i^5i^^-

. )

THE

EDINBURGH NEW -'T.

PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL,

BXHIBITINO A VIEW OF THE

PROGRESSIVE DISCOVERIES AND IMPROVEMENTS

SCIENCES AND THE ARTS.

EDITORS.

THOMAS ANDERSON, M.D., F.R.S.E.,

REGIU5< PROFESSOR OF CHGMISTRT, ONIVEBSITT OF OLASOOW;

Sir WILLIAM JARDINE, Bart., F.R.S.E. ;
JOHN HUTTON BALFOUR, AM., M.D.,

F.R.SS. L. & E., F.L.S.,
BSaios KBBFim OP tbb botal botanic oabdek, and pbofessob of mboicimb and botant,

UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH.

FOR AMERICA,

HENRY D. ROGERS, LL.D., Hon. F.R.S.E., F.G.S.,

«TATB OBOLOOIBT, PENN8TLTAMIA ; PBOFESSOB OF MATUBAL BI8T0BT IN TBB
FNIVEB8ITT OF OLASOOW.

JANUARY APRIL 1860.

VOL. XL NEW SERIES.

EDINBURGH .

ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK.

LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, & LONGMANS, LONDON.

MDCCCLX.

I

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y. //

Bl>l(«l»r«OH:

P11.I.TEI. «T NEILl AND COHPANT.Oll. USHMAERET.

THE

EDINBURGH NEW

PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL.

Ohsci^ations on the Genetic Cycle in Organic Nature, and
particularly on the Relation between the different Forms
of Alternation of Generations and the more Ordinary
Modifications of the Reproductive Process. By George
Ogilvie, M.D., Lecturer on the Institutes of Medicine in
Marischal College and University, Aberdeen.*

§ 1. Origin of Organic Beings.

The time is not yet out of mind when the doctrine of spon-
taneous generation was the great point of discussion in the
physiology of reproduction. Now that this question has been
set at rest by evidence as conclusive as any of a negative
kind can well be, the attention of physiologists is chiefly
directed to the relation between derivation in the ordinary
way from two parents, and that other mode of origin from a
single pre-existing form, of the prevalence of which among
the lower species additional evidence is continually brought
before us. In this mode of origin, which has received various
names from authors, such as Gemmation, Homogenesis, and
Monogenesis, a portion of the body of the parent becomes
the seat of a certain independent manifestation of vitality,
whereby the plastic processes are so much intensified that, in

* Read before the British Association Tor the Advancement of Science, Sep-
tember 1859.

NEW SERIES. — VOL. XI. XO. I, J.\N. 1860. A

2 Dr George Ogilvie's Observations on the

the course of time, the part is converted into a distinct organ-
ism, capable of detachment from the parent, and fitted to
maintain a separate existence. Such a detached gemma may
be termed a free zooid, or phytoid. In the ordinary form of
reproduction, again, that by the co-operation of the sexes,
otherwise termed Heterogenesis, or Digenesis, a fusion takes
place of two highly vitalized portions of the same or kindred
organisms, and results in the formation of a fecundated germ,
possessed henceforth of an independent vitality, endowed
with a capacity for ultimately acquiring the structure charac-
teristic of the species, and destined to be thrown on its own
resources, by its extrusion from the protecting envelopes, as
soon as its organisation is sufficiently advanced for this con-
dition. In all but the very lowest forms of life; the conjugat-
ing algae, a difference is observable between the two factors of
embryonic life, which are recognised respectively as male and
female, or as the spermatic and germinal elements,

§ 2. Relations of Ova and GemmcR.

It is strongly contended by some that there is such an in-
compatibility between these two modes of propagation, that, in
proportion as any portion of the parenchyma of the parent is
engaged in the one course, it is proportionally disabled for the
other. This opinion is founded on these alleged peculiarities
of the sexual elements in their mature condition ; \8t, That
singly they are not capable of any farther development, but
very soon lose their vitality, and undergo decomposition ; and
2d, That they both differ very remarkably in appearance
from all self-developing foci of vital action, and, in particular,
that the germinal element of animals, or the unimpregnated
ovum, though it may occasionally present a general resem-
blance to a gemma or bud, is always to be distinguished from
it, by containing in its interior a peculiar nucleated cell, the
germinal vesicle. But some, at least, of these peculiarities
can no longer be maintained as constant characters. Quatre-
fages states that he has seen segmentation take place, inde-
pendently of impregnation, in the ova of Hermella and Unio,

Genetic Cycle in Organic Nature. 3

though no farther development follows. In regard to the
structural characters, again, even putting aside the evidence
concerning the germs of the viviparous aphides as somewhat
•liscordant, though, certainly, on the whole, in favour of the
essential identity of ova and gemmae, the observations of Mr
Lubbock on the agamic ova of Daphnia, and those of Mr Smith
of Kcw, Professor Braun of Berlin, Radlkofer, and others, on
the unimpregnatcd ovules of Coelobogyne, appear conclusive
to establish that bodies elaborated side by side with the true
germinal elements, and in some cases undistinguishable from
them in appearance, may undergo development independently
of impregnation ; while those of Dzierzon and Sicbold on the
hive-bee, go to show that the very same germs may undergo
evolution either with or without impregnation, developing, in
the former case, a female, and in the latter a male progeny.
We can hardly, therefore, as it would seem, avoid adopting
Professor Owen's conclusion, that there is no essential differ-
ence between an ovum and a gemma, and that the one may
pass into the other by insensible gradations. We may assume,
perhaps, that up to a certain point, the development of the
new focus of vital action may go on all the same for a gemma
or an ovum ; but that towards the period of maturation the
changes which take place in the latter to fit it for impregna-
tion cause such a tension, as it were, of its vitality, as is in-
compatible with its continuance in the majority of cases, unless
re- invigorated by the access of the spermatic element.

§ 3. Alternation of Generations.

Propagation by gemmation has been regarded as perpetuat •
ing the individual rather than the species, the successive
zooids or phytoids preserving more completely than the pro-
geny of embryonic origin the characters of the parent stock ;
and it has been thought, too, that there is a tendency for the
plastic power to wear out, in process of time, so that a recur-
rence of sexual generation at intervals is necessary to pre-
serve the pristine vigour of the species.

However this may be, there is reason to believe that the

A 2

4 Dr George Ogilvie's Observations on the

more highly organized the species is, the more dependent it
is on the frequent recurrence of sexual reproduction in the
genetic cycle. At least, we find that in the lowest forms there
may be a very prolonged pullulation of gemmae, the sexual act
recurring only at distant intervals, and in some cases not
being as yet positively known to occur at all ; while in the
higher animals we meet with no obvious phenomena at all of
the nature of gemmation. In those of the lower species in
which both modes of propagation are well-marked features,
we find that they have a tendency to succeed each other in a
regular order, with corresponding difierences in the immediate
progeny, to which the term of alternation of generations has
been applied ; and this expression, though open to some objec-
tions, has come into very general use.

A complete parallelism, however, cannot be maintained for
all the cases that go under this name ; and as I am not aware
of any systematic analysis having been made, to determine
the nature of the differences, it is my object on the present
occasion to bring forward certain distinctions which have
impressed themselves on my mind. as of fundamental import-
ance, depending principally on the period in the life-history
of the species, at which a process of gemmation is interpolated
• in the genetic cycle.

The gemmation sometimes occurs just before, and is, as it
were, ancillary to sexual reproduction — sometimes it occurs
after it, when it is subservient rather to the progress of
development. In the former case, what may, on the whole, be
considered as the most typical of the diverse forms belonging
to the species, is still defective in having no proper organs of
reproduction — a function which is vicariously performed by a
set of gemmae detached from it. The original stock is really
neuter ; but true sexes appear in these buds, after they have
been transformed by a process of development into isolated
zooids or phytoids. They may be considered as a highly in-
dividualized form of those organs which were wanting in the
parent stock. Such organs constitute, at least, the essential
part of their economy ; and although, along with them, there
may be present also others, more or less fully developed, for

Genetic Cycle in Organic Nature. 5

discharging functions, such as alimentation and locomotion,
required hy their status as free zooids, yet their great office
is reproduction, and this end effected, their life speedily comes
to a close. In this they contrast strikingly with the stock
from which they were derived ; for it is endowed with much
greater permanence of life, frequently detaching during its
period of vigour many successive swarms of sexual zooids, just
as among the higher animals the same parent may develope
many successive broods of young.

On the other hand, when the budding process occurs in the
course of development, the gemmae are detached from the
immediate product of impregnation, while it is still in a
rudimentary condition, comparable to the first stage in the
evolution of the ovum of the higher animals. The germ-
parent never itself attains to the full development of the
species, but remains the whole term of its brief existence in a
rudimentary state ; but the progeny, which it buds off, acquire,
in due course, the typical form, or at least give origin,
mediately or immediately, to others which do so.

These two kinds of zooids, however, though differing so
widely in their relations and structure — in the one case
the primary products of impregnation, the precursors of the
perfect form, and without sexual characters, in the other
derivative and with distinct sexes — have yet this one point in
common, that the great end of their existence is the multipli-
cation of the race — an end to which the nutritive and animal
functions are always subordinated. Such, indeed, is the oc-
casional degradation or non-development of structure, that
some zooids of both kinds might readily pass for mere egg-
sacs or proliferous cysts.

§ 4. Protomorphic Alternation.

For the better distinction of these varieties of alternation,
and for the purpose of bringing out more clearly what I con-
sider to be their points of correspondence with phenomena
occurring in the higher animals, I have found it convenient
to divide the life-history of an organic being into three stages,

6 Dr George Ogilvie's Observations on the

all of which come out prominently in one form of alternation
or other, while, as I shall presently endeavour to show, they
are covertly represented even in those species, in which no
phenomena of alternation are recognised. The first, or what
I term the Protomorphic stage, is that which intervenes
between the fecundation of the germ and the first appearance
of the characteristic or typical organisation of the species ;
the second, or Orthomorphic, that which corresponds to the
development and full perfection of this organisation; while
the third, or Gamomorphic, is that of the formation or matura-
tion of those structures in which the spermatic and germinal
elements are generated, in preparation for another act of
fecundation, as the commencement of a new genetic cycle.

In one of the forms of alternation just noticed, the interpo-
lation of gemmation takes place in the protomorphic stage —
that is, prior to that development, by which the features most
characteristic of the species are gradually evolved. Of this
we have an example in the case of the Trematode Entozoa,
80 often referred to by writers on the subject of alternation.
In these animals the immediate product of the impregnated
ovum is a free zooid, which never rises itself above a rudi-
mentary condition, or acquires sexual organs, but which, by
a process of asexual gemmation (inonogenesis), ultimately
originates others, which do attain to the typical character
of the species, in the general organisation, and commonly
also in the sexual relations, and then propagate in the manner
of the higher orders.

For another illustration, we may turn to an allied family,
the -Cystic Entozoa, now known to be merely rudimentary
forms of Cestoid worms. Their transformation into the latter
is their most notable change, but, prior to it, they present us
with a series of successive forms, all referable to the cystic
phase. The typical form is the " Tajnia-head," which is not
the immediate product of impregnation, but is derived as a
gemma from the primary cyst, into Avhich the contents of the
ovum are first developed. With great diflferences of detail,
this general relation is to be traced in all the species. Thus,
in the Echinococcus hominis, a vesicular mass is formed from

Genetic Cycle in Organic Nature. 7

the primary cyst, by the pullulation from its interior of second-
ary and tertiary structures of a like kind. Numerous gemmai
are developed from the last-formed cysts, having the general
characters of " Taenia-heads." In another species or variety
of Echinococcxis, similar " Taenia-heads " are formed, in con-
nection with vesicles budded off from the interior of the
primary cyst, without the intermediate pullulation of other
cysts. In Ccenurus, also, there is a formation of a multitude
of " Taenia-heads " from the original cyst, only they are
budded off from a special thickening of the lining membrane
— not as in Echinococcus, from its whole interior.

The Echinodermata might also be cited in illustration,
though they differ from the generality of cases of alternation,
in the primary form budding off but a single secondary one.

As an example of protomorphic alternation in the vegetable
kingdom, the case of the mosses may be referred to. Im-
pregnation is now admitted to be as necessary a step in the
reproduction of these as of any phanerogamic plants, but it is
not the immediate precursor of the formation of an embryo.
In mosses, the germinal element is represented by the central
cell of the archegonium ; and this, when fecundated by the
spermatic filaments contained in the cellules of the antheri-
dium, developes by endogenous formation a whole mass of
cells, which, by a process of transformation in the course of
growth, assumes eventually the form of the theca or capsule,
with seta, calyptra, operculum, peristome, columella, and
internal mass of dust-like spores. The spores in germination
give rise to confervoid threads, which, after ramifying into a
mass of tangled filaments — the protonema — send up here and
there a leafy axis, bearing eventually, like the original one,
antheridia and archegonia. In thus regarding the case of
the mosses as parallel to that of the Trematoda, and illus-
trative of protomorphic alternation, of course I look upon the
nascent axis as the true embryo, and the fully-developed moss
as the typical form, and regard both the theca and the pro-
tonema as intermediate forms, no more represented in the
higher plants, than the gregariniform zooids of distoma are in
the higher grades of animal life.

8 Dr George Ogilvie's Observations on the

§ 5. Gainomorphic Alternation.

The other form of alternation, before referred to, is that in
Avhich the process of gemmation is interpolated in >Yhat has
been here termed the gamomorphic stage, i.e., after the
general acquisition of the typical conformation of the species,
and in connection with the development of the organs which
form the sexual elements. To this head I refer the alterna-
tion of polype and medusa forms, which is so common a fea-
ture in the life-history of the hydraform zoophytes, the nor-
mal or typical form being assumed to be that of the polype,
and the medusa form being regarded simply as a highly in-
dividualized generative organ detached from the system of
the polype. This view readily enough commends itself to our
judgment in those species of Laomedea, &c., in which the me-
dusiform zooids have so much the character of mere genera-
tive appendages, while the zoophyte condition stands promi-
nently forward as the typical or orthomorphic phase, being
represented by structures of greater permanence than the
brood of minute and rudimentary medusoids which they throw
off, and occasionally attaining considerable dimensions by the
repeated pullulation of new polypes. But in the case of the
Hood-eyed Medusae, the prima facie aspect of the case is en-
tirely the other way ; for not only are they themselves of much
more conspicuous dimensions and elaborate organisation than
the medusoids of the compound zoophytes just referred to,
but the polype stock from which they spring is of such in-
significant proportions, that it generally goes under the name
of a larva, the resulting medusae being regarded as the typical
or perfect form of the species. Thus, Professor Owen remarks,
*• The medusiform ovigerous locomotive or distributive indi-
vidual of the Coryne and Campanularia geniculata is evi-
dently homologous with the polypiform ovigerous individual,
which seems to nurse, as it were, the ova into * planulae' in
the Campanularia dichotoma, and the nutritive gemmiparous
polypiform individuals in all the compound Radiaries would
seem, rather than the oviparous medusiform ones, to manifest
the typical form of the species. . . . Superadd, however.

Genetic Cycle in Organic Nature. 9

distinct nutritive and circulating organs to the free moving
ovigerous individual from the rooted polype, and prolong its
existence, and it would then cease to have the ancillary cha-
racter of a nurse to the ova of the fixed individuals, and
would assume that of the perfected form of the species ; and
such, in fact, is the case with the larger gelatinous Radiaries,
called MedusiB."* Now, in so far as perfection means ela-
borateness of organisation, it is not, of course, to be denied
that the medusa is in advance of the polype ; but as regards
the selection of the phase to be taken as the typical form of
the species, I do not see how we can avoid these conclusions : —
1st, That the bare-eyed medusoids are really homologues of
the parts of reproduction, inasmuch as they pass by a con-
tinuous gradation into generative organs of the simplest kind
and, 2d, that in so natural an order, the relative position
assumed for the puny bare-eyed Medusae must hold also for
their portly brethren of the hood-eyed kind.

My limits prevent me giving anything like a detailed view
of the declension referred to from free medusoids to simple
tunicated ova attached to the body [of the parent ; but the
following may be noticed as observable links in the series. t
In Campanularia dichotoma, the medusoids are no longer
free as in C. geniculata ; they have also more of the polype-
form, and remain during their brief period of life attached to
the edge of the horny " ovigerous capsule," characteristic of
the zoophyte, and there emit the ova or spermatozoa with
which they are charged ; after which they wither away like
blossoms, to be succeeded by a new expansion. In Campa-
nularia lacerata, the ovarian sac advances to the mouth of
the capsule ; but, instead of a bell-shaped envelope, becomes
invested merely by a thick gelatinous coat. In Sertularia
generally, the appendages, with somewhat of the medusoid
conformation, mature and discharge their contents while still
within the " ovigerous capsule." In Cordylophora^ the only
medusoid features presented either by the spermatic or the
ovarian cyst, are the presence of a central tongue or colu-

* Parthenogenesu, p. 12.

t See several pspers by Dr T. S. Wright in previous uurobers of this Joomal.

10 Dr George Ogilvie's Observations on the

mella to represent the proboscidiform mouth, and the exist-
ence of phlebenteric canals in its wall. In Hydractinia, we
have the columella without the canals; and the cysts of some
species of Plumularia and Eudendrium are, if possible, of
still simpler structure, the latter containing but a single
ovum. The progress of degradation reaches its maximum in
the common Hydras in which the large Medusae of the
" Hydra tuba** are represented only by spermatic and ovarian
cysts, of the most rudimentary organisation, attached to the
exterior of the polype. Closely allied species sometimes diflfer
remarkably in this respect ; and even in the same species
there may be as great a diversity in the opposite sexes ; thus
in Laomedea geniculata, the ova are formed in free swim-
ming raedusoids ; the spermatozoa in simple cysts perma-
nently attached. Variations of the same kind occur also in
the allied order of Physograda. Such variations, though per-
plexing to the systematic zoologist, are especially valuable to
the physiologist, as indicating the true relations of the forms
which occur in dimorphous species ; and I think they are
fully sufficient to bear us out in the conclusion, that both the
bare-eyed and the hood-eyed Medusae are to be considered as
garaomorphic zooids, and the polype stock from which they
sprang as the typical form in each case. In the one, the or-
thomorphic form is, as usual, the most conspicuous phase of
the species, while in the other it is quite eclipsed by the re-
sulting gamomorphic zooid, which is really a part of itself —
a detached and overgrown organ of its own system.

A^ parallel cases, I would refer to the relation subsisting
between the solitary and catenated Salpce, which, as described
first by Chamisso, may be regarded as the original basis of
the doctrine of alternation, and of which Mr Huxley has
since given us a most lucid and philosophical account — to the
detachment of reproductive zooids, made up of caudal seg-
ments, budded off from some Annelida, as described by MM.
Edwards and Quatrefages — and to the derivation from the
** Taenia-head" of the proglottides, or cucurbitiform segments
of the " body" of the tape-worm.

In the vegetable kingdom we have also a very parallel case in

Genetie Cycle in Organic Nature. 11

the reproduction of the ferns. In these plants, it is well known
the sexual elements are not formed in connection with the con-
spicuous vegetative stem, but in minute derivative phytoids,
termed prothallia, which are produced by the germination of the
spores. The prothallia bear antheridia and archegonia ; and the
embryo, formed on impregnation from the central cell of one of
the latter structures, grows up from the prothallium, which
comes to have very much the appearance of the seed-leaf of the
young shoot. The prothallia I regard as gamomorphic phy-
toids, parallel to the medusiform reproductive zooids of the
Polypifera. Hence I feel obliged to dissent from the paral-
lelism which Hoffmeister would establish between the repro-
ductive process in ferns and mosses. This great authority
regards as equivalent structures the prothallium of the former
and the leafy axis of the latter, on the ground of their being
the parts which bear the sexual organ ; and argues from this
a corresponding relation between the frondiferous stem of the
fern and the seta and capsule of the moss, as the immediate
products of impregnation in the two cases respectively. A
comparison of objects of such prima facie diversity — objects
more unlike than even the large Medusce and the ovarian
cysts of the Hydra — ought not, I conceive, to be adopted, ex-
cept on the most convincing evidence. But there is no such
cogency in this case, on the admission of the general view
which has now been advanced ; for we have a readier solution
of the difficulty, in assuming that the interpolation of an inter-
mediate form occurs at a later stage of the genetic cycle in
ferns than in mosses. For this view we have ample warrant
in the analogy of the animal kingdom, where we find corre-
sponding differences between the Cestoid and Trematode Ento-
zoa, and between the latter and the Polypifera, among which,
indeed, even nearly allied species differ in this matter of the
interpolation of gemmation. Such a view, I submit, is a less
tax on our powers of conception, than to regard the minute and
fugitive capsule of the moss as the equivalent of the perennjal
and towering stem of the tree-fern. And it is to be borne in
mind that the difference here is not merely one of a prima
facie kind. In some respects it increases the more we con-

12 Dr George Ogilvie'd Ohset^ations on the

template it ; for it is clear, as Mr Jenner observes * that the
persistent character of the leafy axis of the moss, and its
yielding, in perennial species, many successive sets of spori-
ferous capsules, assimilates it, quite independently of structu-
ral features, rather to the stem of the fern than to its prothal-
lium, which is an organ even more evanescent than the cap-
sule of the moss, its existence terminating when the embryo
formed in it has begun to germinate.

§ 6. Orthomorphic Alternation.

In the intermediate period of the life-history of the species,
that here termed orthomorphic, which intervenes between the
appearance of the general typical character of the family and
the maturation of sexual organs, gemmation, though perhaps
a more frequent character than either in the incipient or ter-
minal stages, rarely comes before us as a case of alternation
of generations, in consequence of the gemmae commonly re-
maining in adhesion to each other, so that their separate indi-
viduality is lost, and the whole aggregation passes as a single
plant or animal. This is especially the characteristic arrange-
ment in the vegetable kingdom, and in Polypifera and Poly-
zoa among animals. Where the gemmae do become detached,
however, the case may assume the aspect of a form of alterna-
tion, as we see strikingly exhibited in the propagation of the
ApJiides.

I may here briefly explain why I am disposed to refer the
altei^nation of the Aphides to the commencement of this stage,
rather than to the protomorphic. It is because the organisa-
tion has already acquired that partially advanced development
characteristic of the larvae of other insects, before the process
of gemmation comes into play. We cannot say here that
the primary product of impregnation buds off a set of embryos
of a higher organisation; it is rather a larva — that is, a

* Edin. New Phil. Jour., New Series, .Vol. III., p. 269. The occasional con-
version of the fruit of the moss into a leafy shoot has been thought to indicate
its analogy to the stem of the fern. Is it not rather a viviparous inflorescence,
sach as occurs at times in the higher plants ?

Genetic Cycle in Organic Nature. 13

naked embryo — already so far organised on the insect type,
that buds oflf a series of similar larvae, the last only of which
become perfect insects.

§7. Resume of the Varieties of Alternation.

On the grounds above stated, it becomes necessary to dis-
tinguish these three varieties of the so-called alternation of
generations, — that is, of the alternation of gemmation with
sexual reproduction : —

1. That in which the gemmation occurs in the protomorphic
or germinal stage, prior to the appearance of the typical
organisation ;

2. That in which it occurs in the gamomorphic or later
stage of the life-history, — that is, in connection with the
maturation of the reproductive organs ; and,

3. That in which it occurs in the orthomorphic or interme-
diate stage, — that is, during the manifestation of a more fully
developed condition of the typical organisation, but prior to
the maturation of the sexual organs.

The contrast lies principally between the two former
varieties. They cannot, indeed, be identified or confounded,
as they are by many authors, without losing sight of two im-
portant points of difference ; —

1. In the budding-stock, which in gamomorphic alternation
has both a higher organisation and a greater permanence of
life than are possessed by the protomorphic zooid or germ-
parent of the typical form ;

2. In the off-sets or concluding links of the respective se-
ries, which have really nothing in common but the single
point of sexual completeness, the medusoids, prothallia, and
other gamomorphic forms being generally of the most rudi-
mentary structure.

Hence, in the one case, we speak of the typical organism
and its germ-like matrix ; in the other, of the typical or-
ganism and its sexual offset. Both the matrix and the offset
may assume, indeed, the form of independent beings, but their
life is always transitory and provisional, having reference to

14 Dr George Ogilvie's Observations on the

one common end, — the multiplication of the race, — though by
different means. The great function of the germinal or pro-
tomorphic zooids is the evolution of the more perfect embryos,
of which they serve as budding-stocks ; that of the sexual or
gamomorphic zooids is the development of ova and spermato-
zoa. These ends accomplished, their vitality ceases, while
the typical organism, the offspring of the former class, or the
parent stock of the latter, as the case may be, has a much
more permanent duration, and may go on for a long time in
perfect vigour, sending off crop after crop of ova, or of sexual
gemmae, according to its mode of propagation.

The distinctness of these varieties of alternation is further
shown by their occasional co-existence in the same species, as
in some Cestoid worms, and perhaps in a more latent form in
the case of the Polyzoa* and of some Annelida. These, how-
ever, are exceptional cases, for it would appear that organisms
which are propagated by protomorphic gemmation do not ordi-
narily throw off sexual zooids, and that species in which the
latter phenomenon occurs do not usually furnish instances of
proembryonic forms.

§ 8. Continued Pullulation in the same stage.

The regularity in the alternation of free zooids with true
embryos is frequently obscured in nature by the intervention
of a process o^ pullulation, or budding off of like forms, in con-
tinued succession, at some particular stage in the life-history
of the species, so that sexual zooids recur only at intervals,
separated by periods during which a series of neuter forms
occur of the same general character, if not all absolutely alike.
In some cases, the number of interpolated links appears to be
fixed ; but in general it is variable, and frequently the re-
currence of the sexual form which closes the series seems to
depend on circumstances, the true ova being commonly formed
on the approach of winter, or other conditions adverse to the
continuation of active vitality.

* Alltnan's British Fresh-water Polyzoa (Ray See.), p. 41.

Genetic Cycle in Organic Nature. 15

A course of pullulation may be thus interpolated at any
stage. It is met with in the germinal stage in the case of the
Trematoda, and in the gamomorphic or sexual stage in a few
medusoids ; but more commonly it occurs in the orthomorphic
stage, being interposed between the first appearance of the
typical characters, and the development of the structures which
originate the sexual elements. In fact, the orthomorphic
gemmation, just noticed as one form of alternation, almost
always runs on into a continued course of pullulation, the re-
sult being either a swarm of free zooids, as in the case of the
Aphides, or else a composite structure, like the leafy stem of a
plant, or the polypidom of a zoophyte. The latter alternative
is the more common ; for the tendency of the gemmae, in most
cases of continued pullulation, is to remain during their whole
term of life in connection with the parent stock, either di-
rectly, or through the medium of their predecessors in the
series of offshoots.*

§ 9. Protomorphic Alternation in relation to Emhryogeny.

Though the well-marked cases of alternation, due to the
evolution of protomorphic zooids, are confined to a few of the
lower orders, a certain nisus or tendency in this direction — a
fresh start, as it were, in the course of germinal development —
may be traced with more or less distinctness in all cases of
embryogeny, as in all instances there is formed first a cel-
lular germ-mass, from one point of which there is subsequently
developed a new axis of embryonic growth.

The embryo, in short, may be said to be budded oflf from
the primordial germ-mass, much as the larval distoma is from
the gregariniform product of the Trematode ovum. There arc,
however, two points of diversity. In normal development, the
germ-mass gives rise only to a single embryo, and no separa-
tion takes place between them. The later growth appears
simply as a more advanced state of the former, which wastes

* In the tabular views of the Genetic Cycle, given at the end of this article,
such continued pullulation — as being only an occasional phenomenon — is printed
in a smaller type.

16 Br George Ogilvie's Observations on the

away, pari passu, with the growth of the embryo, becoming a
mere appendage of the latter, or disappearing altogether. In
alternation or metagenesis, again, the immediate product of
the ovum gives rise to numerous gemmae, every one of which
may acquire the characters of a typical individual of the spe-
cies ; and we find that these gemmae generally become com-
pletely separated from their germ-parent, and assume the form
of independent organisms. But although the detachment of
the later growth, and its multiplication, give an apparent dis-
tinctness to the cases in which they occur, there are yet
phenomena of an intermediate kind, which indicate a certain
community of nature between them. Such are the following : —

1. The duplication, in whole or part, of the embryonic axis,
as an occasional abnormality, even in the higher species, re-
sulting in the formation of a double monster.

In the eggs of the pike, according to M. Lereboullet, " the
formation of these monsters may be determined at pleasure,
by placing the eggs in unfavourable conditions for develop-
ment." In this case the blastodermic ridge forms on its sur-
face two tubercles instead of one, and from each of these an
embryonic fillet is produced, the further development of which
gives rise to double embryos of various kinds.*

2. The regular formation of a double embryo from the
ovum, in the case of the Polyzoa.

Here the immediate product is a ciliated germ-mass, like an
infusorial animalcule, from a protrusion of which, according
to Professor AUman, a pair of polypes are budded off in suc-
cession, the process presenting, as he observes, some remark-
able analogies, tending to bring the whole process of gemmation
and generation within the domain of the so-called " law of
alternation of generations,"! though neither the two first-formed
gemmae, nor those which afterwards pullulate from them, ever
become detached, while the original germ-mass becomes as
completely reduced to the condition of a mere appendage of the

* An. Nat. Hist., 2d Series, xvi., 49.

t Britisli Fresh-water Polyzoa (Ray Soc.), pp. 41, 33^ 34.

\

Genetic Cycle in Organic Nature. 17

structures derived from it, as in the case of the ovum of any
vertebrated animal.

3. The variable character of the gemmation of Taenia-
heads in the cystic Entozoa — solitary in the Ct/sticercus, but
multiple in the case of the Ccenurus and Echinococcus. *

4. The co-existence among the Echinodermata of cases
resembling ordinary embryogeny, or the metamorphosis of
insects, as in Echinaster or Holoihuria, with others, consti-
tuting the majority of the class, in which the embryo, though
still solitary, stands out as a distinct structure from the so-called
larva, and has in so far the character of a derivative zooid.

The case, therefore, seems to stand thus. Embryonic gem-
mation may be said to occur in all cases, though in the higher
animals only in a latent form ; while in the lower species, it is
so exaggerated as to acquire a wholly new character. So long
as the exaggeration is merely in its distinctness, or in the more
complete detachment of the gemma, the affinity of the process
to the normal course of embryogeny is sufficiently apparent
(as in the Echinodermata). Even when a new element of dis-
crepancy is introduced by a multiple gemmation, we can still
find a parallel in the embryogeny of the higher animals, though
now only as an occasional abnormality. But when the breach
is yet further widened by one or more repetitions of the process
of gemmation, we have results so totally unlike the ordinary
course of reproduction in the majority of animals, that it is
with some difficulty we can realize any community between
them.

§ 10. Gamomorphic Alternation in relation to Sexual

Maturation.
As the appearance of a new centre of organisation in the
cellular germ-mass may stand in the higher species as a re-
presentation of protomorphic alternation, so to the contrasted
form — marked by the formation of sexual or gamomorphic

* An argument of all the greater cogency if Ccenurus be, as Siebold contends
a mere variety of Cysticercus. Even in admitted forms of Cysticercus, how-*
ever, such multiple gemmation of Tsenla-heads has been observed.
NEW SERIES. VOL. XI. NO. I. JAN. 1860. B

18 Dr George Ogilvic's Observations on the

zooids — may we trace a certain correspondence in the matura-
tion of the reproductive organs. Such a correspondence is
suggested in particular by the following considerations : —

1. The periodicity and lateness of development of the organs
of reproduction in most species, and their greater or less inde-
pendence of the rest of the system in some cases. This is so
much the case in the Polyzoa, that, in the opinion of competent
judges, they hold the position rather of derivative gemmae, than
of mere organs of the particular polypes, in connection with
which they are developed. Thus, Professor Allman remarks,
" If the formation of the ovary be attended to, it will be seen
that this body is developed at a later period from the walls of the
original sac-like embryo, which have undergone slight changes,
and have become the endocyst of the more mature polyzoon,
and it will be at once perceived that this development of the
ovary takes place in a way which may obviously be compared
with the formation of a bud ; that — at least in Alcyonella —
it occupies exactly the position in certain cells that the buds
destined to become polypides [polypes] do in others, and
that, at an early stage of polypide and ovary, it is scarcely
possible to distinguish one from the other ; so that the idea is
immediately suggested, that the body here called ovary is it-
self a distinct zooid, in which the whole organisation becomes
so completely subordinate to the reproductive function as to
be entirely masked and apparently replaced by the generative
organs." On similar grounds he argues, that the spermatic
organ " may perhaps be more correctly considered, like the
ovary, as a distinct sexual bud, having the generative system
so ehormously predominant as to overrule and replace all the
rest of the organisation ; this bud, like the ovary-bud, being
also unisexual, but with a male function."

2. The transition in certain families, as the Polypifera, and
even among closely allied species, from cases in which the re-
productive organs are integral parts of the system and of very
simple structure, to others in which they occur in detached
zooids, having the character of distinct and well-organised
animals.

3. The accidental nature of the characters which principally

Genetic Cycle in Organic Nature. 19

distinguish these zooids from the ordinary organs of reproduc-
tion — detachment, and complexity of organisation.

The transition just noticed in the order of Polypifera is
sufficient to show that differences in these points cannot be
allowed any weight in a question of this kind. In regard
particularly to what may be termed the adventitious organisa-
tion of the reproductive zooids, as compared with mere organs
fulfilling the same function, this conclusion is strengthened by
the contrast of a phenomenon of an opposite kind, — the degrada-
tion of individuals in certain species to the position of mere
sexual mechanisms, these individuals being truly distinct
from their origin — not mere zooids budded off from other forms,
but animals developed independently from impregnated ova.
The males of certain Rotifera, and still more those in the
Cirripedia which are termed parasitic or complementary, are
examples in point. In the structures now contrasted, we have
examples of the two extremes of organisation ; in the one case
we have a member organised above par, so as to simulate a com-
plete animal ; in the other we have a true animal^ so far below
par in its structural development, as to resemble a mere organ.
The contrast shows in a striking way that the suppression of
normal parts in an animal, or the development of adventitious
structures in connection with any particular organ, are not of
essential importance in determining what has been termed by
some authors " zoological individuality."

The other character — that of detachment — hinges on the
proportionate development of the somatic life, that is, the life
of the body as one whole, and the more or less independent
life of its several organs or what we may term the topical or
regional life. In the higher animals, the special actions of
the several organs are as completely subordinated to that of
the body as a whole, as are the powers of local corporations
to the central government in any well-ordered state ; yet there
still remains sufficient evidence of the real existence of a dis-
tinct topical life. The antlers of the deer, and the hairs and
teeth of animals generally, furnish well-marked illustrations
of it. The first set of teeth, for instance, are formed, each in
its own capsule, by a process of local growth, quite independent

B 2

20 Dr George Ogilvie's Observations on the

of that of the neighbouring tissues, nay, in so far opposed to
it, that, at a certain stage of development, the integuments of
the gum are partially disintegrated to allow of their eruption.
A tooth thus generated by independent growth, sometime
after attaining maturity, undergoes a process of decay ending
in its ultimate removal, when a new tooth, of the second denti-
tion, takes its place by a similar process of local development.
In its turn this tooth also is shed, and though in most species
it has no successor, yet in a few there is a constant succession
during the whole lifetime of the animal. Such also is the case
with the growth of the hair in all species. Hence in such local
formations as teeth, hair, &c., we have, both in the way in
which they are marked oiF from the neighbouring parts, and
in this succession of growth, maturation, and decay — repeated
again and again, and epitomizing, as it were, the life of the
animal on which they grow — evidence of a vitality quite as
defined perhaps in itself as that presented by the free zooids
of the lower species, though the functional dependence on the
common circulation and the mechanical bond of a common
integument prevent their exhibiting the more obvious pheno-
mena of a separate life. But as we descend in the scale of
organisation, we come to species where, from the absence of
centralising influences, the several organs — which are possessed
of a vitality, less energetic perhaps, but more enduring than
in the higher — become emancipated, as it were, from the
control of the general system, and appear as zooids, that is, in
the guise of independent beings, rather than as integral parts
of the same animal — suggesting the similitude of the feudal
system of the middle ages, or of a loose confederation of In-
dian tribes, rather than of a well-ordered polity of our own
day. And though the proper organs of reproduction, from their
partial independence even in the higher animals, seem, as we
might expect, to manifest most clearly this emancipation from
the controlling influence of somatic life, yet it is seen very
distinctly in others also, as, for instance, in the peculiarly
modified tentacle of the Argonauta, which, when filled with
spermatic fluid, is detached from the body, and finds its way
spontaneously to the female, for the purpose of impregnation.

Genetic Cycle in Organic Nature. 21

4. In the vegetable kingdom the correspondence of the
archegonia formed in the prothallia or detached reproductive
phytoids of ferns, to the intra-ovular structures of flowering
plants, furnishes also an analogical argument of great weight
in support of an essential community of nature between the
proper organs of reproduction, and all such isolated gamomor-
phic forms, whether of the vegetable or the animal kingdom.
This correspondence has been most satisfactorily traced by
Hoffmeister and others, through the intermediate orders of
Lycopodiaceae, Marsileaceae, and Coniferse ; but I need not make
farther allusion to a subject on which I have nothing new
to bring forward, and which, in any case, could not be fairly
treated in the limits of this paper.

It formed part of my original plan, to make a few observa-
tions on the relations of metamorphosis to alternation or me-
tagenesis, and to follow up these general statements with some
remarks on the principal modifications of the reproductive
process in the leading groups of both kingdoms of nature,
with the view of showing how far the protomorphic, ortho-
morphic, and gamomorphic stages are represented both in the
alternating and non-alternating species ; but the extent of my
first draught of the subject has shown me how impracticable
this would be within the limits of such an article as the pre-
sent. In the meantime, therefore, I must content myself with
such indications of these relations as are suggested by the
annexed tabular views to which I have had occasion to direct
attention in the course of this paper.*

* It is only since these remarks wiere sent to press that I have seen Radlko-
fer's observations on the function of reproduction in the animal and vegetable
kingdoms. In the latter, this author distinguishes very clearly the varieties
of alternation here termed Protomorphic and Gamomorphic, but in animals he
seems only to recognise the first, so far, at least, as I can understand the
translation of his paper in the " Annals of Natural History" (2d series, vol.
XX., pp. 241, 844, 439>

Table I.

22 Dr George Ogilvie's Observations on the

ORDINARY REPRODUCTION.

SKOiivaauao io NOii-VNaanv

Genetic Cycle in Organic Nature.

23

THANEROGAMIA.

■o *' A

o

.. .5 II

1 .a §

o

s •"

E

^~M

B. 4"

3

M -S

o-

o

tf

.a

1"

•S

*< ^

a

o S

a>

9 J

5

•3^

U«

T« <M

ii i °

c E .2

& O K 1

§

liH « il

* a s *, •-

S..2 ^

e a

VIKVOCKWAMO

24 Observations on the Genetic Cijcle in Organic Nature.

Table III.

PERIODS OF INTERPOLATION OF GEMMATION
In the Genetic Ctclb.

Protomorfuic.

Orthomorfhic.

Gamohorfhic.

Mosses and Hepatiose

Plants of all Classes.

Ferns and Equiseta

Eohinodermata

Polypifera

Polypifera

(Polyzoa)
Trematoda

Polyxoa

(Poljzoa)
Balpse

Cestoidea

Cestoidea

(Annelida)

Aphides

Annelida {Syllu, &c.)

Gemmation is exceptional, in any stage, among the higher Articulata and Mollusca,
and is unknown as a normal arrangement among Yertebrata.

Table IV.

RESTING PERIODS IN THE GENETIC CYCLE.
Mosses andJHe^^« j j^ ^^^ ^.^^j^ ^^ ^^^ Protomorphic stage.

Ferns and ^'^^^^ j Between the Orthomorphio and Gamomorphic.

Phanerogamia 1 { Between the Protomorphic (embryogeny) and the Ortho-

teeds ] \ morphio (vegetation commencing with germination).

Coni|er8B present also another resting period, in the middle of the Gamomorphio
stage (during the maturation of the fruit).

Animals in general, ) ( Between the Gamomorphic (maturation of the reproduc-
e(fff$ or ova, j \ tive organs) and the Protomorphic (embryogeny).

{ Have also a resting period {pupa or encytted ttate) during
Insects, Trematoda, &o. / their metamorphosis, in the early part of the Ortho-
( morphic stage.

Mammalia have no obvious resting period, the mature ova requiring immediate
fecundation, which is at once followed by segmentation and the development of the
embryo.

The bodies which, under the names oi ttatohlouu, hvlbt, rttting tporu, &c., perform
the part of eggs or seeds in some species of animals and plants, appear occatiionally
to be gemmae, which may be termed aece»$ory, as lying out of the direct genetic cycle.

25

Peruvian Gleanings. By Dr Archibald Smith.

I shall first notice the supposed osteological type of wor-
mian bones in all the crania of the Peruvian Indian race,
alluded to by Daniel Wilson, LLJ)., in the "Edinburgh New
Philosophical Journal, New Series," Vol. vii. No. 1. Find-
ing, upon due inquiry at the Medical College at Lima, that
neither its deacon nor professors could give me the least in-
formation on this subject, I applied to Dr Lorenti, one of the
best authorities in Peru on such subjects, and he at once as-
sured me that Tshudi's statement is utterly untrue. But, fur-
ther to satisfy myself on this point, I went to the Museum,
and saw there five native Indian skulls from ancient tombs,
in which the sutures were visible. In mummies and heads
covered with integuments and hair, the sutures were not ac-
cessible : there is one mummy with a finely formed head
worthy of a Grecian philosopher. But of the five bare crania,
only one showed signs of a wormian bone at all ; another skull
was so compressed on the forehead that the bulk of the brain
must have been in life pressed back on the occipital region.
The same artificial shape of skull was also pointed out to me
in one of the encased mummies; but these were evidently
exceptional specimens. The super- occipital or inter-parietal
wormian bone represented by Dr Wilson, on the authority of
Dr Tshudi, as characteristic of all the skulls of the Peruinan
Indian race, is not even traceable in any one of the five skulls
in the Lima Museum. Besides, the skull from the ruins of
Pachacamac, or the Temple of the Sun, seven leagues to the
south of this capital, which was deposited by me in the
Edinburgh Museum in the time of Professor Forbes, and to
which, last year, I drew Professor Allman's attention, has no
such peculiarity ; neither have two skulls from the Chinchas,
in the possession of Professor Simpson, the osteological pecu-
liarity in question, and therefore none such can be said to be
typical of the Peruvians as a race.*

* Since writing the above, I have been introdnced to Dr Charles Schena, of
the Imperial Aiutrian frigate " Novara." I directed his attention to Dr
Tshudi's statement; and since then I have seen him on his return from the

26 Peruvian Gleanings.

An ethnological inquiry of not less interest than the cra-
niological one, is, I think, the oriental origin of the ancient
Peruvians.

In a town on the coast of Peru, and in the province of
Lambayeque, called " Eten," there has existed from time im-
memorial an isolated community, that never liked to see stran-
gers among them, nor to intermarry beyond their own border.
They speak Spanish like the other natives of the coast, but
also use a special language not understood by other Indians
or inhabitants of Peru. It would not be allowable, perhaps,
on the grounds of language alone, to conclude that the people
of Eten were of diflferent origin from other Peruvians. The
Indians of Cusco, in the south, are not at this day well un-
derstood by the Indians of Cajamarca in the north ; yet both
these populations radically speak one Quichua language. In
the same way, a native of the Isle of Man and of Skye in the
Hebrides, though speaking radically the same Celtic tongue,
do not easily comprehend each other in colloquial intercourse.
But notwithstanding the speciality of a speech hitherto unique
in Peru, the inhabitants of Eten have no physical peculiarities
to distinguish them from the other native Indians of the coast ;
and accident has at length revealed the source of the unknown
language of Eten. Among the Chinese lately introduced to
Peru to occupy the place of the emancipated negro, it is ob-
servable, that natives of different remote provinces of that
great Eastern empire speak an idiom often diflfering so much,
as to make them unable to converse in Chinese ; but it has so
happened, that some of them having come in contact with a
native of Eten, they could understand each other. And thus
the special language of Eten is in reality a Chinese dialect,
and therefore the Peruvian Etenians are of Chinese origin.
The fact appears to be perfectly well attested, and is here
believed by people of the best information on the subject. I
have, the other day, seen in the family of Don Juan Rodrigues,
who was the first to introduce Chinese labourers into Peru in

ancient Temple of Pschaeamac, where he excavated skulls from the tombs.
He assures me that he has inspected at least fifty crania, and that none of
them presented the characteristics of a super-occipital or inter-parietal wor-
mian bone. He has nix fine specimens to speak for the Inca race in Europe.

Peruvian Gleanings. 27

the years 1849-50, an Indian girl from the neighbourhood of
Eten, and a Chinese from the neighbourhood of Pekin, so very
like in features that I took them for brother and sister. I
often amuse myself by contrasting the different countenances
of the Chinese of different provinces of China, when, on pay-
days, about eighty of them employed in paving the streets of
Lima meet at Mr Rodrigues' oflBce. This gentleman tells me
that the greater part of the Chinese imported to Peru are
from the north of China, especially from Shanghae, Amoy,
Loting, and some also from Canton, Macao, and other places.
Those with high cheek-bones and obliquely set eyes are said
to be principally from the interior of China, and owe their
special physiognomy to a mixture of the Tartar blood. But
the greater part of the Chinese introduced into Peru from the
above-named districts in China are, like our native Peruvians,
of Inca race, without this cast of countenance ; and I observe
that those who have it are often of shorter stature than others
of their countrymen. I have learned from landed proprietors
who employ the Chinese on their estates, that they bury their
dead with provisions for a future journey beyond the grave
to their native land, much according to the practice of the
ancient Peruvians. Mr Rodrigues further tells me, that they
also use in China religious images very similar to those found
in the ancient tumuli and tombs of Peru ; and altogether, it
is impossible to see them among our Indians, without being
struck by the strong family likeness between the two people.
In taking leave of this subject, I may mention, as a remark-
able coincidence, that the Peruvian skull from Pachacamac in
the Edinburgh Museum was there marked as a Malay speci-
men, a mistake no doubt originating in certain points of re-
semblance, though there could not be a doubt of its being Peru-
vian, as I took the precaution of writing in my own hand, on
the frontal bone, before presenting it to the Museum.

There is another point to which I would here advert, not
because it appears to me of transcendent importance in itself,
but as a curious instance of the facility with which even men
of science give credence to what is rare and wonderful, rather
than to what is probable — I mean the assertion that cats, car-
ried to the elevation of 13,000 feet, invariably sink, after being

28 Peruvian Gleanings.

seized with very singular shocks of tetanus. This supposed
fact I have seen quoted, upon the authority of Dr Tshudi,
by no less a philosopher than Baron Von Humboldt. Now,
since my return to this country a few months ago, I have
taken pains to ascertain whether the alleged fact is true, or
merely a special incident of travel greatly exaggerated and
expressed as a general fact. The result is, that at Tuctococha,
the mines of Dr Maclean, only ten minutes' walk beneath the
snow-line of the Western Cordillera, the central Andine range
of Peru, and far above 13,000 feet, cats live easily. In the
important city of Puno, in South Peru, at the elevation of
13,000 feet, there are probably as many cats as there are huts
or houses. In the province of Lampa, and department of
Puno, is situated one of the loftiest mountains of the Cordillera,
and which is called Pomaci. Near the summit of this snowy
Andine peak there are mines and miners' huts within the
region of perpetual snow ; and in every one of which there
is a cat, with this speciality, that all these cats are black.
This peculiarity I quote on the authority of General San Roman,
the present Minister of War in this country, and proprietor of
silver mines in the summit of Pomaci. Mr Basagoitea likewise,
at present Chief of the Custom-House department at Callao,
and lately Guano Commissioner in England, is a native of
Puno, and he assures me that not only in the city of Puno
and neighbourhood, but in much higher stations, as Huallata,
Apo, Rumihuasi, and Crucero a small Indian hamlet on the
confines of Peru and Bolivia, where it is so cold that the water
is carried as ice in baskets, the cat is a constant inmate of
the Indian's hut. Dr Destruge of Guayaquil, and Dr Espinoa
of Quito, have personally assured me that cats inhabit the
Indian huts on the Hacienda del Pedregal in the Chimborazo,
at the elevation of the snow-line. And to conclude all that I
would here advance on this topic, I may say that Dr Lorenti,
a well-known and highly esteemed man of science, who has
travelled over a great part of the Andes, assures me, that
wherever he found an Indian home, there he found the cat
domesticated. It only remains for me to say, that in this
country no one would for a moment distrust the witnesses I
have named, and that their evidence in this matter is fully

Peruxnan Gleanings. 29

ratified bj the concurrent testimony of all the miners and
Deputies of Congress from the Sierra, &c., with whom I hare
made it a subject of conversation, as a point interesting to
European men of science.

On the Goitre and Cretinism in the Cordillera.

I have seen it stated that the highest elevations of these
diseases on the Cordillera is 14,100 feet. One would
think that such precision of statement should be grounded
upon exact observation. Before leaving Edinburgh for Peru
in November last, I had an opportunity of expressing my
doubts on the subject to the author of that valuable work
— the Physical Atlas. With the frankness and candour
becoming his position in science, I found him most will-
ing to receive the few hints which my long experience of
Peru authorized me to offer on this topic. I therefore con-
clude, that the brief notice I can offer in illustration of the
habitat of goitre and cretinism in our Andine climates may
not be altogether useless in the present state of European
knowledge on the subject. Goitre may be met with at the
specified elevation of 14,100 feet, or at 15,000 feet, but only
in travellers or visitors at the mines, &c., from the valleys
where the disease is endemic. In all the inter- Cordillera warm
valleys of Peru, looking eastward, goitre more or less exists ;
and the usual mode of getting rid of it in recent cases is, to
abandon the warm climate of the sheltered valley for the cool
table lands or cold heights of the Cordillera. In the region
of the Andes, where cold prevails all the year through, goitre
is never endemic ; and cretinism is very rare in Peru, even
in those parts where goitre abounds. Thus, in the valleys of
Cusco and Huanuco, those affected with goitre are generally
as acute in mind as those that are free of this malady. I
understand the same is generally the case in Sucre, the capital
of Bolivia, where goitre is common in some districts and
not in others — a difference ascribed to the quality of the water.
Dr Lorenti, who long resided in Huancayo, says that goitre
contracted there, is removed by a change to the cooler climate
of Juaja, a few leagues distant ; that the town of Concepcion,

30 Peruvian Gleanings.

five leagues from Juaja, has goitre, whereas La Geronimo, only
one league to the south of Concepcion, has it not — an immunity
ascribed to the good water of the latter locality. In the
warmer and lower districts to the east of Juaja, and also in
the mild climates of Andamayllas, there are very largely
developed goitres ; and those affected by them are, by Dr
Lorenti's account, often dull and stupid, and their children
generally deaf and dumb, and are called " Upas" or " Opas," in
the Indian Quichua tongue. But of all parts of Peru the
remote province of Patas is the most infected with goitre, and
even cretinism. This province, more than any other part of
the Sierra of Peru, consists of uneven broken ground — succes-
sions of high hills and deep hot valleys, in which the sugar-
cane and tropical fruits are freely produced. The town of
Patas, the ancient capital of the province of the same name,
is a mining place, from which silver, gold, and gold-washings
are exported. The temperature of this auriferous town is
warm throughout the year ; and though it rains abundantly
from October to April, during the dry season it is entirely free
from frost. Its population is estimated at 150. The town
rises on each side, from the bottom of the valley, like an amphi-
theatre, and is divided by a small ravine into two parts. On
one side of this natural boundary almost all are said to have
goitre, many among them deaf and dumb, and also idiotic
and ill-shaped, as well as ugly. On the opposite side of the
ravine or rivulet, the goitre is not only less in size, but much
less frequent. On the side where the malady abounds, the
people drink spring-water ; while on the side that it prevails
least, they drink from running water. At a distance of one
league from the town there is a supply of brackish water, and
those who drink of it are free from goitre, and it is a cure
for those afflicted with it. The above account I repeat on the
authority of Mr and Mrs Marcos, — the governor and his lady,
— of the district of the Marabou de Conchucos. Two months
past I attended this lady at the Italian Hotel in Lima, and
cured her of endemic goitre, which she had contracted during
eight months' residence in Patas, where her husband had
mines. Finding that both she and her husband and their
daughter j(ten years old) became afiected with goitre, they

Peruvian Gleanings. 31

abandoned their mines, and retired to the colder regions, where
Mr Marcos and his child recovered, and the goitre became
much reduced in herself. I should from all these facts con-
clude, that in the Andine valleys of Peru goitre is never endemic
above an elevation of from 9000 to 10,000 feet ; and that if acci-
dentally met with in the Cordillera, it must have been contracted
elsewhere. I may add on this subject information received
by me regarding other parts of the American Continent : for
example, Dr Dertruge (a most competent authority, as one of
the medical attendants of the army of Bolivar in Venezuela,
New Grenada, and Ecuador) tells me that he has seen some
cases of goitre, and even of cretinism, in the warm district of
Riobamba, and in the mild climates of the Quebradas, or glens
of the hill lands of Quenca, less elevated than that of Quito ;
but that in New Grenada he has seen goitre of so enormous
a size as nearly to conceal the face, and also cases of cretinism,
especially in the provinces of Locovio, Marequita, and Ocana,
but only in warm climates, never in the Cordillera, where it
appears incapable of development. Dr Lorenti confirms these
statements.

On the Vestiges of Extinct Glaciers in the Lake Districts of
Cumberland and Westmoreland. Part I. By Edward
Hull, A.B., F.G.S. With two Plates.

In the following pages I propose to describe the principal
effects referable to glacial agency along the southern water-
shed of the range of mountains stretching from Bowfell on
the west to High Street on the east ; reserving for, I hope, a
future occasion, the like phenomena of the northern slopes.

This primary line of watershed passes across most of the
highest points of the central chain along the limits of the two
shires, and is a serious obstacle to intercommunication between
the northern and southern districts, the lowest of the passes
by which it is crossed — Dunmail Raise, at the head of Gras-
mere, being 725 feet above the sea. This watershed was once
the snowshed of two systems of glaciers, which, flowing in op-
posite directions, drained the snowfields of Scawfell, Bowfell,

82 Edward Hull on the

Helvellyn, Fairfield, and High Street, with their accompany-
ing heights.*

The Highlands of Britain and Ireland are generally recog-
nised as having been the seats of glaciers during the Post-
pliocene Period of the Northern Drift ; but the mountains and
valleys of North "Wales have alone been treated in a syste-
matic manner by more than one author,! while the probably
no less interesting regions of Cumberland and Westmoreland,
the Killarney mountains in Ireland, and the Scottish High-
lands, in all of which the traces of extinct glaciers are re-
markably distinct, are almost virgin soil, as far as this part
of their history is concerned.

In the case of the Lake District of England, observers are
still sadly in want of maps on a sufficiently large scale, and
having the physical features accurately portrayed. The
maps of the Ordnance Survey may, however, soon be expected
for "Westmoreland ; and with the contour lines of the "six-inch"
scale, observations on the glacial and drift phenomena (which
are so closely connected with relative and actual elevations)
will be much facilitated. Mr J. Ruthven's Geological Map,
in which the formations are traced according to the classifi-
cation of Professor Sedgwick, is generally accurate as re-
gards the geological boundaries, but is defective in the shad-
ing, a defect which is painfully felt when dealing with the
local causes which have guided the movements of old ice-
streams.

Northern Drift. — The Carboniferous district of Lancashire,
stretching southward from Morecambe Bay, is covered by a
thick accumulation of gravel, generally in a matrix of Boulder
clay, often forming terraces along the banks of rivers to a
depth of 100 feet. This gravel, with boulders of all sizes, is
formed of the detritus of the mountainous district [imme-
diately northward ; and along with blocks of slate, grit, and

• For fuller descriptions of the physical features and geological structure
of the Lake District, see the Memoirs of Professor Sedgwick and Mr W. Hop-
kins, in the Transactions of the Geological Society, London.

t Dr Buckland, Mr Darwin, and more recently Professor Kamsay, who, in a
recent work of the Alpine Club, " Peaks, Passes, and Glaciers," has described
in great detail the glacial vestiges of the Snowdon range.

I 'eatiges of Extinct Glaciers. 33

porphyry, there are included, south of Kendal, boulders of
Carboniferous limestone from the hills of that formation, which
form the advanced outposts of the mountains towards the south.
I mention these blocks particularly for this reason, that they
are derived from ranges of hills too low ever to have been the
seat of glaciers, so that their presence, so far from their pa-
rent masses, must be due either to the transporting power of
shore ice, or to their having become imbedded in the bergs of
ice which, as shall presently be shown, drifted down from the
loughs and fiords of the interior.

On approaching the valley of Windermere, the depth of the
Drift as a whole decreases ; and, owing to the irregularity of
its bed, it occurs in force only in the hollows and along the
flanks of the valleys. As we trace it towards the mountains,
it loses its stratified aspect, and becomes a chaotic accumula-
tion of rock fragments, generally rounded or sub-angular, fre-
quently striated and imbedded in a base of mud, covering the
flanks of the hills to a height of about 800 feet. At the head
of the valley of Windermere it forms somewhat terraced sur-
faces, distinguishing it from moraines, which in this district
almost invariably occur as an aggregation of rounded heaps,
differing altogether from any form assumed by marine Drift.

The shape of the moraines, such as that of the valleys of
Easdale, Grisedale, and at the head of Langdale, is indeed quite
peculiar, resembling a collection of large barrows ; and it is
a point on which I am still in doubt, whether their present
aspect is that which they originally assumed, or whether it is
due to atmospheric agencies.

Rock- surfaces. — The hills of Ireleth slate and Coniston
grit, which enclose the lakes of Coniston, Esthwaite, and
Windermere, in striking contrast to the rugged outline of the
mountains of " chloritic slate and porphyry" (Professor Sedg-
wick) of the interior, have received a rounded and undulating
outline. The Coniston flags, however, which form an inter-
mediate zone, from their extreme liability to split along the
planes of jointage, cleavage, and bedding, frequently rise in
small serried ridges, running parallel to the strike (north-east
to south-west).

The cause of this rounded outline may, 1 think, be clearly

NKW SERIES. VOL. XI. NO. 1. JAN. 1860. C

34 Edward Hull on the

traced to the wearing and grinding agency of ice, not in the
form of glaciers, but as floating bergs. On close examination,
the rock-surfaces are found resolving themselves into rounded
and oval bosses, frequently grooved and striated in lines ra-
diating from the interior mountains.

These appearances must be due to the wearing action of
floating ice ; for, independently of other considerations, it is
impossible to suppose that this comparatively low-lying dis-
trict was overspread by one broad sheet of ice as a glacier.
This moulded form of rock surface prevails at least as far
south as Kendal and the southern extremity of Windermere.
The striations and groovings range towards the south, scarcely
ever deviating more than 20° from the meridian ; but, as re-
marked by Professor Ramsay in the case of the striated sur-
faces of North Wales, it is only when the natural covering of
detritus or turf has been recently removed that the finer stria-
tions become apparent. In general, the oval or rounded forms
of the naked rock — even where it stands, and has stood for
ages, prominently out of reach of all protection — is faithfully
preserved, while the finer ice-marks have yielded to atmo-
spheric erosion acting along the planes of cleavage (see fig. 1).
The hollows are generally filled with drift-gravel in a base of
red clay, with boulders of porphyry, which sometimes rest as
perched blocks on the slates and grits of the Coniston series.
As particular points where the striations may le observed, I
may mention the Coniston road, above Hawkshearl ; the
porphyritic rocks, both on the east and west flanks of Skel-
with Fell ; a remarkably fine example on the Coniston road,
half a mile south of Brathay Church ; and several positions in
the '• Old Hundred" of Troutbeck, above Ambleside.

Passing now to the consideration of the glacial vestiges of
the higher valleys, I shall describe them under the two heads
in which they appear naturally to arrange themselves in a
glacial point of view.

Ist, Those valleys which have been channels both for float-
ing ice and glaciers.

2d, Those which have been occupied by glaciers only.

The first class comprises the lower and larger valleys of
the mountainous district, as Windermere, Coniston, Little

Ventiges of Extinct Glaciers. 35

and Great Langdale, Ambleside, Grasmere and Troutbeck.
They all exemplify glacial phenomena ; but, with the excep-
tion of their higher reaches, they do not appear to have been
occupied by glaciers. For reasons presently to be stated, I at-
tribute these phenomena solely to the action of ice floating
down these channels when they were occupied by the glacial sea.

In treating of these valleys 1 shall commence with that of
the Rotha, which was the first to come under my observation,
and which forms the principal prolongation of the great valley
of Windermere.

Valley of the Rotha {Ambleside and Grasmere). — At the
head of Windermere, the grooved surfaces— of which T have
already given examples — are continued into the valley of the
Rotha, and rise on its flanks to a height of about 400 feet
above the level of the river, as may be observed along the road
to Kirkstone Pass, above Ambleside. All along the alluvial
bed of the valley, from Ambleside to a considerable distance
beyond Grasmere, the examples of well-formed roches mou-
tonnees are both numerous and striking (fig. 1), On one
of these ice-worn bosses, fluted and grooved with striations
ranging due south, the new church of Ambleside has been
erected ; and grouped around are several fine examples. One
feature in these bosses deserves special notice. When viewed
sideways, they appear as prostrate cones or wedges pointing
up the valley, or nearly north ; thus proving the movement of
the ice to have been from north to south. These bosses are at
an elevation of 130 feet above the sea.

On the road to Patterdale, at an elevation of about 600
feet, the striations are exactly parallel to those of the bottom
of the valley, though they cross transversely the ridge which
divides Stockdale from Scandale, a proof that the direction
of motion was here independent of the form of the valley.
Higher up, by the sides of Rydal and Grasmere lakes, the
striations are parallel to the longitudinal axis of the valley.
The flanks are covered with Drift to an elevation of about 400
feet above Grasmere. In some places this formation presents
a slightly terraced surface ; and its generally smoothed and
undulating slopes, similar to those which the Drift assumes in
Lancashire and Cheshire, show that it is a truly marine de-

36 Edward Hull on the

posit, and not to be classed with the products of subserial
glaciers. It may be traced from Windermere valley into those
of Stockdale, Troutbeck, and Scandale, gradually ascending
along their^ sides till it passes into moraine gravel, at an ave-
rage elevation of 850 to 900 feet.

In composition and want of arrangement this marine Drift
resembles moraine matter, of .which it is indeed only another
form. It is to be recollected, however, that neither the cir-
cumstances under which it was deposited, nor the materials
themselves, were favourable to the development of planes of
bedding. It is composed of gravel and boulders, angular and
rounded, polished and striated, imbedded in a matrix of clay
of various hues, from dull brown to deep red and purple. This
latter colour prevails much in the glacial accumulations of the
higher valleys ; and I could not but recollect, in connection
therewith, the red colour of the boulder-clay of Lancashire.
On close examination, it was evident that the clay itself was
formed by the trituration and decomposition of the felspathic
rocks of the mountains.

Several fine examples of roches moutonnees occur above
Grasmere — lying as cones, or inclined planes, with their
apices pointing up the valley ; and when we enter Easdale,
and examine the surfaces of the rocks on both sides of the
valley along the western flank of Helm Crag, it is impossible
not to be struck with the ice-moulded forms which they as-
sume up to an elevation of about 1000 feet.

Great Langdale. — The glaciated aspect of the rocks at the
entrance to this valley is conspicuous, especially along the
flank of Skelwith Fell. About half a mile from Brathay
Church, on the Coniston road, the surface of the " Coniston
flags" has been bared for several yards, and exhibits a system
of parallel flutings and striations, ranging S.S.E. This, within
the limits of a few degrees, is the invariable direction of the
striation south of the Brathay, and is independent of the form
of the ground. The ice has pursued the same southerly
course, whether ascending along the flanks of Skelwith Fell
and Oxen Fell, or crossing the more depressed district at the
head of Windermere ; and it is astonishing how completely
the inequalities of the ground seem to have been ignored.

Vestiges of Extinct Glaciers. 37

An interesting section in Boulder-clay occurs N.W. of Lough-
rigg Tarn; it is of a deep red colour, resting on a grooved sur-
face of felspar porphyry. The chloritic slates, which form the
flanks of Great Langdale along the northern shore of Elter
Water, are remarkably ice-moulded and grooved, to an eleva-
tion of 650 feet above the lake. Along the bottom of the
valley roches moutonnees protrude, and boulders are abun-
dantly strewn over the surface. The striae range E. 10° S. in
the line of the axis of the valley. At the village of Langdale,
ice-moulded, polished, and fluted surfaces are remarkably
fresh; and I would here remark, that the fine-grained slates of
this part of Langdale exhibit the glacial striations in greater
perfection than the harder trap-rocks of other parts, the latter
having sufiered more by weathering along the planes of cleav-
age. The oval and generally glaciated surfaces are suffi-
ciently evident in the bedded porphyry which sets in above
the village, but the fine groovings and striations are seldom
exhibited.

Langdale Moraine. — Although the bottom and sides of
Langdale present frequent instances of perched and strewn
blocks and accumulations of gravel, there does not appear
to be any object which might not have been produced hj float-
ing ice, until we arrive within half a mile of its upper extre-
mity. Indeed, the ascent of this valley is so very gradual
that it is improbable glacial ice could have moved along it ;
and the upper limit of the ice-worn surface seems to preserve
a perfect level along the sides of the valley, which may be
distinctly traced by the eye, from some positions above Elter
Water, at G50 to 700 feet above that lake. Combining these
circumstances with the fact that we meet with no undoubted
instance of a moraine till we approach the head of the vale, it
appears to me the more probable supposition, that the glacial
evidences of this valley (as already stated) are attributable to
the action of icebergs floating down when it was filled by an
arm of the sea, to a level of about 1000 feet

On approaching the ascent to the Stake Pass, at a height,
of about 500 feet, we meet with a well-defined moraine, formed
of large rounded mounds of gravel, and strewn with boulders.
This moraine at one time probably crossed the entire valley.

88 Edward Hull on the

and must have produced a lake, till the mountain torrent, which
everywhere has left evidences of its power, hewed for itself the
channel which it now occupies. Although at so low an ele-
vation, this moraine to all appearance has never been covered
by the sea, and is one of several proofs that the glaciers have
occupied the valleys after the sea had retired. (PI. I., fig. 3.)

The head of the valley is surrounded by a steep though not
vertical wall of felspar porphyry and slate, stretching from
the northern shoulder of Bowfell to the Langdale Pikes. The
Stake Pass crosses the lowest portion of the ridge at an eleva-
tion of about 1500 feet, and forms a portion of the central
watershed. On reaching the level of the pass, I was surprised
to find the whole surface covered by mounds of gravel and
boulders, extending some distance down the valley towards
Borrowdale, and bounded by the crags of the northern shoulder
of Bowfell (see Plate I., fig. 2). It is not improbable that this
may be the terminal moraine of a glacier which descended along
the higher reaches of the Derwent ; but its occurrence in such
a position appears to me not easily accounted for. The aspect
of this moraine resembles a vast collection of tumuli ; and
fancy might well point to it as the sepulchre of a battle-
field.

Plate I., fig. 3, represents the relative positions of the mo-
raines of Great Langdale and of the Stake Pass.

Little Langdale. — Towards its head, Little Langdale parts
into three branches. The north branch leads up to Blea Tarn,
and contains fine examples of rochea moutonnees, perched
blopks, boulders, and glacial striations. These last, near the
Tarn, point S.E. down the valley.

The central branch contains a well-formed moraine (Plate 11.
fig. 4), which probably at one time formed an embankment
across the valley, in which case it would have produced a
lake ; but the mountain torrent has scooped a channel between
the southern side of the moraine and the mammillated bosses
of porphyry which form the ridge.

The southern branch skirts the base of Wetherlam ; and,
judging by the remarkably smoothed and grooved surfaces of
its flanks, has been subjected to an intense degree of glacial
action. Around the copper works, the striations are visible

Vestiges of Extinct Glaciers. 39

at many points, and range nearly due east, in the direction of
the valley. This direction is continuous beyond Little Lang-
dalo Tarn ; but here the boundary-ridge is interrupted by an
opening trending southward, and immediately the striations
bend round in that direction. The flanks of Oxen Fell and
Skelwith Fell also exhibit the southerly striations ; and it is
evident, from this and similar instances, that some injluence
had been constantly acting upon the ice, forcing it to the
southward. Where the ice has held an easterly course, it is
due entirely to the elevation of the ridges which bound the
valleys. If we suppose these influences to have been either
prevalent north winds or currents of the sea, it is an addi-
tional evidence that the glaciation of these valleys has been
produced hj floating ice, up to a certain level.

Stockdale. — The flanks of this and the adjoining valleys of
Scandale, Rydale, and Troutbeck, are overspread by a hete-
rogeneous accumulation of gravel and boulders in a matrix of
red and gray clay, which towards the lower parts of the val-
leys assumes a somewhat terraced aspect. I have already
stated that this is probably not true moraine matter, but the
incipient form of marine Drift. Towards the head of Stock-
dale, however, at a height of 950 or 1000 feet, it passes into
a true moraine, which occupies the head of Kirkstone Pass
(1200 feet), and extends down on the northern side into Pat-
terdale for about 300 yards. On this side the moraine is
more perfectly formed than on the side of Stockdale, and con-
sists of the usual assemblage of rounded mounds of gravel,
with strewn and perched blocks, covering polished surfaces of
cleaved felspar porphyry. I do not think, however, that the
remarkable block from which the pass derives its name is a
true glacier-perched, block, but has fallen from the crags
which bound the pass.

This is the last of the valleys which I shall attempt to de-
scribe on the southern side of the watershed. The descrip-
tion of those on the northern side I propose reserving for a
future occasion ; and shall content myself with remarking, that
the great valleys of that part of the district exhibit similar
phenomena, the striations and course of the ice having been
northward. Thus the flanks of Grisedale, one of the wildest

40 Edward Hull on the

gorges in the Lake District, having its sources in the heart of
Helvellyn, are ice-moulded up to an average elevation of 600
feet or more above the bed of the river. There are also re-
markable examples of perched blocks of huge size, and well-
defined, if not extensive, lateral moraines. That this valley
has been the trough of a glacier, extending almost to its en-
trance, there is the clearest evidence, in the existence of a
large terminal moraine. The elevation above the sea of this
moraine is not more than 550 or 600 feet ; and its position is
within a short distance of the entrance into Patterdale and
the head of Ulleswater (380 feet). The moraine is about a
quarter of a mile in length, and formerly extended right across
the valley ; but the impetuous mountain torrent has hewn a
channel, and has levelled the ground for a breadth of 100
yards. This glacier, extending from Grisedale Tarn to the
terminal moraine, was three miles in length, with an average
breadth of 400 yards ; and, judging from the height of the
polished surfaces along the flanks of the valley, 600 to 800
feet in depth.

If I have hesitated in the cases of the valleys of Langdale,
Grasmere, Rydale, Stockdale, and Troutbeck, to admit of the
existence of glaciers occupying their entire lengths, I certainly
have no such hesitation in the case of Grisedale, where the
terminal moraine, placed near the very mouth, leaves no room
for scepticism. In the case of the former valleys, the well-
defined moraines are situated near their heads ; and the glacial
phenomena which are exhibited along the bottom and sides
of these valleys, and extended beyond into the open country,
being such as are known to be producable by the action of
floating ice, I am disposed to refer them to this agency.
Without entering upon the question whether the valleys of
the first class may not, at an earlier stage of the glacial epoch,
have been occupied by glaciers, I only here maintain, that
the marks of the former presence of ice are such as are capable
of being produced by bergs floating down from glaciers which
precipitated themselves into the sea, as in Tierra del Fuego,
and, at a former period, in Scandinavia, where the rock sur-
faces along the fiords are grooved and ice- worn to and below
the water's edge.

Vestiges of Extinct Glaciers. 41

The two great facts to which the glacial evidences of the
Lake District (as far as I have observed) appear to point are
these : first, that the sea stood at a level sufficient to float ice
charged with boulders over ridges and hills, which are now at
elevations of 800 to 900 feet ; and, secondly, that after the
sea had retired, glaciers descended the valleys as low as 500
feet above the present sea-level.

The reader will therefore bear in mind that I have not
now entered upon the question of any changes previous to
these, the most recent and most apparent.

Tarns. — The production of tarns, or small mountain-lakes,
by the agency either of moraines forming embankments, or
by the scooping action of glacier ice, has been illustrated in
the case of the High Alps and North Wales by Professor
Ramsay.* Not less satisfactory are the examples of this
kind in the " Lake District," where these lonely basins of
water abound ; and distinguishing between tarns and the
larger and less elevated sheets to which the term " lakes" more
properly belong, I think we may safely assert that there is
scarcely one of the former in whose production glacial ice has
not been concerned. Indeed, as a scientific distinction, it
might be advisable to restrict the term " tarn" to those lakes
which can be traced to the formation of glacial agency.

Of the tarns belonging to the Southern Watershed, per-
haps the most interesting examples, as connected with glacial
vestiges, are Stickle Tarn, Easdale Tarn, and Blea Tarn, which
I shall describe in this order: —

Stickle Tarn. — This basin is fed by a stream which
descends a gorge scooped out along the north-eastern flank of
the Langdale Pikes. The sloping ledges of porphyry, which
form a conspicuous feature at the upper sources of the brook,
are striated E. and W. in the direction of the valley ; and
at an elevation of about 1800 feet, lateral moraine shingle,
formed of deep red gravelly clay, with perched blocks, is
strewn along the flanks. The tarn, which reposes at the lower
end of this valley, is bounded through half its circumference
by a wall of precipitous cliffs, whose extremities are united by

* Quar. Jour. Geol. 800.. vol. viii., Ac, " P«»akJi, Panea, and Glaciers," .3d edit.
NEW SERIES. VOL. XI. NO. I. JAN. 1860. D

42 Edward Hull on the

a well-defined moraine — thus forming and completing the
basin. The interior edge of the moraine is but slightly curved,
and forms rather the chord of the arc. It consists, as usual,
of large mounds of gravel and clay, on which boulders lie
scattered in all positions ; and over the south-eastern extre-
mity of the moraine, the brook to which the tarn gives birth
leaps forth, and is precipitated in a succession of cascades into
Langdale. From the ice-worn character of the rock surfaces
along the sides of the tarn, it may easily be inferred that the
glacier which deposited the moraine, and thus became the
primary agent in the formation of the tarn, at one time cas-
caded down the declivities.

But in this remarkable little tarn, there is an object almost
unique in its kind, and which the tourist frequently notices
without being aware of its true meaning. At about the centre
of the tarn, a smooth, oval boss of rock, about twelve feet in
length, rises about two feet above the water at its centre. On
this is perched a natural monument of the transporting agency
of ice in the form of a boulder, nearly round, and (judging at
a distance of 100 yards) about four feet in diameter (Plate
II. fig. 5). It has a most singular effect, thus placed in solitude,
and isolated, by a circular sheet of still water, from the
blocks, which strew the banks of the tarn in profusion. By
its permanence in so critical a position, it shows how com-
pletely the lake has been protected from storms, and from
changes in the level, as a combination of these circumstances
would probably have long since swept the block into the
dep.ths of the lake.

Easdale Tarn. — Crossing to the east, over a tract of rocky
ground of an elevation of about 2000 feet, we arrive at the
edge of the deep basin which incloses Easdale Tarn. That
the valley of Easdale was occupied by a glacier, there is un-
doubted evidence on all hands. A moraine of large dimen-
sions stretches out from the base of the crags above the tarn,
and threatens to block the valley, which perhaps it once did.
The flanks of the valley arc strewn with boulders and perched
blocks of huge dimensions ; and the dark mammillated masses
of trap are conspicuous, especially south of the lower end of
the tarn, where they resemble the upturned sides of a ship,

Vestiges of Extinct Glaciers. 43

grooved with glacial strioo ranging east, visible even at a dis-
tance when the beams of the western sun glance athwart their
flanks. This smoothed and ice-moulded character of the
rocks is apparent to the junction of the valley with that of
Grasmere ; and is also exhibited along the flanks of Helm
Crag, which forms the boundary of the valley on the north-
east side. It is probable that the lower end of the glacier
entered the head of Grasmere valley by the channel at the
foot of Helm Crag, while a portion of the ice lined the summits
of the clifi"8 over which the waters of Sour Milk Ghyll are
precipitated, and thus assumed on a smaller scale the appear-
ance of the lower extremity of the " Glacier des Bois."

I have already referred to the moraine at the head of Eas-
dale Tarn. A second and less elevated moraine, partly sup-
ported by a ridge of ice-worn trap, strewn with boulders, forms
an embankment to the lower end of the lake itself. The
brook has worn a channel to a depth of 100 feet into the mo-
raine without reaching the solid rock, so that it is probable
that the lake rose higher before the channel was worn to its
present depth; and as the process proceeds, it may sink lower.

The perched blocks on the mountain sides along the southern
flanks of Easdale are remarkable. They may be seen at ele-
vations of nearly 2000 feet (estimated) ; and one example,
conspicuous at some distance on descending from the tarn
towards Sour Milk Ghyll, occupies so critical a position on
a shelving ledge, that had the district ever experienced an
earthquake, it would infallibly have been precipitated into the
valley below.

Dlea Tarn. — This little sheet of water occupies a hollow
near the pass between the two Langdale valleys. On the east
and west the basin is, bounded by lofty crags, whose surfaces
are glaciated to a height of 250 feet above the tarn. On de-
scending from the tarn towards the main valley, the examples
of roches moutonnees and perched blocks are numerous and
well pronounced. The striations range S. 20° E. A ridge
of these ice-moulded bosses of porphyry stretches across the
lower or southern side of Blea Tarn, and at first appears to
be the agent in banking up the lake ; but on following the
ridge to the spot where the brook escapes, it will be found that

44 On the Vestiges of Extinct Okbciers.

the lake is really due to a small moraine, which fills up a gap
between the ridge just mentioned and the rock surfaces at the
west side of the tarn. Rock in situ does not reach the bed
of the brook till it has fallen over several feet vertically of
moraine gravel, and boulders.

There are two other little tarns which I visited — those of
Grisedale and Loughrigg — whose formation does not appear to
be attributable to moraines, as they are completely surrounded
by solid rock basins. In the case of Grisedale Tarn, from its
situation near the head of a pass or watershed, and partly
inclosed by steep and high cliffs, it may not improbably
afford an instance of the ''scooping^* power of ice or snow
when charged with fragments of rock, to which Professor
Ramsay has referred the existence of some of the mountain
lakes of Wales.

To recapitulate. The facts here detailed appear to show —

1. That there have been glaciers at different levels, descend-
ing as low as 500 or 600 feet after the retirement of the sea
which deposited the Drift.

2. That the Drift-sea rose at least as high as 1000 feet,
probably much more.

3. That many of the tarns owe their formation to embank-
ments of moraine gravel.

4. I infer — that (for reasons stated above) the glaciation of
the larger and less elevated valleys, together with the hilly
districts south of the mountainous tracts, is due to floating
ice of the Drift-period, in the form of bergs and coast ice.

5. That there were at this period some agents, whether cur-
rents or winds, or both, impelling the icebergs southward, so
that they always moved in that direction, unless prevented by
barriers.

It is only proper to state in conclusion, that not being fur-
nished with an instrument for measuring altitudes, some of the
numbers in the above pages are only estimations. However,
as there are many positions — as the summits of the mountains,
the more marked prominences and passes, the surfaces of the
lakes, &c. — the elevations of which are well known, the author
had frequent data to guide him, and feels confident that the
numbers stated are close approximations to the reality.

45

On the Application of certain Laws of Heat and Com-
bustion to the Use and Economy/ of Fuel. Being the
substance of a Paper read before the Aberdeen Philo-
sophical Society y Wth February 1859. By Alexander
D. Milne.

By Combustion is usually meant the chemical combina-
tion of two or more bodies with the evolution of light and
heat. Our present inquiry refers to combustion effected for
the production of heat by means of ordinary fuel.

There are two modes in which this subject may be inves-
tigated. We may begin with first principles and ascertained
scientific data, and from these descend to general laws and
rules for practical guidance ; or we may set out by compar-
ing those conditions under which good or bad results have
been attained in practice, and thus arrive at general rules
which shall be applicable wherever the same conditions or
circumstances recur.

The former method we intend chiefly to follow, and shall
endeavour to show that many valuable data have been attained
by careful scientific research ; that they admit of very wide
application ; and that the deductions are of the highest practi-
cal importance to all who employ fuel as a source of heat.

Both the modes of investigation referred to have been ably
followed out by Drs Ronalds and Richardson. It is here
intended to view the subject in a somewhat different aspect;
reducing the more important points to a systematic form, and
calling attention to some phases of the inquiry which are not
generally understood, although they appear to be of great im-
portance. To illustrate our meaning, we may refer to Table
111., in which is shown the inseparable connection between
Draught, Initial Temperature, and Economy of Fuel.

The substances generally used as fuel are wood and coal
in all their varieties. They owe their heating powers to one
or both of two simple substances — to carbon, or to carbon
and hydrogen. The heat is evolved as an accompaniment
or result of the combination of the oxygen of the atmosphere

40 On the Application of certain Laws of Heat and

mth the combustible. With carbon, the resulting compound
is carbonic acid COj, a transparent colourless gas; with
hydrogen, the result is water HO, in a state of vapour. The
nitrogen of the air passes along with these gases, not altered
farther than by being heated to the same temperature as the
carbonic acid and vapour of water.

Atmospheric air contains 23 per cent, oxygen and 77 per
cent, nitrogen by weight.

The transformation that occurs in the combustion of carbon
may be thus represented, atomically : —

Carbon, 1 atom = 6* 1 Products of Combustion.

Atmos. air, f Oxygen, 2 atoms = 16- J Carbonic Acid, = 22"
containing ( Nitrogen, 63-6 Nitrogen, 53*6

75-6 75-6

Or, assuming carbon as unity, —

Carbon, 1' 1 Products.

. . . . r Oxygen, 2-667 J Carbonic Acid, 3-667

Air, contaming ^ j^jt^ogen, 8933 Nitrogen, 8-933

12-6 12-6

In the case of hydrogen, the atom of which is represented
by unity, we have, —

Hydrogen, 1* ) Products.

.. ,. . (Oxygen, 8- j Water, 9-000

Air, containmg | j^i//„g,„^ 268 Nitrogen, 26-800

35-8 35-8

Hydrogen therefore requires, as compared with an equal
weight of carbon, three times as much oxygen, and conse-
quently three times as much air.

When we use the term "perfect combustion," we mean
that these combinations have occurred.

But combustion may be imperfect The carbon, or part,
may be separated as soot ; or if, while the carbon is at an
intense heat, the supply of air be suddenly diminished, the
oxygen may combine with two atoms carbon instead of one,
and thus form carbonic oxide CO, instead of carbonic acid
COj. Or the hydrogen and carbon, where both arc present,

Combustion to the Use and Economy of Fuel. 47

may combine, forming hydrocarbons, such as tarry vapours,
coal-gas, &c. ; or the hydrogen may escape unconsumed. At
present, however, we shall consider the laws which are con-
nected with the perfect combustion of carbon and hydrogen
separately.

The data relative to the calculations are given in Table I.,
which explains itself in so far. In columns 5 to 10, the
temperature 60° is assumed as the mean ; and 32° as that
from which it is usual to calculate the expansion of gases by
heat.

Columns 13 to IG, relating to specific heat, are of great
importance. When we cool different gaseous, liquid, or solid
bodies, they give out different quantities of heat; which,
expressed numerically, are called specific heats. Two stan-
dards are used for comparison — air and water ; to the latter
we shall adhere in subsequent calculations. If water is
assumed as I'OOO, air is '2669 ; that is, water requires nearly
four times as much caloric to raise its temperature any given
number of degrees as is required by air.

The specific heats, by different observers, vary to some
extent. We give those generally adopted. It yet remains
to be determined whether specific heat continues constant at
all temperatures: experiments by MM. Dulong and Petit
would seem to indicate that at high temperatures, say 1000",
gases require more caloric to raise their temperature than at
low temperatures.

The heating powers in column 17 are by Andrews, and are
expressed in parts by weight of water heated 1° Fahr. by the
caloric generated in the combustion of 1 part by weight of
the combustible. The data may be relied on, as the results
for carbon by Despretz, Grassi, and Andrews, vary only 2
per cent. ; and for hydrogen, the results by Dulong, Hess,
Crawford, Grassi, Fabre and Selbermann, and Andrews, vary
only 8 per cent.

The results for compound combustibles, such as olefiant
gas, containing both carbon and hydrogen, approach closely
to the theoretical results as calculated from the separate
heating powers of their components. Column 18 shows the
approximation in the cases of olefiant and light carburetted

48 On the Application of certain Laws of Heat and

hydrogen gases. In most treatises on fuel, the subject is
rendered unnecessarily intricate by assigning to each hydro-
carbon a separate heating power. They should evidently be
regarded as mixtures of so much hydrogen with so much
gaseous carbon, because, in their ordinary combustion, they
are previously decomposed by the influence of heat into their
two elements, which burn in succession ; as in the case of
illuminating gas.

Carbon as a Source of Heat.

More or less pure, it is met with in various forms, as fuel.
We will proceed to give the particulars of its "perfect com-
bustion," in a tabular form, and also examine some of the
phenomena which attend its application to heating purposes.

In Table II., the process of combustion, without reference
to its application, is represented.

All the caloric generated is regarded as being present
in the products of combustion — viz., the carbonic acid and
nitrogen. The mean specific heat of this gaseous mixture
is found in column 8; in order to ascertain the temperature to
which it is raised, as in column 11 ; and the total amount of
sensible heat it contains, as in column 10.

As regards column 10, experimenters having ascertained
that the caloric generated by 1 part carbon heats 14,220
parts water (specific heat 1-000) 1° Fahr., it becomes a simple
matter to find how many parts of the products of combustion
(specific heat -2596) will be raised 1" Fahr. -2596 : 1-000
: : 14,220 : 54,776; which may either be regarded as parts
heated 1°, or one part heated 54,776°, if such were possible.

To find the temperature, column 11, we have to consider —
If the heat generated is such as will raise 1 lb. of the gaseous
products 54,776°, what will be the temperature, seeing that the
weight of these products is 12-6 lb. Thus,— 54,776° -f- 12-6
= 4347°, which is the intensity of temperature produced, sup-
posing no loss by radiation or conduction, and the specific
heats to be the same at high temperatures as at low.

Effect of Excess of Air. — We have seen that 1 lb. carbon
in being burned requires 11-6 lb. air, and that the temperature

Combustion to the Use and Economy of Fuel. 49

produced is 4300° to 4400°, when exactly this quantity of air
is used. But if excess of air pass through the ignited carbon,
or enter by any other channel, so as to mingle with the true
products of combustion, it will share in the caloric generated.
Suppose twice the requisite amount admitted, or 11*6 lb. in
excess for 1 lb. carbon, what effect is produced ?
In the gaseous current we now have, —

Carbonic acid, as before, 3667 lb. at -2210 specific heat.

Nitrogen, do., 8-933 „ 2754

Air, in excess, 11600 „ -2669 „

Sum, 24 200 lb. at -2631 mean sp. heat.

Instead of, 12600 lb. at -2596 do.

We may now find the heating effect of the caloric generated
on this new gaseous mixture — and also its temperature.

Heating Efecc.—-263l : 10000 : : 14,220° : 54,048°, the
temperature to which 1 lb. of the mixed gases would be raised
by the heat generated in the combustion of 1 lb. carbon.

remj9cra<Mre.— 54,048° diffused over 24-2 lb. gives 2347°,
which is the utmost temperature to which this new mixture
can possibly rise ; instead of 4347" with the minimum quantity
of air.

On this point we may remark generally, —

1. The caloric generated is neither increased nor dimin-
ished by excess of air. In all cases, it is capable of communi-
cating 14,220° heat to cold water.

2. But this caloric is diffused through a greater quantity of
matter when excess of air is used, and the consequence is a
reduction of temperature as we increase the excess.

3. The degree of reduction may be found as above, by taking
into account the increased quantity of gaseous matter in con-
nection with the varying specific heat.

4. In the combustion of carbon, as the specific heat of air
is nearly the same as that of the original products of com-
bustion, the mean specific heats, with various degrees of excess,
vary very little. The reduction of temperature is therefore
almost exactly in proportion to the increase in weight. (This
does not hold good in the combustion of hydrogen.)

NBW SERIES. VOL. XI. NO. I. JAN. 1860. E

60 On the Application of certain Laws of Heat and

«

Application of the Heat from Combustion of Carbon to
Praacticl purposes.

To present some features of this part of the subject at one
view, Table III. has been drawn up. Its minuteness will obviate
the necessity of repeating the calculations, and will also render
more evident the mutual dependence of the various principles
involved

By 1 draught, or 1 equivalent of air or draught, we mean that
no more air has been admitted than is necessary for perfect
combustion — viz., 11*6 lb. per lb. carbon. 2 draught means
11-6 lb. in excess, and so on. We have assumed draught in
excess from 1 to 2 equivalents rising by tenths, and from 2 to
20 by greater intervals, and it includes all air mingling with
the products of combustion in any way.

Many persons do not seem to be aware of the extent to which
excess of draught frequently exists in the ordinary use of fuel,
and such may hastily conclude that the principles we advert
to, and the formulae founded on them, are inapplicable. We
remark, therefore —

1 . It is well known that draught may be so increased that
with a thin open stratum of fuel the fire will be at last ex-
tinguished.

2. The oxygen of the air must come into immediate contact
with every particle of carbon before combination takes place ;
but it frequently occurs that parts of furnaces, more especially
towards the fire-bridge, are not covered with fuel, and other
parts so thinly as to allow the air to pass in streams.

3. Air is often admitted by openings above the fuel, with or
without intention, at improper times. Such air is not at all
required where the fuel is entirely carbonaceous, — such as coke
&c., — as the combustion is entirely confined to the fuel on the
grate ; and in hydrogenous fuels, it is required only during
the period when the inflammable hydrogen compounds are being
evolved, and not at all when the carbonaceous residue or
cinder is burning alone on the hearth.

• 4. Many instances occur where the same amount of draught
is maintained, whatever be the fluctuations of work done or
fuel consumed.

Combustion to the Use and Economy of Fuel. 51

5. The analyses of waste products by various observers show
great excess in many cases.

In Table III., for every degree of excess of air, we have
given the new mean specific heat (column 6) ; the heating
power constant on cold water (8), but varying slightly on the
increased products (9) ; the pyrometrical effect, or utmost
temperature attainable in each case (10) ; and the diminution
of temperature per cent. (11). The most important points
here involved are —

1. Absolute amount of Caloric generated. — As before
remarked, this is the same in all cases where carbon is con-
verted into carbonic acid by combustion in air. 'The various
observers weighed the carbon, but not the air ; and their re-
sults coincide. It must be remembered that they cooled down
the products to their original temperature by ice or cold water.

This heat is capable of communicating 1° Fahr. to 14,220 lb.
water per lb. carbon, but its value may be otherwise expressed,
according to the purpose to which it is to be applied.

Expressed in pounds water raised from freezing to boiling, —

32° to 212° = 180°. 14,220 -J- 180 = 79 lb.
Raised from mean temperature to boiling point, —

60° to 212° = 152°. 14,220 -^ 152 = 93i lb.
Raised into steam from mean temperature, —

60°to212°= 152°|^j^^o 14-220''^ 1117 = 12-73 lb.
Latent heat m steam, 9oo j

Raised into steam from boiling point, —

Latent heat in steam, 965°. 14,220 -j- 965 = 1474 lb.

2. Utmost Temperature, or Pyrometric Intensity. — In
column 10, this is given for every degree of draught. The mode
in which it is determined has been already indicated.

This temperature can be expected in practice only when all
the heat produced is present in the gaseous current, at the
point where we look for such temperature. In most cases
part of it is immediately radiated and absorbed, as in steam
boilers where the furnace is inside or immediately under ; but

62 On the Application of certain Laws of Heat and

•where the fire is surrounded by non-conducting material, such
as brick, the temperature in the space immediately over the
fuel may be expected to agree generally with the Table.

An inspection of the Table will show, that with every ad-
dition, however small, of air in excess, the utmost temperature
attainable decreases. For instance, the current of hot gases
rising from a fire of charcoal with a draught of 2 equivalents,
or double that requisite for perfect combustion, would indicate
about 2000° were a pyrometer freely suspended in it.

By reference to column 6, it will be seen that the mean
specific heat of the current varies only slightly as we increase
the proportion of air. The diminution of temperature is
therefore almost exactly in proportion to the increase of
draught, and we are thus able to reduce the matter to a formula
or rule easily remembered.

Formula 1. To find the initial temperature due to any
amount of air or draught, divide 4400° by the equivalents of
air.

The results by this formula coincide closely with column 10.

Example. — Required the initial temperature where li
equivalents of air are given, or a draught of 17 1% lb. air, per
lb. carbon, instead of 11-6 lb. ? 4400 -f- 15 = 2933^ With
double draught? 4400° -f- 2 = 2200°. With ten-fold draught?
4400° -7- 10 = 440°.

By the term " Initial Temperature," as used above and sub-
sequently, we mean the temperature of the gaseous current
arising from combustion, after all the atmospheric air from
any opening whatever has been added to it, and before any of
the caloric has been abstracted.

This formula applies, without any material qualification, to
the use of all purely carbonaceous fuels, such as coke, wood,
charcoal, anthracite, &c. ; and as the laws of nature are in-
exorable, we must suit our modes of procedure to their require-
ments. We will afterwards see the important bearing of
initial temperature on economy of fuel, extent of heating-sur-
face in boilers, <S:c.

To the use of common coal or wood in its natural condition,
this rule also applies ; with a qualification, however. Imme-
diately after fuelling, and while the volatile hydrogen and

Combustion to the Use and Economy of Fuel. 53

hydrocarbons are being evolved, air ought to be admitted above
the fuel, or through the fuel in excess, because these volatile
elements burn tw the furnace, and not on the hearth. And
while this goes on, the initial temperature due to the carbon
will be modified by that due to the hydrogen, which is about
one-fifth less for the same proportion of air. But so soon as
the hydrogen element disappears, we have carbon alone, in
the shape of charcoal, coke, or cinder, and at this stage all
fuels become amenable to the law under consideration.

In many applications of fuel, intensity of temperature is
required, as in metallurgic operations, the manufacture of
alkalies, &c. Cast-iron melts at a temperature of 3000" to
3300' ; a draught of 1-6, producing a temperature of 2951°,
could not, however long continued, melt a single grain of that
metal. 10 draught might boil water, but not melt lead ;
5 draught, giving 908° temperature, might melt lead, but not
copper.

In all such cases, the quantity of fuel does not decide the
temperature, or determine the effect ; all depends on the re-
lative amounts of fuel and air. A very small opening in the
door or elsewhere of a reverberatory furnace may cause much
loss of time and fuel, by its paralyzing effect on the tempera-
ture of the gaseous current.

3. A mount of Heat carried off by the " Waste " Products of
the Combustion of Carbon. — By " waste products," we mean
the gaseous current after it has been applied to heating pur-
poses.

As before remarked, carbon generates 14,220° heat ; but to
obtain it all, we must cool the gaseous current to its original
temperature — that of the atmosphere. In the testing experi-
ments by Andrews and others, this was done, but is not
practicable in the ordinary use of fuel. The departing cur-
rent must of necessity be, in all cases, as warm as, and is in
general much warmer than, the surface or body to which it
has communicated caloric. This involves loss of heat ; and
we will now consider the laws which regulate the loss under
varying circumstances, and draw such general conclusions as
may be practically useful.

64 On the Application of certain Laws of Heat and

Suppose a current of heated air to issue from an orifice ;
what data are required in order to estimate tlie amount of
caloric contained in it, as compared with the amount in the
same current at atmospheric temperature 1 The data are —
1, Its weight ; 2. Its specific heat ; 3. its temperature.

Example. — In one hour 1000 lb. gaseous matter — specific
heat '2596, temperature 560" — escape. Required the caloric
present over that present at a temperature of 60°.

10001b. at -2596 sp. heat = 25'9-6 lb. water at 1 0000 sp. heat, and
259-6 lb. water heated 500° = 129,800 lb. water, heated 1",

which would be the amount of caloric lost in one hour.

Suppose, also, that during the same period we had consumed
120 lb. carbon, what is the loss per cent.l

Total heat generated, 14,220° x 120 = 1,706,400°.

Loss as above, 129,800° = 7'6 per cent.

In general we may therefore affirm, —

1. The loss by heated waste products increases with the
temperature at the moment of escape from contact with the
body receiving the caloric. In future, it will be convenient to
call this the " Terminal Temperature."

2. The loss also increases with the quantity or weight of the
waste products.

3. Also with the specific heat. But, as before observed
(column 6, Table 1II.)> this element does not vary to any
notable extent in burning carbon with varying equivalents of
air. Under all circumstances it ranges from '2696 to -2669.

But as the subject admits of more rigid calculation, and as
we believe the principles involved to be of the highest import-
ance in practice, we have inserted the columns in Table III.,
immediately succeeding column 14. This latter column con-
tains, for each case, the weight of water, equal in capacity
for heat to the whole gaseous products per lb. carbon. For
example, the heat which would raise the waste products from
1 lb. carbon, with a draught of Ij, 200° temperature, as indi-
cated by a thermometer, would raise 482 lb. water 200°, or
1 lb. water 964° (= 482 x 200"), as in the Table. By
multiplying column 14 by the degrees of temperature in the
escaping gases, we thus obtain the loss i^or any terminal tem-

Combuetion to the Use and Economy of Fuel. 55

perature in degrees of heat on 1 lb. water per lb. carbon
consumed. Now, each lb. carbon generates 14,220° ; so that
we are able to find the loss of heat per cent, in each case.

Each result' given in the Table is calculated in the same
manner.

Terminal temperatures up to 550' may be ascertained by
means of a mercurial thermometer. For higher temperatures
other means must be employed, A reliable pyrometer for
high temperatures is still a desideratum. In most steam-
boilers working stationary engines, where economy is at all
consulted, the mercurial thermometer ought to be sufficient.

Although the calculations have rather a formidable appear-
ance in detail, the results may be got at once by a very simple
formula.

Formula 2. — To find the per-centage of loss of heat by
waste products, multiply the terminal temperature by the
equivalents of draught. The constant number 4400 is to the
product, as the whole caloric, capable of being generated by
the carbon, is to the loss. Examples : —

Tei minaltpiup. 500° x Draught 1-3 = 650°= 14-8 per cent, lesson 4400".
Do. 300° X do. 1-8= 540°= 122 do.

Do. 600°x do. 20 = 1200°= 273 do.

Do. 3000° X do. 10 = 3000°= 68-2 do.

Do. 4400° X do. 1-0 = 4400°= 100- do.

These results agree closely with those given in the Table ;
and if we are correct in our premises so far as known scien-
tific data extend, the principle is of immense importance, and
deserves attention. The quantity of carbon consumed, either
as coke, charcoal, cinder, &c., does not affect the result. With
a terminal temperature of 600° (which is common), and a
draught of 2, or twice the air necessary for perfect combus-
tion (which is equally so), the loss cannot but be, at least,
26-7 per cent, of the heat generated, whether from 100 grains
or 100 tons of the carbonaceous material.

When we bear in mind that anthracite and several other
varieties of coal contain 90 to 98 per cent, carbon ; that char-
coal contains about as much, the volatile ingredients having
been expelled ; and that even ordinary bituminous coal con-
tains 80 to 90 per cent., about 50 per cent, remaining on the

5t) O71 the Application of certain Laws of Heat and

hearth as purely carbonaceous coke or cinder, the extensive
application of the formula now given must be very evident.

By its aid, many problems which arise in ordinary practice
may be solved — at least approximately, or in proportion as we
are able to ascertain, with accuracy, the terminal temperature
and draught. We give a few examples.

Example. — With one draught, we find the terminal tem-
perature from a boiler-furnace to be 1000°. What saving of
fuel might be expected by increasing the boiler surface so as
to reduce the terminal temperature to 400° \

1000° X 1 = 1000 = 22-7 per cent loss,
reduced to 400° x 1 = 400= 9 1 do.

Probable saving, 13-6 per cent.

Example. — With 2 draught, which is much more common
than 1, we would have, —

1000° X 2 = 2000 = 45-4 per cent. loss,
reduced to 400° x 2= 800 = 18-2 do.

Probable saving, 27 2 per cent.

The further eflFect of properly regulating the draught would
be, —

1000° X 2 = 2000 = 45-4 per cent. loss,
reduced to 400° x 1= 400= 9-1 do.

Probable saving, 36-3 per cent.

Example. — With 2 draught, and terminal temperature
600°, what saving might we expect from adopting Green's
Fuel Economizer, or any similar apparatus, to absorb and
utilize the waste heat by reducing the temperature to 200° ?

600° X 2 = 1200 = 27-0 per cent. loss,
reduced to 200° x 2 = 400 = 91 do.

Probable saving, 17' 9 per cent.

Example. — With a draught of 1,^, the terminal tempera-
ture of a reverberatory furnace is found to be 1500^ Required
the saving, if the heat were applied to evaporating purposes,
and the temperature reduced to 300° \

Cambtution to the Use and Economy of Fuel. 67

1600° X 1 iV = 1800 = 40-9 per cent. loss.
300" X 1 iV = 360 = 8-2 do.

Probable saving, 32*7 per cent.

(It may perhaps tend to strengthen confidence in this
formula to state that, in the writer's experience, 30 to 35 per
cent, saving of fuel has been in some cases eflfected, by simply
reducing and regulating draught, without any reduction of the
terminal temperature.)

4. Excess of Air as diminishing the effective and increas-
ing the non-effective Caloric in heated Gaseous Currents. —
Against diminishing excessive draught, it may be, perhaps,
urged, that it will, by raising the initial temperature, also
raise the terminal temperature, and so leave us where we were
as to economy of fuel. But we shall endeavour to show, that
it is absolutely impossible to obtain so much heat from the
same fuel in the one case as in the other.

Suppose the case of a steam-boiler, steam at 14 lb. pressure.
The temperature of the steam and also of the water will be
about the same at all points — viz., about 250\ The iron of
which the boiler is formed, being the medium through which
the heat is communicated, will be somewhat higher in tempera-
ture — suppose it 300°. Lastly, suppose this boiler heated by
currents of gaseous matter, containing the caloric generated
by the combustion of a constant weight of carbon, with vary-
ing proportions of air or draught.

It is evident that, under all circumstances, the gaseous cur-
rent, in the case supposed, must retain at least 300° tempera-
ture, that being the temperature of the receiving surface of
iron. Up to 300% therefore, the caloric in the current is non-
effective ; above 300" it is efficient, and capable of being com-
municated, if the heating or absorbing surface is sufficiently
extensive.

Referring again to Table III., we find that the waste pro-
ducts, at a terminal temperature of 300°, contain, for varying
draughts, the following per-centages of the whole heat gene-
rated, which per-centages are, in this case, non-effective. 1 lb.
carbon generates heat capable of evaporating 14*75 lb. water.

NEW SERIBS. VOL. XI. NO. 1. JAN. 1860. F

68 On the Application of certain Laws of Heat and

FneloMd.

Heat
generated.

Tempera-
ture of

absorbing
surface.

Varying
equivalents
of draught.

Proportion of
effective lieat

capable of
being

absorbed.

Proportion of

non-cffcctive

heat incapable

of being

absorbed.

Duty of car-
bon per lb.

attainable In
lbs. water
evaporated.

ConstAiit

Constant.

Constant,

100

100

300°

1-

93-1

6-9

13-71

100

100

SOO*

1-5

89-8

10-2

13-24

100

100

800°

2-

86-6

13-4

12-77

100

100

800°

2-5

83-3

16-7

1208

100

100

800°

8-

80-0

20-0

11-80

100

100

800°

4-

73-6

26-5

10-84

100

100

300°

5-

670

33-0

9-88

100

100

300°

10-

84-3

65-7

5-06

The proportion of non-effective to effective rises rapidly,
and the loss is absolute and inevitable with these draughts ;
as the boiler, however extensive its surface, cannot absorb
caloric from a current which has fallen to its own temperature.
The last column shows the diminishing effect as to the quan-
tity of water raised into steam. We have reason to believe
that 5 to 10 equivalents of air are admitted, very frequently,
in one way or another; and, if so, the waste of fuel, or rather of
heat, cannot he less than we have stated ; it may be more
from the action of other causes.

For practical guidance, we will express the principle in-
volved, in a formula.

Formula 3. — To find the proportion of caloric which is non-
effective in the use of carbonaceous fuel, multiply the tempera-
ture of the body or surface to which the heat is applied by the
equivalents of draught. 4400 is to the product as the whole
caloric capable of being generated is to the proportion that is
non-effective.

This formula differs from the last in one respect only : it
gives the minimum loss, supposing our arrangements are most
complete, and that all the heat is absorbed which can possibly
be ; while formula 2 gives the actual loss as determined from
the temperature at which the products actually escape, which

Combustion to the Ute and Economy of Fuel. 59

is generally much higher than that of the absorbing surface or
body.

Consideration of the points we have referred to will serve to
give definite views as to the economizing of fuel and heat by
applying waste products to heating Avater and other purposes.
To render effective a gaseous current which has become non-
effective, we have simply to present a body of lower tempera-
ture ; by this means a farther quantity of caloric is absorbed.
We reach the limit when the current becomes so cold as to be
incapable of creating sufficient draught by its ascent in the
chimney. But however low we may reduce the terminal tem-
perature, excess of draught still continues to increase the pro-
portion of caloric which is finally non-effective.

5. Excess of Air as it affects the Amount of Surface re-
quired for the Absorption of Heat. — ^We shall now show that
excess of air not only diminishes the effective heating power
of gaseous currents, but renders a more extensive surface ne-
cessary for the absorption of the same amount of caloric. Or,
taking, for example, the raising of steam, we find that as we
approach the minimum of draught necessary for perfect com-
bustion, the available heat is not only increased in quantity
from the same fuel, but less boiler surface is required than
with excess of air.

In general terms, and without anything approaching to de-
monstration, this ought to be allowed, when we consider that,
as the excessive draught is diminished, the temperature is in-
creased ; and that as the temperature of a heating body in-
creases, its power of heating another body increases also ;
and, lastly, that as the heat received by the boiler-plate in-
creases, the steam raised from its surface increases in exactly
the same ratio.

The gaseous current, as it passes along the flues and sides
of a boiler, communicates heat by actual contact ; above or
around the fire or flame, heat is communicated by radiation also.
"With regard to the rate or velocity at which a current commu-
nicates its heat by contact alone, experiments by Dulong and
Petit may be referred to. They found that gases cooled other
bodies by contact in the following ratio: — "When the differ-

60 On the Application of certain Laws of Heat and

ence of temperature (between the gas and the body) is doubled,
the velocity of cooling is increased 2 35-fold." (Gmelin,
p. 233, vol. i.) The inference is, that heating by contact of
gases observes the same progression, as a similar agreement
exists between the phenomena of radiation and absorption.

But, in the absence of direct experiment as to the appli-
cability of Dulong and Petit's law to heating by gases, we
shall merely assume that the amount of heat communicated
increases with the difference of temperature in arithmetical
progression ; that is, when we double the difference between
the temperature of the current and that of the boiler, double
the quantity of caloric is communicated; and so on for other
differences. This makes ample allowance for the probability
that the part of the boiler surface in contact with the current
may increase in temperature to some extent also, as we raise
that of the current itself.

Suppose, as before, that, to raise steam, we employ carbona-
ceous fuel under different degrees of draught, assuming the
temperature of the water as 250°, and that of the boiler 300°;
carbon used, same weight in every case.

Carbonaceous fuel used,
Varying degrees of draught or
air,

Corre^onding initial tempera-
ture in each case, see Table
III., ....

Temperature of absorbing sur-
face in each case.

Difference of temperatures
in each case,

Corresponding decrease in the
amount of caloric absorbedby
an equal amount of boiler
surface, taking 1 draught as
unity, ....

Proportion of caloric which is
effective, or capable of being
absorbed in each case, as
found by Formula 8,

1
1-

1

1-6

1
2-

1

2-6

1

1
4^

4347°
800°

2951°
800°

2233°
300°

1797°
300°

1503°
300°

1132°
300°

4047°

2661°

1933°

1497°

1203°

832°

♦100
•93

•06
•90

•48
•86

•37
•88

•30
•80

•20
•73

We thus see that with excess of air above what is chemi-
cally required, there is not only a diminution of the amount of

Combustion to the Use and Economy of Fuel. 61

heat which can possibly be absorbed (see formula 3), but the
absorbing power of the boiler is also diminished, and that in a
much higher ratio. We have not only less available caloric,
but we require additional absorbing surface to obtain even this
smaller amount. The rates at which the surface absorbs
caloric or generates steam, as given above (*), refer to that
part of the boiler to which the gaseous current is first applied ;
but its course throughout is influenced in the same way. The
first square foot of surface with 1 draught is equal in power
of raising steam to the first 5 square feet with 4 of draught ;
consequently, less remains for the other parts to absorb in the
former case. With limited draught, in short, the same boiler
surface will absorb much more heat, or a much smaller boiler
surface will absorb the same heat. The advantage may be
gained, therefore, either in the shape of economy of fuel, or
economy of boiler surface.

To construct a formula which shall express accurately the
operation of the law here involved is impracticable until far-
ther experiments have been made. The data required are —
Jirst, The exact ratio which exists between the rate of commu-
nication of caloric from gases to absorbing surfaces, and the
difference of temperature between the two. Secondly/, The co-
eflScient of absorption for any given thickness of boiler-plate :
for example, how many pounds water will be raised into steam
per hour from 1 square foot of boiler-plate | inch in thickness,
exposed to a current whose constant heat is 2000° ? Were
these data known, it would not be diflBcult to find mathemati-
cal expression for the absorption of caloric at every part of the
course of the gaseous current.

Keeping in view that we have hitherto referred to purely
carbonaceous fuel, or to that part of ordinary fuel which is
carbonaceous, the importance of regulated draught must be
evident to all who have followed us, whether previously fami-
liar or not with the principles which regulate combustion.

The endeavour we have made to arrive at precise numerical
results will, we feel conBdent, be appreciated by those who are
interested in this important subject. The necessity for such
precision will be seen when, on a subsequent occasion, we pro-
ceed to apply to practical purposes the principles here laid down.

62 On the Application of certain Laws of Heat and

oo

e* i-K-i

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■ii||||i|l|

Combustion to the Use and Economy of Fuel. 63

^
^

•«
e

r

e

s
o

o

IIIM*

1

>

Volnm

or air

require

per
roluin
of com
buMlbl

S
s
■3

>

Cubic
feet of
air re-
quired
per lb.

3 5

~

trlca
Ithl
cut
r.

£ 4

Eo.

s

5

c

l-l?

^Sb .

1

Iili

1

c

§

•s^ C 1-

t

8

e

aia^

•9

i

^1 1

s

3-

w

•mil!;

1^

&
1

a

c -^

■a"

■s

C^-i

SJ

s

^

aS.-§

:f

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1

l^i

g S

2S

1

IP

00 ?;

u?;

S2

o

a * § 8

II i

a

cooo ej

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u- = 3
HI '-

> S5 II

Is* f

ua II

s

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1 " § s

ii 1

as "-

o £•£ o

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- a

>^

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II 1

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oz II

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64 On tite Application of certain Laws of Heat and

Table III. — To demonstrate the Mutual Connection between Draught, or Supply of Air,

Combujrtlon of car-
bon with various
proportions of
common air.

Calculations to
find the varying

Heat evolved

is such as
will raise the
temperature
1' Fahr. of

1

P

ll

||

Pyrometrical Indications

Weight and
speciflc heat

of the
gaseous pro-

xpm-iflc heat of

the waste gases,

supposing e.xcese

of iiir used in

combustion or

allowed to mix

with the hot

gases in any

way.

Appearance

of a body such

as carbon or

soot freely

suspended in

an atmosphere

of varying
temperature.

Pliysical
effecu of such
temperatare.

ducts or
waste gases.

•cfe

CO

In equi-
valents.

By
weight

III

o

.§11

lbs.

s

•a

I

V

1

6

If

1

-:
1

JS

a
g

1

<

— S

a)

1

lA
lA
lA
lA
lA
lA
lA
lA
lA

2

2A

3

4

5

6

7

8

9
10
16

20

(2)

lbs.
(3J

lbs.

11-6

12-76

13-92

15-08

16-24

17-40

18-56

1972

20-88

22-04

23-20

29-0

34-8

46-4

58-0

69-6

81-2

92-8

104-4

116-

174-

2S3-
(4)

lbs. Sp. ht.
CO* 3-667 -2210
N 8-933 -2754

lbs.
14,220

lbs.

64,776

54,6.50

54,546

54,461

54,368

54,295

54,233

54,181

54,130

54,089

54,048

53,904

53,802

53,680

53,689

63,639

53,499

53,479

53,469

5.3,439

63,379

63,369
(9)

Fahr.

4347»

39720

365e»

3386'

3163»

29510

2772"

2615»

2474»

2347»

22330

17970

I6O30

11320

908'

768-

6510

670O

6O70

45«o

307'

2280
(10)

100

91

84

78

72i

68

64

60

67

64

61

41

35

26

21

171

16

13

12

101

7

6

ai)

PoulUet

) Highest heat
Vof wind fur-
\ nace(Daniell)

f Dazzling
r white

(strong white
r heat

White heat

Bright ignition

Full cherry red
Bright do.

(Commencing
) cherry red

Dull red

(Incipient
( redness

Black

Da

Da

Da

Da

Da

Da
(A)

Cast-Iron melts
Silver melts

Mercury boils
Lead melts

Tin melte

(B)

12-6

1376

14-92

16^08

17^24

18-40

19-66

2072

21-88

23-04

24^20

30^0

36^8

47-4

69-

70^6

82-2

93-8

106-4

117-

176-

233-
(12)

-2596

-2602

-2607

-2611

-26151

-2619

-2622

-26241

•2627

■2629

-2631

•2638

-2643

-2649

•26531

-2656

•2658

•2669

-2660

-2661

•2664

•2665
03,

12-60
Air 1-16

•2596
-2669

3-27

13-76
116

-2602
•2669

3 58

14-92
1-16

•2607
-2069

3-89

1608
116

■2611 J
-2669

4^20

17-24
1-16

-2615J
-2669

451

18-40

lie

•2619
-2669

4^82

19-56
116

-2622
•2669

613

2072
1-16

•2624J
•2G69

644

21-88
1-16

•2627
-2669

6-75

23-04
116

•2629
•2669

e^05

24-2
5-8

•26.31
•2669

636

30-0
6-8

-2638
•2669

7-91

85-8
11-6

•2643
•2669

946

47-4
11-6

•2649
-2669

1259

59-0
11-6

-2653i
•2669

15-65

70-6
11-6

•2656
•2669

1876

82-2
11-6

-26.58
■2669

21-84

93-8
11-6

-26.^9
-2669

24-94

105-4
11-6

-2660
-2669

28-04

117-0
58-0

•2661
-2669

31-13

46-61

62-09
04)

175-0
68-0

-2664
-2669

238-0
(«)

■2666
(8)

Combustion to the Use and Economy of Fuel. 65

nnd Intennty of Temperature^ Economy of Heat, rf-c, in (he Use of Carbonaceous Fuel.

Colnmn 14, malUpUed by the txeem otteamnttmn orer that of the atmonliare at which the waate gaaea eaove to
the chimDej, glTSi the loai of haat InihaL water heated 1*, for erery la. of carbon used: which io« tncnaaeo
with the tenniiitf temperature, and with the draoght a* giTen In oohnnna 3 and 4.

MO* TkblImO* TecBL

*t-i

S'l

si

I'

400* Term,
temp.

500* Term,
temp.

il
■sj

^ s

S.S

600" Term,
temp.

J5

H
ii

1000" Term,
temp.

1^

i2f

1600'Term.
tempi

^-

2000*Tenn. 8000»Term.
temp. temp.

J*

&2

4000* Term,
temp.

il

si

a >•

8.2:

e 8

— .a

8.S

S'

654

n«

778
840
903
96t

1,310
1,272
1,5S2
1,892
3,518
2,130
S,750
4,368
4,9(18

i-9
i-0
S-ft
i-9

S-3

6-8

7-3

7-6

81

8-5

8-9

111

13-3

177

33^

36-3

307

35-2

961
1,074
1,167
1,»0

i,sa

1,44«
1,099
1,633
1,735
1,815
1,906
3,379
3,898
8,777
4,695
«,<Sfi
6,553
7,483

i,G>y8 39 j 8,413

6,326
9.322
3,418

43-8
S5-6

87-3

19,968 96-8

9,999

6-9

7-5
84
8-8
9-5
10-3
10«

13-1

137

13-4

167

30-

36-5

33-

99-5

461

59-3
6S7

1,906

9-3

1,493 10-

1,556
1,680
1,804
1,938
3,053
3,176
3,800
3,430
3,544
3,164
3,784
5,086
6,360
7,500
8,736
9,976
11,316
13,453

11-
11-8
13-6
13-6
144
15-3
164
17-0
17-8
32-3
36-6
354
44-0
537
614

1,635
1,790
1,945
3,100
3,350
3,410
2,565
2,720
3,875
3,025
3,180
3,955
4,730
6-295
7,825
9,375
10,930
13,470
14,020

11-5
12-6
187
14-8
15«
16^
18-0
19-1
20-2
21-3
22-3
37-8
33-3
44-2
55-0
6^-9
76-8
877
98-6

1,963
2,148
3,334
2,530
2,706
2,892
3,078
34G4
3,450
8,630
8,816
4,746
5,676
7,554
9,390
11,360
13,104

13-06

16-0

16«

177

18-9

20-3

21-6

22-8

24-3

25-5

267

33-3

39-9

53-1

66-0

79-1

93-1

3,370
3,580
3,890
4,300
4,610
4,830
5,130
5,440
6,750
6,050
6,360
7,910
9,460
13,690

23-0
254
374
29-5
317
33-9
36-0
38-3
40-6
43-6
447
55-6
66-5
88-5

4,905
5,370
6,896
6,300
6,765
7,230
7,695
8,160
8,625
9,075
9,540
11,865
14,190

34-5
37-8
41-0
44-3
47-6
50-9
54-1
574
607
63-8
67-1
884
99-8

6,540

7,160

7,780

8,400

9,020

9,640

10,260

10,880

11,500

12,100

12,720

46-0
504
547
591
634
67-8
72-1
76-5
80-9
85-1
894

9,810
10,740
11,670
13,600
13,580

69-0
75:5
82-0
88-6
95-2

13,080 93«

ITBW SERIES. VOL. XI. KO. 1. JAN. 1860.

ee

On the Disguises of Nature : being an Inquiry into the Laws
which regulate External Form and Colour in Plants and
Animals. By Andrew Murray, F.R.S.E.*

I have long thought that an inquiry into the laws by which
the external — or what may be called the extrinsic — forms and
appearance of organic objects are regulated, might worthily
and profitably exercise the faculties of some of our deeper
thinkers. It is a subject to which, so far as I know, nothing
has been done ; at all events, no one has yet offered any ex-
planation of what these laws are ; and we may even be said
to be ignorant whether there be any such laws or not.

In the hope that a statement of the subject may induce
some one better qualified than myself to turn his attention to
it, I propose to group together a few facts illustrative of some
of the difierent aspects in which the subject may be regarded,
and to indicate the interesting nature of the speculations to
which they may give rise.

One very curious branch of the subject, with which I shall
begin, is the resemblance which certain plants and animals
bear to other objects, animate or inanimate, as, for instance, an
insect to a leaf, a moth to a bee, &c. I have styled this the
disguises of nature ; a phrase which, although it does not apply
to all the kinds of resemblance which I shall have to notice,
sufficiently indicates their general nature. Other resem-
blances, such as the general family resemblance in the facies
of animals spread over a whole continent, or the resemblance
to be found in species confined to a particular kind of locality,
will also receive a portion of our consideration ; but these
cannot be called disguises, and will fall to be discussed under
a separate category.

The disguise is usually one of two kinds. It is either an
imitation of an animate or of an inanimate object. These we
may take up separately. Not that I wish it to bo thereby in-
ferred that they differ from each other either in their condi-
tions or the laws which regulate them ; that is a question
upon which we are not yet prepared to adjudicate ; but I

* Read before the Britiah Association, Section D, September 1859.

r

Andrew Murray on the Disguises of Nature. 67

merely so take them for the convenience of obtaining some
kind of order or arrangement into which to group the hetero-
geneous mass of facts which bear upon the subject.

I shall first cast a hasty glance over a few of those curious
resemblances where we find one animal assuming the form and
appearance of another, as a butterfly pretending to be a wasp,
a fly a bee, &c.

I do not mean to include in this category those resem-
blances which the fancy of man loves to discover in all around
him. Like Hamlet, we can see a camel or a weasel figured in
every cloud, and, like his, they prove often very like a whale.
It will be sufficient, as illustrations of such resemblances,
to refer to the death's-head moth, which carries on its thorax
not a bad figure of a death's head and cross bones ; or to
the Orchids and other Epiphytes, which we may compare
to gaudy butterflies or other insects ; or to the fern called
Aspidium BarometZf known as the Tartarian or vegetable
lamb. It grows on the elevated salt plains west of the Volga,
and its rhizome presents, when the fronds are removed, a rude
resemblance to the shape of the lamb. It is covered by a soft
downy substance, of a reddish-brown colour, which may be
compared to a fleece. Like the stems of other ferns, the inner
parts are soft and pulpy, and the sap of a rich red colour re-
sembling blood. From these materials a number of fabulous
stories have been concocted, which are related by Struys and
other authors — such as that the plant has the shape and ap-
pearance of a lamb, with feet, head, and tail, distinctly formed ;
that it feeds upon grass, turning round upon its stem to reach
it ; that garments are made of its fleece ; that the wolves feed
upon it, and are very fond of its flesh, from the resemblance
it bears in taste to the animal lamb ; and, in conclusion, after
telling a number of such tales, Struys adds with commendable,
though somewhat tardy caution, " Many other things I was
likewise told, which might however appear scarcely probable
to such as have not seen them."

But leaving such fancies, we shall find plenty of curious
imitations among plants and animals, so exact, that man's
fancy is not required to originate them, but his judgment to
eliminate the deception. As we shall presently find in the

68 Andrew Murray on the

other class of disguises, so here the greatest number is to be
found in the insect tribes.

The clear-wing moths have so great a resemblance to bees,
or wasps, or flies, as to have received the name of Apiforme^
Bombiforme, Vespiforme, Tipuliforme, according as they
wear the dress of a honey-bee, a humble-bee, a wasp, or a
gnat. Moths and butterflies, although belonging to very distinct
divisions, sometimes assume the appearance of each other, as,
for instance, Callimorpha helcita, and Dande Ilegesippe,
which are so metamorphosed, that the moth might be taken for
the butterfly, or the butterfly for the moth. Many moths also
greatly resemble the Caddice flies {Trichopterd), as Adela
frischella and Molanna angustata. A moth named Adac-
tylus Bennettii, looks very like a small species of Tipula.
Many two-winged flies have a most striking resemblance to
bees, of which I may select, as examples, the Volucellce
generally, the GasteropMlus equi, or perfect insect of the Bot,
and the BombyUi, more specially the Bonibylius major, which
carries its disguise farther than usual. Every one knows that
the bee has a long tongue ; the fly has not ; but as if to imi-
tate the long tongue of the bee, which is often extruded, the
Bombylius has a long rostrum or snout sticking out like the
tongue of the bee — the relative proportion being well pre-
served. The AsapJies, although bees, are yet bees of peculiar
structure and habits : they make no hives or nests for them-
selves, but enter the nests of other bees, and deposit their eggs
there, to be reared at the expense of the owners of the nest.
They are dressed exactly like other species of Bonibi, and
doubtless thus escape detection on their pilfering and illegal
expeditions. Psychoda phalmnoides is a small two-winged
fly, which anybody at first sight would mistake for a moth.
Gibbium Scotias is a beetle, having considerable resemblance
to a flea when seen in profile, and a still greater resemblance,
when looked at from above, to a small brown spider, which
every one sees too much of in summer. Many Coleopterous
insects are found in ants' nests, seemingly created to pass their
lives there; for some are eyeless, and many so exactly resemble
the ants among which they live as to be not easily recognis-
able. Many examples of similarity between unlike and distant

Disguises of Nature. 69

families occur also in this class, although the resemblance
chiefly applies to distribution of colour. Take, for instance,
some of the Lycidce, and compare them with Paristemia and
Pceciloderma, two genera of Longicorns, where the colour,
although most unusual and startling, is distributed exactly in
the same manner, and produces the same efiect.

In plants, similar resemblances between distinct orders and
families exist. I may refer to the tree-fern (Alsophila) and
the Cycad {Stangeria), like each other, and yet belonging to
distinct orders ; or to the Sesleria ccerulea and Carex rupes-
tris ; to the Potentilla alpestris and Ranunculus alpestris ;
to Polygonum Convolvulus and Convolvulus sepium ; to Ta-
maria: gallica, and many of the cypresses, or to Calluna
vulgaris and Iludsonia ericoides, — all as showing respectively
much similarity to each other in the foliage, and yet belong-
ing to different families.

Such are some of the resemblances in the organic crea-
tion, which might without impropriety be termed impostures
or personations. It is difficult to suggest any probable theory
by which they may be accounted for. Some, no doubt, can
be explained as being found in species which are the out-
liers or transitionary links connecting two different orders
or families together; &8, ^ot inat&nce, Adella frischella and
Molanna angustata, connecting the Lepidoptera and Tri-
choptera ; Carex rupestris and Sesleria ccerulea^ connecting
the carices and the grasses, &c. But there remain a vast
number of instances which cannot so be disposed of. On what
principle are the clear-winged moths, and numerous two-
winged flies, invested in the robes of bees \ Earby and Spence
thought that the meaning or object of such imitations on the
part of some of them (the Volucellce for instance, which de-
posit their eggs as parasites in bees' nests), was to allow of
their entering the nest without being discovered. This may
be so ; and at least in the case of Asaphes, of which I have
above spoken, probably is so, although we know that the bees
are not very easily deceived, as it is well known that they will
not even allow intruders of their own species from a neigh-
bouring hive to enter with impunity. The fact may be, how-
ever, that although we notice them repelling some intruders

70 Andrew Murray on the

from a neighbouring hive, many may enter unnoticed, and in
like manner some Volucellce may escape detection while others
suffer for their intrusion. But admitting it to be so, this only
explains the purpose of their being furnished with this livery;
it by no means explains the means or law through which they
receive it. It may be that if the law (supposing there to
be such a law) under which the bees received the creative im-
pulse, and assumed their form and colouring, admitted an
influence^ from the condition and character of their birth-
place, the same influence might be extended with a similar
effect to the Aaaphes and Volucellce, seeing that the creative
birthplace might probably be the same as that of the other,
as their actual birthplace in point of fact is. My idea as to
this, however, will be better understood after the reader has
perused the second part of this inquiry.

But even after accounting for the class of impostors which
make some use or profit of their disguise, there remain others,
such as the clear-winged moths, still unaccounted for, where
not only the colouring of the body, but also the additional
transparence of the wings, is had recourse to to complete the
deception. Further, there is the case where the same colours
similarly and sometimes bizarrely disposed, are repeated in dif-
ferent families of insects. On this point, I may observe, that
when such bizarre markings, or similar dispositions of colour
occur, it usually (although not invariably) happens that the in-
sects bearing them are from the same country. There are, for in-
stance, several species of Coleoptera from Old Calabar in which
singularly distorted angular yellow marks occur on a black
ground on the back {Nesioticusjlasopictus, Nyctiohates regius,
Nyciiohates militaris, ^c.) ; and a Lycus from Jamaica bears
exactly the same amount and proportion of colour as Pcecilo-
derma terminale, also from Jamaica — a scarlet body with a
bright ultramarine tail, and so on. Such singularities suggest
two explanations: the one, the possibility of new species arising
from hybridisation — and we scarcely yet know enough of the
true aflSnities of the different families of Coleoptera to be able
to say whether such hybridisation might be possible or not in
the cases I refer to. Another speculation may be, that their
creation took place under similar conditions and influence of

Disguises of Nature. 71

locality, which indeed, so far as we know it, corresponds with
the present habit of life of the different species alluded to — the
larvae of the Lycidce being wood-feeders, like the larvae of the
Longicomes, and a similar conformity of habit doubtless also
existing between the larvae of Nesioticus and Nyticohates, and
of other equally illustrative species which might be mentioned.
But let us now turn our attention to those resemblances
which consist in an imitation of inanimate objects, or of such
animate objects as, from their masses, may in one sense be
looked on as inanimate. One very common phase which we
find this assume, is a general similitude to the ground on which
the animal lives. How closely the colour of our common hare
assimilates to the benty braes in which its form is placed ; and
still more, how the colour of the arctic hare, the polar bear,
and other animals which live in the frozen north, fits to their
snow-clad land. What a near resemblance does the grouse
bear to the heather in which it couches. How well the par-
tridge accords with the general hue of the stubble. How difii-
cult it is to see the ptarmigan beside the gray stones among
which it sits. Turning to the water, what more complete
match can be found to the sandy bottom of the sea than the
back of the flounder or the skate ; or to the muddy bottom
than the back of the plaice ? Look at the tree-frog, so deli-
cately and freshly green, sitting secure among the leaves which
he so closely resembles ; or at the North American frog, which
is found on walls covered with gray lichen, with which he so
exactly corresponds, that if he would only sit still no one could
see him. Recollect the speckled snakes and serpents, with
their coloured patterns so exquisitely blended, and so exactly
resembling the tangled herbage through which they glide.
Look at the lizards, some of the most lively green, suited to
the foliage of the trees on which they live ; others gray, like
the stones among which they run ; or yellow, like the sand
on which they bask. Let us not forget the chameleon — which,
certainly, whatever be the cause (whether it be an accidental
result from mental emotion, an instinctive impulse indepen-
dent of its will, or a deliberate intention to produce i,he effect),
does exhibit a most striking resemblance in colour to that of
the substances on which it rests, and a more marvellous

72 Andrew Murray on the

power of adaptation to the variations in their hue than perhaps
any other living creature. Remember the crocodile or alligator
floating silently down the muddy stream, so like the trunk of a
tree, that the unwary animal drinking on the margin only sees
the deception for a moment, when the tree suddenly starts into
life, and the victim is hurried below the waters locked in the
reptile's formidable jaws. These are examples taken from the
vertebrata, but we find similar deceptions repeated, only more
frequently and more carefully, in the lower classes of animals.
In insects, this is more marked than in any other class. In
beetles, the form the deception takes is very frequently that
of a pellet of earth or stone {Byrrhidce, Ceutorhynchidce, Sfc.)^
sometimes even a piece of silver or copper ore (Chlamydce).
We see a small beetle creeping along a plant ; we stretch out
our hand to take it ; at the slightest motion it drops to the
ground, its legs and antennae collapse and are clasped close
to its body, and all that remains is a small object, often irre-
gularly marked by prominences, which is so like other little
pellets of earth as to be scarcely distinguishable from them,
and we only recognise it again by patiently waiting in silence
until the insect has regained confidence, when it gradually
and timidly protrudes its antennse and legs, and puts itself in
motion. A very common deception among beetles, particular-
ly among the Longicomes, which feed on wood, is to resemble
the bark of the trees on which they feed, or, in some instances,
the lichens which grow upon them (Rosalia alpina, Prionus
cervicomis, ^c.) The Orthoptera carry the resemblances they
assume more to specific objects. The whole of that tribe par-
takes more or less of the hue of their dwelling-place. The
leaf-insect i^rhyllium) is an example which will occur to every
one. The Mantis is only a shade less like a leaf ; and some
are green like a young leaf, others brown and withered like a
dried up and decayed one ; and in some we find that a change
similar to that in the leaf itself takes place ; they are fresh
and bright green in their youth, but fall into the sear and
yellow leaf in the same way and at the same time of year as
their prototype. A genus of locusts (Eremobia), which is
confined to sandy deserts (Arabia, Egypt, Algeria, Sahara,
&c.) furnishes another very striking example. The locusts

Ditguiaes of Nature. 73

found in less arid regions have the colours vivid, the upper
wing brown or green, and the lower often bright blue or red.
In the desert species, the body and upper wing are subdued to
the same tone as that of the sand of the desert, and the lower
wing has faded into a pale pink ; and this concordance of
colour exists in all the Eremobias or desert-livers which have
yet been described, the pale pink colour of the under wing
only being in one or two species replaced by a similarly faint
shade of yellow, which is obviously equally well adapted to
the purpose of harmonising with sandy ground, and possibly
indicates a yellower tinge in the sand of the particular dis-
trict which those so coloured inhabit. The orthopterous in-
sects, known as walking-sticks, exhibit an imitation of an-
other character. Their resemblance to dried sticks and
straws is most perfect ; and their long awkward-looking
legs, sprawling in every direction, add to the deception. In
their last and complete stage, they have little wings like
dried leaves ; and in some species, imitations of dried leaves,
or rather of broken portions of dried leaves, are also ap-
pended to their legs. In the Lepidoptera (more especially
the moths), we find not less resemblance to surrounding objects.
So much is this the case with them, that few can be found
which are not so provided. The great majority pass the day
in quiescence, resting on the trunks of trees, under leaves, or
on rocks, walls, or stones ; and so exactly do they resemble the
object on which they rest, that even when we see them fly from
one spot to another, and alight under our very eyes, few but
an entomologist would detect them. The pattern of speckled
gray which generally composes the upper wing, although
marked enough when displayed in a cabinet, is in reality
a marvel of imitative skill. If any one will take a walk round
a country house, and look carefully along the walls, he will
probably see a number of moths resting on them, every one
so ingeniously deceptive that he will readily admit that he
has probably overlooked the half of them. The green and
brown hues, imitative of every variety which foliage as-
sumes, speak for themselves, and I therefore pass them over ;
merely repeating, that the number of insects so coloured is
beyond calculation. But it is not only in the perfect state

NEW^ SERIES. VOL. II NO. I. JAN. 1860. H

74 Andrew Murray on the

that these animals exhibit this persistency of imitation ; their
larvae are, if less universally, not less strangely and success-
fully metamorphosed. Look at the larva of the peacock-moth,
and see how exactly the general ground-colour harmonises
with that of the young buds of heather on which it feeds, and
how closely the pink spots with which it is decorated corre-
spond with the flowers and flower-buds. I should say that one
half of the caterpillars of moths and butterflies are green, closely
resembling the hue of the leaf on which they feed ; and when
a part of the body only is exposed to view, the resemblance is
often restricted to that part, as may be seen in the larva of one of
our tiger-beetles (Cicindela campestris), which lives in a hole,
from which its head and thorax alone protrude ; and these are
of the same green as the perfect insect, while the rest of the body
is of the usual whitish-yellow of a grub. There are few gar-
deners who have not in their time been surprised to find that
they have taken a fleshy caterpillar between their fingers
when they have thought to break off a dead twig ; the geo-
meters, or loopers, having the strange habit of stretching them-
selves out stiflf and stark like a twig on the shrub or tree ou
which they feed ; and as, like a vast number of the insect
tribes, each is pretty much confined to one plant, or family
of plants, for its food, we find that the resemblance is carried
out to the extent of making the insect resemble the twigs of
the particular plant on which it feeds, and, to add to the decep-
tion, is embossed at suitable intervals with one or two emi-
nences, made to imitate the buds on the side of the twig.

Among the denizens of the waters we certainly do not find
80 many instances of disguise ; still we are by no means with-
out examples. In one small crustacean, Caprella phasma,
which in these days of tanks and vivaria must be familiar to
many of my readers, exactly the same habit is repeated which
we have found among the loopers. It is a linear animal, about
half an inch in length, serai-transparent, and of the same
colour and consistency as a zoophyte, such as an Antennaria
or Plumidaria. If put alive into a tank containing a bunch of
these zoophytes, it fixes itself among them by its hind legs ;
and stretching out its body, and every limb and joint, as stiff
and rigid as iron, it requires a careful examination to be able

Disguises of Nature. 75

to detect it. Among the marine annelides, too, we find the hue
of the green, purple, and red sea- weeds exactly reproduced in
Nemertis and Planarice, &c. The mollusca do not furnish
such striking instances of resemblance to particular objects —
the amount of concealment shown in the sea-shells being
chiefly confined to veiling the glowing colours of the shell
under a coarse yellow epidermis, which corresponds in colour
to the bottom of the sea on which they lie. Not that we are
absolutely without instances of the place of life correspond- .
ingly affecting the colour, as for instance in the Patella pel-
lucida and the Patella ccenilea, the former of which is dark,
and of the colour of the frond of the large Laminaria, on which
only it is found ; and the latter, which is confined to the stalk,
is paler, and of its hue: — an instance, however, on which I put
no weight, because it may be pled that both the P. ccerulea
and P, pelliicida are the same species, modified by food ; and
where we have an embarras des richesse^ in the choice of un-
challengablc illustrations in other classes, it is unnecessary
to burden ourselves with the defence of doubtful examples
in this. Of the lower animals, the Actini<B furnish some
good examples of disguise. I can hardly suggest a more per-
fect one than Actinia troglodytes in a sandy pool, its ten-
tacles being so exactly marbled like a sandy bottom, that the
pool may be paved with them all expanded, and yet the casual
observer — ay, more, the attentive but uninstructed eye — never
see one !

The illustrations which I have thus far made use of are
drawn from animals exhibiting these disguises permanently,
and without variation ; but there is another class of imita-
tors which I must not pass over, those which have as it were
more than one disguise in their wardrobe — one for summer
and another for winter ; as, for instance, the Alpine hare,
the stoat or ermine, the ptarmigan, some grouse, &c. ; and this
a disguise which is made more or less perfect according to the
severity of the winter, which is the accompaniment, I shall
not say cause, of the change ; for in species which constantly
inhabit snowy regions, we find that the farther north we go
the whiter they become — in the extreme north sometimes be-
coming replaced by a different species, wholly and perma-

76 Andrew Murray on the

nently white ; as in the case of the Arctic hare taking the
place of the Alpine hare — both white, but the Arctic of treble-
distilled purity compared with the Alpine. In other instances,
the change is not dependent upon the seasons. In fish, it is a
familiar instance that the colour varies with the colour of the
waters. The trout in clear streams and lakes is silvery white ;
in peaty waters, dark. The Lochnagar trout, for example,
where the waters are dark and peaty, is nearly black on the
back. The flounder, which exactly resembles the ground
over which it hovers, changes its hue in an amazingly short
time, on passing from one bank to another of a different colour.
Anglers who use minnows for bait know that if they are
put in a light-coloured vessel they become pale ; and if they
be transferred to a dark one, they will become dark in the
space of an hour. A similar though more permanent altera-
tion takes place in various birds. Colquhoun, in his enter-
taining volume, the " Moor and the Loch," says, " In the low
corn districts, such as Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, and the
Border counties, the grouse are of a very light brown, borrow-
ing a tint from the stubbles on which they delight to feed."
" Forty or fifty are often taken at a time (by snares) during
the period between the corn being cut and carried. All these
birds are so light in their colour as more nearly to resemble
partridges" (p. 112). And we find the converse of this to take
place in partridges. " These moor partridges," he says,
" which spend much of their time in the heather, are of a
darker colour than those of the Lowlands." (Foot-note, p. 113.)

Do any such resemblances as we have been speaking of
obtain in plants ? They are comparatively few certainly ; but
in some of the lower plants they certainly do exist. The
crusted lichen often bears a close resemblance to the rock on
which it is found, and the olive-tinted fucus to the wet reefs
which it covers ; but the examples are few in plants, and, what
is not to be overlooked, we can see no purpose for their exist-
ence.

The hasty glance which we have thus cast over animated
creation sufficiently shows three things— /rs^, that the most
perfect imitations of inanimate objects do occur ; second,
tliat this is not a rare or exceptional thing, but one found

Disguises of X a lure. 77

in everj class of animals, and in some found so freciuently
as to be the rule, and the want of it the exception ; and,
lastly, that so apparent is the means to the end, that it is
plain that there is a purpose in it, and that that purpose is
the concealment of the animals that bear the disguise. Now,
how does this come about ? Is it the result of any general
law ; or must we be satisfied to say that these disguises have
been given by Providence for the purposes of the preservation
of His creatures, and rest there ? I apprehend not. This is not
the mode in which the Creator carries out His ends. It is in-
deed very easy to say, that a special exercise of the creative
power has been used in these disguises in every separate in-
stance ; but if it is so, it is different from all we know of the
other workings of Providence. A great law in all of them is
set in motion, which, while regardless apparently of minor de-
tails and individual interests, yet, by its general working,
most eflficiently provides for them. Through the operation of
such laws elsewhere, we see everything harmoniously and ne-
cessarily assuming its place and its form ; and we cannot
doubt that such a great law also exists in this matter.

What is this law \ I cannot tell ; but it has occurred to me,
that the law may perhaps be found somewhere in the direction
of an analogous force to the great law of attraction, otherwise
called gravitation. Like draws to like, or like begets like.
We have seen that in all the instances to which I have re-
ferred the external appearance of the animal bears definite
relation to the appearance of the soil on which it Eves, or the
objects which surround it. It would appear as if there were a
genius loci, whose subtle and pervading essence spread itself
around, penetrating and impregnating the denizens of the
place with \ta fades — possibly only affecting some, the condi-
tions of whose entry on existence render them more liable to
receive its impression than others ; more probably affecting
all, some more and some less. How this mysterious influence
may operate, it may be bootless to inquire ; but is it unphilo-
sophical, or inconsistent with the simplicity and grandeur of
nature, to suppose that one great idea should contain the ele-
ments of the laws which regulate all the different constituent
parts of the created world? that as by attraction the material

78 Andrew Murray on the

particles forming the solid globe gravitate to each other — as
by the action of chemical aflSnities a like law regulates their
intermixture — so a law of attraction should operate in the im-
material world of thought, and influence the phenomena of
organic creation?

Assuming, then, as I think we are entitled to do, that
some such law does exist, it will not be an unfair test of its
truth to inquire whether its operation, like that of all other
such laws, extends to all alike ; whether its influence is ex-
tended both over the just and the unjust, over the rapa-
cious and the inoffensive ; or if it has only a partial bear-
ing, confining itself to the Aveak and the defenceless, as a
means of escape, in the absence of means of defence. So far
as this goes, it bears the test sufficiently well. The crocodile
receives the impress of its laws as well as the chameleon ; the
Polar bear or Arctic fox as well as the Arctic hare ; the
Mantis, which preys on other insects, as well as the leaf-insect,
which feeds on leaves. In the one case, the deception is applied
for offence ; in the other, for defence. And if we remember
that the numbers of those preyed upon must necessarily
infinitely preponderate over those which prey upon them, we
shall not be surprised at a much greater number of creatures
using the disguise for protection than for offence.

Another test which may be applied is more difficult of
answer. Looking at it as a law, ought it not to operate by
itself, independent of assistance from the animal itself; — that
is, if an animal assumes a disguise, ought not the disguise to
be complete, pure and simple, without the aid of contrivance
or trick on the part of the animal ? A beetle, for instance, is
exactly like a pellet of earth or a seed, but only so when its
limbs are all contracted and placed close to its body. In
addition to the resemblance, we must have here the instinct
of the animal to throw itself into its proper attitude to produce
the disguise. True, the natural instinct of fear leads it to
shrink into itself ; and we may look upon the resemblance as
merely an accidental quality which is brought into play by
this instinct. But this hardly seems to meet the difficulty.
Two concurrent conditions are needed to produce one effect ;
and wo can scarcely hold that the same law v.hich in other

DUr/uises of Nature. 79

instances produces the effect by its sole action, also, unaided,
produces the effect resultant from a double action.

Were such a law of affinities or attractions as I have sug-
gested to regulate the external phenomena of creation, we
might expect that, as we do in chemistry, so here we should
find many affinities opposing each other, and that the attrac-
tion of the colour or appearance of the soil, or habitation
of the species, would only be one of many elements by which
the conditions of its form and appearance would be deter-
mined. This would meet an objection which might other-
wise be raised against my suggestion — viz., that on many
animals there is no indication, or at least no apparent in-
dication, of an affinity in appearance to the character of the
place in which they are found. True, the answer may be
likened to that used by the phrenologists, who, when some
man with all the good bumps commits an atrocious crime,
explain the anomaly by telling us he had counteracting bad
bumps. The answer, by force of association, rather approaches
the ridiculous ; we are inclined to look upon it as a quirky
evasion, but this is owing to its misuse and exaggeration ; in
sober earnest, it is so only when misapplied. Every one of
OS, if we ask our own conscience, must admit that we have a
constant fight going on between our good and our bad inclina-
tions ; and the same struggle between opposing qualities,
between opposing habits, and opposing laws, is to be seen in
every branch of science.

Should my view appear of a nature tending to throw light
upon the phenomena of creation, 1 apprehend it will not be
found of less weight if I go a little further, and offer to
extend it to the phenomena of life (as in contradiction to
the phenomena of creation). These are by no means the
same thing If applicable solely to the phenomena of crea-
tion, my suggestion might apply to all such cases of per-
manent similarity to the solum in quo as I have adduced ;
but could not, or at all events could only by a more compli-
cated and indirect route, apply to cases of temporary or sea-
sonal variation. No original law of attraction by similarity
could regulate the appearance of the variable hare at its
creation, because such attraction could only affect it once ;

80 Andrew Murray on the

and if the hare were once created white or brown, its creation
is over, and further change through that law at an end. Bat
if we look upon the rule as subsisting not only at creation, but
all through life, and as a great law or influence affecting life,
then the subsequent changes of the hare from brown to white,
and back again, are in accordance with it. The greater white-
ness of all animals at the Poles is explainable ; we perceive
under what law the fish or the bird assumes the hue of its
feeding-ground, although we remain in ignorance of the
modus operandi of the law.

There is yet a further step, which the advocates of a modi-
fication of species might not hesitate to take — viz., to abandon
the idea altogether as a law of creation, and confine it to a
rule of life. Combined with a belief in the modification of
species, it might help us to see how, through its influence, so
far as outward appearance is concerned, an Alpine hare might
become the Arctic species ; how the desert locust might be de-
rived from the common one ; how a moth like a weather-
beaten, lichen-encrusted rock, should proceed from one from
the woods, and so on. There may be truth in the idea that
changes in species do arise from the modifications of climate,
food, &c.; but 1 confess that, in the present state of my in-
formation on the subject, I am not inclined to look upon such
instances as the above as cases where such modification has
taken place, but rather as instances of the exercise of the ori-
ginal law I have assumed, or of some other such law of equi-
valent force and application ; and would hold, that while such
law" may be exercised co-ordinately and simultaneously with
one producing a certain amount of modification of species, it
cannot be substituted for such modifying principle ; still less
can the instances of its operation be adduced as proofs of the
existence of that principle.

As I have already said, the fact of a great family resem-
blance subsisting among all the creatures belonging to one
continent and its dependencies, although not properly falling
under the head disguise, must not be lost sight of in consider-
ing this question, and would seem to have a special bearing
upon this phase of it. That such great regional resemblances
exist, every naturalist knows. Contrast the deep and gloomy

Disguises of Nature. 81

Javanese forests, with their gorgeous epiphytes and poisonous-
looking plants, with the fir-clad alpine scenery of Norway —
the arid plains of Africa with the beauty of our West Indian
Islands — the strange Australian scrub with the Tartarian
steppes — and see how distinctive and marked is the general
character of each ; and not less marked in general effect than
in individual detail. Show an experienced naturalist or botan-
ist a new plant or animal, prating nothing of its whereabouts,
and yet ten to one he will correctly tell the country from
which it has come. There is an undefinable facies about them
which enables the practised eye to allot to them their proper
station, as the detective oflScer is said to be able to tell the
ft'Ion, meet him in what company he may ; and this family,
or rather regional facies, extends around the particular country
as the air of its climate envelopes it — as, for instance, in the
Gallapago Islands, which lie nearest to America, although 500
or GOO miles distant from it, it is found that although the ani-
mals are for the most part distinct, they yet bear the Ameri-
can facies.

Now, although we find this regional character so well
marked as I bave stated, it stands to reason that all are not
equally well defined. Where the contrast in climate and con-
dition of life is great, the difference in organic productions is
great likewise. The contrast is much greater between the
fauna and flora of this country and West Africa than between
those of this country and North America ; and of course the
converse is true likewise. Where the conditions of life are
similar, the animal and vegetable products, although distinct,
are found to be similar also. This gives rise to that most in-
teresting class of plants and animals known as representative
plants and animals.

But this is a word which is used with two significations,
only one of which is properly applicable to my present in-
quiry. One kind of representative species (and that is the
kind with which I am not at present dealing) is where a spe-
cific function is allotted to widely different species, in countries
whose climate and conditions greatly differ. For example,
the scavenger duty, which in cold countries is mostly per-
formed by the burying beetles, is in tropical countries per-

NEW SERTES. VOL. XI. NO. I. JAN. 1860. 1

8J Andrew Murray on the

formed by heteromeroua beetles, a totally distinct tribe.
These represent each other in their functions, although not
in their form or character. The representative species with
which I have to deal are those which are found, in similar
countries, replacing each other both in form and function.
As in plants, the Cacti of South America replacing the Eu-
phorbicB of South Africa, the Epacris of Australia taking
the place of the heath of the Cape, &c. ; in insects, the Eleodes
of California taking the place of the Blaps of Siberia, the
Eucrania of the deserts of Northern Patagonia replacing
the Ateuchi of the deserts of the Old World ; in reptiles, the
crocodile of the OldWorld superseding the alligator in the New;
in birds, the ostrich in Africa represented by the rhea in South
America, and the emu in Australia ; in mammals, the leopard
represented by the jaguar, the camel by the llama, and so on.
Now, it is to be observed that this class of representative
species is only to be met with when similar conditions of life
exist in both countries. The ostrich, rhea, emu, for instance,
find the climate and the extensive plains suited to their
structure and mode of life, in all the three countries where
they are found ; they are not to be met with in mountainous
countries ; the prehensile tailed monkies, the agile squirrels,
&c., are only to be found where there are trees ; and so in
every other instance. Would it not, then, appear that the
general character or facies of the animals in different regions
is the result of some special influence or condition in the coun-
try peculiar to each ] and if we adopt this view, must it not
follow as a corollary, that, where the conditions are the same,
we should see the same facies appearing in each. Now, in
point of fact, in those cases where the conditions approach to
the same, we see enough to show it to be probable that it is
so. I would go further, and say that there is good ground for
holding that, were they really identical, we should see the
same facies reappear. Let me illustrate this by two or three
instances showing the effect of different degrees of nearness
of condition. Compare the United States with Europe : the
conditions are similar but distinct; so is the fauna. Compare
the salt deserts of the Caspian with the salt deserts of the
Mormons: the conditions are here more similar; and recent

Di»guu€9 oj Nature. 83

discoveries tell us that the facias of the fauna of these two
countries is singularly alike. Compare the Gold Coast, Gabon,
&.C., and a portion of the coast of Mozambique. Among the
Coleoptera, we find Goliaths in both, and many other species
allied to species on the opposite side of the continent. They
are not the same, but only belong to the same genera. Is this
the result of intercommunication, and does it indicate the exist-
ence of a similar zoological belt extending across the country ?
It is mere conjecture to say. No ; subsequent explorations must
solve the question ; but it seems in the last degree improbable
that the climate of the coast should extend through the centre
of the land. And, lastly, compare the fauna and flora of the
Arctic regions of Europe, of Asia, and of America, where the
conditions cease to be different, and we find that there there is
no longer a separate facies — the type of all three is the same.
The light in which 1 look upon these facts is, that where, in
a similar latitude, we have similar conditions of existence,
we have dependent upon and flowing from that similar zoo-
logical provinces, or separate, distinct, and isolated patches,
having nothing whatever to do with each other, but, at the
same time, possessing allied species ; and this I maintain,
not through intermixture of species, or by modification of spe-
cies, or by the passage of the same species from one continent
or one part of a continent to another, but by the same con-
ditions of creation presenting themselves for the evolution
of the creative idea. Of course, in saying this, I do not
speak of identical species, which may have passed from one
place to another by the ordinary means of migration or inter-
communication. I speak of the general typical resemblance
which we find in species distinct and peculiar to each region ;
and my idea is, that as close a general resemblance would have
been found, although each of these regions of the continent
of which I speak had been separated from each other by
thousands of miles, irrespective of latitude and hemisphere
(the same conditions, of course, existing in other respects).

In short, if we could find two countries exactly corresponding
in every respect, however widely separate, I should expect to
find, not, of course, the same species in both (for as we have dif-
ferent species in our own and every country, so wb must expect

84 Andrew Murray on the

to find them there), but species of the same families and of the
same genera, and, more than that, species very closely allied in
form and appearance. It may be said, it is easy to argue from
an if; but I think here I am able to offer something more than
an if. No doubt the northern Arctic shores which I have
instanced are not widely separated from each other ; but I am
able to refer to instances of places widely separated pre-
senting conditions as nearly as possible identical, and pro-
ducing species correspondingly similar. The first case is
that of the blind cave animals found in the caves of Europe
and Kentucky. Here, in a nearly corresponding latitude,
yet in position separated by half the globe, are caves extend-
ing for miles into the bowels of the earth ; and far in the
interior of these caves,* where impenetrable darkness and
everlasting silence reign, living eyeless creatures are found —
more particularly a number of different kinds of insects. The
number of genera and different forms yet known is few, but
the number of species is considerable — almost every freshly
examined cave furnishing something new. Now, the extra-
ordinary thing is, not only that, in the different caves in
Europe, the new species found in almost every fresh cave
belong to already known cave genera,t but that the species
found in Kentucky also belong to the same genera. The
first species discovered there was Anophtlialmus Tellkampjii,
which so exactly corresponds in form and appearance to the
European species, A. Schmidtii or A. Bilimekii, that any one
but an entomologist would say they were the same. Adelops
hirlus and Adelops Tellkampfii have since been found ; and,
in their turn, they so exactly resemble the Carniolan species
Adelops Milleri and Adelops Freyeri, that the same may be
said of them. Here, according to my view, the creative
influence, acting under the same conditions, produces the
same results — that is, produces creatures as nearly identical
as can be without being the same. Nature never repeats

* Schiodte says of the Carniolan caves, that the blind insects are not found
until about two miles from the mouth of the cave.

t The cave genera are, with one exception, confined to caves ; — the one ex-
ception is the genus Adelops, of which some bliud species are found, not iu
caves, but in dark places, under moss, &c.

Diaguiaea of Nature. 85

herself; and we could not, therefore, expect the very same.
And the inference I draw receives a double confirmation from
the fact, that a great many of the European caves may be
viewed as thoroughly isolated, and as free from communication
as the Kentucky from the Carniolan ; and I know of instances in
which the inhabitants of such caves are not specifically distinct
— the Auvergne species from the Pyrenean, the Pyrenean from
* the Carniolan, and so on. I may therefore say, that in the
case of these caves we have a subterranean region as distinct
and well defined as any purely geographical region in the
upper world. Whether we may find other species of Anoph-
tkalmus or Adelopa in the caves of Australia, or in caves yet
to be discovered in tropical countries, is another question, and
one which would not necessarily much affect the view I have
taken, even although the species which might there be found
should belong to new genera ; for, in the first place, there may
be more genera yet to be discovered in Europe — (I have no
doubt there are) — and already we know several European
genera which have not been found in America, and the con-
verse may in all probability be yet found to be the case with
regard to America ; so that the mere discovery of a new form
would go for nothing — the rather that our knowledge of the
fauna of the subterranean region is as yet too limited to allow
us to say whether a new form bears its facies or not ; and, in
the second place, the temperature, or, what is still more likely
to affect the fauna of caves, the degree of moisture, may be
suflScient to constitute a different class of subterranean region.
The European and American is a wet subterranean, the Aus-
tralian may very probably be a dry one ; but if it should prove
not to have different conditions, I then should most confidently
look for the occurrence in them of new species of the European
genera, Anophthalmus and Adelops.

Another region, sui generis, may be adduced as possess-
ing in a certain, though less marked degree, special conditions
of life under which similar peculiar forms have been evolved in
distant countries, viz. — the interior of ants' nests. As already
said, entomologists have of late years found many Coleopterous
insects, not met with elsewhere, in the interior of ants' nests.
Some of these (the Clavigeri, the Fonnicosomi, ^c.)are invested

86 Andrew Murray on the

with the outward appearance of the ants among which they
live; others have no special resemblance to their hosts; but the
point to which I press attention here is, that the true ant-nest
species are found in ants' nests, and nowhere else ; that a pecu-
liar facies (in many cases a peculiar structure) belongs to most
of them, probably to all which exclusively inhabit ants' nests.
The search into ants' nests for these exceptional Coleoptera
has been carried on very keenly for some years past in Europe,
but as yet little has been done in foreign countries. The little
that has been done has furnished very interesting results,
and results quite in keeping with the view I have been main-
taining. Species of Paussi (a marked genus with an excep-
tional structure, and believed to be absolutely confined to ants'
nests) have been found in Spain, in West Africa, at the
Cape, at Natal, in the East Indies, at Hong Kong, in Aus-
tralia, (fee. Researches in North America have likewise shown
resemblances to our European species in other less exceptional
species found in the ants' nests there. We must remember,
however, that such a habitat is less defined and restricted,
and more subject to the intrusion of external influences than
the other special regions of which we have been speaking.
There is another kind of condition allied to the last, also
drawn from the insect kingdom, which furnishes another in-
stance in support of my position. I mean the singular coinci-
dence of form and appearance shown by all the species of
water-beetles, wherever found. The conditions of life in a
piece of water vary little, and we see as little variation in the
appejj,rance of its occupants. Entomologists have had their
ingenuity exercised in endeavouring to account for the presence
of apparently the same species of water-beetle (for instance,
Colymbetes notatuaj in distant countries — in New Zealand
and Great Britain ; and I have myself suggested, that the eggs
or larvaj may have been transmitted in the water-vessels of
ships ; but it may be that the species is distinct, only that the
characters ar^ too slight to catch our eyes. At any rate, there
is no doubt about the fact, that water-beetles are so close in
structure to each other as to allow of only a very few genera,
the great majority belonging only to a small number of distinct
forms; and the chief difference appears to depend upon their

IHsguues of Nature. 87

being carnivorous or vegetable feeders. Again, there is a small
beetle (^ptu fulvescens) found on our shores half-way be-
tween high and low^ water mark, and which certainly passes
more than the half of its existence under the sea. There are
two or three others of similar mode of life, but I more particu-
larly refer to this one. Its usual place of abode is between
the flat strata or leaves of shale or other foliaceous rock ; and
it is provided with means of securing and enveloping itself
in -a suflicient supply of air to last during its submersion, so
as to maintain life, and move about unwetted. On the coast
of Chili, a similar small species {Tkalassohhis testaceus)
is found living under the same conditions, and having the
same facies as our ^pus ; sufliciently distinct to be made into
a separate genus, but a genus taking its place next to jEpva.
It may be said, that if my views on this point were really
sound, we should in like manner find the fishes and mol-
lusca of our own seas, and of those of Chili, &c., bearing
the same type. But this by no means follows ; for observe,
in the first place, we are here comparing an animal created
to suit an abnormal condition with those in a normal con-
dition, and it might be expected that the abnormal condi-
tion would express itself more forcibly in any deviation of
structure than the normal condition; and, in the second place,
we are comparing land animals with sea animals, and we
are not entitled to assume that the amount of variation
in the condition of life necessary to influence the creative
idea in the one is the same as that in the other ; or that the
same tests indicate the relative amount of variation in condi-
tion of life in both. On the contrary, we have every reason to
suppose that the reverse is the case — namely, that the creative
jdea in sea animals was (or is) influenced by a less amount
of variation in the conditions of life than in land animals.
In all animals and plants, the phenomena of life bear a perfect
relation to the phenomena of creation. As already said, the
animal created in and bearing the typical facies of any geo-
graphical region, is suited to the conditions of life in that
region, and thrives better there than anywhere else ; and
cannot live at all in regions which are much opposed to its
native one. The reindeer could not live in the deserts of

88 Andrew Murray on the

Sahara, nor the lion in the snows of Lapland. In fact, wo
may say, that where we find one set of phenomena, we shall
also find the other. If we find a region of which the flora
and fauna are typically peculiar, we shall find that that flora
and fauna is not suited, at all events not so well suited, to
any other region. They may live in another region which
has approximate conditions of life to their own, but will not
thrive in it so well as in their own ; and however similar the
other region may be to it, they will never make their way in
it in opposition to its own native fauna and flora, so as to
usurp their place. If, therefore, in nature, we find a special
fauna confined to a special district, we may assume that the
same conditions which influence its restriction to such local
habitat also influenced its original creation. Applying this
to the question of the relative amount of variation in condition
of life necessary to have influenced the phenomena of creation
in land and sea animals respectively, we see that if this had
been alike in kind and amount, we should have had the same
facies in sea animals nearly all over the globe ; because
temperature and some other particulars, which will suggest
themselves of their own accord to the reader (the great diff'er-
ence in the amount of which forms so important a condition of
life on land), are so equal all over the sea that they could form
no eflScient barrier, were their effects no greater there than what
they are on land. All the diffierences that we can detect between
one region and another in the sea, would prove no barrier to
the passage of most animals on land. We must therefore allow,
that the inhabitants of the sea are either more susceptible than
land animals (and that both in the phenomena of creation and
of life) of the differences in the medium in which they live,
or else that there exist in that medium other elements influ-
encing the inhabitants of the sea, which on land do not affect
animals, or which we cannot appreciate. If we admit this, we
can have little difficulty in suggesting some of the specialties
which may have given rise to different marine regions. The
difference between the extent of sea and dry land in different
parts of the globe, the greater depth and wider extent of the
sea in the south, the different distribution of land, the dif-
ferent ingredients of which the shores are composed, combined

Disguises of Nature. 89"

^ith temperature, depth, climate, weather, currents, and pos-
sibly even some small difference in the relative proportions of
the chemical constituents of the sea itself, — all must operate
in affecting the phenomena of life and creation ; and it is
through the influence of such particulars that we can explain
the differences of type in the marine fauna and flora of seas
separated from each other only by a few miles of land — as,
for instance, the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico at the
Isthmus of Panama, or the Mediterranean and Red Seas at the
Isthmus of Suez.

If there be any such law, it must have been in operation
during past geological epochs as well as at the present time ;
and wherever we can find any stratum containing animal
and vegetable remains, marked by a similar facies to that
of the animals and vegetables which we now find in any
existing region, surely we may draw from them a tolerably
correct inference as to the climate and nature of the country
in which such bygone forms once lived. If we find, for ex-
ample, that the fauna and flora of the oolitic period bears a
certain resemblance in facies or type to the present fauna and
flora of Australia, we may assume that those regions of which
the oolitic strata are the debris bore in their time a correspond-
ing amount of resemblance in physical condition to the pre-
sent state of Australia.

So much for similar conditions of locality producing similar
plants and animals. It remains to consider what are the con-
ditions which so influence the creative or vital powers, and
how they operate. Can my suggestion of the attraction of
resemblance to the character of the birthplace have any bear-
ing here \ Its application is certainly less apparent, but, I
should say, may still, exist. We must remember that there
may be, and no doubt are, many points of resemblance which
our faculties are unable to appreciate, but which yet exist ;
and many which, although we cannot nominate, we yet are
sensible of. Most men have some idea of their own of the
general character of the different continents — something in-
describable, but which yet associates well, in their ideas, with
the plants and animals which they know to inhabit them.
The essential element of some such inappreciable character
may be that which, communicated to the whole animal and

UBW SERIES. VOL. XI. NO. I. JAX. 1860. X.

90 Professor William B. Rogers's

vegetable creatures of a continent, gives them that general
empirical resemblance which we admit, but cannot embody in
words or explain to another.

Notes on the Aurora of the 2%th August, and several sub-
sequent nights, as observed at Lunenburg, Massachusetts,
Lat. 42° 35'. By Professor William B. Rogers. With
a Plate.

We place on permanent record in our pages the subjoined
very interesting description of the remarkable Aurora borea-
lis of the end of August last, by our esteemed correspondent,
Professor William B. Rogers of Boston, United States, in the
hope that its publication may assist in the identification, or
the co-ordination at least, of some of the phenomena with
those witnessed at the same date in other quarters of the
globe. Recent intelligence indicates that an auroral condi-
tion of the atmosphere, of unwonted brilliancy, prevailed at
the same epoch throughout an unprecedented extent of the
earth's surface, being visible on the west side of the Atlantic
as far south as Havana, and on the east side in many parts
of Europe ; how far to the west and east, we cannot at present
report. AVhat is more worthy of note than even its occur-
rence within the tropics, is the fact of its appearance, with
identity of date, in the southern hemisphere, in Australia, at
our very antipodes. A difiFusion so nearly world-wide of a dis-
turbance in the electric equilibrium of the earth's atmosphere
seems to lend to this aurora the character and interest of a
cosmical phenomenon, and to suggest that philosophers must
look for its exciting cause either outside of the earth alto-
gether or deep within it. Nothing will so tend to the dis-
covery of the cause, Avhatever it may have been, as a careful
comparison and analysis of the aspects and phases of the
aurora, observed simultaneously at many remote localities and
faithfully described. The reader will find an account of the
phenomenon as it was witnessed on the 28th and 29th of
August and Ist and 2d of September at Havana, in an ab-
stract of a paper read before the Academic des Sciences, Paris,
by M. Poey, on the 17th October, and printed in the journal
called L'Institut ; and he will see a mention of an Aurora

Notes on the Aurora of2Sth August. 91

Australis on the 28th of August, &c., at Victoria, in the Lon-
don Illustrated News of the 19th of November.

Letter^ Professor W. B. Rogers to Professor II. D. Rogers
of Glasgow.

*' My dear Brother, — The close of the past summer was
marked by a succession of auroras, which, for number and
magnificence, have rarely been equalled in this latitude. Tho
favourable position of our hill, commanding the whole horizon,
led me to note in some detail the varying phases of the phe-
nomenon on the night when it was most brilliant, and to mark
its recurrence at other times throughout the period of its con-
tinuance. Knowing that you will be curious to compare these
observations with the effects which, as I learn, were observed
at the same time in Great Britain, I send you a copy of my
notes, compiled from memoranda taken at the moment of ob-
servation.

** This memorable period of auroras was ushered in by the
superb display of the night of Sunday, August 28-9, of which
some details are given below. After this the phenomenon
was repeated with more or less splendour for the eight follow-
ing nights, that is, until the night of Monday, September 5-6.
Two of these later displays, those of Thursday and Friday,
were scarcely inferior in beauty to the first, while that of
Friday, in some of its features, was the most interesting of
them all. The uniformity with which certain of its phases
recurred, and the marvellous exhibition of pulsations which
marked it when most brilliant, are described somewhat mi-
nutely in the accompanying notes. In all the lesser displays,
as in that last mentioned, the formation of the obscure seg-
ment in the north, with its marginal bow of light, was the
prominent phenomenon ; and the shooting up of streamers
from this arch was accompanied by an exhaustion of its light
and a breaking up of the dark space, which, after a pause,
was reproduced as before.

" For several days during this auroral period, the telegraph
wires were • observed to be charged ; and so powerful were
these waves or currents of the induced electricity, that, on
some lines, they enabled the operators to correspond without
the use of batteries. Between Boston and Portland, the line

92 Professor William B. Rogers's

was worked for two hours by the aurora alone. A similar
result was obtained between Braintreo and Fall River, between
Boston and Fitchburg, and on the vast stretch of wire from
Pittsburg to St Louis, as well as on other routes, having more
or less of an eastern and western direction.

" Aurora of the night of August 28-9.

*' A few minutes before 8 p.m. of the 28th, my attention was
called to an appearance resembling a number of elongated,
thin, slightly luminous clouds, collected chiefly in the eastern
and western quarters of the sky, united by others extending
over head in nearly parallel directions. These were quickly
replaced by converging columns of the same vapour-like
aspect, mingled with more transient luminous streamers, clearly
showing the auroral character of the phenomenon. Through-
out most of the northern half of the sky the stars were dim-
med by what seemed to be a luminous haze, which in some
places quite eclipsed their light, and which itself glowed
changefully with a golden and crimson colouring. These
tints, so indescribably delicate and rich, were brightest in the
eastern and western quarters of the sky, where they continued
to appear in varying flushes overspreading a wide space, until
near the close of the first great display of the evening. In
the earlier stage, the obscure space on the northern horizon
had not assumed the usual arched form, and was sufficiently
translucent to show a few flaky clouds floating within its con-
fines.

"At 8.20, this dark space had become more opaque, and
had moulded itself into a symmetrical arch, bounded by a
broad luminous band. Quickly groups of streamers shifting
from place to place arose along the arch, and then appeared
in a long array flashing from nearly every point far up into
the sky, while similar luminous columns, spreading along the
horizon beyond the east and west points, and extending up-
wards, united with the long beams dimly stretched over from
the north to mark out a second obscure segment in the oppo-
site or southern part of the heavens.

" As these luminous columns rapidly brightened and ad-
vanced, the southern segment, which they delineated, grew
more distinct and regular, forming in a short time a great

Notes on the Aurora of the 28<A August. 93

arch, whose dark area embraced a much wider space and
greater altitude than its counterpart in the northern quarter.
From this time the luminous columns rising from the southern
arch continued to increase in brightness, while those on the
north grew fainter and less regular, and the arch from which
they ascended relapsed into a changing shapeless form.

" At 8.50, the southern half of the heavens had become the
seat of the most striking phenomena, and so far outshone the
north, that the display might well be called an Aurora Aus-
tralis. Here was seen a vast dark arch, embracing about
130 degrees of the horizon, and rising to a height of 50 degrees,
bounded above by a broad luminous zone, from which the in-
termitting, far-flashing columns of silvery and golden light
seemed to emanate. These gradually encroached upon the
arch below, which, as it became depressed, drew with it a
border of increasing brightness. At the same time, the lu-
minous columns lengthening upwards began to mark a point
of convergence south of the zenith, corresponding to the upper
pole of the dipping-needle. Sometimes two, sometimes three
or four would flash up to this part of the heavens, and, linger-
ing for a moment, would seem to unite around the pole, often
leaving, as they retreated or dissolved away, irregular flakes
of light encircling the polar point.

" These phenomena continued with little general alteration
for many minutes, the southern arch slightly declining in
height but not in brilliancy, and another but less luminous
arch forming in the north, and sending its flashing streamers
towards the magnetic pole, whither also continued to converge
the golden and crimson beams emanating from the eastern
and western quarters of the horizon. After a time, these con-
verging flashes began rapidly to increase in number and bril-
liancy, encroaching more and more upon the southern and
northern arcs of light, until, at about 9.15, the latter were
entirely obliterated amid the suddenly increasing splendours
that overspread the whole sky.

" At 9.30, the display attained its highest magnificence.
The dome of the heavens was hung around with white, and
golden and rose-tinted streamers converging from all quar-
ters towards the magnetic pole, and uniting there in a circle
of continually varying brilliancy and colour. Over the glow-

94 Professor William B. Rogers's

ing stripes of ttis marvellous pavilion, there came broad flushes
of the richest crimson light, at first at intervals, and then
more permanently, until it suffused all the upper part of the
sky and the whole southern quarter except a narrow space
next the horizon, where only a few faint streamers were to be
discerned.

" These phenomena continued with little abatement of
splendour for about half an hour, the light diminishing some-
what in the lower part of the sky, especially towards the north
and south, but still glowing in changeful beams with broader
flashes of crimson and gold over a wide space around the
magnetic pole.

" At 10.1^, the general illumination had ceased, but broad
masses of rose and yellow light still hung over the eastern
quarter, and less distinctly in the west, while pulsating beams
continued to play at intervals around the magnetic pole, and
to flash over other parts of the sky. At 10.30, nothing re-
mained of this wonderful spectacle but a faint auroral arch
low down in the north, accompanied by a few dim streamers.

" At this time I discontinued my observations ; but from
the reports of others, it appears that the phenomena recurred
in great splendour between one and two o'clock in the morn-
ing (29th), when the crimson colour was particularly remark-
able. Still later, at 3.30, I saw a fine auroral arch in the
north, with a long arra yof streamers rising from it.

" During the evening, when the illumination was at its
height, the light was so great, that several of my friends,
standing out on the lawn, tvere able to read with ease the
ordinary small print of a newsjyaper. As the evening ad-
vanced, the breeze from west by north, at first feeble, became
quite strong. At 9 p.m., the barometer marked 295 and
falling, and the thermometer 56°, an unusually low tempera-
ture for the season.

" Aurora of the night of September 2.
*' Early on the day of the 2d, the wind became strong from
west, with a light haze. Barometer 29*2,. lower than for many
days. Temperature at 10 A.M. 60°. As the day advanced the
wind veered to north-west, the air growing clear and showing
scattered cirrus and cirro-cumulus clouds. A clear sunset was

Notes on the Aurora of the 2d September. 95

followed by a peculiar greenish and purplish light extending
round the horizon, even beyond the north. Over the north-
east quarter, the air, to the height of thirty degrees, had a
dark opacity, unlike that caused by mist or cloud, but rather
resembling a shadow, and yet having the effect of arresting
the light coming from beyond.

" At 7.30, an irregular, obscure space began to form along
the northern horizon, and a faint flush of whitish light to
appear at a point a little north of east.

" At 7.50, a faint arch of white light made its appearance,
resting on the horizon a little north of the east and west
points, and culminating some distance below the pole-star.
This continued to rise until 8 p.m., when its apex was within
a few degrees of the pole. At this time two broad but faint
beams extended from the ends of the arch towards a point a
little south of the zenith, forming a second but much fainter
arch. Within the northern arch appeared a narrower lumi-
nous band, concentric with the exterior curve, and separated
from it by a dark opaque space. Between this and the horizon
there was an obscure tract traversed by faint, vertical beams,
which terminated at the inner luminous arch. (See fig. 1,
Plate III.)

" At 8.10, the arch had declined to about two-thirds the
height of the pole, but was very symmetrical and distinct,
displaying the inner concentric band and some streams in the
dark space below, but none rising from the east and west
extremities.

" At 8.15, a long, bright streamer shot out from the west
end, while the other extremity became suffused by a broad mass
of light, giving forth another streamer. The two concentric
arches, verging into the luminous space, still retained their
regular form throughout the rest of their length.

" At 8.20, the inner luminous curve had vanished, and the
eastern end of the arch was replaced for a considerable dis-
tance by a broad mass of light, giving origin to several
streamers. (See fig. 2, Plate 111.) It now slowly descended
and faded, until at 8.35 it began again to rise and to acquire
more distinctness.

" At 8.40, the top of the arch reached nearly to the pole-star,
the east limb had resumed its regular form, and the west limb

96 Professor "William B. Rogers's

was replaced by an irregular space without distinct streamers,
but displaying an intermitting or pulsating light.

" At 8.45, the arch had declined in height, and was so faint
as to be hardly visible except at the flanks.

" At 9 P.M., it had grown luminous throughout, had ascended
a little, and developed a faint inner arch, while occasional
streamers rose from the eastern end, now broken and irre-
gular. Soon they vanished, while others shot up from the
western extremity. The upper arc became irregular from the
effusion of dim waves of light upward. (See fig. 3, Plate III.)

" At 9.7, the inner arch below the broad irregular zone of
light had become strongly luminous throughout, forming a
narrow concentric curve, extending to the horizon on both
sides. The apex of the outer curve was less than half the
height of the pole. No streamers were visible within or near
the arch.

" At 9.20, the inner arch had vanished, the upper arc at the
same time becoming higher and fainter by diffusion, while
dim streamers appeared on the horizon near the western ex-
tremity. Presently a low, luminous segment showed itself on
the horizon beneath the arch ; the latter now resolved itself
into an array of bright streamers, with equidistant shadowy
spaces between them, to which was quickly added a similar
array of short streamers beneath. (See fig. 4, Plate III.)

" In a moment the streamers began to shoot upwards to a
great height, and to exhibit, first in the eastern quarter and
then at various points, flashes of crimson and golden light,
while near the horizon at one or two places stripes of prismatic
colour gleamed for a few seconds, looking like bright fragments
of a rainbow.

" At 9.30, the streamers had extended and grown brighter,
while the low luminous segment, diffusing itself upward, had
merged into the outer arch, which now reached nearly to the
pole-star. At this moment the arch began to send off succes-
sive waves of light, rapidly following one another towards and
beyond the zenith, some of which could be distinctly traced
as great continuous curves, resting on the eastern and western
points of the horizon, and moving as if they revolved about a
diameter connecting these points.

" At one time two of these vast arch-like waves were seen at

Notes on the Aurora of the 2d September. 97

the same moment, the one following the other at no great dis-
tance as they swept upwards and across the zenith.

" In a few seconds, however, this phasis of the wave move-
ment gave place to more rapid and seemingly broken pulsa-
tions, flitting upwards in close succession through the northern,
eastern, and western quarters of the sky, and visible, though
less distinctly, in the south. This wonderful appearance,
though diflScult to follow in its details, exhibited everywhere
a convergency of the lines of motion towards a point consider-
ably south of the zenith, and seemingly correspondent to the
upward direction of the dip-needle.

" At one moment bright streamers shooting from the horizon
would meet at this spot, returning for an instant a nearly con-
tinuous illumination throughout their length, at another they
glowed chiefly towards their upper part, where they united to
form the auroral crown.

"When these luminous phenomena were at their height,
every spot to which the eye was directed, except the southern
quarter near the horizon, was traversed by quickly successive
flashes of white, greenish, and pale roseate light, all seemingly
moving upwards, and presenting, when viewed together, the
appearance of alternate spaces of illumination and obscurity
chasing one another along the great streamers converging to-
wards the magnetic pole.

'* These upward pulsations of light seemed to be a phenome-
non distinct from that of the streamers themselves, which ap-
peared to be comparatively stationary ^ though but indistinctly
and partially visible.

"As this impressive efi'usion of light went on, the northern
arch broke up into an irregular faintly luminous space, but
quickly the low dark segment on the horizon expanded, and
another arch began to be developed, partly within and partly
above it.

" At 9,57, this double arch was complete. The pulsations
were not observed in or above it, but continued in other parts
of the sky, especially in the eastern quarter, where they
seemed, as before described, to illuminate alternate spaces
along the comparatively stationary streamers, which were only
dimly discerned in their absence.

" At 10.3, the arch had become triple by the appearance of

NEW SERIES. VOL. XI. NO. I. JAN. 1860. L

D8 Professor William B. Rogers's

a third luminous bow within the dark segment. The upper-
most curve now shot forth numerous streamers, and was quickly
lost, leaving a double arch of great symmetry and brightness.
In a few seconds short equidistant streamers formed in the
dark spaces between the two concentric arches, and soon ex-
tending outwards, obliterated the external bow, leaving the
inner one single with a superb tiara of radiations.

"At 10.17, faint beams were seen converging towards the
magnetic pole, accompanied by occasional pulsations. The
streamers in the north had nearly disappeared, and the space
beneath had assumed the form of a dark segment of great
height with a single luminous margin.

" At 10.20, the arch was very bright and showed prismatic
bands near its western end, beyond which arose a broad rose-
ate beam, extending more than half way to the zenith. Pulsa-
tions were seen within and above the arch, and also near the
magnetic pole.

" At 10,30, the dark segment below presented three bright
concentric bands. Above was a luminous arch wider than
usual ; and exterior to all, another but less brilliant one, from
which numerous streamers seemed to arise. Again a superb
flush of crimson light was diflfused from the north-west, while
prismatic colours made their appearance in the near extremity
of the arch, accompanied by a renewal of the pulsations in that
region. Meanwhile the inner and outer arches coalescing, be-
came divided into a series of luminous prisms, and in a moment
the pulsating movement extended over all the northern and
part of the southern half of the sky. Innumerable waves of
white, yellowish, and purplish light chased each other from
every quarter towards the magnetic pole, while the crimson
flush before referred to spread wider and higher from the
west. This grand display was marked as before by a break-
ing up of the luminous arch in the north, where in a few
minutes there remained only a dark segment near the horizon.

" At 10.45, this latter had risen a little, and resumed its
luminous bordering; while faint beams, seemingly made visible
by pulsations running along their length, were seen to the
south of the magnetic pole, as well as in other quarters. At
this time the margin of the dark segment extended over Ca-
pella, and quite extinguished its light.

Notes on the Aurora of the 2d September. 99

*' At 10.55, the arch became undulated, showing both
streamers, while the pulsations became more numerous and
brilliant in the various quarters in which thej had been pre-
viously seen.

" At 11.5, the eastern part of the arch had given place to
groups of rosy and golden-coloured streamers, rising high.
Quickly the same change occurred in the other limb, and the
arch was obliterated ; flushes of rosy and greenish light alter-
nated in the west, and faint converging beams were visible
near the magnetic pole. The pulsating movement now ceased
to be discernible. Here the regular observations were closed,
but the auroral lights probably continued through the night,
as at 3 A.M. of the 3d I saw a luminous arch, with streamers,
in the north.

" On reviewing the various phases of this aurora, it will be
seen that they recurred according to a somewhat uniform
order of succession. First, the dark segment on the northern
horizon took a regular arched form, and, as it rose, became
bounded above by a broad luminous curve, at the same time
developing one or more bright concentric arches within. The
streamers, previously absent or infrequent, now shot forth
from all parts of the luminous zone ; and as these increased
in extent and brightness, the upper arch faded away, as if it
had expended itself in producing them. And now the lower
arch took its place, to be obliterated in its turn by a like seem-
ing process of exhaustion. At length, one of the grander
effusions of light coming on, the whole arch was broken up,
and the dark segment below was reduced to a shapeless mass.
There then occurred a comparative pause in the phenomena,
until the dark segment again took form, with its one or more
luminous bands, and a like cycle of development was re-
peated."

Supplementary Remarks on the genua Galago. By Andrew
MuRRAf, Edinburgh. With a Plate.

Since writing the paper describing the Galago murinus^
published in last number of this Journal, I have received from
my friend, the Rev. W. C. Thomson of Old Calabar, some in-

100 Supplementary Remarks on the genus Galago.

teresting information regarding the habits of the genus whicn
at that time I desiderated.

He tells me that there are two species found at Old Cala-
bar — the one -which I described as murinus, which is the
smallest, and another about the size of a rat. He says,
" Young ones of both species are brought to us about this
period of the year (July 26). Mr Robb has a young specimen
of the smaller species just now, and about this time last year
I became possessed of one of the larger. It was a most in-
teresting and amusing pet, not only quite tame, but manifest-
ing strong attachment. I had it for about six weeks in my
possession, when, unfortunately both for myself and it, it took
a false leap into a water-barrel and was drowned. It was a
very epitome of zoology, of the size and colour of a large rat ;
it had the tail of the squirrel, the facial outline of the fox, the
membranous ears of the bat, the eyes and somewhat of the
manners of the owl in its cool odd way of peering at objects,
the long slender fingers of a lean old man, who habitually eats
down his nails, and all the mirthfulness and agility of a di-
minutive monkey. It hated its cage at night, but delighted
to leap among the bars of the chairs ranged purposely round
the table for it. It could clear a horizontal distance of at
least six feet at a leap ; and whenever it fell, as during its
short apprenticeship it often did, and from alarming heights
too, it gave expression to its parenthetic chagrin by a rough
sort of purring. It possessed the curious power of folding its
membranous ears back upon themselves, and somewhat cor-
rugating them at pleasure ; and it appeared to me that the
palms of its hands, all four, were endowed in some degree
with the power of suction, such as the walrus is said to pos-
sess in perfection. I have seen it maintain itself in positions
where the mere lateral pressure of its limbs appeared to be
inadequate for the purpose ; and I once applied it to the side
of a cylindrical glass shade, of which it could not embrace so
much as a third of the circumference, and sure enough it
maintained its position for some time, gradually sliding down
until it gave way. The palm was very much depressed,
always clean and glistening, surrounded by five papilliform
growths, those near the roots of the fingers serving as points
of opposition to them, the fingers never closing beyond the

Supplementary Remarks o%x the genus Galago. 101

palm." *• Mr Robb had one of your species in his possession
for a considerable while. It devoured grasshoppers and even
the fierce Mantis greedily, as well as moths, little as it was ;
but I never saw mine muster courage enough to attack either
grasshoppers or mantis, though nearly twice as large as Mr
Robb's. No doubt mine would by and bye have become less
particular and more daring."

In compliance with the wish of some of our naturalists who
have desired to see somewhat more of the anatomy of this
genus, I have added another plate (Plate V.), giving a view of
the viscera of the species I described, at least of two of the most
important parts of the viscera. One of these is the stomach and
intestinal canal, in which it will be observed that, unlike those
of other insectivorous animals, there is a rather long coecum.
This is of interest, from the circumstance that the absence
of the coecum in the insectivora has been attempted to be
accounted for on the hypothesis, that had it been present, in-
jurious consequences might have arisen from angular fragments
of the elytra or hard parts of insects lodging in the ccecum and
occasioning a fatal obstruction in the same way that in our
own species death is occasionally caused by obstruction in the
intestinal canal, originating in the presence of a fish bone
or some trifling impediment of that nature being lodged in the
coecum. Here we have an undeniably insectivorous animal
with a coecum proportionally six times larger than that in the
human species.

Another point in which the Galago differs from the normal
character of insectivorous animals is, that it has only one su-
perior vena cava. None of the insectivora, properly so called,
have only one. I have added a sketch of the origin of the
subclavian and carotid arteries, to show that there is a short
innominate artery, in this approximating to the arrangement
of the same vessels in the human species.

The lungs also correspond to the structure of these organs in
the human species, the right having three lobes and the left
two; in this respect also differing from the rodents, which
have always more, and sometimes many lobes.

There are eight true ribs, three false ribs, and two floating
ribs.

The dental formula is

102 Supplementary Remarks on the genus Galago.

.2-2 1-1 3-3 3-3

'333 ^riTi P-'^W^ »^3^3

I have had a little hesitation whether to say three prae-molars
and three molars, or two prse-molars and four molars. The dis-
tinction between the posterior prse-molar and anterior molar
is so slight, as to allow the formula to run either way without
implying any great error in judgment in the describer.

In the more close examination which I have now given to
this animal, I find a structure in the front of the upper jaw
which I had previously overlooked, and which is not repre-
sented in the figure of the roof of the mouth which I gave in
last number. It is two small orifices (as large, however, as
the root of the superior incisors), situated in the middle space
between the two incisors on each side, but a little behind their
line. Their position suggests an analogy to Jacobson's vesicles
in the horse; and on tracing their origin, we find that they lead
to the nasal orifice, expanding before they reach it into a sort
of sac, which appears to communicate by a narrow and short
canal with the nasal orifice, in this respect differing from
Jacobson's sac, which does not communicate directly with the
exterior. To make this structure plainer, I have again given
a figure of the roof of the mouth, in which these orifices are
delineated, and also of a vertical section showing the form of
the sac and its apparent communication with the nostril. I
say apparent, because the tissues in my specimen are hardly
in a sufficient state of firmness to allow me to speak with
absolute confidence. The result appears to be, that there is
here a communication between the nostril and the roof of the
mouth, immediately and closely behind the symphysis, and
almost in the line of the incisor teeth. What may be the use
of this structure, I must leave to my Old Calabar friends to
discover, contenting myself in the meantime with pointing out
its probable existence.

Explanation of Plate.

1. Figure of body opened, showing— a, the stomach— 6, the small intestines —

c, the ca?cum — d, the diaphragm — e, the heart — f, the innominate artery
— g, the subclavian arteries — h, the carotids.

2. a, the roof of the mouth showing the orifices analogous to Jacobson's — b, ver-

tical section of symphysis showing the sac from which the orifices pro-
ceed, and its apparent communication with tlie external nostril.

103

REVIEWS AND NOTICES OF BOOKS.

f

Christianity contrasted with Hindu Philosophy. By James
R Ballantyne, LL.D., Professor of Moral Philosophy, and
Principal of the Government College at Benares. 8vo, pp.
236. London: James Madden, 1859.

As a part of its educational system in India, intended for
the enlightenment of the natives, the English Government main-
tains several colleges, which embrace both an English and an
Oriental department. In these institutions, instruction in tlie
English language and literature is afforded to such native youths
as desire it, while they are at the same time taught their own
vernacular dialects. In the Sanscrit department, the learned
language of India, and its literature as contained in the various
Sastras, form the subjects of tuition. The Sanscrit colleges of
Calcutta, Benares, and Poona contain a considerable number of
native professors, who teach Sanscrit grammar, Hindu philosophy,
law, mathematics, &c. Formerly, these native professors were
left very much to themselves, to teach their own subjects in their
own way ; and no attempt was made to impart to the students any
other education of a more enlightened character. Latterly, how-
ever, an endeavour has been made to introduce an improved
system, and to make the Sanscrit students in some degree ac-
quainted with English science and literature. The Calcutta
Sanscrit College is directed by an enlightened Brahman ; Dr
Haug, a learned orientalist from Germany (formerly an assistant
of Baron Bunsen in some departments of his literary labours), has
just gone out to superintend the Sanscrit studies at Poona ; and
the author of the work before us, Dr J. R. Ballantyne, has for
the last fourteen years presided over the Sanscrit as well as the
English department of the College at Benares. He is a man well
fitted for this duty ; and his labours in the Sanscrit department
have been carried on in the most liberal and enlightened spirit.

The natives of India, the inheritors of an ancient civilisation,
cannot be properly treated as if they were a tribe of savages.
Learned men, whose ancestors had more than two thousand years
ago cultivated and methodised the principles of grammar, and
had initiated various systems of philosophical speculation, which
have been discussed and mo«lified by the successive generations
of their descendants, cannot be dealt with as if their minds pre-
sented a tabula ra^a, on which their European instructors could

104 Heviewa and Notices of BooJcB.

inscribe any new notions they pleased. On the contrary, their
minds are completely preoccupied and powerfully influenced by
principles of thinking and reasoning derived from their own vener-
ated writers, and grounded on the ancient sacred writings, the Vedas,
which they regard as inspired. Any teacher, therefore, who would
make himself thoroughly intelligible to such men, and would
venture to indulge the hope of bringing them to take any real
interest in the truths of European science, must study the systems
in which they take a pride ; must distinguish between the truth
and the error contained in their speculations ; must recognise and
appreciate the former, while he attempts to overcome and neu-
tralise the latter; and will act wisely if he takes the many truths
which are embodied in the Indian theories as the starting-point
and basis of the new truths, scientific or religious, which he
wishes to communicate to the learned Indians. These are the
enlightened principles by which Dr Ballantyne has been guided
in his endeavours to introduce the science and learning of Europe
to the notice of the students of Sanscrit.

In pursuance of this object, he has judged it expedient first of
all to bring to light the principles of the six orthodox systems of
Hindu philosophy, by publishing (with translations) either some
of those brief Sanscrit treatises in which they are expounded, or the
introductory portion at least of those more detailed aphorisms in
which the different systems are authoritatively explained. Simul-
taneously with his labours in this department, which are still
proceeding, he has been endeavouring to apply in practice the
knowledge thus acquired. Finding that of the six systems of
philosophy the principles of the Nyaya are the most reasonable,
he has taken it as the basis of a Synopsis of science, which he has
published in English and Sanscrit, for the purpose of initiating
Sanscrit students in the whole circle of European knowledge,
physical and moral. The Indian system in question does not,
however, appear prominently after the introductory chapter, and
the -bulk of the work is devoted to a summary exposition of
western science. This work has the great advantage of being not
only accurately, but scientifically rendered into Sanscrit. The
author's researches, aided by the skill and knowledge of the first-
rate native scholars by whom he is surrounded, have enabled him
to make use of the proper technical terms existing in the Sanscrit
writers, in all cases where they have treated of the particular
subjects under consideration. The translation is not a literal one,
which would be of little value, and nearly unintelligible to native
scholars. It professes to do no more than employ equivalent terms
and expressions, and this it does in a peculiar idiomatic way.
The book is thus cast in a peculiarly Indian mould.

The work named at the bead of this paper, which obtained the
moiety of a prize offered some years ago for the best refutation of

Reviews and Notices of Books. 105

the Hindu philosophy, and the best demonstration of tlie funda-
mental truths of Christian theism, may be regarded as a con-
tinuation of the " Synopsis of Science " above described. The
position of the author, as head of a government college in which
Christianity is not allowed to be openly inculcated, prevented him
from introducing that subject into his Synopsis. In the present
publication, that deficiency is in some measure supplied. It is a
work of remarkable ability and interest, the production of a man
gifted with great clearness of view and much speculative ac sness.
We have here the first attempt which has been made to reason
with the learned Hindus in the technical language of their own
philosophy, the most essential parts of the book being accompanied
with a version into idiomatic Sanscrit. In thus succinctly present-
ing the principles of our apologetic theology, together with the
truths of Christianity, in the scholastic forms to which the Indian
Pandits are accustomed, Dr Ballantyne has asserted a new claim
on their attention, and has taken possession of ground which none
of our professional missionaries has yet been able to occupy. The
plan of the treatise is as follows : —

We have first an introduction, in which the author inculcates
the necessity of delicacy and address in all cases where interference
with long-established religious opinions is attempted, the duty of
abstaining from rude assaults, and the expediency of paying atten-
tion to the learned class, and generally of practising conciliation.
Proceeding on the opinion that speculative error may often be
allowed to lie dormant, and be neutralised, or even superseded, by
sound practical principles, without being directly redargued, the
author adds the very judicious remark, that a primary refutation
of Hinduism is not necessarily required for the propagation of
Christianity. And yet the missionary should always possess such
a knowledge of the tenets which he is seeking to overthrow as
may enable him most p^ectually to adapt his lessons to the pecu-
liar tendencies and wants of those whom he is seeking to convert.
The writer then supplies a brief but lucid account of the funda-
mental tenets of the three principal systems of Indian philosophy,
the Nyaya, the Sankhya, and the Vedanta, which may be roughly
characterised as the T.heistical, the Atheistical, and the Pantheistic
systems. He next proceeds, in five books — headed respectively, (l.j
A Partial Exposition of Christian Doctrine ; (2.) The Evidences of
Christianity; (3.) Natural Theology ; (4.) Of the Mysterious Points
of Christianity ; and (5.) The Analogy of Religion to the Consti-
tution and Course of Nature — to argue the truth of Christianity
as a Divine revelation, grounded on miracles and prophecv, and
supported by analogy ; and to deduce from its truth, so estab-
lished, the falsity of any of the dogmas of Indian philosophv,
atheistic or pantheistic, which are inconsistent with its funda-

NEW SERIES. VOL. XI. NO. I. JAN. 1860. m

lOG Heinews and Notices of Boohs.

mental principles. It is the author's opinion that reason, left to
itself, would conduct the inquirer to Pantheism, as the most pro-
bable theory of Universal Being ; and he is therefore compelled
to ground his refutation of that system on its inconsistency with
the theistie principles inculcated by the Christian revelation, whose
truth he has first sought to demonstrate. Though, however,
this is the principal process applied by the author for the refuta-
tion of Hindu errors, he also urges the dilllculties suggested
against Pantheism by consciousness and reason ; and argues
against the necessity for admitting the practical inferences drawn
by the Hindu teachers from their Pantheistic philosophy, even
though the principles of that philosophy were admitted, or at
least left in dubio.

We shall not attempt to discuss the momentous question here
raised by the author, viz., "Whether or not philosophical specula-
tion necessarily issues in Pantheism ; and whether, if it did so, we
could have any basis left from which we could establish the truth
of Christianity. This opinion is common to our author with the
clergy of France, who of late years have been urging against the
Spiritualist philosophers of that country, that there is no middle
point between the Church and Pantheism. The maintainers of
this view have lately been answered by a distinguished French
metaphysician, M. Emile Saisset, who endeavours to prove the
reverse of Dr Ballantyne's proposition, and to show that, on the
contrary, philosophical speculation leads to a belief in one su-
preme, personal, intelligent, and righteous Creator and Governor
of the universe.

Dr Ballantyne begins his preface by professing that his work
is *' but an imperfect sketch of what the writer would wish to
offer as a help to the missionary among the learned Hindus.
Many topics which might advantageously receive full treatment
are here scarcely more than indicated." This is a correct account
of his book, when compared with that complete discussion of the
subject which we ought to have. It is evidently nothing more
than an outline of the subject, and a brief specimen of what the
author is capable of ])roducing ; and we trust that he may be able
to carry out what he proposes, viz., to continue his work, and to
expand this imperfect sketch into a full and exhaustive discussion
of the important subject-matter.

The volume concludes with an Appendix of notes and disserta-
tions, more or less closely connected with its central subject,
which will all amply repay |)erusal.

Reviews and Notices of Dook-s. 107

Popular Tables, arranged in a new formy giving inforum-
tion at sight for ascertaining, according to the Carlisle
Table of Mortality^ the value of Lifehold, Leasehold, and
Church Property, Renewal Fines, ^c, the Public Funds,
Annual Average Price and Interest on Consols from 1731
to 1858; also, various interesting and useful Tables,
equally adapted to the offi.ce and the library table. By
Charles M. Willicu, Actuary and Secretary to the Uni-
versity Life Assurance Society. Fourth Edition. 1859-
Pp. 192. London : Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans.

In size little more than that of a pocket volume, Mr Willich
presents to the public a fourth edition of his " Popular Tables,**'
which, in forms admitting of easy reference, contain just that kind
of information which every buyer and seller of property and in-
vester of money ought to possess. It furnishes one of the most
striking examples with which we are acquainted of the scientific
condensation of facts gathered from a large induction. Statistical
results are so skilfully combined and arranged as to make the
solution of the most intricate questions a matter of simple refer-
ence. A careful perusal of the Tables produces a feeling of sur-
prise at their variety and comprehensiveness. Few business men
have not felt the want of such a book as this ; and it cannot fail to
be welcomed as a most important addition to the class of literature
to which it belongs. Referring to the Index, it may be noticed
that the book contains Simple and Compound Interest Tables ;
Investment Tables, with and without the contingency of human
life; Annuity and Life Interest Tables, where one, two, and three
lives are involved; Tables of the Values of Reversions and Pre-
sentations of Livings ; Tables for Estimating the Fines to be paid
on renewing Leases granted on one, two, or three lives, on the
failure of one or more of the lives ; Tables of Logarithms ;
Tables of Foreign Coins, Currency, and Measures ; and many
others of equal importance required in practice. We cannot, of
course, give practical illustrations of all these Tables ; but certain
of them (Nos. IV., VI., VII., and XV.), published, we believe,
for the first time, are so important and valuable, in connection
with the practical working uf the principle of accumulation, that
we take the opportunity of pointing out their application and
utility.

Suppose a |>erson lending such a sum upon land as would form
an aunual charge of L.200 upon the rents for a period of 33 years,
so as to repay principal and interest at the rate of 5 per cent.

108 Proceedings of Societies*

The first and ordinary calculation gives the sum invested in such
a transaction, ....... L.3200

But it is clear that, if the party making such an invest-
ment be so situated that he cannot reinvest the instalments
of principal as they are paid up also at the rate of 5 per
cent., the whole investment would not actually produce to
him 5 per cent, over the whole period.

Now, Table XV. tells us that, if no more than 3 per
cent, be received on the instalments of principal after they
are paid up, the sum that ought to have been paid for the
annual rent-charge referred to, so as to secure 5 per cent,
on the whole amount paid for the whole period, is only 2934

The difference being . . . . L.266

Comparatively small sums, like annuities and rents, can seldom
be invested (except by large public companies) at so high a rate
of interest as principal sums ; and the Tables alluded to are thus
of decided practical utility, and direct attention to one of the
subtleties in transactions involving the element of future accumu-
lation which is very apt to be overlooked.

Besides the Tables alluded to, Mr Willich's book contains many
others pertaining to mathematical and philosophical subjects,
which men of science will know how to appreciate.

We cordially recommend these "Popular Tables" to the ac-
ceptance and daily use of men of science and business, as combin-
ing simplicity and elegance of structure with the largest amount
of practical utility. S. 11.

PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES.

British Association for the Advancement of Science.
Meeting at Aberdeen^ September 1859.

MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCE.

On the Necessity for incessant Recording, and for simultaneous
Observations in different Localities, to investigate Atmospheric Elec-
tricity. By Professor W, Thomson. — The necessity for incessantly record-
ing the electric condition of the araosphere was illustrated by reference
to observations recently made by the author in the island cf Arran, by
which it appeared that even under a cloudless sky, without any sensible
wind, the negative electrification of the surface of the earth, always found

British Association. " 109

daring Mvere weatler, is constantly varying in degree. He had found it im-
possible, at any time, to leave the electrometer without losing remarkable
features of the phenomenon. Beecaria, Professor of Natural Philosophy
in the University of Turin a century ago, used to retire to Garzegna
when his vacation commenced, and to make incessant observations on
atmospheric electricity, night and day, sleeping in the room with his
electrometer, in a lofty position, from which he could watch the sky all
round, limited by the Alpine range on one side and the great plain of
Piedmont on the other. Unless relays of observers can be got to follow
his example, and to take advantage of the more accurate instruments
supplied by advanced electric science, a self-recording apparatus must be
applied to provide the data required for obtaining knowledge in this most
interesting field of nature. The author pointed out certain simple and
easily -executed modifications of working electrometers, which were on the
table before him, to render them self-recording. He also explained anew
collecting apparatus for atmospheric electricity, consisting of an insulated
vessel of water, discharging its contents in a fine stream from a pointed
tube. This stream carries away electricity as long as any exists on its
surface, where it breaks into drops. The immediate object of this arrange-
ment is to maintain the whole insulated conductor, including the portion
of the electrometer connected with it and the connecting wire, in the con-
dition of no absolute charge ; that is to say, with as much positive
electricity on one side of a neutral line as of negative on the other.
Hence the position of the discharging nozzle must be such that the point
where the stream breaks into drops is in what would be the neutral line
of the conductor, if first perfectly discharged under temporary cover, and
then exposed in its permanent open position, in which it will become in-
ductively electrified by the aerial electromotive force. If the insulation is
maintained in perfection, the dropping will not be called on for any
electrical effect, and sudden or slow atmospheric changes will all instan-
taneously and perfectly induce their corresponding variations in the con-
ductor, and give their appropriate indications to the electrometer. The
necessary imperfection of the actual insulation, which tends to bring the
neutral line downwards or inwards, or the contrary effects of aerial con-
vection, which, when the insulation is good, generally preponderate, and
which in some conditions of the atmosphere, especially during heavy wind
and rain, are often very large, are corrected by the tendency of the drop-
ping to maintain the neutral line in the one definite position. The
objects to be attained by simultaneous observations in different localities
alluded to were: — (1.) To fix the constant for any observatory, by which
its observations are reduced to absolute measure of electromotive force per
foot of air ; (2.) To investigate the distribution of electricity in the air it-
self (whether on visible clouds or in clear air) by a species of electrical
trigonometry, of which the general principles were slightly indicated. A
portable electrometer, adapted for balloon and mountain observations,
with a burning match, regulated by a spring so as to givre a cone of fire in
the open air, in a definite position with reference to the instrument, was
exhibited. It is easily carried, with or without the aid of a shoulder-strap,
and can be used by the observer standing up, and simply holding the
entire apparatus in his hands, without a stand or rest of any kind. Its
indications distinguish positive from negative, and are reducible to abso-
lute measure on the spot. The author gave the result of a determination
which he had made, with the assistance of M. Joule, on the Links, a
piece of level ground near the sea, beside the city of Aberdeen, about
8 A.M. on the preceding day (September 14), under a cloudless sky, and
with a light north-west wind blowing, with the insulating stand of the

110 Proceedings of Societies.

collecting part of the apparatus buried in the ground, and the electrometer
removed to a distance of five orsix yards and connected by a fine wire with
tlie collecting conductor. The height of the match was three feet above the
ground, and the observer at the electrometer lay on the ground to render
the electrical influence of his own body on the match insensible. The
result showed a ditlerence of potentials between the earth (negative) and
the air (positive) at the match equal to that of 115 elements of Daniel's
battery, and therefore, at that time and place, the aerial electromotive
force per foot amounted to that of 38 Daniel's cells.

lieport on Changeft of Dtviation of t/ie Compass on Board Iron Ships
by " Heeling," with Experiments on Board the City of Baltimore,
Aphrodite, tiimla, and Sleeve Donard. By Mr John T. Towson. — The
author explained the manner in which the Compass Committee was first
formed, in accordance with the advice of the Section he was then addrei>s-
ing, and that two reports had been drawn up, which, with the advice of
the Astronomer Royal, had been printed and " presented to both Houses
of Parliament by command of her Majesty." There were matters of
consideration which the Compass Committee deemed incomplete ; the one
was the change which took place in iron ships in proceeding to the oppo-
site hemisphere ; the other, the change that was produced by what is
technically denominated heeling, that is, when the deck of a vessel leaned
over through the action of the wind or otherwise ; if when looking towards
the bow it slanted downwards to the right, it is said to heel starboard, if to
the left, to heel port. The first question was undertaken by the late re-
spected Rev. Dr Scoresby, who proceeded to Australia in the Royal
Charter, and whose exertions in the pursuit of this branch of the inquiry
shortened a most valuable life. The second question was the subject of
his (Mr Towson's) present report. Having described the principles on
which his graphic illustration was constructed, he pointed out the unex-
pected amount of deviation which this source of disturbance (heeling)
brought about, amounting, in most instances, when the ship's head was in
the position to produce the maximum eflect, to two or three points in the
standard compass, and often to a greater amount as far as the steering
compass is concerned. He remarked on several particulars connected
with this investigation. Generally the north end of the compass was
drawn to the upper side of the ship, — the case with seven out of nine com-
passes on board the City of Baltimore, but in the two steering compasses
the needles were drawn in a contrary direction. Mr Towson explained
the theory on which this disturbance arose, partly from subpolar magnetism
below the compass, and partly from the disturbance of the inductive mag-
netism of the ships. In such ships as those under consideration, the fol-
lowing empirical rule held good with respect to compasses favourably
placed. When the vertical force as determined either by vibrating ex-
periments or torsion on board the ship, maintained the ratio, as compared
with the vertical force on shore, in the proportion of nine to fourteen,
little or no effect was produced by heeling ; and in the case of the Simla
this plan of predicting the amount of error was adopted ; a moveable up-
right magnet Mas applied so as to produce the before-named vertical
force, when it was found, " with magnet in," no error was produced,
although " with magnet out" it amounted to 24° from changing a heel of
10° starboard to 10° port. Another remarkable result appears to exist.
He believed that when a ship was built with her head south-east or south-
west, little or no effect would be produced by heeling. When examining
the magnetic condition of the Sleeve Donard, they were surprised to find
that the vertical was very nearly that which would give no eflect from
heeling. Their talented stipendiary Secretary (to whom is due the credit

Brilish AsBOciation. Ill

of drawing up the two reports already published) immediately suggested
that her head could not have been east when building, which we had taken
for granted ; and on inquiry we found that on account of her great length
she had been built diagonally, with her head south-east nearly.

On the Rapidity of Signalling throvgh long Submarine TelcgrapJis. By
Mr F. Jknkins.— This pai)er detailed certain experiments undertaken at
the establishment of Messrs. R. S. Newall & Co., Birkenhead, with a view to
verify the theory of retardation, and to supply certain constants required.
This theory has been well developed by Pro lessor Thomson, and is confirmed
by the results of these experiments, which have indeed only been rendered
possible by the peculiar construction of Professor Thomson's marine galva-
nometer. In this instrument momentum and inertia are almost wholly
avoided by the use of a needle weighing only 1^ grain, combined with a
mirror reflecting a ray of light which indicates deflexions witii great
accuracy. By these means a gradually increasing or decreasing current
is at each instant indicated at its due strength : thus, when this galvano-
meter is placed as the receiving instrument at the end of a long submarine
cable, the movement of the spot of light, consequent on the completion of
a circuit through the battery cable and earth, can be so observed as to
furnish a curve representing very accurately the arrival of an electric
current. Lines representing successive signals at various speeds can also
be obtained, and by means of a metronome, dots, dashes, successive A's,
&c., can be sent with nearly perfect regularity by an ordinary Morse key,
and the corresponding changes in the current at the receiving end of the
cable accurately observed. The strength of the battery employed was
found to have no influence on the results; curves given by batteries of
different strengths could be made to coincide by simply drawing them to
scales proportionate to the strengths of the two currents. It was also
found that the same curve represented the gradual increase of intensity
due to the arrival of a current, and the gradual decrease due to the ceasing
of that current. The curves of arrival obtained for lengths of from lOO)
to more than 2000 nauts, were found to agree very closely in general
appearance with those given by Professor Thomson's theory {Froceedings
of the lioyal Society, May, 1855). In the curves representing dots and
dashes sent at high speeds, successive dashes appear in quite a diff'erent
part of the scale from that occupied by dots. It is in these cases obvious
that no delicacy of relay will enable us to indicate both of these signals at
a constant adjustment, nor does any increasing strength of battery help
us, — for though the variations of intensity are absolutely increased, the
relative position of such changes to one another on the scale remains
unaltered. The magnitude of the first appearance of a current at the
far end of a cable may, however, be increased by the use of powerful
batteries, and delicate instruments would permit the faintest appearance
to be observed. By these means one isolated signal might be sent with
great rapidity. Returning to the consideration of successive signals, when
the speed of transmission is diminished, the oscillations of the spot increase
in size, those for dots and dashes overlap one another, and would give
legible Morse signals by means of a relay. The amplitudes of oscillation
representing any letter or letters were found to be proportional to the
amplitude representing dots. The speed of signalling possible can there-
fore be measured by that amplitude as soon as in one case it is determined
what speed of dot signalling is compatible with the reception of all other
combinations of dots, dashes, and spaces. This amplitude is modified by
the nature of the receiving instrument, by the nature of the signal, by
the skill of the manipulator, &c. The possible speed of signalling was
found to be very nearly proportional to the squares of the lengths spoken

112 Proceedings of Societies.

through; thtis, a speed which gave 15 dots per minute in a length of 2191
nauts, reproduced all the effects given by a speed of 30 dots in a length
of 15<X) nauts. At these speeds, with ordinary Morse signals, speaking
would be barely possible. In the Red Sea, a speed of from seven to eight
words per minute was obtained in a length of 750 nauts. This result agrees
very closely with the deduction from the experiments at Birkenhead, and
apparently shows that the influence of electro-magnetic induction, due to
the disposition of the cable in coils, does not very materially retard the
possible speed of signalling. The amplitudes of oscillation representing
dots can be thrown into a curve which will be the same for all lengths.
By this curve we can determine from one single observation, on any
cable, the amplitude of oscillation due to any speed, and, consequently,
the possible speed of signalling on that cable. This method, however,
of determining the possible speed of signalling, presupposes that a con-
siderable length of the cable shall have been manufactured. Mechanical
senders, and attention to the proportion of the various contacts, would
materially increase the speed at which signals of any kind could be trans-
mitted. The best trained hand cannot equal the accuracy of mechanism,
and the slightest irregularity causes the current to rise or fall quite beyond
the limits required for distinct signals. No important difference was ob-
served between signals sent by alternate reverse currents, and those sent
by the more usual method. The amplitude of oscillation, and consequent
distinctness of bignalling, was quite the same in the two cases. An advan-
tage in the first signals sent is, however, obtained by the use of Messrs
Siemens & Halshe's submarine key, by which the cable is put to earth
immediately on signalling being interrupted, and the wire thus kept at a
potential half way between the potentials of the poles of two counter-
acting batteries employed, and the first signals become legible, which,
with the ordinary key, would be employed in charging the wire.

Bemarks on the Discharge of a Coiled Electric Cable. By Professor
W. Thomson. — Mr Jenkins had communicated to the author during last
February, March, and April, a number of experimental results regarding
currents through several different electric cables coiled in the factory of
Messrs R. S. Newall & Co., at Birkenhead. Among these results were
some in which a key connected with one end of a cable of which the other
end was kept connected with the earth, was removed from a battery by which
a current had been kept flowing through the cable, and instantly pressed
to contact with one end of the coil of a tangent galvanometer, of which
the other end was kept connected with the earth. The author remarked
that tlie deflexions recorded in these experiments were in the contrary
direction to that which the true discharge of the cable would give, and at
his request, Mr Jenkins repeated the experiments, watching carefully for
indications of reverse currents to those which had been previously noted.
It was thus found that the first effect of pressing down the key was to
give the galvanometer a deflexion in the direction corresponding to the
true discharged current, and that this was quickly followed by a reverse
deflexion generally greater in degree, which latter deflexion corresponded
to a current in the same direction as that of the original flow through the
cable. Professor Thomson explained this second current, or false discharge,
as it has since been sometimes called, by attributing it to mutual electro-
magnetic induction between different portions of the coil, and anticipated
that no such reversal could ever be found in a submerged cable. The
effect of this induction is to produce in those parts of the coil first influ-
enced by the motion of the key a tendency for electricity to flow in the
same direction as that of the decreasing current flowing on through the
remoter parts of the coil. Thus, after the first violence of the back flow,

Dritivh Association, 113

through the key and galvanometer, the remote parts of the cable begin,
by their electro-magnetic induction on the near parts, to draw electricity
back from the earth through the galvanometer into the cable again, and
the current is once more in one and the same direction throughout the
cable.

On a New Speciet of DoubU Refraction. By Sir D. Bbewster."^
The author exhibited to the Section a number of beautiful double slips
of glass, with small pieces of decomposed glass, which he had obtained from
the Marquis Campana in Rome, interposed, which showed all the varied
tints of Newton's thin plates, and then explained to the Section how, by
the polarisation in two different places of the transmitted light and the
interference of those which were retarded by internal reflexion at the
surfaces of these very thin films, none of them the two-thousandth of an
inch thick, the varied tints were produced. He also explained minutely
their optical properties when examined by the polariscope.

On tM Tran$mitsion of Electricity through irater. By Mr J. B. Liki>-
SAT. — The author has been engaged in experimenting on the subject, and
in lecturing on it in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and other places since 1831. He
has succeeded in transmitting signals across the Tay and other sheets
of water, by the aid of the water alone, as a means of joining the stations.
His method is to immerse two large plates connected by wires at each
side of the sheet of water, and as nearly opposite to each other as pos-
sible. The wire on the side from which the message is to be sent is to
include the galvanic battery and the commutator or other apparatus giving
the signal. The wire connecting the two plates at the receiving-station
is to include an induction-coil or other apparatus for increasing the inten-
sity and the recording apparatus. The distance between these plates he
distinguished by the term " lateral distance." He found that there was
always some fractional part of the power from the battery sent across the
water. There were four elements on which he found the strength of the
transmitted current to depend : first, the battery power ; second, the
extent of surface of the immersed metal sheets; third, the "lateral dis-
tance" of the immersed sheets ; and, fourth, in an inverse proportion , the
transverse distance or distance through the water. As far as his experi-
ments led him to a conclusion, doubling any one of the former three
doubled the distance of transmission. If, then, doubling all would in-
crease the intensity of the transmitted current eight-fold, he entered
into calculations to show that two stations in Britain, one in Cornwall
and the other in Scotland, and corresponding stations well chosen in
America, would enable us to transmit messages across the Atlantic.

On the Phonautograph, an Instrument for Registering Simple and
Compound Sound/. By the Abb^ Moigno. — The Phonautograph is an
instrument which consists of a large chamber or drum, of a spheroidal
form, with a diaphragm or drum-head at one end, which, by a system of
levers, works the pen Which records the sounds which the form of the
chamber causes it to concentrate on the tympanum. The Abb^ exhibited
a drawing to the Section, which explained the construction of the instru-
ment, and then exhibited drawings showing the actual uiarkings of the pen
over a sheet of paper carried past it by clockwork, first, when tuning-forks
sounding various notes were vibrated in presence of the instrument ;
second, when several notes were sounded on a diapason pipe; and, third,
when a person spoke before it. In the first two cases the recording pen
drew such regular curves, that the number of vibrations corresponding to
the note as seconds could be counted, and they were obviously the curve
of sines. In the case of the human voice, the words spoken were written
below the corresponding tracings of the pen ; and although these were
very irregular, yet a marked correspondence could be traced, especially

NEW SERIES. VOL. XI. NO. I. JAN. 1860. N

114 Proceeding 8 of Societies.

where the words contained ^•'b, g\ and other well-marked low or guttural
sounds.

Report of the Balloon Committee. By Colonel Sykes. — The Report gave
various preliminary details of the meetings and proceedings of the Com-
mittee ; amongst these, that they secured the co-operation and use of the
large balloon of Mr Green. That Professor Tyndal, and Mr J. B. Russell,
and Mr John Murray, the two latter students in Glasgow University,
who had been employed under Professor Thomson in charge of his
meteorological instruments, had volunteered their services to accompany
Mr Green, and to aid in making and recording the proposed observa-
tions. Colonel Sykes also informed the Committee that an observer of
light weight was available from Greenwich, and also Mr Storks Eaton,
an amateur meteorologist of Little Bredy, Dorset. The Committee
selected Wolverhampton as the place of ascent, spring as the time, as
suggested by the Astronomer Royal, and secured through Lord Wrot-
tesley the use of the instruments which had been used in the former
ascent. The Gas Company at Wolverhampton offered the use of their
yard, from which the balloon might ascend, and in which it might be
inflated. Various causes of delay occurred, but eventually M. Gassiot
having reported the instruments and other arrangements all ready, Mr
Storks Eaton was selected by the Committee to conduct the experiments,
and at length General Sabine and IVI. Gassiot were invited to attend at
Wolverhampton on Monday the 15th of August. On that day Colonel
Sykes, Lord Wrottesley, Admiral Fitsroy, Dr Lee, and Mr Glashier
attended at the place of ascent. In consequence of sudden, violent gusts
of wind that day, Mr Green was unwilling to ascend, fearing damage to
the valuable instruments ; but as he declared that no damage to life was
to be feared, he offered to risk the balloon if the Committee wished that
the ascent should proceed. The Committee then ordered the gas to be
laid on, but various delays having protracted the preparations to the
approach of darkness, when the ascent would be unprofitable, it was
deferred till next day. On that day, when all preparations were nearly
completed, a sudden gust of wind jerked the funnel of the balloon, and
caused such a rent as to render any attempt at an ascent on that occasion
impossible. Mr Green assured the Committee it would take some weeks
to repair the damage. Mr Green's terms were L.20 for the first ascent,
L,1.5 for a second, L.20 for a third, and L.15 for a fourth, the Committee
to provide the gas and pay all incidental expenses-. The Committee
offered to renew their operations early next year, and suggested that their
reappointment should be recommended, and the grant of L.200 continued
at their disposal, giving the opinion of Sir J. W. F. Herschel and other
eminent scientific men that the objects to be attained were of the highest
interest.

On the Focus of Object- Glasses. By Mr A. Claudet. — The researches
on this question tended to show the relation between the distances and
sizes of objects with focal distances and sizes of their images, and to find
the two points, one before the lens and the other behind, from which the
distance of objects and the focal distances must be measured, and from
which all proportions are in an exact ratio; for it is found, that measuring
from the object glass on both sides, double distance of object does not
produce one-half of the focal distance, and vice versa. These two points
are, first, the point before the lens which produces an image infinitely
larger at infinite distance, and behind the lens the point which is the
focus for an object at infinite distance, giving an image infinitely small ;
it is obvious that these two points are on each side the zero of the scale of
measure, and it remained to fix the position of another point before the
lens, which produces behind the lens an image as large as nature. The

British Association. 115

two spaces between these two points, one in front and tbe other behind
the lens, are perfectly equal, and they are each the unit by which all dis-
tances of objects and all focal distances are to be measured. Double the
unit in front will give a focus one-half of the unit behind the lens, and
one-half of the unit in front will give a focal distance double of the unit
behind the lens, and all the other distances in the same proportion, so
that knowing either the distance in front of the lens, or the focal distance,
the other distance can be found without having to examine the focus on
the ground-glass ; the only thing to do being to divide the scale called
" the unit of focal distances," in any number of parts corresponding in an
inverted ratio with the progression of distances in front of the glass.

On a Changing Diaphrttgun for Double Achromatic Combinations. By
Mr A. Clacdet. — Mr Claudet explained the construction of his con-
trivance, intended to reduce or increase the aperture of a double achro-
matic lens without having to unscrew one of the lenses, and without any
slit on the tube. This is done by two rings revolving on one another,
like the top and bottom part of a snuff-box, and each carrying a number
of india-rubber stripes, the other end of which was fixed on the opposite
ring, so that making the ring not fixed in the tube to revolve by an
external pinion, the india-rubber stripes were drawn intermingling with
each other until each of them was extending on the diameter of the tube,
on which disposition the whole aperture was shut. Mr Claudet exhibited
also the very ingenious pupil diaphragm,* in vented by Mr Mauley, opti-
cian in Paris.

On a curious Landscape inclosed in a Specimen of CaJcedony belong-
ing to a Lady. Exhibited by Sir D. Bbewstee, and explained by him. —
Sir D. Brewster, who had examined the specimen, ascertained that the
landscape was not between two plates sul^jequently united, but was in
the interior of a solid piece of calcedony. He stated that calcedony was
porous, and that the landscape was drawn by a solution of nitrate of
silver, which entered the pores of the mineral. Sir David also stated
that, above thirty years ago, he had examined a similar specimen, be-
longing to the late Mr Gilbert Innes of Stow, who had paid a large price
for it. Having no doubt that the figure of a cock, which it contained,
was drawn by nitrate of silver, introduced into the pores of the mineral,
he induced the late Mr Somerville, a lapidary in Edinburgh, to make the
experiment, and he succeeded in introducing the figure of a dog into tlie
interior of the mineral. "The curious fact, however, displayed by the
specimen now exhibited to the Section is, that the landscape had entirely
disappeared after being kept four years in the dark. When I received
the specimen yesterday from Miss Campbell, the landscape was wholly
obliterated ; but after the exposure of an hour this morning, it reap-
peared in the distinctest manner, as may be seen by looking at it against
a white ground." It is of importance to remark, that the figure of the
cock in Mr Innes's specimen, which was very strong in its tint, has never
been seen either to disappear or to diminish in its tints.

On the Present State and History of the Question respecting the Ac-
celeration ofth* Moon's Motion. By the Astbonomek Rotal. — It had been
known, from the time of Xewton, that the motions of the moon are dis-
turbed by the attraction of the sun, and that a great part of the effect is
of the following kind, viz., that when the moon is between the sun and
the earth, the sun attracts the moon away from the earth ; and when the
earth is between the sun and the moon, the sun attracts the earth away
from the moon ; and thus, in both cases, it tends to separate the earth
and the moon, or diminishes the attraction of the moon to the earth.
There are sometimes effects of the opposite character; but, on the whole,
that just described is predominant. If this diminution were always the

116 Proceedings of Societiee.

same in amount, the periodic time of the moon passing round the earth
would always be the same. But it was found in the last century, by
Halley and Dunthorne, that the periodic time is not always the same.
In order to reconcile the eclipses of the moon recorded by Ptolemy with
modem observations of the moon, it was necessary to suppose that in
every successive century the moon moves a little quicker than in the
preceding century, in a degree which is nearly represented by supposing
that at each successive lunation the moon approaches nearer to the earth
by one inch. The principal cause of this was discovered by Laplace.
First, it had been shown by him and by others that the attractions of the
other planets on the sim and on the earth do not alter the longer axis of
the orbit which the earth describes round the sun, and do not alter the
length of the year ; but they diminish slowly, but continually through
many thousands of years, the degree of ellipticity of the earth's orbit.
Now, when the earth is nearest to the sun, the decrement of attraction of
the moon to the earth (mentioned above) is greatest ; and when the earth
is furthest from the sun, that decrement is least. It had been supposed
that the fluctuations of magnitude exactly balance. But Laplace showed
that they do not; he showed that the increased amount of decrement
(when the earth is nearest the sun) overbalances the diminished amount
(when the earth is furthest from the sun) ; and therefore that the less
eccentric is the earth's orbit, the less does the increased amount of decre-
ment at one part overbalance the diminished amount at another part,
and the less is the total amount of the sun's disturbing force. And, as
the Sim's disturbing force diminishes the moon's attraction to the earth,
that attraction is less and less impaired every century, or becomes prac-
tically stronger ; every century the moon is pulled into a rather smaller
orbit, and revolves in a rather shorter period. On computing the effect
from this cause, it was found to agree well with the effect which Halley
and Dunthorne had discovered in observations. The lunar tables thus
amended (and with other, but minor, improvements) were applied to the
computation of other ancient eclipses which require far greater nicety
than Ptolemy's lunar eclipses, namely, total eclipses of the sun. The
most remarkable of these were the eclipse of Thales (which occurred at a
battle), that at Larissa or Nimrud (which led to the capture of that city
by the Persians from the Medes), and that of Agathocles (upon a fleet at
sea). They are all of great importance in settling the chronology.
Dates were thus found for these several eclipses, which are most satis-
factory. About this time Mr Adams announced his discovery, that a
part jof the sun's disturbing force had been omitted by Laplace. The
8un pulls the moon in the direction in which she is going (so as to acceler-
ate her) in some parts of her orbit, and in the opposite direction (so as
to retard her) in other parts. Laplace and others supposed that those
accelerations and retardations exactly balance. Mr Adams gave reason
for supposing that they do not balance. In this he was subsequently
supported by M. Delaunay, a very eminent French mathematician,
who, making his calculations in a different way, arrived at the very same
figures. But he is opposed by Baron Plana, by the Count de Pont6-
coulant, and by Professor Hansen, who all maintain that Laplace's in-
vestigations are sensibly correct. And in this state the controversy
stands at present. It is to be remarked, that observations can here give
no assistance. The question is purely whether certain algebraical inves-
tigations are right or wrong. And it shows that what is commonly called
" mathematical evidence " is not so certain as many persons imagine ; and
that it ultimately depends on moral evidence. The effect of Mr Adam's
alteration is to diminish Laplace's change of periodic time by more than
one-third part. The computations of the ancient eclipses are very sensibly

British Association. 117

•fleeted by this. At present we can hardly sav how much they are
rf!Vrted; possibly those of Larissa and Agatbocles would not be very
I . ri disturbed; bat it seems possible that the computed eclipse of
Tiiuks might be thrown so near to sunset as to be inapplicable to eluci-
dation of the historic account. This is the most perplexing eclipse,
because it does not appear that any other eclipse can possibly apply to
the same history. The interest of this subject, it thus appears, is not
confined to technical astronomy, but extends to other matters of very
wide range. And the general question of the theory of the moon's ac-
celeration mar properly be indicated as the most important of the sub-
jects of scientific controversy at the present time.

On the Establishment of TJiermoitutric Stations on Mont Blanc. By
Professor Ttndall. — I proposed to the Royal Society some months ago,
to establish a series of stations between the top and the bottom of Munt
Blanc, and to place suitable thermometers at each of them. The Council
of the Society thought it right to place a sum of money at my disposal
for the purchase of instruments and the payment of guides ; while I
a<jreed to devote a portion of my vacation to the execution of the project.
At Chamouni I had a number of wooden piles prepared, each of them
shod with iron, to facilitate the driving of it into the snow. The one
intended for the summit was 12 feet long and 3 inches square; the others,
each 10 feet long, were intended for five stations between the top of the
mountain and the bottom of the Glacier de Bossons. Each post was
furnished with a small cross-piece, to which a horizontal minimum ther-
mometer might be attached. Six-and-twenty porters were found neces-
sary to carry all our apparatus to the Grands Mulets, whence fourteen of
them were immediately sent back. The other twelve, with one exception,
reached the summit, whence six of them were sent back. Six therefore
remained. In addition to these we had three guides, Auguste Balmat
being the principal one ; these, with my friend Dr Frankland and myself,
made up eleven persons in all. Though the main object of the Expedi-
tion was to plant the posts and fix the thermometers, I was very anxious
to make some observations on the diathermancy of the lower strata of the
atmosphere. I therefore arranged a series of observations with the Abb^
Veullet, of Chamouni ; he was to operate at Chamouni, while I observed
at the summit. Our instruments were of the same kind ; and in this way
we hoped to determine the influence of the stratum uf air interposed
between the top and bottom of the mountain upon the solar radiation.
Wishing to commence the observations at an early hour in the morning,
I had a tent carried to the summit. It was ten feet in diameter, and into
it the whole eleven of us were packed. The north wind blew rather
fiercely over the summit; but we dropped down a few yards to leeward,
and thus found shelter. Throughout the night we did not sufiTer at all
from cold, though the adjacent snow was 15° Centigrade, or 27° Fahr.
below the freezing point of water. We were all, however, indisposed.
I was, indeed, imwell when I quitted Chamouni ; but I fully expected to
be able to cast this ofi* during the ascent. In this, however, I was unsuc-
cessful ; my indisposition augmented during the entire period of the
ascent. The wind increased in force towards morning ; and as the fine
snow was perfectly dry, it was driven upon us in clouds. Had no other
obstacle existed, this alone would have been sufficient to render the obser-
vations on solar radiation impossible. We were therefore obliged to
limit ourselves to the principal object of the expedition — the erection of
the post for the thermometers. It was sunk six feet in the snow, while
the remaining six feet were exposed to the air. A minimum thermometer
was screwed firmly on to the cross-piece of the pile ; a maximum thermo-
meter was screwed on beneath this, and under this again a wet and dry

118 Proceedings of Societies.

bulb tliermometer. Two minimum thermometers were also placed in the
enow ; one at a depth of six, and the other at a depth of four feet below the
surface ; these beius^ intended to give us some information as to the depth
to which the winter cold penetrates. At each of the other stations we
placed a minimum thermometer in the ice or snow, and a maximum and
a minimum in the air. The stations were as follows : — The summit, the
Corridor, the Grand Plateau, the glacier near the Grands Mulets, and two
additional ones between the Grands Mulets and the end of the Glacier de
Bossons. We took up some rockets, to see whether the ascensional power
or the combustion was affected by the rarity of the air. During the night,
however, we were enveloped in a dense mist, which defeated our purpose.
One rocket, however, was sent up, which appeared to penetrate the mist,
and rising probably above it, its sparks were seen at Chamouni. Dr
Frankland was also kind enough to undertake some experiments on com-
bustion : six candles were chosen at Chamouni, and carefully weighed.
All of them were permitted to bum for one hour at the top ; and were
again weighed when we returned to Chamouni. They were afterwards
permitted to burn an hour below. Rejecting one candle, which gave a
somewhat anomalous result, we found to our surprise, that the quantity
consumed at the top was, within the limits of error, the same as that con-
sumed at the bottom. This result surprised us all the more, inasmuch as
the light of the candles appeared to be much feebler at the top than at
the bottom of the mountain. The explosion of a pistol was sensibly
weaker at the top than at a low level. The shortness of the sound was
remarkable ; but it bore no resemblance to the sound of a cracker, to
which, in acoustic treatises, it is usually compared. It resembled more
the sound produced by the explosion of a cork from a champagne-bottle,
but it was much louder. The sunrise from the summit exceeded in niag>
nificence anything that I had previously seen. The snows on one side of
the mountain were of a pure light blue, being illuminated by the reflected
light of the sky; the summit and the sunward face of the mountain, on
the contrary, were red from the transmitted light, and the contrast of
both was finer than I can describe. I may add, in conclusion, that the
lowest temperature at the summit of the Jardin during last winter was 21°
Cent, below zero. We vainly endeavoured to find a thermometer which
had been placed upon the summit of Mont Blanc last year.

On Electrical Frequency. By Professor W. Thomson. — Beccaria found
that a conductor insulated in the open air becomes charged sometimes
with greater and sometimes with less rapidity, and he gave the name of
" frequency" to express the atmospheric quality on which the rapidity of
charging depends. It might seem natural to attribute this quality to
electrification of the air itself round the conductor, or to electrified particles
in the air impinging upon it ; but the author gave reasons for believing
that the observed effects are entirely due to particles flying away from
tlie surface of the conductor, in consequence of the impact of non-electri-
fied particles against it. He had shown in a previous communication
(Section A, Thursday, Sept. 15), that when no electricity of separation
(or, as it is more generally called, "frictional electricity," or "contact
electricity,") is called into play, the tendency of particles continually
flying off from a conductor is to destroy all electrification at the part of
its surface from which they break away. Hence a conductor insulated in
the open air, and exposed to mist or rain, with wind, will tend rapidly
to the same electric potential as that of the air, beside that part of its
surface from which there is the most frequent dropping, or flying away,
of aqueous particles. The rapid charging, indicated by the electrometer
under cover, after putting it for an instant in connection with the earth,
is therefore, in reality, due to a rapid discharging of the exposed parts

British Association. 119

of tbe conductor. The author has been led to these Tiews by remarking
the extreme rapidity with which an electrometer, connected by a fine wire
with a conductor insulated above the roof of his temporary electric obser-
vatory in the island of Arran, became charged, reaching its full indication
in a few seconds, and sometimes in a fraction of a second, after being
touched by the hand, during a gale of wind and rain. The conductor, a
vertical cylinder about 10 inches long and 4 inches diameter, with its
upper end flat and comer slightly rounded off, stood only 8 feet above
the roof, or, in all, 20 feet above the ground, and was nearly surrounded
by buildings rising to a higher leveL Even with so moderate an exposure
as this, sparks were frequently produced between an insulated and an
uninsulated piece of metal, which may have been about j^th of an inch
apart, wifhin the electrometer, and more than once a continuous line of
fire was observed in the instrument during nearly a minute at a time,
while rain was falling in torrents outside.

On Sir Christopher Wren's Cipher, containing Three Methods of
finding the Longitude. By Sir D. Brewster. — Sir David said that at
page 263 of his " Life of Sir Isaac Newton," the following paragraphs
would be found : — " The bill which had been enacted for rewarding the
discovery of the longitude seems to have stimulated the inventive powers
of Sir Christopher Wren, then in his eighty-third year. He communi-
cated the results of his study to the Royal Society, as indicated by the
following curious document which I found among the manuscripts of
Newton : — ' Sir Christopher "Wren's cipher, describing three instruments
proper for discovering the longitude at sea, delivered to the Society
November 30, 1714. by Mr Wren : —

' OZ VCV AYINIXDNC VOC WEDCNM ALNABECIRTE WNGRAM
HHCCAW.

' Z EI YEINOIEBIVTXESCIOCPSDEDMXANHSEFPRPI WHDRA
EHHXCIF.

'EZKAVEBIMOXRFCSLCEEDHWMGNXIVEOMREWWERRC
SHEPCIP.

' Vera copia. Edm. Hallbt.'

We presome that each of these paragraphs of letters is the description
of a separate instrument. If it be true that every cipher can be de-
ciphered, these mysterious paragraphs, which their author did not live to
expound, may disclose something interesting to science." Sir David
Brewster went on to say that soon after the publication of " The Life of
Sir Isaac Newton," he had received a letter from Mr Francis Williams,
of Grange Court, Chigwell, suggesting very modestly, that as the de-
ciphering of the cipher, as published, was so simple, he supposed many
persons had already done so ; but if not, he begged to say that the mystery
could be solved by reading the letters backwards in each of the three
paragraphs, omitting every third letter. He had, on the approach of the
Meeting of the British Association, received permission from Mr Williams
to give an account to this Section of Mr Williams's method of solving the
enigma. In his letter conveying the permission, which Sir David read,
he suggests that " Sir Christopher Wren's object was to make it too
mysterious to be of use to any one else. It is possible he may have
wished to delay for a time the publication of his inventions, perhaps till
he had improved his instruments, but was afraid that in the interval
another would hit upon and publish the same discovery. He would send
this cipher, then, to the Royal Society as a proof to be used at any future
time." Sir David had the following explanation then, in accordance with
Mr Williams's suggestion, written upon the black boards, the letters to
be omitted being written in small characters to dbtinguish them, and
backwards : — •

120 Proceedings of Societiee.

WAcCUhMArGNwETrlCeBAnLAraNCdEWcOUcNDxTNiVAvCUz
O. — Wach magnetic balance wound in vacuo (one letter a misprint).
The omitted letters similarly read are — Chr. Wren, mdccxiv.

FIcXHhEArI)HwIPrPEeSHnANmDEdSPcOIcSExTUiBEi9NiEYi
EZ. — Fix head hippes handes poise tube on eye (one letter a misprint).
Omitted letters make — Chr. Wren, mdccziiii.

PIcPEhSCrREwWErMOeVInNGmWHdEEcLScFRxOMiBEvAKz
E. — Pipe screwe moving wheels from beake. Omitted letters make — Chr.
Wren, mdccxiv.

The three last omitted z's occurring in the first part of each cipher to
show that that part must be taken last.

On an Improvement in the Heliometer. By Mr N. Pogson. — The pur-
pose of this communication is to suggest what I conceive to be a great
addition to the power of any kind of micrometer used for measuring long
distances on the double-image principle. It is therefore especially appli-
cable to heliometers, and has indeed occurred to me chiefly from fami-
liarity with the defects which have hitherto rendered this costly but
magnificent instrument a comparative failure. It is well known to prac-
tical astronomers that the contact between two stars, however skilfully
made, is a very unsatisfactory observation, even when the objects are
pretty equal. But when one is a large bright star and the other a faint
one, the difficulty and uncertainty amount to impossibility ; for the faint
star is invariably obliterated on approaching within two or three seconds
of its superior. The alternative is then to diminish the aperture of that
half of the object-glass through which the brighter star is viewed; but
here again arises another evil ; the disc is enlarged by diffraction, the
value of the scale sensibly changed, and definition materially injured.
Hence, parallax determinations of first magnitude stars, such as Arcturus
and a Lyrae, cannot be satisfactorily made ; but when the object is a
double star, as, for instance, 61 Cygni or Castor, the comparison star can
be brought between the components of the double star, and a most exqui-
sitely perfect and comfortable measure obtained. Is'ow, from having
used the rock-crystal prism micrometer when residing at Oxford last year
— then kindly lent me, together with a five-foot telescope of surpassing
excellence, by Dr Lee — the idea occurred to me of introducing a prism, or
achromatised wedge of rock crystal, into the heliometer, so as to double
the image of the brighter star. By this means the dubious contact would
be dispensed with ; for the fainter object, by being brought midway be-
tween the two images of the bright star, would be precisely similar to the
present easy observation of 61 Cygni, previously referred to. The prism
could be of such a constant angle as to separate the two images to a con-
venient distance, — not too far, so as to render the estimation of distance
diflicult, but just wide enough to prevent the obliteration of a faint com-
parison star, before named as one of the evils to be avoided. The prism
rather improves the appearance of a bright star than otherwise ; and as
the images are doubled, of course half the light of each is lost, equivalent
to a considerable reduction of the aperture, thus obviating the third ob-
jection alluded to at starting. Armed with this addition to its strength,
and taking the precaution never to observe on bad nights, when the
atmosphere will not permit the use of powers from three hundred upwards
— for I hold it as an absurdity to attempt to investigate tenths of a second
of arc with anything less — the heliometer is doubtless yet destined to
realise the highest expectations ever raised as to its efliciency for grap-
pling with that most minutely intricate and vastly important research,
viz., the parallax of the fixed stars.

On Chinese Astronomy. By Mr J. B. Lindsay. — The object of the pre-
sent paper is to draw the attention of the Section to the fact, that much

British Association. 121

information maj be derived from Chinese literature in order to perfect
our astronomy. The " Chun-tsiu," written by Confucius, contains an ac-
count of thirty-six eclipses (several of them total), and several comets,
falling stars, and meteorites. The first eclipse here recorded was in the
year before our era 719, the last was in b.c. 494, — thus comprbing 225
years. Confucius was born in b.c. 550, and died at the age of seventy-
three in B.C. 477. In a book lately published I have given an extract of
the thirty-six eclipses ; but the whole of the " Chun-tsiu ".deserves to be
translated and published. I have myself made a translation of the whole
verbatim, but should prefer seeing it published by another better ac-
quainted with the Chinese. The "Chun-tsiu" is a short chronicle of
events ; but there is an extended commentary on it entitled the " Tso-
chuen," by Tso-kin-ming, who was a contemporary and an intimate
friend of Confucius. This work should, I think, be also translated, as it
gives a detailed account of astronomical observations, and comes thirteen
years further down than the work of Confucius. Another work, entitled
the " Kwo-yu," supposed to have been by the same author, contains an
Appendix by another person, bringing down the history to B.C. 453. The
succeeding history was principally written, and the celestial phenomena
recorded, by Szi-ma-tsien, who lived a century before our era. His work
is entitled " Shi-ki," or Historic Memoirs. He was Imperial Historian,
as was also his father, — and his work is extremely interesting, as giving
an account not only of Chinese affairs, but also of the Scythians and
Turks who were then on the north-west borders of China. The 123d
chapter, recording foreign events, has been translated into French by
Brosset, and is found in the Journal Asiatique for 1828. This chapter
comprises the history of forty-three years, or from b.c. 140 to b.c. 97,
shortly before the author's death. Small portions of the " Shi-ki "
have been translated into English, but the whole deserves to be so. A
translation of the whole Chinese history and literature before our era
would not be voluminous; but the " Chun-tsiu," the " Tso-chuen," and
the " Shi-ki" should, I think, be translated first. Extended notes would
be necessary to render the whole intelligible, and the Astronomer Royal
might append notes on the various eclipses. The ancient Chinese classics
are nine in number, — five of the first class, and four of the second. The
five" of the first class are the " Shu-king," the " Shi-king," the " I-king,"
the " Li-ki," and the "Chun-tsiu." The "Shu-king" has been trans-
lated into French by Desguignes, — the " Shi-king" into Latin by La-
charme, — the " I-klng" into Latin by Regis, and others, — the " Li-ki"
into French by Gallery ; but the " Chun-tsiu " has not yet been translated
into any European language. The four books of the second class have
been often translated into Latin and French. Their names are, the
" Ta-tteo," the " Chung-yung," the " Lun-yu," and-" Mang-tszi," or
Mencius, — scarcely any of which have been translated into English.

On the Decomposed Olass found at Nineveh and other places. By Sir
D. Brewsteb. — He described the general appearance of glass in an
extreme state of decomposition, when the decomposed part was so rotten
as to break easily between the fingers, a piece of undecomposcd glass
being generally found in the middle of the plate. He then explained
how, in other specimens, the decomposition took place around one, two, or
more points, forming hemispherical cups, which exhibit the black cross
and the tints of polarised light. In illustration of this decomposition, he
showed to the Meeting three specimens, in one of which there was no
colour, but which consisted of innumerable circular cavities with the black
cross, these cavities giving it the appearance of ground-glass. In another
specimen tlie film was specular and of great beauty, showing the comple-
mentary colours by reflection of transmitted light. In a third variety

NEW SEBIES. VOL. XI. NO. I.— JAN. 1860. O

122 Proceedings of Societies.

the films were filled with circular cavities exhibiting the moet beantiful
colours, both in common and polarised light.

On Mild Winters in the British Isles. By Professor Hennessy. — He
pointed out the circumstance that the meteorological observations made
during.the late remarkably mild winter tended to confirm the law which he
had already announced in a letter to General Sabine, which appears in
the Proceedings of the Royal Society for 1858. This law is, that during
mild winters the coast stations exhibit an increase of temperature more
than inland stations, and that the temperature on the west and south
coasts approaches towards uniformity. In France, as pointed out by M,
Liais, the first part of this law is found to hold good, as evinced in the
comparative climatology of Cherbourg and Paris. Mr Hennessy referred
these phenomena to an abnormal extension of heat-bearing currents
across the Atlantic. From the greater stability of such currents than those
of the atmosphere, and from the important influence they undoubtedly
exercise upon our climate, he is led to infer that we are rapidly approach-
ing a period when it may become possible to foretell whether the winter
shall be cold or warm by knowing the conditions of temperature and the
movements of currents in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic during the
summer and autumn.

On the Inclination of the Planetary Orbits. By Mr J. P. Hennessy. —
The author stated, that on consulting a synoptic table of the planetary
elements, some law had been obtained for the other elements, but none
hitherto for the inclinations of the several orbits. This he conceived
arose from the inclinations being set down in reference to the plane of the
earth's orbit ; for he found that a very remarkable relation manifested
itself when they were tabulated in reference to the plane of the Sun's
equator. The author had written on the board two tables : one, the ordi-
nary tjible in reference to the Ecliptic ; the other, that to which he
wished to draw attention, having reference to the plane of the Sun's
equator. In the latter, it was seen as a general law, that the inclinations
of the planetary orbits increased as the distances of the several planets
from the Sun increased. Thus, the inclination of the|orbit of Mercury to the
plane of the Sun's equator was but 0° 19' 51", while that of Neptune was
9° 6' 51". The only considerable deviation from regular progression
being found, as might be expected, among the Asteroids : of which, if we
take Victoria as a type, her inclination is no less than 15° 42' 15". The
author considered that the fa«t that the orbits of the larger planets,
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, are not more inclined, would seem
to confirm a surmise of Laplace, who, in his " Exposition du Systeme du
Monde," speculates on the order in which the planets were thrown off
from the Sun, and supposes that Jupiter, Saturn, &c. were thus formed
long before Mercury, Venus, the Earth, and Mars. If so, the oblatenesa
of the Sun would in its condition at that time have tended more power-
fully than in its subsequent or present state to keep the planets near the
plane of its equator. The discovery of this law regulating the inclinations
of the planetary orbits appeared to him another addition to the class of
facts which establish the analogy between the solar system and that of
Jtipiter and his satellites, it being well known to astronomers that the in-
clination of the orbits of the latter to the plane of Jupiter's equator was a
function of their distances and masses.

On the Dynamical T/ieory of Oases. By Professor Cleuk Maxwell.—
The phenomena of the expansion of gases by heat, and their compression by
pressure, have been explained by Joule, Claussens, Herapath, &c., by the
theory of their particles being in a state of rapid motion, the velocity de-
pending on the temperature. These particles must not only strike against
the sides of the vessel, but against each other, and the calculation of their

British Associalion, 139

Botknis 16 therefore complicated. The author has eetablished the follow-
ing results : — 1. The velocities of the particles are not uniform, but vary '
so, that they deviate from the mean value bj a law well known in the
^' method of least squares." 2. Two different sets of particles will distri-
bute their velocity, so that their vires viae will be equal ; and this leads
to the chemical law, that the equivalents of gases are proportional to their
specific gravities. 3. From Processor Stokes's experiments on friction in
air, it appears that the distance travelled bj a particle between consecu-
tive collisions is about ivrivv of an inch, the mean velocity being about
1505 feet per second ; and therefore each particle makes 8,077,200,000 col-
lisions per second. 4. The laws of the ditl'usion of gases, as established
by the Master of the Mint, are deduced from this theory, and the absolute
rate of diffusion through an opening can be calculated. The author in-
tends to apply his mathematical methods to the explanation on this hypo-
thesis of the propagation of sound, and expects some light on the
mysterious question of the absolute number of such particles in a given

CHEMICAL SCIENCE.

New I\vcess of Preserving Milk perfectly Pure in the Natural State,
tciihout any Chemical Agent. By the Abbi Moiono. — To preserve milk
for an indefinite period is an important problem, which in France has
been solved in three different modes. M. de Villeneuve was the first to
preserve milk, solidifying it by the addition of certain solid ingredients,
but it was no longer, properly speaking, milk. M. de Signac preserved
it by evaporating the milk till it became of the consistence of syrup, ren-
dering it a solid mixture of milk and sugar ; still it could not be called
milk. M. Maben also preserved it by excluding the air, and exposing it
to an atmosphere of steam about 100° Cent — thus depriving it of all the
gases which it contained, and then hermetically sealing the filled bottles
in which it had been heated. When about to leave for Aberdeen, I
opened a bottle which had been closed by M. Maben on the 14th of Feb-
ruary 1854 ; and after a lapse of five and a half years, I found it as fresh
as it was the first day. M. de Pierre has greatly improved the discovery.
The means which he employs to effect the preservation of milk is still
heat, but heat applied in some peculiar way, by manual dexterity, first
discovered by a Swiss shepherd. All that 1 am allowed to state is, that
the effect of this new method of applying heat is to remove a sort of
diustore, or animal ferment, which exists in milk in a very small quan-
tity, and which is the real cause of its speedy decomposition. When this
species of ferment is removed, milk can be preserved for an indefinite
period of time in vessels not quite full, and consequently exposed to the
contact of rarified air — a result which was not efi'ected by the process of
M. Maben, or rather that of M. Gay-Lussac, as they completely expelled
those gases which otherwise would have rendered it sour. I have such
full confidence in the success of M. de Pierre's process, that I had not the
least hesitation in bringing along with me from Paris to Aberdeen a
large vessel containing five gallons of milk, fearlessly trusting it to rail-
roads and steam-boats, thus exposing it to all the incidents of the journey.
I am so confident of the success of the process, that 1 pour out the contents
of this large vessel into Scotch glasses, with the conviction that I am giv-
ing to the ladies and gentlemen of the British Association a milk as natu-
ral, as pure, and as rich as when it was taken from the cow in the fertile
plains of Normandy. May this potion, so sweet and so pure, be a symbol
of those sentiments of benevolent aflection which France, flourishing and
enlightened, entertains towards her noble and great sister England 1

124 Proceedings of Societies. ■

Owing to its greater specific lightness, cream ascends to the top of the
vessel, but it can be easily made to diffuse itself through the milk by
slightly shaking it before uncorking the bottle. As the vessel is not quite
full, a small quantity of butter may have been formed, and the milk may
have become somewhat less rich, but it will still be pure and natural
milk, without any strange taste. Thanks to the progress of science, of
which I am happy to be the representative, France can yield with profit
to England her fruits, her vegetables, her eggs, and now offers her pre-
pared milk for the wants of the army and navy, having nothing to fear
from the longest voyages, nor from the excesses of heat and cold.

On a Symmetncal Arrangement of Oxides and Salts on a Common
Type. By Dr Lyon Playfair. — Salts, according to the present views,
may be constituted of an oxide and an acid ; of an electro-positive ele-
ment and an electro-negative salt radical ; or on the type of water, in
which the hydrogen is sometimes replaced by an electro-positive ele-
ment, sometimes by an electro -negative compound. The author adopted
the whole series of metallic oxides as typical of salts, supposing that two
equivalents of the metal were present in all the oxides except the mag-
netic oxide. He contended that neutral salts are not formed on the type
of a basic oxide, such as water, but on that of a neutral oxide, such as
peroxide of manganese or peroxide of hydrogen, of the general formula,
O2(MM)02. Two equivalents of the oxygen in this type may be replaced
in a neutral salt by an anhydrous acid, so that the general formula of a
neutral salt is either 02(MM)A2, or half that value, in which A represents
any acid. The author showed that many facts supported the idea that
an anhydrous acid could substitute oxygen directly, and vice versd. Thus,
carbonate of manganese heated in air becomes peroxide, oxygen substi-
tuting the acid ; while peroxide of copper loses oxygen in air, and becomes
a carbonate. Barytcs heated in air absorbs oxygen, and becomes a per-
oxide ; heated with sulphuric acid, it becomes a sulphate : both oxide and
salt being formed on the same type. The author then proceeded to show
that as there are varieties of oxides, so also there are varieties of salts,
each constituted on an oxide type. Salts of suboxides represent the prot-
oxides ; subsalts. with two equivalents of an oxide and one of an acid, are
formed on the type of sesquioxides ; while those with three of a base and
one of an acid, like phosphate of soda, are formed on the type of mag-
netic oxide of iron. The sesqui-salts, on this view, are on the type of
manganic acid, 03(MM)A3 being like 03(MM)03. The author then pro-
ceeded to show how various relations became apparent, if the oxygen in
the oxides were arranged in the simplest form of an axis and equator
around the metallic nucleus, according to a conventional system on a plane
surface. The existence or deficiency of symmetry in the structure of a
body becomes thus indicated. As a general conclusion, when there is an
equal balance in the molecules of oxygen, or of electro-negative bodies
playing its part, then rest or neutrality results ; when the structure wants
balance or symmetry, then activity is manifested — basicity when the
electro-positive molecules predominate ; acidity when the electro-nega-
tive are in excess. By writing minus points to show the want of sym-
metry, it is possible to indicate d priori whether an acid is monobasic,
bibasic, or tribasic. In conclusion, the author referred to the oxides of
nitrogen, chlorine, and carbon as illustrations of the importance of sym-
metry. Writing them all on four-volume formulae, it is necessary to
double them when the compound has an uneven number of molecules of
oxygen ; but the oxides of an even number do not require this duplication.
Further, it was shown that the symmetrical oxides are neutral or only
feebly acid in character in the case of the oxides of electro -negative ele-
nicuts. Thus hypochlorous, chlorous, and ohluric acids are uneven, like

\

BritUh Association. 126

nitrous and nitric acida ; while binoxide of nitrxigen and the peroxides of
chlorine and nitrogen are neutral, from there being a balance in the
molecules of oxygen. In like manner, oxalic acid, with an uneven num-
ber of atoms of oxygen, is more powerfully acid than carbonic acid, where
the conditions for symmetry are more nearly satisfied.

To exhibit a Photograph of Fluorescent Substances. By Dr Glad-
stone. — It is well known, on the one hand, that the chemical action of
light resides mainly in the most refrangible rays, and on the other hand,
that these rays are altered in their refrangibility and effect on the visual
organs by fluorescent substances. It occurred to the author that such
substances would probably exert little photographic action. Hence he
had made two drawings on sheets of white paper, one in an acid salt of
quinine, the other in a very pale solution of chlorophyll, and had taken
photographs of them. Although the drawing in quinine was quite undis-
tinguishable from the white paper, and the chlorophyll drawing nearly
so, when they were viewed in the same camera for adjusting the focus
they were strongly marked on the photographic image by the little
chemical action that had been exerted by them. The sheets of paper,
and the drawings developed on the glass plate, were exhibited, showing
that what theory had suggested as probable, was true in fact.

On a Xew Mode of Bread-making. By Dr Odlino. — By this process
the carbonic acid is produced independently of, and superadded to, the
flour, which consequently undergoes no modification whatever. The car-
bonic acid gas is stored in an ordinary gas-holder, and is pump^ there-
from into a cylindrical vessel of water, whereby the water becomes charged
with gas. This soda-water is mixed under pressure with the flour, and
the resulting dough becomes vesicular on removing the pressure. It is
then divided into loaves and baked. This process is so rapid that in an
hour and a half from the first wetting of the flour, a sack of flour is made
into two-pound loaves. The advantages of this new mode are — its clean-
liness ; from the beginning to the end of the operation, neither the flour
nor the water is touched by the human feet ; it conduces to the health of
the work-people ; it is a very rapid process; it is certain and uniform;
and it prevents any deterioration of the flour, so that by this process you
can use flour which would require alum in the ordinary process.

Report on Field Experiments on the Essential Mhnuring Constituents
of Cultivated Crops, ^j Professor Voklcker. — The field experiments,
which extended over a period of four years, had special reference to the tur-
nip-crops. Dr Voelcker described the plan upon which these experiments
were undertaken, and mentioned the results which were obtained.
Amongst other points of interest to the agriculturist, it may be noticed,
as the result of four yeairs' experience in the growth of turnips under
particular conditions. — 1. That fertilisers destitute of phosphoric acid do
not increase the yield of this crop ; 2. That phosphate of lime applied to
the soil in the shape of soluble phosphate (super phosphate) increases
this crop in an especial manner, and that the practical value of artificial
manures for root crops chiefly depends on the relative amount of available
phosphates which they contain. Thus it was shown that 3 cwt. of super-
phosphate per acre produced as large an increase of turnips as 15 tons of
farm-yard manure ; 3. That ammoniacal salts and nitrogenised constitu-
ents yielding ammonia on decomposition, have no beneficial effect upon
turnips, but rather the reverse ; 4. That ammoniacal salts applied alone
do not promote, as maintained erroneously, the luxuriant development of
leaves ; but that they produce this eflect to a certain extent when salts of
ammonia are applied to the land in conjunction with the mineral con-
stituents found in the ashes of turnips. The Reiwrt likewise states that
uuiucrous analyses of turnips have been made, from which it appears that

126^ Proceedings of Societies.

the more nutritious and least ripened roots invariably contain less nitro>
gen than half-ripened roots, or turnips of low feeding qualities. In the
latter, the proportion of nitrogen was found, in several instances, two to
two-and-a-half times as high as in roots distinguished for their good feed-
ing qualities. Similar experiments upon wheat showed that nitrogenised
ammoniacal matters, which proved inefficacious in relation to turnips,
increase the yield of corn and straw very materially, and that the in-
crease of wheat was largest when the ammoniacal constituents were asso-
ciated with mineral matters.

GEOLOGY.

On the Geological Structure of the Vicinity of Aberdeen^ and the
north-east of Scotland. By James Nicol, Professor of Natural History,
Aberdeen. — The author said — It has been thought that a short sketch of
the geology of this locality might interest our visitors from the south. To
illustrate this generally, I have had a large copy of that portion of my
Geological Map of Scotland prepared. This, of course, does not give
minute details, but still I have no hesitation in saying that it is more ac-
curate than any other, as I have not only corrected it in many points
myself, but have had the use of much material collected by my friend Mr
A. Cruickshank.

Though scarcely needed, it may be mentioned that Scotland consists of
three natural geological divisions : —

Ist. Southern region of Lower Silurian Rocks of Murchison or Cam-
brian of Sedgwick. This region consists of grcywacke and clay slate,
rising into lofty broad- backed mountains, separated by wide valleys —
the dales of the old Borderers. *

2d. Central region of Old Red, Coal, and Trap. This contains only
about one-sixth of the surface (."iOOO square miles), but full two-thirds of
the population of Scotland, and a far larger proportion of the mineral
wealth and manufactures of the kingdom.

3d. Northern Region of Primary or Crystalline Strata, broken through
by Granite, and set in a framework of newer formations. It contains
two-thirds of the surface, but little more than one-fourth of the popula-
tion. It is in this region we are now met, and to one portion of it that I
mean specially to direct your attention.

The kernel of this whole region is the Granite. This forms some of
the highest mountains, and some of the lowest land in the district ; of the
former' I may mention Ben Macdhui (only rivalled in Britain by Ben
Nevis) and the Cairngorum mountains on the north of the Dee ; and on
the south of that river Loch-na-gar, Mount Keen, Mount Battock, and
other giants of the Southern Grampians. These, the jirincipal mountains,
are usually round, massive, dome-like, with a deepcorry on one side, as if
formed by the falling in of one-third of the mountain, and thus bounded
by lofty, rudely prismatic precipices, rising from a dark, black tarn in
the centre of the hollow. In consequence of decomposition, the granite
mountains are usually covered with huge feather-bed-like rocks, piled up
in cairns of rude masonry, and the shelter of the red deer and ptarmigan.
The rock in these mountains is rather fine ground, uniform in structure,
and often reddish coloured. It contains cavities in which the rock crystal
or Cairngorum stone, the topaz, and the beryl are found. Bennachie,
one of the outposts of these mountains on the north-east, though not high
and easily accessible, is very interesting. It looks out on the south-west
to the loftier ranges of the Grampians, with patches of snow even at the
end of summer, and on the north-east over the plains of Buchau — low,

British Atsoeiation. 127

andulatrnj^r, and treeless, but rapidly changing, under the industry of the
inhabitants, from bleak moors to fertile oom-flelds.

A large portion of these north-eastern plains too consists of granite ; in
them, however, occupying the lowest, not the highest position, as in the
mountains. This fact shows that the granite is the l^is on which the
strata rest, and hence is exposed where they have been cut away by
denudation. A fine section of the granite is seen in the sea-cliffs south
from Peterhead, where it is intersected by long, narrow gullies and deep
caves, in which the restless surge of the North Sea keeps up an incessant
tumult. Hence some of the more remarkable of these excavations have
got the name of the Bullers of Buchan.

The rock, in this region, is red or gray, according to the coloor of the
felspar. It oflen contains hornblende, or is a syenite, as in the tract to
the north of Huntly, and in other places again becomes almost a fine
grained greenstone or diorite. This diversity of mineral character proves
that the granite is not all of one period of formation. The veins of
granite, in the granite itself, show this even more clearly. These are
beautifully seen in Rubislaw quarry, close to the town, where there is one
very remarkable vein of coarse granite, composed of very large twin
crystals of orthoclase felspar and mica, in a Insis of quartz, along with
long broken prisms of schorl, Davidsonite, or impure beryl and garnets.
The quartz in this vein is also remarkable for numerous cavities enclosing
fluids, which Sorby uses as natural thermometers to tell the temperature
or pressure under which the rock was formed. The latter, he says, waa
for the fine granite or main body of the rock 78,000 feet, for the coarse
granite or veins 42,000 feet.

Of the stratified rocks the first, Gkeiss, covers a wide extent in Aber-»
deenshire, and generally in close proximity to, or resting on, the granite.
It is thus seen in the valley of the Dee above Braemar, reposing on the
granite in thin even beds, at a low angle, and apjiarently undisturbed by
the inferior igneous rock. In many parts of the low country the same
relation occurs, the gneiss often forming the hills, the granite the inter-
vening valleys. But in other cases, as in the hills north of Ballater, the
two formations are seen side by side. The gneiss, in many localities, is
full of granite veins ; but whether these belong to the great mass of
granite, or are of a different age, is not easily determined ; and the
question seems never to have been fully or fairly worked out. Such
veins are well seen on the coast to the south of the city, especially near
Girdleness and the Cove, and also in many parts of the mountain chain
on the south side of the Dee. Veins of felspar, porphyry, and of trap, are
known in the gneiss on the same coast, and in many other localities.

The gneiss is usually the common variety of quartz, felspar, and mica.
But varieties with hornblende, passing into hornblende slate, are also
common. The latter are well seen in the hills along Glen Muic, and up
to the top of Morven. The beds of gneiss are seldom flat or even, more
often highly contorted.

In the Braemar district the gneiss is covered by beds of limestone and
quartzite — the latter, perhaps, only a variety of the gneiss. It often con-
tains much magnetite, apparently replacing the mica. Indeed, iron, both
as the oxides and pyrit^, is very common in all these rooks ; strongly
impregnating many of the springs, and finding its way into the sands of
the rivers and of the sea-shore. From the Cuimgorum mountains great
ridges of quartzite run north into Banfishire, and to the coast near Cullen.
In Home places in this region it appears to lie below the mica slate, but
their exact relation is obscure. In other parts of the low country, as in
Mormond Hill, the quartzite rests on the gneiss.

Mica- slate in Scotland is most common in the Math- west Grampian* ; but

128 Proceedinga of Societies.

in this district it becomes greatly attenuated to a very narrow zone. In
the Glensheeard Stonehaven sections, the mica-slate appears to lie be-
low the gneiss, and not over it, as usually represented. There are
great tracts of mica-slate also in the north-west, between the Spey and
lOeveron, where it is intermixed with gneiss and clay-slate, but the rela-
tions of the deposits are little understood. It often contains garnets,
more rarely andalusite, and some other minerals.

Clay- slate also covers a considerable share in this district, chiefly to
the south of Banfi'and the Troup Head. It is quarried in several places
for roofing-slates, as near the Troup Head, in the Foudland Hills, and near
Gartly. These slates are wrought on lines of cleavage, the bedding
being in general scarcely perceptible. It has been said that fossils — •
graptolites— occur in this rock; but there is no foundation for this state-
ment. I formerly described these clay-slates as probably Silurian ; but this
is only a theory, and as the clay-slate in the southern Grampians appears to
dip north below the mica-slate, this view now requires confirmation. In
Glenshee a curious series of black carbonaceous slates, containing gra-
phite, like those of Easdale, occur. Graphite is also found in other parts
of this region, in the metamorphic strata — a most important fact in refer-
ence to the theory of these rocks.

The Old Red Sandstone chiefly occurs on the outskirts of the region
we are considering. The principal mass within it runs south from Gam-
rie — a locality well known for its nodules with fossil fish. Another iso-
lated, but interesting portion, occurs round the ancient Castle of Kil-
drummy, in which impressions of plants have|been found. A curious mass
of conglomerate at the Old Bridge of Don, probably belongs to the same
^deposit. On the southern limit of the moss, the Great Red Sandstone
formation of Strathmore begins, and is well seen in huge beds of red
sandstone and conglomerate near Dunnottar. The conglomerate must be
regarded as marking rather the shore-lines or certain peculiar local con-
ditions, than any particular zone in the formation.

Atthe other extremity of the moss, on the Spey, the Morayshire deposits
begin, with numerous fishes at Pynet Burn, Dipj)le, &c. Still further
west are the beds with reptilian remains at Elgin, probably in the upper
Old Red, or some newer formation, but beyond the limits of this paper.

Higher deposits are only known in fragments. Such is the portion of
lias near Turriff, perhaps in situ; but other masses of clay with lias
fossils, as near Banff, are more probably drifted. So also the green-
sand and chalk-flints spread over the rising ground from Peterhead to
Cruden — noticed and collected in 1834 by the late Dr Knight of this
university — are apparently detrital masses. Their number, however, and
state of preservation, show that strata of this age probably once existed
here in situ, and perhaps they may still occur below the waters of the
North Sea. I formerly noticed the analogy of these deposits to those in
the south of Sweden, where lias rests on gneiss, and is covered by chalk ;
but Flamborough Head is the nearest point where the chalk is now known
in situ.

Last of all are the great detrital masses of the drift or boulder-clay.
This forms two very marked divisions, evidently formed under very
o})po8ite conditions of the land. 1st, The lower boulder-clay, composed
of thick beds of firm, brown or gray clay, full of large striated stones,
some of them several feet or yards in diameter, and evidently deposited
in an arctic sea, round the shores of an ice-clad land rapidly sinking in
the waters. Glaciers, as the striae they have left on the rocks testify,
must then have covered our mountains, and floatiTig icebergs filled our
ocean. Above this deposit are, 2d, Loose, distinctly stratified, sands and
gravels, with rounded water- worn stones. These are clearly a portion

British Ataoc'ation. 129

of the lower masses reconstructed, as the land now freed from ice ros«
gradaallj above the waters. The brick-clays, some blue, some red, are
again only the finer materials washed out in this process, and laid down
in f^rults and bays, and the quieter parts of the sea along the coast.
They contain Arctic shells — showing that the climate was still cold ; and
also, at Clayhills, in the very city, star-fish (Ophiura), bones offish like
the cod or haddock, and full 3<) feet below the present surface, bones of
a small duck. They are well seen at Bolhelvie, Old Aberdeen, and Torrie,
but occur in many other localities. All along the south coast, too, the
fishermen dredge up, attached to the large mussel by its byssus, valves
of the Pecten islandicus and the small Leda ohlonga, shown by their
colour to have been imbedded in similar red clays.

In the peat bogs we have remains of even a more recent period, but
little anterior to our own. In them are found skulls with gigantic horns,
and huge bones of the old urns. Two fine specimens of these skulls
in the Museum — one from Belhelvie, another from Caithness — show
the wide range of this noble species in former times. And here the
proper geologic history of the district ends.

1 be Prince Consort having entered the Section Room, Sir C. Ltkll
rose and said : — No subject has lately excited more curiosity and gene-
ral interest, among geologists and the public, than the question of
the antiquity of the human race: whether or no we have sufficient evi-
dence to prove the former co-existence of Man with certain extinct
mammalia, in caves or in the superficial deposits commonly called drift
or "diluvium." For the last quarter of a century, the occasional oc-
currence, in various parts of Europe, of the bones of man or the works
of his hands, in cave-breccias and stalactites, associated with the remains
of the extinct hyena, bear, elephant, or rhinoceros, has given rise to a
suspicion that the date of man must be carried further back than we had
heretofore Imagined. On the other hand, extreme reluctance was natu-
rally felt on the part of scientific reasoners to admit the validity of such
evidence, seeing that so many caves have been inhabited by a succession
of tenants, and have been selected by man, as a place not only of domicile,
but of sepulture, while some caves have also served as the channels
through which the waters of flooded rivers have flowed, so that the
remains of living beings which have peopled the district at more than
one era may have subsequently been mingled in such caverns, and con-
founded together in one and the same deposit. The facts, however,
recently brought to light during the systematic investigation, as reported
on by Falconer, of the Brixham Cave, must, I think, have prepared you
to admit that scepticism in regard to the cave-evidence in favour of the
antiquity of man had previously been pushed to an extreme. To escape
from what I now consider was a legitimate deduction from the facts
already accumulated, we were obliged to resort to hypotheses requiring
great changes in the relative levels and drainage of valleys, and, in short,
the whole physical geography of the respective regions where the caves
are situated— changes that would alone imply a remote antiquity for the
human fossil remains, and make it probable that man was old enough to
have coexisted, at least, with the Siberian mammoth. But, in the coarse
of the last fifteen years, another class of proofs have been advanced, in
France, in confirmation of man's antiquity, into two of which I have
personally examined in the course of the present siunmcr, and to which I
shall now briefly advert. First, so long ago as the year 1844, M. Aymard,
an eminent palaeontologist and antiquary, published an account of the dis-
covery, in the volcanic district of Central France, of portions of two
human skeletons (the skulls, teeth, and bones), imbedded in a volcanic
breccia, found in the mountain of Denise, in the environs of Le Puy en

KEW SERIES. VOL. XI. NO. I. JAN. 1860. P

130 ProceedingB of Societies.

Velay, a breccia anterior in date to one, at least, of the latest ernptions
of that volcanic mountain. On the opposite side of the same hill, the
remains of a large number of mammalia, most of them of extinct species,
have been detected in tufaceous strata, believed, and I think correctly, to
bo of the same age. The authenticity of the human fossils was from the
first disputed by several geologists, but admitted by the majority of those
who visited Le Puy, and saw with their own eyes the original specimen
now in the museum of that town. Among others, M. Pictet, so well
known to you by his excellent work on Palaeontology, declared after his
visit to the spot his adhesion to the opinions previously expressed by
Aymard. My friend, Mr Scrope, in the second edition of his " Volcanoes
of Central France," lately published, also adopted the same conclusion,
although, after accompanying me this year to Le Puy, he has seen reason
to modify his views. The result of our joint examination, — a result which,
I believe, essentially coincides with that arrived at by MM. Hubert and
Lartet, names well known to Science, who have also this year gone into
this inquiry on the spot, — may thus be stated. We are by no means pre-
pared to maintain that the specimen in the museum at Le Puy (which
unfortunately was never seen in situ by any scientific observer) is a
fabrication. On the contrary, we incline to believe that the human fossils
in this and some other specimens from the same hill, were really imbedded
by natural causes in their present matrix. But the rock in which they
are entombed consists of two parts^ one of which is a compact, and for the
most part thinly laminated stone, into which none of the human bones
penetrate ; the other, containing the bones, is a lighter and much more
porous stone, without lamination, to which we could find nothing similar in
the mountain of Denise, although both M. H(5bert and I made several ex-
cavations on the alleged site of the fossils. M. Hubert therefore suggested
to me that this more porous stone, which resembles in colour and mineral
composition, though not in structure, parts of the genuine old breccia of
Denise, may be made up of the older rock broken up and afterwards re-
deposited, or as the French say remane, and, therefore, of much newer
date, an hypothesis which well deserves consideration ; but I feel that we
are, at present, so ignorant of the precise circumstances and position
under which these celebrated hiunan fossils were found, that I ought not
to waste time in speculating on their probable mode of interment, but
simply state that, in my opinion, they aflbrd no demonstration of Man
having witnessed the last volcanic eruptions of Central France. The
skulls, according to the judgment of the most competent osteologists who
have yet seen them, do not seem to depart in a marked manner from the
modem European or Caucasian type, and the human bones are in a
fresher state than those of the Elephas meridionalis and other quadrupeds
found in any breccia of Denise, which can be referred to the period even
of the latest volcanic eruptions. But, while I have thus failed to obtain
satisfactory evidence in favour of the remote origin assigned to the human
fossils of Le Puy, I am fully prepared to corroborate the conclusions
which have been recently laid before the Royal Society by Mr Prestwich,
in regard to the age of the flint implements associated in undisturbed
gravel, in the north of France, with the bones of elephants, at Abbeville
and Amiens. These were first noticed at Abbeville, and their true geologi-
cal position assigned to them by M. Boucher de Perthes, in 1846, in his
" Antiquites Celtiques," while those of Amiens were afterwards described
in 1855, by the late Dr Rigollot. For a clear statement of the facts, I
may refer you to the abstract of Mr Prestwich's Memoir, in the Proceed-
ings of the Royal Society for 1859, and have only to add that I have
myself obtained abundance of Flint Implements (some of which are laid
upon the table) during a short visit to Amiens and Abbeville. Two of the

British Association. 131

worked flinU of Amiens were discovered in the gravel-pits of 8t Acheul
—one at the depth of 10, and the other of 17 feet below the surface, at
the time of my visit ; and M. Georges Pouchet, of Rouen, authur of a
work on the Races of Man, who has since visited the spot, has extracted
with his own hands one of these implements, as Messrs Prestwich and
Flower had done before him. The stratified gravel resting immediately
on the chalk in which these rudely fashioned instruments are buried,
belongs to the post-pliocene period, all the freshwater and land shells
which accompany them being of existing species. The great number of
the fossil instruments which have been likened to hatchets, spear-heads,
and wedges, is truly wonderful. More than a thousand of them have
already been met with in the last ten years, in the valley of the Somme,
in an area 15 miles in length. I infer that a tribe of savages, to whom
the use of iron was unknown, made a long sojourn in this region ; and I
am reminded of a large Indian mound, which 1 saw in St Simond's Island,
in Georgia — a mound 10 acres in area, and having an average height of
5 feet, chiefly composed of cast-away oyster-shells, throughout which
arrow-heads, stone axes, and Indian pottery are dispersed. If the neigh-
bouring river, the Alatamha, or the sea which is at hand, should invade,
sweep away, and stratify the contents of this mound, it might produce a
very analogous accumulation of human implements, unmixed perhaps
with human bones. Although the accompanying shells are of living
species, I believe the antiquity ^of the Abbeville and Amiens flint instru-
ments to be great indeed, if compared to the times of history or tradi-
tion. I consider the gravel to be of fluviatile origin ; but I could detect
nothing in the structure of its several parts indicating cataclysmal action,
nothing that might not be due to such river-floods as we have witnessed
in Scotland during the last half-century. It must have required a
long period for the wearing down of the chalk which supplied the
broken flints for the formation of so much gravel at various heights, some-
times 100 feet above the present level of the Somme, for the deposi-
tion of fine sediment including entire shells, both terrestrial and aquatic,
and also for the denudation which the entire mass of stratified drift
has undergone, jxirtions having been swept away, so that what remains
of it often terminates abruptly in old river-cliff's, besides being covered
by a newer unstratified dritt. To explain these changes, I should
infer considerable oscillations in the level of the land in that part
of France — slow movements of upheaval and subsidence, deranging but
not wholly displacing the course of the ancient rivers. Lastly, the dis-
appearance of the elephant, rhinoceros, and other genera of quadrupeds
now foreign' to Europe, implies, in like manner, a vast lapse of ages,
separating the era in which the fossil implements were framed, and that
of the invasion of Gaul by the Romans. Among the problems of high
theoretical interest which the recent progress of Geology and Natural
History has brought into notice, no one is more prominent, and, at the
same time, more obscure, than that relating to the origin of species. On
this difficult and mysterious subject a work will very shortly appear, by
Mr Charles Darwin, the result ot twenty years of observation and expe-
riments in Zoology, Botany, and Geology, by which he has been led to
the conclusion, that those powers of nature which give rise to races and
permanent varieties in animals and plants are the same as those which,
in much longer periods, produce species, and, in a still longer series of
ages, give rise to differences of generic rank. He appears to me to have
SDcoeeded, by his investigations and reasonings, to have thrown a flood of
light on many classes of phenomena connected with the aflUnities, geogra-
phical dbtribution, and geological succession of organic beings, for wliich
no other hypothesis has been able, or has even attempted, to account.

132 Proceedings of Societies.

Among the communicatiuns pent in to this Section, I have received from Dr
Dawson of Montreal one coniirniing the discovery which he and I formerly
announced, of a land shell, or pupa, in the coal formation of Nova Scotia.
When we contemplate the vast series of formations intervening between
the tertiary and carboniferous strata, all destitute of air-breathing Mol-
lusca, at least of the terrestrial class, such a discovery affords an important
illustration of the extreme defectiveness of our geological records. It has
always appeared to me that the advocates of progressive development
have too much overlooked the imperfection of these records, and that, con-
sequently, a large part of the generalisations in which they have indulged
in regard to the first appearance of the different classes of animals, esj>eci-
ally of air-breathers, will have to be modified or abandoned. Nevertheless,
that the doctrine of progressive development may contain in it the germs
of a true theory, I am ffir from denying. The consideration of this question
will come before you when the age of the White Sandstone of Elgin is
discussed — a rock hitherto referred to the Old Red or Devonian formation,
but now ascertained to contain several reptilian forms, of so high an
organisation as to raise a doubt in the minds of many geologbts whether
60 old a place in the series can correctly be assigned to it.

On the Chronology of the Trap Rocks of Scotland. By Mr A. Geikib.
— The points to be proved were — first, that there is suflBcient abundance of
felspathic matter in the grits of the Silurian region of the Lammermoors
to warrant the inference that felspathic matter was either ejected during
the formation of these grits, or already in considerable abundance on the
surface. Second, that the Silurians of the Lammermoors were contorted
during the Upper Silurian period, probably between the upper and lower
Ludlows, and that this contortion was attended with a wide-spread extra-
vasation of felspathic matter. Third, that the Old Red Sandstone i)eriod
was marked by powerful and long-continued volcanic activity, in several
centres, as the Sidlaws, the Ochils, the Pentlands, and part of the hills of
Lanark. Fourth, that the carboniferous period was characterised by the
•especial abundance and activity of volcanic centres, — so much so that there
is not a well-defined zone of carboniferous beds which does not, at some
part of the liOthians, display its intercalated sheets of ash or green-
stone ; but that these eruptions were marked by local centres alike in
their extent and in the character of the erupted material. Fifth, that
after the carboniferous series, tliere is a great gap in the chronology of the
Scottish trap rocks, the next traces of subterranean movement being dis-
cernible in the lias of Skye; but that contemporaneous igneous rocks
are npt found until towards the top of the middle oolite, where among
estuarine limestones and shales, there occur in Skye and adjacent islands
enormous sheets of greenstone and basalt. Sixth, that as upper secondary
rocks have still to be determined in the Hebrides, we have, at present, to
pass from the oolitic traps of Skye to the basalts and ashes of Mull,
which, as shown by their associated fossils, are tertiary, and, probably,
miocene. Lastly, that the later basalts and a«hes of Arthur's Seat
ought, probably, to be referred to the later secondary or older tertiary
period.

Otithe Origin of Cone-in-Cone Structure. By Mr H, C. Sorby. — This
structure consists of an assemblage of imperfect cones, inclosing other
cones, which all have their apexes in the same direction, and usually occur
in bands parallel to the stratification of the work in which they are found.
By examining their transparent slices with polarised light, the author has
come to the conclusion that this structure is due to the growth of minute
])rismatic crystals, of more or less impure carbonate of lime, which, start-
ing from particular points, grow upwards or downwards in such a manner
that the peculiar and curious compound conical masses were formed by

I

British Association. 133

tbe interference of the crystals with each other, and with the uncrystal-
Usable impurities of the rock.

Report on the Exploration of the Upper SUurums of Letmahni/o, in
tenn.1 of the A.s.iociatUm'K (/rant to Mr Slimon. Bj Mr D. Page. —
During the last summer, Mr Slimon and his son bad diligently explored
the fossiliferous tract of Upper Silurian strata in the parish of Lesma-
hago, and the result of their operations had been to exhibit still further
the highly fossiliferous character of the Nilberry Silurians, and to give
ample indication of a very varied and curious crustacean Fauna, altogether
new to Palteontulogy. Molluscous remains of well-known Upper Silurian
genera had also been obtained in sufficient numbers to prove the affinities
of the beds ; and indications of both an aquatic and terrestrial Flora
seemed by no means rare throughout the strata. The specimens obtained
had a threefold value : — Ist, As proving the true Upper Silurian epoch
of the Nilberry strata, and thus affording a clue to tlie investigation of
other Sub-Devuniun tracts in Scotland, yet but very imperfectly under-
stood ; 2d, As adding new forms to the Life of a former epoch, and thus
extending the boundaries of our zoological knowledge ; and, 3dly, As
enabling the Government Palaeontologists, who had recently published
their first monograph on the Eurypteridae, to understand more clearly the
nature of this curious family of Crustaceans, and to correct what must
now evidently appear as misinterpretations of their structure and affinities,
lu none of the beds explored, either now or during the whole of Mr Slimon's
previous explorations, had there ever been detected any trace offish-life.
The report concluded with a recommendation, that a further grant of
L.IO or L.20 should be given to Mr Slimon to continue his valuable
explorations.

On certain Volcanic Rocks in Italy, which appear to hare been sub-
jected to Metamorphic Action. By Professor Dadbeny. — Dr Daubeny
called the attention of the Section to two products of volcanic action met
with in Italy, the peculiarities of which, he thought, had not been fully
explained. The first of these is the Piperino rock, met with so extensively
about Albano, near Rome, which is distinguished from ordinary tuff not
only by its greater compactness and porphyritic aspect, but likewise by
the occurrence in it of numerous laminae of mica, and crystals of augite,
which tend to give it the appearance of a metamorphic rock, or of one
which, although originally ejected as tuff, had been subsequently modified
by the long-continued action of heat and pressure. The principal difficulty
in the way of thus considering it arisfs from its alternation in several
places with ordinary tuff, or with strata of loose scoriae, as is well seen
near Marino, so that it is difficult to conceive how the materials com-
posing the Piperino could have been subjected to heat after their deposi-
tion in the form of tuff, without the intervening layers having been sub-
jected to the same operation. The other volcanic product alluded to was
the rock called Piperino, found near Naples, a brecciated material, in which
wavy and nearly parallel streaks of a dark gray, brown, and often almost
black, colour occur, impacted in a matrix which is for the most part ash-
gray, and seems, mineralogically speaking, to resemble trachyte. The
imbedded masses occur generally elongated in the same direction, as are
also the pores which occur in the midst of the mass. These circumstances
have been accounted for by supposing a stream of molten trachyte to
have invaded a congeries of fragments of ordinary lava, and to have
brought about their partial fusion ; but the Piperino seems to constitute a
part of the great tufaceous deposit which overspreads the neighbourhood of
Naples, to which no such metamorphic action is ascribable, and that which
has been lately met with in the new road now constructii<g above the
suburb of the C'hiaja at Naples lies imbedded in the midst of ordinary

134 Proceedings of Societies.

tuff. Dr DauLeny therefore conceives, that the peculiarities presented
by both the rocks alluded to require further elucidation, and that their
Btudy might tend to throw some new light upon the effects of metamorphic
action upon rocks in general.

On the Relations of the Otieits, Red Sandstone, and Quartzite, in the
North-West Highlands. By Professor Nicol. — Professor Nicol had
visited the Highlands, and had arrived at a different conclusion as
to the succession of certain crystalline and sub-crystalline rocks from that
arrived at by Sir R. Murchison. He contended that the great series of
rocks in question were of older date than that assigned to them by Sir
R. Murchison, and endeavoured ta prove, by a reference to the sections
which he exhibited, that the order of super-position which he advocated
was the correct one.

The President said, this question was a difficult one of interpretation,
and the burden of proof lay upon those who, like Sir R. Murchison, con-
tended that the highly crystalline rocks were of the newest date. — Sir
R. Murchison, at considerable length, replied to Professor Xicol, refer-
ring to sections which he had prepared, and maintaining with great con-
fidence that the order of super-position he had formerly contended for
was the correct one. In company with Professor Ramsay, he bad exa-
mined the country ; and although they were aware of the difficulties of
certain obscure sections here and there, he contended that, in no country
he had ever examined, in any part of the world, had he ever seen a
clearer order of super-position than that which he had endeavoured to
point out — viz., the super-imposition of quartz rock upon the limestone. —
Professor Ramsay confirmed the views of Sir R. Murchison, stating that
he had noticed for miles the super-imposition of the quartz rock upon the
limestone without any break, and felt not the slightest doubt upon the
subject. Professor Sedgwick spoke in corroboration of the views of Sir
R. ^Murchison and Professor Ramsay. Going hastily over the country,
it certainly appeared to him that the order of super-position was that con-
tended for by Sir Roderick, although it was perfectly possible that more
extended observation might induce them to come ultimately to a different
conclusion.

On the neidy-discovered Reptilian Remains from the ncujlihourhood
of Elyin. By Professor Huxley. — Having received specimens of sand-
stone containing what he considered traces of Reptilia, in order to work
out the problem of their character he was put in communication with
Mr Duff and the Rev. Mr Gordon, but for whose efficient co-operation
his labpurs must have been in vain. He was fortunate to obtain speci-
mens containing impressions which led liim to conclude it was a reptile,
and not a fish. He next obtained impressions in the sandstone of what
appeared to have been once a bone, resembling the bony plates of an
alligator, from which he came to the conclusion that the reptile was one
of the crocodilian species. Looking for further coincidence, he had
received a fossil, which Professor Agassiz had declared the most extra-
ordinary he had ever seen ; and a cast taken from it appeared to repre-
sent the tail of the old reptile. He then had a cast taken from a fossil
having a most extraordinary cavity in it, which appeared to be its dorsal
vertebrae ; from another specimen he got a piece of vertebra, such as
support the hips in crocodiles ; and he, too, got a bit of sandstone having
an impression of vertebrae, with marks peculiarly characteristic of the
neck ; and to ascertain what the teeth or head was like, they had obtained
a piece of stone with the impression of an upper jaw and a series of
teeth, essentially resembling those of a crocodile); and from these and
other traces he came to the a)nclu8ion that it had been a crocodilian
reptile allied to the Dinusauriau series, but presenting various points of

Driliah Association. 185

difference from all existing or foasil species, and that the period of its
existence must have been that presented by the green sandstone. He
also gave an account of the impressions in other pieces of sandstone —
which Mr Gordon had sent him — indicating another reptile, with curious
palatal teeth, which, in honour of the Rev. Mr Gordon, he called
Jlyperodapedon Oordoni. He also received two bits of rock, one con-
taining a reptilian impression like a staganolepis.

Protessor Owen said no one could fail to be impressed with the extreme
minuteness and accuracy with which Professor Huxley had examined the
facts, and with the clearness with which the facts had been described ;
and still more with the accuracy and soundness of the deductions which
Professor Huxley had made. The paper read afforded very instructive
evidence of the value of the law of co-relation of structure ; because, at
the last meeting of the British Association at Leeds, he had arrived at
the conclusion, from observing a portion of the bone then exhibited, that
these specimens were reptilian in their nature, and had published that
opinion in an article in the " EncyclopsBdia Britannica." He concurred
entirely with the conclusions which Professor Huxley had drawn from
a more complete view of those bones. He now for the first time began
to feel that the evidence of the structure of the cranium was most in-
teresting, and necessary to be made known before they had a complete
and satisfactory idea of the nature of the staganolepis.

On Tertiary Fossils of India. Bv Mr \V. H. Bailt.— The object of
this communication was to give merely a sketch of results from the study
of a large suite of fossils, collected chiefly from Burmah and Tenasserim
Province, by Professor T. Oldham, superintendent of the Geological
Survey of India, the details being intended for publication in the
'' Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India." The majority of
the fossils was stated to be of Eocene age, most of them having been
obtained from the banks of the Irrawaddy and from Prome and its
neighbourhood. Professor Oldham also collected Nummulitic fossils
from Kurrachee Salt Range of the Punjab, Mammalian remains from
the Sewalik group; fish teeth and scales from Heinlat, Tenasserim,
and Carboniferous fossils also from Tenasserim Province. A list of
the Tertiary fossils was given, the majority belonging to MoUusca
and to the following other classes: — Articulata — Crustacea and Cirri-
pedia ; Radiata — Annelida and Echinodermata ; Protozoa — Foramini-
lera. The collection was said to contain many new and undescribed
species ; and to present a facies of certain amount of resemblance gene-
rically, but not specifically, with those from the Tertiary deposits of
Europe, whilst, on the contrary, it was mentioned as a somewhat remark-
able fact, that the further we go back in geological time, so much the
greater is seen to be the resemblance between the marine fossil Faunas
of distant geographical areas; for instance, the Lower Silurian fossils of
the furthest point yet reached in Arctic explorations are many of them
absolutely identical with species from that formation found in our own
country, whilst those from the more modern deposits of Cretaceous and
Tertiary age continue their relations more by representation of forms
than identity of species, — a fact confirmatory of the important observa-
tions made by the late Professor E. Forbes on the interesting subject of
the distribution of species in geological time. Allusion was made to the
various Memoirs on the Palaeontolo^ of India which have from time to
time appeared, principally in the "Transactions and Proceedings of the
Geological Society of London," by which we are made acquainted with
the geological formation of a great part of that country, showing a suc-
cession of fossiliferous strata from the Upper Tertiaries, commencmg with
the mammalian remains of the Sewjilik Hills, believed to be of Miooene

1 36 Proceedings of Societies.

age, and continuing through the Nummulitic group and other Eocene
beds, the Cretaceous and Oulitic series, together with Liaa and Triaa, to
the Carboniferous and Devonian or Upper Paloeozoics.

On the Elephant Remains at Ilford. By Mr A. Bkadt. — The first
fossil to which I wish to direct attention is the tusk of an enormous mam-
moth, which was discovered about two years since. It was lying on its
side, about 14 feet below the present surface of the soil ; and I had the
honour of inviting Sir Charles Lyell, and other eminent geologists, to
Bee it before it was disturbed. It belonged to an animal of the species
E/ephas primogeneus, and is identical with the Siberian mammoth, and,
I believe, with the one found in Behring's Straits. The tusk was de-
cayed at each end, the extremities being gone, but the part preserved
was over 9 feet long, and of proportionate bulk. Some idea may be
formed from this of the huge size of the animal of which it formerly
formed a part. It was very much incurved, being so much bent back that
the bone was not more than 4 feet 2 or 3 inches across in any part. Owing
to the nature of the soil, the whole tusk was very friable, most of the
gluten of the ivory being decayed, so that great care was required in
moving it to prevent it falling to pieces. This was done in the usual
manner by the authority of the British Museum, to whom, by permission
of Mr Curtis, I presented the fossil ; it was, however, I regret to say,
much damaged by removal, notwithstanding the care bestowed. It was
nearly a year afterwards before any more bones were found. I then
obtained a large tibia, and two molar teeth, probably belonging to the
same animal, as they were not a great way from the tusk. One of the
latter was very large, weighing about 12 lb., though, from long use, much
worn. From this, I infer that the mammoth to which it belonged must
have been of great age. About the same time, I obtained several bones
of a large rhinoceros. These, from their more compact nature, were
less decayed ; and the tibia and one side of the jaw were very perfect,
several teeth being in situ. The other half of the jaw was smashed by
the workman's pick before I saw it ; but I saved several teeth. Like
those of the mammoth, they were very much worn. Two of them I gave
to the College of Surgeons. The rhinoceros has been referred to the
genus Leptorhinus. Associated with these remains were some of the
bones of a large ox, the horns and skull of which were very perfect, with
several teeth in situ. There were also turned up, within the last month
or two, some bones of a large ruminant, which I believe to be of the
Minocero, or Irish elk ; but I have not yet been able to get them exhibited.
About thirty years since, the late Dr Buckland discovered the bones of a
mammoth in this locality ; and about the same time the late Mr Gibson
obtained the beautiful collection of bones now in the Royal College of
Surgeons. Associated with the remains of those giants of ancient days,
are the skulls of Planorbis, Mico, Cyclon, Paludina, &c. And there are
now living in the Roden, and other tributary brooks in the neighbour-
hood, the lineal descendants of these fossils, the ancestors of which en-
joyed the same sunshine as the mammoth and rhinoceros, the aristocracy
of those days. We boast not of the primary rocks of Scotland, but we
have amongst us, living on the same estate as their ancestors, the humble
Paludina, Planorbis, &c. They are interesting ; for they form, as it were,
the link between the past and the present order of things.

British Aisociation. 137

GEOGRAPHY AND ETHNOLOGY.

Notet on Japan. By Mr Lacresce Ouphast. — The three porta of
the empire visited by the Mission, and which fell more immediately
under our observation, were Nagasaki, situated in the Island of Kinsin ;
Sowinda, a port opened by (Commodore Perry on the Promontory of Idsa ;
and Yedo, the capital city of the empire. Of these, Nagasaki is the one
with which we have been for the longest period familiar. In former
times it was a fishing village situated in the Principality of Omura; it ia
now an imperial demesne, and the most flourishing port in the empire.
It owes its origin to the establishment, at this advantageous point, of a
Portuguese settlement in the year ir>69, and its prosperity to^ the en-
lightened policy pursued by the Christian Prince of Omura, in whose
territory it was situated ; while its transference to the Crown was the re-
sult of political intrigues on the part of the Portuguese settlers, in conse-
quence of which the celebrated Tageo Sama included it among the lands
appertaining to the Crown. Situat^ almost at the westernmost extremity
of the empire, at the head of a deep land-locked harbour, and in conve-
nient proximity to some of the wealthiest and most productive principa-
lities in the empire, Nagasaki possesses great local advantages, and will
doubtless continue an important commercial emporium, even when the
trade of the empire at large is more fully developed, and has found an
outlet through other ports. The town is pleasantly situated on a belt of
level ground which intervenes between the water and the swelling hills,
forming an amphitheatre of great scenic beauty. Their slopes terraced
with rice-fields ; their valleys heavily timbered, and watered by gushing
mountain streams ; their projecting points crowned with temples or
frowning with batteries ; everywhere cottages buried in foliage reveal
their existence by curling wreaths of blue smoke ; in the creeks and in-
lets picturesque boats lie moored ; sacred groves, approached by rock-cut
steps, or pleasure-gardens tastefully laid out, enchant the eye. The
whole aspect of Nature is such as cannot fail to produce a most favourable
impression upon the mind of the stranger visiting Japan for the first
time. The city itself contains a population of about 50,000, and consists
of between eighty and ninety streets, running at right angles to each
other — broad enough to admit of the passage of wheeled vehicles, were
any to be seen in them — and kept scrupulously clean. A canal intersects
the city, spanned by thirty-five bridges, of which fifteen are handsomely
constructed of stone. The Dutch factory is placed upon a small fan-
shaped island about 200 yards in length, and connected with the main-
land by a bridge. Until recently, the members of the factory were con-
fined exclusively to this limited area, and kept under a strict and rigid
surveillance. The old rigime is now, however, rapidly passing away ;
and the history of their imprisonment, of the indignities to which they
were exposed, and the insults they suffered, has already become a matter
of tradition. The port of Hiogo is situated in the Bay of Ohosaka, op-
posite to the celebrated city of that name, from which it is ten or twelve
miles distant. The Japanese Government have expended vast sums in
their engineering efforts to improve its once dangerous anchorage. A
breakwater, which was erected at a prodigious expense, and which cost the
lives of numbers of workmen, has proved suflBcient for the object for
which it was designed. There is a tradition that a superstition existed in
connection with this dyke, to the effect that it would never be finished,
unless an individual could be found suflBciently patriotic to suffer himself
to be buried in it. A Japanese Curtius was not long in forthcoming, to
whom a debt of gratitude will be due in all time to come, from every
British ship that rides securely at her anchor behind the breakwater.

K«W SERIES. VOL. XI. NO. I. JAN. 1860. Q

138 Proceedings of Societies.

Hiogo has now become the port of Ohosaka and Miaco, and will, in all
probability, be the principal port of European trade in the empire. The
city is described as equal in size to Nagasaki. When Kaempler visited
it, he found 300 junks at anchor in its bay. The Dutch describe Ohosaka
as a more attractive resort even than Yedo. While this latter city may
be regarded as the London of Japan, Ohosaka seems to be its Paris.
Here are the most celebrated theatres, the most sumptuous tea-houses,
the most extensive pleasure-gardens. It is the abode of luxury and
wealth, the favourite resort of fashionable Japanese, who come here to
spend their time in gaiety and pleasure. Ohosaka is one of the five im-
perial cities, and contains a vast population. It is situated on the left
bank of the Jedogawa, a stream which rises in the Lake of Oity,
situated a day and a hairs journey in the interior. It is navi-
gable for boats of large tonnage as far as Miaco, and is spanned by
numerous handsome bridges. The port of Hiogo and city of Osaca will
not be opened to Europeans until the 1st of January 1863. The foreign
residents will then be allowed to explore the country in any direction, for
a distance of twenty-five miles, except towards Miaco, or, as it is more
properly called, Kioto. They will not be allowed to approach nearer than
twenty-five miles to this far famed city. Situated at the head of a bay, or
rather gulf, so extensive that the opposite shores are not visible to each
other, Yedo spreads itself on a continuous line of houses along its partially
undulating, partially level margin, for a distance of about ten miles. In-
cluding suburbs, at its greatest width it is probably about seven miles across,
but for a portion of the distance it narrows to a mere strip of houses. Any
rough calculation of the population of so vast a city must necessarily be
very vague and uncertain ; but, after some experience of Chinese cities, two
millions does not seem too high an estimate at which to place Yedo. In
consequence of the great extent of the area occupied by the residences of
the Princes, there are quarters of the town in which the inhabitants are
very sparse. The citadel, or residence of the temporal Emperor, cannot
be less than five or six miles in circumference, and yet it only contains
about 40,000 souls. On the other hand, there are parts of the city in
which the inhabitants seem almost as closely packed as they are in Chinese
towns. The streets are broad and admirably drained ; some of them are
lined with peach and plum trees, and when these are in blossom must
present a gay and lively appearance. Those which traverse the Princes'
quarter are for the most part as quiet and deserted as aristocratic thorough-
fares generally are. Those which pass through the commercial and
manufacturing quarters are densely crowded with passengers on foot, in
chairs, and on horseback, while occasionally, but not often, an ox-
waggon rumbles and creaks along. The houses are only of two stories,
sometimes built of freestone, sometimes sunburnt brick, and sometimes of
wood ; the roofs are either tiles or shingles. The shops are corajjletely
open to the street ; some of these are very extensive, the show-rooms for
the more expensive fabrics being upstairs, as with us. The eastern
part of the city is built upon a level plain, watered by the Toda Gawa,
which flows through this section of the town, and supplies with water the
large moats which surround the citadel. It is spanned by the Nipon ;
has a wooden bridge of enormous length, celebrated as the Hyde Park
Comer of Japan, as from it all distances throughout the empire are
measured. Towards the western quarter of the city, the country becomes
more broken, swelling hills rise above the housetops richly clothed with
foliage, from out the waving masses of which appear the upturned gables
of a temple, or the many roofs of a pagoda. It will be some satisfaction
to foreigners to know, that they are not to be excluded for ever from this
most interesting city. By the Treaty concluded in it by Lord Elgin, on

Bi-itUh Astociation. 139

the 1st of Jaaaarj, British subjects shall be allowed to reside there in
1662 ; and it is nut improbable tliat a great portion of the trade maj
altimatelj be transferred to it from Ranagawa. There is plenty of water
and a good anchorage at a distance of about a mile from the western
suburb of Linagawa. The onlj other port which Las been opened bj the
late Treaty in the Island of Ni]M>n is the Port of Nee-e-gata, situated
upon its western coast. As this port has never yet been visited by
Europeans, it is stipulated that if it be found inconvenient as a harbour,
another shall be substituted for it, to be opened on the Ist of January
1600."

On tilt Ethnology and Hieroghjphics of the Caledonians. By Colonel
J. Forbes. Colonel Forbes developed his views in the following proposi-
tions: — 1. Whether found singly or in groups, those circles not surround-
ing moot-hills or tumuli were erected for places of worship. They were also
used as places for the administration of justice, and for the assembly of coun-
cils. 2. The number of stones in these fanes had reference to the number
of individuals or families ; and perhaps, in circles of greater proportions,
were according to the number of towns or tribe, to be represented in the
councils, or benefited by the sacrifices at any particular cromlech. Some
of the cromlechs contained altars within the area. Occasionally the altars
formed part of the inclosing circle, and in other cases the altars were out-
side of the circle. 4. In the same fane there were altars to more than one
deity. 5. The origin of these fanes cannot be traced in any country ; and
nowhere, except in the Old Testament, does history or rational tradition
fix the period when, or the people by whom, any one of these monuments
was erected. 6. Open to the weather, incapable of being covered, and
with long avenues of approach, the form of these fanes has apparently
been devised in Eastern countries possessing a clear sky and warm climate.
7. These heathen fanes of Britain were afterwards used as places of
Christian worship, but cattle continued to be sacrificed in them. 8. These
fanes were also used as burying-grounds for Christians.

On the Arabic-speaking Population of the World. By Mr A. Amec-
KEY (a Syrian). — The Arabic has twenty-nine letters, and, with the
combinations and the voweb, make about thirty-six. Seven of these
letters are, to a foreigner, exceedingly difficult to pronounce. The Arabic
being an original language, it has, ot course, the masculine and feminine
genders — and the duaL It has more. It has a personal pronoun, and a
pronoun attached to the verb, like the Latin amo. It has feminine in
the singular and in the plural to the verbs — so, if two people happen to
be in the next room, and they were talking, you would kiiow whether
they be ladies or gentlemen, or whether one be a lady or a gentleman ; or
whether the speaker be a lady or a gentleman, or whether the party spo-
ken to be a lady or a gentleman. Not so in any other language — partly
only in Greek. VVe have singular, dual, and plural — plural below No.
10, and above No. 10 ; we have a plural of plurals, and a collective plural
and its plural. Let us see what we can do with these roots. Take the
word loce. We want to use it in English : we add r, and make lover, or
ing, and make loving ; or prefix he, and make beloved ; but you have
to say the place of love, the cause of love, and the course of love (they
say it never nms smooth) ! You have kill, and a knife, and butcher, and
slaughter-house ! We have nine letters, say a, b, c, and, by adding or pre-
fixing one or more of these to the original, we make a word. One for the
place, one for the instrument, one for the cause, and one for the passion,
fake the word love, again, as a verb. You can only say might, should,
or would, love ; cause to love, command to love, ask to be loved, to be
passionately in love, and to fall in love (which is the worst, I think). But
with OS, we have thirteen other letters, and, by prefixing or adding one

140 Proceedings of Societies.

or more to the original word, we change the meaning. We only change
the accent of the noun, and make it a verb. You have something like it
— a present, and to pres»$nt, a record, and to rec6rd. There are 05,000
words in the English Dictionary, We have 150,000 in the Arabic, and,
when the derivatives are added, the language becomes really formid-
able. There are a few languages in which there is more than four or five
names for an object. You have sword, scimitar, and cutlass, but we
have 150 names for this instrument of death. We have 160 for an old
woman, 120 for the hyena, and I should feel ashamed to tell you how
many for the lion, the camel, and the horse. It is all very well for a
poet, who wants to rhyme his verses, to have many words at his com-
mand, but the language becomes very formidable for the scholar and the
foreigner. The Arabs, who, of course, lived at first in Arabia, did not
diifer from other primitive nations. They traded with, warred against,
hated, and loved their neighbours. Their wars were mostly with the
Persians and the Abyssinians, for their poems refer to these nations in
particular. They had their national assemblies, as we have here now.
There was one in particular like the British Association — that is, compar-
ing small with great things. During the month of Moharem they ceased
their wars, and they met at Ackos, where the great poets recited their

?oem8, and arbitrators decided which was the first, second, and third best,
'he first was then inscribed in letters of gold, and hung up at the Kaaba.
We have seven of these poems (MoaUak&t), and many other lesser ones.
Few nations have ever produced their equal — I speak not lightly of the
poetry of other nations. It was my great desire to read Sir Walter Scott's
poetry that urged me to learn the English language. They are passion-
ately fond of their country. They have ideas equally as good as these
lines, —

Breathes there a man, &o. ;
or,

O ! Caledonia, stem and wild.

I have read several of the best poets in English, French, Italian, and
Latin, but all appear to me to write too much. An Arab poet says all
he wishes to say in a few verses. I am sure all Arab poetry is burning
with a strong passion. The nearest to it is Pope's " Eloisa and Abelard."
The wars of Arabs have ever been either for women or horses, and their
poetry is full of expressions about them. The eyes, the lips, the breath,
the neck, and skin of a woman, have more names than I could tell you of.
Terreack ! breath of life ; wine, coffee, water of life, and paradise. The
Arabs in their native simplicity are frugal, can endure fatigue, hunger,
and thirst ; but the Arab can never become rich, because he is so gener-
ous. From the days of Abraham to this day, his great delight is to enter-
tain strangers. They have no hotel charges. Brotherhood is one of their
strong ties. One becomes a brother either by a present or service ren-
dered. People who live in towns present — give to one of the chiefs, and
he can travel amongst the tribes. Antar had made a war on a tribe, de-
feated it, and was leading the people into captivity. A man called out to
him, " El Goman, Antar!" — that is. The Covenant. Antar asked him
where and when he ever covenanted with him. I was, said the man, once
at such a well watering my horse. You came and wanted to do the same,
but your rope was too short. Bread and salt is another thing. The
refuge another. Yet France wanted others to give up the refugees whom
she turned out herself Whether Christianity ever made any great pro-
gress among them we do not know. There are, however, many Christian
tribes, especially in Hauran and Korak. But as soon as Mohammed ap-
peared, the Arab mind took a different turn, and they became a conquer-
ing race. They, in fact, burst the bounds of their desert, and went out —

Botanical Society of Edinburgh, 141

the Koran in one hand and the sword in the other— either submission or
death. After a little while came the tribute, or redemption. People re-
deemed themselves by paying an annual tax, very small, and they lived
in peace. Then they extended to Syria, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Tripoli,
to the borders of the Alantire, &c. The Arabs are like the Anglo-
Saxons. They conquer, — ^give their language, manners, and customs to
the conquered nation, — and in a short time they make them Arabs.*

Botanical Society of Edinburgh.

Thursday, 10th November, 1859. — Mr Andrew Murray, President,
occupied the Chair, and delivered the following opening address : —
It is the custom for merchants once a year to make an inquiry into
their affairs : to take stock, as they call it, balance their books, reckon
their gains and their losses, and see what the progress of their business
has been during the bypast year. It is a good and a salutary custom,
and one which most of ourselves put in use to a greater or less degree
in regard to our own past conduct and life, when the advent of another
year invites our thoughts to such considerations. Let us, at the com-
mencement of our New Session, follow this example ; let us take a retro-
spective view of our position, and estimate the gains and losses which
we as the representatives, at least as the only embodied representatives,
of the Science of Botany in this city, have made during the past year.
Let us see how the progress of Botany has been affected by the events of
that period.

And first, let us, like stout men, look our losses in the face. These,
gentlemen, have not been small. We have no loss in the actual progress
of our science to deplore ; we have no false step in the mode of con-
ducting our investigations to anounce; we have no fundamental principle
to correct. The science is firmly based on the natural system. Its
principles are sound, and are being day by day worked out to more and
more perfection. Our physiological views have received no rude check ;
and we are progressing steadily and surely in our search after truth, and
in the acquisition of fresh knowledge. But if we have no loss in this
respect to regret, we have suffered deep and heavy loss in the persons of
some of those who have been mainly instrumental in bringing the science
into this satisfactory position. We have to bewail the loss of Alexandre
von Humboldt and of Robert Brown, the topmost trees of all the forest.
You have already heard the eulogium and the history of their labours
from the pen of our excellent Professor, and I shall not do myself the
injustice, nor inflict on you the tedium, of retreading the same ground.
You have also heard from him an account of the loss we have sustained
in the death of Professor Agardh of Lund, the great algologist. Of our
young friend and fellow- member, Dr Nichol, he has likewise spoken ; and
we have recorded in our minutes the sense we felt of his loss ; but in
speaking of him and of similar losses, I cannot refrain from uttering the
reflection which has sometimes forced itself upon me. on the occasion of
the death of some of those heroes of Science, who have long stood in the
front rank, and full of years as well as honours, have at last succumbed

* The Report of the Proceedings of the British Association is taken partly
from the " Atbensum,'' and partly from Authors' abstracts.

142 Proceedings of Societies.

before the assaults of time ; that their removal was, perhaps, a less loss
to Science than that of some promising young man just entering on his
career. They are like old trees which stand out as gi-eat landmarks, but
which have almost done growing. Their powers of work are nearly
exhausted ; while the fresh intellect, keen eye, and powers of labour of
the young man, might justify us in anticipating a greater harvest from
him were he spared than perhaps the giant could now produce. The
loss of the great man is felt keenly by those who come in contact with
him. His stores of information, applied by a profound and practised
intellect, render his loss to them irreparable. To-day they might go to
him secure of getting information on any subject they had on hand ;
to-morrow, not all the reading, nor all the correspondence with all the
learned in Europe, could procure it. To them the loss is irreparable.
But to you or to me, and the general scientific world, who had no access
to his well-stored mind, and look for no new work from his pen, the loss
is one of sentiment and feeling. In the pure practical, selfish point of
view, the talented young man is probably the greater loss of the two. But
in this practical and selfish light, a greater loss than either is that of the
matured man, as yet in the full vigour of life, prolific in work, accomplished
in science, and eager and zealous in its pursuit. And such a loss we have
sustained since we last met. Arthur Henfrey, Professor of Botany in
King's College, London (in which chair he succeeded Edward Forbes),
has been taken from us in the prime of life and intellectual vigour, and
in the full career of laborious and successful research. He was only
thirty-nine years of age when he died on the 7th of September last— not
a great space of time to acquire the position and to leave the numerous con-
tributions to Science which he has done. His walk was specially vegetable
physiology and histology. His contributions to the Royal and Linnean
Societies of London were numerous and valuable ; the last of which is
a paper in this year's Proceedings of the Linnean Society, on the Morpho-
logy of the Balsaminaceae. Not his last literary bequest, however ; for
he was in course of contributing papers on Vegetable Structure to " The
Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of London ;" and the last proof-
sheets of the second edition of his papers in the " Micrographic Dic-
tionary" were only out of his hands a few days before his death.

Such, gentlemen, are the losses by which the past botanical year has been
distinguished. Let us now turn to the more cheerful side, and reckon up
our gains. In doing so I shall pass lightly over the not light labours of
descriptive and of systematic botanists. Hooker, Bentham, De Candulle,
Lindley, Miers, Bennett, Anderson, Berkeley, with many others, are ably
continuing their labours in this department of botany. But time will
not permit me to do more than merely notice the fact, that much progress
has been made in this most im|)ortant and most necessary, although
rather dry branch of our science. Neither shall I have to detain you
with a long list of new botanical works. In that respect, the year has
not been fruitfuL I see a new German book (" Die Pfianzendecke der
Erde von Ludwig Rudolph," Berlin, 1859), which attracted my notico
from being a sort of anticipation of one which most of us know is in
progress by Professor Balfour and Dr. Greville, — a Climatic Flora;
showing the character impressed upon diflferent countries by the vegetation
peculiar to them. It is illustrated with a number of coarse woodcuts.

Botanical Society of Edinburgh, 14?

representing the different regions referred to. It shows that the idea
has got abroad, or has originated in other minds besides those of our
friends ; and suggests the desirableness of pushing on more rapidly the
work to which we all look forward with so much pleasure.

But if little has been done this year in the way of producing botanical
works of a general nature, a great deal has been done in the way of pro-
curing materials for such works in the future. Much new material re-
garding the Flora of special regions has been published ; many short
notices of new plants have appeared ; and various accounts of the results
of public and private expeditions have either already been published, or
shortly will be so. It will, I hope, not be uninteresting to the Society, if
I give a hasty notice of what has been done in this way. But, first, I
would direct your attention to the fact, and claim your mutual congra-
tulations upon it, that by far the greater portion of this work has been
done by members of this Society, and men educated in this school. In
every one of the public expeditions which have been sent out by Go-
vernment, the post of Naturalist is filled by one of our body. Of tho
expedition iip the Niger, Dr Balfour Baikie is Chief. In the United
Presbyterian Mission at Old Calabar, which, although not a public scien-
tific expedition, has assumed so much scientific interest and importance
in the eyes of the public as almost to be looked upon in that light, we
have no less than three members of this Society zealously working for
ns— Mr Baillie, Dr llewan, and the Rev. Mr Thomson. In Living-
stone's Expedition to the Zambesi, we have Dr Kirk and Mr Bankes,
who, I think, is also an alumnus of this school ; and to Captain Palliser's
Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, Dr Hector is Geologist and head of
the Naturalist Department. And these are not our only members who
are ably working for us abroad. I shall, as I go along, have occasion to
refer to others.

I shall now, following the snn round the globe, give a short summary
of the progress which has been made in our knowledge of Geographical
Botany during the past year.

In Europe, few new discoveries have been made ; and in Britain, I
believe, none. There may be one or two additions made to our Flora by
the discovery of some minute cryptogamic plants which have escaped my
notice ; but I have better authority than my own (my friend, Mr M'Nab's)
for saying that nothing of any moment has been added to our Flora. In
Africa, a great deal has been done, although little has yet been pub-
lished. Mr Charles Barter, of the Niger Expedition, had addressed
two letters (dated January and March 1859) to Sir William Hooker,
giving an interesting account of the vegetation of tropical West
Africa. These letters have been published in the Linnean Society's
Proceedings of this year, but I do not find much that is new. He
states that orchids were very scarce ; aquatic plants, which might have
been expected to be numerous, were not found to be so. His list only
contains thirteen, among which is the Papyrus antiquortim. In regard
to the economic expectations from the vegetation of Africa, he says,
" Too much must not be expected of Central Africa as a cotton-pro-
ducing country ; the plant n^s more moisture than it would obtain in
much of the land of the interior, and water-carriage should never be far
distant in a country where aU loads are conveyed by canoe or on the

144 Proceedings of Societies.

heads of men and women. There is plenty of available land near the
sea and by rivers ; the great valley of the Niger would alone yield an
enormous supply. It is hero cotton must be looked for, and its growth
encouraged. The great plains of the interior are almost as useless in
this respect as Sahara itself."

During upwards of two years' exposure to the climate, Mr Barter
enjoyed excellent health under the most peculiar and trying circum-
stances ; and it is only recently that the news of his death has reached
England, from a rapid attack of dysentery at Balba, and while sur-
rounded with comparative comforts — the first death that has occurred
(such has been the care and attention devoted to health) among Dr Baikie's
small party. Mr Barter's place has been supplied by the appointment of
Mr Gustave Mann, who is to sail for Lagos on 24th November.

Of the Old Calabar station, the fruits are only now beginning to come
in, — zoology having taken precedence of botany in the interest of the
missionaries. They are now making up for lost time, and both speci-
mens in spirits and living plants in Wardian cases (as well as seeds)
have been liberally sent home. The information received from these
proves of much importance, and puts us right on some points in which
we had fallen into error from imperfect materials. The entire history
and structure of the poison-bean is now known, and will, I hope, be de-
scribed by Professor Balfour either here or in the Royal Society this
winter. There are other novelties to be described ; and when the seeds
and the contents of the Wardian cases develop themselves, there will be
still more.

Dr Livingstone's expedition does not seem to have yet reported pro-
gress on botanical points. But passing on to India, a good deal has
been done. Those of you who heard Dr Hunter's exposition to the
Society last winter, and Dr Cleghorn's papers read, will readily admit
that the economic department is in good hands. I also notice a valuable
and interesting paper by another member of this Society, and alumnus
of this school, in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, No. II.,
1859, entitled "Notes on the Flora of Lucknow, with Catalogues of the
Cultivated and Indigenous Plants," by Thomas Anderson, M.D. This
paper has especial value as regards the geographical distribution of plants
in India, inasmuch as he has paid particular attention to distinguishing
those plants which have been introduced from those which are wild.
This has hitherto been greatly neglected. A botanist coming to India,
and finding an Indian plant growing in any locality, is very apt to set
it down as indigenous to the spot, although, in point of fact, it has been
introduced from some other parts of India by the natives in these gar-
dens, from which it has escaped through boundaries being broken down
and the gardens abandoned, the luxuriant soil and climate of India being
peculiarly favourable to such naturalisation. Dr Anderson, in eliminating
the genuine wild plants of his district from those introduced or culti-
vated, has performed a most useful service to the Indian botanist, and
his example will doubtless be followed in other parts of the Peninsula.
Dr Lindley has also, in the Linnean Society Transactions, given a valu-
able contribution to the Orchidology of India.

I must not omit to record a work on the Mosses of India by Mr Mit-
ten — a laborious work, but one labouring under the disadvantage of

Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 145

want of plates, an aaziliary almost essential in all minute natural history
researches.

Much has been done during the past year in zoology in the Indian
Archipelago ; but an equal return has not been obtained by botany. Still,
if she has had less interest in the scientific researches in that quarter, she
has not had to mourn, like zoology, the murder of her votaries; and only
grieves for the loss of Mr Motley on grounds common to all humanity.

Passing to Australia, we find that the labouring oar there has been
taken by Dr Mueller, Government Botanist for the colony of Victoria.
He has contributed several papers to the Linnean Society during the
past year, the chief of which are contributions to the knowledge of the
Acaciae of New Holland, and a monograph of that curious tribe of plants
the Eucalypti. Besides these, he has made a report to Government on
the plants collected during Mr Babbage's expedition into the north-
western interior of South Australia in 1858 ; and he published the first
parts of a separate work on the plants of Australia.

Returning northward by New Zealand, I may notice a paper by Mr
Ralph on the Tree-ferns of New Zealand. And proceeding onwards to
China, we find Mr Bentham revising some parts of his Hong Kong Flora ;
but since Mr Fortune's last expedition, there has been an intermission in
the receipt of botanical novelties from that quarter. Japan^ however,
makes up for China.

Japan is the country to which all eyes are now turned. This so long
hermetically sealed kingdom is at last opened. The merchant is rushing
to it with his commodities, doubtless to meet the usual fate of new mar-
kets — wealth primis veniaitibus — a glutted market, and ruinous depre-
ciation to those who follow. The naturalist is preparing to follow — nay,
has already tasted of the long-forbidden fruit. The Russian expedition
which concluded the treaty betwixt Russia and Japan had with them a
naturalist, M. Gashkevitch, who made considerable collections, a portion of
which has been described and published in the Russian scientific jour-
nals, but the much larger portion lost in the shipwreck of the Russian
frigate, Diana, consequent upon a terrible earthquake. Other collectors
have been more fortunate, and the botany of that region has been so far
explored as to allow Dr Asa Gray to give a most interesting and valu-
able report upon it in the " Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences," New Series, vol. iv., and abridged in the last number of
" Silliman's Journal." I call this paper most important, not only on
account of the interest which attaches to Japan at present, but from the
philosophic spirit in which he uses his materials, and the important in-
ferences which he draws from them in regard to two most interesting
questions now occupying the minds of men of science — the mode of dis-
tribution of species, and the question of the origin of species ; and as I
have come to a different opinion from him on more than one of these
points, I shall take the liberty to point them out to you. From Dr Gray's
observations, it appears that, notwithstanding the comparative proximity
of Japan to Western North America, there are actually more of its spe-
cies represented in far distant Europe than in that country ; also, — show-
ing that this ditference is not owing to the separation by an ocean — that
far more Japanese plants are represented in Eastern North America than
in either. And if, instead of looking at representative species, we regard

NEW SERIES. VOL. XI. NO. I. JAN. 1860. R

146 Proceedings of Societies.

the identical species only in the several floras, the preponderance is
equally against Western as compared with Eastern North America, but
is more in favour of Euro]^)e ; for the number of Japanese species given
by Dr Gray as also found in Western North America is about 120 ; in
Eastern America, 134; in Europe, 157.

In relation to this, Dr Gray further states that he had already pointed
out, in his " Statistics of the Flora of the Northern United States,"
•' 1. That a large proportion of extra- European types found in America
are shared with Eastern Asia ; and 2d, That no small part of these are
unknown in Western Nortli America. But," he goes on, " Mr Benthara
was first to state the natural conclusion from all these data — though I
know not if he has ever yet published the remark — viz., that the inter-
change between the temperate floras even of the western part of the Old
World and of the New has mainly taken place via Asia. Mr Bentham also
calls to mind how frequently large American genera (such as Eupatorium,
Aster, Solidago, Solanum, &c.) are represented in Eastern Asia by a
small number of species, which gradually diminish, or altogether disap-
pear, as we proceed westwards towards the Atlantic limits of Europe ;
whilst the types peculiar to the extreme west of Euro{)e (excluding, of
course, the Arctic flora) are wholly deficient in America, These are
among the considerations which suggest an ancient continuity of territory
between America and Asia, under a latitude, or at any rate with a cli-
mate more meridional than would be effected by a junction through the
chains of the Aleutian and Kurile Islands."

So far Mr Bentham ; but Dr Gray adds — " The deficiency in the tem-
perate American flora of forms at all peculiar to Western Europe is
almost complete, and is most strikingly in contrast with the large num-
ber of Eastern American forms repeated or represented in Eastern Asia."
" Let it also be noted, that there are even fewer Western European
types in the Pacific than in the Atlantic United States, notwithstanding
the similarity of the climate."

Now, I pray you to observe, that in Mr Bentham's remarks he is not
speaking of identical species — for it will not be denied that the number
of identical species found in America, and also in Asia, is very excep-
tional, and in drawing general conclusions, it is always best, in the first
instance, to put exceptional cases out of view — but he is speaking of re-
presentative or congenerous species ; and although Dr Gray is perfectly
alive to the diflerence between the argument drawn from an identical
species and one drawn from a congenerous species, he draws the same
inference from congenerous species that he would have done from iden-
tical. At one place he says — " The discovery of numerous closely related
species, thus divided between two widely separated districts, might not,
in the present state of our knowledge, suggest former continuity, mi-
gration, or exchange ; but that of identical species, peculiar to the two,
inevitably would." And yet not half a page distant he says — " That re-
presentation by allied species of genera, peculiar, or nearly peculiar, to
two regions, furnishes evidence of similar nature, and of equal pertinency
with representation by identical species, will hardly be doubted." Now
this I utterly and wholly deny. I have satisfied myself, and I trust
before I have done I shall be able to satisfy you, or at all events I shall
be able to make yoo understand the grounds which satisfy me, that the

Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 147

distribation of Identical 6{)ecie8 and the distribution of congenerous spe-
cies are wholly different things, and not necessarily either subject to the
same laws, nor neeessarily furnishing evidence of similar nature and
equal pertinency. My yiew is, that the identity of a species is proof
that it has somehow found its way from one of the places where it is
found to the other ; but that the presence of a congenerous species is
merely the evidence that similar conditions of life, at the period of their
creation, prevailed at the spots where congenerous species were created.
Given the same physical conditions in all respects at two different places,
say Australia and Japan, I hold that the creative product will be typically
the same (not the identical species, but the type will be the same). Of
course this does not affect nor take from the value of the inference of
conmction to be drawn from the fact of two places having had similar
physical conditions. On that argument Mr Bentham and Dr Gray mav
be right — probably are right ; but I object to the inference being drawn
from the existence of congenerous sf)ecies in different places, as if that,
per se, indicated anything. It is the cause of these congenerous exist-
ences which may be used as an argument, not the existences themselves.
Such abstraction from the argument being made, I might legitimately
argue that the very reverse of the course of immigration or distribution
indicated by Dr Gray and Mr Bentham was the true one — that the con-
nection was between America and Europe, and not between America and
Asia; for Dr Gray tells us that the identical Japanese species which
occur in Europe are 157 ; in Eastern America, 134 ; in Western Ame-
rica, 120. The natural inference from this, if no other facts come to
derange our calculation, is, that these plants have come from Japan to
Western America via Europe — that is, first to Asia, then to Europe,
then to Eastern America, and last to Western America. I do not give
any opinion as to this, however. I wish merely to endeavour to adjust
correctly the principles on which the reasoning is to be conducted.

Another point on which I suspect I differ from Dr Gray is on the
origin of species. He does not commit himself to them ; but from the
the terms in which he speaks of tlie views of Darwin and Wallace. I
should incline to reckon him a supporter of them. It is an exceedingly
interesting and important subject, and well worthy of our devoting a few
minutes to see how it stands, which I the more readily do, because it gives
ra«i an opportunity of saying a word or two in explanation of the feelings
which induced me to accept the honour of being your President, when
your kindness put it within my power ; for you are not to suppose that
I have sat in this chair for the last twelve months without frequent qualms
of conscience as to the propriety of so imperfect a botanist as I am occu-
pying it, whilst so many so much better qualified in that respect sit
around me. Gentlemen. I assure you I have not accepted it in the con-
fidence of self-sufficient ignorance. I am perfectly aware of my defi-
ciencies — much more so than you can be who know less of them — but it
appeared to me that the science of Botany was so closely connected with
the allied natural sciences, that it might tend to the advantage of both
were the cords of attachment drawn nearer, by a President more familiar
with one department being occasionally chosen to preside over the other.
A similar course has at times been followed in our fellow Society, the Royal
Physical ; and I felt that, with such a Vice-President as Professor Balfour

148 Proceedings of Societies.

to support and prompt me, I might gratify my own feelings by accepting the
honour, and occasionally, perhaps, be of use in bringing zoological facts to
bear upon botanical questions. The present is a case in point, and, I
think, well shows that, in considering any subject of philosophic moment
relating to Botany, Zoology must not be left out of view. The position of
the matter is this : — Last year. Sir Charles Lyell and Dr Hooker brought
before the Linncan Society certain papers, which, by dint [of pressure,
they had prevailed upon Mr Darwin to allow them so to use, containing
bis and Mr Alfred Wallace's views on the origin of species. These
papers consisted of an uncompleted essay by Mr Darwin, not originally
intended for publication ; a letter from Mr Darwin to Dr Asa Gray,
the gentleman of whom we are now speaking ; and a paper on the same
subject by Mr Alfred "Wallace, who had, independently of Mr Darwin,
come to similar conclusions. These were, that there was no limit to the
varieties which might proceed from species ; that the breeding of domes-
tic animals had shown the extent to which this might be carried ; that
these varieties become permanent ; and that, under favourable circum-
stances, the variety might deviate so far as to constitute a new species ;
that the mode in which such new species might be supposed to take its
ground was not according to Lamarck's hypothesis, that the supposed
wants or longing of an animal ended in producing the required or de-
sired structure. To use Mr Wallace's words — " The powerful retractile
talons of the falcons and the cat tribe have not been produced or increased
by the volition of these animals ; but among the different varieties which
occurred in the earlier and less highly organised forms of these groups,
those always survived longest which had the greatest facilities for seiz-
ing tJieir prey. Neither did the giraffe acquire its long neck by desiring
to reach the foliage of the more lofty shrubs, and constantly stretching
its neck for this purpose, but because any varieties which occurred among
its antitypes with a longer neck than usual at once secttred afresh range
of pasture over the same ground as their shorter-necked companions,
and on the first scarcity of food were thereby enabled to outlive them.'*
Wallace, p. 6.) With a limited number of very curious facts, which
I have not space here to notice (but which all appear to me to be discon-
nected with the theory by the absence of some link), and with an unli-
mited amount of time, these gentlemen think they have succeeded in
giving, in this way, a clue to the origin of species ; and, of course, if it
is once admitted as possible to a small degree, there is no reason why it
may not be extended to the whole. The theory has excited much atten-
tion. It is unnecessary to say it is a most impf)rtant one. Sir Charles
Lyell has formally given in his adhesion to it, in a speech which he made
at the meeting of the British Association in Aberdeen ; and Mr Darwin
has in the press a volume treating of the wliole subject ; for it will be
observed that the hints thrown out in these Linncan Society Papers are
very brief, and merely indicate their autliors' views on one or two points
of a great question, leaving the greater part untouched on. I happen to
know, however, from a friend who has seen the proof-sheets, that the
views entertained and arguments relied on by Mr Darwin in his book
are the same as those in his paper, more expanded and better illustrated ;
and as my objections go to the root of his theory, I may, without wait-
ing for the book, indicate one or two zoological facts which ai)pear to me

Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 149

to be inconsistent with it. In the first place, the theory, if good for any-
thing, must be universal. It must not be merely one of several ways, or
one of two ways, of creating species ; or, at all events, if it does not apply
to genera (though where the line is to be drawn I cannot see), it must be
the way which is followed in those cases of congenerous species to which we
have been alluding. With them, at least, it must be the sole way, if it is a
way at all ; and, to say truth, Mr Darwin and Mr Wallace do not seem to
shrink from this inference ; for Mr Darwin says — " Each new variety or
species, when formed, will generally take the place of and exterminate its
less well-fitted parent. This I believe to be the origin of the classification
and affinities of organic beings at all times," Assuming, then, the posi-
tion to be, that this is the way in which species are created, or rather de-
veloped, if I can point to any instance where a congenerous species exists
under circumstances where access to its allied species is morally impossible,
I should say the theory must fall. In a paper on an allied subject, now
in the press for next number of the " Edinburgh Philosophical Journal,"
I notice several of such instances. The most striking, and the one
which, to my mind, at once disposes of the whole matter, is the existence
of species of the same genera of eyeless insects, existing in the vast sub-
terranean isolated caves of Camiola, allied, and exceedingly closely
allied, to similar species in the caves of Hungary — to similar but dif-
ferent species in the caves of the Pyrenees — to similar but different
species in the caves of Auvergne — and, more than all, to similar but
different species of the same genera in the Mammoth Cave of Ken-
tucky. Each of these sets of caves has a different set of species, of
the same genera, and all very closely allied. The physical condition of
the place being the same, the product has been the same ; but not by
immigration, nor any means of distribution which we can imagine, can
identical species — (for, remember, the theory implies that congenerous
species are identical species, or, what is the same thing, their descen-
dants) — be found in caves so widely separated; and it is not the
common case of congenerous species found very wide apart, which yet
may have traversed the intervening space, because these insects are
found nowhere but in the caves, and not in them until you have pe-
netrated far, far into the interior, usually about a couple of miles.
Another instance may be drawn from our o?vn coast. We have a small
beetle which lives here between high and low water-mark (^^Ipm ful-
ve9een$), between the leaves of shale. A closely allied form, but quite
distinct ( Thalasobiut testaceug) is found in like circumstances on the
cuast of CbilL Here, again, like physical condition, like product. Take
another case — although, perhaps, scarcely so isolated as these two. Of
late years, ants' nests have been found to contain a considerable number
of species of beetles which live with the ants, are often excessively like
tbem, and sometimes are unprovided with eyes. The same peculiarity
prevails here — allied species, and nothing but allied species in ants' nests
wherever they are. For instance, among the beetles so found is the
curious genus PauMus. Seventy or eighty species of Pau*» are now known,
and all are inmates of ants' nests, and confined to them. Species have
been found in these localities in Spain, in Natal, in Hong Kong, in
India, in Australia, and so on. Here, again, like physical condition, like
product. I might draw similar illustrations from the parasites in bees'
nests and wasps' nests. Further, it were easy to draw abundance of

160 Proceedings of Societies.

proof of the fact that congenerous species are at all events always found
in similar physical conditions of life. Dr Gray allows this, although he
applies the fact differently from me. He says — " Whether or not sus-
ceptible of scientific explanatiun, it is certain that related species of
phaenogamous plants are commonly associated in the same regions, or are
found in comparatively approximate {howtver large) areas of similar cli-
mate." But 1 must not dwell longer on this subject. It is a very sug-
gestive one, and readily leads one away to meet or consider objections or
difficulties which will occur to any one who thinks over it ; and I would
only beg any of you, who may think they see a flaw in my theory, not to
take it for granted that I have not an answer for it. Perhaps, w hen Mr
Darwin's book appears, I may examine the matter more in detail in an-
other paper, either here or elsewhere.

Another very interesting topic, closely related to this, is also discussed
by Dr Gray in this valuable paper. It is the inquiry into the distribu-
tion of the ancient flora of the northern half of tlie globe, as connected
with its present distribution. Starting with the fact, which is now pretty
generally admitted, that the present vegetation is not of recent creation,
he sketches, in a clear and plausible manner, the probable geological
changes which have taken place since the Tertiary Period, tracing the
variations or oscillations which the climate, and consequently the ancient
flora, would sustain. But for this I must refer you to the paper itself. I
do not know whether his views of the antiquity of our present vegetation
are accepted to their full extent by botanists in general, I rather think
they wait for further information. He seems to rest them chiefly on the
investigations of Mr Lesquereux, who conceives that he has identified
in the tertiaries and subsequent deposits many of our present trees. For
instance, in the tertiaries of Vancouver's Island, he identifies the Sequoia
sempervirens — a tree now found ten or fifteen degrees further south —
and one which grows to as great a size as the WMingtonia gigantea.
But 1 must leave Dr Gray, and hurry on to a conclusion.

Crossing from Japan to North America, we have Capt. Palliser's
British North American Exploring Expedition, to which, as already men-
tioned, our member (Dr Hector) is Geologist and Chief Naturalist. A
French gentleman, M. Bourgeau, acts as Botanical collector to the expe-
dition; and two letters, respectively of June and October 1858, from him
to Sir, W. Hooker, are published in last year's Linnean Society Proceed-
ings. They are not without interest, but I do not find anything of parti-
cular novelty. Thelnformation, both as to the plants and country, quite
corresponds with what we know of them from Jeffrey and other sources.
A table of the temperature of the earth and of forest trees, made at Fort
Saskatchewan, furnishes data which may be useful to the generaliser.

A vast number of new pines have been described, or rather, I should
say, announced under names, during the last year or two. These are
chiefly from Mexico; and althougli many may be new, I have no doubt
that a still greater number will turn out to be mere varieties or syno-
nyms. The Botanic Garden here is, I may observe, not only well supplied
with the cones and leaves, &c. of the Califomian and other pines, but
also has an exceedingly good collection of fine, healthy growing speci-
mens. These unfortunately, however, are confined to one or two small
plots, which might, perhaps, hold two or three examples of the trees
when they reach their full size, but of course arc quite inadequate to con-

Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 151

tain anjtbing like the crowd now packed in them. Space mast be had
for them ; and 1 do hope that Parliament may, in another year, be con-
coaaed into doing something for this must urgent object. But it is obvious
that this will only be done through force of concussion and external pres-
sure. I^Iembers must remember that the Botanic Garden is not a matter
alien to them. Next to the University, they may be said to be the parties
who have the greatest interest in its prosperity ; and I would remind them,
that so long as they choose to continue members of this Society, it is their
duty to exert themselves on behalf of the Garden. I scarcely think that
the members of societies now-a-days sufficiently consider the obligation
which they undertake by joining Uiem. They get themselves proposed
and are admitted, pay their fees, and think that that is all their part of the
contract — in consideration of which they have the privileges of members,
come to our meetings when they see any paper in the billet which takes
their fancy, and in all other respects conduct themselves as if they were
no more members of the Society than of one at the Antipodes. But I should
wish much to get them to look at it in another light. I should like them
to think that they are part of the Society, and that the Society is part of
them; and that it is not optional with them, but a real matter of duty to
posh on, support, and sustain it by every means in their power. I am not
so wild as to dream of introducing the laws of the Oineromathic — poor
Edward Forbes's early chivalrous association — in which everybody was to
help everybody, under every circumstances, in purse and person. But it is
not Utopian to expect members, who feel themselves qualified for it, to take
the trouble of giving us occasional papers — and I know several in this So-
ciety who might well do it, and do not ; — it is not Utopian to exf^ect one
and all of us to exert ourselves to add to the stores of the Museum — al-
though here, I must admit that this duty is more conscientiously performed ;
and lastly, and what specially led me to speak upon the subject, it is not
too much to expect us, one and all, to clamour loudly and perseveringly, at
every fitting season, and at every fitting place, for a more liberal support
from Government to the Garden and its Officers.

Gentlemen, I think I have completed the hasty survey of the globe
which I undertook, for all that South America has contributed during
the last year need not detain us ; and in concluding, as the term of
my Presidency expires this evening, I have only now to thank yoQ
most cordially, in the first place, for having honoured me so highly as to
place me in this chair ; and in the next place, for the uniform kindness
and forbearance which you have extended to me in my imperfect efforts
worthily to fill it.

The following Communications were read : —

1. LettiT from Dr Joh» Kirk, Physician and Naturalist to the
Livingstone Expeditiony relative to the Country near Lake Shirwa, in
Africa. (With a Plate.)

Senna, May 11, 1859.
On board Steam Launch.
Mt Dear Dr Balfour.— From our former letters you may have
heard of the difficulty we found in ascending the Zambezi. With the
present steam- boat it is quite impossible ; the water is confined when

152 Proceedings of Societies.

low to a deep, narrow canal, as it passes the hills of Kauvabassa ; it is
then quite out of the question to attempt passing. Dr Livingstone and
I have examined that region on foot, and found many rapids — one of
great size, it seemed to be a fall of 30 feet at un angle of 30". The only
hope is at flood; then these rapids, being from 80 to 100 feet under the
surface, become smooth; and what seems necessary is a boat with power
sufficient to make headway in this deep part, for to pass among the
shallows which then exist at the sides would be dangerous from cross
currents and rocks. This part of the river is 30 miles in length. Dr L.
has applied for another boat ; if the Government grant it, we shall try
what we can do during the next floods in December or March.*

This delay has been in so far fortunate, at least it has not been lost
time. Some of the party are at Tette, working out the coal district. Dr.
Livingstone and I have had a wandering time ; we have been down to the
sea ; up Meramballa, a mountain near the Zambezi, in sight of Senna,
of 4000 feet high, the summit and slopes a regular botanic garden,
where during the ascent you pass, from the grassy river-banks in the first
place, through forests with orchids, gingers, balsams, and ferns. As you
ascend the vegetation changes; you meet with trees not so tall as those of
the base, and Dr Livingstone observed that many were identical with those
of the high lands of Louda in the west. We had here the Leucodendron
and the common Pteris. On the top there is a great plateau, divided by
ridges and peaks, with a varying elevation from 3000 to 4000 feet ; it
is well watered by springs, and the crops of maize are excellent. Lime
trees grow wild in the woods. Here is a fine, cool, healthy climate,
within sight of the town of Senna; yet it is doubtful whether the Portu-
gese ever were there — it is a region quite unknown to them. The river
Shire flows on the west side of this mountain; it is a fine river for navi-
gation; we could get no information regarding it. The Manganja people,
who dwell near the mouth, have been a complete barrier to the Portuguese,
and likewise to those of the interior. The only means of transport by
water is in canoes : and the Shire being deep and flowing quickly, with
very few eddies of slack currents, it would be difficult to manage the
unwieldy canoes of the country; and those in them, would be as completely
in the power of the people as if they travelled overland. The case is
otherwise with us ; we pass with ease ; no care is needed ; there are few
shoals, and the natives themselves soon see that their poisoned arrows
would be nothing against guns when we are afloat out of range. -We
land daily to cut wood, and find that if one has no fear of them, there is
no danger. They have never molested us, as we are the stronger ; their
poisoned arrows would be very little against rifles and revolvers. They
have learned to distinguish between the Portuguese and English, and
do not attempt the impositions they practise on the native hunters, such
as taking a tooth and half the flesh of the elephants killed.

The Shire flows for 100 miles nearly north, in a plain of about 20
miles wide ; there is a district near the middle which is marshy and cut
up into islands, overrun by elephants ; but the greater part is fine land
for growth of cotton, sugar-cane, and rice. All these are now culti-
vated, and we can see at once the capabilities of the country. The
cotton is of two sorts ; one very fine in the good staple. The sugar-cane
is chewed, but the people do not know the art of extracting the sugar.
* We are happy to say that the Admiralty have granted a vefsel.

Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 1 53

Two crops of maize are obtained each year; and probably many other
crops might be grown during the cold season, such as wheat. On either
side are mountains ; those of the north-east reaching 4000 feet. This
would be a healthy position for Europeans. These high lands also yield
crops of cotton, sugar-cane, and cereals, with various kinds of pulse, but
more care is needed for their growth than in the valley. It seems a
great thing to have this healthy region so near the coast, with a rich
plain of enormous extent, and a navigable river leading, without ob-
struction, to the sea.

Dr Livingstone and I started again in April, to explore the region to
the north, and following the Shire overland, for navigation was checked
by a rapid, where it curves from among the mountains. We took with
us a strong party of Makololos, so as to be independent of the natives,
who will not dare anything unless against the weak. They are great
cowards, unlike the Landeens and Kaffirs of the south. We had some
idea of preparing the way for reaching the great lake, whence it seems
probable the Shire takes its rise. For many days we wandered over a
most rugged country. The people gave us no assistance, so that we
often made a long road, which, had we known the general features of the
country, would have been easy. However, it is only what all first
explorers must expect. At length, however, we reached a plain which
the river crossed to the east. For the 30 or 40 miles we had passed, the
river flows between hills over a rocky bed, and is a series of cataracts,
one after another. On reaching the plain, we struck across for a moun-
tain opposite, called Dzomba, whence we hoped to have a view which
might guide us in our future course. Here we met with native slave
traders who, when they thought us Portuguese, looked on us with
jealousy and without much fear ; when they knew better, they seemed
to expect that we should attack them and take oif all the slaves. The
English name is known far beyond where Europeans have ever pene-
trated. It took us long to cross this plain, although only 15 miles
across. We were led astray by the people under the influence of these
traders. We had in the end to take our own way, as we had done in
the former part, and cross the hills opposite. Here we found a high
plateau, with a totally new vegetation ; a most interesting region, which
I hope to explore more fully. The flora of Meramballa was but a slight
indication of what we find here. To the east we had another plain,
bounded on the other side by blue hills, and in it we could just distinguish
a sheet of water. Our course now was for it. The information we
received led us to believe that it was of great extent. On the 18th
of April we got to the shore, and had before us one of the finest sights
I ever beheld ; an enormous expanse of water narrowing to the south,
but reaching 30 miles in that direction ; about 25 or 30 miles across to the
north, we had a water horizon like the sea, and even from considerable
heights nothing more was to be seen. There are in this lake many islands,
with high mountains on them, and inhabited. The people tell us, that in
a storm there are great waves, and we could see them breaking against one
part of the shore. The water of this lake is bitter to drink ; several rivers
flow into it, but none out. The Shire never crosses the hills which we had
passed, but keeps on the other plain, and is said to come from another
lake, which they call the great lake or the Lake of the Stars, "Ninyessi."

NEW SERIES. VOL. XI. NO. I, JAN. 1860. S

154 Proceedings of Societies.

This is called " Shirwa," and reaches to the north for at liBast 50or60mile8,
being separated there from the " Ninyessi," by a piece of flat land, not
many miles across. We waded in until the water reached our waists,
in hopes of reaching a point whence we could take observations on the sea
horizon, but the grass and reeds extended still farther, and we had to
return covered with leeches. We had for guides then some of the slave
party, and the people of the country said that they had led us off the
proper path which goes to the bank in order to drown us. However, we
got back all right; and that evening found it was in lat. 15° 23' and
long. 35° 35'. Having now seen this great lake, we thought we could
not do much more at present. Here was a navigable inland sea, leading
up to the great lake, of which rumours have for long reached us, and for
which Captain Burton is now in search. We were rather anxious, too,
for those in the vessel which we had left in the Shire, under the
Quarter-master and Second Engineer, who were acting alone this trip.

On our return, we followed a different route, which took us over a
high plateau, between 3000 and 4000 feet (the lake was 1800 feet
above the Shire). This elevated region came down near to the Shire,
and we found the path much easier than that by following up the river.

This seems to be a healthy part. We were out 23 days, and very
seldom slept under cover ; we were wet every morning with dew, and
our clothes dried as we marched in the burning sun. Yet we were never
delayed a day by the sickness of any one of the party, although often
fatigued by evening with the heat and heavy road. The marches appear
short when we came to correct them by observation ; but they generally
took us from sunrise to sunset, with only an hour to breakfast, and a rest
of a few minutes about noon.

As to the geology of the country, it is all schist rocks, with a few spots
of trap and porphyry. The strike is north and south. There is abun-
dance of iron ore, which the natives reduce for knives, spears, and arrow
heads. They also trade in hoes for cultivating the soil, with the neigh-
bouring tribes.

The people are all " Manganja ;" speak a modification of the language
of Tette and Senna. The women are distinguished by the most repulsive
of savage ornaments, a ring of ivory or bamboo, like a ring for a table
napkin, in the upper lip ; the lip being distended round the circum-
ference, and projecting like a duck's bill.

Their religion is pure deism ; they believe in a god and in medicine,
or the ordeal which he directs as the means of discovering crime ; if it
cause vomiting, it shows innocence ; if it acts by the bowels, crime, and
they are put to death. But the doctors have a good knowledge of which
to give, for there are different plants used. The only thing coming near
to an idol which we heard of was the keeping the soul of their father in
a basket, which they bring out when they get drunk with beer ; but we
could never get them to show it to us. When dead, they turn to lions
and other beasts; only witches are made into crocodiles.

On our return, the Quartermaster was sick, but beginning to recover ;
he had been down with fever ever since we left. He is now better.

We are on our way to the mouth of the river to meet a man-of-war,
with stores. We hear that the party at Tette have had a good deal of
sickness ; bat the unhealthy season is quickly passing.

Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 155

Diulj exercise it absolutely necessary for health out here.

Dr. Liringstone and I have had fortunate health all along, although
cunstantly in the most malarious districts, such as the Mangrove swamps
of the Suabo, or the low lands of Senna and marshes of the Shire ; out
the whole day in the sun or rain. I believe the exercise more than
counterbalances all these. One day when exposed to the sun, dissecting
a young elephant, I found I could not stand it at all ; had I been working
1 should not have felt it.

We are not without our own politics here, even in this outlandish
place. The slave-trade goes on briskly from one of the mouths near
Quillimane, to supply the demand at Bourbon. Those in power being of
the French party, wink at it. The authorities are poorly paid, and have
to make it up by other means. Trade is difficult ; they lay themselves out
fur nothing but ivory and gold. They might have cotton and sugar, and
that without the use of guano, as is required in Mauritius, and by the very
hands they ship off to the French. The whole of Suabo, at the mouth
of the river, is splendid cotton and cane land, and in the hands of the
Portuguese. Those up the Shire are quite beyond their power ; and
even at Shupenya, near Senna, they have to pay tribute to the Landeens.
They have last autumn finished the war with Mariano, who set himself
up as independent ; but there is still a great robber within a few miles
of the town of Tette, which every canoe must pass on its way to Quilli-
mane. We expect the Governor-General of the Province here imme-
diately ; he comes to establish his brother at Tette, as Governor of a
new district which they call Zambezia, and which was formerly under
that of Quillimane. We shall feel the want of Senhor Tito, the former
commandant, who ought to have been made governor ; he is the best
man for it. We shall have to change otur quarters, being at present
established in the Residency at Tette.

2. On the Morphological Import of Certain Vegetable Organs.
By Christopheb Dkessee, Ph.D.

The author gave the results of his investigations into the morphologi-
cal import of certain vegetable structures, especially those entering into
the composition of the flower.

He commences his argument by contending that bud-scales, or Peruke,
are in many instances not metamorphosed leaves, but merely flattened
petioles, lie appeals to examples in Acer and jEsculus, where not im-
frequently the bud-scales are furnished with small laminae at their extre-
mity, while they themselves remain unaltered. This proves, he considers,
that the bud scales are not metamorphosed or rudimentary entire leaves,
but only represent petioles.

The tubercular papilla at the point of the normal bud scale, and which
is the first part that appears in its development, suffers what he terms a
quasi-paralysis, or arrest of development ; while, in the abnormal ex-
amples cited, this arrest does not take place, but the papilla proceeds to
be developed into a lamina, as in the true leaf-— the so-called transmuta-
tion in these instances resulting only from a more or less complete evolu-
tion of this papilla.

The author then endeavours to prove that the Calyx, in many instances,
is a whorl of petioles — laminae, in these cases, not entering into its com-

166 Proceedings of Societies.

position. He refers, Ist, to the calyx of lavender, where one of the
sepals ^develops a little lamina, which is more or less completely articu-
lated to it ; 2d, to the calyx of Musscenda macrophylla, where one
sepal develops a lamina, while the other sepals, which are normal, are
precisely parallel to the petiolar portion of the developed one ; and lastly,
to the monstrous calyx of a rose (which was exhibited), where from the
sides and apex of the sepals, leaflets in various states of development
were seen to spring, while the sepals themselves retained more or less
completely their flat, phyllous, and conical normal form ; in this instance
the sepals are not transmuted into true leaves, but leaflets are developed
upon their sides. This mode of reasoning is the same as that by which
the Phyllodium of the acacia is universally regarded as a leaf-stalk,
simply because a compound leaf is sometimes emitted from its apex.

Regarding Petals, the author adduces the following : — that petals con-
tinually become sepals in monstrous flowers, and this most commonly in
flowers whose sepals have most manifestly a petiolar origin, as in roses ;
again, that in the Carry ophyllacece flowers occur having petals with. the
most fully developed and clearly defined claws and iimbsj while in- those
plants the leaves are so constantly sessile as to afford a characteristic of
the race. From these circumstances he infers that in some cases, pro-
bably in roses, the petals result from petioles ,' whereas in other cases
(as in the Caryophyllacese) they result from entire leaves. He does not,
however, consider that, in' these latter plants, the claws and limbs of the
petals correspond to petioles and laminae. " It seems contrary to rea- •
son to suppose that all the not-mal leaves of the plant should be sessile,
as well as the leaves composing the outer floral envelope (the sepals) ;
whereas the members of the inner floral envelope (the petals) should be
raised upon long stalks."

Regarding the Stamens, the author urges arguments similar to those
applied to the petals. The stamens may pa^s through the stages of petals
and sepals, so " that whatever is the nature of the petal, such is the
nature of the stamen also." Moreover, that in those plants with sessUe
leaves, the filaments and anther cannot correspond to petiole and lamina. '
He also refers to a monstrous stamen of Tradescantia virginica, where
one-half of the stameti is converted into a petaloid member, which'ex-
tends from the base of the filament to the. summit of the anther, indicat-
ing that here the whole stamen corresponds to the sessile petal, and that
there is thus no distinction, in this case, into petiole and lamina.

The author inclines to the belief that the carpel is in some cases equi-
valent to a petiole, from the fact that in certain cases monstrous carpels
develop their ovules into rudimentary leaves. He does not, however,
insist strongly upon this point, since he does not think it yet proved that
ovules may not be true buds.

Sir Thomas Buchan Hepburn, in a letter to Dr Balfour, called atten-
tion to the mode in which Taxodium, sempervirens sheds its leaves. The
leaves themselves do not fall, but the small branchlets drop ofi^, as if
each branchlet was a pinnate leaf. Specimens were sent to illustrate
this fact. The tree from which the specimens were taken was planted
at Smeaton, a small seedling, in 1844, and is now about 28 or 29 feet
high. Its mean annual growth for the last eight years, up to December
1858, has been about 2 feet 4 inches. It has not yet flowered.

157
SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.

BOTANT.

DistrUnition of Vegetable Species. By Professor Asa Geay. — A
review of what has been published upon the subject of late years makes
it clear that the doctrine of the local origin of vegetable species has been
more and more accepted, although, during the same period, species have
been shonTi to be much more widely dispersed than was formerly sup-
posed. Facts of the latter kind, and the conclusions to which they point,
have been most largely and cogently brought out by Dr Hooker, and are
among the very important general results of his extensive investigations.
And the best evidence of the preponderance of the theory of the local
origin of species, notwithstanding the great increase of facts which at
first -would seem to tell the other way, is furnished by the works of the
present De Can'dpUe upon geographical- botany. This careful and con-
scientious investigator formerly adopted and strenuously maintained
Schouw's hypothesis of the double or multiple origin of species. But in
his great work, the Ot'ographie Botantque Raisonnce, published in the
year 1855, he has in effect discarded it, and this not from any theoreti-
cal' objections to that view, but because he found it no longer needed
to account for the general facts of distribution. This appears from his
qualified, though dubious, adberenceto the hypothesis "of a double origin,
as a deitiier resgort, in the few and extraordinary cases which he could
.hardly explain in any other way. His decisive instance, indeed, is the
occurrence of the Eastern American Phryma leptostachya in the Hima-
laya Mountains. * * •* *

I- know not whether any botanist continues to maintain Schouw's
hypothesis. But its elements have been developed into a different and
more comprehensive doctrine, that of Agassiz, which should now be con-
templated. It may be denominated the autochthonal hypothesis.

In place of the ordinary conception, that each species originated in a
local area, whence it has been diffused, according to circumstances, over
more or less broad tracts — in some cases becoming widely discontinuous
in area through climatic or other physical changes operating during a
long period of time — Professor Agassiz maintains, substantially, that
each species originated where it now occurs, probably in as great a num-
ber of individuals occupying as large an area, and generally the same
area, or the same discontinuous areas, as at the present time.

This hypothesis is more difficult to test, because more ideal than any
other. It might suffice for the present purpose to remark, that, in
referring the actual distribution, no less than the origin of existing
species, to the Divine will, it would remove the whole question out of
the field of inductive science. Regarded as a philosophical question,
Maupertuis's well-known " principle of least action " might be legiti-
mately urged against it, namely, " that it is inconsistent with our idea
of Divine wisdom, that the Creator should use more power than was
necessary to accomplish a given end." This philosophical principle holds
so strictly true in all the mechanical adaptations of the universe, as
Professor Pierce has shown, that we cannot think it inapplicable to the

158 Scientific Intelligence.

organic world also, and esjxjcially to the creation of beings endowed with
such enormous multiplying power, and such means and facilities for
dissemination, as most plants and^ animals. Why, then, should we sup-
pose the Creator to do that supernaturally which would be naturally
eflRected by the very instrumentalities which he has set in operation ?

Viewed, however, simply in its scientific applications to the question
under consideration (the distribution of plants in the temperate zone of
the northern hemisphere), the autochthonal hypothesis might be tested
by inquiring whether the primitive or earliest range of our species could
possibly have remained unaffected by the serious and prolonged climatic
vicissitudes to which they must needs have been subject ; and whether these
vicissitudes, and their natural consequences, may not suffice to explain
the partial intermingling of the floras of North America and Northern
Asia, upon the supposition of the local origin of each species. Let us
bring to the inquiry the considerations which Mr Darwin first brought
to bear upon such questions, and which have been systematically de-
veloped and applied by the late Edward Forbes, by Dr Hooker, and by
Alphonse De Candollo.

No one now supposes that the existing species of plants are of recent
creation, or that their present distribution is the result of a few thousand
years. Various lines of evidence conspire to show that the time which
lias elapsed since the close of the tertiary period covers an immense
number of years ; and th^t our existing flora may in part date from the
tertiary period itself. It is now generally admitted that above 20 per
Cent, of the moUusca of the middle tertiary (Miocene epoch), and 40
per cent, of the pliocene species on the Atlantic coast still exist ; and it
is altogether probable that as large a portion of the vegetation may be
of equal antiquity. From the nature of the case, the direct evidence as
respects the flora could not be expected to be equally abundant. Still,
although the fossil plants of the tertiary and the post-tertiary of North
America have only now begun to be studied, the needful evidence is hot
wanting.

On our north-western coast, in the miocene of Vancouver's Island,
among a singular mixture of species referable to Salix, Popuhis, Quercua,
Planera, Diospyros, Salisburia, Ficus, Cinnamomum, Pcrsoonia, or
other Proteaceoe, and a Palm (the latter genera decisively indicating a
tropical or subtropical climate), Mr Lesquereux has identified one existing
species, a true characteristic of the same region ten or fifteen degrees
farther south, viz., the Redwood or Sequoia sempervirena. In beds at
Somerville referred to the lower or middle pliocene by Mr Lesquereux,
this botanist has recently identified the leaves of Persea Carolinensia,
Pi-unus Caroliniana, and Quercus myrti/olia, now inhabiting the warm
sea- coast and islands of the Southern States.* ♦ * *

At length, as the post-tertiary opened, the glacier epoch came slowly
on — an extraordinary refrigeration of the northern hemisphere, in the
course of ages carrying glacial ice and arctic climate down nearly to the
latitude of the Ohio. The change was evidently so gradual that it did
not destroy the temperate flora, at least not those enumerated as ex-

* These and other data, obligingly communicated by Mr Lesquereux, have
been published in the May number of the American Joarnal of Science and
Aru for 185y.

Botany. 159

existing Bpecies. These, and their fellows, or snch as survive, must have
been pushed on to lower latitudes as the cold advanced, just as they now
would be if the temperature were to be again lowered ; and between
them and the ice there was doubtless a band of subarctic and arctic
vegetation — portions of which, retreating up the mountains as the climate
ameliorated and the ice receded, still scantily survive upon our highest
Alleghanies, and more abundantly upon the colder summits of the
mountains of New York and New England — demonstrating the existence
of the present arctic alpine vegetation during the glacial era ; and that
the change of climate at its close was so gradual that it was not destructive
to vegetable species.

As the temperature rose, and the ice gradually retreated, the surviving
temperate flora must have returned northward pari passu, and — which
is an important point — must have advanced much farther northward, and
especially northwestward, than it now does; so far, indeed, that the
temperate floras of North America and of Eastern Asia, after having
been for long ages most widely separated, must have become a second
time conterminous. Whatever doubts may be entertained respecting
the existence of our present vegetation generally before the glacial era,
its existence immediately after that period will hardly be questioned.
Here, therefore, may be adduced the direct evidence recently brought to
light by Mr Lesquereux, who has identified our live oak (Quercus
virens). Pecan {Carya olivceformis). Chinquapin {CastatKB pumila).
Planer-tree {Planera Gmelina), Honey-Locust {Gleditschia triacan-
thos), Prtnos coriaceus, and Acorus Calamus, — besides an elm and a
Ceanothus doubtfully referable to ezistuig species — on the Mississippi,
near Columbus, Kentucky, in beds which Mr Lesquereux regards as
anterior to the drift. Professor D. D. Owen has indicated their position
" as about 120 feet lower than the ferruginous sand in which the bones
of the Megalonyx Jeffersonii were found." So that they belong to the
period immediately succeeding the drift, if not to that immediately pre-
ceding it. All the vegetable remains of this deposit, which have been
obtained in a determinable condition, have been referred, either posi-
tively or probably, to existing species of the United States flora, most
of them now inhabiting the region a few degrees farther south.

If, then, our present temperate flora existed at the close of the glacial
epoch, the evidence that it soon attained a high northern range is ready
to our hand. For then followed the second epoch of the post-tertiary,
called the Jluvial by Dana, when the region of St Lawrence and Lake
Champlain was submerged, and the sea there stood five hundred feet
above its present level ;• when the higher temperate latitudes of North
America, and probably the arctic generally, were less elevated than now,
and the rivers vastly larger, as shown by the immense upper alluvial
plains, from fifty to three hundred feet above their present beds ; and
when the diminished breadth and lessened height of northern land must
have g^ven a much milder climate than the present. — Silliman't American
Journal, September 1859.

Jtemarks on the Botany of Japan, in it4 Relationt to that of North
America, and of other parts of the Northern Temperate Zone. By
Professor Asa Gray. — It is interesting to notice that, notwithstanding
the comparative proximity of Japan to Western North America, fewer

160

Scientijic Intelligence.

of its species are represented there than in far distant Europe. Also-
showing that this difference is not owing to the separation by an ocean
— that far more Japanese plants are represented in Eastern North
America than in either. It is, indeed, possible that my much better
knowledge of American botany than of European may have somewhat
exaggerated this result in favour of Atlantic North Amefica as against
Europe, but it could not as against Western North America.

If we regard the identical species only, in the several floras, the pre-
ponderance is equally against Western as compared with Eastern North
America, but is more in favour of Europe. For the number of species
in the Japanese column which likewise occur in Western North America
is about 120 ; in Eastern North America, 134 ; in Europe, 157.

Of the 580 Japanese entries, there are which have corresponding

European representatives, a little above 8.48 per cent, of identical species,. 0.27
Western N. American representatives, aboat 0.37 „ „ „ 0.20

Eastern „ „ „ 0.61 „ „ „ 0.23

So geographical continuity favours the extension of identical species ;
but still Eastern North America has more in common with Japan than
Western North America has.

The relations of this kind between the floras of Japan and of Europe
are obvious enough ; and the identical species are mostly such as extend
continuously — as they readily may — throughout Russian Asia, some few
only to the eastern confines of Europe, but most of them to its western
borders. To exhibit more distinctly the features of identity between
the floras of Japan and of North America, and also the manner in which
these are distributed between the eastern and the western portions of
our continent — after excluding those species which range around the
world in the northern hemisphere, or the greater part of it, or (which is
nearly the same thing in the present view) which are unknown in Europe
— I will enumerate the remaining peculiar species which Japan possesses
in common with America : —

In Japan.

In W. N, America. In E. iV. America.

Anemone Pennsylvanica

A. Pennsylvanica

(Coptis asplenifolia ?)

C. asplenifolia

(Trautvetteria palmata)

T. palmata

T. palmata

Caulophyllura thalictroides

C. thalictroides

Diphylleia cymosa

D. cymosa

Brasenia peltata

[B. peltata]

B. peltata

Geranium erianthum

G. erianthum

Rhns Toxicodendron

R.Toxiood.,vai

'. R. Toxicodendron

Vitis Labrusca (Thunb)

V. Labrusca

Thermopsis fabacea

T. fabacea

Prunus Virginiana?

P. Virginiana

Spirsea betulaefolia

S. betulaefolia

S. betulicfolia

Photinia arbutifolia, in Bonin.

P. arbutifolia

Pyrus rivularis ?

P. rivularis

Ribes laxiflorum

R. laxiflorum

(Penthorum sedoides, China)

P. sedoides

Cryptotaenia Canadensis

C. Canadensis

Heracleum lanatura

H. lanatum

H. lanatum

(Archemora rigida ?)

A. rigida

Botany.

161

In E. N. America.
A. Gmelini

In W.N.America

A. Gmelini

C. littoraliB

O. longistjlifl O. longistylis

£. horridos

/n Japan.

(Arcbangelica Gmelini)

Cjmopterus littoralis ?

Osmorrhiza longistjlis

Echinopanax horridus

Aralia quinquefolia

Gomus Canadensis

Viburnum plicatum

'Achillea Sibirica

•Artemisia borealis

Vaocinium macrocarpon

Menziesia feiruginea

(Boschniakia glabra ?)

•Pleuit^jne rotata

(Asarum Canadense?)

•Polygonum Bistorta

Rumex peraicarioides

Liparis liliifolia

Pogonia ophiogloesoides

Iris setosa

Trillium erectum, var.

(Smilaeina trifolia)

Polygonatum giganteum

(Streptopus roseus)

Veratrum viride

Juncus xiphioides

(Cyperus Iria)

Carex rostrata

Carex stipata

Cares macrocephala

Sporobolus elongatus

Agrostis scabra

Festuca pauci flora

Adiantum pedatum

Onoclea sensibilis

Osmunda cinnamomea O. cinnamomea

Lycopodium lucidulum L. lucidulum

(Lycopodium dendroidenm) L. dendroideum L. dendroideum

The names enclosed in parentheses are of species which I have not
seen from Japan ; some of them inhabit the adjacent mainland ; some are
imperfectly identified. Those marked * are high northern species in
America.

Of those 56 extra-European species, 35 inhabit Western, and 41
Eastern North America. And 15 are Western, and not Eastern ; 21
Eastern and not Western ; and 20 common to both sides of the conti-
nent. Eight or ten of these 56 species extend eastward into the interior
of Asia.

On the other band, the only species which I can mention as truly
indigenous both to Japan and to Europe, bat not recorded as ranging
through Asia, are
Euonymus latifolius, Fagus sylvatica, Blechnum Spicant,

NEW SERIES. VOL. XI. NO. I. JAN. 1860. T

C. Canadensis

A. quinquefolia
C. Canadensis

*A. Sibirica

V. plicatum (lantanoides)

*A. borealis

*A. borealis

V. macrocarpon V. macrocarpon
M. ferruginea M. ferruginea
B. glabra
*P. rotata «P. rotata

A. Canadense

P. BistorU

R.persicarioidesR. persicarioides
L. liliifolia

I. setosa

P. ophioglossoides

T. erectum

S. trifoUa

P. giganteum

S. roseus

S. roseus

V. viride

V. viride

J. xiphioides

C. Iria

0. rostrata

C. stipata C. stipata
C. macrocephala
S. elongatus S. elongatus
A. scabra A. scabra

F. pauciflora

A. pedatum

A. pedatum
0. sensibilis

162 Scieniijic Intelligence.

Valeriana dioica, Streptopus amplexifolius, Athyrium fontanum,

Pyrola media.

Two of these species extend across the northern part of the American
continent, and on to the Asiatic ; another occurs on the north-west coast
of America ; and another, the Fagus, is represented in Eastern America
by a too closely related species. It is noteworthy, that not one of these
seven plants is of a peculiarly European genus, or even a Europaeo- Sibe-
rian genus;— while of the fifty-six species of the Americo- Japanese
region wanting in Europe, twenty are of extra-European genera ; seven-
teen are of genera restricted to the North American, East Asian, and
Himalayan regions (except that Brascnia has wandered to Australia) ;
fourteen of the genera (most of them monotypic) are peculiar to America
and Japan, or the districts immediately adjacent ; one is peculiar to our
north-west coast and Japan ; and eight are monotypic genera wholly
peculiar {Brasenia excepted) to the Atlantic United States and Japan.
Add to these the similar cases of other American species (nearly all of
them peculiarly Atlantic- American) which liave been detected in the
Himalayas or in Northern Asia, — such as Menispermum Canadense
(^Dauricum, DC), AmphicarpcBa monoica ? Clitoria Mariana, Osmor-
rhiza hrevutylis, Monotropa unifiora, Phryma leptostachya, Tipularia
discolor ? &c. — and it will be almost impossible to avoid the conclusion,
that there has been a peculiar intermingling of the Eastern American
and Eastern Asian floras, which demands explanation.

The case might be made yet stronger by reckoning some subgeneric
types as equivalent to generic in the present view, and by distinguishing
those species or genera which barely enter the eastern borders of Europe;
e.g., Cimicifuga fostida, Moihringia lateriflora, Oeum strctum, Spirceia
salicifolia, &c.

It will be yet more strengthened, and the obvious conclusion will
become irresistible, when we take the nearly allied, as well as the iden-
tical, species into account. And also when we consider that, after ex-
cluding the identical species, only 15 per cent, of the entries in the
European column of the detailed tabular view are in italic type {i.e., are
closely representative of Japanese species) ; while there are 22 per cent,
of this character in the American column.

For the latter, I need only advert to some instances of such close
representation, as of

Trollius patulus by T. Americanus,

Aquilegia Burgeriana " A. Canadensis,

Rhus vemiciflua " R. venenata,

Celastrus scandens " C articulatus,

Negundo cissifolium " N. aceroides,

Sophora Japonica " S. ajffinis,

Sanguisorha tenutfolia '* S. Canadensis,

Astilbe Thunbergii db Japonica " A. decandra,

Mitchella undulata " M. repens,

Hamamelis Japonica " H. Virginica,

Clethra harhinervis '* C. acuminata.

Rhododendron brachycarpum " R. Catawbiense,

Amsonia elliptica " Tabemcemontana

Saururus Loureiri '' S. cernuus,

Botany. 163

and manj otben of the same sort, — sereral of which, when better known,
may yet prove to be conspecific ; while an equally large number could be
indicated of species which, although more positively diflFerent, are yet no
leas striking counterparts.

To demonstrate the former proposition, I have only to contrast the
extra- American genera common to Europe and Japan with the extra-
European genera common to North America and Japan. The principal
European genera of this category are — AdonU, Epimedium, Chelido-
nium, Malachiitm, Lotus, Anthriscut, Hedera, Asperula, Riihia, Car-
pen'um, Ligularia, Lapsana, Picris, Pcederota, Ajuga, Thymus,
Neptta, Lamium, Ligustrum, Kochia ? Daphne, Thesium, Buxus, Mer-
curialis, CephcUanthera, Paris, Asparagus — to which may as well be
added Pceonia and Bupleurum, the former having a representative on the
mountains, and the latter in the arctic regions, of Western America, but
both absent from the rest of our continent. Excepting Pcederota and
Buxus (the latter a rather doubtful native of Eastern Asia), none of
these genera are peculiar to Europe, but all extend throughout Asia and
elsewhere over large parts of the world. — American Journal, Sep-
tember 1859.

Vegetable Hybrids. — In August 1858 M. Naudin fecundated the
flowers of Datura lcn<is with the pollen of Datura Stramonium. He
collected the seeds in October 1858, and sowed them in April 1859.
The habit and general aspect of the plants which grew from these seeds
resembled those of D. Stramonium. The flowers appeared later than
those of the parents. The capsules for the most part were similar to
those of D. Stramonium. In some, however, on the contrary, the
characters of D. hwis were so decided that it was diflBcult to distinguish
the capsules from those of that species. Again, in some of the fruits in-
termediate characters were seen, — the fourth, third, half, or three-
quarters of the same fruit belonging exclusively to one or other of the
parent species. Thus some of the capsules presented on one side a deep
green surface, covered with sharp points, like those of D. Stramonium,
whilst the other side exhibited the grayish tint and the smooth surface
of the capsules of D. hrvis. The influence, however, of D. Stramonium
seemed to prevail most. — L'Institut, 9th Nov, 1859.

Vegetation of the Sea of Aral. — In 1857, the Imperial Academy of
Sciences of St Petersburgh projected a zoological and botanical expedi-
tion to explore the steppes around the Sea of Aral, and placed it under
the charge of two young naturalists, MM. S^vertzoff" and Bortscheff".
The first gentleman was killed in an encounter with the native tribes ;
but the expedition was continued by M. Bortscheff, and one of its more
important results was the discovery, upon the north-east shore of the Sea
of Aral, of a marine vegetation, exhibiting numerous species and entire
families of plants {algct), belonging exclusively to that which abounds in
a deep sea, and which has never been met with in the salt or fresh water
lakes situate in the interior. This discovery presents to botanists points
of great geographical and historical interest, confirming the fact, in a
manner not to be disputed, that the Sea of Aral is not a lake, but the
bed of an ancient sea. It was previously known that its mollusca, if not
identical, presented at least a great resemblance to those of the open
seas ; but botanists were until now ignorant of the existence of a marine

1 64 Scientific Intelligence.

flora upon its sea-bottom. — Comptj-rendu de la Soc. Imp. Oeog. de
Russe, 1859, p. 53.

ZOOLOGY.

Egg of Dtnornis. — An egg of the dinomis was dug up, together with
a man's skull, at Kaikoras peninsula, New Zealand, about two years ago.
It measured 10 inches in length by 7 in diameter, was of a dull white
colour, old, brittle, and thin. In shape it was like a blunt hen's egg,
and there was a hole, evidently purposely made to extract the contents,
at one end, about half an inch in diameter. This egg, which I saw my-
self, belongs to Mr Fyfe of Kaikoras. Another was broken to pieces by
the spade. The human skull was old in appearance, about one-sixteenth
of an inch in thickness, the teeth still remaining perfect in it. — Fred. A.
Weld, Wellington, Neiv Zealand.

Polypi. — Van Beneden states: — 1. The scyphistomes [Hydra-tuba)
do not produce germs, but a part of their substance is transformed
into medusaj. 2. The terminal segment, provided with the arm, is not
detached on the form of scyphistomes (Hydra- tuba), endowed with the
power of living elsewhere, but it becomes a medusa like the others, and
the arms are absorbed on the spot in proportion as the medusa- form ap-
pears. 3. The pedicle of strobile shows a new crown of arms {brachial
corona) before the first medusaj are detached. 4. The" terminal medusa,
bearing the arms which are absorbed, and preserving the mouth of the
mother-scyphistome, does not present the same phenomena of evolution
as the other medusaj, its sisters. — L'Institut, 9th Nov. 1859,

Remarks by Dr Daniel Wilson on a deformed fragmentary Skull,
found in an ancient Quarry Cave at Jerusalem. Described by Aitkeit
Meigs. — Dr Meigs, the able cataloguer of the Morton Collection of
Crania, in the Cabinet of the Academy of Sciences of Philadelphia,
embodies in an elaborate and careful thesis the results of an ingenious
exhaustive process by which he has aimed at determining the race, by
the form and characteristics, in a skull obtained under unusual circum-
stances. In 1857, Mr J. Judson Barclay presented to the Academy a
human skull, in an imperfect condition, brought from a remarkable cave
visited by him at Jerusalem, with the following results : —

Having received some information of the existence of a very extensive
cave near the Damascus gate at Jerusalem (entirely unknown to Franks),
Mr Barclay, in conjunction with his father and brother, resolved upon
its exploration. Accordingly, having obtained permission to this effect,
from the Nazir Effendi, they repaired to the cave, the mouth of which
is situated directly below the city wall, and the houses on Bezetha.
They found the wall at this spot about ten feet in thickness. Through
a narrow, serpentine passage which traverses it, they gained an entrance
into the cave. The length of the cavern they estimated at seven hundred
and fifty feet, and the circumference upwards of three thousand feet.
The roof is supported by numerous regular pillars hewn out of the solid
limestone rock. The floor from the entrance to the termination forms an
inclined plane, the descent of which is in some places very rapid. About
a hundred feet from the entrance a very deep and precipitous pit was
discovered, containing a human skeleton ; supposed to be that of some
unfortunate one who had fallen headlong down and broken his neck, or
rather hLs skull, judging from the fracture which it exhibits. The

Zoology. 165

bonea, of almost giant proportions, gave evidence, from their decayed
state, of having remained in that position for many years. The skull,
unlike the rest of the skeleton, was in a remarkable state of preservation.
Numerous crosses on the wall indicated that the devout pilgrim or cru-
sader had been there ; and a few Arabic and Hebrew inscriptions — too
much effaced to be deciphered — proved that the 'place was not unknown
to the Jew and the Arab. The explorers found many intricate, mean-
dering passages, leading to immense halls as white as the driven snow,
and supported by colossal pillars of irregular shape : some of them placed
there by the hand of nature, others of them evidently by the stone-
quarriers to prevent the tumbling in of the city. From their explora-
tions the party concluded that this cavern and the Grotto of Jeremiah,
two or three hundred yards distant, originally constituted one immense
cave, which was formerly the great quarry of Jerusalem.

The cave appears, therefore, to be a very old one. An allusion to it
under the name of the ■' Cotton Grotto " is made by Kadi Mejr-ed-din in
an Arabic MS., entitled "The Sublime Companion to the History of Jeru-
salem and Hebron," and bearing date a. n. 1495. A gentleman who entered
the cave subsequently to the visit of the Messrs Barclay, states, in the
" Boston Traveller," that though its existence was long suspected, "nothing
was positively known regarding it, as it has been kept carefully closed by
the successive governors of Jerusalem. The mouth of the cavern was
probably walled up as early as the times of the Crusades, to prevent its
falling into the hands of a besieging army : earth was thrown up against
this wall, so as effectually io conceal it from view, and it is only upon
the closest scrutiny that the present entrance can be perceived."

The circumstances under which the skull was discovered afforded no
due to its ethnic classification ; nor does its condition furnish any very
decisive guide to the era to which it should be referred. It is confidently
believed by those who have familiarised themselves with the minute
characteristic details of comparative craniography, that by these alone
ethnical types can be determined. A skull now in the collection of the
Academy of Sciences at Philadelphia, and figured in Dr Meigs' Catalogue
of Human Crania, Xo. 1352, as ancient Phoenician, was sent by M.
Fresnel, the celebrated archaeologist, to the late Dr Morton, without the
slightest information as to where, or the circumstances under which, it
was found. After careful study of its characteristics, Dr Morton pro-
nounced it to be Phoenician. He afterwards learned from M. Fresnel that
it was found in the sepulchral cave of Ben Djemma, in the Island of
Malta, and probably belonged to an individual of that race, which, in
the most remote times> had occupied the northern coast of Africa and the
adjacent isles. It thus appears that Dr Morton, guided by osteologic
characters alone, was enabled to announce the correct geographical
locality of this skull, and perhaps also its true ethnic value ; though of
this latter point Dr Meigs expresses some doubts, arising from the re-
markable resemblance which this skull bears to that of a wandering
Chinga of Transylvania, depicted in Blumenbach's Decades (Tab. xi.)
In like manner, some time before his death, Dr Prichard sent to Prof.
Retzins two human crania, requesting an opinion as to the race to which
they belonged. He pronounced one of them to be Roman, and the other
Celtic, and was informed by Prichard that he was in all probability

166 Scientific Intelligence.

correct ; for tho two skulls had been dug up in an old battle-field at
York, England, where the ancient British Celts had been vanquished by
the Romans.

Encouraged by such examples of success, Dr Meigs proceeded to apply
the tests which his experience in comparative craniology placed at his
command. The skull, however, is peculiar, and, so far as his experience
could guide him, unique. Among all the 1045 crania in the collection
of the Academy, none presented a counterpart to it. Its most remark-
able feature is that the occipital bone rises vertically from the posterior
margin of the great foramen to meet the parietalia, which bend abruptly
downward between their lateral protuberances. This striking peculiarity,
therefore, gives to a skull brought from an ancient quarry-cave at Jeru-
salem some of the most typical characteristics of Peruvian crania. After
minutely describing the appearance which the several bones present, Dr
Meigs expresses his conviction that the head has been artificially de-
formed by pressure applied to the occipital region during youth ; thus
supplying an interesting illustration of the practice in the old world of
the same custom of distorting the human head which was long regarded
as peculiar to the American aborigines.

After marshalling all the probable ethnic claimants for this remarkable
cranium, and assigning reasons for rejecting each, Dr Meigs shows that
it unites some of the most characteristic elements of the Mongolian and
Sclavonian head, while diflPering in some respects from both; and he
finally concludes that it may be referred — not as a positive and indisput-
able conclusion, but as an approximation to the truth — to the people and
the region about Lake Baikal. Through the Sclaves and Burats of that
region, the short-headed races of Eastern Europe graduate apparently
into the Kalmucks and Mongols proper of Asia ; and here probably is a
remarkable example of an artificially modified cranium of that transi-
tional people of Lake Baikal. — Canadian Journal, Nov. 1859.

GEOLOGY.

Extract of a Letter from the late Mr James Motley, Engineer of
the Julia Hermina Coal-mines of Borneo.

The letter from which the following is an extract was written shortly
before the fearful massacre of Europeans at Kalangan, in Borneo, in
which Mr Motley, his wife, and three children were murdered. Mr
Motley superintended the working of the coal-fields in Labuan and Bor-
neo, and was known to zoologists by the collections and notes which he
forwarded to Mr Dillwyn of Swansea, and by the beautiful work which
he published in conjunction with the latter gentleman — " Contributions
to the Natural History of Labuan and the Adjacent Coasts of Borneo."
One number only appeared in 1855, and unless Mr Dillwyn possesses
materials for its continuation, we fear it will be the last. The paper
alluded to he proposed to send to the care of Mr Thomson of Banchory,
to be read at the Meeting of the British Association at Aberdeen ; and
the hints of a modern coal now forming in the China Sea and the Malay
"Waters, to the extent he mentions, may incite them to investigate this
very interesting subject.

•• I have already promised to send to the Natuur Kundige Vereinigung
at Batavia a description of the Measures passed through in the pit, with

Geology. 167

a suite of specimens, which I have preserved, of every stratum passed
throagh. But this will have an interest purely local, and, I think, ought
rather to go to Batavia than anywhere else. On the fossils, considered
alone, I am not able to write ; because, though I can read plainly enough
generally the date of which they tell, I cannot name them without books,
which I do not possess, and have here no access to; and I have there-
fore proposed to send them to be named to Professor Bleekrode of Dordt.
But I have been long preparing a paper upon another subject, of more
general geological interest, and embodying some new facts, and, I think,
new ideas, on the progress and growth of new coal-formations, now pre-
paring for future ages. Such a growth is certainly going on here on a
large scale, and I suspect that nobody has ever had so good an opportu-
nity of observing it as myself. In the first place, I have been for some
years engaged in working in a coal-formation — that of Borneo — which,
though immeasurably older than that which I believe to be gradually
filling up the China Sea, is yet as much younger than the coal-formations
of Europe (of which I have also some experience), and therefore may be
reasonably expected to yield points of analogy with present formations
which might escape the keenest observer of secondary strata only ; and
secondly, I have had, more or less perfectly, the opportunity of observing
the growth of the modem deposits at many points all round this great
basin — namely, the west coast of Borneo, almost from north to south,
several points on the east side of the Malay peninsula, and a great part
of the east coast of Sumatra. I have here the opportunity — and it is a
rare one — of seeing the cutting of our canal through some of these mo-
dem beds, never before disturbed by the hand of man ; and I may add,
that my knowledge of botany and natural history, though not very pro-
found, is enough to give me the power of recording intelligibly inscrip-
tions which the Great Author is now writing upon the new pages of the
▼ast book of geology."

On the Genus G raptolithut. By James Hall. — The discovery of
some remarkable forms of this genus during the progress of the Canada
Geological Survey, has given an opportunity of extending our knowledge
of these interesting fossil remains. Hitherto our observations on the
Graptolites have been directed to simple linear stripes, or to ramose
forms, which except in branching, or, rarely, in having foliate forms,
differ little £rom the linear stripes. In a few species, as O. tenuis
(Hall), and one or two other American species, there is an indication of
more complicated structure ; but up to the present time this has remained
of doubtful significance. The question whether these animals in their
living state were free or attached, is one which has been discussed with-
out result ; and it would seem to be only in very recent times that
naturalists have abandoned altogether the opinion that these bodies
belonged to the Cephalopoda.

In the year 1847 I published a small paper on the Graptolites from
the rocks of the Hudson River g^up in New York. To the number
there given, two species have since been added from the shales of the
Clinton group. Other species, yet unpublished, have been obtained
from the Hudson River group ; and since the period of my publication
in 1847, large accessions have been made to our knowledge of this family
of fossils, and to the nomber of species then known. The most im-

168 Scientific Intelligence.

portant publications upon this subject are, " Les Graptolites de Bohfime,"
par J. Barrande, 1850 ; " Synopsis of the Classification of British Rocks,
and Descriptions of British Pala;ozoic Fossils," by Rev. A. Sedgwick
and Frederick M'Coy, 1851 ; " Grauwacken Formation in Sachsen,
&c.," by H. B. Geinitz, 1852.

The radix-like appendages, known in some of our American as well as
in some European species, have been regarded as evidence that the animal
in its living state was fixed ; while Mr J. Barrande, admitting the force
of these facts, asserts his belief that other species were free. It does
not however appear probable that in a family of fossils so closely allied
as are all the proper Graptolitidce, any such great diversity in mode of
growth would exist.

Heretofore we have been compelled to content ourselves, for the most
part, with describing fragments of a fossil body, without knowing the
original form or condition of the animal when living. Under such cir-
cumstances, it is not surprising that various opinions have been enter-
tained, depending in a great measure upon the state of preservation of
the fossils examined. The diminution in the dimensions, or perhaps we
should rather say in the development, of the cellules or serrations of the
axis towards the base, has given rise to the opinion advanced by Bar-
rande, that the extension of the axis by growth was in that direction,
and that these smaller cells were really in a state of increase and de-
velopment. In opposition to this argument, we could before have
advanced the evidence furnished by G. hiconiis, O. ramosus, O. sextans,
G. furcatus, G. tenuis, and others, which show that the stripes could not
have increased in that direction. It is true that none of the species
figured by Barrande indicate insuperable objections to this view ; though
in the figures of G. serra (Brong.), as given by Geinitz, the improba-
bility of such a mode of growth is clearly shown.

It is not a little remarkable that, with such additions to the number
of species as have been made by Barrande, M'Coy, and Geinitz, so few
ramose forms have been discovered ; and none, so far as the writer is
aware, approaching in the perfection of this character to the American
species.

Maintaining as we do the above view of the subject, which is borne
out by well-preserved specimens of sevei-al species, we cannot admit the
proposed separation of the Graptolites into the genera Monograpsus,
Diplograpsus, and Cladograpsus, for the reason that one and the same
species, as shown in single individuals, may be monoprionidean or
diprionidean, or both ; and we shall see still farther objections to this
division, as we progress, in the utter impossibility of distinguishing these
characteristics imder certain circumstances. We do not yet perceive
sufiScient reason to separate the branching forms from those supposed to
be not branched, for it is not always possible to decide which have or
have not been ramose among the fragments found. Moreover, there are
such various modes of branching, that such forms as G. ramosus present
but little analogy with such as G. gracilis.

Mr Geinitz introduces among the G raptolitideoi the genus Ncreo-
grapsus, to include Nereites, Myrianites, Nemertitee, and Nemapodia.
Admitting the first three of these to be organic remains, which the
writer has elsewhere expressed his reasons for doubting, they are not

Geology. 169

related in structure, substunoe, or mode of occurrence, to the Graptolites,
at least so far as regards American species ; and the Nemapodia is not
a fossil bodj, cor the imprint of one, but simply the recent traces of a
tlug over the surface of the slates. The genus Rastrites of Barrande
has not yet been recognised among American Oraptolitidece. These
forms are by Geinitz united to his genus Cladograpsus, the propriety of
which we are unable to decide.

The genus Oladiolites {Retiolites of Barrande, 1850 ; Graptophyllia
of Hall, 1849) occurs among American forms of the Oraptolitidece in a
single species in the Clinton group of New York. A form analogous
with the reticulated margins and straight midrib has been obtained from
the shales of the Hudson River group in Canada, suggesting an inquiry
as to whether the separation of this genus, on account of the reticulated
structure alone, can be sustained. In the meantime we may add that
the Canada collection sustains the opinion already expressed, that the
Dictyonona will form a genus of the family Graptolitidece. The same
collection has brought to light other specimens of a character so unlike
anything heretofore described, that another very distinct genus will there-
by be added to this family. The Canadian specimens show that the
Graptolites are far from always being simple or merely branching flat-
tened stems.

The following diagnosis will express more accurately the character of
the genus Graptolithiis : —

Genus Graptolithcs (Linn.) — Description. — Corallam or bryozoum
fixed (free?), compound or simple, the parts bilaterally arranged, consist-
ing of simple stripes or of few or many simple or variously bifurcating
branches, radiating more or less regularly from a centre, and in the com-
pound forms united towards their base in a continuous thin corneous mem-
brane or disk formed by an expansion of the substance of the branches,
and which in the living state may have been in some degree gelatinous.
Branches with a single or double series of cellules or serratures, conj-
municating with a common longitudinal canal, affixed by a slender radix
or pedicle from the centre of the exterior side.

The fragments, either simple or variously branched, hitherto described
as species of Graptolithus, are for the most part to be regarded as de-
tached portions from the entire frond.

In the living state we may suppose those with the corneous disks and
numerously branched fronds to have been concavo-convex (the upper
being the concave side), or to have had the power to assume this form at
will. In many specimens there is no evidence of a radix or point of
attachment, and they have very much the appearance of bodies which
may have floated free in the ocean.

Exploration of British North America. Report on Geology by Dr
Hector. — Fort Edmonton, Saskatchewan, January 10, 1859. — I have
the honour to make the following report of my geological observations
during the past season, in which is embodied only the principal results
and general features of the country examined, the details being reserved
for a more elaborate study and comparison than can be executed here.
On starting from Fort Carlton ou 14th of June 1858, we crossed the low
track of prairie land which is bounded to tie west by that line of high
ground which has been traced from longitude 103° W. sweeping to the

NEW SERIES. VOL. XI. NO. I. JAN. 1860. U

170 Scientific Intelligence.

N.W. to meet the soufli branch of the Saskatchewan at the elbow,
known as the " Coteau des Prairies," and from that point being con-
tinued to the north branch as the Bad Hills and Eagle Hills, while
across that river it reappears as the Thickwood and White Lake Hills.
The average elevation of these plains above Carlton (which is built upon
the first river level, thirty- five feet above the water) is 250 feet, or
2125 feet above the level of the sea, and on it rests isolated portions of
the higher level which have survived the general denudation, rising as
rounded hills from 300 to 400 feet in height, such as Moose Hill on the
south branch, and the two Minetonass Hills (Creefor Hill by itself), one
of which is opposite to Carlton and the other to Forte a la Corne. These
plains are plentifully strewn with erratic blocks of all sizes, being frag-
ments of the rocks of the Granitic belt, which runs to N. W. from Lake
Superior to the Arctic Sea, with others of Magnesian limestone and buiF-
coloured quartzose rock of Silurian age, which crops out all along the
western flank of that range. A very remarkable line of the Magnesian
limestone boulders occurs at the distance of twenty miles above Carlton,
crossing the country from the Thickwood Hills in a southerly direction,
towards the Moose Hills on the south branch. This limestone contains
the same indistinct fossiliferous markings as that at the Stoney Hill be-
hind Fort Garry. Some of these masses are of immense size, being
made up of portions of several beds which only loosely cohere to form the
block. They are all sub-angular, without any glacial markings,
although some have their sides highly polished and smoothed from the
buffalo rubbing against them. One of these blocks was measured, and
computed to be 140 tons. The nearest known point where this limestone
occurs in situ, from whence these blocks may have been derived, is 170
miles distant to N.E. Disregarding, for the sake of clearness, the order in
which the country was examined, I now give at once a)i account of the
whole "drift" phenomena observed. As we travelled to the west, the
drift was found to preserve the same mineral character of variable pro-
portions of sand and clay, having boulders interspersed, but chiefly with
the clay predominating. The boulders, however, decrease in size, and
those of limestone become very rare as the higher plains are gained. At
Fort Edmonton, for instance, I found it difficult last winter to procure
fragments with which to make lime for medicinal purposes, although the
river bed is strewn with those of other rocks. Its depth also becomes
much less, forming only a superficial covering to older strata, when
observed in the river sections to the west of the Eagle Hills. As we ap-
proached the Rocky Mountains it quite disappears from the table-lands,
and is only to be found in depressions of the plain through which streams
run ; and even the existence of true drift in these places is rendered
doubtful, owing to the prevalence of more recent deposits, which have
been formed of its rearranged materials. At the altitude of 4000 feet
above the sea, and at the distance of fifty luiles from the mountains,
there however occurs a very extraordinary group of blocks of granite,
resting upon a high plateau, formed of sandstone strata, to be afterwards
mentioned. These blocks are of great size, one having been estimated to
weigh 250 tons. Although lying miles apart, they seem to consist of the
same rock — viz., a mixture of quartz with red felspar, the latter predomi-
nating, with only faint traces of mica disseminated in very minute flakes.

Geology. 171

No granitic rocks have been met with on this side of the watershed of the
mountains, and it is not probable that any such exist, at least between
the two branches of the Saskatchewan. These blocks present smooth
surfaces, although in general they are rhomboidal in form. Some are
cracked into several pieces, which are quite detached, but have evidently
at one time formed part of a whole. If these blocks were derived from
the granitic belt to the east, as I believe all the other boulders on the
plains to have been, then they must have travelled at least from 400 to
450 miles. From the fact, however, that they are almost on the western
verge of the drift dei)0sit, and that the boulders imbedded were found as
a rule to diminish in size in that direction, it may be that the presence
of these large blocks is due to very different agencies, different at least
in the time of their occurrence. Close in, along the base of the moun-
tains, neither on the high plateaus nor in the profound valleys by which
these are traversed was there observed any traces of the drift, or its
dispersed erratics. Within the outer range of the mountains, which are
comparatively low, and wooded to their siuumit, the valleys are occupied
by immense deposits of rounded shingle, composed of fragments of the
various rocks which have been foimd to compose the mountains. This
shingle, which in some places is loose, and mixed with a large proportion
of sand and gravel, in others is cemented by calcareous matter into a
solid conglomerate. It fills up the valleys not only along the edge of the
mountains, but also right into their interior, forming beautifully marked
terrace levels along the streams. This is well exhibited on the north
branch of the Saskatchewan, where these deposits skirt its wide valleys
for nearly seventy miles of its course through the mountains, expanding
where it widens so as to form extensive plains, as at the Kootanie plain,
and always affording a margin of level ground along the river, rendering
the road very practicable. Towards the upper ends of the valleys the
calcareous matter of these deposits so increases as to replace altogether
the shingle, when it becomes a fine gritty calcareous mud, of glistening
whiteness. This same deposit has a much larger development in the
valleys on the west side of the watershed, forming terrace levels in exactly
the same manner. I observed no shingle beds with it there, however, —
these apparently being replaced by fine sand and gravel. In the valley of
Bow River, there is much less of this calcareous matter in the deposit, it
having more of a loose sandy nature, and except at the entrance to the
valley in the neighbourhood of the Bow Fort, rarely exhibiting the ter-
race levels. In the smaller gorges, where streams come down from the
mountains, it is replaced by an angular " breccia," of which patches
cling in the most singular positions. This latter deposit is most likely
of the nature of glacier moraines, although it is found where no glacier
occurs anywhere in the neighbourhood. I found, however, that the
glaciers in the chain had at one time extended a considerable degree
beyond their present limits, and therefore, at that time they possibly
may have existed in portions of the mountains where now there are none.
The terrace deposits seem to reach pretty nearly the same altitude in
different parts of the mountains — viz., about the height of 1000 feet
abovu the level of the plains at their eastern base. I found that, in
crossing the different heights of land, the easiness of the pass corre-
sponded with the degree to which these deposits had remained untouched ,

172 Publications received.

owing to peculiarities in the form of the valleys. In the case of every
height of land, whether of those examined by Captain Palliser or by
myself, with the single exception of the Vermilion Pass, the slope is
gradual to the east, but to the west the descent is with extreme rapidity.
This arises from these deposits having being scooped out close up to the
rocky nucleus of the height of land, by currents acting from the western
side of the chain, while on the east the erosion has been much more
feeble. How much this may depend on the difference between the width
of the valleys which pass through the flanking chains on the east side of
the height of land from those on the west I am not prepared to say, until
the nature of the country to the west has been ascertained. Currents
acting on the chain while submerged, would of course be greatly modified
in their action by any such differences. Respecting the age of these de-
posits I am in doubt. They extend towards the east along the river val-
leys — at least shingle deposits of the same nature are found at a consider-
able distance from the moimtains, in the vaUeys of the north and south
branches, and of the Red Deer River. Its relations to the drift have not
been distinctly ascertained, as the boulders which mark its presence are
only in that district of country found on rounded knolls away from the
rivers. — Pcipers relative to the American Exploration, 1859.

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

L'Institut for August, September, October, and November, 1859. —
From the Editors.

Natural History Review for October 1859. — From the Editors.

Proceedings of the Manchester Philosophical Institution — (continued).
— From the Society.

Natural History of the European Seas, by Prof E. Forbes and R. G.
Austen. — From the Publishers.

Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, No. 2, for 1859. — From the
Editor.

Canadian Journal of Industry, Science, and Art, for November 1859.
— From the Editors.

Reply to Sir David Brewster's Memorial to the Lords Commissioners
of Her Majesty's Treasury on the New Series of Dioptric Lights, by D.
and T. Stevenson, Civil Engineers. — From the Publishers.

Martins, Charles, Du Froid Thermom^trique et de ses Relations avec
le Froid Physiologique dans les Plaines et sur les Montagues.— From the
Author.

TUB

EDINBURGH NEW

PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL.

On Gebel Haiirdn, its adjacent Districts, and the Eastern
Desert of Syria, with Remarks on their Geography and
Geology* By John Hogg, M. A., F.R.S., F.L.S., &c.

The Rev. J. L. Porter, M.A., F.R.G.S., being for several
years a resident missionary in Damascus, took the opportunity
in February 1853 of visiting the Lejah and the Hauran ; and
he gave to the world a very interesting account of the same in
his amusing work, entitled, " Five Years in Damascus ;" which
was published two years afterwards. In the spring of 1857,
my friend, Mr Cyril Graham of Trinity College, Cambridge,
became acquainted with Mr Porter in Syria, and having heard
much from him respecting the Hauran, he resolved to go and
explore it. Accordingly, in the summer of that same year,
Mr Graham travelled through it. But, since that remarkable
region is already known by the able descriptions of Porter,
Buckingham, Burckhardt, and Seetzen, it will be unnecessary
for me to add any particular account of it, except a short notice
of its geology. That portion itself chiefly comprised, under
the Arabic name of the Hauran, the Auranitis of the Greeks,
will, in Mr Graham's words, — " Ever claim the most solemn

* This paper was in part read to the Geographical Section of the British
Association, at the meeting held in Aberdeen, on September 16, 1869.
NEW SERIES. VOL. X.I. NO. II. APRIL 1860. X

174 Geography and Geology of the

interest, being the old Land of Bashan (of which Batanaea of
the Romans was a part), the country of that most remarkable
people, the * Rephaim,' who occupied this land long before
Abraham crossed the Desert, and among whom, in later times,
Og, the king of Bashan, was one of the greatest chiefs."* Mr
Graham states, at the present day, the Druzes, who are of the
same stock as those in the Lebanon, " are the settled inhabi-
tants of Bashan. They live in the very cities out of which,
more than 3000 years ago, the Rephaim were expelled, through
the help of God, by the victorious Israelites." He much
esteems them for their great kindness and hospitality ; and he
reckons the entire number of the men only who dwell in the
Hauran at 7000.

But other portions, lying mostly to the east and north of Ge-
bel Hauran, as they were unvisited before the year 1857 by
modern European travellers, and were only imperfectly known
by the rough descriptions afforded by Arab guides, shall now
be briefly noticed. And I may mention that, as Mr Porter
had in the year 1854 kindly favoured me with the unpublished
Greek inscriptions, which he had copied in his tour through the
Hauran, and which I edited in the Transactions of the Royal
Society of Literature in the following year ; so Mr Graham
very handsomely intrusted me last year with the publication
of about forty more Greek inscriptions, which he met with in
that country, and which have appeared only a few weeks ago
in this year's Part of the Transactions of the same Society.
They are also accompanied with some notes, which I have in-
corporated in the present communication.

Mr Graham passed from Shuhba, at the south-eastern border
of the Lejah (Trachonitis), through Wadi Nimreh (i.e. 'Valley
of the Panthress') and several ancient towns, the most consider-
able of which " was Malkyeh," near the edge of the Desert.
*' On the wall," he says, " of a public building there, I found
a Greek inscription, from which it appears the Greek name
was likewise * Malkaia,' " or probably Malcova. The word on
the inscription itself, according to Mr Graham's transcript,

* See Mr Graham's " Explorations in the Desert of the Hauran, and in the
Ancient Land of Bashan," p. 228, in the Journal of the Koyal Geographical
Society, toI. xxviii. Lond. 1859.

Eastern Districts of Syria. 175

looks more like maakothnot, " of an inhabitant of Mal-
cova." As yet, however, I have not been able to find such a
name in any work on ancient geography.

Proceeding to the east, Mr Graham came to the southern
extremity of the Safah, from which the chain named Tell-
e' Safah* rises. It is an insulated volcanic district, which is
elevated above the Desert. Here were found inscriptions in
an unknown Shemitic character, accompanied with represen-
tatious of palm-trees and other figures roughly cut in large
blocks of basalt. On the east side of the Safah were some
ruins of towns, similar to the ancient cities of Bashan, though
remaining in a less perfect condition. The hills rising from
the Safah are described as at distances which vary from four
to ten miles from the border.

Continuing in a south-easterly course, the traveller crossed
a tract of country called El Harrah, which Mr Graham says
is probably derived from Harr, " heat." Now, the word Harr,
I find, is still more indicative of the actual nature of that dis-
trict, inasmuch as it strictly means, " heat reflected from the
ground." This entire tract is thought to extend five days'
journey in length, and perhaps a day and a quarter's journey
in width. At length he came to a wadi, known as El Warran
(The Lizard), where were more ruins and Shemitic inscriptions.
Turning westward, he passed close to Tell Ozda, a solitary
hill on the east of Tell-e' Nemareh (The Hill of the Panthers),
and then entered a broad wadi. Indeed, at this latter spot,
Mr Graham " found the greatest number of inscriptions
on the basalt stones that he had met with anywhere." The
characters of these Shemitic inscriptions, he thinks " most
nearly approach to those of the Himyaritic ;" and he states
that they are to appear in the Transactions of the Royal
Asiatic Society. It was at first supposed, and in fact Mr
Porter in his letter to me from Damascus, in January 1858,
announcing the discovery of these remarkable inscriptions,
mentioned expressly that they resembled the Sinaic inscrip-

* See an Explanation for thus writing E' Safah, in note. p. 194, vol. xlviii.
Kdinburgh New Philosophical Journal, to my former Memoir on the Geography
and Geology of the Sinaic districts.

176 Geography and Geology of the

tions, but I think there is nothing to warrant such conclu-
sions.

Mr Graham observes, " The absence of all Greek inscrip-
tions," except four found at Nemareh, " seems to argue that
this country {i.e., I suppose the whole of it) never came under
the dominion of the Greeks," or of the Romans ; and he adds,
" whether this country once was tributary to Phoenicia, or
whether we have on these stones inscriptions of a far earlier
period — traces perhaps left by the old Rephaim themselves,
who first occupied this land, — is at present mere matter for
speculation."*

In the centre of this broad wadi, or river-bed, is E'Nemareh,
where, on a high mound, are situated some ancient buildings.
*' These, again, closely resembled those old houses of Bashan,
with the beams of stone, and doors still perfect."

E'Nemareh appears to me to derive its name from a female
saint, whose shrine is there, and who is called by the Arabs
" Nimreh bint e' Nimur," which means, " panthress, daughter
of panthers." It would be extremely interesting if we could
trace this saint, or goddess, who has been for Icng venerated
by the Arabs, to the worship of the ancient Phoenicians ; for it
seems not improbable that this " Panthress" might bear an
allusion to the great Phoenician deity, Ashtoreth, who was
identical with Astarte, whom the best Grecian authorities ac-
counted no other than Diana, the goddess of hunting ; and
indeed, at an early period, most of the Syrian races, as well
as the Arabians, previous to the age of Mahomet, worshipped
the famous goddess Ashtoreth. This suggestion may hereafter
be more fully investigated, when the unknown oriental in-
scriptions which are so numerous near Nemareh shall have
been interpreted.

From the ruins of E' Nemareh — Mr Graham being unable to
explore the desert any further to the east, which he describes
as "a vast plain bounded only by the horizon, and which
reaches, it seems, without a single break to the Euphrates" —
returned to Shuhba, near the northern base of Gebel Hauran.

He then visited the ruins of several towns situated on the
east and south of the Gebel Hauran range, being much of it new

* Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. xxviii. p. 241.

Eastern Districts of Syria. 177

country, namely Nimreh, an old town built on a hill just above
the Wadi Nimreh ; there he noticed a Roman temple, but not
any inscription ; also Bshennef, Busan, Sali, and Sehwet El
Khudr. The first, or Bshennef, " is beautifully situated on
the borders of a wild glen which leads into the great plain
below." He thinks ihat Bshennef must have been a place of
much importance, not only judging from the house-doors,
which were more than usually ornamented, but also from a
beautiful temple which he saw there.

The second — whose name Busan has no connection, as one
might naturally suppose, with that of Basan or Bashan, but it
is thought to be abbreviated from Abu San, or " Father San"
— is a large town, " its streets are very regularly built, its
stone houses perfect, and it commands an extensive view of the
desert."

The third, Saleh, or Sali, is " another very large town on
the mountain," and possesses many fine springs, to which
the Arabs bring their flocks and oamels to drink. Sehwet
El Khoudr (or St George) was, I believe, first visited by
Burckhardt. This portion of Bashan Mr Graham describes
as " very beautiful," and covered with forests of oak. Below
the picturesque and conical peak El Kuleib (" the little
heart") lies on the south the ancient city named Kufr — " the
town gates of which, composed of two large slabs of stone nearly
9 feet high and a foot or more in thickness, are still standing
uninjured." Afineh, Hejmar, and Ari, possessed nothing
remarkable.

From Bozrah, now called Busrah, jVIt Graham went south,
and passed through several remains of ancient cities, and was
fortunate in reaching the extensive ruins of Um El Jemal,
considered most probably the Beth Gamul of Scripture. I
will not here describe these places, as they are beyond the
proposed bounds of the present communication. Afterwards
he came to Orman, which had been identified by Burckhardt,
from some Greek inscriptions which he had found there, as
" Philippopolis," a city founded by the Roman Emperor Philip,
who was a native of Busrah in this portion of Syria, which is
often styled in ancient authors Arabia. Proceeding thence
eastward, he arrived at a still more important place, named

178 Geography and Geology of the

Malah, the former name of which he could not determine, and
following an ancient road, he made Deir E* Nasrani, signify-
ing " Convent of the Christians," the limit of his excursion to
the eastern desert.

This enterprising traveller " has no doubt that the towns in
this country, like those of Bashan, are of the highest anti-
quity," and that these were " the cities of the giant liephaim."
This people being naturally of a gigantic size ; the word
"Rephaim," which strictly meant the Nation, was used in
time to signify any giants; and it has sometimes created, as
he observes, a " confusion in our translation of the Old Testa-
ment." In the third chapter of Deuteronomy, v. 11, our version
has translated that Og was " of the remnant of giants,'' and
not, as is clearly more correct to read, " of the remnant of
the Rephaim,' " ha Rephaim" being the original in the
Hebrew text. So the Septuagint translation has in the same
verse, ruv 'Papat¥, and the Alexandrine, ruv ' Paipaiiv ; but the
Latin Vulgate makes the like mistake as the English Bible,
in rendering it " gigantum." At a later period the Romans
colonized, enlarged, and beautified most of those strong and
" walled cities" which are still remaining in good preservation,
although long ago abandoned and uninhabited; they thus
prove, in a remarkable manner, the fulfilment of Jeremiah's
prophecy, '• The spoiler shall come upon every city, and no
city shall escape ;" and " the cities thereof shall be desolate
without any to dwell therein."

Next, I will more particularly describe the region to
which I am referring, and then add a few notes on the
chief geographical and geological features of the portion
of Syria or Northern Palestine included in it. The re-
gion comprises a district from Busrah about 36° 26' 45" to
37^ 45' nearly longitude east from Greenwich, and from Salk-
had and E' Deir south of Busrah, about 32"^ 3(y, to nearly the
supposed centre of Bahret Hijaneh, the southernmost of the
three lakes in the territory of Damascus, in 33° 20' north lati-
tude. And I may here remark, that the most recent maps of
Syria do not agree as to the exact positions of Damascus and
Busrah ; for in Mr Porter's _/fr«< map, which I had the pleasure
of communicating to the Royal Geographical Society in Novem-

Eattem Districts of Sj/ria. 179

ber 1855, which is most neatly engraved by Mr Arrowsmith,
and published in the 26th volume of their " Journal,"
Damascus is placed in just about 36° 17' 15" east longitude,
and in 33° 31' 15' nearly north latitude, whilst Busrah is laid
down in about 36° 26' 35' east longitude, and in 32' 32' 20"
north latitude ; and the same positions appear to be given in
the small map which accompanies Mr C. Graham's paper in
volume xxix. of the Journal of the Geographical Society, which
is only just published. But in the map by Henry Kiepert,
engraved in Mr Porter's " Handbook of Syria," published in
1858, the city of Damascus is laid down in 36° 16' 40" east
longitude, and in 33" 31' 40" north latitude ; but Busrah is
placed in 36° 22' 30" east longitude, and in north latitude 32°
31' 40" ; thus giving a difference nearly as to Damascus of
35" of longitude and 25" of latitude ; and about a difference as
to Busrah of 4' 5" of longitude, and of 40" of latitude.* My
map I have drawn on a scale eight times larger than that of
Mr C. Graham's map so neatly executed by Mr Arrowsmith.

In the left hand, or north-west corner, appears a small part
of the territory of Damascus called Wadi El Ajam, or the
valley of the Awaj — the ancient river Pharpar which runs
into the lake Hijaneh at its north point, and whose waters are
there mixed with those of the Liwa in the rainy season,
which enters the lake at its southern extremity, descending
from its sources near Nimreh at the northern roots of Gebel
Hauran. The exact size and borders of this lake are as yet
undetermined, but it is thought to be between five and six
miles in length, and four or five in breadth.

Then succeeds the Lejah, the former Trachonitis of the
Romans and the Argob of the Bible ; this territory skirts the
western side of Gebel Hauran, west of Suweideh to the Wadi
Zedy, or a little further south, and at a short distance from

* From Van de Velde's " Map of the Holy Land," published at Gotha in
1858, I make Damascus to be placed in just about 36° 15' 40'' east longitude,
and 33° 31' 30" north latitude ; and Busrah, 36° 26' 35" longitude, and 32° 29'
0" latitude ; — but in his explanatory book, he writes the positions respectively
as— Damascus (Castle) 36° 15' 30" longitude, and 33° 31' 20" latitude; and
Busrah, according to Porter, 36° 26' 30" longitude, and 32° 29' 40" latitude;
and according to Arrowsmith, 36° 27' 15" longitude, and 32° 35' 30" lati-
tude.

180 Geography and Geology of the

Busrah the southern corner of the Hauran, the former Auranitis,
and a province of the Scriptural Bashan, intervenes. The
extensive and chiefly mountainous district from about Salkhad
on the south to Tell El Asfar on the north, is the present
Bathanyeh, and the Batanaea of the Romans, which formed
another province of the ancient kingdom of Bashan. Of this,
from about Ayun to near Shuka extends the fine range of
lofty hills called Gebel Hauran, and Gebel E' Druz — the
mountain Alsadamus of Ptolemy. On the east and north of
this a vast plain stretches out ; that portion of it on the east
being of vast extent, is called El Harrah, belonging in former
times to what was generally named the Great or Arabian
Desert, whilst the other portion on the north is broken by the
hills E' Tellul, and the still higher ridges of E' Safah. The
north and far east of the latter are desert regions at present
unknown and unvisited by any modern European traveller.

The geology of these districts is but little made out ; and
the remarks which I now briefly present are mostly taken
from the accurate accounts of Messrs Burckhardt, Porter, and
Graham.

The south-eastern extremity of Wadi El Ajam, a part of
the territory of Damascus, with the Lake or Bahret Hijtineh
on the east, is an extensive level, and the river Awaj or
Pharpar flows through alluvial and diluvial beds, which inter-
vene between the parallel lines of dark hills, Gebel El Aswad
and Gebel Mania. The white chalk, or marl, or limestone
formation filled with fossils, terminates a little north of them ;
for Gebel El Aswad, or the "Black Mount," affords the
quarries from which are taken the black paving stones used
in Damascus. Also, Gebel Mania is characterised as " dark
and bare" in aspect, its most lofty point being a truncated,
cone-shaped peak. From that spot the volcanic rock and
basaltic boulders succeed to the east and south, and prevail
over a vastly extended district. In fact, from thence to the
northern slopes of the Hauran range, the country presents a
fine but somewhat undulating plain, about twenty-five miles
long. At the north of the Wadi Liwa commences that re-
markable region now known as the Lejah, answering to the
Argob of the Bible, and the Trachonitis of the Eomans, both

Eaetern Districts of Syina. 181

of which names denote its physical character, in meaning
the rough, stony, or a mass of stones. The southern portion
of it runs down in a narrow strip along the entire western
base of Gebel Hauran to about Busrah, the former Bos Ira, to
which city, according to Eusebius, it extended. For nearly
half this length from the north, the Wadi Liwa runs towards
its eastern boundary. Through this valley, which is about
forty-five feet in depth, having its banks broken and rocky,
a considerable stream flows in the rainy season, and then
makes the Bahret Hijaneh a large lake, which in summer is
only a morass covered with reeds. South of the lake a broad
plain stretches out to the lofty Tell Khaledyeh, on the sum-
mit of which are some ruins. Parts of the plain appear to
have been divided into fields by stone fences, the stones having
been gathered together ; and more towards the Liwa are many
towns, half ruinous and quite deserted ; the walls of the houses
having been built of black basalt of vast thickness. The
ground thence forms a gradual slope to the heights at Shuka,
which constitute the northern slopes of Gebel Hauran. Near
Hit the soil is fertile ; the district is inhabited and cultivated ;
being bare of trees, and monotonous in aspect, it exhibits the
basaltic rock cropping out in places, and large black frag-
ments and broken masses lying thinly on the surface. " In a
geological point of view," says Mr Porter, " the Lejah is the
most wonderful district I have ever seen." As viewed " from
Hit," it " resembles a lake agitated by a strong wind ; and any
one who has seen Loch Lomond while a winter tempest swept
over it, and the troubled waters assumed the gloomy hue of
the clouded heavens, may form some idea of the appearance
of the Lejah as seen from" there. From its eastern border
stretches out a broad plain as far as the eye can see. Only a
few of those singular conical mounds, or hills, called Tells,
are visible within the Lejah ; one, Tell Amara, is about 300
feet high ; another, Tell Sumeid, though not so lofty, is nearer
to Shuhba, whilst Tell Shuhba itself is an extinct crater.
Burckhardt has named the centre of this region " the Inner
Lejah," where the black rocks are higher, and the ground
itself is more broken.

Thence succeeds the Greek province of Aurauitis to the

KEW SERIES. VOL. XI. NO. 11. — APRIL 1860. Y

182 Oeography and Geology of the

west of Suweideh, and reaching as far as Bostra, its southern
border may be taken nearly in a line parallel with Wadi
Zedy. The boundaries of these provinces appear to have
varied at diflferent times ; and in fact to define them with
geographical accuracy is, I think, a very diflScult task.

The Hauriin, so named both in Hebrew and in Arabic,
was a portion of the ancient kingdom of Bashan, and in its
general appearance is an immense and fertile plain, but
broken by many Tells of a cone shape. The ground is con-
sidered as the most fertile in Syria, and is covered with culti-
vated fields and inhabited villages. Where any water is
present, and after the rainy season, much of the plain is green
with rich grass. Many ruined cities are also met with. They
are built like those in the Lejah, of black basalt ; and, as
Mr Graham says, since " all the plain of the Hauran is desti-
tute of trees, there is nothing to relieve the gloom of these
black towns." And according to Mr Porter, the plain of the
Hauran stretches out to the horizon ; its soil is deep, black,
and loamy, in general free from stones and gravel, though
around the base of the little Tells lie fragments of porous lava
accompanied with rock of a firmer texture.

On the east side of the Lejah and the Hauran there ex-
tends for a considerable distance nearly N. and S. the ancient
province of Batansea — which is only the Romanized form of
the word Bashan — and now called by the natives Ard El
Bathanyeh — i.e., the district of Bathanyeh. It would seem to
range from Salkhad on the south, to Tells Khaledyeh and
Asfar on the north, its mean breadth being perhaps about
twelve or thirteen miles. Here the beautiful range of hills,
Gebel Hauran, extends its picturesque form for about thirty
miles, the central plateau of which is, according to Russegger,
2500 Paris feet, or 2670 English feet above the sea. The
same traveller estimates its highest point at 6400 English
feet. Of this range two conical peaks are the most conspi-
cuous — Abu Tumeis, or *' Father Tumeis," on the north, near
to Shuhba ; and the second. El Kuleib.or " the Little Heart,"
above Kufr, raises its graceful and cordiform or cordate
summit. They both present very prominent objects in the
landscape. The eastern face of this latter cone is stated by

Eastern Districts of Syria. 183

Mr Porter to be " naked, and of a dusty red colour, as if
covered with a thick stratum of ashes ; on all the other sides it
is clothed with oak forests. It is probably an old crater." He
also says it is *' the highest peak of Gebel Hauran." This,
then, is worthy to be considered " as the Hill of Basan, (as)
God's hill, even an high hill, as the Hill of Basan." Then
Hebran is conspicuous on the south, being " situated on the
summit of a mountain ridge, which equals, if it does not sur-
pass, in altitude any of the peaks south of the Kuleib." In this
part of Bathanyeh, Mr Graham writes,* "one after another,
the narrow green valleys opened before me, as I crossed the
mountain chain ; and here began the forests of oak which are
so often mentioned in the sacred writings, but which now
only exist in a small portion of Bashan." The " green val-
leys" here named, without doubt formerly constituted some
of the rich pastures in which were fed the famous flocks and
herds — the " rams, lambs, goats, bullocks, all of them," being
called in Scripture "failings of Bashan."

Since there are no British species of oak found in that part
of- the Holy Land, and since Mr Graham expressly writes
that " the acorns of the Bashan oaks are immensely large,"
there can, I think, be no doubt but the chief oak there grow-
ing is the " Valani Oak," or Qtiercus jEgilopSy which receives
that appellation par excellence of its large acorns — Valani
being the Greek word BaXa»o/(B being pronounced V in modern
Greek), signifying acorns. So Mr Graham adds, " There is
likewise a general name for all oaks — Baluteb, or ' Acorn-
Tree ;* Balut, meaning an ' acorn.' '* From this Arabic word,
then, the name of the evergreen species, Quercus Ballotay is
clearly taken. The Quercus Ilex, called " Sindyan" in Arabic,
is also there indigenous, together with, most likely, the
Querctis coccifera, whose leaves are prickly and evergreen ;
and perhaps the Quercus Cerris may be also present. But
I apprehend the true species alluded to as the " Oak of
Bashan" is the Quercus jEgilops^ which grows to a goodly-
sized tree, and which Isaiah names together with " the cedar
of Lebanon, that is high and lifted up." This subject I have
thought worthy of thus being somewhat dwelt on, because to

* .Toarnal Royal Geographical Society, vol. zxviii. p. 245.

] 84 Geography and Geology of the

all of ns natives of Britain, "the oak" from the forest on the
Kuleib (or the " Little Heart") of Bashan reminds us of our
*' Heart of Oak" indigenous in our own forests and hills.

Mr Porter thus describes the general outline of Gebel
Hauriln, — from the north, " from Tell Abu Tumeis, the moun-
tain chain preserves an almost uniform altitude" (which Rus-
segger terms a plateau) *' to Tell Kuleib. From this latter
point it slopes down gradually to Salkhad. The whole of the
loftier portion is clothed with oak forests, and the scenery is
rich and varied, with bold precipices, deep ravines, and pic-
turesque vales. South of the Kuleib the chain branches, or
rather is divided by a wadi, which extends from near the
eastern base of that peak to (about three miles) west of Salk-
had. The eastern portion is, toward the south, destitute of
trees, but is nearly all capable of cultivation in patches and
terraces, "where the loose stones are gathered oflf the soil."
" The northern slopes are of a diflFerent character. There
the gentle declivities are only diversified with little naked
conical hills, but the extreme richness of the soil amply com-
pensates for these defects."

I believe the entire range of Hauran is of the volcanic rock,
though there may possibly be limestone in places associated
with it, but which I think no one has yet detected. And
probably it is to the volcanic action, which at an early period
must have been so powerful and so general in this district,
that the prophet Nahum alludes, when he says, — " Bashan lan-
guisheth.'* ..." The mountains quake at him and the
hills meZ^, and the earth is hurned at his presence." . .
•• His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown
down by him."

Burckhardt has called this volcanic rock, basalt, black-stone,
black trap, and tufwacke. The previous ti^f^ellcr, Seetzen,
entitles it basalt.* This black-stone being very heavy, many
considered that much iron was contained in it ; and at Salk-
had, the ancient Salcah, Burckhardt writes, the Tell or " hill
upon which the castle stands, consists of alternate layers of
the common black tufwacke of the country, and of a very

* Future investigations must determine what these rocks really are, — tuff,
lava, scoriee, trachyte, dolerite, trap, or other igneous products.

Eastern Distrieti of Syria. 185

porous, deop-red, and often rose-coloured pumice-stone. In
some caverns formed of the latter, saltpetre collects in great
quantities." On a further examination of the remarkable Tells
80 frequent in this region, I am satisfied more will be proved
to be of igneous origin. Mr Porter ascended one on the north-
west side of Abu Tumeis, near Shuhba. He describes his
" ascent, though not long," to have been " diflficult and toil-
some, owing to the deep coating of small black stones, inter-
mixed with porous lava, and light tinkling cinders, with which
the whole hill-side is covered." . . . "On the western side
of the hill," he found a " large, deep, bowl-shaped cavity,
with the jagged upheaved rocks forming a rim all round, and
the whole exterior and interior coated with the debris of former
eruptions." He says, he " had seen several craters before,
but none so distinctly-marked as this."

And again, on ascending to the castle at Salkhad, which is
" situated on the summit of a conical hill, from 300 to 400
feet above the city," he saw that it had at one time been " the
crater of a volcano," and that " its sides are still in many
places covered with light cinders, and blocks of lava, similar
to those on Tell Shuhba." " The whole country," he adds,
from Salkhad, " as far as the eye can see, is volcanic. All
the stones that are strewn over the soil are porous trap, and
the rock that occasionally crops up is of the same kind." At
the extremity of the province of Auranitis, the ancient city of
Busrah, and the former capital thereof, is " situated in a plain, "
now deserted, but " of unrivalled fertility," as I have wit-
nessed in many volcanic districts, such as the plains below
Vesuvius and Etna ; and it produced, from *' the richness
of its soil," not only an abundance of excellent corn, but
also of oil and wine. On many of its ancient coins is seen a
bunch of grapes, in allusion to the excellence of its wine, as well
as to its name in Greek B^arga, the word Bir^i signifying " a
bunch of grapes ;" and by a transposition of letters becomes
Bo<rrgu or Bostra.

Now, " Bashan (has) shaken oflF its fruits." ..." The
vine is dried up ;" . . . and " even all the trees of the
field are withered." " Of the vineyards for which Bozrah
was celebrated," and to whose "wine-press" allusion is made

186 Cteograplty and Geology of the

in Isaiah (Ixiii. 3), Burckbardt distinctly records, "not a
vestige remains ;" and the very city itself, with its vast ruins,
has *' become a desolation, a reproach, (and) a waste."

Saltpetre is a mineral found in this part of the Hauran ;
but it is perhaps more abundant in the Lejah, both in the
caverns of the black volcanic stone and in the soil from
amongst the ruined houses. Among some of the Tells in the
corner of the Lejah, near the western roots of the Hauran
range, Burckhardt discovered not only much pumice-stone, but
also porous tufa.

From a tower in Busrah, Mr Porter describes the country
on the south and south-east as a plain, " extending to the
horizon, unbroken by hill or mountain, and the soil" to be
apparently, like that on the north, " rich and fertile." But
the road from Busrah towards Salkhad gradually rises with a
gentle ascent, and after about three miles, near Burd, the as-
pect of the country changes to a savage and bare appearance,
with quantities of stones, and becomes broken and undulating,
with rugged Tells here and there.

Beneath the Castle-hill of Salkhad, the eastern ridge of the
Gebel Hauran, as Mr Porter says, *' sinks down into a plain.
Due south, there is a slight depression in the plain, with a
gentle swell on each side, running as far as the eye can see. in
a straight line." " To the south-east, an ancient road runs
across the fine plain, passing the bases" of two Tells ; it
extends, according to the Arab guide, to the Euphrates and
Bassora. The plain likewise stretched out far away to the
cast.

To the north and north-east the great plain, El Harrah, of
which I have already spoken, extends. Mr Graham believes
this strip of desert to be five days' journey in length, which,
taking a day's journey at 30 miles, would make 150 miles to
the east, and a day, or a day and a half's, or 30 to 45 miles, in
breadth, from north to south. *' The whole plain is covered with
innumerable stones, rounded like boulders, but all of basalt;"
and these lie '* so closely together, that the dromedaries could
hardly make their way across them." A continuation of the
ancient road seen at Malah and Deir E' Nazrani led entirely
through this strip, and is supposed to lead through the Great

Eastern Districts of Syria. 187

Desert straight to Palmyra. The road was un paved, and " all
the stones had been carefully picked out and piled up against
the side, so that a fine wide space was left for the road."

All the ruins and ancient buildings were composed of the
same basaltic stone. And so were the " thousands of stones"
bearing the rude figures of animals, and the numerous inscrip-
tions in the unknown characters. All this district presented
nothing but desolation, — no living creatures, no trees, and no
shrubs. None of the four Tells, Nemareh, Ozda, Midneh, or
Jerid, which Mr Graham saw, exhibited any traces of an extinct
crater — at least he makes no mention of any such phenomenon ;
consequently, the craters in Gebel Hauran on the west, and
most likely others in the range of the Safah on the north,
must have been the centres of the former volcanic action over
this extensive plain, and the sources from whence the innumer-
able stones of black basalt have been derived. Nor does he
particularly state what the nature of the rock may be under
the surface of El Harrah, whether volcanic, or limestone, or
sandstone. I cannot, however, but think that a portion of this
desert must exhibit — perhaps, indeed, in that part lying more to
the east — traces of the limestones belonging to the cretaceous
series, which, as I explained in my former Memoir on the Desert
of Sinai, &c., which I read at the Meeting of the British
Association at Birmingham in 1849, extended through El Nejd,
a district of the Great Arabian Desert, to the north and east
beyond Petra. Mr Graham only once describes a white stone,
which most probably belongs to that series. The town called
Kharbet El Beida, meaning " the white ruin," situated to the
south-east of E' Safah, was built entirely of ivhite stone-
He writes, " The region E' Safah, from which the chain
rises, which is called Tellul e' Safah, has, I suppose, few paral-
lels." This chain constitutes a range more than twenty miles
long, "having nineteen distinct peaks; the highest of them
may be about 600 feet above the level of the plain." It is a
volcanic district, or rather a "volcanic island rising abruptly
out of the desert. Its breadth is in some places 15 miles.
The appearance it presents internally is most remarkable.
If we imagine a vast quantity of molten metal to be confined
in some vessel, and its surface violently agitated by some

188 Geography and Geology of the

powerful agent, and, while in that state, suppose the mass
suddenly to be cooled, then the appearance which the surface
of the metal may be conceived to assume would probably be
most nearly exemplified in the wild and savage aspect of the
Safah. It resembles no other formation that I am aware of
except the Lejah; and both these districts resemble more nearly
the appearance presented to us by some of the volcanic regions
in the moon than anything we have on our own globe."
The Safah, continues Mr Graham, "is even more horrible than
the Lejah, for there, at least, are many patches of good soil."
It has " no springs, and the only water here is collected in
hollows from the rains."

" The hills which rise from the Safah are at distances
varying from four to ten miles from the edge ; from the foot
of these hills to the border, this sea of basalt is intersected
with cracks and fissures, sometimes 20 feet in breadth, and
many more in depth. The ravines are quite impassable,
and frequently such a fissure has to be followed a very great
distance before it becomes possible to cross it." So also,
"in some places" in the Lejah, Mr Graham tells us, "the
horses could hardly keep their footing ; in others, we had to
jump and scramble across large fissures in the basalt ;" and
" the description which he has thus given of the Safah will
apply equally to the Lejah. They are two of the most remark-
able instances of a volcanic formation perhaps in existence."

" The physical features of the Lejah," writes Mr Porter, in
his work " On Damascus" (vol. ii. p. 241), " present the most
singular phenomena I have ever witnessed, and to which
there is not, so far as I know, a parallel in the world, with
the exception of the Safah. It is wholly composed of black
basalt rock, which appears to have in past ages issued from
innumerable pores in the earth in a liquid state, and to have
flowed out on every side until the plain was almost covered.
Before cooling, its surface was agitated by some fearful
tempest or other such agency ; and it was afterwards shattered
and rent by internal convulsions and vibrations. The cup-
like cavities from which the liquid mass was projected are still
seen, and likewise the wavy surface a thick liquid generally
assumes which cools while flowing. There are in many places

BasUm Disfricis of Syria. 189

deep fissures and yawning gulfs, with rugged, broken edges,
while in other places are jagged heaps of rock that seem not
to have been sufficiently heated to flow, but were forced up-
wards by a mighty agency, and then rent and shattered
to their centre. The rock is filled with little pits and pro-
tuberances like air-bubbles ; it is as hard as flint, and emits
a sharp metallic sound when struck. I did not observe any
approach to columnar or crystallised basalt."

I am not aware that among the phenomena exhibited by
the volcanic districts in the south of Europe, with which I am
familiar, either around Naples and Vesuvius, or within the
Isle of Ischia, or in the vicinity of the more glorious Etna,
there are any of the like extent and magnitude, nor did I see
there present any such deep chasms and fissures* as those
observed in the Lejah and Safah ; but if we turn to that
entirely volcanic island in the north-west of Europe, and just
within its geographical range — Iceland — we shall perceive the
nearest parallel to some of those phenomena now under notice,
especially to the enormous clefts or fissures, named in Ice-
landic gias. " Near Thingvalla," Sir George M'Kenzie has
written, in his able " Travels in Iceland," " we entered a deep
and frightful fissure called Almannagiau. This has been
formed, with many others of smaller dimensions, and another
large one which runs parallel to it at a considerable distance,
by the sinking of the ground during some of those terrible
convulsions which have shaken Iceland to its foundations.
The whole rock bears marks of having been affected by fire.
We came suddenly upon the brink of the precipice, and were
turning aside from a scene so fearful, when we were told that
we must descend."

Pliny Miles in 1852, just before arriving at Thingvalla,
" while jogging along on the level ground, came suddenly
upon the brink of an immense chasm, 150 feet deep, and
about the same in breadth." This, he says, is " one of those
seams or rents in the earth common in Iceland ; originally a
crack in a bed of lava. Its precipitous sides and immense

* But in passing through Masca Lucia, between Nicolosi and Catania^ on my
descent from Etna, I learned that a large and deep fissure existed near that
place. I do not know whether it be in a lava-bed or not.

NEW SERIES. VOL. XI. NO. II. APRIL 1860. Z

190 Geography and Geology of the

depth seemed at once a bar to our progress ; and without a
bridge over it, or ropes or wings, we saw no way of getting
along without going round it. Without seeing either end, and
wondering how we were to get round it, we were told we must
go through it. At length we made our way to the bottom.
We were in a deep chasm or defile, the wall on the west side
being over 100 feet high, and on a level with the country
behind it. The wall on the east side was lower, and beyond
this wall the country was on a level with the bottom where
"we were. This chasm is called the A Imannagja, or * All-
men's Cave.'" Again, the same traveller adds, in another
district, " We travelled several miles over a most desolate
volcanic region, completely covered with lava rocks, scoriae,
and volcanic sand. Like all the lava- covered country, it was
broken up in huge, irregular masses, and very cavernous — in
some places showing caves 30 or 40 feet deep. No descrip-
tion or picture will give a good idea of the old lava on the
surface of the ground, to a person who has never been in a
volcanic country. Not the roughest limestone region I have
ever seen will bear the slightest comparison with the lava-
covered districts (near two-thirds of the surface) of Iceland.
In written descriptions of volcanic regions wp often see men-
tion made of ' streams of lava.' These streams in other
countries are usually down the sides of mountains, but here
in Iceland they extend for miles along the surface of the
level ground, and we are puzzled to know where they came
from, for usually we see no crater or mountain anywhere
near. I have seen these * streams' standing up in bold relief,
a black, rough, horrid mass from 10 to 100 feet deep, several
hundred yards wide, and one or two miles in length."

Also in 1853, an amusing yacht-voyager writes, near the
lake Thingvalla, " we found ourselves upon the brink of one
of those extraordinary chasms which the natives call by the
euphonious name of gja. And truly no name can be rugged
or break-jawed enough to express the horror of one of these
break-neck gjas. The craters in the moon are the only
familiar objects to which the general reader may be referred,
to catch a glimpse of their astounding reality. Or imagine
two cinders, about a couple of miles long, placed a little way

Eastern Districts of Syria. 1 01

apart, and viewed through a " microscope of extra power."
and you will have some notion of this Ilrafnagja, or ** Raven
Chasm," on the brink of which our little ponies now stood,
and across which our unflinching pathway lay." And de-
scribing Thingvalla, he continues : " It is in immediate proxi-
mity to the most wonderful of all the gjas, called Almannagja.
This is a huge chasm some miles in length, stretching in a
northerly direction from the head of the Thingvalla lake. It
divides the great plain into two distinct parts, of which the
westernmost is of a much higher level than the eastern one.
And it would seem as if this yawning chasm had been made
by the sudden upraising of the western portion of the plain
by means of some subterranean agency. It should be re-
marked, that the western face of the chasm is precipitous,
while the eastern and lower side has a gradual slope, as if it
had fallen away from the other during the upheaving." And
leaving that lake, and passing over a large lava-field, he
" came upon a curious crater-like mound, composed of crisp
cinder, of all manner of bright colours. On reaching it we
found it was a mere shell, hollow within, and we could look
down from the top into a spacious cavern, extending far on
all sides. Indeed, we could not but come to the conclusion
that the whole of this lava-field is more or less hollow ; for
many were the great caverns we passed as we rode along."

And in 1855, Mr Robert Chambers, in his pleasing " Tra-
cings of Iceland," describes the Almannagiau as *' but one of
the lateral rents resulting from subsidence. Along the rising
ground to the east appear four more, one above the other, and
all parallel." Again, he mentions the Hrafnagiau, as *' a
terrific abyss, which extends for two or three miles, with a
width of from ten to thirty feet, and would be totally im-
passable, but for a few blocks which have fallen in at a cer-
tain place, and to some extent filled up the gulf. From the
general narrowness, irregularity, and darkness of this chasm,
it would form an admirable retreat for robbers. The surface
continues for miles to exhibit the same fractured character,
with less appalling effects. There are also short minor sub-
sidences, leaving a piece of surface forty feet or so below the
rest, while, at the ends, a thin superficial crust having re-

Iy2 On the Application of certain Laws of Heat and

mained at the original level, * antres vast ' have been
formed."

I need not, however, insert any further descriptions of
awful fissures, chasms, rents, caverns, or basaltic and lava
massed, which occur in other portions of Iceland, as parallels
to those in the Lejah and Safah, that have been so well de-
tailed by Mr Porter and Mr Graham.

Proceeding westwards from the Safah, " the group of conical
hills called E' Tellul," as Mr Porter describes it, appears ou
the north, and " is about fifteen miles in length," running,
like the Safah, near north and south. The Tdl named Duk-
weh is the highest cone-shaped peak, and rises nearly in the
centre of the Tellul. From its southern end to Gebel Hauran
there extends a vast plain.

Lastly, on the plain beyond, to the west, is seen the southern-
most of the three black ruins called E' Diura — that is to say,
*• The Convents." It is a square tower, built of hard basalt,
and is most likely a border fortress ; and, in fact, Ammianus
Marcellinus (lib. xiv.) mentions that the early inhabitants
built castles and strong forts as defences against the incursions
of the neighbouring hostile tribes.

And, in concluding this imperfect communication, I must
express an earnest hope that some enterprising British geolo-
gist would undertake a scientific journey throughout the
mountains of Hauran, and the volcanic districts in the neigh-
bouring Harrah, the Tellul, and the Safah, in order to deter-
mine with more exactness the remarkable natural phenomena
and diflferent formations which there present themselves.

On the Application of certain Laws of Heat and Com-
bustion to the Use and Economy of Fuel. Being the
substance of a Paper read before the Aberdeen Philo-
sophical Society, 11th February 1859. By Alexander
D. Milne. Part II.

Of the Hydrogen Element in ordinary Fuel, and the influence
it exercises on Combustion.
Common coal generally contains about 80 per cent, of car-

Combustion to (lie Use and Economy of Fuel. 193

-bon, and only 3 to 5 per cent, of hydrogen. While, there-
fore, we are justified in applying generally the laws which
regulate the combustion of carbon to the use of common coal,
we cannot overlook the influence of hydrogen, as it modifies
greatly the action of the other element. This will be readily
granted, because, 1st, Its heating power, weight for weight,
is three to four times that of carbon ; 2d, To its presence
we owe the production of illuminating gas when coal is dis- •
tilled ; Sd^ It is also solely and entirely the origin of flame,
and smoke or soot, in the combustion of coal. These are all
most important considerations.

In Table II. we give the particulars of its combustion. Wo
would draw special attention to column 9, in which we deduct
8685" Fahr. from its heating power when used for ordinary
purposes, such as raising of steam, and, indeed, for all pur-
poses where the terminal temperature exceeds 212°, because
above 212" that amount of caloric (8685°) is latent, and for
all heating and pyrometrical ends may be regarded as non-
existent. If we cool the products below 212^ this caloric
becomes sensible ; and this, Andrews and other experimenters
did. In several treatises on fuel this allowance is not made ;
the heating power is assumed, for practical purposes, as
60,840°, and the temperature upwards of 4000° Fahrenheit,
while in reality they are only 52,155° and 3476° respec-
tively.

We might have given for hydrogen a table precisely similar
to Table III., but it is unnecessary. The same laws apply to
both elements, with this difference : In carbon, the original
products of combustion (carbonic acid and nitrogen) have
•2596 specific heat; and all successive additions of air in
excess have '2669 specific heat — almost the same in botii
cases. But in burning hydrogen, the original products (vapour
of water and nitrogen) have -4191 specific heat, which is much
higher than that of air. This necessitates a change in the
formulae for hydrogen, to suit diminishing specific heat with
every addition of draught. We shall simply give formulae,
assuming 52,155° as the heating power, and 3476° (in round
numbers 3500'^ as the initial temperature with 1 equivalent
of draught.

194 On the Application of certain Laws of Heat and

Formula 1. In the combustion of hydrogen, to find the
initial temperature due to any amount of air or draught,
divide 3500° by 1 for 1 equivalent of draught. For every
additional equivalent, or part of equivalent, increase the
divisor by -6, or a proportional part of -6. Examples —

With 1- draught the initial temperature is 3500° -f- 1- = 3500°
... 1-4 do. do. 3500° -~ 124 = 2822°

... 2- do. do. 3500° -7- 1-6 =2187°

... 2.5 do. do. 3500° -T- 19 =1842°

Where both carbon and hydrogen are present, we must use
both formulae, if the proportions are ascertainable in which
the two are present.

Formula 2. To find the loss of heat by waste products,
multiply the terminal temperature by the equivalents of
draught, one equivalent being represented by 1-, two by 16,
three by 2-2, &c., as in last formula. The constant number,
3500", is to the product as the whole caloric capable of being
utilised is to the loss. Examples —

Draught 1- Ter. temp. 600° Then 500° x 1' = Loss 500°=14-3 per ct. of 3500°
... 2- ... 300° ... 300° X 1-6= ... 480°=13 7
... 1-2 ... 1000° ... 1000° X 112= ... 1120°=320

Formula 3. To find the proportion of caloric which is non-
effective, so far as the hydrogen element is concerned, proceed
as in formula 2 ; for the actual terminal temperature substi-
tuting the temperature of the surface or body to which the
heat is applied.

In applying these rules, we require an approximation as to
the quantities of carbon and hydrogen present, in order to
estimate the combined influence.

It will be seen that with 2 draught the loss of heat is about
equal in carbon and hydrogen for the same terminal tempera-
ture. With less draught, the loss is greater in hydrogen than
in carbon ; with more draught, it is rather less.

A hsorbing Surface required in the case of Hydrogen.

The current will be subject to the same laws as that from
carbon — viz., as the difference of temperature between the

Combustion to the Use and Economy of Fuel. 195

absorbing surface and the current increases, the quantity of
caloric communicated in the same space and time will increase
also, and vice versa. But the actual velocity of communication
at the same temperature is different for different gases. (See
Gmelin, vol. i. p. 233). Until, therefore, this point has been
determined Avith regard to each of the two distinct currents
we have had under consideration, no definite comparison can
be instituted between the heat-giving powers under any given
conditions of temperature or draught. But if we assume the
power of giving out heat as equal in carbon and hydrogen
at same temperatures, then it will follow that carbon, produc-
ing with the same draught a much higher temperature than
hydrogen, will be more economical, and require less boiler
space for absorption.

Temp, of current from Carbon. Draught I — Temp. 4400* 2 — 2200» 3 — 14«6» 4 — 1 100*
Hydrogen. ... 1 ... 8500* 2 — 2187* 3 — 1591» 4 — 1250*

In excessive draughts — three or four equivalents or upwards,
the temperatures are nearly equal — hydrogen slightly in excess;
but the difference in favour of carbon is very marked when
the draught is one to two equivalents. And perhaps the fact
that bituminous or hydrogenous fuels do not in practice ap-
proach so closely to their theoretical power of heating as do
carbonaceous fuels, may be partly owing to the operation of
this law ; although there are also better known causes at
work producing such a result.

On the Joint-Combustion of Carbon and Ilt/drogen, as they
exist in ordinary Coal.

For details as to composition, modes of analysis, &c., we
must refer to the proper authorities, and shall still endeavour
to apply ascertained first principles to the phenomena of com-
bustion.

The ordinary constituents of coal are, — carbon ; hydrogen,
combined with oxygen, as water; hydrogen, not combined
with oxygen ; and ashes or mineral matter.

The table below is founded on the elaborate investigations
by Dr L. Playfair and Sir H. de la Beche. Columns 8 to 12
we add as illustrative of future remarks.

196 On the Application of certain Laws of Heat and

Locality.

Arerage Composition, 100 parti.

On Distillation, there is

k
1

a

1

{

C3

1-

la

feT3

1'

1 .
eg (3

it
|2

1

r

Left as Coke
or Cinder.

Expelled in Oaseous Form.

3 = 4!

CO a tt

As VoUtUe
Hydrocarbons.

1

a
i

6

{

1

e

1

Waleff

8378
8212
77-90
78-83
79-68
1.

4-27
4-60
4-68
440
8-66
2.

4-67
6-40
10-72
10-90
11-66
8.

2-41
2-59
2-74
2-11
2-42
4.

4-91
877
4-88
4-03
2-65
6.

4-91
377
4-88
4-03
2-66
6.

67-69
66-90
65-84
6019
66-67
7.

6-68
8-99
13-46
13-01
13-98
8.

4-27
4-60
4-63
4-40
8-66
9.

16-09
25-22
22-56
28-34
2301
10.

20-36
29-82
26-69
32-74
26-67
11.

lto3«
1 to 6-5
1 to 5-4
1 to 6-4
1 to 6-3
12.

Newcastle...
Lancashire..

Scotland

Derbyshire..

Pure carbon, on distillation, yields nothing volatile.

Coal or wood, as the table shows, evolves a variable amount
of gaseous matter, containing the volatile bodies in its com-
position, with the addition of 16 to 23 per cent, of carbon
rendered gaseous and volatile by combination with the free
hydrogen.

The hydrogen and carbon in combination maybe evolved as
tarry vapours, light-carburretted hydrogen, defiant gas, or
in various other forms of hydrocarbon. Much depends on the
temperature employed — if it is low, tarry vapours will be
largely formed ; as the temperature rises, the proportion of
carbon, as compared with hydrogen, diminishes. Speaking
generally, 1st, At a low temperature, 200° to 600°, water is ex-
pelled ; 2c?, At 600° and upwards, various liquid hydrocar-
bons, tar, &c., with a large proportion of carbon ; Sd, As the
temperature rises, hydrocarbons, with still less carbon, as
olefiant (1 hydrogen to 6 carbon) ; 4fh, Hydrocarbons with
still less carbon, as light-carburretted hydrogen (1 hydrogen
to 3 carbon) ; 5th, At intense heat, a minute quantity of pure
hydrogen.

Precisely similar are the changes when fresh fuel is thrown
on ignited fuel, only the whole process is much more rapid,
and combustion is at the same time going on in the part
already evolved.

Taking Newcastle coal as an example, suppose 100 lb.
thrown into a furnace containing brightly ignited cinder or
coke, at intervals of 10 minutes, the phenomena that follow
may be roughly stated thus : —

Combustion to the Use and Economy of Fuel. 197

6 40 lb. Water expelled at the very outset.
29-82 „ Volatile hydrocarbons expelle^l, commencing with those
containing much carbon, and ending with almost
pure hydrogen.
56*90 „ Fixed carbon or cinder, which has now reached the
temperature of ignition, commences to burn; while
during the whole period the carbon or cinder previ-
ously in the furnace has been burning steadily.

3*77 „ Ash or clinker remains as incombustible.

2*69 „ Nitrogen and sulphur, the period of evolution of which
is immaterial for our present purpose.

99-58 lb. Coal.

Generally the volatile ingredients are expelled in the first-
fourth, or first-third of the interval, although not necessarily so.
With these data before us, we would remark —

1. In ordinary bituminous coal, yielding a gaseous com-
bustible, the process of combustion is distinctly divisible into
two parts, as regards the locality of its occurrence. First,
The fixed carbon or cinder burns on the hearth more or less
uniformly and continuously. Secondly, The volatile part
must burn, if burned at all, in the body of the furnace, or
space above the fuel, into which space it is projected as evolved.

With Newcastle coal let us estimate the air required for
these separate processes of combustion —

Air.
'^:;S'^rh^"}»«^«''- . . . • X 11-6 lb. air = 66011.

Total atmospheric air required. . . 1113 lb.

For complete combustion, therefore, C60 lb. air must be
brought into contact with the cinder on the hearth, and 453 lb.
into contact with the hydrocarbon gases above the hearth.

2. In the case supposed, perfection, so far as attainable,
would evidently be, first, a uniform rate of combustion of the
cinder on the hearth, at the rate of 569 lb. per minute under
the influence of a constant current of 66 lb. air per minute ;
and secondly, a uniform evolution of gaseous combustible in
the furnace at the rate of 298 lb. per minute, and ita com-
bustion under the influence of a constant supply of 453 lb.
air per minute. And, with regard to the proper points of

NBW SERIES. VOL. XI. NO. II. APRIL 1860. 2 A

198 On the Applicalion of certain Lawa of Heal and

admission of the two currents of air, several reasons might be
given why, the former supply being admitted as usual through
the bars, the latter should be admitted by an opening above
the bars, so placed as that the gas, as evolved, shall be pro-
jected into an atmosphere containing air sufficient for its
combustion. The most important of these reasons we would
express thus : —

" Combustion of a hydrocarbon may be accomplished either
by introducing it into an atmosphere containing common air,
or by introducing common air into an atmosphere containing
the hydrocarbon ; but in the former case the combustion is
much more complete than in the latter."

Hydrocarbon projected into air. — A gas jet affords a
familiar illustration of this. The combustion is almost per-
fect — no smoke is produced, but intense light and heat.
Outside the flame the hydrogen burns producing an atmo-
sphere of 3500" temperature ; and through this barrier the
carbon must pass before it escape. The heat is so intense,
however, that it becomes white hot, and burns into carbonic
acid with an accompanying temperature of 4400°. The heat
thus kept up continues the process, decomposing the gas
into hydrogen and white hot carbon, which again burn in
succession.

Air projected into an atmosphere of hydrocarbon. — Such
a jet will burn if lighted ; but the results are very different.
Gmelin thus describes the appearance : — " The flame appears
to be dark within ; then a brilliant envelope, hot enough to
melt platinum ; then toward the outside a dark yellow flame,
lengthening above, and containing soot, the greater part of
which remains unburnt." Why this difference ? The jet of
air is surrounded by an atmosphere of hydrocarbon. The
hydrogen first takes fire with a heat of 3500" as the conse-
quence. This heat is communicated to the adjacent hydro-
carbon, decomposing it into carbon and hydrogen. But the
carbon is simply heated, and rising with the ascending cur-
rent quickly cools from white hot to yellow, from yellow to
red, from red to black. It has now become soot. In short,
when we burn a jet of hydrocarbon in air, the carbon has to
pass through a barrier of flame ensuring its combustion ;

Combustion to the Use and Economy of Fuel. 199

when we burn hydrocarbon around a jet of air, the hydrogen
bums, but the carbon is simply heated, and in time deposits
as soot.

To apply this to the case before us. By introducing above
the fuel the air required for the gaseous portion, we burn the
hydrocarbon in an atmosphere of air; while by drawing this air
through the fuel, we to a great extent burn the hydrocarbon
by jets of air.

Any one may satisfy himself that the latter is the case
generally in practice. The flame described by Gmelin —
white, yellow, red, and finally black — is a common phenomenon
in most furnaces. And it may be accepted as an axiom that
a fiame which exhibits decreasing intensity of light, in-
vanably ends in smoke. A flame in which the carbon is
being converted into carbonic acid, can never exhibit a red
appearance ; when that occurs, the temperature has already
fallen below the point of ignition.

To return ; we thus find that of the air required for New-
castle coal, 60 per cent. (660 lb.) should pass through the
bars, and -10 per cent. (453 lb.) should be introduced above.
And it appears to be most in accordance with the principle
here involved, that if excess of air above the quantity chemi-
cally required be given, it should be above entirely. It is
probable that a slight excess of air contributes to the com-
bustion of the carbonaceous portion of hydrocarbon gases.

Assuming the regulation of draught as practicable, how may
we best obtain that regular and uniform combustion of both
fixed and volatile ingredients which can alone agree with a
regular and uniform supply of air above and below the bars ?

An automaton feeding apparatus, by which the fuel is con-
stantly projected into the furnace in small quantities, seems
most suitable. But as such apparatus requires a uniform
motive power, and is inapplicable to the greater number of
boiler furnaces, we shall confine our remarks to hand-fueling,
and enumerate the points which tend to secure regular and uni-
form combustion, keeping previous remarks on minimum
draught still in view.

1. Frequent fueling or firing.

2. Maintaining a uniform thickness or depth at all times.

200 On the Application of certain Laws of Heat and

and in all parts of the furnace. The effect of this is to render
the resistance to the passage of the air uniform.

3. Maintaining considerable depth of fuel, much greater
than is commonly the case. By no other means can we diminish
the draught and raise the initial temperature, — consume the
gaseous carbon and economise fuel.

4. Another most important end served by having great depth
of fuel, and at the same time sufficient area of bar surface, is,
that the draught being diminished, fewer passages are required
for the hot gaseous products rising from the cinder below. The
upper layers of fresh fuel may thus lie close without prejudice
to the draught, are subjected to a more gradual heat, and
consequently give off the gaseous combustible vapours more
slowly and uniformly.

Influence of Excessive Draught on the joint Combustion of
Carbon and Hydrogen.

In applying the principles previously laid down to this part
of our inquiry, we must keep in view the nature and succession
of the phenomena which accompany the combustion of hydro-
carbons.

1. Previous to combustion, they are decomposed, under the
influence of heat, into their elements, hydrogen and carbon.
Flame is simply carbon precipitated in a visible form, and
raised to a high temperature by the surrounding caloric.

2. The hydrogen element burns first. A very low temper-
ature is sufficient ; at 600°, considerably under red heat, it com-
mences. The carbon is necessarily freed from combination, and
deposited at the same moment, and its colour will indicate the
temperature present.

3. If the temperature produced by the combustion of the
hydrogen is high, or if caloric from any other source is present,
the precipitated carbon burns also. This does not occur, how-
ever, until the temperature reaches a certain intensity. At a
red heat, 800° to 900°, combustion of carbon slowly commences,
but does not go on rapidly, until a much higher temperature,
at least a white heat, is attained. If this temperature is not
attained, the carbon passes off unconsumed, becoming red, dull
red, and black, as it cools.

Combuetion to the Use and Economy of Fuel. 201

It appears evident, that in any'ordinary furnace, the temper-
ature may, and does, suffice to decompose the hydrocarbon,
and burn the hydrogen ; but whether the carbon thus sepa-
rated be also burned, depends on the presence of a temperature
of considerably greater intensity. And this temperature must
be present, not on the hearth, but in the open space above
in the body of the furnace, where the decomposition of the
hydrocarbons takes place. In other words, the initial temper-
ature must be high ; and this can be effected only by the
regulation of draught, as before indicated, and by presenting
the fuel to its influence under proper conditions.

The colour of the flame or precipitated carbon affords an
indication of the temperature at any point of a furnace. For
a few data on this point, see Table I, columns A and B. The
occurrence of black or dark red in the flame will thus indicate
excessive draught. The truth of this indication may be relied
on, as the results were verified by actual calculation of the
amount of air passing. The only exception occurs where close
proximity of a metallic conducting medium, such as boiler
plate, cools the flame prematurely, even with limited draught.
Such furnaces are, it is feared, incurably smoky in most cases.

We would recommend frequent attention to these appear-
ances ; and it will be found, with the above exception, that as
the draught is reduced, and other arrangements altered to cor-
respond, the flame will become reduced in size, and increased
in brilliancy.

Since combustion of the gaseous carbon, as precipitated, is
the same thing as prevention or consumption of smoke, we may
recapitulate the principal points involved. First, Proper re-
gulation of draught, by maintaining a high temperature in
the body of the furnace, renders the combustion of the carbo-
naceous particles therein suspended possible. Secondly, It
diminishes the rush of hot air through the fuel, and thus tends
to produce regular and uniform evolution of the gas. Thirdly,
It lengthens the period during which the carbonaceous particles
are subjected to the undiminished initial temperature.

As a corollary, we may safely add, that every influence
tending to diminish initial temperature tends to produce
smoke and waste fuel. Damp in the fuel has a very cooling

202 On the Application of certain Laws of Heat and

efifect, as it absorbs both latent and sensible heat at the moment
when it can be least spared.

But that which exerts the most powerful influence in re-
ducing initial temperature is the practice, now so common, of
completely enclosing the furnace in the boiler flue. The body
of hot gaseous matter which it is desirable to maintain for a
time, at a temperature of 2000° and upwards, in order that it
may burn the carbonaceous particles suspended in it, is thus
surrounded by a rapidly absorbing metallic surface, at a tem-
perature of 250" to 300°. The consequence is, a rapid and
premature diminution of the initial temperature, while the
combustion of the precipitated carbon is suddenly arrested.
Other things being equal, such furnaces produce more smoke
than others, with every precaution as to fueling, and regula-
tion of draught. This method has been highly recommended
for this reason, that the furnace being limited by the boiler, its
dimensions are not left to the discretion of parties considered
incompetent. But a large furnace is not in itself an evil, as
the experience of the Cornish miners for generations proves ;
and only becomes so when a system of thin fires, with exces-
sive draught, is persisted in. Cornish practice, the most eco-
nomical and successful in the world, is " thick fires, extensive
grate area, and slow draught." The consequence must be,
high initial temperature, gradual and uniform combustion,
prevention of smoke, and the utmost economy of heat, both in
its production and application.

Unless the furnace in which the heat is produced be removed
from the boiler or other body to which the heat is to be applied,
either entirely, or so far at least as to allow of a high initial
temperature, we do not hope to see smoke generally consumed.
In modern boiler-making, it seems to be forgot, that the fuel,
both in its fixed and volatile constituents, is consumed hy
caloHc while generating it. A style of furnace, which seems
somewhat in accordance with the views here expressed, is men-
tioned in " Fuel and its Applications," by Drs Ronalds and
llichardson, p. 264. It is there stated to be smoke-consuming.

Supposing a regulated draught, and gradual and uniform
combustion of both fixed and gaseous combustibles attained, it
may be useful to inquire what appearance the waste products

Combustion to the Use and Economy of Fuel. 203

ought to present, as they issue from the chimney-top. As-
sume 100 lb. coal burned in ten minutes = 10 lb. per minute ;
the product per minute should consist of —

301 lb. carbonic acid, invisible.
1020 lb, nitrogen, do.

47 lb. vapour of water, visible.

This emission of steam, at the rate of 4 to 5 lb. per minute,
will appear as a faint cloud, on contact with the cold atmo-
sphere.

The ordinary appearance is very different. For the first
two or three minutes after fueling, we see a dense black cloud
of soot mingled with vapour of water, which suddenly ceases,
leaving nothing but invisible carbonic acid and nitrogen, until
another fueling occurs, to be followed by the same results.

As these sudden evolutions are always smoky, let us see
what takes place in the furnace, supposing the gaseous evolu-
tion over in the first three minutes out of ten, with 100 lb. of
fuel. The draught remains nearly uniform generally, what-
ever be the fluctuations in the combustion.

1

1

, Cinder bnming at uniform rate)

renuirea, . . . f

1 nydrocarbon, evolTcd in threei

1 minutes, requires, j

Total requirements each minute.

With one dranghf, the con*tant\
current would l)e, . . j

But to meet the requirements)
of the first three minutes, thc>
constant current must Ixs, )

ll

S3

u c

^2
-1

SI

o —

ll

3|

us

5i?

— C

^2

II

Air.

66
161

66
151

66
151

66

66

66

66

66

66

66

=660 lb.
=453 lb.

217

217

217

66

66

66

66

66

66

66

=1113 lb.

111

111

111

111

III

111

111

111

111

111

=1110 lb.

217

217

217

217

217

217

217

217

217

217

=2170 lb.

This system of fiieling thus places us in a dilemma. If
the draught is so adjusted as to be equal to one equivalent on
the whole quantity of fuel, one-half of the combustibles escape
unconsumed during the first three minutes. If air is supplied
sufficient for the first period, it is in excess for the remainder,
and amounts in all to two equivalents. This causes loss of
heat, as before shown. Besides, the probability is, that after
all, smoke will bo produced, as there is more hydrocarbon

204 On the Application of certain Laws of Heat and

present at one moment than when uniform combustion goes
on, which involves a lower initial temperature ; and the damp
and water of composition has also a stronger influence, being
more quickly expelled, along with the hydrocarbon. This
explains why the admission of air above the fuel frequently
fails in preventing smoke, and generally entails loss of fuel.
The only remedy is uniform and constant evolution of gas and
combustion of cinder ; with uniform draught, and the other
conditions already referred to.

Where uniform evolution and combustion cannot be attained,
probably the next best plan is that proposed by Prideaux, — to
admit a variable quantity of air above, to suit the variable
evolution of gaseous matter.

In closing our remarks, it is evident that we have left un-
touched two very important heads of inquiry. First, We have
carefully abstained from entering upon those practical details
as to construction and size of furnace, &;c., which the prin-
ciples laid down have suggested. This has been done, from a
conviction that much more depends on the regulation of
draught, on depth of fuel, and especially on the position of the
furnace, relative to the absorbing surface, &c., than on mere
points of construction. For, however complete our arrange-
ments may otherwise be, fuel will be wasted where draught is
excessive, and smoke will be produced, more or less, where the
flame, before it becomes converted into invisible gaseous matter,
is allowed to touch a boiler-plate or other metallic conductor.
In the second place, although we have assumed draught as
capable of being calculated, and found it to be so, we have not
entered on the subject. But the pneumatic laws which regu-
late the motion of gaseous currents are as definite as those
which concern the phenomena of combustion, or the perform-
ance of the steam-engine. To those who object to the use of
thermometers or pyrometers for initial and terminal temper-
atures, scales for registering area of damper, and gauges for
force of draught, we would say, — look to the boiler, for the
working of which the furnace is constructed, and the fuel con-
sumed. Probably it is supplied with one or more gauges to
indicate pressure, with gauge or float, to indicate depth of
water, with safety-valve and fusible plug to prevent explosion.

Combustion to the Use and Economy of Fuel. 205

with atmospheric valve to prevent collapse. Why all these \
They are required. The same may be said with equal truth
of those appliances in connection with the furnace, to which
we refer. If the fireman has to watch the pressure of steam,
and the depth of water, why not the area of the damper, the
force of draught, and the weight of fuel. Towards such a
system of operation, the present paper may be, perhaps, re-
ceived by those to whom the subject is important, as a slight
contribution.

Notes on Califomian Trees. By Andrew Murray, F.R.S.E.
Part II. (Plates VI., VII., VIII., IX.)

Wellingtonia gigantea. The Mammoth Tree.
(Woodcut, and Plates VI. and VII.)

The history of this long-lived tree has been so fully de-
tailed by the various authors who have noticed it, and more
particularly by Dr Seemann, so recently as March last, in the
"Annals and Magazine of Natural History," that I should not
have thought of including it as one of the subjects of my notes,
were it not for the sake of some photographs of the tree sent

NEW SERIES. VOL. XI. NO. II. APRIL 1860. 2 B

206 Notes on Cali/ornian Trees.

me by my brother, copies of which will, I feel sure, be accept-
able to the public.

It is so far well that the possession of these photographs
should have in a measure constrained me to include a notice
of this tree in my list, as most certainly notes on Californian
trees, without any notice of the Wellingtonia, would have
been as bad as " Hamlet with the part of Hamlet omitted."
But I have little new to say regarding it, and I only offer,
as a pendant to the sketches I have given, a short resume of
what has been already published by others, and most of
which has been collected by Dr Seemann, to whom I oflfer my
acknowledgments for the use I have made of his able paper.

The tree is said to have been first seen by the unfortunate
Douglas in his Californian explorations; but this has now been
shown to be a mistake. The route by which he travelled is per-
fectly known, and he never came within a hundred and twenty
miles of any of the known examples of Wellingtonia. What he
saw was Sequoia sempervirens, as may be otherwise inferred
from the terms in which he speaks of it. The real Wellingtonia
was first discovered by Mr Lobb, and introduced into this coun-
try in 1853, and described by Dr Lindley in the " Gardener's
Chronicle" in that year. An ancient Californian tradition, of
nearly ten years' existence, ascribes its discovery to a Mr J.
M. Wooster, as one of the trees in the Mammoth Grove bears
on its bark the inscription of " J. M. Wooster, Ju. 1850."
Of course it had been discovered in a literal sense long pre-
viously by the Californian aborigines ; but as priority of dis-
covery depends upon priority of publication, they must give
way ; and as Mr Wooster's publication, at the best, can only
be looked upon as a manusanpt notice, we must, under the rules
which regulate priority in such matters, hail Mr Lobb as first
discoverer, although admittedly he himself was directed to it
by general rumour current among the European settlers.

Dr Lindley is still more undeniably the first describer, and
the name given by him to the tree {Wellingtonia gigantea)
has of course precedence over all others. Notwithstanding
this, the Americans made a strong eflfort to change the name
into one bearing reference to Washington. As Dr Seemann
tells us, •' they even commenced in their newspapers an agi-
tation against the adoption of the name Wellingtonia^ quite

Notes on Cali/omian Trees. 207

ignoring that the savans of their country bow to the same
code of scientific laws which govern the conduct of their
European brethren, and that no amount of popular clamour
could cause the right of priority here at stake to be set aside.
When, therefore," says he, " Dr Winslow exhorted his coun-
trymen in grandiloquent language to call the mammoth tree,
if it be a Taxodium, T. Washing ionium ; if a new genus,
Washingtonia Califomica ; he simply proclaimed to all the
world that he knew nothing whatever of the laws govern-
ing systematic botany." Perhaps the reader may like to see
a specimen of the style under cover of which Dr Winslow pro-
posed to effect this act of appropriation. It reads more like a
speech concocted by Dickens for Mr Jefferson Brick than a
real true hona fide speech. But I beg to assure them the
article is genuine. It is as follows : —

" The name that has been applied to this tree by Professor
Lindley, an English botanist, is Wellingtonia gigantea. By
him it is declared to be so much unlike other coniferaB, as not
only to be a new species, but to require description as a new
genus. Other botanists of eminence think differently. To
this, however, he has seen fit to apply the name of an English
hero, a step indicating as much personal arrogance or weak-
ness as scientific indelicacy ; for it must have been a promi-
nent idea in the mind of that person that American natural-
ists would regard with surprise and reluctance the application
of a British name, however meritoriously honoured, when a
name so worthy of immortal honour and renown as that of
Washington would strike the mind of the world as far more
suitable to the most gigantic and remarkable vegetable won-
der indigenous to a country where his name is the most dis-
tinguished ornament. As he and his generation declared
themselves independent of all English rule and political dic-
tation, so American naturalists must in this case express their
respectful dissent from all British scientific stamp acts. If
the big tree be a Taxodium^ let it be called now and for ever
Taxodium Washing ionium. If it should be properly ranked
as a new genus, then let it be called to the end of time Wash-
ingtonia Californica. The generic name indicates unpa-
ralleled greatness and grandeur ; its specific name, the only
locality in the world where it is found. No names can be

208 Notes on Califomian Trees.

more appropriate ; and if it be in accordance with the views
of American botanists, I trust the scientific honour of our
country may be vindicated from foreign indelicacy by boldly
discarding the name now applied to it, and by affixing to it
that of the immortal man whose memory we all love and
honour, and teach our children to adore. Under any and all
circumstances, however, whether of perpetuity or extinction,
the name of Wellington should be discarded, and that of
Washington attached to it and transmitted to the schools of
future ages."

Does the reader concur with Dr Seeraann in thinking that
all that this gentleman, who is so sensitively alive to the feel-
ings of delicacy, shows in this oration, is ignorance of the
laws governing systematic botany ? With great deference, it
seems to me to show an ignorance of something much more
important — viz., ignorance of the first principles of common
honesty. The appropriation in this instance would have been
a double theft, first of the honour or right to his own appella-
tion, which belongs to every sponsor ; and next of the happy
idea which led Dr Lindley to consecrate this grandest of trees
to the grandest of our national heroes. As Messrs Sang and
Co., nurserymen, Kirkcaldy, say, in an exceedingly neat and
comprehensive account which they have published of the tree
and its history, if the Americans want such a memorial for their
great man, let them discover and describe their big trees for
themselves. This attempt at appropriation, however, has failed.
The better class of American botanists have repudiated it, and
in a few years the name Washingtonia will have passed from
the memories of men, except as a scientific, or rather unscien-
tijic, synonym.

Doubts, however, have been cast upon the distinctness of
Wellingtonia as a genus, which, if well founded, might deprive
us of that name. True, Dr Seemann, who is next in priority,
has attempted to save it by condemning the specific name gi-
gantea, as already preoccupied, and substituting Sequoia Wel-
lingtonia for Wellingtonia gigantea; and his reasons for hold-
ing that the specific name gigantea has been already misapplied
by Endlicher seem probable enough ; but I trust we shall not
require to settle this point. The genus seems perfectly good —
as good, indeed, as any genus in this difficult and closely allied

Notes on Califomian Trees. 209

group of tMM. The authors who have maintained that Wei-
lingtonia and Sequoia are not generically distinct are Dr
Seemann, Dr Torrey, and M. Decaisne. I am not aware that
any other botanists have adhered to their views ; but they
speak with confidence, and would seem to imply that if Dr
Lindley, at the time he proposed the genus, had had the mate-
rials which we now possess — (the male catkins are, I believe,
what is referred to) — he would not have erected the tree into a
separate genus ; and hence, that we may infer that he now
abandons it. They do not say this in so many words, but it is
what one would naturally infer from Dr Seemann's expressions.
On such a point as the soundness of the genus, it becomes me,
a mere amateur in botany, to speak with great diffidence ;
but there is nothing which I have learned with more certainty
from my zoological studies than that, in determining what
elements are to be considered of generic value, no one set of
characters can be wholly relied on. It is a just appreciation
and balancing of the whole which leads the naturalist to a
right conclusion. If he rests his views entirely upon one
class of structure (whether it be the reproductive, the diges-
tive, the respiratory, the vascular, the nervous, or the osseous
systems) to the exclusion of the others, he will fall into error.
And it must be the same with the botanist : if he builds his
genera solely upon the reproductive organs, neglecting the
respiratory (I mean the foliage), as I think has been done by
Dr Seemann and Dr Torrey in this instance, I should antici-
pate that he must fall into error. In Wellingtonia gigantea
and Sequoia sempervirens the difference in the foliage is
most marked. Were there no other character to distinguish
them, I should hold this to be sufficient. But with a just dis-
trust of my own opinion in such a matter, I have applied to
Dr Lindley himself to know whether any change has taken
place in his views in consequence of the light thrown upon the
subject by the additional materials, and the additional views
(whose value I am far from depreciating) thrown out by the
gentlemen I have named ; and Dr Lindley has had the kind-
ness to inform me, and allows me to inform the reader, that
he has seen no reason to change his opinion. His letter is as
follows : —

210 Notes on Californian Trees.

" Acton Green, Turnham Green, London, W.,
" 5th January 1860.

" My dear Sir, — Notwithstanding the criticisms of M.
Decaisne, Dr Torrey, and Dr Seemann, I adhere to my
opinion that Wellingtonia is necessarily distinguished from
Sequoia, unless all the modern dismemberments of the old
genera, Pinus, Cupressus, and Thuja, are to be cancelled — a
measure in which I should not concur. It has not a little
surprised me to find gentlemen who have no objection to offer
to Abies as distinguished from Pinus, Sequoia itself from
Taxodium, Selaginella from Lycopodium, Lastrea from As-
pidium, LesTcea and Neckera from Hypnum, and so on, never-
theless opposing the establishment of Wellingtonia. Surely
systematical naturalists must allow, that, as structure becomes
simpler and simpler, so must distinctive characters be sought
in smaller and smaller diflferences. To apply the method of
classification suitable for Rosacece to such an order as the
coniferous seems to me unphilosophical.

"I therefore presume to differ from the authorities just
mentioned; in doing which I am rejoiced to find that you
agree with me. — Very truly yours,

" John Lindley."

The difference is no doubt not great ; chiefly, as above men-
tioned, in the character of the foliage. The diflferences in any
of the other characters might, I think, in themselves be viewed
as only of specific value : the cones, for instance, in Sequoia
are smaller and more rounded ; the male catkins also are more
rounded and expanded; but the foliage is the true distinction ;
and I think we may be very glad to get such a distinction,
to break up the tribe of Cupressus, which is so diflBcult and
puzzling to distinguish and classify.

Like a great many of the North- West American trees, the
Wellingtonia seems to be confined to isolated patches. In-
deed it is a curious fact (as pointed out by Alphonse Decan-
dolle) that trees, as distinguished from other plants, generally
have confined ranges.

The first place where it was found was at a spot called the
Calaveros Grove (more recently the Mammoth-Tree Grove),
near the head-waters of the Stanislaus and San Antonio

Not€8 on Califomian Trees. 211

rivers, in long. 120" 10' W., lat. 38° N., and about 4590 feet
above the sea level. There the number of trees still standing
amounts to 92. Two other localities are now known, one in
Mariposa, and the other in Fresno county. The Mariposa
grove contains about 400 trees, and the Fresno grove about
(300 ; and it is from the former that the photographs which
have furnished the accompanying plates have been taken.
The tree is also said to have been met with in Carson Creek,
a few miles to the north of Mammoth-Tree Grove ; and Car-
rieres stated that an officer of the French navy brought cones
identical with those obtained in California from a latitude
about ten degrees north of these localities, but the identity of
these cones with those of the Welling tenia has been doubted.
It is said also to have been met with in various other parts of
the Sierra Nevada ; but if so, it does not there attain the gi-
gantic dimensions of those in the groves above mentioned.

The tree is undoubtedly the largest and most magnificent
known on the face of the earth. Its ally, the Sequoia aem-
pervirens, is not far short of it in size, but still stands a little
in the background. The average dimensions of both trees
when full grown are about 300 feet in height and 90 feet in
circumference. We have great difficulty in realising this im-
mense height, and to assist us we must have recourse to other
objects of comparison. To an Edinburgh man we have a very
good one. The Gas Company's great chimney, although built
in a hollow deep below Nelson's Monument, yet has its top
7 feet higher. Now it is only 329 feet high in all, including
its pedestal, which is 65 feet in height ; and as we shall pre-
sently see, one of these mammoth trees was actually 450 feet
high, or nearly a third higher than that tremendous chimney.
And Lord Richard Grosvenor, in a recent number of the "Gar-
deners' Chronicle" (7th January 1860), speaks of one he had
just seen as 116 feet in circumference, and 450 feet high. It
is taller than St Peter's, and little short of the height of the
Pyramids. Another way of bringing home to our sensations
an idea of the enormous size of these trees is that used by
Messrs Sang. They calculate the quantity of wood in a tree,
and its value at a penny per foot of inch deal. The result is
L.6250 for a big one. What a nice little provision an acre

212 Notes on Califomian Trees.

of Wellingtonia would make for a younger son or daughter
of the proprietor of an entailed estate !

Mr Laphara, the proprietor of the Mammoth Tree Grove,
gives an interesting account, in the Kew Miscellany, of the
dimensions of these trees. He tells us that most of the speci-
mens now standing attain the average height of 300 feet ; but
one of them, known as the " Mother of the Forest," and
stripped of its bark to the height of 116 feet for the purpose
of being publicly exhibited, actually measures 327 feet in
height and 90 feet in circumference. Enormous as these di-
mensions may seem, they are put in the shade by remembering
what those of another tree must have been when in full vigour.
This " Father of the Forest," as the specimen has been ap-
propriately termed, has long since bowed his head in the dust,
and now lies at length carelessly diflFused. He still measures
112 feet in circumference at the base, and can be traced 300
feet where the trunk was broken by falling against another
tree ; it here measures 18 feet in diameter, and according to
the average taper of the other trees, this giant must have been
about 450 feet high, and was no doubt one of the loftiest vege-
table forms of the present creation. A hollow chamber or burnt
cavity extends through the trunk for 200 feet, large enough for
a person to ride through. I may run shortly over the dimen-
sions given by Mr Lapham of some of the other trees. " The
Miner's Cabin" (for they have almost all received names)
measures 80 feet in circumference, and is 300 feet in height.
The "Three Graces," growing on one root, are 92 feet in united
circumference, and 290 feet in height. The " Old Bachelor,"
which we are told is a forlorn-looking individual having
many rents in the bark, and withal the most shabby-looking
tree in the forest, is about 60 feet in circumference and 300
feet high. " Husband and Wife," leaning affectionately to
one another, 60 feet in circumference and 250 feet in height.
"Hercules," 97 feet in circumference and 325 feet high.
" Addie and Mary" are each Qo feet in circumference, and
300 feet high. " Uncle* Tom's Cabin," 75 feet in circumfer-
ence and 300 feet high. They seem all to rise also like solid
pillars, without a branch for nearly two-thirds of their height,
often with furrowed bark, so as to look like fluted columns. The

Notes on Calt/omian Trees. 213

trees in Mariposa Grove are perhaps more various in |)oint of
age, but many of them do not fall much behind those of the
Calaveros Grove in dimensions. One of those which I have
figured from the photograph was 94 feet in circumference, and
the butt, with the man leaning on it, shown in the woodcut
placed at the beginning of this article, must have been still
more. The smallest tree that could be found was 24 feet in
circumference, and that of the next tree about 42 feet, and
I shall tell the reader how I know.

My brother, last autumn, desired to obtain some seed of the
Wellingtonia to send home. Now, this is not an easy thing.
In the first place, the trees are greatly too high to allow of get-
ting up them by any contrivance. I suggested flying a kite over
them, and by that means getting a rope up the one side and
down the other. Jjct any one fancy such an experiment being
made over the Gas Company's chimney, and let him also fancy
that after the rope was across, that he was the person to go up.
I rather imagine he will not think it necessary for me to prove
the inapplicability of my plan, unless, indeed, on the principle
of hiring and sending out Steeple Jack (and he, poor man, I be-
lieve is dead, and has left no successors in his business). To
cut down a tree was not impossible. It had been done already
by speculators more than once to get a section for exhibition.
I remember that in 1 854 (shortly after the discovery of the
tree), my brother was himself applied to to get a slice of it
(not less than 30 feet in diameter) for exhibition in the Crystal
Palace, and between L.300 and L.400 were placed at his
disposal for this purpose. He found, however, that such a slice
could not be got for the money — more particularly one of the
Wellingtonia, because it was far inland, and the expense
of getting it down to the coast would have been tremendous.
The Sequoia sempervirens, however, grows in some places
down to the water's edge, and this might have been more
easily managed, and indeed was managed by some speculators,
who exhibited at Philadelphia a section 12^ feet in diameter,
taken 25 feet from the ground, which formed the basis of Dr
Asa Gray's calculations as to the age of the Wellingtonia, and
misled him regarding it, first from its being the Sequoia «ew»-
pervirens instead of the Wellingtonia ; and, second, from the

KBW SERFES. VOL. XI. NO. 11. APRIL 1860. 2 C

214 Notes on Califoi'nian Trees.

heart of the slice having been burnt out or removed, probably
for the purpose of lightening the weight in carrying it about.
Another section, or rather semidiameter, truly of Welling'
tonia, was examined by Dr Torrey, Hi feet in semidiameter
— i.e.i 25 feet had the section been complete. Dr Seemann
quotes an account of the taking of these sections, which is
worth re-quoting, were it for nothing else but the impression
which it leaves of the enormous size of the trees : — '* The ear-
liest account of the mammoth tree," says he, " which reached
Europe were coupled with the sad intelligence that a piece of
Vandalism had been perpetrated in Upper California unex-
pected in our enlightened days. One of the finest trees of
the grove, we were informed, had been felled for the purpose
of being publicly exhibited. This individual was 96 feet in
circumference at the base, and solid timber. The work of
destruction commenced by boring with augers, and sawing
the spaces between — a labour engaging 25 men for five
days. But when this was done, the tree was found to stand
so nearly perpendicular that it would not fall ; and it was
only by applying a wedge and battering-ram, during a strong
breeze, that the trunk was finally upset. In falling it con-
vulsed the earth, and by its weight forced the soil from be-
neath it, so that it lies in a trench ; and mud and stones were
hurled near 100 feet high, where they left their mark on the
neighbouring trees. A section of 2 feet long taken from
the stump, also a portion of the bark, were both exhibited.
The success with which the public exhibition of those speci-
mens in San Francisco, New York, and Paris had been at-
tended, induced, in 1854, another speculator to strip a second
magnificent tree, the • Mother of the Forest,' already men-
tioned, up to a height of 116 feet, of its bark, fortunately
without afifecting by this ruthless process the vitality of the
tree. It required the labour of five men 90 days. During
this time, a person had a fall of 100 feet from the scafi'olding,
and, curiously enough, escaped with a broken limb. The
bark was removed in sections 8 feet in length, and each piece
marked and numbered, so that it could be put up in precisely
the same position that it occupied on the tree. It was then,
after being carted 80 miles overland, shipped down the river

Notes on Californian Trees. 215

to San Francisco, and thence on a clipper vessel round Cap«
Horn to New York, where, after being exhibited for a season,
it was transmitted to London, and was for the first time on
view (April 1856) in the Philharmonic Rooms, and afterwards
at the Adelaide Gallery. But both of these localities were
too low to admit of the whole sections of the stripped bark
being put up, nor indeed was there any other available build-
ing in the British metropolis which could serve this purpose.
Fortunately, the Crystal Palace at Sydenham possessed the ne-
cessary height ; and ever since the autumn of 1856 the whole of
the bark, to the height of 116 feet, has there been exhibited."

These quotations siiflSciently show that, if one chose to be
at the requisite labour and expense of cutting down a tree
bearing cones, seeds could be thus obtained ; but an obstacle
to this mode of procuring them exists in the care that is now
most properly taken to protect the trees and prevent their
being exterminated. One would think that the diflBculty of
felling them would in itself have been a suflScient protection ;
but it was not thought so. Dr Seemann says — " It was at
one time feared that not many years would elapse before the
last vestige of the mammoth trees would be destroyed. It
was the ' New York Herald ' which first pleaded for their
protection. In Europe the danger in which the trees were
placed was viewed with equal apprehension, inducing a cor-
respondent of the ' Gardener's Chronicle ' to suggest that a
petition of the scientific men might be sent to the American
Government, praying for the protection of this eighth wonder
of the world. Fortunately, the authorities were fully alive
to their duty, by prohibiting the removal of any tree under
any circumstances whatever, and thus, by throwing the sanc-
tity of the law around the hallowed grove, preserved to North
America an object quite equal in grandeur to the famed Falls
of Niagara, the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky, or the Natural
Bridge of Virginia."

The result of this is, that the only way of procuring seeds
is to shoot down the cones with rifle bullets, or, so to speak,
to saw oflf small branches with them ; and my brother succeeded
in getting Mr Patrick Black, a young Irish gentleman admir-
ably fitted for such work, to undertake the task of procuring

216 Notes on Calif ornian Trees.

some seeds for him. A first-rate shot, a keen sportsman, full
of energy, whom nothing delighted more than the exhilarating
life of a hunter camping out for weeks in the open air, Mr
Black was quite the right man in the right place. Well sup-
plied with ammunition, he took his departure for the Mari-
posa Grove, which is a long way in the outer world — not that
it is without its own inhabitants, its own hotel (kept by an
old hunter), nay, even its own authorities, as Mr Black had
like to find to his cost. He took up his quarters with the old
hunter, who may rather be said to have kept ojyen house than
a hotel, as the sky was the only roof he had — a roof, appa-
rently, not yet being considered essential to the comforts of a
hotel in these parts, although one might have thought that it
would, seeing that the forest is 6000 feet above the level of the
sea, and there was frost every night while Mr Black was there.
He visited the grove daily, shooting down a cone or two
to see that they were ripe before beginning to make his
collection. He soon found, however, that it would take a bat-
tery of ammunition and an army of sharpshooters to make
even a moderate collection of seeds. The seed is exceedingly
small and thin, a mere scale, and the cone is also small
(not much larger than the cone of an ordinary Scotch fir, and
containing still fewer seeds), so that the product of a whole
week's shooting might be held in one's waistcoat-pocket. Mr
Black soon tired of this, and seeing one or two trees of less
size than the others, and being apparently a man of a logical
turn of mind, came to the conclusion, first, that it would be
easier to fill his wallet by cutting down a tree than shooting
down the cones; second, that it could be done; and, lastly, that
as it could be done, it should be done ; and being apparently
also a man of a practical as well as of a logical turn of mind,
he, boldly putting behind him the fear of the anathemas of the
** New York Courier" and of the " Gardeners' Chronicle," as
well as the nearer terror of the local authorities, at once, with
the assistance of his host and two Frenchmen (that the three
most civilised nations in the world might all be represented
in the perpetration of the sacrilegious deed), proceeded to put
his intent into execution. They first selected the smallest
tree which they could find in the grove ; it was 24 feet in cir-

Notes on Califomian Trees. 217

cumference, and took Black and the hunter three days' hard
work to level with the ground, one cutting on each side of the
tree. Increase of appetite growing by what it fed on, another
and another shared the same fate, until they had actually cut
down four of these magnificent trees, the last and largest being
42 feet in circumference, which took a week to cut, and fell be-
fore the two Frenchmen ; not, however, before the echoes of their
axes reached the ears of Judge Lynch, who soon stopped the fun,
and in simple but unmistakeable language gave him to under-
btand that it would be " dangerous" to try it again. In plain
English, the authorities interfered ; and although they did not
lynch Pat (which would not have set the trees up again), they
told him that they would, if he cut any more. The time occupied
in cutting down these trees would seem to indicate that that re-
quired to get the section of the tree at the Mammoth Tree Grove
was either exaggerated, or unnecessarily long. Being twice
the diameter, it might require four times the work ; but
twenty-five men for five days gives more than eight times the
work. It also shows — what we see from the specimens of the
wood itself — that the wood is extremely soft, very light, and
easily worked, and not unlike the cedar-wood used for pencils ;
when freshly cut it is white, but speedily acquires the cedar
hue. It is so frush (I am obliged to have recourse to a Scotch
word to express my meaning, the English word brittle, which is
nearest to it, scarcely conveying the full sense) — it is so frush,
that one of the trees in falling snapped in three places before
it reached the ground, carrying away whole forests of silver
firs and pine before it ; and we sec from the figures of the trees
which we already possess, as well as from the photograph of
the group now appended, that a great proportion of them have
been broken off near the top, so that if they had continued
growing in the same proportion, they must have been nearly
a third higher. But if the wood is frush, the bark is not.
Our friends found it a great deal worse to cut through than
the wood. It is tough and stringy like coir or the husk of
a coco-nut, and is from a foot to a foot and a half in thick-
ness. We have here one of those beautiful adaptations of
structure to purpose which delight the mind to trace. It is
obvious, that if the Welling Ionia, being so fragile, were coated

218 Notes on Cali/omian Trees.

with bark of only a common thickness and ordinary consist-
ence, it could never live to be a tree ; it would be snapped across
by the first wind that blew, so soon as it reached a sufficient
height to give the wind a hold upon its branches ; but with a
coating of bark so thick, so tough, so stringy, so spongy, and
so elastic, it is kept in its place, and protected from its own
fragility. It is the same principle which is adopted by our-
selves in packing and supporting any thing that is fragile ;
and, as has been pointed out to me by my intelligent friend
Mr Bryson, this support is given in the way which modern
science has ascertained to furnish the greatest amount of
strength with the least waste of substance. The bark is con-
structed on a different plan from that of most other trees, — it is
on the plan of the corrugated roof, running longitudinally round
the tree ; the corrugated layers are composed of harder texture,
and the interstices are packed with an elastic spongy substance.

Another adaptation of structure exhibited in this tree is the
great gnarled expansion of its trunk at the base, which may
be seen in the plate and vignette, thus supporting it against
the wind by what may be styled a circle of buttresses.

Heave the reader to imagine the mingled feelings of dismay,
chagrin, and satisfaction with which my brother greeted his
triumphant emissary on his return (the mens conscia recti
beaming on his face) ; and he now knows how I come to be
able to give so accurately the dimensions of the smallest
trees in the Mariposa Grove ; as the lawyers say, *' causa
scientice patet.^^ The quantity of seed obtained, however, was
by no means correspondent to the sacrifice made to obtain it.
The cones on the trees would appear to have been compara-
tively few ; and, as I believe is the case with other cypresses,
the amount of light seed vastly preponderates. The whole quan-
tity, good and bad, only amounted to between six and eight
pounds; but as there are 50,000 seeds in a pound, the expedition
has probably done more good than harm after all.

Another circumstance to be noted is, that the cone itself (that
is, the woody part of the cone which envelopes the seeds) seems
to be largely charged with a dark garnet or crimson-coloured
gum. My brother, in sending me home the seeds, sent them
carelessly cleaned, and a good proportion of what appeared to be

Notes on Califorman Trees. 219

seed was fragments of the cone itself ; but in addition to that,
there was no less than one-third part of the whole weight com-
posed of thisgamet-colouredsubstance, which had exuded from
and had been rubbed off these fragments. My friend Dr Cle-
land has been kind enough to test it for me, and he informs me
that it is entirely soluble in water ; gives, with protosulphate of
iron, a blue-black precipitate ; with sesquimuriate of iron, a
gray precipitate ; and gives a precipitate with gelatine. It is
thus a form of tannine, and may be called a sort of kino.

The portion of wood sent home by my brother gives me the
opportunity of testing the calculations which have been made
as to the age and rate of growth of the tree. It appears to have
been taken from the exterior part of the tree, and contains 26
annular rings in an inch, in this respect nearly corresponding
with the number recorded by Dr Torrey, as found by him in
the outer part of the section he examined, where he found 20
annular rings in an inch. In his section the rings at the
heart were found to be nearly twice as broad as they after-
wards became. The first rings he found to be 6 in the inch,
the last 20 in the inch ; but immediately before the last 20,
the rate was only 9 in the inch. The result to which Dr
Torrey came was, that the tree was about 1200 years old,
instead of 3000, as was at first improperly assumed, from
reckoning only the outward rings, and taking it for granted
that all the rings were of the same breadth. The tree, how-
ever, is obviously a fast-growing species, and has been shown
by Mr Reed of Peterborough to make its growth between the
hours of 6 P.M. and 6 a.m., and more rapidly or more slowly
according to the warmth of the night. It is perfectly hardy
in Britain, and has already reached the height of 14 feet at
Martyr Castle, near Cork, and not much short of this both in
England and Scotland, and has borne ripe fruit at Thetford in
England. We may therefore reasonably hope that we shall ere
long be independent of the sacred giants of the West for a sufli-
cient supply of good seed. In the meantime we have the satis-
faction of knowing that we can make plants by cuttings with
the greatest facility ; and what is most important in the great
majority of cases, they grow erect and readily form leaders.
Indeed, to any but a nurseryman's eye, it would often be

220 Notes on Califomian Trees.

difficult to distinguish between a seedling and a plant from a
cutting of the same size. Should any of my readers like to
be knowing on the subject, I would recommend them to com-
pare the spread of the lower branches in the one with that in
the other; it is not the cutting which usually has them broadest;
but even this is a fallible test, depending greatly upon the kind
of slip out of which the young plant has been made. This
willow-like readiness to grow by cuttings is well seen, not only
in the familiar fact above mentioned, but in various of the inci-
dents which are to be observed in the Mammoth Tree Grove.
Turning to one tree, the " Mother of the Forest," already
mentioned as stripped of its bark to the height of 116 feet,
we see it still flourishing, as we are assured by Dr Seemann.
But I am inclined to think that the Wellingtonia^ notwith-
standing all its greatness, has no special exemption from the
evil effects of girdling, and that by and by she will suffer
from that fatal cause. But beside her lies her murdered lord,
the " Father of the Forest," who we are told put forth several
young shoots after he had been felled for some time ; and there
are few of her descendants standing around her in which great
cavities (one as large as 17 feet across and 40 feet high) have
not been burnt (either in consequence of fire raging through
the forest, or kindled by Indians), and yet the trees do not
seem to have suffered.

Dr George Lawson, in a paper which he read before the
Edinburgh Botanical Society in March 1854, on the anato-
mical structure of coniferse and other gymnogens, noticed the
microscopical structure of the WelUngtonia giganiea. He
stated that he found it to present a double row of opposite
discs, which, as well as their central dot, were elliptical. I
have been enabled to verify Dr Lawson's observation through
the kindness of Mr Bryson, who has made sections of the
wood now received, and carefully examined them. He says,
" I find the structure on the transverse section resembles very
much the Taxodium distichum (deciduous cypress), although
the reticulations are larger. The radial longitudinal section
exhibits the coniferous discs perhaps better than any other
wood I have examined. The discs lie side by side, and do not
alternate as in the Araucarias ; they are more oblate than in

Notes on Califottiian Trees. 221

the true pines, and seldom occur in double rows ; on an average
28 rows of discs occur between the walls of each cell. In
Tcutodium distichum, 20 rows obtain on an average." In Se-
quoia sempervirens the discs are round and not oblate.

Sequoia sempervirens, Lambert.

The incidental remarks which I have made upon this tree in
contrasting it with the Wellingtonia gigarUea have anticipated
most of what I had to say regarding it. It was first discovered
by Menzies in 1796, and is found as far south as the Santa
Cruz mountains, near Monterey, as well as considerably to
the north of San Francisco. The character of the tree is well
described by Douglas, in the passage which has been supposed
to indicate that he saw the Wellingtonia. " The great beauty
of Californian vegetation," he says, "is a species of Taxodium,
which gives the mountains a most peculiar — I was almost
going to say awful — appearance, something which plainly tells
us we are not in Europe." This of course refers to a tree so
common as to give a tone to the general scenery of the country,
which we know Wellingtonia is not, while the Sequoia sem-
pervirens is. As already mentioned, it is nearly as large
and tall as the Wellingtonia. One tree, called by the settlers
the " Giant of the Forest," is 270 feet high, and 55 in cir-
cumference at 6 feet from the ground. It is known to the
settlers as the red-wood — a name which I find appended to the
Wellingtonia by Dr Seemann, but this is obviously an error,
or a mere extension of the name, for the wood of the Welling-
tonia has probably never been used for economic purposes by
the settlers, while the other is largely used. It is of a beau-
tiful red colour, fine and close grained ; but light and brittle,
like the Wellingtonia. It is good for purposes where it is
exposed to water, as some of our own soft woods are, and is
said never to be attacked by insects. Its bark is thick, and
even in the young tree is soft and spongy.

There is another point regarding it worthy of being noticed
— viz., its great probable age; I do not mean the age of
the individual trees, although that is by no means con-
temptible — a slab of the wood deposited by Dr Fisher in the
St Petersburg Museum, measuring 15 feet in diameter, and

NEW SERIES. VOL. XI. NO. II. APRIL 1860. 2 U

222 Notes on Cali/omian Trees.

showing *1008 annual rings — but I refer to the age of the
species. M. Lesquereux, who has paid much attention to the
subject, conceives that he has identified this tree among the
fossil remains of the tertiary deposits of Vancouver's Island.
The idea that it gave a character to the landscape in these
bygone ages, long before the eye of man was present to take
cognisance of them, cannot fail to excite a feeling of interest
even in the least poetic.

PiNUS INSIGNIS, Dougl., and PlNUS RADIATA, Don.

A suspicion has been gaining ground among botanists that
— like many other pines which in their extreme forms look
very distinct, Pinus insignis and Finns radiata may be found
to be synonymous. Hartweg seems to have had this in his
mind when he named Pinus radiata, Pinus insignis macro-
carpa. Mr Gordon, however, who in his recent valuable work
on Coniferae (the Pinetum) shows little inclination to spare
doubtful species, decides in favour of their both being gopd ;
and as he does in this instance what he has usually abstained
from doing, viz., gives a reason for his judgment, we are en-
abled to form an opinion for ourselves as to the correctness of
the result to which he has come.

He says of P. radiata: " This beautiful pine resembles P.
insignis in some respects, but diflfers very much in foliage and
cones ; the leaves of P. insignis are much longer and stouter
than those of P. radiata, while the cones of P. radiata are
nearly three times the size of those of insignis and with the
scalps much more elevated." Now, unless the difference in
the length and stoutness of the leaves be very marked (which
is not the case here), I think we can hardly attach much im-
portance to this as a character. So much depends upon the
health of the plant, the part of the tree whence the leaves are
taken, &c., that the most diflFerent degrees of length and stout-
ness of leaf may be observed in the same tree. As to the
cones, they certainly differ widely, but I have received and
presented to the Edinburgh Royal Botanic Garden Museum a
branch encircled with a cluster of five cones, three of which
are of P. radiata and two of P. insignis, each typical of the
extreme form characteristic of the two so-called species — the

Notes on Cali/omian Trees. 223

ouly exception being that they are here both of the same size —
about 4 to 4 J inches in length, instead of the P. insignis being
3^ and the P. radiata 6 inches in length, which are said to
be their usual dimensions.

Both varieties are found in the same district (the Monterey
district, to the south of San Francisco) and their general ap-
pearance and the colour of their foliage is the same. This we
would perhaps not find out from Mr Gordon's description, be-
cause he calls the one deep grass-green, and the other deep
green, a discrepancy in describing the same thing which must
have escaped him, for he afterwards refers to Hartweg's de-
scription of the beauty of the " deep grass-green" of the foliage
of the one which he had just described as deep green. It is
very essential for a describer to take care that he always uses
the same term or phrase to designate the same thing. I could
point to many who actually go out of their way to find another
word to express the same quality, intending thereby to escape
the harshness of constant repetition. But people do not ex-
pect euphony in scientific descriptions ; what they want is
clearness, and how can that be obtained when different terms
are used to express the same thing ?

The specimen mentioned already as having been presented
to the Botanic Garden will, I imagine, satisfy every one that
these two names are only synonymes of the same tree, indica-
tive of the different states in which it is found, owing proba-
bly to difference of soil, climate, position, &c.

Regarding, as I have done, P. insignia and P. radiata as
one species, I may state that this tree has now been cultivated
for a considerable time in Britain, and is greatly admired for
its lovely green hue and soft foliage. Gordon says it is per-
fectly hardy. In the south of England it is undoubtedly so.
It is a great favourite in Devonshire, where trees may be fre-
quently seen between 30 and 40 feet high ; and I believe there
is a specimen in the garden of Messrs Lucombe, Pierce, and
Co , nurserymen, Exeter, which is nearly 50 feet high. It
has not yet, however, been satisfactorily established to be
hardy in Scotland. By care and protection it has been reared
to a considerable height, but some sudden spring frost seems
always sooner or later to cut it off" at a time when all danger

224 Notes on Californian Trees.

has been thought past, and all that remains of the care of years
is a pile of rust-coloured leaves in place of the tender green
which yesterday delighted the eye.

The finest plant with which I am acquainted near Edin-
burgh, is one in Mr Samuel Hay's lawn at Trinity Lodge. It
is a beautifully shaped conical tree, nearly 13 feet in height.
The next in height, perhaps, is one at Mr George Logan's of
Duddingston, which is about 11 feet.

Mr Humphrey Graham, of Belstane, in the Pentland Hills,
from whom I have received much valuable information regard-
ing pines (although of too practical a nature to be introduced
into this Journal), under the disadvantage of an almost sub-
alpine climate 800 feet above the level of the sea, promised
to be more successful in rearing them than any other person
in the middle or northern district of Scotland with whom I am
acquainted, but even he had all his plants but two swept off
by the frost in 1856. He is not discouraged, however, and he
reports to me that he is still satisfied it will succeed in Scot-
land, if tolerable care be taken.

The timber is not good. I remember my brother telling
me when he was last in this country that it was useless. It
would appear, however, that a use has now been found for it.
In a recent letter he writes, " the street planking here (San
Francisco) used to be done with Oregon lumber, but now it is
being superseded by the Monterey lumber (most likely P. in-
signis) for the reason that it is very resinous, and stands the
wear and tear of such a purpose better."

PiNUS Jeffreyi, Oreg. Com. (Plates VIII. and IX.)

This pine was discovered by Mr Jeffrey, who was sent out
in 1850 to collect seeds in North West America by an associa-
tion of gentlemen which originated in this city, and was prin-
cipally composed of Scotchmen, although it also numbered in
its body many noble and eminent subscribers from the sister
kingdom, chief of whom I should mention. His Royal Highness
the Prince Consort. That association still lives in its embers,
and I trust that an effort now making to revive it may be suc-
cessful, and that it may yet make as many discoveries in Japan
as it did through Jeffrey in Oregon and California. Some

Notes on Cali/omian Trees. 225

subscribers to the association remembering only that the third
and last year of Jeffrey's engagement terminated unsuccess-
fully, and that they had just reason to be dissatisfied with his
conduct during that year, sometimes speak of his expedition
as a failure. But it is unjust so to term it; and if they would
only remember the quantities of novelties which were dis-
covered and introduced through his means, they would rather
treat it as a great success, which only assumes the aspect
of a partial failure from the knowledge that, great as it was,
it ought to have been, and might have been, greater still.
No one could have worked more conscientiously and more
perseveringly than Jeffrey did during the first two years of
his employment, and bearing in mind the fact that Menzies
and Douglas went to a virgin country, his collections do
him no discredit, even as compared with theirs. He dis-
covered several new pines, six of which w^ere described by
Professor Balfour, along with figures by Dr Greville, in one
of the Reports of the Oregon Committee, and two or three
more still remain undescribed. The Report of the Oregon
Committee having been only issued to its shareholders, can-
not, perhaps, be strictly said to be published, at least I un-
derstand that some scientific purists so maintain, although I
am not sure that they are right, since I see little difference
between a printed report to an association sent to its subscri-
bers, and a printed book (published by subscription) sent to
its subscribers. But be that as it may, Mr Gordon has pub-
lished the description of this pine in his work, and its name
and identity are thereby secured. He has not, however, given
the figure of the cone, which is one of the most perfectly
beautiful I have ever seen.

As I have received a sketch of the tree itself, taken by Mr
Peebles, which I have caused to be lithographed for this
paper (Plate VIII.), I have thought it desirable at the same
time to reproduce the figure of the cone (Plate IX.)

Jeffrey found the tree in Shasta Valley, North California,
lat. 41-30''. It has also been found in Scots Valley ; and
Mr Black, whom I shall have presently to mention, found it
near Mariposa. It is a fine tree, 150 feet in height, and 4
feet in diameter. It has not yet been found near enough any

226 Notes on Californian Trees.

of the cities to allow of the economic value of its wood being
ascertained.

PiNus MuRRAYANA, Oreg. Com.

This is another of the species discovered by Jeffrey, and de-
scribed by Professor Balfour in the Report of the Oregon Com-
mittee. Mr Gordon, however, disallows it, placing it as a syno-
nyme of P. muricata, but without stating the grounds on which
he has come to that opinion. It appears to me very distinct ;
and although I have, as in the case of F. radiata and F. in-
signis, the advantage of additional and better material to form
a judgment upon than probably was in Mr Gordon's hands, I
can scarcely acquit him of hastiness in coming to the conclusion
he has arrived at. Ho gives a correct account of the locality
where the true F. muricata was found, viz., in the mountains of
Monterey, mountains not higher than 3000 feet, and situated
near the sea, and south of San Francisco ; and also states
correctly where Jeffrey had found, what the Oregon Commit-
tee called P. Murrayana, viz., on the Syskyon Mountains,
far north of San Francisco, at an elevation of 7500 feet above
the level of the sea; and the tree is described as being at both
of these places about 40 feet high. Now, one of the facts with
regard to the distribution of conifers in California, which
must have struck any one who has studied the subject, and
with which Mr Gordon cannot fail to be familiar, is that, tak-
ing San Francisco as a point, the pine vegetation to the north
and south of it, making a certain allowance for transitional
portions, is essentially distinct. In the latitude of San Fran-
cisco, we have the F. Sahiniana, — to the south of it, F.
Coulteri, F. insignia, P. muricata, P. bracteata, &c. North
of it their place is supplied by Ficea nobilis and grandis,
Finns monticola, P. tuberculata, P. Jeffreyi, &c.; and the very
circumstances of the one being found at an elevation of 7500
feet, so far north as the Syskyon Mountains, and growing near
the sea, at an elevation of 3000, so far south as Monterey,
ought to have put Mr Gordon on his guard against confounding
them.

Without going into minute detail as to the diflFerences be-
tween the two, I shall only observe, that the cone of P. muri-

Notes on Califomian Trees. 227

cata is 3 inches in length ; while a pretty extensive series of
P. Murrayana enables me to say, that its dimensions are from
li to 2 inches in length. Again, P. Murrayana has a very
peculiar long spine, or rather prickle, from 1 to 2 lines in
length, sticking outwards and backwards from the middle of
each scale; while P. muricata has only "a slight ridge running
across the scales near the top, terminated by a short, straight
broad prickle in the centre." In the specimens of P. Mur-
rayana which were received from Jeffrey, these spines were
broken off, and the cone is so figured, and Mr Gordon is not
responsible for the error thence arising ; but they are well
marked in specimens since sent, more than once, by my
brother, and now in the Museum of the Botanic Garden, and
in that of Messrs Lawson.

Mr Gordon says, that it is the Obispo or Bishop's Pine, and
perfectly hardy. This is only half true. The P. muricata
is the Bishop's Pine, and the P. Murrayana is perfectly
hardy. That the P. muricata is hardy, is more doubtful.

There is another pine known to horticulturists as P. M'ln-
toshiana, which Mr Gordon considers synonymous with P.
contorta, Don, but which I think is more likely to prove syno-
nymous with P. Murrayana. In the young state they are
undistinguishable ; but I have not seen the cone of P. M'ln-
toshiana.

Mr Black, an English engineer who had occasion, in the per-
formance of works entrusted to him in California, to make use
of various of the country woods, informs my brother, that P.
Murrayana is the best wood in the country for railway sleepers,
sluice-heads, and purposes where a hard and durable wood ia
required ; but being of a small growth, and more knotty than
some of the others, is not so good for planks, and what is
technically known by the term lumber. He also mentions as
a peculiarity in it, that the rings are more concentrated at the
outside than at the heart, which he says is just the reverse of
the others, — only of some of them however, — for we shall find
that this is also the case with WelUngtonia gigantea. He
suggests that it may indicate a rapid growth when young, and
slow afterwards, owing, perhaps, to the scantiness of the soil
in the rocky regions where it grows.

228

On the Incorrectness of the Present Mode of Estimating the
Mean Temperature in England. By James Stark, M.D.,
F.RS.E., &c., &c.«

As in other sciences, meteorologists are very apt to be led
by a name ; and provided a practice be recommended by some
one who, from his position or otherwise, has acquired a name,
his recommendation is adopted without examination, even to
the damage of the science itself. Such is the case with re-
gard to the mode of estimating the mean temperature at present
followed in England. Mr Glaisher, who occupies the position
of Meteorologist in Greenwich Observatory, and Secretary to
the Meteorological Society of England, has recommended, and
has for years followed, the practice of estimating the mean tem-
perature by taking it as the mean of the united observations
made by the self-registering and common thermometers — the
exact mean of the observations made by each of these instru-
ments being first altered by certain tables which he has con-
structed for the purpose of correcting them for what he terms
diurnal range.

Let us look into this subject a little, and see the facts on
which such corrections are made; and the principle involved
in making the altered observations of one instrument made
the basis for the correction of another and more trustworthy
instrument, whose indications are at all times steady, and free
from the liability to error to which the other is subject if not
read at the exact hour and minute of time when the observa-
tion ought to have been made.

At Greenwich, from 1840 to 1845, a series of thermometric
observations was made with the common dry-bulb thermometer
alongside of the wet-bulb, the readings being taken every
second hour of Gbttingen mean time. It was inferred, but
without any proof that such is the case, that the mean of these
twelve readings in the twenty-four hours would give the true
mean temperature of the day, although it was known that
these readings would almost invariably miss the period when
the greatest heat of the day occurred ; so that from this cir-

* Read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 16th January 1860.

On Errors in Estimating Temperature, &c. 229

cumstance, the mean temperature so deduced would always he
below the truth. It was also inferred that the readings of
the dry bulb would not be at all influenced by the neighbour-
hood of the wet bulb, the evaporation from which would also
have the effect of causing the dry-bulb readings to be slightly
below the truth. It was further inferred, that the rise and
fall of temperature was uniform between each two-hourly
period at which the readings were taken ; so that, when tables
were drawn up to suit Greenwich time, the corrections to be
applied were calculated on the principle of uniform rise and
fall, which we all know is far from being the case. It was
also inferred, that a period of five years would suffice to de-
duce a satisfactory mean basis on which all the calculations
should be founded, — a fallacy which strikes at the root of the
whole superstructure.

Now, any one reflecting on these circumstances will at once
see that serious errors must arise from constructing tables of
correction on suchimperfectdata — /^irsfZ?/, Because a five years*
series of observations is far too short a period to give a satis-
factory mean result for either daily, monthly, or annual mean
temperature ; and, secondly. Because the highest temperature
of the day not being noted' at all by these two-hourly readings,
we not only obtain a mean result below the truth, but we have
no data by which to calculate the period of the day when the
highest temperature is attained ; and hence the 3 o'clock
readings are rendered perfectly useless for the purpose of
estimating mean temperature, when three readings only are
taken in the course of the day, of which that at 3 o'clock is
always one.

First, then, it may be demonstrated that a series of obser-
vations for a period of five years only could never elicit a true
mean, either for days, months, or years ; and yet, as the basis
of all tables of correction must be founded on a fixed mean, it
is absolutely necessary that that basis be extended over a much
longer period of years before any reliance could be placed on
its deductions. Let us look for a moment at this point of the
subject.

Scotland has only had the advantage of having its meteoro-

NEW SERIES. VOL. XI. NO. 11. APRIL 1860. 2 E

230

On the Incorrectness of the Present Mode

logical data collected and published since 1855. Iiet us see
how the last four years stand with regard to the one element
of mean temperature : —

Scotland.

Mean temperature for 1855,

1856,

„ „ 1857,

n n 1858,

441°
45-7
480
466

It is seen at once from this table, that during this period of
four years there has not been the most distant approach to
uniformity of even mean annual temperature in Scotland ; but,
on the other hand, there is the striking fact that during that
period the mean temperature of one of the years differed from
that of another by nearly 4 degrees. Now it would be a most
unsafe conclusion to deduce from this table that the mean
temperature of Scotland was 46°*1. The period of time is
evidently far too short to afford even an approximation to the
truth.

If we look at the mean temperature of a few of the months
during these several years, we shall find a still greater diversity,
as is shown in the following table : —

Scotland.

Years.

Feb.

March.

May.

June.

July.

Sept.

p

o

o

o

1855, . .

27-0

360

440

550

600

520

1856, . .

396

39-4

46-7

.'i3-3

56-4

50-9

1857, . .

393

39-2

49-8

57-4

580

56-1

1858, . .

35-8

39-5

495

58-9

56

54-5

1859, . .

39 6

430

51-9

56 9

595

52-3

Range, . .

12-6

70

7-9

6-6

4-0

41

By this table it is seen that during a period of five years
the range of mean temperature during the months has been
so varied in different years as quite to preclude the idea of a
five years' average giving even the most distant approach to a
true mean. Thus, in July and September, the range of mean
temperature during five years was 4 degrees; in June, 5*6°;

of Estimating the Mean Temperature in England. 231

in March, 7° ; in May, 7°9 ; while in February it was no less
than 12° 6.

Secondly, It may next be shown that the two-hourly periods
of observation could not give the true mean temperature, as
they did not include the highest temperature of the day, which
was from two to six degrees higher than any of the two-hourly
readings, during the warmer periods of the year. In proof of
this position is subjoined one of the Greenwich Summary
Tables for the year 1844, one of the years on which Mr
Glaisher's Tables of Correction are founded ; and this table
speaks a language which one would think no one can misin-
terpret.

This table shows the highest and the lowest degrees of tem-
I)erature at Greenwich during every month of the year 1844,
both as noted at the two-hourly readings of the dry-bulb ther-
mometer, and also as indicated by the self-registering thermo-
meters ; and a comparison of the highest readings of the dry-
bulb, with the highest readings of the self-registering thermo-
meter, and likewise the comparison of the lowest readings of
the dry-bulb with the lowest readings of the self-registering
thermometer, fully bear out the position which has been stated.
Thus, every meteorologist knows, that while the curve of tem-
perature is very great during the day, the curve of temperature
during the night is so much less that for several hours of the
night the temperature varies but little. This table, then, ex-
hibits also this fact; for while it shows that the two hourly
readings approached the lowest temperature during the night
within a few tenths of a degree, on the other hand, these same
two-hourly readings never, during any month, reached the
highest temperature, the very mean of the twelve months show-
ing that the highest readings of the dry-bulb thermometer at
the two-hourly periods were 2M below the actual highest tem-
jjerature which occurred, as indicated by the self-registering
thermometer.

232

Ort the Incorrectness of the Present Mode

Dry-Ball

•

Self-Registering

Thermometer.

Thermometer.

1844.

Highest
reading.

Lowest
reading.

Range.

Highest
reading.

Lowest
reading.

Range.

January, . . .

52-8

18-6

34-2

53-7

18-8

34-9

February, .

48 3

21-2

271

50-4

200

30-4

March, .

57-6

24-3

333

60-2

241

361

April, .

74-6

340

406

749

33-4

41-5

May, .

74-6

34-6

40

77-4

33-9

43-5

June, .

833

43-6

39-7

87 6

43-4

44-2

July, .

851

47-2

379

87-4

47-1

40-3

August,

72-5

43-1

294

75-4

42-8

32-6

September,

731

35-2

379

78-0

34-8

43-2

October, .

65-9

31-5

34-4

67-4

30-8

36-6

November,

57-4

288

28-6

58-1

27-4

30-7

December,

46-0

21-6

24-4

493

211

28-2

Mew

a,

65-9

31-9

33-9

68-3

31-4

36-8

This table, then, at once proves, what was stated at the out-
set, that readings at two hourly periods must fail to give the
true mean temperature, and must indicate a mean temperature
below the truth. But what is true of the months is also true
of the days, and this, of course, to a greater extent than the
months themselves. Let us take an example from the Green-
wich observations of the highest temperatures by each kind of
instrument on consecutive days of the same month of 1844.
On the 2d of September, the highest of the two-hourly readings
of the dry-bulb thermometer was 73°- 1, but the actual highest
degree of temperature which occurred that day was 78°, as regis-
tered by the self-registering thermometer. On the 3d Septem-
ber, the highest two-hourly reading was 68°'7, but the actual
highest degree of temperature that day was 71°*4. On the 4th
September, the highest two-hourly reading was 72°-8, but the
actual highest was 73°7. On the 5th September, the highest
two-hourly reading was 69°-l, but the actual highest was 71°-3.
On the 6th September, the highest two-hourly reading was
72''-2, but the actual highest was 73"-8. On the 7th Septem-
ber, the highest two-hourly reading was 72"'5, but the actual
highest degree of temperature was 74°. These, then, may

of Estimating the Mean Temperature in England. 233

serve as examples of the statement made, and at once account
for the mean of the two-hourly readings being below the mean
of the self-registering thermometers, and of course below the
truth.

Had Mr Glaisher, however, confined his corrections to the
dry-bulb readings alone, no great harm might have resulted,
provided these corrections were applied to their legitimate use
— viz., to enable a person from one reading of his thermometer
daily to deduce the probable mean temperature of his locality
for each month. But Mr Glaisher has gone far beyond this ;
for he not only alters by these tables every observation made
with the dry-bulb thermometer, so as to let the mean of no
series of observations be published as observed, but, from
finding that the mean of his two-hourly readings was always
below the mean of the observations made with the self-regis-
tering thermometers, he alters their means also, by deducting
from the mean of each month a quantity which is intended to
reduce their mean to the mean value of his two-hourly read-
ings. He thus commits two great errors — first, in assuming
that the two hourly readings of the dry bulb, taken in the
faulty circumstances above noticed, give the only true mean
temperature ; and, secondly, that the mean of the self-regis-
ing observations must be erroneous. He hence asserts that the
mean temperatures procured by taking the strict mean of the
maximum and minimum readings of the self-registering ther-
mometers are too high. I shall however prove, I trust to
your perfect satisfaction, that the strict mean of the maximum
and minimum self-registering thermometers (provided these
instruments be of proper construction) is far nearer the true
mean when unaltered, than when altered by Mr Glaisher's
tables.

Now, to prove this point, I am prevented from referring to
the Greenwich observations, first, because the original obser-
vations, from which Mr Glaisher drew his conclusions, were
made with that most untrustworthy instrument. Six's register-
ing thermometer, so that I cannot refer to the observations
made with it; and, secondly, because when, at Greenwich,
instruments of proper construction were procured, Mr Glaisher
has published no results which could permit any one to test

234 On the Incorrectness of the Present Mode

the accuracy or applicability of his tables. He has not only
abstained from publishing the mean results of the dry-bulb
observations, but also those of the wet-bulb ; and contents
himself with publishing certain deductions alone, and an esti'
mated mean temperature, a compound result of altered dry
bulb and altered self-registering thermometric means — and
this result deduced on a principle which every one who exa-
mines it must condemn. This practice, in a public observa-
tory, whose observations are made and published at the public
expense, is strongly to be condemned. Whatever corrected (?)
mean results, or deductions from these, are published, the strict
means of the whole of each series of original observations,
freed merely from instrumental errors, ought to be given in
full at the same time, in order that others, who consider the
tables used for their correction to be erroneous, or who, though
they admit the principle of the correction, may consider a five
years' period of time far too short to give trustworthy means,
or who deny that corrections proper for Six's instrument are at
all needed for those constructed on Rutherford's, or Negretti's,
or Phillip's principle, or who may wish to verify the accuracy
of the corrections applied, may have it in their power to exa-
mine the subjects for themselves. Besides, the calculator
may have blundered his calculations ; he may have added
a correction when he ought to have deducted it, and the
estimated results, as published, may differ widely from the
truth.

But it is not only the Greenwich observations which are
altered in this manner. Mr Glaisher, from his position as
Secretary to the Meteorological Society of England, alters in
the same manner the results from all the fifty-five Meteorolo-
gical Stations in England ; and as he similarly withholds the
strict means of the different series of observations made with
the dry and wet bulb thermometers, he prevents all inquiry as
to the correctness of the alterations which he makes.

In order, then, to prove that the mean temperature as deduced
by taking the strict mean of the maximum and minimum read-
ings of the self- registering thermometers, is far nearer the
true mean than when altered by Glaisher's Tables, reference
will be made to the Scottish series of observations, which are

of Eetimating the Mean Temperature in England. 235

made with trustworthy instruments ; and which, from their
very number, ensure an accurate mean result, much more
truly than if they were the limited observations made at one
station. But in Scotland we have, in addition, a series of ob-
servations carried on at Makerstoun, by our late venerable and
honoured President, Sir Thomas M. Brisbane, with a care and
accuracy which nothing can surpass. Reference will there-
fore also be made to the Makerstoun observations, for the
years 1857 and 1858, to illustrate and prove the same point.

The following table gives the mean readings of the maxi-
mum and minimum self-registering thermometers, and along-
side of these, the mean of the morning and evening 9 o'clock
readings of the dry-bulb thermometer at Makerstoun, for the
several months of the years 1857 and 1858 : —

Makrrstodn.'

1857.

1858.

Mean of

Mean of

Mean of

Mean of

Months.

Self-regist.

Dry-bulb

Self-regist.

Dry-bulb

Thermoms.

Thermom.

Thermoms.

Tberoioni.

January

36-5

353

38-8

38-5

February,

391

38-2

351

34-8

March,

39-4

391

400

394

April, . •

427

42-3

441

440

May, . .

493

46-6

49-2

492

June, . .

570

571

594

596

July, . .

56-2

58 2

56-5

55-7

August, .

60-5

60-2

57-5

574

September,

549

549

552

53-5

October, .

50-6

49-4

46

45-2

November,

430

43

397

380

December,

44-9

44-5

390

38-2

Mean, . . .

47-8

47 5

46-7

460

By this table it will be seen, that at Makerstoun, in the
south of Scotland, the mean temperature, as given by the
9 o'clock morning and evening readings of the dry-bulb
thermometer, is so very close on that of the self-registering
mean, that the difference might almost result from the mode
of taking the readings. The tenths of a degree are all esti-
mated by the eye, and according to the level at which the in-

236 On the Incorrectness of the Present Mode

strument is presented to the eye, there mayeasily be differ-
ences of several tenths of a degree. The slight differences,
however, between the means of the two kinds of instruments
may have been caused by the Sunday readings having been
included in the readings of the self-registering thermometers,
whereas no Sunday observations are taken with the dry-bulb
thermometer.

Let us, however, suppose for a moment, that the Greenwich
Table of Corrections,* /or the dry-hulb reading at 9 o'clock,
applied to Makerstoun. On the mean of the year, they would
add six-tenths of a degree to the mean of the dry-bulb readings,
and thus bring the mean of the dry-bulb for the year 1857 to
48°'l, and that of 1858 to 46°-6. To procure a mean result,
however, for these years we may, for the sake of illustration,
unite the means, and divide by two, when we get, as the mean
result of the two years, the mean temperature of the dry-bulb
corrected by the Greenwich Tables, as 47'''3 ; while the mean
of the self-registering thermometers as observed, and without
any correction whatever, is within one-tenth of a degree of the
very same — viz., 47°"2. This fact of itself clearly proves, that
the mean temperature which is the strict mean of the self-
registering thermometers (when these are of proper construc-
tion) is the true mean, and requires no correction whatever.

This fact is still better and more satisfactorily demonstrated
by the Makerstoun observations for 1844, the last of the
Makerstoun Meteorological Reports published by the Royal
Society, which contains Summary Tables of the hourly read-
ings of the common thermometer. In the annexed table, the
Sunday readings of the self-registering thermometer are ex-
cluded, in order to render the results of dry-bulb and self-
registering thermometers thoroughly comparable, — no readings
of the dry-bulb being taken on Sunday.

* Two tables for diurnal range have been drawn up in Scotland — viz., for
Leith and for CuUoden. The data on which these are founded are too imper-
fect to render them trustworthy. They however demonstrate, that the horary
(miscalled diurnal) range of temperature is very much less in Scotland than
at Greenwich.

of Estimating the Mean Temperature in England. 237

Makbrstodn. 1844.

Mean of

Mean of Dry.

Month*.

Self-reglst,

bulb hourly

1

Therm.

Reading*.

January,

33MS3

36°92

February,

3247

32-22

March,

38-60

38-23

April,

47.08

46-60

May, . .

4869

48-46

June, . .

55-26

54-20

Jul/, .

56-07

55-56

Auguat, .

55-87

54-32

September,

, 5302

52-46

October, .

4633

45-71

November,

41-88

4266

December,

31-73

31-63

1
Mean, 45-05

44 93 ;

By this table it is seen that the mean annual temperature,
as taken by the hourly readings of the dry-bulb thermometer,
was 44°-93, while by the self-registering thermometer it was
45° Fahr., a correspondence so close that it is scarcely pos-
sible to get a nearer approximation. Here, then, we find that
hourly readings of the dry-bulb thermometer give an annual
mean temperature within one-tenth of a degree of the strict
mean of self-registering thermometric observations ; and as
we all know the care and accuracy with which the Makerstoun
observations are made, even if this fact stood alone, it would
prove the point contended for — viz., that, in so far as yet ap-
pears, the strict mean of the self-registering thermometers,
when these are of proper construction, give the true mean
temperature. It may be remembered, that all the tables of
correction which different meteorologists in this country and
on the continent have published, for the purpose of correcting
the mean values of the self-registering thermometers, were
drawn up from observations made with that untrustworthy
instrument. Six's self- registering thermometer — an instrument
80 notoriously untrustworthy, that it would not now be received
into any observatory in this country.

NBW SERIES. VOL. XI. NO. II. .\PRIL 1860.

2 F

238 On the Incorrectnces of the Present Mode

These results, then, appear to demonstrate, in the most
satisfactory manner, that in Scotland the self-registering
thermometers, if of proper construction, give the true mean
temperature and require no correction whatever. This con-
clusion is rendered still more certain by taking the mean of
all the observations made in Scotland with the two sets of in-
struments during the years 1857 and 1858.

All Scotland.

1867.

1868.

Mean of

Mean of

Mean of

Mean of

Months.

Self-regist.

Dry-bulb

Self-regist.

Dry-bulb

Thermoms,

Thermom.

Thermoms.

Thermom.

January, ....

35-7

35-6

' 39°3

39 3

February,

39-3

39-2

35-8

351

March,

39-2

38-9

39-5

390

April, , ,

42-7

42-8

43-8

43-6

May, . .

49-8

49-7

49-5

49-7

June, . .

57-4

57-6

58-9

590

July, . .

58-0

581

560

561

August, .

60-0

597

579

581

September,

56-1

56-0

54-5

544

October, .

49-6

494

44-9

44-3

November,

43 7

43-5

39-4

38-8

December,

44-9

450

399

39-9

Mean of Year, .

48-0

47-9

46-6

46-5

This table, then, affords an additional demonstration of the
fact that, in Scotland at all events, the mean of the self-
registering thermometers gives the true mean temperature,
and requires no correction whatever for any supposed monthly
variation. It also shows, what the Leith and Makerstoun
observations had previously demonstrated, that the 9 o'clock
morning and evening readings of the common thermometer
give a very close approximation to that mean ; so close, indeed,
that for all ordinary purposes their mean results might be
used wherever the means of the self-registering thermometers
were unattainable.

But, as before remarked, Mr Glaisher would allow no result
to be published as observed, but would apply to all results
some fancied correction. Having, therefore, made his correc-

of Estimating the Mean Temperature in England. 239

tion on the drj-bulb thermometer, to bring it to what he terms
its true mean, he proceeds to do the same to the mean result
of the self- registering thermometer. As his faulty observa-
tions at Greenwich made it appear that the Six's self-register-
ing thermometer always gave too high a mean temperature,
in order to reduce that mean to strict conformity with his sup-
posed true mean, as given by his two-hourly readings of the
dry-bulb thermometer, he deducted from the self-registering
mean a quantity equal to the difference between the mean
readings of these two instruments. On the mean of the year
that deduction amounts to 1°07 ; so let us for a moment see
what effect Mr Glaisher's corrections Q) would have on our
Scottish observations — whether they would cause them to
agree more closely, which if they were really corrections they
would do, or whether they render both mean temperatures
unquestionably incorrect and quite diverse from one another.
The following table, then, exhibits the mean results at
Makerstoun and for all Scotland for the years previously
quoted, with the corrections to each set of instruments required
by Glaisher's Tables, and the asserted uniformity sought for
by the application of these tables : —

Mean temperature aa
dwerred,

MAicicuTom.

SCOTLAXD.

1844.

1857.

1858.

1857.

1658.

i.

li

gJ85

k

it

o > _■
gW =

s

a |a

n
It

a

ih

a«

a

45-05
—1-07

44-98

0-00

47 80
—1-07

47-6
+0-6

46-70
—1-07

460
+0-6

4800
—1-07

47«
+06

4««)
—1-07

4-65

+o-«

Corrections for each by
Qlalaher's Tables, ...

Resnlta,

43-98

44-93

46-73

48-1

45-63

46<

46-93

48-5

45-53

471

By this table it is seen that, instead of Glaisher's corrections
causing the observations made by the two kinds of instruments
to agree, it causes them to differ most widely from one another.
Yet the very object of applying these corrections at all was
for the express purpose of making them correspond.

This table, therefore, it is hoped, will satisfy even the most

240 On the Incorrectness of the Present Mode

prejudiced, that to alter by Glaisher's Tables the means as ob-
served, or, to use scientific language which mystifies while it
prevents inquiry, *' to apply a correction for diurnal range,"
is only propagating error. This table, above all, shows the
error of altering the means of the self-registering thermome-
ters, which were all correct before being altered by Glaisher's
Tables, but are just as manifestly rendered incorrect when
changed by these tables.

Now, seeing this is undoubtedly the case in Scotland, and
is proved to be so even with one of its most southern stations,
Makerstoun, it is nearly certain that such will also be found
to be the case with nearly all, if not all, the stations in Eng-
land, including Greenwich itself. We are precluded, however,
from demonstrating that such is absolutely the case, by the
circumstance that since this mode of altering the mean results
has been adopted, Mr Glaisher, both in the Greenwich Observa-
tions, and also in the Meteorological Reports and Tables for
all England, has ceased publishing the observed means of all
the different series of readings from the dry and wet bulb
thermometers, so that he puts it out of the power of any one
to test the applicability of his correctness.

It ought to he laid down as a principle, that, if the mean
temperature is to be estimated at all, it ought to be deduced
from the series of observations made with one form of instru-
ment alone — and the one least liable to error is the self-
registering thermometer, constructed according to Rutherford's,
Phillip's, or Negretti's principle ; observations made with Six's
thermometer being utterly worthless. There is thus avoided
all source of error from not being certain of the amount of
diurnal range which exists at each station, or from neglect to
read the instrument at the exact minute of time when it ought
to be read — sources of error which always exist when the dry-
bulb readings are made use of. This mode of estimating the
mean temperature also renders easy and certain the comparison
of temperatures at different stations, or different parts of the
world ; it also avoids all those errors which arise from blunders
on the part of the calculator, who, if he makes use of tables,
is apt to add a number when he ought to deduct it, or deduct
it when he ought to add it ; and who, if he used Glaisher's

of Estimating the Mean Temperature in England. 241

Tables, as originally published in the " Philosophical Trans-
actions," would be sure unwittingly to commit mistakes, as
those tables are themselves not free from serious blunders.

What, however, I most especially desire to effect by direct-
ing attention to this subject is, that in all the Meteorological
Reports which are published, the strict mean of each series
of readings by the different thermometers — aa observed —
should be given without any correction whatever for supposed
diurnal or monthly range. All such corrections may be false,
as they may be deductions from observations not in them-
selves trustworthy, as was the case with those from which
Glaisher's Tables were constructed. But when the original
observations themselves are published, every one has it in his
power at any subsequent period to correct them, should trust-
worthy tables of correction be drawn up ; and, in the meantime,
he can compare them with observations made with similar in-
struments in other situations — a thing put out of his power to
do so long as the present practice is followed.

It is to be hoped that the facts adduced have suflBced to
prove that the mode of estimating the mean temperature em-
ployed by Mr Glaisher is quite inapplicable to Scotland, and
only leads to erroneous results. These same facts also afford
strong ground for concluding that the same will be found to
be the case with the English observations. These facts seem
further to prove that, in the present state of our knowledge, we
cannot go far wrong in holding that to be tJie true mean
temperature which is the strict mean of the self-registering
7naa:imum and minimum thermometric observations, when
these instruments are of proper construction; and as this
mode of estimating the mean temperature is simple, requires
no correction whatever for diurnal range, is strictly compar-
able with similar observations made in other parts of the
world, and is free from all those sources of error to which the
dry-bulb thermometric observations are liable, it ought, in
the meantime, to be adopted as the true mean temperature,
and be quoted as such.

242

Remarks on the recent progress of Sanskrit Literature and
Comparative Philology. By John Muir, D.C.L.

I propose, in this paper, to give some account of the recent
progress of Sanskrit literature, and of comparative philology.
As, however, these subjects have not yet attracted in this coun-
try that degree of attention which their importance demands,
it may be advisable to premise some information regarding the
earlier stages of their cultivation. The existence of Sanskrit,
as the sacred depository of Hindu literature, was known to
the early Jesuit missionaries in India; and they had not only
studied that language, but also, in one instance at least, made
it the vehicle of conveying religious instruction. But the
eflfective and continuous study of this important and venerable
tongue may be considered to have commenced with Sir W.
Jones, who landed in Calcutta in 1783, and was the translator of
the " Institutes of Manu," and of the drama of Sakuntala, and
the author of various dissertations on the mythology of the
Hindus, and the aflBnities of that people with other nations.
This study was assiduously prosecuted by Mr H. T. Cole-
brooke, who (in addition to various other important services)
was the first to supply a tolerably complete sketch of the
character and contents of the Vedas (1805) ; and who after-
wards expounded, with remarkable accuracy, the principles of
the different systems of Hindu philosophy (1823-1827). The
next scholar whom we must mention as having distinguished
himself in the same field, is the present Boden Professor
of Sanskrit at Oxford, Mr H. H. Wilson, who published in
1819 the first, and in 1832 the second edition of his " Sans-
krit and English Dictionary;" in 1827 his " Select Spe-
cimens of the Theatre of the Hindus ;" in 1837, Mr Cole-
brooke's translation of the " Sankhya Karika," or " Memo-
rial Verses of the Sankhya Philosophy," with notes and illus-
trations by himself; in 1840, his translation of the "Vishnu
Purana," a system of Hindu mythology and tradition ; and in
1850-1857, three volumes of his translation of the Rigveda.
The only other British student of Sanskrit whom it is neces-
sary to mention here is Dr Ballantyne, Principal of the
Government College at Benares, who has within the last few
years made some important contributions to our knowledge of

On the Progress of Sanskrit Literature, Sfc. 243

Hindu philosophy. (See the last number of this Journal, p. 103).
The study of Sanskrit was early taken up, and has long been
pursued with vigour, on the continent. In 1808, F. Schlegel
published his essay on the language and wisdom of the Indians.
In 1823, A. W. von Schlegel published an edition and Latin
version of the "Bhagavad Gita ;" and (1829-1838) two volumes
of the "" Ramayana," with a translation of the first. F. Bopp
seems to have begun in 1816 the publication of his works on
the grammar of the Sanskrit, and on comparative philology, —
a science towards the construction of which he has since then so
largely contributed. The other foreign scholars who have
l.i'' )urcd most assiduously and fruitfully in the cultivation of
Sanskrit literature, are the late Frederick Rosen, editor and
translatorof theFirstBook of theRigVeda(1838); thelamented
E. Burnouf, editor and translator of part of the " BhugavataPu-
rana" (1840-1847), and the historian of Indian Buddhism ;
Lassen, the author of the " Indian Antiquities" (Indische
Alterthumskunde, 1847-1858), an attempt to construct a con-
tinuous history of ancient India from the mass of heteroge-
neous data afforded by Indian literature, coins, rock and pillar
inscriptions, &c. ; Boehtlingk, editor of the Indian Gram-
mar of I^nini (1839, 1840), and (in company with Roth)
compiler of a Sanskrit and German Lexicon ; Roth, the author
of three dissertations on the Veda, and editor of the Atharva
Veda, 1855-1856; Benfey, editor and translator of the
SamaVeda; Max Miiller, editor of the Rig Veda (1849-1856),
and author of the •' History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature"
(1859) ; Weber, editor of the White Yajur-Veda, and its
appendages (1852-1859), and author of a short history of
Indian literature (1852) ; Goldstiicker, the compiler of a
new Sanskrit-English Dictionary on the basis of Wilson's ;
Gorresio, editor of the " Ramayana," with an Italian version
(1843-1858); Dr E. Roer, who has rendered good service
by editing various Sanskrit works for the Asiatic Society of
Bengal, and by publishing some translations and dissertations
within the last few years ; and, finally, M. Adolphe Regnier
of Paris, the translator of the " Pratisiikhya Sutras."

I shall now give some account of the most important labours
of these scholars whose names have just been mentioned.

A new era in the department of Vedic literature may be

244 Mr J. Muir on the Progress of

said to date from the publication, in 1838, of the First Book of
the Rig Veda, with a Latin version, by Frederick Rosen, a pro-
mising German scholar, who unhappily died in 1837, at the
early age of thirty-two. His merit is to have " discovered that
the character and genius of the Indian literature and lan-
guage could only be completely understood by tracing them
back to the earliest periods to which the Vcdas belong," and
to have " formed the project of endeavouring to remove the
obscurity by which they are surrounded." He had intended
to have prefixed to his work " a comprehensive view of the
character and manners of the Hindoos in that early period ;"
but the completion of his work has been reserved for others.*
In 1841 a translation of the Sama Veda was published by
the late Rev. Dr Stevenson, formerly of Bombay. In 1843,
the text of the Sama Veda was published by Dr Stevenson
and Professor H. H. Wilson. The next writer who made any
further contribution to our knowledge of the Vedas was Dr
Rudolph Roth, who in 1846 published his three dissertations
on the ''Literature and History of the Veda" (Zur Litteratur
und Geschichte des Weda ; drei Abhandlungen, Stuttgart,
1846). In these short essays, a great deal of information on the
contents of the different Vedas, and the Pratisakhyas or gram-
matical works connected with them, is contained ; and some
interesting historical facts relative to the relations of the
priestly and regal families of India in that primitive era, and
other similar points, are deduced from an examination and com-
parison of different hymns. In 1848-1851, appeared M. Lan-
glois'aFrench version of the Rig Veda, which is not very highly
esteemed by German critics. Professor Benfey's edition oi
the Sama Veda, with a German translation, appeared at Leip-
zig in 1848. The glossary attached to this work contains many
important contributions to a more accurate knowledge of the
meaning of Vedic words, the most ancient extant specimens of
the Indo-Germanic vocabulary. In 1852 appeared, at St
Petersburg, under the authority of the Imperial Academy of
Sciences, the first part of a new Lexicon, Sanskrit and Ger-
man, compiled by Bohtlingk and Roth, of which two volumes,
forming two-fifths of the whole work, have now been pub-

* Preface to his edition of the First Book of the Rig Veda, p. vi.

Sanskrit Literature and Comparative Philology. 246

lished. In this important work the first attempt on a large scale
was made to apply the principles of scientific lexicography to
the Sanskrit language, and to evolve etymologically and other-
wise the true signification of the words peculiar to the Veda,
the proper meanings of which have not in many cases been pre-
served by Indian tradition. The new " Dictionary, Sanskrit
and English, extended and improved" from the second edition
of Wilson's Dictionary, which was begun in 1856 by Profes-
sor Goldstucker single handed, and of which three numbers
have now appeared, is another laborious and comprehensive
effort of scientific lexicography. In his " Academical Pre-
lections on the History of Indian Literature," Professor Al-
brecht Weber of Berlin supplies a condensed and comprehen-
sive account of Sanskrit literature from the earliest period,
which dwells most fully on the hymns, the Brahmanas, the
Upanishads, and other similar productions connected with, or
arising out of, the Vedas. The same able writer has made
many interesting contributions to the history of the same early
era in his " Indische Studien," and has also, as we have seen,
brought out an edition of the White Yajur Veda, which he is
preparing to complete, we hope at no distant period, by pub-
lishing a translation of the text of that Veda, with a partial
translation! of the " Satapatha Brahmana," and separate re-
searches on the Yajurvedic ceremonies.

The most important works, however, connected with Vedio
literature, which have yet appeared, are those of Professor
Max Miiller of Oxford. These are his edition of the Rig Veda,
and his " History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature" (1859).
The Rig Veda is by far the most important of the Vedas, as it
contains the most extensive collection of the oldest hymns ; and
while two of the other Vedas (the Yajur and the Sama) con-
sist, in whole or in part, of fragments extracted from the
hymns for liturgical uses, the Rig Veda contains the complete
hymns, arranged without reference to any such limited design,
and therefore more available for historical purposes. The three
quarto volumes already printed by Professor Miiller contain
about three-fifths of the whole collection, accompanied by an ex-
position by an Indian commentator of the fourteenth century,
A.D. The greater part of the hymns included in these three vol-

NEW SERIES. VOL. XI. NO. II. APRIL 1860. 2 O

246 Mr J. Muir on the Progress of

umes have been translated by Mr H. H. Wilson, Boden Pro-
fessor of Sanskrit at Oxford. In his translations, Professor
Wilson almost invariably adopts the principle of following the
interpretations of the Indian commentator. But as many of
the words occurring in the Vedas became obsolete in later
Sanskrit, and as it is the opinion of most Oriental scholars in
Germany that the true sense of many parts of the hymns has
not been preserved by Indian tradition, the translation of
Professor Wilson is not regarded in Germany as satisfying
all the requirements of modern scholarship ; and it is expected
that a comparison of the Vedic words and expressions as
employed in different passages, and a more exact study of their
etymology, will lead by degrees to a nearer ascertainment of
the sense.

In his " History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature," which had
been long expected, and has but recently appeared, Profes-
sor Max Miiller has presented us with a very accurate and
comprehensive, though still a general, account of the Vedas,
and all the works connected with and growing out of them.

The whole interval during which this entire literature was
in process of formation, is divided by Professor Miiller into
four periods — viz., the Chhandas period, the Mantra period,
the Brdhmana period, and the Sutra period. The first period
he computes to have lasted from 1200 to 1000 B.C., and
during that time the most ancient of the Vedic hymns were
composed. The second period lasted from 1000 to 800 B.C.,
when those later hymns were composed which are distinguish-
able from the older ones by bearing traces of the growth and
development of a sacerdotal spirit and system, and by other
indications of a departure from primitive simplicity and art-
lessness. The third period, which lasted from 800 to 600 B.C.,
was that of the Brdhmanas, or most ancient liturgical books,
in which the ritual application of the hymns is prescribed with
tiresome minuteness, and often with a mixture of childish
allegorical interpretation. The fourth period is that of the
SutraSf or aphorisms, in which the ceremonial prescriptions
were reduced to a more compact form, and to a more precise
and scientific system.

This volume is one which every scholar and every genuine
student of ancient history will peruse with the greatest plea-

Sanskrit Literature and Comparative Philology. 247

sure. There could be no greater mistake than to suppose it
the production of a mere Orientalist. There may no doubt
have been, and possibly there may still exist, some Orien-
talists of contracted views, who attach an exaggerated im-
portance to the particular department of research to which
they have devoted their lives ; though this could not be justly
said of some of our best Indian philologists, such as Jones
and Colebrooke. But, in fact, neither narrow nor compre-
hensive views are peculiar to investigators in any one depart-
ment of learning. If some Orientalists have been men of a
contracted mental range, the same charge may be justly
brought against many students of occidental learning, who have
never conceived that any light could be derived from Eastern
sources to elucidate the languages, history, or mythology of
the West. This class is now, however, fast dying out, and a
conviction that the history of language, of religion, of civil-
isation, of philosophy, and of the progress of the human mind
in all its developments, may receive the most valuable illus-
tration from Oriental sources, is rapidly gaining ground
among all the ablest writers in Germany and France, and,
in a less degree, in our own country also. Professor I^Iuller
is one of the ablest writers of this new school. He is a
scholar, who to a philosophical mind and comprehensive views
unites a refined taste and a poetical imagination. Though a
German, he is master of a beautiful English style. His work,
like all others of a learned character, would be incomplete and
unsatisfactory if it did not supply us with precise and accu-
rate details on all branches of the subject which it professes
to treat ; but, while furnishing such details in a readable
shape and in lucid order, it also contains much matter that is
of the very highest general interest. Commencing with a
statement of the objects of Sanskrit philology, especially of
the light which it is calculated to throw on the earliest
progress of the human mind, it proceeds to touch upon the
common origin of the Indians with the Greeks, Latins, Ger-
mans, &c., and depicts in lively colours the marked contrast
between the parts performed in the great drama of his-
tory by the western and the eastern branches, respectively,
of the great Arian race ; — between the energetic activity ex-
hibited by the Greeks in all that concerns the outward existence

248 Mr J. Muir on the Progress of

of man, and the character of dreamy inaction displayed by the
Indians after they had become separated from the other mem-
bers of the same original stock, and had begun to develop in their
new home the peculiar features of their own moral and intel-
lectual life. The concluding chapter is certainly not inferior
in value to the introductory portion of the book. In it the
author treats of the most ancient hymns of the Veda, of which
he adduces several curious and interesting specimens ; adding,
at the same time, many profound and beautiful reflections in
reference to the religious and philosophical thought exhibited
in these ancient productions.

Notwithstanding the important contributions already made
to Indian philology, this study must yet be regarded, as Pro-
fessor Muller himself remarks (p. 3), as being still in its in-
fancy, or at least as having very much still remaining for it
to effect. His work, with all its high merits, leaves much
to be done for the study of the Vedas ; in fact, it does not
profess to offer us more than Vedic prolegomena. A minute
and detailed examination and comparison of the hymns still
remains to be executed. An attempt must be made to inter-
pret them more accurately, to classify them, to fix their com-
parative age, to ascertain which are the most ancient and
original, and which of them have borrowed those phrases
which are common to them with others ; to trace the history
of their authors the rishis (or bards), their relative antiquity,
and their relations to each other ; to determine what ideas
these rishis entertained of themselves — whether, originally or
at a later period, they looked upon themselves as inspired ;
what conceptions they entertained of their gods ; and whether
there are any certain indications in the hymns of an older and a
newer mythology (as Professor Roth supposes). Much also re-
mains to be done in determining what are the real relations of the
early Indian and Iranian (or Persisn) nations, as well as of their
mythologies. We should like to have it ascertained, if possible,
more nearly than has yet been done, at what era, and in what
country, and on what grounds, those two branches of the Arian
race (which continued to live together long after the other
members of the same stock had departed to the north-west)
were at length impelled to separate. We are also in want of
further information as to the degree of connection which exists

Sanskrit Literature and Comparative Philology. 249

between the mythologies of India and of Greece. This subject
was treated in Professor Muller's article on Comparative
Mythology, in the Oxford Essays for 1856; and a branch of
it has lately been discussed by Dr Kuhn in his " Herabkunft
des feuers und des Gotter-tranks" (Descent of Fire and of the
Celestial Beverage).

The science of comparative philology is, as is well known,
very closely connected with the study of Sanskrit. It is this
ancient and venerable tongue which has supplied the wanting
link for binding together the different languages of the Indo-
Germanic family, and the key which most effectually unlocks all
the mysteries of their structure, and of their mutual relations.
I must presuppose in the reader a general acquaintance with
the principles of this new science of comparative philology,
founded by Bopp and other German scholars ; as, for instance,
the division of languages into groups or families, such as the
Semitic (consisting of Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, &c.), the Indo-
Germanic (consisting of Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Gothic, &c.),
according to their respective affinities in regard (1.) to roots,
and (2.) to structure — i.e., the laws for the formation and
inflection of words ; and I shall also presuppose an acquaint-
ance with the desults reducible from the science in regard to
the mutual affinities of the nations by whom the languages
composing these several groups have been respectively spoken.
I shall only allude to some of the more recent labours in
this department of linguistic science. A new edition of Pro-
fessor Bopp's " Vergleichende Grammatik " (Comparative
Grammar of the Sanskrit, Zend, Armenian, Greek, Latin, <S:c.),
is at present in progress, and has reached the close of the
second volume. A third volume will complete the work. In
addition to the German " Journal of Comparative Philology,"
in reference especially to German, Greek, and Latin, estab-
lished by Drs Aufrecht and Kuhn, a new journal, entitled
" Contributions" {Beitrdge) to the same science, in reference
to the Arian, Celtic, and Slavonian tongues, has been lately
commenced by Kuhn and Schleicher. The " Journal of the
German and Oriental Society" also from time to time contains
articles on the same subject. An interesting attempt has
lately been made by M. Adolphe Pictet of Geneva, in his
work entitled *' Les Origines Indo-Europ^ennes, ou les Aryas

250 Mr J. Muir on the Progress of

Primitifs, Essai de Pal6ontologie Linguistique," to carry out in
detail an idea which had been previously conceived.and to some
extent realised, by Dr Kuhn of Berlin — i.e., to examine the
words expressive of the principal physical objects, animate and
inanimate, in the diflferent kingdoms of nature, as well as those
denoting intellectual and moral conceptions, which are common
to the diflferent languages of the Indo-Germanic race, and (on
the necessary assumption that the common ancestors of these
diflferent nations originally spoke one common mother-lan-
guage, and inhabited one common country) to discover from
these data what that original country of these primitive Arians
was, and what were their physical condition and their mental
characteristics at the period when they dwelt there. This
idea has been carried out in part by M. Pictet, in his first
volume, with great labour and ingenuity; and the result to
which he is led (and which coincides with that attained by most
previous investigators) is, that the primitive country of the
people who were the common ancestors of the Indians, Per-
sians, Greeks, Latins, Germans, Slavonians, and Celts, was
the region lying between the Caspian Sea and mountain range
of the Hindu Kush. Having completed in this volume the
physical portion of his task, M. Pictet is to proceed, in a second
volume, to estimate the intellectual condition of the ancient
Arians, from the words expressive of that class of ideas which
are common to the diflferent languages of their descendants.
The published volume of this work has formed the subject of
an acute critique by Professor Albrecht Weber of Berlin, in
Kuhn and Schleicher's Journal, ii. pp. 250 flf. Professor Weber
asserts — and his sti'ictures appear to be justified by the in-
stances which he adduces, — that M. Pictet does not exhibit an
acquaintance with Sanskrit suflSciently critical for the require-
ments of his task, and has displayed a want of scholar-like tact
in failing to recognise the historical developments of that lan-
guage, — defects which are exemplified in his placing words of
modern formation, or ill authenticated, or figuratively employed,
on the same footing with words indisputably ancient or well
certified, or used in their proper and original sense, and
turning them all to account indiscriminately, for the purposes
of his argument. If this be a correct account of M. Pictet's
procedure, it is clear that we must not regard this work as more

Sanskrit Literature and Comparative Philology. 251

than a contribution to our knowledge of this interesting subject.
But in fact the investigations on this and other kindred topics,
though diligently pursued, have but little more than begun.

While, however, such vigorous efforts have been put forth
in other parts of Europe, to penetrate into the dense un-
cleared forest of Indian learning, and to elucidate the various
problems of comparative philology, we regret that we are un-
able to point to any assistance which has as yet been ren-
dered by any person resident in Scotland towards the prose-
cution of these interesting researches. In fact, it cannot be
denied that not only oriental and comparative philology, but
philology generally, has been but little cultivated in this coun-
try. And this state of things can occasion no surprise. Little
encouragement has been offered by the State to the higher
branches of learning, and mediocrity in scholastic acquire-
ments has satisfied all the requisitions of the Church. Hap-
pily, however, the public mind has been awakened to a just
sense of our unsatisfactory position in this respect ; and this
conviction, as it has led to a new law for the reorganisation
of our University institutions, will also, it is to be hoped, lead
to the exaction of a higher standard of learning and of cul-
ture (a standard more in consonance with the intellectual pro-
gress of the laity and the moral wants of our era) from those
who seek to enter on the oflBce of the sacred ministry, and by
so doing claim to constitute themselves the spiritual, and, in
some respects, intellectual leaders of their age. We trust that
the new arrangements which are to be made by the Univer-
sity Commissioners will result in a great elevation of our intel-
lectual standard in general, and that among other improve-
ments they will include a provision for the eflScient cultiva-
tion of those branches of learning which have formed the
especial subjects of this paper — the Sanskrit language and
literature, in conjunction with comparative philology.

P.S. — I find that I have omitted to advert, in the preced-
ing sketch, to several important contributions to comparative
philology of recent date, which might have been properly
noticed ; such as Professor M. Miiller's " Last Results of the
Turanian Researches," (in Bunsen's " Christianity and Man-
kind," vol. iii.) ; Pott's review of the same Dissertation in the

252 Dr John Davy on the Tadpole, Sfc.

" Journal of the German Oriental Society," ix. 405-464 ; Dr
Caldwell's " Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian (South
Indian) Languages ;" and M. Ernest Kenan's " Histoire
Gr^n^rale et Systeme Compare des langues Semitiques, 2d edit.

Some Miscellaneous Observations on the Tadpole; on the
A Ibumen of the Newly-laid Egg ; on the Growth of Birds ;
their specific gravity ; and on the Stomach of Fishes in
relation to Digestion. By John Davy, M.D., F.R.S.
Lond. and Edin.*

I shall offer a few preliminary observations on the jelly in
which the ova of the frog are enveloped — a matter somewhat
peculiar in its nature and remarkable in its properties, and
performing, no doubt, an important part in the early stage of
batrachian life.

The quantity of solid matter that this jelly contains is
extremely small — less than 1- per cent ; one specimen eva-
porated to dryness yielded '49 per cent. It had been kept,
previous to evaporation, in a moist filter, covered, to draw off
what might be considered superfluous water. Another yielded
only '37 per cent ; and a third even less. The dry films, on
the addition of water, rapidly expand from imbibition, but they
absorb less than they have lost, and consequently do not recover
their original bulk. A portion that before drying weighed 40
grains, after absorption of water weighed only 10 grains.

The refractive power of the jelly differs so little from
that of water, that, when immersed, the ova detached, it is
hardly observable. Under the microscope, it appears per-
fectly transparent ; but when evaporated on a glass support,
so as to be moderately concentrated, granules and spindle-
shaped forms become visible. By boiling in water for several
hours, it is in great part dissolved — a just perceptible fibrous
matter remaining. The solution is very slightly affected by
infusion of nut-galls and corrosive sublimate ; by both a per-
ceptible turbidness is produced. A like effect is occasioned by
nitrate of silver. A solution of this salt — 12 grains to the
ounce of water — occasions a slight contraction of the jelly,
and its discoloration on exposure to light ; now, seen under

* Read before the Royal Societj of Edinburgh.

Dr John Davy on the Tadpole. 253

the microscope, it seems to be composed of globular masses
of unequal dimensions, having somewhat the character of
cells. It is acted on by the mineral acids. At first, on im-
mersion in them, it contracts a little ; it is slowly dissolved
without change of colour. In the same acids heated, it dis-
solves rapidly ; in the nitric imparting a yellow colour, in the
muriatic without change of colour, in the sulphuric occasion-
ing a brown, almost black, discoloration, with the disengage-
ment of sulphurous acid gas. These acid solutions, when
largely diluted, become slightly turbid.

Mr Brande, who was the first to examine this substance — and
I am not aware that it has been examined since — was led by
his experiments to the conclusion that it is a peculiar matter,
and, as regards its chemical properties, intermediate "between
albumen and gelatine."* From the results I have mentioned,
in some particulars not entirely agreeing with his, I am
disposed to view it as a variety of albumen ; and, physio-
logically considered, the part it performs seems to be tolerably
in accordance. Its uses appear to be, first, to protect the ovum,
and after its hatching, to afford food to the tadpole. As
regards the first, by its glairy adhesive quality, it helps to
retain the ova in the water in which they have been shed, and
to defend them from the attack of insects and fishes. It may
also retard their freezing, and so preserve their vitality ; for
I have found that after having been frozen their death has
ensued, denoted by their development on thawing being alto-
gether arrested. That the jelly serves as the food of the
tadpoles, is proved by its rapid disappearance after their birth
from the egg. It may be useful also in preserving the ova
from desiccation (the water in which they are all but failing),
by its imbibing power — and this although I do not find that
it retards evaporation — equal quantities of water and jelly
exposed to the air having been reduced to dryness in about
the same time. May not this property aid in explaining some
of the statements made with the intention to prove that the
frog and toad may be produced without passing through their
larva stage ?t

* Philosophical TrmoMCtions for 1810, p. 219.
t See Proceeding* of Royal Socipty. vol. ri , p. 292.
NBW SERIES. — VOL. XI. HO. II. APBIL 1860. 2 U

254 Dr John Davy on the Tadpole.

The ova of the frog in some of their properties nearly re-
semble those of fish. They appear to be composed chiefly of
an albuminous matter and oil — the former coagulable by the
admission of water, and, after coagulation, redissoluble by
admixture with common salt, or with any other of the neutral
salts; and further, like the ova of fish, not coagulable at a
temperature of 180° or even of 212° Fahr., if not immersed in
water. Their loss of vitality is denoted by their becoming
of an opaque white ; thus too resembling the same ova, and
from the same cause, the imbibition of water.

From the observations made by Mr Higginbottom — these
in opposition to those of Dr Edwards — it would appear that
neither the ova nor the tadpoles of the batrachians are influ-
enced by light ;* with which, the trials I have made on those
of the frog agree, as they do also with his results on the
latter, showing how materially they are aff'ected in their pro-
gress by temperature, and food, and air — a low temperature
and a scanty supply of food retarding their development, and
vice versa. The influence of air, I may remark, is well shown
by placing the spawn of the frog in a deep glass vessel full of
water : the ova nearest the surface will first be hatched, those
lower next, and so on, many days intervening between those
first and last appearing.

Mr Higginbottom found tadpoles kept in a deep cellar, the
temperature of which varied from 50" to 54°, still in their
larva state so late as the middle of November, or about eight
months from the time of their leaving the egg ; I have found
some in this state so late as the 13th of February, or about eleven
months from their birth. These were kept in the open air in
an earthenware pan, were supplied with very little food, and
with no water, except by rain. The last survivor was active
when the temperature of the water was only 33°. On the 1st
March it was found dead, and then its hind extremities were
partially protruding. Dr Edwards, it would appear, has kept
tadpoles equally long, and under the same circumstance of a
very scanty supply of food.f

It is well known that the metamorphosis of the tadpole is

* I'bilosophical Transactions for 1850, p. 401.

t Ou the lafluenceof the Physical Agents on Life (English Trans.), p. 52.

Dr John Davj on the Tadpole. 255

attended with a diminution of bulk. The following results
which I have obtained may be adduced iu illustration, and
for the further purpose of showing that, though there is a de-
crease of volume, there is a proportional increase of solid
matter in the transition.

The ovum of a frog, carefully detached from the including
jelly, weighed 0-1 gr. ; dried over steam, it was reduced to 004
gr., or 4 per cent, solid matter.

A young tadpole, its branchial filaments and tail distinct, de-
prived of excess of moisture by blotting-paper, weighed 024
gr. ; dried, was reduced to 006 gr., or 6 per cent, solid matter.
It measured 0*40 inch in length, including its caudal fin, which
was 0-24 inch long.

A tadpole, its hind feet formed, and protruding, its tail but
little diminished, weighed 5-3 grs. ; dried, was reduced to 0*4
gr., or 7o4 per cent.

A tadpole, its fore and hind feet formed, its tail but little
diminished, weighed 2-8 gr. ; dried, it was reduced to -28, or 10
per cent, solid matter.

A young frog fully formed, its tail entirely absorbed, weighed
1-4 grs. ; dried, it was reduced to -18 gr., or 12-35 per cent,
solid matter.

This proportional increase of solid matter, I find, is associated
with the formation of bone. This is well shown by the result
of the incineration of the tadpole, and of the young frog. In
the one instance, when the animal matter is entirely consumed,
the residue appears without any regular form ; in the other
(however young, provided it be fully formed), a distinct skele-
ton is obtained. And, examined chemically, I have found it
to be composed chiefly of phosphate, with a little carbonate of
lime. In the residual ash obtained from the tadpole, a reddish
8pot was observable,, owing its colour to peroxide of iron, and,
it may be inferred, derived from blood in the heart. There
was also seen a convoluted marking, attributable, it may be
conjectured, to the intestine ; and in confirmation, it may be
remarked, when this portion of the ash was microscopically
examined, some infusorial forms were to be seen in it, which
might have constituted part of the food.

From seeing the reddish spot just alluded to, I was induced

256 Dr John Davy on the Tadpole.

to make trial of the blood corpuscles. They were incinerated
on slides of glass fit for use under the microscope, exposed to
heat in a crucible. The whole of the animal matter consumed,
the minute residual ash, in a finely granular state, exhibited
the forms of the corpuscles, with a partial reddish tinge just
perceptible, some circular, some elliptical.

On the temperature which the tadpole and young frog are
capable of bearing, I have made a few trials, the results of
which are briefly the following : — A temperature gradually
rising to 94° has been borne by tadpoles for a consider-
able time without loss of life, or sensible loss of activity.
At about 96° or 97° their activity has diminished, and
they have become torpid. In this torpid state they have
sustained a temperature of 100°, not long continued ; on its
reduction they have become active. The less advanced in
growth, the more tolerant they have proved of the influence
of heat. Thus, when two tadpoles well advanced in size, and
other two of smaller size, were kept in water of 100° for the
space of thirty minutes, gradually cooling from this degree,
the first were found motionless, and never recovered ; the
second, from a torpid state soon recovered their activity. At
a temperature between 110° and 115°, even the youngest have
been found to die, and that rapidly ; in the instance of the
larger, the abdomen has been seen to burst, and the intestines
to protrude. The full-grown tadpole and the young frog are
in a remarkably less degree tolerant of heat. A temperature
so low as 88° has proved fatal to both.

The influence of a certain degree of heat, in rendering the
tadpole and young frog torpid, brings to recollection what we
read of the efiect of tropical heat with drought on the alli-
gator, which is said to remain in the passive condition just
mentioned so long as the hot and dry season lasts.

I have also made trial of the action of salt-water on the
tadpole. In a solution of common salt, of sp. gr. 10425, some
lived about half an hour; in a very much weaker solution,
viz. of sp, gr, 10130, the activity of others was not diminished;
this after half an hour ; after two hours they became languid ;
half an hour later they were found dead. In a still weaker
solution, on^ of sp. gr. 10065, they lived about forty hours.

Dr John Davy on the Newly-laid E<jg. 257

May not this effect of salt-water, and so dilute as that used
in the two last trials, inferior to that of the sea, be considered
as one of the causes tending to narrow the habitats of the
species 1

2. On the A Ibumen of the Newly-laid Egg.

The albumen of the egg of the common fowl, newly laid, has
properties differing in some particulars from those of the albu-
men of the stale egg. One of these, and that which is best
known, is the milkiness which it exhibits when dressed for
the table, provided the egg be not put into water of too high a
temperature, and kept there unduly long. Another is seen in
the manner of coagulating.

Though the differences alluded to may be well known, I am
not aware that they have been elucidated by experiment.
This I mention as a reason for entering upon the inquiry, — if
I may use that term in reference to a subject which to many
may appear too trivial to deserve the name.

let, Of the Milkiness. — I may premise, that if the albumen
of two eggs — one newly laid, one kept for a week or more — be
compared before being boiled, each will be found to be equally
transparent, commonly little or no milkiness will be appreci-
able in either of them, proving that the milkiness which
appears in the newly laid one, after being boiled, is the effect
of heat. The temperature required is about 150° Fahr.
After immersion in water of this degree of heat for about two
minutes, the white of the newly-laid egg will be found on exa-
mination to have very much the appearance of milk, being
liquid, with little or no viscidity, and mixing with water, and
imparting to it, and to a large quantity, the same quality, and
for a considerable time. Seen under the microscope with a
one-eighth inch object-glass, the milky albumen is found to
abound in granules of great minuteness, so minute, indeed, as
to be only just distinctly visible, with which are intermixed
a few particles of a larger size, as if aggregates of granules.

These granules, which are the cause of the milkiness, ap-
pear to be a modification of albumen. This is inferred from
not being able, by treatment with ether, to extract from the
milky fluid any oily or fatty matter, and from the circum-

258 Dr John Davy on the Newly-laid Egg.

stance that the granules disappear when acted on by a solu-
tion of potash.

2d, Of Coagulability. — The difference as to this property
seen in comparing the white of the newly-laid egg with that of
an egg kept some time, though only small, is pretty well
marked. It is shown by the following trial. To two similar
glass tubes, equal portions of the white of an egg laid the
same day, October 26, which may be called No. 1, and of one
laid on the 23d April, No. 2, were introduced, and were sub-
jected to different degrees of temperature, by immersion in
heated water, for the space of two minutes.

At 140° no change was seen in either.

At 150° falling to 145°, No. 1 had become in great part
opaque, i.e. of milky opacity ; No. 2 only at the surface, and
very slightly.

At 162° falling to 159°, No. 1 showed a milky opacity
throughout — had lost little of its fluidity, as shown by being
very easily poured out ; No. 2 was in part so coaguluted, as to
admit of inversion ; a gelatinous coagulura adhered to the inner
surface of the tube.

The results of another trial were the following: —

At 155° falling to 145°, about half of No. 1 acquired a
milky opacity — its upper portion ; No. 2 had become so to
less than the extent of one quarter.

At 166° falling to 160°, No. 1 had become opaque through-
out, retaining its fluidity. No. 2 had also become opacjue ;
it had lost its fluidity — at least it did not flow when the tube
was inverted.

At 175° falling to 168°, No. 1 was still fluid.

At 195° falling to 185", No. 1 was coagulated throughout ;
tJie coagulum moderately soft. These results seem to show
that the white of the newly-laid egg is more readily affected
by heat of a certain temperature than that of an egg exposed
some time to the air, as indicated by the appearance of milki-
ness it exhibits, and yet that, within a certain range of tem-
perature, the amount of coagulation or the degree of firmness
is less. Many other trials which I have made have given
similar results. I shall confine myself to the mention of one.

A portion of the white of a newly-laid egg was poured into

Dr John Davy on the Newly-laid Egg. 250

a tube, and over it a portion of one that had been laid seven
days ; they were kept apart by a thin pledget of cotton. At
162" falling to 152°, an opacity appeared at the surface of both
at the same time ; but it spread through No. 1 more rapidly
than through No. 2. The former was opaque throughout, when
the latter was transparent except at the surface. Kept in
water till it had fallen to 148°, No. 2 also had become opaque
throughout ; it was so firmly coagulated that it had to be
broken up before it could be removed from the tube. No. 1
on the contrary, was of very soft consistence, and most easily
removed. The trial was repeated, reversing the position of
the two, the white of the newly-laid egg over that of the
older. The results were similar. The former was soonest
aflFected ; the latter, in the end, was most firmly coagulated.

That the diflference of qualities which I have described is
owing to exposure to, and the action of atmospheric air, can
hardly be doubted.* The proofs seem to be suflSciently clear.
The newly-laid egg contains little or no air;t and if atmo-
spheric air be excluded, its absorption prevented, as by lubri-
cating the shell with oil or any oleaginous matter, the albu-
men retains for a considerable time the qualities of the newly-
laid egg. This is a fact well known to dealers in eggs.

The exact time required for the change to take place, owing
to the absorption of air, I cannot exactly say ; it varies, I be-
lieve in some measure, according to the season — a shorter time
in winter being required than in summer ; the egg in the for-
mer season, owing to lower atmospheric temperature, contract-
ing more in bulk, as regards its substance, than in the former.
A very few days, as from five to six at furthest, seem to be
sufficient. In April I have observed the milkiness on the
fourth, but not later. On the contrary, if air be excluded, I do
not know how long the quality of the newly-laid egg may not

* May not the disappearance of the curd which is seen in the salmon when
dressed fresh from the sea, the clean fibh of the angler, be owing to the sauie
caose— viz. the absorption of oxygfn on b«>ing kept exposed to the air, and the
liquefaction of the curdy matter, a consequence of that absorption — a liquefrc-
tion similar to that which the fibrin of the blood undergoes from the action of
oxygen.

t Sec '' Anatomical and Physiological Researches," by the author; vol. ii.
p. 222.

260 Dr John Davy on the Growth of Birds.

be preserved. I have found an egg laid in the month of
April, and then smeared with butter, hardly appreciably
changed at the end of six months.

Nor can I speak with any exactness respecting the amount
of air, of oxygen absorbed, or of other alterations that may
be effected in the composition of the egg by its action. All that
I have yet ascertained is, that with the absorption of oxygen
in the instance of the stale egg, carbonic acid is formed and
ammonia, and the colour of the albumen is darkened, it be-
coming of a light brownish yellow, and at the same time
acquiring a smell somewhat unpleasant, and a taste, as is well
known, not agreeable. The putrefactive process, I believe, does
not take place, however long the egg may be kept, unless there
be some admixture of the yolk and white.

In conclusion, I may add that though I have confined my-
self in the account of the foregoing observations to the albumen
of the egg of the common fowl, the trials I have made have
been extended to that of the egg of the duck, the tiirkey, and
guinea-fowl, and that the results have been similar. Slight
variations, indeed, have been observed, but not, I think, greater
than have been witnessed in experimenting upon different eggs
from the same fowl, or upon eggs of different fowls of the
same kind.

3. On the Growth of Birds.

The observations I have to offer on this subject have been
confined chiefly to four birds — the martin, the common fowl,
the turkey, and goose ; the first feeding on insects, and never
but on the wing ; the last on vegetables, subsisting chiefly on
grass ; the barn-door fowl and turkey using a mixed diet of
seeds and insects.

1. Of the Martin {Ilirundo urhica). — The young of this
bird, I am led to infer, is capable of taking flight in from fifteen
to twenty days from the time of hatching ; for in about this
time, reckoning from the day that I have found the broken
egg-shells thrown out of the nest, I have seen the young birds
first on the wing.

On the 16th of July, a young martin taken from its nest,

Dr John Davy on the Growth of Birds. 261

not in full feather, weighed 346 grains ; opened, much fat was
found within its abdomen. Thoroughly dried on a steam-
bath, its weight was reduced to 112 grains.

On the 9th of July, a young martin shot on the wing, sup-
posed to have taken flight for the first time that morning,
weighed 303 grains ; thoroughly dried, it was reduced to 110
grains.

On the 4th of August, a young martin, which it was be-
lieved had left its nest many days, shot on the wing, weighed
270 grains ; some flies were found in its stomach. There was
less fat within its abdomen than in that of the imperfectly-
fledged nestling. By thorough drying it was reduced to 110
grains.

On the 7th August an old martin was shot. It weighed
273 grains. No fat was found within its abdomen. By
thorough drying it was reduced to 105 grains.

2. 0/ the Common Fowl. — The average weight of six eggs
from a hen of the Dorking breed was 986 grains ; the average
weight of the same number of chickens, the produce of these
eggs, ascertained a few hours after hatching, was 737 grains.
One of this brood, when a week old, had increased in weight
to 950 grains. Two of the same brood, a cock and a hen,
when three months old, had increased, the former to 3 lbs.,
the latter to 2f lbs.

By a gentleman who has paid much attention to poultry, I
am informed that in Yorkshire the average weight of barn-
door fowls, hatched in spring and killed about Christmas, is
from 6 to 8 lbs. : the difference chiefly owing to the sex ; the
males the heaviest.

3. The Turkey. — I have only one trial, the result of which
I can give, on the growth of this bird. I am indebted for it
to a friend, on whose accuracy I can depend. A young Tur-
key, from an egg which before incubation weighed 2^ oz., on
the day it was hatched (including the empty shell), weighed
1^ oz. ; when a fortnight old, it had increased in weight to
3i oz. ; when four months, to 10 lbs. It was one of a flock
allowed to roam the woods ; it had not been put up to fatten,
and, as I am informed, was only moderately fed.

From the gentleman before mentioned, I learn that the

NEW SERIES. VOL. XI. NO. II. — APRIL 1860. 2 I

262 Dr John Davy on the Growth of Birds.

weight of the Turkey in Yorkshire at Christmas varies from
16 lbs. to 25 lbs.

4. The Goose. — The eggs of this bird vary greatly in
weight — more than any others which I have tried. Thus, two
taken from the nest at the same time differed as much as 191
grains — one weighing 2920 grains, or about 6*08 oz., the
other 2729 grains, or about 5 66 oz. A gosling hatched on
the 26th April, on the 30th of that month weighed 1987 grains,
or 414 oz. ; another hatched on the 17th of the same month,
tried on the same day as the first, weighed 5579 grains, or
11*60 oz. The following results I am indebted for to an in-
telligent farm- servant : An egg, a few days after it had been
laid, weighed 7 oz. ; the gosling, the same day that it was
hatched, weighed 4 oz. ; after four days it had increased in
weight to 6 oz. ; after thirty-four days, to 6 lbs. ; after sixty-
eight days, to 7 lbs. My Yorkshire correspondent estimates
the weight of the goose at Christmas at from 12 lbs. to 14 lbs.

These few examples may suffice to show how rapid is the
growth of birds. Comparing the growth of the swallow fed
by the parent birds, with that of the young of the turkey
common fowl, and goose, which have to find their food, a
marked difference is observable — the growth of the one being
so much more rapid than that of the other ; and it can hardly
be doubted that the same will be found to be the case more or
less generally. Again, if we compare the eggs of those birds
which feed their young till they are capable of taking wing,
with the eggs of other birds the young of which, so soon as
they are hatched, have to provide for themselves, a difference
also will be found, the eggs of the latter being, I believe,
without exceptiou, proportionally larger. How little, as re-
gards size, does the egg of the eagle differ from that of the
goose ; how very small is the egg of the cuckoo compared with
that of the partridge — the latter birds differing but little in
size. And is there not design in this as well as in the dif-
ferent degrees of rapidity of growth ? Is not the gosling,
during the first days of its existence after leaving the egg,
more dependent for nourishment on the residual included yolk
than the eaglet ] And is it not so in other instances ?♦

* The subject of the size of the egg in relation to the size of the parent bird

Dr John Davy on the Growth of Bird*. 263

In the mammalia there appears to be a relation between
the period of growth, that required for the attainment of
their maximum power, and their duration of life ; but in birds
this relation seems to be entirely set aside. And is it not
because a rapid attainment of their full power is essential to
their existence ? This is strikingly the case in the instance
of the swallow ; and in other birds we witness it in degree
according to their habits and wants. An advocate for final
causes might here find ample argument in support of his doc-
trine. If the means of this rapid growth be considered, I
believe they may be referred to two things mainly — viz.,
abundance of food, and activity of the digestive organs of the
young birds, other circumstances aiding. Take the instance
of the martin, the growth of which is so rapid, that in the
short space of a fortnight or three weeks it acquires a bulk
and weight exceeding those of the parent bird. Those who
have watched a swallow's nest cannot but have been struck
by the wonderful industry and assiduity displayed by the old
birds in supplying their brood with insect-food ; and the
quantity of droppings from the nest, evacuated by the young
birds is hardly less remarkable ; in twenty-four hours as
many as forty- one have been counted, which had fallen on the
flags below. These, collected and dried, weighed 70 grains ;
on examination they were found to be partly foecal, the un-
digested remains of insects, and partly urinary ; the latter
consisting chiefly of lithate of ammonia, with a very little urea.
In the other birds of which notice has been taken, the same
conditions as to digestive power and the supply of food exist,
varying only in degree. And the same, we believe, may be

is an interesting matter, and well adapted for inqairy. Probably, were a strict
comparison made, a variety of circumstances would be found to have an in-
fluence in regulating the relation, — circumstances chiefly referrible to the
manner of feeding the young birds, as alluded to above — and the supply of
food, whether scant or abundant. By way of illustration, I would ask, may
not the eggs of the missel-thrush be so large, having to be hatched early in the
spring ? May not those of the turkey be smaller than those of the gooae,
their time of batching being considerably later ? May not those of the Cochin-
China variety of the common fowl be smaller than those of any of our northern
varieties — the former being the breed of a warm climate, where food, it may
be inferred, is always abundant.

264 Dr John Davy on the Specific Gravity of Birds.

said of birds generally, whether their young are sustained for
a time by the parent birds or have to find their own sustenance,
the breeding season of all of them, and the spots selected for
breeding being suitable — the one a time of plenty, the other
affording the kind of food best adapted to the wants of the
several species. In the other examples, as in the instance of
the swallow, the activity of digestion is also confirmed by the
copiousness of the evacuations ; the foecal, (as in that), consist-
ing chiefly of matter of an indigestible kind, from which all that
is nourishing has probably been extracted, — the urinary chiefly
of lithate of ammonia. I have alluded to aiding circum-
stances : these, I believe, are to be found in some of the peculi-
arities of organisation of birds and their functions, promoting
a high temperature, with comparatively a small waste of
matter in respiration.* A powerful heart, a quick circulation,
richness of^blood in red corpuscles, cutaneous and mucous
tissues of little activity, may be mentioned as some of these ;
and as resulting from these, little need of fluid injesta and
little loss of fluid, either cutaneously or by the action of the
kidneys and intestines.

4. On the Specific Gravity of Birds.

The experiments I have made on this subject have been
limited to the following birds, — the martin, water-ouzel, snipe,
wood-owl, merlin-hawk, and wren.

The trials made have been of two kinds — one on the birds
after the removal of their feathers, to secure which they were
skinned ; the other with their feathers on. I shall notice the
former first.

The specific gravity of a martin {Hirundo urhica) was
found to be as nearly as possible that of the water in which it
was weighed. Its cylindrical bones contained no air, but a
colourless marrow.

* According to the experimeDts of Messrs .Allen and Pepys (Phil. Trans, for
1819 and 1829) in the instance of the pigeon and Guinea-pig, allowing for
difference of bulk, the quantity of carbon consumed by each, indicated by the
carbonic acid produced in respiration, varies but little — the bird, per minute,
producing -5 cubic inch ; the other, '62 inch ; the volume of the former 28 cubic
inches, of the latter 39 cubic inches.

Dr John Davy on the Specific Gravity of Birds. 265

The specific gravity of a snipe {Scolopax gallinago) was
1038. Its bones were destitute of air. The marrow in the
long bones of the legs and wings was reddish-yellow.

The specific gravity of a water-ouzel (Turdua cinclus) was
1200. Its long bones contained a reddish marrow.

The specific gravity of a wood-owl (Strix atridula) was a
little less than that of water ; the body, which was a little
heavier, having been buoyed up by the head, that being of less
specific gravity, owing to the cellular construction of its bones.

The specific gravity of a merlin-hawk, its head cut off, was
about the same as that of water ; its head was a little lighter,
from its cellular structure ; air was found in its long bones,
the femoral and humeral ; and a yellowish fat in its fibiae and
radii. Notwithstanding the presence of air and marrow in
these bones, the wings and legs, deprived of their feathers,
sunk in water.

The specific gravity of a wren {Motacilla traglodytes) was
1017.

The results of the trials on these birds with their feathers
on, have been, as might have been expected, less precise. I
need hardly observe, that they all floated in water, or that as
their feathers became wet on submersion (submerged by a
weight attached), the more they became wet the more air was
detached, and the more the specific gravity was increased, I
may mention an instance, that of the wren : when first sub-
merged, its specific gravity was found to be 0-890 ; after being
under water twelve hours, it had increased to 0-960.

The least unsatisfactory trial I have made has been that
on the water-ouzel. Its specific gravity was found to be 0724.
When under water, few air-bubbles escaped from its feathers,
owing probably to their resisting wetting, from the oil with
which they are pruned, that being abundantly supplied by
the large oil-gland with which this bird is provided.

The bird the specific gravity of which I have found lowest —
if I may so speak of an approximate result-T-haa been the
merlin-hawk ; it was 0-570.

In conclusion, it may be remarked, that, judging from the
foregoing results, the specific gravity of the body of birds is
concerned but in a very subordinate manner, with their apti-

266 Dr John Davy on the Stomach of the Fish.

tude for aerial locomotion. That aptitude seems to depend on
other circumstances, such as the great lightness of their
feathers, owing to the air which they contain ; the little ten-
dency of water to adhere to them, even when exposed to rain ;
their form and arrangement, so admirably adapted for the
purpose of impulse — the high temperature of the body expand-
ing the contained air, and the immensely powerful muscles,
the pectoral, belonging to the wings. Is not the power of
flight of each species in a great measure proportional to these
conditions ?

5. On the Stomach of Fish in Relation to Digestion.

The observations I have to offer on this subject have been
made chiefly when on angling excursions. They were begun
in consequence of having my curiosity excited by so often
finding the stomach of the salmon and sea-trout perfectly
empty of food. This, indeed, is a well-known circumstance,
giving rise to the popular notion that these fish, after leaving
the sea, abstain altogether from food.

This empty state of stomach led to the question. Is it ac-
companied or not by the presence of the gastric juice? To
endeavour to find an answer I employed test-papers, taking it
for granted, that if any gastric juice were present, it would be
denoted by an acid reaction. For the sake of precision, I
shall relate a few of the many instances in which I used this
test, beginning with the salmon {Salmo salar) and the sea-
trout (Salmo truttd).

On the 24th August, four salmon taken by net in the sea,
at the mouth of the Crede, one of the salmon-rivers of Lewis,
were opened, and about three hours after their capture. The
stomach of each was empty, that is, contained no solid food,
nor indeed any liquid of any kind, merely a little adhering
mucus. No effect was produced on litmus paper, applied to
different parts of its lining membrane.

The stomachs of other four, taken in the sea at the same
place on the 26th of the same month, were also found empty.
Tested by blue litmus paper, no effect was perceptible ;
tested by reddened paper, a very slight alkaline reaction was
indicated.

Dr John Davy on the Stomach of the Fish. 207

On the 27th August, the 3d and 6th of September, the
stomachs of two salmon and of one grilse, all taken with the
fly in fresh water at Loch Morsgael, also in Lewis, were opened
immediately after their capture. As in the preceding in-
stances, they were found empty ; and tested in the same man-
ner, they gave like results.

With the young of the salmon, before their descent to the
sea, the parr and the smolt, the results of all the trials I have
made have been difierent. These fish, it is well known, arc
greedy feeders. I have always found food in their stomach,
chiefly flies, and the stomach has always exhibited a distinct
acid reaction. The fish I tried were most of them from the
Teith and the "Welsh Wye, and the examination was made as
soon as they were taken from the water.

The number of sea-trout which I have opened has been
large, all of them taken with the fly in fresh water, and
chiefly in the lakes of Lewis and Harris, which I had the
privilege of fishing through the kindness of Sir James Mathe-
8on, the proprietor of the former, and of Lord Hill, the lessee
of the latter. In the great majority of instances the results
were the same as those afforded by the salmon, the stomachs
being found empty, and without effect on test-paper. In a few,
the results were different ; these may require notice. Of twenty
taken in Harris on the same day, in Loch Vosmet, September
8th, three had food in their stomach, believed to be small
trout (they were partially digested, so that their character was
obscure), an acid reaction was distinct in each. Of forty-two
taken in Loch Morsgael, August 28th, the same reaction was
witnessed in the stomach of two ; a few minute flies, and these
only, were found in each. In one instance only have I ever
noticed a reaction of this kind in the sea-trout with an empty
stomach, and that was in one of the forty-two just mentioned.

I shall now pass to the common trout {Salmo fario), on
which I have made very many observations, and these at dif-
ferent seasons of the year, and on individuals of diflferent
sizes, from the brook-trout of two or three ounces to the lake-
trout of as many pounds. The results have been remarkably
uniform. In the great majority of instances, food has been
in the stomach, and in all a distinct acid reaction has been

268 Dr John Davy on the Stomach of the Fish.

witnessed. On the contrary, in the very few in which it has
been found empty, that reaction did not take place ; the lining
membrane was either neutral, or showed a very slight alka-
line reaction.

On the charr (Salmo umbla) and the grayling {Thymullus
vulgaris), the former taken in Windermere, the latter in the
Wye and the Lugg, the observations I have made have been
few. As the results accord with those already described, it
may suflBce to mention, that when food was found in the sto-
mach an acid reaction was detected, and vice versa.

On sea-fish, the trials I have made have been fewer still ;
they have been limited to the dog-fish (Sci/llinm canicula)
and the haddock {Morhua ceglejiniis). The trial with the dog-
fish (it was a solitary one) was made in June in Sutherland.
The fish, before it was opened, had been taken over twelve
hours. In its stomach there was a considerable quantity of
food in a pultaceous state ; its acid reaction was decided. Of
five haddocks examined, food was found in the stomachs of
four; it consisted of pultaceous gritty matter, with which in
one instance were mixed broken spines, like those of the aph-
rodita ; in the others, the remains of crabs and some bivalve
shells, the latter little altered. In each, the reaction was
alkaline. This, I apprehend, was no more than might have
been expected, considering the presence of carbonate of lime in
the spines and in the shells, with the additional circumstance
that many hours had intervened between the taking of the fish
and the experiments made on them. To endeavour to ascer-
tain whether any free acid had been secreted by the stomach,
the contents of one were subjected to chemical examination, and
with positive results, chloride of lime being detected. In the
instance in which the stomach was found empty, a very slight
acid reaction was just perceptible.

Though my observations have been principally directed to
the stomach of the fish I have examined, they have not been
entirely confined to that organ ; in many instances they have
been extended to the intestines. In all these, their contents
have been found, as might be expected, invariably alkaline ;
and this whether the part tested was near the pylorus or dis-
tant from it. The same alkaline reaction was witnessed in

Dr John Davy on the Stomach of the Fish. 269

the fluid, the secretion of the appendices pyloricce — the test-
paper being applied to any one of those tubes after having
been divided transversely, when a little liquid commonly
exuded.

In connection with these observations, I have made a few on
a subject nearly allied to them, viz. the action of the gastric
juice, and of the other fluids supposed to be concerned in diges-
tion after death, on the secreting organs and parts adjoining
them, — an action first observed and described by John Hunter
in the instance of the human stomach.

In the common trout, the stomach of which is so rarely
without food or without a free acid, indications of the action
in question must be familiar to every angler in the habit of
opening the fish he takes. According to what I have ob-
served, several hours commonly intervene between the cap-
ture of the fish and the witnessing the effects, varying as to
time with the temperature of the air and other circumstances
of a less appreciable kind. The organs or parts most liable
to suffer I have found to be not the stomach itself, but the
parieties of the ribs on the side contiguous to the appendices
pyloric(B and the upper portion of the intestinal canal. These
bones have been seen bare and projecting internally, with
softening, and often a breach of the intestine, and yet the
stomach, at the time, has been little changed — softened only in
a slight degree. The only instances that I can recall to mind
of its having been partially dissolved and ruptured have been
of young fish, especially the young of the salmon, the parr,
taken at a season when they were feeding greedily.

These remarks on the trout are applicable to the charr and
the grayling ; in fish of each kind I have witnessed effects
similar to the preceding.

The observations I have made on the salmon and sea trout,
in relation to this action, have been fewer than I could wish ;
and it has so happened that they have been confined to those
the stomachs of which were empty, and showed no acid reac-
tion. In all but one, no post mortem effect was perceived ;
it was one of seven sea trout taken on the 10th September,
and opened on the following day. In this exceptional one,
the bones contiguous to the appendices pyloricce were par-

NEW SERIES. VOL XI. NO. II. APRIL 1860. 2 K

270 Dr John Davy on the Stomach of the Fish.

tially laid bare, as if from solution of their covering. Neither
in the stomach of this fish nor of the other six was there any
food found, or any traces of acidity. I may mention the re-
sults of a comparative experiment made with the common
trout and the sea trout, showing the marked difference of
effect in the two instances. The subjects of the trial were a
trout of the common kind, from the river Rothay, of about
half a pound, and a sea trout from Maryport of three pounds.
After a ligature had been applied to the gullet and also to the
lower portion of the intestine of each, the viscera of both were
taken out, and placed in a glass vessel and covered. The
temperature of the air was little variable, about 65". After
twenty-four hours an examination was made. In the stomach
of the common trout, pultaceous food was found with an acid
reaction ; its coats were but slightly softened ; the intestine
was reduced to a shreddy state, most remarkable in its upper
portion, and its contents had escaped ; these showed an al-
kaline reaction. The stomach of the sea trout was empty,
with the exception of a little adhering milkwhite mucus, as
were also the intestines, with the exception of a little yellow
slime. The stomach was neutral ; the intestine slightly al-
kaline. Neither exhibited any appearance of softening.

As some of the conclusions deducible from the preceding
observations, I would beg to submit the following for con-
sideration : —

1. That the gastric juice, and probably the other fluids con-
cerned in the function of digestion in fishes, are not secreted
till the secreting organs are stimulated by the presence of
food— a conclusion in harmony with a pretty general physio-
logical law, and in accordance with what has been best ascer-
tained respecting the gastric juice in other animals.

2. The probability that the gastric fluid — a fluid with an
acid reaction — is less potent in the instance of fishes as a
solvent than the alkaline fluid of the appendices pyloricce ;
and that even as regards the gastric fluid, its acidity is not
essential to it, as its action does not appear to be arrested
when it is neutralised by the presence of articles of food
abounding in carbonate of lime.

Lastly, as a corollary from the first, may it not be inferred

Dr John Davj on the Stomach of the Fish. 271

that the migratory species of the salmonidse, such as the
salmon and sea trout, which attain their growth and become
in high condition in the sea, there abundantly feeding and
accumulating adipose matter, though not always abstaining in
fresh water, which they enter for the purpose of breeding, are
at least capable of long abstinence there without materially
suffering ? And may not this be owing to none of their se-
cretions or excretions, with the exception of the milt of the
male and the roe of the female, being of an exhausting kind ?
And, further, owing to the empty and collapsed state of the
stomach and intestines, are they not, when captured, less sub-
ject to putrefaction, and thus better adapted to become the food
of man ?

REVIEWS AND NOTICES OF BOOKS.

The Plant-Covering of the Earth; a Popular Exhibition
of Botanical Geography for Well-informed Lovers of
Nature^ composed from the Newest Sources. By Ludwig
Rudolph.*

Die Pflanzendecke der Erde Populdre Darstellung der
Pfianzengeographie fur gebildete Naturfreunde nach
den neuesten und beaten Quellen zasammengestellt und
bearbeitet von Lddwig Rudolph, Zweite vermehrte Aus-
gabe. Berlin : Nicolaische Verlagshandlung (G. Parthey)
1859.

Geographical botany, phyto-geography, or plant-geography, is
the systematic arrangement of all facts connected with the mutual
action and reaction between the vegetable covering of the globe
and meteorological agencies, together with the modifications
effected by roan for the purposes of agriculture and horticulture,
80 as to affect the aspects of nature on a large scale. Hence it
appears, that plant -geography is an important part of physical
geography farther developed on account of its influence upon the
weal, the woe, and the enjoyment of man.

If we attempt to assign to phyto-geography its right position

* This Review baa been transmitted by a foreign correapondent, and hence
there is some peculiarity in the idiom. — Ed. PkU. Jour.

272 Reviews and Notices of Books.

in relation to the totality of sciences, we are led to the following
considerations : —

Science is the organic system of cognate truths, and philosophy
is the organic system of all sciences. Hence it appears, that
philosophy, strictly so called, cannot logically be co-ordinated to
other sciences, since they are all contained in the idea of philo-
sophy, to which they must be logically subordinated. This subor-
dination may be effected in various ways, and it may assume
different forms, e.g., the following : —

All sciences are either /or/nai or material : formal, if they con-
sist entirely in the right conformation of thought ; material, if
they require, in addition, the correct observation of facts. Tlie for-
mal sciences do not contain the ideas of any given substance,
matter, existence, or facts placed externally to the thinking mind;
consequently the formal sciences may be called in preference de-
monstrative sciences, or sciences of hypothetical necessity, because
they show that if one truth is admitted, other truths must neces-
sarily follow. Logic and mathematics are formal sciences. The
fundamental idea of logic is mental congruity, and the funda-
mental idea of mathematics is quantity, either numerical or con-
tinuous. Numerical quantity is the fundamental idea of arith-
metic, and continuous quantity that of geometry.

In contradistinction to the formal sciences are the material-
observing, or monstrative sciences, in which all demonstration is
more or less based upon stubborn facts. These facts may b<;
either transitory or continuous. Transitory facts are the basis of
political history aftd biography, which never relate two facts in
every respect alike. Natural history is based upon continuous
facts, because it relates what continuously may be observed.

Political history and biography are related to natural history
and the description of natural objects, as arithmetic to geometry.
In history and biography, the dates are numerical. So in arith-
metic the quantities are numerical. In natural history the dates
are -continuous ; and so are the quantities in geometry. The
events to which natural history refer are not regarded as past,
but as continually present.

Natural history, in its widest sense, embraces the universe, and
may be divided, according to its objects, into the branch relating
to the cosmic bodies above the earth, i. «., astronomy, and into
the branch relating to the earth, i. e., geography. Both branches
may be divided into the observing and the calculating, which
latter arises from tlie application of mathematical considerations
to either astronomical or geographical observation. Geography
may again be subdivided according to its objects, which may be
inorganic (mineral), or organic (animal or vegetable). In this
case we have phyto-geography, describing the plant-covering of
the globe in its largest features.

lieviews and Notices of Books. 273

In plant-geography we expect to find the following materials :
First, A description of those plants which, by their massive forms,
or by the frequency of their occurrence, give character to the coun-
tries ; and Second, A description of the countries themselves,
according to their botanical characteristics. As to the plants,
they may be either of spontaneous growth, or spread by the cul-
tivation of man.

Those of spontaneous growth are, for example, the forest-trees,
with large leaves ; the myrtaceous and other evergi'eens ; the coni-
ferous trees ; the heaths, mimosas, ferns, palms, agaves, bromeli-
aceae, pandanus, musro, cannse, graminea;, cactus, liliacece, climbers,
loranthacesB, pothos, orchis, mosses, and lichens.

The cultivated plants to be considered are those which furnish
food, raiment, and luxuries : plants of nourishment are Cerealia,
such as wheat, rye, barley, oats, rice, maize, sorghum, pani-
cum or millet, and buckwheat Or tubers and roots, as mangold,
potatoes, arums, turnips, carrots, cassava, batatas, yams. Or
fruit-trees, like the breadfruit, coco-nut, date-palm, sago-
palm, oil-palm, olive, mulberry, chestnut, and many others. Or
plants yielding luxuries and medicines, as the vine, sugar-cane,
coffee, tea, pepper, indigo, tobacco, opium-poppy, catechu, and
gambir. Or raiment, like flax and cotton.

In describing the physiognomy of the countries, the following
botanical zones have been adopted : 1. The equatorial zone;
*2. The tropical zones, north and south ; 3, The sub-tropical,
north and south ; 4. The warm temperate ; 5. The cold tem-
perate ; 6. The sub-arctic; 7- The arctic; 8. The polar zones.
These divisions are to be subdivided according to the various
quarters of the globe, Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and Australia,
Mr Rudolph has followed the plan here detailed.

Linnteus, in his Flora Lapponica, 1737 ; his Flora Suecica,
17-45 ; and in his Colonite Plantarum, Amcenitates Academicce, vol.
viii., p. 1 ; and Gmelin, in the preface to his Flora Sibiriea, may
be considered the first authors before Humboldt, who, by their
observations, introduced, or at least foreshadowed, the study of
phyto-geography. Mr Rudolph does not mention these early
originators of the eighteenth century.

But the merits of Alexander von Humboldt are so great, that
they need not to be enhanced by concealing or forgetting what
Carolus a Linne taught half a century before him, viz. : — Sapien-
ti'ssimus creator, qui globum convestivit terraqueum plantis ^ver-
sissimis, iisque prope modum innumeris, has pro sua etiam
stupeuda ac admirabili oeconomia, modo usque singulari disposuit,
nt unaquoique amoDnissimec hujus cohortis in sua tanquam patria
habitart't, loco ipsi adsignato. Sic nimirum India; plurimas
accepcrunt Palmas ; tcmperati coeli regiones Herbas inprimis ;
septentrionales moderateo Graminum multitudincm ; frigidse

274 Reviews and Notices of Books.

Muscos et Algas itemque Arbores Coniferas, et denique America
Filices. Idem siunmum providumque Numen hcec quoque
plantarum genera in dicta distribuit climata, pro varia soli
natura, in Alpibus montibus, campis, pratis, agris, paludibus,
aquis, etc., quo in suo quodque natali loco Icetius creaceret et
floreret. Qui veram cunque et solidam plantarum scientiam
aucupatur, patriam ipsarum ac sedcm cujusque propriam, baud
sane ignorabit. Sic qui in connnuni vita, in usum occononiicum
illas vel medicum convertcre velit, ubicunque gentium et locorum
habitent, probe sciat, necesse est, etc.

Humboldt's "Aspects of Nature," ("Ansichten der Natur,") and
his "Essai sur la Geographic des Plantes, accompagne d'unTableau
Physique des Regions Equinoxiales, Paris, 1807," gave such an
impulse to botanical geography and geographical botany, that he
is usually considered to be the founder of this department of
science, although he was not the first author who wrote on this
subject. Humboldt's " Essai" has been translated into English
and other European languages ; and its favourable influence may
be traced in almost all works on physical geography subsequently
published — such as Schouw's " GrandzUge einer Allgemeinen
Pflanzengeographie," Berlin, 1823 ; Beilschmied's " Pflanzen-
geographie," Breslau, 1831 ; Meyen's " Grundriss der Pflanzen-
geographie," Berlin, 1836 ; Grisebach's " Berichte iiber die
Leistungen in der Pflanzengeographie," Berlin, 1844—56.

Rudolph refers to these works as his sources of information ;
but he has overlooked the most recent and the most important
publication on plant-geography — viz., the "Geographic Botanique
Raisonee, ou Exposition des Faits Principales et des Lois concer-
nant la Distribution Geographique des Plantes de I'Epoque Ac-
tuelle. Par M. Alph. Decandolle." Two volumes. Paris, 1855.
Plant-geography having been estJiblished by such works as we
have quoted, it followed, as a natural consequence, that other
books were produced in order to popularise the new science, so as
to intrpduce it into schools, and to render it attainable in private
life without much preparatory study. This was the object of
several popular lectures delivered and published by Schleiden.
The same popularising aim predominates in the following publi-
cation by the father of a lamented traveller : Vogel's " Natur-
bilder," Leipzig, 1846 ; and in Schouw's "Die Erde, die Pflan-
zen und der Mensch," Leipzig, 1851 ; and in the " Atlas der Pflan-
zen-geographie," von L, Rudolph. Berlin, 1852. The work at
present under review is the text-book explaining this Atlas which
the author published seven years earlier, aiming to popularise the
science of geographical botany. Mr Ludwig Rudolph saw that
even in the better schools, numerous particulars are taught
without showing their relation to a general unity : " Es fchlt
unserm Unterricht zu oft die Beziehung des Einzelnen auf das

Reviews and Notices of Books. 275

Gauze, die Erweiterung der Aussicht die hinter dem vorliegenden
Gegenstande dcr Betrachtung die ganze Fiille ahnlicher Erschei-
nungen ahnen iJUzt, die dem Gemuthe Befriedigung, der Phan-
tAsie Nahrung giebt und den Eifer zum Weiterforschen anregt."
This defect is in some degree remedied by geographical botany,
which looks upon the whole vegetative covering of our globe as
l)eing one connected whole. In doing so, geographical botany
directs our attention especially to those plants which give to a
whole country its characteristic physiognomy, leaving to systematic
botany the office of arranging plants laboriously in classes, sub-
classes, orders, families, genera, species, and varieties. In systema-
tic botany the analytical, and in phyto-geography the synthetical,
efforts predominate. However, let it be remembere<l, that analysis
and synthesis can be kept widely asunder only in the abstract,
and that in reality the phyto-geographer must. be trained by
systematic botany for accurately observing plants.

The pleasure which we derive from the contemplation of the
vegetable creation in forests, fields, and meadows, is, in its inde-
finitiveness, similar to that from instrumental music The vague
sensations created by instrumental music assume more definite-
ness when harmonising vocal music is added. So also the plea-
surable but vague sensations arising from the contemplation of
nature are raised to definiteness when the beholder becomes con-
scious of their importance by the interpretations offered in bo-
tanical geography. Systematic botany may be compared with
acoustics, giving an account of all sounds. A merely sensuous
<loliirbt in forests, fields, and meadows is like revelling in instru-
mental sounds, the pleasure in which is much augmented by a
knowledge of thorough bass, which enables us to adapt the human
voice so as to indicate the meaning, aim, and intention of the
sounds with which it acoustically and mentally harmonises. Na-
ture speaks to us and to all men, but it gives an uncertain sound,
and becomes intelligible only when man interprets it in words.
Nature, like music, requires the mouth of man to render it fully
enjoyable, by giving utterance to its meaning.

Systematic botany, in classifying plants, separates the groups
in which they naturally grow, and severs from the isolated plant
its organs of fructification, which again are pulled to pieces in
order to submit minute portions to the microscope, aiming to
establish divisions and subdivisions of the St/stema Plantarum.
But the plant-geographer does not cut down any plant, and does
not pull flowers asunder, because he has not to systematise, but
to consider the influence of climate upon plants generally, and
also the reaction of plants upon climate. Systematic botany has
to consider chiefly some minute portions of the sexual organs of
propagation, while the plant-geographer attends more to the
massive portions of plants giving character to the scenery of

276 Reviews and Notices of Books.

countries ; consequently the organs of nutrition and preservation
are to him of more importance than those of generation, unless
taken in the mass. Systematic botany endeavours to know
200,000 species of plants, which are all nearly of the same sys-
tematic importance. But a small number from this host are
selected by the plant-geographer — viz., those which sensibly affect
the weal and woe, the comfort and enjoyment of man — and for
which he has never to search, because they stare him boldly in the
face, being so massive, either in themselves or by their aggrega-
tion, that they cannot be overlooked.

Plant-geography takes its isothermal, isotheral, and isochi-
menal lines from physical geography, but considers them, as also
the events explained in meteorology, in their effects upon vegeta-
tion.

We highly approve of the manner in which Mr Rudolph ad-
vocates the importance of phyto-geographical studies, and of the
correct conception of their general aim and limits ; but in the
execution of the work, we find some defects and errors which
should not have been transmitted to a second edition. Having
been honoured by the King of Prussia with a gold medal for his
" Phyto-geographical Atlas," certainly the printed pages of the
"Text Book" should not be in contradiction with themselves and
with known facts.

On page 446, we find the words of the text, " Die chilenische
araucaria" at the foot of the page explained by " Araucaria
excelsa." But this is a mistake ; because the A . excelsa comes
from Norfolk Island, and the A. imbricata from Chili. It seems
that the word " Aronswui-zeln," on page 432, means Arrowroot.
The author should have translated " Pfeilwurzeln," if he would
translate a name almost received into German ; but to put "Aron"
instead of " Arrow," creates confusion. A more important error
than mere misnomers occurs on page 40. L, Rudolph repeats,
undoubtedly on the authority of some scientific works — " Die
Europaeische Zwergpalme Chamserops humilis, die in der Barbarei

als dichtes Gebiisch erscheint findet sich am ganzen

Mittelmeer." This is a geographical mistake. Chameerops hu-
milis, which abounds on the western shores of the Mediterranean,
on the Barbary coast, and in Spain, is, for causes which plant-
geography should endeavour to discover, on the eastern shores
either entirely wanting, or very scarce. The writer of this review
has not met with it in Egypt, nor in Palestine, nor in Syria, nor
about Smyrna, nor about Constantinople, nor in Zante, nor in
Corfu, nor about Trieste, nor in Lussin Piccolo, nor in Meleda,
nor at Athens, nor in Morea, nor in ^gina, nor in Syra. There-
fore we deem it wrong that the error should be constantly tran-
scribed from one geographical work into the other. Certainly a
traveller cannot vouch for the impossibility of finding Chamterops

Reviews and Notices of Books. 277

humilis in some secludetl spots rarely visited on the eastern shores
of the Mediterranean. But even in case that it could be found,
the scarcity of so large a plant would require explanation, while
the same palm covers, in Barbary and Spain, extensive tracts of
country, whose climate and soil are similar to those of the eastern
shores of the Mediterranean, where Chamecrops humilis is wanting.
Such glaring errors make us doubtful about other statements of the
author — e. g., when he tells us of " oranges ripening in the south
of England in the open air as wall-fruit." (P. 354.)

The stereotyped error of Chamcvrops humilis being spread over
all the Mediterranean coasts affects some of the most interesting
phyto-geographical inquiries which were reported by Ch. Martins
in the Revue de deux blondes, as early as 1856, in a paper sur
la Geographie Botanique et ses progres : —

•' Le palmier nain [Chamcerops humilis) existe dans le midi dn
Portugal, dans toute la partie meridionale et occidentale de I'Es-
pagne, il manque dans le Roussillon et le Languedoc, la Corse et le
nord de la Sardaigne, mais apparait sur un espace restraint de la
cote de Nice et ^ I'ile de Capraia pres de Livourne ; puis il manque
de nouveau dans tout le nord de la peninsule italique : il ne re-
parait qu'aux environs de la Terracine, sur les limites du royaume
de Naples et des etats du pape, devient commun dans I'ile de
Capree et surtout dans Sicile. Dans la partie orientale de la
peninsule italique il se trouve h. Tarente, puis en face de la Dal-
matic ou il descend jusqu'au golfe de Corinthe, mais il n'existe n
en Grece ni dans les iles de Zante et de Corfou. Trop commun
en Algerie, oil il est le plus grand obstacle aux defrichemens,
on ne le rencontre pas en Egypte mais seulement en Nubie.
Aucune consideration geologique ou met6orologique n'expliquo
une distribution aussi singuliere. Ponrquoi le palmier nain
manque-t-il dans la Corse et dans la partie septentrionale de la
Sardaigne, tandis qu'ii se trouve au nord pres de Nice, h, I'est dans
1.1 petite ile de Capraia, k I'ouest sur toute la cote d'Espagne ?
D'anciennes connexions de terres separees niaintenant par la mer
j)euvent seules rendre compte de cette dispersion capricieuse."

Since October 1856, when this was published, the old phyto-
geogi^aphical error as to Chamcsrops humilis has been so often
repeated even by good authors, that we must try whether the
Philosophical Journal will eradicate it finally. A plant marking
the limits between the region of palms and of laurels is of so
much phyto-geographical importance, that erroneous conjectures
should yield to true observation, which in this instance is not
difficult ; for even those who run may read the fact, that phyto-
geography is still in its infancy, and that no science would bo
more advanced than this by a well-organised universal scientific
congress, not attempting impossible acclimatisation, but realising
most important naturalisations, or at least translocations, like

NEW SERIES. VOL. XI. NO, II. APRIL 1860. 2 L

278 Reviews andNotices of Books.

that of the maize and the potato. It belongs to the duties of
periodical literature to prevent the spreading of the phyto-geogra-
phical errors of great authors — e.g., Barth was mistaken when he
wrote about Bora.ssus fiahelUformis in Central Africa. He saw
probably Boraasus ^thiopum. Livingstone was mistaken when
he reported about Cinchona in South Africa. In the magnificent
Historia Pahnarum by Martins, we find the following inaccurate
statement about Cliamccrops humilis : per maximam partem littO'
rum Maris Mediterranei diffusa offenditur, while in fact it is
scarcely one-fourth of these coasts where this palm occurs. By
inaccurate translators has even the limitation maximam partem
been omitted.

Mr Rudolph commits another mistake, informing us that Ilex
Aquifolium or holly, growing in more favourable spots of Europe
to the size of a tree, occurs in England only as a shrub. The
fact is, that we see Ilex Aquifolium even at Aberdeen forming trees,
and the climate of Britain seems more favourable to holly than
that of Germany. It is not to be wondered at that, along with
such mistakes committed in Europe, there should be mentioned
Cinchonenwdlder auf den Bergen der Tropen, p. 46 (cinchona
forests on tropical mountains). There do not exist any cinchona
forests, but only primitive forests, in which, densely surrounded by
other trees, some cinchonas are interspersed, which cannot be reared
alone after the surrounding thicket of the primaeval forest has been
destroyed. It would also have been well to tell us what kind of
cinchona trees Mr Rudolph mentions as belonging to the flora
of Hawaii, and on what authority he does so on page 218. He
has told us before, on page 202, that Cinchona condaminea is con-
fined to a narrow spot in Peru, about the fourth degree of latitude,
and to an elevation from 5000 to 7000 feet. He repeats also some-
times the inaccurate term Chinawdlder (cinchona forests), and
seems to be unacquainted with the researches of Weddcll, Delondre,
Ilasskarl, and others, who have proved that there are no such forests,
but only cinchona interspersed among other trees of the primaeval
forest, and have shown the limits in which the cinchona trees
grow with much greater accuracy than Mr Rudol})h lets us sup-
pose. Botanists, speaking of the genus Cinchona, mean the various
species of the trees from which Jesuit's or Peruvian bark is ob-
tained, and not the orderof Cmc/tonace<E to which the CoffcaArahica
also belongs. Evidently there is in the following statement some
error, page 217: Die mittlere jdhrliche Wdrme von Kanton hetrdgt
17° 6'; die mittlere Sommerwdrme 22° 2'; die mittlere Winter-
vjdrme, 21° 1' ; and in den Sommermonaten fdllt selbst bei Nacht
die Temperatur selten unter, 22*^ ! ! * This is quite impossible, be-
cause the mean temperature of winter cannot be above the mean

* The degrees are Reauniiur'a.

Reviews and Notices of Books. 279

of the whole year. Besides, it appears that most of these numbers
arc too liigh. Sometimes Mr Rudolph contradicts himself — t. «.,
he tells us that the Musa paradisiaca has the largest leaves in
the whole vegetable creation — '* Die groszten Blotter welche die
Natur aufzuweisen hat,''* page 108 ; but subsequently he informs
us that the net- palm, Manicaria saccxftra, in Brazil, has undivided
leaves of great tenacity, growing to the enormous size of 20
feet by 6, page 234. Certainly he cannot assert that the very
easily lacerated leaves of the Musa ever attained so prodigious
dimensions. In fact he himself states their size as 8 or 10 by 2,
therefore only one-third of the size above mentioned. Mr Ru-
dolph tells us (page 242), that the doom-palm {Cucifera thebaica)
has its polar limit at Cairo. In this he has been wrongly in-
formed. The Cuci/era thebaica has its northern limits some
degrees farther to the south than Cairo.

It is also a mistake that every peasant in Egypt cultivates a
field full of arrowroot (page 242). Certainly a1>out Cairo and in
the whole Delta, the cultivation of this plant is very seldom seen,
and almost entirely unknown.

He mentions Syria as belonging to the fatherland of Phoenie
dactylifcra (page 115); but more correctly, he says (page 244), that
in the most southern coasts of Palestine, the fruit of the date-palm
still ripens, which observation correctly implies, that almost the
whole of Syria where the dates do not ripen cannot be the father-
land of the date-palm. In fact, it is seen there rarely, and only as
an ornamental tree.

To ten of the cedars on Mount Lebanon, Mr Rudolph ascribes
the age of from 3000 to 6000 years, but omits to mention how he
arrived at this remarkable fluctuation between about 3000 or
6000 years.

Speaking (page 266) about California, he omits to mention the
Wellingtonia gigantea and Taxodium seinpervirens, which certainly
belong to the most remarkable botanical phenomena of these
regions. Also in the chapter on coniferous trees (pages 30-32),
no mention is made of these giants. This omission creates the
more surprise when we find the Wellingtonia gigantea repre-
sented on the adjoined plate. About the Araucaria imbricata,
we read on page 31 statements which require some amendment.
Mr Rudolph says, that this tree, like unto our own coniferse,
casts oflf its elder branches and leaves, so that its crown is con-
fined to one-fourth of its entire height. 2^ow, this is neither the
case with Araucaria imbricata nor with our own ooniferae. Neither
our Abies nor the greater part of our firs cast off their branches.
This happens only where trees grow so closely together that the
lower branches arc suffocated. This may be observed among oaks
and beeches as well as among coniferous trees, most of which,
where they are not crowded, have a tendency to retain their lower

280 Reviews and Notices of Books.

branches, so as to form beautiful obelisks or pyramids rather than
crowns. So the Araucana imbricata, where its growth is neither
conBned by gregarious trees, nor restricted by the gardener's
knife, lets the branches of its lowest verticil rest on the ground
around the stem, and represents when young, if seen from a dis-
tance, a dark-green globe, and later an elongated oval, standing
like the egg of Columbus.

According to page 30, the coniferous plants are all distinguished
by the straightness and slimness of their stems ; but at page 390,
we find a picture of Pinus pumilio spreading its crooked stem over
the ground, and we might add easily another half-dozen excep-
tions to what Mr Rudolph states to be the characteristic growth
of the conifer£E.

Notwithstanding this and other mistakes, the work is a most
agreeable manual of phyto-geography. The author has the aim
and ability to imitate in his descriptions Humboldt and other
masters of style. He has correct views of the importance and the
necessary limitations of phyto-geography. If he goes on im-
proving his pages, not merely negatively by avoiding errors, but
also positively, by looking at plants such as they are with the pre-
cision of systematic botanists, and consulting the writings of
Alphonse Decandolle, Weddell, Delondre, Hasskarl, Junghuhn,
and other observers, his volume, without losing its attractions
for thje general reader, will become valuable as a scientific hand-
book.

On the Origin of Species hy Means of Natural Selection, or
the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for
Life. By Charles Darwin, M. A. 8vo. London: Murray,
1859.

, " His reason ought to conquer his imagination." — Darwin.

In the olden time, and in early science, there were many wild
and extravagant theories proposed, and their existence lasted for
a longer or shorter period, not according to the value of the argu-
ments or facts by which they were supported, but just as the
attacks by which they were assailed were numerous and persevered
in. In modern days, within the last few years, an anonymous
book appeared, the object of which was again to bring before the
world of science the origin of the human race and the theory of
development. It was so plausibly, so popularly written, and
brought forward such an array of what seemed to be facts, ap-
parently gathered from the latest authorities, that by many it was
thought dangerous for the general reader, and its principles were

Reviews and Notices of Books. 281

challenged and grappled with, discussed and knocked down, by
men standing high in science and theology, heads of universities,
and by practical workers in the field of nature, who could observe
and judge for themselves whether the facts stated were real or not.
And thus it was, that instead of the " spirit being laid" it was
roused, and the minds of men of various professions, from the
army to the church, aye, and of women too, have been stirred up,
and they have thouglit it necessary, for the correction of views
judged to be erroneous, to place upon record what they considered
the only true version in volumes of the most varied colouring
both inside and out. It is true, that previous to the publication
of the anonymous book, allegations had been made against geo-
logists for asserting facta wliich were said to controvert the Mosaic
account of creation. The theory by Agassiz of a black as well as
a white Adam, published in an American periodical, and repub-
lished in this country by the late Professor Jameson, with most
of the objectionable passages suppressed, — the appearance of the
works of Nott and Gliddon, and the translation of some of the
physiophilosophical works of the Germans, all somewhat prepared
the way for these books, but the matter was finally clenched by
the celebrated battle of the Vestiges, and authors both small and
great, are now most numerously developed. Among others, from
whom we might have expected better things, " Omphalos" hints at
our misunderstanding the language of the sacred record, and makes
the origin of all things a very easy matter, by an instantaneously-
formed universe, with its various strata, containing ready-made fos-
sils and footprints, glacial scratches and ripple-marks. Agassiz,
in his remarkable Essay on " Classification," goes back to the ancient
maxim, " Omnia ex ovo ;" while the author, the title of whose work
we have placed at the head of this article, is convinced that the de-
velopment theory is the only true solution of the difficulties of the
question, and goes boldly into the subject in all its branches,
backed by a powerful name and reputation, and supporting him-
self by a mass of so-called facts. The " Origin of Species"
coming before the public under such auspices, and so ably treated
as the subject undoubtedly is, we feel constrained not to pass over
the work in silence; besides, the time has now gone by when such
questions are to be compromised. The more these matters are
sifted the sooner we shall reach the truth where attainable at all,
and that need not be feared. The facts of geology, where there
is an apparent discrepancy, must be explained ; and the man of
development must have some stronger arguments than he has yet
•used, to prove that a bear may become a whale, or that an apteryx
flew to New Zealand and lost its wings there by disuse.

Mr Darwin states that he has made a large collection of facts,
too voluminous for publication in his present work, in which he has
only introduced such as bore immediately upon his subject. We

282 Reviews and Notices of Books.

regret this much, because we cannot reason upon them nor esti-
mate their value, and it is upon those so-called facts that the
whole truth or untruth of his theory rests. Many of his positions
are stated hypothctically ; some of the statements given as facts
are questionable, or are given on tlic authority of a " careful or
good observer," whose careful or good qualities we are not al-
lowed to judge of; and when we read such passages as that we
have placed in a note below,* we lose some of the faith we had
placed in the great research and learning of the man, and feel
almost inclined to doubt the capability of his mind now to judge
impartially. With such a range and plasticity as Mr Darwin
pleads for, we know not where to stop — centaurs, dryads, and
hamadryads, and all those remarkable forms we enjoyed so much
as schoolboys to read about, but were taught to look upon as
mere poetic fancy, may have been really our old progenitors in a
transition state to improvement ; and when so convinced, with how
much pity shall we look down upon the Carsons and Dunbars,
Sandfords and Pillans, and blame that ignorance which kept our
young minds in such darkness. The " virginci volucres,^'' then
supposed to be " peculiar" to the Strophadic Isles, so beautifully
figured in the old editions of Virgil ; the dangerous siren which
is thus described, " desinit in pisccm mulier formosa superne,"
may have all lived ; and in latter days, if we follow Darwin, " I
can see no difficulty in believing" that mermaids once filled our
seas, and that the much disputed sea-serpent exists, or at all
events did so within historic time,

" Prone on the flood, extended long and large,
Lay floating many a rood."

Notwithstanding our scepticism of Mr Darwin's theory, the
" Origin of. Species by Means of Natural Selection " is not a
book to be trifled with. The author is well known as a man of
reputation in science, who has travelled over a great portion of the
world, observing as he went ; and he does not hide his name, like
some ashamed Vestigian, but boldly propounds his theory, and tells
us on what it is based. The whole subject, however, is so extensive,
that it would require a book as large as Mr Darwin"'s to go over
his ground, or answer his paragraphs seriatim ; and we shall only
be able to notice its great principle. Variation and its laws, and
how far these develop, or, as it is termed, improve themselves in
a natural state, as it is on this that nearly the whole theory of
development under natural selection rests.

* " In North America the black bear was seen by Ilearne swimming for hours,
with widely open mouth, thus catching, like a whale, insects in the water.
Even in so extreme a case as this, if the supply of insects were constant, and if
better adapted competitors did not already exist in the country, I can see no
difficulty in a race of bears being rendered, by natural selection, more and
more aquatic in their structure and habits, with larger and larger mouths, till
a creature was produced as monstrous as a whale." (P. 184.)

Reviews and Notices of Books. 283

Before entering upon this, however, we must explain what
" Natural Selection " means. We were for some time at a loss
to understand this until we came to Darwin's explanation,
" If variations useful to any organic being do occur, assuredly
individuals thus characterised will have the best chance of being
preserved in the struggle for life ; and from the strong principle
of inheritance they will tend to produce offspring similarly charac-
terised. This principle of preservation 1 have called, for the
sake of brevity, Natural Selection." At the beginning of
the same chapter, he has added to this, " On the other hand, we
may feel sure that any variation in the least degree injurious
would be rigidly destroyed; " and he includes " sexual selections '*
as a powerful assistant. The theory is then based upon the
animal inclination and capability to vary, and the plasticity of
certain groups of animals in a state of domestication is brought
forward to show the range to which this may take place.

" Variation " in domesticity, by crossing, or under artificial cir-
cumstances, is widely different from that in a state of nature. It
will not be denied, we presume, that animals were created for the
use of mankind. Man was to have dominion over them. In the
great group of ruminants among quadrupeds, and rasorial forms
among birds, the provision for becoming serviceable to man,
breeding in confinement or restraint, and accommodating them-
selves to circumstances, whether of climate or country, is very
marked. These, from the beginning, were made use of ; and a few
other animals, such as the dog, were, from the very earliest historic
periods, chosen to associate with and assist man ; and there is no
reason to insist that any of those should have a mingled origin ;
for, if Mr Darwin will apply the same arguments which he has
used in the case of the pigeons, all the varieties of which he
acknowledges to be descended from one stock (C livia), there does
not seem any great difficulty in believing that most, if not all,
our domestic animals have also sprung from some one wild
animal, although we cannot with certainty now point that one out.
The early domesticated animals were cared for and tended, and
various points we know were esteemed of more or less value ;
and, as man became more luxurious and civilised, animals from a
distance were introduced and crossed, and the improvement (as it
was termed) of cattle and sheep became almost a science ; and
those breeds and varieties which had a tendency to be most easily
fattened, to yield the greatest quantity, or richest milk, or the
finest wool, were assiduously cultivated. But this was all arti-
ficial. The slightest inattention deteriorated these breeds (that is,
returned them nearer to the original form), and those improved
animals, differing from anything in nature, cannot be naturally
kept up. Man's species will not last. And here is just the
check which God has interposed. These animals are created for

284 Reviews and Notices of Books.

the use of man, and his mind has been allowed to exercise itself
and study certain conditions under which qualities in the animals
are better associated with the wants he has. God in his goodness
allows thus far, but he will not permit man to manufacture a
permanent species, or to sport at will with his works ; and this is
proved by the fact, that none of those breeds or varieties (Mr
Darwin's incipient species) can be maintained, even with the
greatest attention and care. Most of our old breeds of domestic
cattle do not now exist ; some new quality was wanted, the old
one was neglected, and the breed died out. The same occurred
with our breeds of sheep. And where now among dogs is the Turn-
spit, the Irish blood-hound, the Spanish pointer 1 They also were
not required, and were supplanted. And were the fox or the hare
to be extirpated from Great Britain by any cause, the fox-hound
and greyhound would immediately follow them.

We think, therefore, that all the arguments brought forward
from plasticity in a domestic condition, just prove that it is un-
natural and artificial ; that the forms desired cannot be kept up,
and that it is only when the whole constitution is artificially worked
upon, the natural craving for food kept blinded by constant
supply, the natural passion of the sexes curbed by the allowance
of some particular improved form only being admitted, with
which the beast must either satisfy his natural inclination or
want.

The same principles prevail in plants. It is by the art of the
gardener or agriculturist that we have our melting pears and in-
comparable dahlias, with almost all our useful varieties of garden
and field vegetables ; but can we cai-ry on or maintain these by
a natural process ? They stand in a stronger position than even
the forced varieties of animals. They cannot be produced by im-
pregnation and seeds ; all our finest fruits must be layered, budded,
or grafted ; and even such plants, according to the theory of Mr
Knight, which has not been disproved, die with the parent stocks.
Where, now, are many of our old much-prized varieties, such as
the golden pippin? &c. Florists' flowers are mostly propagated by
cuttings; no seed is certain to produce the "incipient species"
it was sown from. Our kitchen vegetables — cabbage, cauliflower,
broccoli, Brussels sprouts. Savoys, curled greens, &c., all, like the
pigeons, spring from one stock, and are kept up only by the greatest
care of the nurseryman, whose profit it is to do so. And how
often have we to complain of " bad seed," that is, seed returning
ofl'spring nearer to its normal state. The same is the position of
our agricultural grains, turnips, &c. ; they are all changed and
changing. Skirving cannot keep up his Swedish tui-nip ; he is
obliged to bring out new varieties ; and the same causes that
have changed our breeds of cattle are acting on our breeds of
vegetables. And what will become of these manufactured spe-

Reviews and Notices of Books. 285

cies ; their congtitutions placed in circumstances foreign to them,
and excited by manures and stimulating mixtures, have been
weakened, and from the vine to the potato they have died out, or
become so precarious in their produce as in many instances to be
given up.

It is argued that such artificial breeds of animals would never go
back to their original form ; very likely not; they never would have
the opportunity. The countries where they roamed are now culti-
vated and peopled — their ancient food and quiet destroyed ; they
would have no real species to mate with, and the limited variety
would breed in and in as long as it could, and at last dwindle and
die. But under favourable circumstances many would go back.
In a lately published account of New Zealand, it is mentioned
that the pigs introducetl there by Captain Cook have been natu-
ralised, and " in the deep recesses of the forests they have lost the
appearance of domestic pigs, and have acquired the habits and
colour of wild animals." Among plants, the reversion to the
original form is common and constant, and takes place within a
very short period ; witness the camellia, dahlia, rose, daisy, &:c.
&c., and most of our cultivated garden vegetables.

In a natural condition, variation by crossing is very different.
Mr Darwin has drawn most of his arguments from birds. We
shall take these also. As a general rule or law, birds do not
minfjie or interbreed ; even allied species frequenting the same
localities do not. Mr Darwin has given us no proof that they do,
or ever did. Those instances given by authors are all traceable
to circumstances occurring at variance with the usual habits — such
as that of a winter migratory bird being detained from some
cause and mating with an allied species in spring ; but even in
this case, what would it lead to ? The cross would, it is acknow-
ledge<l, not breed among themselves, and with a true bird of
cither side it would soon be lost. The pheasant has always been
<luoted as an instance of two species breeding in a wild state ; it
is just a proof of the reverse. We have not a true pheasant in
all Great Britain. The ring-neck species of China, and the dark
coloured species of Persia, have been both introduced. They
have been crossed and recrossed, are altogether in an artificial
state — are fed, bred in confinement, and sheltered, and so they go on
under care ; but it is well known to every sportsman that they
can only be kept up by the introduction of " new blood," as it is
called; and without this, "preserves" decrease, birds will not
breed, and the stock is, or would be gradually lost. But in other
instances of allied species said to interbreed, such as Passer his-
panoliensis and cisalpina, Corvus dauricus and monedula, &c ,
nothing, we maintain, very different would arise. The sparrows
might breed together, they and their families for ever, they never

NEW SERIES. — VOL. XI. NO. 11. APRIL 1860. 2 M

286 Reviews and Notices of Boohs.

would produce a bunting or a bullfinch, or the two jackdaws a
pigeon, or even the white-necked crow of Africa.

In all those nearly allied species inhabiting difierent countries,
Europe and America for instance, the minute separating characters
are aJwai/s the same. The ducks have a great power of flight and
are widely distributed, and have every opportunity of intermingling
with birds from a distance or closely allied. No difference or inter-
mediation can be detected between the common wild ducks (Ana$
boschas) of Europe, North America, or India. They "sport" widely
in domesticity, but, when unrestrained, never vary, no matter how
different the countries, climates, and food may be. The Ameri-
can teal again, which an ordinary observer would scarcely detect
among a series of European birds, has a white band on each side
the breast, and other marks. The American goosander varies still
less but is also easily distinguished ; and so also the velvet scoter,
and some others ; but the distinguishing marks in these birds arc
always the same — quite constant. We do not yet know the
geographical range of these, and other birds, sufficiently to say
where allied species xncet ; and we never see intermediate forms
now. If at their meeting they were not prevented by natural
instinct from intermating, intermediate forms would be produced,
and would be circulated, which, so far as we know from very ex-
tensive observation, is not the case. In all animals, however,
there is a certain natural range of variation, amounting in some
to almost nothing, in others very wide ; you may place a hundred
goshawks, wild ducks, European teal, and American teal, Euro-
pean goosanders, and American goosanders together, and you will
scarcely find a feather different in each species ; but you may take
the same number of specimens of the common European buzzard,
or of the ruff in its breeding plumage, and you will not find two
similar. We are not, however, entitled to conclude from this last
fact that either the buzzard or the ruff sprung from anything very
different from what they now are, or that they would ever be
developed into anything very diffei'ent.

Mr Darwin has insisted largely on the influence that inter-
breeding has on variation and development, which we have en-
deavoured to show has been much overrated. But it is by "natural
selection" that his development system is to be mainly carried
out ; and this, he says, is a power " immeasurably superior to
man's feeble efforts," and should therefore produce far more
remarkable modifications and changes than can ever be accom-
plished by man's scientific breeding, and turn the incipient variety
at last to a permanent species, widely differing in structure and
form from its ancient progenitor." The strongest and most im -
proved will be '• rigidly preserved." Now, how does this work
among living species, as we term them 1 The strongest and most
l)owerful buck will drive off the younger and weaker, and remain

Reviews and Notices of Boohs. 287

master of his herd. The strongest bhick-cock will drive off all
intruders from his particular green hillock. But will either of these
in consequence beget the finest progeny ] Will it be the strongest
and healthiest females only that attend upon their polygamic
lords ? Weak and even diseased females may fancy a well-formed
stately mate. Overwork may weaken the powers of the most
powerful male, and the beaten herd would produce the healthier
stock. Many of the prize animals at our late agricultural shows
have been gotten by youtuj males. But allowing, for the sake of
argument, that there may be improvement by natural selection,
that is, greater proportional size and strength, and with all the
additions that shelter and quiet, and abundance of food and water
could give, could the progeny of the fallow or red deer, under any
circumstances, ever be developed into a moose, or elk, or wapiti,
or the wild-cat of Europe into a tiger or lion. Yet such, accord-
ing to Mr Darwin, must be the case, " as I believe that all the
species of the same genus have descended from a single parent,"
Can such be possible under the laws which scientific men have
been accustomed to think regulated animal life ? Have we any
like analogy in all the range of animal and vegetable organi-
sation to speculate upon? can we, with all our knowledge, reach
the process by which these transformations are to be accomplished ?
We simply answer, no ; but Mr Darwin meets us by saying, that
it was not from a fallow-deer, or stag, or wild-cat, that these
larger forms were developed, but from some " ancient prototype of
which we know nothing," never saw, and till now never heard
of — quite unlike anything now in existence — and that the time
required to bring about the monstrous change would be "millions
of millions of ages." And he adds, in his concluding chapter.
That •• as all forms of life are the lineal descendants of those
which lived long before the Silurian epoch, we may feel cer-
tain that the onlinary succession by generation has never been
once broken, and that no cataclysm has desolated the whole
world. Hence we may look forward with some confidence to a
secure future of equally inappreciable length. And as natural
selection works solely by and for the good of each being, all
corporeal and mental endowments will tend to progress towards
perfection." These are the deliberate, serious assertions of the au-
thor. We can do nothing with them. There never will, nor can
be, except in imagination, any means of tracing back millions of
millions of ages. All that we now know fixes the immutability
of once-created species. In the Tertiary strata many of the
moUusca are exactly similar to those now inhabiting our seas and
fresh waters ; and in our limited historic time, animal forms are
depicted on monuments above three thousand years old, just as
they now are ; and the sacred Ibis embalmed in the ancient cata-
combs does not vary in a bone or feather from that now feeding

28S Review 8 and Notices of Books.

Ly the Nile. All that we have quoted above are mere assump-
tions, not the calm reasonings of a man of science. Surely Mr
Darwin has also for a time forgotten the igneous rocks of his
geology, and overlooked the Bible statement, " the world that then
was being overflowed with water perished," and that " the ele-
ments shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works
that are therein shall be burned up."

But it is not always to development that Mr Darwin restricts
himself. •' Disuse " is a great agent in the change of form: — thus
the progenitor of a seal *' had not a flipper, but a foot with five toes
fitted for walking and grasping." The same may have been the case
with the walrus, and the curious whale-like pachyderm of the lakes
of Central Africa. " I believe," he writes, " that the wingless con-
dition of several birds which now inhabit, or have lately inhabited,
several oceanic islands tenanted by no beast of prey, has been
caused by disuse," and the eyes of the mole are a " gradual re-
duction from disuse." All these circumstances, however, if true,
would act against Mr Darwin's theory of " improvement,'" which
he states would always be *' rigorously preserved." We should
call these retrogression from perfection of structure ; but it is
little matter, as we think them as untenable as improved develop-
ment.

The theory of some old progenitor of nameless shape, difibring
from anything now in existence, is to us an unintelligible brain-
myth ; it is the assumption of a monstrous fact, not a reality — a
thing whereon we have no premises to argue upon ; and the process
of development fi'om that, or, even later, from any form actually
before us, trenches so far upon all the attributes of foreknowledge
and design which we have of old given to the Creator, that we
would ask the beginners, and students of natural science, before
many of whom this book will imdoubtedly come, to view the theory
with the greatest distrust, and to sift every fact and every argu-
ment in it to its very bottom. We do not think Mr Darwin
intends to lower the power or attributes of Deity — we would
gather the reverse from many of his expressions; but when he
writes of *' mere chance" causing one variety to differ from its
parents — when he likens the electric organs present in fishes (for
which he can find no ancient progenitor) — so rare, and placed in
such different forms — just like separate inventions of two men dif-
ferently hit on ; when he calls creation "a Theory," and speaks
of working " in a tail for all sorts of purposes," " a new
variety raised by men will be a far more important and interest-
ing object for study than one more species added to the infini-
tude of already recorded species " — to say the least, it is not
the language in which we have been accustomed to see these
subjects treated. Wingless birds, remarkable only because we
are wont to consider a wing inseparable from a bird, filling

HeviewB and Notices of Books. 289

their allotted position, and in every way provisioned for it,
whether on land or water ; blind animals filling the caves and
" waters under the earth ; " the birds of the waters so beautifully
arranged in all their internal and external appliances for the lives
they lead ; the birds of the air, the swallow, or the owl, so finely
organised for their purposes — long migration, or a noiseless,
" downy " flight or nightly vision ; the seal, so wonderfully
adapted to its watery life ; the mole, in all its structure; these and
a thousand thousand more due only to creative power and know-
ledge, are, according to Mr Darwin, the proceeds of mere develop-
ment, disuse, disease. Can this be so ]

Through the whole of Mr Darwin's most interesting volume we
find such passages as these — " The result of the various, quite
unknown, or dimly seen laws of variation is infinitely complex
and diversified." "The laws governing inheritance are quite
unknown." " Our ignorance of the laws of variation is pro-
found." ♦' We are profoundly ignorant of the causes produc-
ing slight and unimportant variations." " Variability is governed
by many complex laws," &c. &c. Are we then yet in a posi-
tion to judge, or can Mr Darwin settle the question so confi-
dently as he does, under such admissions of ignorance as we have
now quoted ? Wo think we are not yet prepared to do so.
We have said at the commencement of our remarks that some
of Mr Darwin's facts were questionable, and it is perhaps not
fair to do this without stating some, though it is impossible here
to go into any separate discussion of them. Many of the facts are
second-hand, and without authority given. Of others, we dispute
that disease was or is present in the eye of the mole : we dispute
the La Plata woodpecker never climbing trees, or the upland
goose not swimming ; we dispute the restricted condition of the
Galopagos Fauna and Flora ; we dispute Homer's calculations of
the Nile Delta; and we dispute several geological positions, &c.&c.
All the facts require sifting and analysis, and that is now the duty
of our young and active working zoologists; we would say it is
also the duty of our clergymen, for the questions will come before
them whether they will or not. Let them take them up boldly and
without reserve. Let them sift every old fact, and search out as
many new ones as they can, we have no fear for the result ; but
let them do this impartially and with the view to the truth only,
and if it is discovered, we shall owe a very large debt to Mr Darwin
for having given us so good a scent. We say hunt the Old
PROOEMTOR out, and run into him breast high.

290 Proceedings of Societies.

PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES.

British Association for the Advancement of Science.

Meeting at Aberdeen^ September 1859.

{Continued from page 141).

ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY INCLUDING PHYSIOLOGY.

The President, in opening the Section, said, — In the early days of the
British Association, the circumstances that were considered desirable —
nay, in some instances that were thought indispensable to insure a suc-
cessful meeting, were — a populous neighbourhood, connected in some way
with learning, or with commerce or manufacture, and to which there was
an easy and rapid access. Thus the capitals, English universities, and
large towns, were our early choice. In 1833-34 or -35, a meeting in
Aberdeen would have been judged to have been nearly impossible ; and
the inhabitants of this great city may now look back with satisfaction
upon their own enterprise. For, by the application of the principles of
Rteam, and mechanical and engineering science, distance, and time, and
expense have been so much reduced, that thousands of persons are
enabled to meet together from all parts of the world, and to commune
with each other over the miglity agents which God has placed within
their power. To the same causes we are indebted for the high position
this great body now holds. Opportunity is afforded to many of those
whose time is otherwise necessarily employed, to assist, by their counte-
nance and presence, the discussion of subjects on which depends the high
place our country has taken among nations. And thus it is that tlie
peace of the world will be best preserved. For while on the one hand mind
and science are engaged in contriving and perfecting engines of destruc-
tion, possessing power and range far beyond what was ever conceived pos-
sible, the means of intercommunion between the various nations of the
world at the same time are daily widening and expanding. I think, then,
under these circumstances, I am entitled to offer my congratulations upon
our meeting here, and to express the satisfaction that I feel in again join-
ing the many old friends and associates that I see around. And if a
graver feeling sometimes steals over, at the absence of those whom we
were wont to meet, that is softened and brightened by the sight of many
new faces, that have, I trust, come to assist and take part in our discus-
sions.

Since we met last year in Leeds, Zoology and Botany have steadily ad-
vanced. In Great Britain and Ireland, of tlie works which have been com-
menced in former years some have been completed, and others go on with
their wonted energy. The fine works incident to the Government Expedi-
tion brought out at the public expense, and under charge of the Lords Com-
missioners of the Admiralty, have been mostly completed, with one excep-
tion, to which, we trust, the attention of Government will be directed by
some of our scientific friends in Parliament : it is the Zoology of the Ex-
pedition of the Erebus and Terror, from 1839 to 1843. This was com-
menced in 1844, and, after a period of fifteen years, yet remains unfinished.
The contributions to the natural history of Labuan, and the atljacent
coasts of Borneo, by Mr Motley and Mr Dillwyn, so beautifully com-
menced a few years since, and illustrating a Fauna little known, have not
been continued, and will, I much regret, cease to be so under their original

British Association. 291

aathors ; fur, in the fearful massacre that took place at Kalangan on the
Ist of May last, Mr Motley and his family were the first to full Tictims to
the rage of the natives. This unhappy loss will be a serious one for
Science. Mr Motley laboured hard in our particular walks ; and being
chief engineer of the coal-mines in the eastern division of Borneo, he also
turned his mind to Geology — and at the time of his death was preparing
a paper for this very Meeting upon the coal of those countries, and upon
" The Progress and Growth of New Coal Formations now preparing for
Future Ages." It may be recollected that among the grants of money ap-
propriated at our last Meeting to Section D, there was one given to assist
Mr Eyton in his work intended to illustrate the comparative osteology of
birds. Two beautiful numbers of the work have already appeared, and
the third is ready for publication. The periodicals devoted to zoology
and botany continue to be well conducted. In these and in the Trans-
actions of Learned Societies much facility and encouragement is given
to the publication of valuable Memoirs ; and I may mention that in one
branch (Ornithology) which has not yet maintained a periodical for itself,
an experiment is being tried in Mr Sclater's " Ibis," of which the first
years numbers will be completed in October. The importance of Publish-
ing Societies has been generally acknowledged. Many of us are members
of the Rau Society, devoted to furthering the objects of our Section, and it
gives me pleasure to lay before you Professor Huxley's beautiful volume on
" Oceanic Hydrozoa," observed during the voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake,
now ready for subscribers ; and also the drawings and plates of Mr
Blackwall's volume on Spiders, now far advanced. The members of our
Learned Societies have occasionally founded medals or prizes for the
encouragement of men of science. You will see presented to Sir R.
Murchison during this Meeting the medal founded by Sir T. Brisbane,
President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. The late Dr Patrick
Neill founded another medal, which has been this year awarded to a
botanical work of rare excellence and beautifully illustrated, "The
Reproductive Organs of Lichens," by Dr L. Lindsay.* In Ireland, the
Rev. C. O'Meara's works on " The Reproduction of the Diatoraaceae" hold
a first place. Mr Archer's papers " On the Desmidieae" are also able. In
Zoology, marine life has been most advanced by Dr Kinahan, Professors
Green and \V. King ; while in the Dublin University a lectureship in
zoology has been founded, and shows its value by being well attended.
The condition of our public museums is a very important subject.
Their condition is becomin:^ more healtliy. The discussions upon the
accommodation in our noble national collections, and of the propriety of
the separation of the Literary and Art Departments from the Physical,
will, I have no doubt, bring out results favourable to both. One great
and important feature is the arrangement and cataloguir.g of our public
collections. The officers of the British Museum have worked hard in these
departments, and its Catalogues now reach to a numerous and valuable
series of volumes. Some of these are well illustrated, while others are
almost monographs. This year Dr Gray has devoted one to a portion
of the Batrachians or Frogs, and Mr F. Smith has published an excellent
part "On the Fossorial Hymenoptera." The University Museum of
Edinburgh is one of great value, as, besides possessing the rich niineral-
ogical collection made by its late able Professor Jameson, it gained by
])urcha8e the entire zoological collection of the late M. Dufresne of
Paris, in which are many of the type-specimens mentioned and described
in the zoological works published at the end of the last and beginning of

* Now pabli»hed in volume xxii. of Transactions of the Koyal Society of Edin-
burgh.

292 Proceedings of Societies.

the present century. The formation of a Museum of Technology under
Professor George Wilson will, I trust, improve the condition of this part of
the University ; but at present the accommodation and income allowed for
museum purposes are not nearly sufficient, and it is impossible for the
Regius Keeper to catalogue or arrange, or even preserve, the collection,
or to give that aid to study required at the present time, without con-
siderable additions to his staif of assistants. Among the more local
collections, the East India House has set a fine example by publishing
two excellent volumes, prepared by their late venerable curator, Dr
tforsfield. In his task of preparing this catalogue he has been assisted
by Mr F. Moore, his under-curator. The Derby Museum of Liverpool
will soon, we may hope, follow the same course ; it is a most valuable
one, and contains many unique specimens from our early expeditions.
Its curator is quite able for the task. The ^luseum of the University
of this city has, I am glad to say, been much improved, and a local
collection Jiar advanced. I may remark that museums of this class should
not, as is too often the case, attempt a general collection. The great object
should be to obtain t(/pical specimens, so as to illustrate and explain the
sybjectsand thcgeographicaldistribution of animal life in particular forms;
afterwards, a good British collection should be brought together ; and,
lastly, the local Fauna and Flora should be illustrated. Aberdeenshire,
from its seabord and a country stretching inward to a great elevation, is
very rich, and the native animals and plants are becoming extirpated and
" forgotten." Another object should be the illustration of any branch of
industry or commerce, for which there is a wide field here in the Arctic
fisheries. But the one great character of the present time is that of popular
information — popular works on all subjects. This is no doubt all in the
right direction, and shows the call for information ; but it may bo over-
done. False information is worse than none. Some of our great principles
cannot be studied against time, and diluted chapters from authors of
reputation sometimes neither give the truth nor the author's meaning.
These form a considerable staple in our weekly press. It is your duty,
then, who are presumed to know something of the various branches you
profess, to inform, and counsel, and'advise, as far as you can, the authors
of those lesser works, when they will take advice, and to endeavour that
at least accuracy is carried out in their endeavours to instruct others.

Upon the continent of Europe the progress of Zoology and Botany has
been steady. In our Foreign possessions there is an advance. The
melancholy events that have occurred in India, and her unfortunate
position, have gis'en a temporary check there ; yet the scientific journals
of that country, which have brought so much to light continue, and
there is no country where we have been so much indebted to our military
officers for physical information. Their names would form a very long list.
Colonel Sykes, your member of parliament, now here, deserves every
praise; and among Scotchmen you have Elliot and Jerdan, M'Clelland
and Adams, the latter an Aberdeenshire man, and who has brouglit
many new objects of interest to this country. But it is in the younger
countries where we see an advance more evident. Australia and Van
Dieraen's Land, now that wealth permits time and luxury, have attended
to science. In most of the journals of these countries we have original
observers, and by and by we shall have the results of the study of the
remarkable productions of these lands made where they live and grow.
New Zealand also has its scientific journal. It is, however, in the Xew
World where the greatest activity at present prevails. She has already,
with credit to herself, sent out scientific expeditions of agener.il character,
and those of Wilkes and Rae and Kane are well known, and huge works
have sprung from each ; the vast extent of territory now claimed by the

British Association. 293

American people has given rise to surveys and exploratory expeditions
at home, and these are proceeding in all directions to fix the boundary-
lines and the best railway routes to the Pacific, — naturalists and drafts-
men, in fact all the necessary staff, accompanying eacli expedition, —
the results of which are published in reports to Congress, in which they
are assisted by tho Smithsonian Institution of Washington. But the
work of the greatest magnitude and importance to America is " Contribu-
tions to the Natural History of the United States," by Agassiz, originally
advertised to bo completed in ten large volumes, but the subscription has
been so great as to allow the extension of the work beyond the contemplated
limits. Two volumes for the first jear, on the Testudinata or Tortoises,
have been published, illustrated by thirty-four plates. An important
part of these volumes is an introductory essay, which has been republish-
ed separately in an 8vo volume. Louis Agassiz's " Essay on Classifica-
tion," embraces the whole range of the subject, which he treats in a wider
and more comprehensible and less mechanical manner than has hitherto
been done ; but while I thus praise the work and the manner in which it
is treated, and agree with a great many of the positions he has taken up,
I must warn its readers that some subjects are treated in a way Professor
Agassiz will not be able to maintain, and that to those who are unable
or unwilling to think for themselves, the author's reputation will jirove
a guarantee not altogether to be trusted. It must be studied with great
care and great caution. Nevertheless I look upon it as the remarkable
book of the year. There is another work upon a similar subject adver-
tised, from which we may expect some curious reasonings, " On the
Origin of Species and Varieties," by Charles Darwin.*

Let me now say a word for Section D. At the first meeting in York, in 1831,
the Committee of Sections was naturally small. Zoology and Botany did not
come forward in great numbers, and we had only five members, Daubeny,
Greville, Henslow, Lindley, and Dr Pritchard. There was no Botanical
paper, and only one on Zoology, " On the Crystalline Lens of Vertebrata,"
by Dr, now Sir David, Brewster. In 1832 and 1833 the British Associa-
tion met in Oxford and Cambridge — in 1834 at Edinburgh, where the at-
tendance was greater than on any previous occasion, 1298 tickets being
issued — Dublin in 1835. These first four meetings are extremely inter-
esting, and a perusal of the volumes containing the Reports will show you
how this now great body thought and acted in its early days ; how it has
crept on, and increased and matured its plans, until it reached the high
position in science which it now holds ; and that I may not be said to
speak tiK) highly of ourselves, or to state matters for which there is no
foundation, the work of Section D, since the 27th of September 1831, up
to the conclusion of the Meeting for 1858, gives the following results : —
There have been read — Reports, 95 ; Papers, Zoological, 411 ; Botanical,
213 ; or, in all, 719 Rejiorts and Papers ; and the amount of money granted
to Section D for scientific encouragement during the same period appears
to have been about L.10P7. After the position that I have mentioned to
you that the literature of our subject holds, I do not think that we can
complain either of slowness or want of interest. Perhaps we have not
been so popular as the members of Section C, but we shall not quarrel
about which is the more important, as I think we are mutually dependent
on each other, and cannot well go on separately. Their science allows
great scope for the imagination, and that may occasionally run riot. They
have in charge the two great materials of which we all acknowledge the
importance, and without the assistance of which we would not now be

* " On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection," &c., now pub-
liBhed. See notice at p. 280 of the preflent No. of this Journal.

NEW SERIES. VOL. XI. NO. II. APRIL 1860. 2 N

294 Proceedings of Societies.

assembled here — coal and iron. We deal more in facts ; but if our mem-
bers would only look around them, they would soon perceive that nearly all
their necessaries and luxuries, whether of food or clothing, or of the adorn-
ment of their mansions, are furnished by animal and vegetable products.
This, however, depends upon ourselves, and if we will study these wonderful
productions with minds impressed with the power and goodness of God in
placing them around us, we shall find the investigation of them no weary
work, but one full of interest and information. By these remarks I do
not wish to claim for the British Association any undeserved influence ;
but it is now universally acknowledged that the example it has shown,
and the various links it has joined between the different departments and
the people cultivating them, have had a very decided influence on the pro-
motion of science. At all the meetings of this Association which I have
attended I have observed a great impulse given both in the preparation
for the meetings and after their conclusion, and if you will give it your
attention, you will find that after we have left you, various matters will
appear in other lights than you formerly viewed them. Various subjects
will be suggested to you, and many of you will try to study and master
this or that subject as your inclination leads, and my wish is that you
m&y persevere and be successful.

On the Orders of Fossil and Recent Reptilia and their Distribution in
Time. By Professor Owen. — Professor Owen began by remarking that,
with the exception of geology, no collateral science had profited so largely
from the study of organic remains as zoology. The catalogues of animal
species had received immense accessions from the determination ot the
nature and affinities of those which had become extinct, and much deeper
and clearer insight had been gained into the natural arrangement and sub-
division of the classes of animals since palaeontology had expanded our
survey of them. Of this the class Reptilia, or coldblooded air-breathing
Vertebrates, afforded a striking example. In the latest edition of the
*' Regno Animal," of Cuvier, 1829, as in the " Elemens de Zoologie" of
M. Edwards, 1834-37, and the still more recent monograph on American
Testudinata by Agassiz, 4to, 1857, the quadruple division of the class,
proposed by Brongniart in 1802, was adhered to, — viz., Chelonia (tortoises,
turtles), Sauria (crocodiles, lizards), Ophidia (serpents), Batrachia (frogs,
newts) ; only the last group is made a distinct class by the distinguished
Professor of the United States : — " After this separation of the Batrachi-
ans from the true Reptiles, we have only three orders left in the class of
Reptiles proper, — the Ophidians, the Saurians, and the Chelonians" (1. c.
p. 239). In Professor Owen's Reports on British Fossil Reptiles to the
British Association in 1839 and 1841, it was proposed to divide the class
into eight orders, viz., — Enaliosauria, Crocodilia, Dinosauria, Lacertilia,
Pterosauria, Chelonia, Ophidia and Batrachia, which were severally
characterised. Subsequent researches had brought to light additional
forms and structural modifications of cold-blooded air-breathing animals
now extinct, which had suggested corresponding modifications of their
distribution into ordinal groups. Another result of such deeper insight
into the forms that have passed away lias been the clearer recognition of
the artificiality of the boundary between the classes Pisces and Reptilia
of modem zoological systems. The conformity of pattern in the arrange-
ment of the bones of the outwardly well-ossified skull in certain fishes
with well-developed lung-like air-bladders (Polypterus, Lepidosteus,
Sturio), and in the extinct reptiles, Archegosaurus and Labyrinthodon ;
the persistence of the notochord (Chorda dorsalis) in Archegosarus as in
Sturio ; the persistence of the notochord and branchial arches in Arche-
gosorus and Lepidosiren ; the absence of occipital condyle or condyles in
Archegosarus as in Lepidosiren; the presence of teeth with the laby-

British Association. 295

rinthic interblendinf of dental tissues in Dendrodus, Lepidosteus and
Arehegoaanu, as in Labjrinthocion ; the large median and lateral throat-
plates in Arcbegosarus as in Megalichthys, and in the modern fishes
Arapaima and Lepidosteus; — all these characters, as the author had
ur^fed in his Lectures at the Government School of Mines (March 1858),
pointed to one great natural g^up, remarkable for the extensive gndti-
tions of development, linking and blending together fishes and reptiles
within the limits of such group. The salamandroid (or so-called "sauroid")
Ganoids — Lepidosteus and Poljpterus — are the most ichthyoid, the Laby-
rinthodonts the most sauroid, of the great group; the Lepidosiren and
Archegosaurus are intermediate gradations, one having more piscine, the
other more of the reptilian character. Arch^osaurus conducts the march of
development from the fish proper to the labyrinthodont type ; Lepidosiren
conducts it to the perennibranchiate, or modem batrachian, type. Both
forms expose the artificiality of the ordinary class-distinction between
Pisces and Reptilia, and illustrate the naturality of the coldblooded Verte-
brates, or " Haematocrya" »if4.et, blood, xpt/of, frost: (the correlative group
is the *' haematotherma"). Reptiles are defined as "cold-blooded, air-
breathing Vertebrates"; but the Siren and Proteus chiefly breathe by
giUs, as did most probably the Arcbegosarus. The modern naked Batra-
chia annually mature, at once, a large number of small ova. The embryo
is developed with but a small aUantoid appendage, and is hatched with
external gills. These are retained throughout life by a few species ; the
rest undergo a more or less degree of metamorphosis. Other existing rep-
tiles have comparatively few and large eggs; and the embryo is enclosed in a
free amnios, and is more or less enveloped by a large allautois. It under-
goes no marked transformation after being hatched. On this dilTcrence
the Batrachia have been by some naturalists separated as a distinct class
from the Reptilia. But the number of ova simultaneously developed in
the viviparous land salamanders is much less than in the siren, and not
more than in the turtle; and, save in respect of the external gills, which
disappear before or soon after birth, the salamander does not undgrgo a
more marked transformation, after being hatched, than does the turtle or
crocodile.* It depends, therefore, upon the value assigned to the differ-
ent proportions of the allantois in the embryo of the salamander and
li2ani whether they be pronounced to belong or not to distinct classes of
animals. This embryonic, or developmental character, is unascertainable
in the extinct Archegosaurus and Labyrinthodon. The affinity of Laby-
rinthodon to Ichthyosaurus, and those structures which have led the ablest
German palseontologists to pronounce the Labyrinthodonts to be true
Saurians, under the names of Mastodonsaurus, Trematosaurus, Capito-
saurus, &c., may well support the conjecture that modifications more
"reptilian" than those in Salamandra may have attended the develop-
ment of their young. Characters derived from the nature of the cutaneous
coverings equally fail to determine the class characters of Batrachia as
contra-distinguidhed from Reptilia. It is true that all existing Batrachia
have a scaleless skin, or very minute scales (Caecilia), but not all existing
reptiles have homy scales. The crocodiles and certain lizards show a de-
velopment of dermal bones similar to that in certain placoid and ganoid
fishes. This development is greater, and the resemblance is closer, in
those ancient forms of Reptilia which exhibit in their endo-skeleton un-
mistakeable signs of their affinity to ganoid fishes and Batrachia. In a
survey, therefore, of the present luiown forms of cold-blooded, air-
breathing Vertebrates, recent and fossil, Professor Owen could not define

* The CaBcilia may probably depart still farther from the type-batrachiau
mode of development, and approach more to the type-reptilian mode.

296 Proceedings of Societies.

any real and adequate boundary for dividing them primarily into two
distinct classes of Batrachians and Reptiles. As little was he able to
point out a character dividing the air-breatlung from the water-breathing
Haematocrya — the reptiles from the fishes. In the present communication
the author drew an arbitrary line between Lepidosiren and Archegosaurus,
and proposed to begin his review of the ordinal groups of Reptilia, or air-
breathing Haematocrya, with that of which the Archegosaurus was the
type.

Order I. Ganocephala. — For this group or order he proposed the name of
Ganocephala (yawos-, lustre, x£(p«X)j, head), in reference to the sculptured
and externally polished or ganoid bony plates with which the entire head
was defended. These plates include the " jwstorbital" and " super-
temporal" ones, which roof over the temporal fossae. No occipital con-
dyles. The teeth have converging inflected folds of cement at their basal
half The notochord is persistent ; the vertebral arches and peripheral
elements are ossified ; the pleurapophyses are short and straight ; pectoral
and pelvic limbs, which are natatory and very small ; large median and
lateral " throat-plates;" scales small, carinate,^sub-ganoid; traces of bran-
chial arches. The above combination of characters gives the value of an
ordinal group in the cold-blooded Vertebrata. The extinct animals
which manifest it were first indicated by certain fossils discovered in the
sphaerosideritic clay-slate forming the upper member of the Bavarian
coal-measures, and also in splitting spheroidal concretions from the coal-
lield of Saarsbruck near Treves ; these fossils were originally referred
to the class of fishes {Pygopterus lucius, Agassiz). But a specimen from
the "Brandschiefer'' of Miinster-Appel presented characters which were
recognised by Dr Gergens to be those of a Salamandroid reptile.* Dr
Gergens placed his sujjposed '* Salamander" in the hands of M. Her-
mann von Meyer for description ; who communicated the result of his exa-
mination in a later number of the under-cited journal, t In this notice
the author states that the Salamander aflfinities of the fosil in question,
for which he proposes the name of Apaeton pedestris, " are by no means
demonstrated. "t " Its head might be that of a fish, as well as of a lizard,
or of a batrachian." "There is no trace of bones of limbs." M. von
Meyer concludes by stating that, " in order to test the hypothesis of the
Apateon being a fossil fish, he has sent to Agassiz a drawing, with a de-
scription of it." Three years latter, better preserved and more instructive
specimens of the problematical fossil were obtained by Professor Von Dechen
from the Bavarian coal-fields, and were submitted to the examination of
Professor Goldfuss, of Bonn ; he published a quarto memoir on them, with
good figures, referring them to a Saurian genus, which he calls Archego-
saurus, or " primeval lizard," — deeming it to be a transitional type between
the fish-like Batrachia and the lizards and crocodiles.§ The estimable
author, on the occasion of publishing the above memoir, transmited to Pro-
fessor Owen excellent casts of the originals therein described and figured.
These casts were presented by the Professor to the Museum of the Royal

* " Mainz, Oktober, 1843. — In dem Brandschiefer von Miinster-Appel. in
Rhein-Baiern, habe ich in vorigen Jahre einen Salamander aufgefunden. Ge-
hort dieser Schiefer der Kohlen-forraation ? in diesene falbe ware der Rund
auch in anderen Hinsicht interessant." Leonhard and Bronn, Neaes Jahrbuch
fur Mineralogie &c., 1844, p. 49.

t Ibid. 1844, p. 336.

X " Ob das — Apateou pedestris — ein Salamander^artiges Geschopf war, its
keineswegs ausgemacht."

§ " Archegosaurus : Fossile Saurier aus dem Steinkobllengebirge die den
Uebergang des Ichthyoden zu den Lacerten und Krokodilen bilden." p. 3.
"Beitrage zur vorweltlichen Fauna des Steinkohlengebirges." 4to. 1847.

British Association. 297

Cullege of Surgeona, London, and were described by htm in his " Cata-
logue of the Fossil Reptiles," in that Museum (4to. 1854). The conclusions
which Professor Owen formed thereupon as to the position and affinities of
the Archegosaurus in the reptilian class, are published in that Catalogue,
and were communicated to and discussed at the Geological Society of London
(see the " Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society," vol. iv. 1848).
One of the specimens appeared to present evidence of persistent branchial
arches. The osseous structure of the skull, especially of the orbits,
through the completed zygomatic arches, indicated an affinity to the
Labyrinthodonts ; but the vertebrae and numerous very short ribs, with
the indications of stunted swimming limbs, impressed the writer with the
conviction of the near alliance of the Archegosaurus with the Proteus and
other perenuibranchiate reptiles. This conclusion of the affinity of
Archegosaurus to existing types of the reptilian class is confirmed by the
subsequently discovered specimens described and figured by M. von
Meyer, in his " Palseontographica " (Bd. vi., 2te Hef. 1857), more
especially by his discovery of the embryonal condition of the vertebral
column* — i.e., of the persistence of the notochord, and the restriction of
ossification to the arches and peripheral vertebral elements. In this
structure the old carboniferous reptile resembled the existing Lepidosiren,
and afforded further ground for regarding that remarkable existing
animal as one which obliterates the line of demarcation between the fishes
and the reptiles. Coincident with this non-ossified state of the basis of
the vertebrate bodies of the trunk is the absence of the ossified occipital
condyles, which condyles characterise the skull in better developed
Batrachia. The fore-part of the notochord has extended into the basi-
sphenoid region, and its capsule has connected it, by ligament, to the
broad, flat ossifications of expansions of the same capsule, forming the
basi-cccipital or basi-sphenoid plate. The vertebrae of the trunk in the
fully developed full-sized animal present the following stages of ossi-
fication. The neurapophyses coalesce at the top to form the arch, from
the summit of which was developed a compressed, subquadrate, moderately
high spine, with the truncate, or slightly convex, summit, expanded in
the fore-and-aft direction, so as to touch the contiguous spines in the
back: the spines are distinct in the tail. The sides of the base of the
neural arch are thickened and extended outwards into diapophyses, hav-
ing a convex articular surface for the attachment of the rib ; the fore-
part is slightly produced at each angle into a zygapophA'sis looking up-
ward and a little forward; the hinder-part was much produced backwards,
supporting two-thirds of the neural spine, and each angle developed into
a zygapophysis, with a surface of opposite aspects to the anterior one. Li
the capsule of the notochord three bony plates were developed, one on
the ventral surface, and one on each side, at or near the back part of the
diapophysis. These bony plates may be termed "cortical parts" of the
centrum, in the same sense in which that term is applied to the element
which is called " body of the atlas" in Man and Mammalia, and " sub-
vertebral wedge-bone" at the fore-part of the neck in Enaliosauria. As
such ventral or inferior cortical elements co-exist with seemingly com-
plete centrums in the Ichthyosaurus, thus affording ground for deeming
them essentially distinct from a true centrum, the term •' hypapophyses"
had been proposed by Professor Owen for such independent inferior ossi-
fications in and from the notochordal capsule, and by this term may be sig-
nified the sub- notochordal plates in Archegosaurus, which co-exist with
proper " hseniapophyses," in the tail. In the trunk they are flat, snb-

* Reptilian aos der Stainkohlen Formation in Deut«cbland. Sechster
Band, p. 61.

298 Proceedings of Societies.

quadrate, oblong bodies, with the angles rounded off; in the tail they
bend upwards by the extension of the ossification from the under to the
side-parts of the notochordal capsule — sometimes touching the lateral
cortical plates. These serve to strengthen the notochord, and support the
intervertebral nerve in its outward passage. The ribs are short, almost
straight, expanded and flattened at the ends, round and slender at the
middle. They are developed throughout the trunk and along part of the
tail, CO- existing there with the haemal arches, as in the menopome.* The
haemal arches, which are at first open at their base, become closed by ex-
tension of ossification inwards from each produced angle, converting the
notch into a foramen. This forms a wide oval, the apex being produced
into a long spine ; but towards the end of the tail the spine becomes
shortened, and the haemal arch is reduced to a mere flattened ring. The
size of the canal for the protection of the caudal blood-vessels indicates
the powerful muscular actions of that part ; as the produced spines from
both neural and haemal arches bespeak the provision made for muscular
attachments, and the vertical development of the caudal swimming organ.
All these modifications of the vertebral column demonstrate the aquatic
habits of the Archegosaurus ; the limbs being in like manner modified as
fins, but so small and feeble as to leave the main part of the function of
swimming to be performed, as in fishes and perennibranchiate batrachia,
by the tail. The skull of the Archegosaurus appears to have retained
much of its primary cartilage internally, and ossification to have been
chiefly active at the surface ; where, as in the combined dermo-neural
ossifications of the skull in the sturgeons and salaraandroid fishes, e.g.,
Polypterus, Amia, Lepidosteus, these ossifications have started from
centres more numerous than those of the true vertebral system in the
skuU of Saurian reptiles. The teeth are usually shed alternately. They
consist of osteo- dentine, dentine, and cement. The first substance
occupies the centre, the last covers the superficies of the tooth, but is in-
troduced into its substance by many concentric folds extending along the
basal half. These folds are indicated by fine longitudinal straight striaa
along that half of the crown. The section of the tooth at that part gives
the same structure which is shown by a like section of a tooth of the
Lepidosteus oxyurusA The same principle of dental composition is
exemplified in the teeth of most of the ganoid fishes of the Carboni-
ferous and Devonian systems, and is carried out to a great and beautiful
degree of complication in the old red Dendrodonts. The repetition of the
same principle of dental structure in one of the earliest genera of Reptilia,
associated with the defect of ossification of the endo-skelton and the ex-
cess of ossification in the exa-skeleton of the head, decisively illustrate the
true "affinities and low position in the Reptilian class of the so-called
Archegosauri. For other details of the peculiar and interesting structure
of the animals representing the earliest or oldest known order of Reptiles,
Professor Owen referred to the article " Palaeontology" in the " Ency-
clopaedia Britannica." This order is " carboniferous."

Order II. Labyrinthodontia. — Head defended, as in the Ganocephala,
by a continuous casque of externally sculptured and unusually hard and
polished osseous plates, including the supplementary " postorbital" and
" supertemporal" bones, but leaving a " foramen parietale." J Two
occipital condyles. Vomer divided and dentigerous. Two nostrils. Ver-
tebral centra, as well as arches, ossified, biconcave. Pleurapophyses of

* Principal Forms of the Skeleton, Orr's " Circle of the Sciences," p. 187,

fig. n.

t Wyman, " American Journal of the Natural Sciences," October, 1843.
X The corresponding vacuity is larger in some ganoid fishes.

British Association. 299

the trunk, long and bent. Teeth rendered complex by undulation and
side branches of the conrerging folds of cement, whence the name of the
order. Osseous scutes in some. The reptiles presenting the abovp
characters have been divided according to minor modifications exemplified
by the form and proportions of the skull, by the relative position and
size of orbital, nasal, and temporal cavities, &c., into the several genera ;
as e.g. Mastodonsaurus, Trematosaurus, Jkletopias, Capitosaurus, Zygo-
saurus, Xestorrhytias. The relation of these remarkable reptiles to the
Saurian order has been advocated as being one of close and true affinity,
chiefly on the character of the extent of ossification of the skull and of
the outward sculpturing of the cranial bones. But the true nature of
some of these bones appears to have been overlooked, and the gaze of re-
search for analogous structures has been too exclusively upward. If
directed downward from the Labyrinthodontia to the Ganocephali, and to
certain ganoid fishes, it suggests other conclusions, which had been worked
out by Professor Owen, in his article on " Palaeontology,' above referred
to. There is nothing in the known structure of the so-named Archego-
saurus or Mastodonsaurus that truly indicates a belonging to the Saurian
or Crocodilian order of reptiles. The exterior ossifications of the skull
and the canine-shaped labyrinthic teeth, are both examples of the Sala-
raandroid modification of the ganoid type of fishes. The small proportion
of the fore-limb of the Mystriosaurus in nowise illustrates this alleged
Saurian affinity : for though it be as short as in Archegosaurus, it is as
perfectly constructed as in the crocodile, whereas the short fore- limb of
Archegosaurus is constructed after the simple type of that of the Proteus
and Siren. But the futility of this argument of the sauroid affinities is
made manifest by the proportions of the hind-limb of Archegosaurus ; it
is as stunted as the fore-limb. In the Labyrinthodonts it presented
larger proportions, which, however, may be illustrated as naturally by
these proportions of the limbs in certain Batrachia, as in the Teleosaurus.

Order III. Ichthyopterygia. — The bones of the head still include the
■upplementary " post-orbit als" and " supra-temporals," but there are
small tempond and other vacuities between the cranial bones ; a " foramen
parietale," a single convex occipital condyle,* and one vomer which is
edentulous. Two antorbital nostrils. Vertebral centra, ossified bicon-
cave. Pleurapophyses of the trunk long and bent, the anterior ones
with bifurcate heads. Teeth with converging folds of cement at their
base ; implanted in a common alveolar groove, and confined to the maxil-
lary, premazillary, and premandibular bones. Premaxillaries much
exceeding the maxillaries in size. Orbit very large ; a circle of sclerotic
plates. Limbs natatory ; with more than five multi-articulate digits ; no
sacrum. With the retention of characters which indicate, as in the pre-
ceding orders, an affinity to the higher Ganoidea, the present exclusively
marine reptilia more directly exemplify the Ichthyic type in the propor-
tions of the premaxillary and maxillary bones ; in the shortness and
great number of the biconcave vertebrae ; in the length of the pleurapo-
physes of the vertebras near the head ; in the large proportional size of
the eyeball, and its well-ossified sclerotic coat ; and especially in the struc-
ture of the j)ectoral and ventral fins. The skin is naked. The order
ranges from the lias to the chalk.

Orderly. Sacropterygia. — No post-orbital and supra-temporal bones :t
large temporal and other vacuities between certain cranial bones ; a fora-
men parietale ; two antorbital nostrils ; teeth simple, in distinct sockets

* This character is retained throughout the rest of the class, save in Ba-
trachia, and will not afterwards be expressed in their characters,
t These bones do not reappear in the subsequent orders.

300 Proceedings of Societies.

of premaxillary, maxillary, and premandibular bones, rarely on the psIa-
tine or pterygoid bones ; mazillaries larger than preraaxillaries. Limbc
natatory; not more than five digits. A sacrum of one or two vertebrae
for the attachment of the pelvic arch in some, numerous cervical vertebrae
in most. Pleurapophyses with simple heads ; those of the trunk long and
bent. In the Pliosaurus the neck vertebrae are comparatively few in
number, short and flat. The sauropterygian type seems to have attained
its maximum dimensions in this genus ; the species of which are peculiar
to the Oxfordian and Kimmeridgian divisions of the Upper Oolitic system.
M. von Meyer regards the number of cervical vertebras, and the length of
neck, as characters of prime importance in the classification of Reptilia,
and founds thereon his Order called Macrotrachelen, in which he includes
Siraosaurus, Pistosaurus, and Nothosaurus, with Plesiosaurus. No doubt
the number of vertebrae in the same skeleton bears a certain relation to
ordinal groups ; the Ophidia find a common character therein ; yet it is
not their essential character ; for the snake-like form, dependent on
multiplied vertebrae, characterises equally certain Batrachians (Caecilia)
and fishes (Muraena). Certain regions of the vertebral column are the
seats of g^eat^varieties in the same natural group of Reptilia. We have
long-tailed and short-tailed lizards ; but do not, therefore, separate those
with numerous caudal vertebrae, as '• Macrourau," from those with few or
none. The extinct Dolichosaurus of the Kentish chalk, with its procoelian
vertebrae, cannot be ordinally separated, by reason of its more numerous
cervical vertebrae, from other shorter-necked procoelian lizards. Aslittle
can we separate the short-necked and the big-headed amphicoelian Pliosaur
from the Macrotrachelians of Von Meyer, with which it has its most intimate
and true affinities. There is much reason, indeed, to suspect that some of
the Muschelkalk Saurians, which are as closely allied to Nothosaurus as
Pliosaurus is to Plesiosaurus, may have presented analogous modifications
in the numbers and proportions of the cervical vertebrae. It is hardly pos-
sible to contemplate the broad and short-snouted skull of the Simosaurus,
with its proportionably large teeth, without inferring that such a head must
have been supported by a shorter and more powerful neck than that which
bore the long and slender head of the Nothosaurus or Pistosaurus. The
like inference is more strongly impressed upon the mind by the skull of
the Placodus, still shorter and broader than that of Simosaurus, and with
vastly larger teeth, of a shape indicative of their adaptation to crushing
molluscous or crustaceous shells. Neither the proportions and armature
of the skull of Placodus, nor the mode of obtaining the food indicated by
its cranial and dental characters, permit the supposition that the head was
supported by other than a comparatively short and strong neck. Yet the
composition of the skull, its proportions, cavities, and other light-giving
anatomical characters, all bespeak the close essential relationship of
Placodus to Simosaurus and other so-called Macrotrachelian reptiles of the
Muschelkalk beds. Professor Owen continued, therefore, as in his Report
of 18il, to regard the fin-like modification of the limbs as abetter ordinal
character than tlie number of vertebrae in any particular region of the
spine. Yet this limb-character is subordinate to the characters derived
from the structure of the skull and of the teeth. If, therefore, the general
term Enaliosauria may be sometimes found convenient in its application
to the natatory group of Saurian Reptiles, the essential distinctness of
the orders Sauropterygii and Ichthyopterygii, typified by the Ichthyosaurus
and Plesiosaurus respectively, should be borne in mind. The Plesiosaurus,
with its very numerous cervical vertebrae, sometimes thirty in number, may
be regarded as the type of the Sauropterygii, or pentadactyle sea-lizards.
Of all existing reptiles, the lizards, and, amongst these, the Old World
monitors {Varanus, Fitz.), by reason of the cranial vacuities in front of

British Association. 801

the orbits, most rescmhle the Plesiosaur in the structure of the skull ; as
in the division of the nostrils, the vacuities in the occipital region between
the exoccipituls and tympanies, the parietal foramen, the zygomatic exten-
sion of the post-frontal, the palato-maxillary, and pterygosphenoid vacui-
ties in the bony palate ; and all these are lacersian characters as contra-
distinguishetl from crocodilian ones. But the antorbital vacuities, between
the nasal, prefrontal, and maxillary bones, are the sole external nostrils
in the Plesiosaurs. The zygomatic arch abuts against the fore part of the
tympanic, and fixes it: a much greater extent of the roof of the mouth is
ossified than in lizards, and the palato-maxillary and pterygo-sphenoid
fissures are reduced to small size. The teeth, finally, are implanted in
distinct sockets. That the Plesiosaur had the " head of a lizard " is an
emphatic mode of expressing the amount of resemblance in their cranial
conformation. The crocodilian affinities, however, are not confined to the
teeth, but are exemplified in some particulars of the structure of the skull
itself. In the simple mode of articulation of the ribs the lacertian affinity
is again strongly manifested ; but to this vertebral character such affinity
is limited. All the others exemplify the ordinal distinction of the Plesio-
saurs, from known existing reptiles. The shape of the ints of the centra;
the number of vertebrae between the head and tail, especially of those of
the neck ; the slight indication of the sacral vertebrae ; the non-confluence
of the caudal hacmapophyses with each other, — are all "plesiosauroid."
In the size and number of abdominal ribs and sternum may perhaps bo
discerned a first step in that series of development of the haemapophyses
of the trunk, which reaches its maximum in the plastron of the Chelonia.
The connection of the clavicle with the scapula is common to the Chelonia
with the Plesiosauri ; the expansion of the coracoids — extreme in Plesio-
saari — is greater in Chelonia than in Crocodilia, but is still greater in
some Lacertia. The form and proportions of the pubis and ischium, as
compared with the ilium, in the pelvic arch of the Plesiosauri, find their
nearest approach in the pelvis of marine Chelonia ; and no other existing
reptile now offers so near, although it be so remote, a resemblance to the
structure of the paddles of the Plesiosaur. Both Nothosaurus and Pisto-
saorus had many neck- vertebrae ; and the transition from these to the
dorsal series was affected, as in Plesiosaurus, by the ascent of the rib-sur-
face from the centrum to the neurapophysis ; but the surface, when
divided between the two elements, projected further outwards than in
most Plesiosauri. In both Nothosaurus and Pistosaurus the pelvic verte-
brae develop a combined process (par- and di-apophysis), but of rela-
tively larger, vertically longer size, standing well out, and from near the
fore-part of the side of the vertebra. This process with the coalesced
riblet indicates a stronger ilium, and a firmer base of attachment of the
hind-lirab to the trunk than in Plesiosaurus. Both this structure and the
greater length of the bones of the fore arm and leg show that the Muschcl-
kalk predecessors of the liassic Pleisosauri were better organised for occa-
sional progression on dry land. The Sauropterygii extend from the Trias
to the chalk inclusive.

Order F. Anomodokti.^ {xuofAo;, lawless, oooi/j, tooth). — This order is
represented by three families, all the species of which are extinct, and
appear to have been restricted to the triassic period. Teeth wanting, or
confluent with tusk-shaped premaxillaries, or confined to a single pair in
the upper jaw, which have the form and proportions of canine tusks. A
foramen parietale and two nostrils, tympanic pedicle fixed. Vertebra?
biconcave ; pleurapophysis of the trunk long and curved, the anterior
ones with bifurcate heads ; a sacrum of four or five vertebrae forming,
with broad iliac and pubic bones, a large pelvis. Limbs, ambulatory. —
Family, Dicynodontis. A long, ever-growing tusk in each maxillary

NEW SERIES. VOL. XI. NO. II. APRIL 1860. 2

802 Proceedings of Societies.

bone; pr.'maxillariea connate, and forming with the lower jaw a beak-
Bhapcd mouth, probably sheathed with horn. This includes two genera, —
Dicynodon and Ptychognathus, — all the known species of which are
founded on fossils from rocks of probably triassic age in South Africa. —
Family Cryptodontia. Uj)per as well as lower jaw edentulous. The
genus Oudenodon closely conforms to the dicynodont type, and the species
are from the same rocks and localities. — Family Gnathodontia. Two
curved tusk-shaped bodies holding the place of the premaxillaries, and con-
sisting of confluent dentinal and osseous substance, descending in front of
the symphysis mandibuhv. These bodies are homologous with the pair of
confluent premaxillary teeth and bones in the existing Nrw Zealand amphi-
coelian lizard Rhynchocephalus ; they are analogous to the tusks in the
Dicynodonts, and must have served a similar purpose in the extinct rep-
tiles of the new red (Trias) sandstone of Shropshire (Rhynchosaurus),
in which alone this structure, with an otherwise edentulous beak-shaped
mouth, has hitherto been met with. To this order belongs the Rhyncho-
saiiroid reptile, from the Elgin sandstone, with palatal teeth, called
Hyperodapedon by Professor Huxley.

Order VI. Pterosaurtjs. — Although some members of the preceding
Order resembled birds in the shape or the edentulous state of the raoutli,
the reptiles of the present order make a closer approach to the feathered
class in the texture and pneumatic character of most of the bones, and in
the modification of the pectoral limbs for the function of flight. This is
due to the elongation of the antibrachial bones, and more especially to
the still greater length of the metacarpal and phalangial bones of the fifth
or outermost digit, the last phalanx of which terminates in a point. The
other fingers were of more ordinary length and size, and were terminated
by claws, the number of their phalanges progressively increasing to the
fourth, which had four joints. The whole osseous system is modified in
accordance with the possession of wings ; the bones are light, hollow,
most of them permeated by air-cells, with thin, compact outer walls. The
scapula and coronoid are long and narrow, but strong. The vertebrae of
the neck are few, but large and strong, — for the support of a large head
with long jaws, armed with sharp-pointed teetli. The skull was liglitened
by large vacuities, of which one was interposed between the nostril and
the orbit. The vertebrae of the back are small — as are those of the sa-
crum, which were from two to five in number — but combined with a small
pelvis and weak hind limbs, bespeaking a creature unable to stand and
walk like a bird ; the body must have been dragged along the ground
like that of a bat. The vertebral bodies were imited by ball-and-socket
joints, the cup being anterior, and in them we have the earliest manifes-
tation of the "procoelian" type of vertebra. The Pterosauria are distri-
buted into genera according to modifications of the jaws and teeth. In
the oldest known species, from the lias, the teeth are of two kinds : a few,
at the fore-part of the jaws, are long, large, sharp-pointed, with a full
elliptical base, in distinct and separated sockets ; behind them is a close-sot
row of short, compressed, very small, lancet-shaped teeth. These form
the genus Dimorphodon, Ow. In the genus Ramphorhynchus, V. M., the
fore-part of each jaw is without teeth, and may have been incased by a
horny beak; but behind the edentulous production there are four or five
large and long teeth followed by several smaller ones. The tail is long,
stiff, and slender. In the genus Pterodactylus, Cuv., the jaws are pro-
vided with teeth to their extremities ; all the teeth are long, slender,
sharp-pointed, set well apart. The tail is very short. P. longirostrit,
Ok., about ten inches in length. From lithographic slate at Pappenheim,
r. crassirostris, Ooldf., about one foot long, and P. Sedr/wickii, Ow.,
from the greensand, with an expanse of wing of twenty feet, exemplify

British Association. 308

the Pterodn'-f '"- ■-■>}i©r. The oldest well-known f'terodactyle is the
Dimorpkoif 7.r of the lower lias; but boues of Pterodactyle

have been ui: ... in coeval lias of Wirtemberg. The next in point
of a<e is ti)e Dimorphodon Bantfuiisis, from the " Posidonomyen-
Shiifer" of Bauz in Bavaria, answering to the alum shale of the Whitby
liiw. Then follows the P. Bu^klandi, from the Stonesfield oolite. Above
this come the first-defined and numerous species of Pterodactyle from the
lithographic slates of the middle oolitic system in Germany, and from Ciriii
on the Rhone. The Pterodactyles of the Weulden are, as yet, known to
us by only a few bones and bone fragments. The largest known s|)ecie«
are tlie P. Stdmcirkii and P. Fittoni, from the upper greensand of Cam-
bridgeshire. Finally, the Pterodactyles of the middle chalk of Kent, al-
most as remarkable for their great size, constitute the last forms of flying
reptile known in the history of the crust of this earth.

Order VII. Thecodontia. — Vertebral bodies biconcave ; ribs of the
trunk long and bent, the anterior ones with a bifurcate head ; sacrum of
three vertebrae ; limbs ambulatory, femur with a third trochanter. Teeth
with the crown more or less compressed, pointed, with trenchant and
finely serrate margins ; implanted in distinct sockets. This order is re-
presented by the extinct genera Thecodontosaurus and Paloeosaurus of
Kiley and Stutchbury, from probably triassic strata, near Bristol ; by the
Cladyodon of the new red sandstone of Warwickshire, with which, pro-
bably, the Belodon of the Keuper sandstone of Wirtemberg is generically
synonymous. The Bathyeuathus, Leidy, from new red sandstone of
Prince Edward's Island, North America, is probably a member of the
present order, which seems to have been the forerunner of the next.

Order VIII, Dixosacbia. — Cervical and anterior dorsal vertebrae, with
par- and di-apophyses, articulating with bifurcate ribs : dorsal vertebrae
with a neutral platform : sacral vertebrve from four to six in number.
Articular ends of the free vertebrae, more or less flat ; but in the cervical
becoming convex in front and concave behind, in some species. Limbs
ambulatory, strong, long, and unguiculate. Femurwith a third trochanter
in some. The species of this order were of large bulk, and were eminently
adapted for terrestrial life ; some, £.</., Iguanodon and, probably, llylajo-
saurus, were more or less vegetable feeders ; others, e.g., Megalosaurus,
were carnivorous. The Dinosauria ranged, in time, from the lias (Scelido-
saurus, Ow., from Charmouth) to the upper greensand (Iguanodon). The
Megalosaurus occurs in the lower oolite to the Wealden inclusive. The
latter formation is that in which the Dinosauria appear to have flourished
in greatest numbers and of hugest dimensions.

Order IX. Crocodilia. — Teeth in a single row, implanted in distinct
sockets, external nostril single and terminal or subtenuinal. Anterior
trunk ; vertebnc with par- and di-apophyses, and bifurcate ribs ; sacral
vertebne two, eacii supporting its own neural arch. Skin protected by
bony, usually pitted, plates.

Sub-Order, Awphiccelia (^»ia<Pi, both ; xo<AOf, hollow ; the vertebne
being hollowed at both ends). — Crocodiles, closely resembling in genera,
f.'— •' ' ng and slender-jawed kind of the Ganges, called Gavial, ex-
i- • ae time of the dejKisition of the lower lias. The teeth of the

li.u-.. .>^..,,i were similarly long, slender, and sharp, adapted for the pre-
hension of fishes, and their skeleton was modified for more efficient pro-
gress in water, by both the terminal vertebral surfaces being slightly
concave, by the hind limbs being relatively larger and stronger, and by
the orbits forming no prominent obstruction to progress through water.
From the nature of the deposits containing the remains of the so-modified
crocodiles they were marine. The fossil crocodile from the Whitby lias,
described and figured in the Philosophical Trans<utions, 175S, p. G88,

304 Proceedings of Societies.

is the type of these Amphicoelian species. They have been grouped
under the following generic heads : — Teleosaurus, Mystriosaurus, Macro-
spondylus, Massospondylus, Pelagosaurus, Aeolodon, Suchosaurus, Gonio-
pholis,P(Ecilopleuron, Stagonolepis (?), &c.* Species of the above genera
range from the lias to the chalk inclusive.

Sub-Order Opisthoccelia {ovtadog, behind ; KotMs, hollow ; vertebwe
concave behind, convex in front). — The small group of crocodilia, so
called, is an artificial one, based upon more or less of the anterior trunk
vertebrae, being united by ball-and-socket joints, but having the ball in
front, instead of, as in modern crocodiles, behind. Cuvier first pointed
out this peculiarityt in a crocodilian from the Oxfordian beds at Harfleur
and the Kimmeridgian at Havre. Professor Owen had described similar
Opisthocoelian vertebrae from the great oolite at Chipping Norton, from
the upper lias of Whitby, and, but of much larger size, from the Wealden
formations of Sussex and the Isle of Wight. These specimens probably
belonged, as suggested by him in 1841, J to the fore-part of the same
vertebral column as the vertebrae, flat at the fore-part, and slightly hollow-
behind, on which he founded the genus Cetiosaurus. The smaller Opis-
thocoelian vertebrae described by Cuvier have been referred by Von
Meyer to a genus called Streptospondylus. In one species, from the
Wealden, dorsal vertebrae, measuring 8 inches across, are only 4 inches
in length, and caudal vertebrae nearly 7 inches across are less than 4 inches
in length. These characterise the species called Cetiosaurus hrevis.
Caudal vertebrae, measuring 7 inches deep and 5 J inches in length, from
the lower oolite at Chipping Norton, and the great oolite at Enstone,
represent the species called Cetiosaurus medius. Caudal vertebrae from
the Portland stone at Garsington, Oxfordshire, measuring 7 inches 9 lines
across, and 7 inches in length, were referred by the author to the Cetio-
saurus longus. The latter, he remarked, must have been the most
gigantic of crocodilians.

Sub- Order. Proccelia (-s-jof , front ; xo/Xo; , hollow ; vertebras with the cup
at the fore-part and the ball behind). Crocodilians with cup-and-ball verte-
brae, like those of living species, first make their appearance in the green-
sand of N. America {Crocodilus basifissus and C. basitimncatus., Ow.)g
In Europe, their remains are first found in the tertiary strata. Such
remains Jrora the plastic clay of Meudon have been referred to Crocodilus
isorhynchus, C. calorhyncns, C. Becquercli. In the " Calcaire Grossier"
of Argenton and Castelnaudry have been found the C. Rallinati, and C.
Dodanii. In the coeval eocene London clay, at Sheppy Island, the entire
skull and characteristic parts of the skeleton of C. toliapicus and C champ-
so'ides occur. In the somewhat later eocene beds at Bracklesham occur the
remains of the Gavial-like C. Dixoni. In the Hordle beds have been found

* This was referred to the present order, by the author, after inspection of
the speriniens brought to the British Association Meeting at Leeds, by Sir K.
Murchison, but with a note on the greater relative breadth of the coracoid, as
shown by the part of the bone then exposed. — (Encyclo. Brit., Art. " Palaeonto-
logy.") Prof. Huxley, to whom the specimens were subsequently consigned
for description, together with others directly transmitted to him, confirms the
general crocodilian character of Stagonolepis. I regard the raodifications of
the limb-bones as indications of affinity with the Thecodontia ; but the structure
of the cranium must be ascertained to determine this point. The associated
fossils, especially those allied to llynchosaurus, in the Elgin sandstones, have a
triassic character.

t Annales du Museum, torn. zii. p. 83, pi. x., xi.

X lleport on British Fossil Reptiles, Trans. British Association for 1841.
p. 96.

§ Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society.

British Association. 305

the C. Haatingnce, with short and broad jaws ; and also a true alligator (C
Hantonientit). It is remarkable that forms of procoelian Crocodilia, now
geographicallj restricted, the gavial to Asia, and the alligator to America,
should have been associated with true crocodiles, and represented by
species which lived, during nearly the same geological period, in rivers
flowing over what now forms the south coast of England. Many species
of procoelian Crocodilia have been founded on fossils from miocene and
pliocene tertiaries. One of these, of the gavial sub-genus (C. Crassidens),
from the Sewalik tertiary, was of gigantic dimensions.

Order X. Lacertili.\. — Vertebrse, in most, procoelian, with a single
transverse process on each side, and with single-headed ribs ; sacral verte-
brae, not exceeding two. Small vertebrae of this typo have been found
in the Wealden of Sussex. They are more abundant, and are associated
with other and more characteristic parts of the species in the cretaceous
strata. On such evidence have been based the Rhaphiosaurits suhulideng,
the Conia^aurut crassulens, and the Dolichosaurua longicollis. But the
most remarkable and extreme modification of the lacertian type, in the
cretaceous period, is that manifested by the huge species, of which a
cranium, five feet long, was discovered in the upper chalk of St Peter's
Mount, near Maestricht, in 1780. This species, under the name Mosa-
saurus, is well known by the descriptions of Cuvier. Allied species have
been found in the cretaceous strata of England and North America. The
Leiodon anceps of the Norfolk chalk was a nearly allied marine Lacer-
tian. The structure of the limbs is not yet well understood ; it may lead
to a subordinal separation of the Mosasauroids from the land-lizards, most
of which are represented by existing species, in which a close transition
is manifested to the next order.

Order XI. Ophidia. — V'ertebrae very numerous, procoelian, with a
single transverse process on each side : no sacrum ; no visible limbs.
The earliest evidence, at present, of this order is given by the fossil
vertebrae of the large serpent (Palseophis, Ow.) from the London clay of
Sheppy and Bracklesham. Remains of a poisonous serpent, apparently
a Vipera, have been found in miocene deposits at Sansans, south of France.
Ophidiolites, from (Eningen, have been referred to the genus Coluber.

Order XII. Chelonia. — The characters of this order, including the
extremely and peculiarly modified forms of tortoises, terrapenes, and
turtles, are sufficiently well known. The chief modifications in oolitic
Chelonia known to Professor Owen were the additional pair of bones, inter-
posed between the hyostemals and the hypostemals of the plastron, in
the genus Pleurosternon from the upper oolite at Purbeck. It would bo
very hazardous to infer the existence of reptiles, with the characteristic
structure of the restricted genus Testudo, from the footprints in the triassic
sandstone of Dumfriess-shire. But Professor 0\ven concurred in the gene-
ral conclusions based upon the admirable figures and descriptions in the
splendid monograph by Sir William Jardine, Bart., F.R.S., that some of
those footprints most probably belonged to species of the Chelonian order.
An enormous sptcies of true turtle (Chelone yigas), the skull of which
raeasorcd one foot across the back part, had left its remains in the
eocene clay at Sheppy. The terrestrial type of the order had been
exemplified on a still more gigantic scale by the Colossochelys of the
^^ewalik tertiaries.

Order XIII. Batrachia. — Vertebrae biconcave {Siren), procoelian
{Rana), or opisthoccelian {I^p<t) ; pleurapophyses short, straight. Two
occi])ital condyles and two vomerine bones, in most dentigerous ; no scales
or scutes. Larvae with gills, in most deciduous. Representatives of ex-
isting families or genera of true Batrachia have been found fossil, chiefly
in tertiary and post-tertiary strata. Indications of a perennibrauchiate

306 Proceedings of Societies.

batrachian had recently been detected by Professor Owen, in a collection
of minute Purbeck fossils. Anourous genera {Palaophrynus), allied to
the toad, occurred in the CEningen tertiaries, and here also the remains
of the gigantic Salamander {Andrias Schenchyeri) were discovered.

Summary of the above defined Orders.
Province — ^Vertebrata.

ChliS H^,MATOCRYA.

Sub-Class — Reptilia.

Orders.

\. Ganocephala.
II. Labyrinthodoiitia.
HI. Ichthyopterygia.
IV. Sauropterygia.
V. Anomodontia.
VI. Pterosauria.
VII. Thecodontia.

VIII. Dinosauria.
IX. Crocodilia.
X. Lacertilia.
XI. Ophidia.
XII. Chelonia.
XIII. Batrachia.

Professor Huxley thought this communication a most iuiportant con-
tribution to science. He quite agreed with Professor Owen in placing
together the Amphibia and fishes, as no real distinction could be drawn
between them. It was, however, different with the true Reptiles and
Amphibia, although Professor Owen was not disposed to attach importance
to these distinctions. The Amphibia possessed no allantois and had gills,
points of structure which separated them strongly from the true Reptiles.
Amongst extinct animals none presented any transitional forms. — Profes-
sor Owen defended his own position on the ground that such an interpre-
tation could be given to the allantois on the one side and the gills on the
other, as to render the distinctions less obvious than at first sight ap-
peared.

On the Identify of MoTThvuL wilgaris (the common Cod) and Morrhna
punctata (the speckled Cod), hitherto described as distinct species. By
Dr DvcE. — The author of this paper showed that the distinction between
the.«e fishes consisted mainly in a diseased condition of the bones.
This peculiarity existed in haddocks and other fishes. This condition
of the bones consisted in an absorption of the centrum of the vertebrae,
and resembled in its effects the disease called rickets in the human
being.

On the Distribution of British Butterflies. By Mr H. T. Stain-
ton. — Among the insect tribes, the " scale-wings" or order Lepidoptern.
has always attracted a considerable amount of attention. The variety
and beauty of the butterfly tribe is a matter of notoriety. The order
Lepidoptera includes two great divisions, butterflies and moths, — the
former group all fly by day, whereas most of the moths are nocturnal in
their habits. It has been calculated that there are not less than 50.000
different species of Lepidoptera on the globe. More than 3000 species of
butterflies are already known, and it has been computed that the moths
are sixteen times as numerous. In this country tlie proportion of moths
is much greater, being nearly 30 to 1, but then we are remarkable
throughout Europe for our poverty in butterflies. As already observed,
in the whole world 3000 species of butterflies are already known ; of these
only one-tenth occur in Europe, the tropical parts of Asia and America
being by far the most numerously populated with this beaiitiful tribe of
insects. In central Europe or Germany, 186 species of butterflies have
been observed, the remaining 120 European species being peculiar to

British Association. 307

Spain, Italy, Grecw, Russia, or Lapland. Of the German species 94
occur in Belgium, but only 65 in England, though we possess one species,
Erebia catsiope, which does not occur in Belgium. AM the British but-
terflies occur in England, but little more than half (only 33) are found in
Scotland, and scarcely more in Ireland. Twenty-five species may be con-
sidered as generally distributed and common ; but it should not be under-
stood that these are everywhere to be met with, but simply that their
geographical range is nut limited, and that where they find suitable
locidities we may expect to meet with them from Norfolk to Killamey,
and from the Isle of Wight to Caithness, — some frequent gardens, some
meadows, some heaths, some woods, and some hedgerows and lanes.
Twenty-five other species, which all occur in the south-east of England,
thin out as we advance northwards and westwards, — only five of them
occurring in Scotland, only fourteen in Ireland. Three species, two of
which are common in the mountainous parts of Scotland, do not occur at
all in the south of England. Seven species are local to particular limited
districts in the midland counties or the south of England. Three species
of rare occurrence in this country must be looked upon as stragglers
from the Continent ; one of them, Vaneisa autiopa, has occurred in the
south-west of Scotland, at Dunbar, and at Jardine Hall, Dumfriesshire.
Two other species, which formerly occurred in restricted English localities,
now appear to be extinct there.

On the Employment of the Electrical Eel (Gymnotus electricus) hy the
Natives of Surinam. By Professor G. Wilson. — After alluding to the
paper he had read at the last meeting of the Association, on the electrical
Malapterurus from Old Calabar, the author gave an account of the em-
ployment of the Gymnotus in Surinam as a medicinal agent. He had
obtained his information from a gentleman who had expressed his will-
ingness to forward to England living specimens of this electrical fish for
experiment.

On the Zoophytes of Caithness. By Mr C. W. Peach. — He com-
menced by extolling the utility of local catalogues of natural history,
and stated that he was desirous of showing how rich the Scottish shores
are in these lovely gems, in order that he might induce many to draw up
these beauties from ocean's caves. He then mentioned Mr J. Macgilli-
vray's list, the result of about three weeks' examination on the Abei^een
coast, as the only Scottish one we had — it contained 64 species ; and then
proceeded to compare his own with those of Couch's for Cornwall, and
Alder's for Durham and Northumberland — the former contains 124 spe-
cies, the latter 164 ; thus giving a preponderance of 40 species to Alder's.
He enumerated in his own list 150 species, and thus a balance of 14
only is left against Caithness, &c. He believed this will soon be reduced
when greater attention has been paid to tlie fresh-water ones, and the more
obscure forms, and when the dredge has been used ; for hitherto all had
been collected between tide-marks, and from the refuse of the fishermen's
lines, and all (with the. exception of Plumularia myriophyllum, at
Peterhead, by the Rev. Mr Yevill) by himself and sons : the greatest
number of southern forms being found at Wick. A few forms found at
Peterhead are wanting at Wick, and vice tersd.

On the Characterijstic Features of the Aberdeenshire Flora. By Dr.
Dickie. — Remarks on the physical characters of Aberdeenshire form a
necessary introduction to an account of its Flora. The county of Aber-
deen occupies a position between 56° 52' and 57° 42' N., and 1° 49' to 3
48' W. long. ; it embraces a surface of 1950 English square miles. A
line drawn from Culter, on the borders of Kincardineshire, to Pennan, on
the borders of BanflTshire, divides it into two portions, presenting very
great difference in physical characters. To the east of this line the sur-

308 Proceedings of Societies.

face, though undulating, does not present any point exceeding 900 feet in
elevation, and no part of this section is more than twenty miles distant
from the German Ocean. The more inland part, to the west of the line
above mentioned, has in general a very difl'erent aspect, there being a
gradual rise of the surface towards the south-western extremity of the
county. This is very obvious on tracing the levels of the two principal
rivers the Dee and the Don. The former has an elevation of 1640 feet
at a distance of seventy miles from the sea ; the Don, about fifty-five
miles inland, is 1240 feet above the sea. The river Muick, in a course
often miles only, from its source at Loch Muick to its conjunction with
the Dee at Ballater, presents a difference of level amounting to more than
500 feet. These facts are singularly in contrast with observations made
on the course of the river Ythan, which drains part of the more eastern
district : at twenty-two miles from its termination in the German Ocean,
it is only 124 feet above the level of that sea. Some of the passes from
one glen to another illustrate the same point : the highest level of the
path on the^east shoulder of Mount Battock, twenty -eight miles from Aber-
deen, is about 2000 feet, while that on the west shoulder of Mount Keen, ten
miles further inland, attains an elevation of 2400 feet. Again, if we take
a general view of the heights of the mountains in sections of ten miles
from east to west, we observe a steady increase of elevation, till we reach
a zone in which few of the numerous mountains are lower than 2000 or
3000 feet, and many exceed 4000, the extreme elevation being that of
Ben Muich Dhui, viz., about 4320 feet, and therefore, in Britain, second
only to Ben Nevis. Omitting here other details respecting the shore-line,
prevailing rocks and soil, temperature, rain, &c., the following is a sum-
mary of conclusions respecting the vegetation. Excluding upwards of forty
species, many of which, though now extensively diffused, have doubtless
been introduced at a comparatively recent period, the indigenous flower-
ing plants amount to 635, consisting of 458 Dicotyledons and 177
Monocotyledons ; these are distributed among 53 natural orders of the
former and 11 of the latter. The Flora, therefore, is not rich as re-
gards mere numbers ; nevertheless it comprehends many species of great
interest.

On a neto Oenus of Lncernariadce. By Professor Allman. — This crea-
ture was a kind of fixed Medusa, having a structure resembling many of the
common forms of flouting Jelly Fishes, but was fixed to rocks by means
of a pedicle or stalk. It had been found on the more northern shores of
Scotland, and he proposed for it the name of Carduella Scotica.

On Drift Pebbles found in the Stomach of a Cow. By the Rev. W. S.
Symonds. — Mr Symonds exhibited thirty pebbles, one of them weighing
three-quarters of a pound, found in the stomach of a cow lately killed at
Barton-under-Needwood, Burton-on-Trent. The pebbles belong to the
northern drifl of geologists, which abundantly overlies the new red sand-
stone of the district ; and they are remarkably glazed and polished by the
action of the cow's stomach. The weight of the pebbles is five pounds,
and the animal appeared perfectly healthy and fat when killed by Mr
Goodman, butcher, of Barton-under-Needwood, to whom reference may
be made.

Short Account of a Bone Cave, near Montrose. By Mr Be.^ttik. —
The cave is situate near the mouth of the River Northesk, in that range
of trap-rocks extending eastward from the Northwater Bridge, on the
Aberdeen Road, to the cliffs of St Cyrus, — the base of the cave being at
present ten or twelve feet above the level of the sea, from which it is dis-
tant nearly a mile, and from the nearest point of the River Northesk about
half as much. The entrance to the cave is through a hard compact rock
of trap, and measures twelve feet wide, by five high. On entering, the

British Association. 309

cavity sudden' •■ -« ;>' -^^ out to the breadtli of twenty feet, with a height
varyinp fron ■ thirty, — the whole having been crammed to the

r<x>f with ad., ..no dark loamy soil, containing a variety of organic

remains. It w:is evident that the work of excavation had been carried
on for some time, and we discovered evidences on Mr Walker's farm that
to him the cave had proved a regular bed of guano, fertilising his soil
and improving his crops. In his operations, however, many of the fossil
remains had been allowed to be taken away ; still the almost perpendicu-
lar section left standing afforded ample field for inquiry and speculation.
The bottom, or floor, consisted of rolled stones, or sea-beach, in some
places mixed, or covered, with stalagraitic concretion several inches thick.
The lowest stratum, three feet thick, was composed of dark loam, with a
mixture of decayoil shells, principally of the Mytilus edulit. Above this,
extending round the cave, was a remarkable layer of shells of the Patella
rulgaia, varying from one to three feet deep, all in the finest possible state
of preservation, and of a large size, — many of them measuring upwards of
two inches across. This extraordinary deposit of shells contained no ad-
mixture of sand or earthy matter, but lay pure and clean, as if heaped to-
gether by human agency. A few examples of Turbo littoreus of Linn,
were picked up. About eight feet from the floor, we found a stratum of
decayed animal matter, about a foot deep, with a layer of bones extending
throughout the whole width of the cave. The teeth and bones were dis-
covered in this layer, and, so far as yet observed, they belong chiefly to
the Ruminantia, and are very similar to some of those from the Kirkdale
Cave, represented in the plates to Buckland's "Reliquiae Diluvianae,"
especially the Deer horns figured in plate ix., 2d edition. The whole of
the bones have been shattered, except the joints and other solid parts ;
on these we perceived marks, as if they had been gnawed by some animal.
The only examples of Carnivora yet met with are the head of a wild cat
and the jaws of a fox or wolf, with teeth belonging to animals of a larger
species. About a foot from the floor we turned up part of the left parie-
tal bone of a human skull, extremely thin, but compact, firm, and smooth
as a piece of ivory. No other part of the human subject had been found,
so far as our investigation proceeded. Two small pieces of a pipkin were
also picked up, bearing evident marks of antiquity. The floor of the cave
dips inward at an angle of about 10 degrees to the horizon, which leads
to the supposition that there is a connection with some other cavern into
which the sea has had access by this opening ; or that another cave had
existed between it and the sea, through which the shells might have been
carried to their present position. It is not improbable that another cave
may be found a little to the west of the present, where the rock is hidden
by the debris from above and the soil that has fallen from the upper
grounds. Speculation on this subject at present would be idle, but we
cannot refrain from alluding to the marked similarity which exists between
the remains found in this cave and those found in that of Kirkdale — the
natural inference from which leads us to suppose that this also was a
hysena cave, and that remains of this animal may be found on further
search being made ; for although no bones of any carnivorous animal
larger than the wolf have yet been found, it must be kept in mind that
no remains of the hyaena were met with in the Kirkdale Cave for nearly
twelve months after its discovery, and then only by chance.

Professor Owen remarked that the bones and shells from Montrose
were those of recent animals, and that the cave had evidently been filled
in 8 comparatively recent period.

On the Varietteg and Specie* of New Pheasants recently introduced
into En/fland. By Mr Gould. — After a sketch of the distribution of the
family of Gallinaceous birds, the author gave an account of the species of
Pliii.Maiuis (Pheasant), which had been introduced into England. All the

NEW SERIES. VOL. XI. NO. 11. APRIL 1860. 2 P

310 Proceedings of Societies.

species were from Asia. The oldest English species was the P. Colchicns,
which came from Asia Minor, The next was P. torquatus, from Shang-
hai, which was introduced about one hundred years ago, and had recently
been reintroduced. Specimens of this kind reared in Bedfordshire were
exhibited. The crosses between these two birds produced remarkably
fine and strong birds. The other true species were P. MongoHcus from
Mongolia, P. Lcemmenigii from Japan, P. Reevesii from China, and P.
versicolor from Japan, P. Reevesii is remarkable for a tail six feet in
length ; whilst the last species had been successfully introduced into Eng-
land, and bred freely with P. Colchicns, and the crosses between that bird
and P. torquatus ; and the result had been greatly to improve the strength
and weight of the birds.

On the Vegetative Axis of Ferns. By Dr Ogilvie. — The paper em-
braced two principal points, — the general form of the Rhizome of Ferns,
and its internal structure. The stems of our British species, at least, may
be reduced to two forms, — the creeping Rhizome and the Caudex,
branched or simple. We have examples of the first in our Brackens and
Polypodies, and of the others in the tufted stem of Blechnura and Osmunda,
the lady-fern and its congeners, and the parsley-fern, and in the massive
imbricated root-stock of the male fern and some other species of Aspidium,
The last form presents many points of similarity to the stem of a tree-fern,
though its small development and horizontal line of growth prevent its
forming any conspicuous trunk above the surface of the ground The re-
semblance becomes more apparent when the persistent basis of the decayed
fronds are cut off, and only the central axis left, marked by spiral rows
of cicatrices like the scars marking the stem of the tree-fern. The chief
peculiarity of the internal structure is the reduction of the fibro- vascular
system to a netted cylinder, imbedded in the general cellular tissue of the
stem, and giving off fasciculi both to the petioles and the rootlets. This
arrangement is very regular in all the species, but there is great diversity
in the course of the dark-coloured or woody tissue. Reference was made
to the independent origin of the rootlets, and to the general relations of
this form of stem to those of the higher plants. — The paper was illus-
trated by diagrams, and by preparations and dissections of our indigenous
ferns, with some comparative specimens of the arborescent species.

MECHANICAL SCIENCE.
On Experiments to determine the Efficacy of continuous and Self-acting
Breaks for Railway Trains. By Mr W. Fairbairn. — Of late years, Mr
Fairbairn remarked, the improvements introduced to diminish the danger
of railway travelling have been specially directed to increasing the re-
tarding power of various kinds of breaks. The importance has been felt
of reducing the momentum of trains with ease and rapidity, — that is, in
the least time, and in the shortest distance. On this subject a most im-
portant communication had been made to the Railway Department of the
Board of Trade by (Colonel Yolland, who had experimented with breaks
which were improvements on the ordinary breaks. The breaks used were
the steam-break of M'Connell, the continuous break of Fay, the self-acting
break of Newall, and the self-acting buffer-break of Guerin, Colonel Yol-
land had reported in favour of Newall's break for heavy traffic, and also in
favour of that of Guerin under certain circumstances. Similar experiments
had been carried out by Mr Fairbairn on the Lancashire and Yorkshire
Railways. The breaks he used were those of Fay and Newall, and con-
sisted of break-blocks, acting on every wheel of the carriages of the whole
train — the break-blocks being suspended on flaps or placed on side-bars
under the carriages. Powerful springs had also been applied under each
carriage, by means of which the breaks were made to act instantaneously
throughout the whole train by tbc act of one guard only, and this was one

British Association. 311

of the most important featnres of these breaks. The trains passed over
a measured distance by the action of gravity. The trains employed
consisted of three weighted carriages each. They were started by re-
moving a stop. Having descended a previously measured distance with
a uniformly accelerating velocity, they passed over a detonating signal,
which gave notice to the guard to put on the break. On making experi-
ments at Southport, a retarding force per ton weight was gained of 382-6
lb. for Newall's break, and 40G'4 lb. for Fay's. The general result of the
whole experiment showed that a train could be stopped by these breaks
at a velocity of 20 miles an hour in 23'4 yards ; 40 miles an hour in 93 -8
yards ; 50 miles an hour in 146*8; and 60 miles an hour in 211*5 yards.
This clearly showed the advantage of these breaks in power.

On the nsiilt of Boring for Water in the New Red Sandstone, near
Shiffnal, in the County of Salop. By Mr J. F. Bateman. — The supply
of water to Wolverhampton being found insufficient, new works have
been constructed by the author for bringing the water from the River
Worth, nine miles from Wolverhampton, and three from Shiffnal. The
River Worth, at the place where the pumping-works are erected, is not
more than forty or fifty feet above the Severn, which it joins at Bridge-
water, eight or ten miles distant. It may therefore be considered as the
bottom of a basin little above the level of the sea. From the character
of the surrounding hills, and the inclination of the beds of new red
sandstone, it appeared to the author of the paper likely, that although
the wells previously sunk on the high plateau of Wolverhampton had
proved comparative failures, a considerable quantity of water might be
found in the sandstone at the lower level, and that some might overflow,
as an artesian well. A bore-well was accordingly commenced near
Shiffnal, 12 inches in diameter, and continued for 70 feet, when it was
diminished to 7 inches, and carried down to a total depth of 260 feet from
the surface. Water was met with first at a depth of 22 feet, and from
that time it rose with increasing supply to the surface, and flowed over
as an artesian well, giving a supply in the end of 210,000 gallons daily.
Throughout the whole depth of boring the work varied little in character.
It was nearly all hard rock, sometimes very bard, with occasional beds of
soft stone. For the last 40 feet or so the soft beds were thicker ; but
otherwise there was little change from top to bottom. As the whole well
is charged with water to the level of the river, which forms its natural
outlet, and as the boring shows that the lower beds receive their supplies
from distant sources, the supply may reasonably be expected to be inex-
haustible within the limits of that which is due to the percolation of the
rain upon the collecting area.

Description of the Granite Quarries of Aberdeen a/nd Kincardineshire.
By Mr A. Gibb. — The working of the quarries in Aberdeen commenced
250 years ago ; but little progress was made for 100 years. The houses
in Aberdeen were constructed principally of wood till 1741, when a fire
taking place, the town-council ordained that the fronts of the houses
should be of stone or brick. In 1764 granite was recommended for paving
the streets of London, and was used for Waterloo Bridge in 1S17, and
subsequently for the docks at Sheemess and London Bridge. There are
upwards of twenty quarries supplying the different varieties of granite —
the blue, the red or Peterhead granite, the light red, soft gray, and white.
The granite, for the most part, lies in irregular masses in the quarries,
and generally of columnar structure. The quarrying is principally carried
on by blasting. The drainage of the quarries is chiefly accomplished by
means of siphons of lead-pipe, from 1 to 2 or 3 inches in diameter. The
author suggests the use oi a locomotive engine on rails for drainage pur-
poses, as well as for crane and liftiag woik. The quarries are not worked
to any great depth, though the beet and largest masses are found at the

312 Proceedings of Societies.

lower depths; and proper mechanical contrivances for working deeper
might be used with advantage. With reference to the durability of the
granite, there appears no appreciable decay; on the oldest epecinions of
several hundred years the tool- marks are as sharp and fresh as at first.
The tools used in dressing the granite for a long period were hammers,
picks, and axes only ; but in 1820 steel chisels were introduced, which
effected a considerable improvement. Machinery was tried for dressing,
but it failed, being in the form of a planing-machine, the granite requiring
a distinct blow to separate the parts. The number of workmen employed
in the qiXarries is about 500 daily, and the number of horses about 50.
About 50,000 tons are quarried annually, of which about 30,000 are ex-
ported; and the export is increasing at the rate of 500 tons annually.

Royal ISociety of Edinburgh.

Monday i 5th December 1859.
At the request of the Council, Lord Neaves, V.P., deli-
vered the following Opening Address : —

It has been customary for those who have opened the business
of the Session in the Royal Society, from the seat which I now oc-
cupy, to give some notice of those members who may have been
taken from us by death during the preceding year. The rolls of
the Society still exhibit many names illustrious both in science and
in literature, but seldom has a year occurred in which we have been
deprived of so great a number of eminent members. The first whom
I shall mention is Principal Lee : —

John Lee, late Principal of the University of Edinburgh, was one
of the most remarkable and estimable men of his time. His intel-
lectual qualities were of a high order ; his attainments and acqui-
sitions of knowledge were of the most varied and extensive kind.
On almost all subjects he was admirably well informed, and in some
departments he was unquestionably the most learned man of his age
and country. He was more than all this : he was a most pious
Christian minister, and he was one of the most friendly and affec-
tionate of men.

Dr Lee was born at Torwood-lee-Mains, in the parish of
Stowe, on the 22d of November 1779. He received his early edu-
cation from the care of his mother, whom he was accustomed to
speak of as a woman of remarkable intellectual powers and mental
cultivation, as well as of distinguished moral excellence. The debt
of gratitude which he owed to his parents must indeed have been
great, if it bore any proportion to the filial reverence and devotion
which he showed them in every form in after life.

He was sent, when a boy of ten years old, to Cadon Lee School,
at Clovenford, then taught by Mr James Paris, and in which, during
Dr Lee's attendance, Doctor Leyden was an assistant. From that
school he went to tho University of Edinburgh in 1794, being then

Boyal Society of Edinburgh. 313

ill his fifteenth yeai*. In his opening address to the University, as
Principal, in 1842, he refers to its state when he became a student,
and recurs with pride and pleasure to the eminent men who then gave
and received instruction within its walls. lie continued at the
University for ten years, having studied both medicine and theology.
He took the degree of M.D. in 1801, when his Graduation Thesis
was much admired for its Ciceronian Latinity. He was licensed as a
probationer of the Church in 1804.

During his attendance at college, he assisted Professor Robison in
editing Dr Black's " Lectures on Chemistry." In 1802, before his
college career closed, he was offered and he accepted the chair of
Moral Philosophy in the University of Wilna, in West Russia, in wliich
also, I believe, two other distinguished men wore invited to. become
Professors — Thomas Campbell, the author of " The Pleasures of
Hope," and Sir David Brewster, who has now succeeded Dr Lee in
the office of Principal in our own University. It is but fair to say
that these invitations were made through the medium of the late
David Earl of Buchan, who, with some peculiarities of character,
was a man of talent and taste, and inspired by a sincere zeal for the
advancement of literature and science. Dr Lee prepared himself
for fulfilling the duties of this appointment by writing out in Latin
a portion of the lectures which he proposed to deliver at Wilna, but
the arrangement was broken off by pohtical events which interfered
with its completion.

For some time previous to the end of 1805, Dr Lee had been on
intimate terms with Dr Carlyle, well known as an eminent clergy-
man of the Church of Scotland, and then minister of Inveresk, near
Edinburgh. He lived a good deal with Dr Carlyle, both at Inver-
esk Manse and in the Doctor's town residence ; and as Dr Carlyle
was then about eighty years of age, and still intimate with those of
his own contemporaries, who were alive, such as John Home and
Adam Fergusson, who belonged, like himself, to a by-gone age, and
who had witnessed many remarkable events and social changes, it
cannot be doubted that Dr Lee must have derived from this ac-
quaintance a great deal of traditional knowledge as to the civil and
ecclesiastical history of Scotland in the eighteenth century, and his
natural bias may have been confirmed towards that historical re-
search, and that interest in personal character and anecdote, by
which he was afterwards distinguished. Dr Carlyle, at his death in
1805, appointed Dr Lee one of his trustees, and committed specially
to his care an autobiographical memoir, which cannot fail to be full
of interest, and as to which, I may be permitted to express a hope,
that it will ere long be communicated to the public.

Among other eminent clergymen who befriended Dr Lee in the
outset of his career, special mention ought also to be made of Dr
Finlayson, of whom he always spoke in terms of the warmest regard,
and to whoso memory he has dedicated one of the painted windows
now put up in the Old Greyfriars' Church.

314 Proceedings of Societies.

About the same early period, Dr Lee came to be for some time
connected with the late Sir John Lowther Johnstone of Westerhall,
in the capacity of tutor or guardian, and was thus brought into con-
tact with several eminent public men, with whom Sir John was on
familiar terms. I have heard that Sir John made to Dr Lee two
offers, either of which, if accepted, would have materially altered his
future course in life. One was, to bring him into Parliament for
one of Sir John's burghs ; the other, to procure him a commission
in the Guards. These offers, if made, were certainly declined ; but
he retained his wai'd's friendship and respect, and, from his gratitude,
derived, during life, a pension of L.lOO a year, which Sir John
settled on him.

After taking his medical degree, he seems to have entertained
some idea of following medicine as a profession ; and he has been
heard to say, that at one time, when a young man, he had three
medical appointments in his possession or power ; one, as as-
sistant surgeon to a Kegiment ; another, as surgeon's mate on board
a ship; and a third, as a surgeon in the East India Company's
Service. Finally he rejected all thoughts of the medical profession,
and fixed upon the Church as the field to which he should dedicate
his life.

In 1807 Di' Lee became minister of a Scotch Chapel in London,
and, in the same year, he was presented to the parish of Peebles.
He continued there till 1812, when he became Professor of Church
History in St Mary's College, St Andrews, where he remained till
1821. A portion of the lectures he then delivered, embracing the
History of the Church of Scotland from the Reformation, is now
announced for publication, and cannot fail to excite a lively and
general interest.

In 1820, before quitting his chair at St Andrews, he was ap-
pointed Professor of Moral Philosophy in King's College, Aberdeenj
where he lectured for one session, chiefly by a deputy, to whom
he transmitted his lectures daily by post. He speedily resigned
his chair at Aberdeen, and in 1821 was removed to the charge of
the parish of Canongate, Edinburgh ; and thereafter, he succes-
sively held the other charges of Lady Tester's Church, and the
Old Church Parish, in this city.

In 1824 he was named one of the Royal Commissioners for visit-
ing the Scotch Universities. In 1827 he became Principal Clerk of
the General Assembly, In 1837 ho was appointed Principal of
the United College of St Andrews, but did not long retain the
appointment. In 1838 he was offered, but declined, the appoint-
ment of Secretary to the Bible Board, then newly constituted.

In 1840 he was elected Principal, and in 1843 he was appointed
Professor of Divinity, in the University of Edinburgh. Previously,
during the session of 1827—28, he had taught gratuitously the
Divinity class, and afterwards, during the session of 1851-52, he
taught gratuitously, again, the Moral Philosophy class, and in

Royal Society of Edinburgh. 315

1853-54, the Church History class, in the College of Edinburgh,
during vacancies in those chairs occasioned by the death or the illness
of their Professors.

He held the appointments of Chaplain to the Queen, of Dean of
the Chapel Royal, of Chaplain to the Royal Academy, and to the
Convention of Royal Burghs, and he was at his death one of the
Vice-Presidents of this Society.

I have ventured to say that he was one of the most learned men
of his time, and in some departments of National and Church His-
tory, particularly in all that concerns the civil and ecclesiastical
affairs, as well as the manners and habits of the people of Scot-
land, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, his knowledge
was most minute and accurate. He was also at home in the cog-
nate subject of the History of the Puritans during the same period.
We have lately witnessed in this city the exposure to sale of a por-
tion of his library, consisting of upwards of 20,000 volumes, some
of them of the most rare and curious description ; and I believe
that there was not one of his books with which he was not familiar,
and of which he did not know, as well as it could be known, the
authorship, the occasion, the object, and the import. The subject
of Bibliography had been from his early years a favourite study ;
and his habits of assiduity and perseverance, as well as his capacious
and retentive memory, enabled him to prosecute it with singular
success. Nor was his intellectual power overlaid or paralysed by
the immense mass of his acquired knowledge. His opinions on all
subjects, and particularly on those to which he had directed his
special attention, were clear and comprehensive; while, at the same
time, they were marked by that candour and moderation, which I
believe to be universally produced by the thorough and accurate
study of any branch of knowledge or portion of history.

As in the case of many men of learning and talent, his published
works are but an imperfect indication of his actual powers. Principal
Lee, however, has left some things behind him, such as the "Memorial
for the Bible Societies," and the "Pastoral Addresses" composed by
him for the General Assembly, which show at once the force of his un-
derstanding, the variety and accuracy of his information, the recti-
tude of his feelings, and the purity of his taste. His stores of learn-
ing also were always at the service of those who wished to make use
of them, and his ready aid has been repeatedly acknowledged as
having given additional value to some of the most important works
of our time on ecclesiastical or antiquarian subjects, I would
fain hope that, among his numerous papers, much may yet bo
found that deserves and demands publication.

Dr Lee's health had never been robust, and was probably injured
in early life by habits of abstinence and excessive study. But it
was wonderful with what energy and vigour he discharged his duties
and followed out his favourite pursuits. He died on 2d May 1859,
in the 80th year of his age, and in circumstances which had a

316 Proceedings of Societies.

melancholy connection with the death of a dear son just returning
from India.

No man could bo more universally regretted ; ho had not an
enemy or an ill-wisher in the world. The numerous appointments
which he successively and simultaneously held arc a proof of the
esteem and respect with which he was regarded by all ; but those
only who knew him well can speak to his amiable disposition, to
his cheerful and gonial habits, and to the charity and Christian
kindness which he extended to all men of worth and merit, of
whatever opinions or whatever persuasion. An account of Dr
Lee, indeed, would be very inadequate if it did not prominently
bring forward what I have thus alluded to — his highly amiable and
affectionate character. In early life he earned on all sides the
love as well as the respect of those who knew him. In his minis-
terial charge at Peebles, he was long remembered for his quiet and
unostentatious, but most faithful discharge of his pastoral duties,
for his ready and hearty sympathy with all who needed it, for his
consolatory tenderness to the sick, and his great liberality to the
poor. Nor were these qualities of the heart extinguished or im-
paired by the long life of labour and study which he afterwards led;
on the contrary, they continued to the end. He was ever ready to
relax into a playful cheerfulness and pleasantry in society ; while
his attention to such of his friends as from sorrow or suffering had
more serious claims upon him was unremitting and invaluable.

In consequence, perhaps, of some defect of manner, Dr Lee was
not sought after as an attractive preacher. But his sermons were
excellent, both in matter and in style, and some of his earlier ones,
when read in manuscript, had reached and obtained the approbation
of Royalty itself. In other respects he was all that a minister of
the gospel ought to be. Orthodox in doctrine, evangelical in senti-
ment, and blameless in conduct, he had a frankness and freedom
from professional pedantry or clerical rigour which are rarely met
with in men of his learning and condition. We shall not soon see
his like again, if we ever do so in our day. Piety, zeal, eloquence,
and' assiduity will not bo wanting to the Church; but the combina-
tion of these with the learning, the wide range of information and
.sympathy, and the knowledge of the world which he possessed, will
not readily be found again.

The next name I have to record among those who have been
taken from us, is that of William Pulteney Alison, who was also, at
his death, a Vice-President of the Society. Dr Alison was the
eldest son of a most amiable and excellent man, the Rev. Archibald
Alison, long an Episcopal minister in this city, well known for his
elegant published sermons, and for his Essay on Taste, in which he
explained with much success his views of the influence of association
in producing or heightening the sense of beauty, a theory which,
within moderate limits, is founded on truth, but which has been
brought into discredit by the extravagant length to which it was

Royal Society of Edinburgh. 317

unfortunately carried in Lord Jeffrey's dissertations on the same
subject.

Dr Alison ill early life had the advantage of* the best society
which Edinburgh could boast of, and of which his father was a
cherished and distinguished ornament. His education and connec-
tions led him to bestow much attention upon the subject of mental
philosophy, which he cultivated with great success. Bnt he ulti-
mately adopted medicine as his profession, to which he was probably
drawn by the example and influence of his distinguished relative the
late Dr James Gregory, and in which he was destined to 6nd an
appropriate career for his talents, acquirements, and virtues.

It would be idle in me to detail or dilate upon the particulars of
his professional life, which was in all respects eminently succes&ful,
and in the course of which ho came to hold a hij^h place both as a
teacher of medical science and as a practising physician. The notice
of him which has lately appeared in the " Medical Journal" is so full
and complete as to leave nothing to be desired in this respect ; and
if I were to attempt to abridge it, I should only weaken its effect,
and probably fall into errors from which no unprofessional n)an can
easily keep free. Neither can it be necessary to inform any one
here present of the valuable contributions which Dr Alison made to
the theory of medicine, or of the great skill, the indefatigable
patience, and the unfailing benevolence by which, as a physician, he
was uniformly distinguished. His published works are generally
regarded as entitling him to a high place as an expounder of the
philosophy of medicine, and his powers as an oral teacher were
peculiarly efficient, and exercised a marked influence on the progress
of medical science. The time, the strength, and the resources
which he bestowed upon the sick poor were almost incredible, and
such as no one could have given who to vigour of bodily frame had
not added the impulse of the warmest benevolence and the highest
principle. As a practical philanthropist, his name deserves to be
placed not far behind that of Howard himself.

It would be a serious omission in any notice of this ex-
cellent man if his views and exertions, with reference to the Poor
Laws of the country, were not in some degree commemorated. Two
theories upon that subject, diametrically opposed to each other,
were at one time advocated by two distinguished men in Scotland —
Dr Chalmers and Dr Alison. Chalmers, misled, I think, by the
enthusiasm of his own genius, and overlooking the peculiar powers
which he himself possessed, conceived the romantic idea, that a com-
pulsory or legal provision for the poor might be altogether dispensed
with. He maintained, that even the great towns, if they were duly
subdivided and furnished with a certain amount of religious machi-
nery and superintendence, might be so purified and elevated in the
scale of moral and physical wellbeing, that any pauperism which
they might still produce could easily be relieved by the voluntary

NEW SERIES. VOL. XI. NO. II. APRIL 1860. 2 Q

318 Proceedings of Societies.

bounty of Christian benevolence. For this purpose he made the
rather startling demand, that at least twenty new parishes and
churches should be established in Glasgow. He was gratified to the
extent of having one new church erected and assigned to him for
the trial of his great experiment ; and it is possible that by his own
unwearied diligence and unrivalled influence, together with the
auxiliary exertions of another most remarkable man, Edward Irving,
who was given him as his assistant, the pauperism of his district may
have been kept within manageable bounds, and sufficiently relieved by
the spontaneous offerings of the wealthier parishioners. But it was
obviously impossible that any such system could be established over
the whole country ; and even if such machinery had been provided,
nothing short of a miracle could have supplied men like Chalmers
and Irving in every district to carry out the plan. At the com-
mencement of the attempt, doubts were raised by judicious thinkers
as to its probable success ; and subsequent reflection and experience
soon converted those doubts into certainties, and produced a general
conviction that the scheme was Utopian.

The views of Dr Alison on this important subject were essen-
tially different. Indulging in no chimerical anticipations, better
suited to a prophetical millennium than to the everyday state of
actual things, he looked earnestly to the evils that were immedi-
ately operating or impending, and sought anxiously to remedy or
avert them. He maintained that a compulsory contribution for the
poor was indispensable. It was the only way of interesting the
selfish portion of the rich in the welfare of their poorer brethren,
by inducing them to take measures for diminishing pauperism, so
as to save themselves from taxation. He contended that the relief
of destitution could not be safely left to the precarious care of vo-
luntary charity, but should at all hazards be provided for so as to
keep up the general tone of society, and save it from moral and
physical evils of the first magnitude. Destitution, he conceived,
when without regular relief, tended to lower the standard of sub-
sistence among the poor to an alarming degree, and to make them
forget that there was any better state of things which it was worth
their while as Christians, or as human beings, to aspire to. Desti-
tution, he further asserted, and his assertion seemed to be proved by
his medical experience, was one of the most fertile sources of disease,
and particularly of disease of an epidemic character. It was at
once, particularly in great towns, a predisposing cause to every form
of pestilence ; and by depressing vitality, it interposed the greatest
obstacles to a cure. He thus endeavoured to demonstrate that the
administration of adequate relief to paupers was indispensable for the
public good, and a necessary measure of sanitary precaution.

These principles were, over a series of years, reiterated by Dr
Alison, and pressed upon the public attention with all the fervour
of deep conviction and ardent benevolence ; and they were seconded

Royal Society of Edinburgh. 319

within our own locality by the occurrence of alarming epidemics,
which could not fail to rivet the public attention on the subject.
If it is not presumptuous to say so, we seem to have reason to
infer that the infectious nature of certain diseases is designed by
Providence to quicken our interest in our fellow-creatures, and to
remind us that our own welfare depends, in a great degree, on the
health and happiness of our neighbours. As a contlagration in
an adjoining house makes us tremble for our own safety, so the
prevalence of fever or pestilence in the poorer classes of our own
city excites in us the fearful anticipation that the mischief may soon
extend to us or to our children. It was the object of Dr Alison to
prove (and I think he succeeded in proving), that if we wish to
avert epidemic and infectious diseases from our own doors, we mu&t
attend to the physical as well as moral condition of our fellow-
citizens, and must establish a certain and sufficient provision for the
poor.

The theoretical opinions of Dr Alison would probably have led him
to exact a legal provision even for the able-bodied poor, but subject
always to the condition that no one should receive support who was
not ready to work. The practical question, however, scarcely ex-
tended to this point ; and the result of the discussion finally was,
that the views of Dr Alison obtained a triumph over those of an
opposite tendency. The Poor Law Act of 1845 was passed; and
a system of Poor Law relief was thereby established, which, I ven-
ture to say, deserves the highest commendation, and is fraught with
signal benefits to the social condition of Scotland. The Scotch
Poor Laws had always recognised a legal right to relief in the
impotent poor ; but, in practice, the frugality or parsimony of the
national character had led to great abuses, by restricting the allow-
ances made to paupers to such miserable pittances as were scarcely
sufficient to sustain life ; while the courts of law had but an imperfect
jurisdiction to redress the evil. By the new law, a remedy is pro-
vided in the Board of Supervision, which practically has the power
of seeing that adequate allowances are given to paupers by the
local boards.

The Scotch Poor Laws had denied relief to the able-bodied poor ;
and it cannot be doubted that this question is one of a most delicate
kind, as the right of the able-bodied poor to demand support might,
if pushed to an extreme, lead to little less than a community of
goods. The new Act still disallows any legal right in the able-
bodied, but permits parochial boards to give them occasional relief,
as a precautionary measure ; and it is thought that this middle
course effects a prudent compromise of the dispute.

Thp blessings, direct and indirect, which are likely to flow from
this improved system of the Poor Laws, and from the increased at-
tention thus given to the condition of the poor, may, in a great
degree, be ascribed to Dr Alison's exertions; and his country owes

320 Proceedings of Societies.

to him, in this way, a debt of" gratitude which even now it is difficult
to estimate. Tlio misery of the poor was alleviated, the tendencies
to disease were diminished, the bonds of society were strengthened,
and all were taught the important lesson that their own safety and
happiness were indissolubly linked with those of other men.

It is curious to compare the early dawn and promise of Dr Ali-
son's life with the character of its ultimate progress and develop-
ment. The tastes and pursuits of his accomplished father were chiefly
those that belonged to a man of elegant and pious conteniplation. His
own youthful aspirations are said to have tended towards a military
life. The employments of his maturer years were certainly of a very
difl'erent kind, though bearing still a strange moral analogy to these
influences. He became engaged in a warfare, but it was with social
misery and maladministration; and he carried it on in the pure and
self-denying spirit of that great Exemplar who came into the world
to heal our diseases and bear our infirmities, and who went about
continually doing good. In the words of a distinguished friend, who
knew him and loved him well, " it is not too much to say, that Scot-
land will mourn in him for one of the best of the Christian sons who
have adorned her soil ; — one who devoted himself, body and soul, to
what he believed to be the good of his fellow-creatures, with a wisdon>
that looked beyond the present, with an energy that cast away all
thought of self, with a Christian love that never failed."

The latter days of Dr Alison's life were clouded by the visitation
of severe and distressing disease. With conscientious firmness, he
resigned his professorial position, and retired into private life. To
the last, however, he enjoyed intervals of serene and useful exemp-
tion from his sufferings ; and it was only last year that he contri-
buted to the Transactions of this Society an interesting notice of his
cousin, the late Dr William Gregory. But the fatal ailment was
niaking sure progress in his system, and terminated fatally on
23d September 1859, when he had attained his 70th year.

Another eminent and excellent member of this Society who has
been taken from us is the late Lord Cathcart, for many years well
known as Lord Greenock, his father having survived till the year
1843. A great part of Lord Cathcart's career belongs to pro-
fessional or public life, and is fitter for the military or historical
annals of the country than for the journals of a scientific society.
His military services and distinctions, however, only made more con-
spicuous the devotion to science which he eminently showed.

Lord Murray, at one time a Vice-President of the Society, is an-
other member whose loss we have to lament, in common with all
who knew him, and in common, I may add, with very many whom
he never knew.

We have also lost in this year the last of a most distinguished
family of medical teachers, Dr Alexander Monro of Craiglockart,
fur many years Professor of Anatomy in the University of Edin-

Royal Society of Edinburgh. 821

burgh. He was in his 86th year when he died, having been bom
on the 25th of November 1773. He was the son of Alexander
Monro the second, who again was the son of a distinguished father of
the same name— all three being Professors in this University.
The late Dr Monro was appointed assistant and successor to his
father in 1798; and after his father's death, he occupied the chair
with great reputation and success until 1845, when he resigned it,
having, during that long period, numbered among his pupils many
who became the most eminent physicians and surgeons of our day
in both ends of the island.

Alexander James Adie, optician in Edinburgh, is another valued
member of the Society whom we have lost. He was born at
Edinburgh in 1775 ; and from the early death of his father, was
thrown upon the care of a maternal uncle, Mr John Miller, optician
in Edinburgh. Under his uncle's instructions, Mr Adie became an
optician, and followed his profession with great diligence and assiduity.

His attention to business, with his skill as a mechanic, his quick
inventive powers, and his sound judgment, led to his being much
employed by all kinds of inventors, to give their schemes a
practical form ; and in this way he acquired great readiness and
experience in the higher parts of his profession. His attention
was at the same time directed at an early period to meteorological
observations, with a view to which, and also with reference to the
study of astronomy, he erected on his house in Merchant Court a
small private observatory, long before any public establishment of
the kind existed in Edinburgh.

While these pages were in preparation, we were deprived of another
eminent and valuable member of the Society in Professor George Wil-
son, who has been suddenly carried off in the prime of life.

Dr Wilson was born in Edinburgh in the year 1818, and was
thus, at his death, in the 41st year of his age. His parents were
highly respectable, though not in such an elevated station as to
diminish the credit due to his own exertions in attaining the position
which he ultimately reached ; but it deserves to be noticed, that he
may be included in the number of distinguished men who have been
in a great degree indebted for the development of their talents to
the maternal character and influence. Dr Wilson's mother, a lady of
remarkable intelligence, energy, and piety, is still living, to cherish
the memory of his love to her, and of his many virtues and high
reputation.

He was educated at the High School, where he always maintained
a good place in his class. He entered the University of Edinburgh
in or about the year 1834, and took his medical degree in 1839.
In the interval, his attention came to be more specially directed to
the chemical department of medical science, and he was successively
engaged as chemical assistant to Dr Christison and to Professor
Graham of London.

322 Proceedings of Societies.

In 1840 he began to lecture in Edinburgh on chemistry in con-
nection with the Extra-Academical Medical School. But at this
time bis health received a severe shock from the effects of excessive
exertion during a pedestrian tour, which rendered amputation of the
foot necessary, and ultimately led to a delicacy of constitution which
settled upon his lungs.

He continued to teach as a private lecturer for upwards of fifteen
years, and during that period secured the admiration, respect, and
love of all who came in contact with him. His pursuit of knowledge
was extensive and indefatigable, and his power of exposition was
marked by the greatest clearness and animation, such as never failed
to awaken in his hearers the strongest interest in the subject he was
treating. He all along continued to cultivate a wide range of general
literature, and his elegance of taste and reach of illustration were
of much service in adding to the attraction of his prelections, as well
as giving a great charm to his conversation, and to his literary pro-
ductions. His published works and contributions to periodical
literature are too well known to require detailed notice. Those
which related to scientific subjects were distinguished by a minute-
ness of research and a precision of statement which give them a
very great value, and which could hardly have been expected in one
who was able at the same time to embellish them with so many
beauties derived from his ample stores of imagination and fancy.
His " Treatise on Colour Blindness " is a remarkable example of
the exhaustive and practical manner in which he could treat such
a subject ; and his Lives of Scientific Men, while laudably com-
pressed into a narrow compass, as compared with most modern
biographies, are pregnant with valuable information and important
results. He was in every way admirably qualified to diffuse among
a wide circle of hearers and readers a strong interest in science as
intimately connected with art and ordinary fife.

In the spring of 1855 he was appointed Director of the Industrial
Museum, a situation for which he was eminently suited; and in the
autumn of the same year he was appointed to the Chair of Techno-
logy, then recently founded in the University of Edinburgh in con-
nection with the Museum. It is needless to say in this meeting with
what ability and success he discharged these duties. It was fondly
hoped that in this congenial position, in the midst of friends and fellow-
citizens who loved and appreciated him, and in the bosom of his own
affectionate family, his constitution might gain strength, and that he
might live to develop more fully, and perhaps in some new and original
shape, the talents and genius of which he was possessed. But such
was not the destiny appointed for him. He was sometimes, per-
haps, too careless of consequences, where tho call of supposed duty
was heard, or where an opening of usefulness was afforded ; and in
the middle of much ill health, and many warnings of danger, he
continued to exert himself in a manner that would have been more

Royal Society of Ed'mhuryli, 323

appropriate in one of robuster frame. But his pleasure lay in the
exercise of bis intellectual faculties, in the advancement of science,
and in availing himself of every opportunity to do good or show
kindness ; and it is probable that the pious resignation with
which he long contemplated his precarious condition, and the state
of preparation which he constantly endeavoured to maintain against
the approach of death, may have led him to fear that event less,
and to despise precautions for his own safety which his friends
would have wished him to adopt. I need not say that his talents
and merits, as a man of science and literature, were equalled by
the amiableness of his disposition, and by his moral and religious
excellencies. He won, and he preserved, the friendship of some of
the most eminent men of his time ; and no one who came within the
sphere of his influence could resist its attraction. The honours that
he attained, and the success that attended him in life, were not
considered by others to be more than he well deserved : but he him-
self was humble and unassuming ; thankful for the mercies that he
considered he had received, and, in the midst of much bodily suffer-
ing and distress, not merely patient and submissive, but cheerful and
happy. His last illness was only a severer form of many previous
attacks : but he had continued to labour to the last ; and in particular
his duties at the meeting of the British Association at Aberdeen, in
the autumn of this year, were discharged by him under great
debility, such as probably tended to unfit him for the severity of the
winter that was at hand. The disease of the lungs having assumed
a serious aspect, made rapid progress, and his death ensued on the
22d of November 1859. His end was calm and peaceful, such as
became the pious, innocent, and useful life which he had led, and
left his friends no cause to mourn, except for the loss which they
themselves sustained.

\2ih December 1859.

1. Note on some Numerical Relations between the Specific

Gravities of the Diamond, Graphite, and Charcoal Forms

of Carbon and its Atomic Weight. By Dr Lyon Playfair,

C.B., F.R.S.

Recent researches have shown that there is an intimate relation

between the specific gravities and atomic weights or equivalents of

solid and liquid bodies. This relation is not so simple as that which

prevails in regard to the volumes and combining numbers of gaseous

bodies, and yet it is sufficiently marked to indicate many important

chemical analogies. The formula for eliciting these relations is —

d '
in which E is the equivalent, d the specific gravities, and V the
atomic volume.

324

Proceedings of Societies.

It is to be borne in mind, that the unities or starting-points for
specific gravities and for atomic weights are essentially distinct. In
the first case, the weights of the bodies are compared with the
weight of an equal bulk of water ; in the second instance, the com-
bining numbers refer to a unit weight of hydrogen. Nevertheless,
the relations observed between the specific gravities and the atomic
weights are well marked in bodies of a like character.

It has always been considered interesting to examine these rela-
tions in regard to Carbon, which has three well- characterised allo-
tropic forms. The atomic volumes obtained by the above formula
show no satisfactory relations between the numbers obtained for
each of the states in which the element presents itself.

Before we examine them in another way, it is desirable to obtain
a mean specific gravity for the Diamond, Graphite, and Charcoal, as
the recorded results of experiment show a considerable variation.

1. Diamond.
The specific gravity of this gem is generally stated in elementary
works to range from 35 to 3*55 ; but these numbers do not repre-
sent the mean of recorded experiments, as will be seen by the fol-
lowing table : —

Diamond in Hunterian Museum, Glasgow,
Specific gravity, as stated by Mohs,
Brazilian diamond,
Another variety of the same, .
Mean specific gravity of a " beautiful collec-
tion of diamonds," .

" Star of the south," .

Borneo diamond,
Do. do., compact,

Do. do., do.,

Diamond used in Jacquelain's experiments,
Specific gravity, as given by Henry,
Well-crystallized Brazilian diamond, weigh- "j
ing 0'6761 gramme, in the Edinburgh >
Museum, ... J

3 53

Thomson.^

3-52

Mohs.2

3-44 \
3-52;

Brisson.*

3-48

Lowry.*

3-53 1

Dufrenoy &
Halphin.«

3-49

Grailich.^

3-41 )
3-25 1

Rivot.7

3-33

Jacquelain. *

355

Henry .^

3-48 Playfair.'"

Mean sp. gr.

3-461

' Thomson's Itlineralogy, vol, i. p. 46.

2 Mohs' Mineralogy, vol. ii. p. 306.

3 Brisson, as quoted by Bottger, Specifiche Gewicht., p. 32.

* Lowry, as quoted in Thomson's Mineralogy, vol. i. p. 46,
'' Dufrenoy, Corapte Rendu, vol. xl. p. 3.

« Grailich, Bull. Geol. [2], vol. xiii, p. 542.

^ Rivot, Ann. des Mines, vol. xiv. p. 423.

® Jacquelain, Ann. de Ch. et Thys, [2], vol. xx. p. 459.

* Henry's Mineralogy, vol, iv. p. 19.
'° Experiment made for this paper.

Royal Society of Edinburgh. 325

If we reject the secoiul Borneo diamond of Rirot, which has too
low a specific gravity, we have a mean sp. gr, of 3*48, which is the
same number as that found by Wilson Lowry for the mean specific
gravity of '" his beautiful collection of crystallized diamonds"
(Thomson's Mineralogy, vol. i. p. 46).

It is to be expected that the experimental determination of the
specific gravity of diamonds should be rather above than below the
truth ; for we are aware that they all leave a minute quantity of
ash on burning, and that this ash, according to Petzhold, contains
silica and iron.

2. Graphite.

This variety of carbon is often impure, being not unfrequently
contaminated with upwards of five per cent, of earthy impurities.
Recorded specific gravities upon such impure specimens are of no
value for the mean result as regards pure graphite. The following
determinations are all those which I can find upon specimens which
have been chemically examined to establish their purity : —

Natural graphite, . . 2*27 Regnault.^

Do. . 2-25 1 tiu A 2

Do. . . 2-32 1 Schrader.2

Graphite of iron furnaces, . 233 Karsten.'

Natural graphite, in fine crystalline plates, 2-14 1 ^ 1 1 . 3
Do. do., another variety, 2*22 J ^ *

Do. do., do., 2-23 Kengott.*

Natural graphite, . 2 50 |

Pelouze and
Fremy.*

Gas carbon graphite, . . 2"35 Graham.

Mean sp. gr., 2*29

It would have been interesting to have added to this list a deter-
mination of the specific gravity of Brodies' purified Ceylon graphite ;
but its minute division causes the air to adhere to it so tenaciously,
that I have failed in getting any correct determinations of its density.

3. Charcoal.

Thei'e are comparatively few determinations of the specific gravity
of pure charcoal. It is in fact not so easy to obtain this substance. A
specimen of charcoal from pure sugar, repeatedly calcined, and treated
with chlorine to remove the last traces of hydrogen, and again cal-
cined, gave me the sp. gr. 1'80 ; but bubbles of air still adhered to

' Regnault, Ann. de Cb. et Tbys., vol. Wi. p. 37.

* Schrader, Annals of Philosophy, vol. i. p. 299.
^ As quoted in Bottger's Specifiche Gewicht.

* Kengott, Wien Akad. vol. xiii. p. 469.

* Traite de Chimie, vol. v. p. 518.

KEW SERIES. VOL. XI. VO. II. APRIL 1860. 2 R

326 Proceedings of Societies.

it, although it was kept for several hours under a good air-pump.
The following determinations are those recorded : —

Pure lamp-black,

1-78

Baudrimont.^

Fibrous gas coke,

1-76

Colquhoun.^

Compact gas carbon,

208

Baudrimont.'

Powdered coke (mean),

1-80

Regnault.^

Charcoal from alcohol.

2-10

Scholtz/

Charcoal from sugar,

1-80

Playfair.«

Pure charcoal, without pores.

1-84

Griffith.5

Mean sp. gr.,

1-88

4. From the preceding data we take the mean specific gravity
of the three varieties of carbon to be as follows : —

Mean Sp. Gr.
Diamond, . . . 348 or 3-461

Graphite, . . .2 29

Charcoal, . . . 1'88

5. We have now to consider whether these numbers stand in
any simple relation to their atomic weight. The formula

gives the following atomic volumes, taking 4^ = 12.

Atomic Volames.

Diamond, .... 344

Graphite, .... 5-24

Charcoal, . . . .6-38

These numbers do not bear to each other any simple relation.

6. If we now take the atomic weight of carbon (4^=12), and
then extract from it its square, cube, and fourth roots, numbers
are obtained which bear a striking approximation to the mean specific
gravity of the three forms of carbon: —

Roots. Sp. Gr.

^ I - \/j^= 3-464 - Diamond, 3-48 or 3-46

2 - ^^l¥= 2-289 - Graphite, 2-29

3 - ^y 12 = 1-865 - Charcoal, 188

In other words, if we raise the specific gravity of diamond to its
second power, that of graphite to its third power, and that of char-
coal to its fourth power, we obtain numbers closely approaching in
each case to 12, the atomic weight of carbon.

^ Baudrimont, Traite de Cbiiuie, vol. i. p. 611.

'^ Colquhoun's Annals of Philosophy [2], vol. xii. p. 1.

* Baudrimont, Traite de Chimie, vol. i. p. 514.

* Kegnault, Traite de Chimie, vol. i. p. 369.
' Bdttger, Specifiche Gewicht.

^ Experiment recorded above.

Royal Society of Edinburgh.

327

3-482 = 12 11
2-293=12 00
188^ = 12-49

Diamond,
Graphite,
Charcoal,

These appi-oxinmtions are remarkable, and the relations of the
numbers are natural and simple. Tlie differences between the
mean experimental numbers and the corresponding roots of the
atomic weight of carbon are not so great as the differences observed
in the specific gravities of the same form of carbon.

7. It may be useful to condense into the form of a table the
previous observations : —

Forma of
Carbon.

EzperimeDt.

Calculations.

Diamond,

Graphite,

Charcoal,

8p. Gr. Powers.
3 46 or 3-48* = 1311

2-29» = 12 00

1-88' = 12-49

Q Roots,
y 12 = 3-464

V 12 = 2-289

V 12 = 1 865

These relations appear to be so simple, that it is scarcely possible
to conceive that they may not have been described before ; but I
have been unable to find such descriptions. The nearest approach
to it which I know, is the fact that Mr Hawksley, the engineer,
stated to me, many years since, that he had brought under the
attention of the late Mr Cooper the relation which seemed to sub-
sist between the specific gravities of silver and gold and their atomic
weights, this being approximatively the square root of their atomic
weights, or of multiples of these numbers. But I cannot find any
record either of Mr Hawksley's or Mr Cooper's views on the subject.

8. We know two other bodies besides carbon which possess
diamond, graphite, and amorphous forms — viz., Silicon and Boron.
If the same relation were observed between the specific gravities and
atomic weights of these bodies, it would go far to establiish as a law
what, in an isolated case, might be due to a remarkable combination
of chances. Unfortunately, we know only the specific gravity of the
diamond forms of these elements : —

Silicon diamond.

2-49
2-48

Deville.
Do., mean on six specimens, 2*48 Playfair.

In quoting these results some explanation is necessary. In the
original memoirs of Deville, it is left uncertain whether he examined
the specific gravity of diamond or graphite silicon; and manuals of
chemistry give it as the result due to the latter form ; but from its coin-
cidence with my own experiments on diamond silicon, it must unques-
tionably refer to that variety. Among the six specimens examined by
myself, one preparation was in peculiarly fine crystals, and gave the

328 Proceedings of Societies.

sp. gr. 246 ; two out of the six specimens were prepared by Dr
Matthiesien, and gave a mean sp. gr. of 2-47. The remainder were
inferior samples, and probably contained zinc and other impurities.

Professor Miller has kindly examined for me the specific gravity
of a good specimen of graphite silicon in his possession (not analyzed),
and found it to be 2-337.

Deville gives as the specific gravity of boron diamond 2-68.

The crystalline form of the boron diamond is the same as that of
the carbon diamond, and similar relations seem to exist between the
specific gravity and atomic weights. The atomic weight of boron is
7*2, viewing its oxide as corresponding to carbonic acid in composition.

Vf^ = 2-683. sp. gr. = 2-68.

But the same relation would not appear to hold for silicon, which
does not affect the like tendency to crystallize in the same forms
as carbon and boron, although the relations between the numbers in
its case also are in the same direction, and not devoid of simplicity.

The atomic weight of silicon is 14'2.

Si \/l4-2=z2-42 sp. gr. of diamond silicon, =2-46 to 2-48.
Si ^28-4 = 2-30 sp. gr. of graphite silicon, =2-33.

The differences exhibited in this case from the similar forms of
Carbon and Boron are not sufficiently marked to throw doubt upon
the relations as being due to some unexplained law. As an arith-
metical probability, indeed, the discordance lessens the value of the
testimony in the previous cases. But our chemical knowledge of
the manner in which Silicon doubles and quadruples itself in the
silicates, to unite with the same quantity of base, gives support to
the idea that its atomic weights may be different in the various
forms of the separate element.

When we consider how much we multiply the errors of experi-
ment in raising the observed specific gravities to the second, third,
and fourth powers, it remains scarcely possible that the simple
relations between them and the atomic weights, in the cases which
I have pointed out, can be due to chance. I have purposely avoided
any speculation as to the bearing which these relations may have
on the molecular arrangement of the particles of the elements in
their various forms, as I desire, in the first place, to submit the
testimony on which the relations themselves are founded to the
consideration of chemists.

But it may be fairly asked, whether any similar relations exist
between the specific gravities and atomic weights of the remaining
solid or liquid non-metallic elements. I take the following mean
specific gravity for bromine, iodine, sulphur, and selenium, and omit
the only two remaining elements — phosphorus and tellurium — from
the list, because they do not appear to yield relations at all analo-
gous to those under consideration : —

Royal Society of Edinburgh.

329

Bromine, sp. gr.

(i:

966
980
990

Balard.
Lowig.

Mean, . 2 979

Iodine. — There is only one recorded specific gravity of this ele-
ment — viz., that by Gay Lussac. I have estimated the specific
gravity of two fine specimens in my laboratory, and take the moan
of these results : —

4*948 Gray Lussac.
5030 Playfair.

Mean,
Sulphur, sp. gr..
Selenium,

4-989

4'30
4-32
431

= 20
Berzelius
>>
»

Mean, . 431

Tabulating these results, and bringing into comparison with them
the roots of the atomic weights, we have the following striking ac-
cordances : —

Sp. gr.

Boron, . 268

Silicon

Bromine,

Iodine,

Sulphur,

Selenium,

2-46
2-98
4-99
2-00

Ec^ivt. Roots.

V 7-2 =, 2-68
\/ 14*2 =: 2'42

V 800 = 2-99
V uro = 502

V 160 = 200
4-31 Se-v^~8a0 = 4-31

2. Some Miscellaneous Observations on the Tadpole, and on
the Albumen of the Newly-laid Egg. By John Davy, M.D.,
F.R.S. Lond. and Edin.

(This paper appears in the present number of the Journal.)

3. On Acupressure, a New Method of Arresting Haemorrhage.

By Professor Simpson.

Sd Janiiary 1860.
The following Communications were read : —
1. Some Miscellaneous Observations on the Growth of Birds,
their Specific Gravity, and on the Stomach of Fishes iu
Relation to Digestion. By John Davy, M.D., F.R.S. Lond.
and Edin.
(This paper appears in the present number of the Journal.)

330 Proceedings of Societies.

16th January 1860.

I. Suggested Explanation of Messrs Carrington and Hodgson's
recently observed Solar Phenomenon. By Professor C.
Piazzi Smyth.

The Royal Society of Edinburgh having been the arena wherein
Professor W. Thomson first described his calculations and admirable
extensions of Mr Waterston's meteoro-dynamic theory of solar light
and heat, I beg leave to call the attention of the same learned
Society to an apparent instance of confirmation which that theory
appears to me to have received, by a phenomenon of very unique
character, recently observed in an independent and most satisfactory
manner, by either of two able scientific men — viz., Mr Carrington of
the Observatory, Red Hill, and Mr Hodgson at Highgate.

The respective observations of these gentlemen are to be found
in the monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society for No ■
vember 1859, and seem quite sufficient to prove, after making all
due allowance for the different instrumental methods employed in
either case, and the peculiar nature of the subject observed, that on
September 1, at about 11 h. 18 m. a.m., Greenwich time, two small
telescopic bodies of light, in close proximity, and elongated in the
direction of their motion, suddenly burst into view on the surface of
the sun, notvery far from its central portion, than which they were very
much brighter. They moved side by side in arcs nearly parallel with
the plane of the ecliptic ; first for a tmie increasing in brightness,
and then again gradually fading away, so as to be quite lost in about
five minutes after their first appearance. Though apparently on the
surface of the sun, yet that appearance was considered to arise from
optical projection only, as they did not alter the shape of a group of
large black spots, which lay directly in their paths. They must,
nevertheless, have been exceedingly close to the surface; and on that
supposition, the paths which they described during their period of
visibility must, from their angular extent, have measured about
35,000 miles, giving a mean rate of 117 miles per second.

The first remark that wo may make on the facts of observation,
save that nothing so momentary has ever been witnessed before by
astronomers, is, that 117 miles per second constitutes a velocity so
exceedingly great, that we can only look to the gravitation influences
of the sun for its efficient producing cause. Nevertheless, we are
at the same time bound to acknowledge, that the full rate of orbital
motion, for a body nearly in contact with the surface of the sun, is
rather over 276 miles per second ; and the rate of falling to the sun
from infinite space, considerably more. Evidently, then, something
prevented these bodies of September 1 from moving at their full rate,
and produced a retardation in their orbit equal to 159 miles a second,
to take Professor W. Thomson's form of the gravitation theory as
the more probable.

Royal Society of Edinburgh. 331

What that retarding something was, it is not so much to our
puqMse now to inquire, as long as we can show that it is not alto-
gether a baseless supposition, to assume the existence of any extensive
material belonging to the sun, outside his visible, luminous surface.
When we find our solar meteors of September 1 moving at a rate
slower by 159 miles a second than thej should do according to the
laws of gravitation, the simplest assumption that we can make is,
that there has been a mechanical retardation to that amount. Let
this be granted, and then it necessarily follows from the dynamical
theory of heat, that precisely in accordance with the disappearance of
motion will be the appearance of heat.

According to Mr Waterston's form of the theory, and even the
first expression of Professor W. Thomson's also, where the sun is fed
by lumps of meteoric matter, there is some difficulty in explaining
why the occurrence of luminous meteors in the sun is not frequently
observed, if remarkably visible in one instance ; while, acco»"ding to
the subsequent modification of the latter's view, the generality of
meteors must be distilled away into impalpable clouds of finely-divided
meteoric matter some time before they actually reach the sun; and
neither gentleman had expected that an actual impact would ever be
seen by mortal eye.

These objections, however, will be at once, to a great extent, re-
lieved by the very fair assumption of as superior a mass to the
September Ist meteor, over the generality of those which fall to the
sun, in any and every manner, as men have already recorded of
those which have actually fallen to, or have been seen very near,
the earth ; for while the majority (see the museums of Vienna, St
Petersburg, and London) measure only a few inches, with occa-
sional masses of 2 and 3 feet, there was one unusually well observed
by many able spectators in Scotland, England, and France, on the
18th August 1783, which was estimated to be more than half a
mile in length.

Let us inquire, then, how far the known meteoric mass of 18th
August 1783 would suffice to produce the effects observed on Sep-
tember 1st, 1859, had it then fallen to the sun. Professor W.
Thomson gives the amount of meteoric matter that would be re-
quired, according to Mr Waterston, to produce, by striking the sun,
the average solar illumination, as 0000060 lb. per square foot per
second.

For the period of our phenomenon, or 5 minutes, this is '018 lb.
per square foot, and 601*811 lb. per square mile for the same time.

Now the meteor in question, said by Mr Cavalho to have had
a diameter of 1070 yards, can hardly have contained less than
15,000,000,000 cubic feet; and if we take for its specific gravity
a mean between what has been determined by many measures of
earthy meteorites on one hand, and meteoric iron on the other
(which comes extremely near the mean density of the earth), then

332 Proceedings of Societies.

the total weight must have been 5,250,000,000,000 lb. Whence it
is evident that there was enough material in that one meteor, pro-
perly distributed, to keep a space 5,000,000 square miles of the
sun's surface in a state of luminous ignition, twice as intense as that
of the ordinary solar disc during all the time of observation ; and
therefore, by the transparency of flame, to have tripled the bright-
ness of the parts passed over — a phenomenon which, from angular
subtense, as well as intensity of light, would be abundantly visible
to telescopic observation from our earth.

On the whole, then, it appears exceedingly probable that the
solar phenomenon of September 1st was a meteor falling to the
sun, and giving out the heat of its mechanical energy in accordance
with the laws of that dynamical theory of thermotics, first and
chiefly in this country brought before the Royal Society of Edin-
burgh by Professors W. Thomson and Macquorn Rankine. In
which case, there is another example added, to several that might be
extracted from the history of science, showing that hardly has a
true theory been published to the world, before a confirmatory
phenomenon, previously quite unexpected, is almost providentially
witnessed ; and in no case by less prejudiced or more able observers
than the gentlemen upon whom we depend in the present instance.

2, On the Fallacy of the Present Mode of Estimating the
Mean Temperature in England. By James Stark, M.D.

(This paper appears in the present number of this Journal.)

3. Description of the Plant which produces the Ordeal Bean
of Calabar. By Professor Balfour.

After noticing the various plants used in Africa as ordeal poisons,
the author gave an account of the introduction of the Calabar Ordeal
Bean into Scotland, by the Rev. W. Waddell, and mentioned its
peculiar poisonous qualities, as determined by Dr Christison. To
Dr Hewan, and the Rev. Zerub Baillie, who are connected with the
United Presbyterian Mission in Old Calabar, he was indebted for
some observations on actual cases of poisoning in Africa. The Rev.
W. C. Thomson, another missionary, was the first who procured
flowering specimens of the plant. Some of these had been given to
the author by Mr Baillie, and from them, along with the legume
and seeds, the characters of the plant had been drawn up. The
plant belongs to the natural order Leguminosse, sub-order Papilio-
nacese, and tribe Phaseoleae, and appears to be a new genus to which
the name of Physostigma ((puo-aciv, to inflate) has been given, from
the peculiar inflated appearance of the stigma. To the species the
name of venenosum has been given, in allusion to its poisonous quali-
ties. The genus is nearly allied to Phaseolus, from which it differs

Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 333

in the stigma, and in the ^ong, grooved hilum of the seed. In the
last character it approaches Mucuna.

Physostigma vencnosum is a large twining plant, with a thick
stem, and pinnately-trifoliolate leaves. The inflorescence is nodoso-
racemose, the flowers being curved, and of a pale pink colour, the
stamens 10, diadelphous, the style bearded at its upper part, and the
stigma covered with a remarkable crescentic ventricular sac. The
legume is 7 inches long, of a brown colour, containing two or three
dark-brown seeds, with a long, deep hilum.

The paper was illustrated by drawings, executed by Dr Greville.

Botanical Society of Edinburgh.

Thursday, 8th December J 859. — Professor BALrocs, V.P., in the Chair.

The following Communications were read : —

1. On the Ancesthetic Effect* of Chloroform, Ether, and AtnyUne, on
Sensitive Plants. By John S. Livingsto.v, Esq.

After erplaining the method employed in performing the experiments,
Mr Livingston proceeded to detail such of them as were of a typical
character.

The ansesthetJc influence it was found proceeded from leaf to leaf in-
variably in the descending order, and it very rarely happened that the
leaf above the one acted on was at all disturbed. This effect was first
observed by Professor Marcet of Geneva, and communicated by him in a
paper to the Society de Physique. To whatever source this singular phe-
nomenon might ultimately be traced, whether to a susceptibility of the
descending sap for transmitting narcotic effects, or to the existence of
some yet undiscovered organ which had that power, the fact was, at all
events, beyond dispute.

To set aside any source of fallacy, and subject this fact to as severe a
test as possible, the rootlets of the sensitive plant {Mimosa pudica), were
carefully exposied, and doses of chloroform, ether, and amylene given, in
order to see whether it was not possible in this way to induce a propaga-
tion of the influence upwards. In every case in which any effect was
exhibited, it invariably proceeded downwards. When ether and amylene
were employed, no effect, it is true, was produced ; but in the case of
chloroform, instead of the narcotic influence attacking first the leaf nearest
the roots, as one would expect a priori, it passed by four of the leaves,
and appearing first at the fifth, proceeded downwards till the first was
reaches! .

De CandoUe, in his 'Physiologic Vegetale" (ii. p. 866), mentions some
experiments made by him with sulphuric and nitric ac:ds, on a sensitive
plant, by which it was shown that these acids cause a folding of the leaves
and a dropping of the petioles in an ascending order. These experiments
had been repeated, and found substantially correct. A drop of sulphuric
or nitric acid when placed on the lowermost petiole caused all the loaf-
stalks to fall much below a right angle.

Of the three anaesthetic agents employed, amylene was found, on the
whole, to act most powerfully on sensitive plants. With it the petioles
always dropped down to more than a right angle with the stem, while
with chloroform that was rarely the case. With both, the petioles

NEW SERIES. VOL. XI. NO. II. APRIL 1860. 2 S

334 Proceedings of Societies.

dropped gradually and evenly, unlike what they did with ether, in which case
the petioles literally fell down to a degree beyond that with amylene and
chloroform. The following difference was, however observable : — In the
two latter the falling of the leaf-stalks was always accompanied by folding
of the pinnsD, while with ether that was not the case, showing that with
it the eU'ect was more local. When amylene was employed, the recovery
from ana'sthesia was very speedy compared with what it was when chloro-
form or ether was used. Moreover, the pinna;, when touched with
amylene, folded from apex to base with an increasing rapidity, till they
sometimes became contused. This was very unlike the regular, and, if
we may bo call it, deliberate folding that took place with chloroform.
With amylene, however, the pinna; were always closely appressed, while
with chloroform they were rarely so. W^itli ether the effect did not show
for some seconds, the number of which constantly varied.

2. On the Primary Use of Ammonia in Vegetable Nutrition. By
Major John II. Hall.

The importance assigned to nitrogen in agricultural chemistry in the
present day is a fact well known to all. It has come to be taken as the
ultimate measure of the value of organic manures, and an analysis is not
considered complete without specifying the quantitative amount of nitro-
gen which a manure contains. Observation of the avidity or capacity for
ammonia which plants universally manifest has no doubt originally led
to the conclusion that it contains something which must be highly bene-
ficial in the economy of vegetable life. As ammonia is composed of
hydrogen and nitrogen, the selection of the latter ingredient as the mea-
sure of value to the disregard of its other constituent, expresses a positive
view or theory as to nitrogen being the all important element in ammonia
which renders it so essential in the growth of plants. But I have never
met with any satisfactory explanation of the grounds on which this esti-
mate of the value and importance of nitrogen rests as an element of
vegetable nutrition. I think that the true measure of the requirements
by plants of any given substance should be found in the amount in which
the substance enters into their composition. Now, an examination of the
chemical constituents of vegetable substances shows that nitrogen enters
very partially into them. Thus some of the most abundant of vegetable
substances are entirely destitute of nitrogen. Cellulose, the structural
basis of the roots, stems, leaves of plants, contains no nitrogen. Starch,
gum, sugar, wax, oils, resins, some of the most abundant of vegetable
products, are also destitute of it. Gluten is almost the only form or com-
bination in which nitrogen occurs in plants, and it exists in them in small
and variable quantities — in the seeds and fruits of some, and in the leaves
of others ; and it occurs for the most part in these plants and their pro-
ducts which constitute the food of man and animals, while the chemical
constituents of plants fail to give evidence of their having any very great
capacity for nitrogen. On the other hand, chemical experiments show
the presence of hydrogen in every kind and form of vegetable matter.
Its universality is on a par with that of carbon, and it is a remarkable
circumstance, that it preserves a close relation with that substance, and
generally follows it in the variations of its proportions in vegetable sub-
stances. These considerations led me to the conclusion, that the primary
use of ammonia in the vegetable economy must be to supply hydrogen, to
form in conjunction with carbon the hydro-carbonaceous material which
forms the basis of all vegetable structures and productions, and that this
alone can explain the reason why plants manifest such a universal avidity
or capacity for ammonia. Not that I would question for a moment the
concurrent use of ammonia in furnishing nitrogen to whatever extent the

Botanical Society of Edinburgh, 335

special r< t? of particular plants may render neceMary ; but,

looking t limited and partial extent in which it is found in

vegetabU- j r - : . .ons, I apprehend it can never account for the universal
ojipacity i>l jilaiits for ammonia ; and it seems to me, to say the least, a
transposition ami misuse of terms — the substitution of the minor and
l)artial effect for the major and universal one — to regard ammonia only
witli reference to the constituent which has the least place in the vegetable
economy, and to overlook that one which, equally with carbon, constitutes
the universal pabulum of the vegetable creation. Major Hall then exhi-
bited two plants of spinage, one of which had been watered simply with
the common water of Edinburgh, and the other with a solution of carbo-
nate of ammonia, and pointed out the great size which the latter plant
had attained when compared with the former. The effects he endeavoured
to trace mainly to the hydrogen in its combination with carbon.

Several members expressed doubts as to the correctness of Major Hall's
conclusions, and pointed out the presence of nitrogen in the protoplasm
or formative matter of plants as having been overlooked by him. It was
stated to be the general belief of vegetable physiologists that no active cell-
formation could go on without the presence of nitrogen, and that am-
monia, whether in the atmosphere or in manures, was valuable in sup-
plying this.

Dr Balfour exhibited a stem of Astrapcea Wallichiana, yielding a
large quantity of mucilage. When the stem is cut and put into alcohol
the exudation of this mucilage becomes very evident.

Dr Balfour also noticed that some stems of the Banana in the Botanic
Garden, when allowed to dry after being cut down, showed a large quan-
tity of white crystals on their surface. These had been analysed by Dr
Simpson in the University laboratory, and had been found to consist of
chloride of potassium.

Dr Maclagan , Berwick, sent roots of an elder tree, taken from a water-
pipe, accompanied with the following note : — " The enclosed production
was brought to me by the Superintendent of Works here. When moist
it was much more bulky, but the radicles very brittle. It occupied and
completely obstructed the main six-inch water-pipe, leading from the reser-
voir into the town of Berwick. The pipe is eight feet deep, and covered
over with clay-puddle, through all which, and through some fissure at a
joint, the small rootlet had penetrated. I asked what were the nearest
plants, and found that two elders were suspected of being the culprits, and
that they had been accordingly eradicated.' '

Thursday, 12th January 1860. — Professor Allman, President,
in the Chair.

The following Communications were read : —

1. Sketches of Caithness and its Botany, with a List of the Phanero-
gamous Plants and Ferns. By Robebt Bkown.

This paper was the narrative of a botanical tour made in the autumn
of 1859 in the County of Caithness, the Flora of which is by no means
well known.

The author, after giving an outline of the physical geography of the
county and sketches of its scenery, proceeded to describe its vegetation.
The only indigenous trees of Caithness were stated to be Populus tremula,
Betula alba, Corylus Arellana, and Pyrus aucuparia, and it was re-
marked that the specimens of these were comparatively stunted.

336 Proceedings of Societies.

The county however appears at one time to have been covered with
forests, numerous trees being annually dug up in the bogs. Trees, when
planted, require to be protected from the sea breezes. The common
crops of the fields (fenced into octagons, hexagons, heptagons, squares,
and triangles, by what the geometry of the farmer accounts straight lines
of upright flags) are excellent clover, grass, turnips (introduced within the
last forty years), barley, bere or big {Hordeum hexastichon). Potatoes
were only introduced about one hundred years ago ; and though now ex-
tensively cultivated, were at first, for a number of years, limited to gentle-
men's gardens. Before the introduction of potatoes, most of the ground
now appropriated to them was devoted to the cultivation of cabbages,
which constituted the principal vegetable food of the poorer classes.
The common culinary vegetables grow well ; but fruit trees, unless pro-
tected by a high wall with southern exposure, produce but indifferent
fruit. Most of the crops are considerably later in coming to perfection
than in the southern counties. For some time after Mr 13rown arrived
(July 31st), the hedges were pink with the wild roses, the haymakers
were busy at their work for about three Aveeks, and the crops were not
begun to be generally cut until the Ist of September. On Dunnett Links,
the bent {Ammophila arundinacea) is instrumental in preventing the
sand from blowing inward as formerly, spreading desolation for a great
distance around. Many of the wild plants are applied to economic pur-
poses — for instance, the pith of the common rush as wicks for the oil-lamps
of the peasantry ; heather for mats, ropes, &c. The number of the wild
plants enumerated by Mr Brown was 419, exclusive of those introduced,
&c., and about 29 well-marked varieties ; but probably the number might
be considerably increased. Mr Robert Dick of Thurso had been exa-
mining the Flora for many years, and to him, along with Mr C. W.
Peach of Wick, the well known naturalist, the author had to tender his
best thanks for the valuable assistance they had given him in drawing up
this paper.

The following species are not noticed in Mr Watson's most valuable
" Cybele Britannica" (vols. 1-4), as occurring in his " North Highland"
province — (Ross and Cromarty, Sutherland and Caithness). Those regard-
ing which further researches would be desirable are marked with a point
of interrogation : — Ranunculus bulbosus, Papaver Rhoeas, Plantago Coro-
nopus (ballast), Cardamine impatiens (?), Viola odorata, Dro&era inter-
media, Tilia parvifolia, Hypericum humifusum, Prunus avium, Pyrus
Malus (Westfield), Berberis vulgari8i(hedges), Ribes alpinum, Saxifraga
tridactylites, ^gopodium Podagraria, Valeriana dioica, Hieracium pre-
nanthoides, Hieracium boreale, Antennaria dioica, Petasites vulgaris, Pole-
mbniuni caeruleum? (outcast). Convolvulus sepium, Veronica polita, Myo-
sotis palustris, Anagallis arvensis, Salsola Kali (ballast), Rumex sangui-
neus, Potamogeton plantagineus(?), LuzulaForsteri (?), Carcx teretiuscula,
Alopecurus fulvus, Alopecurus agrestis, Avenapubescens, Arrhenatherum
avenaceum, Glyceria distans, Broraus sterilis, Hordeum murinum, Las-
trea Foenisecii, Equisetum umbrosum (common). The following may be
also noticed as being species extending far north in Scotland, and not
perhaps hitherto recorded in Caithness: — Ranunculus hederaceus, Arabis
hirsuta, Barbarea vulgaris. Sisymbrium Sophia, Silcne inflata. Lychnis
vespertiiia, Hypericum quadrangulum, Erodium cicutarium. Geranium
dissectum, Spartium scopariura, Prunus Padus, Geum urbanum, Alche-
milla alpina, Pyrus Aria, Saxifraga stellaris, Sanicula europa;a,
Chaerophyllum temulum, Myrrhis odorata, Sambucus Ebulus, Sherardia
arvensis, Tragopogon pratensis (Reay Links), Hieracium vulgatum,
Hieracium umbellatum, Carduus heterophyllus, Aster Tripolium (Mr
Peach, Wick), Pyrethrum Partbenium, Scrophularia nodosa (?), An-

Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 337

cbusa sempervirens, Pinguicala lusitanica, Ljsimachia nemorum, Habe-
naria bifolia (Peach), Juncus balticus, Carex distans, C. limoea, C. pilu-
lifera, Sesleria cserulea, Koeleria cristata, Fe^tuca brotuoides, Cystopteris
frai^ilis, Aspleniuiu Iluta-muraria, Isoetes lacustris.

Besides these there were noticed seTeral other plants, which, though
they have no effect in a phyto-geographical point of view, are yet inte-
resting; such as — Draba incana, Vicia Cracca, Kosa canina (b, sar-
luentacea. Woods), Parnassia palustris (very common), Hieracium vul-
gatuiu (e. maculatum, Gm.), Cichorium Intybus (outcast), Antennaria
dioica (b. norvegicum, Jacq.), Tussilago Farlara, Arctostaphylos alpina
(Ben Shurraii), Menyanthes trifoliata, Nepeta Glechoma, Ajuga py-
ramidalis, Myosotis csespitosa, Primula Scotica (very common), Eu-
phorbia Uelioscopia, Listera cordata, Potamogeton crispus, Sparganium
simplex, Carex acuta, Hierochloe borealis, Asplenium Filix-foemina,
b. rlueticum (Roth.), c. molle (Hoffm.), Osmunda regalis, Lycopodium
annotinum.

Many of those last have not been published as having been noticed
in the county. So little has the botany been attended to by publishing
naturalists, although the geolo^ and zoology of the district have fur-
nished valuable additions to the British Fossil and recent Fauna.

The author had not attended particularly to the cryptogamic botany of
the county, although this department would reward research. Such
lichens as Baeomyces roseus, Parmelia saxatilis, Parmelia physodes,
Borrera tenella, Ramalina scopulorum, Lecanora subfusca and tartarea,
Lecidea aeruginosa, &c., are common.

2. Notice of a Physiological Peculiarity in a specimen of Tropaeolum
majus. By Curistofhsb Dresses, Esq. Communicated by Ax£Z-
ANDEB Dickson, Esq.
The author recorded a phenomenon which he had observed in a plant
of Trojxpolum majus growing in a damp part of one of his greenhouses.
A pendant shoot of this plant had by accident become so much bruised
and constricted, at a point about twelve inches from its extremity, as to
prevent the transmission of sap from the root to the extremity of the
branch, the terminal portions being connected with the rest of the plant
merely by a fragment of withered bark and dried wood. This terminal
portion, instead of presenting the very slight hairiness found in the
ordinary state of the plant, had become extremely villous, the leaves
being densely covered with white-looking hairs, so as to be quite velvety.
The hairs were more densely congregated on the leaves than on the axis ,
and more so on the distal younger portions than on those nearer the seat
of structure, — this latter circumstance, probably resulting from the hairs
not being separated by the expansion of growth. The hairs on the pe-
tioles measured about ,',th or ^\s(b of an inch, being rather longer than
those on the laminae. The hairs were equally distributed over both sur-
faces of the leaf, and appeared to be a little longer on the veins.

The author alludes to the power possessed by hairs of absorbing dew,
&c., and concludes that this portion of the plant had for weeks been
nourished by the agency of these hairs ; also that these organs were de-
veloped specially for the accomplishment of this end, since, in the ordi-
nary condition of this plant, the hairs are extremely small and not
numerous.

The author draws the inference that hairs are of little value as fur-
nishing speciOc characters, since certain plants at least can and do pro-
trude hairs under certain conditions.

3. Notes on Californian Trees. Part II. By Andrew Murray, Esq.
(This Paper appears in the present No. of the Journal).

338

SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.

BOTANY.

Flora of Ceylon. — From the identity of position and climate, and
the apparent similarity of soil between Ceylon and the southern
extremity of the Indian peninsula, a corresponding agreement might
be expected between their vegetable productions : and accordingly
in its aspects and subdivisions Ceylon participates in those distinc-
tive features which the monsoons have imparted respectively to the
opposite shores of Hindustan. The western coast being exposed to
the milder influence of the south-west wind, shows luxuriant vegetation,
the result of its humid and temperate climate ; whilst the eastern, like
Coromandel, has a comparatively dry and arid aspect, produced by the
hot winds which blow for half the year. The littoral vegetation of the
seaborde exliibits little variation from that common throughout the
Eastern Archipelago ; but it wants the Phcenix paludosa, a dwarf date-
palm, which literally covers the islands of the Sunderbunds at the delta
of the Ganges. A dense growth of mangroves (Rhizophora Candelaria,
Kandelia Rheedei, Bruguiere gymnorhiza) occupies the shore, beneath
whose over-arching roots the ripple of the sea washes unseen over the
muddy beach. Retiring from the strand, there are groups of Sonneratia,
Avicennia, Heritiera, and Pandanu» ; the latter with a stem like a
dwarf palm, round which the serrated leaves ascend in spiral convolutions
till they terminate in a pendulous crown, from which drop the amber
clusters of beautiful but uneatable fruit, with a close resemblance in
shape and colour to that of the pine -apple, from which, and from the
peculiar arrangement of the leaves, the plant has acquired its name of
the Screw-pine. A little further inland, the sandy plains are covered
by a thorny jungle, the plants of which are the same as those of the
Carnatic, the climate being alike ; and wherever man has encroached on
the solitude, groves of coco-nut palms mark the vicinity of his habita-
tions. Remote from the sea, the level country of the north has a flora
almost identical with that of Coromandel ; but the arid nature of the
Ceylon soil, and its drier atmosphere, is attested by the greater proportion
of euphorbias and fleshy shrubs, as well as by the wiry and stunted nature
of the trees, their smaller leaves, and thorny stems and branches. Con-
spicuous amongst them are acacias of many kinds, Cathartocarpus Fistula,
the wood apple {Ftronia elephantum), and the mustard tree of Scripture
{Salvadora persica), whicli extends from Ceylon to the Holy Land.
The margosa {Azadirachta indica), the satin wood, the Ceylon oak,
and the tamarind and ebony, are examples of the larger trees ; and in
the extreme nortli and west, the Palmyra palm takes the place of the
coco-nut, and not only lines the shore, but fills the landscape on every
side with its shady and prolific groves. Proceeding southward on the
western coast, the acacias disappear, and the greater profusion of
vegetation, the taller growth of the timber, and the darker tinge of the
foliage, all attest the influence of tlie increased moisture both from the
rivers and the rains. The brilliant Ixoras, Erythrinas, Buteat, Joneaiae,

Miscellaneoua. 339

Ilibitcv*, and a variety of flowering sbrubs of similar beauty, enliren
the forests with their splendour ; and the seeds of the cinnamon, carried
by the birds from the cultirated gardens near the coasts, have germinated
in the sandy soil, and diversify the woods with the fresh verdure of its
polished leaves and delicately-tinted shoots .... Of the east side of
the island the botany has never yet been examined by any scientific
resident, but the productions of the hill country have been largely
explored, and present features altogether distinct from those of the
plains. For the first two or three thousand feet the dissimilarity is less
I>erceptible to an unscientific eye, but as we ascend the difference
becomes apparent in the larger size of the leaves, and the nearly uniform
colour of the foliage, except where the scarlet shoots of the ironwood
tree (Metua/itrea) seem like flowers in their blood- red hue. Here the
broad leaves of the wild plantains {Musa tejtilis) penetrate the soil
among the broken rocks ; and in most spots the graceful bamboo flour-
ishes in groups, whose feathery foliage waves like the plumes of the

ostrich Still ascending, at an elevation of 6500 feet, as we

approach the mountain plateau of Neura-ellia, the dimensions of the
trees again diminish, the stems and branches are covered with orchideae
and mosses, and around them spring up herbaceous plants and balsams,
with here and there broad expanses covered with Acanthacete, whose
seeds are the favourite food of the jungle fowl, which are always in per-
fection during the ripening of the Nilloo {Strohilanthes). It is in these
regions that the tree ferns {Alwphtla gigantca) rise from the damp hol-
lows, and carry their gracefully plumed heads sometimes to the height of
twenty feet. At length in the loftiest range of the hills the Rhododendrons
are discovered ; no longer delicate bushes, as in Europe, but timber trees
fifty to seventy feet in height, and of corresponding dimensions, every
branch covered with a blaze of crimson flowers. In these forests are
also to be met with some species of Michelia, the Indian representatives
of the Magnolias of North America, several arboreous Myrtacece and
Terngtroemtacece, the most common of which is the camellia-like Gordonia
z/iylanici. These and Vaccinia, Gattltheria, Sytnploci, Ooughia, and
Oomphandra, establish the affinity between the vegetation of this
region and that of the Malabar ranges, the Khasia and Lower
Himalaya. — Ceylon ; by Sir James Emerson Tennent.

OEOLOOT,

Post- Pliocene Drift. — The Rev. W. Stmomds, in a recent address to
the Malvern Field Club, says —

" I have lately had the opportunity of examining 'carefully the mam-
malian relics and fossil shells obtained from the old river drifts of this
neighbourhood, in the collections at Worcester, Jardine Hall, and Ap-
perley Court, and, I may now add, of that of the Rev. William Parker
of Little Coraberton. The mammalian remains include those of the ex-
tinct elephant, that noble extinct bull the Bos primigeniug, with the relics
of the rhinoceros and hyena — quadrupeds no longer in existence on the
continent of Europe, but which must, in former ages, have roamed on
the ancient land, and whose skeletons were deposited in those old estua-
rine, lacustrine, and river margins which we have visited to-day. Among
the fossil shells collected by the late Mr Hugh Strickland, from old la-
custrine deposits at Cropthome, Bricklehampton, and other localities near
Pershore, are specimens of the Cyrena consohrina, -which is found in the
Nile, and ranges from Egypt to Cashmere and China, but no longer

340 Scientific Intelligence.

exists in Europe, with Unto antiquior, a remarkable form of river mussel
which 1 believe is altogether extinct. When examining these shells in
the cabinets of Mrs II ugh Strickland, I was astonished at the beautiful
state of their preservation — the colour being in many instances preserved
— thus rendering it impossible to arrive at any other conclusion than that
the molluscs lived and died near the site where they are now found en-
tombed. The accompanying shells are of the living species of Lymnea,
Cyclos, Planorbis, &c., now found in the Avon and neighbouring brooks,
and Mr Strickland has discovered in the interior of some of the fossil
bones from the higher or esivarine gravels, some sliells which 1 believe
to be marine. The flint implements which have caused so much disqui-
sition among geologists and naturalists were discovered in the north of
France in undisturbed beds of gravel, sand, and clay, in drift, in fact,
of much the same geological age as the old lake and river margins of the
Avon and Severn. The level of the land, in that part of France, how-
ever, appears to have been more deranged by oscillating movements than
has the water-level of our peaceful Worcestershire vales. Movements of
upheaval and subsidence have occurred ; and the stratified gravel, in
which the supposed human implements are found, and which rests on the
chalk (the basement rock of the country), is covered by a mass of newer
unstratified drift. Nor is this all ; for this stratified gravel, with the
weapon-looking flints, and the bones of the elephant and the rhinoceros,
is found in some instances at the height of 100 feet above the present
level of the River Somme, which has worn down for itself a newer and a
deeper bed since the mechanical-looking flints, and the bones of wild
beasts long extinct in Europe, were buried together in the mud, and silt,
and gravel of its ancient margins. I may here, then, reply to one or
two questions which have been frequently put to me since my return from
Aberdeen. First, Are we personally satisfied that the flints of the Somme
Valley are implements fashioned by the hands of men ? I reply, that the
rudeness of very many of these implements might well cause the cautious
investigator of truth to pause before he gave credence to their having
been wrought by human beings ; while, on the other hand, some speci-
mens which were exhibited by Sir C. Lyell and Mr R. W. Mylne, appear
to me to decide the question in favour of human agency. Secondly, Do
the stratified gravels in which these relics occur aflbrd indisputable evi-
dence that man was co-existent with the extinct elephant, the rhinoceros,
and other mammalia no longer living on the continent of Europe ; may
not these mammalian relics have been derived from older drifts washed
from older beds ? This is at present an unsettled point, and the most
celebrated geologists of Europe are endeavouring to unravel the mystery ;
but I must candidly inform you that the most renowned tertiary geolo-
gists of England and France hold that it is impossible to avoid the con-
clusion, t/ these flints are hnmayi imj^lements^ that human beings lived
at a far more remote period than was conjectured, when their creation
was assigned to an epoch not more distant than some 6000 years, and
that this opinion is arrived at from the evidence afforded by the physical
geology of the district, by the physical position of the stratified gravels
containing the supposed human implements, and independently of the
question of the contemporaneity of man with the extinct animals."

MISCELLANEOUS.

Peculiar Sounds under Water. — On the occasion of another visit
which I made to Batticaloa in September 1848, I made some inquiries
relative to a story which had reached me of musical sounds said to be
heard issuing from the bottom of the lake at several places, both above
and below the ferry opposite the old Dutch fort, and which the natives

Scientific Intelligence. 341

suppose to proceed from some fish peculiar to the locality. The report
was confirmed to mo in all its particulars, and one of the spots whence
the sounds proceed was pointed out between the pier and a rock which
intersects the channel, 200 or 300 yards to the eastward. They were
said to be heard at night, and most distinctly when the moon was nearest
the full, and they were described as resembling the faint sweet notes of
an Kolian harp. I sent for some of the fishermen, who said they were
I>erfe<-tly aware of the fact, and that their fathers had always known of
the existence of the musical sounds heard, they said, at the spot alluded
to, but only during the dry season, and they cease when the lake is
swollen by the freshes af^er rain. They believed them to proceed from
a shell, which is known by the Tamil name of (Oorie coolooroo cradoo),
the " crying shell," a name in which the sound seems to have been
adopted as an echo of the sense. I sent them in search of the shell, and
they returned bringing me some living specimens of different shells,
chiefiy Httorina and cerithium {Cerithium palustre). In the evening,
when the moon had risen, I took a boat and accompanied the fishermen
to the spot. We rowed about 200 yards north-east of the jetty by the
fort gate ; there was not a breath of wind nor a ripple except that caused
by the dip of our oars ; and on coming to the point mentioned, I dis-
tinctly heard the sounds in question. They came up from the water like
the gentle thrills of a musical chord or the faint vibrations of a wine-
glass when its rim is rubbed by a wet finger. It was not one sustained
note, but a multitude of tiny sounds, each clear and distinct in itself —
the sweetest treble mingling with the lowest bass. On applying the ear
to the woodwork of the boat, the vibration was greatly increased in vo-
lume by conduction. The sound varied considerably at different points
as we moved across the lake, as if the number of the animals from which
they proceeded was greatest in particular spots ; and occasionally we
rowed out of hearing of them altogether, until, on returning to the ori-
ginal locality, the sounds were at once renewed. This fact seems to in-
dicate that the cause of the sounds, whatever they may be, are stationary
at several points, and this agrees with the statement of the natives, that
they are produced by mollusca and not by fish. They came evidently
and sensibly from the depth of the lake, and there was nothing in the
surrounding circumstances to support the conjecture that they could be
the reverberation of noises made by insects on the shore, conveyed along
the surface of the water, for they were loudest and most distinct at those
points where the nature of the land, and the intervention of the fort and
its buildings, forbade the possibility of this kind of conduction. Sounds
somewhat similar are heard under water at some places on the western
coast of India, especially in the harbour of Bombay. At Caldera, in
Chili, musical cadences are stated to issue from the sea near the landing
place ; they are described as rising and falling fully four notes, resem-
bling the tones of harp strings, and mingling like those at Batticaloa, till
they produce a musical discord of great delicacy and sweetness. The
animals from which they proceed have not been identified at either place,
and the mystery remains unsolved whether those at Batticaloa are given
forth by fishes or by molluscs. Certain fishes are known to utter sounds
when removed from the water, and some are capable of making noises
when under it ; but all the circumstances connected with the sounds
which I beard at Batticaloa are unfavourable to the conjecture that they
were produced by either. Organs of hearing have been clearly ascer-
tained to exist, not only in fishes but in mollusca. In an oyster, the pre-
sence of an acoustic apparatus of the simplest possible construction has
been established by the discoveries of Siebold ; and firom our knowledge
of the reciprocal relations existing between the faculties of hearing and

NEW SERIES. VOL. XI. NO. H. APEIL 1860. 2 T

342 Scientific Intelligence.

of producing sounds, the ascertained existence of the one might afl'ord
legitimate grounds fur inferring the co-existence of the other in animals
of the same class. Besides, it has been clearly establislied, that one at
least of the gasteropoda is furnished with the jiower of producing sounds.
Dr Grant, in 1826, communicated to the Edinburgh Philosophical Society
the fact, that on placing some specimens of the Tntonia arborescene in
a glass vessel filled with sea-water, his attention was attracted by a noise
which he ascertained to proceed from tliese mollusca. It resembled the
"clink" of a steel wire on the side of the jar, one stroke only being given
at a time and repeated at short intervals. The affinity of structure be-
tween the tritonia and tlie mollusca inhabiting the shells brought to nie
at Batticaloa might justify the belief of the natives of Ceylon that the
latter are the authors of the sounds I heard ; and the description of those
emitted by the former, as given by Dr Grant, so nearly resemble them,
that I have always regretted my inability, on the occasion of my visits to
Batticaloa, to investigate the subject more narrowly. At subsequent
periods I have renewed my efforts, but without success, to obtain speci-
mens or observations of the habits of the living mollusca. The only
species afterwards sent to me were Cerithia, but no vigilance sufficed to
catch the desired sounds, and I still hesitate to accept the dictum of the
fishermen, as the same mollusc abounds in all the other brackish estu-
aries on the coast, and it would be singular, if true, that the phenomenon
of its uttering a musical note should be confined to a single spot in the
lagoon of Batticaloa." — Tennent's Ceylon.

Miscellaneous.

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344

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

CJompte-Rendu Annuel, par A. T. Kupffer. An. 1857. St Petera-
burg, 1858. — Presented by the Russian Administration of Mines.

American Journal of Science and Arts, November 1859, and January
I860.— JProTO the Editors.

L'Institut, December 1859, January and February 1860. — From the
Editor.

Proceedings of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester.
(Continued). — From the Society.

Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, No. 273. — From the Se-
cretaries.

Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia for
1859. — From the Academy.

Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, New
Series, vol. iv., part 2. — From the Academy.

Croft's London : What to See, and How to See it. — From the Publisher.

Archaia ; a Sketch of the Cosmogony of the Hebrew Scripture, by
Principal Dawson, of M'Gill University, Montreal. — From the London
Publisher.

The Action and Sounds of the Heart, by Dr G. B. Halford.— From the
Author.

Des Hermodactes, au point de Vue Botanique et Pharmaeeutique, par J.
E. Planchon. — From the Author.

Jahrbuch der Kaiserlich Koniglicher Geologiscber Reichsanstalt in
Wien, Jan. — June 1859. — From the Society.

Ansprache gehalten am Schlusse des Ersten Decenniuras der Kaiser-
Konig. Geol. Reichsan. in Wien am 22 Nov. 1859, von VV. Haidinger. —
From the Author.

Bibliotheque Universelle, nouv. periode, torn, vii., No.- 25. — From the
Editor.

345

INDEX.

AUmd, Dr W. P., Biography of, 316

Alternation of Generation, 1

Ammonia, its Primary Use in Vegetable Nutrition, by Major John 11. Hall, 334

Anaesthetic Agents, their Effect on Plants, 333

Aiabic-speaking Population of the World, 139

Aral, Vegetation of Sea of, 163

AttrapiBa Waliichiana, its Mucilage, 335

Aurora of 28th August and 2d September 1859, 90

Balfour, Professor J. II., on the Plant producing the Calabar Ordeal Bean, 332

Ballantyne's Christianity contrasted with Hindu Philosophy, Noticed, 103

Balloon experiment, 114

Birds, Growth of, 260

Specific Gravity of, 264

Bone Care near ifontrose, 308

Boring for Water, 311

BoUnical Society of Edinburgh, Proceedings of, 141, 333

Bread Making, 125

Breaks for Railway Trains, by W. Fairbairn, 310

Brewster, Sir D., on a New Species of Double Refraction, 113

on Nineveh Glass, 121

British Association, Proceedings of, 108, 290

Butterflies, British, Distribution of, by II. T. Stainton, 306

Caithness, Botany of, by Robert Brown, 335

Caledonians, Ethnology and Hieroglyphics of, 139

Californian Trees, Notes on, 205

CardueUa Scotica, 308

Ceylon, Flora of, 338

Chinese Astronomy, 120

Chloride of Potassium Crystals on the Banana Stem, 335

Claadet, A., on the Focus of Object-Glasses, 114

Coal-Mines of Borneo, by James Motley, 166

Compass in Iron Ships, 110

Cone-in -Cone Structure, 132

Cretinism and Goitre in the Cordillera, 29

Darwin's Origin of Species, Noticed, 280

Davy, Dr John, on the Tadpole ; on the Albumen of the Newly-laid Egg; on

the Growth of Birds, and their specific gravity ; on the Stomach of Fishes,

252
Diamond, Graphite, and Charcoal Forms of Carbon, 323

346 Index.

Diaphragm for Double Achromatic Combinations, 116

Dinornis, Egg of, 164

Disguises of Nature, 66

Dynamical Theory of Gases, 122

Egg, Albumen of, 257

Electrical Frequency, 118

Electric Cable, 112

Electricity, Atmospheric, 108

transmitted through Water, 113

Elephant Remains at Ilford, 136

Ferns, Vegetative Axis of, by Dr Ogilvie, 310

Fish, Stomach of, in relation to Digestion, 266

Flints of Amiens, 130

Flora of Aberdeenshire, by Dr Dickie, 307

Ceylon, 338

Form and Colour in Plants and Animals, 66

Fuel, Use and Economy of, 45, 192

Galago, Supplementary Remarks on, 99

Gebel Ilauran, and Eastern Desert of Syria, described Geographically and
Geologically, 173

Geikie, A., on the Chronology of the Trap- Rocks of Scotland, 132

Geology of Aberdeen and North-East of Scotland, 126

Glaciers, Vestiges of Extinct. Part I., by Edward Hull, B.A., 31

Glass found at Nineveh, 121

Gneiss, Red Sandstone, and Quartzite, their Relation, 134

Goitre and Cretinism in the Cordillera, 29

Granite Quarries of Aberdeen, by A. Gibb, 311

Graptolithus, Remarks on, by James Hall, 167

Oymnotus electricut, 307

Hector's Exploration of British North America, 169

lleliometer. Improvement of, 120

Hogg, John, on Gebel Ilauran and the Eastern Desert of Syria, 173

Hull on Extinct Glaciers, 31

Hybrids in Plants, 163

Japan, Botany of, by Professor Asa Gray, 159

Notes on, by Laurence Oliphant, 169

Jardine, Sir Wm., on the Progress of Zoology and Botany, 290

Jenkins, F., on Submarine Telegraphic Signalling, 111

Kirk, Dr, on the Country near Lake Shirwa in Africa, 151

Landscape in a specimen of Calcedony, 115

Jjee, Principal, Biography of, 312

Lindsay, J. B., on Transmission of Electricity through Water, 113

Livingston, J. S., on the Anaesthetic Effects of Chloroform, Ether, and

Amylene, on Sensitive Plants, 333
Livingstone's African Expedition, Noticed, 151
Lyell, Sir C, on the Progress of Geology, 129
Manuring Constituents of Crops, 125

Meteorological Register for 1859, kept at Arbroath by Alexander Brown, 343
Milk, Preservation of, 123

Milne, Alex. D., on Laws of Heat and Combustion, in Reference to the Use
and Economy of Fuel, 45, 192

Index. 347

Moigno, Abbe, on the Pbonautograpb, 113

Mont Blanc, Tbermometric Stations on, 117

Moon's Motion, 115

Morpbology of certain Organs of Plants, by Christopher Dresser, 155

Morrkua vulgaris, and J/', punctata, 306

Muir, John, D.C.L., on the Progress of Sanslirit Literature, 242

Murray, Andrew, Notes on Califomian Trees, I'art II., 205

on the Disguises of Nature, 66

on the Genus Galago, 99

on the Progress of Botanical Science, 141

Nicol, Professor James, on the Geology of Aberdeen and North-£ast of Scot-
land, 126
Object-Glasses, Focus of, 114

Ogilvie, George, M.D., on the Genetic Cycle in Organic Nature, 1
Organic Nature, Genetic Cycle in, 1
Owen, Professor, on Fossil and Recent Reptilia, 294
Oxides and Salts, Symmetrical Arrangement of, 124
Peruvian Crania, 25
Peruvian Gleanings, 25
Peruvian, Oriental Origin of, 26
Pheasants of Britain, 309
Phonautograph described, 113
Photograph of Fluorescent Substances, 125
Physoitigma veneno$um, the Calabar Ordeal Bean Plant, 332
Pinut imigni$, 222
Jegreyi, 224

Murrayana, 226

radiata, 222

Planetary Orbits, 122

Playfair, Dr Lyon, on a Symmetrical Arrangement of Oxides and Salts on a
common type, 124

on some Numerical Relations between the Specific Gravities of

the Diamond, Graphite, and Charcoal forms of Carbon, and ita Atomic
Weight, 323

Polyps, their Structure, 164

Post-Pliocene Drift, by Rev. W. Symonds, 339

Refraction, Double, New Species of, 113

Reptilia, Fossil and Recent, 294

Reptilian Remains near Elgin, by Professor Huxley, 134

Reviews and Notices of Books, 103, 271

Rogers, Professor William B., on the Aurora of 28th August and 2d September

1859, 90
Roots in Drains, 335

Royal Society of Edinburgh, Proceedings of, 312
Rudolph's Botanical Geography, Noticed, 271
Sanskrit Literature, Progress of, 242
Sequoia $empervirtn$, 221
Silurians of Lesmahagow, by Mr Page, 133
Skull found at Jerusalem, 164
Societies, Proceedings of, 108, 290
Sounds under Water in Ceylon, 310

348 Index.

Smith, Archibald, M.D., Peruvian Gleanings, 26

Smyth, Professor C. Piazzi, Explanation of Carrington and Hodgson's recently

observed Solar Phenomenon, 330
Species of Plants, Distribution of, by Professor Asa Gray, 157
Stark, Dr, on the Incorrectness of the Present Mode of Kstimating Mean

Temperature, 228
Tadpole, 252

Telegraph, Submarine, 111
Temperature, Mode of Estimating, 228
Tertiary Fossils of India, by W. II. Baily, 135
Thomson, Wm., on Atmospheric Electricity, 108

on Discharge of a Coiled Electric Cable, 112

Towson, John T., an the Compass in Iron Ships, 110

Trap-Rocks of Scotland, Chronology of, 132

TropcBolum majuB, Physiological Peculiarity in, by Christopher Dresser, 337

Voelcker, Professor, on the Essential Manuring Constituents of Cultivated

Crops, 125
Volcanic Rocks in Italy, by Dr Daubeny, 133
Wellingtonia gigantea, 205
Willich's Popular Tables, Noticed, 107
Wilson, Dr Daniel, on a Fragmentary Skull found in an Ancient Quarry Cave

at Jerusalem, 164

Professor George, Biography of, 321

Winters in Britain, 122

Wren, Sir Christopher, Cypher of, 119

Zoophytes of Caithness, by C. W. Peach, 307

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