2

tained,

19

9

Indurated clay

-

1

6

C Coal

5

3

135 Slate clay

-

1 1

6

Various strata

3

2

3

Coal

-

3

D Second ©jlittt Coal

3

9

Slate clay

-

2 1

Various strata

19

3

Coal

-

4

6

E Iparrot Coal

3

Slate clay, light

-

2 3

Various strata

4

140 Do. dark
Do. light

1 1

fi

."

X J.

2

D

3

Total supposed depth 387

1

1

f Then the

t LIMESTONE ROCK,

Carry forward

293 3

11

&c

But great and valuable as this section shews the Mid-Lothian
coal-field to be, it only comprehends the class of Edge-Coals on
both sides of the coal basin with the underlying bed of lime-
rock. None of the very valuable coals, termed the Flat Coals,
which chiefly supply Edinburgh, are comprehended in it ; for
hitherto the strata betwixt the upper coals in the section and the
flat-coalsj which lie above these, have not been accurately ascer-

in the vicinity of Dalkeith. 119

taincd, but the chief of these coals are presently working at the
collieries of SlierifF-hall and Edmonstone in the middle of the
valley, and are well known in the Edinburgh market ; particu-
larly the two named the Diamond and the Jewel coals, which
are of very superior quality.

The following is a Section of the Coals in the Edmonstone
Colliery district.

ROCKS.

COAL.

Fath. Ft. In.

Ft. In.

Alluvialcover

8

Rock strata

6

Coal

5

5

Various rock strata (containing Coals)

31

Splint Coal

5

6

Various strata

6

4 6

Coal, named Coal-llough

4 6

4 6

Various strata

5

3

Coal named BeefFy Coal

3

3

Various strata

12

1 6

Diamond Coal

5

5

Various strata

4

1 6

Jewel Coal

5

5

78 2 27 6

There is a coal said to be much mixed with pyrites, named
the Gold Coal, which lies under the jewel coal, but it never has
been wrought, nor the strata explored accurately under it.
The strata betwixt the upper coal in the Dalkeith section and
the pavement of the jewel coal have not yet been ascertained.

Of the twenty-six coals in the section only two are unwork-
able to profit, from their thinness being only six inches thick.
The thinnest coal reckoned workable is one of 18 inches thick.
Hepce, if the thickness of all the workable coals ascertained in
the Dalkeith district be added together, they amount to the un-
common thickness of 109 feet 6 inches ; viz.

Coal in the section, - - 82

Flat coals ascertained, - - 27 6

Total, '. 109 6

120 Mr Bald mi the Coal-field

This exhibits a body of workable coal altogether uncommon,
and is of the highest importance and value to the capital of
Scotland for affording a supply of coal for many generations. It
is, however, particularly to be remarked, that this astonishing
thickness of coal is found not to extend the whole length of
the basin, from the sea at Fisherrow to its western extremity at
Magbie Hill and Carlops : the coals continue only to the great
road leading from Edinburgh to Dalkeith at Sheriff-hall, where
there is a dislocation, which throws the coal strata up to the west;
and has the effect of throwing off all the valuable flat coals, as
they are not to be found westward of that line ; and it appears
that the flat coals found at Eldin, Polton, Dalhousie, and
Whitehill collieries, are part of the edge-coals rendered flat by
the slip or dislocation.

This coal-field extends to the south side of the Roman-camp
Hill near Dalkeith, and takes a reverse dip to the south ; then
deflects, and rises again to the south near the village of Ford.

I have now to make the following remarks on this coal-field
and sections.

All the coals are of the common bituminous kind, partly
splint and partly cubical coal.

The strata betwixt the coals are Various shades of yellow, white,
grey, and bluish coloured sandstone, argillaceous schistus, bitu-
minous shale, argillaceous earth, named Fire-clay, and a little
coarse clay limestone in some places. All the coals are of open
burning quality : — no caking coals have ever been found.

The coals lie, in general, at the common distances from each
other, as in other coal-fields, with this remarkable exception, that
betwixt the coal marked No. 34. in the section, and the next
coal under it, marked No. 75., the distance is no less than 90
fathoms, or 540 feet, in which space there is no coal. I know
of no such thickness of strata in a coal-field without a coal being
found ; and it is a fact of great importance in the searching of a
district for coal.

There are no beds of greenstone found in the strata hitherto
explored, although there are several vertical dikes or veins of
this rock, which intersect the strata seen in the Port-Seaton dis-
trict along the shore.

in the vicinity of Dalkeith. 121

There is very little ironstone found in the strata, less than in
any other Scotch coal-field ; so much so, that none has been got
for the purpose of making iron in the district now treated of.
Bands and balls of good ironstone have been found, and a little
wrought, at the verge of the coal-field near Abcrlady and Goss-
ford, on the estate of Lord Wemyss.

Lastly, it is a remarkable fact, that no inflammable air has been
found in any of the mines of this district, however deep, though
found in abundance in the coal mines in the counties of Stirling,
Lanark, Renfrew, and Ayr. The Lothian mines, being free
from this most destructive pestilence, is a great comfort, and no
common blessing to the miners. Carbonic acid gas is fre-
quently found, but happily few misfortunes arise from it.

As the carburetted hydrogen is certainly produced from the
coal, we might have expected it in the Lothian coal-field, which
affords parrot or cannel coal of the best quality for producing
the greatest quantity of gas, as each pound of this coal produces
from 4 to 5 cubic feet of gas.

With regard to the depth of the coal strata of this coalfield^
in which the beds of coal and organic remains are found, I am
of opinion, that in the deepest part of the basin it will extend
to at least 500 fathoms or 3000 feet, which shews how very deep
the valleys have probably once been ; and the more so, if the
theory of the mountains having been at one period much higher
than they now are, is taken into account.

In an economical point of view, relating to the quantity of
coal in Great Britain, upon which the numerous manufactories
and population depend for fuel, — 'it is frequently asked, Will
not the coals in the kingdom be soon exhausted ? That they
are rapidly exhausting, is evident to any one of the least obser-
vation, particularly from the increased depth of the coal-pits ;
and it being estimated that more coal has been wrought during
the last hundred years, since the general application of the
steam-engine, in working the mines, and at manufactories, than
was wrought and used for the 500 years preceding, when coals
first began to be commonly used for domestic purposes. Never-
theless, great as the consumption is, and greatly as this has been
increased during these last twenty years, still the quantity of
coals remaining to be wrought is uncommonly great, so that the

122 Mr Bald on the CoaUJield in the vkinity of Dalkeith.

period when it will be exhausted is yet very remote, and not
easily calculated. In confirmation of which, I have to state,
that, from investigations lately made, as to the quantity of work-
able coal in the estate of Newbattle, near Dalkeith, the proper-
ty of the Marquis of Lothian, there is in it alone as much coal
as would serve the city of Edinburgh, at the rate of 350,000
tons yearly, for the long period of 500 years. This statement
I made from practical data and measurements, and it gives a
very wonderful view of the aggregate quantity of coal in the
Mid-Lothian basin. In this estimate many of the coals calcu-
lated are at a great depth, much greater than any coals have
yet been wrought. There is, however, no doubt that the abso-
lute necessity of having a supply of coals, the progressive im-
provement of the steam-engine, and of mining, will induce min-
ers to adventure much deeper than the state of the coal-mines
and present prices lead them to contemplate. There are yet no
coal-mines working in Scotland above eighty fathoms deep ; but
in the vicinity of Newcastle coals are now working at the depth
of 200 fathoms ; and the engineers now contemplate going much
deeper, and that is to be expected, according to the progressive
improvement in mining.

Not thirty years ago, in working the Newcastle coals, from
a fourth to a third of the whole coal was lost in pillars ; where-
as at present in the best regulated mines, only about an eighth
part of the whole bed of coal is left underground. This shews,
in a strong point of view, how coal-fields may, within a certain
limited area, produce much more coals than formerly from the
same space, — simply by the improved system of conducting coal-
mines, and that under a cover of rock 200 fathoms in thickness.

From this we may conclude, that the capital of Scotland is
not likely to be in want of fuel for a very long succession of
years; for, besides having the Lothian Coal-field, the Union
Canal connects it with the Western Coal-fields ; and the port of
Leith connects with it the Fife, Stirling, and Clackmannanshire
Collieries, and also those of the north of England.

( 123 )

On the Covering of Birds, considered chicjly with reference to
the Descrijition and Distinction of Species, Genera and Or'
ders. By Mr W. Macgillivhay, M. W. S., &c. Continued
from former Number, p. 263.

-T EATHKRS, considered witli regard to their uses, may be dis-
tinguished into two kinds. Those which are more especially
employed as the medium of locomotion, are much stronger,
more compact, and more elongated than the others. Of this
kind is the row of feathers bordering the wing behind, and that
terminating the rump or tail. The names of quills, penna,
pennes, ought to be applied to these alike, although it is usually
confined to the former. The feathers which lie immediately over
the wing-quills, on both sides of the wing, partake in this respect
of the nature of the quills themselves ; but those which lie over
the tail-quills are seldom, if ever, of so dense a texture. The
rest of the feathers are not, in this most general sense, distin-
guished by any particular name in our language, although, by
ornithologists who write in Latin, they are termed plurncB, and
by the French plumes. The word plume, however, being with
us the poetical name for a feather, or being used to designate
such feathers as are applied to the decoration of hearses and
heads, it cannot well be proposed as an ornithological term.

It has been mentioned that the accessory feather is always
downy, excepting in those birds in which its developement is equal
to that of the feather itself. It has also been remarked, that the
part of the webs nearest the tube is always of a looser texture
than the rest. In the feathers of many birds, the downy part
occupies by far the greater portion ; in some it is merely the tip
that is compact, while in others the loose part is limited to a very
small extent, and in others scarcely exists. As an example of
feathers all downy, may be mentioned the subcaudal feathers of
Pavo cristatus, and the abdominal feathers of Strix bubo, and
owls in general. The abdominal feathers of Falco albicilla, and
eagles in general, are nearly all of this loose texture. The gal-
linaceous birds have a very large proportion of down upon their
feathers, and the Columba? are the same in this respect. Of
such as have very Uttle down of this kind, may be mentioned

124 Mr W. Macgillivray on the Covering of' Birds.

the different species of Aptenodytes. The crest feathers of Pa-
vo japonicus are almost destitute of these soft barbs at the base ;
and this is, in general, the case with all those elongated feathers
which, by the French, are termed Plumes de luxe, on whatever
part of the body they grow. In quills, there is, in general,
scarcely any downy part. In the downy barb, the filament is
nearly equal in all its diameters, and is extremely attenuated.
The barbules are also elongated, in many of the gallinaceous
birds, for example, being twenty times the length of the bar-
bules of the apicial part of the feather. These barbules are, in
all cases, biserial, like the others, but very frequently they as-
sume a direction the reverse of these, coming off from the fila-
ment, not in the plane of the web, but at right angles to it, or,
in other words, from the face and back of the web, so as to pre-
sent on these surfaces a layer of minute silky filaments. This
arrangement is especially remarkable in the gallinaceae. Fre-
quently the filament becomes spirally twisted ; in which case the
barbs seem to have a circular arrangement, although they are
still biserial.

With respect to relative magnitude, the following is an ac-
count of the ordinary distribution of feathers in birds. From
the head, backwards to the tail, they increase in length and
size ; those on the face, or around the base of the beak, being
smallest, the tail-coverts longest. The wing-feathers are much
shorter than those of the body, and also increase backwards.
Those of the upper or dorsal half of the body are almost always
shorter than those of the under or abdominal ; and the dispro-
portion seems to have reference to the degree of obliquity of the
body in its ordinary posture ; for, in those birds which have a
nearly vertical position, such as penguins, auks, guillemots, the
feathers of the under surface are scarcely longer than those of
the upper. The feathers of the upper parts are also more com-
pact than those of the lower.

There is at least as great a difference as to size among fea-
thers, as there is among the hairs of [quadrupeds. The margi-
nirostral feather of Trochilus moschitus is about one-sixteenth of
an inch, while the middle caudal feathers of the Argus are three
feet in length. In the same bird, also, the disproportion is of-
ten extremely great. For example, the frontal feathers of Pavo

Mr W. Macgillivray on the Covering of Birds. 125

cristatus are not more than a quarter of an inch in length, while
some of the posterior dorsal exceed two feet. Even in the same
part of two species of the same genus, the greatest difference is
often observable in this respect. Compare, ibr example, the
scapulars of Ardea cinerea and Ardea garzetta.

Besides the feathers properly so called, there enters into the
constitution of the plumage or general envelope, another modifi-
cation of the same general nature. On removing the whole of
the feathers whose tips appear externally, in certain orders, and
especially in the aquatic birds, we find the skin still covered
with a more or less dense envelope of a very soft, filamentous,
highly flexible, and very elastic substance. This is the down^
tomenturriy diivef. It also consists of individual parts, for which
we have no general name in our language, nor indeed in any
other that I am acquainted with. The name which seems most
applicable to this sort of feather is plumule.

A plumule, plumula, plumule, consists of two parts ; a small
tube, less perfect in form and texture than in the feather, being
very narrow, soft, and not well defined in its lower or proximal
part, and having its walls composed rather of soft scales than of
one continuous piece ; and a pencil of filaments issuing from
the base of this tube internally, without any connecting shaft.
These filaments vary in length and number, according to the spe-
cies. In all cases they are extremely slender, pliant, sinuous,
and more or less spirally twisted. They consist of an extreme-
ly delicate shaft, along the sides of which there come off, in ge-
neral, two sets of short delicate filaments. The former may be
denominated the filaments, the latter the filamentules, corres-
ponding to the barbs and barbules of the feather. These fila-
mentules have the same relation to the filament, their shaft, that
the barbules of the feathers have to their barb, and are, in ge-
neral, equally distichous ; but they enter into no connection, re-
maining perfectly loose, and, owing to the manner in which the
shafts are twisted, have the appearance of coming off all round
them. The general arrangement, as has been observed, is in
two rows ; in the down of Sula alba it is in three, one row con-
sisting of filamentules somewhat shorter than the others, and di-
rected toward the end of the filament. The filamentules of

126 Mr W. Macgillivray on the Covering of Birds.

the plumules, unlike the barbules of the feather, come off in ge-
neral at right angles to the filaments.

The uses of the down are not well understood. As it is well
known, however, to be a bad conductor of caloric, it i-s presum-
ed that it serves in the aquatic birds, and particularly in those
of cold climates, ""to retain the heat generated in their bodies.
In birds which are not furnished with down, but which yet in-
habit cold countries, the deficiency might be supposed to be sup-
phed by the downy feathers which we observe in these birds, as
in Strix bubo, Strix nyctea, Falco albicilla, and Falco chrysaetos.
In the gallinaceous birds, the accessory feather might, in like
manner, be imagined to be subservient to this purpose. But
when we reflect that the eagles, owls, and gallinaceous birds of
cold climates, are at least not much better furnished with down
or downy feathers than species of the same genera inhabiting
warm climates, we naturally look for some other reason for which
birds are furnished with down ; and. when we observe that the
Alca impennis of the arctic seas is not more plentifully supplied
with plumage than the penguins of the pacific ocean, nor the
Sturnus vulgaris of Europe than the Sturnus capensis of Africa,
we suspect that other principles than heat have been employed
in modifying the nature and quantity of the plumage.

In the gallinaceous birds, the omnivorous, and many others,
in fact, in land birds in general, there is no general layer of
down immediately covering the skin.

In the genus Falco, and many others, and especially in the
larger species, F. albicilla, for example, F. chrysaetos, and F.
pere<Trinus, besides down of the above description, there exist
plumules of the following structure. From the upper part of
a short tube, there issue two filamentary shafts, which are flat-
tened, and exceedingly delicate. From these there branches
out on either side a series of extremely delicate filaments, having
each two lateral series of filamentules. The whole has the ap-
pearance of a single tuft of extreme fineness, and silky texture.
The filaments have a very considerable degree of elasticity.
The tube is open above, between the two shafts, there being a
direct continuation of it on either side into the shafts ; and at
this opening the pith comes out and terminates. These plu-
mules being largest on the belly, may be best seen there ; they

Mr W. Macgillivray on the Covering of Birds. 12T

exist, however, in the other parts of the body, but are not
readily distinguishable from the down-feathers properly so called.
If it be necessary to give these feathers a name, they may be
called Flake-feathers.

In most birds, after the feathers have been removed, we find
a sort of envelope, consisting of hairs as it were, set so widely
and so small in themselves, that they might readily be overlook-
ed. These are the hairs that are singed off in a common fowl
after it has been plucked. In Phasianus colchicus their struc-
ture is as follows : from a very short bulbiform tube rises a very
slender roundish piliform shaft, resembling a hair of the human
head, but much smaller and straight, which, at the extremity,
gives off two or three short simple barbs on either side. This^
is the most simple modification of the feather, if we except the
quills of the Cassowary.

In all nestling birds, before they have received their full plu-
mage, the skin is covered with a greater or less quantity of
down, resembling that described above as occurring in adult
birds. This down is generally more or less developed, even be-
fore exclusion from the Qgg. It consists of two orders of plu-
mules. One set, which is connected solely with the skin, is si-
milar in structure and relations to the down of the adult bird,
each plumule consisting of a tube, out of which issues a
pencil of filaments, furnished with filamentules. The other set,
which, at first sight, is not distinguished from the former, being
blended with it, is of the following nature. The plumules at
first arise from the skin in the ordinary manner and form, but
liaving fewer filaments than the others. Shortly after, when the
feathers begin to sprout, they are observed to be elevated from
the skin, being borne upon the tips of the feathers. The tips
of the extreme barbs of the feathers are drawn together, and
united into a point by a scaly envelope, similar to that which
incloses the feather itself during the first stages of its growth.
From this point there proceeds a pencil of filaments, consisting
of a variable, but generally small number. These filaments
have two lateral series of filamentules, and are loose and float-
ing, and more or less spirally twisted. The filaments are con-
tinuous with the tips of the barbs, as is proved by discussing
the point of adhesion with a needle, when the scales fall off,
and the filaments remain attadied to the tips of the barbs, and

128 Mr W. Macgillivray on. the Covering of Birds.

continue so until rubbed off, which, in some species, and in cer-
tain parts of the body, the head, in particular, does not take
place until the bird has been fully fledged.

To recapitulate, the plumage consists ofybathers, properly so

called, which are ordinary or quills, the former sometimes sim-
ple, more frequently furnished with an accessory feather ; o^ plu-
mules or down feathers ; sometimes mixed with feathers having
a structure intermediate between the double feather and plu-
mule, and denominated Jlalie feathers ; and of piliform feathers,
or feathers resembling hairs ; the plumules, flake-feathers, and
hair-feathers, being always, as well as in almost every case, the
accessory feathers, concealed among the true feathers, the extre-
mities of which alone form the surface of the plumage.

Having now briefly described the general structure of the
plumage, I shall proceed to the particular details, which may be
rendered subservient to the purposes of description and classifi-
cation. And, in the ^rst place, it will be necessary to define
the situation of the feathers, denominating them according to
the parts of the surface oa which they are placed.

Considered with respect to situation, feathers may be named
as follows :

Capital, on the Head.

Frontal, on the fore-part of the head.

Vertical, on the upper-part of the head.

Occipital, on the hind-part of the head.

Genal, on the side of the head, under the eye.

Loral, on the space between the beak and the e^^e. C'

Marginirostal, round the basilar margin of the beak.

Upper marginirostral, at the base of the upper mandible.

Lower marginirostral, at the base of the under mandible.

Auricular, about the aperture of the ear.

Palpebral, on the eyelids.

Ciliary, on the edges of the eyelids.

Cervical, on the Neck.
Posterior cervical, on the back-part of the neck.
Anterior cervical, on the fore-part of the neck.
Lateral cervical, on the sides of the neck.

Each of these may be subdivided into upper, middle, and lower.

ON THE BODY.

Dorsal, on the Back.
Anterior dorsal, on the part of the back nearest the neck.

Mr W. Macgillivray on ttie Covering of Birds. 129

Middle dorsal^ on the middle part of the back.

Posterior dorsal^ on the part of the back nearest the tail.

Pec T ORAL, on the Breast.
Anterior pectoral^ on the fore-part of the breast.
Middle pectoral^ on the middle-part of the breast.
Posterior pectoral^ on the part of the breast next the belly.
Lateral pectoral^ on the sides of the breast.

Abdominal, on the Belly.
These may be divided according to their relative situation ; but this is
scarcely necessary.

Hypochondrial, on the sides of the Body under the Wings.
The same remark applies to these as to the abdominal.

Alar, on the Wings.

Upper Alar, on the upper part or dorsal aspect of the wings.

Under or Lower Alar, on the under part or sternal aspect of the wings.

These feathers are usually termed wing coverts. The name is absurd,
because all feathers are coverts, and the cervical or dorsal feathers
mightas well be called neck coverts and back coverts.

Alar Quills, feathers growing from the posterior edge of the wing. These
are best defined according to their connection with the bones of the
wing.

Primary Quills, the first ten, counting from the outer end of the wing, situ-
ated upon the digital and carpal bones.

Secondary Quills, those situated upon the brachial bones.

Tertiary Quills, those situated along the humeral bone.

Quill Coverts, a row of feathers immediately covering the base of the quills.
They approach in compactness and strength to the quills, and may,
therefore, with propriety be distinguished from the other wing feathers.

Primary, secondary and tertiary Quill Coverts, according to the rank of the
quills over which they lie.

Upper and Under Coverts, on the dorsal and sternal aspect of the wing.

Scapulars, a bunch of long feathers, situated at the proximal extremity of
the OS humeri on the back.

Axillary feathers, a bunch of long straight feathers, situated at the proximal
extremity of the humerus, under the wing.

ON THE LEGS.
TilAdl, feathers covering the tibia, or what in ordinary language is called the

thigh.
Tarsal, covering the tarsus.
Digital, covering the toes.

Caudal, on the Tail.
Caudal feathers or rather Quills, feathers terminating the body behind.
Caudal Quill Coverts, upper and lower, feathers covering the caudal quills at
their base, above and beneath.
OCTOBER DECEMBEH 1827. I

( 130 )

A Tour to the South of France and the Pyrenees in the year
1825. By G. A. Walker Arnott, Esq. F.R. S.E. F.L.S.
M.W. S. &c. (Continued from former Volume, p. 356).

JlXaving remained two days at Perpignan, to dry, pack up,
and send off the plants we had by this time gathered (to the
amount of 7600 specimens); we set off on the 10th June for
Aries in Roussillon.

As the distance of Aries from Perpignan is not very great,
we arrived in sufficient time to make a short excursion to a hill a
little to the south of the village. It was in this walk that we first
began to meet witii Pyrenean plants, more strictly speaking, as
those we had already seen are to be found all around the Medi-
terranean. On this hill we found the Ramondm pyrenaica^ Pas-
serina dioica, Antirrhinum asarinum, Teucrium pyrenaicum^
Achillea odorata, and Glohularia nana. This last is usually
imited to G. cordifolia ; but if they be not distinct species, they
are certainly most marked varieties. In all the herbaria I have
examined, I have never seen one specimen of G. nana from
Switzerland ; and, on the other hand, the G. cordifolia is so ex-
tremely scarce in the Pyrenees, that I have only observed it in
one spot, the Port de Benasque. I have also a specimen of the
G. nana from the garden of Perpignan, much larger than the
usual size of the wild plant ; but even cultivation does not shew
the characters of the Swiss plant. Among the Acotyledones,
we observed little worthy of notice. Aspidium Halleri and
Hypnum riigolosum, W. M. may, however, be mentioned.

On the 11th, having experienced wretched accommodation,
we quitted Aries at an early hour. Approaching now the moun-
tains, we found the roads no longer practicable for wheel-car-
riages. We therefore resolved in future to travel almost entire-
ly on foot, followed by mules, to carry the paper, plants, and
provisions we found necessary to transport from station to sta-
tion. Notwithstanding we had left Aries by five, the sun was
already very hot, and annoyed us excessively, and that, joined
to the number of good plants we gathered along the road, re-
tarded us so much, that we did not arrive at Prats de Mollo
to breakfast till one o'clock. In this course, we observed for
the first time Prunella grandiflora, Silene nutans, Veronica

Mr Arnott's Tou7' to the South of France. 131

urtica/blia. Medicago suffruticosa * occurred in the bed of
a torrent. But what principally delighted us, was Cardamine
lati/blia, and a new species of Santolina {^S. pect'mata, Benth.
Cat.). This is a remarkable species, closely allied to S\ cdpina
and S. ej'iosperjua, and agreeing witlv^eni in having the leaves
pinnatifid, but differing in being a shrub, and having the scales
of the involucruni nervose and slightly pubescent.

Prats de Mollo is a very pretty small town, situated in an
agreeable and picturesque valley.

With the exception of a short walk the evening of our arrival
along the banks of the river that passes the town, in which we
found Scropkular'ia Scopolii, Thalictrinn aquilegi/blium, Saooi-
Jraga rotundrfblia, Cardamine lati/blia, Lamium stoloni/erum,
Lap. (which is certainly the same with L. maculatum, Linn, and
L. hirsutiim, Lam.), and Bunium pyrenaicurn^ Lap. (Myrrhis
j)tjrenaicum, Spr. but not distinct even as a variety from the
common M. Bunium, Spr.), we made no excursion but to the
Tour de Mir, an old watch-tower on the summit of the hill to
the south of the town. As Prats de Mollo is about 500 toises
above the level of the sea, and the Tour de Mir is still more con-
siderably elevated, I should not suppose it to be at a less elevation
than 4000 feet, and of course we expected plants of a somewhat
different description than we had as yet encountered. On our
ascent, we deviated slightly from the road, to seek for the Se-
dum divaricatum^ Lap. auA^Orobanche pru'mosa. The former
was not yet in ffower ; but notwithstanding the long argument
held forth by Lapeyrouse in the Supplement to the " Histoire
abregee des Plantes des Pyrenees,'*' it was perfectly clear that
De Candolle was right in saying that it was identical with
S. saxatUe of other authors -f-. As to Orobanche pruinosa, this
locality was interesting, as being the only one in France, and
the only one known to Lapeyrouse when he described the spe-
cies. The plant had^ however, been imported along with beans
from Catalonia ; and it is not probable that the farmer here shall

• The flowers of this are yellow, not blue, as Lape^'rouse says. Can his
Jlf. tornata be the same plant ?

-f Such I state as my own opinion, after a careful comparison of numerout
specimens gathered principally in the Vallee d'Andorre, with the Swiss S. so*'
atile. My friend Mr Benthani, however, considers the two as rery distinct,

l2

13* Mr Amotfs Tour to the South of France

ever be rid of the nuisance, unless he takes the advice we gave
him, that he should refrain from sowing beans in the neigh-
bourhood for at least a season, and at the same time procure
new seed from a distance. Soon after leaving the farm on which
these plants are found, ^ met with Ramondia pyrenaica and
Erinus alpinus. Hieracium auricula was also in the neigh-
bourhood ; and on some rooks near the summit Globularia nana
was abundantly in flower. But the most interesting plant we
observed was Saxifraga media, Gouan {S. calyciflora. Lap.),
which was abundant in the crevices of the walls of the tower ;
and along with it also on the summit, are found Moehringia
muscosa, Lonicera pyrenaica, Festucajlavescens, and Valeriana
tripteris and montana. These two last are surely but one spe-
cies ; they here were mixed together, with innumerable states
between them. On our descent, we also observed several plants
of interest, as Avena versicolor, DC. {Av. sempervirens ^ , Lap.
and Vill. not Schrad.), Helleborus viridis, Arahis alpina, and
Alchemilla hyhrida, Hoffm. or A. puhescens, Lap. Notwith-
standing the elevation, it will be seen that the plants were not
very alpine.

During the few days we made Prats de MoUo our head-quar-
ters, we experienced the utmost kindness and attention from M. Xa-
tard,t/^^^^ dePaix of the canton. He has been long occupied with
the botany of this department of the Eastern Pyrenees, and it was
he who furnished Lapeyrouse with all the plants he has cited to
grow about Collioure, Bagnols, and Prats de Mollo. He not
only allowed us to examine his herbarium, in order to determine
some of the plants that Lapeyrouse had in view, but procured
us the guides whom he himself usually took, and who were con-

" Av. sempervirens has, in some way, got strangely confounded with De-
yexuna sedenensis, Clar. although in this last there is only one fertile floret ac-
companied by a sterile one, or subulate pilose process, as is well represented
in P. de Beauvois' figure, and which accords precisely with my specimen.
Av. Icmgifolia^ Thore, has also been confounded with Av^ sempervirens^ but its
glumes contain only two florets, and only one of them is provided with an
awn or arista. I may here mention, that Deyeuxia sedenensis does not appear
to me to differ from D. montana^ the figure of which last in Pallissot, is not
correct. Several other species of what are put into the genus Calamagrostis^
have the twisted geniculate awn ; and the whole of that genus, having the
inner valve of the corolla bicarinate, has been erroneously arranged by Kunth
near Agrostis.

and the Pyrenees^ in 1825. 133

sequently acquainted with the localities, and even with the plants
we were chiefly in quest of. One peasant we dispatched to the
Hermitage of St Andiol, to procure us the Lithospermum oleafo-
Uum, while another was sent off to the Bac del Fau, to gather the
Anthyllis erinacea. Both these localities are at a considerable
distance, and on the Spanish frontier. The first of these guides
returned with a good cargo ; but the other informed us that the
plant was not in flower, but that he had pulled off the seed^ and
brought it. A moment's inspection of the contents of his box
shewed that the plants had been in flower, for the fruit he had
gathered was the inflated calyx. Our disappointment was no
doubt great, but it was resolved to send off the man again the
following morning, with one of our party, while the others should
be employed in arranging and drying what plants we already
had. This second attempt was successful, notwithstanding the
badness of the day. The Anthyllis formed hemispherical masses
on the ground, the spinous and rigid branches rendering it very
difficult to be laid hold of, without the aid of a sharp hook at-
tached to the extremity of a cane, and with which it might first
be cut to pieces. The guide yesterday had destroyed the greater
part of the flowers, so that Bentham, who volunteered this ex-
cursion, only procured the young fruit. At the Bac del Fau,
Mr Bentham met with nothing else of note, unless Campanula
speciosa, Ramondia pyrenaica^ and Onosma echioides be men-
tioned as such. The guide who went to St Andiol brought with
him a specimen or two of our new Santolina.

Prats de Mollo is one of the best points for a botanist's resi-
dence in the Eastern Pyrenees. But in order to examine the
warm valleys on the Spanish side of the mountains, one ought
to be there a few days earlier than we w^ere ; while, again, to
botanize on Costabonna, and the other elevated mountains in
the neighbourhood, one must be at least a fortnight later. To
make the excursion in search of the Anthyllis^ which ought not
to be neglected, one ought, on account of the distance and fright-
ful roads, to sleep at St Laurent de Cerda, or at Custoja, and
devote to it at least three days ; nor would the excursion to St
Andiol require less.

On looking over M. Xatard's herbarium, principally named
by Lapcy rouse, we observed many mistakes which that author
has made in his " Histoire abregee." His

184 Mr Arnotfs Tour to the South of' France

Bromus glaucus is B. erecius.

. geni/mlatus ... Festuca myurus.

Hedysarum herhaceum . . . OTiobrychys supina.

crista galli ... ~ caput galli.

Ranunculus Xatardi ... R. trilobus.

Stachys barhata ... S. heraclea.

Centaurca coerulescens ... C. macxdosa.

Galium suaveolens \

megalospermum V is G. villarsii, Req.

* eameterhizon J

V papillosttm ... G. Iceve.

Phyteuma Scheuchzeri ... P. orbicularis.

Poa serotina ... P. trivialis.

Trifolium gemellum ... T. Bocconi.

— — — — vesiculosum ... T. resupinatunu

Xatardi , ... T. maritimum *.

— — — — intermedium ... T. hybridum^ Savi:{:.

On the 14th June, having packed up and sent by the more
common and accessible road the greater part of our baggage,
we left Prats de Mollo, accompanied by a mule, loaded with as
much paper and provisions as might suffice for three days for the
whole party, and a guide to conduct us across the Canigou to
Prades. After experiencing some inconvenience from stormy
weather, we at length reached the Hermitage of St Guilhem.
The view from the top of the ridge was extremely fine, extending
a great way down the valleys and the lower Pyrenees to the east,
or rather, I may say, to the Alberes mountains. At the sum-
mit of this ridge, too, the vegetation was changed in a great de-
gree. We now observed truly alpine plants, among which were
Polygonum alpinum, Thymus alpinus, Epilohmm alsincBfo-
lium, and Jasione humilis. This last species, I may remark,
has been confounded by some with J. perennis, but really ap-
pears very distinct. J. perennis has, on the other hand, been
united by some to J. montana, but that is an annual species. I
do not know what Sir J. E. Smith's opinion is; but even in his

• Mr Bentham remarks with justice, in his Catalogvxe, p. 125. that T. Xa-
tardi var. a. in DC. Prod, is precisely the T. maritimum^ but that his var. /3, or
T. bceticum, seems a distinct specie^

X The Tr. hyhridum, Savi and DC Prod, is not T. hybridum, Linn. To
this last T, micMianum, Savi, is a synonym. For the plant in question, there-
fore, the name given by Lapeyrouse, T. intermedium^ must be retained, and
the T. intermedium^ Gu«sone and DC. Prod, must (if a legitimate species) be
new jnaraed.

and the Pyrenees , in 1825. 135

late work, he has given no specific character to J. montaiia,
thereby seeming to declare that there is but one species of the
genus.

We obtained shelter during the night in the hermitage.
As the morning was very foggy, and the rain continued to fall
in torrents, we did not dare to attempt the passage of the Cani-
gou, but contented ourselves with gathering what we could in
our vicinity ; and there were, indeed, some species that were
prized very much. Convallaria verticillata, Orchis ustulata,
Urtica hispida, Asphodelus albus, and Lilium pyrenaicum^ were
all of them desirable. Scrophularia Scopolii and Quercus mi-
crocarpa ? Lap. also occurred *, and likewise Apargia hispida.
About mid-day, the mist cleared away, and the weather be^
gan to improve, so that we now resolved to cross the Canigou.
On our ascent, we found a great many alpine plants : Gentiana
acanlis vcrna. Primula integrifolia, Aretia carnea, and Ranun-.
cuius pyrencEus^ covered all the wet banks, and Trifolium aU
pestre all the dry. The plants we observed to extend to the
greatest elevation, were Aretia carnea and Sempervivum monta-
num^ not yet in flower ; the leaves of the latter were covered
with Uredo sempervivi.

• I may mention, thai, we also observed here, as well as on our ascent to
the Treizabents, Veronica fnitimlosa^ var. Linn, and Sm. (a variety of V. scura-
Hits, Lap. DC. Fl. Fr., and Hook. Fl. Scot., but not so according to Smith,
nor, apparently, Brown). This, which appears to be the plant found on Ben
Lawers in Scotland, and which, alone, of the allied species, we found (and that
not merely in different places on the Canigou, but also in the Vallee d'Eynes,
and on the ascent to the Port Negre in the Vallee d'Andorre,) in the Pyre-
nees, is nearly intermediate between the true V. saxatilis and the cultivated
V.frniiculosa, which last, alone, is that of De CandoUe, and agrees with Haller,
Helv. t. 15. The only character, however, that I can see between V.fnUicu-
losa andsaxatilis, is, that in the former the leaves are always somewhat lanceo-
late (though often at the same time obtuse and entire), and in the latter they
are nearly round or ovate. In V. fruticulosa, the peduncles are scarcely so
long as the bracteas, while in the other, they are usually much longer, which
gives the spike, or rather raceme, a lax appearance. I have only to add, that
the cultivation of V. scuvatilis of Scotland for three or four years in my own
garden at Arlary, has so much approached it to the Pyrenean plant, that, had
I not, I think with considerable accuracy, ascertained on the subject the opi-
nion of Sir J. E. Smith, I should have preferred uniting the latter to V. saxa-
Hlis, if, indeed, V. saxatilis and frut'mdosa be really distinct si^ecies. From

V. saxatilis, the V. nummularia^ Gouan ( V. irreffulans, Lap.), differs, by its

narrow petals.

136 Mr Arnott's Tour to the South of France.

In addition to what I have mentioned as the more common,
we found scattered the Iberis garrexiana (I cannot believe that
this differs from Iberis sempervirens)^ Plantago sericea, W. et
K. Cardamine resedifblia, Spergtda saginoides, Pyrethrmn al-
pmum, and Primula viscosa^ all which we procured as we fol-
lowed the mule along the footpath to the summit of that part of
the mountain called the Treizabents. The scene at this point was
grand. Our view extended far down into Spain, to Girona, Fi-
gueras, and the Bay of Rosas. Looking back towards the her-
mitage, we had at some distance on our left the true summit of
the Canigou, about 300 feet still above us ; but as the snow
seemed newly melted from off it, and no appearance of vegeta-
tion, we felt no inclination to go out of our road, for the sole
purpose of mounting to the top. On our right was another
point of the mountain called the Sept Hommes. The highest
part of the Canigou is said to be about 1450 toises, or 8700
feet above the level of the sea : it is the most elevated mountain
in tbe Pyrenees orientales, and is seen even from Montpellier.

We now descended the north side, and, though we found
again several of those we picked up in our ascent, yet, compa-
ratively speaking, few specimens were in flower, owing to the
large masses of snow that still lay unmelted. According to our
guide''s account, there was even more snow now than had been
a month before, owing to a second storm. Indeed, we saw
proofs of it in the beautiful Senecio leucophi/Uus, which appa-
rently had almost been in flower before the last storm came on,
but that so buried it beneath the snow, and checked its progress,
that, even at this advanced season, we could not procure one
good specimen. As, however, we came down to the more shel-
tered and warmer spots, we found abundance of other plants,
among which were Sisymbrium pinnatifidum. Anemone alpina,
var. sulphurea, Rhododendrum Jerrugineum^ Paronychia poly-
gonifblia. Reseda sesamoides, besides the Azalea procumbens *
in profusion. At length, after a fatiguing, if not a long walk,
we arrived at Cady, a small summer cabin for the shepherds at
the entrance of the wood, and at the base of the principal sum-
mit of the Canigou.

Having passed here a pretty good night, thanks to the fa-

• I agree with Mr Don in thinking this to be the only legitimate speciet
of Azalea, and that all the others form a section of Rhododendron,

and the Pyrenees^ in 1825. 137

tigucs of yesterday, to some armfuls of straw that the sliepherds
had left Jast year behind them, and to the fires we kept up all
night both outside and inside the hut, we commenced the la-
bours of the 16th at break of day, by gathering specimens of
Ranunculus montanus and Stellaria cerastoides that were grow-
ing before our hovel, and at a short distance Genista purgans.
As we alternately ascended and descended through the wood,
we procured very few plants worth mentioning (among them,
however, were Linaria alpina, Lonicera nigra, Ribes petraum,
Saxifraga geranoides, and Jpargia alpina), but were well re-
compensed by the delightful and varied views we had. The
finest perhaps of all, was at the summit of the last slight
eminence we mounted, before beginning our rapid descent to
the country below. Behind us was the Canigou, with its bare
rugged tops, and snow lying in the ravines : on the one side
was the Pla Guilhem, and on the other a steep bank, with a
torrent and cascade at the bottom, beyond which were a series
of aiguilles, or needle-shaped ridges, boasting only of a few
straggling trees of the Pinus uncinata (the common pine of this
mountain) ; before us lay a long and winding descent towards
Vernet. Before we arrived at Vernet, we saw on the left perched
up on a ridge of the mountain the St Martin de Canigou, inha-
bited by a hermit. The castellated appearance of the house,
which is of a pure white colour, has a fine effect from the road,
and on the whole renders it a much more desirable place of re-
sidence than the hermitage of St Guilhem, at which we slept two
nights ago.

On our descent. We observed Sambucus racemosus, Potentilla
rupestris, Viola bijlora (the scapes were uniformly 1 -flowered),
Urtica hisp'ida, Festuca spadicea. Prunella grandiflora, and
Draba nemoralis, and close to Vernet Sempervivum arachnoid
deum. We reached Vernet about three o'clock, and, after the
delay of an hour or two, in which time we procured with diffi-
culty some refreshments, we pushed on, and, passing Ville-
franche, arrived at Prades about eight o'clock in the evening.
Villefranche is a remarkably strong place ; not only does the
fort on an eminence command the town, but the only passable
roads to Vernet and Mont Louis pass through it. The gates
of the town are also shut every evening at nine. Between Ver-

138 Mr Arnott's T(yiir to the South of' France

net and Villefranche we found Quercus tauzin, Hypeccmm gran-
diflorum, Benth. and Myosotis lappula^ and about Villefranche
Galium maritimum ! Bupleurum fruticosum, Cnidium pyrence-
um, Spr. and Galium Iceve.

At Prades we made acquaintance with M. Coder, a zealous
botanist, who, during our stay at this place, procured us every
possible facility for the excursions and researches we had to
make. Like M. Xatard of Prats de Mollo, he opened to us his
collection of plants, particularly of the department we were in,
and shewed us also several specimens that had served M. De
Lapeyrouse wherewith to make several of his species. He ac-
companied us also in a part of our excursions, and got us ex-
cellent guides for the others. The most important we made
were to the Trancade d'Ambouilla and the Font de Comps.
The former is close to Villefranche, and, with the assistance of
M. Coder, we procured a few good plants, though the greater
part had long since done flowering : — Salsola prostrata^ Buffo-
nia perennisy Galium glaucumy Lysimachia ephemerum^ Ge-
nista hispanica^ Antirrhinum latifolium, all occurred here.
Bupleurum petiolare. Lap. a mere variety of B. jfalcatum, was
also met with. One specimen was got in an advanced state of
Orobu^s Jiliformis *, Lam. and a few of Alyssum halimifolium.
This plant, though De CandoUe quotes this exact locality for his
A. macrocarpum^ is nevertheless the true A. halimifolium, Linn,
at least it accords precisely with what is found under that name
in the maritime Alps ; but A. pyrenaicum. Lap. is, on the other
hand, a variety, if not identical with the true A, macrocarpum
from the Cevennes, as De Candolle properly judged in the Sup-
plement to the " Flore Fran^aise," but which, by some mistake,
he has kept up as a good species in his " Systema. •[•"

• Mr Bentham refers this to O. albus, but Seringe in DC. Prod, to O. ca^
nescens. My specimen is too far gone for me to determine to which it belongs.
I may state here, that, in the three first varieties of O. canescens of Ser. the
alae of the corollae are in part soldered to the carina, which is not the case with
O. aJbus. The style in his var. y is nearly linear ; but in his var. /3, it is ex-
tremely broad towards the apex. Perhaps this last is a distinct species, and
to be referred to Lathyrus.

+ At the Trancade d'Ambouilla, we also met with Hippocrepis comosa.
I merely mention the circumstance here, in order to state what Mr Ben-
tham and I only a?»certained lately, that Hippocrepis scorpioides, Req. in Benth.
Cat. and in the former part of this journal, is identjical with //. glauca^ Ten.

a7id ifie Pyrenees, in 1825. 139

The excursion to the Font del Comps was made by two of
the party only, the other remaining at Prades, to change the
plants ; and indeed those who remained behind were the most
fortunate. About mid-day, as had been the case every day for
upwards of a week, a thunder-storm commenced, with so much
rain, that those who collected the plants were obliged to take
shelter in caverns the greater part of the time they were out on
the mountain ; and it was with the utmost difficulty a very few
specimens of Alyssum pyrenaicum, Lap., Lavandula pyrenai-
cum, Senccio doronicum, Linum alpinum, Glohularia nudicaulis,
Adonis Jlava, Passerina dioica, and Cyno^lossicni sylvaticum,
were procured. The last plant alluded to, seems to be the true
C. sylvaticum, Haencke (C. Hwnckii, R. & S.), in which the car-
pels are rugose between the bristles. C. sylvaticum, Sm., on the
other hand, is identical with C. montanum. Lam. (a name which
must therefore be retained), and has the fruit even (Icevis) be-
tween the bristles : with Lamarck's plant must also be ranged
C. pellucidiim. Lap. Dracocephalum austriacum was sought
for diligently, but without success. Saxifraga media and Ono-
pordum pyr-enaicum were, however, observed. The mountain
takes its name from a small spring, close to where the best plants
were found, so very inconsiderable as scarcely to supply water
enough for breakfast.

While these expeditions were made by ourselves, we dispatch-
ed a guide whom M. Codere was in the habit of employing in
a similar way, to Serdynya, to bring us a panier full of Onopor-
dum pyrenaicum : he returned with nothing else. This plant
differs essentially from the O. acaulon, Linn., that having one
large sessile flower in the centre of the leaves, whereas the Py-
renean plant has at least ten or a dozen, also sessile, among the
leaves.

On the 21st, after some days residence at Prades, MM. Re-
quien and Audibert, finding that they could not afford time suf-
ficient to penetrate farther into the mountains, determined to re-
turn home by Perpignan, whilst Mr Bentham and I should
continue our course to Mont Louis. We accordingly set about
making preparations, in order that we might separate the fol-
lowing morning.

( To be contintied,)

( 140 )

Account of Harris, mie of the Districts qfihe Outer Hebrides .
Communicated by the Author *.

./xT a short distance from the mainland of Scotland, and along
the western shores of its northern and middle divisions, lies scat-
tered an interrupted series of islands of various sizes. These
are denominated the Inner Hebrides. Beyond these, and sepa-
rated from them by a channel, called the Minch, of variable
breadth, from fifteen to forty miles, is extended a continuous
range of islands, consisting of five principal masses, with a pro-
digious multitude of small islets, from three or four miles dia-
meter to a few yards. The direction of the range is north-east
and south-west. From the Butt of the Lewis, the most northern
point, to Berneray of Barray, otherwise called Barra Head, the
most southern, the distance is about 130 miles. It is bound-
ed on the east by the Minch, on the west by the Atlantic
Ocean. The districts of this range are the following : — Lewis,
Harris, North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist, and Barray.
Lewis, the most northern, and Harris, form but one island. The
others are distinct islands, although a passage at low water may
be made from North Uist to Benbecula, and from the latter to
South Uist, over the sands by which they are separated.

The mainland of Harris is about twenty miles long, and
is naturally divided into two districts. The northern, joining
Lewis at a boundary of about eight miles, extended from the
head of Loch Resort on the west coast, to the turn of Loch
Seaforth on the east, and uniting with the southern at an isth-
mus named Tarbert, about a quarter of a mile across, consists
of a range of lofty, rugged, and sterile mountains, running from
east to west, or nearly at right angles to the general direction of
the island. One of these mountains, named Clisheim -|-, is the

• Read before the Wernerian Natural History Society, December 1827.

■J- Dr MaccuUoch, who gives this mountain the name of Clisseval, esti-
mates its height at 2700 feet. He found that of Langa, in its neighbourhood,
to be 2407, and, if this be correct, Clisheim, being apparently at least 800 feet
higher, is probably nearer the above estimate than the Doctor's.

Account of Harris. 141

highest ground in the Outer Hebrides, and appears to be some^
what upwards of 3000 feet above the sea. This mountain
range is crossed by several deep valleys, on the sides of which,
and in other places, are some of the most magnificent rocks to be
seen in Scotland. The pass of Miavag presents a terraced pre-
cipice about 1000 feet high ; and in the Glen of Ulladil, there
is a rock, of not much less elevation, at one place overhanging
its base many yards. These mountains are in general bare and
rocky. The soil is universally peat of different varieties, and
the vegetation consists chiefly of heath, with carices, junci,
scirpi, and an abundance of lichens. In the whole of this tract
there is not a piece of good arable land of the extent of four
acres. There are several lakes in the valleys, at various alti-
tudes, and of various sizes, none exceeding two miles in length.
The water of all these lakes is of a deep-brown colour, as is
that of the numerous rills and brooks which descend from the
mountains. There is at present no wood, although the roots
and stumps of the common fir are seen in many places. At the
eastern extremity of the range is the low, swampy, and heathy
island of Scalpay, on the point of which, that projects farthest
into the Minch, is built a lighthouse ; and at the western ex-
tremity, the high and rocky island of Scarp, both separated by
a very narrow channel. There are many other small islands, es-
pecially on the eastern side, which it is not necessary to enume-
rate. The shores are rocky, but in general low. Many of the
harbours are excellent ; those of Scalpay, more generally known
among mariners by the name of Glass, are well known, as well
as East Loch Tarbert ; but there are others equally good to the
west of Tarbert, and in fact round the whole district. This di-
vision is in the country termed Na Beannibh, i. c. the moun-
tains. It is also called the Forest, not probably so much on
account of its having been formerly wooded, as because it was
the resort of great numbers of red deer.

The other, or southern division of the mainland of Harris,
commences at the isthmus above mentioned, which in many
maps is erroneously made the boundary between Harris and
Lewis, and extends to the channel which separates Harris from
North Uist. It is entirely mountainous, ])ut the mountains are
not so high as those of the Forest, the most elevated, Konavnl,

142 Account of Harris.

Bencapval, and Ben Loskentir, not exceeding 2000 feet. The
aspect of this region, as seen from the Minch, is singularly un-
inviting, almost the whole surface appearing to consist of bare
white rock. Indeed, a more perfect picture of sterility can
scarcely be imagined. Viewed from the west, however, this dis-
trict has a very different appearance, the shores being in general
sandy, and the hills for the most part covered with a green ve-
getation. Along the east coast, which is everywhere rocky and
low, there are numerous inlets and creeks, here denominated
bays, that word being supposed to correspond to the Gaelic
baigh, which latter, however, appears to be nothing else than a
corruption of the Danish voe. Many of these afford good har-
bours. Many small islands lie along this coast. The southern
shore partakes in a great measure of the nature of the eastern,
being rocky and low, but toward the west side it exhibits a few
sandy beaches, and ends in a tremendous precipice, with a high
neck of land running out from it, in which there are two fine
caves. On the west coast there are, besides several sandy
beaches, two great sands or fords, as they are here called, name-
ly, the sand of Northtown and that of Loskentir. They consist
of nearly level expanses, each extending upwards of a mile from
the sea. At their mouth there is a long bar formed by the surf
and winds, broken only in one place, close to the adjacent
rocky land, where a channel is formed, which admits the waters
of the sea at each tide. These, at spring-tides, cover the whole
sands. The rest of the coast is rocky, but low, excepting to-
ward Tarbert, where there are tremendous cliffs. This division
is intersected by two great valleys, one passing from the sand of
Luskentor to the east coast, the other from the farm of Borg.
The bottom of a great portion of the latter is occupied by a lake
about three miles long, the largest in the district. There are
thus formed three natural subdivisions ; that to the south of the
lake mentioned consists of six mountains, including the peninsu-
lar one of Ben Capval, which are separated by broadish valleys.
The vegetation here is tolerable, excepting on Ronaval, which
is rocky and bare, and exhibits on its eastern side a fine excava-
tion, resembling the crater of a volcano. It is chiefly heathy,
however, excepting along the west side, where the pasturage is
rich and varied. The middle division, from Loch Langavat to

Account of Harris. 143

the northern valley, is marked by a ridge of very rugged moun-
tmns, running in the general direction of the range, and situated
nearer the western side. Along the west coast of this subdivi-
sion, there is some good pasture, but on the eastern side, the
only soil being peat, and even that existing only in patches
among the rocks, the vegetation is extremely coarse and scanty.
From one of the summits of the ridge mentioned, I have counted
upwards of eighty small lakes on its eastern side. The northern
subdivision consists of Ben Loskentir, which gradually lowers
to the eastward. The lakes in the low grounds on its eastern
part are also extremely numerous. The water of all these lakes
is brown. There are no harbours on the west coast of this
southern division of the mainland of Harris, and it is even very
difficult for boats to land on the beaches, owing to the high surf.
It possesses no sylvan vegetation, excepting a few bushes in ruts
and on islets in the lakes. The principal island is Taransay,
on the west coast, the greater part of which is rocky, although
it contains good pasture. This division has no general name
applied to it in the country, but its western part is called the
Machar, i. e. the sandy district, and its eastern, Na Baigh, the
Bays, or more correctly the Voes.

The Mainland of Harris is separated from the large island of
North Uist, by a channel about 8 miles broad, denominated
the Sound of Harris, over which lie scattered a prodigious mul-
titude of islands and rocks, interspersed with reefs, shoals and
sand-banks. Of these islands only four are inhabited : Pabbay,
Berneray, Kelligray and Ensay. Pabbay, the most western, is
a high conical island, about 2 miles in diameter, rocky in its
northern and western parts, sandy on the eastern, and pretty
well covered with good soil on the southern, which is low. Ber-
neray lies to the south of Pabbay, at the distance of about 3
miles, and is situated close upon Uist, the intervening channel,
about a mile over being named the Kyle or Strait of Uist. It
is about 4 miles long, and from 2 to IJ broad. The western
coast is sandy, and along it, as well as on the east coast of Pab-
bay, the sand has committed friginful ravages. The rest of the
island is in general fertile, and the pasture grounds are covered
with a fine, short, green vegetation. To the east of Berneray
lies the small island of Kelligray, which is low, sandy and fer-

4

144 Account of Harris.

tile at its northern end, heathy and covered with peat at the
southern. To the north of this island, and separated by a nar-
row and most rapid and boisterous channel, is the island of En-
say, which is perhaps the finest of its size in the Outer Hebrides,
being covered with a beautiful vegetation, and for the greater
part cultivated. To the eastward of these larger islands lie a
multitude of smaller, which, extending from the mainland of
Harris to the immediate vicinity of North Uist, present, from
their number and diversified appearance as to size and form, one
of the most singular scenes that occurs on any part of our coasts.

Hydrography. — The ocean exhibits no other appearances
than such as are common to the west coast of Scotland in gene-
ral. From the prodigious swell that follows a western gale in
winter, to the glassy smoothness of a summer sea, there are
many varieties of surface operated, but these require no parti-
cular notice. The bottom of the sea is generally sandy along
the west coast, and in the sound ; in some parts sandy, in others
muddy or gravelly on the eastern coast, with numerous sunk
rocks, reefs, and shoals. The water is always clear, even after
a storm. The bottom may be seen to a great depth, and where
it is sandy, it is pleasant to look down and watch the motions of
the great shoals of sandeels, cuddies (AmmodytesTobianus and the
fry of Gadus carbonarius) and other fishes, or from an elevation
near the beaches to observe the mergansers, shags, divers, and
other aquatic birds pursuing them under the water, with almost
incredible velocity, and using the same motions as if flying in the
air, only that the feet as well as the wings are called into action.
In the sound the currents are extremely rapid, and at spring-
tides, when they have to contend with a contrary gale, rise into
short and jumbling waves, highly dangerous to boats. A most
violent agitation of this kind is also produced when a great
swell rolls in from the west meeting the stream of ebb. I need
scarcely mention that in the sound, the flood passes eastward
into the Minch, and the ebb westward into the ocean. In au-
tumn the sea swarms with Medusae of various species, some of
enormous size. Some of these emit at night a beautiful pale
light resembling an electrical flash, seeming to permeate, or be
emitted by, their whole substance. The usual sparkling lumi-

3 I

Hydrography. 145

ousness of the sea is also frequently very remarkable at that sea-
son.

Wrecks are not frequent on this most boisterous and rugged
coast, because it is out of the line of navigation between North
America and the west coast of Scotland, and the east coast, a-
long which a considerable number of vessels may often be
seen passing, is provided with abundance of good harbours.
Logs of various kinds, chiefly fir, pine, and mahogany, arc, how-
ever, frequently cast ashore on the west coast, with occasionally
a hogshead of rum or sugar, as well as bales of cotton and bags
of coffee. Several species of nuts from the West Indies are not
unfrequently found along the shores, as well as a few foreign
shells, such as Janthina fragilis and Spirula Peronii. Pumice and
slags also occur in small quantities, and I have seen pieces of bitu-
minous wood found on the shores, resembling the surterbrand of
Iceland, which renders it probable that these substances may
liave come from that island.

Being on the subject of water, it may not be amiss to say a
word respecting the lakes and brooks. Of the former, I need only
add to what has already been said, that, in most cases, their bot-
toms are gravelly, or consist of angular or rounded pebbles,
intermixed with mud, and sometimes muddy, or of peat. The
streams are in winter seen gushing from every hollow in the
hills ; but in summer there are few that remain permanent, if the
weather continue dry for many weeks, which, however, is sel-
dom the case. There are no rivers of any great size : that which
empties itself into Loch Resort, however, is at least equal to the
Water of Lcith, and there are several others not much inferior.
Springs are by no means rare, although all that I have seen are
small. Many of them are chalybeate *.

* In the island of Pabbay, there are at least ten springs, some of them
pretty large. In the peninsula of Ben Capval, there are five. From Cosladir
to Nisbost, along and close to the road, in a line of 6 miles, there are five
good spruigs. In as far as I have been able to observe, the i*est of the coun-
try is equally supplied with springs ; but Dr MacCulloch perhaps thought it
necessary to suppose that spring water should not exist in the Outer Hebri-
des, because the rock there benig every where the same '* eternal gneiss,"
the rain waters were luiable to penetrate it. This, to use^the Doctor's own
OCTOBER — DECEMBER 1827. K

146 Account of Harris.

CUmatc.^^The climate of Harris may be said, in a general
sense, to be extremely varied ; for a great part cold and boiste-
rous, with a very large quantity of rain, and but little snow,
considering its high latitude *. Spring commences about the
20th of March, when the first shoots of grass make their ap-
pearance, and the Draba verna begins to unfold its small white
blossoms. It is not until the end of May that the pasture-
grounds liave fairly exchanged the grey and sad livery of winter
for the green and lively hue of summer. From the beginning
of July to the end of August may be considered as the summer
season, when the sandy pasture-grounds of the west coast and
islands are decorated with the most diversified hues. The end
of October terminates the autumnal season. The rest is winter.
During the whole spring season easterly winds prevail ; at first
interrupted by blasts from other quarters, accompanied with
sleet or rain, but, as the season advances, becoming more steady,

words, " offers a strong example of the necessity which the geologist is under
of taking nothing on trust, and of concluding nothing from inductions, when
the evidence of contact can be obtained." — Western Islands, vol. i. p. 143.

• We have as yet no data for ascertaining the temperature of any portion
of the Outer Hebrides. It would scarcely interfere with the labours of the
clergy there, to pay some little attention to the natural phenomena around
them, nor would they be acting more inconsistently with their character in
marking the indications of a barometer or thermometer, than in attending
to their cows, and superintending the cultivation of their farms. I am not
certain that there ever was a thermometer in Harris, excepting an unfortu-
nate one which I carried there in 1820, and which one of the fair natives
broke to pieces, with the view of appropriating its envelope as a needle case,
before I had made any other use of it than ascertaining the temperature of a
few springs, which I found to be as follows :

Springs.

Dat

e.

Water.

Air.

Spring at North Town,

June 2.

2 P. M.

51°

52'

Ditto,

3.

9 A. M.

51

47

Ditto,

Oct. 10.

Noon.

51

48

Mineral well at Big Borg,

June 3.

8 A. M.

48i

47

Ditto,

4.

1 P. M.

48^

.

Ditto,

Noon.

48|

CI

Mineral spring at Drumnancaorach,

3.

Noon.

48

49

Mineral spring, south side of Loch Langa-

vat,

3.

1 p. M.

49

48

Ditto, - - -

7.

1 P.M.

46

63

Spring at Drumaphuinnd,

6.

3 P. M.

49

50

Tobar-a-chUdich, Nisbost,

Noon.

49

59

Climaie. 147

and accompanied with dry weather, occasioning much sand-drift.
The first part of summer is sometimes fine, but not unfrequent-
]y wet, with southerly and westerly >vinds. There is seldom
any thunder at this season ; nor does the summer temperature
scarcely ever rise so high as to be oppressive. Frequently the
wet weather continues with intervals till September, from which
period to the middle of October the weather is generally fine.
As the winter advances the westerly gales become more boiste-
rous and continued, and, in this season, there is frequently a
good deal of thunder. One of the finest thunder blasts I ever
met with occurred at Harris in December of 1820, at midnight,
during a very hard gale of westerly winds. The lakes seldom
freeze in winter ; and, although the hills are often tipped with
snow, it is seldom that a general covering takes place. After
continued westerly and northerly gales, enormous billows roll in
from the Atlantic, dashing upon the rocky shores with astonish-
ing violence ; I have seen the spray driven over rocks a hundred
feet in height, to a great distance inland. Even in summer the
spray is sometimes carried inland, so as to injure the vegetation ;
and I have known a farmer, who had injudiciously planted his
potatoes too near the shore, lose his whole crop, in one night,
from such a cause. A winter in the Outer Hebrides is dreary
in the extreme. Tempests and gloom alternate, with days of
sunshine, and sometimes of calm, when the hollow roar of the
breakers, occasionally interrupted by the shrill scream of the
wandering sea-bird, inspires a melancholy, unfelt during the rage
of the tempest. ^ There is not a grander spectacle than that
which the great ocean presents at this season, boiling and foam-
ing as far as the eye can reach, rolling its long and widely se-
parated billows into the sounds, and breaking upon the head-
lands with inconceivable fury, shaking the solid rocks to their
foundations ; while, along the surface, sweeps the western blast,
scattering the broken summits of the waves into spray, and athwart
the threatening sky are driven, in confusion, enormous masses of
black clouds, charged with electrical matter, and pouring forth
nun, sleet and hail. So violent are the winter tempests, that the
huts are frequently unthatched, sometimes unroofed ; boats have
been raised into the air, and shivered to pieces, and cattle car-
ried off their legs. In those sudden blasts, one has sometimes

k2

148 Acccmnt of Harris.

to fall flat, on hearing it approach, and cling to the ground.
But, if there be much gloom, there are also glimpses of sunshine.
And he who, from the summit of CHsheim, can view the long
range of islands laid out at his feet, sending up their thousand
thin streams of white smoke from the kelp-kilns ; and, turning
toward the east, behold the mountains of Skye, and, beyond
them, of the mainland from Knoydart to Cape Wrath, like the
unconquerable barrier of some enchanted land, with the smooth
waters of the Minch flowing between ; or, directing his view to
the west, see the magnificent ocean, glowing with the splendour
of the setting sun, and the lofty isles of St Kilda rearing their
giant heads afar, — can look and not be moved to extasy, is of a
more leaden temperament than is commonly to be met with. In
the short nights of summer, the sweet and melancholy song of
the throstle has scarcely ceased on the hill-side, when the merry
carrbl of the lark, couched among the soft herbage, commences,
and the snipe and curlew sound their shrill notes. To enliven
the long nights of winter, the northern heavens are sometimes
illumined by the polar lights. At one time, a great arch, of a
white and cloudy aspect, stretches from east to west ; at another,
flashes of pale light emanate from the pole to vanish in the ze-
nith, sometimes a thousand streamlets spread over the starry
sky, ever changing with inconceivable rapidity ; armies, as it
were, are seen encountering in the heavens ; and I have been
gravely told by the natives, that, after such exhibitions, the moss
on the moors has been seen tinged with red from the blood that
has fallen during the conflict *. Again, how delightful a mid-
night walk by moonlight on the lone sea-beach of some secluded
isle, the glassy sea sending, from its surface, a long stream of
dazzling light, no sound, save the small ripple of the wavelet, or
the scream of a sea-mew watching the fry which swarms along
the shores. Even in this desolate land there is beauty ; and even
here might man be happy, did not selfishness mar the bounty of
providence -f-.

* Tufts of Sphagnum obtusifolium on the moors are frequently of a bright
red colour, which the natives attribute to the cause mentioned.

-|- The effects of mirage, as exhibited among the islands, are often extreme-
ly striking ; but, as they are well known, it is unnecessary to describe them
here. I shall only remark, that this phenomenon is best seen the nearer the

Geology. 149

Geology. — Gneiss is the predominating rock in Harris. All
the inhabited islands consist of it. In the Forest there are nu-
merous beds and irregular masses of hornblende rock, horn-
blende mixed with black mica, and scaly mica. At Marig, on
Loch Seaforth, there is a deposit of hypersthene rock, ofconsi-
derable extent ; and in the island of Scalpay, close to the light-
house, a bed of serpentine and potstone, with veins of green talc
and 'flexible asbestus. The northern part of the second division
is gneiss, the greater part of the middle portion granite, and the
southern part chiefly gneiss, with masses of syenite and garnet
rock. At the junction of the granite with the gneiss, along
the north side of Loch Langavat, there commences between
Finsbay and the eastern extremity of that lake, an irregu-
lar bed of indurated talc, with talc slate and asbestous ac-
tynolite. Close to the eastern extremity of the lake, it forms
a considerable eminence named Scaire-ruadh, and, proceed-
ing westwards, appears, at long intervals, in the form of great
nodular masses, and terminates in the Dun of Borg, near
the west coast. It contains immense quantities of acty no-
lite of several varieties, hornblende, rigid asbestus, and dark-
green mica. The varieties of the gneiss ai'e endless. The prin-
cipal minerals which enter into its constitution are quartz, fel-
spar, hornblende, mica, and garnet. The most beautiful kinds
are those which contain garnets, of which fine examples are seen
in the Glen of Rodill, in the Corry of Ronaval, at Big Scarista,
and in Ben-Capval. In the northern part of the latter mountain,
a variety of garnet, much resembling cinnamon-stone, forms a
principal ingredient in the rock. The most remarkable geological
appearances are those presented by the veins, which are of two
kinds, greenstone and granite. Of the former, the finest is a great
vein, running from Shelibost, near the sand of Loskentir, to the

observer is to the level of the sea, and in calm weather with sunshine, when
a sort of exhalation is expanded over the surface, in which rapid and minute
motions are presented, very much resembling the appearance produced when
.a quantity of alcohol is poured into water. The mirage is common on the
sands of the west coast, where it always presents the appearance of water,
ami, by distorting and amplifying the sand-banks, rocks, sea-birds, and other
bodies, produces fairy landscapes, in which lakes, trees, ruins, and £mtastic
dwellings, are mingled in strange disorder.

150 Account of Harris.

east coast. It is about thirty feet thick, and in general rises seve-
ral feet above the surface, presenting the appearance of an cnox-
mous wall, and in some places of the ruins of castles. Unlike
most of the 'others, it is very large grained. Of the granite
veins, the largest is that which runs across the face of Ben-
Capval, over an extent of a mile and a-hal£ There are others
of the same kind in Ronaval, in Taransay, and in many other
places. The ingredients are ctf large size, and consist of red or
white felspar, quartz of various colours, sometimes granular,
and mica in large plates *. The simple minerals which I have
observed in the country are the following.

Quartz of various colours, grey, white, brown, milky, and pale -rose. Fel-
spar, generally flesh-coloured in the granite veins, and whitish in the
gneiss. Moonstone, in granite veins opposite the rock of Stromay.
Mica, grey, brown, dark-green, black, in plates of upwards of nine in-
ches, also scaly. Garnet, of numberless varieties, and of all sizes from
four inches downwards. Cinnamonstone. Hornblende, in the gneiss,
also as hornblende rock, and crystallised. Hypersthene, at Marig.
Common and asbestous Actynolite. Flexible and rigid asbestus in im-
mense quantities -j-. Talc, common green. Indurated Talc. Potstone.
Limestone. Sahlite and Coccolite in the limestone at Rodill. Beryl^
white, opaque, in the granite vein of Ben-Capval. Zeolite, in the trap
veins. Calcedony, in small specks in the trap. veins. Clay, of a light
green colour, chiefly on the declivities, seldom of great depth, and com-
monly mixed with fragments of gneiss. Porcelain earth, forming a de-
posit under peat, as well as the bottom of a lake, between Ilodill and
Finsbay, and which the inhabitants of the village of Ilodill, now depo-
pulated, formerly used for white-washing their huts. Bog-iron-ore,
dark -brown, compact, with vesicular cavities, in considerable abundance,
in many parts of the Forest, and southern division. Titanitic iron-ore, in
granite veins. Iron-pyrites. Zircon, discovered by Mr Nicol ; see for-
mer Number of this Journal.

Peat and sand form the principal ingredients of the soil of
Harris. The upper parts of most of the mountains are covered

• It is remarkable of these veins, that the trap ones generally present
distinct lateral surfaces, while the granitic, in all cases that I have examined,
pass by a rapid transition into the bounding gneiss rock.

-)• Dr MacCuUoch mentions the occurrence of asbestos at Nishishee (Inis-
rith, pronounced Inishshee), which he conjectures to have been derived from
a bed of serpentine. At Inishshee I found neither asbestos nor serpentine ;
but of the former I have seen enough in the country to load an Indiaman. It
occurs in a large perfectly isolated mass in granite in the hills of Little Borg,

Geology, 1 51

with fragments of gneiss, and their lower parts with peat, upon
a subsoil of clay or angular gravel. The valleys, where the
rock does not occupy the surface, are covered with peat, com-
monly thin ; but, in some places, where the surface is pretty
level, from three to eight feet deep. There are no extensive
tracts of flat peat. It is not necessary to describe the numerous
varieties of this substance that occur in Harris ; and I shall on-
ly mention that some of them are very little inferior to coal as
fuel. In a few places, such as the Glen of llodill, part of the
farm of Strond, and part of Ob, the soil is gravelly, with a mix-
ture of vegetable mould and clay. The sand of the west coast
consists entirely of comminuted shells. Fragments of mytih,
myae, venuses, mactrae, and other common shells, are easily dis-
tinguisliable in it ; and the shells of Patella vulgata and Cardium
cdule occur even to a great distance from the shores, in a scarce-
ly altered state. This calcareous or shelly sand varies conside-
rably in fineness ; that near the sea is in general the coarsest.
By the attrition which its particles undergo in blowy weather,
it is sometimes, and especially in the spring season, reduced to
a very fine powder ; and from the west side of the island of Ber-
neray, and the east side of Pabbay, may often be seen carried
out several miles to sea, in the form of a dense white mist. I
have already mentioned the two large flats formed by this sand
on the west coast. In other places it is heaped into banks,
sometimes upwards of twenty feet in height ; and wherever it
abounds, it is mixed by drifting with the peat or earthy soil im-
mediately behind it, producing excellent pasture ground.

Population, — According to the census of 1821, the population
of Harris was 3909. As in most of the other Hebrides, it is
entirely maritime, there being scarcely a hut in the country 500
yards distant from the shore. The inhabitants exhibit conside-

iu a small eminence on the farm of Middle Borg, in a vein near the houses at
Big Borg, ill the Dun of Borg; and from thence to the east side of the coun.
try, ill a dozen different localities, in tlie irregular deposit, of which Scaire-
rUadh forms the most remarkable point. I mention these localities as being
all in connection ; but it occurs moreover in many others. As to sei-pentine,
I ha\re never seen any in Harris, excepting the bed in the island of Scalpay.

15SI Account of Harris.

table diversity in their appearance. In general they are of small
stature ; those individuals who are considered by them as exceed-
ing the ordinary size, dnd accordingly designated by the epithet
Mor, or Big, seldom exceeding 5 feet 10 inches in height.
Scarcely any attain the height of 6 feet ; and many of the males
are not higher than 5 feet 3 or 4 inches. They are in general
robust, seldom, however, in any degree corpulent, and as sel-
dom exhibiting the attenuated and pithless frame so common in
large, and especially in manufacturing towns. The women are
proportionally shorter, and more robust, than the men. There
is nothing very peculiar in the Harrisian physiognomy ; the
cheek-bones are rather prominent, and the nose is invariably
short ; the space between it and the chin being disproportionate-
ly long. The complexion is of all tints. Many individuals are
as dark as mulattoes, while others are nearly as fair as Danes.
In so far as I have been able to observe, the dark race is supe-
rior to the fair in stature and strength.

It is scarcely possible to conceive a constitution more callous
to all sorts of vicissitudes and hardships, than that of the He-
bridians in general. A^native of Harris thinks nothing of labour-
ing in a cold and boisterous spring-day with his spade, up to
the ankles in water, and drenched with rain and sleet. Nor is
there to be found a race more patient under privation. A small
quantity of coarse oatmeal and cold water will suffice to support
him under fatigues that would knock up a pampered English-
man or Lowlander. In respect to intellect, they are acute, ac-
curate observers of natural phenomena, quick of apprehension,
and fluent in speech. In their moral character, they are at least
much superior to the population of most of the lowland parishes.
Murder and robbery are never heard of among them ; and if
petty theft be sometimes practised, it is by no means com-
mon. They are of an obliging disposition, hospitable in the
highest degree, charitable to their poor. The spirit of inde-
pendence, however, which characterizes the Englishman, is un-
known among them, and, accordingly, their respect for their
superiors degenerates into servility. They are, in general, not
a little addicted to flattery and scandal. In their quarrels they
are profuse in abusive epithets ; but it is seldom that they come

Population, 15B

to blows, even at their luncrals or other merry-makings. They
are rather Uvely than grave, and express their feeUngs and emo-
tions, whether of joy or of grief, in a more obvious manner than
would seem becoming in other parts of the land. Although kind
to passing strangers, they dislike those who settle among them.

Secluded, as it were, from the world, and ignorant alike of
the aiFairs of other nations and of their own interests and rela-
tions, they have no participation in the political feelings which
agitate the other parts of the empire. This seclusion and igno-
rance may also account in some degree for their extreme attach-
ment to their country. I have yet one concluding trait in their
character to mention. Old age has been treated with sympathy
and respect by nations even the most savage ; here it is rather
an object of ridicule and contempt. It is melancholy to think
of the last years of the poor peasant of the Hebrides, banished
to a miserable hovel, excluded from the society even of his own
children, — subjected to privation when nature can least bear it,
— without the vigour of body or of mind, the buoyancy of spirit
and the elevation of hope that supported him in the days of
his youth, — without the complacency which respect and defer-
ence are so adapted to excite, — and I am afraid, too often, with-
out the friendly advice and benevolent care of him who ought
to prepare his mind for the change which he is soon to make.

Formerly the population consisted of two distinct classes, the
tacksmen or great farmers, and the common people. The rela-
tions of these classes to each other being generally known, it
is unnecessary to say any thing on the subject. At present the
class of tacksmen is much reduced, and the system of subsetting
land has been done away with. The present race of upper far-
mers, compared with the former, is degenerate, and there are
few among them who can boast of those accomplishments which
distinguished their ancestors. " It will perhaps,"''' says Dr Mac-
leod in his rejx>rt (Stat. Rep. vol. x. p. 367), " excite the won-
der of posterity to know, that the whole landed possession of
Harris, was, down to the year 179 v, excepting four small-tenant
farms holding immediately of the proprietor, in the hands of
eight gentlemen farmers, on whom all the other inhabitants de-
pend ; and that this distribution is so unequally proportioned,

that two great farms comprehend more than one half of the es<

1

154 On the Discovery of Native Iron^

tate. The principal tacksmen,"" he continues, " live here like
gentlemen ; they are, for the most part, men of liberal educa-
tion, and polite breeding.*" As I have just observed, things are
different now ; and of the resident tacksmen, there assuredly is
not one possessed of a liberal education, whatever he may fancy
himself to be as lo polite breeding.

(To be continued.)

On the Discovery of Native Irmi in Canaan, Connecticut,
North America.

We are informed by Mr William Burrali, in a letter, dated
16tli August 1826, that his father was surveying a piece of land
on the mountains, about three years since, and by accident noti-
ced a black vein in a t[uartz rock ; he pounded upon it some time
with a stone, and with considerable difficulty got out two small
pieces, the largest of which is in our possession. He has never
been at the place since ; and probably no other person has ever
discovered it, or knows where it is. It is surrounded by woods
one or two miles on every side, and is on the top of a mountain
700 or 800 feet above the common average of the land in the
town. Mr Burrali says, there is evidence in that quarter of
masses of iron, or its ores, of considerable extent, as his compass
was materially affected ; but the particular vein from which he
obtained the pieces appeared to be of no great extent ; and the
width of it is the same as that of the piece in our possession,
which measures two inches wide, and two thick. It weighs
eight ounces.

The following notice of the same facts has been received from
Mr C. A. Lee.

" Native Iron on Canaan Mountain, a mile and a half from
the South Meeting-house. — This is particularly interesting, as it
is the first instance in which native iron, not metcoric_, has been
found in America. It was discovered by Major Burrali of Ca-
naan, while employed in surveying, several years ago. It formed
a thin stratum or j)late, in a mass of mica-slate, which seemed
to have been broken from an adjoining ledge. It presents the

On the Discovery of Native Iron. 155

usual characters of native iron, and is easily malleable. For
some distance around the place where it was found, the needle
will not traverse, and a great proportion of the tallest trees have
been struck with lightning. Whether these phenomena are con-
nected with the existence of a large mass of native iron, as yet
undiscovered, I leave for others to determine ; the facts, how-
ever, may be relied on.*"

" Physical and Chemical Properties of the Native Iron of
Canaan^ ascertained in the Laboratory of Yale College, by
Mr C. U. Shepard, at the request of the editor. — In its first
appearance to the eye, the native iron of Canaan resembles
highly crystalline plumbago ; being every where invested with
a thin coating of this mineral, which complet^y defends it from
oxidation. Its structure is visibly crystalline, separating
with considerable readiness into pyramidal masses, and more
usually into oblique tetrahedra. This cleavage, however, never
takes place without the intervention of thin scales of plumbago.
It falls considerably short of meteoric iron in malleability,
toughness, and flexibility ; as well as in the silvery whiteness of
its lustre, which, in part, is no doubt due to the plumbago dif-
fused through it. In hardness and magnetic properties it does
not differ perceptibly from pure iron. Its specific gravity varies
from 5.95 to 6.72.

" Intermingled with it occasionally is native steel. One an-
gular fragment, weighing about eight grains, was perfectly
brittle, sufficiently hard to scratch glass, and possessed of the
characteristic granular structure, and silvery white colour of
steel. With the microscope no scales of plumbago were notice-
able in it. Dissolved in dilute nitric acid, it afforded an evident
quantity of black, carbonaceous matter, upon the surface of the
solution.

" A fragment of the native iron, weighirjg 100 grains, was
dissolved in dilute nitro-muriatic acid. The plumbago attached
to it being left behind, was separated, and found to weigh six
grains. To the solution was added, in excess, perfectly caustic
liquid ammonia, by means of which the iron was thrown down.
The ammoniacal solution was then examined for lead, copper,
or any other metal which might be present, by adding to it

156 Oil the Discovery of Native Iron,

hydrosulphuret of ammonia. No precipitate, nor change of co*
lour, was produced, though suffered to" remain for several days ;
which leads to the conclusion, that our mineral is unalloyed with
any metal. In this respect, therefore, it differs from the native
iron of Saxony, in which Klaproth found, lead 6.0, and copper
1.50. The iron being washed and heated, weighed 127 grains;
which being in the state of a peroxide, according to Mr Children,
indicated 88.90 metallic iron, or, according to Klaproth, 92.21
metallic iron.

" To secure greater accuracy, the process was repeated with
50 grains of the mineral, from which were separated 3.50 grains
plumbago. The iron was precipitated as before ; and after being
heated, weighed 63 grains, which, according to Children, indi-
cated 44.10 metallic iron, or by Klaproth's rule 45.90."

" Remarks by the Editor. — There can be no question that
the native iron above described is a genuine production of the
earth, and that it holds no connection with meteoric iron. The
mass bears the marks of a true metallic vein ; it has smooth
sides, and small specks of blue and white quartz are sticking in
it. Nickel, constantly found in the meteoric irons, is absent from
this specimen ; and if it. were a question whether native iron be
a true production of mines, this discovery decides it."" — Silli-
mati's Journal^ 1 827.

General Observations in Natural History, made during a Jour-
ney among the Blue Mountains in New South Wales. By
M. R. P. Lesson.

Xn this short itinerai'y, we only propose to give a summary
account of the animal productions which are peculiar to the
climate of New South Wales, a country so fertile in interesting
species, and so rich in animals still little known. The short
stay which we made at Port Jackson, does not permit us to en-
ter into extensive details on this subject, and we can only add
some gleanings to what has already been observed by preced-
ing travellers. The English, who have established a splendid
colony in this part of the globe, are excellently situated for

Bhie Mountains in New South Wales. 157

exploring the country with complete success, and leaving no-
thing to be desired with respect to it by the naturalists of
Europe. We do not find, however, that they have as yet taken
due advantage of their excellent opportunities ; and if we ex-
cept the works of Shaw * and Lewinf, both of considerable
merit, no particular work has made known in detail the natural
riches of a country still almost unknown, especially in its inte-
rior. We have much to hope from Mr Macleay, who has re-
ceived an appointment there J, and we have reason to regret the
departure of the last governor, General Brisbane, who did all
in his power to facilitate the pursuits of naturalists, and who
treated us with a benevolence for wliich it affords us pleasure to
testify our highest gratitude. The investigations, which have
had for their object to elucidate the zoology of New Holland,
are contained in our classical works and scientific collections ;
and every body knows the important researches of Messrs Cu-
vier, Geoffroy St Hilaire, De Blainville, Labillardiere, Peron,
Lesueur, Quoy, and Gaimard, in France ; of Messrs Banks,
White, Phillip, Latham, Knox, Home, Vigors, and Swainson,
in England ; Blumenbach in Germany ; and Temminck in
Holland.

In this itinerary we shall follow the order of- our encamp-
ments, and of our progress across the Blue Mountains. But
before proceeding farther, we must make a remark or two re-
garding the manner in which this barrier has been broken, a
barrier rendered famous by what Peron has related of it, and by
the attempts which several Englishmen made to surmount it,
and especially the celebrated Bass.

The year 1813 was very dry ; the springs disappeared, the
grass was burnt up, and the cattle perished for want of food.
Messrs Law son, Blaxland, and Went worth determined to at-
tempt the passage of the Blue Mountains, in search of fresher
pastures, in order to repair the disasters of the year. They

• Shaw (George), Zoology of New Holland, Lond. 1794. 8vo.

•f The Birds of New South Wales, by John Lewin, 4to. 26 plates. There
is also a work by the same author on the Lepidoptera of New South Wales.
1 vol. 4 to.

X Named this year secretary-general of New South Wales, the most im-
portant office next to that of governor.

158 M. Lesson on the Natural Histoi^y of the

crossed the Nepean at Emeu-ford, and ascended the first plain
of the Blue Mountains with ease. They then got embarrassed
among numerous detours, and were on the point of renouncing
their project. But at length their obstinate perseverance was
crowned with success, and after having descended York Moun-
tain, they discovered a rich and fertile country, and returned to
Fort- Jackson, to announce this important discovery.

I have always been astonished at the difficulties which those who
first attempted to cross these mountains have said they had under-
gone ; for their height, at the highest summit, is not more than
about 2500 feet, and the two ranges which they form are con-
nected by undulations of no great importance, and could scarcely
present any obstacle at York Mountain for descending into
Clyde Valley. We must suppose that all those who tried the
enterprise in the earlier times of the colony, had coasted the
rugged and steep sides of the Prince Regenfs Glen, which is a
deep valley, the vertical walls of which must naturally have pre-
sented insurmountable obstacles, although at a short distance it
was easy to pass over the sloping declivities which connect the
various divisions of the first range of the Blue Mountains.

Having provided ourselves with a cart and guides, M. Dur-
ville and I set out on the 29th January 1824. I shall not de-
scribe Sydney, Paramatta, or the farm of Emeu Plains, which
is boimded by the Nepean, and now abundantly covered by the
cereal productions of Europe. This rich and beautiful plain is
situated at the foot of the Blue Mountains, twenty miles dis-
tant from Sydney Cove. The rock is uniformly ferruginous sand-
stone, excepting the Prospect Hill, where the curious phenome-
non is observed of a high eminence, consisting entirely of dole-
rite^ the foot of which is enveloped in sandstone, which is every-
where uniformly of the same nature. In the fresh and running-
waters of the Nepean, I found a very small Cyclas^ together
with a species of Unio. A small Teal, allied to, or perhaps even
identical with, the Soiicronette, lives in flocks upon this river,
which is no longer inhabited by the Ornithorynchi, or at least in
such small number, that it is very rare to have any in this loca-
lity. ' To supply this want, however, the yellow-crested Cockatoos,
(Psittacus cristatus of Latham), made the wood resound with

Blue Mountains in Nezo South Wales. 159

their cries, pcrcliecl on the trees, in the holes or chinks of which
they nestle.

In this place I had to regret my not being able to kill the
singular bird, commonly named at Sydney the Coachman's
Whip, because its cry, which I liave often heard, resembles
exactly the smack of a whip. Is this bird a Philedon, and has
it been described ? The purple Choucari, the SatiiuUrd (Gra-
culus), equally prefers the high Casuarinae, which border tlie
Nepean, at its exit from the Blue Mountains.

On the 31st we began to ascend the first range. The road,
as far as Spiifigwood, is a gentle acclivity, and the whole face
of the mountains and the ravines, by which they are divided,
is covered with forests of Eucali/pti and Casuarinae. The
Mimosa taxifolia, a new species of Cunningham**s, was in flower,
and exhaled the most agreeable odour among bushes of Lam-
hertia speciosa and Protea. It is here that the Menura {Me-
nura magnifica ; M, Novas Hollandiee of Latham), is chiefly
found, the tail of which, remarkable for its great beauty, pre-
sents, in the solitudes of Australia, an exact patterii of the har-
monious lyre of the Greeks. This bird, to which the name of
Wood Pheasant IS giYQw by theEnglishof Port Jackson, frequents
the rocky and retired districts ; it comes forth in the evening
and morning, and remains quiet during the day upon the tree,
wliere it is perched. It is becoming every day rarer, and I
only saw two skins that had been preserved by Mr Lawson,
during the whole period of my stay in New South Wales.

We arrived in the evening at the Swamp, an extensive marsli,
where we put up our tent. We observed in this place a great
number of crows (Corviis corane, Lin.), the species of which
does not seem to differ in any respect from that of Europe : a
small goatsucker, witli very prettily marked plumage (Capri.
midguts NovcB Hollandiee), and the banded skink {Scincus nu
gro-luteiis of Quoy and Gaimard*). The heat during the day
was very great, and a thick fog spread itself over the moun-
tains, on the approach of night, which was very cold. The
change of temperaturejs extremely rapid in these countries.

On the 1st of February we crossed the chain, which at its
most elevated point is named King's Table Land. Its height is
• The Lacerta pfatura of White is very rare here.

160 M. Lesson on the Natural History of the

2727 English feet *. The sandstone is nearly exposed in all
parts ; the vegetation is patched, and consists of some species of
CasuariruE and Eucalypti^ and it is here that the pretty Pater-
sonia glahrata of Brown grows in the greatest abundance.

Not far from King's Table we discovered a rich valley, inclo-
sed by vertical walls, 676 English feet high, formed of regular
strata of sandstone. It was the Prince Regenfs Glen. From
the place, named Pitt's Amphitheatre, the view extends to a
great distance over the various undulations of the chain of the
Blue Mountains. Torrents of smoke rose from various parts
of the woods, which, from the negligence of the savages, are very
often set on fire.

On our way to Blackheath, I found in the middle of the heath,
in a state of complete torpor, the Blaeh and Yellow SJcinJc of
Port Jackson, figured in the geological atlas of Messrs Quoy
and Gaimard, in Freycinet's Yoyage. What is remarkable is,
that I found another individual in the same state some days af-
terwards ; and that those which the naturalists of the Uranie
brought witn them, were collected under similar circumstances.

York Mountain, or Cox's Pass, is elevated 3292 feet above
the level of the sea; and the path which it was necessary
to make upon the steep side of this mountain, to descend into
the charming valley of Clyde, is so rough, that although it
has been made to describe several turnir«js with great labour, it
is still a difficult point, and is frequently the occasion of accidents ;
and carriages somewhat heavily loaded can only be got up the
a<:clivity by means of hard straining. At York Mountain,
sixty-two miles distant from Sydney, the sandstone formation,
which is often ferruginous, containing hydrate of iron, which
gives it its colour, together with iron glance, disseminated in
shining scales, entirely ceases, and then commences the pri-
mitive formation, which extends to Bathurst, consisting of
quartziferous, granitic and syenitic rocks, which extends to Ba-
thurst. These rocks alternate in the bed of Fish River, with a
blackish .quartziferous petrosiliceous porphyry. The tops of
the mountains near Cone's River, are covered with -a common
stratified pegmatite -f*.

* According to Mr Oxley's map.

+ All these specimens have been sent to the Museum, and examined br
M. Cordier.

Blue Mountains in New South Wales. 161

It is in York Mountain that the Echidna Hystrix of Cu-
vier chiefly lives, which the English rear in a state of domesti-
city, for the purpose of selling thcni at a very high rate to col-
lectors. This animal, which in appearance approaches the
hedgehog, has accordingly obtained that name among the colo-
nists of New South Wales. It burrows, and does not willingly
come out in dry weather ; it is therefore difficult to procure it
during several months of the year. According to the accounts of
it which I have received from the convicts who inhabit York
Mountain, it lives upon insects and legumes, and chiefly on
ants, which it gathers with its tongue, after the manner of the
ant-eaters. It emits a small grunting sound when disturbed,
and its manners, in a state of hberty, are but little known. I
could obtain no further intelligence respecting it from the inha-
bitants of the country. An Echidna, which I had procured,
and which my colleague, M. Garnot, endeavoured to carry to
Europe, gave him an opportunity of publishing an interesting
note regarding the manners of this animal in a state of capti-
vity *. This place, like all the neighbourhood of Port Jackson,
and especially the country about Botany Bay, is infested with
the black snake, the most formidable reptile of this country, and
that whose poison acts with most celerity. A great number of
serious accidents are mentioned as having been caused by the
bite of this Acanthophis, which is distinguished by the shining
black of the upper part of its body, and the agreeable rose-co-
lour of the under part.

We crossed Cox's River, formed by the junction of two
small brooks, upon fallen rocks of a very beautiful granite. This
river flows from east to west. I procured here the large and
small flying phalangers, (^Petaurista taquanoldcs and P. sciurea
of Desmarest). At York''s Bridge we killed several species of
philedons : they live in flocks in the large eucalyptuses. We
procured an undescribed species, as well as the Spotted Phih-
don (Certhia Nova-IIollandia, Lath.) the white fronted Phik-
dmh the Speckled Philedony and the Black-cap. {Certhia atri-
capilluy Lath.)

On the third of February we reached Fish Biver, where we
encamped with the intention of killing ornithorynchuses. The

• See the Annales ties Sciences Naturelles, for December 1825.
OCTOBER DECEMBER 1827. L

162 M. Lesson on the Natural History of the

long drought had very much diminished the depth of its waters.
It was fordable in most places. The Omithori/nchi, which are
called Water-Moles by the colonists, and Moujlengong by the
natives, inhabit the banks of this river in considerable abun-
dance, while they haye become very rare on those of the Ne-
pean. They are still pretty numerous at the proper season in
Campbell and Macquarrie Rivers, and at Newcastle. The
specific name of paradoxus has been given to this singular ani-
mal *, of which Shaw has made his genus Platypus, and Blu-
menbach the genus Ornithm-ynchus. Its extraordinary forms
seem to sanction this name. Dr Knox, when he announced
to the Wernerian Society of Edinburgh, his beautiful disco-
very of the crural gland, which communicates by a canal with
the spur with which the hind feet are armed, was virulently
attacked by a physician of Port Jackson, in the Sydney Ga-
zette, The Australian doctor denied the existence of the
gland and its duct, and supported his opinion by the con-
sideration that there was no proof that a dangerous wound
had ever been inflicted in the country. He asserted, that these
spurs, of which the female individuals never have any, are in-
tended for the purpose of assisting the males to lay hold of the
females, and to keep them immoveable during the act of gene-
ration. Subsequent observations have reduced these assertions
to their true value. The colour of the fur of the ornithorynchus
is ordinarily dark brown. Some varieties of age or sex that have
been considered as species, are of a reddish colour. ' Mr Mur-
doch, the superintendant of the farm of Emeu Plains, assured
me that he had found ornithorynchus's eggs, and that they were
of the size of those of a domestic fowl.

After having waited for several hours in a state of perfect
immobility, to see if any of these animals would make their ap-
pearance, I left the banks of Fish River, and the small rocks on
a level with the water, to which they resort on issuing from
their holes. I was afterwards informed, that, at this season of
the year (January and February), the ornithorynchus remains
close in its burrow, and only appears at the time of the great

• See Peron, "Voyage aux Terres Australes ; Desmarest's Mammiferes ;
Vanderhoeven, Nov. Act. Acad. Caes. Leop. Cavol. t. xi. Knox, in the Me-.
moirs of the Wernerian Society, and the Annales des Sciences Naturelles ; Sir
Everard Home j BlainviUe, &c. &c.

Blue Mountains in New South Wales. 163

rains, which, by causing the waters of the rivers which it inha-
bits to swell, drive it out, and force it to keep upon the surface
of the water, and among the rushes, which edge the banks. Dr
Jamieson, who lives'' at Regent Villa, and who is busy collect-
ing the productions of New South Wales, lias in his possession
a considerable number of ornithorynchuses preserved in spirits
of wine. He had the politeness to promise my companion and
myself some of them ; but he has without doubt been unable to
fulfil his promise. It is difficult at present to procure this ani-
mal ; and the skins which one gets in the country, from being ill
prepared, and not covered with preservative substances, easily spoil.
On the eucalyptuses of the neighbourhood of Fish River, I ob-
served several large King's-Fishers (Dacelo fulvus)y which
emitted a deafening noise, that was still more increased by the
echoes. Their cry is sharp and prolonged ; and these birds are
stupid and fearless.

Although the edges of Fish River are pretty agreeable, they
yet present that monotony which is universally characteristic of
the vegetation of these countries. Besides, about a score of spe-
cies of Eucalyptus, the appearance of which is very much alike,
there are only to be seen, and with no variety. Mimosa, Metro-
sideroses, Protea, Casuarina, and a very few European genera
along the edge of the waters. Hence the forests of Austral-
asia have a sad and lugubrious aspect. In crossing the Blue
Mountains, one cannot fail to remark the uniformity which
nature has given to the leaves. Their form, excepting perhaps
that of some mimosae with bipinnated foliaceous expansions, is
generally simple, and they are more or less dry, stiff and smooth.
She would seem to have accommodated them to the dryness of
the soil^ by giving them an oblique direction, for the purpose of
presenting the greatest possible surface to the air, which must
furnish their principal nutriment. New Holland alone presents
the singular phenomenon of entire leaves or foliaceous petioles
in trees which are every where else remarked for the extraor-
dinary elegance of their divided foliage. Another remark,
which is not new, it is true, is, that the Blue Mountains, as well
as the whole surface of New Holland, are entirely destitute of ali-
mentary fruits, excepting the Sorose, a bramble allied to Rubns
Jrtiticosics, and a small berry, of which the Europeans make a

l2

166 M. Lesson on the Natural History of the

lis of Shaw), entirely black, with a very flat shell, and a long
neck, is also found in Macquarrie River. This species does
not draw its head under the carapace, but lodges it upon one of
the sides, between that part and the plastern, which thus afford
it protection. The pretty Rainettc doree of Peron, a Physa
(P. australis), and a Lymncea with a very brittle-shell, enriched
our collections.

On the banks of this river I observed a species of Lapwing
which was extremely wild. It is called the Spur-winged Plover
by the English, and is probably the Charadrlus pectoralis of
Cuvier. The colonists know a reptile with a very slender body
under the name of Thread-Snuke, the bite of which is followed
by almost instant death ; and I have been assured that horses
will not live beyond fifteen or twenty minutes after being bitten
by it, I am not aware that this serpent is mentioned by any
author, and it would be interesting to confirm its existence.

We have not thought it necessary to give any particular ac-
count of the general aspect of the country. Details of this na-
ture would be out of place here ; and we prefer briefly mention-
ing some of the geological objects which we had an opportu-
nity of seeing during our short stay at Sydney. We shall, in the
first place, make a few remarks on the race of the human species
which inhabits this country. To judge by his external appearance
and intellect, the native of New South Wales would seem to have
been degraded from the true rank of man, and to approach the
nature of the brute. Whatever may be the opinions of writers
with regard to their history, and the numerous differences by
which they have supposed them to be separated from other
tribes of the black race, after having properly considered our
data, and viewed them in every light, we here state the result of
our reflections, without attaching any other importance to it.

The Australian Negro race, which is peculiar to New South
Wales, does not appear to us to differ in any thing essential
from the Oceanic Negro race *, of which the Papous alone form
another somewhat distinct branch. It presents the most perfect
similarity of form and external characters to the inhabitants of
New Britain, New Ireland, and very probably to those of New

• The melanitic species, Homo melanianus of M. Bory de St Vincent, Art,
Homme, in the Diet. Class, d'Hist. Nat.

Blue Mountains in New South Wales. 165

at Bathurst two days. Mr Morinet, who commanded there,
received us witli urbanity, and afforded us all the assist-
ance in his power. Bathurst Plain is watered by Macquarrie
River, which is the same as Fish River. Its height above the
level of the sea is 1970 English feet. It contains about 6000
acres of good arable or meadow ground, which allows a large
stock of cattle to be reared. It is here in particular that the
Spanish breed of sheep has been propagated, which affords a
beautiful wool, but which has never to this day been transported
to England without being damaged. A hundred miles from
Bathurst, in the interior, Wellington Valley has been cleared,
and here a post of incorrigible convicts has been established.
In the south-west, far beyond Mount Molle, common limestone
has been discovered, a mineral substance of which New South
Wales seems destitute, and of which the English are in the
greatest need for the building of their houses, as the shores do
not afford enough of shells for that purpose. This article was
ardently sought for, and it was not without the greatest satis-
faction that the cave was discovered which lies to the north of
Bathurst, at the distance of sixteen miles, of which the roof is
lined w ith thick stalactites of a calcareous alabaster, furnishing
an excellent lime. Ten miles from this establishment, at Pine-
ridge, there is a forest entirely composed of cedars, (CalUtris
spiralis of Brown), the wood of which is excellent for building.
Macquarrie River, which is neither deep nor broad, has its
banks covered with European plants. There are found here po-
tamogetons, aquatic Ranunculi, the Ly thrum Salicaria, the So-
molus, the Verbena officinalis, the Polygonum aviculare, or a
species closely allied to it, &c. I found fishes in this river
which form two new genera ; the first species, named Gryptes
Brishanii of the family of perches, and the second named Mac-
quarria Australasice *. They attain a large size, and are much
esteemed as food. The Gryptes is often three feet long, and
nearly sixty pounds weight. An Emys (the Testudo longicoU

■ So named by MM. Cuvier and Valenciennes, in the catalogue of the
Collections which we brought to the IMuseuni. I have proposed the name
of Gryptes Brishanii for the first, in honour of the Governor of New South
Wales, who received us with the greatest kindness.

t^

166 M. Lesson on the Natural History of the

lis of Shaw), entirely black, with a very flat shell, and a long
neck, is also found in Macquarrie River. This species does
not draw its head under the carapace, but lodges it upon one of
the sides, between that part and the plastern, which thus afford
it protection. The pretty Rainette dorSe of Peron, a Physa
(P. australis), and a LymncBa with a very brittle-shell, enriched
our collections.

On the banks of this river I observed a species of Lapwing
which was extremely wild. It is called the Spur-winged Plover
by the English, and is probably the Charadrlus pectoralis of
Cuvier. The colonists know a reptile with a very slender body
under the name of Thread-Snake, the bite of which is followed
by almost instant death ; and I have been assured that horses
will not live beyond fifteen or twenty minutes after being bitten
by it. I am not aware that this serpent is mentioned by any
author, and it would be interesting to confirm its existence.

We have not thought it necessary to give any particular ac-
count of the general aspect of the country. Details of this na-
ture would be out of place here ; and we prefer briefly mention-
ing some of the geological objects which we had an opportu-
nity of seeing during our short stay at Sydney. We shall, in the
first place, make a few remarks on the race of the human species
which inhabits this country. To judge by his external appearance
and intellect, the native of New South Wales would seem to have
been degraded from the true rank of man, and to approach the
nature of the brute. Whatever may be the opinions of writers
with regard to their history, and the numerous differences by
which they have supposed them to be separated from other
tribes of the black race, after having properly considered our
data, and viewed them in every light, we here state the result of
our reflections, without attaching any other importance to it.

The Australian Negro race, which is peculiar to New South
Wales, does not appear to us to differ in any thing essential
from the Oceanic Negro race *, of which the Papous alone form
another somewhat distinct branch. It presents the most perfect
similarity of form and external characters to the inhabitants of
New Britain, New Ireland, and very probably to those of New

• The melanitic species, Homo melanianus of M. Bory de St Vincent, Art.
Homme, in the Diet. Class, d'Hist. Nat.

Blue Mountains in New South Wales. 167

Caledonia. Their hair is woolly, thick, and arranged in hanging
locks; their size is variable, but in general moderate, their
average height being five feet four inches. Their cheek-bones
are prominent, the nose broad and flat, the mouth large,' the lips
thick ; their extremities, although slender in the greater number
of cases, are often regularly proportioned. Separated into scat-
tered tribes, without mutual communication, and wandering
about in search of a precarious subsistence, each tribe has creat-
ed a language of its own, or has been influenced by its local po-
sition in the developement of its industry, which is always very
limited. The poverty of the soil, and the rigour of the climate,
must have exerted an influence upon the race, and deteriorated
it ; and it is from this source that the slight differences arise,
which seem to separate it from the African negro race, with
which, however, an attentive examination shews it to be identi-
cal. One may conceive the influence which, in the course of time,
a country must have, which produces no eatable fruit : the inha-
bitants must, have betaken themselves to hunting and fishing,
and become nomadic ; they would, therefore, have regarded as
useless the formation of permanent villages, and must have con-
fined themselves to temporary places of shelter. They would
also have chosen the most indispensable and the most simple im-
plements ; they would have constructed their canoes of enca-
lyptus bark, tied at the two extremities,— or made use of logs,
in the form of rafts, to go into the bays and creeks. The negro
race, besides, no where shews itself remarkable for its intellect,
and every thing announces it to be stationary in its ideas. It
has characters which aie peculiar to itself, in whatever part its
branches are met with. These characters are, the divergence
of language of each particular tribe; their common taste for
raising conical eminences upon the skin, which is found to pre-
vail as well in Congo, Madagascar, and New Guinea, as in all
the parts of New Holland, — and never in the yellow Oceanic
race ; a peculiar and general custom of marking the face with
red and white powders in broad streaks, or of covering the hair
with ochre ; the iiabit of not concealing the organs of genera-
tion * ; that of passing a stick through the septum of the nose ;
&c. These essential characters are in opposition to those of the

• In all those which have not had any long continued communication with
Europeans.

168 On the Natural History of the Blue Mountains.

two races of the Oceanic Isles, which we designate by the names
of the Oceanic and Mongolian branches. We shall unfold our
ideas on this subject more particularly in a separate essay. In
the mean time, it is probable that the negroes of New Holland
have extended into the Australian Continent by New Guinea
and the eastern islands, and that their migration has been made
from the coast of Africa by the great island of Madagascar,
which had itself, at a later period, received men of other races.
Be this as it may, the number of inhabitants of the county of
Cumberland is rapidly diminishing ; — and these stupid savages,
insensible to all that has been tried for their improvement, have
only derived from the Europeans vicious habits, which hasten
their destruction, such as an inordinate taste for spirits. Syphilis
and smallpox have also at length committed their ravages among
them. If the number of native inhabitants is diminishing, that of
the indigenous animals is also decreasing in a remarkable manner,
and the period is not far distant when all the civilized parts will
be destitute of kangaroos, ornithorynchuses, &c. Already the
emeu (Casuarius aiistralis, Shaw) no longer inhabits the plain
called by its name, and which it formerly filled. This enormous
gallinaceous bird has fled beyond the Blue Mountains, or beyond
the limits of cow pasture. The great kangaroo {Kangurus la-
hiatus^ Geoffi'.) is now only seen in a state of domestication. I
observed several of them feeding at large in the west park of
Rose Hill, at Paramatta, raising themselves upon their hind
feet, to observe what was going on around them, and flying ofl*,
when disturbed, by long bounds, lighting, at the same time, up-
on their short fore feet. This animal, the hard and coriaceous
flesh of which is in little estimation, as it is only the hind quar-
ters that are employed for making ordinary soups, is tamed with
extreme facility. One was shewn me at Port Jackson, which
had been brought up by a soldier of the garrison, and which
punctually obeyed the orders of its master. It was a great
adept at boxing. This kangaroo shewed a great degree of cou-
rage, did not hesitate to attack a dog, and made use of its hind
legs or tail for striking those whom it wished to fight, by throw-
ing itself upon them with a sudden and very high bound. With
its master it betook itself to sport, and played only with its two
fore feet, without seeking to injure him.

( 160 )

Analyses made in Colombo of Ceyl&nese Varieties of Ironstone
and Limestone. By George Middleton, Esq. Apothecary
to the Forces. (Communicated by Sir James M'G rigor.)

1. Rcniform, or Kidney-shaped, Brown Clay Ironstone. —
It occurs massive and globular: sometimes these are hollow,
(a hollow globular ball, weighing upwards of 21 lb. is in the
Museum at Colombo), surface sometimes marked with impres-
sed forms. Fracture conchoidal ; lustre semi-metallic ; ad-
heres slightly ttf the tongue ; streak pale-brown. Sp. gr.
= 3.793, of a specimen from Matelle, and forwarded by Dr
Knox for the museum ; 4.06 of a specimen from the eastern
part of the island. The constituent parts, after two careful
analyses, are as follows : — Silica, 10 ; alumina, 3 ; lime, 22.5 ;
magnesia, 8.5 ; oxide of iron, 50 ; water, 4 ; loss, 2. = 100.

2. Gramdar Foliated Limestone. — Is white and translucent.
Sp. gr. n 2.853 ; constituent parts, lime, 50 ; carbonic acid,
42; silica, 2; magnesia, 2; water, 2; loss, 2. =i 100. It is
quarried at Kandy, and employed for building purposes.

3. Common Compact Limestone. — Its colour Is greyish white.
Sp. gr. = 2.578 to 2.6 ; constituent parts ; lime, 52 ; carbonic
acid, 42; magnesia, 1.5 ; water, 2.5; Loss, 2. = 100. This
limestone was brought from Poaeloor Cavern, near Jaffna, and
was part of a collection of minerals sent by Governor Sir E.
Barnes to the Museum at Colombo.

We have much pleasure in communicating the preceding
analyses to our readers, as they are probably among the first
regular analyses of minerals hitherto made in India. We feel
confident that Dr CoUier, President of the Colombo Museum,
to whom Mr Middleton's communication was addressed, who is
an intelhgent naturahst, and active medical officer, will continue
to encourage the taste for natural history and chemical minera-
logy in the East.

( 170 )

Letter Ji'om Professor Leslie to the Editor on Mr Rltchie^s
Experiments on Heaty and New Photometer.

My Dear Sir,

JlLaving long projected the publication of a complete Trea-
tise on the Theory and Application of Heat, I have generally
overlooked such statements as have gone forth tending to limit,
modify, or contradict the principles I had already established,
being convinced that the precise and decisive experiments which
I shall produce, must dispel every shadow of doubt. My
anxiety to advance nothing except what was ascertained by the
most scrupulous accuracy, has hitherto retarded the appearance
of that work ; but I purpose, without further delay, to perform
the task thus imposed.

In the mean time, I may stop to notice a circumstance which
has been sedulously turned against the doctrines which I had
propounded. If a red-hot ball be held behind a glass-screen, in
front of a metallic reflector, a considerable impression of heat is
concentrated at the focus ; from .which it has been hastily con-
cluded, that the calorific rays emitted from the ball (I borrow
the usual language, though it involves an assumption) pass
freely through the glass. But the fact is readily explained,
from the established principle, that the screen becoming much
heated, soon acts upon the reflector by its own radiation. Mr
Ritchie, Rector of the Academy at Tain, has, in a paper printed
in the first part of the Philosophical Transactions for the present
year, endeavoured to oppose this explication by some other ex-
periments. Suspending the hot-ball behind a very thin disc of
glass, he fotind a delicate thermometer placed before it to be
sensibly affected, though he kept blowing against the disc with
a bellows. Now, here lies the fallacy of the experiment ; for
the current would certainly not make the screen colder than the
air of the room, as Mr Ritchie supposes, but only prevent it
from acquiring so high a temperature as in a still atmosphere.
I have elsewhere shewn, that a wind of eight miles an hour only
doubles the dissipation of heat from the surface of a body. The
continual accumulation from the ball would therefore still enable
the disc to radiate profusely.

Letter from Professor Lcdie to the Editor, 171

It would be unnecessary to follow the rest of the experiments
brought forward by Mr Ritchie, which seem neither happily
devised, nor capable of much accuracy.

But a very simple and unexceptionable experiment will set
the question at rest. I had a dift'erential thermometer, with pa-
rallel branches, constructed of rather large dimensions, one of
the balls blown as thin as possible, and the other extremely
thick, perhaps the fifteenth part of an inch in thickness. Into the
cavity of this ball, sulphuric acid, tinged with carmine, was in-
troduced, sufficient to fill both branches; and the tubes being-
united, and properly bent, the liquid was adjusted to stand
about the middle of the stem, under the thin ball. On placing
the instrument near a clear strong fire, the thin ball being more
quickly affected, the liquid sank rapidly in the stem, but again
rose gradually, and in the space of about ten minutes recovered
its station. There it remained, but with a slight fluctuation,
owing to some occasional variation in the strength of the fire,
or to the fluctuation in the air of the room. On withdrawing
this differential thermometer again, the liquid mounted swiftly
into the thin ball, but again subsided gradually to its stationary
point.

Since both balls, then, were placed in exactly similar circum-
stances, it follows, that they were equally affected by the afflux
of heat, and that no portion of this heat had been transmitted
through either of them.

When this differential thermometer was employed as a pho-
tometer, it indicated a different effect. Placed in the inside of
a room, but close to a south window at noon, the liquor always
mounted several degrees, a sensible portion of the light of the
sun being absorbed by the thick ball, while it passed without
interruption through the thin ball.

I have only to add, that the instrument which Mr Ritchie
proposes in the same volume, as a new and peculiarly delicate
photometer, is only one of the vai'ious modifications of the diffe-
rential thermometer, which in my earlier experiments I tried
for measuring small quantities of light, but which I soon laid
aside, on finding its performance to be quite irregular and un-
certain.

17^ Dr Graham's Descripti(m of New or Rare Plants.

It is not difficult, indeed, to contrive that an instrument
shall have a wide range ; but the obstruction to its motion is
hence increased, and its power of action is yet proportionally di-
minished. Accordingly, the simple barometer is esteemed now
by far the most accurate ; while those barometers of a complex
construction, but with large divisions, have deservedly fallen in-
to disrepute.

Queen Street,
imh Dec. 1827

:•}

Description of several New or Rare Plants which havejlowered
in the Royal Botajiic Garden, Edinburgh, during the last
three months. Communicated by Dr Graham.

10th December 1827.
Buddleia madagascarensis.

Lamarck, Encyclop. Method, vol. i. p. 513. — Tableau Encyc. et Method,
vol. L p. 291. t. 69. fig. 3.

B. madagascarensis ; ramis sub-tetragonis, tomentosis ; foliis integerrimis,
ovato-lanceolatis, petiolatis, supra nudiusculis, venoso-rugosis, subtus
albido.tomentosis ; paniculis terminalibus, pedicellis sub-trifloris.

Description — Shrub erect, with long, slender, diffused branches; bark
pale brown. Younger branches, petioles, back of the leaves, peduncles,
pedicels, calyx, and even the outside of the corolla, though this in a
smaller degree, covered with dense, white, soft tomentum, which often
becomes partially brown. Leaves decussating, petioled, ovato-lanceolate
or slightly cordate at the base, acuminate, soft, on the upper side dull
sap-green, and sprinkled rather sparingly, especially on the young leaves,
with white tomentum, slightly wrinkled, reticulated, middle rib and the
veins prominent below, channelled above. Panicle handsome, (7 inches
long from its first branch to the apex,) terminal, erect, bracteate, with
two long opposite branches at the base, subdivided like the leading
stalk. Pedicels like little corymbs, generally supporting three flowers,
though often only one near the apex, and sometimes four below. Lower
braciecB below the branches at the base of the panicle, resembling small
leaves, the others subulate, one below each pedicel, and nearly as long as
it, smaller upwards, similar ones at the sides of the lateral flowers. Ca-
lyx small, (scarcely one-eighth of an inch long,) ovate, 4.toothed. Co-
rolla^ tube (three-eighths of an inch long), cylindrical, white, slightly
hairy within ; limb 4-cleft, perfectly naked above, segments nearly half
the length of the limb, blunt, linear, spreading and yellow when first
expanded, afterwards reflexed, revolute in their edges, and deep uniform
orange colour, faintly and not agreeably perfumed. Anthers 4, sessile
in the throat of the corolla, linear, pollen whitish. Gormen round, green-
ish, and with the filiform, colourless style somewhat hairy^ stigma green,
oblong, bilobular, subexserted.

Our specimens of this very handsome species were several years ago sent
to us, with a liberality by which I often profit, and which I am always
happy to acknowledge, from the Royal Botanic Institution of Glasgow,
and introduced into it, I believe, direct from India. The tomentum,
by which it is so generally covered, is pure white, and could only have

Dr Graham's Description of New or Rare Plants. 17S

been described as rusty, from the characters formerly given having been
taken from dried specimens. Even these, however, if they have been
carefully prepared, remain white. To the same cause I wotlld attribute
the sparing tomentum on the upper surface of the leaves having been
overlooked, and the slight difference in the form of the limb of the co-
rolla in Vahl's description (Symbol. Botan. Pars iii. p. 14.), and in La-
marck's figure, from that which I have observed

Cassia opaca.

C opaca ; calycis foliolis obtusis, bracteolis solitariis infra pedicellos, an-
theris biporosis, glabris ; foliis 5-C jugis, foliolis oblongo-ovatis, ciliatis,
nitidis, glandula acuta, pedicellata, inter 1-3 paria inferiora ; stipulis
ovatis, magnis, erectis, deciduis ; racemis axillaribus, pedicellis patenti-
bus.

Description" — Shrub^ erect. Branches scattered, and slightly flexuose,
green, and somewhat pubescent when young ; hark on stem and older
branches brown. Leaves scattered, spreading or divaricated, leafets in
5 or 6 pairs, oblong-ovate, dark green above, pale below, slightly revo-
lute and ciliated on the margin, every where else smooth and shining.
Petiole swollen, but having no gland, at its base, a small pointed stipitate
gland between one, two, or three of the lowest pairs of leafets. Stipula
Targe, ovate, erect, and embracing the axil of the leaf, dciduous. -ffa-
cemes axillary, collected towards the extremities of the shoots, erect,
half the length of the leaves ; peduncle without flowers for a considerable
distance above its origin, pubescent ; pedicels pubescent, long, straight,
spreading nearly at right angles to the peduncle. Floivers looking down-
wards, handsome, every part except the receptacle, anthers, and gennen,
of orange-yellow colour ; receptacle yellowish-green, and large. Calyx
segments smooth, blunt, of the same colour as the corolla, concave, two
outer phylla smaller. Corolla ; petals clawed, three upper subrotund,
notched, undulated, S-nerved, the lateral nerves branched from their
base, and reticulated towards the edge of the petal, central petal the
largest, two lower boat-shaped, blunt, without notch or undulations, veins
indistinct. Stamens very unequal. Anthers large, dark brown, smooth,
opening by two pores at the extremity. Pistil bent down ; germen green,
curved upwards, compressed, many-seeded, having on its surface a few
adpressed hairs.

This is a very handsome species, the orange coloured flowers contrasting
very prettily with the opaque deep green shining foliage. We received
a plant from Raith this season, it having been raised by Mr Ferguson's
gardener from South American seeds, communicated by Professor Leslie
in 1825.

Leonotis nepetifolia.

L. nepetifolia ; " foliis cordatis, acutis, inciso-crenatis ; calycibus aristatis,
octo dentatis, dente supremo maximo, caule herbaceo." Bot. Reg. f. 281.

Description — Annual. Stems herbaceous, erect, green, simple, but with
the rudiments of branches in the axils of the leaves, tetragonous, angles
very obtuse, sides deeply channelled. Leaves bright green, petioled, de-
cussating, spreading, cordate, slightly decurrent along the petioles, deeply
serrato-crenate, reticulato-veined, soft, inodorous, covered with fine short
and soft pubescence on both sides, veins and their reticulations prominent
below, slightly channelled above ; petioles as long as the leaves, and spread-
ing at right angles to the stem. Spike terminal. Flowers nearly sessile,
in dense, nearly globular, distant whorls, the upper flowers in each ex-
panding first. Bracteae numerous, sun-ounding the base of the whorl,
and nearly hid by it, reflected, keeled, linear, mucronate. Calyx curved,
subventricose and cucullatc, enlarging afler the corolla falls, 10-nerved,
bilabiate ; the upper lip 3-nerved, tapering into one long, straight tooth ;
the lower lip about half the length of the upper, S-nerved, and divided
into three teeth, spreading nearly at right angles to the tube; throat

174 Dr Graham's Description of New or Ra^-e Plants.

with two teeth on each side nearly as long as those of the lower lip, at
first spreading, but as the corolla fades, becoming erect, and finally, with
the sides of the calyx, advancing so as to contract its throat; all the teeth
terminated by hard bristles, whole calyx slightly pubescent on the outside.
Corolla bilabiate ; lower lip short, 3-lobed, withering almost immediately
after expansion ; upper lip elongated, equal in length to the tube, nearly
straight, but slightly arched at its extremity, and 2-toothed, the whole
of the corolla except the lower lip and base of the tube, which are smooth,
thickly covered with red shaggy hairs, diminishing from the apex of the
upper lip downwards. Stamens 4, didynamous, rather longer than the
upper lip, and hanging loosely ; filaments arising from the throat of the
corolla, subulate, nearly colourless, slightly pubescent; anthers crescent-
shaped, pale yellow, attached by their backs to the filaments, smooth.
' Germen elongated, and truncated ; style filiform, nearly as long as the
stamens ; stigma cleft, one of the segments very small.
The figure in the Botanical Register is very good, and the description gene-
rally correct, though both were made from a dried specimen. There is
a wide range over which it appears that this species is found native. It
is certainly the same as the East Indian plant, as is remarked in the Bo-
tanical Register. From the statement in the same work, there is rea-
son to believe that it grows in the neighbourhood of the Congo. In the
Herbarium of this University, there is an indigenous specimen from
Dominica, communicated, along with a valuable collection, by my friend
Staff-Surgeon Lyons ; and our plants in the Botanic Garden were raised
from seeds, collected by Dr Gillies, in South America, and received
through Patrick Neill, Esq. in May last. They have been kept in the
stove.

Loasa patula.

Xf patula ; capsula contorta, quinque loculari ; calyce marcescente.

Description — Root branching, fibrous. Sterna herbaceous, numerous,
spreading wide, ascending, branched, 4-sided, pale, succulent, semipellu-
cid, streaked with deep green. Leaves opposite, decussating, petioled,
spreading, 3-lobed, the middle lobe by much the longest, lobes doubly in-
cised, each with a strong branching middle rib ; petioles channelled, and
stem clasping. Peduncles axillary, erect, tapering, round, longer than the
leaves. Bractece^ 2 at the top of the peduncle, small, subulate. Flowers
nodding. Cal^ of 5 subulate segments, marcescent. Corolla S-petaled ;
petals white, spreading at right angles to the axis of the flower, cucul-
late, compressed, clawed, with one, sometimes two teeth, on each edge, at
the lower part of the limb, and one at the extremity. Stamens numerous,
inserted into the receptacle, inclosed by the petals, till the pollen is
ripe, when they become erect, and advance to the centre of the flower ;
filaments reaching half-way up the hollow of the petals, filiform, colour-
less, united into five bundles at the base ; anthers short, bilocular, burst-
ing at the side, greenish-yellow; pollen white. Germen inferior, ob-
ovate, twisted, green, quinquilocular, seeds numerous, and attached to
the dissepiments ; style straight, cylindrical, pointed at its extremity, at
first shorter than the nectaries, afterwards nearly twice as long; stigma
very minute ; nectaries ten, slender, flattened, curved, half the length of
the filaments, and included in pairs in five sheaths, which are erect in
the centre of the flower around the style, opening longitudinally on
their inner side, yellow, with two reddish-orange bands passing a-
cross them near their apex, and two terminal oblong spots : the first
band consists of short broad streaks, arranged side by side, and- longi-
tudinally in reference to the sheath ; the second of a continuous,
somewhat projecting edge. At the base of each sheath, and equal
to more than half its length, there are three spreading yellow threads,
and at the apex two smaller, and colourless ; the last at first erect,
afterwards recurved. Whole plant, even to the corolla, covered
with inverted stinging hairs, which arise from glands, and transmit

Dr Graham's Descriptimi of New or Rare Plants. 175

through them a transparent fluid secreted by these. This fluid is also
seen with the microscope scattered over the plant in little receptacles
under the cuticle. There are besides these hairs, others, smaller, barbed
along their whole length, but not proceeding from obvious glands. Si-
milar hairs are observed in greater numbers in L. nitula, and probably in
other species. They are possibly merely abortive appearances of the
more formidable pubescence.
We received seeds of this plant, under the name of Blumenbachia insignis,
from Dr Fischer of Gottingen, in February 1827, without any notice of
its native country, which, however, without doubt is South America. The
peculiarities of the germen and calyx which I have adojited as the spe-
cific character, may be considered enoudi to constitute this a genus dis-
tinct from Loasa ; but however true it is that natural genera are formed
in innumerable instances on modifications of these parts, yet I conceive
that this is an example, among many others, in which a good rule, if ap-
plied indiscriminately, would disunite individuals among whom nature
has estabUshed the closest aflinity. In the whole habit, appearance and
stiTicture, with the exceptions above stated, this is a Loasa.

Polemonium Richardsonii.

P. Richardsonn ; cauli piloso^ angulato, erecto ; foliis pinnatis, multijugis,
pinnis ovato-rotundatis, mucronulatis, subtus pubescentibus ; floribus
corymbosis, nutantibus, corollse segmentis obtusis, crenulatis; radice
subfusiforme, longissima.

Description — Root perennial, very long, in the old plant 3 or 4 feet,
yellow, about as thick as the finger, somewhat branched at the apex,
descending deep into the sand, and tending to bind it together, very
much resembling liquorice. Stem erect, herbaceous, green, purplish at
the base, branched. Brandies axillary, chiefly from the lower part of
the stem and the crown of the root, ascending, as well as the stem an-
gular, and having a slightly prominent line along each flat side. Le&ves
pinnate, with an odd leafet ; common footstalk channelled, from the
leafets being narrowly decurrent, and forming a border on each side ;
pinnae very numerous on tlie root-leaves (10 or 12 pairs), fewer on the
stem-leaves, quite entire, a very few shewing a tendency to become
lobcd, sessile, rotundato-ovate, mucronulate, oblique, pubescent below,
naked above, somewhat fleshy, middle rib channelled, veins obscure ;
root-leaves depressed, and spreading, star-like, on Uie ground, at least
when the plant is young. Flowers in terminal corymbs, buds nodding,
when fully expanded fronting outwards, large, pedicels round. Calyx'
persisting, ovate, as well as the stem, branches, and pedicels, villous,
and slightly viscid, 5-cleft ; segments ovate, pointed, spreading a little
while the corolla is fully expanded. Corolla slightly marcescent, but
soon after falling, perfume faint but disagreeable, salver-shaped ; tube
nearly as long as the calyx, yellow and somewhat plaited in its upper
half, colourless below ; limb of five broad, obovat^, spreading segments,
minutely crenated, pale puqile marked with deeper veins, darker at its
base, where on the outside it is very slightly pubescent. Stamens five,
included ; filaments connivent, slender, flattened, awl-shaped, contracted
at the base, inserted into the apices of small, connivent, hairy valves,
which arise within the throat of the corolla, alternately with the seg-
ments of the limb ; anthers sagittate, curved inwards, large, white ; joo/-
len white. Gormen small, ovate i style filiform, equal in length to the fi-
laments ; stigma in most of the flowers 4.cleft, revolute, pubescent.

Seeds gathered by Dr Richardson in 1825, from plants growing in deep
sandy soil on Great Bear Lake, in 66° North liatitude, and received
from him in this country in 1826. The species flowered in a cold frame
at the lloyal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, in the beginning of October
1827.

I have a double reasan for dedicating this species to our excellent and in-
defatigable countryman. It is the first which has flowered among the

176 Dr Graham's Description ofNeiv or Rare Plants.

plants raised from seeds received from him last year ; and while I was
in the act of writing the description, I received information of his ha-
ving arrived in Edinburgh from his last successful survey of the shores
of the Arctic Sea.

Salpiglossis atro-purpurea.

S. atro-purpurea ,• foliis lanceolato-ellipticis, convexis, sinuatis, superiori-

bus integerrimis, linearibus ; stylo edentulo.
Description — Stem herbaceous, procumbent for a little way at the base,
afterwards erect, 2 feet high, somewhat flexuose, branching. Branches
ascending. Leaves scattered, varying considerably in shape, the larger
(3-4 inches long, 1^-1 1 broad) lanceolato-elliptical, often nearly ellipti-
cal or ovato-elliptical, flaccid, and folded back from the middle rib, si-
nuated, the segments generally blunt and entire, sometimes sharp and
occasionally toothed on their sides, decurrent along the petiole, which is
nearly equal in length to the leaf; upper leaves lanceolato-linear and
entire, and on the flowering branches passing into linear hractece. Flowers
on loose terminal panicles^ Pedicels opposite to, or alternate with, the
bractese, stout, slightly curved upwards, as well as the stem and branches,
cylindrical. Calyx persisting, oblong-ovate, 5.cleft, segments acute,
5-angled, angles deep green, the intervening spaces paler and rugose.
Corolla large, inserted into the receptacle, veined, rich deep purple with-
in, more lurid on the outside, funnel-shaped ; tube cylindrical, twice the
length of the calyx ; throat much inflated, a little more on its lower side,
and half as long again as the tube ; limb spreading, 5.cleft, segments ob-
cordate, the largest above, the two smallest below ; stamens four didyna-
mous, with the slender rudiment of a fifth between the two longer, in-
serted into the orifice of. the tube of the corolla ; filaments slightly flat-
tened, purple towards the anthers, paler below ; anthers very large, yel-
low, ovate, bi-lobular, bifid at the base, the outer lobe always the largest ;
pollen yellow. Germen conical, channelled on both sides, bilocular, green ;
style single, terminal, slender below, transversely flattened and much ex-
panded above, without lateral teeth, pale green, longer than the fila-
ments, included; stigma truncated, cleft along its extremity, green. The
stem, branches, leaves, pedicels, and calyx, are covered with a soft, glan-
dular, glutinous pubescence, which appears more sparingly on the out-
side of the corolla, and on the filaments. When fading, the upper part
of the corolla is nearly deliquescent, the decay beginning in round trans-
parent spots, the lower part is somewhat marcescent.
It is impossible to suppose this the same species with the S. straminea of
Hooker, Ex. Fl. t. 229. ; yet as the leaves probably vary, it may not be
easy to find good specific characters. It seems a larger and more robust
plant, the branches and pedicels being considerably stouter and more
straight, and the stamens inserted higher in the tube. It first flowered
in the greenhouse of Mr Neill, Canonmills, Edinburgh, from seeds sent,
by Dr Gillies from hills fifty miles beyond Mendoza. Both the species
have flowered freely in the stove of the Royal Botanic Garden, Edin^
burgh, in September and October, the seeds having been sent from the
f Cordillera by Mr Cruckshanks in 182G. Both differ from the Salpiglossis
figured by Ruiz and Pavon, Prodr. Fl. Peru v. et Chil. t. 19. in the seg-
ments of the corolla being larger, more spreading, and obcordate rather
than emarginate, and in the absence of teeth on the style* Our speci-
mens of -S*. straminea have the tube of the corolla as long as in the S. atro-
purpureay which is considerably longer than in Dr Hooker's figure; and
in this respect both agree with the figure of Ruiz and Pavon.

Verbena barbata.

V. barbata ; caule sufTruticoso, erecto, tetragono, angulis barbatis ; foliis
petiolatis, cordato-ovatis, acutis, crenato-serratis, utrinque pubescenti-
bus ; spicis terminalibus, strictis, gracilibus.

Celestial Phenomena from Jo/n. 1. to April 1. 1828. 177

Description — Stem somewhat woody below, square, contracted at the
origins of the leaves, streaked, rough, angles prominent, and covered with
hard spreading hairs. Our plant is branched at the bottom ; but as the
branches are herbaceous, and stand right up like as many stems, without
being farther divided, it is possible that both the woody structure, and
the branching, may have arisen from the leading shoot having been cut
down. Leaves petioled, opposite, decussating, spreading, cordato-ovate,
reticulato-veined, pubescent on both sides, rather unequally crenato-
serrated. Spikes terminal, solitary, slender. Bractea subulate, longer
than the little pedicel. Flowers small, solitary. Cali/x green, channel-
led, more than twice the length of the braeteae, pubescent, hairs erect.
Corolla pale pink, funnel-shaped, pubescent, hairs reflexed ; tube twice
the length of the calyx ; limb erect. Anthers included ; filaments in*
sccted into the tube of the corolla. Germen ovate; style filiform ; stigma
hooked, exserted just before the bud fully expands, but afterwards in-
cluded by the elongated corolla.

This species has no beauty, nor does it possess any interest except that it
is new. We received the plant from Mr Hogg at New York last spring,
under no name, but with the information that it had been procured from.
Mexico.

Celestial Phenomena from January 1. to April 1. 1828, calcti-
lated for the Meridian of Edinhnrgh^ Mean Time, By
Mr George Innes, Aberdeen.

The times are inserted according to the Civil reckoning, the day beginning at midnights
— Th« Conjunctions of the Moon with the Stars are pven in Right Ascension.

JANUARY.

D.

w- / //

D.

H« / //

2.

5 47 15

O Full Moon.

13.

10 36 54

d])vTTL

2.

18 36 :)7

6 1)h

16.

2 27 22

6^yn

4.

15 2 2

% 3' 20" N. of ^

16.

5 12 10

6D^ '

4.

17 57 53

d D 1 a 225

16.

6 33 51

b3'18"S.ofJn

4.

19 3

6 I) 2a 225

17.

20 48

New Moon.

5.

1(5 24 10

6 Do^

17.

3 53 28

dDJS

6.

2 29 45

dD'T^

17.

12 16 52

69^n

8.

59 12

^0b

18.

6 44 17

Im. I. sat. 1/

8.

5 5 39

dD"^

18.

19 2 45

d))?

9.

17 30 37

d?^ VI

19.

7 - -

d0¥

10.

4 36 8

Im. II. sat. y

20.

23 44 21

enters 5»

10.

7 9 41

( Last Quarter.

22.

11 41 51

d })^ K

10.

11 17 37

d \^n

23.

20 44 4

]) First Quarter.

11.

4 50 51

Im. I. sat. %

24.

5 47 18

dy2«-

11.

11 11

6 D^TIJ

26.

10 2 7

d(?4?:-:

11.

22 53 6

dD^

26.

13 33 25

d ])' «

12.

1 21 48

d ])2« —

27.

3 6 7

Im. I. sat. 1

12.

5 23 56

dDc^

29.

22 27 22

6Dh

12.

18 36 24

dD4C^

30.

1 5 14

66^^

12.

19 30 9

d9vn

OCTOBER DECEMBER 18^7.

1T8 Celestial Phenomena Jrom Jan. 1. to April 1. 18^8.

FEBRUARY.

MARCH.

D.

H. / .V

D.

^' / //

2 10

d D 1 « 2o

1.

14 59 25

66* n.

1 4 52

O FuU Moon

1.

18 52 58

O Full Moon.

1 7 28

d D 2a 25

1.

$ greatest elong.

1 22 25

6 ?^«5

2.

16 51

6D-^

22 3 3

6l)oSl

3.

8 39 18

$29".5N.ofC K

2.

8 23 36

6D ^

5.

23 10 31

6D^^

3.

4 59 32

Im. I. sat. yi

6.

1 30 9

Im. I. sat. y.

3.

7 17 -

Sup. d ?

6.

13 47 19

d})2«:^

4.

2 42 11

Em. III. sat. y.

6.

16 58 51

dDV

4.

5 19 55

dd^ —

7.

58 44

Im. II. sat. y

4.

10 44 28

6D»Sl

7.

7 44 44

6D^^^

5.

12 35

69f^

7.

16 27 57

6D^^

7.

17 45 46

61)^W

9.

2 13 50

dDd

8.

8 20 50

6])^'-^

9.

5 15 54

( Last Quarter.

8.

10 22 50

dDV

12.

4 17 40

d])¥

8.

19 56 17

( Last Quarter.

12.

5 14 30

dD^n

8.

22 13 17

c5d/3Tl^

13.

3 23 43

Im. I. sat. y.

9.

2 9 14

d])4e:cc.

14.

3 31 48

Im. II. sat. y

9.

10 45 33

dD^:^

15.

21 33 49

New Moon.

9.

17 8 52

6D6

16.

3 23 44

dD$

9.

18 55 29

dDvTIi

17.

7 23 8

6D*K

11.

4 3 45

Im. II. sat. 1/

17.

11 38 23

■6D^K

11.

4 29 17

Im. III. sat. V

18.

17 15

Im. III. sat. y

11.

11 17 8

ddvTTi

18.

2 26 1

Em. III. sat. y

12.

1 21 16

Im. I. sat. y

18.

6 15 -

Sup. d $

13.

17 19 4

dD¥

20.

14 42 16

enters T

13.

20 22

dDf^n

21.

2 4 48

d Di^ «

15.

10 46 51

New Moon.

21.

2 35 44

d D2<r «

16.

4 35 23

d])$

21.

4 57 40

6D^ ^

17.

18 3 6

6D9

21.

23 45 44

Im. I. sat. y

18.

21 5 30

dD^K

23.

9 55 56

]) First Quarter.

19.

1 24

dD?K

24.

8 50

6D b

19.

3 14 44

Im. I. sat. 11

25.

4 14 53

Im. III. sat. y

19.

14 38 19

enters K

26.

2 7 27

$ near p T

22.

14 39 39

]) First Quarter.

26.

14 24 47

d }) 1«Q25

22.

17 38 15

d D i«f «

26.

15 30 27

d D 2« OS

22.

18 9 45

d ])2«r «

27.

12 42 32

dDo'si

22.

20 34 32

6D^ ^

27.

22 41

dD^a

26.

10 26

6Dh

29.

1 39 28

Im. I. sat. y

26.

5 8 13

Im. I. sat. 1/

29.

U 5 24

d?«^ T

28.

6 46 42

d }) 1 a 2Z5

30.

22 15

6Dv^

28.

7 52 4

d ]) 2« 2C

31.

10 22 37

Full Moon.

29.

5 I 39

61)0^

Celestial Phenomena front Jan. 1. to April 1. 1828. 179
Times of the Planets passing the Meridian.

JANUARY. 1

D.

Mercury.

Venua.

Mars.

Jupiter.

Saturn.

Georgian.

H. ,

H. ,

H. ,

H. ,

H. ,

H. ,

1

10 44

13 34

7 44'

7 51

33

13 17

5

10 52

13 40

7 37

7 37

15

13 2

10

11 6

13 45

7 30

7 20

23 54

12 44

15

11 20

13 51

7 22

7 3

23 33

12 21

20

11 34

13 55

7 14

6 45

23 11

12 3

25

11 50

13 59

7 6

.6 27

22 49

11 43

FEBRUARY.

Mercury.

Venus.

Mars.

Jupiter.

Saturn.

Georgian.

D.

11. ,

H. ,

H. '

H. ,

H. ,

H. '

1

12 14

14 5

6 55

C 3

22 21

11 23

5

12 22

14 7

6 49

5 48

22 5

11 8

10

12 38

14 10

6 41

5 30

21 44

10 49

15

12 54

14 12

6 33

5 11

21 23

10 31

20

13 6

14 15

6 25

4 52

21 3

10 12

25

13 IG

14 17

6 17

4 33

20 42

9 54

MARCH.

Mercury.

Venus.

Mars.

Jupiter.

Saturn.

Georgian.

D.

H. ,

H. ,

H. ,

11. ,

H. ,

H. ,

1

13 17

14 20

6 10

4 14

20 22

9 36

6

13 9

14 21

6 2

3 58

20 5

9 20

10

12 50

14 24

5 54

3 38

19 45

9 1

15

12 21

14 26

5 45

3 17

19 25

8 44

20

11 45

14 29

5 37

2 57

19 6

8 24

25

11 13

14 32

5 28

2 35

18 47

8 5

I observed the end of the Lunar Eclipse of the 3d November, at 18*'21M4*
Mean Time, allowing for a small error of the clock. During the eclipse, the
Moon's dark limb was so well defined, that it was difficult to determine ex-
actly when the Earth's shadow left the Moon's north limb, as the penumbra
continued for several minutes after the termination of the eclipse G. I.

Proceedings of the Wernerian Natural History Society.
Continued from p. 183. of the preceding Volume.

1827, April 7. — Robert Jameson, Esq. President, in the
chair.— Mr W. A. Cadell read a description of the Hindoo
Smiths'* Bellows, with remarks on the occurrence of a similar
bellows in Europe, as illustrative of the Indian origin of the
Oypsies. — [This paper will be found in the preceding Volume

M S

180 Proceedings qftlie Werner ian Natural History Society.

of this Journal, p. 84, et seq.] — Mr Robert Bald, mining engi-
neer, read Observations on the Coal-field and accompanying
Strata in the vicinity of Dalkeith in Mid-Lothian, and exhibited
a section of that coal-field. — [This interesting communication is
printed in the present Number, p. 115. to p. 122.] — The Rev.
Dr David Scot of Corstorphine, then read an essay on the Se-
mamith of Solomon, Prov. xxx. 25., commonly translated spider,
but which he shewed to be a species of lizard. — [This paper is
also- printed in the present Number, p. 30, et seq.'\ — At this meet-
ing, Mr James Alexander Vintress exhibited a new Stereometer,
or instrument for ascertaining the specific gravity of powders, in-
vented by him.

April 21. — The President in the Chair. — The Secretary
read an account of interesting Works of Art lately discovered in
the ruins of Selinus, by two English architects, Messrs Harris
and Angel ; communicated by Dr Traill of Liverpool. — [This
communication will be found in the preceding Volume of this
Journal, p. 165, et seq.'\ — Likewise a notice by James Wilson,
Esq. regarding a living specimen of the Puma, or American
Lion, lately presented to Professor Jameson. The Rev. Dr
Scot then read a memoir on the " Hyssop"" of the Sacred
Writings. — Dr R. E. Grant exhibited several living speci-
mens of the Virgularia juncea of Lamarck, from deep places
in the Frith of Forth, and made some remarks on the struc-
ture of this zoophyte. Professor Jameson then exhibited and
described a specimen of the Ibis sacra of Africa, brought home
by Major Denham ; the horns of a Wapiti Deer, brought
from California by Captain Ferguson ; a Balsa, or boat or float,
made of two bundles of straw or reeds, used in Peru for cross-
ing rivers, or passing through the surf on the coast ; and a spe-
cimen of the Peccari Hog, presented to the College Museum by
Mr Shenley.

May 19. — Rev. Dr Buunton, V. P. in the Chair — At this
meeting the following communications were read. 1. An ac-
count of experiments on the Magnetic Influences of the Heat
produced by the solar rays, by Mark Watt, Esq. — [Preceding
Volume of this Journal, p. 170. et seq.] 2. Notice of a remark-
able marine animal, probably of the cetaceous tribe, observed in
the Mozambique Channel, communicated by Dr Traill of Liver-

Proceedings of the Wernerian Natural History Society. 181

pool, with a drawing. 3. Notice regarding the native country
of the Potato, Solarium tuberosum ; communicated by Aylmer
Bourke Lambert, Esq. — [Printed in the preceding Volume of
this Journal, p. 192.] 4. Account of the trachea of the Emu
of New Holland, and of the laryngeal pouch of the Rein-deer,
by Dr Traill. 5. Description of a remarkable Aurora borealis,
seen at Edinburgh 16th January 1827, by Mr Blackadder.
[Printed in the preceding Number, p. 342, &c.]

The Rev. Dr Fleming of Flisk, being present, laid before
the meeting some remarks on the genus Scissurella, with a de-
scription of a recent British species found by him in Shetland. —
A living specimen of the Lemur tardigradus, or Tailless Ma-
cauco, brought from China by Mr Baird, was exhibited ; and
some notes by that gentleman regarding its peculiarities, were
read. — [See this Journal for April-June 1827, p. 195.] A
living specimen of the Viverra Mungos, or Mongouste, from
Madras, was also exhibited ; and some remarks, by Mr Alex-
ander Adie Junior, on the habits of the animal since it came in-
to his possession, were read. Lastly, Specimens of native alum
from Chili, and of limestone, containing shells, from the Inca's
Bridge, at a very great elevation, sent home by Dr Gillies of
Mendoza, were laid before the meeting.

Nov. 24. — The Society met for the election of Office-bearers
for the year 1828, when the following gentlemen were unani-
mously chosen.

President.
Robert Jameson, Esq.
Vice-Presidents.
David Falconer, Esq. Dr Hobert Knox.

Major-General Straton. G. A. W. Arnott, Esq.

Secretary^ Pat. Neill, Esq. LUtrarian^ James Wilson, Esq.

Treasurer^ A. G. Ellis, Esq. Painter^ P. Syme, Esq.

Council.

John Stark, Esq. Henry Withani, Esq.

Dr Andrew Coventry. Dr John Aitken.

Dr R. E. Grant. Dr Walter Adam.

Dr John Boggie. E. W. A. Drummond Hay, Esq.

Major-General Steaton, V. P., in the chair. — The Rev. Dr
Scot of Corstorphine read a communication, shewing, that the
Nitre of the Sacred Scriptures is the same substance as the Na-

ISSi Proceedmgs of the Wernerian Natural Historic Society.

tron of the ancient Egyptians, or the Native Soda of modern
chemistry. — Professor Jameson then read an account of a new
magnetical instrument called the Solar Compass, invented by
Mark Watt, Esq., and exhibited the instrument itself. — [This
interesting paper is printed in the present Number of this Jour-
nal, p. 16, et seq.y and a figure of the Solar Compass is given in
Plate I.]

SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.

METEOROLOGY.

i. Great Fall of Rain at Bombay. — In a letter from Mr
^coiijun. of Bombay, he says, that, during the first twehe days
of the rainy season, 32 inches of rain fell, and that then all the
roads became like rivers. In England, the average fall for the
whole year is 32 inches, — the quantity which fell at Bombay in
the course of twelve days.

HYDROGRAPHY.

2. Colour of the Red Sea. — The colour of the Red Sea has
given rise to various investigations. Dr Ehrenberg, who accom-
panied Dr Hemprich, ascertained that it was caused by a spe-
cies of Oscillatoria^ one of those small plants which are interme-
diate between animals and plants.

3. Melted Snow employed as Drink. — A fact related by Cap-
tain Parry, proves that melted snow is not so unwholesome a
drink as it has hitherto been supposed. He and his crew made
use of it for three years without being affected with the glandu-
lar swellings to which, according to the common opinion, they
should have been exposed by employing this beverage.

4. Notice regarding the Falls of Rewah, and a remarkable
Conical Hill at Myhnr. — I left Benares with my regiment on
the 5th of October, and arrived at Jubbulpoor on the 9th of
November 1826. Our route lay through Mizapoor, Rewah,
and Myhur. When at Rewah, I left the corps for two days,
and, in company with some of our officers and their ladies, went
to visit the stupendous falls of the Lounse, or Loonse, generally
called the falls of Rewah. They are three in number, and the

Scientific InteUigence.^^Hydrography. 183

largest of them is allowed to be the grandest yet discovered,
Niagara not excepted. You may hear the noise of the fall at
the distance of many miles ; but the sight which is presented to
you on your nearer approach is grander than I can possibly find
words to express. The water dashes over a perpendicular rock
173 feet high, in one unbroken stream ; and the vapour which
rises from the bottom appears like an immense cloud of white
smoke, and will wet one to the skin 500 yards off. The second
fall is not quite so grand in respect to height, but I think more
beautiful in appearaHce. In the very middle of it stands a rock,
in the shape of a tall pillar, and so slight that you would expect
to see it washed over by the stream which continually dashes
around it. The top of it may be about seven or eight feet in
diameter ; and on that pinnacle lives an old Fakeer, who has not
been off it for the last thirty years. He is supplied with food
by some of the neighbouring villagers, who regard him as con-
stantly employed in contemplation of the deity. At Myhur we
halted a day, which I spent in visiting the town, £md some adja-
cent ruins, which are well worthy of note. About a quarter of
a mile to the south-west of the town, there is a very curious hill,
in the shape of a cone, very steep on all sides, and on the top of
it is erected a small Hindoo temple, to which you ascend by
a stair built in a straight line up one side of the hill, which
is nearly perpendicular. It consists of 523 steps, each about
14 inches high. On going up I had to rest very frequently ;
and, on looking down, I sometimes felt myself so giddy, that
had I not been supported by the bushes at each side, I dare say
I should have rolled down to the bottom. This place was built
long ago by one of the Myhur's Rajahs, and has always been
looked upon by the Hindoos as a most holy spot. From thence
to Jubbulpoor the country is almost all jungle, and the roads
very bad ; and we were all highly pleased when we arrived at
the end of our journey. — Letter from an Officer of the 5tk Ex-
tra Regiment of Native Infantry^ to his Father.

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY.

5. Distances at which Sornids are heard. — I recollect of be-
ing, many years ago, at the west end of Dunfermline, and hear-
ing part of a sermon then dehvering at a tent at Cairneyhill. I

184« Scientific Intelligence. — Natural Philosophy.

did not miss a word, although the distance must be something
about two miles. It was the late Dr Black of Dunfermline who
preached, and who perhaps has seldom been surpassed for distinct
speaking and a clear voice. The sound was sucli as I should
have expected, in favourable circumstances, at a quarter of a
mile. The wind, which was steady, but moderate, came in the
direction of the sound. There are some miraculous stories of
sermons being heard at many miles distance ; but I did not view
it in that light. I was riding westward, and at length saw the
Doctor finishing his sermon, otherwise I should have doubted
whether he had been at such a distance. Whether the sound
had run along the road, as in a tube, I cannot say. I recollect
little of what sort of road it is ; part, I think, has pretty good
dikes, which might guide and confine the sound, aided by the
wind. Some gaping ploughmen may surely be heard calling to
their horses more than two miles ; and, were fishwives in the
open country, their eloquence would probably extend still far-
ther. Unfortunately, most people, when they call loud, are not
intelligible. In Scripture, there seem to be instances of persons
being heard far speaking from mountain tops, but perhaps they
used a trumpet. — H. M.

6. Capillary Action. — From a series of interesting experi-
Bients performed by Magnus, and recorded in Poggendorfs
Journal, St. 5. 1827, it follows, that the rising of fluids through
a bladder, as detailed in some well known experiments, is an ef-
fect of capillary action, and that it can be explained, if we ad-
mit that different fluids force their way through capillary open-
ings more or less easily, according to their degree of tenuity.

7. Farther Observations made on the Solar Compass. — 1.
That the effect produced by the hairs or piles of velvet is much
greater when the velvet is placed over the points of the needle,
than when it is made to surround the circle of cork into which
the needles are fixed. 2. That it seems a farther improvement
to place south and north poles alternately outwards. 3. I have
twice observed it move about 10° to the influence of the full
moon, when the atmosphere was very clear. 4. That its sensi-
bility seems greatly diminished by cold, and that when the ther-
mometer stood at 30° in the shade, it did not move to the influ-
ence of the sun at this season, above tlirce hours, from 11 a. m.

Scientific Intelligence. — Chemistry, 185

to ^ F. M. 5. That, at this season of the year (November), a
circle of cork, with 20 or 30 needles fixed inside of the circle,
having all their points nearly meeting at the centre, and sus-
pended by any very tenuous filament, is more sensitive than
Uiat form of the instrument which traverses on a pivot. — M. W.

CHEMISTRY.

8. Metal of Alumina. — M. Oersted is stated to have ob-
tained the metal of alumina, by employing the chloride of that
earth. Pure alumina is heated to redness, and then intimately
mixed with powdered charcoal ; the mixture is introduced into a
porcelain tube ; and, after heating to redness, dry chlorine gas is
passed over it. The charcoal reduces the alumina, the metal
combines with the chlorine, and oxide of carbon is also formed.
The chloride of aUiminum is soft, crystalline, and evaporates at
a little above the temperature of boiling water ; it readily at-
tracts moisture from the air, and becomes hot when water is
added to it. By mixing with an amalgam of potassium, con-
taining much of the latter, and immediately heating the mixture,
chloride of potassium is formed, and the metal of the alumina
combines with the mercury. The amalgam quickly oxidises by
exposure to the air. Being subjected to distillation, out of the
contact of air, the mercury is volatilized, and a metallic button
is left, which has the colour and splendour of tin. M. Oersted
has ascertained many properties belonging to the new metal, and
its amalgam, which he promises to pubUsh speedily. — Phil. Mag.
Nov. 1827.

MINERALOGY.

9. Largest known masses of Native Platina. — Before Hum-
boldt's return from America, small grains only of platina were
known to naturalists. On his arrival in Prussia, he deposited in
the Berlin Museum a native specimen of Peruvian platina,
weighing 1083 grains. For twenty years, this remained the
largest specimen in Europe. Since 1822, the Museum of Ma-
drid has been enriched with anpther American mass of platina,
weighing 11,641 grains. A few months ago, a still more re-
markable mass was discovered in the Urals, weighing 10§J
Russian pounds. It is deposited in the Museum of St Peters-

1^ Scientific Intelligence. — Mineralogy.

burg. The relative weights of the platina of Berlin, Madrid
and Petersburg are as 1, 11, 75.

10. On the Ostranite, a New Mineral Species ; by Aug. Breit-
haupt. — This substance has only as yet been found in the crys-
tallized state, and in the form of a right rhomboidal prism, slight-
ly modified on the acute lateral edges, and deeply truncated on
the angles of the bases. M. Breithaupt derives this form from
a rhomboidal octahedron, in which the three axes are to each
other as the numbers 1000, 2059, and 1854. The adjacent
faces on the same pyramid form between them angles of 1j28°
14', and 13S° 42'. Their inchnation upon the base is 71° 56'.
The angles of the rhomboidal prism are 96° and 48°. There is a
scarcely perceptible cleavage parallel to the small diagonal of the
base. The lustre of the ostranite is vitreous; its colour is clove-
brown. Its hardness is intermediate between that of orthoklase
and quartz. It is very brittle ; its specific gravity varies between
4.32 and 4.40. The crystals of this substance, which served as
a basis to the preceding determination, were about an inch long;
they formed part of the collection of the Chev. Heyer, of Dres-
den. They came from Norway, whence they were brought by
M. Nepperschmidt, of Hamburg. Nothing is known precisely
with regard to their geognostical relations. Some trials of this
substance have been made with the blowpipe. Treated alone,
it does not melt, but its colour becomes paler. With borax it
melts, but with difficulty, into a transparent glass ; it is insoluble
in nitric acid. From these characters^ and the place which it
occupies in the system, M. Breithaupt presumes that this sub-
stance is a new metallic oxide. He gives it the name of ostranite^
derived from that of the goddess Ostra, in order that, should a
new metallic base be discovered in this oxide, the name of Ostran
may be given it, as has been done with regard to titanium and
titanite, tantalum and tantalite, &c.

11. On the Rose-coloured Pctrosilex of Sahlberg ; by M. Ber-
thier. — M. Berthier proposes to submit to a chemical examina-
tion the petrosilex of Sahlberg, in Sweden. This mineralogist
observesy that the petrosilexes are erroneously considered as va-
rieties of compact felspar. It -is one of those vague denomina-
tions with which science is still disfigured, and which only serve
to lead into error, or to deceive us with regard to what we are ig-

scientific Intelligence. -^Geology. 187

norant of. The petrosilex of Sahlberg, not only does not be-
long to compact felspar, but constitutes a new species, composed
of silica, alumina, soda, and magnesia. — Btdlet. Univ. Aout
1827.

GEOLOGY.

is. Frmn what Countries Imve the Islands in the West In-
dies derived their Plants ? — M. Moreau de Jonnes, who sup-
poses that the deposits, whether calcareous or volcanic, of tlie
Antilles, have been left dry by the sea at a later period than
the great continents, had, in support of this opinion, to inquire
into the origin of their vegetable population, and to endeavour
to find out by what agents, and from what countries, each of
their plants, was transported to them. For this purpose he
prepared, during his residence at Martinique, mixtures of earth
adapted for vegetation, and in which, he was well assured, there
existed no germs of plants. He exposed them with the requi-
site precautions, and separately, to the action of tempestuous
rains, to that of different winds, of birds of passage, and of va-
rious currents, and counted, as far as was possible, the number
of species which each of these causes produced. He also en-
deavoured to estimate how far man himself may contribute to
this end, by transporting seeds or germs of plants in the water
brought from other countries in ships for the use of their crews,
among the matters used for packing foreign goods, among wood
and fodder, as well as in ballast, and among the hair of animals.
The most powerful and constant of the natural agents appears
to him to be the great equatorial current of the Atlantic. He
found that, in the space of two months, it brought seeds of 150
different species ; but all seeds are not capable of being equally
transported by all the agents, and to be able to arrive at a given
distance in a condition to reproduce their species, they require
to possess certain conditions of lightness, mobility, resistance to
destruction, difficulty or facility of germination, and others of a
like nature. Thus, among the 150 species of seeds brought by
the current, there were only twenty-six that germinated. With
regard to the action of man, M. de Jonnes thinks it much su-
|)erior to that of natural agents, and im'agines that, in a few

188 Scientific Intelligence, — Geology,

centuries, it is capable of entirely changing the relations esta-
blished by them in'a country immediately after its origin. — Hist.
de TAcad. Roy, des Sc. t, vi. p. cxiii.

13. Fossil Sheletatis of Guadaloupe, — Cuvier finds that the
calcareous mass in which these human skeletons is imbedded,
contains land-shells and sea^shells of the same species as those
met with in the neighbouring sea and adjacent land ; that, there-
fore, the mass is modern, and the product of some encrusting
springs which run towards the place where the skeletons are
met with.

14. Organic Remains of the Alluvium and Diluvium of
Sussex. — In the alluvial and diluvial deposits of Sussex, the
remains of animals hitherto discovered are very few, compared
with those found in other countries of England. Mr Mantell
mentions but two kinds as having been noticed (Geology of
Sussex, p. 284.), viz. the elephant and horse. A short time
since some , labourers, who were employed in deepening the bed
of the river Ouse, which flows through a chalk valley by Lewes,
and empties itself into the sea at Newhaven, discovered, in a
bed of sand beneath the blue alluvial clay that forms the
marshy tract called Lewes Levels, the entire skeleton of a deer
of a very large size. The horns were quite perfect, and mea-
sure 3 feet in height, and 3 feet 2 inches at their greatest width.
The antlers had seven points, and resembled in their form those
figured by Cuvier of the Canadian deer. The greater part of
the skeleton was destroyed by the carelessness of the workmen,
and a few bones only preserved. Of these, the tibia measures
14i inches in length, and the ulna 15 inches to the end of the
olecranon. The ramus of the lower jaw (imperfect) 11 inches.
These remains are in Mr MantelFs collection at Castle Place,
Lewes. Still more recently, bones of the deer have been found
in the diluvial gravel that forms the low line of cliffs to the
west of Brighton, at Copperas Gap near South wick. These,
like all the other bones that have been discovered in this bed,
were broken, and promiscuously intermingled with the soil.
Two teeth of a species of deer, and portions of several humeri,
were identified. Part of the tusk of an elephant was also found
with them, and pebbles of granite, in a state of decomposition.
Teeth of the Asiatic elephant have been met with in the loam-

Scientific Intelligence. — Geology. 189

pits at Hove. The Reverend H. Hoper of Pontslade has these
interesting remains in his possession. — Phil. Mag. Nov. 1827.

15. HansteeiCs projected Journey to Siberia. — Our distin-
guished correspondent Professor Hansteen of Christiania writes
to us as follows : " I am still living in hopes that I shall be
able to set out on my journey through Siberia to Ochotz in Fe-
bruary or March 1828. Being myself not sufficiently expe-
rienced in natural history, I shall be accompanied by a young
mineralogist, Keilhau, of this place (Christiania) ; and Profes-
sor Erman of Berlin has offered me the company of his son Dr
Erman, and assures me that Baron von Humboldt and Baron
von Buch are ready to furnish him with the necessary instruc-
tions in geological and geognostical science.*"

16. FartclCs Jourriey through Transylvania. — Partch of
Vienna, an active and acute geologist, was sent by the Austrian
government, in 1826, into Transylvania. He remained in that
very interesting, but much neglected, part of Europe from
April 1826 to February 1827. In defiance of all the difficul-
ties opposed to him in his progress through a country without
roads, covered with extensive forests, and affording only the
most miserable accommodation to the traveller, he made a full
survey of its mines and saline districts, and of the rock forma-
tions over great, tracts. Boue gave him the use of the geological
maps he constructed during his perilous expedition through that
country. He is inclined to refer the saliferous sandstone of the
middle districts to the tertiary class of rocks. Boue asks, in a
communication to us, Is there not, in Transylvania, a sahferous
deposite in the Carpathian sandstone, of the same age with the
secondary salt formation, or of some of the gypsums of the Alps,
and also a more recent deposite connected with that tertiary mo^
lasse which is of the same age with the salt in the blue marl of
the Appcnines and of Sicily ? Boue is of opinion that nearly
the whole of the molasse takes the place of the blue tertiary marl,
which is higher or newer in the series than the Paris coarse ma-
rine limestone : still the position of the lower Nagelfluhe along
the Alps is dubious.

17. Fossil Remains of Quadrupeds in the Tertiary Rocks of
Vienna. — During the course of last summer, there was found
in the tertiary sand (above the blue marl with shells), near to

3.90 Scientific Intelligence. — Geology.

the Botanic Garden at Vienna, fragments of the Mastodon an-
g^ustidcns, and also of the Anthracotherium. M. Fitzinger has
described and figured them in a pamphlet lately pubhshed. An
imder jaw of the anthracotherium has been found in the lignite
or brown coal of Schauerleithen, near Neustadt, in the vicinity
of Vienna, which hgnite lies in the blue marl. It is also worthy
of remark, that such bones are also found in the coarse shelly
tertiary limestone, under the blue marl ; so that, judging from the
bones alone, we would be disposed to consider both as belongs
ing to the same formation, — an opinion which cannot be enter-
tained.

18. Von BucJCs Observations and Speculations in regard to
the Alps. — Von Buch, during last summer, visited the Bavarian
Alps and the Suabian Alps or Jura, and seems disposed to con-
sider the alpine li^nestone ridge as recent, probably partly Ju-
rassic and partly chalk. The same distinguished geologist read
to the Academy of Munich a paper on the Hippurites found at
Reichenhall ; and, in PoggendorfF's Annals for 1827, he has an

, interesting memoir on the boulders of granite, &c. spread over
the Jura and neighbouring countries, in which he maintains
they have reached their present situations at the time of the
rising from below of the primitive mountains, which he consi-
ders newer than the tertiary. It is worthy of notice, that De
Luc of Geneva published at the same time (May last) a simi-
lar memoir in the Memoirs of the Soc. de Phys. de Geneva,
vol. ii. 1827, in which he states, as his opinion, that the Alps
were formed after the tertiary rocks, and that the boulders were
dispersed by that great rising from below of the land.

19. Boues Memoir on European Formations, and their
probable Origin. — One of the most interesting memoirs lately
published, is that whose title we have just given. It appeared
in the Journal of Leonhard for July 1827. Unfortunately
the promised map has not been published.

20. Dr BouS on Secondary Rocks. — Dr Boue, during a vi-
sit to Solothurn, saw, along with Professor Huggy, the shell
limestone (muschel kalkstein) forming protuberances under the
Jura limestone, and the rauchvvacke, or porous magnesian lime-
stone, with cuneiform masses of gypsum. Above these he
found the following arrangement : — lias and its marl ; the sand

Scientific Intelligence. — Botany. 191

of the inferior oolite ; then great masses of oolite and compact
limestone ; a thick bed of contorted, unstratified, rather crystal-
line, hmestone, without shells ; and above this, near to Solothum,
an upper Jurassic deposite, with ammonites, encrinites, croco-
diles, and tortoises. Dr Bou^ is of opinion that the Swiss Ju-
ra does not contain any Jurassic deposites newer than the coral
rag ; and further, that the equivalent for the coral rag is near-
ly wanting in the German Jura.

BOTANY.

21. Signs of Increase, Maturity., and Decay in Trees; by
M. Baudrillac. — The qualities of wood depend much on the
state of the tree when cut down. It appears from the experi-
ments of M. Hartig upon wood applied as fuel, that trees which
have attained maturity without passing into decay, are the best
for the production of heat. Thus the value of an elm of 100
years is to that of one of 30 years, as 12 is to 9 ; that of an ash of
100 years to one of 30 years, as 15 to 11. When the trees begin
to decay, their value rapidly diminishes : thus, if an oak of 200
years yields wood worth 15 francs per corde, a tree of the same
kind passing to decay yields wood only worth 12 francs. When
the wood is used for other purposes, the advantages conferred
by a mature and healthy state are still more considerable. The
common elm, growing in a forest, and in good earth, acquires
its full increase in 150 years ; but it will live many ages, even
500 or 600 years. Large forest elms are cut down with ad-
vantage when of an age between 100 and 130 years, and then
furnish a large quantity of building wood. The duration of the
life of the elm depends much upon the soil ; in a dry soil it be-
comes aged, as it were, in forty, fifty, or sixty years. Elms which
have been lopped live for a shorter period than the others.
Those which grow by the roadside, or in their plantations, may
be cut when seventy or eiglity years of age. In general, the
increase of hard woods, as the oak and elm, is small at first ; it
successively augments until the twentieth or twenty-fifth year,
is then uniform until the. age of sixty to eighty years, after
which it sensibly diminishes. For these and other reasons, it
is important that trees should be cut down when they are at
their mature state, and not simply when they undergo no fur-

192 Scientific Intelligence. — Botany.

ther increase. When the period has arrived after which the
increase of the tree would be less and less from year to year,
then the tree should be felled, for no advantage accrues from
its remaining longer in the ground. The indications of the
mature state of a tree are by no means so evident as those of
decay, but still certain signs of these states, as well as of the
vigorous condition of the tree, may also be observed.

I. Signs announcing the Vigour of a Tree.—^hQ branches,
especially towards the top, are vigorous ; the annual shoots
strong and long ; the leaves green, vigorous, and thick, princi-
pally at the summit, and falling late in autumn ; the bark is
clear, fine, united, and nearly of the same colour from the foot
to the large branches. If at the bottom of the veins or divi-
sions of the thick bark there appear smaller divisions which
follow from below upwards, in the direction of the fibres, and
live bark be observed at the bottom of these divisions, it is an
indication that the tree is very vigorous, and rapidly increasing
in size. If some of the lower branches, stifled by others, are
yellow, languishing, and even dead, this is an accidental effect,
and is no proof of the languor of the tree. Finally, It is a sign
of vigour when branches are seen at the summit of the tree rising
above, and being much longer than the others ; but it is to be
observed, that all trees with round heads do not throw out
branches with equal force.

II. Signs which indicate that the Tree is mature. — General-
ly the head of the tree is rounded ; the shoots diminish in length
each year, and the furthest shoots add to the length of the
branches only by the length of the bud ; the leaves are put
forth only in spring, and become yellow in autumn before
those of vigorous trees, and at this time the lower leaves are
greener than the upper. The branches incline towards the ho-
rizon, and form angles sometimes of sixty or seventy degrees.
These apparent signs, and the thinness of the layer deposited
by the sap, indicate that the tree makes but small additions to
itself, and now it should be cut down. The nature of the
earth should be examined, as well as the kind of tree, to enable
a judgment whether the tree should be left to increase still fur-
ther, or whether it will be more proper to fell it. An exact
age cannot be assigned for each species ; but it has l?een ob-

4

Scientlflf: Intelligence. — Botany. 193

served, that an elm, situated in an insulated plantation, may be
felled with advantage when between seventy and eighty years of
age.

III. Signs of Decay in a Tree. — When a tree becomes
crowned, i. e. when the upper branches die, it infallibly indi-
' cates, especially for isolated trees, that the central wood is un-
dergoing alteration, and the tree passing to decay. When the
bark separates from the wood, or when it is divided by separa-
tions which pass across it, the tree is in a considerable state of
degradation. When the bark is loaded with moss, lichen, or
fungi, or is marked with black or red spots, these signs of alte-
ration in the bark justify suspicions of alterations in the wood
within. When sap is seen to flow from clefts in the bark, it is
a sign that the trees will soon die. As to wounds or gutterings,
these defects may arise from local causes, and are not necessa-
rily the result of old age. — Biblioth. Phys. Econom. 1826,
p. 13.

22. Botanical Excursion in Sutherlandshire. — In an excur-
sion which Dr Graham took with part of his pupils into the
North of Scotland, in August last, the following stations for rare
Scotch plants were ascertained.

Alisma ranunodoides^ ditch north end of Cromarty Frith. Radiola millegrana^
abundant on road sides near Tain. Senecio liv'tdus^ abundant along with S.
sylvaticus^ on road sides near Lairg, Loch Shin. Senecio Jacobcea^ var. with-
out ray, abundant on sand-hills behind the manse of Farr, as well as in the
station at Strathy where it was observed by Dr Graham two years ago.
Schosnus nigricans^ very abundant on sides of Loch Shin, and many other
places in the west of Sutherlandshire. It is also extremely common in the
Isle of Skye. Carex panciflora^ bogs, side of Loch Shin ; Ben More, Assynt ;
and in several other stations in Sutherlandshire. Utrimlaria intermedia^
bog on Ben More, Assynt ; small loch two miles east of Farr church. Apar-
gia alpina^ Ben More, Assynt ; as well as on Fonnivan, a mountain at the
toj) of Ijoch Inchard, in the same station in which Dr Graham observed it
two years ago. There is not a doubt that this is the plant known as A. al-
pina on the Continent, as has been proved by comparing it with authenti-
cated specimens from several stations on the Alps and Pyrenees ; but whe-
ther it be really specifically distinct from A. auiumnalis^ is a different ques-
tion. There seem to be intermediate varieties, and it is more than pro-
bable that this genus, and Leontodon in particular, are subdivided by the
Continental botanists beyond what is justifiable. In neither of the stations
mentioned is the plant abundant. Poa aipitia, and Hieraciiim alpinum, Ben
More, AsHynt ; neither of these plants were observed any where else in
Sutherlandshire. Droscra longifolia^ bog north side of Ben JNIore, Assynt,
far less common than D. anglica^ which is more abundant in the north and
west of Scotland than D. rotundifoUa. Cerastium alpinum^ Ben More, Assynt ;
and several other mountains in Sutherlandshire. Aira alpina, Ben More,
Assynt ; and Fonnivan, near the top. Cherleria sedoides^ on all the moun-
tains in Sutherlandshire, in the utmost profusion. Arbutus alpina, abun-

OCTOBEE DECEMBER 1827. N

194 Scientific Intelligence. — Zoology.

dant in Sutherlandshire, generally on the tops of the low shoulders of the
mountams. Vaccinmm uligifiosum, many of the mountains in Sutherland-
shire. Epipactis latifolia^ on limestone rocks in Assynt, and at Keoldale,
parish of Durness, on the north sea. In the last place very abundant,
though no station so far north in Scotland is quoted. At this place Drt/as
octopetala^ Thalictrum alpinum^ Primula scotica^ and Glauoe maritima^ growing
in contact, form a group which can be seen no where else in Britain. Pyrm
Aria, limestone rocks, Assynt ; Glencoe. Plialaris arundinacea, var. colorata.
Island of Handa, oiF Scourie, west coast of Sutherlandshire. Arabis hispida^
in abundance on several of the mountains in Sutherland, always in per-
fectly dry stations, and generally among broken quartz. On Benhope
alone, in micaceous soil, and there only hairy ; every where else quite
smooth, and on Ben Hope every specimen observed was hairy. Eleocharis
multicaulis, pools between the head of Loch Inchard and Arcle, abundant.
Scilla verna^ in profusion at Far-out-Head, and on a knoll behind the
manse at Farr ; in both situations growing in dry peat-turf, mixed with
sharp white sand. Primula scotica, profuse in many places along the north
coast. Pyrethrum mariiimum, abundant on sea-cliffs at Far-out-Head, and
behind the manse of Farr. Potentilla alpestris, Ben Hope. Astragalus ura-
lensis, abundant on sand-hills behind the manse of Farr. Hieracium uni'
bellatum, rocky knoll behind the manse of Farr. Asplenium marinum, sea-
cliffs behmd the church of Farr. Juncus arcticus, cliffs behind the church
of Farr, and in several places in the neighbourhood of Cape Wrath and
Oldshore. Sagina maritima, ruined castle on the cliff behind the manse of
Farr.
It is not long since the Senecio tenuifolius was ascertained to be a Scotch plant,
growing at Woodhall, near Airdrie ; Dr Graham has lately received speci-
mens from Mr Baird, who has found it abundantly in the parishes of
Lady Kirk and Swinton, particularly on the farm of Little Swinton. — K. G*

ZOOLOGY.

23. On the tendency of Matter to become Organized. — We
noticed, on former occasions, M. Bory de St Vincent's obser-
vations on those ambiguous beings, which, during a part of
their hfe, are collected into filaments, whose colour and gene-
ral aspect are those of vegetables, and which, at certain pe-
riods, separate and assume the voluntary motion of animals.
M. Gaillon, an enlightened observer, the author of an inte-
resting memoir on the cause of the green colour in oysters,
has discovered that it is produced by the Conferva comoides.
He has seen the greenish corpuscules, which form its axis, be-
come detached, advance with more or less rapidity, change place,
and, in short, act in all respects like enchylides and cyclidia.
Taking entire filaments, he forced these minute beings to sepa-
rate before the time ; and, in this case also, they manifested the
same voluntary movements. Their propensity to associate is so
great, that, whenever the young can do so, they arrange them-
selves, one after another, in a single line ; and, when in this po-
sition, M. Gaillon thought he observed them to exude from

Scientific hitelligence. — Zoology. 195

llieir substance a mucosity, which forms itself into a membrane,
and entirely envelopes them *. M. Bory de St Vincent has con-
tinued to occupy himself with these microscopic transformations,
having in view to penetrate to the first combinations of matter
to which these corpuscules seem so near. Observing the appear-
ances successively presented in water exposed to light, he thought
he saw, for the first time, matter assume the aspect of a simple
mucosity, without colour or form. If the water contains any
animal substance, it produces a pellicle of this mucosity at its
surface, then becomes turbid, and discloses an infinity of living
atoms, if we may so call those monads, which, after being mag-
nified a thousand times, are not so large as the point of a nee-
dle, and which yet move in all directions, with prodigious velo-
city. This is what M. Bory names matter in the living state.
When the water is exposed to the air and light, there quickly
forms what is named the green matter of Priestley, which many
observers have supposed to be the first state of certain confervae,
or plants of a like nature. M. Bory thinks that it is a combi-
nation of a more general form, and only susceptible of entering
into the composition of these plants, as well as of the animal-
cules which issue from it, and which produce them. He names
this combination matter in the vegetative state. It is by it that
the infusory animals are rendered green. Those which colour
oysters, according to M. Gaillon's observations, produce this ef-
fect, as M. Bory says, only because they are themselves colour-
ed by the green matter. It colours,* in the same manner, the
water and the shells of these oysters ; and it would not be im-
possible to find some tinged directly by this matter, without any
animalcules having penetrated into them. It is so difficult to
render observations of this kind complete, and one may always
so easily suppose an anterior state, still more attenuated, and
which may have escaped every microscope, or invisible germs,
which the necessity of the concurrence of air prevents from se-
parating, that many philosophers will probably refuse to admit

• M. INIertens, a botanist of Bremen, has observed similar facts on the C(w-
ferva mutabilis. On the 3d August, he says, it was in its vegetable state ; on
the 6th it resolved itself into molecules possessed of mobility ; on the Cth some
of these molecules united into simple articulations ; and, on the 11th, it was
restored to its original form.

N 2

396 Scientific Intelligence. — Zoology-

the consequences, which the author would draw from these facts,
for attributing to matter a general disposition to become orga-
nised, which would be independent of the ordinary mode of ge-
neration. — Mem. de VJcad, Roy. des, Sc. t. vi. p. cxxi.

24. On the Animalcules that colour Oysters Green. — M. Gail-
Ion has sent new observations on the animalcules which colour
oysters, and which, after M. Bory de St Vincent, he names Na-
vicules vertes. He has remarked other species, which also pe-
netrate into the substance of the oyster, and give it different co-
lours, rendering it grey, brown, or yellowish. Among these are
the Vibrio bipunctatus, and tripunctatus of Miiller. It is re-
markable, that the green navicule does not exist in the waters
of the sea, nor even in the fresh water of the neighbourhood of
Dieppe. It only multiplies, in a certain degree, of saltness and
stagnation of the water, such as is known to produce it in the
pares, where the colouring in question is produced. M. Gaillon,
however, has seen some that issued from a conferva of the genus
Vaucheria found in fresh water about Evreux.

25. Beaver. — The beaver of Europe M. Cuvier is now dis-
posed to consider as specifically distinguished from that of Ca-
nada, by the form of its head. Viewed in profile, instead of pre-
senting a nearly uniform curve from the occipital bone to the
end of the ossa narium, its outline is almost straight, being in-
flected only towards its middle ; its sagittal and occipital project
strongly, the zygomatic arch is broad, and much depressed, the
whole cerebral portion is considerably elongated backwards, and

' the nasal bones advance far beyond the orbitar process of the os
frontis. These parts are obviously less developed in the Ame-
rican beaver, which also appears to be one-sixth smaller at the
same age than the living European one now in the Jardin du
Roi. In their habits there appears to be less to distinguish
them than has hitherto been supposed. The European species
evinces the same aptitude and ability in constructing a habitation
as are exhibited by the beaver of Canada, anecdotes in proof of
which are given by M. F. Cuvier (Zoological Journal). On these
observations by M. F. Cuvier, we would observe, that, on compar-
ing the skull of a Canadian beaver with the very fine specimen
which was dug up some years ago in Scotland, and which, in all
probability, belonged to an individual of the European variety

Scientific Intelligence. -^Zoohgy. 197

or species of beaver, the differences pointed out by M. Cuvier
can scarcely be said to exist. \st. The skull is considerably
larger than the Canadian variety ; but this is not any specific
difference. 94^ The 'profiles very nearly correspond. 3^/, The
sagittal crest is strongest in the Canadian skull ; the occipital
strongest in the Scottish, ^th. The nasal bones differ conside-
rably, and the observation of M. Cuvier is quite correct in this
respect. — R. Knox.

26. On the Culture of Bees in Forests^ by M. Buttner. —
It has been a custom in Livonia, from time immemorial, to make
cavities in the trees of a forest, for the purpose of receiving and
rearing the swarms of bees. Some of the proprietors have hun-
dreds, and even thousands, of bee trees. Those which are cho-
sen for this purpose are large oaks, firs, pines, alders, &c. It has
been objected to this system, that it destroys the forests and di-
minishes the quantity of building wood ; but M. Buttner ob-
serves, that it is not necessary to choose the finest trunks, and
that stunted trees are equally serviceable for this purpose, if they
have sufficient size. He states also, that a bee tree is worth
more than if sold for wood ; that the old hollow trees, which
will serve for an age or two, spread seed around, and cause the
production of young seedlings, which would be obtained with dif-
ficulty, by destroying the old trunks. He adds, that the pure
air of the higher regions agrees better with the bees than the air
inclosed in hives, which receive the exhalations of the earth, and
in which contagious diseases sometimes make great ravages.
The proof he offers is, that, when garden bees swarm, they arc
directed instinctively towards the woods, whilst the bees of the
wood never swarm towards the gardens. — Bull. Univ. D. vii. 34.

27. Peculiar Cases of the Use of Milk as Food. — The giraffe
which was sent to the king of France by the Pacha of Egypt,
was observed never to drink the smallest quantity of water, but
only milk. This odd circumstance is explained by the person
who describes its habits and manners, as resiilting from the cir-
cumstance, that, being taken whilst young, it was, probably,
supplied with milk, which, not having been discontinued, has
occasioned this permanent inclination in the animal. It appears
very probable, that animals which drink but little naturally,
will not drink water, if a sufficient quantity of milk be supplied

J 98 Scientific Intelligence. --^Zoologij.

to them. Milk was offered to the young asses which had been
separated from their dam for some time, and they drank it with
pleasure. It was then offered to a young mule, and to a horse
five years of age ; both drank of it. Being offered to a monkey,
It seemed never to have taken enough. Pigs, dogs, cats, and
rats, drink milk with avidity. " I will quote, on this occasion,
a curious fact, but little known, that of a goat, which sucked
itself, and which was, with difficulty, broken off* this bad habit."
Now, as there are so many animals which are fond of milk, with-
out having preserved the habit of drinking it, it will not seem
surprising that the giraffe, a herbivorous animal, which has been
continually supplied with this drink, should prefer it to all others.
— Mem. du Museum, xiv. p. 74.

28. On the predestination qftlie Sex; by M. Hufeland.— In a
memoir printed in his Medical Journal, in 1819, M. Hufeland
shewed that the numerical relation of the individuals of the two
sexes in man (21 : 20) is the same over the whole surface of the
globe ; that this relation does not depend either upon climate or
planetary influences, or upon the generative act, but that the
sexual difference already exists in the germ formed beforehand
in the mother, and that the fecundating principle has only to
give animation to it. To the recent inquiries made in France,
by MM. Olivier, Prevost, Dumas, and Girou de Buzamique,
and the conclusions which they have elicited, M. Hufeland op-
poses several objections, viz. 1^^, The sexual union of a middle
aged man with a younger woman, being, for very natural rea-
sons, the most frequent of all, there ought to result a very great
excess of male children, which, however, is by no means the case ;
9dy In long wars, where the class of young men is nearly ex-
hausted in a nation, a marked excess ought to manifest itself on
the side of the female sex, which, however, is never observed;
Sc?, The conjugal unions in which the parties are of equal age,
ought to produce an equal number of male and female descen-
dants, through the whole duration of life, which is not the case.
^th. Experience shews conjugal unions of middle aged men with
young women, by which, however, there have been only female
children ; 5th, Even allowing all the combinations established up-
on the influence of the relative age of the father and mother,
they are not sufficient to explain the constant relation of 21 : SO

2

Scientific Intelligence. — Zoology, 199

between the sexes. The same objections may also be made to
the influence attributed to the relative power of the constitution
of the male and female, which has been estimated for the pur-
pose of levelling the exceptions. With regard to experiments
upon animals, it is clear that they are inapplicable to man. The
numerical relation between the two sexes does not depend upon
accidental circumstances, but is founded upon a superior law of
nature, constant in all climates, and at every period of time, and
always the same in all its relations.

29. Growth and Habits of a Young Rhinoceros. — The first
dimensions taken of the animal were made at three days old,
when it measured two feet in height, three feet four inches and
three quarters in length, and four feet and seven-fourths of an
inch in its greatest circumference. Since that, it has increased
in the following proportions : From three days to one month it
gained five inches in height, five inches and three quarters in
length, and three inches and three quarters in. circumference ;
while, from the age of one to fourteen months, it increased one
foot seven inches in height, two feet in length, and two feet se-
ven inches in circumference. From fourteen to nineteen months,
four inches in height, one foot four inches and a half in length,
and two feet four inches in circumference, — the rhinoceros be-
ing, at the date of the last measurement, in December 1825,
four feet four inches high, seven feet four inches and a half long,
and nine feet five inches in circumference. The general aspect
of the cub now resembles the mother, the heavy folds of the skin,
which were wanting in July, being fully formed in December.
The nasal horn, at the latter period, scarcely protruded two inches
beyond the skin. The observations made by Mr Hodgson, sur-
veyor-general of India, are of great value, in reference to all
questions respecting the rate of developement and full growth of
many of the larger animals, respecting which scarcely any au-
thentic statements are to be found in authors, although they
have exercised the genius of Buffon, and other philosophical
writers. The diminished ratio of increase of height, remarkable
in the later period of developement, as staled by Mr Hodgson,
renders it probable that the animal will yet be a long time in ar-
riving at its adult size, — a supposition which is also rendered
probable by its seventeen months'* gestation, and the slow growth

200 Scientific hitelligence, — Physiology,

of its horn. Mr Hodgson, in pursuing his inquiries, has had
reason to remark the amiableness of the young animaPs disposi-
tion, both towards his keeper and strangers ; an instance, he ob-
serves, of the power possessed by Asiatics, through their tran-
quil famiharity of taming the most formidable quadrupeds. That
the rhinoceros will submit to the domesticating influence of man,
we have seen more than one instance ; nor would the tractability
of this herbivorous animal seem in any way a matter of surprise,
when we know that the fiercest of the carnivorous tribe have be-
come the attached companions of their master, if the rhinoceros
had not been held up by writers of every age and country as a
standard of brutality and untameable fury. India exhibits nu-
merous proofs of false conclusions by natural historians regard-
ing the habits and temper of animals, and affords a field of in-
teresting inquiry respecting their instinct, as contradistinguished
to what might be called their educatable faculties. This sub-
ject has hitherto, we believe, only been treated by the naturalists
of Europe, who have relied, in many cases, upon very vague or
insufficient narratives, but never by any person residing in the
native country of the animals whose history has been recorded.

30. Cuvier's Great Worli on the Natural History of Fishes . —
This very important work, in which Cuvier and Valenciennes
have been so long engaged, and which will contain descriptions
of five thousand species of living and fossil fishes, is now in the
press, and will soon appear.

31. J Nezo Species of Pentacrinus discovered in the West
Indies. — We are informed that a naturalist of St Vincent's, we
presume Mr Lansdown Guilding, has found in the Caribean
Sea, a new species of this tribe. This fact is the more interest-
ing, when viewed in connection with the discovery of a British
species, described by Mr Thomson in his memoir, noticed in
the present number of this Journal.

PHYSIOLOGY.

32. Distribution of Nerves in Muscular Fibres. — In a me-
moir on muscular action, MM. Dumas and Prevost have com-
municated some very interesting microscopical observations on
the distribution of the nerves in the muscular fibres, and on the
forms which these latter assume during their contractions. They

Scientific Intelligence. — Anatomy. 201

placed a thin piece of muscle, retaining its nerves, under the mi-
croscope, and made it contract b)? means of galvanism. The
fibres contracted by bending in a zigzag manner, and the last
nervous filaments were seen to proceed parallel to each other
Irom the branch giving origin to them, to be inserted precisely
at the points where the fibres form their angles.

ANATOMY.

33. Sabulous Formation in the Brain. — Dr Bergmann of
Celle, in a memoir transmitted to the Royal Society of Gotten-
gen, gives an account of twenty cases of earthy granulations oc-
curring in the plexus choroides of the lateral ventricles of the
brains of insane persons. These earthy granulations resemble
those of the pineal gland. Mr Stromeyer examined both va-
rieties, and found their constitution similar, and of the following
nature : Phosphat of lime in large quantity, phosphat of mag-
nesia in small proportion, traces of carbonate of lime, and an
animal substance of an albuminous nature. — Bullet. Univ. c. x.
p. 128.

ARTS.

34. Water Works of the Ancient Romans. — It is an errone-
ous, but at the same time a prevailing opinion, that the ancient
Romans were unacquainted with some of the simplest laws of
the motion and pressure of water. This is, however, unfound-
ed, as Pliny informs us, as a general principle, viz. that water,
conducted in pipes or tubes, will always rise to the same height
with the fountain from which it flows. The water was con-
ducted by the Romans into their buildings, either by channels
constructed of masonry, or by means of wooden pipes, or even
of earthen ware ; and allowed a descent of one foot in sixty for
the flow of water, which was admitted into a reservoir, divided
into three equal compartments, after it had been brought within
the walls of the city ; one to supply the pools and fountains, a
second for the baths, and a third for the palaces and private
houses. The pipes used by them were of lead, about ten feet
long, seven inches and a half in the bore, and a quarter of an
inch thick *. However, they were very averse to the use of

• Specimens of Roman leaden pipes are preserved in the Museum of Na-
tural Philosophy in the University.

202 Scientific Intelligence.'-^ Arts.

leaden pipes, knowing them to be of an unwholesome nature.
They were made of thin plates of lead, bent in the form of a
cyhnder, and soldered at the edges : casting, as practised at
present, was unknown. The supply of water was regulated by
the dimensions of the spouts ; these were of twenty-five descrip-
tions. The standard spout seems to have been about nine-tenths
of an inch in the bore, and its length about eight inches and
seven-tenths ; and, if that was also the height of the column of
water, 1970 cubic feet would be discharged in the space of
twenty-four hours.

35. Manner of Bronzing Statues, Medals, and Ornaments,
made of Copper or Bronze. — The receipts for communicating
to newly cast bronze a colour which gives it the appearance of
old bronze, vary more or less. We shall here give the method
employed by Jacob, one of the best artists of Paris. Take two
gross of sal ammoniac, half a gross of salt of sorrel, which dis-
solve in a demi-setier (400 grammes) of white vinegar : after
cleaning the metal well, dip a pencil slightly in the solution,
and rub it continually on the same place, until the colour is
dry, and the tint has acquired the desired intensity. That
the drying may take place more quickly, this operation is per-
formed by exposing the object to the sun or in a stove. The
bronze colour becomes deeper, in proportion to the length of
time occupied in passing the^brush over the same place. — Journ.
des Conaiss. Usuel. et Pratiq. n. 27. t. v. 1827.

36. Loss of Gold and Silver in Gilding and Plating. — Fifty
thousand pounds worth of gold and silver are said to be annu-
ally employed at Birmingham in gilding and plating, and which
is therefore for ever lost as bullion.

37. Piney Tallow. — Piney tallow is a vegetable product,
which resembles common tallow in many of its properties. It
is obtained from the piney tree (Vaterica Indica), by boiling the
fruit in water, when the tallow is soon found to rise to the top
in a melted state, and, on cooling, forms a solid cake. The
colour of the tallow is generally white, but sometimes yellow ;
it is greasy to the touch, with some degree of waxyness ; it is al-
most tasteless, and has an agreeable odour. It melts at a
temperature of 97^° and consequently remains solid in the cli-
mate of India. The piney tallow is used only for medicinal
purposes at Mangalore, but the tree is common throughout the

Scientific Intelligence. — Arts, ^' 203

western coast of the peninsula of India, at least as far northward
as the boundaries of the province of Canara ; and there would
no doubt be sufficient to supply a considerable demand for this
valuable product. The piney tallow has been made known in
this country by Dr Babington, according to whose analysis 100
parts contain carbon 77, hydrogen 12 J, oxygen lOf , = 100.—
London Mechanic^'' Register.

38. Indelible Writing Ink. — The following, recommended as
a process for preparing indelible writing ink, or at least as a sort
of approximation to it, is copied from the last number of the
Royal Institution Journal. " Let a saturated solution of indi-
go and madder in boiling water be made in such proportion as
to give a purple tint ; add to it from one-sixth to one-eighth of
its weight of sulphuric acid, according to the thickness and
strength of the paper to be used. This makes an ink which
flows pretty freely from the pen ; and when writing which has
been executed with it is exposed to a considerable but gradual
heat from the fire, it becomes completely black, the letters being
burnt in and charred by the action of the sulphuric acid. If
the acid has not been used in sufficient quantity to destroy the
texture of the paper, and reduce it to the state of tinder, the
colour may be discharged by the oxymuriatic and oxalic jicids
and their compounds, thojigh not without great difficulty.
When the full proportion of acid has been employed, a little
crumphng and rubbing of the paper reduces the carbonaceous
matter of the letters to powder, but by putting a black ground
behind them they may be preserved ; and thus a species of in«
delible writing ink is procured (for the letters are, in a manner,
stamped out of the paper), which might be useful for some pur-
poses, perhaps for the signature of bank notes."

39. Lardner'^s Lectures on the Steam-Engine. — A short series
of popular lectures on the steam-engine, by Dr Lardner, the
Professor of Mechanical Philosophy in the London College, is
announced for publication. The author professes to have treat-
ed the subject in the most familiar style, and to have stripped
it so far of mathematical reasoning and technical phraseology,
as to render it at once intelligible and interesting to the general
reader.

40. Carter's Patent Cast-iron Roofing.— 'Carter's patent cast-
iron roofing is represented by the patentee as well adapted for

S04 Scientific hitelligence. — Arts.

covering public buildings, private dwellings, and warehouses.
The expence of this cast-iron roof, compared with one of lead,
including deductions for the want of close boarding, which is
indispensable for a lead covering, is quoted at not more than
one-third of the expence of a leaden roof. At the Toll-end fur-
naces in Staffordshire, the expence of these cast-iron plates is
stated atL. 11, 10s. per ton, and the freight to London at L. 1,
10s., and about one-third less to Bristol, Liverpool, and Hull.
It is also said, that, owing to these plates being small, and loose-
ly fitted together, they are less subject to fracture from changes
of temperature than lead, which is frequently confined, and does
not allow room for the contraction and expansion occasioned by
changes of temperature. A slate roof is estimated by the pa-
tentee to last about fifty years ; while, in that time, the iron
would scarcely be deteriorated ; and in case, he adds, of destruc-
tion of a building by fire, the old iron will be worth nearly half
of its original cost. A square of 100 feet of these plates is es-
timated to weigh 1000 lb., while the same one of copper roofing
weighs, according to Tredgold, 100 lb. of lead, 800 lb. of large
slates, 1120 lb. of ordinary slates, 900 lb. to 500 lb., and of
pan tiles 1780 lb. to 650 lb. It is particularly suited, in point of
taste, to the Grecian style of architecture, inasmuch as it re-
quires to be laid at a less angle than is common with any other
metallic covering. The effect also produced by the simple and
regular form of the parts composing this covering, is said to be
pleasing ; and the eye is relieved by the lights and shades which
arise from the alternate projection, the apparent thickness, and
from the gradation of the plates. The patentee recommends
that the plates be three-sixteenths of an inch in thickness, and that
they be cast in squares of two feet, with flanges of two inches in
depth. The weight of these plates will be about 10 lb. per
square foot ; and he conceives that this roof will require no fas-
tening, but that their weight and particular construction will se-
cure them against the effects of high winds. But should any
one be doubtful of this, he proposes to cast a loop in the under
side of each plate of the raised row of plates, by which they
may be hooked or chained down to the rafters. It must be ob-
vious that the raised rows would effectually secure the sunk
ones in their places. This contrivance we consider as ingenious.

Scientific Intelligence. ^^ Arts, 205

and the application of the platus to be extremely simple ; but
the roof should be more substantially fixed to the rafter than
is proposed by the patentee. Upon making a model of these
plates, there appears to be a Want of cover at every angular
junction of four plates, by which an opening, whose area will
depend upon the nicety with which the plates are fitted, is left
at each end of the upper edge of the plates of the sunk row.
At this junction, some additional cover seems necessary to en-
sure a water-tight roof. Perhaps, for our climate, the flanges of
these plates should be three or four, instead of two inches deep,
as in coverings a drip of even three is found to be small enough.
The price of old iron seems also to be overrated, at least it sel-
dom, in Scotland, brings more than a one-fifth of its original
value. With regard to the period assigned for the duration of
slates, it may be mentioned, that, for good slates, even 100
years would be considered as a safe calculation. Upon the
whole, we are of opinion that it would be well to practise this
mode of roofing upon sheds and other temporary erections, un-
til experience shall have shewn it to be an efficient water-tight
covering.

STATISTICS AND GEOGRAPHY.

41. Civilization of the Aborigines of Newfoundlands — Our ac-
tive and enterprising friend Mr W. E. Cormack,whose interesting
journey across Newfoundland appeared in a former Number of the
Journal, is about to embark in another undertaking, which will,
we hope, prove successful. He writes to us as follows: " Ex-
ploits^ Neiofoundland^ October 27. 1827. — I have been looking
forward to communicate with you on the condition of the Baeo-
thicks or Red Indians, the aborigines of Newfoundland. I am
here with three Indians, — a Micmack, a mountaineer, and a
Bennakee (Canadian),— -equipped and ready to set off into tlie
interior, in search of some of the Boeothicksy to endeavour to
obtain a friendly interview with them, as a step to commence
bringing about their civilization. I leave the sea-coast to-mor-
row, and intend to devote a month in traversing those parts of
the country where they are most likely to be met with. The
season of the year will not admit my traversing every place
where they may be found, but I expect to come up with some
of their encampments within a month hence. Government made

206 Scientific Intelligence. — New Pitblications*

one vain attempt to reconcile this tribe to the approaches of civi-
lization about sixteen years ago ; but to civilize a long persecuted
tribe of savages requires repeated attempts of this kind.

42. %^aptain Parry's reported Second Expedition to the North
Pole. — Although it has been generally believed that Captain
Parry was next season to resume his attempt in reaching the
North Pole, we can assure our readers that no such plan ever
was entertained by the Admiralty. The report may have ori-
ginated in Captain Franklin's having expressed a wish to be al-
lowed (by means of a ship sent by Bering''s Strait), to finish
the very small portion of the north coast now remaining unex-
amined ; and, at the same time, a similar patch on the Asiatic
side, respecting which a doubt has hitherto existed. But we are
informed there will certainly be nothing undertaken until Cap-
tain Beechy's return with the Blossom.

NEW PUBLICATIONS.

1. Introduction to Comparative Anatomy. By Professor Ca-
Bus of Dresden. Translated from the German by R. T.
Gore, Esq. 2 vols. 8vo, with a Quarto Volume of Plates.
Longman & Co. London, 1827.

-^^ OT WITHSTANDING the number of contributors to compara-
tive anatomy in this country, it is somewhat remarkable that
the translations of Blumenbach, Cuvier, and Carus, are almost
the only elementary works on this highly interesting and useful
branch of science, which exist in the English language. Pro-
fessor Carus, the author of the manual now before us, was for-
merly teacher of tlie science at Leipsic ; he has travelled and
examined animals, both in their recent state, and prepared in
museums, particularly in the extensive museum of comparative
anatomy under the care of Rudolphi at Berlin, and he is the
author of various memoirs and treatises on this subject. The
splendid illustrations of comparative anatomy, now publishing
at Leipsic, in large folio fasciculi, is the production of Carus,
and most of the plates of that work are drawn by him from na-
ture ; but his reputation is chiefly founded on his recent im-

Scientific Intelligence^^New Publications. 207

portant discoveries of the circulation of the blood in different
orders of insects. His present elementary work contains a com-
prehensive sketch of the actual state of the science, and the ma-
terials are arranged according to new and peculiar views. In
place of commencing with the most complex animals, and exa-
mining their structure in a descending series, as is usually done,
he has traced the gradual and successive developement of the
different organs of the body, from their first and simplest ap-
pearance in the lower classes, to their most complex and perfect
forms in the higher orders of animals. By keeping constantly
in view the functions of animals, and the modifications which
entire systems of organs present in the different classes, he has
rendered this work a highly interesting and useful introduction
to comparative physiology. The treatise commences with a me-
thodical list of the principal works and memoirs which have
appeared on this subject up to the present time ; and although
the limits of this compilation have prevented the author from tra-
cing the progress of discovery in any department of the science,
the deficiency of his references is amply supplied by the nume-
rous notes and extracts of his judicious and intelligent transla-
tor. Mr Gore, who is likewise the translator of Blumenbach's
Natural History, has added to his translation of Cams copious
extracts from the works of Rudolphi, Meckel, Teidemann,
Blumenbach, Reil, Weber, Spix, Camper, Soemmering, Geof-
froy, Desmoulins, Cuvier, De Serres, Blainville, Home, and al-
most every other continental or British authority, which render
it greatly superior to the original as a work of reference. The
accompanying plates contain 330 figures, which are executed on
a small scale, to adapt them for more general circulation. Two
hundred of these figures were drawn by Carus from nature ;
the rest are selected from Trembley, Cavohni, Spix, Gaede,
Teidemann, Cuvier, Swammerdam, Scarpa, Rudolphi, Rosen-
thal, Herold, Treviranus, Geoffroy, Arsaky, Meyer, Mery,
Emmert, Nitzsch, Blumenbach, Daubenton, Fisher, Albers,
Kieser, Wolff, Hunter, Home, Macartney, and Carlisle. In
the table of classification, and throughout the wqrk, Professor
Carus has adopted a new arrangement of the animal kingdom,
modified from the Rcgne Animal of Cuvier, by the author's
own researches concerning the structure of insects. From the

208 Scientific Intelligence — New Publications.

discovery of the circulation in certain neuropterous, coleopterous,
dipterous, and orthopterous insects, and from the extent of
respiration in this class, he has placed them, along with the
Crustacea and Vermes, at the head of invertebrate animals, as
possessing a more complicated and perfect organization than the
mollusca. By this arrangement it follows that the Planaria,
the Thalassima, the Taenia, and even the Hydatis, are more
perfect animals than the Sepia, the Loligo, and the Octopus.
Although the existence of a circulation in insects does not war-
rant conclusions so extraordinary, it is a highly interesting fact,
and shews a further analogy between them and the Crustacea,
in which it has been long known to exist. The first volume of
the work is devoted to the consideration of the organs of ani-
mal life, including the nervous system, and the organs of sense
and motion, which are examined first in invertebrate animals,
from zoophytes to insects, and then in the four classes which
possess a skeleton with brain and spinal marrow. The second
volume treats of the organs of organic (or vegetative) life, in-
cluding those of digestion, respiration, secretion, circulation, and
reproduction, which are examined in the same order, from the
lowest animals upwards to the most perfect. This mode of
considering animals in an ascending scale, appears the most na-
tural, as it leads us from simple to more complex objects, it is
the order of their creation, as pointed out by their fossil remains,
by sacred testimony, and by all the phenomena of organized
bodies, and it is the arrangement so admirabl}^ developed in the
system of Lamarck. Notwithstanding occasional errors, insepa-
rable from a work which embraces the structure of all existing
animals, we consider this treatise of Professor Carus as a valu-
able contribution to comparative anatomy, and the translation
by Mr Gore, as an excellent outline of the present state of the
science, calculated to serve as a work of reference, and to sup-
ply a great desideratum in our language.

2. Conversations on the Animal Economy. By a Physician ;

in Two Volumes 8vo. liongman & Co. 1827.

Mrs Marcet^s admirable Conversations on Chemistry, Na-
tural Philosophy, and Political Economy, are well known, and
much esteemed by the public. The present volumes are in imi-

Scientific Intelligence. — New Publications, 209

tation of that accomplished lady'*s writings. The author, in our
opinion, has succeeded in producing for the instruction of the
general reader, and even the learned, an accurate, interesting,
and highly amusing account of the animal economy.

3. Memoir on the Pentacrinus europceus ; a recent Species
discovered in the Cave of' Cork, July 1. 1823 ; with Two il-
lustrative Plates. By John V. Thompson, Esq. F. L. S.,
Surgeon to the Forces. King and Ridings, Cork ; and Treut-
tel and Wurtz, London. 1827,

Until the publication of this valuable memoir, naturalists
were acquainted with only one living species of this very rare
and curious tribe of invertebrate animals. The P. europaus^
described by Mr Thompson, is about three quarters of an inch
in height, slender in proportion, and has been hitherto found
attached to the various species of Sertularia and Flustra,
which occur in the deeper parts of the harbour of Cork, viz. in
from eight to ten fathoms. He is of opinion, and we think he is
right, that the Pentacrinus is a stipitate Asterias, most nearly
allied to the genus Comatida. The remarks in the memoir, in
reference to the fossil animals of this group, are deserving the
attention of the geologist; and the neatly executed accompanying
plates add to the value of these and other observations of our
author. We are happy to find Mr Thompson is about to pub-
lish, in a series of numbers, accompanied with figures, a work,
entitled, ^' Zoological Researches and Illustrations;" which,
judging from the present memoir, promises to add much to our
knowledge of the natural history of the tribes of animals to
which Mr Thompson has devoted his attention.

4. Anatomical Description of the Human Eye. By Alexander
Watson, Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, &c.
Illustrated by a Coloured Plate. Maclachlan and Stewart,
Edinburgh. 1827.

The description of the human eye in this memoir is accu-
rately and neatly executed. The accompanying coloured plate
contains a series of views, illustrative of the structure of the eye,
drawn with great accuracy, and beautifully coloured. This
little work will be useful to the student of anatomy and surgery;

OCTOBER— DECEMBER 1827. O

210 Scientific Intelligence. — New Publications.

and we can safely recommend^it to the student of natural history,
and also to those interested in natural philosophy.

Forthcoming Transactions q/' Foreign Societies.

The Helvetic Natural History Society, at their meeting in
August last, decreed that their Memoirs should be printed.
The first volume is at present in the press ; and, besides many
interesting memoirs, contains an important paper by De Lusser
of Altdorf, on the Suite of Formations extending from St Go-
thard to the MoUasse.

A second volume of the Nera Alpina, an interesting Swiss
work, has just appeared : it contains many zoological and two
mineralogical papers.

De Caumont, Secretary to the Linnean Society of Calvados,
announces a third volume of the Memoirs of the Linnean So-
ciety of Calvados, with Geological Maps of that country, and
Memoirs of Desnoyers, Marcel de Serres, and Prevost. He has
taken charge of printing the Memoirs, and as he is rich and ac-
tive, he cannot fail to be useful to the sciences.

Ferussac intends still farther to enlarge the plan of his excel-
lent Bulletin, so that it may flourish after his death. The acti-
vity of this man is truly wonderful, when we recollect that he was
shot through the chest during the Spanish war, and is labour-
ing under the effects of that nearly fatal accident.

List of Patents granted in England jrom Vtth August to 9>0th

Noveinher 1827.
1827,
Aug. 17' To LE3IUEL Wellman Wright of Mansfield Street, Borough
Road, Surrey, for improvements in the construction of Cranes.
21. To Lemuel Wellman Wright of Mansfield Street, Borough
Road, Surrey, for improvements in machinery for Cutting To-
bacco.
To Gabriel de Serras of Leicester Square, Stacey Wise, apd
Charles Wise, of Maidstone, paper-makers, for certain improve-
ments communicated from abroad, in Sizing, Glazing, or beauti-
fying the materials employed in the manufacturing of paper, paste-
boardj'i^Bristol-boards, &c.

List of EngUsh Patents. 211

Aug. 30. To John Hague of Cable Street, Wellclose Square, for a new me-
thod of working Cranes or Tilt Hammers.

To B. M. Combs of Birmingham, for certain improvements on, or
additions to, a Pulley Machinery, and apparatus used for securing,
fixing, and moving curtains, and roller and other blinds.

To William Deltmee of Upper Mary-le-Bonne Street, Fitzroy
Square, pianoforte-maker, for improvements on Pianofortes.
Se])t. C. To William J. Ford of Mildenhall, fan-ier, Suffolk, for improve-
ments in the make, use, and application of Bridle-bits.

To George Clymer of Finsbury Street, for an improvement in
Typographic Printing between plain or flat surfaces.
Oct. 11. To Joseph Hall and Thomas Hall of Leeds, for an improve-
ment in the making of Metallic Blocks for drawing off liquids.

To Elias Carter of Exeter, for a new covering for the Roofs of
Houses, &c.

To Joshua Horton of West Bromwick, boiler-maker, for a new
method of forming and making of Hollow Cylinders, Guns, Ord-
nance, Retorts, and various other hollow and useful articles in
Wrought-Iron, in Steel, or composed of both these metals.

To Goldsworthy Gurney of Argyle Street, Hanover Square,
surgeon, for improvements in Locomotive Engines, and other ap-
paratus connected therewith.

To James Stokes of Cornhill, London, for improvements in ma-
king, boiling, burning, clarifying or preparing Raw or Muscovado
bastard Sugar and Molasses.

To John Wright of Prince's Street, Leicester Square, for im-
provements in Window Sashes.
Nov. 6. To James Smethuest of New Bond Street, for an improvement
upon Lamps.

To Frederick Foveaux Weiss of the Strand, surgeon*s-instru-
ment-maker, for improvements in the construction of Spurs.
8. To James White of Paradise Street, Lambeth, engineer, for a ma-
chine or apparatus for filtering, which he denominates an Artifi-
cial Spring.
10. To John Platt of Salford, near Manchester, fustian-dresser, for
certain improvements in machinery for Combing Wool, and other
fibrous materials ; communicated from abroad.

To Williaji Collier of Salford, fustian^shearer, for certain im-
provements in the Power-Loom for weaving ; communicated from
abroad.
17. To John Walker of Weymouth Street, Mary.le-Bonne, Esquire,
for an improved Castor for furniture.

To Henry Pinkus of Philadelphia, for an improved method of Pu-
rifying Carburetted Hydrogen Gas for the purpose of illumination.
20. To Sa3iuel Sevill of Brownshill, in the parish of Bisley, Glou-
cestershire, clothier, for his himprovements applicable to raising
the Pile, and dressing Woollen and other Cloths.

( ^12 )

List of Patents granted in Scotland from 3d October to 6th
December 1827.

1827,

Oct. 3. To Peter Burt of Waterloo Place, in the parish of St Ann, Lime-
house, in the county of Middlesex, mathematical instrument-
maker, (in consequence of a communication made to him by a cer-
tain foreigner residing abroad) for " an improvement on Steam-
Engines."
24. To Joshua Horton of West Bromwick, in the county of Stafford,
boiler-maker, for " a new and improved method of forming and
making of hollow Cylinders, Guns, Ordnance, Retorts, and various
other hollow and useful articles in wrought-iron, in steel, or com-
posed of both of these metals."

Nov. 2. To Samuel Pratt of New Bond Street, in the parish of St George,
Hanover Square, in the county of Middlesex, camp-equipage. ma-
nufacturer, for " certain improvements in Bedsteads, Beds,
Couches, and other articles of furniture, principally designed to
be used on shipboard.'*
To Thomas Breidenbach of Birmingham, in the county of War-
wick, merchant, one of those designed Quakers, for " certain im-
provements on Bedsteads, and in the making, manufacturing or
forming articles to be applied to or used in various ways with bed-
steads, from a material or materials hitherto unused for such pur-
pose."
22. To William Fawcett of Liverpool, in the county of Lancaster,
engineer, and Matthew Clark of the island of Jamaica, en-
gineer, for " an improved apparatus for the better manufacture
of Sugar from the Canes."

28. To Bennet Woodcroft of Manchester, in the county of Lancas-

ter, manufacturer, for " certain processes and apparatus for print-
ing and preparing for manufacture Yams of Linen, Cotton, Silk,
Woollen, or any other fibrous materiaL"

29. To Lemuel Wellmann Wright of Mansfield Street, Borough

Road, in the county of Surrey, engineer, for " certain improve-
ments in the combination and arrangement of Mechanical Powers,
applicable to the purposes of driving machinery, and lifting and
moving heavy bodies."
29. To Lemuel Wellman Wright of Mansfield Street, Borough
Road, in the county of Surrey, engineer, for " certain improve-
ments in the combination and arrangement of machinery for ma-
king Metal Screws."
Dec. 6. To Joshua Jenour junior of Brighton Street, in the parish of St
Pancras, in the county of Middlesex, gentleman, for " a Cartridge
or Case, and Method of more advantageously inclosing therein, shot
or other missiles, for the purpose of loading fire-arma and guns of
different descriptions."

THE

EDINBURGH NEW

PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL.

I37L
BwgraphicalMemoir of Peter Simon Pallas, Counsellor of ^jy^
State to^^Imperial Majesty of all the Russias,^ By Baron^A^^^
CuviER, Knight, Professor, &c.

W HEN a man has devoted his whole life to science, when,
being occupied solely in observing and writing, he has only in-
termitted his researches during the time necessary for their pub-
lication, — it might be expected that his career would not be
marked by any remarkable incident, and that the analysis of his
works would, in a manner, present the history of his life. But
if, labouring only for those engaged in the same pursuits, he
disdained to render his writings attractive to others ; if, with
the view of presenting the greatest number of facts in the short-
est space, he uniformly stated them in the simplest manner, and
left to others the easy merit of deducing their results; this very
analysis becomes a matter of extreme difficulty, and to give any
distinct conception of his works, it would be necessary to tran-
scribe them.

Such was Pallas. Separated in his youth from his family
and country, a third of his life was passed in the deserts, and
the rest in his cabinet ; and in both situations he made a prodi-
gious number of observations, and produced a multitude of me-
moirs and volumes. The whole of his writings, though desti-
tute of embellishment, are full of novelties and truths ; they
have placed the name of their author in the first rank among
naturalists, who are continually turning them over, and quoting

JANUARY — MARCH 1828. P

814 Biographical Memoir of Peter Simofx Pallas.

them in every page ; they are received and consulted, with equal
interest, by historians and geographers, by those wlio study the
philosophy of languages, and the character of nations. But it
is precisely this multiplicity and this diversity of his labours that
obliges me, at present, to reduce his eulogiuni almost to a mere
table of contents, which it would be impossible for me even to
read in full, and for which I entreat, beforehand, the indulgence
of my auditors.

Peter Simon Pallas, Counsellor of State of the Emperor of
Russia, Knight of the order of St Volodimir, member of the
Academies of Science of Petersburg, London, Berlin, and Stock-
holm, and Foreign Associate of the Institute of France, was
born at Berlin on the 22d September 1741. His father was Si-
mon Pallas, Professor of Surgery in the University of Berlin,
and his mother, Susanne Leonard, who was of French extrac-
tion, but born in the Colony of French Refugees established at
Berlin.

Being destined by his father for the medical profession, he
was, at an early age, instructed in various languages, and made
such rapid progress, as, in a short period, to be able to write,
with nearly equal facility, in Latin, French, English and Ger-
man. This faculty, which is more easily acquired in youth, will,
without doubt, every day become more general, more especially
as the sciences have ceased to possess a common language, and
as there is not a single great empire in Europe in which several
are not spoken. It cost so little trouble to the young Pallas,
that he was always at the head of his companions in their other
studies, and, not content with what his masters assigned him, he
occupied his leisure hours in Natural History, and with so much
success, that, at the age of fifteen, he sketched ingenious divi-
sions of several classes of animals.

After attending the lectures of Gleditsch, Meckel and RoloflP
at Berlin, and of Rcederer and Vogel at Gottingen, he went to
Leyden to finish his medical studies under Aibinus, Gaubius
and Muschenbroeck.

At this period, the possession of numerous colonies in both
Indies, and the command of the commerce of the world, for two
centuries, had accumulated in the Dutch collections the rarest

Biographical Memoir of Peter Simon Pdilas. 215

productions of nature ; and the taste for natural history, for
which the mother of the last stadtholder was so much distin-
guished, gave d new impulse to its study.

With the decided predilection which Pallas brought with him
into such a country, it was impossible that his ardour for that
science should not be increased. A voyage to England still far-
ther strengthened and increased it, and, having formed the reso-
lution of making it henceforth the occupation of his life, he so-
licited his father''s permission to settle at the Hague.

It was there thdt he published, in 1766, Elenchus Zoopliyto^
rum, or table of zoophytes, the first of his great works. Five-and-
twenty years before this time, corals had been generally considered
as plants ; and the discovery which Peyssonnel made of their ani-
mal nature appeared to Reaumur so paradoxical, that, in publicly
mentioning it, he did not venture to name its author. But, shortly
afterwards, the more astonishing discoveries of Trembley, regard-
ing the divisibility of the polypus, and the detailed observations
of Bernard de Jussieu and Ellis, on the corallines of our shores,
dispelled every doubt on the subject. With the consent of all'
naturalists, an entire order of organised beings passed from one
kingdom to another : Linnaeus inscribed them among the ani-
mals ; the young Pallas undertook to arrange them, and draw
VLp their catalogue. The Dutch collections furnished him with
a rich harvest of them, which he arranged with a rare degree of
sagacity. The preciseness of his descriptions, and the care with
which he referred the synonyms of other authors to his speciesf,
were very remarkable in an author of only twenty-five years of
age. His introduction was still more so. He rejected the old
division of natural objects into three kingdoms, and shewed that
plants have not marked classes like animals, insomuch that they
are only, so to speak, one of the classes of the great organic
kingdom, as quadrupeds, fishes, and insects seVerally are ; a
truth with which our botanists seem scarcely impressed at the
present day. In maintaining this approximation of the two
kingdoms, he did not, however, also adopt the single scale of be-
ings, which the genius of Bonnet had rendered so popular ; on
the contrary, he presented the tree of organisation as producing
a multitude of lateral branches, which it would be impossible to
arrange in linear continuity, without doing violence to nature.

p2

216 Biographical Memoir of' Peter Simon Pallas.

With regard to corals, in particular, he shewed the error of the
definition which was then almost generally received, as if they
were hives of polypi ; he demonstrated their trunk to be itself a
living substance, a sort of animal tree with several branches and
heads ; a compound animal, the stony part of which is only the
common skeleton, which grows at the same time as the indivi-
dual animals, but is not fabricated by them. Linnaeus was the
first to support these bold ideas, which are now universally re-
ceived *.

The Miscellanea Zoologica, which Pallas published the same
year as his Elenchus, added still more to his reputation. So
young an author was seen with astonishment, uniting in himself
all the merits of the great masters who then divided among them
the empire of science ; boldly assuming as his models the great
French naturalist and his fellow-labourer Daubenton ; taking
upon himself their conjoined labour, and, without allowing him-
self to be swayed by their authority, combining, with the pro-
found sagacity of the one, and the patient accuracy of the other,
those methodical and strict views condemned by both.

But what would have excited still more astonishment, had
the public mind at this period been capable of estimating it, was
the sudden light which he threw upon the least known classes
of the animal kingdom, those which were confounded under the
common name of Worms. Not allowing himself to be imposed
upon by the errors of Linnaeus, any more than by those of Buf-
fon, he shewed that the presence or absence of a shell cannot
afford the true basis of their distribution, but that the analogy
of their structure ought to be first consulted ; that, in this re-
spect, the ascidiae, and not the tethyses, as Linnaeus imagined, are
the true analogies of the bivalves ; that the teredo, as Adanson
had already shewn, ought also to be united with them ; that the
univalves, on the contrary, are more allied to the slugs, the do-
rises and scyllaeae ; lastly, that the aphroditae, of the anatomy of
which he at the same time gave an excellent account, ought to
be placed near the nereides, the serpulae, and other articulated
vermes, whether these possessed shells or not.

• The Elenchus Zoophytorum has been translated into Dutch by Boddart,
and into German by Wilkens. Herbst has published the latter translation
with additions and plates. Nuremberg, 1787? 4to.

Biographical Memoir of Peter Simon Pallas, 9X1

Assuredly the naturalist whose first glance was so penetrating,

would have cleared up the chaos in which these invertebrate

animals were enveloped, had he continued to pursue the inves-

'■ ligation ; but unfortunately, he published his ideas before they

were sufficiently matured.

He did not separate the sepiae from the slugs so much as they
should be separated ; he imagined the medusae to have an affi-
nity to these two genera which they do not possess ; he admitted
also an affinity, which does not exist, between the bivalves and
the echinodermata ; and, lastly, he associated with these latter,
on the one hand, the actiniae, which are zoophytes ; and, on the
other, the sea-acorns or balani, which are much more closely al-
lied to the bivalves.

These errors, which a little more examination would have en-
abled him to have avoided, contributed, perhaps, to reserve for
other times a necessary revolution in the track to which he was ad-
vancing, — so much are the conquests of mind, like other con-
quests, subject to be arrested by the smallest accident. The most
astonishing circumstance is, that he himself should have over-
looked these beautiful perceptions. Having returned to Berlin in
1767, he reprinted, with many additions, his Miscellanea, under
the title of Spicilegia Zoologica, and omitted unquestionably
the most valuable memoir of the first collection ; nor did he ever
again turn his mind to the subject.

These two works spread wide the reputation of Pallas, and
various governments made proposals to him. Perhaps he would
have preferred his own, had he received the least encouragement
from it; but, as too often happens, it was in his own country
that his value was least appreciated. When thus under the ne-
cessity of quitting his native land, he did not hesitate what other
to select. The country which presented a newer field to his re-
searches was preferred, and he accepted a place which was of-
fered him by Catherine II. in the Academy of Petersburg.

The Russian Empire, in the ninth century, the period at
which history begins to speak of it, already almost extended
from the Baltic to the Euxine Sea. Its existence was first an-
nounced to Europe by its bold enterprises against the Turkish
Empire. Being soon converted to Christianity, its sovereigns
allied themselves with the Kings of France, and entered into po-

^18 Biographical Memoir of Peter Simon Pallas-

litical relations with the other potentates. An imprudent divi-
sion gave rise to discord in their states, their best provinces were
conquered by the Poles, and they themselves became tributary
to the Tartars for three centuries. They at length cast off this
yoke, and became conquerors in their turn ; but, during their
subjection, literature and civilization had reappeared in Europe,
and Russia, at hey restoration to freedom, found herself a.X an
immense distance behind the other christian states. The first
English who landed there, in the sixteenth century, considered
it almost as a new discovery. Peter the Great made astonishing
efforts to introduce into it the customs and knowledge of Europe.
After passing through all the ranks, to habituate his great no-
bles to military subordination, after working as a carpenter, in
order to form a marine, he wished to be admitted as a member
of the Academy of Science of Paris, for the purpose of inspiring
his people with a taste for instruction ; but, in the accomplish-
ment of these objects, his success was not equal : The army was
promptly subjected to the German mode of discipline ; the covirt
quickly assumed the French manners ; while, to have an aca-
demy, it was necessary to bring its members entirely from other
countries, and to keep it up for a long time by recruits from
them.

Germany, where the numerous cities and universities pro-
duced in some measure a superabundance of instruction, con-
stantly supplied these deficiencies, and many of her most illus-
trious literati found in Russia a fortune, and means of prosec^v-
ting their favourite pursuits, which, perhaps, they could not
have enjoyed in their own country. It was thus that Bernoulli,
Bayer, Euler, Gmelin, Miiller, Amman, I.owitz, Duvernoy,
gave to Europe that beautiful series of labours, under the titk
of the Memoirs of the Academy of Petersburg ; it was thus that
they laid open to us, in all its relations, the immense territory of
Russia, and, it may be said, made it known to the Russian Go-
vernment itself.

In fact, no sooner had the Grand Dukes of Russia obtained
possession of the throne and title of the Czars of Tartary, tibeir
ancient sovereigns, than some enterprising adventurers pushed
their way toward the East. The most prudent settled among
the mountains rich in ores of every description, which form the

Biographical Memoir of Peter Simon Pallas. 219

true boundary of Europe and Asia ; while others attacked the
only remaining princedom of any consequence that existed in
these barbarous regions, and delivered up his states to their Czar.
As soon as the Russians had gained a footing on the Irtisch and
Oby, their inquiries after furs and mines drew them farther on ;
by degrees they imposed some tributes upon the wandering
tribes of those vast solitudes ; — and thus, in less than a century,
established that strange empire which, in its extreme limits,
touches America, Japan and China, and in which a few thou-
sands of soldiers are sufficient to guard 1500 leagues of coun-
try.

But to enjoy in reality the possession of such a territory, it
was necessary to become properly acquainted with its nature and
resources, and, after having conquered it, it became expedient
to commence its real discovery.

To the genius of Peter the Great this task also was reserved.
He was the first European monarch to whom the glory belongs
of having conceived those purely scientific expeditions, on a
great scale, in which men possessed of various kinds of know-
ledge, and aiding each other in their labours, examine a coun-
try in all its relations, expeditions of which antiquity presents
some examples, but which France and England carried to their
greatest perfection at the end of the last century, by limiting
their objects solely to that of enlightening Europe, and present-
ing to savage man some of the advantages of civilization.

Hence, Messerchmidtof Dantzic traversed the whole of Sibe-
ria, between the years 1720 and 1725; and brought back an
immense collection of observations ; but the death of the Czar
proved fatal to his prospects, his labours were neglected, and he
died in misery. In 1738, the Empress Anne Iwanowna, niece
of Peter the Great, who displayed on the throne a charactefT^-
very different from that which those who caused her to mount
it imagined her to possess, resumed the projects of her uncle.

A more numerous commission, which lasted ten years, procu-
red for natural history the excellent memoirs of Steller, and
those of John George Gmelin, the head of a more numerous fa-
mily, and not less celebrated in that science than the BernouUis
were in mathematics.

The troubles which followed the death of Anne, and the ne^

220 Biographical Memoir of Peter Simon Pallas.

gleet and discouragement which foreigners met with in the
reign of Elizabeth, occasioned these first attempts to be lost
sight of; but Catherine 11, who had in view to make the path
by which she came to the throne forgotten, amid the glory of
every kind with which she invested herself, could not overlook
so efficacious a means. Besides, her attention was roused to this
object by a particular circumstance.

At the time of the first transit of Venus, in 1 763, France had
sent the Abbe Chappe d'Auteroche to Tobolsk, in order to
make astronomical observations. On his return he published
a narrative, the sarcastic tone of which so irritated the Em-
press, that it is said she took the trouble of refuting it herself.

She was therefore unwilling that foreigners should undertake
the observation of the second transit, which was to take place in
1769 > and, in selecting for this object astronomers from her
own academy, she judged it necessary to send along with them
naturalists capable of examining the country.

Pallas had the good fortune to see himself appointed to take
a part in this undertaking. Good fortune I call it, because
he looked upon this appointment as such. A distant jour-
ney cannot fail to be attractive to a young man, and more espe-
cially to a young naturalist; and this desire of searching for
new productions has probably deprived us of many discoveries
of the mind. Pallas himself furnishes a proof of this ; for al-
though endowed with an activity that knew no limits, and less
exposed than any one to allow himself to be distracted from his
meditations by fatigue, it cannot by any means be doubted
that he would have rendered more benefit to science by his ge-
nius than by his journeys.

He displayed in a striking manner the union of these two qua-
lities during the space of about a year that he remained at Peters-
burg. In the midst of all the preparations for so great a journey,
he digested several new writings *, and gave to the Academy his
famous memoir on the bones of large quadrupeds that are found
in such abundance in Siberia, in which he shews that there oc-
cur in that country elephants, rhinoceroses, buffaloes, and many
Other southern genera, and that their quantity is almost incalcu-

• Printed at Berlin during his journey from 1769 to 1774.

Biographical Memoir of' Peter Simon PaUas. 221

lable * ; facts which first excited the attention of naturalists to
these astonishing objects, and which laid the foundation of that
beautiful superstructure which has since been reared.

The expedition, however, after receiving its instructions from
the Count Wladimir Orlof, president of the academy, set out in
June 1768. It consisted of seven astronomers and geometri-
cians, five. naturalists, and several students, who were to proceed
in different directions over the immense territory which they
were destined to traverse.

Pallas, in particular, after traversing the plains of European
Russia, and wintering, in 1769, at Simbirsk, on the Wolga, in
the midst of the Tartar tribes, the ancient conquerors of the
Russians, and now in a great measure agriculturists, stopped at
Oremburg on the Jaik, the rendezvous of those still nomadic
hordes, which wander in the salt deserts, to the north of the
Caspian Sea, and of the caravans which carry on the trade be-
tween India and Europe.

Descending from the Jaik, he remained for some time at
Gouriel on the Caspian, and observed with care the nature of
that great lake, which, according to him, was formerly of much
greater extent, and whose ancient banks are still to be recognis-
ed at a great distance toward the north and north-west.

The year 1770 was employed in visiting the two sides of the
Uralian Mountains, and the numerous iron mines which are
wrought in them. It is here that Russian adventurers have ac-
quired, in a few generations, fortunes which have put them on
a level with the greatest nobles of Europe.

After visiting Tobolsk, the capital of Siberia, Pallas wintered
at Tcheliabinsk, in the centre of the more important of these
mines.

From this place he proceeded in the spring of 1772, to ano-
ther district, rich in mines, viz. the government of Koliwan,
which is situated on the northern slope of the Altain Moun-
tains, a great chain which extends from east to west, and which,
by repelling the winds from the south, renders the climate of Si-
beria much colder than might be expected from its latitude. In
these mines many traces of old workings are found, which

• Nov. Comm. Petrop. xili.

222 Biographical Memoir of Peter Simon Pallas.

Bailly attributes to the ancient northern tribes, in liis opinion
the first inventors of the arts and sciences. Pallas proves, on
the contrary, that these works were carried on by the ancestors
of the Hungarians of the present day, who, it is known, derive
their origin from a nation that arrived in these countries in the
seventh or eighth century. This journey terminated at Krasno-
yarsk on the Jenissei.

The year after, our traveller, always proceeding eastward,
crossed the great Baikal Lake, and passed through the moun-
tainous country, known by the name of Daouria, which extends
to the Chinese frontiers. It was only here that he began to ob-
serve the productions of nature, to assume an appearance entire-
ly different from those of Europe. The plants exhibit singular
forms ; animals of genera unknown to us, clamber among the
rocks, or sometimes straggle thither from the great deserts of cen-
tral Asia.

Pallas, after viewing a multitude of half savage tribes, at
length came once more upon a civilized nation, the civilization
ol which, however, in none of its forms resembles that of Europe.
He could not help considering the Chinese as a race which has
been separated from us, at least since the last catastrophe of the
globe, and which has followed in its development an entirely
isolated course.

After retracing nearly his former steps, and passing the win-
ter a second time at Krasnojarsk, our traveller returned in
1,773, to the Jaik an^ the Caspian Sea, visited Astracan, and
examined the Indians, the Buchanans, and the other inhabi-
tants of the centre and south of Asia, who were mingled with
the heterogeneous population of that city. He approached the
Caucasian chain, the native country of the white race of men, as
the mountains of Daouria appear to be of the yellow race, passed
another winter at the foot of the branch of mountains which se-
parates the Wolga from the Tanais, and at length returned to
Petersburg, on the 30th July 1774.

While thus pursuing the^principal route, he sent off in various
directions pupils who were under his direction.

Pallas employed the leisure of his winter quarters m drawing
up his journal ; and , according to the plan prescribed by the

Biographical Memoir of Peter Simon Pallas. 2S3

Count OrlofF, he sent it every year to Petersburg, where its vo-
lumes were successively published *.

It may be conceived that, labouring in this hurried manner,
and destitute, in these solitudes, of books, and of every means of
comparison, he would necessarily be exposed to fall into some mis-
takes, would bring forward things already known, as if they were
new, and would repeat the same things several times. We must
(lUow, too, that he might have given more animation to his narra-
tive, and presented the interesting objects of which he treats in a
more prominent manner. His long and dry enumeration of mines
and forges, his repeated list of common plants which he gathered,
or of ordinary birds which he saw passing, do not form agreeable
reading. He does not transport his reader along with him ; he
does not place, as it were, before his eyes, by the power of his
style, as more happy travellers have done, the grand scenes of
nature, or the singular manners which he witnessed ; but it will
undoubtedly be allowed in excuse, that the circumstances under
which he wrote, were not of the most inspiring description.

Winter<j of six months' duration, passed in huts, far from apy
thing connected with literature, with black bread and brandy
for his only restoratives ; a degree of cold so intense as to cause
mercury to freeze ; summers insupportable from their heat dur-
ing the few weeks which they lasted ; the greatest part of the
time of his journey employed in scaling rocks, fording marshes^
in making his way through woods by felling trees; those my*i
riads of insects which fill the atmosphere of northern countries,
covering him every moment with blood; tribes of men im-
pressed with all the miseries of the country, disgustingly
slovenly, often frightfully ugly, an4 always stupid in the highest
degree ; the Europeans themselves brutalised by the climate and
by indolence — all this might well have cooled the most hvely
imagination.

After a long voyage, the smallest spot of earth, the slightest
appearance of verdure, seem a paradise to the navigator, and
when it is on the Friendly Islands, or at Ouheite, that he land^

^ The first volume appeared in 1772, in quarto; the second in 1773, and
the third in 1776, in German, with a great number of plates and maps. There
is a French translation by M. Gauthier de la Peyronie, in four volumes, quarto,
Paris 1777 ; and a second edition with notes by MM. Lamarck and Langles,
Pans, second year of the EepubUc, eight Yolumes octavo, with an Atlas.

224 Biographical Memoir of Peter Simon Pallas^

he becomes a poet in spite of himself. At Kamtschatka, is it not
enough that one have barely the power to write ?

Pallas, young and vigorous as he was, returned enfeebled by
the sufferings consequent on so painful a journey. At the age
of thirty-three, his hair was grey ; repeated d^^sentcries had di-
minished his strength ; obstinate ophthalmia had threatened him
with loss of sight. His companions were still more exhausted
and reduced ; scarcely any[of them lived long enough to publish
his narrative himself, and it was upon Pallas that the task of
rendering this tribute to their memory also devolved.

The great objects which he had seen, had impressed them-
selves too forcibly upon his mind, to allow him to remain con-
tented with the journal which he had hurriedly traced of them.
He had profoundly observed the earth, the plants, the animals
and the men ; his observations, cherished and combined by re-
flection, became to him the subjects of so many works, in which
he clearly displayed his power. He gave the history of some of
the most celebrated animals of Siberia, the musk, the glutton,
the sable, the white bear * ; and this history is so full and so
well related, that it may be said there is not a quadruped, not
even the most common, so well known to us as these.

The glires alone furnished him with matter for an entire vo-
lume, so numerous were the species which he had discover-
ed. Their history and anatomy were treated with all the rich-
ness of which BufFon and Daubenton alone had hitherto given
an example ; and although, from modesty, he did not form new
genera of them, his descriptions were so well executed, that any
intelligent systematist could readily extract the generic characters.
The class of quadrupeds also owes to him the accurate know-
ledge of a species of solipede, intermediate between the ass and
the horse, a sort of natural mule which is propagated in the de-
serts of Tartary -[• ; that of a new species of wild cat from which
he thinks our Angora cats are derived | ; it owes also to him
more perfect ideas than had previously been formed regarding
the wild ass of these deserts ||, regarding the small buffalo, whose

• These last four numbers appeared from 1773 to 1780. M. Rudolph!
mentions that he intended to print six more of them.

t Equus hemionus, Nov. Com. Petrop. xix. p. 394. pi. 7»

X Felis Manul, Ibid. 1781, Part i.

II In the new Nordische Beytrmge, v. ii. p. 82. pi. 1, and in the Act. Pe-
trop. I.

Biographical Memoir of Peter Simon Pallas. 225

tail, furnished with long hairs like that of the iiorse, supplied
those marks of military dignity which the Turks have borrowed
from the Tartars, their ancestors *, and regarding the small yel-
lowish foxes of the deserts of the north of India, which some
have imagined to be the pretended auriferous ants of Herodotus-f.

It is much to bo regretted that Buffon took no notice of these
valuable accounts of quadrupeds; their unaltered translation
would have formed a beautiful ornament to a work which Pal-
las took as his model, and to which he certainly is not inferior
in the parts which he has treated.

It is impossible for us to enter into a detail of all the birds,
reptiles, fishes, moUusca, worms and zoophytes, of which he was
the first who published descriptions. The mere enumeration
of the numerous memoirs which he printed among those of the
academies of which he was a member, would much exceed the
limits that are prescribed to me. He was not even frightened
at the immense project of a general history of the animals and
plants of the Russian Empire, and had even put it in execution to
a great extent, although such an undertaking must have presented
more difficulties to him than any other.

In fact, it was, so to speak, when on his journey that he be-
came a botanist ; for^ until then, the history of animals was the
study that he preferred. The descriptions of plants, also, wliich
accompany his journal, have incurred some censures ; but he
had scarcely arrived, when he engaged with ardour in this pur-
suit. The Empress, whose taste the Flora Rossica flattered by
its magnificence, ordered to be transmitted to the author the
herbaria collected before his time by the travellers that had been
sent out by the government, and took upon herself the expence
of the engraving and printing. He himself had made considerable
collections of plants, and the work promised to extend, in a re-
markable manner, our knowledge of the vegetable kingdom ;
but no more than two volumes of this work were published J,
which principally contain the trees and shrubs. There are only
a few plates of the third, because in Russia, as elsewhere, the

• Bos grunniens. Act. Petrop. I. Part. ii. p. 332.
•f- Canis Corsac, Neue Nordische Beytrage, i. p. 29.

+ Flora Rossica, seu Stirpium Imperii Rossici, per Europam et Asiam indi-
genaruni, Descriptiones et Icones. Folio. Petersburg, 1784 and 1788» «

226 Biographical Memoir of Peter Simon Pallas,

smallest change in the administration stops the most important
publications, when they have no immediate connection with the
interests of the government at the time. Pallas afterwards gave
to the world a part of his botanical discoveries in works that
were less magnificent, but which he was able to publish without
foreign aid.

Of these his history of the Astragali was the first *. He
then gave a history of the Halophytes, or those maritime plants
of the family of the Salicorniag, so abundant in the steppes, or
plains of sand impregnated with salt, which cover the southern
parts of Russia -f*. The Absinthiae and Artemisia? which are
not less abundant on these steppes, and which had already
been remarked there by the "ancients, were to form a sequel to
the Halophytes ; but the misfortunes occasioned by the war in
Germany stopped it at the 59th plate.

The interruption of his great Flora of Russia did not pre-
vent him from undertaking a work, equally general, on the ani-
mals of that empire, a country which produces almost all those
of Europe, the greater part of those of Asia, and which, more-
over, possesses a great number peculiar to itself. A volume of
this work was printed in Petersburg, but it has not been pub-
lished |. Pallas laboured at it until his last moments, and has
lefl the whole manuscript relating to the vertebrate animals. M.
Rudolphi, who knew him, asserts^ and it will easily be believed,
that it contains several new species, and many interesting ob-
servations.

He had commenced a distinct work on the Insects of Russia,
of which only two numbers have appeared §.

It is seldom that men so laborious, occupied with conducting
at once so many undertakings, have their j udgment sufficiently
exercised to conceive those fundamental ideas which are calcula-
ted to produce revolutions in science ; but Pallas forms an excep-
tion to this rule. We have seen how near he was to effecting a

• Species Astragalorum Descriptae et Iconibus coloratis instructse. FoL
Leips. 1800.

+ Illustrationes Plantarum imperfecte vel nondum cognitarum. Fol.
Leips. 1803.

X Fauna Asiatica-Bossiea, Petrop. 1811 and 1812.

§ Icones Insectorum praesertim Russiae Sibiriseque peculiarium ; Erlang,
1781 and 1782. 4to.

Biographical Memoir of Peter Simon Pallas. 227

change in the asjxitt of zoology ; and in that of the theory of the
earth he effected a real change. An attentive consideration of the
two great mountain chains of Siberia enabled him to discover the
great law which has since been found to hold good universally,
of the succession of the three primitive orders of mountains, the
granitic in the middle, schistose on their sides, and limestone
mountains outermost. It may be said, that this great fact, dis-
tinctly expressed in 1777, in a memoir * read to the Academy
in the presence of Gustavus III. of Sweden, was the origin of
the present system of geology : Saussure, Dcluc and Werner,
set out from it to arrive at the true knowledge of the structure
of the earth, so different from the fanciful ideas of preceding
writers.

Pallas, besides, rendered a very great service to geology by his
second Memoir on the Fossil Bones of Siberia -f, in which he
brings together all that he had observed concerning them during
his journey, and especially relates the fact, then almost incredi-
ble, of a rhinoceros having been found entire in the frozen
earth, with its skin and flesh. The elephant discovered on the
sea-shore in a mass of ice, and in such good preservation that
the dogs eat its flesh, has confirmed this important observation,
and given the final blow to Buffon''s theory regarding the gra-
dual cooling of the polar regions.

Pallas was not so happy in his hypothesis of an eruption of
waters coming from the south-east, which might have transport-
ed and buried in the north the animals of India. It is now
clearly demonstrated, that the fossil animals are very different
from those of India. ^-^^^^

The great mass of iron which he observed near the Jenissei^
was also an entirely new phenomenon in mineralogy J. This
mass lay isolated on the surface of the ground, on the summit
of a mountain, far from any vestige of a volcano or of mining
operations. It weighed 1600 pounds. The metal, which wa&
perfectly malleable when cold, was vesicular, and contained vi-
treous matters §. The Tartars said it fell from heaven, and re-

• Observations on the Formation of Mountains ; Act Petrop. 1778. Pars
I. &c.; and separately in 12mo. Petersburg, without date, reprinted at Paris
in 1770 and 1782.

t Nov. Comm. Petr. xviL % Act Petrop. Pars I.

§ Thia vitreous matter is olivine.— Ed.

228 BiograpJiical Memoir of Peter Simon Pallas.

garded it as sacred. It also contributed to make known M.
Chladni's conjectures respecting the truth of the faUing of
stones from the atmosphere ; a conjecture now as plainly eon-
firmed by the observations of a few years, as the most ancientlv -
announced truths could be. ^(tC^/^^ ^^ /i/^ o^,J\^iC^ fl^ *^

Pallas's memoir on the degeneration of animals * also presents ^"^
many ideas, which, if not demonstrated, are at least original.
The unvarying character which horses, oxen, camels, and other
domestic animals, which liave few allied species, or whose hy-
brids are sterile, present, compared with the infinite variety of
races of dogs, goats and sheep, whose genera consist of numer-
ous species which produce with one another hybrids capable of
propagating, leads him to suppose that the three last species of
animals are in a manner factitious, being produced by the diver-
sified alliances of natural species. He thinks, for example, that
the shepherd's dog, and the wolf-dog, owe their origin to the
jackal, the animal which appears to him, as well as to Gulden-
stedt, the most closely allied to the dog, such as we now see him ;
the mastiff seems to him, on the contrary, to come from a mix-
ture with the hyena ; the small dogs with sharp muzzles, from
the fox.

But the writings we have hitherto noticed are only important
to the naturalist : his history of the Mongol nations ought to
prove interesting to every man of education -|-, for it is perhaps
the most classical piece of composition that exists in any lan-
guage on the subject of the origin of nations.

The name of Mongols might be extended to all those tribes
of the northern and eastern parts of Asia, whose oblique eyes,
yellow tint, black and lank hair, spare beard, and prominent
cheeks, render them so hideous in our eyes, and of which a tribe
devastated Europe, under Attila, in the fifth century. It be-
longs, however, in a more peculiar sense, to another tribe,
which, under Gengis Khan, in the eleventh century, laid the
bases of the most formidable dominion which has yet existed
upon the earth. China, India, Persia, and all Tartary, were
successively subjected by them ; they rendered Russia tribu-

• Acta Petrop. 1780, pars ii. p. 62.

t Collection of Historical Documents regarding the Mongol Tribes ; in
German, % vols. 4to, with many plates. Petersb. 1776 and 1801.
2

Biographical Memoir of Peter Simon Pallas, 2J29

tary, and made irruptions into Poland and Hungary. But after
a few centuries, fortune became adverse to them. Driven
out of China and Persia, destroyed in India, subjected to the
Russians in the western parts of their ancient conquests, and to
the Chinese in their original country, they have only pre-
served independent establishments in some districts to the
west of the Caspian Sea. Having returned to the pastoral life,
most of them wander, like their ancestors, in the vast deserts of
central Asia, waiting until the discord or decay of the neigh-
bouring empires permits some enterprising adventurer to collect
them for new conquests. This is what Russia and China seek
to prevent, by dividing them, reducing their number, and
sometimes transplanting them, when they mutiny, to enormous
distances. And yet, in this state of subjection, these unfortunate
beings preserve the pride of rank and nobility ; they have long
genealogies ; their chiefs cabal against one another, and intrigue
at the court of their sovereigns for augmentations of authority.
The Grand Lama, who governs the consciences of all these tribes
by a hierarchy almost as absolute as that of the Romish church,
gives a sacred character to this authority by his patents, which
thus become in his hands a means of intrigue and of disturb-
ances. These continual agitations cannot be better represented
than by the recital of an event which Pallas relates in detail,
and which may even afford us an idea of those famous migra-
tions of tribes which form so remarkable an epoch in the history
of Europe.

An entire tribe, which, after the conquest of the last Emperor
of China, Kien-Long, had taken refuge in the Russian territory,
and which had settled, in 1 758, in the deserts of the country of
Astracan, having somehow become discontented, and being more-
over excited by the intrigues of their principal Lama, resolved,
twelve years after^ to return to the countries subjected by the
Chinese. The preparations necessaiy for their journey were
continued during several months, without any one divulging the
secret. At length, on a fixed day, in the beginning of 1771,
the whole nation, men, women, and children, to the number of
more than 60,000 families, emigrated in three divisions, carry-
ing away their tents, their flocks, and their baggage, and taking

JANUABY — MAECH 1828. Q

1230 Biographical Memoir of Peter Simon Pallas.

with them whatever they met with on their route, whether men
or treasure. In this manner, they travelled upwards of 500
leagues, without being arrested either by the troops that were
sent after them, or by the rivers, the attacks of the tribes which
they met with, or the mortality of their people and animals.
Nothing like this had occurred since the flight of the Children
of Israel from Egypt.

Pallas not only treats of the origin and physical characters of
these tribes, their manners and government, but also devotes a
great part of his work to the exposition of their religion, — a re-
ligion of a singular nature, which had been banished from Indos-
tan by the Bramins, in the first century of our era, and which,
at the present day, being the predominant religion in China, Ja-
pan, the half of Tartary, Ceylon, and the whole of the penin-
sula beyond the Ganges, almost equals, in point of extent of
territory, Christianity and Mahomedanism. The metaphysical
doctrines on which it is founded, its dogmas, its moral maxims, its
canonic right, its ceremonies, and even the vesture of its clergy,
have so great a resemblance to Christianity, as to have astonished,
and sometimes deceived, our missionaries ; but, at the best, it
would merely be a Christianity altered by the most monstrous
adulteration. The supreme chief is not only the vicegerent of
God, he is God himself, who is successively incarnated in all the
individuals raised to this dignity. Some of the inferior chiefs al-
so partake of divinity. The Chinese monarch acknowledges this
claim to it ; but, to prevent their abusing it, he has taken care
to make himself master of their sacred cities, and their spiritual
authority is only exercised under his influence. In this religion,
as in many others, a schism has taken place, and, for about two
centuries back, there have been two independent Grand Lamas.
As in some other religions also, these two chiefs long denounced
each other; but the singular circumstance, and one which they
alone have exhibited, is, that they have become reconciled to
each other; that they mutually recognise each other as gods, and
that their partisans live peaceably together throughout all Tar-
tary.

The schism originated in a reigning Lama pretending to
admit women to the honours of the priesthood. The rigid fol-
lowers of the ancient customs would not pardon him for such

Biographical Memoir of Peter Simon Pallas. 231

a scheme, and the consequence was, that he lost two-thirds of
his empire.

Pallas does not leave us ignorant of any of the mysteries or
rites of this religion. In general, he displays as much capacity
for detailing the customs and opinions of nations, as he proved
himself qualified, in his first works, to describe the productions
of nature. It is difficult to comprehend why this work has not
lx?en translated, while so many insignificant journeys are daily
issuing from the press.

An essential part of the history of nations, that which leads
us farther back than all written documents, is the knowledge of
their languages. It is by this, and not by any traditions, that
we may be enabled most successfully to judge of their descent,
and to trace their genealogy ; and there is no government in
existence better calculated to favour this important study than
the Russian, the subjects of which speak more than sixty dif-
ferent languages. The Empress Catherine II. formed the inge-
nious idea of getting comparative vocabularies drawn up of all
the tribes subjected to her sceptre * ; she herself laboured at it
for some time, and directed Pallas, who of all her literati had
seen most tribes, and learned most languages, to collect the
Asiatic vocabularies, restricting him, however, to the list of
words which she had drawn up. It will not afford matter of
surprise, that a woman and a sovereign should not have selected
these words so usefully, and with such profound views, as a pro-
fessed etymologist would have done ; and it is difficult to ima-
gine how those whom she appointed her fellow labourers in this
work, had not ventured to represent to her the defects of her
plan. Besides, it will be perceived that a mere vocabulary
could not afford an idea of the mechanism and spirit of lan-
guages ; but still it was a valuable work, and one that has been
highly useful to othei* literati in their researches.

The Empress bestowed on Pallas many other marks of her
confidence. He was an active member of the Commission appoint-
ed in 1777, with the view of making a new Topography of the
Empire ; he was named Historiographer of the Admiralty, a si-
tuation which obliged him to give his opinion on scientific ques-

• Linguarum totius orbis vocabularia comparativa, Augustissimse cum
collecta. 2 vols. 4to. Petersb. 1786 and 1789.

a2

2S2 Biographical Memoir qf Peter Sirnon PaIIa».

tions relative to the navy ; the Grand Duke Alexander, after-
wards Emperor, and his brother Constantine, received instruc-
tions from him in natural history and physics.
. Employed in so honourable a manner by the Government,
decorated with titles proportionate to his employments, applaud-
ed by the learned world, Pallas enjoyed at Petersburg all the
consideration that could be allied with his quality of foreigner
and his state as a mere literary character ; but it appears that
the habit of travelling, like that of the savage life, renders an
abode in cities difficult to be endured.

Equally fatigued with his sedentary life, and with the crowd
of people of the world and of foreigners, for whom the house
of so celebrated a man was a natural rendezvous, he seized with
avidity the opportunity which the invasion of the Crimea af-
forded him of visiting new countries, and employed the years
1793 and 1794 in traversing, at his own expence, the southern
provinces of the Russian empire *.

He revisited Astracan, and traversed the frontiers of Circas-
sia, a mountainous country, which produces the most beautiful
of all the races of the human species, and the singular manners
of whose inhabitants may have given rise to the fable of the
Amazons ; the married men can only see their wives in secret,
and by introducing themselves under night through their win-
dows. This country is besides singularly remarkable for the
multitude of tribes, differing from each other in their forms and
languages, that inhabit its defiles, forming the remains of the
tribes which passed through it at the time of the great migra-
tion of the nations. The Huns, the Alans, the Uzes, the Ava-
res, the Bulgarians, the Coumanes, and Petchenegres, and those
other barbarians, whose names were almost as frightful as their
cruelty, have left colonies amidst the rocks of the Caucasus, and
there Man may be gathered as it were by specimens.

But Pallas did not chuse to risk himself among tribes, which,
although interesting in a high degree, are yet very dangerous.

* We have the account of this Journey also in German and French,
2 vols. 4to. Leips. 1799 and 1801, with many beautiful coloured plates, and
there has lately appeared a new French translation, with notes, by MM. de
la Boulaye and Tounelier. Paris 1811.

3

Biographical Memoir of Peter Simon Pallas. 233

He afterwards proceeded to the Crimea, the ancient Tauris, a
singular peninsula, flat, and arid on the side by which it is con-
nected with the continent, and raised on the opposite side into
mountains which inclose beautiful and fertile valleys. For-
merly civilized by Grecian colonies, occupied during the middle
ages by the Genoese, afterwards inhabited by the Tartars, who
at length acquired tolerably peaceable manners, it has of late
fallen into the hands of the Russians. It is well known with
what preparation Potemkin led the Empress into this new con-
quest, and by what prodigies of expence and despotism this fa-
vourite gave for a few days to deserts the appearance of fertile
and flourishing countries. It may be said that Pallas partici-
pated in the illusion of his sovereign, or perhaps the contrast
between the pleasant valleys of the coast, opening to the south,
enjoying a view of the sea, and planted with vines and roses,
and the melancholy plains of the north of Russia, struck him
too forcibly. He drew an enchanting picture of the Tauris*,
and, as a proof that he was sincere in his praises, hastened to ob-
tain for himself a retreat in it.

Repose, which he had so long shunned, had now become
necessary to him. In his last journey, wishing to examine
the banks of a river, the surface of which was frozen, the ice
broke under him, and he sunk in the water to the middle. Re-
mote from all assistance, and during a very intense cold, he was
obliged to travel for several leagues, without a change of dress.
This accident occasioned pains, which he hoped would be alle-
viated in a milder climate than that of Petersburg ; but his
change of residence, far from producing this effect, only added
to his physical sufierings evils more insupportable, chagrins and
cares of all kinds.

The empress, informed of the desire which Pallas shewed of
living in the Tauris, very handsomely presented him with two
villages, situated in the richest district of the peninsula, and a
large house in the city of Achmetchet, named by the Russians
Sympheropol, which was then the chief place of the country,
and with a considerable sum of money for his establishment.

• Tableau Physique et Topographique de la Tauride (Nov. Act^ Petrop.
torn. X.), re-printed at Paris in the year vii. (1800.)

^4 Biographical Memoir of Peter Sivwn Pallas.

Pallas betook himself thither in the end of 1795 ; but this
climate^ which had appeared to him so fine during a short resi-
dence, proved, after more experience of it, inconstant and moist.
The beautiful valleys were rendered pestilential in autumn by
marshes ; the winter was very severe ; the inconveniences of both
the north and of the south were felt in it. Besides, property
bestowed somewhat loosely, because it was thought entirely de-
pendent upon the old demesne of the Khans of the Crimea, be-
came in part liable to be disputed, and involved the new pos-
sessor in endless processes. Lastly, and worst of all, Pallas
had not sufficiently considered what a void he would experience,
when, being removed from all the learned world, he would find
it impossible to communicate his ideas. He was quickly unde-
ceived, and expressed his chagrin with bitterness in the preface
to the second volume of his second journey.

He passed, however, nearly fifteen years in the Crimea, oc-
cupied with the continuation of his great works, and with the
exercise toward strangers of the ancient hospitality of the coun-
try ; labouring especially at a project of the highest importance
to Russia, that of improving the culture of the vine, of which
he had made great plantations in the valley of Soudac, the an-
cient Saldaca of the Genoese. He judged the country so much
the better adapted for this purpose, that he thought he had
found the vine in a wild state in it, although what he saw was per-
haps nothing else than the remains of the ancient vineyards of
the Greeks. But no occupation could reconcile him to so melan-
choly a life ; and the marks of esteem which he received from
Europe, only served to increase his regret at having left it, and
made him the more sensible of what he had lost by doing so.
At length, resolved to tear himself from his situation, he sold his
lands at a very low price, badci adieu for ever to Russia, and re-
turned, after an absence of forty years, to close his life in his
native city.

To a man wlio had lived fifteen years in Little Tartary, this
was like coming back from the other world. Some old friends
whom he found seemed to him to recal his youth ; he resumed
his former warmth and eloquence when he was informed of the
new advances of science, the rumours of which had but imper-

Biographical Memoir of Peter Simon Pallas. 235

fectly made its way to his retirement. His depressed spirits
seemed entirely to revive' with these sudden enjoyments.

The young naturalists, formed by his works, brought up in
the admiration of his genius, but to whom he had been but an
invisible oracle, listened to him as to a superior being come to
judge them ; for his long absence had multiplied the time, and
put as it were several generations between them and him. They
assert, that, in the frank and prompt approbation which lie
gave to the new discoveries, there was in fact to be recognised
in this good old man, a mind superior to the prejudices natural
to his age. He treated his new disciples as a father, and not
with the dogmatism and superciliousness of an old master. It
is a beautiful trait in his character, that he was little disposed to
criticise, and willingly gave to his contemporaries the praises
which they deserved, — an effort fully as meritorious as that of
giving them to his pupils. He is also perhaps the least criti-
cised by others of any distinguished writer of the eighteenth cen-
tury. He has sometimes been reproached with somewhat of
keenness and severity, for bringing together, for engrossing, as it
were, by every possible means, the observations or the objects of
study collected by others, — a quality calculated to displease those
whose particular labours might be lost in the mass of glory, which
legitimately belongs to the man who has conceived a great plan,
but without which a multitude of facts, useful only from their
association, would have been lost to science. Nor did he ever
make use of the observations of others, without explicitly ren- .
dering justice to their authors.

Having thus returned to the country which had given him
birth, and to friends who appreciated his merits ; having again
drawn near to an elder brother, toward whom so long a separa-
tion had only caused his natural attachment to become stronger;
attended by his only daughter, who cherished him with the
greatest tenderness, Pallas still had the prospect of some happy
years. He read with interest the new works on Natural His-
tory ; he proposed to visit the cities of France and Italy that
were richest in instructive collections, to form acquaintance with
the distinguished men which they possessed, and thus to collect
new materials for a concluding work. But the germs of dis-
eases which he had contracted on his journeys, and during his

236 Biographical Memoir of Peter Pinion PallaS.

residence in the Crimea, developed themselves sooner than had
been anticipated. His old dysenteries returned to such a de-
gree, as to make him easily foresee that he could have no longer
any resource, and, without tormenting himself with useless re-
medies, he employed his last days in making the necessary ar-
rangements for ensuring the continuation qf the works which he
left incomplete, and for disposing usefully of what there remained
with him of objects and observations to be published.

He died on the 8th September 1811, aged seventy years,
within a few days.

He was twice married, and left a daughter, whom he had by
his first wife, and who is now widow of the Baron Wimpfen,
Lieutenant-General in the service of Russia, who died at Lune-
ville, in consequence of wounds received at the battle of Aus-
terlitz.

From the distance at which Pallas always lived from us, it
would be difficult to collect enough, respecting his character, to
describe it with certainty. It may be seen, by what he has pro-
duced, to what degree he united sagacity with the ardour for
labour. The peace in which he lived with his rivals indicates
mildness of disposition, for it is difficult to attribute it to mere
prudence ; and ahhough nothing so much disposes one to exer-
cise benevolence as his experiencing it himself, yet there is more
in his never having attacked any person, than merely that no
one ever attacked him. Those who knew him, moreover, boast
of the equanimity of his temper and his cheerfulness ; he loved
pleasure, it is said, but only as relaxation, and without thinking
it worthy of disturbing his repose. In a word, he appears al-
ways to have lived as a man of science should, occupied solely
in seeking after truth, and leaving the rest to the chances of this
world. The more experience one has, the more will he be sen-
sible that such a mode of life is, on this earth, the surest me^ans
of neither endangering his well-being nor his conscience* >c

Y'

( 237 )

Observations on the Large Brown Hornet of New South Wales,
with reference to Instinct. By the Rev. John M*Garvie,
A.M. In a Letter to James Dunlop, Esq. Paramatta*.

JL/URING occasional hours of relaxation from more import-
ant engagemeilts, I have amused myself of late in studying the
habits and history of the large brown and black hornets of this
country, which I know you have also done wUh much success.
But as my views on the subject do not entirely coincide with
yours, I cannot permit this, perhaps the last opportunity for
many months, to escape without making a few remarks upon it,
especially as the excellent microscope I received from you (a
present of inestimable value in this country), will enable me to
prosecute the subject with more precision than I have yet been
able to accomplish.

There are few subjects that have occasioned more discussion to
the naturalist and the moralist than instinct. The one, desirous
of resting his knowledge on a few mechanical principles, is unwil-
ling to admit instinct as a direct operating agent in animals, and
particularly in insects, if any cause can be discovered that will
account, even imperfectly, for their operations. The moralist,
on the other hand, assigns to instinct every thing that indicates
an ultimate design, though it cannot be a question with any
man, that the same veneration for the Author of Nature would
be excited, were every act of instinct reduced to the commonest
laws of matter and motion. For He who implanted instinct, on
the common view of the matter, must have implanted also the
power of acting in conformity to known laws ; and these actions,
of coui-se, become infallible proofs, that the laws which -these
individuals follow in their operation, existed before the indivi-
duals themselves ; giving thus a proof, if any were wanting,
that both were created by the same beneficent hand. Instinct,
therefore, we conceive, should always be considered as assisted
or modelled by organic structure.

Of all the works of instinct, none have excited more sur-
prise than those exhibited by Bees, Hornets, and other creatures
of the same kind, which form their hexagonal cells with such
• Read before the Wernerlan Natural History Society 12th January 1828.

288 Rev. J. Macgarvie on the Brown Hornet of

regularity and skill, that the most expert artizan might in vain
attempt to imitate or surpass them. Why is it they have cho-
sen this best of all forms " stipare roscida mella,^ by which every
atom of their labour becomes of use ? Why do they never de-
viate from this rule ? Why have they never advanced in im-
provement since the first of the race completed his primitive
cell ? This, of itself, in place of leading us to assign the ef-
fect to instinct, should lead us to ascribe it to the structure of
the race, impelled by some principle beyond the reach of inves-
tigation.

Instinct implies a power of action for producing some effect,
by mechanical means, without the agency of intelligence. To
this view of instinct we are not disposed to object, if men do not
stop at proximate causes ; for, whilst bodily conformation and
structure may serve to attain certain ends, the principle from
which these flow may still be denominated Instinct.

The hornets of which we speak, are of several kinds. There
is a small black species which forms a quadrangular cell, about
a quarter of an inch in the side, and from which a number of
young ones, to the amount of ten or twelve, may sometimes be
taken, of a dry, hard, brittle structure and glossy aspect, with-
out wings, and the head very indistinctly formed. This nest
is often attached to the leaf of a wattle, or gum-tree, in which
case it is often hid by the leaves. It is firmly attached to the
leaf by a thin gluten.

There is another very beautiful small nest, whose inmates we
have not ascertained, but the form of which is more regular and
surprising than that of the bee itself. It is six-sided, and the
edges of the angles are formed into a rounded ridge.

The nest of the large black and brown hornet is extremely
curious. It is fastened to the branch of a tree, sometimes a
peach-tree, and sometimes to the twigs of a low shrub, close to
the ground, and hid by high grass, being attached by a small
button-shaped protuberance of dry, tough, gummy matter, which
is impervious to rain or moisture, and which is, when taken off,
in scales similar to the scales of a fish, but of a very different
structure. They work downwards for about an inch, and then-
commence their cells, attaching the button of each cell to the
stalk attached to the tree. They have sagacity enough to know

New South Wales. 239

that, as the weight below increases, the stalk and button must
also be increased above, which they may be seen augmenting
with great perseverance. They then increase the number of the
cells, making them nearly equal in length, which is generally one
inch and a half or two inches. The surface next the tree, that
is, the bottom of the cells (for the open end is always downmost,
and they build downwards), is covered carefully over with a
gummy substance of a silky aspect, but dry and brittle. The
bottoms of the cells externally are distinct and circular. The
button and stalk are of a pyramidal figure, very broad near the
base, and contracting as they approach the upper end next the
tree.

At the bottom of each cell, and covered with a thin substance,
like tissue-paper, is a dark brown substance, composed of parti*
cles of wood comminuted, and similar to saw-dust. It certainly
is not the young animal, but it may be stored up as food for it
in its earliest stages of existence. Each cell is cemented to those
next it by a hard glutinous matter, which may be obtained i|^
considerable quantities near the bottom of the cells, as they are
all tapering below, and wide above, and the interstices are filled
with this substance, by which they are joined to one another,
and to the covering that spreads out from the stalk, by which it
is fastened to the tree. The nests themselves are rounded be-
low, and circular horizontally. The cells are not always exactly
hexagonal ; they are, however, placed in very distinct rows, but
they are neither so elegantly formed as the cells of bees, nor dp
they contain any liquid, nor is any use made of their contents.
The cells are about two-fifths of an inch diameter, of different
lengths, and the breadth of the whole nest is seldom more than
that of the crown of a hat.

The insects connected with one nest are not numerous,
sometimes amounting to twelve or twenty, sometimes to a few
more. When the cells arc formed, they seem to take great plea-
sure in going over them in succession, pushing their heads into
the cells, and adding small portions to them by means of their
long tongues, palpi, and forceps. They hatch their young in
these ; and, when the young animal is in the cell, they close the
mouth of it with the fine tissue-paper like substance, of which
the sides of the cells arc composed. ,, ^

240 Rev. J. Macgarvie on the Brown Hornet of

The stings of these insects are extremely painful, causing a
fulness and deadness of the place affected, that is almost intoler-
able. Their sight is sharp and quick. They fly directly to
the face. One man was stung, not long ago, in the centre of
the eye. They attack the cattle in the field, which are terrified
for them, except the pig, which is blessed with a happy insensi-
bility to all their attacks, as he merely shakes his sides and his
tail, and continues to eat peaches as before.

This insect has a beautiful appearance in the living state,
having a number of yellowish-brown segments, on a black
ground, around his body ; his legs and wings being of the same
colour ; a fine yellowish colour presents itself on each shoulder,
at the root of the wings, and there is a yellow stripe on the
forehead. The rest of the body is a beautiful velvet-black, and
the tips of the wings are tinged with a light purple colour. It
has six legs, the two first of which it uses with great dexterity as
hands. They may be seen frequently rubbing them, and thrust-
ing their foot into their mouth, to besmear it with an unctuous
substance, which may enable it to seize a firmer hold of its ob-
ject.

It is from the structure of the fore-legs, which are admirably
adapted for the purpose, that, in my opinion, the hexagonal
cells derive their character of regularity. When the sun is hot,
you may see the insect traversing round his cell, seizing the edge
of it in his mouth, and adding a small piece to the sides. When
he has done this, he sets his body close to a side, and clasping the
cell firmly in his fore-arms, he continues rubbing it upwards
and downwards for a considerable time ; and as one cell is al-
ways a little higher than the one next it, he proceeds thus from
side to side, and gives a six-sided form simply by rubbing and
working upon the soft materials with his arms. A very little
attention will shew, too, that he can give it no other form than
this or the circle. For his arms are so constructed, that if he
acts uniformly upon any of these sides or angles, as we have
repeatedly seen him do, he must form a hexagonal figure, if the
materials are pliant.

The arms are first composed of a joint near the body, ex-
tending a little outward, and moveable in every direction. To
this is attached the arm, which is smooth, and somewhat power-

New South Wales. 241

fill. Next this is the fore-arm, and next it are the feet, which
have three hooks, a small one on each side, and a larger in front
Between each of these is a powerful joint,
and they are confined to a large angle, as
they cannot be extended into a straight
line. When the animal, therefore, has
made the sides of his cell in a circular shape
by the gluten from his mouth, and a quan-
tity of pipe-clay, which he frequently em-
ploys in the building of it, he applies his
body to it, and, placing the fore-arms
around it, at an angle most convenient for
itself, he continues to rub up and down till
the shape has been given to the cell. The first angle is formed
by the body and the arm ; the second by the arm and fore-arm,
and the third on each side by the angles formed by the fore-arm,
and the feet or claws*.

In proof of this, it may be remarked, that the bottom of the
cells is round, and the hexagonal form does not commence till
the cell has attained a sufficient height to admit of the applica-
tion of the animaPs body and legs to the outside of the cell, after
which, to the top of the cell, the hexagonal form is remarkably
distinct. Besides, to leave no doubt about the matter, we have
measured the legs of a full grown hornet, and then applied them
to the sides of the cells, and out of 160 cells in one nest, found
only half a dozen near the outside that did not correspond
exactly with the length of the arm or fore-arm, and these were
probably injured or dried up.

In this respect, therefore, I think, that instinct may be pushed
one step farther back from the demesnes of philosophy, since
this very complicated and regular exhibition of animal sagacity
may be accounted for from the organic structure and formation
of the animal. The wonder still remains, why it should have
been constituted with such powers. But this wonder is in common
with that of every thing around us ; and is continually excited in
examining the wonders of the lower creation, especially in ento-
mology, which, in this country, above all others, would require
• The figure is considerably larger than nature.

242 Rev. J. Macgarvie on the Brown Hornet

the united energies of a score of naturalists for many years. Its
treasures are inexhaustible, and are almost entirely unknown.

When, upon this subject, allow me to allude to a circumstance
connected with the beautiful Atropus Belladonna. This butter-
fly, in the state of a grub, as it is here called, forms a pyra-
midal and sometimes a circular nest of small twigs, which it may
be seen occasionally dragging up a tree, by short and easy
stages. This is the case with the same insect when very small ;
but in both stages, it may be seen moving about its head before
it commences its journey, and stopping at regular intervals as if
to reconnoitre. One unacquainted with its natural history, might
suppose it was apprehensive of danger. But the fact is, that
when it moves its head from side to side, it is spinning for itself
a thread, which it fixes to the tree, and, when it is strong enough,
it stretches out its fore claws, seizes hold of the thread, and
raises itself upward, on the principle of the common rope-ladder.
When you examine its path attentively, you see these steps
placed at the most regular distances, as regular as if made by
the hand of art, and intertwined in such a way, that if one
should break, the next will keep the animal up This is cer-
tainly instinct in one sense, but is common mechanics in another.
For the animal seizes hold of the thread by the second pair of
feet, stretches his head upwards, and makes the distance between
the two steps of the ladder precisely that of the distance between
his mouth and his second pair of arms, which is exactly one-fifth
of an inch in a common sized animal. We have watched him
ascending a smooth surface by this means, when it would have
been thought impossible to raise a large circular cylindrical nest
with so much dispatch on such a surface. Such paths you
have probably yourself seen long ago.

Ascribing effects to instinct, therefore, is a great source of
error in natural history, and should not be resorted to, except in
those cases in which no rational account can be given of the effect
^e contemplate ; for if men were to stop short at second causes,
every effect in nature might be denominated instinctive. The
best possible means have been always adopted to produce the
best possible ends. It is the business of philosophy to discover
the latter, and trace them by that means to the grand intelli-
gent source whence they originated. I am, &c.

( 243 )

Analysis of the GU-i-toorsch, or Sour Clay, used in acidulating^
Sherbet, in Persia, By Edwaed Tuener, M. D. F. R. S. E.
Professor of Chemistry in the University of London. Com-
municated by the Author.

V-lUR intelligent young friend, and former pupil, Lieute-
nant Alexander, in his lately published Travels from India
to England, a work highly creditable to him as a writer and
observer, says, " The road to Dalkec is exceedingly stony;
and, at eight miles from it, is a capital sporting tract, with a
date jungle and swamp on the left. We were here assailed by an
insufferable sulphureous effluvium, shortly after we crossed, from
several naphtha and sulphureous streams, which issued from the
hills, round the bases of which the road winds. At the fountain
head the water is lukewarm. The streams have, on their mar-
gin, a whitish-grey earth, which is of an acid and saltish taste ;
it is termed Gil-i-toorscJt, or Sour Clay. The taste is probably
occasioned by a mixture of alum and sal ammoniac. It is used
in acidulating sherbet. I brought away a small quantity of this
substance for my esteemed preceptor Professor Jameson *.'''

Some time ago, the specimen of gil-i-toorsch was sent to me
by Lieutenant Alexander. I requested my friend Dr Turner to
analyze it, and the following is the Doctor''s report : — " The gil-i-
toorsh consists partly of a coarse earthy powder, and partly of ir-
regular grains, of about the size of a pea. The interior of the lat-
ter is of a white colour, as described by Mr Alexander, but the
surface of the particles is brown. This colour is owing to iron ;
for the earth has been kept in a vessel of tinned iron, which is
strongly corroded. The earth is slightly moist, and has a sour
and inky taste. With distilled water, it yields a solution con-
taining a considerable quantity of free sulphuric acid and suL
phate of iron. With nitrate of silver, it gives scarcely a trace of
muriatic acid, and it is almost equally free from alumina. It
does not, therefore, contain either sal ammoniac or alum. By
the action of pure potash, a trace of ammonia was detected. The
earthy matter contains some silica ; but its chief constituent, es-
pecially of the larger grains, is sulphate of lime, some of which

• Travels from India to England, comprehending a visit to the Birman
empire, by James E. Alexander, Lieutenant in his Majesty's 13th Light Dra-
goons. 4to. Parry & Allen, London 1827.

244 Mr Ramage on the Excavations made at Pompeii

is distinctly crystalline. It emits a faint but distinct odour of
sulphur, when moderately heated. Considering the use to which
the gil-i-toorsch is applied, I presume all the iron found in the
specimen sent to me, must be derived from the box which con-
tained it. I therefore infer, that it consisted originally of sul-
phate of lime, with a little siliceous matter, acidulated by free
sulphuric acid. This acid can scarcely have originated in the de-
composition of metallic sulphurets, but must, I apprehend, have
been derived from the combustion of sulphur. The sulphureous
vapour noticed in the vicinity of the earth, confirms this opi-
nion."

Account of Excavations made at Pompeii from December 1826
to August 1827. By T. C, Ramage, Esq. Communicated
by the Author.

-I T was in the autumn of 1825 that I first paid a visit to Pom-
peii, and the impression it then made on my mind was by no
means equal to what I had expected. I returned, however, se-
veral times, and found that every examination only increased
my desire to investigate it more minutely. You are aware that
Pompeii is about fourteen miles from Naples, and five from the
crater of Vesuvius. Through it ran the Via Consularis, a branch
of the Via Appia, which, striking off from Capua, passed through
Naples and Pompeii to Solerno. On entering the suburbs you
set your foot on this ancient road, which, like all the other Ro-
man ways, is composed of large unhewn blocks of stone. In
Pompeii the pavement has been composed of lava, and shews
that Vesuvius must have been a volcanic mountain in some early
period of the world, though history has left us no account of it.
Alighting at the barrier, where a guard is placed, you enter its
suburbs, which have been called Augustus Fehx, and appear to
have been founded by the colonies of Sylla and Augustus,
whose names have been discovered on many of the monuments.
One single villa has been completely excavated, and many
others no doubt surround it, which will hereafter be exposed to
view. The first coup d'^oeil is remarkably striking, and well
fitted to make an impression on the mind ; you see at once the
whole length of the street, which is lined on both sides by

frmi December 1826 to August 1827. 245

tombs, some entire, and some in ruins. They are chaste in de-
coration, classical in design, and prove that they must have been
erected before the taste of the Romans had become corrupted
by the love of magnificence and grandeur, which they carried
even to the grave. There rest whole families in eternal repose,
as if they were still enjoying themselves around their Penates,
and solemnising some of those annual ceremonies in which all
took a part. The mother is there stretched at the side of the
father, and the children, according to their several ages, in re-
gular order beside the mother.

Some of the tombs are most magnificent, and have been erect-
ed by a grateful country to citizens whose merits had entitled
them to such a distinction ; they are adorned with the palm and
the laurel, and present the elegant forms of the lectisternium and
bisellium. These nol>le monuments may be considered as al-
tars erected by the Genius of Arts to the honour of Mystery
and Death.

It was here that the inhabitants enjoyed themselves at even
under the shade of the cypress, which waved its mournful head
over the tombs of their ancestors ; it was here that they caught
those genial breezes, which were so grateful after the heats of
the day. What a strange contrast must their games, diver-
sions, and tumultuous joy, have formed to the calm and silence
which reigned in the graves where slept those who had once
been as gay and as merry as themselves !

But as you have most probably seen a detailed account of the
discoveries made previous to December 1826, I proceed now
to give a short view of the progress that has been lately made
in disinterring the ancient city of Pompeii from December 1826
to August 1827.

At present there is every appearance that we have at last ad-
vanced to a part of the town occupied by the more opulent
class of citizens, and we are in hope of making some valuable
acquisitions to our stock of antiquities. The streets have be-
come more spacious, and the houses begin to have an air of splen-
dour and neatness, far exceeding that of the houses situated
along the sea coast. Indeed, as we know that the shops and
taverns must have been in the vicinity of the Forum and public

JANUARY MARCH 1828. H

1146 Mr Ramage on the Excavations made at Pompeii

buildings, and as these are almost the only edifices that have
been as yet uncovered, we may conclude that the private villas
are still concealed from our view. The articles that have been
found in these houses are generally superior, both in richness of
material and beauty of workmanship, to any that the Royal
Museum has yet acquired, and display in a very remarkable
manner the labour and ingenuity bestowed by the Romans even
on their commonest utensils.

The excavations have taken place principally in two direc-
tions, — in that street which is called the Street of the Arch, and
towards the angle of the Forum, opposite the Basilica. In the
winding lane which leads to the portico of the theatre, there
have been several small houses excavated, exhibiting a consi-
derable degree of ingenuity in the just arrangement, and agree-
able union of all parts of the edifice, and a most extraordinary
economy in the employment of ground. It may indeed be af-
firmed of them, what Pomponius Atticus said of some old houses
he possessed in Rome, that there had been more ingenuity than
money expended in their erection. One cannot help admiring
the solidity with which many parts have been built, and the
beauty of the opiis reticulatum, which is equal even to the ce-
lebrated specimens of this sort of work in the gardens of Sallust
at Rome. Here also, were found several Ionic chapters, of a
style purely Grecian, which you know is a very unusual occur-
rence in Pompeii. Their volute resembles the calyx of a flower,
attached to its stem, which, turning downwards at the point,
where the junction of the volute takes place, winds round the
higher part of the shaft of the pillar, — an elegant device, quite
new to us.

In the street of the Arch, the houses are larger and more
splendid. One of them has its front decorated with representa-
tions of baskets, carved in a greyish coloured volcanic tufa,
called by the Italians Tufo of Nocera, from the quarries being
discovered in the vicinity of that town. These baskets, exhi-
biting great accuracy of outline, are still in some parts covered
with the stucco, which had been applied to them to furnish
moulds for others intended to imitate the tufa. The cornice,
formed of the same material, is lying on the ground, and fur-
nishes a beautiful specimen of elegance in architectural disposi-

from December 1826 to August 1827. 247

tion. On entering this house, we look across the atrium ^nd
the summer parlour. At the bottom of the peristylium, there
is a fountain encrusted with shells and glass mosaic, similar to
the one excavated some time ago. Near the outer door there
is a small staircase, leading to the upper storey, or rather to the
roof, as its diminutive size prevents us from supposing the ar-
chitect could intend it for any nobler purpose. The atrium is
Tuscan, painted grotesquely with little flying figures on a red
ground : among them the most remarkable are the figure of a
winged female, with a garland of flowers in one hand, and a
young boy in her arms ; a little figure of a female in flowing
drapery, with a palm branch in her hand ; and a harp-player
seated at her instrument. In the summer parlour, enriched by
a beautiful mosaic pavement, the walls are ornamented with a
variety of fruit and richly plumed birds. The portico, fur-
nished with only two rows of pillars, has on the opposite walls
a representation of the same number of columns, corresponding
with the real ones, and between them there are landscapes
sketched with great spirit, and of a much larger size than any
hitherto discovered. These are chiefly views taken on the sea-
coast. On the left appears a large harbour, with several vessels
at anchor : there is a building erected on a small island, united
to the adjoining land by a singular bridge, which is approached
by means of a stair, removeable like a draw-bridge. In front
is seen a two-oared bark, with sails exactly similar to those used
at present in the Bay of Naples. At the side of this there is a
building constructed on some rocks in the middle of the water,
with a fisherman seated, and in the act of drawing his net.
Among many other sketches there is one of a man on horseback,
followed by a large dog, and wearing a hat which bears a con-
siderable resemblance to those pointed ones which the peasants
of Campania have at present. In the centre of the colonnade
opposite the door, there is a fountain, in the form of a small al-
tar, with its niche and top richly decorated with mosaic and
shells. In the middle of the semicircular basin of this fountain,
there was found, on a round pedestal, a little winged boy of
bronze, with one hand raised, and embracing with the other a
goose, which was in the act of flapping with its wings, and ejecU
ing a stream of water into the basin. Towards the centre of

e2

248 Mr Ramage on the Excavations made at Pompeii,

the niche there is in the wall a scenic mask, from the mouth of
which flowed another jet of water ; and on the edge of the ba-
sin there was found another statue of bronze, three palms high,
representing a fisherman seated with a small basket of fish in
one hand, and extending the other, in the act of raising the net.
From a rock completely encrusted with shells, on which the
fisherman is seated, another jet of water has evidently been
thrown. The features of this little figure are strongly marked,
and full of expression. Besides a Caryatides of marble, there
was found another figure of the same material, representing a
young fisherman asleep, and covered with a sailor''s mantle, such
as is generally worn by the fishermen of the present day. The
remains of the leaden pipes, with their stop-cocks, are plainly
seen. In this house there was also discovered a beautiful marble
table, of Greek workmanship.

Many rich candelabra, bracelets, rings, ear-rings, and medals
have been the reward of these excavations. But the most cu-
rious discovery of all is that of two glass vases, one of which
contained olives, with the oil in which they had been placed
eighteen centuries before ; and the other nothing but pure oil.
It may not be uninteresting to give the chemical analysis of
these substances by Professor Covelli of Naples.

Analysis hy Professor Covelli.

The olives were found in a quadrangular glass vase, with a
large mouth. The oily substance was inclosed in a cylindrical
glass vase, with a narrow neck, and a small handle.

Examination of the Olives. — The upper half of the vase con-
taining the olives, was full of volcanic ashes and pebbles ; the
olives, mixed with a kind of buttery substance, occupied the
lower half. They have the form and size of that variety com-
monly called Spanish Olives ; some of them have even still their
pedunculus or flower-stalk. The kernels are less oblong than
those of the Neapolitan species, and also more swollen ; the lon-
gitudinal streaks are more strongly marked. Their colour is
black, but mixed with small particles of a greenish matter,
which, with the aid of a powerful lens, it was discovered were
those lichens produced on organic substances in a state of putre-
faction ; but these little plants were not observable at the mo-

from December 1826 to Av^st 1827. 249

ment of their discovery, and have no doubt arisen from the ac-
tion of the air, which in a few hours had produced such an al-
teration in their superficies, as had not been accomplished by
the influence of so many centuries. This is a proof that these
olives, gathered eighteen centuries before by the subjects of Ti-
tus, are as fresh and sweet as those produced by Francis I.
Indeed, these ancient olives are still soft and pulpy ; they have
a strong rancid smell, a greasy taste, and leave upon the tongue
an astringent and sharp sensation. They are so light, that they
swim upon water ; the pericardium or seed-vessel shews still its
organic texture, though the parenchyma is in that state of alte-
ration which the maceration of a few months usually produces.
The kernels are still hard, and so much so that a knife can
scarcely penetrate them. The oily part of the parenchyma,
though in very small quantities, when analysed carefully in the
usual method, has been found to be changed entirely into oleic
and margaric acids, which are the fundamental principles of the
fixed oils, acidified by oxygen, and form the basis of our soaps.
These changes happen generally in oils exposed for some time
to the air. This proves that the action of eighteen centuries,
which has left untouched the fundamental principles of the oil,
has effected no greater change than what is produced by a few
months.

The kind of oily substance in which the olives are enveloped,
is of a brownish-yellow colour, soft like butter, has a strong
rancid smell, soils paper like fixed oils and greasy substances,
is melted by a moderate heat (60° or 70° cent.) warmed on a
leaf of platina ; it burns with a beautiful white flame, without
leaving any thing but small white flaky ashes, so light that the
smallest puff disperses them. With the alkalies it forms soap ;
distilled in close vessels, it gives out carburetted hydrogen gas,
acetic acid, carbonic acid, carbonic acid gas, and a residue of
carbon. This buttery substance, tried by CheuvreuPs method,
is found to be composed of oleic acid in large quantities, a small
portion of margaric acid, and a substance analogous to the sweet
principle of fixed oils, but which differs in many respects, and
\ihich may be a new production ; and, lastly, an earthy sub-
stance, in very small quantities, arising from the volcanic ashes
which filled the upper half of the vase.

250 Mr Ramage on ike Excavations made at Pmnpeii.

Examination of the Buttery Substance found in the narroxo-
necked Fa^^.— This substance is much softer than the prece-
ding : it has a yellowish-green colour, has a strong rancid smell,
and exhibits in the mass a number of brown globules, similar to
the spawn of fish, but which cannot be made out even by a power-
ful lens. This substance resembles that found with the olives :
it is composed of the same principles, though it may contain a
larger quantity of oleic acid, and of that unknown substance
analogous to the sweet principle of fixed oils. It appears, in-
deed, to have been nothing else but the oil of olives, containing
some vegetable salt.

Sketch of the Natural History of the Salmo Salar, or Com-
mon Salmon. 1. Of the Process of Spawning, and sub-
sequent evolution of the ova ; 2. Of the growth and move-
merits of the Young Brood, to and from the sea during the
first year of life ; and, 3. Of the migrations of the Salmon
betwixt the River and the Sea. By Daniel Ellis, Esq.
F.R.S.E., &c.*

!^INCE the year 1824, a Committee of the House of Com-
mons has been employed, during several sessions, in making in-
quiries into the present state of the salmon fisheries through the
United Kingdom. The Committee, in a great degree, origina-
ted from numerous petitions presented to the House from Scot-
land. To gain the necessary information, they, in the first place,
prepared and distributed certain queries regai;ding the present
state of the fisheries in the several rivers, estuaries, and adjacent
seas ; the laws, usages, or regulations acted on, or applicable to
these fisheries ; the extent to which the law is or can be enforced,
and the customs and practices which oppose or counteract it ;
the modes of salmon-fishing now in use ; and the actual day on
which it commences and ceases in each fishery ; at what periods
of the year it ought to commence and cease, so as to obtain the
greatest supply of good salmon, and preserve most effectually
the breed ; whether these periods should be the same for all

• Drawn up from the evidence contained in two Reports of a " Select Com-
mittee of the House of Commons, on the Salmon Fisheries of the United King-
dom." Ordered by the House to be printed in 1824 and 1825.

Mr D. Ellis on the Natural Historic of the Salmon, 251

rivers, estuaries, &c. or should vary in different i-ivers; and,
lastly, what regulations can best provide for the safety of the
parent fish during the breeding season ; protect the spawn after
its deposition ; and finally secure the descent of the young fry
down the rivers to the sea.

The answers returned to these queries enabled the Committee
to summon before them persons from all parts of the kingdom,
the best qualified to give the desired information ; and the evi-
dence collected is contained in the above mentioned ReportsL
This evidence goes to prove, that the productiveness of the sal-
mon fisheries has decreased, and is decreasing, in almost all the
rivers in the United Kingdom ; but that this decrease arises^ not
so much from any changes in the habits of the fish, or in the
condition and circumstances of our rivers, as from the operation
of injudicious laws in relation both to the times and modes of
fishing ; from the prevalence of most destructive practices, and
incredible abuses in almost all our rivers ; and from the indul-
gence of a too greedy spirit of gain, which, instead of waiting
for the natural production of the golden egg, cuts up at once
the animal that can only daily produce it. The facts brought
out in these Reports, respecting the natural history of the sal-
mon, particularly as regards the propagation of the race, their
rate of growth, and their several migrations between the rivers
and the sea, are far more complete than any we before possessed ;
and, as they are not only curious in themselves, but of the ut-
most importance in any legislative measures that may be adopt-
ed for the future regulation of the salmon fisheries, I have
thought that the collection and arrangement of them would
form no unsuitable article for the Philosophical Journal, and per-
haps prove acceptable to many of your general readers

Naturalists enumerate several species of the genus Salmo, of
which a distinguished zoologist, Dr Fleming, mentions seven as
met with in the estuary of the Tay *. These are,

1. Salmo salar, or Common Salmon.

2. Salmo hucho, or Bull Trout.

3. Salmo eriox, the Gray or Shewn.

4. Salmo trutta, or Sea Trout.

5. Salmo albus, the Whiteling or Finnock.

6. Salmo fario, or River Trout.

7. Salmo eperlanus, the Spirlin or Smelts

• Report II. p. 63.

252 Mr D. Ellis an tJie Natural Histcyry of the Salmon.

On the present occasion, it is proposed to speak only of the
first species, viz. the Salino salar, or common salmon ; and this
we shall do, by treating, \sty Of the process of spawning, and
subsequent evolution of the ova ; 2J, Of the growth and move-
ments of the young brood to and from the sea, during the first
year of life ; and, 3tZ, Of the migrations of the salmon betwixt
the river and the sea.

Of the process of Spazoning, and subsequent evolution of the

Ova.

The salmon is a very prolific animal. Both the male and fe-
male frequently propagate their kind during the first year of
their age ; while the older fishes, which inhabit alternately the
seas and lower parts of rivers during the winter and spring
months, ascend to the higher parts of rivers in autumn to exer-
cise the same function. Early in spring the milt, or repro-
ductive organ, appears to be forming in the male and the roe in
the female salmon, but both are then small in size ; they in-
crease in each sex through the summer months, and towards
autumn the male and female become respectively full of milt
and roe. In proportion as these bodies advance to ripeness, the
salmon fall off* in condition. Before the spawn is of great size,
the belly of the fish, says Dr Fleming, is loaded with fat ; but
when the milt and roe have become ripe, that fat has disappear-
ed from the belly, and it is little else but skin. This change
furnishes a test by which we may know whether a kippered
salmon had been in good or bad condition at the time it was so
prepared ; for the thinner the edges of the belly may be, the
presumption is, that the nearer was the fish to a spawning state*.

In a general way, the evidence obtained from all parts of the
United Kingdom goes to prove that, towards the months of
August, September, and October, the reproductive organs, both
in the male and female salmon, have, more or less, completely
reached maturity, at which period the roe in the female is found,
on the average, to contain from 17,000 to 20,000 ova or eggs.
When arrived at this state, the instinct of propagation impels
them eagerly to seek rivers, and to ascend nearly to their sources,
jn order to find a place suitable for the deposition of their spawn.
• Report II. p. 72.

Mr D. Ellis on the Natural History oftlie Salman. 253

They no longer, as in the winter and spring months, roam over
the coasts and shores, and return backwards and forwards with
the flowing and ebbing of the tide, but pursue the most direct
route by the mid-channel up the river, and make the greatest
efforts to overcome every obstacle, either natural or artificial,
that may impede or obstruct their course. " I have often seen
them leap a fall, near my residence," says Sir G. S. Mackenzie,
" of about 30 feet high, but they seldom spring out of the water ,
more than 8 or 10 feet. I have seen them leap over a dry
rock of considerable height, and drop into the water behind it.
After having entered a river, the object of salmon appears to be
to push as far up towards the source as possible, in order that
they may deposit their spawn in the small streams that form
their sources ; and which, on account of their being near the
springs which supply them, are neither so apt to run dry as the
river lower down, where the effect of evaporation is greater,
nor to be so affected by frost as to stop the water from running.
The water is alw^s steadier in its temperature near the sources,
varying little throughout the whole year; and these small
streams are fitted peculiarly for vivifying the spawn, as they
form a constant succession of rills, by which the water is kept
fully saturated with air *."" It is not always, however, that the
spawning fish are able to reach these sources, but are obliged to
deposit their spawn in the shallow fords in the beds of rivers,
and sometimes in the streamlets of mill-dams.

The process of spawning itself has been observed with much
accuracy by Mr Halliday in the river Annan in Scotland, and
by Mr Little in the Bann in Ireland. It is principally accom-
plished in the months of November^ December, and January.
According to Mr Halliday, when the parent fishes have reach-
ed the spawning ground, they proceed to the shallow water,
generally in the morning, or at twilight in the evening, where
they play round the ground two of them together. After a
time they begin to make a furrow by working up the gravel with
their noses rather against the stream, as a salmon cannot work
with his head down the stream, for the water going then into
his gills the wrong way, drowns him. When the furrow is made,
the male and female retire to a little distance, one to the one

• Report I. Apt)endix, p. 17.

25|f Mr D. Eliis ofi the Natural History of the Salmon,

side and the other to the other side of tlie furrow : They then
throw themselves on their sides, again come together, and, rub-
bing against each other, both shed their spawn into the furrow
at the same time. This process is not completed at once : It re-
quires from 8 to \9> days for them to lay all their spawn, and
when they have done they betake themselves to the pools to recruit
themselves. He has seen three pairs on a spawning bed at one
time, and stood «nd looked at them while making the furrow
and laying the spawn *.

The account given of the same process by Mr Little, agrees
with that just stated. He observes that the spawning commen-
ces in November in most rivers, and is continued through De-
cember and January ; that, when a pair of salmon are about
to spawn, they make a furrow in the shallow part or current of
the water into which the spawn is deposited, so that they work
- against the stream, increasing the number of furrows, until they
have formed a bed of perhaps 12 feet by 8 or 10 ; the bed be-
ing at first very little, but enlarging every d^y. He observed
the salmon to go leisurely down the side of the bed, and, turn-
ing round at the place where they had thrown up the gravel,
come back to that point next the stream ; they then threw them-
selves on their sides in the manner previously described, depo-
siting their spawn in the furrow as they moved upward, and, at
the same time, covering it over with the gravel as they went
along. In this manner they continued working for several days
till they completed their bed; and if it so happened that they
were frightened, they would swim away, and in a little time re-
turn to it again ; or, in some instances, would desert it alto-
gether, and begin at another place -f. Dr Fleming has never
himself seen the process of spawning so completely as to be able
to describe it minutely ; but he is satisfied that the description
given by Messrs Little and Halliday is accurate. Notwith-
standing the number of eggs to be deposited, they must, he
adds, be excluded one by one, which accounts for the long con-
tinuance of the process ; and if, during the act of spawning, the
male fish be destroyed, the female leaves the bed, and in the
deep pools endeavours to find another male |.

• Report I. p 61-2. f Ibid. I. p. 108.

t Ibid II. p. 66.

Mr D. Ellis a)i the Natural Histoid of the Salmon. ^siT

In the statement of Mr Little, both the male and female fish
are said to assist in forming the bed ; and Mr Halliday has
often taken these fish, on their return to the sea, with the skin
rubbed off below the jaws, of the size of a half-crown piece,
occasioned by rubbing up the gravel and making furrows for
the spawn *. At this particular period, the head of the male
has been said to be furnished with a long hard bill on his under
jaw, and which again decreases as the spawning season passes
off. This bill or hook has been deemed by some an extra-
ordinary provision of nature, to enable the male more effectually
to aid in preparing the furrow destined to receive the spawn. But
Dr Fleming says it is the under jaw itself of the male that is
thus turned up ; that it appears to be a distinguishing mark of
sex, and not produced by any mechanical means -f*.

The spawn is, as we have said, deposited in furrows formed
in the gravel, and is afterwards covered over with loose gravel,
so as to resemble, says Mr Little, an onion bed in a garden.
In this state the ova remain for weeks, or sometimes much
longer, apparently inert, like seeds buried in the soil. The pe-
riod at which the young fry begin to rise, depends much on the
season of the year. They remain in the bed, says Mr Little,
till some natural warmth comes into the river in the spring of
the year. In an early spring the fry come forth early, and
later when the spring is late. Generally they begin to rise from
the bed about the beginning of March, and their first movement
is usually completed by the middle of April. Mr Little has
never himself seen the first appearance of the beds after evolu-
tion has commenced, and previously to the fry quitting them ;
but persons employed by him to protect the beds in the upper
branches of the rivers, describe the young animals as rising from
the beds like a crop of oats or thick braird of grain, rushing up
in very great numbers. The tail first rises up, and the young
animals often leave the bed with a portion of the investing mem-
brane of the ovum about their heads J . Mr Halliday states also,
that the fry generally come first into hfe from about the 10th of
March to the 10th of April. They do not all, however, come
into life exactly at one time, but nearly so, amd some appear to

• Report I. p. 62. + Ibid II. p. 67-

$ Ibid p. 100. S

256 Mr D. Ellis on the Natural Historic of the Salmcyn.

be much larger than others. He, too, has seen them, when dis-
engaged from the spawning beds, with a portion of the skin of
the ovum sticking to their nose like a scale *.

During the winter 1824, Mr Hogarth jun. observed fre-
quently the spawning beds in the River Don, and had the
spawn taken from them occasionally to examine the state it was
in, and found it advancing gradually. The first particular
change observed in the roe, was the appearance of two black
specks. In this state, a portion of it was taken up and put into
phial bottles ; and, by supplying these with frequent changes of
fresh water, many of the ova came into life. The young ani-
mals lived in the bottles, and appeared very vigorous for about
three weeks, the water being frequently changed. After this,
they became restless and uneasy, would not eat, and died
when they had attained the length of an inch. He procured
an artist to make sketches of the appearances exhibited by the
ovum in the successive stages of its evolution, as represented
in Plate III. When a portion of the roe was put into salt
water, none of the ova ever came into life ; and when a young
fish, that had been hatched in fresh water, was put into salt wa-
ter, it shewed symptoms of uneasiness, and died in a few hours.
Whence it is inferred, that the spawn of salmon, if deposited in
the sea, would not be evolved ; neither would the young fish,
in the earliest periods of its life, be able to exist there, -f*

Sect. II. Of the Descent of the Fry to the Sea, and of their
subsequent growth and movements.

Having thus described the process of spawning, and traced
the series of changes exhibited in the evolution of the ovum, we
have next to follow the progressive movements of the young fry
from the place of their birth in the river, to their arrival in the
ocean. When their evolution is completed, and they have dis-
engaged themselves from the spawning beds, they keep at first
in the eddy pools till they gain strength, and then prepare to
go down the river, keeping, says Mr Little, near to its sides,
and proceeding on their way till they meet with the salt water,

• Report I. p. 62. | Report II. p. 92.

Mr D. Ellis an the Natural History of the Salmon. 257

when they disappear. * Whether the river be early or late,
the descent of the fry is made much about the same time in all.
It begins in the month of March, continues through April and
part of May, and sometimes even to June, -f Mr Halliday also
describes the fry as making towards the edges of the river soon
after their birth, and keeping in the easy fresh water about its
sides : afterwards, as they become stronger, they go more to-
wards the mid-stream ; and, when the water is swelled by a lit-
tle rain, they move gradually down the river. On meeting the
tide, they remain for two or three days in that part where the
water becomes a little brackish from the mixture of salt water,
till their constitutions become inured to the change, when they
go off to sea all at once, sinking down in the bed or channel in
the middle J. From the end of March till the middle of May,
he has seen them thus descending ; and, in particularly dry
seasons, when no floods occur, they sometimes could not get
down for want of water until the month of June §.

That the young fry descend rivers at the times and in the
manner above stated, is proved by the evidence of various wit-
nesses, and more especially by Messrs Shepherd and Sime. To
ascertain the precise course of their descent, both in rivers
and in their estuaries, Messrs Shepherd and Sime were many
years ago specially appointed, under legal authority, to exa-
mine the river and estuary of the Tay, by going up the said
estuary and river in the month of April, when the fry were de-
scending, till they should find the fry, and see them distinctly
making their way downwards. They accordingly proceeded up
both sides of the Frith, from one end to the other, but could
there meet with no salmon fry between high and low water
mark. A little above a place called Carpow-bank, however,
where the frith appears to begin, they met with the fry at the
sides of the river, where they disappeared in the deep water,
and where, with a small net, they caught many of them in the
very middle of the channel. Above this point, and all the way
upward to Perth, the fry were visible to the eye along the sides

• Report I. p. 109. f Ibid. p. 62.

t Ibid. p. 116. i Ibid. p. 63.

^58 Mr D. Eliis on the Natural History, qftlie Salvi&ri.

of the river. * The reason why the fry thus descend by the
margin in rivers, and by the mid-channel in estuaries, is appa-
rently, says Dr Fleming, because the margin of the river is the
easy water, and consequently best suited to their young and
weak state : but when they reach the estuary or tideway,
then the margin of the water being there most disturbed, the
fry avoid it, and betake themselves to the deepest part of the
channel, disappearing aUke from observation and capture, and
so go out to sea. Hence they are never seen in the pools on
the banks of the estuary, nor caught in any of the nets used
there in taking the small fish -f*.

The young fry, at this period of their growth, are called
sometimes Smolts or Samlets. They are of very different
size and weight, according to their age, varying from half an
ounce to two or more ounces. As they are never seen or taken by
salmon fishers after they enter the sea, it is probable, says Dr Fle-
ming, that they go into deep water at a distance from the shore.

After remaining some weeks in the sea, the samlet returns to
the coasts and rivers, and is sometimes seen as early as May in
some rivers, being then about a pound or a pound and a half ia
weight ; in Scotland it is then termed a Grilse. The grilses
seldom, says Mr Little, appear till nearly the middle of June,
and weigh then from two to two and a half or three pounds, in»
creasing in size half a pound a week. By the end of the fishing
season, they weigh from seven to nine pounds j . In the river
Severn, they are said to return from the sea towards the end of
June or beginning of July, weighing then from two and a half
to three pounds, rarely four pounds ; but by the end of August,
says Mr Ellis, they have grown so large as to weigh from four
to eight pounds §. At this stage of growth they are called
Botchers ; of these, some of the larger ones go up the river to
spawn ; others are considered to return to the sea, and come up
again the next spring of the year |1 ; they then weigh from ten
to fifteen pounds, when they take the name of Gillings.

Many experienced fishers, examined by the Committee, con-
sider the grilse as a fish altogether of a different species from the
salmon, while others regard it as the samlet in its progress to

• Report I. p. 93. + Ibid. p. 11 1, 1 12. % Ibid.

§ Ibid. II. Appen. p. 13. U Ibid.

Mr D. Ellis oii the Natural History of the Sahtion. 259

form the salmon. At the commencement of the grilse season,
only small ones are taken, which increase gradually to the
weight of seven or ciglit pounds. Now, were the grilse a dis-
tinct species, we might, says Dr Fleming, expect to meet with
some of them the following year as old fish, weighing nine
or ten pounds, whereas, we get them only of small size, from
one and a half to two or more pounds *. To ascertain the fact
by experiment, Mr G. Hogarth jun, in the month of May 1824,
when the samlets were going down the river Don, caused a num-
ber of them to be taken ^nd marked by cutting off the mort or
dead fin. In the course of the month of July, several grilses
were taken without that fin; whence he inferred, that they were
some of the fishes he had previously marked. Not only
did samlets thus become grilses in a few weeks, but, in the
following year (1825), he got three salmon, marked in the
same way, which he also considered to be some of those indi-
viduals he had marked originally as samlets. Farther, in
the month of September in the year 1824, he caught ten or
twelve grilses, which were put into a salt water pond. Owing
to some very high tides that season, some of these fish made
their escape, but there were three still alive in May of the
following year. These he had taken out and examined in the
presence of many competent judges, who all were decidedly of
opinion that they were real salmon, t These experiments con-
firm the statements already made, proving not only the growth
of the smolt or samlet into the giilse or botcher, but also that of
the grilse into the gilHng or salmon of one year'^s growth.

With respect to the subsequent growth of the salmon, it is con-
sidered that, in the river Severn, the young sahnon, which, in the
spring of the year, weighs from ten to fifteen pounds, has increas-
ed, in the following months of December and January, to eighteen
and twenty-five pounds, and in another year would attain the
weight of thirty-five or forty pounds, which is as large as they
are now ever taken in that river. It is not doubted, however,
that if they escaped the nets of the fishers, they would grow to
a still greater size, a salmon having heretofore been taken which
weighed fifty-two pounds when out of season ; and which would
doubtless have been of greater weight had he been taken while
in the condition of a clean fish. In the river Lee in Ireland,
• Report II. p. 92. f Report II. Appen. p. 13.

260 Mr D. Ellis on the Natural History of the Salmon.

Mr G. Shepherd also states, that the grilses, or peels, as they are
there called, which retreat to the sea, weighing from eight to ten
pounds, make their reappearance in the river during the follow-
ing autumn, weighing from twenty-four to thirty, or even thirty-
four pounds *.

Were we entitled from these facts and statements to estimate
the rate of growth of the salmon from birth to the maturest state
in which it comes to o^ tables^ we might perhaps say, that, in
the first five months of its eifsl^ce, that is^ from April to Au-
gust, both inclusive, it reaches, in favourable circumstances, to
about eight pounds in weight, or grows at the average rate
of about one pound nine and a-half ounces per month : that,
from September following to March, seven months, it acquires
seven pounds additional weight, or one pound per month : that,
from April following to December, or nine months, it gains ten
pounds additional weight, which is at the average rate of about
one pound one and three-fourth ounces per month : and, lastly,
that, through the next twelve months, it gains ten pounds more,
or weighs thirty-five pounds, which is somewhat more than thir-
teen one-fourth ounces per month. According to this calculation,
the rate of growth is greatest in the first period, diminishes as the
age increases, and is about one-half ere the salmon has attained to
the third year of his age ; and by dividing the total weights by
the total months, it will be found that the salmon acquires a
weight of about thirty-five pounds in thirty-three months,
which, on an average of the whole period, is nearly at the rate
of one pound one ounce per month. We give this only as an
approximation to the truth ; for the data assumed, both as to
the periods of time taken, and the actual weights of the salmon
at those periods, may not be the most correcti; and, regarded as an
inference generally applicable, much variation in the result may
exist in reference to salmon taken in different rivers, and even in
the same rivers, under circumstances that vary the period of their
birth, or their facilities in getting to the sea, where alone they
seem able to procure a due supply of food. Experiments, like
those described by Mr Hogarth in the preceding paragraph, if
sufficiently extended and varied, and madd with all the requisite
accuracy as to dates and weights, and with due care to identify
and distinguish the individual fishes ex^perimented upon, would

• Report H. p. 148.

Mr D. Ellis o7i the Natural History of the Salmon. 261

be the best adapted for ascertaining the proportionate rate of
growth in these animals.

Unfortunately, however, in the present practice of salmon
fishing, experiments of this kind can hardly be continued for a
sufficient length of time to obtain the required results. Many
of the witnesses state, that the skill and perseverance of the
fishers are now so great, that, under the stimulus which ready
markets and high prices afford, very few of the clean salmon,
which once pass up our rivers, are again permitted to return to
the sea ; and, consequently, few salmon are now taken of more
than one year's growth. In all the fisheries, north of the Tay,
with which Mr Hogarth is acquainted, the proportion of grilses
to salmon has, for many years past, been gradually increasing;
so that, though the total weight of fish taken may not have di-
minished, the quantity of salmon has, and this deficiency has
been compensated for only by the increased weight of grilses.
The cause of this decrease in the proportion of salmon is owing,
continues Mr Hogarth, to the too assiduous and close manner
of fishing, by which both the number and size of salmon have
diminished. I am quite satisfied, he adds, that all our rivers
are overfished, even those as to which the total weight of fish
has increased *. The great proportion of grilses to salmon in
some of the Irish rivers, is remarked by Mr Halliday -f* ; and
Mr Little states, that, though the total weight of fish in the
river Foyle, in Ireland, has much increased, yet it is mostly
made up of grilse, it being seldom that any large salmon is
taken in it. In the Shannon, the fish are a great deal larger,
few of them being under twenty, and many thirty-five or forty
pounds, and upwards J.

After the process of spawning is completed in the river, the
parent fish, says Mr Halliday, retire to the adjoining pools to
recruit. In two or three weeks from that time, the male begins
to seek his way down the river; the female remains longer
about the spawning ground, sometimes until April or May.
The fishes which have thus spawned are denominated keUs.
These kelts, or spent-fish, come down the river, says Dr Fle-

• Report II. p. 104, >09. t Report I. p. 64.

X Report I. p. 112.

JANUAEY MARCH 1828# 8

263 Mr D. Ellis m the Natural History/ of the Sdlmmi,

niing, during the spring months, from February to May inclu-
sive; so that two or three months may intervene between the
deposition of the spawn and the descent of the parent fish, vary-
ing, probably, according to the degree of strength in the fish to
undertake such migration, and the condition of the river in re-
gard to the quantity of water. In their progress to the sea,
when they reach the estuary, they pursue a course precisely si-
milar to the fry, not roaming about the banks like clean fish,
but keeping in the mid-channel. They are at this time compara-
tively weak ; and, in thus betaking themselves to the deepest
parts of the channel, they are better enabled to resist the de-
ranging motion of the flood-tide, and to take advantage of the
ebb-tide in accelerating their migration to the sea ♦.

It would seem, from a fact mentioned by Mr Little, that
some of the kelts, which may have gone down in the spring
months to the sea, return again in autumn, in breeding condi-
tion. He states, that the person, from whom he purchased the
fisheries at Dumfries, told him, that he one year marked a great
number of kelt-salmon going down to the sea, and they returned
to him again that season, in full condition, going up the river to
breed *. This rapid recovery of the kelt-salmon, after it reaches
the sea, and speedy redevelopement of its reproductive organs, is
not more remarkable than the early growth of these animals,
and the developement of those organs in them, during the first
months of their existence ; by which they are enabled, as is tes-
tified by many witnesses, either to pair together, or with older
fishes, and so to propagate their kind.

These facts, concerning the propagation of the salmon, and
the movements and growth of the young fry, are not only in-
teresting in themselves, but derive additional importance from
the generality of their occurrence, and their applicability to all
the rivers in the United Kingdom, with such modifications only,
as local circumstances and conditions may occasionally introduce.
Nature has ordained that, in these, as in other animals living in
their pristine state, there shall be one season of the year in which
the organs of reproduction are fully developed : a second, in
which the sexual function shall be discharged : and a third, in
which the young progeny shall spring into life, and go through
• Report II. p. 6& f Report I. Appendix, p. 13.

Mr D. Ellis on the Natural History of the Salmon, ^()5

their destined changes. These peri(x3s may be varied, to a cer-
tain extent, by accidental circumstances, or the purposes of na-
ture be in some instances entirely frustrated ; but such acci-
dental occurrences only partially disturb, but do not counteract,
the operation of general laws. In certain seasons, for example,
a deficiency of water in any particular river may, in the first
instance, prevent the parent fishes from ascending to deposit
their spawn, when, by nature, they are prepared to do so ; and
the proper season for spawning may thus be delayed, or some-
times entirely lost. In other instances, obstacles, either natural
or artificial, may oppose the ascent to the spawning grounds ;
and the female be constrained, as she sometimes is, to discharge
the ova in the deep water of rivers, or in the sea, where they are
wholly lost. Even when she gains the upper parts of rivers,
some time may elapse before she finds a suitable place to depo-
sit the spawn, or a male to impregnate the ova : or the bed, in
which the impregnated ova may have been duly deposited, may
not retain a suitable quantity of water : or the water itself may
become contaminated, and not furnished with air fitted to carry
on the evolution of the o\a : or, though the water and air be
duly supplied, a difference of temperature, arising from season,
from elevation above the sea, or from the prevalence of winds,
may check the progress of developement, and proportionably re-
tard, in particular rivers and situations, the appearance of the
young fry, or even prevent it altogether. Even when the evo-
lution of the ova may have been accomplished in due time and
manner, the want of water in rivers, during very dry seasons,
may retard their descent to the sea until a later period than
usual, or sometimes altogether prevent it.

Making, however, all due allowance for these varying cir-
cumstances and their corresponding results, there seem to be
some rivers in which the breeding period of the salmon is uni-
formly earlier than in others. Thus, says Mr Little, the rivers
Annan, Esk and Nith, do not afford salmon in perfection until
a full month after the Dee, which is adjacent to them ; and the
salmon caught in the Dee are in bad condition nearly a month
sooner than in the other rivers ; they are full bellied, and in
worse condition. So, likewise, the salmon taken in the river
Shannon in Ireland, are in greatest perfection in February,

s2

264 Mr D. Ellis on the Natural History of the Salmon.

March and April ; and the fishing there is nearly over by the
middle of May *. A similar remark is applicable to the Lee,
and other rivers in Ireland ; to the Eden, Severn, and some
others in England ; and to the Ness and Thurso in Scotland.
This may probably arise from these rivers possessing a higher
mean temperature at the season alluded to, the direct operation
of heat, in accelerating the developement of the reproductive or-
gans being not less marked and striking in the animal, than it is
in the vegetable kingdom.

Section 3. — Of the Migrations of the Salmon betwixt the
Rivers and the Sea.

We have seen, that the brood of the salmon, after a short re-
sidence in the sea, return to rivers greatly increased in size.
Many practical fishers, those especially connected with river
fisheries, contend, that not only the young brood, but the older
salmon, always make efforts to revisit their native rivers. That
many do so is proved by the facts already stated, of salmon,
which, having been marked on going down to the sea, have been
afterwards retaken in the same river, and identified : But it is
equally certain, that numbers of fish, thus previously marked,
have never been retaken in their native rivers, but sometimes in
another that adjoins it ; and when we consider, says Dr Flem-
ing, the numerous foes which unceasingly persecute the salmon
during its abode in the sea, which must necessarily mix the fa-
milies or tribes belonging to different estuaries and rivers, it
seems difficult to conceive, how, after such intermixture, the
breeds of different rivers could again separate and collect into
their original groups -(•. The assertion made by several expe-
rienced witnesses, that they can discriminate the salmon of dif-
ferent rivers by original peculiarities of form, may be met by
that of others, equally experienced, Mr Halliday for example,
who denies that any such distinction is practicable. That sal-
mon, however, do frequently differ considerably in point of form
from one another I have repeatedly witnessed, says Dr Flem-
ing, by looking at the fish taken at the same place by the same
net, and collected together in a boat ; but these variations are
not greater than in other species of animals, subject to variations
• Keport I. p. 114. T Report II. p. 70.

Mr D. Ellis on tJie Natwal History qftlie Salmon. 9i&5

in the place of their residence, and in the quantities and quali.
ties of their food *.

The migration of the salmon from the sea to the river, and
back again from the river to the sea, would seem, in certain ri-
vers, to take place at short intervals, through every period of
the year. During all the spring and summer months, says Mr
Little, salmon continue to visit the rivers from the sea. When
they thus enter the river early, they would soon go back if they
were not killed. After being some little time in the river, they
would naturally return to the sea as soon as there was a little
flood. He has known them taken in the river Annan when
thus going down again to the sea •(• ; — a fact confirmed by Mr
Halliday, in the most distinct terms. He fished the river An-
nan for several years ; and states, tliat there is one pool in par-
ticular in that river, which he had often fished, quite clean before
rain came on ; yet, whenever the rain did come, he continued
fishing till the water rose so high as to stop the operation ; and
all the time he caught salmon coming down the river, some of
them much exhausted, and quite changed in colour, as if they
had been hung in a smoky chimney, and others very red in the
skin. He has taken more than a hundred fish, in one night, in
that pool, after the rain had commenced, although it had been
fished clean immediately before J.

But, though the disposition in salmon to enter rivers, at short
intervals, may be universally the same under similar circum-
stances ; yet the fact, that they are found in different rivers, at
different times, seems to point to some diff*erences in the circum-
stances and conditions of those rivers, which counteract these
natural dispositions. Thus, in the rivers Ness and T'hurso in
Scotland ; in the Severn, the Eden, and others in England ; and
in the Shannon and Lee in Ireland, the months of December,
January, and particularly February, are declared, by various
witnesses, to be the best times in which salmon are taken in
those rivers, both in regard to the quantity and quality of the
fish ; and some of these rivers begin to fall off" after this period,
and, towards April and May, yield few or no fish. Other rivers
again, as the Tay and the Tweed, do not yield fish so soon as
the former, but continue to afford them, in a marketable condi-

• Report II. p. 70. f Report I. p. 10&

X Ibid. p. 61.

^66 Mr D. Ellis on the Natural History of the Salmon,

tion, till September ; and others are said not to repay the ex-
pence of fishing them till March, or even April, and to yield
the best fish in May and June.

This difference of time, in the appearance of the salmon in
different rivers, cannot be ascribed to any difference in geogra-
phical position, as far as regards these islands ; for the Ness,
which is one of the earliest rivers in Britain, is situate in the
highest latitude. It must therefore be sought for in some local
circumstances and conditions, which more or less adapt particu-
lar rivers to the taste and habits of the fish. Now, the Ness,
we are told, flows out of a lake of great depth, which never
freezes. In the year T807, Mr Alexander Fraser states, that,
at Inverness, the temperature, for ten days, was from 23° to 30°,
or more, below the freezing point ; yet this intense cold made
no impression either on the river or the lake ; and clean fish, he
adds, pass up the Ness every month in the year, except May
and June *. It is probable, therefore, that the comparatively
high temperature of the Ness, during the winter months, in-
duces salmon to enter it at a time when they are repelled from
other rivers, which, either from their shallowness, or from re-
ceiving large quantities of water produced by the melting of
snow, are reduced to a temperature unsuited to the economy
and habits of the fish. It is well known, says Sir G. Macken-
zie, that, while snow is melting on the mountains, few fish go
up rivers. Whether it be its coldness, or any other cause, that
makes them dislike snow water, I cannot tell ; but the fact has
been noticed, and is consistent with my own observation -j-.

As these fishes seem thus to decline entering rivers when
much reduced in temperature, so, at other seasons, they seem
equally to avoid them when their temperature is too high.
During the summer season, the water, in many rivers, becomes
so small, and gets so hot, that the salmon will not enter them,
but linger upon the coasts, and about the mouth of the river.
In one very dry and warm season, when stake-nets were in use
in the estuary of the Tay, the salmon, says Mr Halliday, did
not even approach the highest stake-net during the neap-tides ;
but, when the spring-tides became high, the fish then came up
to those nets, and were taken ; when, again, these latter tides
fell off, the nets on the lower parts of the frith caught a great
• Report II. p. 43. f Report I. Appendix, p. 17-

Mr D. Ellis on tite Natural Hutory of the Salmon. 267

deal more fish, which did not then float up so high as the upper
nets *. Many otlier witnesses give a similar testimony, as to
the refusal of salmon to enter rivers when much heated. The
temperature of the sea is probably that best suited to the econo-
my of these animals ; and those rivers, therefore, which come
nearest to that temperature, will probably be preferred by them ;
and as the ordinary heat of fishes is very near to that of the
medium in which they live, a temperature, either much above
or below that of the sea, is, in all likelihood, unsuited to their
nature.

If, however, freshes and floods occur in any particular river
during the hot season, salmon then move up them, even many
'months before the spawning season. Some of these may re-
main in the upper parts of rivers, if they find water sufficient
to harbour and protect them, until that season arrives; but
others, as we have seen, avail themselves of subsequent floods to
revisit the sea, in which alone they may be said to thrive. It is
not, however, the freshes and floods in all rivers that induce
salmon to enter them ; for sometimes the water brought down
certain rivers, is impregnated with matter disagreeable to the
fish. The rivers Ness, Ewes, Shin, and Thurso, says Mr
Stevenson, supply the earliest fish in Scotland : the Tweed and
Tay also supply early fish, but not so early as the former rivers.
Now, the four first rivers are discharged from the largest lakes
in Scotland, and in these lakes the water is purified before it is
sent down the rivers, in the winter and spring months. So like-
wise the Tweed and Tay nm principally through clayey soils,
and their waters, in spring floods, are not impregnated with
matter disagreeable to the fish. But rivers which run through
a mossy district, and discharge their waters into the sea, with-
out previous purification in large reservoirs or lakes, as the
Findhorn, Conon, Beauly, Spey, and many others, — such rivers,
when swollen by the melting snows in the spring months, are
turbid and disagreeable to the salmon until about the month of
April, when they begin to discharge light spring rains, sweet,
and comparatively free from the impurities of an earlier period.
It is then only, he adds, that these latter rivers begin to yield
fish, that is, not till the lake-rivers are beginning to fail ; indeed,
> • Beport I. p. 72.

268 Mr D. Ellis ofi the Natural History of the Salmon.

when the seasons of some of them have been terminated. From
observations and facts which have come within his own know-
ledge, the witness is convinced, that, if an account of the quan-
tities of fish taken at the various fisheries in Scotland, and the
exact periods at which they are taken, were obtained, it would
be found that all the rivers discharged from lakes, produce
fish at an early period of the year; whilst those discharged
from a mossy country, do not produce fish until they commence
to send down the sweet spring rains. When, therefore, it is
supposed that salmon is in season at different periods of the
year, in different rivers, the supposition is so far correct : it does
not, however, depend upon the state in which the fish is at that
period, but on the state the river is in. Salmon are extremely
nice, and only go into fresh water when it is exactly to their
taste ; and when the river is in a state to induce fish to enter
it, they are gotten of much finer quality than at a period
when they do not enter so readily *. In accordance with these
views, another respectable evidence, Mr Moir, states, that sal-
mon will not enter foul water if they can avoid it ; in proof of
which, a case exactly in point, says he, occurs in this neighbour-
hood. The bay of N.igg is perhaps the most productive sea-
fishery on this coast (Aberdeen), yet, when the river Dee is dis-
coloured by peat-bog water, that water is carried into the bay
of Nigg by the flowing of the tide : at such times not a single
salmon will enter it, and the fishing is frequently interrupted
for several days together from this cause -I*.

In the migrations of salmon from the sea to the river in the
winter and spring months, their course through the estuary
seems altogether different from that which they pursue in au-
tumn. In the latter period, impelled by the instinct of propa-
gation, they pursue their route in the most direct way through
the mid-channel, rushing up with the greatest eagerness, where
there is water sufficient to convey them, and braving all obstacles
to their ascent : in the former, they roam over the banks of the
estuary and of the mouths of rivers, borne up with the flowing
tide as far as it will carry them, and often returning again to
the sea with the ebb tide. It is indeed only when thus roaming-
over the banks that salmon are taken in the estuaries, where

* Report II. p. 12X-2. + Report II. Appendix, p. 173.

. Mr D. Ellis cm thi Natural History of the Salmon. 269

stake-nets are employed, these nets being made to extend upon
the coasts between high and low water-mark. That salmon
move upwards and downwards with the tide, is testified by many
witnesses, who have seen and intercepted them in their down-
ward course : and, by the fact, that stake-nets are commonly
provided with ebb as well as with flood courts, on purpose to
meet this disposition in the salmon, and do actually catch some-
times as many fish in their downward as in their upward course.
Hence, too, it is, that when, in autumn, salmon become full of
spawn, and desert the coasts, betaking themselves more to the
mid-channel, in order to ascend rivers, few are taken in stake-
nets ; and, for the same reason, as the kelts or spawned fish
descend, like the fry in the mid-channel, they are rarely, if ever,
intercepted by the stake-nets.

But why, it may be asked, do salmon thus visit the coasts of
the sea and of the estuaries of rivers, linger upon them, and
seem indifferent about entering rivers, unless they are, in all re-
spects, suited to their taste ? To this they are apparently im-
pelled by the strength of the appetite, which, next to that of
propagation, exerts the greatest force over the movements of
animals, viz. that of hunger. On the banks of estuaries, sal-
mon, says Mr Halliday, find a great deal of food ; he has taken
a great many salmon in the frith and estuaries with worms pass-
ing through them; such worms as are to be seen on those banks*.
During the fishing season of 1823, Mr Moir received all the
salmon caught in the stake-nets set between the rivers Don and
Ythan ; also the whole of the fish taken in the bay of Nigg ;
those taken, likewise, at the bridge of Dee, and at nine other
small fisheries in that river. As all these fish were cut up for
the purpose of being preserved in a fresh state, he had an op-
portunity of examining their stomachs. In the stomachs of
those taken in the upper river fisheries, he could never detect
any kind of food ; whereas, those taken in the sea were fre-
quently gorged wi»h food, which was principally sand-eels
(Ammodytes tobianus of Lin.) : The different appearance of the
fishes corresponded with that of their stomachs, those taken
from the river being softer and inferior to those got from the
sea Whence he concludes, that salmon frequent the flat sands
B>eipori I. p. 61.

JW> Mr D. Ellis on the Natural History of the Salmon.

between the Don and Ythan, for the purpose of feeding ; and,
for the same reason, he adds, they frequent the coasts at Mussel-
burgh and Aberlady, which abound with sand-eels, and are suc-
cessful stations for the stake-net, though the one place is thirty,
and the other forty, miles from a spawning river *.

That salmon do obtain the chief part of their food during
their residence in salt water, seems certain from the fact, attest-
ed by various persons, that they are in greatest perfection when
taken out of the sea, or very shortly thereafter ; and that they
fall off in condition in proportion to their abode in rivers. Sal-
mon taken in the sea, says Mr Halliday, are by far the richest
and best ; they are both weightier and fatter, and in firmer con-
dition. If detained in fresh water at any season, they become
unsound, and if this happen during the warm weather of sum-
mer, they are soon rendered unfit for food -f*. The largest fish
are usually got at sea-fisheries, says Mr Stevenson, and the
nearer they are got to the salt water the finer is their quality ;
so much so, that any one versed in the state of salmon, would
at once be able to pick out, from 500 head of fish, those that
had been more than two or three days in the river J. As it
thus appears that the stomach of the salmon is filled with food,
and his condition the most perfect, while roaming over the coasts
of the sea and the banks of estuaries ; and that he is found with
an empty stomach, and in very inferior condition, after a short
residence in fresh water, we readily see not only why he visits
the coasts of the sea, but lingers upon them ; why, if he is in-
duced to move upwards with the tide, he again returns with it ;
and why, when he may have pushed up rivers during floods,
he soon tries again to revisit the sea, where alone he is enabled
to find proper and sufficient food to satisfy his hunger, and ade-
quately support his growth.

From the facts thus stated respecting the migrations of the
salmon, at different periods of its life, it would seem that it can
begin to live only in fresh water, and that, in the earliest period
of its existence, salt water is fatal to it ; that, at a period some-
what later, it descends rivers on its way to the sea, where it in-
creases rapidly in size, and in two or three months returns again
to the river.

• Report II, p. 171. t Kejjon I. ^0. + Report II. p. 122.

Mr D. Ellis on the Natural History of the Scdiiwn. 271

During the summer months, salmon from the sea proceed
sometimes high up those rivers, which are furnished with a due
supply of water, either permanently, or during occasional floods ;
and in subsequent floods they try again to return to the sea : at
this time of the year, however, their migrations into rivers are
often limited to the point to which the tide flows^ and they re-
turn again to the estuary and sea with the ebb-tide.

In autumn, again, the male and female salmon ascend to the
shallow fords and sources of rivers to breed, remaining there
during the winter months, the male, howevel*, returning early
in the following year, and the female not till March or April.

Beside the breeding-fish, which descend in the winter and
early spring months, clean salmon from the sea are constantly
ascending and descending those rivers, which, by the quantity^
quality, and temperature of their water, are fitted to receive
them.

With respect to the causes which influence these alternate
migrations of salmon, it would appear that they move towards
the sea chiefly in search of the food found on its coasts, and
on those of estuaries ; whilst the chief impulse that urges their
movement up rivers, is the propagation of their kind, whe|;e
alone the spawning process can be duly exercised. As to the
cause of their seeking fresh water, when not urged by that im-
pulse, we can ofler no other reason than that of a sort of instinct^
which incites them to remove occasionally into fresh water,
in which alone they were at first able to exist; whilst the
appetite for food calls them again back to the sea. Perhaps, if
the water of rivers were always in sufficient quantity, and per-
fectly suited to the taste and economy of salmon, they would
be moving backwards and forwards from the sea to the river,
and from the river to the sea, at intervals more or less great ;
and, therefore, the different jxjriods in which they appear in
different rivers, is owing to the different circumstances and con-
ditions in which those rivers may be, rather than to any na-
tural difference in the economy or habits of the fish. How far
they move into the deep sea is not known, but that they roam
over the coasts, at great distances from the mouths of rivers, is
certain from the fact of their being captured in such situations.

3

272 Mr D. Ellis on the Natural History of the Salmon.

Description of Plate III. exhibiting the Evolution of the Ova

of Salmon.

Fig. 1. The ovum of the natural size, after the embryo has become
quick in it : at this stage, the body of the embryo has a
pinkish tinge, and the eyes are disproportionably large.

Fig. 2. The shell just burst, and the head of the embryo protruding.

Fig. 3. State of the subject eight hours after it had burst the shell, at
which time the pulsations of the heart are very visible.

Fig. 4. The shell just thrown oflf, with the tail drooping : before the
shell bursts, the tail envelopes the yolk or bladder, which is
seen attached to the body of the fish. The shell itself is
transparent, and about one-third part of it is fractured by
the fish in extricating itself.

Fig. 5. The tail of the young fish has now become straight ; the mouth
is distinct, and the lower jaw and pectoral fins, which are
quite transparent, are in motion, and keep time with the
heart, which beats from 60 to 65 times in a minute : At
first, the body of the fish is colourless, with slight marks of
articulation of the bones, or of stripes on the skin ; the bag
attached to the fish is transparent, and is filled with a light
# amber-coloured albuminous fluid, with some drops of a clear

rose-coloured oil in it.

Fig. 6. Represents fig. 3. magnified. The bag beneath the belly is ex-
tremely soft and yielding, and the shell is still seen bind-
ing the young animal.

Fig. 7. Represents fig. 5. magnified. The heart is placed before the
pectoral fins, and under the throat, and is connected with a
large bloodvessel that runs along the front and bottom of
the bag, as is more clearly seen in fig. 8. The bag, which
was at first round, becomes, in a day or two after the fish
leaves the shell, more and more elongated ; with a micro-
scope, the circulation may be seen. The blood flows from
under the body of the fish, through vessels which ramify
upon the sides of the bag, and from these it is collected,
and continued into the large vessel before mentioned, which
is connected with the heart : from the heart the blood is
again thrown, with regular pulsations, into the vessels of
the head and throat, where it is seen to assume a darker hue,
as well as to the other parts of the body : air, it is said, or
some transpaient fluid, is seen to circulate, in equal quan-

PLATE m.

Edin rn£w rfui . jffur. roi.iv:^^/2.

Ilj.2.

6:

Fu^:^.

^vefutun c^tA^ Ov»ff^lAe StUmo StilarofChmfnan, Sabnat,

PuHished by A.Bfaek r.diti:ii2S.

Mr D. Ellis cm the Natural History of the Salmon. j?73

tity with the Wood. The rays of the gills ai*e distinctly
seen, and the body of the young animal begins to assume a
brownish colour.
Kg. 8. A sketch of fig. 5. magnified, to shew more distinctly the cir-
culation of the blood.
We have no doubt of the general accuracy of these representations of
the changes exhibited in the evolution of the ovum of the salmon. But the
reader will bear in mind that they are not made by an anatomist, and cannot
therefore be expected to present that minuteness of observation, and extent
of description, into which one familiar with such subjects would have entered.

On the Temperature of the Interior of' the Earth. By M. L.
CoRDiER, Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences, and
Professor of Geology in the Garden of Plants*.

X HE supposition of a central fire is extremely ancient. It is
perhaps coeval with the first dawnings of civilization, and has
furnished a basis to some of the fables in which the infancy of
the human race has been cradled, traces of it being found in the
mythology of almost all nations. It originated from the very
imperfect observation of certain natural phenomena, too obvious
to have at any time escaped the notice of the vulgar. Confound-
ed for ages amidst vague and conjectural notions, which con-
stituted nearly all the physics of the ancients and of the middle
ages, this hypothesis only began to assume some consistency, af-
ter the discovery of the laws of the planetary system. Descartes,
Halley, Leibnitz, Mairan,'Buffon especially, and several other phi-
losophers of modern times, adopted it, resting chiefly upon consi-
derations deduced from the figure of the earth, from certain
astronomical phenomena, from the mobility of the subterranean
principle which produces magnetic action, from the comparison
of the temperatures of the surface with those observed at small
depths, and from various experiments on the cooling of incan-
descent bodies.

The inferences derived from these sources not constituting a
body of demonstration sufficiently direct to carry conviction with
it, many learned men who were contemporary with those men-
tioned, remained undecided, while others supported the old opi-
nion, which attributed to the earth no other heat than what it

• Read to the Academy of Sciences 4th June 1827.

274 M. L. Cordier, on the Temperature of

may receive from the solar rays. The latter opinion at length
became the prevailing one. It owed its success in a great mea-
sure to the influence of the celebrated geological system pro-
duced about the middle of the last century, of which Pallas,
Saussure and Werner were the principal promoters, and which
for a long time met with no opposition. This system supposes
that the original fluidity of the globe took place through the
medium of water, that the whole mass was consolidated, stratum
after stratum, from the centre to the circumference, by aqueous
crystallization ; and that the volcanic phenomena are mere local
effects.

The opinion on this subject has undergone a great change
within these few years. This change, which has been extremely
slow in its progress, so great were existing prejudices, commen-
ced at the end of the last century. It is to be chiefly attributed
to the following circumstances : Important discoveries have been
made in geology ; the relative position of the materials compos-
ing the oldest formations of the crust of the globe, has been found
to be different from what had been formerly asserted ; it has
been proved that the volcanic agents reside under the primitive
rocks ; the true nature of lavas, and their identity in all parts of
the earth, have been discovered ; the analogy of a multitude of
strata of all ages to lavas has been demonstrated ; the facility
with which all these originally fluid and incandescent matters
have crystallized by mere cooling, has been proved and under-
stood ; and the theory of aqueous crystallizations has become
perplexed. On the other hand, accurate and numerous facts
relating to the motion of radiant heat, and of the heat which is
propagated in bodies from one molecule to another, have been
made known by satisfactory experiments. These facts have been
connected by mathematical theories of the most general nature.
Ingenious observations have placed beyond doubt the continual
radiation of the superficial heac of the earth into celestial space.
The ideas which have been long entertained in regard to the
inconsiderable depths to which the horary, daily, monthly and
annual variations of temperature reach in the soil or strata of
diff*erent countries, and the level at which a fixed temperature
commences, have been carefully verified. Lastly, new experi-.
ments have been undertaken regarding the temperature of deep
places accessible to us, and that of the waters coming from them.

the Intenor of the Earth. 275

The results have Ijcen compared witli one anotlier, and with the
mean temperatures of the surface, and the important conchision
has been drawn, that, proceeding from the level at which the
fixed temperature commences in the soil of each country, the
heat increases rapidly as the depth advances, and this in a quan-
tity which has been valued at 1° centig. for every thirty or forty
metres *.

These remarkable facts, considered partially by some, and
grouped in various ways by others, have carried with them all
who had a predilection for the hypothesis of central heat. The
common conclusion is, that the earth possesses in its interior a
temperature, incomparably more elevated than the compound
temperature which is observed at the surface ; and even accord-
ing to some, that beyond a certain depth, there probably exist
an incandescence and a fluidity, whose origin has been coeval
with the commencement of things.

La Grange and Dolomieu were the first who revived the
hypothesis of central heat. Hutton and his able commentator
riayfaii', must also be mentioned, notwithstanding the obscurity
in which they involved their opinion, and the errors into which
they fell when employing this principle in the support of geolo-
gy. More lately, this great question has been investigated by
the illustrious geometrician whose loss the sciences have to de-
plore, M. de La Place, and before him, by Mr. Fourier, who
was naturally led into the subject by his memorable researches
regarding the general theory of heat. Other autliorities would
not be wanting, were it possible to make mention here of the
many learned men, especially in England, who, during the last
twenty years, have successively adopted the same opinion.

Thus the hypothesis of subterranean heat now presents itself,
supported by a mass of authorities and facts which no longer
permits us to view it as a creature of the imagination. In the
state in which the subject now stands, this hypothesis seems
to merit the particular attention of the learned world. If the
proofs adduced in its favour are insufficient, recourse must be
had to new observations ; if they suffice, we must hasten to a-
dopt the principle, determine its characters, deveiope its conse*
quences, and if it be possible elicit its applications.

• Metre is 3 feet and 3.371 inches English, «r 39.371 inches.

276 M. L. Cordicr on the Temperature of

If we examine the data of this great problem, it is easy to
see that only one of them might lead to uncertain results. This
datum, which is at the same time the most direct and the most
decisive, is that which is grounded on the experiments from
which it has been inferred that the temperature of the earth
augments progressively from the surface toward the centre. It
may be asked, if these experiments are accurate, if they have
been suitably discussed, if they are sufficient, and if the infe-
rences that have been drawn from them leave nothing to be de-
sired ?

I have thought that it would be useful to settle these doubts,
and this for the interest of science in general, more than for that
of an opinion which I have myself cherished for a very long time,
and to which I have already paid the tribute ol' my researches
in other points of view. Such is therefore the principal object
of the memoir, which I have now the honour of communicating
to the Society.

M. Cordier then proceeds to a very interesting examination of
the various experiments on subterranean temperature, hitherto
published, in which he discusses all that is known in regard, 1^^,
To the temperature of the water, whether running or standing,
met with in mines ; 9.dly^ To the temperature of the air in the
shafts, galleries, and levels of mines ; and, Sdly^ To the tempe-
rature of the air in caves, as in those for instance under the Ob-
servatory at Paris. From these details he draws the following
conclusions : — 1. If we except a certain number of observations,
as not sufficiently satisfactory, all the others announce, in a more
or less positive manner, that there exists a remarkable increase
of temperature, proceeding from the surface of the earth towards
the interior. 2. The results obtained at the Observatory at
Paris, are the only ones from which a numerical expression of
the law, which this increase follows, may be deduced with cer-
tainty. This expression carries to twenty-eight metres, the
depth which corresponds to the increase of 1° of subterranean
heat. It results from this, that, at the depth of 2,503 metres
under Paris, we would reach a temperature of 212° of Fahren-
heit's scale. 3. A small number only of the other results fur-
nish numerical expressions, sufficiently near the law in question
to be admitted. These expressions vary from 57 to 13 metres.

the Interior of the Earth. 277 •

for 1* of increase ; their mean announces in general a more ra-
pid increase than that hitherto admitted. 4. Lastly,' in group-
ing by countries all the admissible results, I am led to a new
and important idea, which is, that the differences between the
results collected in the same place, do not depend solely upon
the imperfect nature of the experiments, but also upon a certain
irregularity in the distribution of the subterranean heat in dif-
ferent countries.

In the second part of the memoir, M. Cordier gives a detailed
account of his own experiments on subterranean temperature,
made in coal-mines in France. These were conducted with
great care, and are apparently the most accurate hitherto made.
From these experiments, and those enumerated in the first part
of the memoir, he draws the following conclusions : —

1. Our experiments fully confirm the existence of a subterra-
nean heat, which is peculiar to the terrestrial globe, does not de-
pend on the solar rays, and increases rapidly with the depthi^
2. The increase of the subterranean heat does not follow the
same law over the whole earth ; it may be twice or three times
as much in one country as in another. 3. These differences are
not in constant relation, either with the latitudes or longitudes.
4. Lastly, The increase is certainly more rapid than has been
supposed ; it may go so high as a degree for every 15 or even
13 metres, in certain countries : provisorily the mean term can-
not be fixed at less than 25 metres. These important con-
clusions, M. Cordier remarks, fix the bases, at the same time
modifying them considerably, according to which the mathe-
matical theory of the dispersion of heat, in bodies of large di-
mensions, may be applied to the earth. They are in hai*mony
with the inferences derived from phenomena, of so very dii*-
ferent a nature, which have long afforded evidence of the inter-
nal incandescence of the earth. Brought into mutual connec-
tion, these different elements give rise to new combinations, and
to remarkable applications. In our opinion, there may be eli-
cited from them numerous inductions, calculated to throw light
on the most obscure, and, at the same time, the most essential
parts of geology. The following are the principal of these in-
ductions :

JANUARY — MARCH 1828. T

278 M. L. Cordier on the Temperature of

1. All the phenomena observed, being in accordance with the
mathematical theory of heat, announce that the interior of the
earth is furnished with a very elevated temperature, which is
peculiar to it, and which has belonged to it since the origin of
things ; and, on the other hand, the volume of the earth's mass
being infinitely greater than that of the mass of waters (about
ten thousand times greater)^ it is very probable that the fluid-
ity which the globe incontestibly possessed, before assuming its
spheroidal form, was owing to heat.

2. This heat was excessive, for that which may at present
exist at the centre of the earth, supposing a continued increase
of 1 degree for every 25 metres of depth, would exceed 3500''
of Wedgwood's pyrometer (upwards of 250,000° centigr.)

3. It must be admitted that the temperature of 100° of Wedg-
wood's pyrometer, — a temperature capable of melting all the
lavas, and a great part of the other known rocks, exists at a
depth which is very small, compared with the diameter of the
earth ; and, for example, from my experiments, that this depth
is less than 6B leagues, of 5000 metres, at Carmeaux, 30 leagues
at Littry, and 23 leagues at Decise, numbers which correspond
to 5^, /^, and /j of the mean radius of the earth.

4. There is, therefore, every reason to believe, that the inter-
nal mass of the globe is still possessed of its original fluidity,
and that the earth is a cooled star, which has been extinguished
only at its surface, as Descartes and Leibnitz thought.

5. If there be considered, on the one hand, the extent which
Dolomieu's observations on the seats of volcanic foci *, and
our own experiments on the composition of lavas, have given to
volcanic phenomena -f, and, on the other, the great fusibility of
the matters which all the volcanoes of the globe at present throw
up, or even of those which they ejected long ago ; it must be
inferred that the internal fluidity commences, at least in many
points, at a depth much less than that at which the temperature
of 100 degrees of Wedgwood's pyrometer.

• Dolomieu, Rapport sur ses Voyages in 1797- Journal des Mines, t. vii,
p. 385.

t Recherches sur Differens Produits Volcaniques. Journal des Mines,
t. xxi, p. 249. and t. xxiii. p. 55. — Memoire sur la Composition des Laves de
tous les Ages. Jouni. de Phys. t. Ixxxiii. p. 135.

the Interior of tJie Earth. 279

6. The crust of the earth, not including the superficial and
incomplete pellicle, which is named secondary, being formed
by refrigeration, it follows that consolidation has taken place
from without inwards, and consequently that the layers of the
original rocks nearest the surface are the oldest. In other terms,
the primordial formations are so much the more recent, the
deeper the level at which they occur, which is just the reverse of
what has hitherto been admitted in geology.

7. M. Fourier, on considering the distribution of subterranean
heat at the depths which are accessible, the temperature of the
poles, and the existence of radiation toward the celestial spaces,
has demonstrated that the earth continues to cool *. This cool-
ing is insensible at the surface only, because the loss of heat there
is continually compensated by the effect of a propagation, which
uniformly proceeds from without inwards, a compensation which
is nearly perfect, which continually approaches the state of equi-
librium, and which experiment and theory perfectly explain.
The loss of heat has therefore no influence but at great depths,
whence there results, that the crust of the globe daily continues
to increase internally by new solid layers. Thus, the formation,
of the primordial strata has not yet ceased ; nor will it cease-
until after an immense period of time, that is to say, when the
cooling shall have attained its limit.

8. If the crust of the earth has been formed in the manner
in which we suppose ii, the primordial strata with which we
are.acquainted ought to be disposed nearly in the order of their
fusibility ; I say nearly, for some influence must be attributed to
the rapid action with which the cooling must have been carried
on at the commencement of things, and that of chemical affini-
ties operating upon such large masses. Now, the magnesian,
calcareous and quartzose strata, are in fact the nearest to the sur-
face.

9. According to what has been stated above, the mean thick-
ness of the crust of the earth probably does not exceed twenty
leagues of 5000 metres each. I would even say, that, according to

• General Remarks on the Temperatures of the Globe and Planetary Spa-
ces, by M. Foiyier ; Annales de Chimie et de Physique, t. xxvii. 1824,
p. 136.; and Resumi theorique des Proprietes de la Chaleur rayonnante, by
the same, same volume, p. 275. ;«:-' y . i .Ci

T 2

^0 M. L. Cordier oji the Temperature of

several geological data, not yet interpreted, and of which I
shall speak on another occasion, it is probable that the thickness
is still smaller. Keeping to the above result, this mean thick-
ness would not be equivalent to the sixty-third part of the mean
radius of the earth. It would only be the four hundredth part
of the developed length of a meridian.

10. The thickness of the crust of the earth is probably very
unequal. This great inequality appears to us to be announced
by the inequality of the increase of the subterranean tempera-
ture in different countries. The different conducting powers of
the strata cannot of themselves account for the phenomenon.
Many geological data lead us equally to presume, that the thick-
ness of the earth''s crust is very variable.

11. The heat which the soil of each place continually disen-
gages, being the fundamental element of the climate which is
established there, and, according to our ideas, the quantities of
this disengaged heat not occurring in a constant relation in diffe-
rent countries, it is now understood why countries, situated in the
same latitude, have, other circumstances being the same, diffe-
rent climates, and how Mairan, Lambert, Mayer, and other
philosophers, have erred in attempting to represent by formulae
the gradation, supposed by them to be regular, which the mean
superficial temperature follows from the equator to the poles.
There is thus also a new cause added to those which occasion
the singular inflexions which the isothermal lines present.

12. Whatever be the nature of the astronomical forces or
events which have formerly disturbed the stability of the conti-
nents, and occasioned the general state of dislocation and over-
turning which the structure of the earth''s crust exhibits, it is
easy to conceive that all the parts of this crust floating, if we
may so express ourselves, around a perfectly fluid sphere, and
being moreover infinitely subdivided, in consequence of stratifi-
cation, and especially from the innumerable contractions which
refrigeration has produced in each stratum, may have been dis-
located and overturned in the manner in which we see them.
These effects are incapable of being explained by the generally
received opinion, that the superficial strata were the last conso-
lidated, and that the globe is solid to the centre.

IS. In considering the probable fluidity of the central mass^

the Interior of the Earth, 281

the phenomena of earthquakes, the thinness of the consolidated
crust, and especially the innumerable solutions of continuity,
by which it is broken up, and which result from stratification,
the contraction arising from progressive cooling, or from the
overturnings that have taken place, we long ago conceived it
probable that this crust possesses a certain flexibility. We de-
veloped the elements of this singular property in a memoir
read to the academy in 1816, and which had the disadvantage
of being presented at a period when people*'s minds were not
sufficiently prepared for attending to researches of this nature.
Now, this property is at the present moment more probable than
ever. It is further conceived, from the fluidity which is to be at-
tributed to the central matters that serve as a support to the
crust, that the flexibility in question may be j)ut into action with-
out its being possible for us to perceive it. In fact, to produce
a change of figure in the spheroid capable of raising the equator
a metre, by proportionally shortening the earth's axis, it would be
sufficient, in as far as concerns the plane of the equator, that
each of the innumerable solutions of continuity which intersect
the consolidated crust, and which I shall suppose to be five me-
tres from each other at an average, should be subjected to a se-
paration equal to the 1276th part of a millimetre, a quantity
which is excessively small.

1 4. The probable flexibility of the earth's crust is supported by
two principal causes, the one general and constant, the other local
and transitory. The latter cause, during the last thirty years, has
not spared any country. Sometimes it has shaken, almost at the
same time, the twentieth part of the surface of our continents, or it
has made the soil undulate in directions equal to the sixtieth or
seventieth portion of a meridian ; I speak of eartliquakes. Since
the commencement of authentic history, there have been rec-
koned upwards of six hundred, whose violence or extent have
rendered them memorable. The second cause depends upon
the circumstance, that the permanent diminution of the earth's
heat no longer produces any sensible contraction in the subterra-
nean regions in the vicinity of the surface, while it continues its
effects in the deeper parts, whether for augmenting the separa-
tion of the masses which have experienced the first effects of

282 M. L. Cordier on the Temperature of

contraction, or for occasioning new solutions of continuity in
these masses. Let it be added, that the slow formation of new
solid strata in the interior, must be conformable to the general
rule, in virtue of which substances in the fluid state experience
a great diminution of volume in passing to the solid state.

15. The least flexible regions of the earth'^s crust are neces-
sarily those near the surface, for the transverse solutions of con-
tinuity which they contain, have long since attained and lost their
maximum of separation. It is evident that the central forces
tend to bring nearer to each other the elementary masses of the
superficial regions, in proportion as the cooling contracts more
and more the volume of all the internal parts of the globe.
This approximation would act in a uniform manner, if the strata
of the consolidated crust were concentric, and if all the transverse
solutions of continuity were directed in planes perpendicular to
the surface ; but this is not the case. The shattered state of the
primordial crust is such, that, considering it in the great scale, lean
only define it as a heap of fragments pressed against each other,
and of which the strata are always very much inchned or vertical.
Since the establishment of this state, the obliquity of an innumera-
ble quantity of solutions of continuity, of which some have an im-
mense extent, forms an obstacle to the establishment in all points
of an approximation of the elementary masses that might be uni-
form and proportionate to the central contractions. Changes of level
of no great extent, but which may have affected great continen-
tal surfaces, have been substituted for this approximation. Many
geological facts agree with this hypothesis. It is to be presum-
ed that this efi^ect still subsists at the present day, although in
an imperceptible manner. If the secular raising of the basin of
the Baltic is constant, it may be accounted for in this manner.
The above hypothesis will also explain the change in the level
of the Mediterranean, which we observed with Dolomieu on the
shores of Egypt *. There is reason to think, according to our
opinion, that at present this part of the African continent is un-
dergoing a progressive lowering, which may amount to two or
three centimetres in a century.

16. M. de Laplace, estimating the astronomical observations

• See my description of the ruins of San (the Tanis of the ancients), in
the great work on Egypt.

the Interior ofilie Earth.

made in the time of Hipparchus to be sufficiently accurate to af-
ford evidence that the duration of the day has not diminished
3 Jg of a centesimal second for twenty centuries, thought that
the contraction which is actually produced by the secular cool-
ing of the globe, is not sufficiently great to increase the velocity
of rotation in a sensible degree. This opinion gives us a useful
limit of the actual effect of the g-eneral refrigeration.

17. But if the effects of contraction since the commence-
ment of the cooling are considered, one cannot help admitting
that it has exercised a certain influence in the above point of
view. On the one hand, the duration of the day has succes-
sively diminished a small quantity ; and, on the other, the figure
of the earth must have undergone a slight alteration, in conse-
quence of the acceleration of the velocity of rotation, provided
the flexibility of the consolidated crust has been sufficient to per-
mit the change of figure, which we admit as being the case.
Thus at present the day is a little shorter, and the spheroid a
little flatter toward the poles, than at the commencement of
things. If these data are correct, it is evident that the two ef-
fects continue. All that is to be done is to find a better means
than that mentioned above for appreciating the feeble intensity ;
which is not impossible, as we shall presently see.

18. Another consequence, not less probable, and not less cu-
rious, to which we are led by the hypothesis of central incan-
descence and fluidity, is the following. However little the crust
of the earth may be influenced by the flexibility which, accord-
ing to our ideas, must be attributed to it, it follows that the
phenomenon of the tides is exercised, without its having been
hitherto suspected, upon the terrestrial mass itself. This effect,
which, besides, must be excessively feeble, will not excite asto-
nishment, when we reflect that it certainly existed at the com-
mencement of things, that is to say, when the surface of the
globe possessed the perfect fluidity which is admitted in all the
theories. It is easy to demonstrate that the greatest of these
ancient land-tides could not have been less than from four to
five metres.

19. As the secular refrigeration of the earth is continually in-
creasing the thickness of its crust, it may be asked if the incan«
descent matter which is subjected to this action, passes entire-

284 M. L. Cordier ow the Temperature of

\y into the solid state ; or if it is decomposed, so as to furnish
solid parts and gaseous parts. There is nothing improbable in
the latter idea ; in fact, the consolidation of lavas daily presents
a very striking example of the production of gas by refrigera-
tion. If we admit this supposition, we can account for the ori-
gin of the first matter of earthquakes in a very natural manner.
An excessive temperature keeps this first matter in the gaseous
state, notwithstanding the enormous pressure which it experien-
ces at these great depths. The capricious nature of the pheno-
mena of earthquakes would also be accounted for by the ex-
treme inequality of the internal surface of the crust of the
earth.

20. The preceding data lead to an entirely new explanation
of volcanic phenomena ; an explanation which will perhaps ap-
pear more satisfactory, at least to the very small number of per-
sons who have a just and complete idea of the elements of the
question, than any that has hitherto been proposed. These
phenomena appear to us a simple and natural result of the in-
ternal refrigeration of the globe, a purely thermometrical effect.
The internal fluid mass is submitted to an increasing pressure,
which is occasioned by two forces whose power is immense, al-
though their effects may be slow and not very perceptible. On
the one hand, the solid crust contracts more and more in pro-
portion as its temperature diminishes, and this contraction is ne-
cessarily greater than that which the central mass experiences in
the same time ; on the other hand, this same envelope, in con-
sequence of the insensible acceleration of the rotatory motion,
loses its internal capacity in proportion as it recedes more from
the spherical form. The internal fluid matters are forced out-
wards, under the form of lavas, by those habitual vents which
are named volcanoes, and with the circumstances which the pre-
vious accumulation of gaseous matters, which are naturally pro-
duced in the interior, give to eruptions. This hypothesis needs
not excite astonishment, for I can demonstrate its probability by
a very simple calculation.

In 1803 I cubed in TenerifFe, as nearly as it was possible,
the matters ejected by the eruptions of 1705 and 1798. I per-
formed the same operation with regard to the products of two
eruptions still more perfectly isolated, which exist in the extinct

the Interior qftJie Earth. 285

volcanoes of the interior of France, viz. (in 1806) those of the
volcano of Murol in Auvergne, and (in 1809) those of the vol-
cano of Cherchemiis, near Issarles at Mezin. I found the vo-
lume of the matters of each eruption much inferior to that of a
cubic kilometre *. From these data, and others of a similar kind,
which I have collected in various parts, I consider myself war-
ranted to assume the volume of a cubic kilometre, as the ex-
treme term of the product of eruptions considered in a general
sense. Now, such a mass is almost nothing compared with tho
bulk of the globe. Spread over its surface, it would form a
layer not more than one five-hundredth part of a millimetre in
thickness -f-. In exact terms, if we suppose the crust of the earth
to have a mean thickness of twenty leagues of 5000 metres, a con-
traction capable of shortening the mean radius of the central
mass Txgjth of a millimetre, would be sufficient to produce the
matter of an eruption.

Proceeding on these data, if we suppose that contraction alone
produces the phenomenon, and that over the whole earth there
take place five eruptions annually, we find that the difference
between the contraction of the consolidated crust and that of the
internal mass^ only shortens the radius of that mass one millime-
tre in a century. If there be only two eruptions yearly, it takes
two centuries and a-half to produce the same shortening. We
see, that, in all cases, an excessively small action is sufficient to
produce the phenomena.

It will be remarked, that this action, if it be real, is necessa-
rily in connection with the total contraction which the globe ex-
periences from the effect of secular cooling. It furnishes a
basis for calculating the very slight influence which this total
contraction exercises in accelerating the velocity of rotation.

Nothing less than the enormous power, which I have pointed
out, could suffice to raise the lavas. In the particular case in
which they would come exactly from a depth of twenty leagues
it is easy to prove, from their mean specific gravity, that they
would be pressed by a force equivalent to that of about 28,000
atmospheres. It is, besides, well known, that they flow almost
always after the eruption of the gaseous matters, which may very
easily be conceived, according to my theory.

• The Kilometre is 39371,00000 cubic English inches.
t The Millimetre is .03937 English cubic inches.

286 M. L. Cordicr on the Temperature of

This is not the place for developing the purely ihermometri-
cal hypothesis which I propose for explaining volcanic pheno-
mena, and shewing with what success it may be applied to all
the details of these phenomena. I shall content myself with re-
marking, that it accounts for the identity of circumstances by
which the manifestation of volcanic action, in all parts of the
world, is characterised, for the prodigious reduction which the
number of volcanoes has undergone since the commencement of
things, for the diminution that has been effected in the quantity
of matters ejected at each eruption, for the nearly similar com-
position of the products of each geological epoch, and for the
small differences that exist between the lavas which belong to
different epochs. Lastly, in this hypothesis, the most usual di-
rections of earthquakes announce the thinnest zones of the earth's
crust ; and the volcanic centres, as well ancient as modern, con-
stitute, at the same time, the points at which this crust has the
least thickness, and presents the smallest resistance.

In the above I have not calculated upon the gaseous matters
which each eruption produces, because, supposing them reduced
to the state of liquidity which they originally had in the mixture
from which they have been disengaged, their volume would be
very inconsiderable, and because the mean of one cubic kilo-
metre, which I have adopted, is much above the real mean.

21. The greater part of the substances contained in mineral
and thermal waters being analogous to those which are exhaled by
craters during and after eruptions, and by currents of lava when
they crystallize, as well as by solfaterras, it must be supposed
that they come from a common reservoir. Their emission occa-
sions continual losses to the internal gaseous charge. These
losses, which, however, are incessantly repaired by new subter-
raneous products, take place in virtue of an expansive power,
which is immense, and through a succession of extremely narrow
' fissures. The water is furnished by the superficial causes which
feed common springs. The alteration of certain parts of the
canals, especially near the surface, may sometimes occasion
the substitution of certain principles by others. In this systeitt
of explanation, it is easy to conceive the permanence of the
springs, their nearly invariable temperature, and the singular
nature of their principles. Several phenomena appear to me to

W * the Interior of the Earth. H J887

prove that they were much more numerous at periods antece-
dent to the present geological epoch. This circumstance is ex-
plained by the greater thinness of the earth's crust at that time,
and the more rapid progress of refrigeration.

22. If we judge by the appearance of lava, the fluidity of
the incandescent matter which constitutes the interior of the
earth is very great, and its density in the regions, situated at a
distance from the centre, (for example, at a distance equal to
Jgth of the radius,) is much inferior to the mean density of the
whole globe. These two data are not in opposition to the in-
fluence which must be accorded to the enormous and increasing
pressure which is due to the action of the central forces. It is
to be observed, in the first place, that fluids can be very little
compressed, that their compressibility in this case must have a
limit, and that its effects may be balanced by excessive heat.
Moreover, the present lavas have, after their consoh'dation, a
mean specific weight, greater than that of the primordial rocks
taken together ; from which it may be concluded, independently
of every other consideration, that the density of the central mat-
ters depends much more upon their nature than upon pressure ;
they have been originally placed in the order of their specific
gravities. The existence of gold and platina proves that sub-
stances having, from their nature, an extreme density, may oc-
cur at the centre of the earth.

23. The preceding statement shews, that there is some proba-
bility in the hypothesis of Halley, who attributed the magnetic
actions to the existence of a mass composed in a great measure
of metallic iron, of irregular form, and possessing a particular
revolving motion, situated at the centre of the earth. Two
kinds of phenomena, of which Halley had no knowletlge, add to
this probability. On the one hand, the rotation of the ring of
Saturn round that planet may be brought forwai'd as furnishing
a sort of analogy ; and, on the other, the nature of the stones
that have fallen from the sky, and the existence of meteoric iron,
prove that iron in the metallic state, and alloyed with nickel,
may enter abundantly into the composition of the planetary
masses.

24. If Halley's hypothesis be admissible, it furnishes the li-
mit of the internal temperature of the earth. This limit is

M. L. Cordier on the Temperature oj

that of the resistance which forged iron, subjected to an enor-
mous pressure, is capable of opposing to fusion. We might be
inclined to reduce the temperature, on considering that Newton''s
experiments, confirmed by those of Mr Barlow, have proved that
iron, raised to a white heat, loses its magnetic virtue. But, on
the other hand, it must not be lost sight of, that an excessive
pressure of the metal should probably protract in a great degree
the term at which the magnetic virtue is thus destroyed.

25. Lastly, According to the same hypothesis, there would
be reason for making inquiries respecting various extremely
slight, secular, and not hitherto perceived, effects, which the
different positions, and the irregular form of an internal solid
mass, possessed of a peculiar motion, and composed in part of
metallic iron, might occasion. Thus, for example, we might
be led to doubt the perfect and absolute invariability which has
hitherto been attributed to the direction of the plummet in each
place ; and this doubt would apply to countries distant from
the zones without decHnation, and from the magnetic equator.

Such are the principal inferences at which we arrive, on intro-
ducing the hypothesis of central heat and fluidity, amidst the most
important questions of geology. It would be easy to extend these
inferences, and, for example, to explain, in an equally satisfactory
manner, the formation of the unstratified primordial rocks, that of
the transition rocks, of veins, and of the gypseous, sulphureous,
saline, calcareous and magnesian strata of the secondary series.
The fecundity of applications is remarkable, and adds to the pro-
bability of the principle. The case is different with the Neptunian
system, which so long prevailed, and which represents the globe
as a cold inert mass, solid to the centre, and formed from with-
in outwards by aqueous depositions. This system has proved
a sterile one, and none of its applications are now able to stand a
serious examination. It reduces itself to narrow limits, to the
explanations of those superficial strata, formed of consolidated
sedimentary matters, of agglomerated debris and organic re-
mains, which constitute almost the whole of the excessively
thin envelope, named secondary. Had not the authority of
the naturalists who brought this system into credit, given a
bias in its favour, it is evident that, at its commencement, it
would have been made to undergo a very simple trial, from

the Interior of the Earth. 2fl9

which it could not have escaped, namely, the comparison of the
masses of water and of earthy and metallic matters, m hich en-
ter into th^ composition of the globe. It is easy to shew that
the weight of the mass of water does not exceed the fifty-thou-
sandth part of the weight of the whole globe. Now, with what-
ever solvent this mass has been quickened, it is inadmissible
that one kilogramme of water could ever have dissolved 50,000
kilogrammes of earthy and metallic matters.

We may be permitted again to remark, that it is not the spi-
rit of system by which we are now led to the idea of central fire ;
it is in spite of such a spirit, and in opposition to many prejudices.
This return to a former opinion is occasioned by an accurate and
profound examination of phenomena of very different orders.
It cannot be believed that by mere chance natural philosophy,
astronomy, and geology have arrived at the same point, after fol-
lowing such different paths. We may therefore affirm, without
fear of being considered hasty, that the hypothesis which is
equally a desideratum in all these sciences, seems already to pre-
sent the characters of a real and fundamental principle; and every
thing seems to predict, that it will have as powerful an influence
upon the progress of the theory of the earth, as that which the
great principle of gravitation has exercised upon the theory of
the motion of the celestial bodies.

From the present state of this discussion, it would seem that
the Academy ought no longer to remain neutral on so important
a question. Perhaps it may now be time to carry into effect
a measure proposed at the sitting of the 28th November
1825, on the recommendation of M. de La Place *. Perhaps,
also, it would be proper to direct the attention of scientific men,
in general, to the subject, by offering prizes for the successful
discussion of some of the elements of this great question.

The determination of the figure of the earth has occupied the
Academy for upwards of a century ; the investigation of the prin-

• The measure in question was the naming a commission of six members
(MM.;de la Place, Arago, Poisson, Thenard, Gay Lussac, and Dulong), who
were directed to make out a programme of experiments to be performed, that
the Academy might be enabled to determine, by correct experiments, \sty The
state of the earth's magnetism ; 2rf/y, The pressure and composition of the at-
mosphere ; 3rf/y, The heat of the globe at different depths.

290 The Lord President on the Natural History of

ciple which presides over the structure of the globe, and which
regulates all the phenomena depending upon it, is not less wor-
thy of its efforts, or beneath the talents and resources which it
has at its command. The object is certainly one of the most
elevated to which the human mind can aspire : its attainment
would, moreover, be of the highest importance to the whole phi-
losophy of science. If it is averred that the earth is not an in-
ert mass, as it has been so long supposed ; if the appearance of
inertia is only owing to the slowness of the phenomena, and their
feeble intensity : if all is in motion and in labour in the interior,
as all is in motion and in labour on the outside of the globe, we
arrive at a result of the highest importance, since it seems appli-
cable to all the celestial bodies; and there is thus obtained a
most powerful proof of the existence of the great principle of
universal instability, which was long ago announced or foreseen
by Newton and other philosphers ; a principle superior to the
great rules which we are accustomed to regard as exclusively
constituting the laws of nature, by the aid of which we see be-
yond the longest and apparently most perfect periodicities of our
solar system, which appears to govern the universe even in its
minutest parts, which continually modifies all things, alters and
displaces them insensibly and irrevocably, and leads them through
the immensity of ages, to new ends which human intellect can-
not assuredly penetrate, but of which it may at least boast of ha-
ving foreseen the necessity.

Memorandum from the Right Honourable the Lord President,
containing somejacts relating to the Natural History of the
Swallow and the Partridge,

To Professor Jameson.

x\.B0DT eighteen or twenty years ago. The Lord President,

then Lord Justice- Clerk, left his house at Granton, on the 17th

of April, to go on the West Circuit.

There had been a fall of snow the night before, the l6th,

and it lay on the ground two or three inches deep. He

breakfasted with Solicitor Blair at Aventon, near Linlithgow,

where the snow was still deeper, and the frost keen. He stop-

3

the SwdUow and the Partridge. 291

ped to bait his liorses at the village of Larbert, the snow still
lying there. While his horses were feeding, he walked along
the lane towards Carron, where the works were in full activity,
six or seven furnaces being then in constant employment. As
he approached the works, the effects of the heated air from the
furnaces became very apparent ; and when he came to the great
Mill Pond, he found the snow entirely gone ; the air swarming
with gnats and other insects, and numbers of swallows skim-
ming over the mill-pond. On remarking this to one of the
workmen whom he met, the man answered, " Oh aye, sir, we
seldom miss the swallows here.""

For some years after he settled at Granton, swallows con-
stantly built in the corners of his windows, which, of course,
they dirtied and obscured. This was a great obstruction to
the view of the Forth. At last, it occurred that they might be
prevented from building, by rubbing the corners of the windows
with oil or soft soap. This was accordingly done early in the
next season. The swallows began to build as usual ; but as
fast as they attempted to attach their materials to the stone,
they slipped off. They renewed their attempts for some days ;
and then gave the matter up ; and, what is very remarkable,
although the oiling has never been renewed, and the effects of
it must have long ago ceased, not a single swallow has ever at-
tempted, since that time, to build on the windows here, not even
in those which had not been oiled. Nay, they do not even
build in the mock windows ; though one constantly builds in
the coal cellar, to which it can only get by diving under an open
doorway, and where the servants are breaking coals every hour
of the day.

At Tyninghame, the seat of the Earl of Haddington, the kit-
chen is in a building separated from the main house by an open
court, but connected with it by a covered passage, supported
by posts, and open to the south. In the corner of the passage,
close to the kitchen door, a bracket is placed for holding a
lamp, which is taken down to be trimmed every day, and light-
ed every evening. On that bracket a swallow, and it is believed
the same swallow, built her nest for three or four years, quite
regardless of the removal or light of the lamp, and the constant
passing and repassing of the servants.

292 M. Cuvier on the Domestication of

On the opposite side of the same open court, the great Iwuse-
bell is hung, under a wooden cover, fastened to the north wall
of the house. It is a large bell, and is rung several times a-day,
to call the servants to their meals. Under the wooden cover of
this bell, the same swallow, it is believed, which had formerly
built on the bracket for the lamp, built a nest for several years,
and never was in the least disturbed by the ringing of the bell,
or the rattling of the rope.

I may take this opportunity of mentioning a very curious fact
relating to the partridge, which also occurred at Tyninghame.
Lord Haddington has a breed of wild turkeys, which never en-
ter the poultry house or yard, but roost in the trees, and live
chiefly on beech-mast, and any thing else they can pick up,
though they are tame enough to come about the house to be
fed, in the time of frost and snow. About eight or ten years
ago, a cock partridge, full grown, suddenly joined himself to the
flock of these turkeys, and remained constantly with them during
the whole summer, autumn, and winter ; at night he slept un-
der the trees in which they roosted ; in the day he fed with
them, and was not in the least frightened or disturbed by peo-
ple walking among them. He took great liberties with the old
turkey cock ; when he saw him going to pick up a worm or any
seed, he used to run under him, between his legs, and snatch it
out of his mouth, and the old gentleman never resented such in-
dignities. Early in spring he left them, as it was supposed, to
find himself a mate, at the pairing season. But, in the begin-
ning of autumn, he rejoined his old friends, and continued with
them as formerly, until the next pairing lime, when he again
disappeared, and returned no more, so that he was probably
killed.

Essay on the Domestication of Mammiferous Animals, with
some introductory considerations on the various states in
which we may study their actions. By M. Frederick Cu-
vier. (Continued from p. 60.)

XjET us inquire, therefore, now that we know the animals
which are associated with us, what is the disposition common to

Mammifcrmis Animah. S93

some and foreign to others, which might be regarded as essen-
tial to domesticity ; for, witliout a particular disposition which
would second our efforts, and prevent our empire over animals
from being merely accidental and transitory, it is imjwssible to
conceive how we should have succeeded in domesticating ani-
mals, had all of them resembled the wolf, the fox, and the
hyena, which constantly seek seclusion, and even flee the pre-
sence of other individuals of their own species* Perhaps, by
means of perseverance and labour, we might be able to form
among these animals races familiarized in a certain degree to
man, so as to become habituated to his neighbourhood, and
even to prefer it, from the advantages which they would derive
from it, as has been done in the case of the cat, which lives
among us ; but between this and domestication there is a wide
difference. Besides, to attain an object it is necessary to knoW
it, and how could the first men, who associated themselves with
animals, have known this object ? And had they conceived it
hypothetically, would not their patience have been exhausted in
vain efforts, from the innumerable attempts they would have
had to make, and the great number of generations on which
they would have to act, in order, after all, to arrive only at im-
perfect results. Thus, the more we examine the question, the
more evident does it become, that a high degree of intellect)
great mildness of character, the fear of chastisement or the ac-
knowledgment of benefits, are insufficient of themselves to ren-
der an animal susceptible of domestication ; ^nd that a particu-
lar disposition is indispensable to make animals submit and at-
tach themselves to the human species, and to render its protec-
tion necessary to them.

This disposition can only be the social instinct carried to a
very high degree, and accompanied with qualities calculated to
aid its influence and developement ; for all the social animals are
not susceptible of domestication. But all our domestic animals
which are known in their natural state, whose species still re-
mmn in part wild, or of which some of the races have acciden-
tally returned to their original condition, form more or less nu-
merous herds ; while no solitary species, however easy it may
be to tame it, has afforded domestic races. In fact, it is suffi-
cient to examine this disposition, to see that domesticity is but a

JANUARY— MARCH 1828. U

f^ M. Cuyier on the Domesticatum of

mere modification of it. To establish this truth, I shall not re-
peat what I have already stated respecting sociability in the me-
moir which I published on that subject ; I shall merely consider
the domestic animals, with regard to man, as compared with
what the social animals are with regard to one another.

When, by our benefits, we have attached to us individuals
of a social species, we have developed to our own advantage, we
have directed toward ourselves, the propensity which impelled
them to draw rear to their fellows. The habit of living near us
has become in them a want so much the more powerful, that it
is founded in nature ; and the sheep which we have reared is
led to follow us as it would be led to follow the flock among
which it was brought forth ; but our superior intellect soon de-
stroys all equality between animals and us ; and it is our will
which governs theirs, as the stallion, which, from its superiority,
has become the chief of the herd which it leads, draws after it
all the individuals of which this herd is composed. There^is
no resistance, so long as each individual can act conformably to
the wants by which it is excited ; it commences whenever this
situation is changed. It is for this reason that the obedience of
animals to us is not more absolute than to their natural chiefs ;
and if our authority is greater than theirs, it is because our
means of enticement are also greater, and because we have been
able to restrain, in a great degree, the inclinations which, in
the natural state, would have excited the will of the animals
which we have associated with us. The individuals which have
passed from hand to hand, which have had several masters, and
in which, from this circumstance, most of the natural disposi-
tions are weakened, if not effaced, appear to shew the same do-
cility toward every person ; they are subjected to the whole hu-
man species. This state of things cannot exist with regard to
animals that are not domesticated ; but the analogy recurs,
when we consider the> individuals, whether isolated or in herds,
which have never had but one master ; it is he alone whom
they acknowledge as their chief, he only whom they obey ; every
other person would be unknown, and would even be treated as
an enemy by the species which do not belong to races over
which domestication has exerted its whole influence, that is to
say, as an individual would be treated when he presented him-

Mammif'erous Animdh. 295

self for t!ic first time in a wild herd. The elepliant only allows
himself to be led by the cornac whom he has adopted ; the dog
itself, reared in solitude with its master, manifests a hostile
disposition toward all others ; and every body knows how dan-
gerous it is to be in the midst of a herd of cows, in pasturagv.^s
that are little frequented, when they have not at their head the
keeper who takes care of them.

Every thing, therefore, tends to convince us, that formerly
men were only, with regard to the domestic animals, what those,
who arc particularly charged with the care of them still are,
namely, members of the society which these animals form among
themselves ; and that they are only distinguished in the general
mass by the authority which they have been enabled to assume
from their superiority of intellect.

Thus, every social animal, which recognises man as a member
and as the chief of its herd, is a domestic animal. It might even
be said, that, from the moment when such an animal admits man
as a member of its society, it is domesticated ; as man could not
enter into such a society without becoming the chief of it.

Should we now apply these principles to the wild animals,
which are of a nature that renders them capable of subjection,
we should see that there are still several which might become
doniesticated, were it necessary to increase the number of those
which we already possess.

Although the apes and monkeys have the qualities of most
importance ibr domestic animals, the social instinct and intellect,
yet the violence and irritability of their character render them
absolutely incapable of all subjection, and consequently excludes
them from the number of animals which we are capable of asso-
ciating with us. The American quadrumana, the makis, and
the insectivora, are equally excluded ; for, were they social and
susceptible of domestication, their weakness would render them
useless.

The seals, perhaps, more than any other carnivorous animals,
together with the various species of the dog tribe, would be the
best adapted to attach themselves to us^ and serve us ; and it is
astonishing that the fishing tribes of our species have not trained
them for fishing, as the hunting tribes have trained the dog to
the chase.

u 2

296 M. Cuvier 07i the Domestication of

I shall not detain the reader with the didelphides, the glifes
and the edentata ; the weakness of their body, and their limited
intellect, prevent them from being employed by us for any use-
ful purpose. But almost all the pachydermata, which are not
yet domesticated, might be so ; and it is especially to be regret-
ted that the tapir is still in a wild state. Much superior to the
boar in size and docility, it would afford domestic races not less
valuable than those of the hog, and whose qualities would cer- -
tainly be different, for the nature of the tapir, notwithstanding
some points of resemblance^ is very different from that of the
boar. Yet the tapir, which has but feeble means of defence, is
destroyed in America, where it is much sought after on account
of the excellence of its flesh. Now, however Httle addition may
continue to be made to the population of South America, the
species peculiar to that country will gradually disappear from the
face of the earth, :-r

All the species of solipeda are as capable of being domesti-
cated as the horse or the ass ; and the education of the zebra,
the quagga, the dauw *, and the hemionus, would prove useful
to society, and lucrative to those who might undertake it.

Almost all the ruminantia live in herds, and most of the spe-
cies of this numerous family are of a nature that qualifies them
for domestication. There is one, in particular, and perhaps
even two, that are already half domesticated, and which it is
matter of regret that we do not see among the number of our
domestic animals, for they would have two very valuable quali-
ties, — they would answer as beasts of burden, and would fur-
nish fleeces of excellent quality. The animals of which I speak
are the Alpaca and the vicugna. They are double the size of
our largest breeds of sheep ; the qualities of their fur are very
different from those of wool, properly so called, and might be
manufactured into cloths, which would partake of these quali-
ties, and thus give rise to a new branch of industry -|*. )

* The Equus montanus of Burchell.

■f The difference of climate has been stated as an insurmountable obstacle
to the naturalization of the animals of warm countries in our northern re-
gions. This error would have been avoided, had the resources of nature and
the extent of our means of acting upon animals been better known. By a si-
milar error, the same difficulty has been opposed to the introduction of the

Mammi/erous Animals. 297

I shall now bring my observations upon domestication to a
ccfticlusion. My object has been to shew its true character, as
well as the relations of the domestic animals tb man. It rests
upon the propensity which animals have to live together in
herds, and to attach themselves to one another. We obtain it
only by enticement, and principally by augmenting their wants
and satisfying them. But we could only produce domestic in-
dividuals and not races, without the concurrence of one of the
most general laws of life, the transmission of the organic or in-
tellectual modifications by generation. Here one of the most
astonishing phenomena of nature manifests itself to us, the trans-
formation of a fortuitous modification into a durable form, of a
fugitive want into a fundamental propensity, of an accidental
habit into an instinct. This subject is assuredly worthy of ex-
citing the attention of the most accurate observers, and of occu-
pying the meditations of the most profound thinkers.

This essay is undoubtedly far from containing all the de-
velopements of which domestication is susceptible ; for, to treat
of this subject fully, nothing less would be requisite than to con-
vert into a science one of the most important branches of hu-
man industry, the treatment of animals, or, in other words, to
submit to laws founded in Nature — the blind practices and em-
pirical rules according to which people are generally directed at
the present day. But my researches will not be without use if
they shew the principles according to which we may conduct
ourselves, in order to act effectually upon the natural disposition
of animals, the methods which should be followed for improv-
ing them, and all that might be expected in this department
from an enlightened and persevering direction of the means
placed within our power. — Memoires du Museum d'^Histoire
Naturelle.

alpaca and vicugna into Europe, animals which live only in very temperate
regions ; but it would not even be applicable to the tapir, although a native
of the warmest countries.

( 298 )

On the History and Constitution (if Benefit or Fricndlij
Societies. By Mr W. Fraseu, Edinburgh. Continued
from p. 91.

J-T was formerly remarked, that, in order to place Friendly
Societies upon equitable and permanent principles, it is indispen-
sably requisite that all their calculations for contributions and
benefits should be founded upon such rates of sickness and
mortality as are most likely to occur among their members, and
also upon the rate of interest which will most probably be ob-
tained for their money. The last of these subjects only now
remains to be noticed, the two former having been already fully
discussed.

Rate of Interest

By the statute 59th Geo. III. c. 128, Friendly Societies in England, whose
rates of contribution have been certified by two actuaries to be adequate to
-the allowances, and whose rules have been approved of by the Quarter Ses-
sions of the Peace, are allowed to pay in their money to the Bank of Eng-
land, in sums not under L. 50 at a time, to the account of the Commissioners
for the reduction of the National Debt, and to draw interest on all such sums
at the rate of threepence per cent, per day, or somewhat more than 4| per
cent, per annum. They are likewise authorised to lodge any sum or sums
below li. 50 in the Savings Banks, and to receive interest on these at the rate
of 4 per cent, per annum. By these privileges, societies in England can al»
ways calculate ujion receiving 4 per cent, interest at least, besides the advan-
tage of having the whole or any part of their capital always at command,
without the risk of loss.

The above statute, however, only applies to England ; and, consequently,
the Friendly Societies of Scotland are obliged to have recourse to other modes
of investment. This being the case, the rate of interest to be assumed be-
comes with them a question of some difficulty ; and the only guide which can
with propriety be taken, seems to be therate of interest hitherto derived from
the Public Funds ; for, although societies in Scotland have usually disposed of
such portions of their capital as were not immediately required, in house pro-
perty and other similar purchases, which produced a higher nominal rate of in-
terest than could have been obtained for money on loan ; yet it has generally
been found, after deducting occasional losses, and the heavy expences neces-
sarily attending such investments, that the ultimate produce has not been so
much as if the capital had been lent on heritable securities at a constant rate
of 4^ or 6 per cent, interest.

With the view of obtaining some approximation to the average rate of inte-
rest in this country, Mr Babbage examined a period of ninety-two years of

Mr W. Fraser mt Benefit or Friendly ^Societies. 299

peace and. war, from 1731 to 1822, and, by extracting from the tables collect-
ed and published by M. Caesar Moreau, the highest and lowest price of the
Three Per-cents each year, he found that the average annual price was 73.1
during 48 years of war, 80.14 during 44 years of peace, and 79.33 during 92
years of war and peace. According to these rates, he states the averages to
be 4. 1 per cent, during war, 3.48 per cent, during peace, and 3.78 per cent,
during war and peace ; or a little more than an average rate of 3| per cent,
during the whole period of 92 years *. But Mr Finlaison, actuary to the
National Debt Office, states, from the opportunities he has had, in his official
situation, of observing the prices at which the Commissioners have purchased
stock, that, upon a medium of the last forty years, the rate of interest realised
from the investment of money in the Three Per-cents, the highest of all funds,
has been precisely the same as if it had been invested at one uniform and
constant rate of 44 per centum ; and that this observation holds equally true
for the period of the last twenty years. Mr Finlaison therefore infers, that,
for a long time to come, the interest of money in this country may be calcu-
lated at 4 per cent f .

From the^e circumstances, then, we would venture to conclude that Friend-
ly Societies in Scotland may safely calculate upon 4 per cent, interest ; for,
although some small sums must always be reserved to meet current demands,
and be consequently unproductive of interest ; yet, on the other hand, it is to
be remembered that they have no bad debts, that a very high rate of interest
in the shape of fines is charged for all sums in arrear, and that it is general-
ly practicable to make some better investments than even in the Three Per-
cents.

Contributions and Benefits.

At the commencement of every Friendly Society, there must be necessarily
fixed some standard rates of contributions and benefits, a minimum and maxi-
mum age at which entrants shall be admitted, and the periods when the be-
nefits shall commence, diminish, and cease. It does not follow, however,
that one uniform rate of payments and allowances must be adopted for all the
members by each society, as has hitherto been the almost universal practice ;
but only that some certain rate of contribution and allowance be properly
adapted to each other, so that other higher or lower rates may be therefrom
deduced. In every rightly conducted society, therefore, a member should be
allowed to take one or more of the benefits, and such allowance from each as
he may find suited to his own circumstances.

The benefits of Friendly Societies, it was formerly mentioned, usually con-
sist of weekly allowances during sickness and infirmity, of sums payable at death,
and, in some cases, of annuities to widows. The amount of allowance in sick-
ness is generally regulated by its intensity or duration, — bedfast, walking and
permanent sickness forming one class of payments, while sickness of the first,
second, third, and fourth quarters, or periods of three months, and superannua-
tion (I. e. sickness or infirmity of unlimited continuance), form another,— the

* A Comparative View of the various Institutions for the Assurance of Lives, by C. Babbage,
Esq. London, 1826.

t Report of the Sdect Committee of the House of Commons respecting Friendly Societie* in
1825, p. 48.

800 Mr W. Fraser on the History and Constitutwhi (if

rate of allowance in both diminishing progressively at each step of the scale/
It will therefore be obvious, that the expenditure for sickness must dejjend up-
on the quantum which may occur, and the sum stipulate<l to be paid weekly
during each of these periods ; and hence it is necessary to take an average of
the whole, in order to ascertain the requisite contributions for societies adopt-
ing either of these scales of payments.

When Dr Price made his calculations for Friendly Societies, he divided
the allowance during sickness into " Bedlying Pay'* and " Walking Pay ;"
but it does not appear what proportion he conceived they would bear to each
other. Assuming, however, as before stated, that, in societies consisting of per-
sons under 32 years of age, a forty-eighth part of them would be always in a
state of incapacity for labour by illness and accidents ; that from the age of 32
to 42 this proportion would increase one-fourth ; from 43 to 51 one-half; from
52 to 58 three-fourths ; and from 59 to 64 double — he calculated the following
Table of rates of Contributions and Allowances.

" TABLE shewing' (lie Weekly Allowances^ during Incapacities of Labour, produced
by Sickness or Accidents, and the corresponding Weekly Contributions necessary
to entitle Persons to those Allowances.

Class.

3

*s

o ^

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

X.

XI.

Ages of Contributors at
Admission.

e£J

d.
1

n

2
3

H

4

4|

5

54

6

c o

f^ eo

CO

g«

23

8
9
10

11

1

Class.

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

X.

XI.

pq

£ s.
4
6
8
10
12
14
16

18

1
I 2
1 4

^
P^

s.

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

" iV. B. The ages in this and the following tables are the ages at admission, and
the contributions at admission are reckoned to continue invariable till they
cease at sixty-five *."
It is here to be remarked, that the contributions and benefits for sickness are
both intended to stop at the age of 65 ; and that the " following tables " allud-
ed to in the note, refer to annuities or superannuation allowances, which were
to supersede those for sickness, at the age of 65. The proportions which the
allowances bore to each other, were, 12s. per week bed-lying pay (i. e. when
disabled) ; 68. per week walking pay (or when not totally disabled) ; 6s. per
week after 65, whether ill or well ; and this latter sum doubled at 70,— a mem-
ber being considered to be then totally unfit for labour. The contributions.
* Price on Reversionary Paymeuts> 7th e$Ut. vol ii. p. 477^

'\o iwiVMNtv; ^^'«^< or Frietully Societies. I N 7 ip\ SOI

for aunuities wore combined with those for sick allowances, and calculated
to commence at 21 years of age ; and the contributions for both sickness and
annuities, were entirely to cease at fi5, when the 8ui)erannuation allowance
became payable. By this plan, however, of combining the payments for sick-
ness and annuities, many societies, and even some actuaries, were led into er-
ror, it having been supposed that the contributions in the above table were
suitable for sickness during the whole period of life, instead of only to the age
of 65 •. But the general failure of Friendly Societies cannot be wholly attri-
buted to this mistake, by far the greater number of them having adopted no
calculation whatever.

'.The Committee of the Highland Society of Scotland having taken as a
standard the average of the whole sickness in each decade reported to them
by Friendly Societies, resolved, for suflicient reasons stated by Mr Oliphant
in his Report, Is/, To commence their computations at the 21st year of age)
2</, To present a view, in the simplest form, of the course of a society's af-
fairs, supposing that 1005 members would enter in the 21st year of their age,
that all would continue till death, and that no new members would be admit-
ted ; 3(/, To assume that the various contributions should be payable whether
in sickness or in health ; ith^ To institute computations for annuities or super-
annuation allowances to such members as should survive their 70th year of
age ; Sth^ To found the calculations upon a medium rate of mortality derived
from the Northampton, Carlisle, and Swedish Tables ; and, 6th, To consider 4
per cent, as the rate of interest which would be received for the society's,
stock.

The society was supposed to embrace /oMr schemes. 1st, For Weekly sick al-
lowances, both the contributions and benefits commencing at the 21st, and ter-
minating at the 70th year of age ; 2rf, Life annuities, the contributions com-
mencing at the 21st, and terminating at the 70th year of age ; but the annui-
ties only commencing at the 70th year, and then continuing during life ; 3d,
A sum payable at death, the contributions for which, commencing at the 21st,
and terminating at the 70th year of age, should a member live so long ; and,
ith. Annuities to widows, the contributions commencing at the 21st, and ter-
minating at the 70th year of age. All, or only some of these schemes, how-
ever, and one or more contributions for the whole, could be adopted or consoli-
dated, as a society might judge proper. Both contributions and allowances
were considered to be payable in the middle of the year, as the payments to
societies are usually made monthly or quarterly, and the disbursements weekly
through the whole year.

In order that all the members of any actual society may be placed on a just
and equal footing, it is shewn to be necessary " either, 1st, That all shall enter
at the same age; or, 2d, That the difference of age shall be compensated in
one way or other: And there are three ways in which later entrance may be
compensated, 1st, By the party paying an equalising fine at entry ; or, 2d, By
paying a higher rate of annual contribution, according to his age ; or, 3d, By

receiving a lower rate of allowance -j-." Thus, should an annual contribution

* Errors of Actuaries, by an Actuary. Colchester, 8vo. Is.

\ Highland Society's Report, p. 81. ConstaWc & Co. Edinburgh, 1824, Gt.

302 Mr W. Fraser on the History and Constitution of

of L. 1, from an entrant at 21 years of age, be calculated to afford a weekly
sick allowance of I^. 1, or any other benefit, it may easily be ascertained what
will be required from entrants at any later age, for the same, or higher or
lower rates of allowance.

Full allowances were calculated to be paid in sickness during the whole
period between 21 and 70 years of age ; but, should societies wish to know the
effects of varying the allowances, according to the intensity or duration of
sickness, it was stated, that, although the returns to the Highland Society did
not give the different kinds of sickness with sufficient precision to afford cor-
rect data for shewing those effects, yet that an approximation had been drawn
from those returns, which might be adopted for ascertaining the average of the
whole, until a better standard could be obtained. Thus, as formerly remarked,
of 10 weeks of sickness among persons of all ages under 70, 2 might be assumed
as bedfast, 5 walking, and 3 permanent, — in all 10 weeks ; or, if the allow-
ances were to be regulated by the duration of sickness, 2\ weeks would be of
the first quarter, 3 weeks of the second and third, and 4i weeks of unlimited
duration, — in all 10 weeks. If, then, such rates were agreed to be adopted by
any society, and if the allowance for

Bedfast sickness were 5s. "| f 2 multiplied by 5s. would equal lOa.

Walking ditto, . 3s. >■ then -j 5 . . 3s. . .15s.

Permanent ditto. Is. 8d. J Jl3 . . Is. 8d. . . 5s.

10 30s.

And which 30s. being divided by 10, would give 3s. for the uniform rate of
allowance.

Again, if the allowance were, for

Sickness of the 1st quarter, Qs.\ ^ | 2| multiplied by 6s. would equal 15s.
Ditto 2d & 3d do. 3s. V ^ -J 3 . . 38. . . 9s.

Do. of unlimited duration, ls.)*^JU| . . Is. . . 4s. 6d.

10 28s. 6d.

And which 28s. 6d. being divided by 10s. would give 2s. lOd. for the uniform
rate of allowance *.

Hence by the above method, it is easy for any new society to ascertain
pretty accurately the average rate, of payment, and the corresponding contri-
bution, until its own experience afford more correct data.

These preliminary points being fixed, various tables were prepared by
Mr John Lyon — which were subsequently revised and approved of by
several eminent calculators — for the use of Friendly Societies, with ex-
planatory remarks as to their construction, uses, and application. In these
tables is shewn the condition of the supposed society in every stage during
its progress, and means are thereby afforded of instituting comparisons with
the successive steps in the past or future progress of actual societies, as they
advance from the lowest state of burden, with increasing capital, to the high-
est state of burden, when the capital ceases to accumulate, begins to decline,
and is finally exhausted. From those tables the following one has been de-
duced.

♦ Highland Soc. Rep. pp. 108, 196.

Beuf'fit or Friendly Societies.

SOS

TABLE sjicwing tJie Single and Annual Contributions (the latter payable quarterly)
for assuring Ten Shillings * per week during Sickness till 70 years of Age ; Ten
Pounds per annum for life after 70 ; and Ten Pounds at Death.

Assiinmce of Weekly

Assurance of an Annuity

Assurance of £ 10

on

1

Age.

Pay

in Sickness.

of A* 10 after 70-

Deatli.

TOTAI^ 1

Single

Annual

Single

Annual

Single

Annual

Singl

e

Annual

Contrib.

Contritu

Contrib.

Contrib.

Contrib.

Contrib.

Contrib.

Contrib.

L. 8.

D.

L, 8.

D.

L. S.

D.

L. 8.

D.

L. s.

D.

L.

8.

D.

L. 8.

D

L. S. D.

21

9 1

2

10

3 2

54

3

5|

3

54

3

Of

15 4

1

16 9|

22

9 4

u

10

2|

3 5

74

3

74

3 I

44

3

5

15 11

u

17 34

23

9 7

24

10

6

3 8

Hi

3

10

3 2

H

3

6

15 18

6

17 10

24

9 10

5

10

n

3 12

54

4

1

3 3

4|

3

7

16 6

3

18 54

25

9 13

10

11

04

3 16

14

4

4

3 4

54

3

8

16 14

4^

19 04

26

9 17

44

11

H

4

4

7

3 5

64

3

9

17 2

11

19 84

27

10 1

03

11

8

4 4

Oi

4

104

3 6

8

3

10

17 11

94

1 44

28

10 4

10|

12

04

4 8

^

5

2

3 8

1|

3

114

18 1

54

1 1 If

29

10 8

104

12

H

4 12

11

5

6

3 9

0|

1

18 10

104

1 1 114

30

10 13

04

12

9

4 17

84

5

10

3 10

4

24

19 1

04

1 2 94

31

10 17

34

13

2

5 2

8|

6

24

3 11

7i

4

19 11

7i

1 3 8|

32

11 1

8

13

n

5 8

04

6

7

3 13

04

54

20 2

8^

1 4 7i

33

11 6

54

14

04

5 13

n

7

04

3 14

31

7

20 14

6

1 5 8

34

11 11

^\

14

64

5 19

9|

7

6

3 15

iJt

9

21 6

10|

1 6 94

35

11 16

^\

15

0|

6 6

24

8

3 16

11

21 19

n

I 7 llf

36

12 1

11

15

A

6 12

114

8

6

3 18

44

5

1

22 13

3

1 9 24

37

12 7

54

16

A

7

04

9

2

3 19 10

5

3

23 7

3f

1 10 74

38

12 13

n

16

n

7 7

7|

9

94

4 1

44

5

5

24 2

24

1 2 04

39

12 19

41

17

6

7 15

10

10

6

4 3

Of

5

7

24 18

34

1 13 7

40

13 5

n

18

24

8 1

04

11

3

4 4

64

5

94

25 11

4|

1 15 3

41

13 12

4|

18

iii

94

8 13

84

12

1

4 6

li

6

26 12

24

1 17 Of

42

13 19

2

19

9 3

5

13

4 7

8|

6

24

27 10

31

1 19

43

14 6

Oi

1

8

9 13

9

14

4 9

4|

6

54

28 9

2

2 1 14

44

14 12

114

1 1

7

10 4

84

15

1

4 11

14

6

84

29 8

94

2 3 44

45

14 19

94

1 2

n

10 16

H

16

34

4 12

lU

7

30 9

1

2 5 104

46

15 6

104

1 3

7

11 9

04

17

74

4 14

8

7

34

31 10

7

2 8 54

47

15 13

84

1 4

8

12 2

64

19

1

4 16

54

7

7

32 12

84

2 11 4

48

16

24

1 5

94

12 16

11

1

84

4 18

4

7

11

33 15

54

2 14 5

49

16 6

44

1 7

13 12

24

1 2

64

5

3

8

34

34 18

10

2 17 9|

50

16 12

1

1 8

3

14 8

7

1 4

64

5 2

3i

8

84

36 2

1143 1 6 1

The payments required for annuities to widows have been here omitted, because
the tables for that scheme were calculated upon the supposition, that, in practice,
all the contributions for the different benefits would be conjoined, and, therefore,
that although a member should become a widower, he would still be under the
necessity of making full payment to all the schemes. It is but natural to suppose,
however, that few would continue to contribute to a fund from which they could
never derive any benefit, and, by abandoning the society, would render all the cal-
culations for the scheme useless. The payments for such benefits, therefore, should
be entirely distiiict from all other contributions, and calculated to cease at the
death of the wife, as well as at the death of the husband ;— but, It is presumed,
that very few of the working classes will be found to insure for this benefit, the
same amount of contribution being required for a widow's annuity of L. 10 per
itnnum as for L. 100 at the death of her husband ; besides, that the former benefit
is uncertain, while the latter is certain, and also of more advantage to the widow.

* It was found, that au annual contribution of lOs. would afford a weekly sick allowances of lOs. 3id.
from 21 to 70 years of age, but it was reconuncnded, that 10s. only should be the stipulated allowance.

304 Mr W. Fraser on the History and Constitution of

By the above table, then, an entrant at the age of 29, for a weekly sick al-
lowance of 1 Os. from ihat age till completing his 70th year, will require to
pay either an annual contribution of 12s. 4 id. during the same period, if he live
so long, or a single payment of L. 10 : 8 : 10^ at entry, to supersede all future
contributions ; — for an annuity of L. 10 during life after 70, either an annual
contribution of 5s. 6d. till 70, or a single payment of L. 4 : 12 : 11 ; and for L. 10
at death, either an annual contribution of 4s. Id. till 70, or a single payment
of L. 3 : 9 : Of. Thus all the contributions are to cease at 70, and each member
is supposed to become free (i. e. entitled to benefit, in the event of sickness or
death) immediately upon entry ; but numerous rules and problems are given in
the Report, by which societies may determine — the rates of contributions or al-
lowances, should members not become free until after a certain number of years
— the effects of varying the rates of allowances according to the intensity or
duration of sickness — the mode of ascertaining the stock which any society
ought to be possessed of, in order to fulfil all its engagements, — and, in short,
every requisite information is afforded for the proper management of Friendly
Societies. For all these details, however, we must refer to the Report it-
self.

The tables which may next be considered, are those constructed by the
Reverend John Thomas Becher, of Southwell in Nottinghamshire. This
gentleman has, of late years, devoted much time and attention to the im-
provement of Friendly Societies, and was the founder of the Southwell So-
ciety in 1823. In his calculations, he adopted, as formerly remarked, rather
a higher rate of sickness than that which had been assumed by Dr Price —
the Northampton rate of mortality — 4 per cent, interest on payments for allow-
ances during sickness and old age— and 3 per cent, on those for allowances at
death. The contributions in his tables were therefore higher than in those
of the Highland Society. The following statement by Mr Becher will shew
the difference between the two, upon the annual contributions payable by
twenty-five persons, from the 21st to the 45th years of age.

Ages from 21 to 45 Years,
both inclusive.

Allowance of
10s. Weekly
Bed-lying Pay
and 6s. Walk-
Pay in
Sickness.

'1

Anniial
Contribution.

Annuity

of 5s. Weekly

after 70.

Annual
Contribution.

Assurance

of L. 10 on

Death.

Annual
Contribution.

TotaL

Annual
Contribution.

Southwell Tables,
Scotch Tables, .

19

13 9 114

^e s. d.

17 15 3
13 34

£, s. d.
9

5 19 104

£ s. d.
46 4

32 10 14

Excess of Southwell Tables,

5 18 94

4 14 114

3 14

13 13 104

Note by Mr Becher. " The Scotch Tables give the Annual Contributions for a permanent

Allowance in Sickness, without reference to Bed-lying Pay, or Walking Pay, which must be ad-
justed according to circumstances. Therefore I have here taken the contributions according to the
Scotch Tables, for ^s. 6d. weekly permanent pay in sickness, of every denommation ; assuming for
our present purpose, that this equals a weekly allowance of 10s. Bed-lying pay, and 5s. Walking
pay, being the medium between these two last mentioned allowances; or, in other words, that the
periods of sickness entitling a membn to Bed-lying pay and to Walking pay, correspond with each

Benefit or Friendly Socklks.

S&5

other. This hypothesis atlvances the annual payments of the Scotch Tables for sickness higher
than they ought to stand, and consequently raises the amount nearer to the Southwell Tables." •

It thus appears that the difference in the annual contribution is no leas
than 42 per cent. The tables of the Southwell Society, too, are only gra-
duated quinquennially, while those of the Highland Society are graduated
annually ; that is, by the quinquennial scale, one person entering at 30 years
of age, and another at 34, would both pay the same sum for the same benefit ;
while, by the annual scale, the payments are either increased, or the allowan-
ces diminished, for each year an entrant is older than the minimum age for
entry. In this respect, therefore, the Southwell tables are certainly defec-
tive. One of the peculiarities of Mr Becher's system, however, and worthy of
being imitated by such societies as combine all their payments, is, that " the
tables of calculations are so framed, that whoever makes an assurance in sickness
(which terminates at 65) must, at the same time, assure an annuity after 05,
and a payment on death, which combination has been devised, with an inten..
tion of preventing imposition or inequality. Thus, were a sickly person to
effect an assurance, what was gained in sickness would be lost in the annuity.
On the other hand, should the healthy members receive but a small portion
of the pay in sickness, there is a greater probability of their living to enjoy
the annuities. By a similar arrangement, the annuities and the assurances
on death reciprocally co-operate. If the member dies prematurely, the con-
tributions on account of the annuity become available towards discharging the
payment on death ; but if the life be prolonged, the assurances on death, after
a certain period, may be regarded as applicable towards the annuity. So that,
by introducing a system of balanced interests, it seems scarcely possible to de-
fraud the institution, or to preclude the attainment of its benevolent objects "f."

Since the institution of the society at Southwell, several other societies
have been formed in the neighbouring counties, upon a very extensive scale,
and all of whom have adopted the Southwell tables. Mr Becher was
very minutely examined by the Committee of the House of Commons in
1 825, with regard to the calculations of these tables, and the data on which
they were founded. Several objections were stated to them by some of the
other gentlemen examined, particularly as to the rate of mortality and intew
rest Mr Becher had assumed ; in which objections the Committee ultimately
concurred, but approved of the rate of sickness. He was again examined in
1827, and his evidence, together with the opinion of the Committee, respect-
ing the rate of mortality, will be found in the former number of this
Journal Mr Becher subsequently communicated a set of tables to the Com-
mittee, which he had furnished to a society in Dorsetshire, and from which
the following table is extracted.

With reference to this table, Mr Becher remarks, that the contributions
are to be invariable, and payable once in every calendar month, till the age of
65, when the contributions for the whole benefits, as well as the allowances
during sickness, are to cease. The table is founded upon the same principles
as the Southwell tables, except that in this table an annual graduation of ages,
and interest at the rate of 3^ per cent, have been adopted. Although the
Northampton rate of mortality has still been taken, it is said that the adop-
tion of 3^ per cent, interest, raises the contributions for sickness and annui-

* Obsarvations on the Report of the Sdect Committee of th« House of Comnoons on the hvm

of Friendly Societies in 1825. Newark 1826. 4s. „ . . , .-,-,.- , ll .. -^-}-, - , '- [

t Parliamentary Report in 1825, p. 176.

306 Mr W. Fraser on the History and Constitutkm of

ties in old age as high as if the pre'miums had been computed by the Carlisle
tables, or those constructed upon the experience of the Equitable Society of
London, at the rate of 4| per cent, interest. It may here be remarked, how-
ever, that the single payments required from entrants to the sickness fund,
seem to have been calculated upon some principle very different from that
adopted by the Highland Society. By their table, p. 305 of this Journal,
these payments progressively increase with the advance of age, whereas by
Mr Becher's table they periodically decrease. Thus, according to him, the
single payment from an entrant at 21 years of age is £ 1 : 17 : 3, and at 24
only £1:16:1; at 30, £ 2 : 8 : 5, and at 39 only £2:1:5; at 40, £ 2 : C : 9,
and at 49 only £ 1 : 15 : 7, or Is. 8d. below the sum payable at the age of 21.
From Mr Becher's abilities as a calculator, there can be little doubt of the total
results of his tables being found correct by such societies as combine all their
schemes ; but it is obvious that this scale of single payments for benefit during
sickness could never be acted upon by societies who should keep all their pay-
ments and benefits separate— a system which it is most desirable to introduce.

TABLE shewing the Single and the Monthly Contributions for assuring Two
Shillings per Week during Sickness Bed-lying Pay^ and One Shilling per Week
Walking Pay : a Weekly Allowartce of One Shilling after the Age of 65, and
Two Pounds on Death.

Assurance of Weekly

Assurance of Is.

Assurance of L. 2

]

Pay in Sickness.

Weekly Pay after 65.

on Death

Total.

Age last
Firth-

"""*"

^^

Day.

Single

Monthly

Single

Monthly

Single

Monthly

Single

Monthly

Contrib.

Contrib.

Contrib.

Contrib.

Contrib. .

Contrib.

Contrib.

Contrib.

£

s.

d.

s. d.

£ s.

d.

s.

d.

£ s.

d.

S,

d.

£ s.

d.

S.

d.

21

1

17

3

2\

1 11

10

2

15

10

1

4 4

11

H

22

1

16

10

2i

1 13

6

2

16

1

4 6

4

5|

23

1

16

6

2\

1 15

1

H

16

3

1

4 7

10

5i

24

1

16

1

2i

1 16 10

H

16

5

H

4 9

4

5|

25

2

3

8

2|

1 18

9

n

16

7

u

4 19

H

26

2

3

2

2|

2

8

2a

16

10

n

5

8

6|

27

2

2

7

2|

2 2

9

2|

17

H

5 2

4

6|

28

2

2

1

2a

2 5

3

17

3

H

5 4

4

7

29

2

1

6

2|

2 7

3

H

17

5

H

5 6

2

n

30

2

8

5

34

2 9

9

3i

17

8

H

5 15

10

8

31

2

7

9

3i

2 12

6

3|

17

11

n

5 18

2

8i

32

2

7

34

2 15

2

4

18

1

H

6

3

H

33

2

6

4

3|

2 18

1

4i

18

4

i|

6 2

9

9

34

2

5

7

3i

3 1

2

4i

18

7

H

6 5

4

9*

35

2

4

9

H

3 4

6

^

18

10

H

6 8

1

94

36

2

4

3|

3 8

H

19

1

n

6 11

I

10 1

37

2

2

2

3i

3 11

9

54

19

4

n

6 13

3

104

38

2

2

4

34

3 15

8

6

19

7

2

6 17

7

Hi

39

2

1

5

3i

3 19

11

H

19

10

2

7 1

2

111

40

2

6

9

3|

4 4

5

7

1

2

7 11

2

Oi

41
42

2
2

5

4

8
6

3|

3a

4 9

3
5

n

8i

1
1

1

8

2

2

7 15
7 19

7

2

4 14

43

2

3

4

3|

5

9

1

11

2

8 4

3

H

44

2

2

2

3|

5 5

11

9|

1 1

3

2

8 9

4

sk

45

2

1

31

5 12

3

m

1 1

6

^

8 14

9

H

46

1

19

9

3|

5 19

1

111

1 1

10

H

9

8

6|

47

1

18

4

3|

6 6

5

1

0|

1 2

2

H

9 6

11

6|

48

1

17

3|

6 14

3

1

n

I 2

5

l\

9 13

8

H

49

1

15

7

3f

7 2

9

1

4

1 2

9

10 1

1

10

Benefit or Friendly Societies. S07

The sums in this table, as well as those in the one deduced from the
tables of the Highland Society, are necessary for defraying the benefits,
without allowing any thing for management. The Committee of the latter
body, however, recomragnded that a sum equal to 10 or 12 per cent, on the
contributions should be levied, in one way or other, for this purpose ; and Mr
Becher states, that, in those societies in which he has been engaged, each mem-
ber must be one year in the society before being entitled to benefit, which is
equal to about C^ per cent, on the annual contributions; — that the difference
between the excess of interest received from government above that calcu-
lated in his tables, is equal to a profit of rather more than 1 per cent. ; — that
the difference between paying the contribution monthly, and paying it at the
conclusion of the year, is equal to about 2| percent; — that in converting deci-
mals or other fractions into money a considerable surplus arises, by always
making the even sums in favour of the society ; — and, that fines and forfei-
tures are considerable sources of emolument. It is therefore assumed, that
12^ per cent, computed upon the annual income of such institutions, or 2s. 6d. ,
in the pound, may be applied by societies, placed in such circumstances, to-
wards defraying the expences of management, and medical attendance ; and
that should the management exceed that amount, such excess must be de-
frayed either by voluntary donations or subscriptions, or by calling upon each
member for an additional contribution •. The Committee of 1825, however,
consider it as " of some importance, that the addition made for management
should not be, as in some instances it is, a per-centage upon the contribution,
inasmuch as the expence of management bears a proportion rather to the
number of the members than to the amount of their payments "{*•"

The only other table of Authority for the use of Friendly Societies, is one
constructed by Messrs Finlaison and Davies, actuaries. These gentlemen
were required, by the Committee of the House of Commons in 1827, to con-
struct tables, " shewing the single and monthly payments to be made by males
and females respectively, of every age, from 18 to 50, to insure a weekly pay-
ment in sickness of 10s. bed-lying pay, and 5s. walking pay ; and to insure
also a superannuation allowance of 5s. weekly to commence at 70, at which
age the sickness allowance was to cease, as well as the monthly payments of
members on account thereof; — also another table, shewing the single and
monthly payments to be made till death, by males and females respectively of
every age from 18 to 50, to insure a sum of L. 10 on death." This desire
. was accordingly complied with, except in so far as regarded a separate table
for sums payable at death, the actuaries having conceived it to be more expe-
dient that all the three benefits should be combined.

With reference to the data on which their calculations were founded, those
gentlemen remark, that the rate of sickness which they had adopted was a
medium of that resulting from the returns made to the Highland Society of
Scotland by Friendly Societies, and of that from the Returns made to the
A(\jutant General's Office as experienced by the whole Army quartei*ed in
England during the years 1823-4. Such a mean exhibits lyVs weeks under
the age of 60 ; 2 /jV weeks from 60 to 60 ; and 7iV5 weeks from 60 to 70.

It will here be observed, that the annual sickness at all ages between 20 and
50 is considered to be at the same rate,— Mr Finlaison being of opinion, that
* Report of 1827, p. 21. and 121. t Report of 1826, p. 15.

308 Mr W. Fraser on i^ie History and Constitution of

whether one uniform rate of sickness under 50 be assumed, or a graduated
rate, increasing according to age, the result, from the nature of the calcula-
tion, will not materially differ, as far as practical purposes are concerned.
This rate of sickness under 50 is the same as that assumed for the construc-
tion of the Southwell tables; and which rate, as formerly remarked, is double
the average of the sickness for those ages reported to the Highland Society.

The actuaries, although perfectly aware of the difference between the
mortality of males and that of females, nevertheless determined, for several
reasons, to adopt the average mortality of the two sexes, — Mr Davies taking
the Carlisle observations, and Mr Finlaison the mean of what he had ob-
served to prevail among the separate sexes of the government annuitants^.
They conceived that no practical danger would result from this course of pro-
ceeding, as the rates would be sufficient for any society composed of equal
numbers of each sex ; and rather more than sufficient in ordinary cases, as
in general the males greatly predominate in Friendly Societies.

The rate of interest calculated upon is not stated, but it is presumed,
from a former communication by Mr Finlaison *, to be 3 per cent. In that
communication he stated, that, as Friendly Societies are subject to loss by im-
position and other disadvantages, it was but proper to secure three chances
in their favour. These were, 1st, To assume that money can only be improved
at the rate of 3 per cent, per annum, such interest being payable half yearly ;
2d, That the decrement of life among Friendly Societies should be taken at
the same rate as that which prevails among the Government annuitants, who
are aU in the higher or better ranks of life ; and, 3d, That, in calculation,
no abatement ought to be made for a reduced allowance, called Walking Pay,
during convalescence, or any protracted chronic illness. The savings arising
from such sources, Mr Finlaison conceived should be considered as a reserv-
ed profit, to stand against imposition, or to counteract any unforeseen disas-
ter ; and in this opinion Mr Davies concurs. ..

Proceeding, then, upon the above data, these gentlemen made their caJU
culations separately ; and, upon the results being compared, they were found
so nearly to agree, as that if an entrant, at any age between 19 and 41, were
charged by Mr Finlaison's tables, according to his age at the last birth-
day, and by Mr Davies's tables, according to his age at next birth-day, the
rate would be within one farthing of the same sum. A mean was therefore
taken of their separate calculations, and the following Rules and Tables are
the result.

" RULES and TABLES recommended hy Messrs Finlaison and Davies, for
adoption hy Friendly Societies in general.

" The Select Committee of the Honourable House of Commons, on Friend-
ly Societies, having required us, the undersigned Actuaries, to consult to-
gether, and jointly to recommend such a scale of rates as might be sufficient,
in practice, to warrant the benefits undermentioned ; we have accordingly,
for the reasons set forth in the annexed paper, concurred in recommending
the rates comprehended in the following brief rules, which, with ordinary
precautions to prevent abuse, will, in cur judgment, be found adequate to in-
sure the objects in view.

" 1. Any Society, formed for the mutual relief of its members, inNgickness
* Report in 1825, p. 137-

Benefit or Friendly Societies,

309

nnd old age, may consist of persons of either sex ; the females to be admitted
on precisely the same terms as the males — 2. Its objects should be limited
to Three benefits ; viz. A Weekly allowance of Ten shillings in sickness,
ceasing at the age of 70 ; a Weekly allowance of Five shillings, commencing
at the age of 70, and continuing for life afterwards ; and a sum of £ 10 for
Burial money, payable whenever a member shall decease. — 3. No one shall
be received a member who is more than 50 years old, or who is in any degree
unhealthy at the time when proposed for admission. — 4. No payment shall Be
required from any member after the age of 70 ; but up to that age, every
contributicm is payable, whether the party be in sickness or in health.— <5. Who-
ever is admitted at 31 years of age, shall afterwards pay a monthly contribu-
tion of three shillings and three halfpence.— 6. Any one admitted younger
than 31, shall pay three farthings less every month, for each year of age short
of 31 — 7. Any one admitted older than 31, shall pay seven farthings more
every month, for each year of age above 31, and under 41. — 8. Whoever is
admitted at 50 years of age, shall pay seven shillings and nine-pence every
month — 9. But whoever is admitted between 40 and 50, shall pay four-pence
less every month, for each year of age short of 50. — 10. None of those contri-
butions shall ever be applied to any purpose, but to the three objects above
stated : And the expence of management, and all other charges whatsoever,
shall be defrayed from the subscriptions of honorary members, if any ; from
admission-fees and fines, or by means of separate assessments expressly made
for the occasion." The following Practical Table is then given :

" TABLE of the Single and Monthly Payments^ for insuring in Sickness a Week-
ly Allowance of Ten Shillings Bed -lying Pay, and Five Shillings Walking Pay,
ceasing at the Age of ^0 : An Allowance for Life of Five Shillings Weekly,
after the Age of 70, and a Sum of £10 payable at Death. — The Monthly
Payment to cease at the Age of ^0.

Age at last

Birthday

before

Admission.

Single

Monthly

Age at last

Birthday

before

Admission.

Single

Monthly

Payment.

Payment.

Payment.

Payment.

£ s. d.

£ s. d.

£ s. d.

£ s. d.

18

24 18 8

2 34

34

33 8 54

3 6i

19

25 5 74

2 4

35

34 4 4

3 8

20

25 13

2 44

36

35 1 14

3 9|
3 114
4 If
4 4
4 6

21
22
23
24

26 10
26 3 114

26 17 64

27 6 7

2 5i
2 6
2 64
2 7i

37
38
39
40

35 19 1

36 18 5

37 18 104
39 4

25

27 16 04

2 8

41

40 3 5

4 8|

26

28 5 114

2 9

42

41 8 64

4 114

27

28 16 34

2 9|

43

42 14 74

5 24

28

29 7 4

2 11

44

44 12 4

5 6

29

29 19

2 11|

45

45 11 6

5 94

30

30 11 4

3 14

46

47 2 24

6 1}

31
32
33

31 4 6

31 18 54

32 13 2

3 2i
3 3}
3 5

47
48
49
50

48 14 44
50 8 54
52 4 11
54 3 34

6 6
6 111
7 4|

7 n

" We recommend the above, as
JANUARY— MARCH 1828.

Practical Table, which may be
X

SIO Mr W. Fraser on the History and Constitution of

used by Friendly Societies. If any other amount of benefit than those to
which it refers, should be desired, the single or monthly payments are to be
increased or diminished accordingly ; but the several sorts of benefits are al-
ways to bear the same proportion one to the other, which they bear in this
Table.

(Signed) '* John Finlaison, Actuary of the National Debt.

" Griffith Davies, Guardian Assurance Office.^

Such, then, is a brief detail of the principal rates of contributions which
have been proposed for allowances to the members of Friendly Societies,
during sickness, old age, and at death. Regarding the Tables in the Re-
port of the Highland Society, the Parliamentary Committee of 1827 have
given no opinion ; but it is to be presumed that they concur with the Com-
mittee of 1825, in considering that the rates of sickness and mortality adopt-
ed in the construction of those tables would be unsafe to calculate upon for
societies in England. The Committee, however, conceive, that either the
tables of Mr Becher, or that of Messrs Finlaison and Davies, may be safely
adopted by such societies, their remarks upon both being as follows : —

" On the whole, then, your Committee are of opinion, that the Dorsetshire
tables, or Mr Becher*s new tables, having the annual graduation, may safely
be adopted ; provided, 1st, That a separate provision be made for the expences of
management, by fines, admission fees, voluntary contributions, or otherwise.
2dly, That the proportion of females do not greatly exceed one-third of the
whole number of members. 3dly, That the assurance for a superannuation
allowance be always connected with a life assurance requiring a monthly pay-
ment of half its amount. 4thly, That the present rate of interest allowed on
debentures be continued.

" Your Committee are decidedly of opinion, that the societies should be
formed upon the largest scale possible. It is very difficult to fix a number of
members below which no society ought to exist ; but if they were required to
give an opinion upon this point, they would say that it would be imprudent
to establish a society with fewer than two hundred members.

" It will be particularly desirable for the smaller societies, indeed it might
be expedient for all new societies, to make seventy the age of superannua-
tion ; up to that age, many men are very capable of maintaining themselves
by work. The payment necessary for such an allowance commencing at the
age of 70, is little more than two-thirds of that which is required, if the al-
lowance commences at 66. But, on the other hand, the sickness payment
must be somewhat increased, if it is to provide for sickness occurring be-
tween C5 and 70. And if the superannuation be made perfectly safe, there
will be no necessity to have recourse to a life assurance for supplying its de-
ficiency. It is assuredly much better, that the contribution for each con-
tingency should be sufficient in itself; and though your Committee agree
with that of 1825, in deeming it highly important, with the view of avoid-
ing pauperism, that a superannuation allowance should always be provided,
they do not think it absolutely necessary that a sum should be assured on
death.

Benefit or Friendly Societies, Sll

" The actuaries, however, Mr Finlaison and Mr Griffith Davies, whom
they desire<l to prepare tables upon these principles, have found it more expe-
dient to combine the three contingencies ; and your Committee recommend,
with much confidence, the Rules and Tables of Payments which these gen-
tlemen have prepared, with a view to their adoption by new societies.** •

There are few other observations in this Report requiring here to be no-
ticed. It is suggested that the provision in the act of 1819, requiring the
tables of every society who may wish to enjoy the benefit of that act to be cer-
tified by two actuaries as correct, should be repealed ;— that, for insuring ac-
curacy, a direct reference of the rules of societies requiring sanction should
be made to the National Debt Office through the Clerks of the Peace ; — that
returns of the states of societies* affiiirs should be rendered as often as the
magistrates in Quarter Sessions may require, or, at any rate, once in
five years ; — and that the penalty in these, and all other cases of default,
should be the deprivation of the benefit of A}^ per cent, interest for their mo-
ney. It is likewise suggested that the interference of two justices in petty
sessions might properly be applied not only to the case of an unauthorised di-
vision or misappropriation of the funds, but to all other proceedings leadinf^
less directly to a misappropriation of the funds, particularly the admission of
members beyond the age authorised by the rules, and thereby endangering
the stability of the society. Lastly, the Committee concur in most of the
other suggestions contained in the Report of 1825, and recommend to the
House their being formed into an act, which shall likewise consolidate all the
former enactments with regard to such societies as have been enrolled subse-
quently to the act of 1819.

To the foregoing summary a very few additional observations
will at present suffice.

By the late investigations, the utility and principles of Friend-
ly Societies have been fully developed, and means have been
pointed out, by which their schemes may be as permanently and
beneficially conducted as those of any of the higher classes of
mutual assurance associations. Although some difference of opi-
nion still exists as to the rates of sickness and mortality which
should be adopted for the calculations of such societies, yet the
data and tables that have been already procured may be safely
taken as standaixls, until, from farther experience, more satis-
factory guides can be obtained. As the tables of contributions,
however, materially differ from each other, it may become s
question which of them is best adapted for the practical pur-
poses of societies ; but it will be obvious that this must greatly
depend upon the circumstances in which the members of any
particular society may be placed,— whether situated in the coun-
try Qx in towns, in high or low situations ; and whether engaged

* Report iu ia07» P> l^

%2

312 Mr W. Fraser on the History and Constitution of

in healthy or unhealthy, dangerous or not dangerous, employ-
ments. Any society or societies keeping these circumstances irt
view, and also considering the vast importance of at first secur-
ing the permanency of their schemes, may easily judge of the
rates most suitable to themselves. But, even with the most cor-
rect calculation of which the subject will admit, differences be-
tween the actual and estimated expenditure will frequently oc-
cur, arising either 'from the members being too few in number
to afford a fair average of sickness and mortality, or from epi-
demics, and other similar causes. "It is therefore desirable,
that societies should be made fully aware, that, while correct
calculation may do much in placing their schemes on a more
secure footing than hitherto, still there are contingencies a-
gainst which calculations made beforehand cannot guard, which
can only be obviated by attention on their own part to the pra-
gress of the societies'* affairs, and by accommodating their ar-
rangements to their circumstances a& occasion may require */'
For this purpose, a correct record must always be kept of the
society's transactions, particularly the ages of the members, and
the sickness and mortality which occur at the different ages.
These being known, the affairs of any society may be periodi-
cally balanced, the amount of the past and future contributions
compared with the value of the future allowances, and the abi-
lity or inability of the society to fulfil its engagements correctly
ascertained.

By the statute 49th Geo. Ill, c. 12, it is enacted, that where
the rules of any society provide for all disputes between the in-
dividual members and the society being decided by arbitration,
the opinion or order of such arbiters shall be final and binding
on all concerned, without the power of appeal to any court what-
ever ; and it is very properly recommended by the Committee
of the Highland Society, that it should be an indispensable rule
in every Friendly Society, that all disputes between the society
and any of its members shall be referred to arbitration. The
great utihty of such a law must be evident to every one in the
least .acquainted with these institutions, not only on account of
a great expence being thus saved both to societies and indivi-
duals, but also on account of such questions being generally more
maturely considered by arbiters, than by the inferior judica^-

• Highland Society's Report, p. 281.

Benefit or Friendly Societies. 313

tories to which they are limited,— a striking illustration of
which shall be given in our next Number. It is not, there-
lore, without regret that we see it recommended by the Com-
mittee of 1825 that the law of arbitration should be repealed.
If this suggestion be adopted, Friendly Societies will be deprived
of one of their greatest safeguards, and be subjected to the irre-
vocable decisions of the Petty Sessions of the Peace, which are
frequently composed of persons but very imperfectly acquainted
with the principles of the contract of mutual assurance govern-
ing such institutions, and but too apt to pay little or no atten-
tion to the regulations which they themselves have sanctioned,
and on which alone they ought to found their decisions.

It has been already remarked, that the statute by which
Friendly Societies in England are allowed 4J per cent, from
Government for their money, does not extend to Scotland. If
this important benefit is still to be granted by the statute
of which notice has been already given by Mr Courtenay
in the present session of Parliament, it is trusted that the
Friendly Societies of Scotland will not be again excluded. If
they are willing to comply with all the conditions required from
those in England, it is but fair that they should be likewise
entitled to the same privileges. Both kingdoms are under the
same government — both are under the same system of taxation ;
therefore, " where all contribute alike, all should receive alike ;
and it is only where double benefits are wanted, that they should
be refused, or paid for accordingly."

Friendly Societies are exempted by statute from all stamp-
duty upon bonds granted by their treasurers; and it is pre-
sumed, that it was only from their payments being hitherto so
small as not to require stamps, that they were not exempted
from all stamp-duty whatever. As these societies, however, will
be now upon a more extensive scale, and be managed upon the
same principles with the higher assurance companies, it is to be
feared that receipt, policy and other stamp duties will become a
very heavy burden, and one which they will be ill able to bear. Ft
is therefore also hoped, that this subject will not be overlooked
by the legislature in the enactment of any new law for the be^
nefit and encouragement of these laudable and highly use^:iii-

sUtutions. .,.)/ .,,i^^^^>f; ^.Ir^ic^i j^f^^I "

(To be continued,)

( 314 )

A SJiort Sketch of the Geology ofNithsdak, chiefly in an Eco-
nomical point of Vieiv, and contrasted with that of the Neigli-
bouring Valleys. By James Stuart Menteatii, Esq. Young-
er of Closeburn, Member of the Wernerian Natural History
Society. *

1. General account. — 2. Basin of New Cumnock. — 3. Basin of Sanquhar.
— 4. Basin of Closeburn.— 5. Basin of Dumfries. — 6. Upper and Low-
er Basin of Annandale. — 7- Upper and Lower Basin of Eskdale —
8. Annandale and Eskdale contrasted with Nithsdale — 9. Basin of
the Dee contrasted with Nithsdale.

1. jL he county of Dumfries is traversed from N. to S. by three
rivers, viz. the Nith, Annan, and Esk. These rivers, in their
course from the mountains to the Sol way Firth, pass through a
country in which not only the mountains, hills, and valleys, but
also the rocks and soils, exhibit much to interest the geologist
and agriculturist. The general features of the county have
been already detailed by Professor Jameson in the " Mineralo-
gy of Dumfriesshire.'''' We propose, therefore, in the follow-
ing remarks, to confine our attention principally to the districts
traversed by the river Nith.

The Nith, probably the most beautiful river in the county,
rises in Ayrshire, and flows through the basin of Cumnock,
in that county, into Dumfriesshire. In its progress through
this county, it flows through other three basins, viz. those of
Sanquhar, Closeburn, and Dumfries, before it reaches the Sol-
way Firth.

Having described the Nith as rising in the hills of Ayrshire,
and flowing through the valley of New Cumnock before it en-
ters Dumfriesshire, it may be proper first to consider the basin of
New Cumnock.

9>. Basin of New Cumnock. — It is bounded on the west, north,
and east, by greywacke, forming rather low hills, which are
far from pleaang in their appearance. It is separated from
the basin of Sanquhar by a ridge of greywacke, nearly three
miles broad. The length of the basin is about ten miles, and
the breadth ^ve miles. The coal formation fills all the central
parts of this basin, and even spreads itself on the east over the

• Read before the Werneriau Natural History Society, 9th February 1828.

2

Mr Menteath 07i the Geology of Nilltsdale. 315

sides of the greywacke hills. Coal is worked in several places.
It occurs near the surface, in thick seams, from nine feet to.
twelve, but as yet no accurate borings have been made to ascer-
tain the number of beds of it which this basin contains. The
best sort is found at the great elevation of upwards of 1000
feet above the sea, at Mansfield, on the north side of Corson-
scon Hill. The coal of Mansfield is a cubical and splinty coal,
raised in very large square pieces. There are three principal
beds, of nine, eleven, and twelve feet in thickness. Not far from
the pits where the coal is now raised, there occurs a curious coal
deposit, which appears to be a small isolated basin. This bed,
which is believed to be the three above mentioned beds united
into one, is no less than thirty feet thick, and is immediately
under a peat-moss, which does not exceed twenty feet in thick-
ness, and is in a complete state of decomposition.

Imbedded in the seam of coal of twelve feet in thickness, we
meet with a bed of cannel-coal sixteen inches thick ; and lately
another bed of the same coal, twenty-t^v^ inches in thickness, has
been found in an isolated situation. Both these are very free
of sulphur. To the westward, nearly between the sources of
the Afton and Nith, a bed of cannel coal, three feet thick, is
met with, but being sulphurous, is not adapted for the prepara-
tion of gas. On the estate of Mansfield, there is a bed of glance
coal or anthracite {blind coal) four feet thick.

The coal is associated with slate-clay, bituminous shale, and
sandstone. The sandstone is of a yellow colour, but soft, and
therefore of inferior quality.

The carboniferous or mountain limestone which underlies the
coal of the New Cumnock basin, is found in great quantities,
and may be s^d to fringe the coal of this basin. There are se-
veral liraeworks in it, where it is burned and prepared for mar-
ket. On the side of Consonscon Hill, which is greywacke, and
at a considerable elevation, the limestone, which is of an excel-
lent quality, crops out. It is burned, and supplies a great range
of country, not only in this basin, but that of Sanquhar.

On the banks of the Afton, one of the tributaries of the Nith,
before it leaves the New Cumnock Basin, galena or lead glance
occurs in transition rocks, and has been wrought for a consider-
able time, but to no great extent.

316 Mr M cnteath on the Geology?/ of Nithsdale.

The soil of New Cumnock Basin is clayey, stifl' and tena-
cious, such as is generally found covering the coal formation.
The herbage, though abundant, is coarse. It is, however, well
adapted for the food of the dairy cow ; and, accordingly, the
farmers of this basin have availed themselves of this natural ad-
vantage of their situation, and employed the lime which is found
every where at hand in ameliorating the soil, and improving the
pasture. Much has been ploughed far up the hills, and artifi-
cial grasses introduced ; and, following up this system, they have,
by great care and expense, collected a breed of the Cunynghame
or Dunlop cow, a small short horned animal, unequalled, per-
Jiaps, by the breed of any other district of Ayrshire. They make
great quantities of butter and cheese, which is exported to all
parts of the kingdom.

The Basin of New Cumnock, though described as one of
the series of basins in the course of the Nith, cannot correctly
be viewed as a separate coal formation, but as forming a part of
that of the great basin of the Ayr, which extends from Muir-
kirk, (where great quantities of argillaceous carbonate of iron
are found, raised, and smelted), all the way to the sea, including
the greatest part of the county of Ayr, which great coal-field
is separated from that of the Clyde and Forth by a narrow
ridge pf the Strathavon and Loudon Hills.

It may not he uninteresting to state, that, not far from the
borders of the New Cumnock Basin, near Old Cumnock, gra-
phite is found in considerable quantity in the coal formation *,
and it might probably be found in this basin also.

Notwithstanding the great abundance of coal in the New Cum-
nock Basin, the demand for it has been inconsiderable, owing to
its being thinly inhabited, and opening on the north and south into
a coal country. In one instance, however, the case has been
different. A coal occurs near the source of the Nith at Auld-
know, considered excellently adapted for the working of iron.
With this view, therefore, it is carried in considerable quantity
over a great part of the counties of Ayr, Dumfries and Kirkcud-
bright, often to a distance of fifty or sixty miles, thus forming the

• A Geognostical description of the Cumnock Graphite will be found in
Professor Jameson's Mineralogical Description of Dumfriesshire, pp. 158-162.

Mr Mentcath on the Geohgy of Nitlisdale. 317

chief export from this basin. But, as the road communicating
with Dinnfriesshire to the eastward of Consonscon Hill is repair-
ed, and having a considerable descent all the way to Kirkcon-
nel, it is probable that the Mansfield coal situated in this basin
will be consumed in Nithsdale. This coal is very carbonaceous
and highly bituminous, with little or no pyrites. Its unsulphu-
rous nature renders it a most valuable article to the gas-maker,
maltster, lime-coke burner, smelter of ores, and to all who in-
dispensably require purity of fuel in their operations. It is at
present employed to prepare the gas for lighting the streets of
Dumfries, though at a distance of more than thirty miles; and
its coke is carried as far as Ayr.

3. Basin of Sanquhar. — The riverNith, after leaving the Basin
of New Cumnock, crosses a grcywacke ridge through rather a
narrow ravine, and enters the Basin of Sanquhar. In this ridge
amygdaloid occurs. The hills which surround this basin are of
greywacke. They are loftier, and of more pleasing form than
those of New Cumnock. The Killa, the Youchan, the Crawick,
and the vMcnock, have their sources among them, and in their
course, before falling into the Nith, afford sweet pastoral
scenery.

The secondary rocks in the Sanquhar Basin are the coaljbr^
mation, and secondare/ trap. The coal Jbrmation occurs only on
the bottom of the basin. It stretches along both sides of the Nith
for about seven or eight miles, but scarcely exceeds two miles and
a-half in width. Its position is very irregular. The strata are
frequently broken, thrown down, and, as the collier expresses
it, are full of troubles. They are crossed by two dikes or veins
of secondary trap or greenstone^ which, in their course, alter
the position of the strata. Near to these dikes the coal is char-
red, and of inferior quality.* The coal of this basin has a splin-
ty character, is generally sulphureous, and leaves a great quan-
tity of slaty ash after combustion. Of the twelve beds, -f- ascer-

• Professor Jameson remarks, that a little above Crawick Biitlge, there is
a bed, about four feet thick, of columnar glance-coai or graphite : it is traversed
by a vein of greenstone.— Mtn^o/o^ of Dumfriesshire^ p. 89.

t According to the survey made by Mr Maclaren.

S18 Mr Menteath on the Geology of Nith&dale.

tained by borings in different parts of the basin, the thinnest is
only a few inches, and the thickest does not exceed five feet.

At the north-west corner of this basin, a kind of coal is found,
which is considered of a superior quaUty, and is chiefly em-
ployed by blacksmiths. A small deposite of limestone, with coal,
occurs near the Menock, and appears separated from the coal-
field of Sanquhar by a ridge of greywacke. It is of such an
impure quality as to forbid its use in agriculture. The ochry
sandstone of the coal-field occurs on both sides of the Nith.
That which is on the east side of the river is of a bad quality,
hardly turning wet ; but that which is found on the west side,
as near the mouth of the Youchan, of a yellow-whitish colour, is
an excellent building material.

Some traces of iron-ore are observed near Crawick Bridge,
but as yet this ore has not been turned to account.

The soil of the valley of Sanquhar is clayey, partaking of all
the properties of that which usually lies upon the coal formation.
It is stiff, tenacious, and impervious to water, requiring much
drainage, and much liming, to loosen its texture, and fit it for
the growth of good herbage. It is, however, distant from lime,
a circumstance which has hitherto retarded its improvement.
There is little or no wood in this valley, which makes the cli-
mate bleak and the scenery uninteresting.

The Sanquhar coal formation, though of no great extent, has
long supplied a considerable range of country, as it has afforded
a principal part of the fuel of Dumfries and the neighbour-
hood *. But, it is probable that in future the extension of market
of the Sanquhar coal will not be increased, the Ayrshire coal
being now accessible, and the lower part of Nithsdale deriving a

• That this coal-field, though of but very limited extent, is fitted to sup-
l).y the district in which it is placed for a very long period, a short calcula-
tion will be sufficient to show.

It has been stated, that the coal-field of Sanquhar is about 8 miles long,
and scarcely 2\ in breadth. This will give in all about 20 square miles, or
13,000 square acres. Now, the seams of coal, which are twelve in number,
as has been ascertained by accurate borings, amount in all to only 18 feet in
thickness. But of these several are only a few inches thick ; and the four
workable seems scarcely amount to more than 15 feet or five yards. Taking,
then, the workable coal at this thickness, or nearly so, it will give us in each
acre 24,200 cubic yards of coal, or in all 314,600,000 cubic yards. But each
cubic yard of coal, as I have been informed by an experienced engineer, Mr

Mr Menteath on the Geology of Nithsdale. 31 9

considerable supply from England, since the navigation of the
Nith has been improved.

Lying to the eastward of the valley of Sanquhar, in the grey
wacke mountains, are the great lead- mines of Wanlockhead and
Leadhills. The former are in Dumfriesshire, and the property
of the Duke of Buccleuch ; the latter, belonging to the Earl
of Hopetoun, are in Clydesdale. The principal ore at both
places is galena or lead-glance, which is found in great quanti-
ties. Specimens of many of the more beautiful and rarer of the
spars of lead are met with ; * and, of late years, mineralogists-
have described new species of lead spars as natives of these
mines. Silver is contained in the lead, and about 7 or 9 oun-
ces of it can be extracted from the ton. In 1809, the pro-
duce of the mines of Leadhills was 25,000 bars,^-of Wan-
lockhead, 15,000 bars, each weighing 9 stones avoirdupois, and
the price being L. 32 the ton, the gross produce exceeded
L. 80,000 in that year. Since that period, I believe the an-
nual returns have been far below those of the year 1809- They
must, however, since they were opened, have yielded millions
of revenue.

Gold is found in the sand of the streams in the vicinity of
these mines. By washing the sand, the miner in his leisure
hours collects a small quantity of this precious metal. It is said

Bald, may be considered as about 18 cwt., and, therefore, in each acre there
will be about 22,000 tons of coal. But, deducting even Jth for pillars left in
working the coal, which is the utmost ever lost, we shall have of coal for use
16,600 tons in each acre.

Now, it has been ascertained from accounts of the sales, that not more than
13,000 tons are annually required for the whole district. One square acre
would therefore supply this demand for one year and a quarter ; and, conse-
quently, the 20 square miles, or 1 3,000 square acres, willbe sufficient for upwards
of 16,000 years. But, deducting 1000 acres for that which has been already
wrought, and for whinstone-dikes, and such like in this field, we shall have
12,000 acres still to break, which, according to the highest rate of demand
that has hitherto taken place, will supply this district for 15,000 years, a pe-
riod much more than twice as long as that since man has yet existed.

But, if we take into account the coal of the New Cumnock Basin, which,
though not hitherto accurately ascertained, seems to be much more extensive
than that of the Sanquhar, the treasure of fuel which this district of Niths-
dale possesses, appears almost unlimited, according to the present rate of de-
mand.

• A fine collection of these has been made by the company at Wanlockhead,
and may be seen on application to the overseers.

3S0 Mr Menteath on the Geology of NUhsdale.

that, in the reign of James V., as much as amounted to the sum
of L. 100,000 was obtained in one year.

It is very interesting to observe, that this spot, not more than
two miles each way, in the county of Dumfries, where a hut
would perhaps scarcely have been seen but for the mineral
treasures there deposited, has for more than a century support-
ed an industrious and comfortable population. The miners at
Leadhills have a library of 1200 volumes. At Wanlockhead is
another of 700 volumes.*

The intelligence of the miner is well exemplified by the skill
with which he cultivates his small plot of ground. Elevated
as is his residence, by industriously raising the Alopecurus pra-
tensis, or the Meadow foxtail, he has early in the spring green
food to give his cow before the lowland farmer.

The rocks which separate the Sanquhar and Closeburn basins
assume more the appearance of grey wacke slate than in most
other parts of the range. The stratification is in many places
nearly vertical, and runs from NE. to SW. The stratification
is very loose, having the seams filled with a red ochrey earth,
which is found principally in this quarter. At Burnmouth, a
place about the middle of this ridge, which separates the basins
of Sanquhar and Closeburn, it has the appearance of indifferent
slate ; and at Arkland, in the parish of Tynron, a few miles to
the west, slates for roofing have been raised. Thus there seems
a slaty structure to extend from Glenochar, a slate quarry in
Lanarkshire, across the whole of Dumfriesshire in this direction.

4. Basin of Closeburn. — The river Nith, after a tumultu-
ous course of more than five miles through a rocky chan-
nel, exhibiting scenery of the most romantic kind, and beau-
tifully adorned with a great variety of natural wood, enters the
basin of Closeburn, which is completely encircled by grey-
wacke hills, tliat exhibit a pleasing outline. Of these the Low-
ders are the most striking. They rise to a considerable eleva-
tion;> with a smooth grassy slope to the west; and, by means of a
road now opened through them into Lanarkshire, afford one of

•jThese volumes, in the wild regions of the Leadhills, we believe, are more
thoroughly read, and more anxiously sought after, by the poor miners, than
are the numerous and splendid volumes in many of the libraries in the low
country : hence these people are comparatively well informed.

Mr Mentcath ofi the Geology (>f Nithsdale. 321

the most picturesque passes in the south of Scotland. This
is denominated the Pass of Dalveen. By much ingenuity
and labour, a beautifully winding road has been cut out
along the sides of the mountains ; and from the great height
to which it gradually conducts, the traveller, with no little tre-
pidation, looks down on a small stream or burn, winding like
a silver thread, about 300 feet beneath him.

Nowhere, perhaps, in Great Britain is a scene more pleas-
ing, more placid, more interesting, presented, than in this
long, narrow, mountain pass. The sides of its hills, without
any clothing of wood, are smooth, covered with a short velvet
turf, fresh and green during the greater part of the year, af-
fording abundance of food to the flocks which graze their decli-
vities. In the bottom of the valley, between these agreeably
shelving hills, is the Carron Water, here but a small rivulet,
pure and hmpid, and, like the many other burns of Scotland,
characterizes and enlivens this romantic dell.

Few more delightful scenes are offered to the lover of land-
scape, than he will enjoy in lingering in this beautiful pass of
Dalveen, in a calm summer''s evening, when the lights and long
shadows of a setting sun fall on its mountain sides, enlivened by
numerous variously grouped flocks.

To the southward of Dalveen, in the same range of hills, the
Lowders, is another pass, called the Walpath, communicating
with England and the northern parts of Scotland, through
which the Romans carried their road, and of which traces still re-
main. This road, scarcely at present more than a tract, passes
close to the village of Durisdeer, in the church of which the
traveller will be interested by some fine sculpture in the tomb
of the Queensbery family. It is, however, far inferior in wild
picturesque scenery to that of Dalveen ; and, offering many ob-
stacles to the modern road-engineer, was deemed by him unfit
for opening a communication through the Lowders into Lanark-
shire. Dalveen Pass was therefore preferred ; and happy it is
for the traveller that utility and sweet pastoral scenery could
be united.

There is more wood in this basin than in the two we have just
described ; the banks of the Carron, the Cample, the Scar, and
the Shinnel, tributaries of the Nith before it quits the valley
of Closeburn^ being all beautifully fringed with natural wood.

8!^ Mr Menteath on the Geologij of Nithsdale.

The bottom of the valley of Closeburn is covered with second-
ary rocks. These are sandstone and limestone. The most
abundant rock is sandstone. Of it there are three varieties, the
red, white, and grey. The red appears to be the new red sand-
stone, and is by far the most abundant. It varies much in its
texture, being sometimes bard, but oftener soft and friable. It
lies over all the other strata of the basin, but is almost
entirely confined to the east side of the Nith, as scarce-
ly any of it is seen on the west. One of the best examples of
the appearance of its varied structure, and the irregularity of its
dip, may be seen at the Gateley Bridge Quarry on the Cample,
where this red sandstone exhibits its beds lying in all manner of
directions, horizontal, upright, and variously inclined. In this
quarry roofing-flags are raised, which are carried to a great dis-
tance, and even exported to England. Being pervious to water,
they are unfit for roofing until they have been brushed over
with coal-tar, when they become an excellent substitute for slate.
Not only flags for roofs, but also lintels of doors, windows, &c. are
here prepared, and supply the whole neighbourhood. At Crigup
Linn the new red sandstone covers the other strata of the basin,
' which are to be seen rising from underneath it. The red sandstone,
easily worn away by the running water, is at the Crigup Linn,
by the continual chaffing of the Crigup, scooped into a very
deep ravine, its sides presenting rocks of every picturesque form,
and overhung by rich foliage. It was to this romantic dell that
the unjustly persecuted Covenanters fled for shelter in their des-
perate fortunes. And the pen of the inimitable Sir Waiter
Scott has lately given this linn a classic interest, by having, in his
tale of Mortality, made the Crigup Linn the retreat of the da-
ring Balfour of Burleigh.

The red sandstone of this valley is, in general, a good build-
ing stone. The most esteemed is that raised at the Gateley
Bridge quarry, where it is hard, tough, and very durable, re-
sisting, in those houses built of it, the action of the weather,
and indicating no appearance of waste or decay. Other but
less frequent varieties of this sandstone, are soft, and decay on
exposure to the weather. Of this a striking proof may be ad-
duced in the case of Drumlanrig Castle, which was built at the
.same time with Heriot's I^ospital, by the same architect Sir

Mr Menteath on the Geology of Nithsdale. 323

Inigo Jones, but is in a decayed state compared with that
building.

Not far from the Gateley Bridge, red sandstone quarry, a
mile up the Cample, basalt occurs in pentagonal columns. It
appears to form a narrow ridge or dike, traceable from Mor-
ton-Mains Hill on the north-east of this spot, and it seems to
take the direction of the Linburn Hill on the southeast*.

The white and grey sandstones, under the red sandstone, are
not found in any considerable quantity. The white, which oc-
curs very seldom, is hard and compact in its texture, and well fit-
ted to resist the effects of the weather. Of the grey more is
found, and it partakes much of the characters and qualities of
the white.

The limestone is found only at the south end of the basin of
Closeburn on both sides of the Nith, as at Closeburn and Bar-
jarg, but at the latter in much less quantity

{To be conduced in our next Number.)

A Proposition for carrying on a Course of Experiments, with
a view to constructing, as a National Instrument, a large
Refracting Telescope, with a fluid concave Lens, instead of
the usual Lens of Flint Glass. Addressed to his Royal High.
ness the Lord High Admiral, and the Right Honourable and
Honourable Members of the Board of Longitude. By Petee
Barlow, F.R.S. Mem. Imp. Ac. Petrop., S^c. S^e,

[This Memoir has been presented to the Board of Longitude ; and we
are gratified to add that the members have ordered the experiments to
be pursued. Mr Barlow is accordingly, as another step, attempting aa
eight inch aperture, of ten feet in length, but with a focal power of
about sixteen feet.]

In a memoir I had the honour to present to the Royal Society
in the early part of the year 1827, which was published in the

* In this valley there are no fixed rocks of granite, and indeed none nearer
than perhaps thirty miles. It is very curious, however, that there are round-
ed blocks of it found in many places on the siuface, some of them exceedinf^
a ton in weight. The same occurs in other districts, where the distance from
the granite formation is still greater, aa in Cheshire. The existence of these
masses in such situations, has never yet perhaps been satisfactorily accounted
for. Two explanations have been offered ; according to the one, they are of
lacustrine origin-.while the other connects them with the Mosaic deluge.

324 Professor Barlow on the Cmistruction of

last Part of the Philosophical Transactions, I have given an ac-
count of a series of experiments I made, assisted by the practi-
cal skill of Messrs W. and T. Gilbert, instrument makers to the
Honourable East India Company, on the construction of refract-
ing telescopes; in which memoir I have also described a new in-
strument for simplifying the determination of the dispersive
power of glass, and I am in hopes that I have so far succeeded
in removing from the several formulae those terms which involve
quantities too refined to be followed out in practice, that no dif-
ficulty of calculation can be said to remain in the construction of
this instrument : nor is there any practical one which the inge-
nuity of our opticians would not overcome, provided glass could
be obtained of sufficient size and purity. But here, unfortu-
nately, an impediment interposes; and therefore, with a view to
avoid an obstacle we have not at present been able to overcome,
I turned my attention to the adoption of some fluid to supply
the place of the flint lens. The construction of flint object
glasses, retaining, however, the flint lens, had been formerly at-
tempted by Dr Blair with considerable success, but which, for
some reason, was not afterwards pursued *. I was not at first
fully aware of the fluid employed by this ingenious philosopher,
and moreover it was at least possible that some other might be
found equally well, if not better, suited to the purpose. I there-
fore determined to begin de novo, and ascertain with my new in-
strument, which was easily made applicable to the purpose, the re-
fractive index and the dispersive power of every fluid which ap-
peared to possess properties likely to answer my intended pur-
pose. I had proceeded some way in this inquiry, with several
oils, acids. Sec, when I made trial of the sulphuret of carbon,
and here I found at once a fluid which appeared to possess
every requisite I could desire. Its index being nearly the same
as that of the best flint glass, with a dispersive power more than
double, perfectly colourless, beautifully transparent, and, although
very expansible, possessing the same, or very nearly indeed •(-,

• It appears from an article published since this was written, that Mr Blair,
the son of Dr Blair, is at piesent engaged in pursuing his father's views.

•|- I have never found any appreciable numerical difference in the refrac-
tive index of this fluid between the temperatures of 31* and 84\the fluid being
hermetically sealed.

a Large Refracting Telescope. 325

the same optical properties under all temperatures to which it
is likely to be exposed in astronomical observations, except per-
haps direct observations on the solar disc, which will probably
be found inadmissible. I felt so confident, from the result ob-
tained with the dispersive instrument, of the applicability of this
splendid fluid to the purposes I had in view, that after some
trials as to the best method of inclosing it, and of applying the
correcting lens, I attempted at once a telescope of six inches
aperture and of seven feet length; but some unforeseen difficulty
having interposed, after several unsuccessful trials, I laid it by,
and undertook one of three inches aperture. I was here more
fortunate, having, with this instrument in its first rude experi-
mental form, without any adaptation or selection of glasses, se-
parated a great number of double stars of that class which Sir
William Herschell has pointed out as tests of a good three and
a half inch refractor ; I can see with it the small star in Polaris
with a power of 46, and with the higher powers several stars
which are considered to require a good telescope, as, for example,
70, p Ophiuchi, 39 Bootis, the quadruple star i Lyrae, ^ Aquarii,
« HercuUs, ^c Encouraged by my success on this instrument,
I again attempted the six inch object glass, with a different man-
ner of adjusting and securing the lenses; and the result of my
endeavours I lay with confidence before the Board of Longi-
tude, feeling convinced that every proper allowance will be made
for the imperfections of a first attempt, at a novel construction,
on a considerable scale, and which professes only to prove the ap-
plicability of the principle, and not the completion of the expe-
riment. With this instrument the small star in Polaris is so
distinct and brilliant with a power of 1 43, that its transit might
be taken with the utmost certainty. But as this and the former
instruments are both before the Board of Longitude, and have
been examined by some of its members, I would much rather
they would report their opinion of the performance of them,
and more particularly of the promise they hold out; than to give
my own. I shall therefore proceed at once to describe the prin-
ciple of the proposed construction, which possesses some novel-
ty, and offers some advantage not to be obtained with any glass
ever made, or likely to be made ; although I am quite ready to
admit, that if glass could be obtained of sufficient purity and
size, the permanent nature of that material would, probably,

JANUARY — MAECH 1828. Y

326 Mr Barlow on the Comtniction of

give it a preference before any other in the construction of re-
fracting telescopes. My object is (as I wish distinctly to be un-
derstood) not to supplant the use of flint glass in the construc-
tion of this instrument, but to supply its place by a valuable
substitute in cases where the former cannot be obtained suffi-
ciently large, or where it can only be obtained at an ex pence
which must always limit the possession of a good astronomical
telescope to persons of fortune and to public institutions.

Principle of Construction.

In the usual construction of achromatic telescopes, the two
or three lenses composing the object-glass are brought into im-
mediate contact, and in the fluid telescope proposed by Dr
Blair, the construction was the same, the fluid having been in-
closed in the object glass itself. Nor could any change in this
arrangement in either case be introduced with advantage ; be-
cause the dispersive ratio between the glasses in the former in-
stance, and between the glass and fluid in the latter, is too close
to admit of bringing the concave correcting medium far enough
back to be of any sensible advantage. The case, however, is
very different with the sulphuret of carbon. The dispersive ra-
tio here varies (according to the glass employed) between the
limits -298 and -334; which circumstance has enabled me to
place the fluid correcting lens at a distance from the plate lens
equal to half its focal length ; and I might carry it still farther
back, and yet possess sufficient dispersive power to render the
object glass achromatic. Moreover, by this means the fluid
lens, which is the most difficult part of the construction, is re-
duced to one-half, or to less than one-half of the size of the plate
lens; consequently, to construct a telescope of ten or twelve
inches aperture involves no greater difficulty in the manipulation,
than in making a telescope of the usual description of five or six
inches aperture, except in the simple plate lens itself; and,
what will be thought perhaps of greater importance, a telescope
of this kind of ten or twelve feet length, will be equivalent in its
focal power to one of sixteen or twenty feet. We may, therefore,
by this means, shorten the tube several feet, and yet possess a
focal power more considerable than could be conveniently given
to it on the usual principle of construction. This will be better
understood from the annexed diagram.

a Large Re/racHng Telescope,

wn

In this figure A B C D represent the tube of
the 6 inch telescope, C D the plate object glass,
V the first focus of rays, d e the fluid concave lens,
distant from the former 24 inches. The focal
length M F being 48 inches, and, consequently,
as 48 : 6 : : 24 : 3 inches, the diameter of the fluid
lens. The resulting compound focus is ^'H,-^
inches ; it is obvious, therefore, that the rays df^
efy arrive at the focus under the same convergency,
and with the same light as if they proceeded from
a lens of 6 inches diameter, placed at a distance
beyond the object glass C D, (as C ly), deter-
mined by producing these rays till they meet the
sides of the tube produced in C ly, viz. at Q^.5
inches beyond the fluid lens. Hence, it is obvious,
the rays will converge as they would do from an
object glass, C D', of the usual kind, with a focus
of 10 feet 5 inches. We have thus, therefore,
shortened the tube 38*5 inches, or have at least
the advantage of a focus 38*5 inches longer than our
tube ; and the same principle may be carried much
farther, so as to reduce the usual length of refract-
ing telescopes nearly one-half, without increasing
the aberration in the first glass beyond the least
that can possibly belong to a telescope of the usual
kind of the whole length. It should, moreover, be
observed, that the adjustment for focus may be
made either in the usual way, or by a slight
movement of the fluid lens, as in the Gregorian
reflectors, by means of the small speculum. In the
latter case, the eye-piece is fixed, which may pro-
bably be convenient for astronomical purposes, in
consequence of the great delicacy of the adjustment.

Thus far every thing is in favour of the pro-
posed construction ; but some doubtful points
may probably present themselves, viz. Is not the
opening of the lenses to so great a distance calcu-
lated to produce an irrationality in the two spectra ;

<j2

o«^~ Jfl

328 Mr Barlow on the Cmistrnction of

or, is there not in the beginning such an irrationality ? Se-
condly, May there not be a great loss of light by reflection at
the second lens, considering the density of the rays at the place
of incidence ? The best reply to these questions is a reference to
the two telescopes already constructed, which exhibit no remark-
able defect of either kind*, at least that I am aware of; on the
contrary, with regard to the latter, the quantity of light is rather
in excess than in defect, compared with the usual construction.
Other queries relative to the ultimate success of this proposition
may also reasonably be anticipated ; as, for example, can the
fluid be permanently secured ? and, if so, Will it preserve its
transparency, and other optical properties ? Will it not act upon
and destroy the surface of the glass, &c. ? To these and similar
queries I reply, that, with any particular fluid which has not
been submitted to these trials, experience is the only test we can
have. Our spirit levels, spirit thermometers, &c. show that
some fluids at least may be preserved for many years, without
experiencing any change, and without producing any in the ap-
pearance of the glass tubes containing them. I beg, however,
to add, that, should any of these happen except the last, nothing
can be more simple than to supply the means of replacing the
fluid at any time, and by any person, without disturbing the ad-
justment of the telescope ; and the same means may be resorted
to (if they should be found necessary in constructing a very large
instrument), to prevent the external pressure of the atmosphere
distorting the figure of the glasses containing the fluid. Such
experiments as these, however, and the construction of an achro-
matic fluid refracting telescope, with a proper stand, on the
scale which I feel every confidence in being able ultimately
to accomplish, viz. one of at least 12 or 14 inches aperture,
involve expences which can only be conveniently borne by men
of fortune and public institutions, I have therefore done my-
self the honour to submit my proposition, with the results al-
ready obtained, to the Board of Longitude ; and if these Jlrst
results, although not every thing that could be wished, should
still be such as to prove the practicability of the Proposition, and

* Mr Barlow has since presented a Memoir to the Rojal Society, illus-
trating, on theoretical principles, the tendency of this construction to destroy
the secondary spectrum, an imperfection inseparable from the usual form of
refracting telescoped.

a Large Refracting Telescope. 329

to justify farther attempts, I have no doubt the Board will, as
far as is consistent with its constitution, forward the prosecution
of the experiments, and ultimately the construction of an achro-
matic telescope, which shall exceed in aperture and power any
instruments of the kind hitherto attempted. It is hardly neces-
sary for me to add, that in such case it will give me great satis-
faction to undertake the direction of these operations, with the
aid of Messrs W. and T. Gilbert, to whose liberal and scientific
views, as well as to their practical skill and ingenuity, I have
been much indebted for having thus far proved the practicabi-
lity of my proposition.

Peter Barlow.

Royal Military Academy
I3th October 1827-

•}

On the Principal Causes of the Difference of Temperature on
the Globe. By Baron Alexander Von Humboldt. *

L HE distribution of heat over the globe, has for many years
formed one of the principal objects of my researches. This sub-
ject is intimately connected with the local differences of the pro-
ductions of nature, with the agriculture and the commercial in-
tercourse of nations, and even, in several respects, with their mo-
ral and political situation. The time is past when we were satis-
fied with some undefined views on the difference of geographical
and physical climates, and when all the modifications of tempera-
ture were ascribed either to the shelter afforded by ridges of
mountains, or to the various elevations of the surface of the
earth. We have seen, that the remarkable differences of
climates which we perceive in large tracts of country, under the
same latitude, and on the same level above the surface of the
sea, do not arise from the trifling influence of individual locali-
ties, but that they are subject to general laws, determined by the
form of the continents in general, by their outlines, by the state
of their surface, but particularly by their respective positions,
and the proportion of their size, to the neighbouring seas. The

* Extract from a public Lecture delivered in the Koyal Academy at Berlin,
on the 3d of July 182?,

2

S30 M. Humboldt oji the Difference (>fthe

relative position of the transparent and opaque, of the fluid or
solid parts of the earth, modifies the absorption of the solar rays
falling under the same angles, and at the same time the produc-
tion of heat. These circumstances, the winter cover of ice and
snow, which is peculiar to the continents, and to a very small
part only of the seas ; the slowness with which large masses of wa-
ter are heated and cooled ; the radiation from smooth or rough
surfaces, towards a cloudless sky ; the regular currents of the
ocean and of the atmosphere, by which water and air from dif-
ferent latitudes and different depths and heights are mixed ; all
concur to produce the peculiarities of climate. It may therefore
be said, that every place has a double climate, one depending on
general and remote causes, on the general position and shape of
the continents, and another determined by the peculiar relations
of its locality.

Since the problem of the geographical distribution of heat has
been considered upon general principles, meteorological ob-
servations have been conducted in a more efficient manner.
A smaller number of them now lead to certain results ; and
ibe discoveries made within the last twenty years, in the most
remote parts of the globe, have gradually enlarged the point
of view. Physical and geological inquiries have now become
equally important objects of all extensive voyages and tra-
vels. To begin with the extreme north, I shall here, in the
first place, mention a man, whom the dangerous and trouble-
some occupations of whale-fishing, which were the object of his
voyage, have not prevented from carrying on the most refined
meteorological and zoological observations. Captain Scoresby
has, for the first time, determined the mean atmospheric tem-
perature of the Polar Seas, which he has taken between the
volcanic Island of Jan Mayen, and that part of East Greenland
discovered by himself. In endeavouring to discover a north-
west passage, the English government has succeeded in affording
to geography, to climatology, and to the theory of magnetism,
services which were originally promised to the commercial inte-
rest of nations. Parry, Sabine, and Franklin have, for several
years, been employed in investigating the temperature of the at-
mosphere, and of the sea, in the polar regions ; they have pene-
rated to Port Bowen and Melville's Island, consequently nearly to

Temperature of the Globe. 381

75° N. Lat. ; and they have, in this arduous task, displayed a
perseverance, of whicli we find hardly a parallel instance in the
history of human exertions and struggles against the elements.
Captain Wcddell has recently destroyed the ancient prejudice,
sanctioned by Cook''s illustrious name, that the South Pole is, on
account of a more extended mass of ice, less accessible than the
NcM'th Pole. The discovery of a new archipelago to the SSE.
of Terra del Fuego, has led to an expedition in which Captain
Weddell found a sea completely free from ice, under the 74°
Lat. (far beyond two solitary islands discovered by the Russian
Captain Billinghausen.)

In turning to the temperate zone, we find a great many points
where the average temperature, which hitherto was considered to
be invariable, has been measured. Various astronomers in New
Holland, and on the foot of the Indian Himalaya, Catholic and
Protestant missionaries at Macao, in Van Diemen's Land, and in
the Sandwich Islands, have furnished us with new facts towards
comparing the northern and southern, the eastern and western
hemispheres, in the torrid and temperate zones, consequently
those parts of the glofbe which are most abundant in water, as
well as those which are most abundant in land. In the same
manner, the proportion of heat under the line, and in both the
tropics, has been determined. These points, as ascertained in
numbers, are particularly important as fixed points, because they
may, like the zone of the warmest sea- water, (between 84° and
87° Fah. ; 23° and 24° 5' B,), in future ages serve to determine
the much disputed variability of the temperature of our planet.

It is necessary to mention here, that we have been long in
want of climatological determinations in the most southern parts
of the temperate zones, between the 28° and 30° lat. This part
of the world forms as it were an intermediate link between the
climate of Palms, and that region in which, according to the
tradition of the east, mankind, along the Mediterranean, in
Asia Minor, and Persia, first awoke to intellectual develope-
raent, to mild manners, and to taste in the cultivation of the
JHTts. The observations of Niebuhr, Nouet, and Coutel in
Egypt, those of my unfortunate friend Ritchie in the Oasis of
Murzuk, could, on account of local circumstances, only lead to

332 M. Humboldt on the Difference of the

erroneous results. The large and classical work on the Canary
Islands, for which we are indebted to Mr Leopold Von Buch,
has now also filled up this blank, in the same way as his travels
in Lapland and to the most northern promontory of Europe,
first furnished us with a clear illustration of the causes which,
in the Scandinavian peninsula, beyond the polar circle, diminish
the severity of the winter cold, and preserve to the springs the
temperature which they had received from deeply seated strata,
and which occasion, under the influence of a continental climate
and that of the coast, an unequal elevation of the snow line, and
of the upper limit at which different species of trees grow.

If we follow the current of the sea, which traverses the
great valley of the Atlantic Ocean, from east to west, we find
almost unexpectedly rich sources of instruction in the New
World, from Russian America, and the settlements of the
Canadian hunters, to the River La Plata, and the most southern
parts of Chili. It is no longer foreign naturalists who commu-
nicate to us the notices they have been able to collect during a
short residence in plains, rich in wood and grass, and on the
ice-covered ridges of the Cordillera ; we have no longer need to
judge of the mean temperature of the whole year by that of
single months or weeks ; here we obtain every where solid and
complete information from the inhabitants themselves.

The executive power of the United States of North America
has ordered meteorological observations for five years to be made
three times a day, at seventeen different points, occupied by mi-
litary garrisons, between the 28° and 47° lat.^ between the Mis-
souri and the AUeghanys, the lake Michigan, and the coast of Pen-
sacola ; and from these observations, the average temperature of
days, months, and of the whole year, is drawn. These obser-
vations calculated by Mr Lovell, surgeon-general of the army,
have been published at the expense of the American govern-
ment, and have been distributed to all scientific institutions in
Europe. If this excellent example was followed in the eastern
part of our continent, and if, by the command and at the ex-
pence of a powerful monarch, similai* comparative theometricai
observations were carried on in well selected points in the ex-
tensive district situated between the Vistula and the Lena, the

Temperature of the Globe. 8jJ3

whole science of climate would in a few years appear in a new
and much improved form.

The zeal by which the United States of North America are
animated, has arisen equally strong in the lately emancipated
Spanish America. Journals, printed 9,000 feet above the level
of the sea,^ give daily the height of the thermometer, barometer,
and hygrometer, taken with very exact instruments, made at
Paris and London, in the enormous extent from the 28° N. to
tlve 40° S. lat. Thus the political revolution of these countries
has not only improved their own condition and the industry of
Europe, but it will also, when the population increases, and
scientific knowledge spreads, over so many mountains and ele-
vated plains, lead to a better knowledge of the higher regions of
the atmosphere. In those countries, whole provinces rise like
islands in an ocean of air, to the height of Etna, or the Peak
of Teneriffe : in the old continent, where the travelling natu-
ralist erects his tent near the line of permanent snow, populous
towns are found in America.

In modern times Africa, which the ancients represented upon
coins and monuments as the kingdom of palms, has been found
rather deficient in this tribe of trees ; and, in the same manner,
later travellers have modified in a singular manner the be-
lief in the constant uniform tropical heat of the African de-
serts. In the Oasis of Murzuk in Fezzan, Ritchie and Lyon
found, during several summer months, the thermometer in the
shade, at from 5 to 6 feet above the ground, to indicate 86° to 91°
Fahr. ( 24° to 26° R.), at 5 o'clock in the morning, and from
1 18° to 129° Fahr. (38° to 43° R.) at noon, a temperature which
probably arose from the radiation produced by the sand floating
in the air ; and, in the same place, Dr Oudney died of cold in
the end of December. This spot is situated in the centre of Af-
rica, on the frontiers of Bornou, under the 13th degree of lat, and,
according to barometrical measurement is not 1200 feet above the
level of the sea. It is said that the water in the leather bottles,
which Oudney's caravan carried along with them, was frozen this
same night. But Major Denham, Clapperton's companion,
whom I desired, after his return from the lake Tchad, to give me
some oral explanation, told me, that, in the morning, some hours

334 M. Humboldt on the difference of the

after Dr Oudney'*s death, the temperature of the air was not be-
low 49° Fahr. (7i° R.). In South America, at a less distance
from the equator, near Bogota and Quito, I saw the water free
from ice, at the height of 8500 and 9000 feet, notwithstanding
the strong effect of the radiation of high plains in producing cold.
In the manuscripts of young Beaufort, who died lately in
Upper Senegal, a victim to scientific zeal, I find that under
the 16th degree of latitude, the thermometer marked in the
shade on the same day 113° Fahr. (36° R.) at noon, and 59°
Fahr. (12° R.) early in the morning. The temperature of
the air in the plains of America never sinks so low in the same
northern latitude. In laying before the Academy last year,
a detailed account of the excellent labours of Ehrenberg and
Hemperich, I have already mentioned the cold to which these
learned travellers were exposed, when in the Desert of Dongola
under the 19th degree of latitude. North winds penetrated into
this southern tropical country, and, in December, the thermo-
meter sunk to 38° Fahr. (2° 5^ R.) above the freezing point, con-
sequently 12° of R. lower than it had ever been observed, under
the same latitude, in the West Indies, according to the accounts
carefully collected by myself. It is astonishing to find Africa
in its deserts colder than America, with all its rich vegetation,
and this not on the margin of the tropics, but at the very centre
of them. The true causes of this singular cooling process
have not yet been sufficiently explained. Perhaps it is the ra-
diation of heat from the soil through the dry air towards a cloud-
less sky, or a sudden expansion produced by the pouring of
humid strata into this dry air, and the descent of the upper
parts of the atmosphere.

It is generally known that more than two-thirds of our planet
are covered by a body of water, which, by its contact with the at-
mosphere, exercises the most powerful influence upon the climate
of the continents. The rays from the sun produce heat according
to different laws, as they fall either upon the water or upon the
solid surface of the earth. The mobility of the particles of
which we imagine fluid bodies to be composed, produces cur-
rents and an unequal distribution of temperature ; cooled and con-
densed by radiation, the particles of water sink to the bottom.
By ascending in balloons, climbing upon insulated peaks of

Temperature of the Globe. 335

mountains, by thermoscopic apparatus sunk into the sea, it has
been possible to determine the velocity of the cooling process
which takes place at different seasons, from below upwards, in the
atmosphere, and from above downwards, in the occean, and in
fresh water lakes. The animals, therefore, which dwell in both
these elements, find on each point of the globe, in the aenfomi
and liquid elements, the most heterogeneous climates, placed in
strata one above another. In the depth of the sea, under the Line,
and in alpine lakes of the temperate zone, there is always a fixed
degree of cold, viz. that degree at which the water attains the
greatest density. The experiments of Ellis, Forster and Saus-
sure, have been repeated under all zones and in all depths ; but
what we know of the lowest temperature of the air, and of sea-
water, as well as of the greatest effect of the radiation of heat be-
tween the tropics, serves 'as an infallible proof that the cold
which there exists near the bottom of the sea, is produced by a
current which, in the depths of the ocean, passes from the poles
towards the equator, and cools the inferior strata of water in the
southern ocean, like the current of air in the upper atmosphere,
which moves from the equator to the poles, to temper the cold
of the winter in the northern regions.

The immortal Benjamin Franklin first taught us that sand-
banks are sooner recognised by the thermometer than by the
sounding line. They are islands of the submarine land, which
the elastic subterranean potvers had not been able to elevate
above the surface of the water. On the declivity of the shoals,
the inferior and colder strata ascending by impulse, are mixed
with the upper and warmer ones ; and thus the sudden cold of
the sea-water shews to the navigator that danger is near. The
shallows, by their temperature, act on the air above thefin, in
which they produce fogs and groups of clouds, which are per-
ceived at a great distance.

Before more extensive investigations had been made on the
distribution of heat over the globe, it was believed that the cli-
mate of two places could be determined by the extremes of the
temperature in summer and winter. This view of things has
still been preserved in popular opinion, whilst naturalists have
long ago renounced it as erroneous ; for, although undoubtedly
the extremes of single days and nights are in a certmn proper-

336 M. Humboldt m the Difference of the

tion to the mean temperature of the year, yet the distribution of
heat in the different seasons is strikingly different, although
the mean annual temperature be one and the same, — a circum-
stance which has a very great influence on the growth of plants
and on the health of man. I have endeavoured to determine
the law of this distribution, according to different situations
and heights. But comparative results in numbers ought to con-
tain the mean temperature of every month, derived from the
two extremes of every day, supposing an arithmetical series to
be formed. This method was first adopted by Reaumur in
1735 : he compared the produce of two harvests, not (like Her-
schel) with the numbers and size of the spots in the sun, but
with the quantity of heat which the corn received in the time of
vegetation. Many labours have of late been directed towards as-
certaining the hour, the mean temperature of which expresses
also that of the whole year. I here only mention the observa-
tions carried on in Scotland at Leith Fort. The night watch
of a military post has been employed for establishing observa-
tions of the thermometer during two years, from hour to hour ;
and from the mass of these observations, which ought to be re-
peated in other latitudes, it has been calculated, that, in the la-
titude of Edinburgh, a single daily observation at 9 o'clock 13
minutes in the morning, and in the evening at 8 o'clock 29 mi-
nutes, would be sufficient to fix the average heat of the year *.
Of the months, it is April and October which give this important
result (a fact, first discovered by Leopold and Von Buch, which
is connected with remarkable modifications of the upper currents
of the atmosphere), except when, as in the island of Grand Ca-
nary, local causes carry the maximum of heat to a later period,
and place it in October.

If I frequently allude to the great increase of meteorological
observations within the last twenty years, I by no means wish
to express an opinion that the perfection of climatology is parti-
cularly founded on such an increase. Here, as in all collec-
tions of knowledge derived from experiments, which are too
soon denominated sciences, every thing depends on " an accu-

• A result, which does not differ from the true by one-half degree of
Reaumur's thermometer, is also obtained by the mean of two hours of
the same denomination. — Results of the Thermometrical Observations made at
Leith Fort every hour of the day and night during the years 1824 and 1825, p. 19.

Temperature of the Globe. 337

rate conception of nature," and a just view of the conse-
quences to be drawn from well-arranged facts. If we attempt to
conceive the problem of the distribution of temperature in its
most general sense, we may imagine the planetary heat either (as
in the present oxydised, hardened surface of the earth) to be a
consequence of the position in relation to a central body, which
excites heat ; or (as in the first state of the condensation of matter
dissolved in the form of vapour) the consequence of internal
processes of oxidation, precipitation, change of capacity, or elec-
tro-magnetic currents. Many geognostical phenomena, which
I have mentioned in another paper, seem to indicate such a de-
velopement of internal heat, produced by our planet itself. More-
over, the doubts raised against the peculiar heat in mines in
both parts of the world, have been entirely removed by recent
experiments of an ingenious astronomer M. Arago, on water
rising up through deep borings in what are called Artesian Wells.
The greater the depth from which the water ascends, the warmer
it has been found. In this case, there can be no suspicion of
strata of air sinking down and being condensed, and consequent-
ly disengaging heat ; nor can the neighbourhood of men, or of the
lanterns of miners, exercise an influence in this case. The waters
carry along with them the heal which they have acquired by a
long continued contact with rocky masses at different depths.

These important observations shew how, independently of the
obliquity of the ecliptic in the earhest, and, as it were, youthful
state of our planet; the tropical temperature and tropical vege-
tation could arise under every zone, and continue, till, by the
radiation of heat from the hardened surface of the earth, and by
the gradual filling up of the veins with heterogeneous minerals
a state was formed, in which (as Fourier has shewn in a pro-
found mathematical work) the heat of the surface, and of the
atmosphere, depends merely upon the position of the planet to-
wards a central body, the sun. We gladly resign to other na-
tural philosophers the task to decide, how deep below the oxi-
dised and hardened surface of the earth the melted fluid masses
lie, which are poured out through the apertures of volcanoes,
which periodically agitate the continents and the bottom of the
ocean, and force hot mineral springs upwards through clefts in
granite and porphyry. The depth of our mines is too inconsi-

338 M. Humboldt on the Difference of the

derable to enable Us, from the unequal increase of temperature
which has been hitherto observed in them, to give the satisfac-
tory numerical solution of a problem which occupies the cu^
riosity of men who live, as it were, upon a vault of rocks. Suf-
fice it here to point out how the recent views of geologists have
revived the old mythus of Pyroplegeton and of Hephastos.

When a planet is everywhere surrounded by aerial strata,
and when the oxidised surface of the, earth, with its clefts
almost everywhere closed or filled up, by a long radiation
of heat, has arrived at a state of equilibrium between receiving
and losing, in such a manner that its external temperature and
the difference of climates arise solely from its position towards
the sun, towards a larger central body which is perpetually ge-
nerating light, then the problem of the temperature of any place
in its most general form, may be considered as dependent solely
upon the manner in which the influence of the meridian height
of the sun manifests itself. This height determines, at the same
time, the magnitude of the semidiurnal circles, the density of
the aerial strata, through which the rays of the sun pass, before
they arrive at the horizon ; it also determines the quantity of the
absorbed or calorific rays (a quantity which rapidly increases
with the size of the angle of incidence) ; and, lastly, the number
of the rays of the sun, which^ mathematically considered, a given
horizon receives. The production of heat, as far as a greater or
less is concerned, can accordingly be considered as proceeding
from the illuminated surface of the earth. The absorption
which the rays of the sun undergo in their passage through the
atmosphere, or (to express it in another manner) the production
of heat by the diminution of light is extremely small ; but never-
theless is perceptible on the ocean, where, at a great distance
from the coast, and even whfen the water was colder than the
atmosphere, I observed the temperature of the latter increasing at
noon with the height of the sun *.

Recent researches + have shewn, that, in both continents,

• Mr Arago has first called my attention to this remarkable effect of the
absorption of light in the atmosphere—Con. des Terns pour 1828, p. 225.

f Essai Politique sur I'lsle de Cuba, 1826, t. ii. p. 79-92. where I think
I have obviated the doubts raised by Mr Atkinson.— Mem. of the Astron.
Spc vol. ii. p. 137, 137-

Temperature of the Globe. 3S0

under the equator, where the mean temperature rises to 82"
Fahr. (22°.2 R.) it is not much warmer than it is in 10^
north and south latitude. According to the Commentary of
Geminus on the Astronomical Poem of Aratus *, some Greek
philosophers believed the temperature of the tropics even to sur-
pass that of the equator. M. Arago haS;, in a very ingenious
manner, demonstrated, by numerous optical experiments, that,
from the vertical incidence to a zenith distance of 20°, the quan-
tity of the reflected light (and the lesser heating of the illumi-
nated body depends on this quantity), remains almost the
same. In comparing the mean annual temperatures with one
another, I find, that, in the western part of the old continent, the
temperatures diminish from the south towards the north in the
following proportion -f* :

From 20° to 30° north Latitude. 3°.2 Reaum.

30 40 3.6 «

40 50 5 .7

50 60 4.4

In both the continents, the region where the diminution of heat
is most rapid, is to be found between 40° and 45° latitude. In
this result, the observation agrees in a remarkable manner with
the theory ; for the variation of the square of the cosines which
expresses the law of the mean temperature, is largest at 45° lati-
tude. This circumstance, as I have shown in another place, has
exercised a very beneficial influence on the state of civilisation
of those nations who live in the mild countries, under this, the
medium parallel of latitude. There the district where the vine
grows, borders upon that of the olive and orange tree. No-
where else upon earth (in proceeding from the north to the
south) does the heat increase more rapidly with the geographi-
cal latitude ; nowhere else do the various vegetable productions,
used in gardening and in agriculture, succeed each other more

• Esig. in Aratum eays. 13. Strabo, Geogr. lib. ii. p. 97*
+ In the eastern parts of the new continent, the diminutions of the mean
temperature are as follows :

Trom 20" to 30° Latitude, 5° Reaum.
30 40 5.7

40 50 72

50 60 5.8

340 M. Humboldt (ni the Difference of the

rapidly. This variety animates industry and the commercial
intercourse of nations.

We may here state that partial, daily, and monthly changes
of temperature are, on account of the motion of the atmosphere,
produced by the transportation of colder or \^armer strata, by
greater or less electric tension, by the formation of clouds or the
diffusion of vapours ; in short, by an almost infinite number of va-
riable causes, acting at a greater or smaller distance. The study
of meteorology has, unfortunately, begun in a zone where the
causes are most comphcated, and the number and intensity of the
disturbing powers greatest. If ever civilization, as may now be
expected, shall establish one of its principal seats in the tropics, it
is to be presumed that these phenomena, which are so simple
there, will be more easily ascertained than in our climates, where
the play of many conflicting causes has so long concealed them
from our view. From that which is simple it is easy to proceed to
what is complicated, and we may imagine a scientific meteorolo-
gy as returning from the tropics to the north. In the climate
of palms, a feeble east wind always brings strata of air along
with it, having generally the same temperature. The barometer
shows, like the progress of the needle, the hour of the day.
Earthquakes, tempests, and thunder-storms do not disturb the
small but periodical tides of the atmosphere. The changed decli-
nation of the sun, together with the upper currents of the air,
from the equator towards the pole, modified by this declina-
tion, determine the beginning of the rainy season and the elec-
tric explosions, which both begin at regular periods. The tra-
veller may know his way almost as well by the direction of the
clouds as by the compass ; and, in the dry season, the appear-
ance of a cloud on the deep blue sky would, in many districts of
the tropics, astonish the natives as much as the fall of an aero-
lite or of the red polar snow would do us ; or as the crash of
thunder in Peru ; or, in the tropical plains, a hail storm. This
simplicity and regularity in the meteorological phenomena allow
us to expect an easier and more favourable insight into the re-
lation of their causes.

As long as the observations on the magnetic inclination, de-
clination and intensity of forces, remained dispersed in the re-
ports of travellers, and had not been united by magnetical lines.

Temperature of the Globe. 341

the doctrine of the distribution of magnetism on the earth could
not be expected to make any important progress. Supported by
analogy, it has been attempted to simplify by a careful employ,
ment of well ascertained facts, the complicated doctrine of the
distribution of heat. Places having an equal mean temperature
of the year, of summer, or of winter, have been connected with
one another by curves. This was the origin of the system of
isothermal lines*, of which I published a full account in the
year 1817. They descend towards the equator, because in
Eastern Asia and the eastern parts of North America we find,
on an equal level above the sea, and in a more southern lati-
tude, the same temperature which we meet with in the centre
of Europe, in a more northern latitude. The remarkable cir-
cumstance, that the highest civilization of the species to which
we belong has developed itself, almost under the same latitudes
in the temperate zone upon two opposite coasts, the eastern
coast of the new and the western of the old continent, must
early call our attention to the difference of heat under the same
latitudes. The question arose by how many thermometrical de-
grees the old world was warmer than the new, and it is not
long since it was known, that the isothermal lines from the la-
titude of Florida to that of Labrador, do not run parallel, and
that the eastern and western coasts of North America are al-
most as different from one another as those of Western Eu-
rope and of Eastern Asia. The shape and grouping of
the continents, ^nd their relation to the neighbouring, seas,
are the principal causes which determine the inflection of the
isothermal lines, or the direction of equally warm zones, into
which we may conceive the whole globe to be divided. The
predominance of west winds in the temperate and cold re-
gions determines the difference of climates on the eastern and
western coasts of one and the same conUnent. The western
winds, which are considered as reactions of the tropical trade-
winds reach an eastern coast, after having traversed in winter
a continent covered with snow and ice ; to the western coasts,
on the contrary (in Europe as well as in New California and

* De la Distribution de la Chaleur sur le Globe.— Mem. de U Soci^t^
d'Arcueil, t. iiL »

JANUARY — MARCH 1828. »

842 M. Humboldt on tlte Difference oftlie

Nootka), western winds carry strata of air, which even in
the severest winter have been heated by contact with the vast
surface of the ocean. Led by these ideas, I have considered it
of importance to obtain a knowledge of the lowest temperature
to which the Atlantic sinks, out of the Gulf Stream, between
40° and 50° north latitude (consequently in the latitudes
of Spain, France and Germany), I have found that, in the
month of January, in 40° latitude, the water of the sea does not
sink below 56° Fahr. (10<^.7 R.) and in 45° latitude not below
54° Fahr. (9°.8 R.) The much esteemed geographer of India,
Major Rennel, who for thirty years has been employed in study-
ing the direction of the currents of the Atlantic, and who, during
my last visit to England, communicated to me a part of his ma-
nuscript materials, has, in 50° latitude, consequently in the zone
of the north of Germany, observed in winter a temperature of
the sea-water, to which the atmosphere does not reach in the
month of January, even in the mild climate of Marseilles. If
the relative extent of Asia and North America, of the Pacific
and the Northern Atlantic, was different from what it is, the
whole system of winds in the northern hemisphere, would, by
the unequal heating of the solid, as well as of the fluid, parts
of the surface of the earth, be changed in their direction as well
as in their intensity.

Europe is indebted for its milder climate to its position on the
globe (the position in which it stands in regard to the neighbour-
ing seas) and to its peculiar form. Europe is the western part
of the old continent ; and consequently the great Atlantic Ocean,
which already in itself has the power of diminishing the cold, and
which is besides partly warmed by the Gulf Stream, lies to the
west of it. That part of the world which of all others enjoys
the greatest share of a tropical climate, the sandy Africa, is so
situate that Europe is heated by the strata of air, which, as-
cending from Africa, move from the Equator towards the North
Pole. Had the Mediterranean not existed, the influence of Af-
rica on the temperature and the geographical distribution of
plants and animals in Europe, would have been still more consi-
derable. The third principal cause of the milder climate of Eu-
rope is, that this part of the world does not approach the North

Temperature of the Globe. 343

Pole nearly as much as America and Asia do ; and that, on the
contrary, it lies opposite the greatest extent of sea- water, free from
ice, which is known in the whole polar zone. The coldest points
of the earth, which have lately l)een improperly called Poles of
Cold, do not coincide with the magnetic poles, as Dr Brewster has
endeavoured to prove in the English version of my paper on the
Isothermal Lines. According to Captain Sabine's researches,
the minimum of the annual mean temperature on the surface of
the earth, is to the NW. of Melville's Island, in the meridian of
Behring's Straits, probably in 8^ to 83° north Lat. The sum-
mer boundary of the ice, which, between Spitzl)ergen and East
Greenland, recedes to 80° and 81° north Lat., is in about 75°
N. Lat., every where between Nova Zembla, the Bone Islands of
New Sil)eria and Icey Cape, the most western cape of America.
Even the winter boundary of ice, the line on which the ice ap-
proaches the nearest to our continent, scarcely surrounds Bear
Island. From the North Cape, which is heated by a south-
western current of the sea, the navigation to the most southern
promontory of Spitzbergen is never interrupted, not even in the
most severe winters. The polar ice diminishes in quantity
wherever it finds an opening to flow out, as in Baffin's Bay, and
between Iceland and Spitzbergen. The situation of the Atlan-
tic Ocean exerts a most beneficial influence on the existence of
that sea-water, free from ice, in the meridian of East Green-
land and Spitzbergen, which has so important an influence upon
the climate of the north of Europe.

On the other hand, the icebergs, which are driven from Baf-
fin's Bay and Barrow's Straits to the south, accumulate in that
large mediterranean sea, which geographers designate by the
name of Hudson's Bay. This accumulation of ice increases the
cold of the neighlK)uring continent so much, that, as reported
by Captain Franklin in his latest MS., in York Factory, and
at the mouth of Hayes River, which lie in the same latitudes
as the north of Prussia and Courland, in digging wells, ice is
found everywhere at the depth of four feet. The most northern
and mc^t southern boundaries of the fixed polar ice, that is, the
summer and winter boundaries, on the situation of which the
temperature of the northern continents depends, seem to have
changed but little, as far as historical records go ; which fact

z2

344 M. Humboldt 07i the Difference of the

Jias been recently confirmed by careful inquiries. The in-
jurious influence which small isolated masses of ice, driven
sometimes by currents into the neighbourhood of the Azores,
exercise, as it is said, upon the continent of Europe, is one of
those tales, first derived from philosophers, and received by the
vulgar, after the former have long ceased to believe in them.

In the same latitudes, where, in the north of Europe, agri-
culture and gardening are carried on, we find in North
America and North Asia only marshes and tracts of land co-
vered with mosses : in the interior of Asia, on the other hand,
the powerful radiation of heat, between the almost parallel
chains of the Himalaya, the Zungling' and the Himmelsgehirge^
(a country on which Klaproth's geographical researches have
thrown great light), exercises the most beneficial influence on
the Asiatic population. The line of permanent snow, on the
northern declivity of the Himalaya, lies 4000 feet higher than
on the southern ; and the physical explanation which I have
given of this singular phenomenon *, has, according to a report
of Mr Colebrooke, been confirmed by recent measurements and
observations in the East Indies. Millions of men of Thibetian
origin, of a gloomy religious cast of mind, occupy populous
towns, in a country where fields and towns would, during the
whole year, be buried in deep snow, if this high table-land was
less extensive and less continuous.

As the currents of the atmosphere are modified in many dif-
ferent manners, by changes in the declination of the sun, and
by the direction of the chains of mountains on the declivities of
which they descend, the currents, also, of the Hquid ocean
carry the warmer waters of the lower degrees of latitude into
the temperate zone. I need not here mention how the waters
of the Atlantic, always moved in the same direction by the
trade-winds, are carried against the dike formed by the isthmus
of Nicaragua, then turn to the north, make the round of the
Gulf of Mexico, flow out through the Channel of the Bahamas,
proceed as a current of warm water to the north-east towards
the banks of Newfoundland, then to the south-east, towards the
'group of the Azores ; and, when favoured by the north-west

• Annales de Chimie et de Physique, torn. iii. p. 297 > torn. ix. p. 310 ; torn,
xiv. p. 5.

Temperature of the Globe. 845

wind, carry along with them the fruits of palm trees from the An-
tilles; casks of French wines from wrecked ships; nay, even living
Esquimaux in their leather boats from East Greenland, which,
they cast on the coasts of Ireland, of the Hebrides, or of Nor-
way. A travelled astronomer, Captain Sabine, who, after re-
turning from the Polar llcgions, performed experiments with
the pendulum in the Gulf of Guinea, on the African Island of
St Thomas, informed me, how casks of palm oil, which had
been lost by shipwreck at Cape Lopez, a little south of the
Equator, were carried onwards, first by the equatorial current,
and then by the Gulf Stream, crossing the Atlantic twice, from
east to west, and from west to cast, between 3° and 50^ N. Lat.,
safely arrived on the coasts of Scotland. The well preserved
mark of the African proprietors left no doubt as to the direc-
tion the casks had taken. In the same manner, as in this case,
the equatorial waters in the Atlantic are carried north by the
Gulf Stream, I have, in the Pacific, in its southern hemisphere,
observed a current (along the coasts of Chili and Peru), which
carries colder water from Ivgher latitudes to the Tropics. In
this current I saw the thermometer, in the port of Truxillo, in
the month of September, fall to 61° Fahr. (1J^°.8 R.) and in the
port of Callao, near Lima, at the end of November, to GCT
Fahr. (12°.4 R.) A distinguished young officer of the Danish
navy. Baron Dirckinck von Holmfeldt, has, at my request, at
different seasons of the year 1825, observed this singular phe-
nomenon, to which for so long a time no attention had been
paid. Making use of thermometers, carefully compared by Mr
Gay Lussac and myself, he again found the water of the sea, in
the port of Callao, in August 60i ° Fahr. (12°.6 It ) and in March
674° Fahr. (15°.7 R.) Whilst, out of the curren^ at the pro-
montory oi Parina, the calm sea, as usually in those latitudes,
showed the great heat of 794° to 8r.5 (21° to 22° R.) We
cannot, in this place, explain how this stream of colder water,
which increases the difficulty of the southern navigauon from
Guayaquil to Peru, and from Peru-to Chili, is for some months
modified in its temperature by the Garua, i. e. the vapours wliich
constantly veil the sun ; and how it renders the climate of the
plains of Peru cooler.

As all human attempts to arrive at a scientific view of the

346 Mr Ncill on the Habits of a

phenomena of nature can have for their final object only a clear
conception of our own nature, thus the investigation, with the
principal topics of which we have now been occupied, at last leads
us to consider, how the differences of climate manifest themselves
in the character, in the civilization, and, perhaps, even in the
development of the language of different tribes of the human
race. This is the point where the important doctrine of the dis-
tribution of heat over the globe comes to be connected with the
history of mankind, and beyond which it ceases to be an ob-
ject of purely physical inquiry.

Some Account of the Habits of a Specimen of Siren lacertina,

which has been Jcept alive at Canonmills, near Edinburgh,

for more than two years past. By Patrick Neill, A. M.,

F. R. S. E. and Sec. W. S * Communicated by the Author.

XT is more than half a century since Dr Alexander Garden
of Charleston, South Carolina, sent to the distinguished Mr John
Ellis of London, specimens of a reptile found in marshes in his
neighbourhood, remarkable for possessing both external gills and
internal lungs, and for having fore-feet but no hind-feet. Dr Gar-
den stated, that he had seen specimens of very different sizes, all
possessing the gills, and having only fore feet ; and that there
did not exist in South Carolina any lizard, of which this animal
could be regarded as the larva. Mr Ellis, in his excellent ac-
count of the reptile in the Philosophical Transactions, vol. Ivi.,
accordingly describes and figures a young one, 9 inches long,
and one full grown, or 2 J feet long ; yet both possess the gills,
and both have two feet only ; the feet have four toes, and each
toe is furnished with a claw ; and he mentions that the animal
emits a " croaking noise or sound," while the |X)ssessing of any
kind of voice is not charactenstic of a larva. These facts, and
the examination of a dead specimen, transmittt^d by Mr Ellis
to the illustrious Swedish naturalist Linnaus, were enough to
satisfy him that it was not a larva, but a perfect animal of the
most truly amphibious character; and he therefore created for
it a new order, Meantes, among his Amphibia. Several distin-
* Read before the Werner iaii Natural History Society, 12th January 1828,

living Specimeii of Siren laceriina. 547

fished naturalists, however, have disputed the opinions of Gar*
den, Ellis, and Linnaeus ; particularly Camper, Pallas, Schnei-
der, and De Lacepede. All of these have held, that the siren
is not a perfect animal, but merely the larva of some Proteus or
Laccrta, which, as it should approach maturity, would throw
off the branchia?, and perhaps also develope hind-feet. De La-
cepede was the most positive in this opinion ; but he was soon
met by another French naturalist, of greater acumen and of
still higher name.

In a memoir read to the Institute of France in 1807, Bai'on
G. Cuvier concluded, from a minute anatomical examination,
that the siren was the type of a distinct genus, the osseous struc-
ture of which differed essentially from that of the salamander or
of the proteus ; the skeleton proving that the animal was not
destined ever to develope hind-feet, while there appeared no
provision for the throwing off of the branchial. Cuvier con-
firmed, in short, the opinion which Linnaius had formed from
studying its external characters and from Dr Garden'^s account
of the habits of the animal

The controversy has been continued with zeal and spirit.
The distinguished Italian naturalists Configliachi and Rusconi,
from considering the analogy between the Siren and the larva;
of other Batrachia, have disputetl the conclusions of Cuvier,
and still regard it as an imperfect animal. Among other arguv/
ments, they adduce the following, which shall be quoted in their
own words : " Before this canal (the nostril) is so formed (as to
open into the mouth), such larvae are unable to respire atmos-
pheric air, and if taken out of the water they soon die ; and,
therefore, guided by analogy, we incline to beUeve that to the
siren the same thing ought to happen ♦." (i

That excellent zoologist our countryman Dr Fleming of Flisk

• See account of Configliachi and Rusconi's Memoir, b^ Daniel Ellis,
Esq., in the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, vol. v. p. 106. et seq. The oii.
ginal passage runs thus : ^^ Sin tanto f he queslo canale non tn ^ formato** (in
such a manner that its posterior extremity may open into the mouth), '• Ic
larve delle salamandrc non possono respirare Taria atmosfcrica in mode ni
uno, e (luindi sc vengono tratte all' asciutto, si muojono ; per lo chc aol, gui-
tlati scmprc ilalla analogia, incUniamo a credere che alia strena, le cul narici
" ne pcnetrent point dans la bouche," debba pure accadere lo stcsso."— ZW
Pi'oko aiiguino di Laurmi't MoiHigrdJia ; Favin, \ni{), p. 104.

348 Mr Neill m the Habits of a

(whose fame will be greatly raised by his recent work on
" British Animals"'') adopts the reasoning of the Italian natura-
lists, and vindicates their conclusions, in his " Philosophy of
Zoology,'' vol. ii. p. 297.

It is remarkable that some parts of the natural history of the
siren should still be very imperfectly known, not only to eminent
European naturalists, but even to acute observers residing in
the United States. We have seen that Configliachi and Rus-
coni are of opinion that the siren, if taken out of the water,
would soon die; and we may add, that the author of the article
Herpetology in the Edinburgh Encyclopaedia observes, that the
Siren lacertina '' appears to reside entirely m the water. It
was supposed by Linnaeus, from the form of its feet, that it can
also move with tolerable ease upon the land ; but we believe it
has never yet been seen in that situation."

In a paper on the genera of batrachian animals, by Mr
Barnes, secretary of the New York Lyceum (published in Silli-
man's American Journal, October 1826), we have the most re-
cent notice regarding the siren. After describing the animal,
he mentions some facts illustrative of its habits, and alludes to
some of the opinions entertained concerning it. We are told,
that " a specimen in Scudder's Museum (New York) has al-
ready lived several years in a glass jar of clear water ;" and
others an equal length of time " in a tub containing mud
brought from their native marshes in Carolina." These, " when
taken from the mud, immediately struggle to return, and seem
contented only when they are in their natural element. When
they are concealed in their retreat, the place of the head and
gills is readily known by the rising of small air-bubbles from
their spiracles ; — a fact which may lead to the determination of
the function of these doubtful organs." " Several authors
affirm that sirens thrown on the ground break into several
pieces." While Mr Barnes hesitates to believe this, he adds,
^' But the want, or the high value of specimens among us *,

• The siren, though not uncommon in the days of Garden, seems now to
have become a rare animal even in South Carolina. M. Bosc, in the New
Pictionary of Natural History (xxxi. p. 317), mentions that, during a resi-
dence of a year and a-half near Charleston, he was not able to find one living
specimen, although he was desirous of studying tlie habits? of so curious an
onim^.

living Specimen of Siren lacertina. 840

will probably prevent this fact from being proved or disproved r,
by actual experiment.'" Lastly, it is said, " It does not appear,
by the most careful observations of modern naturalists, that
the animal has a vox cantUlans, and the idea which produced
the generic name is therefore imaginary."

In the early part of the summer of 1825, Dr Farmer of,
Charleston, South Carolina, sent to Dr Monro, Professor of
Anatomy and Surgery in the University of Edinburgh, a li-
ving specimen of the animal. It was nearly a foot and a half,
long, and was four inches in girth where thickest. It came in a
small barrel, which was half filled with mud and water, and per-
forated above. On its arrival in this country it seemed in a slug^
gish state ; and it was not observed to eat any thing whatever for .
many weeks. Dr Monro being desirous that the animal should,
if possible, be preserved alive, and its habits noted, confided
the charge of it to me ; and I certainly feel much indebted to
the Doctor for placing so rare and curious an animal in my
hands. Although, during the two years and a-half it has been
in my possession, no perceptible change has taken place in the
form or size of the fimbriated branchiae, and although I cannot
boast of having made any new or very striking observations,
yet perhaps I am able to add a little to our stock of knowletlge
regarding this singular animal, and to confirm some and refute
others of the opinions above related.

Immediately on receiving the specimen, a large wooden box
was prepared, with an inclined plane at one end of the interior, so
that the animal might, when it chose, raise itself out of the wa-
ter more or less, and repose in that situation. At first we
placed a quantity of sand in the bottom of the box, in the
expectation that the siren would burrow in it ; but we after-
wards found that tufts of mosses (hypnum or sphagnum) were
better suited to the taste and habits of the animal, as it evident-
ly delighted to hide itself under the moss, to lie upon it, and to
root amongst it.

Soon after it came into my possession I found that, in a warm
day, it would eat one or two small eardi-worms, when placed
close by its head, so that the struggles of the worm, in drowning,
should attract its attention (for its eyesight does not seem acute);
but that it would take ho more food till after the lapse of per-

350 Mr Neill on the Habits of'a

haps a week or ten days. At this time it swallowed its food
very slowly and gradually, sometimes allowing one-half of the
worm to continue wriggling about its nose for some minutes,
while the other half was in its mouth and gullet. On one occa-
sion, some small bansticklcs were put into the box alive : after
a day or two, th^ largest of these was found floating dead, with
a considerable piece apparently bitten from its side, the wound
being nearly equal to the width of the siren's jaws. Although
the siren was not actually observed to attack the banstickle,
there can be htde doubt that he had seized it, and taken the
piece from its side ; more especially since Dr Garden mentions
that, on one occasion, a siren was " caught by a hook baited with
a small fish." The smaller bansticklcs were never more seen ;
and two or three of the larvae of the Lacerta aquatica, which
were placed in the box soon afterwards, likewise disappeared.

For the first year and a half, the box was kept in a green-
house, adapted for keeping Cape of Good Hope and New
Holland plants, or where it is merely desired to exclude the frost
of our winter. In this situation, the siren declined eating from
a1>out the middle of October till the beginning of May ; and for
the six intervening cold months he remained exceedingly slug-
gish, seldom changing his place, except when roughly touched.

It may liere be remarked, that the tail seems to be the most
sensitive part of this animal. I have often gently stroked the
back, near the head, with my fingers, without disturbing him in
the least ; but the moment the tail was touched, some air-bubbles
were thrown up, and he moved slowly away.

In April 18^7, the box was placed in a hot-house, intended for
the culture of tropical plants, where the temperature is kept up
so as to range from iiO" to 80° F., and may be stated as general-
ly about 65". Here the animal became more lively. He soon
began to croak like a frog, uttering a single cry at a time, and
without any change of note. He continued thus to call for
some weeks ; and, considering the time of the year, it seems pro-
bable that this was the call of love. During this summer he ate
two, three, or even four, small earth-worms at a meal, devour-
ing them much more quickly than formerly. It was now ob-
served, that after the siren got his eye on the worm, he approach-
ed very cautiously, remained motionless for a moment, as if

living Specimen of Siren lacertina. ^W

watching, and then made a sudden dart upon the prey. Still,
however, he did not care for food oftener than once in a week
or ten days. When touched, he now changed his place with a
jerking motion, causing the water to spurt. '"^

Although I certainly would not have made the experiment
of the fragility of the siren, by throwing it on the ground'?
and although I would have hesitated to keep the animal out
of the water for several hours, while I knew that respectabl6
naturalists doubted if it would live more than a few minuted
out of that element, yet it so happened, that the animal, on one
occasion, made, of his own accord, an experiment (if it may
be so called) illustrative of both points. This was on the 18th
of May 182G (for the fact was recorded in my adversaria at the
time), soon after he had begun to be active and to take food foi'
the season. The water-box itself was ten inches deep : it was
placed on a plant-trellis or shelf, close by the lower end of the
sloping roof-sash of the greenhouse, and thus stood nearly three
feet from the ground. At tlmt period the box happened to leak;
and the gardener therefore filled it up with water between se-
ven and eight o^clock in the evening, at which time the siren was
seen safely lodged in the box. The door of the greenhouse was
locked, as usual, over night, and before it was opened in the
morning, the siren, to the great surprise of the gardener, was
found lying on a foot-path which passes round the exterior of
the greenhouse. I was speedily apprised of the circumstance;
and, on examining the spot, we could most distinctly trace, by
a shining glaze derived from his skin, the passage of the animal^
through an edging of hcalli (Erica herbaceaj, and across a nar-
row flower-border, to a hole which he had scoojxjd out under the
brick-wall of the greenhouse, in escaping from within. The
foundation of this wall, it may be remarked, had intentionally
been made shallow or near to the surface, for the pur}K>sc of per-
mitting the roots of some shrubs, planted in the conservatory
style within, to }K»netrate to the exterior border.

We jwssess no data for fixing witli certainty tlie nunil>er of
liours during which the animal had been out of the water. The'
box, as alreatiy mentioncil, being leaky, was filled near to the
brim iK^tween 7 and 8 in the evening : it Hcems likely that this
filling up had disturbed the animal, and that it had been ena-
bled partly to crawl and partly to glide over the margin, while

d&% Mr Neill m the Habits of a

the water yet stood high, or early in the night ; for the water
had subsided five or six inches before morning. The escape of
so much water, had formed, of the soil below, a kind of sludge,
probably somewhat analogous in character to the " stiff clay""
of its native swamps, in which it is said sometimes to burrow ;
•and this must have greatly facilitated the first under-ground
operations of the siren. Still, however, as the excavation made
was not less than eight inches in depth, and nearly three feet
in length, for the ascending aperture on the outside sloped at
an angle of about 30°, it seems reasonable to conclude that the
siren must have been several hours hard at work in forming so
extensive a tunnel for itself. In farther proof of its exertions,
it may be observed, that a considerable part of the dark-coloured
epidermis, or covering of minute indistinct scales, was worn off
its snout, and the skin of the upper part of the back was, in
different places, ruffled. — In passing, it may be noticed, that
these facts indicate that its progress had depended more on
rooting with the nose and shoving with the shoulders, than on
digging or scraping with the feet and toes, the claws or nails of
which are indeed rather of a delicate texture.

Mr Barnes was evidently right, therefore, in considering the
fragility of the siren as " improbable ;"" for, far from being
broken in pieces, by its fall of more than three feet and a-half
from the upper margin of the box, it is abundantly evident that
the animal had suffered nothing from this fall, else it would not
immediately afterwards have made such progress in mining.
In justice to Dr Garden, however, who was evidently an accu-
rate observer, it should be mentioned, that he does not allege
that the siren, if merely " thrown on the ground," will break in
pieces ; but only states that, on one occasion, a specimen did so
when " dashed Jbrdhly against the ground,'** by his servant,
with the view of killing it.

The morning was very cold, and the mercury in a register-
thermometer, kept in the greenhouse, had been as low as 33°
Fahr. at one period of the preceding night. The animal was
observed about 7 a. m. lying doubled, or with the body bent
round, but not coiled, on the foot-path. He was exceedingly
benumbed, being just able to shew signs of life when lifted by
the gardener. Considering the evidence of long-continued ac-
tive exertions during the night, it seems reasonable to ascribe

living Specimen of Siren lacertina. 353

his almost torpid state when found, to the freezing cold which he
had encountered when he had made his way fairly to the outside.
When first restored to the watery element, the animal breathed
hard, rushing to the surface, and opening his mouth with a
wide gape to inhale air. He soon after sunk down, and let se-
veral strings of air-bubbles escape. The branchiae were doubt-
less to a certain degree dried, and thus obstructed ; and it evi-
dently took some time before they could freely perform their
accustomed office. When, however, I again examined the ani-
mal, several hours afterwards, he seemed perfectly contented
to remain wholly under the water ; and, on being touched, ap-
peared as lively and as well as ever. The decorticated portions
of the back and snout shewed us the colour of the true skin
below, which was of a pale leaden hue.

In the course of changing the water and moss, we have oc-
casionally placed the siren on the floor of the hot-house, or on
the dry ground. He certainly did not on these occasions seem
adept at progressive motion: but, on the contrar)*^, tumbled
about rather awkwardly. From the exertions he made, how-
ever, we were inclined to think, that among wet grass he might
probably get on pretty well ; for he exhibited no indications of
pain or uneasiness, but merely a desire to escape or get under
cover.

We have often remarked this fact, that, if the animal be
left in undisturbed tranquillity, he will lie at the bottom of
the deepest part of the box, where the water is generally six
inches deep, for hours together, without coming to the sur-
face, and without discharging air-bubbles; but on these oc-
casions, on looking attentively into the water, as I have done
for twenty minutes at a time, a slight current may be observed
to be excited behind the gills, about twice in a minute. The
current is sometimes so gentle, that it is only to be observed by
noticing the motion of minute particles of decayed moss which
come within its influence. The moment his tail is touched, the
animal exerts himself; air-bubbles escape, and he soon after
comes to the surface to take in air by the mouth. When the
box is to be cleaned out, which is done about once a fortnight,
the siren is placed in an oval jar among water ; here he moves
about with rapidity, and very frequently projects his nose and
mouth above the surface, evidently to inhale air.

354 Mr Neill on the Habits of a

The animal has, since it came into my possession, decidedly
increased in volume, particularly in thickness or plumpness ; but
I am not, as already noticed, aware of the least change having
taken place in the appearance of the fimbriated branchia?, where
a change should first be looked for were the animal a larva.

The scars of the injuries which he received in his subterra-
nean excursion of May 1826, remained visible for a year after
the occurrence ; but they have now (January 18^8) completely
disappeared, and the whole body is covered with a dark glossy
epidermis, consisting of very minute scales, and marked with
small dots of white.

j^^The results of the observations now made seem to be : — That,
as Dr Monro'*s specimen of the Siren lacertina did not " soon
die when out of the water," — did 7iot^ like the Italian pro-
teus, " die as fishes do,"" when removed from that element,'-^biit,
on the contrary, lived many hours out of the water, respiring
atmospheric air by means of its lungs ; and as it has often been
observed to remain for hours under the water without coming
to the surface to breathe. Baron Cuvier is right in regarding
the siren as a perfect animal, of a truly amphibious character,
destined to breathe through life either by means of external
branchiae or of internal pulmonary apparatus, according to the
situation it may for the time occupy in its native marshes :—
That Mr Barnes was right in doubting the story of its being
a fragile animal ;- — That it has a voice like the croaking of a
frog, but not a vojc cantillans^ if this last imply any thing
musical ; but here it should be remarked, that Mr John Ellis
accurately characterizes it as a " croaking noise or sound i"—
That, as it attacked a large banstickle, and probably devoured
some small ones as well as larvae of Lacerta aquatica, it may,
in its native lakes and swamps, attack small fishes, or even small
serpents, as mentioned by some naturalists : — That Configliachi
and llusconi have been misled by trusting to " analogy," and,
by an error of Dr Pockels, who mistook the Amphiuma means^
which he saw in the Hunterian collection at London, for a per-
fectly developed siren. These naturalists expressly admit, that
they had not themselves enjoyed an opjxjrtunity of dissecting a
siren {p. 90- Note) ; and it is also evident from dther parts of
their monograph, that they had never seen a living specimen-

living Specimen of Siren lacertina. 355

P. S. Since Uiis paper was read to the Wcmerian Society, I
have seen, in Silliman's American Journal of Science, Septem-
ber 1827, p. 70. an additional notice regarding the siren by Mr
Barnes ; in which he says, " Captain Le Conte has dissected a
large siren alive^ and has actually seen the expansion and con-
traction of the lungs in the act of respiration, just as in the frogs
and tortoises. They are true lungs^ and not merely air sacks,
and their connection with the heart and the arteries was distinct-
ly observed.*"

A Tour to tlie Smith of France and the Pyrenees in the year
1825. By G. A. Walker ARNoTT,Esq. F.R.S.E. F.L.S.
M. W. S. &c. (Continued from last Number, p. 139.)

\JN the 21st June, having, with much regret, seen our two
friends MM. Requicn and Audibert set off in the diligence for
Perpignan, we ourselves also left I*rades, and ascended the Couf-
flent towards Mont Louis, On our route we again passed the
Traucadc d'Ambouilla, and though we did not find it conve-
nient to leave the road, we nevertheless observed there Tortula
cfUoronotos, probably the identical station from whence Bridel
procured his specimens when he first dcscrilxxl the species; and
though small specimens have since been found in TencrifTe, and
published by Dr Hooker as Tortula vicmbranifolia^ and though,
as I think I have already mentioned, I have found it not un-
common in the olive district of the south of France *, this loca-
lity was yet very interesting. In its neighbourhootl also, we
saw Buffania perennis, Galium glaucuniy and Jlyssum halimi-
fbliuju, all of which, however, we had observed on other |)arts
of the Traucatle a few days before. Passing through Ville-
franche, wc saw in profusion Sarcocapnos cnncaphylhy on ele-
gant plant, closely allied to Fnmaria : this occurs both on llie
church walls and on the wall of the town, outside of the south
gate. We now crossed the Teta, and proceeded up the western

• It has also been found in Switzerland, and is the T. mmm fU^ var.
noia-, ot* somQ of the Swiss collectors ; and it even exiuLs in Beauvois* hortiii-
rium from the neighbouriioiKl t)!' Paris, under the name of Torhtia canestmt,
P.B.

..t

356 Mr Arnott's Toiir to the South of France,

bank, without observing any thing worthy of notice, till we ap-
proached the village of Serdynia. On the mountain close to
this is found the Onopordum pyrenaicum ; and, soon after quit-
ting the village, we met with the curious Achillcea chamcemeli-
Jbliay Pourr. growing on the bank on the right. This species
Lapeyrouse has unfortunately described three times in his Flora
of the Pyrenees : it is his A, chamtEmelifolia, A. capiUata, and A.
falcata. This latter state of it has the segments of the leaves
more or less curved backwards, and has been sometimes given
to botanists by Lapeyrouse himself with the name of A. recur-
vifolia attached. From Serdynia to Olette, where we break-
fasted, we did not observe any other plant that interested us.

I have already alluded to the tremendous storms that had
occurred every day for some time past. Although the morn-
ings were unclouded, and the sun shone forth in full power, the
sky began to darken about two oVlock, and thunder, lightning,
and rain raged with the utmost fury for about two or three
hours, after which we usually had delightful evenings. Accus-
tomed to judge of the violence of the storms according to the
extent of our exposure to them, we, having been the greater
part of the day in the house, had allowed that of yesterday to
pass almost unheeded. To-day, however, about Olette we were
led to understand that its violence had been much greater, and
of longer duration, than those of any of the previous days.~ The
effects indeed were tremendous. Huge masses of stone had
been brought down from the hills by the torrents of rain, and
now lay scattered along the road : the upper soil of the vine-
yards had been completely washed away, while the vines them-
selves lay scattered in every direction. The peasantry already
saw the hopes of a harvest blasted.

Leaving Olette. the road again crosses the Teta, and the ascent
becomes very steep, until we arrive at the Graux d'Olette, a ro-
mantic spot, where we found Buffonia perennis, and the narrow-
leaved variety of Centraullius ruber (C. angustifoUus of au-
thors). From this the river begins to present several small but
beautiful cascades, and although the road descends a little at
the Graux, it soon again begins to ascend rapidly. Passing the
village of Thues, we saw Ligusticiim (Cnidium Spr). pyrenai-
cum abundant ; and towards Fontledrouse and Cassagne we

'and the p7/rmees, in ^ 8^5. 867

observed in the meadows a rough-scaped Armeria, that we had
previously observed at Bellegarde and La Jonquiere : it is pro-
bably A. plaiitaginea, if indeed the whole genus Armeria he
not reducible to one species.

Although the morning had hitherto been fine, the clouds and
mist now began to gather on the hills, and indicated an ap-
proaching storm. This induced us to neglect botany, and hur-
ry onwards. About a mile from Mont Louis we again crossed
the Teta. At this point there were close to us some consider-
able water-falls ; but the noise of the water was not sufficient to
conceal that of the thunder, which at the instant burst upon us
in awful grandeur. For a few seconds we attempted to pro-
cure shelter under a projecting rock, but immediately deemed
it more prudent, being thoroughly wet, to proceed. Whilst
there, two bolts must have burst within a few yards of us, so
instantaneous were the flash and the peal. We arrived, how-
ever, safely at Mont Louis, or rather at the cabanasse or vil-
lage close to the fortress, where indeed we were to procure ac-
commodation, being more convenient for us than the fort, on
account of their shutting the gates, and pulling up the draw-
bridge, at night. Our horses had arrived a short time before
us, without much damage done to either our paper or plants,
a circumstance which now interested us more than ourselves.

To-day in our ascent we saw abundance of Sempervivum
arachnoideum in flower : S. montanum also occurred : Sedum
brevissimum, DC. was observed, but in small quantities. Be-
tween the Graux d'Olette and Thues, we found Cistus lauri-
filius in profusion on both sides of the road, and it is not im-
probable that the few plants of this species we formerly found
at Perpignan, may have been carried down there from this sta-
tion by the stream. Medicago suffruticosa has been every
where abundant since we entered the mountainous district. I
liave already stated, that our new species M. leicarpa resembles'
this closely, but differs by the glabrous fruit. I may remark
here in addition, that M. leiocarpa always grows on the chalky
or limestone range, while the other species, M. stiffruticosOy is
found only on the schistose and older formations. We have
occasionally observed a few plants of the latter, it is true, down

JA-NUARY MARCH 1828. A a

358 Mr Arnott's Tour to the South of Frcmce,

in the plains, but always in the beds of mountain rivulets,
indicating that these were stragglers, and had been carried
down by torrents.

On the 23d, being rainy and disagreeable weather, our excur-
sion was short, confining ourselves to the immediate vicinity of
the cabanasse. In meadows, however, close to the road that leads
to Mont Louis, we met with Dimithus atroruhens, Pedicularis
verticillata, and Trifolium spadiceicm, all abundant, and in an
excellent state for preservation. Near them also was Vicia ono-
hrycJioides. Descending the road we had come by yesterday for
a little way, we then crossed a small stream on the right, and
found on a bank beautiful specimens of Didymodon glaucescens.
Genista * sagittalis and purgansy and Drdba nemoralis. There

• I take this opportunity of stating, that Cytisus heterophyllus^ Lap., is, I
think, identical with Genista prostrata, Lam. and DC. Prod. This plant must
not, however, be confounded, as has been done by WiUdenow, and even by
De CandoUe in the Flore Francaise, with G. decumbens, W. M. De Candolle,
in the Supplement to the Flore Francaise, himself desires this synonym to
be excluded ; and though he does not cite Willdenow's plant under G, pros-
irata in the Prodromus, 2. p. 152, he leaves it as undetermined, or, in other
words, he omits all notice of it. Willdenow, in his description (vol. iii. p. 941),
points out how his plant dilFers from G. procumbens, W. K. ; aiwl I think there
are few who have seen Lamark's G. prostrata, that will not immediately re-
cognise it and G. procumbens, W. K., and DC. Prod, to be one and the same.
The G. procumbens of Schleicher is also G. prostrata ; but G. decnmbens of the
same is G. pilosa, Linn. As to G. decttmbens, W., or Spartium decumbens^ Ait.,
it may be distinguished by verbatim the same character that Sprengel applies
to G. prostrata (v. iii. p. 220.) : he adduces, however, G. deeumbens. W. as a sy-
nonym, and his description was probably drawn up with a view to that plant.
It will also be easily perceived that SprengePs Cytism procumbens (iii. p. 224.)
is the true G. prostrata.

I shall here also notice another mistake that has crept into, the Prodromus
in the allied genus Cytisus. C. capitatus is inserted in the Flore Francaise ;
but in the Supplement, De Candolle points out the error, and states that it
is C. supinus that has been taken for it ; yet it is to the C. supinus he alludes
in the Prodromus, when he says that it grows in the east of Burgundy, and
that its " Flores interdum autumno laterales evadunt." As to the C supintts
in the Prodromus, he has both kept it as a good species, and at the same time
reduced it to C bijlorus. Lastly, his character of C. supinus, in the Supple-
ment to the Flore Francaise, p. 549, " la levre superieure a 3 dents, Finfe-
rieure a 2 parties,'* is extremely incorrect. C. hirsutus, Schleicher, is C. sm-
pinrn. C. supinus., Lapeyr. on the other hand, is the true C. capitatus ; but
what his C. capitatus is I am not sure ; probably a mixture of C. capitatus and
C supim(s.

and the Pyrenees^ in 1825. 359

was here a thicket of Lonkcra Xylostenm, and some pretty spe-
cies of the genus Rosa^ but of which at present we did not ga-
ther any. Thlaspi alpestre. Asperugo proaimbensy and Apar-
gta pt/renaica, we observed, but sparingly. There were also
here some alpine mosses, as the piliferous variety of Trichosto-
mum patens<i Grimmia ovata *, particularly that state called
Dicrmium ovale^ Orthotrichum rupincola^ TorUda mucronifb-
lia, and Encalypta ciliata.

" 23d June. — The two principal excursions to be made around
Mont Louis are to the Vallee d''Eyne, and to the mountain of
Cambredazes. The unpleasant weather we experienced yesterday
had induced us to postpone our visit to the first of these ; but
this morning the sun shone forth so clearly, and the sky was so
pure, that we almost regretted the relinquishing a plan we had
formed even before our departure from Prades ; the specimens,
however, we had procured during these two last days would be
all the better, and certainly nothing the worse, of this delay.
We now also, that the hazy weather had left us, began to see
somewhat about us. The cabanasse is situated in a large tract
of alpine meadows. On the north is a low hill, with the fort of
Mont Louis on its summit, and to the south the mountain of
Cambredazes, celebrated in the Flora of the Pyrenees. This
does not appear of great height ; but that may be partly owing
to our \ye\ng at present at a considerable elevation, most proba-
bly much more than 4000 feet above the sea : indeed, the plants
we had observed, particularly the appearance of the Rhododen-
drum ferrugineum and Juncxis trifidtis (which were found to-
day north of the fort), the coldness of the springs (about 4s5*'
Fahr. or scarcely 6° Reaum.) indicate at least that altitude, as
well as does the sharpness of the air, which, when we were not
exposed to the sun, we felt to be tolerably chill. To the west
of us is French Cerdagne, arid indeed not a mik; from the ca-
banasse, the mulcts flow into Spain,

" The 24th we undertook the botanical examination of tlie
Vallee d'Eyne, accompanied by a mule loaded with as much
provisions as we thought might suffice for three days, with our
cloaks, and with two or three reams of paper. The first day

• T do not here allude to T.funale^ Schw., a very different plant, between
which and Grimmia sjnralis I can find no difference.

Aa2

360 Mr Arnott's Tour to the South of France,

was passed in botanising among the banks and rocks that are
chiefly to the right of the stream that traverses this rich valley,
and in crossing the Col or Cueillade de Norin which terminates
it. Descending then the Cueillade towards Catalonia, we ar-
rived in the evening at the hermitage of Nouri, but, unfortu-
nately for us, a day too early. The Curate of Querals, who
passes always the summer in this vast building, was not to ar-
rive till the next day ; the few beds that were there were locked
up, and we found merely four shepherds, whose united stock of
furniture consisted of two coarse blankets or rugs, one kettle,
one porringer, and two wooden spoons. Finding we were to
receive no benefit from these our companions, wrapping our
cloaks around us, we stretched ourselves out as well as we could
on some long, narrow, and sufficiently hard wooden benches
around a large fire, which we found it necessary to keep blazing
the whole night *, to prevent our suffering from the piercing
I cold, for we could scarcely be less, whatever more, than 2000
feet above the level of Mont Louis.

'^ Notwithstanding our precautions and the fatigues of yes-
terday? having slept little, we amused ourselves in the morning,
until day-light, in observing the culinary proceedings of the poor
shepherds, and in listening to the anecdotes they told us of the
visit that Mina paid to this place during the last war. It ap-
peared that this general, repulsed and surrounded on all sides
by different bodies of the French soldiery, passed here three
days, while the snow lay deep on the ground, in making useless
attempts to regain the plains below, witliout encountering his
enemies. Having at length consumed all the provisions, seeing
his followers fainting with cold and fatigue, and after having
burned the doors, window-shutters, tables, chairs, and, in short,
every thing that was combustible, in order to warm themselves,
he formed the scheme of causing his band to separate, and ap-
pointed Seo d'Urgel as a rendezvous. He himself with one
party made an attempt to pass by the walls of the town of Puy-
cerda, where the Baron d'Eroles then was with the Spanish

• Throughout the interior of Catalonia, the fire is on the ground, and the
chimney las was formerly to be seen in every farm-house in Scotland, though
now of less frequent occurrence), broad at the base, and contracted at the top,
arises perpendicularly above the fire.

and the Pyrenees, in 1825. 361

royalists, and from whence he made no movement to arrest Mina,
as is supposed, through jealousy of the French. Such at least
is the account that the inhabitants give (and perhaps think it
the most plausible) when a stranger asks them what has be-
come of the forty beds and of the furniture, of which this im-
mense pile of building used formerly to boast.

*' On the 25th, we descended slowly along the wild and pic-
turesque valley of Querals, and soon encountered the first part
of the retinue of the Senor Rector^ composed of a man armed
with a gun, and three others with pick-axes, to repair the path
where the winter storms had rendered it impassable for mules.
So soon as they perceived us at a distance they made a halt,
gazing on us open-mouthed, and whilst we passed them, they
could scarcely reply to the customary salutation of " Dios guar-
da'^ that we made them. In the evening, indeed, they acknow-
ledged, that^ seeing us both dressed in grey from top to toe, armed
with our boxes and cartons, holding an open knife in one hand,
and a stick shod also with a knife in the other, they took us for
some new kind of banditti, and were so completely terrified, that,
as the valiant fellow with the musket declared, if he had had
the power, he would have thrown away his piece, and taken to
his heels.

" About a mile lower down, we met the rector himself, with
the greater part of his suite, composed of eight or ten men, three
young and handsome maid-servants, and seven or eight mules,
loaded with provisions and kitchen utensils. The curate, far
from corresponding to what one expected from such a retinue,
was dirty and disgusting in the extreme, and, hke many of his
brethren in that country, his ignorance, his want of religion,
and his licentiousness, were but feebly concealed by a few su-
perstitious rites.

" Returning in the evening to Nouri, having spread out our
plants, we petitioned for a bed for that night ; and perceiv-
ing that our provisions were nearly exhausted, we asked the
curate if he would provide us with supper ; but aware that, in
Roussillon, the curates are accustomed to welcome a traveller
to their table in those districts where there is no inn, it was not
without some fear of offence that we hinted that we should pay
for what we should have. But he was not so easily affrontal,

3

9QS Mr Arnott's Tmir to the South of France, ^c.

" S'death, I suppose so," shouted he in his abominable Ca-
talonian tongue, and next morning he presented us with the fol-
lowing account : — One pound and a half of (black) bread, one
piecete* ; half a pound of rostesf, one piecete ; sopas\ for three
(of course for the liquid alone, as we had a separate charge for
the bread), one piecete ; three bottles of rancio § (for our sup-
per and next day's travelling), each one piecete : total, six pie-
cetes. " And then," added he, " as I do not charge you for the
bed, you can give something to the servants." No innkeeper
could have made up a more exorbitant account, for all we had
got was not worth more than one shilling ; but it was of no use
to remonstrate, his only answer to our objections being, that
withal we were very fortunate in procuring any kind of supper
in so wild a country.

^' The 26th, having again crossed the Cueillade de Nouri, and
redescended the Vallee d'Eynes (instead of returning by the Val-
lee de Lhou, which we intended to have done had the weather
been fine), we arrived late in the afternoon at the cabanasse
loaded with plants. This excursion was the richest in our
whole tour, as much in the number of specimens as in the va-
riety of species. During the three days we gathered 5500 spe-
cimens. We were, no doubt, in the most favourable season ;
and this excursion being only the second we had yet made,
strictly called Pyrenean, it was to be expected that we should
find many species scattered throughout the chain ; but there
were also many very rare species.'^ — Benth.
( To he continued.)

* The piecete is precisely a shilling sterling

-f* Rostes: ham usually very dry, and extremely salt, fried in olive-oil,
which, both in lioussillon and Catalonia, is almost always rancid.

X Sopas a Vaigo, literally water-soup. In a pot containing about four bottles
of water, a head of garlic is boiled, with about two ounces of fat of bacon and a
little salt. This liquor is poured on slices of black bread. The happy pea-
santry prefer the addition of a few spoonfuls of rancid oil, and this constitutes
their sopas a roillL

* Rancio., wine at first black and thick, made in the maritime districts of
Roussillon and Catalonia. At the end of ten or twelve years in the plain, or
of two or three in the mountains, it becomes clear, loses much of its colour,
and acquires a peculiar flavour, which is called ranee. It is then an ex-
cellent wine, and of great value ; but the honest curate of Nouri pocketed at
least 150 per cent, on what he provided us with.

( 363 )

Narrative of' an Attempt to reach the North Pole, in Boats yU-
ted Jar the purpose, and attaclied to His Mc0esty's ship Hecla,
in the year 1827, under tlie command of Captain W, E.
Parry, R. iST., F. R, S. L., S^c. 4to. Murray 1828.

J\. COPY of Captain Parry's Narrative having just reached us,
we hasten to lay before our readers a few of the many interest-
ing details it contains. This remarkable enterprise was under-
taken under the auspices of the Lords of the Admiralty, at the
suggestion of Captain Parry, and the recommendation of the
Royal Society of London. Its professed object was to attempt
reaching the North Pole, by means of travelling with sledge-
boats over the ice, or through any space of open water that
might occur. So early as the year 1815, the celebrated navi-
gator William Scoresby jun. in a highly interesting memoir,
read before the Wernerian Society, and published in the second
volume of their memoirs, proposed a plan for travelling over the
ice to the North Pole. Afterwards, a similar project was sug-
gested by Captain Franklin ; and this finally led to the proposal
of Captain Parry, which met with the approbation and support
of Government.

The Hecla, already famous in the annals of Arctic enterprise,
which had so often braved the storms and ices of the north,
was again commissioned. A crew and officers familiar with the
Arctic Seas were selected, and every arrangement made to se-
cure their health and comfort. The Chief of the Admiralty,
Lord Melville, having visited the Hecla, and expressed his ap-
probation of the equipment, orders for saihng were issued. On
the 4th of April 1827 the expedition left the shores of Eng-
land, bearing with it the wishes and hopes of Britain, and
indeed of the civilized world, for its safety and success.

After an agreeable voyage, they reached the interesting station
of Hammerfest, at the northern extremity of Norway, on the 19th
of April. Here they remained until the 29th, on which day they
set sail for Spitzbergen. After encountering much op)X)sition
from the ice and the weather, Captain Parry succeeded, but not
until the 20th of June, in securing the Hecla, in a harbour in
Spitzbergen, which he named Hecla Cove. On the 21st of June

364 Narrative of Captain Parry^s Attempt

he left the ship, with two boats, which he named the Enterprize
and Endeavour, Mr Beverly being attached to Captain Parry's,
and Lieutenant Ross, accompanied by Mr Bird, to the other.
" Besides these,*" says Captain Parry," I took Lieutenant Crozier,
for the purpose of carrying some of our weight as far as Walden
Island, and also a third store of provisions, to be deposited on
Low Island, as an intermediate station between Walden Island
and the ship. As it was still necessary not to delay our return
l)eyond the end of August, the time originally intended, I took
with me only 71 days' provisions, which, including the boats,
and every other article, made up a weight of 200 lb. per man ;
and, as it appeared highly improbable^ from what we had seen
of the very rugged nature of the ice we should first have to en-
counter, that either the rein-deer, or the snow-shoes, or the
wheels, would l>e of any service for some time to come, I gave
up the idea of taking them. Having received the usual saluta-
tion of three cheers from those we left behind, we paddled
through a quantity of loose ice at the entrance of the bay, and
we steered, in a perfectly open sea, and with calm and beautiful
weather, for Low Island, which we reached at half past two in the
morning of the 22d June. Having deposited the pi-ovisions, we
set off for Walden Island, which was soon reached, and another
deposit of provisions made.'' Lieutenant Crozier now parted from
them, and the boats pursued their course north waids. The
following is Captain Parry's account of their mode of travelling*:

"• Our plan of travelling," he says, speaking of the journey over the ice af-
ter leaving the Hecla, " being nearly the same throughout this excursion, af-
ter we first entered upon the ice, I may at once give some account of our
usual mode of proceeding. It was my intention to travel wholly at night, and
to rest by day, there being, of course, constant daylight in these regions du-
ring the summer season. The advantages of this plan, which was occasional-
ly deranged by circumstances, consisted, first, in our avoiding the intense and
oppressive glare from the snow during the time of the sun's gi-eatest altitude,
so as to prevent, in some degree, the painful inflammation in the eyes called
* snow-blindness,' which is common in all snowy countries. We also thus
enjoyed greater warmth during the hours of rest, and had a better chance of
drying our clothes ; besides which, no small advantage was derived from the
snow being harder at night for travelling. The only disadvantage of this plan
was, that the fogs were somewhat more frequent and more thick by night
than by day, though, even in this respect, there was less ditference than might
have been supposed ; the temperature during the twenty ^four hours under-
* Narrative, p. 55.

to reach the North Pole in 1827. 365

j^oing but little variation. This travelling by night, and sleeping by day, so
completely inrerted the natural order of things, that it was difficult to per-
suade ourselves of the reality. Even the officers and myself, who were all
furnished with pocket chronometers, could not always bear in mind at what
part of the twenty-four hours we had arrived ; and there were several of the
men who declared, and I believe truly, that they never knew night from day
during the whole excursion. When we rose in the evening, we commenced
our day by prayers, after which, we took off our fur sleeping-dresses, and
put on those for travelling ; the former being made of camblet, lined with ra-
coon-skin, and the latter of strong blue box-cloth. We made a point of al-
ways putting on the same stockings and boots for travelling in, whether they
had dried during the day or not ; and I believe it was only in five or six in-
stances, at the most, that they werfe not either still wet or hard-frozen. This,
indeed, was of no consequence, beyond the discomfort of first putting them
on in this state, as they were sure to be thoroughly wet in a quarter of an
hour after commencing our journey ; while, on the other hand, it was of vital
importance to keep dry things for sleeping in. Being ' rigged * for travelling,
we breakfasted upon warm cocoa and biscuit, and after stowing the things in
the boats and on sledges, so as to secure them as much as possible from wet,
we set off on our day's journey, and usually travelled from five to five and a
half hours, then stopped an hour to dine, and again travelled four, five, or
even six hours, according to circumstances. After this we halted for the
night, as we called it, though it was usually early in the morning, selecting
the largest surface of ice we happened to be near for hauling the boats on, in
order to avoid the danger of its breaking up, by coming in contact with other
masses, and also to prevent drift as much as possible. The boats were placed
close alongside each other, with their sterns to the wind, the snow or wet
cleared out of them, and the sails, supported by the bamboo masts and three
paddles, placed over them as awnings, an entrance being left at the bow.
Every man then immediately put on dry stockings and fur boots, after which
we set about the necessary repairs of boats, sledges, or clothes ; and, after ser-
ving the provisions for the succeeding day, we went to supper. Most of the
officers and men then smoked their pipes, which served to dry the boats and
awnings very much, and usually raised the temperature of our lodgings 10 or
15 degrees. This part of the twenty -four hours was often a time, and the on-
ly one, of real enjoyment to us ; the men told their stories, and * fought all
their battles o'er again,' and the labours of the day, unsuccessful as they too
often were, were forgotten. A regular watch was set during our resting-time,
to look out for bears, or for the ice breaking up around us, us well as lo attend ^
to the drying of the clothes, each man alternately taking his duty for one '
hour. We then concluded our day with prayers, and having put on our fur
dresses, lay down to sleep, with a degree of comfort which perhaps few per-
sons would imagine possible under such circumstances ; our chief inconve-
nience being, that we were somewhat pinched for room, and therefore obliged
to stow rather closer than was quite agreeable. The temjKjrature, while we
slept, was usually from 36° to 45°, according to the state of the external at-
mosphere ; but on one or two occasions, in cabn and warm weather, it rose as
high as 60* to 66% obliging us to throw oft* a jiart of our fur dress. After we

366 Narrative of Captain Parry's Attempt

had slept seven hours, the man appointed to boil the cocoa roused us, when it
was ready, by the sound of a bugle ; when we commenced our day in the
manner before described. Our allowance of provisions for each man per day
was as follows : —

Biscuit - - - 10 ounces.

Pemmican - - 9 do.

Sweetened Cocoa Powder - 1 do. to make one pint.

Hum ... 1 gill.

Tobacco - - - 3 ounces per week.

Our ftiel consisted entirely of spirits of wine, of which two pints formed our
daily allowance, cocoa being cooked in an iron boiler over a shallow iron lamp
with seven wicks,— a simple apparatus, which answered our purpose remark-
ably well. We usually found one pint of the spirits of wine sufficient for
preparing our breakfast ; that is, for heating twenty-eight pints of water,
though it always commenced from the temperature of 32°. If the weather
was calm and fair, this quantity of fuel brought it to the boiling point in about
an hour and a quarter ; but more generally the wicks began to go out before
it had reached 200'. This, however, made a very comfortable meal to persons
situated as we were. Such, with very little variation, was our regular rou-
tine during the whole of this excursion."

The quantity of rain which fell was truly extraordinary.
Captain Parry remarks, on the 26th June, that they had al-
ready experienced, in the course of this summer, more rain than
during the whole seven previous summers taken together^
though passed in latitudes from 7° to 15° lower than this.

The expedition, in its progress northwards, experienced per-
petual difficulties and delays from the broken state of the ice,
and from its nowhere occurring in fields. The following observa-
tions convey a striking picture of the nature of their travel-
ling * : —

" As soon as we landed on a floe-piece, Lieutenant Ross and myself gene-
rally went on a-head, while the boats were unloading and hauling up, in order
to select the easiest road for them. The sledges then followed in our track
Messrs Beverly and Bird accompanying them, by which the snow was much
trodden down, and the road thus improved for the boats. As soon as we ar-
rived at the other end of the floe, or came to any difficult place, we mounted
one of the highest hummocks of ice near at hand, (many of which were from
fifteen to five and twenty feet above the sea) in order to obtain a better view
around us ; and nothing could well exceed the dreariness which such a view
presented. The eye wearied itself in vain to find an object but ice and sky
to rest upon ; and even the latter was often hidden from our view by the
dense and dismal fogs which so generally prevailed. For want of variety, the
most trifling circumstance engaged a more than ordinary share of our atten-
* Narrative, p. 67.

io reach the North Pole in 18S7. 367

tion ; a passing gull, or a mass of ice of unusual form, became objects which
our situation and circumstances magnified into ridiculous importance ;
and we have since often smiled to remember the eager interest with which we
regarded many insignificant occurrences. It may well be imagined, then,
how cheering it was to turn from this scene of inanimate desolation, to our
two little boats in the distance, to see the moving figures of our men winding
with their sledges among the hummocks, and to hear once more the sound of
human voices breaking the stillness of this icy wilderness. In some ca8e^
Lieutenant Ross and myself took separate routes to try the ground, which
kept us almost continually floundering among deep snow and water. The
sledges having then been brought up as far as we had explored, we all went
back for the boats ; each boat's crew, when the road was tolerable, dragging
their own, and the officers labouring equally hard with the men. It was thus
we proceeded for nine miles out of every ten that we travelled over ice : for
it was very rarely indeed that we met with a surface sufficiently level and
hard to drag all our loads at one journey ; and in a great many instances,
during the first fortnight, we had to make three journeys with the boats and
baggage ; that is, to traverse the same road five times over.

We halted at eleven' p. m. on the 1st, having traversed from ten to eleven
miles, and made good, by our account, seven and a half in a N. by W. direc-
tion. We again set forward at ten a.m. on the 2d, the weather being calm,
and the sun oppressively warm, though with a thick fog. The temperature
in the shade was 35° at noon, and only 47° in the sun ; but this, together with
the glare from the snow, produced so painful a sensation in most of our eyes,
as to make it necessary to halt at one p. m. to avoid being blinded. We there-
fore took advantage of this warm weather to let the men wash themselves^
and mend and dry their clothes, and then set out again at half-past three.
The snow was, however, so soft as to take us up to our knees at almost every
other step, and frequently still deeper ; so that we Were sometimes five minutes
together in moving a single empty boat, with all our united strength. It
being impossible to proceed under these circumstances, I determined, by de-
grees, to fall into our night travelling again, from which we had of late insen-
sibly deviated. We therefore halted at half-past five, the M'eather being now
very clear and warm, and many of the people's eyes beginning to tail. We
did not set out again until after midnight, with the intention of giving the
snow time to harden after so warm a day ; but we found it still so soft
as to make the travelling very fatiguing. Our way lay at first across a
number of small loose pieces, most of which were from five to twenty yards
apart, or just sufficiently separated to give us all the labour of launching and
hauling up the boats, without the advantage of making any progress by wa-
ter ; while we crossed, in other instances, from mass to mass, by laying the
boats over as bridges, by which the men and the baggage passetl. By these
means, we at length reached a floe, about a mile in length, in a northern di-
rection ; but it would be difficult to convey an adetpiate idea of the labour
requiretl to traverse it. The average depth of snow upon the level ]iarts was
about five inches, under which lay water four or five inches deep ; but the
moment we approached a hummock, the diepth to which we sank increased to
three feet or more, rendering it difficult at times to obtain sufficient footing

368 Narrative of Captain Parry's Attempt

for one leg to enable us to extricate the other. . The pools of fresh water had
now also become very large, some of them being a quarter of a mile in length,
and their depth above our knees. Through these we were prevented taking
the sledges, for fear of wetting all our provisions ; but we preferred transport-
ing the boats across them, notwithstanding the severe cold of the snow-water,
the bottom being harder for the " runners" to slide upon. On this kind of
road we were, in one instance, above two hours in proceeding a distance of
one hundred yards."

In defiance of these overpowering difBculties, they continued
to struggle towards the north, but with little success. Their
progress was very slow ; the quantity of rain which fell astonish-
ed every one ; and the high state of the thermometer was equal-
ly a subject of wonder. But a principal obstacle to their pro-
gress northward, and one which at length forced Captain Parry
to return, was the set of the arctic water towards the south. It
moved at the rate of 4 miles per day ; and, when assisted by a
northerly wind, which unfortunately set in, forced the floating
ice on which they dragged their boats, nearly as fast south as
they dragged them north. On the 10th of July, they met with
fresh-water lakes on the ice, as mentioned in the following ex-
tract from the narrative.

" Soon after midnight, the rain being succeeded by one of the thickest fogs
I ever saw, we again proceeded, groping our way almost yard by yard from
one small piece of ice to another, and were very fortunate in halting upon
some with level surfaces, and also a few tolerable sized holes of water. At
half-past two we reached a floe, which at first appeared a level and large one,
but on landing we were much mortified to find it so covered ivith immense
• pondsy or rather small lakes of fresh water, that, to accomplish two miles in a
north direction, we were under the necessity of walking three or four, the
water being too deep for wading, and from 200 yards to one-third of a mile
in length. Towards the northern margin, we came among large hununocks,
liaving very deep snow about them, so that this floe, which had appeared so
promising, proved very laborious travelling, obliging us, in some pans, to
make three journeys with our loads ; that is, to traverse the same road five
times over*."

On the 12th July, they reached north Lat. 82° 14' 28/^ The
day was remarkably clear and fine, and the thermometer from
35° to 36° F.

" Setting out again (says the narrator) we crossed a small lane of water
to another floe, but this was so intersected with ponds, and by streams run-
ning into the sea, that we had to make a very circuitous route, some of the
ponds being half a mile in length. If any thing could have compensated for
the delay thus occasioned us, it would have been the beautiful blue colour
* Narrative, p. 76.

to reach the North Pole in 1827.

j)eculiar to these superglacial lakes, which is certainly one of the most pleasing
tints in nature. Notwithstanding the immense quantity of water still upon
the ice, and which always afForded us a pure and abundant supply of this in-
dispensable article, we now observed a mark around the banks of the jwnd,
shewing that the water was less deep in them by several inches than it had
been somewhat earlier in the summer ; and, indeed, from about this time,
some small diminution of its quantity began to be perceptible to ourselves.*'*

On the 14th and 15th July, the rain was excessive, at times
pouring down in torrents, and this, too, in the arctic ocean, l>e-
yond north Lat. 82° 14'. On Monday 16th July, in north
Lat. 8T m 44", east Long. 20° 32^ 13'^ the thermometer in
the shade was 37f°, in the sun 47°; a blackened bulb raised it to
51^°; and the same thermometer when held against the black
painted sides of the boat rose to 58J°. They saw a mallemuck
and a Ross gull, and a couple of jiies were found upon the ice.
At seven o^clock on the evening of the same day, it was so warm
in the sun, though the temperature in the shade was only 35% that
tlie tar was running out of the seams of the boats ; and a blacken-
ed bulb, when held against the paint-work, raised the thermo-
meter to 72°. The temperature of the sea was 34°. July
17., in north Lat. 82° 32' 10'^, Captain Parry remarks, " prov-
ed one of the warmest and most pleasant days to the feelings,
that we had during the whole time we were upon the ice ; the
thermometer in the shade being from 36° to 40° for several
hours, and in the sun from 42° to 51 °.'' On the 19th July,
towards midnight, they had smart showers of rain, with dry
clear intervals between them, just as on an April day in Eng-
land. This kind of weather, which continued for several hours,
liarassed the men very much. On the morning of the 20th
July, it is remarked, " we halted at 7 a. m., having by our
reckoning accomplished 6J miles in a N. N. W. direction, the
distance traversed being JO^ miles. It may, therefore, be ima-
gined how great was our mortification in finding that our lati-
tude, by observation at noon, was only 82° 36' 52", being less
than five miles to the northward of our place at noon on the
17th, since which time we had certainly travelled twelve in
that direction."''

On the 23d July, their latitude was not more than 82° 43^ 32"
north, notwithstanding the distance which they had travelled over
the ice On the afternoon of this day, a beautiful natural phe-

• Narrative, p. 9X.

370 Narrative of Captain Parry's Attempt

nomenon was observed. A broad white fog-bow first appeared op-
posite the sun, as was very commonly the case ; presently it be-
came strongly tinged with the prismatic colours, and soon after-
wards no less than five other complete arches were formed within
the main bow, the interior ones being gradually narrower than
those without, but the whole of them beautifully coloured. The
larger bow, and the one next within it, had the red on the outer
or upper side of the circle, the others on the inner side. Lieu-
tenant Ross measured the altitude of the outer arch, which was
J20° 45' in the centre, its extent at the horizon 7^1° ; the altitude
of the sun, which was bright at the time, being 20° 40'. The
fog was quite wet, while the smaller bows were visible, which
was only twenty minutes; though the large one remained, as
usual, for hours together. On the 25th July, it is remarked,
^' so small was the ice now around us, that we were obliged to
halt for the night at J2 a. m., being upon the only piece in sight
in any direction, on which we could trust the boats while we
rested.'' Such was the ice in the latitude of 82J°.

The drift to the southward being much increased by a north-
erly wind, and little or no progress being made, Captain Parry,
on the 26th July, determined on abandoning this most hope-
less undertaking.

" It had for some time past been too evident that the nature of the ice
with which we had to contend was such, and its drift to the southward, espe-
cially with a northerly wind, so great, as to put beyond our reach any thing
but a very moderate share of success in travelling to the northward. Still,,
however, we had been anxious to reach the highest latitude which our means
would allow ; and, with this view, although our whole object had long be-
come unattainable, we pushed on to the northward for thirty-five days, or
until half our resources were expended, and the middle of our season arrived.
For the last few days, the eighty-third parallel was the limit to which we
had ventured to extend our hopes ; but even this expectation had become
considerably weakened since the setting in of the last northerly wind, which
continued to drive us to the southward, during the necessary hours of rest,
nearly as much as we could gain by eleven or twelve hours of daily labour.
Had our success been at all proportionate to our exertions, it was my full in-
tention to have proceeded a few days beyond the middle of the period for
which we were provided, trusting to the resources we expected to find at
Table Island. But this was so far from being the case, that I could not but
consider it as incurring useless fatigue to the officers and men, and unneces-
sary wear and tear for the boats, to persevere any longer in the attempt. I
determined, therefore, on givipg the people one entire day's rest, which they
very much needed, and time to wash and mend their clothes, while the offi-

to reach the North Pole in 1827. 371

cers were occupied in making ail the observations which might be interesting
in this latitude ; and then to set out on our return on the following day.
Having communicated my intentions to the people, who were all much di«.
ap])ointed in finding how little their labours had effected, we set about our
respective occupations, and were much favoured by a renuu'kably fine day.

" The dip of the magnetic needle was here 82" 21' 6", and the variation
18" 10' westerly, our latitude being 82" W %V\ and our longitude 19" 25'
east of Greenwich. The highest latxtnde we reached was probably at seven
A. M. on the 23d, wheit,.^ after the midnight observation^ we travelled^ by our
account^ something more tfuin a mile and a half, which would carry ua a little
beyond 82" 45'. Some observations for the magnetic intensity were obtained
at this station. We here found no bottom with 500 fathoms of line; the
specific gravity of some water brought up from that depth was 1.0340, being
at the temperature of 37% when weighed. A Six's thermometer attached to
the lead failed to indicate the temperature below, owing to the mercury rising
past the index. The sea-water from the surface was, as usual, near the ice,
in the summer time, so nearly fresh as to require only three grains to be
added to the hydrometer; and at six fathoms below the surface, it was
1 0225, at temperature 37". At the extreme point of our journey, our dis-
tance from the Hecla was on'y 172 miles in a S. 8" \V. direction. To accom-
plish this distance we had traversed, by our reckoning, 292 miles, of which
about 100 were performed by water, previously to our entering the ice. As
we travelled by far the greater part of our distance on the ice three, and not
unfrequently five times over, we may safely multiply the length of the road
by 24 ; so that our whole distance, on a very moderate calculation, amounted
to 580 geographical, or 668 statute, miles, being nearly sufficient to have
reached the Pole in a direct line. Up to this period we had been particularly
fortunate in the preservation of our health ; neither sickness nor casualties
having occurred among us, with the exception of the trifling accidents already
mentioned, a few bowel complaints, which were soon removed by care, and
some rather troublesome cases of chilblains^ arising from our constant exjK)-
sure to wet and cold.

" Our day of rest proved one of the warmest, and most pleasant to the
feelings, we had yet had upon the ice, though the thermometer was only from
31" to 36° in the shade, and 37* in the sun, with occasional fog; but to per-
sons living constantly in the open air, calm and tolerably dry weather affords
absolute enjoyment, especially by contrast vith what we had lately experi-
enced. Our ensigns and pendants were displayed during the day ; and sin-
cerely as we regretted not having been able to hoist the British flag in the
highest latitude to which we had aspired, we shall perhaps be excused in ha-
ving felt some little pride in being the bearers of it to a parallel considerably
beyond that mentioned in any other well authenticated record •."

The journey back to Spitzbergen, although more expeditious
than that towards the Pole, was attended with great fatigue and
much danger. On the 2d of August the travellers met with
red s^iowy of which the following account is given :

• Nwtatlve, p. 108-10?.

572 Narrative of Captain Parry's Attempt

"■ In the course of this day's journey we met with a quantity of snow ting-
ed, to the depth of several inches, with some red colouring matter, of which a
.portion was preserved in a bottle for future examination. This circumstance
recalled to our recollection our having frequently before, in the course of this
journey, remarked, that the loaded sledges, in passing over hard snow, left
upon it a light rose coloured tint, which, at the time, we attributed to the
colouring matter being pressed out of the birch of which they were made. To-
day, however, we observed, that the runners of the boats, and even our own
foot-steps, exhibited the same appearance ; and, on watching it more narrowly
afterwards, we found the same effect to be produced, in a greater or less de-
gree, by heavy pressure, on almost all the ice over which we passed, though
a magnifjnng glass could detect nothing to give it this tinge. The colour of
the red snow which we bottled, and which oftly occurred on two or three
spots, appeared somewhat different from this, being rather of a salmon, than
of a rose, colour, but both were so striking, as to be subject of common re-
mark •."

On Sunday, the 5th August, in Latitude 81° 54/ 47^ the
air, in the shade, at noon was 35", and in the sun 42°. This
day they rowed across a lake of fresh water on the ice. It
was a quarter of a mile long, and varied in depth from two to
four feet, which, together with an island situated in the middle
of it, the rugged ice, by which it was bounded, and the beauti-
ful blue of the water, gave it a singular and picturesque ap-
pearance. On the 11th of August they observed such indica-
tions of an open sea as could not be mistaken, much of the ice
being " washed" as by a heavy sea, with small rounded fragments
thrown on the surface, and a good deal of dirty ice occurring.

*' We also," Captain PaiTy remarks, " met with several pieces of drift
Avood and birch bark, the first time since we had entered the ice ; and the sea
was crowded with shrimps and other sea insects, principally the Clio boreaUs
and Argonauta arciica, on which numerous birds were feeding. After pass-
ing through a good deal of loose ice, it became gradually more and more
open, till at length, about a quarter before eleven a. m., we heard the first
sound of the swell under the hollow margin of the ice, and, in a quarter of an "
hour, had reached the open sea, which was dashing with heavy surges against
the outer masses. We hauled the boats upon one of these to eat our last meal
upon the ice, and to complete the necessary supply of water for our little
voyage to Table Island, from which we were now distant fifty miles, our la-
titude being 81° 34', and longitude 18i° E. A light air springing up from the
north-west, we again launched the boats, and, at eight a. m. finally quitted
the ice, after having taken up our abode upon it for forty-eight days |.'*

On the 12th August they reached the island, or rather rock,
to the northward of Table Island, where their provisions had

* Narrative, p. 109. f Narrative, p. lia

to reach the North Pole in 1827. 378

been deposited ; " and," says Captain Parry, " I cannot de-
scribe the comfort we experienced in once more feeling a dry
and solid footing."*^ Having got the stores into the boats, an
attempt was made to land on Table Island, but without suc-
cess; — they then bore away for Walden Island. The islet
which lies off Little Table Island, and which is interesting, as
being the most northern land known upon the globe. Captain
Parry named Ross'*s Islet, in honour of Lieutenant Ross, a
young officer, distinguished for his great activity, zeal, and in-
telligence. In a few hours they reached Walden Island, and
made good a landing.

" Every thing," says the narrative, " belonging to us was now completely
drenched by the spray and snow ; we had been fifty-six hours without rest,
and forty-eight hours at work in the boats, so that by the time they were un-
loaded, we had barely strength left to haul them up upon the rock. We no-
ticed, on this occasion, that the men had that wildness in their looks which
usually accompanies excessive fatigue, and, though just as willing as ever to
obey orders, they seemed at times not to comprehend them. However, by
dint of great exertion, we managed to get the boats above the surf; after
which, a hot supper, a blazing fire of drift wood, and a few hours* quiet rest,
quite restored us."

The next morning a party, under Lieutenant Ross, was sent
to the north-east part of the islet, to launch the spare boat left
there by Captain Parry's orders, and to bring round the provi-
sions deposited there. Every thing was found undisturbed.
At 10 A. M., on the 14th August, they left Walden Island in
three boats, and next morning landed on Low Island. On the
16tb the expedition set off for the Hecla, but were forced back
to Low Island, and could not finally escape from it until the
21st.

" Havmg now, by means of drift wood, converted our paddles into oan^
and being occasionally favoured by a light breeze, with a perfectly open sea,
we made tolerable progress, and, at half-past 4 p. m., when within three or
four miles of Hecla Cove, had the gratification of seeing a boat under sail,
coming out to meet us. Mr Weir soon joined us in one of the cutters ; and,
after having ^ood accounts of the safety of the ship, and of the wel&re of all
on board, together with a variety of details, to us of no small interest, we ar-
rived on board at 7 p. m., after an absence of sixty-one days, being received
with that warm and cordial welcome which can alone be felt, and not describ-
ed. The distance traversed during this excursion was 569 geographical miles,
but allowing for the number of times we had to return for our baggage du-
ring the greater part of the journey over the ice, we estimated oiur actual

JANtJARY — MARCH 1828. sb

S74 Narrative of Captain Parry's Attempt

trAvdling at 9<?8 geographical miles, or 1127 statute miles. Considering our
constant exposure to wet, cold and fatigue, our stockings having generally
been drenched in snow water twelve hours out of every twenty-four, I had
great reason to be thankful for the excellent health in which, upon the
whole, we reached the ship."

During the absence of Captain Parry, the officers of the
Hecla were actively employed in making observations on the
natural history of Spitzbergen, and experiments on magnetism.
But for these we cannot afford room at present. The following
observations on the climate of Spitzbergen, are novel and inte-
resting : *' The officers who remained on board the Hecla du-
ring the summer, described the weather as the most beautiful,
and the climate altogether the most agreeable, they had ever ex-
perienced in the polar regions. Indeed, the Meteorological
Journal shews a temperature both of the air and of the sea-
water, to which we had before been altogether strangers within
the Arctic Circle, and which goes far towards shewing that the
climate of Spitzbergen is a remarkably temperate one for its
latitude *. It must, however, be observed, that this remark is
principally applicable to the weather experienced near tfw land,
that at sea being rendered of a totally different character by
the almost constant presence of fogs ; so that some of our most
gloomy days upon the ice were the finest in Hecla cove, where,
however, a good deal of rain fell in the course of the summer."^
The Hecla left Spitzbergen on the S8th of August, but did not
arrive in the Thames until the 16th of October.

The following judicious remarks on the nature and practica-
bility of the enterprize in which he had been engaged, which
close the narrative, we give in the celebrated navigator's own
words.

'* On the tutture and practkahility of the attempt to reach the North Po/^.— That
the object is of still more difficult attainment than was before supposed, even
by those persons who were the best qualified to judge of it, will, I believe, ap-
pear evident from a perusal of the foregoing pages ; nor can I, after much
consideration, and some experience of the various difficulties which belong to
it, recommend any material improvement in the plan lately adopted. Among
the various schemes suggested for this purpose, it has been proposed to set
out from Spitzbergen, and to make a rapid journey to the northward, with

* Mr Crowe of Hammerfest, who lately passed a winter on the south-western coast of Spitz-
bergen, in about Lat. 78*. informed me he had rain at Christmas ; a phenomenon which indeed
would have astoni^ed us at any of our former wintering-stations In a much lower latitude. Per-
haps the circumstance of the reindeer whitering at Spitzbergen, may abo be considered a proof of
acomparatlvely temperate climate.

to reach the North Pde in 1827. 375

sledgvs dr sletlge-boats, drawn wholly by dogs or reindeer; but, bovrever
feasible tkia plan luay at first sif^ht appear, I cannot nay that our late expcK
rience of th« nature of the ice which they would probably have to encouator,
baa been at all iiivourable to it. It would, of course, be a matter of exteoBe
onjirwlenoe to set out on this enterprise without the means of croaaiBg,— not
merely narrow pooli and " lane8,**-«but more extensive s]wces of open water,
auch aa we meet with between the margin of the ice and the Spitzbergen
ahorea i and I do not conceive that any boat sufficiently large to be efficient
and safe ibr this purpose, could possibly be managed upon the ice, were the
power employod to give it motion dependent on dogs or rein*deer. On tlie
contrary, it was a frequent subject of remark among the officerst, that reason
waa a qualification scarcely less indispensable, than strength and activity, in
travelling over such a road ; daily instances occurring of our having to poaa
over difficult places, which no other animal than man could have been easily
prevailed upon to attempt. Indeed, the constant necessity of launching and
hauling up the boats (which operations we had frequently to perform eight or
ten, and on one occasion, seventeen times in the same day) would alone ren-
der it inexpedient, in my opinion, to depend chiefly upon other animals ; for
it would certainly require more time and labour to get them into and out of
the boata, than their services in the intervals, or their flesh ultimately used
aa food, would be worth ; especially when it is considered how large a weight
of provender must be carried for their own subsistence.

" In case of employing reindeer, which, from their strength, dpcility, ai|d
hardy habits, api)ear the best suited to this kind <rf' travelling, there woul4 be
an evident advantage in setting out much earlier in the year than we did ;
perhaps about tlie end of April, when the ice is less broken up, and the snow
much harder up<m its surface, than at a more advanced part of the season.
But this, it must be recollected, would involve the necessity of passing the
previous winter on the northern coast of Spitebergen, which, even under la-
vourable circumstances, would probably tend to weaken in some degree the
energies of the men ; while, on the other hand, it would be next to imjwsfflble
to procure there a supply o*" provender for a nimiber of tame reindeer, suffi-
cient even to keep them alive, much less in tolerable condition, during a whole
winter. In addition to this, it may be observe<l, that any party setting out
earlier must be provided with a much greater weight of warm clothing, in
wder to guard against the severity of the cold, and also with an Inereased
proportion of fuel for procuring water by the melting of the snow, th«re being
BO fresh water upon the iee, in these latitudes, before the month of June.

" In the kind of provisions proper to be employed in such enterprijses,— .
a rtry important consideration, where almost the whole difficulty may be said
to reaolve itself into a question of weight, — I am not aware that any improve-
ment could he made upon that with which we were fWnished ; for I know of
none which appears to contain so much nutriment in so small a weight an4
conpasa. It may be useful, however, to remark, as the reauH of absolute ex-
perience, that our daily allowance of provisions, altheugfa previmialT tried for
some dajrs on board the ship, and then considered to be enough, prt»ve<l by n*
means sufficieot to support the strcogtb of men Uvisg ooBstaaUy in the open
air, exposed to wet and cold for at least twelve hour* a^av, aeldoon eojijiag

Bb2

376 Narrative of Captain Parry's Attempt

the luxury of a warm meal, and having to perform the kind of labour to which
our people were subject. I have therefore remarked, that, previously to our
return to the ship, our strength was considerably impaired ; and, indeed,
there is reason to believe, that, very soon after entering upon the ice, the
physical energies of the men were gradually diminishing, although, for the
first few weeks, they did not appear to labour under any specific complaint.
This diminution of strength, which we considered to be principally owing to
the want of sufficient sustenance, became apparent, even after a fortnight, in
the lifting of the bread-bags and other heavy weights ; and I have no doubt
that, in spite of every care on the part of the officers, as well as Mr Bever-
ly's skilful and humane attention to their ailments, some of the men, who had
begun to fail before we quitted the ice, would, in a week or two longer, have
suffered very severely, and become a serious incumbrance, instead of an as-
sistance, to our party. As far as we were able to judge, without further trial,
Mr Beverly and myself were of opinion^ that^ in order to maintain the strength
of men thus employed, for several weeks together, an addition would be re-
quisite, of at least one-third more to the provisions which we daily issued.
I need scarcely remark how much this would increase the difficulty of equip-
ping such an expedition.

" I cannot dismiss the subject of this enterprise, without attempting to ex-
plain, as far as I am able, how it may have happened that the ice over which
we passed was found to answer so little to the description of that observed
by the respectable authorities quoted in a former part of this volume. It
frequently occurred to us, in the course of our daily journeys, that this may,
in some degree, have arisen from our navigators having generally viewed the
ice from a considerable height. The only clear and commanding view on
board a ship is that from the crow's-nest ; and Bhipps's most important re-
marks concerning the nature of the ice to the north of Spitzbergen, were
made from a station several hundred feet above the sea ; and, as it is well
known how much the most experienced eye may thus be deceived, it is pos-
sible enough that the irregularities which cost us so much time and labour,
may, when viewed in this manner, have entirely escaped notice, and the
whole surface have appeared one smooth and level plain.

"It is, moreover, possible that the broken state in which we unexpectedly
found the ice may have arisen, at least in |>art, from an unusually wet season,
preceded, perhaps, by a winter of less than ordinary severity. Of the latter
we have no means, of judging, there being na record, that 1 am aware of, of
the temperature of that or any other winter passed in the higher latitudes j
but, on comparing our meteorological register with some others, kept during
the corresponding season, and about the same latitude*, it does appear, that,
though no material difference is observable in the mean temperature of
the atmosphere, the quantity of rain which we experienced is considerably
greater than usual ; and it is well known how very rapidly ice is dissolved by
a fall of rain. At all events, from whatever cause it may have arisen, it is cer-
tain, that, about the meridian on which we proceeded northward in the boats,
the sea was in a totally different state from what Phipps experienced, as may

* Particularly that of Mr Scoresby during the month of July, from. 1812 to 1818 inclxisive, and
Captain Franklin's, for July and August 1818.

to reach tlie North Pole in 1827. ST7

be seen from comparing our accounts, his ship being closely beset, near the
Seven Islands, for several days about the beginning of August; whereas the
Hecla, in the beginning of June, sailed about in the same neighbourhood
without obstruction, and, before the close of July, not a piece of ice could be
seen from Little Table Island.

" I may add, in conclusion, that, before the middle of August, when we left
the ice in our boats, a ship might have sailed to the latitude of 82^, almost
without touching a piece of ice ; and it was the general opinion among us, that,
by the end of that month, it would probably have been no very difficult mat-
ter to reach the parallel of 83*, about the meridian of the Seven Islands.

An appendix of eighty pages accompanies the narrative, con-
taining, 1. Meteorological journals ; 2. Notice respecting chrono-
meters ; 3. Observations on the dip of the magnetic needle ; 4.
Observations on the variation of the magnetic needle made on
shore, or on the ice, 1827 ; 5. Observations on the diurnal varia-
tion of the horizontal magnetic needle at Spitzbergen 1827 ; 6.
Observations on the diurnal changes of intensity in the horizon-
tal magnetic needle at Spitzbergen 1827; 7. Temperature and
specific gravity of sea water below the surface, 1827. To these
follow observations on zoology by Captain Ross, on the plants
collected during the expedition by Dr Hooker, and on the rocks
and minerals by Professor Jameson.

Having already greatly exceeded our limits, we must delay
giving an account of the more scientific department of the work
until a future opportunity. The plan of reaching the North
Pole being for the present abandoned, we hope that Govern-
ment will not allow the experience and skill acquired by Cap-
tain Parry and his officers in the Arctic Regions to be lost It is
therefore the duty, as it is, we trust, the intention of the Admi-
ralty, speedily to call them again to similar enterprizes. The
examination of the east coast of West or Old Greenland, of
Spitzbergen, and the sea and fishing-ground to the eastward of
that interesting island, are objects worthy the attention of the
nation, and the accomplishment of which would shed a lustre on
the name and elevated rank of the Lord High Admiral of
England.

878 Prof. Carat's Ohsef\aiions on Uie Dhsectin/r and

t>

Ohservadions on the Dissecting and Preparing' of the Bodies of'
Animals. By Professor Caiius *.

A HOUGH die art of adatoniisittg the bodies of animals is essen-
tially the same as that practised upon the body of man, and
though want of space precludes me from treating the subject
minutely, I conceive that a few remarks may not be altogether
imacceptable to those who feel desirous of pursuing such studies
for themselves.

The first thing that I have to obsef ve is, tliat all dissections
of small and soft objects, e. ^. worms, zoophytes, insects, mol-
lusca, and embryos, where it is desirable to obtain even tolerably
accurate results, should be performed under water^ by which
the parts are kept floating and separated from each other, and,
consequently, present themselves more distinctly. A very sim-
ple contrivance for investigations of this kind may be prepared
in die following manner : — A mass of tough wax (not too soft)
is to be laid upon one, or more, porcelain saucers or capsules ci
different sizes, which are then to be put in a warm place until
the wax melts so as to cover the surface evenly to the depth of
a half or one-third of an inch. If the object to be examined be
laid upoii this surface, it may be fixed by needles in any po-
sition diat is wished, and, when covered with clear water, de-
tneloped and dissected by means of suitable instruments. Of
them, the best are very delicate forceps ; pointed, well made,
fiharp-cutting sctssars ; and «mali knives like cataract-needles,
some round, others with cutting edges, and fixed in slender
wooden handles. For separating parts I have also employed
«mall horn probes and fine brushes ; whilst, for examining them,
a good magnifying glass is frequently indispensable. If it is
'wished to preserve a preparation thus made, wax, coloured at
pleasure as for the purpose of injections, is to be formed into
little tablets about one-fourth of an inch thick : OQe of these is
then to be placed upon the saucer or capsule containing the pre-
paration ; the latter may then be transferred to it, arranged suit-
ably upon it, fixed there by means of short needles, and both

• From Introduction to Comparative Anatomj by Professor Carus, trans-
lated by Gore, vol. ii. p. 389.

Preparing of the Bodies ofAnimaU, 379

together then placed in alcohol. Nor must I forget to mention,
that the examination of very delicate organizations may fre-
quently be conducted with greater facility and accuracy, if the
objoct be previously allowed to remain some time in ftpirit«, ajM)
thereby to become harder and contracted. This applies parti*
cularly to the dissection of nervous organs, and to the examioa*
tion of very small embryos, of moUusca, and wonns.

Tliere are various modes of destroying worms, insects, raoU
hisca, &c. for the purpose of dissecting, without injiuring their
organization : MoUusca, snails, for instance, as Swammerdam
has remarked, are to be allowed to die in water, because by that
means tlieu* body swells, and all the parts become more dis»
tinctly visible ; they may afterwards be kept in spirit (though
not too long) for dissection. Worms, the larger zoophytes,
(for the smaller must be examined whilst alive), caterpillars, &a
and also the smaller amphibia and fishes, are best destroyed by
means of spirit : Insacts, on the contrary, by being dipped nu
pidly in boiling water, or in oil of turpentine.

As regards the dissection of larger animals, we may here use
with advantage knives of a large size, and insteajd of forceps,
suitable hodis with handles.

In animals of considerable size we can generally make artlfi-
ci^ skeletons only, after the bones have been sufficiently clean-
ed by boiling or maceration. In smaller animals, on the ooa>
trary, such as birds, amphibia, and fishes, of which last it is
very difficult to make good skeletons, the object will be best ac-
complished by at once making the bones as clean as possible,
without injuring the capsular ligaments, soaking the preparation
in water that is incessantly changed, and, lastly, bleaching it for
some time in tlie sun.

Lastly, we may mention injections as affording a very essen-
tial assistance in zootomical investigations for physiological pur-
poses : in small animals, and in the more minute parts, these
must consist of compositions with wax, very fluid and coloured;
but above all of mercury. The latter, however, is not suitable
for very soft bodies, e. g. medusae, &c. in which cases we may
employ injections of coloured milk, and similar substances.

V- ( 380 )

On the Irritability of the Sensitive Plant. By M. Dutbochet.

i-VA- DuTRocHET has collected, into a single volume, the long
and important researches which he has made upon the moving
powers which act in organised bodies. His experiments on the
sensitive plant occupy an essential part of this work. A new
procedure, which he has employed in vegetable anatomy, has led
him to results which would tend to invalidate a celebrated the-
ory. He asserts, that all the elementary organs of plants, that
is to say, the cellules and tubes, of which their body is composed,
have an independent existence, and form circumscribed organs ;
so that these organs would only have, to each other, relations of
vicinage, and would not form, by their assemblage, a really con-
tinuous tissue. He affirms that there are neither pores nor fis-
sures visible to the microscope in the cellular tissue, any more
than in the fibres of vegetables. There are only seen on the
walls of these organs, small semitransparent globular bodies, and
linear bodies, which become opaque from the action of acids, and
are rendered transparent by that of alkalies. M. Dutrochet con-
siders these small bodies as the elements of a diffused nervous
system. To the analogies of intimate structure and chemical
nature, which he brings forward to support this opinion, the au-
thor adds physiological considerations, taken from experiments,
which are peculiar to himself, and which, in his opinion, prove
that the motions of vegetables are spontaneous ; in other words,
that they depend upon an internal principle, which immediately
receives the influence of external agents. Refusing to admit
sensibility in vegetables, M. Dutrochet substitutes for this term
that of nervimotility.

With regard to the organ of motion in the leaves of the sen-
sitive plant, M. Dutrochet has proved, by decisive experiments,
that it consists in a bulging of the parenchyma, or of the cortical
medulla, which is situated at the base of the petiole, and at the
base of each of the leaflets of 'which the leaf is composed. He
has discovered, that this organ, to which he has given the name
of bourrelet, is composed of globular cellules, disposed in longitu-
dinal series, and filled with a coagulable fluid. It is not by
means of joints that the sensitive plant, any more than the other
irritable vegetables, moves its mobile parts ; but by means of a

M. Dutrochet on the Irritabiltty of the Sensitive Plant. 381

curvature impressed on these parts in the place where the organ
of motion occurs. Thus, in the sensitive plant, it is the bourre-
lets alone, that, by curving, produce the folding of the leaves.
M. Dutrochet has found, that this curvature is the result of a
vital elastic power, which even manifests itself in the thin slices
that are taken from these bourrelets. He has given the name of
incurvatioft to this phenomenon. Thus the vegetable irritabi-
lity consists only in an elastic incurvation, which i^ sometimes
Jixed and sometimes oscillator^/. For example, this elastic in-
curvation is JiiVed in the tendrils of vegetables, in the valves of
the ovarium of the balsamine, &c. ; it is osciUaiory in the vege-
tables that are named irritable, — vegetables which present, in
their mobile parts, a state of alternating incurvation and straight-
ening.

It has long been known that the sensitive plant presents a
phenomenon of sympathic transmission. If one of the leaflets
of this plant be slightly burnt with a burning glass, all the leaf-
lets belonging to the same stalk will fold themselves one after
another. This motion deserves to be carefully examined ; and,
in order to determine the part of the stalk by which the trans-
mission in question is operated, M. Dutrochet made several very
delicate experiments, from which there results, that it is neither
produced by the pith nor the bark, but that it takes place ex-
clusively by means of the woody part of the central system.
Inquiring afterwards what, in this woody part, are the special
organs of the transmission in question, he arrives at the conclu-
sion of its being effected through the medium of the sap con-
tained in the tubes, which he names corpuscidiferous. He has
found, that the maximum of velocity of this motion of transmis-
sion is fifteen millimetres per second in the petioles of the leaves,
and only three millimetres per second in the body of the stalk.
The state of the temperature does not appear to have any in-
fluence upon its velocity.

Light exercises a very remarkable influence upon the irrita-
bility of the sensitive plant, the observation of which equally
belongs to M. Dutrochet. If a sensitive plant be placed in
complete darkness, by covering it with an opaque vessel, it
will entirely lose its irritability, and that in a variable time, ac-
cording to a certain state of depression or elevation of the sur-

382 M. Diitroehet en Ike Irritability of' the Sensitive Plant.

iXHindiog temperature. Thus, at a temperature of from 20 to
^ degrees of Reauoiur, it requires only four days of darkness
to destroy completely the irritability of a sensitive plant ; while
fifteen days of darkness are required to produce the same effect
when the surrounding temperature is within the limits of 10 and
15 degrees ; so that, on only taking the degrees of temperature
in which tlie sensitive plant can Hve, it may be established that
the extinction of the irritability of that plant in darkness is ope-
rated in &. period, the duration of which is in the inverse ratio of
the elevation of the temperature.

M. Dutrochet has observed, that the sensitive plant, deprived
of its irritability by means of darkness, recovers it by exposure
to light ; and that this restoring of the conditions of irritabihty
is more rapidly effected, by exposing the plant to the direct
ligfat of the sun, than by exposing it merely to the light of day,
such as it exists in the shade. From these observations, M.
Dutrochet considers light as the external agent from the in-
fluence of which vegetables draw the renewal of the conditions
of their irritability, or, more generally, of their motility^ — con-
ditions which are subject to deperdition in the natural state, and
which thus require to be continuaJly repaired.

Description of an Improved Air-Pump. By Mr John Dunn,
Optician, Edinburgh *. With a Plate.

JLn the course of my business, having often heard it regretted
that the cost of apparatus prevented many gentlemen from en-
gaging in philosophical pursuits, I have made it my study to
simplify the construction of those which I have been employed
to make, wlierever this could be done without impairing the
accuracy of their performance.

One of my first efforts was directed to that most valuable in-
strument the air-pump, which I shall endeavour to shew I have
improved &o very materially, as to be able to furnish one capa-
ble of effecting as complete an exhaustion as the most perfect
form of the instrument hitberto devised, and, at the same time,
nearly as simple and as cheap as its most imperfect form. 1

" Read befpre the Society for the Encouragement of the Useful Arts,
19th December 1827-

PLATE IV.

£iiin^ Cnew JhU.JbiLr. Vil. JV:/,..%g2.

inrsnlB ocfroveo uol pump.

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fullisktd hyABUckEdi^JgiS.

EiatclitU *cml»'.

Mr Dunn's Description of an Improved Air-Puvip. SSd

mentioned my views on the aul^ect to severtl gentlemen quaii-
Ged to judge of their correctness^ and soon had an opportu«
iiity of putting them to the test of experiment I received an
order to make one for Mr Lees, lecturer on mechanical )>liik>so-
phy in the School of Arts here, on condition that he was to be
permitted to return it, if, on trial, it was not found capable of
executing all tluit I had taught him to expect. This pump,
through the kindness of Mr Lees, in whose poesesskm it has
been for the last eighteen months, was exhibited to the Society
iivc the Improvement of the Useful Arts, on 19th December
18^*.

That the peculiarities of the construction of my pump may
be more readily perceived, I shall first shortly describe the com-
mon construction, and then its most perfect form, as improved
by Cuthl>ertson.

The common air-pump consists of two barrels A A', Fig. 1.,
Plate IV, in which the pistons PP' are fitted and moved by
the racks RR^ and pinion O, the pistons being thus raised and
depressed alternately by turning the \vinch W. In the bottans
of tlie barrels there are openings, communicating with the re-
ceiver or bell-glass ; over these openings valves of waxed silk or
bladder are so placed as to admit of the passage of the air from
the receiver through them, but to oppose its passage from the
barrels to the receiver. It is obvious, that, on dravnng up
cither of the pistons, a vacuum will be formed under it till the
air from the receiver, by its elastic force, opening the valve V
or V, distributes itself equally betwixt the barrel and receiver.
Now, as the pistons are funushed with valves PP' of the same
kind) and opening in the same direction as VV, on pushing
either piston down, the air in the under part of the barrel lietng
prevented by the valve at the bottxKU from returning to the re-
ceiver, will open tlie piston- valve and esca]x; into the apartment,
with the air of which the piston-i-alve oomnmnicates ; and these
effects will fellow the raising and depressing of the pistons, at
long as the air in the receiver has sufficient elasticity to open

• 'Oie hi5trnment had been previously submitted to the examination of
Dr Turner, one of the Secretaries of the Society «f Arts, wtw reported that
be bsiA miuutely eKaoumxl it, and was perfectly astisfied with its perfonnaaoe.
On his representation to the Council of the London University, I have since
received an order to make xme fbr the chemical class of that institution.

384 Mr Dunn'*s Descriptimi of an Improved Air-Pump.

the valves VV^ When it can no longer effect this, the exhaus-
tion must cease, and,, consequently, a near approximation to a
vacuum cannot be obtained by means of this construction.

The best method hitherto proposed for effecting a more per-
fect exhaustion, is that of Cuthbertson, which proceeds upon
the principle of opening the valves independently of the elasti-
city of the air ; and, accordingly, he substitutes in the place of
the bladder-valves VV, Fig. 1., the metallic ones VV Fig. 2. *,
having the wires WW^ attached to them, which slip stiffly in
stuffing-boxes in the piston-rods. On raising either piston, the
valve V or V is opened by the friction of its wire in the stuffing-
box, and is shut by its depression ; in the former case leaving a
free communication betwixt the part of the barrel under the pis-
ton, and in the latter case cutting it off. In the pistons he also
places metallic valves PP', to be opened by the descent of the
piston-rod, and to be shut by its ascent, the valves in the pistons
thus opening and continuing open, while those at the bottom of
the barrels are shut, and vice versa. Now, as the piston-valves
are opening while those at the bottom of the barrels are shut-
ting, Cuthbertson found it necessary (though this is not required
in the common pump) to exclude the external air from the
barrels.

For this purpose he put air-tight covers CC over the barrels,
and made the piston-rods move in the air-tight stuffing boxes
BB', and placed metallic valves MM' in the covers for the egress
of the air, to be opened either by its elasticity or by the pistons
striking against the projecting points pp of these valves.
. It is also necessary to prevent the return of the air into the
pump during the shutting of these valves, which is done by ha-
ving them immersed in oil.

This construction is certainly, in theory, as near perfection as
we are likely to reach by any form of pump, but it is as certainly
very complex, and, consequently, very expensive, and liable to
go out of repair, — an objection of which those who have been
engaged in making these pumps best know the force.

Believing the only useful part of Cuthbertson's invention to be
the contrivance for opening the valves at the bottoms of the bar-
rels mechanically, I was of opinion a pump would perform near-
" In figures 2d and 3d only one of the barrels are represented.

Mr Dunn's Description of an Improved Air- Pump. 385

ly, or altogether as well, divested of all the other peculiarities of
his instrument, and possessing the decided advantages of be-
ing cheaper and much more easily kept in order.

Fig. 3. is a section of the barrels of my pump, in which I em-
ploy metallic valves vi/ ni the bottom of the barrels, and waxed
silk ones S S' in the pistons, laying aside Cuthbertson's metal-
lie valves in the pistons, removing all his apparatus from the
top of the barrels, and leaving tlie pistons eacposed to the atmo^
sphere, as I consider all those contrivances to be unnecessary, aU
though it has been uniformly held essential to a good air-pump,
since the time of Smeaton's invention, that the pressure of the
atmosphere should be taken off the piston-valves ; and my rea-
son for doing so is, that the air will be always so compressed in
the barrels, by the descent of the pistons, as of itself to have
sufficient elastic force to open the silk valves in the pistons, the
capacity of the barrels being each several thousand times greater
than the space betwixt the two valves, when the piston is at the
bottom. In fact, by making the under side of the piston and
the bottom of the barrel fit each other, which, with the assist-
ance of the oil employed in the barrels may be done perfectly,
there will be no space left but the small hole in the piston to its
valve.

For illustration, let us suppose the stroke to be 12 inches,
and the diameter of the barrels 2 J inches, or 25 tenths (as is
the case in Mr Lees' one)^ the diameter of the hole e one-tenth
of an inch, and its length 1 inch, their circles being to each
other as the squares of their diameters, we have 1 x 1 = 1 for
the capacity of the hole, and 25 x 25 x 12 = 7500 for the ca-
pacity of the baiTels ; and consequently air, which, in the recei-
ver was 7000 times rarer than the atmosphere, would have suf-
ficient elastic force to open the valve in the piston ; but as this
is a degree of rarefaction far beyond what has ever been attained,
or even expected, it follows that any greater nicety of construc-
tion here is unnecessary.

The above plan may, however, be objected to, on account of
its still leaving smnething to depend on the elastic force of the
air which, should any one consider desirable to be removed, can
be so done by adapting metallic valves I I^ with projecting
points p' p\ to strike against the bottom of the barrels, having
the spaces CK T^, O I, filled with oil, to exclude the external air

SS6 Mr Dunnes Deffcripttmi of an Improved Air^Pump.

durmg' their sliutting ; but even this small addition I consider
wholly unnecessary.

Fig. 4. is a perspective view of the one I made for Mr I.ees,
which is the best method of fitting them up; but the principle is
alike applicable to table air-pumps.

Remarks upon the Wasting Effects of the Sea on the shore of
Cheshire^ between the rivers Mersey and Dee *. By Robert
Stevenson, Esq. Civil-Engineer, F. R. S. E., M. W. S., &c.
Communicated by the Author.

kJN a former occasion, I had the honour to make a few obseri '
vations, which appeared in the 2d volume of the Society's Me-
moirs, regarding the encroachment of the sea upon the land ge-
nerally. The present notice refers cmly to that portion of the
coast which lies between the rivers Mersey and Dee, extending
to about seven miles. To this quarter my attention, with that
of Mr Nimmo, Civil Engineer, had been professionally directed
in the course of last month. In our perambulatory survey we
were accompanied by Sir John Tobin, and William Laird, Esq.
of Liverpool, along the Cheshire shore, and its connecting sand
banks, between Wallasea Pool, in the Mersey, and Dalpool, in
the river Dee. Within these estuaries, the sliores may be de-
scribed as abrupt, consisting of red clay and marl, containing
many land or boulder stones, of the cubic contents of several
tons, and very many of much smaller size, diminishing to
coarse gravel. But the foreland, or northern shore, between
these rivers, 'which I am now to notice, is chiefly low ground,
and, to a great extent, is under the level of the highest tides.
The beach, or ebb, extends from 300 to 400 yards seaward^
and, toward low-water-mark, exposes a section of red clay; *
but, toward high water, it consists of bluish coloured marl,
with peat or moss overlaid by sand. This beach, at about
half-tide level, presents a curious and highly interesting spec-
tacle of the remains of a submarine forest. The numerous
roots of trees, which have not been washed away by the sea, or
carried off by the neighbouring inhabitants for firewood, are in
a very decayed state. The trees seem to have been cut off
• Read before the Wernerian Society, 8th March 1828.

Mr Stevenson on the Coast ofChtsltv'e, 387

about two feet from the ground after the usual practice in fell-
ing timber, and the roots are seen ramifying from their respec-
live stdmps, in all directions, and dipping towards tlie clay sub-
soil. They seem to have varied in size from 18 inches to per-
haps 30 inches in diameter, and, when cut with a knife, appear
to be oak. Several of the boles or trunks have also been left
upon the ground, and being partly immersed in the sand and
clay, are now in such a decomposed state, that, when dug
into with a common spade, great numbers of the shelUfish called
Pholas Candida, measuring about three-fourths of an inch in
length, and two inches in breadth, were found apparently in
a healthy state. These proofs of the former state of this ebb
or shore, now upwards of 20 feet under full tide, having been
once^^dry land to a considerable extent beyond the region of
these large forest trees, were rendered still more evident by the
occurrence of large masses of greenstone, which, at a former pe-
riod, had been imbedded in the firm ground here, and especially
on the shore within the river Dee. It may farther deserve no-
tice, that the inhabitants of this district have a traditional rhyme,
expressive of the former wooded state of this coast, where not a
tree is now to be seen, viz. " From Halbre Isle to Birkenhead
a squirrel may hop from tree to tree ;'' , that is from the Dee to
the Mersey, now presenting a submarine forest.

As these evidences of great changes upon tlie state and for-
mer appearances of the land were highly interesting to the par-
ty, and intimately connected with the professional inquiries of
myself and colleague, it seemed desirable to get them, if possible,
corroborated by oral testimony. Sir John Tobin accordingly,
very obligingly, took measures for examining the oldest people
in the neighbourhood, as to their recollection of the former state
of these shores. In particular, Thomas Barclay, aged 93 " all
but two months," by profession a mason and measurer of coun*
try work ; Henry Youd, labourer, aged 86 ; and John Crook-
san, labourer, aged 80, were examined. Barclay stated, that
he had been employed at the erection of the Leasowe land-
ward Lighthouse in the year 1764 ; that there were then two
lighthouses near the shore, for a leading direction to shipping
tlirough the proper channel to Liverpool ; and that the Seaward
Light became uninhabitable, from its bemg surrounded by the
sea. A new light was then built upon Bidstone Hill ; and the

S88 Mr Stevenson on the Wastiiig Effects of the Sea

present Leasowe Lighthouse, formerly the landward light, which
he had assisted in building, became the sea-light. He could not
condescend upon the distance between the two original lights,
but was certain that it must have been several hundred yards;
that he knows that, in the course of thirty years, the shore of
the Leasowe lost, hy measurement^ eleven Cheshire roods, or 88
yards; and verily believes, that, since he knew this shore, it has
lost upwards of half-a-mile of firm ground. To the correctness
of these statements, the other two aged men gave ample testi-
mony ; Henry Youd having also worked at the Lighthouse.

As to the present state of things, the party alluded to were
eye witnesses of the tides, on the IBth, 17th and 18th of Feb-
ruary 1828, having exhibited a very alarming example of the
encroachments of the sea upon the Leasowe shore. At high-
water it came over the bank, and ran in a stream of about half-
a-mile in breadth, surrounded the lighthouse, and continued its
course through the low grounds toward Wallasea Pool, on the
Mersey, thereby forming a new channel, and threatening to lay
several thousands of acres of rich arable and pasture lands into
the state of a permanent salt lake. The present Leasowe Light-
house, which, in 1764, was considered far above the reach of
the sea, upon the 17th of February last was thus surrounded
by salt water, and must soon be abandoned unless some very
extensive works be undertaken for the defence of the beach,
the whole of the interior lands of the Leasowe being considerably
under the level of high-water of spring-tides.

This coast, with its sand banks in the offing ; its submarine
forest, and the evidence of living witnesses as to th^ encroach-
ment of the sea upon the firm ground, is altogether highly in-
teresting to the geological and scientific enquirer. The remains
of forests in the bed of the ocean occur in several parts of the
British coast ; particularly off Lincoln ; on the banks of the Tay,
near Flisk ; at Skiel, in the Mainland of Orkney, and in other
places, noticed in the Transactions of this Society, and are
strong proofs of the encroachment of the sea upon the land.
However difficult, therefore, it may be to reconcile the varied
appearances in nature, regarding the sea having at one time oc-
cupied a higher level than at present, yet its encroachment as a
general, and almost universal principle, seems to be beyond

on tlie Coast qfCfieshire. 389

doubt in the present day. Since I had last the honour of ad-
dressing the Society on this subject, opportunities have been af-
forded me of making many additional observations on the Bri-
tish shores; and of personally extending these to almost every
port on the Continent, between the Texel and the Garonne. I
have also, through the obliging communications of friends, been
enabled to extend my inquiries to other quartere of the globe ;
and I am now prepared to state, that, with a few comparatively
trifling exceptions, the sea appears to be universally gaining
upon the land, tending to confirm the theory. That debris,
arising from the general degradation of the land, being depo-
rted in the bed of the minor seas, is the cause of their present
tendency to overflow their banks.

Description of several New or Rare Plants which have flowered
in the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, during tlie last

three months. By Dr Graham.

10/^ March 1828.
iEginetia capitata.

M. capitata ; herba pilosa, caule radicanti ; floribus capitatis.
Description — Stem herbaceous, jointed, rooting, ascending, cylindrical,
branched, purple. Leaves opposite, petioled, ovate (1^ inch long, above
1 inch broad), spreading, slightly decurrent along the petiole, veined,
veins curved forwards *, petiole more than half the length of the leafl
Peduncle axillary, (3 inches) long, sometimes exceeding, sometimes
shorter than the leaf, round, tapering a little, spreading. SHpnia fili-
form, opposite, alternate with the leaves (i an inch long). Capitulum
ebracteate, about 12.flowered, few flowers expanded at a time. Pedicels
very short. Calt/x adhering to the sides of the germen, extended into
four oblongo-spathulate, distant, suberect, persistmg segments, equal in
length to tne tube of the corolla. Corolla funnel-shapec^ 4-clefl, slightly
pubescent without, and pubescence somewhat reflected, tube cylindrical,
throat dilated, lined with close yellow pubescence just above the tube ;
limb while in bud green, afterwards lilac, white towards the throat, seg-
ments obovato-elliptical, spreading, revolute, and smooth above. S'to-
mens 4, filaments aahering along the inside of the tube of the corolla, free
only for a portion at the top about the length of the anthers, to the back
of which they are attached ; anthers oblong, sometimes nestling among
the yellow hairs in the throat of the corolla, in other instances carried up
as high as the divisions of the limb, but the length of the free portion of
the maments does not vary ; pollen globular, white. Pistil single ; stig-
ma large, pubescent, white, cleft, segments revolute ; style single, fili-
form, projecting beyond the anthers, but shorter than the limb of the
corolla, white ; germen inferior, obovate, slightly flattened, bilocular,
ovula numerous.
The stem, branches, leaves, stipulse, petioles, peduncles, and outside of the
calyx segments are very hairy, inside of tnese last less so ; hairs long,
spreading, somewhat harsh, very slightly glutinous, at least on the
parts of the flower.

JANUABY— MARCH 18^8. C C

390 Dr Graham's Description of New or Rare Plants,

This plant was raised last year from seeds received in 1826 by Captain
Graham of his Majesty's Packet Service from Mr Harris at Rio de Ja-
neiro. It has been kept in the stove, and has flowered in February and
March.

I cannot but doubt the propriety of uniting, under one generic name, plants
so very different from each other as jEginetia l<mgiflora of Cavanilles,
and Bouvardia triphylla ; and I would be disposed to place greater reliance
than I do on the intervening teeth of the calyx, as characterizing Bau-
vanUa, and distinguishing it from jEginetia^ were it not that this would
separate two plants very intimately allied, Bouvardia triphylla and B. ver-
sicolor, carrying the last to JEginetia, which also it resembles more than
the other does in the form of corolla. Whatever may be made of these,
the subject of the present article must, I think, belong to the same ge-
nus with MgvneUa, long'iflora, the parts of the flower differing only in the
comparatively short tube of the corolla.

Artocarpus integrifolia ; Entire-leaved Bread-fruit tree.

A. integrifoUa ; foliis obovato-oblongis, acuminatis, spathae valvis inte-
gerrimis, amentis masculis patentibus.

Description — Tree of great size in its native country (East Indies>; our
specimen about seven feet high, with brown bark, green on the young
shoots, annular, a slight linear furrow passing quite round the stem from
the base of each leaf; and being distinct years after the leaf has fallen.
Leaves scattered, petioled, crowded at the extremities of the branches, ob-
ovato-oblong, acuminate, thick, hard, smooth, shining, undulated (6 inches
long), middle rib strong, and with the oblique veins prominent behind,
veins united by conspicuous arches near the margin, and by transverse
less distinct reticulations ; margin quite entire. Male spadiw stipitate,
naked, but inclosed, previous to evolution, within the same pointed,
smooth, deciduous stipulae as the terminal bud, club-shaped, round,
above two inches long by three-fourths of an inch broad, projected near-
ly in a straight line from the extremity of the footstalk, covered with
innumerable flowers, dull green, its substance soft and spongy, the foot-
stalk passing through its axis, but lost about the middle in the spongy
structure around. Peduncle about half the length of the spadix>, axil-
lary, spreading, stout, green and shining, the leaf from the axil of which
it springs deciduous. Flowers monandrous, very small, green. Perianth
sessile, club-shaped, slightly compressed, somewhat succulent, 2-cleft,
gaping slightly, segments blunt. Corolla awanting. Filament arising
from the Iwttom of the perianth, and exserted. Anther erect, bilobular,
short, yellow.

A plant is known in collections under the name of Artocarpus integrifolia,
with rough leaves occasionally lobed ; but in ours the leaves are all en-
tire, and smooth on both sides. It was received from Kew in 1814, and
in January and March this season has for the first time produced seve-
ral male spadices, but none with female flowers.

Dodonaea atteniiata.

Cunningham, in Field's Account of N. S. Wales, p. 353.

D. aitenuata ; foliis lanceolato-spathulatis, apice mucronulatis basi atte-

nuatis, rigidis, verrucosis, denticulatis ; floribus dioicis, racemosis, axil-

laribus terrainalibusque, calycibus reflexis, pubescentibus, sub-viscidis.

Description — Shrub erect, stem round; bark brown and cracked; branches

scattered, slightly compressed, twiggy. Leaves scattered, sessile,'(34 inches

long, i of an inch broad,) spreadmg, lanceolato-spathulate, with a small

■ mucro at the apex not always distinct, much attenuated at the base,

' rigid, rough, with warty elevations on the upper side, middle rib strong,

and projecting both above and below, veins few and obscure, margins

slightly reflected, toothed. Racemes terminal or axillary, rarely compound,

bracteate, rachis, pedicels, and calyx, slightly hairy and viscid. BractecB

subulate, solitary at the base of each pedicel, and shorter than this. Male

flowers nodding. Calyx segments acute, reflected, concave, light green,

falling along with the other parts of the flower by a division of the top

Dr Graham''s Description of New or Hare Plants. 391

of the pedicel. Stamens 8 ; fikinents very short < anthers large, bilobular,
and each lobe deeply grooved, bursling along the sides, arranged in a
square form around the centre of the flower, yellow ; pollen abundant,
yellow. Pistil abortive. Female flowers nodding. Calyx segments
closely reflected, straight or bent back at the tij)S, narrower than in the
male. Pistil single ; stigma 3-clell, twisted ; style straight, channelled,
twisted, somewhat contracted near the germen, warted, very long (half
an inch) ; germen superior, and left quite exposed by the reflected calyx,
trigonous, dark green, warted, surrounded by very short abortive filaments.

Seeds of this plant were, in 1824, received from Mr Fraser, Colonial Bota-
nist, New South "Wales, who, in communicating a dried specimen, stated
it to be " a tall shrub, native of the interior." In this specimen, the
leaves are longer and more linear than in the plant described; but there
seems reason to think that the leaves vary somewhat in shape, for in
another seedling raised from the same package, the lower leaves are
much shorter, broadly spathulate, and somewhat lobed, while the upper
are long and linear, nearly resembling the native specimen. Both male
and female have flowered freely ia the greenhouse in the end of Febru-
ary and beginning of March.

I should have described our plant with a mark of doubt as D. angustissima,
Becand. had not my excellent friend Dr Hooker, whom nothing escapes,
called my attention to the single species described in the work above
quoted.

Heteropteris fulffens.

m.fulgens ; foHis ellipticis, mucronulatis, subtus sericeo-ferrugineis, se-
rie glandularum versus margines notatis, superne pilis deciduis ferru-
gineis tectis, petiolis medio bi-glandulosis; ramulis verrucosis cumque
petiolis adpresse ferrugineo-pubescentibus ; paniculis terminalibus.
Deschiption — Shrub scandent ; bark light grey. Branches warted, com-
pressed, young shoots pubescent. Leaves opposite, on short petioles, el-
liptical, (4-5 inches long), subcoriaceous, and somewhat undulated, mu-
cronulate, veined ; above full green, with a deciduous adpressed pubes-
cence ; below a permanent adpressed silky pubescence, mixed with a
few coarser and more straggling hairs, and a loose row of small glands
along each margin. Petioles with two green glands, generally about the
midtlle, but varying both in number and position, yet never awanting in
our large plant ; when young always yielding a globule of viscid honey,
but often withering early, and then appearing abortive. Panicle large,
long, terminal, bracteate, branches decussating, spreading, two or three
rising wi